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diff --git a/22877.txt b/22877.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1b6cec --- /dev/null +++ b/22877.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11877 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lavengro, by George Borrow, Edited by F. +Hindes Groome + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Lavengro + The Scholar - The Gypsy - The Priest, Vol. 1 (of 2) + + +Author: George Borrow + +Editor: F. Hindes Groome + +Release Date: October 3, 2007 [eBook #22877] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAVENGRO*** + + +Transcribed from the 1901 Methuen & Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +LAVENGRO +The Scholar--The Gypsy--The Priest + + +_By_ +GEORGE BORROW + +_WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION_ +BY F. HINDES GROOME + +VOLUME I + +_WITH A PORTRAIT FROM A PAINTING_ +BY H. W. PHILLIPS + +LONDON +METHUEN & CO. +36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. +MDCCCCI + +{Portrait of George Borrow, painted by H. W. Phillips, engraved by W. +Hall: p0.jpg} + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There have been many Romany Ryes, or "Gypsy Gentlemen," as Gypsies +designate those who, though not of their race, yet have loved that race, +and have mastered the Romany tongue. The first is one of the +oddest--Andrew Boorde (_c._ 1490-1549). Carthusian, traveller, +physician, and, perhaps, the original Merry Andrew, he got into trouble +over certain delinquencies, and died a prisoner in the Fleet gaol. In +1542 he was writing his _Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge_, +and had come to "the xxxviii. chapiter," which "treateth of Egypt, and of +theyr money and of theyr speche." He started bravely:-- + + "Egipt is a countrey ioyned to Jury, + The countrey is plentyfull of wine, corne and hony. + + "There be many great wyldernes, in the which be many great wylde + beastes. In ye which wildernis liuid many holy fathers, as it + apperith in vitas patrum. The people--" + +But here, I fancy, he suddenly broke off; what did he know of the +Egyptian people? Greece was the nearest he had ever been to Egypt. +Going, however, for a stroll through his native county of Sussex, he +presently lights on a band of "right Egyptians," belike in front of an +alehouse. Egyptians! the very thing! Like any newspaper correspondent +of to-day, he must straightway have whipped out his notebook, and jotted +down the rest of his chapter:-- + + "The people of the country be swarte, and doth go disgisid in theyr + apparel, contrary to other nacions. They be lyght fyngerd and vse + pyking, they have litle maner and euyl loggyng, and yet they be + pleasant daunsers. Ther be few or none of the Egypcions yt doth dwel + in Egipt, for Egipt is repleted now with infydel alyons. Ther mony is + brasse and golde. Yf there be any man yt wyl learne parte of theyr + speche, Englyshe and Egipt speche foloweth." + +And there duly follows a neat little Ollendorfian dialogue about meat and +bread, wine and beer, and such-like, in which Dr. Furnivall, Boorde's +editor, left it for Professor Zupitza to recognise excellent Romany. "Sit +you downe and dryncke," "Drinke, drynke for God's sake," are two of the +phrases. The interview was probably prolonged, perhaps renewed; Andrew +Boorde would find good fellowship with Gypsies. + +No. 2 is _the_ Scholar-Gypsy, of whom, alas! we know all too little, +neither name nor dates, but only just what Joseph Glanvill tells in his +_Vanity of Dogmatizing_ (1661):-- + + "There was very lately a Lad in the _University_ of _Oxford_, who + being of very pregnant and ready parts, and yet wanting the + encouragement of preferment, was by his poverty forc'd to leave his + studies there, and to cast himself upon the wide world for a + livelyhood. Now, his necessities growing dayly on him and wanting the + help of friends to relieve him, he was at last forced to joyn himself + to a company of _Vagabond Gypsies_, whom occasionly he met with, and + to follow their Trade for a maintenance. Among these extravagant + people, by the insinuating subtilty of his carriage, he quickly got so + much of their love and esteem, as that they discover'd to him their + _Mystery_: in the practice of which, by the pregnancy of his wit and + parts, he soon grew so good and proficient as to be able to out-do his + Instructours. After he had been a pretty while well exercis'd in the + Trade, there chanc'd to ride by a couple of _Scholars_ who had + formerly bin of his acquaintance. The _Scholars_ had quickly spyed + out their old friend among the _Gypsies_, and their amazement to see + him among such society had well-nigh discover'd him: but by a sign he + prevented their owning him before that Crew: and taking one of them + aside privately, desired him with his friend to go to an _Inn_, not + far distant thence, promising there to come to them. They accordingly + went thither, and he follows: after their first salutations, his + friends enquire how he came to lead so odd a life as that was, and to + joyn himself with such a _cheating beggerly_ company. The _Scholar- + Gypsy_ having given them an account of the necessity which drove him + to that kind of life, told them that the people he went with were not + such _Impostouirs_ as they were taken for, but that they had a + _traditional_ kind of _learning_ among them, and could do wonders by + the power of _Imagination_, and that himself had learnt much of their + Art, and improved it further then themselves could. And to evince the + truth of what he told them, he said, he'd remove into another room, + leaving them to discourse together, and upon his return tell them the + sum of what they had talked of: which accordingly he perform'd, giving + them a full account of what had passed between them in his absence. + The _Scholars_ being amaz'd at so unexpected a discovery, earnestly + desir'd him to unriddle the _mystery_. In which he gave them + satisfaction, by telling them, that what he did was by the power of + _Imagination_, his Phancy _binding_ theirs, and that himself had + dictated to them the discourse they held together, while he was from + them: That there were warrantable wayes of heightening the + _Imagination_ to that pitch as to bind anothers, and that when he had + compass'd the whole _secret_, some parts of which he said he was yet + ignorant of, he intended to leave their company, and give the world an + account of what he had learned." + +The third of our Romany Ryes is a Scottish peer and a Jacobite, George +Seton, fifth Earl of Wintoun (1679-1749). He as a young man quarrelled +with his father, and, taking up with a band of Gypsies who frequented the +Seton property, set off with them on their wanderings over Scotland, +England, and the Continent. He seems to have been away from June 1700 +until November 1707: and when, by his father's death in 1704, he +succeeded to the earldom, "no man knew where to find him, till accident +led to the discovery." The Rev. Robert Patten, the Judas and the +historian of the '15, records how, on the rebels' march from Kelso to +Preston, Lord Wintoun would tell "many pleasant Stories of his Travels +and his living unknown and obscurely with a Blacksmith in France, whom he +served some years as a Bellows-blower and Under-Servant. He was," Patten +adds, "very curious in working in several Handicraft Matters, and had +made good Proficiency in them, witness the nice way he had found to cut +asunder one of the Iron Bars in his Window in the Tower, by some small +Instrument, scarce perceivable." It was on 4th August 1716 that Lord +Wintoun made his escape, but, like everything else in his life, it is +wrapped in obscurity. For, according to the Diary of Mary Countess +Cowper for 19th March 1716, the last day of his trial, "My Lord _Winton_ +had sawed an iron Bar with the Spring of his Watch very near in two, in +order to make his Escape; but it was found out." So, possibly, there is +something in the story told by the author of _Rab and his Friends_, that +he was carried out of the Tower in a hamper, supposed to be full of +family charters, by John Gunn, "the head of a band of roving gipsies." +Anyhow, ever afterwards he lived at Rome, where in 1737 he was great +master of the Lodge of Freemasonry. He died unmarried, though Lady +Cowper alleges "he has eight Wives." + +Charles Bosvile, the scion of a good old Yorkshire house, is another who +must have known much about the Gypsies. He was buried at Rossington, +near Doncaster, on 30th January 1709; and more than a hundred years later +the Gypsies would visit the churchyard, and pour out a flagon of ale on +his grave by the chancel door. Joseph Hunter, the historian of South +Yorkshire, tells how he had + + "established a species of sovereignty among that singular people, the + Gypsies, who before the enclosures frequented the moors round + Rossington. His word with them was law, and his authority so great + that he perfectly restrained the pilfering propensities for which the + tribe is censured, and gained the entire good-will for himself and his + subjects of the farmers and people around. He was a gentleman with an + estate of about 200_l._ a year; and his contemporary, Abraham de la + Pryme of Hatfield, describes him as 'a mad spark, mighty fine and + brisk, keeping company with a great many gentlemen, knights, and + esquires, yet running about the country.'" + +Bamfylde Moore Carew (1693-? 1770), the son of the rector of Bickleigh, +near Tiverton, is semi-mythical, though we know that a man of that name +did really marry at Stoke Damerel, near Plymouth, one Mary Gray on 29th +December 1733. Gray is an old Gypsy surname, but the Gypsies of his +_Life and Adventures_ are just as unreal as those of any melodrama or +penny dreadful. + +The poet-physician, John Armstrong (_c._ 1709-78), was at college at +Edinburgh with Mr. Lawrie, who in 1767 was minister of Hawick; and "one +year, during the vacation, they joined a band of gipsies, who in those +days much infested the Borders." So says "Jupiter" Carlyle in his +Autobiography; and he adds that "this expedition, which really took +place, as Armstrong informed me in London, furnished Lawrie with a fine +field for fiction and rhodomontade, so closely united to the groundwork, +which might be true, that it was impossible to discompound them." + +The fourth Lord Coleraine, better known as Colonel George Hanger (_c._ +1751-1824), was a wild, harum-scarum Irishman. According to the Hon. +Grantley Berkeley's _My Life and Recollections_, "in one of his early +rambles he joined a gang of gipsies, fell in love with one of their dark- +eyed beauties, and married her according to the rites of the tribe. He +had entered the footguards in 1771, and used to introduce his brother- +officers to his dusky bride, boasting his confidence in her fidelity. His +married life went on pleasantly for about a fortnight, at the end of +which his confidence and his bliss were destroyed together, on +ascertaining to his intense disgust that his gipsy inamorata had eloped +with a bandy-legged tinker." + +Very unlike the Colonel was the mythologist, Jacob Bryant (1715-1804). We +know the little man, with his thirteen spaniels, through Madame +D'Arblay's Diaries; she often visited Cypenham, his house near Windsor. +It must have been in his garden here that he collected his materials for +the paper "On the Zingara or Gypsey Language," which he read to the Royal +Society in 1785. For "_covascorook_, laurel," is intelligible only by +supposing him to have pointed to a laurel, and asked, "What is this?" and +by the Gypsy's answering in words that mean "This is a tree." There are +a number of similar slips in the vocabulary, as _sauvee_, an eagle +(rightly, a needle), _porcherie_, brass (a halfpenny, a copper), +_plastomingree_, couch (coach), and _baurobevalacochenos_, storm. This +last word posed the etymological skill of even Prof. Pott in his great +work on _Die Zigeuner_, but he hazards the conjecture that _cochenos_ may +be akin to the Greek [Greek text]; really the whole may be dismembered +into _bauro_, great, _baval_, wind, and the English "a-catching us." +Still, Bryant's is not at all a bad vocabulary. + +Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton (1803-73), tells in a fragment of +autobiography how at twenty-one he met a pretty Gypsy girl at sunset, was +guided by her to the tents, and "spent with these swarthy wanderers five +or six very happy days." He committed his money, fourteen pounds in all, +to the care of the Gypsy grandmother, the queen of the camp, who "was +faithful to the customs of the primitive gipsies, and would eat nothing +in the shape of animal food that had not died a natural death"! Mimy, +the Gypsy girl, and he make passionate love, till at last she proposes +"marriage for five years by breaking a piece of burnt earth." But the +stars and the Gypsy brethren forbid the banns, so they part eternally. It +is all the silliest moonshine, the most impossible Gypsies: no, Bulwer +Lytton deserves no place among the real Romany Ryes. + +Of these a whole host remain. Francis Irvine, a lieutenant in the Bengal +Native Infantry, on the outward-bound voyage (1805) to India on board the +_Preston_ East Indiaman, took down a vocabulary of one hundred and thirty +Romany words from John Lee, a Gypsy recruit for the Company's European +force. No other case is known to me of a Gypsy revisiting the land of +his forefathers. John Hoyland (1750-1831), a Yorkshire Quaker, in 1814 +began to study "the very destitute and abject condition" of the Midland +Gypsies, and wrote _A Historical Survey of the Customs_, _Habits_, _and +Present State of the Gypsies_ (York, 1816). He is said to "have fallen +in love with a black-eyed gipsy girl," but it does not appear that he +married her. Which is a pity; a Gypsy Quakeress would be a charming +fancy. That poor thing, John Clare, the Peasant-Poet (1793-1864), is +said to have "joined some gipsies for a time" before 1817; and Richard +Bright, M.D. (1789-1858), famous as the investigator of "Bright's +disease," must have known much of Gypsies both abroad and at home, to be +able to write his _Travels through Lower Hungary_ (1818). James Crabb +(1774-1851), Wesleyan minister at Southampton, and Samuel Roberts (1763- +1848), Sheffield manufacturer, both wrote books on the Gypsies, but were +Gypsy philanthropists rather than Romany Ryes. Still, Roberts had a very +fair knowledge of the language, and at seventy-seven "longed to be a +gypsy, and enter a house no more." Colonel John Staples Harriot during +his "residence in North Hampshire in the years 1819-20 was led to pay +considerable attention to a race of vagrant men, roaming about the high- +roads and lanes in the vicinity of Whitchurch, Waltham, and Overton"; in +December 1829 he read before the Royal Asiatic Society an excellent +Romany vocabulary of over four hundred words. + +These were Borrow's chief predecessors, but the list could be largely +extended by making it include such names as those of Sir John Popham +(1531-1607), Lord Chief-Justice of England; Sir William Sinclair, Lord +Justice-General of Scotland from 1559; Mr. William Sympsoune, a great +Scottish doctor of medicine towards the close of the sixteenth century; +the Countess of Cassillis (1643), who did _not_ elope with Johnnie Faa; +Richard Head (_c._ 1637-86), the author of _The English Rogue_; William +Marsden (1754-1836), the Orientalist; John Wilson ("Christopher North," +1785-1854); the Rev. John Baird, minister of Yetholm 1829-61; G. P. R. +James (1801-60), the novelist; and Sam Bough (1822-78), the landscape- +painter. And after Borrow come many; the following are but a few of +them:--John Phillip, R.A., Tom Taylor, the Rev. T. W. Norwood, George S. +Phillips ("January Searle"), Charles Kingsley, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, +Mr. Charles Godfrey Leland ("Hans Breitmann"), Prof. Edward Henry Palmer, +Sir Richard Burton, Bath C. Smart, M.D., of Manchester, Mr. H. T. +Crofton, Major Whyte-Melville, Mr. Joseph Lucas, the Rev. R. N. +Sanderson, Dr. D. Fearon Ranking, Mr. David MacRitchie, Mr. G. R. Sims, +Mr. George Meredith, Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, "F. W. Carew, M.D," and +Mr. John Sampson. + +Thus, leaving aside all the foreign Romany Ryes, from the great engraver +Jacques Callot to the present Polish novelist Sienkiewicz, we see that +Borrow was not quite so _sui generis_ as he claimed for himself, and as +others have often claimed for him. The meagreness of his knowledge of +the Anglo-Gypsy dialect came out in his _Word-Book of the Romany_ (1874); +there must have been over a dozen Englishmen who have known it far better +than he. For his Spanish-Gypsy vocabulary in _The Zincali_ he certainly +drew largely either on Richard Bright's _Travels through Lower Hungary_ +or on Bright's Spanish authority, whatever that may have been. His +knowledge of the strange history of the Gypsies was very elementary, of +their manners almost more so, and of their folk-lore practically _nil_. +And yet I would put George Borrow above every other writer on the +Gypsies. In _Lavengro_ and, to a less degree, in its sequel, _The Romany +Rye_, he communicates a subtle insight into Gypsydom that is totally +wanting in the works--mainly philological--of Pott, Liebich, Paspati, +Miklosich, and their confreres. Take his first meeting with Gypsies in +the green lane near Norman Cross. There are flaws in it: he never would +have spoken of the Gypsy beldame as "my mother there," nor could he +possibly have guessed that the Romany _sap_ means "snake." Yet compare +it with Maggie Tulliver's Gypsy adventure in _The Mill on the Floss_: how +vivid and vigorous the one, how tame and commonplace the other. I am not +going to dilate on the beauties of _Lavengro_; they seem to me +sufficiently self-evident. But there is one point about the book that +deserves some considering, its credibility as autobiography. Professor +Knapp, Borrow's biographer, seems to place implicit confidence in +_Lavengro_; I find myself unable to agree with him. Borrow may really +have written the story of _Joseph Sell_ for a collection of Christmas +tales; he may really have camped for some weeks as a tinker near +Willenhall; "Belle Berners" may really have had some prototype; and he +may really have bought the splendid horse of the Willenhall +tavern-keeper, and sold it afterwards at Horncastle. But is the "Man in +Black," then, also a reality, and the "Reverend Mr. Platitude," who +thanks God that he has left all his Church of England prejudices in +Italy? in other words, did Tractarianism exist in 1825, eight years +before it was engendered by Keble's sermon? David Haggart, again, the +Scottish Jack Sheppard,--Borrow describes him as "a lad of some fifteen +years," with "prodigious breadth of chest," and as defeating in single +combat a full-grown baker's apprentice. Borrow well may have seen him, +for in July 1813 he really enlisted as a drummer in Borrow's father's +regiment, newly quartered in Edinburgh Castle; but he was not fifteen +then, only twelve years old. And the Jew pedlar scene in the first +chapter, and the old apple-woman's son in the sixty-second! + +One might take equal exception to Borrow's pretended visits to Iceland, +Moultan, and Kiachta (he was never within three thousand miles of +Kiachta); to his translation of St. Luke's Gospel into Basque, of which +he had only the merest smattering; and to his statement to a Cornish +clergyman in 1854 that his "horrors" were due to the effects of Mrs. +Herne's poison--he had suffered from them seven years before his Gypsy +wanderings. But the strongest proof of his lax adherence to fact is +adduced by Professor Knapp himself. In chapter xvi. of _Lavengro_, +Borrow relates how in 1818, at Tombland Fair, Norwich, he doffed his hat +to the great trotting stallion, Marshland Shales, "drew a deep _ah_! and +repeated the words of the old fellows around, 'Such a horse as this we +shall never see again; a pity that he is so old.'" Yes, but as Professor +Knapp has found out, with his infinite painstaking, Marshland Shales +(1802-35) was not thus paraded until 12th April 1827. + +_Lavengro_ {0a} was written in 1843-50, years after the events recorded +there. Several of its petty slips are probably due to sheer +forgetfulness; _e.g._, as to the four "airts" of Edinburgh Castle, and +the "lofty" town-walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed. And the rest, I imagine, +were due partly to love of posing, but much more to an honest desire to +produce an amusing and interesting book. Borrow was not writing a set +autobiography, and it seems rather hard to imagine that he was, and then +to come down on this or that inaccuracy. He did pose, though, all his +life long, and in every one of his writings. He posed to poor old Esther +Faa Blythe, the "queen" of the Yetholm Tinklers, when, on entering her +little cottage, he "flung his arms up three times into the air, and in an +exceedingly disagreeable voice exclaimed, '_Sossi your nav_?' etc." +(_Word-Book_, p. 314). He posed shamefully to Lieut.-Col. Elers Napier +(Knapp, i. 308-312); and he posed even to me, a mere lad, when I saw him +thrice in 1872-73, at Ascot, at his house in Hereford Square, and at the +Notting-hill Potteries (_Bookman_, Feb. 1893, pp. 147-48). Yet, what +books he has given us, the very best of them _Lavengro_; its fight with +the Flaming Tinman is the finest fight in all the world's literature. +_Lavengro_, nevertheless, met with a very sorry reception. It was not +genteel enough for the readers of Disraeli and Bulwer Lytton; and it is +only since Borrow's death, on 26th July 1881, that it has won its due +place of pre-eminence. "No man's writing," says Mr. Watts-Dunton, "can +take you into the country as Borrow's can; it makes you feel the +sunshine, smell the flowers, hear the lark sing and the grasshopper +chirp." They who would know Borrow thoroughly should pass from his own +works to Mr. Watts-Dunton's "Reminiscences of George Borrow" (_Athenaeum_, +Sept. 3, 10, 1881), to his "Notes upon George Borrow" (_Lavengro_, Ward, +Lock, Bowden, & Co., 1893), to Mr. William A. Dutt's _George Borrow in +East Anglia_ (1896), to Unpublished Letters of George Borrow, first +printed in the _Bible Society Reporter_ from July 1899 onwards, and above +all, to Professor William I. Knapp's _Life_, _Writings_, _and +Correspondence of George Borrow_ (2 vols. 1899). + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION + + +In the following pages I have endeavoured to describe a dream, partly of +study, partly of adventure, in which will be found copious notices of +books, and many descriptions of life and manners, some in a very unusual +form. + +The scenes of action lie in the British Islands;--pray be not displeased, +gentle reader, if perchance thou hast imagined that I was about to +conduct thee to distant lands, and didst promise thyself much instruction +and entertainment from what I might tell thee of them. I do assure thee +that thou hast no reason to be displeased, inasmuch as there are no +countries in the world less known by the British than these selfsame +British Islands, or where more strange things are every day occurring, +whether in road or street, house or dingle. + +The time embraces nearly the first quarter of the present century: this +information again may, perhaps, be anything but agreeable to thee; it is +a long time to revert to, but fret not thyself, many matters which at +present much occupy the public mind originated in some degree towards the +latter end of that period, and some of them will be treated of. + +The principal actors in this dream, or drama, are, as you will have +gathered from the title-page, a Scholar, a Gypsy, and a Priest. Should +you imagine that these three form one, permit me to assure you that you +are very much mistaken. Should there be something of the Gypsy manifest +in the Scholar, there is certainly nothing of the Priest. With respect +to the Gypsy--decidedly the most entertaining character of the +three--there is certainly nothing of the Scholar or the Priest in him; +and as for the Priest, though there may be something in him both of +scholarship and gypsyism, neither the Scholar nor the Gypsy would feel at +all flattered by being confounded with him. + +Many characters which may be called subordinate will be found, and it is +probable that some of these characters will afford much more interest to +the reader than those styled the principal. The favourites with the +writer are a brave old soldier and his helpmate, an ancient gentlewoman +who sold apples, and a strange kind of wandering man and his wife. + +Amongst the many things attempted in this book is the encouragement of +charity, and free and genial manners, and the exposure of humbug, of +which there are various kinds, but of which the most perfidious, the most +debasing, and the most cruel, is the humbug of the Priest. + +Yet let no one think that irreligion is advocated in this book. With +respect to religious tenets I wish to observe that I am a member of the +Church of England, into whose communion I was baptized, and to which my +forefathers belonged. Its being the religion in which I was baptized, +and of my forefathers, would be a strong inducement to me to cling to it; +for I do not happen to be one of those choice spirits "who turn from +their banner when the battle bears strongly against it, and go over to +the enemy," and who receive at first a hug and a "viva," and in the +sequel contempt and spittle in the face; but my chief reason for +belonging to it is, because, of all churches calling themselves Christian +ones, I believe there is none so good, so well founded upon Scripture, or +whose ministers are, upon the whole, so exemplary in their lives and +conversation, so well read in the book from which they preach, or so +versed in general learning, so useful in their immediate neighbourhoods, +or so unwilling to persecute people of other denominations for matters of +doctrine. + +In the communion of this Church, and with the religious consolation of +its ministers, I wish and hope to live and die, and in its and their +defence will at all times be ready, if required, to speak, though humbly, +and to fight, though feebly, against enemies, whether carnal or +spiritual. + +And is there no priestcraft in the Church of England? There is +certainly, or rather there was, a modicum of priestcraft in the Church of +England, but I have generally found that those who are most vehement +against the Church of England are chiefly dissatisfied with her, because +there is only a modicum of that article in her--were she stuffed to the +very cupola with it, like a certain other Church, they would have much +less to say against the Church of England. + +By the other Church, I mean Rome. Its system was once prevalent in +England, and, during the period that it prevailed there, was more +prolific of debasement and crime than all other causes united. The +people and the government at last becoming enlightened by means of the +Scripture, spurned it from the island with disgust and horror, the land +instantly after its disappearance becoming a fair field, in which arts, +sciences, and all the amiable virtues flourished, instead of being a +pestilent marsh where swine-like ignorance wallowed, and artful +hypocrites, like so many Wills-o'-the-wisp, played antic gambols about, +around, and above debased humanity. + +But Popery still wished to play her old part, to regain her lost +dominion, to reconvert the smiling land into the pestilential morass, +where she could play again her old antics. From the period of the +Reformation in England up to the present time, she has kept her +emissaries here, individuals contemptible in intellect, it is true, but +cat-like and gliding, who, at her bidding, have endeavoured as much as in +their power has lain, to damp and stifle every genial, honest, loyal, and +independent thought, and to reduce minds to such a state of dotage as +would enable their old popish mother to do what she pleased with them. + +And in every country, however enlightened, there are always minds +inclined to grovelling superstition--minds fond of eating dust, and +swallowing clay--minds never at rest, save when prostrate before some +fellow in a surplice; and these popish emissaries found always some weak +enough to bow down before them, astounded by their dreadful denunciations +of eternal woe and damnation to any who should refuse to believe their +Romania; but they played a poor game--the law protected the servants of +Scripture, and the priest with his beads seldom ventured to approach any +but the remnant of those of the eikonolatry--representatives of +worm-eaten houses, their debased dependants, and a few poor crazy +creatures amongst the middle classes--he played a poor game, and the +labour was about to prove almost entirely in vain, when the English +legislature, in compassion or contempt, or, yet more probably, influenced +by that spirit of toleration and kindness which is so mixed up with +Protestantism, removed almost entirely the disabilities under which +Popery laboured, and enabled it to raise its head and to speak out almost +without fear. + +And it did raise its head, and, though it spoke with some little fear at +first, soon discarded every relic of it; went about the land uttering its +damnation cry, gathering around it--and for doing so many thanks to +it--the favourers of priestcraft who lurked within the walls of the +Church of England; frightening with the loudness of its voice the weak, +the timid, and the ailing; perpetrating, whenever it had an opportunity, +that species of crime to which it has ever been most partial--_Deathbed +robbery_; for as it is cruel, so is it dastardly. Yes, it went on +enlisting, plundering, and uttering its terrible threats till . . . till +it became, as it always does when left to itself, a fool, a very fool. +Its plunderings might have been overlooked, and so might its insolence, +had it been common insolence, but it . . ., and then the roar of +indignation which arose from outraged England against the viper, the +frozen viper which it had permitted to warm itself upon its bosom. + +But thanks, Popery, you have done all that the friends of enlightenment +and religious liberty could wish; but if ever there were a set of foolish +ones to be found under Heaven, surely it is the priestly rabble who came +over from Rome to direct the grand movement--so long in its getting up. + +But now again the damnation cry is withdrawn, there is a subdued meekness +in your demeanour, you are now once more harmless as a lamb. Well, we +shall see how the trick--"the old trick"--will serve you. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Birth--My Father--Tamerlane--Ben Brain--French Protestants--East +Anglia--Sorrow and Troubles--True Peace--A Beautiful Child--Foreign +Grave--Mirrors--Alpine Country--Emblems--Slow of Speech--The Jew--Strange +Gestures. + +On an evening of July, in the year 18--, at East D---, a beautiful little +town in a certain district of East Anglia, I first saw the light. {1a} + +My father was a Cornish man, the youngest, as I have heard him say, of +seven brothers. {1b} He sprang from a family of gentlemen, or, as some +people would call them, gentillatres, for they were not very wealthy; +they had a coat of arms, however, and lived on their own property at a +place called Tredinnock, {1c} which being interpreted means _the house on +the hill_, which house and the neighbouring acres had been from time +immemorial in their possession. I mention these particulars that the +reader may see at once that I am not altogether of low and plebeian +origin; the present age is highly aristocratic, and I am convinced that +the public will read my pages with more zest from being told that I am a +gentillatre by birth with Cornish blood {2} in my veins, of a family who +lived on their own property at a place bearing a Celtic name signifying +the house on the hill, or more strictly the house on the _hillock_. + +My father was what is generally termed a posthumous child--in other +words, the gentillatre who begot him never had the satisfaction of +invoking the blessing of the Father of All upon his head; having departed +this life some months before the birth of his youngest son. The boy, +therefore, never knew a father's care; he was, however, well tended by +his mother, whose favourite he was; so much so, indeed, that his +brethren, the youngest of whom was considerably older than himself, were +rather jealous of him. I never heard, however, that they treated him +with any marked unkindness; and it will be as well to observe here that I +am by no means well acquainted with his early history, of which, indeed, +as I am not writing his life, it is not necessary to say much. Shortly +after his mother's death, which occurred when he was eighteen, he adopted +the profession of arms, which he followed during the remainder of his +life, and in which, had circumstances permitted, he would probably have +shone amongst the best. By nature he was cool and collected, slow to +anger, though perfectly fearless, patient of control, of great strength; +and, to crown all, a proper man with his hands. + +With far inferior qualifications many a man has become a field-marshal or +general; similar ones made Tamerlane, who was not a gentillatre, but the +son of a blacksmith, emperor of one-third of the world; but the race is +not always for the swift, nor the battle for the strong, indeed I ought +rather to say very seldom; certain it is, that my father, with all his +high military qualifications, never became emperor, field-marshal, or +even general: indeed, he had never an opportunity of distinguishing +himself save in one battle, and that took place neither in Flanders, +Egypt, nor on the banks of the Indus or Oxus, but in Hyde Park. + +Smile not, gentle reader, many a battle has been fought in Hyde Park, in +which as much skill, science, and bravery have been displayed as ever +achieved a victory in Flanders or by the Indus. In such a combat as that +to which I allude, I opine that even Wellington or Napoleon would have +been heartily glad to cry for quarter ere the lapse of five minutes, and +even the Blacksmith Tartar would, perhaps, have shrunk from the opponent +with whom, after having had a dispute with him, my father engaged in +single combat for one hour, at the end of which time the champions shook +hands and retired, each having experienced quite enough of the other's +prowess. The name of my father's antagonist was Brain. + +What! still a smile? did you never hear that name before? I cannot help +it! Honour to Brain, who four months after the event which I have now +narrated was champion of England, having conquered the heroic Johnson. +Honour to Brain, who, at the end of other four months, worn out by the +dreadful blows which he had received in his manly combats, expired in the +arms of my father, who read the Bible to him in his latter moments--Big +Ben Brain. + +You no longer smile, even _you_ have heard of Big Ben. + +I have already hinted that my father never rose to any very exalted rank +in his profession, notwithstanding his prowess and other qualifications. +After serving for many years in the line, he at last entered as captain +in the militia regiment of the Earl of ---, {4a} at that period just +raised, and to which he was sent by the Duke of York to instruct the +young levies in military manoeuvres and discipline; and in this mission I +believe he perfectly succeeded, competent judges having assured me that +the regiment in question soon came by his means to be considered as one +of the most brilliant in the service, and inferior to no regiment of the +line in appearance or discipline. + +As the headquarters of this corps were at D---, {4b} the duties of my +father not unfrequently carried him to that place, and it was on one of +these occasions that he became acquainted with a young person of the +neighbourhood, for whom he formed an attachment, which was returned; and +this young person was my mother. {4c} + +She was descended from a family of French Protestants, natives of Caen, +who were obliged to leave their native country when old Louis, at the +instigation of the Pope, thought fit to revoke the Edict of Nantes: their +name was Petrement, and I have reason for believing that they were people +of some consideration; that they were noble hearts, and good Christians, +they gave sufficient proof in scorning to bow the knee to the tyranny of +Rome. So they left beautiful Normandy for their faith's sake, and with a +few louis d'ors in their purse, a Bible in the vulgar tongue, and a +couple of old swords, which, if report be true, had done service in the +Huguenot wars, they crossed the sea to the isle of civil peace and +religious liberty, and established themselves in East Anglia. + +And many other Huguenot families bent their steps thither, and devoted +themselves to agriculture or the mechanical arts; and in the venerable +old city, the capital of the province, in the northern shadow of the +Castle of De Burgh, the exiles built for themselves a church where they +praised God in the French tongue, and to which, at particular seasons of +the year, they were in the habit of flocking from country and from town +to sing-- + +"Thou hast provided for us a goodly earth; Thou waterest her furrows, +Thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof, Thou makest it soft +with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it." + +I have been told that in her younger days my mother was strikingly +handsome; this I can easily believe: I never knew her in her youth, for +though she was very young when she married my father (who was her senior +by many years), she had attained the middle age before I was born, no +children having been vouchsafed to my parents in the early stages of +their union. Yet even at the present day, now that years threescore and +ten have passed over her head, attended with sorrow and troubles +manifold, poorly chequered with scanty joys, can I look on that +countenance and doubt that at one time beauty decked it as with a +glorious garment? Hail to thee, my parent! as thou sittest there, in thy +widow's weeds, in the dusky parlour in the house overgrown with the +lustrous ivy of the sister isle, the solitary house at the end of the +retired court shaded by lofty poplars. Hail to thee, dame of the oval +face, olive complexion, and Grecian forehead! by thy table seated with +the mighty volume of the good Bishop Hopkins spread out before thee; +there is peace in thy countenance, my mother; it is not worldly peace, +however, not the deceitful peace which lulls to bewitching slumbers, and +from which, let us pray, humbly pray, that every sinner may be roused in +time to implore mercy not in vain! Thine is the peace of the righteous, +my mother, of those to whom no sin can be imputed, the score of whose +misdeeds has been long since washed away by the blood of atonement, which +imputeth righteousness to those who trust in it. It was not always thus, +my mother; a time was, when the cares, pomps, and vanities of this world +agitated thee too much; but that time is gone by, another and a better +has succeeded; there is peace now on thy countenance, the true peace; +peace around thee, too, in thy solitary dwelling, sounds of peace, the +cheerful hum of the kettle and the purring of the immense angola, which +stares up at thee from its settle with its almost human eyes. + +No more earthly cares and affections now, my mother! Yes, one. Why dost +thou suddenly raise thy dark and still brilliant eye from the volume with +a somewhat startled glance? What noise is that in the distant street? +Merely the noise of a hoof; a sound common enough: it draws nearer, +nearer, and now it stops before thy gate. Singular! And now there is a +pause, a long pause. Ha! thou hearest something--a footstep; a swift but +heavy footstep! thou risest, thou tremblest, there is a hand on the pin +of the outer door, there is some one in the vestibule, and now the door +of thy apartment opens, there is a reflection on the mirror behind thee, +a travelling hat, a grey head and sunburnt face. My dearest Son! My +darling Mother! + +Yes, mother, thou didst recognise in the distant street the hoof-tramp of +the wanderer's horse. + +I was not the only child of my parents; I had a brother some three years +older than myself. {7} He was a beautiful child; one of those +occasionally seen in England, and in England alone; a rosy, angelic face, +blue eyes, and light chestnut hair; it was not exactly an Anglo-Saxon +countenance, in which, by the bye, there is generally a cast of +loutishness and stupidity; it partook, to a certain extent, of the Celtic +character, particularly in the fire and vivacity which illumined it; his +face was the mirror of his mind; perhaps no disposition more amiable was +ever found amongst the children of Adam, united, however, with no +inconsiderable portion of high and dauntless spirit. So great was his +beauty in infancy, that people, especially those of the poorer classes, +would follow the nurse who carried him about in order to look at and +bless his lovely face. At the age of three months an attempt was made to +snatch him from his mother's arms in the streets of London, at the moment +she was about to enter a coach; indeed, his appearance seemed to operate +so powerfully upon every person who beheld him, that my parents were +under continual apprehension of losing him; his beauty, however, was +perhaps surpassed by the quickness of his parts. He mastered his letters +in a few hours, and in a day or two could decipher the names of people on +the doors of houses and over the shop-windows. + +As he grew up, his personal appearance became less prepossessing, his +quickness and cleverness, however, rather increased; and I may say of +him, that with respect to everything which he took in hand he did it +better and more speedily than any other person. Perhaps it will be asked +here, what became of him? Alas! alas! his was an early and a foreign +grave. As I have said before, the race is not always for the swift, nor +the battle for the strong. + +And now, doubtless, after the above portrait of my brother, painted in +the very best style of Rubens, the reader will conceive himself justified +in expecting a full-length one of myself, as a child, for as to my +present appearance, I suppose he will be tolerably content with that +flitting glimpse in the mirror. But he must excuse me; I have no +intention of drawing a portrait of myself in childhood; indeed it would +be difficult, for at that time I never looked into mirrors. No attempts, +however, were ever made to steal me in my infancy, and I never heard that +my parents entertained the slightest apprehension of losing me by the +hands of kidnappers, though I remember perfectly well that people were in +the habit of standing still to look at me, ay, more than at my brother; +from which premises the reader may form any conclusion with respect to my +appearance which seemeth good unto him and reasonable. Should he, being +a good-natured person, and always inclined to adopt the charitable side +in any doubtful point, be willing to suppose that I, too, was eminently +endowed by nature with personal graces, I tell him frankly that I have no +objection whatever to his entertaining that idea; moreover, that I +heartily thank him, and shall at all times be disposed, under similar +circumstances, to exercise the same species of charity towards himself. + +With respect to my mind and its qualities I shall be more explicit; for, +were I to maintain much reserve on this point, many things which appear +in these memoirs would be highly mysterious to the reader, indeed +incomprehensible. Perhaps no two individuals were ever more unlike in +mind and disposition than my brother and myself: as light is opposed to +darkness, so was that happy, brilliant, cheerful child to the sad and +melancholy being who sprang from the same stock as himself, and was +nurtured by the same milk. + +Once, when travelling in an Alpine country, I arrived at a considerable +elevation; I saw in the distance, far below, a beautiful stream hastening +to the ocean, its rapid waters here sparkling in the sunshine, and there +tumbling merrily in cascades. On its banks were vineyards and cheerful +villages; close to where I stood, in a granite basin, with steep and +precipitous sides, slumbered a deep, dark lagoon, shaded by black pines, +cypresses, and yews. It was a wild, savage spot, strange and singular; +ravens hovered above the pines, filling the air with their uncouth notes, +pies chattered, and I heard the cry of an eagle from a neighbouring peak; +there lay the lake, the dark, solitary, and almost inaccessible lake; +gloomy shadows were upon it, which, strangely modified as gusts of wind +agitated the surface, occasionally assumed the shape of monsters. So I +stood on the Alpine elevation, and looked now on the gay distant river, +and now at the dark granite-encircled lake close beside me in the lone +solitude, and I thought of my brother and myself. I am no moraliser; but +the gay and rapid river, and the dark and silent lake, were, of a verity, +no bad emblems of us two. + +So far from being quick and clever like my brother, and able to rival the +literary feat which I have recorded of him, many years elapsed before I +was able to understand the nature of letters, or to connect them. A +lover of nooks and retired corners, I was as a child in the habit of +fleeing from society, and of sitting for hours together with my head on +my breast. What I was thinking about, it would be difficult to say at +this distance of time; I remember perfectly well, however, being ever +conscious of a peculiar heaviness within me, and at times of a strange +sensation of fear, which occasionally amounted to horror, and for which I +could assign no real cause whatever. + +By nature slow of speech, I took no pleasure in conversation, nor in +hearing the voices of my fellow-creatures. When people addressed me, I +not unfrequently, especially if they were strangers, turned away my head +from them, and if they persisted in their notice burst into tears, which +singularity of behaviour by no means tended to dispose people in my +favour. I was as much disliked as my brother was deservedly beloved and +admired. My parents, it is true, were always kind to me; and my brother, +who was good-nature itself, was continually lavishing upon me every mark +of affection. + +There was, however, one individual who, in the days of my childhood, was +disposed to form a favourable opinion of me. One day, a Jew--I have +quite forgotten the circumstance, but I was long subsequently informed of +it--one day a travelling Jew knocked at the door of a farmhouse in which +we had taken apartments; I was near at hand, sitting in the bright +sunshine, drawing strange lines on the dust with my fingers, an ape and +dog were my companions; the Jew looked at me and asked me some questions, +to which, though I was quite able to speak, I returned no answer. On the +door being opened, the Jew, after a few words, probably relating to +pedlary, demanded who the child was, sitting in the sun; the maid replied +that I was her mistress's youngest son, a child weak _here_, pointing to +her forehead. The Jew looked at me again, and then said, "'Pon my +conscience, my dear, I believe that you must be troubled there yourself +to tell me any such thing. It is not my habit to speak to children, +inasmuch as I hate them, because they often follow me and fling stones +after me; but I no sooner looked at that child than I was forced to speak +to it--his not answering me shows his sense, for it has never been the +custom of the wise to fling away their words in indifferent talk and +conversation; the child is a sweet child, and has all the look of one of +our people's children. Fool, indeed! did I not see his eyes sparkle just +now when the monkey seized the dog by the ear?--they shone like my own +diamonds--does your good lady want any--real and fine? Were it not for +what you tell me, I should say it was a prophet's child. Fool, indeed! +he can write already, or I'll forfeit the box which I carry on my back, +and for which I should be loth to take two hundred pounds!" He then +leaned forward to inspect the lines which I had traced. All of a sudden +he started back, and grew white as a sheet; then, taking off his hat, he +made some strange gestures to me, cringing, chattering, and showing his +teeth, and shortly departed, muttering something about "holy letters," +and talking to himself in a strange tongue. The words of the Jew were in +due course of time reported to my mother, who treasured them in her +heart, and from that moment began to entertain brighter hopes of her +youngest born than she had ever before ventured to foster. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Barracks and Lodgings--A Camp--The Viper--A Delicate Child--Blackberry +Time--Meum and Tuum--Hythe--The Golgotha--Daneman's Skull--Superhuman +Stature--Stirring Times--The Sea-Board. + +I have been a wanderer the greater part of my life; indeed I remember +only two periods, and these by no means lengthy, when I was, strictly +speaking, stationary. I was a soldier's son, and as the means of my +father were by no means sufficient to support two establishments, his +family invariably attended him wherever he went, so that from my infancy +I was accustomed to travelling and wandering, and looked upon a monthly +change of scene and residence as a matter of course. Sometimes we lived +in barracks, sometimes in lodgings, but generally in the former, always +eschewing the latter from motives of economy, save when the barracks were +inconvenient and uncomfortable; and they must have been highly so indeed, +to have discouraged us from entering them; for though we were gentry +(pray bear that in mind, gentle reader), gentry by birth, and +incontestably so by my father's bearing the commission of good old George +the Third, we were not _fine gentry_, but people who could put up with as +much as any genteel Scotch family who find it convenient to live on a +third floor in London, or on a sixth at Edinburgh or Glasgow. It was not +a little that could discourage us: we once lived within the canvas walls +of a camp, at a place called Pett, in Sussex; and I believe it was at +this place that occurred the first circumstance, or adventure, call it +which you will, that I can remember in connection with myself: it was a +strange one, and I will relate it. + +It happened that my brother and myself were playing one evening in a +sandy lane, in the neighbourhood of this Pett camp; our mother was at a +slight distance. All of a sudden, a bright yellow, and, to my infantine +eye, beautiful and glorious, object made its appearance at the top of the +bank from between the thick quickset, and, gliding down, began to move +across the lane to the other side, like a line of golden light. Uttering +a cry of pleasure, I sprang forward, and seized it nearly by the middle. +A strange sensation of numbing coldness seemed to pervade my whole arm, +which surprised me the more, as the object to the eye appeared so warm +and sunlike. I did not drop it, however, but, holding it up, looked at +it intently, as its head dangled about a foot from my hand. It made no +resistance; I felt not even the slightest struggle; but now my brother +began to scream and shriek like one possessed. "O mother, mother!" said +he, "the viper!--my brother has a viper in his hand!" He then, like one +frantic, made an effort to snatch the creature away from me. The viper +now hissed amain, and raised its head, in which were eyes like hot coals, +menacing, not myself, but my brother. I dropped my captive, for I saw my +mother running towards me; and the reptile, after standing for a moment +nearly erect, and still hissing furiously, made off, and disappeared. The +whole scene is now before me, as vividly as if it occurred yesterday--the +gorgeous viper, my poor dear frantic brother, my agitated parent, and a +frightened hen clucking under the bushes--and yet I was not three years +old! + +It is my firm belief that certain individuals possess an inherent power, +or fascination, over certain creatures, otherwise I should be unable to +account for many feats which I have witnessed, and, indeed, borne a share +in, connected with the taming of brutes and reptiles. I have known a +savage and vicious mare, whose stall it was dangerous to approach, even +when bearing provender, welcome, nevertheless, with every appearance of +pleasure, an uncouth, wiry-headed man, with a frightfully seamed face, +and an iron hook supplying the place of his right hand, one whom the +animal had never seen before, playfully bite his hair, and cover his face +with gentle and endearing kisses; and I have already stated how a viper +would permit, without resentment, one child to take it up in his hand, +whilst it showed its dislike to the approach of another by the fiercest +hissings. Philosophy can explain many strange things, but there are some +which are a far pitch above her, and this is one. + +I should scarcely relate another circumstance which occurred about this +time but for a singular effect which it produced upon my constitution. Up +to this period I had been rather a delicate child; whereas almost +immediately after the occurrence to which I allude I became both hale and +vigorous, to the great astonishment of my parents, who naturally enough +expected that it would produce quite a contrary effect. + +It happened that my brother and myself were disporting ourselves in +certain fields near the good town of Canterbury. A female servant had +attended us, in order to take care that we came to no mischief: she, +however, it seems, had matters of her own to attend to, and, allowing us +to go where we listed, remained in one corner of a field, in earnest +conversation with a red-coated dragoon. Now it chanced to be blackberry +time, and the two children wandered under the hedges, peering anxiously +among them in quest of that trash so grateful to urchins of their degree. +We did not find much of it, however, and were soon separated in the +pursuit. All at once I stood still, and could scarcely believe my eyes. +I had come to a spot where, almost covering the hedge, hung clusters of +what seemed fruit--deliciously-tempting fruit--something resembling +grapes of various colours, green, red, and purple. Dear me, thought I, +how fortunate! yet have I a right to gather it? is it mine? for the +observance of the law of _meum_ and _tuum_ had early been impressed upon +my mind, and I entertained, even at that tender age, the utmost horror +for theft; so I stood staring at the variegated clusters, in doubt as to +what I should do. I know not how I argued the matter in my mind; the +temptation, however, was at last too strong for me, so I stretched forth +my hand and ate. I remember, perfectly well, that the taste of this +strange fruit was by no means so pleasant as the appearance; but the idea +of eating fruit was sufficient for a child, and, after all, the flavour +was much superior to that of sour apples, so I ate voraciously. How long +I continued eating I scarcely know. One thing is certain, that I never +left the field as I entered it, being carried home in the arms of the +dragoon in strong convulsions, in which I continued for several hours. +About midnight I awoke, as if from a troubled sleep, and beheld my +parents bending over my couch, whilst the regimental surgeon, with a +candle in his hand, stood nigh, the light feebly reflected on the +whitewashed walls of the barrack-room. + +Another circumstance connected with my infancy, and I have done. I need +offer no apology for relating it, as it subsequently exercised +considerable influence over my pursuits. We were, if I remember right, +in the vicinity of a place called Hythe, in Kent. One sweet evening, in +the latter part of summer, our mother took her two little boys by the +hand, for a wander about the fields. In the course of our stroll, we +came to the village church; an old, grey-headed sexton stood in the +porch, who, perceiving that we were strangers, invited us to enter. We +were presently in the interior, wandering about the aisles, looking on +the walls, and inspecting the monuments of the notable dead. I can +scarcely state what we saw; how should I? I was a child not yet four +years old, and yet I think I remember the evening sun streaming in +through a stained window upon the dingy mahogany pulpit, and flinging a +rich lustre upon the faded tints of an ancient banner. And now once more +we were outside the building, where, against the wall, stood a low-eaved +pent-house, into which we looked. It was half filled with substances of +some kind, which at first looked like large grey stones. The greater +part were lying in layers; some, however, were seen in confused and +mouldering heaps, and two or three, which had perhaps rolled down from +the rest, lay separately on the floor. "Skulls, madam," said the sexton; +"skulls of the old Danes! Long ago they came pirating into these parts; +and then there chanced a mighty shipwreck, for God was angry with them, +and He sunk them; and their skulls, as they came ashore, were placed here +as a memorial. There were many more when I was young, but now they are +fast disappearing. Some of them must have belonged to strange fellows, +madam. Only see that one; why, the two young gentry can scarcely lift +it!" And, indeed, my brother and myself had entered the Golgotha, and +commenced handling these grim relics of mortality. One enormous skull, +lying in a corner, had fixed our attention, and we had drawn it forth. +Spirit of eld, what a skull was yon! + +I still seem to see it, the huge grim thing; many of the others were +large, strikingly so, and appeared fully to justify the old man's +conclusion, that their owners must have been strange fellows; but +compared with this mighty mass of bone they looked small and diminutive, +like those of pigmies; it must have belonged to a giant, one of those red- +haired warriors of whose strength and stature such wondrous tales are +told in the ancient chronicles of the north, and whose grave-hills, when +ransacked, occasionally reveal secrets which fill the minds of puny +moderns with astonishment and awe. Reader, have you ever pored days and +nights over the pages of Snorro?--probably not, for he wrote in a +language which few of the present day understand, and few would be +tempted to read him tamed down by Latin dragomans. A brave old book is +that of Snorro, containing the histories and adventures of old northern +kings and champions, who seemed to have been quite different men, if we +may judge from the feats which they performed, from those of these days. +One of the best of his histories is that which describes the life of +Harald Haardraade, who, after manifold adventures by land and sea, now a +pirate, now a mercenary of the Greek emperor, became king of Norway, and +eventually perished at the battle of Stamford Bridge, whilst engaged in a +gallant onslaught upon England. Now, I have often thought that the old +Kemp, whose mouldering skull in the Golgotha of Hythe my brother and +myself could scarcely lift, must have resembled in one respect at least +this Harald, whom Snorro describes as a great and wise ruler and a +determined leader, dangerous in battle, of fair presence, and measuring +in height _just five ells_, {19} neither more nor less. + +I never forgot the Daneman's skull; like the apparition of the viper in +the sandy lane, it dwelt in the mind of the boy, affording copious food +for the exercise of imagination. From that moment with the name of Dane +were associated strange ideas of strength, daring, and superhuman +stature; and an undefinable curiosity for all that is connected with the +Danish race began to pervade me; and if, long after, when I became a +student, I devoted myself with peculiar zest to Danish lore and the +acquirement of the old Norse tongue and its dialects, I can only explain +the matter by the early impression received at Hythe from the tale of the +old sexton, beneath the pent-house, and the sight of the Danish skull. + +And thus we went on straying from place to place, at Hythe to-day, and +perhaps within a week looking out from our hostel-window upon the streets +of old Winchester, our motions ever in accordance with the "route" of the +regiment, so habituated to change of scene that it had become almost +necessary to our existence. Pleasant were these days of my early +boyhood; and a melancholy pleasure steals over me as I recall them. Those +were stirring times of which I am speaking, and there was much passing +around me calculated to captivate the imagination. The dreadful struggle +which so long convulsed Europe, and in which England bore so prominent a +part, was then at its hottest; we were at war, and determination and +enthusiasm shone in every face; man, woman, and child were eager to fight +the Frank, the hereditary, but, thank God, never dreaded enemy of the +Anglo-Saxon race. "Love your country and beat the French, and then never +mind what happens," was the cry of entire England. Oh, those were days +of power, gallant days, bustling days, worth the bravest days of chivalry +at least; tall battalions of native warriors were marching through the +land; there was the glitter of the bayonet and the gleam of the sabre; +the shrill squeak of the fife and loud rattling of the drum were heard in +the streets of country towns, and the loyal shouts of the inhabitants +greeted the soldiery on their arrival, or cheered them at their +departure. And now let us leave the upland, and descend to the +sea-board; there is a sight for you upon the billows! A dozen men-of-war +are gliding majestically out of port, their long buntings streaming from +the top-gallant masts, calling on the skulking Frenchman to come forth +from his bights and bays; and what looms upon us yonder from the fog-bank +in the east? a gallant frigate towing behind her the long low hull of a +crippled privateer, which but three short days ago had left Dieppe to +skim the sea, and whose crew of ferocious hearts are now cursing their +imprudence in an English hold. Stirring times those, which I love to +recall, for they were days of gallantry and enthusiasm, and were moreover +the days of my boyhood. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Pretty D-----The Venerable Church--The Stricken Heart--Dormant +Energies--The Small Packet--Nerves--The Books--A Picture--Mountain-like +Billows--The Footprint--Spirit of De Foe--Reasoning Powers--Terrors of +God--Heads of the Dragons--High-Church Clerk--A Journey--The Drowned +Country. + +And when I was between six and seven years of age we were once more at +D---, {22} the place of my birth, whither my father had been despatched +on the recruiting service. I have already said that it was a beautiful +little town--at least it was at the time of which I am speaking; what it +is at present I know not, for thirty years and more have elapsed since I +last trod its streets. It will scarcely have improved, for how could it +be better than it then was? I love to think on thee, pretty quiet D---, +thou pattern of an English country town, with thy clean but narrow +streets branching out from thy modest market-place, with thine +old-fashioned houses, with here and there a roof of venerable thatch, +with thy one half-aristocratic mansion, where resided thy Lady +Bountiful--she, the generous and kind, who loved to visit the sick, +leaning on her gold-headed cane, whilst the sleek old footman walked at a +respectful distance behind. Pretty quiet D---, with thy venerable +church, in which moulder the mortal remains of England's sweetest and +most pious bard. + +Yes, pretty D---, I could always love thee, were it but for the sake of +him who sleeps beneath the marble slab in yonder quiet chancel. It was +within thee that the long-oppressed bosom heaved its last sigh, and the +crushed and gentle spirit escaped from a world in which it had known +nought but sorrow. Sorrow! do I say? How faint a word to express the +misery of that bruised reed; misery so dark that a blind worm like myself +is occasionally tempted to exclaim, Better had the world never been +created than that one so kind, so harmless, and so mild, should have +undergone such intolerable woe! But it is over now, for, as there is an +end of joy, so has affliction its termination. Doubtless the All-wise +did not afflict him without a cause: who knows but within that unhappy +frame lurked vicious seeds which the sunbeams of joy and prosperity might +have called into life and vigour? Perhaps the withering blasts of misery +nipped that which otherwise might have terminated in fruit noxious and +lamentable. But peace to the unhappy one, he is gone to his rest; the +deathlike face is no longer occasionally seen timidly and mournfully +looking for a moment through the window-pane upon thy market-place, quiet +and pretty D---; the hind in thy neighbourhood no longer at evening-fall +views, and starts as he views, the dark lathy figure moving beneath the +hazels and alders of shadowy lanes, or by the side of murmuring trout +streams; and no longer at early dawn does the sexton of the old church +reverently doff his hat, as, supported by some kind friend, the death- +stricken creature totters along the church-path to that mouldering +edifice with the low roof, inclosing a spring of sanatory waters, built +and devoted to some saint--if the legend over the door be true, by the +daughter of an East Anglian king. + +But to return to my own history. I had now attained the age of six: +shall I state what intellectual progress I had been making up to this +period? Alas! upon this point I have little to say calculated to afford +either pleasure or edification. I had increased rapidly in size and in +strength: the growth of the mind, however, had by no means corresponded +with that of the body. It is true, I had acquired my letters, and was by +this time able to read imperfectly; but this was all: and even this poor +triumph over absolute ignorance would never have been effected but for +the unremitting attention of my parents, who, sometimes by threats, +sometimes by entreaties, endeavoured to rouse the dormant energies of my +nature, and to bend my wishes to the acquisition of the rudiments of +knowledge; but in influencing the wish lay the difficulty. Let but the +will of a human being be turned to any particular object, and it is ten +to one that sooner or later he achieves it. At this time I may safely +say that I harboured neither wishes nor hopes; I had as yet seen no +object calculated to call them forth, and yet I took pleasure in many +things which perhaps unfortunately were all within my sphere of +enjoyment. I loved to look upon the heavens, and to bask in the rays of +the sun, or to sit beneath hedgerows and listen to the chirping of the +birds, indulging the while in musing and meditation as far as my very +limited circle of ideas would permit; but, unlike my brother, who was at +this time at school, and whose rapid progress in every branch of +instruction astonished and delighted his preceptors, I took no pleasure +in books, whose use, indeed, I could scarcely comprehend, and bade fair +to be as arrant a dunce as ever brought the blush of shame into the +cheeks of anxious and affectionate parents. + +But the time was now at hand when the ice which had hitherto bound the +mind of the child with its benumbing power was to be thawed, and a world +of sensations and ideas awakened to which it had hitherto been an entire +stranger. One day a young lady, an intimate acquaintance of our family, +and godmother to my brother, drove up to the house in which we dwelt; she +staid some time conversing with my mother, and on rising to depart she +put down on the table a small packet, exclaiming, "I have brought a +little present for each of the boys: the one is a History of England, +which I intend for my godson when he returns from school, the other is +. . ."