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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14502 ***
+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  No. 419. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2 _d_.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST AGES.
+
+
+My friends, have you read Elia? If so, follow me, walking in the
+shadow of his mild presence, while I recount to you my vision of the
+Lost Ages. I am neither single nor unblessed with offspring, yet,
+like Charles Lamb, I have had my 'dream-children.' Years have flown
+over me since I stood a bride at the altar. My eyes are dim and
+failing, and my hairs are silver-white. My real children of flesh
+and blood have become substantial men and women, carving their own
+fortunes, and catering for their own tastes in the matter of wives
+and husbands, leaving their old mother, as nature ordereth, to the
+stillness and repose fitted for her years. Understand, this is not
+meant to imply that the fosterer of their babyhood, the instructor
+of their childhood, the guide of their youth, is forsaken or
+neglected by those who have sprung up to maturity beneath her eye.
+No; I am blessed in my children. Living apart, I yet see them often;
+their joys, their cares are mine. Not a Sabbath dawns but it finds
+me in the midst of them; not a holiday or a festival of any kind is
+noted in the calendar of their lives, but Grandmamma is the first to
+be sent for. Still, of necessity, I pass much of my time alone; and
+old age is given to reverie quite as much as youth. I can remember a
+time--long, long ago--when in the twilight of a summer evening it
+was a luxury to sit apart with closed eyes; and, heedless of the
+talk that went on in the social circle from which I was withdrawn,
+indulge in all sorts of fanciful visions. Then my dream-people were
+all full-grown men and women. I do not recollect that I ever thought
+about children until I possessed some of my own. Those waking
+visions were very sweet--sweeter than the realities of life that
+followed; but they were neither half so curious nor half so
+wonderful as the dreams that sometimes haunt me now. The imagination
+of the old is not less lively than that of the young: it is only
+less original. A youthful fancy will create more new images; the
+mind of age requires materials to build with: these supplied, the
+combinations it is capable of forming are endless. And so were born
+my dream-children.
+
+Has it never occurred to you, mothers and fathers, to wonder what
+has become of your children's lost ages? Look at your little boy of
+five years old. Is he at all, in any respect, the same breathing
+creature that you beheld three years back? I think not. Whither,
+then, has the sprite vanished? In some hidden fairy nook, in some
+mysterious cloud-land he must exist still. Again, in your
+slim-formed girl of eight years, you look in vain for the sturdy elf
+of five. Gone? No; that cannot be--'a thing of beauty is a joy for
+ever.' Close your eyes: you have her there! A breeze-like, sportive,
+buoyant thing; a thing of breathing, laughing, unmistakable life;
+she is mirrored on your retina as plainly as ever was dancing
+sunbeam on a brook. The very trick of her lip--of her eye; the
+mischief-smile, the sidelong saucy glance,
+
+             'That seems to say,
+  I know you love me, Mr Grey;'
+
+is it not traced there--all, every line, as clear as when it
+brightened the atmosphere about you in the days that are no more? To
+be sure it is; and being so, the thing must exist--somewhere.
+
+I never was more fully possessed with this conviction than once
+during the winter of last year. It was Christmas-eve. I was sitting
+alone, in my old armchair, and had been looking forward to the
+fast-coming festival-day with many mingled thoughts--some tender,
+but regretful; others hopeful, yet sad; some serious, and even
+solemn. As I laid my head back and sat thus with closed eyes,
+listening to the church-clock as it struck the hour, I could not but
+feel that I was passing--very slowly and gently it is true--towards
+a time when the closing of the grave would shut out even that sound
+so familiar to my ear; and when other and more precious sounds of
+life-human voices, dearer than all else, would cease to have any
+meanings for me--and even their very echoes be hushed in the silence
+of the one long sleep. Following the train of association, it was
+natural that I should recur to the hour when that same church's
+bells had chimed my wedding-peal. I seemed to hear their music once
+again; and other music sweeter still--the music of young vows that
+'kept the word of promise to the ear, and broke it' _not_ 'to the
+hope.' Next in succession came the recollection of my children. I
+seemed to lose sight of their present identity, and to be carried
+away in thought to times and scenes far back in my long-departed
+youth, when they were growing up around my knees--beautiful forms of
+all ages, from the tender nursling of a single year springing with
+outstretched arms into my bosom, to the somewhat rough but ingenuous
+boy of ten. As my inner eye traced their different outlines, and
+followed them in their graceful growth from year to year, my heart
+was seized with a sudden and irresistible longing to hold fast these
+beloved but passing images of the brain. What joy, I thought, would
+it be to transfix the matchless beauty which had wrought itself thus
+into the visions of my old age! to preserve for ever, unchanging,
+every varied phase of that material but marvellous structure which
+the glorious human soul had animated and informed through all its
+progressive stages from the child to the man!
+
+Scarcely was the thought framed when a dull, heavy weight seemed to
+press upon my closed eyelids. I now saw more clearly even than
+before my children's images in the different stages of their being.
+But I saw these, and these alone, as they stood rooted to the
+ground, with a stony fixedness in their eyes: every other object
+grew dim before me. The living faces and full-grown forms which
+until now had mingled with and played their part among my younger
+phantoms, altogether disappeared. I had no longer any eyes, any
+soul, but for this my new spectre-world. Life, and the things of
+life, had lost their interest; and I knew of nothing, conceived of
+nothing, but those still, inanimate forms from which the informing
+soul had long since passed away.
+
+And now that the longing of my heart was answered, was I satisfied?
+For a time I gazed, and drew a deep delight from the gratification
+of my vain and impious craving. But at length the still, cold
+presence of forms no longer of this earth began to oppress me. I
+grew cold and numb beneath their moveless aspect; and constant
+gazing upon eyes lighted up by no varying expression, pressed upon
+my tired senses with a more than nightmare weight. I felt a sort of
+dull stagnation through every limb, which held me bound where I sat,
+pulseless and moveless as the phantoms on which I gazed.
+
+As I wrestled with the feeling that oppressed me, striving in vain
+to break the bonds of that strange fascination, under the pressure
+of which I surely felt that I must perish--a soft voice, proceeding
+from whence I knew not, broke upon my ear. 'You have your desire,'
+it said gently; 'why, then, struggle thus? Why writhe under the
+magic of that joy you have yourself called up? Are they not here
+before you, the Lost Ages whose beauty and whose grace you would
+perpetuate? What would you more? O mortal!'
+
+'But these forms have no life,' I gasped--'no pulsating, breathing
+soul!'
+
+'No,' replied the same still, soft voice; 'these forms belong to the
+things of the past. In God's good time they breathed the breath of
+life; they had _then_ a being and a purpose on this earth. Their day
+has departed--their work is done.'
+
+So saying, the voice grew still: the leaden weight which had pressed
+upon my eyelids was lifted off: I awoke.
+
+Filled with reveries of the past--my eyes closed to everything
+without--sleep had indeed overtaken me as I sat listening to the old
+church-clock. But my vision was not all a vision: my dream-children
+came not without their teaching. If they had been called up in
+folly, yet in their going did they leave behind a lesson of wisdom.
+
+The morning dawned--the blessed Christmas-morning! With it came my
+good and dutiful, my real life--children. When they were all
+assembled round me, and when, subdued and thoughtful beneath the
+tender and gracious associations of the day, each in turn
+ministered, reverently and lovingly, to the old mother's need of
+body and of soul, my heart was melted within me. Blessed, indeed,
+was I in a lot full to overflowing of all the good gifts which a
+wise and merciful Maker could lavish upon his erring and craving
+creature. I stood reproved. I felt humbled to think that I should
+ever for a moment have indulged one idle or restless longing for the
+restoration of that past which had done its appointed work, and out
+of which so gracious a present had arisen. One idea impressed me
+strongly: I could not but feel that had the craving of my soul been
+answered in reality, as my dream had foreshadowed; and had the wise
+and beneficent order of nature been disturbed and distorted from its
+just relations, how fearful would have been the result! Here, in my
+green old age, I stood amongst a new generation, honoured for what I
+was, beloved for what I had been. What if, at some mortal wish in
+some freak of nature, the form which I now bore were for ever to
+remain before the eyes of my children! Were such a thing to befall,
+how would their souls ever be lifted upward to the contemplation of
+that higher state of being into which it is my hope soon to pass
+when the hand which guided me hither shall beckon me hence? At the
+thought my heart was chastened. Never since that night have I
+indulged in any one wish framed in opposition to nature's laws.
+_Now_ I find my dream-children in the present; and to the past I
+yield willingly all things which are its own--among the rest, the
+Lost Ages.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.
+
+BY CATHERINE CROWE.
+
+
+The extraordinary motives under which people occasionally act, and
+the strange things they do under the influence of these motives,
+frequently so far transcend the bounds of probability, that we
+romance-writers, with the wholesome fear of the critics before our
+eyes, would not dare to venture on them. Only the other day we read
+in the newspapers that a Frenchman who had been guilty of
+embezzlement, and was afraid of being found out, went into a theatre
+in Lyon and stabbed a young woman whom he had never seen before in
+his life, in order that he might die by the hands of the
+executioner, and so escape the inconvenience of rushing into the
+other world without having time to make his peace with Heaven. He
+desired death as a refuge from the anguish of mind he was suffering;
+but instead of killing himself he killed somebody else, because the
+law would allow him leisure for repentance before it inflicted the
+penalty of his crime.
+
+It will be said the man was mad--I suppose he was; and so is
+everybody whilst under the influence of an absorbing passion,
+whether the mania be love, jealousy, fanaticism, or revenge. The
+following tale will illustrate one phase of such a madness.
+
+In the year 1789, there resided in Italy, not far from Aquila in the
+Abruzzo, a man called Gaspar Mendez. He appears to have been a
+Spaniard, if not actually by birth, at least by descent, and to have
+possessed a small estate, which he rendered valuable by pasturing
+cattle. Not far from where he resided there lived with her parents a
+remarkably handsome girl, of the name of Bianca Venoni, and on this
+fair damsel Mendez fixed his affections. As he was by many degrees
+the best match about the neighbourhood, he never doubted that his
+addresses would be received with a warm welcome, and intoxicated
+with this security, he seems to have made his advances so abruptly
+that the girl felt herself entitled to give him an equally abrupt
+refusal. To aggravate his mortification, he discovered that a young
+man, called Giuseppe Ripa, had been a secret witness to the
+rejection, which took place in an orchard; and as he walked away
+with rage in his heart, he heard echoing behind him the merry laugh
+of the two thoughtless young people. Proud and revengeful by nature,
+this affront seems to have rankled dreadfully in the mind of Gaspar;
+although, in accordance with that pride, he endeavoured to conceal
+his feelings under a show of indifference. Those who knew the
+parties well, however, were not deceived; and when, after an
+interval, it was discovered that Giuseppe himself was the favoured
+lover of Bianca, the enmity, though not more open, became more
+intense than ever.
+
+In the meantime old Venoni, Bianca's father, had become aware of the
+fine match his daughter had missed, and was extremely angry about
+it; more particularly as he was poor, and would have been very much
+pleased to have a rich son-in-law. Nor was he disposed to relinquish
+the chance so easily. After first trying his influence on Bianca,
+upon whom he expended a great deal of persuasion and cajolery in
+vain, he went so far as to call upon Gaspar, apologising for his
+daughter's ignorance and folly in refusing so desirable a proposal,
+and expressing a hope that Mendez would not relinquish the pursuit,
+but try his fortune again; when he hoped to have brought her to a
+better state of mind.
+
+Gaspar received the old man with civility, but answered coldly, that
+any further advances on his own part were out of the question,
+unless he had reason to believe the young lady was inclined to
+retract her refusal; in which case he should be happy to wait upon
+her. With this response Venoni returned to make another attack upon
+his daughter, whom, however, fortified by her strong attachment to
+Ripa, he found quite immovable; and there for several months the
+affair seems to have rested, till the old man, urged by the
+embarrassment of his circumstances, renewed the persecution,
+coupling it with certain calumnies against Giuseppe, founded on the
+accidental loss of a sum of money which had been intrusted to him by
+a friend, who wanted it conveyed to a neighbouring village, whither
+the young man had occasion to go. This loss, which seems to have
+arisen out of some youthful imprudence, appears to have occasioned
+Ripa a great deal of distress; and he not only did his utmost to
+repair it by giving up everything he had, which was indeed very
+little, but he also engaged to pay regularly a portion of his weekly
+earnings till the whole sum was replaced.
+
+His behaviour, in short, was so satisfactory, that the person to
+whom the money had belonged does not seem to have borne him any
+ill-will on the subject; but Venoni took advantage of the
+circumstance to fling aspersions on the young man's character,
+whilst it strengthened his argument against the connection with his
+daughter; for how was Giuseppe to maintain a wife and family with
+this millstone of debt round his neck? Bianca, however, continued
+faithful to her lover, and for some time nothing happened to advance
+the suit of either party. In that interval a sister of Gaspar's had
+married a man called Alessandro Malfi, who, being a friend of
+Giuseppe's, endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation betwixt the
+rivals, or, rather, to produce a more cordial feeling, for there had
+never been a quarrel; and as far as Ripa was concerned, as he had no
+cause for jealousy, there was no reason why he should bear ill-will
+to the unsuccessful candidate. With Gaspar it was different: he
+hated Ripa; but as it hurt his pride that this enmity to one whom he
+considered so far beneath him should be known, he made no open
+demonstration of dislike, and when Malfi expressed a wish to invite
+his friend to supper, hoping that Mendez would not refuse to meet
+him, the Spaniard made no objection whatever. 'Why not?' he said:
+'he knew of no reason why he should not meet Giuseppe Ripa, or any
+other person his brother-in-law chose to invite.'
+
+Accordingly the party was made; and on the night appointed Giuseppe,
+after a private interview in the orchard with his mistress, started
+for Malfi's house, which was situated about three miles off, in the
+same direction as Gaspar's, which, indeed, he had to pass; on which
+account he deferred his departure to a later hour than he otherwise
+would have done, wishing not to come in contact with his rival till
+they met under Malfi's roof. Mendez had a servant called Antonio
+Guerra, who worked on his farm, and who appears to have been much in
+his confidence, and just as Ripa passed the Spaniard's door, he met
+Guerra coming in an opposite direction, and asked him if Mendez had
+gone to the supper yet; to which Guerra answered that he supposed he
+had, but he did not know. Guerra then took a key out of his pocket,
+and, unlocking the door, entered the house, whilst Ripa walked on.
+
+In the meanwhile the little party had assembled in Malfi's parlour,
+all but the two principal personages, Gaspar and Giuseppe; and as
+time advanced without their appearing, some jests were passed
+amongst the men present, who wished they might not have fallen foul
+of each other on the way. At length, however, Ripa arrived, and the
+first question that was put to him was: 'What had he done with his
+rival?' which he answered by inquiring if the Spaniard was not come.
+But although he endeavoured to appear unconcerned, there was a
+tremor in his voice and a confusion of manner that excited general
+observation. He made violent efforts, however, to appear at his
+ease, but these efforts were too manifest to be successful; whilst
+the continued absence of Mendez became so unaccountable, that a
+cloud seems to have settled on the spirits of the company, which
+made the expected festivity pass very heavily off.
+
+'Where could Mendez be? What could have detained him? It was to be
+hoped no harm had happened to him!' Such was the burden of the
+conversation till--when at about an hour before midnight the party
+broke up--Alessandro Malfi said, that to allay the anxiety of his
+wife, who was getting extremely alarmed about her brother, he would
+walk as far as Forni--which was the name of Gaspar's farm--to
+inquire what had become of him.
+
+As Ripa's way lay in the same direction, they naturally started
+together; and after what appears to have been a very silent
+walk--for the spirits of Giuseppe were so depressed that the other
+found it impossible to draw him into conversation--they reached
+Forni, when, having rung the bell, they were presently answered by
+Antonio Guerra, who put his head out of an upper window to inquire
+who they were, and what they wanted.
+
+'It is I, Alessandro Malfi. I want to know where your master is, and
+why he has not been to my house this evening as he promised?'
+
+'I thought he was there,' said Antonio. 'He set off from here to go
+soon after seven o'clock.'
+
+'That is most extraordinary!' returned Malfi. 'What in the world can
+have become of him?'
+
+'It is very strange, certainly,' answered the servant. 'He has never
+come home; and when you rang I thought it was he returned from the
+party.'
+
+As there was no more to be learned, the two friends now parted;
+Malfi expressing considerable surprise and some uneasiness at the
+non-appearance of his brother-in-law: whilst of Giuseppe we hear
+nothing more till the following afternoon, when, whilst at work in
+his vineyard, he was accosted by two officers of justice from
+Aquila, and he found himself arrested, under an accusation of having
+waylaid Mendez in a mountain-pass on the preceding evening, and
+wounded him with the design of taking his life.
+
+The first words Ripa uttered on hearing this impeachment--words
+that, like all the rest of his behaviour, told dreadfully against
+him--were: 'Isn't he dead, then?'
+
+'No thanks to you that he's not,' replied the officer; 'but he's
+alive, and likely to recover to give evidence against his assassin.'
+
+'_Dio_!' cried Giuseppe, 'I wish I'd known he wasn't dead!'
+
+'You confess, then, that you wounded him with the intent to kill?'
+
+'No,' answered Ripa; 'I confess no such thing. As I was going
+through the pass last night I observed a man's hat lying a little
+off the road, and on lifting it, I saw it belonged to Señor Mendez.
+Whilst I was wondering how it came there without the owner, and was
+looking about for him, I spied him lying behind a boulder. At first
+I thought he was asleep, but on looking again, I saw he didn't lie
+like a sleeping man, and I concluded he was dead. Had it been any
+one but he, I should have lifted him up; but it being very well
+known that we were no friends, I own I was afraid to do so. I
+thought it better not to meddle with him at all. However, if he is
+alive, as you say, perhaps he can tell himself who wounded him.'
+
+'To be sure he can,' returned the officer: 'he says it's you!'
+
+'_Perduto son' io!_--Then I am lost!' exclaimed Ripa; who, on being
+brought before the authorities, persisted in the same story; adding,
+that so far from seeking Mendez, he had particularly wished to avoid
+him, and that that was the reason he had started so late; for he had
+been warned that the Spaniard was his enemy, and he apprehended that
+if they met alone some collision might ensue.
+
+It appeared, however, that he had consumed much more time on the
+road than could be fairly accounted for; for two or three people had
+met him on the way before he reached Forni; and then Antonio Guerra
+could speak as to the exact hour of his passing. This discrepancy he
+attempted to explain by saying, that after seeing Mendez on the
+ground, dead--as he believed--he had been so agitated and alarmed
+that he did not like to present himself at Malfi's house, lest he
+should excite observation. He had also spent some time in
+deliberating whether or not he should mention what he had seen; and
+he had made up his mind to do so on his arrival, but was deterred by
+everybody's asking him, when he entered the room, what he had done
+with Mendez--a question that seemed to imply a suspicion against
+himself.
+
+This tale, of course, was not believed: indeed his whole demeanour
+on the night in question tended strongly to his condemnation; added
+to which, Malfi, who had been his friend, testified that not only
+had Ripa betrayed all the confusion of guilt during the walk from
+his house to Forni, but that having hold of his arm, he had
+distinctly felt him tremble as they passed the spot where Mendez was
+subsequently discovered.
+
+With regard to Mendez himself, it appeared that when found he was in
+a state of insensibility, and he was still too weak to give evidence
+or enter into any particulars; but when, under proper remedies, he
+had recovered his senses, Faustina Malfi, his sister--to whose house
+he had been carried--asked him if Giuseppe Ripa was not the
+assassin; and he answered in the affirmative.
+
+Giuseppe was thrown into prison to await his trial; and having
+public opinion, as well as that of the authorities against him, he
+was universally considered a dead man. The only person that adhered
+to him was Bianca, who visited him in the jail, and refused to
+believe him guilty. But if he was innocent, who was the criminal? It
+appeared afterwards that Ripa himself had his own suspicions on that
+subject, but as they were founded only on two slight indications, he
+felt it was useless to advance them.
+
+In the meantime Gaspar Mendez was slowly recovering the injuries he
+had received, and was of course expected to give a more explanatory
+account of what had happened to him after he left Forni on his way
+to Alessandro Malfi's. That he had been robbed as well as wounded
+was already known--his brother and sister having found his pockets
+empty and his watch gone. The explanation he could give, however,
+proved to be very scanty. Indeed, he seemed to know very little
+about the matter, but he still adhered to his first assertion, that
+Ripa was the assassin. With regard to the money he had lost, there
+was necessarily less mystery, since it consisted of a sum that he
+was carrying to his sister, and was indeed her property, being the
+half share of some rents which he had received on that morning, the
+produce of two houses in the town of Aquila which had been
+bequeathed to them conjointly by their mother. The money was in a
+canvas bag, and the other half which belonged to himself he had left
+locked in his strong box at home, where, on searching for it, it was
+found. As Ripa was known to be poor, and very much straitened by his
+endeavours to make good the sum he had lost, that he should add
+robbery to assassination was not to be wondered at. On the contrary,
+it strengthened the conviction of his guilt, by supplying an
+additional motive for the crime.
+
+The injuries having been severe, it was some time before Mendez
+recovered sufficiently to return home; and when he was well enough
+to move, instead of going to Forni, he discharged his servant
+Antonio Guerra, and went himself to Florence, where he remained
+several months.
+
+All this time Giuseppe Ripa was in prison, condemned to die, but not
+executed; because after his trial and sentence, a letter had been
+received by the chief person in authority, warning him against
+shedding the blood of the innocent. 'Señor Mendez is mistaken,' the
+letter said: 'he did not see the assassin, who attacked him from
+behind, and Giuseppe Ripa is not guilty.'
+
+This judge, whose name was Marino, appears to have been a just man,
+and to have felt some dissatisfaction with the evidence against
+Ripa; inasmuch as Mendez, who, when first questioned, had spoken
+confidently as to his identity, had since faltered when he came to
+give his evidence in public, and seemed unable to afford any
+positive testimony on the subject. The presumption against the
+prisoner, without the evidence of the Spaniard, was considered by
+the other judges strong enough to convict him; but Marino had
+objected that since the attack was made by daylight--for it was in
+the summer, and the evenings were quite light--it seemed
+extraordinary that Mendez could give no more certain indications of
+his assailant. Added to this, although every means had been used to
+obtain a confession--such means as are permitted on the continent,
+but illegal in this country--Giuseppe persisted in his innocence.
+Moreover, as no money had been found about him, and Faustina Malfi
+was exceedingly desirous of recovering what had been lost, she
+exerted herself to obtain mercy to at least the extent that hopes of
+a commutation of his sentence should be held out to the prisoner,
+provided he would reveal where he had concealed the bagful of silver
+he had taken from her brother. But in vain. Ripa was either
+guiltless or obstinate, for nothing could be extracted from him but
+repeated declarations of his innocence.
+
+In the meantime Bianca had been undergoing a terrible persecution
+from her father on the subject of Mendez, who had returned from
+Florence and taken up his abode, as formerly, at Forni. Her former
+lover was a condemned man, and altogether _hors de combat_: she
+might regret him as she would, and lament his fate to her heart's
+content, but he could never be her husband; and there was the
+Spaniard, rich and ready; whilst the increasing age and poverty of
+her parent rendered a good match of the greatest importance. In
+short, under the circumstances of the case, it was urged upon her on
+all hands, that she was bound both by her duty to her father and to
+evince her abhorrence of Ripa's crime--which otherwise it might be
+supposed she had instigated--to marry Mendez without delay.
+
+Persuaded of Giuseppe's innocence, and half believing that the
+accusation was prompted by jealousy, it may be imagined how
+unwelcome these importunities were, and for a considerable time she
+resisted them; indeed she seems only to have been overcome at last
+by a ruse. A rumour being set afloat that the day was about to be
+appointed for Ripa's execution, a hint was thrown out that it lay in
+her power to save his life: she had only to become the wife of
+Mendez, and her lover's sentence should be commuted from death to
+banishment. This last argument prevailed, and poor Bianca, with a
+heavy heart, consented to become the mistress of Forni. The Malfis,
+however, do not seem to have been amongst those who desired the
+match; and it would appear that they even made some attempts to
+prevent its taking place, by circulating a report that she had been
+privy to the assault and robbery. Perhaps they hoped, if Gaspar
+remained unmarried, to inherit his property themselves; but however
+that may be, their opposition was of no avail, and an early period
+was fixed for the wedding.
+
+The year had now come round to the summer season again, and it
+happened, by mere accident, that the day appointed for the marriage
+was the anniversary of that on which Mendez had been robbed and
+wounded. Nobody, however, appears to have thought of this
+coincidence, till Mendez himself, observing the day of the month,
+requested that the ceremony might be postponed till the day after:
+'Because,' said he, 'I have business which will take me to Aquila on
+the 7th, so the marriage had better take place on the 8th.' And thus
+it was arranged.
+
+This alteration was made about ten days before the appointed period,
+and nothing seems to have occurred in the interval worth recording,
+except that as the hour of sacrifice drew nigh, the unwillingness of
+the victim became more evident. We must conclude, however, that
+Mendez, whose object in marrying her appears to have been fully as
+much the soothing of his pride as the gratification of his love, was
+not influenced by her disinclination, for when he started for Aquila
+on the 7th, every preparation had been made for the wedding on the
+following day.
+
+The object of his journey was to receive the rents before named,
+which became due at this period, and also to purchase a
+wedding-present for his bride. On this occasion Alessandro Malfi was
+to have accompanied him; but when Mendez stopped at his door to
+inquire if he was ready, Malfi came down stairs half-dressed, saying
+that he had been up all night with his wife, who was ill, and that
+as she had now fallen asleep, he was going to lie down himself, and
+try to get a little rest. This occurred early in the morning; and
+Mendez rode on, saying that he should call as he came back in the
+evening, to inquire how his sister was. Upon this Malfi went to bed,
+where he remained some hours--indeed till he received a message from
+his wife, begging him to go to her. When he entered the room, the
+first question she asked was whether Gaspar was gone to Aquila; and
+on being told that he was, she said she was very sorry for it, for
+that she had dreamed she saw a man with a mask lying in wait to rob
+him.
+
+'I saw the man as distinctly as possible,' she said, 'but I could
+not see his face for the mask; and I saw the place, so that I'm sure
+if I were taken there I should recognise it.'
+
+Her husband told her not to mind her dreams, and that this one was
+doubtless suggested by the circumstance that had occurred the year
+before. 'But,' said he, 'Ripa's safely locked up in jail now, and
+there's no danger.'
+
+Nevertheless the dream appears to have made so deep an impression on
+the sick woman's fancy, that she never let her husband rest till he
+promised to go with his own farm-servant to meet her brother--a
+compliance which was at length won from him by her saying that she
+had seen the man crouching behind a low wall that surrounded a
+half-built church; 'and close by,' she added, 'there was a
+direction-post with something written on it, but I could not read
+what it was.'
+
+Now it happened that on the horse-road to Aquila, which Faustina
+herself had never travelled, there was exactly such a spot as that
+she described. Malfi knew it well. Struck by the circumstance, he
+desired to have his dinner immediately, and then, accompanied by his
+hind, he set off to meet Gaspar.
+
+In the meanwhile the Spaniard had got his money and made his
+purchases in good time, not wishing to be late on the road, so that
+they had scarcely got a mile beyond the church when they met him;
+and in answer to his inquiries what had brought them there, Malfi
+related his wife's dream, adding that he might have spared himself
+the ride, for he had looked over the wall, and saw nobody there. 'I
+told her it was nonsense,' he said, 'whilst we know your enemy's
+under such good keeping at Aquila; but she wouldn't be satisfied
+till I came.'
+
+Mendez, however, appeared exceedingly struck with the dream,
+inquired the particulars more in detail, and asked if they were sure
+there was nobody concealed in the place Faustina indicated. Malfi
+answered that he did not alight, but he looked over the wall and saw
+nobody. During the course of this conversation they had turned their
+horses' heads, and were riding back towards the church, Malfi
+talking about Ripa's affair, remarking on the impropriety of
+deferring his execution so long; Mendez more than usually silent and
+serious, and the servant riding beside them, when, as they
+approached the spot, they saw coming towards them on foot a man,
+whom they all three recognised as Antonio Guerra, the Spaniard's
+late servant. As this person was supposed to have gone to another
+part of the country after quitting Gaspar's service, Malfi expressed
+some surprise at seeing him; whilst Mendez turned very pale, making
+at the same time some exclamation that attracted the attention of
+his brother-in-law, who, however, drew up his horse to ask Guerra
+what had brought him back, and if he was out of a situation, adding
+that a neighbour of his, whom he named, was in want of a servant.
+Guerra, who looked poorly dressed, and by no means in such good case
+as formerly, answered that he should be very glad if Malfi would
+recommend him.
+
+'You had better turn about, then, and come on with us,' said Malfi,
+as he rode forward. During this conversation Mendez had sat by
+saying nothing; and if he was grave and silent before, he was still
+more so now, insomuch that his behaviour drew the attention of his
+brother-in-law, who asked him if there was anything wrong with him.
+
+'Surely it's not Faustina's dream you are thinking of?' he said;
+adding, 'that the meeting with Guerra had put it out of his head, or
+he would have examined the place more narrowly.'
+
+Mendez entered into no explanation; and as the servant, who was
+acquainted with Guerra, took him up behind him, they all arrived at
+their journey's end nearly together: Mendez, instead of proceeding
+homewards, turning off with the others to Malfi's house, where the
+first thing he did after his arrival was to visit his sister, whom
+he found better; whilst she, on the contrary, was struck with the
+pallor of his features and the agitation of his manner--a disorder
+which, like her husband, she attributed to the shock of her dream,
+acting upon a mind prepared by the affair of the preceding year to
+take alarm. In order to remove the impression, she laughed at the
+fright she had been in; but it was evident he could not share her
+merriment, and he quickly left her, saying he had a message to send
+to Rocca, which was the village where Bianca and her father resided,
+and that he must go below and write a note, which he did, giving it
+to Malfi's servant to take.
+
+It appeared afterwards that this man, having other work in hand,
+gave the note to Guerra, who willingly undertook the commission, and
+who, to satisfy his own curiosity, broke the seal on the way, and
+possessed himself of its contents before he delivered it. These
+were, however, only a request that Bianca and her father would come
+over to Malfi's house that evening and bring the notary of the
+village with them, he (Mendez) being too tired to go to Rocca to
+sign the contract, as had been arranged.
+
+It being between six and seven o'clock when this dispatch arrived,
+Bianca, who was very little inclined to sign the contract at all,
+objected to going; but her father insisting on her compliance, they
+set off in company with Guerra and the notary, who, according to
+appointment, was already in waiting. They had nearly three miles to
+go, and as Venoni had no horse, the notary gave Bianca a seat on
+his, and the old man rode double with Guerra.
+
+When they arrived, Mendez was standing at the door waiting for them,
+accompanied by Malfi, his servant, a priest, and two or three other
+persons of the neighbourhood; some of whom advanced to assist Bianca
+and her father to alight, whilst the others surrounded Guerra as he
+set his foot on the ground, pinioning his arms and plunging their
+hands into his pockets, from whence they drew two small pistols and
+a black mask, such as was worn at the carnivals; besides these
+weapons, he carried a stiletto in his bosom.
+
+Whilst the last comers were gaping with amazement at this unexpected
+scene, the new-made prisoner was led away to a place of security,
+and the company proceeded into the house, where the notary produced
+the contract and laid it on the table, inquiring at the same time
+what Guerra had done to be so treated.
+
+Then Mendez rose, and taking hold of the contract, he tore it in two
+and flung it on the ground; at which sight Venoni started up with a
+cry, or rather a howl--an expression of rage and disappointment
+truly Italian, and of which no Englishman who has not heard it can
+have an idea.
+
+'_Peccato!_ I have sinned!' said the Spaniard haughtily; 'but I have
+made my confession to the padre; and why I have torn that paper my
+brother-in-law, Alessandro, will presently tell you!' He then
+offered his hand to Bianca, who, no less pleased than astonished to
+see the contract destroyed, willingly responded to this token of
+good-will by giving him hers, which he kissed, asking her pardon for
+any pain he had occasioned her; after which, bowing to the company,
+he quitted the room, mounted his horse, and rode off to Forni.
+
+When the sound of the animal's feet had died away, and the parties
+concerned were sufficiently composed to listen to him, Malfi
+proceeded to make the communication he had been charged with;
+whereby it appeared that Ripa had been unjustly accused, and that
+Antonio Guerra was the real criminal. Mendez knew this very well,
+and would not have thought of accusing his rival had not his brother
+and sister, and indeed everybody else, assumed Ripa's guilt as an
+unquestionable fact. The temptation was too strong for him, and
+after he had once admitted it, pride would not allow him to retract.
+At the same time he declared that he would never have permitted the
+execution to take place, and that after the marriage with Bianca he
+intended to use every effort to procure the innocent man's
+liberation, on the condition of his quitting that part of the
+country. Of course it was he who wrote the letter to Marino, and he
+had used the precaution of placing a sealed packet, containing a
+confession of the truth, in the hands of a notary at Aquila, with
+strict directions to deliver it to Ripa if the authorities should
+appear disposed to carry his sentence into execution.
+
+He had nevertheless suffered considerable qualms of conscience about
+the whole affair; and the moment he saw Guerra on the road that
+night, he felt certain that he had come with the intention of
+waylaying him as before--the man being well aware that it was on
+that day he usually received his rents. He perceived that he should
+never be safe as long as this villain was free, and that he must
+either henceforth live in continual terror of assassination, or
+confront the mortification of a confession whilst the fellow was in
+his power.
+
+With respect to Guerra himself, he made but feeble resistance when
+he was seized. He had, in the first instance, left Mendez for dead;
+and he would have immediately fled when he heard he was alive, had
+not the news been accompanied with the further information that the
+Spaniard had pointed out Ripa as his assailant. He was exceedingly
+surprised, for he could scarcely believe that he had not been
+recognised. Nevertheless it was possible; and whether it were so or
+not, he did not doubt that what Mendez had once asserted he would
+adhere to. On receiving his dismissal, he had gone to some distance
+from the scene of his crime; but having, whilst the money lasted,
+acquired habits of idleness and dissipation that could not be
+maintained without a further supply, these necessities had provoked
+this last enterprise.
+
+He had really been concealed behind the wall when Malfi and his
+servant passed; but concluding that they were going to meet Mendez,
+and that his scheme was defeated, he had thought it both useless and
+dangerous to remain, and was intending to make off in another
+direction, when their sudden return surprised him.
+
+A few hours more saw Antonio Guerra in Giuseppe Ripa's cell; and
+whilst the first paid the penalty of his crimes, the latter was
+rewarded for his sufferings by the hand of Bianca, to whom the
+Spaniard gave a small marriage-portion before finally quitting the
+country, which he did immediately after Antonio's trial.
+
+Ripa said he had always had a strong persuasion that Guerra was the
+real criminal from two circumstances: the first was the hurried
+manner in which he was walking on the evening he met him at the gate
+of Forni, and some strange expression of countenance which he had
+afterwards recalled. The second was his answering them from the
+window when he and Malfi went to inquire for Mendez. If he thought
+it was his master, as he said, why had he not come down at once to
+admit him?
+
+It is remarkable that the enmity of the Spaniard was not directed
+against the man that had aimed at his life, but against him who had
+wounded his pride.
+
+
+
+
+INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+
+While there are many machines which contribute much more directly to
+the rapid accumulation of wealth in the persons of individuals, than
+does the railway locomotive, there is probably none which tends more
+to enrich a community. Unlike most other mechanical contrivances for
+the abridgment of labour, the railway locomotive unites in the
+effects which it produces the elements of social as well as
+commercial improvement. Like the steamship, the railway is
+cosmopolitan in its character. The range of its operations may be as
+extensive as the globe itself; and throughout that sphere of
+activity, be it what it may, the locomotive engine is scattering
+thickly the seeds of civilisation, as well as of wealth.
+
+By the application of steam as a motive agent an immense saving has
+been effected in the outlay required to be made in producing a given
+result in locomotion. This is the combined product of two causes.
+Such perfection has been attained in the construction of machinery,
+that by the aid of steam there can thence be obtained a continuity,
+combined with a rapidity of motion, which far exceeds what can be
+produced by any other means at present known to us. The fleetest
+racer equipped for speed alone, cannot equal, even for a single
+mile, the rate at which the locomotive engine, dragging after it a
+load of eighty tons, can, for hours together, be driven with ease
+and safety along its iron path. And this twofold result can be
+secured at a comparatively small cost. Coal, iron, wood--substances
+all to be easily obtained in nearly every quarter of the globe--can
+be, and daily are, fashioned into working agents not merely fleeter,
+stronger, and more docile than any endowed with animal life, but
+agents likewise which it is far less costly to sustain in active
+usefulness. The food, medicines, and attention which animal life
+demands, form very serious items of expense in the case of beasts of
+burden, and so very materially impair their utility. It is otherwise
+with the locomotive engine. Money, ingenuity, and toil require
+undoubtedly to be expended in its original construction, attention
+and care must be given to avert or repair accident, and food of its
+own peculiar kind it does unquestionably consume; yet when all the
+original and working expenses of a locomotive are summed up, it is
+found that, compared with the income it produces, it is the cheapest
+of all motive agents.
+
+No doubt the items of railway expenditure now mentioned do not
+nearly exhaust the amount of money required in their construction.
+In addition to expensive engines, there require carriages to be
+supplied for the transport of goods and passengers, houses and sheds
+to be built for their temporary accommodation, salaries to be paid
+for management and service; and in addition to all this, there must
+further be expended in the construction of the line itself sums far
+greater in amount than those spent in the formation and repair of
+roads and highways. All this is true; but in estimating the
+comparative costliness of the old and new methods of
+land-locomotion, regard must be had to the amount of their produce
+as well as of their outlay; and an opinion regarding their
+respective merits, in an economical point of view, must be formed by
+striking a balance between these two sides of the account. The
+result of such a comparison proves that in point of economy, not
+less than of speed and endurance, railways take precedence over all
+other known means of locomotion. This combined result of rapidity
+and cheapness of transit produces a double effect upon a mercantile
+community: it at once enables merchants to realise the fruits of a
+given speculation more quickly, which is nothing else than
+transacting more business in a shorter period than before; and it
+also enables them to do this increased amount of business with a
+smaller amount of actual outlay--that is, to extend with safety and
+profit the field of their operations beyond those boundaries which
+prudence formerly marked out as the proper limits of speculation.
+
+When we consider the amount of travelling within the island which is
+requisite for carrying on the mercantile and general business of the
+country, and the double saving, therefore, of time on the one hand,
+and of money on the other, which is effected by means of railways,
+we cannot fail to perceive that even did this new system of
+locomotion economise time and labour in no other way than this
+alone, its effects upon commercial transactions and on business
+generally would be immense. But when we reflect that this system is
+exerting the very same influence upon trade--and in a much higher
+degree, so far as the outlay of money is concerned--in reference to
+the carriage of goods, as in regard to that of passengers, we then
+come to comprehend in some measure how fertile the railway
+locomotive is in the production of the fruits of industry.
+
+Another commercial effect of the railway system has been to equalise
+the value of land, and promote the cultivation of those districts of
+a country which lie considerably removed from large towns. Every one
+knows that distance from market forms, as regards the cultivation of
+many vegetable and animal productions, a very serious drawback.
+Hence it arises that lands lying immediately around large cities
+bring a far larger price than portions of ground of equal extent and
+fertility would do situated at a greater distance. This is
+peculiarly the case with kitchen-gardens, and pasture-land suited
+for the purposes of fattening cattle, or feeding such as are
+required for the dairy. In all these cases, and others which might
+be mentioned, the performance of a long journey affects very
+injuriously the quality and value of the several articles, and hence
+the demand for farms and fields not exposed to this drawback has
+naturally raised their value. Now railways, as they abridge space by
+means of speed, have had a tendency to increase the value of pasture
+and garden ground lying at, comparatively speaking, a very great
+distance around cities. It is now no unusual thing for the
+inhabitants of cities such as London, Liverpool, and Manchester, to
+use at breakfast milk or cream which has travelled thirty or forty
+miles the very morning it is consumed, and at dinner to partake of
+vegetables whose place of growth was more than a hundred miles
+removed from the stall at which they were sold.
+
+The railway system has had a marked effect upon the state of the
+money-market of the commercial world in general, and of this country
+in particular. From the successful experiment made in 1830 in steam
+locomotion between Liverpool and Manchester, this new method of
+transit has been developing itself with a rapidity to which no
+parallel is to be found in the history of mercantile enterprise.
+Keeping out of view entirely the large sums which were recklessly
+squandered during the railway mania in mere gambling transactions
+and bubble schemes, there has been actually sunk in the construction
+and working of lines up to the present time more than L.200,000,000
+sterling. Before railways were called into existence, by far the
+larger portion of this enormous capital was divided into a great
+number of comparatively small sums, invested in a corresponding
+number of different speculations. From causes which it would be
+easy, but foreign to our present purpose, to explain, the profits
+arising from these various speculations were not only in the
+aggregate larger than those hitherto derived from railways, but the
+former speculations or investments being more temporary and
+convertible in their nature, secured to the parties engaging in them
+a far greater command over the capital employed in them. By
+diverting, as the railway system has done, so much money from the
+ordinary channels of mercantile enterprise, in which large profits
+were made, and--what is of more importance to the present
+remarks--when that money was well within the command and subject to
+the recall of its owners; and by taking, so to speak, and locking it
+up in a repository which could not be opened, the circulating medium
+of exchange soon became a scarce commodity to those who but lately
+had possessed it in abundance.
+
+But it would be very false to infer because extensive bankruptcies,
+and periods of severe pecuniary embarrassment, have accompanied, if
+not indeed been caused by the development of the railway system,
+that therefore that system must be an unsound and unremunerative
+one. These monetary difficulties were in a great measure the
+consequence of over-speculation, and therefore form no sounder
+evidence against the utility of railways, than does over-speculation
+in tea condemn the prudent employment of capital in the tea-trade.
+Besides which, it must ever be remembered that the judiciousness of
+an undertaking is not always to be judged of by its immediate
+results. All investments of capital which are from their nature
+permanent, require time for the development of their effects, and
+may, as regards many of their immediate results, prove rather
+injurious than beneficial. To this class of speculations railways
+belong. Introduced for the purpose of facilitating locomotion, and
+thus improving the industry of the country, this new system of
+transit was calculated to produce rather an eventual and permanent,
+than an immediate benefit to the empire. So long as Great Britain
+retains and cultivates the resources of trade and manufactures now
+at her disposal, and provided no new method of locomotion be
+invented which shall supersede railways, there is every reason to
+believe that railways will continue to form an ever-increasing
+source of wealth to the nation. That this is an opinion very
+generally entertained is proved from the vast sums of money which
+are now lent out on the faith that this result will be realised. The
+railway system has not only created a new field for speculation, but
+likewise a new security for monetary investments. At the close of
+1848, upwards of L.43,000,000 was lent upon railways. There is every
+reason to believe that debenture-holding is much greater now than it
+was then; but as no official report of its amount, so far as we
+know, has been published since 1848, we, for accuracy's sake, quote
+the return made in that year.
+
+If railways have produced very important effects upon commercial
+affairs, they have exercised an influence not less important in a
+social and intellectual point of view. They have been greatly
+instrumental in removing prejudices, in cementing old and forming
+new friendships, in extending information, and in sharpening
+ingenuity.
+
+Prejudice has been one of the most formidable obstacles to the
+spread of civilisation. It has for ages kept separate and at enmity
+nations born to bless and benefit each other; propped up systems
+whose graver errors or weaker absurdities now form subjects of
+regret and ridicule; and fomented among the members of smaller
+societies and sects discords, strifes, and recriminations, which
+have been based on no other foundation than wilful or accidental
+ignorance. By bringing those in contact who otherwise would never
+have met, and improving the acquaintance of those who have, railways
+have spread individual opinions, tastes, and information more
+equally than before; and out of this mixture of the social and moral
+elements have collected and more widely distributed just conclusions
+regarding men, manners, politics, and religion. By being thus more
+frequently brought together, individuals have increased the number
+of their acquaintances, and become to a greater extent than before
+'citizens of the world.' A mutual discharge of the good offices of
+life has augmented those feelings of interest in our
+fellow-creatures, and kindness towards them, which are not less in
+accordance with the spirit of Christianity than conducive to the
+social wellbeing of communities.
+
+The knowledge which one acquires by personal experience and
+observation is, generally speaking, much more valuable than that
+obtained from the written experience or observation of others. By
+the former method we obtain knowledge in a more rapid, accurate, and
+impressive manner; and, as a consequence of this, retain it longer
+in our memories, and possess a greater and more constant command
+over it. Books always convey a faint and imperfect, and often a very
+erroneous impression of things; and to the extent that railways have
+superseded or assisted book-teaching, have they conferred upon
+society an improved means of acquiring knowledge.
+
+Through the instrumentality of railways also, an impetus has been
+imparted to the inventive and constructive faculties of the human
+mind. By being brought into more frequent contact with one another,
+individuals whose tastes and occupations are more or less similar
+are naturally led to form comparisons regarding the relative merits
+of their respective productions. This comparison has necessarily
+sharpened invention, improved taste, and suggested improvement. It
+is not too much to affirm, that there is not a single branch of
+industry now pursued within this country which has not, directly or
+indirectly, been benefited to an immense degree by the introduction
+of railways. Having served to bring into one market far more
+articles of commerce than before were exposed in it, this new mode
+of locomotion has to a great extent increased throughout our
+different trades and callings that element of a generous and
+wholesome competition which is the most effective agent in eliciting
+a high degree of skill in the cultivation of an art, or the
+improvement of an invention.
+
+To railways we are also indebted for a new application to practical
+usefulness of one of the most powerful elements in nature's
+laboratory: we refer to the employment of electricity in the
+transmission of thought. Although the wondrous powers and properties
+of the electric telegraph were known long before the introduction of
+the railway system, they were not till then made to minister, as
+they now do, to the information of man. By providing facilities
+towards laying and protecting the delicate machinery along which
+electricity was to perform its marvellous exploits, railways have
+directly contributed to apply and develop the resources of one of
+the most useful and wonderful of inventions, which even in its first
+stage of infancy has wrought a perfect revolution in the mode of
+transmitting intelligence; and which promises at no very distant day
+to play the same part among the continents and islands of the globe
+that it now does between the provinces of an empire.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE PALÆOLOGI.
+
+
+It would be a curious historical problem to trace the families of
+emperors and kings, of heroes and conquerors, from the era of their
+decline and fall to their ultimate extinction. Some 'Old Mortality'
+might find as congenial employment in this field of sepulchral
+research as did the original in clearing up the decayed and
+moss-grown tombs of the Covenanters. The genealogist makes it his
+business rather to flatter the great by blazoning the antiquity of
+their pedigrees, than to teach the world a moral lesson on the
+instability of earthly grandeur, by chronicling their reverses. Yet
+the churchyard has its heraldry, from whose records wisdom might be
+extracted for the benefit of the living.
+
+What dynasty in ancient times held a prouder or wider sway than the
+illustrious masters of the Roman world? The solid fabric of their
+power was the growth of nearly a thousand years, and it cost about
+thirteen centuries of revolutions and barbaric invasions before it
+was undermined and finally extinguished. If its earlier annals were
+disgraced by the crimes of a Tiberius, a Nero, and a Domitian, they
+could boast of the virtues and abilities of a Titus, a Trajan, a
+Nerva, a Hadrian, the two Antonini, &c.; though it must be admitted
+that latterly the balance sadly preponderated on the side of vice
+and corruption. If a Justinian or a Constantine appeared, his reign
+was but a sunbeam in the midst of the universal degeneracy; or if a
+ray of splendour was shed on the empire by his virtues or his
+victories, the transient glory was speedily dispelled by irruptions
+from without, or intrigue and revolt within. Gradually the work of
+decay proceeded, until the vast expanse of the imperial conquests
+was contracted to a few provinces, whose capital had been
+transferred to the shores of the Bosphorus. A languishing existence
+of about six centuries and a half--that is, from the revival of the
+western empire in 800 by Charlemagne, to the taking of
+Constantinople by the Turks in 1453--was brought to a close by the
+death of Constantine Palæologus, the last of a race who had
+continued, says Gibbon, 'to assume the titles of Caesar and Augustus
+after their dominions were circumscribed to the limits of a single
+city, in which the language as well as manners of the ancient Romans
+had been long since forgotten!'
+
+The family of Palæologus was of Greek origin, illustrious in birth
+and merit. 'As early,' says Gibbon, 'as the middle of the eleventh
+century, the noble race of the Palæologi stands high and conspicuous
+in Byzantine history. It was the valiant George Palæologus who
+placed the father of the Comneni on the throne; and his kinsmen or
+descendants continued in each generation to lead the armies and
+councils of the state.' The first that wore the imperial purple was
+Michael, who was elevated to the throne in 1260. Already he had
+distinguished himself as a soldier and a statesman, and had been
+promoted in his early youth to the office of 'constable,' or
+commander of the French mercenaries. His ambition excited jealousy,
+and some acts of imprudence involved him in dangers from which he
+thrice escaped. One of those perils was the usual appeal which was
+made in the middle ages to the 'judgment of God' to vindicate
+injured innocence. To this ordeal Michael submitted, in presence of
+the emperor and the archbishop of Philadelphia. 'Three days before
+the trial, the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag, and secured by
+the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a redhot bolt
+of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary,
+without artifice and without injury. Palæologus eluded the dangerous
+experiment with sense and pleasantry. "I am a soldier," said he,
+"and will boldly enter the list with my accusers; but a layman, a
+sinner like myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. Your
+piety, most holy prelate, may deserve the interposition of Heaven,
+and from your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my
+innocence." The archbishop started, the emperor smiled, and the
+absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by rewards and new
+services.' The voice of the people and the favour of the army placed
+the crown on his head, in recompense for his military exploits and
+his public merits. With his accession terminated the reign of the
+last of the Latin emperors at Constantinople (Baldwin II.), and
+Michael became the founder of the Grecian dynasty.
+
+The labours of the new monarch to retrieve the calamities of war, by
+encouraging industry, planting colonies, and extending trade, were
+deserving of all praise. His ambition raised up against him many
+enemies, spiritual and temporal; but if his policy was not always
+judicious, he increased his power and his fame by greatly enlarging
+his dominions. It was by his intrigues that the revolt of Sicily was
+instigated. A rude insult to a noble damsel by a Frank soldier,
+during a procession on the vigil of Easter (1282), spread the flame
+of insurrection over the whole island, and 8000 Franks were
+exterminated in a promiscuous massacre, which has obtained the name
+of the 'Sicilian Vespers.' His son and successor, Andronicus, was
+reckoned a learned and virtuous prince; but his long reign is
+chiefly memorable for the disputes of the Greek church, the invasion
+of the Catalans, and the rise of the Ottoman power. He associated
+with him in the administration his son Michael, at the age of
+eighteen; and upon the premature death of the latter, his son
+Andronicus, the emperor's favourite, became the colleague of his
+grandfather. The reign of the elder Andronicus was consumed in civil
+discord and disputes with his family, the young princes having
+raised the standard of revolt in order to get possession of the
+throne. He was at length compelled to abdicate; and assuming the
+monastic habit, he spent the last few years of his life in a cell,
+blind and wretched, his only consolation being the promise of a more
+splendid crown in heaven than he had enjoyed on earth.
+
+After a series of inglorious struggles among the princes of the
+imperial house, the crown settled, in 1391, on Manuel, whose reign,
+however, was little else than a train of disasters. His capital was
+besieged by Amurath, and the Turks were masters of nearly the whole
+of his dominions, which had now shrunk into a small corner of
+Thrace, between the Propontis and the Black Sea, about fifty miles
+in length and thirty in breadth. To retrieve his fortunes, Manuel
+resolved on a journey to foreign countries, believing that the sight
+of a distressed monarch would draw tears and supplies from the
+sternest barbarians. From Italy he proceeded to the coast of France,
+where he was received with the characteristic politeness of the
+nation. Two thousand of the richest citizens of Paris, armed and on
+horseback, came forth to meet him; and at the gates he was welcomed
+as a brother by Charles VI., who saluted him with a cordial embrace.
+He was clothed in a robe of white silk, and mounted on a milk-white
+steed--a circumstance of great importance in the French ceremonial,
+white being considered as the emblem of sovereignty. He was lodged
+in the Louvre, and a succession of feasts and balls, varied by the
+pleasures of the chase, was got up for his amusement. Having
+satisfied his curiosity, but without any prospect of assistance, he
+resolved to visit England. In his progress from Dover, he was
+entertained at Canterbury by the prior and monks of St Austin; and
+on Blackheath Henry IV. saluted the Greek hero, who for several days
+was honoured and treated in London as Emperor of the East. Having
+failed in the object of his journey, he returned to Constantinople
+(1402), and was allowed to finish his reign in prosperity and peace
+in 1425.
+
+In his declining age, he had appointed as his associate his eldest
+son John, the second of the name. The corruptions of the church,
+divided between two popes, and the disputes of the clergy, afforded
+him ample scope for the exercise of his religious zeal, and it was
+to heal these ecclesiastical schisms that he undertook a voyage to
+Italy. But the downfall of his race and of the Grecian dynasty was
+approaching. At his decease (1448), there were five princes of the
+imperial house; but the death of Andronicus, and the monastic
+profession of Isidore, had reduced them to three--Constantine,
+Demetrius, and Thomas. Constantine ascended the vacant throne, the
+factious opposition of his brothers having been appeased by the
+interposition of the empress-mother, the senate, the soldiers, and
+the clergy, who allowed them the possession of the Morea.
+
+The first act of the new emperor was to despatch an embassy to
+Georgia to bring home a princess whom he had chosen for his royal
+consort. His next care was to inquire into the state of public
+affairs, which had been completely neglected by the weakness or
+absence of his predecessor. But the imperial drama had reached its
+last act. The danger which had long brooded over the doomed house of
+the Palæologi was ready to burst in resistless fury upon the city of
+the Cæsars. Mohammed II. had vowed to become master of
+Constantinople, and vast were the preparations and the implements of
+war which he had provided for its capture or its destruction. The
+story of the siege need not here be told; nowhere has it been
+recorded with more picturesque and energetic brevity than in the
+glowing pages of Gibbon. Operations were carried on with
+unprecedented vigour and effect, rendered more terrible by the
+lavish use of gunpowder and artillery, then almost new elements in
+the art of war. Constantine did all that a Christian prince and a
+brave general could do. By his example he animated the courage of
+his soldiers, and revived the hearts of the citizens, sinking in
+despair. The scene on the day before the assault is thus described
+by an eye-witness:--'The emperor and some faithful companions
+entered the dome of St Sophia, which in a few hours was to be
+converted into a mosque, and devoutly received with tears and
+prayers the sacrament of the holy communion. He reposed some moments
+in the palace, which resounded with cries and lamentations;
+solicited the pardon of all he might have injured; and mounted on
+horseback to visit the guards and explore the motions of the enemy.'
+But the dreaded 29th of May had come; the last hour of the city and
+the empire had struck. After a siege of fifty-three days,
+Constantinople, to use the words of Gibbon, 'which had defied the
+power of Chosroes, the chazan, and the caliphs, was irretrievably
+subdued by the arms of Mohammed II. Her empire only had been
+subverted by the Latins; her religion was trampled in the dust by
+the Moslem conquerors.'
+
+Constantine had nobly done his duty. Amidst the swarms of the enemy
+who had climbed the walls and were pursuing the flying Greeks
+through the streets, he was long seen with his bravest officers
+fighting round his person, and finally lost. His only fear was that
+of falling alive into the hands of the Infidels, and this fate he
+sought to avert by prudently casting away the purple. Amidst the
+tumult he was pierced by an unknown hand, and his body was buried
+under a mountain of the slain. The last words he was heard to utter
+was the mournful exclamation: 'Cannot there be found a Christian to
+cut off my head?' His death put an end to resistance and order, and
+left the capital to be sacked and pillaged by the victorious Turks.
+Truly has it been said, that the distress and fall of the last
+Constantine are more glorious than the long prosperity of the
+Byzantine Cæsars.
+
+The difficulties and dying moments of the emperor have been
+faithfully and pathetically dramatised by Miss Joanna Baillie in her
+tragedy of _Constantine Palæologus_. She adheres closely to history,
+only she makes her hero receive his deathblow from the sword of a
+relenting Turk, who admires his bravery, and pronounces over him a
+farewell eulogy. All writers agree that the last of the imperial
+Palæologi was the best of his race; and had he not been so ill
+supported by his worthless subjects, and deserted by every Christian
+prince in Europe, he might have repelled the tide of Turkish
+invasion, though he would never have restored the glory of the
+empire. Yet gallantly did he front the storm, and perish as became
+the successor of a long line of kings--the last of the Romans.
+
+The fall of Constantine was the signal for the degradation and
+dispersion of his whole race. His two surviving brothers, Demetrius
+and Thomas, reigned as despots of the Morea in Greece; but the ruin
+of the empire was the gloomy prelude to their own misfortunes.
+Demetrius became the pensioner of the new Turkish emperor Mohammed,
+and received a city of Thrace and some adjacent islands for his own
+maintenance and that of his followers. In this state of humiliating
+dependence he remained until death released him from his ignominious
+servitude. Thomas, the other brother, was driven into exile by the
+invasion of his dominions. He fled to Corfu, and from thence to
+Italy--according to Gibbon's account--'with some naked adherents;
+his name, his sufferings, and the head of the apostle St Andrew,
+entitled him to the hospitality of the Vatican, and his misery was
+prolonged by a pension of 6000 ducats from the pope and cardinals.'
+He left two sons (he must have had a third, as will afterwards
+appear), Andrew and Manuel, who were educated in Italy. The eldest
+degraded himself by the looseness of his life and marriage, and died
+the inheritor of an empty title. Manuel was tempted to revisit his
+native country; and after spending the remainder of his life in
+safety and ease at Constantinople, he was gathered to his fathers,
+'an honourable train of Christians and Moslems attending him to the
+grave.'
+
+From this date--early in the sixteenth century--little is known of
+the name and lineage of the Palæologi. The crescent waved over the
+royal city of Constantine; and, as an old Byzantine annalist
+remarks, the last heir of the last spark of the Roman Empire seemed
+to be extinct. History had forgotten them, and the restless tide of
+human vicissitudes rolled onwards, unconscious of their existence.
+Italy was understood to be the asylum of the imperial outcasts; and
+there they might have vegetated in oblivion, or dropped into
+unhonoured graves without leaving a single representative, had not a
+monumental inscription revealed the fact, that a descendant of the
+Cæsars had found a retreat and a tomb in an obscure parish in
+England. In the small church of Landulph, in Cornwall, the following
+inscription upon a small metal tablet, fixed in the wall, removes
+all doubt as to the identity and royal pedigree of the person whose
+memory it records. In its original spelling it runs thus:--'Here
+lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologvs of Pesaro in Italye, descended
+from ye Imperiall lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece,
+being the sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of
+John, the sonne of Thomas, second brother to Constantine Paleologvs,
+the eighth of that name, and last of ye lyne yt raygned in
+Constantinople vntill svbdeued by the Turkes; who married with Mary
+ye davghter of William Balls of Hadlye in Sorffolke Gent., and had
+issu five children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy,
+and departed this life at Clyfton ye 21st of Janvary 1636.'[1] It
+appears, then, that Theodore, who married and died in Cornwall, was
+the fourth in direct descent from Thomas, younger brother of the
+Emperor Constantine, and who fled 'with some naked adherents to
+Italy,' where his children were educated.[2] The truth of the story
+related in the inscription was corroborated by a circumstance which
+happened upwards of twenty years ago. The vault in which Palæologus
+was interred having been accidently opened, curiosity prompted the
+lifting of the lid. The coffin, which was made of oak, was in an
+entire state, and the body sufficiently perfect to shew that the
+dead man exceeded the common stature. The head was a long oval, and
+the nose believed to have been aquiline; a long white beard reached
+down the breast--another symbol of his Greek extraction.
+
+Of his family little is known: Theodore, the eldest son, was a
+sailor, and died on board the _Charles II._, as is proved by his
+will, dated 1693. He appears to have possessed landed property, and
+to have left a widow named Martha, but no issue. The younger
+daughter, Dorothy, was married at Landulph to William Arundell in
+1636, and died in 1681.[3] Maria died unmarried, and was buried in
+the same church in 1674. Of John and Ferdinando, the other sons, no
+memorial seems to have been preserved in this country; and it was
+believed as highly probable that the church of Landulph contained
+the remains of the last survivors of the Grecian dynasty, once the
+illustrious sovereigns of Byzantium.
+
+Time, however, the great revealer of secrets, brought to light facts
+which proved that one of the sons of Theodore of Pesaro in Italy had
+removed to the West Indies, where he lived for some years, and died
+in 1678. It is mentioned by the historian Oldmixon[4] as a
+tradition, that a descendant of the former imperial Greek family of
+Constantinople resided in Barbadoes; but he doubts the fact, without
+giving any reason for his scepticism. The tradition, however, proves
+to have been quite current, and the circumstance that led to its
+confirmation, and to the discovery of the body of Ferdinando
+Palæologus, and other relics testifying to his connection with the
+Greek emperors, are narrated by Sir Robert Schomburgk in his recent
+history of Barbadoes. During the terrible hurricane of 1831, which
+nearly destroyed the island, among the other public buildings that
+yielded to the violence of the storm, was the parish church of St
+John, which stood in a romantic situation near the 'Cliff,' at an
+elevation of 824 feet. When the ruins were removed, and in clearing
+out the rubbish, 'the coffin of Ferdinando Palæologus (we quote Sir
+Robert's account) was discovered under the organ-loft, in the vault
+of Sir Peter Callotin. The circumstance that the coffin stood in a
+direction opposite to the others deposited in the vault, drew
+attention to it; the head was lying to the west, the feet pointing
+to the east, according to the Greek custom. These accounts raised
+the curiosity of the rector of the parish; and in order to ascertain
+how much truth was connected with the tradition, he resolved to
+examine the supposed coffin of Palæologus; it was consequently
+opened on the 3d of May 1844, in presence of Mr R. Reici, jun.; Mr.
+J.G. Young; and Mr J. Hinkson. The coffin was of lead, and in it was
+found a skeleton of an extraordinary size, imbedded in quicklime,
+which is another proof of the Greek origin of Palæologus, as it is
+the custom in Greece to surround the body with quicklime. The coffin
+was carefully deposited in the vault now in possession of Josiah
+Heath, Esq., of Quintyer's and Redland.'
