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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:19:15 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:19:15 -0700 |
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diff --git a/20102-tei/20102-tei.tei b/20102-tei/20102-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd3c899 --- /dev/null +++ b/20102-tei/20102-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,21440 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> + +<!-- +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II 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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 13, 2006 [Ebook #999999] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 +--> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd"> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II</title> + <author>Various</author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date value="2006-12-13">December 13, 2006</date> + <idno type="etext-no">20102</idno> + <availability> + <p>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 online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + <title>The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II</title> + <author>Various</author> + <imprint> + <pubPlace>New York</pubPlace> + <date>1852</date> + </imprint> + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + + <encodingDesc> + <classDecl> + <taxonomy id="lc"> + <bibl> + <title>Library of Congress Classification</title> + </bibl> + </taxonomy> + </classDecl> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en">English</language> + <language id="fr">French</language> + </langUsage> + <textClass> + <classCode scheme="lc"> + *** <!-- LoC Class (PR, PQ, ...) --> + </classCode> + <keywords> + <list> + <!-- <item></item> any keywords for PG search engine --> + </list> + </keywords> + </textClass> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2006-12-13">December 13, 2006</date> + <respStmt> + <name>Joshua Hutchinson<lb /></name> + <name>Online Distributed Proofreading Team</name> + <name>This file was produced from images generously made available by Cornell University Digital Collections</name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg Edition</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + figure { text-align: center; page-float: 'htbp' } + .floatleft { float: left; margin-right: 2em } + .floatright { float: right; margin-left: 2em } + .w90 { } + .w50 { } + .w20 { } + .w05 { } + @media pdf { + .w90 { width: 90% } + .w50 { width: 50% } + .w20 { width: 20% } + .w05 { width: 5% } + } + </pgStyleSheet> +</pgExtensions> + +<text> +<front> +<div> +<divGen type="pgheader" /> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="145" /><anchor id="Pg145" /> +<head>THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE</head> +<head type="sub">Of Literature, Art, and Science.</head> + +<p>Vol. V.<lb /> +NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY 1, 1852.<lb /> +No. II.</p> + +<figure url="images/image01.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>THE LATE MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: THE LATE MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA.</figDesc></figure> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<head>Contents</head> +<divGen type="toc" /> +</div> +</front> + +<body> +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="146" /><anchor id="Pg146" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA.</head> + +<p>On the preceding page is a portrait, and under +the head of Recent Deaths, in another +part of this magazine, is a sketch of the history +of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Nicholas Jean-de-Dieu Soult</hi>, the +last of the great Marshals created by the Emperor +Napoleon. He was unquestionably possessed +of extraordinary abilities, fitting him +for eminence in many and diverse capacities, +but it cannot be said that he was of the first +rank of illustrious generals, as the world has +been led to suppose, chiefly by the masterly +but partial delineations of his career in the +Peninsula by General Napier. He had a genius +for war which qualified him for every position +in connection with it but that of leader +in the field. The subtle and irreversible +decisions of Napoleon followed his astonishingly +quick apprehensions of facts, as suddenly +as the thunderbolt follows lightning; but +Soult, profoundly familiar with all the arts of +war, and surpassing any of the great commanders +with whom he was associated except +only his chief, in the wisdom of his judgments, +was yet so slow in his intellectual operations, +so destitute of the enthusiasm, passion, and +fire, which in high circumstance give an almost +miraculous activity to the minds of the +first order of men, that he could never have +entitled himself to all the precedences he has +received in history. Napoleon understood +him, and in a few pregnant words addressed +to O'Meara, gave that measure of his character +which will be adopted as the final opinion +of the world. "He is," said Napoleon, +"an excellent minister at war, or major-general +of an army, one who knows much +better how to manage an army than to command +in chief."</p> + +<p>The course of Soult as a citizen, a legislator, +and a minister, was not one upon which +his best biographers will linger with much +satisfaction. The glory he had achieved as +one of the lieutenants of Napoleon, in that +turbulent and grand career which has no +parallel for interest or importance in human +history, was his only claim to distinction in +politics. His master had an ambition as fair +in its proportions as it was vast in its extent, +and brought to every purpose the same forces +of character and preternatural energy of intelligence; +but Soult had no love for civil +duties, but little capacity for them, and he +accepted place as a gratification of vanity or +a means of success in mercenary aims. We +see in all his private and political life "the +soilure of his revolutionary origin,"—proofs +that he loved money and power far more than +he loved honor, and himself far more than his +country or mankind.</p> + +<p>The last of the imperial marshals, the last +of that gigantic race who filled the world with +a red glory like the gloom which will precede +the judgment, closed his stormy life peacefully +in the place where he was born, and +thence was borne to the Invalides, to "sleep +well" with his old companions.<sic resp="Joshua Hutchinson">"</sic></p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE HOMES OF COWLEY AND FOX.</head> + +<p>We have in the last <hi rend="font-style: italic">Art Journal</hi> another of +the pleasant gossipping <hi rend="font-style: italic">Pilgrimages to +English Shrines</hi>, by Mrs. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">S. C. Hall</hi>, and the +following abridgement of it will please all who +have perused the previous papers of the series. +In Chertsey and its neighborhood are memorials +of some of the noblest men of England.</p> + +<figure url="images/image02.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>ABRAHAM COWLEY.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ABRAHAM COWLEY.</figDesc></figure> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS.</head> + +<p>The county of Surrey is rich to overflowing +in memories, both of persons and events, and +the little quaint and quiet town of Chertsey +could tell of the gorgeous and gloomy past as +much as many of its ancient neighbors within a +day's drive of the city. Had its old abbey stones +but tongues, how they could discourse of years +when a visit to Chertsey was an undertaking; +though now the distance is but half an hour.</p> + +<p>Nowhere within twenty miles of London +does the Thames appear more queenly, or +sweep with greater grace through its fertile +dominions, than it does at Chertsey. It is, +indeed, delightful to stand on the bridge in +the glowing sunset of a summer evening, and +turning from the refreshing green of the +Shepperton Range, look into the deep clear +blue of the flowing river, while the murmur +of the waters rushing through Laleham Lock +give a sort of spirit music to the scene. On +the right, as you leave Chertsey, the river +bends gracefully towards the double bridge of +Walton, and to the left, it undulates smoothly +along, having passed Runnymede and Staines, +while the almost conical hill of St. Anne's attracts +attention by its abrupt and singular form +when viewed from the vale of the Thames.</p> + +<p>About a mile, on the Walton side, from our +favorite bridge (Old Camden tells us so), is the +spot where Cæsar crossed the Thames. Were +the peasantry as imaginative as their brethren +of Killarney, what legends would have grown +out of this tradition; how often would the +"noblest Roman of them all" have been seen +by the pale moonlight leading his steed over +the waters of the rapid river—how many +would have heard Cassivelaunus himself during<pb n="147" /><anchor id="Pg147" /> +the stillness of some particular Midsummer +night working at the rude defence which can +still be traced beneath the blue waters of the +Thames. What hosts of pale and ghastly +spectres would have risen from those tranquil +banks, and from the deepest hollows of +the rushing current, and—like the Huns, who +almost live on the inspired canvas of Kaulbach,—fought +their last earthly battle, again +and again, in the spirit world, amid the stars! +But ours is no region of romance; even remnants +of history, which go beyond the commonest +capacity, are rejected as dreams, or +put aside as legends. But history has enough +to tell to interest us all; and we may be satisfied +with the abundant enjoyment we have +in delicious rambles through the lanes and +up the hills, along the fair river's banks, and +among the many traditional ruins of ancient +and beautiful Surrey.</p> + +<p>Never was desolation more complete than +in the ruin of the Mitred Abbey of Chertsey; +hardly one stone remains above another to +tell where this stately edifice—since the far-away +year 664—grew and flourished, lording +it with imperial sway over, not only the surrounding +villages, but extending its paternal +wings into Middlesex and even as far as London. +The abbey was of the Benedictine order, and +founded, almost as soon as the Saxons were +converted from Paganism; but it was finished +and chiefly endowed by Frithwald, Earl of +Surrey. The endowment prospered rarely; +the establishment increased in the reputation +of wealth and sanctity; that it was "thickly +populated" is certain, for when the abbey was +sacked and burnt by the Danes, in the ninth +century, the abbot, and ninety monks, were +barbarously murdered by the invaders.</p> + +<p>Standing upon the site of their now obliterated +cloisters and towers, their aisles and +dormitories, cells and confessionals, seeing +nothing but the dank, damp grass, and the +tracings of the fish-ponds—stagnant pools in +our day—it is almost impossible to realize the +onslaught of these wild barbarians panting +for plunder, the earnest defence of men who +fought (the monks of old could wield either +sword or crosier) for life or death, the terrible +destruction, the treasures and relics, and +painted glass, and monuments, the plunder of +the secret almerys, the intoxicated triumph +of those rude northern hordes let loose in our +fair and lovely island; what scenes of savagery, +where now the jackdaw builds, and +the blackbird whistles, and the wild water-rat +plays with her brood amongst the tangled +weeds!</p> + +<p>The fierce sea-kings being driven back to +their frozen land, King Edgar, willing to +serve God after the fashion of his times, refounded +the Abbey of Chertsey, dedicating it +to St. Peter, and vying with Pope Alexander +in augmenting its privileges and its wealth.</p> + +<p>Some of the abbots took great interest in +home improvements, planting woods, conducting +streams, enlarging ponds—building, +now a mill, now a dove-cot, according to the +wants of the abbey or their own fancies. +Henry I. granted them permission to keep +dogs, that, according to the old chronicle, +they might take "hare, fox, and cats." King +John, in the first year of his reign, gave them +ample confirmation of all their privileges, +which, it would seem, they had somewhat +abused, for we find that the sovereign seized +their manors of Egham and "Torp" (Thorp) +on account of a servant of the abbot's having +killed "Hagh de Torp." Oh, rare "old +times!" The abbot was mulcted in a heavy +fine. Then, while Bartholomew de Winchester +was abbot, from 1272 until 1307, during +the reign of our first Edward, complaints were +made to Pope Gregory X. that the possessions +of the abbey were alienated to civilians +and laymen, whereupon the pope issued a +bull ordering such grants to be revoked.</p> + +<p>It is worthy of note, that the Chertsey monastery +sheltered, for a time, the remains of +the pious, but unfortunate, Henry VI.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Poor key-cold figure of a Holy King,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster."</l> +</lg> + +<p>And the reader of Shakespeare will recall the +scene in which Richard meets the Lady Anne +on her way to Chertsey with her husband's +body. This poor king's remains had a claim to +be well received by the monks of Chertsey Abbey, +for he had granted to the abbot the privilege +of holding a fair on St. Anne's-hill, +then called Mount Eldebury, on the feast of +St. Anne's (the 26th of July): the fair has +changed its time and quarters as well as its +patron, and is held in the town on the 6th of +August, and called Black Cherry Fair. Manning, +in his history of Surrey, says, that the +tolls of this fair were taken by the abbot, and +are now taken by the owner of the site of the +Abbey House; thus the memory of King Henry +VI. is commemorated in the town of Chertsey +to this day, by the sale of black cherries +in the harvest month of August!</p> + +<figure url="images/image03.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>"THE NUN'S WELL."</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: "THE NUN'S WELL."</figDesc></figure> + +<p>Centuries passed over those magnificent +abbeys, whose ruins in many places add so +much beauty to our fertile landscapes; they +grew and grew, and added acre to acre, and +stone to stone, and knowledge to knowledge; +but most they cherished the knowledge which +blazed like a lamp under a bushel, and kept +all but themselves in darkness; they preached +no freedom in Christ to the Christian +world, they abolished no serfdom, they taught +no liberty, they enslaved even those who in +their turn enslaved their "born thralls," and +saw no evil in it. Oh, rare old times! Better +it is for us that the site of Chertsey Abbey +should be scarcely traceable now-a-days +than that it should be as it was, with its proud +pageants and pent-up learning!—Yet we have +neither sympathy no respect for that foul +king, who, to serve his own carnal purposes, +overthrew the very faith which had hallowed +his throne. But he did not attack and storm +the Abbey of Chertsey, as he did other religious +houses. He came to them, this Eighth<pb n="148" /><anchor id="Pg148" /> +Harry, with a fair show of kindness, saying +that "to the honor of God, and for the health +of his soul, he proposed and most nobly intended +to refound the late Monastery, Priory, +or Abbey of Bisham in Berks, and to incorporate +and establish the Abbot and Convent +of Chertsey, as Abbot and Convent of Bisham, +and to endow them with all the Manors +late belonging to Bisham." How the then +Abbot John Cordrey, and his brethren, must +have shivered at the conditions; how they +must have grieved at quitting their cherished +home, their stews and fish-ponds, their +rich meadows of Thorpe, overlooked by the +woods of Eldebury hill, their nursing ground +where their calves and young lambs were +stowed in luxurious safety in the pleasant farm +of Simple Marsh at Addlestone!</p> + +<p>But their star was setting, and they were +forced to "give, sell, grant and confirm, to the +king their house and all manors belonging to +them."</p> + +<p>The total destruction of the Abbey must +have amazed the whole country. An earthquake +could hardly have obliterated it more +entirely. Aubrey, writing in the year 1673, +says "of this great Abbey, scarce any thing +of the old building remains, except the out +walls about it. Out of this ruin, is built a +'fair house,' which is now in possession of +Sir Nicholas Carew, master of the Buckhounds." +Dr. Stukeley alludes to this house, +in a letter written in 1752; he speaks of the +inveterate destruction, and of "the gardener" +carrying him through a "court" where he +saw the remains of the church of the Abbey. +He says the "east end reached up to an artificial +mount along the garden wall; that +mount and all the terraces of the pleasure +garden, to the back front of the house, are +entirely made up of the sacred <hi rend="font-style: italic">rudera</hi> or rubbish +of continual devastations. Bones of abbots, +monks, and great personages, who were +buried in large numbers in the church and +cloisters which lay on the south side of the +church, were spread thick all over the garden, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">so that one may pick up whole handsfull +of them every where amongst the garden stuff</hi>." +Brayley mentions in his pleasant History of +Surrey, that this artificial mount was levelled +in 1810, and its materials employed to fill +up a pond. Many human skulls and bones +were found intermixed with the chalk and +mortar of which it had been formed. Fragments +of old tiles were also frequently found, +and are still sometimes turned up. No trace +even of the "Abbey house" is left; it was +purchased in 1809 by a stock-broker, who in +the following year sold the materials—and so +ends the great monastic history of Chertsey. +Where are now its spiritualities in Surrey?—its +temporalities in Berkshire and Hampshire?—its +revenues of Stanwell, and rents of assize?—its +spiritualities in Cardiganshire? +Alas! they have left no sign, except on the yellow +parchment—of rare value to the antiquary.</p> + +<p>Those who desire, like ourselves, to investigate +what tradition has sanctified, will do +well to turn down a lane beyond Chertsey +Church, which leads directly to the Abbey<pb n="149" /><anchor id="Pg149" /> +bridge, and there, amid tangled hedge rows +and orchards, stands the fragment of an arch, +partly built up, and so to say, disfigured by +brick-work, and an old wall, both evidently +portions of the Abbey. In the wall are a +great number of what the people call "<hi rend="font-style: italic">black +stones</hi>," a geological formation, making them +seem fused by fire. Layers of tiles were also +inserted in this wall, and where the cement +has dropped away they can be distinctly +traced; there is also an ivy, very aged indeed; +it is so knotted and thick that it seems +to grow through the stones, the soil has so +evidently encroached on the wall that it is +most probably rooted at the foundation. The +pleasant market garden of Mr. Roake covers +the actual ground on which the Abbey stood. +The workmen frequently turn up broken tiles +and human bones, and there is no doubt that +by digging deeper much would be discovered +that might elucidate the history of the past. +At the farther end of the market garden a +vault has been discovered which is of considerable +length and breadth; but the water +rises so high in it (except after a long continuance +of dry weather has sealed the land +springs) that it is impossible to get to the end +without wading. An enormous quantity of +richly-colored and decorated encaustic tiles +have been found here; some are preserved in +our local museum. But the most interesting +remains in this place are the "stews," or fish-ponds, +which run parallel to each other like +the bars of a gridiron; these ponds do not +communicate one with the other, nor has the +water any outlet: a little care and attention +might make them valuable for their old purposes; +but they are deplorably neglected. +Occasionally you see the fin of some huge +fish, whose slow movement partakes of the +character of the stagnant water he has inhabited +for years;—who can tall how many?</p> + +<figure url="images/image04.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>"THE GOLDEN GROVE."</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: "THE GOLDEN GROVE."</figDesc></figure> + +<p>"The Abbey River," as it is still called, +travels slowly along its way, fertilizing the +meadows and imparting life and freshness to +the placid scene. The denizens of Chertsey +have planted orchards, and in a few instances +gardens on its banks. One, the garden of Mr. +Herring, is a model of neatness, almost concealed +by its roses and carefully tended shrubs. +We wandered from orchard to orchard, amid +the trees and over the uneven ground; all +was so still and lonely that it required the +suggestions of an active imagination to believe +it had ever been the scene of contention +by flood and field. From the Abbey Bridge +the richness of the meadow scenery is exceedingly +refreshing, the grass is deep and +verdant, as it cannot fail to be, lying so low, +and fertilized by perpetual moisture.</p> + +<p>During their wide-spreading magnificence, +the abbots of Chertsey erected a picturesque +chapel on the lovely hill of St. Anne: this +was done somewhat about the year 1334. +Orleton, Bishop of Winchester, granted an indulgence +of forty days to such persons as +should repair to, and contribute to the fabric +and its ornaments.</p> + +<p>There is nowhere a more delightful road, +than that which leads from the "Golden +Grove," rendered picturesque by its old tree, +the plantations of Monksgrove on one side, +and those of the once residence of Charles +James Fox on the other. The road is perfectly +embowered, and so close is the foliage +that you have no idea of the beautiful view +which awaits you, until leaving the statesman's +house to the left, you pass through a +sort of wicket gate on the right, and follow a +foot-path to where two magnificent trees crown +the hill; it is wisest to wait until passing along +the level ridge you arrive at the "view point," +and there, spread around you in such a panorama +as England only can show, and show +against the world for its extreme richness. +On the left is Cooper's Hill, which Denham, +that high-priest of "Local poetry," long ago +made famous; in the bend just where it +meets the plain, you see the towers of Windsor +Castle; there is Harrow Hill, the sun<pb n="150" /><anchor id="Pg150" /> +shining brightly on its tall church; a deep +pall hovers over London, but you can see +the dome of St. Paul's looming through the +mist; nay, we have heard of those who have +told the hour of the day upon its broad-faced +clock, with the assistance of a good glass. +How beautifully the Thames winds! Ay! +there is the grand stand at Epsom, and there +Twickenham, delicious, soft, balmy Twickenham; +and Richmond Hill—a very queen of +beauty!</p> + +<figure url="images/image05.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>REMAINS OF CHERTSEY ABBEY.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: REMAINS OF CHERTSEY ABBEY.</figDesc></figure> + +<p>Yonder, beyond the valley, are Foxes Hills +crowned with lofty pines—and that is the +church at Staines, and as you turn, there again +is Cooper's Hill; Laleham seems spread as a +tribute at your feet, and there is no end to +the villages and mansions—the parks, and +cottages like snow-drops in a parterre, and +church spires more than we can number; +while close behind us are the stones piled +thickly one on the other—the only relics of +the holy Chapel of St. Anne.</p> + +<p>How grandly the promontory of St. George's +Hill stands out—sheltering Weybridge, and +forming a beautiful back-ground to Byfleet +and the banks of the Way; not forgetting its +ruins—a Roman encampment of two thousand +years age, and its modern ornaments of +rare trees, of which a generous nobleman has +made common property, to be enjoyed daily +by all who choose. At the foot of this richly +planted hill, is the beautiful park of Oatlands—on +the eve of becoming an assemblage of +villa-grounds. How pleasant to feel that we +can account, by our own knowledge of that +glowing mount, for all the shades formed by +the hills and hollows, and different growths +of trees in the depths or heights of "the encampment," +which forms the delight of many +a toilsome antiquary. Beyond are the more +distant eminences of the North Downs, and +a tract of country extending into Kent. But +we have not yet explored the beauties of this +our own hill of Chertsey; truly, to do so, +would take a day as long as that of its own +black cherry fair.</p> + +<p>A path to the left, among the fern and +heather, leads to a well, famed for its healing +properties—it is called the Nun's Well; even +now, the peasants believe that its waters are +a cure for diseases of the eye; the path is +steep and dangerous, and it is far pleasanter +to walk round the brow of the hill and overlook +the dense wood which conceals the well, +fringing the meadows of Thorpe, than to +seek its tangled hiding-place in the dell. The +monks of old would be sorely perplexed if +they could arise, to account for the long line +of smoke which marks the passage of the +different trains along their railroads. But we +turn from them to enjoy a ramble round the +brow of St. Anne's Hill; the coppice which +clothes the descent into the valley, is so thick, +that though it is intersected by many paths, +you might lose yourself half-a-dozen times +within an hour; if it be evening, the nightingales +in the thickets of Monksgrove have commenced +their chorus, and the town of Chertsey, +down below, is seen to its full extent, its +church tower toned into beauty by the rich +light of the setting sun, while through the trees +and holly thickets you obtain glimpses of the +Guildford and Leatherhead hills, so softly blue, +that they meet and mingle with the sky.</p> + +<figure url="images/image06.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>GATE OF FOX'S HOUSE.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: GATE OF FOX'S HOUSE.</figDesc></figure> + +<figure url="images/image07.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>SUMMER HOUSE IN FOX'S GARDEN.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: SUMMER HOUSE IN FOX'S GARDEN.</figDesc></figure> + +<figure url="images/image08.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>TEMPLE OF FRIENDSHIP.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: TEMPLE OF FRIENDSHIP.</figDesc></figure> + +<p>Those who feel no interest in monkish +chronicles, may reverence St. Anne's Hill,<pb n="151" /><anchor id="Pg151" /> +because of its having been the favorite residence +of Charles James Fox, the contemporary +of Pitt and Burke and Sheridan and +Grattan, at a period when men felt strongly +and spoke eloquently. The site of the house +on the south-eastern site of the hill is extremely +beautiful, and it is much regretted in +the neighborhood that it finds so little favor +in the heart of its present noble proprietor. +The grounds are laid out with much taste; +there is a noble cedar planted by Mrs. Fox +when only the size of a wand. The statesman's +widow survived her husband more than +thirty-six years, but never outlived her friends +or her faculties. There is a temple dedicated +to Friendship, which was erected to perpetuate +the coming of age of one of the late Lords +Holland; on a pedestal ornamented by a vase, +are inscribed some verses by General Fitzpatrick; +another placed by Mrs. Fox to mark a<pb n="152" /><anchor id="Pg152" /> +favorite spot where Mr. Fox loved to muse, +is enriched by a quotation from the "Flower +and the Leaf," concluded by two graceful +stanzas:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Cheerful in this sequestered bower,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">From all the storms of life removed;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here Fox enjoyed his evening hour,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">In converse with the friends he loved.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And here these lines he oft would quote,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Pleased from his favorite poet's lay;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When challenged by the warbler's note,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">That breathed a song from every spray."</l> +</lg> + +<p>At the bottom of the garden is a grotto, +which must have once possessed many attractions, +and above it there is a pretty little +quaint chamber that was used as a tea-room, +when, according to the custom of the time, +the English drank tea by daylight; it is adorned +by painted glass windows; there are portraits +of the Prince of Wales and Mr. Fox, +when both were looking their best, and the +balcony in front commands a delicious view +of the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>The peasantry are still loud in their praise +of "Madam Fox;" and some remember with +gratitude the education they received at her +school, and love to tell how the old lady was +drawn there at "feast times," to see how they +all looked in their new dresses. She certainly +retained her sympathy with the young, and +put away the feelings and habits of old age +with a determined hand, for it is said, when +she was eighty she took lessons on the harp. +The present generation remember personally +nothing of the great statesman; he has become +history to us, and we must look to history, +garbled as it always is, and always will +be, by the opinions and feelings of its writers, +to determine the position of Charles +James Fox in the annals of his country. +Those who were admitted to his society have +written with enthusiasm of his social qualities, +and bestow equal praise on his brilliant +talents, his affability of manner, and the generosity +of his disposition. He was the third +son of Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, +and his mother was the eldest daughter of +Charles, second Duke of Richmond, and consequently +great-granddaughter to Charles II.; +the material descent is one of blotted royalty, +of which a man like Fox could not have +been proud. His academic course was unmarked +by any of those honors of which Oxford +men are so ambitious, and yet, like his +great rival, William Pitt, he became a statesman +before he was of age.</p> + +<figure url="images/image09.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>FOX'S ARBOR.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: FOX'S ARBOR.</figDesc></figure> + +<p>At St. Anne's Hill he enjoyed as many intervals +of repose and tranquillity as could fall +to a statesman's lot; in the time of wars and +tumults, how he must have luxuriated in its +delicious quiet, surrounded by friends who +dearly loved him; and swayed only for good +by the wife who (although it is known that +her early intimacy with him was such as prevented +her general recognition in society) according +to the evidence of all who knew her, +was the minister only to his better thoughts +and nobler ambitions, and who weaned him +from nearly all the follies and vices which +stained his youth and earlier manhood. Various +causes led to his death, before age had +added infirmities to disease. He died at Chiswick +House, and his last words, addressed to +Mrs. Fox were, "I die happy." It is said he +wished to be buried at Chertsey, but his remains +were interred in Westminister Abbey.</p> + +<p>The brilliant Sheridan pronounced so elegant +an eulogium on his character, that it is +pleasant to think of it in those shades where, +as we have said, he so often sought and found +repose: "When Mr. Fox ceased to live, the +cause of private honor and friendship lost its +highest glory, public liberty its most undaunted +champion, and general humanity its +most active and ardent assertor. In him was +united the most amiable disposition with the +most firm and resolute spirit; the mildest +manners, with the most exalted mind. With +regard to that great man it might, indeed, be +well said, that in him the bravest heart and +most exalted mind sat upon the seat of gentleness."</p> + +<pb n="153" /><anchor id="Pg153" /> + +<figure url="images/image10.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>COWLEY'S SEAT.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: COWLEY'S SEAT.</figDesc></figure> + +<figure url="images/image11.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>COWLEY'S HOUSE—STREET FRONT.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: COWLEY'S HOUSE—STREET FRONT.</figDesc></figure> + +<p>There is, at all events, an imaginary pleasure +in turning from the wearing out turmoil +of a statesman's life, to what the world believes +the tranquil dreams of a poet's existence. +But there are few things the worldling +so little understands as literary industry, +or so little sympathizes with as literary care. +We have no inclination to over-rate either its +toils or its pleasures, and perhaps no life is +more abundantly supplied with both. Its +toils must be evident to any who have noted +the increasing literary labor which is necessary +to produce the ordinary sources of comforts; +but its high and holy enjoyments are +not so apparent; they are so different from +those of almost all others as not to be easily +explained or understood; but above all other +gifts, the marvellous gift of poesy is a distinction +conferred by the Almighty, and should +be acknowledged and treasured as such. We +know little of a poet's studies except by their +imperishable produce, and it is a common but +ill-founded prejudice to imagine regularity +or diligence incompatible with high genius. +Genius is neither above law, nor opposed to +it; but as many have a poetic taste and temperament +<hi rend="font-style: italic">without</hi> the inspiration, the world is +apt to mistake the eccentricity of the pretender +for the outward and visible sign of +genius. Whether or not the poet of the +Porch-house of Chertsey had the actual poetic +fire we do not venture to determine. +Abraham Cowley takes a prominent position, +amongst the poets of our land, and the eventful<pb n="154" /><anchor id="Pg154" /> +times in which he lived, and his participation +in their tumults give him additional +interest in all the relations of his anxious and +not over-happy life. It is recorded of him +that he became a poet in consequence of +reading the Faery Queene, which chance +threw in his way while yet a child. In allusion +to this, Dr. Johnson gave his well-known +definition of genius: "A mind of large +general powers, accidentally determined to +some particular direction." We had almost +dared to say this is rather the definition of a +philosopher than of one who comprehended +the spirituality of a marvellous gift. Abraham +Cowley—the posthumous son of a London +grocer—owed much to his mother. She, +by her exertions, procured him a classical +education at Westminster School. She lived +to see him loved, honored, and great, +and what was better still, and more uncommon, +grateful. At the age of fifteen he published +a volume called "Poetic Blossoms," +which he afterwards described as "commendable +extravagancies in a boy." He obtained +a scholarship in Trinity College, Cambridge, +in 1686, and there took his degree; +but was ejected by the Parliament, and thence +removed to Oxford. Shortly after, he followed +the Queen Henrietta to Paris, as Secretary +to the Earl of St. Albans, and was employed +in the court of the exiles in the most +confidential capacity. In 1656 he returned +to England, and was immediately arrested as +a suspected spy. He submitted quietly—the +royalists thought too quietly—to the dominion +of the Protector, but his whole life proved +that he was no traitor. At the Restoration, +that great national disappointment, his claims +upon the ungrateful monarch were met by a +taunt and a false insinuation—he was told +that his pardon was his reward! Wood said, +"he lost the place by certain enemies of the +Muses;" certain "friends of the Muses," however, +procured for him the lease of the Porch-house +and farm at Chertsey, held under the +Queen, and the great desire of his life—solitude—was +obtained.</p> + +<figure url="images/image12.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>COWLEY'S HOUSE—GARDEN FRONT.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: COWLEY'S HOUSE—GARDEN FRONT.</figDesc> +</figure> + +<p>The place still seems a meet dwelling for a +poet, and is, perhaps, even more attractive +to strangers than St. Anne's hill. The porch, +which caused his residence to be called "The +Porch-house," was taken down during the +last century by the father of its present proprietor, +the Rev. John Crosby Clarke, and +the house is now known as "Cowley House."<note place="foot"><p>The large outer porch of Cowley's house had chambers +above it and beneath the window in front a tablet was +affixed, upon which was inscribed the epitaph "upon the +living author" which Cowley had written for himself, +whilst living in retirement here, commencing</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Hic, O Viator, sub lare parvulo,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Couleius hic est conditus hic jacet."</l> +</lg> + +<p>It is represented in its original condition in the two views +we have engraved.</p></note> +It is situated near the bridge which crosses a +narrow and rapid stream, in a lonely part of +Guildford Street; a latticed window which +overhangs the road is the window of the +room in which the poet expired; on the outside +wall Mr. Clarke has recorded his reason +for removing the porch. "The porch of this +house, which projected ten feet into the highway, +was taken down in the year 1786, for +the safety and accommodation of the public."</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Here the last accents flowed from Cowley's tongue."</l> +</lg> + +<figure url="images/image13.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>STAIRCASE—COWLEY'S HOUSE.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: STAIRCASE—COWLEY'S HOUSE.</figDesc> +</figure> + +<p>The appearance of the house from Guildford<pb n="155" /><anchor id="Pg155" /> +Street, is no index to its size or conveniences.<note place="foot"><p>Some additional rooms have been added to the house +by the same occupant, who has, however, religiously preserved +all the old rooms, which still exhibit the "fittings" +that existed in Cowley's time. The bed-chambers are +wainscotted with oaken panels. The staircase is a very +solid structure, with ornamental balusters, leading toward +the small study in which the poet wrote,—a little back +room, about five feet wide, looking upon the garden. It +may be distinguished in our back view of the house, by a +figure placed at the window. Cowley ended his life in this +house at the early age of forty-nine.</p></note> +You enter by a side gate, and the +new front of the dwelling is that of a comfortable +and gentlemanly home; the old part +it is said was built in the reign of James the +First, and what remains is sufficiently quaint +to bear out the legend; the old and new are +much mingled, and the modern part consists +of one or two bed-rooms, a large dining-room, +and a drawing-room, commanding a delicious +garden view, the meanderings of the stream, +and a long tract of luxuriant meadows, terminated +by the high and richly timbered +ground of St. Anne's Hill. A portion of the +old stairway is preserved, the wood is not as +has been stated oak, but sweet chestnut. One +of the rooms is panelled with oak, and Cowley's +study is a small closet-like chamber, the +window looking towards St. Anne's Hill. It +is never difficult to imagine a poet in a <hi rend="font-style: italic">small +chamber</hi>, particularly when his mind may imbibe +inspiration from so rich and lovely a +landscape. Beside the group of trees, beneath +whose shadow the poet frequently sat, +there is a horse chestnut of such exceeding +size and beauty, that it is worthy a pilgrimage, +and no lover of nature could look upon +it without mingled feelings of reverence and +affection.</p> + +<p>Here then amid such tranquil scenes, and +such placid beauty, the "melancholy Cowley," +passed the later days of big anxious existence; +here we may fancy him receiving Evelyn and +Denham, the poets and men of letters of his +troubled day, who found the disappointments +of courtly life more than their philosophy +could endure. Here his friendly biographer, +Doctor Spratt, cheered his lonely hours.</p> + +<p>Cowley was one of those fortunate bards +who obtain fame and honor during life. His +learning was deep, his reading extensive, his +acquaintance with mankind large. "To him," +says Denham in his famous elegy,</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"To him no author was unknown,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Yet what he wrote was all his own."</l> +</lg> + +<p>His biographer adds, "There was nothing +affected or singular in his habit, or person, or +gesture; <hi rend="font-style: italic">he understood the forms of good +breeding enough to practise them without burdening +himself or others</hi>." This indeed is the +perfection of good breeding and good sense.</p> + +<p>Having obtained, as we have said, the +Porch-house at Chertsey, his mind dwelt +with pleasure—a philosophic pleasure—upon<pb n="156" /><anchor id="Pg156" /> +the hereafter, which he hoped for in this life +of tranquillity, and the silent labor he so dearly +loved; but he was destined to prove the +reality of his own poesy:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Oh life, thou <hi rend="font-style: italic">Nothing's</hi> younger brother,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">So <hi rend="font-style: italic">like</hi> that one might take one for the other."</l> +</lg> + +<p>The career of Abraham Cowley was never +sullied by vice,<note place="foot"><p>Brayley, in his History of Surrey, states that Cowley +accompanied by his friend Dean Spratt, having been to see +a "friend," did not set out for his walk home until it was +too late, and had drunk so deep, that they both lay out in +the fields all night; this gave Cowley the fever that carried +him off. Brayley's authority for this slander (which is +not borne out by the poet's previous course of life), is +"Spence's Anecdotes."</p></note> he was loyal without being +servile, and at once modest, independent and +sincere. His character is eloquently drawn +by Doctor Spratt. "He governed his passions +with great moderation, his virtues were never +troublesome or uneasy to any, whatever +he disliked in others he only corrected by the +silent reproof of a better practice."</p> + +<p>He died at Chertsey on the 28th of July, +1667, and was interred in Westminster Abbey. +A throng of nobles followed him to +his grave, and the worthless king who had +deserted him is reported to have said, that +Mr. Cowley had not left a better man behind +him in England.</p> + +<p>It is said the body of Cowley was removed +from Chertsey by water, thus making the +Thames he loved so well, the highway to his +grave; there is something highly poetic in +this idea of a funeral, so still and solemn, +with the oars dropping noiselessly in the blue +water. Pope in allusion to it, says:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"What tears the river shed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When the sad pomp along his banks was led;"</l> +</lg> + +<p>which rather inclines us to the belief, that in +this, as in many other instances, the poetic +reading is not the true one,</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"The muses oft in lands of vision play:"</l> +</lg> + +<p>but the fact that he died at Chertsey, as much +respected as a man, as he was admired as a +poet, is certain, and his house is often visited +by strangers, who are permitted to see his +favorite haunts by the kindness of its proprietor, +who honors the spot so hallowed by +memories of "the melancholy Cowley:"—he +who considered and described "business" as:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"The contradiction to his fate."</l> +</lg> + +<p>But we must postpone our farther rambles +for the present.</p> + +<figure url="images/image14.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>TREES ON ST ANNE'S HILL.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: TREES ON ST ANNE'S HILL.</figDesc> +</figure> + +<milestone unit="tb" /> + +<p>Chertsey loses half its romantic interest by +the intrusion of the progressive agents of our +time—our noisy time, of which the spirit willingly +brooks no souvenirs of monastic repose. +The old quaint quiet town has now its railroad, +and the shades of its heroes have departed.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="157" /><anchor id="Pg157" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>TRAUGOTT BROMME ON THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, +TEXAS AND THE COLONIES.</head> + +<p>We have at different times, by reviews +or translations, endeavored to give our +readers some idea of what people think of us, +in continental Europe. But there are two +sides to every thing—or there is an universal +dualism, as Emerson declares—which is perfectly +true as to the method which might be +adopted in the execution of this self-imposed +task. One class of readers understand by +the word <hi rend="font-style: italic">people</hi> the <hi rend="font-style: italic">beau monde</hi>, and would +have us invariably follow the school of the +Countesses Hahn-Hahn or Ladies Blessington +or Milords Fitz-Flummery, contented if we +have but a fair name in society. Another and +more reasonable class would be satisfied to +know the opinion of the literati, or perhaps +the poets, particularly when they do fit homage +to our "grand old woods," and to Niagara. +Others regard with most respect a plain +literal account of our branches of industry—our +railroads, factories, and canals. They +would have the country judged purely from a +mechanical or practical point of view—contenting +themselves as to other matters with +the reflection. "Oh, sensible people care very +little about any thing else. If they know +what we produce, and what our resources +are, they'll understand and respect us sufficiently."</p> + +<p>Now the opinion of each of these classes +has its weight, and though not of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">greatest</hi> +ultimate importance, is always to be respected. +If we were questioned as to the views +of which of them we yielded full regard, we +should candidly say, "to none." It is the +general, universal opinion, of a nation at large +that we deem authoritative, and none other. It +is that popular opinion so readily yet often so +falsely formed (at times from trifles of almost +incredible levity), and which when once fairly +developed, is well-nigh ineradicable. In a +word, it is to the views of the people.</p> + +<p>We propose, as opportunity shall offer, to +make our readers familiar with the writings +of all these different classes of travellers—and +in the present article, we shall make +a few extracts from a work interesting, as +having probably contributed more than any +other to a general knowledge of the United +States in Germany. It is the book which has +had the greatest currency among all classes, +but particularly with the lower order of readers +and emigrants.</p> + +<p>Before proceeding, however, to the work +itself, it may be as well to answer a question +which has perhaps been suggested to the +minds of a certain class of readers. Of what +great use, after all, is this nervous regard as +to the opinion of the world? Is not our character +established—are not our characteristics +known, to the uttermost corners of the earth? +To which question we may answer, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Not quite</hi>. +In avoiding that ridiculous sensitiveness which +prompts so many Americans to feel personally +insulted by the weak remarks of every +wandering ignoramus, we would by no means +fall into the opposite error of attaching no +importance whatever to the good opinion or +the degree of consciousness as to our existence +entertained by the world at large.</p> + +<p>Should any feel disposed to smile at such +an expression, as "the consciousness of our +existence," we will take the liberty of citing +a few curious instances, for the authenticity +of which we assume the entire responsibility—instances +which may perhaps astonish a +few even of the better informed. There are +in many districts (not altogether provincial) +of Italy and France great numbers, who +would not even in America be classed as <hi rend="font-style: italic">ignorant</hi> +in regard to other matters, who have +not the remotest idea as to the nature or geography +of our country. An instance has +come to our knowledge of an intelligent Hungarian +who, by intercourse with the world, +had acquired a fluency in five languages, and +who inquired of an American gentleman if his +country were not situated somewhere in England. +The late Mr. Cooper, when placing +his daughters at a celebrated seminary on the +continent, found a great curiosity had been +created by the rumor that they were coming, +some supposing they were black, some that +they were copper-colored, and all unprepared +to see American girls looking for all the world +like the young German ladies. We have +heard of a similar instance in which an English +<hi rend="font-style: italic">gentleman</hi>—a Cambridge graduate—inquired +of an American what was the current +language of the United States. Lastly, we +may cite the case of an English author, well +known to our own public, and favorably +mentioned not long since in these pages, who +was under the impression that owing to the +great emigration from Germany, the English +language must with us, in a very few years, +yield to that of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Vaterland</hi>. Now our +commercial and industrial relations are seriously +hindered by this absurd ignorance of +America, which in a word prevails to such +an extent, that we have known an American, +who—probably from having been over-questioned +and speered at in New England—had +imbibed such a wholesome hatred of inquisitiveness, +that he wished the French government +would hang up, for the benefit of all +concerned, the following list of questions, +with satisfactory answers annexed, in all the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">cafés</hi> of the politest nation in Europe:</p> + +<list type="simple"> +<item>Whether America is an island or a continent?</item> +<item>What is the color of its inhabitants?</item> +<item>What language do they speak?</item> +<item>Have they a religion and what is it?</item> +<item>What is the state of their morals and cookery?</item> +<item>Have they a correct state of feeling as regards the opera?</item> +</list> + +<p>The reader is not to infer that this is the +general state of knowledge regarding our +country. But it is worth nothing as a curious +illustration of the vast number of individuals +who derive their ideas, not from what +is going on at the present day, or from available +sources of information, but from the<pb n="158" /><anchor id="Pg158" /> +antiquated views of a by-gone generation. +And we trust it will not be deemed inappropriate +that we here speak a word of the +want of opportunities of acquiring very general +information under which the ordinary +readers of continental Europe suffer. With +all their libraries, all their immense arrays of +magazines and journals, we find among them +an apathy in regard to the world without (to +the Fan-Qui), which appears incredible until +we reflect on the deadening influences of the +censorship, which views with distrust all information +in regard to the Land of Liberty. +We are not aware, throughout the whole of +continental Europe, of a single publication so +thoroughly cosmopolite in its character, so +general in the scope of its information, or +which is so universally disseminated among +<hi rend="font-style: italic">all</hi> classes of readers, as <hi rend="font-style: italic">The International</hi>; +and we trust we do not go too far when we +assert, that it is to an extended sale of periodical +publications somewhat approaching it +in the concentration and dissemination of +news from the world at large, that our countrymen +owe that superior intelligence and +citizen-of-the-world character which distinguish +them from the insular Briton, self-important +Frenchman, or abstracted German.</p> + +<p>The work from which we propose to make +some extracts, is <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Traugott Bromme</hi>'s <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hand +und Reisebuch für Auswanderer nach den +Vereinigten Staaten</hi> (or Traugott Bromme's +Journey and Handbook for Emigrants to the +United States). As we have already stated, +no work on America is at the present day +more familiarly known to that class of readers +to whom it is addressed. Certain remarks +on the present condition of German emigration +with which it is prefaced, may not be +devoid of interest to our readers, though not +constituting a part of such observations as we +have more particularly referred to:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"There is, it appears, implanted in every man +an impulse to advance and better his condition—an +impulse caused by poverty, dependent circumstances, +or pressure from every side, vexing at +times even the highest in rank, and which is the +cause why thousands leave their fatherland, to +seek afar a now home, and hundreds of thousands +cast around them disturbed and anxious glances, +restrained only by hard poverty, which imprisons +them at home. Such is very generally the case +at present in our own country, where—despite the +political concessions of March in the year 1848, of +the published original privileges of the German +people, and of the promising prospect of a free +and united Germany, with a concluding general +empire—emigration appears to be by no means on +the decrease." "These emigrants of the present +day consist not as formerly of poor people of the +lower orders, who turn their backs on the German +fatherland, or liberal declaimers, dreaming of an +ideal of freedom which could scarcely be realized +in Utopia, but of sober excellent families of the +middle class, who, free from all delusive fancies, +do not expect to find in the western world wealth +and honorable offices, but desire only to inhabit +a land, wherein they may dwell quietly and +happily with their children." "What the German +wants is <hi rend="font-style: italic">room</hi>—a new broad field for his abilities—and +this America extends to him in unbounded +space. No one at the present day hopes to obtain +hills of gold without labor, but every one knows +that the far more estimable treasure of perfect independence, +or to speak more correctly, of perfect +<hi rend="font-style: italic">self-dependence</hi>, with the prospect of a future free +from care, may in America be obtained at the cost +of a few years of earnest, honest industry. And +what, to the man oppressed in his fatherland by +all the cares incident upon the obtaining a bare +subsistence, is two or three or even <hi rend="font-style: italic">four</hi> years of +hard work, when compared to a whole life of poverty +and misery?"</p> +</quote> + +<p>After accurately sketching the extreme +misery and poverty oppressing the inhabitants +of many districts of Germany, of late years +sadly increased by the falling off in manufactures +since the political disturbances, our author +proceeds to set forth the advantages offered +by America:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"That most emigrants should rather look to +America, than Poland, Russia, Servia, or Siebenburgen, +is natural enough, since all of these countries +together cannot offer so many attractions as +America. Where on earth is there such a vast +array of unoccupied lands, offered at such a moderate +price—land so cheap that in many districts +twenty or thirty and even more acres, covered +with wood, are given at a price for which a single +acre of similar land is sold in Germany?"</p> +</quote> + +<p>The richness of the soil, the excellence of +the climate, and the demand for labor, are +then described; to which, as the greatest inducement, +he adds the fact that in <hi rend="font-style: italic">America</hi> +the fullest "liberty of labor and mechanical +calling or trade," is allowed. Also, that the +taxes are so light that an industrious man is +able not only to live, but even to lay up something +for his old age, or his children, or to +employ in the extension of his business.</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"For as there exists in America no standing +army, its inhabitants may retain their children, as +the best possible assistants in labor, and train, +govern, and discipline them as can only properly +done under the eye of a parent. Furthermore, +in that country every one is permitted to enjoy +the fullest civil and religious liberty. These are +the advantages to be expected from an emigration +to America, <hi rend="font-style: italic">and he who anticipates more will find +himself bitterly deceived</hi>. But a man who can be +content with this, and can live actively, moderately, +and frugally, will here, better than in any +other land in the world, ultimately attain to happiness +and fortune. In times like ours, when +every branch of industry is crowded, when tender +parents think with grief and trouble on the future +prospects of their children, there are for the emigrant +no other resources save those held out by +a full and bountiful nature, and no means of livelihood +which may be so certainly depended upon +as those afforded by agriculture. Here it is that +industry throws open the widest field, and affords +the fullest opportunity of doing good."</p> +</quote> + +<p>In the following extract, our author proceeds +to set forth the national character of +the American:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"The national character of the American has +been greatly misunderstood; few travellers seem,<pb n="159" /><anchor id="Pg159" /> +in fact, to have understood it, since they mention +it as something as new and unfounded as the +country itself, and yet it is so well confirmed—so +well established in every elevated and noble characteristic +of the human race, that it may confidently +be placed in comparison with that of the +most celebrated nations of antiquity. Springing +originally from England, they have the pride and +manly confidence of the Briton, for through their +ancestry they claim an equal share of all which +gives dignity to those inheriting glory and a great +name. Their forefathers were those brave religious +pilgrims who were transferred by British +laws (or rather by old German) and British genius +to the shores of the new world—to there give to +those laws and genius an immortality. Building +still further on this new land, they opened the +temple of the Lord to all his followers, and received +with open arms all the unfortunate or oppressed +exiles of Europe. For the first time in +reality in this world they flung wide the flag of +truth and freedom—fought under its folds an unequal +fight against the mightiest power in the +world—and overcame it. And when a second +time they armed themselves to combat with England, +they again came forth unconquered from the +contest. Reason enough this for the national pride +of the American, for nothing could more naturally +cause a certain degree of self-content than to belong +to a nation whose brilliant deeds in war as +in politics, in commerce as in manufactures, have +astonished the world. A second and not less characteristic +trait of the American is seen in a certain +earnestness, which appears to strangers to indicate +a want of sociable feeling—and yet perhaps +in <hi rend="font-style: italic">no</hi> country is true noble sociability as developed +in domestic life, so much at home, as in America.</p> + +<p>"Accustomed from his cradle to reflect on himself +and his circumstances, the American from the +first instant of his entry into active life is ever on +the watch to improve their condition. Is he rich, and +consequently more directly interested in the common +wealth, then every new law, every change in +the personal direction of the government, awakes in +him a new care for the future, while on the other +hand, if poor, then every change in the state may +perhaps afford him a new opportunity of bettering +his condition. Therefore he is ever wide awake—ever +looking out for the future, not as a mere +spectator, but as one playing a part and occupied +in maintaining the present state of affairs, or in +improving them. The entire mass of the population +is continually in a state of political agitation, +and, urged by hope of their aid or fear of their +power, we see every one continually seeking for +expressions of public opinion. No man is so rich +or powerful that he need not fear them—none so +wretched and poor but that he may venture to +entertain the hope of being through them aided +and relieved. Public opinion is in America the +mightiest organ of justice—shielding no one, from +the president to the simplest citizen, and proceeds, +mowing, casting down, or grinding to powder all +things which oppose it and deserve its condemnation.</p> + +<p>"This condition of perpetual agitation gives +the American an appearance of ceaseless restlessness, +but it is in reality the true ground of peace +and content. <hi rend="font-style: italic">The American has no time to be +discontented</hi>, and this is the most praiseworthy +point of their constitution and popular life. The +republican has necessarily as many severe and +arduous duties to fulfil as the inhabitants of any +monarchy—but their fulfilment is gratifying and +consoling—for it is allied to the consciousness of +power. The American has no desire for the quiet +temper of the European, and least of all for the +silent happiness of the German, which last, alas! +appears since the dissipation of the intoxication +of the Revolution of March, 1848, to consist, as +far as the great mass of the population is concerned, +merely in the egotistic repose of self-sufficiency, +weakness, and ignorance. The American finds +repose only in his house, in his family circle, and +among his children; all without the walls of that +home is an incessant working and striving, in politics +as in trade—by the streets and canals, as in +the woods of the West. Different as the elements +are from which the inhabitants of the United +States are formed, and different as the circumstances +may be under which they live, there still +prevails among them a certain unity of character, +an equanimity of feeling, which it would be difficult +to parallel, resulting perhaps from the very +heterogeneousness and mixture of elements itself, +since no one element allows to another pre-eminence. +They have all something in common in +their appearance, which gives them the air almost +of relations—something in their gait and manners +which declares them to be other than English, +Germans, or French. Through the entire land, +through every class, there is disseminated a certain +refinement of manner, an appreciation of +decency and nobility of character, which springs +from a consciousness of their own rights and respect +for mankind. Even emigrants, in America, +soon learn to cast aside their rough prejudices as +regards caste, for the proud affability of the aristocratic, +the vanity of the small citizen, the want +of confidence and ease in the mechanic, the slavish +servitude and snappish insolence of liveried servants, +find in America no place. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Man</hi> is there +esteemed only as <hi rend="font-style: italic">man</hi>—only ability gains honor—and +where <hi rend="font-style: italic">that</hi> is, and there alone, can true +nobility be found. No one there inquires who a +man is, or who were his parents, but 'What can +he <hi rend="font-style: italic">do</hi>, what are his capabilities, and what can he +produce?' Rank and caste are in America unknown. +Every man feels his freedom and independence, +and expresses himself accordingly. +Even the servant is a free man, who has, it is true, +hired his service, but not his entire existence. +The American is polite, but over-refined, unmeaning +compliments form no part of his manners, nor +does he expect them from others. No man vexes +or troubles himself for another, in consequence of +which we find in American society very little +stiffness and reserve, yet we find in every respect +that the very highest regard is there paid to propriety +and decency—particularly as regards the +female sex, since in no country, not even in England, +do ladies enjoy such respect and regard as +in the United States. Ever depending upon, and +confiding in himself, the American is in his manners +free, open, and unreserved. The mass of the +people is possessed of intelligence and spirit, +though not so scientifically educated as in Europe, +and a higher degree of intelligence penetrates +even the lower class, who consequently form a +marked and singular contrast with those of +like rank in Europe. It is not from being versed +in the higher branches of abstract learning and<pb n="160" /><anchor id="Pg160" /> +science, but from the great amount of that direct +practical knowledge which exerts the greatest influence +in making life happy, that the Americans +are distinguished from other nations, and for the +acquisition of which they have made better provision +and preparation than any other people. +As yet too deeply occupied with the Needful and +Important, they are compelled to leave the development +of the higher branches to the care and +noble generosity of individuals. But a glance at +the sums which are annually devoted to the establishment +and maintenance of schools and universities, +will suffice to evidence the liberality with +which the proper education of the people is cared +for in the United States. Knowledge is indeed +esteemed, but only according to its use and applicability +to the wants of life; so that a practical +tanner is there worth more than a learned pedant. +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Wealth, or rather wealth allied to ability and universality +of talent, is there more highly esteemed +than learning,</hi> while hospitality, patriotism, and +toleration, allowing every one to think and feel as +he likes, are universal characteristics. So that in +the United States nothing is wanting to the attainment +of a true civil and social freedom, even +though the means thereto are not invariably correctly +understood or admitted (as is indeed the +case by us), and though—since men are every +where subject to the same weaknesses—they +measure happiness rather by the standard of their +own intelligence and virtues, than by fortune and +nature, which latter, impartially considered, is the +basis of the physical happiness of the American. +That, however, which constitutes his <hi rend="font-style: italic">moral</hi> happiness +is this; that in his country, domestic life enjoys +the true supremacy, <hi rend="font-style: italic">and to this, public life +and the state are subordinate</hi>. It is true that the +American statesmen have fallen into the same +error as the European—<hi rend="font-style: italic">id est</hi>, to believe that +without <hi rend="font-style: italic">them</hi> the people could never prosper, and +still live in the belief that home-happiness hangs +on them, their theories and arts of governing; +but the most superficial glance teaches that if wise +laws are able to effect more for the happiness of +man than they can bring about, still no one should +<hi rend="font-style: italic">there</hi> attempt to draw happiness from such a +source when popular and private life have +combined to bestow it. But should the happiness +of the Americans ever be derived from this side, it +will be more sensible to assume that the foundation +thereof will be the release from that which +in the recent culture has passed for the deepest +political wisdom. The true secret of all the good +fortune of America lies in the favorable condition +of external things. 'It is not with them as in +Europe, where the poor can only better their condition +or become rich by making the rich poor, +for therein lies the source of an infinite strife +which hath been combated for centuries, with the +axioms of religion and morals. But in America, +men when striving to better their condition, instead +of becoming enemies and turning their arms +against each other, strive with <hi rend="font-style: italic">Nature</hi>, and wring +from her boundless stores that wealth which she +so bountifully affords!'"</p> +</quote> + +<p>We have made these quotations less on account +of any merit which they possess, than +to give our readers an idea of the general +opinion prevailing in Germany in regard to +our country; and to confirm an assertion +made in a recent number of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">International</hi>, +that in no country in Europe are we so impartially +and favorably judged. There is one +particular, however, in which we find this +book worthy of especial praise. The author +highly commends the flourishing state of religion +in the United States, declaring that we +are in this respect superior to the Germans, +and that on the Sabbath the churches are +filled to a degree unknown in Europe. It is +from our deep-rooted attachment to domestic +life, and our observance of religion, that he +correctly deduces our true happiness, as separated +from the natural advantages of the +country. It is greatly to be desired that the +majority of his countrymen resident in America, +would allow themselves to be impressed +in a similar manner as to the advantages of +piety and Sabbath-keeping. There is in the +United States a vast number of German newspapers—conducted +we should imagine for the +greater part by unprincipled and worthless +adventurers of the red republican, socialist +stamp, who, despite the protection which they +here enjoy, incessantly and spitefully abuse +every institution to which they are really indebted +for their asylum among us, and most +of all our observation of the Sabbath, in a +style which entitles them to something severer +than mere contempt. But Herr Bromme +is right. Respect for morality and religion, +a due regard for the Sabbath, and a dependence +on the home-circle for pleasure and recreation, +are the surest safeguard of peace, +happiness, and prosperity.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>A VISIT TO THE FIRE WORSHIPPERS' TEMPLE AT BAKU.</head> + +<p>In a recent number of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Russian Archives +for Scientific Information</hi>, is an account +of a visit made by a Russian lady of distinction, +in company with her husband and sons, +to a temple of the Indian sect of Gebers, or +Fire Worshippers, near Baku, a city of Georgia, +lying on the Caspian Sea. We translate +this interesting narrative for the <hi rend="font-style: italic">International</hi>, +as follows:</p> + +<p>In order the better to enjoy the spectacle +of the fire, we chose the evening for our excursion +thither; but a thick fog came on, +which made the road difficult and dangerous. +When we finally reached the place it was +pitch dark; the flames were rising in beautiful +purity to the peaceful sky of night, and +the entire castle, within which was the temple, +seemed to be surrounded by a circle of +watch-fires. These were lighted by Persians +from the neighborhood, who were busy +burning lime and baking bread, dark forms +like those which worked on the tower of +Babel, and burnt lime for it. They were now +brought here by the ease and cheapness of +carrying on their occupations. All that is +necessary is to make a hole in the ground, +touch a burning coal to it, and an inexhaustible +flame rises forth like a spring. Behind +this range of little flames and fires, rose, in +the pale light, the dirty white walls of the<pb n="161" /><anchor id="Pg161" /> +castle, in the centre of which there flashed from +the summit of two lofty pillars great masses of +the purest, clearest, and keenest flame, which +were now bent down horizontally and wreathed +like serpents by the force of the wind, and +now rose perpendicularly to the sky, whose +dome they lighted up like two vast altar tapers. +We drove around the edifice, and stopped on +one side where there were no flames rising +from the earth. A fine rain was falling, but we +remained without while our guide went in to +announce us. He came back immediately +with a swarthy Hindoo. The sight of this +man impressed me strangely, and I forgot +that he belonged to a remote colony of a few +individuals, and asked myself if we had been +suddenly transported to India, or if India had +been brought up to the Caspian.</p> + +<p>We went into the court-yard, in which +stands the temple, with its two fire-pillars. +About half way up hang a couple of large +bells, which the Hindoo sounded by way of +preparing us for what we were to see. There +was something fearful in the loud clangor, +and my boys crowded close beside me. Except +our party, no one was to be seen except +the swart Geber, in his white turban and +long brown robe, with just enough of a pair +of light blue trowsers visible to bring into distinctness +his naked black feet. His features +were noble, and his beard long and black. +He looked like a conjurer, like the lord of an +enchanted castle, summoning his spirits. The +hissing fire, as if obeying him, flashed up +more brightly at the crash of the bells; now +it was clear as day around us, and now it was +twilight as the wind lowered the flame. My +husband and sons and the guide who had +brought us to the place, were all dressed in +oriental costume, and I alone seemed to +belong to Europe. A shudder of home-sickness +came over me, and at every moment +I expected to see something monstrous, to +behold all the cruelties of a heathenish and +barbarous worship.</p> + +<p>The interpreter now summoned us to +follow the Geber. We were told that the +castle was built by a rich Indian nabob, who +was a fire worshipper, and who, with his +followers, long inhabited it. Now, only three +Hindoos remain from that period of splendor. +But nature remains eternally the same, and +whether worshipped or not, the flames still +shine and awe the superstitious, and so great +is the fame of the place that many pilgrims +come yearly from distant India to pray, and +to have prayers said for them, here in the +visible presence of the primeval light.</p> + +<p>At last we came to the cell of the priest, +and on his invitation entered it. We passed +through a low door, and down a few steps, +and found ourselves in a small, semicircular, +low, but very white room, with a floor of +mason-work, and a small altar in the centre. +Around the wall were seats, also of mason-work. +In the altar there was an opening as +large as a gun-barrel, from which rose a slender +flame that lighted the room very clearly. +There were other little openings on the sides +of the altar. The Hindoo took a wisp of +straw, lighted it, and touched these openings, +from which the most beautiful flames at once +issued. The children, who had never seen +gas lights, or at least did not remember them, +regarded all this as the most perfect witchery. +On a second altar, which, like the first, was +about the height of a common table, lay or +stood the idols and treasures of our priest. +Small steps led up to it, which were used +to hold muscles, stones, shells, and other +instruments employed in the sacred rites. +The idols were of metal, and ugly and monstrous, +like Chinese images. Beside these +figures, we were astonished to see crosses of +various forms and sizes. We asked the Geber +about them, and he answered with oriental +emphasis: "There is one God, and no one +has seen him; therefore every one adores +him after his own way, and represents him +after his own way." The reply was diplomatic +enough, and we could not ascertain +how the crosses had come there.</p> + +<p>On the altar and its steps lay a great number +of singularly beautiful Indian stones, +which the boys wanted very much, but +which, in spite of our large offers, we could +not obtain. They were mementoes from the +distant fatherland, and possibly they served +as sacred ornaments for the little cell. There +were also several censers, lamps, and little +silver plates and salvers. The air was stifling +from the fumes of gas, and the heat was like +that of a vapor bath. The priest took from +the altar some pieces of red and white candied +sugar, held them, praying, before his idols, +sprinkled them with holy water, and handed +them to us on a silver plate.</p> + +<p>A second Hindoo now came in, a tall old +man, whose name, as he told us, was Amintaas. +He invited us into his cell, which was +larger and differently arranged. In the centre +was a large kettle, set in mason-work, +with water in it, and a gas flame burning +under it; the altar was in another apartment +beyond, and separated from the first by a +low wall or fence, with a passage through. +Another apartment, similarly divided off, +was spread with carpets for sleeping. After +we had seen the stones, shells, and +idols, which were richer and more numerous +than in the former cell, the Hindoos +asked us if they should pray for us. We +agreed, and the ceremony began. A large +muscle shell was washed in the kettle, the +plates were set in order at the foot of the +altar, a censer began to smoke, the silver +plate with candied sugar was set over a lamp +Between two bells, whose handles were the +most monstrous figures of idols. These bells +Amintaas took and began to ring vehemently. +The other Hindoos stood behind him and +beat two big cymbals, accompanying this +noise with the most inhuman and frightful +howling that a man's lungs ever produced.<pb n="162" /><anchor id="Pg162" /> +Still, there was method and a regular cadence +in it. Finally, they made a pause, bowed +before the images, murmuring softly, after +which they arranged the plates anew, and +sprinkled the sugar with holy water. My +husband whispered in my ear a line from +the conjuration in "Faust," and the whole of +that scene rushed vividly into my memory.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the lungs of the old Amintaas +had recovered their power, for he now seized +a conch shell, held it in both hands, and +with incredible strength blew long wild notes, +with scarce any thing like a tune. I grew +dizzy in listening to this clamor, and at once +understood what is meant by the heathen +making a "vain noise," This cannibalistic +music was kept up for a long time, and +seemed to form the climax of the sacred rites. +The finale was a combination of wild shouting, +banging of the cymbals, ringing and murmuring. +At last the concert was over, and we +breathed freely. Amintaas handed us the +candied sugar, and my husband laid down +two ducats in its place. They were received +with warm expressions of gratitude, and laid +upon the altar. We went out into the open +air, but the scene had changed. The lonely +castle was crowded with Persians who had +come from their lime-burning to see the Europeans. +Persian women were sitting around +by sundry little ovens of masonry, where, by +the help of gas flames, they baked their +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Tsheuks</hi>, thin cakes of unleavened bread. +Followed by the crowd, we were led a couple +of hundred steps from the castle to a spring +that was covered over; the cover was taken +off, and a bundle of burning straw thrown in, +when, crackling and hissing, sprung up a splendid +pillar of fire, vanishing in sparks like stars. +This beautiful spectacle lasted but for a moment, +and a quarter of an hour was necessary +to collect gas enough to repeat the experiment.</p> + +<p>We returned to Baku in the rain, more +dead than alive. It was the eve of Easter. +The next morning, as I was sitting on the +sofa with the children, there came in a tall, +meagre Hindoo, with gray hair; he was +dressed in a white robe, and brought me +white and red sugar on a silver plate. He +was the chief priest from the temple of the +Gebers, and had come to Baku to see the +Easter festivities. We took a few grains of +his sugar, and I laid a silver rouble on the +plate. While he was making his bows for +this, my husband came in and told him, +partly in Tartar, partly in Russian, and partly +in pantomime, that we had been to his temple +the night before, and had prayers said there. +He asked at once, with eagerness, how much +we had given, and when he learned the sum, +asked for a certificate to that effect, as, without +it, the others would give him no part of +the money. We sent him away without +granting his request, for the two screamers +of the night previous had earned all we gave +them. We learned afterwards that the gifts +of visitors occasioned quarrels, and often +blows, in the romantic fire-castle. This disgusted +me, and yet it is not the fault of these +poor fellows. They must necessarily become +covetous, since they profane their most sacred +ceremonies as a means of living. They have +neither fields nor gardens, and the only thing +like vegetation that I saw was some lone +boxes in the court yard, filled with shrubs +and plants, remains, no doubt, from the time +of the Indian nabob, who sought in vain to +establish cultivation in a soil impregnated +with inflammable gas. However, I learned +to my sorrow that grass at least grows there, +for, in going through it to the spring, my feet +became perfectly wet.</p> + +<p>The air of the locality does not seem to be +unwholesome for man. At least, the Geber +priests, who had lived there for years, were +perfect lions for health and vigor.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>A NEW PORTRAIT OF CICERO.</head> + +<p>In the third volume of his <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the +Romans under the Empire</hi>, just published +in London, Mr. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Merivale</hi> gives some elaborate +pieces of character writing, one of which +has for its subject <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Cicero</hi>. It is not good for +a man to think harshly of Cicero, and however +easy it may seem to be to condemn manifest +faults in his character, it is by no means +easy to be fair in the estimate we make. Mr. +Merivale sums up a character which has too +often been roughly put down as that of a +great writer and a little man, as follows:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"Many writers, it has been remarked, have related +the death of Cicero, but Plutarch alone has +painted it. In the narrative here laid before him +the reader has the substance of this picturesque +account, together with some touches introduced +from collateral sources. In this, as in many other +massages of his Lives, the Greek biographer has +evidently aimed at creating an effect, and though +he seems to have been mainly guided by the genuine +narrative of Tiro, Cicero's beloved freedman, +we may suspect him of having embellished +it to furnish a striking termination to one of his favorite +sketches. Nevertheless the narrative is +mainly confirmed by a fragment of Livy's history, +which has fortunately been preserved. The Roman +author vies with the Greek in throwing dignity +and interest over the great statesman's end. +But in reviewing the uneven tenor of his career, +Livy concludes with the stern comment, "He bore +none of his calamities as a man should, except his +death." These are grave words. In the mouth +of one who had cast his scrutinizing glance over +the characters and exploits of all the heroes of the +great republic, and had learnt by the training of +his life-long studies to discriminate moral qualities +and estimate desert, they constitute the most important +judgment on the conduct of Cicero that +antiquity has bequeathed to us. Few indeed +among the Romans ever betrayed a want of resolution +in the face of impending death. But it was +in the endurance of calamity rather than the defiance +of danger that the courage of Cicero was +deficient. The orator, whose genius lay in the +arts of peace and persuasion, exhibited on more +than one occasion a martial spirit worthy of other +habits and a ruder training. In the contest with<pb n="163" /><anchor id="Pg163" /> +Catilina he displayed all the moral confidence of +a veteran general: in the struggle with Antonius +he threw himself without reserve into a position +where there was no alternative but to conquer or +to perish. In the earlier conflict he had still his +fame to acquire, his proud ascendency to establish; +and the love of praise and glory inspired +him with the audacity which makes and justifies +its own success. But in the later, he courted danger +for the sake of retaining the fame he so dearly +prized. He had once saved his country, and +he could not endure that it should be said he had +ever deserted it. He loved his country; but it +wan for his own honor, which he could preserve, +rather than for his country's freedom, which he +despaired of, that he returned to his post when +escape was still possible. He might have remained +silent, but he opened the floodgates of his eloquence. +When indeed he had once launched himself +on the torrent he lost all self-command; he +could neither retrace nor moderate his career; he +saw the rocks before him, but he dashed himself +headlong against them. But another grave authority +has given us the judgment of antiquity, +that Cicero's defect was the want of steadfastness. +His courage had no dignity because it lacked consistency. +All men and all parties agreed that he +could not be relied upon to lead, to co-operate, or +to follow. In all the great enterprises of his party, +he was left behind, except that which the nobles +undertook against Catilina, in which they rather +thrust him before them than engaged with him on +terms of mutual support. When we read the vehement +claims which Cicero put forth to the honor +of association, however tardy, with the glories and +dangers of Cæsar's assassins, we should deem the +conspirators guilty of a monstrous oversight in +having neglected to enlist him in their design, were +we not assured that he was not to be trusted as a +confederate either for good or for evil.</p> + +<p>"Of all the characters of antiquity Cicero is undoubtedly +that with which we are most intimately +acquainted; for he alone has left to us the record +of his thoughts and actions for more than half +his public career in a voluminous mass of familiar +as well as political correspondence. No public +character probably could pass unscathed through +the fiery ordeal to which he has thus subjected +himself. Cicero, it must be avowed, is convicted +from his own mouth of vanity, inconstancy, sordidness, +jealousy, malice, selfishness, and timidity. +But on the other hand no character, public or private, +could thus bare its workings to our view +without laying a stronger claim to our sympathy, +and extorting from us more kindly consideration +than we can give to the mere shell of the human +being with which ordinary history brings us in +contact. Cicero gains more than he loses by the +confessions he pours into our ear. We read in his +letters what we should vainly search for in the +meagre pages of Sallust and Appian, in the captious +criticism of Dion, and even in the pleasant +anecdotes of his friendly biographer Plutarch, his +amiableness, his refined urbanity, his admiration +for excellence, his thirst for fame, his love of truth, +equity, and reason. Much indeed of the patriotism, +the honesty, the moral courage he exhibited, +was really no other than the refined ambition of +attaining the respect of his contemporaries and +bequeathing a name to posterity. He might not +act from a sense of duty, like Cato, but his motives, +personal and selfish as they in some sense +were, coincided with what a more enlightened +conscience would have felt to be duty. Thus +his proconsulate is perhaps the purest and most +honorable passage in his life. His strict and rare +probity amidst the temptations of office arrests +our attention and extorts our praise: yet assuredly +Cicero had no nice sense of honor, and was +controlled by no delicacy of sentiment, where public +opinion was silent, or a transaction strictly private. +His courting his ward Publilia for her +dower, his caressing Dolabella for the sake of getting +his debt paid, his soliciting the historian Lucceius +to color and exaggerate the merits of his +consulship, display a grievous want of magnanimity +and of a predominant sense of right. Fortunately +his instinct taught him to see in the constitution +of the republic the fairest field for the display +of his peculiar talents; the orator and the +pleader could not fail to love the arena on which +the greatest triumph of his genius had been or +were yet, as he hoped, to be acquired. And Cicero +indeed was not less ambitious than Cæesar or +Pompeius, Antonius or Octavius. To the pursuit +of fame he sacrificed many interests and friendships. +He was not less jealous of a rival in his +chosen career than any of the leaders of party and +candidates for popular favor. He could not endure +competition for the throne of eloquence and +the sceptre of persuasion. It was on this account +perhaps that he sought his associates among the +young, from whose rivalry he had nothing to fear, +rather than from his own contemporaries, the candidates +for the same prize of public admiration +which he aimed at securing for himself. From his +pages there flows an incessant stream of abuse of +all the great masters of political power in his +time; of Cæsar and Pompeius; of Crassus and +Antonius, not to mention his coarse vituperation +of Piso and Gabinius, and his uneasy sneers at the +impracticable Cato. We may note the different +tone which his disparagement assumes towards +these men respectively. He speaks of Cæsar with +awe, of Pompeius with mortification, with dislike +of Crassus, with bitter malice of Antonius. Cæsar, +even when he most deeply reprobates him, he personally +loves; the cold distrust of Pompeius vexes +his self-esteem; between him and Crassus there +subsists a natural antipathy of temperament: but +Antonius, the hate of his old age, becomes to him +the incarnation of all the evil his long and bitter +experience of mankind have discovered in the human +heart. While we suspect Cicero of injustice +towards the great men of his day, we are bound +also to specify the gross dishonesty with which he +magnifies his own merits where they are trivial, +and embellishes them where they are really important. +The perpetual recurrence to the topic of +his own political deserts must have wearied the +most patient of friends, and more than balanced +the display of sordidness and time-serving which +Atticus doubtless reflected back in his share of the +correspondence between them.</p> + +<p>"But while Cicero stands justly charged with +many grave infirmities of temper and defects of +principle, while we remark with a sigh the vanity, +the inconstancy, and the ingratitude he so often +manifested, while we lament his ignoble subserviencies +and his ferocious resentments, the high +standard by which we claim to judge him is in itself +the fullest acknowledgment of his transcendent<pb n="164" /><anchor id="Pg164" /> +merits. For undoubtedly had he not placed +himself on a higher moral level than the statesmen +and sages of his day, we should pass over +many of his weaknesses in silence, and allow his +pretensions to our esteem to pass almost unchallenged. +But we demand a nearer approach to +the perfection of human wisdom and virtue in one +who sought to approve himself the greatest of +their teachers. Nor need we scruple to admit that +the judgment of the ancients on Cicero was for the +most part unfavorable. The moralists of antiquity +required in their heroes virtues with which we +can more readily dispense: and they too had less +sympathy with many qualities which a purer religion +and a wider experience have taught us to +love and admire. Nor were they capable, from +their position, of estimating the slow and silent +effects upon human happiness of the lessons which +Cicero enforced. After all the severe judgments +we are compelled to pass on his conduct, we must +acknowledge that there remains a residue of what +is amiable in his character and noble in his teaching +beyond all ancient example. Cicero lived and +died in faith. He has made converts to the belief +in virtue, and had disciples in the wisdom of +love. There have been dark periods in the history +of man, when the feeble ray of religious instruction +paled before the torch of his generous philanthropy. +The praise which the great critic pronounced +upon his excellence in oratory may be +justly extended to the qualities of his heart, and +even in our enlightened days it may be held no +mean advance in virtue to venerate the master of +Roman philosophy."</p> +</quote> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>LORD MAHON'S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.</head> + +<p>Incomparably the best history of our +struggle for independence that has been +written by a foreigner is that of which we +have the larger portion in the just-published +fifth and sixth volumes of Lord <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mahon's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">History of England from the Peace of Utrecht</hi>, +comprising the period from 1763 to 1780—from +the commencement of the popular discontents +until the virtual conclusion of the +war.</p> + +<p>The character of Lord Mahon as a historian +has long been established. When Sismondi, +in 1842, had brought his History of France +down to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, he lamented +that he could no longer be guided by +Lord Mahon, and expressed a hope that his +"brilliant labors" would be continued. The +portion of his work on which the illustrious +Frenchman thus set the seal of his approval +has been reprinted in this country by the +Appletons, in two large volumes (embracing +the first four of the original impression), carefully +and judiciously edited by Professor Henry +Reed, of Philadelphia. It well indicates the +right of its author to a place with the best +British writers in this department. History +was never before written so brilliantly or profoundly +as in the last half century. Germany +in this period has boasted her Schiller, Niebuhr, +Von Hammer, Heeren, Ranke, and +two Mullers; France her Sismondi, Barrante, +Thierrys, Michelet, Mignet, Guizot, and +Thiers; England her Mitford, Arnold, Thirlwall, +Grote, Napier, Hallam, Mackintosh, +Macaulay, Palgrave, and Mahon; and we +have ourselves the noble names of Bancroft, +Prescott, and Irving, to send to the next ages. +Of the English authors we have mentioned, +we regard Lord Mahon as in many respects +the first; Hallam is a laborious and wise critic; +Thirlwall and Grote, in their province, +have greatly increased the fame of British +scholarship; and Macaulay, brilliant and picturesque +beyond any of his contemporaries, +has an unprecedented popularity, which will +last until the worthlessness of his opinions +and the viciousness of his style are more justly +appreciated than they are likely to be by +the mobs of novel readers who in this generation +have preferred him to James and Ainsworth. +Lord Mahon is the most legitimate +successor of the greatest historian of his country, +David Hume.</p> + +<p>Although the chief subject of these new +volumes is the American war, the general +political history of England, from the decline +of the fortunes of Bute through the administration +of Grenville, Rockingham, Chatham, +the Duke of Grafton, and Lord North, is illustrated +and commented on as largely as the +special purpose of the author permitted; and +we have many striking passages respecting +Wilkes and his various persecutions, the Letters +of Junius and their authorship, and the +common intellectual and material progress of +the British empire. The spirit in which he regards +our Revolution is illustrated by the following +paragraph, on the rejection, by the +House of Peers, of the conciliatory Bill by +which Lord Chatham hoped, in 1775, to prevent +the threatened separation of the colonies:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"It may be proper, or at least pardonable, here +to pause for an inquiry, what probable issue might +have attended an opposite decision in the British +Parliament? If the ministers had been defeated +on this Bill, if, in consequence, they had resigned, +and it had in other hands been carried through, +would the Americans have accepted the measure +cheerfully and readily—would it for a long time +to come have closed the breach, and cemented the +union with the Mother Country? From all the +facts and testimonies then or since made public, I +answer without hesitation that it would. The +sword was then slumbering in its scabbard. On +both sides there were injuries to redress, but not +as yet bloodshed to avenge. It was only a quarrel. +It was not as yet a war. Even the boldest +leaders of that war in after years, whether in +council or the field, were still, in January, 1775, +the firm friends of colonial subordination. Washington +himself (and he at least was no dissembler—from +him, at least, there never came any promise +or assurance that did not deserve the most +implicit credit) had only a few months before presided +at a meeting of Fairfax County, in Virginia. +That meeting, while claiming relief of grievances, +had also at his instance adopted the following Resolve:—'That +it is our greatest wish and inclination, +as well as interest, to continue our connection +with, and dependence upon, the British Government.'<pb n="165" /><anchor id="Pg165" /> +But further still, although the first Congress +was praised by Chatham for its moderate +counsels, and although the calmer voice of history +has ratified the praise, we learn that these moderate +counsels did not lag behind, but rather exceeded +and outran the prevailing sentiment in +many of the colonies. To this fact we find an unimpeachable +testimony in the letters of President +Reed, who, writing to a friend in strict confidence, +laments that 'The proceedings of Congress have +been pitched on too high a key for some of those +middle provinces.' With such feelings, how gladly, +how gratefully would they have welcomed the +hand of reconciliation stretched out by the Parliament +of England! It may be true, indeed, that +such feelings as these did not prevail in all, or +nearly all, the colonies. It may be true, especially, +that no amount of good government, of forbearance, +or of kindness, would have won back +Massachusetts. But herein lay, as I think, the especial +force and efficacy of Lord Chatham's scheme, +that it did not refer the questions of parliamentary +supremacy and colonial taxation to the decision of +any one province; but, as the Americans themselves +desired, to the decision of a Congress composed +from all the provinces, so that disaffection, +however firmly rooted here and there, would of +course be overpowered by a loyal and large majority. +Nor do I believe that the proposal of a +new grant to the Crown, and the consequent necessity +of increased taxation to the people, would +have interposed any serious obstacle. The load +of taxation on the colonies was at this period light +indeed: according to a calculation made by Lord +North in that very year, each inhabitant of England +paid in taxes, upon an average, not less than +twenty-five shillings annually; but each inhabitant +of British America no more than sixpence. The experience +of the closely-following Revolutionary war +proves how easily and readily, when their feelings +were involved, the Americans could raise far +greater supplies. And surely had Lord Chatham's +scheme prevailed, their feelings would have +been involved. They would have been pleased +and proud to show that their previous refusal to +pay taxes sprang from principle, and not from inability +or disaffection; and that, when once their +views of principle had been complied with, they +could contribute with no sparing hand to the exigencies +of their countrymen, and to the service of +their king."</p> +</quote> + +<p>The opinion of Lord Mahon that, even after +Burgoyne's surrender, and the treaty of alliance +between France and America, the colonies +might have been preserved, had Lord +Chatham lived and returned to office, we +think entirely erroneous. Our separation +from England, though there had been no +stamp act or tea tax, was inevitable.</p> + +<p>Lord Mahon is exceedingly fond of personal +portraiture, in which he is sometimes very +successful. One of his most carefully-elaborated +performances in this way has for its subject +Washington, and in the dozen pages he +devotes to the analysis of the character of +the great chief he has displayed his best abilities, +though, we confess, without suggesting +any thing very novel. He dislikes Franklin, +and loses no opportunity of imputing to him +personal dishonesty. We think the influence +of Mr. William B. Reed's Life of President +Reed is traceable in almost every allusion +made by Lord Mahon to our philosopher. +Without further observation upon the qualities +of the work, we avail ourselves of the possession +of an early copy of it to present our +readers with some of the most striking passages +pencilled in a hasty reading.</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">WASHINGTON.</p> + +<p>During many years did Washington continue +to enjoy the pleasures and fulfil the duties +of an independent country gentleman. Field-sports +divided his time with the cultivation and +improvement of his land, and the sales of his tobacco; +he showed kindness to his dependents, and +hospitality to his friends; and having been elected +one of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, he +was, whenever that House met, exact in his attendance. +To that well-regulated mind nothing +within the course of its ordinary and appointed +avocations seemed unworthy of its care. His +ledgers and day-books were kept by himself: he +took note of all the houses where he partook of +hospitality, so that not even the smallest courtesies +might pass by unremembered; and until +his press of business in the Revolutionary War he +was wont every evening to set down the variations +of the weather during the preceding day. +It was also his habit through life, whenever he +wished to possess himself perfectly of the contents +of any paper, to transcribe it in his own +hand, and apparently with deliberation, so that no +point might escape his notice. Many copies of +this kind were after his death found among his +manuscripts.</p> + +<p>We may observe, however, that in the mind of +Washington punctuality and precision did not, as +we often find them, turn in any degree to selfishness. +On the contrary, he was rather careless of +small points where only his own comfort was concerned. +Thus he could seldom be persuaded to +take any remedy, or desist from any business, +whenever he caught a cold, but used to say, "let +it go as it came!"</p> + +<p>Nor yet was his constant regularity of habits +attended by undue formality of manner. In one +of his most private letters there appears given incidentally, +and as it were by chance, a golden rule +upon that subject:—"As to the gentlemen you +mention I cannot charge myself with incivility, or +what in my opinion is tantamount, ceremonious +civility.</p> + +<p>In figure Washington was thin and tall (above +six feet high), in countenance grave, unimpassioned, +and benign. An inborn worth, an unaffected +dignity, beamed forth in every look as in every +word and deed. His first appearance and address +might not convey the idea of superior talents; +such at least was the remark of his accomplished +countryman, Mr. Gallatin; but no man, +whether friend or enemy, ever viewed without respect +the noble simplicity of his demeanor, the utter +absence in him of every artifice and every affectation.</p> + +<p>It has been justly remarked that of General +Washington there are fewer anecdotes to tell than +perhaps of any other great man on record. So +equally framed were the features of his mind, so +harmonious all its proportions, that no one quality +rose salient above the rest. There were none of +those chequered ques, none of those warring emotions, +in which Biography delights. There was no<pb n="166" /><anchor id="Pg166" /> +contrast of lights and shades, no flickering of the +flame; it was a mild light that seldom dazzled, +but that ever cheered and warmed. His contemporaries +or his close observers, as Mr. Jefferson +and Mr. Gallatin, assert that he had naturally +strong passions, but had attained complete mastery +over them. In self-control indeed he has +never been surpassed. If sometimes on rare occasions, +and on strong provocation, there was +wrung from him a burst of anger, it was almost +instantly quelled by the dominion of his will. He +decided surely, though he deliberated slowly; +nor could any urgency or peril move him from his +serene composure, his calm and clear-headed good +sense. Integrity and truth were also ever present +in his mind. Not a single instance, as I believe, +can be found in his whole career when he was impelled +by any but an upright motive, or endeavored +to attain an object by any but worthy means. +Such are some of the high qualities which have +justly earned for General Washington the admiration +even of the country he opposed, and not +merely the admiration but the gratitude and affection +of his own. Such was the pure and upright +spirit to which, when its toils were over and +its earthly course had been run, was offered the +unanimous homage of the assembled Congress, all +clad in deep mourning for their common loss, as +to "the man first in war, first in peace, and first +in the hearts of his fellow-citizens." At this day +in the United States the reverence for his character +is, as it should be, deep and universal, and +not confined, as with nearly all our English statesmen, +to one party, one province, or one creed. +Such reverence for Washington is felt even by +those who wander furthest from the paths in +which he trod. A President when recommending +measures of aggression and invasion can still refer +to him whose rule was ever to arm only in +self-defence as to "the greatest and best of men!" +States which exult in their bankruptcy as a proof +of their superior shrewdness, and have devised +"Repudiation" as a newer and more graceful term +for it, yet look up to their great General—the +very soul of good faith and honor—with their reverence +unimpaired!"</p> +</quote> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">PATRICK HENRY.</p> + +<p>The colony of Virginia was the place, and the +the year 1736 the time, of birth to Patrick Henry. +His parents were in easy circumstances, but burthened +with a numerous family; they resided at +a country scat to which the ambitious name of +Mount Brilliant had been given. In childhood +Patrick Henry gave little promise of distinction. +His person is represented as having been coarse, +his manners extremely awkward, his dress slovenly, +and his aversion to study invincible. No persuasion +could bring him either to read or to work. +At sixteen his father gave him means to open a +small shop, which failed, however, in less than +one year. Then he tried a small farm, and married; +then again he entered upon the life of a +tradesman, but in a few years more was a bankrupt. +It was at this period that he became acquainted +with Mr. Jefferson, afterwards President +of the United States. "Mr. Henry," says Jefferson, +"had a little before broken up his store (shop), +or rather it had broken him up, but his misfortunes +were not to be traced either in his countenance +or conduct. His manners had something of +coarseness in them; his passion was music, dancing, +and pleasantry. He excelled in the last, and +it attached every one to him."</p> + +<p>As a last resource, Patrick Henry now determined +to make a trial of the law. It cannot be +said that his preparatory studies were unduly arduous, +since, as his biographer informs us, they +were all comprised in the period of six weeks. +Under such unpromising circumstances, and in the +year 1763, he obtained a brief in the long-contested +cause then raging in Virginia between the +clergy on the one side, and the legislature on the +other, as regarding the stipends which the former +claimed. On this occasion Henry, to the astonishment +of all who knew him, poured forth a strain +of such impassioned eloquence as not only carried +the cause, contrary to all previous expectation, but +placed him ever afterwards at the head of his profession +in the colony. To this very day, says Mr. +Wirt, writing in 1818, the impression remains, and +the old people of that district think that no higher +compliment can be paid to any public speaker +than to say of him in their homely phrase, "He is +almost equal to Patrick when he plead (pleaded) +against the parsons!"</p> + +<p>The natural eloquence which on this occasion +flashed forth from the coarse and unlettered Henry, +as the spark-of fire from the flint, continued to +distinguished him both as a Member of the House +of Burgesses at Williamsburg, and afterwards as +a member of Congress. He took from the first a +bold and active part against the pretensions of the +mother country; indeed Mr. Jefferson goes so far +as to declare that "Mr. Henry certainly gave the +earliest impulse to the ball of revolution." His +most celebrated burst of oratory, or rather turn of +phrase, was in this very year 1765, when descanting +in the House of Burgesses on the tyranny of +the Stamp Act. "Cæsar—" he cried, in a voice +of thunder and with an eye of fire—"Cæsar had +his Brutus—Charles the First had his Cromwell—and +George the Third"—"Treason!" here exclaimed +the Speaker, "Treason! Treason!" re-echoed +from every part of the House. Henry did +not for an instant falter, but fixing his eye firmly +on the Speaker, he concluded his sentence thus +"—may profit by their example. If this be treason +make the most of it!"</p> + +<p>Indolence and aversion to reading seemed almost +as natural to Henry's mind as powers of debate. +To the last he never overcame them. Thus, +at his death, in 1799, his books were found to be +extremely few, and these too consisting chiefly of +odd volumes. But his gift of speech was (for his +hearers) sufficiently supported by his fiery energy, +his practical shrewdness, and his ever keen glance +into the feelings and characters of other. Nor +were these his only claims to his country's favor. +He retained the manners and custom of the common +people, with what his friendly biographer +terms "religious caution.—He dressed as plainly +as the plainest of them," continues Mr. Wirt, "ate +only their homely fare, and drank their simple beverage, +mixed with them on a footing of the most +entire and perfect equality, and conversed with +them even in their own vicious and depraved pronunciation." +By such means he soon acquired and +long retained a large measure of popularity, and +he applied himself with zeal and success before +any audience, and on every occasion which arose, +to increase and perpetuate the estrangement between +the North American Colonies and England.</p> +</quote> + +<pb n="167" /><anchor id="Pg167" /> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">FRANKLIN.</p> + +<p>Dr. Benjamin Franklin is one of those men who +have made the task of succeeding biographers +more difficult by having been in part their own. +He was born at Boston in 1706, the youngest of +ten sons. "My father," he says, "intended to devote +me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of +the Church;" but on further reflection, the charges +of a college education were thought too burthensome, +and young Benjamin became a journeyman +printer. From a very early age he showed a passionate +fondness for reading, and much ingenuity +in argument, but, as he acknowledges, had at first +contracted a disputatious and wrangling turn of +conversation. "I have since observed," he says, +"that persons of good sense seldom fall into it, except +lawyers, University-men, and generally men +of all sorts who have been bred at Edinburgh."</p> + +<p>Young Franklin was at first bound apprentice +to one of his elder brothers, a printer at Boston; +but some differences arising between them, he +proceeded to Philadelphia, where he soon obtained +employment, and ere long set up for himself. His +success in life was secured by his great frugality, +industry, and shrewdness. In his own words: "I +spent no time in taverns, games, or frolics of any +kind; reading was the only amusement I allowed +myself." His knowledge and shrewdness,—great +zeal in urging any improvements, and great ingenuity +in promoting them,—speedily raised him +high in the estimation of his fellow-townsmen, and +enabled him to take a forward part in all the affairs +of his province. In England, and indeed all +Europe, he became celebrated by his experiments +and discoveries in electricity. These may deserve +the greater credit when we recollect both their +practical utility and their unassisted progress,—how +much the pointed rods which he introduced +have tended to avert the dangers of lightning, and +how far removed was Franklin at the time from +all scientific society, libraries, or patronage.</p> + +<p>It has also been stated by no less an authority +in science than Sir Humphrey Davy, that "the +style and manner of Dr. Franklin's publication on +Electricity are almost as worthy of admiration as +the doctrine it contains." The same remark may +indeed be applied to all his writings. All of them +are justly celebrated for their clear, plain, and +lively style, free from every appearance of art, +but, in fact, carefully pointed and nicely poised. +In public speaking, on the other hand, he was +much less eminent. His last American biographer +observes of him, that he never even pretended to +the accomplishments of an orator or debater. He +seldom spoke in a deliberative assembly, except +for some special object, and then only for a few +minutes at a time.</p> + +<p>As a slight instance of Franklin's humor and +shrewdness in all affairs of common life I may +quote the following: "<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Question.</hi> I am about +courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance +with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her +faults? <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Answer.</hi> Commend her among her female +acquaintance!"