--and here she said something which escaped my ear, as I sat at some +distance, moping in a corner,--"I intend it for the youngster yonder," +pointing to myself; she then departed, and, my mother going out shortly +after, I was left alone. + +I remember for some time sitting motionless in my corner, with my eyes +bent upon the ground; at last I lifted my head and looked upon the packet +as it lay on the table. All at once a strange sensation came over me, +such as I had never experienced before--a singular blending of curiosity, +awe, and pleasure, the remembrance of which, even at this distance of +time, produces a remarkable effect upon my nervous system. What strange +things are the nerves--I mean those more secret and mysterious ones in +which I have some notion that the mind or soul, call it which you will, +has its habitation; how they occasionally tingle and vibrate before any +coming event closely connected with the future weal or woe of the human +being. Such a feeling was now within me, certainly independent of what +the eye had seen or the ear had heard. A book of some description had +been brought for me, a present by no means calculated to interest me; +what cared I for books? I had already many into which I never looked but +from compulsion; friends, moreover, had presented me with similar things +before, which I had entirely disregarded, and what was there in this +particular book, whose very title I did not know, calculated to attract +me more than the rest? yet something within told me that my fate was +connected with the book which had been last brought; so, after looking on +the packet from my corner for a considerable time, I got up and went to +the table. + +The packet was lying where it had been left--I took it up; had the +envelope, which consisted of whitish brown paper, been secured by a +string or a seal, I should not have opened it, as I should have +considered such an act almost in the light of a crime; the books, +however, had been merely folded up, and I therefore considered that there +could be no possible harm in inspecting them, more especially as I had +received no injunction to the contrary. Perhaps there was something +unsound in this reasoning, something sophistical; but a child is +sometimes as ready as a grown-up person in finding excuses for doing that +which he is inclined to. But whether the action was right or wrong, and +I am afraid it was not altogether right, I undid the packet: it contained +three books; two from their similarity seemed to be separate parts of one +and the same work; they were handsomely bound, and to them I first turned +my attention. I opened them successively, and endeavoured to make out +their meaning; their contents, however, as far as I was able to +understand them, were by no means interesting: whoever pleases may read +these books for me, and keep them too, into the bargain, said I to +myself. + +I now took up the third book: it did not resemble the others, being +longer and considerably thicker; the binding was of dingy calf-skin. I +opened it, and as I did so another strange thrill of pleasure shot +through my frame. The first object on which my eyes rested was a +picture; it was exceedingly well executed, at least the scene which it +represented made a vivid impression upon me, which would hardly have been +the case had the artist not been faithful to nature. A wild scene it +was--a heavy sea and rocky shore, with mountains in the background, above +which the moon was peering. Not far from the shore, upon the water, was +a boat with two figures in it, one of which stood at the bow, pointing +with what I knew to be a gun at a dreadful shape in the water; fire was +flashing from the muzzle of the gun, and the monster appeared to be +transfixed. I almost thought I heard its cry. I remained motionless, +gazing upon the picture, scarcely daring to draw my breath, lest the new +and wondrous world should vanish of which I had now obtained a glimpse. +"Who are those people, and what could have brought them into that strange +situation?" I asked of myself; and now the seed of curiosity, which had +so long lain dormant, began to expand, and I vowed to myself to become +speedily acquainted with the whole history of the people in the boat. +After looking on the picture till every mark and line in it were familiar +to me, I turned over various leaves till I came to another engraving; a +new source of wonder--a low sandy beach on which the furious sea was +breaking in mountain-like billows; cloud and rack deformed the firmament, +which wore a dull and leaden-like hue; gulls and other aquatic fowls were +toppling upon the blast, or skimming over the tops of the maddening +waves--"Mercy upon him! he must be drowned!" I exclaimed, as my eyes fell +upon a poor wretch who appeared to be striving to reach the shore; he was +upon his legs, but was evidently half smothered with the brine; high +above his head curled a horrible billow, as if to engulf him for ever. +"He must be drowned! he must be drowned!" I almost shrieked, and dropped +the book. I soon snatched it up again, and now my eye lighted on a third +picture: again a shore, but what a sweet and lovely one, and how I wished +to be treading it! There were beautiful shells lying on the smooth white +sand--some were empty like those I had occasionally seen on marble +mantelpieces, but out of others peered the heads and bodies of wondrous +crayfish; a wood of thick green trees skirted the beach and partly shaded +it from the rays of the sun, which shone hot above, while blue waves +slightly crested with foam were gently curling against it; there was a +human figure upon the beach, wild and uncouth, clad in the skins of +animals, with a huge cap on his head, a hatchet at his girdle, and in his +hand a gun; his feet and legs were bare; he stood in an attitude of +horror and surprise; his body was bent far back, and his eyes, which +seemed starting out of his head, were fixed upon a mark on the sand--a +large distinct mark--a human footprint. . . . + +Reader, is it necessary to name the book which now stood open in my hand, +and whose very prints, feeble expounders of its wondrous lines, had +produced within me emotions strange and novel? Scarcely--for it was a +book which has exerted over the minds of Englishmen an influence +certainly greater than any other of modern times--which has been in most +people's hands, and with the contents of which even those who cannot read +are to a certain extent acquainted--a book from which the most luxuriant +and fertile of our modern prose writers have drunk inspiration--a book, +moreover, to which, from the hardy deeds which it narrates, and the +spirit of strange and romantic enterprise which it tends to awaken, +England owes many of her astonishing discoveries both by sea and land, +and no inconsiderable part of her naval glory. + +Hail to thee, spirit of De Foe! What does not my own poor self owe to +thee? England has better bards than either Greece or Rome, yet I could +spare them easier far than De Foe, "unabashed De Foe," as the hunchbacked +rhymer styled him. + +The true chord had now been touched; a raging curiosity with respect to +the contents of the volume, whose engravings had fascinated my eye, +burned within me, and I never rested until I had fully satisfied it; +weeks succeeded weeks, months followed months, and the wondrous volume +was my only study and principal source of amusement. For hours together +I would sit poring over a page till I had become acquainted with the +import of every line. My progress, slow enough at first, became by +degrees more rapid, till at last, under "a shoulder of mutton sail," I +found myself cantering before a steady breeze over an ocean of +enchantment, so well pleased with my voyage that I cared not how long it +might be ere it reached its termination. + +And it was in this manner that I first took to the paths of knowledge. + +About this time I began to be somewhat impressed with religious feelings. +My parents were, to a certain extent, religious people; but, though they +had done their best to afford me instruction on religious points, I had +either paid no attention to what they endeavoured to communicate, or had +listened with an ear far too obtuse to derive any benefit. But my mind +had now become awakened from the drowsy torpor in which it had lain so +long, and the reasoning powers which I possessed were no longer inactive. +Hitherto I had entertained no conception whatever of the nature and +properties of God, and with the most perfect indifference had heard the +Divine name proceeding from the mouths of people--frequently, alas! on +occasions when it ought not to be employed; but I now never heard it +without a tremor, for I now knew that God was an awful and inscrutable +being, the maker of all things; that we were His children, and that we, +by our sins, had justly offended Him; that we were in very great peril +from His anger, not so much in this life as in another and far stranger +state of being yet to come; that we had a Saviour withal to whom it was +necessary to look for help: upon this point, however, I was yet very much +in the dark, as, indeed, were most of those with whom I was connected. +The power and terrors of God were uppermost in my thoughts; they +fascinated though they astounded me. Twice every Sunday I was regularly +taken to the church, where, from a corner of the large spacious pew, +lined with black leather, I would fix my eyes on the dignified +high-church rector, {31a} and the dignified high-church clerk, {31b} and +watch the movement of their lips, from which, as they read their +respective portions of the venerable liturgy, would roll many a +portentous word descriptive of the wondrous works of the Most High. + +_Rector_. "Thou didst divide the sea, through Thy power: Thou brakest +the heads of the dragons in the waters." + +_Philoh_. "Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest him +to be meat for the people in the wilderness." + +_Rector_. "Thou broughtest out fountains, and waters out of the hard +rocks: Thou driedst up mighty waters." + +_Philoh_. "The day is Thine, and the night is Thine: Thou hast prepared +the light and the sun." + +Peace to your memories, dignified rector, and yet more dignified +clerk!--by this time ye are probably gone to your long homes, and your +voices are no longer heard sounding down the aisles of the venerable +church--nay, doubtless, this has already long since been the fate of him +of the sonorous "Amen!"--the one of the two who, with all due respect to +the rector, principally engrossed my boyish admiration--he, at least, is +scarcely now among the living! Living! why, I have heard say that he +blew a fife--for he was a musical as well as a Christian professor--a +bold fife, to cheer the Guards and the brave Marines as they marched with +measured step, obeying an insane command, up Bunker's height, whilst the +rifles of the sturdy Yankees were sending the leaden hail sharp and thick +amidst the red-coated ranks; for Philoh had not always been a man of +peace, nor an exhorter to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but had +even arrived at the dignity of a halberd in his country's service before +his six-foot form required rest, and the grey-haired veteran retired, +after a long peregrination, to his native town, to enjoy ease and +respectability on a pension of "eighteenpence a day"; and well did his +fellow-townsmen act when, to increase that ease and respectability, and +with a thoughtful regard for the dignity of the good Church service, they +made him clerk and precentor--the man of the tall form and of the audible +voice, which sounded loud and clear as his own Bunker fife. Well, peace +to thee, thou fine old chap, despiser of dissenters, and hater of +papists, as became a dignified and high-church clerk; if thou art in thy +grave, the better for thee; thou wert fitted to adorn a bygone time, when +loyalty was in vogue, and smiling content lay like a sunbeam upon the +land, but thou wouldst be sadly out of place in these days of cold +philosophic latitudinarian doctrine, universal tolerism, and +half-concealed rebellion--rare times, no doubt, for papists and +dissenters, but which would assuredly have broken the heart of the loyal +soldier of George the Third, and the dignified high-church clerk of +pretty D---. + +We passed many months at this place: nothing, however, occurred requiring +any particular notice, relating to myself, beyond what I have already +stated, and I am not writing the history of others. At length {33} my +father was recalled to his regiment, which at that time was stationed at +a place called Norman Cross, in Lincolnshire, or rather Huntingdonshire, +at some distance from the old town of Peterborough. For this place he +departed, leaving my mother and myself to follow in a few days. Our +journey was a singular one. On the second day we reached a marshy and +fenny country, which, owing to immense quantities of rain which had +lately fallen, was completely submerged. At a large town we got on board +a kind of passage-boat, crowded with people; it had neither sails nor +oars, and those were not the days of steam-vessels; it was a +treck-schuyt, and was drawn by horses. + +Young as I was, there was much connected with this journey which highly +surprised me, and which brought to my remembrance particular scenes +described in the book which I now generally carried in my bosom. The +country was, as I have already said, submerged--entirely drowned--no land +was visible; the trees were growing bolt upright in the flood, whilst +farmhouses and cottages were standing insulated; the horses which drew us +were up to the knees in water, and, on coming to blind pools and "greedy +depths," were not unfrequently swimming, in which case the boys or +urchins who mounted them sometimes stood, sometimes knelt, upon the +saddle and pillions. No accident, however, occurred either to the +quadrupeds or bipeds, who appeared respectively to be quite _au fait_ in +their business, and extricated themselves with the greatest ease from +places in which Pharaoh and all his hosts would have gone to the bottom. +Night-fall brought us to Peterborough, and from thence we were not slow +in reaching the place of our destination. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Norman Cross--Wide Expanse--Vive l'Empereur--Unpruned Woods--Man with the +Bag--Froth and Conceit--I beg your Pardon--Growing Timid--About Three +o'clock--Taking One's Ease--Cheek on the Ground--King of the +Vipers--French King--Frenchmen and Water. + +And a strange place it was, this Norman Cross, and, at the time of which +I am speaking, a sad cross to many a Norman, being what was then styled a +French prison, that is, a receptacle for captives made in the French war. +It consisted, if I remember right, of some five or six casernes, very +long, and immensely high; each standing isolated from the rest, upon a +spot of ground which might average ten acres, and which was fenced round +with lofty palisades, the whole being compassed about by a towering wall, +beneath which, at intervals, on both sides, sentinels were stationed, +whilst outside, upon the field, stood commodious wooden barracks, capable +of containing two regiments of infantry, intended to serve as guards upon +the captives. Such was the station or prison at Norman Cross, where some +six thousand French and other foreigners, followers of the grand +Corsican, were now immured. + +What a strange appearance had those mighty casernes, with their blank +blind walls, without windows or grating, and their slanting roofs, out of +which, through orifices where the tiles had been removed, would be +protruded dozens of grim heads, feasting their prison-sick eyes on the +wide expanse of country unfolded from that airy height. Ah! there was +much misery in those casernes; and from those roofs, doubtless, many a +wistful look was turned in the direction of lovely France. Much had the +poor inmates to endure, and much to complain of, to the disgrace of +England be it said--of England, in general so kind and bountiful. Rations +of carrion meat, and bread from which I have seen the very hounds +occasionally turn away, were unworthy entertainment even for the most +ruffian enemy, when helpless and a captive; and such, alas! was the fare +in those casernes. And then, those visits, or rather ruthless inroads, +called in the slang of the place "strawplait-hunts," when in pursuit of a +contraband article, which the prisoners, in order to procure themselves a +few of the necessaries and comforts of existence, were in the habit of +making, red-coated battalions were marched into the prisons, who, with +the bayonet's point, carried havoc and ruin into every poor convenience +which ingenious wretchedness had been endeavouring to raise around it; +and then the triumphant exit with the miserable booty; and, worst of all, +the accursed bonfire, on the barrack parade, of the plait contraband, +beneath the view of the glaring eyeballs from those lofty roofs, amidst +the hurrahs of the troops, frequently drowned in the curses poured down +from above like a tempest-shower, or in the terrific war-whoop of "_Vive +l'Empereur_!" + +It was midsummer when we arrived at this place, and the weather, which +had for a long time been wet and gloomy, now became bright and glorious; +I was subjected to but little control, and passed my time pleasantly +enough, principally in wandering about the neighbouring country. It was +flat and somewhat fenny, a district more of pasture than agriculture, and +not very thickly inhabited. I soon became well acquainted with it. At +the distance of two miles from the station was a large lake, styled in +the dialect of the country "a mere," {37} about whose borders tall reeds +were growing in abundance, this was a frequent haunt of mine; but my +favourite place of resort was a wild sequestered spot at a somewhat +greater distance. Here, surrounded with woods and thick groves, was the +seat of some ancient family, deserted by the proprietor, and only +inhabited by a rustic servant or two. A place more solitary and wild +could scarcely be imagined; the garden and walks were overgrown with +weeds and briars, and the unpruned woods were so tangled as to be almost +impervious. About this domain I would wander till overtaken by fatigue, +and then I would sit down with my back against some beech, elm, or +stately alder tree, and, taking out my book, would pass hours in a state +of unmixed enjoyment, my eyes now fixed on the wondrous pages, now +glancing at the sylvan scene around; and sometimes I would drop the book +and listen to the voice of the rooks and wild pigeons, and not +unfrequently to the croaking of multitudes of frogs from the neighbouring +swamps and fens. + +In going to and from this place I frequently passed a tall elderly +individual, dressed in rather a quaint fashion, with a skin cap on his +head and stout gaiters on his legs; on his shoulders hung a moderate +sized leathern sack; he seemed fond of loitering near sunny banks, and of +groping amidst furze and low scrubby bramble bushes, of which there were +plenty in the neighbourhood of Norman Cross. Once I saw him standing in +the middle of a dusty road, looking intently at a large mark which seemed +to have been drawn across it, as if by a walking-stick. "He must have +been a large one," the old man muttered half to himself, "or he would not +have left such a trail; I wonder if he is near; he seems to have moved +this way." He then went behind some bushes which grew on the right side +of the road, and appeared to be in quest of something, moving behind the +bushes with his head downwards, and occasionally striking their roots +with his foot: at length he exclaimed, "Here he is!" and forthwith I saw +him dart amongst the bushes. There was a kind of scuffling noise, the +rustling of branches, and the crackling of dry sticks. "I have him!" +said the man at last; "I have got him!" and presently he made his +appearance about twenty yards down the road, holding a large viper in his +hand. "What do you think of that, my boy?" said he, as I went up to +him--"what do you think of catching such a thing as that with the naked +hand?" "What do I think?" said I. "Why, that I could do as much +myself." "You do," said the man, "do you? Lord! how the young people in +these days are given to conceit; it did not use to be so in my time: when +I was a child, childer knew how to behave themselves; but the childer of +these days are full of conceit, full of froth, like the mouth of this +viper;" and with his forefinger and thumb he squeezed a considerable +quantity of foam from the jaws of the viper down upon the road. "The +childer of these days are a generation of--God forgive me, what was I +about to say?" said the old man; and opening his bag he thrust the +reptile into it, which appeared far from empty. I passed on. As I was +returning, towards the evening, I overtook the old man, who was wending +in the same direction. "Good evening to you, sir," said I, taking off a +cap which I wore on my head. "Good evening," said the old man; and then, +looking at me, "How's this?" said he, "you ar'n't, sure, the child I met +in the morning?" "Yes," said I, "I am; what makes you doubt it?" "Why, +you were then all froth and conceit," said the old man, "and now you take +off your cap to me." "I beg your pardon," said I, "if I was frothy and +conceited; it ill becomes a child like me to be so." "That's true, +dear," said the old man; "well, as you have begged my pardon, I truly +forgive you." "Thank you," said I; "have you caught any more of those +things?" "Only four or five," said the old man; "they are getting +scarce, though this used to be a great neighbourhood for them." "And +what do you do with them?" said I; "do you carry them home and play with +them?" "I sometimes play with one or two that I tame," said the old man; +"but I hunt them mostly for the fat which they contain, out of which I +make unguents which are good for various sore troubles, especially for +the rheumatism." "And do you get your living by hunting these +creatures?" I demanded. "Not altogether," said the old man; "besides +being a viper-hunter, I am what they call a herbalist, one who knows the +virtue of particular herbs; I gather them at the proper season, to make +medicines with for the sick." "And do you live in the neighbourhood?" I +demanded. "You seem very fond of asking questions, child. No, I do not +live in this neighbourhood in particular, I travel about; I have not been +in this neighbourhood till lately for some years." + +From this time the old man and myself formed an acquaintance; I often +accompanied him in his wanderings about the neighbourhood, and, on two or +three occasions, assisted him in catching the reptiles which he hunted. +He generally carried a viper with him which he had made quite tame, and +from which he had extracted the poisonous fangs; it would dance and +perform various kinds of tricks. He was fond of telling me anecdotes +connected with his adventures with the reptile species. "But," said he +one day, sighing, "I must shortly give up this business; I am no longer +the man I was; I am become timid, and when a person is timid in viper- +hunting, he had better leave off, as it is quite clear his virtue is +leaving him. I got a fright some years ago, which I am quite sure I +shall never get the better of; my hand has been shaky more or less ever +since." "What frightened you?" said I. "I had better not tell you," +said the old man, "or you may be frightened too, lose your virtue, and be +no longer good for the business." "I don't care," said I; "I don't +intend to follow the business: I daresay I shall be an officer, like my +father." "Well," said the old man, "I once saw the king of the vipers, +and since then--" "The king of the vipers!" said I, interrupting him; +"have the vipers a king?" "As sure as we have," said the old man--"as +sure as we have King George to rule over us, have these reptiles a king +to rule over them." "And where did you see him?" said I. "I will tell +you," said the old man, "though I don't like talking about the matter. It +may be about seven years ago that I happened to be far down yonder to the +west, on the other side of England, nearly two hundred miles from here, +following my business. It was a very sultry day, I remember, and I had +been out several hours catching creatures. It might be about three +o'clock in the afternoon, when I found myself on some heathy land near +the sea, on the ridge of a hill, the side of which, nearly as far down as +the sea, was heath; but on the top there was arable ground, which had +been planted, and from which the harvest had been gathered--oats or +barley, I know not which--but I remember that the ground was covered with +stubble. Well, about three o'clock, as I told you before, what with the +heat of the day and from having walked about for hours in a lazy way, I +felt very tired; so I determined to have a sleep, and I laid myself down, +my head just on the ridge of the hill, towards the field, and my body +over the side down amongst the heath; my bag, which was nearly filled +with creatures, lay at a little distance from my face; the creatures were +struggling in it, I remember, and I thought to myself, how much more +comfortably off I was than they; I was taking my ease on the nice open +hill, cooled with the breezes, whilst they were in the nasty close bag, +coiling about one another, and breaking their very hearts, all to no +purpose: and I felt quite comfortable and happy in the thought, and +little by little closed my eyes, and fell into the sweetest snooze that +ever I was in in all my life; and there I lay over the hill's side, with +my head half in the field, I don't know how long, all dead asleep. At +last it seemed to me that I heard a noise in my sleep, something like a +thing moving, very faint, however, far away; then it died, and then it +came again upon my ear as I slept, and now it appeared almost as if I +heard crackle, crackle; then it died again, or I became yet more dead +asleep than before, I know not which, but I certainly lay some time +without hearing it. All of a sudden I became awake, and there was I, on +the ridge of the hill, with my cheek on the ground towards the stubble, +with a noise in my ear like that of something moving towards me, amongst +the stubble of the field; well, I lay a moment or two listening to the +noise, and then I became frightened, for I did not like the noise at all, +it sounded so odd; so I rolled myself on my belly, and looked towards the +stubble. Mercy upon us! there was a huge snake, or rather a dreadful +viper, for it was all yellow and gold, moving towards me, bearing its +head about a foot and a half above the ground, the dry stubble crackling +beneath its outrageous belly. It might be about five yards off when I +first saw it, making straight towards me, child, as if it would devour +me. I lay quite still, for I was stupefied with horror, whilst the +creature came still nearer; and now it was nearly upon me, when it +suddenly drew back a little, and then--what do you think?--it lifted its +head and chest high in the air, and high over my face as I looked up, +flickering at me with its tongue as if it would fly at my face. Child, +what I felt at that moment I can scarcely say, but it was a sufficient +punishment for all the sins I ever committed; and there we two were, I +looking up at the viper, and the viper looking down upon me, flickering +at me with its tongue. It was only the kindness of God that saved me: +all at once there was a loud noise, the report of a gun, for a fowler was +shooting at a covey of birds, a little way off in the stubble. Whereupon +the viper sunk its head, and immediately made off over the ridge of the +hill, down in the direction of the sea. As it passed by me, however,--and +it passed close by me,--it hesitated a moment, as if it was doubtful +whether it should not seize me; it did not, however, but made off down +the hill. It has often struck me that he was angry with me, and came +upon me unawares for presuming to meddle with his people, as I have +always been in the habit of doing." + +"But," said I, "how do you know that it was the king of the vipers?" + +"How do I know!" said the old man; "who else should it be? There was as +much difference between it and other reptiles as between King George and +other people." + +"Is King George, then, different from other people?" I demanded. + +"Of course," said the old man; "I have never seen him myself, but I have +heard people say that he is a ten times greater man than other folks; +indeed, it stands to reason that he must be different from the rest, else +people would not be so eager to see him. Do you think, child, that +people would be fools enough to run a matter of twenty or thirty miles to +see the king, provided King George--" + +"Haven't the French a king?" I demanded. + +"Yes," said the old man, "or something much the same, and a queer one he +is; not quite so big as King George, they say, but quite as terrible a +fellow. What of him?" + +"Suppose he should come to Norman Cross!" + +"What should he do at Norman Cross, child?" + +"Why, you were talking about the vipers in your bag breaking their +hearts, and so on, and their king coming to help them. Now, suppose the +French king should hear of his people being in trouble at Norman Cross, +and--" + +"He can't come, child," said the old man, rubbing his hands, "the water +lies between. The French don't like the water; neither vipers nor +Frenchmen take kindly to the water, child." + +When the old man {44} left the country, which he did a few days after the +conversation which I have just related, he left me the reptile which he +had tamed and rendered quite harmless by removing the fangs. I was in +the habit of feeding it with milk, and frequently carried it abroad with +me in my walks. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The Tent--Man and Woman--Dark and Swarthy--Manner of Speaking--Bad +Money--Transfixed--Faltering Tone--Little Basket--High Opinion--Plenty of +Good--Keeping Guard--Tilted Cart--Rubricals--Jasper--The Right Sort--The +Horseman of the Lane--John Newton--The Alarm--Gentle Brothers. + +One day it happened that, being on my rambles, I entered a green lane +which I had never seen before; at first it was rather narrow, but as I +advanced it became considerably wider; in the middle was a drift-way with +deep ruts, but right and left was a space carpeted with a sward of +trefoil and clover; there was no lack of trees, chiefly ancient oaks, +which, flinging out their arms from either side, nearly formed a canopy, +and afforded a pleasing shelter from the rays of the sun, which was +burning fiercely above. Suddenly a group of objects attracted my +attention. Beneath one of the largest of the trees, upon the grass, was +a kind of low tent or booth, from the top of which a thin smoke was +curling; beside it stood a couple of light carts, whilst two or three +lean horses or ponies were cropping the herbage which was growing nigh. +Wondering to whom this odd tent could belong, I advanced till I was close +before it, when I found that it consisted of two tilts, like those of +waggons, placed upon the ground and fronting each other, connected behind +by a sail or large piece of canvas which was but partially drawn across +the top; upon the ground, in the intervening space, was a fire, over +which, supported by a kind of iron crowbar, hung a caldron; my advance +had been so noiseless as not to alarm the inmates, who consisted of a man +and woman, who sat apart, one on each side of the fire; they were both +busily employed--the man was carding plaited straw, whilst the woman +seemed to be rubbing something with a white powder, some of which lay on +a plate beside her; suddenly the man looked up, and, perceiving me, +uttered a strange kind of cry, and the next moment both the woman and +himself were on their feet and rushing out upon me. + +I retreated a few steps, yet without turning to flee. I was not, +however, without apprehension, which, indeed, the appearance of these two +people was well calculated to inspire: the woman was a stout figure, +seemingly between thirty and forty; she wore no cap, and her long hair +fell on either side of her head like horse-tails half way down her waist; +her skin was dark and swarthy, like that of a toad, and the expression of +her countenance was particularly evil; her arms were bare, and her bosom +was but half concealed by a slight bodice, below which she wore a coarse +petticoat, her only other article of dress. The man was somewhat +younger, but of a figure equally wild; his frame was long and lathy, but +his arms were remarkably short, his neck was rather bent, he squinted +slightly, and his mouth was much awry; his complexion was dark, but, +unlike that of the woman, was more ruddy than livid; there was a deep +scar on his cheek, something like the impression of a halfpenny. The +dress was quite in keeping with the figure: in his hat, which was +slightly peaked, was stuck a peacock's feather; over a waistcoat of hide, +untanned and with the hair upon it, he wore a rough jerkin of russet hue; +smallclothes of leather, which had probably once belonged to a soldier, +but with which pipeclay did not seem to have come in contact for many a +year, protected his lower man as far as the knee; his legs were cased in +long stockings of blue worsted, and on his shoes he wore immense +old-fashioned buckles. + +Such were the two beings who now came rushing upon me; the man was rather +in advance, brandishing a ladle in his hand. + +"So I have caught you at last," said he; "I'll teach ye, you young +highwayman, to come skulking about my properties!" + +Young as I was, I remarked that his manner of speaking was different from +that of any people with whom I had been in the habit of associating. It +was quite as strange as his appearance, and yet it nothing resembled the +foreign English which I had been in the habit of hearing through the +palisades of the prison; he could scarcely be a foreigner. + +"Your properties!" said I; "I am in the King's Lane. Why did you put +them there, if you did not wish them to be seen?" + +"On the spy," said the woman, "hey? I'll drown him in the sludge in the +toad-pond over the hedge." + +"So we will," said the man, "drown him anon in the mud!" + +"Drown me, will you?" said I; "I should like to see you! What's all this +about? Was it because I saw you with your hands full of straw plait, and +my mother there--" + +"Yes," said the woman; "what was I about?" + +_Myself_. How should I know? Making bad money, perhaps! + +And it will be as well here to observe, that at this time there was much +bad money in circulation in the neighbourhood, generally supposed to be +fabricated by the prisoners, so that this false coin and straw plait +formed the standard subjects of conversation at Norman Cross. + +"I'll strangle thee," said the beldame, dashing at me. "Bad money, is +it?" + +"Leave him to me, wifelkin," said the man, interposing; "you shall now +see how I'll baste him down the lane." + +_Myself_. I tell you what, my chap, you had better put down that thing +of yours; my father lies concealed within my tepid breast, and if to me +you offer any harm or wrong, I'll call him forth to help me with his +forked tongue. + +_Man_. What do you mean, ye Bengui's {48} bantling? I never heard such +discourse in all my life: play man's speech or Frenchman's talk--which, I +wonder? Your father! tell the mumping villain that if he comes near my +fire I'll serve him out as I will you. Take that . . . Tiny Jesus! what +have we got here? Oh, delicate Jesus! what is the matter with the child? + +I had made a motion which the viper understood; and now, partly +disengaging itself from my bosom, where it had lain perdu, it raised its +head to a level with my face, and stared upon my enemy with its +glittering eyes. + +The man stood like one transfixed, and the ladle, with which he had aimed +a blow at me, now hung in the air like the hand which held it; his mouth +was extended, and his cheeks became of a pale yellow, save alone that +place which bore the mark which I have already described, and this shone +now portentously, like fire. He stood in this manner for some time; at +last the ladle fell from his hand, and its falling appeared to rouse him +from his stupor. + +"I say, wifelkin," said he, in a faltering tone, "did you ever see the +like of this here?" + +But the woman had retreated to the tent, from the entrance of which her +loathly face was now thrust, with an expression partly of terror and +partly of curiosity. After gazing some time longer at the viper and +myself, the man stooped down and took up the ladle; then, as if somewhat +more assured, he moved to the tent, where he entered into conversation +with the beldame in a low voice. Of their discourse, though I could hear +the greater part of it, I understood not a single word; and I wondered +what it could be, for I knew by the sound that it was not French. At +last the man, in a somewhat louder tone, appeared to put a question to +the woman, who nodded her head affirmatively, and in a moment or two +produced a small stool, which she delivered to him. He placed it on the +ground, close by the door of the tent, first rubbing it with his sleeve, +as if for the purpose of polishing its surface. + +_Man_. Now, my precious little gentleman, do sit down here by the poor +people's tent; we wish to be civil in our slight way. Don't be angry, +and say no; but look kindly upon us, and satisfied, my precious little +God Almighty. + +_Woman_. Yes, my gorgeous angel, sit down by the poor bodies' fire, and +eat a sweetmeat. We want to ask you a question or two; only first put +that serpent away. + +_Myself_. I can sit down, and bid the serpent go to sleep, that's easy +enough; but as for eating a sweetmeat, how can I do that? I have not got +one, and where am I to get it? + +_Woman_. Never fear, my tiny tawny, {50} we can give you one, such as +you never ate, I daresay, however far you may have come from. + +The serpent sunk into its usual resting-place, and I sat down on the +stool. The woman opened a box, and took out a strange little basket or +hamper, not much larger than a man's fist, and formed of a delicate kind +of matting. It was sewed at the top; but, ripping it open with a knife, +she held it to me, and I saw, to my surprise, that it contained candied +fruits of a dark green hue, tempting enough to one of my age. "There, my +tiny," said she; "taste, and tell me how you like them." + +"Very much," said I; "where did you get them?" + +The beldame leered upon me for a moment, then, nodding her head thrice, +with a knowing look, said, "Who knows better than yourself, my tawny?" + +Now, I knew nothing about the matter; but I saw that these strange people +had conceived a very high opinion of the abilities of their visitor, +which I was nothing loath to encourage. I therefore answered boldly, +"Ah! who indeed!" + +"Certainly," said the man; "who should know better than yourself, or so +well? And now, my tiny one, let me ask you one thing--you didn't come to +do us any harm?" + +"No," said I, "I had no dislike to you; though, if you were to meddle +with me--" + +_Man_. Of course, my gorgeous, of course you would; and quite right too. +Meddle with you!--what right have we? I should say, it would not be +quite safe. I see how it is; you are one of them there;--and he bent his +head towards his left shoulder. + +_Myself_. Yes, I am one of them--for I thought he was alluding to the +soldiers,--you had best mind what you are about, I can tell you. + +_Man_. Don't doubt we will for our own sake; Lord bless you, wifelkin, +only think that we should see one of them there when we least thought +about it. Well, I have heard of such things, though I never thought to +see one; however, seeing is believing. Well! now you are come, and are +not going to do us any mischief, I hope you will stay; you can do us +plenty of good if you will. + +_Myself_. What good could I do you? + +_Man_. What good? plenty! Would you not bring us luck? I have heard +say, that one of them there always does, if it will but settle down. Stay +with us; you shall have a tilted cart all to yourself if you like. We'll +make you our little God Almighty, and say our prayers to you every +morning! + +_Myself_. That would be nice; and, if you were to give me plenty of +these things, I should have no objection. But what would my father say? +I think he would hardly let me. + +_Man_. Why not? he would be with you; and kindly would we treat him. +Indeed, without your father you would be nothing at all. + +_Myself_. That's true; but I do not think he could be spared from his +regiment. I have heard him say that they could do nothing without him. + +_Man_. His regiment! What are you talking about?--what does the child +mean? + +_Myself_. What do I mean!--why, that my father is an officer-man at the +barracks yonder, keeping guard over the French prisoners. + +_Man_. Oh! then that sap {52} is not your father? + +_Myself_. What, the snake? Why, no! Did you think he was? + +_Man_. To be sure we did. Didn't you tell me so? + +_Myself_. Why, yes; but who would have thought you would have believed +it? It is a tame one. I hunt vipers, and tame them. + +_Man_. O--h! + +"O--h!" grunted the woman, "that's it, is it?" + +The man and woman, who during this conversation had resumed their former +positions within the tent, looked at each other with a queer look of +surprise, as if somewhat disconcerted at what they now heard. They then +entered into discourse with each other in the same strange tongue which +had already puzzled me. At length the man looked me in the face, and +said, somewhat hesitatingly, "So you are not one of them there after +all?" + +_Myself_. One of them there? I don't know what you mean. + +_Man_. Why, we have been thinking you were a goblin--a devilkin! +However, I see how it is: you are a sap-engro, a chap who catches snakes, +and plays tricks with them! Well, it comes very nearly to the same +thing; and if you please to list with us, and bear us pleasant company, +we shall be glad of you. I'd take my oath upon it, that we might make a +mort of money by you and that sap, and the tricks it could do; and, as +you seem fly to everything, I shouldn't wonder if you would make a prime +hand at telling fortunes. + +"I shouldn't wonder," said I. + +_Man_. Of course. And you might still be our God Almighty, or at any +rate our clergyman, so you should live in a tilted cart by yourself, and +say prayers to us night and morning--to wifelkin here, and all our +family; there's plenty of us when we are all together: as I said before, +you seem fly, I shouldn't wonder if you could read? + +"Oh yes!" said I, "I can read;" and, eager to display my accomplishments, +I took my book out of my pocket, and, opening it at random, proceeded to +read how a certain man, whilst wandering about a certain solitary island, +entered a cave, the mouth of which was overgrown with brushwood, and how +he was nearly frightened to death in that cave by something which he saw. + +"That will do," said the man; "that's the kind of prayers for me and my +family, ar'n't they, wifelkin? I never heard more delicate prayers in +all my life! Why, they beat the rubricals hollow!--and here comes my son +Jasper. I say, Jasper, here's a young sap-engro that can read, and is +more fly than yourself. Shake hands with him; I wish ye to be two +brothers." + +With a swift but stealthy pace Jasper came towards us from the farther +part of the lane; on reaching the tent he stood still, and looked fixedly +upon me as I sat upon the stool; I looked fixedly upon him. A queer look +had Jasper; he was a lad of some twelve or thirteen years, with long +arms, unlike the singular being who called himself his father; his +complexion was ruddy, but his face was seamed, though it did not bear the +peculiar scar which disfigured the countenance of the other; nor, though +roguish enough, a certain evil expression which that of the other bore, +and which the face of the woman possessed in a yet more remarkable +degree. For the rest, he wore drab breeches, with certain strings at the +knee, a rather gay waistcoat, and tolerably white shirt; under his arm he +bore a mighty whip of whalebone with a brass knob, and upon his head was +a hat without either top or brim. + +"There, Jasper! shake hands with the sap-engro." + +"Can he box, father?" said Jasper, surveying me rather contemptuously. "I +should think not, he looks so puny and small." + +"Hold your peace, fool!" said the man; "he can do more than that--I tell +you he's fly: he carries a sap about, which would sting a ninny like you +to dead." + +"What, a sap-engro!" said the boy, with a singular whine, and, stooping +down, he leered curiously in my face, kindly, however, and then patted me +on the head. "A sap-engro!" he ejaculated; "lor!" + +"Yes, and one of the right sort," said the man; "I am glad we have met +with him; he is going to list with us, and be our clergyman and God +Almighty, ar'n't you, my tawny?" + +"I don't know," said I; "I must see what my father will say." + +"Your father; bah! . . ." but here he stopped, for a sound was heard like +the rapid galloping of a horse, not loud and distinct as on a road, but +dull and heavy as if upon a grass sward; nearer and nearer it came, and +the man, starting up, rushed out of the tent, and looked around +anxiously. I arose from the stool upon which I had been seated, and just +at that moment, amidst a crashing of boughs and sticks, a man on +horseback bounded over the hedge into the lane at a few yards' distance +from where we were: from the impetus of the leap the horse was nearly +down on his knees; the rider, however, by dint of vigorous handling of +the reins, prevented him from falling, and then rode up to the tent. +"'Tis Nat," said the man; "what brings him here?" The new comer was a +stout burly fellow, about the middle age; he had a savage determined +look, and his face was nearly covered over with carbuncles; he wore a +broad slouching hat, and was dressed in a grey coat, cut in a fashion +which I afterwards learnt to be the genuine Newmarket cut, the skirts +being exceedingly short; his waistcoat was of red plush, and he wore +broad corduroy breeches and white top-boots. The steed which carried him +was of iron grey, spirited and powerful, but covered with sweat and foam. +The fellow glanced fiercely and suspiciously around, and said something +to the man of the tent in a harsh and rapid voice. A short and hurried +conversation ensued in the strange tongue. I could not take my eyes off +this new comer. Oh, that half-jockey, half-bruiser countenance, I never +forgot it! More than fifteen years afterwards I found myself amidst a +crowd before Newgate; a gallows was erected, and beneath it stood a +criminal, a notorious malefactor. I recognised him at once; the horseman +of the lane is now beneath the fatal tree, but nothing altered; still the +same man; jerking his head to the right and left with the same fierce and +under glance, just as if the affairs of this world had the same kind of +interest to the last; grey coat of Newmarket cut, plush waistcoat, +corduroys, and boots, nothing altered; but the head, alas! is bare, and +so is the neck. Oh, crime and virtue, virtue and crime!--it was old John +Newton, I think, who, when he saw a man going to be hanged, said, "There +goes John Newton, but for the grace of God!" + +But the lane, the lane, all was now in confusion in the lane; the man and +woman were employed in striking the tents and in making hurried +preparations for departure; the boy Jasper was putting the harness upon +the ponies and attaching them to the carts; and, to increase the +singularity of the scene, two or three wild-looking women and girls, in +red cloaks and immense black beaver bonnets, came from I know not what +direction, and, after exchanging a few words with the others, commenced +with fierce and agitated gestures to assist them in their occupation. The +rider meanwhile sat upon his horse, but evidently in a state of great +impatience; he muttered curses between his teeth, spurred the animal +furiously, and then reined it in, causing it to rear itself up nearly +perpendicular. At last he said, "Curse ye, for Romans, how slow ye are! +well, it is no business of mine, stay here all day if you like; I have +given ye warning, I am off to the big north road. However, before I go, +you had better give me all you have of that." + +"Truly spoken, Nat, my pal," said the man; "give it him, mother. There +it is; now be off as soon as you please, and rid us of evil company." + +The woman had handed him two bags formed of stocking, half full of +something heavy, which looked through them for all the world like money +of some kind. The fellow, on receiving them, thrust them without +ceremony into the pockets of his coat, and then, without a word of +farewell salutation, departed at a tremendous rate, the hoofs of his +horse thundering for a long time on the hard soil of the neighbouring +road, till the sound finally died away in the distance. The strange +people were not slow in completing their preparations, and then, flogging +their animals terrifically, hurried away seemingly in the same direction. + +The boy Jasper was last of the band. As he was following the rest, he +stopped suddenly, and looked on the ground appearing to muse; then, +turning round, he came up to me where I was standing, leered in my face, +and then, thrusting out his hand, he said, "Good bye, Sap; I daresay we +shall meet again; remember we are brothers; two gentle brothers." + +Then whining forth, "What, a sap-engro, lor!" he gave me a parting leer, +and hastened away. + +I remained standing in the lane gazing after the retreating company. "A +strange set of people," said I at last; "I wonder who they can be." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Three Years--Lilly's Grammar--Proficiency--Ignorant of Figures--The +School Bell--Order of Succession--Persecution--What are we to +do?--Northward--A Goodly Scene--Haunted Ground--Feats of +Chivalry--Rivers--Over the Brig. + +Years passed on, even three years; during this period I had increased +considerably in stature and in strength, and, let us hope, improved in +mind; for I had entered on the study of the Latin language. The very +first person to whose care I was entrusted for the acquisition of Latin +was an old friend of my father's, a clergyman who kept a seminary at a +town the very next we visited after our departure from "the Cross." Under +his instruction, however, I continued only a few weeks, as we speedily +left the place. "Captain," said this divine, when my father came to take +leave of him on the eve of our departure, "I have a friendship for you, +and therefore wish to give you a piece of advice concerning this son of +yours. You are now removing him from my care; you do wrong, but we will +let that pass. Listen to me: there is but one good school book in the +world--the one I use in my seminary--Lilly's Latin Grammar, in which your +son has already made some progress. If you are anxious for the success +of your son in life, for the correctness of his conduct and the soundness +of his principles, keep him to Lilly's Grammar. If you can by any means, +either fair or foul, induce him to get by heart Lilly's Latin Grammar, +you may set your heart at rest with respect to him; I, myself, will be +his warrant. I never yet knew a boy that was induced, either by fair +means or foul, to learn Lilly's Latin Grammar by heart, who did not turn +out a man, provided he lived long enough." + +My father, who did not understand the classical languages, received with +respect the advice of his old friend, and from that moment conceived the +highest opinion of Lilly's Latin Grammar. During three years I studied +Lilly's Latin Grammar under the tuition of various schoolmasters, for I +travelled with the regiment, and in every town in which we were +stationary I was invariably (God bless my father!) sent to the classical +academy of the place. It chanced, by good fortune, that in the +generality of these schools the grammar of Lilly was in use; when, +however, that was not the case, it made no difference in my educational +course, my father always stipulating with the masters that I should be +daily examined in Lilly. At the end of the three years I had the whole +by heart; you had only to repeat the first two or three words of any +sentence in any part of the book, and forthwith I would open cry, +commencing without blundering and hesitation, and continue till you were +glad to beg me to leave off, with many expressions of admiration at my +proficiency in the Latin language. Sometimes, however, to convince you +how well I merited these encomiums, I would follow you to the bottom of +the stair, and even into the street, repeating in a kind of sing-song +measure the sonorous lines of the golden schoolmaster. If I am here +asked whether I understood anything of what I had got by heart, I +reply--"Never mind, I understand it all now, and believe that no one ever +yet got Lilly's Latin Grammar by heart when young, who repented of the +feat at a mature age." + +And, when my father saw that I had accomplished my task, he opened his +mouth, and said, "Truly, this is more than I expected. I did not think +that there had been so much in you, either of application or capacity; +you have now learnt all that is necessary, if my friend Dr. B---'s +opinion was sterling, as I have no doubt it was. You are still a child, +however, and must yet go to school, in order that you may be kept out of +evil company. Perhaps you may still contrive, now you have exhausted the +barn, to pick up a grain or two in the barn-yard. You are still ignorant +of figures, I believe, not that I would mention figures in the same day +with Lilly's Grammar." + +These words were uttered in a place called ---, in the north, or in the +road to the north, to which, for some time past, our corps had been +slowly advancing. I was sent to the school of the place, which chanced +to be a day school. It was a somewhat extraordinary one, and a somewhat +extraordinary event occurred to me within its walls. + +It occupied part of the farther end of a small plain, or square, at the +outskirts of the town, close to some extensive bleaching fields. It was +a long low building of one room, with no upper storey; on the top was a +kind of wooden box, or sconce, which I at first mistook for a +pigeon-house, but which in reality contained a bell, to which was +attached a rope, which, passing through the ceiling, hung dangling in the +middle of the school-room. I am the more particular in mentioning this +appurtenance, as I had soon occasion to scrape acquaintance with it in a +manner not very agreeable to my feelings. The master was very proud of +his bell, if I might judge from the fact of his eyes being frequently +turned to that part of the ceiling from which the rope depended. Twice +every day, namely, after the morning and evening tasks had been gone +through, were the boys rung out of school by the monotonous jingle of +this bell. This ringing out was rather a lengthy affair, for, as the +master was a man of order and method, the boys were only permitted to go +out of the room one by one; and as they were rather numerous, amounting, +at least, to one hundred, and were taught to move at a pace of suitable +decorum, at least a quarter of an hour elapsed from the commencement of +the march before the last boy could make his exit. The office of bell- +ringer was performed by every boy successively; and it so happened that, +the very first day of my attendance at the school, the turn to ring the +bell had, by order of succession, arrived at the place which had been +allotted to me; for the master, as I have already observed, was a man of +method and order, and every boy had a particular seat, to which he became +a fixture as long as he continued at the school. + +So, upon this day, when the tasks were done and completed, and the boys +sat with their hats and caps in their hands, anxiously expecting the +moment of dismissal, it was suddenly notified to me, by the urchins who +sat nearest to me, that I must get up and ring the bell. Now, as this +was the first time that I had been at the school, I was totally +unacquainted with the process, which I had never seen, and, indeed, had +never heard of till that moment. I therefore sat still, not imagining it +possible that any such duty could be required of me. But now, with not a +little confusion, I perceived that the eyes of all the boys in the school +were fixed upon me. Presently there were nods and winks in the direction +of the bell-rope; and, as these produced no effect, uncouth visages were +made, like those of monkeys when enraged; teeth were gnashed, tongues +thrust out, and even fists were bent at me. The master, who stood at the +end of the room, with a huge ferule under his arm, bent full upon me a +look of stern appeal; and the ushers, of whom there were four, glared +upon me, each from his own particular corner, as I vainly turned, in one +direction and another, in search of one reassuring look. + +But now, probably in obedience to a sign from the master, the boys in my +immediate neighbourhood began to maltreat me. Some pinched me with their +fingers, some buffeted me, whilst others pricked me with pins, or the +points of compasses. These arguments were not without effect. I sprang +from my seat, and endeavoured to escape along a double line of benches, +thronged with boys of all ages, from the urchin of six or seven, to the +nondescript of sixteen or seventeen. It was like running the gauntlet; +every one, great or small, pinching, kicking, or otherwise maltreating +me, as I passed by. + +Goaded on in this manner, I at length reached the middle of the room, +where dangled the bell-rope, the cause of all my sufferings. I should +have passed it--for my confusion was so great, that I was quite at a loss +to comprehend what all this could mean, and almost believed myself under +the influence of an ugly dream--but now the boys, who were seated in +advance in the row, arose with one accord, and barred my farther +progress; and one, doubtless more sensible than the rest, seizing the +rope, thrust it into my hand. I now began to perceive that the dismissal +of the school, and my own release from torment, depended upon this +selfsame rope. I therefore, in a fit of desperation, pulled it once or +twice, and then left off, naturally supposing that I had done quite +enough. The boys who sat next the door, no sooner heard the bell, than +rising from their seats, they moved out at the door. The bell, however, +had no sooner ceased to jingle, than they stopped short, and, turning +round, stared at the master, as much as to say, "What are we to do now?" +This was too much for the patience of the man of method, which my +previous stupidity had already nearly exhausted. Dashing forward into +the middle of the room, he struck me violently on the shoulders with his +ferule, and, snatching the rope out of my hand, exclaimed, with a +stentorian voice, and genuine Yorkshire accent, "Prodigy of ignorance! +dost not even know how to ring a bell? Must I myself instruct thee?" He +then commenced pulling at the bell with such violence, that long before +half the school was dismissed the rope broke, and the rest of the boys +had to depart without their accustomed music. + +But I must not linger here, though I could say much about the school and +the pedagogue highly amusing and diverting, which, however, I suppress, +in order to make way for matters of yet greater interest. On we went, +northward, northward! and, as we advanced, I saw that the country was +becoming widely different from those parts of merry England in which we +had previously travelled. It was wilder, and less cultivated, and more +broken with hills and hillocks. The people, too, of those regions +appeared to partake of something of the character of their country. They +were coarsely dressed; tall and sturdy of frame; their voices were deep +and guttural; and the half of the dialect which they spoke was +unintelligible to my ears. + +I often wondered where we could be going, for I was at this time about as +ignorant of geography as I was of most other things. However, I held my +peace, asked no questions, and patiently awaited the issue. + +Northward, northward, still! And it came to pass that, one morning, I +found myself extended on the bank of a river. It was a beautiful morning +of early spring; small white clouds were floating in the heaven, +occasionally veiling the countenance of the sun, whose light, as they +retired, would again burst forth, coursing like a race-horse over the +scene--and a goodly scene it was! Before me, across the water, on an +eminence, stood a white old city, {65} surrounded with lofty walls, above +which rose the tops of tall houses, with here and there a church or +steeple. To my right hand was a long and massive bridge, with many +arches, and of antique architecture, which traversed the river. The +river was a noble one; the broadest that I had hitherto seen. Its +waters, of a greenish tinge, poured with impetuosity beneath the narrow +arches to meet the sea, close at hand, as the boom of the billows +breaking distinctly upon a beach declared. There were songs upon the +river from the fisher-barks; and occasionally a chorus, plaintive and +wild, such as I had never heard before, the words of which I did not +understand, but which, at the present time, down the long avenue of +years, seem in memory's ear to sound like "Horam, coram, dago." Several +robust fellows were near me, some knee-deep in water, employed in hauling +the seine upon the strand. Huge fish were struggling amidst the +meshes--princely salmon--their brilliant mail of blue and silver flashing +in the morning beam; so goodly and gay a scene, in truth, had never +greeted my boyish eye. + +And, as I gazed upon the prospect, my bosom began to heave, and my tears +to trickle. Was it the beauty of the scene which gave rise to these +emotions? Possibly; for though a poor ignorant child--a half-wild +creature--I was not insensible to the loveliness of nature, and took +pleasure in the happiness and handiworks of my fellow-creatures. Yet, +perhaps, in something more deep and mysterious the feelings which then +pervaded me might originate. Who can lie down on Elvir Hill without +experiencing something of the sorcery of the place? Flee from Elvir +Hill, young swain, or the maids of Elle will have power over you, and you +will go elf-wild!--so say the Danes. I had unconsciously laid myself +down upon haunted ground; and I am willing to imagine that what I then +experienced was rather connected with the world of spirits and dreams +than with what I actually saw and heard around me. Surely the elves and +genii of the place were conversing, by some inscrutable means, with the +principle of intelligence lurking within the poor uncultivated clod! +Perhaps to that ethereal principle the wonders of the past, as connected +with that stream, the glories of the present, and even the history of the +future, were at that moment being revealed! Of how many feats of +chivalry had those old walls been witness, when hostile kings contended +for their possession?--how many an army from the south and from the north +had trod that old bridge?--what red and noble blood had crimsoned those +rushing waters?--what strains had been sung, ay, were yet being sung, on +its banks?--some soft as Doric reed; some fierce and sharp as those of +Norwegian Skaldaglam; some as replete with wild and wizard force as +Finland's runes, singing of Kalevala's moors, and the deeds of +Woinomoinen! Honour to thee, thou island stream! Onward may thou ever +roll, fresh and green, rejoicing in thy bright past, thy glorious +present, and in vivid hope of a triumphant future! Flow on, beautiful +one!--which of the world's streams canst thou envy, with thy beauty and +renown? Stately is the Danube, rolling in its might through lands +romantic with the wild exploits of Turk, Polak, and Magyar! Lovely is +the Rhine! on its shelvy banks grows the racy grape; and strange old +keeps of robber-knights of yore are reflected in its waters, from +picturesque crags and airy headlands!--yet neither the stately Danube, +nor the beauteous Rhine, with all their fame, though abundant, needst +thou envy, thou pure island stream!--and far less yon turbid river of +old, not modern renown, gurgling beneath the walls of what was once proud +Rome, towering Rome, Jupiter's town, but now vile Rome, crumbling Rome, +Batuscha's town, far less needst thou envy the turbid Tiber of bygone +fame, creeping sadly to the sea, surcharged with the abominations of +modern Rome--how unlike to thee, thou pure island stream! + +And, as I lay on the bank and wept, there drew nigh to me a man in the +habiliments of a fisher. He was bare-legged, of a weather-beaten +countenance, and of stature approaching to the gigantic. "What is the +callant greeting for?" said he, as he stopped and surveyed me. "Has +onybody wrought ye ony harm?" + +"Not that I know of," I replied, rather guessing at than understanding +his question; "I was crying because I could not help it! I say, old one, +what is the name of this river?" + +"Hout! I now see what you was greeting at--at your ain ignorance, nae +doubt--'tis very great! Weel, I will na fash you with reproaches, but +even enlighten ye, since you seem a decent man's bairn, and you speir a +civil question. Yon river is called the Tweed; and yonder, over the +brig, is Scotland. Did ye never hear of the Tweed, my bonny man?" + +"No," said I, as I rose from the grass, and proceeded to cross the bridge +to the town at which we had arrived the preceding night; "I never heard +of it; but now I have seen it, I shall not soon forget it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The Castle--A Father's Inquiries--Scotch Language--A Determination--Bui +hin Digri--Good Scotchman--Difference of Races--Ne'er a Haggis--Pugnacious +People--Wha are Ye, Man?--The Nor Loch--Gestures Wild--The Bicker--New +Town Champion--Wild-Looking Figure--Headlong. + +It was not long before we found ourselves at Edinburgh, {69a} or rather +in the Castle, into which the regiment marched with drums beating, colour- +flying, and a long train of baggage-waggons behind. The Castle was, as I +suppose it is now, a garrison for soldiers. Two other regiments were +already there; the one an Irish, if I remember right, the other a small +Highland corps. + +It is hardly necessary to say much about this Castle, which everybody has +seen; on which account, doubtless, nobody has ever yet thought fit to +describe it--at least that I am aware. Be this as it may, I have no +intention of describing it, and shall content myself with observing, that +we took up our abode in that immense building, or caserne, of modern +erection, which occupies the entire eastern {69b} side of the bold rock +on which the Castle stands. A gallant caserne it was--the best and +roomiest that I had hitherto seen--rather cold and windy, it is true, +especially in the winter, but commanding a noble prospect of a range of +distant hills, which I was told were "the hieland hills," and of a broad +arm of the sea, which I heard somebody say was the Firth of Forth. + +My brother, who, for some years past, had been receiving his education in +a certain celebrated school in England, was now with us; and it came to +pass, that one day my father, as he sat at table, looked steadfastly on +my brother and myself, and then addressed my mother:--"During my journey +down hither, I have lost no opportunity of making inquiries about these +people, the Scotch, amongst whom we now are, and since I have been here I +have observed them attentively. From what I have heard and seen, I +should say that upon the whole they are a very decent set of people; they +seem acute and intelligent, and I am told that their system of education +is so excellent, that every person is learned--more or less acquainted +with Greek and Latin. There is one thing, however, connected with them, +which is a great drawback--the horrid jargon which they speak. However +learned they may be in Greek and Latin, their English is execrable; and +yet I'm told it is not so bad as it was. I was in company, the other +day, with an Englishman who has resided here many years. We were talking +about the country and the people. 'I should like both very well,' said +I, 'were it not for the language. I wish sincerely our Parliament, which +is passing so many foolish Acts every year, would pass one to force these +Scotch to speak English.' 'I wish so, too,' said he. 'The language is a +disgrace to the British Government; but, if you had heard it twenty years +ago, captain!--if you had heard it as it was spoken when I first came to +Edinburgh!'" + +"Only custom," said my mother. "I daresay the language is now what it +was then." + +"I don't know," said my father; "though I daresay you are right; it could +never have been worse than it is at present. But now to the point. Were +it not for the language, which, if the boys were to pick it up, might +ruin their prospects in life,--were it not for that, I should very much +like to send them to a school there is in this place, which everybody +talks about--the High School I think they call it. 'Tis said to be the +best school in the whole island; but the idea of one's children speaking +Scotch--broad Scotch! I must think the matter over." + +And he did think the matter over; and the result of his deliberation was +a determination to send us to the school. {71} Let me call thee up +before my mind's eye, High School, to which, every morning, the two +English brothers took their way from the proud old Castle through the +lofty streets of the Old Town. High School!--called so, I scarcely know +why; neither lofty in thyself nor by position, being situated in a flat +bottom; oblong structure of tawny stone, with many windows fenced with +iron netting--with thy long hall below, and thy five chambers above, for +the reception of the five classes, into which the eight hundred urchins, +who styled thee instructress, were divided. Thy learned rector and his +four subordinate dominies; thy strange old porter of the tall form and +grizzled hair, hight Boee, {72} and doubtless of Norse ancestry, as his +name declares; perhaps of the blood of Bui hin Digri, the hero of +northern song--the Jomsborg Viking who clove Thorsteinn Midlangr asunder +in the dread sea battle of Horunga Vog, and who, when the fight was lost +and his own two hands smitten off, seized two chests of gold with his +bloody stumps, and, springing with them into the sea, cried to the scanty +relics of his crew, "Overboard now, all Bui's lads!" Yes, I remember all +about thee, and how at eight of every morn we were all gathered together +with one accord in the long hall, from which, after the litanies had been +read (for so I will call them, being an Episcopalian), the five classes +from the five sets of benches trotted off in long files, one boy after +the other, up the five spiral staircases of stone, each class to its +destination; and well do I remember how we of the third sat hushed and +still, watched by the eye of the dux, until the door opened, and in +walked that model of a good Scotchman, the shrewd, intelligent, but warm- +hearted and kind dominie, the respectable Carson. + +And in this school I began to construe the Latin language, which I had +never done before, notwithstanding my long and diligent study of Lilly, +which illustrious grammar was not used at Edinburgh, nor indeed known. +Greek was only taught in the fifth or highest class, in which my brother +was; as for myself, I never got beyond the third during the two years +that I remained at this seminary. I certainly acquired here a +considerable insight in the Latin tongue; and, to the scandal of my +father and horror of my mother, a thorough proficiency in the Scotch, +which, in less than two months, usurped the place of the English, and so +obstinately maintained its ground, that I still can occasionally detect +its lingering remains. I did not spend my time unpleasantly at this +school, though, first of all, I had to pass through an ordeal. + +"Scotland is a better country than England," said an ugly, blear-eyed +lad, about a head and shoulders taller than myself, the leader of a gang +of varlets who surrounded me in the playground, on the first day, as soon +as the morning lesson was over. "Scotland is a far better country than +England, in every respect." + +"Is it?" said I. "Then you ought to be very thankful for not having been +born in England." + +"That's just what I am, ye loon; and every morning, when I say my +prayers, I thank God for not being an Englishman. The Scotch are a much +better and braver people than the English." + +"It may be so," said I, "for what I know--indeed, till I came here, I +never heard a word either about the Scotch or their country." + +"Are ye making fun of us, ye English puppy?" said the blear-eyed lad; +"take that!" and I was presently beaten black and blue. And thus did I +first become aware of the difference of races and their antipathy to each +other. + +"Bow to the storm, and it shall pass over you." I held my peace, and +silently submitted to the superiority of the Scotch--_in numbers_. This +was enough; from an object of persecution I soon became one of patronage, +especially amongst the champions of the class. "The English," said the +blear-eyed lad, "though a wee bit behind the Scotch in strength and +fortitude, are nae to be sneezed at, being far ahead of the Irish, to say +nothing of the French, a pack of cowardly scoundrels. And with regard to +the English country, it is na Scotland, it is true, but it has its gude +properties; and, though there is ne'er a haggis in a' the land, there's +an unco deal o' gowd and siller. I respect England, for I have an auntie +married there." + +The Scotch are certainly a most pugnacious people; their whole history +proves it. Witness their incessant wars with the English in the olden +time, and their internal feuds, highland and lowland, clan with clan, +family with family, Saxon with Gael. In my time, the school-boys, for +want, perhaps, of English urchins to contend with, were continually +fighting with each other; every noon there was at least one pugilistic +encounter, and sometimes three. In one month I witnessed more of these +encounters than I had ever previously seen under similar circumstances in +England. After all, there was not much harm done. Harm! what harm could +result from short chopping blows, a hug, and a tumble? I was witness to +many a sounding whack, some bloodshed, "a blue ee" now and then, but +nothing more. In England, on the contrary, where the lads were +comparatively mild, gentle, and pacific, I had been present at more than +one death caused by blows in boyish combats, in which the oldest of the +victors had scarcely reached thirteen years; but these blows were in the +jugular, given with the full force of the arm shot out horizontally from +the shoulder. + +But the Scotch--though by no means proficients in boxing (and how should +they box, seeing that they have never had a teacher?)