+
+In the above discovery and examination, the coincidences are so
+numerous and so remarkable as to leave no doubt whatever that the
+Ferdinando Palæologus, whose body lies interred in St John's church,
+was the same individual mentioned in the Landulph inscription as a
+son of Theodore. The size of the skeleton, the envelope of
+quicklime, the position of the body, are corroborative of an Eastern
+descent. The name of the mother, Mary Balls, is an additional
+presumption, as among the earliest proprietors in the island several
+of that name occur; and three estates are given in Oldmixon's list
+as belonging to the family of the Balls. It has been assumed,
+therefore, with good reason, that a relationship may have existed
+between the mother of Ferdinando and the Balls in Barbadoes,
+which--at a period when so many families emigrated from England,
+chiefly from Kent and the southern and western counties--might have
+induced young Palæologus to seek his fortunes in the New World,
+after his father's death in 1636.
+
+Of the residence of Ferdinando in the island for thirty years, ample
+evidence exists in various documents. Sir Robert Schomburgk was
+shewn by the rector of the parish, the Rev. J.H. Gittens, an old
+vestry-book of St John's, in which various entries occur of the name
+of Ferdinando Palæologus, from 1649 till 1669, as vestryman,
+churchwarden, trustee, surveyor of the highway, sidesman to the
+churchwarden, and lieutenant, &c. The last entry is that of his
+burial, 'October 3d 1678.' His name also appears in a legal document
+respecting the sale of some land, executed in 1658. But the most
+important evidence of his identity with the Cornwall family is his
+will, in which the names of his sisters, Maria and Dorothy, occur.
+It was entered in the Registrar's Office, the 20th of March 1678,
+and proved before the deputy-governor, Colonel Christopher
+Codrington. The widow became the sole survivor and heiress of the
+property, Theodorious having died in his youth, so that the last of
+the Palæologi reposes in the parish church of St John, in the island
+of Barbadoes; and the estate which once belonged to the descendant
+of the Greek emperors now forms part of Clifton Hall and the
+Plantation Ashford. Laying these circumstances together, and
+considering how completely the will of Ferdinando corroborates the
+Landulph inscription, of which he probably knew nothing, the
+genealogical problem, we think, is fairly wrought out, and the last
+of the descendants of the Roman Cæsars traced to his final
+resting-place beyond the Atlantic. A curious anecdote is mentioned
+by Sir Robert Schomburgk as to the revival of the tradition of one
+of the Palæologi being in Barbadoes. He says, but without vouching
+for its truth, that during the last conflict for Grecian
+independence and deliverance from the Turkish yoke, a letter was
+received from the provisional government at Athens, addressed to the
+authorities in Barbadoes, inquiring whether a male branch of the
+Palæologi was still existing in the island, and conveying the
+request that if such were the case he should be provided with the
+means of returning to Greece, and the government would, if required,
+pay all the expenses of the voyage. This story was not current in
+Europe, at all events; and we on this side the water never dreamed
+that among the competitors of King Leopold for the throne was a
+veritable scion of the old imperial sovereigns of Constantinople.
+
+The events detailed in the preceding narrative are fitted to suggest
+various interesting reflections and amusing speculations. The fate
+of the Palæologi--one day on a throne, the next in a dungeon,
+passing from regal state to wretched exile--may have been the bitter
+lot of other imperial families. If we find the descendants of the
+Greek emperors in the humble occupation of sailors and
+churchwardens, and vestrymen and road-trustees, there is nothing
+extravagant in the supposition, that we may have royal porters and
+scavengers on our streets, the sceptre having degenerated into the
+besom, and the truck taken the place of the chariot of state. The
+family of Nimrod may still exist, and retain their ancestral
+propensities in the craft of sportsmen and deer-stalkers, or in the
+lower grade of Jehus and jockeys. Who knows but the posterity of
+Solomon may be retailing old clothes, and the heirs of the
+Nebuchadnezzar dynasty still exist somewhere--perhaps among our
+graziers or cattle-dealers, our keepers of dairies or secretaries of
+agricultural associations. The line of Tamerlane may have ended in a
+grave-digger, and that of Frederick Barbarossa in a hair-dresser.
+The ideal transmigration of Pythagoras was not more improbable or
+more wonderful than the strange metamorphoses through which, in the
+course of centuries, the living representatives of kings and
+emperors are sometimes doomed to pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 1: There is a slight error in the date of the inscription,
+as the entry of his burial is October 20th 1636.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Only two sons of Thomas are mentioned by Gibbon--Andrew
+and Manuel; but the evidence of the Landulph tablet shews that he
+must have had a third, John.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Her name is entered in the register as 'Dorothea
+Paleologus de Stirpe Imperatorious.']
+
+[Footnote 4: _British Empire in America_, vol. ii. p. 111.]
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER ON CATS.
+
+
+The newspapers have recently been chronicling, as a fact provocative
+of especial wonder, the enterprise of some speculative merchant of
+New York, who has just been despatching a cargo of one hundred cats
+to the republic of New Granada, in which it would appear the race,
+owing, as we may believe, to the frequently disturbed state of the
+country, has become almost extinct.
+
+Your cat is a domestic animal, and naturally conservative in its
+tastes--averse therefore to uproar, and to all those given to
+change. Its propensities are to meditation and contemplative
+tranquillity, for which reason it has ever been held in reverence by
+nations of a similar staid and composed disposition, and has been
+the favourite companion and constant friend of grave philosophers
+and thoughtful students. By the ancient Egyptians cats were held in
+the highest esteem; and we learn from Diodorus Siculus, their 'lives
+and safeties' were tendered more dearly than those of any other
+animal, whether biped or quadruped. 'He who has voluntarily killed a
+consecrated animal,' says this writer, 'is punished with death; but
+if any one has even involuntarily killed a cat or an ibis, it is
+impossible for him to escape death: the mob drags him to it,
+treating him with every cruelty, and sometimes without waiting for
+judgment to be passed. This treatment inspires such terror, that, if
+any person happen to find one of these animals dead, he goes to a
+distance from it, and by his cries and groans indicates that he has
+found the animal dead. This superstition is so deeply rooted in the
+minds of the Egyptians, and the respect they bear these animals is
+so profound, that at the time when their king, Ptolemy, was not yet
+declared the friend of the Roman people--when they were paying all
+possible court to travellers from Italy, and their fears made them
+avoid every ground of accusation and every pretext for making war
+upon them--yet a Roman having killed a cat, the people rushed to his
+house, and neither the entreaties of the grandees, whom the king
+sent for the purpose, nor the terror of the Roman name, could
+protect this man from punishment, although the act was involuntary.
+I do not relate this anecdote,' adds the historian, 'on the
+authority of another, for I was an eye-witness of it during my stay
+in Egypt.'[5]
+
+During their lives, the consecrated cats were fed upon fish, kept
+for the purpose in tanks; and 'when one of them happened to die,'
+says the veracious writer just cited, 'it was wrapped in linen, and
+after the bystanders had beaten themselves on the breast, it was
+carried to the Tarichoea, where it was embalmed with coedria and
+other substances which have the virtue of embalming bodies, after
+which it was interred in the sacred monument.' It has puzzled not a
+little the learned archæologists, who have endeavoured to discover a
+profound philosophy figured and symbolised in the singular mythology
+of the Egyptians, to explain how it is that in Thebes, where the
+sacred character of the cat was held in the highest reverence, and
+cherished with the greatest devotion, not only embalmed cats have
+been found, but also the bodies of rats and mice, which had been
+subjected to the same anti-putrescent process. If, however,
+Herodotus is to be credited, the Egyptians owed a deep debt of
+gratitude to the mice; for the venerable historian assures us, and
+on the unquestionable authority of the Egyptian priests, that when
+Sennacherib and his army lay at Pelusium, a mighty corps of
+field-mice entered the camp by night, and eating up the quivers,
+bowstrings, and buckler-leathers of the Assyrian troops, in this
+summary fashion liberated Egypt from the terror of the threatened
+invasion. Probably the existence of mice-mummies may be accounted
+for in this way, and if--resorting to no violent supposition--we
+presume in the good work which the tiny patriots so sagaciously
+accomplished that their cousins-german the rats were assistant, the
+whole matter receives a satisfactory explication. The hypothesis, it
+is submitted, is not without plausible recommendations on its
+behalf. There is extant a fragment of a comedy, entitled 'The
+Cities,' written by the Rhodian poet Anaxandrides, in which the
+Egyptian worship of animals is amusingly enough quizzed. A
+translation will be found in Dr Prichard's _Analysis of Egyptian
+Mythology_. The lines referring to cat-worship are as follow:--
+
+  'You cry and wail whene'er ye spy a cat,
+  Starving or sick; I count it not a sin
+  To hang it up, and flay it for its skin;'
+
+from which it appears this gay free-thinker was not only somewhat
+sceptical in his religious notions, but, moreover, a hard-hearted,
+good-for-nothing fellow--one who, had he lived in our times, would
+unquestionably have brought himself within the sweep of the Society
+for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Duke of Beaufort's
+Humanity Act.
+
+We learn from Herodotus that in his days it was customary, whenever
+a cat died, for the whole household at once to go into mourning, and
+this although the lamented decease might have been the result of old
+age, or other causes purely natural. In the case of a cat's death,
+however, the eyebrows only were required to be shaved off; but when
+a dog, a beast of more distinguished reputation, departed this life,
+every inmate of the house was expected to shave his head and whole
+body all over. Both cats and dogs are watched and attended to with
+the greatest solicitude during illness. Indeed, by the ancient
+Egyptians the cat was treated much in the same way as are dogs
+amongst us: we find them even accompanying their masters on their
+aquatic shooting-excursions; and, if the testimony of ancient
+monuments is to be relied on, often catching the game for them,
+although it may be permitted to doubt whether they ever actually
+took to the water for this purpose.
+
+In modern Egypt the cat, although more docile and companionable than
+its European sister, has much degenerated; but still, on account of
+its usefulness in destroying scorpions and other reptiles, it is
+treated with some consideration--suffered to eat out of the same
+dish with the children, to join with them in their sports, and to be
+their constant companion and daily friend. A modern Egyptian would
+esteem it a heinous sin indeed, to destroy, or even maltreat a cat;
+and we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that benevolent
+individuals have bequeathed funds by which a certain number of these
+animals are daily fed at Cairo at the Cadi's court, and the bazaar
+of Khan Khaleel.
+
+But a tender regard for the inferior animals is a prevailing
+characteristic of the Oriental races, and is inculcated as a duty by
+their various religions. At Fez there was, and perhaps is at this
+day, a wealthily-endowed hospital, the greater part of the funds of
+which was devoted to the support and medical treatment of invalid
+cranes and storks, and procuring them a decent sepulture whenever
+they chanced to die. The founders are said to have entertained the
+poetical notion that these birds are, in truth, human beings,
+natives of distant islands, who at certain periods assume a foreign
+shape, and after they have satisfied their curiosity with visiting
+other lands, return to their own, and resume their original form.
+
+To return, however, not to our sheep, but our cats, we must remark
+that, in modern times, in spite of the kindness the cat habitually
+receives in Egypt, his _morale_ is not in that country rated very
+high--the universal impression being that, although, like Snug the
+joiner's lion, he is by nature 'a very gentle beast,' still he is by
+no means 'of a good conscience;' that he is, in short, a most
+ungrateful beast; and that when, in a future state, it is asked of
+him how he has been treated by man in this, he will obstinately deny
+all the benefits he has received at his hand, and give him such a
+character for cruelty and hardness of heart as is shocking to think
+of. The dog, however, it is understood, will conduct himself more
+discreetly, and readily acknowledge the good offices for which he is
+indebted to the family of mankind.
+
+Singular anecdotes have been related of the intense repugnance
+persons have been found to entertain to these, at worst, harmless
+animals. One shall be given in the very words of the Rev. Nicholas
+Wanley, who, in his authentic _Wonders of the Little World_, has
+recorded a number of other facts quite as marvellous, and sustained
+by testimony not one whit more exceptionable:--'Mathiolus tells of a
+German, who coming in winter-time into an inn to sup with him and
+some other of his friends, the woman of the house being acquainted
+with his temper (lest he should depart at the sight of a young cat
+which she kept to breed up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a
+chest in the same room where we sat at supper. But though he had
+neither seen nor heard it, yet after some time that he had sucked in
+the air infected by the cat's breath, that quality of his
+temperament that had antipathy to that creature being provoked, he
+sweat, and, of a sudden, paleness came over his face, and, to the
+wonder of us all that were present, he cried out that in some corner
+of the room there was a cat that lay hid.' Not long after the battle
+of Wagram and the second occupation of Vienna by the French, an
+aide-de-camp of Napoleon, who at the time occupied, together with
+his suite, the Palace of Schönbrunn, was proceeding to bed at an
+unusually late hour, when, on passing the door of Napoleon's
+bedroom, he was surprised by a most singular noise, and repeated
+calls from the Emperor for assistance. Opening the door hastily, and
+rushing into the room, a singular spectacle presented itself--the
+great soldier of the age, half undressed, his countenance agitated,
+the beaded drops of perspiration standing on his brow, in his hand
+his victorious sword, with which he was making frequent and
+convulsive lunges at some invisible enemy through the tapestry that
+lined the walls. It was a cat that had secreted herself in this
+place; and Napoleon held cats not so much in abhorrence as in
+terror. 'A feather,' says the poet, 'daunts the brave;' and a
+greater poet, through the mouth of his Shylock, remarks that 'there
+are some that are mad if they behold a cat--a harmless, necessary
+cat.' Count Bertram would seem to have shared in this unaccountable
+aversion. When 'Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, that had
+the whole theory of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice
+in the chape of his dagger,' was convicted of mendacity and
+cowardice, Bertram exclaimed, 'I could endure anything before this
+but a cat, and now he's a cat to me.' The force of censure could no
+further go.
+
+If Napoleon, however, held cats, as has been averred, in positive
+fear, there have been others, and some of them illustrious captains,
+that have regarded them with other feelings. Marshal Turenne could
+amuse himself for hours in playing with his kittens; and the great
+general, Lord Heathfield, would often appear on the walls of
+Gibraltar, at the time of the famous siege, attended by his
+favourite cats. Cardinal Richelieu was also fond of cats; and when
+we have enumerated the names of Cowper and Dr Johnson, of Thomas
+Gray and Isaac Newton, and, above all, of the tender-hearted and
+meditative Montaigne, the list is far from complete of those who
+have bestowed on the feline race some portion of their affections.
+
+Butler, in his _Hudibras_, observes, in an oft-quoted passage, that
+
+  'Montaigne, playing with his cat,
+  Complains she thought him but an ass.'
+
+And the annotator on this passage, in explanation, adds, that
+'Montaigne in his Essays supposes his cat thought him a fool for
+losing his time in playing with her;' but, under favour, this is a
+misinterpretation of the essayist's sentiment, and something like a
+libel on the capacity of both himself and cat. Montaigne's words
+are: 'When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her
+more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert each other with our
+play. If I have my hour to begin or refuse, so also has she hers.'
+Nobody who has read the striking essay in which these words appear
+could for a moment misconceive their author's meaning. He is
+vindicating natural theology from the objections of some of its
+opponents, and in the course of his argument he takes occasion to
+dwell on the wonderful instincts, and almost rational sagacity of
+the inferior animals. We must, however, lament that, although he
+does full justice to the 'half-reasoning elephant,' to the aptitude
+and fidelity of the dog, to the marvellous economical arrangements
+of the bees, and even to the imitative capacity of the magpie, he
+pays no higher tribute to the merits of the cat than that she is as
+capable of being amused as himself, and like himself, too, has her
+periods of gravity when recreative sports are distasteful. Her
+social qualities he does not allude to, though he, so eminently
+social himself, could scarcely have failed to appreciate them.
+
+In this country, at this time, cats have superseded parlour
+favourites decidedly less agreeable in their appearance, and
+infinitely more mischievous in their habits. Writing in the
+seventeenth century, Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, remarks
+that 'Turkey gentlewomen, that are perpetual prisoners, still mewed
+up according to the custom of the place, have little else, beside
+their household business or to play with their children, to drive
+away time but to dally with their cats, which they have _in
+delitiis_, as many of our ladies and gentlewomen use monkeys and
+little dogs.' It is not the least merit of the cat that it has
+banished from our sitting-rooms those frightful mimicries of
+humanity--the monkey tribe; and as to the little dogs Tray, Blanch,
+and Sweetheart, although we are not insensible to their many virtues
+and utilities, we care not to see them sleeping on our hearth-rug,
+or reposing beside our work-tables.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 5: In the matter of fanaticism, the modern Egyptians, or
+rather the inhabitants of Alexandria, seem hardly to have
+degenerated from their ethnic 'forbears,' as we read in Mr J.A. St
+John's travels the account of a serious insurrection which broke out
+some years ago in that city, in consequence of certain Jews having
+taken up the butcher's trade, and having slain the meat with a knife
+having _three_ instead of _five nails_ in the handle!]
+
+
+
+
+BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.
+
+
+Bengal is blessed with a mild climate and a fertile soil. Provisions
+are consequently cheap; and as neither substantial houses nor
+expensive clothing is there essential to comfort, we might naturally
+expect to see less of misery and destitution than in this country.
+Such, however, is not the case. Our severe winter engenders habits
+of industry and forethought, which are unknown in India. The ease
+with which in most cases their few wants are supplied, renders the
+inhabitants of that country in the highest degree improvident; and
+nowhere do we see a greater number of beggars, and misery and
+destitution paraded through the streets in more revolting forms.
+
+There are no poor-laws in any part of India. Relief, however, is not
+withheld, nor indeed sparingly bestowed. Many can afford to give a
+little; and where nothing is exacted, many give willingly. Little
+charity is bestowed by Europeans in the streets, as they generally
+ride in palanquins or carriages, and as, besides, they feel the
+weight even of a purse too much on a hot day. However, let it not be
+supposed that they, like Dives, wallow in wealth, and close their
+ears to the importunities of the heathen. The Baboo or Sircar gives
+weekly or monthly pensions to some patronised beggars; and on a
+Saturday in some large towns, the blind, lame, and halt come to the
+gates of the grandees, and receive from the trusty _durwan_ or
+doorkeeper a handful of cowries and coarse rice, of which one, two,
+or three rupees' worth are mixed up, according to the circumstances
+of the master. But it is not to ordinary beggars I now propose to
+draw the attention of the reader--the infirm or the lazy, with whom
+we are all tolerably familiar. But in India there is another class
+of beggars--_religious_ and _professional_ beggars--who are proud of
+their calling. I do not mean that there are no religious mendicants
+to be found at home; but although the object to be attained in both
+countries may be similar, the agents employed in the East are so
+different, that a description of them will to many European readers
+have all the gloss of novelty.
+
+The two principal sects in Bengal are known as _Soneeassees_ and
+_Byrâgees_. The former _exclusively_ worship Mahado. 'They are not
+to inhabit houses or temples,' say their scriptures; 'but to live in
+woods and forests, under the wide expanse of heaven, _there_ to
+meditate upon the greatness of the Creator, and contemplate his
+beautiful works.' An infant who is to become a Soneeassee has from
+his birth the badge of Sheva upon him: no razor ever touches his
+hair, and his locks are matted and dishevelled, when other
+children's are neatly combed and anointed. When he approaches
+manhood, he takes the vow of celibacy, he receives from the hand of
+the Brahmin the _muntra_ or mystical creed, the dried skin of an
+antelope, and a piece of coarse, unbleached cotton, stained yellow
+with ochre, which he can use as a plaid, it being seven feet long;
+upon the skin he is supposed to sit and sleep, and the cloth
+overshadows the shoulders of the young enthusiast. Even after these
+are worn out, as it is supposed that the devotee is pretty well
+broken in to the hardships of his situation, they on no account may
+be renewed. These Soneeassees seldom adhere to the letter of their
+religion in the present day, although it is said that in times gone
+by some of their class have sat absorbed and abstracted until their
+spirit held communion with the great god--their bodies wasting away
+from neglect, and their nails growing like claws. In the present
+day, prayer and meditation are given to the winds, and they may be
+seen fat and sleek, perambulating the streets of the towns and
+villages, smeared over with ashes and ochre, and great coils of
+matted hair, which some tastefully wind like a turban round their
+head. They take care also to display, in glaring red and white
+paint, upon their foreheads and arms, the various insignia or marks
+of Sheva, such as the trident. Occasionally one also flourishes
+about a _steel_ trident, which the figure of Mahado always wields in
+his hand, and which is also placed on the summit of his temple. The
+Soneeassees are the most impudent and importunate of beggars. There
+came under my notice a band of three, who used regularly to visit
+the town twice a week. These men had made a vow to collect a certain
+number of rupees to build a temple, and for this purpose infested
+the doors of the wealthiest of the Hindoo community, and followed
+and persecuted them even in their drives with continued cries. It is
+astonishing how soon superstition enabled them to fulfil their vow,
+and how the extortioners were allowed to escape the punishment their
+impudence deserved.
+
+The Byrâgees are not so intrusive a sect. They frequently live in
+the open air, though not prohibited from seeking other shelter.
+Their heads are differently treated from those of the Soneeassees,
+for both men and women have the crown shaved quite smooth. Both
+sexes wear a piece of cloth checked like shepherd's plaid. They have
+great strings of wooden beads, or _malâhs_, turned out of the stalks
+of the holy toolsie, round their necks; and they generally collect
+their rice and cowries in a dried gourd-shell. Persons of this sect
+at their death are placed in an upright position in a deep grave,
+and so consumed with fire. In former times, the widows used to burn
+themselves with their lords. The Byrâgees, when they attain years of
+discretion, may choose their wives from any caste they please. Some
+of the Byragins, therefore, are said to be far cleverer than the
+everyday Hindoo women, having been selected from a class which are
+looked down upon by the others, but who are taught high
+accomplishments, and are devoted to the temples of the gods. In his
+begging excursions the Byrâgee carries a pair of cymbals or a small
+gong; and singing the songs of Krishna, and his courtships among the
+milkmaids, he delights the hearts of his Hindoo hearers, and makes
+them lavish of their gifts.
+
+The English reader perhaps has never heard of a beggar such as I
+shall now depict. One may happen to be in a reflective mood, and
+aroused from his meditations by what he supposes to be a cow lowing
+close to his ear. He starts up and goes to the window, but instead
+of that quadruped he finds a man standing with a rope round his
+neck, and a woful countenance, holding out his palms, indicating
+that he wants charity. This man has had the misfortune to lose his
+cow; and as it died tethered, his religion imposes on him the
+penalty of begging from door to door without speaking, but imitating
+the cow, till he has realised enough to purchase one of these sacred
+animals, and to give something besides in charity to the Brahmins.
+This provision was perhaps made by the religion of the country in
+favour of the cow, to preserve so useful an animal from
+ill-treatment; and it is astonishing to see how implicitly the
+Hindoo submits himself to a mere convention, which he might easily
+evade.
+
+
+
+
+A LATE PRISON REPORT.
+
+
+In the Sixteenth Report on the state of the Prisons, by Mr Frederic
+Hill, lately laid before parliament, will be found some passages
+worthy of general attention. While speaking favourably of the system
+of discipline now ordinarily pursued towards prisoners, Mr Hill is
+obliged to admit that certain prisons are rendered much too
+attractive; in fact, that they create crime. It is important that
+this condition of affairs should be known. Good food and medical
+attendance are, it seems, the attractions. The following are Mr
+Hill's words, with the quotations he makes from the statements of
+prison officials:--
+
+'Several of the prisons continue to be attractive, to certain
+classes of persons, instead of repulsive; owing, apparently in some
+instances, to the better dietary of the prison as compared with that
+of the workhouse; in others, to the good medical treatment generally
+provided in prisons; and in others, to a practice of giving
+prisoners clothing on their liberation, a practice which, did the
+law permit, might be replaced by a rule enabling prisoners to earn
+clothing by extra labour.
+
+'The governor of the borough prison at Cambridge stated that many
+persons were reckless about committing offences, because they
+preferred being sent to the prison to going to the workhouse, owing
+chiefly (according to their statements) to their getting better food
+at the prison.
+
+'The chaplain of the prison at Spilsby stated as follows:--"I am
+sorry to observe that the present system of discipline here does not
+deter people from the commission of crime. Several have said that
+they would rather come here than go to the Union workhouse." ...
+
+'Mr Dunn, one of the surgeons of the prison at Wakefield, states--"I
+am convinced that many persons, especially females, get committed to
+the prison on purpose to be cured of attacks of disease. Many of
+them have admitted to me that it was so. A man from Bradford, who
+went out last week, told me that he had been here before, and that
+he had got committed again in consequence of his having a return of
+his disease, and that he came to be cured.... One man who was here
+for a month last autumn, and who came in a very diseased state, but
+who left cured, required, during nearly the whole time, a pint of
+wine per day, besides malt liquor. It was a case in which a very
+liberal diet is necessary to preserve life; and it was requisite to
+have a prisoner, acting as nurse, to sit up with him through the
+night. The cost to the West Riding of this single case, counting
+expenses of all kinds, could not have been less than L.6."
+
+'The governor of the city prison at York said--"By the
+acknowledgments of the prisoners themselves, I know that the
+practice still continues of committing offences on purpose to get
+committed to this prison. Four prisoners were liberated this morning
+who had broken a street-lamp with the evident intention of being
+sent to this prison. They were sentenced to seven days'
+imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
+with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
+one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
+the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
+order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
+who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
+opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
+sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
+pass their time in idleness; no prisoners except those sentenced to
+hard labour being set to work."
+
+'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
+at the same prison:--
+
+"_Dec. 12th, 1849._--The number of prisoners who commit offences
+with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
+yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
+expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
+is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward."'
+
+If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
+been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
+when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
+got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
+worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
+tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
+the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
+and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
+it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
+vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
+is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
+desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
+shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
+for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
+comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
+utterly-abandoned class!
+
+Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
+that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
+labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
+wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
+their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
+criminal class possessed the feelings of gentlemen; whereas the real
+thing to be thought of, was to give them labour so excessively
+toilsome and irksome as to be remembered with salutary horror all
+the days of their life. For example, no kind of punishment, we
+believe, has proved so sure a terror as that of the shot-drill in
+the military prisons. This consists in lifting a cannon-ball of
+perhaps twenty pounds' weight; marching with it for a dozen yards;
+then laying it down; and so on, repeating the same thing for an
+hour. Now this is clearly a useless and most degrading species of
+labour; yet it is a terrible infliction, and we are told seldom
+fails in its effect--that is to say, it deters from the commission
+of crime.
+
+The experience of the last few years would shew that much is still
+to be learned in the art of criminal discipline; and indeed the
+whole question of what is to be done with our criminal population is
+becoming daily more perplexing. Mere confinement is found to be of
+small avail. Transportation is exploded; for it improves the
+circumstances of criminals instead of making them worse. Capital
+punishment has also had its day, and, excepting for a very few
+offences, is abandoned as useless, independently of being revolting
+to humanity. One writer proposes to work convicts in gangs at
+out-door labour, such as mining, and making railways; but the public
+would never tolerate the spectacle of this worst species of
+slave-labour; and besides, the employment of honest workers would be
+ruined. We are inclined to think that imprisonment, in a severe
+form, is after all the only practicable means of dealing with
+criminals. If anything be urgently wanted, it is a plan for
+preventing the growth of the criminal class; and this probably is
+not so difficult as it may appear. Of course, till there be a far
+broader system of public education than now prevails, the criminal
+population will never want recruits. Nevertheless, even with our
+present imperfect educational arrangements, something might be done.
+The criminal class is discovered to be on the whole a narrow class.
+The practice of living by depredation runs in families, and clings
+to individuals. The police of any given town could put their hand on
+almost every person who lives by fraud, theft, and robbery. They
+could at a day's notice secure nearly every one of them. A knowledge
+of this fact has suggested to Mr Matthew Hill a plan for capturing
+the whole criminal class, and obliging them to give security for
+their good behaviour; failing which, they should suffer
+incarceration as notoriously dangerous and troublesome to society. A
+fear of trenching on the liberty of the subject may prevent this
+ingenious scheme of the Recorder of Birmingham from being carried
+into effect; but to something or other of the kind he proposes,
+society must come at last, if it wish to save itself from being
+everlastingly worried and plundered by a habitually predatory class.
+In the Prison Report to which we have above referred, mention is
+made of a single family of thieves, consisting of fifteen
+individuals, who cost the country L.26,000 before they were got rid
+of. Is not such a fact quite monstrous!
+
+
+
+
+FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.
+
+
+In an American work--_Glances at Europe_, by Mr H. Greeley--the
+following sound observations occur on the battle-pictures in the
+palace of Versailles: 'These battle-pieces have scarcely more
+historic than artistic value, since the names of at least half of
+them might be transposed, and the change be undetected by
+ninety-nine out of every hundred who see them. If _all_ the French
+battles were thus displayed, it might be urged with plausibility
+that these galleries were historical in their character; but a full
+half of the story--that which tells of French disaster and
+discomfiture--is utterly suppressed. The battles of Ptolemais, of
+Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &c. are here as
+imposing as paint can make them; but never a whisper of Agincourt,
+Cressy, Poitiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies; nor yet of Salamanca, of
+Vittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession of
+forays which the French have for the last twenty years been
+prosecuting in Algerine Africa, here shine resplendent; for Vernet
+has painted, by Louis-Philippe's order, and at France's cost, a
+succession of battle-pieces, wherein French numbers and science are
+seen prevailing over Arab barbarism and irregular valour, in combats
+whereof the very names have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though
+they occurred but yesterday. One of these is much the largest
+painting I ever saw, and is probably the largest in the world, and
+it seems to have been got up merely to exhibit one of
+Louis-Philippe's sons in the thickest of the fray. Last of all, we
+have the Capture of Abd-el-Kader, as imposing as Vernet could make
+it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewith he has been
+retained for several years in bondage, in violation of the express
+agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in its general
+effect, delusive and mischievous--the purpose being to exhibit war
+as always glorious, and France as uniformly triumphant. It is by
+means like these that the business of shattering knee-joints and
+multiplying orphans is kept in countenance.'
+
+
+
+
+NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.
+
+
+A patent has been taken out for the following applications of
+mangel-wurzel:--_1st_, To prepare a substance which may be combined
+with, or employed in place of coffee, the mangel-wurzel roots are
+well washed, cut into pieces; about the size of peas or beans, and
+then dried and roasted in the same manner as coffee-berries. The
+product is ground after being roasted, and it is then ready for use.
+_2d_, A substitute for tea is produced by cutting the leaves of
+mangel-wurzel into small strips or shreds, drying the same, and then
+placing them upon a hot plate, which is kept at a temperature
+sufficiently high to slightly char the leaves. The charred
+mangel-wurzel leaves are to be used in precisely the same way as
+tea. _3d_, To manufacture a fermented liquor, the mangel-wurzel
+roots are well washed, cut into small pieces, and put into a vat,
+wherein they are permitted to ferment for two or three days, at a
+temperature of about 70 degrees, and water is added thereto. A
+fermented liquor is thus obtained similar to perry or cider. _4th_,
+When the mangel-wurzel roots are to be employed in the preparation
+of wort, they are washed, and cut into small pieces, which are
+dried, or slightly charred, by the action of kilns or ovens, of the
+kind used for drying malt; and wort is prepared from this produce in
+the same manner as from malt.
+
+
+
+
+THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.[6]
+
+
+                             I.
+
+  The great human whirlpool!--'tis seething and seething:
+  On! No time for shrieking out, no time for breathing;
+  All toiling and moiling--some feebler, some bolder,
+  But each sees a fiend-face grin over his shoulder:
+      Thus merrily live they in Vanity Fair!
+
+  The great human caldron--it boils ever higher;
+  Some drowning, some sinking; while some, creeping nigher,
+  Come thirsting to lean o'er its outermost verges,
+  Or touch--as a child's feet touch trembling the surges:
+      One plunge--Ho! more souls swamped in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'Let's live while we live, for to-morrow all's over.
+  Drink deep, drunkard bold! and kiss close, thou mad lover!
+  Smile, hypocrite, smile! it is no such hard labour,
+  While each with red hand tears the heart of his neighbour
+      All slyly.--We're strange folk in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'Hist!--each for himself, or _herself_, which sounds smoother,
+  Though man's no upholder, and woman no soother,
+  Both struggle alike here.--What, weeping?--what, raving?
+  Pah!--fight out the battle all! No time for saving!
+      Ha! ha! 'tis a wondrous place, Vanity Fair!'
+
+  The mad crowd divides, and then closes swift after;
+  Afar, towers the pyre, lit with shouting and laughter;
+  'What new sport is this?' lisps a reveller, half turning;--
+  'One Faithful, poor wretch! who is led to the burning:
+      He cumbered us sorely in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'A dreamer--who held every man for a brother;
+  A coward--who, emit on one cheek, gave the other:
+  A fool--whose blind truth aye believed all knaves' lying;
+  Too simple to live, so most fitted for dying.
+      Ha! such are best swept out of Vanity Fair.'
+
+
+                             II.
+
+  Silence! though the flame-drifts wave and flutter;
+  Silence! though the crowd their curses mutter;
+  Silence! through this fiery purgatory
+  God is leading up a soul to glory.
+
+  See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,
+  Hate of foes, or plaint of friends' dissembling;
+  If sighs come--most patient prayers outlive them:
+  _'Lord, these know not what they do. Forgive them!'_
+
+  Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing,
+  Fainter in his ear the laughters growing;
+  Brief endures the fierce and fiery trial--
+  Angel-welcomes drown the earth-denial.
+
+  Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,
+  Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body,
+  While through harmless flames immortal flying
+  Shoots the beauteous soul. This--this is _dying_!
+
+  Lo! the opening heavens with splendours rifted;
+  Lo! the palms that wait those hands uplifted;
+  And the fiery chariot cloud-descending,
+  And the legioned angels close attending!
+
+  Let his poor dust mingle with the embers,
+  While the crowd sweeps on, and none remembers;
+  Saints and angels through the Infinite glory,
+  Praising God, recount the martyr's story.
+
+  Thou, who through the trial-fires bewildering
+  Of this cruel world, dost lead Thy children,
+  With the purifying give the balm;
+  Grant to martyr-pangs the martyr's palm!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 6: Suggested partly by a sketch in David Scott's
+illustrations of the _Pilgrim's Progress_.]
+
+
+
+
+VARIETY OF AMBER.
+
+
+There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
+very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
+amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
+buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
+the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
+cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
+quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
+standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
+pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
+divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
+yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
+little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
+was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
+Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
+effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
+of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
+opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
+amber beautifully transparent.
+
+
+
+
+HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?
+
+
+Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
+because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
+blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
+and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
+circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
+attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
+reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
+substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
+detected the animal quality--the ammonia--in the wool of the
+blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
+something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
+committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
+the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
+out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
+contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
+hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
+opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN EDITOR.
+
+
+He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick he
+twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to
+frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the
+pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of
+the most beautiful 'persuaders' ever manufactured by Colt, we are
+satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers. We should also
+state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but
+that on every Saturday until one o'clock P.M. he is always at the
+office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every
+satisfaction for the articles he publishes.--_Boston Rouge Gazette._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent
+to MAXWELL & Co., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom
+all applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419,
+New Series, January 10, 1852, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14502 ***
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+    <title>Chambers' Edinburgh Journal Vol. XVII. No. 419. January 10,
+    1852</title>
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14502 ***</div>
+
+<h1>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL</h1>
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+ <a href="#article1">THE LOST AGES.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article2">STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article3">INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article4">THE LAST OF THE PAL&AElig;OLOGI.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article5">A CHAPTER ON CATS.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article6">BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article7">A LATE PRISON REPORT.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article8">FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article9">NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article10">THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article11">VARIETY OF AMBER.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article12">HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?</a><br />
+ <a href="#article13">AN AMERICAN EDITOR.</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span>
+
+<img src="images/banner.png"
+          width="100%"
+          alt="Banner: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal" />
+
+<h3>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &amp;c.</h3>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<table width="100%"
+           summary="Volume, Date and Price">
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><b>No. 419.&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW SERIES.</b></td>
+<td align="left"><b>SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1852.</b></td>
+<td align="right"><b>PRICE 1&frac12;<i>d</i>.</b></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+    <hr class="full" />
+
+<h2><a name="article1" id="article1">
+THE LOST AGES.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>My friends, have you read Elia? If so, follow me, walking in the
+shadow of his mild presence, while I recount to you my vision of the
+Lost Ages. I am neither single nor unblessed with offspring, yet,
+like Charles Lamb, I have had my 'dream-children.' Years have flown
+over me since I stood a bride at the altar. My eyes are dim and
+failing, and my hairs are silver-white. My real children of flesh
+and blood have become substantial men and women, carving their own
+fortunes, and catering for their own tastes in the matter of wives
+and husbands, leaving their old mother, as nature ordereth, to the
+stillness and repose fitted for her years. Understand, this is not
+meant to imply that the fosterer of their babyhood, the instructor
+of their childhood, the guide of their youth, is forsaken or
+neglected by those who have sprung up to maturity beneath her eye.
+No; I am blessed in my children. Living apart, I yet see them often;
+their joys, their cares are mine. Not a Sabbath dawns but it finds
+me in the midst of them; not a holiday or a festival of any kind is
+noted in the calendar of their lives, but Grandmamma is the first to
+be sent for. Still, of necessity, I pass much of my time alone; and
+old age is given to reverie quite as much as youth. I can remember a
+time&mdash;long, long ago&mdash;when in the twilight of a summer evening it
+was a luxury to sit apart with closed eyes; and, heedless of the
+talk that went on in the social circle from which I was withdrawn,
+indulge in all sorts of fanciful visions. Then my dream-people were
+all full-grown men and women. I do not recollect that I ever thought
+about children until I possessed some of my own. Those waking
+visions were very sweet&mdash;sweeter than the realities of life that
+followed; but they were neither half so curious nor half so
+wonderful as the dreams that sometimes haunt me now. The imagination
+of the old is not less lively than that of the young: it is only
+less original. A youthful fancy will create more new images; the
+mind of age requires materials to build with: these supplied, the
+combinations it is capable of forming are endless. And so were born
+my dream-children.</p>
+
+<p>Has it never occurred to you, mothers and fathers, to wonder what
+has become of your children's lost ages? Look at your little boy of
+five years old. Is he at all, in any respect, the same breathing
+creature that you beheld three years back? I think not. Whither,
+then, has the sprite vanished? In some hidden fairy nook, in some
+mysterious cloud-land he must exist still. Again, in your
+slim-formed girl of eight years, you look in vain for the sturdy elf
+of five. Gone? No; that cannot be&mdash;'a thing of beauty is a joy for
+ever.' Close your eyes: you have her there! A breeze-like, sportive,
+buoyant thing; a thing of breathing, laughing, unmistakable life;
+she is mirrored on your retina as plainly as ever was dancing
+sunbeam on a brook. The very trick of her lip&mdash;of her eye; the
+mischief-smile, the sidelong saucy glance,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i8">'That seems to say,</p>
+<p>I know you love me, Mr Grey;'</p >
+</div></div>
+
+<p>is it not traced there&mdash;all, every line, as clear as when it
+brightened the atmosphere about you in the days that are no more? To
+be sure it is; and being so, the thing must exist&mdash;somewhere.</p>
+
+<p>I never was more fully possessed with this conviction than once
+during the winter of last year. It was Christmas-eve. I was sitting
+alone, in my old armchair, and had been looking forward to the
+fast-coming festival-day with many mingled thoughts&mdash;some tender,
+but regretful; others hopeful, yet sad; some serious, and even
+solemn. As I laid my head back and sat thus with closed eyes,
+listening to the church-clock as it struck the hour, I could not but
+feel that I was passing&mdash;very slowly and gently it is true&mdash;towards
+a time when the closing of the grave would shut out even that sound
+so familiar to my ear; and when other and more precious sounds of
+life-human voices, dearer than all else, would cease to have any
+meanings for me&mdash;and even their very echoes be hushed in the silence
+of the one long sleep. Following the train of association, it was
+natural that I should recur to the hour when that same church's
+bells had chimed my wedding-peal. I seemed to hear their music once
+again; and other music sweeter still&mdash;the music of young vows that
+'kept the word of promise to the ear, and broke it' <i>not</i> 'to the
+hope.' Next in succession came the recollection of my children. I
+seemed to lose sight of their present identity, and to be carried
+away in thought to times and scenes far back in my long-departed
+youth, when they were growing up around my knees&mdash;beautiful forms of
+all ages, from the tender nursling of a single year springing with
+outstretched arms into my bosom, to the somewhat rough but ingenuous
+boy of ten. As my inner eye traced their different outlines, and
+followed them in their graceful growth from year to year, my heart
+was seized with a sudden and irresistible longing to hold fast these
+beloved but passing images of the brain. What joy, I thought, would
+it be to transfix the matchless beauty which had wrought itself thus
+into the visions of my old age! to preserve for ever, unchanging,
+every varied phase of that material but marvellous structure which
+the glorious human soul had animated and informed through all its
+progressive stages from the child to the man!
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span></p>
+
+<p>Scarcely was the thought framed when a dull, heavy weight seemed to
+press upon my closed eyelids. I now saw more clearly even than
+before my children's images in the different stages of their being.
+But I saw these, and these alone, as they stood rooted to the
+ground, with a stony fixedness in their eyes: every other object
+grew dim before me. The living faces and full-grown forms which
+until now had mingled with and played their part among my younger
+phantoms, altogether disappeared. I had no longer any eyes, any
+soul, but for this my new spectre-world. Life, and the things of
+life, had lost their interest; and I knew of nothing, conceived of
+nothing, but those still, inanimate forms from which the informing
+soul had long since passed away.</p>
+
+<p>And now that the longing of my heart was answered, was I satisfied?
+For a time I gazed, and drew a deep delight from the gratification
+of my vain and impious craving. But at length the still, cold
+presence of forms no longer of this earth began to oppress me. I
+grew cold and numb beneath their moveless aspect; and constant
+gazing upon eyes lighted up by no varying expression, pressed upon
+my tired senses with a more than nightmare weight. I felt a sort of
+dull stagnation through every limb, which held me bound where I sat,
+pulseless and moveless as the phantoms on which I gazed.</p>
+
+<p>As I wrestled with the feeling that oppressed me, striving in vain
+to break the bonds of that strange fascination, under the pressure
+of which I surely felt that I must perish&mdash;a soft voice, proceeding
+from whence I knew not, broke upon my ear. 'You have your desire,'
+it said gently; 'why, then, struggle thus? Why writhe under the
+magic of that joy you have yourself called up? Are they not here
+before you, the Lost Ages whose beauty and whose grace you would
+perpetuate? What would you more? O mortal!'</p>
+
+<p>'But these forms have no life,' I gasped&mdash;'no pulsating, breathing
+soul!'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' replied the same still, soft voice; 'these forms belong to the
+things of the past. In God's good time they breathed the breath of
+life; they had <i>then</i> a being and a purpose on this earth. Their day
+has departed&mdash;their work is done.'</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the voice grew still: the leaden weight which had pressed
+upon my eyelids was lifted off: I awoke.</p>
+
+<p>Filled with reveries of the past&mdash;my eyes closed to everything
+without&mdash;sleep had indeed overtaken me as I sat listening to the old
+church-clock. But my vision was not all a vision: my dream-children
+came not without their teaching. If they had been called up in
+folly, yet in their going did they leave behind a lesson of wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>The morning dawned&mdash;the blessed Christmas-morning! With it came my
+good and dutiful, my real life&mdash;children. When they were all
+assembled round me, and when, subdued and thoughtful beneath the
+tender and gracious associations of the day, each in turn
+ministered, reverently and lovingly, to the old mother's need of
+body and of soul, my heart was melted within me. Blessed, indeed,
+was I in a lot full to overflowing of all the good gifts which a
+wise and merciful Maker could lavish upon his erring and craving
+creature. I stood reproved. I felt humbled to think that I should
+ever for a moment have indulged one idle or restless longing for the
+restoration of that past which had done its appointed work, and out
+of which so gracious a present had arisen. One idea impressed me
+strongly: I could not but feel that had the craving of my soul been
+answered in reality, as my dream had foreshadowed; and had the wise
+and beneficent order of nature been disturbed and distorted from its
+just relations, how fearful would have been the result! Here, in my
+green old age, I stood amongst a new generation, honoured for what I
+was, beloved for what I had been. What if, at some mortal wish in
+some freak of nature, the form which I now bore were for ever to
+remain before the eyes of my children! Were such a thing to befall,
+how would their souls ever be lifted upward to the contemplation of
+that higher state of being into which it is my hope soon to pass
+when the hand which guided me hither shall beckon me hence? At the
+thought my heart was chastened. Never since that night have I
+indulged in any one wish framed in opposition to nature's laws.
+<i>Now</i> I find my dream-children in the present; and to the past I
+yield willingly all things which are its own&mdash;among the rest, the
+Lost Ages.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article2" id="article2">
+STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.
+</a></h2>
+
+<h3>BY CATHERINE CROWE.</h3>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>The extraordinary motives under which people occasionally act, and
+the strange things they do under the influence of these motives,
+frequently so far transcend the bounds of probability, that we
+romance-writers, with the wholesome fear of the critics before our
+eyes, would not dare to venture on them. Only the other day we read
+in the newspapers that a Frenchman who had been guilty of
+embezzlement, and was afraid of being found out, went into a theatre
+in Lyon and stabbed a young woman whom he had never seen before in
+his life, in order that he might die by the hands of the
+executioner, and so escape the inconvenience of rushing into the
+other world without having time to make his peace with Heaven. He
+desired death as a refuge from the anguish of mind he was suffering;
+but instead of killing himself he killed somebody else, because the
+law would allow him leisure for repentance before it inflicted the
+penalty of his crime.</p>
+
+<p>It will be said the man was mad&mdash;I suppose he was; and so is
+everybody whilst under the influence of an absorbing passion,
+whether the mania be love, jealousy, fanaticism, or revenge. The
+following tale will illustrate one phase of such a madness.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1789, there resided in Italy, not far from Aquila in the
+Abruzzo, a man called Gaspar Mendez. He appears to have been a
+Spaniard, if not actually by birth, at least by descent, and to have
+possessed a small estate, which he rendered valuable by pasturing
+cattle. Not far from where he resided there lived with her parents a
+remarkably handsome girl, of the name of Bianca Venoni, and on this
+fair damsel Mendez fixed his affections. As he was by many degrees
+the best match about the neighbourhood, he never doubted that his
+addresses would be received with a warm welcome, and intoxicated
+with this security, he seems to have made his advances so abruptly
+that the girl felt herself entitled to give him an equally abrupt
+refusal. To aggravate his mortification, he discovered that a young
+man, called Giuseppe Ripa, had been a secret witness to the
+rejection, which took place in an orchard; and as he walked away
+with rage in his heart, he heard echoing behind him the merry laugh
+of the two thoughtless young people. Proud and revengeful by nature,
+this affront seems to have rankled dreadfully in the mind of Gaspar;
+although, in accordance with that pride, he endeavoured to conceal
+his feelings under a show of indifference. Those who knew the
+parties well, however, were not deceived; and when, after an
+interval, it was discovered that Giuseppe himself was the favoured
+lover of Bianca, the enmity, though not more open, became more
+intense than ever.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime old Venoni, Bianca's father, had become aware of the
+fine match his daughter had missed, and was extremely angry about
+it; more particularly as he was poor, and would have been very much
+pleased to have a rich son-in-law. Nor was he disposed to relinquish
+the chance so easily. After first trying his influence on Bianca,
+upon whom he expended a great deal of persuasion and cajolery in
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span>
+vain, he went so far as to call upon Gaspar, apologising for his
+daughter's ignorance and folly in refusing so desirable a proposal,
+and expressing a hope that Mendez would not relinquish the pursuit,
+but try his fortune again; when he hoped to have brought her to a
+better state of mind.</p>
+
+<p>Gaspar received the old man with civility, but answered coldly, that
+any further advances on his own part were out of the question,
+unless he had reason to believe the young lady was inclined to
+retract her refusal; in which case he should be happy to wait upon
+her. With this response Venoni returned to make another attack upon
+his daughter, whom, however, fortified by her strong attachment to
+Ripa, he found quite immovable; and there for several months the
+affair seems to have rested, till the old man, urged by the
+embarrassment of his circumstances, renewed the persecution,
+coupling it with certain calumnies against Giuseppe, founded on the
+accidental loss of a sum of money which had been intrusted to him by
+a friend, who wanted it conveyed to a neighbouring village, whither
+the young man had occasion to go. This loss, which seems to have
+arisen out of some youthful imprudence, appears to have occasioned
+Ripa a great deal of distress; and he not only did his utmost to
+repair it by giving up everything he had, which was indeed very
+little, but he also engaged to pay regularly a portion of his weekly
+earnings till the whole sum was replaced.</p>
+
+<p>His behaviour, in short, was so satisfactory, that the person to
+whom the money had belonged does not seem to have borne him any
+ill-will on the subject; but Venoni took advantage of the
+circumstance to fling aspersions on the young man's character,
+whilst it strengthened his argument against the connection with his
+daughter; for how was Giuseppe to maintain a wife and family with
+this millstone of debt round his neck? Bianca, however, continued
+faithful to her lover, and for some time nothing happened to advance
+the suit of either party. In that interval a sister of Gaspar's had
+married a man called Alessandro Malfi, who, being a friend of
+Giuseppe's, endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation betwixt the
+rivals, or, rather, to produce a more cordial feeling, for there had
+never been a quarrel; and as far as Ripa was concerned, as he had no
+cause for jealousy, there was no reason why he should bear ill-will
+to the unsuccessful candidate. With Gaspar it was different: he
+hated Ripa; but as it hurt his pride that this enmity to one whom he
+considered so far beneath him should be known, he made no open
+demonstration of dislike, and when Malfi expressed a wish to invite
+his friend to supper, hoping that Mendez would not refuse to meet
+him, the Spaniard made no objection whatever. 'Why not?' he said:
+'he knew of no reason why he should not meet Giuseppe Ripa, or any
+other person his brother-in-law chose to invite.'</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the party was made; and on the night appointed Giuseppe,
+after a private interview in the orchard with his mistress, started
+for Malfi's house, which was situated about three miles off, in the
+same direction as Gaspar's, which, indeed, he had to pass; on which
+account he deferred his departure to a later hour than he otherwise
+would have done, wishing not to come in contact with his rival till
+they met under Malfi's roof. Mendez had a servant called Antonio
+Guerra, who worked on his farm, and who appears to have been much in
+his confidence, and just as Ripa passed the Spaniard's door, he met
+Guerra coming in an opposite direction, and asked him if Mendez had
+gone to the supper yet; to which Guerra answered that he supposed he
+had, but he did not know. Guerra then took a key out of his pocket,
+and, unlocking the door, entered the house, whilst Ripa walked on.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the little party had assembled in Malfi's parlour,
+all but the two principal personages, Gaspar and Giuseppe; and as
+time advanced without their appearing, some jests were passed
+amongst the men present, who wished they might not have fallen foul
+of each other on the way. At length, however, Ripa arrived, and the
+first question that was put to him was: 'What had he done with his
+rival?' which he answered by inquiring if the Spaniard was not come.
+But although he endeavoured to appear unconcerned, there was a
+tremor in his voice and a confusion of manner that excited general
+observation. He made violent efforts, however, to appear at his
+ease, but these efforts were too manifest to be successful; whilst
+the continued absence of Mendez became so unaccountable, that a
+cloud seems to have settled on the spirits of the company, which
+made the expected festivity pass very heavily off.</p>
+
+<p>'Where could Mendez be? What could have detained him? It was to be
+hoped no harm had happened to him!' Such was the burden of the
+conversation till&mdash;when at about an hour before midnight the party
+broke up&mdash;Alessandro Malfi said, that to allay the anxiety of his
+wife, who was getting extremely alarmed about her brother, he would
+walk as far as Forni&mdash;which was the name of Gaspar's farm&mdash;to
+inquire what had become of him.</p>
+
+<p>As Ripa's way lay in the same direction, they naturally started
+together; and after what appears to have been a very silent
+walk&mdash;for the spirits of Giuseppe were so depressed that the other
+found it impossible to draw him into conversation&mdash;they reached
+Forni, when, having rung the bell, they were presently answered by
+Antonio Guerra, who put his head out of an upper window to inquire
+who they were, and what they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>'It is I, Alessandro Malfi. I want to know where your master is, and
+why he has not been to my house this evening as he promised?'</p>
+
+<p>'I thought he was there,' said Antonio. 'He set off from here to go
+soon after seven o'clock.'</p>
+
+<p>'That is most extraordinary!' returned Malfi. 'What in the world can
+have become of him?'</p>
+
+<p>'It is very strange, certainly,' answered the servant. 'He has never
+come home; and when you rang I thought it was he returned from the
+party.'</p>
+
+<p>As there was no more to be learned, the two friends now parted;
+Malfi expressing considerable surprise and some uneasiness at the
+non-appearance of his brother-in-law: whilst of Giuseppe we hear
+nothing more till the following afternoon, when, whilst at work in
+his vineyard, he was accosted by two officers of justice from
+Aquila, and he found himself arrested, under an accusation of having
+waylaid Mendez in a mountain-pass on the preceding evening, and
+wounded him with the design of taking his life.</p>
+
+<p>The first words Ripa uttered on hearing this impeachment&mdash;words
+that, like all the rest of his behaviour, told dreadfully against
+him&mdash;were: 'Isn't he dead, then?'</p>
+
+<p>'No thanks to you that he's not,' replied the officer; 'but he's
+alive, and likely to recover to give evidence against his assassin.'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Dio</i>!' cried Giuseppe, 'I wish I'd known he wasn't dead!'</p>
+
+<p>'You confess, then, that you wounded him with the intent to kill?'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' answered Ripa; 'I confess no such thing. As I was going
+through the pass last night I observed a man's hat lying a little
+off the road, and on lifting it, I saw it belonged to Se&ntilde;or Mendez.
+Whilst I was wondering how it came there without the owner, and was
+looking about for him, I spied him lying behind a boulder. At first
+I thought he was asleep, but on looking again, I saw he didn't lie
+like a sleeping man, and I concluded he was dead. Had it been any
+one but he, I should have lifted him up; but it being very well
+known that we were no friends, I own I was afraid to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span>
+do so. I
+thought it better not to meddle with him at all. However, if he is
+alive, as you say, perhaps he can tell himself who wounded him.'</p>
+
+<p>'To be sure he can,' returned the officer: 'he says it's you!'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Perduto son' io!</i>&mdash;Then I am lost!' exclaimed Ripa; who, on being
+brought before the authorities, persisted in the same story; adding,
+that so far from seeking Mendez, he had particularly wished to avoid
+him, and that that was the reason he had started so late; for he had
+been warned that the Spaniard was his enemy, and he apprehended that
+if they met alone some collision might ensue.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared, however, that he had consumed much more time on the
+road than could be fairly accounted for; for two or three people had
+met him on the way before he reached Forni; and then Antonio Guerra
+could speak as to the exact hour of his passing. This discrepancy he
+attempted to explain by saying, that after seeing Mendez on the
+ground, dead&mdash;as he believed&mdash;he had been so agitated and alarmed
+that he did not like to present himself at Malfi's house, lest he
+should excite observation. He had also spent some time in
+deliberating whether or not he should mention what he had seen; and
+he had made up his mind to do so on his arrival, but was deterred by
+everybody's asking him, when he entered the room, what he had done
+with Mendez&mdash;a question that seemed to imply a suspicion against
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>This tale, of course, was not believed: indeed his whole demeanour
+on the night in question tended strongly to his condemnation; added
+to which, Malfi, who had been his friend, testified that not only
+had Ripa betrayed all the confusion of guilt during the walk from
+his house to Forni, but that having hold of his arm, he had
+distinctly felt him tremble as they passed the spot where Mendez was
+subsequently discovered.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to Mendez himself, it appeared that when found he was in
+a state of insensibility, and he was still too weak to give evidence
+or enter into any particulars; but when, under proper remedies, he
+had recovered his senses, Faustina Malfi, his sister&mdash;to whose house
+he had been carried&mdash;asked him if Giuseppe Ripa was not the
+assassin; and he answered in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>Giuseppe was thrown into prison to await his trial; and having
+public opinion, as well as that of the authorities against him, he
+was universally considered a dead man. The only person that adhered
+to him was Bianca, who visited him in the jail, and refused to
+believe him guilty. But if he was innocent, who was the criminal? It
+appeared afterwards that Ripa himself had his own suspicions on that
+subject, but as they were founded only on two slight indications, he
+felt it was useless to advance them.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Gaspar Mendez was slowly recovering the injuries he
+had received, and was of course expected to give a more explanatory
+account of what had happened to him after he left Forni on his way
+to Alessandro Malfi's. That he had been robbed as well as wounded
+was already known&mdash;his brother and sister having found his pockets
+empty and his watch gone. The explanation he could give, however,
+proved to be very scanty. Indeed, he seemed to know very little
+about the matter, but he still adhered to his first assertion, that
+Ripa was the assassin. With regard to the money he had lost, there
+was necessarily less mystery, since it consisted of a sum that he
+was carrying to his sister, and was indeed her property, being the
+half share of some rents which he had received on that morning, the
+produce of two houses in the town of Aquila which had been
+bequeathed to them conjointly by their mother. The money was in a
+canvas bag, and the other half which belonged to himself he had left
+locked in his strong box at home, where, on searching for it, it was
+found. As Ripa was known to be poor, and very much straitened by his
+endeavours to make good the sum he had lost, that he should add
+robbery to assassination was not to be wondered at. On the contrary,
+it strengthened the conviction of his guilt, by supplying an
+additional motive for the crime.</p>
+
+<p>The injuries having been severe, it was some time before Mendez
+recovered sufficiently to return home; and when he was well enough
+to move, instead of going to Forni, he discharged his servant
+Antonio Guerra, and went himself to Florence, where he remained
+several months.</p>
+
+<p>All this time Giuseppe Ripa was in prison, condemned to die, but not
+executed; because after his trial and sentence, a letter had been
+received by the chief person in authority, warning him against
+shedding the blood of the innocent. 'Se&ntilde;or Mendez is mistaken,' the
+letter said: 'he did not see the assassin, who attacked him from
+behind, and Giuseppe Ripa is not guilty.'</p>
+
+<p>This judge, whose name was Marino, appears to have been a just man,
+and to have felt some dissatisfaction with the evidence against
+Ripa; inasmuch as Mendez, who, when first questioned, had spoken
+confidently as to his identity, had since faltered when he came to
+give his evidence in public, and seemed unable to afford any
+positive testimony on the subject. The presumption against the
+prisoner, without the evidence of the Spaniard, was considered by
+the other judges strong enough to convict him; but Marino had
+objected that since the attack was made by daylight&mdash;for it was in
+the summer, and the evenings were quite light&mdash;it seemed
+extraordinary that Mendez could give no more certain indications of
+his assailant. Added to this, although every means had been used to
+obtain a confession&mdash;such means as are permitted on the continent,
+but illegal in this country&mdash;Giuseppe persisted in his innocence.
+Moreover, as no money had been found about him, and Faustina Malfi
+was exceedingly desirous of recovering what had been lost, she
+exerted herself to obtain mercy to at least the extent that hopes of
+a commutation of his sentence should be held out to the prisoner,
+provided he would reveal where he had concealed the bagful of silver
+he had taken from her brother. But in vain. Ripa was either
+guiltless or obstinate, for nothing could be extracted from him but
+repeated declarations of his innocence.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Bianca had been undergoing a terrible persecution
+from her father on the subject of Mendez, who had returned from
+Florence and taken up his abode, as formerly, at Forni. Her former
+lover was a condemned man, and altogether <i>hors de combat</i>: she
+might regret him as she would, and lament his fate to her heart's
+content, but he could never be her husband; and there was the
+Spaniard, rich and ready; whilst the increasing age and poverty of
+her parent rendered a good match of the greatest importance. In
+short, under the circumstances of the case, it was urged upon her on
+all hands, that she was bound both by her duty to her father and to
+evince her abhorrence of Ripa's crime&mdash;which otherwise it might be
+supposed she had instigated&mdash;to marry Mendez without delay.</p>
+
+<p>Persuaded of Giuseppe's innocence, and half believing that the
+accusation was prompted by jealousy, it may be imagined how
+unwelcome these importunities were, and for a considerable time she
+resisted them; indeed she seems only to have been overcome at last
+by a ruse. A rumour being set afloat that the day was about to be
+appointed for Ripa's execution, a hint was thrown out that it lay in
+her power to save his life: she had only to become the wife of
+Mendez, and her lover's sentence should be commuted from death to
+banishment. This last argument prevailed, and poor Bianca, with a
+heavy heart, consented to become the mistress of Forni. The Malfis,
+however, do not seem to have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span>
+been amongst those who desired the
+match; and it would appear that they even made some attempts to
+prevent its taking place, by circulating a report that she had been
+privy to the assault and robbery. Perhaps they hoped, if Gaspar
+remained unmarried, to inherit his property themselves; but however
+that may be, their opposition was of no avail, and an early period
+was fixed for the wedding.</p>
+
+<p>The year had now come round to the summer season again, and it
+happened, by mere accident, that the day appointed for the marriage
+was the anniversary of that on which Mendez had been robbed and
+wounded. Nobody, however, appears to have thought of this
+coincidence, till Mendez himself, observing the day of the month,
+requested that the ceremony might be postponed till the day after:
+'Because,' said he, 'I have business which will take me to Aquila on
+the 7th, so the marriage had better take place on the 8th.' And thus
+it was arranged.</p>
+
+<p>This alteration was made about ten days before the appointed period,
+and nothing seems to have occurred in the interval worth recording,
+except that as the hour of sacrifice drew nigh, the unwillingness of
+the victim became more evident. We must conclude, however, that
+Mendez, whose object in marrying her appears to have been fully as
+much the soothing of his pride as the gratification of his love, was
+not influenced by her disinclination, for when he started for Aquila
+on the 7th, every preparation had been made for the wedding on the
+following day.</p>
+
+<p>The object of his journey was to receive the rents before named,
+which became due at this period, and also to purchase a
+wedding-present for his bride. On this occasion Alessandro Malfi was
+to have accompanied him; but when Mendez stopped at his door to
+inquire if he was ready, Malfi came down stairs half-dressed, saying
+that he had been up all night with his wife, who was ill, and that
+as she had now fallen asleep, he was going to lie down himself, and
+try to get a little rest. This occurred early in the morning; and
+Mendez rode on, saying that he should call as he came back in the
+evening, to inquire how his sister was. Upon this Malfi went to bed,
+where he remained some hours&mdash;indeed till he received a message from
+his wife, begging him to go to her. When he entered the room, the
+first question she asked was whether Gaspar was gone to Aquila; and
+on being told that he was, she said she was very sorry for it, for
+that she had dreamed she saw a man with a mask lying in wait to rob
+him.</p>
+
+<p>'I saw the man as distinctly as possible,' she said, 'but I could
+not see his face for the mask; and I saw the place, so that I'm sure
+if I were taken there I should recognise it.'</p>
+
+<p>Her husband told her not to mind her dreams, and that this one was
+doubtless suggested by the circumstance that had occurred the year
+before. 'But,' said he, 'Ripa's safely locked up in jail now, and
+there's no danger.'</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless the dream appears to have made so deep an impression on
+the sick woman's fancy, that she never let her husband rest till he
+promised to go with his own farm-servant to meet her brother&mdash;a
+compliance which was at length won from him by her saying that she
+had seen the man crouching behind a low wall that surrounded a
+half-built church; 'and close by,' she added, 'there was a
+direction-post with something written on it, but I could not read
+what it was.'</p>
+
+<p>Now it happened that on the horse-road to Aquila, which Faustina
+herself had never travelled, there was exactly such a spot as that
+she described. Malfi knew it well. Struck by the circumstance, he
+desired to have his dinner immediately, and then, accompanied by his
+hind, he set off to meet Gaspar.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the Spaniard had got his money and made his
+purchases in good time, not wishing to be late on the road, so that
+they had scarcely got a mile beyond the church when they met him;
+and in answer to his inquiries what had brought them there, Malfi
+related his wife's dream, adding that he might have spared himself
+the ride, for he had looked over the wall, and saw nobody there. 'I
+told her it was nonsense,' he said, 'whilst we know your enemy's
+under such good keeping at Aquila; but she wouldn't be satisfied
+till I came.'</p>
+
+<p>Mendez, however, appeared exceedingly struck with the dream,
+inquired the particulars more in detail, and asked if they were sure
+there was nobody concealed in the place Faustina indicated. Malfi
+answered that he did not alight, but he looked over the wall and saw
+nobody. During the course of this conversation they had turned their
+horses' heads, and were riding back towards the church, Malfi
+talking about Ripa's affair, remarking on the impropriety of
+deferring his execution so long; Mendez more than usually silent and
+serious, and the servant riding beside them, when, as they
+approached the spot, they saw coming towards them on foot a man,
+whom they all three recognised as Antonio Guerra, the Spaniard's
+late servant. As this person was supposed to have gone to another
+part of the country after quitting Gaspar's service, Malfi expressed
+some surprise at seeing him; whilst Mendez turned very pale, making
+at the same time some exclamation that attracted the attention of
+his brother-in-law, who, however, drew up his horse to ask Guerra
+what had brought him back, and if he was out of a situation, adding
+that a neighbour of his, whom he named, was in want of a servant.
