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diff --git a/20102-0.txt b/20102-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6ff9a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/20102-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15056 @@ +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 #20102] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE - VOLUME V - NO II*** + + + + + +THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + + + Of Literature, Art, and Science. + + +Vol. V. +NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY 1, 1852. +No. II. + + [Illustration: THE LATE MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA.] + + THE LATE MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA. +THE HOMES OF COWLEY AND FOX. +CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS. +TRAUGOTT BROMME ON THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, TEXAS AND THE +COLONIES. +A VISIT TO THE FIRE WORSHIPPERS’ TEMPLE AT BAKU. +A NEW PORTRAIT OF CICERO. +LORD MAHON’S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. +FAUST OF WITTENBERG AND FUST OF MENTZ. +SOME SMALL POEMS. +MR. JUSTICE STORY, WITH SOME REMINISCENT REFLECTIONS. +COLUMBUS AT THE GATES OF GENOA. +FEATHERTOP: A MORALIZED LEGEND. +SMILES AND TEARS. +FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND THE LATEST MIRACLES. +THE SONG QUEEN. +LOVE SONG. +AUTUMN LINES. +THE PUNISHMENT OF GINA MONTANI. + III. + IV. + V. + VI. + VII. +VISION OF CHARLES XI. +DIVINATION, WITCHCRAFT, AND MESMERISM. +A CHAPTER OF EPITAPHS. +THE GOOD OLD TIMES IN PARIS. +THE LEGEND OF THE WEEPING CHAMBER. +THE BULL FIGHT OF MADRID. +THE LADY AND THE FLOWER. +AN OLD MAID’S FIRST LOVE. +MADEMOISELLE DE CAMARGO. +MY NOVEL: + BOOK IX. - INITIAL CHAPTER. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. +REMINISCENCES OF PRINTERS, AUTHORS, AND BOOKSELLERS IN NEW-YORK. +Noctes Amicæ. +Authors and Books +THE FINE ARTS +Historical Review of the Month +Scientific Discoveries and Proceedings of Learned Societies. +Recent Deaths. +Ladies’ Fashions for February. + + + + + + +MARSHAL SOULT, DUKE OF DALMATIA. + + +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 NICHOLAS +JEAN-DE-DIEU SOULT, 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." + +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. + +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." + + + + + +THE HOMES OF COWLEY AND FOX. + + +We have in the last _Art Journal_ another of the pleasant gossipping +_Pilgrimages to English Shrines_, by Mrs. S. C. HALL, 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. + + [Illustration: ABRAHAM COWLEY.] + + ABRAHAM COWLEY. + + + + + +CHERTSEY AND ITS FAMOUS CHARACTERS. + + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +It is worthy of note, that the Chertsey monastery sheltered, for a time, +the remains of the pious, but unfortunate, Henry VI. + + "Poor key-cold figure of a Holy King, + Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster." + +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! + + [Illustration: "THE NUN’S WELL."] + + "THE NUN’S WELL." + + +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 +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! + +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." + +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 _rudera_ 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, _so that one may pick up whole handsfull +of them every where amongst the garden stuff_." 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. + +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 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 "_black +stones_," 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? + + [Illustration: "THE GOLDEN GROVE."] + + "THE GOLDEN GROVE." + + +"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. + +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. + +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 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! + + [Illustration: REMAINS OF CHERTSEY ABBEY.] + + REMAINS OF CHERTSEY ABBEY. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + + [Illustration: GATE OF FOX’S HOUSE.] + + GATE OF FOX’S HOUSE. + + + [Illustration: SUMMER HOUSE IN FOX’S GARDEN.] + + SUMMER HOUSE IN FOX’S GARDEN. + + + [Illustration: TEMPLE OF FRIENDSHIP.] + + TEMPLE OF FRIENDSHIP. + + +Those who feel no interest in monkish chronicles, may reverence St. Anne’s +Hill, 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 favorite spot where Mr. Fox loved to muse, is enriched by a +quotation from the "Flower and the Leaf," concluded by two graceful +stanzas: + + "Cheerful in this sequestered bower, + From all the storms of life removed; + Here Fox enjoyed his evening hour, + In converse with the friends he loved. + And here these lines he oft would quote, + Pleased from his favorite poet’s lay; + When challenged by the warbler’s note, + That breathed a song from every spray." + +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. + +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. + + [Illustration: FOX’S ARBOR.] + + FOX’S ARBOR. + + +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. + +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." + + [Illustration: COWLEY’S SEAT.] + + COWLEY’S SEAT. + + + [Illustration: COWLEY’S HOUSE—STREET FRONT.] + + COWLEY’S HOUSE—STREET FRONT. + + +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 _without_ 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 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. + + [Illustration: COWLEY’S HOUSE—GARDEN FRONT.] + + COWLEY’S HOUSE—GARDEN FRONT. + + +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."(1) 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." + + "Here the last accents flowed from Cowley’s tongue." + + [Illustration: STAIRCASE—COWLEY’S HOUSE.] + + STAIRCASE—COWLEY’S HOUSE. + + +The appearance of the house from Guildford Street, is no index to its size +or conveniences.(2) 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 _small +chamber_, 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. + +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. + +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, + + "To him no author was unknown, + Yet what he wrote was all his own." + +His biographer adds, "There was nothing affected or singular in his habit, +or person, or gesture; _he understood the forms of good breeding enough to +practise them without burdening himself or others_." This indeed is the +perfection of good breeding and good sense. + +Having obtained, as we have said, the Porch-house at Chertsey, his mind +dwelt with pleasure—a philosophic pleasure—upon 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: + + "Oh life, thou _Nothing’s_ younger brother, + So _like_ that one might take one for the other." + +The career of Abraham Cowley was never sullied by vice,(3) 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." + +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. + +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: + + "What tears the river shed, + When the sad pomp along his banks was led;" + +which rather inclines us to the belief, that in this, as in many other +instances, the poetic reading is not the true one, + + "The muses oft in lands of vision play:" + +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: + + "The contradiction to his fate." + +But we must postpone our farther rambles for the present. + + [Illustration: TREES ON ST ANNE’S HILL.] + + TREES ON ST ANNE’S HILL. + + + +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. + + + + + +TRAUGOTT BROMME ON THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, TEXAS AND THE +COLONIES. + + +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 _people_ the _beau monde_, 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." + +Now the opinion of each of these classes has its weight, and though not of +the _greatest_ 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. + +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. + +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, _Not quite_. 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. + +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 _ignorant_ 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 _gentleman_—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 +_Vaterland_. 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 _cafés_ of the +politest nation in Europe: + + Whether America is an island or a continent? + What is the color of its inhabitants? + What language do they speak? + Have they a religion and what is it? + What is the state of their morals and cookery? + Have they a correct state of feeling as regards the opera? + +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 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 _all_ classes of readers, as _The International_; 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. + +The work from which we propose to make some extracts, is TRAUGOTT BROMME’s +_Hand und Reisebuch für Auswanderer nach den Vereinigten Staaten_ (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: + + + "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 _room_—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 _self-dependence_, 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 _four_ years + of hard work, when compared to a whole life of poverty and + misery?" + + +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: + + + "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?" + + +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 _America_ 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. + + + "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, _and he who anticipates more will find himself bitterly + deceived_. 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." + + +In the following extract, our author proceeds to set forth the national +character of the American: + + + "The national character of the American has been greatly + misunderstood; few travellers seem, 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 _no_ country is true noble + sociability as developed in domestic life, so much at home, as in + America. + + "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. + + "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. _The American has no time to be + discontented_, 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. + _Man_ is there esteemed only as _man_—only ability gains honor—and + where _that_ 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 _do_, 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 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. _Wealth, or rather wealth allied to ability and + universality of talent, is there more highly esteemed than + learning,_ 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 _moral_ happiness is this; that in + his country, domestic life enjoys the true supremacy, _and to + this, public life and the state are subordinate_. It is true that + the American statesmen have fallen into the same error as the + European—_id est_, to believe that without _them_ 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 _there_ 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 _Nature_, and wring from her + boundless stores that wealth which she so bountifully affords!’" + + +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 _International_, 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. + + + + + +A VISIT TO THE FIRE WORSHIPPERS’ TEMPLE AT BAKU. + + +In a recent number of the _Russian Archives for Scientific Information_, +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 _International_, as +follows: + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 _Tsheuks_, 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + + +A NEW PORTRAIT OF CICERO. + + +In the third volume of his _History of the Romans under the Empire_, just +published in London, Mr. MERIVALE gives some elaborate pieces of character +writing, one of which has for its subject CICERO. 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: + + + "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 + 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. + + "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. + + "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 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." + + + + + +LORD MAHON’S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. + + +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 MAHON’S _History of +England from the Peace of Utrecht_, comprising the period from 1763 to +1780—from the commencement of the popular discontents until the virtual +conclusion of the war. + +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. + +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: + + + "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.’ 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." + + +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. + +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. + + + WASHINGTON. + + 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. + + 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!" + + 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. + + 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. + + 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 + 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!" + + + PATRICK HENRY. + + 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." + + 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!" + + 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!" + + 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. + + + FRANKLIN. + + 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." + + 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. + + 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. + + As a slight instance of Franklin’s humor and shrewdness in all + affairs of common life I may quote the following: "QUESTION. I am + about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How + shall I come to a knowledge of her faults? ANSWER. Commend her + among her female acquaintance!" + + 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. + + 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." + + 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." + + 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." + + 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 of the noblest which modern + Latinity can boast, describes him as having plucked the lightning + from Heaven and the sceptre from tyrants. + + 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. + + + LA FAYETTE. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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 LETTRE DE CACHET 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. + + 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, 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. + + 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." + + 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." + + + JOHN HORNE TOOKE. + + 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! + + + THE CHARACTER OF WILKES. + + 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: + fay çe que voudras. 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. + + + WILKES’S ESSAY ON WOMAN. + + 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. + + 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 + VENI CREATOR 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! + + 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. + + + LORD THURLOW. + + 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! + + + EDMUND BURKE. + + 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 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. + + +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. + +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 _The International_, a +series of carefully prepared criticisms appeared in the _Evening Post_, 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: + + + "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. + + "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 _tampering with + the truth of history_." + + "Washington, however, in his public letter to Congress (unless Mr. + Jared Sparks has _improved_ this passage), says," &c. + + "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." + + +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. + +These volumes will be reprinted immediately by the Appletons. + + + + + +FAUST OF WITTENBERG AND FUST OF MENTZ. + + +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 +_necromancy_ 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 _invention_ 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. + +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. + +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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Faustus assured them that it was all in vain, and that his tragical fate +was inevitable. 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. + +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. + + + + + +SOME SMALL POEMS. + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + +BY R. H. STODDARD. + +A PROLOGUE. + + Without, the winds of Winter blow; + Without, the Winter sifts its snow: + Within, the hearths are warm and bright, + And all the chambers full of light, + And we again are gathered here, + To greet the advent of the year. + + Pile on the wood, and stir the fires, + And in our souls the sweet desires; + And let us frame a mingled rhyme, + To suit the singers and the time; + With different stops, and keys of art, + In quaint old measures, got by heart. + +BY THE SEA. + + By the rolling waves I roam, + And look along the sea, + And dream of the day and the gleaming sail, + That bore my love from me. + + His bark now sails the Indian seas, + Far down the summer zone: + But his thoughts, like swallows, fly to me + By the Northern waves alone. + + Nor will he delay, when winds are fair, + To waft him back to me; + But haste, my love! or my grave will be made + By the sad and moaning sea! + +WHEAT AND SHEAVES. + + Before me now the village stands, + Its cottages embowered in bloom; + Behind me lies the burying ground, + Its sepulchres in cypress gloom. + + The bells before me ring aloud, + A pæan for the live and bold; + The bells behind are tolling low, + A requiem for the dead and cold. + + The crowd before me tramp away, + And shout until the winds are stirred; + The crowd behind no longer move, + And never breathe a single word. + + Before me many moan, and weep: + Behind, there is not one who grieves; + For blight but wastes the standing wheat. + It cannot touch the garnered sheaves! + +FRAGMENT. + + The gray old Earth goes on + At its ancient pace, + Lifting its thunder voice + In the choir of Space; + And the Years, as they go, + Are singing slow, + Solemn dirges, full of woe! + + Tears are shed, and hearts are broken, + And many bitter words are spoken, + And many left unsaid; + And many are with the living, + That were better—better dead! + + Tyrants sit upon their thrones, + And will not hear the people’s moans, + Nor hear their clanking chains; + Or if they do, they add thereto, + And mock, not ease, their pains; + But little liberty remains— + There is but little room for thee, + In this wide world, O Liberty! + But where thou hast once set thy foot, + Thou wilt remain, though oft unseen; + And grow like thought, and move like wind, + Upon the troubled sea of Mind, + No longer now serene. + Thy life and strength thou dost retain, + Despite the cell, the rack, the pain, + And all the battles won—in vain! + And even now thou seest the hour + That lays in dust the tyrant’s power, + When man shall once again be free, + And Earth renewed, and young like thee, + O Liberty! O Liberty! + +CERTAIN MERRY STANZAS. + + I often wish that I could know + The life in store for me, + The measure of the joy and woe + Of my futurity. + I do not fear to meet the worst + The gathering years can give; + My life has been a life accurst + From youth, and yet I live; + The Future may be overcast, + But never darker than the Past! + + My mind will grow, as years depart + With all the wingéd hours; + And all my buried seeds of Art + Will bloom again in flowers; + But buried hopes no more will bloom, + As in the days of old; + My youth is lying in its tomb, + My heart is dead and cold! + And certain sad, but nameless cares + Have flecked my locks with silver hairs! + + No bitter feeling clouds my grief, + No angry thoughts of thee; + For thou art now a faded leaf + Upon a fading tree. + From day to day I sea thee sink, + From deep to deep in shame; + I sigh, but dare not bid thee think + Upon thine ancient fame— + For oh! the thought of what thou art + Must be a hell within thy heart! + + My life is full of care and pain— + My heart of old desires; + But living embers yet remain + Below its dying fires; + Nor do I fear what all the years + May have in store for me, + For I have washed away with tears + The blots of Memory: + But thou—despite the love on high— + What is there left thee but to die! + + + + + +MR. JUSTICE STORY, WITH SOME REMINISCENT REFLECTIONS.