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+Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426
+       Volume 17, New Series, February 28, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers
+
+Release Date: October 27, 2005 [EBook #16953]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the PG
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  NO. 426.  NEW SERIES.  SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1852.  PRICE 1½_d_.
+
+
+
+
+TIME'S REVIEW OF CHARACTER.
+
+ROBESPIERRE.
+
+
+Some characters are a puzzle to history, and none is more so than that
+of Robespierre. According to popular belief, this personage was a
+blood-thirsty monster, a vulgar tyrant, who committed the most
+unheard-of enormities, with the basely selfish object of raising
+himself to supreme power--of becoming the Cromwell of the Revolution.
+Considering that Robespierre was for five years--1789 to 1794--a prime
+leader in the political movements in France; that for a length of time
+he was personally concerned in sending from forty to fifty heads to
+the scaffold per diem; and that the Reign of Terror ceased immediately
+on his overthrow--it is not surprising that his character is
+associated with all that is villainous and detestable. Nevertheless,
+as the obscurities of the great revolutionary drama clear up, a
+strange suspicion begins to be entertained, that the popular legend
+respecting Robespierre is in a considerable degree fallacious; nay, it
+is almost thought that this man was, in reality, a most kind-hearted,
+simple, unambitious, and well-disposed individual--a person who, to
+say the least of it, deeply deplored the horrors in which
+considerations of duty had unhappily involved him. To attempt an
+unravelment of these contradictions, let us call up the phantom of
+this mysterious personage, and subject him to review.
+
+To understand Robespierre, it is necessary to understand the French
+Revolution. The proximate cause of that terrible convulsion was, as is
+well known, an utter disorder in all the functions of the state, and
+more particularly in the finances, equivalent to national bankruptcy.
+That matters might have been substantially patched up by judicious
+statesmanship, no one doubts; but that a catastrophe, sooner or later,
+was unavoidable, seems to be equally certain. The mind of France was
+rotten; the principles of society were undermined. As regards
+religion, there was a universal scepticism, of which the best
+literature of the day was the exponent; but this unbelief was greatly
+strengthened by the scandalous abuses in the ecclesiastical system. It
+required no depth of genius to point out that the great principles of
+brotherly love, humility, equality, liberty, promulgated as part and
+parcel of the Christian dispensation eighteen centuries previously,
+had no practical efficacy so far as France was concerned. Instead of
+equality before God and the law, the humbler classes were feudal
+serfs, without any appeal from the cruel oppressions to which they
+were exposed. In the midst of gloom, Rousseau's vague declamations on
+the rights of man fell like a ray of light. A spark was communicated,
+which kindled a flame in the bosoms of the more thoughtful and
+enthusiastic. An astonishing impulse was almost at once given to
+investigation. The philosopher had his adherents all over France.
+Viewed as a species of prophet, he was, properly speaking, a madman,
+who in his ravings had glanced on the truth, but only glanced. Among
+men of sense, his ornate declamations concerning nature and reason
+would have excited little more attention than that which is usually
+given to poetic and speculative fancies.
+
+Amidst an impulsive and lively people, unaccustomed to the practical
+consideration and treatment of abuses, there arose a cry to destroy,
+root up; to sweep away all preferences and privileges; to bring down
+the haughty, and raise the depressed; to let all men be free and
+equal, all men being brothers. Such is the origin of the three
+words--liberty, equality, and fraternity, which were caught up as the
+charter of social intercourse. It is for ever to be regretted that
+this explosion of sentiment was so utterly destructive in its
+character; for therein has it inflicted immense wrong on what is
+abstractedly true and beautiful. At first, as will be remembered, the
+revolutionists did not aim at establishing a republic, but that form
+of government necessarily grew out of their hallucinations. Without
+pausing to consider that a nation of emancipated serfs were unprepared
+to take on themselves the duties of an enlightened population, the
+plunge was unhesitatingly made.
+
+At this comparatively distant day, even with all the aids of the
+recording press, we can form no adequate idea of the fervour with
+which this great social overthrow was set about and accomplished. The
+best minds in France were in a state of ecstasy, bordering on
+delirium. A vast future of human happiness seemed to dawn. Tyranny,
+force, fraud, all the bad passions, were to disappear under the
+beneficent approach of Reason. Among the enthusiasts who rushed into
+this marvellous frenzy, was Maximilian Robespierre. It is said by his
+biographers, that Robespierre was of English or Scotch origin: we have
+seen an account which traced him to a family in the north, of not a
+dissimilar name. His father, at all events, was an advocate at Arras,
+in French Flanders, and here Maximilian was born in 1759. Bred to the
+law, he was sent as a representative to the States-General in 1789,
+and from this moment he entered on his career, and Paris was his home.
+At his outset, he made no impression, and scarcely excited public
+notice. His manners were singularly reserved, and his habits austere.
+The man lived within himself. Brooding over the works of Rousseau, he
+indulged in the dream of renovating the moral world. Like Mohammed
+contriving the dogmas of a new religion, Robespierre spent days in
+solitude, pondering on his destiny. To many of the revolutionary
+leaders, the struggle going on was merely a political drama, with a
+Convention for the _dénouement_. To Robespierre, it was a
+philosophical problem; all his thoughts aimed at the ideal--at the
+apotheosis of human nature.
+
+Let us take a look at his personal appearance. Visionaries are usually
+slovens. They despise fashions, and imagine that dirtiness is an
+attribute of genius. To do the honourable member for Artois justice,
+he was above this affectation. Small and neat in person, he always
+appeared in public tastefully dressed, according to the fashion of the
+period--hair well combed back, frizzled, and powdered; copious frills
+at the breast and wrists; a stainless white waistcoat; light-blue
+coat, with metal buttons; the sash of a representative tied round his
+waist; light-coloured breeches, white stockings, and shoes with silver
+buckles. Such was his ordinary costume; and if we stick a rose in his
+button-hole, or place a nosegay in his hand, we shall have a tolerable
+idea of his whole equipment. It is said he sometimes appeared in
+top-boots, which is not improbable; for this kind of boot had become
+fashionable among the republicans, from a notion that as top-boots
+were worn by gentlemen in England, they were allied to constitutional
+government. Robespierre's features were sharp, and enlivened by bright
+and deeply-sunk blue eyes. There was usually a gravity and intense
+thoughtfulness in his countenance, which conveyed an idea of his being
+thoroughly in earnest. Yet, his address was not unpleasing. Unlike
+modern French politicians, his face was always smooth, with no vestige
+of beard or whiskers. Altogether, therefore, he may be said to have
+been a well-dressed, gentlemanly man, animated with proper
+self-respect, and having no wish to court vulgar applause by
+neglecting the decencies of polite society.
+
+Before entering on his public career in Paris, Robespierre had
+probably formed his plans, in which, at least to outward appearance,
+there was an entire negation of self. A stern incorruptibility seemed
+the basis of his character; and it is quite true that no offers from
+the court, no overtures from associates, had power to tempt him. There
+was only one way by which he could sustain a high-souled independence,
+and that was the course adopted in like circumstances by Andrew
+Marvel--simple wants, rigorous economy, a disregard of fine company,
+an avoidance of expensive habits. Now, this is the curious thing in
+Robespierre's history. Perhaps there was a tinge of pride in his
+living a life of indigence; but in fairness it is entitled to be
+called an honest pride, when we consider that the means of profusion
+were within his reach. On his arrival in Paris, he procured a humble
+lodging in the Marais, a populous district in the north-eastern
+faubourgs; but it being represented to him some time afterwards, that,
+as a public man, it was unsafe to expose himself in a long walk daily
+to and from this obscure residence, he removed to a house in the Rue
+St Honoré, now marked No. 396, opposite the Church of the Assumption.
+Here he found a lodging with M. Duplay, a respectable but humble
+cabinet-maker, who had become attached to the principles of the
+Revolution; and here he was joined by his brother, who played an
+inferior part in public affairs, and is known in history as 'the
+Younger Robespierre.' The selection of this dwelling seems to have
+fallen in with Robespierre's notions of economy; and it suited his
+limited patrimony, which consisted of some rents irregularly paid by a
+few small farmers of his property in Artois. These ill-paid rents,
+with his salary as a representative, are said to have supported three
+persons--himself, his brother, and his sister; and so straitened was
+he in circumstances, that he had to borrow occasionally from his
+landlord. Even with all his pinching, he did not make both ends meet.
+We have it on authority, that at his death he was owing L.160; a small
+debt to be incurred during a residence of five years in Paris, by a
+person who figured as a leader of parties; and the insignificance of
+this sum attests his remarkable self-denial.
+
+Lamartine's account of the private life of Robespierre in the house of
+the Duplays is exceedingly fascinating, and we should suppose is
+founded on well-authorised facts. The house of Duplay, he says, 'was
+low, and in a court surrounded by sheds filled with timber and plants,
+and had almost a rustic appearance. It consisted of a parlour opening
+to the court, and communicating with a sitting-room that looked into a
+small garden. From the sitting-room a door led into a small study, in
+which was a piano. There was a winding-staircase to the first floor,
+where the master of the house lived, and thence to the apartment of
+Robespierre.'
+
+Here, long acquaintance, a common table, and association for several
+years, 'converted the hospitality of Duplay into an attachment that
+became reciprocal. The family of his landlord became a second family
+to Robespierre, and while they adopted his opinions, they neither lost
+the simplicity of their manners nor neglected their religious
+observances. They consisted of a father, mother, a son yet a youth,
+and four daughters, the eldest of whom was twenty-five, and the
+youngest eighteen. Familiar with the father, filial with the mother,
+paternal with the son, tender and almost brotherly with the young
+girls, he inspired and felt in this small domestic circle all those
+sentiments that only an ardent soul inspires and feels by spreading
+abroad its sympathies. Love also attached his heart, where toil,
+poverty, and retirement had fixed his life. Eléonore Duplay, the
+eldest daughter of his host, inspired Robespierre with a more serious
+attachment than her sisters. The feeling, rather predilection than
+passion, was more reasonable on the part of Robespierre, more ardent
+and simple on the part of the young girl. This affection afforded him
+tenderness without torment, happiness without excitement: it was the
+love adapted for a man plunged all day in the agitation of public
+life--a repose of the heart after mental fatigue. He and Eléonore
+lived in the same house as a betrothed couple, not as lovers.
+Robespierre had demanded the young girl's hand from her parents, and
+they had promised it to him.
+
+'"The total want of fortune," he said, "and the uncertainty of the
+morrow, prevented him from marrying her until the destiny of France
+was determined; but he only awaited the moment when the Revolution
+should be concluded, in order to retire from the turmoil and strife,
+marry her whom he loved, go to reside with her in Artois, on one of
+the farms he had saved among the possessions of his family, and there
+to mingle his obscure happiness in the common lot of his family."
+
+'The vicissitudes of the fortune, influence, and popularity of
+Robespierre effected no change in his simple mode of living. The
+multitude came to implore favour or life at the door of his house, yet
+nothing found its way within. The private lodging of Robespierre
+consisted of a low chamber, constructed in the form of a garret, above
+some cart-sheds, with the window opening upon the roof. It afforded no
+other prospect than the interior of a small court, resembling a
+wood-store, where the sounds of the workmen's hammers and saws
+constantly resounded, and which was continually traversed by Madame
+Duplay and her daughters, who there performed all their household
+duties. This chamber was also separated from that of the landlord by a
+small room common to the family and himself. On the other side were
+two rooms, likewise attics, which were inhabited, one by the son of
+the master of the house, the other by Simon Duplay, Robespierre's
+secretary, and the nephew of his host.
+
+'The chamber of the deputy contained only a wooden bedstead, covered
+with blue damask ornamented with white flowers, a table, and four
+straw-bottomed chairs. This apartment served him at once for a study
+and dormitory. His papers, his reports, the manuscripts of his
+discourses, written by himself in a regular but laboured hand, and
+with many marks of erasure, were placed carefully on deal-shelves
+against the wall. A few chosen books were also ranged thereon. A
+volume of Jean Jacques Rousseau or of Racine was generally open upon
+his table, and attested his philosophical and literary predilections.'
+
+With a mind continually on the stretch, and concerned less or more in
+all the great movements of the day, the features of this remarkable
+personage 'relaxed into absolute gaiety when in-doors, at table, or in
+the evening, around the wood-fire in the humble chamber of the
+cabinet-maker. His evenings were all passed with the family, in
+talking over the feelings of the day, the plans of the morrow, the
+conspiracies of the aristocrats, the dangers of the patriots, and the
+prospects of public felicity after the triumph of the Revolution.
+Sometimes Robespierre, who was anxious to cultivate the mind of his
+betrothed, read to the family aloud, and generally from the tragedies
+of Racine. He seldom went out in the evening; but two or three times a
+year he escorted Madame Duplay and her daughter to the theatre. On
+other days, Robespierre retired early to his chamber, lay down, and
+rose again at night to work. The innumerable discourses he had
+delivered in the two national assemblies, and to the Jacobins; the
+articles written for his journal while he had one; the still more
+numerous manuscripts of speeches which he had prepared, but never
+delivered; the studied style so remarkable; the indefatigable
+corrections marked with his pen upon the manuscripts--attest his
+watchings and his determination.
+
+'His only relaxations were solitary walks in imitation of his model,
+Jean Jacques Rousseau. His sole companion in these perambulations was
+his great dog, which slept at his chamber-door, and always followed
+him when he went out. This colossal animal, well known in the
+district, was called Brount. Robespierre was much attached to him, and
+constantly played with him. Occasionally, on a Sunday, all the family
+left Paris with Robespierre; and the politician, once more the man,
+amused himself with the mother, the sisters, and the brother of
+Eléonore in the wood of Versailles or of Issy.' Strange contradiction!
+The man who is thus described as so amiable, so gentle, so satisfied
+with the humble pleasures of an obscure family circle, went forth
+daily on a self-imposed mission of turbulence and terror. Let us
+follow him to the scene of his avocations. Living in the Rue St
+Honoré, he might be seen every morning on his way, by one of the
+narrow streets which led to the rooms of the National Assembly, or
+Convention, as the legislative body was called after the deposition of
+Louis XVI. The house so occupied, was situated on a spot now covered
+by the Rue Rivoli, opposite the gardens of the Tuileries. In
+connection with it, were several apartments used by committees; and
+there, by the leading members of the House, the actual business of the
+nation was for a long time conducted. It was by the part he played in
+one of these formidable committees, that of 'Public Safety'--more
+properly, public insecurity--that he becomes chargeable with his
+manifold crimes. For the commission of these atrocities, however, he
+held himself to be entirely excused; and how he could possibly
+entertain any such notion, remains for us to notice.
+
+The action of the Revolution was in the hands of three parties, into
+which the Convention was divided--namely, the Montagnards, the
+Girondists, and the Plaine. The last mentioned were a comparatively
+harmless set of persons, who acted as a neutral body, and leaned one
+way or the other according to their convictions, but whose votes it
+was important to obtain. Between the Montagnards and the Girondists
+there was no distinct difference of principle--both were keen
+republicans and levellers; but in carrying out their views, the
+Montagnards were the most violent and unscrupulous. The Girondists
+expected that, after a little preliminary harshness, the Republic
+would be established in a pacific manner; by the force, it may be
+called, of philosophic conviction spreading through society. They were
+thus the moderates; yet their moderation was unfortunately ill
+manifested. At the outset, they countenanced the disgraceful mobbings
+of the royal family; they gloried in the horrors of the 10th of
+August, and the humiliation of the king; and only began to express
+fears that things were going too far, when massacre became the order
+of the day, and the guillotine assumed the character of a national
+institution. They were finally borne down, as is well known, by the
+superior energy and audacity of their opponents; and all perished one
+way or other in the bloody struggle. Few pity them.
+
+We need hardly recall the fact, that the discussions in the Convention
+were greatly influenced by tumultuary movements out of doors. At a
+short distance, were two political clubs, the Jacobins and the
+Cordeliers, and there everything was debated and determined on. Of
+these notorious clubs, the most uncompromising was the Jacobins;
+consequently, its principal members were to be found among the party
+of the Montagnards. During the hottest time of the Revolution, the
+three men most distinguished as Montagnards and Jacobins were Marat,
+Danton, and Robespierre. Mirabeau, the orator of the Revolution, had
+already disappeared, being so fortunate as to die naturally, before
+the practice of mutual guillotining was established. After him,
+Vergniaud, the leader of the Girondists, was perhaps the most
+effective speaker; and till his fall, he possessed a commanding
+influence in the Convention. Danton was likewise a speaker of vast
+power, and from his towering figure, he seemed like a giant among
+pigmies. Marat might be termed the representative of the kennel. He
+was a low demagogue, flaunting in rags, dirty, and venomous: he was
+always calling out for more blood, as if the grand desideratum was the
+annihilation of mankind. Among the extreme men, Robespierre, by his
+eloquence, his artifice, and his bold counsels, contrived to maintain
+his position. This was no easy matter, for it was necessary to remain
+firm and unfaltering in every emergency. He, like the others at the
+helm of affairs, was constantly impelled forward by the clubs, but
+more so by the incessant clamours of the mob. At the Hôtel de Ville
+sat the Commune, a crew of blood-thirsty villains, headed by Hebert;
+and this miscreant, with his armed sections, accompanied by paid
+female furies, beset the Convention, and carried measures of severity
+by sheer intimidation. Let it further be remembered that, in 1793,
+France was kept in apprehension of invasion by the Allies under the
+Duke of Brunswick, and the army of emigrant noblesse under the command
+of Condé. The hovering of these forces on the frontiers, and their
+occasional successes, produced a constant alarm of counter-revolution,
+which was believed to be instigated by secret intriguers in the very
+heart of the Convention. It was alleged by Robespierre in his greatest
+orations, that the safety of the Republic depended on keeping up a
+wholesome state of terror; and that all who, in the slightest degree,
+leaned towards clemency, sanctioned the work of intriguers, and ought,
+accordingly, to be proscribed. By such harangues--in the main,
+miserable sophistry--he acquired prodigious popularity, and was in
+fact irresistible.
+
+Thus was legalised the Reign of Terror, which, founded in false
+reasoning and insane fears, we must, nevertheless, look back upon as a
+thing, at least to a certain extent, reconcilable with a sense of
+duty; inasmuch as even while signing warrants for transferring
+hundreds of people to the Revolutionary Tribunal--which was equivalent
+to sending them to the scaffold--Robespierre imagined that he was
+acting throughout under a clear, an imperious necessity: only ridding
+society of the elements that disturbed its purity and tranquillity.
+Stupendous hallucination! And did this fanatic really feel no pang of
+conscience? That will afterwards engage our consideration. Frequently,
+he was called on to proscribe and execute his most intimate friends;
+but it does not appear that any personal consideration ever stayed his
+proceedings. First, he swept away Royalists and aristocrats; next, he
+sacrificed the Girondists; last, he came to his companion-Jacobins.
+Accusing Danton and his friends of a tendency to moderation, he had
+the dexterity to get them proscribed and beheaded. When Danton was
+seized, he could hardly credit his senses: he who had long felt
+himself sure of being one day dictator by public acclamation, and to
+have been deceived by that dreamer, Robespierre, was most humiliating.
+But Robespierre would not dare to put _him_ to death! Grave
+miscalculation! He was immolated like the rest; the crowd looking on
+with indifference. Along with him perished Camille Desmoulins, a young
+man of letters, and a Jacobin, but convicted of advocating clemency.
+Robespierre was one of Camille's private and most valued friends; he
+had been his instructor in politics, and had become one of the
+trustees under his marriage-settlement. Robespierre visited at the
+house of his _protégé_; chatted with the young and handsome Madame
+Desmoulins at her parties; and frequently dandled the little Horace
+Desmoulins on his knee, and let him play with his bunch of seals. Yet,
+because they were adherents of Danton, he sent husband and wife to the
+scaffold within a few weeks of each other! What eloquent and touching
+appeals were made to old recollections by the mother of Madame
+Desmoulins. Robespierre was reminded of little Horace, and of his duty
+as a family guardian. All would not do. His heart was marble; and so
+the wretched pair were guillotined. Camille's letter to his wife, the
+night before he was led to the scaffold, cannot be read without
+emotion. He died with a lock of her hair clasped convulsively in his
+hand.
+
+Having thus cleared away to some extent all those who stood in the way
+of his views, Robespierre bethought himself of acting a new part in
+public affairs, calculated, as he thought, to dignify the Republic.
+Chaumette, a mean confederate of Hebert, and a mouthpiece of the
+rabble, had, by consent of the Convention, established Paganism, or
+the worship of Reason, as the national religion. Robespierre never
+gave his approval to this outrage, and took the earliest opportunity
+of restoring the worship of the Supreme. It is said, that of all the
+missions with which he believed himself to be charged, the highest,
+the holiest in his eyes, was the regeneration of the religious
+sentiment of the people: to unite heaven and earth by this bond of a
+faith which the Republic had broken, was for him the end, the
+consummation of the Revolution. In one of his paroxysms, he delivered
+an address to the Convention, which induced them to pass a law,
+acknowledging the existence of God, and ordaining a public festival to
+inaugurate the new religion. This fête took place on the 8th of June
+1794. Robespierre headed the procession to the Champ de Mars; and he
+seemed on the occasion to have at length reached the grand realisation
+of all his hopes and desires. From this _coup de théâtre_ he returned
+home, magnified in the estimation of the people, but ruined in the
+eyes of the Convention. His conduct had been too much that of one
+whose next step was to the restoration of the throne, with himself as
+its occupant. By Fouché, Tallien, Collot-d'Herbois, and some others,
+he was now thwarted in all his schemes. His wish was to close the
+Reign of Terror and allow the new moral world to begin; for his late
+access of devotional feeling had, in reality, disposed him to adopt
+benign and clement measures. But to arrest carnage was now beyond his
+power; he had invoked a demon which would not be laid. Assailed by
+calumny, he made the Convention resound with his speeches; spoke of
+fresh proscriptions to put down intrigue; and spread universal alarm
+among the members. In spite of the most magniloquent orations, he saw
+that his power was nearly gone. Sick at heart, he began to absent
+himself from committees, which still continued to send to the scaffold
+numbers whose obscure rank should have saved them from suspicion or
+vengeance.
+
+At this juncture, Robespierre was earnestly entreated by one of his
+more resolute adherents, St Just, to play a bold game for the
+dictatorship, which he represented as the only means of saving the
+Republic from anarchy. Anonymous letters to the same effect also
+poured in upon him; and prognostics of his greatness, uttered by an
+obscure fortune-teller, were listened to by the great demagogue with
+something like superstitious respect. But for this personal elevation
+he was not prepared. Pacing up and down his apartment, and striking
+his forehead with his hand, he candidly acknowledged that he was not
+made for power; while the bare idea of doing anything to endanger the
+Republic amounted, in his mind, to a species of sacrilege. At this
+crisis in his fate, therefore, he temporised: he sought peace, if not
+consolation, in solitude. He took long walks in the woods, where he
+spent hours seated on the ground, or leaning against a tree, his face
+buried in his hands, or earnestly bent on the surrounding natural
+objects. What was the precise tenor of his meditations, it would be
+deeply interesting to know. Did the great promoter of the Revolution
+ponder on the failure of his aspirations after a state of human
+perfectibility? Was he torn by remorse on seeing rise up, in
+imagination, the thousands of innocent individuals whom, in
+vindication of a theory, he had consigned to an ignominious and
+violent death, yet whose removal had, politically speaking, proved
+altogether fruitless?
+
+It is the more general belief, that in these solitary rambles
+Robespierre was preparing an oration, which, as he thought, should
+silence all his enemies, and restore him to parliamentary favour. A
+month was devoted to this rhetorical effort; and, unknown to him,
+during that interval all parties coalesced, and adopted the resolution
+to treat his oration when it came with contempt, and, at all hazards,
+to have him proscribed. The great day came, July 26 (8th Thermidor),
+1794. His speech, which he read from a paper, was delivered in his
+best style--in vain. It was followed by yells and hootings; and, with
+dismay, he retired to the Jacobins, to deliver it over again--as if to
+seek support among a more subservient audience. Next day, on entering
+the Convention, he was openly accused by Tallien and Billaud-Varennes
+of aspiring to despotic power. A scene of tumult ensued, and, amid
+cries of _Down with the tyrant!_ a writ for his committal to prison
+was drawn out. It must be considered a fine trait in the character of
+Robespierre the younger, that he begged to be included in the same
+decree of proscription with his brother. This wish was readily
+granted; and St Just, Couthon (who had lost the use of his legs, and
+was always carried about in an arm-chair), and Le Bas, were added to
+the number of the proscribed. Rescued, however, from the gendarmes by
+an insurrectionary force, headed by Henriot, Robespierre and his
+colleagues were conducted in triumph to the Hôtel de Ville. Here,
+during the night, earnest consultations were held; and the adherents
+of Robespierre implored him in desperation, as the last chance of
+safety for them all, to address a rousing proclamation to the
+sections. At length, yielding unwillingly to these frantic appeals, he
+commenced writing the required address; and it was while subscribing
+his name to this seditious document, that the soldiers of the
+Convention burst in upon him, and he was shot through the jaw by one
+of the gendarmes. At the same moment, Le Bas shot himself through the
+heart. All were made prisoners, and carried off--the dead body of Le
+Bas not excepted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While residing for a short time in Paris in 1849, we were one day
+conducted by a friend to a large house, with an air of faded grandeur,
+in the eastern faubourgs, which had belonged to an aged republican,
+recently deceased. He wished me to examine a literary curiosity, which
+was to be seen among other relics of the great Revolution. The
+curiosity in question was the proclamation, in the handwriting of
+Robespierre, to which he was in the act of inscribing his signature,
+when assaulted and made prisoner in the Hôtel de Ville. It was a small
+piece of paper, contained in a glass-frame; and, at this distance of
+time, could not fail to excite an interest in visitors. The few lines
+of writing, commencing with the stirring words: '_Courage, mes
+compatriotes!_' ended with only a part of the subscription. The
+letters, _Robes_, were all that were appended, and were followed by a
+blur of the pen; while the lower part of the paper shewed certain
+discolorations, as if made by drops of blood. And so this was the last
+surviving token of the notorious Robespierre! It is somewhat curious,
+that no historian seems to be aware of its existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stretched on a table in one of the anterooms of the Convention; his
+head leaning against a chair; his fractured jaw supported by a
+handkerchief passed round the top of his head; a glass with vinegar
+and a sponge at his side to moisten his feverish lips; speechless and
+almost motionless, yet conscious!--there lay Robespierre--the clerks,
+who, a few days ago, had cringed before him, now amusing themselves by
+pricking him with their penknives, and coarsely jesting over his fall.
+Great crowds, likewise, flocked to see him while in this undignified
+posture, and he was overwhelmed with the vilest expressions of hatred
+and abuse. The mental agony which he must have experienced during this
+humiliating exhibition, could scarcely fail to be increased on hearing
+himself made the object of unsparing and boisterous declamations from
+the adjoining tribune.
+
+At three o'clock in the afternoon (July 28), the prisoners were placed
+before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and at six, the whole were tied in
+carts, the dead body of Le Bas included, and conducted to execution.
+To this wretched band were added the whole family of the Duplays, with
+the exception of the mother; she having been strangled the previous
+night by female furies, who had broken into her house, and hung her to
+the iron rods of her bedstead. They were guiltless of any political
+crime; but their private connection with the principal object of
+proscription was considered to be sufficient for their condemnation.
+The circumstance of these individuals being involved in his fate,
+could not fail to aggravate the bitterness of Robespierre's
+reflections. As the dismal _cortège_ wended its way along the Rue St
+Honoré, he was loaded with imprecations by women whose husbands he had
+destroyed, and the shouts of children, whom he had deprived of
+parents, were the last sounds heard by him on earth. Yet he betrayed
+not the slightest emotion--perhaps he only pitied the ignorance of his
+persecutors. In the midst of the feelings of a misunderstood and
+martyred man, his head dropped into the basket!
+
+These few facts and observations respecting the career of Robespierre,
+enable us to form a tolerably correct estimate of his character. The
+man was a bigot. A perfect Republic was his faith, his religion. To
+integrity, perseverance, and extraordinary self-denial under
+temptation, he united only a sanguine temperament and moderate
+abilities for the working-out of a mistaken principle. Honest and
+zealous in his purpose, his conduct was precisely analogous to that of
+all religious persecutors--sparing no pain or bloodshed to accomplish
+what he believed to be a good end. Let us grant that he was a
+monomaniac, the question remains as to his general accountability. If
+he is to be acquitted on the score of insanity, who is to be judged?
+Not so are we to exempt great criminals from punishment and obloquy.
+Robespierre knew thoroughly what he was about; and far as he was
+misled in his motives, he must be held responsible for his actions.
+Before entering on the desperate enterprise of demolishing all
+existing institutions, with the hope of reconstructing the social
+fabric, it was his duty to be assured that his aims were practicable,
+and that he was himself authorised to think and act for the whole of
+mankind, or specially commissioned to kill and terrify into his
+doctrines. Instead of this, there is nothing to shew that he had
+formed any distinct scheme of a government to take the place of that
+which he had aided in destroying. All we learn is, that there hovered
+in his mind's eye some vague Utopia, in which public affairs would go
+on very much of themselves, through the mere force of universal
+Benevolence, liberated from the bosom of Nature. For his folly and
+audacity in nourishing so wild a theory, and still more for the
+reckless butcheries by which he sought to bring it into operation, we
+must, on a review of his whole character, adhere to the popular belief
+on the subject. Acquitted, as he must necessarily be, of the charge of
+personal ambition, he was still a monster, only the more dangerous and
+detestable for justifying murder on the ground of principle.
+
+W.C.
+
+
+
+
+INFANT SCHOOLS IN HUNGARY.
+
+
+The Austrian government has for some years been exerting itself, in
+connection with the clergy, for the improvement and spread of
+education in all the provinces of the empire, being anxious to do all
+in their power to save the country from those excesses which are so
+often found in connection with ignorance. As an Englishman, living in
+friendly intercourse with members of the imperial family, and many
+persons high in the administration, I am happy to avow my thorough
+conviction, that such, pure and simple, is the object held in view in
+the establishment of schools throughout the empire, and above all, in
+that of the infant schools, which are now planted in every place where
+there exists a sufficiency of population. I have all along taken a
+deep interest in these little seminaries in the kingdoms of Bohemia
+and Hungary, and am highly sensible of the liberal and humane
+principles on which they are conducted.
+
+Each contains from two to three hundred children, between one and a
+half and five years of age, all of them being the offspring of the
+humbler classes, and many of them orphans. All are instructed in the
+same room, but classed apart; that is, the girls occupy one half of
+the apartment, and the boys the other, leaving an avenue between them,
+which is occupied by the instructors. The boys are under the
+superintendence of a master, and the girls under that of a mistress.
+Both, however, teach or attend to the various necessities of either,
+as circumstances may require. Infants too young to learn, and those
+who are sent, either because they are orphans, or because the extreme
+poverty of the mother obliges her to do outwork, are amused with toys
+and pictures, all, however, of an instructive nature, and which the
+elder children delight to exhibit and explain to them in their own
+quaint little ways. I have frequently seen an infant, scarcely able to
+walk, brought in for the first time, and left on one of the benches of
+the school-room, surrounded by those already initiated. The alarm its
+new position occasioned to the little creature, at thus suddenly
+finding itself abandoned by the only person with whom it was familiar,
+in the midst of a multitude of unknown faces, can easily be imagined.
+A flood of tears was the first vent to its feelings, accompanied by a
+petulant endeavour to follow its parent or nurse. It was immediately,
+however, surrounded by a score of little comforters, who, full of the
+remembrance of past days, when their fears and their sadness were in
+like manner soothed and dissipated, would use a thousand little arts
+of consolation--one presenting a toy or picture, another repeating
+what has almost become a formula of kindly re-assurance, till smiles
+and sunshine would succeed to tears and clouds upon that little brow,
+and confidence and content to fear and mistrust. I have often seen the
+day thus pass with neophytes as a dream, only to be broken when the
+parent or nurse, returning to take them home, found them in the centre
+of a little joyous group, the gayest of the gay!
+
+One, after all, cannot wonder at this change, when he contrasts the
+scenery of the interior of an infant school with that of the
+generality of poor homes. The child, making, as it were, its first
+voyage in life, has here been introduced, not merely to a society
+conducted on principles of gentleness and kindness, but to a fairyland
+of marvels for the fascination of its intellectual faculties. From the
+ceiling to the _dado_--the wainscotted space at the base, for in
+Hungary this old arrangement is still maintained in its fullest
+form--the walls are covered with pictures of scripture scenes and
+objects in natural history; while the _dado_ itself, terminating above
+in a shelf, exhibits busts, stuffed animals, and pots of flowers--the
+whole place, indeed, being a kind of museum, specially adapted for the
+enjoyment as well as instruction of the young. At first, filled with
+wonder and delight, the infant begins to study the meaning and
+character of these objects: after a short attendance, you find they
+can tell the names of many, and speak many things regarding them. One
+day, while attending a Bohemian infant school, which was dismissing,
+and as I was examining some of the birds upon the shelf, a little hand
+was insinuated into mine, as if to get it warmed--as is often done by
+children--when, looking down, I beheld a bright, intelligent face,
+apparently eager to make some communication. 'Tuzok, tuzok!'
+('Bustard, bustard!') said a little voice. Encouraged by my smile,
+there was immediately added: 'Ez tuzok, ez mazzar honban, tisza fetöl
+jönn;' ('That is a bustard from Hungary, from the river Teiss.')
+Another little one, attracted by this observation, pointed to the
+elephant, and said in German: 'Und der ist elephant: er kommt von
+weiten, von ausland--_von morgenland_!' ('And that is the elephant: it
+comes from far, from a foreign land--from the _morning-land_!')--that
+is, the East!
+
+The children learn the first rudiments of religion, duty and obedience
+to their parents and teachers, spelling, &c. After the expiration of
+the time allotted to them here, they are sent to the normal schools,
+where they are instructed in all the various branches of education
+which are necessary to fit them for any situation or profession for
+which their several talents seem to have destined them.
+
+All parents of the lower classes are _compelled_ by law to send their
+children to school at a certain age. If they are in easy
+circumstances, they contribute a small sum monthly towards the
+expenses of the establishment. Those who are unable to pay the full
+sum, pay the half or a part; others, again, such as a great portion of
+day-labourers with large families, and who cannot even supply their
+children with necessary food and clothing, pay _nothing_: it is merely
+necessary for these to be furnished with a certificate of their
+incapacity to pay for the education of their children, and the state
+takes the whole charge of their instruction on itself.
+
+We have already spoken of the deep interest we have taken in the
+progress of the infant schools. We visit them frequently, and attend
+all the examinations. On entering, it is scarcely possible to
+recognise in clean, orderly inmates, the dirty, ragged, quarrelling,
+scratching, screaming children of the back-streets, which, however,
+they were only a short time ago. All is changed: the miserable hut,
+the narrow street, and muddy lane, for a pretty room full of pleasant
+objects; the timid look and distrustful scowl, for sunny cheerfulness
+and open confidence. There is no unkind distinction among the lower
+classes in this country, and by this I mean the whole of the Austrian
+states. There being only two classes--the nobles and the commons--none
+of the commons despise each other, however poor or humble their
+situation may be. The barefooted orphan, kept and educated by charity
+or the state, is not an object of contempt or ridicule to the child of
+the prosperous artisan, who stands clothed in its little snow-white
+frock and pink ribbons beside its less fortunate companion. Neither is
+any distinction made on account of religion. The infant schools of the
+empire are for the children of all the poor--Catholic, Lutheran,
+evangelical, &c.; and the two belonging to Presburg, to which we here
+particularly allude, contain from sixty to seventy of the latter in
+every two hundred.
+
+I was present at an examination of one of our Presburg seminaries in
+September last. A number of girls and boys, from three to five years
+of age, with a very few a little older, who had come in comparatively
+late, were subjected to the usual questioning in the various branches
+of their very elementary erudition. Some of the queries proved beyond
+the powers of the generality of the children; but this led to no
+expression of dejection or awkwardness. They evidently all endeavoured
+to do their very best. It was interesting to observe, that so far from
+pining to see a cleverer neighbour answer what they had failed in,
+they seemed to feel a triumph when, after a general difficulty, it was
+at length found that _some one_ could give the right answer--shewing
+that they might have a feeling of emulation as to the honour of the
+school, but none as between one pupil and another. On several
+occasions, when some unusually intelligent little creature would come
+from a back-form, and solve a question which had bewildered those in
+front, there was a sensible expression of delight over the whole
+school.
+
+In a far-off corner sat a little boy, poorly dressed, and of pallid
+countenance, but with a keen and intelligent eye, which had attracted
+my notice from the beginning. The more difficult the questions grew,
+his eye was fixed with the keener gaze on the face of the master.
+Several times I observed a puzzled child cast backwards to him a look,
+as expressing the assurance that _he_ was able to solve all
+difficulties. At length, on a slight motion of the master's hand, the
+little brown boy was seen to dart from his obscure recess, and pass
+rapidly across the forms, while his companions eagerly made way for
+him, clapping their hands as in anticipation of some brilliant
+achievement. In an instant, the boy stood before the master, his dark
+eye full of anxious expression, but quite devoid of doubt or anxiety.
+All our attention was at once directed to the half-clothed, barefooted
+child, to whom the questions were now put, and by whom they were
+answered with a promptitude and precision most wonderful. And who,
+what was he, that little brown boy? Some did not care to ask, and
+others said: 'Who would have thought that that little beggar-boy would
+have been so smart!' But God has chosen the vile things (to man) of
+this earth to become a bright and shining light to the world. We asked
+who that little boy was, and the master smiled, shook his head, and
+said: 'Oh, I scarcely know myself: it is a little boy the police have
+sent us in lately from the streets. It is not above three weeks since
+he came, but he is a good and very clever child--very desirous to
+learn, and never forgets anything!'
+
+I was affected by this trivial circumstance, reflecting how many
+little brown boys like this there must be in various countries called
+civilised, who, for want of a refuge where love and light are
+predominant, remain the outcasts of the streets, and become the prey
+of vice and ignorance.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOSING GAME.
+
+     [The following story is by no means a piece of mere
+     invention. The principal points were narrated to me by a
+     very intelligent young North-Sea fisherman, who had
+     frequently heard the legend from a grizzled old sailor on
+     board the smack in which he was an apprentice. The veteran
+     used to tell the story as having happened to himself; and he
+     had told it so often, that he firmly believed it, and used
+     to get into a passion when any of the crew dared to doubt or
+     laugh. I have, of course, licked the rough outlines of the
+     story or anecdote into something like shape; but the main
+     incidents are repeated to this day by the sailors of the
+     'Barking Fleet,' as the squadron of handsome smacks are
+     called, which, hailing from the town of Barking, in Essex,
+     pursue the toilsome task, in all seasons, and almost in all
+     weathers, of supplying the London market with North-Sea
+     turbot, soles, and cod. The story is told in the first
+     person, as Dick Hatch himself might have narrated it.]