</p> + +<p>Whether in science and study, or in politics and +action, the great aim of Franklin's mind was ever +practical utility. Here again we may quote Sir +Humphrey Davy as saying of Franklin that he +sought rather to make philosophy a useful inmate +and servant in the common habitations of man, +than to preserve her merely as an object of admiration +in temples and palaces. Thus, also, in affairs +he had a keen eye to his own interest, but +likewise a benevolent concern for the public good. +Nor was he ever indifferent to cases of individual +grievance or hardship. In the pursuit of his objects, +public or private, he was, beyond most other +men, calm, sagacious, and wary; neither above +business nor yet below it; never turned aside from +it by flights of fancy nor yet by bursts of passion.</p> + +<p>Among the good qualities which we may with +just cause ascribe to Franklin we cannot number +any firm reliance on the truths of Revelation. +Only five weeks before his death we find him express +a cold approbation of the "system of morals" +bequeathed to us by "Jesus of Nazareth." In his +Memoirs he declares that he always believed in +the existence of a Deity and a future state of rewards +and punishments, but he adds that although +he continued to adhere to his first—the Presbyterian—sect, +some of its dogmas appeared to him +unintelligible, and others doubtful. "I early absented +myself from the public assemblies of the +sect; and I seldom attended any public worship; +Sunday being my studying day."</p> + +<p>Such being Franklin's own practice, and such +his own description of it as to public worship, it +seems worthy of note that it was he who in the +American Convention brought forward a motion +for daily prayers. "I have lived, Sir," said he, "a +long time, and the longer I live the more convincing +proofs I see of this truth, that God governs +in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot +fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable +that an empire can rise without his aid?" But in +spite of this most earnest appeal the motion was +rejected, since, as we are told, "the Convention, +except three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary."</p> + +<p>The accomplished American biographer, by +whom this last incident is recorded, expresses in +the same passage deep regret that Dr. Franklin +did not bestow more attention than he seems to +have done on the evidences of Christianity. And +indeed there are several indications that he was +less well acquainted with points of Christian faith +and discipline than with almost any other subject. +One of these indications, and surely a most strange +one, occurs in the Private Diary which he kept at +Passy during part of 1784. It appears that two +young American gentlemen had come over to +London with the view of entering Holy Orders, +but that the Archbishop of Canterbury refused +them Ordination unless they would take the Oath +of Allegiance. In this dilemma Franklin actually +applied to the Pope's Nuncio at Paris to ascertain +whether a Roman Catholic Bishop in America +might not perform the ceremony for them as Protestants, +and he transcribes as remarkable the natural +reply: "The Nuncio says the thing is impossible +unless the gentlemen become Roman Catholics."</p> + +<p>The religious scepticism or indifference of +Franklin, which his present biographers justly lament, +was, however, in his own day, a recommendation +and a merit with the French philosophists. +On the other hand, his hostility to England endeared +him to the French politicians. On both +these grounds, as well as from his high scientific +attainments, he found himself during his residence +of several years at Paris in no common measure +courted, flattered, and caressed. A fine verse, one<pb n="168" /><anchor id="Pg168" /> +of the noblest which modern Latinity can boast, +describes him as having plucked the lightning from +Heaven and the sceptre from tyrants.</p> + +<p>Descending from such lofty flights to the regions +of sober reality, we may observe that Franklin in +his later years, and especially in France, adopted +to a great extent the Quaker garb. He laid aside +the huge wig which he used to wear in England, +and allowed his long white hair to flow down nearly +to his shoulders. His clothes were of the plainest +cut and of the dunnest color. The Parisians +of that period, ever swayed by external impressions, +were greatly struck with, and in their writings +frequently refer to, his venerable aspect, and +they compared him by turns to all the sages of +antiquity. It is also probable that his Quaker-like +attire may have tended to invest him in their estimation +with the other attributes which they assigned +to the ideal Quaker character, as simplicity, +guilelessness, inviolable truth.</p> +</quote> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">LA FAYETTE.</p> + +<p>It so chanced that in the summer of 1776, La +Fayette, still in his teens, and serving as a subaltern +with the French army, was stationed with his +regiment at Metz. It happened also that in the +course of a foreign tour their Royal Highnesses of +Gloucester passed a few days in that town. The +principal officers entertained the Duke at dinner, +when the conversation turned to the last news +from Philadelphia and the new Declaration of Independence. +Being at that period offended with +his Court, from its neglect of the Duchess, the +Duke indulged in Opposition topics, and, in some +degree at least, took the part of the Americans. +The details were new to La Fayette. He listened +with eagerness, and prolonged the conversation by +asking questions of the Royal guest. The cause +of the colonies that had risen against England +seemed to him just and noble, even on the showing +of one of the English princes; and before he +left the table, the thought came into his head that +he would go to America, and offer the Americans +his services. He determined to return to Paris, +and make further inquiries. His inquiries being +mainly addressed to Silas Deane and other zealous +friends of the insurgents, could not fail to confirm +him in his first impressions. He became fired +with an ardent zeal for Republican principles and +the American cause. That zeal continued ever +afterwards—for well nigh sixty years—the polar +star of his course. That zeal, favored as it was by +fortune, adapted to the times that came upon him, +and urged forward by great personal vanity, laid +the foundations of his fame far more, as I conceive, +than any strength of mind or talents of his +own. Few men have ever been so conspicuous +from afar with so little, when closely viewed, of +real weight or dimension. As a general, it can +scarcely be pretended that his exploits were either +many or considerable. As an orator, we look in +vain for any high powers of debate. As a statesman, +we find only an undistinguishing eagerness to +apply the Transatlantic examples and to act the +part of Washington, without duly estimating +either the immense superiority of Washington's +character above his own, or the manifold points of +difference between America and Europe.</p> + +<p>It was said by Napoleon at St. Helena, that +"La Fayette was a man of no ability, either in +civil or military life; his understanding was confined +to narrow bounds; his character was full of +dissimulation, and swayed by vague ideas of liberty, +which, in him, were undefined and ill-digested." +No doubt there is some exaggeration in +these words. No doubt the late Emperor, at that +period, was stirred by personal resentment at the +hostile conduct of the General in 1815; yet it will +perhaps be found more easy by any admirer of +La Fayette to impugn the good faith of the +draughtsman than the general accuracy of the +portrait.</p> + +<p>The fortune of La Fayette was ample, his yearly +income being little short of two hundred thousand +livres; and his connexions, as we have seen, +were among the first at Court. Under such circumstances, +Silas Deane felt the vast importance of +securing him. An agreement was concluded between +them, by the intervention of one Mr. Carmichael +(for as yet La Fayette spoke no English, +and Deane little French), according to the terms +of which the Marquis de La Fayette was to join +the American service, and to receive from Congress +the rank of Major-General—no slight temptation +to a stripling of nineteen! La Fayette was +to be accompanied, or rather attended, by the +Baron de Kalb and eleven other officers of lower +rank, seeking service in America. He sent, in +secret, an agent to Bordeaux, there to purchase +and prepare a vessel for their voyage. Meanwhile +he made an excursion of three weeks to +London, where his kinsman, the Marquis de +Noailles, was ambassador. He was presented to +the King, and graciously received. He saw at the +opera General Clinton, who had come home on a +winter leave of absence, and who was next to +meet him on a field of battle in America. But, +mindful of his own hostile designs, he deemed it +proper to forbear from prying into the military +forces of the kingdom, and declined an invitation +to visit the naval armament at Portsmouth.</p> + +<p>On his return to France, La Fayette bade farewell +to his young wife, leaving her four months +gone with child, and set out for Bordeaux. Thus +far all had prospered according to his wishes. But +at Bordeaux he found that his preparations had +been discovered and complained of by Lord Stormont, +and that a <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">lettre de cachet</hi> for his arrest +was already issued. Nevertheless, he did not relinquish +his design. He crossed the Spanish frontier +in the disguise of a courier, found his vessel at +Pasages, and there embarked with his companions. +Towards the middle of June he landed on the coast +of Carolina; and after a few days' rest, pursued his +route to Philadelphia. His reception by the Congress +was not at first a warm one; but La Fayette +declared that he would accept no pay, and was +willing to serve as a volunteer; and under these +circumstances, the Assembly fulfilled the terms of +the secret agreement, and bestowed on him the +rank of Major-General.</p> + +<p>At Philadelphia La Fayette saw the American +troops for the first time, and, according to his own +account, was struck with their grotesque appearance—with +green boughs fastened to their hats—coarse +hunting-shirts instead of uniforms—and +muskets, many wanting bayonets, and all of unequal +make and size. But he soon learnt to think +more favorably of these raw levies, when, notwithstanding +all their disadvantages, he observed their +conduct in the field. With regard to their commander, +his early impressions never changed. It +was also at Philadelphia, and at a dinner-table,<pb n="169" /><anchor id="Pg169" /> +comprising several members of the Congress, that +La Fayette was introduced to Washington. The +boy-general found himself warmly welcomed by +the chief whom he had long admired. "When +you come to the army," said Washington, "I shall +be pleased if you will make my quarters your +home, and consider yourself as one of my family." +The invitation thus frankly tendered was no less +frankly accepted. Thus did a cordial intimacy +arise between them, Washington at all times +treating La Fayette with fatherly kindness, and +La Fayette looking up to Washington with filial +regard.</p> + +<p>La Fayette had already begun to speak a little +English, and by degrees acquired more. But to +the last the difficulties of the language were a +main obstacle, not only to himself, but to every +other foreigner who served with, or under, the +United States. Thus there are still preserved +some of the ill-spelled and scarcely intelligible notes +of Count Pulasky, during the short time that he +served as general of cavalry. Still worse was the +case of Baron Steuben, a veteran of the school of +Frederick the Second, who joined the Americans a +few months later than La Fayette, and who greatly +aided them in the establishment of discipline. The +Baron, it appears, could not teach and drill, nor +even swear and curse, but by means of an interpreter! +He was, therefore, most fortunate in securing +as his aid-de-camp Captain Walker of New-York—most +fortunate, if, as his American biographer +assures us, "there was not, perhaps, another +officer in the army, unless Hamilton be excepted, +who could speak French and English so as to be +well understood in both."</p> + +<p>La Fayette did not always confine himself to the +bounds of his own profession; sometimes, and, +perhaps, not greatly to his credit, he stepped beyond +them. Here is one case recorded with much +satisfaction by himself. He states, that soon after +his arrival in America, and while attending on +Sunday the service of the Church of England, he +was displeased with the clergyman, because in his +sermon he had said nothing at all of politics. "I +charged him to his face," says La Fayette, "with +preaching only about Heaven!... But next +Sunday," continues the keen young officer, "I +heard him again, when his loud invectives against +'the execrable House of Hanover,' showed that he +was ready and willing to take my good advice."</p> +</quote> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">JOHN HORNE TOOKE.</p> + +<p>His abilities were ill fitted for the profession +of a clergyman, which indeed he at last renounced, +but they highly qualified him for his favorite +occupation as a demagogue. Between him and +Wilkes there now arose a violent animosity and a +keen altercation carried on in newspapers. Descending +to the lowest and most selfish details, +they were not ashamed thus publicly to wrangle +respecting a Welsh pony and a hamper of claret! +Even before the close of 1770 might be discerned +the growing discord and weakness of Wilkes and +his city friends. At a meeting which they convened +to consider their course of action, some proposed +a new Remonstrance to the King, while +others urged an impeachment of Lord North in +the House of Commons. "What is the use of a +new Remonstrance?" cried Wilkes. "It would +only serve to make another paper kite for His +Royal Highness the Prince of Wales!"—"What +is the use of an impeachment?" cried Sawbridge. +"Lord North is quite sure of the Bishops and the +Scotch Peers in the Upper House, and could not +fail to be acquitted!" But although these ardent +patriots might differ a little as to the means, they +were bent on one and the same end; and the Remonstrance +which was at last agreed upon, appears +to have been framed by their united wisdom. +As thus drawn up it teemed with silly vagaries +fit only to please the lowest order of intellects. +Thus it prayed that His Majesty would for +ever remove from his presence and councils all his +Ministers and Secretaries of State, especially Lord +Mansfield (who by the way was not one of them), +and that His Majesty would not again admit any +Scotchman into the administration!</p> +</quote> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">THE CHARACTER OF WILKES.</p> + +<p>He was born in 1727, the son of a rich distiller. +Early in life he set up a brewery for himself, +but soon relinquished the wearisome business. +Early in life also he improved his fortune by his +marriage with the daughter and heiress of the celebrated +Dr. Mead, the author of the "Treatise on +Poisons." But this lady, being of maturer age +than himself, and of slight personal attractions, +was speedily slighted, and he left her with as +much disgust as he had his brewery. In 1757 he +was elected Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, +but never obtained any success as an orator, his +speeches being, though flippant, yet feeble. In +truth he had no great ability of any kind, but +dauntless courage and high animal spirits. Nor +should we deny him another much rarer praise,—a +vein of good humor and kindliness, which did +not forsake him through all his long career, +amidst the riot of debauchery or the rancor of +faction. So agreeable and insinuating was his +conversation, that more than one fair dame as she +listened found herself forget his sinister squint and +his ill-favored countenance. He used to say of +himself in a laughing strain, that though he was +the ugliest man in England, he wanted nothing +to make him even with the handsomest but half +an hour at starting! Politics indeed seemed at +first wholly alien from Wilkes's sphere; gayety +and gallantry were his peculiar objects. For +some time he reigned the oracle of green-rooms +and the delight of taverns. In conjunction with +other kindred spirits, as Paul Whitehead and Sir +Francis Dashwood, amounting in all to twelve, +he rented Medmenham Abbey, near Marlow. It +is a secluded and beautiful spot on the banks of +the Thames, with hanging woods that slope down +to the crystal stream, a grove of venerable elms, +and meadows of the softest green. In days of +old it had been a convent of Cistercian monks, but +the new brotherhood took the title of Franciscans +in compliment to Sir Francis Dashwood, +whom they called their Father Abbot. On the +portal, now again in ruins, and once more resigned +to its former solitude and silence, I could still +a few years since read the inscription placed there +by Wilkes and his friends: <foreign lang="fr">fay çe que voudras</foreign>. +Other French and Latin inscriptions, now with +good reason effaced, then appeared in other parts +of the grounds, some of them remarkable for wit, +but all for either profaneness or obscenity, and +many the more highly applauded as combining +both. In this retreat the new Franciscans used +often to meet for summer pastimes, and varied +the round of their debauchery by a mock celebration +of the principal Roman Catholic rites.</p> +</quote> + +<pb n="170" /><anchor id="Pg170" /> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">WILKES'S ESSAY ON WOMAN.</p> + +<p>It appears that Wilkes had, several years before, +and in some of his looser hours, composed a +parody of Pope's "Essay on Man." In this undertaking, +which, according to his own account, +cost him a great deal of pains and time, he was, +it is said, assisted by Thomas Potter, second son +of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, who had +been Secretary of Frederick Prince of Wales, +and had since shown ability and gained office in +the House of Commons, but was (as well became +one of Wilkes's friends) of lax morals in his private +life. The result of their joint authorship, +however, has little wit or talent to make any +amends for the blasphemy and lewdness with +which it abounds. As the original had been inscribed +by Pope to Lord Bolingbroke, so was the +parody by Wilkes to Lord Sandwich; thus it began, +"Awake my Sandwich!" instead of "Awake +my St. John!" Thus also, in ridicule of Warburton's +well-known commentary, some burlesque +notes were appended in the name of the Right +Reverend the Bishop of Gloucester.</p> + +<p>This worthless poem had remained in manuscript, +and lain in Wilkes's desk, until in the previous +spring he had occasion to set up a press at +his own house, and was tempted to print fourteen +copies only as presents to his boon companions. +Of one of these copies the Government obtained +possession, through a subordinate agent, and by not +very creditable means, and Lord Sandwich holding +it forth in his hand with the air of injured innocence, +denounced it as not only scandalous and +impious, but also as a breach of Privilege against +the Bishop as a Peer of Parliament. He likewise +complained of another profane parody, written by +the same hand, and printed on the same occasion; +this last was entitled, "The <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">veni creator</hi> paraphrased." +The most offensive passages of both +were now by Lord Sandwich's order read aloud +to the House, until Lord Lyttleton with a groan +entreated that they might hear no more!</p> + +<p>In the discussion which ensured, Bishop Warburton, +forgetting that such ribaldries could not really +tarnish his character, showed a heat which little +became it. He exclaimed that the blackest fiends +in Hell would disdain to keep company with +Wilkes,—and then asked pardon of Satan for +comparing them together! Both the Earl and +Bishop in their passion would have readily over-leaped +the common forms of justice. The former, +after producing evidence at the Bar as to the authorship +of Wilkes, wished the House to take +measures for his prosecution, without the least delay. +But the Peers, although readily agreeing to +vote the two parodies blasphemous and breaches +of Privilege, resolved, on the motion of Lord Mansfield, +to adjourn all further questions until the day +after the next, so as to give Wilkes the opportunity, +if he desired it, of alleging any matter in denial +or defence.</p> +</quote> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">LORD THURLOW.</p> + +<p>With all his faults and shortcomings there was +that in Thurlow which overawed and daunted his +contemporaries, and of which the impression is +not wholly lost even on posterity. It was a saying +of Mr. Fox, that no man ever yet was so wise +as Thurlow looked. His countenance was fraught +with sense; his aspect stately and commanding; +his brow broad, massy, and armed with terrors +like that of the Olympian Jove, to which indeed +it was often compared. His voice loud, sonorous, +and as rolling thunder in the distance, augmented +the effect of his fierce and terrible invective. Few +indeed were they who did not quail before his +frown; fewer still who would abide his onset in +debate. Perhaps no modern English statesman, +in the House of Lords at least, was ever so much +dreaded. In parliament, as at the bar, his +speeches were home thrusts, conveying the +strongest arguments or keenest reproofs in the +plainest and clearest words. His enemies might +accuse his style of being coarse, and sometimes +even ungrammatical, but they could never deny +its energy or its effect. In private life Thurlow +was remarkable for his thorough knowledge of the +Greek and Latin writers; and no less for his skill +in argument and brilliant powers of conversation. +While yet at the bar, Dr. Johnson said of him to +Boswell: "I honor Thurlow, sir; Thurlow is a fine +fellow; he fairly puts his mind to yours." And +after he became Chancellor, the same high authority +added: "I would prepare myself for no man +in England but Lord Thurlow. When I am to +meet him, I should wish to know a day before." +Unless with ladies, his manner was always uncouth, +and his voice a constant growl. But beneath +that rugged rind there appears to have +lurked much warmth of affection and kindliness +of heart. Many acts of generous aid and unsolicited +bounty are recorded of him. Men of learning +and merit seldom needed any other recommendation +to his favor. Thus, on reading Horsley's +"Letters to Dr. Priestly," he at once obtained +for the author a stall at Gloucester, saying—what +I earnestly wish all other Chancellors +had borne in mind—"that those who supported +the Church should be supported by it." Nevertheless +his temper, even when in some measure +sobered down by age, was always liable to violent +and unreasonable starts of passion. It is related +by a gentleman who dined with him at Brighton +only a few months before his death—for I must +ever hold that great characters are best portrayed +by little circumstances—that a plateful of +peaches being brought in, the ex-Chancellor, incensed +at their ill appearance, ordered the window +to be opened, and not only the peaches but the +whole desert to be thrown out!</p> +</quote> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: center">EDMUND BURKE.</p> + +<p>In pamphlets, however, and political essays—and +even speeches, when revised and sent forth +singly, may be comprehended in that class,—the +personal disadvantages of Burke could no longer +apply; and as regards that class of writings, it +may be doubted whether he has ever, in any age, +or in any country, been excelled. The philosophy +and deep thought of his reflections—the vigor and +variety of his style—his rich flow of either panegyric +or invective—his fine touches of irony—the +glowing abundance and beauty of his metaphors—all +these might separately claim applause; how +much more, then, when all blended into one glorious +whole! To give examples of these merits +would be to transcribe half his works. Yet still +if one single and short instance from his maxims +be allowed me, I will observe that the generous +ardor and activity of mind called forth by competition +has formed a theme of philosophic comment +from a very early age. It is touched both by Cicero +and Quintilian; it has not been neglected +either by Bacon or Montaigne. Yet still, as<pb n="171" /><anchor id="Pg171" /> +handled by Burke, this trite topic beams forth, not +only with the hues of eloquence, but even with +the bloom of novelty. He invites us to "an amicable +conflict with difficulty. Difficulty is a severe +instructor set over us by the supreme ordinance +of a parental guardian and legislator, who knows +us better than we know ourselves, as he loves us +better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens +our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist +is our helper!" If amidst so much of eloquence +and feeling as Burke's writings display we are desired +to seek for faults, we shall find them, not in +the want, but only in the exuberance and overflow +of beauties. The palate becomes cloyed by +so much richness, the eye dazzled by so much +glare. His metaphors, fraught with fancy though +they be, are often bold; they seem both too numerous +and strained too far; they sometimes cease +to please, and occasionally border even on the ludicrous +and low. Of this defect, as of his excellences, +a single instance shall suffice me. In the +"Letter to a Noble Lord," in 1796, Burk compares +the Duke of Bedford to a lamb already marked +for slaughter by the Marats and Robespierres of +France, but still unconscious of his doom, "pleased +to the last," and who "licks the hand just raised +to shed his blood." Thus far the simile is conducted +with admirable force and humor. But not +satisfied with his success, Burke goes further; he +insists on leading us into the shambles, and makes +the revolutionary butchers inquire as to their ducal +victim, "how he cuts up? how he tallows in +the caul or on the kidneys?" Apart from the +beauty of the style, the value, as I conceive, of +Burke's writings, is subject to one not unimportant +deduction. For most lofty and far-sighted views +in politics they will never be consulted in vain. +On the other hand, let no man expect to find in +them just or accurate, or even consistent, delineations +of contemporary character. Where eternal +principles are at stake, Burke was inaccessible to +favor or to fear. Where only persons are concerned, +he was often misled by resentments or by +partialities, and allowed his fancy full play. The +rich stores of Burke's memory and the rare powers +of his mind were not reserved solely for his +speeches or his writings; they appeared to no less +advantage in his familiar conversation. Even the +most trivial topics could elicit, even the most ignorant +hearers could discern, his genius. "Sir," +said Dr. Johnson, "if Burke were to go into a stable +to see his horse dressed, the hostler would say, +We have had an extraordinary man here!" On other +occasions, also, the author of "Rasselas" extols +him as "never unwilling to begin conversation, +never at a loss to carry it on, never in haste to +leave it off." His attempts at wit, indeed, were +not always successful, and he might be accused of +an inordinate affection for quibbles and puns. His +favorite niece, and latterly his guest, was sometimes +provoked into a—"Really, uncle, that is +very poor." But upon the whole it may be asserted, +that in social converse Burke was equalled +by none of his contemporaries and his countrymen, +except only Dr. Johnson himself and perhaps +Lord Thurlow.</p> +</quote> + +<p>We have no more room for further extracts; +those we have made illustrate the +temper and the style of the work, and will +commend it to the favorable consideration of +American readers. Among subjects treated +most elaborately is that of the authorship of +Junius; but Lord Mahon has no new facts +for the vindication of his judgment, that Sir +Philip Francis was unquestionably the writer +of the famous letters under that name.</p> + +<p>There is an appendix to each volume; and +in the appendix of one, and in the notes of +both, are some curious illustrations of the +worthlessness of Mr. Sparks's editions of the +writings of Washington and Franklin. We +first called attention to this subject some five +years ago, and after the changes, &c. of Mr. +Sparks had been pointed out in <hi rend="font-style: italic">The International</hi>, +a series of carefully prepared criticisms +appeared in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Evening Post</hi>, in which the +discrepancies between the original letters of +Washington were exhibited to a degree that at +once and for ever destroyed the good reputation +of Mr. Sparks in this department. He chose +not to take any notice of the disclosures to +which we refer, but it may be that Lord Mahon's +criticism will secure his attention, and +an attempt, at least, for his vindication. Besides +his comparisons of MS. and printed letters +in the appendix, Lord Mahon has several +allusions to the subject, of which we quote +specimens:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"Some samples of the manner in which that +gentleman (Mr. Sparks) has thought himself at +liberty to tamper with the original MSS., will be +found," &c.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sparks has printed no part of the correspondence +precisely as Washington wrote it, but +has greatly altered, and as he thinks, corrected +and embellished it. Such a liberty with the writings +of such a man might be justifiable, nay, even +in some respects necessary, if Washington and his +principal contemporaries had been still alive; but +the date of this publication, the year (1838), leaves, +as I conceive, no adequate vindication for <hi rend="font-style: italic">tampering +with the truth of history</hi>."</p> + +<p>"Washington, however, in his public letter to +Congress (unless Mr. Jared Sparks has <hi rend="font-style: italic">improved</hi> +this passage), says," &c.</p> + +<p>"I know not whether my readers will concur +with me in liking Washington's own and though +home-spun, excellent cloth, much better than the +'Cobweb schemes and gauze coverings' which +have, it seems, been manufactured in its place."</p> +</quote> + +<p>A complete errata to Mr. Sparks's editions +of Washington, Franklin, and Gouverneur +Morris, would occupy several volumes; and +we do not remember one instance in which +his alterations were justifiable, or in which +they were really an improvement in point +of style. The reprobation with which Mr. +Sparks has been visited by the learned and +judicious of his own country and England will +be a warning to future laborers in the same +field. The works edited by Mr. Sparks are +no longer, we believe, regarded by historical +students as of the slightest value as authorities, +and no faithfulness or excellence which +may be displayed in future works from his +hand will retrieve his lost reputation.</p> + +<p>These volumes will be reprinted immediately +by the Appletons.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="172" /><anchor id="Pg172" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>FAUST OF WITTENBERG AND FUST OF MENTZ.</head> + +<p>It were well if writers on the origin of typography +would obey the injunction of Sir +Thomas Browne, who thought it not inexpedient +for those who seek to enlighten mankind +on any particular subject, first to acquire +some knowledge thereof themselves, so that +the labor of readers should not so generally +be profitless. In an article by Bishop McIlvaine, +and another in Frazer's Magazine, by +an anonymous contributor, the exercise of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">necromancy</hi> is imputed to Fust, the inventor +or supposed inventor of printing. Nine of +every ten persons who write any thing on the +subject fall into the same error; they have +something always to say of Fust and the devil; +curious anecdotes to rehearse of the multiplication +of copies of the Scriptures in Paris +and elsewhere; spells and incantations by +the inventor of the "black" art to describe, +&c. But this is all induced by ignorance of +the facts. John Fust, the putative inventor +of printing, was a shrewd silversmith, and +we suspect a knavish one, for without having +any thing to do with the <hi rend="font-style: italic">invention</hi> of the +"art preservative of arts," he managed to +rob another of the credit and profit of it. He +was, however, never in Paris; he was never +in his lifetime accused of the exercise of magical +arts; he simply endeavored to make +as much money as he could in Germany by +underselling the copyists in the book market. +All stories in which necromancy is attributed +to him or to any other printer; all accounts +of the opposition of the priests to typography +as an infernal invention; in fine, the whole +popular idea of Faust and the devil, is a modern +contrivance, and originated in this manner: +Some bookmaker, about the year 1580, +undertook to write a history of printing; he +had an indistinct recollection of Professor +Faustus of the University of Wittenberg, and +in his book blended as many of his adventures +as he could remember with the memoirs of +John Fust the printer; and from that day a +succession of ignorant chroniclers have considered +two men, of totally different characters, +living at different times, as one individual.</p> + +<p>Faust, the necromancer, was born in the +duchy of Weimer in 1491, twenty-five years +after the printer is understood to have died. +He is mentioned by Melancthon, Wierus, and +many other cotemporary writers, and was +probably in his time not less distinguished as +a magician than Agrippa or Albertus Magnus. +It is related of him by Godwin, that he was +in his youth adopted by an uncle, dwelling in +the city of Wittenberg, who had no children. +Here he was sent to college, and was soon +distinguished by the greatness of his talents, +and the rapid progress he made in every species +of learning that was put before him. He +was destined by his relative to the profession +of theology. But he is said ungraciously to +have set at naught his uncle's pious intentions. +He went through his examinations with applause, +and carried off all the first prizes +among sixteen competitors; he therefore obtained +the degree of doctor in divinity; but +his success only made him proud and headstrong. +He disdained his theological eminence, +and sighed for distinction as a man of +the world. He took his degree as a doctor +of medicine, and aspired to celebrity as a +practitioner of physic. About the same time +he fell in with certain cotemporaries, of tastes +similar to his own, and associated with them +in the study of Chaldean, Greek, and Arabic +science, of strange incantations and supernatural +influences, in short, of all the arts of a +sorcerer.</p> + +<p>Having made such progress as he could by +dint of study and intense application, he at +length resolved to prosecute his purposes still +further by actually raising the devil. He happened +one evening to walk in a thick, dark +wood, within a short distance from Wittenberg, +when it occurred to him that that was +a fit place for executing his design. He stopped +at a solitary spot where four roads met, +and made use of his wand to mark out a large +circle, and then two small ones within the +larger. In one of these he fixed himself, appropriating +the other for the use of his expected +visitor. He went over the precise +range of charms and incantations, omitting +nothing. It was now dark night, between +the ninth and tenth hours. The devil manifested +himself by the usual signs of his appearance. +"Wherefore am I called?" said +he, "and what is it that you demand?" "I +require," rejoined Faustus, "that you should +sedulously attend unto me, answer my inquiries, +and fulfil my behests."</p> + +<p>Immediately upon Faustus pronouncing +these words, there followed a tumult overhead, +as if heaven and earth were coming together. +The trees in their topmost branches +bended to their very roots. It seemed as if +the whole forest were peopled with devils, +making a crash like a thousand wagons, hurrying +to the right and left, before and behind, +in every possible direction, with thunder and +lightning, and the continual discharge of great +cannon. Hell appeared to have emptied itself +to have furnished the din. There succeeded +the most charming music from all sorts +of instruments, and sounds of hilarity and +dancing. Next came a report as of a tournament, +and the clashing of innumerable lances. +This lasted so long, that Faustus was many +times about to rush out of the circle in which +he had inclosed himself, and to abandon his +preparations. His courage and resolution, +however, got the better; and he remained +immovable. He pursued his incantations +without intermission. Then came to the very +edge of the circle a griffin first, and next a +dragon, which in the midst of his enchantments +grinned at him horribly with his teeth, +but finally fell down at his feet, and extended +his length to many a rood. Faustus persisted. +Then succeeded a sort of fireworks, a pillar<pb n="173" /><anchor id="Pg173" /> +of fire, and a man on fire at the top, who +leaped down; and there immediately appeared +a number of globes here and there +red-hot, while the man on fire went and came +to every part of the circle for a quarter of an +hour. At length the devil came forward in +the shape of a gray monk, and asked Faustus +what he wanted. Faustus adjourned their further +conference, and appointed the devil to +comes to him at his lodging.</p> + +<p>He in the mean time busied himself in the +necessary preparations. He entered his study +at the appointed time, and found the devil +waiting for him. Faustus told him that he +had prepared certain articles, to which it was +necessary that the demon should fully accord,—that +he should attend him at all times, +when required, for all the days of his life; +that he should bring him every thing he +wanted; that he should come to him in any +shape that Faustus required, or be invisible, +and Faustus should be invisible too whenever +he desired it; that he should deny him nothing, +and answer him with perfect veracity +to every thing he demanded. To some of +these requisitions the spirit could not consent, +without authority from his master, the chief +of devils. At length all these concessions +were adjusted. The devil on his part also +prescribed his conditions. That Faustus +should abjure the Christian religion and all +reverence for the supreme God; that he +should enjoy the entire command of his attendant +demon for a certain term of years; +and that at the end of that period the devil +should dispose of him, body and soul, at his +pleasure [the term was fixed for twenty-four +years]; that he should at all times steadfastly +refuse to listen to any one who should desire +to convert him, or convince him of the error +of his ways, and lead him to repentance; that +Faustus should draw up a writing containing +these particulars, and sign it with his blood; +that he should deliver this writing to the +devil, and keep a duplicate of it himself, that +so there might be no misunderstanding. It +was further appointed by Faustus, that the +devil should usually attend him in the habit +of a cordelier, with a pleasing countenance +and an insinuating demeanor. Faustus also +asked the devil his name, who answered that +he was usually called Mephistophiles.</p> + +<p>Numerous adventures of Faustus are related +in the German histories. It is said that +the emperor Charles V. was at Inspruck, at +a time when Faustus also resided there. His +courtiers informed the emperor that Faustus +was in the town, and Charles expressed a desire +to see him. He was introduced. Charles +asked him whether he could really perform +such wondrous feats as were reported of +him. Faustus modestly replied, inviting the +emperor to make trial of his skill. "Then," +said Charles, "of all the eminent personages +I have ever read of, Alexander the Great is +the man who most excites my curiosity, and +whom it would most gratify my wishes to see +in the very form in which he lived." Faustus +rejoined that it was out of his power truly to +raise the dead, but that he had spirits at his +command who had often seen that great conqueror, +and that Faustus would willingly +place him before the emperor as he required. +He conditioned that Charles should not speak +to him, nor attempt to touch him. The emperor +promised compliance. After a few +ceremonies, therefore, Faustus opened a door, +and brought in Alexander exactly in the form +in which he had lived, with the same garments, +and every circumstance corresponding. +Alexander made his obeisance to the +emperor, and walked several times round +him. The queen of Alexander was then introduced +in the same manner. Charles just +then recollected he had read that Alexander +had a wart on the nape of his neck; and +with proper precautions Faustus allowed the +emperor to examine the apparition by this +test. Alexander then vanished.</p> + +<p>As Faustus was approaching the last year +of his term, he seemed resolved to pamper +his appetite with every species of luxury. +He carefully accumulated all the materials of +voluptuousness and magnificence. He was +particularly anxious in the selection of women +who should serve for his pleasures. He +had one Englishwoman, one Hungarian, one +French, two of Germany, and two from different +parts of Italy, all of them eminent for +the perfections which characterized their different +countries.</p> + +<p>At length he arrived at the end of the term +for which he had contracted with the devil. +For two or three years before it expired his +character gradually altered. He became subject +to fits of despondency, was no longer +susceptible of mirth and amusement, and reflected +with bitter agony on the close in +which the whole must terminate. He assembled +his friends together at a grand entertainment, +and when it was over, addressed them, +telling them that this was the last day of his +life, reminding them of the wonders with +which he had frequently astonished them, +and informing them of the condition upon +which he had held this power. They, one +and all, expressed the deepest sorrow at the +intelligence. They had had the idea of something +unlawful in his proceedings; but their +notions had been very far from coming up to +the truth. They regretted exceedingly that +he had not been unreserved in his communications +at an earlier period. They would +have had recourse in his behalf, to the means +of religion, and have applied to pious men, +desiring them to employ their power to intercede +with Heaven in his favor. Prayer and +penitence might have done much for him; +and the mercy of Heaven was unbounded. +They advised him to still call upon God, and +endeavor to secure an interest in the merits +of the Saviour.</p> + +<p>Faustus assured them that it was all in +vain, and that his tragical fate was inevitable.<pb n="174" /><anchor id="Pg174" /> +He led them to their sleeping apartment, and +recommended to them to pass the night as +they could, but by no means, whatever they +might happen to hear, to come out of it; as +their interference could in no way be beneficial +to him, and might be attended with the +most serious injury to themselves. They lay +still, therefore, as he had enjoined them; but +not one of them could close his eyes. Between +twelve and one in the night they heard +first a furious storm of wind round all sides +of the house, as if it would have torn away +the walls from their foundations. This no +sooner somewhat abated, than a noise was +heard of discordant and violent hissing, as if +the house was full of all sorts of venomous +reptiles, but which plainly proceeded from +Faustus's chamber. Next they heard the +doctor's room-door vehemently burst open, +and cries for help uttered with dreadful agony, +but in a half-suppressed voice, which presently +grew fainter and fainter. Then every +thing became still, as if the everlasting motion +of the world was suspended.</p> + +<p>When at length it became broad day, the +students went in a body to the doctor's apartment. +But he was nowhere to be seen. Only +the walls were found smeared with his blood, +and marks as if his brains had been dashed +out. His body was finally discovered at some +distance from the house, his limbs dismembered, +and marks of great violence about the +features of his face. The students gathered +up the mutilated parts of his body, and afforded +them private burial at the temple of +Mars, in the village where he died.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>SOME SMALL POEMS.</head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE.</head> + +<p>BY R. H. STODDARD.</p> + +<p>A PROLOGUE.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Without, the winds of Winter blow;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Without, the Winter sifts its snow:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Within, the hearths are warm and bright,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And all the chambers full of light,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And we again are gathered here,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To greet the advent of the year.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Pile on the wood, and stir the fires,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And in our souls the sweet desires;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And let us frame a mingled rhyme,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To suit the singers and the time;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With different stops, and keys of art,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In quaint old measures, got by heart.</l> +</lg> + +<p>BY THE SEA.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">By the rolling waves I roam,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And look along the sea,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And dream of the day and the gleaming sail,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">That bore my love from me.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">His bark now sails the Indian seas,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Far down the summer zone:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But his thoughts, like swallows, fly to me</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">By the Northern waves alone.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor will he delay, when winds are fair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To waft him back to me;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But haste, my love! or my grave will be made</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">By the sad and moaning sea!</l> +</lg> + +<p>WHEAT AND SHEAVES.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Before me now the village stands,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Its cottages embowered in bloom;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Behind me lies the burying ground,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Its sepulchres in cypress gloom.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The bells before me ring aloud,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">A pæan for the live and bold;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The bells behind are tolling low,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">A requiem for the dead and cold.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The crowd before me tramp away,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And shout until the winds are stirred;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The crowd behind no longer move,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And never breathe a single word.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Before me many moan, and weep:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Behind, there is not one who grieves;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For blight but wastes the standing wheat.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">It cannot touch the garnered sheaves!</l> +</lg> + +<p>FRAGMENT.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The gray old Earth goes on</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> At its ancient pace,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Lifting its thunder voice</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> In the choir of Space;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6"> And the Years, as they go,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6"> Are singing slow,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Solemn dirges, full of woe!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Tears are shed, and hearts are broken,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And many bitter words are spoken,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And many left unsaid;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And many are with the living,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> That were better—better dead!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tyrants sit upon their thrones,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And will not hear the people's moans,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Nor hear their clanking chains;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Or if they do, they add thereto,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And mock, not ease, their pains;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> But little liberty remains—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">There is but little room for thee,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In this wide world, O Liberty!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But where thou hast once set thy foot,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Thou wilt remain, though oft unseen;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And grow like thought, and move like wind,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Upon the troubled sea of Mind,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> No longer now serene.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thy life and strength thou dost retain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Despite the cell, the rack, the pain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And all the battles won—in vain!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And even now thou seest the hour</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That lays in dust the tyrant's power,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When man shall once again be free,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Earth renewed, and young like thee,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> O Liberty! O Liberty!</l> +</lg> + +<p>CERTAIN MERRY STANZAS.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I often wish that I could know</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> The life in store for me,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The measure of the joy and woe</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Of my futurity.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I do not fear to meet the worst</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> The gathering years can give;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My life has been a life accurst</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> From youth, and yet I live;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The Future may be overcast,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But never darker than the Past!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My mind will grow, as years depart</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> With all the wingéd hours;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And all my buried seeds of Art</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Will bloom again in flowers;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But buried hopes no more will bloom,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> As in the days of old;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My youth is lying in its tomb,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> My heart is dead and cold!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And certain sad, but nameless cares</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Have flecked my locks with silver hairs!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">No bitter feeling clouds my grief,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> No angry thoughts of thee;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For thou art now a faded leaf</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Upon a fading tree.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">From day to day I sea thee sink,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> From deep to deep in shame;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I sigh, but dare not bid thee think</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Upon thine ancient fame—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For oh! the thought of what thou art</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Must be a hell within thy heart!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My life is full of care and pain—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> My heart of old desires;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But living embers yet remain</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Below its dying fires;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor do I fear what all the years</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> May have in store for me,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For I have washed away with tears</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The blots of Memory:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But thou—despite the love on high—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">What is there left thee but to die!</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="175" /><anchor id="Pg175" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>MR. JUSTICE STORY, WITH SOME REMINISCENT REFLECTIONS.<note place="foot"><p>Life and Letters of Joseph Story, Associate Justice of +the Supreme Court of the United States, and Dane professor +of law at Harvard University. Edited by his son, William +W. Story. Two vols. Boston: Little & Brown, 1851.</p></note></head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE.</head> + +<p>BY A. OAKEY HALL.</p> + +<p>The hurrying pedestrian in Wall-street, or +in some of its bisecting avenues of commercial +bustle, if he have time to glance over +his shoulder, is sure to observe a freshly-painted +piece of tin (its brief rhetoric revelling in +the pride and pomp of gold leaf alphabetically +shaped), denominated by lawyers "a +shingle"—setting forth that some sanguine +gentleman has then and there established +himself as an Attorney and Counsellor at Law.</p> + +<p>The sign is by the front door, shining with +self-conceit at the passers by; and its owner +is up some weary stairway, yawning over +"twice told tales" of legal lore, copying precedents +for the sake of practice, or keeping +hope alive upon the back benches of the +court-rooms in listening to the eloquence of +his seniors while <hi rend="font-style: italic">he</hi> is waiting for clients.</p> + +<p>Heaven help many a young attorney in this +"babel" of money-getting. The race should +be prayed for in churches: and it should meet +with a consideration as nearly divine as mortals +can call up from crowded heart-chambers.</p> + +<p>Well: the sign keeps nailed up: and by +and by the sun blisters it, and dries out the +pomp of the gilded letters, and perhaps the +owner yawns over his one case, or sitting +upon a front bench in the court-room while +case number thirty is being heard, waits for +case nine hundred and thirty, against which +on the calendar that is reposing by the side +of the complaisant clerk in the corner, his +name is placed as counsel—shining there like +a pebble on a wide and extended beach.</p> + +<p>The Physiology of the Medical Student +from facetious pens was reached to us over the +Atlantic by friendly booksellers some years +ago; and we should have had by this time +"the Physiology of the young Attorney." +He is a good subject for dissection; there's +plenty of venous humor in his composition; +and oh! a deal of nerve!</p> + +<p>Talk of exploring expeditions to the Arctic +regions as offering specimens of courage and +prowess; or of scientific excursions into the +wilds of Africa to the same purport! These +instances are trivial compared to the courage +and prowess yearly displayed by hundreds of +attorneys who plunge into the ocean of litigation +in order to swim towards the distant +buoys which the sun of prosperity always +cheers with enlivening beams.</p> + +<p>Don't waste sympathy in this connection +for the young Sawbones. <hi rend="font-style: italic">His</hi> thirst for action +can be slaked at pauper fountains. For +<hi rend="font-style: italic">him</hi> the emigrant's chamber, the cabin of the +arriving ship, the dispensary, the asylums, +the hospitals, and the poor-houses, are always +open; and if his "soul be in arms," there are +(Heaven knows) "frays" in this city numerous +enough for any ambitious surgical eagerness.</p> + +<p>But for the aspiring attorney where are +the avenues open for gratuitous action? Do +merchants nail up promissory notes upon awning +posts for attorneys to seize and put in +suit? What "old nobs" of Wall-street are +willing to put themselves "in chancery" to +oblige Hopper Tape, Esq., your humble attendant +upon the +Where are the courts possessing suits without +counsel?</p> + +<p>We may be told of unfortunate wretches +who murder in drunken fits to whom counsel +are assigned. But what are ten crusts of +bread per annum among a thousand hungry +dogs?</p> + +<p>Thou must face the truth, young college +boy, who now and then dost stroll into court-rooms, +or who dost lounge away an hour in +a friend's law office admiring his books and +piles of papers—thinking the while of the +time when thou wilt have graduated and obtained +permission to hang up thy pomp-gilded +"shingle:" <hi rend="font-style: italic">thou must face the truth</hi>! The +counsel who so attracts thy admiration, in +thy court-room lounging, has fought weary +years with myriad obstacles; there are the +ashes of many nights and days of toil and +struggle sprinkled upon his hair; he has +fought his way (from where thou sittest a +listener to where he stands a speaker), as if +through an Indian gauntlet file. There were +a hundred mouths waiting for the first crumbs +which came to his impatient legal digestion; +and a hundred envious heads and hearts to +worry him if possible into a dyspepsia over +those crumbs. He has began with an office +in a fifth story, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">climbed down</hi> towards the +street. He commenced to hive his honey +near the roof! While out of his office he +climbed a professional ladder, the holding on +to which tasked all his powers of physical, +mental, and pecuniary endurance. Face the +truth!</p> + +<p>Reach me yonder diary and legal register. +Two thousand practising lawyers in the city +of New-York! Out of these one hundred +are "notables;" fifty are "distinguished;" +twenty-five are eminent.</p> + +<p>A large body of them are "conveyancers" +growing thin in person and thinner in mind +over deeds and titles; a larger body "attorneys"—getters +up and supervisors of suits—providers +of ammunition for "distinguished +counsel" to discharge with loud reports (the +said counsel brilliant by the flash: the attorney +obscured in the smoke); many, very +many, chained to "larcenies" at the Sessions, +"landlord dispossessions" at the Marine Court, +suits on butcher's bills at Ward Courts, or +"malicious prosecutions" in the Common +Pleas.</p> + +<p>Yet there are hundreds of coral reefs and +pearls for persevering divers in this ocean +of litigation. Three thousand pending cases +every month are three thousand nutshells<pb n="176" /><anchor id="Pg176" /> +where the meat is often fresh and oily, even +with the weary keeping on the calendar for +months and years. There are <hi rend="font-style: italic">some</hi> counsel +who pocket fees and costs to the tune of twenty +thousand a year. We know many a Quirk, +Gammon and Snap, who realize an undoubted +"ten thousand a year," with no Tittlebat Titmouse +for a standing annoyance. And we +can taper off on the finger many who do not +realize five hundred a year, and work like negro +slaves at that: they are continually rough +hewing, but no divinity shapes their ends.</p> + +<p>Five years of "starvation," and five more +years of toil and trouble, constitute the depth +of a lawyer's slough of despond in New-York; +to say nothing of the giants' castles +to storm upon the way, or the fights with the +Apolyons of Envy. Obviously so!</p> + +<p>A man now-a-days will let a young Sawbones +advise ice for his child's croup, or even +experiment with his own much-abused liver, +when he would not intrust a young attorney +with the suing a note where ten witnesses +saw the note signed and the "consideration +money" paid over. And if the public really +knew how much danger their pockets were +in when the "buttons" were under the control +of inexperienced lawyers, the number of +"starvers" would be doubled. What "eminent" +lawyer is there who does not look back +to the "practice" of his youth, in perfect terror +to witness the mistakes he made, as the +helmsman, who has scudded through the +breakers to the open sea, glances back at the +dangers he escaped?</p> + +<p>The young lawyers of a year back are, +however, five years—perhaps ten—in advance +of the lawyers of this year's growth. +The latter have greater rivalry in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">hordes</hi> +of practitioners from the interior whom the +"new code" have driven from their <hi rend="font-style: italic">trespass +quare clausum fregit</hi> into the city. Many of +them, too, were men of mark in their ports of +departure, bold and confident in their new +haven!</p> + +<p>One field, however, in the legal township +of this city, offers room upon its face for +tillers—<hi rend="font-style: italic">the field of advocacy</hi>! It is ploughed +by some twenty or thirty, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">harrowed</hi> by +some fifty or sixty. There are a <hi rend="font-style: italic">dozen</hi> whom +the ghosts of Nisi Prius flock to hear upon +great occasions. And these will long hold +the monopoly.</p> + +<p>Why?</p> + +<p>Because the advocate and barrister must +have had vast experience at Nisi Prius (or the +court where matters of fact are investigated +by judge and jury); have acquired a practised +tact; have had opportunities of testing their +own calibre to know if they are fitted for +emergencies—as the gunsmith tests his barrels +before he "stocks" them. And the +young lawyer has small opportunity afforded +him to acquire this tact—to permit this testing. +If he can play "devil" for a few years +to some barrister of extended practice, or +scent "occasions" like a blood-hound on the +trail of the valuable fugitive from justice, +then he is a happy man, and is in the fair way +of soon becoming a monopolist himself.</p> + +<p>Any juryman of two years' standing will +corroborate our statement as to the openness +of the field of legal advocacy. How often +has he seen cause after cause "set down," +"reserved," or "put off," because counsel +are engaged elsewhere? How often has he +heard the same advocate in four or five causes +in the same week, in the same court, changing +positions like the queen of an active chess-board; +profiting his fame and pocket by +means of only a hurried glance at the elaborate +brief which his junior has "got up" for +him?</p> + +<p>Some one has said that the barrister works +hard, lives well, and dies poor. Regarding +the first two conditions of his life there is little +doubt upon the question of truth; the dying +in poverty <hi rend="font-style: italic">may be</hi> problematical. Yet in +a recent print, professing to furnish a list of +wealthy tax-payers, the list contained four +lawyers, and only one was a barrister. The +instance proves little, for a lawyer may be +very rich and yet pay no taxes. The assessors +may fight shy of his bell-pull as they go +their rounds, because of his penchant to find +flaws in their actions and bring them official +discredit in an apparently laborious task, but +in reality a sinecure of an employment.</p> + +<p>We have often asked ourselves if barristers +have stomachs. Bowels of compassion they +have not, that is certain; but have they stomachs? +Say nine times in a year they dine +at the same hour of the day; and then spoon +their soup with the blood all drawn from the +digestive apparatus to feed the brain. Yet +they eat like aldermen and drink like German +princes....</p> + +<p>This much of idle reverie, as, with pen in +hand, we laid down the two bulky and elaborately-published +volumes whose title we have +taken as text; this much of glance at the +condition of the young and old advocate of +to-day, before we digest our reflections upon +the advocate and jurist of the past.</p> + +<p>It was our privilege in our legal novitiate +(this is but <hi rend="font-style: italic">a phrase</hi>; for a lawyer is always +in his novitiate) to have been, at the Cambridge +Law School, a pupil of Mr. Justice +Story; and thus to have drank at the very +fountain head of constitutional law—that +branch of our national jurisprudence which +can least fluctuate. Judges of a day and not +of a generation, or crazy legislators with spasmodic +wisdom, may alter, and overturn, and +mystify by simplification, the laws and usages +of every-day life; but it is scarcely to be apprehended +that the current of our constitutional +law will ever be diverted from original +channels. There is danger rather of its being +dammed into stagnation.</p> + +<p>While fully aware of his faults and foibles +as a man, and his idiosyncracies as a judge +and a legal writer, we have never wavered +in loyalty to his judicial majesty, or found a<pb n="177" /><anchor id="Pg177" /> +flaw in the regard we paid to his memory. +And no book was more welcome to Zimmerman +in his solitude than these volumes regarding +the illustrious judge, prepared by his +son, were welcome to our Christmas-holiday +leisure.</p> + +<p>Joseph Story was the eldest of eleven children, +and lived to be indeed the "Joseph" +of mark and renown to his father and brothers. +He was born in Marblehead, September +18th, 1779. His father was a physician, +and served during a portion of the Revolution +as army surgeon. He died when the future +judge was twenty-six years of age: yet what +the son then was is best told by one sentence +from the father's will—after making his wife +sole executrix, he recommends her to his son +Joseph, adding, "and although this perhaps +is needless, I do it to mark my special confidence +in his affections, skill, and abilities." +From the father, our lawyer thus panegyrized +received friendly geniality and broad understanding; +from the mother, indomitable will, +vigor and enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Habit of observation and desire of knowledge +were the prominent attributes of his +childish character; nevertheless he was ardent +in all the sports of boyhood. To the +last he maintained a regard for his honor, +which induced him while yet a lad, and under +promise not to divulge the name of a schoolmate +offender, to receive a severe flogging +rather than to yield up his knowledge upon +the subject. At the age of sixteen, in the +midst of a Freshman term at Harvard College, +he thought of matriculation; but upon inquiry +learned that he must not only be examined +upon the works of ordinary preparatory +reading, but that it was necessary for +him to expect a call upon the volumes which +his class had dispatched during the past half +year. At first he was daunted, but remembering +there yet remained six weeks of vacation, +he addressed himself to the necessary +labor—the severity of which is best evidenced +by the fact that in the short time above +mentioned he read Sallust, the odes of Horace, +two books of Livy, three books of the +Anabasis, two books of the Iliad, and certain +English treatises. This sounds like the railroad +instruction now much in vogue; but its +effects were permanent in value upon his +mind. Few readers of his works will accuse +him of a want of proficiency in Latin! But +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">often</hi> reading—the <hi rend="font-style: italic">saepe legendo</hi> was +ever his habit: for he remembered the couplet:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Sic homo fit doctus non vi sed saepe legendo.</l> +</lg> + +<p>He passed muster with the college tutors +in January, 1795. Among his classmates were +the (afterwards Reverends) Dr. Tuckerman +and Wm. E. Channing—to the genius and +character of the latter of whom he always +bore the most enthusiastic and hearty testimony. +Indeed he contested with Channing +for the highest honor. Channing won it, but +always gave the honor himself to Story; +while the latter always declared that the former +won the just meed of his genius and +scholarship.</p> + +<p>Their graduation was in the summer of +1798: and immediately upon quitting college +Mr. Story commenced the study of the law +with Mr. Samuel Sewall, afterwards Chief Justice +in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. +Fourteen hours a day was over his quantum +of study. Although sometimes disheartened, +he never surrendered his determination to +master the elements and details of his new +profession.</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Studying</hi> law in those days was a far different +thing from its <hi rend="font-style: italic">reading</hi> now. Then it +was <hi rend="font-style: italic">multum</hi>: now it is <hi rend="font-style: italic">multa</hi>. No copious +indexes and multifarious treatises were counted +by thousands: no digests (directories to +the streets, the avenues, the fountains and the +temples of the science), abounded by scores. +Libraries were carried about in wheelbarrows +and not in processions of vans, when the inexorable +moving day came around. Learned +judges were not then compelled to hold courts +in remote villages (resorting hereby to a <hi rend="font-style: italic">coup +de loi</hi>), in order to escape the <hi rend="font-style: italic">cacoethes loquendi</hi> +of case lawyers and presuming juniors. +Legal lore was builded up like the massive +stone and hard grained mortar of the +edifices of that olden time—slowly, carefully, +but lastingly; not as are builded now the +brick and stuccoed mansions of the snob and +parvenu. Not that abounding treatises and +familiarizing digests forbid the idea of the +perfect lawyer now-a-days: only that to-day +the law student in the midst of a large library +stands more in need (when thinking of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">otium</hi> which accompanies certain dignity), to +utter the ejaculation, "lead us not into temptation"—the +temptation of possessing that +knowledge which teaches where to seek for +information, and not the kind which is information +of itself.</p> + +<p>In 1801 Mr. Story came to the Salem bar +while at the age of twenty-two. After being +three years at practice he married his first +wife, who died within two years afterward, +plunging him into the deepest grief. During +his courtship he dabbled (as almost every +young lawyer does until he finds that clients +are severe critics) in poetry, and wrote a +didactic poem of two parts in heroic verse, +entitled "The Power of Solitude." Adopting +the criticism of the biographers—its prominent +defects were exaggeration of feeling, +confusion of imagery, want of simplicity of +expression, stilted and artificial style. But +though dull as a poem, it shows facility and +talent for versification, breathes a warm aspiration +for virtue and truth, and is creditable +to the scholarship of its author.</p> + +<p>After the loss of his wife he sought relief +from painful thoughts in the laborious duties +of a large and increasing business. His position +at the bar was prominent, and he was +engaged in nearly all the cases of importance.<pb n="178" /><anchor id="Pg178" /> +His manner to the jury was earnest and +spirited; he managed his causes with tact +(that great acquirement of the successful +lawyer: being, as a distinguished barrister +now dead and gone said to Dr. Hosack, the +same sheet anchor to the advocate which mercury +or bark is to the physician), was ready +in attack or defence, and possessed great eloquence +of expression. As an advocate he +showed a sagacity of perception which no intricacy +of detail could blind, no suddenness +of attack confuse, and which afterwards so +distinguished him as a Judge. He was thrown +among the leading lawyers; and undaunted +as all young lawyers should be (although preserving +their modesty of deportment and learning), +he measured swords with the most accomplished. +Although sometimes vanquished, he +always received honors from even the victors.</p> + +<p>It is a prevailing opinion with the junior +members of the legal profession, that their +seniors delight in snubbing them; that they +are fond of being discourteous, and arrogant; +that they are envious of some and insulting +to others. But it is rare indeed that the seniors +err on other ground in this respect than +magnanimity. The industrious youngster, +the self-reliant youngster, the firm but respectful +youngster, the versed in elementary +principles among youngsters, are always received +with open arms. Law begets law. If +the junior commences a suit a senior may answer +it: and the reverse. The parson and +the doctor are in perpetual interference with +the neighbors and brethren of their particular +calling. But lawyers, like bees in the +beehive, must of necessity assist and succor +each other, or there will be less honey laid +away when the summer is past and the harvest +ended.</p> + +<p>Early in his professional career he became +an ardent politician. He was a Jeffersonian +Democrat, and at the bar of his residence +stood almost alone in his partisan position. +As such a party man he went into the State +Legislature, and became an acknowledged +leader. He possessed that great quality for +a leader, the faculty of extempore speaking, +joined with the ability to condense and elucidate +the topics he took in hand. But he +never submitted the convictions of his judgment +to party dictation; and soon after his +entering the arena of legislative warfare, he +bravely stemmed party tide in advocating an +increase of salaries for the State judges. The +latter were all federalists, and it was not to +be wondered that the republicans of that +day, who wore in their noses the rings of +party, should shrug their shoulders at the +prospect of benefiting political opponents. +But by his firm conduct, and by his confident +assertion and able arguments in favor of the +measure, it was carried. And to Joseph +Story, more than any other man, Massachusetts +is indebted for the opportunity of employing +ablest judicial officers, without making +their families beggars.</p> + +<p>It is the disgrace of our country that its +judicial officers are the most poorly paid of +all professions and pursuits. And in every +section of the Union, that distinguished lawyer +who accepts a seat upon the bench, must +hold the glories of his honor at a very high +price, to surrender his ordinary professional +emoluments for the wretched pittance which +the various States dole out for days of public +toil and nights of private study. We desire +to look no further than this Empire State for +examples. This Empire State, with its magnificent +resources and proudly developing +energies, should be the last to unite in adjudging +its judicial officers to the labors of +galley slaves, and to then pay them by the +year less than a ballet-dancer receives by +the month in all its principal cities. Two +thousand five hundred dollars per year is the +astounding sum which this same Empire +State pays to its highest judicial officers. If +we reverse the saying of Walpole, and read +"<hi rend="font-style: italic">every price has its man</hi>," we may not wonder +if Dogberries and grandmothers are occasionally +found upon the bench, dispensing +their honest but destructive platitudes, and +their Malaprop constructions of commercial +law, to juries of astounded merchants.</p> + +<p>From the arena of State politics, Mr. Story +next changed his position to the temple of +national discussions at Washington. His career +in Congress was, however, limited to one +session, and to a vacancy-seat occasioned by +a death. He declined re-election; for in the +words of his autobiographical account of this +portion of his career, he had lost all relish +for political controversy, and had found that +an entire obedience to party projects required +such constant sacrifices of opinion and feeling, +that he preferred to devote himself with singleness +of heart to the study of the law, +which was at all times the object of his admiration +and almost exclusive devotion. +Public sentiment, however, forced him again +into the State councils at home, where more +liberty of professional engagement was permitted. +He was in political life but a brief +period again, before, in his thirty-second +year, President Madison pressed his acceptance +of a vacant Associate Justiceship in the +Supreme Court of the United States, which +had been declined by Levi Lincoln and by +John Quincy Adams, then in Russia. Although +the acceptance involved the surrender +of heavy professional emolument, the high +honor, the permanence of the tenure, and +the opportunity of gratifying his juridical +studies that he so much loved, joined in compelling +his acquiescence.</p> + +<p>"The atrocious crime of being a young +man," which had compelled a hatred of William +Pitt the younger, in a former day, was +now brought up against him by many whose +party subserviency fairly blushed before his +manly integrity, and by others who envied +him his success. But one year at the Circuit +silenced all complaint. And in his thirty-third<pb n="179" /><anchor id="Pg179" /> +year he was acknowledged to be the +able jurist whom, at his death in his sixty-sixth +year of age, a whole nation mourned.</p> + +<p>Dismissing for the present all consideration +of his judicial life, and all estimate of his +ability upon the bench, and passing over +nearly twenty years of his life, we meet him +in the possession of his fourth great honor in +life—but an honor which was ever the first +prized by him in all his after career—the appointment +of Law Professor in Cambrige +Law School.</p> + +<p>Mr. Nathan Dane, whose Abridgement of +American law in many volumes had obtained +for him the gratitude of the profession at +large, and the more substantial testimonial +of pecuniary profit, had determined, about the +fiftieth year of Judge Story's life, to repay +the law some of the profits which its votaries +had bestowed upon him, by donating ten +thousand dollars for the establishment of a +new professorship. He annexed to his donation, +however, the condition that Judge Story +should be the incumbent. To the great delight +of the donor, and of the College Fellows, +the Judge assented, and was inaugurated +as Dane Professor of Law, with a special +view to Lectures upon the Law of Nations, +Commercial and Maritime Law, Federal Law +and Equity—a station which he filled to the +day of his lamented death.</p> + +<p>This brief survey of his life presents him +then in several public aspects; as a student, as +an advocate, as a statesman, as a judge, and +as an expounder of the great principles of law, +which he worshipped with an idolatry of love.</p> + +<p>To speak of his political career would not +belong to the scope of our article. And to +sit in judgment upon his judicial career would +be our presumption. Older and abler pens +must render their tributes to the extent and +varied richness of his legal lore, which, taking +root in principles, branched into the minutiæ +of detail, under every sun and in every clime +where law is recognized as a rule of human +action. His judicial fame can never be increased +or diminished by individual estimate. +The law of patents, of admiralty and prizes, +the jurisprudence of equity, and above all, +his luminous explorations of what were once +constitutional labyrinths, are monuments as +indestructible as the Pyramids. If every +trace of their original oneness be lost, they +will yet live in the hours of future judicial +days, in professional acts, and in the guiding +policy of a remote posterity. His library of +treatises are legal classics; and the worst defects +which flippant carpers and canvassers +of their claims to merit have discovered in +their pages, have been their richness of detail +and polish of learning! And no one can +deny that as a judge he was the very example +which 'Hobbes' in his 'Leviathan,' carried +in mind when he thus wrote—"the +things that make a good judge or good interpreter +of the laws, are first—a right understanding +of that principal law of nature +called Equity, which depending not on the +reading of other men's writings, but on the +goodness of a man's own natural reason and +meditation, is presumed to be in those most +who have had most leisure and the most inclination +to meditate thereon; second—contempt +of unnecessary riches and preferments; +third—to be able in judgment to divest himself +of all fear, anger, hatred, love and compassion; +fourthly and lastly—patience to +hear, diligent attention in hearing, and +memory to retain, digest, and apply what he +hath heard."</p> + +<p>Not the least amiable phase of the life of +Judge Story, was the attention which he +gave to letters and literary pursuits. He was +no <hi rend="font-style: italic">mere</hi> lawyer: no stringer of professional +centos. He never hid his heart with the +veil of dignity; nor smothered his fresh impulses +(preserved intact from worldly rust +since boyhood) with the weight of his judicial +and professional labors. While he believed +that the law was a jealous mistress, he +knew that this mistress was too stable and +sensible to decree that a gentle dalliance or +seasonable flirtation with her maids of honor—Poetry, +or the Arts, or Literature, or Love—was +an unloyal act. He could turn from +Grotius to Dickens, from Vattel to Thackeray. +He could digest the points of the elaborate +arguments of eminent counsel, and then turn +aside to a gentle tonic from the administrating +hand of Smollett or Walter Scott. +Method was his master-key to all the combinations +in the locks of labor.</p> + +<p>Twice married he never ceased to eulogize +the bliss of domesticity. Surrounded by loving +eyes, the currents of his freshened affection +flowed deeper and clearer every year. How +he treasured home and home joys may be +collected in the following lines from his +poem on solitude (before referred to), written +in his twenty-second year.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Grandeur may dazzle with its transient glare</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The herd of folly, and the tribe of care,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Who sport and flutter through their listless days,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Like motes that bask in Summer's noontide blaze,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With anxious steps round vacant splendor while,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Live on a look, and banquet on a smile;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But the firm race whose high endowments claim</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The laurel-wreath that decks the brow of fame;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Who warmed by sympathy's electric glow,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In rapture tremble, and dissolve in woe,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Blest in <hi rend="font-style: italic">retirement</hi>, scorn the frowns of fate,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And feel a transport power can ne'er create."</l> +</lg> + +<p>Touching the poem from which these lines +are taken, we remember being shown the +only copy of the published book which was +known to exist, by the family of the Judge. +The Assistant Librarian (who was born for +his station in all that regards enthusiastic +love of his duties), of the Harvard College +library, showed us, with great triumph, a +small sheep-bound volume, entitled "Solitude +and other Poems, by Joseph Story," +printed sometime in the commencement of +this century: saying, "the Judge has burned +all the copies he can pick up, and this is only +to be read here." This poem was a sore +subject to the author. He viewed it as not<pb n="180" /><anchor id="Pg180" /> +only a blot upon his dignity, but an annoyance +to his professional fame. Numerous +critics have laughed at it; but apart from the +shorter poems, the main theme showed much +aptitude of poetic imagery, invention, and +harmony of expression. Glance at the following +lines, which contain much of the +genuine spark:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Till nature's self the Vandal torch should raise,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And the vast alcove of creation blaze."</l> +</lg> + +<p>Or this—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Blaze the vast domes inwrought with fretted gold,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The sumptuous pavements veins or pearl unfold,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Arch piled on arch with columned pride ascend,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Grove linked to grove their mingling shadows blend."</l> +</lg> + +<p>Or this—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Let narrow prudence boast its grovelling art</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To chill the generous sympathies of heart,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Teach to subdue each thought sublimely wild,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And crush, like Herod, fancy's new-born child."</l> +</lg> + +<p>It is highly probable that the learned Justice, +knowing his taste for the poetical and +fanciful, and his aptitude at the harmony of +language, often erred in his judicial writings +and treatises, by avoiding beauty of expression, +in fear lest the dignity of his subject +should be injured by too much association +with the creatures of fancy. We have known +most accomplished lawyers err through this +same caution. Our biographer himself (Mr. +William W. Story) has certainly done himself +great injustice as a writer in his work on +"Contracts," when, in the pages before us, +he presents us with so much delicacy of fancy +and rhetorical finish. Blackstone in his +"Commentaries," Jones in his "Bailment" +treatise, Stephens in his essay upon "Pleading," +time-honored Fearne in his "Contingent +Remainders," have shown how grateful and +how suitable it is for the legal readers to find +brilliancy of rhetoric adorning the most profound +learning.</p> + +<p>But certainly Judge Story possessed to a +remarkable degree the faculty of condensation +in his poetical works. His rhyme was +not reason run mad; but reason in modest +holiday attire. Where are lines at once so +compact and so searching in their wisdom as +the following, penned in 1832, as matters of +advice to a young law student:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Whene'er you speak, remember every cause</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Stands not on eloquence, but stands on laws—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Pregnant in matter, in expression brief,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Let every sentence stand in bold relief;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">On trifling points nor time nor talents waste,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">A sad offence to learning and to taste;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor deal with pompous phrase; nor e'er suppose</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Poetic flights belong to reasoning prose,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Loose declamation may deceive the crowd,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And seem more striking as it grows more loud;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But sober sense rejects it with disdain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As nought but empty noise, and weak as vain.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The froth of words, the school-boy's vain parade</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of books and cases—all his stock in trade—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The pert conceits, the cunning tricks and play</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of low attorneys, strung in long array,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The unseemly jest, the petulent reply,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That chatters on, and cares not how, or why,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Studious, avoid—unworthy themes to scan,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">They sink the speaker and disgrace the man.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Like the false lights, by flying shadows cast,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Scarce seen when present, and forgot when past.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Begin with dignity: expound with grace</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Each ground of reasoning in its time and place;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Let order reign throughout—each topic touch,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor urge its power too little, or too much.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Give each strong thought its most attractive view,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In diction clear, and yet severely true,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And as the arguments in splendor grow,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Let each reflect its light on all below.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When to the close arrive make no delays</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">By petty flourishes, or verbal plays,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But sum the whole in one deep solemn strain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Like a strong current hastening to the main."</l> +</lg> + +<p>If Mr. Story had never been elevated to +the bench it is not likely his name would ever +have become national property. Although +plunged into politics in his earlier life, he was +not fitted for the life. His devotion to the +law, and his dread of becoming that slave to +party usages which all public men must necessarily +more or less fashion of themselves, +would have retained him in his native state, +and made his usefulness sectional. To the +politicians of the school of General Jackson, +and to the administration of that President, he +was particularly distasteful. His tenacious +conservatism drew forth from the "old hero," +on one occasion, the remark, that "he was +the most dangerous man in the country." +Lord Eldon, with his doubts and pertinacious +toryism was not more unpopular among the +reformers in England than was Judge Story—the +last of the old regime of federal judges—with +the bank radicals of 1832.</p> + +<p>When Chief Justice Marshall died he felt +almost broken-hearted. A new race of constitutional +expounders had arisen around him. +Brother justices, with modern constructions, +and more liberal notions of national law, +were by his side. In many decisions he was +now a sole dissenter. His pride was invaded; +his self-love tortured; his adoration of certain +legal constructions which he had deemed +immutable in their nature, was desecrated. +And, for many years previous to his decease, +he had contemplated resigning from the federal +judiciary, and living alone for his darling +law school.</p> + +<p>This school was his adopted child. He had +taken it in a feeble and helpless infancy. He +had given it strength and increased vitality. +He brought it up to a vigorous and useful +maturity. It was loved by only a handful of +students when he gave his name and talents +to aid its life: but when he died, a hundred +and fifty pupils were its warm suitors, and +hundreds of lawyers over the whole union +cherished its prosperity as a link in their own +chains of happiness.</p> + +<p>And, although he thought not of it, his labors +in the law school secure for his memory +in the present generation a more brilliant existence +than his array of judicial decisions, +and his thousands of written pages, can ever +bestow. In some pine forest settlement of +Maine, or in some rude court-house in California, +there are lawyers who bring before +them every day his genial smiles and his impressive +lectures, looked upon and heard by +them in former times at Cambridge. Over +all the Union, in almost every village, town, +and city, are his pupils. Each one of them +may sometimes reflect with rapture upon +their days of college life, or remember with<pb n="181" /><anchor id="Pg181" /> +pride their first professional success: but +not one of these considerations of reminiscence +is so grateful to his mind as the thought +of his novitiate with Justice Story. Depend +upon it he treasures up those Cambridge text-books, +those Cambridge note-books whose +leaves daguerreotype the learning of the eminent +deceased, those catalogues of students +where his name is proudly found, as the most +valuable portions of his library. He will never +part with them: but they will descend +to his children.</p> + +<p>It was our privilege and pleasure also to +know Mr. Justice Story at Cambridge; to +have spent days of pleasure in the hours of his +society; to have rendered to his teachings +the tribute of delighted attention and grateful +recollection. We, too, have been fascinated +with that conversation, whose variety of exuberance +and sometimes egotism, were its +greatest ornaments. In the sunshine of his +intellect our mind has sunned itself, and been +warmed into zealous and proselyting admiration. +To his gray-haired teachings we have +paid personal reverence, and we unaffectedly +hope to have caught from his society and intercourse +a spark of that professional enthusiasm +which is the only true guiding-star of +the plodding lawyer.</p> + +<p>The December blasts are hoarsely sobbing +to-night through Mount Auburn, the garden +of his mortal repose—the hallowed spot +which his eloquence consecrated in its origin, +and which his religious love in his lifetime +sacredly cherished. The snows of winter +and the autumn-woven carpet of fallen leaves +are heaped upon his honored grave, the sodded +paths to which, in the glowing spring-time +and fragrant summer, are pressed most +frequent with the tread of faithful mourners. +Years have passed since that honored grave +was first closed upon him. Longer years have +flown since we were under his teachings. But +we seem to view him the same as of yore. +Again the class is assembled in the hushed +lecture-room as his familiar tread is heard at +the door; or as the burst of applause, where +there is no sycophantic flattery known or +felt, greets his entrance to his seat. Again +we see him adjusting his genial spectacles, +and looking around upon the upturned faces +with parental pride. Again we hear his +mellowed, although often impetuous accents, +expounding familiar principles of law, and +descending to the consideration of "first +things" with as much pride and carefulness as +the artist treats his Rubens or Titian, which +for years and years has hung before him in +all lights and shades and in every combination +of position.</p> + +<p>Again, we occupy a modest corner of the +library while he is holding his moot court; +infusing into the dignity of his manner a +marked suavity of disposition which never +forsook him; or he is perpetrating some appropriate +legal joke to his audience, who +never played upon his ease or good nature.</p> + +<p>Again, we have stolen into the self-same +library while he is holding an equity term of +his circuit, to listen to the words of judicial +wisdom which came from his utterance, exuberant +as pearls of fancy from the mouth of +an inspired poet.</p> + +<p>Again, we see him at the summer twilight, +seated by the trellised portico of his hospitable +and happy homestead, surrounded by +family or friends, enjoying the amenities of +life with unaffected pleasure, and sometimes +awakening the garden echoes with his cheerful +ringing laugh; or we see him in the same +hour of the day driving under the venerable +elms of the numerous commons, gazing and +bowing around with all the pleasure which +the king of the fairy book marked upon his +face when the love of his subjects, among +whom he passed, came forth with the evening +breeze to bless and greet him.</p> + +<p>And then we pass into "reverie," and live +a few minutes of "dream-life," recalling to +mind the maxims and sayings which were uttered +in our presence; and the many bright +exemplars placed before his pupils, and the +kindly greetings which were showered all +about—for he was no distinguisher of persons +so long as honor of feeling and uprightness +of motive abounded in his presence.</p> + +<p>He is gone! Yet in these pages of biography +before us he will always live. From infancy +to the ripened greatness of old age, his +life is preserved to posterity by the hand of +his faithful and grateful son, whose duty has +been most ably and interestingly performed. +The very minutiæ of his life are presented +with fidelity and modesty of reference. Some +may carp at this; to these let us say with +the French proverbialist, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Rien n'est indifférent +dans la vie d'un grand homme; le genie +se revéle dans ses moindres actions</hi>. The +straws of every day life mark the direction +of the breezes of individual action.</p> + +<p>To the hearts of his pupils we would send +this epitaph, and ask them if aught less tributary +could be said of one who was and is to +them a father.</p> + +<p>Here sleeps the mortality of Joseph Story, +who lived his days so well that he won in a +short lifetime an immortality of fame. His +career as a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Man</hi> reflected lustre upon the +lustre of an honored father's manhood, and +added to the virtues which his mother bequeathed +him. As a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Politician</hi>, he rendered +obeisance only to his conscience. As a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Lawyer</hi>, he never disgraced his profession by +a thought, and even honored it by his slightest +acts. The colleague of Marshall, the two +now shine together as twin stars in the often +contemplated firmament of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Judicial Renown</hi>. +Not selfish of his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Learning</hi>, it is scattered to +the uttermost parts of the earth, and is treasured +wherever it has fallen. The learning +which he borrowed from continental Europe +he repaid with magnificent interest. In Westminster +Hall his name is associated with Nottingham, +Hale, Mansfield, and Stowell. Counting<pb n="182" /><anchor id="Pg182" /> +as dross the wealth of professional eminence, +he became from the love of it an expounder +of law to its tyros. He has spread +for thousands of adopted children a banquet +of the treasures of legal lore, and next to reverencing +his paternal love they cherish with +profound gratitude the memory of his slightest +instructions. While the Union of his birthplace +exists, her citizens will regard with unfeigned +admiration his constitutional teachings.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>COLUMBUS AT THE GATES OF GENOA.</head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE</head> + +<p>BY THE AUTHOR OF "NILE NOTES OF A HOWADJI."</p> + +<p>Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa in 1437. In 1851 the Genoese +are finishing his monument.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I am Columbus: will ye let me in?</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Or Doria in his palace by the sea.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Proud Andrea Doria named il Principe,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In your Republic named il Principe,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">By Charles the Fifth, the Emperor of Spain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Monopolizes he your meed of fame</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Before the awful Judgment seat of Time.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Well, and Pisani, the Venetian, he,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Venice as Doria was Genoa,—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Why, wide-mouthed Europe clanged their stunning praise,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And history with their names adorns herself,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Dazzing the eyes of pious pilgrims, who</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Press flowers from Doria's garden, dreaming float</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Upon Pisani's silent waters, and</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Proceed, much meditating human fate.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And they had pleasures, palaces. They stood,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And sat, and went, all men admiring,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Men of a day, in its brief life they lived,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In its swift dying died. Men of a day,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Brave, generous, and noble—not enough.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Voluptuous Venice, Genoa superb,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Far fascinating meteors that flashed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Then fell forgotten. Do I carp? Not I.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ye love your own, I mine, mine me, amen!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">O pious pilgrims and ye Genoese,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Proceed, much meditating human fate,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And meditate this well.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">A wanderer driven</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">By every adverse gust of evil times.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Wrecked upon barren reefs of blandest smiles,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Wan victim of a solitary thought</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Too masculine to die unrealized.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tortured with tortuous diplomacy,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Beseeching monarchs still in vain besought,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Not to give kingdoms but to take a world,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Unloved of Fortune, best beloved of Hope,—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When Doria was a lisping boy at school,—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">This wanderer puts forth one summer morn,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Among the other fishers of the sea,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And with a world returns.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Nay! nay! no words.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Your hemisphere was only half enough,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Christopher Columbus globed his fame.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And now ye build my statue, Genoese,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">After three silent centuries have died,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When the old fourth is failing, ye do well</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With lagging stones to pile the pedestal,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And shape my sculptured seeming. Not with wrath,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor scorn. Good God and less with gratitude,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Be those worn features wreathed. I love ye not,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ye are no friends of mine. I did not ask</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">A block of marble for my memory,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But gold to carve my hope. It was not much—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nay, had it been your all, was it not well</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To wreck your fortune on a hope sublime?</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And, Merchants! The brave chance; a small outlay,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And income inconceivable! You chose.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My stately Spain was wiser. So much gold,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">A little fleet,—some sailors—leaders known—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">If not investment, speculation safe,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The honor of the enterprise, and chance—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Always the siren chance—Spain risked and won,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Genoa lost a world.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Sir Advocate!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I understand your meaning; it were hard</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Fame drafts upon the Future should be paid</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ere present recognition! 'Twere unjust</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That hope unhazarded in act, were crowned</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With the same coronal that crowns success.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The starving mariner upon your shore—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The riddle of the West unsolved—stood not</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In the same light to set his worthiness,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As when an unimagined Future streamed</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">All over him in glory. Yet he stood</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In that light lonely, as in the old dark,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Lonely, but looking to that light for life.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Spring-pinioned Hope impetuously flew,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And saw, through the deep Future shedding balm,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">His fame a tree in flower.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">If that were all?</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">If in his vision of America</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He saw but Christopher made famous? Look!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Not for himself; but for that martyr, Thought,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Which struggles fainting in a foolish world,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To ope a gate to wisdom, his heart swelled</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">When his fixed eye beheld his soul's belief</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Fulfilled in Western twilight. Thou my land!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Shalt thunder to the ages evermore</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That dreams and hopes are holy. Thou shalt still</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The croaking voice of souls that shake at dawn,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Loving the dimness of their own decay,—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The lone desire, entreaty and despair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The wasting weariness that breeds disgust,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">All woes but Doubt that, wasp-like, stings Hope back,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">There are ye justified. And never Time</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Goldening this page can slip its moral too:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And never Thought, loving this sweet success,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But still shall love its own wild dreams the more.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And still shall brighter gild all skiey peaks</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of noble daring, with this perfect day.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Regard your leisure with my monument,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My Genoese, for centuries to be</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Will yet retain Its reason as to day.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">There, where my hope was builded, stands my Fame,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The youngest children of the youngest race.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The wide worlds heritors, arch-heirs of Time,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Pronounce my name with reverence, and call</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Your sometime outcast, Father. Be it so.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Andrea's palace claims repairs perhaps,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The sculptured letters must be cut anew,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That on the crumbling girdle of his house</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Proclaim him Principe. That be your task,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And pare your miserable marble, me.</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>FEATHERTOP: A MORALIZED LEGEND.</head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE</head> + +<p>BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.</p> + +<p>"Dickon," cried Mother Rigby, "a coal +for my pipe!"</p> + +<p>The pipe was in the old dame's mouth, +when she said these words. She had thrust +it there after filling it with tobacco, but without +stooping to light it at the hearth; where, +indeed, there was no appearance of a fire +having been kindled, that morning. Forthwith, +however, as soon as the order was +given, there was an intense red glow out of +the bowl of the pipe, and a whiff of smoke +from Mother Rigby's lips. Whence the coal +came, and how brought thither by an invisible +hand, I have never been able to discover.</p> + +<p>"Good!" quoth Mother Rigby, with a nod +of her head. "Thank ye, Dickon! And +now for making this scarecrow. Be within +call, Dickon, in case I need you again!"</p> + +<p>The good woman had risen thus early (for +as yet it was scarcely sunrise), in order to set +about making a scarecrow, which she intended +to put in the middle of her corn patch. +It was now the latter week of May, and the +crows and blackbirds had already discovered +the little, green, rolled-up leaf of the Indian +corn, just peeping out of the soil. She was +determined, therefore, to contrive as lifelike +a scarecrow as ever was seen, and to finish it +immediately, from top to toe, so that it should +begin its sentinel's duty that very morning. +Now, mother Rigby (as every body must have +heard) was one of the most cunning and potent +witches in New England, and might, +with very little trouble, have made a scarecrow<pb n="183" /><anchor id="Pg183" /> +ugly enough to frighten the minister +himself. But, on this occasion, as she had +awakened in an uncommonly pleasant humor, +and was further dulcified by her pipe of tobacco, +she resolved to produce something +fine, beautiful, and splendid, rather than hideous +and horrible.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to set up a hobgoblin in my +own corn-patch, and almost at my own doorstep," +said Mother Rigby to herself, puffing +out a whiff of smoke; "I could do it if I pleased; +but I'm tired of doing marvellous things, +and so I'll keep within the bounds of everyday +business, just for variety's sake. Besides, +there is no use in scaring the little children, +for a mile roundabout, though 'tis true I'm a +witch!"</p> + +<p>It was settled, therefore, in her own mind, +that the scarecrow should represent a fine +gentleman of the period, so far as the materials +at hand would allow. Perhaps it may be +as well to enumerate the chief of the articles +that went to the composition of this figure.