--are, I repeat, a +most pugnacious people; at least they were in my time. Anything served +them, that is, the urchins, as a pretence for a fray, or, Dorically +speaking, a _bicker_; every street and close was at feud with its +neighbour; the lads of the school were at feud with the young men of the +college, whom they pelted in winter with snow, and in summer with stones; +and then the feud between the Old and New Town! + +One day I was standing on the ramparts of the Castle on the south-western +{75} side which overhangs the green brae, where it slopes down into what +was in those days the green swamp or morass, called by the natives of +Auld Reekie the Nor Loch; it was a dark gloomy day, and a thin veil of +mist was beginning to settle down upon the brae and the morass. I could +perceive, however, that there was a skirmish taking place in the latter +spot. I had an indistinct view of two parties--apparently of urchins--and +I heard whoops and shrill cries: eager to know the cause of this +disturbance, I left the Castle, and descending the brae reached the +borders of the morass, where was a runnel of water and the remains of an +old wall, on the other side of which a narrow path led across the swamp: +upon this path at a little distance before me there was "a bicker." I +pushed forward, but had scarcely crossed the ruined wall and runnel, when +the party nearest to me gave way, and in great confusion came running in +my direction. As they drew nigh, one of them shouted to me, "Wha are ye, +man? are ye o' the Auld Toon?" I made no answer. "Ha! ye are o' the New +Toon; De'il tak ye, we'll moorder ye;" and the next moment a huge stone +sung past my head. "Let me be, ye fule bodies," said I, "I'm no of +either of ye, I live yonder aboon in the Castle." "Ah! ye live in the +Castle; then ye're an Auld Tooner. Come gie us your help, man, and dinna +stand there staring like a dunnot; we want help sair eneugh. Here are +stanes." + +For my own part I wished for nothing better, and, rushing forward, I +placed myself at the head of my new associates, and commenced flinging +stones fast and desperately. The other party now gave way in their turn, +closely followed by ourselves; I was in the van, and about to stretch out +my hand to seize the hindermost boy of the enemy, when, not being +acquainted with the miry and difficult paths of the Nor Loch, and in my +eagerness taking no heed of my footing, I plunged into a quagmire, into +which I sank as far as my shoulders. Our adversaries no sooner perceived +this disaster, than, setting up a shout, they wheeled round and attacked +us most vehemently. Had my comrades now deserted me, my life had not +been worth a straw's purchase, I should either have been smothered in the +quag, or, what is more probable, had my brains beaten out with stones; +but they behaved like true Scots, and fought stoutly around their +comrade, until I was extricated, whereupon both parties retired, the +night being near at hand. + +"Ye are na a bad hand at flinging stanes," said the lad who first +addressed me, as we now returned up the brae; "your aim is right +dangerous, man; I saw how ye skelpit them; ye maun help us agin thae New +Toon blackguards at our next bicker." + +So to the next bicker I went, and to many more, which speedily followed +as the summer advanced; the party to which I had given my help on the +first occasion consisted merely of outlyers, posted about half way up the +hill, for the purpose of overlooking the movements of the enemy. + +Did the latter draw nigh in any considerable force, messengers were +forthwith despatched to the "Auld Toon," especially to the filthy alleys +and closes of the High Street, which forthwith would disgorge swarms of +bare-headed and bare-footed "callants," who, with gestures wild and +"eldrich screech and hollo," might frequently be seen pouring down the +sides of the hill. I have seen upwards of a thousand engaged on either +side in these frays, which I have no doubt were full as desperate as the +fights described in the Iliad, and which were certainly much more bloody +than the combats of modern Greece in the war of independence: the +callants not only employed their hands in hurling stones, but not +unfrequently slings; at the use of which they were very expert, and which +occasionally dislodged teeth, shattered jaws, or knocked out an eye. Our +opponents certainly laboured under considerable disadvantage, being +compelled not only to wade across a deceitful bog, but likewise to +clamber up part of a steep hill before they could attack us; +nevertheless, their determination was such, and such their impetuosity, +that we had sometimes difficulty enough to maintain our own. I shall +never forget one bicker, the last indeed which occurred at that time, as +the authorities of the town, alarmed by the desperation of its character, +stationed forthwith a body of police on the hillside, to prevent, in +future, any such breaches of the peace. + +It was a beautiful Sunday evening, the rays of the descending sun were +reflected redly from the grey walls of the Castle, and from the black +rocks on which it was founded. The bicker had long since commenced, +stones from sling and hand were flying; but the callants of the New Town +were now carrying everything before them. + +A full-grown baker's apprentice was at their head; he was foaming with +rage, and had taken the field, as I was told, in order to avenge his +brother, whose eye had been knocked out in one of the late bickers. He +was no slinger or flinger, but brandished in his right hand the spoke of +a cart-wheel, like my countryman Tom Hickathrift of old in his encounter +with the giant of the Lincolnshire fen. Protected by a piece of wicker- +work attached to his left arm, he rushed on to the fray, disregarding the +stones which were showered against him, and was ably seconded by his +followers. Our own party was chased half way up the hill, where I was +struck to the ground by the baker, after having been foiled in an attempt +which I had made to fling a handful of earth into his eyes. All now +appeared lost, the Auld Toon was in full retreat. I myself lay at the +baker's feet, who had just raised his spoke, probably to give me the +_coup de grace_,--it was an awful moment. Just then I heard a shout and +a rushing sound; a wild-looking figure is descending the hill with +terrible bounds; it is a lad of some fifteen years; he is bare-headed, +and his red uncombed hair stands on end like hedgehogs' bristles; his +frame is lithy, like that of an antelope, but he has prodigious breadth +of chest; he wears a military undress, that of the regiment, even of a +drummer, for it is wild Davy, {79} whom a month before I had seen +enlisted on Leith Links to serve King George with drum and drumstick as +long as his services might be required, and who, ere a week had elapsed, +had smitten with his fist Drum-Major Elzigood, who, incensed at his +inaptitude, had threatened him with his cane; he has been in confinement +for weeks, this is the first day of his liberation, and he is now +descending the hill with horrid bounds and shoutings; he is now about +five yards distant, and the baker, who apprehends that something +dangerous is at hand, prepares himself for the encounter; but what avails +the strength of a baker, even full grown?--what avails the defence of a +wicker shield?--what avails the wheel-spoke, should there be an +opportunity of using it, against the impetus of an avalanche or a cannon +ball?--for to either of these might that wild figure be compared, which, +at the distance of five yards, sprang at once with head, hands, feet and +body, all together, upon the champion of the New Town, tumbling him to +the earth amain. And now it was the turn of the Old Town to triumph. Our +late discomfited host, returning on its steps, overwhelmed the fallen +champion with blows of every kind, and then, led on by his vanquisher, +who had assumed his arms, namely, the wheel-spoke and wicker shield, +fairly cleared the brae of their adversaries, whom they drove down +headlong into the morass. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Expert Climbers--The Crags--Something Red--The Horrible Edge--David +Haggart--Fine Materials--The Greatest Victory--Extraordinary Robber--The +Ruling Passion. + +Meanwhile I had become a daring cragsman, a character to which an English +lad has seldom opportunities of aspiring; for in England there are +neither crags nor mountains. Of these, however, as is well known, there +is no lack in Scotland, and the habits of individuals are invariably in +harmony with the country in which they dwell. The Scotch are expert +climbers, and I was now a Scot in most things, particularly in language. +The Castle in which I dwelt stood upon a rock, a bold and craggy one, +which, at first sight, would seem to bid defiance to any feet save those +of goats and chamois; but patience and perseverance generally enable +mankind to overcome things which, at first sight, appear impossible. +Indeed, what is there above man's exertions? Unwearied determination +will enable him to run with the horse, to swim with the fish, and +assuredly to compete with the chamois and the goat in agility and +sureness of foot. To scale the rock was merely child's play for the +Edinbro' callants. It was my own favourite diversion. I soon found that +the rock contained all manner of strange crypts, crannies, and recesses, +where owls nestled, and the weasel brought forth her young; here and +there were small natural platforms, overgrown with long grass and various +kinds of plants, where the climber, if so disposed, could stretch +himself, and either give his eyes to sleep or his mind to thought; for +capital places were these same platforms either for repose or meditation. +The boldest features of the rock are descried on the southern {82a} side, +where, after shelving down gently from the wall for some distance, it +terminates abruptly in a precipice, black and horrible, of some three +hundred feet {82b} at least, as if the axe of nature had been here +employed cutting sheer down, and leaving behind neither excrescence nor +spur--a dizzy precipice it is, assimilating much to those so frequent in +the flinty hills of Northern Africa, and exhibiting some distant +resemblance to that of Gibraltar, towering in its horridness above the +neutral ground. + +It was now holiday time, and having nothing particular wherewith to +occupy myself, I not unfrequently passed the greater part of the day upon +the rocks. Once, after scaling the western crags, and creeping round a +sharp angle of the wall, overhung by a kind of watch tower, I found +myself on the southern side. Still keeping close to the wall, I was +proceeding onward, for I was bent upon a long excursion which should +embrace half the circuit of the Castle, when suddenly my eye was +attracted by the appearance of something red, far below me; I stopped +short, and, looking fixedly upon it, perceived that it was a human being +in a kind of red jacket, seated on the extreme verge of the precipice, +which I have already made a faint attempt to describe. Wondering who it +could be, I shouted; but it took not the slightest notice, remaining as +immovable as the rock on which it sat. "I should never have thought of +going near that edge," said I to myself; "however, as you have done it, +why should not I? And I should like to know who you are." So I +commenced the descent of the rock, but with great care, for I had as yet +never been in a situation so dangerous; a slight moisture exuded from the +palms of my hands, my nerves were tingling, and my brain was somewhat +dizzy--and now I had arrived within a few yards of the figure, and had +recognised it: it was the wild drummer who had turned the tide of battle +in the bicker on the Castle Brae. A small stone which I dislodged now +rolled down the rock, and tumbled into the abyss close beside him. He +turned his head, and after looking at me for a moment somewhat vacantly, +he resumed his former attitude. I drew yet nearer to the horrible edge; +not close, however, for fear was on me. + +"What are you thinking of, David?" said I, as I sat behind him and +trembled, for I repeat that I was afraid. + +_David Haggart_. I was thinking of Willie Wallace. + +_Myself_. You had better be thinking of yourself, man. A strange place +this to come to and think of William Wallace. + +_David Haggart_. Why so? Is not his tower just beneath our feet? + +_Myself_. You mean the auld ruin by the side of the Nor Loch--the ugly +stane bulk, from the foot of which flows the spring into the dyke, where +the watercresses grow? + +_David Haggart_. Just sae, Geordie. + +_Myself_. And why were ye thinking of him? The English hanged him long +since, as I have heard say. + +_David Haggart_. I was thinking that I should wish to be like him. + +_Myself_. Do ye mean that ye would wish to be hanged? + +_David Haggart_. I wad na flinch from that, Geordie, if I might be a +great man first. + +_Myself_. And wha kens, Davie, how great you may be, even without +hanging? Are ye not in the high road of preferment? Are ye not a bauld +drummer already? Wha kens how high ye may rise? perhaps to be general, +or drum-major. + +_David Haggart_. I hae na wish to be drum-major; it were na great things +to be like the doited carle, Else-than-gude, as they call him; and, +troth, he has na his name for naething. But I should have nae objection +to be a general, and to fight the French and Americans, and win myself a +name and a fame like Willie Wallace, and do brave deeds, such as I have +been reading about in his story book. + +_Myself_. Ye are a fule, Davie; the story book is full of lies. Wallace, +indeed! the wuddie rebel! I have heard my father say that the Duke of +Cumberland was worth twenty of Willie Wallace. + +_David Haggart_. Ye had better say naething agin Willie Wallace, +Geordie, for, if ye do, De'il hae me, if I dinna tumble ye doon the +craig. + +* * * * * + +Fine materials in that lad for a hero, you will say. Yes, indeed, for a +hero, or for what he afterwards became. In other times, and under other +circumstances, he might have made what is generally termed a great man, a +patriot, or a conqueror. As it was, the very qualities which might then +have pushed him on to fortune and renown were the cause of his ruin. The +war over, he fell into evil courses; for his wild heart and ambitious +spirit could not brook the sober and quiet pursuits of honest industry. + +"Can an Arabian steed submit to be a vile drudge?" cries the fatalist. +Nonsense! A man is not an irrational creature, but a reasoning being, +and has something within him beyond mere brutal instinct. The greatest +victory which a man can achieve is over himself, by which is meant those +unruly passions which are not convenient to the time and place. David +did not do this; he gave the reins to his wild heart, instead of curbing +it, and became a robber, and, alas! alas! he shed blood--under peculiar +circumstances, it is true, and without _malice prepense_--and for that +blood he eventually died, and justly; for it was that of the warden of a +prison from which he was escaping, and whom he slew with one blow of his +stalwart arm. + +Tamerlane and Haggart! Haggart and Tamerlane! Both these men were +robbers, and of low birth, yet one perished on an ignoble scaffold, and +the other died emperor of the world. Is this justice? The ends of the +two men were widely dissimilar--yet what is the intrinsic difference +between them? Very great, indeed; the one acted according to his lights +and his country, not so the other. Tamerlane was a heathen, and acted +according to his lights; he was a robber where all around were robbers, +but he became the avenger of God--God's scourge on unjust kings, on the +cruel Bajazet, who had plucked out his own brothers' eyes; he became to a +certain extent the purifier of the East, its regenerator; his equal never +was before, nor has it since been seen. Here the wild heart was +profitably employed, the wild strength, the teeming brain. Onward, Lame +one! Onward, Tamur--lank! Haggart. . . . + +But peace to thee, poor David! why should a mortal worm be sitting in +judgment over thee? The Mighty and Just One has already judged thee, and +perhaps above thou hast received pardon for thy crimes, which could not +be pardoned here below; and now that thy feverish existence has closed, +and thy once active form become inanimate dust, thy very memory all but +forgotten, I will say a few words about thee, a few words soon also to be +forgotten. Thou wast the most extraordinary robber that ever lived +within the belt of Britain; Scotland rang with thy exploits, and England, +too, north of the Humber; strange deeds also didst thou achieve when, +fleeing from justice, thou didst find thyself in the Sister Isle; busy +wast thou there in town and on curragh, at fair and race-course, and also +in the solitary place. Ireland thought thee her child, for who spoke her +brogue better than thyself?--she felt proud of thee, and said, "Sure, +O'Hanlon is come again." What might not have been thy fate in the far +west in America, whither thou hadst turned thine eye, saying, "I will go +there, and become an honest man!" But thou wast not to go there, +David--the blood which thou hadst shed in Scotland was to be required of +thee; the avenger was at hand, the avenger of blood. Seized, manacled, +brought back to thy native land, condemned to die, thou wast left in thy +narrow cell, and told to make the most of thy time, for it was short: and +there, in thy narrow cell, and thy time so short, thou didst put the +crowning stone to thy strange deeds, by that strange history of thyself, +penned by thy own hand in the robber tongue. Thou mightest have been +better employed, David!--but the ruling passion was strong with thee, +even in the jaws of death. Thou mightest have been better employed!--but +peace be with thee, I repeat, and the Almighty's grace and pardon. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Napoleon--The Storm--The Cove--Up the Country--The Trembling +Hand--Irish--Tough Battle--Tipperary Hills--Elegant Lodgings--A +Speech--Fair Specimen--Orangemen. + +Onward, onward! and after we had sojourned in Scotland nearly two years, +{88} the long Continental war had been brought to an end, Napoleon was +humbled for a time, and the Bourbons restored to a land which could well +have dispensed with them; we returned to England, where the corps was +disbanded, and my parents with their family retired to private life. I +shall pass over in silence the events of a year, which offer little of +interest as far as connected with me and mine. Suddenly, however, the +sound of war was heard again, Napoleon had broken forth from Elba, and +everything was in confusion. Vast military preparations were again made, +our own corps was levied anew, and my brother became an officer in it; +but the danger was soon over, Napoleon was once more quelled, and chained +for ever, like Prometheus, to his rock. As the corps, however, though so +recently levied, had already become a very fine one, thanks to my +father's energetic drilling, the Government very properly determined to +turn it to some account, and, as disturbances were apprehended in Ireland +about this period, it occurred to them that they could do no better than +despatch it to that country. + +In the autumn of the year 1815, we set sail from a port in Essex; {89a} +we were some eight hundred strong, and were embarked in two ships, very +large, but old and crazy; a storm overtook us when off Beachy Head, in +which we had nearly foundered. I was awakened early in the morning by +the howling of the wind, and the uproar on deck. I kept myself close, +however, as is still my constant practice on similar occasions, and +waited the result with that apathy and indifference which violent sea- +sickness is sure to produce. We shipped several seas, and once the +vessel missing stays--which, to do it justice, it generally did at every +third or fourth tack--we escaped almost by a miracle from being dashed +upon the foreland. On the eighth day of our voyage we were in sight of +Ireland. The weather was now calm and serene, the sun shone brightly on +the sea and on certain green hills in the distance, on which I descried +what at first sight I believed to be two ladies gathering flowers, which, +however, on our nearer approach, proved to be two tall white towers, +doubtless built for some purpose or other, though I did not learn for +what. + +We entered a kind of bay, or cove, {89b} by a narrow inlet; it was a +beautiful and romantic place this cove, very spacious, and, being nearly +land-locked, was sheltered from every wind. A small island, every inch +of which was covered with fortifications, appeared to swim upon the +waters, whose dark blue denoted their immense depth; tall green hills, +which ascended gradually from the shore, formed the background to the +west; they were carpeted to the top with turf of the most vivid green, +and studded here and there with woods, seemingly of oak; there was a +strange old castle half way up the ascent, a village on a crag--but the +mists of morning were half veiling the scene when I surveyed it, and the +mists of time are now hanging densely between it and my no longer +youthful eye; I may not describe it;--nor will I try. + +Leaving the ship in the cove, we passed up a wide river in boats till we +came to a city, {90} where we disembarked. It was a large city, as large +as Edinburgh to my eyes; there were plenty of fine houses, but little +neatness; the streets were full of impurities; handsome equipages rolled +along, but the greater part of the population were in rags; beggars +abounded; there was no lack of merriment, however; boisterous shouts of +laughter were heard on every side. It appeared a city of contradictions. +After a few days' rest we marched from this place in two divisions. My +father commanded the second, I walked by his side. + +Our route lay up the country; the country at first offered no very +remarkable feature, it was pretty, but tame. On the second day, however, +its appearance had altered, it had become more wild; a range of distant +mountains bounded the horizon. We passed through several villages, as I +suppose I may term them, of low huts, the walls formed of rough stones +without mortar, the roof of flags laid over wattles and wicker-work; they +seemed to be inhabited solely by women and children; the latter were +naked, the former, in general, blear-eyed beldames, who sat beside the +doors on low stools, spinning. We saw, however, both men and women +working at a distance in the fields. + +I was thirsty; and going up to an ancient crone, employed in the manner +which I have described, I asked her for water; she looked me in the face, +appeared to consider a moment, then tottering into her hut, presently +reappeared with a small pipkin of milk, which she offered to me with a +trembling hand. I drank the milk; it was sour, but I found it highly +refreshing. I then took out a penny and offered it to her, whereupon she +shook her head, smiled, and, patting my face with her skinny hand, +murmured some words in a tongue which I had never heard before. + +I walked on by my father's side, holding the stirrup-leather of his +horse; presently several low uncouth cars passed by, drawn by starved +cattle: the drivers were tall fellows, with dark features and athletic +frames--they wore long loose blue cloaks with sleeves, which last, +however, dangled unoccupied: these cloaks appeared in tolerably good +condition, not so their under garments. On their heads were broad +slouching hats: the generality of them were bare-footed. As they passed, +the soldiers jested with them in the patois of East Anglia, whereupon the +fellows laughed, and appeared to jest with the soldiers; but what they +said who knows, it being in a rough guttural language, strange and wild. +The soldiers stared at each other, and were silent. + +"A strange language that!" said a young officer to my father, "I don't +understand a word of it; what can it be?" + +"Irish!" said my father, with a loud voice, "and a bad language it is. I +have known it of old, that is, I have often heard it spoken when I was a +guardsman in London. There's one part of London where all the Irish +live--at least all the worst of them--and there they hatch their +villanies and speak this tongue; it is that which keeps them together and +makes them dangerous: I was once sent there to seize a couple of +deserters--Irish--who had taken refuge amongst their companions; we found +them in what was in my time called a ken, that is a house where only +thieves and desperadoes are to be found. Knowing on what kind of +business I was bound, I had taken with me a sergeant's party; it was well +I did so. We found the deserters in a large room, with at least thirty +ruffians, horrid-looking fellows, seated about a long table, drinking, +swearing, and talking Irish. Ah! we had a tough battle, I remember; the +two fellows did nothing, but sat still, thinking it best to be quiet; but +the rest, with an ubbubboo, like the blowing up of a powder-magazine, +sprang up, brandishing their sticks; for these fellows always carry +sticks with them even to bed, and not unfrequently spring up in their +sleep, striking left and right." + +"And did you take the deserters?" said the officer. + +"Yes," said my father; "for we formed at the end of the room, and charged +with fixed bayonets, which compelled the others to yield notwithstanding +their numbers; but the worst was when we got out into the street; the +whole district had become alarmed, and hundreds came pouring down upon +us--men, women, and children. Women, did I say!--they looked fiends, +half naked, with their hair hanging down over their bosoms; they tore up +the very pavement to hurl at us, sticks rang about our ears, stones, and +Irish--I liked the Irish worst of all, it sounded so horrid, especially +as I did not understand it. It's a bad language." + +"A queer tongue," said I; "I wonder if I could learn it?" + +"Learn it!" said my father; "what should you learn it for?--however, I am +not afraid of that. It is not like Scotch; no person can learn it, save +those who are born to it, and even in Ireland the respectable people do +not speak it, only the wilder sort, like those we have passed." + +Within a day or two we had reached a tall range of mountains running +north and south, which I was told were those of Tipperary; along the +skirts of these we proceeded till we came to a town, {93} the principal +one of these regions. It was on the bank of a beautiful river, which +separated it from the mountains. It was rather an ancient place, and +might contain some ten thousand inhabitants--I found that it was our +destination; there were extensive barracks at the farther end, in which +the corps took up its quarters; with respect to ourselves, we took +lodgings in a house which stood in the principal street. + +"You never saw more elegant lodgings than these, captain," said the +master of the house, a tall, handsome, and athletic man, who came up +whilst our little family were seated at dinner late in the afternoon of +the day of our arrival; "they beat anything in this town of Clonmel. I +do not let them for the sake of interest, and to none but gentlemen in +the army, in order that myself and my wife, who is from Londonderry, may +have the advantage of pleasant company, genteel company; ay, and +Protestant company, captain. It did my heart good when I saw your honour +ride in at the head of all those fine fellows, real Protestants, I'll +engage, not a Papist among them, they are too good-looking and honest- +looking for that. So I no sooner saw your honour at the head of your +army, with that handsome young gentleman holding by your stirrup, than I +said to my wife, Mistress Hyne, who is from Londonderry, 'God bless me,' +said I, 'what a truly Protestant countenance, what a noble bearing, and +what a sweet young gentleman. By the silver hairs of his honour--and +sure enough I never saw hairs more regally silver than those of your +honour--by his honour's grey silver hairs, and by my own soul, which is +not worthy to be mentioned in the same day with one of them--it would be +no more than decent and civil to run out and welcome such a father and +son coming in at the head of such a Protestant military.' And then my +wife, who is from Londonderry, Mistress Hyne, looking me in the face like +a fairy as she is, 'You may say that,' says she. 'It would be but decent +and civil, honey.' And your honour knows how I ran out of my own door +and welcomed your honour riding in company with your son, who was +walking; how I welcomed ye both at the head of your royal regiment, and +how I shook your honour by the hand, saying, I am glad to see your +honour, and your honour's son, and your honour's royal military +Protestant regiment. And now I have you in the house, and right proud I +am to have ye one and all; one, two, three, four, true Protestants every +one, no Papists here; and I have made bold to bring up a bottle of claret +which is now waiting behind the door; and, when your honour and your +family have dined, I will make bold too to bring up Mistress Hyne, from +Londonderry, to introduce to your honour's lady, and then we'll drink to +the health of King George, God bless him; to the 'glorious and +immortal'--to Boyne water--to your honour's speedy promotion to be Lord +Lieutenant, and to the speedy downfall of the Pope and Saint Anthony of +Padua." + +Such was the speech of the Irish Protestant addressed to my father in the +long lofty dining-room with three windows, looking upon the High Street +of the good town of Clonmel, as he sat at meat with his family, after +saying grace like a true-hearted respectable soldier as he was. + +"A bigot and an Orangeman!" Oh yes! It is easier to apply epithets of +opprobrium to people than to make yourself acquainted with their history +and position. He was a specimen, and a fair specimen, of a most +remarkable body of men, who during two centuries have fought a good fight +in Ireland in the cause of civilisation and religious truth; they were +sent as colonists, few in number, into a barbarous and unhappy country, +where ever since, though surrounded with difficulties of every kind, they +have maintained their ground; theirs has been no easy life, nor have +their lines fallen upon very pleasant places; amidst darkness they have +held up a lamp, and it would be well for Ireland were all her children +like these her adopted ones. "But they are fierce and sanguinary," it is +said. Ay, ay! they have not unfrequently opposed the keen sword to the +savage pike. "But they are bigoted and narrow-minded." Ay, ay! they do +not like idolatry, and will not bow the knee before a stone! "But their +language is frequently indecorous." Go to, my dainty one, did ye ever +listen to the voice of Papist cursing? + +The Irish Protestants have faults, numerous ones; but the greater number +of these may be traced to the peculiar circumstances of their position: +but they have virtues, numerous ones; and their virtues are their own, +their industry, their energy, and their undaunted resolution are their +own. They have been vilified and traduced--but what would Ireland be +without them? I repeat, that it would be well for her were all her sons +no worse than these much calumniated children of her adoption. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Protestant Young Gentlemen--The Greek Letters--Open Chimney--Murtagh--Paris +and Salamanca--Nothing to do--To whit, to whoo!--The Pack of Cards--Before +Christmas. + +We continued at this place for some months, during which time the +soldiers performed their duties, whatever they were; and I, having no +duties to perform, was sent to school. I had been to English schools, +and to the celebrated one of Edinburgh; but my education, at the present +day, would not be what it is--perfect, had I never had the honour of +being _alumnus_ in an Irish seminary. + +"Captain," said our kind host, "you would, no doubt, wish that the young +gentleman should enjoy every advantage which the town may afford towards +helping him on in the path of genteel learning. It's a great pity that +he should waste his time in idleness--doing nothing else than what he +says he has been doing for the last fortnight--fishing in the river for +trouts which he never catches; and wandering up the glen in the mountain, +in search of the hips that grow there. Now, we have a school here, where +he can learn the most elegant Latin, and get an insight into the Greek +letters, which is desirable; and where, moreover, he will have an +opportunity of making acquaintance with all the Protestant young +gentlemen of the place, the handsome well-dressed young persons whom your +honour sees in the church on the Sundays, when your honour goes there in +the morning, with the rest of the Protestant military; for it is no +Papist school, though there may be a Papist or two there--a few poor +farmers' sons from the country, with whom there is no necessity for your +honour's child to form any acquaintance at all, at all!" + +And to the school I went, where I read the Latin tongue and the Greek +letters, with a nice old clergyman, who sat behind a black oaken desk, +with a huge Elzevir {98} Flaccus before him, in a long gloomy kind of +hall, with a broken stone floor, the roof festooned with cobwebs, the +walls considerably dilapidated, and covered over with strange figures and +hieroglyphics, evidently produced by the application of burnt stick; and +there I made acquaintance with the Protestant young gentlemen of the +place, who, with whatever _eclat_ they might appear at church on a +Sunday, did assuredly not exhibit to much advantage in the school-room on +the week days, either with respect to clothes or looks. And there I was +in the habit of sitting on a large stone, before the roaring fire in the +huge open chimney, and entertaining certain of the Protestant young +gentlemen of my own age, seated on similar stones, with extraordinary +accounts of my own adventures, and those of the corps, with an occasional +anecdote extracted from the story-books of Hickathrift and Wight Wallace, +pretending to be conning the lesson all the while. + +And there I made acquaintance, notwithstanding the hint of the landlord, +with the Papist "gossoons," as they were called, the farmers' sons from +the country; and of these gossoons, of which there were three, two might +be reckoned as nothing at all; in the third, however, I soon discovered +that there was something extraordinary. + +He was about sixteen years old, and above six feet high, dressed in a +grey suit; the coat, from its size, appeared to have been made for him +some ten years before. He was remarkably narrow-chested and +round-shouldered, owing perhaps as much to the tightness of his garment +as to the hand of nature. His face was long, and his complexion swarthy, +relieved, however, by certain freckles, with which the skin was +plentifully studded. He had strange wandering eyes, grey, and somewhat +unequal in size; they seldom rested on the book, but were generally +wandering about the room, from one object to another. Sometimes he would +fix them intently on the wall, and then suddenly starting, as if from a +reverie, he would commence making certain mysterious movements with his +thumbs and forefingers, as if he were shuffling something from him. + +One morning, as he sat by himself on a bench, engaged in this manner, I +went up to him, and said, "Good day, Murtagh; you do not seem to have +much to do?" + +"Faith, you may say that, Shorsha dear!--it is seldom much to do that I +have." + +"And what are you doing with your hands?" + +"Faith, then, if I must tell you, I was e'en dealing with the cards." + +"Do you play much at cards?" + +"Sorra a game, Shorsha, have I played with the cards since my uncle +Phelim, the thief! stole away the ould pack, when he went to settle in +the county Waterford!" + +"But you have other things to do?" + +"Sorra anything else has Murtagh to do that he cares about; and that +makes me dread so going home at nights." + +"I should like to know all about you; where do you live, joy?" + +"Faith, then, ye shall know all about me, and where I live. It is at a +place called the Wilderness that I live, and they call it so, because it +is a fearful wild place, without any house near it but my father's own; +and that's where I live when at home." + +"And your father is a farmer, I suppose?" + +"You may say that; and it is a farmer I should have been, like my brother +Denis, had not my uncle Phelim, the thief! tould my father to send me to +school, to learn Greek letters, that I might be made a saggart of, and +sent to Paris and Salamanca." + +"And you would rather be a farmer than a priest?" + +"You may say that!--for, were I a farmer, like the rest, I should have +something to do, like the rest--something that I cared for--and I should +come home tired at night, and fall asleep, as the rest do, before the +fire; but when I comes home at night I am not tired, for I have been +doing nothing all day that I care for; and then I sits down and stares +about me, and at the fire, till I become frighted; and then I shouts to +my brother Denis, or to the gossoons, 'Get up, I say, and let's be doing +something; tell us the tale of Finn-ma-Coul, and how he lay down in the +Shannon's bed, and let the river flow down his jaws!' Arrah, Shorsha! I +wish you would come and stay with us, and tell us some o' your sweet +stories of your ownself and the snake ye carried about wid ye. Faith, +Shorsha dear! that snake bates anything about Finn-ma-Coul or Brian +Boroo, the thieves two, bad luck to them!" + +"And do they get up and tell you stories?" + +"Sometimes they does, but oftenmost they curses me, and bids me be quiet! +But I can't be quiet, either before the fire or abed; so I runs out of +the house, and stares at the rocks, at the trees, and sometimes at the +clouds, as they run a race across the bright moon; and, the more I +stares, the more frighted I grows, till I screeches and holloas. And +last night I went into the barn, and hid my face in the straw; and there, +as I lay and shivered in the straw, I heard a voice above my head singing +out 'To whit, to whoo!' and then up I starts, and runs into the house, +and falls over my brother Denis, as he lies at the fire. 'What's that +for?' says he. 'Get up, you thief!' says I, 'and be helping me. I have +been out into the barn, and an owl has crow'd at me!'" + +"And what has this to do with playing cards?" + +"Little enough, Shorsha dear!--If there were card-playing, I should not +be frighted." + +"And why do you not play at cards?" + +"Did I not tell you that the thief, my uncle Phelim, stole away the pack? +If we had the pack, my brother Denis and the gossoons would be ready +enough to get up from their sleep before the fire, and play cards with me +for ha'pence, or eggs, or nothing at all; but the pack is gone--bad luck +to the thief who took it!" + +"And why don't you buy another?" + +"Is it of buying you are speaking? And where am I to get the money?" + +"Ah! that's another thing!" + +"Faith it is, honey!--And now the Christmas holidays is coming, when I +shall be at home by day as well as night, and then what am I to do? Since +I have been a saggarting, I have been good for nothing at all--neither +for work nor Greek--only to play cards! Faith, it's going mad I will +be!" + +"I say, Murtagh!" + +"Yes, Shorsha dear!" + +"I have a pack of cards." + +"You don't say so, Shorsha ma vourneen?--you don't say that you have +cards fifty-two?" + +"I do, though; and they are quite new--never been once used." + +"And you'll be lending them to me, I warrant?" + +"Don't think it!--But I'll sell them to you, joy, if you like." + +"Hanam mon Dioul! am I not after telling you that I have no money at +all?" + +"But you have as good as money, to me, at least; and I'll take it in +exchange." + +"What's that, Shorsha dear?" + +"Irish!" + +"Irish?" + +"Yes, you speak Irish; I heard you talking it the other day to the +cripple. You shall teach me Irish." + +"And is it a language-master you'd be making of me?" + +"To be sure!--what better can you do?--it would help you to pass your +time at school. You can't learn Greek, so you must teach Irish!" + +Before Christmas, Murtagh was playing at cards with his brother Denis, +and I could speak a considerable quantity of broken Irish. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Templemore--Devil's Mountain--No Companion--Force of Circumstance--Way of +the World--Ruined Castle--Grim and Desolate--The Donjon--Old Woman--My +Own House. + +When Christmas was over, and the new year commenced, we broke up our +quarters, and marched away to Templemore. {104} This was a large +military station, situated in a wild and thinly inhabited country. +Extensive bogs were in the neighbourhood, connected with the huge bog of +Allan, the Palus Maeotis of Ireland. Here and there was seen a ruined +castle looming through the mists of winter; whilst, at the distance of +seven miles, rose a singular mountain, exhibiting in its brow a chasm, or +vacuum, just, for all the world, as if a piece had been bitten out; a +feat which, according to the tradition of the country, had actually been +performed by his Satanic majesty, who, after flying for some leagues with +the morsel in his mouth, becoming weary, dropped it in the vicinity of +Cashel, where it may now be seen in the shape of a bold bluff hill, +crowned with the ruins of a stately edifice, probably built by some +ancient Irish king. + +We had been here only a few days, when my brother, who, as I have before +observed, had become one of His Majesty's officers, was sent on +detachment to a village at about ten miles' distance. He was not +sixteen, and, though three years older than myself, scarcely my equal in +stature, for I had become tall and large-limbed for my age; but there was +a spirit in him which would not have disgraced a general; and, nothing +daunted at the considerable responsibility which he was about to incur, +he marched sturdily out of the barrack-yard at the head of his party, +consisting of twenty light infantry men, and a tall grenadier sergeant, +selected expressly by my father, for the soldier-like qualities which he +possessed, to accompany his son on this his first expedition. So out of +the barrack-yard, with something of an air, marched my dear brother, his +single drum and fife playing the inspiring old melody, + + "Marlbrouk is gone to the wars, + He'll never return no more!" + +I soon missed my brother, for I was now alone, with no being, at all +assimilating in age, with whom I could exchange a word. Of late years, +from being almost constantly at school, I had cast aside, in a great +degree, my unsocial habits and natural reserve, but in the desolate +region in which we now were there was no school; and I felt doubly the +loss of my brother, whom, moreover, I tenderly loved for his own sake. +Books I had none, at least such "as I cared about"; and with respect to +the old volume, the wonders of which had first beguiled me into common +reading, I had so frequently pored over its pages, that I had almost got +its contents by heart. I was therefore in danger of falling into the +same predicament as Murtagh, becoming "frighted" from having nothing to +do! Nay, I had not even his resources; I cared not for cards, even if I +possessed them, and could find people disposed to play with them. +However, I made the most of circumstances, and roamed about the desolate +fields and bogs in the neighbourhood, sometimes entering the cabins of +the peasantry, with a "God's blessing upon you, good people!" where I +would take my seat on the "stranger's stone" at the corner of the hearth, +and, looking them full in the face, would listen to the carles and +carlines talking Irish. + +Ah, that Irish! How frequently do circumstances, at first sight the most +trivial and unimportant, exercise a mighty and permanent influence on our +habits and pursuits!--how frequently is a stream turned aside from its +natural course by some little rock or knoll, causing it to make an abrupt +turn! On a wild road in Ireland I had heard Irish spoken for the first +time; and I was seized with a desire to learn Irish, the acquisition of +which, in my case, became the stepping-stone to other languages. I had +previously learnt Latin, or rather Lilly; but neither Latin nor Lilly +made me a philologist. I had frequently heard French and other +languages, but had felt little desire to become acquainted with them; and +what, it may be asked, was there connected with the Irish calculated to +recommend it to my attention? + +First of all, and principally, I believe, the strangeness and singularity +of its tones; then there was something mysterious and uncommon associated +with its use. It was not a school language, to acquire which was +considered an imperative duty; no, no; nor was it a drawing-room +language, drawled out occasionally, in shreds and patches, by the ladies +of generals and other great dignitaries, to the ineffable dismay of poor +officers' wives. Nothing of the kind; but a speech spoken in out-of-the- +way desolate places, and in cut-throat kens, where thirty ruffians, at +the sight of the king's minions, would spring up with brandished sticks +and an "ubbubboo, like the blowing up of a powder-magazine." Such were +the points connected with the Irish, which first awakened in my mind the +desire of acquiring it; and by acquiring it I became, as I have already +said, enamoured of languages. Having learnt one by choice, I speedily, +as the reader will perceive, learnt others, some of which were widely +different from Irish. + +Ah, that Irish! I am much indebted to it in more ways than one. But I +am afraid I have followed the way of the world, which is very much wont +to neglect original friends and benefactors. I frequently find myself, +at present, turning up my nose at Irish when I hear it in the street; yet +I have still a kind of regard for it, the fine old language: + + "A labhair Padruic n'insefail nan riogh." + +One of the most peculiar features of this part of Ireland is the ruined +castles, which are so thick and numerous that the face of the country +appears studded with them, it being difficult to choose any situation +from which one, at least, may not be descried. They are of various ages +and styles of architecture, some of great antiquity, like the stately +remains which crown the Crag of Cashel; others built by the early English +conquerors; others, and probably the greater part, erections of the times +of Elizabeth and Cromwell. The whole speaking monuments of the troubled +and insecure state of the country, from the most remote periods to a +comparatively modern time. + +From the windows of the room where I slept I had a view of one of these +old places--an indistinct one, it is true, the distance being too great +to permit me to distinguish more than the general outline. I had an +anxious desire to explore it. It stood to the south-east; in which +direction, however, a black bog intervened, which had more than once +baffled all my attempts to cross it. One morning, however, when the sun +shone brightly upon the old building, it appeared so near, that I felt +ashamed at not being able to accomplish a feat seemingly so easy; I +determined, therefore, upon another trial. I reached the bog, and was +about to venture upon its black surface, and to pick my way amongst its +innumerable holes, yawning horribly, and half filled with water black as +soot, when it suddenly occurred to me that there was a road to the south, +by following which I might find a more convenient route to the object of +my wishes. The event justified my expectations, for, after following the +road for some three miles, seemingly in the direction of the Devil's +Mountain, I suddenly beheld the castle on my left. + +I diverged from the road, and, crossing two or three fields, came to a +small grassy plain, in the midst of which stood the castle. About a gun- +shot to the south was a small village, which had, probably, in ancient +days, sprung up beneath its protection. A kind of awe came over me as I +approached the old building. The sun no longer shone upon it, and it +looked so grim, so desolate and solitary; and here was I, in that wild +country, alone with that grim building before me. The village was within +sight, it is true; but it might be a village of the dead for what I knew; +no sound issued from it, no smoke was rising from its roofs, neither man +nor beast was visible, no life, no motion--it looked as desolate as the +castle itself. Yet I was bent on the adventure, and moved on towards the +castle across the green plain, occasionally casting a startled glance +around me; and now I was close to it. + +It was surrounded by a quadrangular wall, about ten feet in height, with +a square tower at each corner. At first I could discover no entrance; +walking round, however, to the northern side, I found a wide and lofty +gateway with a tower above it, similar to those at the angles of the +wall; on this side the ground sloped gently down towards the bog, which +was here skirted by an abundant growth of copsewood, and a few evergreen +oaks. I passed through the gateway, and found myself within a square +enclosure of about two acres. On one side rose a round and lofty keep, +or donjon, with a conical roof, part of which had fallen down, strewing +the square with its ruins. Close to the keep, on the other side, stood +the remains of an oblong house, built something in the modern style, with +various window-holes; nothing remained but the bare walls and a few +projecting stumps of beams, which seemed to have been half burnt. The +interior of the walls was blackened, as if by fire; fire also appeared at +one time to have raged out of the window-holes, for the outside about +them was black, portentously so. "I wonder what has been going on here!" +I exclaimed. + +There were echoes among the walls as I walked about the court. I entered +the keep by a low and frowning doorway: the lower floor consisted of a +large dungeon-like room, with a vaulted roof; on the left hand was a +winding staircase in the thickness of the wall; it looked anything but +inviting; yet I stole softly up, my heart beating. On the top of the +first flight of stairs was an arched doorway, to the left was a dark +passage, to the right, stairs leading still higher. I stepped under the +arch and found myself in an apartment somewhat similar to the one below, +but higher. There was an object at the farther end. + +An old woman, at least eighty, was seated on a stone, cowering over a few +sticks burning feebly on what had once been a right noble and cheerful +hearth; her side-glance was towards the doorway as I entered, for she had +heard my footsteps. I stood suddenly still, and her haggard glance +rested on my face. + +"Is this your house, mother?" I at length demanded, in the language which +I thought she would best understand. + +"Yes, my house, my own house; the house of the broken-hearted." + +"Any other person's house?" I demanded. + +"My own house, the beggar's house--the accursed house of Cromwell!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +A Visit--Figure of a Man--The Dog of Peace--The Raw Wound--The +Guard-room--Boy Soldier--Person in Authority--Never Solitary--Clergyman +and Family--Still-hunting--Fairy Man--Near Sunset--Bagg--Left-handed +Hitter--.Irish and Supernatural--At Swanton Morley. + +One morning I set out, designing to pay a visit to my brother, at the +place where he was detached; the distance was rather considerable, yet I +hoped to be back by evening-fall, for I was now a shrewd walker, thanks +to constant practice. I set out early, and, directing my course towards +the north, I had in less than two hours accomplished considerably more +than half of the journey. The weather had at first been propitious: a +slight frost had rendered the ground firm to the tread, and the skies +were clear; but now a change came over the scene, the skies darkened, and +a heavy snowstorm came on; the road then lay straight through a bog, and +was bounded by a deep trench on both sides; I was making the best of my +way, keeping as nearly as I could in the middle of the road, lest, +blinded by the snow which was frequently borne into my eyes by the wind, +I might fall into the dyke, when all at once I heard a shout to windward, +and turning my eyes I saw the figure of a man, and what appeared to be an +animal of some kind, coming across the bog with great speed, in the +direction of myself; the nature of the ground seemed to offer but little +impediment to these beings, both clearing the holes and abysses which lay +in their way with surprising agility; the animal was, however, some +slight way in advance, and, bounding over the dyke, appeared on the road +just before me. It was a dog, of what species I cannot tell, never +having seen the like before or since; the head was large and round; the +ears so tiny as scarcely to be discernible; the eyes of a fiery red: in +size it was rather small than large; and the coat, which was remarkably +smooth, as white as the falling flakes. It placed itself directly in my +path, and showing its teeth, and bristling its coat, appeared determined +to prevent my progress. I had an ashen stick in my hand, with which I +threatened it; this, however, only served to increase its fury; it rushed +upon me, and I had the utmost difficulty to preserve myself from its +fangs. + +"What are you doing with the dog, the fairy dog?" said a man, who at this +time likewise cleared the dyke at a bound. + +He was a very tall man, rather well dressed as it should seem; his +garments, however, were like my own, so covered with snow that I could +scarcely discern their quality. + +"What are ye doing with the dog of peace?" + +"I wish he would show himself one," said I; "I said nothing to him, but +he placed himself in my road, and would not let me pass." + +"Of course he would not be letting you till he knew where ye were going." + +"He's not much of a fairy," said I, "or he would know that without +asking; tell him that I am going to see my brother." + +"And who is your brother, little Sas?" + +"What my father is, a royal soldier." + +"Oh, ye are going then to the detachment at ---; by my shoul, I have a +good mind to be spoiling your journey." + +"You are doing that already," said I, "keeping me here talking about dogs +and fairies; you had better go home and get some salve to cure that place +over your eye; it's catching cold you'll be, in so much snow." + +On one side of the man's forehead there was a raw and staring wound, as +if from a recent and terrible blow. + +"Faith, then I'll be going, but it's taking you wid me I will be." + +"And where will you take me?" + +"Why, then, to Ryan's Castle, little Sas." + +"You do not speak the language very correctly," said I; "it is not Sas +you should call me--'tis Sassanach," and forthwith I accompanied the word +with a speech full of flowers of Irish rhetoric. + +The man looked upon me for a moment, fixedly, then, bending his head +towards his breast, he appeared to be undergoing a kind of convulsion, +which was accompanied by a sound something resembling laughter; presently +he looked at me, and there was a broad grin on his features. + +"By my shoul, it's a thing of peace I'm thinking ye." + +But now with a whisking sound came running down the road a hare; it was +nearly upon us before it perceived us; suddenly stopping short, however, +it sprang into the bog on the right-hand side; after it amain bounded the +dog of peace, followed by the man, but not until he had nodded to me a +farewell salutation. In a few moments I lost sight of him amidst the +snowflakes. + +The weather was again clear and fine before I reached the place of +detachment. It was a little wooden barrack, surrounded by a wall of the +same material; a sentinel stood at the gate, I passed by him, and, +entering the building, found myself in a rude kind of guard-room; several +soldiers were lying asleep on a wooden couch at one end, others lounged +on benches by the side of a turf fire. The tall sergeant stood before +the fire, holding a cooking utensil in his left hand; on seeing me, he +made the military salutation. + +"Is my brother here?" said I, rather timidly, dreading to hear that he +was out, perhaps for the day. + +"The ensign is in his room, sir," said Bagg; "I am now preparing his +meal, which will presently be ready; you will find the ensign above +stairs," and he pointed to a broken ladder which led to some place above. + +And there I found him--the boy soldier--in a kind of upper loft, so low +that I could touch with my hands the sooty rafters; the floor was of +rough boards, through the joints of which you could see the gleam of the +soldiers' fire, and occasionally discern their figures as they moved +about; in one corner was a camp bedstead, by the side of which hung the +child's sword, gorget, and sash; a deal table stood in the proximity of +the rusty grate, where smoked and smouldered a pile of black turf from +the bog,--a deal table without a piece of baize to cover it, yet fraught +with things not devoid of interest: a Bible, given by a mother; the +Odyssey, the Greek Odyssey; a flute, with broad silver keys; crayons, +moreover, and water colours; and a sketch of a wild prospect near, which, +though but half finished, afforded ample proof of the excellence and +skill of the boyish hand now occupied upon it. + +Ah! he was a sweet being, that boy soldier, a plant of early promise, +bidding fair to become in after time all that is great, good, and +admirable. I have read of a remarkable Welshman, of whom it was said, +when the grave closed over him, that he could frame a harp, and play it; +build a ship, and sail it; compose an ode, and set it to music. A brave +fellow that son of Wales--but I had once a brother who could do more and +better than this, but the grave has closed over him, as over the gallant +Welshman of yore; there are now but two that remember him--the one who +bore him, and the being who was nurtured at the same breast. He was +taken, and I was left!--Truly, the ways of Providence are inscrutable. + +"You seem to be very comfortable, John," said I, looking around the room +and at the various objects which I have described above: "you have a good +roof over your head, and have all your things about you." + +"Yes, I am very comfortable, George, in many respects; I am, moreover, +independent, and feel myself a man for the first time in my +life--independent, did I say?--that's not the word, I am something much +higher than that; here am I, not sixteen yet, a person in authority, like +the centurion in the Book there, with twenty Englishmen under me, worth a +whole legion of his men, and that fine fellow Bagg to wait upon me, and +take my orders. Oh! these last six weeks have passed like hours of +heaven." + +"But your time must frequently hang heavy on your hands; this is a +strange wild place, and you must be very solitary?" + +"I am never solitary; I have, as you see, all my things about me, and +there is plenty of company below stairs. Not that I mix with the +soldiers; if I did, goodbye to my authority; but when I am alone I can +hear all their discourse through the planks, and I often laugh to myself +at the funny things they say." + +"And have you any acquaintance here?" + +"The very best; much better than the Colonel and the rest, at their grand +Templemore; I had never so many in my whole life before. One has just +left me, a gentleman who lives at a distance across the bog; he comes to +talk with me about Greek, and the Odyssey, for he is a very learned man, +and understands the old Irish, and various other strange languages. He +has had a dispute with Bagg. On hearing his name, he called him to him, +and, after looking at him for some time with great curiosity, said that +he was sure he was a Dane. Bagg, however, took the compliment in +dudgeon, and said that he was no more a Dane than himself, but a true- +born Englishman, and a sergeant of six years' standing." + +"And what other acquaintance have you?" + +"All kinds; the whole neighbourhood can't make enough of me. Amongst +others there's the clergyman of the parish and his family; such a +venerable old man, such fine sons and daughters! I am treated by them +like a son and a brother--I might be always with them if I pleased; +there's one drawback, however, in going to see them; there's a horrible +creature in the house, a kind of tutor, whom they keep more from charity +than anything else; he is a Papist and, they say, a priest; you should +see him scowl sometimes at my red coat, for he hates the king, and not +unfrequently, when the king's health is drunk, curses him between his +teeth. I once got up to strike him; but the youngest of the sisters, who +is the handsomest, caught my arm and pointed to her forehead." + +"And what does your duty consist of? Have you nothing else to do than +pay visits and receive them?" + +"We do what is required of us: we guard this edifice, perform our +evolutions, and help the excise. I am frequently called up in the dead +of night to go to some wild place or other in quest of an illicit still; +this last part of our duty is poor mean work; I don't like it, nor more +does Bagg; though without it, we should not see much active service, for +the neighbourhood is quiet; save the poor creatures with their stills, +not a soul is stirring. 'Tis true there's Jerry Grant." + +"And who is Jerry Grant?" + +"Did you never hear of him? that's strange; the whole country is talking +about him; he is a kind of outlaw, rebel, or robber, all three I dare +say; there's a hundred pounds offered for his head." + +"And where does he live?" + +"His proper home, they say, is in the Queen's County, where he has a +band, but he is a strange fellow, fond of wandering about by himself +amidst the bogs and mountains, and living in the old castles; +occasionally he quarters himself in the peasants' houses, who let him do +just what he pleases; he is free of his money, and often does them good +turns, and can be good-humoured enough, so they don't dislike him. Then +he is what they call a fairy man, a person in league with fairies and +spirits, and able to work much harm by supernatural means, on which +account they hold him in great awe; he is, moreover, a mighty strong and +tall fellow. Bagg has seen him." + +"Has he?" + +"Yes! and felt him; he too is a strange one. A few days ago he was told +that Grant had been seen hovering about an old castle some two miles off +in the bog; so one afternoon what does he do but, without saying a word +to me--for which, by the bye, I ought to put him under arrest, though +what I should do without Bagg I have no idea whatever--what does he do +but walk off to the castle, intending, as I suppose, to pay a visit to +Jerry. He had some difficulty in getting there on account of the turf- +holes in the bog, which he was not accustomed to; however, thither at +last he got and went in. It was a strange lonesome place, he says, and +he did not much like the look of it; however, in he went, and searched +about from the bottom to the top and down again, but could find no one; +he shouted and hallooed, but nobody answered, save the rooks and choughs, +which started up in great numbers. 'I have lost my trouble,' said Bagg, +and left the castle. It was now late in the afternoon, near sunset, when +about half way over the bog he met a man--" + +"And that man was--" + +"Jerry Grant! there's no doubt of it. Bagg says it was the most sudden +thing in the world. He was moving along, making the best of his way, +thinking of nothing at all save a public-house at Swanton Morley, which +he intends to take when he gets home, and the regiment is +disbanded--though I hope that will not be for some time yet: he had just +leaped a turf-hole, and was moving on, when, at the distance of about six +yards before him, he saw a fellow coming straight towards him. Bagg says +that he stopped short, as suddenly as if he had heard the word halt, when +marching at double quick time. It was quite a surprise, he says, and he +can't imagine how the fellow was so close upon him before he was aware. +He was an immense tall fellow--Bagg thinks at least two inches taller +than himself--very well dressed in a blue coat and buff breeches, for all +the world like a squire when going out hunting. Bagg, however, saw at +once that he had a roguish air, and he was on his guard in a moment. +'Good evening to ye, sodger,' says the fellow, stepping close up to Bagg, +and staring him in the face. 'Good evening to you, sir! I hope you are +well,' says Bagg. 'You are looking after some one?' says the fellow. +'Just so, sir,' says Bagg, and forthwith seized him by the collar; the +man laughed, Bagg says it was such a strange awkward laugh. 'Do you know +whom you have got hold of, sodger?' said he. 'I believe I do, sir,' said +Bagg, 'and in that belief will hold you fast in the name of King George, +and the quarter sessions;' the next moment he was sprawling with his +heels in the air. Bagg says there was nothing remarkable in that; he was +only flung by a kind of wrestling trick, which he could easily have +baffled, had he been aware of it. 'You will not do that again, sir,' +said he, as he got up and put himself on his guard. The fellow laughed +again more strangely and awkwardly than before; then, bending his body +and moving his head from one side to the other as a cat does before she +springs, and crying out, 'Here's for ye, sodger!' he made a dart at Bagg, +rushing in with his head foremost. 'That will do, sir,' says Bagg, and, +drawing himself back, he put in a left-handed blow with all the force of +his body and arm, just over the fellow's right eye. Bagg is a +left-handed hitter, you must know, and it was a blow of that kind which +won him his famous battle at Edinburgh with the big Highland sergeant. +Bagg says that he was quite satisfied with the blow, more especially when +he saw the fellow reel, fling out his arms, and fall to the ground. 'And +now, sir,' said he, 'I'll make bold to hand you over to the quarter +sessions, and, if there is a hundred pounds for taking you, who has more +right to it than myself?' So he went forward, but ere he could lay hold +of his man the other was again on his legs, and was prepared to renew the +combat. They grappled each other--Bagg says he had not much fear of the +result, as he now felt himself the best man, the other seeming half +stunned with the blow--but just then there came on a blast, a horrible +roaring wind bearing night upon its wings, snow, and sleet, and hail. +Bagg says he had the fellow by the throat quite fast, as he thought, but +suddenly he became bewildered, and knew not where he was; and the man +seemed to melt away from his grasp, and the wind howled more and more, +and the night poured down darker and darker; the snow and the sleet +thicker and more blinding. 'Lord have mercy upon us!' said Bagg." + +_Myself_. A strange adventure that; it is well that Bagg got home alive. + +_John_. He says that the fight was a fair fight, and that the fling he +got was a fair fling, the result of a common enough wrestling trick. But +with respect to the storm, which rose up just in time to save the fellow, +he is of opinion that it was not fair, but something Irish and +supernatural. + +_Myself_. I dare say he's right. I have read of witchcraft in the +Bible. + +_John_. He wishes much to have one more encounter with the fellow; he +says that on fair ground, and in fine weather, he has no doubt that he +could master him, and hand him over to the quarter sessions. He says +that a hundred pounds would be no bad thing to be disbanded upon; for he +wishes to take an inn at Swanton Morley, keep a cock-pit, and live +respectably. + +_Myself_. He is quite right; and now kiss me, my darling brother, for I +must go back through the bog to Templemore. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Groom and Cob--Strength and Symmetry--Where's the Saddle?--The First +Ride--No more Fatigue--Love for Horses--Pursuit of Words--Philologist and +Pegasus--The Smith--What more, Agrah!--Sassanach Ten Pence. + +And it came to pass that, as I was standing by the door of the barrack +stable, one of the grooms came out to me, saying, "I say, young +gentleman, I wish you would give the cob a breathing this fine morning." + +"Why do you wish me to mount him?" said I; "you know he is dangerous. I +saw him fling you off his back only a few days ago." + +"Why, that's the very thing, master. I'd rather see anybody on his back +than myself; he does not like me; but, to them he does, he can be as +gentle as a lamb." + +"But suppose," said I, "that he should not like me?" + +"We shall soon see that, master," said the groom; "and, if so be he shows +temper, I will be the first to tell you to get down. But there's no fear +of that; you have never angered or insulted him, and to such as you, I +say again, he'll be as gentle as a lamb." + +"And how came you to insult him," said I, "knowing his temper as you do?" + +"Merely through forgetfulness, master: I was riding him about a month +ago, and having a stick in my hand, I struck him, thinking I was on +another horse, or rather thinking of nothing at all. He has never +forgiven me, though before that time he was the only friend I had in the +world; I should like to see you on him, master." + +"I should soon be off him; I can't ride." + +"Then you are all right, master; there's no fear. Trust him for not +hurting a young gentleman, an officer's son, who can't ride. If you were +a blackguard dragoon, indeed, with long spurs, 'twere another thing; as +it is, he'll treat you as if he were the elder brother that loves you. +Ride! he'll soon teach you to ride if you leave the matter with him. He's +the best riding master in all Ireland, and the gentlest." + +The cob was led forth; what a tremendous creature! I had frequently seen +him before, and wondered at him; he was barely fifteen hands, but he had +the girth of a metropolitan dray-horse; his head was small in comparison +with his immense neck, which curved down nobly to his wide back: his +chest was broad and fine, and his shoulders models of symmetry and +strength; he stood well and powerfully upon his legs, which were somewhat +short. In a word, he was a gallant specimen of the genuine Irish cob, a +species at one time not uncommon, but at the present day nearly extinct. + +"There!" said the groom, as he looked at him, half admiringly, half +sorrowfully, "with sixteen stone on his back, he'll trot fourteen miles +in one hour; with your nine stone, some two and a half more; ay, and +clear a six-foot wall at the end of it." + +"I'm half afraid," said I; "I had rather you would ride him." + +"I'd rather so, too, if he would let me; but he remembers the blow. Now, +don't be afraid, young master, he's longing to go out himself. He's been +trampling with his feet these three days, and I know what that means; +he'll let anybody ride him but myself, and thank them; but to me he says, +'No! you struck me.'" + +"But," said I, "where's the saddle?" + +"Never mind the saddle; if you are ever to be a frank rider, you must +begin without a saddle; besides, if he felt a saddle, he would think you +don't trust him, and leave you to yourself. Now, before you mount, make +his acquaintance--see there, how he kisses you and licks your face, and +see how he lifts his foot, that's to shake hands. You may trust him--now +you are on his back at last; mind how you hold the bridle--gently, +gently! It's not four pair of hands like yours can hold him if he wishes +to be off. Mind what I tell you--leave it all to him." + +Off went the cob at a slow and gentle trot, too fast and rough, however, +for so inexperienced a rider. I soon felt myself sliding off, the animal +perceived it too, and instantly stood stone still till I had righted +myself; and now the groom came up: "When you feel yourself going," said +he, "don't lay hold of the mane, that's no use; mane never yet saved man +from falling, no more than straw from drowning; it's his sides you must +cling to with your calves and feet, till you learn to balance yourself. +That's it, now abroad with you; I'll bet my comrade a pot of beer that +you'll be a regular rough rider by the time you come back." + +And so it proved; I followed the directions of the groom, and the cob +gave me every assistance. How easy is riding, after the first timidity +is got over, to supple and youthful limbs; and there is no second fear. +The creature soon found that the nerves of his rider were in proper tone. +Turning his head half round, he made a kind of whining noise, flung out a +little foam, and set off. + +In less than two hours I had made the circuit of the Devil's Mountain, +and was returning along the road, bathed with perspiration, but screaming +with delight; the cob laughing in his equine way, scattering foam and +pebbles to the left and right, and trotting at the rate of sixteen miles +an hour. + +Oh, that ride! that first ride!--most truly it was an epoch in my +existence; and I still look back to it with feelings of longing and +regret. People may talk of first love--it is a very agreeable event, I +dare say--but give me the flush, and triumph, and glorious sweat of a +first ride, like mine on the mighty cob! My whole frame was shaken, it +is true; and during one long week I could hardly move foot or hand; but +what of that? By that one trial I had become free, as I may say, of the +whole equine species. No more fatigue, no more stiffness of joints, +after that first ride round the Devil's Hill on the cob. + +Oh, that cob! that Irish cob!--may the sod lie lightly over the bones of +the strongest, speediest, and most gallant of its kind! Oh! the days +when, issuing from the barrack-gate of Templemore, we commenced our hurry- +skurry just as inclination led--now across the fields--direct over stone +walls and running brooks--mere pastime for the cob!--sometimes along the +road to Thurles and Holy Cross, even to distant Cahir!