(4) + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE. + + +BY A. OAKEY HALL. + +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. + +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 _he_ is waiting for clients. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +Don’t waste sympathy in this connection for the young Sawbones. _His_ +thirst for action can be slaked at pauper fountains. For _him_ 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. + +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? + +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? + +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:" _thou must face the truth_! 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 _climbed down_ +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! + +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. + +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. + +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 where the meat is often fresh and oily, even with +the weary keeping on the calendar for months and years. There are _some_ +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. + +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! + +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? + +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 _hordes_ of practitioners from the interior whom the "new +code" have driven from their _trespass quare clausum fregit_ into the +city. Many of them, too, were men of mark in their ports of departure, +bold and confident in their new haven! + +One field, however, in the legal township of this city, offers room upon +its face for tillers—_the field of advocacy_! It is ploughed by some +twenty or thirty, and _harrowed_ by some fifty or sixty. There are a +_dozen_ whom the ghosts of Nisi Prius flock to hear upon great occasions. +And these will long hold the monopoly. + +Why? + +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. + +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? + +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 _may be_ 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. + +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.... + +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. + +It was our privilege in our legal novitiate (this is but _a phrase_; 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 _often_ +reading—the _saepe legendo_ was ever his habit: for he remembered the +couplet: + + Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo + Sic homo fit doctus non vi sed saepe legendo. + +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. + +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. + +_Studying_ law in those days was a far different thing from its _reading_ +now. Then it was _multum_: now it is _multa_. 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 _coup de loi_), in order to escape the +_cacoethes loquendi_ 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 _otium_ 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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 "_every price has its man_," 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. + +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. + +"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 year he was +acknowledged to be the able jurist whom, at his death in his sixty-sixth +year of age, a whole nation mourned. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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 _mere_ 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. + +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. + + "Grandeur may dazzle with its transient glare + The herd of folly, and the tribe of care, + Who sport and flutter through their listless days, + Like motes that bask in Summer’s noontide blaze, + With anxious steps round vacant splendor while, + Live on a look, and banquet on a smile; + But the firm race whose high endowments claim + The laurel-wreath that decks the brow of fame; + Who warmed by sympathy’s electric glow, + In rapture tremble, and dissolve in woe, + Blest in _retirement_, scorn the frowns of fate, + And feel a transport power can ne’er create." + +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 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: + + "Till nature’s self the Vandal torch should raise, + And the vast alcove of creation blaze." + +Or this— + + "Blaze the vast domes inwrought with fretted gold, + The sumptuous pavements veins or pearl unfold, + Arch piled on arch with columned pride ascend, + Grove linked to grove their mingling shadows blend." + +Or this— + + "Let narrow prudence boast its grovelling art + To chill the generous sympathies of heart, + Teach to subdue each thought sublimely wild, + And crush, like Herod, fancy’s new-born child." + +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. + +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: + + "Whene’er you speak, remember every cause + Stands not on eloquence, but stands on laws— + Pregnant in matter, in expression brief, + Let every sentence stand in bold relief; + On trifling points nor time nor talents waste, + A sad offence to learning and to taste; + Nor deal with pompous phrase; nor e’er suppose + Poetic flights belong to reasoning prose, + Loose declamation may deceive the crowd, + And seem more striking as it grows more loud; + But sober sense rejects it with disdain, + As nought but empty noise, and weak as vain. + The froth of words, the school-boy’s vain parade + Of books and cases—all his stock in trade— + The pert conceits, the cunning tricks and play + Of low attorneys, strung in long array, + The unseemly jest, the petulent reply, + That chatters on, and cares not how, or why, + Studious, avoid—unworthy themes to scan, + They sink the speaker and disgrace the man. + Like the false lights, by flying shadows cast, + Scarce seen when present, and forgot when past. + Begin with dignity: expound with grace + Each ground of reasoning in its time and place; + Let order reign throughout—each topic touch, + Nor urge its power too little, or too much. + Give each strong thought its most attractive view, + In diction clear, and yet severely true, + And as the arguments in splendor grow, + Let each reflect its light on all below. + When to the close arrive make no delays + By petty flourishes, or verbal plays, + But sum the whole in one deep solemn strain, + Like a strong current hastening to the main." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _Rien n’est +indifférent dans la vie d’un grand homme; le genie se revéle dans ses +moindres actions_. The straws of every day life mark the direction of the +breezes of individual action. + +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. + +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 _Man_ +reflected lustre upon the lustre of an honored father’s manhood, and added +to the virtues which his mother bequeathed him. As a _Politician_, he +rendered obeisance only to his conscience. As a _Lawyer_, 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 _Judicial Renown_. Not +selfish of his _Learning_, 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 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. + + + + + +COLUMBUS AT THE GATES OF GENOA. + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + + +BY THE AUTHOR OF "NILE NOTES OF A HOWADJI." + +Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa in 1437. In 1851 the Genoese are +finishing his monument. + + I am Columbus: will ye let me in? + Or Doria in his palace by the sea. + Proud Andrea Doria named il Principe, + In your Republic named il Principe, + By Charles the Fifth, the Emperor of Spain, + Monopolizes he your meed of fame + Before the awful Judgment seat of Time. + Well, and Pisani, the Venetian, he, + Venice as Doria was Genoa,— + Why, wide-mouthed Europe clanged their stunning praise, + And history with their names adorns herself, + Dazzing the eyes of pious pilgrims, who + Press flowers from Doria’s garden, dreaming float + Upon Pisani’s silent waters, and + Proceed, much meditating human fate. + And they had pleasures, palaces. They stood, + And sat, and went, all men admiring, + Men of a day, in its brief life they lived, + In its swift dying died. Men of a day, + Brave, generous, and noble—not enough. + Voluptuous Venice, Genoa superb, + Far fascinating meteors that flashed, + Then fell forgotten. Do I carp? Not I. + Ye love your own, I mine, mine me, amen! + O pious pilgrims and ye Genoese, + Proceed, much meditating human fate, + And meditate this well. + A wanderer driven + By every adverse gust of evil times. + Wrecked upon barren reefs of blandest smiles, + Wan victim of a solitary thought + Too masculine to die unrealized. + Tortured with tortuous diplomacy, + Beseeching monarchs still in vain besought, + Not to give kingdoms but to take a world, + Unloved of Fortune, best beloved of Hope,— + When Doria was a lisping boy at school,— + This wanderer puts forth one summer morn, + Among the other fishers of the sea, + And with a world returns. + Nay! nay! no words. + Your hemisphere was only half enough, + And Christopher Columbus globed his fame. + And now ye build my statue, Genoese, + After three silent centuries have died, + When the old fourth is failing, ye do well + With lagging stones to pile the pedestal, + And shape my sculptured seeming. Not with wrath, + Nor scorn. Good God and less with gratitude, + Be those worn features wreathed. I love ye not, + Ye are no friends of mine. I did not ask + A block of marble for my memory, + But gold to carve my hope. It was not much— + Nay, had it been your all, was it not well + To wreck your fortune on a hope sublime? + And, Merchants! The brave chance; a small outlay, + And income inconceivable! You chose. + My stately Spain was wiser. So much gold, + A little fleet,—some sailors—leaders known— + If not investment, speculation safe, + The honor of the enterprise, and chance— + Always the siren chance—Spain risked and won, + And Genoa lost a world. + Sir Advocate! + I understand your meaning; it were hard + Fame drafts upon the Future should be paid + Ere present recognition! ’Twere unjust + That hope unhazarded in act, were crowned + With the same coronal that crowns success. + The starving mariner upon your shore— + The riddle of the West unsolved—stood not + In the same light to set his worthiness, + As when an unimagined Future streamed + All over him in glory. Yet he stood + In that light lonely, as in the old dark, + Lonely, but looking to that light for life. + Spring-pinioned Hope impetuously flew, + And saw, through the deep Future shedding balm, + His fame a tree in flower. + If that were all? + If in his vision of America + He saw but Christopher made famous? Look! + Not for himself; but for that martyr, Thought, + Which struggles fainting in a foolish world, + To ope a gate to wisdom, his heart swelled + When his fixed eye beheld his soul’s belief + Fulfilled in Western twilight. Thou my land! + Shalt thunder to the ages evermore + That dreams and hopes are holy. Thou shalt still + The croaking voice of souls that shake at dawn, + Loving the dimness of their own decay,— + The lone desire, entreaty and despair, + The wasting weariness that breeds disgust, + All woes but Doubt that, wasp-like, stings Hope back, + There are ye justified. And never Time + Goldening this page can slip its moral too: + And never Thought, loving this sweet success, + But still shall love its own wild dreams the more. + And still shall brighter gild all skiey peaks + Of noble daring, with this perfect day. + Regard your leisure with my monument, + My Genoese, for centuries to be + Will yet retain Its reason as to day. + There, where my hope was builded, stands my Fame, + The youngest children of the youngest race. + The wide worlds heritors, arch-heirs of Time, + Pronounce my name with reverence, and call + Your sometime outcast, Father. Be it so. + Andrea’s palace claims repairs perhaps, + The sculptured letters must be cut anew, + That on the crumbling girdle of his house + Proclaim him Principe. That be your task, + And pare your miserable marble, me. + + + + + +FEATHERTOP: A MORALIZED LEGEND. + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE + + +BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. + +"Dickon," cried Mother Rigby, "a coal for my pipe!" + +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. + +"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!" + +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 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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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!" + +"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." + +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. + +"Dickon," cried she sharply, "another coal for my pipe!" + +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 the invisible messenger seemed to +respond to the name of Dickon—I cannot tell. + +"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?" + +The old witch took three or four more whiffs of her pipe, and smiled. + +"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!" + +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. + +"Puff, darling, puff!" said she. "Puff away, my fine fellow! your life +depends on it!" + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Why lurkest thou in the corner, lazy one?" said she. "Step forth! Thou +hast the world before thee?" + +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! + +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 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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +"Thou hast a man’s aspect," said she, sternly. "Have also the echo and +mockery of a voice! I bid thee speak!" + +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. + +"Mother," mumbled the poor stifled voice, "be not so awful with me! I +would fain speak; but being without wits, what can I say?" + +"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!" + +"At your service, mother," responded the figure. + +"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!" + +"Yes, kind mother," said the figure, "with all my heart!" + +"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!" + +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 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. + + + + + +SMILES AND TEARS. + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE, + + +BY RICHARD COE. + + "Art thou happy, little child, + On this clear bright summer’s day, + In the garden sporting wild, + Art thou happy? tell me, pray!" + "If I had that pretty thing, + That has flown to yonder tree, + I would laugh, and dance, and sing— + Oh! how happy I should be!" + Then I caught the butterfly, + Placed it in his hands securely, + Now, methought, his pretty eye + Never more will look demurely! + "Art thou happy, now?" said I, + Tears were sparkling in his eye; + Lo! the butterfly was dead— + In his hands its life had sped! + + "Art thou happy, maiden fair, + On this long, bright summer’s day, + Culling flowerets so rare, + Art thou happy? tell me, pray!" + "If my Henry were but here, + To enjoy the scene with me; + He whose love is so sincere, + Oh! how happy I should be!" + Soon I heard her lover’s feet, + Sounding on the gravel lightly, + To his loving words so sweet, + Tender glances answered brightly! + "Art thou happy, now?" I said, + Down she hung her lovely head, + Henry leaves for foreign skies— + Tears were in the maiden’s eyes! + + "Art thou happy, mother mild, + On this bright, bright summer’s day, + Gazing on thy cherub child, + Art thou happy? tell me, pray!" + "If my baby-boy were well," + Thus the mother spake to me, + "Gratitude my heart would swell— + Oh! how happy I should be!" + Then the cordial I supplied, + Soon the babe restored completely; + Cherub-faced and angel-eyed, + On his mother smiled he sweetly! + "Art thou happy, now?" I said; + "Would his father were not dead!" + Thus she answered me with sighs, + Scalding tear-drops in her eyes! + + "Art thou happy, aged man, + On this glorious summer’s day, + With a cheek all pale and wan, + Art thou happy? tell me, pray!" + "If I were but safe above," + Spake the old man unto me, + "To enjoy my Saviour’s love, + Oh! how happy I should be!" + Then the angel Death came down, + And he welcomed him with gladness, + On his brow so pale and wan, + Not a trace was seen of sadness: + "Art thou happy, now?" I said; + "Yes!" he answered with his head; + Tears of joy were in his eyes, + Dew-drops from the upper skies! + + + + + +FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND THE LATEST MIRACLES. + + +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 _Univers_ +condemning Walter Scott’s works, without exception. He does the same by +Chateaubriand, and the _Arabian Nights_, and _Don Quixote_—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, _La Presse_. "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 _Tribune_, the _Herald_, or the _Journal of Commerce_, +all of which are as bad, in the same way, as the _Presse_. 