+Guerra, who looked poorly dressed, and by no means in such good case
+as formerly, answered that he should be very glad if Malfi would
+recommend him.</p>
+
+<p>'You had better turn about, then, and come on with us,' said Malfi,
+as he rode forward. During this conversation Mendez had sat by
+saying nothing; and if he was grave and silent before, he was still
+more so now, insomuch that his behaviour drew the attention of his
+brother-in-law, who asked him if there was anything wrong with him.</p>
+
+<p>'Surely it's not Faustina's dream you are thinking of?' he said;
+adding, 'that the meeting with Guerra had put it out of his head, or
+he would have examined the place more narrowly.'</p>
+
+<p>Mendez entered into no explanation; and as the servant, who was
+acquainted with Guerra, took him up behind him, they all arrived at
+their journey's end nearly together: Mendez, instead of proceeding
+homewards, turning off with the others to Malfi's house, where the
+first thing he did after his arrival was to visit his sister, whom
+he found better; whilst she, on the contrary, was struck with the
+pallor of his features and the agitation of his manner&mdash;a disorder
+which, like her husband, she attributed to the shock of her dream,
+acting upon a mind prepared by the affair of the preceding year to
+take alarm. In order to remove the impression, she laughed at the
+fright she had been in; but it was evident he could not share her
+merriment, and he quickly left her, saying he had a message to send
+to Rocca, which was the village where Bianca and her father resided,
+and that he must go below and write a note, which he did, giving it
+to Malfi's servant to take.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared afterwards that this man, having other work in hand,
+gave the note to Guerra, who willingly undertook the commission, and
+who, to satisfy his own curiosity, broke the seal on the way, and
+possessed himself of its contents before he delivered it. These
+were, however, only a request that Bianca and her father would come
+over to Malfi's house that evening and bring the notary of the
+village with them, he (Mendez) being too tired to go to Rocca to
+sign the contract, as had been arranged.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>It being between six and seven o'clock when this dispatch arrived,
+Bianca, who was very little inclined to sign the contract at all,
+objected to going; but her father insisting on her compliance, they
+set off in company with Guerra and the notary, who, according to
+appointment, was already in waiting. They had nearly three miles to
+go, and as Venoni had no horse, the notary gave Bianca a seat on
+his, and the old man rode double with Guerra.</p>
+
+<p>When they arrived, Mendez was standing at the door waiting for them,
+accompanied by Malfi, his servant, a priest, and two or three other
+persons of the neighbourhood; some of whom advanced to assist Bianca
+and her father to alight, whilst the others surrounded Guerra as he
+set his foot on the ground, pinioning his arms and plunging their
+hands into his pockets, from whence they drew two small pistols and
+a black mask, such as was worn at the carnivals; besides these
+weapons, he carried a stiletto in his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the last comers were gaping with amazement at this unexpected
+scene, the new-made prisoner was led away to a place of security,
+and the company proceeded into the house, where the notary produced
+the contract and laid it on the table, inquiring at the same time
+what Guerra had done to be so treated.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mendez rose, and taking hold of the contract, he tore it in two
+and flung it on the ground; at which sight Venoni started up with a
+cry, or rather a howl&mdash;an expression of rage and disappointment
+truly Italian, and of which no Englishman who has not heard it can
+have an idea.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Peccato!</i> I have sinned!' said the Spaniard haughtily; 'but I have
+made my confession to the padre; and why I have torn that paper my
+brother-in-law, Alessandro, will presently tell you!' He then
+offered his hand to Bianca, who, no less pleased than astonished to
+see the contract destroyed, willingly responded to this token of
+good-will by giving him hers, which he kissed, asking her pardon for
+any pain he had occasioned her; after which, bowing to the company,
+he quitted the room, mounted his horse, and rode off to Forni.</p>
+
+<p>When the sound of the animal's feet had died away, and the parties
+concerned were sufficiently composed to listen to him, Malfi
+proceeded to make the communication he had been charged with;
+whereby it appeared that Ripa had been unjustly accused, and that
+Antonio Guerra was the real criminal. Mendez knew this very well,
+and would not have thought of accusing his rival had not his brother
+and sister, and indeed everybody else, assumed Ripa's guilt as an
+unquestionable fact. The temptation was too strong for him, and
+after he had once admitted it, pride would not allow him to retract.
+At the same time he declared that he would never have permitted the
+execution to take place, and that after the marriage with Bianca he
+intended to use every effort to procure the innocent man's
+liberation, on the condition of his quitting that part of the
+country. Of course it was he who wrote the letter to Marino, and he
+had used the precaution of placing a sealed packet, containing a
+confession of the truth, in the hands of a notary at Aquila, with
+strict directions to deliver it to Ripa if the authorities should
+appear disposed to carry his sentence into execution.</p>
+
+<p>He had nevertheless suffered considerable qualms of conscience about
+the whole affair; and the moment he saw Guerra on the road that
+night, he felt certain that he had come with the intention of
+waylaying him as before&mdash;the man being well aware that it was on
+that day he usually received his rents. He perceived that he should
+never be safe as long as this villain was free, and that he must
+either henceforth live in continual terror of assassination, or
+confront the mortification of a confession whilst the fellow was in
+his power.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to Guerra himself, he made but feeble resistance when
+he was seized. He had, in the first instance, left Mendez for dead;
+and he would have immediately fled when he heard he was alive, had
+not the news been accompanied with the further information that the
+Spaniard had pointed out Ripa as his assailant. He was exceedingly
+surprised, for he could scarcely believe that he had not been
+recognised. Nevertheless it was possible; and whether it were so or
+not, he did not doubt that what Mendez had once asserted he would
+adhere to. On receiving his dismissal, he had gone to some distance
+from the scene of his crime; but having, whilst the money lasted,
+acquired habits of idleness and dissipation that could not be
+maintained without a further supply, these necessities had provoked
+this last enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>He had really been concealed behind the wall when Malfi and his
+servant passed; but concluding that they were going to meet Mendez,
+and that his scheme was defeated, he had thought it both useless and
+dangerous to remain, and was intending to make off in another
+direction, when their sudden return surprised him.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours more saw Antonio Guerra in Giuseppe Ripa's cell; and
+whilst the first paid the penalty of his crimes, the latter was
+rewarded for his sufferings by the hand of Bianca, to whom the
+Spaniard gave a small marriage-portion before finally quitting the
+country, which he did immediately after Antonio's trial.</p>
+
+<p>Ripa said he had always had a strong persuasion that Guerra was the
+real criminal from two circumstances: the first was the hurried
+manner in which he was walking on the evening he met him at the gate
+of Forni, and some strange expression of countenance which he had
+afterwards recalled. The second was his answering them from the
+window when he and Malfi went to inquire for Mendez. If he thought
+it was his master, as he said, why had he not come down at once to
+admit him?</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable that the enmity of the Spaniard was not directed
+against the man that had aimed at his life, but against him who had
+wounded his pride.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article3" id="article3">
+INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>While there are many machines which contribute much more directly to
+the rapid accumulation of wealth in the persons of individuals, than
+does the railway locomotive, there is probably none which tends more
+to enrich a community. Unlike most other mechanical contrivances for
+the abridgment of labour, the railway locomotive unites in the
+effects which it produces the elements of social as well as
+commercial improvement. Like the steamship, the railway is
+cosmopolitan in its character. The range of its operations may be as
+extensive as the globe itself; and throughout that sphere of
+activity, be it what it may, the locomotive engine is scattering
+thickly the seeds of civilisation, as well as of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>By the application of steam as a motive agent an immense saving has
+been effected in the outlay required to be made in producing a given
+result in locomotion. This is the combined product of two causes.
+Such perfection has been attained in the construction of machinery,
+that by the aid of steam there can thence be obtained a continuity,
+combined with a rapidity of motion, which far exceeds what can be
+produced by any other means at present known to us. The fleetest
+racer equipped for speed alone, cannot equal, even for a single
+mile, the rate at which the locomotive engine, dragging after it a
+load of eighty tons, can, for hours together, be driven with ease
+and safety along its iron path. And this twofold result can be
+secured at a comparatively small cost. Coal, iron, wood&mdash;substances
+all to be easily obtained in nearly every quarter of the globe&mdash;can
+be, and daily are, fashioned into working agents not merely fleeter,
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span>
+stronger, and more docile than any endowed with animal life, but
+agents likewise which it is far less costly to sustain in active
+usefulness. The food, medicines, and attention which animal life
+demands, form very serious items of expense in the case of beasts of
+burden, and so very materially impair their utility. It is otherwise
+with the locomotive engine. Money, ingenuity, and toil require
+undoubtedly to be expended in its original construction, attention
+and care must be given to avert or repair accident, and food of its
+own peculiar kind it does unquestionably consume; yet when all the
+original and working expenses of a locomotive are summed up, it is
+found that, compared with the income it produces, it is the cheapest
+of all motive agents.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the items of railway expenditure now mentioned do not
+nearly exhaust the amount of money required in their construction.
+In addition to expensive engines, there require carriages to be
+supplied for the transport of goods and passengers, houses and sheds
+to be built for their temporary accommodation, salaries to be paid
+for management and service; and in addition to all this, there must
+further be expended in the construction of the line itself sums far
+greater in amount than those spent in the formation and repair of
+roads and highways. All this is true; but in estimating the
+comparative costliness of the old and new methods of
+land-locomotion, regard must be had to the amount of their produce
+as well as of their outlay; and an opinion regarding their
+respective merits, in an economical point of view, must be formed by
+striking a balance between these two sides of the account. The
+result of such a comparison proves that in point of economy, not
+less than of speed and endurance, railways take precedence over all
+other known means of locomotion. This combined result of rapidity
+and cheapness of transit produces a double effect upon a mercantile
+community: it at once enables merchants to realise the fruits of a
+given speculation more quickly, which is nothing else than
+transacting more business in a shorter period than before; and it
+also enables them to do this increased amount of business with a
+smaller amount of actual outlay&mdash;that is, to extend with safety and
+profit the field of their operations beyond those boundaries which
+prudence formerly marked out as the proper limits of speculation.</p>
+
+<p>When we consider the amount of travelling within the island which is
+requisite for carrying on the mercantile and general business of the
+country, and the double saving, therefore, of time on the one hand,
+and of money on the other, which is effected by means of railways,
+we cannot fail to perceive that even did this new system of
+locomotion economise time and labour in no other way than this
+alone, its effects upon commercial transactions and on business
+generally would be immense. But when we reflect that this system is
+exerting the very same influence upon trade&mdash;and in a much higher
+degree, so far as the outlay of money is concerned&mdash;in reference to
+the carriage of goods, as in regard to that of passengers, we then
+come to comprehend in some measure how fertile the railway
+locomotive is in the production of the fruits of industry.</p>
+
+<p>Another commercial effect of the railway system has been to equalise
+the value of land, and promote the cultivation of those districts of
+a country which lie considerably removed from large towns. Every one
+knows that distance from market forms, as regards the cultivation of
+many vegetable and animal productions, a very serious drawback.
+Hence it arises that lands lying immediately around large cities
+bring a far larger price than portions of ground of equal extent and
+fertility would do situated at a greater distance. This is
+peculiarly the case with kitchen-gardens, and pasture-land suited
+for the purposes of fattening cattle, or feeding such as are
+required for the dairy. In all these cases, and others which might
+be mentioned, the performance of a long journey affects very
+injuriously the quality and value of the several articles, and hence
+the demand for farms and fields not exposed to this drawback has
+naturally raised their value. Now railways, as they abridge space by
+means of speed, have had a tendency to increase the value of pasture
+and garden ground lying at, comparatively speaking, a very great
+distance around cities. It is now no unusual thing for the
+inhabitants of cities such as London, Liverpool, and Manchester, to
+use at breakfast milk or cream which has travelled thirty or forty
+miles the very morning it is consumed, and at dinner to partake of
+vegetables whose place of growth was more than a hundred miles
+removed from the stall at which they were sold.</p>
+
+<p>The railway system has had a marked effect upon the state of the
+money-market of the commercial world in general, and of this country
+in particular. From the successful experiment made in 1830 in steam
+locomotion between Liverpool and Manchester, this new method of
+transit has been developing itself with a rapidity to which no
+parallel is to be found in the history of mercantile enterprise.
+Keeping out of view entirely the large sums which were recklessly
+squandered during the railway mania in mere gambling transactions
+and bubble schemes, there has been actually sunk in the construction
+and working of lines up to the present time more than L.200,000,000
+sterling. Before railways were called into existence, by far the
+larger portion of this enormous capital was divided into a great
+number of comparatively small sums, invested in a corresponding
+number of different speculations. From causes which it would be
+easy, but foreign to our present purpose, to explain, the profits
+arising from these various speculations were not only in the
+aggregate larger than those hitherto derived from railways, but the
+former speculations or investments being more temporary and
+convertible in their nature, secured to the parties engaging in them
+a far greater command over the capital employed in them. By
+diverting, as the railway system has done, so much money from the
+ordinary channels of mercantile enterprise, in which large profits
+were made, and&mdash;what is of more importance to the present
+remarks&mdash;when that money was well within the command and subject to
+the recall of its owners; and by taking, so to speak, and locking it
+up in a repository which could not be opened, the circulating medium
+of exchange soon became a scarce commodity to those who but lately
+had possessed it in abundance.</p>
+
+<p>But it would be very false to infer because extensive bankruptcies,
+and periods of severe pecuniary embarrassment, have accompanied, if
+not indeed been caused by the development of the railway system,
+that therefore that system must be an unsound and unremunerative
+one. These monetary difficulties were in a great measure the
+consequence of over-speculation, and therefore form no sounder
+evidence against the utility of railways, than does over-speculation
+in tea condemn the prudent employment of capital in the tea-trade.
+Besides which, it must ever be remembered that the judiciousness of
+an undertaking is not always to be judged of by its immediate
+results. All investments of capital which are from their nature
+permanent, require time for the development of their effects, and
+may, as regards many of their immediate results, prove rather
+injurious than beneficial. To this class of speculations railways
+belong. Introduced for the purpose of facilitating locomotion, and
+thus improving the industry of the country, this new system of
+transit was calculated to produce rather an eventual and permanent,
+than an immediate benefit to the empire. So long as Great Britain
+retains and cultivates the resources of trade and manufactures now
+at her disposal, and provided no new method of locomotion be
+invented which shall supersede railways, there is every
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span>
+reason to
+believe that railways will continue to form an ever-increasing
+source of wealth to the nation. That this is an opinion very
+generally entertained is proved from the vast sums of money which
+are now lent out on the faith that this result will be realised. The
+railway system has not only created a new field for speculation, but
+likewise a new security for monetary investments. At the close of
+1848, upwards of L.43,000,000 was lent upon railways. There is every
+reason to believe that debenture-holding is much greater now than it
+was then; but as no official report of its amount, so far as we
+know, has been published since 1848, we, for accuracy's sake, quote
+the return made in that year.</p>
+
+<p>If railways have produced very important effects upon commercial
+affairs, they have exercised an influence not less important in a
+social and intellectual point of view. They have been greatly
+instrumental in removing prejudices, in cementing old and forming
+new friendships, in extending information, and in sharpening
+ingenuity.</p>
+
+<p>Prejudice has been one of the most formidable obstacles to the
+spread of civilisation. It has for ages kept separate and at enmity
+nations born to bless and benefit each other; propped up systems
+whose graver errors or weaker absurdities now form subjects of
+regret and ridicule; and fomented among the members of smaller
+societies and sects discords, strifes, and recriminations, which
+have been based on no other foundation than wilful or accidental
+ignorance. By bringing those in contact who otherwise would never
+have met, and improving the acquaintance of those who have, railways
+have spread individual opinions, tastes, and information more
+equally than before; and out of this mixture of the social and moral
+elements have collected and more widely distributed just conclusions
+regarding men, manners, politics, and religion. By being thus more
+frequently brought together, individuals have increased the number
+of their acquaintances, and become to a greater extent than before
+'citizens of the world.' A mutual discharge of the good offices of
+life has augmented those feelings of interest in our
+fellow-creatures, and kindness towards them, which are not less in
+accordance with the spirit of Christianity than conducive to the
+social wellbeing of communities.</p>
+
+<p>The knowledge which one acquires by personal experience and
+observation is, generally speaking, much more valuable than that
+obtained from the written experience or observation of others. By
+the former method we obtain knowledge in a more rapid, accurate, and
+impressive manner; and, as a consequence of this, retain it longer
+in our memories, and possess a greater and more constant command
+over it. Books always convey a faint and imperfect, and often a very
+erroneous impression of things; and to the extent that railways have
+superseded or assisted book-teaching, have they conferred upon
+society an improved means of acquiring knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Through the instrumentality of railways also, an impetus has been
+imparted to the inventive and constructive faculties of the human
+mind. By being brought into more frequent contact with one another,
+individuals whose tastes and occupations are more or less similar
+are naturally led to form comparisons regarding the relative merits
+of their respective productions. This comparison has necessarily
+sharpened invention, improved taste, and suggested improvement. It
+is not too much to affirm, that there is not a single branch of
+industry now pursued within this country which has not, directly or
+indirectly, been benefited to an immense degree by the introduction
+of railways. Having served to bring into one market far more
+articles of commerce than before were exposed in it, this new mode
+of locomotion has to a great extent increased throughout our
+different trades and callings that element of a generous and
+wholesome competition which is the most effective agent in eliciting
+a high degree of skill in the cultivation of an art, or the
+improvement of an invention.</p>
+
+<p>To railways we are also indebted for a new application to practical
+usefulness of one of the most powerful elements in nature's
+laboratory: we refer to the employment of electricity in the
+transmission of thought. Although the wondrous powers and properties
+of the electric telegraph were known long before the introduction of
+the railway system, they were not till then made to minister, as
+they now do, to the information of man. By providing facilities
+towards laying and protecting the delicate machinery along which
+electricity was to perform its marvellous exploits, railways have
+directly contributed to apply and develop the resources of one of
+the most useful and wonderful of inventions, which even in its first
+stage of infancy has wrought a perfect revolution in the mode of
+transmitting intelligence; and which promises at no very distant day
+to play the same part among the continents and islands of the globe
+that it now does between the provinces of an empire.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article4" id="article4">
+THE LAST OF THE PAL&AElig;OLOGI.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>It would be a curious historical problem to trace the families of
+emperors and kings, of heroes and conquerors, from the era of their
+decline and fall to their ultimate extinction. Some 'Old Mortality'
+might find as congenial employment in this field of sepulchral
+research as did the original in clearing up the decayed and
+moss-grown tombs of the Covenanters. The genealogist makes it his
+business rather to flatter the great by blazoning the antiquity of
+their pedigrees, than to teach the world a moral lesson on the
+instability of earthly grandeur, by chronicling their reverses. Yet
+the churchyard has its heraldry, from whose records wisdom might be
+extracted for the benefit of the living.</p>
+
+<p>What dynasty in ancient times held a prouder or wider sway than the
+illustrious masters of the Roman world? The solid fabric of their
+power was the growth of nearly a thousand years, and it cost about
+thirteen centuries of revolutions and barbaric invasions before it
+was undermined and finally extinguished. If its earlier annals were
+disgraced by the crimes of a Tiberius, a Nero, and a Domitian, they
+could boast of the virtues and abilities of a Titus, a Trajan, a
+Nerva, a Hadrian, the two Antonini, &amp;c.; though it must be admitted
+that latterly the balance sadly preponderated on the side of vice
+and corruption. If a Justinian or a Constantine appeared, his reign
+was but a sunbeam in the midst of the universal degeneracy; or if a
+ray of splendour was shed on the empire by his virtues or his
+victories, the transient glory was speedily dispelled by irruptions
+from without, or intrigue and revolt within. Gradually the work of
+decay proceeded, until the vast expanse of the imperial conquests
+was contracted to a few provinces, whose capital had been
+transferred to the shores of the Bosphorus. A languishing existence
+of about six centuries and a half&mdash;that is, from the revival of the
+western empire in 800 by Charlemagne, to the taking of
+Constantinople by the Turks in 1453&mdash;was brought to a close by the
+death of Constantine Pal&aelig;ologus, the last of a race who had
+continued, says Gibbon, 'to assume the titles of Caesar and Augustus
+after their dominions were circumscribed to the limits of a single
+city, in which the language as well as manners of the ancient Romans
+had been long since forgotten!'</p>
+
+<p>The family of Pal&aelig;ologus was of Greek origin, illustrious in birth
+and merit. 'As early,' says Gibbon, 'as the middle of the eleventh
+century, the noble race of the Pal&aelig;ologi stands high and conspicuous
+in Byzantine history. It was the valiant George Pal&aelig;ologus who
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span>
+placed the father of the Comneni on the throne; and his kinsmen or
+descendants continued in each generation to lead the armies and
+councils of the state.' The first that wore the imperial purple was
+Michael, who was elevated to the throne in 1260. Already he had
+distinguished himself as a soldier and a statesman, and had been
+promoted in his early youth to the office of 'constable,' or
+commander of the French mercenaries. His ambition excited jealousy,
+and some acts of imprudence involved him in dangers from which he
+thrice escaped. One of those perils was the usual appeal which was
+made in the middle ages to the 'judgment of God' to vindicate
+injured innocence. To this ordeal Michael submitted, in presence of
+the emperor and the archbishop of Philadelphia. 'Three days before
+the trial, the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag, and secured by
+the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a redhot bolt
+of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary,
+without artifice and without injury. Pal&aelig;ologus eluded the dangerous
+experiment with sense and pleasantry. &quot;I am a soldier,&quot; said he,
+&quot;and will boldly enter the list with my accusers; but a layman, a
+sinner like myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. Your
+piety, most holy prelate, may deserve the interposition of Heaven,
+and from your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my
+innocence.&quot; The archbishop started, the emperor smiled, and the
+absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by rewards and new
+services.' The voice of the people and the favour of the army placed
+the crown on his head, in recompense for his military exploits and
+his public merits. With his accession terminated the reign of the
+last of the Latin emperors at Constantinople (Baldwin II.), and
+Michael became the founder of the Grecian dynasty.</p>
+
+<p>The labours of the new monarch to retrieve the calamities of war, by
+encouraging industry, planting colonies, and extending trade, were
+deserving of all praise. His ambition raised up against him many
+enemies, spiritual and temporal; but if his policy was not always
+judicious, he increased his power and his fame by greatly enlarging
+his dominions. It was by his intrigues that the revolt of Sicily was
+instigated. A rude insult to a noble damsel by a Frank soldier,
+during a procession on the vigil of Easter (1282), spread the flame
+of insurrection over the whole island, and 8000 Franks were
+exterminated in a promiscuous massacre, which has obtained the name
+of the 'Sicilian Vespers.' His son and successor, Andronicus, was
+reckoned a learned and virtuous prince; but his long reign is
+chiefly memorable for the disputes of the Greek church, the invasion
+of the Catalans, and the rise of the Ottoman power. He associated
+with him in the administration his son Michael, at the age of
+eighteen; and upon the premature death of the latter, his son
+Andronicus, the emperor's favourite, became the colleague of his
+grandfather. The reign of the elder Andronicus was consumed in civil
+discord and disputes with his family, the young princes having
+raised the standard of revolt in order to get possession of the
+throne. He was at length compelled to abdicate; and assuming the
+monastic habit, he spent the last few years of his life in a cell,
+blind and wretched, his only consolation being the promise of a more
+splendid crown in heaven than he had enjoyed on earth.</p>
+
+<p>After a series of inglorious struggles among the princes of the
+imperial house, the crown settled, in 1391, on Manuel, whose reign,
+however, was little else than a train of disasters. His capital was
+besieged by Amurath, and the Turks were masters of nearly the whole
+of his dominions, which had now shrunk into a small corner of
+Thrace, between the Propontis and the Black Sea, about fifty miles
+in length and thirty in breadth. To retrieve his fortunes, Manuel
+resolved on a journey to foreign countries, believing that the sight
+of a distressed monarch would draw tears and supplies from the
+sternest barbarians. From Italy he proceeded to the coast of France,
+where he was received with the characteristic politeness of the
+nation. Two thousand of the richest citizens of Paris, armed and on
+horseback, came forth to meet him; and at the gates he was welcomed
+as a brother by Charles VI., who saluted him with a cordial embrace.
+He was clothed in a robe of white silk, and mounted on a milk-white
+steed&mdash;a circumstance of great importance in the French ceremonial,
+white being considered as the emblem of sovereignty. He was lodged
+in the Louvre, and a succession of feasts and balls, varied by the
+pleasures of the chase, was got up for his amusement. Having
+satisfied his curiosity, but without any prospect of assistance, he
+resolved to visit England. In his progress from Dover, he was
+entertained at Canterbury by the prior and monks of St Austin; and
+on Blackheath Henry IV. saluted the Greek hero, who for several days
+was honoured and treated in London as Emperor of the East. Having
+failed in the object of his journey, he returned to Constantinople
+(1402), and was allowed to finish his reign in prosperity and peace
+in 1425.</p>
+
+<p>In his declining age, he had appointed as his associate his eldest
+son John, the second of the name. The corruptions of the church,
+divided between two popes, and the disputes of the clergy, afforded
+him ample scope for the exercise of his religious zeal, and it was
+to heal these ecclesiastical schisms that he undertook a voyage to
+Italy. But the downfall of his race and of the Grecian dynasty was
+approaching. At his decease (1448), there were five princes of the
+imperial house; but the death of Andronicus, and the monastic
+profession of Isidore, had reduced them to three&mdash;Constantine,
+Demetrius, and Thomas. Constantine ascended the vacant throne, the
+factious opposition of his brothers having been appeased by the
+interposition of the empress-mother, the senate, the soldiers, and
+the clergy, who allowed them the possession of the Morea.</p>
+
+<p>The first act of the new emperor was to despatch an embassy to
+Georgia to bring home a princess whom he had chosen for his royal
+consort. His next care was to inquire into the state of public
+affairs, which had been completely neglected by the weakness or
+absence of his predecessor. But the imperial drama had reached its
+last act. The danger which had long brooded over the doomed house of
+the Pal&aelig;ologi was ready to burst in resistless fury upon the city of
+the C&aelig;sars. Mohammed II. had vowed to become master of
+Constantinople, and vast were the preparations and the implements of
+war which he had provided for its capture or its destruction. The
+story of the siege need not here be told; nowhere has it been
+recorded with more picturesque and energetic brevity than in the
+glowing pages of Gibbon. Operations were carried on with
+unprecedented vigour and effect, rendered more terrible by the
+lavish use of gunpowder and artillery, then almost new elements in
+the art of war. Constantine did all that a Christian prince and a
+brave general could do. By his example he animated the courage of
+his soldiers, and revived the hearts of the citizens, sinking in
+despair. The scene on the day before the assault is thus described
+by an eye-witness:&mdash;'The emperor and some faithful companions
+entered the dome of St Sophia, which in a few hours was to be
+converted into a mosque, and devoutly received with tears and
+prayers the sacrament of the holy communion. He reposed some moments
+in the palace, which resounded with cries and lamentations;
+solicited the pardon of all he might have injured; and mounted on
+horseback to visit the guards and explore the motions of the enemy.'
+But the dreaded 29th of May had come; the last hour of the city and
+the empire had struck. After a siege of fifty-three days,
+Constantinople, to use the words of Gibbon, 'which had defied the
+power of Chosroes, the chazan, and the caliphs, was irretrievably
+subdued by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span>
+the arms of Mohammed II. Her empire only had been
+subverted by the Latins; her religion was trampled in the dust by
+the Moslem conquerors.'</p>
+
+<p>Constantine had nobly done his duty. Amidst the swarms of the enemy
+who had climbed the walls and were pursuing the flying Greeks
+through the streets, he was long seen with his bravest officers
+fighting round his person, and finally lost. His only fear was that
+of falling alive into the hands of the Infidels, and this fate he
+sought to avert by prudently casting away the purple. Amidst the
+tumult he was pierced by an unknown hand, and his body was buried
+under a mountain of the slain. The last words he was heard to utter
+was the mournful exclamation: 'Cannot there be found a Christian to
+cut off my head?' His death put an end to resistance and order, and
+left the capital to be sacked and pillaged by the victorious Turks.
+Truly has it been said, that the distress and fall of the last
+Constantine are more glorious than the long prosperity of the
+Byzantine C&aelig;sars.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulties and dying moments of the emperor have been
+faithfully and pathetically dramatised by Miss Joanna Baillie in her
+tragedy of <i>Constantine Pal&aelig;ologus</i>. She adheres closely to history,
+only she makes her hero receive his deathblow from the sword of a
+relenting Turk, who admires his bravery, and pronounces over him a
+farewell eulogy. All writers agree that the last of the imperial
+Pal&aelig;ologi was the best of his race; and had he not been so ill
+supported by his worthless subjects, and deserted by every Christian
+prince in Europe, he might have repelled the tide of Turkish
+invasion, though he would never have restored the glory of the
+empire. Yet gallantly did he front the storm, and perish as became
+the successor of a long line of kings&mdash;the last of the Romans.</p>
+
+<p>The fall of Constantine was the signal for the degradation and
+dispersion of his whole race. His two surviving brothers, Demetrius
+and Thomas, reigned as despots of the Morea in Greece; but the ruin
+of the empire was the gloomy prelude to their own misfortunes.
+Demetrius became the pensioner of the new Turkish emperor Mohammed,
+and received a city of Thrace and some adjacent islands for his own
+maintenance and that of his followers. In this state of humiliating
+dependence he remained until death released him from his ignominious
+servitude. Thomas, the other brother, was driven into exile by the
+invasion of his dominions. He fled to Corfu, and from thence to
+Italy&mdash;according to Gibbon's account&mdash;'with some naked adherents;
+his name, his sufferings, and the head of the apostle St Andrew,
+entitled him to the hospitality of the Vatican, and his misery was
+prolonged by a pension of 6000 ducats from the pope and cardinals.'
+He left two sons (he must have had a third, as will afterwards
+appear), Andrew and Manuel, who were educated in Italy. The eldest
+degraded himself by the looseness of his life and marriage, and died
+the inheritor of an empty title. Manuel was tempted to revisit his
+native country; and after spending the remainder of his life in
+safety and ease at Constantinople, he was gathered to his fathers,
+'an honourable train of Christians and Moslems attending him to the
+grave.'</p>
+
+<p>From this date&mdash;early in the sixteenth century&mdash;little is known of
+the name and lineage of the Pal&aelig;ologi. The crescent waved over the
+royal city of Constantine; and, as an old Byzantine annalist
+remarks, the last heir of the last spark of the Roman Empire seemed
+to be extinct. History had forgotten them, and the restless tide of
+human vicissitudes rolled onwards, unconscious of their existence.
+Italy was understood to be the asylum of the imperial outcasts; and
+there they might have vegetated in oblivion, or dropped into
+unhonoured graves without leaving a single representative, had not a
+monumental inscription revealed the fact, that a descendant of the
+C&aelig;sars had found a retreat and a tomb in an obscure parish in
+England. In the small church of Landulph, in Cornwall, the following
+inscription upon a small metal tablet, fixed in the wall, removes
+all doubt as to the identity and royal pedigree of the person whose
+memory it records. In its original spelling it runs thus:&mdash;'Here
+lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologvs of Pesaro in Italye, descended
+from ye Imperiall lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece,
+being the sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of
+John, the sonne of Thomas, second brother to Constantine Paleologvs,
+the eighth of that name, and last of ye lyne yt raygned in
+Constantinople vntill svbdeued by the Turkes; who married with Mary
+ye davghter of William Balls of Hadlye in Sorffolke Gent., and had
+issu five children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy,
+and departed this life at Clyfton ye 21st of Janvary 1636.'<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1" /><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> It
+appears, then, that Theodore, who married and died in Cornwall, was
+the fourth in direct descent from Thomas, younger brother of the
+Emperor Constantine, and who fled 'with some naked adherents to
+Italy,' where his children were educated.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2" /><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The truth of the story
+related in the inscription was corroborated by a circumstance which
+happened upwards of twenty years ago. The vault in which Pal&aelig;ologus
+was interred having been accidently opened, curiosity prompted the
+lifting of the lid. The coffin, which was made of oak, was in an
+entire state, and the body sufficiently perfect to shew that the
+dead man exceeded the common stature. The head was a long oval, and
+the nose believed to have been aquiline; a long white beard reached
+down the breast&mdash;another symbol of his Greek extraction.</p>
+
+<p>Of his family little is known: Theodore, the eldest son, was a
+sailor, and died on board the <i>Charles II.</i>, as is proved by his
+will, dated 1693. He appears to have possessed landed property, and
+to have left a widow named Martha, but no issue. The younger
+daughter, Dorothy, was married at Landulph to William Arundell in
+1636, and died in 1681.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Maria died unmarried, and was buried in
+the same church in 1674. Of John and Ferdinando, the other sons, no
+memorial seems to have been preserved in this country; and it was
+believed as highly probable that the church of Landulph contained
+the remains of the last survivors of the Grecian dynasty, once the
+illustrious sovereigns of Byzantium.</p>
+
+<p>Time, however, the great revealer of secrets, brought to light facts
+which proved that one of the sons of Theodore of Pesaro in Italy had
+removed to the West Indies, where he lived for some years, and died
+in 1678. It is mentioned by the historian Oldmixon<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4" /><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> as a
+tradition, that a descendant of the former imperial Greek family of
+Constantinople resided in Barbadoes; but he doubts the fact, without
+giving any reason for his scepticism. The tradition, however, proves
+to have been quite current, and the circumstance that led to its
+confirmation, and to the discovery of the body of Ferdinando
+Pal&aelig;ologus, and other relics testifying to his connection with the
+Greek emperors, are narrated by Sir Robert Schomburgk in his recent
+history of Barbadoes. During the terrible hurricane of 1831, which
+nearly destroyed the island, among the other public buildings that
+yielded to the violence of the storm, was the parish church of St
+John, which stood in a romantic situation near the 'Cliff,' at an
+elevation of 824 feet. When the ruins were removed, and in clearing
+out the rubbish, 'the coffin of Ferdinando Pal&aelig;ologus (we quote Sir
+Robert's account) was discovered under the organ-loft,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span>
+in the vault
+of Sir Peter Callotin. The circumstance that the coffin stood in a
+direction opposite to the others deposited in the vault, drew
+attention to it; the head was lying to the west, the feet pointing
+to the east, according to the Greek custom. These accounts raised
+the curiosity of the rector of the parish; and in order to ascertain
+how much truth was connected with the tradition, he resolved to
+examine the supposed coffin of Pal&aelig;ologus; it was consequently
+opened on the 3d of May 1844, in presence of Mr R. Reici, jun.; Mr.
+J.G. Young; and Mr J. Hinkson. The coffin was of lead, and in it was
+found a skeleton of an extraordinary size, imbedded in quicklime,
+which is another proof of the Greek origin of Pal&aelig;ologus, as it is
+the custom in Greece to surround the body with quicklime. The coffin
+was carefully deposited in the vault now in possession of Josiah
+Heath, Esq., of Quintyer's and Redland.'</p>
+
+<p>In the above discovery and examination, the coincidences are so
+numerous and so remarkable as to leave no doubt whatever that the
+Ferdinando Pal&aelig;ologus, whose body lies interred in St John's church,
+was the same individual mentioned in the Landulph inscription as a
+son of Theodore. The size of the skeleton, the envelope of
+quicklime, the position of the body, are corroborative of an Eastern
+descent. The name of the mother, Mary Balls, is an additional
+presumption, as among the earliest proprietors in the island several
+of that name occur; and three estates are given in Oldmixon's list
+as belonging to the family of the Balls. It has been assumed,
+therefore, with good reason, that a relationship may have existed
+between the mother of Ferdinando and the Balls in Barbadoes,
+which&mdash;at a period when so many families emigrated from England,
+chiefly from Kent and the southern and western counties&mdash;might have
+induced young Pal&aelig;ologus to seek his fortunes in the New World,
+after his father's death in 1636.</p>
+
+<p>Of the residence of Ferdinando in the island for thirty years, ample
+evidence exists in various documents. Sir Robert Schomburgk was
+shewn by the rector of the parish, the Rev. J.H. Gittens, an old
+vestry-book of St John's, in which various entries occur of the name
+of Ferdinando Pal&aelig;ologus, from 1649 till 1669, as vestryman,
+churchwarden, trustee, surveyor of the highway, sidesman to the
+churchwarden, and lieutenant, &amp;c. The last entry is that of his
+burial, 'October 3d 1678.' His name also appears in a legal document
+respecting the sale of some land, executed in 1658. But the most
+important evidence of his identity with the Cornwall family is his
+will, in which the names of his sisters, Maria and Dorothy, occur.
+It was entered in the Registrar's Office, the 20th of March 1678,
+and proved before the deputy-governor, Colonel Christopher
+Codrington. The widow became the sole survivor and heiress of the
+property, Theodorious having died in his youth, so that the last of
+the Pal&aelig;ologi reposes in the parish church of St John, in the island
+of Barbadoes; and the estate which once belonged to the descendant
+of the Greek emperors now forms part of Clifton Hall and the
+Plantation Ashford. Laying these circumstances together, and
+considering how completely the will of Ferdinando corroborates the
+Landulph inscription, of which he probably knew nothing, the
+genealogical problem, we think, is fairly wrought out, and the last
+of the descendants of the Roman C&aelig;sars traced to his final
+resting-place beyond the Atlantic. A curious anecdote is mentioned
+by Sir Robert Schomburgk as to the revival of the tradition of one
+of the Pal&aelig;ologi being in Barbadoes. He says, but without vouching
+for its truth, that during the last conflict for Grecian
+independence and deliverance from the Turkish yoke, a letter was
+received from the provisional government at Athens, addressed to the
+authorities in Barbadoes, inquiring whether a male branch of the
+Pal&aelig;ologi was still existing in the island, and conveying the
+request that if such were the case he should be provided with the
+means of returning to Greece, and the government would, if required,
+pay all the expenses of the voyage. This story was not current in
+Europe, at all events; and we on this side the water never dreamed
+that among the competitors of King Leopold for the throne was a
+veritable scion of the old imperial sovereigns of Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>The events detailed in the preceding narrative are fitted to suggest
+various interesting reflections and amusing speculations. The fate
+of the Pal&aelig;ologi&mdash;one day on a throne, the next in a dungeon,
+passing from regal state to wretched exile&mdash;may have been the bitter
+lot of other imperial families. If we find the descendants of the
+Greek emperors in the humble occupation of sailors and
+churchwardens, and vestrymen and road-trustees, there is nothing
+extravagant in the supposition, that we may have royal porters and
+scavengers on our streets, the sceptre having degenerated into the
+besom, and the truck taken the place of the chariot of state. The
+family of Nimrod may still exist, and retain their ancestral
+propensities in the craft of sportsmen and deer-stalkers, or in the
+lower grade of Jehus and jockeys. Who knows but the posterity of
+Solomon may be retailing old clothes, and the heirs of the
+Nebuchadnezzar dynasty still exist somewhere&mdash;perhaps among our
+graziers or cattle-dealers, our keepers of dairies or secretaries of
+agricultural associations. The line of Tamerlane may have ended in a
+grave-digger, and that of Frederick Barbarossa in a hair-dresser.
+The ideal transmigration of Pythagoras was not more improbable or
+more wonderful than the strange metamorphoses through which, in the
+course of centuries, the living representatives of kings and
+emperors are sometimes doomed to pass.</p>
+
+<h4>Notes:</h4>
+
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a>
+There is a slight error in the date of the inscription,
+as the entry of his burial is October 20th 1636.
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a>
+Only two sons of Thomas are mentioned by Gibbon&mdash;Andrew
+and Manuel; but the evidence of the Landulph tablet shews that he
+must have had a third, John.
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a>
+Her name is entered in the register as 'Dorothea
+Paleologus de Stirpe Imperatorious.'
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a>
+<i>British Empire in America</i>, vol. ii. p. 111.
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article5" id="article5">
+A CHAPTER ON CATS.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>The newspapers have recently been chronicling, as a fact provocative
+of especial wonder, the enterprise of some speculative merchant of
+New York, who has just been despatching a cargo of one hundred cats
+to the republic of New Granada, in which it would appear the race,
+owing, as we may believe, to the frequently disturbed state of the
+country, has become almost extinct.</p>
+
+<p>Your cat is a domestic animal, and naturally conservative in its
+tastes&mdash;averse therefore to uproar, and to all those given to
+change. Its propensities are to meditation and contemplative
+tranquillity, for which reason it has ever been held in reverence by
+nations of a similar staid and composed disposition, and has been
+the favourite companion and constant friend of grave philosophers
+and thoughtful students. By the ancient Egyptians cats were held in
+the highest esteem; and we learn from Diodorus Siculus, their 'lives
+and safeties' were tendered more dearly than those of any other
+animal, whether biped or quadruped. 'He who has voluntarily killed a
+consecrated animal,' says this writer, 'is punished with death; but
+if any one has even involuntarily killed a cat or an ibis, it is
+impossible for him to escape death: the mob drags him to it,
+treating him with every cruelty, and sometimes without waiting for
+judgment to be passed. This treatment inspires such terror, that, if
+any person happen to find one of these animals dead, he goes to a
+distance from it, and by his cries and groans indicates that he has
+found the animal dead. This superstition is so deeply rooted in the
+minds of the Egyptians, and the respect they bear these animals is
+so profound, that at the time when their king, Ptolemy, was not yet
+declared the friend of the Roman people&mdash;when they were paying all
+possible court to travellers from Italy, and their fears made them
+avoid every ground of accusation and every pretext for making war
+upon them&mdash;yet a Roman having killed a cat, the people rushed to his
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span>
+house, and neither the entreaties of the grandees, whom the king
+sent for the purpose, nor the terror of the Roman name, could
+protect this man from punishment, although the act was involuntary.
+I do not relate this anecdote,' adds the historian, 'on the
+authority of another, for I was an eye-witness of it during my stay
+in Egypt.'<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5" /><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>During their lives, the consecrated cats were fed upon fish, kept
+for the purpose in tanks; and 'when one of them happened to die,'
+says the veracious writer just cited, 'it was wrapped in linen, and
+after the bystanders had beaten themselves on the breast, it was
+carried to the Tarichoea, where it was embalmed with coedria and
+other substances which have the virtue of embalming bodies, after
+which it was interred in the sacred monument.' It has puzzled not a
+little the learned arch&aelig;ologists, who have endeavoured to discover a
+profound philosophy figured and symbolised in the singular mythology
+of the Egyptians, to explain how it is that in Thebes, where the
+sacred character of the cat was held in the highest reverence, and
+cherished with the greatest devotion, not only embalmed cats have
+been found, but also the bodies of rats and mice, which had been
+subjected to the same anti-putrescent process. If, however,
+Herodotus is to be credited, the Egyptians owed a deep debt of
+gratitude to the mice; for the venerable historian assures us, and
+on the unquestionable authority of the Egyptian priests, that when
+Sennacherib and his army lay at Pelusium, a mighty corps of
+field-mice entered the camp by night, and eating up the quivers,
+bowstrings, and buckler-leathers of the Assyrian troops, in this
+summary fashion liberated Egypt from the terror of the threatened
+invasion. Probably the existence of mice-mummies may be accounted
+for in this way, and if&mdash;resorting to no violent supposition&mdash;we
+presume in the good work which the tiny patriots so sagaciously
+accomplished that their cousins-german the rats were assistant, the
+whole matter receives a satisfactory explication. The hypothesis, it
+is submitted, is not without plausible recommendations on its
+behalf. There is extant a fragment of a comedy, entitled 'The
+Cities,' written by the Rhodian poet Anaxandrides, in which the
+Egyptian worship of animals is amusingly enough quizzed. A
+translation will be found in Dr Prichard's <i>Analysis of Egyptian
+Mythology</i>. The lines referring to cat-worship are as follow:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>'You cry and wail whene'er ye spy a cat,</p>
+<p>Starving or sick; I count it not a sin</p>
+<p>To hang it up, and flay it for its skin;'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>from which it appears this gay free-thinker was not only somewhat
+sceptical in his religious notions, but, moreover, a hard-hearted,
+good-for-nothing fellow&mdash;one who, had he lived in our times, would
+unquestionably have brought himself within the sweep of the Society
+for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Duke of Beaufort's
+Humanity Act.</p>
+
+<p>We learn from Herodotus that in his days it was customary, whenever
+a cat died, for the whole household at once to go into mourning, and
+this although the lamented decease might have been the result of old
+age, or other causes purely natural. In the case of a cat's death,
+however, the eyebrows only were required to be shaved off; but when
+a dog, a beast of more distinguished reputation, departed this life,
+every inmate of the house was expected to shave his head and whole
+body all over. Both cats and dogs are watched and attended to with
+the greatest solicitude during illness. Indeed, by the ancient
+Egyptians the cat was treated much in the same way as are dogs
+amongst us: we find them even accompanying their masters on their
+aquatic shooting-excursions; and, if the testimony of ancient
+monuments is to be relied on, often catching the game for them,
+although it may be permitted to doubt whether they ever actually
+took to the water for this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In modern Egypt the cat, although more docile and companionable than
+its European sister, has much degenerated; but still, on account of
+its usefulness in destroying scorpions and other reptiles, it is
+treated with some consideration&mdash;suffered to eat out of the same
+dish with the children, to join with them in their sports, and to be
+their constant companion and daily friend. A modern Egyptian would
+esteem it a heinous sin indeed, to destroy, or even maltreat a cat;
+and we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that benevolent
+individuals have bequeathed funds by which a certain number of these
+animals are daily fed at Cairo at the Cadi's court, and the bazaar
+of Khan Khaleel.</p>
+
+<p>But a tender regard for the inferior animals is a prevailing
+characteristic of the Oriental races, and is inculcated as a duty by
+their various religions. At Fez there was, and perhaps is at this
+day, a wealthily-endowed hospital, the greater part of the funds of
+which was devoted to the support and medical treatment of invalid
+cranes and storks, and procuring them a decent sepulture whenever
+they chanced to die. The founders are said to have entertained the
+poetical notion that these birds are, in truth, human beings,
+natives of distant islands, who at certain periods assume a foreign
+shape, and after they have satisfied their curiosity with visiting
+other lands, return to their own, and resume their original form.</p>
+
+<p>To return, however, not to our sheep, but our cats, we must remark
+that, in modern times, in spite of the kindness the cat habitually
+receives in Egypt, his <i>morale</i> is not in that country rated very
+high&mdash;the universal impression being that, although, like Snug the
+joiner's lion, he is by nature 'a very gentle beast,' still he is by
+no means 'of a good conscience;' that he is, in short, a most
+ungrateful beast; and that when, in a future state, it is asked of
+him how he has been treated by man in this, he will obstinately deny
+all the benefits he has received at his hand, and give him such a
+character for cruelty and hardness of heart as is shocking to think
+of. The dog, however, it is understood, will conduct himself more
+discreetly, and readily acknowledge the good offices for which he is
+indebted to the family of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Singular anecdotes have been related of the intense repugnance
+persons have been found to entertain to these, at worst, harmless
+animals. One shall be given in the very words of the Rev. Nicholas
+Wanley, who, in his authentic <i>Wonders of the Little World</i>, has
+recorded a number of other facts quite as marvellous, and sustained
+by testimony not one whit more exceptionable:&mdash;'Mathiolus tells of a
+German, who coming in winter-time into an inn to sup with him and
+some other of his friends, the woman of the house being acquainted
+with his temper (lest he should depart at the sight of a young cat
+which she kept to breed up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a
+chest in the same room where we sat at supper. But though he had
+neither seen nor heard it, yet after some time that he had sucked in
+the air infected by the cat's breath, that quality of his
+temperament that had antipathy to that creature being provoked, he
+sweat, and, of a sudden, paleness came over his face, and, to the
+wonder of us all that were present, he cried out that in some corner
+of the room there was a cat that lay hid.' Not long after the battle
+of Wagram and the second occupation of Vienna by the French, an
+aide-de-camp of Napoleon, who at the time occupied, together with
+his suite, the Palace of Sch&ouml;nbrunn, was proceeding to bed at an
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span>
+unusually late hour, when, on passing the door of Napoleon's
+bedroom, he was surprised by a most singular noise, and repeated
+calls from the Emperor for assistance. Opening the door hastily, and
+rushing into the room, a singular spectacle presented itself&mdash;the
+great soldier of the age, half undressed, his countenance agitated,
+the beaded drops of perspiration standing on his brow, in his hand
+his victorious sword, with which he was making frequent and
+convulsive lunges at some invisible enemy through the tapestry that
+lined the walls. It was a cat that had secreted herself in this
+place; and Napoleon held cats not so much in abhorrence as in
+terror. 'A feather,' says the poet, 'daunts the brave;' and a
+greater poet, through the mouth of his Shylock, remarks that 'there
+are some that are mad if they behold a cat&mdash;a harmless, necessary
+cat.' Count Bertram would seem to have shared in this unaccountable
+aversion. When 'Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, that had
+the whole theory of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice
+in the chape of his dagger,' was convicted of mendacity and
+cowardice, Bertram exclaimed, 'I could endure anything before this
+but a cat, and now he's a cat to me.' The force of censure could no
+further go.</p>
+
+<p>If Napoleon, however, held cats, as has been averred, in positive
+fear, there have been others, and some of them illustrious captains,
+that have regarded them with other feelings. Marshal Turenne could
+amuse himself for hours in playing with his kittens; and the great
+general, Lord Heathfield, would often appear on the walls of
+Gibraltar, at the time of the famous siege, attended by his
+favourite cats. Cardinal Richelieu was also fond of cats; and when
+we have enumerated the names of Cowper and Dr Johnson, of Thomas
+Gray and Isaac Newton, and, above all, of the tender-hearted and
+meditative Montaigne, the list is far from complete of those who
+have bestowed on the feline race some portion of their affections.</p>
+
+<p>Butler, in his <i>Hudibras</i>, observes, in an oft-quoted passage, that</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>'Montaigne, playing with his cat,</p>
+<p>Complains she thought him but an ass.'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And the annotator on this passage, in explanation, adds, that
+'Montaigne in his Essays supposes his cat thought him a fool for
+losing his time in playing with her;' but, under favour, this is a
+misinterpretation of the essayist's sentiment, and something like a
+libel on the capacity of both himself and cat. Montaigne's words
+are: 'When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her
+more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert each other with our
+play. If I have my hour to begin or refuse, so also has she hers.'
+Nobody who has read the striking essay in which these words appear
+could for a moment misconceive their author's meaning. He is
+vindicating natural theology from the objections of some of its
+opponents, and in the course of his argument he takes occasion to
+dwell on the wonderful instincts, and almost rational sagacity of
+the inferior animals. We must, however, lament that, although he
+does full justice to the 'half-reasoning elephant,' to the aptitude
+and fidelity of the dog, to the marvellous economical arrangements
+of the bees, and even to the imitative capacity of the magpie, he
+pays no higher tribute to the merits of the cat than that she is as
+capable of being amused as himself, and like himself, too, has her
+periods of gravity when recreative sports are distasteful. Her
+social qualities he does not allude to, though he, so eminently
+social himself, could scarcely have failed to appreciate them.</p>
+
+<p>In this country, at this time, cats have superseded parlour
+favourites decidedly less agreeable in their appearance, and
+infinitely more mischievous in their habits. Writing in the
+seventeenth century, Burton, in his <i>Anatomy of Melancholy</i>, remarks
+that 'Turkey gentlewomen, that are perpetual prisoners, still mewed
+up according to the custom of the place, have little else, beside
+their household business or to play with their children, to drive
+away time but to dally with their cats, which they have <i>in
+delitiis</i>, as many of our ladies and gentlewomen use monkeys and
+little dogs.' It is not the least merit of the cat that it has
+banished from our sitting-rooms those frightful mimicries of
+humanity&mdash;the monkey tribe; and as to the little dogs Tray, Blanch,
+and Sweetheart, although we are not insensible to their many virtues
+and utilities, we care not to see them sleeping on our hearth-rug,
+or reposing beside our work-tables.</p>
+
+<h4>Notes:</h4>
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a>
+In the matter of fanaticism, the modern Egyptians, or
+rather the inhabitants of Alexandria, seem hardly to have
+degenerated from their ethnic 'forbears,' as we read in Mr J.A. St
+John's travels the account of a serious insurrection which broke out
+some years ago in that city, in consequence of certain Jews having
+taken up the butcher's trade, and having slain the meat with a knife
+having <i>three</i> instead of <i>five nails</i> in the handle!
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article6" id="article6">
+BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>Bengal is blessed with a mild climate and a fertile soil. Provisions
+are consequently cheap; and as neither substantial houses nor
+expensive clothing is there essential to comfort, we might naturally
+expect to see less of misery and destitution than in this country.
+Such, however, is not the case. Our severe winter engenders habits
+of industry and forethought, which are unknown in India. The ease
+with which in most cases their few wants are supplied, renders the
+inhabitants of that country in the highest degree improvident; and
+nowhere do we see a greater number of beggars, and misery and
+destitution paraded through the streets in more revolting forms.</p>
+
+<p>There are no poor-laws in any part of India. Relief, however, is not
+withheld, nor indeed sparingly bestowed. Many can afford to give a
+little; and where nothing is exacted, many give willingly. Little
+charity is bestowed by Europeans in the streets, as they generally
+ride in palanquins or carriages, and as, besides, they feel the
+weight even of a purse too much on a hot day. However, let it not be
+supposed that they, like Dives, wallow in wealth, and close their
+ears to the importunities of the heathen. The Baboo or Sircar gives
+weekly or monthly pensions to some patronised beggars; and on a
+Saturday in some large towns, the blind, lame, and halt come to the
+gates of the grandees, and receive from the trusty <i>durwan</i> or
+doorkeeper a handful of cowries and coarse rice, of which one, two,
+or three rupees' worth are mixed up, according to the circumstances
+of the master. But it is not to ordinary beggars I now propose to
+draw the attention of the reader&mdash;the infirm or the lazy, with whom
+we are all tolerably familiar. But in India there is another class
+of beggars&mdash;<i>religious</i> and <i>professional</i> beggars&mdash;who are proud of
+their calling. I do not mean that there are no religious mendicants
+to be found at home; but although the object to be attained in both
+countries may be similar, the agents employed in the East are so
+different, that a description of them will to many European readers
+have all the gloss of novelty.</p>
+
+<p>The two principal sects in Bengal are known as <i>Soneeassees</i> and
+<i>Byr&acirc;gees</i>. The former <i>exclusively</i> worship Mahado. 'They are not
+to inhabit houses or temples,' say their scriptures; 'but to live in
+woods and forests, under the wide expanse of heaven, <i>there</i> to
+meditate upon the greatness of the Creator, and contemplate his
+beautiful works.' An infant who is to become a Soneeassee has from
+his birth the badge of Sheva upon him: no razor ever touches his
+hair, and his locks are matted and dishevelled, when other
+children's are neatly combed and anointed. When he approaches
+manhood, he takes the vow of celibacy, he receives from the hand of
+the Brahmin the <i>muntra</i> or mystical creed, the dried skin of an
+antelope, and a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span>
+piece of coarse, unbleached cotton, stained yellow
+with ochre, which he can use as a plaid, it being seven feet long;
+upon the skin he is supposed to sit and sleep, and the cloth
+overshadows the shoulders of the young enthusiast. Even after these
+are worn out, as it is supposed that the devotee is pretty well
+broken in to the hardships of his situation, they on no account may
+be renewed. These Soneeassees seldom adhere to the letter of their
+religion in the present day, although it is said that in times gone
+by some of their class have sat absorbed and abstracted until their
+spirit held communion with the great god&mdash;their bodies wasting away
+from neglect, and their nails growing like claws. In the present
+day, prayer and meditation are given to the winds, and they may be
+seen fat and sleek, perambulating the streets of the towns and
+villages, smeared over with ashes and ochre, and great coils of
+matted hair, which some tastefully wind like a turban round their
+head. They take care also to display, in glaring red and white
+paint, upon their foreheads and arms, the various insignia or marks
+of Sheva, such as the trident. Occasionally one also flourishes
+about a <i>steel</i> trident, which the figure of Mahado always wields in
+his hand, and which is also placed on the summit of his temple. The
+Soneeassees are the most impudent and importunate of beggars. There
+came under my notice a band of three, who used regularly to visit
+the town twice a week. These men had made a vow to collect a certain
+number of rupees to build a temple, and for this purpose infested
+the doors of the wealthiest of the Hindoo community, and followed
+and persecuted them even in their drives with continued cries. It is
+astonishing how soon superstition enabled them to fulfil their vow,
+and how the extortioners were allowed to escape the punishment their
+impudence deserved.</p>
+
+<p>The Byr&acirc;gees are not so intrusive a sect. They frequently live in
+the open air, though not prohibited from seeking other shelter.
+Their heads are differently treated from those of the Soneeassees,
+for both men and women have the crown shaved quite smooth. Both
+sexes wear a piece of cloth checked like shepherd's plaid. They have
+great strings of wooden beads, or <i>mal&acirc;hs</i>, turned out of the stalks
+of the holy toolsie, round their necks; and they generally collect
+their rice and cowries in a dried gourd-shell. Persons of this sect
+at their death are placed in an upright position in a deep grave,
+and so consumed with fire. In former times, the widows used to burn
+themselves with their lords. The Byr&acirc;gees, when they attain years of
+discretion, may choose their wives from any caste they please. Some
+of the Byragins, therefore, are said to be far cleverer than the
+everyday Hindoo women, having been selected from a class which are
+looked down upon by the others, but who are taught high
+accomplishments, and are devoted to the temples of the gods. In his
+begging excursions the Byr&acirc;gee carries a pair of cymbals or a small
+gong; and singing the songs of Krishna, and his courtships among the
+milkmaids, he delights the hearts of his Hindoo hearers, and makes
+them lavish of their gifts.</p>
+
+<p>The English reader perhaps has never heard of a beggar such as I
+shall now depict. One may happen to be in a reflective mood, and
+aroused from his meditations by what he supposes to be a cow lowing
+close to his ear. He starts up and goes to the window, but instead
+of that quadruped he finds a man standing with a rope round his
+neck, and a woful countenance, holding out his palms, indicating
+that he wants charity. This man has had the misfortune to lose his
+cow; and as it died tethered, his religion imposes on him the
+penalty of begging from door to door without speaking, but imitating
+the cow, till he has realised enough to purchase one of these sacred
+animals, and to give something besides in charity to the Brahmins.