+
+
+Nigh forty years ago, mates, when I was as young and supple as the boy
+Bill, there--though I was older than him by some years--I was serving
+my apprenticeship to the trade aboard the sloop _Lively Nan_. There
+were not such big vessels in the trade then, mates, as now; but they
+were tight craft, and manned by light fellows; and they did their work
+as well as the primest clipper of the Barking Fleet. Well, the _Lively
+Nan_ was about this quickest and most weatherly of the whole fleet;
+and she had a great name for making the quickest runs between the
+fishing-grounds and the river. But it wasn't owing so much to the
+qualities of the smack, as to the seamanship of the skipper. A prime
+sailor he was, surely. There wasn't another man sailed out of the
+River Thames who could handle a smack like Bob Goss. When he took the
+tiller, somehow the craft seemed to know it, and bobbed up half a
+point nearer to the wind; and when we were running free with the
+main-sheet eased off, and the foresail shivering, her wake would be as
+straight as her mast; only, he was a rare fellow for carrying on, was
+old Captain Goss! We would be staggering under a whole main-sail, when
+the other smacks had three reefs in theirs; and it was odds but we had
+one line of reef-points triced up, when our neighbours would be going
+at it under storm-trysail and storm-jib. He worked the _Lively Nan_
+hard, he did, did Captain Goss. Sweet, and wholesome, and easy as she
+was--for she would rise to any sea, like as comfortable as a duck--Old
+Goss all but drove her under. Dry jackets were scarce on board the
+_Lively Nan_. If there was as much wind stirring as would whirl round
+the rusty old vane on the topmast head, 'Carry on, carry on!' was
+always the captain's cry; and away we would bowl, half-a-dozen of the
+lee-streaks of the deck under water.
+
+Well, mates, Old Goss was a prime sailor; but he was a strange sort of
+man. To see him in a passion, was something you wouldn't forget in a
+hurry; and you wouldn't have known him long without having the chance.
+Most of us can swear a bit now and then; but you ought to have heard
+Captain Goss! He used even to frighten the old salts, that had common
+oaths in their mouths from morning till night. He was worse than the
+worst madman in Bedlam when his blood was up; and even the strong,
+bold men of the crew used to cower before him like as the cabin-boy.
+And yet, mates, he was but a little, maimed man, and more than sixty
+years old. He had a regular monkey-face; I never saw one like
+it--brown, and all over puckers, and working and twitching, like the
+sea where the tide-currents meet. He had but one eye, and he wore a
+big black patch over the place where the other had been; but that one
+eye, mates, would screw into you like a gimlet. Well, Captain Goss was
+more than fifty when he came down to Barking, and bought the _Lively
+Nan_, and made a carrier[1] of her; and nobody knew who he was, or
+where he came from. There was an old house at Barking then, and I have
+heard say that its ruins are there yet. The boys said that Guy
+Fawkes--him they burn every 5th of November--used to live there; and
+the story went that it was haunted, and that there was one room, the
+door of which always stood ajar, and nobody could either open or shut
+it. Well, mates, Old Captain Goss wasn't the sort of man to care much
+about Guy Fawkeses or goblins; so he hires a room in this old
+house--precious cheap he got it!--and when he was ashore, you could
+see a light in it all night; and if you went near, you might listen to
+Old Goss singing roaring songs about the brisk boys of the Spanish
+main, and yelling and huzzaing to himself, and drinking what he called
+his five-water grog. Five-water grog, mates--that was one of his
+jokes. It was rum made hot on the fire; and he could drink it scalding
+and never wink: and he would drink it till he got reg'lar wild. He was
+never right-down drunk, but just wild, like a savage beast! And then
+he would jump up, and make-believe he was fighting, and holler out to
+give it to the Spanish dogs, and that there were lots of doubloons
+below. I've gone myself with other youngsters, to listen at the door;
+and once when he was in the fit, yelling and singing, and laughing and
+swearing, all at once, I'm jiggered if he didn't out with a brace of
+old brass-mounted ship's pistols, and fire them right and left in the
+air, so that we cut and run a deal faster than we came. Of course the
+report soon got about that Captain Goss was an old pirate, or at the
+best an old bucaneer; and the Barking folks used to tell how many
+crews he had made walk the plank, and how there was blood-marks on his
+hands, which he used to try to cover with tar. But no one dared to say
+a word of this to him; and as he was a prime sailor, and even kind
+after his fashion, when he had taken first a reg'lar quantity of his
+five-water grog, he never wanted hands. At sea, he was often wild
+enough with liquor; but he no sooner put his hand on the tiller, than
+he seemed all right: and the _Lively Nan_ walked through it like
+smoke. I'm jiggered, mates, if that old fellow couldn't sail a ship
+asleep or awake, drunk or sober, dead or alive.
+
+Well, then, such was my old captain, Bobby Goss; and now I'll tell you
+what happened to him. One evening, in the autumn-time, and just when
+we were beginning to look out for the equinoctials, the _Lively Nan_
+was lying with her anchor a-peak--for we didn't mean to stay long--in
+Yarmouth Roads. There were three men on board, and one boy with
+myself; they called him Lawrence. I forget his other name, for I aint
+seen him for many a year. Well, the men had all turned in for'ards,
+and we two were left to wait for the captain, who had gone ashore; and
+after he came back, to take our spells at an anchor-watch till
+daylight, when we were to trip, and be off to the Dogger. The weather
+was near a dead calm, and warm for the time of year. The _Lively Nan_
+was lying with her gaff hoisted half-way and the peak settled down, so
+that we mightn't lose any time in setting the sail in the morning; and
+Lawrence and I were lying in the fo'castle, with our pipes in our
+mouths, watching the shore, to see if the captain was coming off, and
+seeing the sun go down over the sand-hills and the steeples and the
+wind-mills of Yarmouth. There weren't many vessels in the Roads; but
+the Yarmouth galleys, that go dodging about among the sands, were
+stretching in for the beach with the last puff of the evening breeze;
+and the herring-boats could be seen going off to their ground like
+specks out upon the sea. Then presently it got dark, and the
+town-lights of Yarmouth came sparkling out, the harbour-light the
+biggest, and away to the south'ard, the Lowstofft Light-house. But,
+after all, there aint much amusement in watching lights, and we both
+of us wanted to turn in; but till the captain came, there was no warm
+blankets for either. So we got wondering what Old Goss was doing at
+Yarmouth, and what was keeping him, and whether he'd come aboard drunk
+or sober, and whether he'd blow us up, and whether he'd rope's-end us,
+which was as likely as not, or perhaps more. Well, so hour after hour
+passed, and the night was so calm we could hear the chimes of the
+Yarmouth clocks, and the water going lap-lap against the sides of the
+_Lively Nan_, and the rudder going cheep-cheep as the sway of the sea
+stirred it. At last, says Lawrence: 'It's reg'lar dull here; let's go
+below.'
+
+'What's the use?' says I: 'there's no light, and the hands are all
+fast asleep.'
+
+'No,' says he; 'to the captain's cabin I mean. There's a lamp there;
+and we can hear the oars of the boat, and be on deck again, and no one
+the wiser.'
+
+Well, mates, I had some curiosity to get a glimpse of the captain's
+cabin, where I very seldom went, and never stayed long: so down we
+went, lighted up the lamp, and looked about us. There wasn't much,
+however, to see. It was a black little hole, with a brass stove and
+lockers, and a couple of berths, larboard and starboard, and a small
+picture of a fore-and-aft rigged schooner, very low in the water, and
+looking a reg'lar clipper; and no name to her. Well, mates, all at
+once I caught sight of a pack of cards lying on a locker. 'Here's a
+bit o' fun,' says I; 'Lawry, let's have a game;' and he agreed. So
+down we sat, and began to play 'put.' A precious greasy old lot of
+cards they were; and so many dirt-spots on them, that it required a
+fellow with sharp eyes to make out the dirt from the Clubs and Spades.
+However, we got on somehow. When one was ready to play, he knocked the
+table with his knuckles, as a signal to the other; and for hours and
+hours we shuffled and dealt and knocked until it was late in the
+night, which I ought to have told you was Saturday night. At last,
+just as we ended a game, and when we were listening if a boat was
+coming, before beginning another, we heard the Yarmouth clocks ring
+twelve.
+
+'Put up the cards,' says Lawrence; 'I'll not play more.'
+
+'Why not?' says I.
+
+'Because,' says he, and he stammered a little--'because it's Sunday.'
+
+Well, mates, I had forgotten all my notions of that kind, and so I
+laughed at him. But it was no use.
+
+'Them,' says he, 'that plays cards on a Sunday, runs a double chance
+of death on Monday.'
+
+His mother had told him this, and so he refused out-and-out to go on.
+'Well,' says I, 'I aint afraid, and I'd play if I had a partner.'
+
+Mates! the cards were lying in a pack, and the words were hardly out
+of my mouth, before they slipped down, and spread themselves out upon
+the table! Lawrence gave a loud screech, and jumped up. 'Oh!' says he,
+'it's the Old Un with us in the cabin!' and up the companion he
+tumbled, and I at his heels; and rushed for'ard as hard as we could
+pelt, and cuddled under the foresail--which was lying on the deck--all
+trembling and shaking, and our teeth chattering.
+
+'I told you what it would be,' says Lawrence.
+
+'I'll never play cards again,' says I, 'on a Sunday!'
+
+Just at that minute we heard oars, and then a hail: 'The _Lively Nan_,
+ahoy!' It was Old Goss's voice, and it was so thick, we knew he wasn't
+sober. So we slunk out, all trembling and clinging to each other. The
+lamp was burning up the cabin skylight, but we were afraid to look
+down. But if we didn't look, we could not help hearing; and sure
+enough there was the rap of knuckles on the table, as if Somebody was
+impatient that his partner didn't play. Well, we were more dead than
+alive when the captain came alongside in a shore-boat, and tumbled up
+the side, abusing the boatmen for the price he had to pay them. He had
+a lantern, and noticed the state we were in at once.
+
+'Now, then,' says he, 'you couple of young swabs, what are ye standing
+grinning there for, like powder-monkeys in the aguer? What's come over
+you, ye twin pair of snivelling Molly Coddles?' We looked at each
+other, but we were afraid to speak. 'What is it?' he roared again, 'or
+I'll make your backs as hot as a roasted pig's!' And on this, Lawrence
+reg'larly blubbered out: 'The devil, sir; the devil is in the cabin
+playing at double dummy "put!"'
+
+You should have heard Old Goss's laugh at this. They might have heard
+it ashore at Yarmouth. Just as it stopped, the sound of the knuckles
+came up through the skylight.
+
+'Who's below?' says the captain.
+
+'No one,' says I.
+
+'But Davy Jones,' says Lawrence.
+
+'Then,' says the captain, with an oath that was enough to split the
+mast, 'I'll play with him! It's not been the first time, and it mayn't
+be the last. Go for'ard, you beggars' brats, and don't disturb us;'
+and he went down the companion.
+
+But we did not go for'ard. No; we stretched ourselves on the deck, and
+peeped down the skylight. We could only see faintly, but we did see
+the captain sitting, holding his hand of cards, and another hand
+opposite, all spread out, but no fingers holding it, and no man behind
+it. There was a rap on the table, and I am sure it was not the captain
+that struck it.
+
+'Very well,' says he; 'wait till I've thought. You're so confounded
+sharp.'
+
+Then he played, and there was a dark shadow on the table--we did not
+know what, but it made our hair stand on end.
+
+'Play fair, Old Un!' says the captain. 'There goes king of trumps. Ha!
+that's what I thought! Of course, the devil's own luck--it's a
+proverb. Well, never say die. There!' and he played again.
+
+But we could stand it no longer. We scrambled to our legs, and the
+next minute were down in fo'castle, rousing the men. They were sleepy
+enough, you may be bound; but we almost lugged them out of the
+hammocks. 'Turn out, turn out, shipmates, for God's-sake: the devil's
+aboard this ship, and he's playing cards with the captain in the
+cabin.' At first, mates, the hands thought we had gone mad; but we
+both of us told in a breath what we had seen; and so in a minute or
+two we all went aft, creeping like cats along the deck. But there was
+no need. We heard Old Goss's voice raging like a fury.
+
+'You're a cheat, Old Un,' he was yelling out. 'You cheat all mankind:
+you've cheated me. Come, play; double or quits on the first turn-up.
+What's that? Nine of Spades! Seven of Spades! What! no trumps? I say,
+don't you mind the old craft under the line? That's her opposite you;
+so, play away.'
+
+'Mates,' says an old salt--his name was Bartholomew Cook--'mates,'
+says he, 'this is a doomed ship, an I won't ship for another v'y'ge.'
+
+'Nor I;' 'nor I,' says several, as we crept along.
+
+'He's only mad with drink,' whispered the mate. 'It's all five-water
+grog.'
+
+'Is it?' said Bartholomew. 'Look down there!'
+
+The men crept to the skylight, and peeped; and so did I. What we saw,
+not a man forgot the longest day he lived. The captain was dealing the
+cards furiously; his face working and swelling; his hair bristling up;
+his good eye gleaming, and the patch off the other, the blind one,
+which was shining, too, as it were, like a rotten oyster in the dark.
+
+'Play!' roars Goss at last; and then he paused, as if he was thinking
+of his next card. The table was rapped. He played; and then quick and
+furious the cards came down; the captain all the while raving,
+shouting, and foaming at the mouth.
+
+'Against me--against me--against me! Avaunt! A man's no match for ye.
+Ye have all! Lost again! No; here--stop. On the next card, I stake
+myself--my ship--my'--
+
+'Stop!' shouted old Bartholomew. He had been standing at the foot of
+the companion, and he burst into the cabin. 'Stop, Captain Goss, in
+the name of God!'
+
+Goss turned round to him. His face was so like the Evil One's that we
+did not look for any other. Then a brass-mounted pistol--a shot--and
+rolling smoke: all passed in a minute. Then the captain flung a card
+upon the table, and with a yell like a wild beast, shouted out:
+'Lost!' fell over the cards, extinguished the lamp; and we neither
+heard nor saw more, till there came a shuffling on the companion, and
+Bartholomew crawled out with his face all blackened by the powder, and
+the blood trickling from his cheek, where the ball had grazed it. We
+all went for'ard, mates, and had a long palaver, and resolved to go
+ashore at daybreak, and leave a doomed captain and a doomed ship. But
+we didn't know our man. In the gray of the morning, we heard the
+handspike rattle on the hatch, and we tumbled up one after the other.
+The captain was there, looking much as usual, but only paler.
+
+'Man the windlass,' says he.
+
+'We're going ashore, sir,' says Bartholomew firmly.
+
+'How?' says the captain.
+
+'In the boat,' says Bartholomew.
+
+'Are you?' says Goss: 'look at her!' He had cut her adrift, and she
+was a mile off.
+
+'And now,' says Goss, 'I was drunk last night, and frightened
+you--playing tricks with cards. Don't be fools; do your duty, and defy
+Davy Jones. If not'--And then he flung open his pea-coat, and we saw
+four of the brass-mounted pistols in his belt. But, mates, his one eye
+was worse than the four muzzles, and we slunk to our work, and obeyed
+him. The easterly breeze came fresh, and we were soon bowling away
+nor'ard. The captain stood long at the helm, and we gathered for'ard.
+'We're lost!' said Bartholomew; 'we're lost men! We're bought and
+sold!'
+
+'Bartholomew,' shouts the captain, 'come and take the helm!' He went
+aft, mates, like a lamb; and the captain walked for'ards, and looked
+at us, one after another; and the one eye cowed us. We were not like
+men; and he was our master. When he went below, we grouped together,
+and looked out to windward. It was getting black--black; the wind was
+coming off in gusts; and the _Lively Nan_ began to dance to the seas
+that came rolling in from the eastward. 'The equinoctial!' we says one
+to another. In an hour more, mates, all the sky to windward was like a
+big sheet of lead; with white clouds, like feathers, driving athwart
+it--the clouds, as it were, whiter than the firmament. You know the
+meaning, mates, of a sky like that; and accordingly, by nightfall, we
+had it; and the _Lively Nan_, under close-reefed main-sail and
+storm-jib, was groaning, and plunging, and diving in the seas--the
+wind blowing, mates, as if it would have wrenched the mast out of the
+keelson. Many a gale have I been in, before and since, but that was
+the worst of all. Well, mates, we thought we were doomed, but we did
+our work, silent and steady; and we kept the smack under a press of
+canvas that none but such a boat could bear, to claw her off the
+lee-shore--off them fearsome sands that lie all along Lincolnshire.
+Captain Goss was as bold and cool as ever, and stood by the
+tiller-tackle, and steered the ship as no hand but his could do.
+
+It was the gloaming of the night, mates, when the gale came down,
+heavier and heavier--a perfect blast, that tore up the very sea, and
+drove sheets of water into the air. We were a'most blinded, and clung
+to cleats and rigging--the sea tumbling over and over us; and the
+poor, old smack at length smashed down on her beam-ends. All at once,
+the mast went over the side; and as we righted and rose on the curl of
+a seaway, Bartholomew sung out, loud and shrill: 'Sail, ho!' We
+looked. Right to windward, mates, there was a sort of light opening in
+the clouds; something of the colour of the ring round the moon in
+dirty weather, and nigh as round; and in the middle of it was a smack,
+driving right down on us, her bowsprit not a cable-length from our
+broadside. She looked wondrous like the _Lively Nan_ herself, and some
+of us saw our own faces clustered for'ard, looking at ourselves over
+the bow!
+
+As this notion was passed from one to another, we cried out aloud,
+that our hour was come. Captain Goss was in the middle of us. 'Hold
+your baby screeches,' says he. 'You'll be none the worse; it's me and
+the smack she has to do with.' Even, as he spoke, she was on us. Some
+fell on their knees, and others clenched their fists and their teeth;
+but instead of the crash of meeting timber, we heard but a rustle, and
+the shadow of her sails flitted, as it were, across us; and as they
+passed, the wind was cold, cold, and struck us like frost; and the
+next minute the _Lively Nan_ had sunk below our feet, and we found
+ourselves in the roaring sea, struggling among the wreck of the mast.
+The smack was gone, and the strange ship gone, and the gale blowing
+steady and strong. One by one, mates, we got astride of the mast, and
+lashed ourselves with odds and ends of broken rope; and then we began,
+as we rose and fell on the sea, to look about and muster how many we
+were. The crew, including the captain, was seven hands, but we were
+sure there were eight men sitting on the mast. It was too dark to see
+faces; but you could see the dark figures clinging to the spar.
+
+'Answer to your names, mates,' says Bartholomew, who somehow took the
+lead. And so he called over the list till he came to the captain.
+
+'Captain Goss?'
+
+'Here,' says the captain's voice.
+
+We now knew there was somebody behind him who was not one of the crew.
+It was too dark, however, to see distinctly, and Goss interrupted our
+view such as it was.
+
+'Who is the man on the end of the mast, Captain Goss?' says
+Bartholomew.
+
+'You might be old enough to guess that!' replied the captain, and his
+voice was husky-like, but quite clear; and it never trembled. 'Some
+men call him one thing, some another; and we of the sea call him Davy
+Jones.'
+
+Mates, at that we clustered up together as well as we could, and
+fixing our eyes on what was passing at the other end of the mast, we
+hardly attended to the seas that broke over and over us. At last, we
+saw Captain Goss, by the light of the beds of bursting foam, fumbling
+for something in his breast.
+
+'Is it a Bible you have there?' cried Bartholomew. The captain didn't
+answer, but pulled out the thing he was trying for; and we guessed
+somehow, for we could hardly see, that it was the greasy pack of
+cards.
+
+'Double or quits!' he shouted, 'on all I've staked;' and in another
+instant there was one horrid, unearthly screech, like what we heard in
+the cabin before, and the mast, as it were, tipped the heel of it, the
+cross-trees rising many feet above the water. Whether or no it was the
+motion of the waves that had tossed it, no man can say; but when the
+mast rolled again with the next sea, the heel came up empty: Captain
+Goss and his companion were gone!
+
+'Thank God,' says Old Bartholomew, 'for Jonah is in the sea.' In less
+than half an hour, mates, we were tossed ashore, without a bruise or
+scratch. We walked the beach till daylight, and then we saw that the
+mast had disappeared. None ever saw more a timber or a rope's-end of
+the _Lively Nan_. She had been staked and won; but the greasy cards,
+mates, lay wet and dank upon the beach, and we left them to wither
+there among the sea-weed.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The smacks used to convey the fish from the traulers to the Thames
+are called 'carriers.'
+
+
+
+
+PARTNERSHIP IN COMMANDITE.
+
+
+It is a general prejudice, that a subject like the law of partnership
+is a matter for the legal profession only, or, at most, for the
+consideration of capitalists embarked in partnership business. But it
+is, in truth, a subject of great interest to the public at large, and
+especially to that valuable portion of the community who possess
+ability and character, and have a little property--but not much--at
+stake in the soundness of our institutions. This class have, however,
+of late begun to shew a visible interest in the subject--an interest
+which, had it existed earlier, might have prevented any of the
+anomalies of which we complain from increasing to their present
+excess.
+
+The political economists have ever admitted the great influence of
+combined capital: they have pointed to many valuable operations, such
+as gas-works, water-works, railways, &c. which can be performed by
+combined capital, but are beyond the capacity of individual
+capitalists. They have also admitted the efficacy of a division or
+combination of labour; whether it be that of the mechanic, or of some
+higher grade, such as the designer and projector. The views of the
+older school of political economists would be in entire concurrence
+with anything that would facilitate such combinations, where several
+men with skill or money take their parts; as, for instance, where one
+is the buyer of raw materials, another keeps the accounts, another
+draws patterns, and another acts as salesman. On the other hand, some
+novel speculators go so much farther, that they would revolutionise
+society, and, by force, compel it to be organised into co-operative
+sections. It infers no sympathy with these wild schemes of
+destruction, and artificial reconstruction, to desire that our law
+should give facility for co-operation and combination--nay, that it
+should give to it every encouragement consistent with other interests,
+and with civil liberty.
+
+But our law, unfortunately, instead of doing thus, has set heavy
+impediments in the way of co-operation; we might speak more strongly,
+and say, that it has prepared pitfalls, in which any person guilty of
+having joined in a co-operative scheme, may at once find himself
+overwhelmed, as a punishment for his offence. Invest part of your
+savings in a company in which you have reliance; assist a young man,
+of whose capacity and honesty you think well, by investing money in
+his business; and some day you may find yourself ruined for having
+done so.
+
+Those readers who have turned any attention to this subject, will at
+once see that we refer to the law of unlimited responsibility in
+partnerships. Except when the company proceeds under an act of
+parliament, a charter, or patent, limiting the responsibility, every
+partner is responsible for the debts and obligations of the concern,
+to the last farthing he possesses. Very often, a young man of
+enterprise and ability, acting as manager, overseer, or in some other
+respectable capacity, receives a small share in the profits to
+encourage him to exertion: he has no control over the management: some
+leading man plunges, to serve himself, into dangerous speculations,
+and there is a bankruptcy. The young man has done nothing but good
+service all along to the partnership, and to its creditors, and all
+who have had dealings with it; yet, if he have saved a trifle, it is
+swept away with the effects of the real speculators. Take another case
+equally common: A young man commences business alone, or in company
+with others: they have intelligence, ability, and honesty, but little
+capital. A capitalist, who, perhaps, conducts some larger business of
+his own, might, ingrafting kindness on prudential considerations, be
+inclined to embark with them to a certain extent; but he finds, that
+instead of a prudential step, nothing could be more thoroughly
+imprudent. He will have to embark not only the small sum he destined
+for the purpose, but his whole fortune. Dealers who have transactions
+with the young partners, will know that a man of fortune is 'at their
+back,' as it is termed, and will give them credit and encouragement
+accordingly. Without being conscious of any dishonesty, the firm will
+be led to trade, not on the capital which their friend has advanced,
+but on the capital which he possesses. Of course, they do not intend
+that he should lose his fortune, any more than that they themselves
+should lose their business and pecuniary means. But these things
+happen against people's intentions and inclinations; and the friend
+who wished to aid them with a moderate and cautious advance, is
+ruined; while those who were giving reckless credit, and who
+encouraged dangerous speculations, are paid cent. per cent. It is the
+fear of such a consummation as this that generally makes the
+well-intending friend abstain from ultimately committing himself with
+those with whom he would have fain co-operated.
+
+It is quite right that trading companies should not trade on false
+resources, and be able to laugh at their creditors by placing out of
+the reach of the law the funds with which they have speculated. Yet
+this can be done under the present system; and there is a class of men
+in the commercial world, banded together by peculiar ties and
+interests, who are said to accomplish it on a large and comprehensive
+scale. It is thus carried out: A penniless man starts in business,
+supplied with abundant capital by his friends: they may demand 6, 7,
+or 10 per cent. for the use of it; and if they manage, which they may,
+to avoid the residue of the law of usury, they are safe from the law
+of partnership. The new man, by his prompt payments and abundant
+command of capital, works himself into good credit. It is an
+understanding, that when he has been thus set afloat, the money
+advanced by his friends is to be gradually repaid. He is then left to
+swim or sink. If the former be his fate, it is well for all parties;
+if the latter, his friends will not be the sufferers: their capital is
+preserved, and they can play the same game over again, in some other
+place, with the hope of an equally happy result.
+
+The same modifications of the law which would free partnership of its
+terrors would be only naturally accompanied with safeguards to protect
+the public against such schemes as these. In France, America, and many
+other countries, there is a system of partnership, with limited
+responsibility, known by the name of 'Partnership in _Commandite_.'
+Even with us, limited responsibility is by no means unknown. It is,
+however, granted capriciously and unsystematically, without those
+checks and regulations which, if there were a general system, would be
+adopted to make it safe and effective. 'I wish,' said Mr Duncan, a
+solicitor, when examined before the Select Committee on the Law of
+Partnership, 'to draw the attention of the committee first to this
+simple fact--that all the railway, gas, and water and dock companies,
+and all the telegraph companies, as a matter of course, have limited
+liability. It is impossible to trace why they have got it, but they
+have got it as a habit, and for any extent of capital they desire.
+Whether a project be to make a railway from one small place to
+another, or to provide gas to supply any town, great or small, all
+those companies, as a matter of course, come to the legislature and
+ask for, and obtain, limited liability. They are commercial companies,
+and one cannot trace the reason why they should have limited liability
+a bit more than any other company--but it is so.'
+
+Here we have at least a precedent, which is of importance in a country
+like this, so truly conservative in the sense of adhering to anything
+that is fixed law or matter of traditional business routine. Now, in
+these concerns, where there is often so much wild speculation and
+mismanagement, no one is responsible beyond the subscribed stock; yet
+while we hear enough of the stockholders themselves losing their
+property, we seldom, scarcely ever, hear of the creditors who deal
+with them, in contracting for their works or otherwise, losing. The
+reason is, because the extent to which they can pay is known, and the
+people who deal with the company calculate accordingly. Unlimited
+liability existing in some indefinite parties, while it too often
+ruins these parties themselves, is a bait for that indefinite credit
+which produces their ruin, and sometimes leaves the careless creditor
+unpaid, even when he has taken the last farthing from the unfortunate
+partner.
+
+In the commandite partnerships, however, the restriction of liability
+does not apply to all the shareholders, as in the case of our great
+joint-stock companies. Full responsibility alights only on those
+partners who take it upon them, who have an interest in the profits
+measured by their responsibility, and who are known to the world to be
+so responsible. With regard to those whose responsibility is said to
+be limited, it would be more accurate to say, that they have no
+responsibility at all: there is a fixed sum which they have invested
+in the concern--they may lose it, but it is there already; and there
+is nothing for which they have, properly speaking, to be responsible.
+The method adopted in France may be described thus:--There is a
+private act or contract, in which are given the names of the partners,
+and the sums contributed by them. The names of the _gérants_, or those
+who, as ostensible conductors of the business, are to be responsible
+to the whole extent of their property, are then published. With regard
+to those who put in money without incurring farther responsibility, it
+is only necessary to publish the sums contributed by them: no farther
+information regarding them would be of any use, unless to their
+fellow-partners, who would perhaps like to know if the concern is
+patronised by men of sense, and they may satisfy themselves by looking
+at the deed of partnership. Now, there is perfect fairness in all
+this. The public know the persons who agree to take the full
+responsibility; they know also the amount of money put into their
+hands by other parties. In deciding whether they shall deal or not
+with this body, they are not perplexed by mysterious visions of
+possible rich unknowns who may be brought in for the company's
+obligations. We cannot see that such an arrangement is in the least
+unfair, and we are convinced that it would be productive of great
+good. The subscribers with limited responsibility, or
+_commanditaires_, as they are called, are not cut off from all control
+over the management of their funds: it is their own fault if they join
+a commandite company where they are not allowed to inspect the books,
+and check rashness or extravagance.
+
+It seems to be frequently the case, that a set of able workmen, in the
+kind of artistic manufactures for which France is celebrated, become
+the _gérants_ of such companies. This, we believe, is a form in which
+whatever element of good may happen to lie in the co-operative
+theories of a recent school of Socialists will be found. The
+commercial witnesses before the select committee, spoke of ribbons and
+other ornamental manufactures, which were only produced in perfection
+in establishments where the energies of the designers were roused by
+the possession of a share in the business, and in its management, as
+_gérants_. Coinciding with these practical witnesses, the theorists on
+political economy who were consulted on the occasion--such as Mr
+Babbage and Mr J.S. Mill--held that many inventions that might be
+patented and used, and many ingenious discoveries made by men of the
+operative class, were lost to the world by the defective state of the
+law. They would often get those who, richer than themselves, have
+reliance on their judgment, to aid them in carrying out their
+inventions or improvements, were it not for the law of unlimited
+responsibility.
+
+We can even anticipate, from anything that will facilitate fruitful
+investment by the working-classes, a still wider--we might say, a
+political effect. The chief defect in our otherwise sound social
+system, is the want of fusion between the class of employers and
+employed. As some other countries are subject to the more serious evil
+of being without a middle-class between the aristocracy and the common
+people, so we want a sub-grade, as it were, between the middle and the
+working classes. It is too much the practice to consider them as
+separated from each other by interests, tastes, and feelings. It is,
+on the contrary, the real truth that their interests are indissolubly
+united; but if there were a less broad line separating them from each
+other, this would be more apparent. The true way to fill up the gap
+happily for all parties, is not for the middle-class to descend, but
+the working-class to rise. Nothing could better accomplish this, than
+imparting to them facilities for entering into business on a small
+scale on their own account. The hopelessness with which the workman
+looks at the position of the employer, as that of a great capitalist,
+would then be turned into hope and endeavour.
+
+It is often said, that the operative classes shew an unfortunate
+indisposition to advance onwards, and abandon their uniform routine of
+toil: the answer to this is--try them. They have adopted the means at
+their command in other countries. Mr Davis, an American gentleman,
+gave the select committee an animated view of the ambitious workmen of
+the New England states, where, he said, 'nobody is contented with his
+present condition--everybody is struggling for something better.' Now,
+to be discontented with one's condition, in the shape of folding the
+arms, and abusing the fate that has not sent chance prosperity, is a
+bad thing; but the discontent--if such it can be justly called--which
+incites a man to rise in the world by honest exertions, is in every
+way a good thing. Mr Davis said, he has been told that, in Lowell,
+some of the young women hold stock in the mills in which they work.
+Imagine a factory-girl holding stock in a mill!
+
+We believe that unlimited responsibility was really founded on the old
+prejudices against usury or interest; and as these prejudices are fast
+disappearing, we may hope speedily to see this relic of their
+operation removed. Towards this end, let the operatives everywhere
+meet to consider this question, so important to their interests; and,
+as we believe they will generally see the propriety of furthering a
+law to establish commandite partnerships, let them petition the House
+of Commons accordingly. Whether the classes with capital will move in
+the matter, is doubtful; for they are not the parties to be chiefly
+benefited. The best way is not to trust to them on the subject; but
+for the working-classes to take the thing into their own hands, and
+spare no exertion to procure an act of parliament of the kind we speak
+of. We feel assured, that such an act would do more to inspire hope
+among artisans, and to put them in the way of fortune, than any other
+law that could be mentioned.
+
+
+
+
+RECENT FIRE-PANICS.
+
+
+The panic created by a cry of fire in theatres, churches, and other
+public buildings, may be said to cause a considerably greater number
+of deaths than the flames themselves. Few persons, indeed, are burnt
+to death, means of escape from conflagration being usually found;
+whereas, the number suffocated and bruised to death by mere panic, is
+lamentably large. The following is the account of a most disastrous
+fire-panic, which we gather from a paper in an American Journal of
+Education.
+
+In the city of New York there is a school, known as the 'Ninth Ward
+School-house,' Greenwich Avenue. The house is built of brick, and
+consists of several floors, access to which is obtained by a spiral
+staircase. The bottom of the staircase is paved with stone, and ten
+feet square in extent. Standing in the centre of this landing-place,
+we look up a circular well, as it may be called, round which the stair
+winds with its balustrade. The school is attended by boys and girls,
+in different departments, under their respective teachers. It was in
+this extensive establishment, numbering at the time 1233 boys and 600
+girls, that the panic occurred, and it broke out in a singular and
+unexpected way.
+
+One day last December, Miss Harrison, a teacher in the female
+department, who had been for some days indisposed, was suddenly, and
+while performing her duties in the school, seized with a paralysis of
+the tongue. The spectacle of their teacher in this distressing
+condition, naturally suggested to the children that she was faint, and
+required water. At all events, the word _water_ was uttered. It was
+repeated. It became a cry; and the cry excited the idea of fire. A
+notion sprang up that the school was on fire. That was enough. The
+floor was in an uproar; and the noise so created in one department was
+communicated to the others. The whole school was seized with panic!
+Now commenced a rush towards the various doors. Out of each poured a
+flood of children, dashing wildly to the staircase. The torrent jammed
+up, and unable to find outlet by the stair, burst the balustrades, and
+down like a cataract poured the maddened throng into the central well,
+falling on the paved lobby beneath. The scene was appalling. 'Before
+the current could be arrested, the well was filled with the bodies of
+children to the depth of about eight feet. At this juncture, the alarm
+reached the Ninth Ward Station-house, the fire-bell was rung, and a
+detachment of the police hurried to the scene. Here a new difficulty
+presented itself. The afternoon session of the school having
+commenced, the main outer-doors, which open upon the foot of the
+stairs, had been closed. Against these the affrighted children were
+wedged in masses, and as the doors open inward, it was some time
+before relief could be given them. The police fortunately effected an
+entrance by a rear-door, but for which timely help, many more of the
+children would probably have been suffocated.
+
+'Much commendation is due to the teachers for their presence of mind.
+Miss M'Farland, one of the assistants in the primary department,
+finding the children of her department becoming alarmed, placed
+herself in the doorway, and exerted her utmost strength to arrest them
+as they endeavoured to rush from the room; and although several times
+thrown down and trampled upon, she still persisted in her efforts,
+until, finally, she was so much injured, as to be compelled to
+relinquish the post. So impetuous was the rush, however, that five of
+the teachers were forced over the balusters, and fell with the
+children into the well. The sterner discipline exercised over the
+boys' departments prevented them generally from joining in the rush.
+Only three of the pupils in the upper male department were among the
+killed. Some of the boys jumped out of the windows, and one of them
+had his neck broken by the fall. As soon as they gained admittance,
+the police took possession of the premises, and commenced handing out
+the children from their perilous position. Those that were on the top
+were but slightly injured; but as soon as these had been removed, the
+most heart-rending spectacle presented itself. Some among the
+policemen were fathers, whose own children were there. They worked
+manfully, and body after body was taken out: many of them lifeless at
+first, came to when they once more breathed the fresh air; but many
+were beyond aid, and death was too plainly marked upon their pallid
+features. Some were injured by the fall, and lay writhing in agony;
+some moaned; while others shrieked with pain; and others, again, when
+released, started off for home, apparently unconscious of the awful
+scene through which they had passed. The bodies of the dead and
+wounded were mostly taken to the Ninth Ward Station-house, which is
+near the school. In a few minutes, news of the accident spread through
+the neighbourhood, and mothers came rushing to the scene by scores.
+Occasionally, a mother would recognise the lifeless form of a child as
+it was lifted from the mass, and then the piercing cry of agony that
+would rend the air! One after another, the bodies of the dead were
+removed; and at length litters were provided, and the wounded were
+carried away also. Nearly one hundred families either mourned the loss
+of children, or watched anxiously over the forms of the wounded.'
+
+The coroner's jury which sat on this case of wholesale destruction of
+life, decided that no blame could be imputed to any of the teachers in
+the school, and that the deaths were a result of accident. At the same
+time, they strongly condemned the construction of the stair, and the
+unfitness of the balustrades to withstand pressure. The whole case
+suggests the impolicy of giving spiral staircases to buildings of this
+class: in all such establishments, the stairs should be broad and
+square, with numerous landing-places.
+
+Strangely enough, the sensation caused by the above catastrophe had
+not subsided, when another case of destruction of life occurred in New
+York from a similarly groundless fear of fire. This second disaster is
+noticed as follows in the newspapers:
+
+'Monday night (January 12), between the hours of nine and ten o'clock,
+a frightful calamity occurred at 140 Centre Street, in a rear building
+owned by the Commissioners of Emigration, for the reception of the
+newly-arrived emigrants. The building is five storeys high, and each
+floor appropriated for the emigrants--the upper rooms principally for
+the women, and the lower part for the men. In this place, six human
+lives were lost, and perhaps as many more may yet die from the
+injuries sustained. It seems that between nine and ten o'clock, the
+City Hall bell rang an alarm of fire in the fifth district, and some
+of the women on the upper floors called out "fire," which instantly
+created a panic of alarm on each floor among them, and a general rush
+was made for the stairway, which being very contracted, they fell one
+on the top of each other, creating an awful state of confusion. So
+terrified were some, that they broke out the second and third storey
+windows, and sprang out, falling with deadly violence in the yard
+below. The screams and cries of the affrighted women and children soon
+called the aid of the police; and Captain Brennen, aided by his
+efficient officers, rendered every assistance in his power, and
+succeeded, as quickly as possible, in extricating the injured as well
+as the dead from the scene of calamity. Six dead bodies were conveyed
+to the station-house, and eight persons were conveyed to the city
+hospital with broken arms and bodily injuries, some of whom are not
+expected to survive. Many others were injured, more or less, but not
+deemed sufficiently so to be sent to the hospital. Those killed are
+all children, except one, who is a young woman about twenty years of
+age. They were all suffocated by the number of persons crowded on
+them. The scene at the Sixth Ward Station-house presented a woful
+sight, the mothers of the deceased children bewailing over them in the
+most pitiful manner. At the time the alarm was given, there were about
+480 emigrants in the building, the larger proportion women and
+children, who were up stairs; and in forcing their way down stairs,
+the balusters gave way, thus precipitating them down in a very similar
+manner to the unfortunate children at the Ninth Ward School-house.
+There was, it seems, no cause for the alarm of fire any more than the
+bells rang an alarm; which alarm did not refer to that district, but
+was misconstrued by the emigrants to be in their building. Alderman
+Barr was quickly on the spot, rendering every assistance in his power
+to alleviate the sufferings of the poor unfortunate emigrants.'
+
+The details of these two calamities arising from sheer panic will not
+be useless, if they serve to shew the extreme danger and folly of
+giving way to a terror of fire in crowded buildings. Let us impress
+upon all the necessity for so disciplining their nerves, that on
+hearing a call of fire in a church, theatre, or other place of
+assemblage, they may act with calmness and common sense; those nearest
+the door going out, and the others quietly following. It is in the
+highest degree improbable--not to say impossible--that in such places
+fire, before its discovery, can gain such a height as to cut off,
+unaided by panic, the escape of a single man, woman, or child in the
+house. We should remember, that not merely on the first discovery of
+fire, but when the building is actually in flames, the firemen are at
+work within the walls; and that these men are protected by no immunity
+but that arising from their own courage and self-possession.