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: + + + "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 _Institutes of Ecclesiastical Law_, by John Nepomue + Nuytz, Professor in the Royal University of Turin, as also the + work entitled _Essays on Ecclesiastical Law_, 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 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. _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._" + + +One of the latest miracles is described is the Paris _Univers_, as +follows—in the most perfect good faith:— + + + "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 _triduo_ which has been celebrated at Saint Andre della + Valle in reparation of a sacrilegious outrage committed against + the Madonna du Vicolo dell’ Abate Luigi.’" + + +Of course the girl never was ill at all. + +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:— + + + "From the accounts of dispassionate spectators," writes the + correspondent of the _Daily News_, "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 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." + + +The Bolognese paper, _Vero Amico_, 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:— + + + "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." + + +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. + + + + + +THE SONG QUEEN. + + +Our excellent friend JAMES T. FIELDS, now in Europe, sends us from his +note book the following fine apostrophe to Jenny Lind: + +WRITTEN IN A CONCERT ROOM, LONDON, 1847. + + Look on her! there she stands, the world’s prime wonder + The great queen of song! Ye rapt musicians, + Touch your golden wires, for now ye prelude strains + To mortal ears unwonted. Hark! she sings. + Yon pearly gates their magic waves unloose, + And all the liberal air rains melody + Around. O night! O time! delay, delay,— + Pause here, entranced! Ye evening winds, come near, + But whisper not,—and you ye flowers, fresh culled + From odorous nooks, where silvery rivulets run, + Breath silent incense still. + Hail, matchless queen! + Thou, like the high white Alps, canst hear, unspoiled, + The world’s artillery (thundering praises) pass. + And keep serene and safe thy spotless fame! + + + + + +LOVE SONG. + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + + +BY R. S. CHILTON. + + White and silent shines the moonlight, + And the earth, in slumber deep, + Smiles, as of the silver splendor + Conscious in her sleep! + How the moonbeams dance and glimmer— + Hunted by the summer breeze— + On the bosom of the river, + Through the branches of the trees! + May this night of quiet beauty + Be the symbol and the sign, + Of the holy love that wraps us + In its light divine! + So shalt thou still reign forever, + While the glow of life abides, + As thou now dost, dearest—empress + Of my heart’s deep tides! + + + + + +AUTUMN LINES. + + + WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + + +BY J. R. THOMPSON. + + Gone is the golden October + Down the swift current of time, + Month by the poets called sober, + Just for the sake of the rhyme. + + Tints of vermilion and yellow + Margined the forest and stream; + Poets then told us ’twas mellow, + How inconsistent they seem! + + Now, while the mountain in shadow + Dappled and hazy appears, + While the late corn in the meadow, + Culprit-like, loses its ears— + + Get some choice spirits together, + Bring out the dogs and the guns, + Follow the birds o’er the heather, + Where the ’cold rivulet’ runs. + + Look for them under the cover, + Just as the pole-star at sea + Always is sought by the rover, + Near where the pointers may be. + + Yet if your field-tramping brothers + Should not be fellows of mark, + Leave the young partridge for others, + Only make sure of a lark. + + Thus shall the charms of the season + Gently throw round you their spell, + Thus enjoy nature in reason, + If in the country you dwell. + + But if condemned as a denizen + In a great town to reside, + Take down a volume of Tennyson, + Make him do service as guide; + + Borne upon poesy’s pinion, + Rise the heights that he gains, + Range over Fancy’s dominion, + Walk hypothetical plains. + + Soon shall the wintry December + Darken above us the sky— + Winds their old custom remember + All, in a spree, to get high; + + And, as they wail through the copses, + Dirge-like and solemn to hear, + Nature’s own grand Thanatopsis + Sadly shall strike on the ear. + + But all impressions so murky + Instantly banish like care, + Turn to the ham and the turkey + Christmas shall shortly prepare. + + None than yourself can be richer, + Seated at night by the hearth, + With an old friend and a pitcher + Lending a share of the mirth. + + Then to the needy be given + Aid from your generous boards, + And to a bountiful Heaven + Thanks for the wealth it affords. + + + + + +THE PUNISHMENT OF GINA MONTANI. + + + From Colburn’s New Monthly Magazine. + + + + +I. + + +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’ _fête_, 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. + +"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?" + +"My sweet wife, wear what you best like. _You_ need no superficial +adorning." + +"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?" + +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. + +"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. + +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 _a look_. 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. + +_And one was looking on._ 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." + +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! 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 +_her_! Oh! terrible! terrible!" + +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: + + + "_’To the Lady Adelaide, Countess of Visinara._ + + "’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." + + +"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 _know_ they love—I see it all too plainly. And I could +believe his deceitful explanation, and trust him. I _told_ him I believed +it on our wedding night. _He did not know why he went to her house; habit, +he supposed, or, want of occupation._ Oh, shame on his false words! Shame +on my own credulity!" + +None of us forget the stanzas in Collins’s Ode to the Passions: + + "Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fixed, + Sad proof of thy distressful state: + Of differing themes the veering song was mixed, + And now it courted love—now, raving, calling on hate." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Nay, my lady, suffer me to remain yet a a moment: at least, while I +disclose what I know of that viper." + +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. + +"What think you now, madam, she deserves?" + +"_To die!_" burst from the pale lips of the unhappy lady. + +"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." + +"Oh! tempt me not," cried the lady, wringing her hands. "I spoke hastily." + +"Give but the orders, madam," resumed Lucrezia, "and they shall be put in +practice." + +"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?" + +"It will be no guilt, lady." + +"Lucrezia!" + +"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." + +"Well?" + +"You may destroy her, madam, as you would destroy that little bird there +in its golden cage, without sin and without compunction." + +"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." + +"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." + +"_What_ say you?" gasped the Lady Adelaide. + +"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." + +"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." + + + + +II. + + +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, 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." + +"Examine her," was the reply of the lady. + +"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." + +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." + +"Hearest thou not?" inquired the priest, somewhat more sternly. "Art thou +a child of the True Faith?" + +"I am not a Roman Catholic," she answered, timidly, "if you call that +faith the true one." + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +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?" + +"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." + +"And he—?" + +"Our Saviour." + +"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?" + +"I shall never learn it," whispered Gina, "and to me such doctrines savor +of blasphemy. Therefore, I beseech you, dilate not on them." + +"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. + +"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!" + +"Thou art hopeless—hopeless!" ejaculated the monk, sternly. "Yet, another +question ere I send thee forth. Where hast thou imbibed these deadly +doctrines?" + +"My mother wedded with an Italian," answered Gina, "but she was born on +the free soil of England, and reared in its Reformed Faith." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +Gina understood not the tongue; but the Lady Adelaide did, and crossed +herself. + +"And this mother of thine," sneered the monk, turning again to Gina, +"where may she be?" + +"She is dead," gasped Gina, bursting into tears. + +"Good!" assented the monk; "then she is meeting with her deserts." + +"God grant she may be!" aspirated the maiden, "for she died in the faith +of Christ." + +"And who have been thy worthy instructors since?" proceeded the priest. + +"I have had but one guide since," answered Gina. + +"Disclose the name." + +"My Bible." + +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. + +"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." + +"Go," cried the Lady Adelaide, imperiously, to Gina; "bring this Bible +instantly!" + +Gina obeyed, and the sacred volume was placed in the hands of the monk. +The Lady Adelaide shrank from touching it. + +"Ha!" cried the monk, perceiving it to be printed in the English tongue, +"dost thou speak this language, then?" + +"It is familiar to me as my own," replied Gina. + +"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 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. + +"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?" + +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 +_he_ 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. + +"It will not be a crime to remove her, father," faltered the Lady +Adelaide. + +"_Crime_!" cried the ruffled priest; "canst thou connect the word—in that +sense—with so degraded a being?" + +"To remove her in _any way_," persisted the lady, in a whisper. "Yet the +world might call it MURDER." + +"No punishment in this world is adequate to her sin," answered the monk. +"And she must not be suffered to remain in it." + +"Thou wilt then grant me absolution beforehand, holy father," implored the +Lady Adelaide. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Thou wilt cause her to be flung into the moat?" shuddered the Lady +Adelaide. + +"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." + +"_Can_ it be expiated?" + +"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." + +The Lady Adelaide meekly bowed _her_ head, as if to deprecate any wrath +that might just then be falling. + +"Thy lady in waiting, Lucrezia, is true, I have reason to believe," +continued the monk. + +"I believe her to be true," answered the Lady Adelaide. + +"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." + + + + +III. + + +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. + +"You need not prepare yourself for bed," she observed, in a low, distinct +whisper; "another sort of bed is preparing for you." + +"What do you mean?" demanded the startled girl. + +"That you are this night to die." + +Gina shrieked. + +"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." + +"You are speaking falsely to me. I have done nothing to deserve death." + +"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 upon the +long-upheld religion of this house." + +"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." + +"What!" cried the signora, her cheeks inflamed, and her brow darkening, +"do you dare to avow your shame to my face?" + +"It is no shame," answered Gina, sadly; there is nothing of guilt in such +a love as mine." + +"Follow me," repeated Lucrezia. "You have no time to waste in +lamentations." + +"By whose orders do I die?" demanded the indignant girl. "Not by _his_; +and no one else has a right to condemn me." + +Lucrezia expected this, and was prepared. Alas, that the Lord of Visinara +should that day have left his signet ring behind him! + +"Do you know this ring!" demanded Lucrezia, holding out the jewel. + +"Too well. It is the Count of Visinara’s." + +"You may then know who has condemned you." + +"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?" + +"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 +_has_ returned, and has given the orders that you seem inclined to +resist." + +"Implore him to come to me for one moment, for a last farewell." + +"I may not ask it. He is with the Lady Adelaide." + +"First, my happiness, then, my life, sacrificed to appease the Lady +Adelaide! Oh, Giovanni! false, but dear Giovanni—" + +"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." + +"I am about to dress myself," returned Gina. + +"The dress you have on will serve as well as another—and better, for a +night-gown bears some resemblance to a shroud." + +"One moment for prayer," was the next imploring petition. + +"Prayer for you!" broke contemptuously from the signora. + +"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." + +"Prayer for _you_, a _heretic_!" 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." + +Yet still Gina repeated it—"A few moments for prayer, in mercy!" + +"Then pray away where you are going," returned Lucrezia, impatiently. "You +will have time enough, and to spare—minutes, and hours, and days, +perhaps." + +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? +"_He_ sent you a message," she whispered. "It is his last request to you. +Will you receive it?" The unhappy victim looked up eagerly. + +"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." + +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?" + +"By neither—by nothing. Not a hair of your head will be touched." + +"Ah! I might have guessed. It is by poison." + +"It will be taken by _nothing_, I tell you. Why do you not listen to me?" + +"You speak in riddles," said Gina, faintly. "But I will bear my fate, +whatever it may be." + +"And in silence? _He_ asks it by your mutual love." + +"All, all, for his sake," she answered. "Tell him, as I have loved, so +will I obey him to the last." + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +In those times, a reputed visit of the devil in _propria persona_ 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. + +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. + + + + +IV. + + +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. + +"Do you not think he looks a little, a _very_ little better?" demanded the +lady, anxiously. + +The nurse hesitated. She did not think so, but she was unwilling to say +what she thought. + +"His hands—are they any warmer, Giovanni?" + +The count shook his head, and the nurse spoke. "There will be hope, madam, +if this last medicine should take effect." + +The Lady Adelaide pressed her lips upon the infant’s forehead, and burst +into tears. + +"You will be ill, Adelaide," said her husband. "This incessant watching is +bad for you. Let me persuade you to take rest." + +She motioned in the negative. + +"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!" + +"Lie down—lie down, my love," interposed her husband, "if only for a short +time." + +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. + +"My child! my child!" groaned the Lady Adelaide. + +"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!" + +"I have seen one," shuddered the nurse. + +"What _have_ you been dreaming of?" he returned, angrily. + +"As true as that we are all assembled here, my lord," continued the nurse, +solemnly, "I saw the spirit of Gina Montani!" + +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. + +"What absurdity!" uttered the count, recovering himself. "How could such +an idea enter your head?" + +"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 _there_, far away, where +the lamp casts its shade." + +"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! + + + + +V. + + +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 _knew_ 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." + +"Bear with you, Adelaide!" he repeated; "would to the Blessed Virgin you +might be spared to me!" + +"It is impossible," she sighed, pressing his hand upon her wasted bosom. + +"Adelaide"—he hesitated; after awhile—"I would ask you a question—a +question which, if you can, I entreat that you will answer." + +She looked at him inquiringly, and he resumed, in a low voice: "What +became of Gina Montani?" + +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." + +"My love, why will you so misunderstand me?" + +"These thoughts excite me dreadfully," she continued. "Let us banish them, +if you would have peace visit me in dying." + +"May your death be far away yet," he sighed. + +"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. + +"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." + +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." + +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—_her_. I did—I did, Giovanni!" + +"Whom?" he said becoming very pale. + +"Her—Gina Montani. She was in white—a long dress it seemed. Oh! Giovanni, +leave me not again." + +"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." + +"You remember," she sobbed, "the night our child died—nurse saw the same +spectre. It may—" + +The lady’s voice failed her, and her husband started, for a rapid change +was taking place in her countenance. + +"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 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?—_who_ is to forgive me? It _was_ 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! + + + + +VI. + + +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. + +"What a while you are!" exclaimed the child, looking on, with impatience, +to see the walls come down. "You should hit harder." + +"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." + +"They are taking down a niche now, are they not, papa?" + +"Not yet. They are removing the wall which has been built before it. It +appears fresher, too, than the rest; of more recent date." + +"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." + +"Not it," laughed the count. "These corridors have not been touched during +my lifetime." + +"This portion of them has, my lord, you may rely upon it." + +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!" + +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. + + + + +VII. + + +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 _was not_ 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. + +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. + + + + + +VISION OF CHARLES XI. + + + From Sharpe’s Magazine + + +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. + +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 +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. + +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, + +"What a likeness that is! How truly it gives the expression, at once so +gentle and so dignified!" + +"Nonsense!" said the king, angrily, "the portrait is far too flattering; +the queen was decidedly plain." + +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. + +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. + +"What is the meaning of this?" asked he. + +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." + +The king walked on to the door of the hall. + +"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!" + +"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." + +"I will go in," said the king, firmly; "open the door at once." + +The man’s hand trembled so that he could not turn the key. + +"A fine thing to see an old soldier frightened," said the king, shrugging +his shoulders; "come, Count, will you open the door?" + +"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." + +"Well," said the king, in a tone of contempt, "I can do it myself." + +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 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." + +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. + +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. + + + + + +DIVINATION, WITCHCRAFT, AND MESMERISM. + + + From the Dublin University Magazine. + + +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 +_pièces justificatives_. 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. + +"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 +_material_ substance, or how an _immaterial_ 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." + +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." + +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 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., _that the eyes +must be fixed every day for some hours upon some particular object_, 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. + +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. + +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 +_gasteromancy_. "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." + +_Catoptromancy_, 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." + +The passage may be variously rendered, according to different readings and +punctuations, either as "boys, who can see with their 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. + +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 _odylic_ 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." + +_Crystallomancy_ 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, _De Defectu Oraculorum_. 