+This provision was perhaps made by the religion of the country in
+favour of the cow, to preserve so useful an animal from
+ill-treatment; and it is astonishing to see how implicitly the
+Hindoo submits himself to a mere convention, which he might easily
+evade.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article7" id="article7">
+A LATE PRISON REPORT.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+
+
+<p>In the Sixteenth Report on the state of the Prisons, by Mr Frederic
+Hill, lately laid before parliament, will be found some passages
+worthy of general attention. While speaking favourably of the system
+of discipline now ordinarily pursued towards prisoners, Mr Hill is
+obliged to admit that certain prisons are rendered much too
+attractive; in fact, that they create crime. It is important that
+this condition of affairs should be known. Good food and medical
+attendance are, it seems, the attractions. The following are Mr
+Hill's words, with the quotations he makes from the statements of
+prison officials:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'Several of the prisons continue to be attractive, to certain
+classes of persons, instead of repulsive; owing, apparently in some
+instances, to the better dietary of the prison as compared with that
+of the workhouse; in others, to the good medical treatment generally
+provided in prisons; and in others, to a practice of giving
+prisoners clothing on their liberation, a practice which, did the
+law permit, might be replaced by a rule enabling prisoners to earn
+clothing by extra labour.</p>
+
+<p>'The governor of the borough prison at Cambridge stated that many
+persons were reckless about committing offences, because they
+preferred being sent to the prison to going to the workhouse, owing
+chiefly (according to their statements) to their getting better food
+at the prison.</p>
+
+<p>'The chaplain of the prison at Spilsby stated as follows:&mdash;&quot;I am
+sorry to observe that the present system of discipline here does not
+deter people from the commission of crime. Several have said that
+they would rather come here than go to the Union workhouse.&quot; ...</p>
+
+<p>'Mr Dunn, one of the surgeons of the prison at Wakefield, states&mdash;&quot;I
+am convinced that many persons, especially females, get committed to
+the prison on purpose to be cured of attacks of disease. Many of
+them have admitted to me that it was so. A man from Bradford, who
+went out last week, told me that he had been here before, and that
+he had got committed again in consequence of his having a return of
+his disease, and that he came to be cured.... One man who was here
+for a month last autumn, and who came in a very diseased state, but
+who left cured, required, during nearly the whole time, a pint of
+wine per day, besides malt liquor. It was a case in which a very
+liberal diet is necessary to preserve life; and it was requisite to
+have a prisoner, acting as nurse, to sit up with him through the
+night. The cost to the West Riding of this single case, counting
+expenses of all kinds, could not have been less than L.6.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>'The governor of the city prison at York said&mdash;&quot;By the
+acknowledgments of the prisoners themselves, I know that the
+practice still continues of committing offences on purpose to get
+committed to this prison. Four prisoners were liberated this morning
+who had broken a street-lamp with the evident intention of being
+sent to this prison. They were sentenced to seven days'
+imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
+with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
+one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
+the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
+order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
+who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
+opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
+sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
+pass their time in idleness; no prisoners
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span>
+except those sentenced to
+hard labour being set to work.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
+at the same prison:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Dec. 12th, 1849.</i>&mdash;The number of prisoners who commit offences
+with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
+yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
+expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
+is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p>If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
+been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
+when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
+got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
+worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
+tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
+the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
+and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
+it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
+vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
+is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
+desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
+shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
+for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
+comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
+utterly-abandoned class!</p>
+
+<p>Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
+that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
+labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
+wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
+their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
+criminal class possessed the feelings of gentlemen; whereas the real
+thing to be thought of, was to give them labour so excessively
+toilsome and irksome as to be remembered with salutary horror all
+the days of their life. For example, no kind of punishment, we
+believe, has proved so sure a terror as that of the shot-drill in
+the military prisons. This consists in lifting a cannon-ball of
+perhaps twenty pounds' weight; marching with it for a dozen yards;
+then laying it down; and so on, repeating the same thing for an
+hour. Now this is clearly a useless and most degrading species of
+labour; yet it is a terrible infliction, and we are told seldom
+fails in its effect&mdash;that is to say, it deters from the commission
+of crime.</p>
+
+<p>The experience of the last few years would shew that much is still
+to be learned in the art of criminal discipline; and indeed the
+whole question of what is to be done with our criminal population is
+becoming daily more perplexing. Mere confinement is found to be of
+small avail. Transportation is exploded; for it improves the
+circumstances of criminals instead of making them worse. Capital
+punishment has also had its day, and, excepting for a very few
+offences, is abandoned as useless, independently of being revolting
+to humanity. One writer proposes to work convicts in gangs at
+out-door labour, such as mining, and making railways; but the public
+would never tolerate the spectacle of this worst species of
+slave-labour; and besides, the employment of honest workers would be
+ruined. We are inclined to think that imprisonment, in a severe
+form, is after all the only practicable means of dealing with
+criminals. If anything be urgently wanted, it is a plan for
+preventing the growth of the criminal class; and this probably is
+not so difficult as it may appear. Of course, till there be a far
+broader system of public education than now prevails, the criminal
+population will never want recruits. Nevertheless, even with our
+present imperfect educational arrangements, something might be done.
+The criminal class is discovered to be on the whole a narrow class.
+The practice of living by depredation runs in families, and clings
+to individuals. The police of any given town could put their hand on
+almost every person who lives by fraud, theft, and robbery. They
+could at a day's notice secure nearly every one of them. A knowledge
+of this fact has suggested to Mr Matthew Hill a plan for capturing
+the whole criminal class, and obliging them to give security for
+their good behaviour; failing which, they should suffer
+incarceration as notoriously dangerous and troublesome to society. A
+fear of trenching on the liberty of the subject may prevent this
+ingenious scheme of the Recorder of Birmingham from being carried
+into effect; but to something or other of the kind he proposes,
+society must come at last, if it wish to save itself from being
+everlastingly worried and plundered by a habitually predatory class.
+In the Prison Report to which we have above referred, mention is
+made of a single family of thieves, consisting of fifteen
+individuals, who cost the country L.26,000 before they were got rid
+of. Is not such a fact quite monstrous!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article8" id="article8">
+FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>In an American work&mdash;<i>Glances at Europe</i>, by Mr H. Greeley&mdash;the
+following sound observations occur on the battle-pictures in the
+palace of Versailles: 'These battle-pieces have scarcely more
+historic than artistic value, since the names of at least half of
+them might be transposed, and the change be undetected by
+ninety-nine out of every hundred who see them. If <i>all</i> the French
+battles were thus displayed, it might be urged with plausibility
+that these galleries were historical in their character; but a full
+half of the story&mdash;that which tells of French disaster and
+discomfiture&mdash;is utterly suppressed. The battles of Ptolemais, of
+Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &amp;c. are here as
+imposing as paint can make them; but never a whisper of Agincourt,
+Cressy, Poitiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies; nor yet of Salamanca, of
+Vittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession of
+forays which the French have for the last twenty years been
+prosecuting in Algerine Africa, here shine resplendent; for Vernet
+has painted, by Louis-Philippe's order, and at France's cost, a
+succession of battle-pieces, wherein French numbers and science are
+seen prevailing over Arab barbarism and irregular valour, in combats
+whereof the very names have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though
+they occurred but yesterday. One of these is much the largest
+painting I ever saw, and is probably the largest in the world, and
+it seems to have been got up merely to exhibit one of
+Louis-Philippe's sons in the thickest of the fray. Last of all, we
+have the Capture of Abd-el-Kader, as imposing as Vernet could make
+it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewith he has been
+retained for several years in bondage, in violation of the express
+agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in its general
+effect, delusive and mischievous&mdash;the purpose being to exhibit war
+as always glorious, and France as uniformly triumphant. It is by
+means like these that the business of shattering knee-joints and
+multiplying orphans is kept in countenance.'</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article9" id="article9">
+NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>A patent has been taken out for the following applications of
+mangel-wurzel:&mdash;<i>1st</i>, To prepare a substance which may be combined
+with, or employed in place of coffee, the mangel-wurzel roots are
+well washed, cut into pieces; about the size of peas or beans, and
+then dried and roasted in the same manner as coffee-berries. The
+product is ground after being roasted, and it is then ready for use.
+<i>2d</i>, A substitute for tea is produced by cutting the leaves of
+mangel-wurzel into small strips or shreds, drying the same, and then
+placing them upon a hot plate, which is kept at a temperature
+sufficiently high to slightly char the leaves. The charred
+mangel-wurzel leaves are to be used in precisely the same way as
+tea. <i>3d</i>, To manufacture a fermented liquor, the mangel-wurzel
+roots are well washed, cut into small pieces, and put into a vat,
+wherein they are permitted to ferment for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span>
+two or three days, at a
+temperature of about 70 degrees, and water is added thereto. A
+fermented liquor is thus obtained similar to perry or cider. <i>4th</i>,
+When the mangel-wurzel roots are to be employed in the preparation
+of wort, they are washed, and cut into small pieces, which are
+dried, or slightly charred, by the action of kilns or ovens, of the
+kind used for drying malt; and wort is prepared from this produce in
+the same manner as from malt.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article10" id="article10"></a>
+THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6" /><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<div style="margin-left:15%">
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">I.</span><br />
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>The great human whirlpool!&mdash;'tis seething and seething:</p>
+<p>On! No time for shrieking out, no time for breathing;</p>
+<p>All toiling and moiling&mdash;some feebler, some bolder,</p>
+<p>But each sees a fiend-face grin over his shoulder:</p>
+<p class="i4">Thus merrily live they in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>The great human caldron&mdash;it boils ever higher;</p>
+<p>Some drowning, some sinking; while some, creeping nigher,</p>
+<p>Come thirsting to lean o'er its outermost verges,</p>
+<p>Or touch&mdash;as a child's feet touch trembling the surges:</p>
+<p class="i4">One plunge&mdash;Ho! more souls swamped in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>'Let's live while we live, for to-morrow all's over.</p>
+<p>Drink deep, drunkard bold! and kiss close, thou mad lover!</p>
+<p>Smile, hypocrite, smile! it is no such hard labour,</p>
+<p>While each with red hand tears the heart of his neighbour</p>
+<p class="i4">All slyly.&mdash;We're strange folk in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>'Hist!&mdash;each for himself, or <i>herself</i>, which sounds smoother,</p>
+<p>Though man's no upholder, and woman no soother,</p>
+<p>Both struggle alike here.&mdash;What, weeping?&mdash;what, raving?</p>
+<p>Pah!&mdash;fight out the battle all! No time for saving!</p>
+<p class="i4">Ha! ha! 'tis a wondrous place, Vanity Fair!'</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>The mad crowd divides, and then closes swift after;</p>
+<p>Afar, towers the pyre, lit with shouting and laughter;</p>
+<p>'What new sport is this?' lisps a reveller, half turning;&mdash;</p>
+<p>'One Faithful, poor wretch! who is led to the burning:</p>
+<p class="i4">He cumbered us sorely in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>'A dreamer&mdash;who held every man for a brother;</p>
+<p>A coward&mdash;who, emit on one cheek, gave the other:</p>
+<p>A fool&mdash;whose blind truth aye believed all knaves' lying;</p>
+<p>Too simple to live, so most fitted for dying.</p>
+<p class="i4">Ha! such are best swept out of Vanity Fair.'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">II.</span><br />
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>Silence! though the flame-drifts wave and flutter;</p>
+<p>Silence! though the crowd their curses mutter;</p>
+<p>Silence! through this fiery purgatory</p>
+<p>God is leading up a soul to glory.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,</p>
+<p>Hate of foes, or plaint of friends' dissembling;</p>
+<p>If sighs come&mdash;most patient prayers outlive them:</p>
+<p><i>'Lord, these know not what they do. Forgive them!'</i></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing,</p>
+<p>Fainter in his ear the laughters growing;</p>
+<p>Brief endures the fierce and fiery trial&mdash;</p>
+<p>Angel-welcomes drown the earth-denial.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,</p>
+<p>Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body,</p>
+<p>While through harmless flames immortal flying</p>
+<p>Shoots the beauteous soul. This&mdash;this is <i>dying</i>!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Lo! the opening heavens with splendours rifted;</p>
+<p>Lo! the palms that wait those hands uplifted;</p>
+<p>And the fiery chariot cloud-descending,</p>
+<p>And the legioned angels close attending!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Let his poor dust mingle with the embers,</p>
+<p>While the crowd sweeps on, and none remembers;</p>
+<p>Saints and angels through the Infinite glory,</p>
+<p>Praising God, recount the martyr's story.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Thou, who through the trial-fires bewildering</p>
+<p>Of this cruel world, dost lead Thy children,</p>
+<p>With the purifying give the balm;</p>
+<p>Grant to martyr-pangs the martyr's palm!</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<h4>Notes:</h4>
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a>
+Suggested partly by a sketch in David Scott's
+illustrations of the <i>Pilgrim's Progress</i>.
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article11" id="article11">
+VARIETY OF AMBER.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
+very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
+amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
+buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
+the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
+cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
+quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
+standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
+pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
+divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
+yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
+little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
+was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
+Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
+effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
+of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
+opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
+amber beautifully transparent.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article12" id="article12">
+HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
+because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
+blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
+and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
+circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
+attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
+reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
+substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
+detected the animal quality&mdash;the ammonia&mdash;in the wool of the
+blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
+something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
+committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
+the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
+out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
+contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
+hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
+opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article13" id="article13">
+AN AMERICAN EDITOR.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick he
+twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to
+frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the
+pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of
+the most beautiful 'persuaders' ever manufactured by Colt, we are
+satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers. We should also
+state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but
+that on every Saturday until one o'clock P.M. he is always at the
+office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every
+satisfaction for the articles he publishes.&mdash;<i>Boston Rouge Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>Printed and Published by W. and R. <span class="sc">Chambers</span>,
+High Street, Edinburgh.  Also sold by W.S. <span class="sc">Orr</span>,
+Amen Corner, London; D.N. <span class="sc">Chambers</span>,
+55 West Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. <span class="sc">M'Glashan</span>,
+50 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin.&mdash;Advertisements for Monthly
+Parts are requested to be sent to <span class="sc">Maxwell &amp; Co.</span>,
+ 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all applications
+ respecting their insertion must be made.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14502 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #14502 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14502)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New
+Series, January 10, 1852, 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: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New Series, January 10, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14502]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  No. 419. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2 _d_.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST AGES.
+
+
+My friends, have you read Elia? If so, follow me, walking in the
+shadow of his mild presence, while I recount to you my vision of the
+Lost Ages. I am neither single nor unblessed with offspring, yet,
+like Charles Lamb, I have had my 'dream-children.' Years have flown
+over me since I stood a bride at the altar. My eyes are dim and
+failing, and my hairs are silver-white. My real children of flesh
+and blood have become substantial men and women, carving their own
+fortunes, and catering for their own tastes in the matter of wives
+and husbands, leaving their old mother, as nature ordereth, to the
+stillness and repose fitted for her years. Understand, this is not
+meant to imply that the fosterer of their babyhood, the instructor
+of their childhood, the guide of their youth, is forsaken or
+neglected by those who have sprung up to maturity beneath her eye.
+No; I am blessed in my children. Living apart, I yet see them often;
+their joys, their cares are mine. Not a Sabbath dawns but it finds
+me in the midst of them; not a holiday or a festival of any kind is
+noted in the calendar of their lives, but Grandmamma is the first to
+be sent for. Still, of necessity, I pass much of my time alone; and
+old age is given to reverie quite as much as youth. I can remember a
+time--long, long ago--when in the twilight of a summer evening it
+was a luxury to sit apart with closed eyes; and, heedless of the
+talk that went on in the social circle from which I was withdrawn,
+indulge in all sorts of fanciful visions. Then my dream-people were
+all full-grown men and women. I do not recollect that I ever thought
+about children until I possessed some of my own. Those waking
+visions were very sweet--sweeter than the realities of life that
+followed; but they were neither half so curious nor half so
+wonderful as the dreams that sometimes haunt me now. The imagination
+of the old is not less lively than that of the young: it is only
+less original. A youthful fancy will create more new images; the
+mind of age requires materials to build with: these supplied, the
+combinations it is capable of forming are endless. And so were born
+my dream-children.
+
+Has it never occurred to you, mothers and fathers, to wonder what
+has become of your children's lost ages? Look at your little boy of
+five years old. Is he at all, in any respect, the same breathing
+creature that you beheld three years back? I think not. Whither,
+then, has the sprite vanished? In some hidden fairy nook, in some
+mysterious cloud-land he must exist still. Again, in your
+slim-formed girl of eight years, you look in vain for the sturdy elf
+of five. Gone? No; that cannot be--'a thing of beauty is a joy for
+ever.' Close your eyes: you have her there! A breeze-like, sportive,
+buoyant thing; a thing of breathing, laughing, unmistakable life;
+she is mirrored on your retina as plainly as ever was dancing
+sunbeam on a brook. The very trick of her lip--of her eye; the
+mischief-smile, the sidelong saucy glance,
+
+             'That seems to say,
+  I know you love me, Mr Grey;'
+
+is it not traced there--all, every line, as clear as when it
+brightened the atmosphere about you in the days that are no more? To
+be sure it is; and being so, the thing must exist--somewhere.
+
+I never was more fully possessed with this conviction than once
+during the winter of last year. It was Christmas-eve. I was sitting
+alone, in my old armchair, and had been looking forward to the
+fast-coming festival-day with many mingled thoughts--some tender,
+but regretful; others hopeful, yet sad; some serious, and even
+solemn. As I laid my head back and sat thus with closed eyes,
+listening to the church-clock as it struck the hour, I could not but
+feel that I was passing--very slowly and gently it is true--towards
+a time when the closing of the grave would shut out even that sound
+so familiar to my ear; and when other and more precious sounds of
+life-human voices, dearer than all else, would cease to have any
+meanings for me--and even their very echoes be hushed in the silence
+of the one long sleep. Following the train of association, it was
+natural that I should recur to the hour when that same church's
+bells had chimed my wedding-peal. I seemed to hear their music once
+again; and other music sweeter still--the music of young vows that
+'kept the word of promise to the ear, and broke it' _not_ 'to the
+hope.' Next in succession came the recollection of my children. I
+seemed to lose sight of their present identity, and to be carried
+away in thought to times and scenes far back in my long-departed
+youth, when they were growing up around my knees--beautiful forms of
+all ages, from the tender nursling of a single year springing with
+outstretched arms into my bosom, to the somewhat rough but ingenuous
+boy of ten. As my inner eye traced their different outlines, and
+followed them in their graceful growth from year to year, my heart
+was seized with a sudden and irresistible longing to hold fast these
+beloved but passing images of the brain. What joy, I thought, would
+it be to transfix the matchless beauty which had wrought itself thus
+into the visions of my old age! to preserve for ever, unchanging,
+every varied phase of that material but marvellous structure which
+the glorious human soul had animated and informed through all its
+progressive stages from the child to the man!
+
+Scarcely was the thought framed when a dull, heavy weight seemed to
+press upon my closed eyelids. I now saw more clearly even than
+before my children's images in the different stages of their being.
+But I saw these, and these alone, as they stood rooted to the
+ground, with a stony fixedness in their eyes: every other object
+grew dim before me. The living faces and full-grown forms which
+until now had mingled with and played their part among my younger
+phantoms, altogether disappeared. I had no longer any eyes, any
+soul, but for this my new spectre-world. Life, and the things of
+life, had lost their interest; and I knew of nothing, conceived of
+nothing, but those still, inanimate forms from which the informing
+soul had long since passed away.
+
+And now that the longing of my heart was answered, was I satisfied?
+For a time I gazed, and drew a deep delight from the gratification
+of my vain and impious craving. But at length the still, cold
+presence of forms no longer of this earth began to oppress me. I
+grew cold and numb beneath their moveless aspect; and constant
+gazing upon eyes lighted up by no varying expression, pressed upon
+my tired senses with a more than nightmare weight. I felt a sort of
+dull stagnation through every limb, which held me bound where I sat,
+pulseless and moveless as the phantoms on which I gazed.
+
+As I wrestled with the feeling that oppressed me, striving in vain
+to break the bonds of that strange fascination, under the pressure
+of which I surely felt that I must perish--a soft voice, proceeding
+from whence I knew not, broke upon my ear. 'You have your desire,'
+it said gently; 'why, then, struggle thus? Why writhe under the
+magic of that joy you have yourself called up? Are they not here
+before you, the Lost Ages whose beauty and whose grace you would
+perpetuate? What would you more? O mortal!'
+
+'But these forms have no life,' I gasped--'no pulsating, breathing
+soul!'
+
+'No,' replied the same still, soft voice; 'these forms belong to the
+things of the past. In God's good time they breathed the breath of
+life; they had _then_ a being and a purpose on this earth. Their day
+has departed--their work is done.'
+
+So saying, the voice grew still: the leaden weight which had pressed
+upon my eyelids was lifted off: I awoke.
+
+Filled with reveries of the past--my eyes closed to everything
+without--sleep had indeed overtaken me as I sat listening to the old
+church-clock. But my vision was not all a vision: my dream-children
+came not without their teaching. If they had been called up in
+folly, yet in their going did they leave behind a lesson of wisdom.
+
+The morning dawned--the blessed Christmas-morning! With it came my
+good and dutiful, my real life--children. When they were all
+assembled round me, and when, subdued and thoughtful beneath the
+tender and gracious associations of the day, each in turn
+ministered, reverently and lovingly, to the old mother's need of
+body and of soul, my heart was melted within me. Blessed, indeed,
+was I in a lot full to overflowing of all the good gifts which a
+wise and merciful Maker could lavish upon his erring and craving
+creature. I stood reproved. I felt humbled to think that I should
+ever for a moment have indulged one idle or restless longing for the
+restoration of that past which had done its appointed work, and out
+of which so gracious a present had arisen. One idea impressed me
+strongly: I could not but feel that had the craving of my soul been
+answered in reality, as my dream had foreshadowed; and had the wise
+and beneficent order of nature been disturbed and distorted from its
+just relations, how fearful would have been the result! Here, in my
+green old age, I stood amongst a new generation, honoured for what I
+was, beloved for what I had been. What if, at some mortal wish in
+some freak of nature, the form which I now bore were for ever to
+remain before the eyes of my children! Were such a thing to befall,
+how would their souls ever be lifted upward to the contemplation of
+that higher state of being into which it is my hope soon to pass
+when the hand which guided me hither shall beckon me hence? At the
+thought my heart was chastened. Never since that night have I
+indulged in any one wish framed in opposition to nature's laws.
+_Now_ I find my dream-children in the present; and to the past I
+yield willingly all things which are its own--among the rest, the
+Lost Ages.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.
+
+BY CATHERINE CROWE.
+
+
+The extraordinary motives under which people occasionally act, and
+the strange things they do under the influence of these motives,
+frequently so far transcend the bounds of probability, that we
+romance-writers, with the wholesome fear of the critics before our
+eyes, would not dare to venture on them. Only the other day we read
+in the newspapers that a Frenchman who had been guilty of
+embezzlement, and was afraid of being found out, went into a theatre
+in Lyon and stabbed a young woman whom he had never seen before in
+his life, in order that he might die by the hands of the
+executioner, and so escape the inconvenience of rushing into the
+other world without having time to make his peace with Heaven. He
+desired death as a refuge from the anguish of mind he was suffering;
+but instead of killing himself he killed somebody else, because the
+law would allow him leisure for repentance before it inflicted the
+penalty of his crime.
+
+It will be said the man was mad--I suppose he was; and so is
+everybody whilst under the influence of an absorbing passion,
+whether the mania be love, jealousy, fanaticism, or revenge. The
+following tale will illustrate one phase of such a madness.
+
+In the year 1789, there resided in Italy, not far from Aquila in the
+Abruzzo, a man called Gaspar Mendez. He appears to have been a
+Spaniard, if not actually by birth, at least by descent, and to have
+possessed a small estate, which he rendered valuable by pasturing
+cattle. Not far from where he resided there lived with her parents a
+remarkably handsome girl, of the name of Bianca Venoni, and on this
+fair damsel Mendez fixed his affections. As he was by many degrees
+the best match about the neighbourhood, he never doubted that his
+addresses would be received with a warm welcome, and intoxicated
+with this security, he seems to have made his advances so abruptly
+that the girl felt herself entitled to give him an equally abrupt
+refusal. To aggravate his mortification, he discovered that a young
+man, called Giuseppe Ripa, had been a secret witness to the
+rejection, which took place in an orchard; and as he walked away
+with rage in his heart, he heard echoing behind him the merry laugh
+of the two thoughtless young people. Proud and revengeful by nature,
+this affront seems to have rankled dreadfully in the mind of Gaspar;
+although, in accordance with that pride, he endeavoured to conceal
+his feelings under a show of indifference. Those who knew the
+parties well, however, were not deceived; and when, after an
+interval, it was discovered that Giuseppe himself was the favoured
+lover of Bianca, the enmity, though not more open, became more
+intense than ever.
+
+In the meantime old Venoni, Bianca's father, had become aware of the
+fine match his daughter had missed, and was extremely angry about
+it; more particularly as he was poor, and would have been very much
+pleased to have a rich son-in-law. Nor was he disposed to relinquish
+the chance so easily. After first trying his influence on Bianca,
+upon whom he expended a great deal of persuasion and cajolery in
+vain, he went so far as to call upon Gaspar, apologising for his
+daughter's ignorance and folly in refusing so desirable a proposal,
+and expressing a hope that Mendez would not relinquish the pursuit,
+but try his fortune again; when he hoped to have brought her to a
+better state of mind.
+
+Gaspar received the old man with civility, but answered coldly, that
+any further advances on his own part were out of the question,
+unless he had reason to believe the young lady was inclined to
+retract her refusal; in which case he should be happy to wait upon
+her. With this response Venoni returned to make another attack upon
+his daughter, whom, however, fortified by her strong attachment to
+Ripa, he found quite immovable; and there for several months the
+affair seems to have rested, till the old man, urged by the
+embarrassment of his circumstances, renewed the persecution,
+coupling it with certain calumnies against Giuseppe, founded on the
+accidental loss of a sum of money which had been intrusted to him by
+a friend, who wanted it conveyed to a neighbouring village, whither
+the young man had occasion to go. This loss, which seems to have
+arisen out of some youthful imprudence, appears to have occasioned
+Ripa a great deal of distress; and he not only did his utmost to
+repair it by giving up everything he had, which was indeed very
+little, but he also engaged to pay regularly a portion of his weekly
+earnings till the whole sum was replaced.
+
+His behaviour, in short, was so satisfactory, that the person to
+whom the money had belonged does not seem to have borne him any
+ill-will on the subject; but Venoni took advantage of the
+circumstance to fling aspersions on the young man's character,
+whilst it strengthened his argument against the connection with his
+daughter; for how was Giuseppe to maintain a wife and family with
+this millstone of debt round his neck? Bianca, however, continued
+faithful to her lover, and for some time nothing happened to advance
+the suit of either party. In that interval a sister of Gaspar's had
+married a man called Alessandro Malfi, who, being a friend of
+Giuseppe's, endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation betwixt the
+rivals, or, rather, to produce a more cordial feeling, for there had
+never been a quarrel; and as far as Ripa was concerned, as he had no
+cause for jealousy, there was no reason why he should bear ill-will
+to the unsuccessful candidate. With Gaspar it was different: he
+hated Ripa; but as it hurt his pride that this enmity to one whom he
+considered so far beneath him should be known, he made no open
+demonstration of dislike, and when Malfi expressed a wish to invite
+his friend to supper, hoping that Mendez would not refuse to meet
+him, the Spaniard made no objection whatever. 'Why not?' he said:
+'he knew of no reason why he should not meet Giuseppe Ripa, or any
+other person his brother-in-law chose to invite.'
+
+Accordingly the party was made; and on the night appointed Giuseppe,
+after a private interview in the orchard with his mistress, started
+for Malfi's house, which was situated about three miles off, in the
+same direction as Gaspar's, which, indeed, he had to pass; on which
+account he deferred his departure to a later hour than he otherwise
+would have done, wishing not to come in contact with his rival till
+they met under Malfi's roof. Mendez had a servant called Antonio
+Guerra, who worked on his farm, and who appears to have been much in
+his confidence, and just as Ripa passed the Spaniard's door, he met
+Guerra coming in an opposite direction, and asked him if Mendez had
+gone to the supper yet; to which Guerra answered that he supposed he
+had, but he did not know. Guerra then took a key out of his pocket,
+and, unlocking the door, entered the house, whilst Ripa walked on.
+
+In the meanwhile the little party had assembled in Malfi's parlour,
+all but the two principal personages, Gaspar and Giuseppe; and as
+time advanced without their appearing, some jests were passed
+amongst the men present, who wished they might not have fallen foul
+of each other on the way. At length, however, Ripa arrived, and the
+first question that was put to him was: 'What had he done with his
+rival?' which he answered by inquiring if the Spaniard was not come.
+But although he endeavoured to appear unconcerned, there was a
+tremor in his voice and a confusion of manner that excited general
+observation. He made violent efforts, however, to appear at his
+ease, but these efforts were too manifest to be successful; whilst
+the continued absence of Mendez became so unaccountable, that a
+cloud seems to have settled on the spirits of the company, which
+made the expected festivity pass very heavily off.
+
+'Where could Mendez be? What could have detained him? It was to be
+hoped no harm had happened to him!' Such was the burden of the
+conversation till--when at about an hour before midnight the party
+broke up--Alessandro Malfi said, that to allay the anxiety of his
+wife, who was getting extremely alarmed about her brother, he would
+walk as far as Forni--which was the name of Gaspar's farm--to
+inquire what had become of him.
+
+As Ripa's way lay in the same direction, they naturally started
+together; and after what appears to have been a very silent
+walk--for the spirits of Giuseppe were so depressed that the other
+found it impossible to draw him into conversation--they reached
+Forni, when, having rung the bell, they were presently answered by
+Antonio Guerra, who put his head out of an upper window to inquire
+who they were, and what they wanted.
+
+'It is I, Alessandro Malfi. I want to know where your master is, and
+why he has not been to my house this evening as he promised?'
+
+'I thought he was there,' said Antonio. 'He set off from here to go
+soon after seven o'clock.'
+
+'That is most extraordinary!' returned Malfi. 'What in the world can
+have become of him?'
+
+'It is very strange, certainly,' answered the servant. 'He has never
+come home; and when you rang I thought it was he returned from the
+party.'
+
+As there was no more to be learned, the two friends now parted;
+Malfi expressing considerable surprise and some uneasiness at the
+non-appearance of his brother-in-law: whilst of Giuseppe we hear
+nothing more till the following afternoon, when, whilst at work in
+his vineyard, he was accosted by two officers of justice from
+Aquila, and he found himself arrested, under an accusation of having
+waylaid Mendez in a mountain-pass on the preceding evening, and
+wounded him with the design of taking his life.
+
+The first words Ripa uttered on hearing this impeachment--words
+that, like all the rest of his behaviour, told dreadfully against
+him--were: 'Isn't he dead, then?'
+
+'No thanks to you that he's not,' replied the officer; 'but he's
+alive, and likely to recover to give evidence against his assassin.'
+
+'_Dio_!' cried Giuseppe, 'I wish I'd known he wasn't dead!'
+
+'You confess, then, that you wounded him with the intent to kill?'
+
+'No,' answered Ripa; 'I confess no such thing. As I was going
+through the pass last night I observed a man's hat lying a little
+off the road, and on lifting it, I saw it belonged to Señor Mendez.
+Whilst I was wondering how it came there without the owner, and was
+looking about for him, I spied him lying behind a boulder. At first
+I thought he was asleep, but on looking again, I saw he didn't lie
+like a sleeping man, and I concluded he was dead. Had it been any
+one but he, I should have lifted him up; but it being very well
+known that we were no friends, I own I was afraid to do so. I
+thought it better not to meddle with him at all. However, if he is
+alive, as you say, perhaps he can tell himself who wounded him.'
+
+'To be sure he can,' returned the officer: 'he says it's you!'
+
+'_Perduto son' io!_--Then I am lost!' exclaimed Ripa; who, on being
+brought before the authorities, persisted in the same story; adding,
+that so far from seeking Mendez, he had particularly wished to avoid
+him, and that that was the reason he had started so late; for he had
+been warned that the Spaniard was his enemy, and he apprehended that
+if they met alone some collision might ensue.
+
+It appeared, however, that he had consumed much more time on the
+road than could be fairly accounted for; for two or three people had
+met him on the way before he reached Forni; and then Antonio Guerra
+could speak as to the exact hour of his passing. This discrepancy he
+attempted to explain by saying, that after seeing Mendez on the
+ground, dead--as he believed--he had been so agitated and alarmed
+that he did not like to present himself at Malfi's house, lest he
+should excite observation. He had also spent some time in
+deliberating whether or not he should mention what he had seen; and
+he had made up his mind to do so on his arrival, but was deterred by
+everybody's asking him, when he entered the room, what he had done
+with Mendez--a question that seemed to imply a suspicion against
+himself.
+
+This tale, of course, was not believed: indeed his whole demeanour
+on the night in question tended strongly to his condemnation; added
+to which, Malfi, who had been his friend, testified that not only
+had Ripa betrayed all the confusion of guilt during the walk from
+his house to Forni, but that having hold of his arm, he had
+distinctly felt him tremble as they passed the spot where Mendez was
+subsequently discovered.
+
+With regard to Mendez himself, it appeared that when found he was in
+a state of insensibility, and he was still too weak to give evidence
+or enter into any particulars; but when, under proper remedies, he
+had recovered his senses, Faustina Malfi, his sister--to whose house
+he had been carried--asked him if Giuseppe Ripa was not the
+assassin; and he answered in the affirmative.
+
+Giuseppe was thrown into prison to await his trial; and having
+public opinion, as well as that of the authorities against him, he
+was universally considered a dead man. The only person that adhered
+to him was Bianca, who visited him in the jail, and refused to
+believe him guilty. But if he was innocent, who was the criminal? It
+appeared afterwards that Ripa himself had his own suspicions on that
+subject, but as they were founded only on two slight indications, he
+felt it was useless to advance them.
+
+In the meantime Gaspar Mendez was slowly recovering the injuries he
+had received, and was of course expected to give a more explanatory
+account of what had happened to him after he left Forni on his way
+to Alessandro Malfi's. That he had been robbed as well as wounded
+was already known--his brother and sister having found his pockets
+empty and his watch gone. The explanation he could give, however,
+proved to be very scanty. Indeed, he seemed to know very little
+about the matter, but he still adhered to his first assertion, that
+Ripa was the assassin. With regard to the money he had lost, there
+was necessarily less mystery, since it consisted of a sum that he
+was carrying to his sister, and was indeed her property, being the
+half share of some rents which he had received on that morning, the
+produce of two houses in the town of Aquila which had been
+bequeathed to them conjointly by their mother. The money was in a
+canvas bag, and the other half which belonged to himself he had left
+locked in his strong box at home, where, on searching for it, it was
+found. As Ripa was known to be poor, and very much straitened by his
+endeavours to make good the sum he had lost, that he should add
+robbery to assassination was not to be wondered at. On the contrary,
+it strengthened the conviction of his guilt, by supplying an
+additional motive for the crime.
+
+The injuries having been severe, it was some time before Mendez
+recovered sufficiently to return home; and when he was well enough
+to move, instead of going to Forni, he discharged his servant
+Antonio Guerra, and went himself to Florence, where he remained
+several months.
+
+All this time Giuseppe Ripa was in prison, condemned to die, but not
+executed; because after his trial and sentence, a letter had been
+received by the chief person in authority, warning him against
+shedding the blood of the innocent. 'Señor Mendez is mistaken,' the
+letter said: 'he did not see the assassin, who attacked him from
+behind, and Giuseppe Ripa is not guilty.'
+
+This judge, whose name was Marino, appears to have been a just man,
+and to have felt some dissatisfaction with the evidence against
+Ripa; inasmuch as Mendez, who, when first questioned, had spoken
+confidently as to his identity, had since faltered when he came to
+give his evidence in public, and seemed unable to afford any
+positive testimony on the subject. The presumption against the
+prisoner, without the evidence of the Spaniard, was considered by
+the other judges strong enough to convict him; but Marino had
+objected that since the attack was made by daylight--for it was in
+the summer, and the evenings were quite light--it seemed
+extraordinary that Mendez could give no more certain indications of
+his assailant. Added to this, although every means had been used to
+obtain a confession--such means as are permitted on the continent,
+but illegal in this country--Giuseppe persisted in his innocence.
+Moreover, as no money had been found about him, and Faustina Malfi
+was exceedingly desirous of recovering what had been lost, she
+exerted herself to obtain mercy to at least the extent that hopes of
+a commutation of his sentence should be held out to the prisoner,
+provided he would reveal where he had concealed the bagful of silver
+he had taken from her brother. But in vain. Ripa was either
+guiltless or obstinate, for nothing could be extracted from him but
+repeated declarations of his innocence.
+
+In the meantime Bianca had been undergoing a terrible persecution
+from her father on the subject of Mendez, who had returned from
+Florence and taken up his abode, as formerly, at Forni. Her former
+lover was a condemned man, and altogether _hors de combat_: she
+might regret him as she would, and lament his fate to her heart's
+content, but he could never be her husband; and there was the
+Spaniard, rich and ready; whilst the increasing age and poverty of
+her parent rendered a good match of the greatest importance. In
+short, under the circumstances of the case, it was urged upon her on
+all hands, that she was bound both by her duty to her father and to
+evince her abhorrence of Ripa's crime--which otherwise it might be
+supposed she had instigated--to marry Mendez without delay.
+
+Persuaded of Giuseppe's innocence, and half believing that the
+accusation was prompted by jealousy, it may be imagined how
+unwelcome these importunities were, and for a considerable time she
+resisted them; indeed she seems only to have been overcome at last
+by a ruse. A rumour being set afloat that the day was about to be
+appointed for Ripa's execution, a hint was thrown out that it lay in
+her power to save his life: she had only to become the wife of
+Mendez, and her lover's sentence should be commuted from death to
+banishment. This last argument prevailed, and poor Bianca, with a
+heavy heart, consented to become the mistress of Forni. The Malfis,
+however, do not seem to have been amongst those who desired the
+match; and it would appear that they even made some attempts to
+prevent its taking place, by circulating a report that she had been
+privy to the assault and robbery. Perhaps they hoped, if Gaspar
+remained unmarried, to inherit his property themselves; but however
+that may be, their opposition was of no avail, and an early period
+was fixed for the wedding.
+
+The year had now come round to the summer season again, and it
+happened, by mere accident, that the day appointed for the marriage
+was the anniversary of that on which Mendez had been robbed and
+wounded. Nobody, however, appears to have thought of this
+coincidence, till Mendez himself, observing the day of the month,
+requested that the ceremony might be postponed till the day after:
+'Because,' said he, 'I have business which will take me to Aquila on
+the 7th, so the marriage had better take place on the 8th.' And thus
+it was arranged.
+
+This alteration was made about ten days before the appointed period,
+and nothing seems to have occurred in the interval worth recording,
+except that as the hour of sacrifice drew nigh, the unwillingness of
+the victim became more evident. We must conclude, however, that
+Mendez, whose object in marrying her appears to have been fully as
+much the soothing of his pride as the gratification of his love, was
+not influenced by her disinclination, for when he started for Aquila
+on the 7th, every preparation had been made for the wedding on the
+following day.
+
+The object of his journey was to receive the rents before named,
+which became due at this period, and also to purchase a
+wedding-present for his bride. On this occasion Alessandro Malfi was
+to have accompanied him; but when Mendez stopped at his door to
+inquire if he was ready, Malfi came down stairs half-dressed, saying
+that he had been up all night with his wife, who was ill, and that
+as she had now fallen asleep, he was going to lie down himself, and
+try to get a little rest. This occurred early in the morning; and
+Mendez rode on, saying that he should call as he came back in the
+evening, to inquire how his sister was. Upon this Malfi went to bed,
+where he remained some hours--indeed till he received a message from
+his wife, begging him to go to her. When he entered the room, the
+first question she asked was whether Gaspar was gone to Aquila; and
+on being told that he was, she said she was very sorry for it, for
+that she had dreamed she saw a man with a mask lying in wait to rob
+him.
+
+'I saw the man as distinctly as possible,' she said, 'but I could
+not see his face for the mask; and I saw the place, so that I'm sure
+if I were taken there I should recognise it.'
+
+Her husband told her not to mind her dreams, and that this one was
+doubtless suggested by the circumstance that had occurred the year
+before. 'But,' said he, 'Ripa's safely locked up in jail now, and
+there's no danger.'
+
+Nevertheless the dream appears to have made so deep an impression on
+the sick woman's fancy, that she never let her husband rest till he
+promised to go with his own farm-servant to meet her brother--a
+compliance which was at length won from him by her saying that she
+had seen the man crouching behind a low wall that surrounded a
+half-built church; 'and close by,' she added, 'there was a
+direction-post with something written on it, but I could not read
+what it was.'
+
+Now it happened that on the horse-road to Aquila, which Faustina
+herself had never travelled, there was exactly such a spot as that
+she described. Malfi knew it well. Struck by the circumstance, he
+desired to have his dinner immediately, and then, accompanied by his
+hind, he set off to meet Gaspar.
+
+In the meanwhile the Spaniard had got his money and made his
+purchases in good time, not wishing to be late on the road, so that
+they had scarcely got a mile beyond the church when they met him;
+and in answer to his inquiries what had brought them there, Malfi
+related his wife's dream, adding that he might have spared himself
+the ride, for he had looked over the wall, and saw nobody there. 'I
+told her it was nonsense,' he said, 'whilst we know your enemy's
+under such good keeping at Aquila; but she wouldn't be satisfied
+till I came.'
+
+Mendez, however, appeared exceedingly struck with the dream,
+inquired the particulars more in detail, and asked if they were sure
+there was nobody concealed in the place Faustina indicated. Malfi
+answered that he did not alight, but he looked over the wall and saw
+nobody. During the course of this conversation they had turned their
+horses' heads, and were riding back towards the church, Malfi
+talking about Ripa's affair, remarking on the impropriety of
+deferring his execution so long; Mendez more than usually silent and
+serious, and the servant riding beside them, when, as they
+approached the spot, they saw coming towards them on foot a man,
+whom they all three recognised as Antonio Guerra, the Spaniard's
+late servant. As this person was supposed to have gone to another
+part of the country after quitting Gaspar's service, Malfi expressed
+some surprise at seeing him; whilst Mendez turned very pale, making
+at the same time some exclamation that attracted the attention of
+his brother-in-law, who, however, drew up his horse to ask Guerra
+what had brought him back, and if he was out of a situation, adding
+that a neighbour of his, whom he named, was in want of a servant.
+Guerra, who looked poorly dressed, and by no means in such good case
+as formerly, answered that he should be very glad if Malfi would
+recommend him.
+
+'You had better turn about, then, and come on with us,' said Malfi,
+as he rode forward. During this conversation Mendez had sat by
+saying nothing; and if he was grave and silent before, he was still
+more so now, insomuch that his behaviour drew the attention of his
+brother-in-law, who asked him if there was anything wrong with him.
+
+'Surely it's not Faustina's dream you are thinking of?' he said;
+adding, 'that the meeting with Guerra had put it out of his head, or
+he would have examined the place more narrowly.'
+
+Mendez entered into no explanation; and as the servant, who was
+acquainted with Guerra, took him up behind him, they all arrived at
+their journey's end nearly together: Mendez, instead of proceeding
+homewards, turning off with the others to Malfi's house, where the
+first thing he did after his arrival was to visit his sister, whom
+he found better; whilst she, on the contrary, was struck with the
+pallor of his features and the agitation of his manner--a disorder
+which, like her husband, she attributed to the shock of her dream,
+acting upon a mind prepared by the affair of the preceding year to
+take alarm. In order to remove the impression, she laughed at the
+fright she had been in; but it was evident he could not share her
+merriment, and he quickly left her, saying he had a message to send
+to Rocca, which was the village where Bianca and her father resided,
+and that he must go below and write a note, which he did, giving it
+to Malfi's servant to take.
+
+It appeared afterwards that this man, having other work in hand,
+gave the note to Guerra, who willingly undertook the commission, and
+who, to satisfy his own curiosity, broke the seal on the way, and
+possessed himself of its contents before he delivered it. These
+were, however, only a request that Bianca and her father would come
+over to Malfi's house that evening and bring the notary of the
+village with them, he (Mendez) being too tired to go to Rocca to
+sign the contract, as had been arranged.
+
+It being between six and seven o'clock when this dispatch arrived,
+Bianca, who was very little inclined to sign the contract at all,
+objected to going; but her father insisting on her compliance, they
+set off in company with Guerra and the notary, who, according to
+appointment, was already in waiting. They had nearly three miles to
+go, and as Venoni had no horse, the notary gave Bianca a seat on
+his, and the old man rode double with Guerra.
+
+When they arrived, Mendez was standing at the door waiting for them,
+accompanied by Malfi, his servant, a priest, and two or three other
+persons of the neighbourhood; some of whom advanced to assist Bianca
+and her father to alight, whilst the others surrounded Guerra as he
+set his foot on the ground, pinioning his arms and plunging their
+hands into his pockets, from whence they drew two small pistols and
+a black mask, such as was worn at the carnivals; besides these
+weapons, he carried a stiletto in his bosom.
+
+Whilst the last comers were gaping with amazement at this unexpected
+scene, the new-made prisoner was led away to a place of security,
+and the company proceeded into the house, where the notary produced
+the contract and laid it on the table, inquiring at the same time
+what Guerra had done to be so treated.
+
+Then Mendez rose, and taking hold of the contract, he tore it in two
+and flung it on the ground; at which sight Venoni started up with a
+cry, or rather a howl--an expression of rage and disappointment
+truly Italian, and of which no Englishman who has not heard it can
+have an idea.
+
+'_Peccato!_ I have sinned!' said the Spaniard haughtily; 'but I have
+made my confession to the padre; and why I have torn that paper my
+brother-in-law, Alessandro, will presently tell you!' He then
+offered his hand to Bianca, who, no less pleased than astonished to
+see the contract destroyed, willingly responded to this token of
+good-will by giving him hers, which he kissed, asking her pardon for
+any pain he had occasioned her; after which, bowing to the company,
+he quitted the room, mounted his horse, and rode off to Forni.
+
+When the sound of the animal's feet had died away, and the parties
+concerned were sufficiently composed to listen to him, Malfi
+proceeded to make the communication he had been charged with;
+whereby it appeared that Ripa had been unjustly accused, and that
+Antonio Guerra was the real criminal. Mendez knew this very well,
+and would not have thought of accusing his rival had not his brother
+and sister, and indeed everybody else, assumed Ripa's guilt as an
+unquestionable fact. The temptation was too strong for him, and
+after he had once admitted it, pride would not allow him to retract.
+At the same time he declared that he would never have permitted the
+execution to take place, and that after the marriage with Bianca he
+intended to use every effort to procure the innocent man's
+liberation, on the condition of his quitting that part of the
+country. Of course it was he who wrote the letter to Marino, and he
+had used the precaution of placing a sealed packet, containing a
+confession of the truth, in the hands of a notary at Aquila, with
+strict directions to deliver it to Ripa if the authorities should
+appear disposed to carry his sentence into execution.
+
+He had nevertheless suffered considerable qualms of conscience about
+the whole affair; and the moment he saw Guerra on the road that
+night, he felt certain that he had come with the intention of
+waylaying him as before--the man being well aware that it was on
+that day he usually received his rents. He perceived that he should
+never be safe as long as this villain was free, and that he must
+either henceforth live in continual terror of assassination, or
+confront the mortification of a confession whilst the fellow was in
+his power.
+
+With respect to Guerra himself, he made but feeble resistance when
+he was seized. He had, in the first instance, left Mendez for dead;
+and he would have immediately fled when he heard he was alive, had
+not the news been accompanied with the further information that the
+Spaniard had pointed out Ripa as his assailant. He was exceedingly
+surprised, for he could scarcely believe that he had not been
+recognised. Nevertheless it was possible; and whether it were so or
+not, he did not doubt that what Mendez had once asserted he would
+adhere to. On receiving his dismissal, he had gone to some distance
+from the scene of his crime; but having, whilst the money lasted,
+acquired habits of idleness and dissipation that could not be
+maintained without a further supply, these necessities had provoked
+this last enterprise.
+
+He had really been concealed behind the wall when Malfi and his
+servant passed; but concluding that they were going to meet Mendez,
+and that his scheme was defeated, he had thought it both useless and
+dangerous to remain, and was intending to make off in another
+direction, when their sudden return surprised him.
+
+A few hours more saw Antonio Guerra in Giuseppe Ripa's cell; and
+whilst the first paid the penalty of his crimes, the latter was
+rewarded for his sufferings by the hand of Bianca, to whom the
+Spaniard gave a small marriage-portion before finally quitting the
+country, which he did immediately after Antonio's trial.
+
+Ripa said he had always had a strong persuasion that Guerra was the
+real criminal from two circumstances: the first was the hurried
+manner in which he was walking on the evening he met him at the gate
+of Forni, and some strange expression of countenance which he had
+afterwards recalled. The second was his answering them from the
+window when he and Malfi went to inquire for Mendez. If he thought
+it was his master, as he said, why had he not come down at once to
+admit him?
+
+It is remarkable that the enmity of the Spaniard was not directed
+against the man that had aimed at his life, but against him who had
+wounded his pride.
+
+
+
+
+INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+
+While there are many machines which contribute much more directly to
+the rapid accumulation of wealth in the persons of individuals, than
+does the railway locomotive, there is probably none which tends more
+to enrich a community. Unlike most other mechanical contrivances for
+the abridgment of labour, the railway locomotive unites in the
+effects which it produces the elements of social as well as
+commercial improvement. Like the steamship, the railway is
+cosmopolitan in its character. The range of its operations may be as
+extensive as the globe itself; and throughout that sphere of
+activity, be it what it may, the locomotive engine is scattering
+thickly the seeds of civilisation, as well as of wealth.
+
+By the application of steam as a motive agent an immense saving has
+been effected in the outlay required to be made in producing a given
+result in locomotion. This is the combined product of two causes.
+Such perfection has been attained in the construction of machinery,
+that by the aid of steam there can thence be obtained a continuity,
+combined with a rapidity of motion, which far exceeds what can be
+produced by any other means at present known to us. The fleetest
+racer equipped for speed alone, cannot equal, even for a single
+mile, the rate at which the locomotive engine, dragging after it a
+load of eighty tons, can, for hours together, be driven with ease
+and safety along its iron path. And this twofold result can be
+secured at a comparatively small cost. Coal, iron, wood--substances
+all to be easily obtained in nearly every quarter of the globe--can
+be, and daily are, fashioned into working agents not merely fleeter,
+stronger, and more docile than any endowed with animal life, but
+agents likewise which it is far less costly to sustain in active
+usefulness. The food, medicines, and attention which animal life
+demands, form very serious items of expense in the case of beasts of
+burden, and so very materially impair their utility. It is otherwise
+with the locomotive engine. Money, ingenuity, and toil require
+undoubtedly to be expended in its original construction, attention
+and care must be given to avert or repair accident, and food of its
+own peculiar kind it does unquestionably consume; yet when all the
+original and working expenses of a locomotive are summed up, it is
+found that, compared with the income it produces, it is the cheapest
+of all motive agents.
+
+No doubt the items of railway expenditure now mentioned do not
+nearly exhaust the amount of money required in their construction.
+In addition to expensive engines, there require carriages to be
+supplied for the transport of goods and passengers, houses and sheds
+to be built for their temporary accommodation, salaries to be paid
+for management and service; and in addition to all this, there must
+further be expended in the construction of the line itself sums far
+greater in amount than those spent in the formation and repair of
+roads and highways. All this is true; but in estimating the
+comparative costliness of the old and new methods of
+land-locomotion, regard must be had to the amount of their produce
+as well as of their outlay; and an opinion regarding their
+respective merits, in an economical point of view, must be formed by
+striking a balance between these two sides of the account. The
+result of such a comparison proves that in point of economy, not
+less than of speed and endurance, railways take precedence over all
+other known means of locomotion. This combined result of rapidity
+and cheapness of transit produces a double effect upon a mercantile
+community: it at once enables merchants to realise the fruits of a
+given speculation more quickly, which is nothing else than
+transacting more business in a shorter period than before; and it
+also enables them to do this increased amount of business with a
+smaller amount of actual outlay--that is, to extend with safety and
+profit the field of their operations beyond those boundaries which
+prudence formerly marked out as the proper limits of speculation.
+
+When we consider the amount of travelling within the island which is
+requisite for carrying on the mercantile and general business of the
+country, and the double saving, therefore, of time on the one hand,
+and of money on the other, which is effected by means of railways,
+we cannot fail to perceive that even did this new system of
+locomotion economise time and labour in no other way than this
+alone, its effects upon commercial transactions and on business
+generally would be immense. But when we reflect that this system is
+exerting the very same influence upon trade--and in a much higher
+degree, so far as the outlay of money is concerned--in reference to
+the carriage of goods, as in regard to that of passengers, we then
+come to comprehend in some measure how fertile the railway
+locomotive is in the production of the fruits of industry.
+
+Another commercial effect of the railway system has been to equalise
+the value of land, and promote the cultivation of those districts of
+a country which lie considerably removed from large towns. Every one
+knows that distance from market forms, as regards the cultivation of
+many vegetable and animal productions, a very serious drawback.
+Hence it arises that lands lying immediately around large cities
+bring a far larger price than portions of ground of equal extent and
+fertility would do situated at a greater distance. This is
+peculiarly the case with kitchen-gardens, and pasture-land suited
+for the purposes of fattening cattle, or feeding such as are
+required for the dairy. In all these cases, and others which might
+be mentioned, the performance of a long journey affects very
+injuriously the quality and value of the several articles, and hence
+the demand for farms and fields not exposed to this drawback has
+naturally raised their value. Now railways, as they abridge space by
+means of speed, have had a tendency to increase the value of pasture
+and garden ground lying at, comparatively speaking, a very great
+distance around cities. It is now no unusual thing for the
+inhabitants of cities such as London, Liverpool, and Manchester, to
+use at breakfast milk or cream which has travelled thirty or forty
+miles the very morning it is consumed, and at dinner to partake of
+vegetables whose place of growth was more than a hundred miles
+removed from the stall at which they were sold.
+
+The railway system has had a marked effect upon the state of the
+money-market of the commercial world in general, and of this country
+in particular. From the successful experiment made in 1830 in steam
+locomotion between Liverpool and Manchester, this new method of
+transit has been developing itself with a rapidity to which no
+parallel is to be found in the history of mercantile enterprise.
+Keeping out of view entirely the large sums which were recklessly
+squandered during the railway mania in mere gambling transactions
+and bubble schemes, there has been actually sunk in the construction
+and working of lines up to the present time more than L.200,000,000
+sterling. Before railways were called into existence, by far the
+larger portion of this enormous capital was divided into a great
+number of comparatively small sums, invested in a corresponding
+number of different speculations. From causes which it would be
+easy, but foreign to our present purpose, to explain, the profits
+arising from these various speculations were not only in the
+aggregate larger than those hitherto derived from railways, but the
+former speculations or investments being more temporary and
+convertible in their nature, secured to the parties engaging in them
+a far greater command over the capital employed in them. By
+diverting, as the railway system has done, so much money from the
+ordinary channels of mercantile enterprise, in which large profits
+were made, and--what is of more importance to the present
+remarks--when that money was well within the command and subject to
+the recall of its owners; and by taking, so to speak, and locking it
+up in a repository which could not be opened, the circulating medium
+of exchange soon became a scarce commodity to those who but lately
+had possessed it in abundance.
+
+But it would be very false to infer because extensive bankruptcies,
+and periods of severe pecuniary embarrassment, have accompanied, if
+not indeed been caused by the development of the railway system,
+that therefore that system must be an unsound and unremunerative
+one. These monetary difficulties were in a great measure the
+consequence of over-speculation, and therefore form no sounder
+evidence against the utility of railways, than does over-speculation
+in tea condemn the prudent employment of capital in the tea-trade.
+Besides which, it must ever be remembered that the judiciousness of
+an undertaking is not always to be judged of by its immediate
+results. All investments of capital which are from their nature
+permanent, require time for the development of their effects, and
+may, as regards many of their immediate results, prove rather
+injurious than beneficial. To this class of speculations railways
+belong. Introduced for the purpose of facilitating locomotion, and
+thus improving the industry of the country, this new system of
+transit was calculated to produce rather an eventual and permanent,
+than an immediate benefit to the empire. So long as Great Britain
+retains and cultivates the resources of trade and manufactures now
+at her disposal, and provided no new method of locomotion be
+invented which shall supersede railways, there is every reason to
+believe that railways will continue to form an ever-increasing
+source of wealth to the nation. That this is an opinion very
+generally entertained is proved from the vast sums of money which
+are now lent out on the faith that this result will be realised. The
+railway system has not only created a new field for speculation, but
+likewise a new security for monetary investments. At the close of
+1848, upwards of L.43,000,000 was lent upon railways. There is every
+reason to believe that debenture-holding is much greater now than it
+was then; but as no official report of its amount, so far as we
+know, has been published since 1848, we, for accuracy's sake, quote
+the return made in that year.
+
+If railways have produced very important effects upon commercial
+affairs, they have exercised an influence not less important in a
+social and intellectual point of view. They have been greatly
+instrumental in removing prejudices, in cementing old and forming
+new friendships, in extending information, and in sharpening
+ingenuity.
+
+Prejudice has been one of the most formidable obstacles to the
+spread of civilisation. It has for ages kept separate and at enmity
+nations born to bless and benefit each other; propped up systems
+whose graver errors or weaker absurdities now form subjects of
+regret and ridicule; and fomented among the members of smaller
+societies and sects discords, strifes, and recriminations, which
+have been based on no other foundation than wilful or accidental
+ignorance. By bringing those in contact who otherwise would never
+have met, and improving the acquaintance of those who have, railways
+have spread individual opinions, tastes, and information more
+equally than before; and out of this mixture of the social and moral
+elements have collected and more widely distributed just conclusions
+regarding men, manners, politics, and religion. By being thus more
+frequently brought together, individuals have increased the number
+of their acquaintances, and become to a greater extent than before
+'citizens of the world.' A mutual discharge of the good offices of
+life has augmented those feelings of interest in our
+fellow-creatures, and kindness towards them, which are not less in
+accordance with the spirit of Christianity than conducive to the
+social wellbeing of communities.
+
+The knowledge which one acquires by personal experience and
+observation is, generally speaking, much more valuable than that
+obtained from the written experience or observation of others. By
+the former method we obtain knowledge in a more rapid, accurate, and
+impressive manner; and, as a consequence of this, retain it longer
+in our memories, and possess a greater and more constant command
+over it. Books always convey a faint and imperfect, and often a very
+erroneous impression of things; and to the extent that railways have
+superseded or assisted book-teaching, have they conferred upon
+society an improved means of acquiring knowledge.
+
+Through the instrumentality of railways also, an impetus has been
+imparted to the inventive and constructive faculties of the human
+mind. By being brought into more frequent contact with one another,
+individuals whose tastes and occupations are more or less similar
+are naturally led to form comparisons regarding the relative merits
+of their respective productions. This comparison has necessarily
+sharpened invention, improved taste, and suggested improvement. It
+is not too much to affirm, that there is not a single branch of
+industry now pursued within this country which has not, directly or
+indirectly, been benefited to an immense degree by the introduction
+of railways. Having served to bring into one market far more
+articles of commerce than before were exposed in it, this new mode
+of locomotion has to a great extent increased throughout our
+different trades and callings that element of a generous and
+wholesome competition which is the most effective agent in eliciting
+a high degree of skill in the cultivation of an art, or the
+improvement of an invention.
+
+To railways we are also indebted for a new application to practical
+usefulness of one of the most powerful elements in nature's
+laboratory: we refer to the employment of electricity in the
+transmission of thought. Although the wondrous powers and properties
+of the electric telegraph were known long before the introduction of
+the railway system, they were not till then made to minister, as
+they now do, to the information of man. By providing facilities
+towards laying and protecting the delicate machinery along which
+electricity was to perform its marvellous exploits, railways have
+directly contributed to apply and develop the resources of one of
+the most useful and wonderful of inventions, which even in its first
+stage of infancy has wrought a perfect revolution in the mode of
+transmitting intelligence; and which promises at no very distant day
+to play the same part among the continents and islands of the globe
+that it now does between the provinces of an empire.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE PALÆOLOGI.
+
+
+It would be a curious historical problem to trace the families of
+emperors and kings, of heroes and conquerors, from the era of their
+decline and fall to their ultimate extinction. Some 'Old Mortality'
+might find as congenial employment in this field of sepulchral
+research as did the original in clearing up the decayed and
+moss-grown tombs of the Covenanters. The genealogist makes it his
+business rather to flatter the great by blazoning the antiquity of
+their pedigrees, than to teach the world a moral lesson on the
+instability of earthly grandeur, by chronicling their reverses. Yet
+the churchyard has its heraldry, from whose records wisdom might be
+extracted for the benefit of the living.
+
+What dynasty in ancient times held a prouder or wider sway than the
+illustrious masters of the Roman world? The solid fabric of their
+power was the growth of nearly a thousand years, and it cost about
+thirteen centuries of revolutions and barbaric invasions before it
+was undermined and finally extinguished. If its earlier annals were
+disgraced by the crimes of a Tiberius, a Nero, and a Domitian, they
+could boast of the virtues and abilities of a Titus, a Trajan, a
+Nerva, a Hadrian, the two Antonini, &c.; though it must be admitted
+that latterly the balance sadly preponderated on the side of vice
+and corruption. If a Justinian or a Constantine appeared, his reign
+was but a sunbeam in the midst of the universal degeneracy; or if a
+ray of splendour was shed on the empire by his virtues or his
+victories, the transient glory was speedily dispelled by irruptions
+from without, or intrigue and revolt within. Gradually the work of
+decay proceeded, until the vast expanse of the imperial conquests
+was contracted to a few provinces, whose capital had been
+transferred to the shores of the Bosphorus. A languishing existence
+of about six centuries and a half--that is, from the revival of the
+western empire in 800 by Charlemagne, to the taking of
+Constantinople by the Turks in 1453--was brought to a close by the
+death of Constantine Palæologus, the last of a race who had
+continued, says Gibbon, 'to assume the titles of Caesar and Augustus
+after their dominions were circumscribed to the limits of a single
+city, in which the language as well as manners of the ancient Romans
+had been long since forgotten!'
+
+The family of Palæologus was of Greek origin, illustrious in birth
+and merit. 'As early,' says Gibbon, 'as the middle of the eleventh
+century, the noble race of the Palæologi stands high and conspicuous
+in Byzantine history. It was the valiant George Palæologus who
+placed the father of the Comneni on the throne; and his kinsmen or
+descendants continued in each generation to lead the armies and
+councils of the state.' The first that wore the imperial purple was
+Michael, who was elevated to the throne in 1260. Already he had
+distinguished himself as a soldier and a statesman, and had been
+promoted in his early youth to the office of 'constable,' or
+commander of the French mercenaries. His ambition excited jealousy,
+and some acts of imprudence involved him in dangers from which he
+thrice escaped. One of those perils was the usual appeal which was
+made in the middle ages to the 'judgment of God' to vindicate
+injured innocence. To this ordeal Michael submitted, in presence of
+the emperor and the archbishop of Philadelphia. 'Three days before
+the trial, the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag, and secured by
+the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a redhot bolt
+of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary,
+without artifice and without injury. Palæologus eluded the dangerous
+experiment with sense and pleasantry. "I am a soldier," said he,
+"and will boldly enter the list with my accusers; but a layman, a
+sinner like myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. Your
+piety, most holy prelate, may deserve the interposition of Heaven,
+and from your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my
+innocence." The archbishop started, the emperor smiled, and the
+absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by rewards and new
+services.' The voice of the people and the favour of the army placed
+the crown on his head, in recompense for his military exploits and
+his public merits. With his accession terminated the reign of the
+last of the Latin emperors at Constantinople (Baldwin II.), and
+Michael became the founder of the Grecian dynasty.