+
+
+
+
+THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.
+
+
+_February 1852._
+
+Professor Faraday's lecture, with which, according to use and custom,
+the Friday evening course at the Royal Institution was opened, has
+been the most noteworthy topic of scientific gossip since my last. The
+subject, 'Lines of Magnetic Force,' is one not easily popularised,
+otherwise, I should like to give you an abstract of it. One requires
+to know so much beforehand, to comprehend the value and significance
+of such a lecture. The learned professor's experiments, by which he
+demonstrated his reasonings were, however, eminently interesting to
+the crowded auditory who had the good-fortune to listen to him. He
+promises to give us, before the close of the season, another, wherein
+he will make use of that telescope of the mind--speculation, and tell
+us much of what his ever-widening researches have led him to conclude
+concerning magnetism; a science on which he believes we are shortly to
+get large 'increments of knowledge.' Mr Wheatstone, too, having
+produced a paper resuming his stereoscopic investigations, had the
+honour of reading it before the Royal Society as their Bakerian
+Lecture, as I prognosticated a month or two since. Of course in this
+practical age the inquiry is put--Of what use is the stereoscope or
+pseudoscope? With respect to the former, it is said that artists will
+find it very serviceable in copying statuary groups; and a suggestion
+has already been made, to adapt it to the purposes of microscopic
+observation, as the objects examined will be seen much more accurately
+under the extraordinary relief produced by the stereoscope, than by
+the ordinary method. And it may interest astronomers to know, that Mr
+Wheatstone believes it possible, by means of the same instrument, to
+perfect our knowledge of the moon's surface and structure. For
+instance: he proposes to take a photographic image of the moon, at one
+of the periods of her libration, and a second one about fifteen months
+afterwards, at the next libration, which, as you know, would be in the
+opposite direction to the first. The two images being then viewed in a
+stereoscope, would appear as a solid sphere, in which condition we
+should doubtless get such an acquaintance with the surface of our
+satellite as can be obtained by no other means. The reason for taking
+the images with so long an interval between is, that although each one
+represents the same object, each must be taken at a different angle;
+and for an object so distant as the moon, the difference caused by the
+libration would, it is believed, be sufficient for the desired result.
+In the small pictures, however, the difference of angle is so slight,
+that to the unpractised observer they appear precisely alike; it is,
+nevertheless, essential to the effect that the variation, though
+minute, should exist. With respect to the pseudoscope--which makes the
+outside of a teacup appear as the inside, and the inside as the
+outside; which transforms convexity into concavity, and the reverse;
+and a sculptured face into a hollow mask; which makes the tree in your
+garden appear inside your room, and the branches farthest off come
+nearest to the eye; and which, when you look at your pictures,
+represents them as sunk into a deep recess in the wall,--with respect
+to this instrument, its practical uses have yet to be discovered. But
+as your celebrated countryman, Sir David Brewster, is working at the
+subject, as well as Mr Wheatstone, we shall not, so say the initiated,
+have to wait long for further results.
+
+Besides these lectures, a course is being delivered at the Museum of
+Practical Geology, recently opened in Jermyn Street, by eminent
+professors, as you may judge from the fact of De la Beche, Forbes, and
+Playfair being among them. Some of the most promising of the pupils at
+the School of Design are allowed to attend these lectures gratis. At
+the same institution, an attempt is to be made to do what has long
+been done in Paris--namely, to admit working-people to the best
+scientific lectures free of cost. Now, therefore, is the time for the
+working-men of the metropolis to shew whether they wish for knowledge
+and enlightenment or not. They have only to present themselves at the
+Museum, pay a registration-fee of sixpence, conform to the rules, and
+so qualify themselves for the course of six lectures. It is a capital
+opportunity; and I, for one, hope that hundreds of the intelligent
+working-men of London will avail themselves of it. They, on their
+part, may find government education not unacceptable; and government,
+on the other hand, encouraged by a successful experiment, may feel
+inclined to extend its benefits. If a clear-headed lecturer on
+political economy could also be appointed, perhaps in time our
+industrial fellow-countrymen might come to understand that strikes are
+always a mistake, and the masters, that fair play is a jewel.
+
+Notwithstanding the stir about invasion and amateur rifle-clubs, other
+matters do get talked about--as, for instance, the astronomer-royal's
+communication to the Society of Antiquaries on the place of Cæsar's
+landing at his invasion of Britain. The learned functionary settles it
+to his own satisfaction by tide-calculations: he has also been holding
+an interesting correspondence with a lady on the geography of Suez, as
+bearing on the Exodus of Scripture. And this reminds me that Dr J.
+Wilson has written a paper, published in the proceedings of the Bombay
+branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, to decide a long debated
+question--the identification of the Hazor of Kedar, referred to in
+Jeremiah--'Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor,
+which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite,' &c. The doctor,
+after careful research and reasoning, believes the ruins known as
+Hadhar or Hatra, not far distant from Nineveh, to be the remains of
+the denounced city. Layard and Ainsworth have both visited and
+described the place, as many readers will remember. Those interested
+in the progress of research in Biblical countries, will be gratified
+to know that Dr Robinson has left the United States for another tour
+in the Holy Land. Now that Christians are more tolerated in Turkey
+than in some other countries nearer home, travelling in the East will
+perhaps be facilitated.
+
+Talking of travel: the Legislative Council at Sydney have granted
+L.2000, to fit out an expedition to search for Leichardt; Captain
+Beatson, with his steamer, is about to start for Behring's Strait to
+look for Franklin; Lieutenant Pim has returned from St Petersburg--the
+emperor would not permit him to go to Siberia; and last, supplies of
+money and goods have been sent out to Drs Barth and Overweg, in
+Central Africa, to enable them to pursue their discoveries; and the
+British resident at Zanzibar has been instructed to assist them. We
+may thus hope, before long, to add to our knowledge both of the torrid
+and frigid zones.
+
+To touch upon a home topic: we are told that government are rather
+afraid of their own bill for intermural interments passed last
+session, which may account for none of its provisions having yet been
+carried out. The project now is to supersede that bill by another,
+which is to extend the practice of cemetery interment. This looks like
+a want of faith in sanitary principles. On the other hand, the sale of
+the lazaretto at Marseilles, with a view to construct docks on its
+site, is a proof that the French government can do something in the
+way of sanitary reform. It is, in fact, quite time that the
+superstitious notions about infection, and the vexations of
+quarantine, should give place to sounder views and more rational
+methods. Meantime, as meteorologists say, we are coming to the cycle
+of hot summers, it behoves us more than ever to bury the dead far from
+towns. The Registrar-General tells us that, on the whole, we are
+improving, and it is not less an individual than a national duty to
+forward the improvement. According to the return just published for
+the quarter ending December last, the births in 1851 amounted to
+616,251, the largest number ever registered, being an excess of 5 per
+cent. over former returns. The deaths were 385,933, leaving a surplus
+which increases the population of England and Wales to more than
+18,000,000. In the same quarter, 59,200 emigrants, chiefly Irish, left
+the kingdom. With respect to marriages, which also exceed in number
+those of former years, the Registrar repeats what he has often said
+before, that marriages increase 'when the substantial earnings of the
+people are above the average; and the experience of a century, during
+which the prosperity of the country, though increasing, has been
+constantly fluctuating, shews that it is prudent to husband the
+resources of good times against future contingencies. Workmen, if they
+are wise, will not now squander their savings.' Are we to infer from
+this, that a bad time is coming?
+
+I have at times given you some of our post-office statistics, let me
+now send you a few from America. The postmaster-general reports to
+Congress, that in the year ending last June there were within the
+United States 6170 mail-routes, comprising a length in the aggregate
+of 196,290 miles; of post-offices, 19,796; of mail-contractors, 5544.
+The distance travelled in the year over these routes was 53,272,252
+miles, at a cost of 3,421,754 dollars, or rather more than six cents
+per mile per annum. On more than 35,000,000 of these miles the service
+is performed by coaches, and 'modes not specified;' the remainder by
+railway and steam-boat. There were six foreign mail-routes on which
+the annual transportation was estimated at 615,206 miles. The gross
+receipts of the post-office department for the year amounted to
+6,786,493 dollars, being an increase of nearly a million over the
+preceding year. If, after this, we can only get Ocean Penny Postage,
+we will give the republican postmaster work to do that shall add some
+score of pages to his report.
+
+You will perhaps remember my telling you, some time ago, of the
+discussion that had been going on in the United States respecting a
+prime meridian. Something has now come of it. The committee appointed
+by Congress to consider the subject, have recommended 'that the
+Greenwich zero of longitude should be preserved for the convenience of
+navigators; and that the meridian of the National Observatory--at
+Washington--should be adopted by the authority of Congress as its
+first meridian on the American continent, for defining accurately and
+permanently territorial limits, and for advancing the science of
+astronomy in America.' This decision, though it may disappoint those
+who consider it derogatory to the national honour to reckon from the
+meridian of Greenwich, is nevertheless the true one. In connection
+with it, the Americans intend to bring out a nautical almanac.
+
+Another topic from the same quarter is, that Professor Erni of Yale
+College has been making an interesting series of experiments on
+fermentation--a process of which the original cause has never yet been
+satisfactorily explained, and is still a moot-point with chemists.
+They tell us it is one by which complex substances are decomposed into
+simpler forms, as some suppose, by chemical action; others, by
+development of fungi, different in different substances. Among the
+experiments, it was observed that the yeast of cane-sugar solution
+produced no fermentation whatever when poisoned with a small quantity
+of arsenious acid; with oil of turpentine, and creasote, similar
+negative results were obtained. The introduction of cream-of-tartar
+along with the arsenic neutralised its effect, but not so with the
+other two; and, singularly enough, the appearance of the liquor always
+shewed when the poisoning was complete; 'the nitrogenous layer on the
+cell-membrane seeming to have undergone a change similar to that
+produced by boiling.' Judging from the results, Professor Erni
+believes 'that alcoholic fermentation is caused by the development of
+fungi. He could never trace the process without observing at the very
+first evolution of carbonic acid, the formation of yeast-cells,
+although it is very difficult to decide certainly which precedes the
+other.' His own opinion is in favour of the commencement by the
+yeast-cells.
+
+Another noteworthy subject, is Dr W.J. Burnett's paper to the American
+Association, 'On the Relation of the Distribution of Lice to the
+Different Faunas,' in which he endeavours to demonstrate, that the
+creation of animals was a multiplied operation, carried on in several
+localities, and that they do not derive from one original parent
+stock. Different animals have different parasites; but, as he shews,
+the same species of animal has the same parasite, wherever it may be
+found. According to Latreille, the _pediculus_ found in the woolly
+heads of African negroes 'is sufficiently distinct from that of the
+Circassian to entitle it to the rank of a distinct species;' from
+which, and similar instances, the doctor concludes: 'Whatever may be
+urged in behalf of the hypothesis of the unity of the animal creation,
+based upon the alleged metamorphosic changes of types, it is my
+opinion that the relations of their parasites, and especially the lice
+which are distributed over nearly all of them, must be considered as
+fair and full an argument as can be advanced against such hypothesis,
+for it is taking up the very premises of the hypothesis in
+opposition.' Dr Burnett will perhaps find Sir Charles Lyell ready to
+break a lance with him on the point at issue.
+
+Something interesting to workers in metal has been brought before the
+Franklin Institute at Philadelphia--it is a method of giving to iron
+the appearance of copper, contrived by Mr Pomeroy of Cincinnati, who
+thus describes it--rather laboriously, by the way:--
+
+'Immerse the iron in dilute sulphuric acid, for the purpose of
+cleansing the surface of the article which is to be coated; and thus
+cleansed, submit the iron to a brisk heat to dry it; when dry, immerse
+the article in a mixture of clay and water, and again dry it so as to
+leave a thin coating of the clay on its surface: it is then to be
+immersed in a bath of melted copper, and the length of time requisite
+for the iron and copper to form a union, will depend on the thickness
+of the article under operation. The object of the clay is to protect
+the copper from oxidation during the process of alloying or coating,
+and to reduce it to the required thickness it is passed between
+rollers. The result of this annealing process will be a smooth
+surface, fully equal to the brightness of pure copper.' Let me add to
+this, as a finish to transatlantic matters, that a Mr Allan, at St
+Louis, having observed that in washing-machines only the linen on the
+outside of the heap was perfectly cleansed, has patented a new
+machine, which comprises a chamber or tub with a narrowed neck, in
+which a plunger is inserted; and this, 'with the clothes wrapped
+around it, passes through the narrowed neck of the chamber, and
+pressing forcibly on the water confined within, drives it violently
+through the body of the clothes, carrying the dirt with it.'
+
+Science is not idle in France, notwithstanding the social
+perturbations: some of our engineers are talking about the trials of
+electro-magnetic locomotives recently made on one of the railways in
+that country, and are rather curious as to what may be the result. To
+travel without the whiz and roar of steam would be a consummation
+devoutly desired by thousands of travellers. And among the topics from
+the Académie, there is one important to the naval service--M.
+Normandy's apparatus for converting sea-water into fresh water.
+Briefly described, it is a series of disks, placed one above the
+other, communicating by concentric galleries, and placed in a
+vapour-bath at a pressure a little above that of the atmosphere. 'The
+sea-water,' says the inventor, 'circulating in the galleries heated by
+the surrounding vapour, gives off a certain quantity of vapour, which,
+mingling with the atmospheric air, introduced by a tube from the
+outside, finally condenses as perfectly aërated fresh water in a
+refrigerator, which is also in communication with the atmosphere. No
+other means of agitation or percolation is so efficacious or
+economical.' The apparatus, which is free from the defect of
+depositing salt while distillation is going on, is rather more than
+three feet in height, and eighteen inches diameter. It will yield two
+pints of water per minute, at an expenditure of about 2-1/4 lbs. of
+coal for each 45 lbs. of water.
+
+Next, Monsieur Rochas proposes a method for preserving limestone
+monuments and sculptures for an indefinite period. This material, as
+is well known, is very liable to disintegrate, and the remedy is to
+silicify it. Specimens of limestone so prepared were exhibited to the
+Académie, but without any explanation of the process. We know that
+brick and stone have been coated with glass in a few instances, to
+insure their preservation; and that at Professor Owen's suggestion,
+some decomposing ivory ornaments, sent over by Mr Layard, were
+restored by boiling in gelatine; but M. Rochas aims at something still
+greater--nothing less than the silicifying of a number of crumbling
+limestone statues which have been lately discovered by a Frenchman who
+is exploring the temple of Serapis at Memphis. They will then be
+strong enough to bear removal.
+
+Naturalists may learn something from Monsieur Falcony, who states that
+a solution of sulphate of zinc is an effectual preservative of animals
+or animal substances, intended for anatomical examination--it may be
+used to inject veins, and the effects last a considerable time.
+Another consideration is, that it is harmless: dissecting-instruments
+left in the solution for twenty-four hours were not at all injured.
+
+
+
+
+A WORD TO GENTEEL EMIGRANTS.
+
+
+The tide of emigration is rushing so powerfully through the land, that
+not only labourers and artisans are swept away in its stream, but many
+of the gentry of the country are beginning to join in the movement,
+and wonder what they are to do with their young 'olive branches,'
+'unless they emigrate to Australia, and found a new home and plant a
+new family there.' Many of the class have taken this step, and many
+more are lingering on the brink; and endless and anxious are the
+inquiries constantly made for the reports transmitted by those
+adventurous spirits who have led the way to new worlds of enterprise.
+For the working-classes, all has hitherto been favourable; but for the
+class above them--the professional man, and the small capitalist--the
+accounts are not, on the whole, encouraging. 'The labour-market is
+never overstocked; but,' says a correspondent of a later date, 'I pity
+the professional men, the doctors and lawyers, who come out, and the
+clerks, few of whom are wanted, and who find provisions and house-rent
+much dearer than at home, and to whom the privations they undergo must
+be great hardships. Men used to the everyday luxuries of a London
+life, delicate women bred up in habits of expense and idleness, have a
+severe ordeal to go through on their arrival in that land of work.'
+The change of climate, and the discomfort of their hastily-raised
+log-cabin, often entered upon when not half dried, frequently produce
+fevers, which, at home, would require a long succession of nursing,
+medical attendance, and afterwards change of air; but with only a
+_help_, absent whenever it pleases her, often with no medical advice
+within reach, a damp and cold house half furnished, an uncertain
+supply of even common necessaries, and a total absence of all
+luxuries, it is really surprising that recovery takes place at all.
+Now, it unfortunately happens, that the previous education of all
+these emigrants has been directly adverse to that which would have
+been desirable for such an after-life. Young ladies and gentlemen are
+taught dependence as a duty of civilised life. Children are naturally
+independent and active, and would gladly use their activity in helping
+themselves. How proud is a child to be allowed to do any of the
+servant's work! and how awful the rebuke that follows the attempt;
+till at last, poor human nature is cramped, shackled, and gagged.
+
+Hard, then, seems the destiny that removes these pampered children of
+European society from their luxurious necessaries--the valet, the
+lady's-maid, and all the other appendages--and leaves them wholly to
+their own resources, with their self-inflicted ignorance, and their
+blundering attempts to remedy it.
+
+I have, therefore, to propose to all who intend to emigrate, that they
+should--before taking a step involving so great an outlay, and the
+breaking-up of their life here--submit themselves to an ordeal of six
+or twelve months, in order to ascertain whether, in truth, their
+bodies and minds are fitted for the situation they are entering upon.
+Let any gentleman who is thinking of settling in Canada or Australia,
+take a _labourer's_ cottage in a distant county--a few pounds will
+supply one infinitely superior in comfort and healthfulness to the
+log-cabin of the bush that is to be his ultimate destination--let him
+take a little land and a bit of garden in a good farming county;
+engage one farm-servant (unless he has sons able to take his place),
+and a rough country-girl to do the coarse work of the house. The
+ladies of the family must, of course, perform all the rest: wash all
+the fine linen, iron, make the beds, sweep the rooms, superintend and
+assist in the cooking, the dairy, care of the poultry and the pigs;
+for, of course, such appendages must be indispensable in such an
+establishment. The gentlemen will work on the farm, cultivate the
+garden, and gain all the experience they can in manual trades,
+carpentering and cabinet-making; and thus by degrees the whole family
+will have their bodies and minds strengthened, and their habits formed
+for their new work; or they will discover, as many have done when too
+late to draw back, that the effort is beyond their powers--that the
+tastes and habits of social life are too closely entwined with their
+whole being, to leave them the power to withdraw from them at will.
+
+This may seem a forbidding picture, but I can assure them it is very
+far superior in comfort to the realities they will find in the bush.
+It is true, that this retirement will effectually withdraw them from
+their magic circle of friends and luxuries; but let us for a moment
+compare the two steps, migration and emigration, and ask ourselves if
+the experiment above mentioned be not worth the trial. In the one, we
+give up, probably for life, our country, our friends, and generally a
+part of our family, with all the comforts of a state of law and
+civilisation; we enter upon a certain and constant life of labour,
+after a long, tedious voyage; and, if in mature age, bear about with
+us a never-ceasing yearning for home, which retains its place in our
+hearts with all the heightened colours with which memory invests it.
+In the other, we must, it is true, separate ourselves from our long
+list of acquaintances, and be absent from the dinner-party and the
+ball; but all our interest in social life will be kept up: we can see
+at least a weekly newspaper; and although we may have descended a few
+steps in the social scale, we shall not be obliged to make the
+acquaintance of convicted felons.
+
+Another view of this plan may be taken. Suppose ten, or twenty, or
+thirty persons of narrow means were to associate for the purpose of
+taking some large, old-fashioned house in the country--many such may
+be found--and agree upon a joint scheme of cheap living and
+independent labour, plain and economical dress, plain furniture, and a
+simple but wholesome table: would not this be better than all the
+risks and privations of expatriation? The Americans do not
+emigrate--they migrate; and there are spots in any of these three
+kingdoms, as wild, as solitary, and as healthful, as can be found in
+the regions of the Far West. But we do not, however, suggest migration
+as a substitute for genteel emigration--although we suspect it would
+in many cases prove so--but merely as a step towards it--a school of
+trial, or training, or both.
+
+
+
+
+COLOURS IN LADIES' DRESS.
+
+
+Incongruity may be frequently observed in the adoption of colours
+without reference to their accordance with the complexion or stature
+of the wearer. We continually see a light-blue bonnet and flowers
+surrounding a sallow countenance, or a pink opposed to one of a
+glowing red; a pale complexion associated with a canary or lemon
+yellow, or one of delicate red and white rendered almost colourless by
+the vicinity of deep red. Now, if the lady with the sallow complexion
+had worn a transparent white bonnet; or if the lady with the glowing
+red complexion had lowered it by means of a bonnet of a deeper red
+colour; if the pale lady had improved the cadaverous hue of her
+countenance by surrounding it with pale-green, which, by contrast,
+would have suffused it with a delicate pink hue; or had the face
+
+                'Whose red and white,
+    Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on,'
+
+been arrayed in a light-blue, or light-green, or in a transparent
+white bonnet, with blue or pink flowers on the inside--how different,
+and how much more agreeable, would have been the impression on the
+spectator! How frequently, again, do we see the dimensions of a tall
+and _embonpoint_ figure magnified to almost Brobdignagian proportions
+by a white dress, or a small woman reduced to Lilliputian size by a
+black dress! Now, as the optical effect of white is to enlarge
+objects, and that of black to diminish them, if the large woman had
+been dressed in black, and the small woman in white, the apparent size
+of each would have approached the ordinary stature, and the former
+would not have appeared a giantess, or the latter a dwarf.--_Mrs
+Merrifield in Art-Journal._
+
+
+
+
+SITTING ON THE SHORE.
+
+
+      The tide has ebbed away;
+    No more wild surgings 'gainst the adamant rocks,
+    No swayings of the sea-weed false that mocks
+      The hues of gardens gay:
+      No laugh of little wavelets at their play;
+    No lucid pools reflecting heaven's broad brow--
+    Both storm and calm alike are ended now.
+
+      The bare gray rocks sit lone;
+    The shifting sand lies spread so smooth and dry
+    That not a wave might ever have swept by
+      To vex it with loud moan;
+      Only some weedy fragments blackening thrown
+    To rot beneath the sky, tell what has been,
+    But Desolation's self is grown serene.
+
+      Afar the mountains rise,
+    And the broad estuary widens out,
+    All sunshine; wheeling round and round about
+      Seaward, a white bird flies;
+      A bird? Nay, seems it rather in these eyes
+    An angel; o'er Eternity's dim sea,
+    Beckoning--'Come thou where all we glad souls be.'
+
+      O life! O silent shore
+    Where we sit patient! O great Sea beyond,
+    To which we look with solemn hope and fond,
+      But sorrowful no more!--
+      Would we were disembodied souls, to soar,
+    And like white sea-birds wing the Infinite Deep!--
+    Till then, Thou, Just One, wilt our spirits keep.
+
+
+
+
+THE PALO DE VACA, OR COW-TREE OF BRAZIL.
+
+
+This is one of the most remarkable trees in the forests of Brazil.
+During several months in the year when no rain falls, and its branches
+are dead and dried up, if the trunk be tapped, a sweet and nutritious
+milk exudes. The flow is most abundant at sunrise. Then, the natives
+receive the milk into large vessels, which soon grows yellow and
+thickens on the surface. Some drink plentifully of it under the tree,
+others take it home to their children. One might imagine he saw a
+shepherd distributing the milk of his flock. It is used in tea and
+coffee in place of common milk. The cow-tree is one of the largest in
+the Brazilian forests, and is used in ship-building.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Just Published, Price 6d. Paper Cover,_
+
+CHAMBERS'S POCKET MISCELLANY: forming a LITERARY COMPANION for the
+RAILWAY, the FIRESIDE, or the BUSH.
+
+VOLUME III.
+
+To be continued in Monthly Volumes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to
+MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all
+applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various
+
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426
+       Volume 17, New Series, February 28, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers
+
+Release Date: October 27, 2005 [EBook #16953]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the PG
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL</h1>
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<div class="contents">
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#TIMES_REVIEW_OF_CHARACTER"><b>TIME'S REVIEW OF CHARACTER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#INFANT_SCHOOLS_IN_HUNGARY"><b>INFANT SCHOOLS IN HUNGARY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_LOSING_GAME"><b>THE LOSING GAME.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#PARTNERSHIP_IN_COMMANDITE"><b>PARTNERSHIP IN COMMANDITE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#RECENT_FIRE-PANICS"><b>RECENT FIRE-PANICS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THINGS_TALKED_OF_IN_LONDON"><b>THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#A_WORD_TO_GENTEEL_EMIGRANTS"><b>A WORD TO GENTEEL EMIGRANTS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#COLOURS_IN_LADIES_DRESS"><b>COLOURS IN LADIES' DRESS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SITTING_ON_THE_SHORE"><b>SITTING ON THE SHORE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_PALO_DE_VACA_OR_COW-TREE_OF_BRAZIL"><b>THE PALO DE VACA, OR COW-TREE OF BRAZIL.</b></a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<img src="images/banner.png"
+          width="100%"
+          alt="Banner: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal" />
+
+<h4>CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &amp;c.</h4>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<table width="100%"
+        summary="Volume, Date and Price">
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><b><span class="sc">No.</span> 426.&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="sc">New Series.</span></b></td>
+<td align="left"><b>SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1852.</b></td>
+<td align="right"><b><span class="sc">Price</span> 1&frac12;<i>d</i>.</b></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h2><a name="TIMES_REVIEW_OF_CHARACTER" id="TIMES_REVIEW_OF_CHARACTER"></a>TIME'S REVIEW OF CHARACTER.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<h3>ROBESPIERRE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="sc">Some</span> characters are a puzzle to history, and none is more so than that
+of Robespierre. According to popular belief, this personage was a
+blood-thirsty monster, a vulgar tyrant, who committed the most
+unheard-of enormities, with the basely selfish object of raising
+himself to supreme power&mdash;of becoming the Cromwell of the Revolution.
+Considering that Robespierre was for five years&mdash;1789 to 1794&mdash;a prime
+leader in the political movements in France; that for a length of time
+he was personally concerned in sending from forty to fifty heads to
+the scaffold per diem; and that the Reign of Terror ceased immediately
+on his overthrow&mdash;it is not surprising that his character is
+associated with all that is villainous and detestable. Nevertheless,
+as the obscurities of the great revolutionary drama clear up, a
+strange suspicion begins to be entertained, that the popular legend
+respecting Robespierre is in a considerable degree fallacious; nay, it
+is almost thought that this man was, in reality, a most kind-hearted,
+simple, unambitious, and well-disposed individual&mdash;a person who, to
+say the least of it, deeply deplored the horrors in which
+considerations of duty had unhappily involved him. To attempt an
+unravelment of these contradictions, let us call up the phantom of
+this mysterious personage, and subject him to review.</p>
+
+<p>To understand Robespierre, it is necessary to understand the French
+Revolution. The proximate cause of that terrible convulsion was, as is
+well known, an utter disorder in all the functions of the state, and
+more particularly in the finances, equivalent to national bankruptcy.
+That matters might have been substantially patched up by judicious
+statesmanship, no one doubts; but that a catastrophe, sooner or later,
+was unavoidable, seems to be equally certain. The mind of France was
+rotten; the principles of society were undermined. As regards
+religion, there was a universal scepticism, of which the best
+literature of the day was the exponent; but this unbelief was greatly
+strengthened by the scandalous abuses in the ecclesiastical system. It
+required no depth of genius to point out that the great principles of
+brotherly love, humility, equality, liberty, promulgated as part and
+parcel of the Christian dispensation eighteen centuries previously,
+had no practical efficacy so far as France was concerned. Instead of
+equality before God and the law, the humbler classes were feudal
+serfs, without any appeal from the cruel oppressions to which they
+were exposed. In the midst of gloom, Rousseau's vague declamations on
+the rights of man fell like a ray of light. A spark was communicated,
+which kindled a flame in the bosoms of the more thoughtful and
+enthusiastic. An astonishing impulse was almost at once given to
+investigation. The philosopher had his adherents all over France.
+Viewed as a species of prophet, he was, properly speaking, a madman,
+who in his ravings had glanced on the truth, but only glanced. Among
+men of sense, his ornate declamations concerning nature and reason
+would have excited little more attention than that which is usually
+given to poetic and speculative fancies.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst an impulsive and lively people, unaccustomed to the practical
+consideration and treatment of abuses, there arose a cry to destroy,
+root up; to sweep away all preferences and privileges; to bring down
+the haughty, and raise the depressed; to let all men be free and
+equal, all men being brothers. Such is the origin of the three
+words&mdash;liberty, equality, and fraternity, which were caught up as the
+charter of social intercourse. It is for ever to be regretted that
+this explosion of sentiment was so utterly destructive in its
+character; for therein has it inflicted immense wrong on what is
+abstractedly true and beautiful. At first, as will be remembered, the
+revolutionists did not aim at establishing a republic, but that form
+of government necessarily grew out of their hallucinations. Without
+pausing to consider that a nation of emancipated serfs were unprepared
+to take on themselves the duties of an enlightened population, the
+plunge was unhesitatingly made.</p>
+
+<p>At this comparatively distant day, even with all the aids of the
+recording press, we can form no adequate idea of the fervour with
+which this great social overthrow was set about and accomplished. The
+best minds in France were in a state of ecstasy, bordering on
+delirium. A vast future of human happiness seemed to dawn. Tyranny,
+force, fraud, all the bad passions, were to disappear under the
+beneficent approach of Reason. Among the enthusiasts who rushed into
+this marvellous frenzy, was Maximilian Robespierre. It is said by his
+biographers, that Robespierre was of English or Scotch origin: we have
+seen an account which traced him to a family in the north, of not a
+dissimilar name. His father, at all events, was an advocate at Arras,
+in French Flanders, and here Maximilian was born in 1759. Bred to the
+law, he was sent as a representative to the States-General in 1789,
+and from this moment he entered on his career, and Paris was his home.
+At his outset, he made no impression, and scarcely excited public
+notice. His manners were singularly reserved, and his habits austere.
+The man lived within himself. Brooding over the works of Rousseau, he
+indulged in the dream of renovating the moral world. Like Mohammed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[pg 130]</a></span>contriving the dogmas of a new religion, Robespierre spent days in
+solitude, pondering on his destiny. To many of the revolutionary
+leaders, the struggle going on was merely a political drama, with a
+Convention for the <i>d&eacute;nouement</i>. To Robespierre, it was a
+philosophical problem; all his thoughts aimed at the ideal&mdash;at the
+apotheosis of human nature.</p>
+
+<p>Let us take a look at his personal appearance. Visionaries are usually
+slovens. They despise fashions, and imagine that dirtiness is an
+attribute of genius. To do the honourable member for Artois justice,
+he was above this affectation. Small and neat in person, he always
+appeared in public tastefully dressed, according to the fashion of the
+period&mdash;hair well combed back, frizzled, and powdered; copious frills
+at the breast and wrists; a stainless white waistcoat; light-blue
+coat, with metal buttons; the sash of a representative tied round his
+waist; light-coloured breeches, white stockings, and shoes with silver
+buckles. Such was his ordinary costume; and if we stick a rose in his
+button-hole, or place a nosegay in his hand, we shall have a tolerable
+idea of his whole equipment. It is said he sometimes appeared in
+top-boots, which is not improbable; for this kind of boot had become
+fashionable among the republicans, from a notion that as top-boots
+were worn by gentlemen in England, they were allied to constitutional
+government. Robespierre's features were sharp, and enlivened by bright
+and deeply-sunk blue eyes. There was usually a gravity and intense
+thoughtfulness in his countenance, which conveyed an idea of his being
+thoroughly in earnest. Yet, his address was not unpleasing. Unlike
+modern French politicians, his face was always smooth, with no vestige
+of beard or whiskers. Altogether, therefore, he may be said to have
+been a well-dressed, gentlemanly man, animated with proper
+self-respect, and having no wish to court vulgar applause by
+neglecting the decencies of polite society.</p>
+
+<p>Before entering on his public career in Paris, Robespierre had
+probably formed his plans, in which, at least to outward appearance,
+there was an entire negation of self. A stern incorruptibility seemed
+the basis of his character; and it is quite true that no offers from
+the court, no overtures from associates, had power to tempt him. There
+was only one way by which he could sustain a high-souled independence,
+and that was the course adopted in like circumstances by Andrew
+Marvel&mdash;simple wants, rigorous economy, a disregard of fine company,
+an avoidance of expensive habits. Now, this is the curious thing in
+Robespierre's history. Perhaps there was a tinge of pride in his
+living a life of indigence; but in fairness it is entitled to be
+called an honest pride, when we consider that the means of profusion
+were within his reach. On his arrival in Paris, he procured a humble
+lodging in the Marais, a populous district in the north-eastern
+faubourgs; but it being represented to him some time afterwards, that,
+as a public man, it was unsafe to expose himself in a long walk daily
+to and from this obscure residence, he removed to a house in the Rue
+St Honor&eacute;, now marked No. 396, opposite the Church of the Assumption.
+Here he found a lodging with M. Duplay, a respectable but humble
+cabinet-maker, who had become attached to the principles of the
+Revolution; and here he was joined by his brother, who played an
+inferior part in public affairs, and is known in history as 'the
+Younger Robespierre.' The selection of this dwelling seems to have
+fallen in with Robespierre's notions of economy; and it suited his
+limited patrimony, which consisted of some rents irregularly paid by a
+few small farmers of his property in Artois. These ill-paid rents,
+with his salary as a representative, are said to have supported three
+persons&mdash;himself, his brother, and his sister; and so straitened was
+he in circumstances, that he had to borrow occasionally from his
+landlord. Even with all his pinching, he did not make both ends meet.
+We have it on authority, that at his death he was owing L.160; a small
+debt to be incurred during a residence of five years in Paris, by a
+person who figured as a leader of parties; and the insignificance of
+this sum attests his remarkable self-denial.</p>
+
+<p>Lamartine's account of the private life of Robespierre in the house of
+the Duplays is exceedingly fascinating, and we should suppose is
+founded on well-authorised facts. The house of Duplay, he says, 'was
+low, and in a court surrounded by sheds filled with timber and plants,
+and had almost a rustic appearance. It consisted of a parlour opening
+to the court, and communicating with a sitting-room that looked into a
+small garden. From the sitting-room a door led into a small study, in
+which was a piano. There was a winding-staircase to the first floor,
+where the master of the house lived, and thence to the apartment of
+Robespierre.'</p>
+
+<p>Here, long acquaintance, a common table, and association for several
+years, 'converted the hospitality of Duplay into an attachment that
+became reciprocal. The family of his landlord became a second family
+to Robespierre, and while they adopted his opinions, they neither lost
+the simplicity of their manners nor neglected their religious
+observances. They consisted of a father, mother, a son yet a youth,
+and four daughters, the eldest of whom was twenty-five, and the
+youngest eighteen. Familiar with the father, filial with the mother,
+paternal with the son, tender and almost brotherly with the young
+girls, he inspired and felt in this small domestic circle all those
+sentiments that only an ardent soul inspires and feels by spreading
+abroad its sympathies. Love also attached his heart, where toil,
+poverty, and retirement had fixed his life. El&eacute;onore Duplay, the
+eldest daughter of his host, inspired Robespierre with a more serious
+attachment than her sisters. The feeling, rather predilection than
+passion, was more reasonable on the part of Robespierre, more ardent
+and simple on the part of the young girl. This affection afforded him
+tenderness without torment, happiness without excitement: it was the
+love adapted for a man plunged all day in the agitation of public
+life&mdash;a repose of the heart after mental fatigue. He and El&eacute;onore
+lived in the same house as a betrothed couple, not as lovers.
+Robespierre had demanded the young girl's hand from her parents, and
+they had promised it to him.</p>
+
+<p>'"The total want of fortune," he said, "and the uncertainty of the
+morrow, prevented him from marrying her until the destiny of France
+was determined; but he only awaited the moment when the Revolution
+should be concluded, in order to retire from the turmoil and strife,
+marry her whom he loved, go to reside with her in Artois, on one of
+the farms he had saved among the possessions of his family, and there
+to mingle his obscure happiness in the common lot of his family."</p>
+
+<p>'The vicissitudes of the fortune, influence, and popularity of
+Robespierre effected no change in his simple mode of living. The
+multitude came to implore favour or life at the door of his house, yet
+nothing found its way within. The private lodging of Robespierre
+consisted of a low chamber, constructed in the form of a garret, above
+some cart-sheds, with the window opening upon the roof. It afforded no
+other prospect than the interior of a small court, resembling a
+wood-store, where the sounds of the workmen's hammers and saws
+constantly resounded, and which was continually traversed by Madame
+Duplay and her daughters, who there performed all their household
+duties. This chamber was also separated from that of the landlord by a
+small room common to the family and himself. On the other side were
+two rooms, likewise attics, which were inhabited, one by the son of
+the master of the house, the other by Simon Duplay, Robespierre's
+secretary, and the nephew of his host.</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[pg 131]</a></span>
+
+<p>'The chamber of the deputy contained only a wooden bedstead, covered
+with blue damask ornamented with white flowers, a table, and four
+straw-bottomed chairs. This apartment served him at once for a study
+and dormitory. His papers, his reports, the manuscripts of his
+discourses, written by himself in a regular but laboured hand, and
+with many marks of erasure, were placed carefully on deal-shelves
+against the wall. A few chosen books were also ranged thereon. A
+volume of Jean Jacques Rousseau or of Racine was generally open upon
+his table, and attested his philosophical and literary predilections.'</p>
+
+<p>With a mind continually on the stretch, and concerned less or more in
+all the great movements of the day, the features of this remarkable
+personage 'relaxed into absolute gaiety when in-doors, at table, or in
+the evening, around the wood-fire in the humble chamber of the
+cabinet-maker. His evenings were all passed with the family, in
+talking over the feelings of the day, the plans of the morrow, the
+conspiracies of the aristocrats, the dangers of the patriots, and the
+prospects of public felicity after the triumph of the Revolution.
+Sometimes Robespierre, who was anxious to cultivate the mind of his
+betrothed, read to the family aloud, and generally from the tragedies
+of Racine. He seldom went out in the evening; but two or three times a
+year he escorted Madame Duplay and her daughter to the theatre. On
+other days, Robespierre retired early to his chamber, lay down, and
+rose again at night to work. The innumerable discourses he had
+delivered in the two national assemblies, and to the Jacobins; the
+articles written for his journal while he had one; the still more
+numerous manuscripts of speeches which he had prepared, but never
+delivered; the studied style so remarkable; the indefatigable
+corrections marked with his pen upon the manuscripts&mdash;attest his
+watchings and his determination.</p>
+
+<p>'His only relaxations were solitary walks in imitation of his model,
+Jean Jacques Rousseau. His sole companion in these perambulations was
+his great dog, which slept at his chamber-door, and always followed
+him when he went out. This colossal animal, well known in the
+district, was called Brount. Robespierre was much attached to him, and
+constantly played with him. Occasionally, on a Sunday, all the family
+left Paris with Robespierre; and the politician, once more the man,
+amused himself with the mother, the sisters, and the brother of
+El&eacute;onore in the wood of Versailles or of Issy.' Strange contradiction!