--what was distance +to the cob? + +It was thus that the passion for the equine race was first awakened +within me--a passion which, up to the present time, has been rather on +the increase than diminishing. It is no blind passion; the horse being a +noble and generous creature, intended by the All-Wise to be the helper +and friend of man, to whom he stands next in the order of creation. On +many occasions of my life I have been much indebted to the horse, and +have found in him a friend and coadjutor, when human help and sympathy +were not to be obtained. It is therefore natural enough that I should +love the horse; but the love which I entertain for him has always been +blended with respect; for I soon perceived that, though disposed to be +the friend and helper of man, he is by no means inclined to be his slave; +in which respect he differs from the dog, who will crouch when beaten; +whereas the horse spurns, for he is aware of his own worth, and that he +carries death within the horn of his heel. If, therefore, I found it +easy to love the horse, I found it equally natural to respect him. + +I much question whether philology, or the passion for languages, requires +so little of an apology as the love for horses. It has been said, I +believe, that the more languages a man speaks, the more a man is he; +which is very true, provided he acquires languages as a medium for +becoming acquainted with the thoughts and feelings of the various +sections into which the human race is divided; but, in that case, he +should rather be termed a philosopher than a philologist--between which +two the difference is wide indeed! An individual may speak and read a +dozen languages, and yet be an exceedingly poor creature, scarcely half a +man; and the pursuit of tongues for their own sake, and the mere +satisfaction of acquiring them, surely argues an intellect of a very low +order; a mind disposed to be satisfied with mean and grovelling things; +taking more pleasure in the trumpery casket than in the precious treasure +which it contains; in the pursuit of words, than in the acquisition of +ideas. + +I cannot help thinking that it was fortunate for myself, who am, to a +certain extent, a philologist, that with me the pursuit of languages has +been always modified by the love of horses; for scarcely had I turned my +mind to the former, when I also mounted the wild cob, and hurried forth +in the direction of the Devil's Hill, scattering dust and flint-stones on +every side; that ride, amongst other things, taught me that a lad with +thews and sinews was intended by nature for something better than mere +word-culling; and if I have accomplished anything in after life worthy of +mentioning, I believe it may partly be attributed to the ideas which that +ride, by setting my blood in a glow, infused into my brain. I might, +otherwise, have become a mere philologist; one of those beings who toil +night and day in culling useless words for some _opus magnum_ which +Murray will never publish, and nobody ever read; beings without +enthusiasm, who, having never mounted a generous steed, cannot detect a +good point in Pegasus himself; like a certain philologist, who, though +acquainted with the exact value of every word in the Greek and Latin +languages, could observe no particular beauty in one of the most glorious +of Homer's rhapsodies. What knew he of Pegasus? he had never mounted a +generous steed; the merest jockey, had the strain been interpreted to +him, would have called it a brave song!--I return to the brave cob. + +On a certain day I had been out on an excursion. In a cross-road, at +some distance from the Satanic hill, the animal which I rode cast a shoe. +By good luck a small village was at hand, at the entrance of which was a +large shed, from which proceeded a most furious noise of hammering. +Leading the cob by the bridle, I entered boldly. "Shoe this horse, and +do it quickly, a gough," said I to a wild grimy figure of a man, whom I +found alone, fashioning a piece of iron. + +"Arrigod yuit?" said the fellow, desisting from his work, and staring at +me. + +"Oh yes, I have money," said I, "and of the best;" and I pulled out an +English shilling. + +"Tabhair chugam?" said the smith, stretching out his grimy hand. + +"No, I shan't," said I; "some people are glad to get their money when +their work is done." + +The fellow hammered a little longer, and then proceeded to shoe the cob, +after having first surveyed it with attention. He performed his job +rather roughly, and more than once appeared to give the animal +unnecessary pain, frequently making use of loud and boisterous words. By +the time the work was done, the creature was in a state of high +excitement, and plunged and tore. The smith stood at a short distance, +seeming to enjoy the irritation of the animal, and showing, in a +remarkable manner, a huge fang, which projected from the under jaw of a +very wry mouth. + +"You deserve better handling," said I, as I went up to the cob and +fondled it; whereupon it whinnied, and attempted to touch my face with +its nose. + +"Are ye not afraid of that beast?" said the smith, showing his fang. +"Arrah, it's vicious that he looks!" + +"It's at you, then!--I don't fear him;" and thereupon I passed under the +horse, between its hind legs. + +"And is that all you can do, agrah?" said the smith. + +"No," said I, "I can ride him." + +"Ye can ride him, and what else, agrah?" + +"I can leap him over a six-foot wall," said I. + +"Over a wall, and what more, agrah?" + +"Nothing more," said I; "what more would you have?" + +"Can you do this, agrah?" said the smith; and he uttered a word which I +had never heard before, in a sharp pungent tone. The effect upon myself +was somewhat extraordinary, a strange thrill ran through me; but with +regard to the cob it was terrible; the animal forthwith became like one +mad, and reared and kicked with the utmost desperation. + +"Can you do that, agrah?" said the smith. + +"What is it?" said I, retreating; "I never saw the horse so before." + +"Go between his legs, agrah," said the smith, "his hinder legs;" and he +again showed his fang. + +"I dare not," said I; "he would kill me." + +"He would kill ye! and how do ye know that, agrah?" + +"I feel he would," said I; "something tells me so." + +"And it tells ye truth, agrah; but it's a fine beast, and it's a pity to +see him in such a state: Is agam an't leigeas"--and here he uttered +another word in a voice singularly modified, but sweet and almost +plaintive; the effect of it was as instantaneous as that of the other, +but how different!--the animal lost all its fury, and became at once calm +and gentle. The smith went up to it, coaxed and patted it, making use of +various sounds of equal endearment; then turning to me, and holding out +once more the grimy hand, he said, "And now ye will be giving me the +Sassanach ten pence, agrah?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +A Fine Old City--Norman Master-Work--Lollards' Hole--Good Blood--The +Spaniard's Sword--Old Retired Officer--Writing to a Duke--God help the +Child--Nothing like Jacob--Irish Brigades--Old Sergeant Meredith--I Have +Been Young--Idleness--Only Course Open--The Bookstall--A Portrait--A +Banished Priest. + +From the wild scenes which I have attempted to describe in the latter +pages I must now transport the reader to others of a widely different +character. He must suppose himself no longer in Ireland, but in the +eastern corner of merry England. Bogs, ruins, and mountains have +disappeared amidst the vapours of the west: I have nothing more to say of +them; the region in which we are now is not famous for objects of that +kind: perhaps it flatters itself that it can produce fairer and better +things, of some of which let me speak; there is a fine old city before +us, and first of that let me speak. {131} + +A fine old city, truly, is that, view it from whatever side you will; but +it shows best from the east, where the ground, bold and elevated, +overlooks the fair and fertile valley in which it stands. Gazing from +those heights, the eye beholds a scene which cannot fail to awaken, even +in the least sensitive bosom, feelings of pleasure and admiration. At +the foot of the heights flows a narrow and deep river, with an antique +bridge communicating with a long and narrow suburb, flanked on either +side by rich meadows of the brightest green, beyond which spreads the +city; the fine old city, perhaps the most curious specimen at present +extant of the genuine old English town. Yes, there it spreads from north +to south, with its venerable houses, its numerous gardens, its thrice +twelve churches, its mighty mound, which, if tradition speaks true, was +raised by human hands to serve as the grave heap of an old heathen king, +who sits deep within it, with his sword in his hand, and his gold and +silver treasures about him. There is a grey old castle {132a} upon the +top of that mighty mound; and yonder, rising three hundred feet above the +soil, from among those noble forest trees, behold that old Norman master- +work, {132b} that cloud-encircled cathedral spire, around which a +garrulous army of rooks and choughs continually wheel their flight. Now, +who can wonder that the children of that fine old city are proud of her, +and offer up prayers for her prosperity? I, myself, who was not born +within her walls, offer up prayers for her prosperity, that want may +never visit her cottages, vice her palaces, and that the abomination of +idolatry may never pollute her temples. Ha, idolatry! the reign of +idolatry has been over there for many a long year, never more, let us +hope, to return; brave hearts in that old town have borne witness against +it, and sealed their testimony with their hearts' blood--most precious to +the Lord is the blood of His saints! we are not far from hallowed ground. +Observe ye not yon chalky precipice, to the right of the Norman bridge? +{133} On this side of the stream, upon its brow, is a piece of ruined +wall, the last relic of what was of old a stately pile, whilst at its +foot is a place called the Lollards' Hole; and with good reason, for many +a saint of God has breathed his last beneath that white precipice, +bearing witness against popish idolatry, midst flame and pitch; many a +grisly procession has advanced along that suburb, across the old bridge, +towards the Lollards' Hole: furious priests in front, a calm pale martyr +in the midst, a pitying multitude behind. It has had its martyrs, the +venerable old town! + +Ah! there is good blood in that old city, and in the whole circumjacent +region of which it is the capital. The Angles possessed the land at an +early period, which, however, they were eventually compelled to share +with hordes of Danes and Northmen, who flocked thither across the sea to +found hearthsteads on its fertile soil. The present race, a mixture of +Angles and Danes, still preserve much which speaks strongly of their +northern ancestry; amongst them ye will find the light brown hair of the +north, the strong and burly forms of the north, many a wild superstition, +ay, and many a wild name connected with the ancient history of the north +and its sublime mythology; the warm heart, and the strong heart of the +old Danes and Saxons still beats in those regions, and there ye will +find, if anywhere, old northern hospitality and kindness of manner, +united with energy, perseverance, and dauntless intrepidity; better +soldiers or mariners never bled in their country's battles than those +nurtured in those regions, and within those old walls. It was yonder, to +the west, that the great naval hero of Britain first saw the light; {134} +he who annihilated the sea pride of Spain, and dragged the humbled banner +of France in triumph at his stern. He was born yonder, towards the west, +and of him there is a glorious relic in that old town; in its dark flint +guildhouse, the roof of which you can just descry rising above that maze +of buildings, in the upper hall of justice, is a species of glass shrine, +in which the relic is to be seen: a sword of curious workmanship, the +blade is of keen Toledan steel, the heft of ivory and mother-of-pearl. +'Tis the sword of Cordova, won in bloodiest fray off Saint Vincent's +promontory, and presented by Nelson to the old capital of the much-loved +land of his birth. Yes, the proud Spaniard's sword is to be seen in +yonder guildhouse, in the glass case affixed to the wall: many other +relics has the good old town, but none prouder than the Spaniard's sword. + +Such was the place to which, when the war was over, my father retired: it +was here that the old tired soldier set himself down with his little +family. He had passed the greater part of his life in meritorious +exertion, in the service of his country, and his chief wish now was to +spend the remainder of his days in quiet and respectability; his means, +it is true, were not very ample; fortunate it was that his desires +corresponded with them: with a small fortune of his own, and with his +half-pay as a royal soldier, he had no fears for himself or for his +faithful partner and helpmate; but then his children! how was he to +provide for them? how launch them upon the wide ocean of the world? This +was, perhaps, the only thought which gave him uneasiness, and I believe +that many an old retired officer at that time, and under similar +circumstances, experienced similar anxiety; had the war continued, their +children would have been, of course, provided for in the army, but peace +now reigned, and the military career was closed to all save the scions of +the aristocracy, or those who were in some degree connected with that +privileged order, an advantage which few of these old officers could +boast of; they had slight influence with the great, who gave themselves +very little trouble either about them or their families. + +"I have been writing to the Duke," said my father one day to my excellent +mother, after we had been at home somewhat better than a year. "I have +been writing to the Duke of York about a commission for that eldest boy +of ours. He, however, affords me no hopes; he says that his list is +crammed with names, and that the greater number of the candidates have +better claims than my son." + +"I do not see how that can be," said my mother. + +"Nor do I," replied my father. "I see the sons of bankers and merchants +gazetted every month, and I do not see what claims they have to urge, +unless they be golden ones. However, I have not served my king fifty +years to turn grumbler at this time of life. I suppose that the people +at the head of affairs know what is most proper and convenient; perhaps +when the lad sees how difficult, nay, how impossible it is that he should +enter the army, he will turn his mind to some other profession; I wish he +may!" + +"I think he has already," said my mother; "you see how fond he is of the +arts, of drawing and painting, and, as far as I can judge, what he has +already done is very respectable; his mind seems quite turned that way, +and I heard him say the other day that he would sooner be a Michael +Angelo than a general officer. But you are always talking of him; what +do you think of doing with the other child?" + +"What, indeed!" said my father; "that is a consideration which gives me +no little uneasiness. I am afraid it will be much more difficult to +settle him in life than his brother. What is he fitted for, even were it +in my power to provide for him? God help the child! I bear him no ill +will, on the contrary, all love and affection; but I cannot shut my eyes; +there is something so strange about him! How he behaved in Ireland! I +sent him to school to learn Greek, and he picked up Irish!" + +"And Greek as well," said my mother. "I heard him say the other day that +he could read St. John in the original tongue." + +"You will find excuses for him, I know," said my father. "You tell me I +am always talking of my first-born; I might retort by saying you are +always thinking of the other; but it is the way of women always to side +with the second-born. There's what's her name in the Bible, by whose +wiles the old blind man was induced to give to his second son the +blessing which was the birthright of the other. I wish I had been in his +place! I should not have been so easily deceived! no disguise would ever +have caused me to mistake an impostor for my first-born. Though I must +say for this boy that he is nothing like Jacob; he is neither smooth nor +sleek, and, though my second-born, is already taller and larger than his +brother." + +"Just so," said my mother; "his brother would make a far better Jacob +than he." + +"I will hear nothing against my first-born," said my father, "even in the +way of insinuation: he is my joy and pride; the very image of myself in +my youthful days, long before I fought Big Ben; though perhaps not quite +so tall or strong built. As for the other, God bless the child! I love +him, I'm sure; but I must be blind not to see the difference between him +and his brother. Why, he has neither my hair nor my eyes; and then his +countenance! why, 'tis absolutely swarthy, God forgive me! I had almost +said like that of a gypsy, but I have nothing to say against that; the +boy is not to be blamed for the colour of his face, nor for his hair and +eyes; but, then, his ways and manners!--I confess I do not like them, and +that they give me no little uneasiness--I know that he kept very strange +company when he was in Ireland; people of evil report, of whom terrible +things were said--horse-witches and the like. I questioned him once or +twice upon the matter, and even threatened him, but it was of no use; he +put on a look as if he did not understand me, a regular Irish look, just +such a one as those rascals assume when they wish to appear all innocence +and simplicity, and they full of malice and deceit all the time. I don't +like them; they are no friends to old England, or its old king, God bless +him! They are not good subjects, and never were; always in league with +foreign enemies. When I was in the Coldstream, long before the +Revolution, I used to hear enough about the Irish brigades kept by the +French kings, to be a thorn in the side of the English whenever +opportunity served. Old Sergeant Meredith once told me, that in the time +of the Pretender there were always, in London alone, a dozen of fellows +connected with these brigades, with the view of seducing the king's +soldiers from their allegiance, and persuading them to desert to France +to join the honest Irish, as they were called. One of these traitors +once accosted him and proposed the matter to him, offering handfuls of +gold if he could induce any of his comrades to go over. Meredith +appeared to consent; but secretly gave information to his colonel; the +fellow was seized, and certain traitorous papers found upon him; he was +hanged before Newgate, and died exulting in his treason. His name was +Michael Nowlan. That ever son of mine should have been intimate with the +Papist Irish, and have learnt their language!" + +"But he thinks of other things now," said my mother. + +"Other languages, you mean," said my father. "It is strange that he has +conceived such a zest for the study of languages; no sooner did he come +home than he persuaded me to send him to that old priest to learn French +and Italian, and, if I remember right, you abetted him; but, as I said +before, it is in the nature of women invariably to take the part of the +second-born. Well, there is no harm in learning French and Italian, +perhaps much good in his case, as they may drive the other tongue out of +his head. Irish! why he might go to the university but for that; but how +would he look when, on being examined with respect to his attainments, it +was discovered that he understood Irish? How did you learn it? they +would ask him; how did you become acquainted with the language of Papists +and rebels? The boy would be sent away in disgrace." + +"Be under no apprehension; I have no doubt that he has long since +forgotten it." + +"I am glad to hear it," said my father; "for, between ourselves, I love +the poor child; ay, quite as well as my first-born. I trust they will do +well, and that God will be their shield and guide; I have no doubt He +will, for I have read something in the Bible to that effect. What is +that text about the young ravens being fed?" + +"I know a better than that," said my mother; "one of David's own words, +'I have been young and now am grown old, yet never have I seen the +righteous man forsaken, or his seed begging their bread.'" + +I have heard talk of the pleasures of idleness, yet it is my own firm +belief that no one ever yet took pleasure in it. Mere idleness is the +most disagreeable state of existence, and both mind and body are +continually making efforts to escape from it. It has been said that +idleness is the parent of mischief, which is very true; but mischief +itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness. +There are many tasks and occupations which a man is unwilling to perform, +but let no one think that he is therefore in love with idleness; he turns +to something which is more agreeable to his inclination, and doubtless +more suited to his nature; but he is not in love with idleness. A boy +may play the truant from school because he dislikes books and study; but, +depend upon it, he intends doing something the while--to go fishing, or +perhaps to take a walk; and who knows but that from such excursions both +his mind and body may derive more benefit than from books and school? +Many people go to sleep to escape from idleness; the Spaniards do; and, +according to the French account, John Bull, the squire, hangs himself in +the month of November; but the French, who are a very sensible people, +attribute the action, "_a une grande envie de se desennuyer_;" he wishes +to be doing something, say they, and having nothing better to do, he has +recourse to the cord. + +It was for want of something better to do that, shortly after my return +home, {140} I applied myself to the study of languages. By the +acquisition of Irish, with the first elements of which I had become +acquainted under the tuition of Murtagh, I had contracted a certain zest +and inclination for the pursuit. Yet it is probable, that had I been +launched about this time into some agreeable career, that of arms, for +example, for which, being the son of a soldier, I had, as was natural, a +sort of penchant, I might have thought nothing more of the acquisition of +tongues of any kind; but, having nothing to do, I followed the only +course suited to my genius which appeared open to me. + +So it came to pass that one day, whilst wandering listlessly about the +streets of the old town, I came to a small bookstall, and stopping, +commenced turning over the books; I took up at least a dozen, and almost +instantly flung them down. What were they to me? At last, coming to a +thick volume, I opened it, and after inspecting its contents for a few +minutes, I paid for it what was demanded, and forthwith carried it home. + +It was a tessara-glot grammar; a strange old book, printed somewhere in +Holland, which pretended to be an easy guide to the acquirement of the +French, Italian, Low Dutch, and English tongues, by means of which any +one conversant in any one of these languages could make himself master of +the other three. I turned my attention to the French and Italian. The +old book was not of much value; I derived some benefit from it, however, +and, conning it intensely, at the end of a few weeks obtained some +insight into the structure of these two languages. At length I had +learnt all that the book was capable of informing me, yet was still far +from the goal to which it had promised to conduct me. "I wish I had a +master!" I exclaimed; and the master was at hand. In an old court of the +old town lived a certain elderly personage, perhaps sixty, or +thereabouts; he was rather tall, and something of a robust make, with a +countenance in which bluffness was singularly blended with vivacity and +grimace; and with a complexion which would have been ruddy, but for a +yellow hue which rather predominated. His dress consisted of a snuff- +coloured coat and drab pantaloons, the former evidently seldom subjected +to the annoyance of a brush, and the latter exhibiting here and there +spots of something which, if not grease, bore a strong resemblance to it; +add to these articles an immense frill, seldom of the purest white, but +invariably of the finest French cambric, and you have some idea of his +dress. He had rather a remarkable stoop, but his step was rapid and +vigorous, and as he hurried along the streets, he would glance to the +right and left with a pair of big eyes like plums, and on recognising any +one would exalt a pair of grizzled eyebrows, and slightly kiss a tawny +and ungloved hand. At certain hours of the day he might be seen entering +the doors of female boarding-schools, generally with a book in his hand, +and perhaps another just peering from the orifice of a capacious back +pocket; and at a certain season of the year he might be seen, dressed in +white, before the altar of a certain small popish chapel, chanting from +the breviary in very intelligible Latin, or perhaps reading from the desk +in utterly unintelligible English. Such was my preceptor in the French +and Italian tongues. "Exul sacerdos; vone banished priest. I came into +England twenty-five year ago, 'my dear.'" {142} + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Monsieur Dante--Condemned Musket--Sporting--Sweet Rivulet--The Earl's +Home--The Pool--The Sonorous Voice--What dost Thou Read?--Man of +Peace--Zohar and Mishna--Money-changers. + +So I studied French and Italian under the tuition of the banished priest, +to whose house I went regularly every evening to receive instruction. I +made considerable progress in the acquisition of the two languages. I +found the French by far the most difficult, chiefly on account of the +accent, which my master himself possessed in no great purity, being a +Norman by birth. The Italian was my favourite. + +"_Vous serez_ _un jour un grand philologue_, _mon cher_," said the old +man, on our arriving at the conclusion of Dante's Hell. + +"I hope I shall be something better," said I, "before I die, or I shall +have lived to little purpose." + +"That's true, my dear! philologist--one small poor dog. What would you +wish to be?" + +"Many things sooner than that; for example, I would rather be like him +who wrote this book." + +"_Quoi_, _Monsieur Dante_? He was a vagabond, my dear, forced to fly +from his country. No, my dear, if you would be like one poet, be like +Monsieur Boileau; he is the poet." + +"I don't think so." + +"How, not think so? He wrote very respectable verses; lived and died +much respected by everybody. T'other, one bad dog, forced to fly from +his country--died with not enough to pay his undertaker." + +"Were you not forced to flee from your country?" + +"That very true; but there is much difference between me and this Dante. +He fled from country because he had one bad tongue which he shook at his +betters. I fly because benefice gone, and head going; not on account of +the badness of my tongue." + +"Well," said I, "you can return now; the Bourbons are restored." + +"I find myself very well here; not bad country. _Il est vrai que la +France sera toujours la France_; but all are dead there who knew me. I +find myself very well here. Preach in popish chapel, teach schismatic, +that is Protestant, child tongues and literature. I find myself very +well; and why? Because I know how to govern my tongue; never call people +hard names. _Ma foi_, _il y a beaucoup de difference entre moi et ce +sacre de Dante_." + +Under this old man, who was well versed in the southern languages, +besides studying French and Italian, I acquired some knowledge of +Spanish. But I did not devote my time entirely to philology; I had other +pursuits. I had not forgotten the roving life I had led in former days, +nor its delights; neither was I formed by nature to be a pallid indoor +student. No, no! I was fond of other and, I say it boldly, better +things than study. I had an attachment to the angle, ay, and to the gun +likewise. In our house was a condemned musket, bearing somewhere on its +lock, in rather antique characters, "Tower, 1746"; with this weapon I had +already, in Ireland, performed some execution among the rooks and +choughs, and it was now again destined to be a source of solace and +amusement to me, in the winter season, especially on occasions of severe +frost when birds abounded. Sallying forth with it at these times, far +into the country, I seldom returned at night without a string of +bullfinches, blackbirds, and linnets hanging in triumph round my neck. +When I reflect on the immense quantity of powder and shot which I crammed +down the muzzle of my uncouth fowling-piece, I am less surprised at the +number of birds which I slaughtered, than that I never blew my hands, +face, and old honey-combed gun, at one and the same time, to pieces. + +But the winter, alas! (I speak as a fowler) seldom lasts in England more +than three or four months; so, during the rest of the year, when not +occupied with my philological studies, I had to seek for other +diversions. I have already given a hint that I was also addicted to the +angle. Of course there is no comparison between the two pursuits, the +rod and line seeming but very poor trumpery to one who has had the honour +of carrying a noble firelock. There is a time, however, for all things; +and we return to any favourite amusement with the greater zest, from +being compelled to relinquish it for a season. So, if I shot birds in +winter with my firelock, I caught fish in summer, or attempted so to do, +with my angle. I was not quite so successful, it is true, with the +latter as with the former; possibly because it afforded me less pleasure. +It was, indeed, too much of a listless pastime to inspire me with any +great interest. I not unfrequently fell into a doze, whilst sitting on +the bank, and more than once let my rod drop from my hands into the +water. + +At some distance from the city, behind a range of hilly ground which +rises towards the south-west, is a small river, the waters of which, +after many meanderings, eventually enter the principal river of the +district, {146} and assist to swell the tide which it rolls down to the +ocean. It is a sweet rivulet, and pleasant is it to trace its course +from its spring-head, high up in the remote regions of Eastern Anglia, +till it arrives in the valley behind yon rising ground; and pleasant is +that valley, truly a goodly spot, but most lovely where yonder bridge +crosses the little stream. Beneath its arch the waters rush garrulously +into a blue pool, and are there stilled, for a time, for the pool is +deep, and they appear to have sunk to sleep. Farther on, however, you +hear their voice again, where they ripple gaily over yon gravelly +shallow. On the left, the hill slopes gently down to the margin of the +stream. On the right is a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the +richest decks the side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant +elms, the nearest of which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a +broad shadow upon the face of the pool; through yon vista you catch a +glimpse of the ancient brick of an old English hall. It has a stately +look, that old building, indistinctly seen, as it is, among those +umbrageous trees; you might almost suppose it an earl's home; and such it +was, or rather upon its site stood an earl's home, in days of old, for +there some old Kemp, some Sigurd, or Thorkild, roaming in quest of a +hearth-stead, settled down in the grey old time, when Thor and Freya were +yet gods, and Odin was a portentous name. Yon old hall is still called +the Earl's Home, {147} though the hearth of Sigurd is now no more, and +the bones of the old Kemp, and of Sigrith his dame, have been mouldering +for a thousand years in some neighbouring knoll; perhaps yonder, where +those tall Norwegian pines shoot up so boldly into the air. It is said +that the old earl's galley was once moored where is now that blue pool, +for the waters of that valley were not always sweet; yon valley was once +an arm of the sea, a salt lagoon, to which the war-barks of "Sigurd, in +search of a home," found their way. + +I was in the habit of spending many an hour on the banks of that rivulet, +with my rod in my hand, and, when tired with angling, would stretch +myself on the grass, and gaze upon the waters as they glided past, and +not unfrequently, divesting myself of my dress, I would plunge into the +deep pool which I have already mentioned, for I had long since learned to +swim. And it came to pass, that on one hot summer's day, after bathing +in the pool, I passed along the meadow till I came to a shallow part, +and, wading over to the opposite side, I adjusted my dress, and commenced +fishing in another pool, beside which was a small clump of hazels. + +And there I sat upon the bank, at the bottom of the hill which slopes +down from "the Earl's home"; my float was on the waters, and my back was +towards the old hall. I drew up many fish, small and great, which I took +from off the hook mechanically, and flung upon the bank, for I was almost +unconscious of what I was about, for my mind was not with my fish. I was +thinking of my earlier years--of the Scottish crags and the heaths of +Ireland--and sometimes my mind would dwell on my studies--on the sonorous +stanzas of Dante, rising and falling like the waves of the sea--or would +strive to remember a couplet or two of poor Monsieur Boileau. + +"Canst thou answer to thy conscience for pulling all those fish out of +the water, and leaving them to gasp in the sun?" said a voice, clear and +sonorous as a bell. + +I started, and looked round. Close behind me stood the tall figure of a +man, dressed in raiment of quaint and singular fashion, but of goodly +materials. He was in the prime and vigour of manhood; his features +handsome and noble, but full of calmness and benevolence; at least I +thought so, though they were somewhat shaded by a hat of finest beaver, +with broad drooping eaves. {148} + +"Surely that is a very cruel diversion in which thou indulgest, my young +friend?" he continued. + +"I am sorry for it, if it be, sir," said I, rising; "but I do not think +it cruel to fish." + +"What are thy reasons for not thinking so?" + +"Fishing is mentioned frequently in Scripture. Simon Peter was a +fisherman." + +"True; and Andrew and his brother. But thou forgettest: they did not +follow fishing as a diversion, as I fear thou doest.--Thou readest the +Scriptures?" + +"Sometimes." + +"Sometimes?--not daily?--that is to be regretted. What profession dost +thou make?--I mean to what religious denomination dost thou belong, my +young friend?" + +"Church." + +"It is a very good profession--there is much of Scripture contained in +its liturgy. Dost thou read aught besides the Scriptures?" + +"Sometimes." + +"What dost thou read besides?" + +"Greek, and Dante." + +"Indeed! then thou hast the advantage over myself; I can only read the +former. Well, I am rejoiced to find that thou hast other pursuits beside +thy fishing. Dost thou know Hebrew?" + +"No." + +"Thou shouldst study it. Why dost thou not undertake the study?" + +"I have no books." + +"I will lend thee books, if thou wish to undertake the study. I live +yonder at the hall, as perhaps thou knowest. I have a library there, in +which are many curious books, both in Greek and Hebrew, which I will show +to thee, whenever thou mayest find it convenient to come and see me. +Farewell! I am glad to find that thou hast pursuits more satisfactory +than thy cruel fishing." + +And the man of peace departed, and left me on the bank of the stream. +Whether from the effect of his words, or from want of inclination to the +sport, I know not, but from that day I became less and less a +practitioner of that "cruel fishing." I rarely flung line and angle into +the water, but I not unfrequently wandered by the banks of the pleasant +rivulet. It seems singular to me, on reflection, that I never availed +myself of his kind invitation. I say singular, for the extraordinary, +under whatever form, had long had no slight interest for me; and I had +discernment enough to perceive that yon was no common man. Yet I went +not near him, certainly not from bashfulness, or timidity, feelings to +which I had long been an entire stranger. Am I to regret this? perhaps, +for I might have learned both wisdom and righteousness from those calm, +quiet lips, and my after-course might have been widely different. As it +was, I fell in with other guess companions, from whom I received widely +different impressions than those I might have derived from him. When +many years had rolled on, long after I had attained manhood, and had seen +and suffered much, and when our first interview had long since been +effaced from the mind of the man of peace, I visited him in his venerable +hall, and partook of the hospitality of his hearth. And there I saw his +gentle partner, and his fair children, and on the morrow he showed me the +books of which he had spoken years before, by the side of the stream. In +the low quiet chamber, whose one window, shaded by a gigantic elm, looks +down the slope towards the pleasant stream, he took from the shelf his +learned books, Zohar and Mishna, Toldoth Jesu and Abarbenel. "I am fond +of these studies," said he, "which, perhaps, is not to be wondered at, +seeing that our people have been compared to the Jews. In one respect I +confess we are similar to them; we are fond of getting money. I do not +like this last author, this Abarbenel, the worse for having been a money- +changer. I am a banker myself, as thou knowest." + +And would there were many like him, amidst the money-changers of princes! +The hall of many an earl lacks the bounty, the palace of many a prelate +the piety and learning, which adorn the quiet Quaker's home! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Fair of Horses--Looks of Respect--The Fast Trotter--Pair of Eyes--Strange +Men--Jasper, Your Pal--Force of Blood--Young Lady with Diamonds--Not +Quite so Beautiful. + +I was standing on the Castle Hill in the midst of a fair of horses. + +I have already had occasion to mention this castle. It is the remains of +what was once a Norman stronghold, and is perched upon a round mound or +monticle, in the midst of the old city. Steep is this mound and scarped, +evidently by the hand of man; a deep gorge, over which is flung a bridge, +separates it, on the south, from a broad swell of open ground called "the +hill"; of old the scene of many a tournament and feat of Norman chivalry, +but now much used as a show-place for cattle, where those who buy and +sell beeves and other beasts resort at stated periods. + +So it came to pass that I stood upon this hill, observing a fair of +horses. {152} + +The reader is already aware that I had long since conceived a passion for +the equine race; a passion in which circumstances had of late not +permitted me to indulge. I had no horses to ride, but I took pleasure in +looking at them; and I had already attended more than one of these fairs: +the present was lively enough, indeed horse fairs are seldom dull. There +was shouting and whooping, neighing and braying; there was galloping and +trotting; fellows with highlows and white stockings, and with many a +string dangling from the knees of their tight breeches, were running +desperately, holding horses by the halter, and in some cases dragging +them along; there were long-tailed steeds, and dock-tailed steeds of +every degree and breed; there were droves of wild ponies, and long rows +of sober cart horses; there were donkeys, and even mules: the last rare +things to be seen in damp, misty England, for the mule pines in mud and +rain, and thrives best with a hot sun above and a burning sand below. +There were--oh, the gallant creatures! I hear their neigh upon the wind; +there were--goodliest sight of all--certain enormous quadrupeds only seen +to perfection in our native isle, led about by dapper grooms, their manes +ribanded and their tails curiously clubbed and balled. Ha! ha!--how +distinctly do they say, ha! ha! + +An old man draws nigh, he is mounted on a lean pony, and he leads by the +bridle one of these animals; nothing very remarkable about that creature, +unless in being smaller than the rest and gentle, which they are not; he +is not of the sightliest look; he is almost dun, and over one eye a thick +film has gathered. But stay! there _is_ something remarkable about that +horse, there is something in his action in which he differs from all the +rest: as he advances, the clamour is hushed! all eyes are turned upon +him--what looks of interest--of respect--and, what is this? people are +taking off their hats--surely not to that steed! Yes, verily! men, +especially old men, are taking off their hats to that one-eyed steed, and +I hear more than one deep-drawn ah! + +"What horse is that?" said I to a very old fellow, the counterpart of the +old man on the pony, save that the last wore a faded suit of velveteen, +and this one was dressed in a white frock. + +"The best in mother England," said the very old man, taking a knobbed +stick from his mouth, and looking me in the face, at first carelessly, +but presently with something like interest; "he is old like myself, but +can still trot his twenty miles an hour. You won't live long, my swain; +tall and overgrown ones like thee never does; yet, if you should chance +to reach my years, you may boast to thy great grand boys, thou hast seen +Marshland Shales." + +Amain I did for the horse what I would neither do for earl or baron, +doffed my hat; yes! I doffed my hat to the wondrous horse, the fast +trotter, the best in mother England; and I too drew a deep ah! and +repeated the words of the old fellows around. "Such a horse as this we +shall never see again; a pity that he is so old." {154} + +Now during all this time I had a kind of consciousness that I had been +the object of some person's observation; that eyes were fastened upon me +from somewhere in the crowd. Sometimes I thought myself watched from +before, sometimes from behind; and occasionally methought that, if I just +turned my head to the right or left, I should meet a peering and +inquiring glance; and indeed once or twice I did turn, expecting to see +somebody whom I knew, yet always without success; though it appeared to +me that I was but a moment too late, and that some one had just slipped +away from the direction to which I turned, like the figure in a magic +lanthorn. Once I was quite sure that there were a pair of eyes glaring +over my right shoulder; my attention, however, was so fully occupied with +the objects which I have attempted to describe, that I thought very +little of this coming and going, this flitting and dodging of I knew not +whom or what. It was, after all, a matter of sheer indifference to me +who was looking at me. I could only wish, whomsoever it might be, to be +more profitably employed; so I continued enjoying what I saw; and now +there was a change in the scene, the wondrous old horse departed with his +aged guardian; other objects of interest are at hand; two or three men on +horseback are hurrying through the crowd, they are widely different in +their appearance from the other people of the fair; not so much in dress, +for they are clad something after the fashion of rustic jockeys, but in +their look--no light brown hair have they, no ruddy cheeks, no blue quiet +glances belong to them; their features are dark, their locks long, black, +and shining, and their eyes are wild; they are admirable horsemen, but +they do not sit the saddle in the manner of common jockeys, they seem to +float or hover upon it, like gulls upon the waves; two of them are mere +striplings, but the third is a very tall man with a countenance +heroically beautiful, but wild, wild, wild. As they rush along, the +crowd give way on all sides, and now a kind of ring or circus is formed, +within which the strange men exhibit their horsemanship, rushing past +each other, in and out, after the manner of a reel, the tall man +occasionally balancing himself upon the saddle, and standing erect on one +foot. He had just regained his seat after the latter feat, and was about +to push his horse to a gallop, when a figure started forward close from +beside me, and laying his hand on his neck, and pulling him gently +downward, appeared to whisper something into his ear; presently the tall +man raised his head, and, scanning the crowd for a moment in the +direction in which I was standing, fixed his eyes full upon me, and anon +the countenance of the whisperer was turned, but only in part, and the +side-glance of another pair of wild eyes was directed towards my face, +but the entire visage of the big black man, half stooping as he was, was +turned full upon mine. + +But now, with a nod to the figure who had stopped him, and with another +inquiring glance at myself, the big man once more put his steed into +motion, and, after riding round the ring a few more times, darted through +a lane in the crowd, and followed by his two companions disappeared, +whereupon the figure who had whispered to him, and had subsequently +remained in the middle of the space, came towards me, and, cracking a +whip which he held in his hand so loudly that the report was nearly equal +to that of a pocket pistol, he cried in a strange tone: + +"What! the sap-engro? {156} Lor! the sap-engro upon the hill!" + +"I remember that word," said I, "and I almost think I remember you. You +can't be--" + +"Jasper, your pal! Truth, and no lie, brother." + +"It is strange that you should have known me," said I. "I am certain, +but for the word you used, I should never have recognised you." + +"Not so strange as you may think, brother; there is something in your +face which would prevent people from forgetting you, even though they +might wish it; and your face is not much altered since the time you wot +of, though you are so much grown. I thought it was you, but to make sure +I dodged about, inspecting you. I believe you felt me, though I never +touched you; a sign, brother, that we are akin, that we are dui palor--two +relations. Your blood beat when mine was near, as mine always does at +the coming of a brother; and we became brothers in that lane." + +"And where are you staying?" said I; "in this town?" + +"Not in the town; the like of us don't find it exactly wholesome to stay +in towns, we keep abroad. But I have little to do here--come with me, +and I'll show you where we stay." + +We descended the hill in the direction of the north, and passing along +the suburb reached the old Norman bridge, which we crossed; the chalk +precipice, with the ruin on its top, was now before us; but turning to +the left we walked swiftly along, and presently came to some rising +ground, which ascending, we found ourselves upon a wild moor or heath. +{157} + +"You are one of them," said I, "whom people call--" + +"Just so," said Jasper; "but never mind what people call us." + +"And that tall handsome man on the hill, whom you whispered? I suppose +he's one of ye. What is his name?" + +"Tawno Chikno," {158} said Jasper, "which means the small one; we call +him such because he is the biggest man of all our nation. You say he is +handsome, that is not the word, brother; he's the beauty of the world. +Women run wild at the sight of Tawno. An earl's daughter, near London--a +fine young lady with diamonds round her neck--fell in love with Tawno. I +have seen that lass on a heath, as this may be, kneel down to Tawno, +clasp his feet, begging to be his wife--or anything else--if she might go +with him. But Tawno would have nothing to do with her: 'I have a wife of +my own,' said he, 'a lawful Rommany wife, whom I love better than the +whole world, jealous though she sometimes be.'" + +"And is she very beautiful?" said I. + +"Why, you know, brother, beauty is frequently a matter of taste; however, +as you ask my opinion, I should say not quite so beautiful as himself." + +We had now arrived at a small valley between two hills, or downs, the +sides of which were covered with furze; in the midst of this valley were +various carts and low tents forming a rude kind of encampment; several +dark children were playing about, who took no manner of notice of us. As +we passed one of the tents, however, a canvas screen was lifted up, and a +woman supported upon a crutch hobbled out. She was about the middle age, +and, besides being lame, was bitterly ugly; she was very slovenly +dressed, and on her swarthy features ill nature was most visibly stamped. +She did not deign me a look, but, addressing Jasper in a tongue which I +did not understand, appeared to put some eager questions to him. + +"He's coming," said Jasper, and passed on. "Poor fellow," said he to me, +"he has scarcely been gone an hour, and she's jealous already. Well," he +continued, "what do you think of her? you have seen her now, and can +judge for yourself--that 'ere woman is Tawno Chikno's wife!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The Tents--Pleasant Discourse--I am Pharaoh--Shifting for One's +Self--Horse Shoes--This is Wonderful--Bless Your Wisdom--A Pretty +Manoeuvre--Ill Day to the Romans--My Name is Herne--Singular People--An +Original Speech--Word Master--Speaking Romanly. + +We went to the farthest of the tents, which stood at a slight distance +from the rest, and which exactly resembled the one which I have described +on a former occasion. We went in and sat down one on each side of a +small fire, which was smouldering on the ground; there was no one else in +the tent but a tall tawny woman of middle age, who was busily knitting. +"Brother," said Jasper, "I wish to hold some pleasant discourse with +you." + +"As much as you please," said I, "provided you can find anything pleasant +to talk about." + +"Never fear," said Jasper; "and first of all we will talk of yourself. +Where have you been all this long time?" + +"Here and there," said I, "and far and near, going about with the +soldiers; but there is no soldiering now, so we have sat down, father and +family, in the town there." + +"And do you still hunt snakes?" said Jasper. + +"No," said I; "I have given up that long ago; I do better now: read books +and learn languages." + +"Well, I am sorry you have given up your snake-hunting; many's the +strange talk I have had with our people about your snake and yourself, +and how you frightened my father and mother in the lane." + +"And where are your father and mother?" + +"Where I shall never see them, brother; at least, I hope so." + +"Not dead?" + +"No, not dead; they are bitchadey pawdel." + +"What's that?" + +"Sent across--banished." + +"Ah! I understand; I am sorry for them. And so you are here alone?" + +"Not quite alone, brother." + +"No, not alone; but with the rest--Tawno Chikno takes care of you." + +"Takes care of me, brother!" + +"Yes, stands to you in the place of a father--keeps you out of harm's +way." + +"What do you take me for, brother?" + +"For about three years older than myself." + +"Perhaps; but you are of the Gorgios, and I am a Rommany Chal. Tawno +Chikno take care of Jasper Petulengro!" {161} + +"Is that your name?" + +"Don't you like it?" + +"Very much, I never heard a sweeter; it is something like what you call +me." + +"The horse-shoe master and the snake-fellow, I am the first." + +"Who gave you that name?" + +"Ask Pharaoh." + +"I would, if he were here, but I do not see him." + +"I am Pharaoh." + +"Then you are a king." + +"Chachipen Pal." {162a} + +"I do not understand you." + +"Where are your languages? You want two things, brother: mother sense, +and gentle Rommany." + +"What makes you think that I want sense?" + +"That, being so old, you can't yet guide yourself!" + +"I can read Dante, Jasper." + +"Anan, brother." + +"I can charm snakes, Jasper." + +"I know you can, brother." + +"Yes, and horses too; bring me the most vicious in the land, if I whisper +he'll be tame." + +"Then the more shame for you--a snake-fellow--a horse-witch--and a lil- +reader{162b}--yet you can't shift for yourself. I laugh at you, +brother!" + +"Then you can shift for yourself?" + +"For myself and for others, brother." + +"And what does Chikno?" + +"Sells me horses, when I bid him. Those horses on the chong {162c} were +mine." + +"And has he none of his own?" + +"Sometimes he has; but he is not so well off as myself. When my father +and mother were bitchadey pawdel, which, to tell you the truth, they +were, for chiving wafodo dloovu, {163a} they left me all they had, which +was not a little, and I became the head of our family, which was not a +small one. I was not older than you when that happened; yet our people +said they had never a better krallis to contrive and plan for them, and +to keep them in order. And this is so well known, that many Rommany +Chals, {163b} not of our family, come and join themselves to us, living +with us for a time, in order to better themselves, more especially those +of the poorer sort, who have little of their own. Tawno is one of +these." + +"Is that fine fellow poor?" + +"One of the poorest, brother. Handsome as he is, he has not a horse of +his own to ride on. Perhaps we may put it down to his wife, who cannot +move about, being a cripple, as you saw." + +"And you are what is called a Gypsy King?" + +"Ay, ay; a Rommany Kral." + +"Are there other kings?" + +"Those who call themselves so; but the true Pharaoh is Petulengro." + +"Did Pharaoh make horse-shoes?" + +"The first who ever did, brother." + +"Pharaoh lived in Egypt." + +"So did we once, brother." + +"And you left it?" + +"My fathers did, brother." + +"And why did they come here?" + +"They had their reasons, brother." + +"And you are not English?" + +"We are not Gorgios." {163c} + +"And you have a language of your own?" + +"Avali." {164a} + +"This is wonderful." + +"Ha, ha!" cried the woman, who had hitherto sat knitting, at the farther +end of the tent, without saying a word, though not inattentive to our +conversation, as I could perceive, by certain glances, which she +occasionally cast upon us both. "Ha, ha!" she screamed, fixing upon me +two eyes, which shone like burning coals, and which were filled with an +expression both of scorn and malignity. "It is wonderful, is it, that we +should have a language of our own? What, you grudge the poor people the +speech they talk among themselves? That's just like you Gorgios, you +would have everybody stupid, single-tongued idiots, like yourselves. We +are taken before the Poknees of the gav, {164b} myself and sister, to +give an account of ourselves. So I says to my sister's little boy, +speaking Rommany, I says to the little boy who is with us, run to my son +Jasper, and the rest, and tell them to be off, there are hawks abroad. So +the Poknees questions us, and lets us go, not being able to make anything +of us; but, as we are going, he calls us back. 'Good woman,' says the +Poknees, 'what was that I heard you say just now to the little boy?' 'I +was telling him, your worship, to go and see the time of day, and, to +save trouble, I said it in our language.' 'Where did you get that +language?' says the Poknees. ''Tis our own language, sir,' I tells him, +'we did not steal it.' 'Shall I tell you what it is, my good woman?' +says the Poknees. 'I would thank you, sir,' says I, 'for 'tis often we +are asked about it.' 'Well, then,' says the Poknees, 'it is no language +at all, merely a made-up gibberish.' 'Oh, bless your wisdom,' says I, +with a curtsey, 'you can tell us what our language is, without +understanding it!' Another time we meet a parson. 'Good woman,' says +he, 'what's that you are talking? Is it broken language?' 'Of course, +your reverence,' says I, 'we are broken people; give a shilling, your +reverence, to the poor broken woman.' Oh, these Gorgios! they grudge us +our very language!" + +"She called you her son, Jasper?" + +"I am her son, brother." + +"I thought you said your parents were--" + +"Bitchadey pawdel; you thought right, brother. This is my wife's +mother." + +"Then you are married, Jasper?" + +"Ay, truly; I am husband and father. You will see wife and chabo {165a} +anon." + +"Where are they now?" + +"In the gav, penning dukkerin." {165b} + +"We were talking of language, Jasper." + +"True, brother." + +"Yours must be a rum one." + +"'Tis called Rommany." + +"I would gladly know it." + +"You need it sorely." + +"Would you teach it me?" + +"None sooner." + +"Suppose we begin now?" + +"Suppose we do, brother." + +"Not whilst I am here," said the woman, flinging her knitting down, and +starting upon her feet; "not whilst I am here shall this Gorgio learn +Rommany. A pretty manoeuvre, truly; and what would be the end of it? I +goes to the farming ker {166a} with my sister, to tell a fortune, and +earn a few sixpences for the chabes. I sees a jolly pig in the yard, and +I says to my sister, speaking Rommany, 'Do so and so,' says I; which the +farming man hearing, asks what we are talking about. 'Nothing at all, +master,' says I; 'something about the weather;' when who should start up +from behind a pale, where he has been listening, but this ugly Gorgio, +crying out, 'They are after poisoning your pigs, neighbour!' so that we +are glad to run, I and my sister, with perhaps the farm-engro shouting +after us. Says my sister to me, when we have got fairly off, 'How came +that ugly one to know what you said to me?' Whereupon I answers, 'It all +comes of my son Jasper, who brings the Gorgio to our fire, and must needs +be teaching him.' 'Who was fool there?' says my sister. 'Who, indeed, +but my son Jasper,' I answers. And here should I be a greater fool to +sit still and suffer it; which I will not do. I do not like the look of +him; he looks over-gorgious. An ill day to the Romans when he masters +Rommany; and, when I says that, I pens a true dukkerin." + +"What do you call God, Jasper?" + +"You had better be jawing," {166b} said the woman, raising her voice to a +terrible scream; "you had better be moving off, my Gorgio; hang you for a +keen one, sitting there by the fire, and stealing my language before my +face. Do you know whom you have to deal with? Do you know that I am +dangerous? My name is Herne, and I comes of the hairy ones!" + +And a hairy one she looked! She wore her hair clubbed upon her head, +fastened with many strings and ligatures; but now, tearing these off, her +locks, originally jet black, but now partially grizzled with age, fell +down on every side of her, covering her face and back as far down as her +knees. No she-bear of Lapland ever looked more fierce and hairy than did +that woman, as standing in the open part of the tent, with her head bent +down, and her shoulders drawn up, seemingly about to precipitate herself +upon me, she repeated, again and again,-- + +"My name is Herne, and I comes of the hairy ones!--" + +"I call God Duvel, brother." + +"It sounds very like Devil." + +"It doth, brother, it doth." + +"And what do you call divine, I mean godly?" + +"Oh! I call that duvelskoe." + +"I am thinking of something, Jasper." + +"What are you thinking of, brother?" + +"Would it not be a rum thing if divine and devilish were originally one +and the same word?" + +"It would, brother, it would--" + +* * * * * + +From this time I had frequent interviews with Jasper, sometimes in his +tent, sometimes on the heath, about which we would roam for hours, +discoursing on various matters. Sometimes mounted on one of his horses, +of which he had several, I would accompany him to various fairs and +markets in the neighbourhood, to which he went on his own affairs, or +those of his tribe. I soon found that I had become acquainted with a +most singular people, whose habits and pursuits awakened within me the +highest interest. Of all connected with them, however, their language +was doubtless that which exercised the greatest influence over my +imagination. I had at first some suspicion that it would prove a mere +made-up gibberish; but I was soon undeceived. Broken, corrupted, and +half in ruins as it was, it was not long before I found that it was an +original speech, far more so, indeed, than one or two others of high name +and celebrity, which, up to that time, I had been in the habit of +regarding with respect and veneration. Indeed many obscure points +connected with the vocabulary of these languages, and to which neither +classic nor modern lore afforded any clue, I thought I could now clear up +by means of this strange broken tongue, spoken by people who dwelt +amongst thickets and furze bushes, in tents as tawny as their faces, and +whom the generality of mankind designated, and with much semblance of +justice, as thieves and vagabonds. But where did this speech come from, +and who were they who spoke it? These were questions which I could not +solve, and which Jasper himself, when pressed, confessed his inability to +answer. "But, whoever we be, brother," said he, "we are an old people, +and not what folks in general imagine, broken Gorgios; and, if we are not +Egyptians, we are at any rate Rommany Chals!" + +"Rommany Chals! I should not wonder after all," said I, "that these +people had something to do with the founding of Rome. Rome, it is said, +was built by vagabonds; who knows but that some tribe of the kind settled +down thereabouts, and called the town which they built after their name? +but whence did they come originally? ah! there is the difficulty." {169a} + +But abandoning these questions, which at that time were far too profound +for me, I went on studying the language, and at the same time the +characters and manners of these strange people. My rapid progress in the +former astonished, while it delighted, Jasper. "We'll no longer call you +Sap-engro, brother," said he; "but rather Lav-engro, which in the +language of the Gorgios meaneth Word Master." "Nay, brother," said Tawno +Chikno, with whom I had become very intimate, "you had better call him +Cooro-mengro. {169b} I have put on _the gloves_ with him, and find him a +pure fist master; I like him for that, for I am a Cooro-mengro myself, +and was born at Brummagem." + +"I likes him for his modesty," said Mrs. Chikno; "I never hears any ill +words come from his mouth, but, on the contrary, much sweet language. His +talk is golden, and he has taught my eldest to say his prayers in +Rommany, which my rover had never the grace to do." "He is the pal of my +rom," {170a} said Mrs. Petulengro, who was a very handsome woman, "and +therefore I likes him, and not the less for his being a rye; {170b} folks +calls me high-minded, and perhaps I have reason to be so; before I +married Pharaoh I had an offer from a lord. I likes the young rye, and, +if he chooses to follow us, he shall have my sister. What say you, +mother? should not the young rye have my sister Ursula?" + +"I am going to my people," said Mrs. Herne, placing a bundle upon a +donkey, which was her own peculiar property; "I am going to Yorkshire, +for I can stand this no longer. You say you like him: in that we +differs; I hates the Gorgio, and would like, speaking Romanly, to mix a +little poison with his waters. And now go to Lundra, {170c} my children; +I goes to Yorkshire. Take my blessing with ye, and a little bit of a +gillie {170d} to cheer your hearts with when ye are weary. In all kinds +of weather have we lived together; but now we are parted. I goes broken- +hearted--I can't keep you company; ye are no longer Rommany. To gain a +bad brother, ye have lost a good mother." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +What Profession?--Not Fitted for a Churchman--Erratic Course--The Bitter +Draught--Principle of Woe--Thou Wouldst be Joyous--What Ails You?--Poor +Child of Clay. + +So the Gypsies departed; Mrs. Herne to Yorkshire, and the rest to London: +as for myself, I continued in the house of my parents, passing my time in +much the same manner as I have already described, principally in +philological pursuits; but I was now sixteen, and it was highly necessary +that I should adopt some profession, unless I intended to fritter away my +existence, and to be a useless burden to those who had given me birth; +but what profession was I to choose? there being none in the wide world +perhaps for which I was suited; nor was there any one for which I felt +any decided inclination, though perhaps there existed within me a lurking +penchant for the profession of arms, which was natural enough, as, from +my earliest infancy, I had been accustomed to military sights and sounds; +but this profession was then closed, as I have already hinted, and, as I +believe, it has since continued, to those who, like myself, had no better +claims to urge than the services of a father. + +My father, who, for certain reasons of his own, had no very high opinion +of the advantages resulting from this career, would have gladly seen me +enter the Church. His desire was, however, considerably abated by one or +two passages of my life, which occurred to his recollection. He +particularly dwelt on the unheard-of manner in which I had picked up the +Irish language, and drew from thence the conclusion that I was not fitted +by nature to cut a respectable figure at an English university. "He will +fly off in a tangent," said he, "and, when called upon to exhibit his +skill in Greek, will be found proficient in Irish; I have observed the +poor lad attentively, and really do not know what to make of him; but I +am afraid he will never make a churchman!" And I have no doubt that my +excellent father was right, both in his premises and the conclusion at +which he arrived. I had undoubtedly, at one period of my life, forsaken +Greek for Irish, and the instructions of a learned Protestant divine, for +those of a Papist gossoon, the card-fancying Murtagh; and of late, though +I kept it a strict secret, I had abandoned in a great measure the study +of the beautiful Italian, and the recitation of the sonorous terzets of +the Divine Comedy, in which at one time I took the greatest delight, in +order to become acquainted with the broken speech, and yet more broken +songs, of certain houseless wanderers whom I had met at a horse fair. +Such an erratic course was certainly by no means in consonance with the +sober and unvarying routine of college study. And my father, who was a +man of excellent common sense, displayed it, in not pressing me to adopt +a profession which required qualities of mind which he saw I did not +possess. + +Other professions were talked of, amongst which the law; but now an event +occurred which had nearly stopped my career, and merged all minor points +of solicitude in anxiety for my life. My strength and appetite suddenly +deserted me, and I began to pine and droop. Some said that I had +overgrown myself, and that these were the symptoms of a rapid decline; I +grew worse and worse, and was soon stretched upon my bed, from which it +seemed scarcely probable that I should ever more rise, the physicians +themselves giving but slight hopes of my recovery: as for myself, I made +up my mind to die, and felt quite resigned. I was sadly ignorant at that +time, and, when I thought of death, it appeared to me little else than a +pleasant sleep, and I wished for sleep, of which I got but little. It +was well that I did not die that time, for I repeat that I was sadly +ignorant of many important things. I did not die, for somebody coming +gave me a strange, bitter draught; a decoction, I believe, of a bitter +root which grows on commons and desolate places: and the person who gave +it me was an ancient female, a kind of doctress, who had been my nurse in +my infancy, and who, hearing of my state, had come to see me; so I drank +the draught, and became a little better, and I continued taking draughts +made from the bitter root till I manifested symptoms of convalescence. + +But how much more quickly does strength desert the human frame than +return to it! I had become convalescent, it is true, but my state of +feebleness was truly pitiable. I believe it is in that state that the +most remarkable feature of human physiology frequently exhibits itself. +Oh, how dare I mention the dark feeling of mysterious dread which comes +over the mind, and which the lamp of reason, though burning bright the +while, is unable to dispel! Art thou, as leeches say, the concomitant of +disease--the result of shattered nerves? Nay, rather the principle of +woe itself, the fountain-head of all sorrow co-existent with man, whose +influence he feels when yet unborn, and whose workings he testifies with +his earliest cries, when, "drowned in tears," he first beholds the light; +for, as the sparks fly upward, so is man born to trouble, and woe doth he +bring with him into the world, even thyself, dark one, terrible one, +causeless, unbegotten, without a father. Oh, how unfrequently dost thou +break down the barriers which divide thee from the poor soul of man, and +overcast its sunshine with thy gloomy shadow. In the brightest days of +prosperity--in the midst of health and wealth--how sentient is the poor +human creature of thy neighbourhood! how instinctively aware that the +flood-gates of horror may be cast open, and the dark stream engulf him +for ever and ever! Then is it not lawful for man to exclaim, "Better +that I had never been born!" Fool, for thyself thou wast not born, but +to fulfil the inscrutable decrees of thy Creator; and how dost thou know +that this dark principle is not, after all, thy best friend; that it is +not that which tempers the whole mass of thy corruption? It may be, for +what thou knowest, the mother of wisdom, and of great works: it is the +dread of the horror of the night that makes the pilgrim hasten on his +way. When thou feelest it nigh, let thy safety word be "Onward"; if thou +tarry, thou art overwhelmed. Courage! build great works--'tis urging +thee--it is ever nearest the favourites of God--the fool knows little of +it. Thou wouldst be joyous, wouldst thou? then be a fool. What great +work was ever the result of joy, the puny one? Who have been the wise +ones, the mighty ones, the conquering ones of this earth? the joyous? I +believe not. The fool is happy, or comparatively so--certainly the least +sorrowful, but he is still a fool: and whose notes are sweetest, those of +the nightingale, or of the silly lark? + +* * * * * + +"What ails you, my child?" said a mother to her son, as he lay on a couch +under the influence of the dreadful one; "what ails you? you seem +afraid!" + +_Boy_. And so I am; a dreadful fear is upon me. + +_Mother_. But of what? there is no one can harm you; of what are you +apprehensive? + +_Boy_. Of nothing that I can express; I know not what I am afraid of, +but afraid I am. + +_Mother_. Perhaps you see sights and visions; I knew a lady once who was +continually thinking that she saw an armed man threaten her, but it was +only an imagination, a phantom of the brain. + +_Boy_. No armed man threatens me; and 'tis not a thing like that would +cause me any fear. Did an armed man threaten me, I would get up and +fight him; weak as I am, I would wish for nothing better, for then, +perhaps, I should lose this fear; mine is a dread of I know not what, and +there the horror lies. + +_Mother_. Your forehead is cool, and your speech collected. Do you know +where you are? + +_Boy_. I know where I am, and I see things just as they are; you are +beside me, and upon the table there is a book which was written by a +Florentine; all this I see, and that there is no ground for being afraid. +I am, moreover, quite cool, and feel no pain--but, but . . . + +And then there was a burst of "gemiti, sospiri ed alti guai." Alas, +alas, poor child of clay! as the sparks fly upward, so wast thou born to +sorrow--Onward! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +Agreeable Delusions--Youth--A Profession--Ab Gwilym--Glorious English +Law--There They Pass--My Dear Old Master--The Deal Desk--Language of the +Tents--Where is Morfydd?