</p> + +<p>The most important item of all, probably, +although it made so little show, was a certain +broomstick, on which Mother Rigby had +taken many an airy gallop at midnight, and +which now served the scarecrow by way of +a spinal column, or, as the unlearned phrase +it, a backbone. One of its arms was a disabled +flail which used to be wielded by Goodman +Rigby, before his spouse worried him +out of this troublesome world; the other, if +I mistake not, was composed of the pudding-stick +and a broken rung of a chair, tied loosely +together at the elbow. As for its legs, +the right was a hoe-handle, and the left an +undistinguished and miscellaneous stick from +the wood pile. Its lungs, stomach, and other +affairs of that kind, were nothing better than +a meal bag, stuffed with straw. Thus, we +have made out the skeleton and entire corporcity +of the scarecrow, with the exception +of its head; and this was admirably supplied +by a somewhat withered and shrivelled pumpkin, +in which Mother Rigby cut two holes for +the eyes and a slit for the mouth, leaving a +bluish-colored knob in the middle, to pass for +a nose. It was really quite a respectable face.</p> + +<p>"I've seen worse ones on human shoulders, +at any rate," said Mother Rigby. "And many +a fine gentleman has a pumpkin head, as well +as my scarecrow!"</p> + +<p>But the clothes, in this case, were to be +the making of the man. So the good old +woman took down from a peg an ancient +plum-colored coat, of London make, and with +relics of embroidery on its seams, cuffs, +pocket-flabs, and button-holes, but lamentably +worn and faded, patched at the elbows, +tattered at the skirts, and threadbare all over. +On the left breast was a round hole, whence +either a star of nobility had been rent away, +or else the hot heart of some former wearer +had scorched it through and through. The +neighbors said, that this rich garment belonged +to the Black Man's wardrobe, and that +he kept it at Mother Rigby's cottage for the +convenience of slipping it on whenever he +wished to make a grand appearance at the +governor's table. To match the coat, there +was a velvet waistcoat of very ample size, +and formerly embroidered with foliage, that +had been as brightly golden as the maple-leaves +in October, but which had now quite +vanished out of the substance of the velvet. +Next came a pair of scarlet breeches, once +worn by the French governor of Louisbourg, +and the knees of which had touched the lower +step of the throne of Louis le Grand. The +Frenchman had given these small-clothes to +an Indian powwow, who parted with them +to the old witch for a gill of strong waters, +at one of their dances in the forest. Furthermore, +Mother Rigby produced a pair of silk +stockings, and put them on the figure's legs, +where they showed as unsubstantial as a +dream, with the wooden reality of the two +sticks making itself miserably apparent +through the holes. Lastly, she put her dead +husband's wig on the bare scalp of the pumpkin, +and surmounted the whole with a dusty +three-cornered hat, in which was stuck the +longest tail feather of a rooster.</p> + +<p>Then the old dame stood the figure up in +a corner of her cottage, and chuckled to behold +its yellow semblance of a visage, with +its nobby little nose thrust into the air. It +had a strangely self-satisfied aspect, and seemed +to say, "Come look at me!"</p> + +<p>"And you are well worth looking at—that's +a fact!" quoth Mother Rigby, in admiration +at her own handiwork: "I've made +many a puppet, since I've been a witch; but +methinks this is the finest of them all. 'Tis +almost too good for a scarecrow. And, by +the by, I'll just fill a fresh pipe of tobacco, +and then take him out to the corn-patch."</p> + +<p>While filling her pipe, the old woman continued +to gaze with almost motherly affection +at the figure in the corner. To say the truth, +whether it were chance, or skill, or downright +witchcraft, there was something wonderfully +human in this ridiculous shape, bedizened +with its tattered finery; and as for the +countenance, it appeared to shrivel its yellow +surface into a grin—a funny kind of expression, +betwixt scorn and merriment, as if it +understood itself to be a jest at mankind. +The more Mother Rigby looked, the better +she was pleased.</p> + +<p>"Dickon," cried she sharply, "another +coal for my pipe!"</p> + +<p>Hardly had she spoken than, just as before, +there was a red-glowing coal on the top of +the tobacco. She drew in a long whiff, and +puffed it forth again into the bar of morning +sunshine, which struggled through the one +dusty pane of her cottage window. Mother +Rigby always liked to flavor her pipe with a +coal of fire from the particular chimney corner +whence this had been brought. But +where that chimney corner might be, or who +brought the coal from it—further than that<pb n="184" /><anchor id="Pg184" /> +the invisible messenger seemed to respond to +the name of Dickon—I cannot tell.</p> + +<p>"That puppet, yonder," thought Mother +Rigby, still with her eyes fixed on the scarecrow, +"is too good a piece of work to stand +all summer in a corn-patch, frightening away +the crows and blackbirds. He's capable of +better things. Why, I've danced with a +worse one, when partners happened to be +scarce, at our witch-meetings in the forest! +What if I should let him take his chance +among the other men of straw and empty +fellows, who go bustling about the world?"</p> + +<p>The old witch took three or four more +whiffs of her pipe, and smiled.</p> + +<p>"He'll meet plenty of his brethren at every +street-corner!" continued she. "Well; I +didn't mean to dabble in witchcraft to-day, +further than the lighting of my pipe; but a +witch I am, and a witch I'm likely to be, and +there's no use trying to shirk it. I'll make a +man of my scarecrow, were it only for the +joke's sake!"</p> + +<p>While muttering these words, Mother Rigby +took the pipe from her own mouth, and +thrust it into the crevice which represented +the same feature in the pumpkin-visage of +the scarecrow.</p> + +<p>"Puff, darling, puff!" said she. "Puff +away, my fine fellow! your life depends on +it!"</p> + +<p>This was a strange exhortation, undoubtedly, +to be addressed to a mere thing of sticks, +straw, and old clothes, with nothing better +than a shrivelled pumpkin for a head; as we +know to have been the scarecrow's case. +Nevertheless, as we must carefully hold in +remembrance, Mother Rigby was a witch of +singular power and dexterity; and, keeping +this fact duly before our minds, we shall see +nothing beyond credibility in the remarkable +incidents of our story. Indeed, the great +difficulty will be at once got over, if we can +only bring ourselves to believe, that, as soon +as the old dame bade him puff, there came a +whiff of smoke from the scarecrow's mouth. +It was the very feeblest of whiffs, to be sure; +but it was followed by another and another, +each more decided than the preceding one.</p> + +<p>"Puff away, my pet! puff away, my pretty +one!" Mother Rigby kept repeating, with her +pleasantest smile. "It is the breath of life +to ye; and that you may take my word for!"</p> + +<p>Beyond all question the pipe was bewitched. +There must have been a spell either in +the tobacco or in the fiercely glowing coal +that so mysteriously burned on top of it, or +in the pungent aromatic smoke which exhaled +from the kindled weed. The figure, +after a few doubtful attempts, at length blew +forth a volley of smoke, extending all the +way from the obscure corner into the bar of +sunshine. There it eddied and melted away +among the motes of dust. It seemed a convulsive +effort; for the two or three next +whiffs were fainter, although the coal still +glowed, and threw a gleam over the scarecrow's +visage. The old witch clapt her skinny +hands together, and smiled encouragingly +upon her handiwork. She saw that the +charm worked well. The shrivelled, yellow +face, which heretofore had been no face at +all, had already a thin, fantastic haze, as it +were, of human likeness, shifting to and fro +across it; sometimes vanishing entirely, but +growing more perceptible than ever with +the next whiff from the pipe. The whole +figure, in like manner, assumed a show of +life, such as we impart to ill-defined shapes +among the clouds, and half-deceive ourselves +with the pastime of our own fancy.</p> + +<p>If we must needs pry closely into the matter, +it may be doubted whether there was +any real change, after all, in the sordid, +worn-out, worthless, and ill-jointed substance +of the scarecrow; but merely a spectral illusion, +and a cunning effect of light and shade, +so colored and contrived as to delude the eyes +of most men. The miracles of witchcraft +seem always to have had a very shallow subtlety; +and, at least, if the above explanation +do not hit the truth of the process, I can +suggest no better.</p> + +<p>"Well puffed, my pretty lad!" still cried +old Mother Rigby. "Come, another good, +stout whiff, and let it be with might and +main! Puff for thy life, I tell thee! Puff +out of the very bottom of thy heart; if any +heart thou hast, or any bottom to it! Well +done, again! Thou didst suck in that mouthfull +as if for the pure love of it."</p> + +<p>And then the witch beckoned to the scarecrow, +throwing so much magnetic potency +into her gesture, that it seemed as if it must +inevitably be obeyed, like the mystic call of +the loadstone, when it summons the iron.</p> + +<p>"Why lurkest thou in the corner, lazy +one?" said she. "Step forth! Thou hast +the world before thee?"</p> + +<p>Upon my word, if the legend were not one +which I heard on my grandmother's knee, +and which had established its place among +things credible before my childish judgment +could analyze its probability, I question whether +I should have the face to tell it now!</p> + +<p>In obedience to Mother Rigby's word, and +extending its arm as if to reach her out-stretched +hand, the figure made a step forward—a +kind of hitch and jerk, however, +rather than a step—then tottered, and almost +lost its balance. What could the witch expect? +It was nothing, after all, but a scarecrow, +stuck upon two sticks. But the strong-willed +old beldam scowled, and beckoned, +and flung the energy of her purpose so forcibly +at this poor combination of rotten wood, +and musty straw, and ragged garments, that +it was compelled to show itself a man, in spite +of the reality of things. So it stepped into the +bar of sunshine. There it stood—poor devil +of a contrivance that it was!—with only the +thinnest vesture of human similitude about +it, through which was evident the stiff, ricketty, +incongruous, faded, tattered, good-for-nothing<pb n="185" /><anchor id="Pg185" /> +patchwork of its substance, ready to +sink in a heap upon the floor, as conscious of +its own unworthiness to be erect. Shall I +confess the truth? At its present point of +vivification, the scarecrow reminds me of +some of the lukewarm and abortive characters, +composed of heterogeneous materials, +used for the thousandth time, and never +worth using, with which romance-writers +(and myself, no doubt, among the rest), have +so over-peopled the world of fiction.</p> + +<p>But the fierce old hag began to get angry, +and show a glimpse of her diabolic nature +(like a snake's head, peeping with a hiss out +of her bosom,) at this pusillanimous behavior +of the thing, which she had taken the trouble +to put together.</p> + +<p>"Puff away, wretch!" cried she, wrathfully. +"Puff, puff, puff, thou thing of straw +and emptiness!—thou rag or two!—thou +meal-bag!—thou pumpkin-head!—thou nothing!—where +shall I find a name vile +enough to call thee by! Puff, I say, and suck +in thy fantastic life along with the smoke; else +I snatch the pipe from thy mouth, and hurl +thee where that red coal came from!"</p> + +<p>Thus threatened, the unhappy scarecrow +had nothing for it, but to puff away for dear +life. As need was, therefore, it applied itself +lustily to the pipe, and sent forth such abundant +volleys of tobacco-smoke, that the small +cottage-kitchen became all vaporous. The +one sunbeam struggled mistily through, and +could but imperfectly define the image of the +cracked and dusty window-pane on the opposite +wall. Mother Rigby, meanwhile, with +one brown arm akimbo, and the other +stretched towards the figure, loomed grimly +amid the obscurity, with such port and expression +as when she was wont to heave a +ponderous nightmare on her victims, and +stand at the bedside to enjoy their agony. In +fear and trembling did this poor scarecrow +puff. But its efforts, it must be acknowledged, +served an excellent purpose; for, with +each successive whiff, the figure lost more +and more of its dizzy and perplexing tenuity, +and seemed to take denser substance. Its +very garments, moreover, partook of the magical +change, and shone with the gloss of +novelty, and glistened with the skilfully embroidered +gold that had long ago been rent +away. And, half-revealed among the smoke, +a yellow visage bent its lustreless eyes on +Mother Rigby.</p> + +<p>At last, the old witch clenched her fist, +and shook it at the figure. Not that she was +positively angry, but merely acting on the +principle—perhaps untrue, or not the only +truth, though as high a one as Mother Rigby +could be expected to attain—that feeble and +torpid natures, being incapable of better inspiration, +must be stirred up by fear. But +here was the crisis. Should she fail in what +she now sought to effect, it was her ruthless +purpose to scatter the miserable simulacre +into its original elements.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast a man's aspect," said she, +sternly. "Have also the echo and mockery +of a voice! I bid thee speak!"</p> + +<p>The scarecrow gasped, struggled, and at +length emitted a murmur, which was so incorporated +with its smoky breath that you +could scarcely tell whether it were indeed a +voice, or only a whiff of tobacco. Some +narrators of this legend, hold the opinion, +that Mother Rigby's conjurations, and the +fierceness of her will, had compelled a familiar +spirit into the figure, and that the voice was +his.</p> + +<p>"Mother," mumbled the poor stifled voice, +"be not so awful with me! I would fain +speak; but being without wits, what can I +say?"</p> + +<p>"Thou canst speak, darling, canst thou?" +cried Mother Rigby, relaxing her grim countenance +into a smile. "And what shalt thou +say, quoth-a! Say, indeed! Art thou of the +brotherhood of the empty skull, and demandest +of me what thou shalt say? Thou shalt say +a thousand things, and saying them a thousand +times over, thou shalt still have said +nothing! Be not afraid, I tell thee! When +thou comest into the world (whither I purpose +sending thee, forthwith), thou shalt not +lack the wherewithal to talk. Talk! Why, +thou shalt babble like a mill-stream, if thou +wilt. Thou hast brains enough for that, I +trow!"</p> + +<p>"At your service, mother," responded the +figure.</p> + +<p>"And that was well said, my pretty one!" +answered Mother Rigby. "Then thou spakest +like thyself, and meant nothing. Thou shalt +have a hundred such set phrases, and five +hundred to the boot of them. And now, +darling, I have taken so much pains with +thee, and thou art so beautiful, that, by my +troth, I love thee better than any witch's +puppet in the world; and I've made them of +all sorts—clay, wax, straw, sticks, night-fog, +morning-mist, sea-foam, and chimney-smoke! +But thou art the very best. So give heed +to what I say!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, kind mother," said the figure, +"with all my heart!"</p> + +<p>"With all thy heart!" cried the old witch, +setting her hands to her sides, and laughing +loudly. "Thou hast such a pretty way of +speaking! With all thy heart! And thou +didst put thy hand to the left side of thy +waistcoat, as if thou really hadst one!"</p> + +<p>So now, in high good humor with this fantastic +contrivance of hers, Mother Rigby told +the scarecrow that it must go and play its +part in the great world, where not one man +in a hundred, she affirmed, was gifted with +more real substance than itself. And, that +he might hold up his head with the best of +them, she endowed him, on the spot, with an +unreckonable amount of wealth. It consisted +partly of a gold mine in Eldorado, and of ten +thousand shares in a broken bubble, and of +half a million acres of vineyard at the North<pb n="186" /><anchor id="Pg186" /> +Pole, and of a castle in the air and a chateau +in Spain, together with all the rents and income +therefrom accruing. She further made +over to him the cargo of a certain ship, laden +with salt of Cadiz, which she herself, by her +necromantic arts, had caused to founder, ten +years before, in the deepest part of mid-ocean. +If the salt were not dissolved, and could be +brought to market, it would fetch a pretty +penny among the fishermen. That he might +not lack ready money, she gave him a copper +farthing, of Birmingham manufacture, being +all the coin she had about her, and likewise +a great deal of brass, which she applied to +his forehead, thus making it yellower than +ever.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>SMILES AND TEARS.</head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE,</head> + +<p>BY RICHARD COE.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, little child,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> On this clear bright summer's day,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In the garden sporting wild,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Art thou happy? tell me, pray!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"If I had that pretty thing,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> That has flown to yonder tree,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I would laugh, and dance, and sing—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Oh! how happy I should be!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Then I caught the butterfly,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Placed it in his hands securely,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Now, methought, his pretty eye</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Never more will look demurely!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, now?" said I,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tears were sparkling in his eye;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Lo! the butterfly was dead—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In his hands its life had sped!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, maiden fair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> On this long, bright summer's day,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Culling flowerets so rare,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Art thou happy? tell me, pray!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"If my Henry were but here,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> To enjoy the scene with me;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He whose love is so sincere,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Oh! how happy I should be!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Soon I heard her lover's feet,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Sounding on the gravel lightly,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To his loving words so sweet,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Tender glances answered brightly!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, now?" I said,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Down she hung her lovely head,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Henry leaves for foreign skies—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tears were in the maiden's eyes!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, mother mild,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> On this bright, bright summer's day,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Gazing on thy cherub child,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Art thou happy? tell me, pray!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"If my baby-boy were well,"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Thus the mother spake to me,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Gratitude my heart would swell—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Oh! how happy I should be!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Then the cordial I supplied,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Soon the babe restored completely;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Cherub-faced and angel-eyed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> On his mother smiled he sweetly!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, now?" I said;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Would his father were not dead!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thus she answered me with sighs,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Scalding tear-drops in her eyes!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, aged man,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> On this glorious summer's day,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With a cheek all pale and wan,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Art thou happy? tell me, pray!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"If I were but safe above,"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Spake the old man unto me,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"To enjoy my Saviour's love,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Oh! how happy I should be!"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Then the angel Death came down,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And he welcomed him with gladness,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">On his brow so pale and wan,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Not a trace was seen of sadness:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Art thou happy, now?" I said;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Yes!" he answered with his head;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tears of joy were in his eyes,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Dew-drops from the upper skies!</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND THE LATEST MIRACLES.</head> + +<p>Archbishop Hughes, in a late speech +attempted an exposition of the relations +between the Roman Catholic Church and +Liberty, with special reference to the position +assumed by him and other prelates, that +the Roman Catholics are, not less than Protestants, +upholders of freedom in opinion and +in discussion. The interesting brochure of +his Grace will be better appreciated by our +readers, perhaps, if we mention a few recent +facts illustrative of the subject, as it affects +"authors and books." The French Roman +Catholic Bishop of Lucan has a pastoral +in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Univers</hi> condemning Walter Scott's +works, without exception. He does the same +by Chateaubriand, and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Arabian Nights</hi>, +and <hi rend="font-style: italic">Don Quixote</hi>—the first as Protestant, +the second as insufficiently Catholic, the third +as no Christian, the fourth as of no religion +at all. One unhappy writer of school-books +is condemned because he cites Guizot and +Thierry; another because he blames the massacres +of Saint Bartholomew, and thinks they +were caused by "religious fanaticism." But +first of all, and more than all, the bishop condemns +"that irreligious" Parisian journal, <hi rend="font-style: italic">La +Presse</hi>. "The number of its subscribers is +deplorable; but they are becoming and shall +become less; no priest must subscribe to it. +No priest must be seen with it. No priest +must 'ordinarily' read it." This is all very +proper, according to antecedents, but we +should not like it if Bishop Hughes deprived +us of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tribune</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Herald</hi>, or the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Journal +of Commerce</hi>, all of which are as bad, in the +same way, as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Presse</hi>. Another example +of the prohibition of books, we add from the +cyclic letter just issued by Cardinal Lambruschini, +condemning Professor Nuytz's works +on ecclesiastical law:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"And further, although we derive great consolation +from the promise of Jesus Christ, that the +gates of hell shall never prevail against the Church, +our soul cannot but feel excruciating pain, upon +considering how daring outrages against divine +and sacred things daily flow from the unbridled +licentiousness, the perverse effrontery and impiety +of the press. Now in this pestilence of corrupt +books which invades us on all sides, the work entitled +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Institutes of Ecclesiastical Law</hi>, by John +Nepomue Nuytz, Professor in the Royal University +of Turin, as also the work entitled <hi rend="font-style: italic">Essays on +Ecclesiastical Law</hi>, by the same author, claim a +conspicuous place, inasmuch as the doctrines contained +in the said nefarious works are so widely +disseminated from one of the chairs of that university, +that uncatholic theses selected from them +are proposed as fit subjects for discussion to candidates +aspiring to the doctor's degree. For in the +above mentioned works and essays, such errors +are taught under the semblance of asserting the +rights of the priesthood and of the secular power, +that instead of sound doctrines, thoroughly poisoned +cups are offered to youth. For the said author +hath not blushed to reproduce under a new form, +in his impious propositions and comments, all those<pb n="187" /><anchor id="Pg187" /> +doctrines which have been condemned by John II., +Benedict XIV., Pius VI., and Gregory XVL., as +well as by the decrees of the fourth Council of +Lateran, and those of Florence and Trent. <hi rend="font-style: italic">He +openly asserts for example, that the Church has no +right to enforce her authority by might, and that +has no temporal power whatever, whether direct +or indirect.</hi>"</p> +</quote> + +<p>One of the latest miracles is described is the +Paris <hi rend="font-style: italic">Univers</hi>, as follows—in the most perfect +good faith:—</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"There is much talk at Rome of an extraordinary +cure which has taken a place in the very palace +of the Vatican. The following is the manner +in which this prodigious fact is described,—which +will, without doubt, become the subject of +a judicial inquiry: 'A young girl of about twenty +years of age, whose family is employed in the +domestic side of the palace, had contracted a bad +fever, owing to the loss of her father a little time +before, as well as to the influence of the season, +which has multiplied at Rome diseases of this +kind, and by which a great number of victims +have fallen within the last few months. Notwithstanding +the enlightened efforts of the doctor of +the Pontifical 'family,' and of her parents, the +young invalid was soon at the last extremity. The +vice-curé of the palace (which, as is known, is a +foundation), a member of the Augustin order +(Monseigneur the Sacristan of the same order +is the titular curé), had administered to her the +sacrament of extreme unction, and had recited the +prayer recommending her soul. Her last sigh +was hourly expected. For the sake of enabling +our readers to understand the prodigy about to be +related, it is necessary to state that during the +course of the malady the vice-curé had several +times engaged the pious patient to invoke the aid +of a venerable servant of God, of the Augustin +order, whose beatification is about to be declared, +and he had even mixed in the potions given to such +girl some little fragments of the clothes of the venerable +man. On the other hand, according to the +usage of religious families, they had carried into +the chamber of the dying person the Santo-Bambino +del'Ara Cœli, demanding of these last resources +of the faithful a cure no longer in the reach +of human science to bestow. Let us return to the +bed of the dying girl, whom we find in a profound +sleep, from which she shall soon awaken to relate +with smiles on her lips how she had seen the infant +Jesus, having at his side a venerable servant +of God, clad in the habit of the order of St. Augustin. +She adds that she feels herself cured, but +very weak, and she asks for a cup of broth to give +her strength. The broth is given, to her, although +the request is regarded as coming from one in the +last agitation of dying; but the sick girl, who had +felt the action of grace, and who knew well that +she was cured, rises, throws off all the blisters, +of which not a trace was left on her body, and on +the following day repaired to the church of Ara +Cœli, at more than half a league distant, to thank +the Santo Bambino and the servant of God, who +had restored her to life and health. You may +easily comprehend the sensation that a fact of +this kind must have produced upon a population +so full of faith, especially on the eve of the ceremony +of the 21st, which will put solemnly upon +the altar, in placing him among the blest, the venerable +Father Clavier, of the Society of Jesus, +and at the close of the expiatory <hi rend="font-style: italic">triduo</hi> which +has been celebrated at Saint Andre della Valle +in reparation of a sacrilegious outrage committed +against the Madonna du Vicolo dell' Abate Luigi.'"</p> +</quote> + +<p>Of course the girl never was ill at all.</p> + +<p>Miraculous agencies, it appears, have been +applied to by the highest powers at Rome, +with the purpose which actuates the old ladies +who study Zadkiel. A young peasant +girl living at Sezza, near the Neapolitan frontier, +has been for some time in a kind of ecstatic, +or, as non-believers in miracles would +call it, magnetic state, and in that part of the +province of Marittima and Campagna, is already +known under the denomination of St. +Catherine. Her fame seems to have originated +in a miracle which she worked some time ago +on the person of an old woman, who came +to her in great distress because her daughter +had died in childbed, leaving the grandmother +of the infant without pecuniary means +for its support. "St. Catherine" is said to +have directed the old woman to suckle the +baby herself, assuring her that, before she +reached home, she would find herself in a +condition to do so—a direction which the +venerable applicant strictly obeyed, and +found her hopes realized! Other supernatural +answers were subsequently given by the +saint to various applications of the neighboring +peasantry, and stolen fowls and stray +cattle were recovered by her indications. +But the concourse of people at last grew so +great that that the ecclesiastical authorities interfered +in behalf of the sybil, whom they +placed in safety and repose within the walls +of a convent, prohibiting, at the same time, +any one from coming to consult her without +the express permission of the bishop:—</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"From the accounts of dispassionate spectators," +writes the correspondent of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Daily News</hi>, +"I am led to infer that there is really something +extraordinary in the mental or physical organization +of this young girl, as she alternates between +a dormant state, resembling magnetic sleep, and a +strong degree of hysterical or nervous excitability; +but whatever may be the real cause of the +second sight or preternatural knowledge which +she has, according to public rumor, so frequently +displayed, it is certain that many persons of +this city, including ecclesiastics of high rank, +have profited by the opportunity of getting a peep +into the future, and knowing betimes what they +have to prepare for. Cardinals Lambruschini +and Franzoni and the Duke Don Marino Torlonia +are amongst the number of distinguished individuals +who have applied to this modern oracle. +The advocate Zaccaleoni, Monseigneur Appoloni, +and many prelates have followed their example; +indeed, the surprising replies and alarming prognostics +of the Pythoness so far roused the fears +and curiosity of the Pope himself, that he caused +her to be sent for from the convent at Sezza, and +brought to Rome, a few days ago, in the carriage +of a respectable and religious couple, who went +there for that express purpose. An interview +took place between Pio Nono and the prophetess, +immediately after which she was sent back to her +retirement. The result of the interview has not<pb n="188" /><anchor id="Pg188" /> +transpired, but the girl's revelations were probably +similar to those with which she has already +excited the terrors of her exalted applicants; +namely, predictions of imminent and sanguinary +disturbances, in which, though not of long duration, +many persons will fall victims to popular fury."</p> +</quote> + +<p>The Bolognese paper, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Vero Amico</hi>, which +is thoroughly devoted to the ecclesiastical +cause, occasionally devotes some of its columns +to war in favor of miracles, especially +as wrought by images. The following is its +account of a recent miraculous change of the +weather at the intercession of the Virgin:—</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"The inhabitants of Tossignano not long ago +obtained a new demonstration of love and favor +from the prodigious image of the most Holy Mary, +from that extremely ancient image which, saved +from iconoclastic fury, always engaged the devout +worship of their ancestors; and which their not +degenerate descendants keep as a noble and precious +heirloom of their hereditary religion, finding +in it all comfort and support against public and +private calamities. The late incessant and unseasonable +rains having hindered the gathering in of +autumn fruits, and impeded cultivation for the +coming year, the active pastor, the very revered +arch-priest Agnoli, in order to avert so heavy a +calamity, called the inhabitants of Tossignano together, +and with eloquent and touching words +brought them before the most prodigious image, +so that, by the intercession of the Virgin, God +might restore serene weather. For this purpose, +on the 7th of October, the flock and their beloved +pastor met to depose their humble supplications +at the foot of the altar, sacred to their distinguished +benefactress; at the first prayer, whilst +the pastor was offering the propitiatory wafer, a +ray of sun gladdened the sacred temple, like a +rainbow of peace smiling on the assembled faithful, +and in a few hours all appearance of clouds +vanished from the sky! The Tossignanesi rightly +attributing this to the peculiar favor of their protectress, +and full of gratitude to her, resolved to +sanctify the 12th inst. by solemn acts of thanksgiving."</p> +</quote> + +<p>These poor absurdities, so suggestive of +pity and contempt, may he compared with +the tricks of Rochester knockers and travelling +mountebanks generally in this country, +and no "authority of the church" can raise +them, in the minds of sensible men, to a +higher respectability.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE SONG QUEEN.</head> + +<p>Our excellent friend <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">James T. Fields</hi>, now +in Europe, sends us from his note book the +following fine apostrophe to Jenny Lind:</p> + +<p>WRITTEN IN A CONCERT ROOM, LONDON, 1847.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Look on her! there she stands, the world's prime wonder</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The great queen of song! Ye rapt musicians,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Touch your golden wires, for now ye prelude strains</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To mortal ears unwonted. Hark! she sings.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Yon pearly gates their magic waves unloose,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And all the liberal air rains melody</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Around. O night! O time! delay, delay,—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Pause here, entranced! Ye evening winds, come near,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But whisper not,—and you ye flowers, fresh culled</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">From odorous nooks, where silvery rivulets run,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Breath silent incense still.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Hail, matchless queen!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thou, like the high white Alps, canst hear, unspoiled,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The world's artillery (thundering praises) pass.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And keep serene and safe thy spotless fame!</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>LOVE SONG.</head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE</head> + +<p>BY R. S. CHILTON.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">White and silent shines the moonlight,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And the earth, in slumber deep,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Smiles, as of the silver splendor</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Conscious in her sleep!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">How the moonbeams dance and glimmer—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Hunted by the summer breeze—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">On the bosom of the river,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Through the branches of the trees!</l> + +<l rend="margin-left: 2">May this night of quiet beauty</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Be the symbol and the sign,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of the holy love that wraps us</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> In its light divine!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">So shalt thou still reign forever,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> While the glow of life abides,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As thou now dost, dearest—empress</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Of my heart's deep tides!</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>AUTUMN LINES.</head> +<head type="sub">WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE</head> + +<p>BY J. R. THOMPSON.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Gone is the golden October</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Down the swift current of time,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Month by the poets called sober,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Just for the sake of the rhyme.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tints of vermilion and yellow</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Margined the forest and stream;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Poets then told us 'twas mellow,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> How inconsistent they seem!</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Now, while the mountain in shadow</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Dappled and hazy appears,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">While the late corn in the meadow,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Culprit-like, loses its ears—</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Get some choice spirits together,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Bring out the dogs and the guns,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Follow the birds o'er the heather,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Where the 'cold rivulet' runs.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Look for them under the cover,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Just as the pole-star at sea</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Always is sought by the rover,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Near where the pointers may be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Yet if your field-tramping brothers</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Should not be fellows of mark,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Leave the young partridge for others,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Only make sure of a lark.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thus shall the charms of the season</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Gently throw round you their spell,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thus enjoy nature in reason,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> If in the country you dwell.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But if condemned as a denizen</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> In a great town to reside,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Take down a volume of Tennyson,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Make him do service as guide;</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Borne upon poesy's pinion,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Rise the heights that he gains,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Range over Fancy's dominion,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Walk hypothetical plains.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Soon shall the wintry December</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Darken above us the sky—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Winds their old custom remember</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> All, in a spree, to get high;</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And, as they wail through the copses,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Dirge-like and solemn to hear,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nature's own grand Thanatopsis</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Sadly shall strike on the ear.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But all impressions so murky</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Instantly banish like care,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Turn to the ham and the turkey</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Christmas shall shortly prepare.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">None than yourself can be richer,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Seated at night by the hearth,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With an old friend and a pitcher</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Lending a share of the mirth.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Then to the needy be given</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Aid from your generous boards,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And to a bountiful Heaven</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Thanks for the wealth it affords.</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="189" /><anchor id="Pg189" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE PUNISHMENT OF GINA MONTANI.</head> +<head type="sub">From Colburn's New Monthly Magazine.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head>I.</head> + +<p>There was much bustle and commotion +in the Castle of Visinara. Servitors ran +hither and thither, the tire-maidens stood in +groups to gossip with each other, messengers +were dispatched in various directions, and +skilful leeches and experienced nurses were +brought in. Then came a long silence. Voices +were hushed, and footsteps muffled; the apartments +of the countess were darkened, and +nought was heard save the issued whisper, or +the stealthy tread of the sick chamber. The +Lady Adelaide was ill. Hours elapsed—hours +of intolerable suspense to the Lord of Visinara; +and then were heard deep, heartfelt +congratulations; but they were spoken in a +whisper, for the lady was still in danger, and +had suffered almost unto death. There was +born an heir to Visinara. And as Giovanni, +Count of Visinara, bent over his child, and +embraced his young wife, he felt repaid for +all he had suffered in voluntarily severing +himself from Gina Montani; and from that +time he forgot her, or something very like it. +And for this he could not be condemned, for +it was in the line of honor and of duty. Yet +it was another proof, if one were wanting, +of the fickle nature of man's love. It has +been well compared to words written on the +sands. Many weeks elapsed ere the Lady +Adelaide was convalescent; and some more +before she ventured to join in the gayeties and +festal meetings of the land. A two days' +<hi rend="font-style: italic">fête</hi>, given at the Capella Palace, was the signal +for her reappearance in the world. It +was to be of great magnificence, rumor ran, +and the Lady Adelaide consented to attend it +early on the morning of the second day. She +placed herself in front of the large mirror in +her dressing-chamber while she was prepared +for the visit, the same mirror before which +she had sat on the evening of her wedding-day. +The Signora Lucrezia and Gina were +alone present. The former was arranging her +rich tresses, whilst Gina handed the signora +what things she required—combs, and the +like. Whilst thus engaged, the count entered, +dressed.</p> + +<p>"Giovanni," exclaimed Adelaide, "Lucrezia +thinks that I should wear something in +my hair—a wreath, or my diamond coronet; +but I feel tired already, and wish the dressing +was over. Need I be teased with ornaments?"</p> + +<p>"My sweet wife, wear what you best like. +<hi rend="font-style: italic">You</hi> need no superficial adorning."</p> + +<p>"You hear, Lucrezia: make haste and finish +my hair. Do not put it in curls to-day; +braids are less trouble, and sooner done. You +may put aside the diamond casket, Gina. Oh, +there's my darling!" continued the countess, +hearing the baby pass the door with its nurse. +"Call him in." The count himself advanced, +opened the door, and took his infant. "The +precious, precious child!" exclaimed Adelaide, +bending over the infant, which he placed on +her knees. "Giovanni," she added, looking up +eagerly to her husband's face, "do you think +there ever was so lovely a babe sent on earth?"</p> + +<p>He smiled at her earnestness—men are +never so rapturously blind in the worship of +their first-born as women. But he stooped +down, and fondly pressed his lips upon her +forehead, while he played with the little hand +of the infant; and she yielded to the temptation +of suffering her face to rest close to his.</p> + +<p>"But it grows late," resumed the young +mother, "and I suppose we ought to be going. +Take the baby to its nurse, Lucrezia," +she continued, kissing it fifty times as she resigned +it.</p> + +<p>The count had drawn behind the Lady Adelaide, +where stood Gina. As his eyes happened +to fall upon her, he was struck by the +pallid sorrow which sat in her countenance. +Ill-fated Gina! and he had been so absorbed +these last few weeks in his new happiness! +A rush of pity, mingled perhaps with self-reproach, +flew to his heart. What compensation +could he offer her? In that moment he +remembered her last words at the interview +in his wife's embroidery-room, and gave her +<hi rend="font-style: italic">a look</hi>. It was not to be mistaken. Love—love, +pure and tender—gleamed from his eyes, +and she answered him with a smile which +told of her thanks, and that he was perfectly +understood. Had any one been looking on, +they could scarcely fail to become aware of +their existing passion, and that there was a +secret understanding between them.</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">And one was looking on.</hi> The Lady Adelaide's +back was towards them, but in the +large glass before her she had distinctly seen +the reflection of all that took place. Her +countenance became white as death, and her +anger was terrible. "You may retire for the +present," she said, in a calm, subdued tone, +to the startled Gina, upon whose mind flashed +somewhat of the truth; "and tell the +Signora Lucrezia not to return until I call for +her."</p> + +<p>To describe the scene that ensued would be +difficult. The shock to the young wife's feelings +had been very great. That her husband +was faithless to her, not only in deed but in +heart, she doubted not. It was in vain he endeavored +to explain all; she listened to him +not. She thought he was uttering falsehoods, +which but increased his treachery. Gina had +once spoken of her fierce jealousy, but what +was hers compared with the Lady Adelaide's? +In the midst of her explosions of passion, +Lucrezia, who had either not received, or +misunderstood, her lady's message by Gina, +entered. The maiden stood aghast, till, admonished +by a haughty wave of the hand from +the count, she hastened from the room. Later +in the day, the Lord of Visinara quitted +the castle, to pay the promised visit. His +wife refused to go. "Mercy! mercy!" she +exclaimed, in anguish, as she sat alone in her +apartments, "to be thus requited by Giovanni—whom +I so loved, my husband! my own husband!<pb n="190" /><anchor id="Pg190" /> +Is it possible that a man can be guilty +of treachery so deep? Would that I had died +ere I had known his faithlessness, or ever +seen him! Shame—shame upon it! to introduce +his paramour into my very presence; an +attendant on my person! Holy Virgin, that +I should be so degraded! Sure a wife, young +and beautiful, was never treated as I have +been. Lowered in the eyes of my own servants; +insulted by him who ought to have +guarded me from insult; laughed at—ridiculed +by <hi rend="font-style: italic">her</hi>! Oh! terrible! terrible!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke the last words, she rose, and +unlocking the bright green cabinet, that of +malachite marble already spoken of, took +from thence a small bag of silver gilt. Touching +the secret spring of this, she drew forth +a letter, opened, and read it:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">'To the Lady Adelaide, Countess of Visinara.</hi></p> + +<p>"'You fancy yourself the beloved of Giovanni. +Count of Visinara; but retire not to your rest this +night, lady, in any such vain imagining. The heart +of the count has long been given to another; and, +you know, by your love for him, that such passion +can never change its object. Had he met you in +earlier life, it might have been otherwise. He +marries you, for your lineage is a high one; and +she, in the world's eye and in that of his own +haughty race, was no fit mate for him."</p> +</quote> + +<p>"Ay," she shuddered, "it is explained now. +So, Gina Montani was this beloved one. I am +his by sufferance—she, by love. Holy Mother, +have mercy on my brain! I <hi rend="font-style: italic">know</hi> they love—I +see it all too plainly. And I could believe +his deceitful explanation, and trust him. +I <hi rend="font-style: italic">told</hi> him I believed it on our wedding night. +<hi rend="font-style: italic">He did not know why he went to her house; +habit, he supposed, or, want of occupation.</hi> +Oh, shame on his false words! Shame on my +own credulity!"</p> + +<p>None of us forget the stanzas in Collins's +Ode to the Passions:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fixed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Sad proof of thy distressful state:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of differing themes the veering song was mixed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And now it courted love—now, raving, calling on hate."</l> +</lg> + +<p>And calling, indeed, upon hate, as she strode +her chamber in a frenzy near akin to madness, +was the lady Adelaide, when her attendant, +Lucrezia, entered.</p> + +<p>"My dear lady," she exclaimed, bursting +into tears, as any crocodile might do—"my +dear, dear young lady, I cannot know that +you are thus suffering, and keep away from +your presence. Pardon me for intruding upon +you against orders."</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide smoothed her brow, and +the lines of her face resumed their haughtiness, +as she imperiously ordered Lucrezia to +quit the room. The heart most awake to the +miseries of life wears to the world the coldest +surface; and it was not in the Lady Adelaide's +nature to betray aught of her emotions +to any living being, save, perhaps, her +husband.</p> + +<p>"Nay, my lady, suffer me to remain yet a +a moment: at least, while I disclose what I +know of that viper."</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide started; but she suppressed +all excitement, and Lucrezia began +her tale—an exaggerated account of the interview +she had been a witness to between +the Lord of Visinara and Gina Montani. The +countess listened to its conclusion, and a low +moan escaped her.</p> + +<p>"What think you now, madam, she deserves?"</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">To die!</hi>" burst from the pale lips of the +unhappy lady.</p> + +<p>"To die," acquiesced Lucrezia, calmly. +"No other punishment would meet her guilt; +and no other, that I am aware of, could be +devised to prevent it for the future."</p> + +<p>"Oh! tempt me not," cried the lady, wringing +her hands. "I spoke hastily."</p> + +<p>"Give but the orders, madam," resumed +Lucrezia, "and they shall be put in practice."</p> + +<p>"How can I?" demanded the Lady Adelaide, +once more pacing the room in her anguish; +"how could I ever rest afterwards, +with the guilt of murder upon my soul?"</p> + +<p>"It will be no guilt, lady."</p> + +<p>"Lucrezia!"</p> + +<p>"I have made it my business to inquire +much about this girl—to ascertain her history. +I thought it my duty, and very soon I +should have laid the whole matter before you."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"You may destroy her, madam, as you +would destroy that little bird there in its +golden cage, without sin and without compunction."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lucrezia, Lucrezia! once more I say +unto thee, tempt me not. Wicked and artful +as she is, she is still one of God's creatures."</p> + +<p>"Scarcely, my lady," answered Lucrezia, +with a gesture which spoke of deep scorn for +the culprit. "I have cause to believe—good +cause," she repeated, lowering her voice, and +looking round, as if she feared the very walls +might hear the fearful words she was about +to utter, "that she is one of those lost creatures +who are enemies to the Universal Faith, +a descendant of the Saxons, and an apostate; +as too many of that race have become."</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">What</hi> say you?" gasped the Lady Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"That we have been harboring a heretic, +madam," continued Lucrezia, her passion rising; +"a spy, it may be, upon our holy ceremonies. +No wonder that evil has fallen upon +this house."</p> + +<p>"Go to the cell of Father Anselmo," shivered +the Lady Adelaide, her teeth chattering +with horror, "and pray his holiness to step +hither: this fearful doubt shall at once be set +at rest."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<head>II.</head> + +<p>Gina Montani, her head aching with suspense +and anxiety, was shut up alone in her +chamber when she received a summons to +the apartments of her mistress. Obeying at +once, she found the confessor, Father Anselmo, +sitting there, by the side of the countess. +The monk cast his eyes steadfastly upon Gina,<pb n="191" /><anchor id="Pg191" /> +as if examining her features. "Never, my +daughter, never!" he said, at length, turning +to the countess. "I can take upon myself +to assert that this damsel of thine has never +once appeared before me to be shriven."</p> + +<p>"Examine her," was the reply of the lady.</p> + +<p>"Daughter," said the priest, turning to +Gina, "for so I would fain call thee, until assured +that thou canst have no claim to the +title, what faith is it that thou professest."</p> + +<p>Gina raised her hand to her burning temples. +She saw that all was discovered. But +when she removed it, the perplexity in her +face had cleared away, and her resolution +was taken. "The truth, the truth," she murmured; +"for good, or for ill, I will tell it +now."</p> + +<p>"Hearest thou not?" inquired the priest, +somewhat more sternly. "Art thou a child +of the True Faith?"</p> + +<p>"I am not a Roman Catholic," she answered, +timidly, "if you call that faith the +true one."</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide and the priest crossed +themselves simultaneously, whilst Gina grasped +the arm of the chair against which she +was standing. She was endeavoring to steel +her heart to bravery; but in those days, and +in that country, such a scene was a terrible +ordeal.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou not worship the One True +God," continued the priest, "and acknowledge +his Holiness, our Father at Rome, to be +His sole representative here?"</p> + +<p>"I worship the One True God," replied +Gina, solemnly, joining her hands in a reverent +attitude; "but for the Pope at Rome, I +know him not."</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide shrieked with aversion +and terror, and the pale face of the monk became +glowing with the crimson of indignation. +"Knowest thou not," he said, "that +to the Pope it is given to mediate between +earth and heaven?"</p> + +<p>"I know," faltered Gina, shrinking at the +monk's looks and tone, yet still courageous +for the truth, "that there is One Mediator +between God and man."</p> + +<p>"And he—?"</p> + +<p>"Our Saviour."</p> + +<p>"Miserable heretic!" scowled the monk, +"hast thou yet to learn that of all the living +souls this world contains, not one can enter +the fold of Heaven without the sanction of +our Holy Father, the Pope?"</p> + +<p>"I shall never learn it," whispered Gina, +"and to me such doctrines savor of blasphemy. +Therefore, I beseech you, dilate not on +them."</p> + +<p>"Lost, miserable wretch!" cried the priest, +lifting his hands in dismay. "Need I tell +thee, that in the next world there is a place +of torture kept for such as thee—a gulf of +burning flames, never to be extinguished.</p> + +<p>"We are told there is such a place," she +answered, struggling with her tears, for the +interview was becoming too painful. "May +the infinite love and mercy of God keep both +you and me from it!"</p> + +<p>"Thou art hopeless—hopeless!" ejaculated +the monk, sternly. "Yet, another question +ere I send thee forth. Where hast thou imbibed +these deadly doctrines?"</p> + +<p>"My mother wedded with an Italian," answered +Gina, "but she was born on the free +soil of England, and reared in its Reformed +Faith."</p> + +<p>"A benighted land—an accursed land!" +screamed the priest, vehemently; "the time +will come when it shall be deluged from one +end to the other with its apostates' blood."</p> + +<p>"It is an enlightened land—a free, blessed +land!" retorted Gina, in agitation; "and +God's mercy will rest upon it, and keep it +powerful amongst nations, so long as its sons +remain true to their Reformed Faith."</p> + +<p>"Insanity has fallen upon them," raved the +monk, endeavoring to drown the bold words +of Gina,—"nothing but insanity. But," he +added, dropping his voice, "let them beware. +Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat."</p> + +<p>Gina understood not the tongue; but the +Lady Adelaide did, and crossed herself.</p> + +<p>"And this mother of thine," sneered the +monk, turning again to Gina, "where may +she be?"</p> + +<p>"She is dead," gasped Gina, bursting into +tears.</p> + +<p>"Good!" assented the monk; "then she +is meeting with her deserts."</p> + +<p>"God grant she may be!" aspirated the +maiden, "for she died in the faith of Christ."</p> + +<p>"And who have been thy worthy instructors +since?" proceeded the priest.</p> + +<p>"I have had but one guide since," answered +Gina.</p> + +<p>"Disclose the name."</p> + +<p>"My Bible."</p> + +<p>The monk uttered what seemed very like +a scream of passion, and the Lady Adelaide, +as she heard the words, half rose from her +chair.</p> + +<p>"Be calm, my daughter," interrupted the +monk, waving his hand towards the countess; +"I will guard thee from the harm caused by +contact with this heretical being. Desire +her, I pray thee, to fetch this Book hither, +that I may glance at it."</p> + +<p>"Go," cried the Lady Adelaide, imperiously, +to Gina; "bring this Bible instantly!"</p> + +<p>Gina obeyed, and the sacred volume was +placed in the hands of the monk. The Lady +Adelaide shrank from touching it.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" cried the monk, perceiving it to be +printed in the English tongue, "dost thou +speak this language, then?"</p> + +<p>"It is familiar to me as my own," replied +Gina.</p> + +<p>"I will summon thy attendants for a light, +my daughter," he remarked to the Lady Adelaide. +And when one was brought, the +priest advanced to a part of the room where +the marble floor was uncovered by tapestry, +and tearing the leaves from the Book, he set<pb n="192" /><anchor id="Pg192" /> +light to them, till all, both the Old and New +Testament, were consumed, and the ashes +scattered on the ground. "It is the most +dangerous instructor that can be placed in +the hands of the people," he observed, complacently +watching the black mass smouldering +there. And Gina Montani pressed her +hands upon her chest, which was throbbing +with agitation, but she did not dare to utter +a word of remonstrance.</p> + +<p>"Oh, father, father!" cried the Lady Adelaide, +sinking at his feet, after Gina had been +conducted to her chamber, and giving vent +involuntarily to sobs of agony, "she has dared +to come between me and my husband—he +has known her long, it seems. If she +should have tainted him with this black heresy?"</p> + +<p>The monk turned as white as the lady's +dress at the suggestion. It was enough to +make him. That that docile and faithful servant +of the Church, the powerful Chief of Visinara, +who was ever ready, at only half a hint, +to endow it with valuable offerings and presents—entire +robes of point lace for the Virgin +Mary, and flounces and tuckers for all the +female saints in the calendar, not to speak of +his donations in hard cash, and his frequent +offerings of paintings, most of them representing +the popes working miracles, particularly +that very pious one, Alexander VI.—that +<hi rend="font-style: italic">he</hi> should have had dissent instilled into +him, perhaps even been made familiar with +the principles of this upstart creed! Had +his reverence swooned outright, it would +have only been what might be expected.</p> + +<p>"It will not be a crime to remove her, father," +faltered the Lady Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Crime</hi>!" cried the ruffled priest; "canst +thou connect the word—in that sense—with +so degraded a being?"</p> + +<p>"To remove her in <hi rend="font-style: italic">any way</hi>," persisted the +lady, in a whisper. "Yet the world might +call it <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">murder</hi>."</p> + +<p>"No punishment in this world is adequate +to her sin," answered the monk. "And she +must not be suffered to remain in it."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt then grant me absolution beforehand, +holy father," implored the Lady +Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"And what canst thou do, my child?" resumed +the monk, smiling upon the countess. +"Thou hast not been used to such work, and +wouldst prove a sad novice at it."</p> + +<p>"Too true," she uttered; "my heart is +trembling now. Indeed, I could think but +of one way—the moat. And though the order +seems easy enough to give, I fear I should, +when the moment came, shrink from issuing +it."</p> + +<p>"And who hast thou in this castle that +will do thy bidding in secret and in silence? +It were better that this deed were not known: +and thou canst not stop tongues, my daughter."</p> + +<p>"There are many bound to my interests, +who would, I believe, lay down their lives for +me," deliberated the Lady Adelaide; "yet, +alas! the tongue is an unruly member, and +is apt to give utterance in unguarded moments +to words against the will."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast reason, my child. I but put +the question to try thee. I will undertake +this business for thee. That evil one's sin +has been committed against the Church, and +it is fitting that the Church should inflict the +punishment."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt cause her to be flung into the +moat?" shuddered the Lady Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"The moat!" echoed the priest. "Thinkest +thou, my daughter, that the Church is +wont to carry out her dealings by ordinary +means? Signal as this woman's sin has been, +signal must be her expiation."</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Can</hi> it be expiated?"</p> + +<p>"Never, either in this world or the next. +And every moment of delay that we voluntarily +make in hurling her to her doom, must +draw down wrath on our own heads from the +saints on high."</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide meekly bowed <hi rend="font-style: italic">her</hi> head, +as if to deprecate any wrath that might just +then be falling.</p> + +<p>"Thy lady in waiting, Lucrezia, is true, I +have reason to believe," continued the monk.</p> + +<p>"I believe her to be true," answered the +Lady Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"We may want her co-operation," he concluded, +"for I opine that thou, my daughter, +wilt not deign to aid in this; neither do I +think thou art fitted for it."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>III.</head> + +<p>The castle was wrapped in silence, it being +past the hour at which the household retired +to repose. Gina Montani was in her nightdress, +though as yet she had not touched her +hair, which remained in long curls, as she +had worn it in the day. Suspense and agitation +caused her to linger, and she sat at her +dressing-table in a musing attitude, her head +resting on her hand, wondering what would +be the ending to all that the day had brought +forth. She had dismissed her attendant some +time before. With a deep sigh she rose to +continue her preparations for rest, when the +door softly opened, and the Signora Lucrezia +appeared.</p> + +<p>"You need not prepare yourself for bed," +she observed, in a low, distinct whisper; +"another sort of bed is preparing for you."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" demanded the +startled girl.</p> + +<p>"That you are this night to die."</p> + +<p>Gina shrieked.</p> + +<p>"I may tell you," interrupted the lady, +"that screams and resistance will be wholly +useless. Your doom is irrevocable, therefore +it may save you trouble to be silent."</p> + +<p>"You are speaking falsely to me. I have +done nothing to deserve death."</p> + +<p>"Equivocation will be alike unavailing," +repeated Lucrezia. "And if you ask what +you have done—you have dared to step with +your ill-placed passion between my lord and +the Lady Adelaide: you have brought discredit<pb n="193" /><anchor id="Pg193" /> +upon the long-upheld religion of this +house."</p> + +<p>"I have disturbed no one's faith," returned +Gina. "I wish to disturb none. It is true +that I love Giovanni, Count di Visinara, but +I loved him long ere he saw the Lady Adelaide."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried the signora, her cheeks inflamed, +and her brow darkening, "do you +dare to avow your shame to my face?"</p> + +<p>"It is no shame," answered Gina, sadly; +there is nothing of guilt in such a love as +mine."</p> + +<p>"Follow me," repeated Lucrezia. "You +have no time to waste in lamentations."</p> + +<p>"By whose orders do I die?" demanded +the indignant girl. "Not by <hi rend="font-style: italic">his</hi>; and no one +else has a right to condemn me."</p> + +<p>Lucrezia expected this, and was prepared. +Alas, that the Lord of Visinara should that +day have left his signet ring behind him!</p> + +<p>"Do you know this ring!" demanded Lucrezia, +holding out the jewel.</p> + +<p>"Too well. It is the Count of Visinara's."</p> + +<p>"You may then know who has condemned +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Giovanni!" wailed Gina, as she sank +prostrate on the floor in her anguish, "this +from you!" All idea of resistance vanished +with the thought that it was him she so loved +who doomed her to destruction. "I thought +he was still at the Capella Palace," she inquired, +looking up at Lucrezia, a doubt possibly +finding its way to her heart. "When +did he return?"</p> + +<p>"I came not to waste the moments in idle +words," returned Lucrezia, as she prepared +to utter the falsehood; "it is sufficient for +you to know that he <hi rend="font-style: italic">has</hi> returned, and has +given the orders that you seem inclined to +resist."</p> + +<p>"Implore him to come to me for one moment, +for a last farewell."</p> + +<p>"I may not ask it. He is with the Lady +Adelaide."</p> + +<p>"First, my happiness, then, my life, sacrificed +to appease the Lady Adelaide! Oh, +Giovanni! false, but dear Giovanni—"</p> + +<p>"I have no orders to call those who will +use violence," interrupted the signora, "but +I must do so if you delay to follow me."</p> + +<p>"I am about to dress myself," returned +Gina.</p> + +<p>"The dress you have on will serve as well +as another—and better, for a night-gown bears +some resemblance to a shroud."</p> + +<p>"One moment for prayer," was the next +imploring petition.</p> + +<p>"Prayer for you!" broke contemptuously +from the signora.</p> + +<p>"A single moment for prayer," reiterated +the victim. "If I am, indeed, about to meet +my Maker, I stand awfully in need of it; for +I have of late worshipped but one, but it has +not been Him."</p> + +<p>"Prayer for <hi rend="font-style: italic">you</hi>, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">heretic</hi>!" repeated Lucrezia; +"you may as well offer it up to blocks +of wood or stone. The creed you profess forfeits +all inheritance for you in heaven."</p> + +<p>Yet still Gina repeated it—"A few moments +for prayer, in mercy!"</p> + +<p>"Then pray away where you are going," +returned Lucrezia, impatiently. "You will +have time enough, and to spare—minutes, +and hours, and days, perhaps."</p> + +<p>The signora evidently took a savage pleasure +in urging on the death of Gina Montani. +What could be the reason? Women in general +are not so frightfully cruel. The motive +was, that she herself loved the count. As +Bianca had said, when watching the bridal +cavalcade, could any be brought into daily +contact with one so attractive and not learn +to love him? so it had proved with Lucrezia. +Being the favorite attendant of her mistress, +she was much with her, and consequently +daily and frequently in the company of Giovanni. +He had many a gay word and passing +jest for her, for he was by nature a gallant, +free-spoken man; and this had its effect. +Whilst he never glanced a thought towards +her but as one necessary to wait upon his +wife, he became to her heart dangerously +dear; and excessively jealous had she been +of Gina ever since she had heard the conversation +in the embroidery-room. Pushing the +unfortunate girl on before her, Lucrezia silently +passed from Gina's bed-chamber to the +secret passages, plenty of which might be +found in the castle. She bore a lantern in +her hand, which emitted a dim, uncertain +light. At length they came to a passage, a +little beyond the chapel, far removed from +the habited apartments; and in the middle +of this were two male forms, busily occupied +at work of some description. A lantern, similar +to the one Lucrezia carried, was hanging +high up against the opposite wall; another +stood on the ground. Gina stopped and shivered, +but Lucrezia touched her arm, and she +walked on. They were nearing the men, +who were habited as monks, and their faces +shielded beneath their cowls, when the signora +halted and pressed her hand upon her +brow, as if in thought. Presently she turned +to Gina. A second lie was in her mouth; +but how was the ill-fated young lady to know +it? "<hi rend="font-style: italic">He</hi> sent you a message," she whispered. +"It is his last request to you. Will you receive +it?" The unhappy victim looked up eagerly.</p> + +<p>"He requests, then, by his love for you—by +the remembrance of the happy moments +you once spent together, that you neither resist +nor scream."</p> + +<p>Her heart was too full to speak; but she +bowed her head in acquiescence. Lucrezia +moved to go on. "How is my life to be +taken? By the dagger? By blows?"</p> + +<p>"By neither—by nothing. Not a hair of +your head will be touched."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I might have guessed. It is by poison."</p> + +<p>"It will be taken by <hi rend="font-style: italic">nothing</hi>, I tell you. +Why do you not listen to me?"</p> + +<pb n="194" /><anchor id="Pg194" /> + +<p>"You speak in riddles," said Gina, faintly. +"But I will bear my fate, whatever it may +be."</p> + +<p>"And in silence? <hi rend="font-style: italic">He</hi> asks it by your mutual +love."</p> + +<p>"All, all, for his sake," she answered. +"Tell him, as I have loved, so will I obey +him to the last."</p> + +<p>Lucrezia walked on, and Gina followed. +She saw and understood the manner of her +death, but, faithful to the imagined wish of +her lover, she uttered neither remonstrance +nor cry. The clock was upon the stroke of +one, when smothered groans of fear and anguish +told that her punishment had begun; +but no louder sound broke the midnight silence, +or carried the appalling deed to the inhabitants +of the castle. An hour passed before +all was completed: they were long in +doing their deed of vengeance; and, when it +was over, Gina Montani had been removed +from the world forever.</p> + +<p>"Madame, she is gone!" was the salutation +of Lucrezia, her teeth chattering, and +her face the hue of a corpse, when she entered +the chamber of her mistress.</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide had not retired to rest. +She was pacing her apartment in unutterable +misery. The social conditions of life, its forms +and objects, were to her as nothing since her +terrible awaking to reality.</p> + +<p>Morning had dawned before the return of +the Lord of Visinara. He was fatigued both +in body and mind, and, throwing himself upon +a couch, slept for some hours. And he +probably would have rested longer, had not +an unusual disturbance and commotion in his +household aroused him. They were telling +a strange tale: one that, for the moment, +drove the life-blood away from his heart. It +was, that the wicked dealings of Gina Montani +with Satan had been brought to light on +the previous day. The holy Father Anselmo +had taxed her with her guilt, and she had +openly confessed all without reserve; and +that the Evil One had appeared in the night, +and had run away with her—a just reward.</p> + +<p>In those times, a reputed visit of the devil +in <hi rend="font-style: italic">propria persona</hi> would have been likely to +obtain more credence than it could in these: +but it would probably be going too far to say +that the Lord of Visinara participated in the +belief of his horror-stricken household. Certain +it is, he caused minute inquiries to be +made, although at the express disapprobation +of the spiritual directors of the neighboring +monastery, some of whom were attached to +the services of his chapel, and pointed out to +him the grievous sin it was thus to be solicitous +about the fate of an avowed heretic. +But he could learn nothing. The maid who +waited on her testified that she assisted Gina +to undress on the previous night. In proof +of which, the garments she had taken off +were found in the chamber. The remainder +of her clothes were in their places undisturbed; +the only article missing being a nightdress, +which the attendant in question said +she saw her put on; and her bed had not +been slept in. Giovanni spoke to his wife, +but she observed a haughty silence, and it +was useless to question her. He had the moat +dragged, and the neighborhood for miles +round scoured, but no tidings could be obtained. +Yet, strange to say, in passing on +that first morning through the remote corridors, +he fancied he heard her voice pronounce +his name in a tone of imploring agony. He +searched in every nook and corner, but found +nothing, and soon thought no more of it, except +to marvel how his imagination could so +have deceived him.</p> + +<p>After a time, peace was restored between +the count and the Lady Adelaide; but all bliss +for her, all mutual confidence, had ceased for +ever.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>IV.</head> + +<p>It was midnight. In the nursery at the +castle sat the head nurse, and on her lap was +the dying heir of Visinara, now eight or ten +months old. Until nine days previous, he +had been a healthy child, but, from that time, +a wasting fever had attacked him, and now +he was ill unto death. The Lady Adelaide, +her eyes blinded with tears, knelt beside him, +gazing on his colorless face. The count himself +was gently rubbing his little hands to try +and excite some warmth in them.</p> + +<p>"Do you not think he looks a little, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">very</hi> +little better?" demanded the lady, anxiously.</p> + +<p>The nurse hesitated. She did not think +so, but she was unwilling to say what she +thought.</p> + +<p>"His hands—are they any warmer, Giovanni?"</p> + +<p>The count shook his head, and the nurse +spoke. "There will be hope, madam, if this +last medicine should take effect."</p> + +<p>The Lady Adelaide pressed her lips upon +the infant's forehead, and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"You will be ill, Adelaide," said her husband. +"This incessant watching is bad for +you. Let me persuade you to take rest."</p> + +<p>She motioned in the negative.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, madam, but you ought to do +so," interrupted Lucrezia, who was present: +"these many nights you have passed without +sleep; and your health so delicate!"</p> + +<p>"Lie down—lie down, my love," interposed +her husband, "if only for a short time."</p> + +<p>Again she refused; but at length they induced +her to comply, her husband promising +to watch over the child, and to let her know +if there should be the slightest change in him. +He passed his arms round his wife to lead her +from the chamber, for she was painfully weak; +but they had scarcely gone ten steps from +the door, when a prolonged, shrill scream, as +of one in unutterable terror, reached their +ears. They rushed back again. The nurse +sat, still supporting the child, but with her +eyes dilating and fixed on one corner of the +room, and her face rigid with horror. It was +she who had screamed.</p> + +<pb n="195" /><anchor id="Pg195" /> + +<p>"My child! my child!" groaned the Lady +Adelaide.</p> + +<p>"Nurse, what in the name of the Holy Virgin +is the matter?" exclaimed the count, perceiving +no alteration in the infant. "You +look as if you had seen a spectre!"</p> + +<p>"I have seen one," shuddered the nurse.</p> + +<p>"What <hi rend="font-style: italic">have</hi> you been dreaming of?" he +returned, angrily.</p> + +<p>"As true as that we are all assembled here, +my lord," continued the nurse, solemnly, "I +saw the spirit of Gina Montani!"</p> + +<p>A change came over the Lord of Visinara's +countenance, but he spoke not; whilst the +Lady Adelaide clung to her husband in fear, +and Lucrezia darted into the midst of the +group, and laid hold of the nurse's chair.</p> + +<p>"What absurdity!" uttered the count, recovering +himself. "How could such an idea +enter your head?"</p> + +<p>"Were it the last word I had to speak, my +lord," continued the woman, "and to my +dying day, I will maintain what I assert. I +saw but now the ghost of Gina Montani. It +was in a night-dress, and stood <hi rend="font-style: italic">there</hi>, far away, +where the lamp casts its shade."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said the count abstractedly. +"Pray did you see anything?" he continued, +banteringly, to Lucrezia, and to another attendant +who was in the room. They answered +that they had not: but Lucrezia was white, +and shook convulsively. A wild, frantic sob, +burst from the Lady Adelaide. The child +was dead!</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>V.</head> + +<p>Many months again slipped by, with little +to distinguish them save the decreasing +strength of the Lady Adelaide. She had been +wasting slowly since the shock given her +heart at discovering her husband's love for +Gina Montani. She loved him passionately, +and she <hi rend="font-style: italic">knew</hi> her love was unrequited; for +affections once bestowed, as his had been, can +never be recalled and given to another. The +illness of the mind had its effect upon the +body; she became worse and worse, and, after +the birth of a second child, it was evident +that she was sinking rapidly. She lay upon +the stately bed in her magnificent chamber, +about which were scattered many articles +consecrated to her girlhood, or to her happy +bridal, and, as such, precious. Seated by the +bedside was her husband; one hand clasping +hers, in the other he held a cambric handkerchief, +with which he occasionally wiped her +languid brow. "Bear with me a little longer," +my husband—but a short time."</p> + +<p>"Bear with you, Adelaide!" he repeated; +"would to the Blessed Virgin you might be +spared to me!"</p> + +<p>"It is impossible," she sighed, pressing his +hand upon her wasted bosom.</p> + +<p>"Adelaide"—he hesitated; after awhile—"I +would ask you a question—a question +which, if you can, I entreat that you will +answer."</p> + +<p>She looked at him inquiringly, and he resumed, +in a low voice: "What became of +Gina Montani?"</p> + +<p>Even amidst the pallid hue of death, a flush +appeared in her cheeks at the words. She +gasped once or twice with agitation before +she could speak. "Bring not up that subject +now; the only one that came between us to +disturb our peace—the one to which I am indebted +for my death. I am lying dying before +you, Giovanni, and you can think but of +her."</p> + +<p>"My love, why will you so misunderstand +me?"</p> + +<p>"These thoughts excite me dreadfully," +she continued. "Let us banish them, if you +would have peace visit me in dying."</p> + +<p>"May your death be far away yet," he +sighed.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I trust so—a little longer—a few +days with you and my dear child!" And the +count clasped his hands together as he silently +echoed her prayer.</p> + +<p>"Will you reach me my small casket?" she +continued; "I put a few trinkets in it, yesterday, +to leave as tokens of remembrance. I +must show you how I wish them bestowed."</p> + +<p>He rose from his seat, and looked about +the room; but he could not find the jewelcase. +"The small one, Giovanni," she said; +"not my diamond casket. I thought it was +in the mosaic cabinet. Or, perhaps, they +may have taken it into my dressing-room."</p> + +<p>He went into the adjoining apartment, and +had found the missing casket, when a shriek +of horror from the lips of the Lady Adelaide +smote his ear. He was in an instant at her +bedside, supporting her in his arms; the attendants +also came running in. "My dearest +Adelaide, what is it that excites you thus?" +But his inquiries were in vain. She lay in +his arms, sobbing convulsively, and clinging +to him as if in terror. Broken words came +from her at length: "I looked up—when +you were away—and saw—there, in that +darkened recess—<hi rend="font-style: italic">her</hi>. I did—I did, Giovanni!"</p> + +<p>"Whom?" he said becoming very pale.</p> + +<p>"Her—Gina Montani. She was in white—a +long dress it seemed. Oh! Giovanni, +leave me not again."</p> + +<p>"I will never leave you, Adelaide. But +this—it must have been a fancy—an illusion +of the imagination. We had just been speaking +of her."</p> + +<p>"You remember," she sobbed, "the night +our child died—nurse saw the same spectre. +It may—"</p> + +<p>The lady's voice failed her, and her husband +started, for a rapid change was taking +place in her countenance.</p> + +<p>"I am dying, Giovanni," she said, clinging +to him, and trembling with nervous terror. +"Oh, support me! A doctor—a priest—Father +Anselmo—where are they? He gave +me absolution, he said. Then why does the +remembrance of the deed come back again +now? They would not have done it without<pb n="196" /><anchor id="Pg196" /> +my sanction. Giovanni, my husband—protect +and love our child—desert him never. +Giovanni, I say, can they indeed forgive—or +does it rest above? If so, oh! why did I +have her killed? Giovanni, who is it—Father +Anselmo?—God?—<hi rend="font-style: italic">who</hi> is to forgive me? +It <hi rend="font-style: italic">was</hi> murder! Giovanni, where are you? +My sight is going—Giovanni—" Her voice +died away, and the count bowed his head in +his anguish, whilst the attendants pressed forwards +to look at her countenance. The Lady +Adelaide had passed to another world!</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>VI.</head> + +<p>It was years after the death of Lady Adelaide, +that workmen were making some alterations +in the Castle of Visinara, preparatory +to the second marriage of its lord, who +was about to espouse the lovely Elena di Capella. +They were taking down the walls of +a secret passage, or corridor, leading out of +the chapel to the neighboring monastery. +Standing, looking on, was the count, still, to +all appearance, youthful, though he was, in +reality, some years past thirty, but his features +were of a cast that do not quickly take +the signs of age. By his side stood a fair boy +of seven years old—his heir—open-hearted, +engaging, with a smiling countenance, on +which might be traced his father's features, +whilst he had inherited his mother's soft blue +eyes and her sunny hair.</p> + +<p>"What a while you are!" exclaimed the +child, looking on, with impatience, to see the +walls come down. "You should hit harder."</p> + +<p>"The walls are very thick, Alberto," observed +his father. "All these niches, which +have been blocked up, and in the olden time +contained statues, have to come down also."</p> + +<p>"They are taking down a niche now, are +they not, papa?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. They are removing the wall +which has been built before it. It appears +fresher, too, than the rest; of more recent +date."</p> + +<p>"It seems extraordinarily fresh, my lord," +observed one of the workmen. "The materials +are old, but it has certainly been rebuilt +within a few years—within ten, I should +say."</p> + +<p>"Not it," laughed the count. "These corridors +have not been touched during my lifetime."</p> + +<p>"This portion of them has, my lord, you +may rely upon it."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the remainder came down with +a tremendous crash, leaving the niches exposed, +There was no statue there—but the corpse of +the unfortunate Gina Montani, standing upright +in her night-dress, was revealed to their +sight—nearly as fresh as if she had died but +yesterday, having been excluded from the air. +The features, it is true, were scarcely to be +recognized, but the hair—the long brown +curls falling on her neck—was the same as +ever. This was her horrible death then—to +be walled up alive! The count grew sick +and faint as he gazed. Before he had time +to collect his startled thoughts, the child pulled +at and clung to his arm. "Take me away. +What is that dreadful thing? You look white +and cold too, not as you always do. Oh, what +is it? Dear papa, take me from here!"</p> + +<p>The workmen were affrighted—perhaps +more so, though less shocked, than the count. +But one of them, partially recovering himself, +touched the corpse with an implement +he had been using, and it came down a heap +of dust. The Lord of Visinara turned, and +with steps that tottered under him, bore his +child back to the castle.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>VII.</head> + +<p>You may hear in Italy unto this day, various +versions of this tradition. One will tell +you that the Lord of Visinara offered moneys +and treasures, to the half of his possessions, +to the monks, if they would lay the troubled +spirit of Gina Montani, but that, although +they tried hard, they could not do it. According +to another version, the friars would +not try, for that no heretic's soul may be +prayed for in the Roman Church. But, however +the monks may have settled it amongst +themselves, all versions of the history agree +in one particular, that the ghost <hi rend="font-style: italic">was not</hi> laid; +that it never would be, and never could be, +but still wanders on the earth. And you +were wise to profess faith in it too, if you go +amongst the Italians, unless you would be +looked on as an unbeliever, not a degree +better than the poor Protestant maiden +Montani.</p> + +<p>Several descendants of Giovanni and Adelaide +of Visinara, are still scattered about +Italy, though greatly reduced in station. And +the accredited belief is, that whenever death +is going to remove one of these, the spirit of +the ill-fated Gina appears and shows itself to +them in the moments of their last and most +terrible agonies.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>VISION OF CHARLES XI.</head> +<head type="sub">From Sharpe's Magazine</head> + +<p>We are in the habit of laughing incredulously +at stories of visions and supernatural +apparitions, yet some are so well authenticated, +that if we refuse to believe them, we +should, in consistency, reject all historical +evidence. The fact I am about to relate is +guaranteed by a declaration signed by four +credible witnesses; I will only add, that the +prediction contained in this declaration was +well known, and generally spoken of, long +before the occurrence of the events which +have apparently fulfilled it.</p> + +<p>Charles XI., father of the celebrated Charles +XII., was one of the most despotic, but, at +the same time, wisest monarchs, who ever +reigned in Sweden. He curtailed the enormous +privileges of the nobility, abolished the +power of the Senate, made laws on his own +authority; in a word, he changed the constitution +of the country, hitherto an oligarchy, +and forced the States to invest him with absolute +power. He was a man of enlightened<pb n="197" /><anchor id="Pg197" /> +and strong mind, firmly attached to the Lutheran +religion; his disposition was cold, unfeeling, +and phlegmatic, utterly destitute of +imagination. He had just lost his queen, +Ulrica Eleonora, and he appeared to feel her +death more than could have been expected +from a man of his character. He became +even more gloomy and silent than before, and +his incessant application to business proved +his anxiety to banish painful reflections.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of an autumn evening, +he was sitting in his dressing-gown and slippers, +before a large fire, in his private apartment. +His chamberlain, Count Brahe, and +his physician, Baumgarten, were with him. +The evening wore away, and his majesty did +not dismiss them as usual; with his head +down and his eyes fixed on the fire, he maintained +a profound silence, weary of his guests, +and fearing, half unconsciously, to remain +alone. The count and his companion tried +various subjects of conversation, but could +interest him in nothing. At length Brahe, +who supposed that sorrow for the queen was +the cause of his depression, said with a deep +sigh, and pointing to her portrait, which hung +in the room,</p> + +<p>"What a likeness that is! How truly it +gives the expression, at once so gentle and so +dignified!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said the king, angrily, "the +portrait is far too flattering; the queen was +decidedly plain."</p> + +<p>Then, vexed at his unkind words, he rose +and walked up and down the room, to hide +an emotion at which he blushed. After a few +minutes he stopped before the window looking +into the court; the night was black, and +the moon in her first quarter.</p> + +<p>The palace where the kings of Sweden now +reside was not completed, and Charles XI. +who commenced it, inhabited the old palace, +situated on the Ritzholm, facing Lake Modu. +It is a large building in the form of a horseshoe: +the king's private apartments were in +one of the extremities; opposite was the great +hall where the States assembled to receive +communications from the crown. The windows +of that hall suddenly appeared illuminated. +The king was startled, but at first +supposed that a servant with a light was passing +through; but then, that hall was never +opened except on state occasions, and the +light was too brilliant to be caused by a single +lamp. It then occurred to him that it +must be a conflagration; but there was no +smoke, and the glass was not broken; it had +rather the appearance of an illumination. +Brahe's attention being called to it, he proposed +sending one of the pages to ascertain +the cause of the light, but the king stopped +him, saying, he would go himself to the hall. +He left the room, followed by the count and +doctor, with lighted torches. Baumgarten +called the man who had charge of the keys, +and ordered him, in the king's name, to open +the doors of the great hall. Great was his +surprise at this unexpected command. He +dressed himself quickly, and came to the king +with his bunch of keys. He opened the first +door of a gallery which served as an antechamber +to the hall. The king entered, and +what was his amazement at finding the walls +hung with black.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this?" asked he.</p> + +<p>The man replied, that he did not know +what to make of it, adding, "When the gallery +was last opened, there was certainly no +hanging over the oak panelling."</p> + +<p>The king walked on to the door of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Go no further, for heaven's sake," exclaimed +the man; "surely there is sorcery +going on inside. At this hour, since the +queen's death, they say she walks up and +down here. May God protect us!"</p> + +<p>"Stop, sire," cried the count and Baumgarten +together, "don't you hear that noise? +Who knows to what dangers you are exposing +yourself! At all events, allow me to +summon the guards."</p> + +<p>"I will go in," said the king, firmly; "open +the door at once."</p> + +<p>The man's hand trembled so that he could +not turn the key.</p> + +<p>"A fine thing to see an old soldier frightened," +said the king, shrugging his shoulders; +"come, Count, will you open the door?"</p> + +<p>"Sire," replied Brahe, "let your majesty +command me to march to the mouth of a +Danish or German cannon, and I will obey +unhesitatingly, but I cannot defy hell itself."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the king, in a tone of contempt, +"I can do it myself."</p> + +<p>He took the key, opened the massive oak +door, and entered the hall, pronouncing the +words, "With the help of God." His three +attendants, whose curiosity overcame their +fears, or who, perhaps, were ashamed to desert +their sovereign, followed him. The hall +was lighted by an innumerable number of +torches. A black hanging had replaced the +old tapestry. The benches round the hall +were occupied by a multitude, all dressed in +black; their faces were so dazzlingly bright +that the four spectators of this scene were +unable to distinguish one amongst them. On +an elevated throne, from which the king was +accustomed to address the assembly, sat a +bloody corpse, as if wounded in several parts, +and covered with the ensigns of royalty; on +his right stood a child, a crown on his head, +and a sceptre in his hand; at his left an old +man leant on the throne; he was dressed in +the mantle formerly worn by the administrators +of Sweden, before it became a kingdom +under Gustavus Vasa. Before the throne +were seated several grave, austere looking +personages, in long black robes. Between +the throne and the benches of the assembly +was a block covered with black crape; an +axe lay beside it. No one in the vast assembly +appeared conscious of the presence of +Charles and his companions. On their entrance +they heard nothing but a confused<pb n="198" /><anchor id="Pg198" /> +murmur, in which they could distinguish no +words. Then the most venerable of the +judges in the black robes, he who seemed to +be their president, rose, and struck his hand +five times on a folio volume which lay open +before him. Immediately there was a profound +silence, and some young men, richly +dressed, their hands tied behind their backs, +entered the hall by a door opposite to that +which Charles had opened. He who walked +first, and who appeared the most important +of the prisoners, stopped in the middle of the +hall, before the block, which he looked at +with supreme contempt. At the same time +the corpse on the throne trembled convulsively, +and a crimson stream flowed from his +wounds. The young man knelt down, laid +his head on the block, the axe glittered in the +air for a moment, descended on the block, the +head railed over the marble pavement, and +reached the feet of the king, and stained his +slipper with blood. Until this moment surprise +had kept Charles silent, but this horrible +spectacle roused him, and advancing two +or three steps towards the throne, he boldly +addressed the figure on its left in the well-known +formulary, "If thou art of God, speak; +if of the other, leave us in peace."</p> + +<p>The phantom answered slowly and solemnly, +"King Charles, this blood will not flow +in thy time, but five reigns after." Here the +voice became less distinct, "Woe, woe, woe +to the blood of Vasa!" The forms of all the +assembly now became less clear, and seemed +but colored shades: soon they entirely disappeared; +the lights were extinguished; still +they heard a melodious noise, which one of +the witnesses compared to the murmuring of +the wind among the trees, another to the +sound a harp string gives in breaking. All +agreed as to the duration of the apparition, +which they said lasted ten minutes. The +hangings, the head, the waves of blood, all had +disappeared with the phantoms, but Charles's +slipper still retained a crimson stain, which +alone would have served to remind him of +the scenes of this night, if indeed they had +not been too well engraven on his memory.</p> + +<p>When the king returned to his apartment, +he wrote an account of what he had seen, +and he and his companions signed it. In spite +of all the precautions taken to keep these circumstances +private, they were well known, +even during the lifetime of Charles, and no +one hitherto has thought fit to raise doubts as +to their authenticity.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>DIVINATION, WITCHCRAFT, AND MESMERISM.</head> +<head type="sub">From the Dublin University Magazine.</head> + +<p>It seems strange that so obvious a case as +that of Barlaam and the monks of Mount +Athos has not been brought into the mesmerical +collection of <hi rend="font-style: italic">pièces justificatives</hi>. The +first compiler of the authorities on which it +rests is Ughelli. The story is told in modern +language by Mosheim, by Fleury, and by +Gibbon at the years 1341-51. In taking the +version of it by the last (Decline and Fall, c. +63,) we shall run least risk of being imposed +on by over-credulity.</p> + +<p>"The Fakirs of India and the monks of the +Oriental Church," says the complacent philosopher +of Lausanne, "were alike persuaded +that in total abstraction of the mind and body, +the purer spirit may ascend to the enjoyment +and vision of the Deity. The opinions +and practices of the monasteries of Mount +Athos will be best represented in the words +of an abbot who flourished in the eleventh +century. 'When thou art alone in thy cell,' +says the ascetic teacher, 'shut thy door and +seat thyself in a corner: raise thy mind above +all things vain and transitory; recline thy +beard and chin on thy breast; turn thine +eyes and thy thoughts towards the middle of +thy belly, the region of the naval; and search +the place of the heart, the seat of the soul. +At first all will be dark and comfortless; but +if you persevere day and night you will feel +an ineffable joy; and no sooner has the soul +discovered the place of the heart, than it is +involved in a mystic and etherial light.' This +light, the production of a distempered fancy, +the creature of an empty stomach and an +empty brain, was adored by the Quietists as +the pure and perfect essence of God himself; +and as long as the folly was confined to Mount +Athos, the simple solitaries were not inquisitive +how the divine essence could be a <hi rend="font-style: italic">material</hi> +substance, or how an <hi rend="font-style: italic">immaterial</hi> substance +could be perceived by the eyes of the +body. But in the reign of the younger Andronicus +these monasteries were visited by +Barlaam, a Calabrian monk, who was equally +skilled in philosophy and theology. The indiscretion +of an ascetic revealed to the curious +traveller the secrets of mental prayer, +and Barlaam embraced the opportunity of +ridiculing the Quietists who placed the soul +in the naval; of accusing the monks of Mount +Athos of heresy and blasphemy. His attack +compelled the more learned to renounce or +dissemble the simple devotion of their brethren; +and Gregory Palamas introduced a scholastic +distinction between the essence and operation +of God."</p> + +<p>Gregory illustrated his argument by a reference +to the celestial light manifested in the +transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Thabor. +On this distinction issue was taken by +the disputatious Calabrian, and the result was +the convocation of a synod at Constantinople, +whose decree "established as an article +of faith the uncreated light of Mount Thabor; +and, after so many insults, the reason of mankind +was slightly wounded by the addition of +a single absurdity."</p> + +<p>Of the truth of facts so long and openly +discussed, there can be no question. The +monks of Mount Athos did indeed put themselves +into a state which may with safety be +called one of mental lucidity, by fixing their +eyes intently on a point. Mr. Robertson, who<pb n="199" /><anchor id="Pg199" /> +used to induce the mesmeric sleep by causing +his votaries to fix their eyes on a wafer, had +better precedent than he supposed for his +practice; and Miss Martineau, who, in her +artificial trances, saw all objects illuminated +has been unconsciously repeating a monastic +method of worship. The contemptuous indifference +of Gibbon for once arises from defect +of information; and when in a note he +observes that Mosheim "unfolds the causes +with the judgment of a philosopher," while +Fleury "transcribes and translates with the +prejudices of a Catholic priest," himself gives +a luculent example of the errors of philosophy, +and of the often unsuspected approach of prejudice +to truth. Mosheim's observation, notwithstanding +the damaging approval of Gibbon, +is not without its value. "There is no +reason," he says, "for any to be surprised at +this account, or to question its correctness. +For among the precepts and rules of all those +in the East who teach men how to withdraw +the mind from the body, and to unite it with +God, or inculcate what the Latins call a contemplative +and mystic life, whether they are +Christians, or Mohammedans, or Pagans, there +is this precept, viz., <hi rend="font-style: italic">that the eyes must be fixed +every day for some hours upon some particular +object</hi>, and that whoever does this +will be rapt into a kind of ecstasy. See what +Engelbert Kempfer states concerning the +monks and mystics of Japan; and the account +of those of India by Francis Bernier." +Strange that Mosheim, observing the uniformity +both of the process and of its results in +so many different parts of the world, should +not have suspected that there was something +more in this species of lucidity than the merely +casual effects of a distempered imagination. +By fixing the gaze even of the lower animals +on an immovable point, they fall into a condition +equally unnatural, and which, if they +had language to express their visions, would +probably be found equally clairvoyant.</p> + +<p>A favorite subject of mediæval art is the +life of the Christian ascetic in the Desert. In +these representations a human skull may generally +be seen placed before the eyes of the +devotee. Such an object would fix the gaze +and induce the ecstasy as well as any other. +The charm of this species of contemplation +must have been intense, since in search of its +exaltations and illuminations the very convents +were deserted; and during the fourth +and fifth centuries the deserts of Idumea, of +Egypt, and of Pontus, swarmed with anchorites, +who seemed to live only for the sake +of escaping from life, and in their fasts and +mortifications rivalled, if they did not for a +time even surpass, the Fakirs of the East. To +such an extent was this religious enthusiasm +carried, that in Egypt the number of the +monks was thought to equal that of the rest +of the male population. Strange consideration, +if it be the fact, that a few passes of a +mesmeric operator should produce the same +effects which these multitudes procured +through toils so painful and sacrifices to themselves +and to society so costly.</p> + +<p>The Egyptian method of inducing clairvoyance +in boys, by causing them to gaze on a +pool of ink in the palm of the hand, has already +been identified with the practice of Dr. +Dee, whose blank spherical mirror is now +said to be in the possession and use of a distinguished +modern mesmeriser. Divination +by the crystal is a well-known mediæval +practice; and from the accounts of it which +Delrio and others have handed down it appears +to have resembled, in some remarkable +particulars, the method now in use among +the soothsayers of Cairo. It does not appear +to make any difference whether the polished +object be black or white, a mirror, a solid +ball, or a transparent globe containing water: +the same extraordinary series of appearances +is alleged to follow an earnest inspection of +it. Before proceeding to Delrio's singular +corroboration of this use of the crystal, it +will be well to state what is known of divination +by the phial and by the mirror. Divination +by the phial is technically known as +<hi rend="font-style: italic">gasteromancy</hi>. "In this kind of divination," +says Peucer, "the response is given by pictures, +not by sounds. They procured glass +vessels of a globular shape, filled with fair +water, and set round them lighted tapers; +and after invoking the demon with a muttered +incantation, and proposing the question, +they brought forward a pure boy-child, or a +pregnant woman, who, gazing intently on the +glass, and searching it with their eyes, called +for, and demanded, a solution of the question +proposed. The devil then answered these +inquiries by certain images, which, by a kind +of refraction, shone from the water on the +polished and mirror-like surface of the phial."</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Catoptromancy</hi>, or divination by the mirror, +is as old as the time of the Roman Emperors. +In one of the passages relating to +this method of inducing what is called clairvoyance, +we have an illustration of the early +acquaintance of mankind with some of the +forms of mesmerism. The passage is found +in Spartian's life of Ditius Julian, the rich Roman +who purchased the Empire when it was +put up to auction by the Prætorian guards. +"Julian was also addicted to the madness of +consulting magicians, through whom he hoped +either to appease the indignation of the people, +or to control the violence of the soldiery. +For they immolated certain victims (human?) +not agreeable to the course of Roman sacrifice; +and they performed certain profane incantations; +and those things, too, which are +done at the mirror, in which boys with their +eyes blindfolded are said, by means of incantations, +to see objects with the top of the +head, Julian had recourse to. And the boy +is said to have seen (in the mirror) both the +approach of Severus and the death of Julian."</p> + +<p>The passage may be variously rendered, +according to different readings and punctuations, +either as "boys, who can see with their<pb n="200" /><anchor id="Pg200" /> +eyes blindfolded, by reason of incantations +made over the top of the head;" or, "boys, +who, having their eyes blindfolded, can see +with the top of the head, by reason of incantations;" +or, "boys, who, having their eyes +blindfolded, can see with the top of the head, +it being operated on by way of incantation." +This seeing, or seeming to see, with the top +of the head, is one alleged variety of the +modes of modern clairvoyance. It seems +difficult to imagine that the boy Horner, +whose case is related by Mr. Topham, in a +letter to Dr. Elliotson, dated May 31, 1847, +could have heard any thing of these pagan +practices. Mr. Topham, a barrister and man +of credit, states: "After five or six weeks' +mesmerism, he began spontaneously to exhibit +instances of clairvoyance. The first occasion +was on the 11th of September. It +was in the dusk of the evening, so that the +room where he was mesmerised was nearly +dark. My previous mode of mesmerising +him had been by pointing at his eyes, but on +this occasion I began by making passes over +the top of his head, and continued them after +he was in the sleep. In the course of five or +six minutes after the sleep was induced, he +suddenly exclaimed that he could see into the +room above us (the drawing-room). I said, +'Your eyes are closed; how can you see?' +And he replied, 'I don't see with my eyes; +I see from the top of my head. All the top +of my head seems open.' He then described, +&c. I found every thing as he had described, +&c." Mr. Topham, it need scarcely be +added, does not appear to have been at all +aware of the passage in Spartian, which, indeed, +has not been cited or referred to in any +published work for nearly two hundred years +back.</p> + +<p>A like use of the suspended ring, indicating +the early acquaintance of practitioners in +these arts with one of the alleged evidences +of the so-called <hi rend="font-style: italic">odylic</hi> force, is thus described +by Peucer among various modes of hydromancy: +"A bowl was filled with water, and +a ring suspended from the finger was librated +in the water; and so, according as the question +was propounded, a declaration or confirmation +of its truth, or otherwise, was obtained. +If what was proposed was true, the +ring, of its own accord, without any impulse, +struck the sides of the goblet a certain number +of times. They say that Numa Pompilius +used to practise this method, and that he +evoked the gods, and consulted them in water, +in this way."</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Crystallomancy</hi> is the art of divining by +figures, which appear on the surface of a crystal +ball, in like manner as on the phial filled +with water. Concerning this practice, Delrio +has the following remarkable passage, citing +his contemporary, Spengler: "A man +well versed in the Greek and Latin fathers, +and happy, if he had not presumed, with unclean +hands, to dabble in the mysteries of our +faith (Spenger), has published in Germany a +learned commentary on the nature of demons, +which he has prefixed to Plutarch's Essay, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">De Defectu Oraculorum</hi>. From this (says +Delrio) I extract, in his own words, the following +narrative. There are some (he says) +who, being consulted on matters unknown, +distinctly see every thing that is inquired after +in <hi rend="font-style: italic">crystals</hi>; and a little further on proceeds +to state, that he once had an acquaintance, +a man of one of the best families of +Nuremberg, and that this acquaintance of his +came to him on one occasion, bringing with +him a crystal gem, of a round form, wrapped +up in a piece of silk, which he told him he +had received from a stranger, who encountering +him several years before in the market-place, +had asked his hospitality, and +whom he had brought home with him and +lodged for the space of three days; and that +when the stranger was departing, he had left +him the crystal as a present, in token of his +obligation, and had taught him the use of it; +thus, that if there was any thing he particularly +wished to be informed of, he should +take out this crystal and desire a pure male +child to look into it and say what he should +see there; and that it would come to pass that +whatever he desired to be informed of, would +be indicated by appearances seen by the boy. +And he affirmed that he never was deceived +in any instance, and that he learned matters +of a wonderful kind from the representations +of those boys, although no one else, by the +closest inspection, could see any thing except +the clear and shining gem. At a certain time, +however, when his wife was pregnant of a +male child, appearances were visible to her +also in the crystal. First of all, there used +to appear the form of a man clad in the ordinary +habit of the times, and then would open +the representation of whatever was inquired +after; and when all was explained, the same +figure of the man would depart and disappear; +but in his departure would often appear to +perambulate the town and enter the churches. +But the report of these appearances having +spread in all directions, they began to be +threatened by the populace. It also appeared, +that certain men of learning had read in +the crystal some statements respecting doubts +entertained by them in their studies; and +moved by these and other reasons, Spengler +stated that the owner of the crystal came to +him, representing that he thought the time +was come when he ought to cease making such +a use of it; for that he was now persuaded +he had sinned in no light degree in doing so, +and had for a long time suffered grievous +pangs of a disturbed conscience on that account, +and had come to the determination of +having nothing further to do with experiments +of that kind, and had accordingly +brought the crystal to him to do with it +whatever he pleased. Then Spengler, highly +approving his resolution, states that he took +the crystal, and having pounded it into minute +fragments, threw them, together with<pb n="201" /><anchor id="Pg201" /> +the silk wrapper, into a draw-well." So far +Delrio.