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diff --git a/14778-0.txt b/14778-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f494eeb --- /dev/null +++ b/14778-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9074 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14778 *** + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +NO. CCCXLI. MARCH, 1844. VOL. LV. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + ETHIOPIA, + A WORD OR TWO OF THE OPERA-TIVE CLASSES. BY LORGNON, + THE PIRATES OF SEGNA. A TALE OF VENICE AND THE ADRIATIC. PART I., + COLONEL DAVIDSON'S TRAVELS IN INDIA, + BELFRONT CASTLE. A RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW, + DUMAS IN HIS CURRICLE, + MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. PART IX., + THE OLYMPIC JUPITER, + A ROMAN IDYL, + GOETHE, + HYMN OF A HERMIT, + THE LUCKLESS LOVER, + FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION--THE CORN LAWS, + + * * * * * + + + + +ETHIOPIA[1] + + [1] _The Highlands of Ethiopa._ by Major W. CORNWALLIS HARRIS, H.E. + I.C. Engineers. 3 vols. + + +From the various circumstances of our day, the impression is powerfully +made upon intelligent men in Europe, that some extraordinary change is +about to take place in the general condition of mankind. A new ardour of +human intercourse seems to be spreading through all nations. Europe has +laid aside her perpetual wars, and seems to be assuming a _habit_ of peace. +Even France, hitherto the most belligerent of European nations, is +evidently abandoning the passion for conqest, and begining to exert her +fine powers in the cultivation of commerce. All the nations of Europe are +either following her example, or sending out colonies of greater or less +magnitude, to fill the wild portions of the world. Regions hitherto +utterly neglected, and even scarcely known, are becoming objects of +enlightened regard; and mankind, in every quarter, is approaching, with +greater or less speed, to that combined interest and mutual intercourse, +which are the first steps to the true possession of the globe. + +But, we say it with the gratification of Englishmen, proud of their +country's fame, and still prouder of its principles--that the lead in this +noblest of all human victories, has been clearly taken by England. It is +she who pre-eminently stimulates the voyage, and plants the colony, and +establishes the commerce, and civilizes the people. And all this has been +done in a manner so little due to popular caprice or national ambition, to +the mere will of a sovereign, or the popular thirst of possession, that it +invests the whole process with a sense of unequaled security. Resembling +the work of nature in the simplicity of its growth, it will probably also +resemble the work of nature in the permanence of its existence. It is not +an exotic, fixed in an unsuitable soil by capricions planting; but a seed +self-sown, nurtured by the common air and dews, assimilated to the climate, +and strikig its roots deep in the ground which it has thus, by its own +instincts, chosen. The necessities of British commerce, the urgency of +English protection, and the overflow of British population, have been the +great acting causes of our national efforts; and as those are causes which +regulate themselves, their results are as regular and unshaken, as they +are natural and extensive. But England has also had a higher motive. She +has unquestionably mingled a spirit of benevolence largely with her +general exertions. She has laboured to communicate freedom, law, a feeling +of property, and a consciousness of the moral debt due by man to the Great +Disposer of all, wherever she has had the power in her hands. No people +have ever been the worse for her, and all have been the better, in +proportion to their following her example. Wherever she goes, oppression +decays, the safety of person and property begins to be felt, the sword is +sheathed, the pen and the ploughshare commence alike to reclaim the mental +and the physical soil, and civilization comes, like the dawn, however +slowly advancing, to prepare the heart of the barbarian for the burst of +light, in the rising of Christianity upon his eyes. + +The formation of a new route between India and Europe by the Red Sea--a +route, though well known to the ancient world, yet wholly incapable of +adoption by any but an Arab horseman, from the perpetual tumults of the +country--compelled England to look for a resting-place and depot for her +steam-ships at the mouth of the Red Sea. Aden, a desolated port, was the +spot fixed on; and the steam-vessels touching there were enabled to +prepare themselves for the continuance of their voyage. We shall +subsequently see how strikingly British protection has changed the +desolateness of this corner of the Arab wilderness, how extensively it has +become a place of commerce, and how effectually it will yet furnish the +means of increasing our knowledge of the interior of the great Arabian +peninsula. + +It is remarkable that Africa, one of the largest and most fertile portions +of the globe, remains one of the least known. Furnishing materials of +commerce which have been objects of universal desire since the +deluge--gold, gems, ivory, fragrant gums, and spices--it has still +remained almost untraversed by the European foot, except along its coast. +It has been circumnavigated by the ships of every European nation, its +slave-trade has divided its profits and its pollutions among the chief +nations of the eastern and western worlds; and yet, to this hour, there +are regions of Africa, probably amounting to half its bulk, and possessing +kingdoms of the size of France and Spain, of which Europe has no more +heard than of the kingdoms of the planet Jupiter. The extent of Africa is +enormous:--5000 miles in length, 4600 in breadth, it forms nearly a +square of 13,430,000 square miles! the chief part solid ground; for we +know of no Mediterranean to break its continuity--no mighty reservoir for +the waters of its hills--and scarcely more than the Niger and the Nile for +the means of penetrating any large portion of this huge continent. + +The population naturally divides itself into two portions, connected with +the character of its surface--the countries to the north and the south of +the mountains of Kong and the Jebel-al-Komr. To the north of this line of +demarcation, are the kingdoms of the foreign conquerors, who have driven +the original natives to the mountains, or have subjected them as slaves. +This is the Mahometan land. To the south of this line dwells the Negro, in +a region a large portion of which is too fiery for European life. This is +Central Africa; distinguished from all the earth by the unspeakable +mixture of squalidness and magnificence, simplicity of life yet fury of +passion, savage ignorance of its religious notions yet fearful worship of +evil powers, its homage to magic, and desperate belief in spells, +incantations and the _fetish_. The configuration of the country, so far as +it can be conjectured, assists this primeval barbarism. Divided by natural +barriers of hill, chasm, or river, into isolated states, they act under a +general impulse of hostility and disunion. If they make peace, it is only +for purposes of plunder; and, if they plunder, it is only to make slaves. +The very fertility of the soil, at once rendering them indolent and +luxurious, excites their passions, and the land is a scene alike of +profligacy and profusion. To the south of this vast region lies a +third--the land of the Caffre, occupying the eastern coast, and, with the +Betjouana and the Hottentot, forming the population of the most promising +portion of the continent. But here another and more enterprising race have +fixed themselves; and the great English colony of the Cape, with its +dependent settlements, has begun the first real conquest of African +barbarism. Whether Aden may not act on the opposite coasts of the Red Sea, +and Abyssinia become once more a Christian land; or whether even some +impulse may not divinely come from Africa itself, are questions belonging +to the future. But there can scarcely be a doubt, that the existence of a +great English viceroyalty in the most prominent position of South Africa, +the advantages of its government, the intelligence of its people, their +advancement in the arts essential to comfort, and the interest of their +protection, their industry, and their example, must, year by year, operate +in awaking even the negro to a feeling of his own powers, of the enjoyment +of his natural faculties, and of that rivalry which stimulates the skill +of man to reach perfection. + +The name of Africa, which, in the Punic tongue, signifies "ears of corn," +was originally applied only to the northern portion, lying between the +Great Desert and the shore, and now held by the pashalics of Tunis and +Tripoli. They were then the granary of Rome. The name Lybia was derived +from the Hebrew _Leb_, (heat,) and was sometimes partially extended to the +continent, but was geographically limited to the provinces between the +Great Syrtis and Egypt. The name Ethiopia is evidently Greek, (burning, or +black, visage.) + +There is strong reason to believe that the Portuguese boast of the +sixteenth century--the circumnavigation of Africa--was anticipated by the +Phoenician sailors two thousand years and more. We have the testimony of +Herodotus, that Necho, king of Egypt, having failed in an attempt to +connect the Nile with the Red Sea by a canal, determine to try whether +another route might not be within his reach, and sent Phoenician vessels +from the Red Sea, with orders to sail round Africa, and return by the +Mediterranean. It is not improbable that, from being unacquainted with the +depth to which it penetrates the south, he had expected the voyage to be a +brief one. It seems evident that the navigators themselves did not +conceive that it could extend beyond the equator, from their surprise at +seeing the sun rise on their _right hand_. The narrative tells us--"The +Phoenicians, taking their course from the Red Sea, entered into the +Southern Ocean on the approach of autumn; they landed in Lybia, planted +corn, and remained till the harvest. They then sailed again. After having +thus spent two years, they passed the Columns of Hercules in the third, +and returned to Egypt." Herodotus doubted their story--"Their relation," +says the honest old Greek, "may obtain belief from others, but to me it +seems incredible; for they affirmed, that, having sailed round Africa, +they _had the sun on their right hand_. Thus was Africa for the first time +known." + +Thus the very circumstance which the old historian regarded as throwing +doubt on the discovery, is now one of the strongest corroborations of its +truth.[2] There appear to have been several attempts to sail along the +west coast, by ancient expeditions; but to the Portuguese is due the +modern honour of having first sailed round the Cape. From 1412, the +Portuguese, under a race of adventurous princes, had extended their +discoveries; but it occupied them sixty years to reach the Line, and +nearly thirty years more to reach the Cape, which they first called Cabo +Tormentoso, (Stormy Cape.) But the king gave it the more lucky, though the +less poetical, title which it now bears. + + [2] Reunell, p. 682. + +The triumph of Columbus, in his discovery of the New World in 1493, raised +the emulation of the Portuguese, then regarded as the first navigators in +the world; yet it was not until four years after, that their expedition +was sent, to equalize the stupendous accession to the Spanish domains, by +the possession of the East. In July 1497, Gama sailed, reached Calicut May +2, 1498, and returned to Portugal, covered with well-earned renown, after +a voyage of upwards of two years. + +Having given this brief outline of the divisions and character of the +mighty continent, which seemed important to the better understanding of +the immediate subject, we revert to the intelligent and animated volumes +of Captain (now Major) Harris. + +A letter from the Bombay government, 29th April 1841, gave him this +distinguished credential:-- + +"SIR--I am directed to inform you that the Honourable the Governor in +Council, having formed a very high estimate of your talents and +acquirements, and of the spirit of enterprise and decision, united with +prudence and discretion, exhibited in your recently published travels +through the territories of the Maselakatze to the Tropic of Capricorn, has +been pleased to select you to conduct the mission which the British +Government has resolved to send to Sahela Selasse, the king of Shoa, in +Southern Abyssinia, whose capital, Ankober, is supposed to be about four +hundred miles inland from the port of Tajura, on the African coast." + +[Then followed the mention of the vessels appointed to carry the mission.] + + (Signed) "J.P. WILLOUGHBY," + + "Secretary to Government." + +The persons comprising the mission were Major W.C. Harris, Bombay +Engineers, Captain Douglas Graham, Bombay army, principal assistant, with +others, naturalists, draftsmen, &c., and an escort of two sergeants and +fifteen rank and file, volunteers from H.M. 6th foot and the Bombay +Artillery. + +On the afternoon of a sultry day in April, Major Harris, with his gallant +and scientific associates, embarked on board the East India Company's +steam ship Auckland, in the harbour of Bombay, on their voyage to the +kingdom of Shoa in Southern Abyssinia, in the year 1841. The steam frigate +pursued her way prosperously through the waters, and on the ninth day was +within sight of Cape Aden, after a voyage of 1680 miles. The Cape, named +by the natives, Jebel Shemshan, rises nearly 1800 feet above the ocean, is +frequently capped with clouds, a wild and fissured mass of rock, and +evidently intended by nature for one of those great beacons which announce +the approach to an inland sea. On rounding the Cape, the British eye was +delighted with the sight of the Red Sea squadron, riding at anchor within +the noble bay. The arrival of the frigate also caused a sensation on the +shore; and Major Harris happily describes the feelings with which a new +arrival is hailed by the British garrison on that dreary spot, their only +excitement being the periodical visits of the packets between Suez and +Bombay. In the dead of the night a blue light shoots up in the offing. It +is answered by the illumination of the block ship, then the thunder of her +guns is heard, then, as she nears the shore, the flapping of her paddles +is heard through the silence, then the spectral lantern appears at the +mast-head, and then she rushes to her anchorage, leaving in her wake a +long phosphoric train. + +Wherever England drops an anchor a new scene of existence has begun. At +Aden, the supply of coals for the steam-ships has introduced a new trade; +gangs of brawny Seedies, negroes from the Zanzibar coast, but fortunately +enfranchised, make a livelihood by transferring the coal from the depots +on shore to the steamers. Though the most unmusical race in the world, +they can do nothing without music, but it is music of their own--a +tambourine beaten with the thigh-bone of a calf; but their giant frames go +through prodigious labour, carry immense sacks, and drink prodigious +draughts to wash the coal-dust down. Such is the furious excitement with +which they rush into this repulsive operation, that Major Harris thinks +that for every hundred tons of coal thus embarked, at least one life is +sacrificed; those strong savages, at once inflamed by drink, and overcome +with toil, throwing themselves down on the dust or the sand, to rise no +more. This shows the advantage of English philosophy: our coal-heavers in +the Thames toil as much, are nearly as naked, nearly as black, and +probably drink more; but we never hear of their dying in a fit of rapture +in the embrace of a coal-sack. When the day is done, drunk or sober, +washed or unwashed, they go home to their wives, sleep untroubled by the +cares of kings, and return to fresh dust, drink, and dirt, next morning. + +The coast of Arabia has no claims to the picturesque: all its charms, like +those of the oyster, lie within the roughest of possible shells. Its first +aspect resembles heaps of the cinders of a glass-house--a building whose +heat seems to be fully realized by the temperature of this fearful place. +England has a resident there, Captain Haynes, named as political agent. +That any human being, who could exist in any other place, would remain in +Aden, is one of the wonders of human nature. An officer, of course, must +go wherever he is sent; but such is the innate love for a post, that if +this gallant and intelligent person were roasted to death, as might happen +in one of the coolest days of the Ethiopian summer, there would be a +thousand applications before a month was over, to the Foreign Office, for +the honour of being carbonaded on the rocks of Aden. + +The promontory has all the marks of volcanic eruption, and is actually +recorded, by an Arab historian of the tenth century, to have been thrown +up about that period. "Its sound, like the rumbling of thunder, might then +be heard many miles, and from its entrails vomited forth redhot stones, +with a flood of liquid fire." The crater of the extinguished volcano is +still visible, though shattered and powdered down by the tread under which +Alps and Appennines themselves crumble away--that of Time. The only point +on which we are sceptical is the late origin of the promontory. Nothing +beyond a sandhill or a heap of ashes has been produced on the face of +nature since the memory of man. That a rock, or rather a mountain chain, +with a peak 1800 feet high, should have been produced at any time time +within the last four thousand years, altogether tasks our credulity. The +powers of nature are now otherwise employed than in rough-hewing the +surface of the globe. She has been long since, like the sculptor, employed +in polishing and finishing--the features were hewn out long ago. Her +master-hand has ever since been employed in smoothing them. + +Aden's reputation for barrenness is an old one--"Aden," says Ben Batuta of +Tangiers, "is situate upon the sea-shore; a large city without either seed, +water, or tree." This was written five hundred years ago; yet the ruins of +fortifications and watch-towers along the rocks, show that even this human +oven was the object of cupidity in earlier times; and the British guns, +bristling among the precipices, show that the desire is undecayed even in +our philosophic age. + +Yet the Arab imagination has created its wonders even in this repulsive +scene; and the generation of monkeys which tenant the higher portion of +the rocks, are declared by Arab tradition to be the remnant of the once +powerful tribe of Ad, changed into apes by the displeasure of Heaven, when +"the King of the World," Sheddad, renowned in eastern story, +presumptuously dared to form a garden which should rival Paradise. The +prophet Hud remonstrated; but his remonstrances went for nothing, and the +indignant monarch and his courtiers suddenly found their visages simious, +their tongues chattering, and their lower portions furnished with tails--a +species of transformation, which, so far as regards visage and tongue, is +supposed to be not unfrequent among courtiers to this day. But this showy +tradition goes further still. The Bostan al Irem (Garden of Paradise) is +believed still to exist in the deserts of Aden; though geographers differ +on its position. It still retains its domes and bowers--both of +indescribable beauty; its crystal fountains, and its walks strewed with +pearls for sand. It is true, that no living man can absolutely aver that +he has seen this place of wonders; but that is a mere result of our very +wicked age. This has not been always the case; for Abdallah Ibn Aboo +Kelaba passed a night in its palace in the reign of Moowiych, the prince +of the Faithful. Lucky the man who shall next find it, but unlucky the +world when he does; for then the day of the general conflagration will be +at hand. In the mean time, it remains, like the top of Mount Meru, covered +with clouds, or, like the inside of a Chinese puzzle, a work of unrivaled +art, conceivable but intangible by man. + +In this pleasant mingling of fact, visible to his shrewd eye, and fiction +drawn from ancient fancy, Major Harris leads us on. But Aden is not yet +exhausted of wonders--an island in its bay, Seerah, (the fortified black +isle,) is pronounced to have been the refuge of Cain on the murder of Abel; +and its volcanic and barren chaos is no unequal competitor for the honour +with the rocks of the Caucasus. + +But England, which changes every thing, is changing all this. Within the +next generation, the railway will run down the romances of Nutrib; a +cotton manufactory will send up its smokes to blot out the celestial blue +by day, and shoot forth its sullen illumination by night, over the +anointed soil; the minstrel will turn policeman, and the sheik be a +justice of peace; political economy will have its itinerant lecturers, +enlightening the Bedouins on the principles of rent and taxes; the city +will have a lord mayor and corporation of the deepest black; the volcano +will be planted with villas; turnpikes will measure out the sands; a hotel +will flourish on the summit of Jebel Shemshan; and Aden will differ from +Liverpool in nothing but being two thousand miles further from the smoke +and multitudes of London. + +The Arab is still the prominent person among the native population of this +territory. Major Harris describes him well. The bronzed and sunburnt +visage, surrounded by long matted locks of raven hair; the slender but +wiry and active frame, and the energetic gait and manner, proclaimed the +untamable descendant of Ishmael. He nimbly mounts the crupper of his now +unladen dromedary, and at a trot moves down the bazar. A checked kerchief +round his brows, and a kilt of dark blue calico round his frame, comprise +his slender costume. His arms have been deposited outside the Turkish wall; +and as he looks back, his meagre, ferocious aspect, flanked by that +tangled web of hair, stamps him the roving tenant of the desert. It is +curious to find in this remote country a custom similar to that of the +fiery cross, which in old times summoned the Celtic tribes to arms. On the +alarm of invasion, a branch, torn by the priest from the _nebek_, (a tree +bearing a fruit like the Siberian crab,) is lighted in the fire, the flame +is then quenched in the blood of a newly slaughtered ram. It is then sent +forth with a messenger to the nearest clan. Thus, great numbers are +assembled with remarkable promptitude. In the invasion under Ibrahim Pasha, +sixteen thousand of these wild warriors were assembled from one tribe. +They crept into the Egyptian camp by night, and, using only their daggers, +made such formidable slaughter, that the Pasha was glad to escape by a +precipitate retreat. + +The Jews form an important part of the population, as artizans and +manufacturers. Feeling the natural veneration for the Chosen People in all +their misfortunes, and convinced that the time will come when those +misfortunes will be obliterated, it is highly gratifying to find, that +even in this place of their ancient sufferings, they are beginning to feel +the benefit of British protection. Hitherto, through their indefatigable +industry, having acquired opulence in Arabia as elsewhere, they were +afraid either to display or to enjoy it; but now, under the protection of +the British flag, they not merely enjoy their wealth, but they publicly +practise the rights of their religion. Stone slabs with Hebrew +inscriptions mark the place of their dead. They have schools for the +education of their children; and their men and women, arrayed in their +holiday apparel, sit fearlessly in the synagogue, and listen to the +reading of the law and the prophets, as of old. It is a great source of +gratification to the philanthropist to find, that wherever England extends +her power, industry, commerce, and peace are the natural result. Aden, +barren as the soil is, is evidently approaching to a prosperity which it +never possessed even in its most flourishing days. Emigrants from Yemen +and from both shores of the Red Sea, are daily crowding within the walls, +through the security which they offer against native oppression. In the +short space of three years, the population has risen to twenty thousand +souls. Substantial dwellings are rising up in every quarter, and at all +the adjacent ports hundreds of native merchants are only waiting the +erection of permanent fortifications, in token of our intending to remain, +to flock under the guns with their families and wealth. The opinion of +this intelligent writer is, that Aden, as a free port, whilst she pours +wealth into a now impoverished land, must erelong become the queen of the +adjacent seas, and rank amongst the most useful dependencies of the +British crown. + +The mission having remained some time at Aden, to purchase horses and +stores, sailed on the 15th May; and, on losing sight of Aden, the members +of the mission characteristically took the "Pilgrims' vow" not to shave +until their return. On the 17th they opened the town of Tajura, on the +verge of a broad expanse of blue water, over which a gossamerlike fleet of +fishing catamarans already plied their craft. Their pilot, an old Arab, +was a man of fun, and the specimens of his tongue are good. In some +reference to the anchorage, he said, "Now if we only had two-fathom Ali +here, you would not have all these difficulties. When they want to lay out +an anchor, they have nothing to do but to hand it over to Ali, and he +walks away with it into six or eight feet without any ado. I went once +upon a time in the dark to grope for a berth on board of his buggalow, and, +stumbling over some one's toes, enquired to whom they belonged. 'To Ali,' +was the reply. 'And whose knees are these?' said I, after walking half +across the deck. 'Ali's.' 'And this head in the scuppers, pray whose is +it?' 'Ali's; what do you want with it?' 'Ali again!' I exclaimed; 'then I +must even look for stowage elsewhere.'" + +The sight of a shark in the harbour let loose the old jester again. "A +friend of mine," said he, "pilot of a vessel almost as fast a sailer as my +own, which is acknowledged to be the best in these seas, was bound to +Mocha with camels on board. When off the high table-land betwixt the Bay +of Tajura and the Red Sea, one of the beasts dying, was hove overboard. Up +came a shark ten times the size of that fellow there, and swallowed the +camel, leaving only his hinder legs sticking out of his jaws; but before +he had time to think where he was to find stowage for it, up came another +tremendous fellow and bolted the shark, camel, legs, and all." + +In return for this anecdote, the major gave him the story of the two +Kilkenny cats in the saw-pit, which fought, until nothing remained of +either but the tail and a bit of the flue. The old pilot doubted. "How can +that be?" said he, revolving the business seriously in his mind. "As for +the story I have told you, it is as true as the Koran." + +After a short stay and presentation to the Sultan of Tajura, a slave-port, +with a miserable old man for its master, the mission once more set forth +for Shoa; yet even here we glean a specimen of Arab speech. "Trees attain +not to their growth in a single day," said an Arab, when remonstrating +with the sultan on his inordinate love of lucre. "Take the tree as your +text, and learn that property is to be gathered only by slow degrees." +"True," said the old miser; "but, sheik, you must have lost sight of the +fact, that my leaves are already withered, and that, if I would be rich, I +have not a moment to lose." + +The packing up for the journey was a new source of trouble; every +camel-driver found fault with his load. However, at length every article +was stowed, except a hand-organ and a few stand of arms. At length, a +great hulking savage offered to take the arms, provided they were cut in +two to suit the back of his animals. We have then another instance of Arab +drollery. "You are a tall man," said the old pilot; "suppose we shorten +you by the legs." "No, no," said the barbarian, "I am flesh and blood, and +shall be spoiled." "So will the contents of these cases, you offspring of +an ass," said the old man, "if you divide them." + +The progress to the interior from the port of Tajura, led them over +immense ranges of basaltic cliffs, where the heat of the sun was felt with +an intensity scarcely conceivable by European feelings. In this land of +fire, the road skirting the base of a barren range covered with heaps of +lava blocks, and its foot marked by piles of stones, the memorials of +deeds of blood, the lofty conical peak of Jebel Seearo rose in sight, and +not long afterwards the far-famed Lake Assad, surrounded by its dancing +mirage, was seen sparkling at its base. + +The first glimpse of this phenomenon, "though curious, was far from +pleasing"--"an elliptical basin, seven miles in its transverse axis, +filled half with smooth water of the deepest cerulean hue, and half with a +sheet of glittering snow-white salt, girded on three sides by huge +hot-looking mountains, that dip their basins into its very bowl, and on +the fourth by crude, half-formed rocks of lava, broken and divided by +chasms. No sound broke on the ear, not a ripple played on the water. The +molten surface of the lake lay like burnished steel, the fierce sky was +without a cloud, and the angry sun, like a ball of metal at a white heat, +rode in full blaze." + +It is scarcely wonderful, that among a people devoted to superstition, +those terrible passes and sultry hollows should be marked as the haunts of +the powers of evil. Adyli, a deep mysterious cavern at the extremity of +one of those melancholy plains, is believed to be the especial abode of +gins and _afreets_, whose voices are heard in the night, and who carry off +the traveller to devour him without remorse. A late instance was mentioned +of a man who was compelled by the weariness of his camel to fall behind +the caravan, and who left no remnants behind him but his spear and shield. +Major Harris well describes this spot as one which, from its desolate +position, might be believed to be the last stage of the habitable world. +"A close mephitic stench, impeding respiration, arose from the saline +exhalations of the stagnant lake. A frightful glare from the white salt +and limestone hillocks threatened extinction to the vision, and a +sickening heaviness in the loaded atmosphere was enhanced rather than +alleviated by the fiery breath of the north-westerly wind, which blew +without interruption during the day. The air was inflamed, the sky +sparkled, and columns of burning sand, which at quick intervals towered +high into the atmosphere, became so illumined as to appear like tall +pillars of fire. Crowds of horses, mules, and camels, tormented to madness +by the poisonous gad-fly, flocked to share the only bush; and, disputing +with their heels the slender shelter it afforded, compelled several of the +party to seek refuge in caves formed below by fallen masses of volcanic +rock, heated to the temperature of a potter's kiln, and fairly baking up +the marrow in the bones." The heat in this place, with the thermometer +under the shade of cloaks and umbrellas, was at 126°. It is only +surprising how any of the party survived. Certainly if Abyssinia is to be +approached only by this road, the prospect of an intercourse with it from +the east, appears among the most improbable things of this world. + +One of the advantages of continental travel has been long since said to be, +its teaching us how many comfortable things we enjoy at home; and it +appears that no Englishman can comprehend the value of that despised fluid, +fresh water, until he has left the precincts of his own fortunate land: +but it is in Africa, and peculiarly on this Abyssinian high-road, that the +value of a draught of spring water is to be especially estimated. "Since +leaving the shores of India," says Major Harris, "the party had gradually +been in training towards a disregard of dirty water. On board a ship of +any description, the fluid is seldom very clear or very plentiful. At Cape +Aden, there was little perceptible difference between the sea water and +the land water. At Tajura, the beverage obtainable was far from being +improved in quality by the taint of the new skins in which it was +transferred from the only well; and now, in the very heart of the +scorching Tehama, where a copious draught of pure water seemed absolutely +indispensable every five minutes, the mixture was the very acme of +abomination. Fresh hides stript from the he-goat, besmeared inside as well +as out with old tallow and strong bark tan, filled from an impure well at +Sagallo, tossed and tumbled during two days and nights under a distilling +heat," formed a drink which we should conclude to be little short of +poison. However, the human throat learns to accommodate itself to every +thing in time, and the time came when even this abomination was longed for. + +But the worst was not yet come. It was midnight when the party commenced +the steep ascent of the south-eastern boundary of the lake, a ridge of +volcanic rocks. "The north-east wind had scarcely diminished its parching +fierceness, and in hot suffocating gusts swept over the glittering expanse +of water and salt, where the moon shone brightly; each deadly puff +succeeded by the stillness that foretells a tropical hurricane. The +prospect around was wild--beetling, basaltic cones, and jagged slabs of +shattered lava." + +The path itself was formidable, winding along the crest of the ridge over +sheets of broken lava, with scarcely more than sufficient width to admit +of the progress in single file. "The horrors of this dismal night set all +description at defiance." The hope of water, though at the distance of +sixteen miles, excited them for a while; but at length even this +excitement failed. And "owing to the heat, fasting, and privation, the +limbs of the weaker refused the task, and after the first two miles they +dropped fast into the rear. Under the fiery blast of the midnight sirocco +the cry for water, uttered feebly and with difficulty by numbers of +parched throats, now became incessant; and the supply for the whole party +falling short of a gallon and a half, it was not long to be answered. A +tiny sip of diluted vinegar for a moment assuaged the burning thirst which +raged in the vitals; but its effects were transient, and, after struggling +a few steps, they sank again, declaring their days to be numbered, and +their resolution to rise up no more. Dogs incontinently expired upon the +road, horses and mules that once lay down were abandoned to their fate; +while the lion-hearted soldier, who had braved death at the cannon's +mouth, subdued and unmanned by thirst, lay gasping by the wayside, hailing +approaching dissolution with delight, as the termination of tortures which +were no longer to be endured. As another day dawned, and the "round red +sun" again rose over the lake of salt, the courage even of those who had +borne up against this fiery trial began to flag: "a dimness came before +the drowsy eyes, giddiness seized the brain, and the hope held out by the +guides, of water in advance, seemed like the delusion of a dream." + +In this crisis, at which our chief wonder is, that Major Harris and his +explorers were ever heard of again, or had left any memorials of +themselves but their bones, a wild Bedouin was seen, "like a delivering +angel," hurrying forward with a large skin, filled with muddy water. This +well-timed supply was divided among the fainting people: a quantity was +poured over the face and down the throat of each; and at a late hour, +"ghastly, haggard, and exhausted, like men who had escaped from the jaws +of death, the whole had contrived to straggle into a camp, which, but for +the foresight and firmness of the son of Ali Abi,(who had sent the water,) +few individuals would have reached alive." + +After traversing this terrible desert of fifty miles--a barrier to all +general and commercial intercourse, which we should think impassable, +however it might be overcome by a small party of bold and hardy men, well +led, furnished with every supply, water excepted, which could sustain them +through its horrors, (and which yet, through that single want, had nearly +perished)--they persued a long and dlifficult march through a dreary +country, scantily peopled, dotted with robber clans, and exhibiting +impediments of all kinds in the knavery and villany of the native +authorities; until they reached the borders of Abyssinia. We had by no +means been aware that volcanoes had made so large a share of this portion +of Africa. The whole border seems to be volcanic, and to retain in its +blasted and broken surface, evidence of its having been, in remote ages, +perhaps in the earliest, the scene of most intense and general volcanic +action. + +In Major Harris's animated description--"singular and interesting indeed +is the wild scenery in the vicinity of the treacherous oasis of Sultelli. +A field of extinct volcanic cones, vomited out of the entrails of the +earth, and each encircled by a black belt of vitrified lava, environs it +on three sides; and of these Mount Abida, three thousand feet in height, +whose cup, enveloped in clouds, stretches some two and a half miles in +_diameter_, would seem to be the parent. Beyond, the still loftier crater +of Aiulloo, the ancient landmark of the now-decayed empire of Ethiopia, is +visible in dim perspective; and, looming hazily in the extreme distance, +is the great blue Abyssinian range." + +In any part of Africa a river of tolerable magnitude is an object of the +most anxious interest; and the approach to the Hawash, the boundary river +of the kingdom of Shoa, was looked to with eager speculation. At length +the height was reached from which was obtained "an exhilarating prospect +over the dark, lone valley of the long looked-for Hawash. The course of +the river was marked by a dense belt of trees and verdure, stretching +towards the base of the great mountain range, of which the cloud-capped +cone, which frowns over the capital of Shoa, forms the most conspicuous +feature." The mission now began to exalt:--"Though still far distant, the +ultimate destination of the embassy appeared almost to have been gained, +and none had an idea of the length of time that must elapse before his +foot should press the soil of Ankober." A day of intense heat was as usual +followed by a heavy fall of rain, which, owing to the unaccommodating +arrangement of striking the tents at sunset, thoroughly drenched the whole +party. + +The new difficulty was, how to cross the Hawash, "second of the rivers of +Abyssinia, and rising in the very heart of Ethipoia, at an elevation of +8000 feet above the sea. It is fed by niggardly tributaries from the high +bulwarks of Shoa and Efat, and flows, like a great artery, through the +arid plains of the Adaiel, green and wooded throughout its long course, +and finally absorbed in the lagoons of Aussa. The canopy of fleecy clouds, +which, as mid-day dawned, hung thick and heavy over the lofty blue peaks +beyond, gave sad presage of the deluge that was pouring between its +verdant banks from the higher regions of the source." + +The party now descended to enjoy the real luxuries of shade and water, in +a region where they had hitherto seen nothing but salt and lava. At first +thinly wooded, they found the soil covered with tall rank grass, from +which, however, the perpetual incursions of the robber tribes scare the +flocks and herds. Deeper down, they entered among gum-bearing acacias and +fruit-trees. "Guinea-fowl rose before them, groves of tamarisk, ringing to +the voice of the bell-bird, flanked every open glade, and the fractured +branches of the nobletrees gave proof of the presence of the most +ponderous of the mammalia." + +Forcing their way, with some difficulty, through this jungle, they +obtained their first near view of the river, a "deep volume of turbid +water," covered with drift wood, and rolling, at the rate of three miles +an hour, between clayey walls twenty-five feet in height. The breadth fell +short of sixty yards, but the flood was not yet at its maximum. Willows, +drooping over the stream, were festooned with recent drift, hanging many +feet above the level of the banks; and it was evident that the waters had +lately been out, to the overflowing of the country for many miles. The +river, now upwards of 2200 feet above the level of the ocean forms, in +this quarter, the nominal boundary of the kingdom of Shoa. + +They were now on "the spot which exhibited the forest life of Africa." In +a lake adjoining the river, the hippopotamus "rolled his unwieldy carcass +to the surface, and floating crocodiles, protruding his snout to blow a +snort that might be heard at the distance of a mile." An unfortunate +donkey, which had been partly drowned and partly strangled, was thrown out +of the camp. No sooner had night fallen, than this prey roused the +appetites of the whole forest, the howl and growl of wild beasts was heard +at their banquet on the donkey throughout the night. Lightening played +over the woods; the "violent snapping of the branches proclaimed the +nocturnal movements of the elephant and hippopotamus;" the loud roar and +startling snort were constantly heard; and by morning every vestige of the +dead animal, even to the skull, had disappeared. + +Africa, in all its provinces, is the scene of the boldest field sports in +the world--India and its tigers, perhaps, excepted. But Africa excels even +India in the variety and multitude of its mighty savages--lions, elephants, +panthers, and hippopotami; the sands, the forests, the jungles, the rivers, +the marshes, every thing and place abounds with brute life, on the largest, +the boldest, and the fiercest scale. Africa, with the human race on the +lowest grade, has the brute on the highest, and its true name is the great +kingdom of savage nature. + +A two-ounce ball had been lodged in the forehead of hippopotamus on the +evening of reaching the Hawash; but the animal having dived, the natives, +in some jealousy of the skill of the British rifle, declared that it had +not been mortally struck. The next dawn, however, decided the question, +for the "freckled pink sides of a dead hippopotamus were to be seen high +above the surface, as the distended carcass floated like a monstrous buoy +at anchor." Hawsers were carried out with all diligence, and the "colossus" +was towed ashore amidst the acclamations of the whole caravan. Then came a +native scene. A tribe of savages, who had waited, squatting, to see the +arrival of the monster, threw aside their bows and arrows, and, stripping +its thick hide from the ribs, attacked it with the vigour of an African +horde. Donkeys and women were laden with incredible despatch, and, +"staggering under huge flaps of meat," the savages went their way. + +The soil now became swampy, yet only the more filled with animal existence. +LE ADO, (the White Water,) a lake which they skirted, of two miles' +diameter, was the haunt of countless wild-fowl, geese, mallards, teal, +herons, flamingoes. A party of Bedouin women deposed to having seen +another "party" of elephants taking a bath in the spot half an hour before, +and the prints of their huge feet in the moist sands corroborated the +testimony. Hideously withered women followed the march of the mission, +carrying curds, and covered over with marsh-flies. Above, vast flights of +locusts, which had stripped the coast, were pouring in towards Abyssinia. +"They quite darkened the air" where the caravan halted; and above them +again were a host of adjutant birds, sometimes bursting down through the +mass, and then stooping to the ground, and stalking along to devour the +killed and wounded. This is the land, too, of the hurricane. Nature is +queen or tyrant here; the thunder tears the sensorium; the lightning burns +out the eyes; the rain is a cataract; the hall is a continued volley of +ice; the clouds stoop to earth, and bury the daylight like a shroud; the +rivers become torrents; the dry plain becomes first a swamp, and then a +sea. Tents and tarpaulins are useless to keep out the deluge from above, +or are beaten down by its weight on the heads of the unfortunates who +trust to them for shelter, until at length the caravan, stripped of all +covering, has no resource but to bide the pelting of the pitiless storm, +and, shivering and shelterless, wait until the hurricane has howled itself +away. + +At length they reached the city of Furri, loaded, for the thirty-fifth +time, with the baggage of the British embassy. The caravan, escorted by a +detachment of three hundred matchlock men, with flutes playing, and +muskets echoing, and the heads of the warriors decorated with white plumes, +on the 16th July entered the frontier town of the kingdom of Efat. +Clusters of conical-roofed houses, covering the sides of twin hills, here +presented the first permanent habitations that had greeted the eye since +leaving the sea-coast--rude and ungainly, but right welcome signs of +transition from depopulated waste to the abodes of man. The African seems +a robber by nature, and the sight of the bales and boxes excited the +national propensity in a most violent degree. Even the royal ministers and +courtiers seem to have felt a passion for looking into those prohibited +treasures, which evidently tempted their virtue in a most perilous degree. +Meanwhile a special messenger arrived, bearing reiterated compliments from +the Negoos, (king,) with a horse and a mule from the royal stud, attired +in the peculiar trappings which belong to majesty. Those animals awoke all +the loyal curiosity of the people. At the sight women and girls, enveloped +in blood-red shifts, who had thronged to stare at the strangers, burst +into a scream of acclamation. A group of hooded widows thrust their +fingers into their ears and joined in the clamour. The escort and +camel-drivers placed no bounds to their hilarity. A fat ox, that had been +promised, was turned loose among the spectators, pursued by fifty savages +with their gleaming _creeses_, and hamstrung by a dexterous blow, which +threw it bellowing to the earth in the height of its mad career, and +tribes of lean curs commenced an indiscriminate engagement over the +garbage. + +The neighbouring nations look upon the population of this province with +great contempt. They say that their tongues are long for lying, their arms +are long for stealing, and their legs are long for running away. + +The mission now approached another region, perhaps the finest in Africa. +Every change in the climate and soil in Africa is in extremes, and +barreness and unbounded fertility lie side by side. + + "As if by the touch of the magician's wand, the scene now passes, in + an instant, from parched wastes to the geen, and lovely islands of + Abyssinia, presenting one scene of rich and thriving cultivation. The + baggage having at length been consigned to the shoulders of six + hundred grumbling Moslem porters--for here the camel, from the + steepness of the hills, was useless--and forming a line, which + extended upwards of a mile, the embassy, on the morning of the 17th, + comnenced the ascent of the Abyssinian Alps; the flutes again played, + the wild warriors of the escort again chanted their songs. It was a + cool and lovely morning, and an invigorating breeze played over the + mountains' side, on which, now less than ten degrees from the equator, + flourished the vegetation of northern climes. The rough and stony + road wound on, by a steep ascent, over hill and dale, now skirting + some precipitous ascent, now dipping into the basin of some verdant + hollow, where it suddenly emerged into a succession of shady lanes, + bounded by flowering hedgerows." + +All this is so like England, and so unlike Africa, that we should suspect +the major's memory to have been as active at least as his observation. But +the work contains so much internal evidence of accuracy, independently of +the confidence attached to the character of the intelligent writer himself, +that we must believe the heart of Ethiopa to possess secnes that would be +worthy of the heart of our own fresh and flower-bearing island. The scene +which follows is quite Arcadian. + + "The wild rose, the fern, the lantana, and the honeysuckle, smiled + round a succession of highly cultivated terraces, and on every + eminence, stood a cluster of conically thatched houses, environed by + green hedges, and partially embowered amid dark trees As the troop + passed on, the peasant abandoned his occupation to gaze at the novel + procession; while merry groups of hooded women, decked in scarlet and + crimson left their avocations in the hut to welcome the king's guests + with a shrill _ziroleet_, which ran from every hand. Birds warbled + among the groves. At various turns of the road the prospect was + rugged, wild, and beautiful. The first Christian village was soon + revealed on the summit of a height. Three principal ranges of hills + were next crossed in succession. Lastly, the view opened upon the + wooded site of Ankober occupying a central position in a horseshoe + crescent of mountains, still high above which enclose a magnificent + amphitheatre of ten miles in diameter. This is clothed throughout + with a splendid vigorous, and varied vegetation." + +The embassy now halted, waiting for permission to enter the capital, and +taking up their quarters in a town three thousand feet above Furri, on the +frontier. The escort of the troop fired a salute on entering, and, as they +marched along, performed the war dance. A veteran capered before the ranks +with a drawn sword between his teeth, and the martial song was chorused by +three hundred Christian throats. The prospect from this elevated point +naturally struck the travellers with astonishment and admiration. The site +of the town is only one of the thousand cones into which the mountain side +is broken as it approaches the plain. The prospect over the plain was +boundless, and countless villages met the eye upon the mountain slope. +Wherever the plough could go, all was cultivated. Wheat, barley, Indian +corn, beans, peas, cotton, and oil plant, throve luxuriantly round every +hamlet. The regularly marked fields mounted in terraces to the height of +three or four thousand feet, becoming, in their boundaries, more and more +indistinct, until totally lost in the shadowy green side of Mamrat (the +Mother of Grace.) + +This mountain is a wonder, shrouded in clouds whilst all was sunshine +below. It is clothed with a dense forest, and ascends to an elevation of +13,000 feet above the sea. Here are collected, for security, the treasures +of the monarch which have been amassing since the re-establishment of the +kingdom, one hundred and fifty years since. + +After remaining some time in the market-place, the governor of the town +appeared, and conducted the mission to the house of an old Moslem woman, +where they were to lodge for the night. The names of the three daughters, +Major Harris observes, were worthy of the days of Prince Cherry and Fair +Star. They were Eve, Sweet Limes, and Sunbeam. The ladies vacated the +house with great good-humour; but it was low, intolerably filthy, and +without bedding or food. The unfortunate mission had thus to spend a night, +probably unequaled by their sufferings in the open field. Though so near +the equator, they felt the cold severely; rain set in with great violence, +pouring through the roof, and entering into the threshold. A fire was +indispensable, yet they were nearly suffocated with smoke; they were +devoured with insects, and in this torment and fever tossed till dawn. At +the arrival of morning they received the disappointing message, that the +king could not yet visit his capital, but that they might either seek him +among the mountains, or wait for him where they were. + +Major Harris imputes this disappointment to the accidental opening of one +of the boxes of presents. Royal cupidity had been so strongly excited by +the conjectures of their contents, that the king had evidently been +anxious, in the first instance, to hasten their delivery as much as +possible. Gold and jewels were probably uppermost in the royal conceptions; +but the box happening to contain only the leathern buckets belonging to +the "galloper guns," the spectators were loud in their derision. "These," +they exclaimed, "are but a poor people! What is their nation compared with +the Amhara? for behold, in this trash, specimens of the offerings brought +from their boasted land to the footstool of the mightiest of monarchs." + +The rainy season was now setting in, and the situation of the embassy +became more comfortless from day to day. Notes were written, and answers +received from the monarch, but the royal interview was still postponed, +partly by the artifice of the knavish governors, who kept a longing eye on +the presents, and partly by the barbarian etiquette of showing the natives +the scorn with which their king was entitled to treat all the nations of +the world. + +The residence of the mission in this comfortless place, however, gave a +opportunity of acquiring considerable knowledge of the habits and commerce +of the interior. The chief traffic is in slaves, but coffee is exported +extensively from Hurrna, and large caravans three times in the year visit +the ports, Zeyla and Barbara, laden with ivory, ostrich feathers, ghee, +saffrons, gums, and myrrh. In return are brought blue and white calicoes, +Indian piece goods, Indian prints, silks, and shawls, red cotton yarn, +silk threads, beads, frankincense, copper wire, and zinc. + +A fortnight rolled away painfully in this detestable place, which was +named Alio Amba, when a summons came from the monarch in these formal +words:--"Tarry not by day, neither stay ye by night; for the heart of the +father longeth to see his children, and let him not be disappointed." + +They now ascended through a country of romantic beauty, to Machalwan, the +place appointed for the interview. The Abyssinian in charge of the embassy, +was now sent forward to obtain permission to fire a salute of twenty-one +guns on the arrival of the troop at the royal residence. This request +seemed to have alarmed his majesty in no slight degree. The most romantic +reports of the ordnance had gone before them. It was currently believed +that their discharge was sufficient to set fire to the ground, to shiver +rocks, and to dismantle mountain fastnesses. Men were said to have arrived, +with "copper legs," who served those tremendous engines; and in alarm for +the safety of his palace, capital, and treasures, the suspicious monarch +still peremptorily insisted on withholding the desired license, until he +should have seen the battery "with his own eyes." It rained incessantly +during the night which preceded the day of presentation, and until the +morning broke; when a great volume of white mist rose from the deep +valleys, and drifted like a scene-curtain across the summit of the giant +Mamrat. The whole troop now began to ascend the mountain; and, as they +approached within sight of the stockaded palace, the escort commenced to +fire their matchlocks. The view here is described as very lovely, and +giving some conception of European variety of vegetation, with tropical +luxuriance. Farm-houses, rich fields, foaming cascades, and bright green +meadows covered with flowers, met the eye on every side; and above all +towered the great Abyssinian range, some thousand feet perpendicularly +overhead, with its summits crested with clouds. The crowd of spectators +was immense, and were repelled only by strokes of the bamboo. At length a +large tent was pitched for the reception of the embassy, the floor was +strewed with heath, myrtles, and other aromatic shrubs; and the weather +having cleared up, "the mission, radiant with plumes and gold embroidery, +moved on." As they reached the precincts of the palace, the artillery +fired a salute, which equally awed and astonished the multitude, the +discharge being followed by universal shouts in the native tongue +of--"Wonderful English! Well done, well done!" + +After several further stoppages, they entered the reception hall. It was +circular, and showy. The lofty walls glittered with a profusion of silver +ornaments, emblazoned shields, matchlocks, and double-barreled guns. +Persian carpets and rugs of all sizes, colours, and patterns, covered the +floors; and crowds of governors, chiefs, and officers of the court, in +their holiday attire, stood in a posture of respect, uncovered to the +girdle. Two wide alcoves receded on either side, in one of which blazed a +cheerful wood fire, engrossed by indolent cats; while in the other, on a +flowered satin ottoman, surrounded by withered slaves and juvenile pages, +and supported by gay velvet cushions, lay "His most Christian majesty, +Sahela Selasse!" The Dech Agulari (state doorkeeper,) as master of the +ceremonies, stood with a rod of green rushes to preserve the exact +distance of approach to royalty; and as the British entered and made their +bows, pointed them to chairs, which done, it was commanded that all should +be covered. + +The monarch was not unworthy of figuring in this pomp. Forty summers, of +which eight-and-twenty had been passed on the throne, had slightly +furrowed his forehead, and grizzled a full bushy head of hair, arranged in +elaborate curls. But, though wanting the left eye, "the expression of his +manly features, open, pleasing, and commanding, did not belie the +character for impartial justice which he had obtained far and wide; even +the robber tribes of the low country calling him a fine balance of gold." + +After the delivery of the ambassadorial letters, the exhibition commenced, +which had so long been the envy of the courtiers, and probably the +conversation of the kingdom. The presents were displayed. A rich Brussels +carpet, which completely covered the hall, Cashmere shawls, and +embroidered Delhi scarfs of resplendent hues, excited universal admiration. +The finer specimens were handed to the king. As the various presents +succeeded, the delight increased. A group of Chinese dancing figures, +produced bursts of merriment; and when the European escort, in full +uniform, with the sergeant at their head, marched into the hall, paced in +front of the throne, and performed the manual and platoon exercises, amid +ornamented clocks chiming, and musical boxes playing "God save the Queen," +his majesty appeared quite entranced. "But many and bright were the smiles +that lighted up the royal features, as three hundred muskets, with +bayonets fixed, were piled in front of the royal footstool. A buzz of +mingled wonder and applause arose from the crowded courtiers; and the +monarch's satisfaction now filled to overflowing. 