+The man who is thus described as so amiable, so gentle, so satisfied
+with the humble pleasures of an obscure family circle, went forth
+daily on a self-imposed mission of turbulence and terror. Let us
+follow him to the scene of his avocations. Living in the Rue St
+Honor&eacute;, he might be seen every morning on his way, by one of the
+narrow streets which led to the rooms of the National Assembly, or
+Convention, as the legislative body was called after the deposition of
+Louis XVI. The house so occupied, was situated on a spot now covered
+by the Rue Rivoli, opposite the gardens of the Tuileries. In
+connection with it, were several apartments used by committees; and
+there, by the leading members of the House, the actual business of the
+nation was for a long time conducted. It was by the part he played in
+one of these formidable committees, that of 'Public Safety'&mdash;more
+properly, public insecurity&mdash;that he becomes chargeable with his
+manifold crimes. For the commission of these atrocities, however, he
+held himself to be entirely excused; and how he could possibly
+entertain any such notion, remains for us to notice.</p>
+
+<p>The action of the Revolution was in the hands of three parties, into
+which the Convention was divided&mdash;namely, the Montagnards, the
+Girondists, and the Plaine. The last mentioned were a comparatively
+harmless set of persons, who acted as a neutral body, and leaned one
+way or the other according to their convictions, but whose votes it
+was important to obtain. Between the Montagnards and the Girondists
+there was no distinct difference of principle&mdash;both were keen
+republicans and levellers; but in carrying out their views, the
+Montagnards were the most violent and unscrupulous. The Girondists
+expected that, after a little preliminary harshness, the Republic
+would be established in a pacific manner; by the force, it may be
+called, of philosophic conviction spreading through society. They were
+thus the moderates; yet their moderation was unfortunately ill
+manifested. At the outset, they countenanced the disgraceful mobbings
+of the royal family; they gloried in the horrors of the 10th of
+August, and the humiliation of the king; and only began to express
+fears that things were going too far, when massacre became the order
+of the day, and the guillotine assumed the character of a national
+institution. They were finally borne down, as is well known, by the
+superior energy and audacity of their opponents; and all perished one
+way or other in the bloody struggle. Few pity them.</p>
+
+<p>We need hardly recall the fact, that the discussions in the Convention
+were greatly influenced by tumultuary movements out of doors. At a
+short distance, were two political clubs, the Jacobins and the
+Cordeliers, and there everything was debated and determined on. Of
+these notorious clubs, the most uncompromising was the Jacobins;
+consequently, its principal members were to be found among the party
+of the Montagnards. During the hottest time of the Revolution, the
+three men most distinguished as Montagnards and Jacobins were Marat,
+Danton, and Robespierre. Mirabeau, the orator of the Revolution, had
+already disappeared, being so fortunate as to die naturally, before
+the practice of mutual guillotining was established. After him,
+Vergniaud, the leader of the Girondists, was perhaps the most
+effective speaker; and till his fall, he possessed a commanding
+influence in the Convention. Danton was likewise a speaker of vast
+power, and from his towering figure, he seemed like a giant among
+pigmies. Marat might be termed the representative of the kennel. He
+was a low demagogue, flaunting in rags, dirty, and venomous: he was
+always calling out for more blood, as if the grand desideratum was the
+annihilation of mankind. Among the extreme men, Robespierre, by his
+eloquence, his artifice, and his bold counsels, contrived to maintain
+his position. This was no easy matter, for it was necessary to remain
+firm and unfaltering in every emergency. He, like the others at the
+helm of affairs, was constantly impelled forward by the clubs, but
+more so by the incessant clamours of the mob. At the H&ocirc;tel de Ville
+sat the Commune, a crew of blood-thirsty villains, headed by Hebert;
+and this miscreant, with his armed sections, accompanied by paid
+female furies, beset the Convention, and carried measures of severity
+by sheer intimidation. Let it further be remembered that, in 1793,
+France was kept in apprehension of invasion by the Allies under the
+Duke of Brunswick, and the army of emigrant noblesse under the command
+of Cond&eacute;. The hovering of these forces on the frontiers, and their
+occasional successes, produced a constant alarm of counter-revolution,
+which was believed to be instigated by secret intriguers in the very
+heart of the Convention. It was alleged by Robespierre in his greatest
+orations, that the safety of the Republic depended on keeping up a
+wholesome state of terror; and that all who, in the slightest degree,
+leaned towards clemency, sanctioned the work of intriguers, and ought,
+accordingly, to be proscribed. By such harangues&mdash;in the main,
+miserable sophistry&mdash;he acquired prodigious popularity, and was in
+fact irresistible.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was legalised the Reign of Terror, which, founded in false
+reasoning and insane fears, we must, nevertheless, look back upon as a
+thing, at least to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[pg 132]</a></span>certain extent, reconcilable with a sense of
+duty; inasmuch as even while signing warrants for transferring
+hundreds of people to the Revolutionary Tribunal&mdash;which was equivalent
+to sending them to the scaffold&mdash;Robespierre imagined that he was
+acting throughout under a clear, an imperious necessity: only ridding
+society of the elements that disturbed its purity and tranquillity.
+Stupendous hallucination! And did this fanatic really feel no pang of
+conscience? That will afterwards engage our consideration. Frequently,
+he was called on to proscribe and execute his most intimate friends;
+but it does not appear that any personal consideration ever stayed his
+proceedings. First, he swept away Royalists and aristocrats; next, he
+sacrificed the Girondists; last, he came to his companion-Jacobins.
+Accusing Danton and his friends of a tendency to moderation, he had
+the dexterity to get them proscribed and beheaded. When Danton was
+seized, he could hardly credit his senses: he who had long felt
+himself sure of being one day dictator by public acclamation, and to
+have been deceived by that dreamer, Robespierre, was most humiliating.
+But Robespierre would not dare to put <i>him</i> to death! Grave
+miscalculation! He was immolated like the rest; the crowd looking on
+with indifference. Along with him perished Camille Desmoulins, a young
+man of letters, and a Jacobin, but convicted of advocating clemency.
+Robespierre was one of Camille's private and most valued friends; he
+had been his instructor in politics, and had become one of the
+trustees under his marriage-settlement. Robespierre visited at the
+house of his <i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;</i>; chatted with the young and handsome Madame
+Desmoulins at her parties; and frequently dandled the little Horace
+Desmoulins on his knee, and let him play with his bunch of seals. Yet,
+because they were adherents of Danton, he sent husband and wife to the
+scaffold within a few weeks of each other! What eloquent and touching
+appeals were made to old recollections by the mother of Madame
+Desmoulins. Robespierre was reminded of little Horace, and of his duty
+as a family guardian. All would not do. His heart was marble; and so
+the wretched pair were guillotined. Camille's letter to his wife, the
+night before he was led to the scaffold, cannot be read without
+emotion. He died with a lock of her hair clasped convulsively in his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus cleared away to some extent all those who stood in the way
+of his views, Robespierre bethought himself of acting a new part in
+public affairs, calculated, as he thought, to dignify the Republic.
+Chaumette, a mean confederate of Hebert, and a mouthpiece of the
+rabble, had, by consent of the Convention, established Paganism, or
+the worship of Reason, as the national religion. Robespierre never
+gave his approval to this outrage, and took the earliest opportunity
+of restoring the worship of the Supreme. It is said, that of all the
+missions with which he believed himself to be charged, the highest,
+the holiest in his eyes, was the regeneration of the religious
+sentiment of the people: to unite heaven and earth by this bond of a
+faith which the Republic had broken, was for him the end, the
+consummation of the Revolution. In one of his paroxysms, he delivered
+an address to the Convention, which induced them to pass a law,
+acknowledging the existence of God, and ordaining a public festival to
+inaugurate the new religion. This f&ecirc;te took place on the 8th of June
+1794. Robespierre headed the procession to the Champ de Mars; and he
+seemed on the occasion to have at length reached the grand realisation
+of all his hopes and desires. From this <i>coup de th&eacute;&acirc;tre</i> he returned
+home, magnified in the estimation of the people, but ruined in the
+eyes of the Convention. His conduct had been too much that of one
+whose next step was to the restoration of the throne, with himself as
+its occupant. By Fouch&eacute;, Tallien, Collot-d'Herbois, and some others,
+he was now thwarted in all his schemes. His wish was to close the
+Reign of Terror and allow the new moral world to begin; for his late
+access of devotional feeling had, in reality, disposed him to adopt
+benign and clement measures. But to arrest carnage was now beyond his
+power; he had invoked a demon which would not be laid. Assailed by
+calumny, he made the Convention resound with his speeches; spoke of
+fresh proscriptions to put down intrigue; and spread universal alarm
+among the members. In spite of the most magniloquent orations, he saw
+that his power was nearly gone. Sick at heart, he began to absent
+himself from committees, which still continued to send to the scaffold
+numbers whose obscure rank should have saved them from suspicion or
+vengeance.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture, Robespierre was earnestly entreated by one of his
+more resolute adherents, St Just, to play a bold game for the
+dictatorship, which he represented as the only means of saving the
+Republic from anarchy. Anonymous letters to the same effect also
+poured in upon him; and prognostics of his greatness, uttered by an
+obscure fortune-teller, were listened to by the great demagogue with
+something like superstitious respect. But for this personal elevation
+he was not prepared. Pacing up and down his apartment, and striking
+his forehead with his hand, he candidly acknowledged that he was not
+made for power; while the bare idea of doing anything to endanger the
+Republic amounted, in his mind, to a species of sacrilege. At this
+crisis in his fate, therefore, he temporised: he sought peace, if not
+consolation, in solitude. He took long walks in the woods, where he
+spent hours seated on the ground, or leaning against a tree, his face
+buried in his hands, or earnestly bent on the surrounding natural
+objects. What was the precise tenor of his meditations, it would be
+deeply interesting to know. Did the great promoter of the Revolution
+ponder on the failure of his aspirations after a state of human
+perfectibility? Was he torn by remorse on seeing rise up, in
+imagination, the thousands of innocent individuals whom, in
+vindication of a theory, he had consigned to an ignominious and
+violent death, yet whose removal had, politically speaking, proved
+altogether fruitless?</p>
+
+<p>It is the more general belief, that in these solitary rambles
+Robespierre was preparing an oration, which, as he thought, should
+silence all his enemies, and restore him to parliamentary favour. A
+month was devoted to this rhetorical effort; and, unknown to him,
+during that interval all parties coalesced, and adopted the resolution
+to treat his oration when it came with contempt, and, at all hazards,
+to have him proscribed. The great day came, July 26 (8th Thermidor),
+1794. His speech, which he read from a paper, was delivered in his
+best style&mdash;in vain. It was followed by yells and hootings; and, with
+dismay, he retired to the Jacobins, to deliver it over again&mdash;as if to
+seek support among a more subservient audience. Next day, on entering
+the Convention, he was openly accused by Tallien and Billaud-Varennes
+of aspiring to despotic power. A scene of tumult ensued, and, amid
+cries of <i>Down with the tyrant!</i> a writ for his committal to prison
+was drawn out. It must be considered a fine trait in the character of
+Robespierre the younger, that he begged to be included in the same
+decree of proscription with his brother. This wish was readily
+granted; and St Just, Couthon (who had lost the use of his legs, and
+was always carried about in an arm-chair), and Le Bas, were added to
+the number of the proscribed. Rescued, however, from the gendarmes by
+an insurrectionary force, headed by Henriot, Robespierre and his
+colleagues were conducted in triumph to the H&ocirc;tel de Ville. Here,
+during the night, earnest consultations were held; and the adherents
+of Robespierre implored him in desperation, as the last chance of
+safety for them all, to address a rousing proclamation to the
+sections. At length, yielding unwillingly to these frantic appeals, he
+commenced writing the required address; and it was while subscribing
+his name to this seditious document, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[pg 133]</a></span>that the soldiers of the
+Convention burst in upon him, and he was shot through the jaw by one
+of the gendarmes. At the same moment, Le Bas shot himself through the
+heart. All were made prisoners, and carried off&mdash;the dead body of Le
+Bas not excepted.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>While residing for a short time in Paris in 1849, we were one day
+conducted by a friend to a large house, with an air of faded grandeur,
+in the eastern faubourgs, which had belonged to an aged republican,
+recently deceased. He wished me to examine a literary curiosity, which
+was to be seen among other relics of the great Revolution. The
+curiosity in question was the proclamation, in the handwriting of
+Robespierre, to which he was in the act of inscribing his signature,
+when assaulted and made prisoner in the H&ocirc;tel de Ville. It was a small
+piece of paper, contained in a glass-frame; and, at this distance of
+time, could not fail to excite an interest in visitors. The few lines
+of writing, commencing with the stirring words: '<i>Courage, mes
+compatriotes!</i>' ended with only a part of the subscription. The
+letters, <i>Robes</i>, were all that were appended, and were followed by a
+blur of the pen; while the lower part of the paper shewed certain
+discolorations, as if made by drops of blood. And so this was the last
+surviving token of the notorious Robespierre! It is somewhat curious,
+that no historian seems to be aware of its existence.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Stretched on a table in one of the anterooms of the Convention; his
+head leaning against a chair; his fractured jaw supported by a
+handkerchief passed round the top of his head; a glass with vinegar
+and a sponge at his side to moisten his feverish lips; speechless and
+almost motionless, yet conscious!&mdash;there lay Robespierre&mdash;the clerks,
+who, a few days ago, had cringed before him, now amusing themselves by
+pricking him with their penknives, and coarsely jesting over his fall.
+Great crowds, likewise, flocked to see him while in this undignified
+posture, and he was overwhelmed with the vilest expressions of hatred
+and abuse. The mental agony which he must have experienced during this
+humiliating exhibition, could scarcely fail to be increased on hearing
+himself made the object of unsparing and boisterous declamations from
+the adjoining tribune.</p>
+
+<p>At three o'clock in the afternoon (July 28), the prisoners were placed
+before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and at six, the whole were tied in
+carts, the dead body of Le Bas included, and conducted to execution.
+To this wretched band were added the whole family of the Duplays, with
+the exception of the mother; she having been strangled the previous
+night by female furies, who had broken into her house, and hung her to
+the iron rods of her bedstead. They were guiltless of any political
+crime; but their private connection with the principal object of
+proscription was considered to be sufficient for their condemnation.
+The circumstance of these individuals being involved in his fate,
+could not fail to aggravate the bitterness of Robespierre's
+reflections. As the dismal <i>cort&egrave;ge</i> wended its way along the Rue St
+Honor&eacute;, he was loaded with imprecations by women whose husbands he had
+destroyed, and the shouts of children, whom he had deprived of
+parents, were the last sounds heard by him on earth. Yet he betrayed
+not the slightest emotion&mdash;perhaps he only pitied the ignorance of his
+persecutors. In the midst of the feelings of a misunderstood and
+martyred man, his head dropped into the basket!</p>
+
+<p>These few facts and observations respecting the career of Robespierre,
+enable us to form a tolerably correct estimate of his character. The
+man was a bigot. A perfect Republic was his faith, his religion. To
+integrity, perseverance, and extraordinary self-denial under
+temptation, he united only a sanguine temperament and moderate
+abilities for the working-out of a mistaken principle. Honest and
+zealous in his purpose, his conduct was precisely analogous to that of
+all religious persecutors&mdash;sparing no pain or bloodshed to accomplish
+what he believed to be a good end. Let us grant that he was a
+monomaniac, the question remains as to his general accountability. If
+he is to be acquitted on the score of insanity, who is to be judged?
+Not so are we to exempt great criminals from punishment and obloquy.
+Robespierre knew thoroughly what he was about; and far as he was
+misled in his motives, he must be held responsible for his actions.
+Before entering on the desperate enterprise of demolishing all
+existing institutions, with the hope of reconstructing the social
+fabric, it was his duty to be assured that his aims were practicable,
+and that he was himself authorised to think and act for the whole of
+mankind, or specially commissioned to kill and terrify into his
+doctrines. Instead of this, there is nothing to shew that he had
+formed any distinct scheme of a government to take the place of that
+which he had aided in destroying. All we learn is, that there hovered
+in his mind's eye some vague Utopia, in which public affairs would go
+on very much of themselves, through the mere force of universal
+Benevolence, liberated from the bosom of Nature. For his folly and
+audacity in nourishing so wild a theory, and still more for the
+reckless butcheries by which he sought to bring it into operation, we
+must, on a review of his whole character, adhere to the popular belief
+on the subject. Acquitted, as he must necessarily be, of the charge of
+personal ambition, he was still a monster, only the more dangerous and
+detestable for justifying murder on the ground of principle.</p>
+
+<p class="right">W.C.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INFANT_SCHOOLS_IN_HUNGARY" id="INFANT_SCHOOLS_IN_HUNGARY"></a>INFANT SCHOOLS IN HUNGARY.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">The </span>Austrian government has for some years been exerting itself, in
+connection with the clergy, for the improvement and spread of
+education in all the provinces of the empire, being anxious to do all
+in their power to save the country from those excesses which are so
+often found in connection with ignorance. As an Englishman, living in
+friendly intercourse with members of the imperial family, and many
+persons high in the administration, I am happy to avow my thorough
+conviction, that such, pure and simple, is the object held in view in
+the establishment of schools throughout the empire, and above all, in
+that of the infant schools, which are now planted in every place where
+there exists a sufficiency of population. I have all along taken a
+deep interest in these little seminaries in the kingdoms of Bohemia
+and Hungary, and am highly sensible of the liberal and humane
+principles on which they are conducted.</p>
+
+<p>Each contains from two to three hundred children, between one and a
+half and five years of age, all of them being the offspring of the
+humbler classes, and many of them orphans. All are instructed in the
+same room, but classed apart; that is, the girls occupy one half of
+the apartment, and the boys the other, leaving an avenue between them,
+which is occupied by the instructors. The boys are under the
+superintendence of a master, and the girls under that of a mistress.
+Both, however, teach or attend to the various necessities of either,
+as circumstances may require. Infants too young to learn, and those
+who are sent, either because they are orphans, or because the extreme
+poverty of the mother obliges her to do outwork, are amused with toys
+and pictures, all, however, of an instructive nature, and which the
+elder children delight to exhibit and explain to them in their own
+quaint little ways. I have frequently seen an infant, scarcely able to
+walk, brought in for the first time, and left on one of the benches of
+the school-room, surrounded by those already initiated. The alarm its
+new position occasioned to the little creature, at thus suddenly
+finding itself abandoned by the only person with whom it was familiar,
+in the midst of a multitude of unknown <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[pg 134]</a></span>faces, can easily be imagined.
+A flood of tears was the first vent to its feelings, accompanied by a
+petulant endeavour to follow its parent or nurse. It was immediately,
+however, surrounded by a score of little comforters, who, full of the
+remembrance of past days, when their fears and their sadness were in
+like manner soothed and dissipated, would use a thousand little arts
+of consolation&mdash;one presenting a toy or picture, another repeating
+what has almost become a formula of kindly re-assurance, till smiles
+and sunshine would succeed to tears and clouds upon that little brow,
+and confidence and content to fear and mistrust. I have often seen the
+day thus pass with neophytes as a dream, only to be broken when the
+parent or nurse, returning to take them home, found them in the centre
+of a little joyous group, the gayest of the gay!</p>
+
+<p>One, after all, cannot wonder at this change, when he contrasts the
+scenery of the interior of an infant school with that of the
+generality of poor homes. The child, making, as it were, its first
+voyage in life, has here been introduced, not merely to a society
+conducted on principles of gentleness and kindness, but to a fairyland
+of marvels for the fascination of its intellectual faculties. From the
+ceiling to the <i>dado</i>&mdash;the wainscotted space at the base, for in
+Hungary this old arrangement is still maintained in its fullest
+form&mdash;the walls are covered with pictures of scripture scenes and
+objects in natural history; while the <i>dado</i> itself, terminating above
+in a shelf, exhibits busts, stuffed animals, and pots of flowers&mdash;the
+whole place, indeed, being a kind of museum, specially adapted for the
+enjoyment as well as instruction of the young. At first, filled with
+wonder and delight, the infant begins to study the meaning and
+character of these objects: after a short attendance, you find they
+can tell the names of many, and speak many things regarding them. One
+day, while attending a Bohemian infant school, which was dismissing,
+and as I was examining some of the birds upon the shelf, a little hand
+was insinuated into mine, as if to get it warmed&mdash;as is often done by
+children&mdash;when, looking down, I beheld a bright, intelligent face,
+apparently eager to make some communication. 'Tuzok, tuzok!'
+('Bustard, bustard!') said a little voice. Encouraged by my smile,
+there was immediately added: 'Ez tuzok, ez mazzar honban, tisza fet&ouml;l
+j&ouml;nn;' ('That is a bustard from Hungary, from the river Teiss.')
+Another little one, attracted by this observation, pointed to the
+elephant, and said in German: 'Und der ist elephant: er kommt von
+weiten, von ausland&mdash;<i>von morgenland</i>!' ('And that is the elephant: it
+comes from far, from a foreign land&mdash;from the <i>morning-land</i>!')&mdash;that
+is, the East!</p>
+
+<p>The children learn the first rudiments of religion, duty and obedience
+to their parents and teachers, spelling, &amp;c. After the expiration of
+the time allotted to them here, they are sent to the normal schools,
+where they are instructed in all the various branches of education
+which are necessary to fit them for any situation or profession for
+which their several talents seem to have destined them.</p>
+
+<p>All parents of the lower classes are <i>compelled</i> by law to send their
+children to school at a certain age. If they are in easy
+circumstances, they contribute a small sum monthly towards the
+expenses of the establishment. Those who are unable to pay the full
+sum, pay the half or a part; others, again, such as a great portion of
+day-labourers with large families, and who cannot even supply their
+children with necessary food and clothing, pay <i>nothing</i>: it is merely
+necessary for these to be furnished with a certificate of their
+incapacity to pay for the education of their children, and the state
+takes the whole charge of their instruction on itself.</p>
+
+<p>We have already spoken of the deep interest we have taken in the
+progress of the infant schools. We visit them frequently, and attend
+all the examinations. On entering, it is scarcely possible to
+recognise in clean, orderly inmates, the dirty, ragged, quarrelling,
+scratching, screaming children of the back-streets, which, however,
+they were only a short time ago. All is changed: the miserable hut,
+the narrow street, and muddy lane, for a pretty room full of pleasant
+objects; the timid look and distrustful scowl, for sunny cheerfulness
+and open confidence. There is no unkind distinction among the lower
+classes in this country, and by this I mean the whole of the Austrian
+states. There being only two classes&mdash;the nobles and the commons&mdash;none
+of the commons despise each other, however poor or humble their
+situation may be. The barefooted orphan, kept and educated by charity
+or the state, is not an object of contempt or ridicule to the child of
+the prosperous artisan, who stands clothed in its little snow-white
+frock and pink ribbons beside its less fortunate companion. Neither is
+any distinction made on account of religion. The infant schools of the
+empire are for the children of all the poor&mdash;Catholic, Lutheran,
+evangelical, &amp;c.; and the two belonging to Presburg, to which we here
+particularly allude, contain from sixty to seventy of the latter in
+every two hundred.</p>
+
+<p>I was present at an examination of one of our Presburg seminaries in
+September last. A number of girls and boys, from three to five years
+of age, with a very few a little older, who had come in comparatively
+late, were subjected to the usual questioning in the various branches
+of their very elementary erudition. Some of the queries proved beyond
+the powers of the generality of the children; but this led to no
+expression of dejection or awkwardness. They evidently all endeavoured
+to do their very best. It was interesting to observe, that so far from
+pining to see a cleverer neighbour answer what they had failed in,
+they seemed to feel a triumph when, after a general difficulty, it was
+at length found that <i>some one</i> could give the right answer&mdash;shewing
+that they might have a feeling of emulation as to the honour of the
+school, but none as between one pupil and another. On several
+occasions, when some unusually intelligent little creature would come
+from a back-form, and solve a question which had bewildered those in
+front, there was a sensible expression of delight over the whole
+school.</p>
+
+<p>In a far-off corner sat a little boy, poorly dressed, and of pallid
+countenance, but with a keen and intelligent eye, which had attracted
+my notice from the beginning. The more difficult the questions grew,
+his eye was fixed with the keener gaze on the face of the master.
+Several times I observed a puzzled child cast backwards to him a look,
+as expressing the assurance that <i>he</i> was able to solve all
+difficulties. At length, on a slight motion of the master's hand, the
+little brown boy was seen to dart from his obscure recess, and pass
+rapidly across the forms, while his companions eagerly made way for
+him, clapping their hands as in anticipation of some brilliant
+achievement. In an instant, the boy stood before the master, his dark
+eye full of anxious expression, but quite devoid of doubt or anxiety.
+All our attention was at once directed to the half-clothed, barefooted
+child, to whom the questions were now put, and by whom they were
+answered with a promptitude and precision most wonderful. And who,
+what was he, that little brown boy? Some did not care to ask, and
+others said: 'Who would have thought that that little beggar-boy would
+have been so smart!' But God has chosen the vile things (to man) of
+this earth to become a bright and shining light to the world. We asked
+who that little boy was, and the master smiled, shook his head, and
+said: 'Oh, I scarcely know myself: it is a little boy the police have
+sent us in lately from the streets. It is not above three weeks since
+he came, but he is a good and very clever child&mdash;very desirous to
+learn, and never forgets anything!'</p>
+
+<p>I was affected by this trivial circumstance, reflecting how many
+little brown boys like this there must be in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[pg 135]</a></span>various countries called
+civilised, who, for want of a refuge where love and light are
+predominant, remain the outcasts of the streets, and become the prey
+of vice and ignorance.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_LOSING_GAME" id="THE_LOSING_GAME"></a>THE LOSING GAME.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>[The following story is by no means a piece of mere
+invention. The principal points were narrated to me by a
+very intelligent young North-Sea fisherman, who had
+frequently heard the legend from a grizzled old sailor on
+board the smack in which he was an apprentice. The veteran
+used to tell the story as having happened to himself; and he
+had told it so often, that he firmly believed it, and used
+to get into a passion when any of the crew dared to doubt or
+laugh. I have, of course, licked the rough outlines of the
+story or anecdote into something like shape; but the main
+incidents are repeated to this day by the sailors of the
+'Barking Fleet,' as the squadron of handsome smacks are
+called, which, hailing from the town of Barking, in Essex,
+pursue the toilsome task, in all seasons, and almost in all
+weathers, of supplying the London market with North-Sea
+turbot, soles, and cod. The story is told in the first
+person, as Dick Hatch himself might have narrated it.]</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p><span class="sc">Nigh</span> forty years ago, mates, when I was as young and supple as the boy
+Bill, there&mdash;though I was older than him by some years&mdash;I was serving
+my apprenticeship to the trade aboard the sloop <i>Lively Nan</i>. There
+were not such big vessels in the trade then, mates, as now; but they
+were tight craft, and manned by light fellows; and they did their work
+as well as the primest clipper of the Barking Fleet. Well, the <i>Lively
+Nan</i> was about this quickest and most weatherly of the whole fleet;
+and she had a great name for making the quickest runs between the
+fishing-grounds and the river. But it wasn't owing so much to the
+qualities of the smack, as to the seamanship of the skipper. A prime
+sailor he was, surely. There wasn't another man sailed out of the
+River Thames who could handle a smack like Bob Goss. When he took the
+tiller, somehow the craft seemed to know it, and bobbed up half a
+point nearer to the wind; and when we were running free with the
+main-sheet eased off, and the foresail shivering, her wake would be as
+straight as her mast; only, he was a rare fellow for carrying on, was
+old Captain Goss! We would be staggering under a whole main-sail, when
+the other smacks had three reefs in theirs; and it was odds but we had
+one line of reef-points triced up, when our neighbours would be going
+at it under storm-trysail and storm-jib. He worked the <i>Lively Nan</i>
+hard, he did, did Captain Goss. Sweet, and wholesome, and easy as she
+was&mdash;for she would rise to any sea, like as comfortable as a duck&mdash;Old
+Goss all but drove her under. Dry jackets were scarce on board the
+<i>Lively Nan</i>. If there was as much wind stirring as would whirl round
+the rusty old vane on the topmast head, 'Carry on, carry on!' was
+always the captain's cry; and away we would bowl, half-a-dozen of the
+lee-streaks of the deck under water.</p>
+
+<p>Well, mates, Old Goss was a prime sailor; but he was a strange sort of
+man. To see him in a passion, was something you wouldn't forget in a
+hurry; and you wouldn't have known him long without having the chance.
+Most of us can swear a bit now and then; but you ought to have heard
+Captain Goss! He used even to frighten the old salts, that had common
+oaths in their mouths from morning till night. He was worse than the
+worst madman in Bedlam when his blood was up; and even the strong,
+bold men of the crew used to cower before him like as the cabin-boy.
+And yet, mates, he was but a little, maimed man, and more than sixty
+years old. He had a regular monkey-face; I never saw one like
+it&mdash;brown, and all over puckers, and working and twitching, like the
+sea where the tide-currents meet. He had but one eye, and he wore a
+big black patch over the place where the other had been; but that one
+eye, mates, would screw into you like a gimlet. Well, Captain Goss was
+more than fifty when he came down to Barking, and bought the <i>Lively
+Nan</i>, and made a carrier<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> of her; and nobody knew who he was, or
+where he came from. There was an old house at Barking then, and I have
+heard say that its ruins are there yet. The boys said that Guy
+Fawkes&mdash;him they burn every 5th of November&mdash;used to live there; and
+the story went that it was haunted, and that there was one room, the
+door of which always stood ajar, and nobody could either open or shut
+it. Well, mates, Old Captain Goss wasn't the sort of man to care much
+about Guy Fawkeses or goblins; so he hires a room in this old
+house&mdash;precious cheap he got it!&mdash;and when he was ashore, you could
+see a light in it all night; and if you went near, you might listen to
+Old Goss singing roaring songs about the brisk boys of the Spanish
+main, and yelling and huzzaing to himself, and drinking what he called
+his five-water grog. Five-water grog, mates&mdash;that was one of his
+jokes. It was rum made hot on the fire; and he could drink it scalding
+and never wink: and he would drink it till he got reg'lar wild. He was
+never right-down drunk, but just wild, like a savage beast! And then
+he would jump up, and make-believe he was fighting, and holler out to
+give it to the Spanish dogs, and that there were lots of doubloons
+below. I've gone myself with other youngsters, to listen at the door;
+and once when he was in the fit, yelling and singing, and laughing and
+swearing, all at once, I'm jiggered if he didn't out with a brace of
+old brass-mounted ship's pistols, and fire them right and left in the
+air, so that we cut and run a deal faster than we came. Of course the
+report soon got about that Captain Goss was an old pirate, or at the
+best an old bucaneer; and the Barking folks used to tell how many
+crews he had made walk the plank, and how there was blood-marks on his
+hands, which he used to try to cover with tar. But no one dared to say
+a word of this to him; and as he was a prime sailor, and even kind
+after his fashion, when he had taken first a reg'lar quantity of his
+five-water grog, he never wanted hands. At sea, he was often wild
+enough with liquor; but he no sooner put his hand on the tiller, than
+he seemed all right: and the <i>Lively Nan</i> walked through it like
+smoke. I'm jiggered, mates, if that old fellow couldn't sail a ship
+asleep or awake, drunk or sober, dead or alive.</p>
+
+<p>Well, then, such was my old captain, Bobby Goss; and now I'll tell you
+what happened to him. One evening, in the autumn-time, and just when
+we were beginning to look out for the equinoctials, the <i>Lively Nan</i>
+was lying with her anchor a-peak&mdash;for we didn't mean to stay long&mdash;in
+Yarmouth Roads. There were three men on board, and one boy with
+myself; they called him Lawrence. I forget his other name, for I aint
+seen him for many a year. Well, the men had all turned in for'ards,
+and we two were left to wait for the captain, who had gone ashore; and
+after he came back, to take our spells at an anchor-watch till
+daylight, when we were to trip, and be off to the Dogger. The weather
+was near a dead calm, and warm for the time of year. The <i>Lively Nan</i>
+was lying with her gaff hoisted half-way and the peak settled down, so
+that we mightn't lose any time in setting the sail in the morning; and
+Lawrence and I were lying in the fo'castle, with our pipes in our
+mouths, watching the shore, to see if the captain was coming off, and
+seeing the sun go down over the sand-hills and the steeples and the
+wind-mills of Yarmouth. There weren't many vessels in the Roads; but
+the Yarmouth galleys, that go dodging about among the sands, were
+stretching in for the beach with the last puff of the evening breeze;
+and the herring-boats could be seen going off to their ground like
+specks out upon the sea. Then presently it got dark, and the
+town-lights of Yarmouth came sparkling out, the harbour-light the
+biggest, and away to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[pg 136]</a></span>south'ard, the Lowstofft Light-house. But,
+after all, there aint much amusement in watching lights, and we both
+of us wanted to turn in; but till the captain came, there was no warm
+blankets for either. So we got wondering what Old Goss was doing at
+Yarmouth, and what was keeping him, and whether he'd come aboard drunk
+or sober, and whether he'd blow us up, and whether he'd rope's-end us,
+which was as likely as not, or perhaps more. Well, so hour after hour
+passed, and the night was so calm we could hear the chimes of the
+Yarmouth clocks, and the water going lap-lap against the sides of the
+<i>Lively Nan</i>, and the rudder going cheep-cheep as the sway of the sea
+stirred it. At last, says Lawrence: 'It's reg'lar dull here; let's go
+below.'</p>
+
+<p>'What's the use?' says I: 'there's no light, and the hands are all
+fast asleep.'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' says he; 'to the captain's cabin I mean. There's a lamp there;
+and we can hear the oars of the boat, and be on deck again, and no one
+the wiser.'</p>
+
+<p>Well, mates, I had some curiosity to get a glimpse of the captain's
+cabin, where I very seldom went, and never stayed long: so down we
+went, lighted up the lamp, and looked about us. There wasn't much,
+however, to see. It was a black little hole, with a brass stove and
+lockers, and a couple of berths, larboard and starboard, and a small
+picture of a fore-and-aft rigged schooner, very low in the water, and
+looking a reg'lar clipper; and no name to her. Well, mates, all at
+once I caught sight of a pack of cards lying on a locker. 'Here's a
+bit o' fun,' says I; 'Lawry, let's have a game;' and he agreed. So
+down we sat, and began to play 'put.' A precious greasy old lot of
+cards they were; and so many dirt-spots on them, that it required a
+fellow with sharp eyes to make out the dirt from the Clubs and Spades.
+However, we got on somehow. When one was ready to play, he knocked the
+table with his knuckles, as a signal to the other; and for hours and
+hours we shuffled and dealt and knocked until it was late in the
+night, which I ought to have told you was Saturday night. At last,
+just as we ended a game, and when we were listening if a boat was
+coming, before beginning another, we heard the Yarmouth clocks ring
+twelve.</p>
+
+<p>'Put up the cards,' says Lawrence; 'I'll not play more.'</p>
+
+<p>'Why not?' says I.</p>
+
+<p>'Because,' says he, and he stammered a little&mdash;'because it's Sunday.'</p>
+
+<p>Well, mates, I had forgotten all my notions of that kind, and so I
+laughed at him. But it was no use.</p>
+
+<p>'Them,' says he, 'that plays cards on a Sunday, runs a double chance
+of death on Monday.'</p>
+
+<p>His mother had told him this, and so he refused out-and-out to go on.
+'Well,' says I, 'I aint afraid, and I'd play if I had a partner.'</p>
+
+<p>Mates! the cards were lying in a pack, and the words were hardly out
+of my mouth, before they slipped down, and spread themselves out upon
+the table! Lawrence gave a loud screech, and jumped up. 'Oh!' says he,
+'it's the Old Un with us in the cabin!' and up the companion he
+tumbled, and I at his heels; and rushed for'ard as hard as we could
+pelt, and cuddled under the foresail&mdash;which was lying on the deck&mdash;all
+trembling and shaking, and our teeth chattering.</p>
+
+<p>'I told you what it would be,' says Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>'I'll never play cards again,' says I, 'on a Sunday!'</p>
+
+<p>Just at that minute we heard oars, and then a hail: 'The <i>Lively Nan</i>,
+ahoy!' It was Old Goss's voice, and it was so thick, we knew he wasn't
+sober. So we slunk out, all trembling and clinging to each other. The
+lamp was burning up the cabin skylight, but we were afraid to look
+down. But if we didn't look, we could not help hearing; and sure
+enough there was the rap of knuckles on the table, as if Somebody was
+impatient that his partner didn't play. Well, we were more dead than
+alive when the captain came alongside in a shore-boat, and tumbled up
+the side, abusing the boatmen for the price he had to pay them. He had
+a lantern, and noticed the state we were in at once.</p>
+
+<p>'Now, then,' says he, 'you couple of young swabs, what are ye standing
+grinning there for, like powder-monkeys in the aguer? What's come over
+you, ye twin pair of snivelling Molly Coddles?' We looked at each
+other, but we were afraid to speak. 'What is it?' he roared again, 'or
+I'll make your backs as hot as a roasted pig's!' And on this, Lawrence
+reg'larly blubbered out: 'The devil, sir; the devil is in the cabin
+playing at double dummy "put!"'</p>
+
+<p>You should have heard Old Goss's laugh at this. They might have heard
+it ashore at Yarmouth. Just as it stopped, the sound of the knuckles
+came up through the skylight.</p>
+
+<p>'Who's below?' says the captain.</p>
+
+<p>'No one,' says I.</p>
+
+<p>'But Davy Jones,' says Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>'Then,' says the captain, with an oath that was enough to split the
+mast, 'I'll play with him! It's not been the first time, and it mayn't
+be the last. Go for'ard, you beggars' brats, and don't disturb us;'
+and he went down the companion.</p>
+
+<p>But we did not go for'ard. No; we stretched ourselves on the deck, and
+peeped down the skylight. We could only see faintly, but we did see
+the captain sitting, holding his hand of cards, and another hand
+opposite, all spread out, but no fingers holding it, and no man behind
+it. There was a rap on the table, and I am sure it was not the captain
+that struck it.</p>
+
+<p>'Very well,' says he; 'wait till I've thought. You're so confounded
+sharp.'</p>
+
+<p>Then he played, and there was a dark shadow on the table&mdash;we did not
+know what, but it made our hair stand on end.</p>
+
+<p>'Play fair, Old Un!' says the captain. 'There goes king of trumps. Ha!
+that's what I thought! Of course, the devil's own luck&mdash;it's a
+proverb. Well, never say die. There!' and he played again.</p>
+
+<p>But we could stand it no longer. We scrambled to our legs, and the
+next minute were down in fo'castle, rousing the men. They were sleepy
+enough, you may be bound; but we almost lugged them out of the
+hammocks. 'Turn out, turn out, shipmates, for God's-sake: the devil's
+aboard this ship, and he's playing cards with the captain in the
+cabin.' At first, mates, the hands thought we had gone mad; but we
+both of us told in a breath what we had seen; and so in a minute or
+two we all went aft, creeping like cats along the deck. But there was
+no need. We heard Old Goss's voice raging like a fury.</p>
+
+<p>'You're a cheat, Old Un,' he was yelling out. 'You cheat all mankind:
+you've cheated me. Come, play; double or quits on the first turn-up.