</p> + +<p>Another variety of this process is found in +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Onuchomanteia</hi>, or nail-divinition, also +spoken of by Delrio. "In this species," says +he, "male children, before they have lost +their purity, smear their nails with oil and +lamp-black, and then, holding up the nail +against the sun, repeating some charm, see in +it what they desire. This mischief," he goes +on to say, "has gone even farther in our own +time. I myself knew one Quevedo, a veteran +Spanish soldier, but more distinguished in +war and arms than in piety, who, being in +Brussels at the time when the Duke of Medina +Cæli set sail from Gallicia for Belgium, +clearly showed in more than one of his nails +the fleet leaving the port of Corunna, and +soon after dreadfully tossed by a tempest. +Thus this man, who could also cure the +wounds of others by his words alone, rendered +his own spiritual state incurable by any +one."</p> + +<p>The like use of the crystal ball and spherical +phial, containing water, suggests a version +of the epigrams of Claudian—"De crystallo +in quo aqua inclusa"—which has not +been afforded by any of the commentators. +Globules of water are sometimes found inclosed +in crystals, as well as in amber. On +one of those singular gems Claudian has composed +a series of epigrams, which ascribe properties +to the stone, and make allusion to uses +of it hardly reconcileable with the idea of its +being a merely puerile curiosity. The earlier +epigrams of the series are neat and playful, +but insignificant:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"The icy gem its aqueous birth attests,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Part turned to stone, while part in fluid rests;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Winter's numbed hand achieved the cunning feat,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The perfecter for being incomplete.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Nymphs who your sister nymphs in glassy thrall</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Hold here imprisoned in the crystal ball;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Waters that were and are, declare the cause</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> That your bright forms at once congeals and thaws.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Scorn not the crystal ball, a worth it owns,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Greater than graven Erythrean stones;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Rude though it seems, a formless mass of ice,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> 'Tis justly counted 'mongst our gems of price."</l> +</lg> + +<p>And so on through several others, until he +comes to that one which seems to indicate +something beyond a merely figurative use of +the word "nymphs;" though, after all, it is +possible that the word was originally written +with an <hi rend="font-style: italic">l</hi>, instead of <hi rend="font-style: italic">n</hi>, which would +make all the difference between "nymphs" +and "waters":—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"While the soft boy the slippery crystal turns,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> To touch the waters in their icy urns,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Safe in its depths translucent he beholds</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The nymphs, unconscious of the winter colds:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And the dry ball exploring with his lip,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Seems, while he fails, the illusive lymph to sip."</l> +</lg> + +<p>The Latin is subjoined:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Dum crystalla puer contingere lubrica gaudet</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Et gelidum tenero pollice versat onus,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Videt perspicuo deprensas in marmore nymphas,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Dura quibus solis parcere novit hyems:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Et siccum religens labiis sitientibus orbem,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Irrita quæsitis oscula figit aquis."</l> +</lg> + +<p>Not the least remarkable of the qualities +here ascribed to the crystal ball is its energy +in imparting the sensation of cold. Dom +Chifflet, who, in 1665, published his learned +treatise at Antwerp on the objects then recently +discovered in the supposed tomb of +King Childeric, at Tournay, says of the crystal +ball which was found amongst them, +"You would say it was petrified ice; so cold +it was, that my palm and fingers, after handling +it, were quite torpid." And cites Anslem +Boetius, in his book on stones and gems, +as saying, "the crystal is of so cold and dry +a nature, that placed beneath the tongue of +a feverish person, it allays the thirst; and +held in the hands even of those violently fevered, +it refreshes and cools them, especially +if it be of considerable size, and of a spherical +figure;" and another writer on the same +subject, Andreas Cisalpinus, who states of +the marble called ophite, that "they make of +it little globes, for the handling of such as are +in burning fever, the coldness of the stone +expelling the disease." So far Dom Chifflet. +It seems almost as if we were reading Reichenbach. +"He (Reichenbach) found that +crystals are capable of producing all the phenomena +resulting from the action of a magnet +on cataleptic patients. Thus, for instance, +a large piece of rock crystal, placed in the +hand of a nervous patient, affects the fingers +so as to make them grasp the crystal involuntarily, +and shut the fist. Reichenbach found +that more than half of all the persons he tried +were sensible of its action." Chifflet probably +was a man of a nervous temperament. +Those who desire to see the crystal ball in +question, may inspect it, where it is still preserved, +with other objects found in the tomb, +at the Gallerie de Medailles, in Paris. Two +similar balls may be seen here in the collection +of the Royal Irish Academy.</p> + +<p>The use of water in communicating an ecstacy +similar to the mesmeric lucidity, is +largely dwelt on by the mystical writers +known as the Neo-Platonists. Psellus describes +a mode of divinition among the Assyrians +by a basin, which smacks strongly of the +mesmeric practice. "The water, which is +poured into the basin, seems, as to its substance, +to differ in nothing from other water; +but it possesses a certain virtue, infused into +it by incantations, whereby it is rendered +more apt for the reception of the demon." +The effect of the waters of some sacred places +on those accustomed to their influence, was +also such as is claimed for the mesmerized +waters of our present practitioners. Jamblichus +gives this account of the Colophonian +oracle:—"There was a subterranean place at +Colophon, near Ephesus, in which was a fountain. +The priest on stated nights sacrificed, +then drank the water, and afterwards prophesied, +being rendered invisible to the spectators. +It might seem," he says, "to some +that the Divine Spirit passed into the priest +through the water. But this is not so; for +the divine influence is not transmitted thus +according to the laws of distance and division,<pb n="202" /><anchor id="Pg202" /> +through these things which participate +in it, but comprehends them from without, +and inwardly illuminates and fills them with +lucidity, and fills the water also with a certain +virtue conducive to the prophetic faculty, +that is, a clarifying virtue; so that when +the priest drinks, it purifies the luminous spirit +which is implanted in him, and accommodates +it to God, and by that purifying and +accommodating process, enables him to apprehend +the deity. But there is another kind +of presence of the god, besides the virtue infused +into the wafer, which illumines all +around, above, and within us, and which no +man wants, if he can only attain to the necessary +state of congruity. And so of a sudden +it falls on the prophet, and makes use of +him as an instrument; and he in the meantime +has no command of himself, and knows +not what he says, nor where he is, and with +difficulty comes to himself again, after the +response given. Moreover, before drinking +the water, he abstains for a day and night +from food, and partakes of certain mysteries +inaccessible to the vulgar; from which it is +to be collected that there are two methods +by which man may be prepared for the reception +of the divine influence: one by the +drinking of purgatorial water, endowed by +the Deity with a clarifying virtue; the other, +by sobriety, solitude, the separation of the +mind from the body, and the intent contemplation +of the Deity."</p> + +<p>One might here suppose he read of the rites +of St. Patrick's Purgatory. The water of the +lake there is usually called wine, and it may +be that on minds and bodies "which have attained +to the needful congruity," it has operated +as wonderful effects as the Colophonian +fount itself. The proceedings of the priestess +at Brancidæ, who also, from amongst other +sources, derived the afflatus, or <hi rend="font-style: italic">Waren</hi>, from +a fountain, are to the same purpose. "The +prophetic priestess at Brancidæ either sits on +an axis [exposing herself to the influence, as +the Pythoness on her Tripod], or holds a +wand in her hand, given by some god, or +dips the hem of her garment, in water, or inhales +a certain vapor of water, and by these +methods is filled with the divine illumination, +receives the god, and prophesies. But, that +the prophetic faculty comes from no corporeal +or animal source, and from no local or +material instrumentality, but solely and extrinsically +from the presence of the incoming +deity, appears from this, that the priestess, +before she gives her oracle, performs many +ceremonious rites, observes strict purity, +bathes, abstains for three days from food, +dwells apart, and so, by little and little, begins +to be illuminated and enraptured." +What the exact meaning of sitting on an axis +may be, it is difficult to divine; but those +who allege that a patient may be thrown into +the mesmeric trance by holding a magnetized +branch—and those also who have read +of all the phenomena of exorcism being as +fully elicited by a satchel of feathers as by a +bag of reliques—will readily apply the wand +"presented by some deity," and placed in the +hand of the priestess at the moment when +she should receive the final cataleptic impulse. +If there be truth in the alleged modern cases +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">clairvoyance</hi>, we need not be surprised at +the singular coincidences which have sustained +the credit of Colophon and Delphi.</p> + +<p>Not to dwell on other methods of inducing +the afflatus, such as by characters and amulets, +by music, by dancing, and by movements +of the body, I shall now proceed with the +effects alleged to have been produced on the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">afflati</hi>. Jamlichus must still be our principal +authority. Lucidity and prevision have already +been sufficiently indicated, and have +doubtless been readily recognized: the other +symptoms will be found not less remarkable +and equally familiar:—"Man has a double +life—one annexed to the body, the other separate +from every thing bodily.... In sleep +we have the capacity of being wholly loosed +from the chains that confine our spirit, and +can make use of the life which is not dependent +on generation. When the soul is thus +separate from the body in sleep, then that +(latter) kind of life which usually remains separable +and separate by itself, immediately +awakes within us, and acts according to its +proper nature,... and in that state has a +presaging knowledge of the future." Then, +omitting a distinction between sleeping and +waking inspiration, and coming to the latter, +in which, also, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">offlati</hi> have a presaging +power, he proceeds:—"Yet those (latter) are +so far awake that they can use their senses, +yet are not capable of reasoning,... for they +neither (properly speaking) sleep when they +seem to do so, nor awake when they seem +awake; for they do not of themselves foresee, +nor are they moved by any human instrumentality; +neither know they their own +condition; nor do they exert any prerogative +or motion of their own; but all this is done +under the power and by the energy of the +deity. For that they who are so affected do +not live an ordinary animal life is plain, because +many of them, on contact with fire, are +not burnt, the divine inward afflatus repelling +the heat; or, if they be burnt, they do not +feel it; neither do they feel prickings, or +scratchings, or other tortures. Further, that +their actions are not (merely) human, is apparent +from this, that they make their way +through pathless tracks, and pass harmless +through the fire, and pass over rivers in a +wonderful manner, which the priestess herself +also does in the Cataballa. By this it +is plain that the life they live is not human, +nor animal, nor dependent on the use of +senses, but divine, as if the soul were taking +its rest, and the deity were there instead of +the soul. Various sorts there are of those so +divinely inspired, as well by reason of the +varying divinity of the inspiring gods as of +the modes of inspiration. These modes are<pb n="203" /><anchor id="Pg203" /> +of this sort—either the deity occupies us, or +we join ourselves to the deity, &c.... According +to these diversities, there are different +signs, effects, and works of the inspired; +thus, some will be moved in their whole bodies, +others in particular members; others, +again, will be motionless. Also they will +perform dances and chants, some well, some +ill. The bodies, again, of some will seem to +dilate in height, of others in compass; and +others, again, will seem to walk in air."</p> + +<p>Taking these various manifestations in order, +and beginning with the alleged power +of resisting the action of fire, the reader will +not need to be reminded of many seemingly +well-authenticated cases of escape from the +fire-ordeal. It has been usual to ascribe the +preservation of those who have walked bare-footed +over heated ploughshares to the use of +astringent lotions: and where opportunity +existed for preparation of that kind, their escape +may perhaps be so explained. But in +most instances the accused was in the custody +of the accusers, and not likely to have access +to such phylacteries. The exemption from +the effects of fire was not confined to those +cases of exaltation attendant on the enthusiasm +of conscious virtue. Bosroger (La Piéte +Affligée, Rouen, 1752) states of one of the +possessed sisters of St. Elizabeth at Louviers, +in 1642: "One morning Sister Saint-Esprit +was rapt as in an ecstasy. The bishop commanded +the devil to leave her. Immediately +she experienced dreadful contortions, and an +access of rage, and, on a sudden, says the exorcist, +her demon left her like a flash of lightning, +and threw the young woman into the +fire, which was a considerable one, casting +her with her face and one hand direct between +the two andirons; and when they +ran to drag her away, they found that neither +her face nor her hand were in anywise +burnt."</p> + +<p>It would be idle to multiply instances of +this sort from the monkish writers. The +preservation of the three youths in the Chaldæan +furnace was one of the miracles most +adapted to the servile yet audacious imitations +of the Thaumaturgists. It is only when +their statements correspond in unsuspected +particulars with the phenomena of experience—as, +for example, in the case of Barlaam +and the monks of Mount Athos—that they +can be adduced without offending the judgment +of rational inquirers. But the action +of burning is an operation of mechanical and +chemical forces; and how any amount of +spiritual or electrical effusion could prevent +the expansion of the fluids in the tissues and +the disruption of the skin, seems hard to +imagine. Something more must, one should +think, have been needed; and if the mesmeric +and Pagan oracular ecstasies be identical, this +testimony of Jamblichus would lead us to +suppose that that something was supplied by +the mind. However this may be, we shall +be better able to judge after the investigation +of some other of the alleged concomitants of +Pagan inspiration.</p> + +<p>The insensibility to prickings and pinchings +is perhaps the commonest test of the cataleptic +condition; and, as will doubtless suggest +itself to every reader, was, until modern +times, a popular test of witchcraft. That the +unhappy wretches who were put to death in +such numbers during the middle ages for this +offence were actually in an unnatural and detestable +state of mind and body, cannot be +doubted. They really were insensible to punctures; +for if they had winced when pricked +with pins and needles by their triers, it would +have been deemed a proof of their innocence. +A person feigning the mesmeric sleep, and +whose interest it is to feign, may endure such +prickings with seeming insensibility; but it +was not the interest of the ancient witch to +affect an insensibility, which would be taken +as one of the surest proofs of guilt. A perverse +desire to be believed guilty is the only +motive that can be suggested as likely to lead +to such conduct; and those who have studied +human nature most profoundly will be disposed +to give great credit to that suggestion. The +same nature which in the fourth century ran +into the epidemic frenzy of anchoritism, and +impelled the Circumcellionist multitudes to +extort the boon of martyrdom from reluctant +tribunals, may be admitted capable even of +the madness of a voluntary aspiration to the +stake and pyre of the witch. Certain it is +that many of the convicts boasted of their +interviews with the Devil, and seemed to be, +if they were not, possessed with the conviction +of having actually partaken of the orgies +imputed to them. Had they really been there +in imagination? Was it that the popular mind +had realized to itself an epidemic idea, and +that the effect of the contagion was to put +its victims <hi rend="font-style: italic">en rapport</hi> with the distempered +picture present to the minds of the multitude? +In a moral epidemic the crowd, possessed +with one idea, are the operators: it is +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Panic</hi> possession of the ancients, which +was not confined to general terrors, but applied +to general delusions of every kind. The +multitude itself radiates its own madness; +witness the Crusaders, the Flagellants, the +Dancing Fanatics of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries; perhaps even we might add +the Mathewites of our own day.</p> + +<p>The next symptom of possession was the +power of passing through trackless places, +the disposition to run to wilds and mountains, +like that rage of the votary of Bacchus:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Quo me Bacche, rapis tui</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Plenum? Quæ in nemora aut quos agor in specus</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Velox mente nova?"</l> +</lg> + +<p>The Bacchic ecstasy was not merely drunkenness, +but an epidemic madness induced by +long-continued dancing and gesticulating to +the sound of cymbals and other noisy instruments, +in all respects identical with the methods +of inducing the Hindoo <hi rend="font-style: italic">Waren</hi>. The +dancing mania also of the fifteenth century,<pb n="204" /><anchor id="Pg204" /> +described by Hecker in his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Epidemics of the +Middle Ages</hi>, was induced in the same manner, +and its effects were the same,—possession, +illumination, and insensibility to external influences. +That the Bacchic and Corybantic +frenzies were, in all respects, identical with +the middle age dancing manias, and with the +possession of those who still exhibit the influences +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Waren</hi> in Hindoostan, can hardly be +doubted. "As for the Bacchanalian motions +and friskings of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Corybantes</hi>," says Plutarch +in his Essay on Love, "there is a way to +allay these extravagant transports, by changing +the measure from the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Trochaic</hi> to the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Spondaic</hi>, and the tone from the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Phrygian</hi> to +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Doric</hi>:" just as with the dancers of St. +Vitus, and those bit by the Tarantula. Hecker +states, "The swarms of St. John's dancers +were accompanied by minstrels playing those +noisy instruments which roused their morbid +feelings; moreover, by means of intoxicating +music, a kind of demoniacal festival for the +rude multitude was established, which had +the effect of spreading this unhappy malady +wider and wider. Soft harmony was, however, +employed to calm the excitement of +those affected, and it is mentioned as a character +of the tunes played with this view to +the St. Vitus's dancers, that they contained +transitions from a quick to a slow measure, +and passed gradually from a high to a low +key." After the termination of the frenzy +the conduct of the dancers, as well indeed as +of all the victims of this species of possession, +whether <hi rend="font-style: italic">Taratati</hi>, convulsionnaires, or revivalists, +tallied precisely with that of the Bacchic +women. Plutarch, in his thirteenth example +of the Virtues of Woman, has this +graphic picture of the condition of a band of +Bacchante after one of their orgies. "When +the tyrants of Phocea had taken Delphos, and +the Thebans undertook that war against them +which was called the Holy War, certain women +devoted to Bacchus (which they called +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Thyades</hi>) fell frantic, and went a gadding by +night, and, mistaking their way, came to Amphissa, +and being very much tired, and not +as yet in their right wits, they flung themselves +down in the market-place and fell +asleep, as they lay scattered up and down here +and there. But the wives of the Amphisseans, +fearing because the city was engaged +to aid in the Phocean war, and abundance of +the tyrants' soldiers were present in the city, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Thyades</hi> should have any indignity put +upon them, ran forth all of them into the +market-place, and stood silently round about +them; neither would offer them any disturbance +while they slept, but when they +were awake they attended their service particularly, +and brought them refreshments; +and, in fine, by persuasion, obtained leave of +their husbands that they might accompany +them in safety to their own borders."</p> + +<p>In the same way, throughout the fourteenth +and fifteenth centuries, might groups +of both sexes be seen lying, exhausted from +their agitations, in the streets of Aix-la-chapelle, +Cologne, Strasburg, Naples, and elsewhere; +and even in our own century sights +not dissimilar have been witnessed at revival +assemblages in Wales and Scotland, and at +camp-meetings in North America. The +rending of Pentheus on Mount Citheron by +his own mother and sisters, who, while under +the influence of the Bacchic <hi rend="font-style: italic">afflatus</hi>, imagined +they saw in his form the appearance +of a wild beast, might be adduced as an example +at once of the furious character of the +frenzy, and of the liability of the afflated to +optical illusions. Has what we read of fairy-gifts +and glamour any foundation in this alleged +power of the biologist to make his patient +imagine different forms for the same +object? But we are still among the mountain +tops, and must descend to the remaining +symptoms enumerated by Jamblichus.</p> + +<p>"They pass over rivers in a wonderful +manner, which the priestess herself also does +in the Cataballa." We here again encounter +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">indicia</hi>, of that possession which went by +the name of witchcraft in the middle ages. +A witch, really possessed, could not sink in +the water, any more than she could feel the +insertion of a needle. The vulgar belief is, +that the suspected witch was cast into a +pond, where, if she floated, she was burned, +and if she sank she was drowned. The latter +alternative was not so; if she betrayed no +preternatural buoyancy, the trial was so far +in her favor, and she was taken up.</p> + +<p>Nor was water the only test, in some +parts of Germany the triers, less philosophically, +employed scales; and had fixed weights +(from 14 to 15 lbs.), which, if the accused +did not counterpoise, they concluded them to +be possessed. But it will be asked, how can +there be degrees of philosophy in practices +equally insane, and which have been condemned +by the common consent of enlightened +nations for near three hundred years? +Insanity there certainly was, and on a prodigious +scale, in these ages; but the judges +and executioners were not so insane as the +multitudes who either believed themselves +possessed by others, or believed that they +themselves exercised the power of possessing. +To us, living in an age of comparative +rest from spiritual excitement, it seems +almost incredible that thousands of persons, +in all ranks and conditions of life, should +simultaneously become possessed with the +belief that they were in direct communication +with the devil: should cease to attend +to their duties and callings, passing their time +in hysterical trances and cataleptic fits, during +which they seemed to themselves to be borne +through the air to witch orgies and assemblies +for devil-worship, in deserts and mountains; +and that while one portion of society gave +themselves up to these hallucinations, another +class should, with an equal abandonment of +every duty of life, have betaken themselves +to mope and pine, going into convulsions, and<pb n="205" /><anchor id="Pg205" /> +wasting to skeletons, under the idea of having +been bewitched; yet nothing is more certain +than that it was such a frenzy as this the +heads of the Church and the temporal Government +had to contend against in the fifteenth +and sixteenth centuries. There were +no mad-houses; if there had been, even to +the extent we now possess them, they would +not have sufficed to hold a tenth part of the +numbers whose contact and example would +have been fatal to the peace, perhaps even to +the existence, of society. If such frenzies +were, unhappily, to burst out among mankind +at present, civilized nations might transport +their <hi rend="font-style: italic">energumeni</hi> to distant possessions; but +the middle-age magistrates had no facilities +of that kind: they should deal with the terrible +plague by the only means at their disposal; +and these were, either to let the madness +wear itself out, or to repress it by the rope +and faggot. If they had adopted the former +course, the epidemic would probably have +passed through the usual stages of popular +distempers; would have had its access, its +crisis, and decline; and when the scourge +had passed, the public would have awakened +to a full sense of the madness of which they +had been the victims; but in that process +there was the danger of society going to +pieces—of the visionary frenzy of the possessed +being taken up by fanatics as the +foundation of a new and abominable religion, +and of the hostility of the ignorant and uneducated +class, among whom chiefly the possession +prevailed, being directed against the +restraints of government and the principle +of property. Having adopted the other +course, they pushed it to cruel and inexcusable +lengths; punished many innocent persons, +and suffered many of the really possessed to +go free. For they whose madness was most +to be apprehended, as most contagious, were +not the wretches who fancied they possessed +the power of bewitching others; but the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">convulsionnaires</hi>, who deemed themselves bewitched, +and were their accusers. Certainly +if the same epidemic should ever again break +out among a European population, or even +among a British population, the arm of the +magistrate would be again required to suppress +it, and we would be better able to +judge of the conduct of those whom it has +been the fashion of modern historians to +represent as altogether ignorant and brutal +executioners. So long as possession is only +the result of manual passes, or of fixing the +gaze on indifferent objects; so long as the +effects are regarded as physical or psychological +phenomena, due to a physical cause, and +the pretensions of the practitioner are not +rested on any peculiar religious sanction, +there is no danger of mesmerism degenerating +into a dangerous epidemic; but we +might have seen a very different state of +affairs if the magnetizers and biologists had +referred their powers to any species of supernatural +agency; and possibly would have +found ourselves long since under the necessity +of reviving those penal proceedings which we +have so generally been taught to abhor, as +among the most revolting remnants of mediæval +superstition.<note place="foot"><p>As an example of the gravity and formality with +which proceedings in matters of this nature were conducted, +even as late as the end of the sixteenth century, +take the subjoined palinode or recantation of a Flemish +ecclesiastic, who had been guilty of the offence of doubting +the evection, or bodily transport through the air, of witches +and wizards. The original may be found in Delrio, at the +end of the Appendix, in his 5th book:—</p> + +<p>"I Cornelius Loseus Gallidius, born in the town of +Gouda, in Holland, now, by the command of the renowned +and illustrious Lord Nuncio Apostolic, the Lord Octavius +Bishop of Tricaruis, arrested and detained in the Imperial +Monastery of St. Maximin, near Treves, on account of certain +tracts 'On True and False Witchcraft,' rashly and +presumptuously by me written, published, and sent to be +printed at Cologne, without the perusal or permission of +the superiors of this place: whereas I am informed for +certain that in the aforesaid books, and also in certain of +letters on the same subject, sent clandestinely to the +clergy and senate of Treves, and others, for the purpose of +impeding the course of justice against witches and magicians, +there are contained many articles which are not only +erroneous and scandalous, but also suspected of heresy, +and savoring of sedition: I therefore hereby revoke, condemn, +reject, and repudiate, as if they had never been said +or asserted by me, the said articles, as seditious and temerarious, +contrary to the common judgment of learned theologians, +to the decision and bulls of the supreme Pontiffs, +and to the practice, and statutes, and laws of the magistrates +and judges, as well as of this Archdiocese of Treves, +as of the other provinces and principalities, in the order in +which the same are hereunto annexed.</p> + +<p>"1. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Imprimis.</hi> I revoke, condemn, reject, and hold as +disproved, what both in words and writing I have often +and to many persons pertinaciously asserted; and what I +would have had taken as the head and chief ornament of +my disputations, to wit, that what is written touching the +corporeal evection or translation from place to place of +witches and magicians, is to be held as a vain superstition +and figment, as well because that opinion savors of heretical +pravity, as because it partakes of sedition, and so also +savors of the crimes of <hi rend="font-style: italic">lese majesté</hi>. 2. In the second +place, I revoke what I have pertinaciously, but without +solid reasons, alleged against the magistracy, in letters secretly +sent to several, that is to say, that the course of procedure +against witches is erroneous and fantastical: asserting, +moreover, that those witches were compelled by the +severity of torture to confess acts that they had never done; +that innocent blood was shed by a cruel judicature; and +that by a new alchemy gold and silver were extracted from +human blood. 3. Thereby, and by the like assertions, +partly diffused by private oral communications among the +vulgar, partly by various letters addressed to both branches +of the magistracy, imputing to superiors and judges the exercise +of tyranny towards the subjects. 4 And consequently, +inasmuch as the most reverend and illustrious +Archbishop and Prince Elector of Treves not only permits +witches and magicians to be subjected to deserved punishment +in his diocese, but has also ordained laws regulating +the mode and cost of the procedure against witches, thereby +with inconsiderate temerity tacitly insinuating the charge +of tyranny against the said Elector of Treves. 5. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Item.</hi> I +revoke and condemn these following conclusions, to wit, +that there are no such beings as sorcerers, who renounce +God and worship the Devil, who bring on tempests, and do +the work of Satan and such like, but that all these things +are dreams. 6. Moreover that magic is not to be called +sorcery, nor its practisers to be deemed sorcerers, and that +that that place of Exod. xxii, ('Ye shall not suffer sorcerers to +live') is to be understood of those who slay with material +poison, naturally administered. 7. That no contract exists +or can exist between man and the demon. 8. That demons +do not assume bodies. 9. That the life of Hilary, written +by St. Jerome, is not authentic. 10. That the demon cannot +carnally know mankind. 11. That neither demons nor +witches can excite tempests, rain, hail, &c., and that what +is alleged in that behalf is mere dreams. 12. That spirits +and forms can be seen by mankind separate from matter. +13. That it is rash to assert that whatever demons can do +magicians can also by the help of demons. 14. That the +assertion that the superior demon can expel the inferior is +erroneous and derogatory to Christ.—Luke xi. 15. That +the Popes in the bulls do not allege that magicians and +sorcerers perpetrate such acts as above mentioned.</p> + +<p>"All these and the like, my assertions, with my many +calumnies, falsehoods, and sycophancies, petulantly, indecorously, +and mendaciously expressed against the magistracy, as well secular as ecclesiastical, wherewith my writings +on witchcraft abound, I hereby expressly and deliberately +condemn, recant, and reject, earnestly beseeching +pardon of God and my superiors, and faithfully promising +that henceforth I will not, either by word of mouth or by +writing, by myself or others, in any place where I shall +happen to be, teach, promulgate, or assert the same or any +of them. If I shall do to the contrary, I subject myself +thenceforth and henceforth to the pains of the law against +relapsed heretics, recusants, seditious misdemeanants, and +convicts of <hi rend="font-style: italic">lese majesté</hi>, to the pains of libellous sycophants +publicly convicted, and also to those enacted against perjurers. +I submit myself also to arbitrary correction at the +pleasure of the Archbishop of Treves, and of the other +magistrates under whom I shall happen to live, and who +may be certified of my relapse or violated undertaking, +that they may punish me according to my deserts, in +name, fame, goods, and body. In testimony of all which +I have, with my proper hand, subscribed this my recantation +of the aforesaid articles, in presence of the notary and +witnesses."</p> + +<p>"(Signed,) Cornelius Loseus Gallidius."</p> + +<p>"Attestation.—These presents were done in the +Imperial Monastery of Saint Maximin Without, near +Treves, in the abbatial chamber, there being then +present the Venerable and Excellent Lord Peter +Binsfeldt, Bishop of Azof, Vicar-General of the Most +Reverend Lord Archbishop of Treves, our Most Gracious +Lord in matters spiritual; Reiner, Abbot of +the said monastery; Bartholomew Bodegem, Reader +of either Law in the Ecclesiastical Court of Treves; +George Helffenster, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Dean +of the Collegiate Church of St. Simon, in the city of +Treves; and John Golmann, Doctor of Laws, Canon +of the said Church, and Seal-Bearer of the Court of +Treves, &c.; in the year of our Lord 1592, Treves +style, on Monday, the 15th day of the month of +March, in presence of me, the Notary underwritten, +and of Nicholas Dolent, and Daniel Major, the +Amanuensis and Secretary respectively of the Reverend +Lord Abbot, trustworthy witnesses specially +called and required hereto.</p> + +<p>"Subscribed, Adam Tecton, Notary.</p> + +<p>"Compared with the original and found to agree, +by me, the under-written Secretary of the town of +Antwerp.</p> + +<p rend="text-align: right">S. Kieffel."</p></note> Even as it is, these<pb n="206" /><anchor id="Pg206" /> +powers of the biologist, if in truth they exist, +are capable of fearful abuse. Let us take, +for example, one of the oldest methods of +exercising influence, for good or evil, on an +absent person:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"As fire this figure hardens, made of clay,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And this of wax with fire consumes away;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Such let the soul of cruel Daphnis be,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Hard to the rest of women, soft to me."</l> +</lg> + +<p>If the waxen or clay image be but a concentrator +of the good or evil will of the operator +towards the distant object, and the +witchcraft of the love-sick magician in Virgil, +or of the evil-disposed wizard of the +middle ages, be in truth no more than an exertion +of biological power, it behoves society +to take care how individuals should be suffered +to acquire mesmerical relations with +others, over whom they may exercise malignant +as well as healing influences. If the +pretensions of the biologists be established, +biology must soon be put under medical supervision. +But to return to the phenomena +of possession.</p> + +<p>The propriety of trying alleged witches by +water, has been impugned and defended with +abundance of scholastic learning; and, singular +to say, its opponents have been chiefly +found among the Roman Catholic writers, +and its advocates among the Reformers. +Delrio, by far the most learned of all the +writers on demonology, vigorously assails +Rickius, the only notable Roman Catholic +advocate of the practice. The arguments on +both sides being based entirely on scholastic +definitions and distinctions respecting the +nature of demons, and the baptismal and +other spiritual virtues of water, are of little +relevance in the present method of discussing +physical phenomena. Both parties assume +that the persons of witches exhibit a preternatural +levity—Delrio admitting that something +less than fourteen or fifteen pounds +was the actual weight which popular belief +throughout Germany ascribed to persons in +that possessed state, no matter how large or +fat they might seem to the eye; and Rickius +gives an example of a woman, executed by +drowning in 1594, whom the executioner +could hardly keep under with repeated +thrusts of his pole, so high did she bound upwards +from the surface, and "so boil up," as +it were, out of the depths of the water. The +levity of possessed persons in water might be +accounted for by a phenomenon attendant on +those preternatural conditions of the body +which follow excitements of an analogous +kind. The victims of the flogging and +dancing manias in the middle ages, and +subjects of the fanatical fervors of camp-meetings +and revivals, alike experienced a +windy intestinal distension, consequent on +the departure of their mental frenzy. To +control this disagreeable symptom, the candidates +for both species of afflatus used to come +to their meetings provided with napkins and +rollers with which to bind their middles, and +prevent the supervening inflation. Persons +so puffed up would certainly float with all +the buoyancy ascribed to the German witches, +if cast into water; but they would still +preserve their proper corporeal gravity if +placed in a scale. Unless, then, we suppose +Delrio to have been the dupe of some singular +and unaccountable delusion on this point, +the typanitic affections of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">convulsionnaires</hi> +will not account for the anti-gravitating +phenomena ascribed to medieval witchcraft. +There are some reasons, however, for +the belief that these appearances may not +have been wholly imaginary; for if any reliance +can be placed on the concurrent traditions +of all religions, Pagan as well as Christian, +supported by wide-spread popular belief, +the high mental exaltation induced by religious +abstraction, and also by other vehement +affections of the mind, is actually attended +with a diminished specific gravity. Of alleged +ecclesiastical miracles of this kind it is better +to say nothing. The Roman Catholic and +the Hindoo devotees equally claim for their +adepts in religious contemplation an exemption +from (among other earthly liabilities) +the hindrance of weight. In the rapture of +prayer, the ascetic and the saint alike rise in +the air, and spurn the law of gravitation with +the other incidents of matter. Suspected +evidences of this kind are, however, of no +weight in philosophical inquiry. It will be +safer to leave the Etstaticas and the Fakirs<pb n="207" /><anchor id="Pg207" /> +to their respective believers, and to take a +story of the people, into which religious considerations +do not so directly enter. The native +Irish, then, have a remarkable tradition, +as old, at least, as the seventh or eighth century, +that phrenetic madmen lose the corporeal +quality of weight. A picturesque and +romantic example of this belief is found in +the story of the fate of Suibhne, son of Colman, +King of Dalnaraidhe, as related in the +bardic accounts of the battle of Moyra. Suibhne, +a valiant warrior, has offered an insult +to Saint Ere, Bishop of Slane; the affront is +avenged by a curse, the usual retaliation of +aggrieved ecclesiastics in those days. The +curse falls on Sweeny in the most grievous +form of visitation that could afflict a warrior:—a +fit of cowardice seizes him in the very onset +of the battle, and drives him frantic with +terror. "Giddiness came over him at the +sight of the horrors, grimness, and rapidity +of the Gaels; at the fierce looks, brilliance, +and ardor of the foreigners; at the rebounding +furious shouts of the embattled tribes on +both sides, rushing against and coming into +collision with one another. Huge, flickering, +horrible, aërial phantoms, rose up (around +him), so that from the uproar of the battle, +the frantic pranks of the demons, the clashing +of arms, and the sound of the heavy blows +reverberating on the points of heroic spears, +and keen edges of swords, and warlike borders +of broad shields, the hero Suibhne was +filled and intoxicated with horror, panic, and +imbecility; his feet trembled as if incessantly +shaken by the force of a stream; the inlets +of his hearing were expanded and quickened +by the horrors of lunacy; his speech became +faltering from the giddiness of imbecility; his +very soul fluttered with hallucinations, and +with many and various phantasms. He might +be compared to a salmon in a weir, or to a +bird after being caught in the strait prison +of a crib," &c. "When he was seized with +this frantic fit, he made a supple, very light +leap, and where he alighted he was on the +boss of the shield of the warrior next him; +and he made a second leap, and perched on +the crest of the helmet of the same hero, who, +nevertheless, did not feel him. Then he +made a third active, very light leap, and +perched on the top of the sacred tree which +grew on the smooth surface of the plain in +which the inferior people and the debilitated +of the men of Erin were seated, looking on +at the battle. These shouted at him when +they saw him, to press him back into the +battle again; and he in consequence made +three furious leaps to shun the battle, but +through the giddiness and imbecility of his +hallucination, he went back into the same +field of conflict; but it was not on the earth +he walked, but alighted on the shoulders of +men and the tops of their helmets," &c.</p> + +<p>In this state, Suibhne flits off the field of +battle like a bird, or a waif of the forest, +without weight, and betakes himself to +the wilds, where he "herds with the deer, +runs races with the showers, and flees with +the birds," as a wild denizen of the wilderness; +but with his ecstacy of terror, he receives +the gift of prophecy. Dr. O'Donovan, +in a note on this curious passage, observes, +"it was the ancient belief in Ireland, and still +is in the wilder mountainous districts, that +lunatics are as light as feathers, and can climb +steeps and precipices like the somnambulists."—See +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Buile Suibhne</hi>, a bardic romance on +the madness of this unfortunate warrior. +This latter romance is occupied with Suibhne's +adventures as a mad prophet, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Omadh</hi>, in Irish. +Query did the Bacchus <hi rend="font-style: italic">Omadios</hi> of the +Greeks derive his name from a similar +source? It would be a singular coincidence +that would make a Greek god an <hi rend="font-style: italic">omadran</hi>. +Keats, with a fine intuition, has depicted +those <hi rend="font-style: italic">mores afflatorum</hi>, in the satyrs who do +the benevolent biddings of Pan:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Thou, to whom every faun and satyr flies,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> For willing service; whether, to surprise</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The squatted hare, while, in half-sleeping fit,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Or upward ragged precipices flit</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> To save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Or by mysterious enticement draw</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Bewildered shepherds to their paths again."</l> +</lg> + +<p>Compare with this picture of the Irish lunatic +among the boughs of the tree on the +field of Moira, the following extracts from +Bosroger's account of the possession of the +nuns of Louviers, in <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</hi> 1642. One of the +sisters, surnamed De Jesus, conceived herself +to be possessed by a demon whom she called +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Arracon</hi>. "On the occasion of a procession +of the host by Monseigneur the Bishop of +Evreux, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Arracon</hi> exhibited another example +of his quality, causing sister De Jesus to pour +forth a torrent of blasphemies and furious +expressions all the time of the procession. +When she was brought into the choir, and +held fast by an exorcist, for fear of her offering +some insult, the holy sacrament was borne +past her. Arracon immediately caused her +to be shot forward through the air to a considerable +distance, so as to strike the gilt sun +in which the adorable eucharist was placed, +out of the hands of the lord bishop; and the +exorcist making an effort to detain her, the +demon lifted her up in the air over an accoudoir, +or leaning place, of three feet in height, +intending to lift her, as he declared, into the +vault, but the exorcist holding fast, all he +could do was to cast the nun and exorcist +back to the floor together," &c. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Putiphar</hi>, +the possessor of Sister Saint Sacrement, +"made her with wonderful impetuosity run up +a mulberry tree, of which the stem was easy +enough of ascent; but when she got up the +stem, he forced her onward till she approached +the extremities of the slenderest branches, +and caused her to make almost the entire +circuit of the mulberry tree, in such sort that +a man who saw her from a distance cried out +that she flew like a bird. Then the demon +permitted her to see her peril; she grew +pale, and cried out with alarm. They ran in +haste to bring a ladder, but <hi rend="font-style: italic">Putiphar</hi> mocked<pb n="208" /><anchor id="Pg208" /> +them, crying, 'As I made this <hi rend="font-style: italic">chienne</hi> get up +without a ladder, so she shall go down,' +and caused her descend the same slender +branches to the stem, and thence to the +ground."</p> + +<p>Pere de la Menarday, in his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Examen Critique +de l'Histoire des Diables de London</hi>, +gives a letter from a missionary priest in Cochin +China, describing a case of demonopathy, +in the course of which, if we could believe +the narrator, the patient seemed for a +time to have conquered all the ordinary tendencies +of gravitation. The missionary, M. +Delacourt, writing from Paris, 25th November, +1738, begins by protesting his unwillingness +to expose himself to the repulses of public +incredulity; but for his friends' sake consents +to give the particulars. "Voici donc +le fait dans ses principales circonstances <hi rend="font-style: italic">tel +que je l'ai vu de mes propres yeux</hi>." In the +month of May, 1733, a young native communicant, +named Dodo, residing at the town of +Cheta, in the province of Cham, and kingdom +of Cochin China, being reproached by his +conscience for the suppression of some facts +in his confession, fell into violent convulsions +on attempting to take the host in his mouth. +He was brought to the missionary, foaming, +leaping, and blaspheming in the manner usual +among victims of his malady. After many +exorcisms, both by the missionary and by +two other ecclesiastics, which only increased +his sufferings, he was at length, by gentler +entreaties, brought to make a confession. +The missionary then renewed his exorcisms, +which he continued for a month with little +success. "At last," says he, "I determined +to make a last effort, and to imitate the example +of Monseigneur the Bishop of Tilopolis +on a like occasion, namely, in my exorcism to +command the demon in Latin to transport +him to the ceiling of the church, feet up and +head down. On the instant his body became +rigid, and as though he were impotent of all +his members, he was dragged from the middle +of the church to a column, and there, his +feet joined fast together, his back closely applied +to the pillar, without aiding himself +with his hands, he was transported in the +twinkling of an eye to the ceiling, just like a +weight run up by a cord, without any visible +agency. While he hung there, with his feet +glued to the ceiling, and his head down, I +made the demon, for I had determined to +confound and humiliate him, confess the +falsehood of the Pagan religion. I made him +confess that he was a deceiver, and at the +same time admit the holiness of Christianity. +I kept him for better than half an hour in the +air, and not possessing enough of constancy +to hold him there any longer, so frightened +was I myself at what I saw, I at length commanded +him to lay the patient at my feet +without harming him. Immediately he cast +him down before me with no more hurt to +him than if he had been a bundle of foul +linen." It is by no means improbable that +Pere Delacourt himself had become infected +with the madness of the monomaniac whom +he was engaged in exorcising, before his eyes +conceived that extraordinary image of the +patient ascending by invisible agency to the +ceiling of the church. But his letter bears +evident marks of having been written under +a sincere belief of the reality of all that he describes, +and he refers to several living witnesses +of the scene.</p> + +<p>Reverting to this subject of optical illusion, +already glanced at, we find still another resemblance +between the mysticism of the ancients +and moderns. The priestess rendering +herself invisible to the bystanders, appears +to transcend all the rest of Jamblichus's wonders. +Strange to say, even this pretension +of the Colophonian prophetess is not without +something analogous among the alleged phenomena +of mesmerism. "I requested a young +lady," says Dr. Elliotson, "whom I had long +mesmerised, with the never-tiring devotion +of a parent, and in whom I produced a variety +of phenomena, to promise to be unable on +waking to see her maid, who always sat in +the room at work during my visit, till I left +the room, and then at once to discern her. +On waking, she said she did not see the maid, +but said she saw the chair on which the maid +sat. Presently, however, she saw the maid, +was agitated, had an hysteric fit, and passed +into the sleep-waking state. I now inquired +how she came to see her maid, as I had not +left the room, and told her she must not (see +the maid), when I awoke her again. I then +awoke her again; she could not see the maid, +was astonished at the maid's absence, and at +first supposed she was in an adjoining room; +but presently rang the bell twice, though the +woman was standing before her, I moved just +out of the room, leaving the door open, and +she saw the maid instantly, and was astonished, +and laughed." In the Colophonian +oracle, they were the spectators, not the +prophetess, who had need thus to be put under +the influence of the mesmeric <hi rend="font-style: italic">glamour</hi>. +Can it be that, in certain diseased states of +the optic nerve, it really is subject to the illusion +of seeing objects rise in air, as well as go +round in horizontal motion? They who saw +these sights in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">adyta</hi> of temples, in caves +and sacred groves, in initiations and oracular +consultations, were all prepared by fasting, +watching, and prayer, for the reception of +biological influence, and possibly may have +seemed to themselves to see what others desired +they should believe themselves to have +actually seen. Was Lord Shrewsbury under +this influence at Caldaro?</p> + +<p>But the reader will begin to suspect that +his credulity is about to be solicited for the +aërial flights of witches on their sweeping +brooms. This apprehension may be dismissed. +Witchcraft, or, to call it by its proper pathological +name, demonopathy, was a true delusion, +true so far as the belief of the monomaniacs +themselves was concerned, but resting<pb n="209" /><anchor id="Pg209" /> +wholly in their own distempered imagination.</p> + +<p>From a learned and philosophic review of +the great work of Calmeil, <hi rend="font-style: italic">De la Folie</hi>, in +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medicine</hi>, +we extract the following <hi rend="font-style: italic">resumé</hi> of the symptoms +of this dreadful epidemic malady: "The +leading phenomenon was the belief of the +sufferers that Satan had obtained full mastery +over them; that he was the object of their +most fervent worship, a certain portion of +their life being spent in the actual company +of himself and his legion of darkness, when +every crime that a diseased imagination could +suggest was committed by them. Both sexes +attended at the Devil's Sabbaths, as they were +termed, where the sorcerers met, danced, and +enjoyed every wild pleasure. To these meetings +they travelled through the air, though, +by the power of Satan, their bodies seemed +to remain at home. They killed children, +poisoned cattle, produced storms and plagues, +and held converse with Succubi and Incubi, +and other fallen spirits. At the Sabbath all +agreed, that from every country the sorcerers +arrived transported by demons. Women +perched on sticks, or riding on goats, naked, +with dishevelled hair, arrived in thousands; +they passed like meteors, and their descent +was more rapid than that of the eagle or +hawk, when striking his prey. Over this meeting +Satan presided; indecent dances and licentious +songs went on, and an altar was raised, +where Satan, with his head downward, +his feet turned up, and his back to the altar, +celebrated his blasphemous mass."</p> + +<p>Each individual sufferer believed herself or +himself to have seen these sights, to have +gone through these origies, and to have been +transported to them through the air. If there +had been but a few confessions, and these exacted +by torture, it might be thought that the +fancies of the examiners supplied the phenomena, +to which the sufferers merely gave an +enforced and worthless assent. But the confessions +were as often voluntary as forced, +and were indeed rather triumphant bravadoes +than confessions of anything that the sufferers +themselves deemed shameful. It was a true +belief in the minds of the parties affected. +The question has already been asked, were +they <hi rend="font-style: italic">en rapport</hi> with the rest of the diseased +multitude, in whose minds the common delusion +existed? The question presupposes a +mental sympathy and participation, by one +mind, of images existing in another, which is +one of the alleged manifestations of clairvoyance. +But there is another mode of accounting +for these and similar phenomena, which +as yet obtains the approval of physicians, +more than any suggestions of clairvoyant +communications. It is, that there are certain +states of the body in which the patient truly +believes himself to see particular objects, to +do particular acts, and to possess special powers, +which to the rest of the world have no +existence, but in respect of the patient himself +are realities as visible, tangible, and perceptible, +as the actual existences which surround +him. For example, it is a fact which +admits of no dispute, that a certain quantity +of alcohol taken into the human stomach will +cause the drinker to fall into <hi rend="font-style: italic">delirium tremens</hi>; +and that in that state the patient will, +with his waking eyes, see objects of a particular +kind; in nine cases out of ten, the +forms of rats and mice running over his bed, +and about his person. There is no public delusion +here, no popular mind possessed with +a fixed idea of these appearances, to which +the individual delusions might be referred; +yet the swallower of the alcohol in Dublin, +and the swallower of the alcohol in Calcutta, +will both see exactly the same sorts of appearances, +and will both express precisely the +same horror and disgust at their supposed tormentors. +Is it the case, then, that, as the +forms of rats and mice come into the minds +of men in one kind of mental sickness, the +forms of men and women riding on goats and +broomsticks through the air, and the other +apparatus of the witch-sabbaths, may have +been but the manifestations of another disordered +state of the mental organism, a symptom +merely and concomitant of an epidemical +disease? It is easy enough to understand how +symptoms so simple as the appearance of +what are usually called "blue devils" should +be constant in their attendance on a particular +state of cerebral disorder; but when the +hallucination becomes so complex as in the +fantasies of witchcraft, it is difficult to suppose +that that long train of appearances and +imaginary transactions should follow on a +merely pathological derangement of the brain. +Between the two alternatives of referring +these hallucinations to such a cause, on the +one hand, or to a mesmeric sympathy, as +above suggested, between the individual and +the crowd of the possessed, on the other, it +is hard to choose; but, perhaps, the latter will +appear to offer the less amount of difficulty. +In the present state of knowledge, however, +it would be rash to say that a particular state +of diseased cerebral action might not be attended +with a perfect set of supposed phenomena +as complex and constant in the minds +of the sufferers, as those which existed among +the victims of demonomania.</p> + +<p>An example less difficult of reconcilement +with the theory of cerebral disorder than that +of the witchcraft of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries, and yet more complex than that +of the fantasies of <hi rend="font-style: italic">delirium tremens</hi>, may be +found in the case of <hi rend="font-style: italic">lycanthropism</hi>, or that +form of mania in which men have fancied +themselves transformed into wolves. This +disease also is contagious; and on many occasions +has exhibited itself in all the terrors +of a maniacal epidemic. As early as the time +of Herodotus the belief was rife among the +Græco-Scythian colonies that a people called +the Neuri were subject to this species of metamorphosis; +and Giraldus Cambrensis, in<pb n="210" /><anchor id="Pg210" /> +the twelfth century, found the same superstition +in full force in Ireland. It again broke +forth in Livonia, its ancient seat, with all the +symptoms of a periodical annual epidemic, in +the sixteenth century. Peucer gives the following +account of what these maniacs themselves +believed to happen to them. "Immediately +after Christmas day, in each year, a +club-footed boy appears, who goes round the +country, and summons all those slaves of Satan, +of whom there are great numbers, to assemble +and follow him. If they hesitate or +refuse, a tall man appears, armed with a whip +of flexible iron wires, and compels them with +blows of his scourge to come forth and proceed. +He whips them so severely, that oft-times +the stripes left by the iron thongs remain +impressed on their bodies and torment +them cruelly. As soon as they go out and +follow in the train, they seem to lose their +human form, and to put on the appearance +of wolves. Several thousands thus assemble. +The leader walks before with his iron scourge; +the crowd of those who, in their delusion, +imagine that they have become wolves, follow +after. Wherever they meet with cattle +they rush upon them and rend them; they +carry off such portions as they can, and do +much destruction; but to touch or injure +mankind is not permitted to them. When +they come to rivers, the leader with a stroke +of his whip divides the waters, which stand +apart, leaving a dry channel by which they +cross. After twelve days the band disperses, +and every man resumes his own form, the +vulpine mask dropping off him. The way in +which the change takes place is this, as they +allege: those who undergo the change, which +occupies but a moment, drop suddenly down +as if struck with a fit, and so lie senseless and +like dead persons; but they do not in fact go +away or change their places at all; nor while +lying in that seemingly lifeless state do they +exhibit any vulpine appearance whatever, +but they go out of themselves (and leave +themselves) like dead bodies; and save that +they are convulsed, and roll about somewhat, +they exhibit no sign or evidence of life. +Hence the opinion has arisen that their spirits +only are taken forth of their bodies, and put +for a time into the phantasms of vulpine +forms; and then, after doing the bidding of +the devil in that way, are remitted back to +their proper bodies, which thereupon are restored +to animation; and the were-wolves +themselves confirm this belief by acknowledging +that in truth the human form is not withdrawn +from their bodies, nor the vulpine appearance +substituted for it; but that it is +their spirits only which are impelled to leave +their human bodily prisons, and enter into +the bodies of wolves, in which they dwell +and are carried about for the prescribed space +of time. Some of those who have stated that +they came long distances after escaping from +the chains of their wolfish imprisonment, being +questioned how they got out of that confinement, +and why they returned, and how +they could cross such wide and deep rivers, +gave answer that the imprisoning forms no +longer confined them, that they felt coerced +to come out of them, and passed over the rivers +by aërial flight."</p> + +<p>The same features marked the outbreak of +lycanthropy in the years 1598-1600, among +the Vaudois. The possessed fell into catalepsy, +and lay senseless during the time they +imagined themselves in their bestial transformation. +The disease was almost uniformly +complicated with demonopathy, or the possession +of witchcraft.</p> + +<p>There seems no reason to doubt that lycanthropism +was a disease as constant in its +character and as well defined in its symptoms +as <hi rend="font-style: italic">delirium tremens</hi>, or any of the ordinary +forms of mania. The evidences of its existence +are, however, considerably stronger +than those of witchcraft; for where on the +one hand no credible witness ever saw a witch +either at the sabbath, or on her way to it, +or on her return from it, there are not wanting +distinct proofs on oath, corroborated by +admitted facts in judicial proceedings, of persons +afflicted with lycanthropy traversing the +woods on all-fours, and being found bloody +from the recent slaughter both of beasts and +human victims; and in one of these cases, +that of Jacques Roulet, tried before the Parliament +of Paris in 1598, the body of a newly +slain child, half mangled, and with all the +marks of having been gnawed by canine +teeth, was found close to the place where the +maniac was arrested. It is worthy of remark +that both lycanthropists and witches ascribed +the power of disembodying themselves to the +use of ointments. Antiquity furnishes no +parallel to the horrors of these malignant and +homicidal manias. Their analogues may be +found in the fabled styes of Circe, or in the +frenzied raptures of the Sybilline and Delphic +priestesses; but the extent, the variety, and +the hideousness of the disease in modern +times, infinitely surpass all that was ever +dreamt of in Pagan credulity. The points of +resemblance, however, are not yet exhausted.</p> + +<p>"A chief sign of the divine afflatus," says +Jamblichus, citing Porphyry, "is, that he who +induces the <hi rend="font-style: italic">numen</hi> into himself, sees the spirit +descending, and its quantity and quality. +Also, he who receives the <hi rend="font-style: italic">numen</hi> sees before +the reception a certain likeness of a fire; +sometimes, also, this is beheld by the bystanders, +both at the advent and the departure +of the god. By which sign, they who +are skilful in these matters discern, with perfect +accuracy, what is the power of the numen, +and what its order, and what are the +things concerning which it can give true responses, +and what it is competent to do.... +Thus it is that the excellence of this divine +fire, and appearance, as it were, of ineffable +light, comes down upon, and fills, and dominates +over the possessed person, and he is +wholly involved in it, so that he cannot do<pb n="211" /><anchor id="Pg211" /> +any act of himself.... But after this comes +ecstacy, or disembodiment."</p> + +<p>Thomas Bartholin (brother of Gaspar) has +anticipated the inquiries of Sir Henry Marsh, +and of Reichenbach himself, on the subject +of light from the human body. In a treatise, +full of singular learning, "De luce Animalium," +he has adduced a multitude of examples +of the evolution of light from the living +as well as the dead body, and in the cases of +secular and pagan, as well as of ecclesiastical +and Christian, persons; and this, without +having recourse to any testimony of the Hagiologists. +The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Aureolæ</hi> of the Christian +saints may not, after all, have been the merely +fanciful additions of superstitious artists.</p> + +<p>The convulsive distortions of the Pythoness +were but a feeble type of the phenomena +of demonopathy, or the supposed possession +of the middle ages. It was chiefly in convents, +among the crowd of young girls and +women, that these dreadful disorders were +used to break out; but the visitation was not +confined to convents, nor to the profession of +any particular creed. Wherever religious +excitation prevailed among the young and +susceptible, especially when they happened +to be brought together in considerable numbers, +there the pest was attracted, as a fever +or other malady would be attracted by a foul +atmosphere. No patient in the magnetic +coma ever exhibited such prodigies of endurance +as thousands of the involuntary victims +of these contagious manias. Who in any +modern <hi rend="font-style: italic">seance</hi> has beheld a patient supported +only on the protuberance of the stomach, +with the head and limbs everted, and the +arms raised in the air, and so remaining +curved into the appearance of a fish on a stall, +tied by the tail and gills, motionless for hours +at a time? Or what rigidity of muscle in +magnetic catalepsy has ever equalled that of +a convulsionnaire, who would weary the +strongest man, inflicting blows of a club, to +the number of several thousands a day, on +her stomach, while sustaining herself in an +arc solely by the support of the head and the +heels? Madame de Sazilli, who was exorcised +in presence of the Duke of Orleans, at +London, in 1631, "became, at the command +of Pere Elisce, supple as a plate of lead. The +exorcist plaited her limbs in various ways, +before and behind, to this side and to that, +in such sort that her head would sometimes +almost touch the ground, her demon (say her +malady) retaining her in each position immovably +until she was put into the next. +Next came the demon Sabulon, who rolled +her through the chapel with horrible convulsions. +Five or six times he carried her left +foot up higher than her shoulder; all the +while her eyes were fixed, wide open, without +winking; after that he threw out her +limbs till she touched the ground, with her +legs extended straight on either side, and +while in that posture, the exorcist compelled +her to join her hands, and with the trunk of +the body in an erect posture, to adore the +holy sacrament." We seem to read the proceedings +of an electro-biologist, rather than +of a pastor of the church: but the parallel is +not yet at an end. "The same nun," says +Calmeil, "towards the close of her exorcism, +executed a command which the Duke imparted +secretly to her exorcist." Then follows +this remarkable admission of the learned +and cautious physiologist:—"On hundreds +of occasions one might believe, in effect, that +the Energumenes read the thoughts of the +ecclesiastics who were charged with the combating +of their demons. It is certain that +these young women were endowed, during +their excesses of hysteria or nervous exaltation, +with a penetration of mind altogether +unique." The children of the fanatics of the +Cevennes, while in their supposed prophetic +ecstacies, spoke the purest dialect of French, +and expressed themselves with singular propriety. +The same facility of speaking in a +fluent and exalted style while in the divinatory +ecstacy, was remarked of old in the case +of the Pythian priestess. "Though it cannot +be divined," says Plutarch, in his "Inquiry," +"why the Pythian priestess ceases to deliver +her oracles in verse; but that her parentage +was virtuous and honest, and that she always +lived a sober and chaste life, yet her education +was among poor, laboring people, so that +she was advanced to the oracular sect rude +and unpolished, void of all the advantages of +art or experience. For, as it is the opinion of +Xenophon, that a virgin, ready to be espoused, +ought to be carried to the bridegroom's +house before she has either seen or heard the +least communication, so the Pythian priestess +ought to converse with Apollo illiterate and +ignorant almost of every thing, still approaching +his presence with a truly virgin soul."</p> + +<p>We might here, without any stretch of imagination, +suppose we are reading a commentary +on the birth and character of Joan of +Arc, or of any of the prophetesses of the +Swiss Anabaptists. But to return to the possessions +recorded by Calmeil.</p> + +<p>The biological relations alleged by the mesmerists +appear in still stronger development +in the case of the nuns of Auxonne in 1662. +The Bishop of Chalons reports, speaking of +the possessed, "that all the aforesaid young +women, being in number eighteen, as well +seculars as regulars, and without a single exception, +appeared to him to have obtained the +gift of tongues, inasmuch as they accurately +replied to the matters in Latin, which were +addressed to them by their exorcists, and +which were not borrowed from the ritual, +still less arranged by any preconcert; they +frequently explained themselves in Latin—sometimes +in entire periods, sometimes in +broken sentences;" "that all or almost all of +them were proved to have introvision (<hi rend="font-style: italic">cognizance +de l'interieur</hi>) and knowledge of +whatever thought might be secretly addressed +to them, as appeared particularly in the<pb n="212" /><anchor id="Pg212" /> +case of the internal commands which were +often addressed to them by the exorcists, and +which in general they obeyed implicitly, although +without any external signification of +the command, either verbal or by way of +sign; as the said Lord Bishop experienced in +many instances, among others, in that of Denise +Parisot, whom the exorcist having commanded, +in the depths of his own mind, to +come to him for the purpose of being exorcised, +she came incontinently, though dwelling +in a remote part of the town; telling the +Lord Bishop that she had received his commands +and was come accordingly; and this +she did on several occasions; likewise in the +person of Sister Jamin, a novice, who, on recovering +from her fit, told him the internal +commandment which he had given to her +demon during the exorcism; also in the case +of the Sister Borthon, to whom having issued +a mental commandment in one of her paroxysms +to come and prostrate herself before +the Holy Sacrament, with her face to the +ground and her arms stretched forward, she +executed his command at the very instant +that he willed it, with a promptitude and precipitation +altogether wonderful."</p> + +<p>Sister Denise Parisot, one of those who exhibited +these singularities, also displayed a +farther and very remarkable manifestation +of what would now be called biological influence. +"Being commanded by his Lordship +to make the pulse of her right arm entirely +cease beating while that of the left continued, +and then to transfer the pulsation so as to +beat in the right arm while it should stop in +the left, she executed his orders with the utmost +precision in the presence of the physician +(Morel), who admitted and deposed to +the fact, and of several ecclesiastics. Sister +de la Purification did the same thing two or +three times, causing her pulse to beat or to +stop at the command of the exorcist."</p> + +<p>Instead of exorcist we may, without much +apprehension of offending either the reason +or the belief of any candid person, read +"Mesmerist." The passes seem similar, the +phenomena identical. Again, in the case of +the girls of the parish of Landes, near Bayeux, +in 1732, the orders given by the exorcists in +Latin appeared to be well understood by the +patients. "In general," says Calmeil, quoting +the contemporaneous account of their +possession, "during the ecstatic access, the +sense of touch was not excited even by the +application of fire; nevertheless the exorcists +affirm that their patients yielded immediate +attention to the thoughts which they (the +exorcists) refrained from expressing, and that +they described with exactness the interior of +distant houses which they had never before +seen."</p> + +<p>This long and varied survey of different +forms of physical and mental malady brings +us to a point where we may, with some confidence, +take our stand on inductive conclusions. +It seems evident, then, that all the +phenomena of animal magnetism have been +from an early period known to mankind under +the various forms of divinatory ecstasy, +demonopathy or witchmania, theomania, or +fanatical religious excitation, spontaneous catalepsy, +and somnambulism. That, in addition +to the ordinary manifestations of insensibility +to pain, rigidity, and what is called +clairvoyance, the patients affected with +the more intense conditions of the malady +have at all times exhibited a marvellous command +of languages; a seeming participation +in the thoughts, sensations, and impulses of +others; a power of resisting, for some short +time at least, the action of fire; and, perhaps, +a capacity of evolving some hitherto +unknown energy counteractive of the force +of gravitation. That the condition of mind +and body in question can be induced by means +addressed to each and all of the senses, as +well as involuntarily by way of sympathy or +contagion. That the fixing of the eyes on a +particular point, as a wafer, or the umbilicus, +or on a polished ball or mirror, is one of the +most general and efficacious means of artificially +inducing the condition of clairvoyance. +That it may also, on those prepared for its +reception by strong mental excitement, be +induced by tumultuous music, as by the +sound of drums and cymbals, by odors, and, +perhaps, by unguents; and that the same +condition also frequently supervenes on long-continued +and intense emotion, as well as on +those hysterical and convulsive movements +of the body which sometimes attend on excessive +religious excitation. That, induced +by the latter means, clairvoyance has a tendency +to become contagious, and has often +afflicted whole communities with the most +dangerous and deplorable epidemic hallucinations, +as in the fancied witch-sabbaths of the +domonomaniacs, and prowling excursions of +lycanthropes and vampyres; but that, although +in these demotic frenzies, the prevailing +ideas and images presented to the minds +of the sufferers are merely illusory, they possess +the capacity of being put in such a relation +with ideas and images derived from actual +existence in the mind of others, as to +perceive and appropriate them. Beyond this +it would be difficult to advance our speculation +with any degree of certainty; but if +speculation may be at all indulged in such a +question, it might, perhaps, be allowed to a +sanguine speculator to surmise that, possibly, +the mind in that state may be put <hi rend="font-style: italic">en rapport</hi> +with not only the ideas and emotions of another +particular mind, but with the whole of +the external world, and with all its minds. +Another step would carry us to that participation +in the whole scheme of nature, pretended +to by divinators and seers; but it +must be owned that, in the present state of +the evidences, there is no solid ground on +which to rest the foot of conjecture in taking +either the one step or the other.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, many practitioners are<pb n="213" /><anchor id="Pg213" /> +playing with an agency, the dangerous character +of which they little suspect. In ancient +exorcisms, it sometimes happened that the +exorcist himself became the involuntary recipient +of the contagious frenzy of the patient. +If such an event happened now, it +would not be more wonderful than when it +befel the Pere Surin, at Loudon, in 1635, as +he has himself described his disaster in +his letter to the Jesuit Attichi: "For three +months and a half I have never been without +a devil in full exercise within me. While I +was engaged in the performance of my ministry, +the devil passed out of the body of the +possessed, and coming into mine, assaulted +me and cast me down, shook me, and traversed +me to and fro, for several hours. I cannot +tell you what passed within me during +that time, and how that spirit united itself +with mine, leaving no liberty either of sensation +or of thought, but acting in me like another +self, or as if I possessed two souls; +these two souls making, as it were, a battle +ground of my body. When I sought, at the +instigation of the one, to make the sign of +the cross on my mouth, the other suddenly +would turn round my hand and seize the fingers +with my teeth, making me bite myself +with rage. When I sought to speak, the word +would be taken out of my mouth; at mass I +would be stopped short; at table I could not +carry the food to my mouth; at confession I +forgot my sins; in fine, I felt the devil go and +come within me as if he used me for his +daily dwelling-house."</p> + +<p>Or, if instead of passing into a single operator, +as in the case of Surin, the diseased contagion +should suddenly expand itself among +a crowd of bystanders, there would be nothing +to wonder at, although enough to deplore, +in such a catastrophe. It would be no more +than has already happened in all the epidemics +of lycanthropy and witchmania, of the +dancers of St. Vitas, of the Jumpers, Quakers, +and Revivalists, of the Mewers, Barkers, +and Convulsionnaires. The absence of +religious pretensions among the operators +seems as yet to be the chief guarantee against +such results. If instead of being made rigid +and lucid by the manipulations of a professor, +the patients should find themselves cast into +that state by contact with the tomb of a +preacher, or with the reliques of a saint, society +would soon be revisited with all the +evils of <hi rend="font-style: italic">pseudo</hi>-miracles and supposed demoniacal +possessions. The comparatively innocent +frenzy of the followers of Father Mathew, +was the nearest approach to a social disturbance +of that kind that our country has +been visited by since the barking epidemic +of the fourteenth century. "In the county +of Leicester, a person travelling along the +road," says Camden, "found a pair of gloves, +fit for his hands, as he thought; but when he +put them on, he lost his speech immediately, +and could do nothing but bark like a dog; +nay, from that moment, the men and women, +old and young, throughout the whole country, +barked like dogs, and the children like +whelps. This plague continued, with some +eighteen days, with others a month, and with +some for two years; and, like a contagious +distemper, at last infected the neighboring +counties, and set them a barking too."</p> + +<p>If mesmerism did no more than demonstrate, +as it has done, that all the supposed +evidences of modern inspiration, as well as of +modern demoniacal possession and ghost-craft, +are but the manifestations of a physical +disorder, capable of being induced by ordinary +agencies, it would have done a great service +to the cause of social and religious stability. +In addition to this, it has furnished surgery +with a new narcotic, perhaps with a new +anti-spasmodic. It is not impossible that +here, at length, a means may have been found +for combating the horrors of hydrophobia. +Its higher pretensions of clairvoyance and +provision, if not proved, are at least not yet +satisfactorily disproved. Its admitted usefulness +may, perhaps, counterbalance its perils; +but in every exercise of it, whether curative +or speculative, it is never to be forgotten, +that the phenomena are those of disease, +and that the production of disease, save for +the counteraction of other maladies more +hurtful, is in itself an evil.</p> + +<p rend="text-align: right">S. F.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>A CHAPTER OF EPITAPHS.</head> +<head type="sub">From Sharp's Magazine.</head> + +<p>By F. Lawrence.</p> + +<p>The best epitaphs, according to our notion, +are generally the shortest and the plainest. +In no description of composition is elaborate +and ornate phraseology so much out +of place. Where a world-wide reputation +has been achieved, the name alone, with the +addition perhaps of a date, is often calculated +to produce a more impressive effect than an +ostentatious inscription. It has been observed +that the simple words—</p> + +<p rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Catherine the Great to Peter the First,</hi></p> + +<p>inscribed on the monument erected by the +Empress Catherine to the memory of her +husband, arrogant as they are, contain the +essence of the sublime. And, in like manner, +among the most impressive memorials in +Westminster Abbey are the words, "O rare +Ben Jonson," chiselled beneath the great play-wright's +bust, and the name of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. Dryden</hi>, +with the date of his birth and death, and the +simple statement, that the tomb was erected, +in 1720, by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. +We doubt whether the effect of the +latter would have been improved by the addition +of the couplet written for it by Pope, +admirable as it is:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">This Sheffield raised: the sacred dust below</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Was Dryden once—the rest who does not know?</l> +</lg> + +<p>Among the best epitaphs in the Poet's Corner, +we are inclined to number that on Spenser, +which combines in an eminent degree +dignity and simplicity, and possesses a character +which at once attracts attention. The<pb n="214" /><anchor id="Pg214" /> +monument on which it appears had been +originally erected by Anne, Countess of Dorset, +and having fallen into decay, was restored, +in 1768, precisely in its old form:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Heare lyes (expecting the second</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Comminge of our Savior <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Christ</hi></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Jesus</hi>) the body of Edmond Spencer,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The Prince of Poets in his tyme,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Other witnesse than the works</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Which he left behinde him.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He was borne in London in the yeare 1553,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And died in the year 1598.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The epitaph of Michael Drayton, another +of the Elizabethan poets, said by some to be +the composition of Ben Jonson, and by others +to be by Quarles, has also a species of +quaint beauty and solemnity which raises it +above the ordinary level. It was originally +in gilt letters:</p> + +<p rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Michael Draiton</hi>, Esq.</p> + +<p rend="text-align: center"> A memorable poet of this age,<lb /> + Exchanged his laurell for a crowne of glorye,<lb /> + A<hi rend="vertical-align: super">o</hi>. 1631.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Doe, pious Marble! let thy readers knowe</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> What they and what their children owe</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> To <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Draiton's</hi> name, whose sacred dust</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> We recommend unto thy <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">trust</hi>:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Protect his memory, and preserve his storye,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Remaine a lastinge monument of his glorye;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And when thy ruines shall disclaime</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> To be the treas'rer of his name,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> His name that cannot fade shall be</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> An everlasting monument to thee.</l> +</lg> + +<p>We cannot say that the Latin compositions +of this sort in Westminster Abbey are much +to our taste. One however, we cannot pass +over—that to the memory of Goldsmith, by +Dr. Johnson—a scholar-like production, dictated +by affection, and full of grace and tenderness. +In the delineation of the personal +and literary character of his friend, we recognize +all the grander traits of the honest giant's +loving heart and powerful pen. Nothing can +be in better taste than his commendation of +Goldsmith's genius:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Affectuum <hi rend="font-style: italic">potens et lenis Dominator</hi>;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ingenio sublimis—vividus, versatilis,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Oratione grandis, nitidus, venustus—</l> +</lg> + +<p>Of the English epitaphs, one of the most +remarkable for elegance and simplicity is that +on Purcell, the composer, reputed, on the authority +of Malone, to be by Dryden, It certainly +is not unworthy of his pen:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Here lyes</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Henry Purcell</hi>, Esq.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Who left this life,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And is gone to that blessed place</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Where only his Harmony</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Can be exceeded.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Obiit 21 die Novembris</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Anno Ætatis suæ 37</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Annoque Domini 1695.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Among more modern inscriptions, those on +the great engineers, Watt and Telford, are +particularly worthy of notice. The former is +from the pen of Lord Brougham:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Not to perpetuate a name,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> But to show</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> That mankind have learned to know those</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Who best deserve their gratitude,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The King,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> His ministers, and many of the nobles</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And commoners of the realm</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Raised this monument to</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">James Watt</hi>,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Who, directing the force of an original genius,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Early exercised in philosophic research,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> To the improvement of the Steam Engine,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Enlarged the resources of his country,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Increased the power of man,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And rose to eminent place</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Among the most illustrious followers of science,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And the real benefactors of the world.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The inscription on Telford's monument is +equally chaste and beautiful. It presents this +noble summary of his life and character:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The orphan son of a shepherd, self-educated,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> He raised himself,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> By his extraordinary talents and integrity,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> From the humble condition of an operative mason,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And became one of the</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Most eminent Civil Engineers of the age.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> This marble has been erected near the spot</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Where his remains are deposited,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> By the friends who revered his virtues,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> But his noblest monuments are to be found amongst</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The great public works of his country.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Every visitor will reverently pause before +the magnificent cenotaph of the great Earl of +Chatham, which, though somewhat too confused +and elaborate in its decorations, is not +unworthy of the greatest of English ministers. +Having achieved a higher reputation +as a statesman and orator than any other public +man which his country had produced, and +having fallen, as it were, in her service, the +national gratitude was displayed in an unprecedented +manner by honors paid his memory. +His body lay in state three days in the +painted chamber in the House of Lords—his +public funeral exceeded in splendor the obsequies +of princes—his debts were paid by the +nation—and finally, the stately tomb to which +we have drawn attention, was placed over +his remains. The inscription whilst exceedingly +plain and simple, is impressive and appropriate:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Erected by the King and Parliament</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> As a testimonial to</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The Virtues and Ability</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> of</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">William Pitt, Earl of Chatham</hi>,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">During whose administration, in the reigns of</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> George II. and George III.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Divine Providence</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Exalted Great Britain</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> To a height of Prosperity and Glory</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Unknown in any former age.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Of poetical epitaphs in the Abbey some of +the most important are by Pope. Like everything +else from his pen, they are carefully +written, but viewed as monumental inscriptions, +not distinguished for any striking excellence. +Among the best of them is that on +the Honourable James Craggs, a secretary of +state, rather discreditably mixed up with the +South Sea Bubble:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In action faithful, yet in honour clear!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Who broke no promise, served no private end,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Who gained no title, and who lost no friend;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ennobled by Himself, by all approved,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Praised, wept, and honored by the Muse he loved.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The one on Gay is interesting as a tribute +of friendship, and as a faithful portrait of that +pleasing and amiable poet, the simplicity of +whose character is admirably delineated in +the first couplet:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of manners gentle, and affections mild,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="font-style: italic">In wit a man, simplicity a child</hi>.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Altogether it is a beautiful and appropriate<pb n="215" /><anchor id="Pg215" /> +composition, and we cannot but regret that +the monument on which it appears should be +disfigured by the doggerel, said to have been +written by Gay himself, and inscribed on the +ledge just above Pope's epitaph;</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Life is a jest, and all things show it;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I thought so once, but now I know it.</l> +</lg> + +<p>That of Nicholas Rowe, the dramatist (also +by Pope), has been admired for the pathos of +the concluding lines, the beauty of which, +however, it is a matter of notoriety, was considerably +marred by a prosaic circumstance, +which proves the danger of assuming facts +even in poetical compositions. The monument +is commemorative of the poet and of +his only daughter, the wife of Henry Fane. +His widow survived him, and her inconsolable +affliction was beautifully depicted:-</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To these so mourned in death, so loved in life,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The childless parent and the widowed wife,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With tears inscribes this monumental stone,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That holds their ashes, <hi rend="font-style: italic">and expects her own</hi>.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Almost, however, before "the monumental +stone" was finished, the disconsolate widow +dried her eyes, and married a gallant colonel +of dragoons, without considering that she was +spoiling the beauty of her husband's epitaph.</p> + +<p>Among the most flagrant instances of false +taste, we must specify that on the tomb of +David Garrick. The tomb itself has been +described as "a theatrical conceit, of which +the design exhibits neither taste nor invention." +The epitaph was the production of +Pratt, author of Harvest Home and other lucubrations +which have long since been consigned +to the tomb of the Capulets; and both +epitaph and monument are thus spoken of +by Charles Lamb in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Essays of Elia</hi>. Alluding +principally to the eccentric attitude of +the actor's effigy, he observes, "Though I +would not go so far, with some good Catholics +abroad, as to shut players altogether out +of consecrated ground, yet I own I was not +a little scandalized at the introduction of theatrical +airs and gestures into a place set apart +to remind us of the saddest realities. Going +nearer, I found inscribed under this burlesque +figure a farrago of false thought and nonsense." +The farrago in question is in verse, +and represents Shakspeare and Garrick as +"twin stars," who as long as time shall last +are to "irradiate earth with a beam divine."</p> + +<p>There are but few epitaphs in St. Paul's +Cathedral—the other great resting-place of +illustrious dead—worthy of remark or reproduction. +The best in the whole edifice, and +one of the most perfect compositions of its +kind, is the well-known inscription commemorative +of its renowned architect, Sir Christopher +Wren:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Subditus conditur hujus Ecelesiæ at Urbis</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Conditor, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Christopherus Wren</hi>, qui vixit</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Annos ultra nonaginta, non sibi, sed</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Bono publico. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Lector, si monumentum requiris,</hi></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Circumspice.</hi></l> +</lg> + +<p>We need not point out the beauties of this +celebrated epitaph:—its terseness of phraseology +(to which no translation could do justice)—its +suggestiveness, grandeur and dignity. +Another Latin inscription in St. Paul's +is also deserving notice, both on account of +its merit, and the individual it commemorates—that +on Dr. Samuel Johnson, written by +the famous Dr. Parr. Of English inscriptions +in this Cathedral, the most striking is +that on the monument of John Howard. It +concludes with the well-known sentence: +"He trod an open and unfrequented path,to +immortality, in the ardent and unremitting +exercise of Christian charity. May this tribute +to his fame excite an emulation of his +truly glorious achievements."</p> + +<p>It is no very easy matter to produce a +good epitaph. Great practice in composition +is required—great power of condensation—and +the exercise of judgment and discrimination. +In efforts at epitaph-writing, few +English poets have appeared to advantage. +One or two perfect specimens, indeed, we +possess, but the success of a single writer +must be set against the failure of a great +many. Of our good epitaphs, the very best, +in our opinion, is that on the Countess Dowager +of Pembroke, the sister of Sir Philip +Sidney, by Ben Jonson. Although it has +been often quoted, we cannot exclude it from +this paper:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Underneath this sable hearse</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Lies the subject of all verse,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Death, ere thou hast slain another,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Fair, and wise, and good as she,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Time shall throw his dart at thee.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Another of Jonson's epitaphs, although +more rugged in versification, is also deserving +of quotation;</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Underneath this stone doth lie</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As much virtue as could die;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Which, when alive, did vigor give</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To as much beauty as could live.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">If she had a single fault,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Leave it buried in this vault.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Not a few of Pope's epitaphs, as we have +before hinted, appear tame, insipid, and characterized +by a false taste. We except the +well-known couplet for the monument of +Sir Isaac Newton, in which there are dignity +of language and boldness of conception:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.</l> +</lg> + +<p>David Garrick is the author of some very +good and characteristic epitaphs. The best, +is that on Claudius Philips, the musician, who +lived and died in great poverty. It was some +time ascribed to Dr. Johnson, but is now +known to be the production of Garrick:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The pangs of guilty power and hapless love,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Another of Garnet's epitaphs, is that on +Mr. Havard, the comedian, who died in 1778. +It is described by the author as a tribute "to +the memory of a character he long knew and +respected." Whatever its merits as a composition, +the professional metaphor introduced +is sadly out of place:</p> + +<pb n="216" /><anchor id="Pg216" /> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"An honest man's the noblest work of God."</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Havard, from sorrow rest beneath this stone;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> An honest man—beloved as soon as known;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Howe'er defective in the mimic art,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> In real life he justly played his part!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The noblest character he acted well,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> And heaven applauded when the curtain fell.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The one on William Hogarth, in Chiswick +Churchyard, by Garrick, is in better taste:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Farewell, great painter of mankind,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Who reach'd the noblest point of art;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Whose pictur'd morals charm the mind,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And through the eye correct the heart!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">If genius fire thee, reader, stay;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> If nature touch thee, drop a tear:-</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">If neither move thee, turn away,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> For Hogarth's honor'd dust lies here.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Some distinguished men have amused themselves, +while living, by inditing epitaphs for +themselves. Franklin, and the great lawyer +and orientalist, Sir William Jones, have left +characteristic performances of this kind in +prose, and from Matthew Prior we have a +mock-serious one in verse. The latter has +been often quoted, but it will bear repetition:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nobles and heralds, by your leave,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Here lie the bones of Matthew Prior:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The son of Adam and of Eve,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher?</l> +</lg> + +<p>In the same spirit, but superior in tone and +quality, is the following, the authorship of +which is unknown, "on a poor but honest +man:"</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Stop, reader, here, and deign to look</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> On one without a name,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ne'er enter'd in the ample book</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Of fortune or of fame.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Studious of peace, he hated strife;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Meek virtues fill'd his breast;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">His coat of arms, "a spotless life,"</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> "An honest heart" his crest.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Quarter'd therewith was innocence,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And thus his motto ran:</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"A conscience void of all offence,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Before both God and man."</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In the great day of wrath, through pride</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Now scorns his pedigree,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thousands shall wish they'd been allied</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> To this great family.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The thought in Prior's is ludicrously expressed +in the following, from a monument +erected in 1703, in the New Church burying-ground, +Dundee, to the memory of J. R.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here lies a Man,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Com'd of Adam and Eve;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">If any will climb higher,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I give him leave.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Amongst poetical epitaphs, of the more +elaborate class, we must notice two by Mason; +one to the memory of his mother, in Bristol +Cathedral, and the other on a young lady +named Drummond, in the church of Brodsworth, +Yorkshire. We have space for only +the latter.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here sleeps what once was beauty, once was grace;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Grace, that with tenderness and sense combined</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To form that harmony of soul and face,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Where brainy shines the mirror of the mind.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Such was the maid that, in the morn of youth,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> In virgin innocence, in nature's pride,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Blest with each art that owes its charms to truth,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Sank in her father's fond embrace, and died.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He weeps; O venerate the holy tear!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Faith lends her aid to ease affliction's load;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The parent mourns his child upon the bier,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> The Christian yields an angel to his God.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Of whimsical and satirical epitaphs—some +actually inscribed on tombstones, and others +intended for pasquinades—a large collection +might be made. We have little taste for +these anomalous compositions, nor do we consider +it creditable to the national character, +that so many English churchyards can be +pointed out where they occur. But there +are those who will make even the tomb a +subject of pleasant humors. The epitaph +for the tomb of Sir John Vanbrugh, distinguished +as a dramatist and architect, and reflecting +on his achievements in the latter capacity, +is as follows:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Laid many a heavy load on thee.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The original of the following is among the +epigrams of Boileau:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here lies my wife; there let her lie;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">She is at rest—and so am I.</l> +</lg> + +<p>We do not suppose that this was ever engraved +on a tombstone, either in French or +English; but the following lines are said to +have been copied from a slab in an English +church:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here lies the body of Sarah Sexton,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Who as a wife did never vex one;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">We can't say that for her at the next stone.</l> +</lg> + +<p>The next specimen is also known to have +appeared on a tomb in Essex:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Here lies the man Richard,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And Mary his wife;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Their surname was Pritchard;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> They lived without strife;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And the reason was plain;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> They abounded in riches,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">They no care had nor pain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> And the wife wore the breeches.</l> +</lg> + +<p>We will not multiply examples of these +compositions. Lines of the description we +have quoted have often found their way into +print, and we have selected one or two of +the least offensive as examples of eccentricity.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE GOOD OLD TIMES IN PARIS.</head> +<head type="sub"><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">An Adventure With Robbers.</hi></head> + +<p>From Chamber's Edinburgh Journal.</p> + +<p>The world, since it was a world at all, has +ever been fond of singing the praises of +the good old times. It would seem a general +rule, that so soon as we get beyond a certain +age, whatever that may be, we acquire a high +opinion of the past, and grumble at every +thing new under the sun. One cause of this +may be, that distance lends enchantment to +the view, and that the history of the past, +like a landscape travelled over, loses in review +all the rugged and wearisome annoyances +that rendered it scarcely bearable in +the journey. But it is hardly worth while +to speculate upon the causes of an absurdity +which a little candid retrospection will do +more to dissipate than whole folios of philosophy. +We can easily understand a man who +sighs that he was not born a thousand years +hence instead of twenty or thirty years ago, +but that any one should encourage a regret +that his lot in life was not cast a few centuries +back, seems inexplicable on any rational +grounds. The utter folly of praising the<pb n="217" /><anchor id="Pg217" /> +good old times may be illustrated by a reference +to the wretched condition of most +European cities; but we shall confine ourselves +to the single case of Paris, now one +of the most beautiful capitals in the world.</p> + +<p>In the thirteenth century the streets of +Paris were not paved; they were muddy +and filthy to a very horrible degree, and +swine constantly loitered about and fed in +them. At night there were no public lights, +and assassinations and robberies were far +from infrequent. At the beginning of the +fourteenth century public lighting was begun +on a limited scale; and at best only a few +tallow candles were put up in prominent +situations. The improvement, accordingly, +did little good, and the numerous bands of +thieves had it still pretty much their own +way. Severity of punishment seldom compensates +the want of precautionary measures. +It was the general custom at this period to +cut off the ears of a condemned thief after +the term of his imprisonment had elapsed. +Thia was done that offenders might be readily +recognized should they dare again to enter +the city, banishment from which was a part +of the sentence of such as were destined to +be cropped. But they often found it easier +to fabricate false ears than to gain a livelihood +away from the arena of their exploits; +and this measure, severe and cruel as it was, +was found inefficient to rid the capital of +their presence.</p> + +<p>Among the various adventures with thieves, +detailed by an author contemporaneous with +Louis XIII., the following affords a rich example +of the organization of the domestic +brigands of the time, and of the wretched +security which the capital afforded to its inhabitants.</p> + +<p>A celebrated advocate named Polidamor +had by his reputation for riches aroused the +covetousness of some chiefs of a band of +brigands, who flattered themselves that could +they catch him they would obtain possession +of an important sum. They placed upon his +track three bold fellows, who, after many +fruitless endeavors, encountered him one +evening accompanied only by a single lackey. +Seizing fast hold of himself and attendant, +they rifled him in a twinkling; and as he had +accidentally left his purse at home, they took +his rich cloak of Spanish cloth and silk, which +was quite new, and of great value. Polidamor, +who at first resisted, found himself compelled +to yield to force, but asked as a favor +to be allowed to redeem his mantle. This +was agreed to at the price of thirty pistoles; +and the rogues appointed a rendezvous the +next day, at six in the evening, on the same +spot, for the purpose of effecting the exchange. +They recommended him to come +alone, assuring him that his life would be +endangered should he appear accompanied +with an escort. Polidamor repaired to the +place at the appointed hour, and after a few +moments of expectation he saw a carriage +approaching in which were seated four persons +in the garb of gentlemen. They descended +from the vehicle, and one of them, +advancing towards the advocate, asked him +in a low voice if he were not in search of a +cloak of Spanish cloth and silk. The victim +replied in the affirmative, and declared himself +prepared to redeem it at the sum at +which it had been taxed. The thieves having +assured themselves that he was alone, seized +him, and made him get into the carriage; +and one of them presenting a pistol to his +breast, bade him hold his tongue under pain +of instant death, while another blindfolded +him. As the advocate trembled with fear, +they assured him that no harm was intended, +and bade the coachman drive on.