+
+The labours of the new monarch to retrieve the calamities of war, by
+encouraging industry, planting colonies, and extending trade, were
+deserving of all praise. His ambition raised up against him many
+enemies, spiritual and temporal; but if his policy was not always
+judicious, he increased his power and his fame by greatly enlarging
+his dominions. It was by his intrigues that the revolt of Sicily was
+instigated. A rude insult to a noble damsel by a Frank soldier,
+during a procession on the vigil of Easter (1282), spread the flame
+of insurrection over the whole island, and 8000 Franks were
+exterminated in a promiscuous massacre, which has obtained the name
+of the 'Sicilian Vespers.' His son and successor, Andronicus, was
+reckoned a learned and virtuous prince; but his long reign is
+chiefly memorable for the disputes of the Greek church, the invasion
+of the Catalans, and the rise of the Ottoman power. He associated
+with him in the administration his son Michael, at the age of
+eighteen; and upon the premature death of the latter, his son
+Andronicus, the emperor's favourite, became the colleague of his
+grandfather. The reign of the elder Andronicus was consumed in civil
+discord and disputes with his family, the young princes having
+raised the standard of revolt in order to get possession of the
+throne. He was at length compelled to abdicate; and assuming the
+monastic habit, he spent the last few years of his life in a cell,
+blind and wretched, his only consolation being the promise of a more
+splendid crown in heaven than he had enjoyed on earth.
+
+After a series of inglorious struggles among the princes of the
+imperial house, the crown settled, in 1391, on Manuel, whose reign,
+however, was little else than a train of disasters. His capital was
+besieged by Amurath, and the Turks were masters of nearly the whole
+of his dominions, which had now shrunk into a small corner of
+Thrace, between the Propontis and the Black Sea, about fifty miles
+in length and thirty in breadth. To retrieve his fortunes, Manuel
+resolved on a journey to foreign countries, believing that the sight
+of a distressed monarch would draw tears and supplies from the
+sternest barbarians. From Italy he proceeded to the coast of France,
+where he was received with the characteristic politeness of the
+nation. Two thousand of the richest citizens of Paris, armed and on
+horseback, came forth to meet him; and at the gates he was welcomed
+as a brother by Charles VI., who saluted him with a cordial embrace.
+He was clothed in a robe of white silk, and mounted on a milk-white
+steed--a circumstance of great importance in the French ceremonial,
+white being considered as the emblem of sovereignty. He was lodged
+in the Louvre, and a succession of feasts and balls, varied by the
+pleasures of the chase, was got up for his amusement. Having
+satisfied his curiosity, but without any prospect of assistance, he
+resolved to visit England. In his progress from Dover, he was
+entertained at Canterbury by the prior and monks of St Austin; and
+on Blackheath Henry IV. saluted the Greek hero, who for several days
+was honoured and treated in London as Emperor of the East. Having
+failed in the object of his journey, he returned to Constantinople
+(1402), and was allowed to finish his reign in prosperity and peace
+in 1425.
+
+In his declining age, he had appointed as his associate his eldest
+son John, the second of the name. The corruptions of the church,
+divided between two popes, and the disputes of the clergy, afforded
+him ample scope for the exercise of his religious zeal, and it was
+to heal these ecclesiastical schisms that he undertook a voyage to
+Italy. But the downfall of his race and of the Grecian dynasty was
+approaching. At his decease (1448), there were five princes of the
+imperial house; but the death of Andronicus, and the monastic
+profession of Isidore, had reduced them to three--Constantine,
+Demetrius, and Thomas. Constantine ascended the vacant throne, the
+factious opposition of his brothers having been appeased by the
+interposition of the empress-mother, the senate, the soldiers, and
+the clergy, who allowed them the possession of the Morea.
+
+The first act of the new emperor was to despatch an embassy to
+Georgia to bring home a princess whom he had chosen for his royal
+consort. His next care was to inquire into the state of public
+affairs, which had been completely neglected by the weakness or
+absence of his predecessor. But the imperial drama had reached its
+last act. The danger which had long brooded over the doomed house of
+the Palæologi was ready to burst in resistless fury upon the city of
+the Cæsars. Mohammed II. had vowed to become master of
+Constantinople, and vast were the preparations and the implements of
+war which he had provided for its capture or its destruction. The
+story of the siege need not here be told; nowhere has it been
+recorded with more picturesque and energetic brevity than in the
+glowing pages of Gibbon. Operations were carried on with
+unprecedented vigour and effect, rendered more terrible by the
+lavish use of gunpowder and artillery, then almost new elements in
+the art of war. Constantine did all that a Christian prince and a
+brave general could do. By his example he animated the courage of
+his soldiers, and revived the hearts of the citizens, sinking in
+despair. The scene on the day before the assault is thus described
+by an eye-witness:--'The emperor and some faithful companions
+entered the dome of St Sophia, which in a few hours was to be
+converted into a mosque, and devoutly received with tears and
+prayers the sacrament of the holy communion. He reposed some moments
+in the palace, which resounded with cries and lamentations;
+solicited the pardon of all he might have injured; and mounted on
+horseback to visit the guards and explore the motions of the enemy.'
+But the dreaded 29th of May had come; the last hour of the city and
+the empire had struck. After a siege of fifty-three days,
+Constantinople, to use the words of Gibbon, 'which had defied the
+power of Chosroes, the chazan, and the caliphs, was irretrievably
+subdued by the arms of Mohammed II. Her empire only had been
+subverted by the Latins; her religion was trampled in the dust by
+the Moslem conquerors.'
+
+Constantine had nobly done his duty. Amidst the swarms of the enemy
+who had climbed the walls and were pursuing the flying Greeks
+through the streets, he was long seen with his bravest officers
+fighting round his person, and finally lost. His only fear was that
+of falling alive into the hands of the Infidels, and this fate he
+sought to avert by prudently casting away the purple. Amidst the
+tumult he was pierced by an unknown hand, and his body was buried
+under a mountain of the slain. The last words he was heard to utter
+was the mournful exclamation: 'Cannot there be found a Christian to
+cut off my head?' His death put an end to resistance and order, and
+left the capital to be sacked and pillaged by the victorious Turks.
+Truly has it been said, that the distress and fall of the last
+Constantine are more glorious than the long prosperity of the
+Byzantine Cæsars.
+
+The difficulties and dying moments of the emperor have been
+faithfully and pathetically dramatised by Miss Joanna Baillie in her
+tragedy of _Constantine Palæologus_. She adheres closely to history,
+only she makes her hero receive his deathblow from the sword of a
+relenting Turk, who admires his bravery, and pronounces over him a
+farewell eulogy. All writers agree that the last of the imperial
+Palæologi was the best of his race; and had he not been so ill
+supported by his worthless subjects, and deserted by every Christian
+prince in Europe, he might have repelled the tide of Turkish
+invasion, though he would never have restored the glory of the
+empire. Yet gallantly did he front the storm, and perish as became
+the successor of a long line of kings--the last of the Romans.
+
+The fall of Constantine was the signal for the degradation and
+dispersion of his whole race. His two surviving brothers, Demetrius
+and Thomas, reigned as despots of the Morea in Greece; but the ruin
+of the empire was the gloomy prelude to their own misfortunes.
+Demetrius became the pensioner of the new Turkish emperor Mohammed,
+and received a city of Thrace and some adjacent islands for his own
+maintenance and that of his followers. In this state of humiliating
+dependence he remained until death released him from his ignominious
+servitude. Thomas, the other brother, was driven into exile by the
+invasion of his dominions. He fled to Corfu, and from thence to
+Italy--according to Gibbon's account--'with some naked adherents;
+his name, his sufferings, and the head of the apostle St Andrew,
+entitled him to the hospitality of the Vatican, and his misery was
+prolonged by a pension of 6000 ducats from the pope and cardinals.'
+He left two sons (he must have had a third, as will afterwards
+appear), Andrew and Manuel, who were educated in Italy. The eldest
+degraded himself by the looseness of his life and marriage, and died
+the inheritor of an empty title. Manuel was tempted to revisit his
+native country; and after spending the remainder of his life in
+safety and ease at Constantinople, he was gathered to his fathers,
+'an honourable train of Christians and Moslems attending him to the
+grave.'
+
+From this date--early in the sixteenth century--little is known of
+the name and lineage of the Palæologi. The crescent waved over the
+royal city of Constantine; and, as an old Byzantine annalist
+remarks, the last heir of the last spark of the Roman Empire seemed
+to be extinct. History had forgotten them, and the restless tide of
+human vicissitudes rolled onwards, unconscious of their existence.
+Italy was understood to be the asylum of the imperial outcasts; and
+there they might have vegetated in oblivion, or dropped into
+unhonoured graves without leaving a single representative, had not a
+monumental inscription revealed the fact, that a descendant of the
+Cæsars had found a retreat and a tomb in an obscure parish in
+England. In the small church of Landulph, in Cornwall, the following
+inscription upon a small metal tablet, fixed in the wall, removes
+all doubt as to the identity and royal pedigree of the person whose
+memory it records. In its original spelling it runs thus:--'Here
+lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologvs of Pesaro in Italye, descended
+from ye Imperiall lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece,
+being the sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of
+John, the sonne of Thomas, second brother to Constantine Paleologvs,
+the eighth of that name, and last of ye lyne yt raygned in
+Constantinople vntill svbdeued by the Turkes; who married with Mary
+ye davghter of William Balls of Hadlye in Sorffolke Gent., and had
+issu five children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy,
+and departed this life at Clyfton ye 21st of Janvary 1636.'[1] It
+appears, then, that Theodore, who married and died in Cornwall, was
+the fourth in direct descent from Thomas, younger brother of the
+Emperor Constantine, and who fled 'with some naked adherents to
+Italy,' where his children were educated.[2] The truth of the story
+related in the inscription was corroborated by a circumstance which
+happened upwards of twenty years ago. The vault in which Palæologus
+was interred having been accidently opened, curiosity prompted the
+lifting of the lid. The coffin, which was made of oak, was in an
+entire state, and the body sufficiently perfect to shew that the
+dead man exceeded the common stature. The head was a long oval, and
+the nose believed to have been aquiline; a long white beard reached
+down the breast--another symbol of his Greek extraction.
+
+Of his family little is known: Theodore, the eldest son, was a
+sailor, and died on board the _Charles II._, as is proved by his
+will, dated 1693. He appears to have possessed landed property, and
+to have left a widow named Martha, but no issue. The younger
+daughter, Dorothy, was married at Landulph to William Arundell in
+1636, and died in 1681.[3] Maria died unmarried, and was buried in
+the same church in 1674. Of John and Ferdinando, the other sons, no
+memorial seems to have been preserved in this country; and it was
+believed as highly probable that the church of Landulph contained
+the remains of the last survivors of the Grecian dynasty, once the
+illustrious sovereigns of Byzantium.
+
+Time, however, the great revealer of secrets, brought to light facts
+which proved that one of the sons of Theodore of Pesaro in Italy had
+removed to the West Indies, where he lived for some years, and died
+in 1678. It is mentioned by the historian Oldmixon[4] as a
+tradition, that a descendant of the former imperial Greek family of
+Constantinople resided in Barbadoes; but he doubts the fact, without
+giving any reason for his scepticism. The tradition, however, proves
+to have been quite current, and the circumstance that led to its
+confirmation, and to the discovery of the body of Ferdinando
+Palæologus, and other relics testifying to his connection with the
+Greek emperors, are narrated by Sir Robert Schomburgk in his recent
+history of Barbadoes. During the terrible hurricane of 1831, which
+nearly destroyed the island, among the other public buildings that
+yielded to the violence of the storm, was the parish church of St
+John, which stood in a romantic situation near the 'Cliff,' at an
+elevation of 824 feet. When the ruins were removed, and in clearing
+out the rubbish, 'the coffin of Ferdinando Palæologus (we quote Sir
+Robert's account) was discovered under the organ-loft, in the vault
+of Sir Peter Callotin. The circumstance that the coffin stood in a
+direction opposite to the others deposited in the vault, drew
+attention to it; the head was lying to the west, the feet pointing
+to the east, according to the Greek custom. These accounts raised
+the curiosity of the rector of the parish; and in order to ascertain
+how much truth was connected with the tradition, he resolved to
+examine the supposed coffin of Palæologus; it was consequently
+opened on the 3d of May 1844, in presence of Mr R. Reici, jun.; Mr.
+J.G. Young; and Mr J. Hinkson. The coffin was of lead, and in it was
+found a skeleton of an extraordinary size, imbedded in quicklime,
+which is another proof of the Greek origin of Palæologus, as it is
+the custom in Greece to surround the body with quicklime. The coffin
+was carefully deposited in the vault now in possession of Josiah
+Heath, Esq., of Quintyer's and Redland.'
+
+In the above discovery and examination, the coincidences are so
+numerous and so remarkable as to leave no doubt whatever that the
+Ferdinando Palæologus, whose body lies interred in St John's church,
+was the same individual mentioned in the Landulph inscription as a
+son of Theodore. The size of the skeleton, the envelope of
+quicklime, the position of the body, are corroborative of an Eastern
+descent. The name of the mother, Mary Balls, is an additional
+presumption, as among the earliest proprietors in the island several
+of that name occur; and three estates are given in Oldmixon's list
+as belonging to the family of the Balls. It has been assumed,
+therefore, with good reason, that a relationship may have existed
+between the mother of Ferdinando and the Balls in Barbadoes,
+which--at a period when so many families emigrated from England,
+chiefly from Kent and the southern and western counties--might have
+induced young Palæologus to seek his fortunes in the New World,
+after his father's death in 1636.
+
+Of the residence of Ferdinando in the island for thirty years, ample
+evidence exists in various documents. Sir Robert Schomburgk was
+shewn by the rector of the parish, the Rev. J.H. Gittens, an old
+vestry-book of St John's, in which various entries occur of the name
+of Ferdinando Palæologus, from 1649 till 1669, as vestryman,
+churchwarden, trustee, surveyor of the highway, sidesman to the
+churchwarden, and lieutenant, &c. The last entry is that of his
+burial, 'October 3d 1678.' His name also appears in a legal document
+respecting the sale of some land, executed in 1658. But the most
+important evidence of his identity with the Cornwall family is his
+will, in which the names of his sisters, Maria and Dorothy, occur.
+It was entered in the Registrar's Office, the 20th of March 1678,
+and proved before the deputy-governor, Colonel Christopher
+Codrington. The widow became the sole survivor and heiress of the
+property, Theodorious having died in his youth, so that the last of
+the Palæologi reposes in the parish church of St John, in the island
+of Barbadoes; and the estate which once belonged to the descendant
+of the Greek emperors now forms part of Clifton Hall and the
+Plantation Ashford. Laying these circumstances together, and
+considering how completely the will of Ferdinando corroborates the
+Landulph inscription, of which he probably knew nothing, the
+genealogical problem, we think, is fairly wrought out, and the last
+of the descendants of the Roman Cæsars traced to his final
+resting-place beyond the Atlantic. A curious anecdote is mentioned
+by Sir Robert Schomburgk as to the revival of the tradition of one
+of the Palæologi being in Barbadoes. He says, but without vouching
+for its truth, that during the last conflict for Grecian
+independence and deliverance from the Turkish yoke, a letter was
+received from the provisional government at Athens, addressed to the
+authorities in Barbadoes, inquiring whether a male branch of the
+Palæologi was still existing in the island, and conveying the
+request that if such were the case he should be provided with the
+means of returning to Greece, and the government would, if required,
+pay all the expenses of the voyage. This story was not current in
+Europe, at all events; and we on this side the water never dreamed
+that among the competitors of King Leopold for the throne was a
+veritable scion of the old imperial sovereigns of Constantinople.
+
+The events detailed in the preceding narrative are fitted to suggest
+various interesting reflections and amusing speculations. The fate
+of the Palæologi--one day on a throne, the next in a dungeon,
+passing from regal state to wretched exile--may have been the bitter
+lot of other imperial families. If we find the descendants of the
+Greek emperors in the humble occupation of sailors and
+churchwardens, and vestrymen and road-trustees, there is nothing
+extravagant in the supposition, that we may have royal porters and
+scavengers on our streets, the sceptre having degenerated into the
+besom, and the truck taken the place of the chariot of state. The
+family of Nimrod may still exist, and retain their ancestral
+propensities in the craft of sportsmen and deer-stalkers, or in the
+lower grade of Jehus and jockeys. Who knows but the posterity of
+Solomon may be retailing old clothes, and the heirs of the
+Nebuchadnezzar dynasty still exist somewhere--perhaps among our
+graziers or cattle-dealers, our keepers of dairies or secretaries of
+agricultural associations. The line of Tamerlane may have ended in a
+grave-digger, and that of Frederick Barbarossa in a hair-dresser.
+The ideal transmigration of Pythagoras was not more improbable or
+more wonderful than the strange metamorphoses through which, in the
+course of centuries, the living representatives of kings and
+emperors are sometimes doomed to pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 1: There is a slight error in the date of the inscription,
+as the entry of his burial is October 20th 1636.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Only two sons of Thomas are mentioned by Gibbon--Andrew
+and Manuel; but the evidence of the Landulph tablet shews that he
+must have had a third, John.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Her name is entered in the register as 'Dorothea
+Paleologus de Stirpe Imperatorious.']
+
+[Footnote 4: _British Empire in America_, vol. ii. p. 111.]
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER ON CATS.
+
+
+The newspapers have recently been chronicling, as a fact provocative
+of especial wonder, the enterprise of some speculative merchant of
+New York, who has just been despatching a cargo of one hundred cats
+to the republic of New Granada, in which it would appear the race,
+owing, as we may believe, to the frequently disturbed state of the
+country, has become almost extinct.
+
+Your cat is a domestic animal, and naturally conservative in its
+tastes--averse therefore to uproar, and to all those given to
+change. Its propensities are to meditation and contemplative
+tranquillity, for which reason it has ever been held in reverence by
+nations of a similar staid and composed disposition, and has been
+the favourite companion and constant friend of grave philosophers
+and thoughtful students. By the ancient Egyptians cats were held in
+the highest esteem; and we learn from Diodorus Siculus, their 'lives
+and safeties' were tendered more dearly than those of any other
+animal, whether biped or quadruped. 'He who has voluntarily killed a
+consecrated animal,' says this writer, 'is punished with death; but
+if any one has even involuntarily killed a cat or an ibis, it is
+impossible for him to escape death: the mob drags him to it,
+treating him with every cruelty, and sometimes without waiting for
+judgment to be passed. This treatment inspires such terror, that, if
+any person happen to find one of these animals dead, he goes to a
+distance from it, and by his cries and groans indicates that he has
+found the animal dead. This superstition is so deeply rooted in the
+minds of the Egyptians, and the respect they bear these animals is
+so profound, that at the time when their king, Ptolemy, was not yet
+declared the friend of the Roman people--when they were paying all
+possible court to travellers from Italy, and their fears made them
+avoid every ground of accusation and every pretext for making war
+upon them--yet a Roman having killed a cat, the people rushed to his
+house, and neither the entreaties of the grandees, whom the king
+sent for the purpose, nor the terror of the Roman name, could
+protect this man from punishment, although the act was involuntary.
+I do not relate this anecdote,' adds the historian, 'on the
+authority of another, for I was an eye-witness of it during my stay
+in Egypt.'[5]
+
+During their lives, the consecrated cats were fed upon fish, kept
+for the purpose in tanks; and 'when one of them happened to die,'
+says the veracious writer just cited, 'it was wrapped in linen, and
+after the bystanders had beaten themselves on the breast, it was
+carried to the Tarichoea, where it was embalmed with coedria and
+other substances which have the virtue of embalming bodies, after
+which it was interred in the sacred monument.' It has puzzled not a
+little the learned archæologists, who have endeavoured to discover a
+profound philosophy figured and symbolised in the singular mythology
+of the Egyptians, to explain how it is that in Thebes, where the
+sacred character of the cat was held in the highest reverence, and
+cherished with the greatest devotion, not only embalmed cats have
+been found, but also the bodies of rats and mice, which had been
+subjected to the same anti-putrescent process. If, however,
+Herodotus is to be credited, the Egyptians owed a deep debt of
+gratitude to the mice; for the venerable historian assures us, and
+on the unquestionable authority of the Egyptian priests, that when
+Sennacherib and his army lay at Pelusium, a mighty corps of
+field-mice entered the camp by night, and eating up the quivers,
+bowstrings, and buckler-leathers of the Assyrian troops, in this
+summary fashion liberated Egypt from the terror of the threatened
+invasion. Probably the existence of mice-mummies may be accounted
+for in this way, and if--resorting to no violent supposition--we
+presume in the good work which the tiny patriots so sagaciously
+accomplished that their cousins-german the rats were assistant, the
+whole matter receives a satisfactory explication. The hypothesis, it
+is submitted, is not without plausible recommendations on its
+behalf. There is extant a fragment of a comedy, entitled 'The
+Cities,' written by the Rhodian poet Anaxandrides, in which the
+Egyptian worship of animals is amusingly enough quizzed. A
+translation will be found in Dr Prichard's _Analysis of Egyptian
+Mythology_. The lines referring to cat-worship are as follow:--
+
+  'You cry and wail whene'er ye spy a cat,
+  Starving or sick; I count it not a sin
+  To hang it up, and flay it for its skin;'
+
+from which it appears this gay free-thinker was not only somewhat
+sceptical in his religious notions, but, moreover, a hard-hearted,
+good-for-nothing fellow--one who, had he lived in our times, would
+unquestionably have brought himself within the sweep of the Society
+for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Duke of Beaufort's
+Humanity Act.
+
+We learn from Herodotus that in his days it was customary, whenever
+a cat died, for the whole household at once to go into mourning, and
+this although the lamented decease might have been the result of old
+age, or other causes purely natural. In the case of a cat's death,
+however, the eyebrows only were required to be shaved off; but when
+a dog, a beast of more distinguished reputation, departed this life,
+every inmate of the house was expected to shave his head and whole
+body all over. Both cats and dogs are watched and attended to with
+the greatest solicitude during illness. Indeed, by the ancient
+Egyptians the cat was treated much in the same way as are dogs
+amongst us: we find them even accompanying their masters on their
+aquatic shooting-excursions; and, if the testimony of ancient
+monuments is to be relied on, often catching the game for them,
+although it may be permitted to doubt whether they ever actually
+took to the water for this purpose.
+
+In modern Egypt the cat, although more docile and companionable than
+its European sister, has much degenerated; but still, on account of
+its usefulness in destroying scorpions and other reptiles, it is
+treated with some consideration--suffered to eat out of the same
+dish with the children, to join with them in their sports, and to be
+their constant companion and daily friend. A modern Egyptian would
+esteem it a heinous sin indeed, to destroy, or even maltreat a cat;
+and we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that benevolent
+individuals have bequeathed funds by which a certain number of these
+animals are daily fed at Cairo at the Cadi's court, and the bazaar
+of Khan Khaleel.
+
+But a tender regard for the inferior animals is a prevailing
+characteristic of the Oriental races, and is inculcated as a duty by
+their various religions. At Fez there was, and perhaps is at this
+day, a wealthily-endowed hospital, the greater part of the funds of
+which was devoted to the support and medical treatment of invalid
+cranes and storks, and procuring them a decent sepulture whenever
+they chanced to die. The founders are said to have entertained the
+poetical notion that these birds are, in truth, human beings,
+natives of distant islands, who at certain periods assume a foreign
+shape, and after they have satisfied their curiosity with visiting
+other lands, return to their own, and resume their original form.
+
+To return, however, not to our sheep, but our cats, we must remark
+that, in modern times, in spite of the kindness the cat habitually
+receives in Egypt, his _morale_ is not in that country rated very
+high--the universal impression being that, although, like Snug the
+joiner's lion, he is by nature 'a very gentle beast,' still he is by
+no means 'of a good conscience;' that he is, in short, a most
+ungrateful beast; and that when, in a future state, it is asked of
+him how he has been treated by man in this, he will obstinately deny
+all the benefits he has received at his hand, and give him such a
+character for cruelty and hardness of heart as is shocking to think
+of. The dog, however, it is understood, will conduct himself more
+discreetly, and readily acknowledge the good offices for which he is
+indebted to the family of mankind.
+
+Singular anecdotes have been related of the intense repugnance
+persons have been found to entertain to these, at worst, harmless
+animals. One shall be given in the very words of the Rev. Nicholas
+Wanley, who, in his authentic _Wonders of the Little World_, has
+recorded a number of other facts quite as marvellous, and sustained
+by testimony not one whit more exceptionable:--'Mathiolus tells of a
+German, who coming in winter-time into an inn to sup with him and
+some other of his friends, the woman of the house being acquainted
+with his temper (lest he should depart at the sight of a young cat
+which she kept to breed up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a
+chest in the same room where we sat at supper. But though he had
+neither seen nor heard it, yet after some time that he had sucked in
+the air infected by the cat's breath, that quality of his
+temperament that had antipathy to that creature being provoked, he
+sweat, and, of a sudden, paleness came over his face, and, to the
+wonder of us all that were present, he cried out that in some corner
+of the room there was a cat that lay hid.' Not long after the battle
+of Wagram and the second occupation of Vienna by the French, an
+aide-de-camp of Napoleon, who at the time occupied, together with
+his suite, the Palace of Schönbrunn, was proceeding to bed at an
+unusually late hour, when, on passing the door of Napoleon's
+bedroom, he was surprised by a most singular noise, and repeated
+calls from the Emperor for assistance. Opening the door hastily, and
+rushing into the room, a singular spectacle presented itself--the
+great soldier of the age, half undressed, his countenance agitated,
+the beaded drops of perspiration standing on his brow, in his hand
+his victorious sword, with which he was making frequent and
+convulsive lunges at some invisible enemy through the tapestry that
+lined the walls. It was a cat that had secreted herself in this
+place; and Napoleon held cats not so much in abhorrence as in
+terror. 'A feather,' says the poet, 'daunts the brave;' and a
+greater poet, through the mouth of his Shylock, remarks that 'there
+are some that are mad if they behold a cat--a harmless, necessary
+cat.' Count Bertram would seem to have shared in this unaccountable
+aversion. When 'Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, that had
+the whole theory of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice
+in the chape of his dagger,' was convicted of mendacity and
+cowardice, Bertram exclaimed, 'I could endure anything before this
+but a cat, and now he's a cat to me.' The force of censure could no
+further go.
+
+If Napoleon, however, held cats, as has been averred, in positive
+fear, there have been others, and some of them illustrious captains,
+that have regarded them with other feelings. Marshal Turenne could
+amuse himself for hours in playing with his kittens; and the great
+general, Lord Heathfield, would often appear on the walls of
+Gibraltar, at the time of the famous siege, attended by his
+favourite cats. Cardinal Richelieu was also fond of cats; and when
+we have enumerated the names of Cowper and Dr Johnson, of Thomas
+Gray and Isaac Newton, and, above all, of the tender-hearted and
+meditative Montaigne, the list is far from complete of those who
+have bestowed on the feline race some portion of their affections.
+
+Butler, in his _Hudibras_, observes, in an oft-quoted passage, that
+
+  'Montaigne, playing with his cat,
+  Complains she thought him but an ass.'
+
+And the annotator on this passage, in explanation, adds, that
+'Montaigne in his Essays supposes his cat thought him a fool for
+losing his time in playing with her;' but, under favour, this is a
+misinterpretation of the essayist's sentiment, and something like a
+libel on the capacity of both himself and cat. Montaigne's words
+are: 'When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her
+more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert each other with our
+play. If I have my hour to begin or refuse, so also has she hers.'
+Nobody who has read the striking essay in which these words appear
+could for a moment misconceive their author's meaning. He is
+vindicating natural theology from the objections of some of its
+opponents, and in the course of his argument he takes occasion to
+dwell on the wonderful instincts, and almost rational sagacity of
+the inferior animals. We must, however, lament that, although he
+does full justice to the 'half-reasoning elephant,' to the aptitude
+and fidelity of the dog, to the marvellous economical arrangements
+of the bees, and even to the imitative capacity of the magpie, he
+pays no higher tribute to the merits of the cat than that she is as
+capable of being amused as himself, and like himself, too, has her
+periods of gravity when recreative sports are distasteful. Her
+social qualities he does not allude to, though he, so eminently
+social himself, could scarcely have failed to appreciate them.
+
+In this country, at this time, cats have superseded parlour
+favourites decidedly less agreeable in their appearance, and
+infinitely more mischievous in their habits. Writing in the
+seventeenth century, Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, remarks
+that 'Turkey gentlewomen, that are perpetual prisoners, still mewed
+up according to the custom of the place, have little else, beside
+their household business or to play with their children, to drive
+away time but to dally with their cats, which they have _in
+delitiis_, as many of our ladies and gentlewomen use monkeys and
+little dogs.' It is not the least merit of the cat that it has
+banished from our sitting-rooms those frightful mimicries of
+humanity--the monkey tribe; and as to the little dogs Tray, Blanch,
+and Sweetheart, although we are not insensible to their many virtues
+and utilities, we care not to see them sleeping on our hearth-rug,
+or reposing beside our work-tables.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 5: In the matter of fanaticism, the modern Egyptians, or
+rather the inhabitants of Alexandria, seem hardly to have
+degenerated from their ethnic 'forbears,' as we read in Mr J.A. St
+John's travels the account of a serious insurrection which broke out
+some years ago in that city, in consequence of certain Jews having
+taken up the butcher's trade, and having slain the meat with a knife
+having _three_ instead of _five nails_ in the handle!]
+
+
+
+
+BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.
+
+
+Bengal is blessed with a mild climate and a fertile soil. Provisions
+are consequently cheap; and as neither substantial houses nor
+expensive clothing is there essential to comfort, we might naturally
+expect to see less of misery and destitution than in this country.
+Such, however, is not the case. Our severe winter engenders habits
+of industry and forethought, which are unknown in India. The ease
+with which in most cases their few wants are supplied, renders the
+inhabitants of that country in the highest degree improvident; and
+nowhere do we see a greater number of beggars, and misery and
+destitution paraded through the streets in more revolting forms.
+
+There are no poor-laws in any part of India. Relief, however, is not
+withheld, nor indeed sparingly bestowed. Many can afford to give a
+little; and where nothing is exacted, many give willingly. Little
+charity is bestowed by Europeans in the streets, as they generally
+ride in palanquins or carriages, and as, besides, they feel the
+weight even of a purse too much on a hot day. However, let it not be
+supposed that they, like Dives, wallow in wealth, and close their
+ears to the importunities of the heathen. The Baboo or Sircar gives
+weekly or monthly pensions to some patronised beggars; and on a
+Saturday in some large towns, the blind, lame, and halt come to the
+gates of the grandees, and receive from the trusty _durwan_ or
+doorkeeper a handful of cowries and coarse rice, of which one, two,
+or three rupees' worth are mixed up, according to the circumstances
+of the master. But it is not to ordinary beggars I now propose to
+draw the attention of the reader--the infirm or the lazy, with whom
+we are all tolerably familiar. But in India there is another class
+of beggars--_religious_ and _professional_ beggars--who are proud of
+their calling. I do not mean that there are no religious mendicants
+to be found at home; but although the object to be attained in both
+countries may be similar, the agents employed in the East are so
+different, that a description of them will to many European readers
+have all the gloss of novelty.
+
+The two principal sects in Bengal are known as _Soneeassees_ and
+_Byrâgees_. The former _exclusively_ worship Mahado. 'They are not
+to inhabit houses or temples,' say their scriptures; 'but to live in
+woods and forests, under the wide expanse of heaven, _there_ to
+meditate upon the greatness of the Creator, and contemplate his
+beautiful works.' An infant who is to become a Soneeassee has from
+his birth the badge of Sheva upon him: no razor ever touches his
+hair, and his locks are matted and dishevelled, when other
+children's are neatly combed and anointed. When he approaches
+manhood, he takes the vow of celibacy, he receives from the hand of
+the Brahmin the _muntra_ or mystical creed, the dried skin of an
+antelope, and a piece of coarse, unbleached cotton, stained yellow
+with ochre, which he can use as a plaid, it being seven feet long;
+upon the skin he is supposed to sit and sleep, and the cloth
+overshadows the shoulders of the young enthusiast. Even after these
+are worn out, as it is supposed that the devotee is pretty well
+broken in to the hardships of his situation, they on no account may
+be renewed. These Soneeassees seldom adhere to the letter of their
+religion in the present day, although it is said that in times gone
+by some of their class have sat absorbed and abstracted until their
+spirit held communion with the great god--their bodies wasting away
+from neglect, and their nails growing like claws. In the present
+day, prayer and meditation are given to the winds, and they may be
+seen fat and sleek, perambulating the streets of the towns and
+villages, smeared over with ashes and ochre, and great coils of
+matted hair, which some tastefully wind like a turban round their
+head. They take care also to display, in glaring red and white
+paint, upon their foreheads and arms, the various insignia or marks
+of Sheva, such as the trident. Occasionally one also flourishes
+about a _steel_ trident, which the figure of Mahado always wields in
+his hand, and which is also placed on the summit of his temple. The
+Soneeassees are the most impudent and importunate of beggars. There
+came under my notice a band of three, who used regularly to visit
+the town twice a week. These men had made a vow to collect a certain
+number of rupees to build a temple, and for this purpose infested
+the doors of the wealthiest of the Hindoo community, and followed
+and persecuted them even in their drives with continued cries. It is
+astonishing how soon superstition enabled them to fulfil their vow,
+and how the extortioners were allowed to escape the punishment their
+impudence deserved.
+
+The Byrâgees are not so intrusive a sect. They frequently live in
+the open air, though not prohibited from seeking other shelter.
+Their heads are differently treated from those of the Soneeassees,
+for both men and women have the crown shaved quite smooth. Both
+sexes wear a piece of cloth checked like shepherd's plaid. They have
+great strings of wooden beads, or _malâhs_, turned out of the stalks
+of the holy toolsie, round their necks; and they generally collect
+their rice and cowries in a dried gourd-shell. Persons of this sect
+at their death are placed in an upright position in a deep grave,
+and so consumed with fire. In former times, the widows used to burn
+themselves with their lords. The Byrâgees, when they attain years of
+discretion, may choose their wives from any caste they please. Some
+of the Byragins, therefore, are said to be far cleverer than the
+everyday Hindoo women, having been selected from a class which are
+looked down upon by the others, but who are taught high
+accomplishments, and are devoted to the temples of the gods. In his
+begging excursions the Byrâgee carries a pair of cymbals or a small
+gong; and singing the songs of Krishna, and his courtships among the
+milkmaids, he delights the hearts of his Hindoo hearers, and makes
+them lavish of their gifts.
+
+The English reader perhaps has never heard of a beggar such as I
+shall now depict. One may happen to be in a reflective mood, and
+aroused from his meditations by what he supposes to be a cow lowing
+close to his ear. He starts up and goes to the window, but instead
+of that quadruped he finds a man standing with a rope round his
+neck, and a woful countenance, holding out his palms, indicating
+that he wants charity. This man has had the misfortune to lose his
+cow; and as it died tethered, his religion imposes on him the
+penalty of begging from door to door without speaking, but imitating
+the cow, till he has realised enough to purchase one of these sacred
+animals, and to give something besides in charity to the Brahmins.
+This provision was perhaps made by the religion of the country in
+favour of the cow, to preserve so useful an animal from
+ill-treatment; and it is astonishing to see how implicitly the
+Hindoo submits himself to a mere convention, which he might easily
+evade.
+
+
+
+
+A LATE PRISON REPORT.
+
+
+In the Sixteenth Report on the state of the Prisons, by Mr Frederic
+Hill, lately laid before parliament, will be found some passages
+worthy of general attention. While speaking favourably of the system
+of discipline now ordinarily pursued towards prisoners, Mr Hill is
+obliged to admit that certain prisons are rendered much too
+attractive; in fact, that they create crime. It is important that
+this condition of affairs should be known. Good food and medical
+attendance are, it seems, the attractions. The following are Mr
+Hill's words, with the quotations he makes from the statements of
+prison officials:--
+
+'Several of the prisons continue to be attractive, to certain
+classes of persons, instead of repulsive; owing, apparently in some
+instances, to the better dietary of the prison as compared with that
+of the workhouse; in others, to the good medical treatment generally
+provided in prisons; and in others, to a practice of giving
+prisoners clothing on their liberation, a practice which, did the
+law permit, might be replaced by a rule enabling prisoners to earn
+clothing by extra labour.
+
+'The governor of the borough prison at Cambridge stated that many
+persons were reckless about committing offences, because they
+preferred being sent to the prison to going to the workhouse, owing
+chiefly (according to their statements) to their getting better food
+at the prison.
+
+'The chaplain of the prison at Spilsby stated as follows:--"I am
+sorry to observe that the present system of discipline here does not
+deter people from the commission of crime. Several have said that
+they would rather come here than go to the Union workhouse." ...
+
+'Mr Dunn, one of the surgeons of the prison at Wakefield, states--"I
+am convinced that many persons, especially females, get committed to
+the prison on purpose to be cured of attacks of disease. Many of
+them have admitted to me that it was so. A man from Bradford, who
+went out last week, told me that he had been here before, and that
+he had got committed again in consequence of his having a return of
+his disease, and that he came to be cured.... One man who was here
+for a month last autumn, and who came in a very diseased state, but
+who left cured, required, during nearly the whole time, a pint of
+wine per day, besides malt liquor. It was a case in which a very
+liberal diet is necessary to preserve life; and it was requisite to
+have a prisoner, acting as nurse, to sit up with him through the
+night. The cost to the West Riding of this single case, counting
+expenses of all kinds, could not have been less than L.6."
+
+'The governor of the city prison at York said--"By the
+acknowledgments of the prisoners themselves, I know that the
+practice still continues of committing offences on purpose to get
+committed to this prison. Four prisoners were liberated this morning
+who had broken a street-lamp with the evident intention of being
+sent to this prison. They were sentenced to seven days'
+imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
+with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
+one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
+the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
+order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
+who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
+opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
+sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
+pass their time in idleness; no prisoners except those sentenced to
+hard labour being set to work."
+
+'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
+at the same prison:--
+
+"_Dec. 12th, 1849._--The number of prisoners who commit offences
+with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
+yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
+expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
+is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward."'
+
+If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
+been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
+when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
+got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
+worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
+tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
+the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
+and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
+it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
+vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
+is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
+desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
+shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
+for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
+comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
+utterly-abandoned class!
+
+Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
+that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
+labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
+wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
+their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
+criminal class possessed the feelings of gentlemen; whereas the real
+thing to be thought of, was to give them labour so excessively
+toilsome and irksome as to be remembered with salutary horror all
+the days of their life. For example, no kind of punishment, we
+believe, has proved so sure a terror as that of the shot-drill in
+the military prisons. This consists in lifting a cannon-ball of
+perhaps twenty pounds' weight; marching with it for a dozen yards;
+then laying it down; and so on, repeating the same thing for an
+hour. Now this is clearly a useless and most degrading species of
+labour; yet it is a terrible infliction, and we are told seldom
+fails in its effect--that is to say, it deters from the commission
+of crime.
+
+The experience of the last few years would shew that much is still
+to be learned in the art of criminal discipline; and indeed the
+whole question of what is to be done with our criminal population is
+becoming daily more perplexing. Mere confinement is found to be of
+small avail. Transportation is exploded; for it improves the
+circumstances of criminals instead of making them worse. Capital
+punishment has also had its day, and, excepting for a very few
+offences, is abandoned as useless, independently of being revolting
+to humanity. One writer proposes to work convicts in gangs at
+out-door labour, such as mining, and making railways; but the public
+would never tolerate the spectacle of this worst species of
+slave-labour; and besides, the employment of honest workers would be
+ruined. We are inclined to think that imprisonment, in a severe
+form, is after all the only practicable means of dealing with
+criminals. If anything be urgently wanted, it is a plan for
+preventing the growth of the criminal class; and this probably is
+not so difficult as it may appear. Of course, till there be a far
+broader system of public education than now prevails, the criminal
+population will never want recruits. Nevertheless, even with our
+present imperfect educational arrangements, something might be done.
+The criminal class is discovered to be on the whole a narrow class.
+The practice of living by depredation runs in families, and clings
+to individuals. The police of any given town could put their hand on
+almost every person who lives by fraud, theft, and robbery. They
+could at a day's notice secure nearly every one of them. A knowledge
+of this fact has suggested to Mr Matthew Hill a plan for capturing
+the whole criminal class, and obliging them to give security for
+their good behaviour; failing which, they should suffer
+incarceration as notoriously dangerous and troublesome to society. A
+fear of trenching on the liberty of the subject may prevent this
+ingenious scheme of the Recorder of Birmingham from being carried
+into effect; but to something or other of the kind he proposes,
+society must come at last, if it wish to save itself from being
+everlastingly worried and plundered by a habitually predatory class.
+In the Prison Report to which we have above referred, mention is
+made of a single family of thieves, consisting of fifteen
+individuals, who cost the country L.26,000 before they were got rid
+of. Is not such a fact quite monstrous!
+
+
+
+
+FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.
+
+
+In an American work--_Glances at Europe_, by Mr H. Greeley--the
+following sound observations occur on the battle-pictures in the
+palace of Versailles: 'These battle-pieces have scarcely more
+historic than artistic value, since the names of at least half of
+them might be transposed, and the change be undetected by
+ninety-nine out of every hundred who see them. If _all_ the French
+battles were thus displayed, it might be urged with plausibility
+that these galleries were historical in their character; but a full
+half of the story--that which tells of French disaster and
+discomfiture--is utterly suppressed. The battles of Ptolemais, of
+Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &c. are here as
+imposing as paint can make them; but never a whisper of Agincourt,
+Cressy, Poitiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies; nor yet of Salamanca, of
+Vittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession of
+forays which the French have for the last twenty years been
+prosecuting in Algerine Africa, here shine resplendent; for Vernet
+has painted, by Louis-Philippe's order, and at France's cost, a
+succession of battle-pieces, wherein French numbers and science are
+seen prevailing over Arab barbarism and irregular valour, in combats
+whereof the very names have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though
+they occurred but yesterday. One of these is much the largest
+painting I ever saw, and is probably the largest in the world, and
+it seems to have been got up merely to exhibit one of
+Louis-Philippe's sons in the thickest of the fray. Last of all, we
+have the Capture of Abd-el-Kader, as imposing as Vernet could make
+it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewith he has been
+retained for several years in bondage, in violation of the express
+agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in its general
+effect, delusive and mischievous--the purpose being to exhibit war
+as always glorious, and France as uniformly triumphant. It is by
+means like these that the business of shattering knee-joints and
+multiplying orphans is kept in countenance.'
+
+
+
+
+NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.
+
+
+A patent has been taken out for the following applications of
+mangel-wurzel:--_1st_, To prepare a substance which may be combined
+with, or employed in place of coffee, the mangel-wurzel roots are
+well washed, cut into pieces; about the size of peas or beans, and
+then dried and roasted in the same manner as coffee-berries. The
+product is ground after being roasted, and it is then ready for use.
+_2d_, A substitute for tea is produced by cutting the leaves of
+mangel-wurzel into small strips or shreds, drying the same, and then
+placing them upon a hot plate, which is kept at a temperature
+sufficiently high to slightly char the leaves. The charred
+mangel-wurzel leaves are to be used in precisely the same way as
+tea. _3d_, To manufacture a fermented liquor, the mangel-wurzel
+roots are well washed, cut into small pieces, and put into a vat,
+wherein they are permitted to ferment for two or three days, at a
+temperature of about 70 degrees, and water is added thereto. A
+fermented liquor is thus obtained similar to perry or cider. _4th_,
+When the mangel-wurzel roots are to be employed in the preparation
+of wort, they are washed, and cut into small pieces, which are
+dried, or slightly charred, by the action of kilns or ovens, of the
+kind used for drying malt; and wort is prepared from this produce in
+the same manner as from malt.
+
+
+
+
+THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.[6]
+
+
+                             I.
+
+  The great human whirlpool!--'tis seething and seething:
+  On! No time for shrieking out, no time for breathing;
+  All toiling and moiling--some feebler, some bolder,
+  But each sees a fiend-face grin over his shoulder:
+      Thus merrily live they in Vanity Fair!
+
+  The great human caldron--it boils ever higher;
+  Some drowning, some sinking; while some, creeping nigher,
+  Come thirsting to lean o'er its outermost verges,
+  Or touch--as a child's feet touch trembling the surges:
+      One plunge--Ho! more souls swamped in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'Let's live while we live, for to-morrow all's over.
+  Drink deep, drunkard bold! and kiss close, thou mad lover!
+  Smile, hypocrite, smile! it is no such hard labour,
+  While each with red hand tears the heart of his neighbour
+      All slyly.--We're strange folk in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'Hist!--each for himself, or _herself_, which sounds smoother,
+  Though man's no upholder, and woman no soother,
+  Both struggle alike here.--What, weeping?--what, raving?
+  Pah!--fight out the battle all! No time for saving!
+      Ha! ha! 'tis a wondrous place, Vanity Fair!'
+
+  The mad crowd divides, and then closes swift after;
+  Afar, towers the pyre, lit with shouting and laughter;
+  'What new sport is this?' lisps a reveller, half turning;--
+  'One Faithful, poor wretch! who is led to the burning:
+      He cumbered us sorely in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'A dreamer--who held every man for a brother;
+  A coward--who, emit on one cheek, gave the other:
+  A fool--whose blind truth aye believed all knaves' lying;
+  Too simple to live, so most fitted for dying.
+      Ha! such are best swept out of Vanity Fair.'
+
+
+                             II.
+
+  Silence! though the flame-drifts wave and flutter;
+  Silence! though the crowd their curses mutter;
+  Silence! through this fiery purgatory
+  God is leading up a soul to glory.
+
+  See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,
+  Hate of foes, or plaint of friends' dissembling;
+  If sighs come--most patient prayers outlive them:
+  _'Lord, these know not what they do. Forgive them!'_
+
+  Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing,
+  Fainter in his ear the laughters growing;
+  Brief endures the fierce and fiery trial--
+  Angel-welcomes drown the earth-denial.
+
+  Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,
+  Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body,
+  While through harmless flames immortal flying
+  Shoots the beauteous soul. This--this is _dying_!
+
+  Lo! the opening heavens with splendours rifted;
+  Lo! the palms that wait those hands uplifted;
+  And the fiery chariot cloud-descending,
+  And the legioned angels close attending!
+
+  Let his poor dust mingle with the embers,
+  While the crowd sweeps on, and none remembers;
+  Saints and angels through the Infinite glory,
+  Praising God, recount the martyr's story.
+
+  Thou, who through the trial-fires bewildering
+  Of this cruel world, dost lead Thy children,
+  With the purifying give the balm;
+  Grant to martyr-pangs the martyr's palm!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 6: Suggested partly by a sketch in David Scott's
+illustrations of the _Pilgrim's Progress_.]
+
+
+
+
+VARIETY OF AMBER.
+
+
+There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
+very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
+amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
+buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
+the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
+cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
+quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
+standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
+pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
+divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
+yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
+little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
+was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
+Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
+effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
+of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
+opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
+amber beautifully transparent.
+
+
+
+
+HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?
+
+
+Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
+because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
+blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
+and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
+circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
+attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
+reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
+substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
+detected the animal quality--the ammonia--in the wool of the
+blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
+something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
+committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
+the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
+out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
+contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
+hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
+opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN EDITOR.
+
+
+He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick he
+twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to
+frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the
+pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of
+the most beautiful 'persuaders' ever manufactured by Colt, we are
+satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers. We should also
+state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but
+that on every Saturday until one o'clock P.M. he is always at the
+office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every
+satisfaction for the articles he publishes.--_Boston Rouge Gazette._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent
+to MAXWELL & Co., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom
+all applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419,
+New Series, January 10, 1852, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New
+Series, January 10, 1852, 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: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New Series, January 10, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14502]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL</h1>
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+ <a href="#article1">THE LOST AGES.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article2">STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article3">INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article4">THE LAST OF THE PAL&AElig;OLOGI.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article5">A CHAPTER ON CATS.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article6">BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article7">A LATE PRISON REPORT.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article8">FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article9">NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article10">THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article11">VARIETY OF AMBER.</a><br />
+ <a href="#article12">HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?</a><br />
+ <a href="#article13">AN AMERICAN EDITOR.</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span>
+
+<img src="images/banner.png"
+          width="100%"
+          alt="Banner: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal" />
+
+<h3>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &amp;c.</h3>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<table width="100%"
+           summary="Volume, Date and Price">
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><b>No. 419.&nbsp;&nbsp; NEW SERIES.</b></td>
+<td align="left"><b>SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1852.</b></td>
+<td align="right"><b>PRICE 1&frac12;<i>d</i>.</b></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+    <hr class="full" />
+
+<h2><a name="article1" id="article1">
+THE LOST AGES.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>My friends, have you read Elia? If so, follow me, walking in the
+shadow of his mild presence, while I recount to you my vision of the
+Lost Ages. I am neither single nor unblessed with offspring, yet,
+like Charles Lamb, I have had my 'dream-children.' Years have flown
+over me since I stood a bride at the altar. My eyes are dim and
+failing, and my hairs are silver-white. My real children of flesh
+and blood have become substantial men and women, carving their own
+fortunes, and catering for their own tastes in the matter of wives
+and husbands, leaving their old mother, as nature ordereth, to the
+stillness and repose fitted for her years. Understand, this is not
+meant to imply that the fosterer of their babyhood, the instructor
+of their childhood, the guide of their youth, is forsaken or
+neglected by those who have sprung up to maturity beneath her eye.
+No; I am blessed in my children. Living apart, I yet see them often;
+their joys, their cares are mine. Not a Sabbath dawns but it finds
+me in the midst of them; not a holiday or a festival of any kind is
+noted in the calendar of their lives, but Grandmamma is the first to
+be sent for. Still, of necessity, I pass much of my time alone; and
+old age is given to reverie quite as much as youth. I can remember a
+time&mdash;long, long ago&mdash;when in the twilight of a summer evening it
+was a luxury to sit apart with closed eyes; and, heedless of the
+talk that went on in the social circle from which I was withdrawn,
+indulge in all sorts of fanciful visions. Then my dream-people were
+all full-grown men and women. I do not recollect that I ever thought
+about children until I possessed some of my own. Those waking
+visions were very sweet&mdash;sweeter than the realities of life that
+followed; but they were neither half so curious nor half so
+wonderful as the dreams that sometimes haunt me now. The imagination
+of the old is not less lively than that of the young: it is only
+less original. A youthful fancy will create more new images; the
+mind of age requires materials to build with: these supplied, the
+combinations it is capable of forming are endless. And so were born
+my dream-children.</p>
+
+<p>Has it never occurred to you, mothers and fathers, to wonder what
+has become of your children's lost ages? Look at your little boy of
+five years old. Is he at all, in any respect, the same breathing
+creature that you beheld three years back? I think not. Whither,
+then, has the sprite vanished? In some hidden fairy nook, in some
+mysterious cloud-land he must exist still. Again, in your
+slim-formed girl of eight years, you look in vain for the sturdy elf
+of five. Gone? No; that cannot be&mdash;'a thing of beauty is a joy for
+ever.' Close your eyes: you have her there! A breeze-like, sportive,
+buoyant thing; a thing of breathing, laughing, unmistakable life;
+she is mirrored on your retina as plainly as ever was dancing
+sunbeam on a brook. The very trick of her lip&mdash;of her eye; the
+mischief-smile, the sidelong saucy glance,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i8">'That seems to say,</p>
+<p>I know you love me, Mr Grey;'</p >
+</div></div>
+
+<p>is it not traced there&mdash;all, every line, as clear as when it
+brightened the atmosphere about you in the days that are no more? To
+be sure it is; and being so, the thing must exist&mdash;somewhere.</p>
+
+<p>I never was more fully possessed with this conviction than once
+during the winter of last year. It was Christmas-eve. I was sitting
+alone, in my old armchair, and had been looking forward to the
+fast-coming festival-day with many mingled thoughts&mdash;some tender,
+but regretful; others hopeful, yet sad; some serious, and even
+solemn. As I laid my head back and sat thus with closed eyes,
+listening to the church-clock as it struck the hour, I could not but
+feel that I was passing&mdash;very slowly and gently it is true&mdash;towards
+a time when the closing of the grave would shut out even that sound
+so familiar to my ear; and when other and more precious sounds of
+life-human voices, dearer than all else, would cease to have any
+meanings for me&mdash;and even their very echoes be hushed in the silence
+of the one long sleep. Following the train of association, it was
+natural that I should recur to the hour when that same church's
+bells had chimed my wedding-peal. I seemed to hear their music once
+again; and other music sweeter still&mdash;the music of young vows that
+'kept the word of promise to the ear, and broke it' <i>not</i> 'to the
+hope.' Next in succession came the recollection of my children. I
+seemed to lose sight of their present identity, and to be carried
+away in thought to times and scenes far back in my long-departed
+youth, when they were growing up around my knees&mdash;beautiful forms of
+all ages, from the tender nursling of a single year springing with
+outstretched arms into my bosom, to the somewhat rough but ingenuous
+boy of ten. As my inner eye traced their different outlines, and
+followed them in their graceful growth from year to year, my heart
+was seized with a sudden and irresistible longing to hold fast these
+beloved but passing images of the brain. What joy, I thought, would
+it be to transfix the matchless beauty which had wrought itself thus
+into the visions of my old age! to preserve for ever, unchanging,
+every varied phase of that material but marvellous structure which
+the glorious human soul had animated and informed through all its
+progressive stages from the child to the man!
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span></p>
+
+<p>Scarcely was the thought framed when a dull, heavy weight seemed to
+press upon my closed eyelids. I now saw more clearly even than
+before my children's images in the different stages of their being.
+But I saw these, and these alone, as they stood rooted to the
+ground, with a stony fixedness in their eyes: every other object
+grew dim before me. The living faces and full-grown forms which
+until now had mingled with and played their part among my younger
+phantoms, altogether disappeared. I had no longer any eyes, any
+soul, but for this my new spectre-world. Life, and the things of
+life, had lost their interest; and I knew of nothing, conceived of
+nothing, but those still, inanimate forms from which the informing
+soul had long since passed away.</p>
+
+<p>And now that the longing of my heart was answered, was I satisfied?
+For a time I gazed, and drew a deep delight from the gratification
+of my vain and impious craving. But at length the still, cold
+presence of forms no longer of this earth began to oppress me. I
+grew cold and numb beneath their moveless aspect; and constant
+gazing upon eyes lighted up by no varying expression, pressed upon
+my tired senses with a more than nightmare weight. I felt a sort of
+dull stagnation through every limb, which held me bound where I sat,
+pulseless and moveless as the phantoms on which I gazed.</p>
+
+<p>As I wrestled with the feeling that oppressed me, striving in vain
+to break the bonds of that strange fascination, under the pressure
+of which I surely felt that I must perish&mdash;a soft voice, proceeding
+from whence I knew not, broke upon my ear. 'You have your desire,'
+it said gently; 'why, then, struggle thus? Why writhe under the
+magic of that joy you have yourself called up? Are they not here
+before you, the Lost Ages whose beauty and whose grace you would
+perpetuate? What would you more? O mortal!'</p>
+
+<p>'But these forms have no life,' I gasped&mdash;'no pulsating, breathing
+soul!'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' replied the same still, soft voice; 'these forms belong to the
+things of the past. In God's good time they breathed the breath of
+life; they had <i>then</i> a being and a purpose on this earth. Their day
+has departed&mdash;their work is done.'</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the voice grew still: the leaden weight which had pressed
+upon my eyelids was lifted off: I awoke.</p>
+
+<p>Filled with reveries of the past&mdash;my eyes closed to everything
+without&mdash;sleep had indeed overtaken me as I sat listening to the old
+church-clock. But my vision was not all a vision: my dream-children
+came not without their teaching. If they had been called up in
+folly, yet in their going did they leave behind a lesson of wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>The morning dawned&mdash;the blessed Christmas-morning! With it came my
+good and dutiful, my real life&mdash;children. When they were all
+assembled round me, and when, subdued and thoughtful beneath the
+tender and gracious associations of the day, each in turn
+ministered, reverently and lovingly, to the old mother's need of
+body and of soul, my heart was melted within me. Blessed, indeed,
+was I in a lot full to overflowing of all the good gifts which a
+wise and merciful Maker could lavish upon his erring and craving
+creature. I stood reproved. I felt humbled to think that I should
+ever for a moment have indulged one idle or restless longing for the
+restoration of that past which had done its appointed work, and out
+of which so gracious a present had arisen. One idea impressed me
+strongly: I could not but feel that had the craving of my soul been
+answered in reality, as my dream had foreshadowed; and had the wise
+and beneficent order of nature been disturbed and distorted from its
+just relations, how fearful would have been the result! Here, in my
+green old age, I stood amongst a new generation, honoured for what I
+was, beloved for what I had been. What if, at some mortal wish in
+some freak of nature, the form which I now bore were for ever to
+remain before the eyes of my children! Were such a thing to befall,
+how would their souls ever be lifted upward to the contemplation of
+that higher state of being into which it is my hope soon to pass
+when the hand which guided me hither shall beckon me hence? At the
+thought my heart was chastened. Never since that night have I
+indulged in any one wish framed in opposition to nature's laws.
+<i>Now</i> I find my dream-children in the present; and to the past I
+yield willingly all things which are its own&mdash;among the rest, the
+Lost Ages.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article2" id="article2">
+STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.
+</a></h2>
+
+<h3>BY CATHERINE CROWE.</h3>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>The extraordinary motives under which people occasionally act, and
+the strange things they do under the influence of these motives,
+frequently so far transcend the bounds of probability, that we
+romance-writers, with the wholesome fear of the critics before our
+eyes, would not dare to venture on them. Only the other day we read
+in the newspapers that a Frenchman who had been guilty of
+embezzlement, and was afraid of being found out, went into a theatre
+in Lyon and stabbed a young woman whom he had never seen before in
+his life, in order that he might die by the hands of the
+executioner, and so escape the inconvenience of rushing into the
+other world without having time to make his peace with Heaven. He
+desired death as a refuge from the anguish of mind he was suffering;
+but instead of killing himself he killed somebody else, because the
+law would allow him leisure for repentance before it inflicted the
+penalty of his crime.</p>
+
+<p>It will be said the man was mad&mdash;I suppose he was; and so is
+everybody whilst under the influence of an absorbing passion,
+whether the mania be love, jealousy, fanaticism, or revenge. The
+following tale will illustrate one phase of such a madness.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1789, there resided in Italy, not far from Aquila in the
+Abruzzo, a man called Gaspar Mendez. He appears to have been a
+Spaniard, if not actually by birth, at least by descent, and to have
+possessed a small estate, which he rendered valuable by pasturing
+cattle. Not far from where he resided there lived with her parents a
+remarkably handsome girl, of the name of Bianca Venoni, and on this
+fair damsel Mendez fixed his affections. As he was by many degrees
+the best match about the neighbourhood, he never doubted that his
+addresses would be received with a warm welcome, and intoxicated
+with this security, he seems to have made his advances so abruptly
+that the girl felt herself entitled to give him an equally abrupt
+refusal. To aggravate his mortification, he discovered that a young
+man, called Giuseppe Ripa, had been a secret witness to the
+rejection, which took place in an orchard; and as he walked away
+with rage in his heart, he heard echoing behind him the merry laugh
+of the two thoughtless young people. Proud and revengeful by nature,
+this affront seems to have rankled dreadfully in the mind of Gaspar;
+although, in accordance with that pride, he endeavoured to conceal
+his feelings under a show of indifference. Those who knew the
+parties well, however, were not deceived; and when, after an
+interval, it was discovered that Giuseppe himself was the favoured
+lover of Bianca, the enmity, though not more open, became more
+intense than ever.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime old Venoni, Bianca's father, had become aware of the
+fine match his daughter had missed, and was extremely angry about
+it; more particularly as he was poor, and would have been very much
+pleased to have a rich son-in-law. Nor was he disposed to relinquish
+the chance so easily. After first trying his influence on Bianca,
+upon whom he expended a great deal of persuasion and cajolery in
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span>
+vain, he went so far as to call upon Gaspar, apologising for his
+daughter's ignorance and folly in refusing so desirable a proposal,
+and expressing a hope that Mendez would not relinquish the pursuit,
+but try his fortune again; when he hoped to have brought her to a
+better state of mind.</p>
+
+<p>Gaspar received the old man with civility, but answered coldly, that
+any further advances on his own part were out of the question,
+unless he had reason to believe the young lady was inclined to
+retract her refusal; in which case he should be happy to wait upon
+her. With this response Venoni returned to make another attack upon
+his daughter, whom, however, fortified by her strong attachment to
+Ripa, he found quite immovable; and there for several months the
+affair seems to have rested, till the old man, urged by the
+embarrassment of his circumstances, renewed the persecution,
+coupling it with certain calumnies against Giuseppe, founded on the
+accidental loss of a sum of money which had been intrusted to him by
+a friend, who wanted it conveyed to a neighbouring village, whither
+the young man had occasion to go. This loss, which seems to have
+arisen out of some youthful imprudence, appears to have occasioned
+Ripa a great deal of distress; and he not only did his utmost to
+repair it by giving up everything he had, which was indeed very
+little, but he also engaged to pay regularly a portion of his weekly
+earnings till the whole sum was replaced.</p>
+
+<p>His behaviour, in short, was so satisfactory, that the person to
+whom the money had belonged does not seem to have borne him any
+ill-will on the subject; but Venoni took advantage of the
+circumstance to fling aspersions on the young man's character,
+whilst it strengthened his argument against the connection with his
+daughter; for how was Giuseppe to maintain a wife and family with
+this millstone of debt round his neck? Bianca, however, continued
+faithful to her lover, and for some time nothing happened to advance
+the suit of either party. In that interval a sister of Gaspar's had
+married a man called Alessandro Malfi, who, being a friend of
+Giuseppe's, endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation betwixt the
+rivals, or, rather, to produce a more cordial feeling, for there had
+never been a quarrel; and as far as Ripa was concerned, as he had no
+cause for jealousy, there was no reason why he should bear ill-will
+to the unsuccessful candidate. With Gaspar it was different: he
+hated Ripa; but as it hurt his pride that this enmity to one whom he
+considered so far beneath him should be known, he made no open
+demonstration of dislike, and when Malfi expressed a wish to invite
+his friend to supper, hoping that Mendez would not refuse to meet
+him, the Spaniard made no objection whatever. 'Why not?' he said:
+'he knew of no reason why he should not meet Giuseppe Ripa, or any
+other person his brother-in-law chose to invite.'</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the party was made; and on the night appointed Giuseppe,
+after a private interview in the orchard with his mistress, started
+for Malfi's house, which was situated about three miles off, in the
+same direction as Gaspar's, which, indeed, he had to pass; on which
+account he deferred his departure to a later hour than he otherwise
+would have done, wishing not to come in contact with his rival till
+they met under Malfi's roof. Mendez had a servant called Antonio
+Guerra, who worked on his farm, and who appears to have been much in
+his confidence, and just as Ripa passed the Spaniard's door, he met
+Guerra coming in an opposite direction, and asked him if Mendez had
+gone to the supper yet; to which Guerra answered that he supposed he
+had, but he did not know. Guerra then took a key out of his pocket,
+and, unlocking the door, entered the house, whilst Ripa walked on.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the little party had assembled in Malfi's parlour,
+all but the two principal personages, Gaspar and Giuseppe; and as
+time advanced without their appearing, some jests were passed
+amongst the men present, who wished they might not have fallen foul
+of each other on the way. At length, however, Ripa arrived, and the
+first question that was put to him was: 'What had he done with his
+rival?' which he answered by inquiring if the Spaniard was not come.