+What's that? Nine of Spades! Seven of Spades! What! no trumps? I say,
+don't you mind the old craft under the line? That's her opposite you;
+so, play away.'</p>
+
+<p>'Mates,' says an old salt&mdash;his name was Bartholomew Cook&mdash;'mates,'
+says he, 'this is a doomed ship, an I won't ship for another v'y'ge.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nor I;' 'nor I,' says several, as we crept along.</p>
+
+<p>'He's only mad with drink,' whispered the mate. 'It's all five-water
+grog.'</p>
+
+<p>'Is it?' said Bartholomew. 'Look down there!'</p>
+
+<p>The men crept to the skylight, and peeped; and so did I. What we saw,
+not a man forgot the longest day he lived. The captain was dealing the
+cards furiously; his face working and swelling; his hair bristling up;
+his good eye gleaming, and the patch off the other, the blind one,
+which was shining, too, as it were, like a rotten oyster in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>'Play!' roars Goss at last; and then he paused, as if he was thinking
+of his next card. The table was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[pg 137]</a></span>rapped. He played; and then quick and
+furious the cards came down; the captain all the while raving,
+shouting, and foaming at the mouth.</p>
+
+<p>'Against me&mdash;against me&mdash;against me! Avaunt! A man's no match for ye.
+Ye have all! Lost again! No; here&mdash;stop. On the next card, I stake
+myself&mdash;my ship&mdash;my'&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'Stop!' shouted old Bartholomew. He had been standing at the foot of
+the companion, and he burst into the cabin. 'Stop, Captain Goss, in
+the name of God!'</p>
+
+<p>Goss turned round to him. His face was so like the Evil One's that we
+did not look for any other. Then a brass-mounted pistol&mdash;a shot&mdash;and
+rolling smoke: all passed in a minute. Then the captain flung a card
+upon the table, and with a yell like a wild beast, shouted out:
+'Lost!' fell over the cards, extinguished the lamp; and we neither
+heard nor saw more, till there came a shuffling on the companion, and
+Bartholomew crawled out with his face all blackened by the powder, and
+the blood trickling from his cheek, where the ball had grazed it. We
+all went for'ard, mates, and had a long palaver, and resolved to go
+ashore at daybreak, and leave a doomed captain and a doomed ship. But
+we didn't know our man. In the gray of the morning, we heard the
+handspike rattle on the hatch, and we tumbled up one after the other.
+The captain was there, looking much as usual, but only paler.</p>
+
+<p>'Man the windlass,' says he.</p>
+
+<p>'We're going ashore, sir,' says Bartholomew firmly.</p>
+
+<p>'How?' says the captain.</p>
+
+<p>'In the boat,' says Bartholomew.</p>
+
+<p>'Are you?' says Goss: 'look at her!' He had cut her adrift, and she
+was a mile off.</p>
+
+<p>'And now,' says Goss, 'I was drunk last night, and frightened
+you&mdash;playing tricks with cards. Don't be fools; do your duty, and defy
+Davy Jones. If not'&mdash;And then he flung open his pea-coat, and we saw
+four of the brass-mounted pistols in his belt. But, mates, his one eye
+was worse than the four muzzles, and we slunk to our work, and obeyed
+him. The easterly breeze came fresh, and we were soon bowling away
+nor'ard. The captain stood long at the helm, and we gathered for'ard.
+'We're lost!' said Bartholomew; 'we're lost men! We're bought and
+sold!'</p>
+
+<p>'Bartholomew,' shouts the captain, 'come and take the helm!' He went
+aft, mates, like a lamb; and the captain walked for'ards, and looked
+at us, one after another; and the one eye cowed us. We were not like
+men; and he was our master. When he went below, we grouped together,
+and looked out to windward. It was getting black&mdash;black; the wind was
+coming off in gusts; and the <i>Lively Nan</i> began to dance to the seas
+that came rolling in from the eastward. 'The equinoctial!' we says one
+to another. In an hour more, mates, all the sky to windward was like a
+big sheet of lead; with white clouds, like feathers, driving athwart
+it&mdash;the clouds, as it were, whiter than the firmament. You know the
+meaning, mates, of a sky like that; and accordingly, by nightfall, we
+had it; and the <i>Lively Nan</i>, under close-reefed main-sail and
+storm-jib, was groaning, and plunging, and diving in the seas&mdash;the
+wind blowing, mates, as if it would have wrenched the mast out of the
+keelson. Many a gale have I been in, before and since, but that was
+the worst of all. Well, mates, we thought we were doomed, but we did
+our work, silent and steady; and we kept the smack under a press of
+canvas that none but such a boat could bear, to claw her off the
+lee-shore&mdash;off them fearsome sands that lie all along Lincolnshire.
+Captain Goss was as bold and cool as ever, and stood by the
+tiller-tackle, and steered the ship as no hand but his could do.</p>
+
+<p>It was the gloaming of the night, mates, when the gale came down,
+heavier and heavier&mdash;a perfect blast, that tore up the very sea, and
+drove sheets of water into the air. We were a'most blinded, and clung
+to cleats and rigging&mdash;the sea tumbling over and over us; and the
+poor, old smack at length smashed down on her beam-ends. All at once,
+the mast went over the side; and as we righted and rose on the curl of
+a seaway, Bartholomew sung out, loud and shrill: 'Sail, ho!' We
+looked. Right to windward, mates, there was a sort of light opening in
+the clouds; something of the colour of the ring round the moon in
+dirty weather, and nigh as round; and in the middle of it was a smack,
+driving right down on us, her bowsprit not a cable-length from our
+broadside. She looked wondrous like the <i>Lively Nan</i> herself, and some
+of us saw our own faces clustered for'ard, looking at ourselves over
+the bow!</p>
+
+<p>As this notion was passed from one to another, we cried out aloud,
+that our hour was come. Captain Goss was in the middle of us. 'Hold
+your baby screeches,' says he. 'You'll be none the worse; it's me and
+the smack she has to do with.' Even, as he spoke, she was on us. Some
+fell on their knees, and others clenched their fists and their teeth;
+but instead of the crash of meeting timber, we heard but a rustle, and
+the shadow of her sails flitted, as it were, across us; and as they
+passed, the wind was cold, cold, and struck us like frost; and the
+next minute the <i>Lively Nan</i> had sunk below our feet, and we found
+ourselves in the roaring sea, struggling among the wreck of the mast.
+The smack was gone, and the strange ship gone, and the gale blowing
+steady and strong. One by one, mates, we got astride of the mast, and
+lashed ourselves with odds and ends of broken rope; and then we began,
+as we rose and fell on the sea, to look about and muster how many we
+were. The crew, including the captain, was seven hands, but we were
+sure there were eight men sitting on the mast. It was too dark to see
+faces; but you could see the dark figures clinging to the spar.</p>
+
+<p>'Answer to your names, mates,' says Bartholomew, who somehow took the
+lead. And so he called over the list till he came to the captain.</p>
+
+<p>'Captain Goss?'</p>
+
+<p>'Here,' says the captain's voice.</p>
+
+<p>We now knew there was somebody behind him who was not one of the crew.
+It was too dark, however, to see distinctly, and Goss interrupted our
+view such as it was.</p>
+
+<p>'Who is the man on the end of the mast, Captain Goss?' says
+Bartholomew.</p>
+
+<p>'You might be old enough to guess that!' replied the captain, and his
+voice was husky-like, but quite clear; and it never trembled. 'Some
+men call him one thing, some another; and we of the sea call him Davy
+Jones.'</p>
+
+<p>Mates, at that we clustered up together as well as we could, and
+fixing our eyes on what was passing at the other end of the mast, we
+hardly attended to the seas that broke over and over us. At last, we
+saw Captain Goss, by the light of the beds of bursting foam, fumbling
+for something in his breast.</p>
+
+<p>'Is it a Bible you have there?' cried Bartholomew. The captain didn't
+answer, but pulled out the thing he was trying for; and we guessed
+somehow, for we could hardly see, that it was the greasy pack of
+cards.</p>
+
+<p>'Double or quits!' he shouted, 'on all I've staked;' and in another
+instant there was one horrid, unearthly screech, like what we heard in
+the cabin before, and the mast, as it were, tipped the heel of it, the
+cross-trees rising many feet above the water. Whether or no it was the
+motion of the waves that had tossed it, no man can say; but when the
+mast rolled again with the next sea, the heel came up empty: Captain
+Goss and his companion were gone!</p>
+
+<p>'Thank God,' says Old Bartholomew, 'for Jonah is in the sea.' In less
+than half an hour, mates, we were tossed ashore, without a bruise or
+scratch. We walked the beach till daylight, and then we saw that the
+mast had disappeared. None ever saw more a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[pg 138]</a></span>timber or a rope's-end of
+the <i>Lively Nan</i>. She had been staked and won; but the greasy cards,
+mates, lay wet and dank upon the beach, and we left them to wither
+there among the sea-weed.</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The smacks used to convey the fish from the traulers to
+the Thames are called 'carriers.'</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="PARTNERSHIP_IN_COMMANDITE" id="PARTNERSHIP_IN_COMMANDITE"></a>PARTNERSHIP IN COMMANDITE.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">It</span> is a general prejudice, that a subject like the law of partnership
+is a matter for the legal profession only, or, at most, for the
+consideration of capitalists embarked in partnership business. But it
+is, in truth, a subject of great interest to the public at large, and
+especially to that valuable portion of the community who possess
+ability and character, and have a little property&mdash;but not much&mdash;at
+stake in the soundness of our institutions. This class have, however,
+of late begun to shew a visible interest in the subject&mdash;an interest
+which, had it existed earlier, might have prevented any of the
+anomalies of which we complain from increasing to their present
+excess.</p>
+
+<p>The political economists have ever admitted the great influence of
+combined capital: they have pointed to many valuable operations, such
+as gas-works, water-works, railways, &amp;c. which can be performed by
+combined capital, but are beyond the capacity of individual
+capitalists. They have also admitted the efficacy of a division or
+combination of labour; whether it be that of the mechanic, or of some
+higher grade, such as the designer and projector. The views of the
+older school of political economists would be in entire concurrence
+with anything that would facilitate such combinations, where several
+men with skill or money take their parts; as, for instance, where one
+is the buyer of raw materials, another keeps the accounts, another
+draws patterns, and another acts as salesman. On the other hand, some
+novel speculators go so much farther, that they would revolutionise
+society, and, by force, compel it to be organised into co-operative
+sections. It infers no sympathy with these wild schemes of
+destruction, and artificial reconstruction, to desire that our law
+should give facility for co-operation and combination&mdash;nay, that it
+should give to it every encouragement consistent with other interests,
+and with civil liberty.</p>
+
+<p>But our law, unfortunately, instead of doing thus, has set heavy
+impediments in the way of co-operation; we might speak more strongly,
+and say, that it has prepared pitfalls, in which any person guilty of
+having joined in a co-operative scheme, may at once find himself
+overwhelmed, as a punishment for his offence. Invest part of your
+savings in a company in which you have reliance; assist a young man,
+of whose capacity and honesty you think well, by investing money in
+his business; and some day you may find yourself ruined for having
+done so.</p>
+
+<p>Those readers who have turned any attention to this subject, will at
+once see that we refer to the law of unlimited responsibility in
+partnerships. Except when the company proceeds under an act of
+parliament, a charter, or patent, limiting the responsibility, every
+partner is responsible for the debts and obligations of the concern,
+to the last farthing he possesses. Very often, a young man of
+enterprise and ability, acting as manager, overseer, or in some other
+respectable capacity, receives a small share in the profits to
+encourage him to exertion: he has no control over the management: some
+leading man plunges, to serve himself, into dangerous speculations,
+and there is a bankruptcy. The young man has done nothing but good
+service all along to the partnership, and to its creditors, and all
+who have had dealings with it; yet, if he have saved a trifle, it is
+swept away with the effects of the real speculators. Take another case
+equally common: A young man commences business alone, or in company
+with others: they have intelligence, ability, and honesty, but little
+capital. A capitalist, who, perhaps, conducts some larger business of
+his own, might, ingrafting kindness on prudential considerations, be
+inclined to embark with them to a certain extent; but he finds, that
+instead of a prudential step, nothing could be more thoroughly
+imprudent. He will have to embark not only the small sum he destined
+for the purpose, but his whole fortune. Dealers who have transactions
+with the young partners, will know that a man of fortune is 'at their
+back,' as it is termed, and will give them credit and encouragement
+accordingly. Without being conscious of any dishonesty, the firm will
+be led to trade, not on the capital which their friend has advanced,
+but on the capital which he possesses. Of course, they do not intend
+that he should lose his fortune, any more than that they themselves
+should lose their business and pecuniary means. But these things
+happen against people's intentions and inclinations; and the friend
+who wished to aid them with a moderate and cautious advance, is
+ruined; while those who were giving reckless credit, and who
+encouraged dangerous speculations, are paid cent. per cent. It is the
+fear of such a consummation as this that generally makes the
+well-intending friend abstain from ultimately committing himself with
+those with whom he would have fain co-operated.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite right that trading companies should not trade on false
+resources, and be able to laugh at their creditors by placing out of
+the reach of the law the funds with which they have speculated. Yet
+this can be done under the present system; and there is a class of men
+in the commercial world, banded together by peculiar ties and
+interests, who are said to accomplish it on a large and comprehensive
+scale. It is thus carried out: A penniless man starts in business,
+supplied with abundant capital by his friends: they may demand 6, 7,
+or 10 per cent. for the use of it; and if they manage, which they may,
+to avoid the residue of the law of usury, they are safe from the law
+of partnership. The new man, by his prompt payments and abundant
+command of capital, works himself into good credit. It is an
+understanding, that when he has been thus set afloat, the money
+advanced by his friends is to be gradually repaid. He is then left to
+swim or sink. If the former be his fate, it is well for all parties;
+if the latter, his friends will not be the sufferers: their capital is
+preserved, and they can play the same game over again, in some other
+place, with the hope of an equally happy result.</p>
+
+<p>The same modifications of the law which would free partnership of its
+terrors would be only naturally accompanied with safeguards to protect
+the public against such schemes as these. In France, America, and many
+other countries, there is a system of partnership, with limited
+responsibility, known by the name of 'Partnership in <i>Commandite</i>.'
+Even with us, limited responsibility is by no means unknown. It is,
+however, granted capriciously and unsystematically, without those
+checks and regulations which, if there were a general system, would be
+adopted to make it safe and effective. 'I wish,' said Mr Duncan, a
+solicitor, when examined before the Select Committee on the Law of
+Partnership, 'to draw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[pg 139]</a></span>the attention of the committee first to this
+simple fact&mdash;that all the railway, gas, and water and dock companies,
+and all the telegraph companies, as a matter of course, have limited
+liability. It is impossible to trace why they have got it, but they
+have got it as a habit, and for any extent of capital they desire.
+Whether a project be to make a railway from one small place to
+another, or to provide gas to supply any town, great or small, all
+those companies, as a matter of course, come to the legislature and
+ask for, and obtain, limited liability. They are commercial companies,
+and one cannot trace the reason why they should have limited liability
+a bit more than any other company&mdash;but it is so.'</p>
+
+<p>Here we have at least a precedent, which is of importance in a country
+like this, so truly conservative in the sense of adhering to anything
+that is fixed law or matter of traditional business routine. Now, in
+these concerns, where there is often so much wild speculation and
+mismanagement, no one is responsible beyond the subscribed stock; yet
+while we hear enough of the stockholders themselves losing their
+property, we seldom, scarcely ever, hear of the creditors who deal
+with them, in contracting for their works or otherwise, losing. The
+reason is, because the extent to which they can pay is known, and the
+people who deal with the company calculate accordingly. Unlimited
+liability existing in some indefinite parties, while it too often
+ruins these parties themselves, is a bait for that indefinite credit
+which produces their ruin, and sometimes leaves the careless creditor
+unpaid, even when he has taken the last farthing from the unfortunate
+partner.</p>
+
+<p>In the commandite partnerships, however, the restriction of liability
+does not apply to all the shareholders, as in the case of our great
+joint-stock companies. Full responsibility alights only on those
+partners who take it upon them, who have an interest in the profits
+measured by their responsibility, and who are known to the world to be
+so responsible. With regard to those whose responsibility is said to
+be limited, it would be more accurate to say, that they have no
+responsibility at all: there is a fixed sum which they have invested
+in the concern&mdash;they may lose it, but it is there already; and there
+is nothing for which they have, properly speaking, to be responsible.
+The method adopted in France may be described thus:&mdash;There is a
+private act or contract, in which are given the names of the partners,
+and the sums contributed by them. The names of the <i>g&eacute;rants</i>, or those
+who, as ostensible conductors of the business, are to be responsible
+to the whole extent of their property, are then published. With regard
+to those who put in money without incurring farther responsibility, it
+is only necessary to publish the sums contributed by them: no farther
+information regarding them would be of any use, unless to their
+fellow-partners, who would perhaps like to know if the concern is
+patronised by men of sense, and they may satisfy themselves by looking
+at the deed of partnership. Now, there is perfect fairness in all
+this. The public know the persons who agree to take the full
+responsibility; they know also the amount of money put into their
+hands by other parties. In deciding whether they shall deal or not
+with this body, they are not perplexed by mysterious visions of
+possible rich unknowns who may be brought in for the company's
+obligations. We cannot see that such an arrangement is in the least
+unfair, and we are convinced that it would be productive of
+great good. The subscribers with limited responsibility, or
+<i>commanditaires</i>, as they are called, are not cut off from all control
+over the management of their funds: it is their own fault if they join
+a commandite company where they are not allowed to inspect the books,
+and check rashness or extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to be frequently the case, that a set of able workmen, in the
+kind of artistic manufactures for which France is celebrated, become
+the <i>g&eacute;rants</i> of such companies. This, we believe, is a form in which
+whatever element of good may happen to lie in the co-operative
+theories of a recent school of Socialists will be found. The
+commercial witnesses before the select committee, spoke of ribbons and
+other ornamental manufactures, which were only produced in perfection
+in establishments where the energies of the designers were roused by
+the possession of a share in the business, and in its management, as
+<i>g&eacute;rants</i>. Coinciding with these practical witnesses, the theorists on
+political economy who were consulted on the occasion&mdash;such as Mr
+Babbage and Mr J.S. Mill&mdash;held that many inventions that might be
+patented and used, and many ingenious discoveries made by men of the
+operative class, were lost to the world by the defective state of the
+law. They would often get those who, richer than themselves, have
+reliance on their judgment, to aid them in carrying out their
+inventions or improvements, were it not for the law of unlimited
+responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>We can even anticipate, from anything that will facilitate fruitful
+investment by the working-classes, a still wider&mdash;we might say, a
+political effect. The chief defect in our otherwise sound social
+system, is the want of fusion between the class of employers and
+employed. As some other countries are subject to the more serious evil
+of being without a middle-class between the aristocracy and the common
+people, so we want a sub-grade, as it were, between the middle and the
+working classes. It is too much the practice to consider them as
+separated from each other by interests, tastes, and feelings. It is,
+on the contrary, the real truth that their interests are indissolubly
+united; but if there were a less broad line separating them from each
+other, this would be more apparent. The true way to fill up the gap
+happily for all parties, is not for the middle-class to descend, but
+the working-class to rise. Nothing could better accomplish this, than
+imparting to them facilities for entering into business on a small
+scale on their own account. The hopelessness with which the workman
+looks at the position of the employer, as that of a great capitalist,
+would then be turned into hope and endeavour.</p>
+
+<p>It is often said, that the operative classes shew an unfortunate
+indisposition to advance onwards, and abandon their uniform routine of
+toil: the answer to this is&mdash;try them. They have adopted the means at
+their command in other countries. Mr Davis, an American gentleman,
+gave the select committee an animated view of the ambitious workmen of
+the New England states, where, he said, 'nobody is contented with his
+present condition&mdash;everybody is struggling for something better.' Now,
+to be discontented with one's condition, in the shape of folding the
+arms, and abusing the fate that has not sent chance prosperity, is a
+bad thing; but the discontent&mdash;if such it can be justly called&mdash;which
+incites a man to rise in the world by honest exertions, is in every
+way a good thing. Mr Davis said, he has been told that, in Lowell,
+some of the young women hold stock in the mills in which they work.
+Imagine a factory-girl holding stock in a mill!</p>
+
+<p>We believe that unlimited responsibility was really founded on the old
+prejudices against usury or interest; and as these prejudices are fast
+disappearing, we may hope speedily to see this relic of their
+operation removed. Towards this end, let the operatives everywhere
+meet to consider this question, so important to their interests; and,
+as we believe they will generally see the propriety of furthering a
+law to establish commandite partnerships, let them petition the House
+of Commons accordingly. Whether the classes with capital will move in
+the matter, is doubtful; for they are not the parties to be chiefly
+benefited. The best way is not to trust to them on the subject; but
+for the working-classes to take the thing into their own hands, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[pg 140]</a></span>and
+spare no exertion to procure an act of parliament of the kind we speak
+of. We feel assured, that such an act would do more to inspire hope
+among artisans, and to put them in the way of fortune, than any other
+law that could be mentioned.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="RECENT_FIRE-PANICS" id="RECENT_FIRE-PANICS"></a>RECENT FIRE-PANICS.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">The</span> panic created by a cry of fire in theatres, churches, and other
+public buildings, may be said to cause a considerably greater number
+of deaths than the flames themselves. Few persons, indeed, are burnt
+to death, means of escape from conflagration being usually found;
+whereas, the number suffocated and bruised to death by mere panic, is
+lamentably large. The following is the account of a most disastrous
+fire-panic, which we gather from a paper in an American Journal of
+Education.</p>
+
+<p>In the city of New York there is a school, known as the 'Ninth Ward
+School-house,' Greenwich Avenue. The house is built of brick, and
+consists of several floors, access to which is obtained by a spiral
+staircase. The bottom of the staircase is paved with stone, and ten
+feet square in extent. Standing in the centre of this landing-place,
+we look up a circular well, as it may be called, round which the stair
+winds with its balustrade. The school is attended by boys and girls,
+in different departments, under their respective teachers. It was in
+this extensive establishment, numbering at the time 1233 boys and 600
+girls, that the panic occurred, and it broke out in a singular and
+unexpected way.</p>
+
+<p>One day last December, Miss Harrison, a teacher in the female
+department, who had been for some days indisposed, was suddenly, and
+while performing her duties in the school, seized with a paralysis of
+the tongue. The spectacle of their teacher in this distressing
+condition, naturally suggested to the children that she was faint, and
+required water. At all events, the word <i>water</i> was uttered. It was
+repeated. It became a cry; and the cry excited the idea of fire. A
+notion sprang up that the school was on fire. That was enough. The
+floor was in an uproar; and the noise so created in one department was
+communicated to the others. The whole school was seized with panic!
+Now commenced a rush towards the various doors. Out of each poured a
+flood of children, dashing wildly to the staircase. The torrent jammed
+up, and unable to find outlet by the stair, burst the balustrades, and
+down like a cataract poured the maddened throng into the central well,
+falling on the paved lobby beneath. The scene was appalling. 'Before
+the current could be arrested, the well was filled with the bodies of
+children to the depth of about eight feet. At this juncture, the alarm
+reached the Ninth Ward Station-house, the fire-bell was rung, and a
+detachment of the police hurried to the scene. Here a new difficulty
+presented itself. The afternoon session of the school having
+commenced, the main outer-doors, which open upon the foot of the
+stairs, had been closed. Against these the affrighted children were
+wedged in masses, and as the doors open inward, it was some time
+before relief could be given them. The police fortunately effected an
+entrance by a rear-door, but for which timely help, many more of the
+children would probably have been suffocated.</p>
+
+<p>'Much commendation is due to the teachers for their presence of mind.
+Miss M'Farland, one of the assistants in the primary department,
+finding the children of her department becoming alarmed, placed
+herself in the doorway, and exerted her utmost strength to arrest them
+as they endeavoured to rush from the room; and although several times
+thrown down and trampled upon, she still persisted in her efforts,
+until, finally, she was so much injured, as to be compelled to
+relinquish the post. So impetuous was the rush, however, that five of
+the teachers were forced over the balusters, and fell with the
+children into the well. The sterner discipline exercised over the
+boys' departments prevented them generally from joining in the rush.
+Only three of the pupils in the upper male department were among the
+killed. Some of the boys jumped out of the windows, and one of them
+had his neck broken by the fall. As soon as they gained admittance,
+the police took possession of the premises, and commenced handing out
+the children from their perilous position. Those that were on the top
+were but slightly injured; but as soon as these had been removed, the
+most heart-rending spectacle presented itself. Some among the
+policemen were fathers, whose own children were there. They worked
+manfully, and body after body was taken out: many of them lifeless at
+first, came to when they once more breathed the fresh air; but many
+were beyond aid, and death was too plainly marked upon their pallid
+features. Some were injured by the fall, and lay writhing in agony;
+some moaned; while others shrieked with pain; and others, again, when
+released, started off for home, apparently unconscious of the awful
+scene through which they had passed. The bodies of the dead and
+wounded were mostly taken to the Ninth Ward Station-house, which is
+near the school. In a few minutes, news of the accident spread through
+the neighbourhood, and mothers came rushing to the scene by scores.
+Occasionally, a mother would recognise the lifeless form of a child as
+it was lifted from the mass, and then the piercing cry of agony that
+would rend the air! One after another, the bodies of the dead were
+removed; and at length litters were provided, and the wounded were
+carried away also. Nearly one hundred families either mourned the loss
+of children, or watched anxiously over the forms of the wounded.'</p>
+
+<p>The coroner's jury which sat on this case of wholesale destruction of
+life, decided that no blame could be imputed to any of the teachers in
+the school, and that the deaths were a result of accident. At the same
+time, they strongly condemned the construction of the stair, and the
+unfitness of the balustrades to withstand pressure. The whole case
+suggests the impolicy of giving spiral staircases to buildings of this
+class: in all such establishments, the stairs should be broad and
+square, with numerous landing-places.</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, the sensation caused by the above catastrophe had
+not subsided, when another case of destruction of life occurred in New
+York from a similarly groundless fear of fire. This second disaster is
+noticed as follows in the newspapers:</p>
+
+<p>'Monday night (January 12), between the hours of nine and ten o'clock,
+a frightful calamity occurred at 140 Centre Street, in a rear building
+owned by the Commissioners of Emigration, for the reception of the
+newly-arrived emigrants. The building is five storeys high, and each
+floor appropriated for the emigrants&mdash;the upper rooms principally for
+the women, and the lower part for the men. In this place, six human
+lives were lost, and perhaps as many more may yet die from the
+injuries sustained. It seems that between nine and ten o'clock, the
+City Hall bell rang an alarm of fire in the fifth district, and some
+of the women on the upper floors called out "fire," which instantly
+created a panic of alarm on each floor among them, and a general rush
+was made for the stairway, which being very contracted, they fell one
+on the top of each other, creating an awful state of confusion. So
+terrified were some, that they broke out the second and third storey
+windows, and sprang out, falling with deadly violence in the yard
+below. The screams and cries of the affrighted women and children soon
+called the aid of the police; and Captain Brennen, aided by his
+efficient officers, rendered every assistance in his power, and
+succeeded, as quickly as possible, in extricating the injured as well
+as the dead from the scene of calamity. Six dead bodies were conveyed
+to the station-house, and eight persons were conveyed to the city
+hospital with broken arms and bodily injuries, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[pg 141]</a></span>some of whom are not
+expected to survive. Many others were injured, more or less, but not
+deemed sufficiently so to be sent to the hospital. Those killed are
+all children, except one, who is a young woman about twenty years of
+age. They were all suffocated by the number of persons crowded on
+them. The scene at the Sixth Ward Station-house presented a woful
+sight, the mothers of the deceased children bewailing over them in the
+most pitiful manner. At the time the alarm was given, there were about
+480 emigrants in the building, the larger proportion women and
+children, who were up stairs; and in forcing their way down stairs,
+the balusters gave way, thus precipitating them down in a very similar
+manner to the unfortunate children at the Ninth Ward School-house.
+There was, it seems, no cause for the alarm of fire any more than the
+bells rang an alarm; which alarm did not refer to that district, but
+was misconstrued by the emigrants to be in their building. Alderman
+Barr was quickly on the spot, rendering every assistance in his power
+to alleviate the sufferings of the poor unfortunate emigrants.'</p>
+
+<p>The details of these two calamities arising from sheer panic will not
+be useless, if they serve to shew the extreme danger and folly of
+giving way to a terror of fire in crowded buildings. Let us impress
+upon all the necessity for so disciplining their nerves, that on
+hearing a call of fire in a church, theatre, or other place of
+assemblage, they may act with calmness and common sense; those nearest
+the door going out, and the others quietly following. It is in the
+highest degree improbable&mdash;not to say impossible&mdash;that in such places
+fire, before its discovery, can gain such a height as to cut off,
+unaided by panic, the escape of a single man, woman, or child in the
+house. We should remember, that not merely on the first discovery of
+fire, but when the building is actually in flames, the firemen are at
+work within the walls; and that these men are protected by no immunity
+but that arising from their own courage and self-possession.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="THINGS_TALKED_OF_IN_LONDON" id="THINGS_TALKED_OF_IN_LONDON"></a>THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>February 1852.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Professor Faraday's</span> lecture, with which, according to use and custom,
+the Friday evening course at the Royal Institution was opened, has
+been the most noteworthy topic of scientific gossip since my last. The
+subject, 'Lines of Magnetic Force,' is one not easily popularised,
+otherwise, I should like to give you an abstract of it. One requires
+to know so much beforehand, to comprehend the value and significance
+of such a lecture. The learned professor's experiments, by which he
+demonstrated his reasonings were, however, eminently interesting to
+the crowded auditory who had the good-fortune to listen to him. He
+promises to give us, before the close of the season, another, wherein
+he will make use of that telescope of the mind&mdash;speculation, and tell
+us much of what his ever-widening researches have led him to conclude
+concerning magnetism; a science on which he believes we are shortly to
+get large 'increments of knowledge.' Mr Wheatstone, too, having
+produced a paper resuming his stereoscopic investigations, had the
+honour of reading it before the Royal Society as their Bakerian
+Lecture, as I prognosticated a month or two since. Of course in this
+practical age the inquiry is put&mdash;Of what use is the stereoscope or
+pseudoscope? With respect to the former, it is said that artists will
+find it very serviceable in copying statuary groups; and a suggestion
+has already been made, to adapt it to the purposes of microscopic
+observation, as the objects examined will be seen much more accurately
+under the extraordinary relief produced by the stereoscope, than by
+the ordinary method. And it may interest astronomers to know, that Mr
+Wheatstone believes it possible, by means of the same instrument, to
+perfect our knowledge of the moon's surface and structure. For
+instance: he proposes to take a photographic image of the moon, at one
+of the periods of her libration, and a second one about fifteen months
+afterwards, at the next libration, which, as you know, would be in the
+opposite direction to the first. The two images being then viewed in a
+stereoscope, would appear as a solid sphere, in which condition we
+should doubtless get such an acquaintance with the surface of our
+satellite as can be obtained by no other means. The reason for taking
+the images with so long an interval between is, that although each one
+represents the same object, each must be taken at a different angle;
+and for an object so distant as the moon, the difference caused by the
+libration would, it is believed, be sufficient for the desired result.
+In the small pictures, however, the difference of angle is so slight,
+that to the unpractised observer they appear precisely alike; it is,
+nevertheless, essential to the effect that the variation, though
+minute, should exist. With respect to the pseudoscope&mdash;which makes the
+outside of a teacup appear as the inside, and the inside as the
+outside; which transforms convexity into concavity, and the reverse;
+and a sculptured face into a hollow mask; which makes the tree in your
+garden appear inside your room, and the branches farthest off come
+nearest to the eye; and which, when you look at your pictures,
+represents them as sunk into a deep recess in the wall,&mdash;with respect
+to this instrument, its practical uses have yet to be discovered. But
+as your celebrated countryman, Sir David Brewster, is working at the
+subject, as well as Mr Wheatstone, we shall not, so say the initiated,
+have to wait long for further results.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these lectures, a course is being delivered at the Museum of
+Practical Geology, recently opened in Jermyn Street, by eminent
+professors, as you may judge from the fact of De la Beche, Forbes, and
+Playfair being among them. Some of the most promising of the pupils at
+the School of Design are allowed to attend these lectures gratis. At
+the same institution, an attempt is to be made to do what has long
+been done in Paris&mdash;namely, to admit working-people to the best
+scientific lectures free of cost. Now, therefore, is the time for the
+working-men of the metropolis to shew whether they wish for knowledge
+and enlightenment or not. They have only to present themselves at the
+Museum, pay a registration-fee of sixpence, conform to the rules, and
+so qualify themselves for the course of six lectures. It is a capital
+opportunity; and I, for one, hope that hundreds of the intelligent
+working-men of London will avail themselves of it. They, on their
+part, may find government education not unacceptable; and government,
+on the other hand, encouraged by a successful experiment, may feel
+inclined to extend its benefits. If a clear-headed lecturer on
+political economy could also be appointed, perhaps in time our
+industrial fellow-countrymen might come to understand that strikes are
+always a mistake, and the masters, that fair play is a jewel.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the stir about invasion and amateur rifle-clubs, other
+matters do get talked about&mdash;as, for instance, the astronomer-royal's
+communication to the Society of Antiquaries on the place of C&aelig;sar's
+landing at his invasion of Britain. The learned functionary settles it
+to his own satisfaction by tide-calculations: he has also been holding
+an interesting correspondence with a lady on the geography of Suez, as
+bearing on the Exodus of Scripture. And this reminds me that Dr J.
+Wilson has written a paper, published in the proceedings of the Bombay
+branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, to decide a long debated
+question&mdash;the identification of the Hazor of Kedar, referred to in
+Jeremiah&mdash;'Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[pg 142]</a></span> Hazor,
+which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite,' &amp;c. The doctor,
+after careful research and reasoning, believes the ruins known as
+Hadhar or Hatra, not far distant from Nineveh, to be the remains of
+the denounced city. Layard and Ainsworth have both visited and
+described the place, as many readers will remember. Those interested
+in the progress of research in Biblical countries, will be gratified
+to know that Dr Robinson has left the United States for another tour
+in the Holy Land. Now that Christians are more tolerated in Turkey
+than in some other countries nearer home, travelling in the East will
+perhaps be facilitated.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of travel: the Legislative Council at Sydney have granted
+L.2000, to fit out an expedition to search for Leichardt; Captain
+Beatson, with his steamer, is about to start for Behring's Strait to
+look for Franklin; Lieutenant Pim has returned from St Petersburg&mdash;the
+emperor would not permit him to go to Siberia; and last, supplies of
+money and goods have been sent out to Drs Barth and Overweg, in
+Central Africa, to enable them to pursue their discoveries; and the
+British resident at Zanzibar has been instructed to assist them. We
+may thus hope, before long, to add to our knowledge both of the torrid
+and frigid zones.</p>
+
+<p>To touch upon a home topic: we are told that government are rather
+afraid of their own bill for intermural interments passed last
+session, which may account for none of its provisions having yet been
+carried out. The project now is to supersede that bill by another,
+which is to extend the practice of cemetery interment. This looks like
+a want of faith in sanitary principles. On the other hand, the sale of
+the lazaretto at Marseilles, with a view to construct docks on its
+site, is a proof that the French government can do something in the
+way of sanitary reform. It is, in fact, quite time that the
+superstitious notions about infection, and the vexations of
+quarantine, should give place to sounder views and more rational
+methods. Meantime, as meteorologists say, we are coming to the cycle
+of hot summers, it behoves us more than ever to bury the dead far from
+towns. The Registrar-General tells us that, on the whole, we are
+improving, and it is not less an individual than a national duty to
+forward the improvement. According to the return just published for
+the quarter ending December last, the births in 1851 amounted to
+616,251, the largest number ever registered, being an excess of 5 per
+cent. over former returns. The deaths were 385,933, leaving a surplus
+which increases the population of England and Wales to more than
+18,000,000. In the same quarter, 59,200 emigrants, chiefly Irish, left
+the kingdom. With respect to marriages, which also exceed in number
+those of former years, the Registrar repeats what he has often said
+before, that marriages increase 'when the substantial earnings of the
+people are above the average; and the experience of a century, during
+which the prosperity of the country, though increasing, has been
+constantly fluctuating, shews that it is prudent to husband the
+resources of good times against future contingencies. Workmen, if they
+are wise, will not now squander their savings.' Are we to infer from
+this, that a bad time is coming?</p>
+
+<p>I have at times given you some of our post-office statistics, let me
+now send you a few from America. The postmaster-general reports to
+Congress, that in the year ending last June there were within the
+United States 6170 mail-routes, comprising a length in the aggregate
+of 196,290 miles; of post-offices, 19,796; of mail-contractors, 5544.
+The distance travelled in the year over these routes was 53,272,252
+miles, at a cost of 3,421,754 dollars, or rather more than six cents
+per mile per annum. On more than 35,000,000 of these miles the service
+is performed by coaches, and 'modes not specified;' the remainder by
+railway and steam-boat. There were six foreign mail-routes on which
+the annual transportation was estimated at 615,206 miles. The gross
+receipts of the post-office department for the year amounted to
+6,786,493 dollars, being an increase of nearly a million over the
+preceding year. If, after this, we can only get Ocean Penny Postage,
+we will give the republican postmaster work to do that shall add some
+score of pages to his report.</p>
+
+<p>You will perhaps remember my telling you, some time ago, of the
+discussion that had been going on in the United States respecting a
+prime meridian. Something has now come of it. The committee appointed
+by Congress to consider the subject, have recommended 'that the
+Greenwich zero of longitude should be preserved for the convenience of
+navigators; and that the meridian of the National Observatory&mdash;at
+Washington&mdash;should be adopted by the authority of Congress as its
+first meridian on the American continent, for defining accurately and
+permanently territorial limits, and for advancing the science of
+astronomy in America.' This decision, though it may disappoint those
+who consider it derogatory to the national honour to reckon from the
+meridian of Greenwich, is nevertheless the true one. In connection
+with it, the Americans intend to bring out a nautical almanac.</p>
+
+<p>Another topic from the same quarter is, that Professor Erni of Yale
+College has been making an interesting series of experiments on
+fermentation&mdash;a process of which the original cause has never yet been
+satisfactorily explained, and is still a moot-point with chemists.