</p> + +<p>After a rapid flight, which was yet long +enough to inspire the prisoner with deadly +terror, the carriage stopped in front of a +large mansion, the gate of which opened to +receive them, and closed again as soon as +they had passed the threshold. The robbers +alighted with their captive, from whose eyes +they now removed the bandage. He was led +into an immense saloon, where were a number +of tables, upon which the choicest viands +were profusely spread, and seated at which +was a company of gentlemanly-looking personages, +who chatted familiarly together, +without the slightest demonstration of confusion +or alarm. His guardians again enjoined +him to lay aside all fear, informed him that +he was in good society, and that they had +brought him there solely that they might enjoy +the pleasure of his company at supper. +In the mean while water was served to the +guests, that they might wash their hands before +sitting at table. Every man took his +place, and a seat was assigned to Polidamor +at the upper and privileged end of the board. +Astonished, or rather stupefied at the strange +circumstances of his adventure, he would +willingly have abstained from taking any part +in the repast; but he was compelled to make +a show of eating, in order to dissemble his +mistrust and agitation. When the supper +was ended and the tables were removed, one +of the gentlemen who had assisted in his capture +accosted him with polite expressions of +regret at his want of appetite. During the +interchange of courtesies which ensued, one +of the bandits took a lute, another a viol, and +the party began to amuse themselves with +music. The advocate was then invited to +walk into a neighboring room, where he perceived +a considerable number of mantles +ranged in order. He was desired to select +his own, and to count out the thirty pistoles +agreed upon, together with one for coach-hire, +and one more for his share of the reckoning +at supper. Polidamor, who had been +apprehensive that the drama of which his +mantle had been the occasion might have a +very different <hi rend="font-style: italic">dénouement</hi>, was but too well +pleased to be quit at such a cost, and he took +leave of the assembly with unfeigned expressions<pb n="218" /><anchor id="Pg218" /> +of gratitude. The carriage was called, +and before entering it he was again blindfolded; +his former conductors returned with +him to the spot where he had been seized, +where, removing the bandage from his eyes, +they allowed him to alight, presenting him +at the same moment with a ticket sealed +with green wax, and having these words inscribed +in large letters, <hi rend="font-style: italic">"Freed by the Great +Band</hi>." This ticket was a passport securing +his mantle, purse, and person against all further +assaults. Hastening to regain his residence +with all speed, he was assailed at a +narrow turning by three other rascals, who +demanded his purse or his life. The advocate +drew his ticket from his pocket, though he +had no great faith in it as a preservative, and +presented it to the thieves. One of them, +provided with a dark lantern, read it, returned +it, and recommended him to make haste +home, where he at last arrived in safety.</p> + +<p>Early in the seventeenth century the Parisian +rogues availed themselves of the regulations +against the use of snuff to pillage the +snuff-takers. As the sale of this article was +forbidden by law to any but grocers and +apothecaries, and as even they could only retail +it to persons provided with the certificate +of a medical man, the annoyance of such restrictions +was loudly complained of. The +rogues, ever ready to profit by circumstances, +opened houses for gaming—at that period almost +a universal vice—where "snuff at discretion" +was a tempting bait to those long +accustomed to a gratification all the more +agreeable because it was forbidden. Here +the snuff-takers were diligently plied with +wine, and then cheated of their money; or, if +too temperate or suspicious to drink to excess, +they were unceremoniously plundered in a +sham quarrel. To such a length was this +practice carried, that an ordinance was at +length issued in 1629, strictly forbidding all +snuff-takers from assembling in public places +or elsewhere, "<hi rend="font-style: italic">pour satisfaire leur goût</hi>!"</p> + +<p>The thieves of the good old times were not +only more numerous in proportion to the population +than they are at present, but were +also distinguished by greater audacity and +cruelty. They had recourse to the most diabolical +ingenuity to subdue the resistance and +to prevent the outcries of their victims. Under +the rule of Henry IV. a band of brigands +arose, who, in the garb, and with the manners +of gentlemen, introduced themselves into +the best houses under the pretext of private +business, and when alone with the master, +demanded his money at the dagger's +point. Some of them made use of a gag—a +contrivance designated at the period the <hi rend="font-style: italic">poire +d'angoisse</hi>. This instrument was of a spherical +shape, and pierced all over with small +holes; it was forced into the mouth of the +person intended to be robbed, and upon touching +a spring sharp points protruded from +every hole, at once inflicting the most horrible +anguish, and preventing the sufferer from +uttering a single cry. It could not be withdrawn +but by the use of the proper key, +which contracted the spring. This device +was adopted universally by one savage band, +and occasioned immense misery not only in +Paris but throughout France.</p> + +<p>An Italian thief, an enterprising and ingenious +rogue, adopted a singular expedient for +robbing women at their devotions in church. +He placed himself on his knees by the side of +his intended prey, holding in a pair of artificial +hands a book of devotion, to which he +made a show of the most devout attention, +while with his natural hands he cut the watch +or purse-string of his unsuspecting neighbor. +This stratagem, favored by the fashion, then +general, of wearing mantles, met with great +success, and of course soon produced a host +of clumsy imitators, and excited the vigilance +of the police, who at length made so many +seizures of solemn-faced devotees provided +with wooden kid-gloved hands, that it fell into +complete discredit, and was at last abandoned +by the profession.</p> + +<p>Cunning as were the rogues of a past age, +they were liable to capture like their modern +successors. A gentleman having resorted to +Paris on business, was hustled one day in the +precincts of the palace, and robbed of his +well-filled purse. Furious at the loss of a +considerable sum, he swore to be avenged. +He procured a clever mechanic, who, under +his directions, contrived a kind of hand-trap +for the pocket, managed in such a manner as +to preclude the possibility of an attempt at +purse-stealing without detection. Having +fixed the instrument in its place, impatient +for the revenge he had promised himself, he +sallied forth to promenade the public walks, +mingled with every group, and stopped from +time to time gazing about him with the air +of a greenhorn. Several days passed before +any thing resulted from his plan; but one +morning, while he was gaping at the portraits +of the kings of France in one of the public +galleries, he finds himself surrounded and +pushed about, precisely as in the former instance; +he feels a hand insinuating itself +gently into the open snare, and hears immediately +the click of the instrument, which assures +him that the delinquent is safely caught. +Taking no notice, he walks on as if nothing +had happened, and resumes his promenade, +drawing after him the thief, whom pain and +shame prevented from making the least effort +to disengage his hand. Occasionally the gentleman +would turn round, and rebuke his unwilling +follower for his importunity, and thus +drew the eyes of the whole crowd upon his +awkward position. At last, pretending to +observe for the first time the stranger's hand +in his pocket, he flies into a violent passion, +accuses him of being a cut-purse, and demands +the sum he had previously lost, without +which he declares the villain shall be +hanged. It would seem that compounding a +felony was nothing in those days; for it is<pb n="219" /><anchor id="Pg219" /> +upon record that the thief, though caught in +the act, was permitted to send a messenger +to his comrades, who advanced the money, +and therewith purchased his liberty.</p> + +<p>The people were forbidden to employ particular +materials in the fabrication of their +clothing, to ride in a coach, to decorate their +apartments as they chose, to purchase certain +articles of furniture, and even to give a dinner +party when and in what style they chose. +Under the Valois régime strict limits were +assigned to the expenses of the table, determining +the number of courses of which a +banquet should consist, and that of the dishes +of which each course was to be composed. +Any guest who should fail to denounce an +infraction of the law of which he had been a +witness, was liable to a fine of forty livres; +and officers of justice, who might be present, +were strictly enjoined to quit the tables of +their hosts, and institute immediate proceedings +against them. The rigor of these regulations +extended, even to the kitchen, and the +police had the power of entry at all hours, to +enforce compliance with the statutes.</p> + +<p>But it was during the prevalence of an epidemic +that it was least agreeable to live in +France in the good old times. No sooner did +a contagious malady, or one that was supposed +to be so, make its appearance, than the +inhabitants of Paris were all forbidden to remove +from one residence to another, although +their term of tenancy had expired, until the +judge of police had received satisfactory evidence +that the house they desired to leave +had not been affected by the contagion. +When a house was infected, a bundle of straw +fastened to one of the windows warned the +public to avoid all intercourse with the inmates. +At a later period two wooden crosses +were substituted for the straw, one of which +was attached to the front door, and the other +to one of the windows in an upper story. +In 1596 the provost of Paris having learned +that the tenants of some houses infected by +an epidemic which was then making great +ravages, had removed these badges, issued an +ordinance commanding that those who transgressed +in a similar manner again should suffer +the loss of the right hand—a threat which +was found perfectly efficient.</p> + +<p>By an ordinance of 1533, persons recovering +from a contagious malady, together with +their domestics, and all the members of their +families, were forbidden to appear in the +streets for a given period without a white +wand in their hands, to warn the public of +the danger of contact. Three years after the +authorities were yet more severe against the +convalescents, who were ordered to remain +shut up at home for forty days after their +cure; and even when the quarantine had expired, +they were not allowed to appear in the +streets until they had presented to a magistrate +a certificate from the commissary of +their district, attested by a declaration of six +householders, that the forty days had elapsed. +In the preceding century (in 1498) an ordinance +still more extraordinary had been issued. +It was at the coronation of Louis XII. +when a great number of the nobles came to +Paris to take part in the ceremony. The +provost, desiring to guard them from the danger +of infection, published an order that all +persons of both sexes, suffering under certain +specified maladies, should quit the capital in +twenty-four hours, <hi rend="font-style: italic">under the penalty of being +thrown into the river</hi>!</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE LEGEND OF THE WEEPING CHAMBER.</head> +<head type="sub">From Household Words.</head> + +<p>A strange story was once told me by a +Levantine lady of my acquaintance, +which I shall endeavor to relate—as far as I am +able with the necessary abridgments—in her +own words. The circumstances under which +she told it were peculiar. The family had +just been disturbed by the visit of a ghost—a +real ghost, visible, if not palpable. She was +not what may be called superstitious; and +though following with more or less assiduity +the practices of her religion, was afflicted +now and then with a fit of perfect materialism. +I was surprised, therefore, to hear her +relate, with every appearance of profound +faith, the following incidents:—</p> + +<p>There is an old house in Beyrout, which, +for many successive years, was inhabited by +a Christian family. It is of great extent, +and was of yore fitted for the dwelling of a +prince. The family had, indeed, in early-times +been very rich; and almost fabulous +accounts are current of the wealth of its +founder, Fadlallah Dahân. He was a merchant; +the owner of ships, the fitter-out of +caravans. The regions of the East and of the +West had been visited by him; and, after +undergoing as many dangers and adventures +as Sinbad, he had returned to spend the latter +days of his life in his native city. He +built, accordingly, a magnificent dwelling, +the courts of which he adorned with marble +fountains, and the chambers with silk divans; +and he was envied on account of his prosperity.</p> + +<p>But, in the restlessness of his early years, +he had omitted to marry, and now found +himself near the close of his career without +an heir to inherit his wealth and to perpetuate +his name. This reflection often disturbed +him; yet he was unwilling to take a wife +because he was old. Every now and then, it +is true, he saw men older than he, with fewer +teeth and whiter beards, taking to their bosoms +maidens that bloomed like peaches just +beginning to ripen against a wall; and his +friends, who knew he would give a magnificent +marriage-feast, urged him to do likewise. +Once he looked with pleasure on a +young person of not too tender years, whose +parents purposely presented her to him; but +having asked her in a whisper whether she +would like to marry a withered old gentleman<pb n="220" /><anchor id="Pg220" /> +like himself, she frankly confessed a +preference for his handsome young clerk, +Harma, who earned a hundred piastres a +month. Fadlallah laughed philosophically, +and took care that the young couple should +be married under happy auspices.</p> + +<p>One day he was proceeding along the street +gravely and slowly—surrounded by a number +of merchants proud to walk by his side, +and followed by two or three young men, +who pressed near in order to be thought of +the company, and thus establish their credit—when +an old woman espying him, began to +cry out, "Yeh! yeh! this is the man who +has no wife and no child—this is the man +who is going to die and leave his fortune to +be robbed by his servants or confiscated by +the governor! And yet, he has a sagacious +nose"—(the Orientals have observed that +there is wisdom in a nose)—"and a beard as +long as my back! Yeh! yeh! what a wonderful +sight to see!"</p> + +<p>Fadlallah Dahân stopped, and retorted, +smiling: "Yeh! yeh! this is the woman +that blames an old man for not marrying a +young wife. Yeh! yeh! what a wonderful +sight to see!"</p> + +<p>Then the woman replied, "O my lord, +every pig's tail curls not in the same direction, +nor does every maiden admire the passing +quality of youth. If thou wilt, I will bestow +on thee a wife, who will love thee as +thou lovest thyself, and serve thee as the +angels serve Allah. She is more beautiful +than any of the daughters of Beyrout, and +her name is Selima, a name of good augury."</p> + +<p>The friends of Fadlallah laughed, as did the +young men who followed in their wake, and +urged him to go and see this peerless beauty, +if it were only for a joke. Accordingly, he +told the woman to lead the way. But she +said he must mount his mule, for they +had to go some distance into the country. +He mounted, and, with a single servant, went +forth from the gates—the woman preceding—and +rode until he reached a village in the +mountains. Here, in a poor little house, he +found Selima; clothed in the very commonest +style, engaged in making divan cushions. +She was a marvellously beautiful girl, and the +heart of the merchant at once began to yearn +towards her; yet he endeavored to restrain +himself, and said, "This beautiful thing is not +for me." But the woman cried out, "Selima, +wilt thou consent to love this old man?" +The girl gazed in his face awhile, and then, +folding her hands across her bosom, said, +"Yes; for there is goodness in his countenance." +Fadlallah wept with joy; and, returning +to the city, announced his approaching +marriage to his friends. According to +custom, they expressed civil surprise to his +face; but, when his back was turned, they +whispered that he was an old fool, and had +been the dupe of a she-adventurer.</p> + +<p>The marriage took place with ceremonies +of royal magnificence; and Selima, who passed +unmoved from extreme poverty to abundant +riches, seemed to merit the position of +the greatest lady in Beyrout. Never was +woman more prudent than she. No one ever +knew her previous history, nor that of her +mother. Some said that a life of misery, +perhaps of shame, was before them, when +this unexpected marriage took place. Selima's +gratitude to Fadlallah was unbounded; +and out of gratitude grew love. The merchant +daily offered up thanks for the bright +diamond which had come to shine in his +house.</p> + +<p>In due time a child was born; a boy lively +as his mother; and they named him Halil. +With what joy he was received, what festivities +announced the glad intelligence to the +town, may easily be imagined. Selima and +Fadlallah resolved to devote themselves to +his education, and determined that he should +be the most accomplished youth of Bar-er-Shâm. +But a long succession of children followed, +each more beautiful than the former—some +boys, some girls; and every new comer +was received with additional delight and +still grander ceremonies; so that the people +began to say, "Is this a race of sovereigns?"</p> + +<p>Now, Halil grew up to the age of twelve—still +a charming lad; but the parents always +fully occupied by the last arrival, had not +carried out their project of education. He +was as wild and untamed as a colt, and spent +more of his time in the street than in the +company of his mother; who, by degrees, +began to look upon him with a kind of calm +friendship due to strangers. Fadlallah, as he +took his accustomed walk with his merchant +friends, used from time to time to encounter +a ragged boy fighting in the streets with the +sons of the Jew butcher; but his eyes beginning +to grow dim, he often passed without +recognizing him. One day, however, Halil, +breathless and bleeding, ran up and took refuge +beneath the skirts of his mantle from a +crowd of savage urchins. Fadlallah was +amazed, and said, "O, my son—for I think +thou art my son—what evil hath befallen +thee, and wherefore do I see thee in this +state?" The boy, whose voice was choked +by sobs, looked up into his face, and said, +"Father, I am the son of the richest merchant +of Beyrout, and behold, there is no one +so little cared for as I."</p> + +<p>Fadlallah's conscience smote him, and he +wiped the boy's bleeding face with the corner +of his silk caftan, and blessed him; and, taking +him by the hand, led him away. The +merchants smiled benignly one to the other, +and, pointing with their thumbs, said, "We +have seen the model youth!"</p> + +<p>Whilst they laughed and sneered, Fadlallah, +humbled yet resolved, returned to his house, +leading the ragged Halil, and entered his +wife's chamber. Selima was playing with +her seventh child, and teaching it to lisp the +word "Baba"—about the amount of education +which she had found time to bestow on<pb n="221" /><anchor id="Pg221" /> +each of her offspring. When she saw the +plight of her eldest son she frowned, and was +about to scold him; but Fadlallah interposed, +and said, "Wife, speak no harsh words. We +have not done our duty by this boy. May +God forgive us; but we have looked on these +children that have bloomed from thee, more +as playthings than as deposits for which we +are responsible. Halil has become a wild +out-of-doors lad, doubting with some reason +of our love. It is too late to bring him back +to the destiny we had dreamt of; but he +must not be left to grow up thus uncared for. +I have a brother established in Bassora; to +him will I send the lad to learn the arts of +commerce, and to exercise himself in adventure, +as his father did before him. Bestow +thy blessing upon him, Selima (here the good +old man's voice trembled), and may God in +his mercy forgive both thee and me for the +neglect which has made this parting necessary. +I shall know that I am forgiven, if, before +I go down into the tomb, my son return +a wise and sober man; not unmindful that +we gave him life, and forgetting that, until +now, we have given him little else."</p> + +<p>Selima laid her seventh child in its cradle +of carved wood, and drew Halil to her +bosom; and Fadlallah knew that she loved +him still, because she kissed his face, regardless +of the blood and dirt that stained it. She +then washed him and dressed him, and gave +him a purse of gold, and handed him over to +his father; who had resolved to send him off +by the caravan that started that very afternoon. +Halil, surprised and made happy by +unwonted caresses, was yet delighted at the +idea of beginning an adventurous life; and +went away, manfully stifling his sobs, and endeavoring +to assume the grave deportment +of a merchant. Selima shed a few tears, and +then, attracted by a crow and a chuckle from +the cradle, began to tickle the infant's soft +double chin, and went on with her interrupted +lesson, "Baba, Baba!"</p> + +<p>Halil started on his journey, and having +passed through the Valley of Robbers, the +Valley of Lions, and the Valley of Devils—this +is the way in which Orientals localize the +supposed dangers of travelling—arrived at +the good city of Bassora; where his uncle +received him well, and promised to send him, +as supercargo on board the first vessel he dispatched +to the Indian seas. What time was +spent by the caravan upon the road, the narrative +does not state. Travelling is slow +work in the East; but almost immediately +on his arrival in Bassora, Halil was engaged +in a love adventure. If travelling is slow, +the approaches of manhood are rapid. The +youth's curiosity was excited by the extraordinary +care taken to conceal his cousin Miriam +from his sight; and having introduced +himself into her garden, beheld, and, struck +by her wonderful beauty, loved her. With +an Oriental fondness he confessed the truth +to his uncle, who listened with anger and +dismay, and told him that Miriam was betrothed +to the Sultan. Halil perceived the +danger of indulging his passion, and promised +to suppress it; but whilst he played a +prudent part, Miriam's curiosity was also excited, +and she too beheld and loved her cousin. +Bolts and bars cannot keep two such affections +asunder. They met and plighted their +troth and were married secretly, and were +happy. But inevitable discovery came. Miriam +was thrown into a dungeon; and the +unhappy Halil, loaded with chains, was put +on board a vessel, not as supercargo, but as +prisoner, with orders that he should be left +in some distant country.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a dreadful pestilence fell upon +Beyrout, and among the first sufferers was +an eighth little one that had just learned +to say "Baba!" Selima was almost too +astonished to be grieved. It seemed to her +impossible that death should come into her +house, and meddle with the fruits of so much +suffering and love. When they came to take +away the little form which she had so often +fondled, her indignation burst forth, and she +smote the first old woman who stretched out +her rough unsympathetic hand. But a shriek +from her waiting-woman announced that +another victim was singled out; and the +frantic mother rushed like a tigress to defend +the young that yet remained to her. But the +enemy was invisible; and (so the story goes) +all her little ones drooped one by one and +died; so that on the seventh day Selima sat +in her nursery gazing about with stony eyes, +and counting her losses upon her fingers—Iskender, +Selima, Wardy, Fadlallah, Hanna, +Hennenah, Gereges—seven in all. Then she +remembered Halil, and her neglect of him; +and, lifting up her voice, she wept aloud; +and, as the tears rushed fast and hot down +her cheeks, her heart yearned for her absent +boy, and she would have parted with worlds +to have fallen upon his breast—would have +given up her life in return for one word of +pardon and of love.</p> + +<p>Fadlallah came in to her; and he was now +very old and feeble. His back was bent, and +his transparent hand trembled as it clutched +a cane. A white beard surrounded a still +whiter face; and as he came near his wife, +he held out his hand towards her with an +uncertain gesture, as if the room had been +dark. This world appeared to him but dimly. +"Selima," said he, "the Giver hath +taken. We, too, must go in our turn. Weep, +my love, but weep with moderation, for +those little ones that have gone to sing in the +golden cages of Paradise. There is a heavier +sorrow in my heart. Since my first-born, +Halil, departed for Bassora, I have only +written once to learn intelligence of him. +He was then well, and had been received +with favor by his uncle. We have never +done our duty by that boy." His wife replied, +"Do not reproach me; for I reproach +myself more bitterly than thou canst do.<pb n="222" /><anchor id="Pg222" /> +Write, then, to thy brother to obtain tidings +of the beloved one. I will make of this chamber +a weeping chamber. It has resounded +with merriment enough. All my children +learned to laugh and to talk here. I will +hang it with black, and erect a tomb in the +midst; and every day I will come and spend +two hours, and weep for those who are gone +and for him who is absent." Fadlallah approved +her design; and they made a weeping +chamber, and lamented together every day +therein. But their letters to Bassora remained +unanswered; and they began to believe +that fate had chosen a solitary tomb for Halil.</p> + +<p>One day a woman, dressed in the garb of +the poor, came to the house of Fadlallah with +a boy about twelve years old. When the +merchant saw them he was struck with +amazement, for he beheld in the boy the +likeness of his son Halil; and he called aloud +to Selima, who, when she came, shrieked +with amazement. The woman told her story, +and it appeared that she was Miriam. +Having spent some months in prison, she had +escaped and taken refuge in a forest in the +house of her nurse. Here she had given birth +to a son, whom she had called by his father's +name. When her strength returned, she had +set out as a beggar to travel over the world +in search of her lost husband. Marvellous +were the adventures she underwent, God +protecting her throughout, until she came to +the land of Persia, where she found Halil +working as a slave in the garden of the Governor +of Fars. After a few stolen interviews, +she had again resumed her wanderings to +seek for Fadlallah, that he might redeem his +son with wealth; but had passed several +years upon the road.</p> + +<p>Fortune, however, now smiled upon this +unhappy family, and in spite of his age, Fadlallah +set out for Fars. Heaven made the +desert easy, and the road short for him. On +a fine calm evening he entered the gardens +of the governor, and found his son gaily singing +as he trimmed an orange tree. After a +vain attempt to preserve an incognito, the +good old man lifted up his hands, and shouting, +"Halil, my first-born!" fell upon the +breast of the astonished slave. Sweet was +the interview in the orange grove, sweet the +murmured conversation between the strong +young man and the trembling patriarch, until +the perfumed dew of evening fell upon their +heads. Halil's liberty was easily obtained, +and father and son returned in safety to Beyrout. +Then the Weeping Chamber was closed, +and the door walled up; and Fadlallah +and Selima lived happily until age gently did +its work at their appointed times: and Halil +and Miriam inherited the house and the +wealth that had been gathered for them.</p> + +<p>The supernatural part of the story remains +to be told. The Weeping Chamber was never +again opened; but every time that a death +was about to occur in the family, a shower of +heavy tear-drops was heard to fall upon its +marble floor, and low wailings came through +the walled doorway. Years, centuries passed +away, and the mystery repeated itself with +unvarying uniformity. The family fell into +poverty, and only occupied a portion of the +house, but invariably before one of its members +sickened unto death, a shower of heavy +drops, as from a thunder-cloud, pattered on +the pavement of the Weeping Chamber, and +was heard distinctly at night through the +whole house. At length the family quitted +the country in search of better fortunes elsewhere, +and the house remained for a long +time uninhabited.</p> + +<p>The lady who narrated the story went to +live in the house, and passed some years +without being disturbed; but one night she +was lying awake, and distinctly heard the +warning shower dripping heavily in the +Weeping Chamber. Next day the news came +of her mother's death, and she hastened to +remove to another dwelling. The house has +since been utterly abandoned to rats, mice, +beetles, and an occasional ghost seen sometimes +streaming along the rain-pierced terraces. +No one has ever attempted to violate +the solitude of the sanctuary where Selima +wept for the seven little ones taken to the +grave, and for the absent one whom she had +treated with unmotherly neglect.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE BULL FIGHT OF MADRID.</head> +<head type="sub">BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE CASTILIAN."</head> + +<p>It was one of those clear, bright days, peculiar +to a Spanish summer, when the +deep blue skies seem to reflect their warmth +in radiance over the earth; a slumberous influence +hung over the tranquil streets of +Madrid, and although it was still early in the +morning, the fervid rays of the sun gave a +certain indication of the meridian power he +was about to display in a few hours.</p> + +<p>Such was the day appropriated for the +splendid and soul-stirring celebration of a +bull-fight; and accordingly, the inhabitants +soon began, by an unusual bustle, to evince +the absorbing interest they are accustomed +to take in this favorite amusement. Before +the hour of nine, the beautiful street of Alcala +was thronged with a promiscuous multitude, +eager to witness the first exhibition of +the morning; the Spanish bull-fight being in +fact composed of two acts, if I may so term +them, the morning and the evening encounters.</p> + +<p>On such days, a general cessation of labor +takes place throughout the city, and the +whole population is occupied with speculations +on the approaching festival. On the +morning in question, the inhabitants of Madrid, +the lower classes in particular, attired in +their holiday finery, began at an early hour +to issue from their narrow and obscure dormitories, +and, with tolerably cleanly appearance +and much importance of demeanor, to +take up a position in that famous <hi rend="font-style: italic">Puerta del +sol</hi> which, on less momentous occasions,<pb n="223" /><anchor id="Pg223" /> +seems destined only as a lounge for all the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">ennuyés</hi>, news-hunters, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">petit-maitres</hi> of +Madrid. The Manolos, too, began to congregate +in great numbers, casting around those +terrible glances of recklessness and conscious +courage, which, in the estimation of foreigners, +are the certain prognostics of as many +concealed daggers.</p> + +<p>I soon made up my mind to add one to the +vast concourse now on the alert to witness +this grand and terrific spectacle, although, for +many reasons, I prudently resolved to postpone +my share of the entertainment until the +evening.</p> + +<p>It is at this hour that the higher classes +prefer visiting the arena: a number of the +more desperate <hi rend="font-style: italic">amateurs</hi>, however, regardless +of the influence of a meridian sun, do not +hesitate to present themselves at the morning +exhibitions.</p> + +<p>At about four in the afternoon, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Calle +de Alcala</hi> was, if possible, more crowded than +it had been in the morning. This majestic +street, which commands a full view of the +superb triumphal arch which bears its name, +now presented a most striking and animated +scene: various groups, fancifully contrasted +in dress and deportment, were all hurrying +towards the same spot. Here you might see +the gorgeous equipage of the haughty grandee, +sweeping by in all the imposing consciousness +of pomp and greatness, while carriages +of more humble pretensions were rattling +as briskly, if not as proudly, along the +gay and lively street. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Calesines</hi>, too, +were seen in great numbers hurrying to the +scene of anticipated pleasure, and diversifying, +by the singularity of their appearance, +and the ringing of small bells, the stately <hi rend="font-style: italic">cortege</hi> +of more splendid equipages.</p> + +<p>Next, an army of <hi rend="font-style: italic">majos</hi> attracted attention +by their fanciful dresses, and the easy swagger +with which they accompanied their <hi rend="font-style: italic">morenas</hi>, +who were not the less conspicuous for +their graceful though somewhat confident +demeanor. They were all, of course, attired +in their peculiar costume, bedizened with +ribbons, and the short saya reaching only to +the middle of the calf, and showing the most +polished ancle and the prettiest foot in the +world. These gay and lively individuals were +picturesquely contrasted with crowds of +monks and friars, of all orders and colors—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery—</l> +</lg> + +<p>here and there intermingled with military +idlers, in the uniforms of their several regiments.</p> + +<p>Here you might see the rosy and jolly abbate, +ambling along upon a mule, having an +appearance scarcely less clerical than himself, +jostling the less fortunate friar on the back +of the humbler donkey, and the sturdy mendicant, +as he strode along on foot, supported +only by his staff. The streets, and every +avenue leading to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Plaza de los Toros</hi>, +were lined with noisy vendors of delicious +fruits, who made a grateful display upon their +stalls of the Seville orange and the cooling +water-melon; whilst a number of Valencians +carried about large <hi rend="font-style: italic">vasijas</hi>, or trays of lemonade, +and other refreshments, for the accommodation +of the thirsty pedestrians, who had +no time to squander upon a visit to the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">neveras</hi>, or ice-houses. The effect of this animated +picture was farther heightened by the +cries of the venders, the harmony of some +neighboring barber's guitar, the continual +jingling of the mules' bells, and the clicking +of castanets.</p> + +<p>Amidst this stunning, yet not unpleasing +variety of sounds, we at length reached the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Plaza de los Toros</hi>, and it was with some difficulty +we obtained places in the stage seats. +A vast concourse of persons of all classes +were already assembled, and I observed with +a smile the effect which the novelty of the +scene had produced upon an English friend, +whom I had, with great difficulty, prevailed +upon to accompany me; having, as he declared, +but little taste for such brutal and +demoralizing exhibitions. He seemed quite +excited, and made some passing observation +relative to the Roman Circus, to which the +present exhibition bore no unapt resemblance. +I directed his attention to many of his countrymen, +as well as other foreigners, who, +after having been quite as clamorous as himself +against the sport, had terminated their +philosophical philippics by becoming constant +visitors both at the morning and afternoon +encounters. We arrived at the scene of action +just in time to witness <hi rend="font-style: italic">El despejo</hi>, or the +clearing of the arena; a ceremony which is +effected by a band of soldiers, who enter the +place and drive every loiterer away, to the +sound of drums and fifes. In a few minutes, +not a single person was to be seen in the +circus; and, consequently, the body of spectators, +thus driven back upon the crowd, gave +rise to various energetic expostulations, +hearty curses, and not a few random cuffs. +The only inconvenience, however, of these +frequent <hi rend="font-style: italic">melées</hi>, was the loss of a few ribbons +and a quantity of hair, of which the <hi rend="font-style: italic">manolus</hi> +most assiduously set about easing themselves. +This operation is a source of considerable +amusement to those who stand aloof from the +field of strife. We had been happy in securing +good places, and had nothing to complain of +but the immediate vicinity of an amateur, or +<hi rend="font-style: italic">aficionado</hi>, who kept his tongue in continual +motion, and favored his neighbors with a tremendous +display of erudition on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">tauromachia</hi>.</p> + +<p>Whilst the immense multitude were beguiling +their impatience in a thousand ways, +and among others by bandying jests—eating +oranges—smoking—whistling—love-making +and quarrelling—the champions of the fète, +namely, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">espadas</hi>, and the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi>, were very piously engaged in prayer +in a chapel contiguous to the circus, it being +customary for combatants to solicit the protection +of the holy Virgin against the tremendous<pb n="224" /><anchor id="Pg224" /> +animal they are about to encounter +before they venture to provoke its ferocity.</p> + +<p>While they proceed in their laudable occupation, +we will return to the circus, which +now presented a most striking spectacle. The +corregidor and the corporation of the town +had already taken their seats near the splendid +box fitted up for the use of the king, directly +opposite to the entrance from which +the bull was expected to rush into the arena. +Above this entrance was a platform, occupied +by a band of musicians, who continued at intervals +to mingle their animating strains with +the clamor of the noisy multitude. An officer +of the town now entered the arena, +mounted on a fine charger. He was dressed +in complete sables, and carried in his hand +the staff of office. Attended by alguazils, he +advanced,—saluted the box where the king +was <hi rend="font-style: italic">not</hi>,—and then proceeded to the master +of the ceremonies, from whom he received +the keys of the cells, where the terrible animals +who were to take so conspicuous parts +in the evening spectacle were confined.</p> + +<p>At this critical juncture, a breathless silence +pervaded the spectators, who by their +eager looks evinced the absorbing interest +they took in the soul-stirring spectacle. +Anon, a band of martial instruments struck +up;—a general buzz arose on every side, and, +amidst the overwhelming din that prevailed +throughout the circus, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi> and the +rest of their party made their entrance into +the arena. First came the <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi>, with +their horses blindfold, wearing enormous +boots to protect them from the blows of the +bull; next paced on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">espadas</hi>, or <hi rend="font-style: italic">matadores</hi>, +on foot, attired in rich silk dresses, each wearing +a robe of a different color, together with +ribbons or some other distinctive mark of +favor from his mistress. The procession +closed with a numerous troop of <hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi>, or +<hi rend="font-style: italic">banderilleros</hi>, a set of young men lightly and +fancifully apparelled, whose business is to +distract the attention of the bull from a fallen +cavalier, and to harass the animal with the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">banderillas</hi>. In this splendid troop we perceived +some traces of the ancient spirit of +chivalry, although, strange to say, the favorite +sport of the fine cavaliers of the land is +now confined to the lowest orders. It is only +from the slaughter-house that the bull-fighters +now, for the most part, proceed.</p> + +<p>The procession moved on, at a slow and +stately pace, amidst strains of music and the +vociferations of the lower classes, many of +whom soon recognized in the heroes of the +fète, some near relation, some dear friend, or +at least, well-known acquaintance, whom +they were desirous of encouraging by their +shouts. The champions having made their +respective obeisances to the royal box and to +the corregidor, retired to the places set apart +for them in the arena.</p> + +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi>, according to the order of +precedence, ranged themselves in the circus, +close to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">baranda</hi>, or wooden barrier, +which, though elevated to the height of five +feet, is sometimes scarcely sufficient to prevent +the most furious amongst the bulls from +breaking over it. Suddenly the music ceased—the +silence was intense—the signal is given—the +doors were flung open—and, with one +tremendous burst, forth sprang the bull into +the middle of the circus! It was a fearful +animal; not large, but of that peculiar color +and breed which are accounted the most ferocious.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Dark is his hide on either side, but the blood within doth boil,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And the dun hide glows as if on fire, as he paws to the turmoil,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">His eyes are jet, and they are set in crystal rings of snow;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But now they stare with one red glare of brass upon the foe.</l> + +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Upon the forehead of the bull the horns stand close and near,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">From out the broad and wrinkled skull like daggers they appear;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">His neck is massy, like the trunk of some old knotted tree,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Whereon the monster's shagged mane like billows curled ye see.</l> + +<l rend="margin-left: 2">His legs are short, his hams are thick, his hoofs are black as night,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Like a strong flail he holds his tail in the fierceness of his might;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Like something molten out of iron, or hewn forth from the rock,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Harpado of Xarama stands, to bide the Alcayde's shock.<note place="foot"><p>Lockhart's Spanish Ballads.</p></note></l> +</lg> + +<p>The appearance of the bull was hailed by +loud acclamations from the multitude; whilst +hats, handkerchiefs, and scarfs fluttered in +the air, in every direction.</p> + +<p>The noble animal appeared at first as though +he were undecided how to act, or on whom +to wreak his fierce vengeance. He turned on +every side, and scanned the appalling number +and firmness of his tormentors; gradually +he became more and more excited, till, exasperated +by the clamors of the impatient +multitude, he tore the ground with his hoofs, +tossed his head in proud indignation, and +then stared intently before him, as if to awe +the circus with the lightnings of his angry +eye. Again he lowered his head, and blew +the dust in clouds with the burning breath of +his distended nostrils, and lashed his sides +with his tail, as if to work himself up to the +proper pitch of frenzy; at length, with a sudden +bound, he rushed furiously against the +first <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi>. The cavalier received the +charge with perfect coolness and intrepidity, +and having succeeded in planting his <hi rend="font-style: italic">pica</hi> in +the higher part of the animal's neck, the +theatre rung with acclamations at the strength +and dexterity with which he kept his tremendous +opponent for some moments fixed +to the spot. Smarting with pain, the bull +then retired for a short time; but his rage +prevailing over his fears, he again rushed forward, +and was received by a second <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi>. +Less fortunate, however, than his companion, +he was unable to withstand the overwhelming +shock; and, after a fruitless effort to +stem the animal's fury with his <hi rend="font-style: italic">pica</hi>, it at +length broke, and the bull, with one tremendous +thrust on the horse's breast, overthrew +its rider. Fortunately for the fallen <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi>, +he was protected by the bulk of his horse;<pb n="225" /><anchor id="Pg225" /> +and the bull, as it often happens, sated his +fierceness on the helpless animal, whose blood +spouted round the arena, from a wound evidently +mortal. The excitement of the spectators +now became intense; when the bull, +having fully disabled his enemy, advanced toward +the third cavalier. The champion, however, +had penetration enough to perceive that +the bull was of a dangerous kind, and evinced +no particular solicitude to come to closer quarters +with him. He kept, therefore, retreating, +under pretext of gaining an advantageous +position; but the people, who guessed his +real motive, unanimously protested against +such dilatory proceedings. Men and women, +old and young, began to assail the luckless, or +rather, prudent <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi>, with a violent storm +of abuse.</p> + +<p>During the whole of this noisy altercation, +our erudite neighbor, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">aficionado</hi>, had been +very scientifically descanting on the various +points of the combat, to our no small annoyance; +for he could not rest a moment in his +seat, and was continually intercepting our +view. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi>, provoked by the bitter +sarcasms lavished upon him by the more +vulgar part of the spectators, now advanced +with an air of determination a little farther +into the arena; but the sagacious bull kept +retreating as his enemy advanced, in order +to render escape more difficult, and his vengeance +certain. At length he rushed on the +cavalier with such fury and overwhelming +force, that both <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi> and horse rolled on +the ground: unluckily, the man not being +very dexterous, could seek no protection +from the horse, but lay exposed to the fury +of his powerful antagonist.</p> + +<p>Cries of horror and alarm for the safety of +the unfortunate <hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi> were now heard on +every side, and strange to say, those very +persons, who had but just driven him to encounter +the danger, were now the most clamorous +in shouting for protection for him. +The <hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi> lost no time in applying their art +to extricate their companion, by harassing +the animal on all sides, who was thus compelled +to abandon his prey in order to meet +his new tormentors. Thus the fallen cavalier +was rescued from his jeopardy, whilst his +poor horse, dreadfully gored, ran wildly about +the arena. The bull, as if satisfied with these +feats, now stood tranquilly looking on the +spectators, who filled the air with <hi rend="font-style: italic">vivas</hi> in +praise of his prowess.</p> + +<p>The trumpet again sounded the signal for +the second part of the combat, and forthwith +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi> advanced nimbly with their <hi rend="font-style: italic">banderillas</hi>, +each striving to fix his weapon in the +neck of the animal, as in their hazardous +course he passed under their extended arms. +The smart of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">banderillas</hi> tended to goad +the bull to greater fury, and tormented on +every side he bellowed out in agony, and +bounded from place to place, turning first to +one, and then to another of his aggressors.</p> + +<p>Thus, after he had vented his rage, foaming +at the mouth and flashing fire from his +eyes, the moment arrived when it was deemed +expedient to put an end to his protracted +sufferings, and at a given signal the <hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi> +retired and made place for the <hi rend="font-style: italic">prima-espada</hi>.</p> + +<p>This was Candido, who though arrived at +an advanced age, still retained much of the +strength and agility of his youth, which, +combined with the experience he had acquired +in the game, rendered him a very formidable +opponent. He advanced with a stately +pace, bearing in one hand a piece of scarlet +cloth to entice the animal, and in the other +his sword. Having arrived in front of the +seat of the presiding authorities, he made a +graceful salute, and then performed the same +ceremony before his friends, who hailed him +with many hearty <hi rend="font-style: italic">vivas</hi>; whilst a deadly silence +was observed on the part of the admirers +of his rival Leoncito. Candido proceeded +slowly, and warily towards the bull, endeavoring +to entice him by waving the red cloth. +The animal, however, would not suddenly +rush against his foe; but calmly watched for +the moment when he might find him less +upon his guard.</p> + +<p>Candido, with all the skill of a practised +<hi rend="font-style: italic">matador</hi>, appeared to guess the sinister intentions +of the bull, and followed his every +movement with an active eye—nay, he seemed +to penetrate into the inmost feelings of +the animal.—Irritated by the defiance, the +bull sprang upon his foe; but was baffled in +his vengeance, for he pierced only the floating +piece of cloth; the <hi rend="font-style: italic">matador</hi> very adroitly +turning aside, and plunging his sword into +his flank as he passed. The wound however +was not mortal, and the combat was renewed. +The bull, somewhat intimidated, did not again +charge his adversary; but preferred awaiting +his approach;—after some appropriate evolutions, +Candido at last boldly advanced +towards him, and with a successful thrust +pierced him to the heart. Nothing had been +wanting to complete the success of Candido +but the solitary triumph of retaining his +sword in his hand after the death-blow was +inflicted, this being considered the <hi rend="font-style: italic">ne plus +ultra</hi> of the art. The bull had no sooner +fallen to the ground than a set of most beautiful +mules, splendidly caparisoned, and ornamented +with a profusion of ribbons and small +flags, were brought into the circus to convey +from it the lifeless carcass. This operation +was performed amid the stormy sounds of +martial music, and the shouts of the multitude; +the tremendous animal was dragged +from the field, leaving in its progress a long +crimson track upon the scattered sand.</p> + +<p>The signal now sounded for a second fight; +the doors were once more thrown open, and +a huge bull rushed forward, and without a +moment's loss ran furiously at the nearest +<hi rend="font-style: italic">picador</hi>. He was, however, soon sobered, +and smarting with the pain of the first wound +he received, prudently retreated, in no hurry +to taste a like favor from the second cavalier.<pb n="226" /><anchor id="Pg226" /> +In vain did the <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi> provoke him by advancing +into the arena, he invariably declined +the re-offered combat. The spectators, +impatient at this delay, grew expressively +clamorous, some crying shame! shame! and +others <hi rend="font-style: italic">vaca! vaca!</hi> (poor cow! poor cow!)—but +all these energetic remonstrances were +lost upon the pacific animal.</p> + +<p>With much difficulty, and after a pretty +long interval, the three wounds of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">pica</hi> +(according to rule) were at length inflicted; +and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi> came forward to perform their +part. It was here that the same difficulty +arose, for alas! it could not be expected that +the poor bull, who had shown no relish whatever +for the <hi rend="font-style: italic">pica</hi>, should evince any taste for +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">banderillas</hi>. Consequently a great confusion +arose, and a simultaneous call for <hi rend="font-style: italic">banderillas +de fuego</hi>, was heard on every side. +This it was expected would prove a stimulus +to the too tranquil temperament of the +animal.</p> + +<p>Accordingly the furs was planted upon his +neck; but scarcely had the fireworks began +to crack and whiz around his head, than stunned +no doubt by the noise as well as the pain, +he actually turned and fled. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">chulos</hi> ran +after him, and thus continued <hi rend="font-style: italic">nolens volens</hi> +to thrust their spears into his unresisting carcass, +until it was thought expedient to desist +in order to give him the <hi rend="font-style: italic">coup de grace</hi>. Leoncito +the second <hi rend="font-style: italic">espada</hi> then came forward, +and was hailed with joyful acclamations +by his partisans, especially the <hi rend="font-style: italic">manolas</hi>, +for he was a young, light-made, dapper man. +It proved however an exceedingly difficult +task to kill the bull according to the rules of +art, owing to the animal's unequivocal disinclination +for the combat. Leoncito was a +brave, daring man; but hardly so well skilled +as Candido. He rushed boldly against the +bull, and strove to inflict upon him a mortal +wound. He missed, however, his aim at the +right place, and the animal began to pour +forth its blood in a stream. This is considered +an enormous fault in the art—and it met +with a becoming storm of groans and hisses. +The bull, agonized by his wounds, ran wildly +about. Leoncito gave him another blow—when +he sat down, and quietly looked around +him, as the wounds were not immediately +mortal. This reposing attitude gave immense +annoyance both to the combatants and the +spectators. Of course it was out of all question +to inflict on so gentle and resigned an +enemy another <hi rend="font-style: italic">estocada</hi>—and yet the public +could not afford to wait the bull's leisure to +die, as it was necessary to continue the sport. +To expedite, therefore, the animal's last moments, +and the progress of public business, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">eachetero</hi>, a butcher, came forward and +performed his function of inflicting the death-blow +on occasions when, owing to the perversity +of the bull or the clumsiness of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">matador</hi>, his final assistance becomes requisite. +Grasping firmly a short sharp dagger, +he by a steady and well directed blow put a +period to the agonies of the animal—applauses +and abuse were then liberally bestowed upon +Leoncito; after which the fight was suffered +to proceed, and the third bull sprang into the +arena. We will not, however, follow the +perils and chances of this encounter. It may +e sufficient to mention, that the sport went +on much upon the same principle as before. +The usual number of horses were killed, good +spanking falls were endured by the combatants, +and the same tumult and confusion prevailed +throughout the circus. The combat +had now lasted three hours, and the shadows +of evening were gradually descending over +the scene. Yet the spectators appeared by +no means satisfied; some even grew clamorous, +and required that a fourth bull should +be brought forward. Amongst these unreasonable +requisitionists, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">aficionado</hi> particularly +distinguished himself. He was (unhappily +for his neighbors) blessed with most stentorian +lungs, of which he made a liberal use, +upon the most trifling occasion,—no other +bull, however, was produced, and accordingly +the spectators began slowly and discontentedly +to disperse.</p> + +<p>The fight being ended, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi> and +the rest of the troop withdrew to the little +chapel, to return thanks for their escape. +However, the veracity expected from an historian +compels me to say, that their evening +prayers were by no means of the same length +as those which had preceded the encounter +of the morning. At the entrance of the chapel +we perceived many a dark-complexioned <hi rend="font-style: italic">manola</hi>—many +a terrible looking, fierce-whiskered, +cigar-smoking <hi rend="font-style: italic">majo</hi>—awaiting the egress +of their friends; who, as soon as their devotions +were concluded, stalked out with a martial +and haughty air to receive the congratulations +of their comrades. Meantime, the +vast concourse of people so lately assembled +together, had gradually dispersed through the +various avenues of the Prado, affording the +beholder a most striking and enlivening picture. +The Prado itself, that beautiful promenade, +which has attracted the attention of +all who have visited Spain, now presented a +most brilliant spectacle: it was crowded with +carriages, as well as with pedestrians, all +pressing to enjoy the coolness of the evening +in that delightful spot. Having strolled a few +times up and down this fashionable promenade, +we retired to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Neverria de Solos</hi>, contiguous +to the Prado, to take our <hi rend="font-style: italic">refresco</hi>. +To this place, as to many others of the like +nature, the more elegant class of society retire +early in the evening to eat ices, and drink +lemonade and other refreshing beverages. +From hence each person retires to his own +<hi rend="font-style: italic">tertulia</hi> for the evening, and thus ends a day +wholly consecrated to pleasure.</p> + +<p>Bull fights are now daily decreasing, both +in number and splendor of appearance, from +what they were in former times. Either the +Spaniards are losing their relish for such +spectacles, or the scarcity of good <hi rend="font-style: italic">picadores</hi><pb n="227" /><anchor id="Pg227" /> +and <hi rend="font-style: italic">espades</hi> detracts from the interest which +attaches to them. Not long since, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">matadores</hi> +were favorites with the public, and were +regarded with considerable interest even by +their superiors. Many singular and gallant +adventures are related of them and ladies of +rank. It was a common custom, no great +while ago, to throw purses of gold to the +combatants, upon the achievement of some +skilful feat. But unhappily the secret of long +purses is lost, and there is but little chance +of a stranger seeing any money thrown away +in Spain at the present time.</p> + +<p>The most renowned of the Matadores were +Romero and Pepe-Hillo, the author of a treatise +entitled Tauromachia. The first retired +from the arena full of honors and considerable +wealth. But being desirous of obtaining +for his son a canonship, he was commanded, +in order to obtain that favor from the queen, +Maria Louisa, to re-appear in the arena, on +some grand festival.</p> + +<p>Romero joyfully obeyed; but his age and +feebleness were inadequate to cope with the +fearful bull, and he would certainly have +been killed, had not his friends forcibly withdrawn +him from the arena.</p> + +<p>The will, however, was taken for the deed, +and his son was accordingly made a canon. +With regard to Pepe-Hillo, like a gallant +general, he met his death in the field of his +exploits. On a certain occasion, contrary to +the opinion of his friends, who knew him to +be suffering from a wound in the hand, he +appeared in the arena. Unhappily he had to +encounter a tremendous animal. The bull +hurled him on high twice; and when the unfortunate +man fell on the ground he was frightfully +gored, and shortly afterwards expired, +amidst the most excruciating torments.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE LADY AND THE FLOWER.</head> + +<p>BY G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">There be of British arms and deeds,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Who sing in noble strain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of Poictiers' field, and Agincourt,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And Cressy's bloody plain.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">High tales of merry England,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Full often have been told,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For never wanted bard to sing</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">The actions of the bold.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But now I tune another string,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To try my minstrel power,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My story's of a gallant knight,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">A lady, and a flower.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The noble sun that shines on all,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">The little or the great,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As bright on cottage doorway small,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">As on the castle gate,</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Came pouring over fair Guienne</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">From the far eastern sea;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And glistened on the broad Garonne,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And slept on Blancford lea.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The morn was up, the morn was bright,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">In southern summer's rays,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Nature caroll'd in the light,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And sung her Maker's praise.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Fair Blancford, thou art always fair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">With many a shady dell,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And bland variety and change,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Of forest and of fell.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But Blancford on that morn was gay,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">With many a pennon bright,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And glittering arms and panoply</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Shone in the morning light.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For good Prince Edward, England's pride,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Now lay in Blancford's towers,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And weary sickness had consumed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">The hero's winter hours.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But now that brighter hopes had come,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">With summer's brighter ray,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He called his gallant knights around,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To spend a festal day.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With tournament and revelry,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To pass away the hours,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And win fair Mary from her sire,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> The Lord of Blancford's towers.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But why fair Mary's brow was sad</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">None in the castle knew,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor why she watched one garden bed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"> Where none but wild pinks grew.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Some said that seven nights before</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">A page had sped away,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To where Lord Clifford with his power,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">On Touraine's frontier lay.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To Blancford no Lord Clifford came,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And many a tale was told,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For well 'twas known that he had sought,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Fair Mary's love of old.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And some there said Lord Clifford's love</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Had cooled at Mary's pride,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And some there said that other vows</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">His heart inconstant tied.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Foul slander, ready still to soil,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">All that is bright and fair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With more than Time's destructiveness,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Who never learned to spare.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The morn was bright, but posts had come,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Bringing no tidings fair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For knit was Edward's royal brow,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And full of thoughtful care.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The lists were set, the parted sun</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Shone equal on the plain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And many a knight there manfully</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Strove fresh applause to gain.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Sir Henry Talbot, and Sir Guy</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Of Brackenbury, he</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Who slew the giant Iron-arm,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">On Cressy's famous lea,</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Were counted best, and claimed the Prince</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To give the sign that they</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Might run the tilt, and one receive</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">The honors of the day.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Speed, knights, perhaps those arms that shine</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">In peace," prince Edward said,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Before a se'nnight pass, may well,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">In Gallic blood be died.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"For here we learn that hostile bands,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Have gathered in Touraine,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Clifford, with his little troop,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Are prisoners or slain.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"For with five hundred spears, how bold</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Soe'er his courage show,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He never could withstand the shock,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Of such a host of foe."</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Fair Mary spoke not, but the blood</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Fled truant from her cheek,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And left it pale, as when day leaves</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Some mountain's snowy peak.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But then there camp the cry of horse,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">The east lea pricking o'er,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And to the lists a weary page</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">A tattered pennon bore.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Fast came a knight with blood-stained arms,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And dusty panoply,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And beaver down, and armed lance,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">In chivalric array.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">No crest, no arms, no gay device,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Upon his shield he wore,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But a small knot beside his plume,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Of plain wild pinks he bore.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For love, for love and chivalry,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Lord Clifford rides the plain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And foul he lies who dares to say,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">His honor e'er know stain.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Mary's cheek 'gan blushing bright,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And Mary's heart beat high,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Mary's breath that fear oppressed</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Came in a long glad sigh.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Straight to the Prince the knight he rode,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">"I claim these lists," he cried,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Though late into the field I come,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">My suit be not denied;</l> +</lg> + +<pb n="228" /><anchor id="Pg228" /> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"For we have fought beside the Loire,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And stained our arms in blood;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Not ever lost one step of ground,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">So long as rebels stood.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Hemmed in, I one time never thought</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To die in British land,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Or see my noble prince again,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Or kiss his royal hand.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"But well fought every gallant squire,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And well fought every knight;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And rebels have been taught to feel</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">The force of British might.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"And now in humble terms they sue,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">To know thy high command,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And here stand I these lists to claim,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">For a fair lady's hand.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"For Mary's love, and chivalry,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">I dare the world to fight,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And foul and bitterly he lies,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Who dares deny my right"</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"No, no, brave Clifford," Edward said,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">"No lists to-day for thee,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Thy gallant deeds beside the Loire,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Well prove thy chivalry.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Sir Guy, Sir Henry, and the rest,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Have well acquit their arms,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">But Edward's thanks are Clifford's due,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">As well as Mary's charms."</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"My lord, you are her sire," he said,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">"Give kind consent and free,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And who denies our Clifford's right,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Shall ride a tilt with me."</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Gay spake the prince, gay laughed the throng,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And Mary said not nay,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And bright with smile, and dance, and song,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Went down the festal day.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And when Lord Clifford to the board</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Led down his Mary fair,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">A knot of pinks was in his cap,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">A knot was in her hair.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">For it had been their sign of love,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And loved by them was still,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Till death came quietly on their heads,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And bowed them to his will.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And now, though years have passed away,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And all that years have seen,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And Clifford's deeds and Mary's charms,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Are as they ne'er had been,</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Some wind, as if in memory</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Has borne the seeds on high,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To deck the ruin's crumbling wall,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">And catch the passing eye.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">It tells a tale to those who hear;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">For beauty, strength, and power,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Are but the idols of a day,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">More short-lived than a flower.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Joy on, joy on, then, while ye may,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Nor waste the moments dear;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor give yourself a cause to sigh,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">Nor teach to shed a tear.</l> +</lg> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>AN OLD MAID'S FIRST LOVE.</head> +<head type="sub">From Chamber's Edinburgh Journal.</head> + +<p>I went once to the south of France for +my health; and being recommended to +choose the neighborhood of Avignon, took +my place, I scarcely know why, in the diligence +all the way from Paris. By this proceeding +I missed the steam-voyage down the +Rhone, but fell in with some very pleasant +people, about whom I am going to speak. I +travelled in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">intérieur</hi>, and from Lyon +had no one for companion but a fussy little +lady, of a certain age, who had a large basket, +a parrot in a cage, a little lapdog, a bandbox, +a huge blue umbrella, which she could +never succeed in stowing any where, and a +moth-eaten muff. In my valetudinarian state +I was not pleased with this inroad—especially +as the little lady had a thin, pinched-up +face, and obstinately looked out of the window, +while she popped about the <hi rend="font-style: italic">intérieur</hi> +as if she had just taken lodgings and was +putting them in order, throwing me every +now and then some gracious apology in a not +unpleasant voice. "Mince as you please, +madam," thought I; "you are a bore." I +am sorry to add that I was very unaccommodating, +gave no assistance in the stowing +away of the umbrella, and when Fanfreluche +came and placed his silken paws upon my +knees, pushed him away very rudely. The +little old maid—it was evident this was her +quality—apologized for her dog as she had +done for herself, and went on arranging her +furniture—an operation not completed before +we got to St. Saphorin.</p> + +<p>For some hours a perfect silence was preserved, +although my companion several times +gave a short dry cough, as if about to make +an observation. At length, the digestion of +a hurried dinner being probably completed, +I felt all of a sudden quite bland and sociable, +and began to be mightily ashamed of myself. +"Decidedly," thought I, "I must give this +poor woman the benefit of my conversation." +So I spoke, very likely with that self-satisfied +air assumed sometimes by men accustomed +to be well received. To my great vexation +the old maid had by this time taken offence, +and answered in a very stiff and reserved +manner. Now the whole absurdity of my +conduct was evident to me, and I determined +to make amends. Being naturally of a diplomatic +turn, I kept quiet for awhile, and then +began to make advances to Fanfreluche. The +poor animal bore no malice, and I won his +heart by stroking his long ears. Then I gave +a piece of sugar to the parrot; and having +thus effected a practicable breach, took the +citadel by storm by pointing out a more commodious +way of arranging the great blue umbrella.</p> + +<p>We were capital friends thenceforward; +and I soon knew the history of Mlle. Nathalie +Bernard by heart. A mightily uninteresting +history it was to all but herself; so I +shall not repeat it: suffice to say, that she +had lived long on her little income, as she +called it, at Lyon, and was now on her way +to Avignon, where a very important object +called her. This was no other than to save +her niece Marie from a distasteful marriage, +which her parents, very good people, but +dazzled by the wealth of the unamiable suitor, +wished to bring about.</p> + +<p>"And have you," said I, "any reasonable +hope of succeeding in your mission?"</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Parbleu!</hi>" replied the old maid, "I have +composed a little speech on ill-assorted +unions, which I am sure will melt the hearts +of my sister and my brother-in-law; and if +that does not succeed—why, I will make love +to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">futur</hi> myself, and whisper in his ear that +a comfortable little income available at once, +and a willing old maid, are better than a +cross-grained damsel with expectations only.<pb n="229" /><anchor id="Pg229" /> +You see I am resolved to make any sacrifice +to effect my object."</p> + +<p>I laughed at the old maid's disinterestedness, +which was perhaps greater than at first +appeared. At least she assured me that she +had refused several respectable offers, simply +because she liked the independence of a single +life; and that if she had remained single +to that age, it was a sign that marriage had +nothing attractive for her in itself. We discussed +the point learnedly as the diligence +rolled; and what with the original turn of +my companion's mind, the sportive disposition +of Fanfreluche, and the occasional disjointed +soliloquies of Coco, the parrot, our +time passed very pleasantly. When night +came Mlle. Nathalie ensconced herself in the +corner behind her parcels and animals, and +endeavored to sleep; but the jolting of the +diligence, and her own lively imagination, +wakened her every five minutes; and I had +each time to give her a solemn assurance, on +my word of honor as a gentleman, that there +was no particular danger of our being upset +into the Rhone.</p> + +<p>We were ascending a steep hill next day; +both had got out to walk. I have omitted +to note that it was autumn. Trees and fields +were touched by the golden fingers of the +season. The prospect was wide, but I forget +the precise locality. On the opposite side of +the Rhone, which rolled its rapid current in +a deepening valley to our right, rose a range +of hills, covered with fields that sloped wonderfully, +and sometimes gave place to precipices +or wood-lined declivities. Here and +there the ruins of some old castle—reminiscences +of feudal times—rose amid lofty crags, +and traced their jagged outline against the +deep blue sky of Provence. Nathalie became +almost sentimental as she gazed around on +this beautiful scene.</p> + +<p>We had climbed about half of the hill: the +diligence was a little way behind: the five +horses were stamping and striking fire from +the pavement as they struggled up with the +ponderous vehicle: the other passengers had +lingered in the rear with the conductor, who +had pointed out a little <hi rend="font-style: italic">auberge</hi> among some +trees. We here saw a man preceding us upon +the road carrying a little bundle at the +end of a stick over his shoulder: he seemed +to advance painfully. Our attention was attracted—I +scarcely knew why. He paused a +moment—then went on with an uncertain +step—paused again, staggered forward, and +fell on his face just as we came up. Mlle. +Nathalie, with a presence of mind that surprised +me, had her smelling-bottle out in an +instant, and was soon engaged in restoring +the unfortunate traveller to consciousness. I +assisted as well as I was able, and trust that +my good-will may atone for my awkardness. +Nathalie did every thing; and, just as the +diligence reached us, was gazing with delight +on the languid opening of a pair of as fine +eyes as I have ever seen, and supporting in +her lap a head covered with beautiful curls. +Even at that moment, as I afterwards remembered, +she looked upon the young man +as a thing over which she had acquired a right +of property. "He is going our way," said +she: "let us lift him into the diligence."</p> + +<p>"A beggarly Parisian; yo, yo!" quoth the +postilion as he passed, clacking his long whip.</p> + +<p>"Who will answer for his fare?" inquired +the conductor.</p> + +<p>"I will," replied Nathalie, taking the words +out of my mouth.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes the young man, who looked +bewildered and could not speak, was safely +stowed among Nathalie's other parcels; +and the crest of the hill being gained, we began +rolling rapidly down a steep descent. +The little old maid, though in a perfect ecstasy +of delight—the incident evidently appeared +to her quite an adventure—behaved +with remarkable prudence. While I was +puzzling my head to guess by what disease +this poor young man had been attacked, she +was getting ready the remedies that appeared +to her the most appropriate, in the shape +of some excellent cakes and a bottle of good +wine, which she fished out of her huge basket. +Her <hi rend="font-style: italic">protégé</hi>, made tame by hunger, allowed +himself to be treated like a child. First +she gave him a very small sip of Burgundy, +then a diminutive fragment of cake; and +then another sip and another piece of cake—insisting +on his eating very slowly. Being +perfectly useless, I looked quietly on, and +smiled to see the suhmissiveness with which +this fine, handsome fellow allowed himself to +be fed by the fussy old maid, and how he +kept his eyes fixed upon her with an expression +of wondering admiration.</p> + +<p>Before we arrived at Avignon we knew +the history of the young man. He was an +artist, who had spent several years studying +in Paris, without friends, without resources, +except a miserable pittance which his mother, +a poor peasant woman living in a village not +far from Aix, had managed to send him. At +first he had been upheld by hope; and although +he knew that his mother not only denied +herself necessaries, but borrowed money +to support him, he was consoled by the idea +that the time would come when, by the efforts +of his genius, he would be able to repay +every thing with the accumulated interest +which affection alone would calculate. But +his expenses necessarily increased, and no receipts +came to meet them. He was compelled +to apply to his mother for further assistance. +The answer was one word—"impossible." +Then he endeavored calmly to examine +his position, came to the conclusion that +for several years more he must be a burden +to his mother if he obstinately pursued his +career, and that she must be utterly ruined +to insure his success. So he gave up his art, +sold every thing he had to pay part of his +debts, and set out on foot to return to big +village and become a peasant, as his father<pb n="230" /><anchor id="Pg230" /> +had been before him. The little money he +had taken with him was gone by the time he +reached Lyon. He had passed through that +city without stopping, and for more than +two days, almost for two nights, had incessantly +pursued his journey, without rest and +without food, until he had reached the spot +where, exhausted with fatigue and hunger, +he had fallen, perhaps to perish had we not +been there to assist him.</p> + +<p>Nathalie listened with eager attention to +this narrative, told with a frankness which +our sympathy excited. Now and then she +gave a convulsive start, or checked a hysterical +sob, and at last fairly burst into tears. I +was interested as well as she, but retained +more calmness to observe how moral beauty +almost vainly straggled to appear through the +insignificant features of this admirable woman. +Her little eyes, reddened with weeping; +her pinched-up nose, blooming at the +point; her thin lips, probably accustomed to +sarcasm; her cheeks, with a leaded citron +hue; her hair that forked up in unmanageable +curls—all combined to obscure the exquisite +expression of respect and sympathy, +perhaps already of love, sparkling from her +kindled soul, that could just be made out by +an attentive eye. At length, however, she +became for a moment perfectly beautiful, as, +when the young painter had finished his story, +with an expression that showed how bitterly +he regretted his abandoned art, she took +both his hands in hers, and exclaimed: "No, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">mon enfant</hi>, you shall not be thus disappointed. +Your genius"—she already took it for +granted he had genius—"shall have an opportunity +for development. Your mother cannot +do what is necessary—she has played her +part. I will be a—second mother to you, in +return f«r the little affection you can bestow +on me without ingratitude to her to whom +you owe your life."</p> + +<p>"My life has to be paid for twice," said he, +kissing her hand. Nathalie could not help +looking round proudly to me. It was so flattering +to receive the gallant attentions of so +handsome a young man, that I think she +tried to forget how she had bought them.</p> + +<p>In the exuberance of her hospitality, the +little old maid invited both Claude Richer +and myself to spend some time in the large +farmhouse of her brother-in-law. I declined, +with a promise to be a frequent visitor; but +Claude, who was rather commanded than +asked, could do nothing but accept. I left +them at the diligence office, and saw them +walk away, the little Nathalie affecting to +support her feeble companion. For the honor +of human nature let me add, that the conductor +said nothing about the fare. "It +would have been indelicate," he said to me, +"to remind Mlle. Nathalie of her promise in +the young man's presence. I know her well; +and she will pay me at a future time. At +any rate I must show that there is a heart +under this waistcoat." So saying, the conductor +thumped his breast with simple admiration +of his own humanity, and went away, +after recommending me to the Café de Paris—indeed +and excellent house.</p> + +<p>I shall say nothing of a variety of little incidents +that occurred to me at Avignon, nor +about my studies on the history of the popes +who resided there. I must reserve myself +entirely for the development of Nathalie's +romance, which I could not follow step by +step, but the chief features of which I was +enabled to catch during a series of visits I +paid to the farmhouse. Nathalie herself was +very communicative to me at first, and scarcely +deigned to conceal her sentiments. By degrees, +however, as the catastrophe approached, +she became more and more reserved; and +I had to learn from others, or to guess the +part she played.</p> + +<p>The farmhouse was situated on the other +side of the river, in a small plain, fertile and +well wooded. Old Cossu, the owner, was a +fine jolly fellow, but evidently a little sharp +in money matters. I was surprised at first +that he received the visit of Claude favorably; +but when it came out that a good part +of his capital belonged to Nathalie, every circumstance +of deference to her was explained. +Mère Cossu was not a very remarkable personage; +unless it be remarkable that she entertained +the most profound veneration for +her husband, quoted his commonest sayings +as witticisms, and was ready to laugh herself +into convulsions if he sneezed louder than +usual. Marie was a charming little person; +perhaps a little too demure in her manners, +considering her wicked black eyes. She +was soon very friendly with Claude and me, +but seemed to prefer passing her time in +whispered conversations with Nathalie. I +was let into the secret that their conversation +turned principally on the means of getting +rid of the husband-elect—a great lubberly +fellow, who lived some leagues off, and +whose red face shone over the garden-gate, +in company with a huge nosegay, regularly +every Sunday morning. In spite of the complying +temper of old Cossu in other respects +when Nathalie gave her advice, he seemed +obstinately bent on choosing his own son-in-law. +Parents are oftener correct than romancers +will allow, in their negative opinions +on this delicate subject, but I cannot say as +much for them when they undertake to be +affirmative.</p> + +<p>I soon observed that Nathalie was not so +entirely devoted to the accomplishment of +the object for which she had undertaken her +journey as she had promised; and, above all, +that she spoke no more of the disinterested +sacrifice of herself as a substitute for Marie. +I maliciously alluded to this subject in one of +our private confabulations, and Nathalie, instead +of being offended, frankly answered +that she could not make big Paul Boneau +happy and assist Claude in his studies at the +same time. "I have now," she said, "an<pb n="231" /><anchor id="Pg231" /> +occupation for the rest of my life—namely, +to develop this genius, of which France will +one day be proud; and I shall devote myself +to it unremittingly."</p> + +<p>"Come, Nathalie," replied I, taking her +arm in mine as we crossed the poplar-meadow, +"have you no hope of a reward?"</p> + +<p>"I understand," quoth she frankly; "and +I will not play at cross-purposes with you. +If this young man really loves his art, and +his art alone, as he pretends, could he do +better than reward me—as you call it—for +my assistance? The word has a cruel signification, +but you did not mean it unkindly."</p> + +<p>I looked at her wan, sallow countenance, +that had begun for some days to wear an expression +of painful anxiety. At that moment +I saw over a hedge—but she could not—Claude +and Marie walking in a neighboring +field, and pausing now and then to bend their +heads very close together in admiration of +some very common flower. "Poor old maid," +thought I, "you will have no reward save the +consciousness of your own pure intentions."</p> + +<p>The minute development of this drama +without dramatic scenes would perhaps be +more instructive than any elaborate analysis +of human passions in general; but it would +require a volume, and I can only here give a +mere summary. Nathalie, in whom alone I +felt particularly interested, soon found that, +she had deceived herself as to the nature of +her sentiments for Claude—that instead of +regarding him with almost maternal solicitude, +she loved him with an intensity that is +the peculiar characteristic of passions awakened +late in life, when the common consolation +is inadmissible—"after all, I may find +better." This was her last, her only chance +of a happiness, which she had declared to +me she had never dreamed of, but which in +reality she had only declined because it did +not present itself to her under all the conditions +required by her refined and sensitive +mind. Claude, who was an excellent fellow, +but incapable of comprehending her or sacrificing +himself, never swerved from grateful +deference to her; but I could observe, that +as the state of her feelings became more apparent, +he took greater care to mark the +character of his sentiments for her, and to +insist with some affectation on the depth of +his filial affection. Nathalie's eyes were often +red with tears—a fact which Claude did not +choose perhaps to notice, for fear of an explanation. +Marie, on the contrary, became more +blooming every day, while her eloquent eyes +were still more assiduously bent upon the +ground. It was evident to me that she and +Claude understood one another perfectly +well.</p> + +<p>At length the same thing became evident +to Nathalie. How the revelation was +made to her I do not know; but sudden +it must have been, for I met her one +day in the poplar-field, walking hurriedly +along with an extraordinary expression of +despair in her countenance. I know not +why, but the thought at once occurred to me +that the Rhone ran rapid and deep not far +off, and I threw myself across her path. She +started like a guilty thing, but did not resist +when I took her hand and led her back slowly +towards the farmhouse. We had nearly +reached it in silence when she suddenly +stopped, and bursting into tears turned away +into a by-lane where was a little bench under +an elm. Here she sat down and sobbed for +a long time, while I stood by. At length she +raised her head and asked me: "Do morality +and religion require self-sacrifice even to +the end—even to making half a life a desert, +even to heart-breaking, even unto death?"</p> + +<p>"It scarcely belongs to a selfish mortal to +counsel such virtue," I replied; "but it is +because it is exercised here and there, now +and then, once in a hundred years, that man +can claim some affinity with the divine +nature."</p> + +<p>A smile of ineffable sweetness played about +the poor old girl's lips. She wiped her eyes, +and began talking of the changing aspect of +the season, and how the trees day by day +more rapidly shed their leaves, and how the +Rhone had swelled within its ample bed, and +of various topics apparently unconnected +with her frame of mind, but all indicating +that she felt the winter was coming—a long +and dreary winter for her. At this moment +Fanfreluche, which had missed her, came +down the lane, barking with fierce joy; and +she took the poor little beast in her arms, +and exhaled the last bitter feeling that tormented +her in these words: "Thou at least +lovest me—because I have fed thee!" In her +humility she seemed now to believe that her +only claim to love was her charity; and that +even this claim was not recognized except by +a dog!</p> + +<p>I was not admitted to the secret of the +family conclave that took place, but learned +simply that Nathalie pleaded with feverish +energy the love that had grown up between +Marie and Claude as an insuperable bar to +the proposed marriage between Paul Boneau +and her niece. Matters were arranged by +means of large sacrifices on the part of the +heroic maid. Paul's face ceased to beam over +the garden-gate on a Sunday morning; and +by degrees the news got abroad that Marie +was betrothed to the young artist. One day +a decent old woman in <hi rend="font-style: italic">sabots</hi> came to the +farmhouse: it was Claude's mother, who had +walked from Aix to see him. It was arranged +that Claude should pursue his studies a year +longer, and then marry. Whether any explanation +took place I do not know; but I +observed that the young man sometimes +looked with the same expression of wondering +admiration I had observed in the diligence +at the little Nathalie—more citron-hued +than ever. At length she unhooked the +cage of Coco, the parrot, took Faufreluche +under one arm and her blue umbrella under<pb n="232" /><anchor id="Pg232" /> +the other, and went away in company with +the whole family, myself included, every one +carrying a parcel or a basket to the diligence +office. What a party that was! Every one +was in tears except Nathalie. She bore up +manfully, if I may use the word; laughed, +and actually joked; but just as I handed +Coco in, her factitious courage yielded, and +she burst into an agony of grief. With officious +zeal I kept at the window until the diligence +gave a lurch and started; and then +turning round I looked at Claude and Marie, +who were already mingling their eyes in selfish +forgetfulness of their benefactress, and +said solemnly: "There goes the best woman +ever created for this unworthy earth." The +artist, who, for an ordinary man, did not lack +sentiment, took my hand and said: "Sir, I +will quarrel with any man who says less of +that angel than you have done."</p> + +<p>The marriage was brought about in less +time than had been agreed upon. Nathalie +of course did not come; but she sent some +presents and a pleasant letter of congratulation, +in which she called herself "an inveterate +old maid." About a year afterwards I +passed through Lyon and saw her. She was +still very yellow, and more than ever attentive +to Fanfreluche and Coco. I even thought +she devoted herself too much to the service of +these two troublesome pets, to say nothing of a +huge cat which she had added to her menagerie, +as a kind of hieroglyphic of her condition. +"How fare the married couple?" cried +she, tossing up her cork-screw curls. "Still +cooing and billing?"</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle," said I, "they are getting +on pretty well. Claude, finding the historic +pencil not lucrative, has taken to portrait-painting; +and being no longer an enthusiastic +artist, talks even of adopting the more expeditious +method of the Daguerreotype. In the +meantime, half the tradesmen of Avignon, to +say nothing of Aix, have bespoken caricatures +of themselves by his hand. Marie +makes a tolerable wife, but has a terrible will +of her own, and is feared as well as loved."</p> + +<p>Nathalie tried to laugh; but the memory of +her old illusions coming over her, she leaned +down towards the cat she was nursing, and +sparkling tears fell upon its glossy fur.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>MADEMOISELLE DE CAMARGO.</head> + +<head type="sub">From advance sheets of a capital book entitled "Men and +Women of the XIXth Century, by Argene Houssaye," +in press by Redfield.</head> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo almost +came into the world dancing. It is related +that Gritry, when he was scarcely four +years of age, had an idea of musical tunes. +Mademoiselle de Camargo danced at a much +earlier age. She was still in arms when the +combined airs of a violin and a hautboy +caught her ear. She jumped about full of life, +and during the whole time that the music was +playing, she danced, there is no other word +for it, keeping time with great delight. It +must be stated that she was of Spanish origin. +She was born at Brussels, the 15th of April, +1710, of a noble family, that had supplied +several cardinals to the sacred college, and is +of considerable distinction in Spanish history, +both ecclesiastical and national. Her name +was Marianne. Her mother had danced, but +with the ladies of the court, for her own +pleasure, and not for that of others. Her +father, Ferdinand de Cupis de Camargo, was +a frank Spanish noble, that is to say he was +poor; he lived at Brussels, upon the crumbs +of the table of the Prince de Ligne, without +counting the debts he made. His family, +which was quite numerous, was brought up +by the grace of God; the father frequented +the tavern, trusting to the truth that there is +a God that rules over children!</p> + +<p>Marianne was so pretty that the Princess +de Ligne used to call her her fairy daughter. +Light as a bird, she used to spring into the +elms, and jump from branch to branch. No +fawn in its morning gayety had more capricious +and easy movements; no deer +wounded by the huntsman ever sprang with +more force and grace. When she was ten +years old, the Princess de Ligne thought that +this pretty wonder belonged of right to Paris, +the city of wonders, Paris, where the opera +was then displaying its thousand and thousand +enchantments. It was decided that +Mademoiselle de Camargo should be a dancing-girl +at the opera. Her father objected +strenuously: "Dancing-girl! the daughter +of a gentleman, a grandee of Spain!"—"Goddess +of dance, if you please," said the +Princess of Ligne, in order to quiet him. He +resigned himself to taking a journey to +Paris in the prince's carriage. He arrived in +the style of a lord at the house of Mademoiselle +Prévost, whom the poets of the day +celebrated under the name of Terpsichore. +She consented to give lessons to Marianne de +Camargo. Three months after his departure, +M. de Camargo returned to Brussels, with the +air of a conqueror. Mademoiselle de Prévost +had predicted that his daughter would be his +glory and his fortune.</p> + +<p>After having danced at a fête given by the +Prince de Ligne, Marianne de Camargo made +her first appearance at the Brussels theatre, +where she reigned for three years as first +<hi rend="font-style: italic">danseuse</hi>. Her true theatre was not there; +in spite of her triumph at Brussels, her imagination +always carried her to Paris; notwithstanding +when she quitted Brussels she +went to Rouen. Finally, after a long residence +in that city, she was permitted to make her +first appearance at the opera. It was on the +5th of May, 1726, for the famous day of her +debût has not been forgotten, that she appeared +with all the brilliancy of sixteen upon +the first stage in the world. Mademoiselle +Prévost, already jealous, from a presentiment +perhaps, had advised her to make her first +appearance in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Characters of the Dance</hi>, +a step almost impossible, which the most +celebrated dancers hardly had dared to attemp,<pb n="233" /><anchor id="Pg233" /> +at the height even of their reputation. +Mademoiselle de Camargo, who danced like a +fairy, surpassed all her predecessors; her triumph +was so brilliant that on the next day +all the fashions took their name after her: +hair <hi rend="font-style: italic">à la Camargo</hi>, dresses <hi rend="font-style: italic">à la Camargo</hi>, +sleeves <hi rend="font-style: italic">à la Camargo</hi>. All the ladies of the +court imitated her grace; there were not a +few that would have liked to have copied her +face!</p> + +<p>I have not told all yet: Mademoiselle de +Camargo was made by love and for love. +She was beautiful and pretty at the same +time. There could be nothing so sweet and +impassioned as her dark eyes, nothing so enchanting +as her sweet smile! Lancret, Pater, +J. B. Vanloo, all the painters that were then +celebrated, tried to portray her charming face.</p> + +<p>On the second night of Mademoiselle de +Camargo's appearance on the stage, there were +twenty duels and quarrels without end at the +door of the opera; every one wanted to get +in. Mademoiselle Prévost, alarmed at such +a triumph, intrigued with such success that +Mademoiselle de Camargo was soon forced to +fall back to the position of a mere <hi rend="font-style: italic">figurante</hi>. +She and her admirers had reason to be indignant. +She was obliged to resign herself to +dancing unobserved with the company. But +she was not long in avenging herself with effect. +One day, while she was dancing with +a group of demons, Demoulins, called the +devil, did not make his appearance to dance +his solo, when the musicians had struck up, +expecting his entrance. A sudden inspiration +seizes Mademoiselle de Camargo; she leaves +the other <hi rend="font-style: italic">figurantes</hi>, she springs forward to +the middle of the stage, and improvises Demoulins's +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pas de seul</hi>, but with more effect +and capricious variety. Applause re-echoed +throughout the theatre. Mademoiselle de +Prévost swore that she would ruin her youthful +rival; but it was too late. Terpsichore +was dethroned. Mademoiselle de Camargo +was crowned on that day queen of the opera, +absolute queen, whose power was unlimited! +She was the first who dared to make the discovery +that her petticoats were too long. +Here I will let Grimm have his say: "This +useful invention, which puts the amateur in +the way of forming an intelligent judgment +of the legs of a dancing-girl, was thought at +that time to be the cause of a dangerous +schism. The Jansenists of the pit exclaimed +heresy, scandal; and were opposed to the +shortened petticoats. The Molinists, on the +contrary, held that this innovation was in +character with the spirit of the primitive +church, which was opposed to the sight of +pirouettes and pigeon-wings, embarrassed by +the length of a petticoat. The Sorbonne of +the opera had for a long time great trouble +in establishing the wholesome doctrine on +this point of discipline, which so much divided +the faithful."</p> + +<p>Monsieur Ferdinand de Camargo grew old +with a severe anxiety about the virtue and +the salary of his daughter: he only preserved +the salary. Intoxicated with her triumph, +Mademoiselle de Camargo listened too willingly +to all the lords of the court that frequented +the company of the actresses behind +the scenes; it would have been necessary for +the king to appoint an historiographer, in +order to record all the passions of this <hi rend="font-style: italic">danseuse</hi>. +There was a time when all the world +was in love with her. Every one swore by +Camargo; every one sang of Camargo; +every one dreamed about Camargo. The +madrigals of Voltaire and of the gallant +poets of that gallant era are not forgotten.</p> + +<p>However, the glory of Mademoiselle de +Camargo was extinguished by degrees. Like +fashion that had patronized her, she passed +away by degrees, never to return. When +she insisted upon retiring, although she was +only forty years of age, no one thought of +preventing her: she was hardly regretted. +There was no inquiry made as to whither +she had gone; she was only spoken of at +rare intervals, and then she was only alluded +to as a memory of the past. She had become +something of a devotee, and very charitable. +She knew by name all the poor in +her neighborhood. She occasionally was +visited by some of the notabilities of a past +day, forgotten like herself.</p> + +<p>In the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Amusements of the Heart and Mind</hi>, +a collection designed, as is well known, to +form the mind and the heart, Mademoiselle +de Camargo is charged with having had a +thousand and more lovers! Without giving +the lie to this accusation, can I not prove it +false by relating, in all its simplicity, a fact +which proves a profound passion on her part? +A pretty woman may dance at the opera, +smile upon numberless admirers, live carelessly +from day to day, in the noisy excitement +of the world; still, there will be some +blessed hours, when the heart, though often +laid waste, will flourish again all of a sudden. +Love is like the sky, which looks blue, even +when reflected in the stream formed by the +storm. It is thus that love is occasionally +found pure in a troubled heart. But, moreover, +this serious passion of Mademoiselle de +Camargo was experienced by her in all the +freshness of her youth.</p> + +<p>One morning, Grimm, Pont-de-Veyle, Duclos, +Helvetius, presented themselves in a gay +mood, at the humble residence of the celebrated +dancer. She was then living in an +old house in the Rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre. +An aged serving-woman opened +the door.—"We wish to see Mademoiselle de +Camargo," said Helvetius, who had great difficulty +in keeping his countenance. The old +woman led them into a parlor that was furnished +with peculiar and grotesque-looking +furniture. The wainscoting was covered with +pastels representing Mademoiselle de Camargo +in all her grace, and in her different characters. +But the parlor was not adorned by +her portraits only; there was a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Christ on</hi><pb n="234" /><anchor id="Pg234" /> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">the Mount of Olives</hi>, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Magdalen at the Tomb</hi>, +a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Veiled Virgin</hi>, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Venus</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Three Graces</hi>, +some <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cupids</hi>, half concealed beneath some +rosaries and sacred relics, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">Madonnas</hi>, +covered with trophies from the opera!</p> + +<p>The goddess of the place did not keep +them a long time waiting; a door opened, +half-a-dozen dogs of every variety of breed +sprang into the parlor: it must be said, to +the praise of Mademoiselle de Camargo, that +these were not lap-dogs. She appeared behind +them, carrying in her arms (looking like +a fur muff) an Angora cat of fine growth. +As she had not followed the fashion for ten +years or more, she appeared to have come +from the other world.—"You see, gentlemen," +pointing to her dogs, "all the court I +have at present, but in truth those courtiers +there are well worth all others. Here, Marquis! +down, Duke! lie down, Chevalier! Do +not be offended, gentlemen, that I receive +you in such company; but how was I to +know?..."—Grimm first spoke.—"You +will excuse, mademoiselle, this unannounced +visit when you know the important object of +it."—"I am as curious as if I were only twenty +years old," said Mademoiselle de Camargo; +"but, alas! when I was twenty, it was the +heart that was curious; but now, in the +winter of life, I am no longer troubled on +that score."—"The heart never grows old," +said Helvetius, bowing.—"That is a heresy, +sir: those only dare to advance such maxims +who have never been in love. It is love that +never grows old, for it dies in childhood. +But the heart—"—"You see, madame, that +your heart is still young; what you have just +said proves that you are still full of fire and +inspiration."—"Yes, yes," said Mademoiselle +de Camargo, "you are perhaps right; but +when the hair is gray and the wrinkles are +deep, the heart is a lost treasure; a coin that +is no longer current."—While saying this, she +lifted up Marquis by his two paws, and kissed +him on the head: Marquis was a fine setter-dog, +with a beautiful spotted skin.—"They, +at least, will love me to the last. But it +seems to me we are talking nonsense; have +we nothing better to talk about? Come, +gentlemen, I am all attention!"</p> + +<p>The visitors looked at each other with +some embarrassment; they seemed to be asking +of each other who was to speak first. +Pont-de-Veyle collected his thoughts, and +spoke as follows: "Mademoiselle, we have +been breakfasting together; we had a gay +time of it, like men of spirit. Instead of +bringing before us, as the Egyptians in olden +times, mummies, in order to remind us that +time is the most precious of all things, we +called up all those gay phantoms which enchanted +our youth: need I say that you were +not the least charming of them? who did +not love you? who did not desire to live +with you one hour, even at the expense of a +wound? Happiness never costs too much—" +Mademoiselle Camargo interrupted the speaker: +"O gentlemen, do not, I beg, blind me +with the memory of the past; do not awaken +a buried passion! Let me die in peace! See, +the tears are in my eyes!"—The visitors, affected, +looked with a certain degree of emotion +at the poor old lady who had loved so +much. "It is strange," said Helvetius to his +neighbor, "we came here to laugh, but we +are travelling quite another road; however, +I must say, nothing could be more ludicrous +than such a caricature, if it were not of a +woman." "Proceed, sir," said Mademoiselle +de Camargo to Pont-de-Veyle. "To tell you +the truth, madame, the worst fellow in the +company, or rather he who had drank the +most, declared that he was, of all your lovers, +the one you most loved. 