+But although he endeavoured to appear unconcerned, there was a
+tremor in his voice and a confusion of manner that excited general
+observation. He made violent efforts, however, to appear at his
+ease, but these efforts were too manifest to be successful; whilst
+the continued absence of Mendez became so unaccountable, that a
+cloud seems to have settled on the spirits of the company, which
+made the expected festivity pass very heavily off.</p>
+
+<p>'Where could Mendez be? What could have detained him? It was to be
+hoped no harm had happened to him!' Such was the burden of the
+conversation till&mdash;when at about an hour before midnight the party
+broke up&mdash;Alessandro Malfi said, that to allay the anxiety of his
+wife, who was getting extremely alarmed about her brother, he would
+walk as far as Forni&mdash;which was the name of Gaspar's farm&mdash;to
+inquire what had become of him.</p>
+
+<p>As Ripa's way lay in the same direction, they naturally started
+together; and after what appears to have been a very silent
+walk&mdash;for the spirits of Giuseppe were so depressed that the other
+found it impossible to draw him into conversation&mdash;they reached
+Forni, when, having rung the bell, they were presently answered by
+Antonio Guerra, who put his head out of an upper window to inquire
+who they were, and what they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>'It is I, Alessandro Malfi. I want to know where your master is, and
+why he has not been to my house this evening as he promised?'</p>
+
+<p>'I thought he was there,' said Antonio. 'He set off from here to go
+soon after seven o'clock.'</p>
+
+<p>'That is most extraordinary!' returned Malfi. 'What in the world can
+have become of him?'</p>
+
+<p>'It is very strange, certainly,' answered the servant. 'He has never
+come home; and when you rang I thought it was he returned from the
+party.'</p>
+
+<p>As there was no more to be learned, the two friends now parted;
+Malfi expressing considerable surprise and some uneasiness at the
+non-appearance of his brother-in-law: whilst of Giuseppe we hear
+nothing more till the following afternoon, when, whilst at work in
+his vineyard, he was accosted by two officers of justice from
+Aquila, and he found himself arrested, under an accusation of having
+waylaid Mendez in a mountain-pass on the preceding evening, and
+wounded him with the design of taking his life.</p>
+
+<p>The first words Ripa uttered on hearing this impeachment&mdash;words
+that, like all the rest of his behaviour, told dreadfully against
+him&mdash;were: 'Isn't he dead, then?'</p>
+
+<p>'No thanks to you that he's not,' replied the officer; 'but he's
+alive, and likely to recover to give evidence against his assassin.'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Dio</i>!' cried Giuseppe, 'I wish I'd known he wasn't dead!'</p>
+
+<p>'You confess, then, that you wounded him with the intent to kill?'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' answered Ripa; 'I confess no such thing. As I was going
+through the pass last night I observed a man's hat lying a little
+off the road, and on lifting it, I saw it belonged to Se&ntilde;or Mendez.
+Whilst I was wondering how it came there without the owner, and was
+looking about for him, I spied him lying behind a boulder. At first
+I thought he was asleep, but on looking again, I saw he didn't lie
+like a sleeping man, and I concluded he was dead. Had it been any
+one but he, I should have lifted him up; but it being very well
+known that we were no friends, I own I was afraid to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span>
+do so. I
+thought it better not to meddle with him at all. However, if he is
+alive, as you say, perhaps he can tell himself who wounded him.'</p>
+
+<p>'To be sure he can,' returned the officer: 'he says it's you!'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Perduto son' io!</i>&mdash;Then I am lost!' exclaimed Ripa; who, on being
+brought before the authorities, persisted in the same story; adding,
+that so far from seeking Mendez, he had particularly wished to avoid
+him, and that that was the reason he had started so late; for he had
+been warned that the Spaniard was his enemy, and he apprehended that
+if they met alone some collision might ensue.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared, however, that he had consumed much more time on the
+road than could be fairly accounted for; for two or three people had
+met him on the way before he reached Forni; and then Antonio Guerra
+could speak as to the exact hour of his passing. This discrepancy he
+attempted to explain by saying, that after seeing Mendez on the
+ground, dead&mdash;as he believed&mdash;he had been so agitated and alarmed
+that he did not like to present himself at Malfi's house, lest he
+should excite observation. He had also spent some time in
+deliberating whether or not he should mention what he had seen; and
+he had made up his mind to do so on his arrival, but was deterred by
+everybody's asking him, when he entered the room, what he had done
+with Mendez&mdash;a question that seemed to imply a suspicion against
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>This tale, of course, was not believed: indeed his whole demeanour
+on the night in question tended strongly to his condemnation; added
+to which, Malfi, who had been his friend, testified that not only
+had Ripa betrayed all the confusion of guilt during the walk from
+his house to Forni, but that having hold of his arm, he had
+distinctly felt him tremble as they passed the spot where Mendez was
+subsequently discovered.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to Mendez himself, it appeared that when found he was in
+a state of insensibility, and he was still too weak to give evidence
+or enter into any particulars; but when, under proper remedies, he
+had recovered his senses, Faustina Malfi, his sister&mdash;to whose house
+he had been carried&mdash;asked him if Giuseppe Ripa was not the
+assassin; and he answered in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>Giuseppe was thrown into prison to await his trial; and having
+public opinion, as well as that of the authorities against him, he
+was universally considered a dead man. The only person that adhered
+to him was Bianca, who visited him in the jail, and refused to
+believe him guilty. But if he was innocent, who was the criminal? It
+appeared afterwards that Ripa himself had his own suspicions on that
+subject, but as they were founded only on two slight indications, he
+felt it was useless to advance them.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Gaspar Mendez was slowly recovering the injuries he
+had received, and was of course expected to give a more explanatory
+account of what had happened to him after he left Forni on his way
+to Alessandro Malfi's. That he had been robbed as well as wounded
+was already known&mdash;his brother and sister having found his pockets
+empty and his watch gone. The explanation he could give, however,
+proved to be very scanty. Indeed, he seemed to know very little
+about the matter, but he still adhered to his first assertion, that
+Ripa was the assassin. With regard to the money he had lost, there
+was necessarily less mystery, since it consisted of a sum that he
+was carrying to his sister, and was indeed her property, being the
+half share of some rents which he had received on that morning, the
+produce of two houses in the town of Aquila which had been
+bequeathed to them conjointly by their mother. The money was in a
+canvas bag, and the other half which belonged to himself he had left
+locked in his strong box at home, where, on searching for it, it was
+found. As Ripa was known to be poor, and very much straitened by his
+endeavours to make good the sum he had lost, that he should add
+robbery to assassination was not to be wondered at. On the contrary,
+it strengthened the conviction of his guilt, by supplying an
+additional motive for the crime.</p>
+
+<p>The injuries having been severe, it was some time before Mendez
+recovered sufficiently to return home; and when he was well enough
+to move, instead of going to Forni, he discharged his servant
+Antonio Guerra, and went himself to Florence, where he remained
+several months.</p>
+
+<p>All this time Giuseppe Ripa was in prison, condemned to die, but not
+executed; because after his trial and sentence, a letter had been
+received by the chief person in authority, warning him against
+shedding the blood of the innocent. 'Se&ntilde;or Mendez is mistaken,' the
+letter said: 'he did not see the assassin, who attacked him from
+behind, and Giuseppe Ripa is not guilty.'</p>
+
+<p>This judge, whose name was Marino, appears to have been a just man,
+and to have felt some dissatisfaction with the evidence against
+Ripa; inasmuch as Mendez, who, when first questioned, had spoken
+confidently as to his identity, had since faltered when he came to
+give his evidence in public, and seemed unable to afford any
+positive testimony on the subject. The presumption against the
+prisoner, without the evidence of the Spaniard, was considered by
+the other judges strong enough to convict him; but Marino had
+objected that since the attack was made by daylight&mdash;for it was in
+the summer, and the evenings were quite light&mdash;it seemed
+extraordinary that Mendez could give no more certain indications of
+his assailant. Added to this, although every means had been used to
+obtain a confession&mdash;such means as are permitted on the continent,
+but illegal in this country&mdash;Giuseppe persisted in his innocence.
+Moreover, as no money had been found about him, and Faustina Malfi
+was exceedingly desirous of recovering what had been lost, she
+exerted herself to obtain mercy to at least the extent that hopes of
+a commutation of his sentence should be held out to the prisoner,
+provided he would reveal where he had concealed the bagful of silver
+he had taken from her brother. But in vain. Ripa was either
+guiltless or obstinate, for nothing could be extracted from him but
+repeated declarations of his innocence.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Bianca had been undergoing a terrible persecution
+from her father on the subject of Mendez, who had returned from
+Florence and taken up his abode, as formerly, at Forni. Her former
+lover was a condemned man, and altogether <i>hors de combat</i>: she
+might regret him as she would, and lament his fate to her heart's
+content, but he could never be her husband; and there was the
+Spaniard, rich and ready; whilst the increasing age and poverty of
+her parent rendered a good match of the greatest importance. In
+short, under the circumstances of the case, it was urged upon her on
+all hands, that she was bound both by her duty to her father and to
+evince her abhorrence of Ripa's crime&mdash;which otherwise it might be
+supposed she had instigated&mdash;to marry Mendez without delay.</p>
+
+<p>Persuaded of Giuseppe's innocence, and half believing that the
+accusation was prompted by jealousy, it may be imagined how
+unwelcome these importunities were, and for a considerable time she
+resisted them; indeed she seems only to have been overcome at last
+by a ruse. A rumour being set afloat that the day was about to be
+appointed for Ripa's execution, a hint was thrown out that it lay in
+her power to save his life: she had only to become the wife of
+Mendez, and her lover's sentence should be commuted from death to
+banishment. This last argument prevailed, and poor Bianca, with a
+heavy heart, consented to become the mistress of Forni. The Malfis,
+however, do not seem to have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span>
+been amongst those who desired the
+match; and it would appear that they even made some attempts to
+prevent its taking place, by circulating a report that she had been
+privy to the assault and robbery. Perhaps they hoped, if Gaspar
+remained unmarried, to inherit his property themselves; but however
+that may be, their opposition was of no avail, and an early period
+was fixed for the wedding.</p>
+
+<p>The year had now come round to the summer season again, and it
+happened, by mere accident, that the day appointed for the marriage
+was the anniversary of that on which Mendez had been robbed and
+wounded. Nobody, however, appears to have thought of this
+coincidence, till Mendez himself, observing the day of the month,
+requested that the ceremony might be postponed till the day after:
+'Because,' said he, 'I have business which will take me to Aquila on
+the 7th, so the marriage had better take place on the 8th.' And thus
+it was arranged.</p>
+
+<p>This alteration was made about ten days before the appointed period,
+and nothing seems to have occurred in the interval worth recording,
+except that as the hour of sacrifice drew nigh, the unwillingness of
+the victim became more evident. We must conclude, however, that
+Mendez, whose object in marrying her appears to have been fully as
+much the soothing of his pride as the gratification of his love, was
+not influenced by her disinclination, for when he started for Aquila
+on the 7th, every preparation had been made for the wedding on the
+following day.</p>
+
+<p>The object of his journey was to receive the rents before named,
+which became due at this period, and also to purchase a
+wedding-present for his bride. On this occasion Alessandro Malfi was
+to have accompanied him; but when Mendez stopped at his door to
+inquire if he was ready, Malfi came down stairs half-dressed, saying
+that he had been up all night with his wife, who was ill, and that
+as she had now fallen asleep, he was going to lie down himself, and
+try to get a little rest. This occurred early in the morning; and
+Mendez rode on, saying that he should call as he came back in the
+evening, to inquire how his sister was. Upon this Malfi went to bed,
+where he remained some hours&mdash;indeed till he received a message from
+his wife, begging him to go to her. When he entered the room, the
+first question she asked was whether Gaspar was gone to Aquila; and
+on being told that he was, she said she was very sorry for it, for
+that she had dreamed she saw a man with a mask lying in wait to rob
+him.</p>
+
+<p>'I saw the man as distinctly as possible,' she said, 'but I could
+not see his face for the mask; and I saw the place, so that I'm sure
+if I were taken there I should recognise it.'</p>
+
+<p>Her husband told her not to mind her dreams, and that this one was
+doubtless suggested by the circumstance that had occurred the year
+before. 'But,' said he, 'Ripa's safely locked up in jail now, and
+there's no danger.'</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless the dream appears to have made so deep an impression on
+the sick woman's fancy, that she never let her husband rest till he
+promised to go with his own farm-servant to meet her brother&mdash;a
+compliance which was at length won from him by her saying that she
+had seen the man crouching behind a low wall that surrounded a
+half-built church; 'and close by,' she added, 'there was a
+direction-post with something written on it, but I could not read
+what it was.'</p>
+
+<p>Now it happened that on the horse-road to Aquila, which Faustina
+herself had never travelled, there was exactly such a spot as that
+she described. Malfi knew it well. Struck by the circumstance, he
+desired to have his dinner immediately, and then, accompanied by his
+hind, he set off to meet Gaspar.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the Spaniard had got his money and made his
+purchases in good time, not wishing to be late on the road, so that
+they had scarcely got a mile beyond the church when they met him;
+and in answer to his inquiries what had brought them there, Malfi
+related his wife's dream, adding that he might have spared himself
+the ride, for he had looked over the wall, and saw nobody there. 'I
+told her it was nonsense,' he said, 'whilst we know your enemy's
+under such good keeping at Aquila; but she wouldn't be satisfied
+till I came.'</p>
+
+<p>Mendez, however, appeared exceedingly struck with the dream,
+inquired the particulars more in detail, and asked if they were sure
+there was nobody concealed in the place Faustina indicated. Malfi
+answered that he did not alight, but he looked over the wall and saw
+nobody. During the course of this conversation they had turned their
+horses' heads, and were riding back towards the church, Malfi
+talking about Ripa's affair, remarking on the impropriety of
+deferring his execution so long; Mendez more than usually silent and
+serious, and the servant riding beside them, when, as they
+approached the spot, they saw coming towards them on foot a man,
+whom they all three recognised as Antonio Guerra, the Spaniard's
+late servant. As this person was supposed to have gone to another
+part of the country after quitting Gaspar's service, Malfi expressed
+some surprise at seeing him; whilst Mendez turned very pale, making
+at the same time some exclamation that attracted the attention of
+his brother-in-law, who, however, drew up his horse to ask Guerra
+what had brought him back, and if he was out of a situation, adding
+that a neighbour of his, whom he named, was in want of a servant.
+Guerra, who looked poorly dressed, and by no means in such good case
+as formerly, answered that he should be very glad if Malfi would
+recommend him.</p>
+
+<p>'You had better turn about, then, and come on with us,' said Malfi,
+as he rode forward. During this conversation Mendez had sat by
+saying nothing; and if he was grave and silent before, he was still
+more so now, insomuch that his behaviour drew the attention of his
+brother-in-law, who asked him if there was anything wrong with him.</p>
+
+<p>'Surely it's not Faustina's dream you are thinking of?' he said;
+adding, 'that the meeting with Guerra had put it out of his head, or
+he would have examined the place more narrowly.'</p>
+
+<p>Mendez entered into no explanation; and as the servant, who was
+acquainted with Guerra, took him up behind him, they all arrived at
+their journey's end nearly together: Mendez, instead of proceeding
+homewards, turning off with the others to Malfi's house, where the
+first thing he did after his arrival was to visit his sister, whom
+he found better; whilst she, on the contrary, was struck with the
+pallor of his features and the agitation of his manner&mdash;a disorder
+which, like her husband, she attributed to the shock of her dream,
+acting upon a mind prepared by the affair of the preceding year to
+take alarm. In order to remove the impression, she laughed at the
+fright she had been in; but it was evident he could not share her
+merriment, and he quickly left her, saying he had a message to send
+to Rocca, which was the village where Bianca and her father resided,
+and that he must go below and write a note, which he did, giving it
+to Malfi's servant to take.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared afterwards that this man, having other work in hand,
+gave the note to Guerra, who willingly undertook the commission, and
+who, to satisfy his own curiosity, broke the seal on the way, and
+possessed himself of its contents before he delivered it. These
+were, however, only a request that Bianca and her father would come
+over to Malfi's house that evening and bring the notary of the
+village with them, he (Mendez) being too tired to go to Rocca to
+sign the contract, as had been arranged.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>It being between six and seven o'clock when this dispatch arrived,
+Bianca, who was very little inclined to sign the contract at all,
+objected to going; but her father insisting on her compliance, they
+set off in company with Guerra and the notary, who, according to
+appointment, was already in waiting. They had nearly three miles to
+go, and as Venoni had no horse, the notary gave Bianca a seat on
+his, and the old man rode double with Guerra.</p>
+
+<p>When they arrived, Mendez was standing at the door waiting for them,
+accompanied by Malfi, his servant, a priest, and two or three other
+persons of the neighbourhood; some of whom advanced to assist Bianca
+and her father to alight, whilst the others surrounded Guerra as he
+set his foot on the ground, pinioning his arms and plunging their
+hands into his pockets, from whence they drew two small pistols and
+a black mask, such as was worn at the carnivals; besides these
+weapons, he carried a stiletto in his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the last comers were gaping with amazement at this unexpected
+scene, the new-made prisoner was led away to a place of security,
+and the company proceeded into the house, where the notary produced
+the contract and laid it on the table, inquiring at the same time
+what Guerra had done to be so treated.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mendez rose, and taking hold of the contract, he tore it in two
+and flung it on the ground; at which sight Venoni started up with a
+cry, or rather a howl&mdash;an expression of rage and disappointment
+truly Italian, and of which no Englishman who has not heard it can
+have an idea.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Peccato!</i> I have sinned!' said the Spaniard haughtily; 'but I have
+made my confession to the padre; and why I have torn that paper my
+brother-in-law, Alessandro, will presently tell you!' He then
+offered his hand to Bianca, who, no less pleased than astonished to
+see the contract destroyed, willingly responded to this token of
+good-will by giving him hers, which he kissed, asking her pardon for
+any pain he had occasioned her; after which, bowing to the company,
+he quitted the room, mounted his horse, and rode off to Forni.</p>
+
+<p>When the sound of the animal's feet had died away, and the parties
+concerned were sufficiently composed to listen to him, Malfi
+proceeded to make the communication he had been charged with;
+whereby it appeared that Ripa had been unjustly accused, and that
+Antonio Guerra was the real criminal. Mendez knew this very well,
+and would not have thought of accusing his rival had not his brother
+and sister, and indeed everybody else, assumed Ripa's guilt as an
+unquestionable fact. The temptation was too strong for him, and
+after he had once admitted it, pride would not allow him to retract.
+At the same time he declared that he would never have permitted the
+execution to take place, and that after the marriage with Bianca he
+intended to use every effort to procure the innocent man's
+liberation, on the condition of his quitting that part of the
+country. Of course it was he who wrote the letter to Marino, and he
+had used the precaution of placing a sealed packet, containing a
+confession of the truth, in the hands of a notary at Aquila, with
+strict directions to deliver it to Ripa if the authorities should
+appear disposed to carry his sentence into execution.</p>
+
+<p>He had nevertheless suffered considerable qualms of conscience about
+the whole affair; and the moment he saw Guerra on the road that
+night, he felt certain that he had come with the intention of
+waylaying him as before&mdash;the man being well aware that it was on
+that day he usually received his rents. He perceived that he should
+never be safe as long as this villain was free, and that he must
+either henceforth live in continual terror of assassination, or
+confront the mortification of a confession whilst the fellow was in
+his power.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to Guerra himself, he made but feeble resistance when
+he was seized. He had, in the first instance, left Mendez for dead;
+and he would have immediately fled when he heard he was alive, had
+not the news been accompanied with the further information that the
+Spaniard had pointed out Ripa as his assailant. He was exceedingly
+surprised, for he could scarcely believe that he had not been
+recognised. Nevertheless it was possible; and whether it were so or
+not, he did not doubt that what Mendez had once asserted he would
+adhere to. On receiving his dismissal, he had gone to some distance
+from the scene of his crime; but having, whilst the money lasted,
+acquired habits of idleness and dissipation that could not be
+maintained without a further supply, these necessities had provoked
+this last enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>He had really been concealed behind the wall when Malfi and his
+servant passed; but concluding that they were going to meet Mendez,
+and that his scheme was defeated, he had thought it both useless and
+dangerous to remain, and was intending to make off in another
+direction, when their sudden return surprised him.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours more saw Antonio Guerra in Giuseppe Ripa's cell; and
+whilst the first paid the penalty of his crimes, the latter was
+rewarded for his sufferings by the hand of Bianca, to whom the
+Spaniard gave a small marriage-portion before finally quitting the
+country, which he did immediately after Antonio's trial.</p>
+
+<p>Ripa said he had always had a strong persuasion that Guerra was the
+real criminal from two circumstances: the first was the hurried
+manner in which he was walking on the evening he met him at the gate
+of Forni, and some strange expression of countenance which he had
+afterwards recalled. The second was his answering them from the
+window when he and Malfi went to inquire for Mendez. If he thought
+it was his master, as he said, why had he not come down at once to
+admit him?</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable that the enmity of the Spaniard was not directed
+against the man that had aimed at his life, but against him who had
+wounded his pride.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article3" id="article3">
+INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>While there are many machines which contribute much more directly to
+the rapid accumulation of wealth in the persons of individuals, than
+does the railway locomotive, there is probably none which tends more
+to enrich a community. Unlike most other mechanical contrivances for
+the abridgment of labour, the railway locomotive unites in the
+effects which it produces the elements of social as well as
+commercial improvement. Like the steamship, the railway is
+cosmopolitan in its character. The range of its operations may be as
+extensive as the globe itself; and throughout that sphere of
+activity, be it what it may, the locomotive engine is scattering
+thickly the seeds of civilisation, as well as of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>By the application of steam as a motive agent an immense saving has
+been effected in the outlay required to be made in producing a given
+result in locomotion. This is the combined product of two causes.
+Such perfection has been attained in the construction of machinery,
+that by the aid of steam there can thence be obtained a continuity,
+combined with a rapidity of motion, which far exceeds what can be
+produced by any other means at present known to us. The fleetest
+racer equipped for speed alone, cannot equal, even for a single
+mile, the rate at which the locomotive engine, dragging after it a
+load of eighty tons, can, for hours together, be driven with ease
+and safety along its iron path. And this twofold result can be
+secured at a comparatively small cost. Coal, iron, wood&mdash;substances
+all to be easily obtained in nearly every quarter of the globe&mdash;can
+be, and daily are, fashioned into working agents not merely fleeter,
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span>
+stronger, and more docile than any endowed with animal life, but
+agents likewise which it is far less costly to sustain in active
+usefulness. The food, medicines, and attention which animal life
+demands, form very serious items of expense in the case of beasts of
+burden, and so very materially impair their utility. It is otherwise
+with the locomotive engine. Money, ingenuity, and toil require
+undoubtedly to be expended in its original construction, attention
+and care must be given to avert or repair accident, and food of its
+own peculiar kind it does unquestionably consume; yet when all the
+original and working expenses of a locomotive are summed up, it is
+found that, compared with the income it produces, it is the cheapest
+of all motive agents.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the items of railway expenditure now mentioned do not
+nearly exhaust the amount of money required in their construction.
+In addition to expensive engines, there require carriages to be
+supplied for the transport of goods and passengers, houses and sheds
+to be built for their temporary accommodation, salaries to be paid
+for management and service; and in addition to all this, there must
+further be expended in the construction of the line itself sums far
+greater in amount than those spent in the formation and repair of
+roads and highways. All this is true; but in estimating the
+comparative costliness of the old and new methods of
+land-locomotion, regard must be had to the amount of their produce
+as well as of their outlay; and an opinion regarding their
+respective merits, in an economical point of view, must be formed by
+striking a balance between these two sides of the account. The
+result of such a comparison proves that in point of economy, not
+less than of speed and endurance, railways take precedence over all
+other known means of locomotion. This combined result of rapidity
+and cheapness of transit produces a double effect upon a mercantile
+community: it at once enables merchants to realise the fruits of a
+given speculation more quickly, which is nothing else than
+transacting more business in a shorter period than before; and it
+also enables them to do this increased amount of business with a
+smaller amount of actual outlay&mdash;that is, to extend with safety and
+profit the field of their operations beyond those boundaries which
+prudence formerly marked out as the proper limits of speculation.</p>
+
+<p>When we consider the amount of travelling within the island which is
+requisite for carrying on the mercantile and general business of the
+country, and the double saving, therefore, of time on the one hand,
+and of money on the other, which is effected by means of railways,
+we cannot fail to perceive that even did this new system of
+locomotion economise time and labour in no other way than this
+alone, its effects upon commercial transactions and on business
+generally would be immense. But when we reflect that this system is
+exerting the very same influence upon trade&mdash;and in a much higher
+degree, so far as the outlay of money is concerned&mdash;in reference to
+the carriage of goods, as in regard to that of passengers, we then
+come to comprehend in some measure how fertile the railway
+locomotive is in the production of the fruits of industry.</p>
+
+<p>Another commercial effect of the railway system has been to equalise
+the value of land, and promote the cultivation of those districts of
+a country which lie considerably removed from large towns. Every one
+knows that distance from market forms, as regards the cultivation of
+many vegetable and animal productions, a very serious drawback.
+Hence it arises that lands lying immediately around large cities
+bring a far larger price than portions of ground of equal extent and
+fertility would do situated at a greater distance. This is
+peculiarly the case with kitchen-gardens, and pasture-land suited
+for the purposes of fattening cattle, or feeding such as are
+required for the dairy. In all these cases, and others which might
+be mentioned, the performance of a long journey affects very
+injuriously the quality and value of the several articles, and hence
+the demand for farms and fields not exposed to this drawback has
+naturally raised their value. Now railways, as they abridge space by
+means of speed, have had a tendency to increase the value of pasture
+and garden ground lying at, comparatively speaking, a very great
+distance around cities. It is now no unusual thing for the
+inhabitants of cities such as London, Liverpool, and Manchester, to
+use at breakfast milk or cream which has travelled thirty or forty
+miles the very morning it is consumed, and at dinner to partake of
+vegetables whose place of growth was more than a hundred miles
+removed from the stall at which they were sold.</p>
+
+<p>The railway system has had a marked effect upon the state of the
+money-market of the commercial world in general, and of this country
+in particular. From the successful experiment made in 1830 in steam
+locomotion between Liverpool and Manchester, this new method of
+transit has been developing itself with a rapidity to which no
+parallel is to be found in the history of mercantile enterprise.
+Keeping out of view entirely the large sums which were recklessly
+squandered during the railway mania in mere gambling transactions
+and bubble schemes, there has been actually sunk in the construction
+and working of lines up to the present time more than L.200,000,000
+sterling. Before railways were called into existence, by far the
+larger portion of this enormous capital was divided into a great
+number of comparatively small sums, invested in a corresponding
+number of different speculations. From causes which it would be
+easy, but foreign to our present purpose, to explain, the profits
+arising from these various speculations were not only in the
+aggregate larger than those hitherto derived from railways, but the
+former speculations or investments being more temporary and
+convertible in their nature, secured to the parties engaging in them
+a far greater command over the capital employed in them. By
+diverting, as the railway system has done, so much money from the
+ordinary channels of mercantile enterprise, in which large profits
+were made, and&mdash;what is of more importance to the present
+remarks&mdash;when that money was well within the command and subject to
+the recall of its owners; and by taking, so to speak, and locking it
+up in a repository which could not be opened, the circulating medium
+of exchange soon became a scarce commodity to those who but lately
+had possessed it in abundance.</p>
+
+<p>But it would be very false to infer because extensive bankruptcies,
+and periods of severe pecuniary embarrassment, have accompanied, if
+not indeed been caused by the development of the railway system,
+that therefore that system must be an unsound and unremunerative
+one. These monetary difficulties were in a great measure the
+consequence of over-speculation, and therefore form no sounder
+evidence against the utility of railways, than does over-speculation
+in tea condemn the prudent employment of capital in the tea-trade.
+Besides which, it must ever be remembered that the judiciousness of
+an undertaking is not always to be judged of by its immediate
+results. All investments of capital which are from their nature
+permanent, require time for the development of their effects, and
+may, as regards many of their immediate results, prove rather
+injurious than beneficial. To this class of speculations railways
+belong. Introduced for the purpose of facilitating locomotion, and
+thus improving the industry of the country, this new system of
+transit was calculated to produce rather an eventual and permanent,
+than an immediate benefit to the empire. So long as Great Britain
+retains and cultivates the resources of trade and manufactures now
+at her disposal, and provided no new method of locomotion be
+invented which shall supersede railways, there is every
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span>
+reason to
+believe that railways will continue to form an ever-increasing
+source of wealth to the nation. That this is an opinion very
+generally entertained is proved from the vast sums of money which
+are now lent out on the faith that this result will be realised. The
+railway system has not only created a new field for speculation, but
+likewise a new security for monetary investments. At the close of
+1848, upwards of L.43,000,000 was lent upon railways. There is every
+reason to believe that debenture-holding is much greater now than it
+was then; but as no official report of its amount, so far as we
+know, has been published since 1848, we, for accuracy's sake, quote
+the return made in that year.</p>
+
+<p>If railways have produced very important effects upon commercial
+affairs, they have exercised an influence not less important in a
+social and intellectual point of view. They have been greatly
+instrumental in removing prejudices, in cementing old and forming
+new friendships, in extending information, and in sharpening
+ingenuity.</p>
+
+<p>Prejudice has been one of the most formidable obstacles to the
+spread of civilisation. It has for ages kept separate and at enmity
+nations born to bless and benefit each other; propped up systems
+whose graver errors or weaker absurdities now form subjects of
+regret and ridicule; and fomented among the members of smaller
+societies and sects discords, strifes, and recriminations, which
+have been based on no other foundation than wilful or accidental
+ignorance. By bringing those in contact who otherwise would never
+have met, and improving the acquaintance of those who have, railways
+have spread individual opinions, tastes, and information more
+equally than before; and out of this mixture of the social and moral
+elements have collected and more widely distributed just conclusions
+regarding men, manners, politics, and religion. By being thus more
+frequently brought together, individuals have increased the number
+of their acquaintances, and become to a greater extent than before
+'citizens of the world.' A mutual discharge of the good offices of
+life has augmented those feelings of interest in our
+fellow-creatures, and kindness towards them, which are not less in
+accordance with the spirit of Christianity than conducive to the
+social wellbeing of communities.</p>
+
+<p>The knowledge which one acquires by personal experience and
+observation is, generally speaking, much more valuable than that
+obtained from the written experience or observation of others. By
+the former method we obtain knowledge in a more rapid, accurate, and
+impressive manner; and, as a consequence of this, retain it longer
+in our memories, and possess a greater and more constant command
+over it. Books always convey a faint and imperfect, and often a very
+erroneous impression of things; and to the extent that railways have
+superseded or assisted book-teaching, have they conferred upon
+society an improved means of acquiring knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Through the instrumentality of railways also, an impetus has been
+imparted to the inventive and constructive faculties of the human
+mind. By being brought into more frequent contact with one another,
+individuals whose tastes and occupations are more or less similar
+are naturally led to form comparisons regarding the relative merits
+of their respective productions. This comparison has necessarily
+sharpened invention, improved taste, and suggested improvement. It
+is not too much to affirm, that there is not a single branch of
+industry now pursued within this country which has not, directly or
+indirectly, been benefited to an immense degree by the introduction
+of railways. Having served to bring into one market far more
+articles of commerce than before were exposed in it, this new mode
+of locomotion has to a great extent increased throughout our
+different trades and callings that element of a generous and
+wholesome competition which is the most effective agent in eliciting
+a high degree of skill in the cultivation of an art, or the
+improvement of an invention.</p>
+
+<p>To railways we are also indebted for a new application to practical
+usefulness of one of the most powerful elements in nature's
+laboratory: we refer to the employment of electricity in the
+transmission of thought. Although the wondrous powers and properties
+of the electric telegraph were known long before the introduction of
+the railway system, they were not till then made to minister, as
+they now do, to the information of man. By providing facilities
+towards laying and protecting the delicate machinery along which
+electricity was to perform its marvellous exploits, railways have
+directly contributed to apply and develop the resources of one of
+the most useful and wonderful of inventions, which even in its first
+stage of infancy has wrought a perfect revolution in the mode of
+transmitting intelligence; and which promises at no very distant day
+to play the same part among the continents and islands of the globe
+that it now does between the provinces of an empire.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article4" id="article4">
+THE LAST OF THE PAL&AElig;OLOGI.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>It would be a curious historical problem to trace the families of
+emperors and kings, of heroes and conquerors, from the era of their
+decline and fall to their ultimate extinction. Some 'Old Mortality'
+might find as congenial employment in this field of sepulchral
+research as did the original in clearing up the decayed and
+moss-grown tombs of the Covenanters. The genealogist makes it his
+business rather to flatter the great by blazoning the antiquity of
+their pedigrees, than to teach the world a moral lesson on the
+instability of earthly grandeur, by chronicling their reverses. Yet
+the churchyard has its heraldry, from whose records wisdom might be
+extracted for the benefit of the living.</p>
+
+<p>What dynasty in ancient times held a prouder or wider sway than the
+illustrious masters of the Roman world? The solid fabric of their
+power was the growth of nearly a thousand years, and it cost about
+thirteen centuries of revolutions and barbaric invasions before it
+was undermined and finally extinguished. If its earlier annals were
+disgraced by the crimes of a Tiberius, a Nero, and a Domitian, they
+could boast of the virtues and abilities of a Titus, a Trajan, a
+Nerva, a Hadrian, the two Antonini, &amp;c.; though it must be admitted
+that latterly the balance sadly preponderated on the side of vice
+and corruption. If a Justinian or a Constantine appeared, his reign
+was but a sunbeam in the midst of the universal degeneracy; or if a
+ray of splendour was shed on the empire by his virtues or his
+victories, the transient glory was speedily dispelled by irruptions
+from without, or intrigue and revolt within. Gradually the work of
+decay proceeded, until the vast expanse of the imperial conquests
+was contracted to a few provinces, whose capital had been
+transferred to the shores of the Bosphorus. A languishing existence
+of about six centuries and a half&mdash;that is, from the revival of the
+western empire in 800 by Charlemagne, to the taking of
+Constantinople by the Turks in 1453&mdash;was brought to a close by the
+death of Constantine Pal&aelig;ologus, the last of a race who had
+continued, says Gibbon, 'to assume the titles of Caesar and Augustus
+after their dominions were circumscribed to the limits of a single
+city, in which the language as well as manners of the ancient Romans
+had been long since forgotten!'</p>
+
+<p>The family of Pal&aelig;ologus was of Greek origin, illustrious in birth
+and merit. 'As early,' says Gibbon, 'as the middle of the eleventh
+century, the noble race of the Pal&aelig;ologi stands high and conspicuous
+in Byzantine history. It was the valiant George Pal&aelig;ologus who
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span>
+placed the father of the Comneni on the throne; and his kinsmen or
+descendants continued in each generation to lead the armies and
+councils of the state.' The first that wore the imperial purple was
+Michael, who was elevated to the throne in 1260. Already he had
+distinguished himself as a soldier and a statesman, and had been
+promoted in his early youth to the office of 'constable,' or
+commander of the French mercenaries. His ambition excited jealousy,
+and some acts of imprudence involved him in dangers from which he
+thrice escaped. One of those perils was the usual appeal which was
+made in the middle ages to the 'judgment of God' to vindicate
+injured innocence. To this ordeal Michael submitted, in presence of
+the emperor and the archbishop of Philadelphia. 'Three days before
+the trial, the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag, and secured by
+the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a redhot bolt
+of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary,
+without artifice and without injury. Pal&aelig;ologus eluded the dangerous
+experiment with sense and pleasantry. &quot;I am a soldier,&quot; said he,
+&quot;and will boldly enter the list with my accusers; but a layman, a
+sinner like myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. Your
+piety, most holy prelate, may deserve the interposition of Heaven,
+and from your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my
+innocence.&quot; The archbishop started, the emperor smiled, and the
+absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by rewards and new
+services.' The voice of the people and the favour of the army placed
+the crown on his head, in recompense for his military exploits and
+his public merits. With his accession terminated the reign of the
+last of the Latin emperors at Constantinople (Baldwin II.), and
+Michael became the founder of the Grecian dynasty.</p>
+
+<p>The labours of the new monarch to retrieve the calamities of war, by
+encouraging industry, planting colonies, and extending trade, were
+deserving of all praise. His ambition raised up against him many
+enemies, spiritual and temporal; but if his policy was not always
+judicious, he increased his power and his fame by greatly enlarging
+his dominions. It was by his intrigues that the revolt of Sicily was
+instigated. A rude insult to a noble damsel by a Frank soldier,
+during a procession on the vigil of Easter (1282), spread the flame
+of insurrection over the whole island, and 8000 Franks were
+exterminated in a promiscuous massacre, which has obtained the name
+of the 'Sicilian Vespers.' His son and successor, Andronicus, was
+reckoned a learned and virtuous prince; but his long reign is
+chiefly memorable for the disputes of the Greek church, the invasion
+of the Catalans, and the rise of the Ottoman power. He associated
+with him in the administration his son Michael, at the age of
+eighteen; and upon the premature death of the latter, his son
+Andronicus, the emperor's favourite, became the colleague of his
+grandfather. The reign of the elder Andronicus was consumed in civil
+discord and disputes with his family, the young princes having
+raised the standard of revolt in order to get possession of the
+throne. He was at length compelled to abdicate; and assuming the
+monastic habit, he spent the last few years of his life in a cell,
+blind and wretched, his only consolation being the promise of a more
+splendid crown in heaven than he had enjoyed on earth.</p>
+
+<p>After a series of inglorious struggles among the princes of the
+imperial house, the crown settled, in 1391, on Manuel, whose reign,
+however, was little else than a train of disasters. His capital was
+besieged by Amurath, and the Turks were masters of nearly the whole
+of his dominions, which had now shrunk into a small corner of
+Thrace, between the Propontis and the Black Sea, about fifty miles
+in length and thirty in breadth. To retrieve his fortunes, Manuel
+resolved on a journey to foreign countries, believing that the sight
+of a distressed monarch would draw tears and supplies from the
+sternest barbarians. From Italy he proceeded to the coast of France,
+where he was received with the characteristic politeness of the
+nation. Two thousand of the richest citizens of Paris, armed and on
+horseback, came forth to meet him; and at the gates he was welcomed
+as a brother by Charles VI., who saluted him with a cordial embrace.
+He was clothed in a robe of white silk, and mounted on a milk-white
+steed&mdash;a circumstance of great importance in the French ceremonial,
+white being considered as the emblem of sovereignty. He was lodged
+in the Louvre, and a succession of feasts and balls, varied by the
+pleasures of the chase, was got up for his amusement. Having
+satisfied his curiosity, but without any prospect of assistance, he
+resolved to visit England. In his progress from Dover, he was
+entertained at Canterbury by the prior and monks of St Austin; and
+on Blackheath Henry IV. saluted the Greek hero, who for several days
+was honoured and treated in London as Emperor of the East. Having
+failed in the object of his journey, he returned to Constantinople
+(1402), and was allowed to finish his reign in prosperity and peace
+in 1425.</p>
+
+<p>In his declining age, he had appointed as his associate his eldest
+son John, the second of the name. The corruptions of the church,
+divided between two popes, and the disputes of the clergy, afforded
+him ample scope for the exercise of his religious zeal, and it was
+to heal these ecclesiastical schisms that he undertook a voyage to
+Italy. But the downfall of his race and of the Grecian dynasty was
+approaching. At his decease (1448), there were five princes of the
+imperial house; but the death of Andronicus, and the monastic
+profession of Isidore, had reduced them to three&mdash;Constantine,
+Demetrius, and Thomas. Constantine ascended the vacant throne, the
+factious opposition of his brothers having been appeased by the
+interposition of the empress-mother, the senate, the soldiers, and
+the clergy, who allowed them the possession of the Morea.</p>
+
+<p>The first act of the new emperor was to despatch an embassy to
+Georgia to bring home a princess whom he had chosen for his royal
+consort. His next care was to inquire into the state of public
+affairs, which had been completely neglected by the weakness or
+absence of his predecessor. But the imperial drama had reached its
+last act. The danger which had long brooded over the doomed house of
+the Pal&aelig;ologi was ready to burst in resistless fury upon the city of
+the C&aelig;sars. Mohammed II. had vowed to become master of
+Constantinople, and vast were the preparations and the implements of
+war which he had provided for its capture or its destruction. The
+story of the siege need not here be told; nowhere has it been
+recorded with more picturesque and energetic brevity than in the
+glowing pages of Gibbon. Operations were carried on with
+unprecedented vigour and effect, rendered more terrible by the
+lavish use of gunpowder and artillery, then almost new elements in
+the art of war. Constantine did all that a Christian prince and a
+brave general could do. By his example he animated the courage of
+his soldiers, and revived the hearts of the citizens, sinking in
+despair. The scene on the day before the assault is thus described
+by an eye-witness:&mdash;'The emperor and some faithful companions
+entered the dome of St Sophia, which in a few hours was to be
+converted into a mosque, and devoutly received with tears and
+prayers the sacrament of the holy communion. He reposed some moments
+in the palace, which resounded with cries and lamentations;
+solicited the pardon of all he might have injured; and mounted on
+horseback to visit the guards and explore the motions of the enemy.'
+But the dreaded 29th of May had come; the last hour of the city and
+the empire had struck. After a siege of fifty-three days,
+Constantinople, to use the words of Gibbon, 'which had defied the
+power of Chosroes, the chazan, and the caliphs, was irretrievably
+subdued by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span>
+the arms of Mohammed II. Her empire only had been
+subverted by the Latins; her religion was trampled in the dust by
+the Moslem conquerors.'</p>
+
+<p>Constantine had nobly done his duty. Amidst the swarms of the enemy
+who had climbed the walls and were pursuing the flying Greeks
+through the streets, he was long seen with his bravest officers
+fighting round his person, and finally lost. His only fear was that
+of falling alive into the hands of the Infidels, and this fate he
+sought to avert by prudently casting away the purple. Amidst the
+tumult he was pierced by an unknown hand, and his body was buried
+under a mountain of the slain. The last words he was heard to utter
+was the mournful exclamation: 'Cannot there be found a Christian to
+cut off my head?' His death put an end to resistance and order, and
+left the capital to be sacked and pillaged by the victorious Turks.
+Truly has it been said, that the distress and fall of the last
+Constantine are more glorious than the long prosperity of the
+Byzantine C&aelig;sars.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulties and dying moments of the emperor have been
+faithfully and pathetically dramatised by Miss Joanna Baillie in her
+tragedy of <i>Constantine Pal&aelig;ologus</i>. She adheres closely to history,
+only she makes her hero receive his deathblow from the sword of a
+relenting Turk, who admires his bravery, and pronounces over him a
+farewell eulogy. All writers agree that the last of the imperial
+Pal&aelig;ologi was the best of his race; and had he not been so ill
+supported by his worthless subjects, and deserted by every Christian
+prince in Europe, he might have repelled the tide of Turkish
+invasion, though he would never have restored the glory of the
+empire. Yet gallantly did he front the storm, and perish as became
+the successor of a long line of kings&mdash;the last of the Romans.</p>
+
+<p>The fall of Constantine was the signal for the degradation and
+dispersion of his whole race. His two surviving brothers, Demetrius
+and Thomas, reigned as despots of the Morea in Greece; but the ruin
+of the empire was the gloomy prelude to their own misfortunes.
+Demetrius became the pensioner of the new Turkish emperor Mohammed,
+and received a city of Thrace and some adjacent islands for his own
+maintenance and that of his followers. In this state of humiliating
+dependence he remained until death released him from his ignominious
+servitude. Thomas, the other brother, was driven into exile by the
+invasion of his dominions. He fled to Corfu, and from thence to
+Italy&mdash;according to Gibbon's account&mdash;'with some naked adherents;
+his name, his sufferings, and the head of the apostle St Andrew,
+entitled him to the hospitality of the Vatican, and his misery was
+prolonged by a pension of 6000 ducats from the pope and cardinals.'
+He left two sons (he must have had a third, as will afterwards
+appear), Andrew and Manuel, who were educated in Italy. The eldest
+degraded himself by the looseness of his life and marriage, and died
+the inheritor of an empty title. Manuel was tempted to revisit his
+native country; and after spending the remainder of his life in
+safety and ease at Constantinople, he was gathered to his fathers,
+'an honourable train of Christians and Moslems attending him to the
+grave.'</p>
+
+<p>From this date&mdash;early in the sixteenth century&mdash;little is known of
+the name and lineage of the Pal&aelig;ologi. The crescent waved over the
+royal city of Constantine; and, as an old Byzantine annalist
+remarks, the last heir of the last spark of the Roman Empire seemed
+to be extinct. History had forgotten them, and the restless tide of
+human vicissitudes rolled onwards, unconscious of their existence.
+Italy was understood to be the asylum of the imperial outcasts; and
+there they might have vegetated in oblivion, or dropped into
+unhonoured graves without leaving a single representative, had not a
+monumental inscription revealed the fact, that a descendant of the
+C&aelig;sars had found a retreat and a tomb in an obscure parish in
+England. In the small church of Landulph, in Cornwall, the following
+inscription upon a small metal tablet, fixed in the wall, removes
+all doubt as to the identity and royal pedigree of the person whose
+memory it records. In its original spelling it runs thus:&mdash;'Here
+lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologvs of Pesaro in Italye, descended
+from ye Imperiall lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece,
+being the sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of
+John, the sonne of Thomas, second brother to Constantine Paleologvs,
+the eighth of that name, and last of ye lyne yt raygned in
+Constantinople vntill svbdeued by the Turkes; who married with Mary
+ye davghter of William Balls of Hadlye in Sorffolke Gent., and had
+issu five children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy,
+and departed this life at Clyfton ye 21st of Janvary 1636.'<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1" /><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> It
+appears, then, that Theodore, who married and died in Cornwall, was
+the fourth in direct descent from Thomas, younger brother of the
+Emperor Constantine, and who fled 'with some naked adherents to
+Italy,' where his children were educated.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2" /><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The truth of the story
+related in the inscription was corroborated by a circumstance which
+happened upwards of twenty years ago. The vault in which Pal&aelig;ologus
+was interred having been accidently opened, curiosity prompted the
+lifting of the lid. The coffin, which was made of oak, was in an
+entire state, and the body sufficiently perfect to shew that the
+dead man exceeded the common stature. The head was a long oval, and
+the nose believed to have been aquiline; a long white beard reached
+down the breast&mdash;another symbol of his Greek extraction.</p>
+
+<p>Of his family little is known: Theodore, the eldest son, was a
+sailor, and died on board the <i>Charles II.</i>, as is proved by his
+will, dated 1693. He appears to have possessed landed property, and
+to have left a widow named Martha, but no issue. The younger
+daughter, Dorothy, was married at Landulph to William Arundell in
+1636, and died in 1681.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Maria died unmarried, and was buried in
+the same church in 1674. Of John and Ferdinando, the other sons, no
+memorial seems to have been preserved in this country; and it was
+believed as highly probable that the church of Landulph contained
+the remains of the last survivors of the Grecian dynasty, once the
+illustrious sovereigns of Byzantium.</p>
+
+<p>Time, however, the great revealer of secrets, brought to light facts
+which proved that one of the sons of Theodore of Pesaro in Italy had
+removed to the West Indies, where he lived for some years, and died
+in 1678. It is mentioned by the historian Oldmixon<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4" /><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> as a
+tradition, that a descendant of the former imperial Greek family of
+Constantinople resided in Barbadoes; but he doubts the fact, without
+giving any reason for his scepticism. The tradition, however, proves
+to have been quite current, and the circumstance that led to its
+confirmation, and to the discovery of the body of Ferdinando
+Pal&aelig;ologus, and other relics testifying to his connection with the
+Greek emperors, are narrated by Sir Robert Schomburgk in his recent
+history of Barbadoes. During the terrible hurricane of 1831, which
+nearly destroyed the island, among the other public buildings that
+yielded to the violence of the storm, was the parish church of St
+John, which stood in a romantic situation near the 'Cliff,' at an
+elevation of 824 feet. When the ruins were removed, and in clearing
+out the rubbish, 'the coffin of Ferdinando Pal&aelig;ologus (we quote Sir
+Robert's account) was discovered under the organ-loft,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span>
+in the vault
+of Sir Peter Callotin. The circumstance that the coffin stood in a
+direction opposite to the others deposited in the vault, drew
+attention to it; the head was lying to the west, the feet pointing
+to the east, according to the Greek custom. These accounts raised
+the curiosity of the rector of the parish; and in order to ascertain
+how much truth was connected with the tradition, he resolved to
+examine the supposed coffin of Pal&aelig;ologus; it was consequently
+opened on the 3d of May 1844, in presence of Mr R. Reici, jun.; Mr.
+J.G. Young; and Mr J. Hinkson. The coffin was of lead, and in it was
+found a skeleton of an extraordinary size, imbedded in quicklime,
+which is another proof of the Greek origin of Pal&aelig;ologus, as it is
+the custom in Greece to surround the body with quicklime. The coffin
+was carefully deposited in the vault now in possession of Josiah
+Heath, Esq., of Quintyer's and Redland.'</p>
+
+<p>In the above discovery and examination, the coincidences are so
+numerous and so remarkable as to leave no doubt whatever that the
+Ferdinando Pal&aelig;ologus, whose body lies interred in St John's church,
+was the same individual mentioned in the Landulph inscription as a
+son of Theodore. The size of the skeleton, the envelope of
+quicklime, the position of the body, are corroborative of an Eastern
+descent. The name of the mother, Mary Balls, is an additional
+presumption, as among the earliest proprietors in the island several
+of that name occur; and three estates are given in Oldmixon's list
+as belonging to the family of the Balls. It has been assumed,
+therefore, with good reason, that a relationship may have existed
+between the mother of Ferdinando and the Balls in Barbadoes,
+which&mdash;at a period when so many families emigrated from England,
+chiefly from Kent and the southern and western counties&mdash;might have
+induced young Pal&aelig;ologus to seek his fortunes in the New World,
+after his father's death in 1636.</p>
+
+<p>Of the residence of Ferdinando in the island for thirty years, ample
+evidence exists in various documents. Sir Robert Schomburgk was
+shewn by the rector of the parish, the Rev. J.H. Gittens, an old
+vestry-book of St John's, in which various entries occur of the name
+of Ferdinando Pal&aelig;ologus, from 1649 till 1669, as vestryman,
+churchwarden, trustee, surveyor of the highway, sidesman to the
+churchwarden, and lieutenant, &amp;c. The last entry is that of his
+burial, 'October 3d 1678.' His name also appears in a legal document
+respecting the sale of some land, executed in 1658. But the most
+important evidence of his identity with the Cornwall family is his
+will, in which the names of his sisters, Maria and Dorothy, occur.
+It was entered in the Registrar's Office, the 20th of March 1678,
+and proved before the deputy-governor, Colonel Christopher
+Codrington. The widow became the sole survivor and heiress of the
+property, Theodorious having died in his youth, so that the last of
+the Pal&aelig;ologi reposes in the parish church of St John, in the island
+of Barbadoes; and the estate which once belonged to the descendant
+of the Greek emperors now forms part of Clifton Hall and the
+Plantation Ashford. Laying these circumstances together, and
+considering how completely the will of Ferdinando corroborates the
+Landulph inscription, of which he probably knew nothing, the
+genealogical problem, we think, is fairly wrought out, and the last
+of the descendants of the Roman C&aelig;sars traced to his final
+resting-place beyond the Atlantic. A curious anecdote is mentioned
+by Sir Robert Schomburgk as to the revival of the tradition of one
+of the Pal&aelig;ologi being in Barbadoes. He says, but without vouching
+for its truth, that during the last conflict for Grecian
+independence and deliverance from the Turkish yoke, a letter was
+received from the provisional government at Athens, addressed to the
+authorities in Barbadoes, inquiring whether a male branch of the
+Pal&aelig;ologi was still existing in the island, and conveying the
+request that if such were the case he should be provided with the
+means of returning to Greece, and the government would, if required,
+pay all the expenses of the voyage. This story was not current in
+Europe, at all events; and we on this side the water never dreamed
+that among the competitors of King Leopold for the throne was a
+veritable scion of the old imperial sovereigns of Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>The events detailed in the preceding narrative are fitted to suggest
+various interesting reflections and amusing speculations. The fate
+of the Pal&aelig;ologi&mdash;one day on a throne, the next in a dungeon,
+passing from regal state to wretched exile&mdash;may have been the bitter
+lot of other imperial families. If we find the descendants of the
+Greek emperors in the humble occupation of sailors and
+churchwardens, and vestrymen and road-trustees, there is nothing
+extravagant in the supposition, that we may have royal porters and
+scavengers on our streets, the sceptre having degenerated into the
+besom, and the truck taken the place of the chariot of state. The
+family of Nimrod may still exist, and retain their ancestral
+propensities in the craft of sportsmen and deer-stalkers, or in the
+lower grade of Jehus and jockeys. Who knows but the posterity of
+Solomon may be retailing old clothes, and the heirs of the
+Nebuchadnezzar dynasty still exist somewhere&mdash;perhaps among our
+graziers or cattle-dealers, our keepers of dairies or secretaries of
+agricultural associations. The line of Tamerlane may have ended in a
+grave-digger, and that of Frederick Barbarossa in a hair-dresser.
+The ideal transmigration of Pythagoras was not more improbable or
+more wonderful than the strange metamorphoses through which, in the
+course of centuries, the living representatives of kings and
+emperors are sometimes doomed to pass.</p>
+
+<h4>Notes:</h4>
+
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a>
+There is a slight error in the date of the inscription,
+as the entry of his burial is October 20th 1636.
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a>
+Only two sons of Thomas are mentioned by Gibbon&mdash;Andrew
+and Manuel; but the evidence of the Landulph tablet shews that he
+must have had a third, John.
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a>
+Her name is entered in the register as 'Dorothea
+Paleologus de Stirpe Imperatorious.'
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a>
+<i>British Empire in America</i>, vol. ii. p. 111.
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article5" id="article5">
+A CHAPTER ON CATS.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>The newspapers have recently been chronicling, as a fact provocative
+of especial wonder, the enterprise of some speculative merchant of
+New York, who has just been despatching a cargo of one hundred cats
+to the republic of New Granada, in which it would appear the race,
+owing, as we may believe, to the frequently disturbed state of the
+country, has become almost extinct.</p>
+
+<p>Your cat is a domestic animal, and naturally conservative in its
+tastes&mdash;averse therefore to uproar, and to all those given to
+change. Its propensities are to meditation and contemplative
+tranquillity, for which reason it has ever been held in reverence by
+nations of a similar staid and composed disposition, and has been
+the favourite companion and constant friend of grave philosophers
+and thoughtful students. By the ancient Egyptians cats were held in
+the highest esteem; and we learn from Diodorus Siculus, their 'lives
+and safeties' were tendered more dearly than those of any other
+animal, whether biped or quadruped. 'He who has voluntarily killed a
+consecrated animal,' says this writer, 'is punished with death; but
+if any one has even involuntarily killed a cat or an ibis, it is
+impossible for him to escape death: the mob drags him to it,
+treating him with every cruelty, and sometimes without waiting for
+judgment to be passed. This treatment inspires such terror, that, if
+any person happen to find one of these animals dead, he goes to a
+distance from it, and by his cries and groans indicates that he has
+found the animal dead. This superstition is so deeply rooted in the
+minds of the Egyptians, and the respect they bear these animals is
+so profound, that at the time when their king, Ptolemy, was not yet
+declared the friend of the Roman people&mdash;when they were paying all
+possible court to travellers from Italy, and their fears made them
+avoid every ground of accusation and every pretext for making war
+upon them&mdash;yet a Roman having killed a cat, the people rushed to his
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span>
+house, and neither the entreaties of the grandees, whom the king
+sent for the purpose, nor the terror of the Roman name, could
+protect this man from punishment, although the act was involuntary.
+I do not relate this anecdote,' adds the historian, 'on the
+authority of another, for I was an eye-witness of it during my stay
+in Egypt.'<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5" /><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>During their lives, the consecrated cats were fed upon fish, kept
+for the purpose in tanks; and 'when one of them happened to die,'
+says the veracious writer just cited, 'it was wrapped in linen, and
+after the bystanders had beaten themselves on the breast, it was
+carried to the Tarichoea, where it was embalmed with coedria and
+other substances which have the virtue of embalming bodies, after
+which it was interred in the sacred monument.' It has puzzled not a
+little the learned arch&aelig;ologists, who have endeavoured to discover a
+profound philosophy figured and symbolised in the singular mythology
+of the Egyptians, to explain how it is that in Thebes, where the
+sacred character of the cat was held in the highest reverence, and
+cherished with the greatest devotion, not only embalmed cats have
+been found, but also the bodies of rats and mice, which had been
+subjected to the same anti-putrescent process. If, however,
+Herodotus is to be credited, the Egyptians owed a deep debt of
+gratitude to the mice; for the venerable historian assures us, and
+on the unquestionable authority of the Egyptian priests, that when
+Sennacherib and his army lay at Pelusium, a mighty corps of
+field-mice entered the camp by night, and eating up the quivers,
+bowstrings, and buckler-leathers of the Assyrian troops, in this
+summary fashion liberated Egypt from the terror of the threatened
+invasion. Probably the existence of mice-mummies may be accounted
+for in this way, and if&mdash;resorting to no violent supposition&mdash;we
+presume in the good work which the tiny patriots so sagaciously
+accomplished that their cousins-german the rats were assistant, the
+whole matter receives a satisfactory explication. The hypothesis, it
+is submitted, is not without plausible recommendations on its
+behalf. There is extant a fragment of a comedy, entitled 'The
+Cities,' written by the Rhodian poet Anaxandrides, in which the
+Egyptian worship of animals is amusingly enough quizzed. A
+translation will be found in Dr Prichard's <i>Analysis of Egyptian
+Mythology</i>. The lines referring to cat-worship are as follow:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>'You cry and wail whene'er ye spy a cat,</p>
+<p>Starving or sick; I count it not a sin</p>
+<p>To hang it up, and flay it for its skin;'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>from which it appears this gay free-thinker was not only somewhat
+sceptical in his religious notions, but, moreover, a hard-hearted,
+good-for-nothing fellow&mdash;one who, had he lived in our times, would
+unquestionably have brought himself within the sweep of the Society
+for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Duke of Beaufort's
+Humanity Act.</p>
+
+<p>We learn from Herodotus that in his days it was customary, whenever
+a cat died, for the whole household at once to go into mourning, and
+this although the lamented decease might have been the result of old
+age, or other causes purely natural. In the case of a cat's death,
+however, the eyebrows only were required to be shaved off; but when
+a dog, a beast of more distinguished reputation, departed this life,
+every inmate of the house was expected to shave his head and whole
+body all over. Both cats and dogs are watched and attended to with
+the greatest solicitude during illness. Indeed, by the ancient
+Egyptians the cat was treated much in the same way as are dogs
+amongst us: we find them even accompanying their masters on their
+aquatic shooting-excursions; and, if the testimony of ancient
+monuments is to be relied on, often catching the game for them,
+although it may be permitted to doubt whether they ever actually
+took to the water for this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In modern Egypt the cat, although more docile and companionable than
+its European sister, has much degenerated; but still, on account of
+its usefulness in destroying scorpions and other reptiles, it is
+treated with some consideration&mdash;suffered to eat out of the same
+dish with the children, to join with them in their sports, and to be
+their constant companion and daily friend. A modern Egyptian would
+esteem it a heinous sin indeed, to destroy, or even maltreat a cat;
+and we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that benevolent
+individuals have bequeathed funds by which a certain number of these
+animals are daily fed at Cairo at the Cadi's court, and the bazaar
+of Khan Khaleel.</p>
+
+<p>But a tender regard for the inferior animals is a prevailing
+characteristic of the Oriental races, and is inculcated as a duty by
+their various religions. At Fez there was, and perhaps is at this
+day, a wealthily-endowed hospital, the greater part of the funds of
+which was devoted to the support and medical treatment of invalid
+cranes and storks, and procuring them a decent sepulture whenever
+they chanced to die. The founders are said to have entertained the
+poetical notion that these birds are, in truth, human beings,
+natives of distant islands, who at certain periods assume a foreign
+shape, and after they have satisfied their curiosity with visiting
+other lands, return to their own, and resume their original form.</p>
+
+<p>To return, however, not to our sheep, but our cats, we must remark
+that, in modern times, in spite of the kindness the cat habitually
+receives in Egypt, his <i>morale</i> is not in that country rated very
+high&mdash;the universal impression being that, although, like Snug the
+joiner's lion, he is by nature 'a very gentle beast,' still he is by
+no means 'of a good conscience;' that he is, in short, a most
+ungrateful beast; and that when, in a future state, it is asked of
+him how he has been treated by man in this, he will obstinately deny
+all the benefits he has received at his hand, and give him such a
+character for cruelty and hardness of heart as is shocking to think
+of. The dog, however, it is understood, will conduct himself more
+discreetly, and readily acknowledge the good offices for which he is
+indebted to the family of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Singular anecdotes have been related of the intense repugnance
+persons have been found to entertain to these, at worst, harmless
+animals. One shall be given in the very words of the Rev. Nicholas
+Wanley, who, in his authentic <i>Wonders of the Little World</i>, has
+recorded a number of other facts quite as marvellous, and sustained
+by testimony not one whit more exceptionable:&mdash;'Mathiolus tells of a
+German, who coming in winter-time into an inn to sup with him and
+some other of his friends, the woman of the house being acquainted
+with his temper (lest he should depart at the sight of a young cat
+which she kept to breed up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a
+chest in the same room where we sat at supper. But though he had
+neither seen nor heard it, yet after some time that he had sucked in
+the air infected by the cat's breath, that quality of his
+temperament that had antipathy to that creature being provoked, he
+sweat, and, of a sudden, paleness came over his face, and, to the
+wonder of us all that were present, he cried out that in some corner
+of the room there was a cat that lay hid.' Not long after the battle
+of Wagram and the second occupation of Vienna by the French, an
+aide-de-camp of Napoleon, who at the time occupied, together with
+his suite, the Palace of Sch&ouml;nbrunn, was proceeding to bed at an
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span>
+unusually late hour, when, on passing the door of Napoleon's
+bedroom, he was surprised by a most singular noise, and repeated
+calls from the Emperor for assistance. Opening the door hastily, and
+rushing into the room, a singular spectacle presented itself&mdash;the
+great soldier of the age, half undressed, his countenance agitated,
+the beaded drops of perspiration standing on his brow, in his hand
+his victorious sword, with which he was making frequent and
+convulsive lunges at some invisible enemy through the tapestry that
+lined the walls. It was a cat that had secreted herself in this
+place; and Napoleon held cats not so much in abhorrence as in
+terror. 'A feather,' says the poet, 'daunts the brave;' and a
+greater poet, through the mouth of his Shylock, remarks that 'there
+are some that are mad if they behold a cat&mdash;a harmless, necessary
+cat.' Count Bertram would seem to have shared in this unaccountable
+aversion. When 'Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, that had
+the whole theory of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice
+in the chape of his dagger,' was convicted of mendacity and
+cowardice, Bertram exclaimed, 'I could endure anything before this
+but a cat, and now he's a cat to me.' The force of censure could no
+further go.</p>
+
+<p>If Napoleon, however, held cats, as has been averred, in positive
+fear, there have been others, and some of them illustrious captains,
+that have regarded them with other feelings. Marshal Turenne could
+amuse himself for hours in playing with his kittens; and the great
+general, Lord Heathfield, would often appear on the walls of
+Gibraltar, at the time of the famous siege, attended by his
+favourite cats. Cardinal Richelieu was also fond of cats; and when
+we have enumerated the names of Cowper and Dr Johnson, of Thomas
+Gray and Isaac Newton, and, above all, of the tender-hearted and
+meditative Montaigne, the list is far from complete of those who
+have bestowed on the feline race some portion of their affections.</p>
+
+<p>Butler, in his <i>Hudibras</i>, observes, in an oft-quoted passage, that</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>'Montaigne, playing with his cat,</p>
+<p>Complains she thought him but an ass.'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And the annotator on this passage, in explanation, adds, that
+'Montaigne in his Essays supposes his cat thought him a fool for
+losing his time in playing with her;' but, under favour, this is a
+misinterpretation of the essayist's sentiment, and something like a
+libel on the capacity of both himself and cat. Montaigne's words
+are: 'When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her
+more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert each other with our
+play. If I have my hour to begin or refuse, so also has she hers.'