+They tell us it is one by which complex substances are decomposed into
+simpler forms, as some suppose, by chemical action; others, by
+development of fungi, different in different substances. Among the
+experiments, it was observed that the yeast of cane-sugar solution
+produced no fermentation whatever when poisoned with a small quantity
+of arsenious acid; with oil of turpentine, and creasote, similar
+negative results were obtained. The introduction of cream-of-tartar
+along with the arsenic neutralised its effect, but not so with the
+other two; and, singularly enough, the appearance of the liquor always
+shewed when the poisoning was complete; 'the nitrogenous layer on the
+cell-membrane seeming to have undergone a change similar to that
+produced by boiling.' Judging from the results, Professor Erni
+believes 'that alcoholic fermentation is caused by the development of
+fungi. He could never trace the process without observing at the very
+first evolution of carbonic acid, the formation of yeast-cells,
+although it is very difficult to decide certainly which precedes the
+other.' His own opinion is in favour of the commencement by the
+yeast-cells.</p>
+
+<p>Another noteworthy subject, is Dr W.J. Burnett's paper to the American
+Association, 'On the Relation of the Distribution of Lice to the
+Different Faunas,' in which he endeavours to demonstrate, that the
+creation of animals was a multiplied operation, carried on in several
+localities, and that they do not derive from one original parent
+stock. Different animals have different parasites; but, as he shews,
+the same species of animal has the same parasite, wherever it may be
+found. According to Latreille, the <i>pediculus</i> found in the woolly
+heads of African negroes 'is sufficiently distinct from that of the
+Circassian to entitle it to the rank of a distinct species;' from
+which, and similar instances, the doctor concludes: 'Whatever may be
+urged in behalf of the hypothesis of the unity of the animal creation,
+based upon the alleged metamorphosic changes of types, it is my
+opinion that the relations of their parasites, and especially the lice
+which are distributed over nearly all of them, must be considered as
+fair and full an argument as can be advanced against such hypothesis,
+for it is taking up the very premises of the hypothesis in
+opposition.' Dr Burnett will perhaps find Sir Charles Lyell ready to
+break a lance with him on the point at issue.</p>
+
+<p>Something interesting to workers in metal has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[pg 143]</a></span>brought before the
+Franklin Institute at Philadelphia&mdash;it is a method of giving to iron
+the appearance of copper, contrived by Mr Pomeroy of Cincinnati, who
+thus describes it&mdash;rather laboriously, by the way:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'Immerse the iron in dilute sulphuric acid, for the purpose of
+cleansing the surface of the article which is to be coated; and thus
+cleansed, submit the iron to a brisk heat to dry it; when dry, immerse
+the article in a mixture of clay and water, and again dry it so as to
+leave a thin coating of the clay on its surface: it is then to be
+immersed in a bath of melted copper, and the length of time requisite
+for the iron and copper to form a union, will depend on the thickness
+of the article under operation. The object of the clay is to protect
+the copper from oxidation during the process of alloying or coating,
+and to reduce it to the required thickness it is passed between
+rollers. The result of this annealing process will be a smooth
+surface, fully equal to the brightness of pure copper.' Let me add to
+this, as a finish to transatlantic matters, that a Mr Allan, at St
+Louis, having observed that in washing-machines only the linen on the
+outside of the heap was perfectly cleansed, has patented a new
+machine, which comprises a chamber or tub with a narrowed neck, in
+which a plunger is inserted; and this, 'with the clothes wrapped
+around it, passes through the narrowed neck of the chamber, and
+pressing forcibly on the water confined within, drives it violently
+through the body of the clothes, carrying the dirt with it.'</p>
+
+<p>Science is not idle in France, notwithstanding the social
+perturbations: some of our engineers are talking about the trials of
+electro-magnetic locomotives recently made on one of the railways in
+that country, and are rather curious as to what may be the result. To
+travel without the whiz and roar of steam would be a consummation
+devoutly desired by thousands of travellers. And among the topics from
+the Acad&eacute;mie, there is one important to the naval service&mdash;M.
+Normandy's apparatus for converting sea-water into fresh water.
+Briefly described, it is a series of disks, placed one above the
+other, communicating by concentric galleries, and placed in a
+vapour-bath at a pressure a little above that of the atmosphere. 'The
+sea-water,' says the inventor, 'circulating in the galleries heated by
+the surrounding vapour, gives off a certain quantity of vapour, which,
+mingling with the atmospheric air, introduced by a tube from the
+outside, finally condenses as perfectly a&euml;rated fresh water in a
+refrigerator, which is also in communication with the atmosphere. No
+other means of agitation or percolation is so efficacious or
+economical.' The apparatus, which is free from the defect of
+depositing salt while distillation is going on, is rather more than
+three feet in height, and eighteen inches diameter. It will yield two
+pints of water per minute, at an expenditure of about 2&frac14; lbs. of
+coal for each 45 lbs. of water.</p>
+
+<p>Next, Monsieur Rochas proposes a method for preserving limestone
+monuments and sculptures for an indefinite period. This material, as
+is well known, is very liable to disintegrate, and the remedy is to
+silicify it. Specimens of limestone so prepared were exhibited to the
+Acad&eacute;mie, but without any explanation of the process. We know that
+brick and stone have been coated with glass in a few instances, to
+insure their preservation; and that at Professor Owen's suggestion,
+some decomposing ivory ornaments, sent over by Mr Layard, were
+restored by boiling in gelatine; but M. Rochas aims at something still
+greater&mdash;nothing less than the silicifying of a number of crumbling
+limestone statues which have been lately discovered by a Frenchman who
+is exploring the temple of Serapis at Memphis. They will then be
+strong enough to bear removal.</p>
+
+<p>Naturalists may learn something from Monsieur Falcony, who states that
+a solution of sulphate of zinc is an effectual preservative of animals
+or animal substances, intended for anatomical examination&mdash;it may be
+used to inject veins, and the effects last a considerable time.
+Another consideration is, that it is harmless: dissecting-instruments
+left in the solution for twenty-four hours were not at all injured.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="A_WORD_TO_GENTEEL_EMIGRANTS" id="A_WORD_TO_GENTEEL_EMIGRANTS"></a>A WORD TO GENTEEL EMIGRANTS.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">The</span> tide of emigration is rushing so powerfully through the land, that
+not only labourers and artisans are swept away in its stream, but many
+of the gentry of the country are beginning to join in the movement,
+and wonder what they are to do with their young 'olive branches,'
+'unless they emigrate to Australia, and found a new home and plant a
+new family there.' Many of the class have taken this step, and many
+more are lingering on the brink; and endless and anxious are the
+inquiries constantly made for the reports transmitted by those
+adventurous spirits who have led the way to new worlds of enterprise.
+For the working-classes, all has hitherto been favourable; but for the
+class above them&mdash;the professional man, and the small capitalist&mdash;the
+accounts are not, on the whole, encouraging. 'The labour-market is
+never overstocked; but,' says a correspondent of a later date, 'I pity
+the professional men, the doctors and lawyers, who come out, and the
+clerks, few of whom are wanted, and who find provisions and house-rent
+much dearer than at home, and to whom the privations they undergo must
+be great hardships. Men used to the everyday luxuries of a London
+life, delicate women bred up in habits of expense and idleness, have a
+severe ordeal to go through on their arrival in that land of work.'
+The change of climate, and the discomfort of their hastily-raised
+log-cabin, often entered upon when not half dried, frequently produce
+fevers, which, at home, would require a long succession of nursing,
+medical attendance, and afterwards change of air; but with only a
+<i>help</i>, absent whenever it pleases her, often with no medical advice
+within reach, a damp and cold house half furnished, an uncertain
+supply of even common necessaries, and a total absence of all
+luxuries, it is really surprising that recovery takes place at all.
+Now, it unfortunately happens, that the previous education of all
+these emigrants has been directly adverse to that which would have
+been desirable for such an after-life. Young ladies and gentlemen are
+taught dependence as a duty of civilised life. Children are naturally
+independent and active, and would gladly use their activity in helping
+themselves. How proud is a child to be allowed to do any of the
+servant's work! and how awful the rebuke that follows the attempt;
+till at last, poor human nature is cramped, shackled, and gagged.</p>
+
+<p>Hard, then, seems the destiny that removes these pampered children of
+European society from their luxurious necessaries&mdash;the valet, the
+lady's-maid, and all the other appendages&mdash;and leaves them wholly to
+their own resources, with their self-inflicted ignorance, and their
+blundering attempts to remedy it.</p>
+
+<p>I have, therefore, to propose to all who intend to emigrate, that they
+should&mdash;before taking a step involving so great an outlay, and the
+breaking-up of their life here&mdash;submit themselves to an ordeal of six
+or twelve months, in order to ascertain whether, in truth, their
+bodies and minds are fitted for the situation they are entering upon.
+Let any gentleman who is thinking of settling in Canada or Australia,
+take a <i>labourer's</i> cottage in a distant county&mdash;a few pounds will
+supply one infinitely superior in comfort and healthfulness to the
+log-cabin of the bush that is to be his ultimate destination&mdash;let him
+take a little land and a bit of garden in a good farming county;
+engage one farm-servant (unless he has sons able to take his place),
+and a rough country-girl to do the coarse work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[pg 144]</a></span>of the house. The
+ladies of the family must, of course, perform all the rest: wash all
+the fine linen, iron, make the beds, sweep the rooms, superintend and
+assist in the cooking, the dairy, care of the poultry and the pigs;
+for, of course, such appendages must be indispensable in such an
+establishment. The gentlemen will work on the farm, cultivate the
+garden, and gain all the experience they can in manual trades,
+carpentering and cabinet-making; and thus by degrees the whole family
+will have their bodies and minds strengthened, and their habits formed
+for their new work; or they will discover, as many have done when too
+late to draw back, that the effort is beyond their powers&mdash;that the
+tastes and habits of social life are too closely entwined with their
+whole being, to leave them the power to withdraw from them at will.</p>
+
+<p>This may seem a forbidding picture, but I can assure them it is very
+far superior in comfort to the realities they will find in the bush.
+It is true, that this retirement will effectually withdraw them from
+their magic circle of friends and luxuries; but let us for a moment
+compare the two steps, migration and emigration, and ask ourselves if
+the experiment above mentioned be not worth the trial. In the one, we
+give up, probably for life, our country, our friends, and generally a
+part of our family, with all the comforts of a state of law and
+civilisation; we enter upon a certain and constant life of labour,
+after a long, tedious voyage; and, if in mature age, bear about with
+us a never-ceasing yearning for home, which retains its place in our
+hearts with all the heightened colours with which memory invests it.
+In the other, we must, it is true, separate ourselves from our long
+list of acquaintances, and be absent from the dinner-party and the
+ball; but all our interest in social life will be kept up: we can see
+at least a weekly newspaper; and although we may have descended a few
+steps in the social scale, we shall not be obliged to make the
+acquaintance of convicted felons.</p>
+
+<p>Another view of this plan may be taken. Suppose ten, or twenty, or
+thirty persons of narrow means were to associate for the purpose of
+taking some large, old-fashioned house in the country&mdash;many such may
+be found&mdash;and agree upon a joint scheme of cheap living and
+independent labour, plain and economical dress, plain furniture, and a
+simple but wholesome table: would not this be better than all the
+risks and privations of expatriation? The Americans do not
+emigrate&mdash;they migrate; and there are spots in any of these three
+kingdoms, as wild, as solitary, and as healthful, as can be found in
+the regions of the Far West. But we do not, however, suggest migration
+as a substitute for genteel emigration&mdash;although we suspect it would
+in many cases prove so&mdash;but merely as a step towards it&mdash;a school of
+trial, or training, or both.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="COLOURS_IN_LADIES_DRESS" id="COLOURS_IN_LADIES_DRESS"></a>COLOURS IN LADIES' DRESS.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>Incongruity may be frequently observed in the adoption of colours
+without reference to their accordance with the complexion or stature
+of the wearer. We continually see a light-blue bonnet and flowers
+surrounding a sallow countenance, or a pink opposed to one of a
+glowing red; a pale complexion associated with a canary or lemon
+yellow, or one of delicate red and white rendered almost colourless by
+the vicinity of deep red. Now, if the lady with the sallow complexion
+had worn a transparent white bonnet; or if the lady with the glowing
+red complexion had lowered it by means of a bonnet of a deeper red
+colour; if the pale lady had improved the cadaverous hue of her
+countenance by surrounding it with pale-green, which, by contrast,
+would have suffused it with a delicate pink hue; or had the face</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">'Whose red and white,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on,'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>been arrayed in a light-blue, or light-green, or in a transparent
+white bonnet, with blue or pink flowers on the inside&mdash;how different,
+and how much more agreeable, would have been the impression on the
+spectator! How frequently, again, do we see the dimensions of a tall
+and <i>embonpoint</i> figure magnified to almost Brobdignagian proportions
+by a white dress, or a small woman reduced to Lilliputian size by a
+black dress! Now, as the optical effect of white is to enlarge
+objects, and that of black to diminish them, if the large woman had
+been dressed in black, and the small woman in white, the apparent size
+of each would have approached the ordinary stature, and the former
+would not have appeared a giantess, or the latter a dwarf.&mdash;<i>Mrs
+Merrifield in Art-Journal.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="SITTING_ON_THE_SHORE" id="SITTING_ON_THE_SHORE"></a>SITTING ON THE SHORE.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="sc">The</span> tide has ebbed away;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No more wild surgings 'gainst the adamant rocks,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No swayings of the sea-weed false that mocks<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The hues of gardens gay:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No laugh of little wavelets at their play;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No lucid pools reflecting heaven's broad brow&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Both storm and calm alike are ended now.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">The bare gray rocks sit lone;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The shifting sand lies spread so smooth and dry<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That not a wave might ever have swept by<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To vex it with loud moan;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Only some weedy fragments blackening thrown<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To rot beneath the sky, tell what has been,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But Desolation's self is grown serene.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">Afar the mountains rise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the broad estuary widens out,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All sunshine; wheeling round and round about<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Seaward, a white bird flies;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A bird? Nay, seems it rather in these eyes<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">An angel; o'er Eternity's dim sea,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Beckoning&mdash;'Come thou where all we glad souls be.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">O life! O silent shore<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where we sit patient! O great Sea beyond,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To which we look with solemn hope and fond,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But sorrowful no more!&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Would we were disembodied souls, to soar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And like white sea-birds wing the Infinite Deep!&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Till then, Thou, Just One, wilt our spirits keep.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="THE_PALO_DE_VACA_OR_COW-TREE_OF_BRAZIL" id="THE_PALO_DE_VACA_OR_COW-TREE_OF_BRAZIL"></a>THE PALO DE VACA, OR COW-TREE OF BRAZIL.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>This is one of the most remarkable trees in the forests of Brazil.
+During several months in the year when no rain falls, and its branches
+are dead and dried up, if the trunk be tapped, a sweet and nutritious
+milk exudes. The flow is most abundant at sunrise. Then, the natives
+receive the milk into large vessels, which soon grows yellow and
+thickens on the surface. Some drink plentifully of it under the tree,
+others take it home to their children. One might imagine he saw a
+shepherd distributing the milk of his flock. It is used in tea and
+coffee in place of common milk. The cow-tree is one of the largest in
+the Brazilian forests, and is used in ship-building.</p>
+
+<div class="notebox">
+<p class="center"><i>Just Published, Price 6d. Paper Cover,</i></p>
+
+<p>CHAMBERS'S POCKET MISCELLANY: forming a <span class="smcap">Literary Companion</span>
+for the <span class="smcap">Railway</span>, the <span class="smcap">Fireside</span>, or the <span class="smcap">Bush</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="center">VOLUME III.</p>
+
+<p class="center">To be continued in Monthly Volumes.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Printed and Published by W. and R. <span class="smcap">Chambers</span>, High Street,
+Edinburgh. Also sold by <span class="smcap">W.S. Orr</span>, Amen Corner, London;
+<span class="smcap">D.N. Chambers</span>, 55 West Nile Street, Glasgow; and <span class="smcap">J.
+M'Glashan</span>, 50 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin.&mdash;Advertisements for
+Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to <span class="smcap">Maxwell &amp; Co.</span>, 31
+Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all applications
+respecting their insertion must be made.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426
+       Volume 17, New Series, February 28, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers
+
+Release Date: October 27, 2005 [EBook #16953]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
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+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the PG
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
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+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  NO. 426.  NEW SERIES.  SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1852.  PRICE 11/2_d_.
+
+
+
+
+TIME'S REVIEW OF CHARACTER.
+
+ROBESPIERRE.
+
+
+Some characters are a puzzle to history, and none is more so than that
+of Robespierre. According to popular belief, this personage was a
+blood-thirsty monster, a vulgar tyrant, who committed the most
+unheard-of enormities, with the basely selfish object of raising
+himself to supreme power--of becoming the Cromwell of the Revolution.
+Considering that Robespierre was for five years--1789 to 1794--a prime
+leader in the political movements in France; that for a length of time
+he was personally concerned in sending from forty to fifty heads to
+the scaffold per diem; and that the Reign of Terror ceased immediately
+on his overthrow--it is not surprising that his character is
+associated with all that is villainous and detestable. Nevertheless,
+as the obscurities of the great revolutionary drama clear up, a
+strange suspicion begins to be entertained, that the popular legend
+respecting Robespierre is in a considerable degree fallacious; nay, it
+is almost thought that this man was, in reality, a most kind-hearted,
+simple, unambitious, and well-disposed individual--a person who, to
+say the least of it, deeply deplored the horrors in which
+considerations of duty had unhappily involved him. To attempt an
+unravelment of these contradictions, let us call up the phantom of
+this mysterious personage, and subject him to review.
+
+To understand Robespierre, it is necessary to understand the French
+Revolution. The proximate cause of that terrible convulsion was, as is
+well known, an utter disorder in all the functions of the state, and
+more particularly in the finances, equivalent to national bankruptcy.
+That matters might have been substantially patched up by judicious
+statesmanship, no one doubts; but that a catastrophe, sooner or later,
+was unavoidable, seems to be equally certain. The mind of France was
+rotten; the principles of society were undermined. As regards
+religion, there was a universal scepticism, of which the best
+literature of the day was the exponent; but this unbelief was greatly
+strengthened by the scandalous abuses in the ecclesiastical system. It
+required no depth of genius to point out that the great principles of
+brotherly love, humility, equality, liberty, promulgated as part and
+parcel of the Christian dispensation eighteen centuries previously,
+had no practical efficacy so far as France was concerned. Instead of
+equality before God and the law, the humbler classes were feudal
+serfs, without any appeal from the cruel oppressions to which they
+were exposed. In the midst of gloom, Rousseau's vague declamations on
+the rights of man fell like a ray of light. A spark was communicated,
+which kindled a flame in the bosoms of the more thoughtful and
+enthusiastic. An astonishing impulse was almost at once given to
+investigation. The philosopher had his adherents all over France.
+Viewed as a species of prophet, he was, properly speaking, a madman,
+who in his ravings had glanced on the truth, but only glanced. Among
+men of sense, his ornate declamations concerning nature and reason
+would have excited little more attention than that which is usually
+given to poetic and speculative fancies.
+
+Amidst an impulsive and lively people, unaccustomed to the practical
+consideration and treatment of abuses, there arose a cry to destroy,
+root up; to sweep away all preferences and privileges; to bring down
+the haughty, and raise the depressed; to let all men be free and
+equal, all men being brothers. Such is the origin of the three
+words--liberty, equality, and fraternity, which were caught up as the
+charter of social intercourse. It is for ever to be regretted that
+this explosion of sentiment was so utterly destructive in its
+character; for therein has it inflicted immense wrong on what is
+abstractedly true and beautiful. At first, as will be remembered, the
+revolutionists did not aim at establishing a republic, but that form
+of government necessarily grew out of their hallucinations. Without
+pausing to consider that a nation of emancipated serfs were unprepared
+to take on themselves the duties of an enlightened population, the
+plunge was unhesitatingly made.
+
+At this comparatively distant day, even with all the aids of the
+recording press, we can form no adequate idea of the fervour with
+which this great social overthrow was set about and accomplished. The
+best minds in France were in a state of ecstasy, bordering on
+delirium. A vast future of human happiness seemed to dawn. Tyranny,
+force, fraud, all the bad passions, were to disappear under the
+beneficent approach of Reason. Among the enthusiasts who rushed into
+this marvellous frenzy, was Maximilian Robespierre. It is said by his
+biographers, that Robespierre was of English or Scotch origin: we have
+seen an account which traced him to a family in the north, of not a
+dissimilar name. His father, at all events, was an advocate at Arras,
+in French Flanders, and here Maximilian was born in 1759. Bred to the
+law, he was sent as a representative to the States-General in 1789,
+and from this moment he entered on his career, and Paris was his home.
+At his outset, he made no impression, and scarcely excited public
+notice. His manners were singularly reserved, and his habits austere.
+The man lived within himself. Brooding over the works of Rousseau, he
+indulged in the dream of renovating the moral world. Like Mohammed
+contriving the dogmas of a new religion, Robespierre spent days in
+solitude, pondering on his destiny. To many of the revolutionary
+leaders, the struggle going on was merely a political drama, with a
+Convention for the _denouement_. To Robespierre, it was a
+philosophical problem; all his thoughts aimed at the ideal--at the
+apotheosis of human nature.
+
+Let us take a look at his personal appearance. Visionaries are usually
+slovens. They despise fashions, and imagine that dirtiness is an
+attribute of genius. To do the honourable member for Artois justice,
+he was above this affectation. Small and neat in person, he always
+appeared in public tastefully dressed, according to the fashion of the
+period--hair well combed back, frizzled, and powdered; copious frills
+at the breast and wrists; a stainless white waistcoat; light-blue
+coat, with metal buttons; the sash of a representative tied round his
+waist; light-coloured breeches, white stockings, and shoes with silver
+buckles. Such was his ordinary costume; and if we stick a rose in his
+button-hole, or place a nosegay in his hand, we shall have a tolerable
+idea of his whole equipment. It is said he sometimes appeared in
+top-boots, which is not improbable; for this kind of boot had become
+fashionable among the republicans, from a notion that as top-boots
+were worn by gentlemen in England, they were allied to constitutional
+government. Robespierre's features were sharp, and enlivened by bright
+and deeply-sunk blue eyes. There was usually a gravity and intense
+thoughtfulness in his countenance, which conveyed an idea of his being
+thoroughly in earnest. Yet, his address was not unpleasing. Unlike
+modern French politicians, his face was always smooth, with no vestige
+of beard or whiskers. Altogether, therefore, he may be said to have
+been a well-dressed, gentlemanly man, animated with proper
+self-respect, and having no wish to court vulgar applause by
+neglecting the decencies of polite society.
+
+Before entering on his public career in Paris, Robespierre had
+probably formed his plans, in which, at least to outward appearance,
+there was an entire negation of self. A stern incorruptibility seemed
+the basis of his character; and it is quite true that no offers from
+the court, no overtures from associates, had power to tempt him. There
+was only one way by which he could sustain a high-souled independence,
+and that was the course adopted in like circumstances by Andrew
+Marvel--simple wants, rigorous economy, a disregard of fine company,
+an avoidance of expensive habits. Now, this is the curious thing in
+Robespierre's history. Perhaps there was a tinge of pride in his
+living a life of indigence; but in fairness it is entitled to be
+called an honest pride, when we consider that the means of profusion
+were within his reach. On his arrival in Paris, he procured a humble
+lodging in the Marais, a populous district in the north-eastern
+faubourgs; but it being represented to him some time afterwards, that,
+as a public man, it was unsafe to expose himself in a long walk daily
+to and from this obscure residence, he removed to a house in the Rue
+St Honore, now marked No. 396, opposite the Church of the Assumption.
+Here he found a lodging with M. Duplay, a respectable but humble
+cabinet-maker, who had become attached to the principles of the
+Revolution; and here he was joined by his brother, who played an
+inferior part in public affairs, and is known in history as 'the
+Younger Robespierre.' The selection of this dwelling seems to have
+fallen in with Robespierre's notions of economy; and it suited his
+limited patrimony, which consisted of some rents irregularly paid by a
+few small farmers of his property in Artois. These ill-paid rents,
+with his salary as a representative, are said to have supported three
+persons--himself, his brother, and his sister; and so straitened was
+he in circumstances, that he had to borrow occasionally from his
+landlord. Even with all his pinching, he did not make both ends meet.
+We have it on authority, that at his death he was owing L.160; a small
+debt to be incurred during a residence of five years in Paris, by a
+person who figured as a leader of parties; and the insignificance of
+this sum attests his remarkable self-denial.
+
+Lamartine's account of the private life of Robespierre in the house of
+the Duplays is exceedingly fascinating, and we should suppose is
+founded on well-authorised facts. The house of Duplay, he says, 'was
+low, and in a court surrounded by sheds filled with timber and plants,
+and had almost a rustic appearance. It consisted of a parlour opening
+to the court, and communicating with a sitting-room that looked into a
+small garden. From the sitting-room a door led into a small study, in
+which was a piano. There was a winding-staircase to the first floor,
+where the master of the house lived, and thence to the apartment of
+Robespierre.'
+
+Here, long acquaintance, a common table, and association for several
+years, 'converted the hospitality of Duplay into an attachment that
+became reciprocal. The family of his landlord became a second family
+to Robespierre, and while they adopted his opinions, they neither lost
+the simplicity of their manners nor neglected their religious
+observances. They consisted of a father, mother, a son yet a youth,
+and four daughters, the eldest of whom was twenty-five, and the
+youngest eighteen. Familiar with the father, filial with the mother,
+paternal with the son, tender and almost brotherly with the young
+girls, he inspired and felt in this small domestic circle all those
+sentiments that only an ardent soul inspires and feels by spreading
+abroad its sympathies. Love also attached his heart, where toil,
+poverty, and retirement had fixed his life. Eleonore Duplay, the
+eldest daughter of his host, inspired Robespierre with a more serious
+attachment than her sisters. The feeling, rather predilection than
+passion, was more reasonable on the part of Robespierre, more ardent
+and simple on the part of the young girl. This affection afforded him
+tenderness without torment, happiness without excitement: it was the
+love adapted for a man plunged all day in the agitation of public
+life--a repose of the heart after mental fatigue. He and Eleonore
+lived in the same house as a betrothed couple, not as lovers.
+Robespierre had demanded the young girl's hand from her parents, and
+they had promised it to him.
+
+'"The total want of fortune," he said, "and the uncertainty of the
+morrow, prevented him from marrying her until the destiny of France
+was determined; but he only awaited the moment when the Revolution
+should be concluded, in order to retire from the turmoil and strife,
+marry her whom he loved, go to reside with her in Artois, on one of
+the farms he had saved among the possessions of his family, and there
+to mingle his obscure happiness in the common lot of his family."
+
+'The vicissitudes of the fortune, influence, and popularity of
+Robespierre effected no change in his simple mode of living. The
+multitude came to implore favour or life at the door of his house, yet
+nothing found its way within. The private lodging of Robespierre
+consisted of a low chamber, constructed in the form of a garret, above
+some cart-sheds, with the window opening upon the roof. It afforded no
+other prospect than the interior of a small court, resembling a
+wood-store, where the sounds of the workmen's hammers and saws
+constantly resounded, and which was continually traversed by Madame
+Duplay and her daughters, who there performed all their household
+duties. This chamber was also separated from that of the landlord by a
+small room common to the family and himself. On the other side were
+two rooms, likewise attics, which were inhabited, one by the son of
+the master of the house, the other by Simon Duplay, Robespierre's
+secretary, and the nephew of his host.
+
+'The chamber of the deputy contained only a wooden bedstead, covered
+with blue damask ornamented with white flowers, a table, and four
+straw-bottomed chairs. This apartment served him at once for a study
+and dormitory. His papers, his reports, the manuscripts of his
+discourses, written by himself in a regular but laboured hand, and
+with many marks of erasure, were placed carefully on deal-shelves
+against the wall. A few chosen books were also ranged thereon. A
+volume of Jean Jacques Rousseau or of Racine was generally open upon
+his table, and attested his philosophical and literary predilections.'
+
+With a mind continually on the stretch, and concerned less or more in
+all the great movements of the day, the features of this remarkable
+personage 'relaxed into absolute gaiety when in-doors, at table, or in
+the evening, around the wood-fire in the humble chamber of the
+cabinet-maker. His evenings were all passed with the family, in
+talking over the feelings of the day, the plans of the morrow, the
+conspiracies of the aristocrats, the dangers of the patriots, and the
+prospects of public felicity after the triumph of the Revolution.
+Sometimes Robespierre, who was anxious to cultivate the mind of his
+betrothed, read to the family aloud, and generally from the tragedies
+of Racine. He seldom went out in the evening; but two or three times a
+year he escorted Madame Duplay and her daughter to the theatre. On
+other days, Robespierre retired early to his chamber, lay down, and
+rose again at night to work. The innumerable discourses he had
+delivered in the two national assemblies, and to the Jacobins; the
+articles written for his journal while he had one; the still more
+numerous manuscripts of speeches which he had prepared, but never
+delivered; the studied style so remarkable; the indefatigable
+corrections marked with his pen upon the manuscripts--attest his
+watchings and his determination.
+
+'His only relaxations were solitary walks in imitation of his model,
+Jean Jacques Rousseau. His sole companion in these perambulations was
+his great dog, which slept at his chamber-door, and always followed
+him when he went out. This colossal animal, well known in the
+district, was called Brount. Robespierre was much attached to him, and
+constantly played with him. Occasionally, on a Sunday, all the family
+left Paris with Robespierre; and the politician, once more the man,
+amused himself with the mother, the sisters, and the brother of
+Eleonore in the wood of Versailles or of Issy.' Strange contradiction!
+The man who is thus described as so amiable, so gentle, so satisfied
+with the humble pleasures of an obscure family circle, went forth
+daily on a self-imposed mission of turbulence and terror. Let us
+follow him to the scene of his avocations. Living in the Rue St
+Honore, he might be seen every morning on his way, by one of the
+narrow streets which led to the rooms of the National Assembly, or
+Convention, as the legislative body was called after the deposition of
+Louis XVI. The house so occupied, was situated on a spot now covered
+by the Rue Rivoli, opposite the gardens of the Tuileries. In
+connection with it, were several apartments used by committees; and
+there, by the leading members of the House, the actual business of the
+nation was for a long time conducted. It was by the part he played in
+one of these formidable committees, that of 'Public Safety'--more
+properly, public insecurity--that he becomes chargeable with his
+manifold crimes. For the commission of these atrocities, however, he
+held himself to be entirely excused; and how he could possibly
+entertain any such notion, remains for us to notice.
+
+The action of the Revolution was in the hands of three parties, into
+which the Convention was divided--namely, the Montagnards, the
+Girondists, and the Plaine. The last mentioned were a comparatively
+harmless set of persons, who acted as a neutral body, and leaned one
+way or the other according to their convictions, but whose votes it
+was important to obtain. Between the Montagnards and the Girondists
+there was no distinct difference of principle--both were keen
+republicans and levellers; but in carrying out their views, the
+Montagnards were the most violent and unscrupulous. The Girondists
+expected that, after a little preliminary harshness, the Republic
+would be established in a pacific manner; by the force, it may be
+called, of philosophic conviction spreading through society. They were
+thus the moderates; yet their moderation was unfortunately ill
+manifested. At the outset, they countenanced the disgraceful mobbings
+of the royal family; they gloried in the horrors of the 10th of
+August, and the humiliation of the king; and only began to express
+fears that things were going too far, when massacre became the order
+of the day, and the guillotine assumed the character of a national
+institution. They were finally borne down, as is well known, by the
+superior energy and audacity of their opponents; and all perished one
+way or other in the bloody struggle. Few pity them.
+
+We need hardly recall the fact, that the discussions in the Convention
+were greatly influenced by tumultuary movements out of doors. At a
+short distance, were two political clubs, the Jacobins and the
+Cordeliers, and there everything was debated and determined on. Of
+these notorious clubs, the most uncompromising was the Jacobins;
+consequently, its principal members were to be found among the party
+of the Montagnards. During the hottest time of the Revolution, the
+three men most distinguished as Montagnards and Jacobins were Marat,
+Danton, and Robespierre. Mirabeau, the orator of the Revolution, had
+already disappeared, being so fortunate as to die naturally, before
+the practice of mutual guillotining was established. After him,
+Vergniaud, the leader of the Girondists, was perhaps the most
+effective speaker; and till his fall, he possessed a commanding
+influence in the Convention. Danton was likewise a speaker of vast
+power, and from his towering figure, he seemed like a giant among
+pigmies. Marat might be termed the representative of the kennel. He
+was a low demagogue, flaunting in rags, dirty, and venomous: he was
+always calling out for more blood, as if the grand desideratum was the
+annihilation of mankind. Among the extreme men, Robespierre, by his
+eloquence, his artifice, and his bold counsels, contrived to maintain
+his position. This was no easy matter, for it was necessary to remain
+firm and unfaltering in every emergency. He, like the others at the
+helm of affairs, was constantly impelled forward by the clubs, but
+more so by the incessant clamours of the mob. At the Hotel de Ville
+sat the Commune, a crew of blood-thirsty villains, headed by Hebert;
+and this miscreant, with his armed sections, accompanied by paid
+female furies, beset the Convention, and carried measures of severity
+by sheer intimidation. Let it further be remembered that, in 1793,
+France was kept in apprehension of invasion by the Allies under the
+Duke of Brunswick, and the army of emigrant noblesse under the command
+of Conde. The hovering of these forces on the frontiers, and their
+occasional successes, produced a constant alarm of counter-revolution,
+which was believed to be instigated by secret intriguers in the very
+heart of the Convention. It was alleged by Robespierre in his greatest
+orations, that the safety of the Republic depended on keeping up a
+wholesome state of terror; and that all who, in the slightest degree,
+leaned towards clemency, sanctioned the work of intriguers, and ought,
+accordingly, to be proscribed. By such harangues--in the main,
+miserable sophistry--he acquired prodigious popularity, and was in
+fact irresistible.
+
+Thus was legalised the Reign of Terror, which, founded in false
+reasoning and insane fears, we must, nevertheless, look back upon as a
+thing, at least to a certain extent, reconcilable with a sense of
+duty; inasmuch as even while signing warrants for transferring
+hundreds of people to the Revolutionary Tribunal--which was equivalent
+to sending them to the scaffold--Robespierre imagined that he was
+acting throughout under a clear, an imperious necessity: only ridding
+society of the elements that disturbed its purity and tranquillity.
+Stupendous hallucination! And did this fanatic really feel no pang of
+conscience? That will afterwards engage our consideration. Frequently,
+he was called on to proscribe and execute his most intimate friends;
+but it does not appear that any personal consideration ever stayed his
+proceedings. First, he swept away Royalists and aristocrats; next, he
+sacrificed the Girondists; last, he came to his companion-Jacobins.
+Accusing Danton and his friends of a tendency to moderation, he had
+the dexterity to get them proscribed and beheaded. When Danton was
+seized, he could hardly credit his senses: he who had long felt
+himself sure of being one day dictator by public acclamation, and to
+have been deceived by that dreamer, Robespierre, was most humiliating.
+But Robespierre would not dare to put _him_ to death! Grave
+miscalculation! He was immolated like the rest; the crowd looking on
+with indifference. Along with him perished Camille Desmoulins, a young
+man of letters, and a Jacobin, but convicted of advocating clemency.
+Robespierre was one of Camille's private and most valued friends; he
+had been his instructor in politics, and had become one of the
+trustees under his marriage-settlement. Robespierre visited at the
+house of his _protege_; chatted with the young and handsome Madame
+Desmoulins at her parties; and frequently dandled the little Horace
+Desmoulins on his knee, and let him play with his bunch of seals. Yet,
+because they were adherents of Danton, he sent husband and wife to the
+scaffold within a few weeks of each other! What eloquent and touching
+appeals were made to old recollections by the mother of Madame
+Desmoulins. Robespierre was reminded of little Horace, and of his duty
+as a family guardian. All would not do. His heart was marble; and so
+the wretched pair were guillotined. Camille's letter to his wife, the
+night before he was led to the scaffold, cannot be read without
+emotion. He died with a lock of her hair clasped convulsively in his
+hand.
+
+Having thus cleared away to some extent all those who stood in the way
+of his views, Robespierre bethought himself of acting a new part in
+public affairs, calculated, as he thought, to dignify the Republic.
+Chaumette, a mean confederate of Hebert, and a mouthpiece of the
+rabble, had, by consent of the Convention, established Paganism, or
+the worship of Reason, as the national religion. Robespierre never
+gave his approval to this outrage, and took the earliest opportunity
+of restoring the worship of the Supreme. It is said, that of all the
+missions with which he believed himself to be charged, the highest,
+the holiest in his eyes, was the regeneration of the religious
+sentiment of the people: to unite heaven and earth by this bond of a
+faith which the Republic had broken, was for him the end, the
+consummation of the Revolution. In one of his paroxysms, he delivered
+an address to the Convention, which induced them to pass a law,
+acknowledging the existence of God, and ordaining a public festival to
+inaugurate the new religion. This fete took place on the 8th of June
+1794. Robespierre headed the procession to the Champ de Mars; and he
+seemed on the occasion to have at length reached the grand realisation
+of all his hopes and desires. From this _coup de theatre_ he returned
+home, magnified in the estimation of the people, but ruined in the
+eyes of the Convention. His conduct had been too much that of one
+whose next step was to the restoration of the throne, with himself as
+its occupant. By Fouche, Tallien, Collot-d'Herbois, and some others,
+he was now thwarted in all his schemes. His wish was to close the
+Reign of Terror and allow the new moral world to begin; for his late
+access of devotional feeling had, in reality, disposed him to adopt
+benign and clement measures. But to arrest carnage was now beyond his
+power; he had invoked a demon which would not be laid. Assailed by
+calumny, he made the Convention resound with his speeches; spoke of
+fresh proscriptions to put down intrigue; and spread universal alarm
+among the members. In spite of the most magniloquent orations, he saw
+that his power was nearly gone. Sick at heart, he began to absent
+himself from committees, which still continued to send to the scaffold
+numbers whose obscure rank should have saved them from suspicion or
+vengeance.
+
+At this juncture, Robespierre was earnestly entreated by one of his
+more resolute adherents, St Just, to play a bold game for the
+dictatorship, which he represented as the only means of saving the
+Republic from anarchy. Anonymous letters to the same effect also
+poured in upon him; and prognostics of his greatness, uttered by an
+obscure fortune-teller, were listened to by the great demagogue with
+something like superstitious respect. But for this personal elevation
+he was not prepared. Pacing up and down his apartment, and striking
+his forehead with his hand, he candidly acknowledged that he was not
+made for power; while the bare idea of doing anything to endanger the
+Republic amounted, in his mind, to a species of sacrilege. At this
+crisis in his fate, therefore, he temporised: he sought peace, if not
+consolation, in solitude. He took long walks in the woods, where he
+spent hours seated on the ground, or leaning against a tree, his face
+buried in his hands, or earnestly bent on the surrounding natural
+objects. What was the precise tenor of his meditations, it would be
+deeply interesting to know. Did the great promoter of the Revolution
+ponder on the failure of his aspirations after a state of human
+perfectibility? Was he torn by remorse on seeing rise up, in
+imagination, the thousands of innocent individuals whom, in
+vindication of a theory, he had consigned to an ignominious and
+violent death, yet whose removal had, politically speaking, proved
+altogether fruitless?