'God will reward you,' +he exclaimed--'for I cannot!'" + +But a more serious and a more striking display was still to follow. The +artillery were to exhibit their powers; and the crowd rushed out, and +scattered over the hill to see its practice. A sheet was attached to the +opposite face of the ravine, the valley rang to the roar of the guns; and +as the white cloth flew in shreds to the wind, under a rapid discharge of +round shot, canister, and grape, amid the crumbling of the rock, and the +rush of falling stones, shouts of admiration rang from hill to hill. This +eventful evening was closed by testimonies of the king's satisfaction, in +the shape of a huge pepper pie from the royal kitchen, with his commands +that his children might feast; and a visit from the royal confessor, a +dwarf enveloped in robes and turbans, and armed with silver cross and +crosier. Seating himself in a chair, he delivered a speech, which affords +as good a specimen of court oratory as any thing that we remember; and +also shows the powerful effect of the presents on the courtly +sensibilities. The speech was as follows:-- + + "Forty years have rolled away since Asfa Woosen, on whose memory be + peace! grandsire to our beloved monarch, saw in a dream that the red + men were bringing into his kingdom, curious and beautiful commodities + from countries beyond the great sea. The astrologers, on being + commanded to give an interpretation thereof, predicted with one + accord, that foreigners from the land of Egypt would come into + Abysinia during his majesty's most illustrious reign; and that yet + more and wealthier would follow in that of his son, and of his son's + son, who should sit next upon the throne. Praise be unto God, that + the dream and its interpretation have now been fulfilled! Our eyes, + though they be old, have never beheld wonders until this day; and + during the reign over Shoa of seven successive kings, no such + miracles as these have been wrought in Ethiopia!!" + +The embassy were now fixed under the protection of the monarch; and they +were invited to join in the various displays and festivals of the new year, +which the Abyssinians begin on the 10th of September. Of these, the +cavalry review was by far the most showy, as well as the most suited to +the gratification of the British officers. Some parts of this display +seemed to have been borrowed from the days of European knighthood. The +king's master of the horse advanced at the head of his squadrons of picked +household cavalry, "the flower of the Christian lances." Ayto Melkoo, +their leader, was arrayed in a party-coloured vest, surmounted by a +crimson Arab fleece, handsomely studded with silver jets. A gilt embossed +gauntlet encircled his right arm, from the wrist to the elbow; his targe +and horse trappings glittered with a profusion of silver crosses and +devices, and he looked a stately and martial figure, curveting at the head +of his well-appointed lancers. + +This warrior, advancing with his line, galloped up in front, and made a +speech in the manner of old heroic times, vaunting his past prowess and +his present loyalty, his troopers accompanying the more succcessful parts +of his speech by striking the lance upon the targe. At the close, he threw +his spears upon the ground, unsheathed his two-edged falchion, gave a howl, +which was answered by a roar from his horsemen, and a discharge of +fire-arms; and the whole made a dash, and charged across the parade. + +At the royal command, the British now fired a salute of twenty-one guns, +to the great wonder and astonishment of the wild Galla and the multitude +of spectators. Thirteen governors, (of provinces, we presume,) clothed in +the skins of lions and leopards and covered with silver chains, cuirasses, +and gauntlets, emblems of their gallantry in the field, next passed before +the king, each at the head of his troop, and each making a harangue. +Abyssinia must be a very oratorical country. Last of all, came the tall, +martial figure of Abegoz Moreteh, chief of the tributary Galla of the +south, at the head of his legion, three thousand in number: this "sea of +wild horsemen" moved in advance, to the sound of kettle-drums, their arms +and decorations flashing in the sun, and their ample white robes and long +sable hair streaming in the breeze. At the war-hoop of their leader, "with +the rush of a hurricane the moving forest of lances disappeared under a +cloud of dust." From _eight to ten thousand_ cavalry were in the field; +and the spectacle, which lasted from nine in the morning until five in the +afternoon, was "exceedingly wild and impressive." But the most impressive +display of all was to be supplied by the British. With fire-arms the +people were acquainted already. The "brass galloper," though viewed with +"wonderful respect," was still only an engine on a larger scale than those +to which they were familiarized. But the rocket was a formidable and +splendid novelty. Night had now thrown her mantle round the field, and, by +the king's command, the rocket practice began; the first brilliant rush +into the air was matter of amazement to all. When the rocket started with +a roar from its bed, men, women, and children fell on their faces--horses +and mules broke from their tethers--and the warriors who had any heart +remaining shouted aloud. The Galla tribes, who witnessed the explosion, +ascribed the phenomenon to "potent medicines," and declared, that since +the Gyptzis (British) could, at pleasure, produce comets in the sky and +rain fire down heaven, there was nothing for them but submission to the +king's command. + +The review was followed, at some interval of time, by a more substantial +display. Thrice in the year the king summons his rude militia for an +inroad into some of the neighbouring lands; and, as he was particularly +anxious to have the presence of the embassy on this occasion, and as they +conceived it to offer the best opportunity of seeing the country, they +accordingly accepted the invitation. As it is to be presumed that they had +no intention of taking any personal part in this marauding expedition, we +are not disposed to criticise their acquiescence; otherwise there could be +no doubt whatever, that they had no right to assist the king of Shoa in +his foray on his neighbours, more than they would have had a right to +assist his neighbours in their attacks upon the king of Shoa. + +The march was peculiar, and even pompous, in its kind. It was +extraordinary to see it preceded by a copy of the Holy Scriptures, under a +canopy of scarlet cloth, and borne on a mule; but, it must be owned, +accompanied by the "Ark of the cathedral of St Michael," which works +miracles, and is regarded as a pledge of victory. Then came the king on a +specially caparisoned mule, surrounded by his guard of shield-bearers, and +flanked by matchlock-men; then came forty damsels, royal cooks, painted +with ochre, and muffled in crimson-striped robes of cotton--a troop +rigorously guarded by attendants with long white wands. Beyond these, as +far as the eye could penetrate the clouds of dust, every hill and valley +teemed with horsemen, camp-followers, sumpter-mules, and men carrying +sheaves of spears, and leading caparisoned horses, all mixed in the most +picturesque confusion. After a march of fifteen miles, the female cooks +halted, like a flight of flamingoes, in a pretty, secluded valley. It was +evident that the day's march was now at an end, and the army halted to +bivouac for the night. In the centre of this straggling camp, which could +not be less than five miles in diameter, was raised a suite of royal tents, +consisting of a gay party-coloured marquee of Turkish manufacture, +surrounded by twelve ample awnings of black serge, over which floated five +crimson pennons, surmounted respectively by silver globes. There was +something of African, or perhaps European, pomp in this proceeding. Until +the royal tents were enclosed from the vulgar eye, the Negoos, ascending +an adjacent eminence with his chiefs and an escort of picked warriors, +remained seated on cushioned _alga_, and under the crimson canopy of the +state umbrella. + +When night fell, rockets were fired by the royal command, "to instil +terror into the breasts of the Galla hordes;" and the peak which ran near +the headquarters, was chosen as the most central spot for the display. The +effect, brilliant every where, was here all that even Majesty could have +desired. The "fire-rainers" (the picturesqe name which, we presune, Major +Harris has adopted from the natives) produced delight, wonder, and terror, +in all their degrees; and if the Galla nation were present, they must, to +a man, have solicited chains, rather than be roasted alive by those flying +monsters, which the people seem to have taken for the works of magic, if +not magicians themselves. The display was followed by a repast in the old +heroic style, and which will not be forgotten, should Abyssinia ever give +the world a sable Homer. + + "The chiefs and nobles sat down to their feast in the royal pavilion, + where hydromel, beer, and _raw_ flesh were in regal profusion!! After + supper, speeches were made in the Homeric style, boasting of what the + warriors had done, and intended to do. A fragment of one of the + speeches; addressed to the English as the party broke up, gives a + fair idea of Abyssinian table eloquence, 'You are the adorners,' (the + orator had been decorated with a scarlet cloak;) 'you have given me + scarlet broadcloth, and behold I have reserved the gift for this day. + This garment will bring me success; for the Pagan who sees a crimson + cloak on the shoulders of the Amhara,' (Abyssinian,) 'believing him + to be a warrior of distinguished valour, will take, like an ass, to + his heels, and be speared without the smallest danger.'" + +The march, and the foray into the country of one of the Galla tribes, are +admirably told, and perhaps are among the best descriptions in the +volumes--exact without being tedious, and deeply coloured without +exaggeration. But we must hasten to other things. This was the monarch's +eighty-fourth foray; and on this we may conceive something of the horrors +of barbarian life, and of the tremendous evils which nations have escaped +whose laws and principles tame down the original evil of man. + +We are glad to find that the embassy refused to take any share in this +horrible work, though they fell into some disrepute with the troops, and +even with the monarch, for their remissness. The king had even reserved an +unlucky Galla in a tree, to be shot by his guests. But this they declined, +first, on the pretext of its being the Sabbath, and next, more distinctly +on the ground, that--"no public body was authorized by the law of nations, +to draw a sword offensively in any country not at war with its own." They +then offered the compromise, "that an elephant was esteemed equivalent to +forty Gallas, and a wild buffalo to five, and that they were ready to +shoot as many of both as his Majesty pleased." But the embassy did more +effectual things; the sick and wounded received relief from them to the +extent of their means, and they even prevailed on the king to liberate all +his prisoners. The troops in the foray amounted to about 20,000. + +On the return of this destroying expedition, which seems to have turned a +very fine country into a desert, the king made a kind of triumphal entry +into his capital. His costume was splendidly savage. A lion's skin over +his shoulders, richly ornamented, and half concealing beneath its folds an +embroidered green mantle of Indian manufacture; on his right shoulder were +three chains of gold, as emblems of the Holy Trinity,(!) and the +fresh-plucked bough of asparagus, which denoted his recent exploit, rose +from the centre of an embossed coronet of silver on his brow. His dappled +war-horse, in housings of blue and yellow, was led beside him; and in +front his "champion" rode a coal-black charger, bearing the royal shield +of massive silver, with the cross upon it, and dressed in a panther's hide. +The two chief officers of his army rode either side of the crimson +umbrella; at the palace gates, a deputation of priests in white robes +received the conqueror with a benediction and a volley of musketry +announced his arrival. The leader of the royal matchlock-men performed a +war dance before the Ark as it was borne along, and in the inner court the +principal warriors, each carring some human fragment on his lance, flung +then on the ground before the royal footstool, and shouted their war +praise. + +The embassy at length attained personal distinction by the death of an +elephant, which one of the party brought to the ground by a two-ounce ball. +The "warriors" were all in astonishment at this feat, to which all had +predicted the most disastrous termiration; and "Boroo, the brave chief of +the Soopa," exclaimed in his delight, "The world was made for you, and no +one else has any business in it!" + +The chief object of the embassy was still to be accomplished--the +formation of something that approached to a treaty of commerce. Beads, +cutlery, and trinkets, had been received from the coast; but the beggary +of the nobles for those things was perpetual and intolerable. They called +those ornanents pleasing things, and the cry was constant, "show me +pleasing things," "give me delighting things," "adorn me from head to +foot." It is scarcely surprising that the natives should be enamoured of +European conmodities; for, though an old commerce had subsisted with +Arabia, the supplies brought by the English were of the most exciting kind. +Detonating caps were in great request; treble strong canister powder was +also much in demand. Yet there was some ingenuity amongst themselves; for +a young fellow was taken up for making dollars of pewter. Every spot and +letter had been closely represented with punch and file. "Tell me," said +the king, on the case of this culprit being mentioned to him, "how is that +machine made which in your country pours out the silver crowns like a +shower of rain?" The hand corn-mills, presented by the British Government, +had been erected within the palace walls, and slaves were turning the +wheels with unceasing diligence. "Demetrius, the Armenian, made a machine +to grind corn," exclaimed his majesty in a transport of delight, as the +flour streamed upon the floor; "and though it cost the people a year of +hard labour to construct, it was useless when finished, because the priest +declared it to be the devil's work, and cursed the bread. But, may the +Sahela Selasse die--these engines are the work of clever hands." + +The monarch, elated with his knowledge, now determined to build a bridge, +which in three days was completed; and, as was predicted by the quiet +English spectators, in three hours fell down on the very first fresh +produced by the annual rains. + +Weaving excepted, the people manufactured nothing; but British commerce +has long been known, though evidently of the coarsest kind. At length, on +his majesty's being told that five thousand looms would bring him more +wealth than ten thousand soldiers, he gradually consented to form a +commercial treaty. The crown had hitherto appropriated the property of +strangers dying in the country. The purchase or display of costly goods by +the subject had been interdicted, and a maxim exhibiting the whole +jealousy of savage life had been established, that the stranger who once +entered was never to depart from Abyssinia. By the articles of the +commercial treaty, all those barbarous prohibitions have been abolished. + +As the monarch returned the deed, he made a short speech sufficiently able +and appropriate: "You have loaded me with costly presents, the rainment +that I wear, the throne on which I sit, the curiosities in my +store-houses, and the muskets which hang round my great hall--all are from +your country. What have I to give in return for such wealth? My kingdom is +as nothing." + +The hereditary provinces at this day subject to the King of Shoa, are +comprised in a rectangular domain of 150 by 90 miles; an area traversed by +five systems of mountains, of which the culminating point divides the +basin of the Nile from that of the Hawash. The Christian population of +Shoa and Efat are estimated at a million; and the Moslem and Pagan +population at a million and a half. The royal revenues are said to amount +to 80,000 or 90,000 German crowns, arising chiefly from import duties in +slaves, merchandise, and salt. As the annual expenses of the state do not +exceed 10,000 dollars; it is presumed that the king, during his thirty +years' reign, has amassed much treasure, which is regularly deposited +under ground. + +We recommend the enquirers into the truth of Herodotus, to examine the +curious illustrations stated in these volumes; and, among the rest, the +kingdom of pigmies. The geographer will find ample interest in tracing the +course of the Gochob, a sort of central Nile; and the naturalist, botanist, +and entomologist, will find abundant information in the very interesting +and complete appendices on those subjects. The history of the Christian +missions of early ages is an excellent chapter, and the general statistics +of religion. + +The practical religion of the Abyssinian Christian is of the very lowest +degree of formality. Fasts, penances, and excommunications, form the chief +discipline; but the penitent can always provide a substitute for the two +former, and the latter is always to be averted by money. Spiritual +offences, however, are rare; for murder and sacrilege alone give umbrage +to the easy conscience of the natives of Shoa. Abstinence and largesses of +money are equivalent to wiping away every sin. Their creed advises the +invocation of saints, confession to the priest, and faith in charms and +amulets. Prayers for the dead, and absolution, are indispensable; and, as +a more summary mode of relieving the burdens of the flesh, it is +pronounced, that all sins are forgiven from the moment that the kiss of +the pilgrim is imprinted on the stones of Jerusalem, and that even kissing +the hand of a priest purifies the body from all sin. A creed of this order, +which makes spiritual safety dependent, not upon personal purification of +mind and divine mercy, but upon forms which are unconnected with either, +and which even can be executed by a substitute, of course excludes the +necessity for morals of any kind. All is corruption--"Born amid falsehood +and deceit, cradled in bloodshed, and nursed in the arms of idleness and +debauchery, the national character almost defies the missionary." + +There are some strange remnants of Judaism still lingering amongst the +tribes of these highland regions. The Galla have a tradition, that their +whole nation will one day be called on to march, _en masse_, and reconquer +Palestine for the return of the Jews. The king of Shoa regards himself as +a direct descendant of the house of Solomon, calls himself king of Israel, +and the national standard bears the motto, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah +hath prevailed." They believe the 45th Psalm to be a prophecy of Queen +Magueda's visit to Jerusalem; whither she was attended by a daughter of +Hiram, king of Tyre. The Jewish prohibitions against the flesh of unclean +animals, are observed by the Abyssinians. The sinew which shrank, and the +eating of which was prohibited to the Israelite, is also prohibited in +Shoa. The Jewish Sabbath is strictly observed. The Abyssinians are said, +by Ludolf, to be the greatest fasters in the world. The Wednesdays and +Fridays are fasts; the forty days before Easter are rigidly observed as a +fast; and from the Thursday preceding Easter till the Sunday, no morsel of +meat is to enter the lips, and the prohibition against drink is equally +rigorous. St Michael and the Virgin Mary are venerated in the highest +degree; St Michael as the leader of the hosts of heaven, and the latter as +the chief of all saints, and queen of heaven and earth, and both as the +great intercessors of mankind. + +Like the Jews of old, the Abyssinians weep and lament on all occasions of +death; and the shriek ascends to the sky, as if the soul could be recalled +from the world of spirits. As with the Jews, the most inferior garments +are employed as the weeds of woe; and the skin torn from the temples, and +scarified on the cheeks and breast, proclaims the last extremity of grief. +As the Rabbins believe that angels were the governors of all sublunary +things, the Abyssinians adopt this belief: carrying it even further, they +confidently implore their assistance in all concerns, and invoke and adore +them in a higher degree than the Creator. The clergy enjoy the price of +deathbed confession; and the churchyard is sternly denied to all who die +without the rite, or whose relations refuse the fee and the funeral feast. +Eight pieces of salt are the price of wafting a poor man's soul to the +place of rest, and the feast for the dead places him in a state of +happiness, according to the cost of the entertainment. For the rich, money +procures the attendance of priests, who absolve, and pray continually day +and night. The anniversaries of the deaths of the six kings of Shoa are +held with great ceremony in the capital; and once every twelvemonth, +before a splendid feast, their souls are absolved from all sin. + +Major Harris expresses himself ardently and eloquently on the hopes of +commerce which might be maintained by Great Britain with this little-known +but productive part of the world. It is notorious that gold and gold dust, +ivory, ostrich feathers, peltries, spices, wax, and precious gums, form a +part of the lading of every slave caravan; notwithstanding that the +tediousness of the transport, and the penuriousness of the Indian and Arab +merchant, offer but a small compensation for their labour. No quarter of +the globe abounds to a greater extent in vegetable and mineral productions +than tropical Africa; and in the populous, fertile, and salubrious +portions lying immediately north of the equator, the very highest +capabilities are presented for the employment of British capital. Coal has +already been found; cotton, of a quality unrivaled in the whole world, is +every where a weed, and might be cultivated to any extent. The coffee +which is sold in Arabia as the produce of Mocha, is chiefly of wild +African growth; and that species of the tea plant which is used by the +lower orders of the Chinese, flourishes so widely, and with so little care, +that the climate would doubtless be found well adapted for the +higher-flavoured and more delicate species. If, at a very moderate +calculation, a sum falling very little short of a hundred thousand pounds +sterling, can be annually invested in European goods, to supply the wants +of some of the poorer tribes adjacent to Abyssinia, what important results +might not be anticipated from well-directed efforts, adopting the natural +neans of communication in Africa? + +Another winter passed--a dreary time for the mission in Ankober. Torrents +rushed down the mountains, every footpath had been converted into a stream, +and every valley into a morass. The season was peculiarly tempestuous; the +heavy white clouds constantly hung on the mountain pinnacles, and the +torrents swelled the Hawash to such an extent, that the land for many +miles on both sides was inundated. There must have been some difficulty in +spending the time of this solitary confinement among the hills; but the +author was well employed in writing his volumes, and engineers were +employed in erecting a Gothic hall, to the great delight of his Abyssinian +majesty. He would allow them to do every thing except paint his +portrait--the national idea being, that whoever takes a likeness, +immediately becomes invested with power over the original. "You are +writing a book," he said. "I know this, because I never enquire what you +are doing that they do not tell me you are using a pen, or gazing at the +heavens. That is a good thing, and it pleases me. You will speak +favourably of myself; but you shall not insert my portrait, as you have +done that of the King of Zingero." + +The English had new wonders for him; they shaped planks out of trees in a +fashion new to the Abyssinians, who waste a tree on every plank. "You +English are indeed a strange people," said the king, as he saw the first +plank formed in this economical style. "I do not understand your stories +of the roads dug under rivers, nor of the carriages that gallop without +horses; but you are a strong people, and employ wonderful inventions." + +At length the Gothic hall was complete. It may be presumed that nothing +like it was ever seen in Abyssinia before; for the mission not merely +built, but furnished it with couches, ottomans, chairs, tables, and +curtains; doubtless a very showy affair, though we camot exactly +comprehend the author's expression of its being furnished after the manner +of an English cottage ornee. The king, however, was delighted with it. "I +shall turn it into a chapel," said his majesty, patting his chief +ecclesiastic on the back. "What say you to that plan, my father?" As a +last finishing touch, were suspended in the centre hall a series of large +coloured engravings, representing the chase of the tiger in all its +various phases. The domestication of the elephant, and its employment in +war or in the pageant, had ever proved a stumbling block to the king; but +the appearance of the hugest of beasts in his hunting harness struck the +chord of a new idea. "I will have a nunber caught on the Roby," he +exclaimed, "that you may tame then, and that I too may ride on an elephant +before I die!" + +Another of those fearful displays of barbarian plunder and havoc took +place at the end of September. Twenty thousand warriors, headed by the +king, made an inroad on the Galla. Those unfortunate people were so little +prepared, that they seem to have been slaughtered without resistance. +Between four and five thousand were butchered, and forty-three thousand +head of cattle were driven off. A thousand captives, chiefly women and +children, were marched in triumph to the capital; but they were soon +liberated, apparently on the remonstrance of the British mission. + +But a terrible disaster was to befall the palace and the people. The +dweller amongst mountains must be always exposed to their dilapidation; +and a season of unusual rain, continuing to a much later period than usual, +produced an earth-avalanche. + + "As the evening of an eventful night (Dec. 6th) closed in, not a + single breath of wind disturbed the thick fog which brooded over the + mountain. A sensible difference was perceptible in the atmosphere; + but the rain again began to descend, and for hours pelted like the + dischage of a waterspout. Towards morning, a violent thunder storm + careered along the crest of the range, and every rock and cranny + re-echoed from the crash of the thunder. Deep darkness again settled + on the mountains, and a heavy rumbling noise, like the passage of + artillery wheels, as followed by the shrill cry of despair. The earth, + saturated with moisture, had slidden from their steep slopes, houses + and cottages were engulfed in the debris, or shattered to fragments + by the descending masses, and daylight presented a strange scene of + ruin. Perched on the apex of the conical peak, the palace buildings + were now stripped of their palisades, or overwhelmed: the roads along + the hill were completely obliterated. The desolation had spread for + miles along the great range: houses, with their inmates, had been + hurried away." + +Before the mission took its departure, it did honour to the character of +its country by one act which alone would have been worth its time and +trouble. The horrid policy of African despotism condemns all the brothers +of the throne to the dungeon, from the moment of the royal accession. The +king had exhibited qualities of a very unexpected order in an African +despot, and, under the guidance of the mission, had made some advances to +justice, and even to clemency. At this period, he was suddenly seized with +an alarming spasmodic disorder, and he apprehended that his constitution, +enfeebled by the habits of his life, was likely to give way. On his +recovery being despaired of by both priests and physicians, he suddenly +sent for the British mission. + + "'My children,' said his majesty in a sepulchral voice, as he + extended his burning hand towards them, 'behold I am sore stricken. + Last night they believed me dead, and the voice of mourning had + arisen within the palace walls; but God hath spared me until now.'" + +It seems to be the custom for the king's physician to taste the draught +prescribed for him, and an attenpt being made to do this by the British, +the sick monarch generously forbade it. + + "'What need is there now of this?' he exclaimed reproachfully. 'Do I + not know that you would administer to Sahela Selasse nothing that + could do him mischief?'" + +The reader will probably remember an almost similar act of confidence of +Alexander the Great in his physician. An opportunity was now taken of +urging him to an act of humanity, however strongly opposed to the habits +of the country, and to the interests of the man. It was represented to him +that his uncles and brothers had been immured in a dungeon during the +thirty years of his reign, and that no act could be more honourable to +himself, or acceptable to Heaven, than the extinction of this barbarous +custom. + + "'And I will release them,' returned the monarch, after a moment's + debate within himself. 'By the Holy Eucharist I swear, and by the + Church of the Holy Trinity in Koora Gadel, that if Sahela Selasse + arise from this bed of sickness, all of whom you speak shall be + restored to the enjoyment of liberty.'" + +Fortunately he did arise from that bed of sickness, and he honourably +determined to keep his promise. The royal captives were seven, and the +British mission were summoned to see their introduction into the presence. +They had been so exhausted by long captivity, that at first they seemed +scarcely to comprehend freedom. They had been manacled, and spent their +time in the fabrication of harps and combs, of which they brought +specimens to lay at the feet of their monarch. This touching interview +concluded with a speech of the king to the embassy-- + + "'My children, you will write all that you have seen to your country, + and will say to the British Queen, that, though far behind the + nations of the White Men, from whom Ethiopia first received her + religion, there yet remains a spark of Christian love in the breast + of the King of Shoa.'" + +We have thus given a rapid and bird's-eye view of a work, which we regard +as rivaling in interest and importance any "book of travels" of this +century. The name of Abyssinia was scarcely more than a recollection, +connected with the adventurous ramblings of Bruce, for the romantic +purpose of discovering the source of the Nile. His narrative had also been +wholly profitless--attracting public curiosity in a remarkable degree at +he time, no direct foundation of European intercourse was laid, and no +movement of European traffic followed. But giving Bruce all the credit, +which was so long denied him, for fidelity to fact, and for the spirit of +bold adventure which he exhibited in penetrating a land of violence and +barbarism, the mission of Major Harris at once establishes its object on +more substantial grounds. It is not a private adventure, but a public act, +rendered natural by the circumstances of British neighbourhood, and +important for the opening of Abyssinia and central Africa to the greatest +civilizer which the world has ever seen--the commerce of England. There +are still obvious difficulties of transit, between the coast and the +capital, by the ordinary route. But if the navigation of the Gochob, or +the route from Tajura, should once be secured, the trade will have +commenced, which in the course of a few years will change the face of +Abyssinia; limit, if not extinguish, that disgrace of human nature--the +slave trade; and, if not reform, at least enlighten, the clouded +Christianity of the people. + +As the author was commissioned, not merely as a discoverer, but a +diplomatist, it is to be presumed that on many interesting points he +writes under the restraints of diplomatic reserve. But he has told us +enough to excite our strong interest in the beauty, the fertility, and the +capabilities of the country which he describes; and more than enough to +show, that it is almost a British duty to give the aid of our science, our +inventions, and our principles, to a monarch and a people evidently +prepared for rising in the scale of nations. + +We have a kind of impression, that some general improvement is about to +take place in the more neglected portions of the world, and that England +is honoured to be the chief agent in the great work. Africa, which has +been under a _ban_ for so many thousand years, may be on the eve of relief +from the misery, lawlessness, and impurity of barbarism; and we are +strongly inclined to look upon this establishment of British feeling, and +intercourse in Abyssinia, as the commencement of that proud and fortunate +change. All attempts to enter Africa by the western coast have failed. The +heat, the swamps, the rank vegetation, and the unhealthy atmosphere, have +proved insurmountable barriers. The north is fenced by a line of burning +wilderness. But the east is open, free, fertile, and beautiful. A British +factory in Abyssinia would be not merely a source of infinite comfort to +the people, by the communication of European conveniences and manufactures, +but a source of light. British example would teach obedience and loyalty +to the laws, subordination on the part of the people, and mercy on that of +the sovereign. + +But we have also another object, sufficiently important to determine our +Government in looking to the increase of our connexion with Eastern Africa. +It is certainly a minor one, but one which no rational Government can +undervalue. The policy of the present French King is directed eminently to +the extension of commercial influence in all countries. To this policy, +none can make objection. It is the duty of a monarch to develop all the +resources of his country; and while France exerts herself only in the +rivalry of peace, her advance is an advance of all nations. But her +extreme attention, of late years, to Africa, ought to open our eyes to the +necessity of exertion in that boundless quarter. On the western coast, she +had long fixed a lazy grasp; but that grasp is now becoming vigorous, and +extending hour by hour. Her flag flies at Golam, 250 miles up the Senegal. +She has a settlement at Gori; she has lately established a settlement at +the mouth of the Assinee, another at the mouth of the Gaboon, and is on +the point of establishing another in the Bight of Benin; when she will +command all Western Africa. + +She is not less active on the eastern shore. At Massawah, on the coast of +Abyssinia, she is fast monopolizing the trade in gold and spices. She has +purchased Edh, and is endeavouring to purchase Brava. Her attention to +_Northern_ Abyssinia is matter of notoriety, and we must regard this +system, not so much with regard to advantages which such possessions might +give to ourselves, as to their prejudice to us in falling into rival hands. +The possession of Algeria should direct the eye of Europe to the ulterior +objects of France; the first change of masters in Egypt, must be looked to +with national anxiety; and the transmission of the great routes of Africa +into her hands, must be guarded against with a vigilance worthy of the +interests of England and Europe. + +If the river shall be found navigable to any extent, what an opening is +thus presented to both the Merchant and the philanthropist; a soil +surpassed by none in the world, a climate varying only 1º in the mean +temperature of summer and winter, and presenting an average of 55-1/2º, +and a population who could hardly fail to feel the advantages of commerce +and civilization. From such a point as Aden offers, access is promised to +the very heart of Africa, and thence to the sources of the mighty rivers +which find an outlet on the western side of the continent; thus not merely +benefiting the British merchant in a remarkable degree, but rapidly +abolishing the slave trade, by giving employment to the people, wealth to +the native trader, and a new direction to the powers of the country and +the mind of its unhappy population. + +On the whole consideration of the subject, we feel convinced, that Eastern +Africa is the safe and the natural point for British enterprise; that it +is the most direct and effective point for the extinction of the cruel +traffic in human flesh; and that it is the most promising and productive +point for the establishment of that substantial connexion with the +governments of the interior, which alone can be regarded as worth the +attention of the statesman. + +Insignificant stations on the coast, to carry on a peddling traffic, are +beneath a manly and comprehensive policy. We must penetrate the mountains, +ascend the rivers, and reach the seats of sovereignty. We must, by a large +and generous self-interest, combine the good, the knowledge, and the +virtue of the population with our own; and we must lay the foundation of +our permanent influence over this fourth of the globe, by showing that we +are the fittest to communicate the benefits, and establish the example of +civilized society. + +To those who desire to go into more minute details, we recommend an +accompanying volume by the missionaries Isenberg and Krapf--the latter of +whom acted as interpreter to the embassy. A capital geographical memoir is +also given by Mr M'Queen, the well-known African geographer. + +On the whole, it is highly gratifying to our respect for British +soldiership; to see works of this rank proceeding from our military men. +They have great opportunities, and may thus render national services in +peace, not less important than their enterprise in war. The East India +Company offers inducements of the most important order, to the +accomplishment and scientific activity of its officers; and Major Harris +must feel the distinction of having been selected for a mission of such +interest, as well as the high gratification of having conducted it to so +benevolent, solid, and satisfactory a close. + + * * * * * + + + + +A WORD OR TWO OF THE OPERA-TIVE CLASSES. + +BY LORGNON. + + + "Vai, ch'avete gl'intelletti sani, + Mirate la dottrina che s'asconde, + Sotto queste coperte, alte e profonde!"--BERNI. + +In the course of social transition, professions, like dogs, have their day. +A calling honourable in one century, becomes infamous in the next; and +vocations grow obsolete, like the fashioning of our garments or figures of +speech. In barbarous communities, the strong man is king:-- + + "Le premier roi fut un soldat heureux." + +Where human statute is beginning to prize the general weal, the legist is +of high account, and the priest paramount. Higher civilization engenders +the influence of the man of letters, the artist, the dramatist, the wit, +the poet, and the orator. Or when, with a wisdom surpassing the philosophy +of the schools, we tumble down to prose, and assume the leathern apron of +the utilitarian--the civil engineer, or operative chemist, starts up into +a colossus. Sir Humphrey Davy, and Sir Isambert Brunel, are the true +knights of modern chivalry; and Sir Walter--our Sir Walter--never showed +himself more shrewd than in his exclamation to Moore--"Ah, Tam!--it's +lucky, man, we cam' sae soon!" Great as was his influence, equaling that +of the other two great Sir Walters, Manny and Raleigh, in their several +epochs of valour and enterprise, it is likely enough, that, if born a +century later, the MSS. of the Scotch novels would have been chiefly +valuable to light the furnace of some factory! + +So much in exposition of the fact, that, so long as the world possessed +only three of what we choose to call quarters, an executioner was an +officer of state; and that, now it possesses five, the female of highest +renown, and greatest power of self-enrichment, is the _danseuse_, or +opera-dancer! + +Many intermediary callings have disappeared. The domestic chaplain of a +lordly household is now nearly as superfluous as its archers or falconers; +and the court calendars of former reigns record a variety of places and +perquisites, which, did they still exist, would be unpalatable to modern +courtiers, though compelled to earn their daily cakes, however dirty. Just +as the last golden pippin of the house of Crenie was preserved in wax for +the edification of posterity, a watchman has been deposited, with his +staff and lantern, in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, or the Museum of the +Zoological, or United Service Club, or some other of your grand national +collections, as a specimen of the extinct Dogberry or Charley of the +eighteenth century; and in process of time, as much and more also will +probably be done to a parish beadle, a theatrical manager, a lord +chamberlain--and other public functionaries whom it might not be +altogether safe to enumerate. + +Among them, however, there is really some satisfaction in hinting at the +hangman!--For, hear it, ye sanguinary _manes_ of our ancestors:--"_Les +bourreaux s'en vont!_" Executioners are departing! We shall shortly have +to commemorate in our obituaries, and signalize by the hands of our +novelists--"the last of the Jack Ketches." In these days of +ultra-philanthropy, the hangman scarcely finds salt to his porridge, or +porridge to salt. + +_Exempli gratia_. In the course of last year, a patient of the lower class +was admitted into the lunatic ward of the public hospital at Marseilles, +whose malady seemed the result of religious depression. In that +supposition, the usual means of relief were resorted to, and he was at +length discharged as convalescent; when, to attest the perfectness of his +cure, he went and hanged himself! A _procès verbal_ was, as usual, made +out, and the supposed fanatic proved to be the ex-executioner of Lyons! +Tender-hearted people instantly ascribed his melancholy to qualms of +conscience. But it appeared in evidence, that, since the accession of the +citizen king, the trade of the hangman had become a dead failure; and the +disconsolate bankrupt was accordingly forced to take French leave of a +world wherein _bourreaux_ can no longer turn an honest penny! + +Yet, less than three centuries ago, his predecessors were men of mark and +consideration. Our own King Hal took more heed of his executioner than of +half the counties over whose necks his axe was suspended; while Louis XI., +a _legitimate_ sovereign of France, used to dip in the dish with Tristan +Hermite and Olivier le Dain. A few reigns later, and the hangman of the +French metropolis (who shares with its diocesan the honour of being styled +"Monsieur de Paris") was respected as the most accomplished in Europe. The +treasons of its civil wars had created so many executions, that a Gascon, +wishing to prove that his father had been beheaded as a nobleman, instead +of hanged like a dog or a citizen, asserted the decollation to have been +so expertly executed _en Grève_, that the sufferer was unconscious of his +end. "Shake yourself," exclaimed the executioner; and, on his lordship's +making the attempt, his head rolled into the dust. + +This adroitness was the result of competition. In that day there were +degrees of hangmen, and promotion might be accomplished. Not only had the +king his executioner, and the Lorraines theirs--the court and the +city--the abbot of St Germain des Près--the abbot of this, and the abbot +of that--but various communities and Signories, having right of life and +death over their vassals, kept an executioner for purposes of domestic +torture, as they kept a seneschal to carve their meats; or as people now +keep a _chef_ or a_ maître d'hôtel_. In those excellent olden times of +Europe, hangmen, doubtless, carried about written characters from lord to +lord, certifying their experience with rope and axe--branding-iron and +thong. So long as the Inquisition afforded constant work for able hands, a +good hangman out of place must have been a treasure! Had there been +register-offices or newspaper advertisements, there probably would have +appeared-- + +"WANTS A SITUATION--An able-bodied, middle-aged man, without encumbrance, +who can have an undeniable character from his last situation, as headsman, +hangman, and general executioner. He is accustomed to the use of +thumbikins and the most approved and fashionable modes of torture; and +officiated for many years as superintendent of the wheel of a foreign +prince, renowned for the neatness of his rack. Drawing and quartering in +all their branches. Pressing to death performed in the most economical +style. Impalement in the Turkish manner; and the pile, as practised by the +best Smithfield hands, &c. &c. &c." + +Independent, indeed, of the high prosperity and vast perquisites of such +posts as executioner of the Tower of London or the Grève of Paris, there +was honour and satisfaction in the office. A royal master knew when he was +well served. Henry III. stood by, in his chateau of Blois, to see, not +only the heads severed from the dead bodies of the Duke and Cardinal de +Guise, but their _flesh cut into small pieces_, preparatory to being +burned, and the ashes scattered to the winds. "His majesty," says an +eyewitness, "stood in a pool of blood to witness the hacking of the +bodies." + +This Italian _gusto_ for the smell of blood, appears to have been +introduced into the palaces of France from those of Italy by alliance with +the Medici--those ennobled pawnbrokers of the middle ages, whose _parvenu_ +taste engendered the fantastic gilding of the _renaissance_, which they +naturalized in the Tuileries and at Fontainbleau, in common with the +stiletto and acqua tofana of their poisoners, and the fatalism of their +judicial astrology. + +But enough of Catharine de Medicis and her sanguinary son--enough of Henry +Tudor and his savage daughters--enough of the monstrous professions +flourishing in their age of monstrosities. And turn we for relief to the +exquisite vocation completing the antithesis--the vocation whose execution +is that of _pas de zéphyrs_, and the tortures of whose infliction are the +tortures of the tender heart! + +The calling of the _danseuse_, we repeat, is among the most lucrative of +modern times, and nearly the most influential. The names of Taglioni and +Elssler are as European, nay, as universal, as those of Wellington and +Talleyrand-Metternich or Thiers; and modern statesmanship and modern +diplomacy show pale beside the Machiavelism of the _coulisses_. + +With what pomp of phraseology are the triumphs and movements of these +_danseuses_ announced, by the self-same journal which despatches, with a +stroke of the pen, the submission of a province or revolution of a kingdom! +One poor halfpenny-worth, or half a line, suffices for the death of a +sultana; while fiery columns precede the departure and arrival of the +steamer honoured by conveying across the Atlantic some ethereal being, +whose light fantastic toe is to give the law to the United States. Her +appearance in the Ecclesiastic States, on the other hand, is announced in +Roman capitals; and her triumphal entry into St Petersburg received with +regiments of notes of admiration!!! + +Were Taglioni, by the malediction of Providence, to break her leg, what +corner of the civilized earth but would sympathize in the casualty? Or +were Elssler epidemically carried off, on the same day with the Pope, the +Archbishop of Dublin, a chancellor of an university, an historiographer, +or astronomer-royal--_which_ would be most cared for by society at large, +or to which would the public journals distribute the larger share of their +dolefuls? + +Nor is it alone the levities of Europe which have encompassed with a +gaseous atmosphere of enthusiasm these idols of the day. We appeal to our +sober, plodding, painstaking brother Jonathan. We move for returns of the +sums he has expended on his beloved Fanny, and for notes of the honours +conferred upon her, not only on the boards of his theatres and in the +publicity of his causeways, but amid the august nationalities of his +senate! "Fanny Elssler in Congress" has become as historical as the name +of Washington! As if for the purpose of proving that extremes meet, the +democrats of the New World were demonstrating the wildest infatuation in +favour of one dancer, while the great autocrat of the Old was exhibiting a +similar fervour in honour of another. La Gitana became all but +presidentess of the Transatlantic republic; La Bayadère depolarized the +tyrant of the Poles! But, above all, the Empress of Russia--albeit, the +lightest of sovereigns and coldest of women--was carried so far by her +enthusiasm as to fasten a bracelet of gems on the fair arm of Taglioni; +while the Queen-Dowager of England conferred a similar honour on the +Neapolitan dancer Cerito! + +Now, what queen or princess, we should like to know, has lavished necklace, +or bracelet, or one poor pitiful brooch, on Miss Edgeworth or Miss Aitkin, +Mrs Somerville or Joanna Baillie, or any other of the female illustrations +of the age, saving these aerial machines which have achieved such enviable +supremacy? Mrs Marcet, who has taught the young idea of our three kingdoms +how to shoot; Miss Martineau, who has engrafted new ones on our oldest +crab-stocks, might travel from Dan to Beersheba without having a fatted +calf or a fatted capon killed for them, at the public expense. But let +Taglioni take the road, and what clapping of hands--what gratulation--what +curiosity--what expansion of delight! + +The only wonder of all this is, that we should wonder about the matter. +Dancing constitutes that desideratum of the learned of all ages--an +universal language. Music, which many esteem much, is nearly as +nationalized in its rhythm as dialect in its words; whereas the organs of +sight are cosmopolitan. The eye of man and the foot of the dancer include +between them all nations and languages. The poetry of motion is +interpreted by the lexicon of instinct; and the unimpregnable grace of a +Taglioni becomes omnipotent and catholic as that of + + "The statue that enchants the world!" + +Who can doubt that the names of these sorceresses of our time will reach +posterity, as those of the Aspasias and Lauras of antiquity have reached +our own--as having held philosophers by the beard, and trampled on the +necks of the conquerors of mankind--as being those for whom Solon +legislated, and to whom Pericles succumbed? + +Pausanius tells us of the stately tomb of the frail Pythonice in the Vica +Sacra; and we know that Phryne offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, by +Alexander overthrown. And surely, if modern guide-books instruct us to +weep in the cemetery of Père la Chaise over the grave of Fanny Bias, +history will say a word or two in honour of Cerito, who proposed through +the newspapers, last season, an alliance offensive and defensive with no +less a man than Peter Borthwick, Esq. M.P., (_Arcades ambo_!) to relieve +the distress of the manufacturing classes of Great Britain! It is true +such heroines can afford to be generous; for what lord chancellor or +archbishop of modern times commands a revenue half as considerable? + +Why, therefore--O Public! why, we beseech thee, seeing that the influence +of the operative class is fairly understood, and undeniably established +among us--why not at once elevate choriography to the rank of one of the +fine arts?--Why not concentrate, define, and qualify the calling, by a +public academy?--since all hearts and eyes are amenable to the charm of +exquisite dancing, why vex ourselves by the sight of what is bad, when +better may be achieved? Be wise, O Pubic, and consider! Establish a +professor's chair for the improvement of pirouetters. We have hundreds of +professor's chairs, quite as unavailable to the advancement of the +interests of humanity, and wholly unavailable to its pleasures. Neither +painters nor musicians acquire as much popularity as dancers, or amass an +equal fortune. Why should they be more highly protected by the state? + +To disdain this exquisite art, is a proof of barbarism. The nations of the +East may cause their dances to be performed by slaves; but two of the +greatest kings of ancient and modern times, the kings after God's own +heart and man's own heart--David and Louis le Grand--were excellent +dancers, the one before the ark, the other before his subjects. + +Never, perhaps, did the art of dancing attain such eminent honours in the +eyes of mankind, as during the _siècle doré_ of the latter monarch. At an +epoch boasting of Molière and Racine, Bossuet and Fénélon, Boileau and La +Fontaine, Colbert and Perrault, (the fairy talisman of politics and +architecture,) the court of Versailles could imagine no manifestation of +regality more august, or more exquisite, than that of getting up a royal +ballet; and the father of his people, Louis XIV., was, in his youth, its +_coulon_. + +How amusing are the descriptions of these _entrées de ballet_, +circumstantially bequeathed us by the memoirs of the regency of Anne of +Austria! The cardinal himself took part in them; but the chief performers +were the young King, his brother Gaston d'Orleans, and the maids of honour, +figuring as Apollo and the Muses, or Hamadryads adoring some sylvan +divinity. Who has not sympathized in the joy of Madame de Sevigné, at +seeing her fair daughter exhibit among the _coryphées_! Who has not felt +interested in the _jetées_ and _pas de bourrées_ of the _ancien régime_, +when accomplished at court by Condés, Contis, Montpensiers, Montmorencys, +Rohans, Guises! The Marquis de Dangeau first recommended himself to the +favour of the royal master whose courts he was destined to journalize for +posterity, by the skill of his _pas de basques_; and long before the all +but conjugal influence of the lovely La Vallière commenced over the heart +of the _grand monarque_, his early love, and more especially his passion +for the beautiful niece of the Cardinal, may be traced to the rehearsals +and _rondes de jambes_ of Maitz and Fontainbleau. + +The reign of Madame de Maintenon (_la raison même_) over his affections, +declared itself by the sudden transfer of a ballet-opera, expressly +composed by Rameau and Quinault for the beauties of the court, to the +public theatre of the Palais Royal. No more noble figurantes at Versailles! +Louis le Pirouettiste's occupation was gone; and the _maître des ballets +du roi_ arrayed himself in sackcloth and ashes. But, lo! the glories of +his throne took wing with the loves and graces; ballets and victories +being effaced on the same page from the annals of his reign. + +During the minority of Louis XV., the same royal dansomania was renewed. +The regent, Duke of Orleans, entertained the same notions of kingly +education, on this head, as his predecessor the cardinal; and Louis _le +Bien-aimé_, like his great-grandfather before him, was the best dancer of +his realm. Such dancing as it was! such exquisite footing! In the upper +story of the grand gallery at Versailles, hang several pictures +representing these court ballets; Cupids in coatees of pink lustring, with +silver lace and tinsel wings, wearing full-bottomed wigs and the riband of +the St Esprit; or Venuses in hoops and powder, whose _minauderies_ might +afford a lesson to the divinities of our own day for the benefit of the +omnibus box. + +Some of these groups, by Mignard, Boucher, and their imitators, are +charming studies as _tableaux de genre_. But in nothing, by the way, are +they more remarkable than in their _decency_. The nudities of the present +times appear to have been undreamed of in the philosophy of Versailles. +That simple-hearted, though strong-minded American writer, Miss Sedgwick, +who has published an account of her consternation as she sat with Mrs +Jameson in the stalls of our Italian opera, might have witnessed the royal +performance unabashed. On being told, as she gazed upon the intrepid +self-exposure of Taglioni, "_qu'il fallait être sage pour danser comme +ça_," Miss S. observes, that it requires to be more or less than woman, +and proposes to divide the human species into men, women, and +OPERA-DANCERS, little suspecting that half her readers translate such a +classification into "men, women, and ANGELS;" or that they would see +herself and her sister moralist go down in the _President_ without a pang, +provided Elssler and Taglioni were saved from the deep! + +Natural enough! we repeat it--natural enough! To create a good dancer, +requires the rarest combination of physical and mental endowments. +Graceful as the forms transmitted to us by the pottery of Etruria and the +frescoes of Herculaneum, she must unite with the strength of an athlete, +the genius of a first-rate actress. That even moderate dancing demands +immoderate abilities, is attested by the exhibition of human ungainliness +disfiguring all the court balls of Europe. There may be seen the +representatives of the highest nobility, tutored by the highest education, +shuffling over the polished floor with stiffened arms and bewildered +legs--often out of time--always out of place--as if acting under the +influence of a galvanic battery. Not one in ten of them rises even to +mediocrity as a dancer. A few degrees lower in the social scale, and it +would be not one in twenty. Amid the shoving, shouldering, shuffling mob +of dancers in an ordinary ball-room, the absence of all grace amounts even +to the ludicrous. Forty years long have people been dancing the quadrilles +now in vogue, which consist of six favourite country-dances, fashionable +in Paris at the close of the last century, and then singly known by the +names they still retain--"La Poule, L'Eté, Le Pantalon, Le Trenis," &c. &c. +To avoid the monotony of dancing each in succession, for hours at a time, +down a file of forty couple, it was arranged that every eight couple +should form a square, and perform the favourite dances, in succession, +with the same partner--a considerable relief to the monotony of the +ball-room. Yet, after all this experience, if poor Monsieur le Trenis +(after whom one of the figures was named, and who, during the consulate, +died dancing-mad in a public lunatic asylum) could rise, sane, from the +dead, it would be enough to drive him mad again to see how little had been +acquired, in the way of practice, since his decease. The processes and +varieties of the ball-room are just where he left then on his exit! + +Previous to the introduction of quadrilles and country dances or +_contredanses_, the inaptitude of nine-tenths of mankind for dancing was +still more eminently demonstrated in the murders of the minuet. For (as +Morall, the dancing-master of Marie Antoinette, used passionately to +exclaim)--_que de choses dans un minuet_! What worlds of modest +dignity--of alternate amenity and scorn! The minuet has all the tender +coquetry of the bolero, divested of its licentious fervour. With the +minuet and the hoop, indeed, disappeared that powerful circumvallation of +female virtue, rendering superfluous the annual publication of a dozen +codes of ethics, addressed to the "wives of England" and their daughters. +All was comprehended in the _pas grave_. That noble and right Aulic dance +was expressly invented in deference to the precariousness of powdered +heads; and its calm sobrieties, once banished from the ball-room, +revolutionary _boulangères_ succeeded--and chaos was come again! The +stately _pavon_ had possession of the English court, with ruffs and +farthingales, in the reign of Elizabeth. With the Stuarts came the wild +courante or corante-- + + "Hair loosely flowing, robes as free"-- + +and if the House of Hanover, and minuets, reformed for a time the +irregularities of St James's--what are we to expect now that waltzes, +galops, and the eccentricities of the cotillon have possession of the +social stage? WHAT NEXT? as the pamphlets say--"What will the lords +do?"--what the ladies? + +Thus much in proof, that the boss of pirouettiveness is strangely wanting +in human conformation, and that there is consequently all the excuse of +ignorance for the wild enthusiasm lavished by London on the operative +class. Ten guineas per night--five hundred for the season--is the price +exacted for a first-rate opera-box; and as the exclusives usually arrive +at the close of the opera, or, if earlier, keep up a perpetual babble +during its performance, they clearly come for the dancing.--"_On voit +l'opéra, et l'on écoute le ballet_," used to be said of the Académie de +Musique. But it might be asserted now, with fully as much truth, of the +Queen's Theatre, where the evolutions of Carlotta Grisi, Elssler, and +Cerito, keep the audience in a state of breathless attention denied to +Shakspeare. + +In two out of these instances, it may be advanced that they are consummate +actresses as well as graceful and active dancers. Elssler's comedy is +almost as piquant as that of Mademoiselle Mars. Nor is the ballet +unsusceptible of a still higher order of histrionic display. We never +remember to have seen a stronger _levée en masse_ of cambric handkerchiefs +in honour of O'Neill's _Mrs Haller_, or Siddons's _Isabella_, than of the +ballet of "Nina;" while the affecting death-dance in "Masaniello" is still +fresh in the memory of the admirers of Pauline Leroux. We have heard of +swoons and hysterics along the more impressionable audiences of La Scala, +during the performance of the ballet of "La Vestale;" and have witnessed +with admiration the striking effect of the fascinative scene in "Faust." + +Of late years, the union of Italian blood and a French education has been +found indispensable to create a _danseuse_--"Sangue Napolitano in scuola +Parigiana;"--and Vesuvius is the Olympus of all our recent divinities. +Formerly, a Spanish origin was the most successful. The first dancer who +possessed herself of European notoriety was La Camargo, whose portraits, +at the close of a century, are still popular in France, where she has been +made the heroine of several recent dramas. To her reign, succeeded that of +the Gruinards and Duthés--in honour of whose bright eyes, a variety of +noblemen saw the inside both of Fort St Evêque and St Pelagie; the opera +being at that time a fertile source of _lettres de cachet_. To obtain +admittance to the private theatricals of the former dancer, in her +magnificent hotel in the Chaussée d'Antin, the ladies of fashion and of +the court had recourse to the meanest artifices; while the latter has +obtained historical renown, by having excited the jealousy, or rather envy, +of Marie Antoinette. Mademoiselle Duthé appeared at the fêtes of +Longchamps, in the Bois de Boulogne, in a gorgeous chariot drawn by six +milk-white steeds, with red morocco harness, richly ornamented with cut +steel; and thus accomplished the object of incurring the resentment of the +court, from the prodigality of one of whose married princes these +splendours were supposed to emanate--splendours exceeding those of the +Rhodopes of old. + +But the greatest triumph ever achieved by _danseuse_, was that of +Bigottini! The Allied sovereigns, after vanquishing the victor of modern +Europe, were by _her_ vanquished in their turn. At her feet, fresh +trembling from an _entre-chat_, did + + "Fiery French and furious Hun" + +lay down their arms! The Allied armies appeared to have entered Paris only +to become the slaves of Bigottini! + +In our own country, devotees of the _danseuse_ have done more, by +promoting her to the decencies of the domestic fireside. In our own +country, also, even Punch was once purchased by an eccentric nobleman for +the diversion of his private life. But as Demosthenes observed of the cost +of such a pleasure, "that is buying repentance too dear!" + +We are perhaps offending the gravity of certain of our readers by the +extent of this notice; albeit, we have striven to propitiate their +prejudices by the peculiar combination and juxtaposition of professions, +selected for consideration. But we are not acting unadvisedly. Close its +eyes as it may, the public cannot but perceive, that the legitimate drama +is banished by want of encouragement from the national theatres, and that +the ballet is brandishing her cap and bells triumphantly in its room. + +Such changes are never the result of accident. The supply is created by +the demand. It is because we prefer the Sylphide to Juliet, that the +Sylphide figures before us. Shakspeare was played to empty benches; the +Peri and Gisele fill the houses. + +We repeat, therefore, since such is the bent of public appetite, let it be +gratified in the least objectionable way. Let us have a royal academy of +dancing. We shall easily find some Earl of Westmoreland to compose its +ballets, and lady patronesses to give an annual ball for the benefit of +the institution. Do not let some eighty thousand a-year be lost to the +country. An idol is as easily carved out of one block of wood as another. +Let us make unto ourselves goddesses out of the haberdashers' shops of +Oxford Street; and qualify the youthful caprices of Whitechapel to command +the homage of Congress, and of the great autocrat of all the Russias. +Properly instructed, little Sukey Smith may still obtain an enameled +brooch or bracelet from her Majesty the Queen-Dowager! Let us "people this +whole isle with sylphs!" Let Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden flourish; +but--thanks to Great Britain pirouettes!--the art of giving ten guineas +for a couple of hours spent in an opera-box, will then become less +criminal; and we shall have no fear of the influence of some Herodias's +daughter in our domestic life, when we see the Cracovienne announced in +the bills "by Miss Mary Thomson." The charm will be destroyed. The +unfrequented _coulisses_, like Dodona, will cease to give forth oracles. + +Under the influence of an "establishment," we shall have to record of +opera-dancers as of other professions, that "the goddesses are departing!" +The _danse à roulades_ of Fanny Elssler will be voted vulgar, when +attempted by a Buggins. Let Mr Bunn look to himself. He may yet survive +his immortality. We foresee a day in which he will be no longer styled +Alfred the Great. With the aid of George Robins, and other illustrious +persons interested in the destinies of theatrical property, we do not +despond of hearing attached to "a bill for the legalization of the Royal +and National Academy of Dancing of the United Kingdom," the satisfactory +decree of "LA REINE LE VEUT!" + + * * * * * + + + + +THE PIRATES OF SEGNA. + +A TALE OF VENICE AND THE ADRIATIC. IN TWO PARTS. + +PART I. + +CHAPTER I.