'The mere talk of a +man who has had too much wine,' said one +of us. But our impertinent emptied his glass, +and backed his statement. The discussion +became very lively. We talked, we drank, +and we talked. When the last bottle was +empty, and the dispute was likely to end in a +duel, and we talked without knowing, probably, +what we said, the most sober of the company +proposed to go and ask you yourself +which of your lovers you loved the most. Is +it the Count de Melun? is it the Duke de +Richelieu? is it the Marquis de Croismare? +the Baron de Viomesnil? the Viscount de +Jumilhac? is it Monsieur de Beaumont, or +Monsieur d'Aubigny? is it a poet? is it a +soldier? is it an abbé?" "Pshaw! pshaw!" +said Mademoiselle de Camargo, smiling; "you +had better refer to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Court Calendar</hi>!" +"What we want to know is not the names of +those who have loved you, but, I repeat, the +name of him whom you loved the most." +"You are fools," said Mademoiselle de Camargo, +with an air of sadness and a voice that +showed emotion; "I will not answer you. +Let us leave our extinct passions in their +tombs, in peace. Why unbury all those +charming follies which have had their day?" +"Come," says Grimm to Duclos, "do not let +us grow sentimental; that would be too absurd. +Mademoiselle de Camargo," said he, +playing with the dogs at the same time, +"which was the epoch of short petticoats? +for that is one of the points of our philosophical +dispute."</p> + +<p>The aged <hi rend="font-style: italic">danseuse</hi> did not answer. Taking +Pont-de-Veyle by the hand, all of a sudden, +she said in rising: "Monsieur, follow me." +He obeyed with some surprise. She conducted +him to her bedchamber; it was like a +basket of odds and ends; it looked like a +linendraper's shop in confusion; it was all +disorder; it was quite evident that the dogs +were at home there. Mademoiselle de Camargo +went to a little rosewood chest of +drawers, covered with specimens of Saxony +porcelain, more or less chipped and broken. +She opened a little ebony box, exposing its +contents to the eyes of Pont-de-Veyle. "Do +you see?" said she, with a sigh. Pont-de-Veyle +saw a torn letter, the dry bouquet of<pb n="235" /><anchor id="Pg235" /> +half a century, the kind of flowers of which +it was composed could hardly be recognized. +"Well?" asked Pont-de-Veyle. "Well, do +you understand?" "Not at all." "Look at +that portrait." She pointed with her finger +to a wretched portrait in oils, covered with +dust and spider's web. "I begin to understand." +"Yes," said she, "that is his portrait. +As for myself, I never look at it. The +one here," striking her breast, "is more like. +A portrait is a good thing for those who have +no time for memory."</p> + +<p>Pont-de-Veyle looked in turn with much +interest at the letter, the faded bouquet, and +the wretched portrait. "Have you ever met +this person?" "Never." "Let us return, +then." "No; I beg let me hear the story." +"Is it not enough to have seen his portrait? +You can now settle your dispute with a word, +since you know whether he whom I loved +the most resembles your friend who had +taken so much wine." "He does not resemble +him the least in the world." "Well, that +is all: I forgive your visit. Farewell! When +you breakfast with your friends, you can take +up my defence somewhat. You can tell those +libertines without pity, that I have saved +myself by my heart, if we can be saved that +way.... Yes, yes; it is my plank of safety, +in the wreck!"</p> + +<p>Saying these words, Mademoiselle de Camargo +approached the door of the saloon. +Pont-de-Veyle followed her, carrying the +ebony-box. "Gentlemen," said he, to his +merry friends, "our drunken toper was a +coxcomb; I have seen the portrait of the best +beloved of the goddess of this mansion; now, +you must join your prayers to mine, to prevail +upon Mademoiselle de Camargo to relate +to us the romance of her heart; I only know +the preface, which is melancholy and interesting; +I have seen a letter, a bouquet, and a +portrait." "I will not tell you a word," +muttered she; "women are charged with +not being able to keep a secret; there is, +however, more than one that they never tell. +A love-secret is a rose which embalms our +hearts; if it is told, the rose loses its perfume. +I who address you," said Mademoiselle de Camargo, +in brightening up, "I have only kept +my love in all its freshness by keeping it all +to myself. There were only La Carton and +that old rogue Fontenelle who ever got hold +of my secret. Fontenelle was in the habit of +dining frequently with me; one day, finding +me in tears, he was so surprised, he who +never wept himself, from philosophy, doubtless, +that he tormented me for more than an +hour for a solution of the enigma. He was almost +like a woman; he drew from me, by +his cat-like worrying, the history of my love. +Would you believe it? I hoped to touch his +heart, but it was like speaking to the deaf. +After having listened to the end without saying +a word, he muttered with his little weak +voice, '<hi rend="font-style: italic">It is pretty!</hi>' La Carton, however, +wept with me. It is worth being a poet and +a philosopher in order not to understand such +histories."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo was silent; a +deep silence followed, and every look was +upon her. "Speak, speak! we are all attention," +said Helvetius, "we are more worthy +of hearing your story than the old philosopher, +who loved no one but himself." "After +all," she replied, carried away by the delight +of her remembrance, "it will be spending +a happy hour; I speak of myself, and as +for happy or unhappy hours, not many more +are to pass during my life, for I feel that I +am passing away. But I do not know how +to begin; a fire flashes before my eyes; I cannot +see, I am so overcome. To begin: I was +twenty.... But I shall never have the courage +to read my history aloud before so many +people." "Fancy, Mademoiselle de Camargo," +said Helvetius, "that you are reading a romance." +"Well, then," said she, "I will begin +without ceremony."</p> + +<p>"I was twenty years old. You are all +aware, for the adventure caused a great deal +of scandal, you all know how the Count de +Melun carried me off one morning along with +my sister Sophy. This little mad-cap, who +had a great deal of imagination, having discovered +me reading a letter of the count's, in +which he spoke of his design, she swore upon +her thirteen years that he must carry her +off too. I was far from conceding any such +claim. It was always taken for granted that +children know nothing; but at the opera, +and in love, there are no children. The +Count de Melun, by means of a bribe, had +gained over the chambermaid. I was very +culpable; I knew all, and had not informed +my father. But my father wearied me somewhat; +he preached in the desert; that is to +say he preached to me about virtue. He was +always talking to me about our noble descent, +of our cousin, who was a cardinal, of our uncle, +who was a grand inquisitor of the Inquisition. +Vanity of vanities! all was vanity +with him, while with me all was love. I did +not trouble myself about being of an illustrious +family; I was handsome, I was worshipped, +and, what was still better, I was young.</p> + +<p>"In the middle of the night I heard my +door open; it was the Count de Melun. I +was not asleep, I was expecting him. It is +not every woman who would like it that is +run away with. I was going to be run away +with.</p> + +<p>"Love is not only charming in itself, it is +so also from its romance. A passion without +adventure is like a mistress without caprice. +I was seated upon my bed. 'Is it +you, Jacqueline?' I said, affecting fright. 'It +is I,' said the count, falling upon his knees. +'You, sir! Your letter was not a joke then?' +'My horses are at hand; there is no time to +lose; leave this sad prison: my hotel, my +fortune, my heart, all are at your service.' +At that moment a light appeared at the door. +'My father!' I cried, with affright, as I concealed<pb n="236" /><anchor id="Pg236" /> +myself behind the bed curtains. 'All +is lost,' muttered the count. It was Sophy. +I recognized her light step. She approached +with the light in her hand, and in silence, +toward the count. 'My sister,' said she, with +some degree of excitement, but without losing +her presence of mind, 'here I am, all +ready.' I did not understand; I looked at +her with surprise; she was all dressed, from +head to foot. 'What are you saying? You +are mad.' 'Not by any means; I want to +be run away with, like yourself.' The Count +de Melun could not help laughing. 'Mademoiselle,' +he said to her, 'you forget your +dolls and toys. 'Sir,' replied she, with dignity, +'I am thirteen years old. It was not +yesterday that I made my <hi rend="font-style: italic">début</hi> at the opera; +I take a part on the stage in the ravishment +of Psyche.' 'Good,' says the count, 'we will +carry you off too.' 'It is as well,' whispered +the count in my ear; 'this is the only +way of getting rid of her.'</p> + +<p>"I was very much put out by this contretemps, +which gave a new complication to our +adventure. My father might forgive my being +carried off, but Sophy! I tried to dissuade +her from her mad enterprise. I offered +her my ornaments; she would not listen +to reason. She declared, that if she was not +carried off with me she would inform against +us, and thus prevent the adventure. 'Do not +oppose her.' said the count; 'with such a +tendency she will be sure to be carried off +sooner or later.'—'Well, let us depart together,' +The chambermaid, who had approached +with the stealthy, quiet step of a cat, told us +to hurry, for she was afraid that the noise of +the horses, that were pawing the ground near +by, would awaken Monsieur de Camargo. +We were off; the carriage drove us to the +count's hotel, rue de la Culture-Saint-Gervais. +Sophy laughed and sung. In the morning I +wrote to the manager of the opera, that by +the advice of my physician it was impossible +for me to appear for three weeks. To tell +you the truth, gentlemen, in a week's time I +went myself to inform the manager that I +would dance that evening. This, you perceive, +is not very flattering to the Count de +Melun; but there are so few men in this +world who are sufficiently interesting for a +week together. I loved the count, doubtless, +but I wanted to breathe a little without him. +I desired the excitement of the theatre. I +opened my window, constantly, as if I would +fly out of it.</p> + +<p>"As soon as I appeared at the opera my +father followed my track, and discovered the +retreat of his daughters. One evening behind +the scenes, he went straight to the count +and insulted him. The count answered him, +with great deference, that he would avoid +the chance of taking the life of a gallant gentleman +who had given birth to such a daughter +as I was. My father did his best to prove +and establish his sixteen quarterings, the +count was not willing to fight him. It was +about that time that my father presented his +famous petition to the Cardinal de Fleury: +'Your petitioner would state to the Lord +Cardinal, that the Count de Melun, having +carried off his two daughters in the night, +between the 10th and 11th of the month of +May, 1728, holds them imprisoned in his hotel, +rue de la Culture-Saint-Gervais. Your petitioner +having to do with a person of rank, is +obliged to have recourse to his majesty's +ministers; he hopes, through the goodness of +the king, justice will be done him, and that +the Count de Melun will be commanded to +espouse the elder daughter of your petitioner, +and endow the younger.'</p> + +<p>"A father could not have done better. +The Cardinal de Fleury amused himself a +good deal with the petition, and recommended +me, one day that we were supping together, +for full penance, to make over to my +father my salary at the opera. But I find I +am not getting on with my story. But what +would you have? The beginning is always +where we dwell with the greatest pleasure. +I had been living in the count's hotel a year; +Sophy had returned to my father's house, +where she did not remain long; but it is not +her history that I am relating. One morning +a cousin of the count arrived at the hotel in +a great bustle; he was about spending a season +in Paris, in all the wildness of youth. He +took us by surprise at breakfast; he took his +seat at table, without ceremony, on the invitation +of the count.</p> + +<p>"In the beginning he did not strike my +fancy; I thought him somewhat of a braggadocio. +He cultivated his mustachios with, +great care (the finest mustachios in the world), +and spoke quite often enough of his prowess +in battle. Some visitor interrupting us, the +count went into his library, and left us together, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">tête-à-tête</hi>. Monsieur de Marteille's +voice, until then proud and haughty in its +tone, softened a little. He had at first looked +at me with the eye of a soldier; he now +looked at me with the eye of a pupil.—'Excuse, +madame,' said he, with some emotion, +'my rude soldier-like bearing; I know nothing +of fine manners; I have never passed +through the school of gallantry. Do not be +offended at any thing I may say.'—'Why, +sir,' said I, smiling, 'you do not say any thing +at all.'—'Ah, if I knew how to speak! but, +in truth, I would feel more at home before a +whole army than I do before your beautiful +eyes. The count is very happy in having +such a beautiful enemy to contend with.'—While +speaking thus, he looked at me with a +supplicating tenderness which contrasted singularly +with his look of the hero. I do not +know what my eyes answered him. The +count then came in, and the conversation took +another turn.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur de Marteille accepted the earnest +invitation of his cousin to stay at his hotel. +He went out; I did not see him again till +evening. He did not know who I was; the<pb n="237" /><anchor id="Pg237" /> +count called me Marianne, and, unintentionally, +perhaps, he had not spoken a word to +his cousin about the opera, or my grace and +skill as a dancer. At supper, Monsieur de +Marteille had no longer the same frank gayety +of the morning; a slight uneasiness passed +like a cloud over his brow; more than once +I caught his melancholy glance.—'Cheer up +your cousin,' I said to the count.—'I know +what he wants,' answered Monsieur de Melun; +'I will take him to-morrow to the opera. +You will see that in that God-forsaken place +he will find his good-humor again.'—I felt +jealous, without asking myself why.</p> + +<p>"Next day the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Triumph of Bacchus</hi> was +played. I appeared as Ariadne, all covered +with vine-leaves and flowers. I never danced +so badly. I had recognized Monsieur de Marteille +among the gentlemen of the court. He +looked at me with a serious air. I had hoped +to have had an opportunity to speak with +him before the end of the ballet, but he had +already gone. I was offended at his abrupt +departure.—'How!' said I to myself, 'he sees +me dance, and this is the way he makes me +his compliments.'—Next morning, he breakfasted +with us; he did not say a word about +the evening; finally, not being able to resist +my impatience, 'Well, Monsieur de Marteille,' +said I to him, somewhat harshly, 'you left +early last night; it was hardly polite of you.'—'Ah! +when you were to dance no more!' +said he, with a sigh. This was the first time +that I was ever spoken to thus. Fearing that +he had said too much, and in order to divert +Monsieur de Melun, who observed him with +a look of surprise, he began to speak of a little +singer of no great moment, who had a +voice of some freshness.</p> + +<p>"In the afternoon, the count detained at +home for some reason or other, begged his +cousin to accompany me in a ride to the +woods. He was to join us on horseback. +The idea of this ride made my heart beat violently. +It was the first time that I had listened +with pleasure to the beatings of my heart.</p> + +<p>"We started on a fine summer's day. +Every thing was like a holyday: the sky, the +houses, the trees, the horses, and the people. +A veil had fallen from my eyes. For some +minutes we remained in the deepest silence; +not knowing what to do, I amused myself by +making a diamond that I wore glisten in the +rays of the sun that entered the carriage. +Monsieur de Marteille caught hold of my +hand. We both said not a word the whole +time. I tried to disengage my hand; he held +it the harder. I blushed; he turned pale. +A jolt of the carriage occurred very opportunely +to relieve us from our embarrassment; +the jolt had lifted me from my seat; it made +me fall upon his bosom.—'Monsieur,' said I, +starting. 'Ah, madame, if you knew how I +love you!'—He said this with a tenderness +beyond expression; it was love itself that +spoke! I had no longer the strength to get +angry. He took my hand again and devoured +it with kisses. He did not say another word; +I tried to speak, but did not know what to +say myself. From time to time our looks +met each other; it was then that we were eloquent. +Such eternal pledges, such promises +of happiness!</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding, we arrived at the woods. +All of a sudden, as if seized with a new idea, +he put his head out of the window, and said +something to the coachman. I understood, +by the answer of La Violette, the coachman, +that he was not willing to obey; but Monsieur +de Marteille having alluded to a caning +and fifty pistoles, the coachman made no further +objections. I did not understand very +well what he was about. After an hour's +rapid travelling, as I was looking with some +anxiety as to where we were, he tried to divert +me by telling me some episodes of his +life. Although I did not listen very intelligently +to what he said, I heard enough to +find out that I was the first woman he had +ever loved. They all say so, but he told the +truth, for he spoke with his eyes and his +heart. I soon found out that we were no +longer on our right road; but observe how +far the feebleness of a woman in love will go: +I hadn't the courage to ask him why he had +changed our route. We crossed the Seine in +a boat, between Sèvres and St. Cloud; we +regained the woods, and after an hour's ride +through them, we reached an iron park-gate, +at the extremity of the village of Velaisy.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur de Marteille had counted without +his host. He expected not to have found +a soul in his brother's chateau, but, since the +evening before, his brother had returned from +a journey to the coast of France. Seeing that +the chateau was inhabited, Monsieur de Marteille +begged me to wait a little in the carriage. +As soon as he had gone, the coachman +came to the door.—'Well, madame, we +breathe at last! my opinion is that we should +make our escape. Depend upon the word of +La Violette, we shall be in less than two +hours at the hotel.'—'La Violette,' said I, +'open the door.'—I ran a great risk. La +Violette obeyed.—'Now,' said I to him, when +I had alighted upon the ground, 'you may +go!'—He looked at me with the eye of an old +philosopher, mounted his box, and snapped +his whip; but he had hardly started, when +he thought it better to return.—'I will not +return without madame, for if I return alone, +I shall be sure of a good heating, and of being +discharged.'—'Indeed, La Violette! as you +please.' At that moment I saw the count returning.—'It +is all for the best,' he cried out, +in the distance; 'my brother has only two +days to spend in Paris: he has stopped here +to give his orders; he wishes, at all hazards, +to see Camargo dance! I told him that she +was to appear this evening. He will leave +in a moment. You must wait in the park till +he is gone. I will return to him, for I must +take my leave of him, and wish him a pleasant +journey.</p> + +<pb n="238" /><anchor id="Pg238" /> + +<p>"An hour afterward we were installed in +the chateau. La Violette remained, at our +order, with his carriage and horses. In the +evening there was great excitement at the +opera. It was solemnly announced to the +public that Mademoiselle de Camargo had +been carried off! The Count de Melun surprised +at not finding us in the woods, had +gone to the theatre. He was hissed; he +swore revenge. He sought every where; he +found neither his horses, nor his carriage, nor +his mistress. For three months the opera +was in mourning! Thirty bailiffs were on +my track; but we made so little noise in our +little chateau, hid away in the woods, that +we were never discovered."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo became pale; +she was silent, and looked at her listeners as +if she would say by her looks that had been +lighted up at that celestial flame which had +passed over her life: "Oh, how we loved +each other during those three months!"</p> + +<p>She continued as follows: "That season +has filled a greater space in my life than all +the rest of my days. When I think of the +past, it is there where my thoughts travel at +once. How relate to you the particulars of +our happiness? When destiny protects us, +happiness is composed of a thousand charming +nothings that the hearts of others cannot +understand. During those three months I +was entirely happy; I wished to live for ever +in this charming retreat for him that I loved +a thousand times more than myself. I wished +to abandon the opera, that opera that the +Count de Melun could not make me forget +for a week!</p> + +<p>"Monsieur de Marteille possessed all the +attraction of a real passion; he loved me +with a charming simplicity; he put in play, +without designing it, all the seductions of +love. What tender words! what impassioned +looks! what enticing conversation! Each +day was a holyday, each hour a rapture. I +had no time to think of the morrow.</p> + +<p>"Our days were spent in walks, in the +shade of the woods, in the thousand windings +of the park. In the evening I played +the harpsichord, and I sang. It often occurred +that I danced, danced for him. In the +middle of a dance that would have excited a +furor at the opera, I fell at his feet, completely +overcome; he raised me up, pressed me to +his heart and forgave me for having danced. +I always hear his beautiful voice, which was +like music, but such music as I dream of, and +not such as Rameau has composed... But +now I am speaking without knowing what I +say."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo turned toward +Pont-de-Veyle. "Monsieur," said she, "open +that box or rather hand it to me." She took +the box, opened it, and took the bouquet from +it. "But above all, gentlemen, I must explain +to you why I have preserved this bouquet." +While saying this she attempted to +smell the vanished odor of the bouquet.</p> + +<p>"One morning," she resumed, "Monsieur +de Marteille awoke me early—'Farewell!' he +said, pale and trembling.—'What are you +saying?' cried I with affright.—'Alas,' replied +he, embracing me, I did not wish to tell +you before, but for a fortnight I have had orders +to leave. Hostilities are to be resumed +in the Low Countries; I have no longer a +single hour either for you or for me; I have +over forty leagues to travel to-day.'—'Oh, +my God, what will become of me?' said I +weeping. 'I will follow you.'—'But, my +dear Marianne, I shall return.'—'You will +return in an age! Go, cruel one, I shall be +dead when you return.'</p> + +<p>"An hour was spent in taking leave and in +tears; he was obliged to go; he went.</p> + +<p>"I returned to weep in that retreat, that +was so delightful the evening before. Two +days after his departure, he wrote me a very +tender letter, in which he told me that on the +next day, he would have the consolation of +engaging in battle. 'I hope,' added he, 'that +the campaign will not be a long one; some +days of hard fighting, and then I return to +your feet.' What more shall I tell you? He +wrote me once again."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo unfolded slowly +the torn letter. "Here is the second letter:—</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p rend="text-align: right">Oct 17.</p> + +<p>"'No, I shall not return, my dear, I am +going to die, but without fear, without reproach. +Oh! if you were here, Marianne! +What madness! in a hospital where, all of +us, all, be we what we may, are disfigured +with wounds, and dying! What an idea to +dash ahead in the fight, when I only thought +of seeing you again. As soon as I was +wounded, I asked the surgeon if I should +live long enough to reach Paris: "You have +but an hour," he answered me pitilessly... +They brought me here with the others. In a +word, we should learn to resign ourselves to +what comes from Heaven. I die content +with having loved you; console yourself; return +to the opera. I am not jealous of those +who shall succeed me, for will they love you +as I have done? Farewell, Marianne, death +approaches, and death never waits; I thank +it for having left me sufficient time to bid you +farewell. Now, it will be I who will wait +for you.</p> + +<p>"'Farewell, farewell, I press you to my +heart, which ceases to beat.'"</p> +</quote> + +<p>After having wiped her eyes, Mademoiselle +de Camargo continued as follows: "Shall I +describe to you all my sorrows, all my tears, +all my anguish! Alas! as he had said, I returned +to the opera. I did not forget Monsieur +de Marteille, in the tempest of my folly. +Others have loved me. I have loved no one +but Monsieur de Marteille; his memory has +beamed upon my life like a blessing from +heaven. When I reappeared at the opera, I +was seen attending mass; I was laughed at +for my devotion. They did not understand, +philosophers as they were, that I prayed to<pb n="239" /><anchor id="Pg239" /> +God, in consequence of those words of Monsieur +de Martielle: 'Now it will be I who +will wait for you.'</p> + +<p>"When I left the chateau, I plucked a +bouquet in the park, thinking that I was +plucking the flowers that had bloomed for +him; I brought away this bouquet, along +with the portrait that you see there. I had +vowed, in leaving our dear retreat, to go +every year, at the same season, to gather a +bouquet in the park. Will you believe it? I +never went there again!"</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo thus finished her +history. "Well, my dear philosopher," said +Helvetius to Duclos, in descending the steps, +"you have just read a book that is somewhat +curious."—"A bad book," answered Duclos, +"but such books are always interesting."</p> + +<p>In April, 1770, the news spread that Mademoiselle +de Camargo had just died a good +catholic. "This created a great surprise," +says a journal of the day, "in the republic of +letters, for she was supposed to have been +dead twenty years." Her last admirer and +her last friend, to whom she had bequeathed +her dogs and her cats, had caused her body to +be interred with a magnificence unexampled +at the opera. "All the world," says Grimm, +"admired that white pall, the symbol of +chastity, that all unmarried persons are entitled +to in their funeral ceremony."</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>MY NOVEL:</head> +<head type="sub">OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.<note place="foot"><p>Continued from page 109.</p></note></head> + +<p>BY PISISTRATUS CAXTON.</p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="BOOK IX. - INITIAL CHAPTER." /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>BOOK IX.—INITIAL CHAPTER.</head> + +<p>Now that I am fairly in the heart of my +story, these preliminary chapters must +shrink into comparatively small dimensions, +and not encroach upon the space required by +the various personages whose acquaintance +I have picked up here and there, and who +are now all crowding upon me like poor relations +to whom one has unadvisedly given a +general invitation, and who descend upon one +simultaneously about Christmas time. Where +they are to be stowed, and what is to become +of them all, heaven knows; in the meanwhile, +the reader will have already observed +that the Caxton family themselves are turned +out of their own rooms, sent a-packing, in +order to make way for the new comers.</p> + +<p>And now that I refer to that respected +family, I shall take occasion (dropping all +metaphor) to intimate a doubt, whether, +should these papers be collected and republished, +I shall not wholly recast the Initial +Chapters in which the Caxtons have been +permitted to reappear. They assure me, +themselves, that they feel a bashful apprehension +lest they may be accused of having +thrust irrelevant noses into affairs which by +no means belong to them—an impertinence +which, being a peculiarly shy race, they have +carefully shunned in the previous course of +their innocent and segregated existence. Indeed, +there is some cause for that alarm, +seeing that not long since, in a journal professing +to be critical, this <hi rend="font-style: italic">My Novel, or Varieties +in English Life</hi>, was misnomed and insulted +as "a Continuation of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Caxtons</hi>," +with which biographical work it has no more +to do (save in the aforesaid introductions to +previous Books in the present diversified and +compendious narrative) than I with Hecuba, +or Hecuba with me. Reserving the doubt +herein suggested for maturer deliberation, I +proceed with my new Initial Chapter. And +I shall stint the matter therein contained to +a brief comment upon <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Public Life</hi>.</p> + +<p>Were you ever in public life, my dear +reader? I don't mean by that question, to +ask whether you were ever Lord Chancellor, +Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, or +even a member of the House of Commons. +An author hopes to find readers far beyond +that very egregious but very limited segment +of the Great Circle. Were you ever a busy +man in your vestry, active in a municipal +corporation, one of a committee for furthering +the interests of an enlightened candidate +for your native burgh, town, or shire?—in a +word, did you ever resign your private comforts +as men in order to share the public +troubles of mankind? If ever you have so +far departed from the Lucretian philosophy, +just look back—was it life at all that you +lived?—were you an individual distinct existence—a +passenger in the railway?—or +were you merely an indistinct portion of that +common flame which heated the boiler and +generated the steam that set off the monster +train?—very hot, very active, very useful, no +doubt; but all your identity fused in flame, +and all your forces vanishing in gas.</p> + +<p>And you think the people in the railway +carriages care for you?—do you think that +the gentleman in the worsted wrapper is +saying to his neighbor with the striped rug +on his comfortable knees, "How grateful we +ought to be for that fiery particle which is +crackling and hissing under the boiler! It +helps us on the fraction of an inch from +Vauxhall to Putney?" Not a bit of it. Ten +to one but he is saying—"Not sixteen miles +an hour! What the deuce is the matter +with the stoker?"</p> + +<p>Look at our friend Audley Egerton. You +have just had a glimpse of the real being that +struggles under the huge copper;—you have +heard the hollow sound of the rich man's +coffers under the tap of Baron Levy's friendly +knuckle—heard the strong man's heart +give out its dull warning sound to the scientific +ear of Dr. F +vanishes the separate existence, lost again in +the flame that heats the boiler, and the +smoke that curls into air from the grimy furnace.</p> + +<p>Look to it, O Public Man, whoever thou +art, and whatsoever thy degree—see if thou +canst not compound matters, so as to keep a +little nook apart for thy private life; that is,<pb n="240" /><anchor id="Pg240" /> +for <hi rend="font-style: italic">thyself</hi>! Let the great Popkins Question +not absorb wholly the individual soul of thee, +as Smith or Johnson. Don't so entirely consume +thyself under that insatiable boiler, +that when thy poor little monad rushes out +from the sooty furnace, and arrives at the +stars, thou mayest find no vocation for thee +there, and feel as if thou hadst nothing to +do amidst the still splendors of the Infinite. +I don't deny to thee the uses of "Public +Life;" I grant that it is much to have helped +to carry that great Popkins Question; but +Private Life, my friend, is the life of thy +Private soul; and there may be matters concerned +with that which, on consideration, +thou mayest allow, cannot be wholly mixed +up with the great Popkins Question—and +were not finally settled when thou didst exclaim—"I +have not lived in vain—the Popkins +Question is carried at last!" O immortal +soul, for one quarter of an hour <hi rend="font-style: italic">per diem</hi>—de-Popkinise +thine immortality!</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER II.</head> + +<p>It had not been without much persuasion +on the part of Jackeymo, that Riccabocca +had consented to settle himself in the house +which Randal had recommended to him. +Not that the exile conceived any suspicion +of the young man beyond that which he +might have shared with Jackeymo, viz., that +Randal's interest in the father was increased +by a very natural and excusable admiration +of the daughter. But the Italian had the +pride common to misfortune,—he did not like +to be indebted to others, and he shrank from +the pity of those to whom it was known that +he had held a higher station in his own land. +These scruples gave way to the strength of +his affection for his daughter and his dread of +his foe. Good men, however able and brave, +who have suffered from the wicked, are apt +to form exaggerated notions of the power that +has prevailed against them. Jackeymo had +conceived a superstitious terror of Peschiera, +and Riccabocca, though by no means addicted +to superstition, still had a certain creep of +the flesh whenever he thought of his foe.</p> + +<p>But Riccabocca—than whom no man was +more physically brave, and no man, in some +respects, more morally timid—feared the +Count less as a foe than as a gallant. He remembered +his kinsman's surpassing beauty—the +power he had obtained over women. He +knew him versed in every art that corrupts, +and void of all the conscience that deters. +And Riccabocca had unhappily nursed himself +into so poor an estimate of the female +character, that even the pure and lofty nature +of Violante did not seem to him a sufficient +safeguard against the craft and determination +of a practised and remorseless intriguer. But +of all the precautions he could take, none appeared +more likely to conduce to safety, than +his establishing a friendly communication +with one who professed to be able to get at all +the Count's plans and movements, and who +could apprise Riccabocca at once should his +retreat be discovered. "Forewarned is forearmed," +said he to himself, in one of the +proverbs common to all nations. However, +as with his usual sagacity he came to reflect +upon the alarming intelligence conveyed to +him by Randal, viz., that the Count sought +his daughter's hand, he divined that there +was some strong personal interest under such +ambition; and what could be that interest +save the probability of Riccabocca's ultimate +admission to the Imperial grace, and the +Count's desire to assure himself of the heritage +to an estate that he might be permitted +to retain no more? Riccabocca was not indeed +aware of the condition (not according +to usual customs in Austria) on which the +Count held the forfeited domains. He knew +not that they had been granted merely on +pleasure; but he was too well aware of Peschiera's +nature to suppose that he would woo +a bride without a dower, or be moved by remorse +in any overture of reconciliation. He +felt assured, too—and this increased all his +fears—that Peschiera would never venture +to seek an interview himself; all the Count's +designs on Violante would be dark, secret, +and clandestine. He was perplexed and tormented +by the doubt, whether or not to express +openly to Violante his apprehensions +of the nature of the danger to be apprehended. +He had told her vaguely that it was for her +sake that he desired secrecy and concealment. +But that might mean any thing: what danger +to himself would not menace her? Yet +to say more was so contrary to a man of his +Italian notions and Machiavellian maxims! +To say to a young girl, "There is a man +come over to England on purpose to woo +and win you. For heaven's sake take care +of him; he is diabolically handsome; he never +fails where he sets his heart." "Cospetto!" +cried the doctor aloud, as these admonitions +shaped themselves to speech in the camera-obscura +of his brain; "such a warning would +have undone a Cornelia while she was yet an +innocent spinster." No, he resolved to say +nothing to Violante of the Count's intention, +only to keep guard, and make himself and +Jackeymo all eyes and all ears.</p> + +<p>The house Randal had selected pleased +Riccabocca at first glance. It stood alone, +upon a little eminence; its upper windows +commanded the high road. It had been a +school, and was surrounded by high walls, +which contained a garden and lawn sufficiently +large for exercise. The garden doors +were thick, fortified by strong bolts, and had +a little wicket lattice, shut and opened at +pleasure, from which Jackeymo could inspect +all visitors before he permitted them to +enter.</p> + +<p>An old female servant from the neighborhood +was cautiously hired; Riccabocca renounced +his Italian name, and abjured his +origin. He spoke English sufficiently well to +think he could pass as an Englishman. He<pb n="241" /><anchor id="Pg241" /> +called himself Mr. Richmouth (a liberal translation +of Riccabocca). He bought a blunderbuss, +two pair of pistols, and a huge house-dog. +Thus provided for, he allowed Jackeymo +to write a line to Randal and communicate +his arrival.</p> + +<p>Randal lost no time in calling. With his +usual adaptability and his powers of dissimulation, +he contrived easily to please Mrs. Riccabocca, +and to increase the good opinion the +exile was disposed to form of him. He engaged +Violante in conversation on Italy and +its poets. He promised to buy her books. +He began, though more distantly than he +could have desired—for her sweet stateliness +awed him in spite of himself—the preliminaries +of courtship. He established himself at +once as a familiar guest, riding down daily in +the dusk of evening, after the toils of office, +and retiring at night. In four or five days +he thought he had made great progress with +all. Riccabocca watched him narrowly, and +grew absorbed in thought after every visit. +At length one night, when he and Mrs. Riccabocca +were alone in the drawing-room, +Violante having retired to rest, he thus spoke +as he filled his pipe:—</p> + +<p>"Happy is the man who has no children! +Thrice happy he who has no girls."</p> + +<p>"My dear Alphonso!" said the wife, looking +up from the wristband to which she was +attaching a neat mother-o'-pearl button. She +said no more; it was the sharpest rebuke she +was in the custom of administering to her +husband's cynical and odious observations. +Riccabocca lighted his pipe with a thread +paper, gave three great puffs, and resumed:</p> + +<p>"One blunderbuss, four pistols, and a +house-dog called Pompey, who would have +made mince-meat of Julius Cæsar!"</p> + +<p>"He certainly eats a great deal, does Pompey!" +said Mrs. Riccabocca, simply. "But +if he relieves your mind!"</p> + +<p>"He does not relieve it in the least, +ma'am," groaned Riccabocca; "and that is +the point I was coming to. This is a most +harassing life, and a most undignified life. +And I who have only asked from Heaven +dignity and repose! But, if Violante were +once married, I should want neither blunderbuss, +pistol, nor Pompey. And it is that +which would relieve my mind, <hi rend="font-style: italic">cara mia</hi>;—Pompey +only relieves my larder!"</p> + +<p>Now Riccabocca had been more communicative +to Jemima than he had been to Violante. +Having once trusted her with one +secret, he had every motive to trust her with +another; and he had accordingly spoken out +his fears of the Count di Peschiera. Therefore +she answered, laying down the work, +and taking her husband's hand tenderly—</p> + +<p>"Indeed, my love, since you dread so +much (though I own that I must think unreasonably) +this wicked, dangerous man, it +would be the happiest thing in the world to +see dear Violante well married; because, you +see, if she is married to one person, she cannot +be married to another; and all fear of this +Count, as you say, would be at an end."</p> + +<p>"You cannot express yourself better. It +is a great comfort to unbosom one's self to a +wife, after all!" quoth Riccabocca.</p> + +<p>"But," said the wife, after a grateful kiss—"but +where and how can we find a husband +suitable to the rank of your daughter?"</p> + +<p>"There—there—there," cried Riccabocca, +pushing back his chair to the farther end of +the room—"that comes of unbosoming one's +self! Out flies one's secret; it is opening the +lid of Pandora's box; one is betrayed, ruined, +undone!"</p> + +<p>"Why, there's not a soul that can hear +us!" said Mrs. Riccabocca, soothingly.</p> + +<p>"That's chance, ma'am! If you once contract +the habit of blabbing out a secret when +nobody's by, how on earth can you resist it +when you have the pleasurable excitement +of telling it to all the world? Vanity, +vanity—woman's vanity! Woman never could +withstand rank—never!" The Doctor went +on railing for a quarter of an hour, and was +very reluctantly appeased by Mrs. Riccabocca's +repeated and tearful assurances that she +would never even whisper to herself that her +husband had ever held any other rank than +that of Doctor.—Riccabocca, with a dubious +shake of the head, renewed—</p> + +<p>"I have done with all pomp and pretension. +Besides, the young man is a born gentleman; +he seems in good circumstances; he +has energy and latent ambition; he is akin +to L'Estrange's intimate friend; he seems attached +to Violante. I don't think it probable +that we could do better. Nay, if Peschiera +fears that I shall be restored to my country, +and I learn the wherefore, and the ground to +take, through this young man—why, gratitude +is the first virtue of the noble!"</p> + +<p>"You speak, then, of Mr. Leslie?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure—of whom else?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Riccabocca leaned her cheek on her +hand thoughtfully. "Now you have told +me <hi rend="font-style: italic">that</hi>, I will observe him with different +eyes."</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Anima mia</hi>, I don't see how the difference +of your eyes will alter the object they +look upon!" grumbled Riccabocca, shaking +the ashes out of his pipe.</p> + +<p>"The object alters when we see it in a +different point of view!" replied Jemima, +modestly. "This thread does very well +when I look at it in order to sew on a button, +but I should say it would never do to tie up +Pompey in his kennel."</p> + +<p>"Reasoning by illustration, upon my soul!" +ejaculated Riccabocca, amazed.</p> + +<p>"And," continued Jemima, "when I am +to regard one who is to constitute the happiness +of that dear child, and for life, can I regard +him as I would the pleasant guest of an +evening? Ah, trust me, Alphonso—I don't +pretend to be wise like you—but, when a +woman considers what a man is likely to +prove to woman—his sincerity—his honor—his<pb n="242" /><anchor id="Pg242" /> +heart—oh, trust me, she is wiser than the +wisest man!"</p> + +<p>Riccabocca continued to gaze on Jemima +with unaffected admiration and surprise. +And, certainly, to use his phrase, since he +had unbosomed himself to his better half—since +he had confided in her, consulted with +her, her sense had seemed to quicken—her +whole mind to expand.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said the sage, "I vow and declare +that Machiavelli was a fool to you. +And I have been as dull as the chair I sit +upon, to deny myself so many years the +comfort and counsel of such a—but <hi rend="font-style: italic">corpo +di Baccho!</hi> forget all about rank; and so +now to bed."</p> + +<p>"One must not holloa till one's out of the +wood," muttered the ungrateful, suspicious +villain, as he lighted the chamber candle.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER III.</head> + +<p>Riccabocca could not confine himself to +the precincts within the walls to which he +condemned Violante. Resuming his spectacles, +and wrapped in his cloak, he occasionally +sallied forth upon a kind of outwatch or reconnoitring +expedition—restricting himself, +however, to the immediate neighborhood, and +never going quite out of sight of his house. +His favorite walk was to the summit of a +hillock overgrown with stunted bushwood. +Here he would seat himself musingly, often +till the hoofs of Randal's horse rang on the +winding road, as the sun set, over fading herbage, +red and vaporous, in autumnal skies. Just +below the hillock, and not two hundred yards +from his own house, was the only other habitation +in view—a charming, thoroughly English +cottage, though somewhat imitated from +the Swiss—with gable ends, thatched roof, +and pretty projecting casements, opening +through creepers and climbing roses. From +his height he commanded the gardens of this +cottage, and his eye of artist was pleased, +from the first sight, with the beauty which +some exquisite taste had given to the ground. +Even in that cheerless season of the year, the +garden wore a summer smile; the evergreens +were so bright and various, and the few flowers, +still left, so hardy and so healthful. Facing +the south, a colonnade, or covered gallery, +of rustic woodwork had been formed, and +creeping plants, lately set, were already beginning +to clothe its columns. Opposite to +this colonnade there was a fountain which +reminded Riccabocca of his own at the deserted +Casino. It was indeed singularly like +it: the same circular shape, the same girdle +of flowers around it. But the jet from it varied +every day—fantastic and multiform, like +the sports of a Naïad—sometimes shooting +up like a tree, sometimes shaped as a convolvulus, +sometimes tossing from its silver spray +a flower of vermilion, or a fruit of gold—as +if at play with its toy like a happy child. And +near the fountain was a large aviary, large +enough to inclose a tree. The Italian could +just catch a gleam of rich color from the +wings of the birds, as they glanced to and +fro within the network, and could hear their +songs, contrasting the silence of the free populace +of air, whom the coming winter had +already stilled.</p> + +<p>Riccabocca's eye, so alive to all aspects of +beauty, luxuriated in the view of this garden. +Its pleasantness had a charm that stole him +from his anxious fear and melancholy memories.</p> + +<p>He never saw but two forms within the +demesnes, and he could not distinguish their +features. One was a woman, who seemed to +him of staid manner and homely appearance: +she was seen but rarely. The other a man, +often pacing to and fro the colonnade, with +frequent pauses before the playful fountain, +or the birds that sang louder as he approached. +This latter form would then disappear +within a room, the glass door of which was +at the extreme end of the colonnade; and if +the door were left open, Riccabocca could +catch a glimpse of the figure bending over a +table covered with books.</p> + +<p>Always, however, before the sun set, the +man would step forth more briskly, and occupy +himself with the garden, often working +at it with good heart, as if at a task of delight; +and then, too, the woman would come +out, and stand by as if talking to her companion. +Riccabocca's curiosity grew aroused. +He bade Jemima inquire of the old maid-servant +who lived at the cottage, and heard that +its owner was a Mr. Oran—a quiet gentleman, +and fond of his book.</p> + +<p>While Riccabocca thus amused himself, +Randal had not been prevented, either by his +official cares or his schemes on Violante's +heart and fortune, from furthering the project +that was to unite Frank Hazeldean and +Beatrice di Negra. Indeed, as to the first, a +ray of hope was sufficient to fire the ardent +and unsuspecting lover. And Randal's artful +misrepresentation of Mrs. Hazeldean's conversation +with him, removed all fear of parental +displeasure from a mind always too disposed +to give itself up to the temptation of +the moment. Beatrice, though her feelings +for Frank were not those of love, became +more and more influenced by Randal's arguments +and representations, the more especially +as her brother grew morose, and even +menacing, as days slipt on, and she could give +no clue to the retreat of those whom he +sought for. Her debts, too, were really urgent. +As Randal's profound knowledge of +human infirmity had shrewdly conjectured, +the scruples of honor and pride, that had +made her declare she would not bring to a +husband her own incumbrances, began to +yield to the pressure of necessity. She listened +already, with but faint objections, when +Randal urged her not to wait for the uncertain +discovery that was to secure her dowry, +but by a private marriage with Frank escape +at once into freedom and security. While,<pb n="243" /><anchor id="Pg243" /> +though he had first held out to young Hazeldean +the inducement of Beatrice's dowry as +reason of self-justification in the eyes of the +Squire, it was still easier to drop that inducement, +which had always rather damped than +fired the high spirit and generous heart of the +poor Guardsman. And Randal could conscientiously +say, that when he had asked the +Squire if he expected fortune with Frank's +bride, the Squire had replied, "I don't care." +Thus encouraged by his friend and his own +heart, and the softening manner of a woman +who might have charmed many a colder, and +fooled many a wiser man, Frank rapidly yielded +to the snares held out for his perdition. +And though as yet he honestly shrank from +proposing to Beatrice or himself a marriage +without the consent, and even the knowledge, +of his parents, yet Randal was quite content +to leave a nature, however good, so thoroughly +impulsive and undisciplined, to the influences +of the first strong passion it had ever +known. Meanwhile, it was easy to dissuade +Frank from even giving a hint to the folks at +home. "For," said the wily and able traitor, +"though we may be sure of Mrs. Hazeldean's +consent, and her power over your father, +when the step is once taken, yet we cannot +count for certain on the Squire—he is so choleric +and hasty. He might hurry to town—see +Madame di Negra, blurt out some compassionate, +rude expressions which would +wake her resentment, and cause her instant +rejection. And it might be too late if he repented +afterwards—as he would be sure to +do."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Randal Leslie gave a dinner at +the Clarendon Hotel (an extravagance most +contrary to his habits), and invited Frank, +Mr. Borrowell, and Baron Levy.</p> + +<p>But this house-spider, which glided with +so much ease after its flies, through webs so +numerous and mazy, had yet to amuse Madame +di Negra with assurances that the fugitives +sought for would sooner or later be +discovered. Though Randal baffled and eluded +her suspicion that he was already acquainted +with the exiles, ("the persons he had +thought of were," he said, "quite different +from her description;" and he even presented +to her an old singing-master, and a sallow-faced +daughter, as the Italians who had +caused his mistake), it was necessary for Beatrice +to prove the sincerity of the aid she had +promised to her brother, and to introduce +Randal to the Count. It was no less desirable +to Randal to know, and even win the +confidence of this man—his rival.</p> + +<p>The two met at Madame di Negra's house. +There is something very strange, and almost +mesmerical, in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">rapport</hi> between two evil +natures. Bring two honest men together, and +it is ten to one if they recognize each other +as honest; differences in temper, manner, +even politics, may make each misjudge the +other. But bring together two men, unprincipled +and perverted—men who, if born in +a cellar, would have been food for the hulks +or gallows—and they recognize each other +by instant sympathy. The eyes of Franzini, +Count of Peschiera, and Randal Leslie no +sooner met, than a gleam of intelligence shot +from both. They talked on indifferent subjects—weather, +gossip, politics—what not. +They bowed and they smiled; but, all the +while, each was watching, plumbing the +other's heart; each measuring his strength +with his companion; each inly saying, "This +is a very remarkable rascal; am I a match +for him?" It was at dinner they met; and, +following the English fashion, Madame di +Negra left them alone with their wine.</p> + +<p>Then, for the first time, Count di Peschiera +cautiously and adroitly made a covered push +towards the object of the meeting.</p> + +<p>"You have never been abroad, my dear +sir? You must contrive to visit me at Vienna. +I grant the splendor of your London +world; but, honestly speaking, it wants the +freedom of ours—a freedom which unites +gayety with polish. For as your society is +mixed, there are pretension and effort with +those who have no right to be in it, and artificial +condescension and chilling arrogance +with those who have to keep their inferiors +at a certain distance. With us, all being of +fixed rank and acknowledged birth, familiarity +is at once established." "Hence," added +the Count, with his French lively smile—"hence +there is no place like Vienna for +a young man—no place like Vienna for <hi rend="font-style: italic">bonnes +fortunes</hi>."</p> + +<p>"Those make the paradise of the idle," replied +Randal, "but the purgatory of the +busy. I confess frankly to you, my dear +Count, that I have as little of the leisure +which becomes the aspirer to <hi rend="font-style: italic">bonnes fortunes</hi> +as I have the personal graces which obtain +them without an effort;" and he inclined his +head as in compliment.</p> + +<p>"So," thought the Count, "woman is not +his weak side. What is?"</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Morbleu!</hi> my dear Mr. Leslie—had I +thought as you do some years since, I had +saved myself from many a trouble. After +all, Ambition is the best mistress to woo; for +with her there is always the hope, and never +the possession."</p> + +<p>"Ambition, Count," replied Randal, still +guarding himself in dry sententiousness, "is +the luxury of the rich, and the necessity of +the poor."</p> + +<p>"Aha," thought the Count, "it comes, as +I anticipated from the first—comes to the +bribe." He passed the wine to Randal, filling +his own glass, and draining it carelessly: +"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Sur mon âme, mon cher</hi>," said the Count, +"luxury is ever pleasanter than necessity; +and I am resolved at least to give ambition +a trial—<hi rend="font-style: italic">je vais me réfugier dans le sein du +bonheur domestique</hi>—a married life and a +settled home. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Peste!</hi> If it were not for +ambition, one would die of ennui. Apropos, +my dear sir, I have to thank you for promising<pb n="244" /><anchor id="Pg244" /> +my sister your aid in finding a near and +dear kinsman of mine, who has taken refuge +in your country, and hides himself even from +me."</p> + +<p>"I should be most happy to assist in your +search. As yet, however, I have only to regret +that all my good wishes are fruitless. I +should have thought, however, that a man +of such rank had been easily found, even +through the medium of your own ambassador."</p> + +<p>"Our own ambassador is no very warm +friend of mine; and the rank would be no +clue, for it is clear that my kinsman has +never assumed it since he quitted his country."</p> + +<p>"He quitted it, I understand, not exactly +from choice," said Randal, smiling. "Pardon +my freedom and curiosity, but will you +explain to me a little more than I learn from +English rumor (which never accurately reports +upon foreign matters still more notorious), +how a person who had so much to +lose, and so little to win, by revolution, could +put himself into the same crazy boat with a +crew of hare-brained adventurers and visionary +professors?</p> + +<p>"Professors!" repeated the Count; "I +think you have hit on the very answer to +your question; not but what men of high birth +were as mad as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">canaille</hi>. I am the more +willing to gratify your curiosity, since it will +perhaps serve to guide your kind search in my +favor. You must know, then, that my kinsman +was not born the heir to the rank he +obtained. He was but a distant relation to +the head of the house which he afterwards +represented. Brought up in an Italian university, +he was distinguished for his learning +and his eccentricities. There, too, I suppose, +brooding over old wives' tales about freedom, +and so forth, he contracted his <hi rend="font-style: italic">carbonaro</hi>, +chimerical notions for the independence of +Italy. Suddenly, by three deaths, he was +elevated, while yet young, to a station and +honors which might have satisfied any man +in his senses. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Que diable!</hi> what could the +independence of Italy do for <hi rend="font-style: italic">him</hi>! He and +I were cousins; we had played together as +boys; but our lives had been separated till +his succession to rank brought us necessarily +together. We became exceedingly intimate. +And you may judge how I loved him," said +the Count, averting his eyes slightly from +Randal's quiet, watchful gaze, "when I add, +that I forgave him for enjoying a heritage +that, but for him, had been mine."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you were next heir?"</p> + +<p>"And it is a hard trial to be very near a +great fortune, and yet just miss it."</p> + +<p>"True," cried Randal, almost impetuously. +The Count now raised his eyes, and again +the two men looked into each other's souls.</p> + +<p>"Harder still, perhaps," resumed the +Count, after a short pause—"harder still +might it have been to some men to forgive +the rival as well as the heir."</p> + +<p>"Rival! How?"</p> + +<p>"A lady, who had been destined by her +parents to myself, though we had never, I +own, been formally betrothed, became the +wife of my kinsman."</p> + +<p>"Did he know of your pretensions?"</p> + +<p>"I do him the justice to say he did not. +He saw and fell in love with the young lady +I speak of. Her parents were dazzled. Her +father sent for me. He apologized—he explained; +he set before me, mildly enough, +certain youthful imprudences or errors of +my own, as an excuse for his change of mind; +and he asked me not only to resign all hope +of his daughter, but to conceal from her new +suitor that I had ever ventured to hope."</p> + +<p>"And you consented?"</p> + +<p>"I consented."</p> + +<p>"That was generous. You must indeed +have been much attached to your kinsman. +As a lover I cannot comprehend it; perhaps, +my dear Count, you may enable me to understand +it better—as a man of the world."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Count, with his most +<hi rend="font-style: italic">roué</hi> air, "I suppose we <hi rend="font-style: italic">are</hi> both men of the +world?"</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Both!</hi> certainly," replied Randal, just in +the tone which Peachum might have used in +courting the confidence of Lockit.</p> + +<p>"As a man of the world, then, I own," +said the Count, playing with the rings on his +fingers, "that if I could not marry the lady +myself (and that seemed to me clear), it was +very natural that I should wish to see her +married to my wealthy kinsman."</p> + +<p>"Very natural; it might bring your wealthy +kinsman and yourself still closer together."</p> + +<p>"This is really a very clever fellow!" +thought the Count, but he made no direct +reply.</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Enfin</hi>, to cut short a long story, my +cousin afterwards got entangled in attempts, +the failure of which is historically known. +His projects were detected—himself denounced. +He fled, and the Emperor, in sequestrating +his estates, was pleased, with +rare and singular clemency, to permit me, as +his nearest kinsman, to enjoy the revenues +of half those estates during the royal pleasure; +nor was the other half formally confiscated. +It was no doubt his Majesty's desire +not to extinguish a great Italian name; and +if my cousin and his child died in exile, why, +of that name, I, a loyal subject of Austria—I, +Franzini, Count di Peschiera, would become +the representative. Such, in a similar +case, has been sometimes the Russian policy +towards Polish insurgents."</p> + +<p>"I comprehend perfectly; and I can also +conceive that you, in profiting so largely, +though so justly, by the fall of your kinsman, +may have been exposed to much unpopularity—even +to painful suspicion."</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Entre nous, mon cher</hi>, I care not a stiver +for popularity; and as to suspicion, who is +he that can escape from the calumny of the<pb n="245" /><anchor id="Pg245" /> +envious? But, unquestionably, it would be +most desirable to unite the divided members +of our house; and this union I can now effect, +by the consent of the Emperor to my +marriage with my kinsman's daughter. You +see, therefore, why I have so great an interest +in this research?"</p> + +<p>"By the marriage articles you could no +doubt secure the retention of the half you +hold; and if you survive your kinsman, you +would enjoy the whole. A most desirable +marriage; and, if made, I suppose that would +suffice to obtain your cousin's amnesty and +grace?"</p> + +<p>"You say it."</p> + +<p>"But even without such marriage, since +the Emperor's clemency has been extended +to so many of the proscribed, it is perhaps +probable that your cousin might be restored?"</p> + +<p>"It once seemed to me possible," said the +Count, reluctantly; "but since I have been +in England, I think not. The recent revolution +in France, the democratic spirit rising in +Europe, tend to throw back the cause of a +proscribed rebel. England swarms with revolutionists; +my cousin's residence in this +country is in itself suspicious. The suspicion +is increased by his strange seclusion. There +are many Italians here who would aver that +they had met with him, and that he was still +engaged in revolutionary projects."</p> + +<p>"Aver—untruly."</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ma foi</hi>—it comes to the same thing; <hi rend="font-style: italic">les +absens ont toujours tort</hi>. I speak to a man of +the world. No; without some such guarantee +for his faith, as his daughter's marriage with +myself would give, his recall is improbable. +By the heaven above us, it shall be <hi rend="font-style: italic">impossible</hi>!" +The Count rose as he said this—rose +as if the mask of simulation had fairly fallen +from the visage of crime—rose tall and towering, +a very image of masculine power and +strength, beside the slight bended form and +sickly face of the intellectual schemer. Randal +was startled; but, rising also, he said +carelessly—</p> + +<p>"What if this guarantee can no longer be +given?—what if, in despair of return, and in +resignation to his altered fortunes, your cousin +has already married his daughter to some +English suitor?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that would indeed be, next to my +own marriage with her, the most fortunate +thing that could happen to myself."</p> + +<p>"How? I don't understand!"</p> + +<p>"Why, if my cousin has so abjured his +birthright, and forsworn his rank—if this +heritage, which is so dangerous from its +grandeur, pass, in case of his pardon, to some +obscure Englishman—a foreigner—a native +of a country that has no ties with ours—a +country that is the very refuge of levellers +and Carbonari—<hi rend="font-style: italic">mort dema vie</hi>—do you think +that such would not annihilate all chance of +my cousin's restoration, and be an excuse even +to the eyes of Italy for formally conferring +the sequestered estates on an Italian? No; +unless, indeed, the girl were to marry an Englishman +of such name and birth and connection +as would in themselves be a guarantee, +(and how in poverty is this likely?) I should +go back to Vienna with a light heart, if I +could say, 'My kinswoman is an Englishman's +wife—shall her children be the heirs +to a house so renowned for its lineage, and so +formidable for its wealth?' <hi rend="font-style: italic">Parbleu!</hi> if my +cousin were but an adventurer, or merely a +professor, he had been pardoned long ago. +The great enjoy the honor not to be pardoned +easily."</p> + +<p>Randal fell into deep but brief thought. +The Count observed him, not face to face, but +by the reflection of an opposite mirror. "This +man knows something; this man is deliberating; +this man can help me," thought the +Count.</p> + +<p>But Randal said nothing to confirm these +hypotheses. Recovering from his abstraction, +he expressed courteously his satisfaction at +the Count's prospects, either way. "And +since, after all," he added, "you mean so well +to your cousin, it occurs to me that you might +discover him by a very simple English process."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"Advertise that, if he will come to some +place appointed, he will hear of something to +his advantage."</p> + +<p>The Count shook his head. "He would +suspect me, and not come."</p> + +<p>"But he was intimate with you. He joined +an insurrection;—you were more prudent. +You did not injure him, though you may have +benefited yourself. Why should he shun +you?"</p> + +<p>"The conspirators forgive none who do not +conspire; besides, to speak frankly, he thought +I injured him."</p> + +<p>"Could you not conciliate him through his +wife—whom—you resigned to him?"</p> + +<p>"She is dead—died before he left the country."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is unlucky! Still I think an advertisement +might do good. Allow me to reflect +on that subject. Shall we now join Madame la Marquise?"</p> + +<p>On re-entering the drawing-room, the gentlemen +found Beatrice in full dress, seated by +the fire, and reading so intently that she did +not remark them enter.</p> + +<p>"What so interests you, <hi rend="font-style: italic">ma sœur</hi>?-the +last novel by Balzac, no doubt?"</p> + +<p>Beatrice started, and, looking up, showed +eyes that were full of tears. "Oh, no! no +picture of miserable, vicious Parisian life. +This is beautiful; there is <hi rend="font-style: italic">soul</hi> here."</p> + +<p>Randal took up the book which the Marchesa +laid down; it was the same that had +charmed the circle at Hazeldean—charmed +the innocent and fresh-hearted—charmed +now the wearied and tempted votaress of the +world.</p> + +<p>"Hum," murmured Randal; "the Parson, +was right. This is power—a sort of a power."</p> + +<pb n="246" /><anchor id="Pg246" /> + +<p>"How I should like to know the author! +Who can he be—can you guess?"</p> + +<p>"Not I. Some old pedant in spectacles."</p> + +<p>"I think not—I am sure not. Here beats +a heart I have ever sighed to find, and never +found."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <hi rend="font-style: italic">naïve enfant</hi>!" cried the Count; +"<hi rend="font-style: italic">comme son imagination s'égare en rêves enchantés</hi>. +And to think that, while you talk +like an Arcadian, you are dressed like a princess."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I forgot—the Austrian ambassador's. +I shall not go to-night. This book unfits me +for the artificial world."</p> + +<p>"Just as you will, my sister. I shall go. I +dislike the man, and he me; but ceremonies +before men!"</p> + +<p>"You are going to the Austrian Embassy?" +said Randal. "I too shall be there. We shall +meet." And he took his leave.</p> + +<p>"I like your young friend prodigiously," +said the Count, yawning. "I am sure that +he knows of the lost birds, and will stand to +them like a pointer, if I can but make it his +interest to do so. We shall see."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER IV.</head> + +<p>Randal arrived at the ambassador's before +the Count, and contrived to mix with the +young noblemen attached to the embassy, +and to whom he was known. Standing among +these was a young Austrian, on his travels, +of very high birth, and with an air of noble +grace that suited the ideal of the old German +chivalry. Randal was presented to him, and, +after some talk on general topics, observed, +"By the way, Prince, there is now in London +a countryman of yours, with whom you are +doubtless familiarly acquainted—the Count di +Peschiera."</p> + +<p>"He is no countryman of mine. He is an +Italian. I know him but by sight and by +name," said the Prince, stiffly.</p> + +<p>"He is of very ancient birth, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Unquestionably. His ancestors were gentlemen."</p> + +<p>"And very rich."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! I have understood the contrary. +He enjoys, it is true, a large revenue."</p> + +<p>A young <hi rend="font-style: italic">attaché</hi>, less discreet than the +Prince, here observed, "Oh, Peschiera!—Poor +fellow, he is too fond of play to be +rich."</p> + +<p>"And there is some chance that the kinsman +whose revenue he holds, may obtain his +pardon, and re-enter into possession of his fortunes—so +I hear, at least," said Randal, artfully.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad if it be true," said the +Prince with decision; "and I speak the common +sentiment at Vienna. That kinsman had +a noble spirit, and was, I believe, equally +duped and betrayed. Pardon me, sir; but we +Austrians are not so bad as we are painted. +Have you ever met in England the kinsman +you speak of?"</p> + +<p>"Never, though he is supposed to reside +here; and the Count tells me that he has a +daughter."</p> + +<p>"The Count—ha! I heard something of a +scheme—a wager of that—that Count's—a +daughter. Poor girl! I hope she will escape +his pursuit; for, no doubt, he pursues her."</p> + +<p>"Possibly she may already have married +an Englishman."</p> + +<p>"I trust not," said the Prince, seriously; +"that might at present be a serious obstacle +to her father's return."</p> + +<p>"You think so?"</p> + +<p>"There can be no doubt of it," interposed +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">attaché</hi> with a grand and positive air; +"unless, indeed, the Englishman were of a +rank equal to her own."</p> + +<p>Here there was a slight, well-bred murmur +and buzz at the doors; for the Count di Peschiera +himself was announced; and as he +entered, his presence was so striking, and his +beauty so dazzling, that whatever there might +be to the prejudice of his character, it seemed +instantly effaced or forgotten in that irresistible +admiration which it is the prerogative of +personal attributes alone to create.</p> + +<p>The Prince, with a slight curve of his lip +at the groups that collected round the Count, +turned to Randal and said, "Can you tell me +if a distinguished countryman of yours is in +England—Lord L'Estrange?"</p> + +<p>"No, Prince—he is not. You know him?"</p> + +<p>"Well."</p> + +<p>"He is acquainted with the Count's kinsman; +and perhaps from him you have learned +to think so highly of that kinsman?"</p> + +<p>The Prince bowed, and answered as he +moved away, "When a man of high honor +vouches for another, he commands the belief +of all."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," soliloquized Randal, "I must +not be precipitate. I was very nearly falling +into a terrible trap. If I were to marry the +girl, and only, by so doing, settle away her inheritance +on Peschiera!—How hard it is to +be sufficiently cautious in this world!"</p> + +<p>While thus meditating, a member of Parliament +tapped him on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Melancholy, Leslie! I lay a wager I +guess your thoughts."</p> + +<p>"Guess," answered Randal.</p> + +<p>"You were thinking of the place you are +so soon to lose."</p> + +<p>"Soon to lose!"</p> + +<p>"Why, if ministers go out, you could hardly +keep it, I suppose."</p> + +<p>This ominous and horrid member of Parliament, +Squire Hazeldean's favorite county +member, Sir John, was one of those legislators +especially odious to officials—an independent +"large-acred" member, who would +no more take office himself than he would +cut down the oaks in his park, and who had +no bowels of human feeling for those who +had opposite tastes and less magnificent means.</p> + +<p>"Hem!" said Randal, rather surlily. "In +the first place, Sir John, ministers are not +going out."</p> + +<pb n="247" /><anchor id="Pg247" /> + +<p>"Oh yes, they will go. You know I vote +with them generally, and would willingly +keep them in; but they are men of honor +and spirit; and if they can't carry their +measures, they must resign; otherwise, by +Jove, I would turn round and vote them out +myself!"</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt you would, Sir John; +you are quite capable of it; that rests with +you and your constituents. But even if +ministers did go out, I am but a poor subaltern +in a public office. I am no minister—why +should I go out too?"</p> + +<p>"Why? Hang it, Leslie, you are laughing +at me. A young fellow like you could never +be mean enough to stay in, under the very +men who drove out your friend Egerton!"</p> + +<p>"It is not usual for those in the public +offices to retire with every change of Government."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not; but always those who are +the relations of a retiring minister—always +those who have been regarded as politicians, +and who mean to enter Parliament, as of +course you will do at the next election. But +you know that as well as I do—you who are +so decided a politician—the writer of that +admirable pamphlet! I should not like to +tell my friend Hazeldean, who has a sincere +interest in you, that you ever doubted on a +question of honor as plain as your A, B, C."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Sir John," said Randal, recovering +his suavity, while he inly breathed a dire +anathema on his county member, "I am so +new to these things, that what you say never +struck me before. No doubt you must be +right; at all events, I cannot have a better +guide and adviser than Mr. Egerton himself."</p> + +<p>"No, certainly—perfect gentleman, Egerton! +I wish we could make it up with him +and Hazeldean."</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Randal</hi>, (sighing)—"Ah, I wish we could!"</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Sir John.</hi>—"And some chance of it now; +for the time is coming when all true men of +the old school must stick together."</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Randal.</hi>—"Wisely, and admirably said, my +dear Sir John. But, pardon me, I must pay +my respects to the ambassador."</p> + +<p>Randal escaped, and, passing on, saw the +ambassador himself in the next room, conferring +in a corner with Audley Egerton. The +ambassador seemed very grave—Egerton +calm and impenetrable, as usual. Presently +the Count passed by, and the ambassador +bowed to him very stiffly. As Randal, some +time later, was searching for his cloak below, +Audley Egerton unexpectedly joined him. +"Ah, Leslie," said the minister, with more +kindness than usual, "if you don't think the +night air too cold for you, let us walk home +together. I have sent away the carriage."</p> + +<p>This condescension in his patron was so +singular that it quite startled Randal, and +gave him a presentiment of some evil. When +they were in the street, Egerton, after a +pause, began—"My dear Mr. Leslie, it was +my hope and belief that I had provided for +you at least a competence; and that I might +open to you, later, a career yet more brilliant. +Hush! I don't doubt your gratitude; let me +proceed. There is a possible chance, after +certain decisions that the Government have +come to, that we may be beaten in the House +of Commons, and of course resign. I tell +you this beforehand, for I wish you to have +time to consider what, in that case, would be +your best course. My power of serving you +would then probably be over. It would, no +doubt (seeing our close connection, and my +views with regard to your future being so +well known)—be expected that you should +give up the place you hold, and follow my +fortunes for good or ill. But as I have no +personal enemies with the opposite party—and +as I have sufficient position in the world +to uphold and sanction your choice, whatever +it may be, if you think it more prudent to +retain your place, tell me so openly, and I +think I can contrive that you may do it without +loss of character and credit. In that +case confine your ambition merely to rising +gradually in your office, without mixing in +politics. If, on the other hand, you should +prefer to take your chance of my return to +office, and so resign your own; and, furthermore, +should commit yourself to a policy +that may then be not only in opposition, but +unpopular; I will do my best to introduce +you into parliamentary life. I cannot say +that I advise the latter."</p> + +<p>Randal felt as a man feels after a severe +fall—he was literally stunned. At length he +faltered out—"Can you think, sir, that I +should ever desert your fortunes—your party—your +cause?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Leslie," replied the minister, +"you are too young to have committed yourself +to any men or to any party, except, indeed, +in that unlucky pamphlet. This must +not be an affair of sentiment, but of sense +and reflection. Let us say no more on the +point now; but, by considering the <hi rend="font-style: italic">pros</hi> and +<hi rend="font-style: italic">cons</hi>, you can better judge what to do, should +the time for option suddenly arrive."</p> + +<p>"But I hope that time may not come."</p> + +<p>"I hope so too, and most sincerely," said +the minister, with deliberate and genuine +emphasis.</p> + +<p>"What could be so bad for the country?" +ejaculated Randal. "It does not seem to +me possible in the nature of things, that you +and your party should ever go out."</p> + +<p>"And when we are once out, there will be +plenty of wiseacres to say it is out of the +nature of things that we should ever come +in again. Here we are at the door."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER V.</head> + +<p>Randal passed a sleepless night; but, indeed, +he was one of those persons who neither +need, nor are accustomed to much sleep. +However, towards morning, when dreams +are said to be prophetic, he fell into a most +delightful slumber—a slumber peopled by<pb n="248" /><anchor id="Pg248" /> +visions fitted to lure on, through labyrinths of +law, predestined chancellors, or wreck upon +the rocks of glory the inebriate souls of youthful +ensigns—dreams from which Rood Hall +emerged crowned with the towers of Belvoir +or Raby, and looking over subject lands and +manors wrested from the nefarious usurpation +of Thornhills and Hazeldeans—dreams in +which Audley Egerton's gold and power—rooms +in Downing Street, and saloons in +Grosvenor Square—had passed away to the +smiling dreamer, as the empire of Chaldæa +passed to Darius the Median. Why visions +so belying the gloomy and anxious thoughts +that preceded them should visit the pillow of +Randal Leslie, surpasses my philosophy to +conjecture. He yielded, however, passively +to their spell, and was startled to hear the +clock strike eleven as he descended the stairs +to breakfast. He was vexed at the lateness +of the hour, for he had meant to have taken +advantage of the unwonted softness of Egerton, +and drawn therefrom some promises or +proffers to cheer the prospects which the minister +had so chillingly expanded before him +the preceding night. And it was only at +breakfast that he usually found the opportunity +of private conference with his busy patron. +But Audley Egerton would be sure to +have sallied forth—and so he had—only Randal +was surprised to hear that he had gone +out in his carriage, instead of on foot, as was +his habit. Randal soon despatched his solitary +meal, and with a new and sudden affection +for his office, thitherward bent his way. +As he passed through Piccadilly, he heard +behind a voice that had lately become familiar +to him, and turning round, saw Baron +Levy walking side by side, though not arm-in-arm, +with a gentleman almost as smart as +himself, but with a jauntier step and a brisker +air—a step that, like Diomed's, as described +by Shakspeare—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Rises on the toe—that spirit of his</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">In aspiration lifts him from the earth."</l> +</lg> + +<p>Indeed, one may judge of the spirits and disposition +of a man by his ordinary gait and +mien in walking. He who habitually pursues +abstract thought, looks down on the ground. +He who is accustomed to sudden impulses, or +is trying to seize upon some necessary recollection, +looks up with a kind of jerk. He +who is a steady, cautious, merely practical +man, walks on deliberately, his eyes straight +before him; and even in his most musing +moods observes things around sufficiently to +avoid a porter's knot or a butcher's tray.—But +the man with strong ganglions—of pushing +lively temperament, who, though practical, +is yet speculative—the man who is emulous +and active, and ever trying to rise in +life—sanguine, alert, bold—walks with a +spring—looks rather above the heads of his +fellow-passengers—but with a quick, easy +turn of his own, which is lightly set on his +shoulders; his mouth is a little open—his eye +is bright, rather restless, but penetrative—his +port has something of defiance—his form is +erect, but without stiffness. Such was the +appearance of the Baron's companion. And +as Randal turned round at Levy's voice, the +Baron said to his companion, "A young man +in the first circles—you should book him for +your fair lady's parties. How d'ye do, Mr. +Leslie? Let me introduce you to Mr. Richard +Avenel." Then, as he hooked his arm +into Randal's, he whispered, "Man of first-rate +talent—monstrously rich—has two or +three parliamentary seats in his pocket—wife +gives parties—her foible."</p> + +<p>"Proud to make your acquaintance, sir," +said Mr. Avenel, lifting his hat. "Fine day."</p> + +<p>"Rather cold, too," said Leslie, who, like +all thin persons with weak digestion, was +chilly by temperament; besides, he had +enough on his mind to chill his body.</p> + +<p>"So much the healthier,—braces the +nerves," said Mr. Avenel; "but you young +fellows relax the system by hot rooms and +late hours. Fond of dancing, of course, sir?" +Then, without waiting for Randal's negative, +Mr. Richard continued rapidly, "Mrs. Avenel +has a <hi rend="font-style: italic">soirée dansante</hi> on Thursday—shall +be very happy to see you in Eaton Square. +Stop, I have a card;" and he drew out a +dozen large invitation cards, from which he +selected one and presented it to Randal.—The +Baron pressed that young gentleman's +arm, and Randal replied courteously that it +would give him great pleasure to be introduced +to Mrs. Avenel. Then, as he was not +desirous to be seen under the wing of Baron +Levy, like a pigeon under that of a hawk, he +gently extricated himself, and, pleading great +haste, walked quickly on towards his office.</p> + +<p>"That young man will make a figure some +day," said the Baron. "I don't know any +one of his age with so few prejudices. He is +a connection by marriage to Audley Egerton, +who"—</p> + +<p>"Audley Egerton!" exclaimed Mr. Avenel; +"d +ungrateful fellow?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what do you know of him?"</p> + +<p>"He owed his first seat in Parliament to +the votes of two near relations of mine, and +when I called upon him some time ago, in +his office, he absolutely ordered me out of the +room. Hang his impertinence; if ever I can +pay him off, I guess I shan't fail for want of +good will!"</p> + +<p>"Ordered you out of the room? That's +not like Egerton, who is civil, if formal—at +least, to most men. You must have offended +him in his weak point."</p> + +<p>"A man whom the public pays so handsomely +should have no weak point. What is +Egerton's?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he values himself on being a thorough +gentleman—a man of the nicest honor," said +Levy with a sneer. "You must have ruffled +his plumes there. How was it?"</p> + +<p>"I forget now," answered Mr. Avenel, +who was far too well versed in the London<pb n="249" /><anchor id="Pg249" /> +scale of human dignities since his marriage, +not to look back with a blush at his desire of +knighthood. "No use bothering our heads +now about the plumes of an arrogant popinjay. +To return to the subject we were discussing. +You must be sure to let me have +this money next week."</p> + +<p>"Rely upon it."</p> + +<p>"And you'll not let my bills get into the +market; keep them under lock and key."</p> + +<p>"So we agreed."</p> + +<p>"It is but a temporary difficulty—royal +mourning, such nonsense—panic in trade, +lest these precious ministers go out. I shall +soon float over the troubled waters."</p> + +<p>"By the help of a paper boat," said the +Baron, laughing; and the two gentlemen +shook hands and parted.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER VI.</head> + +<p>Meanwhile Audley Egerton's carriage had +deposited him at the door of Lord Lansmere's +house, at Knightsbridge. He asked for the +Countess, and was shown into the drawing-room, +which was deserted. Egerton was +paler than usual; and, as the door opened, +he wiped the unwonted moisture from his +forehead, and there was a quiver in his firm +lip. The Countess, too, on entering, showed +an emotion almost equally unusual to her +self-control. She pressed Audley's hand in +silence, and seating herself by his side, seemed +to collect her thoughts. At length she +said: "It is rarely indeed that we meet, Mr. +Egerton, in spite of your intimacy with Lansmere +and Harley. I go so little into your +world, and you will not voluntarily come to +me."</p> + +<p>"Madam," replied Egerton, "I might evade +your kind reproach by stating that my hours +are not at my disposal; but I answer you +with plain truth—it must be painful to both +of us to meet."</p> + +<p>The Countess colored and sighed, but did +not dispute the assertion. Audley resumed. +"And therefore, I presume, that on sending +for me, you have something of moment to +communicate."</p> + +<p>"It relates to Harley," said the Countess, +as if in apology; "and I would take your advice."</p> + +<p>"To Harley! speak on, I beseech you."</p> + +<p>"My son has probably told you that he +has educated and reared a young girl, with +the intention to make her Lady L'Estrange, +and hereafter Countess of Lansmere."</p> + +<p>"Harley has no secrets from me," said +Egerton, mournfully.</p> + +<p>"This young lady has arrived in England—is +here—in this house."</p> + +<p>"And Harley too?"</p> + +<p>"No, she came over with Lady N +her daughters. Harley was to follow shortly, +and I expect him daily. Here is his letter. +Observe, he has never yet communicated his +intentions to this young person, now intrusted +to my care—never spoken to her as the lover."</p> + +<p>Egerton took the letter and read it rapidly, +though with attention.</p> + +<p>"True," said he, as he returned the letter: +"and before he does so, he wishes you to see +Miss Digby and to judge of her yourself—wishes +to know if you will approve and sanction +his choice."</p> + +<p>"It is on this that I would consult you—a +girl without rank;—the father, it is true, a +gentleman, though almost equivocally one,—but +the mother, I know not what. And +Harley for whom I hoped an alliance with +the first houses in England!" The Countess +pressed her hands convulsively together.</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Egerton.</hi>—"He is no more a boy. His talents +have been wasted—his life a wanderer's. +He presents to you a chance of re-settling his +mind, of re-arousing his native powers, of a +home besides your own. Lady Lansmere, +you cannot hesitate!"</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Lady Lansmere.</hi>—"I do, I do! After all +that I have hoped, after all that I did to prevent"—</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">Egerton</hi> (interrupting her).—"You owe +him now an atonement: that is in your power—it +is not in mine."</p> + +<p>The Countess again pressed Audley's hand, +and the tears gushed from her eyes. "It +shall be so. I consent—I consent. I will silence, +I will crush back this proud heart. +Alas! it wellnigh broke his own! I am glad +you speak thus. I like to think he owes my +consent to you. In that there is atonement +for both—both."</p> + +<p>"You are too generous, madam," said +Egerton, evidently moved, though still, as +ever, striving to repress emotion. "And +may I see the young lady? This conference +pains me; you see even my strong nerves +quiver; and at this time I have much to go +through—need of all my strength and firmness."</p> + +<p>"I hear, indeed, that the government will +probably retire. But it is with honor: it will +be soon called back by the voice of the nation."</p> + +<p>"Let me see the future wife of Harley +L'Estrange," said Egerton, without heed of +this consolatory exclamation.</p> + +<p>The Countess rose and left the room. In +a few minutes she returned with Helen Digby. +Helen was wondrously improved from +the pale, delicate child, with the soft smile +and intelligent eyes, who had sat by the side +of Leonard in his garret. She was about the +middle height, still slight but beautifully +formed; that exquisite roundness of proportion, +which conveys so well the idea of woman, +in its undulating pliant grace—formed +to embellish life, and soften away its rude +angles—formed to embellish, not to protect. +Her face might not have satisfied the critical +eye of an artist—it was not without defects +in regularity; but its expression was eminently +gentle and prepossessing; and there +were few who would not have exclaimed, +"What a lovely countenance!" The mildness +of her brow was touched with melancholy—her<pb n="250" /><anchor id="Pg250" /> +childhood had left its traces on +her youth. Her step was slow, and her manner +shy, subdued, and timid. Audley gazed +on her with earnestness as she approached +him; and then coming forward, took her +hand and kissed it. "I am your guardian's +constant friend," said he; and he drew her +gently to a seat beside him, in the recess of a +window. With a quick glance of his eye towards +the Countess, he seemed to imply the +wish to converse with Helen somewhat apart. +So the Countess interpreted the glance; and +though she remained in the room, she seated +herself at a distance, and bent over a book.</p> + +<p>It was touching to see how the austere +man of business lent himself to draw forth +the mind of this quiet, shrinking girl; and if +you had listened, you would have comprehended +how he came to possess such social +influence, and how well, some time or other +in the course of his life, he had learned to +adapt himself to women. He spoke first of +Harley L'Estrange—spoke with tact and delicacy. +Helen at first answered by monosyllables, +and then, by degrees, with grateful +and open affection. Audley's brow grew +shaded. He then spoke of Italy; and though +no man had less of the poet in his nature, +yet, with the dexterity of one long versed in +the world, and who has been accustomed to +extract evidences from characters most opposed +to his own, he suggested such topics as +might serve to arouse poetry in others. Helen's +replies betrayed a cultivated taste, and a +charming womanly mind; but they betrayed +also one accustomed to take its colorings from +another's—to appreciate, admire, revere the +Lofty and the Beautiful, but humbly and +meekly. There was no vivid enthusiasm, no +remark of striking originality, no flash of the +self-kindling, creative faculty. Lastly, Egerton +turned to England—to the critical nature +of the times—to the claims which the country +possessed upon all who had the ability to +serve and guide its troubled destinies. He +enlarged warmly on Harley's natural talents, +and rejoiced that he had returned to England, +perhaps to commence some great career. +Helen looked surprised, but her face +caught no correspondent glow from Audley's +eloquence. He rose, and an expression of +disappointment passed over his grave, handsome +features, and as quickly vanished.</p> + +<p>"Adieu! my dear Miss Digby; I fear I +have wearied you, especially with my politics. +Adieu, Lady Lansmere; no doubt I +shall see Harley as soon as he returns."</p> + +<p>Then he hastened from the room, gained +his carriage, and ordered the coachman to +drive to Downing-street. He drew down the +blinds, and leant back. A certain languor became +visible in his face, and once or twice he +mechanically put his hand to his heart.</p> + +<p>"She is good, amiable, docile—will make +an excellent wife, no doubt," said he, murmuringly. +"But does she love Harley as he +has dreamed of love? No! Has she the +power and energy to arouse his faculties, and +restore to the world the Harley of old? No! +Meant by heaven to be the shadow of another's +sun—not herself the sun—this child is +not the one who can atone for the Past and +illume the Future."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER VII.</head> + +<p>That evening Harley L'Estrange arrived at +his father's house. The few years that had +passed since we saw him last, had made no +perceptible change in his appearance. He +still preserved his elastic youthfulness of form, +and singular variety and play of countenance. +He seemed unaffectedly rejoiced to greet his +parents, and had something of the gayety +and the tenderness of a boy returned from +school. His manner to Helen bespoke the +chivalry that pervaded all the complexities +and curves of his character. It was affectionate +but respectful. Hers to him, subdued—but +innocently sweet and gently cordial. +Harley was the chief talker. The aspect of +the times was so critical, that he could not +avoid questions on politics; and, indeed, he +showed an interest in them which he had never +evinced before. Lord Lansmere was delighted.</p> + +<p>"Why, Harley, you love your country, after +all?"</p> + +<p>"The moment she seems in danger—yes!" +replied the Patrician; and the Sybarite seemed +to rise into the Athenian.</p> + +<p>Then he asked with eagerness about his old +friend Audley; and, his curiosity satisfied +there, he inquired the last literary news. He +had heard much of a book lately published. +He named the one ascribed by Parson Dale +to Professor Moss; none of his listeners had +read it. Harley pished at this, and accused +them all of indolence and stupidity in his own +quaint, metaphorical style. Then he said—"And +town gossip?"</p> + +<p>"We never hear it," said Lady Lansmere.</p> + +<p>"There is a new plough much talked of at +Boodle's," said Lord Lansmere.</p> + +<p>"God speed it. But is there not a new +man much talked of at White's?"</p> + +<p>"I don't belong to White's."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, you may have heard of him—a +foreigner, a Count di Peschiera."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lord Lansmere; "he was +pointed out to me in the Park—a handsome +man for a foreigner; wears his hair properly +cut; looks gentlemanlike and English."</p> + +<p>"Ah, ah! He is here then!" And Harley +rubbed his hands.</p> + +<p>"Which road did you take? Did you pass +the Simplon?"</p> + +<p>"No; I came straight from Vienna."</p> + +<p>Then, relating with lively vein his adventures +by the way, he continued to delight +Lord Lansmere by his gayety till the time +came to retire to rest. As soon as Harley +was in his own room, his mother joined him.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "I need not ask if you +like Miss Digby? Who would not?"</p> + +<pb n="251" /><anchor id="Pg251" /> + +<p>"Harley, my own son," said the mother, +bursting into tears, "be happy your own way; +only be happy; that is all I ask."</p> + +<p>Harley, much affected, replied gratefully +and soothingly to this fond injunction. And +then gradually leading his mother on to converse +of Helen, asked abruptly—"And of the +chance of our happiness—her happiness +well as mine—what is your opinion? Speak +frankly."</p> + +<p>"Of <hi rend="font-style: italic">her</hi> happiness, there can be no doubt," +replied the mother proudly. "Of yours, how +can you ask me? Have you not decided on +that yourself?"</p> + +<p>"But still it cheers and encourages one in +any experiment, however well considered, to +hear the approval of another. Helen has certainly +a most gentle temper."</p> + +<p>"I should conjecture so. But her mind—"</p> + +<p>"Is very well stored."</p> + +<p>"She speaks so little—"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I wonder why? She's surely a +woman!"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw," said the Countess, smiling in +spite of herself. "But tell me more of the +process of your experiment. You took her +as a child, and resolved to train her according +to your own ideal. Was that easy?"</p> + +<p>"It seemed so. I desired to instil habits +of truth—she was already by nature truthful +as the day; a taste for nature and all things +natural—that seemed inborn: perceptions of +Art as the interpreter of Nature—those were +more difficult to teach. I think they may +come. You have heard her play and sing?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"She will surprise you. She has less talent +for drawing; still, all that teaching could do +has been done—in a word, she is accomplished. +Temper, heart, mind—these are all excellent." +Harley stopped, and suppressed a +sigh. "Certainly, I ought to be very happy," +said he; and he began to wind up his watch.</p> + +<p>"Of course she must love you?" said the +Countess, after a pause. "How could she +fail?"</p> + +<p>"Love me! My dear mother, that is the +very question I shall have to ask."</p> + +<p>"Ask! Love is discovered by a glance; +it has no need of asking."</p> + +<p>"I have never discovered it, then, I assure +you. The fact is, that before her childhood +was passed, I removed her, as you may suppose, +from my roof. She resided with an +Italian family, near my usual abode. I visited +her often, directed her studies, watched +her improvement—"</p> + +<p>"And fell in love with her?"</p> + +<p>"Fall is such a very violent word. No; +I don't remember to have had a fall. It was +all a smooth inclined plane from the first step, +until at last I said to myself, 'Harley L'Estrange, +thy time has come. The bud has blossomed +into flower. Take it to thy breast.' +And myself replied to myself meekly, 'So be +it.' Then I found that Lady N +daughters, was coming to England. I asked +her Ladyship to take my ward to your house. +I wrote to you, and prayed your assent; and, +that granted, I knew you would obtain my +father's. I am here—you give me the approval +I sought for. I will speak to Helen +to-morrow. Perhaps, after all, she may reject +me."</p> + +<p>"Strange, strange—you speak thus coldly, +thus lightly; you so capable of ardent love!"</p> + +<p>"Mother," said Harley, earnestly, "be satisfied! +<hi rend="font-style: italic">I</hi> am! Love, as of old, I feel, alas! +too well, can visit me never more. But gentle +companionship, tender friendship, the relief +and the sunlight of woman's smile—hereafter +the voices of children—music that, striking +on the hearts of both parents, wakens the +most lasting and the purest of all sympathies: +these are my hope. Is the hope so mean, my +fond mother?"</p> + +<p>Again the Countess wept, and her tears +were not dried when she left the room.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER VIII.</head> + +<p>Oh! Helen, fair Helen—type of the quiet, +serene, unnoticed, deep-felt excellence of +woman! Woman, less as the ideal that a +poet conjures from the air, than as the companion +of a poet on the earth! Woman who, +with her clear sunny vision of things actual, +and the exquisite fibre of her delicate sense, +supplies the deficiencies of him whose foot +stumbles on the soil, because his eye is too +intent upon the stars! Woman, the provident, +the comforting angel—whose pinions +are folded round the heart, guarding there a +divine spring unmarred by the winter of the +world! Helen, soft Helen, is it indeed in +thee that the wild and brilliant "lord of +wantonness and ease" is to find the regeneration +of his life—the rebaptism of his soul? +Of what avail thy meek prudent household +virtues to one whom Fortune screens from +rough trial?—whose sorrows lie remote from +thy ken?—whose spirit, erratic and perturbed, +now rising, now falling, needs a vision +more subtle than thine to pursue, and a +strength that can sustain the reason, when it +droops, on the wings of enthusiasm and passion?</p> + +<p>And thou thyself, O nature, shrinking and +humble, that needest to be courted forth +from the shelter, and developed under the +calm and genial atmosphere of holy, happy +love—can such affection as Harley L'Estrange +may proffer suffice to thee? Will not the +blossoms, yet folded in the petal, wither +away beneath the shade that may protect +them from the storm, and yet shut them from +the sun? Thou who, where thou givest love, +seekest, though meekly, for love in return; +—to be the soul's sweet necessity, the life's +household partner to him who receives all +thy faith and devotion—canst thou influence +the sources of joy and of sorrow in the +heart that does not heave at thy name? +Hast thou the charm and the force of the +moon, that the tides of that wayward sea<pb n="252" /><anchor id="Pg252" /> +shall ebb and flow at thy will? Yet who +shall say—who conjecture how near two +hearts may become, when no guilt lies between +them, and time brings the ties all its +own? Rarest of all things on earth is the +union in which both, by their contrasts, make +harmonious their blending; each supplying +the defects of the helpmate, and completing, +by fusion, one strong human soul! Happiness +enough, where even Peace does but seldom +preside, when each can bring to the +altar, if not, the flame, still the incense. +Where man's thoughts are all noble and +generous, woman's feelings all gentle and +pure, love may follow, if it does not precede;—and +if not,—if the roses be missed from +the garland, one may sigh for the rose, but +one is safe from the thorn.</p> + +<p>The morning was mild, yet somewhat +overcast by tho mists which announce coming +winter in London, and Helen walked musingly +beneath the trees that surrounded the garden +of Lord Lansmere's house. Many leaves +were yet left on the boughs; but they were +sere and withered. And the birds chirped +at times; but their note was mournful and +complaining. All within this house, until +Harley's arrival, had been strange and saddening +to Helen's timid and subdued spirits. +Lady Lansmere had received her kindly, but +with a certain restraint; and the loftiness of +manner, common to the Countess with all but +Harley, had awed and chilled the diffident +orphan. Lady Lansmere's very interest in +Harley's choice—her attempts to draw Helen +out of her reserve—her watchful eyes whenever +Helen shyly spoke, or shyly moved, +frightened the poor child, and made her unjust +to herself.</p> + +<p>The very servants, though staid, grave, +and respectful, as suited a dignified, old-fashioned +household, painfully contrasted the +bright welcoming smiles and free talk of Italian +domestics. Her recollections of the +happy warm Continental manner, which so +sets the bashful at their ease, made the stately +and cold precision of all around her doubly +awful and dispiriting. Lord Lansmere himself, +who did not as yet know the views of +Harley, and little dreamed that he was to anticipate +a daughter-in-law in the ward whom +he understood Harley, in a freak of generous +romance had adopted, was familiar and courteous, +as became a host. But he looked upon +Helen as a mere child, and naturally left her +to the Countess. The dim sense of her equivocal +position—of her comparative humbleness +of birth and fortunes, oppressed and +pained her; and even her gratitude to Harley +was made burthensome by a sentiment of +helplessness. The grateful long to requite. +And what could she ever do for him?</p> + +<p>Thus musing, she wandered alone through +the curving walks; and this sort of mock +country landscape—London loud, and even +visible, beyond the high gloomy walls, and +no escape from the windows of the square +formal house—seemed a type of the prison +bounds of Rank to one whose soul yearns +for simple loving Nature.</p> + +<p>Helen's reverie was interrupted by Nero's +joyous bark. He had caught sight of her, +and came bounding up, and thrust his large +head into her hand. As she stooped to +caress the dog, happy at his honest greeting, +and tears that had been long gathering to +the lids fell silently on his face, (for I know +nothing that more moves us to tears than +the hearty kindness of a dog, when something +in human beings has pained or chilled +us,) she heard behind the musical voice of +Harley. Hastily she dried or repressed her +tears, as her guardian came up, and drew her +arm within his own.</p> + +<p>"I had so little of your conversation last +evening, my dear ward, that I may well monopolize +you now, even to the privation of +Nero. And so you are once more in your +native land?"</p> + +<p>Helen sighed softly.</p> + +<p>"May I not hope that you return under +fairer auspices than those which your childhood +knew?"</p> + +<p>Helen turned her eyes with ingenuous +thankfulness to her guardian, and the memory +of all she owed to him rushed upon +her heart. Harley renewed, and with earnest +though melancholy sweetness—"Helen, +your eyes thank me; but hear me before +your words do. I deserve no thanks. I am +about to make to you a strange confession of +egotism and selfishness."</p> + +<p>"You!—oh, impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Judge yourself, and then decide which of +us shall have cause to be grateful. Helen, +when I was scarcely your age—a boy in +years, but more, methinks, a man at heart, +with man's strong energies and sublime aspirings, +than I have ever since been—I loved, +and deeply—" He paused a moment in evident +struggle. Helen listened in mute surprise, +but his emotion awakened her own; +her tender woman's heart yearned to console. +Unconsciously her arm rested on his +less lightly. "Deeply, and for sorrow. It is +a long tale, that may be told hereafter. The +worldly would call my love a madness. I +did not reason on it then—I cannot reason +on it now. Enough; death smote suddenly, +terribly, and to me mysteriously, her whom +I loved. The love lived on. Fortunately, +perhaps, for me, I had quick distraction, not +to grief, but to its inert indulgence. I was a +soldier; I joined our armies. Men called me +brave. Flattery! I was a coward before +the thought of life. I sought death: like +sleep, it does not come at our call. Peace ensued. +As when the winds fall the sails droop—so +when excitement ceased, all seemed to +me flat and objectless. Heavy, heavy was +my heart. Perhaps grief had been less obstinate, +but that I feared I had cause for +self-reproach. Since then I have been a +wanderer—a self-made exile. My boyhood<pb n="253" /><anchor id="Pg253" /> +had been ambitious—all ambition ceased. +Flames, when they reach the core of the +heart, spread, and leave all in ashes. Let +me be brief: I did not mean thus weakly to +complain—I to whom heaven has given so +many blessings! I felt, as it were, separated +from the common objects and joys of men. +I grew startled to see how, year by year, +wayward humors possessed me. I resolved +again to attach myself to some living heart—it +was my sole chance to rekindle my own. +But the one I had loved remained as my type +of woman, and she was different from all I +saw. Therefore I said to myself, 'I will rear +from childhood some young fresh life, to +grow up into my ideal.' As this thought began +to haunt me, I chanced to discover you. +Struck with the romance of your early life, +touched by your courage, charmed by your +affectionate nature, I said to myself, 'Here is +what I seek.' Helen, in assuming the guardianship +of your life, in all the culture which +I have sought to bestow on your docile childhood, +I repeat, that I have been but the egotist. +And now, when you have reached that +age, when it becomes me to speak, and you +to listen—now, when you are under the sacred +roof of my own mother—now I ask you, +can you accept this heart, such as wasted +years, and griefs too fondly nursed, have left +it? Can you be, at least, my comforter? +Can you aid me to regard life as a duty, and +recover those aspirations which once soared +from the paltry and miserable confines of our +frivolous daily being? Helen, here I ask you, +can you be all this, and under the name of—Wife?"</p> + +<p>It would be in vain to describe the rapid, +varying, indefinable emotions that passed +through the inexperienced heart of the youthful +listener as Harley thus spoke. He so +moved all the springs of amaze, compassion, +tender respect, sympathy, childlike gratitude, +that when he paused and gently took +her hand, she remained bewildered, speechless, +overpowered. Harley smiled as he gazed +upon her blushing, downcast, expressive face. +He conjectured at once that the idea of such +proposals had never crossed her mind; that +she had never contemplated him in the character +of a wooer; never even sounded her +heart as to the nature of such feelings as his +image had aroused.</p> + +<p>"My Helen," he resumed, with a calm pathos +of voice, "there is some disparity of years +between us, and perhaps I may not hope +henceforth for that love which youth gives +to the young. Permit me simply to ask, what +you will frankly answer—Can you have seen +in our quiet life abroad, or under the roof of our +Italian friends, any one you prefer to me?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, no!" murmured Helen. "How +could I!—who is like you?" Then, with a +sudden effort—for her innate truthfulness +took alarm, and her very affection for Harley, +childlike and reverent, made her tremble lest +she should deceive him—she drew a little +aside, and spoke thus: "Oh, my dear guardian, +noblest of all human beings, at least in +my eyes, forgive, forgive me if I seem ungrateful, +hesitating; but I cannot, cannot +think of myself as worthy of you. I never so +lifted my eyes. Your rank, your position—"</p> + +<p>"Why should they be eternally my curse? +Forget them and go on."</p> + +<p>"It is not only they," said Helen, almost +sobbing, "though they are much; but I your +type, your ideal!—I!—impossible! Oh, how +can I ever be any thing even of use, of aid, of +comfort to one like you!"</p> + +<p>"You can, Helen—you can," cried Harley, +charmed by such ingenuous modesty. "May +I not keep this hand?"</p> + +<p>And Helen left her hand in Harley's, and +turned away her face, fairly weeping. A +stately step passed under the wintry trees.</p> + +<p>"My mother," said Harley L'Estrange, looking +up, "I present to you my future wife."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>REMINISCENCES OF PRINTERS, AUTHORS, AND BOOKSELLERS IN NEW-YORK.<note place="foot"><p>We are indebted to Dr. Francis for a revised copy, with +additions, of his very interesting address here printed, which +was delivered at the Printers' Banquet in New-York on the +16th of January.</p></note></head> + +<p>BY JOHN W. FRANCIS, M.D., LL. D.</p> + +<p>When the great defender of the Constitution +delivered the oration at Bunker +Hill, he pointed to the just completed monument +and exclaimed, "There stands the Orator +of the Day." In humble imitation of +that significant act, I also, in attempting to +illustrate the interests and the meaning of +this occasion, would point you, gentlemen, to +the fact of your presence here to-night—to +the union at one banquet of printers, editors, +publishers, authors, and professional men—as +the best evidence of the importance and +attractiveness of the occasion. The art of +printing, among other inestimable blessings, +has fused together the most productive elements +of society; it has established a vital +relation between intellect and mechanics, between +labor and thought. I see before me in +this assembly those who have achieved enduring +literary fame, and those who are the +present guides of public opinion. I see them +side by side with the men who have just put +their thoughts and sentiments into a bodily +form and disseminated them on the wings of +the press. The association is not only appropriate, +but it is honorable to his memory who +united in his life the humblest manual toil and +the loftiest flights of genius; who both set up +types and drew the lightning from heaven, +and combined in his own person the practical +printer and the scientific philosopher.</p> + +<p>By your courtesy, gentlemen, I have been +invited to say a few words appropriate to the +New York-Typographical Society. It is with +unfeigned reluctance that I assume the task. +In this presence I behold so many better +qualified for the undertaking than myself, +that I am apprehensive I shall be able neither<pb n="254" /><anchor id="Pg254" /> +to do justice to my theme nor satisfy the expectations +which you in your clemency have +anticipated. True it is, that in my early life +I was connected with your fraternity by more +immediate ties than at present exist. Circumstances +have modified my career, but I +should prove recreant to the best feelings of +my heart, turn ingrate to the pleasantest +associations of memory, and forget the most +efficient causes which have favored my journey +thus far to mellow years, were I unmindful +of the gratifications I enjoyed while a +fellow laborer in your noble pursuits. The +press is the representative of the intellectual +man on earth; it is the expositor of his cogitative +powers; the promulgator of his most +recondite labors; the strong arm of his support +in the defence and maintenance of his +inherent rights as a member of the social +compact; the vindicator of his claims to the +exalted station of one stamped in the express +image of God; it is the charter of freedom +to ameliorated man in the glorious strife of +social organization, in the pursuits of life, liberty, +and happiness. Hence I have ever +cherished the deepest regard for those who +have appropriated their time and talents to +this vast engine of civilization. I have ever +looked upon the vocation as holding the integrity +of our highest privileges on earth; freedom +of inquiry, freedom of utterance, and +the vast behests of civil communion, with the +kindred of every nation, and the tongues of +every speech.