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 _crystals_; 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 the silk wrapper, into a draw-well." +So far Delrio. + +Another variety of this process is found in the _Onuchomanteia_, 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." + +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:— + + "The icy gem its aqueous birth attests, + Part turned to stone, while part in fluid rests; + Winter’s numbed hand achieved the cunning feat, + The perfecter for being incomplete. + + "Nymphs who your sister nymphs in glassy thrall + Hold here imprisoned in the crystal ball; + Waters that were and are, declare the cause + That your bright forms at once congeals and thaws. + + "Scorn not the crystal ball, a worth it owns, + Greater than graven Erythrean stones; + Rude though it seems, a formless mass of ice, + ’Tis justly counted ’mongst our gems of price." + +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 _l_, instead of _n_, which would make all the difference between +"nymphs" and "waters":— + + "While the soft boy the slippery crystal turns, + To touch the waters in their icy urns, + Safe in its depths translucent he beholds + The nymphs, unconscious of the winter colds: + And the dry ball exploring with his lip, + Seems, while he fails, the illusive lymph to sip." + +The Latin is subjoined:— + + "Dum crystalla puer contingere lubrica gaudet + Et gelidum tenero pollice versat onus, + Videt perspicuo deprensas in marmore nymphas, + Dura quibus solis parcere novit hyems: + Et siccum religens labiis sitientibus orbem, + Irrita quæsitis oscula figit aquis." + +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. + +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, 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." + +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 _Waren_, 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 _clairvoyance_, +we need not be surprised at the singular coincidences which have sustained +the credit of Colophon and Delphi. + +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 _afflati_. 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 _offlati_ 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 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." + +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." + +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. + +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 _en rapport_ 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 _Panic_ 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. + +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: + + "Quo me Bacche, rapis tui + Plenum? Quæ in nemora aut quos agor in specus + Velox mente nova?" + +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 _Waren_. The dancing mania also of the +fifteenth century, described by Hecker in his _Epidemics of the Middle +Ages_, 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 _Waren_ in Hindoostan, can hardly be +doubted. "As for the Bacchanalian motions and friskings of the +_Corybantes_," says Plutarch in his Essay on Love, "there is a way to +allay these extravagant transports, by changing the measure from the +_Trochaic_ to the _Spondaic_, and the tone from the _Phrygian_ to the +_Doric_:" 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 _Taratati_, +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 _Thyades_) 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 +_Thyades_ 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." + +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 _afflatus_, +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. + +"They pass over rivers in a wonderful manner, which the priestess herself +also does in the Cataballa." We here again encounter the _indicia_, 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. + +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 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 _energumeni_ 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 _convulsionnaires_, 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.(5) Even as it is, these 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:— + + "As fire this figure hardens, made of clay, + And this of wax with fire consumes away; + Such let the soul of cruel Daphnis be, + Hard to the rest of women, soft to me." + +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. + +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 _convulsionnaires_ +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 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. + +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 _Buile Suibhne_, a bardic romance on the madness of +this unfortunate warrior. This latter romance is occupied with Suibhne’s +adventures as a mad prophet, _Omadh_, in Irish. Query did the Bacchus +_Omadios_ of the Greeks derive his name from a similar source? It would be +a singular coincidence that would make a Greek god an _omadran_. Keats, +with a fine intuition, has depicted those _mores afflatorum_, in the +satyrs who do the benevolent biddings of Pan: + + "Thou, to whom every faun and satyr flies, + For willing service; whether, to surprise + The squatted hare, while, in half-sleeping fit, + Or upward ragged precipices flit + To save poor lambkins from the eagle’s maw; + Or by mysterious enticement draw + Bewildered shepherds to their paths again." + +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 A.D. 1642. One of the +sisters, surnamed De Jesus, conceived herself to be possessed by a demon +whom she called _Arracon_. "On the occasion of a procession of the host by +Monseigneur the Bishop of Evreux, _Arracon_ 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. _Putiphar_, 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 +_Putiphar_ mocked them, crying, ’As I made this _chienne_ 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." + +Pere de la Menarday, in his _Examen Critique de l’Histoire des Diables de +London_, 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 _tel que je l’ai vu de mes propres +yeux_." 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. + +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 _glamour_. 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 _adyta_ 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? + +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 wholly in +their own distempered imagination. + +From a learned and philosophic review of the great work of Calmeil, _De la +Folie_, in the _Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medicine_, we extract the +following _resumé_ 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." + +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 _en rapport_ 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 _delirium tremens_; 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. + +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 _delirium +tremens_, may be found in the case of _lycanthropism_, 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 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." + +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. + +There seems no reason to doubt that lycanthropism was a disease as +constant in its character and as well defined in its symptoms as _delirium +tremens_, 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. + +"A chief sign of the divine afflatus," says Jamblichus, citing Porphyry, +"is, that he who induces the _numen_ into himself, sees the spirit +descending, and its quantity and quality. Also, he who receives the +_numen_ 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 any act of +himself.... But after this comes ecstacy, or disembodiment." + +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 _Aureolæ_ of the +Christian saints may not, after all, have been the merely fanciful +additions of superstitious artists. + +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 _seance_ 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." + +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. + +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 (_cognizance de l’interieur_) and knowledge of +whatever thought might be secretly addressed to them, as appeared +particularly in the 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." + +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." + +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." + +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 +_en rapport_ 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. + +In the mean time, many practitioners are 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." + +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 +_pseudo_-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." + +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. + + S. F. + + + + + +A CHAPTER OF EPITAPHS. + + + From Sharp’s Magazine. + + +By F. Lawrence. + +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— + + CATHERINE THE GREAT TO PETER THE FIRST, + +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 J. DRYDEN, 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: + + This Sheffield raised: the sacred dust below + Was Dryden once—the rest who does not know? + +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 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: + + Heare lyes (expecting the second + Comminge of our Savior CHRIST + JESUS) the body of Edmond Spencer, + The Prince of Poets in his tyme, + Other witnesse than the works + Which he left behinde him. + He was borne in London in the yeare 1553, + And died in the year 1598. + +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: + + MICHAEL DRAITON, Esq. + + A memorable poet of this age, + Exchanged his laurell for a crowne of glorye, + Ao. 1631. + + Doe, pious Marble! let thy readers knowe + What they and what their children owe + To DRAITON’S name, whose sacred dust + We recommend unto thy TRUST: + Protect his memory, and preserve his storye, + Remaine a lastinge monument of his glorye; + And when thy ruines shall disclaime + To be the treas’rer of his name, + His name that cannot fade shall be + An everlasting monument to thee. + +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: + + Affectuum _potens et lenis Dominator_; + Ingenio sublimis—vividus, versatilis, + Oratione grandis, nitidus, venustus— + +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: + + Here lyes + HENRY PURCELL, Esq. + Who left this life, + And is gone to that blessed place + Where only his Harmony + Can be exceeded. + Obiit 21 die Novembris + Anno Ætatis suæ 37 + Annoque Domini 1695. + +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: + + Not to perpetuate a name, + Which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish, + But to show + That mankind have learned to know those + Who best deserve their gratitude, + The King, + His ministers, and many of the nobles + And commoners of the realm + Raised this monument to + JAMES WATT, + Who, directing the force of an original genius, + Early exercised in philosophic research, + To the improvement of the Steam Engine, + Enlarged the resources of his country, + Increased the power of man, + And rose to eminent place + Among the most illustrious followers of science, + And the real benefactors of the world. + +The inscription on Telford’s monument is equally chaste and beautiful. It +presents this noble summary of his life and character: + + The orphan son of a shepherd, self-educated, + He raised himself, + By his extraordinary talents and integrity, + From the humble condition of an operative mason, + And became one of the + Most eminent Civil Engineers of the age. + This marble has been erected near the spot + Where his remains are deposited, + By the friends who revered his virtues, + But his noblest monuments are to be found amongst + The great public works of his country. + +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: + + Erected by the King and Parliament + As a testimonial to + The Virtues and Ability + of + WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM, + During whose administration, in the reigns of + George II. and George III. + Divine Providence + Exalted Great Britain + To a height of Prosperity and Glory + Unknown in any former age. + +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:— + + Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere, + In action faithful, yet in honour clear! + Who broke no promise, served no private end, + Who gained no title, and who lost no friend; + Ennobled by Himself, by all approved, + Praised, wept, and honored by the Muse he loved. + +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:— + + Of manners gentle, and affections mild, + _In wit a man, simplicity a child_. + +Altogether it is a beautiful and appropriate 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; + + Life is a jest, and all things show it; + I thought so once, but now I know it. + +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:- + + To these so mourned in death, so loved in life, + The childless parent and the widowed wife, + With tears inscribes this monumental stone, + That holds their ashes, _and expects her own_. + +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. + +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 _Essays of Elia_. 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." + +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: + + Subditus conditur hujus Ecelesiæ at Urbis + Conditor, CHRISTOPHERUS WREN, qui vixit + Annos ultra nonaginta, non sibi, sed + Bono publico. _Lector, si monumentum requiris,_ + _Circumspice._ + +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." + +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: + + Underneath this sable hearse + Lies the subject of all verse, + Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother: + Death, ere thou hast slain another, + Fair, and wise, and good as she, + Time shall throw his dart at thee. + +Another of Jonson’s epitaphs, although more rugged in versification, is +also deserving of quotation; + + Underneath this stone doth lie + As much virtue as could die; + Which, when alive, did vigor give + To as much beauty as could live. + If she had a single fault, + Leave it buried in this vault. + +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: + + Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in night;— + God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light. + +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: + + Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove + The pangs of guilty power and hapless love, + Rest here, distress’d by poverty no more, + Here find that calm thou gav’st so oft before; + Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine, + Till angels wake thee with a note like thine. + +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: + + "An honest man’s the noblest work of God." + Havard, from sorrow rest beneath this stone; + An honest man—beloved as soon as known; + Howe’er defective in the mimic art, + In real life he justly played his part! + The noblest character he acted well, + And heaven applauded when the curtain fell. + +The one on William Hogarth, in Chiswick Churchyard, by Garrick, is in +better taste: + + Farewell, great painter of mankind, + Who reach’d the noblest point of art; + Whose pictur’d morals charm the mind, + And through the eye correct the heart! + If genius fire thee, reader, stay; + If nature touch thee, drop a tear:- + If neither move thee, turn away, + For Hogarth’s honor’d dust lies here. + +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: + + Nobles and heralds, by your leave, + Here lie the bones of Matthew Prior: + The son of Adam and of Eve, + Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher? + +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:" + + Stop, reader, here, and deign to look + On one without a name, + Ne’er enter’d in the ample book + Of fortune or of fame. + Studious of peace, he hated strife; + Meek virtues fill’d his breast; + His coat of arms, "a spotless life," + "An honest heart" his crest. + Quarter’d therewith was innocence, + And thus his motto ran: + "A conscience void of all offence, + Before both God and man." + In the great day of wrath, through pride + Now scorns his pedigree, + Thousands shall wish they’d been allied + To this great family. + +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. + + Here lies a Man, + Com’d of Adam and Eve; + If any will climb higher, + I give him leave. + +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. + + Here sleeps what once was beauty, once was grace; + Grace, that with tenderness and sense combined + To form that harmony of soul and face, + Where brainy shines the mirror of the mind. + Such was the maid that, in the morn of youth, + In virgin innocence, in nature’s pride, + Blest with each art that owes its charms to truth, + Sank in her father’s fond embrace, and died. + He weeps; O venerate the holy tear! + Faith lends her aid to ease affliction’s load; + The parent mourns his child upon the bier, + The Christian yields an angel to his God. + +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: + + Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he + Laid many a heavy load on thee. + +The original of the following is among the epigrams of Boileau:— + + Here lies my wife; there let her lie; + She is at rest—and so am I. + +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:— + + Here lies the body of Sarah Sexton, + Who as a wife did never vex one; + We can’t say that for her at the next stone. + +The next specimen is also known to have appeared on a tomb in Essex:— + + Here lies the man Richard, + And Mary his wife; + Their surname was Pritchard; + They lived without strife; + And the reason was plain; + They abounded in riches, + They no care had nor pain, + And the wife wore the breeches. + +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. + + + + + +THE GOOD OLD TIMES IN PARIS. + + + AN ADVENTURE WITH ROBBERS. + + +From Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _dénouement_, was but too well pleased to be +quit at such a cost, and he took leave of the assembly with unfeigned +expressions 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, _"Freed by the Great Band_." 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. + +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, "_pour satisfaire leur goût_!" + +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 +_poire d’angoisse_. 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _under the penalty of being thrown into the river_! + + + + + +THE LEGEND OF THE WEEPING CHAMBER. + + + From Household Words. + + +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:— + +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. + +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 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. + +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!" + +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!" + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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?" + +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." + +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!" + +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 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." + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + + +THE BULL FIGHT OF MADRID. + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE CASTILIAN." + + +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. + +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. + +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 _Puerta del sol_ which, on less +momentous occasions, seems destined only as a lounge for all the +_ennuyés_, news-hunters, and _petit-maitres_ 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. + +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. + +It is at this hour that the higher classes prefer visiting the arena: a +number of the more desperate _amateurs_, however, regardless of the +influence of a meridian sun, do not hesitate to present themselves at the +morning exhibitions. + +At about four in the afternoon, the _Calle de Alcala_ 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 +_Calesines_, 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 _cortege_ of more +splendid equipages. + +Next, an army of _majos_ attracted attention by their fanciful dresses, +and the easy swagger with which they accompanied their _morenas_, 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— + + White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery— + +here and there intermingled with military idlers, in the uniforms of their +several regiments. + +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 _Plaza de los Toros_, 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 _vasijas_, 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 _neveras_, 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. + +Amidst this stunning, yet not unpleasing variety of sounds, we at length +reached the _Plaza de los Toros_, 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 _El despejo_, 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 _melées_, was the loss of a few ribbons and a quantity of hair, +of which the _manolus_ 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 +_aficionado_, who kept his tongue in continual motion, and favored his +neighbors with a tremendous display of erudition on the _tauromachia_. + +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 _picadores_, the _espadas_, and the _chulos_, 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 animal they are about to encounter before they +venture to provoke its ferocity. + +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 _not_,—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. + +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 _picadores_ and the rest of their +party made their entrance into the arena. First came the _picadores_, with +their horses blindfold, wearing enormous boots to protect them from the +blows of the bull; next paced on the _espadas_, or _matadores_, 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 _chulos_, or +_banderilleros_, 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 _banderillas_. 