--THE STUDIO. + + +It was on a bright afternoon in spring, and very near the close of the +sixteenth century, that a handsome youth, of slender form and patrician +aspect, was seated and drawing before an easel in the studio of the aged +cavaliere Giovanni Contarini--the last able and distinguished painter of +the long-declining school of Titian. The studio was a spacious and lofty +saloon, commanding a cheerful view over the grand canal. Full curtains of +crimson damask partially shrouded the lofty windows, intercepting the +superabundant light, and diffusing tints resembling the ruddy, soft, and +melancholy hues of autumnal foliage; while these hues were further +deepened by a richly carved ceiling of ebony, which, not reflecting but +absorbing light, allayed the sunny radiance beneath, and imparted a sombre +yet brilliant effect to the pictured walls, and glossy draperies, of the +spacious apartment. Above the rich and lofty mantelpiece hung one of the +last portraits of himself painted by the venerable Titian, and on the dark +pannels around were suspended portraits of great men and lovely women by +the gifted hands of Giorgione, Paul Veronese, Paris Bordone, and +Tintoretto. Regardless, however, of all around him, and almost breathless +with eagerness and impatience, the student pursued his object, and with +rapid and vigorous strokes had half completed his sketch--totally +unconcious the while that some one had opened the folding-doors, crossed +the saloon, and now stood behind his chair. + +"But tell me, Antonello mio!" exclaimed old Contarini, after gazing awhile +in mute astonishment at the sketch before him; "tell me, in the name of +wonder, what kind of face do you mean to draw around that lean and +withered nose and that horribly wrinkled mouth?" + +Antonio, however, was so unconcious of the "world without," that he +started not at this sudden interruption of the previous stillness. +Regardless, too, of the serious and indeed reproving tone of the old man's +voice, he hastily replied without averting his gaze from the canvass. +"Hush, maestro! I beseech you. Question me not, for Heaven's sake! I +cannot spare a word in reply. The original," continued he, after a brief +interval of close attention to his object, and drawing as he spoke; "the +original is still firmly fixed in my memory. I see its sharp outlines +clear within me, and, as you well know and oft have told me, a feature +lost is lost for ever. Alas! alas! those lines and angles around the mouth +are already fading into shadow." + +After he had thrown out these words, from time to time, like interjections, +and with Venetian rapidity of utterance, nothing was audible in the saloon +for some minutes but the young artist's sharp and rapid strokes upon the +canvass. + +"No more of this, Antonio!" at length exclaimed the old painter with +energy, after gazing for some time at the gradual appearance of an old +woman's lean and winkled features, dried up and yellow as if one of the +dead, and yet lighted up by a pair of dark deep-set eyes, which seemed to +blaze with supernatural life and lustre. At each touch of the artist, this +mummy-like and unearthly visage was brought out into sharper and more +disgusting relief, when Contarini, no longer able to control his +indignation, dashed the charcoal from his pupil's hand. "Apage, Satanas!" +he shouted, "thy talent hath a devil in it. I see his very hoof-print in +that horrible design." + +Startled by this unexpected violence, the young artist turned round, and +beheld with amazement the usually benign featutes of his venerable teacher +flashing upon him with irrepressible anger, which was the more impressive +because the Cavaliere had just returned from a visit to the Doge, and was +richly attired in the imposing patrician costume of the period. Around his +neck was the golden chain hung there by the imperial hands of Rodolph the +Second, and he wore the richly enameled barret, and lofty heron's plume, +which the same picture-loving emperor had placed upon his head when he +knighted him as a reward for the noble pictures he had painted in Germany. +There was a true and fine air of nobility in his lofty form and +well-marked features--a character of matured thought and intellectual +power in the expansive brow, and in the firm gaze of his large dark eyes, +as yet undimmed by age--with evidence of decision and self-respect, and +habitual composure in the finely formed mouth and chin. Thus splendidly +arrayed, and thus dignified in form, features, and expression, this +distinguished man recalled so powerfully to the memory of his imaginative +pupil the high-minded doges of the heroic period of Venice, and the +imposing portraits of Titian's senators, that, with a deep sense of his +own moral inferiority, he obeyed in silence, and with starting tears +removed the offending sketch. Then placing before him a small picture of a +weeping and lovely Magdalen by Contarini, which he had undertaken to copy, +he began the sketch, patiently awaiting a voluntary explanation of this +unwonted vehemence in his beloved teacher, who, seated in his armchair, +leaned his head upon his hand and seemed lost in thought. + +And now again for some time was the deep stillness of the studio +interrupted only by the strokes of Antonio's charcoal, which, unlike his +rapid and feverish efforts when sketching the old woman, were now subdued +and tranquil. As he gazed into the upraised and pleading eyes of the +beautiful Magdalen, his excitement gradually yielded to the pacifying +influence of her mute and eloquent sorrow. This salutary change escaped +not the observation of Contarini, whose benevolent features softened as he +gazed upon these tokens of a better spirit in his pupil. + +"I rejoice to see, Antonio," he began, "that you already feel, how ever +imperfectly, the soothing and hallowed influence of the Beautiful in Art +and Nature, and the peril to soul and body of delighting in imaginary +forms of horror. If you indulge these cravings of a distempered fancy, you +will sink to the base level of those Flemish artists who delight in +painting witches and demons, and in all fabulous and monstrous forms. You, +who are nobly born, devoted to poetry and fine art, and possess manifest +power in portraiture, should aim at the Heroic in painting. Make this your +first and steadfast purpose. Devote to it your life and soul; and, should +the power to reach this elevation be wanting, you may still achieve the +Beautiful, and paint lovely women in lovely attitudes. But tell me, +Antonello!" continued he, resuming his wonted kindness, "how came that +horrid visage across thy path, or rather across thy fancy? for surely no +such original exists. Say, didst thou see it living, or was it the growth +of those distempered dreams to which painters, more than other men, are +subject?" + +"No, padre mio! it was no dream," eagerly answered his pupil. "Yesterday I +went in our gondola, as is my wont on festivals, to the beautiful church +of San Moyses, which I love for its oriental and singular architecture. +When near the church I heard a melodious voice calling to Jacopo, my +gondolier, the only boatman in sight, and begging a conveyance across the +canal. Issuing from the cabin, I saw a tall figure, closely veiled, +standing on the steps of the palace facing the church and occupied by the +Archduke's ambassador. Approaching the steps, Jacopo placed a plank for +the stranger; but, as she stepped out to reach it, a sudden gust caught +her large loose mantle, which, clinging to her shape, displayed for a +moment a form of such majestic and luxuriant fulness--such perfect and +glorious symmetry, as no man, still less an artist, could look on unmoved. +In trembling and indescribable impatience, I awaited the raising of her +veil. Another gust, and a slight stumble as she bounded rather than +stepped into the boat, befriended me; the partial shifting of her veil, +which she hastily replaced, permitted a glimpse of her features--brief, +indeed, but never to be forgotten. Yes, father! the face which surmounted +that goddess-like and splendid person, was the horrid visage I have +sketched, lean and yellow, drawn up into innumerable wrinkles, and with +black eyes of intolerable brightness, blazing out of deep and faded +sockets. Staggered by this unearthly contrast, I fell back upon the bench +of the gondola, and gazed in silent horror at the stranger, who answered +not the blunt questions of Jacopo; and, as if ashamed of her astounding +ugliness, sat motionless and shrouded from head to foot in her capacious +mantle. I followed her into the church; but, unable to hold out during the +mass, I left her there and hastily returned to sketch this sublime example +of the hideous before any of its points had faded from my memory. Forgive +me, father, for yielding to an impulse so strong as to overwhelm all power +of resistance. Yet why should I abandon this rare opportunity of +displaying any skill I may have gained from so gifted a teacher? Pictures +of Madonnas and of lovely women so abound in all our palaces, that a young +artist can only rise above the common level by representing something +extraordinary, something rarely or never seen in life." + +Contarini gazed with sorrowing and affectionate interest upon the flushed +features of his pupil, again excited as before by his own description of +the mysterious stranger. One less acquainted with human nature, would have +mistaken the flashing eyes and animated features of the youthful artist +for the sure tokens of conscious and advancing talent; but the aged +painter, whose practised eye was not dazzled by the soft harmony of +features which gave a character of feminine beauty to Antonio, saw in the +excitement which failed to give a more intellectual character to his +countenance, sad evidence of a soul too feeble and infirm of purpose to +achieve eminence in any thing, and with growing alarm he inferred a +predisposition to mental disease from those morbid and uncontrolled +impulses, which delighted in portraying objects revolting to all men of +sound and healthy feelings. + +He arose in evident emotion, and after pacing the studio some time in +silence, he approached Antonio, who, yielding to his eccentric longings, +had seized the sketch of the old woman's head, and was gazing on it with +evident delight. "Give me the sketch, Antonio!" resumed the painter in his +kindest tone, "'Tis finished, and the hunter cares not for the hunted +beast when stricken. What wouldst thou with it?" "What would I, maestro?" +exclaimed the alarmed youth, hastily removing his sketch from the extended +hand of the painter, "Finish the subject of course, and place this +wonderful old head upon the magnificent form to which it belongs." + +"But, saidst thou not, Antonio, that the poor creature in the gondola +hastily concealed her features when accident revealed them, as if ashamed +of her unnatural ugliness? And canst thou be so heartless as to publish to +the world that strange deformity she is doomed to bear through life, and +which she is evidently anxious to conceal? Wouldst thou add another pang +to the existence of one to whom life is worse than death, and whose +eternal veil is but a foretaste of the winding-sheet and the grave? Thou +wilt not, canst not, my Antonio, make such unheard-of misery thy +stepping-stone to fame and fortune." This impassioned appeal to all his +better feelings at length reached the heart of Antonio. For a short time +he continued to withhold the drawing; but his kindly nature triumphed. +Tearing his sketch into fragments, he threw himself into the extended arms +of his beloved teacher, who with deep emotion placed his trembling hand on +the curling locks of his pupil, and implored the blessing of Heaven on his +better feelings and purposes. + +With a view to improve the impression he had made, the painter led Antonio +round the studio, and sought to fix his attention upon several portraits +of lovely women which adorned it. "Here," said he, "are heads worthy to +crown that striking figure in the gondola. Behold that all-surpassing +portrait by Giorgione, of such beauty as painters and poets may dream of +but never find, and yet not superhuman in its type. Too impassioned for an +angel; too brilliant for a Madonna; and with too much of thought and +character for a Venus--she is merely _woman_. Belonging to no special rank +or class in society, and neither classical nor ideal, she personifies all +that is most lovely in her sex; and, whether found in a palace or a +cottage, would delight and astonish all beholders. This rarely gifted +woman was the daughter of Palma Vecchio, and the beloved of Giorgione, one +of the handsomest men of his time; but her sympathies were not for him, +and he died of grief and despair in his prime. She was the favourite model +of Titian and his school, and the type that more or less prevails in many +celebrated pictures. + +"How different and yet how beautiful of its kind, is that portrait of a +Doge's daughter, by Paris Bordone! Less dazzling and luxuriant in her +beauty than Palma's daughter, she is in all respects intensely +aristocratic. In complexion not rich and glowing, but of a transparent and +pearly lustre, through which the course of each blue vein is visible. In +shape and features not full and beautifully rounded, but somewhat taller +and of more delicate symmetry. In look and attitude not open, frank, and +natural; but astute, refined, courteous, and winning to a degree +attainable only by aristocratic training and the habits of high society. +In apparel, neither national nor picturesque, but attired with studied +elegance. Rich rows of pearls wind through her braided hair, in colour +gold, in texture soft as silk. A band of gold forms the girdle of her +ruby-coloured velvet robe, which descends to the wrist, and there reveals +the small white hand and tapering fingers of patrician beauty. All this +may captivate the fastidious noble; but, to men less artificial in their +tastes and habits, could such a woman be better than a statue--and could +love, the strongest of human passions, be ever more to her than a +short-lived and amusing pastime? + +"From these immortal portraits, my Antonio, you may learn that _colour_ +was the grand secret of the great Venetian painters. _Their_ pale forms +are never white, nor their blooming cheeks rose-colour, but the true +colour of life--mellow, rich, and glowing; both men and women strictly +true to nature, and looking as if they could turn pale with anger or blush +with tender passion. From these great men can best be learned how much +charm may be conveyed by _colour_, and what life and glow, what passion, +grace, and beauty it gives to _form_. + +"But I weary thee, Antonio; and after such excitement thou hast need of +repose. To-morrow, let me see thee early." + +The exhausted youth gladly departed from a scene of so much trial; and, +hastening to his gondola, sought refreshment in an excursion to the Lido. +Returning after nightfall, he landed on the Place of St Mark's, and +wandered through its cool arcades until they were deserted. In vain, +however, did he strive to banish the graceful form and grisly features of +the stranger. The strong impression he had received became so vivid and +absorbing, that at every turn he thought he saw her gazing at him as if in +mockery, and lighting up the deep shadows beneath the arches with her +glowing orbs, which seemed to his disordered fancy to emit sparks and +flashes of fire. No longer able to resist the impulse, forgetting alike +the paternal admonitions of the old painter, and the promises so sincerely +given, he quitted the piazza and hastened to the palace of his father, the +Proveditore Marcello, then absent on state affairs in the Levant. + +Retiring to his own apartment, he fixed an easel with impetuous haste, and +by lamp-light again began to sketch the Medusa head of the old woman. +Yielding himself up to this new frenzy, he succeeded beyond his hopes; a +supernatural power seemed to guide his hand, and soon after midnight he +had drawn to the life not only the appalling head, but the commanding and +beautiful person, of the mysterious personage in the gondola. After gazing +awhile upon his work with triumphant delight, he retired to bed; but slept +not until long after sunrise, and then the extraordinary incidents of the +past day haunted his feverish dreams. A female form, youthful and of +surpassing beauty, hovered around his couch, but ever changing in +appearance. At first her head was invisible and veiled in mist, from which, +at intervals, flashed features of resplendent loveliness, and eyes of +heavenly blue, which beamed upon him with thrilling tenderness; and then +the mist dispersed, and the beauteous phantom stooped down to kiss his +cheek, when suddenly her blooming face darkened and withered into the +death-like visage of that fearful stranger, and her long bright hair was +converted into hissing sepents. Starting with a scream of horror from his +troubled and exhausting slumbers, he again sought refuge in his gondola, +but returned, alas! to make his sketch into a picture, which the hues of +life made still more hideous and repulsive. After several days thus +occupied, he sketched in various attitudes the imposing figure of the old +woman, and endeavoured to fit this beautiful Torso with a head not +unworthy of it. But herein, after many attempts, he failed. His excitement, +so long indulged, had risen into fever. His diseased fancy controlled his +pencil, and blended with features of the highest order of beauty so many +touches of the old woman's ghastly visage, that he threw down his pencil, +and abandoned all further efforts in despair. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CAVERN. + + +The shores of Austrian Dalmatia south of the port of Fiume, are of so +rugged and dangerous a nature, that although broken into numerous creeks +and bays, there are but few places where vessels, even of small dimensions, +dare to approach them, or indeed where it is possible to effect a landing. +A long experience of the coast, and of the adjacent labyrinth of islands +which block up the gulf of Carnero, is necessary in order to accomplish in +safety the navigation of the shallow rocky sea; and even when the mariner +succeeds in setting foot on land, he not unfrequently finds his progress +into the interior barred by precipices steep as walls, roaring torrents, +and yawning ravines. + +It was on a mild evening of early spring, and a few days after the +incidents recorded in the preceding chapter, that a group of wild-looking +figures was assembled on the Dalmatian shore, opposite the island of +Veglia. The sun was setting, and the beach was so overshadowed by the +beetling summits of the high chalky cliffs, that it would have been +difficult to discover much of the appearance of the persons in question, +but for an occasional streak of light that shot out of a narrow ravine +opening among the rocks in rear of the party, and lit up some dark-bearded +visage, or flashed on the bright barrel of a long musket. High above the +ravine, and standing out against the red stormy-looking sky behind it, the +outline of a fortress was visible, and in the hollow beneath might be +distinguished the small closely-built mass of houses known as the town of +Segna. + +This castle, which, by natural even more than artificial defences, was +deemed impregnable, especially on its sea face, was the stronghold of a +handful of hardy and desperate adventurers, who, although their numbers +never exceeded seven hundred men, had yet, for many years preceding the +date of this narrative, made themselves a name dreaded throughout the +whole Adriatic. The inhabitants of the innumerable Dalmatian islands, the +subjects of the Grand Turk, the people of Ancona--all, in short, who +inhabited the shores of the Adriatic, and were interested in its commerce, +or in the countless merchant vessels that skimmed over its +waters--trembled and turned pale when the name of these daring freebooters +was mentioned in their hearing. In vain was it that the Sultan, who in his +sublimity scarcely deigned to know the names of some of the great European +powers, had caused his pachas to take the field with strong armaments for +the extermination of this nest of pirates. These expeditions were +certainly not disadvantageous to the Porte, which seized the opportunity +of annexing to its dominions some large slices of Hungarian and Venetian +territory; but their ostensible object remained unaccomplished, and the +proverbial salutation of the time, "God save you from the Uzcoques!" was +still on the lips of every one. + +The word "Uzcoque," by which this dreaded people was known, had grown into +a sound of mourning and panic to the inhabitants of the shores and islands +of the Adriatic. At the utterance of that fearful name, young girls +crowded together like frightened doves; the child hid its terrified face +in its mother's lap; the eyes of the matron overflowed with tears as the +images of murdered sons and outraged daughters passed before her mind's +eye, and, like Banquo's ghost, filled the vacant seats at the table; while +the men gazed anxiously out, expecting to see their granaries and +store-houses in flames. Nor were the seaman's apprehensions less lively, +when night surprised him with some valuable cargo in the neighbourhood of +the pirates' haunts. Every rock, each tree, and bush became an object of +dread; the very ripple of the waves on the shingle a sound of alarm. To +his terrified fancy, a few leafless and projecting branches assumed the +appearance of muskets, a point of rock became the prow of one of those +light, sharp-built boats in which the Uzcoques were wont to dart like +seabirds upon their prey; and, invoking his patron saint, the frightened +sailor crossed himself, and with a turn of the rudder brought his vessel +yet nearer to the Venetian galleys that escorted the convoy. + +At the cry "Uzcoque" the slender active Albanian grasped his fire-lock, +with rage and hatred expressed on his bearded countenance: the phlegmatic +Turk sprang in unwonted haste from his carpet; his pipe and coffee were +neglected, his women and treasures secured in the harem, while he shouted +for the Martellossi,[3] and slipping them like dogs from a leash, sent +them to the encounter of their foes on the devastated plains of Cardavia. +In the despatches from Madrid, from the ministers of that monarch on whose +dominions the sun never set, to his ambassadors, the name of these seven +hundred outlaws occupied a frequent and prominent place. But by none were +the Uzcoques more feared and detested than by the greyheaded doge and +senators of the Ocean Queen, the sea-born city, before whose cathedral the +colours of three kingdoms fluttered from their crimson flagstaffs; and the +few young Venetians in whose breasts the remembrance of their heroic +ancestors yet lived, blushed for their country's degradation when they +beheld her rulers braved and insulted by a band of sea-robbers. + + [3] The Turks, finding their own troops not well adapted to the + irregular and desperate kind of warfare waged by the Uzcoques, and + also unable to compete with them in the rapidity of their movements, + formed a corps expressly for the pursuit of the freebooters, which + was composed of men as wild and desperate as themselves. With these + _Martellossi_, as they were called, the Uzcoques had frequent and + sanguinary conflicts. Minucci says of the Martellossi, in his + _Historia degli Uscochi_, that they were "Scelerati barbari anco + 'ordine de' medesime Scochi." + +To this band belonged the wild figures, whose appearance on the shore has +been noticed, and who were busily employed in rummaging a number of sacks +and packages which lay scattered on the ground. They pursued their +occupation in profound silence, except when the discovery of some object +of unusual value elicited an exclamation of delight, or a disappointment +brought a grumbling curse to their lips. They seemed carefully to avoid +noise, lest it should draw down upon them the observation of the castle +that frowned above their heads, and at the embrasures and windows of which +they cast frequent and frightened glances, although the darkness of the +ravine, at the entrance of which they had stationed themselves, and the +rapidly deepening twilight, rendered it almost impossible to discover them. + +"By the beard of the prophet, Hassan!" exclaimed in a suppressed tone a +young Turk, who lay bound hand and foot at a short distance from the +pirates, "why do these mangy curs keep us lying so long on the wet grass? +Why do they not seek their kennel up yonder?" + +The person addressed was a little, round, oily-looking Turk, a Levant +merchant, whose traffic had called him to one of the neighbouring islands, +and who had been laid hold of on his passage by the Uzcoques. He was +sitting up, being less strictly manacled than his more youthful and +energetic-looking companion; and his comical countenance wore a most +desponding expression, as, in reply to the question put to him, he shook +his head slowly from side to side, at the same time gravely stroking his +beard. + +"By Allah!" exclaimed the young man impatiently, as he saw the pirates +rummaging more eagerly than ever, and now and then concealing something of +value under their cloaks, "could not the greedy knaves wait till they got +home before they shared the plunder? May their fathers' souls burn!" + +"What saith the sage Oghuz?" quoth old Hassan slowly, "'As people grow +rich their maw widens.'" + +"Silence, unbelieving hound!" exclaimed a harsh voice behind him, and a +thump between the shoulders warned the old Turk to keep his proverbs for a +more fitting season. The pirate was about to repeat the blow, when +suddenly his hand fell, and the curses died away upon his lips. + +The clouds that had hitherto veiled the setting sun had suddenly broken, +and a broad stream of golden light poured down the ravine, flashing upon +the roofs and gables of the town, and making the castle appear like a huge +and magnificent lantern. The ravine was lighted up as though by +enchantment, and the unexpected illumination caused an alarm among the +group of pirates, not unlike that of an owl into whose gloomy +roosting-place a torch is suddenly intruded. Terror was depicted upon +their countenances as they gazed up at the castle. For a moment all was +still and hushed as the grave, and the Uzcoques scarcely seemed to breathe +as they drew their greedy hands in silent haste out of the sacks; then, +suddenly recovering from their stupefaction, they snatched up their +muskets and crowded into a dark cavern in the rock, which the beams of the +setting sun had now for the first time rendered visible, without, however, +lighting up its deep and dark recesses. In their haste and alarm, more +than one of the freebooters had his tattered mantle caught by the thorny +arms of some of the bushes scattered over the shore, and turned in terror, +thinking himself in the grasp of a foe. A few only had the presence of +mind to throw their cloaks over the varied and glittering plunder that lay +scattered about on the ground; and strange was the contrast of the +sparkling jewellery, the rich stuffs, and embroidered robes, strewed on +the beach, with the mean and filthy garments that partially concealed them, +and the wild and squalid figures of their present possessors. + +A number of the Uzcoques now threw themselves with brutal violence upon +the two prisoners, muffled their heads in cloaks to prevent their crying +out, and carried them with the speed of light into the cave, in the +innermost recess of which they bestowed them. They then rejoined their +companions, who were grouped together at the entrance of the cavern like a +herd of frightened deer, and gazing anxiously up at the castle. After the +lapse of a very few minutes, the bright glow again faded away, the +fortress reassumed its black and frowning aspect, the roofs of Segna +relapsed into their dull grey hue, and shadows, deeper than before, +covered the ravine. + +Reviving under the influence of the darkness, so congenial to their habits +and occupations, the Uzcoques began to recover from their alarm, and the +murmur of voices was again heard as they seized the sacks, and hastily +filled them with the various objects lying on the beach. Every thing being +collected, the pirates commenced toiling their way up the steep mountain +path leading to the castle, with the exception of a few who still lingered +at the entrance of the cavern, and whom the prisoners could hear disputing +about some point on which there seemed to exist much difference of opinion. + +"Hell and the devil!" at last exclaimed an impatient voice, in a louder +tone than had yet been employed. "There's little chance that we have not +been seen from the castle; for the warder would expect us back about this +time, and doubtless was on the look-out. These Turkish hounds have seen +every thing, and might easily betray us. Let us leave them here till +to-morrow, till I have spoken to the warder, and arranged that they be +sent on at once to Gradiska without coming to speech of the captain. I +will join the escort myself to make it still surer." + +After some slight opposition on the part of the others, this proposal was +adopted, and the remaining pirates took their departure. The sound of +their footsteps along the rocky path had scarcely died away on the ears of +the anxiously listening captives, when loud acclamations and cries of joy +announced the arrival of the first detachment at the castle. The heavy +gates of the fortress were opened with much din and rattle; after a short +space they were again slammed to, the portcullis fell, and then no further +sound broke the deep silence that reigned in the ravine. + +The collection of the plunder, the discussion among the pirates, and their +departure, had passed so rapidly, that the young Turk had scarcely had +time to recover from the giddy, half-stunned state into which the rough +usage he had received had thrown him, when he found himself alone with his +old fellow-captive. + +"Well, Hassan," said he at last, in a voice of suppressed fury, "what +think you of all this?" + +The old man made no verbal reply, but merely stroked his beard, shrugged +his shoulders, and opened his eyes wider than before, as much as to say, +"I don't think at all; what do you think?" + +"It is not the prospect of passing the night in this damp hole, bound hand +and foot, that chafes me to madness, and makes my very blood boil in my +veins," resumed the young man after a pause. "That is a small matter, + but"-- + +"A small matter!" interrupted Hassan with unusual vivacity. "That is, +because you have forgotten the most dreadful part of our position. Bound +hand and foot as we are, we can expect nothing less than to fall, ere +cock-crow, into the power of Satan." + +"Of Satan!" repeated the other. "Has terror turned thy brain?" + +"Of a truth, the Evil One has already tied the three fatal nooses which he +hangs over the head of the sleeping believer," replied the old Mahometan +in a lachrymose tone. "He who awakes and forthwith invokes the holy name +of Allah, is thereby delivered from the first noose; by performing his +ablutions, the second becomes loosened; and by fervent prayer he unties +the third. Our bonds render it impossible for us to wash, and the second +noose, therefore, will remain suspended over our devoted heads." + +"Runs it so in the Koran, old man?" asked the youth. + +"In the Koran! What Mussulman are you? It is the hundred and forty-ninth +passage of the Suna." + +"The Suna!" repeated the other, in a tone of indifference. "If that is all, +it will not break my slumbers." + +"Allah protect me!" exclaimed the old man, as he made an attempt to pluck +out his beard, which the shackles on his wrists rendered ineffectual. +"Allah protect me! Is it not enough that I have fallen into captivity? Am +I also doomed to pass the night under the same roof with an unbeliever, +even as the Nazarenes are?" + +"May the bolt of Heaven fall on thy lying tongue!" exclaimed the youth in +great wrath. "I an unbeliever! I, Ibrahim, the adopted son of Hassan, +pacha of Bosnia!" + +In deepest humility did the old merchant bow his head, and endeavour to +lay hold of the hem of the young man's crimson caftan, in order to carry +it to his lips. + +"Enough! enough!" said Ibrahim, whose good temper had returned. "You spoke +in haste and ignorance. I am well pleased when I break no commandment of +the Koran; and trouble my head little about the sayings of those babbling +greybeards, the twelve holy Imaums." + +"But the nooses," expostulated Hassan, not a little scandalized by his +companion's words. + +"You have nothing to do but to sleep all night without awaking," replied +the young Turk laughing. "Then you will have no need either to wash or +pray." + +The superstitious old man turned his face to the wall in consternation and +anguish of spirit. + +"This night have I seen with my own eyes what we have hitherto refused to +believe," resumed Ibrahim after a pause, and in a tone of indignation that +echoed through the cavern. "I am now convinced that the shameless +scoundrels do not rob on their own account, since they are obliged to +pilfer and conceal a part of their plunder in order to get a profit from +their misdeeds. Marked you not, Hassan, how they trembled when the sun lit +up the ravine, lest their tricks should be espied by some sentry on the +battlements; and how their panic fear made them carry every thing up to +the castle?" + +The old Turk bowed his head assentingly. + +"Glory be to God and the Sultan!" continued the youth. "Before the bright +countenance of the prophet's vicegerent, who reigneth in Stamboul, no +misdeed can remain hidden that occurs in the remotest corner of his vast +dominions. Nay, much of what happens in the land of the Giaour is also +manifest to his penetrating vision. Witness the veil of turpitude and +cunning which has long been seen through by the clear eyes of our holy +mollahs, and of the council at the Seraglio, and which has just now been +torn away from before me, like a mist dispersing in the sunshine of truth. +Truly spoke the Christian maiden, whom but a few weeks back I took captive +in a fight with the Uzcoques, but who was shortly after rescued by another +band of those raging fiends." + +"Saw you the maiden," exclaimed Hassan, "the good maiden that accompanies +the pirates, like an angel walking among demons?" + +"What know you of the Houri?" eagerly demanded the youth, in vain +endeavouring to raise his head from the damp stones. + +"That it was the hand of Allah that rescued her from you," replied the +other. He chastiseth his creatures with rods, but even in his chastisemcnt +is mercy. "How many more had not the dogs and the ravens devoured, had the +Christian maiden been taken from among the Uzcoques? She belongs to them, +she is the daughter of their leader, the terrible Dansowich, beside whom +she is ever to be found, instilling the musk and amber of mildness into +his fierce soul, and pouring healing into the wounds he makes. I know her +not, but often have I heard the Christians, with whom my traffic brought +me acquainted, include her in the prayers they addressed to their God." + +"Her eyes were as brilliant stars, and they blinded my very soul," +exclaimed Ibrahim impetuously; "the honey of her words dropped like balm +into my heart! As the sound of bubbling fountains, and the rustle of +flowery groves to the parched wanderer in the desert, fell her sweet voice +upon my ear. So gentle and musical were its tones, that I thought not of +their meaning, and it is only to-day that I understand them." + +"I know not," quoth Hassan, "what you may have seen; but doubtless, Satan, +who wished to inspire you with an unholy desire for a Nazarene woman, +began by blinding you. According to all I have heard, the Uzcoque maiden +is good and compassionate, but as ugly as night." + +"Ugly!" cried Ibrahim, "Then there must be two of them; for the one I saw +was blooming as the spring, her eyes like the morning star, and her cheeks +of velvet. Oh, that I could again behold her! In that hope it was that I +pressed so rashly forward in the fight, and was made prisoner; but yet +have I not beheld the pearl of mine eyes." + +"She cannot be amongst them," said Hassan; "and thence comes it that the +pirates have this year committed greater cruelties than ever, and done +deeds that cry out to Allah for vengeance." + +"Instead of her silver tones," continued Ibrahim, "I hear the shrieks of +the tortured; instead of her words of peace and blessing, the curses of +the murderer." + +"But what did the maiden tell you?" enquired Hassan, who was getting +impatient at the transports of the enamoured youth. + +"Her words flowed like a clear stream out of the well of truth. It is not +the Uzcoques alone," said she, "who are to blame for the horrors that"-- + +"Hark!" interrupted the old Turk. + +A clamour of voices and splashing of oars became audible, a keel grated on +the beach, and then hurried footsteps were heard in the ravine. + +"It is another vessel with Uzcoques!" exclaimed Ibrahim; "but these are +not laden with plunder, their movements are too rapid." + +As he spoke, the tumult and murmur of voices and trampling of feet +increased, and above all a noise like distant musketry was heard. + +"Holy Virgin!" suddenly exclaimed a clear and feminine voice, apparently +close to the mouth of the cavern. "They are already at the castle--the +gates, no doubt, are shut, the drawbridge raised. Before they could come +down it would be too late." + +The young Turk started. + +"It is she, Hassan!" he exclaimed. "It is Strasolda, the Christian maiden!" + +"Oh, my father!" cried the same voice in tones of heart-rending anguish. +"How shall we deliver thee? Alas! alas! who can tell the tortures they +will make thee suffer in their dreadful dungeons?" + +The noise of the musketry became more and more distinct. Some of the newly +arrived Uzcoques who had hurried up the winding path, were soon heard +clamouring furiously for admittance at the castle gates. + +"They will be too late!" exclaimed the maiden, wringing her hands in +despair. The next moment a sudden thought seemed to flash across her mind, +lending her fresh hope and energy. + +"Gracious Heaven!" she exclaimed in joyful tones. "Have we not here the +cave, from which, invoked by fire, the storm and the hurricane, the north +wind and the tempest, come forth and shatter the most stately vessels +against our iron-bound coast.[4] Up, Uzcoques, and fire the cavern! Let +the elements do battle for us. Perchance by their aid the bark of your +leader Dansowich may yet escape its foes and reach the haven." + + [4] In Minucci's History of the Uzcoques, continued by Paola Sarpi, + we find the following:--"Segna, through its position on a cragged + rock, was unapproachable by carts or horses, and consequently by + artillery. The harbour appertaining to it, however, was tolerably + good, but exceedingly difficult of access on account of the north + wind, (vento di Buora,) which blew almost incessantly in the + channel leading to it. According to popular belief, the Segnarese + had the power of causing this wind to blow at will, by merely + kindling a fire in a certain hollow of the cliffs. The mysterious + operation of this fire was to heat the veins of the earth, which + then, through pain or fury, sent out the raging hurricanes that + rendered those narrow seas in the highest degree dangerous, and + indeed untenable." + +Immediately after these words, which made the two Moslems quail, the +pirate's daughter hastily entered the cavern with a blazing torch, the +flashes of which awakened from slumber into life and glow the various tints +of mosses, lichens, and stalactites innumerable that studded the ample +vault. In this flitting and singular illumination, the appearance of the +Uzcoque maiden was awful. Above the common stature of woman, and finely +formed, she was attired in a white woollen garment, carelessly adjusted +and confined at the waist by broad red girdle, from which it fell in long +and graceful folds to her feet. Her face was a perfect oval; her features +of regular and striking beauty; her complexion, naturally of that clear +rich brown, which lends more lustre to the eyes than the purest red and +white, was now ghastly with intense alarm; and this death-like paleness +imparted a more prominent and commanding character to her well-defined, +jet-black brows, and the full, dark, humid eyes, which gleamed like +brilliants through their long lashes. Heavy tresses of raven hair, +escaping beneath her turban-like head-dress, streamed out like a sable +banner as she rushed into the cavern, then fell and flowed in waving +luxuriance over neck and shoulders to her girdle. The Turks in the +interior of the cavern, gazed in speechless wonder at this beautiful +apparition standing erect in the strong red light. Waving her torch with +energetic and graceful action, she appeared like an antique sybil at the +moment of inspiration, or some Arabian enchantress preparing for an +incantation. Their admiration, however, yielded to alarm, when they beheld +her dash the torch upon the ground, and her attendants pile upon it straw +and fagots, which blazed up instantly to the cavern roof, emitting volumes +of smoke that made the captives invisible, and by its suffocating +influence deprived them erelong of all power of utterance. + +The evening was serene and still, with scarcely a breath of wind stirring, +and the flames blazed upward to the cavern roof; only now and then a light +breeze from the sea wafted them on one side, and, at the sane time, +dispersing the smoke, gave the Turks a momentary glimpse of the maiden, +standing with uplifted hands, expectation, anxiety, and grief, depicted on +her speaking countenance, as she invoked the spirit of the storm, while +around her stood the few remaining Uzcoques, with sorrowing and downcast +faces. + +"They come not!" she exclaimed after a pause, during which the fire began +to burn low for lack of fuel, and the noise of the musketry diminished and +finally ceased. "Uzcoques!" she cried in a louder voice, and with +inspiration in her thrilling tones--"Take heed and warning, for your hour +is come. Your crags and caverns, your rocky shores and howling storms, +refuse you further service!" + +She paused, and at that moment was heard the rush of a rapidly approaching +boat. + +"Speak not, ye messengers of evil!" exclaimed Strasolda in piercing +accents. "Utter not a word. You have left Dansowich in the hands of the +Venetians." + +There was no reply to her half frantic exclamation, and the deep silence +was only broken by the footsteps of the new-comers, as with dejected looks +they joined their companions. Just then some damp branches that had lain +smouldering and smoking on the fire, burned brightly up, and by their +light Ibrahim and Hassan beheld the maiden kneeling in the midst of the +pirates, her tearful face covered by her fair and slender fingers. The +next moment she raised her head and gazed into the cavern. + +As she did so, the sorrowful expression of her features changed, and her +countenance was lighted up with a look of rapture, while a loud cry burst +from her lips. Through the opening in the smoke, the prisoners became +visible to her as they lay motionless in the interior of the cave, the +light from the flames glowing on their red garments, and giving them the +appearance of two statues of fire. In the handsome countenance of one of +the figures thus suddenly revealed to her, Strasolda recognized the young +Moslem, whose prisoner she had been, and whose noble person and bearing, +courteous manners, and gentle treatment, had more than once since the day +of her captivity, occupied the thoughts and fancy of the Uzcoque maiden. +Unaware of Ibrahim's capture, Strasolda did not for an instant suppose +that she beheld him in flesh and blood before her. To her excited and +superstitious imagination, the figures of the Turks appeared formed out of +fire itself, and she doubted not that the spirits of the cave had chosen +this means of presenting to her, as in a prophetic mirror, a shadowy +fore-knowledge of future and more favourable events. + +While she yet gazed eagerly on what she deemed a supernatural appearance, +the rent in the veil of smoke suddenly closed, the flame sank down, and +again all was gloom and darkness in the cavern. The thick stifling vapour +of the damp wood, augmenting as the flame diminished, was now so +overpowering that the Turks were in imminent danger of suffocation. In +their extremity, making a violent effort, their pent up voices found vent +in a cry of such startling wildness, that the Uzcoques, struck with terror, +sprang back from the mouth of the cave, hurrying the maiden with them. The +cry was not repeated, for the Turks had lost all consciousness from the +stifling effects of the smoke. + +"Banish your fears, Uzcoques!" exclaimed Strasolda, staying the fugitives. +"The voice that to you is a sound of dismay, gives me hope and confidence. +I see the golden crescent rising in irresistible might, and shedding its +rays over all the lands of the earth. Happy they on whom it casts its mild +and favouring beams, and truer far the safeguard it affords to those who +serve it, than that which is found beneath the shadow of the cross. Better +the sharp cimeter and plighted word of the Moslem, than the fair promises +of the lying Christian, who, in the hour of peril, abandons those by whose +courage he has profited. But enough!" cried she in an altered tone. "Our +first duty is to rescue my father from the hands of the Venetians. Go not +into Segna. There are traitors there who might reveal what we most wish +kept secret. The Venetians know not the person of Dansowich, and that may +save him if no time be lost in plotting his deliverance. Let none even of +our own people hear of his captivity. Now to the castle!" + +She led the way, and in silence and sadness the pirates followed the +daughter of their captive chief. + +The fire was quite out, the smoke had cleared away, the moon poured its +silvery light into the cavern, and the stillness was unbroken, save by the +ripple of the waves on the beach, when Ibrahim recovered from the state of +insensibility into which he had been thrown by the suffocating influence +of the smoke, and heard his companion snoring at his side. For some time +the young Turk lay, revolving in his mind the eventful scene he had +witnessed, and the strange and startling circumstances that had come to +his knowledge during the few preceding hours. The capture of Dansowich was +an event of much importance; nor was there less weight in the discovery +Ibrahim had made of the dependence of the Uzcoques upon a higher power, +which, in secret, aided and profited by their depredations. Although +Austria had been frequently accused of abetting the piracies of the +Uzcoques, the charge had never been clearly proved, and to many appeared +too improbable to obtain credence. Ibrahim had hitherto been among the +incredulous; but what he had this day seen and heard, removed every doubt, +and fully convinced him of the justice of those imputations. + +Turning in disgust from the contemplation of the labyrinth of crime and +treachery to which he had seized the clue; the young Moslem sought and +found a far pleasanter subject of reflection in the remembrance of the +maiden, whose transcendent beauty and touching devotion to her captive +parent, shone out the more brightly from their contrast with the vice and +degradation by which she was surrounded. With much interest did he +endeavour to solve the problem, and explain what appeared almost +miraculous, how so fair a creature--such a masterpiece of Heaven's +handiwork--could have passed her childhood and youth amongst the refuse of +humanity assembled on the island, and yet have retained the spotless +purity which was apparent in every look and gesture. But, however +interesting these reflections were to the enamoured Ibrahim, his recent +fatigues had been too great for nature not to assert her claims, and the +wearied body finished by triumphing over the rebellious restlessness of +the excited spirit. The graceful form of Strasolda, and the wild figures +of the Uzcoques, swam more and more indistinctly before his closing eyes, +until he sank at last into a deep and refreshing slumber. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE JEWELS. + + +The tribe of the Uzcoques, or Scochi, derived their name from _scoco_, a +refugee or fugitive, a word bearing reference to their origin. Towards the +commencement of the sixteenth century, a band of hardy and warlike men +abandoned the the provinces of Southern Hungary, Bulgaria, and Servia, and +took refuge in Dalmatia from the tyranny and ill usage of the Turks, who +had overrun the first-named provinces. Accompanied by their wives and +families, and recruiting their numbers as they went along, they at last +reached the fortress of Clissa, situated in the mountains, a few miles +from the old Roman town of Spalatro. There, with the permission of its +owner, Pietro Crosichio, they established themselves, forming one of the +outposts of Christendom, and thence carried on a war of extermination +against the Turks, to whom they did a degree of injury that would appear +quite incommensurate with the smallness of their numbers. The name of +Uzcoque soon became known throughout the Adriatic as the synonyme of a +gallant warrior, till at length the Turks, driven nearly frantic by the +exploits of this handful of brave men, fitted out a strong expedition and +laid siege to Clissa, with the double object of getting rid of a +troublesome foe, and of advancing another step into Christian Europe. + +The different powers who had benefited greatly, although indirectly, by +the enterprising valour of the Uzcoques, neglected to give them the +smallest assistance in their hour of peril. After an heroic defence, +Clissa fell into the hands of the Turks, and a scanty and disheartened +remnant of its brave defenders fled northward to seek some new place of +refuge. This they found in the fortress of Segna, then belonging to a +Count Frangipani, who allowed them to occupy it; and, at the same time, +Ferdinand the First of Austria bethought himself, although somewhat +tardily, that the Uzcoques had deserved better at his hands, and at those +of other Christian princes, than to be left to their own resources when +assailed by the overwhelming power of the Porte. As a sort of atonement, +he took them formally into his pay, to assist him in his wars against the +infidel. But from this day forward the Uzcoques gradually declined in +valour and in moral worth. From a race of heroes they degenerated into a +horde of mercenary adventurers, and finally, of cruel and cowardly pirates. +Their primitive customs and simple virtues were exchanged for the vices of +refugees and criminals from Venice and other neighbouring states, who came +in crowds to fill up the frequent vacancies occurring in their ranks. + +At length the military value of the Uzcoques being much impaired, and +their services also less required, Austria became irregular in her +payments, and at last entirely discontinued them. The barren mountains +round Segna produced nothing, and the unfortunate Uzcoques were in danger +of dying of hunger. This they felt by no means inclined to do, and erelong +complaints began to be made of piracies and depredations committed by the +Segnarese on the vessels and territory of Venice. For some time no +application on the subject was made to Austria, and when made it was found +to be of little avail. + +At the period to which this narrative refers, Austria had already formed +those designs upon her southern neighbour, which in more modern times she +has carried out with complete success. The fertile plains of Northern +Italy, the convenient ports on the Adriatic, the rich commerce with the +Levant, were tempting baits to what was then the most ambitious power in +Europe; and with an undeviating steadiness did she follow up the policy +which promised to place such desirable acquisitions within her grasp. +Venice, whose power and importance were already on the decline, was the +state against which her most strenuous efforts were directed; and nothing +that could injure the trade, or lower the dignity and importance of the +republic, was omitted by the Austrian Machiavels of the day. Insignificant +as such a means of annoyance may appear, the band of Uzcoques was one of +the prime engines employed to undermine the bulwarks of Venetian +independence. Through her commerce had Venice achieved her greatness, and +through her commerce was she to be assailed and overthrown. Whilst the +Venetians, for the sake of their trade, had formed alliances with the +Turks, the Austrians, professing great religious zeal, and hatred of the +infidels, as well as a dread of further encroachments upon European +territory, did all in their power to ruin the traffic and break the +connexion between the republic and the Porte. The Uzcoques, who, although +asserting a sort of independence, still dwelt on Austrian territory, and +were reckoned as Austrian subjects, were secretly encouraged in the +piracies which they committed indiscriminately against Turkish and +Venetian vessels. These acts of piracy usually took place in the night, +and could rarely be brought home to their perpetrators, although there +could be no moral doubt as to the identity of the latter; but, even when +proved, it was found impossible to obtain any substantial redress. At the +time now referred to, the evil was at its height. Nominally peace both +with Venice and the Porte, Austria, nevertheless, stimulated the Uzcoques +to aggressions upon the subjects of both. The Archduke Ferdinand, a +well-intentioned and virtuous prince, but young and inexperienced, was +completely led and deceived by the wily and unprincipled politicians who +governed in his name. He was kept entirely in the dark as to the real +character of the Segnarese, and thus prevented from giving credence to the +frequent complaints made against them by neighbouring states. His corrupt +ministers, moreover, not content with making the pirates instrumental in +this tortuous policy, were not ashamed to squeeze from them a portion of +their illicit gains; and a lion's share of the spoil found its way into +the coffers of the archducal counsellors, who welcomed the golden Pactolus, +utterly regardless of the foul channel through which it flowed. The +Uzcoques, on their part, who were no longer the race of brave and hardy +soldiers they had been some half century before, clung to the protection +of Austria, conscious that, in their degenerate state, and with their +diminished numbers, they must soon fall a prey to their numerous foes, +should that protection be withdrawn. Thus, although inwardly chafing at +being compelled to disgorge a large part of the hard-won booty for which +they frequently periled their lives, they did not dare to withhold the +tribute, nor to omit the rich presents which they were in the habit of +making to certain influential persons about the archducal court. In return, +the ports of Austria on the Adriatic, were open to them to build and +repair vessels, or obtain supplies of provisions; every species of +indirect assistance was afforded them, and more than once, when some of +their number had fallen into the hands of the Venetians, their release, as +subjects of Austria, had been demanded and obtained by the authorities at +Gradiska. On the other hand, the claims of Venice for satisfaction, when +some of her richly laden merchant-ships had been captured or pillaged, +were slightly attended to, the applicants put off from day to day, and +from year to year, with promises and excuses, until the weak and cowardly +republic, seeing that no satisfaction was to be obtained by peaceable +means, and being in no state to declare war against her powerful neighbour, +usually ended the matter by ceasing to advance claims, the prosecution of +which only tended to her further humiliation. + +It was Easter Sunday in the town of Gradiska. The strict religious +ceremonies with which the Passion week was commemorated at the court of +the youthful but pious Archduke Ferdinand were at an end; the black +hangings disappeared from the church walls, and the bells rang out a merry +peal in joyful commemoration of the Saviour's resurrection. The nobles and +ladies of the court, wearied with the vigils and fasting which the +religious zeal of the time rendered imperative, betook themselves with +lightened hearts to their apartments, the elder portion to repose, the +younger ones to prepare for the brilliant festival and ball which the +following day was to witness. + +In a richly furnished apartment of the castle, the young and handsome wife +of one of the archducal counsellors was pacing up and down, her full and +voluptuous form reflected on every side by the tall Venetian mirrors that +covered the walls of the apartment. The lady was apparently in no gentle +mood; her step was hurried and impatient, her face flushed, her lips +peevishly compressed, and her irritation seemed to increase each time that +she passed before a table on which were displayed a number of jewel-boxes +and caskets, all open, and nearly all empty. Since the Easter festival of +the preceding year, the caprices and necessities of this spendthrift +beauty had abstracted one by one the rich kernels from these now worthless +husks, and the recollection of the follies, or worse, in which their value +had been squandered, now came to aggravate the vexation which the want of +the jewels occasioned her. So absorbed was she in the consideration of her +annoyances and perplexities, that for some time she took no notice of the +presence of a young and graceful female in plain attire, who stood +apparently in deep thought in the embrasure of one of the windows. The +maiden had her back turned to the room; but the admirable contours of her +fine figure, and the rich luxuriance of the jet-black locks that flowed +over her shoulders, gave promise of a perfection that was not belied, when, +on an exclamation of impatience from her mistress, she suddenly turned +round, and revealed the beauteous features of Dansowich's daughter. She it +was who formed the usual medium of communication between the pirates and +their archducal allies; and during her frequent sojourns at Gradiska, she +assumed the character of attendant on the counsellor's lady. + +"Holy Virgin!" exclaimed the court dame, stamping her foot violently on +the polished floor. "What can detain the knaves? Say, girl! where can they +be lingering?" + +Strasolda made no reply to this impetuous enquiry. She was no longer the +excited and impetuous Uzcoque heroine, invoking the spirit of the storm +amidst the precipices and caverns of her native shores. A total change had +come over her. Her look was subdued, her cheek pale, her eyes red and +swollen with weeping. She cast an humble and sorrowful glance at the lady, +and a tear trembled on her long dark lashes. + +"Why come they not?" repeated the angry dame in a voice half-choked with +passion. "By all the saints!" she continued, with a furious look at +Strasolda, "I believe thy father, Dansowich, to be the cause of this delay; +for well I know it is with small good-will he pays the tribute. But if the +thieving knaves thus play me false, if the Easter gift is wanting, and for +lack of jewels I am compelled to plead sickness, and pass to-morrow in my +apartment, instead of, as heretofore, eclipsing every rival by the +splendour of my jewels, rest assured, maiden, that thy robber friends +shall pay dearly for their neglect. A word from me, and thy father, +brethren, and kinsmen grace the gallows, and their foul eyrie is leveled +with dust." + +Strasolda pressed her hands upon her heart, and burst into a flood of +tears. Then throwing herself at the lady's feet-- + +"That word you will never have the cruelty to utter," cried she. "Bethink +you, noble lady, of the perils to which they are exposed. The bravest +cannot command success, and you know not yet whether their last expedition +may not have been unprosperous." + +"I!" replied her irritated mistress. "How should I be privy to their +proceedings? But _you_ ought to be able to give some tidings: Wherefore +did you not accompany your father this last voyage?" + +"I told you, lady," answered Strasolda, "that I was busied with plans for +the deliverance of the Uzcoques now held captive in Venice. I have +brothers amongst those unfortunate prisoners, and it is the uncertainty of +their fate which thus afflicts me." + +The maiden gazed tearfully and imploringly at the angry lady. It was not +without good reason that she concealed from her the fact of her father's +captivity. The stern and inflexible Dansowich had ever viewed with an eye +of disapproval the connexion between his people and the counsellors at +Gradiska; and the latter, aware of this, would not have been likely to +take much pains for the release of one who was unfavourable to their +interests. It was only, therefore, by representing the captive Uzcoques as +less nearly connected with her, that Strasolda could hope for aid to +rescue them from the hands of the Venetians. + +"So much the more should you desire the arrival of the tribute!" exclaimed +the lady. "Did I not, at your request, make interest with our ambassador +at Venice, that he should insist upon the surrender of the Uzcoques as +Austrian subjects? Assuredly the feeble signoria will not venture to +refuse compliance. A casket of jewels is but a paltry guerdon for such +service, and yet even that is not forthcoming. But it is not too late to +alter what has been done. If I say the word, the prisoners linger in the +damp and fetid dungeons of the republic, until they welcome death as a +blessing." + +"Alas, alas!" sobbed Strasolda; "have you the heart thus to add to my +sorrow? Is it not enough to know those I love in captivity, to behold my +people, once so noble and heroic, degraded to the very refuse of humanity +despised and detested of all men, having their dwelling on a barren rock, +and earning by crime and bloodshed a precarious existence and doubtful +freedom? Is it not enough"-- + +"Hush!" interrupted the lady in a quick sharp whisper, raising her finger, +and glancing towards the door of the apartment. There was a noise as of +stealthy footsteps in the corridor. Strasolda sprang from the kneeing +posture which she had maintained during her conversation with her mistress, +and resumed her station in the recess of a window, while the counsellor's +lady snatched up a rich shawl from a damask covered ottoman, and threw it +over the caskets spread out upon the table. Scarcely were these +arrangements completed, when the door was partially opened, and a wild +sunburnt and bearded countenance showed itself at the aperture. + +"Heaven and the saints be praised!" exclaimed the lady. "They are come at +last. In with you, Jurissa Caiduch: there is no one but Strasolda here." + +The person thus addressed, was a strongly built and active man, rather +under the middle size, muffled in a coarse brown cloak, which was drawn +over the lower part of his face, apparently with a view to concealment. A +broad-brimmed felt hat was slouched over his small black eyes, which +glittered through its shadow like those of a snake, never fixing +themselves on an object, but casting restless and suspicious glances, as +though apprehensive of danger or treachery. Gliding into the room, and +closing the door noiselessly behind him, he approached the table, and +placed upon it a tolerably large casket, which he produced from under his +cloak; then retreating a step or two, he removed his hat, and stood in an +attitude of silent respect, his eyes still gleaming, however, with their +habitual expression of mistrust and cunning. + +Without uttering a word, the lady seized the casket, and impatiently +forced open its delicate silver lock. A cry of joyful surprise burst from +her lips on beholding the rich contents of the jewel-case. Diamond chains, +golden girdles and bracelets, combs and hair ornaments studded with orient +pearls, passed in rapid succession through the white and eager fingers of +the gratified dame, who seemed to lack words to express her pleasure and +astonishment at the sight of such costly gems. At last she turned to the +bearer. + +"Of a truth, Jurissa" cried she, "you are unusually liberal this time, and +you must have great need of the good offices of myself and Father Cipriano, +to be willing to purchase our influence with the archduke at so high a +price." + +"Our last expedition was a successful one, noble lady," replied the +Uzcoque. "The tender-hearted Strasolda," added he with a spiteful glance +at the maiden, who still kept her station by the window, "that guardian +angel, who so often steps between us and our prey, was absent, and we had +no need to stay our hands." + +As he spoke, the door was again hastily opened as softly as before, but +somewhat wider, and the burly figure of a monk entered the room. This was +no other than the Father Cipriano Guido Lucchese, whom the lady had +alluded to, and who, by his pleadings at the papal court, in favour of the +Uzcoques, had earned himself the honourable cognomen of Ambassador de +Ladri, or the Thieves' Envoy. He had expiated his discreditable +intercession by a sojourn in the prisons of the Inquisition, which did not, +however, present his being in high favour with the Archduke Ferdinand, at +whose court he filled the triple office of theologian, confessor, and +privy counsellor. + +The sleek and unctuous physiognomy of the monk wore an expression of +unusual care and anxiety. Without bestowing a salutation or a look upon +the lady whose apartment he thus unceremoniously entered, he addressed +himself at once to the Uzcoque Jurissa. + +"Away with you!" cried he. "Out of the palace; and quietly, too, as your +own shadow. Thumbscrews are waiting for you if you linger." + +Strasolda gazed in alarm at Father Cipriano. Jurissa thrust his right hand +under his cloak, and seemed to clutch some weapon. Even the counsellor's +dame for a moment turned her eyes from the jewels she was admiring to the +anxious countenance of the padre. + +"Your last exploit will bring you into trouble," continued the latter to +Jurissa. "You have gone beyond all bounds; and a special ambassador has +arrived here from Venice." + +"Well!" replied the Uzcoque surlily, "was not the sack of doubloons +sufficient fee to keep you at your post?" + +"I have but just left it," answered the monk, "and you may thank me if the +storm is averted for the moment, although it must burst erelong. Before +the ambassador could obtain his audience, I hurried to the archduke, and +chanted the old ditty; told him you were the Maccabees of the century--the +bulwarks of Christendom: that without you the Turks would long since have +been in Gradiska--that the Venetians, through fear and lust of gain, were +hand and glove with the followers of Mahomet--and that it was their own +fault if you had to strike through them to get at the infidel: that they +cared little about religion, so long as the convenience of their traffic +was not interfered with--and that it would be a sin and a shame to deprive +himself of such valiant defenders for the sake of obliging the republic. +This, and much more, did I say to his highness, Signor Jurissa," concluded +the fat priest, wiping away the perspiration which his eagerness and +volubility had caused to start out on his brow; "and, in good truth, I +think your paltry bag of doubloons but poor reward for the pains I took, +and the zeal I have shown in your defence." + +"And wherein consists the danger, then," interrupted Jurissa, "since your +eloquence has sped so well on our behalf?" + +"You do not hear me out, my son," replied the priest. "The greybeards at +Venice have chosen an envoy who is right well informed of your small +numbers, bad equipment, and cowardice in broad daylight. Nay, man, never +grind your teeth. I do but repeat the ambassador's words; for I had +stationed myself in an adjoining room, and heard all that passed between +him and the archduke. He said, moreover, that, far from being of use as a +bulwark against Turkish encroachments, it was you who had afforded to the +infidels a pretext to wrest more than one rich province from Christian +potentates. All this seemed to make some impression upon the archduke, and +to plant suspicions in his mind which bode no good to you and your race. +For the present, the capture of those two Turks, one of whom is a person +of rank, is testimony in your favour with his highness, to whom the +crescent is an abomination. Could he follow his own inclinations, he would, +I fully believe, start a new crusade against the followers of Mahoun. But +come, Jurissa, this is no time for gossip. You must not be seen in +Gradiska. Away with you!" + +"And the Venetian," cried Jurissa, "what is his name?" + +"It is the Proveditore Marcello, who has lately returned from a long +absence in the East." + +The Uzcoque started. The name seemed to have some potent and mysterious +effect upon him, and he stood for a few moments with his eyes fixed upon +the ground, apparently forgetful of the necessity for his immediate +departure. The priest took him by the arm, and drew him towards the door, +which he was about to open, when Jurissa shook off his grasp and hastily +approached the counsellor's wife, who had thrown herself into a large +gilded chair before one of the pier-glasses, and was busily engaged in +trying on the ornaments that had just been brought her. + +"Have a care, noble lady!" cried the Uzcoque. "You will do well to let a +couple of weeks elapse before you appear in public with those pretty gauds. +At any rate, wear them not at to-morrow's ball, lest, perchance, they find +an owner. Beware, lady, of the Proveditore Marcello!" + +With a look of peculiar meaning he left the room, accompanied by Father +Cipriano. But his warning fell faintly upon the lady's ear, who, though +she heard the words, was far too much engrossed in arranging and admiring +the costly gems so lately become her own, to give much heed to their +import. She remained before her mirror, loading her white neck and arms +with chains and jewels, and interweaving diamonds and pearls in her +tresses, regardless of the grief of Strasolda who sat in tears and sadness, +deploring her father's increasing peril, and the cloud that menaced the +future fortunes of her people. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BALL. + + +The ancient burg, or castle, of Gradiska had been originally on a larger +scale, but, at this period, consisted only of a centre, flanked at right +angles by two wings ending in square towers, large, grey, and massive, and +embattled, with overhanging galleries for sentinels to pace along, while +similar galleries, on a smaller scale, extended along the entire front and +wings of the castle. The central edifice contained, on the ground-floor, +numerous apartments and offices for menials; above which arose a spacious +saloon and other lofty apartments, lighted by windows high above the +flooring, and terminating in the round-headed arches so commonly seen in +the castellated mansions of northern Italy. In this palatial hall +preparation had been busy for the ball, to which the wife of the archducal +counsellor so impatiently looked forward, as an opportunity to eclipse all +rivals by the splendour of her jewels. The hour of reception by the +archduke had arrived. The exterior of the spacious edifice was illuminated +from end to end by nunerous torches, and the capacious staircase was +lighted by a double rank of torch-bearers, in splendid apparel. In the +interior of the vast apartment huge waxen tapers were fixed above the +_chevron_, or zig-zag moulding, which ran round the walls, and connected +the casement of each window. Large crystal lamps, pendant from the point +of each inverted pinnacle on the lofty roof, diffused a flood of brilliant +light, and imparted life and colour to the rich tapestries, portraying +stirring scenes from the Crusades, which covered the walls from floor to +window. Complete suits of armour, exhibiting every known device of harness, +and numerous weapons, fancifully arranged, decorated the spaces between +the windows. And now began to appear, in this scene of splendour, groups +of knights and nobles, arrayed in velvet and cloth of gold, and attending +upon fair dames, sparkling with jewels, and bearing nodding plumes upon +their braided hair. Conspicuous amidst these, and towering above all in +stature, appeared the haughty mistress of Strasolda, attired in a robe of +dark green velvet, which well relieved the fairness of her complexion, and +displaying upon her finely moulded neck and arms a collar and bracelets of +large and lustrous oriental pearls. Her firlgers were bedecked with costly +rings, and upon her head she wore an ornament of singular device, which +soon attracted universal attention. Above the rim of a golden comb, richly +chased and studded with brilliants, arose a peacock with expanded tail. +The body was of chased gold in imitation of feathers, the arching neck was +mosaic work of precious stones, the eyes were sparkling diamonds of the +purest water, and the feathers of the tail glittered with emeralds, rubies, +and sapphires of singular beauty and lustre. So great was the curiosity +excited by the dazzling splendour of these jewels, that the fair wearer +was followed round the room by a train of ladies, anxious to observe at +leisure a display of ornaments so extraordinary, and whispering to +sympathizing ears conjectures not over charitable to the counsellor's wife. +When, at length, she had seated herself upon one of the sofas which lined +the walls, a circle of admiring gazers was formed, whose numbers were +rapidly increased by the attendant cavaliers. While the lady was enjoying +her triumph, a bustle at the entrance of the hall turned every head in +that direction, when the cause appeared in the person of the young +archduke, who entered in full costume, followed by a group of courtiers, +and accompanied by a Venetian cavalier, of tall and commanding person, +with whom he appeared to be in earnest discourse. The stranger was a +large-boned, spare, and powerful man, of middle age, and attired in a +black vest and pantaloons of woven silk, with a short cloak, of the same +hue. The golden hilt of his rapier, and a gold chain and medallion round +his neck, were his only ornaments. His features were large, regular, and +grand, and the gaze of his full dark eyes serene, yet firm and potent; his +complexion pale, and contrasting strongly with a dark beard which circled +his visage like a frame. His high and massive forehead, and well closed +lips, had a character of thought and decision, while his mien and tread +were those of one long accustomed to authority. He seemed a man born after +his time, and worthy to have lived and acted in the high and palmy days of +Venice. After attending the archduke to the steps of the dais at the upper +end of the hall, he made his bow, and began to pace the floor in seeming +abstraction from the gay scene around him. Arrested in his progress by the +numerous groups which, after saluting the archduke, had again collected +around the counsellor's lady, he paused in returning conciousness; and, +looking for the cause of such unwonted attraction, was enabled, by his +lofty stature, to obtain a glimpse of the jewelled lady within the circle. +Her features were unknown to him; but when his careless gaze fell upon the +rare ornament which crowned her redundant tresses, his countenance became +suddenly darkened by some strong emotion. Again, he looked more earnestly, +and with increasing wonder and curiosity. Controlling, by a sudden effort, +all outward evidence of feeling, he watched his opportunity, and at length +penetrating within the crowd, stood for some moments before the object of +attraction, and gazed, as if admiringly, upon her various adornments in +succession; then, bowing gracefully, he addressed to her some words of +compliment upon the splendour and value of the dazzling bird upon her head. +"Fair lady," he continued, "I have a daughter whom I fondly love, and fain +would I bestow upon her youthful beauty such ornaments as yours. But say, +I pray you, where can the cunning hand be found which fashions such +glorious birds? Was it in Venice or Vienna that you bought this materpiece +of art?" Unsuspicious of evil, and bridling at gratified vanity at this +attention from a stranger of such distinguished mien, the spoil-bedecked +fair one replied to him as she had done to others. + +"I bought this ornament, some weeks back, in Venice, at the store of a +Greek trader from the Levant." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the stranger; "and where dwelt this Greek, that I may see +and ask him for another such?" + +The concious lady, embarrassed by such close questioning, and somewhat +alarmed by the kindling glances of the questioner, replied in haste--"Nay, +signor, now I remember better, it was not a Greek I bought these gauds, +but of a trading Jew, who walks the Merceria with a box of jewellry." + +"Just now, methinks, you said a Greek, fair lady; and now you say a Jew. +What next? Why not a Moslem, or perchance _an Uzcoque?_" + +At this ominous conclusion, which the stranger muttered in tones of marked +significance, the alarmed culprit started to her feet; and her fierce +temper getting the better of her prudence, she boldly faced the cavalier, +exclaiming, in a louder key than beseemed a courtier's wife-- + +"And who are you, signor, that dare thus question the lady of an archducal +counsellor?" + +"Lady!" he sternly answered, "here I am known to none save your husband's +master; but in Venice men call me the Proveditore Marcello." + +And now flashed upon the indignant signora a fearful reminiscence of +Jurissa's unheeded and forgotten warning, to hide her jewels for a time, +and to beware of the Proveditore Marcello. In utter dismay, and nearly +fainting with alarm, she sank upon the sofa, and her eyes expanded into +the wide stare of terror as she gazed at the menacing visage of the +Venetian noble. Unwilling to expose the conscience-striken woman before so +numerous an assemblage, he seated himself beside her, and in tones +inaudible to others thus whispered in her ear--"Lady! but eight days back +the jewels that you wear were mine. That peacock was my own design, and +made for my daughter by a cunning artificer in Candia. Its like exists not +in the world; for the mould was made by my order, and broken as soon as +used. 'Twas mine until the base Uzcoques plundered my baggage. How thus +quickly it passed from them to you, is as well known to me as to yourself. +But mark me, lady! if all these jewels are not delivered at my apartments +in the west wing of the castle ere midnight, I will denounce your husband +and his colleagues as long-suspected and now-proved partakers with the +Pirates of Segna. And, should redress be denied me here, the ambassador of +Venice shall report this infamous collusion before a higher tribunal in +Vienna." + +Struck dumb by this terrible denunciation, the fair culprit gasped for +breath, and her evident distress having been watched in growing wonder by +the assembled ladies and cavaliers, the latter began to mutter threats of +vengeance. One of them now stepped forward, and, grasping the hilt of his +rapier, accused the Venetian of having insulted the wife of a nobleman +high in the councils of the archduke, when the Proveditore, looking down +upon the courtier with that riveted and intensely piercing gaze which +staggers the beholder like a sudden blow, and may still be noted in many +of Titian's portraits, answered with brief and startling emphasis-- + +"Signor! you do me grievous wrong. 'Tis I, and not the lady, who am the +injured party." + +Awed by his gathering brow, and the settled, stern, unsparing resolution +which flashed from every feature, and indicated a man confident in his own +resources, the courtiers did involuntary homage to his loftier spirit, and +gave way. The proud Venetian strode through the yielding circle and +quitted the hall, while the counsellor's wife, pleading illness and +fatigue in reply to the pointed and numerous questions of surrounding +friends and enemies, summoned her husband to attend her, and retired to +her apartments. + +Meanwhile the young Moslem and his companion in misfortune, who had been +brought prisoners to Gradiska, were confined in one of the massive towers +which flanked the castle. They had arrived not long before the comencement +of the festival, and when going under guard along a corridor in the east +wing, Ibrahim passed the open door of an apartment in which Strasolda was +adjusting the rich jewels of the counsellor's lady before her appearance +in the ball-room. Startled by the approaching tramp of armed men, the +Uzcoque maiden raised her eyes, and beheld the noble and well-remembered +features of the young Turk, whose captive she had been, and whose image +had so strangely reappeared to her through the flitting cloud of smoke in +the cavern. "Mother of Heaven!" she exclaimed, covering her eyes with her +hands; "do I again behold that Moslem youth, ever appearing when least +expected?" Again she gazed; but the prisoners, hurried onward by their +guards, had proceeded to the end of the corridor, where a narrow winding +staircase, fashioned in the immense thickness of the tower wall, led to +their appointed prison, a large square apartment, the sides of which were +panneled to a considerable height, and imperfectly lighted by small +windows, or rather embrasures, perforating a wall many feet in thickness. +Here they were left to their reflections, and to what comfort they could +derive fron a lamp and a supply of provisions. Hassan, wearied with his +journey, hastily swallowed his supper, and, stretching himself upon a +paillasse, soon forgot his calamities in sound repose. Ibrahim, more +vigilant and less apprehensive of future evil, as the Turks and Austrians +were then at peace, paced awhile along the floor of his spacious prison, +musing on the peerless charms of the Uzcoque maiden. From time to time he +gazed upon the walls and windows as if calculating the chances of escape, +when gradually the peculiar and regular design of the panneling caught and +fixed his attention. It was divided by prominent mouldings into oblong +squares, from the centres of which projected large diamond-shaped bosses +of carved oak. This peculiarity at length roused into action some +reminiscences of the early life and adventures of his beloved patron, the +pacha of Bosnia, to the recital of which he had often, in his boyhood, +listened with eager delight. These recollections, at first shadowy and +indistinct, became gradually more vivid and accurate, until finally the +full conviction flashed upon him that his benefactor, when taken prisoner +in his youth by the Austrians, had been confined in this very tower and +room, and, by a singular discovery, had been enabled to liberate himself +and his fellow-prisoners. The pacha, then a subordinate in rank, in +endeavouring to reach the level of one of the embrasures, had mounted upon +the shoulders of a comrade, and was supporting himself by a firm grasp of +the large boss in the centre of the pannel, when suddenly he felt it +turning round in his hand. Surprised to find it not a fixture, he pulled +it towards him, and found that it slowly yielded to the impulse. Drawing +it out of the socket, he saw it followed by an iron chain, which for a +time resisted all his efforts, but at length gave way, and he heard a +grating sound like the drawing of a rusty bolt. Suddenly the entire pannel +shook, and then the lower end started back sufficiently to betray a recess +in the wall. Hastily descending on his comrade's shoulders, and pushing +back the pannel, he discovered that it was supported by hinges, and was +doubtless intended to conceal a secret issue from the castle, which he +soon ascertained, and effected his escape. These facts were all that the +memory of Ibrahim could supply; but they were enough to guide him in his +search, and he immediately proceeded to sound the pannels in succession +with his fist. Commencing with the southern or outer wall, which he +supposed more massive and more likely to contain a secret passage, he +sounded each pannel, and perceiving in the corner one more reverberation +than in the others, he roused Hassan from his slumbers. "Hassan! Hassan!" +he exclaimed, "Arouse thee, man! and listen to good tidings." The awakened +sleeper gazed with half-opened eyes upon his excited companion, and would +have dropped to sleep again had not a few words of explanation and the +hope of escape fully roused him. Having with some difficulty perched his +rotund person upon the ample shoulders of Ibrahim, he followed his +directions and grasped the wooden boss, which, to the inexpressible +delight of both, yielded, as it had done forty years before to the captive +Turk, and displayed the iron chain. Bidding Hassan replace the boss, +Ibrahim determined to postpone his attempt until the festival had +collected all the guards and menials into the central edifice and its +approaches. An hour before midnight, when the young Moslem expected the +revelry would be at its height, Hassan again mounted upon his shoulders, +and after many strenuous efforts, at length succeeded in drawing up the +bolt. The pannel receded some inches, and Ibrahim raising it still further, +seized the lamp and entered a small oblong recess in the wall, which was +not less than ten or twelve feet in thickness. Perceiving no outlet, he +examined the wooden flooring, and soon discovered a trap, which, when +raised by the ring attached, exposed to view a steep and narrow descending +staircase, leading apparently to some sally-port beyond the castle ditch. +After carefully trimming his lamp, he was about to lead the way into this +dark abyss, when a sound, sharp and sudden, as of something falling in the +adjacent prison, caught his ear. Retracing his steps, he re-entered the +apartment, where, after a brief search, he found beneath one of the +embrasures a paper folded round a large pebble. Hastily opening it, the +following lines, written in the _lingua Franca_ so common in the Levant, +were visible. + +"Moslem! If thy soul belie not thy noble form and features, thou wilt not +withhold thine aid from a bereaved and sorrowing daughter. Before +to-morrow's sunset thou wilt be free, for Austria wars not with the Turk. +Then straight repair to Venice, and there await the Battle of the Bridge. +Take thy stand beneath the portal of St Barbara, and follow the man who +whispers in thine ear, + + "STRASOLDA." + +"Mashallah!" shouted the enraptured youth, "these lines are from the +Uzcoque maiden; and by the gates of Paradise I'll do her bidding, though +it perils life." + +For a time he was tempted to follow her guidance implicitly, and await the +promised release from the authorities of Gradiska; recollecting, however, +the proverbial slowness of Austrian counsellors, and too restless and +ardent to endure suspense, he resumed his purpose of exploring the secret +passage. After he had secured the pannel and replaced the boss, he bade +Hassan follow him and began to descend. The staircase ended in a small +passage round an angle, beyond which he discovered a similar descent, +followed by another angle and staircase, proving that this secret issue +from the castle penetrated through each of the four massive walls which +formed the tower. At length their further progress was stopped by a door, +originally strong and plated with iron, but now so much decayed, that +although fastened by bolts without, the joint strength of the two captives +forced it from its hinges. They now entered a vaulted passage of hewn +stone, low and narrow, and with no visible termination. As they advanced, +the long pent-up and dank unwholesome vapours made it difficult to breathe, +and compelled Ibrahim to pause repeatedly and trim his lamp, which burned +so dimly in this oppressive atmosphere as to be nearly extinguished. After +a while the path began to slope upwards, and erelong they distinguished +moonlight faintly streaming through a tangled mass of ivy which concealed +the remains of an iron grating, broken probably in his patron's successful +attempt to escape by this secret passage from the prison above. Gazing +through the aperture, they perceived not many feet below what had once +been the castle ditch, now dry, and forming a portion of the archduke's +gardens. With a joyous heart and an elastic bound, Ibrahim reached the +soft turf beneath. The more timid and helpless Hassan lowered himself by +clinging to a remaining iron bar, and with the aid of his companion was +soon on his feet, enjoying, with many thanks to Allah, the fresh air of +heaven and the consciousness of escape from captivity. The gates of the +palace gardens being unguarded during the festival, the liberated +prisoners reached the coast without an obstacle, compelled a fisherman to +take them in his bark across the Adriatic, and land them on the Lido, +which forms the outward limit of the port of Venice. Then making free with +an unwatched gondola, they sped across the bay, and were soon in safety, +beneath the roof of a Turkish trader and correspondent of Hassan. + +Before their escape was discovered on the following morning, the indignant +Proveditore had departed for Venice, and Strasolda had disappeared. + + * * * * * + + + + +COLONEL DAVIDSON'S TRAVELS IN INDIA.[5] + + + [5] _Diary of Travels and Adventures in Upper India_, from Bareilly, + in Rohilcund, to Hurdwar and Nahun, in the Himalaya Mountains; + with a Tour in Bundelcund, a Sporting Excursion in the Kingdom of + Oude, and a Voyage down the Ganges. By C.J.C. DAVIDSON, Esq., + late Lieut.-Col. of Engineers, Bengal. + +The appearance of this work was heralded some three months since, as +divers of our readers may possibly remember, by a species of +puff-preliminary, for which even the annals of Great Marlborough Street +afforded no precedent--being nothing less than the appearance of Mr +Colburn, _in propriâ personâ_, at the bar of the police-office adjoining +his premises, to answer the complaint of the gallant and irate author for +what he was pleased to consider the unwarrantable detention of the MS. +from which his narrative had been printed. It was alleged, in extenuation, +that "the gallant colonel's MS. was so nearly undecipherable, that Mr +Colburn had been put to considerable expense in revising the press;"--and +a mysterious and curiosity-provoking hint was further thrown out, that "it +was the custom of the trade, that, until a work was published, the MS. +should not be parted with by the publisher, as it might turn out that some +part of it was libellous, and in such case the publisher must produce the +MS." In the end the gallant colonel (whom the newspaper reports described +as "very much excited,") took nothing by his motion in regard to the +recovery of the MS.; but though in this respect he may have been somewhat +scurvily treated, we cannot equally sympathize with his complaints of the +work not having been duly _advertised_; for surely all the little "neatly +turned paragraphs" that ever proceeded from Mr Colburn's laboratory, could +not have been so effectual as the method struck out by the impromptu +genius of the colonel himself, in intimating to the public that something +quite out of the common way might be expected from the forthcoming +production thus brought before its notice. + +And verily those who have been prepared for a queer volume, will not be +disappointed in the diary of our choleric and corpulent colonel. If ever +the assurance, which seems to be regarded as indispensable in the preface +to works of this class, that the author "wrote the following pages purely +for his own amusement," bore the stamp of unequivocal truth, it is in the +present instance; and, notwithstanding the asseverations of Mr Colburn and +his literary employés, it is difficult to conceive that any revision +whatever can have been bestowed on the rough notes of the writer, since +they were first hastily committed to paper amidst the scenes which they +describe. The style is as rambling and unconnected as the incidents to +which it refers; but wherever the author's devious footsteps lead us, from +the jungles of Bundelcund to the holy ghâts of Hurdwar, the principal +figure is always that of the colonel himself, who, in the portly +magnificence of twenty stone minus two pounds, fills up the whole +foreground with himself and his accessories of servants, elephant, stud, +Nagoree cows, and other component parts of the _suwarree_ or suite of a +_Qui-hye_, who can afford to make himself comfortable after the fashion of +the country. The quantity (sometimes not trifling) and quality of his +meals, the consequent state of his digestion, and his endless rows on the +score of accommodations and forage with thannadars, darogahs, kutwals, and +all the other designations for Hindoo and Hindoostani jacks-in-office, +(for to Feringhi society he appears to have been not very partial,) may +doubtless have been points of peculiar interest to the colonel himself, +but are not likely to engage the attention of the world in general, and +had better have been omitted in the revision of the diary, instead of +being chronicled, as they are on all occasions, with wearisome minuteness +of detail. But with all these drawbacks, a man who, as he says of himself, +"has dwelt in India twenty-five years, and traversed it from the snowy +range to Bombay on the west, must have seen something of the country, and +may be supposed to know something of the natives"--among whom, by the way, +he seems to have mingled more familiarly than most Feringhis; and in spite +of all the egotism and rigmarole with which his pages abound, the rambles +of this "stout gentleman" through Upper India, and some other parts of the +country not much visited by Europeans, present us with a good deal of +plain sense and sterling matter, viewed, it is true, with the eccentric +eye of a humorist, and frequently couched in very odd phraseology; but not +the less true on that account. His opinions on all men and all things are +expressed with the same honesty and candour with which he narrates the +various scrapes in which he was involved, while pushing right a-head like +an elephant through a jungle;--and though laughing at him quite as often +as with him, we have found the colonel, on the whole, far from an +unpleasant travelling companion. + +Bareilly, on the fronters of Oude and Rohilcund, was the colonel's +starting-point;--and thence on St Patrick's day[6] he set forward for +Hurdwar, at the head of a retinue, the members of which, both quadruped +and biped, he enumerates seriatim, giving the _pas_ to the former--a +precedence perhaps well merited by steeds up to such a welter weight under +the climate of India, over such a set of unredeemed and thriftless knaves +as he describes his native attendants. Accordingly, he gives the names and +pedigrees of the whole stud, from "the buggy mare Maiden-head and my +wicked little favourite Fish-Guts," up to "my favourite brood-mare Fair +Amelia, purchased at a prize sale on the frontier, and bred by the king of +Bokhara, with his royal stamp on her near flank--stands nearly fifteen and +a half hands high, with magnificent action and great show of blood--had, +when taken, four gold rings in her nostrils, now removed and replaced by +silver, which will be stolen by her groom one by one." His first day's +march was to Futtehgunge, ("the mart of victory," being the scene of the +memorable battle in 1774, in which the English, as the bought allies of +the Nawab Shoojah-ed-dowlah, defeated and slew the gallant Rohilla chief, +Hafez-Rehmut;) and here he oracularly announced a discovery in gastronomy, +of which it would be unpardonable not to give our readers the benefit. "I +used my farourite condiment, tomata sauce, with my beef; and _to all who +are ignorant_ of this delicious vegetable I may venture to recommend its +sauce, as at once both wholesome and savoury, if eaten with anything but +cranberry tart or apple pie!" It is melancholy to reflect how often the +best efforts of genius are anticipated and rendered of no avail. The +colonel, when he penned this sentence with a heart overflowing with +Epicurean philanthropy, was evidently unconscious that "chops and tomata +sauce" were already familiar to the British public from the immortal +researches of Mr Pickwick! + + [6] The year is not specified; but as the Ramazan is subsequently + said to have ended March 25, it must have been in the year of the + Hejra 1245, ansering to A.D. 1830. + +Rampore, in the territory of which the colonel now found himself, is still +a semi-independent state, the Nawab of which has a revenue of sixteen lacs +of rupees, (£160,000,) while the city, being without the pale of English +law, is "a city of refuge, a very Goshen of robbers, ... the streets are +crowded with a mob of very handsome, idle, lounging fellows, having +generally the fullest and finest jet-black beards and black mustaches in +the world. Many of these were handsomely dressed, and many (which struck +me as a very curious fact) appeared clean!" These were the Pathans and +Rohillas, partly descended from the original Moslem conquerors of India, +and partly from those who have more recently migrated from Affghanistan +and the adjoining countries. The most athletic and warlike race among the +Indian Mahommedans, and too proud of their blood to exercise any +profession but that of arms, they are found in every town throughout Upper +India, swaggering about with sword, shield, and matchlock, in the retinues +of the native princes, and ready to join any enterprise, or flock to the +standard of any invader, through whose means any prospect is afforded of +shaking off the Feringhi yoke, and resuming their ancient predominance in +the country which their forefathers won by their swords from the idolaters. +"They hate us with the most intense bitterness, and can any one be +surprised at it? We have taken their broad lands foot by foot." Few if any +of these turbulent spirits are found in our European regular native army; +their dislike to the cumbrous accoutrements and awkward European saddles +operating equally, perhaps, with the severity of the drill and discipline +to deter them; but they form the strength of the various corps of +irregular horse--a force which, of late years, has most judiciously been +greatly increased in numbers, and the uniform dashing bravery of which in +the field, strongly contrasts with the misconduct of one at least of the +regular native cavalry regiments in the late Affghan war. "I have seen," +(says the colonel,) "a lineal descendant of Pathan Nawab's serving in the +ranks of Hearsay's horse, as a common trooper on twenty rupees a-month, +out of which he had merely to buy and feed his horse, procure clothes, +arms, and harness, and sustain his hereditary dignity! By his commander +and his fellow-soldiers he was always addressed by his title of Nawab +Sahib!" + +The small-pox was committing dreadful ravages in Rampore and its +neighbourhood; and though vaccination was performed gratis at Bareilly, +the fatalist prejudices of the natives, even of those of rank and +education, prevented them from availing themselves of the boon. All the +instances of the colonel, in behalf of a charming little girl, four years +old, whose mother and sister had already taken the infection, could get +from her father nothing more than a promise "to think of it! If it's her +fate----" said he. "'You fool!' said I, in my civil way," (and the +colonel's _brusquerie_ was here, at least, not misplaced,) "'if a man +throws himself into the fire or a well, or in the path of a tiger, is he +without blame?'" Such apathy seems almost unaccountable to English minds; +but it may find a parallel in Lady Chatterton's story of the Irish parents, +[7] who, after refusing to spend fourpence in nourishment for a dying +child, came in deep grief after its death to their employer, to solicit an +advance of thirty shillings to _wake the corpse_! Perhaps some ingenious +systematists might hence deduce a fresh argument in favour of the alleged +oriental origin of the Irish. + + [7] Rambles in the South of Ireland; ii. 143. + +The colonel's next stage was to Moradabad, another Pathan city, but under +the _raj_ of the Company, where, in a visit to a native original, named +Meer Mahommed, he was greatly delighted by his new friend's introduction +of the English word _swap_ into a sentence of Hindoostani. And on the 25th +he reached Dhampore, where the welcome proclamation, "that the new moon +had been seen," terminated the fast of the Ramazan, to the uncontrollable +joy of the Mussulmans, who would have been subjected to another day's +abstinence if it had not been perceived till the succeeding evening. The +colonel, however, slyly remarks, that "it was very odd that the _Hindoos_ +could not see the new moon," and hints that their imperfection of vision +was shared by himself, but it was otherwise decided by the Faithful; and +he proceeded, amid the noisy rejoicings of the Moslem feast of _Bukra-Eed_, +(called by the Turks Bairam,) by Najeena, the Birmingham of Upper India, +to Nujeebabad. Here resided, on a pension of 60,000 rupees (£6000) a-year +from the English government, the Nawab Gholam-ed-deen, better known by the +nickname of Bumbo Khan, a brother of the once famous Rohilla chief +Gholam-Khadir. Though past eighty years of age, and weighing upwards of +twenty stone, he had not lost, any more than the equiponderant colonel, +his taste for the good things of this world; and our traveller, on +partaking of the Nawab's hospitality, records with infinite zest the +glories of a peculiar preparation of lamb, called _nargus_, or the +narcissus. But, alas! the reminiscences of the nargus were less grateful +than the fruition, and the remorse of the colonel's guilty stomach (as +poor Theodore Hooke, or some one else, used to call indigestion) continued +to afflict him all the way to Hurdwar; and may probably account, by the +consequent irritation of his temper, for various squabbles in which he was +involved on the route. + +The great fair of Hurdwar was in full swing at the colonel's arrival, with +its vast concourse of Hindoo devotees from all parts of India, to whom it +is in itself a spot of peculiar sanctity, besides lying in the way to the +shrine of Gungotree, (the source of the Ganges,) in the Himmalaya--its +crowds of merchants and adventurers of all sorts, even from Uzbek Tartary +and the remote regions of Central Asia--Seiks by thousands from the Punjab, +with their families--Affghan and Persian horse-dealers--and numerous +grandees, both of the Hindoo and Moslem faith, who repair hither as to a +scene of gaiety and general resort. The colonel found quarters in the tent +of a friend employed in the purchase of horses for government, and seems +to have entered with all his heart into the humours of the scene; his +description of which, and of the varied characteristics of the motley +groups composing the half million of human beings present, is one of the +most graphic and picturesque sketches in his work. "Huge heaps of +assafoetida, in bags, from the mountains beyond Cabool--tons of raisins of +various sorts--almonds, pistachio nuts, sheep with four or five +horns--Balkh[8] cats, with long silken hair; of singular beauty--faqueers +begging, and abusing the uncharitable with the grossest and most filthy +language--long strings of elderly ladies, proceeding in a chant to the +priests of the Lingam, to bargain for bodily issue--Ghât priests +presenting their books for the presents and signatures of the European +visitors--groups of Hindoos surrounding a Bramin, who gives each of them a +certificate of his having performed the pilgrimage"--such are a few of the +component parts of the scene; but the colonel's attention seems to have +been principally fixed upon the horses, and the tricks of the _dulals_ or +brokers, to whom the purchase is generally confided, it being almost +hopeless for an European to make a personal bargain with a native dealer. +But among the greatest curiosities in this way were some _tortoiseshell_ +ponies--for we can call them nothing else--a peculiar race from Uzbek +Tartary, which we never remember to have heard of before. "They were under +thirteen hands high, and the most curious compound of colours and marks +that can be imagined. Suppose the animal pure, snowy white; cover the +white with large, irregular, light bay spots through which the white is +visible; in the middle of these light bay let there be dark bay marbled +spots; at every six or eight inches plant rhomboidal patches of a very +dark iron-grey; then sprinkle the whole with dark flea-bites! There's a +_phooldar_, ( flower-market,) as they call them;" and we agree with the +colonel that such an animal would be a fortune at Bartlemy fair. + + [8] In the original "bulkh," which we have ventured to amend as + above. The Oriental words and phrases are, in several instances, + very incorrectly printed; but whether the fault rests with the + colonel's "undecipherable" MS., or the correctors of the press, it + is not for us to decide. + +Among the distinguished visitors to Hurdwar at this season of festivity +was the noted Begum Sombre, or Sumroo, whose face the colonel compares to +that of an old Scotch highlander, and her person to a sackful of shawls, +and who declared "that the Duke of Wellington _must_ be at heart a +Catholic, _because_ he emancipated the Catholics!" He also renewed his +gastronomic friendship with his friend Bumbo Khan, with whom the +recollections of past indigestion did not prevent him from feasting on +_mahaseer_, a delicious fish found in this part of the Ganges; and on this +occasion his Apician ecstasies are not alloyed by subsequent +regrets--"even now the recollection soothes me"--and he recommends such of +his readers as are yet ignorant of this luxury to start forthwith for +Hurdwar and repair the omission. The fair ended April 13; and the colonel +having previously succeeded in disposing of his buggy to a potentate whom +he calls "the Kheerea Thunnasir Rajah," (we believe, the ruler of one of +the Seik protected states,) and buying a stout Turcomani pony for the +hills, started the same day on the road to Suharunpoor. He favours his +readers, _en passant_, with some exceedingly original speculations +touching the Mosaic deluge, in reference to the hills about Hurdwar, which +do not speak very highly for his attainments in geology, though in some +other branches of natural history, and particularly in botany, he appears +to be no mean proficient. The journey was disturbed by attempts to steal +the colonel's new purchase, (which was not, like the rest of the stud, +distinguished from the horses of the country by having its tail cut,) and +by a quarrel at Secunderpore with a thannadar, or native police magistrate, +whose European superior's neglect of the colonel's complaint he charitably +attributes to "some (I hope slight) derangement of the stomach." At +Suharunpore he visited the well-known botanist Dr Royle, the curator of +the Company's botanic garden there, then engaged in those labours on the +Flora of the Himmalayas which have been since given to the world; and at +Boorea, leaving the British territory, he entered that of the protected +Seik states, whose petty chieftains are secured in their semi-independence +by the treaty with Runjeet in 1809, which confined the ruler of Lahore to +the right bank of the Sutlej. But their reception of the colonel did not +appear to indicate any great degree of gratitude for these favours to the +British nation, as represented in his person; for not one of the five Seik +chiefs, "each of whom has his own snug little fort close to the city," +would supply him with a lodging; and it was only by perseverance and +ingenuity that he secured a place to lay his head, after long wrangling +with the subordinate functionaries. Matters improved, however, as he +advanced further into the country; and, at the little mountain-city of +Nahun, he was most hospitably received and entertained by the young rajah, +Futteh Pur Grass Sing, "who had been educated almost entirely under the +kind and fatherly superintendence of Captain Murray," the commissioner of +the Seik states, and whose frank and gentlemanlike manners, "so unlike +those of the ghee-fed wretches of the plains," did honour to his guardian's +precepts. The town of Nahun, which is 3600 feet above the level of the +sea, is described as clean and well paved; and the rajah, whose revenue +had been increased under the management of Captain Murray from 37,000 to +53,000 rupees, was highly popular, and by the colonel's account deservedly +so, with his subjects. He earnestly pressed "the fat gentleman" (whose +caution in mounting an elephant, while two men on the other side of the +howdah balanced his weight, vehemently excited his risibility) to return +to the plains through Nahun, and have a month's shooting with him in the +valley; but whether the invitation was accepted or not remains untold, +as--"Alas for the literature of the age! when I was ordered to Bundelcund, +a vile thief entered my tents at night, and robbed me of my second volume; +and thus did I lose my carefully written account of the sub-Himmalayan +range, which cost me fully eight months' labour." + +Thus abruptly terminates the first part of the colonel's travels, and at +the commencement of the second we find him crossing the Jumna to Calpee, +the frontier town of Bundelcund, a wild and unsettled province, prolific +in Thugs and bad characters of all sorts, and principally inhabited by a +peculiar race called Bundelas, who have never been perfectly reconciled to +the British supremacy, and who, at this present writing, are kept quiet +only by the presence of a force of 15,000 men. Calpee is said to be the +hottest place in India, the thermometer in June, according to the colonel, +standing even on a cloudy day at 145 degrees--a degree of heat almost +incredible; and it is also the principal mart for the cotton, which the +rich black soil of Bundelcund produces of finer quality than any other +part of Hindostan. But, notwithstanding its commercial inportance, the +town was at this time left to the government of a native Darogah or chief +of police, the nearest European courts being at Hameerpore, thirty miles +distant, and the state of society seems to have been somewhat singular. +Among its most conspicuous members is "Gopal, the celebrated robber, +murderer, and smuggler, a tall athletic man about forty-two years of age, +with a most hideous muddy eye, having the glare of hell itself. It is said +that he has always fifteen servants in stated pay, and can in a few hours +command the services of three hundred armed and desperate men; and the +strength and vigour of the Calpee police may be estimated by the fact, +that he has been known to walk into the house of a rich merchant in the +centre of the town, when he was surrounded by his servants and family; he +has very coolly selected the gold bangles of his children, and silenced +the trembling remonstrances of the Mahajun by threats of vengeance; nor is +this a solitary instance. When he murders, he is equally above all +concealment; as in the recent case of a sepahee returning home with his +savings, who was waylaid and murdered by our hero in open day. He very +coolly gave himself up, acknowledging that he had killed the sepahee, who +had first assaulted him. It was proved on the trial, that the sepahee was +wholly unarmed, and he was condemned to be hung by the court of Hameerpore +on his own confession, but released, _from want of evidence_, by the +Sudder Court at Calcutta. Their objection was excellent, though curious; +that if his confession was taken, it must be taken altogether, and not +that part only which could lead to his conviction. He was released, and +now walks about in his Sunday clothes, a living evidence of British +tenderness." + +Gopal was not the only amiable character with whom the colonel became +acquainted at Calpee, as he sought and obtained an interview with a famous +Thug approver, who had retired from the active exercise of his profession, +and was travelling the country in company with a party of police, +denouncing his former associates to justice. We cannot help suspecting, +both from the traits recorded of him, and from the vicinity of Calpee to +his former residence at Jalone, that this personage was no other than the +celebrated Ameer Ali, whose adventures formed the ground of Captain +Meadows Taylor's well-known "Confessions of a Thug;" and as a pendant to +the already published descriptions of him, we here quote the impression he +made upon the colonel. "I expected to see a great man, but at the first +glance I saw that I was in the presence of a master. The Thug was tall, +active, and slenderly formed; his head was nearly oval; his eye most +strongly resembled that of a cobra di capello; its dart was perfectly wild +and maniacal, restless, brilliant, metallic, and concentrated." The +colonel had a narrow escape from irretrievably affronting this eminent +professor of murder, by unguardedly enquiring whether he was in any way +cognizant of a trifling robbery by which the colonel himself had been a +sufferer. "No, sir!" he exclaimed with a look which might have frozen a +less innocent querist; "murder, not robbery, is my profession ... and none +but the merest novices would descend so low as to rob a tent or a +dwelling-house." The colonel, however, expresses a shrewd suspicion, from +circumstances which had come to his knowledge, that his distinguished +visitor's _esprit de corps_ led him to deviate from truth in this +particular--a belief in which Captain Taylor's pages fully bear him out. + +The colonel's movements, after quitting Calpee and its attractive circles, +appear to have been somewhat desultory. We find him, successively, at +Murgaon or Murgong, Julalpore, Keitah, &c., without being told what +decided his route; but from some subsequent remarks, it appears probable +that he was engaged on engineering service by order of Government. Between +Julalpore and Keitah he fell in with a gang of _nutts_[9] or gipsies, +whom the beauty of their women (a point to which the colonel is always +alive) did not prevent him from suspecting of an intention to practise +_thuggee_ on his own portly person--a belief in which he was confirmed by +hearing them speak _in another tongue_ among themselves--no doubt the +_Ramasee_, or cant language of the Thugs, subsequently made known to the +world at large by the investigations of Major Sleeman. At Goraree he +purchased some small cups, carved from the variegated serpentine of the +rock on which the town is built; but, on proposing to employ the artist in +making some larger vases, "he told me that he was a very poor man, and his +efforts had never been directed to larger patterns; meaning to infer that +it was impossible he could either try or succeed!" Such is Hindoo nature! + + [9] The Indian gipsies are several times mentioned in the journal of + Bishop Heber, who says they are called Kunjas in Bengal. Colonel + Davidson also mentions a race in Bundelcund called Kunjurs who + were in the habit, as he was informed by the Bramins, of + "catching lizards, scorpions, snakes, and foxes," which, if it is + meant that they use them for food, is analogous to the omnivorous + propensities of the gipsies. + +Churkaree, the capital of Ruttun Sing Buhadoor, one of the principal of +the numerous rajahs among whom Bundelcund is divided, is described as +"prettily situated on the side of the hill, over a lake covered with the +white lotus flower, and having a very fine appearance from a distance, as +most of the houses have their upper stories whitewashed, and are seen +peeping through the dark-green leafy trees of the country, but the town, +which contains perhaps 15,000 souls, of whom 1000 may be Mussulmen, is +very straggling, irregular, and dirty." The male population were all +fiercely mustached, and loaded with arms; but their repulsive exterior was +more than compensated by the charms of the other sex, all of whom wore +immense hollow ankle bangles of zinc, filled with bits of gravel, which +tinkled as they walked. "I have never seen so many well-formed and +handsome women together as I did at the wells outside the town, drawing +water _à la Rebecca_. Some of their faces were strikingly intelligent, and +their figures eminently graceful. The population is almost purely Hindoo; +and I think the Hindoo females are more delicate in their forms than the +Mussulmanees." The Rajah was, however, absent on a sporting excursion, and +the darogah refused to provide the colonel with lodgings, alleging his +master's orders that no Feringhis should be allowed in the town; and it +was not till after a long altercation, of which the colonel gives himself +greatly the best, that he succeeded in finding quarters in the house of a +_bunneea_ or grocer. But the next day's march (for Bundelcund is almost as +thickly set with sovereign princes as Saxony itself) carried him out of +the realm of this inhospitable potentate into the territories of the Rajah +of Jalone, the once noted patron and protector of Thuggee, by whose agent +he was most politely received at Mahoba, a once splendid but now ruined +city, celebrated for its artificial lakes, which in long-past times were +formed by a famous Rajpoot prince named Purmal, by damming up the narrow +gorges of the hills. "Never had I seen, in the plains of India, a prospect +more enchanting! Conceive a beautiful sheet of calm, clear, silvery water, +of several miles in circumference, occasionally agitated by the splashing +leaps of large fishes, or the gradual alighting of noble swan-like aquatic +birds: its margin broken as if by the most skilful artist; now running +into the centre, and ending in most romantic low rocky hills, covered with +trees and embellished with black, antique Jain temples, deserted probably +for hundreds of years, and at present the retreat of the elegant peafowl; +in other places embanked with huge blocks of cut granite, embrowned by the +shade of magnificent trees, under which small bright Hindoo temples, +carefully whitewashed, might be seen in the shade; or bounded by abrupt +rocky promontories, surmounted by many-pillared temples in ruins, hanging +in the sky. A fine rich sunset gave an exquisite richness and classic +magnificence to the scene. Many little boys with rod and line were +ensnaring the sweet little _singhee_, or the golden _rohoo_ or +carp--bringing back to my heart the days, when, stealing from school, I +was wont to sit on the rocks of the Dee, at Craglug, near Aberdeen, +watching the motion of a float that was not under water once in the +twenty-four hours." + +The colonel's laudable habit of associating freely, whenever opportunity +occurred, with the natives, gave him considerable insight into the state +of the country, where the caprices of the native princes were not then +much interfered with, and which consequently, as he says, "was pretty much +in the situation of the Emerald Isle;" and verily if the tale told him by +the Hindoo _gosain_ or priest at Jourâhoô, of the murder of his +predecessor in the temple, and the impunity of the robbers, were correctly +related, the Bundelas have not much to learn in the arts of bloodshed and +depredation. "This village being a sort of corner to the territories of +several Rajahs, robberies, murders, and all other diversions, are of daily +occurrence; and when enquiries are made; each territory throws the blame +on its neighbour." The maxim of government most current in Bundelcund, +both with rulers and ruled, seems indeed to have been-- + + "The good old rule, the simple plan, + That those should take who have the power, + And those should keep who can;" + +for while this strange confusion of _meum_ and _tuum_ prevailed among the +peasantry, the country was ruined by the oppressive and irregular +exactions of the rajahs, both zemindars and cultivators flying from their +habitations to escape the levying of the rents, which were often demanded +more than once by different collectors. At Chundla, the colonel was lodged +in the house of an opulent zemindar, who had absconded for the reason just +given; "and one of the thanna servants told me, that, by those means, +Bundelcund was depopulated"--a statement corroborated by the numerous +ruined brick houses remaining in the towns among the miserable hovels of +the present day. The rajahs of Bundelcund are, almost without exception, +of Rajpoot lineage, and thus of a different race from their Bundela +subjects; but the condition of the country is much the same wherever it is +left under the sway of the Hindoo princes, who are exempt even from the +partial restraint which the Koran imposes on the despotism of Mahommedan +rulers. The only effectual cure for the evils reigning in Bundelcund will +be its formal incorporation with the dominions of the Company--a +consummation which, from the refractory spirit shown in the province after +our losses in Affghanistan, is probably not far distant. + +The remainder of the colonel's notes on Bundelcund relate principally to +his visits to the ancient hill-fortresses of Ajeegur and Kalingur, both +formerly occupied in force by the British, but now--with the exception of +a havildar's (sergeant's) party of sepoys posted at the former, and a +single company at the latter--garrisoned solely by the _lungoors_, or +large black monkeys, whom the colonel found holding solemn assembly in the +Jain temples and the hall of audience, built by the famous Rajah Purmal at +Ajeegur. While exploring his way along the ruined and overgrown ramparts, +he had a narrow escape from the fangs of a large venomous serpent, ("the +_Katula Rekula Poda_, No. 7 of Russell,") on which he was on the point of +treading, and which, in commendable gratitude for its forbearance; he +allowed to glide off unharmed by his fowling-piece; "but he was the first +reptile that ever escaped without the chance of losing his life at my +hands." On the road to Kalingur he had an interview with a petitioner, who +offered him 400 rupees in cash, or a large diamond, for his interest in a +certain case then pending before the judge at Bandah; "but I explained to +my client that I was not in that line of business, and as I saw he had no +intention of insulting me, we parted friends." Kalingur, which was taken +by the British after a long siege in 1812, stands on a rock towering +"upwards of 850 feet above the plain below, and probably about 3000 feet +above the level of the sea;" but its strength as a fortress is as nothing +in comparison to its sanctity, which entitles every one, who resides there +only as long as it takes to milk a cow, to especial beatitude--the object +of veneration being a _lingam_ of black stone enshrined in a temple, the +guardianship of which is jointly vested in five resident families of +Bramins. "At this time," says the colonel, "the place is not worth keeping, +the country being so thoroughly impoverished and desolate;" and he +accordingly, after viewing the marvels of the locality, pursued his way to +Banda, and thence _laid a dâk_ (or travelled by palanquin with relays of +bearers) to Calpee, "there to sit from nine to four, writing filthy +accounts of bricks and mortar, square feet, cubic feet, and running feet, +rupees, annas, and pie; squabbling with wrinkled unromantic villains, +whose cool-tempered and overwhelming patience amply deserve their unlawful +gains--I mean as labourers in the vineyard of villany." + +"A sporting excursion in Oude," in the spring of 1836, comes next in order +of time; and in regular order we accordingly take it, though it has +pleased either Mr Colburn or the colonel to place it after the voyage down +the Ganges. The colonel left Lucknow, March 2; and three days later the +whole party rendezvoused at Khyrabad, consisting of "Mrs, Miss, and +Brigadier Churchill, Colonel Arnold, Major Cureton, Lieut. Waugh, Dr Ross +of her Majesty's 16th Lancers, and the writer of these amiable records;" +to whom was soon after added, in the capacity of guide and hanger-on, "Sam +Lall, by birth a Chuttree or Rajpoot, by profession a zemindar, and by +inclination a sycophant and shikarree, (hunter.)" Indian field sports, +with their concomitants of hogs, hogdeer, jungles, elephants, tigers, and +nullahs, have been of late years rendered so familiar to stay-at-home +travellers, that we shall but concisely notice the colonel's exploits in +this forest campaign, which present no remarkable novelty, though detailed +_con amore_, and with the two-fold zest of a sportsman and an epicure. +With all deference, indeed, to the colonel, we have shrewd doubts whether +the latter feeling was not the predominant one; for the death of a tiger, +nine of which fell during the three weeks' foray before the rifles of +himself and his companions, is evidently chronicled with less of +heart-felt enthusiasm than characterises his encomiums on the hogdeer soup, +the delicate floricans and black partridges, (in the preparation of bread +sauce, for which, with his own hands, he earned immortal renown,) and the +other materials for good living poured forth from the cornucopia of an +Indian game-bag. His gastronomic fervour during this jaunt reaches at +times an ecstatic pitch, which, as old Weller says, "werges on the +poetical." "For him (the gastronomist) the dark rocks and arid plains of +the dry Dekkan produce their purple grapes, and cunning but goodly bustard; +for him burning Bundelcund its wonderful rock pigeon and ortolan +inimitable; the Jumna, most ancient of rivers, its large rich Kala banse, +and tasty crabs; for him yields the low and marshy Terace her elegant +florican; the mighty Gunga its melting mahaseer; the Goomtee its exquisite +mullet. And shall he not eat and delight in her fruits? ... Let the ass eat +its thistles, and the swallow its flies _au naturel_; you and I, reader, +know better!" + +One day, while wading on their elephants through a deep marsh in pursuit +of a tiger, the chasseurs suddenly stumbled upon a pleasant family +party--"a labyrinth of huge boa-constrictors or pythons, sound asleep, +floating on a bed of crushed _nurkool_, (a gigantic species of reed,) the +least of them twenty feet long, and two feet in circumference. A more +beautiful natural mosaic cannot be imagined: they appeared, from being wet, +as if recently varnished. Perhaps they were from twenty to thirty in +number, and occupied a spot of about twenty feet square. No sooner did the +dreadful glistening reptiles hear the click of my rifle, and feel its ball, +than they shot forth with all their vigour, and diving, disappeared in an +instant under the matted roots of the tall nurkool, and, although I tried, +I could not get another glimpse." One of these giant serpents, seventeen +feet long, and eighteen inches in circumference, which the colonel calls a +small one, was shot a few days afterwards by Colonel Arnold. The marsh and +jungle swarmed with peacocks, jungle-fowl, and wild-fowl of all sorts, +affording glorious sport; and, besides the smaller kinds of deer, several +specimens occurred of a magnificent species of stag with twelve-tyned +horns, called _baru-singa_--apparently allied to the _sambur_ and _rusa_ +of the Dekkan. The comparatively small number of tigers killed was, +however, a source of disappointment; since the utility of these battues, +in which the superior fire-arms and appliances of the English are brought +into action for the destruction of these ferocious animals, may be +estimated from the damage done by them in the wilder parts of India, +"which is beyond the belief even of Indo-European residents, and must, +consequently, appear an exaggeration to distant Englishmen. General (then +Captain) Briggs, when resident at Dhoolia in Candeish, in 1821, where his +potails, or head men, were obliged to keep a register of the oxen +(exclusive of sheep and goats) destroyed in their villages, reported that +no less than 21,000 had been killed in three years! As no register is kept +in Oude, it is impossible to register the number." + +On the banks of the Mohun-nuddee the party was joined by Rajah Ruttun Sing, +a chief holding a considerable tract of country under the suzerainté of +Oude, who favoured them with his company while they remained in his +district--a compliment which he expected to be acknowledged, as he +distinctly intimated on taking leave, by the gift of a valuable +fowling-piece; but this modest request was parried by the rejoinder, that +none of their guns were good enough for his highness! During one of the +halts, an incident occurred which strongly illustrates the inhuman apathy +of the Hindoos towards any one not connected with them by the ties of +caste. A man was found sitting under a tree near the camp, uttering +strange cries, and the servants were desired to order him to withdraw; +"they returned, saying carelessly that he was a _nutt_, or gipsy, who had +been robbed." A robbery _from_ a gipsy was such a strange contradiction of +terms, that the colonel went personally to enquire into the matter, when +he was horror-struck by finding, that the man had been, not only plundered +of his earnings by a band of Bunjarras, but frightfully mutilated and +wounded, a trifle which the Hindoo servants had not thought worth +mentioning. The poor wretch's arm was amputated by Dr Ross; and, being +carried with the camp and carefully tended, he was at last dismissed, with +a fair prospect of recovery, and with a gift of sixty rupees subscribed +among the party; but not even the example of the _sahibs_ could teach the +Hindoos humanity, and only the peremptory commands of Dr Ross could +prevail upon his bearer to place a mattress under the sufferer! On their +return march, the party were further honoured by visits from several +rajahs and zemindars, all of whom were "loud in complaint against the +extortions of the aumils, who constantly attempted to gather more, and +sometimes twice and a half as much, as the stipulated rent, in consequence +of which the zemindars were compelled to rebel;" a view of the political +condition of Oude which naturally results from its anomalous position, +under a sovereign nominally independent, who is at once too weak to +control his own subjects, and fearful of diminishing the shadow of +authority left to him by calling in the only available aid. On the 29th of +March the party again reached Khyrabad, the appointed place of their +separation, as it had been of their meeting; and here the narrative, as +before, breaks off abruptly. + +The concluding part, in order of time, of the colonel's lucubrations, +contains his narrative of a voyage on the Ganges, from Allahabad, by +Dhacca, to Calcutta; but the features and incidents of this navigation +have been so frequently described by travellers of all sorts and kinds, +from Bishop Heber and Captain Bellew to our own much-esteemed Kerim Khan, +that we shall devote but brief space to it. He quitted Allahabad, as he +informs us, December 5, 1839, so deeply regretted by the native population, +that they determined to perpetuate his memory by the erection of a new +ghât or landing-place, every brick of which was to be stamped with the +letter D--a distinction which he had, no doubt, deserved by the +_bonhommie_ towards both Hindoo and Moslem, which forms one of the most +favourable traits in the jovial colonel's character. The Tribeenee Ghât, +immediately below Allahabad, where the streams of the Jumna and the Ganges +unite, is one of the holiest spots in India; to which pilgrims resort from +all quarters, in the hope of securing paradise by dying at the junction of +the sacred waters. The spirit of religious exclusiveness prevails here as +well as in other places; and the colonel mentions his having been once an +eyewitness of some rough treatment received by a _chumar_, or +leather-dresser, (one of the lowest castes,) at the hands of some high +caste sepoys, who were highly indignant that so mean a carcass should +presume to defile the holy ground! Leaving the ghâts and devotees behind +him, however, and floating down the stream in his capacious three-roomed +budgerow, he passed Mirzapoor, Chunar, and even the holy city of Benares, +(which he perversely spells Bunarus,) without halting; and reached without +adventure or mishap the mouth of the Goomtee, where his attention was +attracted by a party of eighteen young elephants, the property of the king +of Oude, bathing in the river. "Of all animals, saving the Bundela goat, +there is none that suffers more from change of climate than the elephant: +of the numbers caught on the eastern frontier, probably not one in four +survives a journey to Delhi. Bred in the darkest and most gloomy forests, +they are in a great measure sheltered from heat by the eternal moisture of +the cool shady bower under which they rove; and are then expected to bear +all on a sudden the most intense heat, acting directly on their jet-black +skins, when brought into the plains of Upper India. A very clever native +told me he could make money by any thing but young elephants." Another +curious fact relative to the elephant, mentioned in a subsequent chapter +on the authority of Captain Broadfoot of the Madras commissariat, is, that +both wild and tame elephants are extremely subject to a pulmonary disease, +which proved on dissection to be tubercular--in fact, consumption! It was +found to yield, however, to copious bleedings, if taken in its early +stages. + +The colonel's pages, at this point, are filled with digressions and +dissertations on subjects somewhat miscellaneous--Aberdeen pale ale--the +enormities of Warren Hastings' government--the late James Prinsep and the +moral precepts of the Rajah Piyâdâsee--and a most incomprehensible +rhapsody about "a red mustached member of the Bengal civil service," of +which we profess ourselves utterly incompetent to make either head or tail, +and strongly recommend the colonel to expunge it if the work reaches +another edition. The voyage presents no incidents but the usual ones of +pelicans, alligators, and porpoises: and on January 15, he arrived at +Dhacca, "the once famous city of muslins." But the muslin trade has now +almost wholly disappeared; and with it "the thousands of families of +muslin weavers, who, from the extreme delicacy of their manufacture, were +obliged to work in pits, sheltered from the heat of the sun and changes of +the weather; and even after that precaution, only while the dew lay on the +ground, as the increasing heat destroyed the extremely delicate thread." +The jungle is in consequence advancing close upon the city, which is thus +rendered almost uninhabitable from malaria--the only manufacturers which +continue to flourish being those of violins, bracelets, made from a +peculiar shell resembling the _Murex tulipa_, and--idols for Hindoo +worship! + +The colonel remained at Dhacca till February 4, awaiting ulterior orders +from headquarters, and had, consequently, abundance of leisure for making +himself acquainted with the place and its people. These researches, +however, were not always unattended with danger; for on one occasion, +while viewing the city from an elevated building, a piece of plaster was +struck from the cornice near where he stood by a matchlock ball--a +delicate hint that the Mussulmans disliked being overlooked. The Nawab, +apparently the son of Bishop Heber's acquaintance, Shumseddowlah, still +resides in the palace of his ancestors, but is described as an extravagant, +uneducated youth, who has mortgaged away his income from 5000 to 200 +rupees per mensem--that is, from L.6000 to L.240 per annum. The +inhabitants were a mixture of almost all the creeds and nations of +Asia--Chinese, Thibetans, Mugs from Arracan, Burmese, Malays, etc.; but +the great majority are Hindoos, whose sanguinary goddess Kalee is adored +in not less than fifty temples. The Greeks and Armenians also have each a +church, the services of which, as described by the colonel, are conducted +in much the same form as at Constantinople:--"But among the (Armenian) +matrons only was any appearance of devotion visible; one of them, most +gorgeously appareled in the Armenian fashion, with a magnificent tiara of +jewels on her brow, and wearing a superb shawl, threw herself on the +ground, with her head sunk between her arms, towards the altar, and +remained in that position nearly five minutes. The others, being dressed +_à l'Anglaise_, with stiff stays and fashionable bonnets, could not afford +to indulge in such a position." The Armenians were formerly numerous in +Dhacca, and are still an influential and wealthy body; the Greeks are now +"few and far between," but in the palmy days of Dhacca they were a +flourishing community. + +Dhacca was a place abounding in strange characters from all parts of the +world; and among others whom the colonel encountered, was a singular +specimen of a cosmopolite, a native of Fez, who called himself a Moslem, +but whom our friend vehemently suspected of being a Jew. He had been +almost as great a traveller as his countryman the famous Sheikh Ebn Batuta, +whose wanderings are immortalized in the pages of Maga,[10] and came last +from Moulmein, with a cargo of black pepper and rubies. He had resided +seventeen years in India, and proposed to the colonel, whom he claimed as +a brother, "since from his own home he could reach England in ten days," +that they should jointly freight a vessel with valuables, and go _home_ +together! And, among other scattered facts, a casual encounter with some +Chinese in the employ of the Assam Tea Company, whom the colonel +considerably astonished by addressing them in their own language, +introduces "the very curious fact," that at Tipperah, a civil station not +more than fifty or sixty miles from Dhacca, the natives have from time +immemorial used the tea which grows there abundantly, and is prepared +after a fashion of their own. "And yet" (continues the colonel--and we +fear there is too much truth in his remarks) "the existence of the +tea-plant is but a recent discovery! Any other nation would have +established a tea-manufactory at Tipperah, immediately after the first +settlement, and the Yankees would have 'progressed' railroads and +steam-boats for its success. India is at this moment a mine of unexplored +wealth. No sooner had steam-boats appeared than coal has been discovered +in every direction!" The manufacture of native iron in Bengal, which had +been pressed upon Lord Hastings, as the colonel seems to imply, by himself, +and at first warmly adopted by him, was objected to in the council, and +ultimately abandoned, "on the grounds that it would militate against the +commercial interests of Great Britain--that is, against the profits of +those India stockholders, possessing votes, who followed the trade of +ironmongers!" There is many a true word spoken in jest; and this and other +side-cuts of the colonel at the shortsighted proceedings of the Bahadurs +at Calcutta, though sometimes queerly worded, contain now and then some +unpalatable facts. The administration of the present Governor-General has +shown at least some _promise_ of a better state of things--and if the +impulse now given to the development of the resources of India be steadily +followed up, this reproach will erelong be taken away. The receipt of his +final orders, however, which pointed out China as his destination, put an +end to the colonel's speculations; and