</p> + +<p>When I was a boy of ten years of age, I +became acquainted with the biography of +Franklin. I had purchased at auction a Glasgow +edition of his Life and Essays. I had +read <hi rend="font-style: italic">Robinson Crusoe</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">George Barnwell</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">The +House That Jack Built</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Æsop's Fables</hi>, the +duodecimo edition of Morse's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Geography</hi>, and +other common publications of the times. No +work that I have perused, from that juvenile +period of my existence up to the present day, +has ever yielded the peculiar gratification +which Franklin's memoirs gave me, and my +admiration and reverence for our illustrious +sage have through all subsequent inquiry into +his actions and services, increased in intensity, +in proportion as I have contemplated his wondrous +character and his unparalleled achievements. +I think I owe something to my +mother for this happy appreciation of our +Franklin. She was by birth a Philadelphian, +and for years, during her residence in Arch +street, was favored with opportunities of +again and again beholding Dr. Franklin pass +her door, in company with Dr. Rush and +Thomas Paine. "There," the children of +the neighborhood would cry out, "goes Poor +Richard, Common Sense, and the Doctor." +It is recorded that Franklin furnished many +thoughts in the famous pamphlet of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Common +Sense</hi>, while Paine wrote it, and Rush gave +the title. There is something in the hereditary +transmission of the moral and of the +physical qualities; yet I have thought that +the benevolent schemes of Rush, the intrepid +patriotism of Paine, and the honest maxims +of Franklin—the topics of daily converse in +that day—had some influence in strengthening +the principles which my mother inculcated +in her children.</p> + +<p>You have told me, gentlemen, that you +would be gratified with some reminiscences +touching New-York—social, literary, personal—of +men and books—all having a bearing, +more or less immediate, either on the progress +of human development, or the character +of our metropolitan city. I know not +how to satisfy either you or myself. To do +justice to the subject would require a different +opportunity from the one here enjoyed, +and leisure such as I cannot now command.</p> + +<p>The locality upon which we are assembled +to-night has its associations. We meet this +evening on the memorable spot in our city's +early topography denominated the Bayard +Farm—a property once in the possession of +the affluent Bayards, of him who was companion +in his strife with Governor Leisler, +and whose death for high treason was the +issue of that protracted contest. That he +fell a martyr to freedom, our friend Charles +F. Hoffman has ably demonstrated. Within +a few doors of this place, on Broadway, very +many years after, but within my recollection, +lived that arch negotiator in public counsels, +Talleyrand, the famous ambassador of France +to the United States. He published a small +tractate on America, once much read, and it +was he who affirmed that the greatest sight +he had ever beheld in this country, was the +illustrious Hamilton, with his pile of books +under his arms, proceeding to the court-room +in the old City Hall, in order to obtain a +livelihood, by expounding the law, and vindicating +the rights of his clients.</p> + +<p>Here too is the spot where, some short +while after, the antics of the Osage tribe of +Indians were displayed for the admiration of +the belles and beaux of New-York, and on +that occasion my old colleague, Dr. Mitchill, +gave translations into English of their songs +and war-whoop sounds, for the increased +gratification of the literary public of that day, +when Indian literature stood not so high as +in these times of Congressional appropriation, +and of Henry Schoolcraft, the faithful and +patriotic expositor of the red-man's excellences. +I think I am safe in saying, also, that +near these grounds occurred the execution of +Young, a play-actor, convicted of murder—a +remarkable event in New-York annals, owing +to peculiar circumstances which marked his +imprisonment in our old jail, now converted +into the Hall of Records. There were, about +the period to which I now refer, other occurrences +of singular influence in those days.</p> + +<p>Crowther and Levi Weeks were both confined +in this debased prison because of high +crimes, and many were incarcerated for debt. +There was, nevertheless, an atmosphere of +some intellect immolated within its cells; and<pb n="255" /><anchor id="Pg255" /> +for the first, and I believe the only time in +this country, a newspaper was issued for some +months' duration from its walls, entitled <hi rend="font-style: italic">The +Prisoner of Hope</hi>. The Wilberforce impulse +of that crisis had much to do with the movement; +and no abolition paper of even later +dates plead more earnestly in behalf of enslaved +humanity, by graphic illustrations and +literary talent, than did <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Prisoner of Hope</hi>. +At that day, many newspapers had their specific +motto, and that of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Prisoner of Hope</hi> +was in these words:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Soft, smiling Hope—thou anchor of the mind;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The only comfort that the wretched find;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">All look to thee when sorrow wrings the heart,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To heal, by future prospect, present smart.</l> +</lg> + +<p>Naturalists tell us that this eligible site was +once characterized by the graceful foliage of +the pride of the American forests, the lofty +plane-tree, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">platanus occidentalis</hi>. It must +further increase our interest in the spot, to +be assured that through its shades strolled +our Franklin, in company with that lover of +rural scenery, the botanist Kalm—an occurrence +not unlike the interesting one of the excursions +of Linnæus with Hans Sloane, in the +Royal Gardens, near London. Here, too, the +wild pigeon was taken in great abundance; +while in the Common (now Park) those primitive +inhabitants of the city, the Beekman +family, with the old doctor at their head, shot +deer and other game in their field sports. +But enough at present of the locality where +this anniversary is held.</p> + +<p>The history of the American periodical +press, if given with any thing like fidelity and +minuteness, would occupy several hours; it +is a noble specimen of our triumphs as a free +people, and of our determination so to remain; +it has demonstrated the progress of knowledge, +and the intrepidity of New-Yorkers, as +much as any one series of facts or occurrences +we could summon for illustration. Everybody +within this hall is aware that William +Bradford was the first in time of the newspaper +publishers of New-York. His gazette +made its earliest appearance in October, 1725, +four years after James, the brother of Benjamin +Franklin, began the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New England Courant</hi>—this +being seventeen years after the +commencement of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Boston News Letter</hi>, +the first regular newspaper commenced in +North America. I advert to this circumstance +because we possess the completed file +of that earliest of the journals of our land +now in existence. The copy in the library +of the Massachusetts Historical Society was +presented that institution by the famous antiquary, +Dr. Eliot; that in our own Historical +Society is the file which was preserved by Professor +McKean, of Harvard University, who +bequeathed it to the Rev. T. Alden, from +whom I purchased it and deposited it where +it now remains.</p> + +<p>From Franklin's representations, Bradford +was a sorry individual, of low cunning, and +sinister; yet I must not deal harshly with +him. His, I believe, was the first printing +press set up in New-York: he published the +laws, and other state papers, and he was the +grandfather of Bradford, afterwards Attorney-General +of the United States; and as +from his loins proceeded Thomas Bradford, +the adventurous and patriotic publisher of +Rees's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cyclopædia</hi>—the most enterprising of +the craft, and our greatest patron of engravers—I +desire to hold him in grateful memory. +Our second newspaper was the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York +Weekly Journal</hi>, commenced about three +years after Bradford's. John Peter Zenger, +its proprietor, was a German by birth, a palatine, +and something of a scholar; a man +of enlarged liberality, patriotic, and an advocate +of popular rights. He attacked the +measures of the provincial Governor and +Council, was subjected to a prosecution by +the officers of the crown, and was brought to +trial in 1735, when Andrew Hamilton, the Recorder +of Philadelphia, came to this city and +successfully defended him. I have before +stated that the late illustrious Governor +Morris considered the decision of that case in +behalf of the press as the dawn of that liberty +which subsequently revolutionized America. +To the ladies now present, the lovers of sweet +sounds, it may not be uninteresting to know +that the first piano forte (harpsichord) imported +into America, arrived in this city for the +musical gratification of the family of the noble +Zenger.</p> + +<p>But I can say at this time little concerning +newspapers. Our worthy associate in good +works, Edwin Williams, has lately issued a +memoir of much value on the subject, to which +I must refer you. I regret that his catalogue +of early journals is somewhat defective. As +he justly observes, our Historical Society is +wonderfully rich in these interesting documents. +Our most precious treasures in that +way are, unquestionably, the Rivington <hi rend="font-style: italic">Royal +Gazette</hi>, the old <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York Daily Advertiser</hi>, +containing debates on the State Constitution, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">American Citizen and Republican Watch +Tower</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York Evening Post</hi>, and the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Commercial Advertiser</hi>, through a long series, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York American</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Independent Reflector</hi>, +containing the patriotic Essays on Toleration, +by William Livingston, of New Jersey, +and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Time-Piece of New-York</hi>, replete with +invective against the Washington Administration—whose +editor, Philip Freneau, verbally +assured me that its most vituperative features +were from suggestions of Jefferson, during the +crisis in our public affairs provoked by Citizen +Genet. But I must hasten to other topics.</p> + +<p>Among the most conspicuous editors and +publishers of gazettes whom I have personally +known was Noah Webster, now so famous for +his Dictionary. At the time I knew him, some +forty years ago, he was in person somewhat +above the ordinary height, slender, with gray +eyes, and a keen aspect; remarkable for neatness +in dress, and characterized by an erect +walk, a broad hat, and a long cue, much after<pb n="256" /><anchor id="Pg256" /> +the manner of Albert Gallatin, as depicted in +the engraving in Callender's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Prospect Before +Us</hi>. If with philologists he is deemed a man +of merit, it may with equal justice be said that +he is to be recognized by medical men as an +author of importance, for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of Pestilence</hi>.</p> + +<p>Next I may note William Coleman, usually +called in earlier days, by his antagonist Cheetham, +Field-Marshal Coleman. Mr. Bryant, +the able editor of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Post</hi>, in his biography +of the first fifty years of that prominent gazette, +has well described him. He was a sensitive +man, of great tenacity of opinion, which +he cherished by intercourse with many of the +leading patriots and politicians who were +among us some thirty years ago. He almost +leaned on the arm of the inflexible Timothy +Pickering, and had, in his younger days, held +communion with Hamilton, John Wells and +Rufus King. I shall never forget how the death +of the immortal Hamilton subdued his feeling. +When Gouverneur Morris delivered his +felicitous eulogy from the portals of old Trinity +Church, over the dead body of the noble +martyr, with grief in every countenance, and +anguish in every heart, Coleman's acuteness +of feeling paralyzed every movement of his +frame, and drowned every faculty of his mind. +While on this topic, the decease of Hamilton, +I may state an anecdote, the import of which +can be readily understood. It was not long +prior to the time of his death that the new +and authentic edition of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Federalist</hi> was +published by George F. Hopkins. Hopkins +told me of the delicacy with which Hamilton +listened to his proposition to print a new edition +of these papers. "They are demanded +by the spirit of the times and the desire of +the people," said Hopkins. "Do you really +think, Mr. Hopkins, that those fugitive essays +will be read, if reprinted?" asked Hamilton; +"well, give me a few days to consider," said +he. "Will this not be a good opportunity, +Gen. Hamilton," rejoined Hopkins, "to revise +them, and, if so, to make, perhaps, alterations, +if necessary, in some parts?" "No, sir, if +reprinted, they must stand exactly as at first, +not a word of alteration. A comma may be +inserted or left out, but the work must undergo +no change whatever."</p> + +<p>A few days had elapsed when, on the next +interview, General Hamilton agreed to the reprint, +with the express condition that he himself +must inspect the revised proofs. Not a +word was ever altered. "You think something +of the papers?" says Hamilton to the +printer. "Mr. Hopkins, let them be issued. +Heretofore, sir, I have given the people common +milk; hereafter, shortly, sir, I shall give +them strong meat." What the Union lost by +that fatal duel, the Deity only knows.</p> + +<p>Coleman was a writer of grammatical excellence, +though occasionally sadly at fault in +force of diction. Under the influence of some +perverse conceits, he would labor for months +to establish a theoretical doctrine, or to elucidate +a useless proposition. It was hardly +in the power of mortals ever to alter his opinions +when once formed. That yellow fever +was as contagious as small-pox; that skull-cap +(the <hi rend="font-style: italic">scutellaria</hi>) was a specific for hydrophobia; +that Napoleon wanted the requisites of +a military chieftain, were among the crotchets +of his brain. The everlasting tractates +which he put forth on these and other subjects, +would in the present day of editorial +prowess scarcely be tolerated in a chronicle +depending on public patronage. Coleman had +read extensively on medical topics, and was +the principal writer of that able and elaborate +Criticism of Miller's Report on the Yellow +Fever in New-York, addressed to Governor +Lewis, and printed in the second volume +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">American Medical and Philosophical +Register</hi>.</p> + +<p>Coleman would underrate the best public +services, if rendered by a political opponent. +Chancellor Livingston found no quarters +with him for his instrumentality in the +Louisiana purchase. He would ride a hobby +to death. During the many years in which I +read the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Post</hi>, I can summon to recollection +no contributions on any subject, made to that +paper, that ever awakened one half the attention +which was enlisted by the felicitous +productions of our poet Halleck, and the lamented +Dr. Drake, under the names of Croaker, +and Croaker & Co.</p> + +<p>For numerous years I have well known +Charles Holt, once editor of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Bee</hi>, during +John Adams's administration, and afterwards +of the New-York <hi rend="font-style: italic">Columbian</hi>, during +Dewitt Clinton's gubernatorial career. I am +unable to tell you whether he is still among +the living. I would estimate his age, if so, +as approaching ninety years. He was a lump +of benevolence, and a strenuous advocate of +the great internal improvement policy of +New-York. He comes forcibly to my mind +this evening, because in 1798 he wrote a history +of the yellow fever in New London, and +every now and then I find him quoted in +medical books as Dr. Holt, just as his predecessor, +who wrote on the yellow fever in Philadelphia, +of 1793, stands in bold relief as Dr. +Matthew Carey.</p> + +<p>Nathaniel Carter is vividly impressed on +my recollection; he had very considerable +literary taste; was many years editor of the +New-York <hi rend="font-style: italic">Statesman</hi>; and after his visit to +Europe, published his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Letters</hi> on his tour, in +two large volumes. His merit was only equalled +by his modesty. He was strongly devoted +to Dewitt Clinton and the Erie Canal; with +becoming tenacity he cherished much regard +for his eastern brethren, and was the first I +think who introduced his personal friend, our +constitutional expositor, Daniel Webster, to +the Bread and Cheese Lunch, founded by J. +Fenimore Cooper, at which sometimes met, in +familiar discussions, such minds as those of +Chief Justice Jones, Peter A. Jay, Henry +Storrs, Professor Renwick, John Anthon,<pb n="257" /><anchor id="Pg257" /> +Charles King, John Duer, and others of like +intellectual calibre. Carter was of a feeble +frame, struggling with pulmonary annoyance, +from which he died early. He was little initiated +in the trickery of political controversy. +His heart was filled with the kindliest feelings +of which nature is susceptible.</p> + +<p>My acquaintance with the late Colonel +Stone, so long connected with the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Commercial +Advertiser</hi>, commenced while he was +the efficient editor of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Albany Daily Advertiser</hi>. +His devotion to the best interests +of the state and country; his extensive knowledge +of American history; his patriotic +feeling evinced on all occasions in behalf +of our injured Aborigines; his biographies +of Red Jacket and Brandt; his great political +consistency during so many years—all commend +him to our kindest and most grateful +recollections. That he was cut off at a comparatively +early age, was the result of his severe +and unremitting literary toils. With a +touching patience, he endured an agonizing +illness, nor did he cease his useful labors till +exhausted nature forbade further efforts.</p> + +<p>About the time of the death of Colonel +Stone, New-York lost a valuable promoter of +its substantial interests by the demise of John +Pintard. His career is still fresh in the +memories of those who cherish the actions +of the benevolent and humane. He was a +native of this city (born in 1759), where he +passed the greater part of his life, and died +in 1844, in his eighty-sixth year. He was +connected with the newspaper press in the +earlier times of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Daily Advertiser</hi>. Pintard +was well acquainted with nearly all the +distinguished public characters at the period +of the adoption of our constitution. Possessed +of sound attainments by his Princeton +College education, the ardor of his patriotism +displayed itself by his uniting with a body +of his college companions, in a military +movement, in the revolutionary contest. He +afterwards returned for a while to his <hi rend="font-style: italic">alma +mater</hi>, with the approbation of President +Witherspoon. He was next appointed a sub-commissioner +for American prisoners in New-York, +and had frequent intercourse with the +notorious Cunningham, the keeper of the +Provost; visited the Sugar House, occupied +by the unfortunate prisoners of war, in Crown +street (now Liberty street); the Dutch Church +in Nassau street, the Scotch Church in Little +Queen street (now Cedar street), and also +the Friends' Meeting House in Queen street +(now Pearl street), near Cherry street, all +tilled with the wretched victims of tyranny. +He interceded in their behalf with the German +General Heister, and with Henry Clinton, +the British commander. He became acquainted +with Knyphausen, William Smith the historian +of New-York, Lord Howe, and others, and +he has described, as an eye-witness, the scenes +occurring at Washington's inauguration, in +1789. He was an advocate of the Federal policy +of that day, and was a member of our +State Legislature when it held its sessions in +this city. Time forbids my detailing the objects +to which he directed his attention during +a long career of usefulness. Several of +our important municipal regulations still in +force were suggested by him. He was an +earnest champion and successful advocate for +the incorporation of the Bank of New-York. +He was one of the founders of the Tammany +Society, in those days made up of gentlemen +of all political parties, and the express object +of which was to preserve the history and habits +of our red brethren. He urged the plan +of a Registry of Mortality in this city, and +was appointed the first City Inspector. The +New-York Historical Society must look upon +him as its chief founder. Some of its most +precious treasures are fruits of his munificence. +He was among the most strenuous, +with Bishop Hobart, in establishing and increasing +the library of the Protestant Episcopal +Seminary, and was not deficient of contributions +towards it. He was active with +Elias Boudinot in projecting the American +Bible Society. The first Bank of Savings +mainly originated with him. He revived the +Chamber of Commerce after its long repose. +He convened the first assemblage of our citizens +at the Park; for the purpose of obtaining +a public expression of opinion in favor of the +Canal policy for connecting the Erie and the +Hudson, and this at a period when the spirit +of party strife had widely scattered doubts +and ridicule on the contemplated movement. +In the war of 1812, when paper money in +small bills largely became our currency, Mr. +Pintard was the person who caused those +well-known mottoes, "Mind your own +business," "Never despair," "Economy is +wealth," and others of a like import, chiefly +drawn from Franklin, to surround the designations +of the value of the money. He had, I believe, +done a like service in our revolutionary +times. He carried the measure of having the +British names of our streets changed to the +modern ones they are now known by. I have +noticed these few circumstances concerning +him, because I wish it to be impressed on +your memories that the editors and proprietors +of public journals are often zealous in +good measures not necessarily connected with +their immediate vocation. Pintard enjoyed +an intimacy with booksellers and authors. +He and Freneau, a native also of this city, +and his contemporary, had often been in +close communion, as patriots of the revolution. +This essential difference, however, obtained +between them. Pintard was a federalist; +Freneau an antifederalist. Old Rivington +had often a hard time with them. +The sordid tory could neither endure the +conservative republican principles of Pintard, +nor the relentless bitterness of the sarcasm +of Freneau. I shall only add that he was a +student of many books, and an observer of +men in every walk of life. He was of grave +thought, yet often facetious in conversation.<pb n="258" /><anchor id="Pg258" /> +During forty years of medical practice, I have +rarely fell in with one richer in table-talk, or +better supplied with topics in life and letters. +In his death, he manifested the strength of +his religious faith, and resigned his spirit +with a benignant composure. But I am forbidden +to enlarge on the many excellences +and services of the public-spirited John +Pintard.</p> + +<p>Were we to dwell upon the excellence of a +gazette according to its merits, I should have +much to say of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Morning Chronicle</hi>, a paper +established in this city in the year 1802. +The leading editor was Dr. Peter Irving, a +gentleman of refined address, scholastic attainments, +and elegant erudition. It exhibited +great power in its editorial capacity, and +was the vehicle of much literary matter from +the abundance and ability of its correspondence. +If I do not greatly err, in this paper +Washington Irving first appeared as an author, +by his series of dramatic criticisms, over +the signature of Jonathan Oldstyle. The +only poetic writer of whose effusions I now +retain any recollection was Miss Smith, the +sister of the late Thomas E. Smith. Her +pieces were known by the signature of Clara; +and in bringing together the effusions of the +early female poets, Dr. Griswold, in his +praiseworthy zeal in behalf of American +literature, might well have increased in +value his interesting collection by specimens +of the productions of Miss Smith.</p> + +<p>The omission, in these reminiscences, of +some notice of John Lang, would be so quickly +discovered, that I am necessarily compelled +to dwell for a moment on the character and +services of one who, for a long succession of +years, filled a notable place in our newspaper +annals. Lang was of Scotch descent, but the +place of his birth, I believe, was New-York. +For some forty or more years, Lang's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Gazette</hi> +was recognized as the leading mercantile +advertiser, and the patronage which it +received from the business world was such +as doubtless secured ample returns to its proprietor. +The distinction of the paper was +unquestionably its attention to the shipping +interests of this commercial emporium. As +a journal of either political or miscellaneous +matter it was sadly deficient. Lang adhered +to his "arrivals" as the prominent object of +consideration, and the mightiest changes of +revolutions, in actions or opinions, found but +a stinted record in his widely-diffused journal. +Rarely, indeed, did our acknowledged politicians +or essayists seek its columns for the +promulgation of their ideas, and its editorial +displays were generally tormentingly feeble. +Nevertheless, it was in this gazette, then under +the control of Lang and McLean, that +General Hamilton first gave to the public his +numbers of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Federalist</hi>. There is often +to be found in one daily issue of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Post</hi>, the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Courier and Enquirer</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Journal of Commerce</hi>, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Herald</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tribune</hi>, or the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Times</hi> +of these days, more thought, nice disquisition, +and real knowledge which awakens the +contemplation of the statesman and politician, +than the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York Gazette</hi> contained during +a twelvemonth; and yet it flourished. The +traits of Lang's character were unwavering +devotion to his pursuits; no one could excel +him in the kindness of his demeanor; unconscious +of the penury of his intellectual powers, +he at times, unwittingly became the +pliant agent of designing individuals, and +from the blunders into which he was led, his +baptismal name, John, seemed easily converted +into that of Solomon, by which specification +much of his correspondence was maintained. +He bore the pleasantry with grateful +composure.</p> + +<p>With a characteristic anecdote I must dismiss +the name of Lang. The discussions of a +point in chronology, which occurred on the +commencement of the present century, awakened +some attention with mathematicians and +astronomers abroad, and among many with us. +The learned and pious Dr. Kunze, after much +investigation, addressed a communication on +the vexed question to Mr. Lang. He had adverted +to the Gregorian style in his letter, +and had mentioned Pope Gregory. The faithful +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Gazette</hi> printed the article Tom Gregory: +the venerable Doctor hastened to his friend, +and remonstrated on the injury he had done +him, and requested the <hi rend="font-style: italic">erratum</hi> to specify, +instead of Tom Gregory, Pope Gregory XIII. +Again an alteration was made, and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Gazette</hi> +requested its readers, for Tom Gregory +to read Pope Tom Gregory XIII. Only +one more attempt at correction was made, +when the compositor had its typography so +changed that it read Tom Gregory, the Pope. +The learned divine, with a heavy heart, in a +final interview with the erudite editor, begged +him to make no further improvements, +as he dreaded the loss of all the reputation +his years of devotion to the subject had secured +to him. This Dr. Kunze was long a +prominent minister of the German Lutheran +Church of this city. He was the preceptor +in Philadelphia of Henry Stuber, author of +the continuation of the life of our Socrates, +Dr. Franklin: a work executed with much +ability. He was a physician, and a most delectable +character. Many years ago, I was so +fortunate as to procure some materials for a +biography of him, and Dr. Sparks has courteously +given them a place in his invaluable +edition of Dr. Franklin's works. Justice to +the departed Lang demands that I should +add that he was a gentleman of the old +school, of great moral excellence, and as a +husband and a father most exemplary; deeply +devoted to the interests of this city, and +evincing a philanthropic spirit on every becoming +occasion. He died at an advanced +age; but his career was shortened by the +great fire, in this city, in 1835. That vast +destruction in his beloved New-York was an +oppressive weight upon his heart.</p> + +<p>Major Noah has so recently departed from<pb n="259" /><anchor id="Pg259" /> +among us, and the expectation that his active +life will soon find a biographer is so general, +that it seems unnecessary on the present occasion +to speak at any length concerning him. +I knew him well some thirty-five years. In +religion a Jew, he was tolerant of all creeds, +with equal amenity; his natural parts were +of a remarkable order; few excelled him in +industry, none in temperance and sobriety. +He wrote for many journals, and established +several. By his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Travels in Africa</hi> he became +known as an author. His work on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Abolition +of Imprisonment for Debt</hi> was widely +read. He was lively in converse, and a most +social companion. His literary compositions, +though not always pure in style, often showed +a nice sense of the ludicrous and a love +of humor. He abounded in anecdote. Mr. +Matthews, from his personal knowledge, has +not overdrawn the character of Noah. He +possessed the organ of benevolence on a +large scale. It is to be regretted that by his +political vacillations his talents finally lost all +influence in public councils and affairs.</p> + +<p>We are susceptible of the pleasures and the +pains of memory. A retrospect will confirm +this declaration on many occasions. It is so +in our contemplations of a newspaper; and +in no instance have I been more sensible of +this than when considering the origin, the +career, and the termination of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York +American</hi>. Its prominent projector was Johnson +Verplanck, a native of this city, of a conspicuous +family, whose mental qualities were +of a robust order, and whose classical attainments +entitled him to distinction. With the +countenance and assistance of enlightened associates, +he soon acquired for the <hi rend="font-style: italic">American</hi> +a reputation for eminent talents, great independence +in opinion, and the most perfect +freedom in scrutinizing public acts, and in literary +and artistic criticism. Mr. Verplanck +was one of the writers of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Buck Tail Bards</hi>, +a satirical poem, of Hudibrastic flavor. He +died in 1829. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">American</hi> fell then into +other hands, and for a long succession of years +was editorially sustained by one who had +often previously enriched its columns with his +lucubrations. I allude to Charles King, now +President of Columbia College. It was soon +demonstrated to the satisfaction of its patrons, +that, although under a new government, and +its supplies derived from another source, its +nutrition was not less wholesome and productive. +For many years it claimed the admiration +of the conservators of constitutional +right and of critical taste. It was conducted +with a manly boldness. Its tone gave dignity +to political disquisition, though its manner +was sometimes dreaded by objects of its animadversion: +if its censures were occasionally +severe, its approbation was the more highly +appreciated: it was a record of historical +value; nor can I comprehend why, in this +age of universal reading in journalism, its career +was closed. Its many volumes must +hereafter be ranked with the once famous +<hi rend="font-style: italic">National Gazette</hi> of Robert Walsh, and the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">National Intelligencer</hi> of Gales & Seaton. Its +distinguished editor, satisfied that for so long +a period he had performed his part in the promotion +of sound principles, with singleness of +purpose, in behalf of the city, the state and +the nation, may have sought that relief from +mental care which is often secured by change +of occupation. When I cast a thought over +the hours I have spent in reading the <hi rend="font-style: italic">American</hi>, +I feel as Whitfield has expressed himself +on a different occasion, "I am glad, but +I am sorry;" glad that I have had so long the +pleasure of being informed by its perusal; +sorry that the opportunity no longer exists.</p> + +<p>In closing this short list of editors, I feel +justified in deviating for a moment in my +chronology by a word or two on the character +and death of one whom I have ever considered +the ablest writer we have had in our +public journals. He has been already incidentally +mentioned. I allude to James Cheetham. +He succeeded as editor of Greenleaf's +paper, calling it the <hi rend="font-style: italic">American Citizen</hi>. Cheetham +was an English radical; had left Manchester +for this country, and was by trade a +hatter. His personal appearance was impressive; +tall, athletic, with a martial bearing +in his walk, a forehead of great breadth +and dimensions, and penetrating gray eyes, +he seemed authoritative wherever he might +be. He arrived in this country at a period +of perplexing excitement in the times of Adams's +administration and Jefferson's entrance +into the presidency. He found many to +countenance his radicalism, as Tennis Wortman, +James Dennison, Charles Christian and +others—men whom we might call liberals, +both in religion and in politics. Accidental +circumstances made me well acquainted with +him, so early as the summer of 1803. He +was then universally known as the champion +of Jefferson, of Governor George Clinton, and +of De Witt Clinton. He was a most unflinching +partisan writer, and with earnestness asserted +the advantages arising from the possession +of Louisiana, countenanced Blind Palmer, +the lecturer on Deism, and congratulated +the public on the return to America of +Thomas Paine. He ever remained an active +advocate of old George Clinton, but his friendship +was suddenly turned into hatred of Paine, +and his life of that once prominent but wretched +individual demonstrates the rancor of his +temper. The murderous death of Hamilton, +I think, had a strong influence on him. No +sooner had he breathed his last than Cheetham +extolled him as the greatest of patriots. +Many speak of Cheetham as at times holding +the pen of Junius—a judgment sustained by +some of his political assaults and essays. He +possessed a magnificent library, was a great +reader, and studied Burke and Shakspeare +more than any other authors. I know nothing +against his moral character. His death, +however, was most remarkable: he had removed +with his family to a country residence,<pb n="260" /><anchor id="Pg260" /> +some three miles from the city, in the summer +of 1809. A few days afterwards he exposed +himself to malaria, by walking without +a hat, through the fields, under a burning +September sun. He was struck with a complication +of ills—fever, congestion of the +brain, and great cerebral distress. The malignancy +of his case soon foretold to his physician, +Dr. Hosack, the uncertainty of his recovery. +Being at that time a student of +medicine, I was requested to watch him; on +the second day of his sickness, his fever raging +higher, he betrayed a disturbed intellect. +On the night of the third day raving mania +set in. Incoherently he called his family +around him, and addressed his sons as to their +peculiar avocations for life, giving advice to +one ever to be temperate in all things, and to +another urging the importance of knowledge. +After midnight he became much worse, and +was ungovernable. With herculean strength +he now raised himself from his pillow; with +eyes of meteoric fierceness, he grasped his +bed covering, and in a most vehement but +rapid articulation, exclaimed to his sons, +"Boys! study Bolingbroke for style, and +Locke for sentiment." He spoke no more. +In a moment life had departed. His funeral +was a solemn mourning of his political friends.</p> + +<p>Paine has been referred too. I have often +seen him at the different places of his residence +in this city, now in Partition-street, +now in Broome-street, &c. His localities +were not always the most agreeable. In +Partition-street, near the market, a portion +of his tenement was occupied for the display +of wild beasts. Paine generally sat, taking +an airing, at the lower front windows, the +gazed-at of all passers by. Jarvis, the painter, +was often his visitor, and was fortunate +enough to secure that inimitable plaster cast +of his head and features, which at his request, +I deposited with the New-York Historical +Society. While at that work, Jarvis exclaimed, +"I shall secure him to a nicety, if I +am so fortunate as to get plaster enough for +his carbuncled nose." Jarvis thought this +bust of Paine his most successful undertaking +as a sculptor.</p> + +<p>I shall trespass some moments by giving a +few reminiscences concerning booksellers and +publishers. There are many of this professional +order, whose character and influence +might justly demand a detailed account. +Spence himself would find among them anecdotes +worthy consideration in the world of +letters. I must, however, write within circumscribed +limits. The first in my immediate recollection +is Everet Duyckinck. He was a +middle-aged man, when I, a boy, was occasionally +at his store, an ample and old-fashioned +building, at the corner of Pearl-street and Old +Slip. He was grave in his demeanor, and +somewhat taciturn; of great simplicity in +dress; accommodating and courteous. He +must have been rich in literary recollections. +He for a long while occupied his excellent +stand for business, and was quite extensively +engaged as a publisher and seller. He was a +sort of Mr. Newbury, so precious to juvenile +memories in the olden times. He largely +dealt with that order of books, for elementary +instruction, which were popular abroad, +just about the close of our revolutionary war +and at the adoption of our Constitution—Old +Dyche, and his pupil Dilworth, and Perry, and +Sheridan. As education and literature advanced, +he brought forward, by reprints, Johnson +and Chesterfield, and Vicissimus Knox, +and a host of others. His store was the nucleus +of the Connecticut teachers and intellectual +products, and Barlow and Webster, +and Morse and Riggs, found in him a patron of +their works in poetry and their school books. +Bunyan, Young, Watts, Doddridge and Baxter, +must have been issued by his enterprise in +innumerable thousands throughout the old +thirteen States; and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">English Primer</hi>, now +improved into the <hi rend="font-style: italic">American Primer</hi>, with its +captivating emendations, as</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The royal oak, it was the tree</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">That saved his Royal Majesty;</l> +</lg> + +<p>changed to the more simple couplet—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Oak's not as good</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As hickory wood;</l> +</lg> + +<p>and the lines—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Whales in the sea</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">God's voice obey;</l> +</lg> + +<p>now modified without loss of its poetic fire—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">By Washington,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Great deeds were done—</l> +</lg> + +<p>led captivity captive, and had an unlimited +circulation, for the better diffusion of knowledge +and patriotism throughout the land. As +our city grew apace, and both instructors and +their functions enlarged, he engaged in the +Latin classics. Having a little Latin about +me, it became my duty to set up at the printing +office of Lewis Nicholls, Duyckinck's reprint +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">De Bello Gallico</hi>. The edition was +edited by a Mr. Rudd. He was the first editor +I ever saw; I looked on him with school-boy +admiration when I took him the proofs. +What alterations or improvements he made +in the text of Oudendorp, I never ascertained. +This, however, must have been among the +beginnings of that American practice, still +prevailing among us, of having in reprints +of even the most important works from abroad, +for better circulation, the name of some one as +editor, inserted on the title-page. Mr. Duyckinck +was gifted with great business talents, +and estimated as a man of punctuality and of +rigid integrity in fiscal matters. He was the +first who had the entire Bible, in duodecimo, +preserved—set up in forms—the better to +supply, at all times, his patrons. This was +before stereotype plates were adopted. He +gave to the Harpers the first job of printing +they executed—whether Tom Thumb or +Wesley's Primitive Physic, I do not know. +The acorn has become the pride of the forest—the +Cliff-street tree, whose roots and +branches now ramify all the land. Duyckinck +faithfully carried out the proverbs of Franklin,<pb n="261" /><anchor id="Pg261" /> +and the sayings of Noah Webster's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Prompter</hi>. +He was by birth and action a genuine +Knickerbocker.</p> + +<p>There was, about forty years ago, an individual +somewhat remarkable in several respects, +whose bookstore was in Maiden Lane—William +Barlas. He was by birth a Scotchman, +and was brought up to the ministry; +but from causes which I never learned, he +relinquished that vocation in his native land, +and assumed that of a bookseller in this city. +He was reputed to be a ripe scholar. He +dealt almost exclusively in the classics, and +for numerous years imported the editions—<hi rend="font-style: italic">in +usum Delphini</hi>, for the students in our schools +and colleges. Hardly a graduate among us, +of the olden time, can have forgotten him—Irving, +Verplanck, John Anthon, and Paulding, +can doubtless tell much of him. When, +on a large scale, was commenced in Philadelphia, +reprints of the Latin and Greek writers, +poor Mr. Barlas's functions were nearly +annihilated. I mention him here from his relation +to the advancement of learning in my +juvenile days. His opinion on the various +editions was deemed conclusive; and he controlled +the judgment as well as the pocket of +the purchaser. He was long in epistolary +correspondence with "the friend of Cowper," +as some call him—old John Newton of London; +and I have often wondered that no enterprise +has yet brought forward, in a new +edition of the writings of Newton, their correspondence. +It is not for me to dwell on +the contrast, so striking, between the present +period and that to which I have just adverted, +when even professors of Colleges were +controlled in their opinions of books by the +dicta of a bookseller. Such was the fact some +forty or fifty years ago. What would be the +reply of our Professor Anthon, of Columbia +College, to a bookseller who assumed such authority? +of him whose love and devotion to +the philosophy of the classics has led him already +in so many works to spread before the +cogitative scholars, of both worlds, the deepest +researches of antiquarian disquisition and +philological lore, evincing that America is not +tardy in a just appreciation of the excellencies +of those treasures which enriched a Bentley, +a Horseley, a Porson, and a Parr.</p> + +<p>Those of our literary connoisseurs who cast +a retrospective glance over days long past, +may awaken into memory that delicately constructed +and pensive-looking man, of Pearl-street, +recognized by the name of Charles +Smith. I believe he was a New-Yorker. +Pulmonary suffering was his physical infirmity—his +relief, tobacco, the fumes of which +aver surrounded him like a halo. He abounded +in the gloom and glory of the American +Revolution, and published, with portraits, numerous +diagrams of the campaigns of the war +in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Military Repository</hi>, a work of great +fidelity, in which it is thought he was aided +by Baron Steuben and General Gates. As a +bibliopolist, little need be said of him. But +the curious in knowledge will not overlook +him as the first who popularly made known +to the English reader the names of Kotzebue +and Schiller. Several of the novels and plays +of these German authors were done into English +by him; and, with William Dunlap, both +as a translator and as a theatrical manager, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Stranger</hi> and other plays were presented +to the cultivators of the drama in New-York +long before their appearance in London, or the +publication of Thompson's <hi rend="font-style: italic">German Theatre</hi>. +It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that +the Rev. Mr. Will, then of this city, added to +the stock of our literary treasures, by other +translations into the English, such as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Constant +Lovers, &c.</hi>, of Kotzebue, before, I believe, +any recognized English version appeared +abroad. But I must leave this subject for the +fuller investigation of the learned Dr. Schmidt +professor of German, in Columbia College.</p> + +<p>David Longworth's name is a good deal +blended with the progress of American literature +during years gone by. He was by +birth a New Jerseyman; and the publication +of his <hi rend="font-style: italic">City Directory</hi>, for some thirty or +more years, gave him sufficient notoriety; +while his Shaksperean Gallery introduced +him to many of the cultivators of the fine +arts, at a period, when Trumbull and Jarvis +were our prominent painters. Longworth +had been brought up as a printer, at a daily +press, but he seems early to have got a taste +for copper-plate engraving, accurate printing, +and elegant binding. With determined energy +he issued an edition of Telemachus, +which, for beauty of typography and paper, +was looked upon, by the lovers of choice +books, as a rich specimen of our art. His +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Belles-Lettres Repository</hi> no less evinced his +taste in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">elegantiæ literarum</hi>. He was, +nevertheless, a man of many strange notions. +It is well known that about the commencement +of the eighteenth century, in our English +books, printed in the mother country, the +substantive words were almost always begun +with a capital; the like practice obtained in +many newspapers; but Longworth, not content +with the partial change which time had +brought about, of sinking these prominent +and advantageous upper case type, waged a +war of extermination against almost every +capital in the case, and this curious deformity +is found in many of his publications, as +<hi rend="font-style: italic">british america</hi>, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">london docks</hi>. Even in +poetry, of the first word, he tolerated only +small letters at the beginning of the lines. +His practice, however, found no imitators, +though 'tis said that it first began in Paris. +His bookstore, at a central situation by the +Park, with works of taste classically displayed, +afforded an admirable lounge for the litterateurs +of that day. Here, when Hodgkinson, +and Hallam, and Cooper, and Cooke were +at the zenith of their histrionic career in the +Park Theatre, adjacent, might be seen a +group of poets and prose writers, who, in +their generation, added to the original off-spring<pb n="262" /><anchor id="Pg262" /> +of the American press—Brockden +Brown, Dunlap, Verplanck, Paulding Fessenden, +Richard Alsop, Peter Irving, and the +now universally famed Washington Irving.</p> + +<p>I must note a circumstance of some import +on the state of letters among us about +those times. Longworth had secured from +abroad a copy of the first edition, in quarto, +of Scott's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Lay of the Last Minstrel</hi>, and determined +to reprint it; yet, not satisfied +with his own judgment, he convened a +meeting of his literary friends to settle the +matter. The committee, after solemn deliberation, +suggested his venturing to reproduce +only the introductions to the cantos, as an experiment, +in order to ascertain the public +taste. Would I speak in terms too strong if I +affirmed that since that committee sat, millions +of copies of the numerous volumes of +Sir Walter Scott have been bought by the +reading world in America. My circle of literary +acquaintance was a good deal enlarged +by the coteries I now and then found at +Longworth's, as he was not backward in +seizing opportunities of issuing new works, +when from their nature they might excite +the appetite of the curious. No publication +of his so effectually secured this end, as the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Salmagundi</hi>, in 1807, sent forth in bi-weekly +numbers by young Irving and his friend +Paulding. When we are apprised that some +few of our middle-aged citizens, who sustained +the stroke of that literary scimetar so +long ago, still survive among us, I think we +may argue from strong data for the salubrity +of our climate. At Longworth's, I first saw +the youngest dramatic genius of the time, +Howard Payne, then about fourteen years +old, and who, a short while after, appeared as +young Norval on the boards of the theatre. +He was editor of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Thespian Mirror</hi>.</p> + +<p>Originally of Ireland, Hugh Gaine, upon +his emigration to this country during our +colonial dependence, set up in this city in +1753 his Royal Gazette, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York Mercury</hi>. +His fame as well as his patriotism is +embalmed in the irony of Freneau. It is only +as a bookseller that I knew him, in Hanover +Square. He was then at a very advanced +age. His savings rendered him in due time +independent in pecuniary matters. We may +safely infer that he was not surpassed in industry, +and that he was ever awake to the +main chance, when we are assured that at the +commencement of his journal, he collected +his own news, set up his types, worked off +his papers, folded his sheets, and personally +distributed them to his subscribers. Franklin +had done pretty nearly the same things before. +Gaine, who in his after-life was an object of a +good deal of curiosity to the citizens of the +republic, enjoyed the consideration due to an +honest man, and many kindly feelings.</p> + +<p>Many as were his merits, and great as was +his enterprise, Isaac Collins was most widely +known, the latter part of his long career, by +his editions of the works on grammar, and +other school books, by the prolific Lindley +Murray. As in the case of Franklin, his +earliest effort of magnitude was the printing +Sewell's <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the Quakers</hi>. The neatness +and accuracy of his printing were familiarly +remarked among readers; and these excellencies +he displayed in his quarto Bible, +the first of that form which was printed in +this country in 1790. Collins was a native +of Delaware. He projected a weekly paper, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New Jersey Gazette</hi>, which he published +at Burlington during the Revolution, and, +some time after, upon strenuous Whig principles. +He had authority, like Franklin, for +the emission of paper money for the State +Government. He removed to this city in 1796, +and a few years after this time I knew him. +As his career was, many portions of it, like +Franklin's, I had the greater admiration of +him. He died in 1817. That he enjoyed +the acquaintance of Franklin, of Rittenhouse +and Rush, of Livingston of New Jersey, and +others of the truest patriots in the great +struggles of the country, may be inferred +from his profession, his public station, his integrity, +and his general character. In the society +of Friends he was prominent, and, like Thomas +Eddy and Robert Bowne, he was occupied +with hospitals, and ever zealous in good works. +He did vast service to the city as a printer, and +as such he is here introduced.</p> + +<p>The oldest inhabitants of our city may well +recollect the bookstore of the Swords, Thomas +and James. Some sixty years ago they began +operations in Pearl-street. They commenced +when New-York was little more than +a village in population, and when literary +projects were almost unknown. They deserve +ample notice as most efficient pioneers, in +their day, as printers and booksellers, and +through a long career they held a high rank; +they were assiduous and economical almost +to a fault: their integrity was never doubted; +their word was as good as their bond. They +printed good works in more acceptations of +the phrase than one. They did a great service +to our scientific enterprise, in issuing the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Medical Repository</hi>, the earliest journal of +that kind, in the country. A literary periodical, +of many years duration, was also printed +by them, called the <hi rend="font-style: italic">New-York Magazine</hi>. +It was remarkable for the contributions of a +society, self-named the Drone. Brockden +Brown, William Dunlap, Anthony Bleucker, +Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and James Kent (afterwards +the great Chancellor), were among +the writers. William Johnson, the well-known +Reporter, who died recently, was the +last survivor of this club. Their store for a +number of years was a rendezvous for professional +men of different callings—divines, +physicians, lawyers, with a sprinkling of the +professed authors of those times, as Clifton, +Low, Davis, &c. Its theological feature was +its strongest; and the interest of episcopacy +were here descanted on with the unction of +godliness, by such men as Seabury of Connecticut,<pb n="263" /><anchor id="Pg263" /> +and Moore of New-York, with good +old Dr. Bowden, and Dr. Hawks, my friends +Drs. Berrian and McVicker of Columbia College, +and the energetic Bishop Hobart, the +busiest and most stirring man I ever knew. +The Messrs. Swords were largely occupied in +printing works on divinity, and were confessed +the printers of sound orthodoxy long before +"the novelties which disturb our peace" +had invoked polemical controversy.</p> + +<p>I should do injustice to my feelings were I +in this rapid sketch to overlook the late James +Eastburn, the founder of the first reading-room +on a becoming scale, in this country, +and the publisher of the American edition of +the Edinburgh and London Quarterly Reviews. +He was a gentleman deserving of much estimation, +of bland manners, and enthusiastic in +his calling. He was curious in antiquarian +literature and a great importer of the older +authors. Many are the libraries enriched by +his perseverance. Consumption wasted his +generous frame, and he died at a comparatively +early age, to the deep regret of the +scholar and the philanthropist.</p> + +<p>I should like, before I close this portion of +these reminiscences, to awaken recollections +of one or two other estimable individuals +with whom I was long acquainted—George +F. Hopkins and Jonathan Seymour. Hopkins +merits a biography; he justly boasted +that his edition of Robertson's Charles V. +was the most accurately printed work of the +time. He was fastidious almost to a fault in +typographical neatness. He printed only +works of positive merit. His enterprise led +him, now fifty years ago, to urge the craft to +render themselves independent of imported +types, by establishing type-foundries in the +country. There were few indeed among us +who knew practically much about the founts +of Caslon, the Coryphæus of letter-founders. +The Scotch hard-faced letter was then extensively +in use. Hopkins induced the immigration +to this country of the famous Binney +and Ronaldson, whose great skill in the art +was soon recognized, and from that era up +to the present day competent judges affirm +that our Bruce, White, Conner, and others, +have accomplished all that is requisite in the +type-founding business. Of Jonathan Seymour, +it is enough to say, that at one period +of his life he was more largely engaged than +any of his rivals in printing from manuscripts—so +well known and appreciated was his devotion +to his calling, and the accuracy of its +results. In his death, the art lost one who +had given it elevation, and society a man possessed +of the qualities of industry, temperance, +honesty, and Christian philanthropy in +the fullest measure.</p> + +<p>Within a few days has departed from among +us, at the age of eighty years, a supporter of +the press who long contributed to the diffusion +of wholesome knowledge. I allude to +Thomas Kirk. I shall terminate these notices +by a striking occurrence, which involved +him in great loss. He had determined, about +the year 1801, to give the Christian community +an octavo edition, in large type, of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Book of Common Prayer</hi>, the first of that size +from an American press. To secure the utmost +accuracy, he engaged, for a pecuniary +consideration, the Rev. John Ireland, of +Brooklyn, to revise the proofs. When the +sheets were worked off, it was ascertained +that the copy was an exact reprint, save in +one particular. The critical acumen of Ireland +had discovered, in the Apostles' Creed, +a "tautological error," in the words, "from +thence he shall come." The word "from" +was superfluous, ungrammatical, and inelegant, +according to Ireland, and, accordingly, +it was not in Kirk's edition. Upon the sale +of a few copies the omission was remarked; +the fact became known to the bishop of the +church; the book was pronounced defective, +and the ecclesiastical authorities prohibited +its circulation. The whole edition fell a dead +weight upon the hands of the well-meaning +publisher. I had this anecdote from Mr. Kirk +himself, years ago, and he repeated it to me +not long prior to his death, in last November.</p> + +<p>This allusion to Kirk brings to my mind +the notorious John Williams, better known +as Anthony Pasquin, under which name he +was doomed to everlasting infamy by Gifford, +in his satire of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Baviad and Mæviad</hi>, in +judgments afterwards confirmed in a celebrated +trial for libel in which the famous +Erskine delivered one of his best forensic +speeches. Williams was the associate in +London of a small but ambitious set of mutual +admirers in literature, of whom Mr. +Merry and his future wife were the "Della +Crusca" and "Rosa Matilda," and all three +of these worthies came to New-York about +the year 1798. I have an impression that +Kirk came at the same time. The character +of Williams was infamous, and a large share of +his infamy consisted in his ministering to, if +not creating, the passion for personal scandal, +and setting the example of black-mail collections, +in newspapers. In the report of the +great case of Williams vs. Faulder, it is said +of his paper, called <hi rend="font-style: italic">The World</hi>, that "In +this were given the earliest specimens of +those unqualified and audacious attacks on +all private character which the town first +smiled at for their quaintness, then tolerated +for their absurdity—and will have to lament +to the last hour of British liberty." After +he came to this country he associated himself +with the enemies of Hamilton, and published +a satire called <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Hamiltoniad</hi>, +edited a magazine entitled <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Columbian</hi>, +and was a pioneer in that species of journalism +which still subsists here upon the most +scandalous invasions of private life and reputation. +He was doubly detestable, in that he +was the corruptor and worst specimen of the +editorial calling in Europe and in America. +I remember frequently seeing Williams, in +the latter part of his life, in his shabby pepper-and-salt<pb n="264" /><anchor id="Pg264" /> +dress, in the obscure parts of the +city. I believe he died during the first prevalence +of the cholera in Brooklyn. Fancy may +depict his expression as illustrating Otway's +lines, "as if all hell were in his eyes, and he +in hell." It must not be supposed that I in +any degree associate the fame of the worthy +Kirk with that of this literary vagabond.</p> + +<p>To a suggestion that I might refer to the +late William Cobbett, as associated with the +periodical press of this country, I may say +that I see in it no impropriety. Unquestionably +a minute record would include his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Porcupine +Gazette</hi> and his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Weekly Register</hi>; the +one an offspring of his juvenile life, the other +of his ripened years. I had some personal +acquaintance with him at the time of his last +residence in New-York. Hazlitt has, in his +attractive manner, described him to the life. +He was deemed the best talker of his day, +and his forcible pen has given us indubitable +proofs of his powers in literary composition. +It was not unusual with him to make a visit +to the printing office at an early morning +hour, take his seat at the desk, and after some +half dozen lines were written, to throw off +MSS. with a rapidity that engaged eleven +compositors at once in setting up. Thus a +whole sheet of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Register</hi> might be completed +ere he desisted from his undertaking. +I think that in quickness he surpassed even +the lamented William Leggett, of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Evening +Post</hi>. The circumstance is certainly interesting +in a psychological point of view; and +yet may not be deemed more curious than +the fact that Priestley made his reply to Lind, +quite a voluminous pamphlet, in twenty-four +hours, or that Hodgkinson, the actor, was able +to peruse crosswise, the entire five columns +of a newspaper, and within two hours recite +it thus by memory. I visited Cobbett, when +his residence was within a couple of miles of +this city, in company with a few professional +gentlemen. It was in October, and a delightful +day. He heard our approach, and came +to the door without our knocking. "Walk +in, gentlemen—am I to consider this as a visit +to me?—walk in and be seated on these +benches, for I have no chairs—you may be +fatigued—will you have a bowl of milk? I +live upon milk and Indian corn—I never drink +spirit or wine, and yet I am a tolerable example +of English health." And, indeed, he was +a most ample specimen of the genuine John +Bull. His nearly oval face, and florid countenance, +with strong gray piercing eyes and +head thickly covered with white hair, closely +trimmed; his huge frame, of some two hundred +and seventy pounds weight, corresponding +abdominal development, and well-proportioned +limbs, all demonstrated, with anatomical +accuracy, the truth of his observation. +His superior intellect seemed roused in all its +functions. The United States, England, the +reform measures, the union of church and +state, and its absurdity, were only a few of the +subjects of his caustic remark. "I have just +performed a duty, gentlemen, which has been +too long delayed; you have neglected the remains +of Thomas Paine; I have done myself +the honor to disinter his bones; I have removed +them from New Rochelle; I have dug +them up; they are now on their way to England; +when I return, I shall cause them to +speak the Common Sense of the great man; +I shall gather together the people of Liverpool +and Manchester in one assembly with +those of London, and those bones will effect +the reformation of England in Church and +State." After some two or three hours we +took our leave, with unlimited admiration of +his brave utterance and his colloquial talents.</p> + +<p>With such a hastily written and imperfect +sketch of the newspaper periodical press, of +printers, editors, booksellers, and authors, I +must close this portion of my present reminiscences. +I have depended on a memory +somewhat tenacious as my authority, in most +instances, having no leisure at command for +reference. A volume might be written of +pertinent details. Nevertheless, enough has +been said to illustrate, in part, the advancement +of one species of knowledge in this metropolis. +Did we institute a comparative +view of the past and present condition of +the press, we might be better enabled to announce +the existing condition of our city as +a Literary Emporium, That it is in accordance +with the spirit of the age, seems demonstrable. +Abroad, in England, in 1701, +when the stamp duty was levied upon every +number of a periodical paper consisting of a +sheet, the whole quantity of printed paper +was estimated at twenty thousand reams annually. +Nearly at this period (1704), when +the Boston <hi rend="font-style: italic">News Letter</hi> made its appearance +in the American colonies, some two or three +hundred copies weekly may have been its +circulation. What is the quantity of paper +demanded by the present British periodical +press, I am unable to state. In this month +of January, 1852, it is calculated that there +are about three thousand different newspapers +and other periodicals printed in this +country, the entire issues of which approach +the yearly aggregate of four hundred and +twenty-three millions of numbers.</p> + +<p>When Franklin was a printer it was a hard +task to work off over a thousand sheets on +both sides in a day, by the hand press. Since +his time we have had the Clymer, the Napier, +the Ramage, the Adams, and now Hoe's +Lightning press. By this last-named achievement +in the arts, so honorable to a son of +New-York, and so stupendous in its results +to the world at large, twenty thousand papers +may be printed in one hour.</p> + +<p>If we advert to the instructive fact, of the +enormous circulation of many of the journals +of New-York, as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Herald</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Sun</hi>, +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tribune</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Times</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Express</hi>, the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Mirror</hi>, and others issued daily; if we calculate +the copies of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Observer</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Home +Journal</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Christian Advocate</hi>, and others<pb n="265" /><anchor id="Pg265" /> +of the weekly press; the circulation of the +monthly and other periodicals; if we look at +the Methodist Book Concern, the Tract Society, +the American Bible Society, the publications +of the Appletons, of Putnam, and of the +enterprising booksellers of this city generally, +what bounds can we set to the offspring of +the typographic art? The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Herald</hi> and the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Tribune</hi> in their distinct circulation, consume +an aggregate of fifty thousand reams per +year. The Harpers, who have thrown John +Baskerville, and other eminent typographers +of Europe in the shade by the magnitude of +their operations, use one hundred reams of +paper daily, at six dollars per ream, and make +about ten volumes a minute or six thousand +a day. On a former occasion I stated to you +the agency which Franklin had in bringing +forward stereotype plates, as projected by +Dr. Colden, in this city, in 1779, and the fact +that the art was communicated to Didot in +Paris, by Franklin himself. I well remember +the anxious John Watts, when he showed me +his first undertaking in this branch of labor in +New-York, just forty years ago. It was a +copy of the Larger Catechism, the one I now +hold in my hand. Notwithstanding the +doubts of many, he felt confident of its ultimate +success, yet suffered by hope deferred. +What is now the state of the business in the +matter of stereotyping? The Harpers alone—a +single firm—have within their vaults +plates for more than two thousand volumes.</p> + +<p>Need I dwell on the improved appliances +in the great art, which enrich the present +day, or on the influences now at work on +the intellectual man? Justly has it been +stated, that the press of a single office in this +city issues more matter than the industry of +the world, with all its scribes and illuminators, +in an entire year, previous the time of +Faust. Let us, then, reverence the press, as +our Franklin did. Let us cherish its freedom, +as the triumph of our fathers, if we +love the name of patriot. Let us teach our +children to acknowledge it the palladium of +our altars and our firesides. Let us recognize +it as the Great Instructor, knocking at every +door, and rendering every hovel, as well as +every palace, a school-house.</p> + +<p>Nor is it solely on the score of quantity, +that we are to contemplate the measures now +in force for the disciplining of intellect, and +the rearing the moral edifice of the nation. +I have already remarked on the superior +ability of the press of our days in comparison +with that of the period through which some +of us have lived. The same energy which +has swelled its dimensions, has increased the +excellence of its material. Libraries so +abound, knowledge is so diffused, that individuals +qualified by scholastic powers, can be +called in requisition for the duties of every +department a successful journal demands. +There is moreover a happier recognition of +intellectual merit; reward is higher and +more certain; and there exists throughout +the community a noble estimation of productive +intellect. Instead of a scattered recruit +here and there in the ranks of literature, +we have armies at command, of well-disciplined +men; and the belief is not altogether +idle that, in due season, of these armies +there will be legions. Lovesick tales and Della +Cruscan poetry, have yielded to stately essays +on the business of life, in philosophy and in criticism, +while the native muse has often stronger +claims to our homage than the verses Dr. Johnson +has embalmed, and that have made the +fame of ancient bards. We no longer gaze at +the author as a drone in the hive of industry.</p> + +<p>Our youth are taught that a true man may +be found among the luxurious and refined as +well in the humble avocations of life. Ambitious +of a national literature, we honor +those who have laid its foundations, in the +persons of an Irving, a Prescott, and a Bancroft, +a Longfellow, and a Hawthorne. We +gratefully remember our historical obligations +to Sparks. We feel the dignity of the scholar +when we summon to our aid the classical +Everett. Mourning with no feigned sorrow +the demise of that true son of our soil, the +lamented Cooper, we rejoice that a Bryant +and a Halleck, a Verplanck and a Paulding, +are still left with us. Warm in our feelings, +and made happier by the relations of intercourse, +we extend the cordial hand to Tuckerman, +our classical essayist and poet; to +Willis, for his felicitous comments on passing +events; to Griswold, for his admirable works +in criticism and biography; to Dr. Mayo, for +his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Kaloolah</hi>; to Stoddard, for his exquisite +poems; to the generous Bethune, the orator +and bard; to Morris, for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Melodies</hi>; to Kimball, +for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">St. Leger Papers</hi>; to Clark, for +his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Knickerbocker</hi>; to Melville, for <hi rend="font-style: italic">Typee</hi>; +to Ik. Marvell, for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Reveries</hi>; to Ripley, +for his fine reviews; to Bigelow, for his book +on <hi rend="font-style: italic">Jamaica</hi>; to Bayard Taylor, for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Views +A-Foot</hi>; to Greeley, for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Crystal Palace</hi> +labors; and to Duyckinck, the son of our old +friend, the bookseller, for his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Literary World</hi>. +In the name of the Republic, we give our +heartiest thanks to our intimate friend, the +learned Dr. Cogswell, as we look at the spacious +walls of the Astor Library.</p> + +<p>The very great length to which I have +unconsciously extended these reminiscences, +forbids me from dwelling, as my heart and +your wishes dictate, upon the most glorious +name in American Printing, the immortal +Franklin's. His character and deeds, however, +are familiar to you all; and the language +of eulogy is needless in regard to one whose +fame increases with time, and whose transcendent +merits, the constant development of +that element he brought under human dominion +render daily more evident and memorable. +It is related, gentlemen, that when +the statues of the Roman Emperors were +carried in a triumphal procession, one was +omitted, and the name of that one was shouted +with more zeal than all the others inspired.<pb n="266" /><anchor id="Pg266" /> +So I know it to be with us to-night. The +memory of Franklin is too ripe in our +hearts to require words; it is a spell that +sheds eternal glory on the typographical art; +it is the best encouragement of youthful energy; +it is revealed in every telegraphic despatch; +it hallows the name of our country to +the civilized world.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>Noctes Amicæ.</head> + +<p>Of tipsy drollery, a correspondent of +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Evening Post</hi> (Mr. Bryant himself, we +have no doubt), writes: "It is esteemed a +mark of a vulgar mind, to divert one's self at +the expense of a drunken man; yet we allow +ourselves to be amused with representations +of drunkenness on the stage and in comic +narratives. Nobody is ashamed to laugh at +Cassio in the play of Othello, when he has +put an enemy into his mouth to steal away +his brains. The personation which the elder +Wallack used to give us some years ago, of +Dick Dashall, very drunk, but very gentlemanly, +was one of the most irresistibly comic +things ever known. I have a mind to give +you a translation of a German ballad on a +tipsy man, which has been set to music, and +is often sung in Germany; it is rather droll +in the original, and perhaps it has not lost all +of its humor in being <hi rend="font-style: italic">overset</hi>, as they call it, +into English. Here it is:"</p> + +<p rend="text-align: center">OUT OF THE TAVERN, ETC.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Out of the tavern I've just stepped to-night</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Street! you are caught in a very bad plight.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Right hand and left hand are both out of place;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Street, you are drunk, 'tis a very clear case.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Moon, 'tis a very queer figure you cut;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">One eye is staring while t'other is shut.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Tipsy, I see; and you're greatly to blame;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Old as you are 'tis a terrible shame.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Then the street lamps, what a scandalous sight!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">None of them soberly standing upright.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Rocking and staggering; why, on my word,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Each of the lamps is drunk as a lord.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">All is confusion; now isn't it odd?</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">I am the only thing sober abroad.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Sure it were rash with this crew to remain,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Better go into the tavern again.</l> +</lg> + +<p>This is parodied or stolen by the clever author +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Bon Gaultier Ballads</hi>, in one of +his best pieces.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The famous Quaker <hi rend="font-style: italic">Anthony Benezet</hi>, +was accustomed to feed the rats in the area +before his house in Philadelphia. An old +friend who found him so engaged, expressed +some surprise that he so kindly treated such +pernicious vermin, saying, "They should rather +be killed and out of the way." "Nay," +said good Anthony, "I will not treat them +so; thou wouldst make them thieves by maltreating +and starving them, but I make them +honest by feeding them, for being so fed, they +never prey upon any goods of mine." This +singular fact is very characteristic. When feeding +rats, the benevolent philosopher used to +stand in the area, and they would gather +round his feet like chickens. One of the +family once hung a collar about one of them, +which was seen for years after, feeding in +the group.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Des Cartes</hi> fought at the siege of Rochelle, +and after a variety of adventures, established +himself in Holland, where he composed most +of his works. These abound in singular +theories and curious speculations, and their +spirit of independence aroused the same spirit +wherever they were read. Scholars and theologians +vied with each other in battling the +new opinions. The followers of Aristotle and +the followers of Locke arrayed themselves +against him. His novelties even drew the +attention of women from their fashions. "The +ladies of quality here, of late," says a writer +from Paris, in 1642, "addict themselves to +the study of philosophy, as the men; the ladies +esteeming their education defective, if +they cannot confute Aristotle and his disciples. +The pen has almost supplanted the exercise +of the needle; and ladies' closets, formerly +the shops of female baubles, toys, and +vanities, are now turned to libraries and sanctuaries +of learned works. There is a new +star risen in the French horizon, whose influence +excites the nobler females to this pursuit +of human science. It is the renowned Monsieur +Des Cartes, whose lustre far outshines +the aged winking tapers of Peripatetic Philosophy, +and has eclipsed the stagyrite, with +all the ancient lights of Greece and Rome. +'Tis this matchless soul has drawn so many +of the fairer sex to the schools. And they are +more proud of the title—Cartesian—and of +the capacity to defend his principles, than of +their noble birth and blood."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>We find in <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Courts of Europe at the Close +of the last Century</hi>, by Henry Swinburne, the +following illustration of American manners:</p> + +<p>"An English officer, Colonel A +in a stage to New-York, and was extremely +annoyed by a free and enlightened citizen's +perpetually spitting across him, out of the window. +He bore it patiently for some time, till at last he +ventured to remonstrate, when the other said, +'Why, colonel, I estimate you're a-poking fun at +me—that I do. Now, I'm not a-going to chaw my +own bilge-water, not for no man. Besides, you +need not look so thundering ugly. Why, I've +<hi rend="font-style: italic">practised</hi> all my life, and could squirt through the +eye of a needle without touching the steel, let +alone such a great saliva-box as that there window.' +Colonel A +at last his anger got up, and he spat bang in his +companion's face, exclaiming, 'I beg you a thousand +pardons, squire, but I've not practised as +much as you have. No doubt, by the time we +reach New-York, I shall be as great a dabster as +you are.' The other rubbed his eye, and remained +<hi rend="font-style: italic">bouche close</hi>."</p> + +<pb n="267" /><anchor id="Pg267" /> + +<p>In support of the hydropathic practice, and +in illustration of the effect of cold, we cite +an anecdote <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mignet</hi> tells of the celebrated +French physician Broussais:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"Seized with a violent fever at Nimèguen, +Broussais was attended by two of his friends, who +each prescribed opposite remedies. Embarrassed +by such contradictory opinions, he resolved to follow +neither. Believing himself to be seriously in +danger, he jumped out of bed in the midst of this +raging fever, and almost naked sat down to his +escrutoire to arrange his papers. It was in the +month of January; the streets were covered with +snow. While thus settling his affairs the fever +abated, a sensation of freshness and comfort diffused +itself throughout his frame. Amazed at this +result, Broussais, like a bold theorist as he was, +converted his casual forgetfulness into an experience. +He boldly <hi rend="font-style: italic">threw open the window</hi>, and for +some time inspired the cold winter air that blew +in upon him. Finding himself greatly benefited, +he concluded that cool drink would be as refreshing +to his stomach as cold air had been to his body. +He deluged his stomach with cold lemonade, and +in less than forty-eight hours he was well again!"</p> +</quote> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The following amusing anecdote is told in +a work recently published in London of Tom +Cooke, the actor and musician:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"At a trial in the Court of King's Bench, June, +1833, betwixt certain publishing tweedledums and +tweedledees, as to the alleged piracy of an arrangement +of the 'Old English Gentleman,'—an old +English air, by the bye—Cooke was subpœnaed as +a witness. On his cross-examination by Sir James +Scarlet, afterwards Lord Abinger, for the opposite +side, that learned counsel rather flippantly questioned +him thus: 'Now, sir, you say that the two +melodies are the same, but different; now what +do you mean by that, sir?' To this Tom promptly +answered, 'I said that the notes in the two copies +were alike, but with a different accent, the one being +in common time, the other in sixth-eight time; +and, consequently, the position of the accented +notes was different.' Sir James—'What is musical +accent?' Cooke—'My terms are a guinea a +lesson, sir.' (A loud laugh.) Sir James (rather +ruffled)—'Never mind your terms here. I ask you +what is musical accent. Can you see it?' Cooke—'No.' +Sir James—'Can you feel it?' Cooke—'A +musician can.' (Great laughter.) Sir James +(very angry)—'Now, pray sir, don't beat about +the bush, but explain to his lordship and the jury, +who are supposed to know nothing about music, +the meaning of what you call accent.' Cooke—'Accent +in music, is a certain stress laid upon a +particular note, in the same manner as you would +lay a stress upon any given word for the purpose +of being better understood. Thus, if I were to +say, 'You are an <hi rend="font-style: italic">ass</hi>—it rests on ass; but if I +were to say, '<hi rend="font-style: italic">You</hi> are an ass—it rests on you, Sir +James.' Reiterated shouts of laughter by the +whole court, in which the bench itself joined, followed +this repartee. Silence having been at length +obtained, the Judge, with much seeming gravity, +accosted the chop-fallen counsel thus: Lord Denman—'Are +you satisfied, Sir James?' Sir James +(deep red as he naturally was, to use poor Jack +Reeve's own words, had become scarlet in more +than name), in a great huff, said, 'The witness may +go down!'"</p> +</quote> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A Portuguese paper gives some statistics +which could only be obtained under the spy +and secret police system. There are said to +be in Portugal 872,634 married couples, of +which the present condition is very nearly as +follows:—"Women who have left their husbands +for their lovers, 1,262. Husbands who +have left their wives for other women, 2,361. +Couples who have agreed to live separately, +33,120. Couples who live in open warfare, +under the same roof, 13,263. Couples who +cordially hate each other, but dissemble their +aversion under the appearance of love, +162,320. Couples who live in a state of tranquil +indifference, 510,132. Couples who are +thought by their acquaintances to be happy, +but are not themselves convinced of their own +felicity, 1,102. Couples that are happy as +compared with those that are confessedly unhappy, +131. Couples indisputably happy in +each other, 0. Total, 872,634."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The first duel in New England, was fought +with sword and dagger, between two servants. +Neither of them was killed, but both +were wounded. For this disgraceful offence, +they were formally tried before the whole +company (the first settlers), and sentenced to +have their "heads and feet tied together, and +so to be twenty-four hours, without meat or +drink." Their bravery all exploded in a little +while, and they plead piteously to be released, +which was finally done by the Governor +on their promising better behavior. "Such +was the origin," says Dr. Morse, "and such, +I may almost venture to say, was the termination +of the odious practice of duelling in +New England, for there have been very few +fought there since."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>We are told by Ariosto of a warrior who +was so happily gifted that when his arms, his +legs, or even his head, happened to be chopped +off in battle, he could jump down from +his horse and replace the dissevered member. +Many modern humbugs are of this description; +they are real polipi; chop them into a thousand +pieces, and each piece will start up as +brisk and as lively as ever. Metaphysical +humbugs are the most difficult kind to deal +with. Contending with them is like wrestling +with spectres; there is not substance enough +to catch hold of.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Lately, at a sitting of the Norwegian legislature +at Christiana, a petition was presented +from the world-known fiddler, Ole Bull, +in which he solicited the creation of a national +theatre in that town, to receive a subvention +from the government, and to which a +dramatic school was to be attached. The +Assembly voted that the petition should be +taken into consideration, and appointed a +committee to draw up a report on it. M. Bull +has already founded, at his own cost, a theatre +in his native town, Bergen. M. Bull visits +this country now in search only of pleasure.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="268" /><anchor id="Pg268" /> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>Authors and Books</head> + +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Gutzkow's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ritter vom Geiste</hi> (Knights of +the Spirit) is at last finished, the ninth volume +having made its appearance. It has +faults of detail, and there are deficiencies in +spots, but as a whole it is praised as eminently +successful, and truly a new work. The idea +in some respects recalls the Wilhelm Meister +of Goethe, and the Nathan the Wise of +Lessing, but the execution has more force and +a larger and more imperious movement than +either. The Knights of the Spirit are a body +of men who are combined in an order to +which they give that name, and this book is +their history and that of the order. At the +same time there is nothing mystical, supernatural, +or merely fantastic about it, though its +spirit is humanitary and even socialistic. The +scene is in modern times, but though the +names of the heroes are German, and the circumstances +in which they are placed German, +the author has succeeded in producing a truly +cosmopolitan romance. The nine volumes +are sold in Germany for about $8 00.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Henry Taylor</hi>, the author of Philip Van +Artevelde, is the subject of an article in the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Grenzboten</hi>. The writer takes him, as the acknowledged +first living dramatic poet of England, +to be the best illustration of the nature +and characteristics of the English drama. +This drama is said to be more remarkable for +sharply-outlined and detailed characters, than +for the invention of exciting and consistent +action. The characters in all their peculiarities +are first created, and situations are made +and arranged for them afterward. The evil +of this is, that the whole thus becomes fragmentary, +and the particulars outweigh and +obscure the general spirit and intention of +the piece. Even Shakspeare, with his gigantic +genius, was not free from this defect. +His Merry Wives of Windsor, for instance, is +rich in comic situations and figures, but they +are arbitrarily put together, and every scene +has the character of an episode; the action +does not go forward in a true and consistent +course. Now-a-days the evil is worse, because +it is the fashion to substitute reflection for +natural feeling. Taylor is like those portrait +painters who paint the features so carefully +as to destroy the general character of the +face. His men and women are not alive and +genuine. Still their language is grave and +noble, their thoughts comprehensive, often +striking, and their emotions, though artificial, +are elaborated with great insight and +knowledge of the world. Compared with +the wretched creations of the French romanticists, +they are worthy of all praise. The +critic then proceeds to analyze Isaac Comnenus, +Philip Van Atevelde, and Fair Edwin, +setting forth with great fairness the excellencies +and faults of each.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A new contribution to an obscure but +most interesting part of European history is +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Deutschland in der Revolutions periode von</hi> +1522-26, (Germany, in the Revolutionary +Period from 1522 to 26,) by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Joseph Edmund +Jörg</hi>. The author has had access to a great +mass of original and hitherto unused materials, +especially diplomatic correspondence +and other documents in the Bavarian archives. +His view of the subject is very different +from that taken by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Zimmermann</hi>, in his +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Peasants' War</hi>, or by any other writer. He +mocks at the idea that this revolution grew +out of the evils and oppressions suffered by +the people, and finds its most powerful impulse +in the passion for innovation that +sprung up along with the revival of classical +studies in the middle ages.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The antique fashion of presenting poetic +works to the public, is revived in Germany +with great success. Professor <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Griepenkerl</hi> of +Brunswick, whose tragedy of Robespierre +made a great sensation a year or more since, +is now reading his new play of the Girondists +to large audiences in the principal cities. +He has already been heard at Brunswick, +Leipzig, Dresden, and Bremen, and proposes +to visit other places on the same errand. The +play, which is a tragedy of course, is much +admired, though it is not thought to be adapted +to the stage. The Girondists were not +men of action, but orators and thinkers. The +final scene in the play is the famous banquet +before they were taken to execution. Charlotte +Corday is among the characters; the +women are said not to be drawn as truly and +powerfully as the men.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Carlyle's</hi> Life of Stirling is criticised in the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Grenzboten</hi>, which calls Carlyle the strangest +of all philosophers. This book is said, however, +to be, on the whole, clearer and more +intelligible than most of his former productions. +Still, like most works of the new romantic +school in England, of which Carlyle +is the chief, it aims rather to give expression +to the ideas and abilities of the author, than +to do justice to its subject. But it is in Warren's +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Lily and the Bee</hi>, that the school appears +in full bloom. This is said to consist +mostly of exclamation points, and is written +in a sort of lapidary style, that deals in riddles, +pathos without object, sentimentality +with irony, world-pain, and allusions to all +the kingdoms of heaven and earth, without +any explanation as to what relation these allusions +bear to each other, and with a Titanic +pessimism as its predominating tone, which +first rouses itself up to take all by storm, and +finishes by being soothed into happy intoxication +by the odors of a lily. This is better treatment +than <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Lily and the Bee</hi> gets at home.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="269" /><anchor id="Pg269" /> + +<div> +<p>In the second volume of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Shakspeare as +Protestant, Politician, Psychologist and Poet</hi>, +by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dr. Ed. Vehse</hi>—spoken of as being "even +more uninteresting than the first," we find +the two following extraordinary ideas. Firstly, +that Shakspeare followed a theory of +physical <hi rend="font-style: italic">temperaments</hi> in his characters—that +Hamlet was a representative of the melancholy +or nervous, Othello of the choleric, +Romeo of the sanguine, and Falstaff of the +phlegmatic. Secondly, that in Falstaff, +Shakspeare parodied—himself! Or to give +his own words, "We may suppose that +Shakspeare's physical constitution inclined +to corpulence, and inspired in him the disposition +to the life of a <hi rend="font-style: italic">bon vivant</hi>. His intimacy +with the Earl of Southampton may +have favored this disposition, since they led +for a long time a dissipated tavern-life, and +were rivals in love matters!" The work is +principally made up of extracts from Shakspeare's +plays, to every which extract we find +appended "How admirable,"—"Excellent," +and similar aids to those who are not familiar +with the English bard.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>We commend to the attention of philologists +Das <hi rend="font-style: italic">Gothische Runenalphabet</hi>, (or The +Gothic Runic Alphabet,) recently published +by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Hertz</hi> of Berlin. "Before Wulfila, the +Goths had an alphabet of twenty-five letters, +formed according to the same principles, and +bearing nearly the same names as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Runes</hi> +of the Anglo-Saxons and Northmen, and probably +arranged in the same order of succession. +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Wulfila</hi> adopted the Grecian alphabet, +which through his modification was received +by the Goths to the old twenty-five letters." +This is the theory propounded in the work, +which is not wanting, as we learn, in instructive +information. In connection with this we +may notice a book which has been deemed +worthy of a modern English republication in +elegant style, the often referred to <hi rend="font-style: italic">Scriptural +Poems</hi> of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Cædmon</hi>, in Anglo-Saxon, an edition +of which, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">R. W. Bouterwek</hi>, with +an Anglo-Saxon Glossary, has recently been +published by Bædeher of Elberfeldt.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Preussische Zeitung</hi> states that <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. +Hanke</hi>, a learned Bohemian, is publishing, in +Prague, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">fac-simile</hi> of the Gospels on which +the Kings of France have always been sworn +at their coronation at Rheims. The manuscript +volume is in the Slavonian language, +and has been preserved at Rheims ever since +the twelfth century, but it has only been lately +discovered in what language it was written.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The eleventh volume of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Monumenta +Germaniæ Historica</hi> inde ab anno Christi 500 +usque ad annum 1500 auspiciis societ, aperiendis +fontibus serum German medii ævi edid, +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">G. H. Pertz</hi>, has just made its appearance. +This work is regarded as a stupendous effort +of erudition and historical acumen, even in +Germany.</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dr. Hagberg</hi>, a professor at the University +of Upsal, has just published at Stockholm a +version of the complete works of Shakspeare, +the first ever made in the Swedish language. +It is in twelve thick octavo volumes. The +Shaksperian Society of London having received +a presentation copy of this translation, +has returned a vote of thanks to Dr. Hagberg, +accompanied by forty volumes of the Society's +publications, all relating to the great dramatist +and the state of dramatic art in his time.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dunlop's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of Fiction</hi> has been translated +into German by Professor Liebrecht of +Liege, and enlarged so as to be much more +complete than the original. The version +bears the title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Geschichte der Prosadichtung +oder, Geschichte der Romane, Novellen +und Mährchen</hi> (History of Prose Poetry, or +History of Romances, Novels and Traditional +Tales). It gives a complete account of the +most prominent fictions from the Greek romances +down to the present day, and is quite +as valuable for those who like to take their +novels condensed, as for those who make a +historical study of literature.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Holtei</hi>, the German poet, has published a +four-volume novel, called <hi rend="font-style: italic">Die Vagabunden</hi> +(The Vagabonds). It is a curious and successful +book. It treats of the various classes that +get their living by amusing others, not merely +of theatrical and musical artists, but of circus-riders, +ventriloquists, jugglers, rope-dancers, +puppet-showmen, &c. Indeed, actors and +musicians are only introduced casually, while +the lower classes, if we may so call them, of +wandering artists, make up the book; and +they make it up not in the form of caricatures +or exaggerations, but as genuine living characters, +with the faults and virtues that really +belong to men of their respective professions +The story is a good one, and is varied with +all sorts of strange adventures.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>In poetry we observe the attractive title +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Æolian Harp of the World's Poetry</hi>, +a collection of poems of all countries and +ages, "dedicated to German ladies and +maidens," by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Ferd. Schmidt</hi>. Also by the +same collector, a Household Treasury of the +most beautiful Ballads, Romances, and Poetic +Legends of all Times and Nations; by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Bruno +Lindner</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Four Tales</hi>, and from the Countess +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Agnes Schwerin</hi>, a new edition of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">What I heard from the bird</hi>. Were we +confident that the Countess were intimately +familiar with English poetry, we should feel +half inclined to accuse her of having taken +this title from</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"High diddle ding, I heard a bird sing."</l> +</lg> + +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">G. Puslitz</hi> has "thrown forth," as Bacchus +threw the wreath of Ariadne, a "garland of +Stories," entitled <hi rend="font-style: italic">What the Forest Tells</hi>. +Whether, like the wreath alluded to, it will +reach the stars, we must leave our readers or +his to decide.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="270" /><anchor id="Pg270" /> + +<div> +<p>In Science, we observe the publication of +a piece of eccentric nonsense such as emanates +at the present day only from a weak +brother in Germany, or occasionally from a +would-be <hi rend="font-style: italic">original</hi> in New England. The +work to which we refer is the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Natur und +Geist</hi> (or <hi rend="font-style: italic">Nature and Spirit</hi>) of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dr. Johann +Riohers</hi>. In the second volume he attempts +to utterly overwhelm, confound, and destroy +Newton's Theory of Attraction, by such an +argument as the following. "Let any man +jump from a height, in descending he feels +no <hi rend="font-style: italic">attraction</hi> to the Earth. How hasty and +absurd therefore is it to attribute the movement +in question to such an attraction."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A new collection of German Domestic Legends +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">Haus Mährchen</hi>) has been published +at Leipzig, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J.W. Wolf</hi>, a distinguished +German philologist. His Legends closely resemble +those collected by Grimm, and, like +them, are curious and instructive. He obtained +them, one from a Gipsey, others from +peasants in the mountain districts, and others +from some companies of Hessian soldiers. +He remarks that many such ancient legends +are yet floating about among the German +people, and that they ought to be collected +before they are lost.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Zend Avesta</hi>, or On the things of Heaven +and the World beyond the Grave, is the title +of a new book in three volumes just published +at Leipzig, in German, of course, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Gustav +Theodor Fechnor</hi>. The author attempts +to prove the possibility, if not the certainty, +of a future life of the individual after death. +His demonstrations are drawn from the analogies +of the natural world. He exhibits a +wide acquaintance with nature and with literature, +but is not thought to have made any +positive additions to psychological science.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Those who are conversant with the curiosities +of the Middle Ages, and have read the +entertaining history of "<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ye Nigromancer +Virgilius</hi>," in which the Mantuan bard lives +no longer in the magic of song, but that of +literal sorcery, will peruse with pleasure the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Virgil's Fortleben im Mittelalter</hi>, or The +Life of Virgil continued in the Middle Ages, +by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">G. Rappert</hi>. Of all the wild romantic +legends which the romantic time brought +forth, none surpass in singularity and interest +this singular narration.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Temperance Tales</hi> are produced in Germany +as well as elsewhere. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Jeremias Gotthelf</hi> +is the best author who there cultivates +this style of composition. His <hi rend="font-style: italic">Dürsli, the +Brandy drinker</hi>, has just passed through a +fourth edition, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">How five Maidens miserably +perished in Brandy</hi>, to a second. Gotthelf has +the talent of combining great dramatic interest +and artistic freshness of narration, with +a moral purpose. Hence the popularity of +these little books.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Niehl's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Bûrgerliche Gesellschaft</hi> (Civil Society) +is greatly praised by critics, as the most +valuable work lately published in Germany, +or indeed in Europe, upon the State of Society +and the causes operating to change it. +Especially good are its pictures of the different +classes in Germany, such as the nobility, +the peasantry, the industrious middle class, +and the proletaries. These pictures are said +to have the minuteness and fidelity of daguerreotypes. +The chapter on the "proletaries +of intellectual labor," gives any thing but +a flattering account of the literary classes on +the continent. Those classes are held up as +in a great measure perverted, empty, and +dangerous. Niehl divides Society in Germany +into four great classes, namely: the peasantry, +the aristocracy, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">bourgeoisie</hi> or middle +class, and the proletariat, or mere laborers +for wages. The last he regards as the +decaying and corrupting class, a sort of scum +in hot effervesence. This is, however, one +of the classes that produce social movement; +the other is the middle class; the conservative +or stationary classes are the peasantry +and aristocracy. The learned professions he +reckons among the middle class. He makes +no distinction between the proletaries who +live by the soil, and those who live by working +in connection with manufactures and mechanical +trades.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Another contribution to Goethean literature +is the Correspondence between the great +Poet and his intimate friend Knebel, which +has just appeared in Germany in two volumes. +The letters extend from 1774 to 1832, +and contain the free expression of Goethe's +opinions on a great variety of important subjects, +as well as many interesting particulars +in his personal history, hitherto unknown.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mr. Wetzstein</hi>, Prussian Consul at Damascus, +has returned to Europe, bringing a +valuable collection of Arabic, Turkish and +Persian manuscripts, which he expects to sell +to the Royal Library at Berlin. Of especial +value is a history of Persia during the fifteenth +and sixteenth centuries, which casts +light on several portions of Persian history +that have hitherto been obscure.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Longfellow's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Evangeline</hi> has been translated +into German and published at Hamburg. +The name of the translator is not given. The +critics find that the poem has a very marked resemblance +to Goethe's Herman and Dorothea.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dr. Mayo's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Berber</hi> has been translated +into the German by Mr. L. Dubois, and published +at Leipzig.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A new and splendid edition of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Pilgrim's +Progress</hi> has been published at Leipzig, +in German. It is curious to see the good +old book discussed by the critics as if it were +a new production.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="271" /><anchor id="Pg271" /> + +<div> +<p>German Historical Literature has lately +been enriched by numerous valuable works. +Among these we notice <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Wenck's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Fränkische +Reich</hi> (Frankish Empire), which treats that +subject, from A.D. 843 to 861, with instructive +thoroughness and philosophical insight; +two essays by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Ficker</hi>, the one on Reinhald +von Dassel, the Chancellor of Ferdinand I., +and the other on the attempt of Henry VI. +to render the German empire hereditary; +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Arnthen's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of Carinthia</hi>; <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Rink's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Tirol</hi>; <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Palazky's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of Bohemia</hi>; <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Minutoli's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the Elector Frederic I.</hi>; +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Riedel's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ten years of the History of the Ancestors +of the Royal House of Prussia</hi>; the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">History of Schleswig Holstein</hi>, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">George +Waitz</hi>; <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Ruckert's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Annals of German History</hi>; +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">G. Philip's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Outlines of the History of +the German Empire and German Law</hi>; <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Gengler's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">History of German Law</hi>; the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Coins +of the German Emperors and Kings in the +Middle Ages</hi>, a large work by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Cappe</hi>; the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Celts and Ancient Helvetians</hi>, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. B. Brozi</hi>; +and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Campaigns of the Bavarians</hi> from 1643 +to 1645, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. Hellmann</hi>; <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mayr's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Mann von +Rinn</hi> (Man of Rinn) deserves special mention. +The man of Rinn is Joseph Speckbacher, the +hero of the war of 1809 in the Tyrol. His +deeds, and those of his countrymen, are here +narrated in a style as attractive as the facts +are authentic.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>In all the States of the German Confederation +there are 2,651 booksellers, 400 of whom +deal only in their own publications, 2,200 sell +books, but do not publish, and 451 keep +general assortments of books, and publish +also. At Berlin there are 129 booksellers, at +Leipzic, 145, at Vienna, 52, at Stuttgard, 50, +and at Frankfort, 36. A hundred years ago +there were only 31 at Leipzic and 6 at Berlin, +and at two fairs held at Leipzic in 1750, only +350 German booksellers' establishments were +represented. No one is allowed in Germany +to become a bookseller without a license from +the government, and in Prussia the applicant +has to pass a special examination.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Those desirous of acquiring languages by +wholesale, may try a recent work by Captain +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. Nepomuk Szöllözy</hi>, with which the scholar +can learn, according to the Ollendorffian system, +French, German, English, Italian, Russian, +Spanish, Hungarian, Wallachian and +Turkish. Phrases and vocabularies of all the +languages are appended.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A second edition of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Adolf Stahr's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Preussische +Revolution</hi>, has appeared in Germany, +revised by the author and dedicated to Macaulay. +No recent book in Germany has +been more successful than this.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Max Schlesinger's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Wanderings through +London</hi> are announced at Berlin; the first +volume is already published. One of the +chapters treats of "Linkoln's-In-Fields."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>We learn from the last number of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Journal Asiatique</hi>, that <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Wöpcke</hi>, a mathematician +who devotes himself to Arabic +studies, has discovered in some Arabic manuscripts +two works purporting to be by Euclid, +which have not been preserved in the Greek +original, nor are any where referred to as +his by ancient mathematical writers. One is +a treatise on the lever, and the other on the +division of planimetric figures. The authenticity +of the two is thought to be perfectly +established by collateral evidence.