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. + +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. + +The _picadores_, according to the order of precedence, ranged themselves +in the circus, close to the _baranda_, 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. + + Dark is his hide on either side, but the blood within doth boil, + And the dun hide glows as if on fire, as he paws to the turmoil, + His eyes are jet, and they are set in crystal rings of snow; + But now they stare with one red glare of brass upon the foe. + Upon the forehead of the bull the horns stand close and near, + From out the broad and wrinkled skull like daggers they appear; + His neck is massy, like the trunk of some old knotted tree, + Whereon the monster’s shagged mane like billows curled ye see. + His legs are short, his hams are thick, his hoofs are black as night, + Like a strong flail he holds his tail in the fierceness of his might; + Like something molten out of iron, or hewn forth from the rock, + Harpado of Xarama stands, to bide the Alcayde’s shock.(6) + +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. + +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 _picador_. The cavalier received the charge +with perfect coolness and intrepidity, and having succeeded in planting +his _pica_ 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 +_picador_. 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 _pica_, it at length broke, and the bull, with +one tremendous thrust on the horse’s breast, overthrew its rider. +Fortunately for the fallen _picador_, he was protected by the bulk of his +horse; 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 _picador_, with a violent storm of abuse. + +During the whole of this noisy altercation, our erudite neighbor, the +_aficionado_, 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 +_picador_, 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 _picador_ 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. + +Cries of horror and alarm for the safety of the unfortunate _picador_ 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 _chulos_ 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 _vivas_ in praise of his prowess. + +The trumpet again sounded the signal for the second part of the combat, +and forthwith the _chulos_ advanced nimbly with their _banderillas_, 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 +_banderillas_ 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. + +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 _chulos_ +retired and made place for the _prima-espada_. + +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 _vivas_; 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. + +Candido, with all the skill of a practised _matador_, 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 _matador_ 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 _ne plus ultra_ 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. + +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 _picador_. 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. In +vain did the _picadores_ 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 _vaca! vaca!_ (poor cow! poor cow!)—but all these energetic +remonstrances were lost upon the pacific animal. + +With much difficulty, and after a pretty long interval, the three wounds +of the _pica_ (according to rule) were at length inflicted; and the +_chulos_ 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 _pica_, should evince any taste +for the _banderillas_. Consequently a great confusion arose, and a +simultaneous call for _banderillas de fuego_, was heard on every side. +This it was expected would prove a stimulus to the too tranquil +temperament of the animal. + +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 +_chulos_ ran after him, and thus continued _nolens volens_ to thrust their +spears into his unresisting carcass, until it was thought expedient to +desist in order to give him the _coup de grace_. Leoncito the second +_espada_ then came forward, and was hailed with joyful acclamations by his +partisans, especially the _manolas_, 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 _estocada_—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 _eachetero_, 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 _matador_, 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 _aficionado_ +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. + +The fight being ended, the _picadores_ 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 _manola_—many a terrible looking, +fierce-whiskered, cigar-smoking _majo_—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 _Neverria de Solos_, contiguous to the Prado, to take our _refresco_. +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 _tertulia_ for the evening, and thus ends a day wholly consecrated +to pleasure. + +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 +_picadores_ and _espades_ detracts from the interest which attaches to +them. Not long since, the _matadores_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + + +THE LADY AND THE FLOWER. + + +BY G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ. + + There be of British arms and deeds, + Who sing in noble strain, + Of Poictiers’ field, and Agincourt, + And Cressy’s bloody plain. + + High tales of merry England, + Full often have been told, + For never wanted bard to sing + The actions of the bold. + + But now I tune another string, + To try my minstrel power, + My story’s of a gallant knight, + A lady, and a flower. + + The noble sun that shines on all, + The little or the great, + As bright on cottage doorway small, + As on the castle gate, + + Came pouring over fair Guienne + From the far eastern sea; + And glistened on the broad Garonne, + And slept on Blancford lea. + + The morn was up, the morn was bright, + In southern summer’s rays, + And Nature caroll’d in the light, + And sung her Maker’s praise. + + Fair Blancford, thou art always fair, + With many a shady dell, + And bland variety and change, + Of forest and of fell. + + But Blancford on that morn was gay, + With many a pennon bright, + And glittering arms and panoply + Shone in the morning light. + + For good Prince Edward, England’s pride, + Now lay in Blancford’s towers, + And weary sickness had consumed, + The hero’s winter hours. + + But now that brighter hopes had come, + With summer’s brighter ray, + He called his gallant knights around, + To spend a festal day. + + With tournament and revelry, + To pass away the hours, + And win fair Mary from her sire, + The Lord of Blancford’s towers. + + But why fair Mary’s brow was sad + None in the castle knew, + Nor why she watched one garden bed, + Where none but wild pinks grew. + + Some said that seven nights before + A page had sped away, + To where Lord Clifford with his power, + On Touraine’s frontier lay. + + To Blancford no Lord Clifford came, + And many a tale was told, + For well ’twas known that he had sought, + Fair Mary’s love of old. + + And some there said Lord Clifford’s love + Had cooled at Mary’s pride, + And some there said that other vows + His heart inconstant tied. + + Foul slander, ready still to soil, + All that is bright and fair, + With more than Time’s destructiveness, + Who never learned to spare. + + The morn was bright, but posts had come, + Bringing no tidings fair, + For knit was Edward’s royal brow, + And full of thoughtful care. + + The lists were set, the parted sun + Shone equal on the plain, + And many a knight there manfully + Strove fresh applause to gain. + + Sir Henry Talbot, and Sir Guy + Of Brackenbury, he + Who slew the giant Iron-arm, + On Cressy’s famous lea, + + Were counted best, and claimed the Prince + To give the sign that they + Might run the tilt, and one receive + The honors of the day. + + "Speed, knights, perhaps those arms that shine + In peace," prince Edward said, + "Before a se’nnight pass, may well, + In Gallic blood be died. + + "For here we learn that hostile bands, + Have gathered in Touraine, + And Clifford, with his little troop, + Are prisoners or slain. + + "For with five hundred spears, how bold + Soe’er his courage show, + He never could withstand the shock, + Of such a host of foe." + + Fair Mary spoke not, but the blood + Fled truant from her cheek, + And left it pale, as when day leaves + Some mountain’s snowy peak. + + But then there camp the cry of horse, + The east lea pricking o’er, + And to the lists a weary page + A tattered pennon bore. + + Fast came a knight with blood-stained arms, + And dusty panoply, + And beaver down, and armed lance, + In chivalric array. + + No crest, no arms, no gay device, + Upon his shield he wore, + But a small knot beside his plume, + Of plain wild pinks he bore. + + For love, for love and chivalry, + Lord Clifford rides the plain, + And foul he lies who dares to say, + His honor e’er know stain. + + And Mary’s cheek ’gan blushing bright, + And Mary’s heart beat high, + And Mary’s breath that fear oppressed + Came in a long glad sigh. + + Straight to the Prince the knight he rode, + "I claim these lists," he cried, + "Though late into the field I come, + My suit be not denied; + + "For we have fought beside the Loire, + And stained our arms in blood; + Not ever lost one step of ground, + So long as rebels stood. + + "Hemmed in, I one time never thought + To die in British land, + Or see my noble prince again, + Or kiss his royal hand. + + "But well fought every gallant squire, + And well fought every knight; + And rebels have been taught to feel + The force of British might. + + "And now in humble terms they sue, + To know thy high command, + And here stand I these lists to claim, + For a fair lady’s hand. + + "For Mary’s love, and chivalry, + I dare the world to fight, + And foul and bitterly he lies, + Who dares deny my right" + + "No, no, brave Clifford," Edward said, + "No lists to-day for thee, + Thy gallant deeds beside the Loire, + Well prove thy chivalry. + + "Sir Guy, Sir Henry, and the rest, + Have well acquit their arms, + But Edward’s thanks are Clifford’s due, + As well as Mary’s charms." + + "My lord, you are her sire," he said, + "Give kind consent and free, + And who denies our Clifford’s right, + Shall ride a tilt with me." + + Gay spake the prince, gay laughed the throng, + And Mary said not nay, + And bright with smile, and dance, and song, + Went down the festal day. + + And when Lord Clifford to the board + Led down his Mary fair, + A knot of pinks was in his cap, + A knot was in her hair. + + For it had been their sign of love, + And loved by them was still, + Till death came quietly on their heads, + And bowed them to his will. + + And now, though years have passed away, + And all that years have seen, + And Clifford’s deeds and Mary’s charms, + Are as they ne’er had been, + + Some wind, as if in memory + Has borne the seeds on high, + To deck the ruin’s crumbling wall, + And catch the passing eye. + + It tells a tale to those who hear; + For beauty, strength, and power, + Are but the idols of a day, + More short-lived than a flower. + + Joy on, joy on, then, while ye may, + Nor waste the moments dear; + Nor give yourself a cause to sigh, + Nor teach to shed a tear. + + + + + +AN OLD MAID’S FIRST LOVE. + + + From Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal. + + +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 _intérieur_, 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 +_intérieur_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +"And have you," said I, "any reasonable hope of succeeding in your +mission?" + +"_Parbleu!_" 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 _futur_ 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. You see I am resolved to make +any sacrifice to effect my object." + +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. + +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. + +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 +_auberge_ 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." + +"A beggarly Parisian; yo, yo!" quoth the postilion as he passed, clacking +his long whip. + +"Who will answer for his fare?" inquired the conductor. + +"I will," replied Nathalie, taking the words out of my mouth. + +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 +_protégé_, 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. + +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 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. + +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, _mon enfant_, 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." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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." + +"Come, Nathalie," replied I, taking her arm in mine as we crossed the +poplar-meadow, "have you no hope of a reward?" + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +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?" + +"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." + +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! + +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 _sabots_ 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 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." + +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?" + +"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." + +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. + + + + + +MADEMOISELLE DE CAMARGO. + + +From advance sheets of a capital book entitled "Men and Women of the XIXth + Century, by Argene Houssaye," in press by Redfield. + + +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! + +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. + +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 _danseuse_. 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 _Characters of the Dance_, a step almost +impossible, which the most celebrated dancers hardly had dared to attemp, +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 _à la Camargo_, dresses _à la Camargo_, sleeves _à la Camargo_. All +the ladies of the court imitated her grace; there were not a few that +would have liked to have copied her face! + +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. + +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 _figurante_. 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 +_figurantes_, she springs forward to the middle of the stage, and +improvises Demoulins’s _pas de seul_, 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." + +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 +_danseuse_. 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. + +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. + +In the _Amusements of the Heart and Mind_, 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. + +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 _Christ on_ _the Mount of Olives_, a _Magdalen at the +Tomb_, a _Veiled Virgin_, a _Venus_, the _Three Graces_, some _Cupids_, +half concealed beneath some rosaries and sacred relics, and _Madonnas_, +covered with trophies from the opera! + +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!" + +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 _Court Calendar_!" "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." + +The aged _danseuse_ 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 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." + +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!" + +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, ’_It is pretty!_’ La Carton, however, wept with me. It +is worth being a poet and a philosopher in order not to understand such +histories." + +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." + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 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 _début_ 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.’ + +"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. + +"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.’ + +"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. + +"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, _tête-à-tête_. 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. + +"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 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. + +"Next day the _Triumph of Bacchus_ 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. + +"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. + +"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! + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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!" + +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! + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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.’ + +"An hour was spent in taking leave and in tears; he was obliged to go; he +went. + +"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." + +Mademoiselle de Camargo unfolded slowly the torn letter. "Here is the +second letter:— + + + Oct 17. + + "’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. + + "’Farewell, farewell, I press you to my heart, which ceases to + beat.’" + + +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 God, in consequence of those +words of Monsieur de Martielle: ’Now it will be I who will wait for you.’ + +"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!" + +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." + +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." + + + + + +MY NOVEL: + + + OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.(7) + + +BY PISISTRATUS CAXTON. + + + + +BOOK IX.—INITIAL CHAPTER. + + +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. + +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 _My +Novel, or Varieties in English Life_, was misnomed and insulted as "a +Continuation of _The Caxtons_," 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 PUBLIC LIFE. + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +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, for _thyself_! 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 _per diem_—de-Popkinise +thine immortality! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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:— + +"Happy is the man who has no children! Thrice happy he who has no girls." + +"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: + +"One blunderbuss, four pistols, and a house-dog called Pompey, who would +have made mince-meat of Julius Cæsar!" + +"He certainly eats a great deal, does Pompey!" said Mrs. Riccabocca, +simply. "But if he relieves your mind!" + +"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, _cara mia_;—Pompey only relieves my larder!" + +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— + +"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." + +"You cannot express yourself better. It is a great comfort to unbosom +one’s self to a wife, after all!" quoth Riccabocca. + +"But," said the wife, after a grateful kiss—"but where and how can we find +a husband suitable to the rank of your daughter?" + +"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!" + +"Why, there’s not a soul that can hear us!" said Mrs. Riccabocca, +soothingly. + +"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— + +"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!" + +"You speak, then, of Mr. Leslie?" + +"To be sure—of whom else?" + +Mrs. Riccabocca leaned her cheek on her hand thoughtfully. "Now you have +told me _that_, I will observe him with different eyes." + +"_Anima mia_, 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. + +"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." + +"Reasoning by illustration, upon my soul!" ejaculated Riccabocca, amazed. + +"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 heart—oh, trust me, she is +wiser than the wisest man!" + +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. + +"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 _corpo di Baccho!