--Go to--Only Once. + +It has been said by this or that writer, I scarcely know by whom, that, +in proportion as we grow old, and our time becomes short, the swifter +does it pass, until at last, as we approach the borders of the grave, it +assumes all the speed and impetuosity of a river about to precipitate +itself into an abyss; this is doubtless the case, provided we can carry +to the grave those pleasant thoughts and delusions which alone render +life agreeable, and to which even to the very last we would gladly cling; +but what becomes of the swiftness of time, when the mind sees the vanity +of human pursuits? which is sure to be the case when its fondest, dearest +hopes have been blighted at the very moment when the harvest was deemed +secure. What becomes from that moment, I repeat, of the shortness of +time? I put not the question to those who have never known that +trial,--they are satisfied with themselves and all around them, with what +they have done, and yet hope to do; some carry their delusions with them +to the borders of the grave, ay, to the very moment when they fall into +it; a beautiful golden cloud surrounds them to the last, and such talk of +the shortness of time: through the medium of that cloud the world has +ever been a pleasant world to them; their only regret is that they are so +soon to quit it; but oh, ye dear deluded hearts, it is not every one who +is so fortunate! + +To the generality of mankind there is no period like youth. The +generality are far from fortunate; but the period of youth, even to the +least so, offers moments of considerable happiness, for they are not only +disposed, but able to enjoy most things within their reach. With what +trifles at that period are we content; the things from which in after- +life we should turn away in disdain please us then, for we are in the +midst of a golden cloud, and everything seems decked with a golden hue. +Never during any portion of my life did time flow on more speedily than +during the two or three years immediately succeeding the period to which +we arrived in the preceding chapter: since then it has flagged often +enough; sometimes it has seemed to stand entirely still; and the reader +may easily judge how it fares at the present, from the circumstance of my +taking pen in hand, and endeavouring to write down the passages of my +life--a last resource with most people. But at the period to which I +allude I was just, as I may say, entering upon life; I had adopted a +profession, and--to keep up my character, simultaneously with that +profession--the study of a new language--I speedily became a proficient +in the one, but ever remained a novice in the other: a novice in the law, +but a perfect master in the Welsh tongue. {178} + +Yes! very pleasant times were those, when within the womb of a lofty deal +desk, behind which I sat for some eight hours every day, transcribing +(when I imagined eyes were upon me) documents of every description in +every possible hand, Blackstone kept company with Ab Gwilym--the polished +English lawyer of the last century, who wrote long and prosy chapters on +the rights of things--with a certain wild Welshman, who some four hundred +years before that time indited immortal cowydds and odes to the wives of +Cambrian chieftains--more particularly to one Morfydd, the wife of a +certain hunchbacked dignitary called by the poet facetiously Bwa +Bach--generally terminating with the modest request of a little private +parlance beneath the green wood bough, with no other witness than the +eos, or nightingale, a request which, if the poet himself may be +believed, rather a doubtful point, was seldom, very seldom, denied. And +by what strange chance had Ab Gwilym and Blackstone, two personages so +exceedingly different, been thus brought together? From what the reader +already knows of me, he may be quite prepared to find me reading the +former; but what could have induced me to take up Blackstone, or rather +the law? + +I have ever loved to be as explicit as possible; on which account, +perhaps, I never attained to any proficiency in the law, the essence of +which is said to be ambiguity; most questions may be answered in a few +words, and this among the rest, though connected with the law. My +parents deemed it necessary that I should adopt some profession, they +named the law; the law was as agreeable to me as any other profession +within my reach, so I adopted the law, and the consequence was, that +Blackstone, probably for the first time, found himself in company with Ab +Gwilym. By adopting the law I had not ceased to be Lavengro. {180} + +So I sat behind a desk many hours in the day, ostensibly engaged in +transcribing documents of various kinds; the scene of my labours was a +strange old house, occupying one side of a long and narrow court, into +which, however, the greater number of the windows looked not, but into an +extensive garden, filled with fruit trees, in the rear of a large, +handsome house, belonging to a highly respectable gentleman, who, +_moyennant un douceur considerable_, had consented to instruct my +father's youngest son in the mysteries of glorious English law. Ah! +would that I could describe the good gentleman in the manner which he +deserves; he has long since sunk to his place in a respectable vault, in +the aisle of a very respectable church, whilst an exceedingly respectable +marble slab against the neighbouring wall tells on a Sunday some eye +wandering from its prayer-book that his dust lies below; to secure such +respectabilities in death, he passed a most respectable life. Let no one +sneer, he accomplished much; his life was peaceful, so was his death. Are +these trifles? I wish I could describe him, for I loved the man, and +with reason, for he was ever kind to me, to whom kindness has not always +been shown; and he was, moreover, a choice specimen of a class which no +longer exists--a gentleman lawyer of the old school. I would fain +describe him, but figures with which he has nought to do press forward +and keep him from my mind's eye; there they pass, Spaniard and Moor, +Gypsy, Turk, and livid Jew. But who is that? what that thick pursy man +in the loose, snuff-coloured great-coat, with the white stockings, drab +breeches, and silver buckles on his shoes; that man with the bull neck, +and singular head, immense in the lower part, especially about the jaws, +but tapering upward like a pear; the man with the bushy brows, small grey +eyes, replete with cat-like expression, whose grizzled hair is cut close, +and whose ear lobes are pierced with small golden rings? Oh! that is not +my dear old master, but a widely different personage. _Bon jour_, +_Monsieur Vidocq_! _expressions de ma part a Monsieur Le Baron Taylor_. +But here he comes at last, my veritable old master! + +A more respectable-looking individual was never seen; he really looked +what he was, a gentleman of the law--there was nothing of the pettifogger +about him: somewhat under the middle size, and somewhat rotund in person, +he was always dressed in a full suit of black, never worn long enough to +become threadbare. His face was rubicund, and not without keenness; but +the most remarkable thing about him was the crown of his head, which was +bald, and shone like polished ivory, nothing more white, smooth, and +lustrous. Some people have said that he wore false calves, probably +because his black silk stockings never exhibited a wrinkle; they might +just as well have said that he waddled, because his shoes creaked; for +these last, which were always without a speck, and polished as his crown, +though of a different hue, did creak, as he walked rather slowly. I +cannot say that I ever saw him walk fast. + +He had a handsome practice, and might have died a very rich man, much +richer than he did, had he not been in the habit of giving rather +expensive dinners to certain great people, who gave him nothing in +return, except their company; I could never discover his reasons for +doing so, as he always appeared to me a remarkably quiet man, by nature +averse to noise and bustle; but in all dispositions there are anomalies: +I have already said that he lived in a handsome house, and I may as well +here add that he had a very handsome wife, who both dressed and talked +exceedingly well. + +So I sat behind the deal desk, engaged in copying documents of various +kinds; and in the apartment in which I sat, and in the adjoining ones, +there were others, some of whom likewise copied documents, while some +were engaged in the yet more difficult task of drawing them up; and some +of these, sons of nobody, were paid for the work they did, whilst others, +like myself, sons of somebody, paid for being permitted to work, which, +as our principal observed, was but reasonable, forasmuch as we not +unfrequently utterly spoiled the greater part of the work entrusted to +our hands. + +There was one part of the day when I generally found myself quite alone, +I mean at the hour when the rest went home to their principal meal; I, +being the youngest, was left to take care of the premises, to answer the +bell, and so forth, till relieved, which was seldom before the expiration +of an hour and a half, when I myself went home; this period, however, was +anything but disagreeable to me, for it was then that I did what best +pleased me, and, leaving off copying the documents, I sometimes indulged +in a fit of musing, my chin resting on both my hands, and my elbows +planted on the desk; or, opening the desk aforesaid, I would take out one +of the books contained within it, and the book which I took out was +almost invariably, not Blackstone, but Ab Gwilym. + +Ah, that Ab Gwilym! I am much indebted to him, and it were ungrateful on +my part not to devote a few lines to him and his songs in this my +history. Start not, reader, I am not going to trouble you with a +poetical dissertation; no, no! I know my duty too well to introduce +anything of the kind; but I, who imagine I know several things, and +amongst others the workings of your mind at this moment, have an idea +that you are anxious to learn a little, a very little, more about Ab +Gwilym than I have hitherto told you, the two or three words that I have +dropped having awakened within you a languid kind of curiosity. I have +no hesitation in saying that he makes one of the some half-dozen really +great poets whose verses, in whatever language they wrote, exist at the +present day, and are more or less known. It matters little how I first +became acquainted with the writings of this man, and how the short thick +volume, stuffed full with his immortal imaginings, first came into my +hands. I was studying Welsh, and I fell in with Ab Gwilym by no very +strange chance. But, before I say more about Ab Gwilym, I must be +permitted--I really must--to say a word or two about the language in +which he wrote, that same "Sweet Welsh." If I remember right, I found +the language a difficult one; in mastering it, however, I derived +unexpected assistance from what of Irish remained in my head, and I soon +found that they were cognate dialects, springing from some old tongue +which itself, perhaps, had sprung from one much older. And here I cannot +help observing cursorily that I every now and then, whilst studying this +Welsh, generally supposed to be the original tongue of Britain, +encountered words which, according to the lexicographers, were venerable +words highly expressive, showing the wonderful power and originality of +the Welsh, in which, however, they were no longer used in common +discourse, but were relics, precious relics, of the first speech of +Britain, perhaps of the world; with which words, however, I was already +well acquainted, and which I had picked up, not in learned books, classic +books, and in tongues of old renown, but whilst listening to Mr. +Petulengro and Tawno Chikno talking over their every-day affairs in the +language of the tents; which circumstance did not fail to give rise to +deep reflection in those moments when, planting my elbows on the deal +desk, I rested my chin upon my hands. But it is probable that I should +have abandoned the pursuit of the Welsh language, after obtaining a very +superficial acquaintance with it, had it not been for Ab Gwilym. + +A strange songster was that who, pretending to be captivated by every +woman he saw, was, in reality, in love with nature alone--wild, +beautiful, solitary nature--her mountains and cascades, her forests and +streams, her birds, fishes, and wild animals. Go to, Ab Gwilym, with thy +pseudo-amatory odes, to Morfydd, or this or that other lady, fair or +ugly--little didst thou care for any of them; Dame Nature was thy love, +however thou mayest seek to disguise the truth. Yes, yes, send thy love- +message to Morfydd, the fair wanton. By whom dost thou send it, I would +know? by the salmon forsooth, which haunts the rushing stream! the +glorious salmon which bounds and gambols in the flashing water, and whose +ways and circumstances thou so well describest--see, there he hurries +upwards through the flashing water. Halloo! what a glimpse of glory--but +where is Morfydd the while? What, another message to the wife of Bwa +Bach? Ay, truly; and by whom?--the wind! the swift wind, the rider of +the world, whose course is not to be stayed; who gallops o'er the +mountain, and, when he comes to broadest river, asks neither for boat nor +ferry; who has described the wind so well--his speed and power? But +where is Morfydd? And now thou art awaiting Morfydd, the wanton, the +wife of the Bwa Bach; thou art awaiting her beneath the tall trees, +amidst the underwood; but she comes not; no Morfydd is there. Quite +right, Ab Gwilym; what wantest thou with Morfydd? But another form is +nigh at hand, that of red Reynard, who, seated upon his chine at the +mouth of his cave, looks very composedly at thee; thou startest, bendest +thy bow, thy cross-bow, intending to hit Reynard with the bolt just about +the jaw; but the bow breaks, Reynard barks and disappears into his cave, +which by thine own account reaches hell--and then thou ravest at the +misfortune of thy bow, and the non-appearance of Morfydd, and abusest +Reynard. Go to, thou carest neither for thy bow nor for Morfydd, thou +merely seekest an opportunity to speak of Reynard; and who has described +him like thee? the brute with the sharp shrill cry, the black reverse of +melody, whose face sometimes wears a smile like the devil's in the +Evangile. But now thou art actually with Morfydd; yes, she has stolen +from the dwelling of the Bwa Bach and has met thee beneath those +rocks--she is actually with thee, Ab Gwilym; but she is not long with +thee, for a storm comes on, and thunder shatters the rocks--Morfydd +flees! Quite right, Ab Gwilym; thou hadst no need of her, a better theme +for song is the voice of the Lord--the rock shatterer--than the frail +wife of the Bwa Bach. Go to, Ab Gwilym, thou wast a wiser and a better +man than thou wouldst fain have had people believe. + +But enough of thee and thy songs! Those times passed rapidly; with Ab +Gwilym in my hand, I was in the midst of enchanted ground, in which I +experienced sensations akin to those I had felt of yore whilst spelling +my way through the wonderful book--the delight of my childhood. I say +akin, for perhaps only once in our lives do we experience unmixed wonder +and delight; and these I had already known. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +Silver Grey--Good Word for Everybody--A Remarkable Youth--Clients--Grades +in Society--The Archdeacon--Reading the Bible. + +"I am afraid that I have not acted very wisely in putting this boy of +ours to the law," said my father to my mother, as they sat together one +summer evening in their little garden, beneath the shade of some tall +poplars. + +Yes, there sat my father in the garden chair which leaned against the +wall of his quiet home, the haven in which he had sought rest, and, +praise be to God, found it, after many a year of poorly requited toil; +there he sat, with locks of silver grey which set off so nobly his fine +bold but benevolent face, his faithful consort at his side, and his +trusty dog at his feet--an eccentric animal of the genuine regimental +breed, who, born amongst red-coats, had not yet become reconciled to +those of any other hue, barking and tearing at them when they drew near +the door, but testifying his fond reminiscence of the former by +hospitable waggings of the tail whenever a uniform made its appearance--at +present a very unfrequent occurrence. + +"I am afraid I have not done right in putting him to the law," said my +father, resting his chin upon his gold-headed bamboo cane. + +"Why, what makes you think so?" said my mother. + +"I have been taking my usual evening walk up the road, with the animal +here," said my father; "and, as I walked along, I overtook the boy's +master, Mr. S---. We shook hands, and, after walking a little way +farther, we turned back together, talking about this and that; the state +of the country, the weather, and the dog, which he greatly admired; for +he is a good-natured man, and has a good word for everybody, though the +dog all but bit him when he attempted to coax his head; after the dog, we +began talking about the boy; it was myself who introduced that subject: I +thought it was a good opportunity to learn how he was getting on, so I +asked what he thought of my son; he hesitated at first, seeming scarcely +to know what to say; at length he came out with 'Oh, a very extraordinary +youth, a most remarkable youth indeed, captain!' 'Indeed,' said I, 'I am +glad to hear it, but I hope you find him steady?' 'Steady, steady,' said +he, 'why, yes, he's steady, I cannot say that he is not steady.' 'Come, +come,' said I, beginning to be rather uneasy, 'I see plainly that you are +not altogether satisfied with him; I was afraid you would not be, for, +though he is my own son, I am anything but blind to his imperfections: +but do tell me what particular fault you have to find with him; and I +will do my best to make him alter his conduct.' 'No fault to find with +him, captain, I assure you, no fault whatever; the youth is a remarkable +youth, an extraordinary youth, only . . .' As I told you before, Mr. S--- +is the best natured man in the world, and it was only with the greatest +difficulty that I could get him to say a single word to the disadvantage +of the boy, for whom he seems to entertain a very great regard. At last +I forced the truth from him, and grieved I was to hear it; though I must +confess that I was somewhat prepared for it. It appears that the lad has +a total want of discrimination." + +"I don't understand you," said my mother. + +"You can understand nothing that would seem for a moment to impugn the +conduct of that child. I am not, however, so blind; want of +discrimination was the word, and it both sounds well, and is expressive. +It appears that, since he has been placed where he is, he has been guilty +of the grossest blunders; only the other day, Mr. S--- told me, as he was +engaged in close conversation with one of his principal clients, the boy +came to tell him that a person wanted particularly to speak with him; +and, on going out, he found a lamentable figure with one eye, who came to +ask for charity; whom, nevertheless, the lad had ushered into a private +room, and installed in an arm-chair, like a justice of the peace, instead +of telling him to go about his business--now what did that show, but a +total want of discrimination?" + +"I wish we may never have anything worse to reproach him with," said my +mother. + +"I don't know what worse we could reproach him with," said my father; "I +mean of course as far as his profession is concerned; discrimination is +the very key-stone; if he treated all people alike, he would soon become +a beggar himself; there are grades in society as well as in the army; and +according to those grades we should fashion our behaviour, else there +would instantly be an end of all order and discipline. I am afraid that +the child is too condescending to his inferiors, whilst to his superiors +he is apt to be unbending enough; I don't believe that would do in the +world; I am sure it would not in the army. He told me another anecdote +with respect to his behaviour, which shocked me more than the other had +done. It appears that his wife, who, by the bye, is a very fine woman, +and highly fashionable, gave him permission to ask the boy to tea one +evening, for she is herself rather partial to the lad; there had been a +great dinner party there that day, and there were a great many +fashionable people, so the boy went and behaved very well and modestly +for some time, and was rather noticed, till, unluckily, a very great +gentleman, an archdeacon I think, put some questions to him, and, finding +that he understood the languages, began talking to him about the +classics. What do you think? the boy had the impertinence to say that +the classics were much overvalued, and amongst other things that some +horrid fellow or other, some Welshman I think (thank God it was not an +Irishman), was a better poet than Ovid; the company were of course +horrified; the archdeacon, who is seventy years of age, and has seven +thousand a year, took snuff and turned away. Mrs. S--- turned up her +eyes; Mr. S---, however, told me with his usual good-nature (I suppose to +spare my feelings) that he rather enjoyed the thing, and thought it a +capital joke." + +"I think so too," said my mother. + +"I do not," said my father; "that a boy of his years should entertain an +opinion of his own--I mean one which militates against all established +authority--is astounding; as well might a raw recruit pretend to offer an +unfavourable opinion on the manual and platoon exercise; the idea is +preposterous; the lad is too independent by half. I never yet knew one +of an independent spirit get on in the army,--the secret of success in +the army is the spirit of subordination." + +"Which is a poor spirit after all," said my mother; "but the child is not +in the army." + +"And it is well for him that he is not," said my father; "but you do not +talk wisely; the world is a field of battle, and he who leaves the ranks, +what can he expect but to be cut down? I call his present behaviour +leaving the ranks, and going vapouring about without orders; his only +chance lies in falling in again as quick as possible; does he think he +can carry the day by himself? an opinion of his own at these years--I +confess I am exceedingly uneasy about the lad." + +"You make me uneasy too," said my mother; "but I really think you are too +hard upon the child; he is not a bad child, after all, though not, +perhaps, all you could wish him; he is always ready to read the Bible. +Let us go in; he is in the room above us; at least he was two hours ago, +I left him there bending over his books; I wonder what he has been doing +all this time, it is now getting late; let us go in, and he shall read to +us." + +"I am getting old," said my father; "and I love to hear the Bible read to +me, for my own sight is something dim; yet I do not wish the child to +read to me this night, I cannot so soon forget what I have heard; but I +hear my eldest son's voice, he is now entering the gate; he shall read +the Bible to us this night. What say you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +The Eldest Son--Saying of Wild Finland--The Critical Time--Vaunting +Polls--One Thing Wanted--A Father's Blessing--Miracle of Art--The Pope's +House--Young Enthusiast--Pictures of England--Persist and Wrestle--The +Little Dark Man. + +The eldest son! The regard and affection which my father entertained for +his first-born were natural enough, and appeared to none more so than +myself, who cherished the same feelings towards him. What he was as a +boy the reader already knows, for the reader has seen him as a boy; fain +would I describe him at the time of which I am now speaking, when he had +attained the verge of manhood, but the pen fails me, and I attempt not +the task; and yet it ought to be an easy one, for how frequently does his +form visit my mind's eye in slumber and in wakefulness, in the light of +day, and in the night watches; but last night I saw him in his beauty and +his strength; he was about to speak, and my ear was on the stretch, when +at once I awoke, and there was I alone, and the night storm was howling +amidst the branches of the pines which surround my lonely dwelling: +"Listen to the moaning of the pine, at whose root thy hut is fastened,"--a +saying that, of wild Finland, in which there is wisdom; I listened and +thought of life and death. . . . Of all human beings that I have ever +known, that elder brother was the most frank and generous, ay, and the +quickest and readiest, and the best adapted to do a great thing needful +at the critical time, when the delay of a moment would be fatal. I have +known him dash from a steep bank into a stream in his full dress, and +pull out a man who was drowning; yet there were twenty others bathing in +the water, who might have saved him by putting out a hand, without +inconvenience to themselves, which, however, they did not do, but stared +with stupid surprise at the drowning one's struggles. Yes, whilst some +shouted from the bank to those in the water to save the drowning one, and +those in the water did nothing, my brother neither shouted nor stood +still, but dashed from the bank and did the one thing needful, which, +under such circumstances, not one man in a million would have done. Now, +who can wonder that a brave old man should love a son like this, and +prefer him to any other? + +"My boy, my own boy, you are the very image of myself, the day I took off +my coat in the park to fight Big Ben," said my father, on meeting his son +wet and dripping, immediately after his bold feat. And who cannot excuse +the honest pride of the old man--the stout old man? + +Ay, old man, that son was worthy of thee, and thou wast worthy of such a +son; a noble specimen wast thou of those strong single-minded Englishmen, +who, without making a parade either of religion or loyalty, feared God +and honoured their king, and were not particularly friendly to the +French, whose vaunting polls they occasionally broke, as at Minden and at +Malplaquet, to the confusion vast of the eternal foes of the English +land. I, who was so little like thee that thou understoodst me not, and +in whom with justice thou didst feel so little pride, had yet perception +enough to see all thy worth, and to feel it an honour to be able to call +myself thy son; and if at some no distant time, when the foreign enemy +ventures to insult our shore, I be permitted to break some vaunting poll, +it will be a triumph to me to think that, if thou hadst lived, thou +wouldst have hailed the deed, and mightest yet discover some distant +resemblance to thyself, the day when thou didst all but vanquish the +mighty Brain. + +I have already spoken of my brother's taste for painting, and the +progress he had made in that beautiful art. It is probable that, if +circumstances had not eventually diverted his mind from the pursuit, he +would have attained excellence, and left behind him some enduring +monument of his powers, for he had an imagination to conceive, and that +yet rarer endowment, a hand capable of giving life, body, and reality to +the conceptions of his mind; perhaps he wanted one thing, the want of +which is but too often fatal to the sons of genius, and without which +genius is little more than a splendid toy in the hands of the +possessor--perseverance, dogged perseverance, in his proper calling; +otherwise, though the grave had closed over him, he might still be living +in the admiration of his fellow-creatures. O ye gifted ones, follow your +calling, for, however various your talents may be, ye can have but one +calling capable of leading ye to eminence and renown; follow resolutely +the one straight path before you, it is that of your good angel, let +neither obstacles nor temptations induce ye to leave it; bound along if +you can; if not, on hands and knees follow it, perish in it, if needful; +but ye need not fear that; no one ever yet died in the true path of his +calling before he had attained the pinnacle. Turn into other paths, and +for a momentary advantage or gratification ye have sold your inheritance, +your immortality. Ye will never be heard of after death. + +"My father has given me a hundred and fifty pounds," said my brother to +me one morning, "and something which is better--his blessing. I am going +to leave you." + +"And where are you going?" + +"Where? to the great city; to London, to be sure." + +"I should like to go with you." + +"Pooh!" said my brother; "what should you do there? But don't be +discouraged; I dare say a time will come when you too will go to London." + +And, sure enough, so it did, and all but too soon. + +"And what do you purpose doing there?" I demanded. + +"Oh, I go to improve myself in art, to place myself under some master of +high name, at least I hope to do so eventually. I have, however, a plan +in my head, which I should wish first to execute; indeed, I do not think +I can rest till I have done so; every one talks so much about Italy, and +the wondrous artists which it has produced, and the wondrous pictures +which are to be found there; now I wish to see Italy, or rather Rome, the +great city, for I am told that in a certain room there is contained the +grand miracle of art." + +"And what do you call it?" + +"The Transfiguration, painted by one Rafael, and it is said to be the +greatest work of the greatest painter which the world has ever known. I +suppose it is because everybody says so, that I have such a strange +desire to see it. I have already made myself well acquainted with its +locality, and think that I could almost find my way to it blindfold. When +I have crossed the Tiber, which, as you are aware, runs through Rome, I +must presently turn to the right, up a rather shabby street, which +communicates with a large square, the farther end of which is entirely +occupied by the front of an immense church, with a dome, which ascends +almost to the clouds, and this church they call St. Peter's." + +"Ay, ay," said I, "I have read about that in 'Keysler's Travels.'" + +"Before the church, in the square, are two fountains, one on either side, +casting up water in showers; between them, in the midst, is an obelisk, +brought from Egypt, and covered with mysterious writing; on your right +rises an edifice, not beautiful nor grand, but huge and bulky, where +lives a strange kind of priest whom men call the Pope, a very horrible +old individual, who would fain keep Christ in leading strings, calls the +Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven, and himself God's Lieutenant-General +upon earth." + +"Ay, ay," said I, "I have read of him in 'Fox's Book of Martyrs.'" + +"Well, I do not go straight forward up the flight of steps conducting +into the church, but I turn to the right, and, passing under the piazza, +find myself in a court of the huge bulky house; and then ascend various +staircases, and pass along various corridors and galleries, all of which +I could describe to you, though I have never seen them; at last a door is +unlocked, and we enter a room rather high, but not particularly large, +communicating with another room, into which, however, I do not go, though +there are noble things in that second room--immortal things, by immortal +artists; amongst others, a grand piece of Corregio; I do not enter it, +for the grand picture of the world is not there; but I stand still +immediately on entering the first room, and I look straight before me, +neither to the right nor left, though there are noble things both on the +right and left, for immediately before me at the farther end, hanging +against the wall, is a picture which arrests me, and I can see nothing +else, for that picture at the farther end hanging against the wall is the +picture of the world . . ." + +Yes, go thy way, young enthusiast, and, whether to London town or to old +Rome, may success attend thee; yet strange fears assail me and misgivings +on thy account. Thou canst not rest, thou sayest, till thou hast seen +the picture in the chamber at old Rome hanging over against the wall; ay, +and thus thou dost exemplify thy weakness--thy strength too, it may +be--for the one idea, fantastic yet lovely, which now possesses thee, +could only have originated in a genial and fervent brain. Well, go, if +thou must go; yet it perhaps were better for thee to bide in thy native +land, and there, with fear and trembling, with groanings, with straining +eyeballs, toil, drudge, slave, till thou hast made excellence thine own; +thou wilt scarcely acquire it by staring at the picture over against the +door in the high chamber of old Rome. Seekest thou inspiration? thou +needest it not, thou hast it already; and it was never yet found by +crossing the sea. What hast thou to do with old Rome, and thou an +Englishman? "Did thy blood never glow at the mention of thy native +land?" as an artist merely? Yes, I trow, and with reason, for thy native +land need not grudge old Rome her "pictures of the world"; she has +pictures of her own, "pictures of England"; and is it a new thing to toss +up caps and shout--England against the world? Yes, against the world in +all, in all; in science and in arms, in minstrel strain, and not less in +the art "which enables the hand to deceive the intoxicated soul by means +of pictures." {198} Seekest models? to Gainsborough and Hogarth turn, +not names of the world, may be, but English names--and England against +the world! A living master? why, there he comes! thou hast had him long, +he has long guided thy young hand towards the excellence which is yet far +from thee, but which thou canst attain if thou shouldst persist and +wrestle, even as he has done, 'midst gloom and despondency--ay, and even +contempt; he who now comes up the creaking stair to thy little studio in +the second floor to inspect thy last effort before thou departest, the +little stout man whose face is very dark, and whose eye is vivacious; +that man has attained excellence, destined some day to be acknowledged, +though not till he is cold, and his mortal part returned to its kindred +clay. He has painted, not pictures of the world, but English pictures, +such as Gainsborough himself might have done; beautiful rural pieces, +with trees which might well tempt the wild birds to perch upon them: thou +needest not run to Rome, brother, where lives the old Mariolater, after +pictures of the world, whilst at home there are pictures of England; nor +needest thou even go to London, the big city, in search of a master, for +thou hast one at home in the old East Anglian town who can instruct thee +whilst thou needest instruction: better stay at home, brother, at least +for a season, and toil and strive 'midst groanings and despondency till +thou hast attained excellence even as he has done--the little dark man +with the brown coat and the top-boots, whose name will one day be +considered the chief ornament of the old town, and whose works will at no +distant period rank amongst the proudest pictures of England--and England +against the world!--thy master, my brother, thy, at present, all too +little considered master--Crome. {199} + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +Desire for Novelty--Lives of the Lawless--Countenances--Old Yeoman and +Dame--We Live near the Sea--Uncouth-looking Volume--The Other +Condition--Draoitheac--A Dilemma--The Antinomian--Lodowick +Muggleton--Almost Blind--Anders Vedel. + +But to proceed with my own story; I now ceased all at once to take much +pleasure in the pursuits which formerly interested me, I yawned over Ab +Gwilym, even as I now in my mind's eye perceive the reader yawning over +the present pages. What was the cause of this? Constitutional +lassitude, or a desire for novelty? Both it is probable had some +influence in the matter, but I rather think that the latter feeling was +predominant. The parting words of my brother had sunk into my mind. He +had talked of travelling in strange regions and seeing strange and +wonderful objects, and my imagination fell to work and drew pictures of +adventures wild and fantastic, and I thought what a fine thing it must be +to travel, and I wished that my father would give me his blessing, and +the same sum that he had given my brother, and bid me go forth into the +world; always forgetting that I had neither talents nor energies at this +period which would enable me to make any successful figure on its stage. + +And then I again sought up the book which had so captivated me in my +infancy, and I read it through; and I sought up others of a similar +character, and in seeking for them I met books also of adventure, but by +no means of a harmless description, lives of wicked and lawless men, +Murray and Latroon--books of singular power, but of coarse and prurient +imagination--books at one time highly in vogue; now deservedly forgotten, +and most difficult to be found. + +And when I had gone through these books, what was my state of mind? I +had derived entertainment from their perusal, but they left me more +listless and unsettled than before, and I really knew not what to do to +pass my time. My philological studies had become distasteful, and I had +never taken any pleasure in the duties of my profession. I sat behind my +desk in a state of torpor, my mind almost as blank as the paper before +me, on which I rarely traced a line. It was always a relief to hear the +bell ring, as it afforded me an opportunity of doing something which I +was yet capable of doing, to rise and open the door and stare in the +countenances of the visitors. All of a sudden I fell to studying +countenances, and soon flattered myself that I had made considerable +progress in the science. + +"There is no faith in countenances," said some Roman of old; "trust +anything but a person's countenance." "Not trust a man's countenance?" +say some moderns; "why, it is the only thing in many people that we can +trust; on which account they keep it most assiduously out of the way. +Trust not a man's words if you please, or you may come to very erroneous +conclusions; but at all times place implicit confidence in a man's +countenance, in which there is no deceit; and of necessity there can be +none. If people would but look each other more in the face, we should +have less cause to complain of the deception of the world; nothing so +easy as physiognomy nor so useful." Somewhat in this latter strain I +thought at the time of which I am speaking. I am now older, and, let us +hope, less presumptuous. It is true that in the course of my life I have +scarcely ever had occasion to repent placing confidence in individuals +whose countenances have prepossessed me in their favour; though to how +many I may have been unjust, from whose countenances I may have drawn +unfavourable conclusions, is another matter. + +But it had been decreed by that Fate which governs our every action, that +I was soon to return to my old pursuits. It was written that I should +not yet cease to be Lav-engro, though I had become, in my own opinion, a +kind of Lavater. It is singular enough that my renewed ardour for +philology seems to have been brought about indirectly by my +physiognomical researches, in which had I not indulged, the event which I +am about to relate, as far as connected with myself, might never have +occurred. Amongst the various countenances which I admitted during the +period of my answering the bell, there were two which particularly +pleased me, and which belonged to an elderly yeoman and his wife, whom +some little business had brought to our law sanctuary. I believe they +experienced from me some kindness and attention, which won the old +people's hearts. So, one day, when their little business had been +brought to a conclusion, and they chanced to be alone with me, who was +seated as usual behind the deal desk in the outer room, the old man with +some confusion began to tell me how grateful himself and dame felt for +the many attentions I had shown them, and how desirous they were to make +me some remuneration. "Of course," said the old man, "we must be +cautious what we offer to so fine a young gentleman as yourself; we have, +however, something we think will just suit the occasion, a strange kind +of thing which people say is a book, though no one that my dame or myself +have shown it to can make anything out of it; so as we are told that you +are a fine young gentleman, who can read all the tongues of the earth and +stars, as the Bible says, we thought, I and my dame, that it would be +just the thing you would like; and my dame has it now at the bottom of +her basket." + +"A book!" said I; "how did you come by it?" + +"We live near the sea," said the old man; "so near that sometimes our +thatch is wet with the spray; and it may now be a year ago that there was +a fearful storm, and a ship was driven ashore during the night, and ere +the morn was a complete wreck. When we got up at daylight, there were +the poor shivering crew at our door; they were foreigners, red-haired +men, whose speech we did not understand; but we took them in, and warmed +them, and they remained with us three days; and when they went away they +left behind them this thing, here it is, part of the contents of a box +which was washed ashore." + +"And did you learn who they were?" + +"Why, yes; they made us understand that they were Danes." + +Danes! thought I, Danes! and instantaneously, huge and grizzly, appeared +to rise up before my vision the skull of the old pirate Dane, even as I +had seen it of yore in the pent-house of the ancient church to which, +with my mother and my brother, I had wandered on the memorable summer +eve. + +And now the old man handed me the book; a strange and uncouth-looking +volume enough. It was not very large, but instead of the usual covering +was bound in wood, and was compressed with strong iron clasps. It was a +printed book, but the pages were not of paper, but vellum, and the +characters were black, and resembled those generally termed Gothic. + +"It is certainly a curious book," said I, "and I should like to have it; +but I can't think of taking it as a gift; I must give you an equivalent; +I never take presents from anybody." + +The old man whispered with his dame and chuckled, and then turned his +face to me, and said, with another chuckle, "Well, we have agreed about +the price, but, may be, you will not consent." + +"I don't know," said I; "what do you demand?" + +"Why, that you shake me by the hand, and hold out your cheek to my old +dame,--she has taken an affection to you." + +"I shall be very glad to shake you by the hand," said I, "but as for the +other condition, it requires consideration." + +"No consideration at all," said the old man, with something like a sigh; +"she thinks you like her son, our only child, that was lost twenty years +ago in the waves of the North Sea." + +"Oh, that alters the case altogether," said I, "and of course I can have +no objection." + +And now at once I shook off my listlessness, to enable me to do which +nothing could have happened more opportune than the above event. The +Danes, the Danes! And was I at last to become acquainted, and in so +singular a manner, with the speech of a people which had as far back as I +could remember exercised the strongest influence over my imagination, as +how should they not!--in infancy there was the summer-eve adventure, to +which I often looked back, and always with a kind of strange interest, +with respect to those to whom such gigantic and wondrous bones could +belong as I had seen on that occasion; and, more than this, I had been in +Ireland, and there, under peculiar circumstances, this same interest was +increased tenfold. I had mingled much whilst there with the genuine +Irish--a wild, but kind-hearted race, whose conversation was deeply +imbued with traditionary lore, connected with the early history of their +own romantic land, and from them I heard enough of the Danes, but nothing +commonplace, for they never mentioned them but in terms which tallied +well with my own preconceived ideas. For at an early period the Danes +had invaded Ireland, and had subdued it, and, though eventually driven +out, had left behind them an enduring remembrance in the minds of the +people, who loved to speak of their strength and their stature, in +evidence of which they would point to the ancient raths or mounds, where +the old Danes were buried, and where bones of extraordinary size were +occasionally exhumed. And as the Danes surpassed other people in +strength, so, according to my narrators, they also excelled all others in +wisdom, or rather in Draoitheac, or magic, for they were powerful +sorcerers, they said, compared with whom the fairy men of the present day +knew nothing at all, at all; and, amongst other wonderful things, they +knew how to make strong beer from the heather that grows upon the bogs. +Little wonder if the interest, the mysterious interest, which I had early +felt about the Danes, was increased tenfold by my sojourn in Ireland. + +And now I had in my possession a Danish book, which, from its appearance, +might be supposed to have belonged to the very old Danes indeed; but how +was I to turn it to any account? I had the book, it is true, but I did +not understand the language, and how was I to overcome that difficulty? +hardly by poring over the book; yet I did pore over the book, daily and +nightly, till my eyes were dim, and it appeared to me that every now and +then I encountered words which I understood--English words, though +strangely disguised; and I said to myself, courage! English and Danish +are cognate dialects, a time will come when I shall understand this +Danish; and then I pored over the book again, but with all my poring I +could not understand it; and then I became angry, and I bit my lips till +the blood came; and I occasionally tore a handful from my hair, and flung +it upon the floor, but that did not mend the matter, for still I did not +understand the book, which, however, I began to see was written in +rhyme--a circumstance rather difficult to discover at first, the +arrangement of the lines not differing from that which is employed in +prose; and its being written in rhyme made me only the more eager to +understand it. + +But I toiled in vain, for I had neither grammar nor dictionary of the +language; and when I sought for them could procure neither; and I was +much dispirited, till suddenly a bright thought came into my head, and I +said, although I cannot obtain a dictionary or grammar, I can perhaps +obtain a Bible in this language, and if I can procure a Bible, I can +learn the language, for the Bible in every tongue contains the same +thing, and I have only to compare the words of the Danish Bible with +those of the English, and, if I persevere, I shall in time acquire the +language of the Danes; and I was pleased with the thought, which I +considered to be a bright one, and I no longer bit my lips, or tore my +hair, but I took my hat, and, going forth, I flung my hat into the air. + +And when my hat came down, I put it on my head and commenced running, +directing my course to the house of the Antinomian preacher, who sold +books, and whom I knew to have Bibles in various tongues amongst the +number, and I arrived out of breath, and I found the Antinomian in his +little library, dusting his books; and the Antinomian clergyman was a +tall man of about seventy, who wore a hat with a broad brim and a shallow +crown, and whose manner of speaking was exceedingly nasal; and when I saw +him, I cried, out of breath, "Have you a Danish Bible?" and he replied, +"What do you want it for, friend?" and I answered, "To learn Danish by;" +"And may be to learn thy duty," replied the Antinomian preacher. "Truly, +I have it not, but, as you are a customer of mine, I will endeavour to +procure you one, and I will write to that laudable society which men call +the Bible Society, an unworthy member of which I am, and I hope by next +week to procure what you desire." + +And when I heard these words of the old man, I was very glad, and my +heart yearned towards him, and I would fain enter into conversation with +him; and I said, "Why are you an Antinomian? For my part I would rather +be a dog than belong to such a religion." "Nay, friend," said the +Antinomian, "thou forejudgest us; know that those who call us Antinomians +call us so despitefully; we do not acknowledge the designation." "Then +you do not set all law at nought?" said I. "Far be it from us," said the +old man; "we only hope that, being sanctified by the Spirit from above, +we have no need of the law to keep us in order. Did you ever hear tell +of Lodowick Muggleton?" {208} "Not I." "That is strange; know then that +he was the founder of our poor society, and after him we are frequently, +though opprobriously, termed Muggletonians, for we are Christians. Here +is his book, which, perhaps, you can do no better than purchase; you are +fond of rare books, and this is both curious and rare; I will sell it +cheap. Thank you, and now be gone; I will do all I can to procure the +Bible." + +And in this manner I procured the Danish Bible, and I commenced my task; +first of all, however, I locked up in a closet the volume which had +excited my curiosity, saying, "Out of this closet thou comest not till I +deem myself competent to read thee," and then I sat down in right +earnest, comparing every line in the one version with the corresponding +one in the other; and I passed entire nights in this manner, till I was +almost blind, and the task was tedious enough at first, but I quailed +not, and soon began to make progress: and at first I had a misgiving that +the old book might not prove a Danish book, but was soon reassured by +reading many words in the Bible which I remembered to have seen in the +book; and then I went on right merrily, and I found that the language +which I was studying was by no means a difficult one, and in less than a +month I deemed myself able to read the book. + +Anon, I took the book from the closet, and proceeded to make myself +master of its contents; I had some difficulty, for the language of the +book, though in the main the same as the language of the Bible, differed +from it in some points, being apparently a more ancient dialect; by +degrees, however, I overcame this difficulty, and I understood the +contents of the book, and well did they correspond with all those ideas +in which I had indulged connected with the Danes. For the book was a +book of ballads, about the deeds of knights and champions, and men of +huge stature; ballads which from time immemorial had been sung in the +North, and which some two centuries before the time of which I am +speaking had been collected by one Anders Vedel, who lived with a certain +Tycho Brahe, and assisted him in making observations upon the heavenly +bodies, at a place called Uranias Castle, on the little island of Hveen, +in the Cattegat. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +The Two Individuals--The Long Pipe--The Germans--Werther--The Female +Quaker--Suicide--Gibbon--Jesus of Bethlehem--Fill Your +Glass--Shakespeare--English at Minden--Melancholy Swayne Vonved--The +Fifth Dinner--Strange Doctrines--Are You Happy?--Improve Yourself in +German. + +It might be some six months after the events last recorded, that two +individuals were seated together in a certain room, in a certain street +of the old town which I have so frequently had occasion to mention in the +preceding pages; one of them was an elderly, and the other a very young +man, and they sat on either side of a fireplace, beside a table, on which +were fruit and wine; the room was a small one, and in its furniture +exhibited nothing remarkable. Over the mantelpiece, however, hung a +small picture with naked figures in the foreground, and with much foliage +behind. It might not have struck every beholder, for it looked old and +smoke-dried; but a connoisseur, on inspecting it closely, would have +pronounced it to be a Judgment of Paris, and a masterpiece of the Flemish +school. + +The forehead of the elder individual was high, and perhaps appeared more +so than it really was, from the hair being carefully brushed back, as if +for the purpose of displaying to the best advantage that part of the +cranium; his eyes were large and full, and of a light brown, and might +have been called heavy and dull, had they not been occasionally lighted +up by a sudden gleam--not so brilliant, however, as that which at every +inhalation shone from the bowl of the long clay pipe which he was +smoking, but which, from a certain sucking sound which about this time +began to be heard from the bottom, appeared to be giving notice that it +would soon require replenishment from a certain canister, which, together +with a lighted taper, stood upon the table beside him. {211} + +"You do not smoke?" said he, at length, laying down his pipe, and +directing his glance to his companion. + +Now there was at least one thing singular connected with this last, +namely, the colour of his hair, which, notwithstanding his extreme youth, +appeared to be rapidly becoming grey. He had very long limbs, and was +apparently tall of stature, in which he differed from his elderly +companion, who must have been somewhat below the usual height. + +"No, I can't smoke," said the youth, in reply to the observation of the +other; "I have often tried, but could never succeed to my satisfaction." + +"Is it possible to become a good German without smoking?" said the +senior, half speaking to himself. + +"I dare say not," said the youth; "but I shan't break my heart on that +account." + +"As for breaking your heart, of course you would never think of such a +thing; he is a fool who breaks his heart on any account; but it is good +to be a German, the Germans are the most philosophic people in the world, +and the greatest smokers: now I trace their philosophy to their smoking." + +"I have heard say their philosophy is all smoke--is that your opinion?" + +"Why, no; but smoking has a sedative effect upon the nerves, and enables +a man to bear the sorrows of this life (of which every one has his share) +not only decently, but dignifiedly. Suicide is not a national habit in +Germany as it is in England." + +"But that poor creature, Werther, who committed suicide, was a German." + +"Werther is a fictitious character, and by no means a felicitous one; I +am no admirer either of Werther or his author. But I should say that, if +there ever was a Werther in Germany, he did not smoke. Werther, as you +very justly observe, was a poor creature." + +"And a very sinful one; I have heard my parents say that suicide is a +great crime." + +"Broadly, and without qualification, to say that suicide is a crime, is +speaking somewhat unphilosophically. No doubt suicide, under many +circumstances, is a crime, a very heinous one. When the father of a +family, for example, to escape from certain difficulties, commits +suicide, he commits a crime; there are those around him who look to him +for support, by the law of nature, and he has no right to withdraw +himself from those who have a claim upon his exertions; he is a person +who decamps with other people's goods as well as his own. Indeed, there +can be no crime which is not founded upon the depriving others of +something which belongs to them. A man is hanged for setting fire to his +house in a crowded city, for he burns at the same time or damages those +of other people; but if a man who has a house on a heath sets fire to it, +he is not hanged, for he has not damaged or endangered any other +individual's property, and the principle of revenge, upon which all +punishment is founded, has not been aroused. Similar to such a case is +that of the man who, without any family ties, commits suicide; for +example, were I to do the thing this evening, who would have a right to +call me to account? I am alone in the world, have no family to support, +and, so far from damaging any one, should even benefit my heir by my +accelerated death. However, I am no advocate for suicide under any +circumstances; there is something undignified in it, unheroic, +un-Germanic. But if you must commit suicide--and there is no knowing to +what people may be brought--always contrive to do it as decorously as +possible; the decencies, whether of life or of death, should never be +lost sight of. I remember a female Quaker who committed suicide by +cutting her throat, but she did it decorously and decently: kneeling down +over a pail, so that not one drop fell upon the floor; thus exhibiting in +her last act that nice sense of neatness for which Quakers are +distinguished. I have always had a respect for that woman's memory." And +here, filling his pipe from the canister, and lighting it at the taper, +he recommenced smoking calmly and sedately. + +"But is not suicide forbidden in the Bible?" the youth demanded. + +"Why, no; but what though it were!--the Bible is a respectable book, but +I should hardly call it one whose philosophy is of the soundest. I have +said that it is a respectable book; I mean respectable from its +antiquity, and from containing, as Herder says, 'the earliest records of +the human race,' though those records are far from being dispassionately +written, on which account they are of less value than they otherwise +might have been. There is too much passion in the Bible, too much +violence; now, to come to all truth, especially historic truth, requires +cool dispassionate investigation, for which the Jews do not appear to +have ever been famous. We are ourselves not famous for it, for we are a +passionate people; the Germans are not--they are not a passionate +people--a people celebrated for their oaths; we are. The Germans have +many excellent historic writers, we . . . 'tis true we have Gibbon . . . +You have been reading Gibbon--what do you think of him?" + +"I think him a very wonderful writer." + +"He is a wonderful writer--one _sui generis_--uniting the perspicuity of +the English--for we are perspicuous--with the cool dispassionate +reasoning of the Germans. Gibbon sought after the truth, found it, and +made it clear." + +"Then you think Gibbon a truthful writer?" + +"Why, yes; who shall convict Gibbon of falsehood? Many people have +endeavoured to convict Gibbon of falsehood; they have followed him in his +researches, and have never found him once tripping. Oh, he is a +wonderful writer! his power of condensation is admirable; the lore of the +whole world is to be found in his pages. Sometimes in a single note, he +has given us the result of the study of years; or, to speak +metaphorically, 'he has ransacked a thousand Gulistans, and has condensed +all his fragrant booty into a single drop of otto.'" + +"But was not Gibbon an enemy to the Christian faith?" + +"Why, no; he was rather an enemy to priestcraft, so am I; and when I say +the philosophy of the Bible is in many respects unsound, I always wish to +make an exception in favour of that part of it which contains the life +and sayings of Jesus of Bethlehem, to which I must always concede my +unqualified admiration--of Jesus, mind you; for with his followers and +their dogmas I have nothing to do. Of all historic characters Jesus is +the most beautiful and the most heroic. I have always been a friend to +hero-worship, it is the only rational one, and has always been in use +amongst civilised people--the worship of spirits is synonymous with +barbarism--it is mere fetish; the savages of West Africa are all spirit +worshippers. But there is something philosophic in the worship of the +heroes of the human race, and the true hero is the benefactor. Brahma, +Jupiter, Bacchus, were all benefactors, and, therefore, entitled to the +worship of their respective peoples. The Celts worshipped Hesus, who +taught them to plough, a highly useful art. We, who have attained a much +higher state of civilisation than the Celts ever did, worship Jesus, the +first who endeavoured to teach men to behave decently and decorously +under all circumstances; who was the foe of vengeance, in which there is +something highly indecorous; who had first the courage to lift his voice +against that violent dogma, 'an eye for an eye'; who shouted conquer, but +conquer with kindness; who said put up the sword, a violent unphilosophic +weapon; and who finally died calmly and decorously in defence of his +philosophy. He must be a savage who denies worship to the hero of +Golgotha." + +"But He was something more than a hero; He was the Son of God, wasn't +He?" + +The elderly individual made no immediate answer; but, after a few more +whiffs from his pipe, exclaimed, "Come, fill your glass! How do you +advance with your translation of Tell?" + +"It is nearly finished; but I do not think I shall proceed with it; I +begin to think the original somewhat dull." + +"There you are wrong; it is the masterpiece of Schiller, the first of +German poets." + +"It may be so," said the youth. "But, pray excuse me, I do not think +very highly of German poetry. I have lately been reading Shakespeare; +and, when I turn from him to the Germans--even the best of them--they +appear mere pigmies. You will pardon the liberty I perhaps take in +saying so." + +"I like that every one should have an opinion of his own," said the +elderly individual; "and, what is more, declare it. Nothing displeases +me more than to see people assenting to everything that they hear said; I +at once come to the conclusion that they are either hypocrites, or there +is nothing in them. But, with respect to Shakespeare, whom I have not +read for thirty years, is he not rather given to bombast, 'crackling +bombast,' as I think I have said in one of my essays?" + +"I dare say he is," said the youth; "but I can't help thinking him the +greatest of all poets, not even excepting Homer. I would sooner have +written that series of plays, founded on the fortunes of the House of +Lancaster, than the Iliad itself. The events described are as lofty as +those sung by Homer in his great work, and the characters brought upon +the stage still more interesting. I think Hotspur as much of a hero as +Hector, and young Henry more of a man than Achilles; and then there is +the fat knight, the quintessence of fun, wit, and rascality. Falstaff is +a creation beyond the genius even of Homer." + +"You almost tempt me to read Shakespeare again--but the Germans?" + +"I don't admire the Germans," said the youth, somewhat excited. "I don't +admire them in any point of view. I have heard my father say that, +though good sharpshooters, they can't be much depended upon as soldiers; +and that old Sergeant Meredith told him that Minden would never have been +won but for the two English regiments, who charged the French with fixed +bayonets, and sent them to the right-about in double-quick time. With +respect to poetry, setting Shakespeare and the English altogether aside, +I think there is another Gothic nation, at least, entitled to dispute +with them the palm. Indeed, to my mind, there is more genuine poetry +contained in the old Danish book which I came so strangely by, than has +been produced in Germany from the period of the Niebelungen lay to the +present." + +"Ah, the Koempe Viser?" said the elderly individual, breathing forth an +immense volume of smoke, which he had been collecting during the +declamation of his young companion. "There are singular things in that +book, I must confess; and I thank you for showing it to me, or rather +your attempt at translation. I was struck with that ballad of Orm +Ungarswayne, who goes by night to the grave-hill of his father to seek +for counsel. And then, again, that strange melancholy Swayne Vonved, who +roams about the world propounding people riddles; slaying those who +cannot answer, and rewarding those who can with golden bracelets. Were +it not for the violence, I should say that ballad has a philosophic +tendency. I thank you for making me acquainted with the book, and I +thank the Jew Mousha for making me acquainted with you." + +"That Mousha was a strange customer," said the youth, collecting himself. + +"He _was_ a strange customer," said the elder individual, breathing forth +a gentle cloud. "I love to exercise hospitality to wandering strangers, +especially foreigners; and when he came to this place, pretending to +teach German and Hebrew, I asked him to dinner. After the first dinner, +he asked me to lend him five pounds; I _did_ lend him five pounds. After +the fifth dinner, he asked me to lend him fifty pounds; I did _not_ lend +him the fifty pounds." + +"He was as ignorant of German as of Hebrew," said the youth; "on which +account he was soon glad, I suppose, to transfer his pupil to some one +else." + +"He told me," said the elder individual, "that he intended to leave a +town where he did not find sufficient encouragement; and, at the same +time, expressed regret at being obliged to abandon a certain +extraordinary pupil, for whom he had a particular regard. Now I, who +have taught many people German from the love which I bear to it, and the +desire which I feel that it should be generally diffused, instantly said, +that I should be happy to take his pupil off his hands, and afford him +what instruction I could in German, for, as to Hebrew, I have never taken +much interest in it. Such was the origin of our acquaintance. You have +been an apt scholar. Of late, however, I have seen little of you--what +is the reason?" + +The youth made no answer. + +"You think, probably, that you have learned all I can teach you? Well, +perhaps you are right." + +"Not so, not so," said the young man, eagerly; "before I knew you I knew +nothing, and am still very ignorant; but of late my father's health has +been very much broken, and he requires attention; his spirits also have +become low, which, to tell you the truth, he attributes to my misconduct. +He says that I have imbibed all kinds of strange notions and doctrines, +which will, in all probability, prove my ruin, both here and hereafter; +which--which--" + +"Ah! I understand," said the elder, with another calm whiff. "I have +always had a kind of respect for your father, for there is something +remarkable in his appearance, something heroic, and I would fain have +cultivated his acquaintance; the feeling, however, has not been +reciprocated. I met him, the other day, up the road, with his cane and +dog, and saluted him; he did not return my salutation." + +"He has certain opinions of his own," said the youth, "which are widely +different from those which he has heard that you profess." + +"I respect a man for entertaining an opinion of his own," said the +elderly individual. "I hold certain opinions; but I should not respect +an individual the more for adopting them. All I wish for is tolerance, +which I myself endeavour to practise. I have always loved the truth, and +sought it; if I have not found it, the greater my misfortune." + +"Are you happy?" said the young man. + +"Why, no! And, between ourselves, it is that which induces me to doubt +sometimes the truth of my opinions. My life, upon the whole, I consider +a failure; on which account, I would not counsel you, or any one, to +follow my example too closely. It is getting late, and you had better be +going, especially as your father, you say, is anxious about you. But, as +we may never meet again, I think there are three things which I may +safely venture to press upon you. The first is, that the decencies and +gentlenesses should never be lost sight of, as the practice of the +decencies and gentlenesses is at all times compatible with independence +of thought and action. The second thing which I would wish to impress +upon you, is, that there is always some eye upon us; and that it is +impossible to keep anything we do from the world, as it will assuredly be +divulged by somebody as soon as it is his interest to do so. The third +thing which I would wish to press upon you--" + +"Yes," said the youth, eagerly bending forward. + +"Is"--and here the elderly individual laid down his pipe upon the +table--"that it will be as well to go on improving yourself in German!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +The Alehouse Keeper--Compassion for the Rich--Old English Gentleman--How +is This?--Madeira--The Greek Parr--Twenty Languages--Whiter's +Health--About the Fight--A Sporting Gentleman--The Flattened Nose--Lend +us that Pightle--The Surly Nod. + +"Holloa, master! can you tell us where the fight is likely to be?" + +Such were the words shouted out to me by a short thick fellow, in brown +top-boots, and bareheaded, who stood, with his hands in his pockets, at +the door of a country alehouse as I was passing by. + +Now, as I knew nothing about the fight, and as the appearance of the man +did not tempt me greatly to enter into conversation with him, I merely +answered in the negative, and continued my way. + +It was a fine lovely morning in May, the sun shone bright above, and the +birds were carolling in the hedge-rows. I was wont to be cheerful at +such seasons, for, from my earliest recollection, sunshine and the song +of birds have been dear to me; yet, about that period, I was not +cheerful, my mind was not at rest; I was debating within myself, and the +debate was dreary and unsatisfactory enough. I sighed, and turning my +eyes upward, I ejaculated, "What is truth?" But suddenly, by a violent +effort breaking away from my meditations, I hastened forward; one mile, +two miles, three miles were speedily left behind; and now I came to a +grove of birch and other trees, and opening a gate I passed up a kind of +avenue, and soon arriving before a large brick house, of rather antique +appearance, knocked at the door. + +In this house there lived a gentleman with whom I had business. He was +said to be a genuine old English gentleman, and a man of considerable +property; at this time, however, he wanted a thousand pounds, as +gentlemen of considerable property every now and then do. I had brought +him a thousand pounds in my pocket, for it is astonishing how many eager +helpers the rich find, and with what compassion people look upon their +distresses. He was said to have good wine in his cellar. + +"Is your master at home?" said I, to a servant who appeared at the door. + +"His worship is at home, young man," said the servant, as he looked at my +shoes, which bore evidence that I had come walking. "I beg your pardon, +sir," he added, as he looked me in the face. + +"Ay, ay, servants," thought I, as I followed the man into the house, +"always look people in the face when you open the door, and do so before +you look at their shoes, or you may mistake the heir of a Prime Minister +for a shopkeeper's son." + +I found his worship a jolly, red-faced gentleman, of about fifty-five; he +was dressed in a green coat, white corduroy breeches, and drab gaiters, +and sat on an old-fashioned leather sofa, with two small, thorough-bred, +black English terriers, one on each side of him. He had all the +appearance of a genuine old English gentleman who kept good wine in his +cellar. + +"Sir," said I, "I have brought you a thousand pounds;" and I said this +after the servant had retired, and the two terriers had ceased the +barking which is natural to all such dogs at the sight of a stranger. + +And when the magistrate had received the money, and signed and returned a +certain paper which I handed to him, he rubbed his hands, and looking +very benignantly at me, exclaimed-- + +"And now, young gentleman, that our business is over, perhaps you can +tell me where the fight is to take place?" + +"I am sorry, sir," said I, "that I can't inform you, but everybody seems +to be anxious about it;" and then I told him what had occurred to me on +the road with the alehouse keeper. + +"I know him," said his worship; "he's a tenant of mine, and a good +fellow, somewhat too much in my debt though. But how is this, young +gentleman? you look as if you had been walking; you did not come on +foot?" + +"Yes, sir, I came on foot." + +"On foot! why, it is sixteen miles." + +"I shan't be tired when I have walked back." + +"You can't ride, I suppose?" + +"Better than I can walk." + +"Then why do you walk?" + +"I have frequently to make journeys connected with my profession; +sometimes I walk, sometimes I ride, just as the whim takes me." + +"Will you take a glass of wine?" + +"Yes." + +"That's right; what shall it be?" + +"Madeira!" + +The magistrate gave a violent slap on his knee. "I like your taste," +said he; "I am fond of a glass of Madeira myself, and can give you such a +one as you will not drink every day; sit down, young gentleman; you shall +have a glass of Madeira, and the best I have." + +Thereupon he got up, and, followed by his two terriers, walked slowly out +of the room. + +I looked round the room, and, seeing nothing which promised me much +amusement, I sat down, and fell again into my former train of thought. +"What is truth?" said I. + +"Here it is," said the magistrate, returning at the end of a quarter of +an hour, followed by the servant, with a tray; "here's the true thing, or +I am no judge, far less a justice. It has been thirty years in my cellar +last Christmas. There," said he to the servant, "put it down, and leave +my young friend and me to ourselves. Now, what do you think of it?" + +"It is very good," said I. + +"Did you ever taste better Madeira?" + +"I never before tasted Madeira." + +"Then you ask for a wine without knowing what it is?" + +"I ask for it, sir, that I may know what it is." + +"Well, there is logic in that, as Parr would say; you have heard of +Parr?" + +"Old Parr?" + +"Yes, old Parr, but not that Parr; you mean the English, I the Greek +Parr, {225a} as people call him." + +"I don't know him." + +"Perhaps not--rather too young for that, but were you of my age, you +might have cause to know him, coming from where you do. He kept school +there--I was his first scholar; he flogged Greek into me till I loved +him--and he loved me: he came to see me last year, and sat in that chair; +I honour Parr--he knows much, and is a sound man." + +"Does he know the truth?" + +"Know the truth; he knows what's good, from an oyster to an ostrich--he's +not only sound, but round." + +"Suppose we drink his health?" + +"Thank you, boy: here's Parr's health, and Whiter's." + +"Who is Whiter?" + +"Don't you know Whiter? I thought everybody knew Reverend Whiter the +philologist, {225b} though I suppose you scarcely know what that means. A +man fond of tongues and languages, quite out of your way--he understands +some twenty; what do you say to that?" + +"Is he a sound man?" + +"Why, as to that, I scarcely know what to say: he has got queer notions +in his head--wrote a book to prove that all words came originally from +the earth--who knows? Words have roots, and roots live in the earth; +but, upon the whole, I should not call him altogether a sound man, though +he can talk Greek nearly as fast as Parr." + +"Is he a round man?" + +"Ay, boy, rounder than Parr; I'll sing you a song, if you like, which +will let you into his character:-- + + 'Give me the haunch of a buck to eat, and to drink Madeira old, + And a gentle wife to rest with, and in my arms to fold, + An Arabic book to study, a Norfolk cob to ride, + And a house to live in shaded with trees, and near to a river side; + With such good things around me, and blessed with good health withal, + Though I should live for a hundred years, for death I would not call.' + +Here's to Whiter's health--so you know nothing about the fight?" + +"No, sir; the truth is, that of late I have been very much occupied with +various matters, otherwise I should, perhaps, have been able to afford +you some information--boxing is a noble art." + +"Can you box?" + +"A little." + +"I tell you what, my boy; I honour you, and provided your education had +been a little less limited, I should have been glad to see you here in +company with Parr and Whiter; both can box. Boxing is, as you say, a +noble art--a truly English art; may I never see the day when Englishmen +shall feel ashamed of it, or blacklegs and blackguards bring it into +disgrace. I am a magistrate, and, of course, cannot patronise the thing +very openly, yet I sometimes see a prize fight: I saw the Game Chicken +beat Gulley." + +"Did you ever see Big Ben?" + +"No! why do you ask?" But here we heard a noise, like that of a gig +driving up to the door, which was immediately succeeded by a violent +knocking and ringing, and after a little time, the servant who had +admitted me made his appearance in the room. "Sir," said he, with a +certain eagerness of manner, "here are two gentlemen waiting to speak to +you." + +"Gentlemen waiting to speak to me! who are they?" + +"I don't know, sir," said the servant; "but they look like sporting +gentlemen, and--and"--here he hesitated; "from a word or two they +dropped, I almost think that they come about the fight." + +"About the fight!" said the magistrate. "No! that can hardly be; +however, you had better show them in." + +Heavy steps were now heard ascending the stairs, and the servant ushered +two men into the apartment. Again there was a barking, but louder than +that which had been directed against myself, for here were two intruders; +both of them were remarkable looking men, but to the foremost of them the +most particular notice may well be accorded: he was a man somewhat under +thirty, and nearly six feet in height. He was dressed in a blue coat, +white corduroy breeches, fastened below the knee with small golden +buttons; on his legs he wore white lamb's-wool stockings, and on his feet +shoes reaching to the ankles; round his neck was a handkerchief of the +blue and bird's eye pattern; he wore neither whiskers nor moustaches, and +appeared not to delight in hair, that of his head, which was of a light +brown, being closely cropped; the forehead was rather high, but somewhat +narrow; the face neither broad nor sharp, perhaps rather sharp than +broad; the nose was almost delicate; the eyes were grey, with an +expression in which there was sternness blended with something +approaching to feline; his complexion was exceedingly pale, relieved, +however, by certain pock-marks, which here and there studded his +countenance; his form was athletic, but lean; his arms long. In the +whole appearance of the man there was a blending of the bluff and the +sharp. You might have supposed him a bruiser; his dress was that of one +in all its minutiae; something was wanting, however, in his manner--the +quietness of the professional man; he rather looked like one performing +the part--well--very well--but still performing a part. His +companion!