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The Hungarian author. Baron Eötvös, has +just published a work called <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ueber den Einfluss +der Neuen Ideen auf den Staat</hi> (On the +influence of new ideas upon the State). He +argues that the students of social and political +science should confine themselves strictly +to the method received in the natural sciences, +and employed there with such success; +first establish what are the genuine experimental +phenomena, and then by induction settle +the law which produces and governs them.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>We expect a treat from <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Moritz Wagner's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Reise nach Persien und dem Lande der Kurden</hi> +(Journey to Persia and Kurdistan) the +first volume of which is advertised in our last +files of German papers. Wagner is one of +the best of travellers, and we shall look for the +book itself with some impatience. The second +volume is announced as to appear in +three weeks after the first.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The second part of the third volume of +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Humboldt's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Kosmos</hi>, has just appeared at +Stuttgart. It treats of the heavenly nebulae, +suns, planets, comets, aurora borealis, zodiacal +light, meteors, and meteoric stones. This +completes the uranological part of the description +of the physical universe. Humboldt has +already begun his fourth volume, and expects +to finish it before June next.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Kossuth</hi> is speculated on by a German +bookseller, who advertises a work giving a +complete account of his sayings and doings +since the capitulation at Vilagos, including +his flight to Turkey and his residence there, +the negotiations for his release, his journey +from Kutahia to England, and his tarry there +up to sailing for America, with a portrait.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Rev. Henry T. Cheever's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Life in the +Sandwich Islands</hi> (noticed by us lately in the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">International</hi>), is reprinted in London, by +Bentley, and translated in German for a publisher +at Berlin.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Silvio Pellico</hi>, so famous for his works, +his imprisonments and sufferings, is passing +the winter in Paris.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The complete works of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Clemens Brentano</hi>, +have been brought out at Frankfort, in +seven volumes.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="272" /><anchor id="Pg272" /> + +<div> +<p>Two books of travels in Scandinavia have +just appeared in Germany. One is the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Bilder +aus dem Norden</hi> (Pictures of the North), +by Professor <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Oscar Schmidt</hi> of Jena; and +the other <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hägringar</hi>, or a Journey through +Sweden, Lapland, Norway, and Denmark, in +1850, by a young author. Professor Schmidt +amply repays the reader, which is more than +can always be said of the author of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hägringar</hi>. +Both works are, however, especially +worthy the attention of those who wish to +study the natural history and ethnography of +the countries in question.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Madame Von Weber</hi>, widow of the composer, +who has for some years resided at Vienna, +has applied to the Emperor of Austria +for permission to dispose of the three original +MSS. scores of her husband's operas, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Der +Freischütz, Eutryanthe</hi>, and <hi rend="font-style: italic">Oberon</hi>. These +were in the Royal Library at Vienna; and +she purposes offering them to the three sovereigns +of Saxony, Prussia, and England,—in +which respective countries they were originally +produced. The Emperor has caused the +MSS. to be delivered to her.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Professor Nuytz</hi>, whose work on canon +law was recently condemned by the Holy See, +has resumed his lectures at Turin. The lecture-room +was crowded, and the learned professor +was received with loud applause. He +adverted to the hostility of the clergy, and +to the Papal censures of his work, which censures +he declared to be in direct opposition to +the rights of the civil power. He expressed +his thanks to the ministry for having refused +to deprive him of his chair.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A valuable contribution to Italian history +is <hi rend="font-style: italic">Die Carafa von Maddaloni, Neapel unter +Spanische Herrschaft</hi> (Naples under Spanish +Domination), just published in Germany, by +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Alfred von Reumont</hi>, a member of the Prussian +Legation at Florence, who, more than +almost any other man, has made a study of the +history of that part of Italy, and who in this +work has had access to a great mass of new +documents. He writes as a monarchist, but +his facts may be relied on. The work is in +two volumes.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Every body remembers the noise made in +New-York some fifteen years since by the +revelations of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Maria Monk</hi>. We notice a +translation of her famous disclosures advertised, +with all sorts of trumpet blowing, in +our German papers.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>An edition of the complete works of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Kepler</hi> +is preparing in Germany, under the supervision +of Prof. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Frisch</hi>, of Stuttgart. The +manuscripts of the great astronomer, preserved +at St. Petersburg, have been examined +for the purpose, with rich results. It is also +proposed to erect a monument to Kepler at +Stuttgart.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Sixteen German books were prohibited in +Russia in August last; among them were <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Fontaine's</hi><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps"></hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Poems</hi>, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Görre's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Christian Mysticism</hi>, +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Kutz's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Manual of Sacred History</hi>, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Schmidt's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Death of Lord Byron</hi>, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Kinkel's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Truth without +Poetry</hi>, and <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Strauss's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Life Questions</hi>. Of +eleven other works, a few pages from each +were prohibited; among these was the German +version of Lieutenant <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Lynch's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">United +States Expedition to the Jordan and the Dead +Sea</hi>. These works are allowed to enter Russia +after having the objectionable pages cut out.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The science of landscape gardening is enriched +by a new work of value just published +at Leipzig, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Rudolph Liebeck</hi>, the director +of the public garden in that city. It is called +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Die bildenden Garten Kunst in seinen Modernen +Formen</hi> (The Modern Constructive Art +of Gardening). It has twenty colored plates.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Cotta</hi>, of Stuttgart, is preparing to publish +a splendid illustrated edition of Goethe's +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Faust</hi>. The designs are to be by an artist +well known in Germany, Engelbert Seibertz. +The work is to be published in numbers.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The historical remains and letters of George +Spalatin have been published at Weimar. +They are a valuable addition to the history +of the Reformation.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>It is remarkable that the only oriental nation +whose literature has much resemblance +to ours, and has a direct practical value for +us, is the Chinese. For instance, the works +of this people upon agriculture abound in +practical information, which may be made +immediately useful in Europe and America. +We noticed, some time since, the treatise on +the raising and care of silk worms, translated +and published at Paris, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Stanislas Julien</hi>, +which was so warmly welcomed in +France as a timely addition to what was +there known upon the subject. It seems that +this work was but a small portion of an extensive +Cyclopedia of Agriculture in use in +China, where the science of tilling the soil +has in many respects been developed to an +astonishing degree of perfection. This cyclopedia, +M. Hervey, a French scholar, whose +knowledge of the Eastern languages is accompanied +by an equally profound love of +farming, has undertaken to translate entire. +This is a difficult and tedious enterprise, especially +on account of the mass of botanical +and technical expressions which occur in the +work, and of which the dictionaries furnish +no explanation. Meanwhile M. Hervey has +published some of the results of his studies in +a work called <hi rend="font-style: italic">Investigations on Agriculture +and Gardening among the Chinese</hi>. He mentions +several varieties of fruits, vegetables, +and trees, which might advantageously be introduced +into France and Algiers; he also +analyzes the Cyclopedia, and shows what are +the difficulties in translating it.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="273" /><anchor id="Pg273" /> + +<div> +<p>A remarkable contribution to our knowledge +of China, is <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Biot</hi>'s recent translation +of the book called <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tscheu-li</hi>. It seems that in +the twelfth century before Christ, the second +dynasty that had ruled the country, that of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Thang</hi>, fell by its own vices, and the empire +passed into the hands of Wu-wang, the head +of the princely family of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tscheu-li</hi>. Wu-wang +was a great soldier and statesman; he confided +to his brother Tscheu-Kong, a man evidently +of extraordinary political genius, the +moral and administrative reformation of the +empire. He first laid the foundation of a reform +in moral ideas by an addition to the Y-King +or sacred book, which the Chinese revere +and incessantly study, but which still remains +an unintelligible mystery for Europeans. Of +his administrative reforms a complete record +is preserved in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tscheu-li</hi>, and nothing could +be easier to understand.</p> + +<p>When the Tscheus thus came into power, +they found in existence a powerful feudal +aristocracy, from which they themselves proceeded, +and which they must tolerate. Accordingly, +they recognized within the imperial +dominions sixty-three federal jurisdictions, +which were hereditary, but whose +rulers were obliged to administer according +to the laws and methods of the empire. Having +made this concession, they abolished all +other hereditary offices, and established instead, +a vast system of centralization, such as +the world has never seen equalled elsewhere. +The administration, according to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tscheu-li</hi>, +is divided among six ministries, which were +also divided into sections, and the executive +functions descend regularly and systematically +to the lowest official, and include the +entire movement of society. The emperor +and the feudal princes are restrained by formalities +and usage, as well as by the expression +of disapprobation; and the officials of +every grade by their hierarchical dependency, +and by a system of incessant oversight; and +finally, the people by proscription, and the +education, industrial, as well as mental and +moral, which the State dispenses to them. +The sole idea in which this astonishing system +rests, is that of the State, whose office is +to care for all that can contribute to the public +good, and which regulates the action of +every individual with a view to this end. In +his organization, Tscheu-Kong excelled every +thing that the most centralized governments +of Europe have devised.</p> + +<p>The Tscheu family remained in power for +five centuries, and was finally broken down +by the feudal element they had preserved. +But so deep was the impress of Tscheu-Kong +upon the nation, that after centuries of revolutions +and civil war, it returned to his institutions +and principles, and it is by them and +in a great degree in their exact forms, that +China is now governed.</p> + +<p>In form the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tscheu-li</hi> is like an imperial +almanac of our own times. It is, however, +much more complete, because Tscheu-Kong +gives in it a mass of detailed instructions, in +order to make the officials aware of their duties +and the precise limits of their authority. +Thus the work affords a quite exact picture +of the social condition of China at that time. +There is no other monument of antiquity with +which it can be compared, except the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Manus</hi>, +the Indian book of law. The difference is, +that in China the intellectual activity was altogether +political, and the public organization +altogether imperial and political; while in India +the mental activity was metaphysical, and +the public organization altogether municipal.</p> + +<p>The translation of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tscheu</hi> was not published +till after M. Biot's decease; it was +brought out by his father, with the assistance +of M. Stanislas Julien.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The library of the famous Cardinal Mezzofanti +is about to be sold, and the catalogue is +already printed—in Italian, of course. It is one +of the most extensive and valuable collection +of works in various languages ever made, and +it is to be hoped that it may not be disposed +of at the sale, but pass all together into some +public library—that of some university would +be most appropriate. To indicate the contents +of the catalogue, we give the titles of +the different parts: Books in Albanian or +Epirotic, Arabic, Armenian, American (Indian +dialects of Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, +Peru, United States), Bohemian, Chaldaic, +Chinese (Cochin-Chinese, Trin-Chinese, Japanese), +Danish (Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, +Laplandic), Hebrew (Antique, Rabbinic, +Samaritan), Egyptian, or Coptic-Egyptian +and Coptic, Arabic, Etrusean, Phœnician, +Flemish, French (Breton-French, Lorraine-French, +Provençal), Gothic and Visi-Gothic, +and Greek and Greek-Latin, Modern Greek, +Georgian or Iberian, Cretian or Rhetian, +Illyrian, Indo-oriental (Angolese, Burmese +or Avian, Hindostanee, Malabar, Malayan, +Sanscrit), English (Arctic, Breton or Celtic, +Scotch-Celtic, Scotch, Irish, Welch), Italian +(Fineban dialect, Maltese, Milanese, Sardinian, +Sicilian), Kurdistanee or Kurdic, Latin, Maronite +and Syriac Maronite, Oceanic (Australian), +Dutch, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (various +dialects), Slavonian (Carniolan, Serbian, +Ruthenian, Slavo-Wallachian), Syriac, Spanish +(Catalan, Biscayan), Russian, Turkish, +Hungarian, Gipsey.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The French historian <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Michelet</hi>, deprived +of his professorship in the College of France, +is devoting himself more than ever to literature. +His last work, of which an authorized +translation has just appeared in London, is +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Martyrs of Russia</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Michel Nicolas</hi>, one of the ablest among +the French theologico-ethical writers, has +published a translation of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Considerations +on the Nature and Historical Developments +of Christian Philosophy</hi>, by Dr. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Ritter</hi>, of +the University of Gottingen.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="274" /><anchor id="Pg274" /> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Schonenberger</hi>, a music-publisher at +Paris, has purchased from the heirs of Paganini +the copyright of his works, and is now +publishing them, under the editorial supervision +of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Achille Paganini</hi>, the son of the +great violinist. The edition will comprise +every thing that he left behind in writing. +Hector Berlioz speaks with enthusiasm in the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Journal des Debats</hi> of the two grand concertos +which have just appeared, one of them containing +the marvellous rondo of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">campanella</hi>. +Berlioz speaks in high praise of Paganini's +genius as a composer. A volume would +be required, he says, to indicate the new effects, +the ingenious methods, the grand and +noble forms which he discovered, and even +the orchestral combinations, which before him +were not suspected. In spite of the rapid +progress which, thanks to Paganini, the violin +is making at the present day in respect of +mechanical execution, his compositions are +yet beyond the skill of most violinists, and in +reading them it is hardly possible to conceive +how their author was able to execute them. +Unfortunately he was not able to transmit +to his successors the vital spark which animated +and rendered <hi rend="font-style: italic">human</hi> those astonishing +prodigies of mechanism.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Philarete Chasles</hi>, one of the literary +critics of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Journal des Debats</hi>, has published, +at Paris, a book called <hi rend="font-style: italic">Etudes sur la Litterateur +et les Mæurs des Anglo-Americanis</hi>, +which abounds in those curious blunders that +some French authors seem to be destined to +when they write upon topics connected with +foreign countries. For instance, he makes +the pilgrims of Plymouth to have been the +founders of Philadelphia, New-York, and +Boston. Buffalo he sets down opposite to +Montreal, speaks of the puritans of Pennsylvania +as near neighbors of Nova Scotia, and +extends Arkansas to the Rocky Mountains. +At New-York his regret is that a railroad has +destroyed the beauty of Hoboken, and at New +Orleans he laments that marriages between +whites and Creoles are interdicted. Of Cooper, +Irving, Bryant, Audubon, and Longfellow, +he speaks in terms of just praise, but Willis is +not mentioned. Bancroft and Hildreth are +mentioned as historians, Prescott is spoken +of briefly in connection with his Ferdinand +and Isabella, while his other works are not +alluded to. To Herman Melville, M. Chasles +devotes fifty pages, while Mr. Ticknor has not +even the honor of a mention. The author of +this work is very far from doing justice either +to American literature or to himself.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Five of the nine intended volumes of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Lafuente's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">General History of Spain</hi> from the +remotest times to the present day, have appeared +in Paris.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>In Paris a new edition is announced of the +best French versions of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Fenimore Cooper's</hi> +works—six or eight illustrated volumes.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Guizot</hi> is about to publish a new volume +at Paris, with the title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Shakspeare et son +Temps</hi> (Shakspeare and his Times). It is to be +composed of his Life of Shakspeare, and the +articles that he has written at various times +upon different plays. The only novelty in it is +a notice on Hamlet which was prepared expressly +for this publication. He regards both +Macbeth and Othello as better dramas than +Hamlet, but thinks the last contains more +brilliant examples of Shakspeare's sublimest +beauties and grossest faults. "Nowhere," +says Guizot, "has he unveiled with more +originality, depth and dramatic effect, the inmost +state of a great soul: but nowhere has +he more abandoned himself to the caprices, +terrible or burlesque, of his imagination, and +to that abundant intemperance of a mind +pressed to get out its ideas without choosing +among them, and bent on rendering them +striking by a strong, ingenious, and unexpected +mode of expression, without any regard +to their truth and natural form." The +French critic also thinks that on the stage +the effect of Hamlet is irresistible.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A Capital work on Paris has just been +published at Berlin, from the pen of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Friedrich +Szarvady</hi>, a Hungarian, who has resided +for several years in Paris. The titles +of the chapters are:—Paris in Paris; Strangers +in Paris; Parisian Women; Street Eloquence; +the Temple of Jerusalem (the Bourse); +Salons and Conversation; Dancing, Song, +and Flowers; the Ball at the Grand Opera; +Artist Life; the Press; the Feuilleton; History +on a Public Square; Lamartine, Cavaignac, +Thiers; Louis Bonaparte. Szarvady observes +sharply, and writes with as much grace +and <hi rend="font-style: italic">esprit</hi> as a Frenchman. Nothing can be +more taking than his pages. They deserve a +translation from the German into English.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Villergas</hi>, the Spanish historian, who in +one of his recent works drew a parallel between +Espartero and Narvaez which excited +great attention at Madrid and in other parts +of Spain, has just been condemned by the +court which has charge of the offences of the +press, to a fine of twenty thousand reals, or +twenty-five hundred dollars, for the sin +against public order and private character +contained in that parallel.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>An interesting and valuable series of articles +reviewing historically the systems of +land tenure which have prevailed in different +countries, is appearing in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Journal des +Débats</hi> from the pen of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Henry Trianon</hi>. +The systems of India and China have already +been examined.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The termagant wife of Sir Edward Bulwer +Lytton has just published <hi rend="font-style: italic">The School for Husbands</hi>, +a novel founded on the life and times +of Moliere. Probably her own husband is +shot at in all the chapters.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="275" /><anchor id="Pg275" /> + +<div> +<p>The books on modern French history would +already fill an Alexandrian library, and every +month produces new ones. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Leonard +Gallois</hi>, a well-known historical writer, announces +a <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the Revolution of February, +1848</hi>, in <hi rend="font-style: italic">five</hi> large octavos, with forty-one +portraits. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Barante</hi>'s <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the Convention</hi> +will consist of six octavos, of which three +are published, and the last is accompanied by +it biographical sketch of each of the seven +hundred and fifty members. The period embraced +in this work is from 1792 to 1795, inclusive. +There is a new <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the City of +Lyons</hi>, in three octavos, by the city librarian.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Letters and unpublished Essays of +Count</hi> <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Joseph de Maistre</hi> have been brought +out at Paris, in two volumes octavo. The +letters show the celebrated author in a new +and pleasing light; a tone of genial unreserve +prevails in many of them, which those who +have become familiar with his brilliant, dogmatic, +and paradoxical intellect, in his more +elaborate writings, would hardly suppose him +capable of. No writer, of this century at +least, has more powerfully set forth the doctrines +of the Roman Catholic Church than he.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Political Situation of Cuba</hi>, a volume +published in Paris, by Don <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Antonio Saco</hi>, is +commended in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Revue des Deux Mondes</hi>. +Don Antonio was one of the most distinguished +intelligences and liberals of the precious +island: he argues against independence, or +annexation to the American Union: he suggests +various arrangements by which Spain +could safely establish political freedom in Cuba, +and he thinks administrative and judicial +reforms to counteract the worst ills of her +present situation, might be accomplished.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A New edition of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Sharon Turner</hi>'s <hi rend="font-style: italic">History +of the Anglo-Saxons</hi> has just appeared +in London, with important additions and revision. +The first edition of Turner's History +was published in London more than fifty +years ago. At the time when the first volume +appeared, the subject of Anglo-Saxon +antiquities had been nearly forgotten by the +British public, although the most venerated +laws, customs, and institutions of the nation +originated before the Norman conquest. The +Anglo-Saxon manuscripts lay unexamined in +archives, and the important information they +contained had never been made a part of general +history. Mr. Turner undertook a careful +and patient investigation of all the documents +belonging to the period preserved in +the kingdom, and the result of his labors was +the work in question, which at once gave rise +to an almost universal passion for the records +and remains of the Anglo-Saxon people, and +called forth general applause from the best +minds of England. A good edition of his +History was published several years ago by +Carey and Hart of Philadelphia, but it is +now, we believe, out of print.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The Rev. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">John Howard Hinton</hi>, author +of a well-known History of the United States, +has published, in London, a volume under the +title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Test of Experience</hi>, in which he +has presented a masterly argument for the +voluntary principle in matters of religion. +The "test of experience" is in this, as in all +other things, the best of tests, and the religious +institutions of the United States can well +bear its application. One of the most noticeable +results of the non-interference of the +State is pointed out in the following passage:</p> + +<quote rend="display"> +<p>"To travellers in the United States, no fact has +been more immediately or more powerfully striking +than the total absence of religious rivalry. +Amidst such a multitude of sects, an inhabitant of +the old world naturally, and almost instinctively +looks for one that sets up exclusive pretensions +and possesses an actual predominance. But he +finds nothing of the kind. Neither presbyterianism, +or prelacy, nor any other form of ecclesiasticism, +makes the slightest effort to lift its head +above its fellow. And with the resignation of exclusive +pretensions, the entire ecclesiastical strife +has ceased, and the din of angry war has been +hushed; and here, at length, the voluntary principle +is able to exhibit itself in its true colors, as a +lover of peace and the author of concord. It is +busied no longer with the arguing of disputed +claims, but throws its whole energy into free and +combined operations for the extension of Christianity. +The general religious energy embodies itself +in a thousand forms; but while there is before the +church a vast field to which the activities of all +are scarcely equal, there is, also, 'a fair field and +no favor,'—a field in which all have the same advantages, +and in which each is sure to find rewards +proportionate to its wisdom and its zeal. This inestimable +benefit of religious peace is clearly due +to the voluntary principle."</p> +</quote> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Junius</hi>, since the publication of his Letters, +never figured more conspicuously than during +the last month. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Paris Revue des Deux +Mondes</hi> has a very long article on the great +secret by M. Charles Remusat, a member of +the Institute, well known in historical criticism. +He arrays skilfully the facts and reasonings +which British inquirers have adduced +in favor of Sir Philip Francis, and the other +most probable author, Lord George Sackville. +He seems to incline to the latter, but does not +decide. He pronounces that, on the whole, +Junius was not "a great publicist." His +powers and influence are investigated and +explained by M. de Remusat with acuteness +and comprehensive survey. Lord Mahon, in +his new volumes, says, "From the proofs adduced +by others, and on a clear conviction of +my own, I affirm that the author of Junius +was no other than Sir Philip Francis." We +think not. The London <hi rend="font-style: italic">Athenæum</hi>, last year, +we thought, settled this point. It is understood +that the editor of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Grenville Papers</hi>, +now on the eve of publication, in London, is +in favor of Lord Temple as a claimant for the +authorship of Junius. The January number of +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Quarterly Review</hi> contains an article on +the subject.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="276" /><anchor id="Pg276" /> + +<div> +<p>The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Natural History of the Human Species</hi>, +by Lieutenant-Colonel <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Charles Hamilton +Smith</hi>, is the title of a duodecimo volume +from the press of Gould & Lincoln of Boston. +An American editor (Dr. Kneeland) has +added an introductory survey of recent literature +on the subject. The whole performance +is feeble. The author and his editor +endeavor to make out something like the infidel +theory of Professor <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Agassiz</hi>, which, a +year or two ago, attracted sufficient attention +to induce an investigation and an intelligent +judgment, in several quarters, as to the +real claims of that person to the distinctions +in science which his advertising managers +claim for him. We have not space now for +any critical investigation of the work, and +therefore merely warn that portion of our +readers who feel any interest in ethnological +studies, of its utter worthlessness.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>An Englishman, Mr. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Francis Bonynge</hi>, recently +from the East Indies, has come to this +country at the instance of our minister in +London, for the purpose of bringing before +us the subject of introducing some twenty of +the most valuable agricultural staples of the +East, among which are the tea, coffee, and +indigo plants, into the United States. He +gives his reasons for believing that tea and +indigo would become articles of export from +this country to an amount greater than the +whole of our present exports. He says that +tea, for which we now pay from sixty-five to +one hundred cents per lb. may be produced +for from two to five cents, free from the noxious +adulterations of the tea we import. He +has published a small volume under the title +of <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Future Wealth of America</hi>, in which his +opinions are fully explained and illustrated.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The first volume of a work on <hi rend="font-style: italic">Christian +Iconography</hi>, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Didron</hi>, of Paris, opens +to the curious reader a new source of intellectual +enjoyment, both in the department of +ancient religious art, and in the archæology +of the early paintings of the Catholic Church. +The rich, profuse, and quaint plates of the +original work are used in a translation ably +made by E.J. Millington, published in London +by Bohn, and in New-York by Bangs.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Sir Francis Bond Head</hi>, so well known +in this country as one of the former governors +of Canada, and as an author of remarkable +versatility and cleverness, has published +an agreeable but superficial book on Paris—the +Paris of January, 1852—under the quaint +title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">A Bundle of French Sticks</hi>; and Mr. +Putnam has reprinted it in his new library.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A remarkable book published in Louisville, +Kentucky, in 1847, by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. D. Nourse</hi>, +under the title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Remarks on the Past, and +its Legacies to American Society</hi>, has just +been reprinted in London, with an introduction +by <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">D. T. Coulton</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The following works, all of which have +promising titles, will soon be published by +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. S. Redfield</hi>: <hi rend="font-style: italic">Men of the Times in 1852</hi>, +comprising biographical sketches of all the +celebrated men of the present day; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Characters +in the Gospels</hi>, by Rev. E. H. Chapin; +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Tales and Traditions of Hungary</hi>, by Theresa +Pulzky; <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Comedy of Love</hi>, and the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the Eighteenth Century</hi>, by Arsene +Houssaye; Aytoun's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Lays of the Scottish +Cavaliers</hi>; <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Cavaliers of England</hi>, and +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Knights of the Olden Time, or the Chivalry +of England, France and Spain</hi>, by Henry +W. Herbert; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Lectures and Miscellanies</hi>, +by Henry James; and <hi rend="font-style: italic">Isa: a Pilgrimage</hi>, by +Caroline Chesebro.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-style: italic">The Westminster Review</hi> says of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Alice +Carey</hi>, whose <hi rend="font-style: italic">Clovernook</hi> we noticed favorably +in the last <hi rend="font-style: italic">International</hi>, that "no American +woman can be compared to her for +genius;" the Paris <hi rend="font-style: italic">Débats</hi> refers to her as a +poet of the rank of Mrs. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Elizabeth Barrett +Browning</hi> in England; the literary critic of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Tribune</hi> (the learned and accomplished +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Ripley</hi> whose judgment in such a matter is +beyond appeal) prefers her <hi rend="font-style: italic">Clovernook</hi> to Miss +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mitford's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Our Village</hi>, or Professor <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Wilson's</hi> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mr. Daniel S. Curtiss</hi> has availed himself +well of large opportunities for personal observation, +in his volume just published under +the title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Western Portraiture, and Emigrant's +Guide</hi>, a description of Wisconsin, Illinois, +and Iowa, with remarks on Minnesota +and other territories. It is the most judicious +and valuable book of the kind we have seen.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Herr Freund</hi>, the Philologist, is in London, +engaged in constructing a German-English +and English-German dictionary upon his +new system; and Professor <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Smith</hi>, the learned +editor of the Dictionary of Greek and Roman +Antiquities, announces a dictionary of +Greek and Roman Geography, the articles to +be written by the principal contributors to +his previous works.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Christmas Books</hi> of the present season +in England have not been very remarkable. +Mr. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dickens</hi>, in an extra number of his +Household Words, printed <hi rend="font-style: italic">What Christmas +is to Everybody</hi>; and we have from <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Wilkie +Collins</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">A New Christmas Story</hi>; by the +author of "The Ogilvies," <hi rend="font-style: italic">Alice Learmont, a +Fairy Tale of Love</hi>; by the author of "The +Maiden Aunt," a pleasant little book entitled +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Use of Sunshine</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Under the title of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Excerpta de P. Ovidii +Nastonis</hi>, Blanchard & Lea of Philadelphia +have published a series of selections from a +poet whose works, for obvious reasons, are +not read entire in the schools. The extracts +present some of the most beautiful parts of +this graceful and versatile poet.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="277" /><anchor id="Pg277" /> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>THE FINE ARTS</head> + +<p>The American Art Unions have not been +successful in the last year, unless an exception +may be made in regard to that of New +England, at Boston. The American, at New-York, +deferred indefinitely its annual distribution +of pictures, on account of the small +number of its subscriptions; and the Pennsylvanian, +at Philadelphia, by a recent fire in +that city has lost its admirably-engraved +plates of Huntington's pictures from the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Pilgrim's +Progress</hi>, the last of which was just +completed and placed in the hands of the +printer. It will make no distribution.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A Sicilian artist, residing at Naples, has +amused himself, and probably pleased his sovereign, +by composing a life-sized group, representing +Religion supporting King Ferdinand, +and guarded by an angel, who places +his foot on an evil spirit. On the other side +of this group is a child bearing the scales of +justice. "How much," writes a correspondent +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Athenæum</hi>, "the artist is to get for +this plaster blasphemy, I know not; but a +more impudent caricature (at the present moment) +it would be difficult to imagine." Another +artist has, however, beaten the Sicilian +sculptor quite out. A small bronze group represents +Religion triumphing over Impiety +and Anarchy. Impiety is represented by a +female figure, under whose arm are two books +inscribed Voltaire and Luther! Anarchy has +taken off her mask, and let fall two scrolls, on +which are written <hi rend="font-style: italic">Communismo</hi> and <hi rend="font-style: italic">Constituto</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Professor Zahn</hi>, who has been engaged +during a period of more than twenty years in +examining the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, +has exhibited at Berlin a collection of +casts unique in their kind. These are 8,000 +in number; and comprise all the remarkable +sculptures of the above places, besides those +found at Stabiæ, and those of the vast collection +of the Museo Borbonico and other museums +of the Two Sicilies. The casts from +the Museo Borbonico are the first ever made,—the +King of Naples having accorded the +privilege of taking these copies to M. Zahn +alone, in royal recompense for the Professor's +great work on Pompeii and Herculaneum.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A book which all students of art should +possess, is <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dr. Kugler's</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">Geschichte der Kunst</hi> +(History of Art), with the Illustrations (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Bilderatlos</hi>) +which accompany it, and which are +now being published at Stuttgart. The ancient +and modern schools of Art—Painting, +Sculpture, and Architecture—are here represented +in outlines of their most celebrated +and characteristic works. Eleven numbers +of these Illustrations have appeared, and the +whole work will be completed in the course +of the coming year.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>In our musical world there have been several +noticable facts in the last month. The +opera company, perhaps from the utter incapacity +of its director, has been divided, and +the best portion of it has been singing at Niblo's +Theatre. Jenny Lind's farewell series +of concerts was prevented by intelligence of +the death of the great singer's mother, in +Sweden. Catherine Hayes has been successful +in several concerts at Tripler Hall, and +Mrs. Bostwick, whom the best critics of the +city regard as superior to any singer who has +appeared among us, except Jenny Lind, has +given a second series of her subscription concerts, +which were extremely well attended.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A correspondent of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Athenæum</hi>, writing +from Egypt, urges that a few young artists +should be sent out with orders to copy +all the hieroglyphics on the most important +temples, as well as the numerous tablets and +fragments which are daily brought to light. +"A work pursued with such materials—all +theories and arbitrary classification being excluded—would +ever remain as a lasting monument, +and would reflect great credit on the +Government which should order its execution." +Less than one-half of the money required +for the removal of the Obelisk would +amply cover all expenses.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A correspondent of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Kuhne's Europa</hi> writes +from Dresden that a number of humorous +drawings, sketched by the pencil of Schiller, +and accompanied by descriptions in his own +hand, have been found in the possession of +a Swabian family, with whom the great poet +became acquainted during his residence at +Loschwitz.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>In Berlin, M. von Prinz, a pupil of Kiss, +the sculptor, is erecting a group which he +calls <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Lion-killer</hi> in imitation of the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Amazon</hi>. Kiss himself is engaged on a set of +groups from a fox-hunt, Rauch has almost +completed a bust of Humboldt, and statues of +General Gneisenau and of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hope</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>A colossal statue of the Emperor Napoleon, +thirty feet high, is to be placed on the +top of the Triumphal Arch, at the end of the +Champs Elysées, in Paris.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Kaulbach</hi> has undertaken to draw a set +of sketches for an illustrated edition of Shakspeare, +which will shortly be published by +Nicolai, At Berlin.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mr. Greenough</hi>, is now in New-York, +awaiting the arrival of his splendid group for +the Capitol, from Italy. He will soon be engaged +on his statue of his friend the late Mr. +Cooper, to be erected in this city.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="278" /><anchor id="Pg278" /> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>Historical Review of the Month</head> + +<p>The extraordinary abilities of Kossuth as +orator, hid attractive personal qualities, and +grandeur of his propositions, continue to occupy +the generous regard of the people of the United +States, but the impression which obtained at +one time that the national government would in +any manner or degree enter into his plans for +confining a future contest for the liberty of Hungary +exclusively to the two parties most immediately +interested, appears to have been very generally +given up. This country will continue to encourage +and aid oppressed peoples by showing how +wisely and efficiently its servants can attend to +her own affairs. At the same time it is not to be +doubted that citizens in their private capacity may +and will do much for the illustrious exile who pleads +among us for the means of opposing the oppressors +of his nation. Kossuth has been entertained +at public banquets since he left New-York by the +authorities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, +Annapolis, and Harrisburg; he has been received +by the President of the United States, the +two houses of Congress, and the legislatures of +Maryland and Pennsylvania; and on the 7th of +January he dined with the representatives, senators, +and other persons connected with the government, +at Washington, and Daniel Webster, +Lewis Cass, William H. Seward, and Stephen A. +Douglass, made speeches on the occasion expressive +of their personal respect and sympathy, and +their anxiety as individuals to see Hungary independent. +Mr. Cass indeed went so far as entirely +to endorse the doctrine of Kossuth respecting intervention +to insure non-intervention. Kossuth is +now in the state of Ohio, and he probably will remain +in this country long enough—since the French +revolution has at least deferred any great and united +movement of the European democracy—to visit +all the principal cities of the valley of the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>But little important business has yet been accomplished +in Congress, though numerous bills +have been introduced, as is usual in the early +weeks of the session. On the morning of the 24th +of December, a portion of the capitol, occupied +by the national library, was destroyed by fire, with +nearly sixty thousand printed volumes, and many +MSS., maps, medals, portraits, sculptures, and +other works of art.</p> + +<p>The legislature of several of the states are +now in session. Those of Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, +Wisconsin and California, met on the 5th of +January; those of New-York, Pennsylvania and +Delaware, on the 7th; those of Maryland and +Massachusetts, on the 7th; that of Indiana, on the +8th; those of Virginia and Illinois, on the 12th; +that of New Jersey, on the 13th; that of Maine, +on the 14th, and that of Louisiana, on the 19th. +No great national questions have been prominently +before the state legislatures, except that +of our foreign relations, with special reference to +Hungary, upon which the assemblies in the several +states appear to be less conservative than +Congress. The most important subject of local +administration, is that of the suppression of the +sales of intoxicating liquors. The law of Maine, +enacted last year, will probably be sustained in +that state; in Massachusetts a petition with more +than one hundred thousand signatures, has been +offered in the legislature for such a law, and similar +efforts are being made in New-York and other +States.</p> + +<p>In Mexico there is a continuance of the imbecility +of the government and the agitations of factions. +Rumors, constantly varying, in regard to +the conduct and prospects of Caravajal, leave us +in doubt whether any thing of real importance +will grow out of his attempts at revolution in the +northern provinces. The administration appears +to have acted with decision, but probably with +impotence so far as the final result is concerned, in +regard to the Tehuantepee railroad contract.</p> + +<p>South America presents the usual series of disturbances, +with some facts which indicate a prospect +of repose; but all such prospects in the +Spanish states of this continent are apt to be deceptive. +The birthday of Bolivar was celebrated +at Caracas on the 28th of October with great public +festivities. Treaties between Brazil and Uruguay +were formed for alliance, military aid, commerce +and navigation, and the mutual surrender of criminals, +on the 12th of October. We learn from +Buenos Ayres that, through November, Rosas was +making great preparations to meet Urquiza. He +had established a corps of observation in the direction +of Entre Rios to look out for an invasion. +A considerable emigration was taking place from +Buenos Ayres to Montevideo, mostly of previous +residents of the latter city.</p> + +<p>In Great Britain the most important recent +event is the retirement of Lord Palmerston from +the cabinet, in which he held the place of Secretary +of State for Foreign Affairs. This occurred +on the 22d of December. The causes of Lord +Palmerston's retirement are a subject of much +unsatisfactory speculation, and the fact is generally +regretted by the friends of political liberty in +Europe. His successor is Lord Granville, a nobleman +of manly and liberal character, heretofore +connected with the government. It is apprehended +that the popular feeling may induce the +recall of Lord Palmerston to be the head of a new +Ministry. Great Britain has now no envoy resident +in the United States, but it is not improbable +that Sir Henry Bulwer will return to this country +for the final settlement of affairs connected with +Central America. It is understood officially that +the attack of a British man-of-war on the United +States steamer Prometheus, at Greytown, was +entirely unauthorized.</p> + +<p>The Admiralty have determined not to send +another expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, +by way of Behring's Straits. The Plover is to be +communicated with each year by a man-of-war—the +Amphitrite is the next. The proposed overland +expedition of Lieut. Pym has been abandoned.</p> + +<p>The English war at the Cape of Good Hope +continues with little change, though a few important +successes by the English are reported. +The war appears to be condemned by a large +and respectable portion of the journals and the +people at home. In its character and details it +continues to resemble our own contest with the +Indians in Florida.</p> + +<pb n="279" /><anchor id="Pg279" /> + +<p>The month of December, 1851, witnessed, in +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">France</hi>, the successful accomplishment of a <hi rend="font-style: italic">coup +d'état</hi> not less daring than any that marked the +earlier annals of that country. It is asserted that +the personal security of the President was menaced +with imminent danger, when, on the evening +of the 1st of December, he came to the resolution +to strike the first blow. The measures he immediately +took were, to issue an appeal to the people +denouncing the conduct of the Assembly, +and declaring it dissolved; a proclamation to +the army, telling them that "to-day, at this solemn +moment, I wish the voice of the army to be heard;" +and a decree "in the name of the French people," +of which the articles were—"1. The National Assembly +is dissolved; 2. Universal Suffrage is re-established—the +law of the 31st May is abrogated; +3. The French people is convoked in its elective +colleges from the 14th of December to the 21st of +December following; 4. The state of siege is decreed +through the first military division; 5. The +Council of State is dissolved; 6. The Minister of +the Interior is charged with the execution of the +present decree." The appeal to the people contained +these further propositions; "Persuaded +that the instability of power, that the preponderance +of a single Assembly, are the permanent +causes of trouble and discord. I submit to your +suffrages the fundamental basis of a constitution +which the Assemblies will develop hereafter—1. +A responsible chief named for ten years; 2. The +Ministers dependent on the executive alone; 3. A +Council of State formed of the most distinguished +men, preparing the law, and maintaining the discussion +before the legislative corps; 4. A legislative +corps, discussing and voting the laws, named +by universal suffrage, without the <hi rend="font-style: italic">scrutin de liste</hi> +which falsifies the election; 6. A second Assembly +formed of all the illustrious persons of the nation—a +preponderating power, guardian of the +fundamental pact and of public liberty." At an +early hour, on the 2d, these manifestoes were +found covering the walls of Paris, and at the same +time the principal thoroughfares were filled with +troops of the line.</p> + +<p>The President had taken precautions that the +National Guard should not be called out. The +Generals Changarnier, Cavaignac, Bedeau, Lamoricière, +Leflo, Colonel Charras, MM. Bazé, Thiers. +Brun, the Commissary of Police of the Assembly, +and others of the leading heads of parties, were +arrested before they had risen for the day. Many +members of the Assembly gathered at the house +of M. Daru, one of their Vice-Presidents and, having +him at their head, proceeded to their ordinary +place of meeting, but found access effectually barred +by the Chasseurs de Vincennes, a corpse recently +returned from Algeria. These men forcibly +withstood the entrance of the members, some of +whom were slightly wounded. Returning with M. +Daru, they were invited by General Lauriston to +the Marie of the 10th arrondissement, where they +formed a sitting, presided over by two of their +Vice-Presidents, M. Vitel and M. Benuist d'Azy +(M. Daru having meanwhile been arrested), and +proceeded to frame a decree to the following effect: +"Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is deprived of +his functions as President of the Republic, and the +citizens are commanded to refuse him obedience; +the executive power passes in full right to the National +Assembly; the judges of the High Court +of Justice are required to meet immediately, on +pain of dismissal, to proceed to judgment against +the President and his accomplices. It is enjoined +on all functionaries and depositaries of authority +that they obey the requisition made in the name of +the Assembly, under penalty of forfeiture and the +punishment prescribed for high treason." While +this decree was being signed, another was unanimously +passed, naming General Oudinot commander +of the forces, and M. Tamisier chief of the staff. +These decrees had scarcely been signed by all +present, when a company of soldiers entered, and +required them to disperse. The Assembly refused +to do so, when, after some parley, two commissaries +de police were brought, the presidents were +arrested, and the whole body of members present, +230 in number, were marched across the city to +the barracks of the Quai d'Orsay. The next day +they were distributed to the prisons of Mount Valerien, +Mazas, and Vincennes; and the generals +Cavaignac, Lamoricière, Bedeau, and Changarnier, +were sent to Ham. During the day the population +viewed the soldiers in the streets merely as a +spectacle, and no violent excitement occurred. At +ten o'clock on Wednesday morning some members +of the Mountain appeared in the Rue d'Antoine, +and raised the cry <hi rend="font-style: italic">Aux armes!</hi> The party they +collected immediately began to erect a barricade +at the corner of the Rue St. Marguerite. Troops +were quickly at the spot, when the barricade was +carried, and the representative Baudin was killed. +Some other barricades were raised in the afternoon, +but as quickly destroyed. General Magnan, +the Commander-in-chief of the army of Paris, seeing +the day was passed in insignificant skirmishes, +now determined to withdraw his small posts, to +allow the discontented to gather to a head. On the +morning of the 4th it was reported that the insurrection +had its focus in the Quartiers St. Antoine, +St. Denis, and St. Martin, and that several +barricades were in progress. The General deferred +his attack until two o'clock, when the various +brigades of troops acted in concert. The barricades +were attacked in the first instance by +artillery, and then carried at the point of the +bayonet. There were none which offered very +serious resistance, and the whole contest was over +about five o'clock. In the evening, however, fresh +barricades were raised in the Rues Montmartre and +Montorgueil, and others in the Rues Pagevin and +des Fosses Montmartre, which were successfully +attacked in the night by the officers in command +of those quarters. On the 5th the last remains +of street-fighting were effectually quelled. The +loss to the military in these operations was twenty-five +men killed, of whom one was Lieut-Col. +Loubeau, of the line, and 184 wounded, of whom +seventeen were officers. The number of insurgents +killed is unknown, but they are estimated +it from two to three thousand, including, unfortunately, +many indifferent persons, who were accidentally +passing along the boulevards when the +soldiery suddenly opened their sweeping fire. +The insurgents taken with arms in their hands +were carried to the Champ de Mars, and there +shot by judgment of court martial. Most of the +political prisoners arrested were discharged after +a few days, some of the more formidable only being +longer detained.</p> + +<p>By a decree of the President dated the 2d December, +the French people were convoked in their<pb n="280" /><anchor id="Pg280" /> +respective districts for the 14th of the month to +accept or reject the following <hi rend="font-style: italic">plébiscite</hi>: "The +French people wills the maintenance of the authority +of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and delegates +to him the powers necessary to frame a Constitution +on the bases proposed in his proclamation of +the 2d December." On that day the voting consequently +commenced by universal suffrage; and +the President has been re-elected for ten years by +a majority greatly exceeding that of his contest +with Cavaignac. In Paris, of 394,049 registered +voters 197,091 have voted in the affirmative; +95,511, in the negative; and 96,819 abstained +from voting. The majority for Louis Napoleon +being 191,500. In the provinces he has had a +majority of eight to one. The inauguration of the +usurper took place in the church of Notre Dame +on the 3d of January, and the new order of things +has been recognized by all the courts of Europe.</p> + +<p>On the 25th of November a French squadron +appeared before Salee, to claim satisfaction for an +act of piracy committed by the inhabitants of that +town. The Caid asked for six days to take the +orders of the Emperor of Morocco; and the Caid +of Rabat sent a similar evasive reply. The next +day the French bombarded the place for seven +hours, the fire being returned by both forts of +Rabat and Salee. The Admiral, however, confined +his chastisement to the latter, which he thoroughly +performed, and fired the town in several +places. The French fleet arrived at Tangier on +the morning of the 29th, when the Consul-General +for Morocco and several officers of the squadron +landed, and had an interview with the Bashaw of +the province, which ended in a satisfactory arrangement, +to the great relief of the people of +Tangier, who were in consternation at the prospect +of sharing the fate of their neighbors.</p> + +<p>From Austria we learn the partial amelioration +in private business of the financial difficulties. +The Emperor published, on the 1st of January, +decrees, that whereas the provisions of the constitution +were cancelled by the imperial edict of +August 20, 1851, the last principles of political +right conceded by the constitution are now disavowed. +There now exists no political right in the +empire. The Austrian government continues to +watch with the keenest anxiety the proceedings +of the exiled Italians and Hungarians, and by very +stringent arrangements in regard to the press, +and the interdiction of most foreign journals, keeps +the "dangerous classes" in ignorance of the sympathy +with which they are regarded from abroad.</p> + +<p>The Queen of Spain, by a spontaneous act of +her royal clemency, granted a pardon to all such +prisoners, made in the last expedition against the +Isle of Cuba, as are citizens of the United States, +whether they be already in Spain, undergoing the +punishments they have incurred, or whether they be +still in Cuba. The queen on the 20th of December +gave birth to a princess, who is heir to the throne.</p> + +<p>From China there are reports that the Emperor +has been compelled to resign in favor of the revolutionary +general, whose triumphant march through +many revolted provinces has, from time to time, +been noticed in the last half year. The statement, +however, does not appear to be credited by +some of the best informed London journals.</p> + +<p>The Queen of Madagascar is bent on exterminating +Christianity in her dominions, and has long +mercilessly persecuted those who prefer the "new +religion." In the last outburst of this protracted +persecution, four persons were burnt alive; fourteen +precipitated from a high rock and crushed to +death; a hundred and seventeen persons condemned +to work in chains as long as they live; +twenty persons cruelly flogged with rods, besides +1,748 other persons mulcted in heavy penalties, +reduced into slavery, and compelled to buy themselves +back, or deprived of their wives and families. +Persons of rank have been degraded, and +sent as forced laborers to carry stone for twelve +months together to build houses; and, in an endless +variety of other ways have the maddened passions +of one wicked woman been permitted now +for years past to plunge a great country in ruin.</p> + +<p>There has been a serious Mussulman riot at +Bombay, occasioned by the Parsee editor of an +illustrated newspaper, in each number of which is +given a life and portrait of some remarkable historical +character, having published—in the series +(next to one of Benjamin Franklin)—a life and portrait +of Mahomet. Both are said to have been +unexceptionable according to European ideas, but +the whole Mussulman population (145,000 in number) +considered their faith insulted and outraged +by the publication, holding it sacrilege and idolatry +to imagine and print any likeness whatever of +so sacred a personage.</p> + +<p>The Wahabees, who inhabit the interior and +highland portion of Arabia, have pillaged the holy +cities of Mecca and Medina, destroying the +mosques, sacking the cities, and carrying off numbers +of women and children into the desert. It +is supposed to be in revenge for the punishment +inflicted on them thirty years ago, when they had +conquered the same cities.</p> + +<p>The Turkish government has introduced the culture +of cotton in the vicinity of Damascus, with seed +procured from the United States. It is successful.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>Scientific Discoveries and Proceedings of Learned Societies.</head> + +<p>In London, among the scientific questions of a +practical kind much discussed, is that of a patent +process for contracting the fibres of calico, and +of obtaining on calico thus prepared colors of much +brilliancy. It is regarded by chemists as likely to +lead to valuable results. In the British Association, +it was described as the discovery that a solution +of cold but caustic soda acts peculiarly on +cotton fibre, immediately causing it to contract; +and although the soda can be readily washed out, +yet the fibre has undergone a change. Thus, taking +a coarse cotton fabric, and acting upon it by +the proper solution of caustic soda, this could be +made much finer in appearance; and if the finest +calico made in England—known as one hundred +and eighty picks to the web—be thus acted on, it +immediately appears as fine as two hundred and +sixty picks. Stockings of open weaving assume a +much finer texture by the condensation process; +but the effect of the alteration is most strikingly<pb n="281" /><anchor id="Pg281" /> +shown by colors: the tint of pink cotton velvet +becomes deepened to an intense degree; and printed +calicoes, especially with colors hitherto applied +with little satisfaction—such as lilac—come out +with strength and brilliancy, besides producing +fabrics finer than could be possibly woven by hand. +The strength, too, is increased by this process; for +a string of calico which breaks with a weight of +thirteen ounces when not soaked, will bear twenty +ounces when half condensed by the caustic soda.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>At a recent meeting of the Paris <hi rend="font-style: italic">Academy of +Sciences</hi>, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">M. Yvart</hi> read an important practical +Memoir on the production of Wool, in the Merino +race. He teaches that the only means of obtaining +fine wool—taking into account the weight of +the sheep's body,—is the employment of races +of small size. When the skin is very delicate, it +secretes less of wool than when it is otherwise;—the +fineness of the wool is proportioned to that of +the skin. Those countries in which the winter is +long or cold, or where the sheep remains in the +fold the greater part of the year, and does not lie +on ploughed lands, are especially suited to the production +of the finest and most elastic wools, those +chiefly sought after for manufacture of cloth.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>Experiments on the application of electro-magnetism +as a motive power, have been made with +some striking results in Paris, as well as in this +country. M. Dumont, in a paper on the subject +submitted to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Female Academy</hi>, states, "that if +in the production of great power the electro-magnetic +force is inferior to that of steam, it becomes +equal to it, and perhaps superior in the production +of small power, which may be subdivided, varied, +and introduced into employments or trades requiring +but little capital, and where the absolute +value of the mechanical power is less essential +than the facility of producing instantaneously and +at pleasure the power itself. In this point of view +electro-magnetic power comes to complete, not to +supersede, that of steam."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>In the papers of the celebrated Lalande, recently +presented to the Paris <hi rend="font-style: italic">Academy of Sciences</hi>, +by M. Arago, there is a note to the effect that so +far back as the 25th of October, 1800, he and +Burckhardt were of opinion, from calculations, +that there must be a planet beyond Uranus, and +they occupied themselves for some time in trying +to discover its precise position. This is a very curious +fact for astronomers.</p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>Recent Deaths.</head> + +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Joel R. Poinsett</hi>, LL.D., long distinguished in +society and in affairs, died at his residence in +Statesburg, South Carolina, on the 12th of December. +The first American ancestor of Mr. +Poinsett came to this country from Soubisi, near +Rochelle, in France, soon after the revocation of +the edict of Nantz. His father was a physician, +and served in the Revolution under Count Pulaski. +He himself was born at Charleston on the second +of March, 1779, and, after having passed some +time at the school of the Rev. Timothy Dwight +(afterward President of Yale College), at Greenfield, +Connecticut, he was sent, at the close of the +Revolution, to England, to complete his studies, +and for the advantages of foreign travel. Returning +in 1800, when he was twenty-one years of age, +he commenced the study of law in the office of +Mr. Desaussure, afterwards Chancellor of South +Carolina, Before his admission to the bar, he +again embarked for Europe, extending his travels +to Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, and the northern +countries of the continent. At St. Petersburg he +became acquainted with the Emperor Alexander, +soon after his accession, and was received by him +with marked partiality, and often questioned respecting +the peculiar institutions of this country. On +one occasion, after he had been expatiating at large +on the advantages of America, the Czar exclaimed, +"Were I not an emperor, I would be a republican." +Declining the offer of a place in the service +of the Emperor, he commenced a tour into +the East, travelling through Persia and Armenia, +and, returning to Europe, resided for some time in +its principal capitals. On the breaking out of difficulties +between the United States and Great +Britain, in 1808, he returned to his own country, +and applied to Mr. Madison for a commission in +the army. Owing to some objections by the +Secretary of War, he did not obtain the commission, +but was sent by the President to South +America, to ascertain the result of the revolutions +which had recently occurred in that quarter. +While in Chili, he heard of the declaration of war +between England and America. Embarking in +the frigate Essex, to return to this country, with a +view to enter the army, he was made a prisoner +on the surrender of that vessel to the British by +Commodore Porter. The British Commander refused +to allow his return home with the rest of the +prisoners, regarding him as a dangerous enemy of +England, and he therefore determined to cross the +continent to the Atlantic. He passed the Andes +in the month of April, when they were covered +with snow, and, after great difficulties, reached +Buenos Ayres. He succeeded, in a Portuguese +vessel, in reaching Madeira, where, on his arrival, +he learned that a treaty of peace had been concluded. +Soon after he reached South Carolina, he +was elected to the Legislature of that State, in which +he devoted himself chiefly to the establishment of +a system of internal improvements. In 1821 he +was elected to Congress, from the Charleston District, +and was twice re-elected to that body. In +1822, he was sent to Mexico, by President Monroe, +to obtain information with regard to the government +under Iturbide. He performed this mission +with signal success. Foreseeing the speedy downfall +of the imperial administration, he gave his +advice against all connection with it, on the part +of this country. He had scarcely returned home, +when Iturbide abdicated the throne. Soon after +the election of Mr. Adams, which he had strongly +opposed, Mr. Poinsett was again appointed Minister +to Mexico, whore he remained until the summer +of 1829. His important services in this period are +amply detailed in a memoir of his political life, +in the first volume of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Democratic Review</hi>, and +were warmly approved in the first annual message +of President Jackson. On returning to the United +States, he devoted himself to the pursuits of private<pb n="282" /><anchor id="Pg282" /> +life, in South Carolina. When the States +Rights controversy broke out, he again engaged in +political affairs, and became a prominent advocate +of the principles of the Union party, as opposed to +Nullification. In 1836, he was nominated by his +friends as a candidate for the State Senate, and +was elected with but little opposition. On the +formation of Mr. Van Buren's cabinet, Mr. Poinsett +accepted the office of Secretary of War. On the +election of Gen. Harrison he retired to his home +in South Carolina, where he devoted himself to +those literary pursuits which formed the pleasure +of his life; and thence he issued, only two years +ago, those stirring appeals against secession, which +were among the most powerful influences for the +preservation of the endangered peace of the Union +at that period. Mr. Poinsett received the degree +of Doctor of Laws from Columbia College in this +city, and he was a member of many learned societies +in this country, and in Europe. Besides his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Notes +on Mexico</hi>, written soon after his last return from +that country, he published several addresses, was +a large contributor to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Southern Quarterly +Review</hi> and other periodicals, and furnished some +important papers to the Paris Geographical Society, +and other learned associations abroad and at home.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Moses Stuart</hi>, D.D., of the Theological Seminary +at Andover, died at his residence in that +town on the 4th of January, in the seventy-second +year of his age. He was born in Wilton, Conn., +March 16, 1780; was graduated at Yale College in +1799; and was a tutor in that institution from 1802 +to 1804. After having studied the profession of +the law, he turned his attention to theology, and +in 1806 was ordained pastor of the Central Congregational +church in New Haven. He was +called to the Professorship of Sacred Literature in +Andover Theological Seminary in 1810, and continued +for nearly forty years to discharge its important +duties. Professor Stuart was a man of +great natural abilities, honorable principles, and +a strong will; for a long period he occupied the +first place among cultivators of sacred learning in +this country; and though younger men, with +larger opportunities, have recently attained to +greater eminence, no one in the same field has +ever exercised a more important and advantageous +influence. His first considerable work was +a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hebrew Grammar</hi>, published in 1823. It +scarcely deserves comparison with the more celebrated +performance of Gesenius, of which Professor +Stuart himself gave to the public a translation, +more than twenty years after the publication of +his own work; but for some time after its original +appearance it was the best Hebrew Grammar in +the English language. In 1825 he was associated +with Professor Robinson in the production of a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Greek Grammar of the New Testament</hi>; in 1827 +he published his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Commentary on the Epistle to the +Hebrews</hi>; in 1829 his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hebrew Chrestomathy</hi>, and in +1830 his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Course of Hebrew Study</hi>. His Commentary +on the Hebrews, was received as an accession +to the body of permanent theological literature. +It was spoken of in England as "the most +valuable philological aid" that had been published +"for the critical study of that important, and in +many respects difficult book;" and the late Dr. +Pye Smith, one of the first biblical, theological, +and classical scholars in Great Britain, stated, that +he felt it to be his duty to describe it as "the most +important present to the cause of sound biblical +interpretation that had ever been made in the +English language." In Germany also it secured +for Professor Stuart the highest consideration; and +it continues in all countries to be regarded as one +of the noblest examples of philological theology +and exegetical criticism. In 1832 Professor Stuart +published another great work of a similar character: +his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans</hi>. +It was distinguished for a profoundness +of research, for an intensity and minuteness of +philological labor, and a singleness of purpose to +arrive at the meaning of the apostle, without regard +to any preconceived or partisan opinions, +which obtained for it a regard as an authority +equal to that awarded to its predecessor. In +1845 he published a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Commentary on the Apocalypse</hi>; +a profoundly learned and critical work, in +which the interpretation of this difficult book varies +much from that which has been most generally +received. In the same year he also gave to the +church a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Critical History and Defence of the Old +Testament Canon</hi>. His devotion to biblical criticism +continued to the close of his life, and we believe, +his last use of the pen was in the correction of +the concluding sheets of a volume of Commentaries.</p> + +<p>In his later years Professor Stuart entered into +political controversies, and was particularly distinguished +for his defence of the policy of Mr. +Webster, in a pamphlet entitled <hi rend="font-style: italic">Conscience and +the Constitution</hi>. He also ventured very injudiciously +into the field of classical criticism, in an +edition of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cicero</hi>, which was sharply reviewed by +Professor Kingsley of Yale College; and he lost +reputation in his more legitimate sphere by a controversy +with Professor Conant, of Madison University, +growing out of his translation of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hebrew +Grammar of Gesenius</hi>. It is not to be denied +that in measuring his strength against that of these +accomplished scholars, he was signally unfortunate.</p> + +<p>In his personal character he was simple, sincere, +enthusiastic, brave, and religious. He was well +entitled to the great respect in which he was held +by the church. He had been ordained for high +services, and he had accomplished them. Every +duty of which he was capable was finished, and +he could have added nothing to his good reputation +if his years had been prolonged.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">William Grimshaw</hi>, born in Ireland in 1781, +but nearly all his life a resident of this country, +where he was for many years well known as a +writer, died near Philadelphia on the 8th of January. +Besides editing and rewriting a considerable +portion of Baine's <hi rend="font-style: italic">History of the Wars growing +out of the French Revolution</hi>, he was the author +of Histories of Great Britain, France, and +several other countries, which for a long time +were very generally used as text-books in schools, +and he also wrote <hi rend="font-style: italic">The American Chesterfield</hi>, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Ladies' Lexicon</hi>, and numerous smaller volumes, +which were creditable to his abilities. His +reading was extensive, and his knowledge of +events during his lifetime, particularly in British +affairs, was minute and accurate. His mind lost +none of its vigor with the approach of age, and in +his fine countenance, and imposing figure, there +were no appearances of decay. His love of reading +continued to the last, and within a year he +frequently employed his pen on such subjects as +he took an especial interest in.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="283" /><anchor id="Pg283" /> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Nicholas Gran de Dieu Soult</hi>, Marshal General +of France, Duke of Dalmatia, &c., died on the +26th of December, at his chateau of Soult Berg, +near the place where he was born. We have +given in another part of this magazine an estimate +of his character. The Paris <hi rend="font-style: italic">Pays</hi> furnishes us a +brief abstract of his history. He was born at St. +Amand (Tarn), March 29, 1769. His father, who +was a notary, seeing that he had no taste for his +own profession, allowed him to enter the army. +The future Marshal of France entered the Royal +Regiment of Infantry in 1785, where he was soon +remarked by his aptitude for the functions of instructor. +He was made non-commissioned officer +in 1790, and then passed rapidly through the intermediate +grades, until he reached that of Adjutant-General +of the Staff, when General Lefebvre +attached him to his own service with the grade of +Chief of Brigade. In that quality he went through +the campaigns of 1794 and 1795 with the army +of the Moselle, and owed to his talents, as well as +to his republican principles, a rapid promotion. +Successively raised to the rank of General of +Brigade, and then to that of General of Division, +he took part in all the campaigns of Germany +until 1799, when he followed Massena into Switzerland, +and thence to Genoa, where he was +wounded and taken prisoner. Set at liberty after +the battle of Marengo, and raised to the command +of Piedmont, he returned to France at the peace +of Amiens, and was named one of the four Colonels +of the Guard of the Consuls. When the +Empire was proclaimed, in 1804, he was nominated +Marshal of France, and during the campaign +which terminated in Austerlitz, held the command +of the fourth corps of the grand army. After the +conquest of Prussia and the battle of Eylau, Marshal +Soult solicited and obtained the command of +the second corps of the army of Spain, with +which he overran Galicia and the Austrians, and +passed into Portugal, where he fought the memorable +battle of Oporto. Forced to abandon that +city, when delivered up by treason to the English, +he effected into Galicia a bold and perilous retreat, +which did the greatest honor to his energy +and presence of mind. Being named Commander-in-Chief +of the army of Spain, he marched to the +succor of Madrid, menaced by the Anglo-Spanish +army, and his movement was crowned with full +success. He continued in this command until +March, 1813, when he was appointed in Saxony +to the command-in-chief of the Imperial Guard. +The disasters of Vittoria decided Napoleon to +again confer on Marshal Soult the command of the +French troops in Spain. The point then was to +defend the menaced frontier of France. Forced +to fall back on Toulouse, he there terminated by +a brilliant engagement, due to most able strategic +arrangements, the fatal campaign of 1814. On +the announcement of the event at Paris he signed +a suspension of arms, and adhered to the reëstablishment +of Louis XVIII., who presented him +with the Cross of St. Louis, and called him to the +command of the 13th military division, and then +to the Ministry of War (Dec. 3, 1814). On March +8th, learning the landing from Elba, he published +the order of the day which is so well known, and +in which Napoleon is treated more than severely. +On March 11th he resigned his portfolio as Minister +of War, and declared for the Emperor, who, +passing over the famous proclamation, raised him +to the dignity of Peer of France and Major General +of the Army. After Waterloo, where he +fought most energetically, the Marshal took refuge +at Malzieu (Lozere) with General Brun de Villeret, +his former aid-de-camp. Being set down on +the list of the proscribed, he withdrew to Dusseldorf +on the banks of the Rhine, until 1819, when +a Royal ordinance allowed him to return to +France. He then went to live with his family at +St. Amand, his native place, and on his reiterated +representations his marshal's baton, which had +been withdrawn from him, was restored. Charles +X. treated Marshal Soult with favor, creating him +knight of his orders, and afterward making him +Peer of France. After the revolution of July, +1830, the declaration of the Chamber of Deputies +of August 9th excluded him from that rank, but +he was restored to it four days later by a special +nomination of Louis Philippe, who soon after appointed +him Minister of War. We shall not follow +Marshal Soult through the acts of his administrative +career. He always showed himself devoted +to the constitutive principles of the Government +of July. He was twice named President of the +Council of King Louis Philippe, who elevated him +to the dignity of Marshal General, of which Turenne +had been the last possessor. Since the revolution +of February, Marshal Soult has lived on his estate, +in the midst of his family, and almost forgotten in +our present political agitations.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Karl Friederich Rungenhagen</hi>, late Royal Director +of Music at Berlin, was born in that city on +September 27, 1778. His father was a merchant. +In 1801 he became member of the Singing Academy, +and studied under Zetter. In 1814 he wrote +the songs for a melo-drama, which was not successful. +In 1815 he became director of the Singing +Academy, with Zetter; most of his religious +music was composed after this time. In 1825 he +was appointed to the post of Royal Music Director, +and in 1833, after Zetter's death, he became +sole conductor of the Singing Academy. His influence +has been considerable upon the culture of +music in Germany. Carl Maria Von Weber was +his friend, and Lortzing was one of his pupils. +He died at Berlin on the 22d of last December.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The journals of Moscow announce the death of +the Armenian Archbishop, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Michael Sallantian</hi>, +the most distinguished writer of Armenia at the +present day. He was born at Constantinople in +1782, and educated at the Armenian monastery +at Venice. He died at the age of sixty-nine at +Moscow, where he had been professor of theology +and literature for sixteen years before his elevation +to the Archbishopric.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Dr. Graefe</hi>, one of the most eminent veterans +of European philology, died suddenly at St Petersburg +on November 30th. He was born at +Chemnitz, in Saxony, in July, 1780, but went to +Russia in 1810, to assume the professorship of +Greek at the Academy of St. Petersburg.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The Russian General, Kiel, has died in Paris. +He was employed by the Emperor Nicholas in directing +works of art in the Russian empire.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Herr Meinhold</hi>, author of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Amber Witch</hi>, +died in Germany in December.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="284" /><anchor id="Pg284" /> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">J. W. M. Turner</hi>, the greatest of English artists, +and the hero of Mr. Ruskin's brilliant book +entitled <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Modern Painters</hi>, died in London on +the 20th of December, at the age of 77. He had +always a reluctance to have his portrait taken, +but the engraving accompanying this article—from +a sketch made without his knowledge—is +said, by the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Illustrated London News</hi> to be remarkably +like him. It is understood that by his +will he has left a million dollars (£200,000) for the +purpose of founding an institution for the relief of +of decayed artists, and has given it also the chief +part of his pictures, to adorn the building which is +to be occupied by it. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Times</hi> says, "although +it would be out of place to revive the discussions +occasioned by the peculiarities of Mr. Turner's +style in his later years, he has left behind him sufficient +proofs of the variety and fertility of his +genius to establish an undoubted claim to a prominent +rank among the painters of England. His +life had been extended to the verge of human existence; +for although he was fond of throwing a +mystery over his precise age, we believe that he +was born in Maiden-lane, Covent-garden, in the +year 1775, and was, consequently, in his 76th or +77th year. Of humble origin (he was the son of +a barber), he enjoyed the advantages of an accurate +rather than a liberal education. His first studies, +some of which are still in existence, were in +architectural design; and few of those who have +been astonished or enchanted by the profusion and +caprice of form and color in his mature pictures, +would have guessed the minute and scientific precision +with which he had cultivated the arts of +linear drawing and perspective. His early manhood +was spent partly on the coast, where he imbibed +his inexhaustible attachment for marine +scenery and his acquaintance with the wild and +varied aspect of the ocean. Somewhat later he +repaired to Oxford, where he contributed for several +years the drawing to the <hi rend="font-style: italic">University Almanac</hi>. +But his genius was rapidly breaking +through all obstacles, and even the repugnance of +public opinion; for before he had completed his +30th year he was on the high road to fame. As +early as 1790 he exhibited his first work, a water-colored +drawing of the entrance to Lambeth, at +the exhibition of the Academy, and in 1793 his +first oil painting. In November, 1799, he was +elected an associate, and in February, 1802, he attained +the rank of a Royal Academician. We +shall not here attempt to trace the vast series of +his paintings from his earlier productions, such as +the "Wreck," in Lord Yarborough's collection, the +"Italian Landscape," in the same gallery, the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">pendant</hi> to Lord Ellesmere's "Vanderwelde," or +Mr. Munro's "Venus and Adonis," in the Titianesque +manner, to the more obscure, original, and, +as some think, unapproachable productions of his +later years, such as the "Rome," the "Venice," +the "Golden Bough," the "Téméraire," and the +"Tusculum." But while these great works proceeded +rapidly from his palette, his powers +of design were no less actively engaged in the +exquisite water-colored drawings that have +formed the basis of the modern school of "illustration." +The "Liber studiorum" had been commenced +in 1807, in imitation of Claude's "Liber +veritatis," and was etched, if we are not mistaken, +by Turner's own hand. The title-page was engraved +and altered half-a-dozen times, from his +singular and even nervous attention to the most +trifling details. But this volume was only the +precursor of an immense series of drawings and +sketches, embracing the topography of this country +in the "River Scenery" and the "Southern +Coast"—the scenery of the Alps, of Italy, and +great part of Europe—and the ideal creations of +our greatest poets, from Milton to Scott and Rogers, +all imbued with the brilliancy of a genius +which seemed to address itself more peculiarly to +the world at large when it adopted the popular +form of engraving. These drawings are now +widely diffused in England, and form the basis of +several important collections, such as those of Petworth, +of Mr. Windus, Mr. Fawkes, and Mr. +Munro. So great is the value of them that 120 +guineas have not unfrequently been paid for a +small sketch in water-colors; and a sketch-book, +containing chalk-drawings of one of Turner's river +tours on the continent, has lately fetched the enormous +sum of 600 guineas. The prices of his +more finished oil paintings have ranged in the last +few years from 700 to 1,200 or 1,400 guineas. +All his works may now be said to have acquired +triple or quadruple the value originally paid for +them. Mr. Turner undoubtedly realized a very +large fortune, and great curiosity will be felt to +ascertain the posthumous use he has made of it. +His personal habits were peculiar, and even penurious, +but in all that related to his art he was generous +to munificence; and we are not without +hope that his last intentions were for the benefit +of the nation, and the preservation of his own +fame. He was never married, he was not known +to have any relations, and his wants were limited +to the strictest simplicity. The only ornaments of +his house in Queen Anne-street were the pictures +by his own hand, which he had constantly refused +to part with at any price, among which the "Rise +and Fall of Carthage" and the "Crossing the +Brook," rank among the choicest specimens of his +finest manner.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Turner seldom took much part in society, +and only displayed in the closest intimacy the +shrewdness of his observation and the playfulness +of his wit. Every where he kept back much of +what was in him, and while the keenest intelligence, +mingled with a strong tinge of satire, animated +his brisk countenance, it seemed to amuse +him to be but half understood. His nearest social +ties were those formed in the Royal Academy, of +which he was by far the oldest member, and to +whose interests he was most warmly attached. +He filled at one time the chair of Professor of +Perspective, but without conspicuous success, and +that science has since been taught in the Academy +by means better suited to promote it than a course +of lectures. In the composition and execution of +his works, Mr. Turner was jealously sensitive of +all interference or supervision. He loved to deal +in the secrets and mysteries of his art, and many +of his peculiar effects are produced by means +which it would not be easy to discover or to imitate.</p> + +<p>"We hope that the Society of Arts or the British +Gallery will take an early opportunity of commemorating +the genius of this great artist, and of +reminding the public of the prodigious range of +his pencil, by forming a general exhibition of his +principal works, if, indeed, they are not permanently +gathered in a nobler repository. Such an<pb n="285" /><anchor id="Pg285" /> +exhibition will serve far better than any observations +of ours to demonstrate that it is not by those +deviations from established rules which arrest the +most superficial criticism that Mr. Turner's fame +or merit are to be estimated. For nearly sixty +years Mr. Turner contributed largely to the arts +of this country. He lived long enough to see his +greatest productions rise to uncontested supremacy, +however imperfectly they were understood +when they first appeared in the earlier years of +this century; and, though in his later works and +in advanced age, force and precision of execution +have not accompanied his vivacity of conception, +public opinion has gradually and steadily advanced +to a more just appreciation of his power. He +is the Shelley of English painting—the poet and +the painter both alike veiling their own creations +in the dazzling splendor of the imagery with which +they are surrounded, mastering every mode of expression, +combining scientific labor with an air of +negligent profusion, and producing in the end +works in which color and language are but the +vestments of poetry. Of such minds it may be +said in the words of Alastor:</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> "Nature's most secret steps</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">He, like her shadow, has pursued, where'er</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The red volcano overcanopies</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Its fields of snow and pinnacles of ice</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">With burning smoke; or where the starry domes</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of diamond and of gold expand above</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Numberless and immeasurable halls,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Frequent with crystal column and clear shrines</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of pearl, and thrones radiant with chrysolite.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Nor had that scene of ampler majesty</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Than gems or gold—the varying roof of heaven</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And the green earth—lost in his heart its claims</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">To love and wonder...."</l> +</lg> + +<figure url="images/image15.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER</figDesc> +</figure> + +<pb n="286" /><anchor id="Pg286" /> + +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Basil Montagu</hi>, an eminent philosophical and +legal writer, was the illegitimate son of the well-known +statesman, John fourth Earl of Sandwich, +many years First Lord of the Admiralty, by the +unfortunate Miss Margaret Reay, who was assassinated, +in 1779, by her affianced lover, the Rev. +Mr. Hackman. The tragic affair, which excited +immense interest at the time, and which gave rise +to various romantic stories, is to be found in most +series of judicial investigations, and especially in +a collection of celebrated trials recently published. +It appears that Margaret Reay was the daughter +of a stay-maker in Covent-garden, and served her +apprenticeship to a mantuamaker. Having attracted +the attention of Lord Sandwich, he treated +her from that period until her assassination, with +the greatest tenderness and affection. He introduced +to her a young ensign of the 68th Regiment, +then in command of a recruiting party at +Huntingdon, in the neighborhood of the mansion +of the Montagues. Mr. Hackman from the first +moment was desperately in love with her, and his +passion increased with the daily opportunities afforded +by invitations he received to Lord Sandwich's +table. With the object of continuing his +attentions, and the hope of ultimately engaging +her affections, he quitted the army, and, taking orders, +obtained the living of Wiverton, in Norfolk. +That Miss Reay had given him some encouragement, +is proved by the tenor of their correspondence; +but prudential motives induced her afterwards +to refuse the offer of his hand, and to intimate +a necessity for discontinuing his visits. Stung +by this unexpected termination of his long-cherished +expectations, Hackman's mind became unsettled; +on the 7th of April, 1779, he was occupied +all the morning in reading Blair's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Sermons</hi>; but in +the evening, as he was walking towards the Admiralty, +he saw Miss Reay pass in her coach, accompanied +by Signora Galli. He followed, and +discovered that she alighted at Covent-garden +Theatre, where she went to witness <hi rend="font-style: italic">Love in a Village</hi>. +He returned to his lodgings, armed himself +with a brace of pistols, went back to the theatre, +and when the performance was over, as Miss Reay +was stepping into her coach, he took a pistol in +each hand, one of which he discharged at her, and +killed her on the spot, and the other at himself, +but it did not take effect. He then beat his head +with the butt of the pistol, to destroy himself, but +was, after a struggle, secured and carried before +Sir John Fielding, who committed him to Bridewell, +and he was shortly after tried at the Old +Bailey, before the celebrated Justice Blackstone, +found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn on the 19th +of the month.</p> + +<p>Basil Montagu was born in 1770, and received +his education at the Charter House. He was called +to the English bar by the Society of Gray's +Inn, the 19th of May, 1798, and soon obtained +considerable practice as a conveyancer. It was, +however, by his legal authorship and reporting +that he became particularly distinguished in the +profession. His various works and reports on the +subject, principally of the Law of Bankruptcy, +were of high estimation and lasting utility. In +1801, he produced his <hi rend="font-style: italic">Summary of the Law of Set +Off</hi>, with an Appendix of Cases, argued and determined +in the Courts of Law and Equity, in one +volume, octavo; in 1804-5, in four volumes, <hi rend="font-style: italic">A Digest +of the Bankrupt Laws</hi>, with a Collection of +the Statutes and of the Cases, which reached three +editions, and brought him into immediate notice +and considerable practice; and, some time afterward, +he printed a pamphlet on Bankrupts' Certificates. +His fame in this branch of forensic learning +procured him the appointment of a Commissioner +of Bankruptcy. Mr. Montagu wrote +also on philosophical subjects. Among his productions +of this tendency were <hi rend="font-style: italic">Thoughts of Divines +and Philosophers; Selections from Taylor, Hooker, +Bishop Hall, and Bacon</hi>. He edited an edition +of Lord Bacon's works, in seventeen volumes. +Another bent which his mind took, placed him by +the side of Romilly and Mackintosh in the cause +of Humanity. He had in his nature an abhorrence +of depriving any living thing of life, and +with regard to his own diet he totally abstained +from animal food. This led him to bestow his active +attention towards putting a stop to capital +punishment. In 1809 he published <hi rend="font-style: italic">Opinions of +Different Authors on the Punishment of Death</hi>. +The work was so well received, that he added a +a second and third volume to it. In 1811, when +the important question occupied Parliament, he +edited <hi rend="font-style: italic">The Debates on a Bill for Abolishing the +Punishment of Death for Stealing in a Dwelling +House</hi>. In 1815 he reprinted a tract originally +published in 1801, called <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hanging not Punishment +enough for Murderers</hi>. Mr. Basil Montagu, who +had some years ago been made a Queen's counsel, +died at Boulogne on the 27th of November, in the +eighty-second year of his age.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Rear-Admiral Henry Gage Morris</hi>, entered +the navy at the early age of twelve, and served +as midshipman throughout the French and American +wars. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, +April 2, 1793. He was engaged at the +capture of the French frigate <hi rend="font-style: italic">Sybille</hi>, in 1783, and +at the attack on Martinique, in 1793. He was +promoted to post rank August 12, 1812, and was +made rear-admiral in 1847. He died at Beverley, +24th ult. aged eighty-two. Admiral Morris was +younger brother of the late Captain Amherst Morris, +being second son of Colonel Roger Morris, a +member of the Governor's Council at New-York, +by Mary, daughter of Frederick Phillipse, of this +city. This family of Morris is one of great antiquity, +deriving its descent from Elystan Glodrydd, a +famed chieftain of Wales in the eleventh century.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mr. Sapio</hi> the once celebrated tenor singer, was +born in London, in 1792. In his early life he was +page to Queen Caroline, consort of George IV. He +made his first appearance on the metropolitan +stage at Drury Lane, the 1st December, 1824, as +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Seraskier</hi>, in the "Siege of Belgrade," and he +soon attained and long preserved a high vocal +reputation. He died in obscurity, in London, about +the end of November.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>One of the most distinguished chiefs of the war +of Greek independence, General <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Jatrako</hi>, is just +dead at Athens. He was one of the primates of +Marna; his family, as his name indicates, have for +many generations back been famous for their hereditary +medical talents, and the tradition exists among +them that a branch of their family formerly passed +from Sparta to Italy, translated their name into +Medici, and gave rise to the celebrated family of +that name.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="287" /><anchor id="Pg287" /> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Priessnitz</hi>, the celebrated founder of hydropathy, +died at Graefenberg on the 26th of November, +at the age of fifty-two. In the morning of that +day Priessnitz was up and stirring at an early +hour, but complained of the cold, and had wood +brought in to make a large fire. His friends had +for some time believed him to be suffering from +dropsy of the chest, and at their earnest entreaty +he consented to take a little medicine, exclaiming +all the while, "It's of no use!" He would see no +physician, but remained to the last true to his profession. +About four o'clock in the afternoon of +the 26th he asked to be carried to bed, and upon +being laid down he expired! In early life he received +serious injury in the chest from an accident, +and he used to say himself that his constitution +was bad; that nothing but his own mode of life +and his own "cure" would have sustained him. +It is not known what attempts will be made to +carry on the establishment at Graefenberg, which +was in full activity at the moment of his death. +The most probable conjecture is, that his eldest +daughter and her husband (a Hungarian of property) +will carry it on, with the aid of some physician +who has studied Priessnitz's method. This +may succeed to a certain extent, for the place and +neighborhood are admirably adapted for taking the +water-cure, and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">prestige</hi> of Priessnitz's name, +as well as the tradition of his practice, will long +survive him: but the attraction which brought patients, +not only from the neighboring cities, but +from the remotest parts of the world, is gone. It +is not exactly known what amount of property +Priessnitz left, but it is supposed to be nearly +£100,000. When it is considered how small, compared +to that given to other physicians, was the +remuneration he received from his patients, and +that thirty years ago, Priessnitz was a poor peasant, +this fortune gives some measure of his immense +success.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">George Dunbar</hi>, the distinguished Professor of +Greek Literature in the University of Edinburgh, +died on the 6th of December, at his residence in +that city. The natural decay attending even an +otherwise green old age has been for some years +aggravated by a virulent internal malady, which +at the commencement of the present season compelled +him to relinquish his academic duties. He +was born at the village of Caldingham, in Berwickshire, +in 1774. In early life he labored as a +gardener, but an accidental lameness, which lasted +throughout his subsequent life, incapacitated him +from active bodily employment. His attention +was then devoted to literature. He soon became +a scholar, and in truth a ripe and good one. Going +to Edinburgh, he readily obtained, on proof of +his acquirements, a tutorship in the family of Lord +Provost Fettes. Having been shortly after selected +as assistant to Professor Dalziel, he was +appointed, on that professor's death, to the Greek +chair in the Edinburgh University, in 1805. The +duties of this responsible position he discharged +most zealously and ably. The published works +of Professor Dunbar are well known. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">Collectanea +Minora</hi>, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Collectanea Majora</hi>, and the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Greek Grammar</hi>, have all had great reputation. +His chief production—massive in every sense—the +main object of his life of learned toil, was +his Greek Lexicon, which was given to the world +with his name in 1840.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mr. Henry Luttrell</hi>, one of the ornaments of a +society of what may be termed conversational +wits, died on the 19th of December, at the advanced +age of eighty-six. He was the friend and companion, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">hand impari passu</hi>, of Jeckyll, Mackintosh, +Jeffrey, Alvanley, Sydney Smith, and others of +that brilliant school, and of which the Misses Berry, +Rogers, Moore, and but a few others, are still +left. A correspondent of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Times</hi> says: "He +charmed especially by the playfulness and elegance +of his wit, the appropriateness and felicity +of illustration, the shrewdness of his remarks, and +the epigrammatic point of his conversation. Liveliness +of fancy was tempered in him with good +breeding and great kindness of disposition; and +one of the wittiest men of his day, he could amuse +and delight by the keenness of playful yet pungent +sallies, without wounding the feelings of any +one by the indulgence of bitterness and ill-nature."</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>English journals notice with expressions of regret +the death in Philadelphia of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">R. C. Taylor</hi>, +on the 26th of October, aged sixty-two. Mr. +Taylor emigrated in the year 1830, being previously +well known as a Fellow both of the Antiquarian +and of the Geological Societies. He had published +a work of great care and research while +resident in his native county, Norfolk, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Index Monasticus +for East Anglia</hi>; and had made some +useful explorations into the fossil remains on the +coast of Norfolk. In America he wrote for various +philosophical societies, and published, in 1848, his +work on the Statistics of Coal, by which alone he +was much known to the public of this country.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p>The Royal University of Berlin has lost by +death since Christmas, MM. Lachmann, Stuhr, Jacobi, +Erman, and Dr. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Charles Theodore Franz</hi>, +who died at Breslaw early in January, at the untimely +age of forty-five. For eleven years Dr. +Franz occupied the chair of Classical Philology in +the University of Berlin. He is the author of a +variety of works: in the first rank of which stand +his Criticisms on the Greek Tragic Poets, and his +several collections of Greek and Latin inscriptions +before unpublished. The London Morning Chronicle +remarks that the continent never before lost +so many great scholars in one year as in 1851.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">William Jacob</hi>, F.R.S., a profound writer on +science and agriculture, was born in 1762. His +work, <hi rend="font-style: italic">An Inquiry into the Precious Metals</hi>, has +been held in high estimation. His other principal +productions were <hi rend="font-style: italic">Considerations on the Price of +Corn</hi>; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Tracts on Corn-Laws</hi>; and a <hi rend="font-style: italic">View of Agriculture +in Germany</hi>. Mr. Jacob, who was formerly +Comptroller of Corn Returns in the Board +of Trade, died on the 17th of December, at his +residence in London, aged eighty-eight.</p> +</div> + +<div> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">Mr. Paul Barras</hi>, died in Paris from wounds +received in the contests between the people and +the military, on the second day of the usurpation +of Louis Napoleon. M. Barras resided in New-York +about twenty years, and was engaged here +as a teacher of his native language, and as a correspondent +of one of the Parisian journals. He +was an amiable man, of considerable talents, and +enthusiastic in his attachment to Republicanism. +He wrote several articles on American subjects in +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Revue de Paris</hi>.</p> +</div> + +<pb n="288" /><anchor id="Pg288" /> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>Ladies' Fashions for February.</head> + +<figure url="images/image16.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<figDesc>Illustration</figDesc> +</figure> + +<p>In matters of fashion there have been very few +changes since our last publication. We are in +the midst of the gay season, but its modes, until +disturbed by the approach of spring, were fixed +before the holidays, and for the most part have +already been reported. The Paris journals, we +may remark, however, dwell much on the unusual +ascendency of black, in furs, velvets, cloths, and +other heavy stuffs, for walking and carriage dresses, +and on the greater demand than in recent winters +for every species of embroidery.</p> + +<p>In the first of the above figures, representing a +promenade costume, we have a high dress of rich +silk; the skirt has plaided tucks woven in the material; +it is long, and very full. Manteau of velvet, +very richly embroidered; a broad black lace +is set on round the shoulders in the style of a cape, +and the cloak is embroidered above it. Capote of +white silk, of a very elegant form, with deep bavolet +or curtain; a droop of small feathers on the left side.</p> + +<p>The second figure, or visiting costume, of heavy +silk, with four flounces, and corresponding waistcoat. +The waistcoat now takes the first place in a +lady's toilette, and may be considered a triumph +of luxury and elegance, reviving every description +of embroidery, and forcing the jewellers to be constantly +bringing out some novelty in buttons, &c. +It is made very simple or very richly ornamented: +for instance, those of the most simple description +are made either of black velvet, embroidered with +braid, and fastened with black jet buttons, or of +cachemire; and a pretty style, of straw color, +embroidered in the same colored silk, and closed +with fancy silk bell buttons, whilst a few may be +seen in white, quilted and embroidered with oak +leaves and rose-buds. The rich style of waistcoat +being covered with embroideries, and being closed +up the front with buttons of brilliants. As a general +rule, the waistcoat is made high up the +throat, round which is a fall of lace, or opens <hi rend="font-style: italic">en +cœur</hi>, having a <hi rend="font-style: italic">fichu à plastron</hi> of embroidery, +worn under. The waistcoat has also two pockets.</p> +</div> + +</body> + +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> +<div> +<pgIf output="pdf"> + <then> + <div> + <divGen type="footnotes" /> + </div> + </then> + <else> + <div> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes" /> + </div> + </else> +</pgIf> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<divGen type="pgfooter" /> +</div> + +</back> + + </text> +</TEI.2> + +<!-- +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 20102-tei.txt or 20102-tei.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/0/20102/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one — the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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