_ forget +all about rank; and so now to bed." + +"One must not holloa till one’s out of the wood," muttered the ungrateful, +suspicious villain, as he lighted the chamber candle. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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." + +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. + +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. + +The two met at Madame di Negra’s house. There is something very strange, +and almost mesmerical, in the _rapport_ 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. + +Then, for the first time, Count di Peschiera cautiously and adroitly made +a covered push towards the object of the meeting. + +"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 _bonnes fortunes_." + +"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 _bonnes fortunes_ as I +have the personal graces which obtain them without an effort;" and he +inclined his head as in compliment. + +"So," thought the Count, "woman is not his weak side. What is?" + +"_Morbleu!_ 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." + +"Ambition, Count," replied Randal, still guarding himself in dry +sententiousness, "is the luxury of the rich, and the necessity of the +poor." + +"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: "_Sur mon âme, mon cher_," said the Count, "luxury +is ever pleasanter than necessity; and I am resolved at least to give +ambition a trial—_je vais me réfugier dans le sein du bonheur +domestique_—a married life and a settled home. _Peste!_ If it were not for +ambition, one would die of ennui. Apropos, my dear sir, I have to thank +you for promising 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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? + +"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 +_canaille_. 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 +_carbonaro_, 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. _Que diable!_ what could +the independence of Italy do for _him_! 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." + +"Ah, you were next heir?" + +"And it is a hard trial to be very near a great fortune, and yet just miss +it." + +"True," cried Randal, almost impetuously. The Count now raised his eyes, +and again the two men looked into each other’s souls. + +"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." + +"Rival! How?" + +"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." + +"Did he know of your pretensions?" + +"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." + +"And you consented?" + +"I consented." + +"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." + +"Well," said the Count, with his most _roué_ air, "I suppose we _are_ both +men of the world?" + +"_Both!_ certainly," replied Randal, just in the tone which Peachum might +have used in courting the confidence of Lockit. + +"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." + +"Very natural; it might bring your wealthy kinsman and yourself still +closer together." + +"This is really a very clever fellow!" thought the Count, but he made no +direct reply. + +"_Enfin_, 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." + +"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." + +"_Entre nous, mon cher_, I care not a stiver for popularity; and as to +suspicion, who is he that can escape from the calumny of the 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?" + +"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?" + +"You say it." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Aver—untruly." + +"_Ma foi_—it comes to the same thing; _les absens ont toujours tort_. 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 _impossible_!" 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— + +"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?" + +"Ah, that would indeed be, next to my own marriage with her, the most +fortunate thing that could happen to myself." + +"How? I don’t understand!" + +"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—_mort dema vie_—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?’ _Parbleu!_ 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." + +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. + +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." + +"How?" + +"Advertise that, if he will come to some place appointed, he will hear of +something to his advantage." + +The Count shook his head. "He would suspect me, and not come." + +"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?" + +"The conspirators forgive none who do not conspire; besides, to speak +frankly, he thought I injured him." + +"Could you not conciliate him through his wife—whom—you resigned to him?" + +"She is dead—died before he left the country." + +"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?" + +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. + +"What so interests you, _ma sœur_?-the last novel by Balzac, no doubt?" + +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 _soul_ here." + +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. + +"Hum," murmured Randal; "the Parson, was right. This is power—a sort of a +power." + +"How I should like to know the author! Who can he be—can you guess?" + +"Not I. Some old pedant in spectacles." + +"I think not—I am sure not. Here beats a heart I have ever sighed to find, +and never found." + +"Oh, _naïve enfant_!" cried the Count; "_comme son imagination s’égare en +rêves enchantés_. And to think that, while you talk like an Arcadian, you +are dressed like a princess." + +"Ah, I forgot—the Austrian ambassador’s. I shall not go to-night. This +book unfits me for the artificial world." + +"Just as you will, my sister. I shall go. I dislike the man, and he me; +but ceremonies before men!" + +"You are going to the Austrian Embassy?" said Randal. "I too shall be +there. We shall meet." And he took his leave. + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +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." + +"He is no countryman of mine. He is an Italian. I know him but by sight +and by name," said the Prince, stiffly. + +"He is of very ancient birth, I believe." + +"Unquestionably. His ancestors were gentlemen." + +"And very rich." + +"Indeed! I have understood the contrary. He enjoys, it is true, a large +revenue." + +A young _attaché_, less discreet than the Prince, here observed, "Oh, +Peschiera!—Poor fellow, he is too fond of play to be rich." + +"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. + +"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?" + +"Never, though he is supposed to reside here; and the Count tells me that +he has a daughter." + +"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." + +"Possibly she may already have married an Englishman." + +"I trust not," said the Prince, seriously; "that might at present be a +serious obstacle to her father’s return." + +"You think so?" + +"There can be no doubt of it," interposed the _attaché_ with a grand and +positive air; "unless, indeed, the Englishman were of a rank equal to her +own." + +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. + +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?" + +"No, Prince—he is not. You know him?" + +"Well." + +"He is acquainted with the Count’s kinsman; and perhaps from him you have +learned to think so highly of that kinsman?" + +The Prince bowed, and answered as he moved away, "When a man of high honor +vouches for another, he commands the belief of all." + +"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!" + +While thus meditating, a member of Parliament tapped him on the shoulder. + +"Melancholy, Leslie! I lay a wager I guess your thoughts." + +"Guess," answered Randal. + +"You were thinking of the place you are so soon to lose." + +"Soon to lose!" + +"Why, if ministers go out, you could hardly keep it, I suppose." + +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. + +"Hem!" said Randal, rather surlily. "In the first place, Sir John, +ministers are not going out." + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"It is not usual for those in the public offices to retire with every +change of Government." + +"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." + +"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." + +"No, certainly—perfect gentleman, Egerton! I wish we could make it up with +him and Hazeldean." + +_Randal_, (sighing)—"Ah, I wish we could!" + +_Sir John._—"And some chance of it now; for the time is coming when all +true men of the old school must stick together." + +_Randal._—"Wisely, and admirably said, my dear Sir John. But, pardon me, I +must pay my respects to the ambassador." + +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." + +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." + +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?" + +"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 _pros_ and _cons_, you can better judge what to do, should the time +for option suddenly arrive." + +"But I hope that time may not come." + +"I hope so too, and most sincerely," said the minister, with deliberate +and genuine emphasis. + +"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." + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +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 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— + + "Rises on the toe—that spirit of his + In aspiration lifts him from the earth." + +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." + +"Proud to make your acquaintance, sir," said Mr. Avenel, lifting his hat. +"Fine day." + +"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. + +"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 _soirée dansante_ 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. + +"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"— + +"Audley Egerton!" exclaimed Mr. Avenel; "d ungrateful fellow?" + +"Why, what do you know of him?" + +"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!" + +"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." + +"A man whom the public pays so handsomely should have no weak point. What +is Egerton’s?" + +"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?" + +"I forget now," answered Mr. Avenel, who was far too well versed in the +London 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." + +"Rely upon it." + +"And you’ll not let my bills get into the market; keep them under lock and +key." + +"So we agreed." + +"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." + +"By the help of a paper boat," said the Baron, laughing; and the two +gentlemen shook hands and parted. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +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." + +"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." + +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." + +"It relates to Harley," said the Countess, as if in apology; "and I would +take your advice." + +"To Harley! speak on, I beseech you." + +"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." + +"Harley has no secrets from me," said Egerton, mournfully. + +"This young lady has arrived in England—is here—in this house." + +"And Harley too?" + +"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." + +Egerton took the letter and read it rapidly, though with attention. + +"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." + +"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. + +_Egerton._—"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!" + +_Lady Lansmere._—"I do, I do! After all that I have hoped, after all that +I did to prevent"— + +_Egerton_ (interrupting her).—"You owe him now an atonement: that is in +your power—it is not in mine." + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Let me see the future wife of Harley L’Estrange," said Egerton, without +heed of this consolatory exclamation. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +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. + +"Why, Harley, you love your country, after all?" + +"The moment she seems in danger—yes!" replied the Patrician; and the +Sybarite seemed to rise into the Athenian. + +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?" + +"We never hear it," said Lady Lansmere. + +"There is a new plough much talked of at Boodle’s," said Lord Lansmere. + +"God speed it. But is there not a new man much talked of at White’s?" + +"I don’t belong to White’s." + +"Nevertheless, you may have heard of him—a foreigner, a Count di +Peschiera." + +"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." + +"Ah, ah! He is here then!" And Harley rubbed his hands. + +"Which road did you take? Did you pass the Simplon?" + +"No; I came straight from Vienna." + +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. + +"Well," said he, "I need not ask if you like Miss Digby? Who would not?" + +"Harley, my own son," said the mother, bursting into tears, "be happy your +own way; only be happy; that is all I ask." + +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." + +"Of _her_ happiness, there can be no doubt," replied the mother proudly. +"Of yours, how can you ask me? Have you not decided on that yourself?" + +"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." + +"I should conjecture so. But her mind—" + +"Is very well stored." + +"She speaks so little—" + +"Yes. I wonder why? She’s surely a woman!" + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"No." + +"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. + +"Of course she must love you?" said the Countess, after a pause. "How +could she fail?" + +"Love me! My dear mother, that is the very question I shall have to ask." + +"Ask! Love is discovered by a glance; it has no need of asking." + +"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—" + +"And fell in love with her?" + +"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." + +"Strange, strange—you speak thus coldly, thus lightly; you so capable of +ardent love!" + +"Mother," said Harley, earnestly, "be satisfied! _I_ 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?" + +Again the Countess wept, and her tears were not dried when she left the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +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? + +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 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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +Helen sighed softly. + +"May I not hope that you return under fairer auspices than those which +your childhood knew?" + +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." + +"You!—oh, impossible!" + +"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 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?" + +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. + +"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?" + +"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—" + +"Why should they be eternally my curse? Forget them and go on." + +"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!" + +"You can, Helen—you can," cried Harley, charmed by such ingenuous modesty. +"May I not keep this hand?" + +And Helen left her hand in Harley’s, and turned away her face, fairly +weeping. A stately step passed under the wintry trees. + +"My mother," said Harley L’Estrange, looking up, "I present to you my +future wife." + + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF PRINTERS, AUTHORS, AND BOOKSELLERS IN NEW-YORK.(8) + + +BY JOHN W. FRANCIS, M.D., LL. D. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 _Robinson Crusoe_, _George Barnwell_, _The +House That Jack Built_, _Æsop’s Fables_, the duodecimo edition of Morse’s +_Geography_, 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 _Common Sense_, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 for the first, and I believe the only time in this country, a +newspaper was issued for some months’ duration from its walls, entitled +_The Prisoner of Hope_. 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 _The Prisoner of Hope_. At that day, many +newspapers had their specific motto, and that of _The Prisoner of Hope_ +was in these words: + + Soft, smiling Hope—thou anchor of the mind; + The only comfort that the wretched find; + All look to thee when sorrow wrings the heart, + To heal, by future prospect, present smart. + +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 _platanus occidentalis_. 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. + +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 _New England +Courant_—this being seventeen years after the commencement of the _Boston +News Letter_, 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. + +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 _Cyclopædia_—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 _New-York Weekly Journal_, 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. + +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 +_Royal Gazette_, the old _New-York Daily Advertiser_, containing debates +on the State Constitution, the _American Citizen and Republican Watch +Tower_, the _New-York Evening Post_, and the _Commercial Advertiser_, +through a long series, the _New-York American_, the _Independent +Reflector_, containing the patriotic Essays on Toleration, by William +Livingston, of New Jersey, and the _Time-Piece of New-York_, 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. + +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 the manner of Albert Gallatin, as +depicted in the engraving in Callender’s _Prospect Before Us_. 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 _History of Pestilence_. + +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 _Post_, 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 _The Federalist_ 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." + +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. + +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 _scutellaria_) 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 _American Medical and +Philosophical Register_. + +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 _Post_, 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. + +For numerous years I have well known Charles Holt, once editor of the +_Bee_, during John Adams’s administration, and afterwards of the New-York +_Columbian_, 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. + +Nathaniel Carter is vividly impressed on my recollection; he had very +considerable literary taste; was many years editor of the New-York +_Statesman_; and after his visit to Europe, published his _Letters_ 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, 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. + +My acquaintance with the late Colonel Stone, so long connected with the +_Commercial Advertiser_, commenced while he was the efficient editor of +the _Albany Daily Advertiser_. 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. + +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 _Daily Advertiser_. 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 _alma mater_, 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. 