--there, indeed, was the bruiser--no mistake about him: a tall +massive man, with a broad countenance and a flattened nose; dressed like +a bruiser, but not like a bruiser going into the ring; he wore +white-topped boots, and a loose brown jockey coat. + +As the first advanced towards the table, behind which the magistrate sat, +he doffed a white castor from his head, and made rather a genteel bow; +looking at me, who sat somewhat on one side, he gave a kind of nod of +recognition. + +"May I request to know who you are, gentlemen?" said the magistrate. + +"Sir," said the man in a deep, but not unpleasant voice, "allow me to +introduce to you my friend, Mr. ---, the celebrated pugilist;" and he +motioned with his hand towards the massive man with the flattened nose. + +"And your own name, sir?" said the magistrate. + +"My name is no matter," said the man; "were I to mention it to you, it +would awaken within you no feeling of interest. It is neither Kean nor +Belcher, and I have as yet done nothing to distinguish myself like either +of those individuals, or even like my friend here. However, a time may +come--we are not yet buried; and whensoever my hour arrives, I hope I +shall prove myself equal to my destiny, however high-- + + 'Like bird that's bred amongst the Helicons.'" + +And here a smile half theatrical passed over his features. + +"In what can I oblige you, sir?" said the magistrate. + +"Well, sir, the soul of wit is brevity; we want a place for an +approaching combat between my friend here and a brave from town. Passing +by your broad acres this fine morning we saw a pightle, which we deemed +would suit. Lend us that pightle, and receive our thanks; 'twould be a +favour, though not much to grant: we neither ask for Stonehenge nor for +Tempe." + +My friend looked somewhat perplexed; after a moment, however, he said, +with a firm but gentlemanly air, "Sir, I am sorry that I cannot comply +with your request." + +"Not comply!" said the man, his brow becoming dark as midnight; and with +a hoarse and savage tone, "Not comply! why not?" + +"It is impossible, sir; utterly impossible!" + +"Why so?" + +"I am not compelled to give my reasons to you, sir, nor to any man." + +"Let me beg of you to alter your decision," said the man, in a tone of +profound respect. + +"Utterly impossible, sir; I am a magistrate." + +"Magistrate! then fare ye well, for a green-coated buffer and a +Harmanbeck." + +"Sir!" said the magistrate, springing up with a face fiery with wrath. + +But, with a surly nod to me, the man left the apartment; and in a moment +more the heavy footsteps of himself and his companion were heard +descending the staircase. + +"Who is that man?" said my friend, turning towards me. + +"A sporting gentleman, well known in the place from which I come." + +"He appeared to know you." + +"I have occasionally put on the gloves with him." + +"What is his name?" {230} + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +Doubts--Wise King of Jerusalem--Let Me See--A Thousand Years--Nothing +New--The Crowd--The Hymn--Faith--Charles Wesley--There He Stood--Farewell, +Brother--Death--Sun, Moon, and Stars--Wind on the Heath. + +There was one question which I was continually asking myself at this +period, and which has more than once met the eyes of the reader who has +followed me through the last chapter. "What is truth?" I had involved +myself imperceptibly in a dreary labyrinth of doubt, and, whichever way I +turned, no reasonable prospect of extricating myself appeared. The means +by which I had brought myself into this situation may be very briefly +told; I had inquired into many matters, in order that I might become +wise, and I had read and pondered over the words of the wise, so called, +till I had made myself master of the sum of human wisdom; namely, that +every thing is enigmatical and that man is an enigma to himself; thence +the cry of "What is truth?" I had ceased to believe in the truth of that +in which I had hitherto trusted, and yet could find nothing in which I +could put any fixed or deliberate belief--I was, indeed, in a labyrinth! +In what did I not doubt? With respect to crime and virtue I was in +doubt; I doubted that the one was blamable and the other praiseworthy. +Are not all things subjected to the law of necessity? Assuredly; time +and chance govern all things: yet how can this be? alas! + +Then there was myself; for what was I born? Are not all things born to +be forgotten? That's incomprehensible: yet is it not so? Those +butterflies fall and are forgotten. In what is man better than a +butterfly? All then is born to be forgotten. Ah! that was a pang +indeed; 'tis at such a moment that a man wishes to die. The wise king of +Jerusalem, who sat in his shady arbours beside his sunny fish-pools, +saying so many fine things, wished to die, when he saw that not only all +was vanity, but that he himself was vanity. Will a time come when all +will be forgotten that now is beneath the sun? If so, of what profit is +life? + +In truth it was a sore vexation of spirit to me when I saw, as the wise +man saw of old, that whatever I could hope to perform must necessarily be +of very temporary duration; and if so, why do it? I said to myself, +whatever name I can acquire, will it endure for eternity? scarcely so. A +thousand years? Let me see! what have I done already? I have learnt +Welsh, and have translated the songs of Ab Gwilym, some ten thousand +lines, into English rhyme; I have also learnt Danish, and have rendered +the old book of ballads cast by the tempest upon the beach into +corresponding English metre. Good! have I done enough already to secure +myself a reputation of a thousand years? No, no! certainly not; I have +not the slightest ground for hoping that my translations from the Welsh +and Danish will be read at the end of a thousand years. Well, but I am +only eighteen, and I have not stated all that I have done; I have learnt +many other tongues, and have acquired some knowledge even of Hebrew and +Arabic. Should I go on in this way till I am forty, I must then be very +learned; and perhaps, among other things, may have translated the Talmud, +and some of the great works of the Arabians. Pooh! all this is mere +learning and translation, and such will never secure immortality. +Translation is at best an echo, and it must be a wonderful echo to be +heard after the lapse of a thousand years. No! all I have already done, +and all I may yet do in the same way, I may reckon as nothing--mere +pastime; something else must be done. I must either write some grand +original work, or conquer an empire; the one just as easy as the other. +But am I competent to do either? Yes, I think I am, under favourable +circumstances. Yes, I think I may promise myself a reputation of a +thousand years, if I do but give myself the necessary trouble. Well! but +what's a thousand years after all, or twice a thousand years? Woe is me! +I may just as well sit still. + +"Would I had never been born!" I said to myself; and a thought would +occasionally intrude. But was I ever born? Is not all that I see a +lie--a deceitful phantom? Is there a world, and earth, and sky? +Berkeley's doctrine--Spinosa's doctrine! Dear reader, I had at that time +never read either Berkeley or Spinosa. {233} I have still never read +them; who are they, men of yesterday? "All is a lie--all a deceitful +phantom," are old cries; they come naturally from the mouths of those +who, casting aside that choicest shield against madness, simplicity, +would fain be wise as God, and can only know that they are naked. This +doubting in the "universal all" is almost coeval with the human race: +wisdom, so called, was early sought after. All is a lie--a deceitful +phantom--was said when the world was yet young; its surface, save a +scanty portion, yet untrodden by human foot, and when the great tortoise +yet crawled about. All is a lie, was the doctrine of Buddh; and Buddh +lived thirty centuries before the wise king of Jerusalem, who sat in his +arbours, beside his sunny fish-pools, saying many fine things, and, +amongst others, "There is nothing new under the sun!" + +* * * * * + +One day, whilst I bent my way to the heath of which I have spoken on a +former occasion, at the foot of the hills which formed it I came to a +place where a wagon was standing, but without horses, the shafts resting +on the ground; there was a crowd about it, which extended half-way up the +side of the neighbouring hill. The wagon was occupied by some half a +dozen men--some sitting, others standing; they were dressed in +sober-coloured habiliments of black or brown, cut in a plain and rather +uncouth fashion, and partially white with dust; their hair was short, and +seemed to have been smoothed down by the application of the hand; all +were bareheaded--sitting or standing, all were bareheaded. One of them, +a tall man, was speaking as I arrived; ere, however, I could distinguish +what he was saying, he left off, and then there was a cry for a hymn "to +the glory of God"--that was the word. It was a strange sounding hymn, as +well it might be, for everybody joined in it: there were voices of all +kinds, of men, of women, and of children--of those who could sing and of +those who could not--a thousand voices all joined, and all joined +heartily; no voice of all the multitude was silent save mine. The crowd +consisted entirely of the lower classes, labourers and mechanics, and +their wives and children--dusty people, unwashed people, people of no +account whatever, and yet they did not look a mob. And when that hymn +was over--and here let me observe that, strange as it sounded, I have +recalled that hymn to mind, and it has seemed to tingle in my ears on +occasions when all that pomp and art could do to enhance religious +solemnity was being done--in the Sistine Chapel, what time the papal band +was in full play, and the choicest choristers of Italy poured forth their +mellowest tones in presence of Batuschca and his cardinals--on the ice of +the Neva, what time the long train of stately priests, with their noble +beards and their flowing robes of crimson and gold, with their ebony and +ivory staves, stalked along, chanting their Sclavonian litanies in +advance of the mighty Emperor of the North and his Priberjensky guard of +giants, towards the orifice through which the river, running below in its +swiftness, is to receive the baptismal lymph:--when the hymn was over, +another man in the wagon proceeded to address the people; he was a much +younger man than the last speaker; somewhat square built and about the +middle height; his face was rather broad, but expressive of much +intelligence, and with a peculiar calm and serious look; the accent in +which he spoke indicated that he was not of these parts, but from some +distant district. The subject of his address was faith, and how it could +remove mountains. It was a plain address, without any attempt at +ornament, and delivered in a tone which was neither loud nor vehement. +The speaker was evidently not a practised one--once or twice he hesitated +as if for words to express his meaning, but still he held on, talking of +faith, and how it could remove mountains: "It is the only thing we want, +brethren, in this world; if we have that, we are indeed rich, as it will +enable us to do our duty under all circumstances, and to bear our lot, +however hard it may be--and the lot of all mankind is hard--the lot of +the poor is hard, brethren--and who knows more of the poor than I?--a +poor man myself, and the son of a poor man: but are the rich better off? +not so, brethren, for God is just. The rich have their trials too: I am +not rich myself, but I have seen the rich with careworn countenances; I +have also seen them in madhouses; from which you may learn, brethren, +that the lot of all mankind is hard; that is, till we lay hold of faith, +which makes us comfortable under all circumstances; whether we ride in +gilded chariots or walk barefooted in quest of bread; whether we be +ignorant, whether we be wise--for riches and poverty, ignorance and +wisdom, brethren, each brings with it its peculiar temptations. Well, +under all these troubles, the thing which I would recommend you to seek +is one and the same--faith; faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who made us +and allotted to each his station. Each has something to do, brethren. Do +it, therefore, but always in faith; without faith we shall find ourselves +sometimes at fault; but with faith never--for faith can remove the +difficulty. It will teach us to love life, brethren, when life is +becoming bitter, and to prize the blessings around us; for as every man +has his cares, brethren, so has each man his blessings. It will likewise +teach us not to love life over much, seeing that we must one day part +with it. It will teach us to face death with resignation, and will +preserve us from sinking amidst the swelling of the river Jordan." + +And when he had concluded his address, he said, "Let us sing a hymn, one +composed by Master Charles Wesley--he was my countryman, brethren. + + 'Jesus, I cast my soul on Thee, + Mighty and merciful to save; + Thou shalt to death go down with me, + And lay me gently in the grave. + This body then shall rest in hope, + This body which the worms destroy; + For Thou shalt surely raise me up, + To glorious life and endless joy.'" + +Farewell, preacher with the plain coat, and the calm serious look! I saw +thee once again, and that was lately--only the other day. It was near a +fishing hamlet, by the seaside, that I saw the preacher again. He stood +on the top of a steep monticle, used by pilots as a look-out for vessels +approaching that coast, a dangerous one, abounding in rocks and +quicksands. There he stood on the monticle, preaching to weather-worn +fishermen and mariners gathered below upon the sand. "Who is he?" said I +to an old fisherman who stood beside me with a book of hymns in his hand; +but the old man put his hand to his lips, and that was the only answer I +received. Not a sound was heard but the voice of the preacher and the +roaring of the waves; but the voice was heard loud above the roaring of +the sea, for the preacher now spoke with power, and his voice was not +that of one who hesitates. There he stood--no longer a young man, for +his black locks were become grey, even like my own; but there was the +intelligent face, and the calm serious look which had struck me of yore. +There stood the preacher, one of those men--and, thank God, their number +is not few--who, animated by the spirit of Christ, amidst much poverty, +and, alas! much contempt, persist in carrying the light of the Gospel +amidst the dark parishes of what, but for their instrumentality, would +scarcely be Christian England. I would have waited till he had +concluded, in order that I might speak to him, and endeavour to bring +back the ancient scene to his recollection, but suddenly a man came +hurrying towards the monticle, mounted on a speedy horse, and holding by +the bridle one yet more speedy, and he whispered to me, "Why loiterest +thou here?--knowest thou not all that is to be done before midnight?" and +he flung me the bridle; and I mounted on the horse of great speed, and I +followed the other, who had already galloped off. And as I departed, I +waved my hand to him on the monticle, and I shouted, "Farewell, brother! +the seed came up at last, after a long period!" and then I gave the +speedy horse his way, and leaning over the shoulder of the galloping +horse, I said, "Would that my life had been like his--even like that +man's!" + +I now wandered along the heath, till I came to a place where, beside a +thick furze, sat a man, his eyes fixed intently on the red ball of the +setting sun. + +"That's not you, Jasper?" + +"Indeed, brother!" + +"I've not seen you for years." + +"How should you, brother?" + +"What brings you here?" + +"The fight, brother." + +"Where are the tents?" + +"On the old spot, brother." + +"Any news since we parted?" + +"Two deaths, brother." + +"Who are dead, Jasper?" + +"Father and mother, brother." + +"Where did they die?" + +"Where they were sent, brother." + +"And Mrs. Herne?" + +"She's alive, brother." + +"Where is she now?" + +"In Yorkshire, brother." + +"What is your opinion of death, Mr. Petulengro?" said I, as I sat down +beside him. + +"My opinion of death, brother, is much the same as that in the old song +of Pharaoh, which I have heard my grandam sing-- + + 'Cana marel o manus chivios ande puv, + Ta rovel pa leste o chavo ta romi.' {239} + +When a man dies, he is cast into the earth, and his wife and child sorrow +over him. If he has neither wife nor child, then his father and mother, +I suppose; and if he is quite alone in the world, why, then, he is cast +into the earth, and there is an end of the matter." + +"And do you think that is the end of a man?" + +"There's an end of him, brother, more's the pity." + +"Why do you say so?" + +"Life is sweet, brother." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Think so!--There's night and day, brother, both sweet things; sun, moon, +and stars, brother, all sweet things; there's likewise a wind on the +heath. Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?" + +"I would wish to die--" + +"You talk like a Gorgio--which is the same as talking like a fool--were +you a Rommany Chal you would talk wiser. Wish to die, indeed!--A Rommany +Chal would wish to live for ever!" + +"In sickness, Jasper?" + +"There's the sun and stars, brother." + +"In blindness, Jasper?" + +"There's the wind on the heath, brother; if I could only feel that, I +would gladly live for ever. Dosta, {240} we'll now go to the tents and +put on the gloves; and I'll try to make you feel what a sweet thing it is +to be alive, brother!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +The Flower of the Grass--Days of Pugilism--The Rendezvous--Jews--Bruisers +of England--Winter, Spring--Well-earned Bays--The Fight--Huge Black +Cloud--Frame of Adamant--The Storm--Dukkeripens--The Barouche--The Rain +Gushes. + +How for everything there is a time and a season, and then how does the +glory of a thing pass from it, even like the flower of the grass. This +is a truism, but it is one of those which are continually forcing +themselves upon the mind. Many years have not passed over my head, yet, +during those which I can recall to remembrance, how many things have I +seen flourish, pass away, and become forgotten, except by myself, who, in +spite of all my endeavours, never can forget anything. I have known the +time when a pugilistic encounter between two noted champions was almost +considered in the light of a national affair; when tens of thousands of +individuals, high and low, meditated and brooded upon it, the first thing +in the morning and the last at night, until the great event was decided. +But the time is past, and many people will say, thank God that it is; all +I have to say is, that the French still live on the other side of the +water, and are still casting their eyes hitherward--and that in the days +of pugilism it was no vain boast to say, that one Englishman was a match +for two of t'other race; at present it would be a vain boast to say so, +for these are not the days of pugilism. + +But those to which the course of my narrative has carried me were the +days of pugilism; it was then at its height, and consequently near its +decline, for corruption had crept into the ring; and how many things, +states and sects among the rest, owe their decline to this cause! But +what a bold and vigorous aspect pugilism wore at that time! and the great +battle was just then coming off: the day had been decided upon, and the +spot--a convenient distance from the old town; and to the old town were +now flocking the bruisers of England, men of tremendous renown. Let no +one sneer at the bruisers of England--what were the gladiators of Rome, +or the bull-fighters of Spain, in its palmiest days, compared to +England's bruisers? Pity that ever corruption should have crept in +amongst them--but of that I wish not to talk; let us still hope that a +spark of the old religion, of which they were the priests, still lingers +in the breasts of Englishmen. There they come, the bruisers, from far +London, or from wherever else they might chance to be at the time, to the +great rendezvous in the old city; some came one way, some another: some +of tip-top reputation came with peers in their chariots, for glory and +fame are such fair things, that even peers are proud to have those +invested therewith by their sides; others came in their own gigs, driving +their own bits of blood, and I heard one say: "I have driven through at a +heat the whole hundred and eleven miles, and only stopped to bait twice." +Oh, the blood-horses of old England! but they, too, have had their +day--for everything beneath the sun there is a season and a time. But +the greater number come just as they can contrive; on the tops of +coaches, for example; and amongst these there are fellows with dark +sallow faces, and sharp shining eyes; and it is these that have planted +rottenness in the core of pugilism, for they are Jews, and, true to their +kind, have only base lucre in view. + +It was fierce old Cobbett, I think, who first said that the Jews first +introduced bad faith amongst pugilists. He did not always speak the +truth, but at any rate he spoke it when he made that observation. Strange +people the Jews--endowed with every gift but one, and that the highest, +genius divine--genius which can alone make of men demigods, and elevate +them above earth and what is earthy and grovelling; without which a +clever nation--and who more clever than the Jews?--may have Rambams in +plenty, but never a Fielding nor a Shakespeare. A Rothschild and a +Mendoza, yes--but never a Kean nor a Belcher. + +So the bruisers of England are come to be present at the grand fight +speedily coming off; there they are met in the precincts of the old town, +near the field of the chapel, planted with tender saplings at the +restoration of sporting Charles, which are now become venerable elms, as +high as many a steeple; there they are met at a fitting rendezvous, where +a retired coachman, with one leg, keeps an hotel and a bowling-green. I +think I now see them upon the bowling-green, the men of renown, amidst +hundreds of people with no renown at all, who gaze upon them with timid +wonder. Fame, after all, is a glorious thing, though it lasts only for a +day. There's Cribb, the champion of England, and perhaps the best man in +England; there he is, with his huge massive figure, and face wonderfully +like that of a lion. There is Belcher, the younger, not the mighty one, +who is gone to his place, but the Teucer Belcher, the most scientific +pugilist that ever entered a ring, only wanting strength to be, I won't +say what. He appears to walk before me now, as he did that evening, with +his white hat, white great-coat, thin genteel figure, springy step, and +keen, determined eye. Crosses him, what a contrast! grim, savage +Shelton, who has a civil word for nobody, and a hard blow for +anybody--hard! one blow, given with the proper play of his athletic arm, +will unsense a giant. Yonder individual, who strolls about with his +hands behind him, supporting his brown coat lappets, under-sized, and who +looks anything but what he is, is the king of the light weights, so +called--Randall! the terrible Randall, who has Irish blood in his veins; +not the better for that, nor the worse; and not far from him is his last +antagonist, Ned Turner, who, though beaten by him, still thinks himself +as good a man, in which he is, perhaps, right, for it was a near thing; +and "a better shentleman," in which he is quite right, for he is a +Welshman. But how shall I name them all? they were there by dozens, and +all tremendous in their way. There was Bulldog Hudson, and fearless +Scroggins, who beat the conqueror of Sam the Jew. There was Black +Richmond--no, he was not there, but I knew him well; he was the most +dangerous of blacks, even with a broken thigh. There was Purcell, who +could never conquer till all seemed over with him. There was--what! +shall I name thee last? ay, why not? I believe that thou art the last of +all that strong family still above the sod, where mayst thou long +continue--true piece of English stuff, Tom of Bedford--sharp as Winter, +kind as Spring. + +Hail to thee, Tom of Bedford, or by whatever name it may please thee to +be called, Spring or Winter. Hail to thee, six-foot Englishman of the +brown eye, worthy to have carried a six-foot bow at Flodden, where +England's yeomen triumphed over Scotland's king, his clans and chivalry. +Hail to thee, last of England's bruisers, after all the many victories +which thou hast achieved--true English victories, unbought by yellow +gold; need I recount them? nay, nay! they are already well known to +fame--sufficient to say that Bristol's Bull and Ireland's Champion were +vanquished by thee, and one mightier still, gold itself, thou didst +overcome; for gold itself strove in vain to deaden the power of thy arm; +and thus thou didst proceed till men left off challenging thee, the +unvanquishable, the incorruptible. 'Tis a treat to see thee, Tom of +Bedford, in thy "public" in Holborn way, whither thou hast retired with +thy well-earned bays. 'Tis Friday night, and nine by Holborn clock. +There sits the yeoman at the end of his long room, surrounded by his +friends; glasses are filled, and a song is the cry, and a song is sung +well suited to the place; it finds an echo in every heart--fists are +clenched, arms are waved, and the portraits of the mighty fighting men of +yore, Broughton, and Slack, and Ben, which adorn the walls, appear to +smile grim approbation, whilst many a manly voice joins in the bold +chorus: + + "Here's a health to old honest John Bull, + When he's gone we shan't find such another, + And with hearts and with glasses brim full, + We will drink to old England, his mother." + +But the fight! with respect to the fight, what shall I say? Little can +be said about it--it was soon over; some said that the brave from town, +who was reputed the best man of the two, and whose form was a perfect +model of athletic beauty, allowed himself, for lucre vile, to be +vanquished by the massive champion with the flattened nose. One thing is +certain, that the former was suddenly seen to sink to the earth before a +blow of by no means extraordinary power. Time, time! was called; but +there he lay upon the ground apparently senseless, and from thence he did +not lift his head till several seconds after the umpires had declared his +adversary victor. + +There were shouts; indeed there's never a lack of shouts to celebrate a +victory, however acquired; but there was also much grinding of teeth, +especially amongst the fighting men from town. "Tom has sold us," said +they, "sold us to the yokels; who would have thought it?" Then there was +fresh grinding of teeth, and scowling brows were turned to the heaven; +but what is this? is it possible, does the heaven scowl too? why, only a +quarter of an hour ago . . . but what may not happen in a quarter of an +hour? For many weeks the weather had been of the most glorious +description, the eventful day, too, had dawned gloriously, and so it had +continued till some two hours after noon; the fight was then over; and +about that time I looked up--what a glorious sky of deep blue, and what a +big fierce sun swimming high above in the midst of that blue; not a +cloud--there had not been one for weeks--not a cloud to be seen, only in +the far west, just on the horizon, something like the extremity of a +black wing; that was only a quarter of an hour ago, and now the whole +northern side of the heaven is occupied by a huge black cloud, and the +sun is only occasionally seen amidst masses of driving vapour; what a +change! but another fight is at hand, and the pugilists are clearing the +outer ring;--how their huge whips come crashing upon the heads of the +yokels; blood flows, more blood than in the fight; those blows are given +with right good-will, those are not sham blows, whether of whip or fist; +it is with fist that grim Shelton strikes down the big yokel; he is +always dangerous, grim Shelton, but now particularly so, for he has lost +ten pounds betted on the brave who sold himself to the yokels; but the +outer ring is cleared: and now the second fight commences; it is between +two champions of less renown than the others, but is perhaps not the +worse on that account. A tall thin boy is fighting in the ring with a +man somewhat under the middle size, with a frame of adamant; that's a +gallant boy! he's a yokel, but he comes from Brummagem, and he does +credit to his extraction; but his adversary has a frame of adamant: in +what a strange light they fight, but who can wonder, on looking at that +frightful cloud usurping now one-half of heaven, and at the sun +struggling with sulphurous vapour; the face of the boy, which is turned +towards me, looks horrible in that light, but he is a brave boy, he +strikes his foe on the forehead, and the report of the blow is like the +sound of a hammer against a rock; but there is a rush and a roar +overhead, a wild commotion, the tempest is beginning to break loose; +there's wind and dust, a crash, rain and hail; is it possible to fight +amidst such a commotion? yes! the fight goes on; again the boy strikes +the man full on the brow, but it is of no use striking that man, his +frame is of adamant. "Boy, thy strength is beginning to give way, and +thou art becoming confused;" the man now goes to work, amidst rain and +hail. "Boy, thou wilt not hold out ten minutes longer against rain, +hail, and the blows of such an antagonist." + +And now the storm was at its height; the black thunder-cloud had broken +into many, which assumed the wildest shapes and the strangest colours, +some of them unspeakably glorious; the rain poured in a deluge, and more +than one waterspout was seen at no great distance: an immense rabble is +hurrying in one direction; a multitude of men of all ranks, peers and +yokels, prize-fighters and Jews, and the last came to plunder, and are +now plundering amidst that wild confusion of hail and rain, men and +horses, carts and carriages. But all hurry in one direction, through mud +and mire; there's a town only three miles distant, which is soon reached, +and soon filled, it will not contain one-third of that mighty rabble; but +there's another town farther on--the good old city is farther on, only +twelve miles; what's that! who will stay here? onward to the old town. + +Hurry-skurry, a mixed multitude of men and horses, carts and carriages, +all in the direction of the old town; and, in the midst of all that mad +throng, at a moment when the rain gushes were coming down with particular +fury, and the artillery of the sky was pealing as I had never heard it +peal before, I felt some one seize me by the arm--I turned round, and +beheld Mr. Petulengro. + +"I can't hear you, Mr. Petulengro," said I; for the thunder drowned the +words which he appeared to be uttering. + +"Dearginni," I heard Mr. Petulengro say, "it thundereth. I was asking, +brother, whether you believe in dukkeripens?" + +"I do not, Mr. Petulengro; but this is strange weather to be asking me +whether I believe in fortunes." + +"Grondinni," said Mr. Petulengro, "it haileth. I believe in dukkeripens, +brother." + +"And who has more right," said I, "seeing that you live by them? But +this tempest is truly horrible." + +"Dearginni, grondinni ta villaminni! {249} It thundereth, it haileth, +and also flameth," said Mr. Petulengro. "Look up there, brother!" + +I looked up. Connected with this tempest there was one feature to which +I have already alluded--the wonderful colours of the clouds. Some were +of vivid green; others of the brightest orange; others as black as pitch. +The Gypsy's finger was pointed to a particular part of the sky. + +"What do you see there, brother?" + +"A strange kind of cloud." + +"What does it look like, brother?" + +"Something like a stream of blood." + +"That cloud foreshoweth a bloody dukkeripen." + +"A bloody fortune!" said I. "And whom may it betide?" + +"Who knows!" said the Gypsy. + +Down the way, dashing and splashing, and scattering man, horse, and cart +to the left and right, came an open barouche, drawn by four smoking +steeds, with postillions in scarlet jackets and leather skull-caps. Two +forms were conspicuous in it; that of the successful bruiser, and of his +friend and backer, the sporting gentleman of my acquaintance. + +"His!" said the Gypsy, pointing to the latter, whose stern features wore +a smile of triumph, as, probably recognising me in the crowd, he nodded +in the direction of where I stood, as the barouche hurried by. + +There went the barouche, dashing through the rain gushes, and in it one +whose boast it was that he was equal to "either fortune." Many have +heard of that man--many may be desirous of knowing yet more of him. I +have nothing to do with that man's after life--he fulfilled his +dukkeripen. "A bad, violent man!" Softly, friend; when thou wouldst +speak harshly of the dead, remember that thou hast not yet fulfilled thy +own dukkeripen! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +My Father--Premature Decay--The Easy Chair--A Few Questions--So You Told +Me--A Difficult Language--They Call it Haik--Misused +Opportunities--Saul--Want of Candour--Don't Weep--Heaven Forgive Me--Dated +from Paris--I Wish He were Here--A Father's Reminiscences--Farewell to +Vanities. + +My father, as I have already informed the reader, had been endowed by +nature with great corporeal strength; indeed, I have been assured that, +at the period of his prime, his figure had denoted the possession of +almost Herculean powers. The strongest forms, however, do not always +endure the longest, the very excess of the noble and generous juices +which they contain being the cause of their premature decay. But, be +that as it may, the health of my father, some few years after his +retirement from the service to the quiet of domestic life, underwent a +considerable change; his constitution appeared to be breaking up; and he +was subject to severe attacks from various disorders, with which, till +then, he had been utterly unacquainted. He was, however, wont to rally, +more or less, after his illnesses, and might still occasionally be seen +taking his walk, with his cane in his hand, and accompanied by his dog, +who sympathised entirely with him, pining as he pined, improving as he +improved, and never leaving the house save in his company; and in this +manner matters went on for a considerable time, no very great +apprehension with respect to my father's state being raised either in my +mother's breast or my own. But, about six months after the period at +which I have arrived in my last chapter, it came to pass that my father +experienced a severer attack than on any previous occasion. + +He had the best medical advice; but it was easy to see, from the looks of +his doctors, that they entertained but slight hopes of his recovery. His +sufferings were great, yet he invariably bore them with unshaken +fortitude. There was one thing remarkable connected with his illness; +notwithstanding its severity, it never confined him to his bed. He was +wont to sit in his little parlour, in his easy chair, dressed in a faded +regimental coat, his dog at his feet, who would occasionally lift his +head from the hearth-rug on which he lay, and look his master wistfully +in the face. And thus my father spent the greater part of his time, +sometimes in prayer, sometimes in meditation, and sometimes in reading +the Scriptures. I frequently sat with him, though, as I entertained a +great awe for my father, I used to feel rather ill at ease, when, as +sometimes happened, I found myself alone with him. + +"I wish to ask you a few questions," said he to me, one day, after my +mother had left the room. + +"I will answer anything you may please to ask me, my dear father." + +"What have you been about lately?" + +"I have been occupied as usual, attending at the office at the appointed +hours." + +"And what do you there?" + +"Whatever I am ordered." + +"And nothing else?" + +"Oh yes! sometimes I read a book." + +"Connected with your profession?" + +"Not always; I have been lately reading Armenian--" + +"What's that?" + +"The language of a people whose country is a region on the other side of +Asia Minor." + +"Well!" + +"A region abounding with mountains." + +"Well!" + +"Amongst which is Mount Ararat." + +"Well!" + +"Upon which, as the Bible informs us, the ark rested." + +"Well!" + +"It is the language of the people of those regions." + +"So you told me." + +"And I have been reading the Bible in their language." + +"Well!" + +"Or rather, I should say, in the ancient language of these people; from +which I am told the modern Armenian differs considerably." + +"Well!" + +"As much as the Italian from the Latin." + +"Well!" + +"So I have been reading the Bible in ancient Armenian." + +"You told me so before." + +"I found it a highly difficult language." + +"Yes." + +"Differing widely from the languages in general with which I am +acquainted." + +"Yes." + +"Exhibiting, however, some features in common with them." + +"Yes." + +"And sometimes agreeing remarkably in words with a certain strange wild +speech with which I became acquainted--" + +"Irish?" + +"No, father, not Irish--with which I became acquainted by the greatest +chance in the world." + +"Yes." + +"But of which I need say nothing farther at present, and which I should +not have mentioned but for that fact." + +"Well!" + +"Which I consider remarkable." + +"Yes." + +"The Armenian is copious." + +"Is it?" + +"With an alphabet of thirty-nine letters, but it is harsh and guttural." + +"Yes." + +"Like the language of most mountainous people--the Armenians call it +Haik." + +"Do they?" + +"And themselves, Haik, also; they are a remarkable people, and, though +their original habitation is the Mountain of Ararat, they are to be +found, like the Jews, all over the world." + +"Well!" + +"Well, father, that's all I can tell you about the Haiks, or Armenians." + +"And what does it all amount to?" + +"Very little, father; indeed, there is very little known about the +Armenians; their early history, in particular, is involved in +considerable mystery." + +"And, if you knew all that it was possible to know about them, to what +would it amount? to what earthly purpose could you turn it? have you +acquired any knowledge of your profession?" + +"Very little, father." + +"Very little! Have you acquired all in your power?" + +"I can't say that I have, father." + +"And yet it was your duty to have done so. But I see how it is, you have +shamefully misused your opportunities; you are like one, who, sent into +the field to labour, passes his time in flinging stones at the birds of +heaven." + +"I would scorn to fling a stone at a bird, father." + +"You know what I mean, and all too well, and this attempt to evade +deserved reproof by feigned simplicity is quite in character with your +general behaviour. I have ever observed about you a want of frankness, +which has distressed me; you never speak of what you are about, your +hopes, or your projects, but cover yourself with mystery. I never knew +till the present moment that you were acquainted with Armenian." + +"Because you never asked me, father; there's nothing to conceal in the +matter--I will tell you in a moment how I came to learn Armenian. A lady +whom I met at one of Mrs. ---'s parties took a fancy to me, and has done +me the honour to allow me to go and see her sometimes. She is the widow +of a rich clergyman, and on her husband's death came to this place to +live, bringing her husband's library with her: I soon found my way to it, +and examined every book. Her husband must have been a learned man, for +amongst much Greek and Hebrew I found several volumes in Armenian, or +relating to the language." + +"And why did you not tell me of this before?" + +"Because you never questioned me; but I repeat, there is nothing to +conceal in the matter. The lady took a fancy to me, and, being fond of +the arts, drew my portrait; she said the expression of my countenance put +her in mind of Alfieri's Saul." + +"And do you still visit her?" + +"No, she soon grew tired of me, and told people that she found me very +stupid; she gave me the Armenian books, however." + +"Saul," said my father, musingly, "Saul; I am afraid she was only too +right there; he disobeyed the commands of his master, and brought down on +his head the vengeance of Heaven--he became a maniac, prophesied, and +flung weapons about him." + +"He was, indeed, an awful character--I hope I shan't turn out like him." + +"God forbid!" said my father, solemnly; "but in many respects you are +headstrong and disobedient like him. I placed you in a profession, and +besought you to make yourself master of it, by giving it your undivided +attention. This, however, you did not do; you know nothing of it, but +tell me that you are acquainted with Armenian; but what I dislike most is +your want of candour--you are my son, but I know little of your real +history; you may know fifty things for what I am aware: you may know how +to shoe a horse for what I am aware." + +"Not only to shoe a horse, father, but to make horse-shoes." + +"Perhaps so," said my father; "and it only serves to prove what I was +just saying, that I know little about you." + +"But you easily may, my dear father; I will tell you anything that you +may wish to know--shall I inform you how I learnt to make horse-shoes?" + +"No," said my father; "as you kept it a secret so long, it may as well +continue so still. Had you been a frank, open-hearted boy, like one I +could name, you would have told me all about it of your own accord. But +I now wish to ask you a serious question--what do you propose to do?" + +"To do, father?" + +"Yes! the time for which you were articled to your profession will soon +be expired, and I shall be no more." + +"Do not talk so, my dear father; I have no doubt that you will soon be +better." + +"Do not flatter yourself; I feel that my days are numbered; I am soon +going to my rest, and I have need of rest, for I am weary. There, there, +don't weep! Tears will help me as little as they will you; you have not +yet answered my question. Tell me what you intend to do." + +"I really do not know what I shall do." + +"The military pension which I enjoy will cease with my life. The +property which I shall leave behind me will be barely sufficient for the +maintenance of your mother respectably. I again ask you what you intend +to do. Do you think you can support yourself by your Armenian or your +other acquirements?" + +"Alas! I think little at all about it; but I suppose I must push into +the world, and make a good fight, as becomes the son of him who fought +Big Ben; if I can't succeed, and am driven to the worst, it is but +dying--" + +"What do you mean by dying?" + +"Leaving the world; my loss would scarcely be felt. I have never held +life in much value, and every one has a right to dispose as he thinks +best of that which is his own." + +"Ah! now I understand you; and well I know how and where you imbibed that +horrible doctrine, and many similar ones which I have heard from your +mouth; but I wish not to reproach you--I view in your conduct a +punishment for my own sins, and I bow to the will of God. Few and evil +have been my days upon the earth; little have I done to which I can look +back with satisfaction. It is true I have served my king fifty years, +and I have fought with--Heaven forgive me, what was I about to say!--but +you mentioned the man's name, and our minds willingly recall our ancient +follies. Few and evil have been my days upon earth, I may say with Jacob +of old, though I do not mean to say that my case is so hard as his; he +had many undutiful children, whilst I have only . . .; but I will not +reproach you. I have also like him a son to whom I can look with hope, +who may yet preserve my name when I am gone, so let me be thankful; +perhaps, after all, I have not lived in vain. Boy, when I am gone, look +up to your brother, and may God bless you both. There, don't weep; but +take the Bible, and read me something about the old man and his +children." + +My brother had now been absent for the space of three years. At first +his letters had been frequent, and from them it appeared that he was +following his profession in London with industry; they then became rather +rare, and my father did not always communicate their contents. His last +letter, however, had filled him and our whole little family with joy; it +was dated from Paris, and the writer was evidently in high spirits. After +describing in eloquent terms the beauties and gaieties of the French +capital, he informed us how he had plenty of money, having copied a +celebrated picture of one of the Italian masters for a Hungarian +nobleman, for which he had received a large sum. "He wishes me to go +with him to Italy," added he, "but I am fond of independence; and, if +ever I visit old Rome, I will have no patrons near me to distract my +attention." But six months had now elapsed from the date of this letter, +and we had heard no farther intelligence of my brother. My father's +complaint increased; the gout, his principal enemy, occasionally mounted +high up in his system, and we had considerable difficulty in keeping it +from the stomach, where it generally proves fatal. I now devoted almost +the whole of my time to my father, on whom his faithful partner also +lavished every attention and care. I read the Bible to him, which was +his chief delight; and also occasionally such other books as I thought +might prove entertaining to him. His spirits were generally rather +depressed. The absence of my brother appeared to prey upon his mind. "I +wish he were here," he would frequently exclaim; "I can't imagine what +can have become of him; I trust, however, he will arrive in time." He +still sometimes rallied, and I took advantage of those moments of +comparative ease, to question him upon the events of his early life. My +attentions to him had not passed unnoticed, and he was kind, fatherly, +and unreserved. I had never known my father so entertaining as at these +moments, when his life was but too evidently drawing to a close. I had +no idea that he knew and had seen so much; my respect for him increased, +and I looked upon him almost with admiration. His anecdotes were in +general highly curious; some of them related to people in the highest +stations, and to men whose names were closely connected with some of the +brightest glories of our native land. He had frequently conversed--almost +on terms of familiarity--with good old George. He had known the +conqueror of Tippoo Saib; and was the friend of Townshend, who, when +Wolfe fell, led the British grenadiers against the shrinking regiments of +Montcalm. "Pity," he added, "that when old--old as I am now--he should +have driven his own son mad by robbing him of his plighted bride; but so +it was; he married his son's bride. I saw him lead her to the altar; if +ever there was an angelic countenance, it was that girl's; she was almost +too fair to be one of the daughters of women. Is there anything, boy, +that you would wish to ask me? now is the time." + +"Yes, father; there is one about whom I would fain question you." + +"Who is it? shall I tell you about Elliot?" + +"No, father, not about Elliot; but pray don't be angry; I should like to +know something about Big Ben." + +"You are a strange lad," said my father; "and, though of late I have +begun to entertain a more favourable opinion than heretofore, there is +still much about you that I do not understand. Why do you bring up that +name? Don't you know that it is one of my temptations? you wish to know +something about him. Well! I will oblige you this once, and then +farewell to such vanities--something about him. I will tell you--his +skin, when he flung off his clothes--and he had a particular knack in +doing so--his skin, when he bared his mighty chest and back for +combat--and when he fought he stood so . . . if I remember right--his +skin, I say, was brown and dusky as that of a toad. Oh me! I wish my +elder son was here." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +My Brother's Arrival--The Interview--Night--A Dying Father--Christ. + +At last my brother arrived; he looked pale and unwell; I met him at the +door. "You have been long absent," said I. + +"Yes," said he, "perhaps too long; but how is my father?" + +"Very poorly," said I, "he has had a fresh attack; but where have you +been of late?" + +"Far and wide," said my brother; "but I can't tell you anything now, I +must go to my father. It was only by chance that I heard of his +illness." + +"Stay a moment," said I. "Is the world such a fine place as you supposed +it to be before you went away?" + +"Not quite," said my brother, "not quite; indeed I wish--but ask me no +questions now, I must hasten to my father." + +There was another question on my tongue, but I forbore; for the eyes of +the young man were full of tears. I pointed with my finger, and the +young man hastened past me to the arms of his father. + +I forbore to ask my brother whether he had been to old Rome. + +What passed between my father and brother I do not know; the interview, +no doubt, was tender enough, for they tenderly loved each other; but my +brother's arrival did not produce the beneficial effect upon my father +which I at first hoped it would; it did not even appear to have raised +his spirits. He was composed enough, however: "I ought to be grateful," +said he; "I wished to see my son, and God has granted me my wish; what +more have I to do now than to bless my little family and go?" + +My father's end was evidently at hand. + +And did I shed no tears? did I breathe no sighs? did I never wring my +hands at this period? the reader will perhaps be asking. Whatever I did +and thought is best known to God and myself; but it will be as well to +observe, that it is possible to feel deeply, and yet make no outward +sign. + +And now for the closing scene. + +At the dead hour of night, it might be about two, I was awakened from +sleep by a cry which sounded from the room immediately below that in +which I slept. I knew the cry, it was the cry of my mother; and I also +knew its import, yet I made no effort to rise, for I was for the moment +paralysed. Again the cry sounded, yet still I lay motionless--the +stupidity of horror was upon me. A third time, and it was then that, by +a violent effort, bursting the spell which appeared to bind me, I sprang +from the bed and rushed downstairs. My mother was running wildly about +the room; she had awoke, and found my father senseless in the bed by her +side. I essayed to raise him, and after a few efforts supported him in +the bed in a sitting posture. My brother now rushed in, and, snatching +up a light that was burning, he held it to my father's face. "The +surgeon, the surgeon!" he cried; then, dropping the light, he ran out of +the room followed by my mother; I remained alone, supporting the +senseless form of my father; the light had been extinguished by the fall, +and an almost total darkness reigned in the room. The form pressed +heavily against my bosom--at last methought it moved. Yes, I was right, +there was a heaving of the breast, and then a gasping. Were those words +which I heard? Yes, they were words, low and indistinct at first, and +then audible. The mind of the dying man was reverting to former scenes. +I heard him mention names which I had often heard him mention before. It +was an awful moment; I felt stupefied, but I still contrived to support +my dying father. There was a pause, again my father spoke: I heard him +speak of Minden, {264} and of Meredith, the old Minden sergeant, and then +he uttered another name, which at one period of his life was much in his +lips, the name of . . . but this is a solemn moment! There was a deep +gasp: I shook, and thought all was over; but I was mistaken--my father +moved, and revived for a moment; he supported himself in bed without my +assistance. I make no doubt that for a moment he was perfectly sensible, +and it was then that, clasping his hands, he uttered another name +clearly, distinctly--it was the name of Christ. With that name upon his +lips, the brave old soldier sank back upon my bosom, and, with his hands +still clasped, yielded up his soul. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +The Greeting--Queer Figure--Cheer Up--The Cheerful Fire--It Will Do--The +Sally Forth--Trepidation--Let Him Come In. + +"One-and-Ninepence, sir, or the things which you have brought with you +will be taken away from you!" + +Such were the first words which greeted my ears, one damp misty morning +in March, {265} as I dismounted from the top of a coach in the yard of a +London inn. + +I turned round, for I felt that the words were addressed to myself. +Plenty of people were in the yard--porters, passengers, coachmen, +ostlers, and others, who appeared to be intent on anything but myself, +with the exception of one individual, whose business appeared to lie with +me, and who now confronted me at the distance of about two yards. + +I looked hard at the man--and a queer kind of individual he was to look +at--a rakish figure, about thirty, and of the middle size, dressed in a +coat smartly cut, but threadbare, very tight pantaloons of blue stuff, +tied at the ankles, dirty white stockings and thin shoes, like those of a +dancing-master; his features were not ugly, but rather haggard, and he +appeared to owe his complexion less to nature than carmine; in fact, in +every respect, a very queer figure. + +"One-and-ninepence, sir, or your things will be taken away from you!" he +said, in a kind of lisping tone, coming yet nearer to me. + +I still remained staring fixedly at him, but never a word answered. Our +eyes met; whereupon he suddenly lost the easy impudent air which he +before wore. He glanced, for a moment, at my fist, which I had by this +time clenched, and his features became yet more haggard; he faltered; a +fresh "one-and-ninepence," which he was about to utter, died on his lips; +he shrank back, disappeared behind a coach, and I saw no more of him. + +"One-and-ninepence, or my things will be taken away from me!" said I to +myself, musingly, as I followed the porter to whom I had delivered my +scanty baggage; "am I to expect many of these greetings in the big world? +Well, never mind! I think I know the counter-sign!" And I clenched my +fist yet harder than before. + +So I followed the porter, through the streets of London, to a lodging +which had been prepared for me by an acquaintance. The morning, as I +have before said, was gloomy, and the streets through which I passed were +dank and filthy; the people, also, looked dank and filthy; and so, +probably, did I, for the night had been rainy, and I had come upwards of +a hundred miles on the top of a coach; my heart had sunk within me, by +the time we reached a dark narrow street, in which was the lodging. + +"Cheer up, young man," said the porter, "we shall have a fine afternoon!" + +And presently I found myself in the lodging which had been prepared for +me. It consisted of a small room, up two pair of stairs, in which I was +to sit, and another still smaller above it, in which I was to sleep. I +remember that I sat down, and looked, disconsolate, about me--everything +seemed so cold and dingy. Yet how little is required to make a +situation--however cheerless at first sight--cheerful and comfortable. +The people of the house, who looked kindly upon me, lighted a fire in the +dingy grate; and, then, what a change!--the dingy room seemed dingy no +more! Oh, the luxury of a cheerful fire after a chill night's journey! I +drew near to the blazing grate, rubbed my hands, and felt glad. + +And, when I had warmed myself, I turned to the table, on which, by this +time, the people of the house had placed my breakfast; and I ate and I +drank; and, as I ate and drank, I mused within myself, and my eyes were +frequently directed to a small green box, which constituted part of my +luggage, and which, with the rest of my things, stood in one corner of +the room, till at last, leaving my breakfast unfinished, I rose, and, +going to the box, unlocked it, and took out two or three bundles of +papers tied with red tape, and, placing them on the table, I resumed my +seat and my breakfast, my eyes intently fixed upon the bundles of papers +all the time. + +And when I had drained the last cup of tea out of a dingy teapot, and ate +the last slice of the dingy loaf, I untied one of the bundles, and +proceeded to look over the papers, which were closely written over in a +singular hand, and I read for some time, till at last I said to myself, +"It will do." And then I looked at the other bundle for some time +without untying it; and at last I said, "It will do also." And then I +turned to the fire, and, putting my feet against the sides of the grate, +I leaned back on my chair, and, with my eyes upon the fire, fell into +deep thought. + +And there I continued in thought before the fire, until my eyes closed, +and I fell asleep; which was not to be wondered at, after the fatigue and +cold which I had lately undergone on the coach-top; and, in my sleep, I +imagined myself still there, amidst darkness and rain, hurrying now over +wild heaths, and now along roads overhung with thick and umbrageous +trees, and sometimes methought I heard the horn of the guard, and +sometimes the voice of the coachman, now chiding, now encouraging his +horses, as they toiled through the deep and miry ways. At length a +tremendous crack of a whip saluted the tympanum of my ear, and I started +up broad awake, nearly oversetting the chair on which I reclined--and, +lo! I was in the dingy room before the fire, which was by this time half +extinguished. In my dream I had confounded the noise of the street with +those of my night-journey; the crack which had aroused me I soon found +proceeded from the whip of a carter, who, with many oaths, was flogging +his team below the window. + +Looking at a clock which stood upon the mantelpiece, I perceived that it +was past eleven; whereupon I said to myself, "I am wasting my time +foolishly and unprofitably, forgetting that I am now in the big world, +without anything to depend upon save my own exertions;" and then I +adjusted my dress, and, locking up the bundle of papers which I had not +read, I tied up the other, and, taking it under my arm, I went +downstairs; and, after asking a question or two of the people of the +house, I sallied forth into the street with a determined look, though at +heart I felt somewhat timorous at the idea of venturing out alone into +the mazes of the mighty city, of which I had heard much, but of which, of +my own knowledge, I knew nothing. + +I had, however, no great cause for anxiety in the present instance; I +easily found my way to the place which I was in quest of--one of the many +new squares on the northern side of the metropolis, and which was +scarcely ten minutes' walk from the street in which I had taken up my +abode. Arriving before the door of a tolerably large house which bore a +certain number, I stood still for a moment in a kind of trepidation, +looking anxiously at the door; I then slowly passed on till I came to the +end of the square, where I stood still, and pondered for a while. +Suddenly, however, like one who has formed a resolution, I clenched my +right hand, flinging my hat somewhat on one side, and, turning back with +haste to the door before which I had stopped, I sprang up the steps, and +gave a loud rap, ringing at the same time the bell of the area. After +the lapse of a minute the door was opened by a maid-servant of no very +cleanly or prepossessing appearance, of whom I demanded, in a tone of +some hauteur, whether the master of the house was at home. Glancing for +a moment at the white paper bundle beneath my arm, the handmaid made no +reply in words, but, with a kind of toss of her head, flung the door +open, standing on one side as if to let me enter. I did enter; and the +handmaid, having opened another door on the right hand, went in, and said +something which I could not hear: after a considerable pause, however, I +heard the voice of a man say, "Let him come in;" whereupon the handmaid, +coming out, motioned me to enter, and, on my obeying, instantly closed +the door behind me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +The Sinister Glance--Excellent Correspondent--Quite Original--My System--A +Losing Trade--Merit--Starting a Review--What Have You +Got?--Stop!--Dairyman's Daughter--Oxford Principles--More +Conversation--How is This? + +There were two individuals in the room in which I now found myself; it +was a small study, surrounded with bookcases, the window looking out upon +the square. Of these individuals he who appeared to be the principal +stood with his back to the fireplace. He was a tall stout man, about +sixty, dressed in a loose morning gown. The expression of his +countenance would have been bluff but for a certain sinister glance, and +his complexion might have been called rubicund but for a considerable +tinge of bilious yellow. He eyed me askance as I entered. The other, a +pale, shrivelled-looking person, sat at a table apparently engaged with +an account-book; he took no manner of notice of me, never once lifting +his eyes from the page before him. + +"Well, sir, what is your pleasure!" said the big man, {270} in a rough +tone, as I stood there, looking at him wistfully--as well I might--for +upon that man, at the time of which I am speaking, my principal, I may +say my only, hopes rested. + +"Sir," said I, "my name is so-and-so, and I am the bearer of a letter to +you from Mr. so-and-so, an old friend and correspondent of yours." + +The countenance of the big man instantly lost the suspicious and lowering +expression which it had hitherto exhibited; he strode forward, and, +seizing me by the hand, gave me a violent squeeze. + +"My dear sir," said he, "I am rejoiced to see you in London. I have been +long anxious for the pleasure--we are old friends, though we have never +before met. Taggart," said he to the man who sat at the desk, "this is +our excellent correspondent, the friend and pupil of our other excellent +correspondent." + +The pale, shrivelled-looking man slowly and deliberately raised his head +from the account-book, and surveyed me for a moment or two; not the +slightest emotion was observable in his countenance. It appeared to me, +however, that I could detect a droll twinkle in his eye: his curiosity, +if he had any, was soon gratified; he made me a kind of bow, pulled out a +snuff-box, took a pinch of snuff, and again bent his head over the page. + +"And now, my dear sir," said the big man, "pray sit down, and tell me the +cause of your visit. I hope you intend to remain here a day or two." + +"More than that," said I, "I am come to take up my abode in London." + +"Glad to hear it; and what have you been about of late? got anything +which will suit me? Sir, I admire your style of writing, and your manner +of thinking; and I am much obliged to my good friend and correspondent +for sending me some of your productions. I inserted them all, and wished +there had been more of them--quite original, sir, quite: took with the +public, especially the essay about the non-existence of anything. I +don't exactly agree with you though; I have my own peculiar ideas about +matter--as you know, of course, from the book I have published. +Nevertheless, a very pretty piece of speculative philosophy--no such +thing as matter--impossible that there should be--_ex nihilo_--what is +the Greek? I have forgot--very pretty indeed; very original." + +"I am afraid, sir, it was very wrong to write such trash, and yet more to +allow it to be published." + +"Trash! not at all; a very pretty piece of speculative philosophy; of +course you were wrong in saying there is no world. The world must exist, +to have the shape of a pear; and that the world is shaped like a pear, +and not like an apple, as the fools of Oxford say, I have satisfactorily +proved in my book. Now, if there were no world, what would become of my +system? But what do you propose to do in London?" + +"Here is the letter, sir," said I, "of our good friend, which I have not +yet given to you; I believe it will explain to you the circumstances +under which I come." + +He took the letter, and perused it with attention. "Hem!" said he, with +a somewhat altered manner, "my friend tells me that you are come up to +London with the view of turning your literary talents to account, and +desires me to assist you in my capacity of publisher in bringing forth +two or three works which you have prepared. My good friend is perhaps +not aware that for some time past I have given up publishing--was obliged +to do so--had many severe losses--do nothing at present in that line, +save sending out the Magazine once a month; and, between ourselves, am +thinking of disposing of that--wish to retire--high time at my age--so +you see--" + +"I am very sorry, sir, to hear that you cannot assist me" (and I remember +that I felt very nervous); "I had hoped--" + +"A losing trade, I assure you, sir; literature is a drug. Taggart, what +o'clock is it?" + +"Well, sir!" said I, rising, "as you cannot assist me, I will now take my +leave; I thank you sincerely for your kind reception, and will trouble +you no longer." + +"Oh, don't go. I wish to have some farther conversation with you; and +perhaps I may hit upon some plan to benefit you. I honour merit, and +always make a point to encourage it when I can; but, . . . Taggart, go to +the bank, and tell them to dishonour the bill twelve months after date +for thirty pounds which becomes due to-morrow. I am dissatisfied with +that fellow who wrote the fairy tales, and intend to give him all the +trouble in my power. Make haste." + +Taggart did not appear to be in any particular haste. First of all, he +took a pinch of snuff, then, rising from his chair, slowly and +deliberately drew his wig, for he wore a wig of a brown colour, rather +more over his forehead than it had previously been, buttoned his coat, +and, taking his hat, and an umbrella which stood in a corner, made me a +low bow, and quitted the room. + +"Well, sir, where were we? Oh, I remember, we were talking about merit. +Sir, I always wish to encourage merit, especially when it comes so highly +recommended as in the present instance. Sir, my good friend and +correspondent speaks of you in the highest terms. Sir, I honour my good +friend, and have the highest respect for his opinion in all matters +connected with literature--rather eccentric though. Sir, my good friend +has done my periodical more good and more harm than all the rest of my +correspondents. Sir, I shall never forget the sensation caused by the +appearance of his article about a certain personage whom he proved--and I +think satisfactorily--to have been a legionary soldier--rather startling, +was it not? The S--- of the world a common soldier, in a marching +regiment--original, but startling; sir, I honour my good friend." + +"So you have renounced publishing, sir," said I, "with the exception of +the Magazine?" + +"Why, yes; except now and then, under the rose; the old coachman, you +know, likes to hear the whip. Indeed, at the present moment, I am +thinking of starting a Review on an entirely new and original principle; +and it just struck me that you might be of high utility in the +undertaking--what do you think of the matter?" + +"I should be happy, sir, to render you any assistance, but I am afraid +the employment you propose requires other qualifications than I possess; +however, I can make the essay. My chief intention in coming to London +was to lay before the world what I had prepared; and I had hoped by your +assistance--" + +"Ah! I see, ambition! Ambition is a very pretty thing; but, sir, we +must walk before we run, according to the old saying--what is that you +have got under your arm?" + +"One of the works to which I was alluding; the one, indeed, which I am +most anxious to lay before the world, as I hope to derive from it both +profit and reputation." + +"Indeed! what do you call it?" + +"Ancient songs of Denmark, heroic and romantic, translated by myself; +with notes philological, critical, and historical." + +"Then, sir, I assure you that your time and labour have been entirely +flung away; nobody would read your ballads, if you were to give them to +the world to-morrow." + +"I am sure, sir, that you would say otherwise if you would permit me to +read one to you;" and, without waiting for the answer of the big man, nor +indeed so much as looking at him, to see whether he was inclined or not +to hear me, I undid my manuscript, and, with a voice trembling with +eagerness, I read to the following effect:-- + + 'Buckshank bold and Elfinstone, + And more than I can mention here, + They caused to be built so stout a ship, + And unto Iceland they would steer. + + They launched the ship upon the main, + Which bellowed like a wrathful bear; + Down to the bottom the vessel sank, + A laidly Trold has dragged it there. + + Down to the bottom sank young Roland, + And round about he groped awhile; + Until he found the path which led + Unto the bower of Ellenlyle.'" + +"Stop!" said the publisher; "very pretty indeed, and very original; beats +Scott hollow, and Percy too: but, sir, the day for these things is gone +by; nobody at present cares for Percy, nor for Scott, either, save as a +novelist; sorry to discourage merit, sir, but what can I do! What else +have you got?" + +"The songs of Ab Gwilym, the Welsh bard, also translated by myself, with +notes critical, philological, and historical." + +"Pass on--what else?" + +"Nothing else," said I, folding up my manuscript with a sigh, "unless it +be a romance in the German style; on which, I confess, I set very little +value." + +"Wild?" + +"Yes, sir, very wild." + +"Like the 'Miller of the Black Valley'?" + +"Yes, sir, very much like the 'Miller of the Black Valley.'" + +"Well, that's better," said the publisher; "and yet, I don't know, I +question whether any one at present cares for the miller himself. No, +sir, the time for those things is also gone by; German, at present, is a +drug; and, between ourselves, nobody has contributed to make it so more +than my good friend and correspondent;--but, sir, I see you are a young +gentleman of infinite merit, and I always wish to encourage merit. Don't +you think you could write a series of evangelical tales?" + +"Evangelical tales, sir?" + +"Yes, sir, evangelical novels." + +"Something in the style of Herder?" + +"Herder is a drug, sir; nobody cares for Herder--thanks to my good +friend. Sir, I have in yon drawer a hundred pages about Herder, which I +dare not insert in my periodical; it would sink it, sir. No, sir, +something in the style of the 'Dairyman's Daughter.'" {278} + +"I never heard of the work till the present moment." + +"Then, sir, procure it by all means. Sir, I could afford as much as ten +pounds for a well-written tale in the style of the 'Dairyman's Daughter'; +that is the kind of literature, sir, that sells at the present day! It +is not the Miller of the Black Valley--no, sir, nor Herder either, that +will suit the present taste; the evangelical body is becoming very +strong, sir; the canting scoundrels--" + +"But, sir, surely you would not pander to a scoundrelly taste?" + +"Then, sir, I must give up business altogether. Sir, I have a great +respect for the goddess Reason--an infinite respect, sir; indeed, in my +time, I have made a great many sacrifices for her; but, sir, I cannot +altogether ruin myself for the goddess Reason. Sir, I am a friend to +Liberty, as is well known; but I must also be a friend to my own family. +It is with the view of providing for a son of mine that I am about to +start the Review of which I was speaking. He has taken into his head to +marry, sir, and I must do something for him, for he can do but little for +himself. Well, sir, I am a friend to Liberty, as I said before, and +likewise a friend to Reason; but I tell you frankly that the Review which +I intend to get up under the rose, and present him with when it is +established, will be conducted on Oxford principles." + +"Orthodox principles, I suppose you mean, sir?" + +"I do, sir; I am no linguist, but I believe the words are synonymous." + +Much more conversation passed between us, and it was agreed that I should +become a contributor to the "Oxford Review." I stipulated, however, +that, as I knew little of politics, and cared less, no other articles +should be required from me than such as were connected with +belles-lettres and philology; to this the big man readily assented. +"Nothing will be required from you," said he, "but what you mention; and +now and then, perhaps, a paper on metaphysics. You understand German, +and perhaps it would be desirable that you should review Kant; and in a +review of Kant, sir, you could introduce to advantage your peculiar +notions about _ex nihilo_." He then reverted to the subject of the +"Dairyman's Daughter," which I promised to take into consideration. As I +was going away, he invited me to dine with him on the ensuing Sunday. + +"That's a strange man!" said I to myself, after I had left the house; "he +is evidently very clever; but I cannot say that I like him much, with his +'Oxford Reviews' and 'Dairyman's Daughters.' But what can I do? I am +almost without a friend in the world. I wish I could find some one who +would publish my ballads, or my songs of Ab Gwilym. In spite of what the +big man says, I am convinced that, once published, they would bring me +much fame and profit. But how is this?