+Nobody who has read the striking essay in which these words appear
+could for a moment misconceive their author's meaning. He is
+vindicating natural theology from the objections of some of its
+opponents, and in the course of his argument he takes occasion to
+dwell on the wonderful instincts, and almost rational sagacity of
+the inferior animals. We must, however, lament that, although he
+does full justice to the 'half-reasoning elephant,' to the aptitude
+and fidelity of the dog, to the marvellous economical arrangements
+of the bees, and even to the imitative capacity of the magpie, he
+pays no higher tribute to the merits of the cat than that she is as
+capable of being amused as himself, and like himself, too, has her
+periods of gravity when recreative sports are distasteful. Her
+social qualities he does not allude to, though he, so eminently
+social himself, could scarcely have failed to appreciate them.</p>
+
+<p>In this country, at this time, cats have superseded parlour
+favourites decidedly less agreeable in their appearance, and
+infinitely more mischievous in their habits. Writing in the
+seventeenth century, Burton, in his <i>Anatomy of Melancholy</i>, remarks
+that 'Turkey gentlewomen, that are perpetual prisoners, still mewed
+up according to the custom of the place, have little else, beside
+their household business or to play with their children, to drive
+away time but to dally with their cats, which they have <i>in
+delitiis</i>, as many of our ladies and gentlewomen use monkeys and
+little dogs.' It is not the least merit of the cat that it has
+banished from our sitting-rooms those frightful mimicries of
+humanity&mdash;the monkey tribe; and as to the little dogs Tray, Blanch,
+and Sweetheart, although we are not insensible to their many virtues
+and utilities, we care not to see them sleeping on our hearth-rug,
+or reposing beside our work-tables.</p>
+
+<h4>Notes:</h4>
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a>
+In the matter of fanaticism, the modern Egyptians, or
+rather the inhabitants of Alexandria, seem hardly to have
+degenerated from their ethnic 'forbears,' as we read in Mr J.A. St
+John's travels the account of a serious insurrection which broke out
+some years ago in that city, in consequence of certain Jews having
+taken up the butcher's trade, and having slain the meat with a knife
+having <i>three</i> instead of <i>five nails</i> in the handle!
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article6" id="article6">
+BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>Bengal is blessed with a mild climate and a fertile soil. Provisions
+are consequently cheap; and as neither substantial houses nor
+expensive clothing is there essential to comfort, we might naturally
+expect to see less of misery and destitution than in this country.
+Such, however, is not the case. Our severe winter engenders habits
+of industry and forethought, which are unknown in India. The ease
+with which in most cases their few wants are supplied, renders the
+inhabitants of that country in the highest degree improvident; and
+nowhere do we see a greater number of beggars, and misery and
+destitution paraded through the streets in more revolting forms.</p>
+
+<p>There are no poor-laws in any part of India. Relief, however, is not
+withheld, nor indeed sparingly bestowed. Many can afford to give a
+little; and where nothing is exacted, many give willingly. Little
+charity is bestowed by Europeans in the streets, as they generally
+ride in palanquins or carriages, and as, besides, they feel the
+weight even of a purse too much on a hot day. However, let it not be
+supposed that they, like Dives, wallow in wealth, and close their
+ears to the importunities of the heathen. The Baboo or Sircar gives
+weekly or monthly pensions to some patronised beggars; and on a
+Saturday in some large towns, the blind, lame, and halt come to the
+gates of the grandees, and receive from the trusty <i>durwan</i> or
+doorkeeper a handful of cowries and coarse rice, of which one, two,
+or three rupees' worth are mixed up, according to the circumstances
+of the master. But it is not to ordinary beggars I now propose to
+draw the attention of the reader&mdash;the infirm or the lazy, with whom
+we are all tolerably familiar. But in India there is another class
+of beggars&mdash;<i>religious</i> and <i>professional</i> beggars&mdash;who are proud of
+their calling. I do not mean that there are no religious mendicants
+to be found at home; but although the object to be attained in both
+countries may be similar, the agents employed in the East are so
+different, that a description of them will to many European readers
+have all the gloss of novelty.</p>
+
+<p>The two principal sects in Bengal are known as <i>Soneeassees</i> and
+<i>Byr&acirc;gees</i>. The former <i>exclusively</i> worship Mahado. 'They are not
+to inhabit houses or temples,' say their scriptures; 'but to live in
+woods and forests, under the wide expanse of heaven, <i>there</i> to
+meditate upon the greatness of the Creator, and contemplate his
+beautiful works.' An infant who is to become a Soneeassee has from
+his birth the badge of Sheva upon him: no razor ever touches his
+hair, and his locks are matted and dishevelled, when other
+children's are neatly combed and anointed. When he approaches
+manhood, he takes the vow of celibacy, he receives from the hand of
+the Brahmin the <i>muntra</i> or mystical creed, the dried skin of an
+antelope, and a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span>
+piece of coarse, unbleached cotton, stained yellow
+with ochre, which he can use as a plaid, it being seven feet long;
+upon the skin he is supposed to sit and sleep, and the cloth
+overshadows the shoulders of the young enthusiast. Even after these
+are worn out, as it is supposed that the devotee is pretty well
+broken in to the hardships of his situation, they on no account may
+be renewed. These Soneeassees seldom adhere to the letter of their
+religion in the present day, although it is said that in times gone
+by some of their class have sat absorbed and abstracted until their
+spirit held communion with the great god&mdash;their bodies wasting away
+from neglect, and their nails growing like claws. In the present
+day, prayer and meditation are given to the winds, and they may be
+seen fat and sleek, perambulating the streets of the towns and
+villages, smeared over with ashes and ochre, and great coils of
+matted hair, which some tastefully wind like a turban round their
+head. They take care also to display, in glaring red and white
+paint, upon their foreheads and arms, the various insignia or marks
+of Sheva, such as the trident. Occasionally one also flourishes
+about a <i>steel</i> trident, which the figure of Mahado always wields in
+his hand, and which is also placed on the summit of his temple. The
+Soneeassees are the most impudent and importunate of beggars. There
+came under my notice a band of three, who used regularly to visit
+the town twice a week. These men had made a vow to collect a certain
+number of rupees to build a temple, and for this purpose infested
+the doors of the wealthiest of the Hindoo community, and followed
+and persecuted them even in their drives with continued cries. It is
+astonishing how soon superstition enabled them to fulfil their vow,
+and how the extortioners were allowed to escape the punishment their
+impudence deserved.</p>
+
+<p>The Byr&acirc;gees are not so intrusive a sect. They frequently live in
+the open air, though not prohibited from seeking other shelter.
+Their heads are differently treated from those of the Soneeassees,
+for both men and women have the crown shaved quite smooth. Both
+sexes wear a piece of cloth checked like shepherd's plaid. They have
+great strings of wooden beads, or <i>mal&acirc;hs</i>, turned out of the stalks
+of the holy toolsie, round their necks; and they generally collect
+their rice and cowries in a dried gourd-shell. Persons of this sect
+at their death are placed in an upright position in a deep grave,
+and so consumed with fire. In former times, the widows used to burn
+themselves with their lords. The Byr&acirc;gees, when they attain years of
+discretion, may choose their wives from any caste they please. Some
+of the Byragins, therefore, are said to be far cleverer than the
+everyday Hindoo women, having been selected from a class which are
+looked down upon by the others, but who are taught high
+accomplishments, and are devoted to the temples of the gods. In his
+begging excursions the Byr&acirc;gee carries a pair of cymbals or a small
+gong; and singing the songs of Krishna, and his courtships among the
+milkmaids, he delights the hearts of his Hindoo hearers, and makes
+them lavish of their gifts.</p>
+
+<p>The English reader perhaps has never heard of a beggar such as I
+shall now depict. One may happen to be in a reflective mood, and
+aroused from his meditations by what he supposes to be a cow lowing
+close to his ear. He starts up and goes to the window, but instead
+of that quadruped he finds a man standing with a rope round his
+neck, and a woful countenance, holding out his palms, indicating
+that he wants charity. This man has had the misfortune to lose his
+cow; and as it died tethered, his religion imposes on him the
+penalty of begging from door to door without speaking, but imitating
+the cow, till he has realised enough to purchase one of these sacred
+animals, and to give something besides in charity to the Brahmins.
+This provision was perhaps made by the religion of the country in
+favour of the cow, to preserve so useful an animal from
+ill-treatment; and it is astonishing to see how implicitly the
+Hindoo submits himself to a mere convention, which he might easily
+evade.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article7" id="article7">
+A LATE PRISON REPORT.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+
+
+<p>In the Sixteenth Report on the state of the Prisons, by Mr Frederic
+Hill, lately laid before parliament, will be found some passages
+worthy of general attention. While speaking favourably of the system
+of discipline now ordinarily pursued towards prisoners, Mr Hill is
+obliged to admit that certain prisons are rendered much too
+attractive; in fact, that they create crime. It is important that
+this condition of affairs should be known. Good food and medical
+attendance are, it seems, the attractions. The following are Mr
+Hill's words, with the quotations he makes from the statements of
+prison officials:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'Several of the prisons continue to be attractive, to certain
+classes of persons, instead of repulsive; owing, apparently in some
+instances, to the better dietary of the prison as compared with that
+of the workhouse; in others, to the good medical treatment generally
+provided in prisons; and in others, to a practice of giving
+prisoners clothing on their liberation, a practice which, did the
+law permit, might be replaced by a rule enabling prisoners to earn
+clothing by extra labour.</p>
+
+<p>'The governor of the borough prison at Cambridge stated that many
+persons were reckless about committing offences, because they
+preferred being sent to the prison to going to the workhouse, owing
+chiefly (according to their statements) to their getting better food
+at the prison.</p>
+
+<p>'The chaplain of the prison at Spilsby stated as follows:&mdash;&quot;I am
+sorry to observe that the present system of discipline here does not
+deter people from the commission of crime. Several have said that
+they would rather come here than go to the Union workhouse.&quot; ...</p>
+
+<p>'Mr Dunn, one of the surgeons of the prison at Wakefield, states&mdash;&quot;I
+am convinced that many persons, especially females, get committed to
+the prison on purpose to be cured of attacks of disease. Many of
+them have admitted to me that it was so. A man from Bradford, who
+went out last week, told me that he had been here before, and that
+he had got committed again in consequence of his having a return of
+his disease, and that he came to be cured.... One man who was here
+for a month last autumn, and who came in a very diseased state, but
+who left cured, required, during nearly the whole time, a pint of
+wine per day, besides malt liquor. It was a case in which a very
+liberal diet is necessary to preserve life; and it was requisite to
+have a prisoner, acting as nurse, to sit up with him through the
+night. The cost to the West Riding of this single case, counting
+expenses of all kinds, could not have been less than L.6.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>'The governor of the city prison at York said&mdash;&quot;By the
+acknowledgments of the prisoners themselves, I know that the
+practice still continues of committing offences on purpose to get
+committed to this prison. Four prisoners were liberated this morning
+who had broken a street-lamp with the evident intention of being
+sent to this prison. They were sentenced to seven days'
+imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
+with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
+one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
+the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
+order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
+who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
+opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
+sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
+pass their time in idleness; no prisoners
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span>
+except those sentenced to
+hard labour being set to work.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
+at the same prison:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Dec. 12th, 1849.</i>&mdash;The number of prisoners who commit offences
+with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
+yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
+expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
+is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p>If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
+been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
+when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
+got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
+worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
+tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
+the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
+and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
+it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
+vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
+is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
+desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
+shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
+for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
+comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
+utterly-abandoned class!</p>
+
+<p>Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
+that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
+labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
+wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
+their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
+criminal class possessed the feelings of gentlemen; whereas the real
+thing to be thought of, was to give them labour so excessively
+toilsome and irksome as to be remembered with salutary horror all
+the days of their life. For example, no kind of punishment, we
+believe, has proved so sure a terror as that of the shot-drill in
+the military prisons. This consists in lifting a cannon-ball of
+perhaps twenty pounds' weight; marching with it for a dozen yards;
+then laying it down; and so on, repeating the same thing for an
+hour. Now this is clearly a useless and most degrading species of
+labour; yet it is a terrible infliction, and we are told seldom
+fails in its effect&mdash;that is to say, it deters from the commission
+of crime.</p>
+
+<p>The experience of the last few years would shew that much is still
+to be learned in the art of criminal discipline; and indeed the
+whole question of what is to be done with our criminal population is
+becoming daily more perplexing. Mere confinement is found to be of
+small avail. Transportation is exploded; for it improves the
+circumstances of criminals instead of making them worse. Capital
+punishment has also had its day, and, excepting for a very few
+offences, is abandoned as useless, independently of being revolting
+to humanity. One writer proposes to work convicts in gangs at
+out-door labour, such as mining, and making railways; but the public
+would never tolerate the spectacle of this worst species of
+slave-labour; and besides, the employment of honest workers would be
+ruined. We are inclined to think that imprisonment, in a severe
+form, is after all the only practicable means of dealing with
+criminals. If anything be urgently wanted, it is a plan for
+preventing the growth of the criminal class; and this probably is
+not so difficult as it may appear. Of course, till there be a far
+broader system of public education than now prevails, the criminal
+population will never want recruits. Nevertheless, even with our
+present imperfect educational arrangements, something might be done.
+The criminal class is discovered to be on the whole a narrow class.
+The practice of living by depredation runs in families, and clings
+to individuals. The police of any given town could put their hand on
+almost every person who lives by fraud, theft, and robbery. They
+could at a day's notice secure nearly every one of them. A knowledge
+of this fact has suggested to Mr Matthew Hill a plan for capturing
+the whole criminal class, and obliging them to give security for
+their good behaviour; failing which, they should suffer
+incarceration as notoriously dangerous and troublesome to society. A
+fear of trenching on the liberty of the subject may prevent this
+ingenious scheme of the Recorder of Birmingham from being carried
+into effect; but to something or other of the kind he proposes,
+society must come at last, if it wish to save itself from being
+everlastingly worried and plundered by a habitually predatory class.
+In the Prison Report to which we have above referred, mention is
+made of a single family of thieves, consisting of fifteen
+individuals, who cost the country L.26,000 before they were got rid
+of. Is not such a fact quite monstrous!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article8" id="article8">
+FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>In an American work&mdash;<i>Glances at Europe</i>, by Mr H. Greeley&mdash;the
+following sound observations occur on the battle-pictures in the
+palace of Versailles: 'These battle-pieces have scarcely more
+historic than artistic value, since the names of at least half of
+them might be transposed, and the change be undetected by
+ninety-nine out of every hundred who see them. If <i>all</i> the French
+battles were thus displayed, it might be urged with plausibility
+that these galleries were historical in their character; but a full
+half of the story&mdash;that which tells of French disaster and
+discomfiture&mdash;is utterly suppressed. The battles of Ptolemais, of
+Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &amp;c. are here as
+imposing as paint can make them; but never a whisper of Agincourt,
+Cressy, Poitiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies; nor yet of Salamanca, of
+Vittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession of
+forays which the French have for the last twenty years been
+prosecuting in Algerine Africa, here shine resplendent; for Vernet
+has painted, by Louis-Philippe's order, and at France's cost, a
+succession of battle-pieces, wherein French numbers and science are
+seen prevailing over Arab barbarism and irregular valour, in combats
+whereof the very names have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though
+they occurred but yesterday. One of these is much the largest
+painting I ever saw, and is probably the largest in the world, and
+it seems to have been got up merely to exhibit one of
+Louis-Philippe's sons in the thickest of the fray. Last of all, we
+have the Capture of Abd-el-Kader, as imposing as Vernet could make
+it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewith he has been
+retained for several years in bondage, in violation of the express
+agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in its general
+effect, delusive and mischievous&mdash;the purpose being to exhibit war
+as always glorious, and France as uniformly triumphant. It is by
+means like these that the business of shattering knee-joints and
+multiplying orphans is kept in countenance.'</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article9" id="article9">
+NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>A patent has been taken out for the following applications of
+mangel-wurzel:&mdash;<i>1st</i>, To prepare a substance which may be combined
+with, or employed in place of coffee, the mangel-wurzel roots are
+well washed, cut into pieces; about the size of peas or beans, and
+then dried and roasted in the same manner as coffee-berries. The
+product is ground after being roasted, and it is then ready for use.
+<i>2d</i>, A substitute for tea is produced by cutting the leaves of
+mangel-wurzel into small strips or shreds, drying the same, and then
+placing them upon a hot plate, which is kept at a temperature
+sufficiently high to slightly char the leaves. The charred
+mangel-wurzel leaves are to be used in precisely the same way as
+tea. <i>3d</i>, To manufacture a fermented liquor, the mangel-wurzel
+roots are well washed, cut into small pieces, and put into a vat,
+wherein they are permitted to ferment for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span>
+two or three days, at a
+temperature of about 70 degrees, and water is added thereto. A
+fermented liquor is thus obtained similar to perry or cider. <i>4th</i>,
+When the mangel-wurzel roots are to be employed in the preparation
+of wort, they are washed, and cut into small pieces, which are
+dried, or slightly charred, by the action of kilns or ovens, of the
+kind used for drying malt; and wort is prepared from this produce in
+the same manner as from malt.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article10" id="article10"></a>
+THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6" /><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<div style="margin-left:15%">
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">I.</span><br />
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>The great human whirlpool!&mdash;'tis seething and seething:</p>
+<p>On! No time for shrieking out, no time for breathing;</p>
+<p>All toiling and moiling&mdash;some feebler, some bolder,</p>
+<p>But each sees a fiend-face grin over his shoulder:</p>
+<p class="i4">Thus merrily live they in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>The great human caldron&mdash;it boils ever higher;</p>
+<p>Some drowning, some sinking; while some, creeping nigher,</p>
+<p>Come thirsting to lean o'er its outermost verges,</p>
+<p>Or touch&mdash;as a child's feet touch trembling the surges:</p>
+<p class="i4">One plunge&mdash;Ho! more souls swamped in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>'Let's live while we live, for to-morrow all's over.</p>
+<p>Drink deep, drunkard bold! and kiss close, thou mad lover!</p>
+<p>Smile, hypocrite, smile! it is no such hard labour,</p>
+<p>While each with red hand tears the heart of his neighbour</p>
+<p class="i4">All slyly.&mdash;We're strange folk in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>'Hist!&mdash;each for himself, or <i>herself</i>, which sounds smoother,</p>
+<p>Though man's no upholder, and woman no soother,</p>
+<p>Both struggle alike here.&mdash;What, weeping?&mdash;what, raving?</p>
+<p>Pah!&mdash;fight out the battle all! No time for saving!</p>
+<p class="i4">Ha! ha! 'tis a wondrous place, Vanity Fair!'</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>The mad crowd divides, and then closes swift after;</p>
+<p>Afar, towers the pyre, lit with shouting and laughter;</p>
+<p>'What new sport is this?' lisps a reveller, half turning;&mdash;</p>
+<p>'One Faithful, poor wretch! who is led to the burning:</p>
+<p class="i4">He cumbered us sorely in Vanity Fair!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>'A dreamer&mdash;who held every man for a brother;</p>
+<p>A coward&mdash;who, emit on one cheek, gave the other:</p>
+<p>A fool&mdash;whose blind truth aye believed all knaves' lying;</p>
+<p>Too simple to live, so most fitted for dying.</p>
+<p class="i4">Ha! such are best swept out of Vanity Fair.'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">II.</span><br />
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>Silence! though the flame-drifts wave and flutter;</p>
+<p>Silence! though the crowd their curses mutter;</p>
+<p>Silence! through this fiery purgatory</p>
+<p>God is leading up a soul to glory.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,</p>
+<p>Hate of foes, or plaint of friends' dissembling;</p>
+<p>If sighs come&mdash;most patient prayers outlive them:</p>
+<p><i>'Lord, these know not what they do. Forgive them!'</i></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing,</p>
+<p>Fainter in his ear the laughters growing;</p>
+<p>Brief endures the fierce and fiery trial&mdash;</p>
+<p>Angel-welcomes drown the earth-denial.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,</p>
+<p>Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body,</p>
+<p>While through harmless flames immortal flying</p>
+<p>Shoots the beauteous soul. This&mdash;this is <i>dying</i>!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Lo! the opening heavens with splendours rifted;</p>
+<p>Lo! the palms that wait those hands uplifted;</p>
+<p>And the fiery chariot cloud-descending,</p>
+<p>And the legioned angels close attending!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Let his poor dust mingle with the embers,</p>
+<p>While the crowd sweeps on, and none remembers;</p>
+<p>Saints and angels through the Infinite glory,</p>
+<p>Praising God, recount the martyr's story.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Thou, who through the trial-fires bewildering</p>
+<p>Of this cruel world, dost lead Thy children,</p>
+<p>With the purifying give the balm;</p>
+<p>Grant to martyr-pangs the martyr's palm!</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<h4>Notes:</h4>
+
+<div class="note"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a>
+Suggested partly by a sketch in David Scott's
+illustrations of the <i>Pilgrim's Progress</i>.
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article11" id="article11">
+VARIETY OF AMBER.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
+very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
+amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
+buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
+the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
+cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
+quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
+standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
+pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
+divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
+yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
+little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
+was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
+Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
+effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
+of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
+opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
+amber beautifully transparent.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article12" id="article12">
+HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
+because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
+blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
+and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
+circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
+attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
+reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
+substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
+detected the animal quality&mdash;the ammonia&mdash;in the wool of the
+blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
+something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
+committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
+the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
+out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
+contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
+hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
+opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="article13" id="article13">
+AN AMERICAN EDITOR.
+</a></h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick he
+twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to
+frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the
+pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of
+the most beautiful 'persuaders' ever manufactured by Colt, we are
+satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers. We should also
+state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but
+that on every Saturday until one o'clock P.M. he is always at the
+office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every
+satisfaction for the articles he publishes.&mdash;<i>Boston Rouge Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>Printed and Published by W. and R. <span class="sc">Chambers</span>,
+High Street, Edinburgh.  Also sold by W.S. <span class="sc">Orr</span>,
+Amen Corner, London; D.N. <span class="sc">Chambers</span>,
+55 West Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. <span class="sc">M'Glashan</span>,
+50 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin.&mdash;Advertisements for Monthly
+Parts are requested to be sent to <span class="sc">Maxwell &amp; Co.</span>,
+ 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all applications
+ respecting their insertion must be made.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419,
+New Series, January 10, 1852, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New
+Series, January 10, 1852, 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: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New Series, January 10, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14502]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  No. 419. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2 _d_.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOST AGES.
+
+
+My friends, have you read Elia? If so, follow me, walking in the
+shadow of his mild presence, while I recount to you my vision of the
+Lost Ages. I am neither single nor unblessed with offspring, yet,
+like Charles Lamb, I have had my 'dream-children.' Years have flown
+over me since I stood a bride at the altar. My eyes are dim and
+failing, and my hairs are silver-white. My real children of flesh
+and blood have become substantial men and women, carving their own
+fortunes, and catering for their own tastes in the matter of wives
+and husbands, leaving their old mother, as nature ordereth, to the
+stillness and repose fitted for her years. Understand, this is not
+meant to imply that the fosterer of their babyhood, the instructor
+of their childhood, the guide of their youth, is forsaken or
+neglected by those who have sprung up to maturity beneath her eye.
+No; I am blessed in my children. Living apart, I yet see them often;
+their joys, their cares are mine. Not a Sabbath dawns but it finds
+me in the midst of them; not a holiday or a festival of any kind is
+noted in the calendar of their lives, but Grandmamma is the first to
+be sent for. Still, of necessity, I pass much of my time alone; and
+old age is given to reverie quite as much as youth. I can remember a
+time--long, long ago--when in the twilight of a summer evening it
+was a luxury to sit apart with closed eyes; and, heedless of the
+talk that went on in the social circle from which I was withdrawn,
+indulge in all sorts of fanciful visions. Then my dream-people were
+all full-grown men and women. I do not recollect that I ever thought
+about children until I possessed some of my own. Those waking
+visions were very sweet--sweeter than the realities of life that
+followed; but they were neither half so curious nor half so
+wonderful as the dreams that sometimes haunt me now. The imagination
+of the old is not less lively than that of the young: it is only
+less original. A youthful fancy will create more new images; the
+mind of age requires materials to build with: these supplied, the
+combinations it is capable of forming are endless. And so were born
+my dream-children.
+
+Has it never occurred to you, mothers and fathers, to wonder what
+has become of your children's lost ages? Look at your little boy of
+five years old. Is he at all, in any respect, the same breathing
+creature that you beheld three years back? I think not. Whither,
+then, has the sprite vanished? In some hidden fairy nook, in some
+mysterious cloud-land he must exist still. Again, in your
+slim-formed girl of eight years, you look in vain for the sturdy elf
+of five. Gone? No; that cannot be--'a thing of beauty is a joy for
+ever.' Close your eyes: you have her there! A breeze-like, sportive,
+buoyant thing; a thing of breathing, laughing, unmistakable life;
+she is mirrored on your retina as plainly as ever was dancing
+sunbeam on a brook. The very trick of her lip--of her eye; the
+mischief-smile, the sidelong saucy glance,
+
+             'That seems to say,
+  I know you love me, Mr Grey;'
+
+is it not traced there--all, every line, as clear as when it
+brightened the atmosphere about you in the days that are no more? To
+be sure it is; and being so, the thing must exist--somewhere.
+
+I never was more fully possessed with this conviction than once
+during the winter of last year. It was Christmas-eve. I was sitting
+alone, in my old armchair, and had been looking forward to the
+fast-coming festival-day with many mingled thoughts--some tender,
+but regretful; others hopeful, yet sad; some serious, and even
+solemn. As I laid my head back and sat thus with closed eyes,
+listening to the church-clock as it struck the hour, I could not but
+feel that I was passing--very slowly and gently it is true--towards
+a time when the closing of the grave would shut out even that sound
+so familiar to my ear; and when other and more precious sounds of
+life-human voices, dearer than all else, would cease to have any
+meanings for me--and even their very echoes be hushed in the silence
+of the one long sleep. Following the train of association, it was
+natural that I should recur to the hour when that same church's
+bells had chimed my wedding-peal. I seemed to hear their music once
+again; and other music sweeter still--the music of young vows that
+'kept the word of promise to the ear, and broke it' _not_ 'to the
+hope.' Next in succession came the recollection of my children. I
+seemed to lose sight of their present identity, and to be carried
+away in thought to times and scenes far back in my long-departed
+youth, when they were growing up around my knees--beautiful forms of
+all ages, from the tender nursling of a single year springing with
+outstretched arms into my bosom, to the somewhat rough but ingenuous
+boy of ten. As my inner eye traced their different outlines, and
+followed them in their graceful growth from year to year, my heart
+was seized with a sudden and irresistible longing to hold fast these
+beloved but passing images of the brain. What joy, I thought, would
+it be to transfix the matchless beauty which had wrought itself thus
+into the visions of my old age! to preserve for ever, unchanging,
+every varied phase of that material but marvellous structure which
+the glorious human soul had animated and informed through all its
+progressive stages from the child to the man!
+
+Scarcely was the thought framed when a dull, heavy weight seemed to
+press upon my closed eyelids. I now saw more clearly even than
+before my children's images in the different stages of their being.
+But I saw these, and these alone, as they stood rooted to the
+ground, with a stony fixedness in their eyes: every other object
+grew dim before me. The living faces and full-grown forms which
+until now had mingled with and played their part among my younger
+phantoms, altogether disappeared. I had no longer any eyes, any
+soul, but for this my new spectre-world. Life, and the things of
+life, had lost their interest; and I knew of nothing, conceived of
+nothing, but those still, inanimate forms from which the informing
+soul had long since passed away.
+
+And now that the longing of my heart was answered, was I satisfied?
+For a time I gazed, and drew a deep delight from the gratification
+of my vain and impious craving. But at length the still, cold
+presence of forms no longer of this earth began to oppress me. I
+grew cold and numb beneath their moveless aspect; and constant
+gazing upon eyes lighted up by no varying expression, pressed upon
+my tired senses with a more than nightmare weight. I felt a sort of
+dull stagnation through every limb, which held me bound where I sat,
+pulseless and moveless as the phantoms on which I gazed.
+
+As I wrestled with the feeling that oppressed me, striving in vain
+to break the bonds of that strange fascination, under the pressure
+of which I surely felt that I must perish--a soft voice, proceeding
+from whence I knew not, broke upon my ear. 'You have your desire,'
+it said gently; 'why, then, struggle thus? Why writhe under the
+magic of that joy you have yourself called up? Are they not here
+before you, the Lost Ages whose beauty and whose grace you would
+perpetuate? What would you more? O mortal!'
+
+'But these forms have no life,' I gasped--'no pulsating, breathing
+soul!'
+
+'No,' replied the same still, soft voice; 'these forms belong to the
+things of the past. In God's good time they breathed the breath of
+life; they had _then_ a being and a purpose on this earth. Their day
+has departed--their work is done.'
+
+So saying, the voice grew still: the leaden weight which had pressed
+upon my eyelids was lifted off: I awoke.
+
+Filled with reveries of the past--my eyes closed to everything
+without--sleep had indeed overtaken me as I sat listening to the old
+church-clock. But my vision was not all a vision: my dream-children
+came not without their teaching. If they had been called up in
+folly, yet in their going did they leave behind a lesson of wisdom.
+
+The morning dawned--the blessed Christmas-morning! With it came my
+good and dutiful, my real life--children. When they were all
+assembled round me, and when, subdued and thoughtful beneath the
+tender and gracious associations of the day, each in turn
+ministered, reverently and lovingly, to the old mother's need of
+body and of soul, my heart was melted within me. Blessed, indeed,
+was I in a lot full to overflowing of all the good gifts which a
+wise and merciful Maker could lavish upon his erring and craving
+creature. I stood reproved. I felt humbled to think that I should
+ever for a moment have indulged one idle or restless longing for the
+restoration of that past which had done its appointed work, and out
+of which so gracious a present had arisen. One idea impressed me
+strongly: I could not but feel that had the craving of my soul been
+answered in reality, as my dream had foreshadowed; and had the wise
+and beneficent order of nature been disturbed and distorted from its
+just relations, how fearful would have been the result! Here, in my
+green old age, I stood amongst a new generation, honoured for what I
+was, beloved for what I had been. What if, at some mortal wish in
+some freak of nature, the form which I now bore were for ever to
+remain before the eyes of my children! Were such a thing to befall,
+how would their souls ever be lifted upward to the contemplation of
+that higher state of being into which it is my hope soon to pass
+when the hand which guided me hither shall beckon me hence? At the
+thought my heart was chastened. Never since that night have I
+indulged in any one wish framed in opposition to nature's laws.
+_Now_ I find my dream-children in the present; and to the past I
+yield willingly all things which are its own--among the rest, the
+Lost Ages.
+
+
+
+
+STORY OF GASPAR MENDEZ.
+
+BY CATHERINE CROWE.
+
+
+The extraordinary motives under which people occasionally act, and
+the strange things they do under the influence of these motives,
+frequently so far transcend the bounds of probability, that we
+romance-writers, with the wholesome fear of the critics before our
+eyes, would not dare to venture on them. Only the other day we read
+in the newspapers that a Frenchman who had been guilty of
+embezzlement, and was afraid of being found out, went into a theatre
+in Lyon and stabbed a young woman whom he had never seen before in
+his life, in order that he might die by the hands of the
+executioner, and so escape the inconvenience of rushing into the
+other world without having time to make his peace with Heaven. He
+desired death as a refuge from the anguish of mind he was suffering;
+but instead of killing himself he killed somebody else, because the
+law would allow him leisure for repentance before it inflicted the
+penalty of his crime.
+
+It will be said the man was mad--I suppose he was; and so is
+everybody whilst under the influence of an absorbing passion,
+whether the mania be love, jealousy, fanaticism, or revenge. The
+following tale will illustrate one phase of such a madness.
+
+In the year 1789, there resided in Italy, not far from Aquila in the
+Abruzzo, a man called Gaspar Mendez. He appears to have been a
+Spaniard, if not actually by birth, at least by descent, and to have
+possessed a small estate, which he rendered valuable by pasturing
+cattle. Not far from where he resided there lived with her parents a
+remarkably handsome girl, of the name of Bianca Venoni, and on this
+fair damsel Mendez fixed his affections. As he was by many degrees
+the best match about the neighbourhood, he never doubted that his
+addresses would be received with a warm welcome, and intoxicated
+with this security, he seems to have made his advances so abruptly
+that the girl felt herself entitled to give him an equally abrupt
+refusal. To aggravate his mortification, he discovered that a young
+man, called Giuseppe Ripa, had been a secret witness to the
+rejection, which took place in an orchard; and as he walked away
+with rage in his heart, he heard echoing behind him the merry laugh
+of the two thoughtless young people. Proud and revengeful by nature,
+this affront seems to have rankled dreadfully in the mind of Gaspar;
+although, in accordance with that pride, he endeavoured to conceal
+his feelings under a show of indifference. Those who knew the
+parties well, however, were not deceived; and when, after an
+interval, it was discovered that Giuseppe himself was the favoured
+lover of Bianca, the enmity, though not more open, became more
+intense than ever.
+
+In the meantime old Venoni, Bianca's father, had become aware of the
+fine match his daughter had missed, and was extremely angry about
+it; more particularly as he was poor, and would have been very much
+pleased to have a rich son-in-law. Nor was he disposed to relinquish
+the chance so easily. After first trying his influence on Bianca,
+upon whom he expended a great deal of persuasion and cajolery in
+vain, he went so far as to call upon Gaspar, apologising for his
+daughter's ignorance and folly in refusing so desirable a proposal,
+and expressing a hope that Mendez would not relinquish the pursuit,
+but try his fortune again; when he hoped to have brought her to a
+better state of mind.
+
+Gaspar received the old man with civility, but answered coldly, that
+any further advances on his own part were out of the question,
+unless he had reason to believe the young lady was inclined to
+retract her refusal; in which case he should be happy to wait upon
+her. With this response Venoni returned to make another attack upon
+his daughter, whom, however, fortified by her strong attachment to
+Ripa, he found quite immovable; and there for several months the
+affair seems to have rested, till the old man, urged by the
+embarrassment of his circumstances, renewed the persecution,
+coupling it with certain calumnies against Giuseppe, founded on the
+accidental loss of a sum of money which had been intrusted to him by
+a friend, who wanted it conveyed to a neighbouring village, whither
+the young man had occasion to go. This loss, which seems to have
+arisen out of some youthful imprudence, appears to have occasioned
+Ripa a great deal of distress; and he not only did his utmost to
+repair it by giving up everything he had, which was indeed very
+little, but he also engaged to pay regularly a portion of his weekly
+earnings till the whole sum was replaced.
+
+His behaviour, in short, was so satisfactory, that the person to
+whom the money had belonged does not seem to have borne him any
+ill-will on the subject; but Venoni took advantage of the
+circumstance to fling aspersions on the young man's character,
+whilst it strengthened his argument against the connection with his
+daughter; for how was Giuseppe to maintain a wife and family with
+this millstone of debt round his neck? Bianca, however, continued
+faithful to her lover, and for some time nothing happened to advance
+the suit of either party. In that interval a sister of Gaspar's had
+married a man called Alessandro Malfi, who, being a friend of
+Giuseppe's, endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation betwixt the
+rivals, or, rather, to produce a more cordial feeling, for there had
+never been a quarrel; and as far as Ripa was concerned, as he had no
+cause for jealousy, there was no reason why he should bear ill-will
+to the unsuccessful candidate. With Gaspar it was different: he
+hated Ripa; but as it hurt his pride that this enmity to one whom he
+considered so far beneath him should be known, he made no open
+demonstration of dislike, and when Malfi expressed a wish to invite
+his friend to supper, hoping that Mendez would not refuse to meet
+him, the Spaniard made no objection whatever. 'Why not?' he said:
+'he knew of no reason why he should not meet Giuseppe Ripa, or any
+other person his brother-in-law chose to invite.'
+
+Accordingly the party was made; and on the night appointed Giuseppe,
+after a private interview in the orchard with his mistress, started
+for Malfi's house, which was situated about three miles off, in the
+same direction as Gaspar's, which, indeed, he had to pass; on which
+account he deferred his departure to a later hour than he otherwise
+would have done, wishing not to come in contact with his rival till
+they met under Malfi's roof. Mendez had a servant called Antonio
+Guerra, who worked on his farm, and who appears to have been much in
+his confidence, and just as Ripa passed the Spaniard's door, he met
+Guerra coming in an opposite direction, and asked him if Mendez had
+gone to the supper yet; to which Guerra answered that he supposed he
+had, but he did not know. Guerra then took a key out of his pocket,
+and, unlocking the door, entered the house, whilst Ripa walked on.
+
+In the meanwhile the little party had assembled in Malfi's parlour,
+all but the two principal personages, Gaspar and Giuseppe; and as
+time advanced without their appearing, some jests were passed
+amongst the men present, who wished they might not have fallen foul
+of each other on the way. At length, however, Ripa arrived, and the
+first question that was put to him was: 'What had he done with his
+rival?' which he answered by inquiring if the Spaniard was not come.
+But although he endeavoured to appear unconcerned, there was a
+tremor in his voice and a confusion of manner that excited general
+observation. He made violent efforts, however, to appear at his
+ease, but these efforts were too manifest to be successful; whilst
+the continued absence of Mendez became so unaccountable, that a
+cloud seems to have settled on the spirits of the company, which
+made the expected festivity pass very heavily off.
+
+'Where could Mendez be? What could have detained him? It was to be
+hoped no harm had happened to him!' Such was the burden of the
+conversation till--when at about an hour before midnight the party
+broke up--Alessandro Malfi said, that to allay the anxiety of his
+wife, who was getting extremely alarmed about her brother, he would
+walk as far as Forni--which was the name of Gaspar's farm--to
+inquire what had become of him.
+
+As Ripa's way lay in the same direction, they naturally started
+together; and after what appears to have been a very silent
+walk--for the spirits of Giuseppe were so depressed that the other
+found it impossible to draw him into conversation--they reached
+Forni, when, having rung the bell, they were presently answered by
+Antonio Guerra, who put his head out of an upper window to inquire
+who they were, and what they wanted.
+
+'It is I, Alessandro Malfi. I want to know where your master is, and
+why he has not been to my house this evening as he promised?'
+
+'I thought he was there,' said Antonio. 'He set off from here to go
+soon after seven o'clock.'
+
+'That is most extraordinary!' returned Malfi. 'What in the world can
+have become of him?'
+
+'It is very strange, certainly,' answered the servant. 'He has never
+come home; and when you rang I thought it was he returned from the
+party.'
+
+As there was no more to be learned, the two friends now parted;
+Malfi expressing considerable surprise and some uneasiness at the
+non-appearance of his brother-in-law: whilst of Giuseppe we hear
+nothing more till the following afternoon, when, whilst at work in
+his vineyard, he was accosted by two officers of justice from
+Aquila, and he found himself arrested, under an accusation of having
+waylaid Mendez in a mountain-pass on the preceding evening, and
+wounded him with the design of taking his life.
+
+The first words Ripa uttered on hearing this impeachment--words
+that, like all the rest of his behaviour, told dreadfully against
+him--were: 'Isn't he dead, then?'
+
+'No thanks to you that he's not,' replied the officer; 'but he's
+alive, and likely to recover to give evidence against his assassin.'
+
+'_Dio_!' cried Giuseppe, 'I wish I'd known he wasn't dead!'
+
+'You confess, then, that you wounded him with the intent to kill?'
+
+'No,' answered Ripa; 'I confess no such thing. As I was going
+through the pass last night I observed a man's hat lying a little
+off the road, and on lifting it, I saw it belonged to Senor Mendez.
+Whilst I was wondering how it came there without the owner, and was
+looking about for him, I spied him lying behind a boulder. At first
+I thought he was asleep, but on looking again, I saw he didn't lie
+like a sleeping man, and I concluded he was dead. Had it been any
+one but he, I should have lifted him up; but it being very well
+known that we were no friends, I own I was afraid to do so. I
+thought it better not to meddle with him at all. However, if he is
+alive, as you say, perhaps he can tell himself who wounded him.'
+
+'To be sure he can,' returned the officer: 'he says it's you!'
+
+'_Perduto son' io!_--Then I am lost!' exclaimed Ripa; who, on being
+brought before the authorities, persisted in the same story; adding,
+that so far from seeking Mendez, he had particularly wished to avoid
+him, and that that was the reason he had started so late; for he had
+been warned that the Spaniard was his enemy, and he apprehended that
+if they met alone some collision might ensue.
+
+It appeared, however, that he had consumed much more time on the
+road than could be fairly accounted for; for two or three people had
+met him on the way before he reached Forni; and then Antonio Guerra
+could speak as to the exact hour of his passing. This discrepancy he
+attempted to explain by saying, that after seeing Mendez on the
+ground, dead--as he believed--he had been so agitated and alarmed
+that he did not like to present himself at Malfi's house, lest he
+should excite observation. He had also spent some time in
+deliberating whether or not he should mention what he had seen; and
+he had made up his mind to do so on his arrival, but was deterred by
+everybody's asking him, when he entered the room, what he had done
+with Mendez--a question that seemed to imply a suspicion against
+himself.
+
+This tale, of course, was not believed: indeed his whole demeanour
+on the night in question tended strongly to his condemnation; added
+to which, Malfi, who had been his friend, testified that not only
+had Ripa betrayed all the confusion of guilt during the walk from
+his house to Forni, but that having hold of his arm, he had
+distinctly felt him tremble as they passed the spot where Mendez was
+subsequently discovered.
+
+With regard to Mendez himself, it appeared that when found he was in
+a state of insensibility, and he was still too weak to give evidence
+or enter into any particulars; but when, under proper remedies, he
+had recovered his senses, Faustina Malfi, his sister--to whose house
+he had been carried--asked him if Giuseppe Ripa was not the
+assassin; and he answered in the affirmative.
+
+Giuseppe was thrown into prison to await his trial; and having
+public opinion, as well as that of the authorities against him, he
+was universally considered a dead man. The only person that adhered
+to him was Bianca, who visited him in the jail, and refused to
+believe him guilty. But if he was innocent, who was the criminal? It
+appeared afterwards that Ripa himself had his own suspicions on that
+subject, but as they were founded only on two slight indications, he
+felt it was useless to advance them.
+
+In the meantime Gaspar Mendez was slowly recovering the injuries he
+had received, and was of course expected to give a more explanatory
+account of what had happened to him after he left Forni on his way
+to Alessandro Malfi's. That he had been robbed as well as wounded
+was already known--his brother and sister having found his pockets
+empty and his watch gone. The explanation he could give, however,
+proved to be very scanty. Indeed, he seemed to know very little
+about the matter, but he still adhered to his first assertion, that
+Ripa was the assassin. With regard to the money he had lost, there
+was necessarily less mystery, since it consisted of a sum that he
+was carrying to his sister, and was indeed her property, being the
+half share of some rents which he had received on that morning, the
+produce of two houses in the town of Aquila which had been
+bequeathed to them conjointly by their mother. The money was in a
+canvas bag, and the other half which belonged to himself he had left
+locked in his strong box at home, where, on searching for it, it was
+found. As Ripa was known to be poor, and very much straitened by his
+endeavours to make good the sum he had lost, that he should add
+robbery to assassination was not to be wondered at. On the contrary,
+it strengthened the conviction of his guilt, by supplying an
+additional motive for the crime.
+
+The injuries having been severe, it was some time before Mendez
+recovered sufficiently to return home; and when he was well enough
+to move, instead of going to Forni, he discharged his servant
+Antonio Guerra, and went himself to Florence, where he remained
+several months.
+
+All this time Giuseppe Ripa was in prison, condemned to die, but not
+executed; because after his trial and sentence, a letter had been
+received by the chief person in authority, warning him against
+shedding the blood of the innocent. 'Senor Mendez is mistaken,' the
+letter said: 'he did not see the assassin, who attacked him from
+behind, and Giuseppe Ripa is not guilty.'
+
+This judge, whose name was Marino, appears to have been a just man,
+and to have felt some dissatisfaction with the evidence against
+Ripa; inasmuch as Mendez, who, when first questioned, had spoken
+confidently as to his identity, had since faltered when he came to
+give his evidence in public, and seemed unable to afford any
+positive testimony on the subject. The presumption against the
+prisoner, without the evidence of the Spaniard, was considered by
+the other judges strong enough to convict him; but Marino had
+objected that since the attack was made by daylight--for it was in
+the summer, and the evenings were quite light--it seemed
+extraordinary that Mendez could give no more certain indications of
+his assailant. Added to this, although every means had been used to
+obtain a confession--such means as are permitted on the continent,
+but illegal in this country--Giuseppe persisted in his innocence.
+Moreover, as no money had been found about him, and Faustina Malfi
+was exceedingly desirous of recovering what had been lost, she
+exerted herself to obtain mercy to at least the extent that hopes of
+a commutation of his sentence should be held out to the prisoner,
+provided he would reveal where he had concealed the bagful of silver
+he had taken from her brother. But in vain. Ripa was either
+guiltless or obstinate, for nothing could be extracted from him but
+repeated declarations of his innocence.
+
+In the meantime Bianca had been undergoing a terrible persecution
+from her father on the subject of Mendez, who had returned from
+Florence and taken up his abode, as formerly, at Forni. Her former
+lover was a condemned man, and altogether _hors de combat_: she
+might regret him as she would, and lament his fate to her heart's
+content, but he could never be her husband; and there was the
+Spaniard, rich and ready; whilst the increasing age and poverty of
+her parent rendered a good match of the greatest importance. In
+short, under the circumstances of the case, it was urged upon her on
+all hands, that she was bound both by her duty to her father and to
+evince her abhorrence of Ripa's crime--which otherwise it might be
+supposed she had instigated--to marry Mendez without delay.
+
+Persuaded of Giuseppe's innocence, and half believing that the
+accusation was prompted by jealousy, it may be imagined how
+unwelcome these importunities were, and for a considerable time she
+resisted them; indeed she seems only to have been overcome at last
+by a ruse. A rumour being set afloat that the day was about to be
+appointed for Ripa's execution, a hint was thrown out that it lay in
+her power to save his life: she had only to become the wife of
+Mendez, and her lover's sentence should be commuted from death to
+banishment. This last argument prevailed, and poor Bianca, with a
+heavy heart, consented to become the mistress of Forni. The Malfis,
+however, do not seem to have been amongst those who desired the
+match; and it would appear that they even made some attempts to
+prevent its taking place, by circulating a report that she had been
+privy to the assault and robbery. Perhaps they hoped, if Gaspar
+remained unmarried, to inherit his property themselves; but however
+that may be, their opposition was of no avail, and an early period
+was fixed for the wedding.
+
+The year had now come round to the summer season again, and it
+happened, by mere accident, that the day appointed for the marriage
+was the anniversary of that on which Mendez had been robbed and
+wounded. Nobody, however, appears to have thought of this
+coincidence, till Mendez himself, observing the day of the month,
+requested that the ceremony might be postponed till the day after:
+'Because,' said he, 'I have business which will take me to Aquila on
+the 7th, so the marriage had better take place on the 8th.' And thus
+it was arranged.
+
+This alteration was made about ten days before the appointed period,
+and nothing seems to have occurred in the interval worth recording,
+except that as the hour of sacrifice drew nigh, the unwillingness of
+the victim became more evident. We must conclude, however, that
+Mendez, whose object in marrying her appears to have been fully as
+much the soothing of his pride as the gratification of his love, was
+not influenced by her disinclination, for when he started for Aquila
+on the 7th, every preparation had been made for the wedding on the
+following day.
+
+The object of his journey was to receive the rents before named,
+which became due at this period, and also to purchase a
+wedding-present for his bride. On this occasion Alessandro Malfi was
+to have accompanied him; but when Mendez stopped at his door to
+inquire if he was ready, Malfi came down stairs half-dressed, saying
+that he had been up all night with his wife, who was ill, and that
+as she had now fallen asleep, he was going to lie down himself, and
+try to get a little rest. This occurred early in the morning; and
+Mendez rode on, saying that he should call as he came back in the
+evening, to inquire how his sister was. Upon this Malfi went to bed,
+where he remained some hours--indeed till he received a message from
+his wife, begging him to go to her. When he entered the room, the
+first question she asked was whether Gaspar was gone to Aquila; and
+on being told that he was, she said she was very sorry for it, for
+that she had dreamed she saw a man with a mask lying in wait to rob
+him.
+
+'I saw the man as distinctly as possible,' she said, 'but I could
+not see his face for the mask; and I saw the place, so that I'm sure
+if I were taken there I should recognise it.'
+
+Her husband told her not to mind her dreams, and that this one was
+doubtless suggested by the circumstance that had occurred the year
+before. 'But,' said he, 'Ripa's safely locked up in jail now, and
+there's no danger.'
+
+Nevertheless the dream appears to have made so deep an impression on
+the sick woman's fancy, that she never let her husband rest till he
+promised to go with his own farm-servant to meet her brother--a
+compliance which was at length won from him by her saying that she
+had seen the man crouching behind a low wall that surrounded a
+half-built church; 'and close by,' she added, 'there was a
+direction-post with something written on it, but I could not read
+what it was.'
+
+Now it happened that on the horse-road to Aquila, which Faustina
+herself had never travelled, there was exactly such a spot as that
+she described. Malfi knew it well. Struck by the circumstance, he
+desired to have his dinner immediately, and then, accompanied by his
+hind, he set off to meet Gaspar.
+
+In the meanwhile the Spaniard had got his money and made his
+purchases in good time, not wishing to be late on the road, so that
+they had scarcely got a mile beyond the church when they met him;
+and in answer to his inquiries what had brought them there, Malfi
+related his wife's dream, adding that he might have spared himself
+the ride, for he had looked over the wall, and saw nobody there. 'I
+told her it was nonsense,' he said, 'whilst we know your enemy's
+under such good keeping at Aquila; but she wouldn't be satisfied
+till I came.'
+
+Mendez, however, appeared exceedingly struck with the dream,
+inquired the particulars more in detail, and asked if they were sure
+there was nobody concealed in the place Faustina indicated. Malfi
+answered that he did not alight, but he looked over the wall and saw
+nobody. During the course of this conversation they had turned their
+horses' heads, and were riding back towards the church, Malfi
+talking about Ripa's affair, remarking on the impropriety of
+deferring his execution so long; Mendez more than usually silent and
+serious, and the servant riding beside them, when, as they
+approached the spot, they saw coming towards them on foot a man,
+whom they all three recognised as Antonio Guerra, the Spaniard's
+late servant. As this person was supposed to have gone to another
+part of the country after quitting Gaspar's service, Malfi expressed
+some surprise at seeing him; whilst Mendez turned very pale, making
+at the same time some exclamation that attracted the attention of
+his brother-in-law, who, however, drew up his horse to ask Guerra
+what had brought him back, and if he was out of a situation, adding
+that a neighbour of his, whom he named, was in want of a servant.
+Guerra, who looked poorly dressed, and by no means in such good case
+as formerly, answered that he should be very glad if Malfi would
+recommend him.
+
+'You had better turn about, then, and come on with us,' said Malfi,
+as he rode forward. During this conversation Mendez had sat by
+saying nothing; and if he was grave and silent before, he was still
+more so now, insomuch that his behaviour drew the attention of his
+brother-in-law, who asked him if there was anything wrong with him.
+
+'Surely it's not Faustina's dream you are thinking of?' he said;
+adding, 'that the meeting with Guerra had put it out of his head, or
+he would have examined the place more narrowly.'
+
+Mendez entered into no explanation; and as the servant, who was
+acquainted with Guerra, took him up behind him, they all arrived at
+their journey's end nearly together: Mendez, instead of proceeding
+homewards, turning off with the others to Malfi's house, where the
+first thing he did after his arrival was to visit his sister, whom
+he found better; whilst she, on the contrary, was struck with the
+pallor of his features and the agitation of his manner--a disorder
+which, like her husband, she attributed to the shock of her dream,
+acting upon a mind prepared by the affair of the preceding year to
+take alarm. In order to remove the impression, she laughed at the
+fright she had been in; but it was evident he could not share her
+merriment, and he quickly left her, saying he had a message to send
+to Rocca, which was the village where Bianca and her father resided,
+and that he must go below and write a note, which he did, giving it
+to Malfi's servant to take.
+
+It appeared afterwards that this man, having other work in hand,
+gave the note to Guerra, who willingly undertook the commission, and
+who, to satisfy his own curiosity, broke the seal on the way, and
+possessed himself of its contents before he delivered it. These
+were, however, only a request that Bianca and her father would come
+over to Malfi's house that evening and bring the notary of the
+village with them, he (Mendez) being too tired to go to Rocca to
+sign the contract, as had been arranged.
+
+It being between six and seven o'clock when this dispatch arrived,
+Bianca, who was very little inclined to sign the contract at all,
+objected to going; but her father insisting on her compliance, they
+set off in company with Guerra and the notary, who, according to
+appointment, was already in waiting. They had nearly three miles to
+go, and as Venoni had no horse, the notary gave Bianca a seat on
+his, and the old man rode double with Guerra.
+
+When they arrived, Mendez was standing at the door waiting for them,
+accompanied by Malfi, his servant, a priest, and two or three other
+persons of the neighbourhood; some of whom advanced to assist Bianca
+and her father to alight, whilst the others surrounded Guerra as he
+set his foot on the ground, pinioning his arms and plunging their
+hands into his pockets, from whence they drew two small pistols and
+a black mask, such as was worn at the carnivals; besides these
+weapons, he carried a stiletto in his bosom.
+
+Whilst the last comers were gaping with amazement at this unexpected
+scene, the new-made prisoner was led away to a place of security,
+and the company proceeded into the house, where the notary produced
+the contract and laid it on the table, inquiring at the same time
+what Guerra had done to be so treated.
+
+Then Mendez rose, and taking hold of the contract, he tore it in two
+and flung it on the ground; at which sight Venoni started up with a
+cry, or rather a howl--an expression of rage and disappointment
+truly Italian, and of which no Englishman who has not heard it can
+have an idea.
+
+'_Peccato!_ I have sinned!' said the Spaniard haughtily; 'but I have
+made my confession to the padre; and why I have torn that paper my
+brother-in-law, Alessandro, will presently tell you!' He then
+offered his hand to Bianca, who, no less pleased than astonished to
+see the contract destroyed, willingly responded to this token of
+good-will by giving him hers, which he kissed, asking her pardon for
+any pain he had occasioned her; after which, bowing to the company,
+he quitted the room, mounted his horse, and rode off to Forni.
+
+When the sound of the animal's feet had died away, and the parties
+concerned were sufficiently composed to listen to him, Malfi
+proceeded to make the communication he had been charged with;
+whereby it appeared that Ripa had been unjustly accused, and that
+Antonio Guerra was the real criminal. Mendez knew this very well,
+and would not have thought of accusing his rival had not his brother
+and sister, and indeed everybody else, assumed Ripa's guilt as an
+unquestionable fact. The temptation was too strong for him, and
+after he had once admitted it, pride would not allow him to retract.
+At the same time he declared that he would never have permitted the
+execution to take place, and that after the marriage with Bianca he
+intended to use every effort to procure the innocent man's
+liberation, on the condition of his quitting that part of the
+country. Of course it was he who wrote the letter to Marino, and he
+had used the precaution of placing a sealed packet, containing a
+confession of the truth, in the hands of a notary at Aquila, with
+strict directions to deliver it to Ripa if the authorities should
+appear disposed to carry his sentence into execution.
+
+He had nevertheless suffered considerable qualms of conscience about
+the whole affair; and the moment he saw Guerra on the road that
+night, he felt certain that he had come with the intention of
+waylaying him as before--the man being well aware that it was on
+that day he usually received his rents. He perceived that he should
+never be safe as long as this villain was free, and that he must
+either henceforth live in continual terror of assassination, or
+confront the mortification of a confession whilst the fellow was in
+his power.
+
+With respect to Guerra himself, he made but feeble resistance when
+he was seized. He had, in the first instance, left Mendez for dead;
+and he would have immediately fled when he heard he was alive, had
+not the news been accompanied with the further information that the
+Spaniard had pointed out Ripa as his assailant. He was exceedingly
+surprised, for he could scarcely believe that he had not been
+recognised. Nevertheless it was possible; and whether it were so or
+not, he did not doubt that what Mendez had once asserted he would
+adhere to. On receiving his dismissal, he had gone to some distance
+from the scene of his crime; but having, whilst the money lasted,
+acquired habits of idleness and dissipation that could not be
+maintained without a further supply, these necessities had provoked
+this last enterprise.
+
+He had really been concealed behind the wall when Malfi and his
+servant passed; but concluding that they were going to meet Mendez,
+and that his scheme was defeated, he had thought it both useless and
+dangerous to remain, and was intending to make off in another
+direction, when their sudden return surprised him.
+
+A few hours more saw Antonio Guerra in Giuseppe Ripa's cell; and
+whilst the first paid the penalty of his crimes, the latter was
+rewarded for his sufferings by the hand of Bianca, to whom the
+Spaniard gave a small marriage-portion before finally quitting the
+country, which he did immediately after Antonio's trial.
+
+Ripa said he had always had a strong persuasion that Guerra was the
+real criminal from two circumstances: the first was the hurried
+manner in which he was walking on the evening he met him at the gate
+of Forni, and some strange expression of countenance which he had
+afterwards recalled. The second was his answering them from the
+window when he and Malfi went to inquire for Mendez. If he thought
+it was his master, as he said, why had he not come down at once to
+admit him?
+
+It is remarkable that the enmity of the Spaniard was not directed
+against the man that had aimed at his life, but against him who had
+wounded his pride.
+
+
+
+
+INFLUENCES OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+
+While there are many machines which contribute much more directly to
+the rapid accumulation of wealth in the persons of individuals, than
+does the railway locomotive, there is probably none which tends more
+to enrich a community. Unlike most other mechanical contrivances for
+the abridgment of labour, the railway locomotive unites in the
+effects which it produces the elements of social as well as
+commercial improvement. Like the steamship, the railway is
+cosmopolitan in its character. The range of its operations may be as
+extensive as the globe itself; and throughout that sphere of
+activity, be it what it may, the locomotive engine is scattering
+thickly the seeds of civilisation, as well as of wealth.
+
+By the application of steam as a motive agent an immense saving has
+been effected in the outlay required to be made in producing a given
+result in locomotion. This is the combined product of two causes.