re-embarking on the stream of the +Booree Gunga, he passed, with little incident worth noticing, through the +numerous branches of the river, and the picturesque jungles of the +Soonderbunds, and arrived safely, after an absence of twenty-one years, at +the city of palaces--and there we leave him. + + [10] May 1841. + +The subject of the manufactures and products of India, is not, however, +the only point connected with the internal administration, respecting +which some inconvenient facts find their way to light in the colonel's +pages--and with one or two of these revelations, we shall conclude our +extracts. The majority of those Anglo-Indian employés, who have favoured +the world with "Reminiscences" and "Narratives," are singularly free from +the charge of what is familiarly termed "telling tales out of school." +According to their account, nowhere is justice so efficiently administered, +or its functionaries so accessible, as in our Indian empire; but here, +whether from the native frankness of the colonel's disposition, or from +his having nothing more to hope or fear from the old Begum in Leadenhall +Street, we find this important subject placed, on several occasions, in +rather a different light from that in which it is usually represented. It +is well known that Sir David Ochterlony, a short time before his death, +discovered by mere accident that he was enrolled as a pensioner to a large +amount on the civil list of almost every native prince in Upper India, +from the emperor of Delhi downwards--his principal moonshee, or native +secretary, having thrown out intelligible hints, as though from his master, +that such douceurs would not be without their use in securing his powerful +interest at Calcutta--the moonshee himself quietly pocketing the proceeds. +This was certainly an outrageous instance; but it is the direct interest +of every native subordinate to screen his own misdeeds and extortions, by +promoting to the utmost, in his European superior, that inaccessibility to +which he is naturally but too much inclined--and the extent to which this +system of exclusion is carried, may be inferred from the following +anecdote. The colonel had been requested by a native landholder of high +respectability, to introduce him to the house of a civilian; and on asking +why he could not go by himself, was told, "I dare not approach the very +compound of the house he lives in! If his head man should hear that I +ventured to present myself before the gentleman without his permission, he +would immediately harass me by some false complaint, or even by +instituting an enquiry into the very title-deeds of my estate, which might, +however falsely, terminate in my ruin. It is not long since I paid eleven +hundred rupees to ---- to suppress false claims, which, if they had +actually gone into court, would have cost me ten times the sum." + +Of the practical effects of criminal punishments, the colonel does not +speak more highly. "In the real Hindoostanee view of the subject, a +convict in chains is nearly a native gentleman--a little roué, +perhaps--employed on especial duties in the Company's service, for which +he is well fed, and has little labour. A jail-bird can easily be +distinguished after the first six months, by his superior bodily condition. +On his head maybe seen either a kinkhâb (brocade) or embroidered cap, or +one of English flowered muslin, enriched with a border of gold or silver +lace. Gros de Naples is coming into fashion, but slowly.... Was he +low-spirited, he could, for a trifling present, send to the bazar, and +enjoy a nautah from the hour the judge went to sleep till daybreak next +morning--nay, under proper management, he might be gratified by the +society of his wife and family.... See him at work, the burkandauze +(policeman) is smoking _his_ chillum, while he and his friends are sound +asleep, _sub tegmine fagi_. All of a sudden there is an alarm--the judge +is coming! up they all start, and work like devils for ten or fifteen +seconds, and then again to repose. This is working in chains on the roads! +In fact, after a man is once used to the comforts of an Indian prison, +there's no keeping him out!" + +All this, no doubt, is broad caricature--but "ridentem dicere verum quid +vetat?" a motto which the colonel could not do better than adopt for any +future edition of his eccentric lucubrations. And so Rookhsut! Colonel +Sahib! may your favourite tomata sauce never pall upon your palate; and +though perhaps you would hardly thank us for the usual oriental good wish, +that your shadow may continue to increase, may it at least never be +diminished by that worst of all fiends, indigestion! + + * * * * * + + + + +BELFRONT CASTLE. + +A RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW. + + +One half of the world was surprised that Reginald Belfront married Jane +Holford--and the other half was equally surprised that Jane Holford +married Reginald Belfront; for, considering the experience that both +halves of the world must have had, it is amazing how subject they still +are to surprise. To us, who have not the pleasure to belong to either half, +there is very little surprising in the matter. Reginald had been for some +time on a visit at the house of a distant relation--old Sir Hugh de Mawley. +He had wandered through the great woods of the estate, and found them very +tiresome; had strolled in the immense park, and found it dull; and, in the +long evenings, had sat in the stately hall, and listened to the endless, +whispered anecdotes of his host, and found them both intolerable. No +wonder he started with joyful surprise when, one day in the drawing-room, +he heard the rustle of a silk gown; caught the glancing of some beautiful +real flowers on the top of a bright-green bonnet; and, more wonderful than +all, the smile of the prettiest lips, and the glances of the clearest eyes +he had ever seen in his life. The gown, the bonnet, the smiles, and eyes, +all belonged to Jane Holford; and Reginald, who had, up to this time, made +no great progress in the study of comparative physiology, now made such +rapid strides, that he could have told you every point in which the +possessor of the above-named attributes differed from the stiff and prim +Miss de Mawley, who had hitherto been the sole representative of the +female sex in Mawley Court. The neck and shoulders--the chin--nose--arms-- +ankles--feet--not to mention the hair and eyebrows--of the new specimen, +were minutely studied; and, in spite of the usual antipathy he entertained +against all scientific pursuits, he felt a strong inclination to be the +owner of it himself, in order to pursue his investigations at full leisure. +He was no genius--hated books--disliked clever people--but prided himself +on his horsemanship, his play at quarterstaff, his personal strength, and, +above all, in his fine old castle in a somewhat inaccessible part of +Yorkshire, which had remained in the possession of his family ever since +the Conquest. Jane, on the other hand, had no castle to boast of; and +probably had no ancestor whatever at any period preceding the year 1750, +when her grandfather had bought an estate near Mawley Court--which had +gone on improving with the improvement of the times, till her father found +himself the possessor of a rent-roll of fifteen hundred a year, four sons, +and six grown-up daughters. It will easily be believed that no objections +to the match were raised on the part of a middle-aged gentleman, with so +many reasons for agreeing to the marriage settlement proposed by Reginald +Belfront; consisting, as it did, of a jointure to the widow, and the use +of Belfront Castle for life, without the remotest allusion to any portion +or other contingent advantage on the other side; and as Jane herself was, +if possible, still more satisfied on the subject than her father, all the +arrangements were rapidly made, and in less than three months after the +apparition of the silk gown and other etceteras in the drawing-room, the +indissoluble knot was tied, and Miss Cecilia, the second daughter, was +advanced to the dignity of Miss Holford, vice Jane--promoted. + +The church was all decked out with roses and other pleasing emblems of the +unfading nature of connubial bliss; wreaths of sunflowers, with the same +comfortable moral, were hung up over the great gate of Mawley Court; while +Miss de Mawley, representing in her own person the evergreens omitted in +the garlands, received the happy couple on their return from the ceremony +at the head of all the female domestics, from the housekeeper down to the +kitchenmaid, and led the bride and bridegroom to the table in the great +hall, where old Sir Hugh was sitting in great state. They kneeled down +before his chair; and, laying his hand on their heads, he began blessing; +but not having practised that style of oratory so much as he ought, it +rapidly degenerated into a grace--and, as lunch in the mean time was +brought in, and the Holford family, and one or two of the neighbours who +had been present at the ceremony, had now arrived, the eloquence of Sir +Hugh was not altogether thrown away. There were several speeches and +toasts, and sundry attempts at jocularity; and Sir Hugh began the story of +the French countess and the waterfall at Fountainbleau; and Reginald +availed himself of the somnolency of the rest of the party to slip out +with his bride without being observed, just as the royal family began to +suspect the secret--and, long before the incensed husband sent the +challenge, the happy pair were careering onward as fast as the postboy +could drive, on the first stage of their wedding tour. + +A month afterwards they were in a country inn in Wales. The window at +which they sat commanded a view of the beautiful vale of Cwmcwyllchly--a +small river glided down in winding mazes, hiding itself behind wooded +knolls, and brawling over rocks in the most playful and picturesque manner +imaginable. The sun had begun to set, and was taking a last look at the +prospect, with his vast chin rested on the top of Penchymcrwm, presenting +to the poetical mind an image of a redfaced farmer looking over a +five-barred gate--every thing, in short, that is generally met with in +Tourists' Guides, as constituting a splendid view, was assembled on this +favoured spot; and yet Jane heaved a deep sigh, and appeared to take no +notice of the landscape. + +"You're tired, my love," said Reginald; "you have walked too far up these +Welsh mountains." + +"I hope to get used to climbing," answered Jane; "there are plenty of +hills at Belfront--aren't there?" + +"Yes, we have plenty of hills; but why don't you call it home, Jane?" + +"Because I have never lived there," she replied; "and a place can scarcely +be called home that one has never seen." + +"But you have never said you wished to see it." + +"Oh, but I have wished it all the same--may we--may we go--home?" + +She said the word at last, and Reginald was delighted. + +"Home! to be sure--to-morrow, at daybreak; for, to tell you the truth, I +don't care sixpence for fine views--in fact, I don't think there is any +difference between any two landscapes--except that there may be hills in +one, and none in another, or woods, or a river--but they are all exactly +the same in reality. So, let us go home, my love, as fast as we can, or +I'm very much afraid Mr Peeper won't like it." + +"Mr Peeper?" enquired Jane. "Who is Mr Peeper?" + +"You will know him in good time," said Reginald; "and I hope he will like +you." + +"I hope he will--I hope all your friends will like me--I will do every +thing in my power to please them." + +"You're a very good girl, Jane; and Mr Peeper can't help but be pleased, +and I am glad of it; for it ought to be our first study to make ourselves +agreeable to _him_." + +"Agreeable to Mr Peeper!" thought Jane. "How strange that I never was told +about him before this moment! Does he live in the castle, Reginald?" she +asked. + +"Certainly. One of his family has lived there ever since one of mine did; +so there is a connexion between us of a few hundred years." + +"Have you any other friends who live in the castle?" enquired the bride. + +"I don't know whether Phil Lorimer is there just now or not; he has a room +whenever he comes; and a knife and fork at table." + +"Who is he?" + +"A capital fellow--full of wit--and makes funnier faces and better songs +than any man in Yorkshire. You will like Phil Lorimer." + +"And I hope he will like me!" + +"If he don't, I'll break every bone in his body." + +"Oh! I beg you won't," said the bride with a smile, and looking up in +Reginald's face to assure herself he spoke in joke. It was as earnest a +face as if it had been of cast-iron; and she saw that Mr Lorimer's only +chance of preserving a whole skin was to like her with all his might. + +"Is there any one else?" + +"There's Mr Peeper's assistant, Mark Lutter--a clever man, and a great +scholar. I hate scholars, so he dines in the servants' hall, or far down +the table--below the salt." + +"Are you serious?" enquired Jane. + +"Do you not like scholars?" + +"What's the use of them? I never could see what they were good for--and, +besides, Mr Peeper hates them too." + +"Then why does he keep this man as his assistant?" + +"Because if he didn't, the fellow would rebel." + +"Well, you could turn him off." + +"We never turn any body off at Belfront Castle. If they go of their own +accord, we punish them for it if we can--if they stay, they are welcome. +Mr Peeper must look to it, or Lutter will make a disturbance." + +"What a curious place this castle must be," thought Jane, "and what odd +people they are that live in it!" She asked no more questions, but +determined to restrain her curiosity till she could satisfy it on the spot; +and, luckily, she had not long to wait. Next day they started on their +homeward way. As they drew nearer their destination, Jane's anxiety to +gain the first glimpse of her future home increased with every mile. She +had, of course, formed many fancy pictures of it in her own mind; and, as +love lent the brush and most obligingly compounded the colours, there can +be no doubt they made out a very captivating landscape of it between them. + +"At the top of the next hill," said Reginald, "you will see the keep." + +Jane stretched her head forward, and looked through the front window as if +she could pierce the hill that lay between her and home. On went the +horses; but the next hill seemed an incredible way off; it was now getting +late, and the shadows of evening, like a flock of tired black sheep, began +to lie down and rest thenselves on the vast dreary moor they were +travelling over. At last Jane felt that they were beginning an ascent; and +a sickly moon, that seemed to have undergone a severe operation, and lost +nearly all her limbs, lifted up her pale face in the sky. The wind, too, +began to whistle in long low gusts, and Reginald, who was not of a +poetical temperament, as we have already observed, was nearly asleep. They +reached the hill top at last, and a great expanse of rugged and broken +country lay before them. + +"Where is it?--on which hand?" said Jane. + +"Straight before you," replied the husband; "it is only three miles off; +the high-road turns off to the left, but we go through fields right on." + +Jane looked with almost feverish anxiety. At a good distance in front, +rose a tall black structure, like the chimney of a shot manufactory--a +single, square, gigantic tower--throwing a darker mass against the +darkened sky, and sicklied o'er on one of the faces with the yellow-green +moonlight. There were no lights in it, nor any sign of habitation; and +Jane would have indulged in various enquiries and exclamations, if the +carriage had allowed her; but it had by this time left the main road, and +sank up to the axles in the ruts; it bounded against stones, and wallowed +in mire alternately; and all that she could do, was to hold on by one of +the arm rests, as if she had been in the cabin of a storm-toss'd ship. + +"For mercy's sake, Reginald, will this last long?" she said, out of breath +with her exertions. + +"We are about a mile from the drawbridge. I hope they have not drawn it +up." + +"Could we not get into the castle if they have?" + +"We might fall into the moat if we tried the postern." + +"Oh, gracious!--is there a moat?"--and instinctively she put her hand to +her throat, for her mother had brought her up with a salutary dread of +colds, and she felt a sensation of choking at the very name. + +At this moment, the agonized carriage, after several groans that would +have moved the heart of a highway commissioner, gave a rush downward, and +committed suicide in the most determined manner, by dashing its axle on +the ground--the wheels endeavouring in vain to fathom the profundity of +the ruts, and the horses totally unable to move the stranded equipage. The +sudden jerk knocked Reginald's hat over his eyes against the roof of the +carriage, and Jane screamed when she felt the top of her bonnet squeezed +as flat as a pancake by the same process, but neither of them, luckily, +was hurt. + +"We must get out and walk," said the husband; "it isn't more than half a +mile, and we will send Phil Lorimer, or some of them, for the trunks." + +He put his arm round Jane's waist, and helped her over the almost +impassable track. + +"We must try to get the road mended," said Jane. + +"It has never been mended in our time," was the reply; and it was said in +a tone which showed that the fact so announced was an unanswerable +argument against the proposition of the bride. + +"A few stones well broken would do it all," she urged. + +"We never break stones at Belfront," was the rejoinder; and in silence, +and with some difficulty, they groped their unsteady way. At last they +emerged from a thick overgrown copse, in which the accident had happened, +and, after sundry narrow escapes from sprained ankles and broken arms, +they reached the gate. It was an immense wooden barrier, supported at each +end by little round buildings--like a slice of toast laid lengthways +between two half pounds of butter. It was thickly studded with iron nails, +and the round piers were of massive stone, partly overgrown with ivy, and +as solid as if they had been formed of one mass. + +"Does any body live in those lodges?" enquired Jane. + +"There is a warder in the inner court," said Reginald. "These are merely +the supporters of the outer gate." + +"And how are we to get in?" + +"We must blow, I suppose." And so saying, Reginald lifted up a horn that +was hung by an iron chain from one of the piers, and executed a flourish +that made Jane put her fingers to her ears. + +In a short time the creaking of an iron chain--whose recollection of oil +must have been of the most traditionary nature--gave intimation that its +intentions were decidedly hospitable; and with many squeaks and grunts the +enormous portal turned at last on its hinges, and exposed to view a narrow +winding road between two walls, which, in a short time, conducted the +visitors to a long wooden bridge over a piece of stagnant water--the said +bridge having only that moment been let down from the lofty position in +which its two halves were kept by an immense wooden erection, which bore +an awful resemblance to a scaffold. When they got over the bridge, +Reginald turned round, and, imprinting a kiss on the pale cheek of the +astonished bride, said-- + +"Welcome home, dear Jane. This is Belfront Castle!" + +Jane looked round a spacious courtyard, and saw a square of low +dark-looking buildings, with the enormous tower she had seen from the top +of the hill rearing its thick head above all at one corner. They proceeded +across the roughly-paved quadrangle, and entered a low door; ascended +three steps, and opened another door. They then found themselves in a +large and lofty hall, with fitful flashes of red light flickering on the +walls, as the flame of the wood fire on the hearth rose or fell beneath +the efforts of a half distinguishable figure, extended at full length on +the floor, and puffing the enormous log with a pair of gigantic bellows. +In the palpable obscure, Jane could scarcely make out the persons of the +occupants of the apartment; but when the flame burnt up a little more +powerfully than usual, she observed the figure of a tall man dressed in +black, who shook hands with Reginald, and bowed very coldly and formally +to her, when he was introduced as Mr Peeper. He seemed about fifty or +sixty years of age, but very much enfeebled. He stooped and coughed, and +was very infirm in his motions; but when the red glare from the hearth +fell upon his eyes, they fixed themselves on Jane with such a piercing +expression, that she turned away her face almost in fear. His hair was +snow-white, and yet it was impossible to decide whether he was a man of +the years we have stated, with the premature appearance of age, or a +person of extraordinary longevity, retaining the vigorous eyes and active +spirit of youth. However it was, Mr Peeper was too harsh and haughty in +his approaches, and exacted too much deference from the youthful bride, to +be very captivating at first. He said no welcome to the new-comer, and was +stiff and unkind even to the owner of the castle. Candles were soon +brought in, and Jane took the opportunity of looking round. The individual +who had been busy blowing the fire now rose from his humble position, and +was presented to the lady as Phil Lorimer. He bowed and smiled, and was +proceeding with a compliment, in which, however, he advanced no further +than the summer sun bringing out the roses, when Reginald pushed him out +of the hall, with orders to get the luggage brought in from the carriage, +and to be back in time for supper. Phil Lorimer seemed a man of thirty, +strongly built, with a sweet voice and friendly smile; but what station he +filled in the household--whether a servant, a visitor, a poor relation, or +what he could be, Jane could not make out, either from his manner or the +way he was treated. + +"Mr Lorimer is very good-natured--very obliging, to take care of the +luggage, I am sure," said Jane. + +"Better that than talking nonsense about roses," replied Reginald. "Did +you expect us this evening, Mr Peeper?" + +"I did, Mr Reginald, and have invited a few of the neighbours to meet you." + +"Who are coming?" + +"Sir Bryan De Barreilles, Hasket of Norland, Maulerer of Phascald, and old +Dr Howlet. They will be here soon, so you had better make haste." + +"I had better not appear, love," said Jane; "no ladies are coming, and +among so many gentlemen my presence might be awkward." + +"By no means," replied the husband. "It wouldn't be right, Mr Peeper, for +my wife to be absent from the supper-table?" + +"Certainly not. It is to see _her_ the neighbours are coming." + +Is this Mr Peeper to have the control of all my actions? thought Jane. Who +can he be? + +She took another glance at the object of her thoughts, but caught his eye +fixed on her with the same penetrating brightness as before; and she cast +her looks on the ground; and, whether from anger or fear, she felt her +cheeks glowing with blushes. + +"You will not be long gone, if you please," he said to Jane as she retired +to change her dress. + +"You don't seem pleased to see us, Mr Peeper," said Reginald, when Jane +had gone to her room under the guidance of a very tall old woman, who +walked before her, holding out a tremendously long candle, as if it were a +sword, and she was at the head of a military procession. + +"No, sir," replied Mr Peeper; "I am not pleased with the person you have +brought here. You have gone too far from home for a wife. None of the +Belfronts have ever married out of Yorkshire, and it may give rise to +troubles." + +"I am very sorry my wife's relations would not allow me to send for you to +perform the ceremony." + +"It is a bad omen," said the old man; "my predecessors have married your +predecessors without a break since the conquest. It bodes no good." + +"I trust no harm will happen, and that you will soon forget the +disappointment." + +"None of my family forget, but we will not _talk_ of it." So saying, he +turned away, and arranged a goodly array of bottles on the sideboard. +Reginald sat down on an oak chair beside the fire, and gazed attentively +into the log. + +In the mean time, Jane had followed her gigantic conductor through half a +mile of passages, and reached a small room at one end of the quadrangle, +and through the window (of which half the panes were broken, as if on +purpose) she caught the melodious murmur of a rapid river, that chafed +against the foundation walls of the castle. On looking round, the prospect +was not very encouraging. Tattered tapestries hung down the walls, and +waved in a most melancholy and ghost-like fashion in the wind; the floor +was thinly littered over with some plaited rushes, to supply the place of +a carpet; and a few long high-backed oak chairs kept guard against the +wall. The fire had died an infant in its iron cradle, the grate; and the +curtain of the bed waved to and fro in mournful sympathy with the tapestry +round the room. Jane was so cold that she could hardly go through her +toilette, simple as it was; but having at last achieved a very slight +alteration in her dress, and left her bonnet on the head of an owl, which +formed the ornament of one of the high-backed chairs, she endeavoured to +retrace her steps; and after a few pauses and mistakes, she found her way +once more into the hall. + +The guests in the mean time were assembled and had seated themselves at +table. On Jane's entrance they all rose, and on being respectively named +by their host, bowed with cold and stately courtesy, and sat down again. +The four strangers seemed all of the same ages, fifty or thereabouts--tall, +hale, and dignified in their manners. Sir Bryan de Barreilles had a patch +on his right eye; Hasket of Norland a deep scar on his forehead, that cut +his left eyebrow into two parts, and gave a very extraordinary expression +to his rigid countenance; Maulerer of Phascald had the general effect of +very handsome features, marred by the want of his nose; not that there was +actually no nose, but that it did not occupy the prominent position it +usually holds on the human face divine, but was inserted deep between the +cheeks--in fact, was a nose not set on after the fashion of a knocker, but +a fine specimen of _basso-relievo_, indented after the manner of Socrates's +head on a seal, and would probably have made a very fine impression. Dr +Howlet was perfectly blind, and from the tone in which he was addressed by +the other gentlemen, Jane concluded he was also very nearly deaf. Besides +these, there were present Mr Peeper, at the foot of the table next to +Reginald, and on the other side of him a thick square-built man, with a +fine hilarious open countenance, who was perhaps of too low a rank to be +introduced to the lady of the castle--no other in fact than the +redoubtable Mr Lutter, of whom Jane had heard on her journey home. + +After the serving men, with some difficulty, had brought in the supper, +consisting of enormous joints of meat, hot and cold, and deposited on the +sideboard vast tankards of strong ale and other potent beverages, Mr +Peeper rose, and folding his hands across his breast, and bending forward +his head with every appearance of devotion, muttered some words evidently +intended to represent a grace; but so indistinct that it was utterly +impossible to make the slightest guess at their meaning, whereupon they +all fell to with prodigious activity, and cut and slashed the enormous +dishes as if they had been famished for a year. Mr Lutter, after making an +observation that true thankfulness was as much shown by moderate enjoyment +of good gifts as by long prayers said over them, made a most powerful +assault on the cold sirloin, and, of all the party, was the only one who +had the politeness to send a helping to Jane. She was tired and hungry, +and felt really obliged by the attention, but could scarcely do justice to +the viands from surprise at the conversation of the guests. + +"Ho, ho!" said Sir Bryan de Barreilles, "I once knew a thing--such a thing +it was too--ho! ho!" And partly the vividness of the recollection, and +principally an enormous mouthful of beef, produced a long fit of +coughing--"'twill make you laugh," he continued--"'twas a rare feat--ho! +ho!--even this lady will be pleased to hear it." + +Jane bowed in expectation of an amusing anecdote. + +"One of my tenants was going to be married; his bride was a very young +creature, not more than eighteen, and on the wedding-day, as I always was +ready for a joke in those days--ah! 'tis thirty years ago, or more--I +asked the bridal party to the Tower. Ho! ho! such laughing we had!--Giles +Mallet and Robin Henslow fought with redhot brands out of the fire, till I +thought we should all have died; and Giles--the cleverest fellow and the +wittiest, ho! ho!--such a fellow was Giles!--he took up the poker instead +of the fir-log, and watched his opportunity, ho! ho!--it was redhot too--a +good stout poker as ever you saw--and ran it clean through his cheek--you +heard the tongue fizz! as it licked the hot iron--'twas a famous play. How +Robin roared, to be sure, and couldn't speak plain--ho! ho! Well, the +games went on; and nothing would please some of the young ones but we +should see the Oubliette. 'Twas a dark hole where my forefathers +imprisoned their refractory vassals, and sad stories were told about +it--how that voices were heard from the bottom of it, and groans, and +sometimes gory heads were seen at the top of it, looking up to the +skylight, and struggling to escape, but ever tumbling back into the deep +dark hole, with screams and smothered cries; a rare place for a man's +enemies--but it had not been used for many years. Well--nothing would do, +but when we were all merry with ale, we should all go and see the +Oubliette, and a kiss of the bride was promised to the one who should go +down the furthest. Now, the stone steps were very narrow at best; and were +all worn away--and that was the best of it--all along the passages we went, +and past the dungeon grating, till we came to the open mouth of the +Oubliette. Ho! ho! how you'll laugh. Down a step went one--no kiss from +the bride for him--two steps went another--some went down six steps, and +one bold fellow went down so far that we lost sight of him in the darkness. +Then the bridegroom, a stout young yeoman--thought it shame to let anyone +beat him in daring, for so rich a prize as a kiss from the rosy lips of +his bride, and down--down--he went--step after step--till finally, far +down in the gloom, we heard a loud scream--such a scream--ho! ho! I can't +help laughing yet when I think of it--and in a minute or two, whose voice +should we hear but Giles Mallet's! _There_ was Giles, hollowing and +roaring for us to send down a rope but _how_ he had got down, or _when_ he +had gone down, nobody knew. However, a rope was got, and merrily, stoutly, +we all pulled, but no Giles came up. Instead of him, we drew forth the +bridegroom! but such a changed man. His eyes were fixed, and his face as +white as silver--his mouth was wide open, and his great tongue went +lolling about from side to side--and he shook his head, and mumbled and +slavered--he was struck all of a sudden into idiocy, and knew nobody; not +even his bride. She was sinking before him, but he never noticed her, but +went moaning, and muttering, and shaking his head. Ho! ho! 'twas the +comicalest thing I ever saw. And when Giles came up he explained it all. +Giles had gone down deeper than any of them, and waited for the others on +a ledge in the cavern; and just when the bridegroom reached it, Giles +seized him by the leg, and said--'Your soul is mine'--ho! ho! 'Your soul +is mine,' said Giles--and the bridegroom uttered only the loud, long +scream we had all heard, and stood and shook and trembled. 'Twas a rare +feat; and if you had come down last year"--he added, turning to Jane--"you +would have seen the bridegroom going from door to door, followed by all +the boys in the village--he never recovered. There he went, shake, shaking +his head--and gape gaping with his mouth. "Twas good sport to teaze him. +I've set my dogs on him myself; but he never took the least notice. 'Twas +a good trick--I never knew better." + +"And the bride?" enquired Jane. + +"Oh, she died in a week or two after the adventure! A silly hussy--I +wished to marry her, by the left hand, to my forester, but she kept on +moping and looking at the idiotical bridegroom, and died--a poor fool." + +"Ah! we've grown dull since those merry times," said Hasket of Norland, +looking, round the empty hall, and then towards Reginald, as if +reproaching him with the absence of the ancient joviality. "There were +three men killed at my marriage--in fair give and take fight--in the hall, +at the wedding supper. There is the mark of blood on the floor yet." + +"I lost my eye at the celebration of a christening," said Sir Bryan de +Barreilles. "My uncle of Malmescott pushed it in with the handle of his +dagger." + +"I got this wound on my forehead at a feast after a funeral," said Hasket +of Norland. "I quarreled with Morley Poyntz, and he cut my eyebrow with an +axe. 'Twas a merry party in spite of that." + +"The Parson of Pynsent jumped on my face at a festival in honour of the +birth of Sir Ranulph Berlingcourt's heir," said Maulerer of Phascald. "I +had been knocked on the floor by the Archdeacon of Warleileigh, and the +Parson of Pynsent trode on my nose. He was the biggest man in Yorkshire, +and squeezed my nose out of sight--a rare jovial companion, was the Parson +of Pynsent, and many is the joke we have had about the weight of his foot. +Ah! we have no fun now--no fighting, no grinning through a horse-collar, +no roasting before a fire, no singing"-- + +"Yes," said Reginald, "we have Phil Lorimer." + +"Let him come--let us hear him," said some of the party. + +"I hate songs," said Dr Howlet; "and think all ballads should be burned." + +"And the writers of them, too," added Mr Peeper, with a fierce glance +towards the fireplace, from which Phil Lorimer emerged. + +"Oh no! I think songs an innocent diversion," said Mr Lutter, "and +softening to the heart. Sit near me, Mr Lorimer." + +"Make a face, Phil," cried the knight; "I would rather see a grin than +hear your ballad." + +"Jump, Phil," said Hasket of Norland, applying his fork to Phil's leg as +he passed, "you are a better morris-dancer than a poet." + +Phil, who was imperturbably good-natured, did as he was told. He opened +his mouth to a preternatural size, turned one eye to the ceiling, and the +other down to the floor, till Sir Bryan was in ecstasies at his +achievement. He then sprang to an incredible height in that air, and +danced once or twice through the hall, throwing himself into the most +grotesque attitudes imaginable, and the table was nearly shaken in pieces +by the thumpings with which the party showed their satisfaction. + +"Now then, Phil; here's a cup of sherry-wine--drink it, boy, and sing a +sweet song to the lady," said Reginald. + +"Songs are an invention of the devil," said Mr Peeper. + +"Unless they are sung through the nose," said Mr Lutter, with a sneer. + +"You approve of songs then?" inquired Mr Peeper, with a fierce look. + +"Certainly," said Mr Lutter, "when their subject is good, and the language +modest." + +"Then you are an atheist," retorted Mr Peeper. + +"What has a ballad to do with atheism?" enquired Mr Lutter, looking angry. + +"You approve of wicked songs, and therefore are an atheist." + +"A man is more like an atheist," retorted Mr Lutter, "who is ungrateful to +God for the gift of song, and shuts up the sweetest avenue by which the +spirit approaches its Creator. I admire poetry, and respect poets." + +"Any one who holds such diabolic doctrines is not fit to remain in +Belfront Castle." + +"Nay," replied Mr Lutter, "Belfront Castle would be infinitely improved if +such doctrines were adopted in it." + +"Gentlemen," said Reginald, "you are both learned men; and I know nothing +about the questions you discuss." + +"Your lady shall judge between us," said Mr Lutter. + +"She shall not," said Mr Peeper; "I am the sole judge in matters of the +kind." + +"Let us hear Phil's song in the mean time," said Reginald. "Come, Lorimer." + +"What shall it be?" said Phil. + +"Something comic," said Sir Bryan. + +"Something bloody," said Hasket of Norland. + +"Something loving," said Maulerer of Phascald. + +"Will the lady decide for us?" said Phil, with a smile. "Will you have the +'Silver Scarf,' madam; or 'the Knight and the Soldan of Bagdad?' They are +both done into my poor English from the troubadours of Almeigne." + +The lady fixed, at haphazard, on "the Knight and the Soldan of Bagdad:" +and Phil prepared to obey her commands. He took a small harp in his hand, +and sate down in the vacant chair next to Sir Bryan de Bareilles. The rest +of the company composed themselves to listen; and, after a short prelude, +Lorimer, in a fine manly voice, began-- + + "Oh, brightly bloom'd the orange flow'r, + And fair the roses round; + And the fountain, in its marble bed, + Leapt up with a happy sound; + And stately, stately was the hall, + And rich the feast outspread; + But the Soldan of Bagdad sigh'd full sore, + And never a word he said. + Never a word the Soldan said, + But many a tear let fall; + He had tried all the joys that life could give, + And was weary of them all. + The Soldan lift up his heavy eye-- + And to that garden fair, + A stranger enter'd with harp in hand, + And with a winsome air; + Long locks of yellow molten gold + Hung over his cheek so brown, + And a red mantle of Venice silk + Fell from his shoulders down. + A weary wanderer he did seem, + Come from a distant land; + And over the harpstrings thoughtfully, + He moveth his cunning hand. + He opes his lips, and he poureth forth + Such a sweet stream of sound, + That the Soldan's heart leaps up in his breast, + And his eye he casts around. + 'Was never a voice,' the Soldan said, + 'So sweet--nor so blest a song;-- + Sing on, kind minstrel,' the Soldan said, + 'I have been sad too long.' + The minstrel sang, and soft and sweet + The Soldan's tears fell free; + 'Oh, tell me, thou minstrel dear,' he said, + 'What boon shall I give to thee? + Oh, stay with me but a year and a day, + And sing sweet songs to me; + And whatever the boon, by Allah, I swear, + I will freely give it to thee.' + The minstrel stay'd a year and a day, + And the Soldan loved him well; + 'Now what is the boon thou askest of me-- + I prithee, dear minstrel, tell.' + 'A Christian knight in thy dungeon pines, + And his hope is nearly o'er; + His freedom is the boon I ask-- + Oh, open his prison door!' + The minstrel went--and no more was seen; + And the Christian knight, set free, + Found a stately ship, that bore him safe + Home to his own countrie. + And his lady met him at the gate, + His lady fair and young; + And with a scream of pride and joy, + She in his bosom hung. + Oh, glad, glad was the Christian knight, + And glad was his lady fair, + And her pale cheek flush'd as he cast aside + The locks of her raven hair, + And kiss'd her brow, and told the tale + Of his dungeon, deep and strong; + And of the minstrel, too, he told + And of the power of song. + And they blest the minstrel, and blest his song, + And soon the feast was dight; + And prince and noble crowded in, + To welcome home the knight. + And when the brimming cup went round, + Spoke out an evil tongue, + And blamed that lady to her lord, + That lady fair and young; + And told, with many a bitter sneer, + How that, for many a day, + When he was prison'd in Paynim land, + That dame was far away, + And none knew where; but all could guess-- + Up rose the knight, and kept + His hand close clutch'd on his dagger heft, + And down the hall he stept; + And onwards with the dagger bared, + He rush'd to the lady's bower-- + 'Thou hast been false, and left thy home-- + Thou diest this very hour!' + 'Oh! it is true, I left my home; + But yet, before I die, + Oh! look not on me with face so changed, + Nor with so fierce an eye! + Oh! let me, but for a minute's space, + Into my chamber hie; + One prayer I would say for thee and me-- + One prayer--before I die!' + She left the bower; and as he stept + To and fro in ireful mood, + A stranger from the chamber came, + And close behind him stood. + Long locks of molten yellow gold + Hung over his cheek so brown, + And a red mantle of Venice silk, + Fell from his shoulder, down. + Dark frown'd the knight--'Vile churl!' he said; + But ere he utter'd more, + The stranger let the mantle fall + Unclasp'd upon the floor,-- + And off he cast the yellow locks-- + And, lo! the lady fair, + Blushing and casting from her cheek + Her glossy raven hair! + Down fell the dagger; down the knight + Sank kneeling and opprest; + And the lady oped her snow white arms, + And wept upon his breast!" + +"A foul song!--a wanton woman!"--exclaimed Sir Bryan de Barreilles--"he +should have stabbed her for living so long with a Jew villain like the +Soldan of Bagdad." + +"Was the villain a Jew?" enquired Dr Howlet, who had caught the word. "I +did not know Bagdad was in Jewry. Is a heathen the same as a Jew, Mr +Peeper?" + +The gentleman thus appealed to, coughed as if to clear his throat, and +though he usually spoke with the utmost clearness, he mumbled and muttered +in the same unintelligible manner as he had done when he was saying grace; +and it was a very peculiar habit of the learned individual, whenever he +was applied to for an explanation, to betake himself to a mode of speech +that would have puzzled a far wiser head than Dr Howlet's, to make head or +tail of it. + +Dr Howlett, however, appeared to be perfectly satisfied with the +information; and by the indignant manner in which he struck his long +gold-headed ebony walking-stick on the floor, seemed entirely to agree +with the worthy knight in his estimate of the heroine of Phil Lorimer's +ballad. + +"I like the ballad about the jousting of Romulus the bold Roman, with +Judas Maccabaeus in the Camp at Ascalon far better," said Hasket of +Norland. "Sing it, Phil." + +"No, no," cried Maulerer, who was far gone in intoxication. "Sing us the +song of the Feasting at Glaston, when Eneas the Trojan married Arthur's +daughter.--Sing the song, sirrah, this moment, or I'll cut your tongue in +two, to make your note the sweeter.--Sing." + +Thus adjured, Phil once more began:-- + + "There was feasting high and revelry + In Glaston's lofty hall; + And loud was the sound, as the cup went round, + Of joyous whoop and call; + And Arthur the king, in that noble ring, + Was the merriest of them all. + No thought, no care, found entrance there, + But beauty's smiles were won; + No sour Jack Priest to spoil the feast"-- + +"Ha!" cried Howlet, interrupting Mr Lorimer in a tremendous passion, "what +says the varlet? He is a heathen Turk, and no Christian. How dares he talk +so of the church?" The old man rose as he spoke, and, suddenly catching +hold of the enormous ebony walking-stick, which generally reposed at the +side of his chair, he aimed a blow with all his force at the unfortunate +songster; but, being blind, and not calculating his distance, his staff +fell with tremendous effect on the left eye of Sir Bryan de Barreilles. + +"Is it so?" cried the Knight, stunned; but resisting the tendency to +prostration produced by the stroke, and flinging a large silver flagon +across the table, which missed Dr Howlet, and made a deep indentation in +the skull of Maulerer of Phascald--"Now, then!" + +Hasket of Norland attempted to hold Sir Bryan, and prevent his following +up his attack; and Mr Maulerer recovered sufficiently to fling the heavy +candlestick at his assailant; the branches of which hit the cheek of +Hasket, while the massive bottom ejected the three front teeth of Sir +Bryan. + +There was now no possibility of preventing the quarrel; and while the four +strangers were pounding each other with whatever weapons came first to +hand, and Mr Peeper crept under the table for safety, and Reginald essayed +to talk them into reason, Mr Lutter politely handed Jane to the door of +the hall. + +"Permit me, madam, to rescue you from this dreadful scene." + +"Is it thus always?" enquired Jane, nearly weeping with fright. + +"There are many things that may be improved in the castle," said Mr Lutter. +"I have seen the necessity of an alteration for a long time, and, if you +will favour me with your assistance, much may be done." + +"Oh! I will help you to the utmost of my power." + +"We must upset the influence of Mr Peeper," said Mr Lutter. "May I speak +to you on the subject to-morrow?" + +A month had passed since Jane's arrival at Belfront Castle, and she had +had many private and confidential conversations with Mr Lutter. The +ominous eyes of Mr Peeper grew fiercer and fiercer, and she many times +thought of coming to an open rupture with him at once; but was deterred +from doing so, by not yet having ascertained whether her influence over +Reginald was sufficiently established to stand a contest with the +authority of his ancient friend. She could not understand how her husband +could have remained hoodwinked so long; or how he had submitted to the +despotic proceedings of his former tutor, who persisted in assembling the +same airs of authority over him, as he had exercised when he was a child. +Such, however, was evidently the case; and Reginald had never entertained +a thought of rescuing himself from the thraldom in which he had grown up. +A look from Mr Peeper; a solemn statement from him, that such and such +things had never been heard of before in Belfront; and, above all, the use +of the muttered and unintelligible jargon to which Mr Peeper betook +himself in matters of weight and difficulty, were quite sufficient: +Reginald immediately gave up his own judgment, and felt in fact rather +ashamed of himself for having hinted that he had a judgement at all. Under +these circumstances, Mr Lutter had a very difficult part to play; and all +that Jane could do, was to second him whenever she had the opportunity. +One day, in the lovely month of April, Phil Lorimer sat on a sunny part of +the enornous wall that guarded the castle, and leaning his back against +one of the little square towers that rose at intervals in the circuit of +the fortifications, sang song after song, as if for the edification of a +number of crows that were perched on the trees on the other side of the +moat. The audience were grossly inattentive, and paid no respect whatever +to the performer, who still continued his exertions, as highly satisfied +as if he were applauded by boxes, pit, and gallery of a crowded +theatre:--Among others, he sang the ballad of the "Silver Scarf." + + "It was a King's fair daughter, + With eyes of deepest blue, + She wove a scarf of silver + The whole long summer through-- + + "A stately chair she sat on + Before the castle door, + And ever in the calm moonlight + She work'd it o'er and o'er. + + "And many a knight and noble + Went daily out and in, + And each one marvell'd in his heart + Which the fair scarf might win. + + "She took no heed of questions, + From her work ne'er raised her head, + And on the snow-white border + Sew'd her name in blackest thread. + + "Then came a tempest roaring, + From the high hills it came, + And bore the scarf far out to sea + From forth its fragile frame: + + "The maiden sate unstartled, + As if it _must_ be so-- + She stood up from her stately chair, + And to her bower did go. + + "She took from forth her wardrobe + Her dress of mourning hue-- + Whoever for a scarf before + Such weight of sorrow knew? + + "In robes of deepest mourning, + Three nights and days she sate; + On the third night, the warder's horn + Was sounded at the gate-- + + "A messenger stands at the door, + And sad news bringeth he; + The king and all his gallant ships + Are wreck'd upon the sea. + + "And now the tide is rising, + And casts upon the shore + Full many a gallant hero's corse, + And many a golden store. + + "Then up rose the king's daughter, + Drew to her window near; + 'What is it glitters on thine arm, + In the moonlight so clear?' + + "'It is a scarf of silver, + I brought it from the strand; + I took it from the closed grasp + Of a strong warrior's hand.' + + "That feat thou ne'er shouldst boast of + If but alive were he; + Go take him back thy trophy + To the blue rolling sea. + + "And when that knight you've buried, + The scarf his grave shall grace; + And next to where you've laid him, + Oh, leave a vacant place!" + +"Here, you cursed old piper! leave off frightening the crows, and open the +gate this moment. Who the devil, do you think, is to burst a bloodvessel +by hollowing here all day?" + +Mr Lorimer, though used to considerable indignities, as we have already +seen, had still a little of the becoming poetical pride about him, and +looked rather angrily over the wall. "Nobody wishes you to break +bloodvessels, or have their own ears disturbed by your screaming," he said. +"What do you want?" + +"To get into your infernal house, to be sure. Where did you get such +unchristian roads? My bones are sore with the jolting. Send somebody to +open the gate." + +"The drawbridge is up, and Mr Peeper must have his twopence." + +"Who the devil is Mr Peeper?" said the stranger. "I sha'n't give him a +fraction. Who made the drawbridge his? Is Mr Belfront at home?" + +"Yes, he is in Mr Peeper's study." + +"And Mrs Belfront?"-- + +"Pickling cod. It is Mr Peeper's favourite dish; so we all live on it +sometimes for weeks together." + +"With such a trout-stream at your door? He'll be a cleverer fellow than I +think him if he gets me to eat his salted carrion. Open the door, I say, +or you'll have the worst of it when my stick gets near your head. Tell Mrs +Belfront her uncle is here--her Uncle Samson." + +Phil Lorimer saw no great resemblance to the Jewish Hercules in the little, +dapper, bustling-mannered man in a blue coat with bright brass buttons, +pepper-and-salt knee-breeches, and long gaiters, who thus proclaimed his +relationship to the lady of the castle. He hurried down from the wall to +make the required announcement. + +"My uncle Samson, the manufacturer, from Leeds! Oh, let him in, by all +means!" exclaimed Jane; "he was always so kind to me when I was a child!" + +"He can't get in, madam, unless Mr Peeper orders the drawbridge to be +lowered; and he is now busy with Mr Belfront." + +"Go for Mr Lutter; he will be glad to hear of uncle Samson's arrival." + +Mr Lorimer discovered Mr Lutter comfortably regaling himself in the +buttery; but on hearing in what respect his services were required, he +left unfinished a large tankard of ale, with which he was washing down an +enormous quantity of bread and cheese, and proceeded to the moat. + +"Don't disturb Mr Peeper," he said, "but help me to launch the little +punt." + +By dint of a little labour, the small vessel was got into the water, and +Mr Lutter, taking a scull in his hand, paddled over to the other side, and +embarked the gentleman in the blue coat. Paddling towards an undefended +part of the castle, he taught him how to clamber up the wall; and Mr +Samson, wiping the stains of his climbing from the knees of his nether +habiliments, looked round the castle-yard. "Well! who'd have thought that +such a monstrous strong-looking place should be stormed by a middle-aged +gentleman in a punt!" + +"You've a friend in the garrison, you'll remember, sir, and the +battlements have never been repaired." + +"They ain't worth repairing. It's a regular waste of building materials to +make such thick walls and pinnacles. Blowed, if them stones wouldn't build +a mill; and a precious water-power, too," he added, as he saw the river +sparkling downward at the northern side. "Oho! I must have a talk with +Jane. Will you take me to Mrs Belfront? I haven't seen her for five years. +She must be much changed since then, and I must prepare her for the +arrival of her cousins." + +Jane was sitting in the great hall, feeling disconsolate enough. Often, in +her father's comfortable parlour, she had read accounts of baronial +residences of the olden time; and one of the greatest pleasures she had +felt in becoming Mrs Belfront, was to be the possessor of a real _bona +fide_ castle that had been actually a fortress in the days of knighthood. +She had studied long ago the adventures of high-born dames and stately +nobles, till she was nearly as far gone in romance as Don Quixote; and +many questions she had asked about Belfront, and donjon-towers, and keeps, +and tiltyards, and laboured very hard to acquire a correct idea of the +mode of life and manners of the days of chivalry. Her imagination, we have +seen, was too lively to be restrained by the more matter-of-fact nature of +her husband; and she now felt with great bitterness the difference between +presiding at a tournament, or being present at the Vow of the Peacock, and +the slavish submission in which she, with the whole household, was held by +Mr Pepper. Deeply she now regretted the feelings of superiority she had +experienced over her own relations by her marriage into such an ancient +race as the Belfronts. She felt ashamed of the contempt she had felt for +the industrious founders of her own family's wealth, and at that moment +would have preferred the blue coat and brass buttons of her uncle Samson, +to all the escutcheons and shields of the Norman conquest; and at that +moment, luckily, the identical coat and buttons made their appearance. + +"Well, niece, here's a go!" exclaimed the angry uncle. "Is this a way to +receive a near relation after such a journey?" + +"Oh, uncle!" + +"Why, did ye never hear tell of such a place as Kidderminster?--have you +no carpets?" + +"Mr Belfront says there were no carpets in his ancestor's time"-- + +"And no railroads, nor postchaises, nor books, nor nothing; and is that +any reason why we shouldn't have lots of every thing now? By dad, before +I've been here a week I'll have a reg'lar French Revolution! No Bastille! +says I; let's have a Turkey carpet, and a telescope dining-table, good +roads, and no infernal punts--and, above all, let's get quit of the +villain Peeper." + +"Oh! if Reginald would only consent!" + +"Why not? by dad, I'll make his fortune. I'll give him a thousand a-year +for the water-power that's now all thrown away. I'll have a nice village +built down in the valley. I'll get him two guineas an acre for his land +that's now lying waste. I'll dig for coal. We'll build a nice comfortable +house, and leave this old ruin to the crows." + +"And the neighbours, uncle Samson?" + +"Why, we'll build a church, and the parson will be a good companion. When +the roads are made, you'll give a jolly dinner once a-week to every squire +within ten miles. You'll have a book club. You'll help in the Sunday +school. You'll go to the county balls. Your husband will join the +agricultural society, and act as a magistrate. He'll subscribe to the +hounds. He'll attend to the registrations. He'll have shooting-parties in +September. And as to any old-world, wretched talks about chivalry and +antiquity, we'll show him that there never was a time like the +present--commerce, land, property, and intelligence, all in the very best +condition. We'll make Lutter superintendent of the whole estate, and send +old Peeper about his business. And in all this you must help; for there's +nothing to be done without the help of the ladies: so give me your hand, +dear niece, and don't cry." + +"It would make me so happy! I would never look into Amadis de Gaul again!" + +"Hang Amadis de Gall and Amadi de Spurzheim, too! Where is your husband?" + +"I seldom see him now. He is always in the oratory with Mr Peeper." + +"The deuce he is!" said the uncle. "And how do you get on in other +respects? Are you comfortable--happy--contented?" Jane told him all she +had encountered since she had come to the castle, and the uncle seemed +thunderstruck at the recital. + +"Well! bold measures are always the best," he said at last; "I'll kick +Peeper into the moat!" and before his niece could interfere, the uncle had +rushed across the quadrangle, guided, we are sorry to say, by Mr Lutter, +and, grasping the venerable Peeper, whom he met near the drawbridge, he +dragged him towards the water. + +Jane ran to get assistance for the unfortunate victim; and crying "Help! +help!" as she saw the wretched man forced over the walls, she looked in a +state of distraction towards her husband. "Dear Jane," said that +individual, smiling blandly, "I told you you had overtired yourself with +walking." Jane gazed round; there was Reginald sitting beside her, with +her head reclining on his shoulder, at the open window of the inn in Wales. +The vale of Cwmcwyllchly was spread in a beautiful landscape below. They +were still on their wedding tour. + +"You have been asleep, Jane," said Reginald. + +"And have had such dreadful dreams. Oh, Reginald! I have had such visions +of horrid things and people. I shall never be romantic again about +chivalry. Such coarseness!--such slavery!--such ignorance! Ah, how happy +we ought to be that we are born in a civilized time, with no Mr Peepers +for father confessors, nor fighting with firebrands for amusement!" + +"You have been reading _Hallam's Middle Ages_--a present from your uncle +Samson--till you have become a right-down Utilitarian. Come, let us ring +for tea; and to-morrow we must start for Yorkshire! The Quarter-sessions +are coming on." + + * * * * * + + + + +DUMAS IN HIS CURRICLE. + + +We left M. Dumas at Marseilles: we find him again at Naples. Three volumes +are the result of his visit to the last named city--volumes in which he +manages to put a little of every thing, and a good deal of some things. +Antiquarian, historian, virtuoso, novelist, he touches upon all subjects, +flying from one to the other with a lightness and a facility of transition +peculiarly his own, and peculiarly agreeable. English travellers and +Italian composers, St Januarius and the opera, Masaniello and the +_gettatura_, Pompeii, princes, police spies, Vesuvius, all have their +turn--M. Dumas, with his usual tact, merely glancing at those subjects +which are known and written about by every tourist, but giving himself +full scope when he gets off the beaten track. His book is literally +crammed with tales and anecdotes, to such a degree indeed, and most of +them so good, that our principal difficulty in commencing a notice of it, +is to know where to pick and choose our extracts; _l'embarras des +richesses_, in short. The best way will probably be to begin at the +beginning, and go as far as our limits allow us, referring our readers to +the original for the many good things that want of space will compel us to +exclude. + +M. Dumas calls his book the _Corricolo_, and devotes a short and +characteristic preface to an explanation of the title. This explanation we +must give in his own words. It is so highly graphic, that, after reading +it, we fancied we had seen a picture of what it describes. + +"A _corricolo_ is a sort of tilbury or gig, originally intended to hold +one person, and be drawn by one horse. At Naples they harness two horses +to it; and it conveys twelve or fifteen individuals, not at a walk nor at +a trot, but at full gallop, and this, notwithstanding that only one of the +horses does any work. The shaft horse draws, but the other, which is +harnessed abreast of him, and called the _bilancino_, prances and curvets +about, animates his companion, but does nothing else. + +"Having said that the gig built to carry one is made to carry fifteen, I +am, of course, expected to explain how this is accomplished. There is an +old French proverb, according to which, when there is enough for one there +is enough for two; but I am not aware of any proverb in any language which +says, that when there is enough for one, there is enough for fifteen. +Nevertheless, it is the case with the _corricolo_. In the present advanced +state of civilization, every thing is diverted from its primitive +destination. As it is impossible to say at what period, or in how long a +time, the capacity of the vehicle in question was extended in the ratio of +one to fifteen, I must content myself with describing the way of packing +the passengers. + +"In the first place, there is almost invariably a fat greasy monk seated +in the middle, forming the centre of a sort of coil of human creatures. On +one of his knees is some robust rosy-cheeked nurse from Aversa or Nettuno; +on the other, a handsome peasant woman from Bauci or Procida. On either +side of him, between the wheels and the body of the vehicle, stand the +husbands of these two ladies. Standing on tiptoe behind the monk is the +driver, holding in his left hand the reins, and in his right the long whip +with which he keeps his horses at an equal rate of speed. Behind _him_ are +two or three lazzaroni, who get up and down, go away, and are succeeded by +others, without any body taking notice of them, or expecting them to pay +for their ride. On the shafts are seated two boys, picked up on the road +from Torre del Greco or Pouzzoles, probably supernumerary _ciceroni_ of +the antiquities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Finally, suspended under the +carriage, in a sort of coarse rope network with large meshes, which swings +backwards and forwards at every movement of the vehicle, is a shapeless +and incomprehensible mass, which cries, laughs, sings, screams, shouts, +and bellows, all by turns and none for long together, and the nature of +which it is impossible to distinguish, dimly seen as it is through the +clouds of dust raised by the horses' feet. This mass consists of three or +four children, who belong to Heaven knows who, are going Heaven knows +where, live Heaven knows how, and are there Heaven knows wherefore. + +"Now then, put down, one above the other, monk, women, husbands, driver, +lazzaroni, boys and children; add them up, include the infant in arms, +which has been forgotten, and the total will be fifteen. + +"It sometimes happens that the _coricolo_ passes over a big stone, and +upsets, pitching out its occupants to a greater or less distance, +according to their respective gravity. But, on such occasions, nobody +thinks of himself; the attention of every one is immediately turned to the +monk. If he is hurt, the journey is over for the day; they carry him to +the nearest house; the horses are put into the stable, and he is put to +bed; the women nurse him, make much of him, cry and pray over him. If, on +the other hand, the monk is safe and sound, nobody has a right to complain; +he resumes his seat, the nurse and the peasant woman resume theirs, the +others climb up into their respective places--a crack of the long whip, +and a shout from the driver, and the _corricolo_ is off again full speed." + +From this we learn what a _corricolo_ is, but we have not yet been told +why M. Dumas should christen his book after the degenerate descendant of +the Roman curriculum. Patience--we shall get to it in time. Materials +crowd upon our traveller, and it is only in the second chapter that the +desired explanation is given. In the first we are informed of M. Dumas's +installation at the Hotel Vittoria, kept by M. Martin Zill, who, besides +being an innkeeper, is a man of much taste in art, a distinguished +antiquary, an amateur of pictures, a collector of autographs and +curiosities. Apropos of the hotel we have an anecdote of the ex-dey of +Algiers, who, on being dispossessed of his dominions by the French, took +refuge at Naples, and established himself under M. Zill's hospitable roof. +The third floor was entirely occupied by his suite and attendants, the +fourth was for himself and his treasures, the fifth, or the garrets, he +converted into his harem. The curious arms, costumes, and jewels which +Hussein Pacha had brought with him, were a godsend to the virtuoso weary +of examining and admiring them; and, before the African had been a week in +the house, he and his host were sworn friends. Unfortunately this harmony +was not destined to last very long. + +"One morning Hussein Pacha's cook (a Nubian as black as ink, and as +shining as if he had been polished with a shoe-brush) entered the kitchen +of the hotel, and asked for the largest knife they had. The head-cook gave +him a sort of carving-knife, some eighteen inches long, sharp as a razor, +and pliant as a foil. The negro looked at it, shook his head as if in +doubt whether it would do, but nevertheless took it up stairs with him. +Presently he brought it down again, and asked for a larger one. The cook +opened all his drawers, and at last found a sort of cutlass, which he +hardly ever used on account of its enormous size. With this the Nubian +appeared more satisfied, and again went up stairs. Five minutes afterwards +he came down for the third time, and returned the knife, asking for a +bigger one still. The cook's curiosity was excited, and he enquired who +wanted the knife, and for what purpose. + +"The African told him very coolly that the dey, having left his dominions +rather in a hurry, had forgotten to bring an executioner with him, and had +consequently ordered his cook to get a large knife and cut off the head of +Osmin, chief of the eunuchs, who was convicted of having kept such +negligent watch and ward over his highness's seraglio, that some +presumptuous Giaour had made a hole in the wall, and established a +communication with Zaida, the dey's favourite _odalisque_. Accordingly +Osmin was to be decapitated; and as to the offending lady, the next time +the dey took an airing in the bay of Naples, she would be put into the +boat in a sack, and consigned to the keeping of the kelpies. Thunderstruck +at such summary proceedings, the cook desired his Nubian brother to wait +while he went for a larger knife; then hastening to M. Martin Zill, he +told him what he had just heard. + +"M. Martin Zill ran to the minister of police, and laid the matter before +him. His excellency got into his carriage and went to call upon the dey. + +He found his highness reclining upon a divan, his back supported by +cushions, smoking latakia in a chibouque, while an icoglan scratched the +soles of his feet, and two slaves fanned him. The minister made his three +salaams; the dey nodded his head. + +"'Your highness,' said his excellency, 'I am the minister of police.' + +"'I know you are,' answered the dey. + +"'Then your highness probably conjectures the motive of my visit.' + +"'No. But you are welcome all the same.' + +"'I come to prevent your highness from committing a crime.' + +"'A crime! And what crime?' said the dey, taking the pipe from his mouth, +and gazing at his interlocutor in the most profound astonishment. + +"'I wonder your highness should ask the question,' replied the minister. +'Is it not your intention to cut off Osmin's head?' + +"'That is no crime,' answered the dey. + +"'Does not your highness purpose throwing Zaida into the sea?' + +"'That is no crime,' repeated the dey. 