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. + +Were we to dwell upon the excellence of a gazette according to its merits, +I should have much to say of the _Morning Chronicle_, 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. + +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 _Gazette_ 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 _The Federalist_. There is often to be found in one daily +issue of the _Post_, the _Courier and Enquirer_, the _Journal of +Commerce_, the _Herald_, the _Tribune_, or the _Times_ of these days, more +thought, nice disquisition, and real knowledge which awakens the +contemplation of the statesman and politician, than the _New-York Gazette_ +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. + +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 _Gazette_ printed the +article Tom Gregory: the venerable Doctor hastened to his friend, and +remonstrated on the injury he had done him, and requested the _erratum_ to +specify, instead of Tom Gregory, Pope Gregory XIII. Again an alteration +was made, and the _Gazette_ 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. + +Major Noah has so recently departed from 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 +_Travels in Africa_ he became known as an author. His work on the +_Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt_ 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. + +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 _New-York American_. 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 _American_ 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 _Buck Tail Bards_, +a satirical poem, of Hudibrastic flavor. He died in 1829. The _American_ +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 _National Gazette_ of Robert +Walsh, and the _National Intelligencer_ 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 +_American_, 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. + +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 +_American Citizen_. 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, 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. + +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. + +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 _English Primer_, now improved into the _American +Primer_, with its captivating emendations, as + + The royal oak, it was the tree + That saved his Royal Majesty; + +changed to the more simple couplet— + + Oak’s not as good + As hickory wood; + +and the lines— + + Whales in the sea + God’s voice obey; + +now modified without loss of its poetic fire— + + By Washington, + Great deeds were done— + +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 +_De Bello Gallico_. 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, and the sayings of Noah +Webster’s _Prompter_. He was by birth and action a genuine Knickerbocker. + +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—_in usum Delphini_, 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. + +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 _Military Repository_, 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, _The Stranger_ +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 +_German Theatre_. 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 _Constant Lovers, &c._, +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. + +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 _City Directory_, 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 _Belles-Lettres +Repository_ no less evinced his taste in the _elegantiæ literarum_. 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 _british +america_, and _london docks_. 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 of the American +press—Brockden Brown, Dunlap, Verplanck, Paulding Fessenden, Richard +Alsop, Peter Irving, and the now universally famed Washington Irving. + +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 _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, 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 _Salmagundi_, 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 _Thespian +Mirror_. + +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 _New-York Mercury_. 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. + +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 _History of the Quakers_. 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 _New Jersey Gazette_, 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. + +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 _Medical Repository_, the earliest +journal of that kind, in the country. A literary periodical, of many years +duration, was also printed by them, called the _New-York Magazine_. 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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Book of Common Prayer_, 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. + +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 _Baviad and Mæviad_, +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 _The World_, 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 _The +Hamiltoniad_, edited a magazine entitled _The Columbian_, 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 +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. + +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 +_Porcupine Gazette_ and his _Weekly Register_; 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 _Register_ +might be completed ere he desisted from his undertaking. I think that in +quickness he surpassed even the lamented William Leggett, of the _Evening +Post_. 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. + +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 +_News Letter_ 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. + +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. + +If we advert to the instructive fact, of the enormous circulation of many +of the journals of New-York, as the _Herald_, the _Sun_, the _Tribune_, +the _Times_, the _Express_, the _Mirror_, and others issued daily; if we +calculate the copies of the _Observer_, the _Home Journal_, the _Christian +Advocate_, and others 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 _Herald_ +and the _Tribune_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Kaloolah_; to Stoddard, for +his exquisite poems; to the generous Bethune, the orator and bard; to +Morris, for his _Melodies_; to Kimball, for his _St. Leger Papers_; to +Clark, for his _Knickerbocker_; to Melville, for _Typee_; to Ik. Marvell, +for his _Reveries_; to Ripley, for his fine reviews; to Bigelow, for his +book on _Jamaica_; to Bayard Taylor, for his _Views A-Foot_; to Greeley, +for his _Crystal Palace_ labors; and to Duyckinck, the son of our old +friend, the bookseller, for his _Literary World_. 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. + +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. +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. + + + + + +NOCTES AMICÆ. + + +Of tipsy drollery, a correspondent of the _Evening Post_ (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 _overset_, as they +call it, into English. Here it is:" + + OUT OF THE TAVERN, ETC. + + Out of the tavern I’ve just stepped to-night + Street! you are caught in a very bad plight. + Right hand and left hand are both out of place; + Street, you are drunk, ’tis a very clear case. + + Moon, ’tis a very queer figure you cut; + One eye is staring while t’other is shut. + Tipsy, I see; and you’re greatly to blame; + Old as you are ’tis a terrible shame. + + Then the street lamps, what a scandalous sight! + None of them soberly standing upright. + Rocking and staggering; why, on my word, + Each of the lamps is drunk as a lord. + + All is confusion; now isn’t it odd? + I am the only thing sober abroad. + Sure it were rash with this crew to remain, + Better go into the tavern again. + +This is parodied or stolen by the clever author of the _Bon Gaultier +Ballads_, in one of his best pieces. + + + + + +The famous Quaker _Anthony Benezet_, 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. + + + + + +DES CARTES 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." + + + + + +We find in _The Courts of Europe at the Close of the last Century_, by +Henry Swinburne, the following illustration of American manners: + +"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 _practised_ 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 _bouche close_." + +In support of the hydropathic practice, and in illustration of the effect +of cold, we cite an anecdote MIGNET tells of the celebrated French +physician Broussais: + + + "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 _threw open the + window_, 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!" + + + + + +The following amusing anecdote is told in a work recently published in +London of Tom Cooke, the actor and musician: + + + "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 _ass_—it rests on + ass; but if I were to say, ’_You_ 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!’" + + + + + +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." + + + + + +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." + + + + + +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. + + + + + +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. + + + + + +AUTHORS AND BOOKS + + +GUTZKOW’S _Ritter vom Geiste_ (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. + + + + + +HENRY TAYLOR, the author of Philip Van Artevelde, is the subject of an +article in the _Grenzboten_. 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. + + + + + +A new contribution to an obscure but most interesting part of European +history is _Deutschland in der Revolutions periode von_ 1522-26, (Germany, +in the Revolutionary Period from 1522 to 26,) by JOSEPH EDMUND JÖRG. 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 ZIMMERMANN, in his _Peasants’ War_, 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. + + + + + +The antique fashion of presenting poetic works to the public, is revived +in Germany with great success. Professor GRIEPENKERL 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. + + + + + +CARLYLE’S Life of Stirling is criticised in the _Grenzboten_, 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 _Lily and the Bee_, 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 _The Lily and the Bee_ gets at home. + + + + + +In the second volume of _Shakspeare as Protestant, Politician, +Psychologist and Poet_, by DR. ED. VEHSE—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 +_temperaments_ 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 _bon vivant_. 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. + + + + + +We commend to the attention of philologists Das _Gothische Runenalphabet_, +(or The Gothic Runic Alphabet,) recently published by HERTZ 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 +_Runes_ of the Anglo-Saxons and Northmen, and probably arranged in the +same order of succession. _Wulfila_ 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 _Scriptural Poems_ +of CÆDMON, in Anglo-Saxon, an edition of which, by R. W. BOUTERWEK, with +an Anglo-Saxon Glossary, has recently been published by Bædeher of +Elberfeldt. + + + + + +The _Preussische Zeitung_ states that M. HANKE, a learned Bohemian, is +publishing, in Prague, a _fac-simile_ 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. + + + + + +The eleventh volume of the _Monumenta Germaniæ Historica_ inde ab anno +Christi 500 usque ad annum 1500 auspiciis societ, aperiendis fontibus +serum German medii ævi edid, G. H. PERTZ, has just made its appearance. +This work is regarded as a stupendous effort of erudition and historical +acumen, even in Germany. + +DR. HAGBERG, 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. + + + + + +DUNLOP’S _History of Fiction_ 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 _Geschichte der Prosadichtung +oder, Geschichte der Romane, Novellen und Mährchen_ (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. + + + + + +HOLTEI, the German poet, has published a four-volume novel, called _Die +Vagabunden_ (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. + + + + + +In poetry we observe the attractive title of _The Æolian Harp of the +World’s Poetry_, a collection of poems of all countries and ages, +"dedicated to German ladies and maidens," by FERD. SCHMIDT. Also by the +same collector, a Household Treasury of the most beautiful Ballads, +Romances, and Poetic Legends of all Times and Nations; by BRUNO LINDNER, +_Four Tales_, and from the Countess AGNES SCHWERIN, a new edition of _What +I heard from the bird_. 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 + + "High diddle ding, I heard a bird sing." + +G. PUSLITZ has "thrown forth," as Bacchus threw the wreath of Ariadne, a +"garland of Stories," entitled _What the Forest Tells_. Whether, like the +wreath alluded to, it will reach the stars, we must leave our readers or +his to decide. + + + + + +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 _original_ in New England. The work to +which we refer is the _Natur und Geist_ (or _Nature and Spirit_) of DR. +JOHANN RIOHERS. 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 _attraction_ to the Earth. How hasty and absurd therefore is it to +attribute the movement in question to such an attraction." + + + + + +A new collection of German Domestic Legends (_Haus Mährchen_) has been +published at Leipzig, by J.W. WOLF, 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. + + + + + +ZEND AVESTA, 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 GUSTAV THEODOR FECHNOR. 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. + + + + + +Those who are conversant with the curiosities of the Middle Ages, and have +read the entertaining history of "_Ye Nigromancer Virgilius_," in which +the Mantuan bard lives no longer in the magic of song, but that of literal +sorcery, will peruse with pleasure the _Virgil’s Fortleben im +Mittelalter_, or The Life of Virgil continued in the Middle Ages, by G. +RAPPERT. Of all the wild romantic legends which the romantic time brought +forth, none surpass in singularity and interest this singular narration. + + + + + +TEMPERANCE TALES are produced in Germany as well as elsewhere. JEREMIAS +GOTTHELF is the best author who there cultivates this style of +composition. His _Dürsli, the Brandy drinker_, has just passed through a +fourth edition, and _How five Maidens miserably perished in Brandy_, 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. + + + + + +NIEHL’S _Bûrgerliche Gesellschaft_ (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 _bourgeoisie_ 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. + + + + + +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. + + + + + +MR. WETZSTEIN, 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. + + + + + +LONGFELLOW’S _Evangeline_ 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. + + + + + +DR. MAYO’S _Berber_ has been translated into the German by Mr. L. Dubois, +and published at Leipzig. + + + + + +A new and splendid edition of the _Pilgrim’s Progress_ 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. + + + + + +German Historical Literature has lately been enriched by numerous valuable +works. Among these we notice WENCK’S _Fränkische Reich_ (Frankish Empire), +which treats that subject, from A.D. 843 to 861, with instructive +thoroughness and philosophical insight; two essays by FICKER, 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; ARNTHEN’S +_History of Carinthia_; RINK’S _Tirol_; PALAZKY’S _History of Bohemia_; +MINUTOLI’S _History of the Elector Frederic I._; RIEDEL’S _Ten years of +the History of the Ancestors of the Royal House of Prussia_; the _History +of Schleswig Holstein_, by GEORGE WAITZ; RUCKERT’S _Annals of German +History_; G. PHILIP’S _Outlines of the History of the German Empire and +German Law_; GENGLER’S _History of German Law_; the _Coins of the German +Emperors and Kings in the Middle Ages_, a large work by CAPPE; the _Celts +and Ancient Helvetians_, by J. B. BROZI; and the _Campaigns of the +Bavarians_ from 1643 to 1645, by J. HELLMANN; MAYR’S _Mann von Rinn_ (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. + + + + + +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. + + + + + +Those desirous of acquiring languages by wholesale, may try a recent work +by Captain J. NEPOMUK SZÖLLÖZY, 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. + + + + + +A second edition of ADOLF STAHR’S _Preussische Revolution_, has appeared +in Germany, revised by the author and dedicated to Macaulay. No recent +book in Germany has been more successful than this. + + + + + +MAX SCHLESINGER’S _Wanderings through London_ are announced at Berlin; the +first volume is already published. One of the chapters treats of +"Linkoln’s-In-Fields." + + + + + +We learn from the last number of the _Journal Asiatique_, that M. WÖPCKE, +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. + + + + + +The Hungarian author. Baron Eötvös, has just published a work called +_Ueber den Einfluss der Neuen Ideen auf den Staat_ (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. + + + + + +We expect a treat from MORITZ WAGNER’S _Reise nach Persien und dem Lande +der Kurden_ (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. + + + + + +The second part of the third volume of HUMBOLDT’S _Kosmos_, 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. + + + + + +KOSSUTH 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. + + + + + +THE REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER’S _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ (noticed by us +lately in the _International_), is reprinted in London, by Bentley, and +translated in German for a publisher at Berlin. + + + + + +SILVIO PELLICO, so famous for his works, his imprisonments and sufferings, +is passing the winter in Paris. + + + + + +The complete works of CLEMENS BRENTANO, have been brought out at +Frankfort, in seven volumes. + + + + + +Two books of travels in Scandinavia have just appeared in Germany. One is +the _Bilder aus dem Norden_ (Pictures of the North), by Professor OSCAR +SCHMIDT of Jena; and the other _Hägringar_, 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 _Hägringar_. Both works are, however, especially worthy the +attention of those who wish to study the natural history and ethnography +of the countries in question. + + + + + +MADAME VON WEBER, 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, _Der Freischütz, +Eutryanthe_, and _Oberon_. 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. + + + + + +PROFESSOR NUYTZ, 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. + + + + + +A valuable contribution to Italian history is _Die Carafa von Maddaloni, +Neapel unter Spanische Herrschaft_ (Naples under Spanish Domination), just +published in Germany, by ALFRED VON REUMONT, 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. + + + + + +Every body remembers the noise made in New-York some fifteen years since +by the revelations of MARIA MONK. We notice a translation of her famous +disclosures advertised, with all sorts of trumpet blowing, in our German +papers. + + + + + +An edition of the complete works of KEPLER is preparing in Germany, under +the supervision of Prof. FRISCH, 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. + + + + + +Sixteen German books were prohibited in Russia in August last; among them +were FONTAINE’S _Poems_, GÖRRE’S _Christian Mysticism_, KUTZ’S _Manual of +Sacred History_, SCHMIDT’S _Death of Lord Byron_, KINKEL’S _Truth without +Poetry_, and STRAUSS’S _Life Questions_. Of eleven other works, a few +pages from each were prohibited; among these was the German version of +Lieutenant LYNCH’S _United States Expedition to the Jordan and the Dead +Sea_. These works are allowed to enter Russia after having the +objectionable pages cut out. + + + + + +The science of landscape gardening is enriched by a new work of value just +published at Leipzig, by RUDOLPH LIEBECK, the director of the public +garden in that city. It is called _Die bildenden Garten Kunst in seinen +Modernen Formen_ (The Modern Constructive Art of Gardening). It has twenty +colored plates. + + + + + +COTTA, of Stuttgart, is preparing to publish a splendid illustrated +edition of Goethe’s _Faust_. The designs are to be by an artist well known +in Germany, Engelbert Seibertz. The work is to be published in numbers. + + + + + +The historical remains and letters of George Spalatin have been published +at Weimar. They are a valuable addition to the history of the Reformation. + + + + + +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 M. STANISLAS JULIEN, +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 +_Investigations on Agriculture and Gardening among the Chinese_. 