+Such perfection has been attained in the construction of machinery,
+that by the aid of steam there can thence be obtained a continuity,
+combined with a rapidity of motion, which far exceeds what can be
+produced by any other means at present known to us. The fleetest
+racer equipped for speed alone, cannot equal, even for a single
+mile, the rate at which the locomotive engine, dragging after it a
+load of eighty tons, can, for hours together, be driven with ease
+and safety along its iron path. And this twofold result can be
+secured at a comparatively small cost. Coal, iron, wood--substances
+all to be easily obtained in nearly every quarter of the globe--can
+be, and daily are, fashioned into working agents not merely fleeter,
+stronger, and more docile than any endowed with animal life, but
+agents likewise which it is far less costly to sustain in active
+usefulness. The food, medicines, and attention which animal life
+demands, form very serious items of expense in the case of beasts of
+burden, and so very materially impair their utility. It is otherwise
+with the locomotive engine. Money, ingenuity, and toil require
+undoubtedly to be expended in its original construction, attention
+and care must be given to avert or repair accident, and food of its
+own peculiar kind it does unquestionably consume; yet when all the
+original and working expenses of a locomotive are summed up, it is
+found that, compared with the income it produces, it is the cheapest
+of all motive agents.
+
+No doubt the items of railway expenditure now mentioned do not
+nearly exhaust the amount of money required in their construction.
+In addition to expensive engines, there require carriages to be
+supplied for the transport of goods and passengers, houses and sheds
+to be built for their temporary accommodation, salaries to be paid
+for management and service; and in addition to all this, there must
+further be expended in the construction of the line itself sums far
+greater in amount than those spent in the formation and repair of
+roads and highways. All this is true; but in estimating the
+comparative costliness of the old and new methods of
+land-locomotion, regard must be had to the amount of their produce
+as well as of their outlay; and an opinion regarding their
+respective merits, in an economical point of view, must be formed by
+striking a balance between these two sides of the account. The
+result of such a comparison proves that in point of economy, not
+less than of speed and endurance, railways take precedence over all
+other known means of locomotion. This combined result of rapidity
+and cheapness of transit produces a double effect upon a mercantile
+community: it at once enables merchants to realise the fruits of a
+given speculation more quickly, which is nothing else than
+transacting more business in a shorter period than before; and it
+also enables them to do this increased amount of business with a
+smaller amount of actual outlay--that is, to extend with safety and
+profit the field of their operations beyond those boundaries which
+prudence formerly marked out as the proper limits of speculation.
+
+When we consider the amount of travelling within the island which is
+requisite for carrying on the mercantile and general business of the
+country, and the double saving, therefore, of time on the one hand,
+and of money on the other, which is effected by means of railways,
+we cannot fail to perceive that even did this new system of
+locomotion economise time and labour in no other way than this
+alone, its effects upon commercial transactions and on business
+generally would be immense. But when we reflect that this system is
+exerting the very same influence upon trade--and in a much higher
+degree, so far as the outlay of money is concerned--in reference to
+the carriage of goods, as in regard to that of passengers, we then
+come to comprehend in some measure how fertile the railway
+locomotive is in the production of the fruits of industry.
+
+Another commercial effect of the railway system has been to equalise
+the value of land, and promote the cultivation of those districts of
+a country which lie considerably removed from large towns. Every one
+knows that distance from market forms, as regards the cultivation of
+many vegetable and animal productions, a very serious drawback.
+Hence it arises that lands lying immediately around large cities
+bring a far larger price than portions of ground of equal extent and
+fertility would do situated at a greater distance. This is
+peculiarly the case with kitchen-gardens, and pasture-land suited
+for the purposes of fattening cattle, or feeding such as are
+required for the dairy. In all these cases, and others which might
+be mentioned, the performance of a long journey affects very
+injuriously the quality and value of the several articles, and hence
+the demand for farms and fields not exposed to this drawback has
+naturally raised their value. Now railways, as they abridge space by
+means of speed, have had a tendency to increase the value of pasture
+and garden ground lying at, comparatively speaking, a very great
+distance around cities. It is now no unusual thing for the
+inhabitants of cities such as London, Liverpool, and Manchester, to
+use at breakfast milk or cream which has travelled thirty or forty
+miles the very morning it is consumed, and at dinner to partake of
+vegetables whose place of growth was more than a hundred miles
+removed from the stall at which they were sold.
+
+The railway system has had a marked effect upon the state of the
+money-market of the commercial world in general, and of this country
+in particular. From the successful experiment made in 1830 in steam
+locomotion between Liverpool and Manchester, this new method of
+transit has been developing itself with a rapidity to which no
+parallel is to be found in the history of mercantile enterprise.
+Keeping out of view entirely the large sums which were recklessly
+squandered during the railway mania in mere gambling transactions
+and bubble schemes, there has been actually sunk in the construction
+and working of lines up to the present time more than L.200,000,000
+sterling. Before railways were called into existence, by far the
+larger portion of this enormous capital was divided into a great
+number of comparatively small sums, invested in a corresponding
+number of different speculations. From causes which it would be
+easy, but foreign to our present purpose, to explain, the profits
+arising from these various speculations were not only in the
+aggregate larger than those hitherto derived from railways, but the
+former speculations or investments being more temporary and
+convertible in their nature, secured to the parties engaging in them
+a far greater command over the capital employed in them. By
+diverting, as the railway system has done, so much money from the
+ordinary channels of mercantile enterprise, in which large profits
+were made, and--what is of more importance to the present
+remarks--when that money was well within the command and subject to
+the recall of its owners; and by taking, so to speak, and locking it
+up in a repository which could not be opened, the circulating medium
+of exchange soon became a scarce commodity to those who but lately
+had possessed it in abundance.
+
+But it would be very false to infer because extensive bankruptcies,
+and periods of severe pecuniary embarrassment, have accompanied, if
+not indeed been caused by the development of the railway system,
+that therefore that system must be an unsound and unremunerative
+one. These monetary difficulties were in a great measure the
+consequence of over-speculation, and therefore form no sounder
+evidence against the utility of railways, than does over-speculation
+in tea condemn the prudent employment of capital in the tea-trade.
+Besides which, it must ever be remembered that the judiciousness of
+an undertaking is not always to be judged of by its immediate
+results. All investments of capital which are from their nature
+permanent, require time for the development of their effects, and
+may, as regards many of their immediate results, prove rather
+injurious than beneficial. To this class of speculations railways
+belong. Introduced for the purpose of facilitating locomotion, and
+thus improving the industry of the country, this new system of
+transit was calculated to produce rather an eventual and permanent,
+than an immediate benefit to the empire. So long as Great Britain
+retains and cultivates the resources of trade and manufactures now
+at her disposal, and provided no new method of locomotion be
+invented which shall supersede railways, there is every reason to
+believe that railways will continue to form an ever-increasing
+source of wealth to the nation. That this is an opinion very
+generally entertained is proved from the vast sums of money which
+are now lent out on the faith that this result will be realised. The
+railway system has not only created a new field for speculation, but
+likewise a new security for monetary investments. At the close of
+1848, upwards of L.43,000,000 was lent upon railways. There is every
+reason to believe that debenture-holding is much greater now than it
+was then; but as no official report of its amount, so far as we
+know, has been published since 1848, we, for accuracy's sake, quote
+the return made in that year.
+
+If railways have produced very important effects upon commercial
+affairs, they have exercised an influence not less important in a
+social and intellectual point of view. They have been greatly
+instrumental in removing prejudices, in cementing old and forming
+new friendships, in extending information, and in sharpening
+ingenuity.
+
+Prejudice has been one of the most formidable obstacles to the
+spread of civilisation. It has for ages kept separate and at enmity
+nations born to bless and benefit each other; propped up systems
+whose graver errors or weaker absurdities now form subjects of
+regret and ridicule; and fomented among the members of smaller
+societies and sects discords, strifes, and recriminations, which
+have been based on no other foundation than wilful or accidental
+ignorance. By bringing those in contact who otherwise would never
+have met, and improving the acquaintance of those who have, railways
+have spread individual opinions, tastes, and information more
+equally than before; and out of this mixture of the social and moral
+elements have collected and more widely distributed just conclusions
+regarding men, manners, politics, and religion. By being thus more
+frequently brought together, individuals have increased the number
+of their acquaintances, and become to a greater extent than before
+'citizens of the world.' A mutual discharge of the good offices of
+life has augmented those feelings of interest in our
+fellow-creatures, and kindness towards them, which are not less in
+accordance with the spirit of Christianity than conducive to the
+social wellbeing of communities.
+
+The knowledge which one acquires by personal experience and
+observation is, generally speaking, much more valuable than that
+obtained from the written experience or observation of others. By
+the former method we obtain knowledge in a more rapid, accurate, and
+impressive manner; and, as a consequence of this, retain it longer
+in our memories, and possess a greater and more constant command
+over it. Books always convey a faint and imperfect, and often a very
+erroneous impression of things; and to the extent that railways have
+superseded or assisted book-teaching, have they conferred upon
+society an improved means of acquiring knowledge.
+
+Through the instrumentality of railways also, an impetus has been
+imparted to the inventive and constructive faculties of the human
+mind. By being brought into more frequent contact with one another,
+individuals whose tastes and occupations are more or less similar
+are naturally led to form comparisons regarding the relative merits
+of their respective productions. This comparison has necessarily
+sharpened invention, improved taste, and suggested improvement. It
+is not too much to affirm, that there is not a single branch of
+industry now pursued within this country which has not, directly or
+indirectly, been benefited to an immense degree by the introduction
+of railways. Having served to bring into one market far more
+articles of commerce than before were exposed in it, this new mode
+of locomotion has to a great extent increased throughout our
+different trades and callings that element of a generous and
+wholesome competition which is the most effective agent in eliciting
+a high degree of skill in the cultivation of an art, or the
+improvement of an invention.
+
+To railways we are also indebted for a new application to practical
+usefulness of one of the most powerful elements in nature's
+laboratory: we refer to the employment of electricity in the
+transmission of thought. Although the wondrous powers and properties
+of the electric telegraph were known long before the introduction of
+the railway system, they were not till then made to minister, as
+they now do, to the information of man. By providing facilities
+towards laying and protecting the delicate machinery along which
+electricity was to perform its marvellous exploits, railways have
+directly contributed to apply and develop the resources of one of
+the most useful and wonderful of inventions, which even in its first
+stage of infancy has wrought a perfect revolution in the mode of
+transmitting intelligence; and which promises at no very distant day
+to play the same part among the continents and islands of the globe
+that it now does between the provinces of an empire.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE PALAEOLOGI.
+
+
+It would be a curious historical problem to trace the families of
+emperors and kings, of heroes and conquerors, from the era of their
+decline and fall to their ultimate extinction. Some 'Old Mortality'
+might find as congenial employment in this field of sepulchral
+research as did the original in clearing up the decayed and
+moss-grown tombs of the Covenanters. The genealogist makes it his
+business rather to flatter the great by blazoning the antiquity of
+their pedigrees, than to teach the world a moral lesson on the
+instability of earthly grandeur, by chronicling their reverses. Yet
+the churchyard has its heraldry, from whose records wisdom might be
+extracted for the benefit of the living.
+
+What dynasty in ancient times held a prouder or wider sway than the
+illustrious masters of the Roman world? The solid fabric of their
+power was the growth of nearly a thousand years, and it cost about
+thirteen centuries of revolutions and barbaric invasions before it
+was undermined and finally extinguished. If its earlier annals were
+disgraced by the crimes of a Tiberius, a Nero, and a Domitian, they
+could boast of the virtues and abilities of a Titus, a Trajan, a
+Nerva, a Hadrian, the two Antonini, &c.; though it must be admitted
+that latterly the balance sadly preponderated on the side of vice
+and corruption. If a Justinian or a Constantine appeared, his reign
+was but a sunbeam in the midst of the universal degeneracy; or if a
+ray of splendour was shed on the empire by his virtues or his
+victories, the transient glory was speedily dispelled by irruptions
+from without, or intrigue and revolt within. Gradually the work of
+decay proceeded, until the vast expanse of the imperial conquests
+was contracted to a few provinces, whose capital had been
+transferred to the shores of the Bosphorus. A languishing existence
+of about six centuries and a half--that is, from the revival of the
+western empire in 800 by Charlemagne, to the taking of
+Constantinople by the Turks in 1453--was brought to a close by the
+death of Constantine Palaeologus, the last of a race who had
+continued, says Gibbon, 'to assume the titles of Caesar and Augustus
+after their dominions were circumscribed to the limits of a single
+city, in which the language as well as manners of the ancient Romans
+had been long since forgotten!'
+
+The family of Palaeologus was of Greek origin, illustrious in birth
+and merit. 'As early,' says Gibbon, 'as the middle of the eleventh
+century, the noble race of the Palaeologi stands high and conspicuous
+in Byzantine history. It was the valiant George Palaeologus who
+placed the father of the Comneni on the throne; and his kinsmen or
+descendants continued in each generation to lead the armies and
+councils of the state.' The first that wore the imperial purple was
+Michael, who was elevated to the throne in 1260. Already he had
+distinguished himself as a soldier and a statesman, and had been
+promoted in his early youth to the office of 'constable,' or
+commander of the French mercenaries. His ambition excited jealousy,
+and some acts of imprudence involved him in dangers from which he
+thrice escaped. One of those perils was the usual appeal which was
+made in the middle ages to the 'judgment of God' to vindicate
+injured innocence. To this ordeal Michael submitted, in presence of
+the emperor and the archbishop of Philadelphia. 'Three days before
+the trial, the patient's arm was enclosed in a bag, and secured by
+the royal signet; and it was incumbent on him to bear a redhot bolt
+of iron three times from the altar to the rails of the sanctuary,
+without artifice and without injury. Palaeologus eluded the dangerous
+experiment with sense and pleasantry. "I am a soldier," said he,
+"and will boldly enter the list with my accusers; but a layman, a
+sinner like myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. Your
+piety, most holy prelate, may deserve the interposition of Heaven,
+and from your hands I will receive the fiery globe, the pledge of my
+innocence." The archbishop started, the emperor smiled, and the
+absolution or pardon of Michael was approved by rewards and new
+services.' The voice of the people and the favour of the army placed
+the crown on his head, in recompense for his military exploits and
+his public merits. With his accession terminated the reign of the
+last of the Latin emperors at Constantinople (Baldwin II.), and
+Michael became the founder of the Grecian dynasty.
+
+The labours of the new monarch to retrieve the calamities of war, by
+encouraging industry, planting colonies, and extending trade, were
+deserving of all praise. His ambition raised up against him many
+enemies, spiritual and temporal; but if his policy was not always
+judicious, he increased his power and his fame by greatly enlarging
+his dominions. It was by his intrigues that the revolt of Sicily was
+instigated. A rude insult to a noble damsel by a Frank soldier,
+during a procession on the vigil of Easter (1282), spread the flame
+of insurrection over the whole island, and 8000 Franks were
+exterminated in a promiscuous massacre, which has obtained the name
+of the 'Sicilian Vespers.' His son and successor, Andronicus, was
+reckoned a learned and virtuous prince; but his long reign is
+chiefly memorable for the disputes of the Greek church, the invasion
+of the Catalans, and the rise of the Ottoman power. He associated
+with him in the administration his son Michael, at the age of
+eighteen; and upon the premature death of the latter, his son
+Andronicus, the emperor's favourite, became the colleague of his
+grandfather. The reign of the elder Andronicus was consumed in civil
+discord and disputes with his family, the young princes having
+raised the standard of revolt in order to get possession of the
+throne. He was at length compelled to abdicate; and assuming the
+monastic habit, he spent the last few years of his life in a cell,
+blind and wretched, his only consolation being the promise of a more
+splendid crown in heaven than he had enjoyed on earth.
+
+After a series of inglorious struggles among the princes of the
+imperial house, the crown settled, in 1391, on Manuel, whose reign,
+however, was little else than a train of disasters. His capital was
+besieged by Amurath, and the Turks were masters of nearly the whole
+of his dominions, which had now shrunk into a small corner of
+Thrace, between the Propontis and the Black Sea, about fifty miles
+in length and thirty in breadth. To retrieve his fortunes, Manuel
+resolved on a journey to foreign countries, believing that the sight
+of a distressed monarch would draw tears and supplies from the
+sternest barbarians. From Italy he proceeded to the coast of France,
+where he was received with the characteristic politeness of the
+nation. Two thousand of the richest citizens of Paris, armed and on
+horseback, came forth to meet him; and at the gates he was welcomed
+as a brother by Charles VI., who saluted him with a cordial embrace.
+He was clothed in a robe of white silk, and mounted on a milk-white
+steed--a circumstance of great importance in the French ceremonial,
+white being considered as the emblem of sovereignty. He was lodged
+in the Louvre, and a succession of feasts and balls, varied by the
+pleasures of the chase, was got up for his amusement. Having
+satisfied his curiosity, but without any prospect of assistance, he
+resolved to visit England. In his progress from Dover, he was
+entertained at Canterbury by the prior and monks of St Austin; and
+on Blackheath Henry IV. saluted the Greek hero, who for several days
+was honoured and treated in London as Emperor of the East. Having
+failed in the object of his journey, he returned to Constantinople
+(1402), and was allowed to finish his reign in prosperity and peace
+in 1425.
+
+In his declining age, he had appointed as his associate his eldest
+son John, the second of the name. The corruptions of the church,
+divided between two popes, and the disputes of the clergy, afforded
+him ample scope for the exercise of his religious zeal, and it was
+to heal these ecclesiastical schisms that he undertook a voyage to
+Italy. But the downfall of his race and of the Grecian dynasty was
+approaching. At his decease (1448), there were five princes of the
+imperial house; but the death of Andronicus, and the monastic
+profession of Isidore, had reduced them to three--Constantine,
+Demetrius, and Thomas. Constantine ascended the vacant throne, the
+factious opposition of his brothers having been appeased by the
+interposition of the empress-mother, the senate, the soldiers, and
+the clergy, who allowed them the possession of the Morea.
+
+The first act of the new emperor was to despatch an embassy to
+Georgia to bring home a princess whom he had chosen for his royal
+consort. His next care was to inquire into the state of public
+affairs, which had been completely neglected by the weakness or
+absence of his predecessor. But the imperial drama had reached its
+last act. The danger which had long brooded over the doomed house of
+the Palaeologi was ready to burst in resistless fury upon the city of
+the Caesars. Mohammed II. had vowed to become master of
+Constantinople, and vast were the preparations and the implements of
+war which he had provided for its capture or its destruction. The
+story of the siege need not here be told; nowhere has it been
+recorded with more picturesque and energetic brevity than in the
+glowing pages of Gibbon. Operations were carried on with
+unprecedented vigour and effect, rendered more terrible by the
+lavish use of gunpowder and artillery, then almost new elements in
+the art of war. Constantine did all that a Christian prince and a
+brave general could do. By his example he animated the courage of
+his soldiers, and revived the hearts of the citizens, sinking in
+despair. The scene on the day before the assault is thus described
+by an eye-witness:--'The emperor and some faithful companions
+entered the dome of St Sophia, which in a few hours was to be
+converted into a mosque, and devoutly received with tears and
+prayers the sacrament of the holy communion. He reposed some moments
+in the palace, which resounded with cries and lamentations;
+solicited the pardon of all he might have injured; and mounted on
+horseback to visit the guards and explore the motions of the enemy.'
+But the dreaded 29th of May had come; the last hour of the city and
+the empire had struck. After a siege of fifty-three days,
+Constantinople, to use the words of Gibbon, 'which had defied the
+power of Chosroes, the chazan, and the caliphs, was irretrievably
+subdued by the arms of Mohammed II. Her empire only had been
+subverted by the Latins; her religion was trampled in the dust by
+the Moslem conquerors.'
+
+Constantine had nobly done his duty. Amidst the swarms of the enemy
+who had climbed the walls and were pursuing the flying Greeks
+through the streets, he was long seen with his bravest officers
+fighting round his person, and finally lost. His only fear was that
+of falling alive into the hands of the Infidels, and this fate he
+sought to avert by prudently casting away the purple. Amidst the
+tumult he was pierced by an unknown hand, and his body was buried
+under a mountain of the slain. The last words he was heard to utter
+was the mournful exclamation: 'Cannot there be found a Christian to
+cut off my head?' His death put an end to resistance and order, and
+left the capital to be sacked and pillaged by the victorious Turks.
+Truly has it been said, that the distress and fall of the last
+Constantine are more glorious than the long prosperity of the
+Byzantine Caesars.
+
+The difficulties and dying moments of the emperor have been
+faithfully and pathetically dramatised by Miss Joanna Baillie in her
+tragedy of _Constantine Palaeologus_. She adheres closely to history,
+only she makes her hero receive his deathblow from the sword of a
+relenting Turk, who admires his bravery, and pronounces over him a
+farewell eulogy. All writers agree that the last of the imperial
+Palaeologi was the best of his race; and had he not been so ill
+supported by his worthless subjects, and deserted by every Christian
+prince in Europe, he might have repelled the tide of Turkish
+invasion, though he would never have restored the glory of the
+empire. Yet gallantly did he front the storm, and perish as became
+the successor of a long line of kings--the last of the Romans.
+
+The fall of Constantine was the signal for the degradation and
+dispersion of his whole race. His two surviving brothers, Demetrius
+and Thomas, reigned as despots of the Morea in Greece; but the ruin
+of the empire was the gloomy prelude to their own misfortunes.
+Demetrius became the pensioner of the new Turkish emperor Mohammed,
+and received a city of Thrace and some adjacent islands for his own
+maintenance and that of his followers. In this state of humiliating
+dependence he remained until death released him from his ignominious
+servitude. Thomas, the other brother, was driven into exile by the
+invasion of his dominions. He fled to Corfu, and from thence to
+Italy--according to Gibbon's account--'with some naked adherents;
+his name, his sufferings, and the head of the apostle St Andrew,
+entitled him to the hospitality of the Vatican, and his misery was
+prolonged by a pension of 6000 ducats from the pope and cardinals.'
+He left two sons (he must have had a third, as will afterwards
+appear), Andrew and Manuel, who were educated in Italy. The eldest
+degraded himself by the looseness of his life and marriage, and died
+the inheritor of an empty title. Manuel was tempted to revisit his
+native country; and after spending the remainder of his life in
+safety and ease at Constantinople, he was gathered to his fathers,
+'an honourable train of Christians and Moslems attending him to the
+grave.'
+
+From this date--early in the sixteenth century--little is known of
+the name and lineage of the Palaeologi. The crescent waved over the
+royal city of Constantine; and, as an old Byzantine annalist
+remarks, the last heir of the last spark of the Roman Empire seemed
+to be extinct. History had forgotten them, and the restless tide of
+human vicissitudes rolled onwards, unconscious of their existence.
+Italy was understood to be the asylum of the imperial outcasts; and
+there they might have vegetated in oblivion, or dropped into
+unhonoured graves without leaving a single representative, had not a
+monumental inscription revealed the fact, that a descendant of the
+Caesars had found a retreat and a tomb in an obscure parish in
+England. In the small church of Landulph, in Cornwall, the following
+inscription upon a small metal tablet, fixed in the wall, removes
+all doubt as to the identity and royal pedigree of the person whose
+memory it records. In its original spelling it runs thus:--'Here
+lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologvs of Pesaro in Italye, descended
+from ye Imperiall lyne of ye last Christian Emperors of Greece,
+being the sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of
+John, the sonne of Thomas, second brother to Constantine Paleologvs,
+the eighth of that name, and last of ye lyne yt raygned in
+Constantinople vntill svbdeued by the Turkes; who married with Mary
+ye davghter of William Balls of Hadlye in Sorffolke Gent., and had
+issu five children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy,
+and departed this life at Clyfton ye 21st of Janvary 1636.'[1] It
+appears, then, that Theodore, who married and died in Cornwall, was
+the fourth in direct descent from Thomas, younger brother of the
+Emperor Constantine, and who fled 'with some naked adherents to
+Italy,' where his children were educated.[2] The truth of the story
+related in the inscription was corroborated by a circumstance which
+happened upwards of twenty years ago. The vault in which Palaeologus
+was interred having been accidently opened, curiosity prompted the
+lifting of the lid. The coffin, which was made of oak, was in an
+entire state, and the body sufficiently perfect to shew that the
+dead man exceeded the common stature. The head was a long oval, and
+the nose believed to have been aquiline; a long white beard reached
+down the breast--another symbol of his Greek extraction.
+
+Of his family little is known: Theodore, the eldest son, was a
+sailor, and died on board the _Charles II._, as is proved by his
+will, dated 1693. He appears to have possessed landed property, and
+to have left a widow named Martha, but no issue. The younger
+daughter, Dorothy, was married at Landulph to William Arundell in
+1636, and died in 1681.[3] Maria died unmarried, and was buried in
+the same church in 1674. Of John and Ferdinando, the other sons, no
+memorial seems to have been preserved in this country; and it was
+believed as highly probable that the church of Landulph contained
+the remains of the last survivors of the Grecian dynasty, once the
+illustrious sovereigns of Byzantium.
+
+Time, however, the great revealer of secrets, brought to light facts
+which proved that one of the sons of Theodore of Pesaro in Italy had
+removed to the West Indies, where he lived for some years, and died
+in 1678. It is mentioned by the historian Oldmixon[4] as a
+tradition, that a descendant of the former imperial Greek family of
+Constantinople resided in Barbadoes; but he doubts the fact, without
+giving any reason for his scepticism. The tradition, however, proves
+to have been quite current, and the circumstance that led to its
+confirmation, and to the discovery of the body of Ferdinando
+Palaeologus, and other relics testifying to his connection with the
+Greek emperors, are narrated by Sir Robert Schomburgk in his recent
+history of Barbadoes. During the terrible hurricane of 1831, which
+nearly destroyed the island, among the other public buildings that
+yielded to the violence of the storm, was the parish church of St
+John, which stood in a romantic situation near the 'Cliff,' at an
+elevation of 824 feet. When the ruins were removed, and in clearing
+out the rubbish, 'the coffin of Ferdinando Palaeologus (we quote Sir
+Robert's account) was discovered under the organ-loft, in the vault
+of Sir Peter Callotin. The circumstance that the coffin stood in a
+direction opposite to the others deposited in the vault, drew
+attention to it; the head was lying to the west, the feet pointing
+to the east, according to the Greek custom. These accounts raised
+the curiosity of the rector of the parish; and in order to ascertain
+how much truth was connected with the tradition, he resolved to
+examine the supposed coffin of Palaeologus; it was consequently
+opened on the 3d of May 1844, in presence of Mr R. Reici, jun.; Mr.
+J.G. Young; and Mr J. Hinkson. The coffin was of lead, and in it was
+found a skeleton of an extraordinary size, imbedded in quicklime,
+which is another proof of the Greek origin of Palaeologus, as it is
+the custom in Greece to surround the body with quicklime. The coffin
+was carefully deposited in the vault now in possession of Josiah
+Heath, Esq., of Quintyer's and Redland.'
+
+In the above discovery and examination, the coincidences are so
+numerous and so remarkable as to leave no doubt whatever that the
+Ferdinando Palaeologus, whose body lies interred in St John's church,
+was the same individual mentioned in the Landulph inscription as a
+son of Theodore. The size of the skeleton, the envelope of
+quicklime, the position of the body, are corroborative of an Eastern
+descent. The name of the mother, Mary Balls, is an additional
+presumption, as among the earliest proprietors in the island several
+of that name occur; and three estates are given in Oldmixon's list
+as belonging to the family of the Balls. It has been assumed,
+therefore, with good reason, that a relationship may have existed
+between the mother of Ferdinando and the Balls in Barbadoes,
+which--at a period when so many families emigrated from England,
+chiefly from Kent and the southern and western counties--might have
+induced young Palaeologus to seek his fortunes in the New World,
+after his father's death in 1636.
+
+Of the residence of Ferdinando in the island for thirty years, ample
+evidence exists in various documents. Sir Robert Schomburgk was
+shewn by the rector of the parish, the Rev. J.H. Gittens, an old
+vestry-book of St John's, in which various entries occur of the name
+of Ferdinando Palaeologus, from 1649 till 1669, as vestryman,
+churchwarden, trustee, surveyor of the highway, sidesman to the
+churchwarden, and lieutenant, &c. The last entry is that of his
+burial, 'October 3d 1678.' His name also appears in a legal document
+respecting the sale of some land, executed in 1658. But the most
+important evidence of his identity with the Cornwall family is his
+will, in which the names of his sisters, Maria and Dorothy, occur.
+It was entered in the Registrar's Office, the 20th of March 1678,
+and proved before the deputy-governor, Colonel Christopher
+Codrington. The widow became the sole survivor and heiress of the
+property, Theodorious having died in his youth, so that the last of
+the Palaeologi reposes in the parish church of St John, in the island
+of Barbadoes; and the estate which once belonged to the descendant
+of the Greek emperors now forms part of Clifton Hall and the
+Plantation Ashford. Laying these circumstances together, and
+considering how completely the will of Ferdinando corroborates the
+Landulph inscription, of which he probably knew nothing, the
+genealogical problem, we think, is fairly wrought out, and the last
+of the descendants of the Roman Caesars traced to his final
+resting-place beyond the Atlantic. A curious anecdote is mentioned
+by Sir Robert Schomburgk as to the revival of the tradition of one
+of the Palaeologi being in Barbadoes. He says, but without vouching
+for its truth, that during the last conflict for Grecian
+independence and deliverance from the Turkish yoke, a letter was
+received from the provisional government at Athens, addressed to the
+authorities in Barbadoes, inquiring whether a male branch of the
+Palaeologi was still existing in the island, and conveying the
+request that if such were the case he should be provided with the
+means of returning to Greece, and the government would, if required,
+pay all the expenses of the voyage. This story was not current in
+Europe, at all events; and we on this side the water never dreamed
+that among the competitors of King Leopold for the throne was a
+veritable scion of the old imperial sovereigns of Constantinople.
+
+The events detailed in the preceding narrative are fitted to suggest
+various interesting reflections and amusing speculations. The fate
+of the Palaeologi--one day on a throne, the next in a dungeon,
+passing from regal state to wretched exile--may have been the bitter
+lot of other imperial families. If we find the descendants of the
+Greek emperors in the humble occupation of sailors and
+churchwardens, and vestrymen and road-trustees, there is nothing
+extravagant in the supposition, that we may have royal porters and
+scavengers on our streets, the sceptre having degenerated into the
+besom, and the truck taken the place of the chariot of state. The
+family of Nimrod may still exist, and retain their ancestral
+propensities in the craft of sportsmen and deer-stalkers, or in the
+lower grade of Jehus and jockeys. Who knows but the posterity of
+Solomon may be retailing old clothes, and the heirs of the
+Nebuchadnezzar dynasty still exist somewhere--perhaps among our
+graziers or cattle-dealers, our keepers of dairies or secretaries of
+agricultural associations. The line of Tamerlane may have ended in a
+grave-digger, and that of Frederick Barbarossa in a hair-dresser.
+The ideal transmigration of Pythagoras was not more improbable or
+more wonderful than the strange metamorphoses through which, in the
+course of centuries, the living representatives of kings and
+emperors are sometimes doomed to pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 1: There is a slight error in the date of the inscription,
+as the entry of his burial is October 20th 1636.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Only two sons of Thomas are mentioned by Gibbon--Andrew
+and Manuel; but the evidence of the Landulph tablet shews that he
+must have had a third, John.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Her name is entered in the register as 'Dorothea
+Paleologus de Stirpe Imperatorious.']
+
+[Footnote 4: _British Empire in America_, vol. ii. p. 111.]
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER ON CATS.
+
+
+The newspapers have recently been chronicling, as a fact provocative
+of especial wonder, the enterprise of some speculative merchant of
+New York, who has just been despatching a cargo of one hundred cats
+to the republic of New Granada, in which it would appear the race,
+owing, as we may believe, to the frequently disturbed state of the
+country, has become almost extinct.
+
+Your cat is a domestic animal, and naturally conservative in its
+tastes--averse therefore to uproar, and to all those given to
+change. Its propensities are to meditation and contemplative
+tranquillity, for which reason it has ever been held in reverence by
+nations of a similar staid and composed disposition, and has been
+the favourite companion and constant friend of grave philosophers
+and thoughtful students. By the ancient Egyptians cats were held in
+the highest esteem; and we learn from Diodorus Siculus, their 'lives
+and safeties' were tendered more dearly than those of any other
+animal, whether biped or quadruped. 'He who has voluntarily killed a
+consecrated animal,' says this writer, 'is punished with death; but
+if any one has even involuntarily killed a cat or an ibis, it is
+impossible for him to escape death: the mob drags him to it,
+treating him with every cruelty, and sometimes without waiting for
+judgment to be passed. This treatment inspires such terror, that, if
+any person happen to find one of these animals dead, he goes to a
+distance from it, and by his cries and groans indicates that he has
+found the animal dead. This superstition is so deeply rooted in the
+minds of the Egyptians, and the respect they bear these animals is
+so profound, that at the time when their king, Ptolemy, was not yet
+declared the friend of the Roman people--when they were paying all
+possible court to travellers from Italy, and their fears made them
+avoid every ground of accusation and every pretext for making war
+upon them--yet a Roman having killed a cat, the people rushed to his
+house, and neither the entreaties of the grandees, whom the king
+sent for the purpose, nor the terror of the Roman name, could
+protect this man from punishment, although the act was involuntary.
+I do not relate this anecdote,' adds the historian, 'on the
+authority of another, for I was an eye-witness of it during my stay
+in Egypt.'[5]
+
+During their lives, the consecrated cats were fed upon fish, kept
+for the purpose in tanks; and 'when one of them happened to die,'
+says the veracious writer just cited, 'it was wrapped in linen, and
+after the bystanders had beaten themselves on the breast, it was
+carried to the Tarichoea, where it was embalmed with coedria and
+other substances which have the virtue of embalming bodies, after
+which it was interred in the sacred monument.' It has puzzled not a
+little the learned archaeologists, who have endeavoured to discover a
+profound philosophy figured and symbolised in the singular mythology
+of the Egyptians, to explain how it is that in Thebes, where the
+sacred character of the cat was held in the highest reverence, and
+cherished with the greatest devotion, not only embalmed cats have
+been found, but also the bodies of rats and mice, which had been
+subjected to the same anti-putrescent process. If, however,
+Herodotus is to be credited, the Egyptians owed a deep debt of
+gratitude to the mice; for the venerable historian assures us, and
+on the unquestionable authority of the Egyptian priests, that when
+Sennacherib and his army lay at Pelusium, a mighty corps of
+field-mice entered the camp by night, and eating up the quivers,
+bowstrings, and buckler-leathers of the Assyrian troops, in this
+summary fashion liberated Egypt from the terror of the threatened
+invasion. Probably the existence of mice-mummies may be accounted
+for in this way, and if--resorting to no violent supposition--we
+presume in the good work which the tiny patriots so sagaciously
+accomplished that their cousins-german the rats were assistant, the
+whole matter receives a satisfactory explication. The hypothesis, it
+is submitted, is not without plausible recommendations on its
+behalf. There is extant a fragment of a comedy, entitled 'The
+Cities,' written by the Rhodian poet Anaxandrides, in which the
+Egyptian worship of animals is amusingly enough quizzed. A
+translation will be found in Dr Prichard's _Analysis of Egyptian
+Mythology_. The lines referring to cat-worship are as follow:--
+
+  'You cry and wail whene'er ye spy a cat,
+  Starving or sick; I count it not a sin
+  To hang it up, and flay it for its skin;'
+
+from which it appears this gay free-thinker was not only somewhat
+sceptical in his religious notions, but, moreover, a hard-hearted,
+good-for-nothing fellow--one who, had he lived in our times, would
+unquestionably have brought himself within the sweep of the Society
+for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Duke of Beaufort's
+Humanity Act.
+
+We learn from Herodotus that in his days it was customary, whenever
+a cat died, for the whole household at once to go into mourning, and
+this although the lamented decease might have been the result of old
+age, or other causes purely natural. In the case of a cat's death,
+however, the eyebrows only were required to be shaved off; but when
+a dog, a beast of more distinguished reputation, departed this life,
+every inmate of the house was expected to shave his head and whole
+body all over. Both cats and dogs are watched and attended to with
+the greatest solicitude during illness. Indeed, by the ancient
+Egyptians the cat was treated much in the same way as are dogs
+amongst us: we find them even accompanying their masters on their
+aquatic shooting-excursions; and, if the testimony of ancient
+monuments is to be relied on, often catching the game for them,
+although it may be permitted to doubt whether they ever actually
+took to the water for this purpose.
+
+In modern Egypt the cat, although more docile and companionable than
+its European sister, has much degenerated; but still, on account of
+its usefulness in destroying scorpions and other reptiles, it is
+treated with some consideration--suffered to eat out of the same
+dish with the children, to join with them in their sports, and to be
+their constant companion and daily friend. A modern Egyptian would
+esteem it a heinous sin indeed, to destroy, or even maltreat a cat;
+and we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that benevolent
+individuals have bequeathed funds by which a certain number of these
+animals are daily fed at Cairo at the Cadi's court, and the bazaar
+of Khan Khaleel.
+
+But a tender regard for the inferior animals is a prevailing
+characteristic of the Oriental races, and is inculcated as a duty by
+their various religions. At Fez there was, and perhaps is at this
+day, a wealthily-endowed hospital, the greater part of the funds of
+which was devoted to the support and medical treatment of invalid
+cranes and storks, and procuring them a decent sepulture whenever
+they chanced to die. The founders are said to have entertained the
+poetical notion that these birds are, in truth, human beings,
+natives of distant islands, who at certain periods assume a foreign
+shape, and after they have satisfied their curiosity with visiting
+other lands, return to their own, and resume their original form.
+
+To return, however, not to our sheep, but our cats, we must remark
+that, in modern times, in spite of the kindness the cat habitually
+receives in Egypt, his _morale_ is not in that country rated very
+high--the universal impression being that, although, like Snug the
+joiner's lion, he is by nature 'a very gentle beast,' still he is by
+no means 'of a good conscience;' that he is, in short, a most
+ungrateful beast; and that when, in a future state, it is asked of
+him how he has been treated by man in this, he will obstinately deny
+all the benefits he has received at his hand, and give him such a
+character for cruelty and hardness of heart as is shocking to think
+of. The dog, however, it is understood, will conduct himself more
+discreetly, and readily acknowledge the good offices for which he is
+indebted to the family of mankind.
+
+Singular anecdotes have been related of the intense repugnance
+persons have been found to entertain to these, at worst, harmless
+animals. One shall be given in the very words of the Rev. Nicholas
+Wanley, who, in his authentic _Wonders of the Little World_, has
+recorded a number of other facts quite as marvellous, and sustained
+by testimony not one whit more exceptionable:--'Mathiolus tells of a
+German, who coming in winter-time into an inn to sup with him and
+some other of his friends, the woman of the house being acquainted
+with his temper (lest he should depart at the sight of a young cat
+which she kept to breed up), had beforehand hid her kitling in a
+chest in the same room where we sat at supper. But though he had
+neither seen nor heard it, yet after some time that he had sucked in
+the air infected by the cat's breath, that quality of his
+temperament that had antipathy to that creature being provoked, he
+sweat, and, of a sudden, paleness came over his face, and, to the
+wonder of us all that were present, he cried out that in some corner
+of the room there was a cat that lay hid.' Not long after the battle
+of Wagram and the second occupation of Vienna by the French, an
+aide-de-camp of Napoleon, who at the time occupied, together with
+his suite, the Palace of Schoenbrunn, was proceeding to bed at an
+unusually late hour, when, on passing the door of Napoleon's
+bedroom, he was surprised by a most singular noise, and repeated
+calls from the Emperor for assistance. Opening the door hastily, and
+rushing into the room, a singular spectacle presented itself--the
+great soldier of the age, half undressed, his countenance agitated,
+the beaded drops of perspiration standing on his brow, in his hand
+his victorious sword, with which he was making frequent and
+convulsive lunges at some invisible enemy through the tapestry that
+lined the walls. It was a cat that had secreted herself in this
+place; and Napoleon held cats not so much in abhorrence as in
+terror. 'A feather,' says the poet, 'daunts the brave;' and a
+greater poet, through the mouth of his Shylock, remarks that 'there
+are some that are mad if they behold a cat--a harmless, necessary
+cat.' Count Bertram would seem to have shared in this unaccountable
+aversion. When 'Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, that had
+the whole theory of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice
+in the chape of his dagger,' was convicted of mendacity and
+cowardice, Bertram exclaimed, 'I could endure anything before this
+but a cat, and now he's a cat to me.' The force of censure could no
+further go.
+
+If Napoleon, however, held cats, as has been averred, in positive
+fear, there have been others, and some of them illustrious captains,
+that have regarded them with other feelings. Marshal Turenne could
+amuse himself for hours in playing with his kittens; and the great
+general, Lord Heathfield, would often appear on the walls of
+Gibraltar, at the time of the famous siege, attended by his
+favourite cats. Cardinal Richelieu was also fond of cats; and when
+we have enumerated the names of Cowper and Dr Johnson, of Thomas
+Gray and Isaac Newton, and, above all, of the tender-hearted and
+meditative Montaigne, the list is far from complete of those who
+have bestowed on the feline race some portion of their affections.
+
+Butler, in his _Hudibras_, observes, in an oft-quoted passage, that
+
+  'Montaigne, playing with his cat,
+  Complains she thought him but an ass.'
+
+And the annotator on this passage, in explanation, adds, that
+'Montaigne in his Essays supposes his cat thought him a fool for
+losing his time in playing with her;' but, under favour, this is a
+misinterpretation of the essayist's sentiment, and something like a
+libel on the capacity of both himself and cat. Montaigne's words
+are: 'When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her
+more sport than she makes me? We mutually divert each other with our
+play. If I have my hour to begin or refuse, so also has she hers.'
+Nobody who has read the striking essay in which these words appear
+could for a moment misconceive their author's meaning. He is
+vindicating natural theology from the objections of some of its
+opponents, and in the course of his argument he takes occasion to
+dwell on the wonderful instincts, and almost rational sagacity of
+the inferior animals. We must, however, lament that, although he
+does full justice to the 'half-reasoning elephant,' to the aptitude
+and fidelity of the dog, to the marvellous economical arrangements
+of the bees, and even to the imitative capacity of the magpie, he
+pays no higher tribute to the merits of the cat than that she is as
+capable of being amused as himself, and like himself, too, has her
+periods of gravity when recreative sports are distasteful. Her
+social qualities he does not allude to, though he, so eminently
+social himself, could scarcely have failed to appreciate them.
+
+In this country, at this time, cats have superseded parlour
+favourites decidedly less agreeable in their appearance, and
+infinitely more mischievous in their habits. Writing in the
+seventeenth century, Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, remarks
+that 'Turkey gentlewomen, that are perpetual prisoners, still mewed
+up according to the custom of the place, have little else, beside
+their household business or to play with their children, to drive
+away time but to dally with their cats, which they have _in
+delitiis_, as many of our ladies and gentlewomen use monkeys and
+little dogs.' It is not the least merit of the cat that it has
+banished from our sitting-rooms those frightful mimicries of
+humanity--the monkey tribe; and as to the little dogs Tray, Blanch,
+and Sweetheart, although we are not insensible to their many virtues
+and utilities, we care not to see them sleeping on our hearth-rug,
+or reposing beside our work-tables.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 5: In the matter of fanaticism, the modern Egyptians, or
+rather the inhabitants of Alexandria, seem hardly to have
+degenerated from their ethnic 'forbears,' as we read in Mr J.A. St
+John's travels the account of a serious insurrection which broke out
+some years ago in that city, in consequence of certain Jews having
+taken up the butcher's trade, and having slain the meat with a knife
+having _three_ instead of _five nails_ in the handle!]
+
+
+
+
+BEGGARS IN THE FAR EAST.
+
+
+Bengal is blessed with a mild climate and a fertile soil. Provisions
+are consequently cheap; and as neither substantial houses nor
+expensive clothing is there essential to comfort, we might naturally
+expect to see less of misery and destitution than in this country.
+Such, however, is not the case. Our severe winter engenders habits
+of industry and forethought, which are unknown in India. The ease
+with which in most cases their few wants are supplied, renders the
+inhabitants of that country in the highest degree improvident; and
+nowhere do we see a greater number of beggars, and misery and
+destitution paraded through the streets in more revolting forms.
+
+There are no poor-laws in any part of India. Relief, however, is not
+withheld, nor indeed sparingly bestowed. Many can afford to give a
+little; and where nothing is exacted, many give willingly. Little
+charity is bestowed by Europeans in the streets, as they generally
+ride in palanquins or carriages, and as, besides, they feel the
+weight even of a purse too much on a hot day. However, let it not be
+supposed that they, like Dives, wallow in wealth, and close their
+ears to the importunities of the heathen. The Baboo or Sircar gives
+weekly or monthly pensions to some patronised beggars; and on a
+Saturday in some large towns, the blind, lame, and halt come to the
+gates of the grandees, and receive from the trusty _durwan_ or
+doorkeeper a handful of cowries and coarse rice, of which one, two,
+or three rupees' worth are mixed up, according to the circumstances
+of the master. But it is not to ordinary beggars I now propose to
+draw the attention of the reader--the infirm or the lazy, with whom
+we are all tolerably familiar. But in India there is another class
+of beggars--_religious_ and _professional_ beggars--who are proud of
+their calling. I do not mean that there are no religious mendicants
+to be found at home; but although the object to be attained in both
+countries may be similar, the agents employed in the East are so
+different, that a description of them will to many European readers
+have all the gloss of novelty.
+
+The two principal sects in Bengal are known as _Soneeassees_ and
+_Byragees_. The former _exclusively_ worship Mahado. 'They are not
+to inhabit houses or temples,' say their scriptures; 'but to live in
+woods and forests, under the wide expanse of heaven, _there_ to
+meditate upon the greatness of the Creator, and contemplate his
+beautiful works.' An infant who is to become a Soneeassee has from
+his birth the badge of Sheva upon him: no razor ever touches his
+hair, and his locks are matted and dishevelled, when other
+children's are neatly combed and anointed. When he approaches
+manhood, he takes the vow of celibacy, he receives from the hand of
+the Brahmin the _muntra_ or mystical creed, the dried skin of an
+antelope, and a piece of coarse, unbleached cotton, stained yellow
+with ochre, which he can use as a plaid, it being seven feet long;
+upon the skin he is supposed to sit and sleep, and the cloth
+overshadows the shoulders of the young enthusiast. Even after these
+are worn out, as it is supposed that the devotee is pretty well
+broken in to the hardships of his situation, they on no account may
+be renewed. These Soneeassees seldom adhere to the letter of their
+religion in the present day, although it is said that in times gone
+by some of their class have sat absorbed and abstracted until their
+spirit held communion with the great god--their bodies wasting away
+from neglect, and their nails growing like claws. In the present
+day, prayer and meditation are given to the winds, and they may be
+seen fat and sleek, perambulating the streets of the towns and
+villages, smeared over with ashes and ochre, and great coils of
+matted hair, which some tastefully wind like a turban round their
+head. They take care also to display, in glaring red and white
+paint, upon their foreheads and arms, the various insignia or marks
+of Sheva, such as the trident. Occasionally one also flourishes
+about a _steel_ trident, which the figure of Mahado always wields in
+his hand, and which is also placed on the summit of his temple. The
+Soneeassees are the most impudent and importunate of beggars. There
+came under my notice a band of three, who used regularly to visit
+the town twice a week. These men had made a vow to collect a certain
+number of rupees to build a temple, and for this purpose infested
+the doors of the wealthiest of the Hindoo community, and followed
+and persecuted them even in their drives with continued cries. It is
+astonishing how soon superstition enabled them to fulfil their vow,
+and how the extortioners were allowed to escape the punishment their
+impudence deserved.
+
+The Byragees are not so intrusive a sect. They frequently live in
+the open air, though not prohibited from seeking other shelter.
+Their heads are differently treated from those of the Soneeassees,
+for both men and women have the crown shaved quite smooth. Both
+sexes wear a piece of cloth checked like shepherd's plaid. They have
+great strings of wooden beads, or _malahs_, turned out of the stalks
+of the holy toolsie, round their necks; and they generally collect
+their rice and cowries in a dried gourd-shell. Persons of this sect
+at their death are placed in an upright position in a deep grave,
+and so consumed with fire. In former times, the widows used to burn
+themselves with their lords. The Byragees, when they attain years of
+discretion, may choose their wives from any caste they please. Some
+of the Byragins, therefore, are said to be far cleverer than the
+everyday Hindoo women, having been selected from a class which are
+looked down upon by the others, but who are taught high
+accomplishments, and are devoted to the temples of the gods. In his
+begging excursions the Byragee carries a pair of cymbals or a small
+gong; and singing the songs of Krishna, and his courtships among the
+milkmaids, he delights the hearts of his Hindoo hearers, and makes
+them lavish of their gifts.
+
+The English reader perhaps has never heard of a beggar such as I
+shall now depict. One may happen to be in a reflective mood, and
+aroused from his meditations by what he supposes to be a cow lowing
+close to his ear. He starts up and goes to the window, but instead
+of that quadruped he finds a man standing with a rope round his
+neck, and a woful countenance, holding out his palms, indicating
+that he wants charity. This man has had the misfortune to lose his
+cow; and as it died tethered, his religion imposes on him the
+penalty of begging from door to door without speaking, but imitating
+the cow, till he has realised enough to purchase one of these sacred
+animals, and to give something besides in charity to the Brahmins.
+This provision was perhaps made by the religion of the country in
+favour of the cow, to preserve so useful an animal from
+ill-treatment; and it is astonishing to see how implicitly the
+Hindoo submits himself to a mere convention, which he might easily
+evade.
+
+
+
+
+A LATE PRISON REPORT.
+
+
+In the Sixteenth Report on the state of the Prisons, by Mr Frederic
+Hill, lately laid before parliament, will be found some passages
+worthy of general attention. While speaking favourably of the system
+of discipline now ordinarily pursued towards prisoners, Mr Hill is
+obliged to admit that certain prisons are rendered much too
+attractive; in fact, that they create crime. It is important that
+this condition of affairs should be known. Good food and medical
+attendance are, it seems, the attractions. The following are Mr
+Hill's words, with the quotations he makes from the statements of
+prison officials:--
+
+'Several of the prisons continue to be attractive, to certain
+classes of persons, instead of repulsive; owing, apparently in some
+instances, to the better dietary of the prison as compared with that
+of the workhouse; in others, to the good medical treatment generally
+provided in prisons; and in others, to a practice of giving
+prisoners clothing on their liberation, a practice which, did the
+law permit, might be replaced by a rule enabling prisoners to earn
+clothing by extra labour.
+
+'The governor of the borough prison at Cambridge stated that many
+persons were reckless about committing offences, because they
+preferred being sent to the prison to going to the workhouse, owing
+chiefly (according to their statements) to their getting better food
+at the prison.
+
+'The chaplain of the prison at Spilsby stated as follows:--"I am
+sorry to observe that the present system of discipline here does not
+deter people from the commission of crime. Several have said that
+they would rather come here than go to the Union workhouse." ...
+
+'Mr Dunn, one of the surgeons of the prison at Wakefield, states--"I
+am convinced that many persons, especially females, get committed to
+the prison on purpose to be cured of attacks of disease. Many of
+them have admitted to me that it was so. A man from Bradford, who
+went out last week, told me that he had been here before, and that
+he had got committed again in consequence of his having a return of
+his disease, and that he came to be cured.... One man who was here
+for a month last autumn, and who came in a very diseased state, but
+who left cured, required, during nearly the whole time, a pint of
+wine per day, besides malt liquor. It was a case in which a very
+liberal diet is necessary to preserve life; and it was requisite to
+have a prisoner, acting as nurse, to sit up with him through the
+night. The cost to the West Riding of this single case, counting
+expenses of all kinds, could not have been less than L.6."
+
+'The governor of the city prison at York said--"By the
+acknowledgments of the prisoners themselves, I know that the
+practice still continues of committing offences on purpose to get
+committed to this prison. Four prisoners were liberated this morning
+who had broken a street-lamp with the evident intention of being
+sent to this prison. They were sentenced to seven days'
+imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
+with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
+one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
+the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
+order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
+who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
+opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
+sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
+pass their time in idleness; no prisoners except those sentenced to
+hard labour being set to work."
+
+'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
+at the same prison:--
+
+"_Dec. 12th, 1849._--The number of prisoners who commit offences
+with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
+yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
+expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
+is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward."'
+
+If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
+been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
+when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
+got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
+worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
+tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
+the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
+and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
+it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
+vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
+is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
+desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
+shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
+for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
+comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
+utterly-abandoned class!
+
+Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
+that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
+labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
+wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
+their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
+criminal class possessed the feelings of gentlemen; whereas the real
+thing to be thought of, was to give them labour so excessively
+toilsome and irksome as to be remembered with salutary horror all
+the days of their life. For example, no kind of punishment, we
+believe, has proved so sure a terror as that of the shot-drill in
+the military prisons. This consists in lifting a cannon-ball of
+perhaps twenty pounds' weight; marching with it for a dozen yards;
+then laying it down; and so on, repeating the same thing for an
+hour. Now this is clearly a useless and most degrading species of
+labour; yet it is a terrible infliction, and we are told seldom
+fails in its effect--that is to say, it deters from the commission
+of crime.
+
+The experience of the last few years would shew that much is still
+to be learned in the art of criminal discipline; and indeed the
+whole question of what is to be done with our criminal population is
+becoming daily more perplexing. Mere confinement is found to be of
+small avail. Transportation is exploded; for it improves the
+circumstances of criminals instead of making them worse. Capital
+punishment has also had its day, and, excepting for a very few
+offences, is abandoned as useless, independently of being revolting
+to humanity. One writer proposes to work convicts in gangs at
+out-door labour, such as mining, and making railways; but the public
+would never tolerate the spectacle of this worst species of
+slave-labour; and besides, the employment of honest workers would be
+ruined. We are inclined to think that imprisonment, in a severe
+form, is after all the only practicable means of dealing with
+criminals. If anything be urgently wanted, it is a plan for
+preventing the growth of the criminal class; and this probably is
+not so difficult as it may appear. Of course, till there be a far
+broader system of public education than now prevails, the criminal
+population will never want recruits. Nevertheless, even with our
+present imperfect educational arrangements, something might be done.
+The criminal class is discovered to be on the whole a narrow class.
+The practice of living by depredation runs in families, and clings
+to individuals. The police of any given town could put their hand on
+almost every person who lives by fraud, theft, and robbery. They
+could at a day's notice secure nearly every one of them. A knowledge
+of this fact has suggested to Mr Matthew Hill a plan for capturing
+the whole criminal class, and obliging them to give security for
+their good behaviour; failing which, they should suffer
+incarceration as notoriously dangerous and troublesome to society. A
+fear of trenching on the liberty of the subject may prevent this
+ingenious scheme of the Recorder of Birmingham from being carried
+into effect; but to something or other of the kind he proposes,
+society must come at last, if it wish to save itself from being
+everlastingly worried and plundered by a habitually predatory class.
+In the Prison Report to which we have above referred, mention is
+made of a single family of thieves, consisting of fifteen
+individuals, who cost the country L.26,000 before they were got rid
+of. Is not such a fact quite monstrous!
+
+
+
+
+FRENCH BATTLE-PICTURES.
+
+
+In an American work--_Glances at Europe_, by Mr H. Greeley--the
+following sound observations occur on the battle-pictures in the
+palace of Versailles: 'These battle-pieces have scarcely more
+historic than artistic value, since the names of at least half of
+them might be transposed, and the change be undetected by
+ninety-nine out of every hundred who see them. If _all_ the French
+battles were thus displayed, it might be urged with plausibility
+that these galleries were historical in their character; but a full
+half of the story--that which tells of French disaster and
+discomfiture--is utterly suppressed. The battles of Ptolemais, of
+Ivry, of Fontenoy, of Rivoli, of Austerlitz, &c. are here as
+imposing as paint can make them; but never a whisper of Agincourt,
+Cressy, Poitiers, Blenheim, or Ramillies; nor yet of Salamanca, of
+Vittoria, of Leipsic, or Waterloo. Even the wretched succession of
+forays which the French have for the last twenty years been
+prosecuting in Algerine Africa, here shine resplendent; for Vernet
+has painted, by Louis-Philippe's order, and at France's cost, a
+succession of battle-pieces, wherein French numbers and science are
+seen prevailing over Arab barbarism and irregular valour, in combats
+whereof the very names have been wisely forgotten by mankind, though
+they occurred but yesterday. One of these is much the largest
+painting I ever saw, and is probably the largest in the world, and
+it seems to have been got up merely to exhibit one of
+Louis-Philippe's sons in the thickest of the fray. Last of all, we
+have the Capture of Abd-el-Kader, as imposing as Vernet could make
+it, but no whisper of the persistent perfidy wherewith he has been
+retained for several years in bondage, in violation of the express
+agreement of his captors. The whole collection is, in its general
+effect, delusive and mischievous--the purpose being to exhibit war
+as always glorious, and France as uniformly triumphant. It is by
+means like these that the business of shattering knee-joints and
+multiplying orphans is kept in countenance.'
+
+
+
+
+NEW APPLICATIONS OF MANGEL-WURZEL.
+
+
+A patent has been taken out for the following applications of
+mangel-wurzel:--_1st_, To prepare a substance which may be combined
+with, or employed in place of coffee, the mangel-wurzel roots are
+well washed, cut into pieces; about the size of peas or beans, and
+then dried and roasted in the same manner as coffee-berries. The
+product is ground after being roasted, and it is then ready for use.
+_2d_, A substitute for tea is produced by cutting the leaves of
+mangel-wurzel into small strips or shreds, drying the same, and then
+placing them upon a hot plate, which is kept at a temperature
+sufficiently high to slightly char the leaves. The charred
+mangel-wurzel leaves are to be used in precisely the same way as
+tea. _3d_, To manufacture a fermented liquor, the mangel-wurzel
+roots are well washed, cut into small pieces, and put into a vat,
+wherein they are permitted to ferment for two or three days, at a
+temperature of about 70 degrees, and water is added thereto. A
+fermented liquor is thus obtained similar to perry or cider. _4th_,
+When the mangel-wurzel roots are to be employed in the preparation
+of wort, they are washed, and cut into small pieces, which are
+dried, or slightly charred, by the action of kilns or ovens, of the
+kind used for drying malt; and wort is prepared from this produce in
+the same manner as from malt.
+
+
+
+
+THE MARTYRDOM OF FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.[6]
+
+
+                             I.
+
+  The great human whirlpool!--'tis seething and seething:
+  On! No time for shrieking out, no time for breathing;
+  All toiling and moiling--some feebler, some bolder,
+  But each sees a fiend-face grin over his shoulder:
+      Thus merrily live they in Vanity Fair!
+
+  The great human caldron--it boils ever higher;
+  Some drowning, some sinking; while some, creeping nigher,
+  Come thirsting to lean o'er its outermost verges,
+  Or touch--as a child's feet touch trembling the surges:
+      One plunge--Ho! more souls swamped in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'Let's live while we live, for to-morrow all's over.
+  Drink deep, drunkard bold! and kiss close, thou mad lover!
+  Smile, hypocrite, smile! it is no such hard labour,
+  While each with red hand tears the heart of his neighbour
+      All slyly.--We're strange folk in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'Hist!--each for himself, or _herself_, which sounds smoother,
+  Though man's no upholder, and woman no soother,
+  Both struggle alike here.--What, weeping?--what, raving?
+  Pah!--fight out the battle all! No time for saving!
+      Ha! ha! 'tis a wondrous place, Vanity Fair!'
+
+  The mad crowd divides, and then closes swift after;
+  Afar, towers the pyre, lit with shouting and laughter;
+  'What new sport is this?' lisps a reveller, half turning;--
+  'One Faithful, poor wretch! who is led to the burning:
+      He cumbered us sorely in Vanity Fair!
+
+  'A dreamer--who held every man for a brother;
+  A coward--who, emit on one cheek, gave the other:
+  A fool--whose blind truth aye believed all knaves' lying;
+  Too simple to live, so most fitted for dying.
+      Ha! such are best swept out of Vanity Fair.'
+
+
+                             II.
+
+  Silence! though the flame-drifts wave and flutter;
+  Silence! though the crowd their curses mutter;
+  Silence! through this fiery purgatory
+  God is leading up a soul to glory.
+
+  See, the white lips with no moans are trembling,
+  Hate of foes, or plaint of friends' dissembling;
+  If sighs come--most patient prayers outlive them:
+  _'Lord, these know not what they do. Forgive them!'_
+
+  Thirstier still the roaring flames are glowing,
+  Fainter in his ear the laughters growing;
+  Brief endures the fierce and fiery trial--
+  Angel-welcomes drown the earth-denial.
+
+  Now the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy,
+  Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body,
+  While through harmless flames immortal flying
+  Shoots the beauteous soul. This--this is _dying_!
+
+  Lo! the opening heavens with splendours rifted;
+  Lo! the palms that wait those hands uplifted;
+  And the fiery chariot cloud-descending,
+  And the legioned angels close attending!
+
+  Let his poor dust mingle with the embers,
+  While the crowd sweeps on, and none remembers;
+  Saints and angels through the Infinite glory,
+  Praising God, recount the martyr's story.
+
+  Thou, who through the trial-fires bewildering
+  Of this cruel world, dost lead Thy children,
+  With the purifying give the balm;
+  Grant to martyr-pangs the martyr's palm!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Footnote 6: Suggested partly by a sketch in David Scott's
+illustrations of the _Pilgrim's Progress_.]
+
+
+
+
+VARIETY OF AMBER.
+
+
+There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
+very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
+amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
+buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
+the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
+cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
+quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
+standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
+pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
+divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
+yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
+little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
+was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
+Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
+effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
+of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
+opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
+amber beautifully transparent.
+
+
+
+
+HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?
+
+
+Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
+because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
+blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
+and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
+circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
+attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
+reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
+substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
+detected the animal quality--the ammonia--in the wool of the
+blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
+something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
+committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
+the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
+out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
+contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
+hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
+opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.
+
+
+
+
+AN AMERICAN EDITOR.
+
+
+He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick he
+twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to
+frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the
+pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of
+the most beautiful 'persuaders' ever manufactured by Colt, we are
+satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers. We should also
+state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but
+that on every Saturday until one o'clock P.M. he is always at the
+office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every
+satisfaction for the articles he publishes.--_Boston Rouge Gazette._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent
+to MAXWELL & Co., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom
+all applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419,
+New Series, January 10, 1852, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
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