+
+It is the more general belief, that in these solitary rambles
+Robespierre was preparing an oration, which, as he thought, should
+silence all his enemies, and restore him to parliamentary favour. A
+month was devoted to this rhetorical effort; and, unknown to him,
+during that interval all parties coalesced, and adopted the resolution
+to treat his oration when it came with contempt, and, at all hazards,
+to have him proscribed. The great day came, July 26 (8th Thermidor),
+1794. His speech, which he read from a paper, was delivered in his
+best style--in vain. It was followed by yells and hootings; and, with
+dismay, he retired to the Jacobins, to deliver it over again--as if to
+seek support among a more subservient audience. Next day, on entering
+the Convention, he was openly accused by Tallien and Billaud-Varennes
+of aspiring to despotic power. A scene of tumult ensued, and, amid
+cries of _Down with the tyrant!_ a writ for his committal to prison
+was drawn out. It must be considered a fine trait in the character of
+Robespierre the younger, that he begged to be included in the same
+decree of proscription with his brother. This wish was readily
+granted; and St Just, Couthon (who had lost the use of his legs, and
+was always carried about in an arm-chair), and Le Bas, were added to
+the number of the proscribed. Rescued, however, from the gendarmes by
+an insurrectionary force, headed by Henriot, Robespierre and his
+colleagues were conducted in triumph to the Hotel de Ville. Here,
+during the night, earnest consultations were held; and the adherents
+of Robespierre implored him in desperation, as the last chance of
+safety for them all, to address a rousing proclamation to the
+sections. At length, yielding unwillingly to these frantic appeals, he
+commenced writing the required address; and it was while subscribing
+his name to this seditious document, that the soldiers of the
+Convention burst in upon him, and he was shot through the jaw by one
+of the gendarmes. At the same moment, Le Bas shot himself through the
+heart. All were made prisoners, and carried off--the dead body of Le
+Bas not excepted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While residing for a short time in Paris in 1849, we were one day
+conducted by a friend to a large house, with an air of faded grandeur,
+in the eastern faubourgs, which had belonged to an aged republican,
+recently deceased. He wished me to examine a literary curiosity, which
+was to be seen among other relics of the great Revolution. The
+curiosity in question was the proclamation, in the handwriting of
+Robespierre, to which he was in the act of inscribing his signature,
+when assaulted and made prisoner in the Hotel de Ville. It was a small
+piece of paper, contained in a glass-frame; and, at this distance of
+time, could not fail to excite an interest in visitors. The few lines
+of writing, commencing with the stirring words: '_Courage, mes
+compatriotes!_' ended with only a part of the subscription. The
+letters, _Robes_, were all that were appended, and were followed by a
+blur of the pen; while the lower part of the paper shewed certain
+discolorations, as if made by drops of blood. And so this was the last
+surviving token of the notorious Robespierre! It is somewhat curious,
+that no historian seems to be aware of its existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stretched on a table in one of the anterooms of the Convention; his
+head leaning against a chair; his fractured jaw supported by a
+handkerchief passed round the top of his head; a glass with vinegar
+and a sponge at his side to moisten his feverish lips; speechless and
+almost motionless, yet conscious!--there lay Robespierre--the clerks,
+who, a few days ago, had cringed before him, now amusing themselves by
+pricking him with their penknives, and coarsely jesting over his fall.
+Great crowds, likewise, flocked to see him while in this undignified
+posture, and he was overwhelmed with the vilest expressions of hatred
+and abuse. The mental agony which he must have experienced during this
+humiliating exhibition, could scarcely fail to be increased on hearing
+himself made the object of unsparing and boisterous declamations from
+the adjoining tribune.
+
+At three o'clock in the afternoon (July 28), the prisoners were placed
+before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and at six, the whole were tied in
+carts, the dead body of Le Bas included, and conducted to execution.
+To this wretched band were added the whole family of the Duplays, with
+the exception of the mother; she having been strangled the previous
+night by female furies, who had broken into her house, and hung her to
+the iron rods of her bedstead. They were guiltless of any political
+crime; but their private connection with the principal object of
+proscription was considered to be sufficient for their condemnation.
+The circumstance of these individuals being involved in his fate,
+could not fail to aggravate the bitterness of Robespierre's
+reflections. As the dismal _cortege_ wended its way along the Rue St
+Honore, he was loaded with imprecations by women whose husbands he had
+destroyed, and the shouts of children, whom he had deprived of
+parents, were the last sounds heard by him on earth. Yet he betrayed
+not the slightest emotion--perhaps he only pitied the ignorance of his
+persecutors. In the midst of the feelings of a misunderstood and
+martyred man, his head dropped into the basket!
+
+These few facts and observations respecting the career of Robespierre,
+enable us to form a tolerably correct estimate of his character. The
+man was a bigot. A perfect Republic was his faith, his religion. To
+integrity, perseverance, and extraordinary self-denial under
+temptation, he united only a sanguine temperament and moderate
+abilities for the working-out of a mistaken principle. Honest and
+zealous in his purpose, his conduct was precisely analogous to that of
+all religious persecutors--sparing no pain or bloodshed to accomplish
+what he believed to be a good end. Let us grant that he was a
+monomaniac, the question remains as to his general accountability. If
+he is to be acquitted on the score of insanity, who is to be judged?
+Not so are we to exempt great criminals from punishment and obloquy.
+Robespierre knew thoroughly what he was about; and far as he was
+misled in his motives, he must be held responsible for his actions.
+Before entering on the desperate enterprise of demolishing all
+existing institutions, with the hope of reconstructing the social
+fabric, it was his duty to be assured that his aims were practicable,
+and that he was himself authorised to think and act for the whole of
+mankind, or specially commissioned to kill and terrify into his
+doctrines. Instead of this, there is nothing to shew that he had
+formed any distinct scheme of a government to take the place of that
+which he had aided in destroying. All we learn is, that there hovered
+in his mind's eye some vague Utopia, in which public affairs would go
+on very much of themselves, through the mere force of universal
+Benevolence, liberated from the bosom of Nature. For his folly and
+audacity in nourishing so wild a theory, and still more for the
+reckless butcheries by which he sought to bring it into operation, we
+must, on a review of his whole character, adhere to the popular belief
+on the subject. Acquitted, as he must necessarily be, of the charge of
+personal ambition, he was still a monster, only the more dangerous and
+detestable for justifying murder on the ground of principle.
+
+W.C.
+
+
+
+
+INFANT SCHOOLS IN HUNGARY.
+
+
+The Austrian government has for some years been exerting itself, in
+connection with the clergy, for the improvement and spread of
+education in all the provinces of the empire, being anxious to do all
+in their power to save the country from those excesses which are so
+often found in connection with ignorance. As an Englishman, living in
+friendly intercourse with members of the imperial family, and many
+persons high in the administration, I am happy to avow my thorough
+conviction, that such, pure and simple, is the object held in view in
+the establishment of schools throughout the empire, and above all, in
+that of the infant schools, which are now planted in every place where
+there exists a sufficiency of population. I have all along taken a
+deep interest in these little seminaries in the kingdoms of Bohemia
+and Hungary, and am highly sensible of the liberal and humane
+principles on which they are conducted.
+
+Each contains from two to three hundred children, between one and a
+half and five years of age, all of them being the offspring of the
+humbler classes, and many of them orphans. All are instructed in the
+same room, but classed apart; that is, the girls occupy one half of
+the apartment, and the boys the other, leaving an avenue between them,
+which is occupied by the instructors. The boys are under the
+superintendence of a master, and the girls under that of a mistress.
+Both, however, teach or attend to the various necessities of either,
+as circumstances may require. Infants too young to learn, and those
+who are sent, either because they are orphans, or because the extreme
+poverty of the mother obliges her to do outwork, are amused with toys
+and pictures, all, however, of an instructive nature, and which the
+elder children delight to exhibit and explain to them in their own
+quaint little ways. I have frequently seen an infant, scarcely able to
+walk, brought in for the first time, and left on one of the benches of
+the school-room, surrounded by those already initiated. The alarm its
+new position occasioned to the little creature, at thus suddenly
+finding itself abandoned by the only person with whom it was familiar,
+in the midst of a multitude of unknown faces, can easily be imagined.
+A flood of tears was the first vent to its feelings, accompanied by a
+petulant endeavour to follow its parent or nurse. It was immediately,
+however, surrounded by a score of little comforters, who, full of the
+remembrance of past days, when their fears and their sadness were in
+like manner soothed and dissipated, would use a thousand little arts
+of consolation--one presenting a toy or picture, another repeating
+what has almost become a formula of kindly re-assurance, till smiles
+and sunshine would succeed to tears and clouds upon that little brow,
+and confidence and content to fear and mistrust. I have often seen the
+day thus pass with neophytes as a dream, only to be broken when the
+parent or nurse, returning to take them home, found them in the centre
+of a little joyous group, the gayest of the gay!
+
+One, after all, cannot wonder at this change, when he contrasts the
+scenery of the interior of an infant school with that of the
+generality of poor homes. The child, making, as it were, its first
+voyage in life, has here been introduced, not merely to a society
+conducted on principles of gentleness and kindness, but to a fairyland
+of marvels for the fascination of its intellectual faculties. From the
+ceiling to the _dado_--the wainscotted space at the base, for in
+Hungary this old arrangement is still maintained in its fullest
+form--the walls are covered with pictures of scripture scenes and
+objects in natural history; while the _dado_ itself, terminating above
+in a shelf, exhibits busts, stuffed animals, and pots of flowers--the
+whole place, indeed, being a kind of museum, specially adapted for the
+enjoyment as well as instruction of the young. At first, filled with
+wonder and delight, the infant begins to study the meaning and
+character of these objects: after a short attendance, you find they
+can tell the names of many, and speak many things regarding them. One
+day, while attending a Bohemian infant school, which was dismissing,
+and as I was examining some of the birds upon the shelf, a little hand
+was insinuated into mine, as if to get it warmed--as is often done by
+children--when, looking down, I beheld a bright, intelligent face,
+apparently eager to make some communication. 'Tuzok, tuzok!'
+('Bustard, bustard!') said a little voice. Encouraged by my smile,
+there was immediately added: 'Ez tuzok, ez mazzar honban, tisza fetoel
+joenn;' ('That is a bustard from Hungary, from the river Teiss.')
+Another little one, attracted by this observation, pointed to the
+elephant, and said in German: 'Und der ist elephant: er kommt von
+weiten, von ausland--_von morgenland_!' ('And that is the elephant: it
+comes from far, from a foreign land--from the _morning-land_!')--that
+is, the East!
+
+The children learn the first rudiments of religion, duty and obedience
+to their parents and teachers, spelling, &c. After the expiration of
+the time allotted to them here, they are sent to the normal schools,
+where they are instructed in all the various branches of education
+which are necessary to fit them for any situation or profession for
+which their several talents seem to have destined them.
+
+All parents of the lower classes are _compelled_ by law to send their
+children to school at a certain age. If they are in easy
+circumstances, they contribute a small sum monthly towards the
+expenses of the establishment. Those who are unable to pay the full
+sum, pay the half or a part; others, again, such as a great portion of
+day-labourers with large families, and who cannot even supply their
+children with necessary food and clothing, pay _nothing_: it is merely
+necessary for these to be furnished with a certificate of their
+incapacity to pay for the education of their children, and the state
+takes the whole charge of their instruction on itself.
+
+We have already spoken of the deep interest we have taken in the
+progress of the infant schools. We visit them frequently, and attend
+all the examinations. On entering, it is scarcely possible to
+recognise in clean, orderly inmates, the dirty, ragged, quarrelling,
+scratching, screaming children of the back-streets, which, however,
+they were only a short time ago. All is changed: the miserable hut,
+the narrow street, and muddy lane, for a pretty room full of pleasant
+objects; the timid look and distrustful scowl, for sunny cheerfulness
+and open confidence. There is no unkind distinction among the lower
+classes in this country, and by this I mean the whole of the Austrian
+states. There being only two classes--the nobles and the commons--none
+of the commons despise each other, however poor or humble their
+situation may be. The barefooted orphan, kept and educated by charity
+or the state, is not an object of contempt or ridicule to the child of
+the prosperous artisan, who stands clothed in its little snow-white
+frock and pink ribbons beside its less fortunate companion. Neither is
+any distinction made on account of religion. The infant schools of the
+empire are for the children of all the poor--Catholic, Lutheran,
+evangelical, &c.; and the two belonging to Presburg, to which we here
+particularly allude, contain from sixty to seventy of the latter in
+every two hundred.
+
+I was present at an examination of one of our Presburg seminaries in
+September last. A number of girls and boys, from three to five years
+of age, with a very few a little older, who had come in comparatively
+late, were subjected to the usual questioning in the various branches
+of their very elementary erudition. Some of the queries proved beyond
+the powers of the generality of the children; but this led to no
+expression of dejection or awkwardness. They evidently all endeavoured
+to do their very best. It was interesting to observe, that so far from
+pining to see a cleverer neighbour answer what they had failed in,
+they seemed to feel a triumph when, after a general difficulty, it was
+at length found that _some one_ could give the right answer--shewing
+that they might have a feeling of emulation as to the honour of the
+school, but none as between one pupil and another. On several
+occasions, when some unusually intelligent little creature would come
+from a back-form, and solve a question which had bewildered those in
+front, there was a sensible expression of delight over the whole
+school.
+
+In a far-off corner sat a little boy, poorly dressed, and of pallid
+countenance, but with a keen and intelligent eye, which had attracted
+my notice from the beginning. The more difficult the questions grew,
+his eye was fixed with the keener gaze on the face of the master.
+Several times I observed a puzzled child cast backwards to him a look,
+as expressing the assurance that _he_ was able to solve all
+difficulties. At length, on a slight motion of the master's hand, the
+little brown boy was seen to dart from his obscure recess, and pass
+rapidly across the forms, while his companions eagerly made way for
+him, clapping their hands as in anticipation of some brilliant
+achievement. In an instant, the boy stood before the master, his dark
+eye full of anxious expression, but quite devoid of doubt or anxiety.
+All our attention was at once directed to the half-clothed, barefooted
+child, to whom the questions were now put, and by whom they were
+answered with a promptitude and precision most wonderful. And who,
+what was he, that little brown boy? Some did not care to ask, and
+others said: 'Who would have thought that that little beggar-boy would
+have been so smart!' But God has chosen the vile things (to man) of
+this earth to become a bright and shining light to the world. We asked
+who that little boy was, and the master smiled, shook his head, and
+said: 'Oh, I scarcely know myself: it is a little boy the police have
+sent us in lately from the streets. It is not above three weeks since
+he came, but he is a good and very clever child--very desirous to
+learn, and never forgets anything!'
+
+I was affected by this trivial circumstance, reflecting how many
+little brown boys like this there must be in various countries called
+civilised, who, for want of a refuge where love and light are
+predominant, remain the outcasts of the streets, and become the prey
+of vice and ignorance.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOSING GAME.
+
+     [The following story is by no means a piece of mere
+     invention. The principal points were narrated to me by a
+     very intelligent young North-Sea fisherman, who had
+     frequently heard the legend from a grizzled old sailor on
+     board the smack in which he was an apprentice. The veteran
+     used to tell the story as having happened to himself; and he
+     had told it so often, that he firmly believed it, and used
+     to get into a passion when any of the crew dared to doubt or
+     laugh. I have, of course, licked the rough outlines of the
+     story or anecdote into something like shape; but the main
+     incidents are repeated to this day by the sailors of the
+     'Barking Fleet,' as the squadron of handsome smacks are
+     called, which, hailing from the town of Barking, in Essex,
+     pursue the toilsome task, in all seasons, and almost in all
+     weathers, of supplying the London market with North-Sea
+     turbot, soles, and cod. The story is told in the first
+     person, as Dick Hatch himself might have narrated it.]
+
+
+Nigh forty years ago, mates, when I was as young and supple as the boy
+Bill, there--though I was older than him by some years--I was serving
+my apprenticeship to the trade aboard the sloop _Lively Nan_. There
+were not such big vessels in the trade then, mates, as now; but they
+were tight craft, and manned by light fellows; and they did their work
+as well as the primest clipper of the Barking Fleet. Well, the _Lively
+Nan_ was about this quickest and most weatherly of the whole fleet;
+and she had a great name for making the quickest runs between the
+fishing-grounds and the river. But it wasn't owing so much to the
+qualities of the smack, as to the seamanship of the skipper. A prime
+sailor he was, surely. There wasn't another man sailed out of the
+River Thames who could handle a smack like Bob Goss. When he took the
+tiller, somehow the craft seemed to know it, and bobbed up half a
+point nearer to the wind; and when we were running free with the
+main-sheet eased off, and the foresail shivering, her wake would be as
+straight as her mast; only, he was a rare fellow for carrying on, was
+old Captain Goss! We would be staggering under a whole main-sail, when
+the other smacks had three reefs in theirs; and it was odds but we had
+one line of reef-points triced up, when our neighbours would be going
+at it under storm-trysail and storm-jib. He worked the _Lively Nan_
+hard, he did, did Captain Goss. Sweet, and wholesome, and easy as she
+was--for she would rise to any sea, like as comfortable as a duck--Old
+Goss all but drove her under. Dry jackets were scarce on board the
+_Lively Nan_. If there was as much wind stirring as would whirl round
+the rusty old vane on the topmast head, 'Carry on, carry on!' was
+always the captain's cry; and away we would bowl, half-a-dozen of the
+lee-streaks of the deck under water.
+
+Well, mates, Old Goss was a prime sailor; but he was a strange sort of
+man. To see him in a passion, was something you wouldn't forget in a
+hurry; and you wouldn't have known him long without having the chance.
+Most of us can swear a bit now and then; but you ought to have heard
+Captain Goss! He used even to frighten the old salts, that had common
+oaths in their mouths from morning till night. He was worse than the
+worst madman in Bedlam when his blood was up; and even the strong,
+bold men of the crew used to cower before him like as the cabin-boy.
+And yet, mates, he was but a little, maimed man, and more than sixty
+years old. He had a regular monkey-face; I never saw one like
+it--brown, and all over puckers, and working and twitching, like the
+sea where the tide-currents meet. He had but one eye, and he wore a
+big black patch over the place where the other had been; but that one
+eye, mates, would screw into you like a gimlet. Well, Captain Goss was
+more than fifty when he came down to Barking, and bought the _Lively
+Nan_, and made a carrier[1] of her; and nobody knew who he was, or
+where he came from. There was an old house at Barking then, and I have
+heard say that its ruins are there yet. The boys said that Guy
+Fawkes--him they burn every 5th of November--used to live there; and
+the story went that it was haunted, and that there was one room, the
+door of which always stood ajar, and nobody could either open or shut
+it. Well, mates, Old Captain Goss wasn't the sort of man to care much
+about Guy Fawkeses or goblins; so he hires a room in this old
+house--precious cheap he got it!--and when he was ashore, you could
+see a light in it all night; and if you went near, you might listen to
+Old Goss singing roaring songs about the brisk boys of the Spanish
+main, and yelling and huzzaing to himself, and drinking what he called
+his five-water grog. Five-water grog, mates--that was one of his
+jokes. It was rum made hot on the fire; and he could drink it scalding
+and never wink: and he would drink it till he got reg'lar wild. He was
+never right-down drunk, but just wild, like a savage beast! And then
+he would jump up, and make-believe he was fighting, and holler out to
+give it to the Spanish dogs, and that there were lots of doubloons
+below. I've gone myself with other youngsters, to listen at the door;
+and once when he was in the fit, yelling and singing, and laughing and
+swearing, all at once, I'm jiggered if he didn't out with a brace of
+old brass-mounted ship's pistols, and fire them right and left in the
+air, so that we cut and run a deal faster than we came. Of course the
+report soon got about that Captain Goss was an old pirate, or at the
+best an old bucaneer; and the Barking folks used to tell how many
+crews he had made walk the plank, and how there was blood-marks on his
+hands, which he used to try to cover with tar. But no one dared to say
+a word of this to him; and as he was a prime sailor, and even kind
+after his fashion, when he had taken first a reg'lar quantity of his
+five-water grog, he never wanted hands. At sea, he was often wild
+enough with liquor; but he no sooner put his hand on the tiller, than
+he seemed all right: and the _Lively Nan_ walked through it like
+smoke. I'm jiggered, mates, if that old fellow couldn't sail a ship
+asleep or awake, drunk or sober, dead or alive.
+
+Well, then, such was my old captain, Bobby Goss; and now I'll tell you
+what happened to him. One evening, in the autumn-time, and just when
+we were beginning to look out for the equinoctials, the _Lively Nan_
+was lying with her anchor a-peak--for we didn't mean to stay long--in
+Yarmouth Roads. There were three men on board, and one boy with
+myself; they called him Lawrence. I forget his other name, for I aint
+seen him for many a year. Well, the men had all turned in for'ards,
+and we two were left to wait for the captain, who had gone ashore; and
+after he came back, to take our spells at an anchor-watch till
+daylight, when we were to trip, and be off to the Dogger. The weather
+was near a dead calm, and warm for the time of year. The _Lively Nan_
+was lying with her gaff hoisted half-way and the peak settled down, so
+that we mightn't lose any time in setting the sail in the morning; and
+Lawrence and I were lying in the fo'castle, with our pipes in our
+mouths, watching the shore, to see if the captain was coming off, and
+seeing the sun go down over the sand-hills and the steeples and the
+wind-mills of Yarmouth. There weren't many vessels in the Roads; but
+the Yarmouth galleys, that go dodging about among the sands, were
+stretching in for the beach with the last puff of the evening breeze;
+and the herring-boats could be seen going off to their ground like
+specks out upon the sea. Then presently it got dark, and the
+town-lights of Yarmouth came sparkling out, the harbour-light the
+biggest, and away to the south'ard, the Lowstofft Light-house. But,
+after all, there aint much amusement in watching lights, and we both
+of us wanted to turn in; but till the captain came, there was no warm
+blankets for either. So we got wondering what Old Goss was doing at
+Yarmouth, and what was keeping him, and whether he'd come aboard drunk
+or sober, and whether he'd blow us up, and whether he'd rope's-end us,
+which was as likely as not, or perhaps more. Well, so hour after hour
+passed, and the night was so calm we could hear the chimes of the
+Yarmouth clocks, and the water going lap-lap against the sides of the
+_Lively Nan_, and the rudder going cheep-cheep as the sway of the sea
+stirred it. At last, says Lawrence: 'It's reg'lar dull here; let's go
+below.'
+
+'What's the use?' says I: 'there's no light, and the hands are all
+fast asleep.'
+
+'No,' says he; 'to the captain's cabin I mean. There's a lamp there;
+and we can hear the oars of the boat, and be on deck again, and no one
+the wiser.'
+
+Well, mates, I had some curiosity to get a glimpse of the captain's
+cabin, where I very seldom went, and never stayed long: so down we
+went, lighted up the lamp, and looked about us. There wasn't much,
+however, to see. It was a black little hole, with a brass stove and
+lockers, and a couple of berths, larboard and starboard, and a small
+picture of a fore-and-aft rigged schooner, very low in the water, and
+looking a reg'lar clipper; and no name to her. Well, mates, all at
+once I caught sight of a pack of cards lying on a locker. 'Here's a
+bit o' fun,' says I; 'Lawry, let's have a game;' and he agreed. So
+down we sat, and began to play 'put.' A precious greasy old lot of
+cards they were; and so many dirt-spots on them, that it required a
+fellow with sharp eyes to make out the dirt from the Clubs and Spades.
+However, we got on somehow. When one was ready to play, he knocked the
+table with his knuckles, as a signal to the other; and for hours and
+hours we shuffled and dealt and knocked until it was late in the
+night, which I ought to have told you was Saturday night. At last,
+just as we ended a game, and when we were listening if a boat was
+coming, before beginning another, we heard the Yarmouth clocks ring
+twelve.
+
+'Put up the cards,' says Lawrence; 'I'll not play more.'
+
+'Why not?' says I.
+
+'Because,' says he, and he stammered a little--'because it's Sunday.'
+
+Well, mates, I had forgotten all my notions of that kind, and so I
+laughed at him. But it was no use.
+
+'Them,' says he, 'that plays cards on a Sunday, runs a double chance
+of death on Monday.'
+
+His mother had told him this, and so he refused out-and-out to go on.
+'Well,' says I, 'I aint afraid, and I'd play if I had a partner.'
+
+Mates! the cards were lying in a pack, and the words were hardly out
+of my mouth, before they slipped down, and spread themselves out upon
+the table! Lawrence gave a loud screech, and jumped up. 'Oh!' says he,
+'it's the Old Un with us in the cabin!' and up the companion he
+tumbled, and I at his heels; and rushed for'ard as hard as we could
+pelt, and cuddled under the foresail--which was lying on the deck--all
+trembling and shaking, and our teeth chattering.
+
+'I told you what it would be,' says Lawrence.
+
+'I'll never play cards again,' says I, 'on a Sunday!'
+
+Just at that minute we heard oars, and then a hail: 'The _Lively Nan_,
+ahoy!' It was Old Goss's voice, and it was so thick, we knew he wasn't
+sober. So we slunk out, all trembling and clinging to each other. The
+lamp was burning up the cabin skylight, but we were afraid to look
+down. But if we didn't look, we could not help hearing; and sure
+enough there was the rap of knuckles on the table, as if Somebody was
+impatient that his partner didn't play. Well, we were more dead than
+alive when the captain came alongside in a shore-boat, and tumbled up
+the side, abusing the boatmen for the price he had to pay them. He had
+a lantern, and noticed the state we were in at once.
+
+'Now, then,' says he, 'you couple of young swabs, what are ye standing
+grinning there for, like powder-monkeys in the aguer? What's come over
+you, ye twin pair of snivelling Molly Coddles?' We looked at each
+other, but we were afraid to speak. 'What is it?' he roared again, 'or
+I'll make your backs as hot as a roasted pig's!' And on this, Lawrence
+reg'larly blubbered out: 'The devil, sir; the devil is in the cabin
+playing at double dummy "put!"'
+
+You should have heard Old Goss's laugh at this. They might have heard
+it ashore at Yarmouth. Just as it stopped, the sound of the knuckles
+came up through the skylight.
+
+'Who's below?' says the captain.
+
+'No one,' says I.
+
+'But Davy Jones,' says Lawrence.
+
+'Then,' says the captain, with an oath that was enough to split the
+mast, 'I'll play with him! It's not been the first time, and it mayn't
+be the last. Go for'ard, you beggars' brats, and don't disturb us;'
+and he went down the companion.
+
+But we did not go for'ard. No; we stretched ourselves on the deck, and
+peeped down the skylight. We could only see faintly, but we did see
+the captain sitting, holding his hand of cards, and another hand
+opposite, all spread out, but no fingers holding it, and no man behind
+it. There was a rap on the table, and I am sure it was not the captain
+that struck it.
+
+'Very well,' says he; 'wait till I've thought. You're so confounded
+sharp.'
+
+Then he played, and there was a dark shadow on the table--we did not
+know what, but it made our hair stand on end.
+
+'Play fair, Old Un!' says the captain. 'There goes king of trumps. Ha!
+that's what I thought! Of course, the devil's own luck--it's a
+proverb. Well, never say die. There!' and he played again.
+
+But we could stand it no longer. We scrambled to our legs, and the
+next minute were down in fo'castle, rousing the men. They were sleepy
+enough, you may be bound; but we almost lugged them out of the
+hammocks. 'Turn out, turn out, shipmates, for God's-sake: the devil's
+aboard this ship, and he's playing cards with the captain in the
+cabin.' At first, mates, the hands thought we had gone mad; but we
+both of us told in a breath what we had seen; and so in a minute or
+two we all went aft, creeping like cats along the deck. But there was
+no need. We heard Old Goss's voice raging like a fury.
+
+'You're a cheat, Old Un,' he was yelling out. 'You cheat all mankind:
+you've cheated me. Come, play; double or quits on the first turn-up.
+What's that? Nine of Spades! Seven of Spades! What! no trumps? I say,
+don't you mind the old craft under the line? That's her opposite you;
+so, play away.'
+
+'Mates,' says an old salt--his name was Bartholomew Cook--'mates,'
+says he, 'this is a doomed ship, an I won't ship for another v'y'ge.'
+
+'Nor I;' 'nor I,' says several, as we crept along.
+
+'He's only mad with drink,' whispered the mate. 'It's all five-water
+grog.'
+
+'Is it?' said Bartholomew. 'Look down there!'
+
+The men crept to the skylight, and peeped; and so did I. What we saw,
+not a man forgot the longest day he lived. The captain was dealing the
+cards furiously; his face working and swelling; his hair bristling up;
+his good eye gleaming, and the patch off the other, the blind one,
+which was shining, too, as it were, like a rotten oyster in the dark.
+
+'Play!' roars Goss at last; and then he paused, as if he was thinking
+of his next card. The table was rapped. He played; and then quick and
+furious the cards came down; the captain all the while raving,
+shouting, and foaming at the mouth.
+
+'Against me--against me--against me! Avaunt! A man's no match for ye.
+Ye have all! Lost again! No; here--stop. On the next card, I stake
+myself--my ship--my'--
+
+'Stop!' shouted old Bartholomew. He had been standing at the foot of
+the companion, and he burst into the cabin. 'Stop, Captain Goss, in
+the name of God!'
+
+Goss turned round to him. His face was so like the Evil One's that we
+did not look for any other. Then a brass-mounted pistol--a shot--and
+rolling smoke: all passed in a minute. Then the captain flung a card
+upon the table, and with a yell like a wild beast, shouted out:
+'Lost!' fell over the cards, extinguished the lamp; and we neither
+heard nor saw more, till there came a shuffling on the companion, and
+Bartholomew crawled out with his face all blackened by the powder, and
+the blood trickling from his cheek, where the ball had grazed it. We
+all went for'ard, mates, and had a long palaver, and resolved to go
+ashore at daybreak, and leave a doomed captain and a doomed ship. But
+we didn't know our man. In the gray of the morning, we heard the
+handspike rattle on the hatch, and we tumbled up one after the other.
+The captain was there, looking much as usual, but only paler.
+
+'Man the windlass,' says he.
+
+'We're going ashore, sir,' says Bartholomew firmly.
+
+'How?' says the captain.
+
+'In the boat,' says Bartholomew.
+
+'Are you?' says Goss: 'look at her!' He had cut her adrift, and she
+was a mile off.
+
+'And now,' says Goss, 'I was drunk last night, and frightened
+you--playing tricks with cards. Don't be fools; do your duty, and defy
+Davy Jones. If not'--And then he flung open his pea-coat, and we saw
+four of the brass-mounted pistols in his belt. But, mates, his one eye
+was worse than the four muzzles, and we slunk to our work, and obeyed
+him. The easterly breeze came fresh, and we were soon bowling away
+nor'ard. The captain stood long at the helm, and we gathered for'ard.
+'We're lost!' said Bartholomew; 'we're lost men! We're bought and
+sold!'
+
+'Bartholomew,' shouts the captain, 'come and take the helm!' He went
+aft, mates, like a lamb; and the captain walked for'ards, and looked
+at us, one after another; and the one eye cowed us. We were not like
+men; and he was our master. When he went below, we grouped together,
+and looked out to windward. It was getting black--black; the wind was
+coming off in gusts; and the _Lively Nan_ began to dance to the seas
+that came rolling in from the eastward. 'The equinoctial!' we says one
+to another. In an hour more, mates, all the sky to windward was like a
+big sheet of lead; with white clouds, like feathers, driving athwart
+it--the clouds, as it were, whiter than the firmament. You know the
+meaning, mates, of a sky like that; and accordingly, by nightfall, we
+had it; and the _Lively Nan_, under close-reefed main-sail and
+storm-jib, was groaning, and plunging, and diving in the seas--the
+wind blowing, mates, as if it would have wrenched the mast out of the
+keelson. Many a gale have I been in, before and since, but that was
+the worst of all. Well, mates, we thought we were doomed, but we did
+our work, silent and steady; and we kept the smack under a press of
+canvas that none but such a boat could bear, to claw her off the
+lee-shore--off them fearsome sands that lie all along Lincolnshire.
+Captain Goss was as bold and cool as ever, and stood by the
+tiller-tackle, and steered the ship as no hand but his could do.
+
+It was the gloaming of the night, mates, when the gale came down,
+heavier and heavier--a perfect blast, that tore up the very sea, and
+drove sheets of water into the air. We were a'most blinded, and clung
+to cleats and rigging--the sea tumbling over and over us; and the
+poor, old smack at length smashed down on her beam-ends. All at once,
+the mast went over the side; and as we righted and rose on the curl of
+a seaway, Bartholomew sung out, loud and shrill: 'Sail, ho!' We
+looked. Right to windward, mates, there was a sort of light opening in
+the clouds; something of the colour of the ring round the moon in
+dirty weather, and nigh as round; and in the middle of it was a smack,
+driving right down on us, her bowsprit not a cable-length from our
+broadside. She looked wondrous like the _Lively Nan_ herself, and some
+of us saw our own faces clustered for'ard, looking at ourselves over
+the bow!
+
+As this notion was passed from one to another, we cried out aloud,
+that our hour was come. Captain Goss was in the middle of us. 'Hold
+your baby screeches,' says he. 'You'll be none the worse; it's me and
+the smack she has to do with.' Even, as he spoke, she was on us. Some
+fell on their knees, and others clenched their fists and their teeth;
+but instead of the crash of meeting timber, we heard but a rustle, and
+the shadow of her sails flitted, as it were, across us; and as they
+passed, the wind was cold, cold, and struck us like frost; and the
+next minute the _Lively Nan_ had sunk below our feet, and we found
+ourselves in the roaring sea, struggling among the wreck of the mast.
+The smack was gone, and the strange ship gone, and the gale blowing
+steady and strong. One by one, mates, we got astride of the mast, and
+lashed ourselves with odds and ends of broken rope; and then we began,
+as we rose and fell on the sea, to look about and muster how many we
+were. The crew, including the captain, was seven hands, but we were
+sure there were eight men sitting on the mast. It was too dark to see
+faces; but you could see the dark figures clinging to the spar.
+
+'Answer to your names, mates,' says Bartholomew, who somehow took the
+lead. And so he called over the list till he came to the captain.
+
+'Captain Goss?'
+
+'Here,' says the captain's voice.
+
+We now knew there was somebody behind him who was not one of the crew.
+It was too dark, however, to see distinctly, and Goss interrupted our
+view such as it was.
+
+'Who is the man on the end of the mast, Captain Goss?' says
+Bartholomew.
+
+'You might be old enough to guess that!' replied the captain, and his
+voice was husky-like, but quite clear; and it never trembled. 'Some
+men call him one thing, some another; and we of the sea call him Davy
+Jones.'
+
+Mates, at that we clustered up together as well as we could, and
+fixing our eyes on what was passing at the other end of the mast, we
+hardly attended to the seas that broke over and over us. At last, we
+saw Captain Goss, by the light of the beds of bursting foam, fumbling
+for something in his breast.
+
+'Is it a Bible you have there?' cried Bartholomew. The captain didn't
+answer, but pulled out the thing he was trying for; and we guessed
+somehow, for we could hardly see, that it was the greasy pack of
+cards.
+
+'Double or quits!' he shouted, 'on all I've staked;' and in another
+instant there was one horrid, unearthly screech, like what we heard in
+the cabin before, and the mast, as it were, tipped the heel of it, the
+cross-trees rising many feet above the water. Whether or no it was the
+motion of the waves that had tossed it, no man can say; but when the
+mast rolled again with the next sea, the heel came up empty: Captain
+Goss and his companion were gone!
+
+'Thank God,' says Old Bartholomew, 'for Jonah is in the sea.' In less
+than half an hour, mates, we were tossed ashore, without a bruise or
+scratch. We walked the beach till daylight, and then we saw that the
+mast had disappeared. None ever saw more a timber or a rope's-end of
+the _Lively Nan_. She had been staked and won; but the greasy cards,
+mates, lay wet and dank upon the beach, and we left them to wither
+there among the sea-weed.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The smacks used to convey the fish from the traulers to the Thames
+are called 'carriers.'
+
+
+
+
+PARTNERSHIP IN COMMANDITE.
+
+
+It is a general prejudice, that a subject like the law of partnership
+is a matter for the legal profession only, or, at most, for the
+consideration of capitalists embarked in partnership business. But it
+is, in truth, a subject of great interest to the public at large, and
+especially to that valuable portion of the community who possess
+ability and character, and have a little property--but not much--at
+stake in the soundness of our institutions. This class have, however,
+of late begun to shew a visible interest in the subject--an interest
+which, had it existed earlier, might have prevented any of the
+anomalies of which we complain from increasing to their present
+excess.
+
+The political economists have ever admitted the great influence of
+combined capital: they have pointed to many valuable operations, such
+as gas-works, water-works, railways, &c. which can be performed by
+combined capital, but are beyond the capacity of individual
+capitalists. They have also admitted the efficacy of a division or
+combination of labour; whether it be that of the mechanic, or of some
+higher grade, such as the designer and projector. The views of the
+older school of political economists would be in entire concurrence
+with anything that would facilitate such combinations, where several
+men with skill or money take their parts; as, for instance, where one
+is the buyer of raw materials, another keeps the accounts, another
+draws patterns, and another acts as salesman. On the other hand, some
+novel speculators go so much farther, that they would revolutionise
+society, and, by force, compel it to be organised into co-operative
+sections. It infers no sympathy with these wild schemes of
+destruction, and artificial reconstruction, to desire that our law
+should give facility for co-operation and combination--nay, that it
+should give to it every encouragement consistent with other interests,
+and with civil liberty.
+
+But our law, unfortunately, instead of doing thus, has set heavy
+impediments in the way of co-operation; we might speak more strongly,
+and say, that it has prepared pitfalls, in which any person guilty of
+having joined in a co-operative scheme, may at once find himself
+overwhelmed, as a punishment for his offence. Invest part of your
+savings in a company in which you have reliance; assist a young man,
+of whose capacity and honesty you think well, by investing money in
+his business; and some day you may find yourself ruined for having
+done so.
+
+Those readers who have turned any attention to this subject, will at
+once see that we refer to the law of unlimited responsibility in
+partnerships. Except when the company proceeds under an act of
+parliament, a charter, or patent, limiting the responsibility, every
+partner is responsible for the debts and obligations of the concern,
+to the last farthing he possesses. Very often, a young man of
+enterprise and ability, acting as manager, overseer, or in some other
+respectable capacity, receives a small share in the profits to
+encourage him to exertion: he has no control over the management: some
+leading man plunges, to serve himself, into dangerous speculations,
+and there is a bankruptcy. The young man has done nothing but good
+service all along to the partnership, and to its creditors, and all
+who have had dealings with it; yet, if he have saved a trifle, it is
+swept away with the effects of the real speculators. Take another case
+equally common: A young man commences business alone, or in company
+with others: they have intelligence, ability, and honesty, but little
+capital. A capitalist, who, perhaps, conducts some larger business of
+his own, might, ingrafting kindness on prudential considerations, be
+inclined to embark with them to a certain extent; but he finds, that
+instead of a prudential step, nothing could be more thoroughly
+imprudent. He will have to embark not only the small sum he destined
+for the purpose, but his whole fortune. Dealers who have transactions
+with the young partners, will know that a man of fortune is 'at their
+back,' as it is termed, and will give them credit and encouragement
+accordingly. Without being conscious of any dishonesty, the firm will
+be led to trade, not on the capital which their friend has advanced,
+but on the capital which he possesses. Of course, they do not intend
+that he should lose his fortune, any more than that they themselves
+should lose their business and pecuniary means. But these things
+happen against people's intentions and inclinations; and the friend
+who wished to aid them with a moderate and cautious advance, is
+ruined; while those who were giving reckless credit, and who
+encouraged dangerous speculations, are paid cent. per cent. It is the
+fear of such a consummation as this that generally makes the
+well-intending friend abstain from ultimately committing himself with
+those with whom he would have fain co-operated.