'I bought Osmin for five hundred +piasters, and Zaida for a thousand sequins, just as I bought this pipe for +a hundred ducats.' + +"'Well,' said the minister, 'what does your highness deduce from that?' + +"'That as this pipe belongs to me, as I have bought it and paid for it, I +may break it to atoms if I choose, and nobody has a right to object.' So +saying, the pacha broke his pipe, and threw the fragments into the middle +of the room. + +"'All very well, as far as a pipe goes,' said the minister; 'but Osmin, +but Zaida?' + +"'Less than a pipe,' said the dey gravely. + +"'How! less than a pipe! A man less than a pipe! A woman less than a pipe!' + +"'Osmin is not a man, and Zaida is not a woman: they are slaves. I will +cut off Osmin's head, and throw Zaida into the sea.' + +"'No!' said the magistrate. 'Not at Naples at least.' + +"'Dog of a Christian!' shouted the dey, 'do you know who I am?' + +"'You are the ex-dey of Algiers, and I am the Neapolitan minister of +police; and, if your deyship is impertinent, I shall send him to prison,' +added the minister very coolly. + +"'To prison!' repeated the dey, falling back upon his divan. + +"'To prison,' replied the minister. + +"'Very well,' said Hussein. 'I leave Naples to-night.' + +"'Your highness is as free as air to go and to come. Nevertheless, I must +make one condition. Before your departure, you will swear by the Prophet, +that no harm shall be done to Osmin or Zaida.' + +"'Osmin and Zaida belong to me, and I shall do what I please with them.' + +"'Then your highness will be pleased to deliver them over to me, to be +punished according to the laws of the country; and, until you do so, you +will not be allowed to leave Naples.' + +"'Who will prevent me?' + +"'I will.' + +"The pacha laid his hand on his dagger. The minister stepped to the window +and made a sign. The next moment the tramp of heavy boots and jingle of +spurs were heard upon the stairs; the door opened, and a gigantic corporal +of gendarmes made his appearance, his right hand raised to his cocked hat, +his left upon the seam of his trouser. + +"'Gennaro,' said the minister of police, 'if I gave you an order to arrest +this gentleman, would you see any difficulty in executing it?' + +"'None, your excellency.' + +"'You are aware that this gentleman's name is Hussein Pacha.' + +"'I was not, your excellency.' + +"'And that he is dey of Algiers.' + +"'May it please your excellency, I don't know what that is.' + +"'You see?' said the minister, turning to the dey. + +"'The devil! exclaimed Hussein. + +"'Shall I?' said Gennaro, taking a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, and +advancing a pace towards the dey, who, on his part, took a step backwards. + +"'No,' replied the minister, 'it will not be necessary. His highness will +do as he is bid. Go and search the hotel for a man named Osmin, and a +woman named Zaida, and take them both to the prefecture.' + +"'What!' cried the dey; 'this man is to enter my harem?' + +"'He is not a man,' replied the minister; 'he is a corporal of gendarmes. +But if you do not wish him to go, send for Osmin and Zaida yourself.' + +"'Will you promise to have them punished?' enquired the dey. + +"'Certainly; according to the utmost rigour of the law.' + +"Hussein Pacha clapped his hands. A door concealed behind a tapestry was +opened, and a slave entered the room. + +"'Bring down Osmin and Zaida,' said the dey. + +"The slave crossed his hands on his breast, bowed his head, and +disappeared without uttering a word. The next instant he came back with +the two culprits. + +"The eunuch was a little round fat fellow, with beardless face, and small +hands and feet. Zaida was a beautiful Circassian, her eyelids painted with +kool, her teeth blackened with betel, her nails reddened with henna. On +perceiving Hussein Pacha, the eunuch fell upon his knees; Zaida raised her +head. The dey's eyes flashed, and he clutched the hilt of his kangiar. +Osmin grew pale; Zaida smiled. The minister of police made a sign to the +gendarme, who stepped up to the two captives, handcuffed them, and led +them out of the room. As the door closed behind them, the dey uttered a +sound between a sigh and a roar. + +"The magistrate looked out of the window, till he saw the prisoners and +their escort disappear at the corner of the Strada Chiatamone. Then +turning to the dey-- + +"'Your highness is now at liberty to leave Naples, if he wishes so to do,' +said the imperturbable functionary with a low bow. + +"'This very instant!' cried Hussein. 'I will not remain another moment in +such a barbarous country as yours.' + +"'A pleasant journey to your highness,' said the minister. + +"'Go to the devil!' retorted Hussein. + +"Before an hour had elapsed, the dey had chartered a small vessel, on +board of which he embarked the same evening with his suite, his wives, and +his treasures; and at midnight he set sail; cursing the tyranny that +prevented a man from drowning his wife and cutting off the heads of his +slaves. The next day the minister of police had the culprits brought +before him and examined. Osmin was found guilty of having slept when he +ought to have watched, and Zaida of having watched when she ought to have +slept. But, by some strange omission, the Neapolitan code allots no +punishment to such offences; and, consequently, Osmin and Zaida, to their +infinite astonishment, were immediately set at liberty. Osmin took to +selling pastilles for a livelihood, and the lady got employment as _dame +de comptoir_ in a coffeehouse. As to the dey, he had left Naples with the +intention of going to England, in which country, as he had been informed, +a man is at liberty to sell his wife, if he may not drown her. He was +taken ill, however, on the road, and obliged to stop at Leghorn, where he +died." + +M. Dumas, not being in good odour with the Neapolitan authorities, on +account of some supposed republican tendencies of his, is at Naples under +an assumed name; and, as it is uncertain how long he may be able to +preserve his incognito, he is desirous of seeing all that is to be seen in +as short a time as possible. He finds that Naples, independently of its +suburbs, consists of three streets where every body goes, and five hundred +streets where nobody goes. The three streets are, the Chiaja, the Toledo, +and the Forcella; the five hundred others are nameless--a labyrinth of +houses, which might be compared to that of Crete, deducting the Minotaur, +and adding the Lazzaroni. There are three ways of seeing Naples--on foot, +in a _corricolo_ or in a carriage. On foot, one goes every where, but one +sees too much; in a carriage, one only goes through the three principal +streets, and one sees too little--the _corricolo_ is the happy medium, the +_juste milieu_, to which M. Dumas for once determines to adhere. Having +made up his mind, he sends for his host, and enquires where he can hire a +_corricolo_ by the week or month. His host tells him he had better buy one, +horse and all. To this plan M. Dumas objects the expense. + +"'It will cost you,' said M. Martin, after a momentary calculation in his +head, 'it will cost you--the _corricolo_ ten ducats, each horse thirty +carlini, the harness a pistole; in all, eighty French francs.' + +"'What! for ten ducats I shall have a _corricolo_?' + +"'A magnificent one.' + +"'New?' + +"'Oh! you are asking too much. There are no such things as new _corricoli_. +There is a standing order of the police forbidding coachmakers to build +them.' + +"'Indeed! How long has that order been in force?' + +"'Fifty years, perhaps.' + +"'How comes it, then, that there is such a thing as a _corricolo_ in +existence?' + +"'Nothing easier. You know the story of Jeannot's knife?' + +"'To be sure I do; it is one of our national chronicles. The blade had +been changed fifteen times, and the handle fifteen times, but it was still +the same knife.' + +"'The case of the _corricolo_ is exactly similar. It is forbidden to build +new ones, but it is not forbidden to put new wheels to old bodies, and new +bodies on old wheels. By these means the _corricolo_ becomes immortal.' + +"'I understand. An old body and new wheels for me, if you please. But the +horses? Do you mean to say that for thirty francs I shall have a pair of +horses?' + +"'A superb pair, that will go like the wind.' + +"'What sort of horses?' + +"'Oh, dead ones, of course!' + +"'Dead ones!' + +"'Certainly. At that price you could hardly expect any thing better.' + +"'My dear M. Martin, be kind enough to explain. I am travelling for my +improvement, and information of all kinds is highly acceptable.' + +"'You are acquainted with the history of the horse, I suppose?' + +"'The natural history? Buffon's? Certainly. The horse is, after the lion, +the noblest of all the beasts.' + +"'No, no; the philosophical history. The different stages and vicissitudes +in the existence of those noble quadrupeds.' + +"'Oh yes! first the saddle, then a carriage or gig, thence to a +stage-coach or omnibus, hackney-coach or cab, and finally--to the +knacker's.' + +"'And from the knacker's?' + +"'To the Elysian fields, I suppose.' + +"'No. Not here, at least. From the knacker's they go to the _corricoli_.' + +"'How so?' + +"'I will tell you. At the Ponte della Maddalena, where horses are taken to +be killed, there are always persons waiting, who, when a horse is brought, +buy the hide and hoofs for thirty carlini, which is the price regulated by +law. Instead of killing the horse and skinning him, these persons take him +with the skin on, and make the most of the time he yet has to live. They +are sure of getting the skin sooner or later. And these are what I mean by +dead horses.' + +"'But what can they possibly do with the unfortunate brutes?' + +"'They harness them to the _corricoli_.' + +"'What! those with which I came from Salerno to Naples'-- + +"'Were the ghosts of horses; spectre steeds, in short.' + +"'But they galloped the whole way.' + +"'Why not? _Les morts vont vite._'" + +_Et cetera, et cetera_. For the price stated by his host, M. Dumas finds +himself possessor of a magnificent _corricolo_ of a bright red colour, +with green trees and animals painted thereon. Two most fiery and impatient +steeds, half concealed by harness, bells, and ribands, are included in his +purchase. After a vain attempt to drive himself, the phantom coursers +having apparently a supreme contempt for whipcord, he gives up the reins +to a professional charioteer, and commences his perambulations. His first +visit is to the Chiaja, the favourite promenade of the aristocracy and of +foreigners; his second to the Toledo, the street of shops and loungers; +his third to the Forcella, frequented by lawyers and their clients. He +makes a chapter, and a long one too, out of each street; but not in the +way usually adopted by those pitiless tour-writers who overwhelm their +readers with dry architectural details, filling a page with a portico, and +a chapter with a chapel--not letting one off a pane of a painted window or +line of worm-eaten inscription however often those things may have been +described already by previous travellers. M. Dumas prefers men to things +as subjects for his pen; and the three chapters above named are filled +with curious illustrations of Neapolitan manners, customs, and character. +Apropos of the Toledo, we are introduced to the well-known _impresario_, +Domenico Barbaja, who had his palazzo in that street, and who, from being +waiter in a coffeehouse at Milan, became the manager of three theatres at +one time, namely, San Carlo, La Scala, and the Vienna opera. He appears to +have been a man of great energy and originality of character, concealing +an excellent heart under the roughest manners and most choleric of tempers. + +"It would be impossible," says M. Dumas, "to translate into any language +the abuse with which Barbaja used to overwhelm the singers and musicians +at his theatres when they displeased him. Yet not one of them bore him +malice for it, knowing that, if they had the least triumph, Barbaja would +be the first to embrace and congratulate them: if they were unsuccessful, +he would console them with the utmost delicacy: if they were ill, he would +watch over them with the tenderness of a father or brother. The fortune +which he had amassed, little by little, and by strenuous exertions, he +spent in the most generous and princely manner. His palace, his villa, and +his table, were open to all. + +"His genius was of a peculiar and extraordinary kind. Education he had +none: he was unable to write the commonest letter, and did not know a note +of music; yet he would give his composers the most valuable hints, and +dictate with admirable skill the plan of a libretto. His own voice was of +the harshest and most inharmonious texture; but by his advice and +instructions he formed some of the first singers in Italy. His language +was a Milanese patois; but he found means to make himself excellently +understood by the kings and emperors, with whom he carried on negotiations +upon a footing of perfect equality. It was a great treat to see him seated +in his box at San Carlo, opposite that of the King of Naples, on the +evening of a new opera; with grave and impartial aspect, now turning his +face to the actors, then to the audience. If a singer went wrong, Barbaja +was the first to crush him with a severity worthy of Brutus. His '_Can de +Dio_!' was shouted out in a voice that made the theatre shake and the poor +actor tremble. If, on the other hand, the public disapproved without +reason, Barbaja would start up in his box and address the audience. +'_Figli d'una racca_!' 'Will you hold your tongues? You don't deserve good +singers.' If by chance the King himself omitted to applaud at the right +time, Barbaja would shrug his shoulders and go grumbling out of his box. + +"With all his peculiarities, he it was who formed and brought forward +Lablache, Tamburini, Rubini, Donzelli, Colbran, Pasta, Fodor, Donizetti, +Bellini, and the great Rossini himself, whose masterpieces were composed +for Barbaja. It is impossible to form an idea of the amount of entreaties, +stratagems, and even violence, expended by the _impresario_ to make +Rossini work. I will give an example of it, which is highly characteristic +both of the manager and of the greatest and happiest, but most +_insouciant_ and idle, musical genius that ever drew breath under the +bright sky of Italy." + +We are sorry to tantalize our readers, but we have not space for the story +that follows. It relates to the opera of _Othello_, which was composed by +Rossini in an incredibly short time, whilst a prisoner in an apartment of +Barbaja's house. For nearly six months had the composer been living vith +the manager, entertaining his friends at his well-spread table, drinking +his choicest wines, and occupying his best rooms--all this under promise +of producing a new opera within the half-year, a promise which he showed +little disposition to fulfil. Barbaja was in a fever of anxiety, and +finding remonstrance unavailing, had recourse to stratagem. One morning, +when Rossini was about to start on a party of pleasure, he found his doors +secured outside; and, on putting his head out of the window, was informed +by Barbaja that he must remain captive until his ransom was paid. The +ransom, of course, was the opera. + +Rossini subsequently revenges himself on his tyrant in a very piquant +manner; and, finally, the morning after _Othello_ has been performed with +triumphant success, he starts for Bologna, taking with him, as travelling +companion, the _prima donna_ of the San Carlo theatre, Signora Colbran, +whom he had privately married. All this is related very amusingly by M. +Dumas, but at too great length for our limits. + +We have a naval combat in the second volume, in which a French frigate is +attacked by two English line-of-battle ships, one of which she sinks, and +receives in return the entire point-blank broadside of the other, a +three-decker; which broadside, we in our ignorance of nautical matters, +should have thought sufficient to blow her either out of the water or +under it. It has not that effect, however, and the frigate is captured; +the captain of her, when he has hauled down his flag in order to save the +lives of his men, stepping into his cabin and blowing his brains out. All +this is very pretty, whatever may be said of its probability. But there +are two subjects on which the majority of Frenchmen indulge in most +singular delusions. These are, their invincibility upon the sea, and the +battle of Waterloo. M. Dumas has not escaped the national monomania. + +Our author is very hard upon the poor English in this book. He attacks +them on all sides and with all weapons. Nelson and Lady Hamilton occupy a +prominent position in his pages. The execution of Admiral Carraciolo, an +undoubted blot on the character of our naval hero, is given in all its +details, and with some little decorations and embellishments, for which we +suspect that we have to thank our imaginative historian. Nelson's weakness, +the ascendency exercised over him by Lady Hamilton, or Emma Lyonna, as M. +Dumas prefers styling her, her intimacy with the Queen of Naples, and +subservient to the wishes and interests of the Neapolitan court, are all +set forth in the most glowing colours. This is the heavy artillery, the +round-shot and shell; but M. Dumas is too skilful a general to leave any +part of his forces unemployed, and does not omit to bring up his +sharpshooters, and open a pretty little fire of ridicule upon English +travellers in Italy, who, as it is well known, go thither to make the +fortunes of innkeepers and purchase antiquities manufactured in the +nineteenth century. Strange as it may appear, we should be heartily sorry +if M. Dumas were to exchange his evident dislike of us for a more kindly +feeling. We should then lose some of his best stories; for he is never +more rich and amusing than when he shows up the sons and daughters of _le +perfide Albion_. In support of our assertion, take the following sketch:-- + +"During my stay at Naples an Englishman arrived there, and took up his +quarters at the hotel at which I was stopping. He was one of those +phlegmatic, overbearing, obstinate Britons, who consider money the engine +with which every thing is to be moved and all things accomplished, the +argument in short which nothing can resist. Money was every thing in his +estimation of mankind; talent, fame, titles, mere feathers that kicked the +beam the moment a long rent-roll or inscription of three per cents were +placed in the opposite scale. In proportion as men were rich or poor, did +he esteem them much or little. Being very rich himself, he esteemed +himself much. + +"He had come direct to Naples by steam, and during the voyage had made +this calculation: With money I shall say every thing, do every thing, and +have every thing I please. He had not long to wait to find out his mistake. +The steamer cast anchor in the port of Naples just half an hour too late +for the passengers to land. The Englishman, who had been very sea-sick, +and was particularly anxious to get on shore, sent to offer the captain of +the port a hundred guineas if he would let him land directly. The +quarantine laws of Naples are very strict; the captain of the port thought +the Englishman was mad, and only laughed at his offer. He was therefore +obliged to sleep on board in an excessively bad humour, cursing alike +those who made the regulations and those who enforced them. + +"The first thing he did when he got on shore, was to set off to visit the +ruins of Pompeii. There happened to be no regular guide at hand, so he +took a lazzarone instead. He had not forgotten his disappointment of the +night before, and all the way to Pompeii he relieved his mind by abusing +King Ferdinand in the best Italian he could muster. The lazzarone, whom he +had taken into his carriage, took no notice of all this so long as they +were on the high-road. Lazzaroni, in general, meddle very little in +politics, and do not care how much you abuse king or kaiser so long as +nothing disrespectful is said of the Virgin Mary, St Januarius, or Mount +Vesuvius. On arriving, however, at the _Via dei Sepolchri_, the ragged +guide put his finger on his lips as a signal to be silent. But his +employer either did not understand the gesture, or considered it beneath +his dignity to take notice of it, for he continued his invectives against +Ferdinand the Well-beloved. + +"'Pardon me, Eccellenza,' said the lazzarone at last, placing his hand +upon the side of the barouche, and jumping out as lightly as a harlequin. +'Pardon me, Eccellenza, but I must return to Naples.' + +"'And why so?' inquired the other in his broken Italian. + +"'Because I do not wish to be hung.' + +"'And who would dare to hang you?' + +"'The king.' + +"'Why?' + +"'Because you are speaking ill of him.' + +"'An Englishman has a right to say whatever he likes.' + +"'It may be so, but a lazzarone has not.' + +"'But you have said nothing.' + +"'But I hear everything.' + +"'Who will tell what you hear?' + +"'The invalid soldier who accompanies us to visit Pompeii.' + +"'I do not want an invalid soldier.' + +"'Then you cannot visit Pompeii.' + +"'Not by paying?' + +"'No.' + +"'But I will pay double, treble, four times, whatever they ask.' + +"'No, no, no.' + +"'Oh!' said the Englishman, and he fell into a brown study, during which +the lazzarone amused himself by trying to jump over his own shadow. + +"'I will take the invalid,' said the Englishman after a little reflection. + +"'Very good,' replied the lazzarone, 'we will take him.' + +"'But I shall say just what I please before him.' + +"'In that case I wish you a good morning.' + +"'No, no; you must remain.' + +"'Allow me to give you a piece of advice then. If you want to say what you +please before the invalid, take a deaf one.' + +"'Ooh!' cried the Englishman, delighted with the advice, 'by all means a +deaf one. Here is a piaster for you for having thought of it.' The +lazzarone ran to the guard-house, and soon returned with an old soldier +who was as deaf as a post. + +"They began the usual round of the curiosities, during which the +Englishman continued calling King Ferdinand any thing but a gentleman, of +all which the invalid heard nothing, and the lazzarone took no notice. +They visited the Via dei Sepolchri, the houses of Diomedes and Cicero. At +last they came to Sallust's house, in one of the rooms of which was a +fresco that hit the Englishman's fancy exceedingly. He immediately sat +down, took a pencil and a blank book from his pocket, and began copying it. +He had scarcely made a stroke, however, when the soldier and the lazzarone +approached him. The former was going to speak, but the latter took the +words out of his mouth. + +"'Eccellenza,' said he, 'it is forbidden to copy the fresco.' + +"'Oh!' said the Englishman, 'I must make this copy. I will pay for it.' + +"'It is not allowed, even if you pay.' + +"'But I will pay ten times its value if necessary; I must copy it, it is +so funny.' + +"'If you do, the invalid will put you in the guard-room.' + +"'Pshaw! An Englishman has a right to draw any thing he likes.' And he +went on with his sketch. The invalid approached him with an inexorable +countenance. + +"'Pardon me, Eccellenza,' said the lazzarone; 'but would you like to copy +not only this fresco, but as many more as you please?' + +"'Certainly I should, and I will too.' + +"'Then, let me give you a word of advice. Take a blind invalid.' + +"'Ooh!' cried the Englishman, still more enchanted with this second hint +than with the first. 'By all means, a blind invalid. Here are two piasters +for the idea.' + +"They left Sallust's house, the deaf man was paid and discharged, and the +lazzarone went to the guard-room, and brought back an invalid who was +stone-blind and led by a black poodle. + +"The Englishman wished to return immediately to continue his drawing, but +the lazzarone persuaded him to delay it, in order to avoid exciting +suspicion. They continued their rambles, therefore, guided by the invalid, +or rather by his dog, who displayed a knowledge of Pompeii that might have +qualified him to become a member of the antiquarian society. After +visiting the blacksmith's shop, Fortunata's house, and the public oven, +they returned to the abode of Sallust, where the Englishman finished his +sketch, while the lazzarone chatted with the blind man, and kept him +amused. Continuing their lounge, he made a number of other drawings, and +in a couple of hours his book was half full. + +"At last they arrived at a place where men were digging. There had been +discovered a number of small busts and statues, bronzes, and curiosities +of all kinds, which, as soon as they were dug up, were carried into a +neighbouring house, and had his attention speedily attracted by a little +statue of a satyr about six inches high. 'Oh!' cried he, 'I shall buy this +figure.' + +"'The king of Naples does not wish to sell it,' replied the lazzarone. + +"'I will give its weight in sovereigns--double its weight even.' + +"'I tell you it is not to be sold,' persisted the lazzarone; 'but,' added +he, changing his tone, 'I have already given your excellence two pieces of +advice which you liked, I will now give you a third: Do not buy the +statue--steal it.' + +"'Oh--oh! that will be very original, and we have a blind invalid too. +Capital!' + +"'Yes, but the invalid has a dog, who has two good eyes and sixteen good +teeth, and who will fly at you if you so much as touch any thing with your +little finger.' + +"'I'll buy the dog, and hang him.' + +"'Do better still; take a lame invalid. Then, as you have seen nearly +every thing here, put the figure in your pocket and run away. He may call +out as much as he likes, he will not be able to run after you.' + +"'Ooh!' cried the Englishman, in convulsions of delight, 'here are three +piasters for you. Fetch me a lame invalid.' + +"And in order not to excite the suspicions of the blind man and his dog, +he left the house, and pretended to be examining a fountain made of +shell-work, while the lazzarone went for a third guide. In a quarter of an +hour he returned, accompanied by an invalid with two wooden legs. They +gave the blind man three carlini, two for him and one for his dog, and +sent him away. + +"The theatre and the temple of Isis were all that now remained to be seen. +After visiting them, the Englishman, in the most careless tone he could +assume, said he should like to return to the house in which were deposited +the produce of the researches then making. The invalid, without the +slightest suspicion, conducted them thither, and they entered the +apartment in which the curiosities were arranged on shelves nailed against +the wall. + +"While the Englishman lounged about, pretending to be examining every +thing with the greatest interest, the lazzarone busied himself in +fastening a stout string across the doorway, at the height of a couple of +feet from the ground. When he had done this, he made a sign to the +Englishman, who seized the little statue that he coveted from under the +very nose of the astounded invalid, put it into his pocket, and, jumping +over the string, ran off as hard as he could, accompanied by the lazzarone. +Darting through the Stabian gate, they found themselves on the Salerno +road--an empty hackney-coach was passing, the Englishman jumped in, and +had soon rejoined his carriage, which was waiting for him in Via dei +Sepolchri. Two hours after he had left Pompeii he was at Torre del Greco, +and in another hour at Naples. + +"As to the invalid, he at first tried to step over the cord fastened +across the door, but the height at which the lazzarone had fixed it was +too great for wooden legs to accomplish. He then endeavoured to untie it, +but with no better success; for the lazzarone had fastened it in a knot +compared to which the one of Gordian celebrity would have appeared a mere +slip-knot. Finally, the old soldier, who had perhaps read of Alexander the +Great, determined to cut what he could not untie, and accordingly drew his +sword. But the sword in its best days had never had much edge, and now it +had none at all; so that the Englishman was halfway to Naples whilst the +invalid was still sawing away at his cord. + +"The same evening the Englishman left Naples on board a steamboat, and the +lazzarone was lost in the crowd of his comrades; the six plasters he had +got from his employer enabling him to live in what a lazzarone considers +luxury for nearly as many months. + +"The Englishman had been twelve hours at Naples, and had done the three +things that are most expressly forbidden to be done there. He had abused +the king, copied frescoes, and stolen a statue, and all owing, not to his +money, but to the ingenuity of a lazzarone." + +The lazzarone is a godsend for M. Dumas, an admirable peg upon which to +hang his quaint conceit and sly satire; and he is accordingly frequently +introduced in the course of the three volumes. We must make room for one +more extract, in which he figures in conjunction with his friend the +sbirro or gendarme, who before being invested with a uniform, and armed +with carbine, pistols, and sabre, has frequently been a lazzarone himself, +and usually preserves the instincts and tastes of his former station. The +result of this is a coalition between the lazzarone and the +sbirro--law-breaker and law-preserver uniting in a systematic attack upon +the pockets of the public. + +"I was one day passing down the Toledo, when I saw a sbirro arrested. Like +La Fontaine's huntsman, he had been insatiable, and his greediness brought +its own punishment. This is what had happened. + +"A sbirro had caught a lazzarone in the fact. + +"'What did you steal from that gentleman in black, who just went by?' he +demanded he. + +"'Nothing, your excellency,' replied the lazzarone. A lazzarone always +addresses a sbirro as _eccellenza_. + +"'I saw your hand in his pocket.' + +"'His pocket was empty.' + +"'What! Not a purse, a snuff-box, a handkerchief?' + +"'Nothing, please your excellency. It was an author.' + +"'Why do you go to those sort of people?' + +"'I found out my mistake too late.' + +"'Come along with me to the police-office.' + +"'But, your excellency--since I have stolen nothing?' + +"'Idiot, that's the very reason. If you _had_ stolen something, we might +have arranged matters.' + +"'Only wait till next time. I shall not always be so unfortunate. I +promise you the contents of the pocket of the next person who passes.' + +"'Very good; but I will select the individual, or else you will be making +a bad choice again.' + +"'As your excellency pleases.' + +"The sbirro folded his arms in a most dignified manner, and leaned his +back against a post; the lazzarone stretched himself on the pavement at +his feet. A priest came by, then a lawyer, then a poet; but the sbirro +made no sign. At last there appeared a young officer, dressed in brilliant +uniform, who passed gaily along, humming between his teeth a tune out of +the last opera. The sbirro gave the signal. Up sprang the lazzarone and +followed the officer. Both disappeared round a corner. Presently the +lazzarone returned with his ransom in his hand. + +"'What have you got there?' said the sbirro. + +"'A handkerchief,' replied the other. + +"'Is that all?' + +"'That all! It is of the finest cambric.' + +"'Had he only one?'[11] + + [11] At Naples, it is customary to carry two handkerchiefs, one of + silk, and the other of cambric; the latter being used to wipe the + forehead. + +"'Only one in that pocket.' + +"'And in the other?' + +"'In the other he had a silk handkerchief.' + +"'Why didn't you bring it?' + +"'I keep that for myself, excellency. It is fair that we should divide the +profits. One pocket for you, the other for me.' + +"'I have a right to both, and I must have the silk handkerchief.' + +"'But, your excelleilcy'---- + +"'I must have the silk handkerchief.' + +"'It is an injustice.' + +"'Ha! Do you dare speak ill of his majesty's sbirri? Come along to prison.' + +"'You shall have the silk handkerchief, your excellency.' + +"'How will you find the officer again?' + +"'He is gone to pay a visit in the Strada de Foria. I will go and wait for +him at the door.' + +"The lazzarone walked away, turned the corner of the street, and +established himself in the recess of a doorway. Presently the young +officer came out of a house opposite, and before he had gone ten paces, +put his hand in his pocket, and found he was minus a handkerchief. + +"'Pardon me, excellency,' said the lazzarone, stepping up to him; 'you +have lost something, I think?' + +"'I have lost a cambric handkerchief.' + +"'Your excellency has not lost it; it has been stolen from him.' + +"'And who stole it?' + +"'What will your excellency give me if I find him the thief?' + +"'I will give you a piastre.' + +"'I must have two.' + +"'You shall. Hallo! What are you doing?' + +"'I am stealing your silk handkerchief.' + +"'In order to find my cambric one?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'And where will both of them be?' + +"'In the same pocket. The person to whom I shall give this handkerchief is +the same to whom I have already given the other. Follow me, and observe +what I do.' + +"The officer followed the lazzarone, who gave the handkerchief to the +sbirro, and walked away. The latter had hardly put his prize in his pocket +when the officer came up and seized him by the collar. The sbirro fell on +his knees, but the officer was inexorable, and he was sent to prison. As +the sbirro had himself been a lazzarone, he saw at once the trick that had +been played him. He wanted to cheat his confederate, and his confederate +had cheated him; but far from bearing him malice for having done so, the +sbirro views the conduct of the lazzarone in the light of an exploit, and +feels an additional respect for him in consequence. When he is released +from prison, he will seek him out, and they will be hand and glove +together. When that time comes, look to your pockets." + +We are introduced to Ferdinand IV. of Naples, King Nasone, as the +lazzaroni nicknamed him; also to Padre Rocco, a popular preacher, and the +idol of the lower classes of Neapolitans; and to Cardinal Perelli, +remarkable for his simplicity, which quality, as may be supposed, loses +nothing in passing through the hands of his present biographer. With his +usual skill, M. Dumas glides from a ticklish story of which the cardinal +is the hero, (a story that he does _not_ tell, for which forbearance we +give him due credit, since he is evidently sorely tempted thereto,) to an +account of the Vardarelli, a band of outlaws which for some time infested +Calabria and the Capitanato. + +"Gaetano Vardarelli was a native of Calabria, and one of the earliest +members of the revolutionary society of the Carbonari. When Murat, after +for some time favouring that society, began to persecute it, Vardarelli +fled to Sicily, and took service under King Ferdinand. He was then +twenty-six years of age, possessing the muscles and courage of a lion, the +agility of a chamois, the eye of an eagle. Such a recruit was not to be +despised, and he was made sergeant in the Sicilian guards. On Ferdinand's +restoration in 1815, he followed him to Naples; but finding that he was +not likely ever to rise above a very subordinate grade, he became +disgusted with the service, deserted, and took refuge in the mountains of +Calabria. There two of his brothers, and some thirty brigands and outlaws, +assembled around him and elected him their chief, with right of life and +death over them. He had been a slave in the town; he found himself a king +in the mountains. + +"Proceeding according to the old formula observed by banditti chiefs both +in Calabria and in melodramas, Vardarelli proclaimed himself redresser +general of wrongs and grievances, and acted up to his profession by +robbing the rich and assisting the poor. The consequence was, that he soon +became exceedingly dreaded by the former, and exceedingly popular among +the latter class; and at last his exploits reached the ears of King +Ferdinand himself, who was highly indignant at such goings on, and gave +orders that the bandit should immediately be hung. But there are three +things necessary to hang a man--a rope, a gallows, and the man himself. In +this instance, the first two were easily found, but the third was +unfortunately wanting. Gendarmes and soldiers were sent after Vardarelli, +but the latter was too cunning for them all, and slipped through their +fingers at every turn. His success in eluding pursuit increased his +reputation, and recruits flocked to his standard. His band soon doubled +its numbers, and its leader became a formidable and important person, +which of course was an additional reason for the authorities to wish to +capture him. A price was set on his head, large bodies of troops sent in +search of him, but all in vain. One day the Prince of Leperano, Colonel +Calcedonio, Major Delponte, with a dozen other officers, and a score of +attendants, were hunting in a forest a few leagues from Bari, when the cry +of '_Vardarelli_!' was suddenly heard. The party took to flight with the +utmost precipitation, and all escaped except Major Delponte, who was one +of the bravest, but, at the same time, one of the poorest, officers of the +whole army. When he was told that he must pay a thousand ducats for his +ransom, he only laughed, and asked where he was to get such a sum. +Vardarelli then threatened to shoot him if it was not forthcoming by a +certain day. The major replied that it was losing time to wait; and that, +if he had a piece of advice to give his captor, it was to shoot him at +once. The bandit at first felt half inclined to do so; but he reflected +that the less Delponte cared about his life, the more ought Ferdinand to +value it. He was right in his calculation; for no sooner did the king +learn that his brave major was in the hands of the banditti, than he +ordered the ransom to be paid out of his privy purse, and the major +recovered his freedom. + +"But Ferdinand had sworn the extermination of the banditti with whom he +was thus obliged to treat as from one potentate to another. A certain +colonel, whose name I forget, and who had heard this vow, pledged himself, +if a battalion were put under his command, to bring in Vardarelli, his two +brothers, and the sixty men composing his troop, bound hand and foot, and +to place them in the dungeons of the Vicaria. The offer was too good to be +refused; the minister of war put five hundred men at the disposal of the +colonel, who started with them at once in pursuit of the outlaw. The +latter was soon informed by his spies of this fresh expedition, and _he_ +also made a vow, to the effect that he would cure his pursuer, once and +for all, of any disposition to interfere with the Vardarelli. + +"He began by leading the poor colonel such a dance over hill and dale, +that the unfortunate officer and his men were worn out with fatigue; then, +when he saw them in the state that he wished, he caused some false +intelligence to be conveyed to them at two o'clock one morning. The +colonel fell into the snare, and started immediately to surprise +Vardarelli, whom he was assured was in a little village at the further +extremity of a narrow pass, through which only four men could pass abreast. +He made such haste that he marched four leagues in two hours, and at +daybreak found himself at the entrance of the pass, which, however, seemed +so peculiarly well adapted for an ambuscade, that he halted his battalion, +and sent on twenty men to reconnoitre. In a quarter of an hour the twenty +men returned. They had not met a single living thing. The colonel +hesitated no longer, and entered the defile; but, on reaching a spot about +halfway through it, where the road widened out into a sort of platform +surrounded by high rocks and steep precipices, a shout was suddenly heard, +proceeding apparently from the clouds, and the poor colonel looking up, +saw the summits of the rocks covered with brigands, who levelled their +rifles at him and his soldiers. Nevertheless, he began forming up his men +as well as the nature of the ground would permit, when Vardarelli himself +appeared upon a projecting crag. 'Down with your arms, or you are dead +men!' he shouted in a voice of thunder. The bandits repeated his summons, +and the echoes repeated their voices, so that the troops, who had not made +the same vow as their colonel, and who thought themselves surrounded by +greatly superior numbers, cried out for quarter, in spite of the +entreaties and menaces of their unfortunate commander. Then Vardarelli, +without leaving his position, ordered them to pile their arms, and march +to two different places which he pointed out to them. They obeyed; and +Vardarelli, leaving twenty of his men in their ambush, came down with the +remainder, who immediately proceeded to render the Neapolitan muskets +useless (for the moment at least) by the same process which Gulliver +employed to extinguish the conflagration of the palace at Lilliput. + +"The news of this affair put the king in very bad humour for the first +twenty-four hours; after which time, however, the love of a joke +overcoming his anger, he laughed heartily, and told the story to every one +he saw; and as there are always lots of listeners when a king narrates, +three years elapsed before the poor colonel ventured to show his face at +Naples and encounter the ridicule of the court." + +The general commanding in Calabria takes the matter rather more seriously, +and vows the destruction of the banditti. By offers of large pay and +privileges, they are induced to enter the Neapolitan service, and prove +highly efficient as a troop of gendarmes. But the general cannot forget +his old grudge against them; although, for lack of an opportunity, and on +account of the desperate character of the men, he is obliged to defer his +revenge for some time. At last he succeeds in having their leaders +assassinated, and by pretending great indignation, and imprisoning the +perpetrators of the deed, he lulls the suspicions of the remaining bandits, +who elect new officers, and on an appointed day, proceed to the town of +Foggia to have their election confirmed. Only eight of them, apprehensive +of treachery, refuse to accompany their comrades. The remaining thirty-one, +and a woman who would not leave her husband, obey the general's summons. + +"It was a Sunday, the review had been publicly announced, and the square +was thronged with spectators. The Vardarelli entered the town in perfect +order, armed to the very teeth, but giving no sign of hostility or +mistrust. On reaching the square, they raised their sabres, and with one +voice exclaimed--'_Viva il Re_!' The general appeared on his balcony to +acknowledge their salute. The aide-de-camp on duty came down to receive +them, and after complimenting them on the beauty of their horses and good +state of their arms, desired them to file past under the general's window, +which they did with a precision worthy of regular troops. They then formed +up again in the middle of the square, and dismounted. + +"The aide-de-camp went into the house again with the list of the three new +officers; the Vardarelli were standing by their horses, when suddenly +there was a great confusion and movement in the crowd, which opened in +various places, and down every street leading to the square, a column of +Neapolitan troops was seen advancing. The Vardarelli were surrounded on +all sides. Perceiving at once that they were betrayed, they sprang upon +their horses and drew their sabres; but at the same moment the general +took off his hat, which was the signal agreed upon; the command, '_Faccia +in terra_,' was heard, and the spectators, throwing themselves on their +faces, the soldiers fired over them, and nine of the brigands fell to the +ground, dead or mortally wounded. Those who were unhurt, seeing that they +had no quarter to expect, dismounted, and forming a compact body, fought +their way to an old castle in which they took refuge. Two only, trusting +to the speed of their horses, charged the group of soldiers that appeared +the least numerous, shot down two of them, and succeeded in breaking +through the others and escaping. The woman owed her life to a similar +piece of daring, effected, however, on another point of the enemy's line. +She broke through, and galloped off, after having discharged both her +pistols with fatal effect. + +"The attention of all was now turned to the remaining twenty Vardarelli, +who had taken refuge in the ruined castle. The soldiers advanced against +them, encouraging one another, and expecting to encounter an obstinate +resistance; but, to their surprise, they reached the gate of the castle +without a shot being fired at them. The gate was soon beaten in, and the +soldiers spread themselves through the halls and galleries of the old +building. But all was silence and solitude; the bandits had disappeared. + +"After an hour passed in rummaging every corner of the place, the +assailants were going away in despair, convinced that their prey had +escaped them; when a soldier, who was stooping down to look through the +air-hole of a cellar, fell, shot through the body. + +"The Vardarelli were discovered; but still it was no easy matter to get at +them. Instead of losing men by a direct attack, the soldiers blocked up +the air-hole with stones, set a guard over it, and then going round to the +door of the cellar, which was barricadoed on the inner side, they heaped +lighted fagots and combustibles against it, so that the staircase was soon +one immense furnace. After a time the door gave way, and the fire poured +like a torrent into the retreat of the unfortunate bandits. Still a +profound silence reigned in the vault. Presently two carbine shots were +fired; two brothers, determined not to fall alive into the hands of their +enemies, had shot each other to death. A moment afterwards an explosion +was heard; a bandit had thrown himself into the flames, and his cartridge +box had blown up. At last the remainder of the unfortunate men being +nearly suffocated, and seeing that escape was impossible, surrendered at +discretion, were dragged through the air-hole, and immediately bound hand +and foot, and conveyed to prison. + +"As to the eight who had refused to come to Foggia, and the two who had +escaped, they were hunted down like wild beasts, tracked from cavern to +cavern, and from forest to forest. Some were shot, others betrayed by the +peasantry, some gave themselves up, so that, before the year was out, all +the Vardarelli were dead or prisoners. The woman who had displayed such +masculine courage, was the only one who finally escaped. She was never +heard of afterwards." + +M. Dumas finds that the climate of Naples, delightful as it is, has +nevertheless its little drawbacks and disadvantages. He returns one night +from an excursion in the environs, and has scarcely got into bed, when he +is almost blown out of it again by a tornado of tropical violence. + +"At midnight, when we returned to Naples, the weather was perfect, the sky +cloudless, the sea without a ripple. At three in the morning I was +awakened by the windows of my room bursting open, their eighteen panes of +glass falling upon the floor with a frightful clatter. I jumped out of bed, +and felt that the house was shaking. I thought of Pliny the Elder, and +having no desire for a similar fate, I hastily pulled on my clothes and +hurried out into the corridor. My first impulse had apparently been that +of all the inmates of the hotel, who were all standing, more or less +dressed, at the doors of their apartments; amongst others, Jadin, who made +his appearance with a phosphorus box in his hand, and his dog Milord at +his heels. 'What a terrible draught in the house!' said he to me. This +same draught, as he called it, had just carried off the roof of the Prince +of San Feodoro's palace, including the garrets and several servants who +were sleeping in them. + +"My first thought had been of an eruption of Vesuvius, but there was no +such luck for us; it was merely a hurricane. A hurricane at Naples, +however, is rather different from the same thing in any other European +country. + +"Out of the seventy windows of the hotel, three only had escaped damage. +The ceilings of seven or eight rooms were rent across. There was a crack +extending from top to bottom of the house. Eight shutters had been carried +away, and the servants were running down the street after them, just as +one runs after one's hat on a windy day. The broken glass was swept away; +as for sending for glaziers to mend the windows, it was out of the +question. At Naples nobody thinks of disturbing himself at three in the +morning. Besides, even had new panes been put in, they would soon have +shared the fate of the old ones. We were obliged, therefore, to manage as +well as we could with the shutters. I was tolerably lucky, for I had only +lost one of mine. I went to bed again, and tried to sleep; but a storm of +thunder and lightning soon rendered that impossible, and I took refuge on +the ground-floor, where the wind had done less damage. Then began one of +those storms of which we have no idea in the more northern parts of Europe. +It was accompanied by a deluge such as I had never witnessed, except +perhaps in Calabria. In an instant the Villa Reale appeared to be a part +of the sea; the water came up to the windows of the ground-floor, and +flooded the parlours. A minute afterwards, the servants came to tell M. +Zill that his cellars were full, and his casks of wine floating about and +staving one another. Presently we saw a jackass laden with vegetables come +swimming down the street, carried along by the current. He was swept away +into a large open drain, and disappeared. The peasant who owned him, and +who had also been carried away, only saved himself from a like fate by +clinging to a lamp-post. In one hour there fell more water than there +falls in Paris during the two wettest months in the year. + +"Two hours after the cessation of the rain, the water had disappeared, and +I then perceived the use of this kind of deluge. The streets were clean; +which they never are in Naples except after a flood of this sort." + +One short anecdote, and we have done. After a long account of St Januarius, +including the well-known miracle of the liquefaction of his blood, and +some amusing illustrations of his immense popularity with the Neapolitans, +M. Dumas, in two pithy lines, gives us the length, breadth, and thickness +of a lazzarone's religion. + +"I was one day in a church at Naples," he says, "and I heard a lazzarone +praying aloud. He entreated God to intercede with St Januarius to make him +win in the lottery." + +On the whole, we think this one of the most amusing of M. Dumas's works, +very light and sketchy, as is evident from our extracts; but at the same +time giving a great deal of information concerning Naples, its environs, +inhabitants, and customs, of much interest, and calculated to be highly +useful to the traveller. It is also very free from a fault with which we +taxed its author in a former paper, and we can scarcely call to mind a +single line which it would be necessary to expunge, in order to render it +fit reading for the most fastidious. As far as we ourselves are concerned, +we heartily wish M. Dumas would travel over all the kingdoms of the earth, +and write a book about each of them; and if he is as good company in a +post-chaise as his books are at the chimney-corner, there are few things +we should like better than to accompany him on his pilgrimage. + + * * * * * + + + + +MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. + +PART IX. + + + "Have I not in my time heard lions roar? + Have I not heard the sea, puft up with wind, + Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat? + Have I not heard great ordnance in the field, + And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies? + Have I not in the pitched battle heard + Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?" + + SHAKSPEARE. + + +The market-place was lighted up, and filled with dragoons. Leaving my +hulans under cover of a dark street, and riding forward to reconnoitre, I +saw with astonishment the utter carelessness with which they abandoned +themselves to their indulgences in the midst of an irritated population. +Some were drinking on horseback; some had thrown themselves on the benches +of the market, and were evidently intoxicated. The people stood at the +corners of the streets looking on, palpably in terror, yet as palpably +indignant at the outrage of the military. From the excessive blaze in some +of the windows, and the shrieks of females, I could perceive that plunder +was going on, and that the intention was, after having ransacked the place, +to set it on fire. Yet a strong body of cavalry mounted in the middle of +the square, and keeping guard round a waggon on which a guillotine had +been already erected, still made me feel that an attack would be hopeless. +I soon saw a rush of the people from one of the side streets; a couple of +dragoon helmets were visible above the crowd; and three or four carts +followed, filled with young females in white robes and flowers, as if +dressed for a ball. I gazed intently, to ascertain the meaning of this +strange and melancholy spectacle. At this moment I felt my horse's bridle +pulled, and saw the old noble at his head. "Now or never!" he cried, in a +voice almost choked with emotion. "Those are destined for the guillotine. +Barbarians! brigands!--they will murder my Amalia." He sank before me. +"What! is this an execution?" I exclaimed. His answer was scarcely above a +whisper, for he seemed fainting. "The villains have been sent," said he, +"to burn the town; they have seized those children of our best families, +compelled them to dress as they were dressed for the Prussian ball, and +are now about to murder them by their accursed guillotine." Pointing to +one lovely girl, who, pale as death, stood in the foremost of those +vehicles of death, he exclaimed "Amalia! O, my Amalia!" The cart was +already within a few feet of the scaffold when I gave the word to my +troopers. The brave fellows answered my "Forward!" with a shout, charged +sabre in hand, and in an instant had thrown themselves between the victims +and the scaffold. Their escort, taken completely by surprise, was broken +at the first shock; we dashed without loss of time on the squadrons +scattered round the market, and swept it clear of them. Surprised, +intoxicated, and unacquainted with our force--which they probably thought +to be the advance of the whole Prussian cavalry--after having lost many +men, for the peasantry showed no mercy on the dismounted, the regiment +turned at full gallop to the open country. The townspeople now performed +their part. The victims were hurried away by their families, among a storm +of lamentations and rejoicings, tears and kisses. The old noble's daughter, +half dead, was carried off in her father's arms, with a thousand +benedictions on me. The guillotine was hewn down with a hundred axes, and +I saw the fragments burning in the square. Its waggon was made to serve +its country as a portion of a barricade; and with every vehicle, wheeled +or unwheeled, which could be rolled out, the entrance to the streets was +fortified with the national rapidity in any deed, good or ill, under the +stars. + +After having appeased our hunger and that of our famishing horses, and +being offered all the purses, which the French dragoons, however, had +lightened nearly to the last coin, we finished the exploit by a general +chant in honour of the ladies, and marched on our route, followed by the +prayers of the whole community. This ended the only productive skirmish of +the retreat. It fed us, broke the monotony of the march, and gave us +something to talk of--and the soldier asks but little more. A gallant +action had certainly been done; not the less gallant for its being a +humane one; and even my bold hulans gave me credit for being a "smart +officer," a title of no slight value in their dashing service. + +Yet what, as the poet Saadi says, is fortune but a peacock "a showy tail +on a frightful pair of legs?" Our triumph was to be followed by a reverse. +The burgundy and champagne of the old count's cellar had made us festive, +and our voices were heard along the road with a gaiety imprudent in a +hostile land. The sound of a trumpet in our front brought us to our senses +and a dead stand. But we were in a vein of heroism and instead of taking +to our old hussar habits, and slipping round the enemy's flanks, we +determined to cut our way through them, if they had the whole cavalry of +France as their _appui_. The word was given, and the spur carried us +through a strong line of cavalry posted across the road. The moon had just +risen enough to show that there was a still stronger line a few hundred +yards beyond, which it would be folly to touch. There was now no resource +but to return as we went, which we did at full speed, and again broke up +our antagonists. But again we saw squadron after squadron blocking up the +road. All was now desperate. But Frederick's law of arms was well +known--"the officer of cavalry who _waits to be charged_, must be broke." +We made a plunge at our living circumvallation; but the French dragoons +had now learned common sense--they opened for us--and when we were once +fairly in, enveloped us completely; it was then a troop to a brigade; +fifty jaded men and horses to fifteen hundred fresh from camp. What +happened further I know not. I saw for a minute or two a great deal of +pistol firing and a great deal of sabre clashing; I felt my horse stagger +under me, at the moment when I aimed a blow at a gigantic fellow covered +all over with helmet and mustache; a pistol exploded close at my ear as I +was going down, and I heard no more. + +On opening my eyes again, I found the scene strangely altered. I was lying +in a little chamber hung round with Parisian ornament--a sufficient +contrast to a sky dark as pitch, or only illumined by carbines and the +sparkles of sabres delving at each other. I was lying on an embroidered +sofa--an equally strong contrast to my position under the bodies of fallen +men and the heels of kicking horses. A showy Turkish cloak, or _robe de +chambre_, had superseded my laced jacket, purple pantaloons, and hussar +boots. I was completely altered as a warrior; and, from a glimpse which I +cast on a mirror, surrounded with gilt nymphs and swains enough to have +furnished a ballet, I saw in my haggard countenance, and a wound, which a +riband but half concealed, across my forehead, that I was not less altered +as a man. + +All round me looked so perfectly like the scenes with which I had been +familiar in my romance-reading days, that, bruised and feeble as I was, I +almost expected to find my pillow attended by some of those slight figures +in long white drapery with blue eyes, which of old ministered to so many +ill-used knights and exhausted pilgrims. But my reveries were broken up by +a rough voice in the outer chamber insisting on an entrance into mine, and +replied to by a weak and garrulous female one, refusing the admission. The +dialogue was something of this order-- + +"Strong or weak, well or ill, able or not able, I must send him, before +twelve o'clock this night, to Paris." + +"But the poor gentleman's wounds are still unhealed." + +"Still he must set out. The '_malle poste_' will be at the door; and, if +he had fifty wounds on him, he must go. The marquis is halfway to Paris by +this time; perhaps more than halfway to the guillotine." + +This was followed by a burst of sobs and broken exclamtions from the +female, whom I discovered, by her sorrowing confessions, to have been a +nurse in the family. + +"Well," was the ruffian's reply; "women of all ages are fools: what is it +to you whether this young fellow is shot or hanged? He was taken in arms +against the Republic--one and indivisible. All the enemies of France must +perish!" + +The old woman now partially opened the door, to see whether I slept; and I +closed my eyes, for the purpose of hearing all that was to be heard +without interruption. The speaker, whom I alternately took for the +_gendarme_ of the district, and the executioner, gave went to his swelling +soul in the national style. + +"What! leave _me_! leave Jean Jacques Louis Gilet in charge of this +wretched aristocrat, while I should be marching with my battalion, and at +its head too, if merit meets its reward, to sweep the foes of the Republic +from the face of the earth. No; I shall not remain in this paltry place, +solicitor of a village, when I ought to be on the highest seat of +justice--or playing the part of arresting aristocrats, when I might be +commandant of a brigade, marching over the bodies of the crowned tyrants +of the earth to glory!" + +As his harangue glowed, his pace quickened, and his voice grew more +vehement; at length, probably impatient of the time which lay between him +and the first offices of the Republic, he overpowered the resistance of +the nurse, and rushed into the chamber. Throwng himself into a theatrical +attitude before a mirror--for what Frenchman ever passes one without a +glance of happy recognition?--"Rise, aristocrat!" he cried, in the tone of +Talma calling up the shade of Caesar. "Rise, and account to the world for +your crimes against the liberty of man!" + +I looked with such surprise on this champion of the sons of Adam--a little +meagre creature, who seemed to be shaped on the model of one of his own +pens, stripped, withered, and ink-dried--that I actually burst into +laughter. His indignation rose, and, pulling out a pistol with one hand, +and a roll of paper from his bosom with the other, he presented them +together. I perceived, as I lay on my pillow, that the pistol was without +a lock, and thus was comforted; but the paper was of a more formidable +description. It was the famous decree of "Fraternization," by which France +pronounced the fall of her own monarchy, declared "that she would grant +succour to every people who wished to recover their liberty," and +commanded her generals "to aid all such, and to defend all citizens who +might be troubled in the cause of freedom." + +This paper indeed startled me; it was the consummation which I had dreaded +so long. I saw at once that France, in those wild words, had declared war +against every throne in Europe, and that we were now beginning the era of +struggle and suffering which Mordecai's strong sense had predicted, and of +which no human sagacity could foresee the end. My countenance probably +showed the impression which this European anathema had made upon me; for +Monsieur Gilet became more heroic than ever, tore his grizzled curls, +throwing aside his pistol, which he had at length discovered to be _hors +de combat_, and drawing the falchion which clattered at his heels, and was +nearly as long as himself, flourished it in quick march backward and +forward before the mirror--that mirror never forgotten!