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. + + + + + +A remarkable contribution to our knowledge of China, is M. BIOT’s recent +translation of the book called _Tscheu-li_. It seems that in the twelfth +century before Christ, the second dynasty that had ruled the country, that +of _Thang_, fell by its own vices, and the empire passed into the hands of +Wu-wang, the head of the princely family of _Tscheu-li_. 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 _Tscheu-li_, and nothing could be easier to understand. + +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 _Tscheu-li_, 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. + +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. + +In form the _Tscheu-li_ 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 _Manus_, 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. + +The translation of the _Tscheu_ was not published till after M. Biot’s +decease; it was brought out by his father, with the assistance of M. +Stanislas Julien. + + + + + +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. + + + + + +The French historian MICHELET, 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 _The Martyrs of Russia_. + + + + + +MICHEL NICOLAS, one of the ablest among the French theologico-ethical +writers, has published a translation of the _Considerations on the Nature +and Historical Developments of Christian Philosophy_, by Dr. RITTER, of +the University of Gottingen. + + + + + +M. SCHONENBERGER, 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 M. ACHILLE PAGANINI, 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 _Journal des Debats_ +of the two grand concertos which have just appeared, one of them +containing the marvellous rondo of the _campanella_. 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 _human_ those astonishing prodigies of mechanism. + + + + + +M. PHILARETE CHASLES, one of the literary critics of the _Journal des +Debats_, has published, at Paris, a book called _Etudes sur la Litterateur +et les Mæurs des Anglo-Americanis_, 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. + + + + + +Five of the nine intended volumes of LAFUENTE’S _General History of Spain_ +from the remotest times to the present day, have appeared in Paris. + + + + + +In Paris a new edition is announced of the best French versions of +FENIMORE COOPER’S works—six or eight illustrated volumes. + + + + + +M. GUIZOT is about to publish a new volume at Paris, with the title of +_Shakspeare et son Temps_ (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. + + + + + +A Capital work on Paris has just been published at Berlin, from the pen of +FRIEDRICH SZARVADY, 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 _esprit_ as a Frenchman. Nothing can be +more taking than his pages. They deserve a translation from the German +into English. + + + + + +VILLERGAS, 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. + + + + + +An interesting and valuable series of articles reviewing historically the +systems of land tenure which have prevailed in different countries, is +appearing in the _Journal des Débats_ from the pen of M. HENRY TRIANON. +The systems of India and China have already been examined. + + + + + +The termagant wife of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton has just published _The +School for Husbands_, a novel founded on the life and times of Moliere. +Probably her own husband is shot at in all the chapters. + + + + + +The books on modern French history would already fill an Alexandrian +library, and every month produces new ones. M. LEONARD GALLOIS, a +well-known historical writer, announces a _History of the Revolution of +February, 1848_, in _five_ large octavos, with forty-one portraits. M. +BARANTE’s _History of the Convention_ 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 _History of +the City of Lyons_, in three octavos, by the city librarian. + + + + + +The _Letters and unpublished Essays of Count_ JOSEPH DE MAISTRE 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. + + + + + +The _Political Situation of Cuba_, a volume published in Paris, by Don +ANTONIO SACO, is commended in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. 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. + + + + + +A New edition of SHARON TURNER’s _History of the Anglo-Saxons_ 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. + + + + + +The Rev. JOHN HOWARD HINTON, author of a well-known History of the United +States, has published, in London, a volume under the title of _The Test of +Experience_, 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: + + + "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." + + + + + +JUNIUS, since the publication of his Letters, never figured more +conspicuously than during the last month. The _Paris Revue des Deux +Mondes_ 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 _Athenæum_, last year, we thought, settled this +point. It is understood that the editor of the _Grenville Papers_, 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 +_Quarterly Review_ contains an article on the subject. + + + + + +The _Natural History of the Human Species_, by Lieutenant-Colonel CHARLES +HAMILTON SMITH, 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 AGASSIZ, 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. + + + + + +An Englishman, Mr. FRANCIS BONYNGE, 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 _The Future Wealth of America_, in which +his opinions are fully explained and illustrated. + + + + + +The first volume of a work on _Christian Iconography_, by M. DIDRON, 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. + + + + + +SIR FRANCIS BOND HEAD, 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 _A Bundle of French +Sticks_; and Mr. Putnam has reprinted it in his new library. + + + + + +A remarkable book published in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1847, by J. D. +NOURSE, under the title of _Remarks on the Past, and its Legacies to +American Society_, has just been reprinted in London, with an introduction +by D. T. COULTON. + + + + + +The following works, all of which have promising titles, will soon be +published by J. S. REDFIELD: _Men of the Times in 1852_, comprising +biographical sketches of all the celebrated men of the present day; +_Characters in the Gospels_, by Rev. E. H. Chapin; _Tales and Traditions +of Hungary_, by Theresa Pulzky; _The Comedy of Love_, and the _History of +the Eighteenth Century_, by Arsene Houssaye; Aytoun’s _Lays of the +Scottish Cavaliers_; _The Cavaliers of England_, and _The Knights of the +Olden Time, or the Chivalry of England, France and Spain_, by Henry W. +Herbert; _Lectures and Miscellanies_, by Henry James; and _Isa: a +Pilgrimage_, by Caroline Chesebro. + + + + + +_The Westminster Review_ says of ALICE CAREY, whose _Clovernook_ we +noticed favorably in the last _International_, that "no American woman can +be compared to her for genius;" the Paris _Débats_ refers to her as a poet +of the rank of Mrs. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING in England; the literary +critic of _The Tribune_ (the learned and accomplished RIPLEY whose +judgment in such a matter is beyond appeal) prefers her _Clovernook_ to +Miss MITFORD’S _Our Village_, or Professor WILSON’S _Lights and Shadows of +Scottish Life_. + + + + + +MR. DANIEL S. CURTISS has availed himself well of large opportunities for +personal observation, in his volume just published under the title of +_Western Portraiture, and Emigrant’s Guide_, 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. + + + + + +HERR FREUND, the Philologist, is in London, engaged in constructing a +German-English and English-German dictionary upon his new system; and +Professor SMITH, 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. + + + + + +THE CHRISTMAS BOOKS of the present season in England have not been very +remarkable. Mr. DICKENS, in an extra number of his Household Words, +printed _What Christmas is to Everybody_; and we have from WILKIE COLLINS, +_A New Christmas Story_; by the author of "The Ogilvies," _Alice Learmont, +a Fairy Tale of Love_; by the author of "The Maiden Aunt," a pleasant +little book entitled _The Use of Sunshine_. + + + + + +Under the title of _Excerpta de P. Ovidii Nastonis_, 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. + + + + + +THE FINE ARTS + + +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 _Pilgrim’s +Progress_, the last of which was just completed and placed in the hands of +the printer. It will make no distribution. + + + + + +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 +_Athenæum_, "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 _Communismo_ +and _Constituto_. + + + + + +PROFESSOR ZAHN, 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. + + + + + +A book which all students of art should possess, is DR. KUGLER’S +_Geschichte der Kunst_ (History of Art), with the Illustrations +(_Bilderatlos_) 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. + + + + + +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. + + + + + +A correspondent of the _Athenæum_, 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. + + + + + +A correspondent of _Kuhne’s Europa_ 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. + + + + + +In Berlin, M. von Prinz, a pupil of Kiss, the sculptor, is erecting a +group which he calls _The Lion-killer_ in imitation of the _Amazon_. 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 +_Hope_. + + + + + +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. + + + + + +KAULBACH has undertaken to draw a set of sketches for an illustrated +edition of Shakspeare, which will shortly be published by Nicolai, At +Berlin. + + + + + +MR. GREENOUGH, 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. + + + + + +HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE MONTH + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The month of December, 1851, witnessed, in FRANCE, the successful +accomplishment of a _coup d’état_ 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 _scrutin de +liste_ 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. + +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 _Aux armes!_ 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. + +By a decree of the President dated the 2d December, the French people were +convoked in their respective districts for the 14th of the month to accept +or reject the following _plébiscite_: "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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Turkish government has introduced the culture of cotton in the +vicinity of Damascus, with seed procured from the United States. It is +successful. + + + + + +SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AND PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. + + +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 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. + + + + + +At a recent meeting of the Paris _Academy of Sciences_, M. YVART 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. + + + + + +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 _Female +Academy_, 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." + + + + + +In the papers of the celebrated Lalande, recently presented to the Paris +_Academy of Sciences_, 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. + + + + + +RECENT DEATHS. + + +JOEL R. POINSETT, 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 _Democratic Review_, 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 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 _Notes on Mexico_, written soon after his last +return from that country, he published several addresses, was a large +contributor to the _Southern Quarterly Review_ and other periodicals, and +furnished some important papers to the Paris Geographical Society, and +other learned associations abroad and at home. + + + + + +MOSES STUART, 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 _Hebrew Grammar_, 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 _Greek Grammar of the New Testament_; in +1827 he published his _Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews_; in 1829 +his _Hebrew Chrestomathy_, and in 1830 his _Course of Hebrew Study_. 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 _Commentary on +the Epistle to the Romans_. 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 _Commentary on the Apocalypse_; 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 _Critical History and Defence of the Old +Testament Canon_. 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. + +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 _Conscience and the Constitution_. He also +ventured very injudiciously into the field of classical criticism, in an +edition of _Cicero_, 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 _Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius_. It is not to be +denied that in measuring his strength against that of these accomplished +scholars, he was signally unfortunate. + +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. + + + + + +WILLIAM GRIMSHAW, 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 _History of the Wars growing +out of the French Revolution_, 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 _The +American Chesterfield_, _The Ladies’ Lexicon_, 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. + + + + + +NICHOLAS GRAN DE DIEU SOULT, 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 _Pays_ 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. + + + + + +KARL FRIEDERICH RUNGENHAGEN, 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. + + + + + +The journals of Moscow announce the death of the Armenian Archbishop, +MICHAEL SALLANTIAN, 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. + + + + + +DR. GRAEFE, 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. + + + + + +The Russian General, Kiel, has died in Paris. He was employed by the +Emperor Nicholas in directing works of art in the Russian empire. + + + + + +HERR MEINHOLD, author of the _Amber Witch_, died in Germany in December. + + + + + +J. W. M. TURNER, the greatest of English artists, and the hero of Mr. +Ruskin’s brilliant book entitled _The Modern Painters_, 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 _Illustrated London +News_ 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 _Times_ 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 _University Almanac_. 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 +_pendant_ 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. + +"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. + +"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 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: + + "Nature’s most secret steps + He, like her shadow, has pursued, where’er + The red volcano overcanopies + Its fields of snow and pinnacles of ice + With burning smoke; or where the starry domes + Of diamond and of gold expand above + Numberless and immeasurable halls, + Frequent with crystal column and clear shrines + Of pearl, and thrones radiant with chrysolite. + Nor had that scene of ampler majesty + Than gems or gold—the varying roof of heaven + And the green earth—lost in his heart its claims + To love and wonder...." + + [Illustration: THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER] + + THE LATE J. W. M. TURNER + + +BASIL MONTAGU, 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 _Sermons_; 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 _Love in +a Village_. 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. + +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 _Summary of +the Law of Set Off_, 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, _A Digest of the Bankrupt Laws_, 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 _Thoughts of Divines and Philosophers; +Selections from Taylor, Hooker, Bishop Hall, and Bacon_. 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 _Opinions of +Different Authors on the Punishment of Death_. 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 _The Debates on a +Bill for Abolishing the Punishment of Death for Stealing in a Dwelling +House_. In 1815 he reprinted a tract originally published in 1801, called +_Hanging not Punishment enough for Murderers_. 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. + + + + + +REAR-ADMIRAL HENRY GAGE MORRIS, 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 _Sybille_, 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. + + + + + +MR. SAPIO 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 _Seraskier_, 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. + + + + + +One of the most distinguished chiefs of the war of Greek independence, +General JATRAKO, 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. + + + + + +PRIESSNITZ, 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 _prestige_ 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. + + + + + +GEORGE DUNBAR, 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 _Collectanea Minora_, the _Collectanea Majora_, and the _Greek +Grammar_, 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. + + + + + +MR. HENRY LUTTRELL, 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, _hand impari passu_, +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 _Times_ 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." + + + + + +English journals notice with expressions of regret the death in +Philadelphia of R. C. TAYLOR, 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, _Index Monasticus for East Anglia_; 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. + + + + + +The Royal University of Berlin has lost by death since Christmas, MM. +Lachmann, Stuhr, Jacobi, Erman, and Dr. CHARLES THEODORE FRANZ, 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. + + + + + +WILLIAM JACOB, F.R.S., a profound writer on science and agriculture, was +born in 1762. His work, _An Inquiry into the Precious Metals_, has been +held in high estimation. His other principal productions were +_Considerations on the Price of Corn_; _Tracts on Corn-Laws_; and a _View +of Agriculture in Germany_. 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. + + + + + +MR. PAUL BARRAS, 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 _Revue de Paris_. + + + + + +LADIES’ FASHIONS FOR FEBRUARY. + + + [Illustration] + +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. + +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. + +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 _en cœur_, having a +_fichu à plastron_ of embroidery, worn under. The waistcoat has also two +pockets. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 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 + + "Hic, O Viator, sub lare parvulo, + Couleius hic est conditus hic jacet." + + It is represented in its original condition in the two views we have + engraved. + + 2 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. + + 3 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." + + 4 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. + + 5 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:— + + "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. + + "1. _Imprimis._ 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 _lese majesté_. 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. _Item._ 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. + + "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 _lese majesté_, 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." + + "(Signed,) Cornelius Loseus Gallidius." + + "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. + + "Subscribed, Adam Tecton, Notary. + + "Compared with the original and found to agree, by me, the + under-written Secretary of the town of Antwerp. + + S. Kieffel." + + 6 Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads. + + 7 Continued from page 109. + + 8 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. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE - VOLUME V - NO II*** + + + +CREDITS + + +December 13, 2006 + + Project Gutenberg Edition + Joshua Hutchinson + Online Distributed Proofreading Team This file was produced + from images generously made available by Cornell University + Digital Collections + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 20102-0.txt or 20102-0.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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