+
+It is quite right that trading companies should not trade on false
+resources, and be able to laugh at their creditors by placing out of
+the reach of the law the funds with which they have speculated. Yet
+this can be done under the present system; and there is a class of men
+in the commercial world, banded together by peculiar ties and
+interests, who are said to accomplish it on a large and comprehensive
+scale. It is thus carried out: A penniless man starts in business,
+supplied with abundant capital by his friends: they may demand 6, 7,
+or 10 per cent. for the use of it; and if they manage, which they may,
+to avoid the residue of the law of usury, they are safe from the law
+of partnership. The new man, by his prompt payments and abundant
+command of capital, works himself into good credit. It is an
+understanding, that when he has been thus set afloat, the money
+advanced by his friends is to be gradually repaid. He is then left to
+swim or sink. If the former be his fate, it is well for all parties;
+if the latter, his friends will not be the sufferers: their capital is
+preserved, and they can play the same game over again, in some other
+place, with the hope of an equally happy result.
+
+The same modifications of the law which would free partnership of its
+terrors would be only naturally accompanied with safeguards to protect
+the public against such schemes as these. In France, America, and many
+other countries, there is a system of partnership, with limited
+responsibility, known by the name of 'Partnership in _Commandite_.'
+Even with us, limited responsibility is by no means unknown. It is,
+however, granted capriciously and unsystematically, without those
+checks and regulations which, if there were a general system, would be
+adopted to make it safe and effective. 'I wish,' said Mr Duncan, a
+solicitor, when examined before the Select Committee on the Law of
+Partnership, 'to draw the attention of the committee first to this
+simple fact--that all the railway, gas, and water and dock companies,
+and all the telegraph companies, as a matter of course, have limited
+liability. It is impossible to trace why they have got it, but they
+have got it as a habit, and for any extent of capital they desire.
+Whether a project be to make a railway from one small place to
+another, or to provide gas to supply any town, great or small, all
+those companies, as a matter of course, come to the legislature and
+ask for, and obtain, limited liability. They are commercial companies,
+and one cannot trace the reason why they should have limited liability
+a bit more than any other company--but it is so.'
+
+Here we have at least a precedent, which is of importance in a country
+like this, so truly conservative in the sense of adhering to anything
+that is fixed law or matter of traditional business routine. Now, in
+these concerns, where there is often so much wild speculation and
+mismanagement, no one is responsible beyond the subscribed stock; yet
+while we hear enough of the stockholders themselves losing their
+property, we seldom, scarcely ever, hear of the creditors who deal
+with them, in contracting for their works or otherwise, losing. The
+reason is, because the extent to which they can pay is known, and the
+people who deal with the company calculate accordingly. Unlimited
+liability existing in some indefinite parties, while it too often
+ruins these parties themselves, is a bait for that indefinite credit
+which produces their ruin, and sometimes leaves the careless creditor
+unpaid, even when he has taken the last farthing from the unfortunate
+partner.
+
+In the commandite partnerships, however, the restriction of liability
+does not apply to all the shareholders, as in the case of our great
+joint-stock companies. Full responsibility alights only on those
+partners who take it upon them, who have an interest in the profits
+measured by their responsibility, and who are known to the world to be
+so responsible. With regard to those whose responsibility is said to
+be limited, it would be more accurate to say, that they have no
+responsibility at all: there is a fixed sum which they have invested
+in the concern--they may lose it, but it is there already; and there
+is nothing for which they have, properly speaking, to be responsible.
+The method adopted in France may be described thus:--There is a
+private act or contract, in which are given the names of the partners,
+and the sums contributed by them. The names of the _gerants_, or those
+who, as ostensible conductors of the business, are to be responsible
+to the whole extent of their property, are then published. With regard
+to those who put in money without incurring farther responsibility, it
+is only necessary to publish the sums contributed by them: no farther
+information regarding them would be of any use, unless to their
+fellow-partners, who would perhaps like to know if the concern is
+patronised by men of sense, and they may satisfy themselves by looking
+at the deed of partnership. Now, there is perfect fairness in all
+this. The public know the persons who agree to take the full
+responsibility; they know also the amount of money put into their
+hands by other parties. In deciding whether they shall deal or not
+with this body, they are not perplexed by mysterious visions of
+possible rich unknowns who may be brought in for the company's
+obligations. We cannot see that such an arrangement is in the least
+unfair, and we are convinced that it would be productive of great
+good. The subscribers with limited responsibility, or
+_commanditaires_, as they are called, are not cut off from all control
+over the management of their funds: it is their own fault if they join
+a commandite company where they are not allowed to inspect the books,
+and check rashness or extravagance.
+
+It seems to be frequently the case, that a set of able workmen, in the
+kind of artistic manufactures for which France is celebrated, become
+the _gerants_ of such companies. This, we believe, is a form in which
+whatever element of good may happen to lie in the co-operative
+theories of a recent school of Socialists will be found. The
+commercial witnesses before the select committee, spoke of ribbons and
+other ornamental manufactures, which were only produced in perfection
+in establishments where the energies of the designers were roused by
+the possession of a share in the business, and in its management, as
+_gerants_. Coinciding with these practical witnesses, the theorists on
+political economy who were consulted on the occasion--such as Mr
+Babbage and Mr J.S. Mill--held that many inventions that might be
+patented and used, and many ingenious discoveries made by men of the
+operative class, were lost to the world by the defective state of the
+law. They would often get those who, richer than themselves, have
+reliance on their judgment, to aid them in carrying out their
+inventions or improvements, were it not for the law of unlimited
+responsibility.
+
+We can even anticipate, from anything that will facilitate fruitful
+investment by the working-classes, a still wider--we might say, a
+political effect. The chief defect in our otherwise sound social
+system, is the want of fusion between the class of employers and
+employed. As some other countries are subject to the more serious evil
+of being without a middle-class between the aristocracy and the common
+people, so we want a sub-grade, as it were, between the middle and the
+working classes. It is too much the practice to consider them as
+separated from each other by interests, tastes, and feelings. It is,
+on the contrary, the real truth that their interests are indissolubly
+united; but if there were a less broad line separating them from each
+other, this would be more apparent. The true way to fill up the gap
+happily for all parties, is not for the middle-class to descend, but
+the working-class to rise. Nothing could better accomplish this, than
+imparting to them facilities for entering into business on a small
+scale on their own account. The hopelessness with which the workman
+looks at the position of the employer, as that of a great capitalist,
+would then be turned into hope and endeavour.
+
+It is often said, that the operative classes shew an unfortunate
+indisposition to advance onwards, and abandon their uniform routine of
+toil: the answer to this is--try them. They have adopted the means at
+their command in other countries. Mr Davis, an American gentleman,
+gave the select committee an animated view of the ambitious workmen of
+the New England states, where, he said, 'nobody is contented with his
+present condition--everybody is struggling for something better.' Now,
+to be discontented with one's condition, in the shape of folding the
+arms, and abusing the fate that has not sent chance prosperity, is a
+bad thing; but the discontent--if such it can be justly called--which
+incites a man to rise in the world by honest exertions, is in every
+way a good thing. Mr Davis said, he has been told that, in Lowell,
+some of the young women hold stock in the mills in which they work.
+Imagine a factory-girl holding stock in a mill!
+
+We believe that unlimited responsibility was really founded on the old
+prejudices against usury or interest; and as these prejudices are fast
+disappearing, we may hope speedily to see this relic of their
+operation removed. Towards this end, let the operatives everywhere
+meet to consider this question, so important to their interests; and,
+as we believe they will generally see the propriety of furthering a
+law to establish commandite partnerships, let them petition the House
+of Commons accordingly. Whether the classes with capital will move in
+the matter, is doubtful; for they are not the parties to be chiefly
+benefited. The best way is not to trust to them on the subject; but
+for the working-classes to take the thing into their own hands, and
+spare no exertion to procure an act of parliament of the kind we speak
+of. We feel assured, that such an act would do more to inspire hope
+among artisans, and to put them in the way of fortune, than any other
+law that could be mentioned.
+
+
+
+
+RECENT FIRE-PANICS.
+
+
+The panic created by a cry of fire in theatres, churches, and other
+public buildings, may be said to cause a considerably greater number
+of deaths than the flames themselves. Few persons, indeed, are burnt
+to death, means of escape from conflagration being usually found;
+whereas, the number suffocated and bruised to death by mere panic, is
+lamentably large. The following is the account of a most disastrous
+fire-panic, which we gather from a paper in an American Journal of
+Education.
+
+In the city of New York there is a school, known as the 'Ninth Ward
+School-house,' Greenwich Avenue. The house is built of brick, and
+consists of several floors, access to which is obtained by a spiral
+staircase. The bottom of the staircase is paved with stone, and ten
+feet square in extent. Standing in the centre of this landing-place,
+we look up a circular well, as it may be called, round which the stair
+winds with its balustrade. The school is attended by boys and girls,
+in different departments, under their respective teachers. It was in
+this extensive establishment, numbering at the time 1233 boys and 600
+girls, that the panic occurred, and it broke out in a singular and
+unexpected way.
+
+One day last December, Miss Harrison, a teacher in the female
+department, who had been for some days indisposed, was suddenly, and
+while performing her duties in the school, seized with a paralysis of
+the tongue. The spectacle of their teacher in this distressing
+condition, naturally suggested to the children that she was faint, and
+required water. At all events, the word _water_ was uttered. It was
+repeated. It became a cry; and the cry excited the idea of fire. A
+notion sprang up that the school was on fire. That was enough. The
+floor was in an uproar; and the noise so created in one department was
+communicated to the others. The whole school was seized with panic!
+Now commenced a rush towards the various doors. Out of each poured a
+flood of children, dashing wildly to the staircase. The torrent jammed
+up, and unable to find outlet by the stair, burst the balustrades, and
+down like a cataract poured the maddened throng into the central well,
+falling on the paved lobby beneath. The scene was appalling. 'Before
+the current could be arrested, the well was filled with the bodies of
+children to the depth of about eight feet. At this juncture, the alarm
+reached the Ninth Ward Station-house, the fire-bell was rung, and a
+detachment of the police hurried to the scene. Here a new difficulty
+presented itself. The afternoon session of the school having
+commenced, the main outer-doors, which open upon the foot of the
+stairs, had been closed. Against these the affrighted children were
+wedged in masses, and as the doors open inward, it was some time
+before relief could be given them. The police fortunately effected an
+entrance by a rear-door, but for which timely help, many more of the
+children would probably have been suffocated.
+
+'Much commendation is due to the teachers for their presence of mind.
+Miss M'Farland, one of the assistants in the primary department,
+finding the children of her department becoming alarmed, placed
+herself in the doorway, and exerted her utmost strength to arrest them
+as they endeavoured to rush from the room; and although several times
+thrown down and trampled upon, she still persisted in her efforts,
+until, finally, she was so much injured, as to be compelled to
+relinquish the post. So impetuous was the rush, however, that five of
+the teachers were forced over the balusters, and fell with the
+children into the well. The sterner discipline exercised over the
+boys' departments prevented them generally from joining in the rush.
+Only three of the pupils in the upper male department were among the
+killed. Some of the boys jumped out of the windows, and one of them
+had his neck broken by the fall. As soon as they gained admittance,
+the police took possession of the premises, and commenced handing out
+the children from their perilous position. Those that were on the top
+were but slightly injured; but as soon as these had been removed, the
+most heart-rending spectacle presented itself. Some among the
+policemen were fathers, whose own children were there. They worked
+manfully, and body after body was taken out: many of them lifeless at
+first, came to when they once more breathed the fresh air; but many
+were beyond aid, and death was too plainly marked upon their pallid
+features. Some were injured by the fall, and lay writhing in agony;
+some moaned; while others shrieked with pain; and others, again, when
+released, started off for home, apparently unconscious of the awful
+scene through which they had passed. The bodies of the dead and
+wounded were mostly taken to the Ninth Ward Station-house, which is
+near the school. In a few minutes, news of the accident spread through
+the neighbourhood, and mothers came rushing to the scene by scores.
+Occasionally, a mother would recognise the lifeless form of a child as
+it was lifted from the mass, and then the piercing cry of agony that
+would rend the air! One after another, the bodies of the dead were
+removed; and at length litters were provided, and the wounded were
+carried away also. Nearly one hundred families either mourned the loss
+of children, or watched anxiously over the forms of the wounded.'
+
+The coroner's jury which sat on this case of wholesale destruction of
+life, decided that no blame could be imputed to any of the teachers in
+the school, and that the deaths were a result of accident. At the same
+time, they strongly condemned the construction of the stair, and the
+unfitness of the balustrades to withstand pressure. The whole case
+suggests the impolicy of giving spiral staircases to buildings of this
+class: in all such establishments, the stairs should be broad and
+square, with numerous landing-places.
+
+Strangely enough, the sensation caused by the above catastrophe had
+not subsided, when another case of destruction of life occurred in New
+York from a similarly groundless fear of fire. This second disaster is
+noticed as follows in the newspapers:
+
+'Monday night (January 12), between the hours of nine and ten o'clock,
+a frightful calamity occurred at 140 Centre Street, in a rear building
+owned by the Commissioners of Emigration, for the reception of the
+newly-arrived emigrants. The building is five storeys high, and each
+floor appropriated for the emigrants--the upper rooms principally for
+the women, and the lower part for the men. In this place, six human
+lives were lost, and perhaps as many more may yet die from the
+injuries sustained. It seems that between nine and ten o'clock, the
+City Hall bell rang an alarm of fire in the fifth district, and some
+of the women on the upper floors called out "fire," which instantly
+created a panic of alarm on each floor among them, and a general rush
+was made for the stairway, which being very contracted, they fell one
+on the top of each other, creating an awful state of confusion. So
+terrified were some, that they broke out the second and third storey
+windows, and sprang out, falling with deadly violence in the yard
+below. The screams and cries of the affrighted women and children soon
+called the aid of the police; and Captain Brennen, aided by his
+efficient officers, rendered every assistance in his power, and
+succeeded, as quickly as possible, in extricating the injured as well
+as the dead from the scene of calamity. Six dead bodies were conveyed
+to the station-house, and eight persons were conveyed to the city
+hospital with broken arms and bodily injuries, some of whom are not
+expected to survive. Many others were injured, more or less, but not
+deemed sufficiently so to be sent to the hospital. Those killed are
+all children, except one, who is a young woman about twenty years of
+age. They were all suffocated by the number of persons crowded on
+them. The scene at the Sixth Ward Station-house presented a woful
+sight, the mothers of the deceased children bewailing over them in the
+most pitiful manner. At the time the alarm was given, there were about
+480 emigrants in the building, the larger proportion women and
+children, who were up stairs; and in forcing their way down stairs,
+the balusters gave way, thus precipitating them down in a very similar
+manner to the unfortunate children at the Ninth Ward School-house.
+There was, it seems, no cause for the alarm of fire any more than the
+bells rang an alarm; which alarm did not refer to that district, but
+was misconstrued by the emigrants to be in their building. Alderman
+Barr was quickly on the spot, rendering every assistance in his power
+to alleviate the sufferings of the poor unfortunate emigrants.'
+
+The details of these two calamities arising from sheer panic will not
+be useless, if they serve to shew the extreme danger and folly of
+giving way to a terror of fire in crowded buildings. Let us impress
+upon all the necessity for so disciplining their nerves, that on
+hearing a call of fire in a church, theatre, or other place of
+assemblage, they may act with calmness and common sense; those nearest
+the door going out, and the others quietly following. It is in the
+highest degree improbable--not to say impossible--that in such places
+fire, before its discovery, can gain such a height as to cut off,
+unaided by panic, the escape of a single man, woman, or child in the
+house. We should remember, that not merely on the first discovery of
+fire, but when the building is actually in flames, the firemen are at
+work within the walls; and that these men are protected by no immunity
+but that arising from their own courage and self-possession.
+
+
+
+
+THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.
+
+
+_February 1852._
+
+Professor Faraday's lecture, with which, according to use and custom,
+the Friday evening course at the Royal Institution was opened, has
+been the most noteworthy topic of scientific gossip since my last. The
+subject, 'Lines of Magnetic Force,' is one not easily popularised,
+otherwise, I should like to give you an abstract of it. One requires
+to know so much beforehand, to comprehend the value and significance
+of such a lecture. The learned professor's experiments, by which he
+demonstrated his reasonings were, however, eminently interesting to
+the crowded auditory who had the good-fortune to listen to him. He
+promises to give us, before the close of the season, another, wherein
+he will make use of that telescope of the mind--speculation, and tell
+us much of what his ever-widening researches have led him to conclude
+concerning magnetism; a science on which he believes we are shortly to
+get large 'increments of knowledge.' Mr Wheatstone, too, having
+produced a paper resuming his stereoscopic investigations, had the
+honour of reading it before the Royal Society as their Bakerian
+Lecture, as I prognosticated a month or two since. Of course in this
+practical age the inquiry is put--Of what use is the stereoscope or
+pseudoscope? With respect to the former, it is said that artists will
+find it very serviceable in copying statuary groups; and a suggestion
+has already been made, to adapt it to the purposes of microscopic
+observation, as the objects examined will be seen much more accurately
+under the extraordinary relief produced by the stereoscope, than by
+the ordinary method. And it may interest astronomers to know, that Mr
+Wheatstone believes it possible, by means of the same instrument, to
+perfect our knowledge of the moon's surface and structure. For
+instance: he proposes to take a photographic image of the moon, at one
+of the periods of her libration, and a second one about fifteen months
+afterwards, at the next libration, which, as you know, would be in the
+opposite direction to the first. The two images being then viewed in a
+stereoscope, would appear as a solid sphere, in which condition we
+should doubtless get such an acquaintance with the surface of our
+satellite as can be obtained by no other means. The reason for taking
+the images with so long an interval between is, that although each one
+represents the same object, each must be taken at a different angle;
+and for an object so distant as the moon, the difference caused by the
+libration would, it is believed, be sufficient for the desired result.
+In the small pictures, however, the difference of angle is so slight,
+that to the unpractised observer they appear precisely alike; it is,
+nevertheless, essential to the effect that the variation, though
+minute, should exist. With respect to the pseudoscope--which makes the
+outside of a teacup appear as the inside, and the inside as the
+outside; which transforms convexity into concavity, and the reverse;
+and a sculptured face into a hollow mask; which makes the tree in your
+garden appear inside your room, and the branches farthest off come
+nearest to the eye; and which, when you look at your pictures,
+represents them as sunk into a deep recess in the wall,--with respect
+to this instrument, its practical uses have yet to be discovered. But
+as your celebrated countryman, Sir David Brewster, is working at the
+subject, as well as Mr Wheatstone, we shall not, so say the initiated,
+have to wait long for further results.
+
+Besides these lectures, a course is being delivered at the Museum of
+Practical Geology, recently opened in Jermyn Street, by eminent
+professors, as you may judge from the fact of De la Beche, Forbes, and
+Playfair being among them. Some of the most promising of the pupils at
+the School of Design are allowed to attend these lectures gratis. At
+the same institution, an attempt is to be made to do what has long
+been done in Paris--namely, to admit working-people to the best
+scientific lectures free of cost. Now, therefore, is the time for the
+working-men of the metropolis to shew whether they wish for knowledge
+and enlightenment or not. They have only to present themselves at the
+Museum, pay a registration-fee of sixpence, conform to the rules, and
+so qualify themselves for the course of six lectures. It is a capital
+opportunity; and I, for one, hope that hundreds of the intelligent
+working-men of London will avail themselves of it. They, on their
+part, may find government education not unacceptable; and government,
+on the other hand, encouraged by a successful experiment, may feel
+inclined to extend its benefits. If a clear-headed lecturer on
+political economy could also be appointed, perhaps in time our
+industrial fellow-countrymen might come to understand that strikes are
+always a mistake, and the masters, that fair play is a jewel.
+
+Notwithstanding the stir about invasion and amateur rifle-clubs, other
+matters do get talked about--as, for instance, the astronomer-royal's
+communication to the Society of Antiquaries on the place of Caesar's
+landing at his invasion of Britain. The learned functionary settles it
+to his own satisfaction by tide-calculations: he has also been holding
+an interesting correspondence with a lady on the geography of Suez, as
+bearing on the Exodus of Scripture. And this reminds me that Dr J.
+Wilson has written a paper, published in the proceedings of the Bombay
+branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, to decide a long debated
+question--the identification of the Hazor of Kedar, referred to in
+Jeremiah--'Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor,
+which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite,' &c. The doctor,
+after careful research and reasoning, believes the ruins known as
+Hadhar or Hatra, not far distant from Nineveh, to be the remains of
+the denounced city. Layard and Ainsworth have both visited and
+described the place, as many readers will remember. Those interested
+in the progress of research in Biblical countries, will be gratified
+to know that Dr Robinson has left the United States for another tour
+in the Holy Land. Now that Christians are more tolerated in Turkey
+than in some other countries nearer home, travelling in the East will
+perhaps be facilitated.
+
+Talking of travel: the Legislative Council at Sydney have granted
+L.2000, to fit out an expedition to search for Leichardt; Captain
+Beatson, with his steamer, is about to start for Behring's Strait to
+look for Franklin; Lieutenant Pim has returned from St Petersburg--the
+emperor would not permit him to go to Siberia; and last, supplies of
+money and goods have been sent out to Drs Barth and Overweg, in
+Central Africa, to enable them to pursue their discoveries; and the
+British resident at Zanzibar has been instructed to assist them. We
+may thus hope, before long, to add to our knowledge both of the torrid
+and frigid zones.
+
+To touch upon a home topic: we are told that government are rather
+afraid of their own bill for intermural interments passed last
+session, which may account for none of its provisions having yet been
+carried out. The project now is to supersede that bill by another,
+which is to extend the practice of cemetery interment. This looks like
+a want of faith in sanitary principles. On the other hand, the sale of
+the lazaretto at Marseilles, with a view to construct docks on its
+site, is a proof that the French government can do something in the
+way of sanitary reform. It is, in fact, quite time that the
+superstitious notions about infection, and the vexations of
+quarantine, should give place to sounder views and more rational
+methods. Meantime, as meteorologists say, we are coming to the cycle
+of hot summers, it behoves us more than ever to bury the dead far from
+towns. The Registrar-General tells us that, on the whole, we are
+improving, and it is not less an individual than a national duty to
+forward the improvement. According to the return just published for
+the quarter ending December last, the births in 1851 amounted to
+616,251, the largest number ever registered, being an excess of 5 per
+cent. over former returns. The deaths were 385,933, leaving a surplus
+which increases the population of England and Wales to more than
+18,000,000. In the same quarter, 59,200 emigrants, chiefly Irish, left
+the kingdom. With respect to marriages, which also exceed in number
+those of former years, the Registrar repeats what he has often said
+before, that marriages increase 'when the substantial earnings of the
+people are above the average; and the experience of a century, during
+which the prosperity of the country, though increasing, has been
+constantly fluctuating, shews that it is prudent to husband the
+resources of good times against future contingencies. Workmen, if they
+are wise, will not now squander their savings.' Are we to infer from
+this, that a bad time is coming?
+
+I have at times given you some of our post-office statistics, let me
+now send you a few from America. The postmaster-general reports to
+Congress, that in the year ending last June there were within the
+United States 6170 mail-routes, comprising a length in the aggregate
+of 196,290 miles; of post-offices, 19,796; of mail-contractors, 5544.
+The distance travelled in the year over these routes was 53,272,252
+miles, at a cost of 3,421,754 dollars, or rather more than six cents
+per mile per annum. On more than 35,000,000 of these miles the service
+is performed by coaches, and 'modes not specified;' the remainder by
+railway and steam-boat. There were six foreign mail-routes on which
+the annual transportation was estimated at 615,206 miles. The gross
+receipts of the post-office department for the year amounted to
+6,786,493 dollars, being an increase of nearly a million over the
+preceding year. If, after this, we can only get Ocean Penny Postage,
+we will give the republican postmaster work to do that shall add some
+score of pages to his report.
+
+You will perhaps remember my telling you, some time ago, of the
+discussion that had been going on in the United States respecting a
+prime meridian. Something has now come of it. The committee appointed
+by Congress to consider the subject, have recommended 'that the
+Greenwich zero of longitude should be preserved for the convenience of
+navigators; and that the meridian of the National Observatory--at
+Washington--should be adopted by the authority of Congress as its
+first meridian on the American continent, for defining accurately and
+permanently territorial limits, and for advancing the science of
+astronomy in America.' This decision, though it may disappoint those
+who consider it derogatory to the national honour to reckon from the
+meridian of Greenwich, is nevertheless the true one. In connection
+with it, the Americans intend to bring out a nautical almanac.
+
+Another topic from the same quarter is, that Professor Erni of Yale
+College has been making an interesting series of experiments on
+fermentation--a process of which the original cause has never yet been
+satisfactorily explained, and is still a moot-point with chemists.
+They tell us it is one by which complex substances are decomposed into
+simpler forms, as some suppose, by chemical action; others, by
+development of fungi, different in different substances. Among the
+experiments, it was observed that the yeast of cane-sugar solution
+produced no fermentation whatever when poisoned with a small quantity
+of arsenious acid; with oil of turpentine, and creasote, similar
+negative results were obtained. The introduction of cream-of-tartar
+along with the arsenic neutralised its effect, but not so with the
+other two; and, singularly enough, the appearance of the liquor always
+shewed when the poisoning was complete; 'the nitrogenous layer on the
+cell-membrane seeming to have undergone a change similar to that
+produced by boiling.' Judging from the results, Professor Erni
+believes 'that alcoholic fermentation is caused by the development of
+fungi. He could never trace the process without observing at the very
+first evolution of carbonic acid, the formation of yeast-cells,
+although it is very difficult to decide certainly which precedes the
+other.' His own opinion is in favour of the commencement by the
+yeast-cells.
+
+Another noteworthy subject, is Dr W.J. Burnett's paper to the American
+Association, 'On the Relation of the Distribution of Lice to the
+Different Faunas,' in which he endeavours to demonstrate, that the
+creation of animals was a multiplied operation, carried on in several
+localities, and that they do not derive from one original parent
+stock. Different animals have different parasites; but, as he shews,
+the same species of animal has the same parasite, wherever it may be
+found. According to Latreille, the _pediculus_ found in the woolly
+heads of African negroes 'is sufficiently distinct from that of the
+Circassian to entitle it to the rank of a distinct species;' from
+which, and similar instances, the doctor concludes: 'Whatever may be
+urged in behalf of the hypothesis of the unity of the animal creation,
+based upon the alleged metamorphosic changes of types, it is my
+opinion that the relations of their parasites, and especially the lice
+which are distributed over nearly all of them, must be considered as
+fair and full an argument as can be advanced against such hypothesis,
+for it is taking up the very premises of the hypothesis in
+opposition.' Dr Burnett will perhaps find Sir Charles Lyell ready to
+break a lance with him on the point at issue.
+
+Something interesting to workers in metal has been brought before the
+Franklin Institute at Philadelphia--it is a method of giving to iron
+the appearance of copper, contrived by Mr Pomeroy of Cincinnati, who
+thus describes it--rather laboriously, by the way:--
+
+'Immerse the iron in dilute sulphuric acid, for the purpose of
+cleansing the surface of the article which is to be coated; and thus
+cleansed, submit the iron to a brisk heat to dry it; when dry, immerse
+the article in a mixture of clay and water, and again dry it so as to
+leave a thin coating of the clay on its surface: it is then to be
+immersed in a bath of melted copper, and the length of time requisite
+for the iron and copper to form a union, will depend on the thickness
+of the article under operation. The object of the clay is to protect
+the copper from oxidation during the process of alloying or coating,
+and to reduce it to the required thickness it is passed between
+rollers. The result of this annealing process will be a smooth
+surface, fully equal to the brightness of pure copper.' Let me add to
+this, as a finish to transatlantic matters, that a Mr Allan, at St
+Louis, having observed that in washing-machines only the linen on the
+outside of the heap was perfectly cleansed, has patented a new
+machine, which comprises a chamber or tub with a narrowed neck, in
+which a plunger is inserted; and this, 'with the clothes wrapped
+around it, passes through the narrowed neck of the chamber, and
+pressing forcibly on the water confined within, drives it violently
+through the body of the clothes, carrying the dirt with it.'
+
+Science is not idle in France, notwithstanding the social
+perturbations: some of our engineers are talking about the trials of
+electro-magnetic locomotives recently made on one of the railways in
+that country, and are rather curious as to what may be the result. To
+travel without the whiz and roar of steam would be a consummation
+devoutly desired by thousands of travellers. And among the topics from
+the Academie, there is one important to the naval service--M.
+Normandy's apparatus for converting sea-water into fresh water.
+Briefly described, it is a series of disks, placed one above the
+other, communicating by concentric galleries, and placed in a
+vapour-bath at a pressure a little above that of the atmosphere. 'The
+sea-water,' says the inventor, 'circulating in the galleries heated by
+the surrounding vapour, gives off a certain quantity of vapour, which,
+mingling with the atmospheric air, introduced by a tube from the
+outside, finally condenses as perfectly aerated fresh water in a
+refrigerator, which is also in communication with the atmosphere. No
+other means of agitation or percolation is so efficacious or
+economical.' The apparatus, which is free from the defect of
+depositing salt while distillation is going on, is rather more than
+three feet in height, and eighteen inches diameter. It will yield two
+pints of water per minute, at an expenditure of about 2-1/4 lbs. of
+coal for each 45 lbs. of water.
+
+Next, Monsieur Rochas proposes a method for preserving limestone
+monuments and sculptures for an indefinite period. This material, as
+is well known, is very liable to disintegrate, and the remedy is to
+silicify it. Specimens of limestone so prepared were exhibited to the
+Academie, but without any explanation of the process. We know that
+brick and stone have been coated with glass in a few instances, to
+insure their preservation; and that at Professor Owen's suggestion,
+some decomposing ivory ornaments, sent over by Mr Layard, were
+restored by boiling in gelatine; but M. Rochas aims at something still
+greater--nothing less than the silicifying of a number of crumbling
+limestone statues which have been lately discovered by a Frenchman who
+is exploring the temple of Serapis at Memphis. They will then be
+strong enough to bear removal.
+
+Naturalists may learn something from Monsieur Falcony, who states that
+a solution of sulphate of zinc is an effectual preservative of animals
+or animal substances, intended for anatomical examination--it may be
+used to inject veins, and the effects last a considerable time.
+Another consideration is, that it is harmless: dissecting-instruments
+left in the solution for twenty-four hours were not at all injured.
+
+
+
+
+A WORD TO GENTEEL EMIGRANTS.
+
+
+The tide of emigration is rushing so powerfully through the land, that
+not only labourers and artisans are swept away in its stream, but many
+of the gentry of the country are beginning to join in the movement,
+and wonder what they are to do with their young 'olive branches,'
+'unless they emigrate to Australia, and found a new home and plant a
+new family there.' Many of the class have taken this step, and many
+more are lingering on the brink; and endless and anxious are the
+inquiries constantly made for the reports transmitted by those
+adventurous spirits who have led the way to new worlds of enterprise.
+For the working-classes, all has hitherto been favourable; but for the
+class above them--the professional man, and the small capitalist--the
+accounts are not, on the whole, encouraging. 'The labour-market is
+never overstocked; but,' says a correspondent of a later date, 'I pity
+the professional men, the doctors and lawyers, who come out, and the
+clerks, few of whom are wanted, and who find provisions and house-rent
+much dearer than at home, and to whom the privations they undergo must
+be great hardships. Men used to the everyday luxuries of a London
+life, delicate women bred up in habits of expense and idleness, have a
+severe ordeal to go through on their arrival in that land of work.'
+The change of climate, and the discomfort of their hastily-raised
+log-cabin, often entered upon when not half dried, frequently produce
+fevers, which, at home, would require a long succession of nursing,
+medical attendance, and afterwards change of air; but with only a
+_help_, absent whenever it pleases her, often with no medical advice
+within reach, a damp and cold house half furnished, an uncertain
+supply of even common necessaries, and a total absence of all
+luxuries, it is really surprising that recovery takes place at all.
+Now, it unfortunately happens, that the previous education of all
+these emigrants has been directly adverse to that which would have
+been desirable for such an after-life. Young ladies and gentlemen are
+taught dependence as a duty of civilised life. Children are naturally
+independent and active, and would gladly use their activity in helping
+themselves. How proud is a child to be allowed to do any of the
+servant's work! and how awful the rebuke that follows the attempt;
+till at last, poor human nature is cramped, shackled, and gagged.
+
+Hard, then, seems the destiny that removes these pampered children of
+European society from their luxurious necessaries--the valet, the
+lady's-maid, and all the other appendages--and leaves them wholly to
+their own resources, with their self-inflicted ignorance, and their
+blundering attempts to remedy it.
+
+I have, therefore, to propose to all who intend to emigrate, that they
+should--before taking a step involving so great an outlay, and the
+breaking-up of their life here--submit themselves to an ordeal of six
+or twelve months, in order to ascertain whether, in truth, their
+bodies and minds are fitted for the situation they are entering upon.
+Let any gentleman who is thinking of settling in Canada or Australia,
+take a _labourer's_ cottage in a distant county--a few pounds will
+supply one infinitely superior in comfort and healthfulness to the
+log-cabin of the bush that is to be his ultimate destination--let him
+take a little land and a bit of garden in a good farming county;
+engage one farm-servant (unless he has sons able to take his place),
+and a rough country-girl to do the coarse work of the house. The
+ladies of the family must, of course, perform all the rest: wash all
+the fine linen, iron, make the beds, sweep the rooms, superintend and
+assist in the cooking, the dairy, care of the poultry and the pigs;
+for, of course, such appendages must be indispensable in such an
+establishment. The gentlemen will work on the farm, cultivate the
+garden, and gain all the experience they can in manual trades,
+carpentering and cabinet-making; and thus by degrees the whole family
+will have their bodies and minds strengthened, and their habits formed
+for their new work; or they will discover, as many have done when too
+late to draw back, that the effort is beyond their powers--that the
+tastes and habits of social life are too closely entwined with their
+whole being, to leave them the power to withdraw from them at will.
+
+This may seem a forbidding picture, but I can assure them it is very
+far superior in comfort to the realities they will find in the bush.
+It is true, that this retirement will effectually withdraw them from
+their magic circle of friends and luxuries; but let us for a moment
+compare the two steps, migration and emigration, and ask ourselves if
+the experiment above mentioned be not worth the trial. In the one, we
+give up, probably for life, our country, our friends, and generally a
+part of our family, with all the comforts of a state of law and
+civilisation; we enter upon a certain and constant life of labour,
+after a long, tedious voyage; and, if in mature age, bear about with
+us a never-ceasing yearning for home, which retains its place in our
+hearts with all the heightened colours with which memory invests it.
+In the other, we must, it is true, separate ourselves from our long
+list of acquaintances, and be absent from the dinner-party and the
+ball; but all our interest in social life will be kept up: we can see
+at least a weekly newspaper; and although we may have descended a few
+steps in the social scale, we shall not be obliged to make the
+acquaintance of convicted felons.
+
+Another view of this plan may be taken. Suppose ten, or twenty, or
+thirty persons of narrow means were to associate for the purpose of
+taking some large, old-fashioned house in the country--many such may
+be found--and agree upon a joint scheme of cheap living and
+independent labour, plain and economical dress, plain furniture, and a
+simple but wholesome table: would not this be better than all the
+risks and privations of expatriation? The Americans do not
+emigrate--they migrate; and there are spots in any of these three
+kingdoms, as wild, as solitary, and as healthful, as can be found in
+the regions of the Far West. But we do not, however, suggest migration
+as a substitute for genteel emigration--although we suspect it would
+in many cases prove so--but merely as a step towards it--a school of
+trial, or training, or both.
+
+
+
+
+COLOURS IN LADIES' DRESS.
+
+
+Incongruity may be frequently observed in the adoption of colours
+without reference to their accordance with the complexion or stature
+of the wearer. We continually see a light-blue bonnet and flowers
+surrounding a sallow countenance, or a pink opposed to one of a
+glowing red; a pale complexion associated with a canary or lemon
+yellow, or one of delicate red and white rendered almost colourless by
+the vicinity of deep red. Now, if the lady with the sallow complexion
+had worn a transparent white bonnet; or if the lady with the glowing
+red complexion had lowered it by means of a bonnet of a deeper red
+colour; if the pale lady had improved the cadaverous hue of her
+countenance by surrounding it with pale-green, which, by contrast,
+would have suffused it with a delicate pink hue; or had the face
+
+                'Whose red and white,
+    Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on,'
+
+been arrayed in a light-blue, or light-green, or in a transparent
+white bonnet, with blue or pink flowers on the inside--how different,
+and how much more agreeable, would have been the impression on the
+spectator! How frequently, again, do we see the dimensions of a tall
+and _embonpoint_ figure magnified to almost Brobdignagian proportions
+by a white dress, or a small woman reduced to Lilliputian size by a
+black dress! Now, as the optical effect of white is to enlarge
+objects, and that of black to diminish them, if the large woman had
+been dressed in black, and the small woman in white, the apparent size
+of each would have approached the ordinary stature, and the former
+would not have appeared a giantess, or the latter a dwarf.--_Mrs
+Merrifield in Art-Journal._
+
+
+
+
+SITTING ON THE SHORE.
+
+
+      The tide has ebbed away;
+    No more wild surgings 'gainst the adamant rocks,
+    No swayings of the sea-weed false that mocks
+      The hues of gardens gay:
+      No laugh of little wavelets at their play;
+    No lucid pools reflecting heaven's broad brow--
+    Both storm and calm alike are ended now.
+
+      The bare gray rocks sit lone;
+    The shifting sand lies spread so smooth and dry
+    That not a wave might ever have swept by
+      To vex it with loud moan;
+      Only some weedy fragments blackening thrown
+    To rot beneath the sky, tell what has been,
+    But Desolation's self is grown serene.
+
+      Afar the mountains rise,
+    And the broad estuary widens out,
+    All sunshine; wheeling round and round about
+      Seaward, a white bird flies;
+      A bird? Nay, seems it rather in these eyes
+    An angel; o'er Eternity's dim sea,
+    Beckoning--'Come thou where all we glad souls be.'
+
+      O life! O silent shore
+    Where we sit patient! O great Sea beyond,
+    To which we look with solemn hope and fond,
+      But sorrowful no more!--
+      Would we were disembodied souls, to soar,
+    And like white sea-birds wing the Infinite Deep!--
+    Till then, Thou, Just One, wilt our spirits keep.
+
+
+
+
+THE PALO DE VACA, OR COW-TREE OF BRAZIL.
+
+
+This is one of the most remarkable trees in the forests of Brazil.
+During several months in the year when no rain falls, and its branches
+are dead and dried up, if the trunk be tapped, a sweet and nutritious
+milk exudes. The flow is most abundant at sunrise. Then, the natives
+receive the milk into large vessels, which soon grows yellow and
+thickens on the surface. Some drink plentifully of it under the tree,
+others take it home to their children. One might imagine he saw a
+shepherd distributing the milk of his flock. It is used in tea and
+coffee in place of common milk. The cow-tree is one of the largest in
+the Brazilian forests, and is used in ship-building.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Just Published, Price 6d. Paper Cover,_
+
+CHAMBERS'S POCKET MISCELLANY: forming a LITERARY COMPANION for the
+RAILWAY, the FIRESIDE, or the BUSH.
+
+VOLUME III.
+
+To be continued in Monthly Volumes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W.S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D.N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to
+MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all
+applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426, by Various
+
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