--in all the +whirlwind of his rage, and panted for the conquest of "perfidious Albion," +the "traitor" Pitt, and the whole brood of hoary power. I was too feeble +to turn him out of the room, and too contemptuous to reply. But his +overthrow was not the further off. The old nurse, who, old as she was, +still retained some of the sinews and all the irritability of a stout +Champenoise peasant, roused by his insults to the aristocracy, one of whom +she probably regarded herself, from having lived so long under their roof, +watched her opportunity, made a spring at him like a wild-cat, wrested the +sabre from his hand, and, grasping the struggling and screaming little +functionary in her strong arms, carried him like a child out of the room. + +She then returned, and having locked the door to prevent his second inroad, +sat down by the side of my couch, and, with the usual passion of women +after strong excitement, burst into exclamations and tears. What I could +collect from her broken narrative, was little more than the commonplace of +national misery in that fearful time. She had been a servant in the family +of the nobleman whose daughter I had saved from death. She had been the +nurse of the young countess; and all the blessings that sorrow and +gratitude ever gathered together, could not be exceeded by the praises +which she poured upon my head. It had been rumoured in the town that I was +attacked and killed by a body of cavalry sent to revenge the rout of their +comrades. And the Marquis Lanfranc--I now first learned the name of my +noble entertainer--had gone forth to look for my remains in the field. I +was found still breathing, and to avoid further danger was carried to this +dwelling, a hunting-lodge in the heart of the forest; there I had been +attended by the family physician only, and, after a week of insensibility, +had given signs of recovery. The marquis's humanity had brought evil on +himself. His visits to the lodge had been remarked, and on this very +morning he had been arrested, and conveyed with his daughter, in a +carriage escorted by _gendarmes_ to the capital. My detection followed of +course; papers found on my person had proved that I was an agent of +England; and the officious M. Gilet had spent the morning in exhibiting to +the peasantry of the neighbourhood the order of the "Committee of Public +Safety," a name which froze the blood, to take me under his charge, and +conduct me forthwith to their tribunal. I tell all this in my own way; for +the dame's sighs, sobs, and vehement indignation, would have defied all +record. + +My prospect was now black enough, for justice was a word unheard of in the +present condition of things; and my plea of being an Englishman, and in +the civil service of my country, would have been a death-warrant. I must +acknowledge, too, that I had fairly thrown it away by my adoption of the +Prussian sabre. I might well be now in low spirits; for the guillotine was +crushing out life at that moment in every province of France, and the +thirst of public curiosity was to be fed by nothing but blood. Yet, even +in that moment, let me give myself credit for the recollection, my first +enquiry was for the fate of my squadron. The old woman could tell me but +little on the subject; but that little was consolatory. The French +troopers, who had come back triumphing into the town, had not brought any +Prussian prisoners: two or three foreigners, who had lost their horses, +were sheltered in her master's stables until they could make their escape; +and of them she had heard no more. The truth is, that nothing is more +difficult in war than to catch a hussar who understands his business; and +the probability was, that the chief part of them had slipped away, leaving +the French to sabre each other in the dark. The fall of my horse had +brought me down, otherwise I might have escaped the shot which stunned me, +and been at that hour galloping to Berlin. + +Monsieur Gilet, with some of the civic authorities, paid me a second visit +in the evening, to prepare me for my journey. To me it was become +indifferent whether I died in the carriage or by the edge of the +guillotine; the journey was short in either case, and the shorter and +sooner the better. I answered none of their interrogatories; told them I +was at their disposal; directed the old woman to pack up whatever +travelling matters remained to me, and to remember me to her master and +mistress, if she ever should see them in this world; shook her strong old +hand, and bade God bless her. In return, she kissed me on both cheeks, +whispered a thousand benedictions, and left the room violently sobbing; +yet with a parting glance at Monsieur Gilet and his _collaborateurs_, so +mingled of wrath and ridicule, that it was beyond all my deciphering. + + "Time and the hour run through the longest day," + +says the great poet; and, with the coming of midnight, a _chaise de poste_ +drew up at the door. As I was a prisoner of importance, M. Gilet was not +suffered to take all the honour of my introduction to the axe on himself; +and the mayor and deputy-mayor of the district insisted on this +opportunity of making themselves known to the supreme Republic. They +mounted the box in front, a couple of gendarmes sat behind, M. Gilet took +his seat at my side, and, with an infinite cracking of whips, we rushed +out upon the causeway. + +I soon discovered that my companion was by no means satisfied with +existing circumstances. The officiousness of the pair of mayors +prodigiously displeased him. He broke forth-- + +"See these two beggars," he exclaimed, "pretending to patriotism! They +have no energy, no courage, no civism. Why, _you_ might have remained for +a twelvemonth under their very nostrils before they would have found you +out. Gilet is the man for the service of his country." Merely to stop the +torrent of his complainings, I asked him some vague questions relative to +the nobleman whom I was now following to Paris. But the patriot was not to +be moved from his topic. + +"Hah! Citizen Lanfranc. All is over with him. He once held his head high +enough, but it will soon be as low as ever it was high. Yet I could have +forgiven his aristocracy, if he had not put these two 'chiens' above me." + +The position in which the mayor and his deputy sat, on the box of the +chaise, continually presenting them to the eye of my companion, kept his +choler peculiarly active. + +"One of these fellows," he exclaimed, "was the Marquis's cook, another his +perruquier! _I_ was his tailor. Every man of taste and talent knows the +superiority of _my_ profession; for what is the first of noblemen without +elegance of costume, or what indeed would man himself be without my art, +the noblest and the earliest art of mankind? And yet he made these two +'brigands' mayor and deputy--_peste_! I did my duty. I denounced him on +the spot. I did more. The aristocrat had a faction in the town. It was +filled with his dependents. In fact, it had been built on his grounds, and +tenanted by the old hangers-on of the family. So, to make a clear stage, I +denounced the town." He clapped his hands with exultation at this civic +triumph. + +My recollection of the miseries which his malice had caused roused me into +wrath, and, rash as the act was, I grasped him by the collar, with the +full intent of throwing the little writhing wretch out of the window; but, +while I was lifting him from the seat to which he clung screaming for help, +and had already forced him halfway outside, a shot whistled close by the +head of the postilion, which brought him to a full stop. "Mon +Dieu!--Brigands!" exclaimed Monsieur Gilet; and, dropping back into the +carriage, attempted to make a screen of my body by slipping his adroitly +behind me. Two or three more discharges rattled through the trees, +followed by a rush of peasants, who unceremoniously knocked down the two +officials in front, and began a general scuffle with the gendarmes. The +night was so dark, that I could discover nothing of the _mêlée_ but by the +blaze of the fusils. All, however, was quiet in a few moments, by the +disappearance of the gendarmes, and the complete capture of the convoy--M. +Gilet, mayors, and all. Whether we had fallen into the hands of highwaymen, +or of stragglers from the French army, was doubtful for a while, as not a +syllable was spoken, nor a sound uttered, except by the unhappy +functionaries, who grumbled prodigiously as they were dragged along +through "rough and smooth, moss and mire," and whose pace was evidently +quickened by many a kick and blow of the fusil. This was a rude march for +me, too, with my unhealed wound, and my week's sojourn in bed; but I was +treated, if not with tenderness, without incivility, while my _compagnons +de voyage_ were insulted with every contemptuous phrase in a vocabulary at +least as rich in those matters as any other in Europe. At length, after +about an hour's rapid movement, we reached an open ground, and the door of +one of the wide, old, staring, yet not uncomfortable farmhouses which are +to be found in the northern provinces of France. + +Signs of comfort within were visible even at a distance, and the light of +a huge wood fire had been seen for the last quarter of an hour gleaming +through the woods, and leaving us in doubt whether we were approaching a +horde of gipsies, or about to realize the classic scenes of Gil Blas. + + +But it was only a farm-house after all. The good dame of the house, with +an enormous cap, enormous petticoats, enormous earrings, and all the +glaring good-humour of a countenance of domestic plenty and power, came to +meet us on the threshold; and her reception of me was ardent, to the very +verge of stranglulation. Nothing could exceed her rapture at the sight of +me, or the fierceness of her embraces, except her indignation at the sight +of my traveling companions. Her disgust at the mayor and his deputy--and +certainly after their night trip they were not figures to charm the +eye--was pitched in the highest key of scorn, so as to be surpassed only +by the torrent of contempt which her well-practised elocution poured upon +the "_traître tailleur._" I really believe, that, if she could have +boiled him in the huge soup-kettle which bubbled upon the fire, without +spoiling our supper, she would have flung him in upon the spot. The +peasants who had captured us--bold, tall fellows, well dressed and well +armed with cutlass and fusil, in the style of the +_gardes-de-chasse_--could scarcely be kept from taking them out to the +next tree, to make marks of them; and it was probably by my intercession +alone that they were consigned to an outer house for the night. How the +scene was to end with me, I knew not; though the jovial visage of my +protectress showed me that I was secure. But the prisoners had no sooner +been flung out of the door than I was ushered into an inner room, prepared +with somewhat more of attention; where, to my great surprise and delight, +the Marquis Lanfranc came forward to shake my hand, and, with a thousand +expressions of gratitude, made me known to his daughter. The adventure was +of the simplest order. The arrest of the Marquis was, of course, known in +an instant, and a party of his foresters had immediately determined to +take the law into their own hands--had posted themselves on the road by +which his carriage was to pass, and had released him without difficulty. +My release was merely a sequel to the drama. I had been left in the +hunting-lodge by its owner, under the impression that an individual who +could not be moved without hazard to life, would escape the vengeance of +village patriotism. But the nurse, whom he had placed in charge of me, had +no sooner ascertained that I was arrested, than she sent an express to the +farm-house. The consequence naturally followed in my liberty; and the +night which I expected to have spent freezing on my way to the dungeon, +presented me with the pleasant exchange of hospitable shelter, the society +of a most accomplished man, and his graceful handsome daughter; and last, +not least, a couple of kisses from my late nurse, according to the custom +of the country, as glowing and remorseless as those of my portly landlady +herself. + +We sat for some hours, and scarcely felt them pass in the anxious topics +which engrossed us; the perils of France, the prospects of the Allies, and +the captivity of the unhappy Bourbons. Now and then the conversation +turned on their own hair-breadth escapes, and those of their relatives and +friends. Among the rest, the hazards of the De Tourville family were +mentioned, and I heard the name of Clotilde pronounced with a sensation +indescribable. The name was connected with such displays of fortitude, +nobleness of spirit, and deep devotion to the royal cause, that, if I had +loved before, I now honoured her. She had saved the lives of her household; +she had, by an act of extraordinary, but most perilous affection, saved +the life of her mother, at the moment when the first insurgency broke out; +and, young as she was, she had exhibited so noble a union of generosity +and strength of mind, that the Marquis's eyes filled with tears as he told +it, and Amalia buried her forehead in her hands to conceal her convulsive +emotions: what must have been mine! + +Our conversation was not unfrequently interrupted by bursts of merriment +from the outer room, where the peasants were at supper provided by the +Marquis for his bold rescuers--an indulgence which they seemed to enjoy +with the highest zest imaginable. Songs were sung with very various kinds +of merit in the performer, but all well received. Healths were proposed, +in which the existing Government was certainly not much honoured; and, if +the good wishes of the party could have sent the "Committee of Public +Safety," the butcher cabinet of France, to the darkest spot on earth, or +under it, its time would have been brief. But even this died away; the +laugh subsided, the mirth grew silent, and at length the +_gardes-de-chasse_ went away, making the forest ring with their +professional whoops and holloas, the remnants of their honest revel. At +length the Marquis and his daughter, who were to be on the wing at +daybreak for the German frontier, and who had generously offered to take +charge of my invalid frame in the same direction, retired; and wrapping +myself up in a dark cloak, furnished by my mistress and formed to her +showy proportions, I threw myself on the sofa, and was in the land of +dreams. + +But though I slept, I did not rest. My fever, or my lassitude, or probably +some presentiment of the troubled career into which I was to be plunged, +made "tired nature's sweet restorer" a stepmother to me. I can never +endure hearing the dreams of others, and thus I cannot suffer myself to +inflict them on my hearers; but on that night, Queen Mab, like Jehu, drove +her horses furiously. Every possible kind of disappointment, vexation, and +difficulty; every conceivable shape of things, past and present, rushed +through my brain; and all pale, fierce, disastrous, and melancholy. I was +beckoned along dim shades by shapeless phantoms; I was trampled in battle; +I was brought before a tribunal; I was on board a ship which blew up, and +was flung strangling down an infinite depth in a midnight ocean. But this +exceeded the privilege even of dreams. I made one desperate effort to rise, +and awoke with a bound on the floor. There I found a real obstacle--a +ruffian in a red cap. One strong hand was on my throat; and by the glimmer +of the dying lantern, which hung from the roof, I saw the glitter of a +pistol-barrel in the other. "Surrender in the name of the Republic!" were +the words which told me my fate. Four or five wearers of the same ominous +emblem, with sabres and pistols, were round me at the moment, and after a +brief struggle I was secured. Cries were now heard outside the door, and a +wounded gendarme was carried in, borne in the arms of his comrades. From +their confused clamour, I could merely ascertain that the gendarmes who +had escaped in the original _mêlée_, had obtained assistance, and returned +on their steps. The farm-house had been surrounded, and the Marquis was +indebted only to the vigilance of his peasantry for a second escape with +his daughter. The _gardes-de-chasse_ had kept the gendarmes at bay until +their retreat was secure; and the post-chaise which had brought M. Gilet +and his coadjutors, was, by this time, some leagues off, at full speed, +beyond the fangs of Republicanism. + +This at least was comfort, though I was left behind. But it was clear that +the gallant old noble was blameless in the matter, and that nothing was to +be blamed but my habitual ill luck. "_En route_ for Paris," was the last +order which I heard; and with a gendarme, in the strange kind of +post-waggon which was rolled out from the farmer's stable, I was +dispatched, before daybreak, on my startling journey. + +I found my gendarme a facetious fellow; though his merriment might not be +well adapted to cheer his prisoner. He whistled, he sang, he screamed, he +stamped, to get rid of the ennui of travelling with so silent a companion. +He told stories of his own prowess; libeled M. Gilet, who had got him +beaten on this service in the first instance, and who seemed to be in the +worst possible odour with man and woman; and abused all, mayors, +deputy-mayors, and authorities, with the tongue of a leveler. But my +facetious friend had his especial _chagrins_. + +"I have all my life," said he, "been longing to see Paris, and have never +been able to stir a step beyond this stupid province. Yet I have had my +chances too. I was once valet to a German count, and we were on the way to +Paris together when the post-chaise was stopped, the baron was arrested as +a swindler, and I was charged as his accomplice. He was sent to the +galleys; I got off. I then had a second chance. I enlisted in a regiment +of dragoons which was to be quartered in Versailles. But such was my fate, +I had no sooner passed the first drill, when we were ordered off to +Lorraine to watch old King Stanislaus, the Pole, who lived there like one +of his own bears, frozen and fat. Still I was determined to see Paris. I +asked leave of absence; the adjutant laughed at me, the colonel turned on +his heel, and the provost-marshal gave me a week of the black-hole. But a +week is but seven days after all, and on my seeing the parade again--I--" + +"You deserted?" + +"Not quite that," was the reply. "I took leave, and, as I had seen enough +of the black hole already, I took good care to give the provost-marshal no +notice on the subject. A fortnight's march brought me within sight of the +towers of Notre-Dame. But as I was resting myself on the roadside, our +adjutant, as ill luck would have it, came by in the _coupe_ of the +diligence. He jumped out. I was seized, given up to the next guard-house, +and after fitting me with a pair of fetters, by way of boots, I was +ordered to take my passage with a condemned regiment for the West Indies. +There I served ten years; I saw the regiment reduced to a skeleton by +short rations and new rum; and returned the tenth representative of +fifteen hundred felons. At last I have a chance; the gendarme of the +village was so desperately mauled by the foresters in the attempt to carry +you prisoner, that he has been forced to take to his bed, and let me take +his place. The thing is certain now. _You_ will be guillotined, but I +shall see Paris." + +Yet what is certain in this most changeful of possible worlds? + + "Fate granted half the prayer, + The rest the gods dispersed in empty air." + +We had toiled through our long journey, rendered doubly long by the +dreariest and deepest roads on earth, and were winding round the spur of +Montmartre, when a troop of citizen heroes, coming forth to sweep the +country of the retreating Prussians, and whose courage had risen to the +boiling point by the news of the retreat, surrounded the carriage. My +Prussian uniform was proof enough for the brains of the patriots; and the +quick discovery of Parisian ears, that I had not learned my French in +their capital, settled the question of my being a traitor. The gendarme +joined in the charge with his natural volubility; but rather insisted +rashly on his right to take his prisoner into Paris on his own behalf. I +saw a cloud gathering on the brow of the _chef_, a short, stout, and +grim-looking fellow, with the true Faubourg St Antoine physiognomy. The +prize was evidently too valuable not to be turned to good account with the +authorities; and he resolved on returning at the head of his brother +patriots to present me as the first-fruits of his martial career. The +dispute grew hot; my escort was foolish enough to clap his hand on the +hilt of his sabre--an affront intolerable to a citizen, at the head of +fifty or sixty _braves_ from the counter or the shambles; the result was, +a succession of blows from the whole troop, which closed in my seeing him +stripped of every thing, and flung into the _cachot_ of the _corps de +garde_, from which his only view of his beloved Paris must have been +through an iron _grille_. + +My captor, determined to enter the capital for once with eclat, seated +himself beside me in the _chaise de poste_, and, surrounded by his +pike-bearers, we began our march down the descent of the hill. + +My new friend was communicative. He gave his history in a breath. He had +been a clerk in the office of one of the small tribunals in the south; +inflamed with patriotism, and indignant at the idea of selling his talents +at the rate of ten sous a-day, "in a rat-hole called a bureau," he had +resolved on being known in the world, and to Paris he came. Paris was the +true place for talent. His _civisme_ had become conspicuous; he had +"assisted" at the birth of liberty. He had carried a musket on the 10th of +August, and had "been appointed by the Republic to the command of the +civic force," which now moved, before and behind me. He was a "_grand +homme_" already. Danton had told him so within the last fortnight, and +France and Europe would no sooner read his last pamphlet on the "Crimes of +Kings," than his fame would be fixed with posterity. + +I believe that few men have passed through life without experiencing times +when it would cost them little to lay it down. At least such times have +occurred to me, and this was among them. Yet this feeling, whether it is +to be called nonchalance or despair, has its advantages for the moment; it +renders the individual considerably careless of the worst that man can do +to him; and I began to question my oratorical judge's clerk on the events +in the "city of cities." No man could take fuller advantage of having a +listener at his command. + +"We have cut down the throne," said he, clapping his hands with exultation, +"and now you may buy it for firewood. But you are an aristocrat, and of +course a slave; while we have got liberty, equality, and a triumvirate +that shears off the heads of traitors at a sign. Suspicion of being +suspected is quite sufficient. Away goes the culprit; a true patriot is +ordered to take possession of his house until the national pleasure is +known; and thus every thing goes on well. Of course, you have heard of the +clearance of the prisons. A magnificent work. Five thousand aristocrats, +rich, noble, and enemies to their country, sent headless to the shades of +tyrants. _Vive la Republique_! But a grand idea strikes me. You shall see +Danton himself, the genius of liberty, the hero of human nature, the +terror of kings." The thought was new, and a new thought is enough to turn +the brain of the Gaul at any time. He thrust his head out of the window, +ordered a general halt; and, instead of taking me to the quarters of the +National, resolved to have the merit of delivering up an "agent of Pitt +and English guineas" to the master of the Republic alone. "_A l'Abbaye_!" +was his cry. But a new obstacle now arose in his troop; they had reckoned +on a civic supper with their comrades of the guard; and the notion of +bivouacking in front of the Abbaye, under the chilling wind and fierce +showers which now swept down the dismal streets, was too much for their +sense of discipline. The dispute grew angry. At length one of them, a huge +and savage-looking fellow, who, by way of illustration, thrust his pike +close to the little commandant's shrinking visage, bellowed out-- + +"The people are not to be insulted. The people order, and all must obey!" +Nothing could be more unanswerable, and no attempt was made to answer. The +captain dropped back into the chaise, the troop took their own way, and my +next glance showed the street empty. But the Frenchman finds comfort under +all calamities. After venting his wrath in no measured terms on "rabble +insolence," and declaring that laws were of no use when "_gueux_" like +these could take them into their hands, he consoled himself by observing +that, stripped as he was of his honours, the loss might be compensated by +his profits; that the "vagabonds" might have expected to share the reward +which the "grand Danton would infallibly be rejoiced to give for my +capture, and that both the purse and the praise would be his own." "_A +l'Abbaye_!" was the cry once more. + +We now were in motion again; and, after threading a labyrinth of streets, +so dreary and so dilapidated as almost to give me the conception that I +had never been in Paris before, we drove up to the grim entrance of the +Abbaye. My companion left me in charge of the sentinel, and rushed in. +"And is this," thought I, as I looked round the narrow space of the four +walls, "the spot where so many hundreds were butchered; this the scene of +the first desperate triumph of massacre; this miserable court the last +field of so many gallant lives; these stones the last resting-place of so +many whose tread had been on cloth of gold; these old and crumbling walls +giving the last echo to the voices of statesmen and nobles, the splendid +courtiers, the brilliant orators, and the hoary ecclesiastics, of the most +superb kingdom of Europe!" Even by the feeble lamp-light, that rather +showed the darkness than the forms of the surrounding buildings, it seemed +to me that I could discover the colour of the slaughter on the ground; and +there were still heaps in corners, which looked to me like clay suddenly +flung over the remnants of the murdered. + +But my reveries were suddenly broken up by the return of the little +captain, more angry than ever. He had missed the opportunity of seeing the +"great man," who had gone to the Salpetrière. And some of the small men +who performed as his jackals, having discovered that the captain was +looking for a share in their plunder, had thought proper to treat him, his +commission, and even his civism, with extreme contempt. In short, as he +avowed to me, the very first use which he was determined to make of that +supreme power to which his ascent was inevitable, would be to clear the +_bureaux_ of France, beginning with Paris, of all those insolent and idle +hangers-on, who lived only to purloin the profits, and libel the services, +of "good citizens." + +"_A la Salpetrière_." There again disappointment met us. The great man had +been there "but a few minutes before," and we dragged our slow way through +mire and ruts that would have been formidable to an artillery waggon with +all its team. My heart, buoyant as it had been, sank within me as I looked +up at the frowning battlements, the huge towers, more resembling those of +a fortress than of even a prison, the gloomy gates, and the general grim +aspect of the whole vast circumference, giving so emphatic a resemblance +of the dreariness and the despair within. + +"_Aux Carmes_!" was now the direction; for my conductor's resolve to earn +his reward before daybreak, was rendered more pungent by this interview +with the _gens de bureau_ at the Abbaye. He was sure that they would be +instantly on the scent; and if they once took me out of his hands, adieu +to dreams, of which Alnaschar, the glassman's, were only a type. He grew +nervous with the thought, and poured out his whole vision of hopes and +fears with a volubility which I should have set down for frenzy, if in any +man but a wretch in the fever of a time when gold and blood were the +universal and combined idolatries of the land. + +"You may think yourself fortunate," he exclaimed, "in having been in my +charge! That brute of a country gendarme could have shown you nothing. Now, +_I_ know every jail in Paris. I have studied them. They form the true +knowledge of a citizen. To crush tyrants, to extinguish nobles, to avenge +the cause of reason on priests, and to raise the people to a knowledge of +their rights--these are the triumphs of a patriot. Yet, what teacher is +equal to the jail for them all? _Mais voilà les Carmes_!" + +I saw a low range of blank wall, beyond which rose an ancient tower. + +"Here," said he, "liberty had a splendid triumph. A hundred and fifty +tonsured apostles of incivism here fell in one day beneath the two-handed +sword of freedom. A cardinal, two archbishops, dignitaries, monks, hoary +with prejudices, antiquated with abuses, extinguishers of the new light of +liberty, here were offered on the national shrine! _Chantons la +Carmagnole_." + +But he was destined to be disappointed once more. Danton had been there, +but was suddenly called away by a messenger from the Jacobins. Our +direction was now changed again. "Now we shall be disappointed no longer. +Once engaged in debate, he will be fixed for the night. _Allons_, you +shall see the 'grand patriote,' 'the regenerator,' 'the first man in the +world.' _Aux Jacobins_!" + +Our unfortunate postilion falling with fatigue on his horses' neck, +attempted to propose going to an inn, and renewing our search in the +morning; but the captain had made up his mind for the night, and, drawing +a pistol from his breast, exhibited this significant sign pointed at his +head. The horses, as tired as their driver, were lashed on. I had for some +time been considering, as we passed through the deserted streets, whether +it was altogether consistent with the feelings of my country, to suffer +myself to be dragged round the capital at the mercy of this lover of lucre; +but an apathy had come over my whole frame, which made me contemptuous of +life. The sight of his pistol rather excited me to make the attempt, from +the very insolence of his carrying it. But we still rolled on. At length, +in one of the streets, which seemed darker and more miserable than all the +rest, we were brought to a full stop by the march of a strong body of the +National Guard, which halted in front of an enormous old building, +furnished with battlement and bartizan. "_Le Temple_!" exclaimed my +companion, with almost a shriek of exultation. I glanced upward, and saw a +light with the pale glimmer which, in my boyish days, I had heard always +attributed to spectres passing along the dim casements of a gallery. I +cannot express how deeply this image sank upon me. I saw there only a huge +tomb--the tomb of living royalty, of a line of monarchs, of all the +feelings that still bound the heart of man to the cause of France. All now +spectral. But, whatever might be the work of my imagination, there was +terrible truth; enough before me to depress, and sting, and wring the mind. +Within a step of the spot where I sat, were the noblest and the most +unhappy beings in existence--the whole family of the throne caught in the +snare of treason. Father, mother, sister, children! Not one rescued, not +one safe, to relieve the wretchedness of their ruin by the hope that there +was an individual of their circle beyond their prison bars--all consigned +to the grave together--all alike conscious that every day which sent its +light through their melancholy casements, only brought them nearer to a +death of misery! But I must say no more of this. My heart withered within +me as I looked at the towers of the Temple. It almost withers within me, +at this moment, when I think of them. They are leveled long since; but +while I write I see them before me again, a sepulchre; I see the mustering +of that crowd of more than savages before the grim gate; and I see the +pale glimmer of that floating lamp, which was then, perhaps, lighting the +steps of Marie Antoinette to her solitary cell. + +Of all the sights of that melancholy traverse, this the most disheartened +me, whatever had been my carelessness of life before. It was now almost +scorn. The thoughts fell heavy on my mind. What was I, when such victims +were prepared for sacrifice? What was the crush of my obscure hopes, when +the sitters on thrones were thus leveled with the earth? If I perished in +the next moment, no chasm would be left in society; perhaps but one or two +human beings, if even they, would give a recollection to my grave. But +here the objects of national homage and gallant loyalty, beings whose +rising radiance had filled the eye of nations, and whose sudden fall was +felt as an eclipse of European light, were exposed to the deepest +sufferings of the captive. What, then, was I, that I should murmur; or, +still more, that I should resist; or, most of all, that I should desire to +protract an existence which, to this hour, had been one of a vexed spirit, +and which, to the last hour of my career, looked but cloud on cloud? + +Some of this depression may have been the physical result of fatigue, for +I had been now four-and-twenty hours without rest; and the dismal streets, +the dashing rain, and the utter absence of human movement as we dragged +our dreary way along, would have made even the floor of a dungeon welcome. +I was as cold as its stone. + +At length our postilion, after nearly relieving us of all the troubles of +this world, by running on the verge of the moat which once surrounded the +Bastile, and where nothing but the screams of my companion prevented him +from plunging in, wholly lost his way. The few lamps in this intricate and +miserable quarter of the city had been blown out by the tempest, and our +only resource appeared to be patience, until the tardy break of winter's +morn should guide us through the labyrinth of the Faubourg St Antoine. +However, this my companion's patriotism would not suffer. "The Club would +be adjourned! Danton would be gone!" In short, he should not hear the +Jacobin lion roar, nor have the reward on which he reckoned for flinging +me into his jaws. The postilion was again ordered to move, and the turn of +a street showing a light at a distance, he lashed his unfortunate horses +towards it. Utterly indifferent as to where I was to be deposited, I saw +and heard nothing, until I was roused by the postilion's cry of "Place de +Grève." + +A large fire was burning in the midst of the gloomy square, round which a +party of the National Guard were standing, with their muskets piled, and +wrapped in their cloaks, against the inclemency of the night. Further off, +and in the centre, feebly seen by the low blaze, was a wooden structure, +on whose corners torches were flaring in the wind. "_Voilà, la +guillotine_!" exclaimed my captor with the sort of ecstasy which might +issue from the lips of a worshipper. As I raised my eyes, an accidental +flash of the fire showed the whole outline of the horrid machine. I saw +the glitter of the very axe that was to drop upon my head. My first +sensation was that of deadly faintless. Ghastly as was the purpose of that +axe, my imagination saw even new ghastliness in the shape of its huge +awkward scythe-like steel; it seemed made for massacre. The faintness went +off in the next moment, and I was another man. In the whole course of a +life of excitement, I have never experienced so total a change. All my +apathy was gone. The horrors of public execution stood in a visible shape +before me at once. I might have fallen in the field with fortitude; I +might have submitted to the deathbed, as the course of nature; I might +have even died with exultation in some great public cause. But to perish +by the frightful thing which shot up its spectral height before me; to be +dragged as a spectacle to scoffing and scorning crowds--dragged, perhaps, +in the feebleness and squalid helplessness of a confinement which might +have exhibited me to the world in imbecility or cowardice; to be grasped +by the ruffian executioner, and flung, stigmatized as a felon, into the +common grave of felons--the thought darted through my mind like a jet of +fire; but it gave me the strength of fire. I determined to die by the +bayonets of the guard, or by any other death than this. My captor +perceived my agitation, and my eye glanced on his withered and malignant +visage, as with a smile he was cocking his pistol. I sprang on him like a +tiger. In our struggle the pistol went off, and a gush of blood from his +cheek showed that it had inflicted a severe wound. I was now his master, +and, grasping him by the throat with one hand, with the other I threw open +the door and leaped upon the pavement. For the moment, I looked round +bewildered; but the report of the pistol had caught the ears of the guard, +whom I saw hurrying to unpile their muskets. But this was a work of +confusion, and, before they could snatch up their arms, I had made my +choice of the darkest and narrowest of the wretched lanes which issue into +the square. A shot or two fired after me sent me at my full speed, and I +darted forward, leaving them as they might, to follow. + +How long I scrambled, or how often I felt sinking from mere weariness in +that flight, I knew not. In the fever of my mind, I only knew that I +twined my way through numberless streets, most of which have been since +swept away; but, on turning the corner of a street which led into the +Boulevard, and when I had some hope of taking refuge in my old hotel, I +found that I had plunged into the heart of a considerable crowd of persons +hurrying along, apparently on some business which strongly excited them. +Some carried lanterns, some pikes, and there was a general appearance of +more than republican enthusiasm, even savage ferocity, among them, that +gave sufficient evidence of my having fallen into no good company. I +attempted to draw back, but this would not be permitted; the words, "Spy, +traitor, slave of the Monarchiques!" and, apparently as the blackest +charge of all, "Cordelier!" were heaped upon me, and I ran the closest +possible chance of being put to death on the spot. It may naturally be +supposed that I made all kinds of protestations to escape being piked or +pistoled. But they had no time to wait for apologies. The cry of "Death to +the traitor!" was followed by the brandishing of half a dozen knives in +the circle round me. At that moment, when I must have fallen helplessly, a +figure stepped forward, and opening the slide of his dark lantern directly +on his own face, whispered the word Mordecai. I recognised, I shall not +say with what feelings, the police agent who had formerly conveyed me out +of the city. He was dressed, like the majority of the crowd, in the +republican costume; and certainly there never was a more extraordinary +costume. He wore a red cap, like the cap of the butchers of the Faubourgs; +an enormous beard covered his breast, a short Spanish mantle hung from his +shoulders, a short leathern doublet, with a belt like an armoury, stuck +with knives and pistols, a sabre, and huge trousers striped with red, in +imitation of streams of gore, completed the patriot uniform. Some wore +broad bands of linen round their waists, inscribed, "2d, 3d and 4th +September,"--the days of massacre. These were its heros. I was in the +midst of the _élite_ of murder. + +"Citizens," exclaimed the Jew in a voice of thunder, driving back the +foremost, "hold your hands up; are you about to destroy a friend of +freedom? Your knives have drunk the blood of aristocrats; but they are the +defence of liberty. This citizen, against whom they are now unsheathed, is +one of ourselves. He has returned from the frontier, to join the brave men +of Paris, in their march to the downfall of tyrants. But out friends await +us in the glorious club of the Jacobins. This is the hour of victory. +Advance, regenerated sons of freedom! Forward, Frenchmen!" + +His speech had the effect. The rapid executors of public vengeance fell +back; and the Jew, whispering to me, "You must follow us, or be +killed,"--I chose the easier alternative at once, and stepped forward like +a good citizen. As my protector pushed the crowd before him, in which he +seemed to be a leader, he said to me from time to time, "Show no +resistance. A word from you would be the signal for your death--we are +going to the hall of the Jacobins. This is a great night among them, and +the heads of the party will either be ruined to-night, or by morning will +be masters of every thing. I pledge myself, if not for your safety, at +least for doing all that I can to save you." I remained silent, as I was +ordered; and we hurried on, until there was a halt in front of a huge old +building. "The hall of the Jacobins," whispered the Jew, and again +cautioned me against saying or doing any thing in the shape of reluctance. + +We now plunged into the darkness of a vast pile, evidently once a convent, +and where the chill of the massive walls struck to the marrow. I felt as +if walking through a charnel-house. We hurried on; a trembling light, +towards the end of an immense and lofty aisle, was our guide; and the +crowd, long familiar with the way, rushed through the intricacies where so +many feet of monks had trod before them, and where, perhaps, many a deed +that shunned the day had been perpetrated. At length a spiral stair +brought us to a large gallery, where our entrance was marked with a shout +of congratulation; and tumbling over the benches and each other, we at +length took our seats in the highest part, which, in both the club and the +National Assembly, was called, from its height, the Mountain, and from the +characters which generally held it, was a mountain of flame. In the area +below, once the nave of the church, sat the Jacobin club. I now, for the +first time, saw that memorable and terrible assemblage. And nothing could +be more suited than its aspect to its deeds. The hall was of such extent +that a large portion of it was scarcely visible, and few lights which hung +from the walls scarcely displayed even the remainder. The French love of +decoration had no place here; neither statues nor pictures, neither +gilding nor sculpture, relieved the heaviness of the building. Nothing of +the arts was visible but their rudest specimens; the grim effigies of +monks and martyrs, or the coarse and blackened carvings of a barbarous age. +The hall was full; for the club contained nearly two thousand members, and +on this night all were present. Yet, except for the occasional cries of +approval or anger when any speaker had concluded, and the habitual murmur +of every huge assembly, they might have been taken for a host of spectres; +the area had so entirely the aspect of a huge vault, the air felt so thick, +and the gloom was so feebly dispersed by the chandeliers. All was +sepulchral. The chair of the president even stood on a tomb, an antique +structure of black marble. The elevated stand, from which the speakers +generally addressed the assembly, had the strongest resemblance to a +scaffold, and behind it, covering the wall, were suspended chains, and +instruments of torture of every horrid kind, used in the dungeons of old +times; and though placed there for the sake of contrast with the mercies +of a more enlightened age, yet enhancing the general idea of a scene of +death. It required no addition to render the hall of the Jacobins fearful; +but the meetings were always held at night, often prolonged through the +whole night. Always stormy, and often sanguinary, daggers were drawn and +pistols fired--assassination in the streets sometimes followed bitter +attacks on the benches; and at this period, the mutual wrath and terror of +the factions had risen to such height, that every meeting might be only a +prelude to exile or the axe; and the deliberation of this especial night +must settle the question, whether the Monarchy or the Jacobin club was to +ascend the scaffold. It was the debate on the execution of the unhappy +Louis XVI. + +The arrival of the crowd, among whom I had taken my unwilling seat, +evidently gave new spirits to the regicides; the moment was critical. Even +in Jacobinism all were not equally black, and the fear of the national +revulsion at so desperate a deed startled many, who might not have been +withheld by feelings of humanity. The leaders had held a secret +consultation while the debate was drawing on its slow length, and Danton's +old expedient of "terror" was resolved on. His emissaries had been sent +round Paris to summon all his banditti; and the low _cafés_, the Faubourg +taverns, and every haunt of violence, and the very drunkenness of crime, +had poured forth. The remnant of the Marseillois--a gang of actual +galley-slaves, who had led the late massacres--the paid assassins of the +Marais, and the _sabreurs_ of the Royal Guard, who after treason to their +king, had found profitable trade in living on the robbery and blood of the +nobles and priests, formed this reinforcement; and their entrance into the +gallery was recognised by a clapping of hands from below, which they +answered by a roar, accompanied with the significant sign of clashing +their knives and sabres. + +Danton immediately rushed into the Tribune. I had seen him before, on the +fearful night which prepared the attack on the palace; but he was then in +the haste and affected savageness of the rabble. He now played the part of +leader of a political sect; and the commencement of his address adopted +something of the decorum of public council. In this there was an artifice; +for, resistless as the club was, it still retained a jealousy of the +superior legislative rank of the assembly of national representatives, the +Convention. The forms of the Convention were strictly imitated; and even +those Jacobins who usually led the debate, scrupulously wore the dress of +the better orders. Robespierre was elaborately dressed whenever he +appeared in the Tribune, and even Danton abandoned the _canaille_ costume +for the time. I was struck with his showy stature, his bold forehead, and +his commanding attitude, as he stood waving his hand over the multitude +below, as if he waved a sceptre. His appearance was received with a +general shout from the gallery, which he returned by one profound bow, and +then stood erect, till all sounds had sunk. His powerful voice then rang +through the extent of the hall. He began with congratulating the people on +their having relieved the Republic from its external dangers. His language +at first was moderate, and his recapitulation of the perils which must +have befallen a conquered country, was sufficiently true and even touching; +but his tone soon changed, and I saw the true democrat. "What!" he cried, +"are those perils to the horrors of domestic perfidy? What are the ravages +on the frontier to poison and the dagger at our firesides? What is the +gallant death in the field to assassination in cold blood? Listen, +fellow-citizens, there is at this hour a plot deeper laid for your +destruction than ever existed in the shallow heads of, or could ever be +executed by the coward hearts of, their soldiery. Where is that plot? In +the streets? No. The courage of our brave patriots is as proof against +corruption as against fear." This was followed by a shout from the gallery. +"Is it in the Tuileries? No; there the national sabre has cut down the +tree which cast its deadly fruits among the nation. Where then is the +focus of the plot--where the gathering of the storm that is to shake the +battlements of the Republic--where that terrible deposit of combustibles +which the noble has gathered, the priest has piled, and the king has +prepared to kindle? Brave citizens, that spot is ----," he paused, looking +mysteriously round, while a silence deep as death pervaded the multitude; +then, as if suddenly recovering himself, he thundered out--"The Temple!" +No language can describe the shout or the scene that followed. The daring +word was now spoken which all anticipated; but which Danton alone had the +desperate audacity to utter. The gallery screamed, howled, roared, +embraced each other, danced, flourished their weapons, and sang the +Marseillaise and the Carmagnole. The club below were scarcely less violent +in their demonstrations of furious joy. Danton had now accomplished his +task; but his vanity thirsted for additional applause, and he entered into +a catalogue of his services to Republicanism. In the midst of the detail, +a low but singularly clear voice was heard, from the extremity of the hall. + +"Descend, man of massacre!" + +I saw Danton start back as if he had been shot. At length, recovering his +breath, he said feebly-- + +"Citizens, of what am I accused?" + +"Of the three days of September," uttered the voice again, in a tone so +strongly sepulchral, that it palpably awed the whole assemblage. + +"Who is it that insults me? who dares to malign me? What spy of the +Girondists, what traitor of the Bourbons, what hireling of the gold of +Pitt, is among us?" exclaimed the bold ruffian, yet with a visage which, +even at the distance, I could observe had lost its usual fiery hue, and +turned clay-colour. "Who accuses me?" + +"I!" replied the voice, and I saw a thin tall figure stalk up the length +of the hall, and stand at the foot of the tribune. "Descend!" was the only +word which he spoke; and Danton, as if under a spell, to my astonishment, +obeyed without a word, and came down. The stranger took his place, none +knew his name; and the rapidity and boldness of his assault suspended all +in wonder like my own. I can give but a most incomplete conception of the +extraordinary eloquence of this mysterious intruder. He openly charged +Danton with having constructed the whole conspiracy against the +unfortunate prisoners of September; with having deceived the people by +imaginary alarms of the approach of the enemy; with having plundered the +national treasury to pay the assassins; and, last and most deadly charge +of all, with having formed a plan for a National Dictatorship, of which he +himself was to be the first possessor. The charge was sufficiently +probable, and was not now heard for the first time. But the keenness and +fiery promptitude with which the speaker poured the charge upon him, gave +it a new aspect; and I could see in the changing physiognomies round me, +that the great democrat was already in danger. He obviously felt this +himself; for starting up from the bench to which he had returned, he cried +out, or rather yelled-- + +"Citizens, this man thirsts for my blood. Am I to be sacrificed? Am I to +be exposed to the daggers of assassins!" But no answering shout now arose; +a dead silence reigned: all eyes were still turned on the tribune. I saw +Danton, after a gaze of total helplessness on all sides, throw up his +hands like a drowning man, and stagger back to his seat. Nothing could be +more unfortunate than his interruption; for the speaker now poured the +renewed invective, like a stream of molten iron, full on his personal +character and career. + +"Born a beggar, your only hope of bread was crime. Adopting the profession +of an advocate, your only conception of law was chicanery. Coming to Paris, +you took up patriotism as a trade, and turned the trade into an imposture. +Trained to dependence, you always hung on some one till he spurned you. +You licked the dust before Mirabeau; you betrayed him, and he trampled on +you; you took refuge in the cavern of Marat, until he found you too base +even for his base companionship, and he, too, spurned you; you then clung +to the skirts of Robespierre, and clung only to ruin. Viper! known only by +your coils and your poison; like the original serpent, degraded even from +the brute into the reptile, you already feel your sentence. I pronounce it +before all. The man to whom you now cling will crush you. Maximilien +Robespierre, is not your heel already lifted up to tread out the life of +this traitor? Maximilien Robespierre," he repeated with a still more +piercing sound, "do I not speak the truth?" "Have I not stripped the veil +from your thoughts? Am I not looking on your heart?" He then addressed +each of the Jacobin leaders in a brief appeal. "Billaud Varennes, stand +forth--do you not long to drive your dagger into the bosom of this new +tyrant? Collot d'Herbois, are you not sworn to destroy him? Couthon, have +you not pronounced him perjured, perfidious, and unfit to live? St Just, +have you not in your bosom the list of those who have pledged themselves +that Danton shall never be Dictator; that his grave shall be dug before he +shall tread on the first step of the throne; that his ashes shall be +scattered to the four winds of heaven; that he shall never gorge on +France?" + +A hollow murmur, like an echo of the vaults beneath, repeated the +concluding words. The murmur had scarcely subsided when this extraordinary +apparition, flinging round him a long white cloak, which he had hitherto +carried on his arm, and which, in the dim light, gave him the look of one +covered with a shroud, cried out in a voice of still deeper solemnity, +"George Jacques Danton, you have this night pronounced the death of your +king--I now pronounce your own. By the victims of the 20th of June--by the +victims of the 10th of August--by the victims of the 2d of September--by +the thousands whom your thirst of blood has slain--by the tens of +thousands whom your treachery has sent to perish in a foreign grave--by +the millions whom the war which you have kindled will lay in the field of +slaughter--I cite you to appear before a tribunal, where sits a judge whom +none can elude and none can defy. Within a year and a month, I cite you to +meet the spirits of your victims before the throne of the Eternal." + +He stopped; not a voice was heard. He descended the steps of the Tribune, +and stalked slowly through the hall; not a hand was raised against him. He +pursued his way with as much calmness and security as if he had been a +supernatural visitant, until he vanished in the darkness. + +This singular occurrence threw a complete damp on the regicidal ardour; +and, as no one seemed inclined to mount the Tribune, the club would +probably have broken up for the night, when a loud knocking at one of the +gates, and the beating of drums, aroused the drowsy sitters on the benches. +The gallery was as much awake as ever; but seemed occupied with evident +expectation of either a new revolt, or a spectacle; pistols were taken out +to be new primed, and the points and edges of knives duly examined. The +doors at length were thrown open, and a crowd, one half of whom appeared +to be in the last stage of intoxication, and the other half not far from +insanity, came dancing and chorusing into the body of the building. In the +midst of their troop they carried two busts covered with laurels--the +busts of the regicides Ravaillac and Clement, with flags before them, +inscribed, "They were glorious; for they slew kings!" The busts were +presented to the president, and their bearers, a pair of _poissardes_, +insisted on giving him the republican embrace, in sign of fraternization. +The president, in return, invited them to the "honours of a sitting;" and +thus reinforced, the discussion on the death of the unhappy monarch +commenced once more, and the vote was carried by acclamation. The National +Convention was still to be applied to for the completion of the sentence; +but the decree of the Jacobins was the law of the land. + +I had often looked towards the gallery door, during the night, for the +means of escape; but my police friend had forbade my moving before his +return. I therefore remained until the club were breaking up, and the +gallery began to clear. Cautious as I had been, I could not help +exhibiting, from time to time, some disturbance at the atrocities of the +night, and especially at the condemnation of the helpless king. In all +this I had found a sympathizing neighbour, who had exhibited marked +civility in explaining the peculiarities of the place, and giving me brief +sketches of the speakers as they rose in succession. He had especially +agreed with me in deprecating the cruelty of the regicidal sentence. I now +rose to bid my gentlemanlike _cicerone_ good-night; but, to my surprise, I +saw him make a sign to two loiterers near the door, who instantly pinioned +me. + +"We cannot part quite so soon, Monsieur l'Aristocrat," said he; "and, +though I much regret that I cannot have the honour of accommodating you in +the Temple, near your friend Monsieur Louis Capet, yet you may rely on my +services in procuring a lodging for you in one of the most agreeable +prisons in Paris." + +I had been entrapped in the most established style, and I had nothing to +thank for it but fortune. Resistance was in vain, for they pointed to the +pistols within their coats; and with a vexed heart, and making many an +angry remark on the treachery of the villain who had ensnared me--matters +which fell on his ear probably with about the same effect as water on the +pavement at my feet--I was put into a close carriage, and, with ny captors, +carried off to the nearest barrier, and consigned to the governor of the +well-known and hideous St Lazare. + + * * * * * + + + + +The Olympic Jupiter. + + Calm the Olympian God sat in his marble fane, + High and complete in beauty too pure and vast to wane; + Full in his ample form, Nature appear'd to spread; + Thought and sovran Rule beam'd in his earnest head; + From the lofty foliaged brow, and the mightily bearded chin, + Down over all his frame was the strength of a life within. + + Lovely a maid in twilight before the vision knelt, + Looking with upturn'd gaze the awe that her spirit felt. + Hung like the skies above her was bow'd the monarch mild, + Hearing the whisper'd words of the fair and panting child. + --Could she be dear to him as dews to ocean are, + Be in his wreath a leaf, on his robes a golden star! + Could she as incense float around his eternal throne, + Sound as the note of a hymn to his deep ear alone! + + Lo! while her heart adoring still to the God exhales, + Speech from his glimmering lips on the silent air prevails: + --"Child of this earth, bewilder'd in thine aërial dream, + Turn thee to Powers that are, and not to those that seem. + All of fairest and noblest filling my graven form + First in a human spirit was breathing alive and warm. + Seek thou in him all else that he can evoke from nought, + Seek the creative master, the king of beautiful thought." + + --Down the eyes of the maiden sank from the Thunderer's look, + Pale in her shame and terror, and yet with delight she shook + Swift on her brow she felt a crown by the God bestow'd, + Shading her face that now with a hope too lively glow'd. + Bending the Sculptor stood who wrought the work divine, + Godlike in voice he spake--Ever, oh, maid be mine! + +J.S. + + * * * * * + + + + +A ROMAN IDYL. + + + Oh! blame not, friend, with scoff unfeeling, + The gentle tale of grief and wrong, + Which, all the pain of life revealing, + Yet teaches peace by thoughtful song. + + The landscape round us wide expanded + As ere was heard the name of Rome; + And Rome, though fallen, our souls commanded, + In this her empire's earliest home. + + Her brightness beam'd on each far mountain, + Her life made green the grass we trode, + Her memory haunted still the fountain, + And spread her shadows o'er the sod. + + Her ruins told their tale of glory, + Decreed to that eternal sky; + And through that ancient grove, her story + With sibyl whisper seem'd to sigh. + + The pile her wealthiest mourner builded, + In glimpse we caught through ilex gloom-- + Metella's Tower, by sunshine gilded, + That beams alike on feast or tomb. + + And on this plain, not yet benighted, + 'Mid awful ages mouldering there, + Young hands in new-bloom flowers delighted, + Young eyes look'd bright in sunniest air. + + Till we, Viterbo's wine-cup quaffing, + Which fairer lips refused to grace, + Could win by jest those lips to laughing, + And veil'd in folly wisdom's face. + + But say, my friend, thou sage mysterious, + What Nymph, what Muse disown'd the strain + Which bade our heedless mirth be serious, + And woke our ears to nobler pain? + + That region grave of plain and highland, + With Rome's grey ruin strewn around, + Is not a soft Calypso's island, + Nor fades at Truth's evoking sound. + + High thoughts in words of quiet beauty + Accord with visions grand as these, + And song's imperishable duty + Has holier aims than but to please. + + By word and image deeply wedded, + By cadence apt and varied rhyme, + To rouse the soul in sloth imbedded, + And tune its powers to life sublime. + + By loftier shows of man's large being + Than man's dim actual hour displays, + To clear our eyes for purer seeing, + And nerve the flagging spirit's gaze. + + By strains of bold heroic pleasure, + And action strong as thought conceives, + By many a doom-resounding measure + That best our selfish woes relieves; + + By these to stir, by these to brighten, + By these to lift the soul from earth, + The Poet dares our joys to frighten, + And thrills the dirge of lazy mirth. + + Ye Ruins, dust of empires vanish'd, + Ye mountains, clad with countless years, + From your great presence ne'er be banish'd + Sad songs that live in earnest ears: + + Sad songs, the music of all sorrow, + Profound and calm as night's blue deep: + Accurst the dreams of any morrow + When man will feel he cannot weep. + +J.S. + + * * * * * + + + + +GOETHE + + + Alas! on earth his marvels done, + The noble German bosom lies, + His fatherland's Athenian son, + Amid the sage must largely rise! + + Amid the sage the generous race + Of soaring thought and steadfast glow, + He breathes no more who gave a grace + To all our daily lot below. + + He gave to man's encumber'd hours + The tuneful joys of truth serene, + And twined our life's neglected flowers + With nature's holiest evergreen. + + Alas! for him the soul of fire, + For him of fancy's golden rays, + For him whose aims ascended higher + Than all that won a nation's praise! + + We pause and ask--Why gloom'd the grave + For one of light so broadly mild? + And wonder beauty could not save + From death's deep night her eager child. + + But could the lyre be heard again, + Its widow'd notes would seem to cry-- + In all was he a man of men, + For them to live, like them to die. + + What life inspires 'twas his to feel, + With ampler soul than all beside; + What earth's bright shows to few reveal, + His art for all expanded wide. + + With earnest heed from hour to hour, + Through all his years of striving hope, + He fed his lamp, its light to shower + On paths where myriads dimly grope. + + He taught nankind by toil, by love, + To cheer the world that must be theirs; + And ne'er to look for peace above, + By scorning earthly joys and cares. + + Ah! pages full of grief and fear, + But all attuned to melody, + Vesuvio's flame reflected clear + In glassy seas of Napoli. + + And on that sea we seem to float + In amber light, and catch from far, + 'Mid ocean's boundless Voice, the note + Of girl who hymns the evening-star. + + The sweetest word, the melting tone, + The pictured wisdom bright as day, + And Faust's remorse, and Tasso's groan, + And Dorothea's morning lay, + + Glad Egmont, light of Clara's eyes, + Free Goetz, the warmth of manhood's noon, + And Mignon, all a tune of sighs, + And lorn Ottilia crush'd so soon. + + Ah! tale that tells the life of all + To lovelier truth by fancy wrought, + And songs that e'en to us recall + The bliss a poet's vision caught! + + All these are ours, yes, all--but he. + And who that lives can find a strain + Of worth like his the soul to free + From bonds of sublunary pain? + + A strain like his we vainly seek + To sound above the singer's grave, + A voice empower'd like his to speak + The word our aching bosoms crave. + + That word is not--Oh! not, farewell! + To thee whom all thy lays restore; + But deeply longs the heart to tell + A love thy smile accepts no more. + +J.S. + + * * * * * + + + + +HYMN OF A HERMIT. + + + Long the day, the task is longer; + Earth the strong by heaven the stronger. + Still is call'd to rise and brighten, + But, alas! how weak the soul; + While its inbred phantoms frighten, + While the past obscures the whole. + + Shadows of the wise departed, + Be the brave, the loving-hearted; + Deathless dead, resounding, rushing, + From the morning-land of hope + Come, with viewless footsteps, crushing + Dreams that make the wing'd ones grope. + + Socrates, the keen, the truthful, + In thy hoary wisdom youthful; + Smiling, fear-defying spirit, + From beside thy Grecian waves, + Teach us Norsemen to inherit + Thoughts whose dawn is life to graves. + + Rome's Aurelius, thou the holy + King of earth, in goodness lowly, + From thy ruins by the Tiber, + Look with tearless aspect mild, + Till each agonizing fibre + Like thine own is reconciled. + + Augustinus, bright and torrid, + Isles of green in deserts horrid + Once thy home, thy likeness ever! + We with sword no less divine + Would the good and evil sever, + In a larger world than thine. + + Soft Petrarca, sweet and subtle, + Weaving still, with silver shuttle, + Moony veils for human feeling-- + Thine the radiance from above, + Half-transfiguring, half-concealing, + Wounds and tears of earthly love. + + Saxon rude, of thundering stammer, + Iron heart, by sin's dread hammer + Ground to better dust than golden, + May thy prophecy be true. + Melt the stern, the weak embolden; + Teach what Luther never knew. + + Pale Spinosa, nursed in fable, + Painted hopes and portent sable, + Then an opener wisdom finding, + Let thy round and wintry sun + Chase the lurid vapour, blinding + Souls that seek the Holy One. + + Thou from green Helvetia roaming, + Meteor pale in misty gloaming, + With a breast too fiercely burning; + Generous, tuneful, frail Rousseau! + Would that all to truth returning, + Gave, like thee, a tear to woe! + + Eye of clear and diamond sparkle, + Where the Baltic waters darkle, + Lonely German seer of Reason, + Great and calm as Atlas old; + Through our formless foggy season, + Short thine adamantine cold. + + Shelley, born of faith and passion, + Nobler far than gain and fashion; + Daring eaglet arm'd with lightning, + Firing soon thy native nest, + Still the eternal blaze is brightening + Ocean where thy pinions rest. + + Heroes, prophets, bards, and sages, + Gods and men of climes and ages, + Conquerors of lifelong sorrow, + Torment that ye made your throne, + Help, Oh! help in us the morrow, + Full of triumph like your own. + +J.S. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE LUCKLESS LOVER + + + "If aught on earth assault may bide + Of ceaseless time and shifting tide, + Beloved! I swear to thee + It is the truth of hearts that love, + United in a world above + The moment's misty sea. + + "Oh! sweeter than the light of dawn, + Than music in the woods withdrawn + From clamours of the crowd, + A new creation all our own, + Unvisited by scoff or groan, + Is faith in silence vow'd. + + "Two hearts by reason nobly sad, + Nor rashly blind, nor lightly glad, + Possess they not a bliss + In their communion, felt and full, + Beyond all custom's deadly rule? + For life is only this. + + "In sighs we met, in sighs and sobs, + Such grief as from the wretched robs + The hope to heaven allied: + Great calm was ours, a strength severe, + Though wet with many a scalding tear, + When soul to soul replied. + + "Of thy dark eyes and gentle speech, + The memory has a power to teach + What know not many wise. + New stars may rise, the ancient fade, + But not for us, my own pale maid, + Be lost that pure surprise-- + + "The pure delight, the awful change, + Chief miracle in wonder's range, + That binds the twain in one; + While fear, foes, friends, and angry Fate, + And all that wreck our mortal state + Shall pass, like motes i' the sun. + + "In his fine frame the throstle feels + The music that his note reveals; + And spite of shafts and nets, + How better is the dying bird + Than some dumb stone that ne'er was heard, + That arrow never threats? + + "Disdaining man, the mountains rise; + Is love less kindred with the skies, + Or less their Maker's will? + The strains, without a human cause, + Flow on, unheeding lies and laws-- + Will hearts for words be still? + + "What cliffs oppose, what oceans roll, + What frowns o'ershade the weeping soul, + Alas! were long to tell. + But something is there more than these, + Than frowns and coldness, rocks and seas: + Until its hour--farewell!" + + So sang the vassal bard by night, + Beneath his high-born lady's light + That from her turret shone. + Next morning in the forest glade + His corpse was found. Her brother's blade + Had cut his bosom's bone. + + What reap'd Lord Wilfrid by the stroke? + Before another morning broke, + She, too, was with the blest: + And 'twas her last and only prayer, + That her sweet limbs might slumber where + The minstrel had his rest. + +J.S. + + * * * * * + + + + +FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION + +THE CORN LAWS. + + +It is remarkable that, while we hear so much of the advantages of free +trade, the reciprocity of them is always in _prospect_ only. By throwing +open our harbours to foreign nations, indeed, we give _them_ an immediate +and obvious advantage over ourselves; but as to any corresponding +advantages we are to gain in our intercourse with them, we are still +waiting, in patient expectation of the anticipated benefit. Our patience +is truly exemplary; it might furnish a model to Job himself. We resent +nothing. No sooner do we receive a blow on one cheek, than we turn up the +other to some new smiter. No sooner are we excluded, in return for our +concessions, from the harbours of one state, than we begin making +concessions to another. We are constantly in expectation of seeing the +stream of human envy and jealousy run out:-- + + "Rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis: at ille + Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum." + +We are imitating the man who made the experiment of constantly reducing +the food on which his horse is to live. Let us take care that, just as he +is learning to live on nothing, we do not find him dead in his stall. + +This, however, is no joking matter. The total failure of the free trade +system to procure any, _even the smallest return_, coupled with the very +serious injury it has inflicted on many of the staple branches of our +industry, has now been completely demonstrated by experience, and is +matter of universal notoriety. If any proof on the subject were required, +it would be furnished by _Porter's Parliamentary Tables_, to which we +earnestly request the attention of our readers. The first exhibits the +effect of the reciprocity system, introduced by Mr Huskisson in Feb. 1823, +in destroying our shipping with the Baltic powers, and quadrupling theirs +with us. The second shows the trifling amount of our exports to these +countries during the five last years, and thereby demonstrates the entire +failure of the attempt to, extend our traffic with them by this gratuitous +destruction of our shipping. The third shows the progress of our whole +exports to Europe during the six years from 1814 to 1820, before the free +trade began, and from 1833 to 1839, after it had been fifteen years in +operation, and proves that it had _declined_ in the latter period as +compared with the former, despite all our gratuitous sacrifices by free +trade to augment our commerce.[12] + + [12] See No. CCCXL, _Blackwood's Magazine_, p. 261. + +The free traders fully admit, and deeply deplore, as we have shown on a +former occasion, these unfavourable results; but they say that it is to be +hoped they will not continue: that foreign nations must, in the end, come +to see that they are as much interested as we are in enlightened system of +free trade; and that, meantime, it is for our interest to continue the +system; or even though it totally fails in producing any augmentation in +our exports, it is obviously for our advantage to continue it, as it +brings in the immediate benefit of purchasing articles imported at a +cheaper rate. Supposing, say they, we obtain no corresponding advantage +from other states, there is an immense benefit accrues to ourselves from +admitting foreign goods at a nominal duty, from the low price at which +they may be purchased by the British consumer. To that point we shall +advert in the sequel; in the mean time, it may be considered as +demonstrated, that the free trade system has entirely failed in procuring +for us the slightest extension of our foreign exports, or abating in the +slightest degree the jealousy of foreign nations at our maritime and +manufacturing superiority. Nor is there any difficulty in discovering to +what this failure has been owing. It arises from laws inherent in the +nature of things, and which will remain unabated as long as we continue a +great and prosperous nation. + +It is related of the Lacedemonians, that while all the other citizens of +Greece were careful to surround their towns with walls, they alone left a +part open on all sides. Thus, superiority in the field rendered them +indifferent to the adventitious protection of ramparts. It is for a +similar reason that England is now willing to throw down the barriers of +tariffs, and the impediments of custom-houses; and that all other nations +are fain to raise them up. It is a secret sense of superiority on the one +side, and of inferiority on the other, which is the cause of the +difference. We advocate freedom of trade, because we are conscious that, +in a fair unrestricted competition, we should succeed in beating them out +of their own market. They resist it, and loudly clamour for protection, +because they are aware that such a result would speedily take place, and +that the superiority of the old commercial state is such, that on an open +trial of strength, it must at once prove fatal to its younger rivals. As +this effect is thus the result of permanent causes affecting both sides, +it may fairly be presumed that it will be lasting; and that the more +anxiously the old manufacturing state advocates or acts upon freedom of +commercial intercourse, the more strenuously will the younger and rising +ones advocate protection. Reciprocity, therefore, is out of the question +between them: for it never could exist without the destruction of the +manufactures of the younger state; and if that state has begun to enter on +the path of manufacturing industry, it never will be permitted by its +government. + +But this is not all. If free trade must of necessity prove fatal to the +manufactures of the younger state, it as certainly leads to the +destruction _of the agriculture of the older;_ and it is this double +effect this RECIPROCITY OF EVIL, which renders it so disastrous and +impracticable an experiment for both the older and the younger community. +The reason of this has not hitherto been generally attended to; but when +once it is stated, its force becomes obvious, and it furnishes the true +answer on principle to the delusive doctrines of free trade. + +Nature has established, and, as it will immediately be shown, for very +wise and important purposes, a permanent and indelible distinction between +the effect of civilization and opulence on the production of food, and on +the preparation of manufactures. In the latter, the discoveries of science, +the exertions of skill, the application of capital, the introduction of +machinery, are all-powerful, and give the older and more advanced state an +immediate and decisive advantage over the younger and the ruder. In the +former, the very reverse takes place: the additions made to productive +power are comparatively inconsiderable, even by the most important +discoveries; and as this capital and industry have in the end a powerful +effect, and always enable the power of raising food for the human race to +keep far a-head of the wants of mankind; yet this effect takes place very +slowly, and the annual addition that can be made to the produce of the +earth by such means is by no means considerable. The introduction of +thorough draining will probably increase the productive power of the soil +in Great Britain a third: scientific discovery may perhaps add another +third; but at least ten years must elapse in the most favourable view +before these effects generally take place--ere the judicious and +well-directed labours of our husbandmen have formed rivulets for the +superfluous wet of our fields, or overspread the soil with the now wasted +animal remains of our cities. But our manufactures can in a few years +quadruple their produce. So vast is the power which the steam-engine has +made to the powers of production in commercial industry, that it is +susceptible to almost indefinite and immediate extension; and the great +difficulty always felt is, not to get hands to keep pace with the demand +of the consumers, but to get a demand to keep pace with the hands employed +in the production. Manchester and Glasgow could, in a few years, furnish +muslin and cotton goods for the whole world. + +Nor is the difference less important and conspicuous in the _price_ at +which manufacturing and agricultural produce can be raised in the old and +the young state. This is the decisive circumstance which renders +reciprocity between them impossible. The rich old state is as superior to +the young one in the production of manufactures, as the poor young state +is to the rich old one in that of subsistence. The steam-engine, capital, +and machinery, have so enormously increased the power of manufacturing +production, that they have rendered the old commercial state omnipotent in +the foreign market in the supply of its articles. Nothing but fiscal +regulations and heavy duties can protect the young state from ruin in +those branches of industry. Heavy taxes, high wages, costly rents, dear +rude produce, all are at once compensated, and more than compensated, by +the gigantic powers of the steam-engine. Cotton goods are raised now in +Great Britain at a fifth of the price which they were during the war. A +gown, which formerly was cheap at £2, 10s., is now sold for ten shillings. +Silks, muslins, and all other articles of female apparel, have been +reduced in price in the same proportion. Colossal fortunes have been made +by the master manufacturers, unbounded wealth diffused through the +operative workmen in Lancashire and Lanarkshire, even at these extremely +reduced prices. This is the real reason of the universal effort made by +all nations which have the least pretensions to commercial industry, of +late years to exclude, by fixed duties, our staple manufactures; of which +the President of the Board of Trade so feelingly complains, and which the +advocates of free trade consider as so inexplicable. A very clear +principle has led to it, and will lead to it. It is the instinct of +SELF-PRESERVATION. + +But there is no steam-engine in agriculture. The old state has no +superiority over the young one in the price of producing food; on the +contrary, it is decidedly its inferior. There, as in love, the apprentice +is the master. The proof of this is decisive. Poland can raise wheat with +ease at fifteen or twenty shillings a quarter, while England requires +fifty. The serf of the Ukraine would make a fortune on the price at which +the farmer of Kent or East Lothian would be rendered bankrupt. The Polish +cultivators have no objection whatever to a free competition with the +British; but the British anticipate, and with reason, total destruction +from the free admission of Polish grain. These facts are so notorious, +that they require no illustration; but nevertheless the conclusion to +which they point is of the highest importance, and bears, with +overwhelming force, on the theory of free trade as between an old and a +young community. They demonstrate that that theory is not only practically +pernicious, but on principle erroneous. It involves an oblivion of the +fundamental law of nature as to the difference between the effect of +wealth and civilization on the production of food and the raising of +manufactures. It proceeds on insensibility to the difference in the age +and advancement of nations, and the impossibility of a reciprocity being +established between them without the ruin of an important branch of +industry in each. It supposes nations to be of the same genus and age, +like the trees in the larch plantation, not of all varieties and ages, as +in the natural forest. If established in complete operation, it would only +lead to the ruin of the manufactures of the younger state, and of the +agriculture of the old one. The only reciprocity which it can ever +introduce between such states is the reciprocity of evil. + +Illustrations from everyday life occur on all sides to elucidate the utter +absurdity, and, in fact, total impracticapability of the system of free +trade, as applied to nations who are, or are becoming, rivals of each +other in manufacturing industry. Those who have the advantage, will always +advocate free competition; those who are labouring under impediments, will +always exclaim against them. In some cases the young have the advantage, +in others the old; but in all the free system is applauded by those in the +sunshine, and execrated by those in the shade. The fair _debutante_ of +eighteen, basking in the bright light of youth, beauty, birth, and +connections, has no sort of objection to the freedom of choice in the +ball-room. If the mature spinster of forty would divulge her real opinion, +what would it be on the same scene of competition? Experience proves that +she is glad to retire, in the general case, from the unequal struggle, and +finds the system of established precedence and fixed rank at dinner +parties, much more rational. The leaders on the North Circuit--Sir James +Scarlett or Lord Brongham--have no objections to the free choice, by +solicitors and attorneys, for professional talent; but their younger +brethren of the gown are fain to take shelter from such formidable rivals +in the exclusive employment of the Crown, the East India Company, the Bank +of England, or some of the numerous chartered companies in the country. +England is the old lawyer on the Cirucuit in manufactures--but Poland is +the young beauty of the ball-room in agriculture. We should like to see +what sort of reciprocity could be established between them. Possibly the +young belle may exchange her beauty for the old lawyer's guineas, but it +will prove a bad reciprocity for both. + +It is usual for both philosophers and practical men to ascribe the +superior cheapness with which subsistence can be raised in the young state +to the old one, to the weight of taxes and of debt, public and private, +with which the latter is burdened, from which the former is, in general, +relieved. But, without disputing that these circumstances enter with +considerable weight into the general result, it may safely be affirmed +that the main cause of it is to be found in two laws of nature, of +universal and permanent application. These are the low value of money in +the rich state, in consequence of its plenty, compared with its high value +in the poor one, in consequence of its poverty, and the experienced +inapplicability of machinery or the division of labour to agricultural +operations. + +Labour is cheap in the poor state, such as Poland, Prussia, and the +Ukraine, becuase guineas are few.--"It is not," as Johnson said of the +Highlands, "that eggs are many, but that pence are few." Commercial +transactions being scanty, and the want of a circulating medium +inconsiderable, it exists to a very limited extent in the country. People +do not need a large circulating medium, therefore they do not buy it; they +are poor, therefore they cannot. In the opulent and highly advanced +community, on the other hand, the reverse of all this takes place. +Transactions are so frequent, the necessities of commerce so extensive, +that a large circulating medium is soon felt to be indispensable. In +addition to a considerable amount of specie, the aid of bank-notes, public +and private, of Government securities and exchequer bills, and of private +bills to an immense ammount, bcomes necessary. McCulloch calculates the +circulating medium of Great Britain, including paper and gold, at +L.72,000,000. The bills in circulation are probably in amount nearly as +much more. A hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty millions, between +specie, bank-notes, exchequer bills, Government securities, on which +advances are made, and private bills, constitute the ordinary circulating +medium of twenty-seven millions in the British empire. The total +circulation of Russia, with sixty millions of inhabitants, is not forty +millions sterling. The effect of this difference is prodigions. It is no +wonder, whten it is taken into account, that wages are 5-1/2d. or 6d. +a-day in Poland or the Ukraine, and 2s. or 2s. 6d. a-day in England. + +The clearest proof that this is the great cause of the superior cost of +raising subsistence in the old than the young state, is afforded by the +different value which money bears in different parts of the _same_ +community. Ask any housekeeper what is the difference between the expense +of living in London, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, and he will answer, that +L.1500 a-year in Edingburgh, or L.750 in Aberdeen. Yet these different +places are all situated in the same community, and their inhabitants pay +the same public taxes, and very nearly the same of local ones. It is the +vast results arising from the concentration of wealth and expediture in +one place, compared with its abstraction from others, which occasions the +difference. But if this effect is conspicuous, and matter of daily +observation, in different parts of the same compact and moderately sized +country, how much more must it obtain in regard to different countries, +situated in different latitudes and politcal circumstances, and in +different stages of wealth, civilization, and commercial opulence? Between +England for example, and Poland or the Ukraine? The difference is there +important and durable. Wheat can be raised with as good a profit to the +cultivator for sixteen shillings per quarter in Poland, as for forty-eight +shillings in England or Scotland. + +This superior weight of wages, rent and all the elements of cost, in the +old, when compared with the young community, affects the manufacturer as +well as the farmer; and in some branches of manufactures it does so with +an overwhelming effect. But, generally speaking, the advantages of capital, +machinery, and the division of labour, render the old state altogether +predominant over the young one in these particulars. It would seem to be a +fixed law of nature, that the progress of society adds almost nothing to +the application of machinery to agriculture, but indefinitely to its +importance in manufactures. Observe an old man digging his garden with a +spade--that is the most productive species of cultivation; it is the last +stage of agricultural progress to return to it. No steam engines or steam +ploughs will ever rival it. But what is the old weaver toiling with his +hands, to the large steam-power mill, turning at once ten thousand +spindles? As dust in the balance. Man, by a beneficent law of his Maker, +is permanently secured in his first and best pursuit. It is in those which +demoralize and degrade, that machinery progressively encroaches on the +labour of his hands. England can undersell India in muslins and printed +goods, manufactured in Lancashire or Lanarkshire, out of cotton which grew +on the banks of the Ganges; for England though younger in years compared +to India, is old in civilization, wealth, and power. We should like to see +what profit would be made by exporting wheat from England, raised on land +paying thirty shillings an acre of rent, by labourers paid at two +shillings a-day, to Hindostan, where rice is raised twice a-year, on land +paying five shillings an acre rent, by labourers receiving twopence a-day +each. + +It is the constant operation of this law of nature which ensures the +equalization of empires, the happiness of society, and the dispersion of +mankind. To be convinced of this, we have only to reflect on the results +which would ensue if this were not the case; if no unvarying law gave man +in remote situations an advantage in raising subsistence over what they +enjoy in the centres of opulence; and agriculture, in the aged and wealthy +community, was able to acquire the same decisive superiority over distant +and comparatively poor ones, which we see daily examplified in the +production of manufactures. Suppose, for example, that in consequence of +the application of the steam-engine, capital, and machinery to the raising +of subsistence, Great Britian could undersell the cultivatiors of Poland +and the Ukraine as effectually as she does their manufacturers in the +production of cotton goods; that she could sell in the Polish market wheat +at five shillings a quarter, when they require fifteen shillings to +remunerate the cost of production. Would not the result be, that commerce +between them would be entirely destroyed; that subsistence would be +exclusively raised in the old opulent community; that mankind would +congregate in fearful multitudes round the great commercial emporium of +the world; and that the industry and progress of the more distant nations +would be irrevocably blighted? Whereas, by the operation of the present +law of nature, that the rich state can always undersell the poor one in +maufactures, and the poor one always undersell the rich one in subsistence, +those dangers are removed, a check is provided to the undue multiplication +of the species in particular situations, and the dispersion of mankind +over the globe--a vital object in the system of nature--is secured, from +the very necessities and difficulties in which, in the progress of society, +the old and wealthy community becomes involved. + +These considerations point out an important limitation to which, on +principle, the doctrines of free trade must be subjected. Perfectly just +in reference to a single community, or a compact empire of reasonable +extent, they wholly fail when applied to separate nations in different +degrees of civilization, or even to different provinces of the same empire, +when it is of such an extent as to bring such different nations, in +various degrees of progress, under one common dominion. They were +suggested, in the first instance, to philosophers, by the absurd +restrictions on the commerce of grain which existed in France under the +old monarchy, and which Turgot and the Economists laboured so assiduously +to abolish. There can be no doubt that they were perfectly right in doing +so; for France is a compact, homogeneous country, in which the cost of +producing subsistence is not materially different in one part from another, +and the interests of the whole community are closely identified. The same +holds with the interchange of grain between the different provinces of +Spain, or for the various parts of the British islands. But the case is +widely different with an empire so extensive as, like the British in +modern or the Roman in ancient times, to embrace separate kingdoms, in +wholly different circumstances of climate, progress, and social condition. +Free trade, in such circumstances, must lead to a destruction of important +interests, and a total subversion of the balance of society in both the +kingdoms subjected to it. To be conviced of this, we have only to look at +the present condition of the British, or the past fate of the Roman empire. + +It is the boast of our manufacturers--and such a marvel may well afford a +subject for exultation--that with cotton which grew on the banks of the +Ganges, they can, by the aid of British capital, machinery, and enterprise, +undersell, in the production of muslin and cotton goods, the native Indian +manufacturers, who work up their fabrics in the close vicinity of the +original cotton-fields. The constant and increasing export of Britsh goods +to India, two-thirds of which are cotton, demonstrates that this +superiority really exists; and that the muslin manufacturers in Hindostan, +who work for 3d. a-day on their own cotton, cannot stand the competition +of the British operatives, who receive 3s. 6d. a-day, aided as they are by +the almost miraculous powers of the steam-engine. Free trade, therefore, +is ruinous to the manufacturing interests of India; and accordingly the +Parliamentary proceedings are filled with evidence of the extreme misery +which has been brought on the native manufacturers of Hindostan by that +free importation of British goods, in which our political economists so +much and so fully exult. + +The great distance of India from the British islands, the vast expense of +transporting bulky articles eight thousand miles accross the ocean, have +prevented the counterpart of this effect taking place; and the British +farmers feeling the depressing influence of the Indian plough, in like +manner as the Indian manufacturers have the ruinous competition of the +British steam-engine. But it is clear that, if India had been nearer, the +former effect would have taken place as well as the latter. If the shores +of Hindostan were within a few days sail of London and Liverpool, and the +Indian cultivators, labouring at 2d. or 3d. a-day, had been brought into +direct competition with the British farmers, employing labourers who +received two or three shillings, can there be a doubt that the British +farmers would have been totally destroyed in the struggle? The English +farmers would have been prostrated by the same cause which has ruined the +Indian muslin manufacturers. Cheap grain, the fruit of free trade, would +have demolished British agriculture as completely as cheap cotton goods, +the fruits of unlimited importation, has ruined Indian manufacturing +industry. + +Is, then, commercial intercourse impossible, on terms of mutual benefit, +between states in widely different circumstatnces of commercial or +agricultural advancement; and is the only reciprocity which can exist +between them and reciprocity of evil? It is by no means necessary to rest +in so unsatisfatory a conclusion. A most advantageous commercial +intercourse to both parties may be carried on, but it must not be on the +footing of free trade. The foundation of such an intercourse should be, +that each should take, on the most favourable terms, the articles which +_it wants and does not produce_, and impose restrictions on those which +_it wants and does produce_. On this priciple, trade would be conducted so +as to benefit both countries, and injure neither. Thus England may take +from India to the utmost extent, and with perfect safety, sugar, indigo, +cotton, tea, spices, cinnamon, and the more costly species of shawls; +while India might take from England some species of cotton manufacture in +which they have no fabrics of their own, cutlery, hardware, and all of the +various luxuries of European manufacture. But a paternal and just +government, equally alive to the interests of all its provinces, how far +removed soever from the seat of power, would impose restrictions to +prevent India being deluged with British cottons, to the ruin of its +native manufactures, and to prevent Britian--if the distance did not +operate, which it certainly would, as a sufficient protection--from being +flooded with Indian grain. The varieties of climate, productions, and +wants, in different countries, are such, that commerce, regulated on these +principles, might be carried to the greatest extent consistent with the +paramount duty of providing in each state for the preservation of its +staple articles of industry. + +The Roman empire in ancient times afforded the clearest demonstration of +the truth of these principles; and the fate of their vast dominion shows, +in the most decisive manner, what is the inevitable consequence to which +the free trade principles, now so strongly contended for by a party in +this country, must lead. Alison is the first modern author with whom we +are acquainted, who has traced the decline of the Roman empire in great +part to this source. In the tenth volume of his "History of Europe," +p. 752, we find the following passage:-- + + "No nation can pretend to independence which rests for any sensible + protion of its subsistence in ordinary seasons on foreign, who may + become hostile, nations. And if we would see a memorable example of + the manner in which the greatest and most powerful nation may, in the + course of ages, come to be paralysed by this cause, we have only to + cast our eyes on imperial Rome, when the vast extent of the empire + had practically established a free trade in grain with the whole + civilized world; and the result was, that cultivation disappeared + from the Italian plains, that the race of Roman agriculturists, the + strength of the empire, became extinct, that the fields were laboured + only by slaves and cattle. The legions could no longer be recruited + but from foreign bands, vast tracts of pasturage overspread even the + fields of Lombardy and the Compagna of Naples, and it was the + plaintive confession of the Roman annalist, that the mistress of the + world had come to depend for her subsistence on the floods of the + Nile." + +This observation has excited, as well it might, the vehement indignation +of the free trade journals. The example of the greates and most powerful +nation that ever existed being weakened, and at length ruined by a free +trade in corn, afforded too cogent an argument, and was too striking a +warning, not to excite the wrath of those who would precipitate Great +Britain into a similar course of policy. They have attacked the author, +accordingly, with unwonted asperity; and, while they admint the ruin of +Italian agriculture in the later stages of the Roman empire, endeavour to +ascribe it to the gratuitous distribution of grain to the Roman populace, +not the effect of a free importation of grain from its Egyptian and +African provinces. The vast importance of the subject has induced us to +look into the original authorities to whom Alison refers in support of his +observation, and from among them we select three--Tacitus, Gibbon, and +Michelet. Tacitus says, + + "At Hercule _olim ex Itaila_ legionibus longinquas in provincias + commeatus portabantur, _nec nunc infecunditate laboratur_; sed Africam + _potius et Egyptum exercemus_, navibusque et casibus vita populi + Romani permissa est."--TACITUS, _Annal_. xii. 43. + +Antiquity does not contain a more pregnant and important passage, or one +more directly bearing on the present policy of the Britsh emprire, than +this. It demonstrates: 1, That in former times Italy had been an exporting +country: "_olim_ ex Italia commeatus in longinquas provincias portabantur." +2, That at the time when Tacitus wrote, in the days of the Emperor Trajan, +it had ceased to be so, and had come to import largely from Africa and +Lybia, "sed _nunc_ Africam potius et Egyptum exercemus." 3, That this was +not the result of any supervening sterility or unfruitfulness, "nec nunc +infecunditate laboratur," but was from causes which made it more +profitable to purchase grain in the Egyptian or Lybian markets, "sed +Africam POTIUS et Egyptum exercemus." + +Of the extent to which this decay of agriculture in the central +provinces of the Roman empire went, in the latter stages of its history, +we have the following striking account in the authentic pages of +Gibbon:-- + + + "Since the age of Tiberius _the decay of agriculture had been felt in + Italy_; and it was a just subject of complaint that the life of the + Roman people depended on the accidents of the winds and the waves. In + the division and decline of the empire, _the tributary harvests of + Egypt and Africa_ were withdrawn; the numbers of the inhabitants + continually diminished with the means of subsistence; and the country + was exhausted by the irretrievable losses of war, pestilence, and + famine. Pope Gelasius was a subject of Odoacer, and he affirms, with + strong exaggeration, that, in Emilia, Tuscany, and the adjacent + provinces, the human species was almost extirpated."--GIBBON, vol. vi. + c. xxxvi. p. 235. + +Of the progress and extent of this decay, Gibbon gives the following +account in another part of his great work:-- + + "The agriculture of the Roman provinces _was insensibly ruined_; and + in the progress of despotism, which tends to disappoint its own + purpose, the emperors were obliged to derive some merit from the + forgiveness of debts, or the remission of tributes, which their + subjects were utterly incapable of paying. According to the new + division of Italy, the fertile and happy province of Campania, the + scene of the early victories and of the delicious retirements of the + citizens of Rome, extended between the sea and the Apennines, from + the Tiber to the Silarius. Within sixty years after the death of + Constantine, and on the evidence of an actual survey, an exemption + was granted in favour of 330,000 English acres _of desert and + uncultivated land, which amounted to one-eighth of the whole surface + of the province_. As the footsteps of the barbarians had not yet been + seen in Italy, the cause of this amazing desolation, which is + recorded in the laws, (Cod. Theod. lxi. t. 38, l. 2,) can be ascribed + only to the administration of the Roman emperors."--GIBBON, vol. iii. + c. xviii. p. 87. Edition in 12 volumes. + +Michelet observes, in his late profound and able History of France-- + + "The Christian emperors could not remedy the growing depopulation of + the country any more than their heathen predecessors. All their + efforts only showed the impotence of government to arrest that + dreadful evil. Sometimes, alarmed at the depopulation, they tried to + mitigate the lot of the farmer, to shield him against the landlord; + upon this the proprietor exclaimed he could no longer pay the taxes. + At other times they abandoned the farmer, surrendered him to the + landlord, and strove to chain him to the soil; but the unhappy + cultivators perished or fled, _and the land became deserted_. Even in + the time of Augustus, efforts were made to arrest the depopulation at + the expense of morals, by encouraging concubinage. Pertinax granted + an immunity from taxes to those who could occupy the desert lands of + Italy, _to the cultivators of the distant provinces, and the allied + kings_. Aurelian did the same. Probus was obliged to transport from + Germany men and oxen to cultivate Gaul.[13] Maximian and Constantius + transported the Franks and Germans from Picardy and Hainault into + Italy: but the depopulation in the towns and the country alike + continued. The people surrendered themselves in the fields to despair, + as a beast of burden lies down beneath his load and refuses to rise. + In vain the emperor strove, by offers of immunities and exemptions, + to recall the cultivator to his deserted fields. Nothing could do so. + The desert extended daily. At the commencement of the fifth century + there was, in the _happy_ Campania, the most fertile province of the + empire, 520,000 _jugera_ in a state of nature."--MICHELET, _Histoire + de France_, i. 104-108. + + [13] "Arantur Gallicana rura _barbaris bobus_, et juga Germanica + captiva praebent colla nostris cultoribus."--_Probi Epist. ad + Senatum in Vopesio_. + +Pursued to its very grave by the same deep-rooted cause of evil, the +strength of Italy, even in the last stages of its decay, was still +prostrated by the importation of grain from Egypt and Lybia. "The Campagna +of Rome," says Gibbon, "about the close of the sixth century, was reduced +to the state of _a dreary wilderness_, in which the land was barren, the +waters impure, and the air infectious. Yet the number of citizens _still +exceeded the measure of subsistence; their precarious food was supplied +from the harvests of Egypt and Lybia_; and the frequent repetitions of +famine betray the inattention of the emperors to a distant +provice."--GIBBON, vil. viii. c. xlv. 162. + +Nor was this desolating scourge of foreign importation confined to Italy; +it obtained also in Greece equally with the Ausonian fields, the abode of +early riches, opulence, and prosperity. "In the later stages of the +empire," says Michelet, "Greece was almost entirely _supported by corn +raised in the fields of Podolia_," (Poland.)--MICHELET, i. 277. + +Now let it be recollected that this continual and astonishing decline of +agriculture, and disappearance of the rural cultivators in the latter +stages of the Roman empire, took place in an empire which contained, as +Gibbon tells us, 120,000,000 of inhabitants, and 1600 great cities, was +3000 miles long and 2000 miles broad, contained 1,600,000 square miles, +chiefly fertile and well cultivated land, which embraced the fairest and +most fertile portions of the earth, and which had been governed for eighty +yers under the successive sway of Nerva, Adrian, Trajan, and the two +Antonines, with consummate wisdon and the most paternal spirit.[14] The +scourge of foreign war, the devastation of foreign armies, were alike +unknown; profound tranquillity pervaded every part of the empire; and a +vast inland lake, spreading its ample waters through the heart of the +dominion, afforded to all its provinces the most perfect facility of +intercourse with the metropolis and the central parts of the empire. Yet +this period--the period which Mr Hume has told us the philosophers would +select as the happiest the human race had ever known--was precisely that +during which agriculture so rapidly declined in the Italian and Grecian +fields, during which the sturdy race of free cultivators disappeared, and +the plains of Italy were entirely absorbed by pasturage, and maintained +only vast herds of cattle tended by slaves. + + [14] "Quingena viginti octo millia quadringinta duo jugera, quae + Campania provincia, juxta inspectorum relationem, in desertis et + squalidis locis habero dignoscitur, iisdem provincialibus + concessum."--_Cod. Theod_. lxi. i. 2382. + +What was it, then, which in an empire containing so immense a population, +and such boundless resources, drawn forth and developed under so wise and +beneficent a race of emperors, occasioned this constant and uninterrupted +decay of agriculture, and at length the total destruction of the rural +population in the heart of the empire? How did it happen that Italian +cultivation receded, as Tacitus and Gibbon tell us it did, _from the time +of Tiberius_; and equally under the wisdom of the Antonines, as the +tyranny of Nero, or the civil wars of Vitellius? Some general and durable +cause must have been in operation during all this period, which at firest +depressed, and at length totally destroyed, the numerous body of free +Italian cultivators who so long had constituted the strength of the +legions, and had borne the Roman eagles, conquering and to conquer, to the +very extremities of the habitable earth. The cause is apparent. It was the +free importation of Egyptian and Lybian grain, consequent on the extension +of the Roman dominion over their fertile fields, which effected the result. +Were England to extend its conquering arms over Poland and the Ukraine, +and, as a necessary consequence, expose the British farmer to the +unrestrained competition of Polish and Russian wheat, precisely the same +result would ensue. If the shores of Hindostan were within three or four +days' sail of the Tiber, this result would long ago have taken place. Let +Polish and Russian grain be admitted without a protecting duty into the +British harbours, as Lybian and Egyptian were into those of Italy, and we +shall soon see the race of cultivators disappear from the fields of +England as they did from those of old Rome, and the words of Tacitus will, +by a mere change of proper names, become a picture of our condition; three +hundred thousand acres will soon be reduced to a state of nature in Kent +and Norfolk, as they were in the Campania Felix. "Nec nunc infecunditate +laboramur, _Podoliam_ potius et _Scythiam_ exercemus, navibusque et +casibus vita populi _Anglici_ permissa est." + +The free traders allege that the decay of agriculture in the central +provinces of the Roman empire, to which, by the concurring testimony of +all historians, the ruin of the dominion of the Caesars was chiefly owing, +is to be ascribed, not to the free importation of grain from Egypt, +Podolia, and Lybia, but to the tyranny of the emperors, the gratuitous +distribution of grain to the Roman populace, and the dreadful evils of +domestic slavery. A very slight consideration, however, must be sufficient +to show that these causes, how powerful soever in producing _general_ +evils over the empire, could not have been instrumental in occasioning +those _peculiar_ and separate causes of depression, which so early began +to check, and at length totally destroyed, the agriculture of its central +provinces. + +The tyranny of the Caesars, the oppression of the Proconsuls, the avarice +of the Patricians, were general evils, affecting alike every part of the +empire; or rather they were felt with more severity in the remote +provinces than the districts nearer home, in consequence of the superior +opportunities of escape which distance from the central government +afforded to iniquity, and the lesser chance of success which the +insurrection of a remote province held forth to the "wild revenge" of +rebellion. Muscovite oppression, accordingly, is more severely felt at +Odessa or Taganrog than St Petersburg; and British rule is far from being +restrained by the same considerations of justice on the banks of the +Ganges or the Indus, as on those of the Thames. The gratuitous +distribution of grain by the emperors to the populace of Rome, could never +have occasioned the ruin of the Italian _cultivators_. Supposing that the +two or three hundred thousand lazy and turbulent plebeians, who were +nourished by the bounty or fed by the terrors of the Caesars, were the +most useless, worthless, and dangerous set of men that ever existed, +(which they probably were,) that circumstance could never have uprooted +the race of cultivators from the plains of Lombardy, Umbria, or the +Campania Felix. The greatest possible good to a nation, according to the +free trader, is cheap grain, and never more so than when it is purchased +or imported from foreign growers. If this be true, the importation of the +harvests of Egypt and Africa into the Italian harbours, either by the +voluntary purchase of the Roman emperors, or the forced tribute in grain +which they exacted from those provinces, must have been the greatest +possible benefit to the Italian people. How then, if there be no mischief +in such foreign importations, is it possible to ascribe the ruin of +Italian cultivation, and with it of the Roman empire, to these forced +contributions? If the free traders have recourse to such an argument, they +concede the very point in dispute, and admit that the introduction of +foreign grain is injurious, and may in the end prove fatal, to the +agriculture and existence of a state. + +Slavery, though a great evil, will as little explain the peculiar and +extraordinary decline of Italian and Grecian cultivation in the later +stages of the Roman empire. The greater part of the labour of the ancient +world, as every one knows, was conducted by means of slaves. They were +slaves who held the plough, and tilled the land, and tended the flocks, +equally in Lybia, in Campania, in Egypt, as in Umbria. Nay, the number of +freemen, at least in the days of the Roman Republic, and the earlier +periods of the empire, was incomparably _greater_ in Italy and Greece, the +abode of celebrated, powerful, and immortal republics, than in Lybia and +Egypt, which from the earliest times had been subject to the despotic sway +of satraps, kings, and tyrants. So numerous were the free citizens of Rome +in the early days of the empire, that, by the census of Claudius, we are +told by Gibbon they amounted to 6,945,000 men,[15] the greater proportion +of whom, of course, were residents in Italy, the seat of government, and +the centre of wealth, power, and enjoyment. While so great was the +multitude of free citizens which the Republic bequeathed to the empire, +resident and exercising unfettered industry in Italy, the cultivators of +Africa and Egypt were all serfs and slaves, toiling, like the West Indian +negroes, beneath the lash of a master. How, then, did it happen that the +labour of the Italian freeman was disused, and at length extinguished, +while that of the African and Egyptian slaves continued to furnish grain +for Italy down to the very latest period of the empire? We are told that +the labour of freemen is cheaper than that of slaves; and the free traders +will probably not dispute that proposition. It could not, therefore, have +been the slavery of antiquity which ruined Italian agriculture, carried on, +in part at least, by freemen; since African agriculture, the fruits +entirely of slavery, continued to flourish down to the very last days of +the Roman world. + + [15] GIBBON, chap. i. 68. + +The severe taxation of the emperors is justly stated by Gibbon and +Sismondi, as well as Michelet, as a principal cause of the decline of +Italian agriculture: but very little consideration is required to show, +that this cause is inadequate to explain this ruin of cultivation in the +Italian plains, when it continued to flourish and maintain the chief +cities of the empire with food, in Egypt and Lybia. Heavy as it was, and +oppressive as it ultimately became, _it was equal_; it was the same every +where; it might, therefore, satisfactorily explain the _general_ decline +of rural industry through the empire, and doubtless had a large share in +contributing to its downfall; but it cannot explain the _particular_ ruin +of it, in the central provinces of this vast dominion, while it continued, +down to the very last moment, to flourish in its remote dependencies. + +But the taxation of the empire, _when coupled with the free importation of +grain_ from these distant dependencies, does afford a most satisfactory, +and, in truth, the true explanation of the ruin of Italian and Grecian +cultivation. It was a fixed principle of Roman taxation, that the duties +allotted on a particular district should remain fixed, how much lower the +inhabitants or industry of the province might decline. When, therefore, by +the constant importation of Egyptian and African grain, raised at half the +cost at which they could produce it, the Italian cultivators were deprived +of a remunerating return, and the taxes exacted from each district +underwent no diminution, it is not surprising that the small farmers and +proprietors were ruined; that they took refuge in the industry and crowds +of cities, and that the race of freemen disappeared from the country. A +similar process is now going on in the Turkish provinces. But without +undervaluing--on the contrary, attaching full weight to this +circumstance--nothing can be clearer than that it was the ruinous +competition of foreign grain, raised cheaper than they could produce it, +which rendered the same taxation crushing on the Italian farmers, which +was borne with comparative facility in the remoter provinces, where land +was more fertile, and labour less expensive. An example, _à fortiori_, +applied to the British empire, where the free traders wish us to admit a +free importation of grain from Poland and the Ukraine, where not only is +labour cheap but taxation trifling, into the British islands, where not +only is labour dear but taxation is five times more burdensome. + +And for a decisive proof that it was the superior advantages which Egypt +and Lybia enjoyed in the production of grain, and not any other causes, +which occasioned the ruin of Italian agriculture, and with it the fall of +the Roman empire, we have only to look to the condition of the Italian +fields in the last stages of the government of the Caesars. Already, in +the time of the elder Pliny, it had become a subject of complaint that the +_great properties_ were ruining Italy[16]--a sure proof, when the great +division of estates in the days of the Republic--when, literally speaking, +"every rood had its man"--that some general and irresistible cause, +affecting the remuneration of their industry, was exterminating the small +proprietors. Erelong, cultivators ceased entirely in the country, and +the huge estates of the nobles were cultivated exclusively in pasturage, +and by means of slaves. "La classe," says Michelet, "_des petits +cultivateurs peu à pee a disparu_; les grands proprietaires qui leur +succedèrent y suppleèrent par des esclaves."[17] It is recorded by Ammianus +Marcellinus, that when Rome was taken by the Goths, it contained 1,200,000 +inhabitants, and was mainly supported by 1780 great families, who +cultivated their ample estates in Italy in pasturage, by means of +slaves.[18] For centuries before, the threat of blockading the Tiber had +been found to be the most effectual way of coercing the Roman populace; +and whenever it took place, famine ensued, not only in Rome, but the +Italian provinces. The diminution of its agricultural produce had, long +before, been stated by Columella at _nine-tenths_, and by Varro at +_three-fourths_, of what at one period had been raised. Yet such was the +wealth of the Roman nobles, derived from pasturage, that some of them had +L.160, 000 a-year.[19] Agriculture, therefore, was destroyed; grain was no +longer raised in Italy; Rome was wholly dependent on foreign supplies--but +pasturage was undecayed; and colossal fortunes were enjoyed by a wealthy +race of great proprietors, who managed their vast estates by means of +slaves, and had bought up and absorbed the properties of the whole free +cultivators in the country. Such was the effect--such was the result--of a +free trade in grain in ancient times. + + [16] "Verumque confitentibus _latifundia perdidere Italiam_."--PLINY, + _Hist. Nat_.xviii. 7. + + [17] MICHELET, i. 96. + + [18] AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, c. xvi.--See also GIBBON, vi. 264. + + [19] GIBBON, vi. 262. + +The free traders seem not insensible to these inevitable results of their +favourite principles; but they meet them by describing such consequences +as rather advantageous than injurious. If England, say they, can raise +iron and cotton goods cheaper than Poland, and Poland and Russia grain +cheaper than England, then the interest of each require that they should +follow out these branches of industry, and it is impolitic to strive +against it. Let, then, England admit foreign grain on a nominal duty, and +this will in the end induce Russia and Prussia to admit English +manufactured goods on equally favourable terms; and thus the real +interests of both countries will in the end be promoted. + +There are two objections to this system. In the first place, it is +impracticable if it were expedient. In the second, it is inexpedient if it +were practicable. + +It is impracticable if it were expedient. Theoretical writers may coolly +discuss in their closets the total destruction of various important +branches of industry, the "absorption" of the persons engaged in them in +other pursuits, and the transference of national capital and industry from +agriculture to manufactures, and _vice versà_; but it is impossible to +effect such changes by the voluntary act of government, even in the most +despotic country. We say by the voluntary act of government; because there +is no doubt that it may be effected, though at an enormous sacrifice of +life, wealth, and happiness, by the silent and unobserved operation of the +laws of nature, which are irresistible; as was the case with the +transference of industry from agriculture to pasturage, under the effect +of free trade in grain in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, in +the later stages of the Roman empire; or from manufactures to agriculture, +from the consequences of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in the +Italian republics in modern times. But no government, not even that of the +Czar Peter or Sultaun Mahmoud, could succeed in destroying or nipping in +the bud brances of national industry, by simple acts of the legislature or +sovereign authority, not imposed by external and irresistible authority. +The Emperor Paul tried it, and got a sash twisted about his neck, +according to the established fashion of that country, for his pains. The +Whigs tried it, and were turned out of office in consequence. All the +governments of Europe, despotic, constitutional, and democratic, meet our +concessions, in favour of free trade, by increased protection to their +manufacturers. They dare not destroy their rising commercial wealth any +more than we dare destroy our old colossal agricultural investments. The +republicans of America even exceed them in the race of tariffs and +protection. Sixty-two per cent has lately been laid on our British iron +goods in return for Sir Robert Peel's tariff; a similar duty on iron and +cotton goods, it is well known, is contemplated in the Prussian leagues in +Germany. The British government has at length, through its prime minister, +spoken out firmly in support of the existing corn-laws. The feeling of the +agricultural counties, as evinced at the late meetings, left them no +alternative. All nations, under all varieties of government, situation, +race, and political circumstances, concur in rising up to resist the +doctrines of free trade. Necessity has enlightened, experience has taught +them: a very clear motive urges them on, which is not likely to decline in +strength with the progress of time--it is the instinct of +self-preservation. + +Such a system as the free traders advocate, if practicable, would be to +the last degree inexpedient. + +What would be the result? Why, that one country would become wholly, or in +great part, agricultural, and the other wholly, or in great part, +manufacturing. Is this a result desirable to either? Admitting that a city +or small state, which has no territory which can furnish any considerable +proportion of the subsistence which it requires, like Holland, may do well +to attend exclusively to manufactures and commerce; or a country which, by +the rigour of nature, or the remoteness of its situation, cannot attain to +commercial or manufacturing greatness, would do well to attend exclusively +to the cultivation or productions of the earth; the question which here +occurs--Is such a system advisable or expedient for a nation which has +received from the bounty of nature the means of rising to greatness in +_both_--such as Great Britain, Russia, or Prussia? The free traders would +have England sacrifice its agriculture to its manufactures, and Russia +sacrifice its manufactures to its agriculture. Would such a system benefit +either? Would England be happier or richer, more stable or more moral, if +the already colossal amount of its manufactures were trebled; or Russia, +if its rising iron and woolen fabrics were destroyed, and its industry +confined exclusively to the slow return of agricultural labour? Is it +desirable that the zone of tall chimneys, sickly faces, brick houses, and +crowded jails, which at present spans across the whole of England and part +of Scotland, should be doubled and trebled in breadth; and the fertile +fields of Kent, Norfolk, and East Lothian, be reduced to vast unenclosed +pastures, such as overspread Italy in the later stages of the Roman +empire? Or is it desirable to Russia and Prussia that they should be for +ever chained to the labour of boors, serfs, and shepherds, and all the +vivifying and unimportant effects of commercial wealth be denied to their +exertions? Nature has designed, experience recommends, a very different +system. History tells us in all parts of the world, that it is in the +_intermixture_ of commerce and agriculture that the best security is to be +found for social happiness and advancement, and the most effectual +antidote provided to the evils with which either, when existing alone, is +so prone. Mr McCulloch has told us, that the commerce and manufactures of +Great Britain have now risen to such a prodigious height, that any further +extension of them is undesirable, and that no real patriot would have +desired them to have become so extensive as they already are. Is it +desirable, in such a state of matters, to go on increasing the same +splendid but perilous system, and to do so at the expense of the great +pillar of national wealth, security, and independence--the land of the +state? + +Further, the proposed system is pernicious even with reference to the +national wealth and interests of the manufacturers themselves, as tending +to undermine the main branches of our national resources, and substitute +encouragement to an inferior, to upholding of the superior market for our +manufacturing industry. + +Although in the meetings where they address the agricultural +constituencies, the free traders hold out that their measures would +benefit the manufacturers, and _not injure the agriculturists_; yet +nothing can be clearer than that this is a mere shallow pretext, put forth +to conceal their real objects and the effect of their measures, and that +the result they _really_ anticipate is as different from that as the poles +are asunder. What is the benefit they hold out to the community as an +inducement to go into their measures? Cheap grain. What is the motive +which stimulates all their efforts, and which, among themselves and in +private conversation with all men of sense, they at once admit is their +ruling object? _Reduced wages_; the hope of extending our export in +foreign countries by taking an additional quantity of their rude produce; +and diminishing the cost of production to our manufacturers by lowering +the price of food, and with it the wages of labour. The whole strength of +their case rests in these propositions. Their influence over the urban +multitudes arises solely from the continual reiteration of these alluring +hopes. If these effects are not to follow free trade and the efforts of +the League, in the name of Heaven, what good are they to do, and why do +they agitate the country and subscribe to the League fund? Sensible men do +not throw away £100,000 for nothing, for no benefit to themselves or +others. But these prospects are as fallacious as they are alluring, and so +a very few observations will demonstrate. + +Considered in a _national_ point of view, if the matter is brought to this +issue, the great question is--Whether agriculture or manufactures are the +superior interests in the production of national wealth. Admitting that +the true policy for government is to protect _all_ the branches of +national industry, and stoutly contending, as we do, and ever shall do, +that the real and ultimate interests of all is the same, and cannot be +separated--the question comes to be, if one fiercely demands the sacrifice +of the other, and insists that its interests are so weighty and momentous +that all others must be sacrificed to them, which of the two thus placed +in jeopardy is the most momentous? which brings in most to the national +treasury? Now, on this point the facts are as adverse to the arguments of +the League, as on all other branches of their case. + +Take the sum total of manufactures in Great Britain and Ireland, +accompanied with the sum total of agricultural production, in order to +discover which of the two is the more valuable interest--in order that it +may be discovered, if matters are brought to that issue that one or other +must be abandoned, which is to be sacrificed. The choice of a wise +government could not be doubtful, if it were necessary to make the +selection. The agricultural productions of the British islands amount to +L.300,000,000 a-year, while the sum total of manufactures of every +description is only L.180,000,000. Nor can it be said, with any degree of +truth, that the agriculture of the country is dependent for its existence +on its manufactures, and would decline if they were materially injured; +for the example of modern Italy and Flanders proves, that three centuries +_after_ a country has ceased to be the chief in manufacturing or +commercial industry, it may advance with undiminished vigour and success +in the production of agricultural riches. + +But this is not all. The statistical documents which have now been +prepared with so much care by Parliament, and published by the accurate +and indefatigable Mr Porter, himself a decided free trader, demonstrate +that, of the manufacturing productions, nearly three-fourths are taken off +by the home market, and _four-fifths_ by the home and colonial market +taken together, leaving only ONE-FIFTH for _the whole foreign markets of +the world put together_-- + + "The total amount of British manufactures annually produced is about + £180,000,000 worth, of which only £47,000,000 is taken off by the + whole external trade of the world put together, while no less than + £133,000, 000 is consumed in the home market; and of the foreign + consumption, fully a third is absorbed by the British Colonies, in + different parts of the world. So that the home and colonial trade is + to the whole foreign put together as 5 to 1. And, whle the total + produce of manufactures is £180,000,000 annually, and of mines and + minerals £13,776,000, the amount of agricultural produce annually + extracted from the soil is not less than £300,000,000; or a half more + than the whole manufactures and mines put together." + +Further, if we compare the proportion purchased of our manufactures, which +is taken off by foreign nations, for the export to whom we are required to +make the sacrifice of our domestic agriculture, with what is consumed by +our own native population, whether in the British islands or in our +colonies of British descent, the difference is prodigious, and such as +might well, even for their own sake, make the Anti-corn-law League pause +in their career of violence. From the tables compiled from Porter's +_Parliamentary Tables_, and the population of the different states to whom +we export, taken from Malte Brun and Balbi, it appears, that while the +British population, whether at home or abroad, consume from £3 to £5 +a-head worth of our manufactures, the foreign nations to whom we are +willing to sacrifice the British agriculturists, take off per head ONLY AS +MANY PENCE. In preferring the one to the other, therefore, we are, +literally speaking, penny wise and pound foolish. + +We have shown how agriculture was ruined in the Roman empire in Italy, by +the free importation of grain from the Lybian and Egyptian provinces of +the empire. As a contrast to that woful progress, the main cause of the +destruction of the empire of the Caesars, we request the attention of our +readers to the progress of British exports in official value, which +indicates their amount from 1790 to 1840, premising that the _whole_ of +that period was one of protection to the British agriculturist; during the +first twenty years of the period, by the effects of the war--during the +last twenty-five, by the operation of the corn law and sliding scale, +introduced in 1814. We recommend the advocates of free trade to search the +annals of the world for a similar instance of progress and prosperity +flowing from, or co-existent with, the practical adoption of their +principles. + +These facts, which, in truth, are altogether decisive of the present +question, point to the great source from which the errors of the free +trade party are derived, and which appears, in an especial manner, their +favourite position, that cheap prices is an unmitigated blessing, and that +the great thing to attend to is to increase our imports. Cheap prices of +grain are like the Amreeta cap in Kehama; the greatest of all blessings is +the greatest of all curses, _according as they arise from magnitude of +domestic production, or magnitude of foreign importation_. Of the first we +had an example during the five fine years in succession, from 1830 to 1835, +during which the foreign importation was practically abolished by the +abundant harvests, and consequent high duty on grain under the sliding +scale. This was a period, as all the world knows, of universal and +unexampled commercial prosperity. Of the second we had a memorable example +during the five bad years in succession, which elapsed fiom 1836 to 1840, +in the course of which the corn laws, from the effect of the same sliding +scale, and the continued low prices, were practically abolished; and +importations, at the close of the period, amounted to 2,500,000 quarters, +and, on an average of the whole, was little short of 2,000,000 of quarters. +And what was the result? The exportation of 6,000,000 of sovereigns in a +single year to buy grain; an unexampled pressure on the money market; +commercial embarrassments, long-continued, and severe beyond all former +precedent; the contraction of ten millions of additional debt in four +years, and the creation of a deficit which at length rose to the +formidable amount, in 1842, of L.4,000,000 sterling! And what first +dispelled this distress, and arrested this downward and disastrous +progress? The fine harvests of 1842--the blessed sun of its long summer, +followed by the more checkered, but also fine summer of 1843, which again +gave us plenty, derived from domestic production, and consequent general +and increasing manufacturing as well as rural prosperity. + +It is in vain, therefore, to say, cheap prices are a blessing in +themselves, and the consumers at least are ever benefited by a fall in the +cost of grain. Cheap prices are a real blessing if that effect consists +with prosperity to the producer, as by improved methods of cultivation or +manufacture, or the benignity of nature in giving fine seasons. But cheap +prices are the greatest of all evils, and to none more shall the consumers, +if they are the result, not of the magnitude of domestic production, but +of the magnitude of foreign importation. It was that sort of cheap prices +which ruined the Roman empire, from the destruction of the agriculture of +Italy; it is that sort of cheap prices which has ruined the Indian weavers, +from the disastrous competition of the British steam-engine; it is that +sort of low prices which has so grievously depressed British shipping, +from the disastrous competition of the Baltic vessels under the +reciprocity system. It is in vain for the consumers to say, we will +separate our case from that of the producers, and care not, so as we get +low prices, what comes of them. Where will the consumers be, and that +erelong, if the producers are destroyed? What will be the condition of the +landlords if their farmers are ruined? or of bondholders if their debtors +are bankrupt? or of railway proprietors if traffic ceases? or of owners of +bank stock if bills are no longer presented for discount? or of the 3 per +cents if Government, by the failure of the productive industry of the +country, is rendered bankrupt? The consumers all rest on the producers, +and must sink or swim with them. + + * * * * * + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. +341, March, 1844, Vol. 55, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14778 *** |