--what a beautiful sun!--the +porter was right in saying that the day would clear up--I will now go to +my dingy lodging, lock up my manuscripts, and then take a stroll about +the big city." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +The Walk--London's Cheape--Street of the Lombards--Strange Bridge--Main +Arch--The Roaring Gulf--The Boat--Clyfaking--A Comfort--The Book--The +Blessed Woman--No Trap. + +So I set out on my walk to see the wonders of the big city, and, as +chance would have it, I directed my course to the east. The day, as I +have already said, had become very fine, so that I saw the great city to +advantage, and the wonders thereof: and much I admired all I saw; and, +amongst other things, the huge cathedral, standing so proudly on the most +commanding ground in the big city; and I looked up to the mighty dome, +surmounted by a golden cross, and I said within myself, "That dome must +needs be the finest in the world;" and I gazed upon it till my eyes +reeled, and my brain became dizzy, and I thought that the dome would fall +and crush me; and I shrank within myself, and struck yet deeper into the +heart of the big city. + +"O Cheapside! Cheapside!" said I, as I advanced up that mighty +thoroughfare, "truly thou art a wonderful place for hurry, noise, and +riches! Men talk of the bazaars of the East--I have never seen them--but +I dare say that, compared with thee, they are poor places, silent places, +abounding with empty boxes, O thou pride of London's east!--mighty mart +of old renown!--for thou art not a place of yesterday:--long before the +Roses red and white battled in fair England, thou didst exist--a place of +throng and bustle--a place of gold and silver, perfumes and fine linen. +Centuries ago thou couldst extort the praises even of the fiercest foes +of England. Fierce bards of Wales, sworn foes of England, sang thy +praises centuries ago; and even the fiercest of them all, Red Julius +himself, wild Glendower's bard, had a word of praise for London's +'Cheape,' for so the bards of Wales styled thee in their flowing odes. +Then, if those who were not English, and hated England, and all connected +therewith, had yet much to say in thy praise, when thou wast far inferior +to what thou art now, why should true-born Englishmen, or those who call +themselves so, turn up their noses at thee, and scoff thee at the present +day, as I believe they do? But, let others do as they will, I, at least, +who am not only an Englishman, but an East Englishman, will not turn up +my nose at thee, but will praise and extol thee, calling thee mart of the +world--a place of wonder and astonishment!--and, were it right and +fitting to wish that anything should endure for ever, I would say +prosperity to Cheapside, throughout all ages--may it be the world's +resort for merchandise, world without end." + +And when I had passed through the Cheape I entered another street, which +led up a kind of ascent, and which proved to be the street of the +Lombards, called so from the name of its first founders; and I walked +rapidly up the street of the Lombards, neither looking to the right nor +left, for it had no interest for me, though I had a kind of consciousness +that mighty things were being transacted behind its walls; but it wanted +the throng, bustle, and outward magnificence of the Cheape, and it had +never been spoken of by "ruddy bards"! And, when I had got to the end of +the street of the Lombards, I stood still for some time, deliberating +within myself whether I should turn to the right or the left, or go +straight forward, and at last I turned to the right, down a street of +rapid descent, and presently found myself upon a bridge which traversed +the river which runs by the big city. + +A strange kind of bridge it was; huge and massive, and seemingly of great +antiquity. It had an arched back, like that of a hog, a high balustrade, +and at either side, at intervals, were stone bowers bulking over the +river, but open on the other side, and furnished with a semicircular +bench. Though the bridge was wide--very wide--it was all too narrow for +the concourse upon it. Thousands of human beings were pouring over the +bridge. But what chiefly struck my attention was a double row of carts +and wagons, the generality drawn by horses as large as elephants, each +row striving hard in a different direction, and not unfrequently brought +to a standstill. Oh the cracking of whips, the shouts and oaths of the +carters, and the grating of wheels upon the enormous stones that formed +the pavement! In fact, there was a wild hurly-burly upon the bridge, +which nearly deafened me. But, if upon the bridge there was a confusion, +below it there was a confusion ten times confounded. The tide, which was +fast ebbing, obstructed by the immense piers of the old bridge, poured +beneath the arches with a fall of several feet, forming in the river +below as many whirlpools as there were arches. Truly tremendous was the +roar of the descending waters, and the bellow of the tremendous gulfs, +which swallowed them for a time, and then cast them forth, foaming and +frothing from their horrid wombs. Slowly advancing along the bridge, I +came to the highest point, and there I stood still, close beside one of +the stone bowers, in which, beside a fruit-stall, sat an old woman, with +a pan of charcoal at her feet, and a book in her hand, in which she +appeared to be reading intently. There I stood, just above the principal +arch, looking through the balustrade at the scene that presented +itself--and such a scene! Towards the left bank of the river, a forest +of masts, thick and close, as far as the eye could reach; spacious +wharfs, surmounted with gigantic edifices; and, far away, Caesar's +Castle, with its White Tower. To the right, another forest of masts, and +a maze of buildings, from which, here and there, shot up to the sky +chimneys taller than Cleopatra's Needle, vomiting forth huge wreaths of +that black smoke which forms the canopy--occasionally a gorgeous one--of +the more than Babel city. Stretching before me, the troubled breast of +the mighty river, and, immediately below, the main whirlpool of the +Thames--the Maelstrom of the bulwarks of the middle arch--a grisly pool, +which, with its superabundance of horror, fascinated me. Who knows but I +should have leapt into its depths?--I have heard of such things--but for +a rather startling occurrence which broke the spell. As I stood upon the +bridge, gazing into the jaws of the pool, a small boat shot suddenly +through the arch beneath my feet. There were three persons in it; an +oarsman in the middle, whilst a man and woman sat at the stern. I shall +never forget the thrill of horror which went through me at this sudden +apparition. What!--a boat--a small boat--passing beneath that arch into +yonder roaring gulf! Yes, yes, down through that awful water-way, with +more than the swiftness of an arrow, shot the boat, or skiff, right into +the jaws of the pool. A monstrous breaker curls over the prow--there is +no hope; the boat is swamped, and all drowned in that strangling vortex! +No! the boat, which appeared to have the buoyancy of a feather, skipped +over the threatening horror, and, the next moment, was out of danger, the +boatman--a true boatman of Cockaigne that--elevating one of his sculls in +sign of triumph, the man hallooing, and the woman, a true Englishwoman +that--of a certain class--waving her shawl. Whether any one observed +them save myself, or whether the feat was a common one, I know not; but +nobody appeared to take any notice of them. As for myself, I was so +excited, that I strove to clamber up the balustrade of the bridge, in +order to obtain a better view of the daring adventurers. Before I could +accomplish my design, however, I felt myself seized by the body, and, +turning my head, perceived the old fruit-woman, who was clinging to me. + +"Nay, dear! don't--don't!" said she. "Don't fling yourself over--perhaps +you may have better luck next time!" + +"I was not going to fling myself over," said I, dropping from the +balustrade; "how came you to think of such a thing?" + +"Why, seeing you clamber up so fiercely, I thought you might have had ill +luck, and that you wished to make away with yourself." + +"Ill luck," said I, going into the stone bower, and sitting down. "What +do you mean? ill luck in what?" + +"Why, no great harm, dear! clyfaking perhaps." + +"Are you coming over me with dialects," said I, "speaking unto me in +fashions I wot nothing of?" + +"Nay, dear! don't look so strange with those eyes of your'n, nor talk so +strangely; I don't understand you." + +"Nor I you; what do you mean by clyfaking?" + +"Lor, dear! no harm; only taking a handkerchief now and then." + +"Do you take me for a thief?" + +"Nay, dear! don't make use of bad language; we never calls them thieves +here, but prigs and fakers: to tell you the truth, dear, seeing you +spring at that railing put me in mind of my own dear son, who is now at +Bot'ny: when he had bad luck, he always used to talk of flinging himself +over the bridge; and, sure enough, when the traps were after him, he did +fling himself into the river, but that was off the bank; nevertheless, +the traps pulled him out, and he is now suffering his sentence; so you +see you may speak out, if you have done anything in the harmless line, +for I am my son's own mother, I assure you." + +"So you think there's no harm in stealing?" + +"No harm in the world, dear! Do you think my own child would have been +transported for it, if there had been any harm in it? and, what's more, +would the blessed woman in the book here have written her life as she has +done, and given it to the world, if there had been any harm in faking? +She, too, was what they call a thief and a cut-purse; ay, and was +transported for it, like my dear son; and do you think she would have +told the world so, if there had been any harm in the thing? Oh, it is a +comfort to me that the blessed woman was transported, and came back--for +come back she did, and rich too--for it is an assurance to me that my +dear son, who was transported too, will come back like her." + +"What was her name?" + +"Her name, blessed Mary Flanders." + +"Will you let me look at the book?" + +"Yes, dear, that I will, if you promise me not to run away with it." + +I took the book from her hand; a short thick volume, at least a century +old, bound with greasy black leather. I turned the yellow and +dog's-eared pages, reading here and there a sentence. Yes, and no +mistake! _His_ pen, his style, his spirit might be observed in every +line of the uncouth-looking old volume--the air, the style, the spirit of +the writer of the book which first taught me to read. {287} I covered my +face with my hand, and thought of my childhood . . . + +"This is a singular book," said I at last; "but it does not appear to +have been written to prove that thieving is no harm, but rather to show +the terrible consequences of crime: it contains a deep moral." + +"A deep what, dear?" + +"A . . . but no matter; I will give you a crown for this volume." + +"No, dear, I will not sell the volume for a crown." + +"I am poor," said I; "but I will give you two silver crowns for your +volume." + +"No, dear, I will not sell my volume for two silver crowns; no, nor for +the golden one in the king's Tower down there; without my book I should +mope and pine, and perhaps fling myself into the river; but I am glad you +like it, which shows that I was right about you, after all; you are one +of our party, and you have a flash about that eye of yours which puts me +just in mind of my dear son. No, dear, I won't sell you my book; but, if +you like, you may have a peep into it whenever you come this way. I +shall be glad to see you; you are one of the right sort, for, if you had +been a common one, you would have run away with the thing; but you scorn +such behaviour, and, as you are so flash of your money, though you say +you are poor, you may give me a tanner to buy a little baccy with; I love +baccy, dear, more by token that it comes from the plantations to which +the blessed woman was sent." + +"What's a tanner?" said I. + +"Lor! don't you know, dear? Why, a tanner is sixpence; and, as you were +talking just now about crowns, it will be as well to tell you that those +of our trade never calls them crowns, but bulls; but I am talking +nonsense, just as if you did not know all that already, as well as +myself; you are only shamming--I'm no trap, dear, nor more was the +blessed woman in the book. Thank you, dear--thank you for the tanner; if +I don't spend it, I'll keep it in remembrance of your sweet face. What, +you are going?--well, first let me whisper a word to you. If you have +any clies to sell at any time, I'll buy them of you; all safe with me; I +never 'peach, and scorns a trap; so now, dear, God bless you! and give +you good luck. Thank you for your pleasant company, and thank you for +the tanner." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +The Tanner--The Hotel--Drinking Claret--London Journal--New +Field--Commonplaceness--The Three Individuals--Botheration--Frank and +Ardent. + +"'Tanner!" said I, musingly, as I left the bridge; "Tanner! what can the +man who cures raw skins by means of a preparation of oak bark and other +materials have to do with the name which these fakers, as they call +themselves, bestow on the smallest silver coin in these dominions? +Tanner! I can't trace the connection between the man of bark and the +silver coin, unless journeymen tanners are in the habit of working for +sixpence a day. But I have it," I continued, flourishing my hat over my +head, "tanner, in this instance, is not an English word." Is it not +surprising that the language of Mr. Petulengro and of Tawno Chikno is +continually coming to my assistance whenever I appear to be at a nonplus +with respect to the derivation of crabbed words? I have made out crabbed +words in AEschylus by means of the speech of Chikno and Petulengro, and +even in my Biblical researches I have derived no slight assistance from +it. It appears to be a kind of picklock, an open sesame, Tanner--Tawno! +the one is but a modification of the other; they were originally +identical, and have still much the same signification. Tanner, in the +language of the apple-woman, meaneth the smallest of English silver +coins; and Tawno, in the language of the Petulengres, though bestowed +upon the biggest of the Romans, according to strict interpretation, +signifieth a little child. + +So I left the bridge, retracing my steps for a considerable way, as I +thought I had seen enough in the direction in which I had hitherto been +wandering; I should say that I scarcely walked less than thirty miles +about the big city on the day of my first arrival. Night came on, but +still I was walking about, my eyes wide open, and admiring everything +that presented itself to them. Everything was new to me, for everything +is different in London from what it is elsewhere--the people, their +language, the horses, the _tout ensemble_--even the stones of London are +different from others--at least it appeared to me that I had never walked +with the same ease and facility on the flagstones of a country town as on +those of London; so I continued roving about till night came on, and then +the splendour of some of the shops particularly struck me. "A regular +Arabian Nights' entertainment!" said I, as I looked into one on Cornhill, +gorgeous with precious merchandise, and lighted up with lustres, the rays +of which were reflected from a hundred mirrors. + +But, notwithstanding the excellence of the London pavement, I began about +nine o'clock to feel myself thoroughly tired; painfully and slowly did I +drag my feet along. I also felt very much in want of some refreshment, +and I remembered that since breakfast I had taken nothing. I was now in +the Strand, and, glancing about, I perceived that I was close by an +hotel, which bore over the door the somewhat remarkable name of Holy +Lands. Without a moment's hesitation I entered a well-lighted passage, +and, turning to the left, I found myself in a well-lighted coffee-room, +with a well-dressed and frizzled waiter before me. "Bring me some +claret," said I, for I was rather faint than hungry, and I felt ashamed +to give a humbler order to so well-dressed an individual. The waiter +looked at me for a moment; then, making a low bow, he bustled off, and I +sat myself down in the box nearest to the window. Presently the waiter +returned, bearing beneath his left arm a long bottle, and between the +fingers of his right hand two large purple glasses; placing the latter on +the table, he produced a cork-screw, drew the cork in a twinkling, set +the bottle down before me with a bang, and then, standing still, appeared +to watch my movements. You think I don't know how to drink a glass of +claret, thought I to myself. I'll soon show you how we drink claret +where I come from; and, filling one of the glasses to the brim, I +flickered it for a moment between my eyes and the lustre, and then held +it to my nose; having given that organ full time to test the bouquet of +the wine, I applied the glass to my lips, taking a large mouthful of the +wine, which I swallowed slowly and by degrees, that the palate might +likewise have an opportunity of performing its functions. A second +mouthful I disposed of more summarily; then, placing the empty glass upon +the table, I fixed my eyes upon the bottle, and said--nothing; whereupon +the waiter, who had been observing the whole process with considerable +attention, made me a bow yet more low than before, and, turning on his +heel, retired with a smart chuck of his head, as much as to say, It is +all right; the young man is used to claret. + +And when the waiter had retired I took a second glass of the wine, which +I found excellent; and, observing a newspaper lying near me, I took it up +and began perusing it. It has been observed somewhere that people who +are in the habit of reading newspapers every day are not unfrequently +struck with the excellence of style and general talent which they +display. Now, if that be the case, how must I have been surprised, who +was reading a newspaper for the first time, and that one of the best of +the London journals! Yes, strange as it may seem, it was nevertheless +true that, up to the moment of which I am speaking, I had never read a +newspaper of any description. {293} I of course had frequently seen +journals, and even handled them; but, as for reading them, what were they +to me?--I cared not for news. But here I was now with my claret before +me, perusing, perhaps, the best of all the London journals--it was not +the -----and I was astonished: an entirely new field of literature +appeared to be opened to my view. It was a discovery, but I confess +rather an unpleasant one; for I said to myself, if literary talent is so +very common in London, that the journals, things which, as their very +name denotes, are ephemeral, are written in a style like the article I +have been perusing, how can I hope to distinguish myself in this big +town, when, for the life of me, I don't think I could write anything half +so clever as what I have been reading. And then I laid down the paper, +and fell into deep musing; rousing myself from which, I took a glass of +wine, and, pouring out another, began musing again. What I have been +reading, thought I, is certainly very clever and very talented; but +talent and cleverness I think I have heard some one say are very +commonplace things, only fitted for everyday occasions. I question +whether the man who wrote the book I saw this day on the bridge was a +clever man; but, after all, was he not something much better? I don't +think he could have written this article, but then he wrote the book +which I saw on the bridge. Then, if he could not have written the +article on which I now hold my forefinger--and I do not believe he +could--why should I feel discouraged at the consciousness that I, too, +could not write it? I certainly could no more have written the article +than he could; but then, like him, though I would not compare myself to +the man who wrote the book I saw upon the bridge, I think I could--and +here I emptied the glass of claret--write something better. + +Thereupon I resumed the newspaper; and, as I was before struck with the +fluency of style and the general talent which it displayed, I was now +equally so with its commonplaceness and want of originality on every +subject; and it was evident to me that, whatever advantage these +newspaper-writers might have over me in some points, they had never +studied the Welsh bards, translated Koempe Viser, or been under the +pupilage of Mr. Petulengro and Tawno Chikno. + +And as I sat conning the newspaper three individuals entered the room, +and seated themselves in the box at the farther end of which I was. They +were all three very well dressed; two of them elderly gentlemen, the +third a young man about my own age, or perhaps a year or two older: they +called for coffee; and, after two or three observations, the two eldest +commenced a conversation in French, which, however, though they spoke it +fluently enough, I perceived at once was not their native language; the +young man, however, took no part in their conversation, and when they +addressed a portion to him, which indeed was but rarely, merely replied +by a monosyllable. I have never been a listener, and I paid but little +heed to their discourse, nor indeed to themselves; as I occasionally +looked up, however, I could perceive that the features of the young man, +who chanced to be seated exactly opposite to me, wore an air of +constraint and vexation. This circumstance caused me to observe him more +particularly than I otherwise should have done: his features were +handsome and prepossessing; he had dark brown hair and a high-arched +forehead. After the lapse of half an hour, the two elder individuals, +having finished their coffee, called for the waiter, and then rose as if +to depart, the young man, however, still remaining seated in the box. The +others, having reached the door, turned round, and, finding that the +youth did not follow them, one of them called to him with a tone of some +authority; whereupon the young man rose, and, pronouncing half audibly +the word "botheration," rose and followed them. I now observed that he +was remarkably tall. All three left the house. In about ten minutes, +finding nothing more worth reading in the newspaper, I laid it down, and +though the claret was not yet exhausted, I was thinking of betaking +myself to my lodgings, and was about to call the waiter, when I heard a +step in the passage, and in another moment the tall young man entered the +room, advanced to the same box, and, sitting down nearly opposite to me, +again pronounced to himself, but more audibly than before, the same word. + +"A troublesome world this, sir," said I, looking at him. + +"Yes," said the young man, looking fixedly at me; "but I am afraid we +bring most of our troubles on our own heads--at least I can say so of +myself," he added, laughing. Then, after a pause, "I beg pardon," he +said, "but am I not addressing one of my own country?" + +"Of what country are you?" said I. + +"Ireland." + +"I am not of your country, sir; but I have an infinite veneration for +your country, as Strap said to the French soldier. Will you take a glass +of wine?" + +"Ah, _de tout mon coeur_, as the parasite said to Gil Blas," cried the +young man, laughing. "Here's to our better acquaintance!" + +And better acquainted we soon became; and I found that, in making the +acquaintance of the young man, I had, indeed, made a valuable +acquisition; he was accomplished, highly connected, and bore the name of +Francis Ardry. Frank and ardent he was, and in a very little time had +told me much that related to himself, and in return I communicated a +general outline of my own history; he listened with profound attention, +but laughed heartily when I told him some particulars of my visit in the +morning to the publisher, whom he had frequently heard of. + +We left the house together. + +"We shall soon see each other again," said he, as we separated at the +door of my lodging. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +Dine with the Publisher--Religions--No Animal Food--Unprofitable +Discussions--Principles of Criticism--The Book Market--Newgate +Lives--Goethe a Drug--German Acquirements--Moral Dignity. + +On the Sunday I was punctual to my appointment to dine with the +publisher. As I hurried along the square in which his house stood, my +thoughts were fixed so intently on the great man, that I passed by him +without seeing him. He had observed me, however, and joined me just as I +was about to knock at the door. "Let us take a turn in the square," said +he; "we shall not dine for half an hour." + +"Well," said he, as we were walking in the square, "what have you been +doing since I last saw you?" + +"I have been looking about London," said I, "and I have bought the +'Dairyman's Daughter'; here it is." + +"Pray put it up," said the publisher; "I don't want to look at such +trash. Well, do you think you could write anything like it?" + +"I do not," said I. + +"How is that?" said the publisher, looking at me. + +"Because," said I, "the man who wrote it seems to be perfectly well +acquainted with his subject; and, moreover, to write from the heart." + +"By the subject you mean--" + +"Religion." + +"And a'n't you acquainted with religion?" + +"Very little." + +"I am sorry for that," said the publisher, seriously, "for he who sets up +for an author ought to be acquainted not only with religion, but +religions, and indeed with all subjects, like my good friend in the +country. It is well that I have changed my mind about the 'Dairyman's +Daughter,' or I really don't know whom I could apply to on the subject at +the present moment, unless to himself; and after all I question whether +his style is exactly suited for an evangelical novel." + +"Then you do not wish for an imitation of the 'Dairyman's Daughter'?" + +"I do not, sir; I have changed my mind, as I told you before; I wish to +employ you in another line, but will communicate to you my intentions +after dinner." + +At dinner, beside the publisher and myself, were present his wife and +son, with his newly married bride; the wife appeared a quiet respectable +woman, and the young people looked very happy and good-natured; not so +the publisher, who occasionally eyed both with contempt and dislike. +Connected with this dinner there was one thing remarkable; the publisher +took no animal food, but contented himself with feeding voraciously on +rice and vegetables prepared in various ways. + +"You eat no animal food, sir?" said I. + +"I do not, sir," said he; "I have forsworn it upwards of twenty years. In +one respect, sir, I am a Brahmin. I abhor taking away life--the brutes +have as much right to live as ourselves." + +"But," said I, "if the brutes were not killed, there would be such a +superabundance of them, that the land would be overrun with them." + +"I do not think so, sir; few are killed in India, and yet there is plenty +of room." + +"But," said I, "nature intended that they should be destroyed, and the +brutes themselves prey upon one another, and it is well for themselves +and the world that they do so. What would be the state of things if +every insect, bird, and worm were left to perish of old age?" + +"We will change the subject," said the publisher; "I have never been a +friend of unprofitable discussions." + +I looked at the publisher with some surprise, I had not been accustomed +to be spoken to so magisterially; his countenance was dressed in a +portentous frown, and his eye looked more sinister than ever; at that +moment he put me in mind of some of those despots of whom I had read in +the history of Morocco, whose word was law. He merely wants power, +thought I to myself, to be a regular Muley Mehemet; and then I sighed, +for I remembered how very much I was in the power of that man. + +The dinner over, the publisher nodded to his wife, who departed, followed +by her daughter-in-law. The son looked as if he would willingly have +attended them; he, however, remained seated; and, a small decanter of +wine being placed on the table, the publisher filled two glasses, one of +which he handed to myself, and the other to his son; saying, "Suppose you +two drink to the success of the Review. I would join you," said he, +addressing himself to me, "but I drink no wine; if I am a Brahmin with +respect to meat, I am a Mahometan with respect to wine." + +So the son and I drank success to the Review, and then the young man +asked me various questions; for example--How I liked London?--Whether I +did not think it a very fine place?--Whether I was at the play the night +before?--and Whether I was in the park that afternoon? He seemed +preparing to ask me some more questions; but, receiving a furious look +from his father, he became silent, filled himself a glass of wine, drank +it off, looked at the table for about a minute, then got up, pushed back +his chair, made me a bow, and left the room. + +"Is that young gentleman, sir," said I, "well versed in the principles of +criticism?" + +"He is not, sir," said the publisher; "and, if I place him at the head of +the Review ostensibly, I do it merely in the hope of procuring him a +maintenance; of the principle of a thing he knows nothing, except that +the principle of bread is wheat, and that the principle of that wine is +grape. Will you take another glass?" + +I looked at the decanter; but, not feeling altogether so sure as the +publisher's son with respect to the principle of what it contained, I +declined taking any more. + +"No, sir," said the publisher, adjusting himself in his chair, "he knows +nothing about criticism, and will have nothing more to do with the +reviewals than carrying about the books to those who have to review them; +the real conductor of the Review will be a widely different person, to +whom I will, when convenient, introduce you. And now we will talk of the +matter which we touched upon before dinner: I told you then that I had +changed my mind with respect to you; I have been considering the state of +the market, sir, the book market, and I have come to the conclusion that, +though you might be profitably employed upon evangelical novels, you +could earn more money for me, sir, and consequently for yourself, by a +compilation of Newgate lives and trials." + +"Newgate lives and trials!" + +"Yes, sir," said the publisher, "Newgate lives and trials; and now, sir, +I will briefly state to you the services which I expect you to perform, +and the terms which I am willing to grant. I expect you, sir, to compile +six volumes of Newgate lives and trials, each volume to contain by no +manner of means less than one thousand pages; the remuneration which you +will receive when the work is completed will be fifty pounds, which is +likewise intended to cover any expenses you may incur in procuring books, +papers, and manuscripts necessary for the compilation. Such will be one +of your employments, sir,--such the terms. In the second place, you will +be expected to make yourself useful in the Review--generally useful, +sir--doing whatever is required of you; for it is not customary, at least +with me, to permit writers, especially young writers, to choose their +subjects. In these two departments, sir, namely, compilation and +reviewing, I had yesterday, after due consideration, determined upon +employing you. I had intended to employ you no farther, sir--at least +for the present; but, sir, this morning I received a letter from my +valued friend in the country, in which he speaks in terms of strong +admiration (I don't overstate) of your German acquirements. Sir, he says +that it would be a thousand pities if your knowledge of the German +language should be lost to the world, or even permitted to sleep, and he +entreats me to think of some plan by which it may be turned to account. +Sir, I am at all times willing, if possible, to oblige my worthy friend, +and likewise to encourage merit and talent; I have, therefore, determined +to employ you in German." + +"Sir," said I, rubbing my hands, "you are very kind, and so is our mutual +friend; I shall be happy to make myself useful in German; and if you +think a good translation from Goethe--his 'Sorrows' for example, or more +particularly his 'Faust'--" + +"Sir," said the publisher, "Goethe is a drug; his 'Sorrows' are a drug, +so is his 'Faustus,' more especially the last, since that fool --- +rendered him into English. No, sir, I do not want you to translate +Goethe or anything belonging to him; nor do I want you to translate +anything from the German; what I want you to do, is to translate into +German. I am willing to encourage merit, sir; and, as my good friend in +his last letter has spoken very highly of your German acquirements, I +have determined that you shall translate my book of philosophy into +German." + +"Your book of philosophy into German, sir?" + +"Yes, sir; my book of philosophy into German. I am not a drug, sir, in +Germany as Goethe is here, no more is my book. I intend to print the +translation at Leipzig, sir; and if it turns out a profitable +speculation, as I make no doubt it will, provided the translation be well +executed, I will make you some remuneration. Sir, your remuneration will +be determined by the success of your translation." + +"But, sir--" + +"Sir," said the publisher, interrupting me, "you have heard my +intentions; I consider that you ought to feel yourself highly gratified +by my intentions towards you; it is not frequently that I deal with a +writer, especially a young writer, as I have done with you. And now, +sir, permit me to inform you that I wish to be alone. This is Sunday +afternoon, sir; I never go to church, but I am in the habit of spending +part of every Sunday afternoon alone--profitably I hope, sir--in musing +on the magnificence of nature and the moral dignity of man." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +The Two Volumes--A Young Author--Intended Editor--Quintilian--Loose +Money. + +"What can't be cured must be endured," and "it is hard to kick against +the pricks." + +At the period to which I have brought my history, I bethought me of the +proverbs with which I have headed this chapter, and determined to act up +to their spirit. I determined not to fly in the face of the publisher, +and to bear--what I could not cure--his arrogance and vanity. At +present, at the conclusion of nearly a quarter of a century, I am glad +that I came to that determination, which I did my best to carry into +effect. + +Two or three days after our last interview, the publisher made his +appearance in my apartment; he bore two tattered volumes under his arm, +which he placed on the table. "I have brought you two volumes of lives, +sir," said he, "which I yesterday found in my garret; you will find them +of service for your compilation. As I always wish to behave liberally +and encourage talent, especially youthful talent, I shall make no charge +for them, though I should be justified in so doing, as you are aware +that, by our agreement, you are to provide any books and materials which +may be necessary. Have you been in quest of any?" + +"No," said I, "not yet." + +"Then, sir, I would advise you to lose no time in doing so; you must +visit all the bookstalls, sir, especially those in the by-streets and +blind alleys. It is in such places that you will find the description of +literature you are in want of. You must be up and doing, sir; it will +not do for an author, especially a young author, to be idle in this town. +To-night you will receive my book of philosophy, and likewise books for +the Review. And, by the bye, sir, it will be as well for you to review +my book of philosophy for the Review; the other reviews not having +noticed it. Sir, before translating it, I wish you to review my book of +philosophy for the Review." + +"I shall be happy to do my best, sir." + +"Very good, sir; I should be unreasonable to expect anything beyond a +person's best. And now, sir, if you please, I will conduct you to the +future editor of the Review. {306} As you are to co-operate, sir, I deem +it right to make you acquainted." + +The intended editor was a little old man, who sat in a kind of wooden +pavilion in a small garden behind a house in one of the purlieus of the +city, composing tunes upon a piano. The walls of the pavilion were +covered with fiddles of various sizes and appearances, and a considerable +portion of the floor occupied by a pile of books all of one size. The +publisher introduced him to me as a gentleman scarcely less eminent in +literature than in music, and me to him as an aspirant critic--a young +gentleman scarcely less eminent in philosophy than in philology. The +conversation consisted entirely of compliments till just before we +separated, when the future editor inquired of me whether I had ever read +Quintilian; and, on my replying in the negative, expressed his surprise +that any gentleman should aspire to become a critic who had never read +Quintilian, with the comfortable information, however, that he could +supply me with a Quintilian at half-price, that is, a translation made by +himself some years previously, of which he had, pointing to the heap on +the floor, still a few copies remaining unsold. For some reason or +other, perhaps a poor one, I did not purchase the editor's translation of +Quintilian. + +"Sir," said the publisher, as we were returning from our visit to the +editor, "you did right in not purchasing a drug. I am not prepared, sir, +to say that Quintilian is a drug, never having seen him; but I am +prepared to say that man's translation is a drug, judging from the heap +of rubbish on the floor; besides, sir, you will want any loose money you +may have to purchase the description of literature which is required for +your compilation." + +The publisher presently paused before the entrance of a very +forlorn-looking street. "Sir," said he, after looking down it with +attention, "I should not wonder if in that street you find works +connected with the description of literature which is required for your +compilation. It is in streets of this description, sir, and blind +alleys, where such works are to be found. You had better search that +street, sir, whilst I continue my way." + +I searched the street to which the publisher had pointed, and, in the +course of the three succeeding days, many others of a similar kind. I +did not find the description of literature alluded to by the publisher to +be a drug, but, on the contrary, both scarce and dear. I had expended +much more than my loose money long before I could procure materials even +for the first volume of my compilation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +Francis Ardry--Certain Sharpers--Brave and Eloquent--Opposites--Flinging +the Bones--Strange Places--Dog-Fighting--Learning and Letters--Batch of +Dogs--Redoubled Application. + +One evening I was visited by the tall young gentleman, Francis Ardry, +whose acquaintance I had formed at the coffee-house. As it is necessary +that the reader should know something more about this young man, who will +frequently appear in the course of these pages, I will state in a few +words who and what he was. He was born of an ancient Roman Catholic +family in Ireland; his parents, whose only child he was, had long been +dead. His father, who had survived his mother several years, had been a +spendthrift, and at his death had left the family property considerably +embarrassed. Happily, however, the son and the estate fell into the +hands of careful guardians, near relations of the family, by whom the +property was managed to the best advantage, and every means taken to +educate the young man in a manner suitable to his expectations. At the +age of sixteen he was taken from a celebrated school in England at which +he had been placed, and sent to a small French university, in order that +he might form an intimate and accurate acquaintance with the grand +language of the Continent. There he continued three years, at the end of +which he went under the care of a French abbe to Germany and Italy. It +was in this latter country that he first began to cause his guardians +serious uneasiness. He was in the hey-day of youth when he visited +Italy, and he entered wildly into the various delights of that +fascinating region, and, what was worse, falling into the hands of +certain sharpers, not Italian, but English, he was fleeced of +considerable sums of money. The abbe, who, it seems, was an excellent +individual of the old French school, remonstrated with his pupil on his +dissipation and extravagance; but, finding his remonstrances vain, very +properly informed the guardians of the manner of life of his charge. They +were not slow in commanding Francis Ardry home; and, as he was entirely +in their power, he was forced to comply. He had been about three months +in London when I met him in the coffee-room, and the two elderly +gentlemen in his company were his guardians. At this time they were very +solicitous that he should choose for himself a profession, offering to +his choice either the army or law--he was calculated to shine in either +of these professions--for, like many others of his countrymen, he was +brave and eloquent; but he did not wish to shackle himself with a +profession. As, however, his minority did not terminate till he was +three-and-twenty, of which age he wanted nearly two years, during which +he would be entirely dependent on his guardians, he deemed it expedient +to conceal, to a certain degree, his sentiments, temporising with the old +gentlemen, with whom, notwithstanding his many irregularities, he was a +great favourite, and at whose death he expected to come into a yet +greater property than that which he inherited from his parents. + +Such is a brief account of Francis Ardry--of my friend Francis Ardry; for +the acquaintance, commenced in the singular manner with which the reader +is acquainted, speedily ripened into a friendship which endured through +many long years of separation, and which still endures certainly on my +part, and on his--if he lives; but it is many years since I have heard +from Francis Ardry. + +And yet many people would have thought it impossible for our friendship +to have lasted a week--for in many respects no two people could be more +dissimilar. He was an Irishman--I, an Englishman;--he, fiery, +enthusiastic, and open-hearted;--I, neither fiery, enthusiastic, nor open- +hearted;--he, fond of pleasure and dissipation;--I, of study and +reflection. Yet it is of such dissimilar elements that the most lasting +friendships are formed: we do not like counterparts of ourselves. "Two +great talkers will not travel far together," is a Spanish saying; I will +add, "Nor two silent people;" we naturally love our opposites. + +So Francis Ardry came to see me, and right glad I was to see him, for I +had just flung my books and papers aside, and was wishing for a little +social converse; and when we had conversed for some little time together, +Francis Ardry proposed that we should go to the play to see Kean; so we +went to the play, and saw--not Kean, who at that time was ashamed to show +himself, but--a man who was not ashamed to show himself, and who people +said was a much better man than Kean--as I have no doubt he was--though +whether he was a better actor I cannot say, for I never saw Kean. + +Two or three evenings after Francis Ardry came to see me again, and again +we went out together, and Francis Ardry took me to--shall I say?--why +not?--a gaming house, where I saw people playing, and where I saw Francis +Ardry play and lose five guineas, and where I lost nothing, because I did +not play, though I felt somewhat inclined; for a man with a white hat and +a sparkling eye held up a box which contained something which rattled, +and asked me to fling the bones. "There is nothing like flinging the +bones!" said he, and then I thought I should like to know what kind of +thing flinging the bones was; I, however, restrained myself. "There is +nothing like flinging the bones!" shouted the man, as my friend and +myself left the room. + +Long life and prosperity to Francis Ardry! but for him I should not have +obtained knowledge which I did of the strange and eccentric places of +London. Some of the places to which he took me were very strange places +indeed; but, however strange the places were, I observed that the +inhabitants thought there were no places like their several places, and +no occupations like their several occupations; and among other strange +places to which Francis Ardry conducted me, was a place not far from the +abbey church of Westminster. + +Before we entered this place our ears were greeted by a confused hubbub +of human voices, squealing of rats, barking of dogs, and the cries of +various other animals. Here we beheld a kind of cock-pit, around which a +great many people, seeming of all ranks, but chiefly of the lower, were +gathered, and in it we saw a dog destroy a great many rats in a very +small period; and when the dog had destroyed the rats, we saw a fight +between a dog and a bear, then a fight between two dogs, then . . . + +After the diversions of the day were over, my friend introduced me to the +genius of the place, a small man of about five feet high, with a very +sharp countenance, and dressed in a brown jockey coat, and top-boots. +"Joey," said he, "this is a friend of mine." Joey nodded to me with a +patronising air. "Glad to see you, sir!--want a dog?" + +"No," said I. + +"You have got one, then--want to match him?" + +"We have a dog at home," said I, "in the country; but I can't say I +should like to match him. Indeed, I do not like dog-fighting." + +"Not like dog-fighting!" said the man, staring. + +"The truth is, Joe, that he is just come to town." + +"So I should think; he looks rather green--not like dog-fighting!" + +"Nothing like it, is there, Joey?" + +"I should think not; what is like it? A time will come, and that +speedily, when folks will give up everything else, and follow +dog-fighting." + +"Do you think so?" said I. + +"Think so? Let me ask what there is that a man wouldn't give up for it?" + +"Why," said I, modestly, "there's religion." + +"Religion! How you talk! Why, there's myself, bred and born an +Independent, and intended to be a preacher, didn't I give up religion for +dog-fighting? Religion, indeed! If it were not for the rascally law, my +pit would fill better on Sundays than any other time. Who would go to +church when they could come to my pit? Religion! why, the parsons +themselves come to my pit; and I have now a letter in my pocket from one +of them, asking me to send him a dog." + +"Well, then, politics," said I. + +"Politics! Why the gemmen in the House would leave Pitt himself, if he +were alive, to come to my pit. There were three of the best of them here +to-night, all great horators.--Get on with you! what comes next?" + +"Why, there's learning and letters." + +"Pretty things, truly, to keep people from dog-fighting. Why, there's +the young gentlemen from the Abbey School comes here in shoals, leaving +books, and letters, and masters too. To tell you the truth, I rather +wish they would mind their letters, for a more precious set of young +blackguards I never see'd. It was only the other day I was thinking of +calling in a constable for my own protection, for I thought my pit would +have been torn down by them." + +Scarcely knowing what to say, I made an observation at random. "You +show, by your own conduct," said I, "that there are other things worth +following besides dog-fighting. You practise rat-catching and badger- +baiting as well." + +The dog-fancier eyed me with supreme contempt. + +"Your friend here," said he, "might well call you a new one. When I +talks of dog-fighting, I of course means rat-catching, and +badger-baiting, ay, and bull-baiting too, just as when I speaks +religiously, when I says one I means not one but three. And talking of +religion puts me in mind that I have something else to do besides +chaffing here, having a batch of dogs to send off by this night's packet +to the Pope of Rome." + +But at last I had seen enough of what London had to show, whether strange +or commonplace, so at least I thought, and I ceased to accompany my +friend in his rambles about town, and to partake of his adventures. Our +friendship, however, still continued unabated, though I saw, in +consequence, less of him. I reflected that time was passing on--that the +little money I had brought to town was fast consuming, and that I had +nothing to depend upon but my own exertions for a fresh supply; and I +returned with redoubled application to my pursuits. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +Occupations--Traduttore Traditore--Ode to the Mist--Apple and +Pear--Reviewing--Current Literature--Oxford-like Manner--A Plain +Story--Ill-regulated Mind--Unsnuffed Candle--Strange Dreams. + +I compiled the Chronicles of Newgate; {316a} I reviewed books for the +Review {316b} established on an entirely new principle; and I +occasionally tried my best to translate into German portions of the +publisher's philosophy. In this last task I experienced more than one +difficulty. I was a tolerable German scholar, it is true, and I had long +been able to translate from German into English with considerable +facility; but to translate from a foreign language into your own, is a +widely different thing from translating from your own into a foreign +language; and, in my first attempt to render the publisher into German, I +was conscious of making miserable failures, from pure ignorance of German +grammar; however, by the assistance of grammars and dictionaries, and by +extreme perseverance, I at length overcame all the difficulties connected +with the German language. But, alas! another difficulty remained, far +greater than any connected with German--a difficulty connected with the +language of the publisher--the language which the great man employed in +his writings was very hard to understand; I say in his writings--for his +colloquial English was plain enough. Though not professing to be a +scholar, he was much addicted, when writing, to the use of Greek and +Latin terms, not as other people used them, but in a manner of his own, +which set the authority of dictionaries at defiance; the consequence was, +that I was sometimes utterly at a loss to understand the meaning of the +publisher. Many a quarter of an hour did I pass at this period, staring +at periods of the publisher, and wondering what he could mean, but in +vain, till at last, with a shake of the head, I would snatch up the pen, +and render the publisher literally into German. Sometimes I was almost +tempted to substitute something of my own for what the publisher had +written, but my conscience interposed; the awful words, Traduttore +traditore, commenced ringing in my ears, and I asked myself whether I +should be acting honourably towards the publisher, who had committed to +me the delicate task of translating him into German; should I be acting +honourably towards him, in making him speak in German in a manner +different from that in which he expressed himself in English? No, I +could not reconcile such conduct with any principle of honour; by +substituting something of my own in lieu of these mysterious passages of +the publisher, I might be giving a fatal blow to his whole system of +philosophy. Besides, when translating into English, had I treated +foreign authors in this manner? Had I treated the minstrels of the Koempe +Viser in this manner?--No. Had I treated Ab Gwilym in this manner? Even +when translating his Ode to the Mist, in which he is misty enough, had I +attempted to make Ab Gwilym less misty? No; on referring to my +translation, I found that Ab Gwilym in my hands was quite as misty as in +his own. Then, seeing that I had not ventured to take liberties with +people who had never put themselves into my hands for the purpose of +being rendered, how could I venture to substitute my own thoughts and +ideas for the publisher's, who had put himself into my hands for that +purpose? Forbid it every proper feeling!--so I told the Germans in the +publisher's own way, the publisher's tale of an apple and a pear. + +I at first felt much inclined to be of the publisher's opinion with +respect to the theory of the pear. After all, why should the earth be +shaped like an apple, and not like a pear?--it would certainly gain in +appearance by being shaped like a pear. A pear being a handsomer fruit +than an apple, the publisher is probably right, thought I, and I will say +that he is right on this point in the notice which I am about to write of +his publication for the Review. And yet I don't know--said I, after a +long fit of musing--I don't know but what there is more to be said for +the Oxford theory. The world may be shaped like a pear, but I don't know +that it is; but one thing I know, which is, that it does not taste like a +pear; I have always liked pears, but I don't like the world. The world +to me tastes much more like an apple, and I have never liked apples. I +will uphold the Oxford theory--besides, I am writing in an "Oxford +Review"--and am in duty bound to uphold the Oxford theory. So in my +notice I asserted that the world was round; I quoted Scripture, and +endeavoured to prove that the world was typified by the apple in +Scripture, both as to shape and properties. "An apple is round," said I, +"and the world is round--the apple is a sour, disagreeable fruit; and who +has tasted much of the world without having his teeth set on edge?" I, +however, treated the publisher, upon the whole, in the most urbane and +Oxford-like manner; complimenting him upon his style, acknowledging the +general soundness of his views, and only differing with him in the affair +of the apple and pear. + +I did not like reviewing at all--it was not to my taste; it was not in my +way; I liked it far less than translating the publisher's philosophy, for +that was something in the line of one whom a competent judge had surnamed +Lavengro. I never could understand why Reviews were instituted; works of +merit do not require to be reviewed, they can speak for themselves, and +require no praising; works of no merit at all will die of themselves, +they require no killing. The Review to which I was attached was, as has +been already intimated, established on an entirely new plan; it professed +to review all new publications, which certainly no Review had ever +professed to do before, other Reviews never pretending to review more +than one-tenth of the current literature of the day. When I say it +professed to review all new publications, I should add, which should be +sent to it; for, of course, the Review would not acknowledge the +existence of publications, the authors of which did not acknowledge the +existence of the Review. I don't think, however, that the Review had +much cause to complain of being neglected; I have reason to believe that +at least nine-tenths of the publications of the day were sent to the +Review, and in due time reviewed. I had good opportunity of judging--I +was connected with several departments of the Review, though more +particularly with the poetical and philosophic ones. An English +translation of Kant's philosophy made its appearance on my table the day +before its publication. In my notice of this work, I said that the +English shortly hoped to give the Germans a _quid pro quo_. I believe at +that time authors were much in the habit of publishing at their own +expense. All the poetry which I reviewed appeared to be published at the +expense of the authors. If I am asked how I comported myself, under all +circumstances, as a reviewer--I answer,--I did not forget that I was +connected with a Review established on Oxford principles, the editor of +which had translated Quintilian. All the publications which fell under +my notice I treated in a gentlemanly and Oxford-like manner, no +personalities--no vituperation--no shabby insinuations; decorum, decorum +was the order of the day. Occasionally a word of admonition, but gently +expressed, as an Oxford undergraduate might have expressed it, or master +of arts. How the authors whose publications were consigned to my +colleagues were treated by them I know not; I suppose they were treated +in an urbane and Oxford-like manner, but I cannot say; I did not read the +reviewals of my colleagues, I did not read my own after they were +printed. I did not like reviewing. + +Of all my occupations at this period I am free to confess I liked that of +compiling the "Newgate Lives and Trials" the best; that is, after I had +surmounted a kind of prejudice which I originally entertained. The +trials were entertaining enough; but the lives--how full were they of +wild and racy adventures, and in what racy, genuine language were they +told. What struck me most with respect to these lives was the art which +the writers, whoever they were, possessed of telling a plain story. It +is no easy thing to tell a story plainly and distinctly by mouth; but to +tell one on paper is difficult indeed, so many snares lie in the way. +People are afraid to put down what is common on paper; they seek to +embellish their narratives, as they think, by philosophic speculations +and reflections; they are anxious to shine, and people who are anxious to +shine can never tell a plain story. "So I went with them to a music +booth, where they made me almost drunk with gin, and began to talk their +flash language, which I did not understand," says, or is made to say, +Henry Simms, executed at Tyburn some seventy years before the time of +which I am speaking. I have always looked upon this sentence as a +masterpiece of the narrative style, it is so concise and yet so very +clear. As I gazed on passages like this, and there were many nearly as +good in the Newgate Lives, I often sighed that it was not my fortune to +have to render these lives into German rather than the publisher's +philosophy--his tale of an apple and pear. + +Mine was an ill-regulated mind at this period. As I read over the lives +of these robbers and pickpockets, strange doubts began to arise in my +mind about virtue and crime. Years before, when quite a boy, as in one +of the early chapters I have hinted, I had been a necessitarian; I had +even written an essay on crime (I have it now before me, penned in a +round boyish hand), in which I attempted to prove that there is no such +thing as crime or virtue, all our actions being the result of +circumstances or necessity. These doubts were now again reviving in my +mind; I could not, for the life of me, imagine how, taking all +circumstances into consideration, these highwaymen, these pickpockets, +should have been anything else than highwaymen and pickpockets; any more +than how, taking all circumstances into consideration, Bishop Latimer +(the reader is aware that I had read "Fox's Book of Martyrs") should have +been anything else than Bishop Latimer. I had a very ill-regulated mind +at that period. + +My own peculiar ideas with respect to everything being a lying dream +began also to revive. Sometimes at midnight, after having toiled for +hours at my occupations, I would fling myself back on my chair, look +about the poor apartment, dimly lighted by an unsnuffed candle, or upon +the heaps of books and papers before me, and exclaim,--"Do I exist? Do +these things, which I think I see about me, exist, or do they not? Is +not every thing a dream--a deceitful dream? Is not this apartment a +dream--the furniture a dream? The publisher a dream--his philosophy a +dream? Am I not myself a dream--dreaming about translating a dream? I +can't see why all should not be a dream; what's the use of the reality?" +And then I would pinch myself, and snuff the burdened smoky light. "I +can't see, for the life of me, the use of all this; therefore why should +I think that it exists? If there was a chance, a probability of all this +tending to anything, I might believe; but . . . " and then I would stare +and think, and after some time shake my head and return again to my +occupations for an hour or two; and then I would perhaps shake, and +shiver, and yawn, and look wistfully in the direction of my sleeping +apartment; and then, but not wistfully, at the papers and books before +me; and sometimes I would return to my papers and books; but oftener I +would arise, and, after another yawn and shiver, take my light, and +proceed to my sleeping chamber. + +They say that light fare begets light dreams; my fare at that time was +light enough; but I had anything but light dreams, for at that period I +had all kind of strange and extravagant dreams, and amongst other things +I dreamt that the whole world had taken to dog-fighting; and that I, +myself, had taken to dog-fighting, and that in a vast circus I backed an +English bulldog against the bloodhound of the Pope of Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + +My Brother--Fits of Crying--Mayor Elect--The Committee--The Norman Arch--A +Word of Greek--Church and State--At My Own Expense--If You Please. + +One morning {324} I arose somewhat later than usual, having been occupied +during the greater part of the night with my literary toil. On +descending from my chamber into the sitting-room I found a person seated +by the fire, whose glance was directed sideways to the table, on which +were the usual preparations for my morning's meal. Forthwith I gave a +cry, and sprang forward to embrace the person; for the person by the +fire, whose glance was directed to the table, was no one else than my +brother. + +"And how are things going on at home?" said I to my brother, after we had +kissed and embraced. "How is my mother, and how is the dog?" + +"My mother, thank God, is tolerably well," said my brother, "but very +much given to fits of crying. As for the dog, he is not so well; but we +will talk more of these matters anon," said my brother, again glancing at +the breakfast things: "I am very hungry, as you may suppose, after having +travelled all night." + +Thereupon I exerted myself to the best of my ability to perform the +duties of hospitality, and I made my brother welcome--I may say more than +welcome; and, when the rage of my brother's hunger was somewhat abated, +we recommenced talking about the matters of our little family, and my +brother told me much about my mother; he spoke of her fits of crying, but +said that of late the said fits of crying had much diminished, and she +appeared to be taking comfort; and, if I am not much mistaken, my brother +told me that my mother had of late the Prayer-book frequently in her +hand, and yet oftener the Bible. + +We were silent for a time--at last I opened my mouth and mentioned the +dog. + +"The dog," said my brother, "is, I am afraid, in a very poor way; ever +since the death he has done nothing but pine and take on. A few months +ago, you remember, he was as plump and fine as any dog in the town; but +at present he is little more than skin and bone. Once we lost him for +two days, and never expected to see him again, imagining that some +mischance had befallen him; at length I found him--where do you think? +Chancing to pass by the churchyard, I found him seated on the grave!" + +"Very strange," said I; "but let us talk of something else. It was very +kind of you to come and see me." + +"Oh, as for that matter, I did not come up to see you, though of course I +am very glad to see you, having been rather anxious about you, like my +mother, who has received only one letter from you since your departure. +No, I did not come up on purpose to see you; but on a quite different +account. You must know that the corporation of our town have lately +elected a new mayor, a person of many qualifications--big and portly, +with a voice like Boanerges; a religious man, the possessor of an immense +pew; loyal, so much so that I once heard him say that he would at any +time go three miles to hear any one sing 'God save the King'; moreover, a +giver of excellent dinners. Such is our present mayor; {326} who, owing +to his loyalty, his religion, and a little, perhaps, to his dinners, is a +mighty favourite; so much so that the town is anxious to have his +portrait painted in a superior style, so that remote posterity may know +what kind of man he was, the colour of his hair, his air and gait. So a +committee was formed some time ago, which is still sitting; that is, they +dine with the mayor every day to talk over the subject. A few days +since, to my great surprise, they made their appearance in my poor +studio, and desired to be favoured with a sight of some of my paintings; +well, I showed them some, and, after looking at them with great +attention, they went aside and whispered. 'He'll do,' I heard one say; +'Yes, he'll do,' said another; and then they came to me, and one of them, +a little man with a hump on his back, who is a watchmaker, assumed the +office of spokesman, and made a long speech--(the old town has been +always celebrated for orators)--in which he told me how much they had +been pleased with my productions--(the old town has been always +celebrated for its artistic taste)--and, what do you think? offered me +the painting of the mayor's portrait, and a hundred pounds for my +trouble. Well, of course I was much surprised, and for a minute or two +could scarcely speak; recovering myself, however, I made a speech, not so +eloquent as that of the watchmaker of course, being not so accustomed to +speaking; but not so bad either, taking everything into consideration, +telling them how flattered I felt by the honour which they had conferred +in proposing to me such an undertaking; expressing, however, my fears +that I was not competent to the task, and concluding by saying what a +pity it was that Crome was dead. 'Crome,' said the little man, 'Crome; +yes, he was a clever man, a very clever man in his way; he was good at +painting landscapes and farmhouses, but he would not do in the present +instance were he alive. He had no conception of the heroic, sir. We +want some person capable of representing our mayor striding under the +Norman arch out of the cathedral.' At the mention of the heroic an idea +came at once into my head. 'Oh,' said I, 'if you are in quest of the +heroic, I am glad that you came to me; don't mistake me,' I continued, 'I +do not mean to say that I could do justice to your subject, though I am +fond of the heroic; but I can introduce you to a great master of the +heroic, fully competent to do justice to your mayor. Not to me, +therefore, be the painting of the picture given, but to a friend of mine, +the great master of the heroic, to the best, the strongest, [Greek +text],' I added, for, being amongst orators, I thought a word of Greek +would tell." + +"Well," said I, "and what did the orators say?" + +"They gazed dubiously at me and at one another," said my brother; "at +last the watchmaker asked me who this Mr. Christo was; adding, that he +had never heard of such a person; that, from my recommendation of him, he +had no doubt that he was a very clever man; but that they should like to +know something more about him before giving the commission to him. That +he had heard of Christie the great auctioneer, who was considered to be +an excellent judge of pictures; but he supposed that I +scarcely--Whereupon, interrupting the watchmaker, I told him that I +alluded neither to Christo nor to Christie; but to the painter of Lazarus +rising from the grave, a painter under whom I had myself studied during +some months that I had spent in London, and to whom I was indebted for +much connected with the heroic. {328} + +"'I have heard of him,' said the watchmaker, 'and his paintings too; but +I am afraid that he is not exactly the gentleman by whom our mayor would +wish to be painted. I have heard say that he is not a very good friend +to Church and State. Come, young man,' he added, 'it appears to me that +you are too modest; I like your style of painting, so do we all, and--why +should I mince the matter?--the money is to be collected in the town, why +should it go into a stranger's pocket, and be spent in London?' + +"Thereupon I made them a speech, in which I said that art had nothing to +do with Church and State, at least with English Church and State, which +had never encouraged it; and that, though Church and State were doubtless +very fine things, a man might be a very good artist who cared not a straw +for either. I then made use of some more Greek words, and told them how +painting was one of the Nine Muses, and one of the most independent +creatures alive, inspiring whom she pleased, and asking leave of nobody; +that I should be quite unworthy of the favours of the Muse if, on the +present occasion, I did not recommend them a man whom I considered to be +a much greater master of the heroic than myself; and that, with regard to +the money being spent in the city, I had no doubt that they would not +weigh for a moment such a consideration against the chance of getting a +true heroic picture for the city. I never talked so well in my life, and +said so many flattering things to the hunchback and his friends, that at +last they said that I should have my own way; and that if I pleased to go +up to London, and bring down the painter of Lazarus to paint the mayor, I +might; so they then bade me farewell, and I have come up to London." + +"To put a hundred pounds into the hands of--" + +"A better man than myself," said my brother, "of course." + +"And have you come up at your own expense?" + +"Yes," said my brother, "I have come up at my own expense." + +I made no answer, but looked in my brother's face. We then returned to +the former subjects of conversation, talking of the dead, my mother, and +the dog. + +After some time, my brother said, "I will now go to the painter, and +communicate to him the business which has brought me to town; and, if you +please, I will take you with me and introduce you to him." Having +expressed my willingness, we descended into the street. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + + +Painter of the Heroic--I'll Go!--A Modest Peep--Who is This?--A Capital +Pharaoh--Disproportionably Short--Imaginary Picture--English Figures. + +The painter of the heroic resided a great way off, at the western end of +the town. We had some difficulty in obtaining admission to him; a maid- +servant, who opened the door, eyeing us somewhat suspiciously: it was not +until my brother had said that he was a friend of the painter that we +were permitted to pass the threshold. At length we were shown into the +studio, where we found the painter, with an easel and brush, standing +before a huge piece of canvas, on which he had lately commenced painting +a heroic picture. The painter might be about thirty-five years old; he +had a clever, intelligent countenance, with a sharp grey eye--his hair +was dark brown, and cut a-la-Rafael, as I was subsequently told, that is, +there was little before and much behind--he did not wear a neckcloth; +but, in its stead, a black riband, so that his neck, which was rather +fine, was somewhat exposed--he had a broad muscular breast, and I make no +doubt that he would have been a very fine figure, but unfortunately his +legs and thighs were somewhat short. He recognised my brother, and +appeared glad to see him. + +"What brings you to London?" said he. + +Whereupon my brother gave him a brief account of his commission. At the +mention of the hundred pounds, I observed the eyes of the painter +glisten. "Really," said he, when my brother had concluded, "it was very +kind to think of me. I am not very fond of painting portraits; but a +mayor is a mayor, and there is something grand in that idea of the Norman +arch. I'll go; moreover, I am just at this moment confoundedly in need +of money, and when you knocked at the door, I don't mind telling you, I +thought it was some dun. I don't know how it is, but in the capital they +have no taste for the heroic, they will scarce look at a heroic picture; +I am glad to hear that they have better taste in the provinces. I'll go; +when shall we set off?" + +Thereupon it was arranged between the painter and my brother that they +should depart the next day but one; they then began to talk of art. "I'll +stick to the heroic," said the painter; "I now and then dabble in the +comic, but what I do gives me no pleasure, the comic is so low; there is +nothing like the heroic. I am engaged here on a heroic picture," said +he, pointing to the canvas; "the subject is 'Pharaoh dismissing Moses +from Egypt,' after the last plague--the death of the first-born;--it is +not far advanced--that finished figure is Moses:" they both looked at the +canvas, and I, standing behind, took a modest peep. The picture, as the +painter said, was not far advanced, the Pharaoh was merely in outline; my +eye was, of course, attracted by the finished figure, or rather what the +painter had called the finished figure; but, as I gazed upon it, it +appeared to me that there was something defective--something +unsatisfactory in the figure. I concluded, however, that the painter, +notwithstanding what he had said, had omitted to give it the finishing +touch. "I intend this to be my best picture," said the painter; "what I +want now is a face for Pharaoh; I have long been meditating on a face for +Pharaoh." Here, chancing to cast his eye upon my countenance, of whom he +had scarcely taken any manner of notice, he remained with his mouth open +for some time. "Who is this?" said he at last. "Oh, this is my brother; +I forgot to introduce him . . ." + +We presently afterwards departed; my brother talked much about the +painter. "He is a noble fellow," said my brother; "but, like many other +noble fellows, has a great many enemies; he is hated by his brethren of +the brush--all the land and waterscape painters hate him--but, above all, +the race of portrait painters, who are ten times more numerous than the +other two sorts, detest him for his heroic tendencies. It will be a kind +of triumph to the last, I fear, when they hear he has condescended to +paint a portrait; however, that Norman arch will enable him to escape +from their malice--that is a capital idea of the watchmaker, that Norman +arch." + +I spent a happy day with my brother. On the morrow he went again to the +painter, with whom he dined; I did not go with him. On his return he +said, "The painter has been asking a great many questions about you, and +expressed a wish that you would sit to him as Pharaoh; he thinks you +would make a capital Pharaoh." "I have no wish to appear on canvas," +said I; "moreover he can find much better Pharaohs than myself; and, if +he wants a real Pharaoh, there is a certain Mr. Petulengro." +"Petulengro?" said my brother; "a strange kind of fellow came up to me +some time ago in our town, and asked me about you; when I inquired his +name, he told me Petulengro. No, he will not do, he is too short; by the +bye, do you not think that figure of Moses is somewhat short?" And then +it appeared to me that I had thought the figure of Moses somewhat short, +and I told my brother so. "Ah!" said my brother. + +On the morrow my brother departed with the painter for the old town, and +there the painter painted the mayor. I did not see the picture for a +great many years, when, chancing to be at the old town, I beheld it. + +The original mayor was a mighty, portly man, with a bull's head, black +hair, body like that of a dray horse, and legs and thighs corresponding; +a man six foot high at the least. To his bull's head, black hair, and +body the painter had done justice; there was one point, however, in which +the portrait did not correspond with the original--the legs were +disproportionably short, the painter having substituted his own legs for +those of the mayor, which when I perceived I rejoiced that I had not +consented to be painted as Pharaoh, for, if I had, the chances are that +he would have served me in exactly a similar way as he had served Moses +and the mayor. + +Short legs in a heroic picture will never do; and, upon the whole, I +think the painter's attempt at the heroic in painting the mayor of the +old town a decided failure. If I am now asked whether the picture would +have been a heroic one provided the painter had not substituted his own +legs for those of the mayor--I must say, I am afraid not. I have no idea +of making heroic pictures out of English mayors, even with the assistance +of Norman arches; yet I am sure that capital pictures might be made out +of English mayors, not issuing from Norman arches, but rather from the +door of the "Checquers" or the "Brewers Three." The painter in question +had great comic power, which he scarcely ever cultivated; he would fain +be a Rafael, which he never could be, when he might have been something +quite as good--another Hogarth; the only comic piece which he ever +presented to the world being something little inferior to the best of +that illustrious master. I have often thought what a capital picture +might have been made by my brother's friend, if, instead of making the +mayor issue out of the Norman arch, he had painted him moving under the +sign of the "Checquers," or the "Three Brewers," with mace--yes, with +mace,--the mace appears in the picture issuing out of the Norman arch +behind the mayor,--but likewise with Snap, and with whiffler, quart pot, +and frying pan, Billy Blind, and Owlenglass, Mr. Petulengro, and +Pakomovna;--then, had he clapped his own legs upon the mayor, or any one +else in the concourse, what matter? But I repeat that I have no hope of +making heroic pictures out of English mayors, or, indeed, out of English +figures in general. England may be a land of heroic hearts, but it is +not, properly, a land of heroic figures, or heroic posture-making.--Italy +. . . what was I going to say about Italy? {335} + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + + +No Authority Whatever--Interference--Wondrous Farrago--Brandt and +Struensee--What a Life!--The Hearse--Mortal Relics--Great Poet--Fashion +and Fame--What a Difference!--Oh, Beautiful!--Good for Nothing. + +And now once more to my pursuits, to my Lives and Trials. However +partial at first I might be to these Lives and Trials, it was not long +before they became regular trials to me, owing to the whims and caprices +of the publisher. I had not been long connected with him before I +discovered that he was wonderfully fond of interfering with other +people's business--at least with the business of those who were under his +control. What a life did his unfortunate authors lead! He had many in +his employ toiling at all kinds of subjects--I call them authors because +there is something respectable in the term author, though they had little +authorship in, and no authority whatever over, the works on which they +were engaged. It is true the publisher interfered with some colour of +reason, the plan of all and every of the works alluded to having +originated with himself; and, be it observed, many of his plans were +highly clever and promising, for, as I have already had occasion to say, +the publisher in many points was a highly clever and sagacious person; +but he ought to have been contented with planning the works originally, +and have left to other people the task of executing them, instead of +which he marred everything by his rage for interference. If a book of +fairy tales was being compiled, he was sure to introduce some of his +philosophy, explaining the fairy tale by some theory of his own. Was a +book of anecdotes on hand, it was sure to be half filled with sayings and +doings of himself during the time that he was common councilman of the +City of London. Now, however fond the public might be of fairy tales, it +by no means relished them in conjunction with the publisher's philosophy; +and however fond of anecdotes in general, or even of the publisher in +particular--for indeed there were a great many anecdotes in circulation +about him which the public both read and listened to very readily--it +took no pleasure in such anecdotes as he was disposed to relate about +himself. In the compilation of my Lives and Trials, I was exposed to +incredible mortification, and ceaseless trouble, from this same rage for +interference. It is true he could not introduce his philosophy into the +work, nor was it possible for him to introduce anecdotes of himself, +having never had the good or evil fortune to be tried at the bar; but he +was continually introducing--what, under a less apathetic government than +the one then being, would have infallibly subjected him, and perhaps +myself, to a trial,--his politics; not his Oxford or pseudo politics, but +the politics which he really entertained, and which were of the most +republican and violent kind. But this was not all; when about a moiety +of the first volume had been printed, he materially altered the plan of +the work; it was no longer to be a collection of mere Newgate lives and +trials, but of lives and trials of criminals in general, foreign as well +as domestic. In a little time the work became a wondrous farrago, in +which Konigsmark the robber figured by the side of Sam Lynn, and the +Marchioness de Brinvilliers was placed in contact with a Chinese outlaw. +What gave me the most trouble and annoyance was the publisher's +remembering some life or trial, foreign or domestic, which he wished to +be inserted, and which I was forthwith to go in quest of and purchase at +my own expense: some of those lives and trials were by no means easy to +find. "Where is Brandt and Struensee?" cries the publisher; "I am sure I +don't know," I replied; whereupon the publisher falls to squealing like +one of Joey's rats. "Find me up Brandt and Struensee by next morning, or +. . ." "Have you found Brandt and Struensee?" cried the publisher, on my +appearing before him next morning. "No," I reply, "I can hear nothing +about them;" whereupon the publisher falls to bellowing like Joey's bull. +By dint of incredible diligence, I at length discover the dingy volume +containing the lives and trials of the celebrated two who had brooded +treason dangerous to the state of Denmark. I purchase the dingy volume, +and bring it in triumph to the publisher, the perspiration running down +my brow. The publisher takes the dingy volume in his hand, he examines +it attentively, then puts it down; his countenance is calm for a moment, +almost benign. Another moment and there is a gleam in the publisher's +sinister eye; he snatches up the paper containing the names of the +worthies which I have intended shall figure in the forthcoming volumes--he +glances rapidly over it, and his countenance once more assumes a terrific +expression. "How is this?" he exclaims; "I can scarcely believe my +eyes--the most important life and trial omitted to be found in the whole +criminal record--what gross, what utter negligence! Where's the life of +Farmer Patch? where's the trial of Yeoman Patch?" + +"What a life! what a dog's life!" I would frequently exclaim, after +escaping from the presence of the publisher. + +One day, after a scene with the publisher similar to that which I have +described above, I found myself about noon at the bottom of Oxford +Street, where it forms a right angle with the road which leads or did +lead to Tottenham Court. Happening to cast my eyes around, it suddenly +occurred to me that something uncommon was expected; people were standing +in groups on the pavement--the upstair windows of the houses were +thronged with faces, especially those of women, and many of the shops +were partly, and not a few entirely closed. What could be the reason of +all this? All at once I bethought me that this street of Oxford was no +other than the far-famed Tyburn way. Oh, oh, thought I, an execution; +some handsome young robber is about to be executed at the farther end; +just so, see how earnestly the women are peering; perhaps another Harry +Symms--Gentleman Harry as they called him--is about to be carted along +this street to Tyburn tree; but then I remembered that Tyburn tree had +long since been cut down, and that criminals, whether young or old, good- +looking or ugly, were executed before the big stone gaol, which I had +looked at with a kind of shudder during my short rambles in the city. +What could be the matter? Just then I heard various voices cry "There it +comes!" and all heads were turned up Oxford Street, down which a hearse +was slowly coming: nearer and nearer it drew; presently it was just +opposite the place where I was standing, when, turning to the left, it +proceeded slowly along Tottenham Road; immediately behind the hearse were +three or four mourning coaches, full of people, some of which, from the +partial glimpse which I caught of them, appeared to be foreigners; behind +these came a very long train of splendid carriages, all of which, without +one exception, were empty. + +"Whose body is in that hearse?" said I to a dapper-looking individual, +seemingly a shopkeeper, who stood beside me on the pavement, looking at +the procession. + +"The mortal relics of Lord Byron," said the dapper-looking individual, +mouthing his words and smirking--"the illustrious poet, which have been +just brought from Greece, and are being conveyed to the family vault in +---shire." {340} + +"An illustrious poet, was he?" said I. + +"Beyond all criticism," said the dapper man; "all we of the rising +generation are under incalculable obligation to Byron; I myself, in +particular, have reason to say so; in all my correspondence my style is +formed on the Byronic model." + +I looked at the individual for a moment, who smiled and smirked to +himself applause, and then I turned my eyes upon the hearse proceeding +slowly up the almost endless street. This man, this Byron, had for many +years past been the demigod of England, and his verses the daily food of +those who read, from the peer to the draper's assistant; all were +admirers, or rather worshippers, of Byron, and all doated on his verses; +and then I thought of those who, with genius as high as his, or higher, +had lived and died neglected. I thought of Milton abandoned to poverty +and blindness; of witty and ingenious Butler consigned to the tender +mercies of bailiffs; and starving Otway: they had lived neglected and +despised, and, when they died, a few poor mourners only had followed them +to the grave; but this Byron had been made a half god of when living, and +now that he was dead he was followed by worshipping crowds, and the very +sun seemed to come out on purpose to grace his funeral. And, indeed, the +sun, which for many days past had hidden its face in clouds, shone out +that morn with wonderful brilliancy, flaming upon the black hearse and +its tall ostrich plumes, the mourning coaches, and the long train of +aristocratic carriages which followed behind. + +"Great poet, sir," said the dapper-looking man, "great poet, but +unhappy." + +Unhappy? yes, I had heard that he had been unhappy; that he had roamed +about a fevered, distempered man, taking pleasure in nothing--that I had +heard; but was it true? was he really unhappy? was not this unhappiness +assumed, with the view of increasing the interest which the world took in +him? and yet who could say? He might be unhappy, and with reason. Was +he a real poet after all? might he not doubt himself? might he not have a +lurking consciousness that he was undeserving of the homage which he was +receiving? that it could not last? that he was rather at the top of +fashion than of fame? He was a lordling, a glittering, gorgeous +lordling: and he might have had a consciousness that he owed much of his +celebrity to being so; he might have felt that he was rather at the top +of fashion than of fame. Fashion soon changes, thought I, eagerly to +myself--a time will come, and that speedily, when he will be no longer in +the fashion; when this idiotic admirer of his, who is still grinning at +my side, shall have ceased to mould his style on Byron's; and this +aristocracy, squirearchy, and what not, who now send their empty +carriages to pay respect to the fashionable corpse, shall have +transferred their empty worship to some other animate or inanimate thing. +Well, perhaps after all it was better to have been mighty Milton in his +poverty and blindness--witty and ingenious Butler consigned to the tender +mercies of bailiffs, and starving Otway; they might enjoy more real +pleasure than this lordling; they must have been aware that the world +would one day do them justice--fame after death is better than the top of +fashion in life. They have left a fame behind them which shall never +die, whilst this lordling--a time will come when he will be out of +fashion and forgotten. And yet I don't know; didn't he write Childe +Harold and that ode? Yes, he wrote Childe Harold and that ode. Then a +time will scarcely come when he will be forgotten. Lords, squires, and +cockneys may pass away, but a time will scarcely come when Childe Harold +and that ode will be forgotten. He was a poet, after all, and he must +have known it; a real poet, equal to . . . to . . . what a destiny! Rank, +beauty, fashion, immortality,--he could not be unhappy; what a difference +in the fate of men! I wish I could think he was unhappy . . . + +I turned away. + +"Great poet, sir," said the dapper man, turning away too, "but +unhappy--fate of genius, sir; I, too, am frequently unhappy." + +Hurrying down a street to the right, I encountered Francis Ardry. + +"What means the multitude yonder?" he demanded. + +"They are looking after the hearse which is carrying the remains of Byron +up Tottenham Road." + +"I have seen the man," said my friend, as he turned back the way he had +come, "so I can dispense with seeing the hearse--I saw the living man at +Venice--ah, a great poet." + +"Yes," said I, "a great poet, it must be so, everybody says so--what a +destiny! What a difference in the fate of men! but 'tis said he was +unhappy; you have seen him, how did he look?" + +"Oh, beautiful!" + +"But did he look happy?" + +"Why, I can't say he looked very unhappy; I saw him with two . . . very +fair ladies; but what is it to you whether the man was unhappy or not? +Come, where shall we go--to Joey's? His hugest bear--" + +"Oh, I have had enough of bears; I have just been worried by one." + +"The publisher?" + +"Yes." + +"Then come to Joey's, three dogs are to be launched at his bear: as they +pin him, imagine him to be the publisher." + +"No," said I, "I am good for nothing; I think I shall stroll to London +Bridge." + +"That's too far for me--farewell." + + + + +CHAPTER XL + + +London Bridge--Why Not?--Every Heart has its Bitters--Wicked Boys--Give +me my Book--Such a Fright--Honour Bright. + +So I went to London Bridge, and again took my station on the spot by the +booth where I had stood on the former occasion. The booth, however, was +empty; neither the apple-woman nor her stall was to be seen. I looked +over the balustrade upon the river; the tide was now, as before, rolling +beneath the arch with frightful impetuosity. As I gazed upon the eddies +of the whirlpool, I thought within myself how soon human life would +become extinct there; a plunge, a convulsive flounder, and all would be +over. When I last stood over that abyss I had felt a kind of impulse--a +fascination; I had resisted it--I did not plunge into it. At present I +felt a kind of impulse to plunge; but the impulse was of a different +kind; it proceeded from a loathing of life. I looked wistfully at the +eddies--what had I to live for?--what indeed! I thought of Brandt and +Struensee, and Yeoman Patch--should I yield to the impulse--why not? My +eyes were fixed on the eddies. All of a sudden I shuddered; I thought I +saw heads in the pool; human bodies wallowing confusedly; eyes turned up +to heaven with hopeless horror; was that water, or . . . Where was the +impulse now? I raised my eyes from the pool, I looked no more upon it--I +looked forward, far down the stream in the far distance. Ha! what is +that? I thought I saw a kind of Fata Morgana, green meadows, waving +groves, a rustic home; but in the far distance--I stared--I stared--a +Fata Morgana--it was gone . . . + +I left the balustrade and walked to the farther end of the bridge, where +I stood for some time contemplating the crowd; I then passed over to the +other side with an intention of returning home; just half way over the +bridge, in a booth immediately opposite to the one in which I had +formerly beheld her, sat my friend, the old apple-woman, huddled up +behind her stall. + +"Well, mother," said I, "how are you?" The old woman lifted her head +with a startled look. + +"Don't you know me?" said I. + +"Yes, I think I do. Ah, yes," said she, as her features beamed with +recollection, "I know you, dear; you are the young lad that gave me the +tanner. Well, child, got anything to sell?" + +"Nothing at all," said I. + +"Bad luck?" + +"Yes," said I, "bad enough, and ill usage." + +"Ah, I suppose they caught ye; well, child, never mind, better luck next +time; I am glad to see you." + +"Thank you," said I, sitting down on the stone bench; "I thought you had +left the bridge--why have you changed your side?" + +The old woman shook. + +"What is the matter with you," said I; "are you ill?" + +"No, child, no; only--" + +"Only what? Any bad news of your son?" + +"No, child, no; nothing about my son. Only low, child--every heart has +its bitters." + +"That's true," said I; "well, I don't want to know your sorrows; come, +where's the book?" + +The apple-woman shook more violently than before, bent herself down, and +drew her cloak more closely about her than before. "Book, child, what +book?" + +"Why, blessed Mary, to be sure." + +"Oh, that; I ha'n't got it, child--I have lost it, have left it at home." + +"Lost it," said I; "left it at home--what do you mean? Come, let me have +it." + +"I ha'n't got it, child." + +"I believe you have got it under your cloak." + +"Don't tell any one, dear; don't--don't," and the apple-woman burst into +tears. + +"What's the matter with you?" said I, staring at her. + +"You want to take my book from me?" + +"Not I; I care nothing about it; keep it, if you like, only tell me +what's the matter?" + +"Why, all about that book." + +"The book?" + +"Yes, they wanted to take it from me." + +"Who did?" + +"Why, some wicked boys. I'll tell you all about it. Eight or ten days +ago, I sat behind my stall, reading my book; all of a sudden I felt it +snatched from my hand; up I started, and see three rascals of boys +grinning at me; one of them held the book in his hand. 'What book is +this?' said he, grinning at it. 'What do you want with my book?' said I, +clutching at it over my stall; 'give me my book.' 'What do you want a +book for?' said he, holding it back; 'I have a good mind to fling it into +the Thames.' 'Give me my book,' I shrieked; and, snatching at it, I fell +over my stall, and all my fruit was scattered about. Off ran the +boys--off ran the rascal with my book. Oh dear, I thought I should have +died; up I got, however, and ran after them as well as I could; I thought +of my fruit, but I thought more of my book. I left my fruit and ran +after my book. 'My book! my book!' I shrieked. 'Murder! theft! +robbery!' I was near being crushed under the wheels of a cart; but I +didn't care--I followed the rascals. 'Stop them! stop them!' I ran +nearly as fast as they--they couldn't run very fast on account of the +crowd. At last some one stopped the rascal, whereupon he turned round, +and flinging the book at me, it fell into the mud; well, I picked it up +and kissed it, all muddy as it was. 'Has he robbed you?' said the man. +'Robbed me, indeed; why, he had got my book.' 'Oh, your book,' said the +man, and laughed, and let the rascal go. Ah, he might laugh, but--" + +"Well, go on." + +"My heart beats so. Well, I went back to my booth and picked up my stall +and my fruits, what I could find of them. I couldn't keep my stall for +two days, I got such a fright; and when I got round I couldn't bide the +booth where the thing had happened, so I came over to the other side. Oh, +the rascals, if I could but see them hanged." + +"For what?" + +"Why, for stealing my book." + +"I thought you didn't dislike stealing--that you were ready to buy +things--there was your son, you know--" + +"Yes, to be sure." + +"He took things." + +"To be sure he did." + +"But you don't like a thing of yours to be taken." + +"No, that's quite a different thing; what's stealing handkerchiefs, and +that kind of thing, to do with taking my book! there's a wide +difference--don't you see?" + +"Yes, I see." + +"Do you, dear? well, bless your heart, I'm glad you do. Would you like +to look at the book?" + +"Well, I think I should." + +"Honour bright?" said the apple-woman, looking me in the eyes. + +"Honour bright," said I, looking the apple-woman in the eyes. + +"Well then, dear, here it is," said she, taking it from under her cloak; +"read it as long as you like, only get a little farther into the booth +. . . Don't sit so near the edge . . . you might . . ." + +I went deep into the booth, and the apple-woman, bringing her chair +round, almost confronted me. I commenced reading the book, and was soon +engrossed by it; hours passed away; once or twice I lifted up my eyes, +the apple-woman was still confronting me: at last my eyes began to ache, +whereupon I returned the book to the apple-woman, and, giving her another +tanner, walked away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + + +Decease of the Review--Homer Himself--Bread and Cheese--Finger and +Thumb--Impossible to Find--Something Grand--Universal Mixture--Some Other +Publisher. + +Time passed away, and with it the Review, which, contrary to the +publisher's expectation, did not prove a successful speculation. About +four months after the period of its birth it expired, as all Reviews must +for which there is no demand. Authors had ceased to send their +publications to it, and, consequently, to purchase it; for I have already +hinted that it was almost entirely supported by authors of a particular +class, who expected to see their publications foredoomed to immortality +in its pages. The behaviour of these authors towards this unfortunate +publication I can attribute to no other cause than to a report which was +industriously circulated, namely, that the Review was low, and that to be +reviewed in it was an infallible sign that one was a low person, who +could be reviewed nowhere else. So authors took fright; and no wonder, +for it will never do for an author to be considered low. Homer himself +has never yet entirely recovered from the injury he received by Lord +Chesterfield's remark, that the speeches of his heroes were frequently +exceedingly low. + +So the Review ceased, and the reviewing corps no longer existed as such; +they forthwith returned to their proper avocations--the editor to compose +tunes on his piano, and to the task of disposing of the remaining copies +of his Quintilian--the inferior members to working for the publisher, +being to a man dependants of his; one, to composing fairy tales; another, +to collecting miracles of Popish saints; and a third, "Newgate Lives and +Trials." Owing to the bad success of the Review, the publisher became +more furious than ever. My money was growing short, and I one day asked +him to pay me for my labours in the deceased publication. + +"Sir," said the publisher, "what do you want the money for?" + +"Merely to live on," I replied; "it is very difficult to live in this +town without money." + +"How much money did you bring with you to town?" demanded the publisher. + +"Some twenty or thirty pounds," I replied. + +"And you have spent it already?" + +"No," said I, "not entirely; but it is fast disappearing." + +"Sir," said the publisher, "I believe you to be extravagant; yes, sir, +extravagant!" + +"On what grounds do you suppose me to be so?" + +"Sir," said the publisher, "you eat meat." + +"Yes," said I, "I eat meat sometimes; what should I eat?" + +"Bread, sir," said the publisher; "bread and cheese." + +"So I do, sir, when I am disposed to indulge; but I cannot often afford +it--it is very expensive to dine on bread and cheese, especially when one +is fond of cheese, as I am. My last bread and cheese dinner cost me +fourteenpence. There is drink, sir; with bread and cheese one must drink +porter, sir." + +"Then, sir, eat bread--bread alone. As good men as yourself have eaten +bread alone; they have been glad to get it, sir. If with bread and +cheese you must drink porter, sir, with bread alone you can, perhaps, +drink water, sir." + +However, I got paid at last for my writings in the Review, not, it is +true, in the current coin of the realm, but in certain bills; there were +two of them, one payable at twelve, and the other at eighteen months +after date. It was a long time before I could turn these bills to any +account; at last I found a person who, at a discount of only thirty per +cent., consented to cash them; not, however, without sundry grimaces, +and, what was still more galling, holding, more than once, the +unfortunate papers high in air between his forefinger and thumb. So ill, +indeed, did I like this last action, that I felt much inclined to snatch +them away. I restrained myself, however, for I remembered that it was +very difficult to live without money, and that, if the present person did +not discount the bills, I should probably find no one else that would. + +But if the treatment which I had experienced from the publisher, previous +to making this demand upon him, was difficult to bear, that which I +subsequently underwent was far more so; his great delight seemed to +consist in causing me misery and mortification; if, on former occasions, +he was continually sending me in quest of lives and trials difficult to +find, he now was continually demanding lives and trials which it was +impossible to find; the personages whom he mentioned never having lived, +nor consequently been tried. Moreover, some of my best Lives and Trials +which I had corrected and edited with particular care, and on which I +prided myself no little, he caused to be cancelled after they had passed +through the press. Amongst these was the life of "Gentleman Harry." +"They are drugs, sir," said the publisher, "drugs; that life of Harry +Simms has long been the greatest drug in the calendar--has it not, +Taggart?" + +Taggart made no answer save by taking a pinch of snuff. The reader has, +I hope, not forgotten Taggart, whom I mentioned whilst giving an account +of my first morning's visit to the publisher. I beg Taggart's pardon for +having been so long silent about him; but he was a very silent man--yet +there was much in Taggart--and Taggart had always been civil and kind to +me in his peculiar way. + +"Well, young gentleman," said Taggart to me one morning, when we chanced +to be alone a few days after the affair of the cancelling, "how do you +like authorship?" + +"I scarcely call authorship the drudgery I am engaged in," said I. + +"What do you call authorship?" said Taggart. + +"I scarcely know," said I; "that is, I can scarcely express what I think +it." + +"Shall I help you out?" said Taggart, turning round his chair, and +looking at me. + +"If you like," said I. + +"To write something grand," said Taggart, taking snuff; "to be stared +at--lifted on people's shoulders--" + +"Well," said I, "that is something like it." + +Taggart took snuff. "Well," said he, "why don't you write something +grand?" + +"I have," said I. + +"What?" said Taggart. + +"Why," said I, "there are those ballads." + +Taggart took snuff. + +"And those wonderful versions from Ab Gwilym." + +Taggart took snuff again. + +"You seem to be very fond of snuff," said I, looking at him angrily. + +Taggart tapped his box. + +"Have you taken it long?" + +"Three-and-twenty years." + +"What snuff do you take?" + +"Universal mixture." + +"And you find it of use?" + +Taggart tapped his box. + +"In what respect?" said I. + +"In many--there is nothing like it to get a man through; but for snuff I +should scarcely be where I am now." + +"Have you been long here?" + +"Three-and-twenty years." + +"Dear me," said I; "and snuff brought you through? Give me a pinch--pah, +I don't like it," and I sneezed. + +"Take another pinch," said Taggart. + +"No," said I, "I don't like snuff." + +"Then you will never do for authorship; at least for this kind." + +"So I begin to think--what shall I do?" + +Taggart took snuff. + +"You were talking of a great work--what shall it be?" + +Taggart took snuff. + +"Do you think I could write one?" + +Taggart uplifted his two forefingers as if to tap,--he did not, however. + +"It would require time," said I, with a half sigh. + +Taggart tapped his box. + +"A great deal of time; I really think that my ballads . . ." + +Taggart took snuff. + +"If published, would do me credit. I'll make an effort, and offer them +to some other publisher." + +Taggart took a double quantity of snuff. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + + +Francis Ardry--That Won't Do, Sir--Observe My Gestures--I Think You +Improve--Better than Politics--Delightful Young Frenchwoman--A Burning +Shame--Magnificent Impudence--Paunch--Voltaire--Lump of Sugar. + +Occasionally I called on Francis Ardry. This young gentleman resided in +handsome apartments in the neighbourhood of a fashionable square, kept a +livery servant, and, upon the whole, lived in very good style. Going to +see him one day, between one and two, I was informed by the servant that +his master was engaged for the moment, but that, if I pleased to wait a +few minutes, I should find him at liberty. Having told the man that I +had no objection, he conducted me into a small apartment which served as +antechamber to a drawing-room; the door of this last being half open, I +could see Francis Ardry at the farther end, speechifying and +gesticulating in a very impressive manner. The servant, in some +confusion, was hastening to close the door; but, ere he could effect his +purpose, Francis Ardry, who had caught a glimpse of me, exclaimed, "Come +in--come in by all means;" and then proceeded, as before, speechifying +and gesticulating. Filled with some surprise, I obeyed his summons. + +On entering the room I perceived another individual, to whom Francis +Ardry appeared to be addressing himself; this other was a short spare man +of about sixty; his hair was of badger grey, and his face was covered +with wrinkles--without vouchsafing me a look, he kept his eye, which was +black and lustrous, fixed full on Francis Ardry, as if paying the deepest +attention to his discourse. All of a sudden, however, he cried with a +sharp, cracked voice, "That won't do, sir; that won't do--more +vehemence--your argument is at present particularly weak; therefore, more +vehemence--you must confuse them, stun them, stultify them, sir;" and, at +each of these injunctions, he struck the back of his right hand sharply +against the palm of the left. "Good, sir--good!" he occasionally +uttered, in the same sharp, cracked tone, as the voice of Francis Ardry +became more and more vehement. "Infinitely good!" he exclaimed, as +Francis Ardry raised his voice to the highest pitch; "and now, sir, +abate; let the tempest of vehemence decline--gradually, sir; not too +fast. Good, sir--very good!" as the voice of Francis Ardry declined +gradually in vehemence. "And now a little pathos, sir--try them with a +little pathos. That won't do, sir--that won't do,"--as Francis Ardry +made an attempt to become pathetic,--"that will never pass for +pathos--with tones and gesture of that description you will never redress +the wrongs of your country. Now, sir, observe my gestures, and pay +attention to the tone of my voice, sir." + +Thereupon, making use of nearly the same terms which Francis Ardry had +employed, the individual in black uttered several sentences in tones and +with gestures which were intended to express a considerable degree of +pathos, though it is possible that some people would have thought both +the one and the other highly ludicrous. After a pause, Francis Ardry +recommenced imitating the tones and the gesture of his monitor in the +most admirable manner. Before he had proceeded far, however, he burst +into a fit of laughter, in which I should, perhaps, have joined, provided +it were ever my wont to laugh. "Ha, ha!" said the other, +good-humouredly, "you are laughing at me. Well, well, I merely wished to +give you a hint; but you saw very well what I meant; upon the whole I +think you improve. But I must now go, having two other pupils to visit +before four." + +Then taking from the table a kind of three-cornered hat, and a cane +headed with amber, he shook Francis Ardry by the hand; and, after +glancing at me for a moment, made me a half bow, attended with a strange +grimace, and departed. + +"Who is that gentleman?" said I to Francis Ardry, as soon as we were +alone. + +"Oh, that is ---," said Frank, smiling, "the gentleman who gives me +lessons in elocution." + +"And what need have you of elocution?" + +"Oh, I merely obey the commands of my guardians," said Francis, "who +insist that I should, with the assistance of ---, qualify myself for +Parliament; for which they do me the honour to suppose that I have some +natural talent. I dare not disobey them; for, at the present moment, I +have particular reasons for wishing to keep on good terms with them." + +"But," said I, "you are a Roman Catholic; and I thought that persons of +your religion were excluded from Parliament?" + +"Why, upon that very thing the whole matter hinges; people of our +religion are determined to be no longer excluded from Parliament, but to +have a share in the government of the nation. Not that I care anything +about the matter; I merely obey the will of my guardians; my thoughts are +fixed on something better than politics." + +"I understand you," said I; "dog-fighting--well, I can easily conceive +that to some minds dog-fighting--" + +"I was not thinking of dog-fighting," said Francis Ardry, interrupting +me. + +"Not thinking of dog-fighting!" I ejaculated. + +"No," said Francis Ardry; "something higher and much more rational than +dog-fighting at present occupies my thoughts." + +"Dear me," said I, "I thought I had heard you say, that there was nothing +like it!" + +"Like what?" said Francis Ardry. + +"Dog-fighting, to be sure," said I. + +"Pooh," said Francis Ardry; "who but the gross and unrefined care +anything for dog-fighting? That which at present engages my waking and +sleeping thoughts is love--divine love--there is nothing like _that_. +Listen to me, I have a secret to confide to you." + +And then Francis Ardry proceeded to make me his confidant. It appeared +that he had had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of the most +delightful young Frenchwoman imaginable, Annette La Noire by name, who +had just arrived from her native country with the intention of obtaining +the situation of governess in some English family; a position which, on +account of her many accomplishments, she was eminently qualified to fill. +Francis Ardry had, however, persuaded her to relinquish her intention for +the present, on the ground that, until she had become acclimated in +England, her health would probably suffer from the confinement +inseparable from the occupation in which she was desirous of engaging; he +had, moreover--for it appeared that she was the most frank and confiding +creature in the world--succeeded in persuading her to permit him to hire +for her a very handsome first floor in his own neighbourhood, and to +accept a few inconsiderable presents in money and jewellery. "I am +looking out for a handsome gig and horse," said Francis Ardry, at the +conclusion of his narration; "it were a burning shame that so divine a +creature should have to go about a place like London on foot, or in a +paltry hackney coach." + +"But," said I, "will not the pursuit of politics prevent your devoting +much time to this fair lady?" + +"It will prevent me devoting all my time," said Francis Ardry, "as I +gladly would; but what can I do? My guardians wish me to qualify myself +for a political orator, and I dare not offend them by a refusal. If I +offend my guardians, I should find it impossible--unless I have recourse +to Jews and money-lenders--to support Annette; present her with articles +of dress and jewellery, and purchase a horse and cabriolet worthy of +conveying her angelic person through the streets of London." + +After a pause, in which Francis Ardry appeared lost in thought, his mind +being probably occupied with the subject of Annette, I broke silence by +observing, "So your fellow-religionists are really going to make a +serious attempt to procure their emancipation?" + +"Yes," said Francis Ardry, starting from his reverie; "everything has +been arranged; even a leader has been chosen, at least for us of Ireland, +upon the whole the most suitable man in the world for the occasion--a +barrister of considerable talent, mighty voice, and magnificent +impudence. With emancipation, liberty, and redress for the wrongs of +Ireland in his mouth, he is to force his way into the British House of +Commons, dragging myself and others behind him--he will succeed, and when +he is in he will cut a figure; I have heard --- himself, who has heard --- +him speak, say that he will cut a figure." + +"And is --- competent to judge?" I demanded. + +"Who but he?" said Francis Ardry; "no one questions his judgment +concerning what relates to elocution. His fame on that point is so well +established, that the greatest orators do not disdain occasionally to +consult him; C--- himself, as I have been told, when anxious to produce +any particular effect in the House, is in the habit of calling in --- for +a consultation." + +"As to matter, or manner?" said I. + +"Chiefly the latter," said Francis Ardry, "though he is competent to give +advice as to both, for he has been an orator in his day, and a leader of +the people; though he confessed to me that he was not exactly qualified +to play the latter part--'I want paunch,' said he." + +"It is not always indispensable," said I; "there is an orator in my town, +a hunchback and watchmaker, without it, who not only leads the people, +but the mayor too; perhaps he has a succedaneum in his hunch: but, tell +me, is the leader of your movement in possession of that which --- +wants?" + +"No more deficient in it than in brass," said Francis Ardry. + +"Well," said I, "whatever his qualifications may be, I wish him success +in the cause which he has taken up--I love religious liberty." + +"We shall succeed," said Francis Ardry; "John Bull upon the whole is +rather indifferent on the subject, and then we are sure to be backed by +the Radical party, who, to gratify their political prejudices, would join +with Satan himself." + +"There is one thing," said I, "connected with this matter which surprises +me--your own luke-warmness. Yes, making every allowance for your natural +predilection for dog-fighting, and your present enamoured state of mind, +your apathy at the commencement of such a movement is to me +unaccountable." + +"You would not have cause to complain of my indifference," said Frank, +"provided I thought my country would be benefited by this movement; but I +happen to know the origin of it. The priests are the originators, 'and +what country was ever benefited by a movement which owed its origin to +them?' so says Voltaire, a page of whom I occasionally read. By the +present move they hope to increase their influence, and to further +certain designs which they entertain both with regard to this country and +Ireland. I do not speak rashly or unadvisedly. A strange fellow--a half +Italian, half English priest--who was recommended to me by my guardians, +partly as a spiritual, partly as a temporal guide, has let me into a +secret or two; he is fond of a glass of gin and water--and over a glass +of gin and water cold, with a lump of sugar in it, he has been more +communicative, perhaps, than was altogether prudent. Were I my own +master, I would kick him, politics, and religious movements, to a +considerable distance. And now, if you are going away, do so quickly; I +have an appointment with Annette, and must make myself fit to appear +before her." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + + +Progress--Glorious John--Utterly Unintelligible--What a Difference! + +By the month of October I had, in spite of all difficulties and +obstacles, accomplished about two-thirds of the principal task which I +had undertaken, the compiling of the Newgate Lives; I had also made some +progress in translating the publisher's philosophy into German. But +about this time I began to see very clearly that it was impossible that +our connection should prove of long duration; yet, in the event of my +leaving the big man, what other resource had I--another publisher? But +what had I to offer? There were my ballads, my Ab Gwilym, but then I +thought of Taggart and his snuff, his pinch of snuff. However, I +determined to see what could be done, so I took my ballads under my arm, +and went to various publishers; some took snuff, others did not, but none +took my ballads or Ab Gwilym; they would not even look at them. One +asked me if I had anything else--he was a snuff-taker--I said yes; and +going home, returned with my translation of the German novel, to which I +have before alluded. After keeping it for a fortnight, he returned it to +me on my visiting him, and, taking a pinch of snuff, told me it would not +do. There were marks of snuff on the outside of the manuscript, which +was a roll of paper bound with red tape, but there were no marks of snuff +on the interior of the manuscript, from which I concluded that he had +never opened it. + +I had often heard of one Glorious John, {365} who lived at the western +end of the town; on consulting Taggart, he told me that it was possible +that Glorious John would publish my ballads and Ab Gwilym, that is, said +he, taking a pinch of snuff, provided you can see him; so I went to the +house where Glorious John resided, and a glorious house it was, but I +could not see Glorious John--I called a dozen times, but I never could +see Glorious John. Twenty years after, by the greatest chance in the +world, I saw Glorious John, and sure enough Glorious John published my +books, but they were different books from the first; I never offered my +ballads or Ab Gwilym to Glorious John. Glorious John was no snuff-taker. +He asked me to dinner, and treated me with superb Rhenish wine. Glorious +John is now gone to his rest, but I--what was I going to say?--the world +will never forget Glorious John. + +So I returned to my last resource for the time then being--to the +publisher, persevering doggedly in my labour. One day, on visiting the +publisher, I found him stamping with fury upon certain fragments of +paper. "Sir," said he, "you know nothing of German; I have shown your +translation of the first chapter of my Philosophy to several Germans: it +is utterly unintelligible to them." "Did they see the Philosophy?" I +replied. "They did, sir, but they did not profess to understand +English." "No more do I," I replied, "if that Philosophy be English." + +The publisher was furious--I was silent. For want of a pinch of snuff, I +had recourse to something which is no bad substitute for a pinch of +snuff, to those who can't take it, silent contempt; at first it made the +publisher more furious, as perhaps a pinch of snuff would; it, however, +eventually calmed him, and he ordered me back to my occupations, in other +words, the compilation. To be brief, the compilation was completed, I +got paid in the usual manner, and forthwith left him. + +He was a clever man, but what a difference in clever men! + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + + +The Old Spot--A Long History--Thou Shalt Not Steal--No +Harm--Education--Necessity--Foam on Your Lip--Apples and Pears--What Will +You Read?--Metaphor--The Fur Cap--I Don't Know Him. + +It was past mid-winter, and I sat on London Bridge, in company with the +old apple-woman: she had just returned to the other side of the bridge, +to her place in the booth where I had originally found her. This she had +done after frequent conversations with me; "She liked the old place +best," she said, which she would never have left but for the terror which +she experienced when the boys ran away with her book. So I sat with her +at the old spot, one afternoon past midwinter, reading the book, of which +I had by this time come to the last pages. I had observed that the old +woman for some time past had shown much less anxiety about the book than +she had been in the habit of doing. I was, however, not quite prepared +for her offering to make me a present of it, which she did that +afternoon; when, having finished it, I returned it to her, with many +thanks for the pleasure and instruction I had derived from its perusal. +"You may keep it, dear," said the old woman, with a sigh; "you may carry +it to your lodging, and keep it for your own." + +Looking at the old woman with surprise, I exclaimed, "Is it possible that +you are willing to part with the book which has been your source of +comfort so long?" + +Whereupon the old woman entered into a long history, from which I +gathered that the book had become distasteful to her; she hardly ever +opened it of late, she said, or if she did, it was only to shut it again; +also, that other things which she had been fond of, though of a widely +different kind, were now distasteful to her. Porter and beef-steaks were +no longer grateful to her palate, her present diet chiefly consisting of +tea, and bread and butter. + +"Ah," said I, "you have been ill, and when people are ill, they seldom +like the things which give them pleasure when they are in health." I +learned, moreover, that she slept little at night, and had all kinds of +strange thoughts; that as she lay awake many things connected with her +youth, which she had quite forgotten, came into her mind. There were +certain words that came into her mind the night before the last, which +were continually humming in her ears: I found that the words were, "Thou +shalt not steal." + +On inquiring where she had first heard these words, I learned that she +had read them at school, in a book called the primer; to this school she +had been sent by her mother, who was a poor widow, and followed the trade +of apple-selling in the very spot where her daughter followed it now. It +seems that the mother was a very good kind of woman, but quite ignorant +of letters, the benefit of which she was willing to procure for her +child; and at the school the daughter learned to read, and subsequently +experienced the pleasure and benefit of letters, in being able to read +the book which she found in an obscure closet of her mother's house, and +which had been her principal companion and comfort for many years of her +life. + +But, as I have said before, she was now dissatisfied with the book, and +with most other things in which she had taken pleasure; she dwelt much on +the words, "Thou shalt not steal;" she had never stolen things herself, +but then she had bought things which other people had stolen, and which +she knew had been stolen; and her dear son had been a thief, which he +perhaps would not have been but for the example which she set him in +buying things from characters, as she called them, who associated with +her. + +On inquiring how she had become acquainted with these characters, I +learned that times had gone hard with her; that she had married, but her +husband had died after a long sickness, which had reduced them to great +distress; that her fruit trade was not a profitable one, and that she had +bought and sold things which had been stolen to support herself and her +son. That for a long time she supposed there was no harm in doing so, as +her book was full of entertaining tales of stealing; but she now thought +that the book was a bad book, and that learning to read was a bad thing; +her mother had never been able to read, but had died in peace, though +poor. + +So here was a woman who attributed the vices and follies of her life to +being able to read; her mother, she said, who could not read, lived +respectably, and died in peace; and what was the essential difference +between the mother and daughter, save that the latter could read? But +for her literature she might in all probability have lived respectably +and honestly, like her mother, and might eventually have died in peace, +which at present she could scarcely hope to do. Education had failed to +produce any good in this poor woman; on the contrary, there could be +little doubt that she had been injured by it. Then was education a bad +thing? Rousseau was of opinion that it was; but Rousseau was a +Frenchman, at least wrote in French, and I cared not the snap of my +fingers for Rousseau. But education has certainly been of benefit in +some instances; well, what did that prove, but that partiality existed in +the management of the affairs of the world--if education was a benefit to +some, why was it not a benefit to others? Could some avoid abusing it, +any more than others could avoid turning it to a profitable account? I +did not see how they could; this poor simple woman found a book in her +mother's closet; a book, which was a capital book for those who could +turn it to the account for which it was intended; a book, from the +perusal of which I felt myself wiser and better, but which was by no +means suited to the intellect of this poor simple woman, who thought that +it was written in praise of thieving; yet she found it, she read it, +and--and--I felt myself getting into a maze. What is right, thought I? +what is wrong? Do I exist? Does the world exist? if it does, every +action is bound up with necessity. + +"Necessity!" I exclaimed, and cracked my finger joints. + +"Ah, it is a bad thing," said the old woman. + +"What is a bad thing?" said I. + +"Why, to be poor, dear." + +"You talk like a fool," said I; "riches and poverty are only different +forms of necessity." + +"You should not call me a fool, dear; you should not call your own mother +a fool." + +"You are not my mother," said I. + +"Not your mother, dear?--no, no more I am; but your calling me fool put +me in mind of my dear son, who often used to call me fool--and you just +now looked as he sometimes did, with a blob of foam on your lip." + +"After all, I don't know that you are not my mother." + +"Don't you, dear? I'm glad of it; I wish you would make it out." + +"How should I make it out? who can speak from his own knowledge as to the +circumstances of his birth? Besides, before attempting to establish our +relationship, it would be necessary to prove that such people exist." + +"What people, dear?" + +"You and I." + +"Lord, child, you are mad; that book has made you so." + +"Don't abuse it," said I; "the book is an excellent one, that is, +provided it exists." + +"I wish it did not," said the old woman; "but it shan't long; I'll burn +it, or fling it into the river--the voices at night tell me to do so." + +"Tell the voices," said I, "that they talk nonsense; the book, if it +exists, is a good book, it contains a deep moral; have you read it all?" + +"All the funny parts, dear; all about taking things, and the manner it +was done; as for the rest, I could not exactly make it out." + +"Then the book is not to blame; I repeat that the book is a good book, +and contains deep morality, always supposing that there is such a thing +as morality, which is the same thing as supposing that there is anything +at all." + +"Anything at all! Why, a'n't we here on this bridge, in my booth, with +my stall and my--" + +"Apples and pears, baked hot, you would say--I don't know; all is a +mystery, a deep question. It is a question, and probably always will be, +whether there is a world, and consequently apples and pears; and, +provided there be a world, whether that world be like an apple or a +pear." + +"Don't talk so, dear." + +"I won't; we will suppose that we all exist--world, ourselves, apples, +and pears: so you wish to get rid of the book?" + +"Yes, dear, I wish you would take it." + +"I have read it, and have no farther use for it; I do not need books: in +a little time, perhaps, I shall not have a place wherein to deposit +myself, far less books." + +"Then I will fling it into the river." + +"Don't do that; here, give it me. Now, what shall I do with it? you were +so fond of it." + +"I am so no longer." + +"But how will you pass your time; what will you read?" + +"I wish I had never learned to read, or, if I had, that I had only read +the books I saw at school: the primer or the other." + +"What was the other?" + +"I think they called it the Bible: all about God, and Job, and Jesus." + +"Ah, I know it." + +"You have read it; is it a nice book--all true?" + +"True, true--I don't know what to say; but if the world be true, and not +all a lie, a fiction, I don't see why the Bible, as they call it, should +not be true. By the bye, what do you call Bible in your tongue, or, +indeed, book of any kind? as Bible merely means a book." + +"What do I call the Bible in my language, dear?" + +"Yes, the language of those who bring you things." + +"The language of those who _did_, dear; they bring them now no longer. +They call me fool, as you did, dear, just now; they call kissing the +Bible, which means taking a false oath, smacking calfskin." + +"That's metaphor," said I; "English, but metaphorical; what an odd +language! So you would like to have a Bible,--shall I buy you one?" + +"I am poor, dear--no money since I left off the other trade." + +"Well, then, I'll buy you one." + +"No, dear, no; you are poor, and may soon want the money; but if you can +take me one conveniently on the sly, you know--I think you may, for, as +it is a good book, I suppose there can be no harm in taking it." + +"That will never do," said I, "more especially as I should be sure to be +caught, not having made taking of things my trade; but I'll tell you what +I'll do--try and exchange this book of yours for a Bible; who knows for +what great things this same book of yours may serve?" + +"Well, dear," said the old woman, "do as you please; I should like to see +the--what do you call it?--Bible, and to read it, as you seem to think it +true." + +"Yes," said I, "seem; that is the way to express yourself in this maze of +doubt--I seem to think--these apples and pears seem to be--and here seems +to be a gentleman who wants to purchase either one or the other." + +A person had stopped before the apple-woman's stall, and was glancing now +at the fruit, now at the old woman and myself; he wore a blue mantle, and +had a kind of fur cap on his head; he was somewhat above the middle +stature; his features were keen, but rather hard; there was a slight +obliquity in his vision. Selecting a small apple, he gave the old woman +a penny; then, after looking at me scrutinisingly for a moment, he moved +from the booth in the direction of Southwark. + +"Do you know who that man is?" said I to the old woman. + +"No," said she, "except that he is one of my best customers: he +frequently stops, takes an apple, and gives me a penny; his is the only +piece of money I have taken this blessed day. I don't know him, but he +has once or twice sat down in the booth with two strange-looking +men--Mulattos, or Lascars, I think they call them." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + + +Bought and Exchanged--Quite Empty--A New Firm--Bibles--Countenance of a +Lion--Clap of Thunder--A Truce with This--I Have Lost It--Clearly a +Right--Goddess of the Mint. + +In pursuance of my promise to the old woman, I set about procuring her a +Bible with all convenient speed, placing the book which she had entrusted +to me for the purpose of exchange in my pocket. I went to several shops, +and asked if Bibles were to be had: I found that there were plenty. When, +however, I informed the people that I came to barter, they looked blank, +and declined treating with me; saying that they did not do business in +that way. At last I went into a shop over the window of which I saw +written, "Books bought and exchanged:" there was a smartish young fellow +in the shop, with black hair and whiskers. "You exchange?" said I. +"Yes," said he, "sometimes, but we prefer selling; what book do you +want?" "A Bible," said I. "Ah," said he, "there's a great demand for +Bibles just now; all kinds of people are become very pious of late," he +added, grinning at me; "I am afraid I can't do business with you, more +especially as the master is not at home. What book have you brought?" +Taking the book out of my pocket, I placed it on the counter: the young +fellow opened the book, and inspecting the title-page, burst into a loud +laugh. "What do you laugh for?" said I, angrily, and half clenching my +fist. "Laugh!" said the young fellow; "laugh! who could help laughing?" +"I could," said I; "I see nothing to laugh at; I want to exchange this +book for a Bible." "You do?" said the young fellow; "well, I dare say +there are plenty who would be willing to exchange, that is, if they +dared. I wish master were at home; but that would never do, either. +Master's a family man, the Bibles are not mine, and master being a family +man, is sharp, and knows all his stock; I'd buy it of you, but, to tell +you the truth, I am quite empty here," said he, pointing to his pocket, +"so I am afraid we can't deal." + +Whereupon, looking anxiously at the young man, "What am I to do?" said I; +"I really want a Bible." + +"Can't you buy one?" said the young man; "have you no money?" + +"Yes," said I, "I have some, but I am merely the agent of another; I came +to exchange, not to buy; what am I to do?" + +"I don't know," said the young man, thoughtfully laying down the book on +the counter; "I don't know what you can do; I think you will find some +difficulty in this bartering job, the trade are rather precise." All at +once he laughed louder than before; suddenly stopping, however, he put on +a very grave look. "Take my advice," said he; "there is a firm +established in this neighbourhood which scarcely sells any books but +Bibles; they are very rich, and pride themselves on selling their books +at the lowest possible price; apply to them, who knows but what they will +exchange with you?" + +Thereupon I demanded with some eagerness of the young man the direction +to the place where he thought it possible that I might effect the +exchange--which direction the young fellow cheerfully gave me, and, as I +turned away, had the civility to wish me success. + +I had no difficulty in finding the house to which the young fellow +directed me; it was a very large house, situated in a square; and upon +the side of the house was written in large letters, "Bibles, and other +religious books." + +At the door of the house were two or three tumbrils, in the act of being +loaded with chests, very much resembling tea-chests; one of the chests +falling down, burst, and out flew, not tea, but various books, in a neat, +small size, and in neat leather covers; Bibles, said I,--Bibles, +doubtless. I was not quite right, nor quite wrong; picking up one of the +books, I looked at it for a moment, and found it to be the New Testament. +"Come, young lad," said a man who stood by, in the dress of a porter, +"put that book down, it is none of yours; if you want a book, go in and +deal for one." + +Deal, thought I, deal,--the man seems to know what I am coming about,--and +going in, I presently found myself in a very large room. Behind a +counter two men stood with their backs to a splendid fire, warming +themselves, for the weather was cold. + +Of these men one was dressed in brown, and the other was dressed in +black; both were tall men--he who was dressed in brown was thin, and had +a particularly ill-natured countenance; the man dressed in black was +bulky, his features were noble, but they were those of a lion. + +"What is your business, young man?" said the precise personage, as I +stood staring at him and his companion. + +"I want a Bible," said I. + +"What price, what size?" said the precise-looking man. + +"As to size," said I, "I should like to have a large one--that is, if you +can afford me one--I do not come to buy." + +"Oh, friend," said the precise-looking man, "if you come here expecting +to have a Bible for nothing, you are mistaken--we--" + +"I would scorn to have a Bible for nothing," said I, "or anything else; I +came not to beg, but to barter; there is no shame in that, especially in +a country like this, where all folks barter." + +"Oh, we don't barter," said the precise man, "at least Bibles; you had +better depart." + +"Stay, brother," said the man with the countenance of a lion, "let us ask +a few questions; this may be a very important case; perhaps the young man +has had convictions." + +"Not I," I exclaimed; "I am convinced of nothing, and with regard to the +Bible--I don't believe--" + +"Hey!" said the man with the lion countenance, and there he stopped. But +with that "Hey!" the walls of the house seemed to shake, the windows +rattled, and the porter whom I had seen in front of the house came +running up the steps, and looked into the apartment through the glass of +the door. There was silence for about a minute--the same kind of silence +which succeeds a clap of thunder. + +At last the man with the lion countenance, who had kept his eyes fixed +upon me, said calmly, "Were you about to say that you don't believe in +the Bible, young man?" + +"No more than in anything else," said I; "you were talking of +convictions--I have no convictions. It is not easy to believe in the +Bible till one is convinced that there is a Bible." + +"He seems to be insane," said the prim-looking man; "we had better order +the porter to turn him out." + +"I am by no means certain," said I, "that the porter could turn me out; +always provided there is a porter, and this system of ours be not a lie, +and a dream." + +"Come," said the lion-looking man, impatiently, "a truce with this +nonsense. If the porter cannot turn you out, perhaps some other person +can; but to the point--you want a Bible?" + +"I do," said I, "but not for myself; I was sent by another person to +offer something in exchange for one." + +"And who is that person?" + +"A poor old woman, who has had what you call convictions,--heard voices, +or thought she heard them--I forgot to ask her whether they were loud +ones." + +"What has she sent to offer in exchange?" said the man, without taking +any notice of the concluding part of my speech. + +"A book," said I. + +"Let me see it." + +"Nay, brother," said the precise man, "this will never do; if we once +adopt the system of barter, we shall have all the holders of useless +rubbish in the town applying to us." + +"I wish to see what he has brought," said the other; "perhaps Baxter, or +Jewell's Apology, either of which would make a valuable addition to our +collection. Well, young man, what's the matter with you?" + +I stood like one petrified; I had put my hand into my pocket--the book +was gone. + +"What's the matter?" repeated the man with the lion countenance, in a +voice very much resembling thunder. + +"I have it not--I have lost it!" + +"A pretty story, truly," said the precise-looking man; "lost it!" + +"You had better retire," said the other. + +"How shall I appear before the party who entrusted me with the book? She +will certainly think that I have purloined it, notwithstanding all I can +say; nor, indeed, can I blame her,--appearances are certainly against +me." + +"They are so--you had better retire." + +I moved towards the door. "Stay, young man, one word more; there is only +one way of proceeding which would induce me to believe that you are +sincere." + +"What is that?" said I, stopping and looking at him anxiously. + +"The purchase of a Bible." + +"Purchase!" said I, "purchase! I came not to purchase, but to barter; +such was my instruction, and how can I barter if I have lost the book?" + +The other made no answer, and turning away I made for the door; all of a +sudden I started, and turning round, "Dear me," said I, "it has just come +into my head, that if the book was lost by my negligence, as it must have +been, I have clearly a right to make it good." + +No answer. + +"Yes," I repeated, "I have clearly a right to make it good; how glad I +am! see the effect of a little reflection. I will purchase a Bible +instantly, that is, if I have not lost . . . " and with considerable +agitation I felt in my pocket. + +The prim-looking man smiled: "I suppose," said he, "that he has lost his +money as well as book." + +"No," said I, "I have not;" and pulling out my hand I displayed no less a +sum than three half-crowns. + +"O noble goddess of the Mint!" as Dame Charlotta Nordenflycht, the Swede, +said a hundred and fifty years ago, "great is thy power; how +energetically the possession of thee speaks in favour of man's +character!" + +"Only half a crown for this Bible?" said I, putting down the money; "it +is worth three;" and bowing to the man of the noble features, I departed +with my purchase. + +"Queer customer," said the prim-looking man, as I was about to close the +door--"don't like him." + +"Why, as to that, I scarcely know what to say," said he of the +countenance of a lion. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + + +The Pickpocket--Strange Rencounter--Drag Him Along--A Great +Service--Things of Importance--Philological Matters--Mother of +Languages--Zhats! + +A few days after the occurrence of what is recorded in the last chapter, +as I was wandering in the City, chance directed my footsteps to an alley +leading from one narrow street to another in the neighbourhood of +Cheapside. Just before I reached the mouth of the alley, a man in a +great-coat, closely followed by another, passed it; and, at the moment in +which they were passing, I observed the man behind snatch something from +the pocket of the other; whereupon, darting into the street, I seized the +hindermost man by the collar, crying at the same time to the other, "My +good friend, this person has just picked your pocket." + +The individual whom I addressed, turning round with a start, glanced at +me, and then at the person whom I held. London is the place for strange +rencounters. It appeared to me that I recognised both individuals--the +man whose pocket had been picked and the other; the latter now began to +struggle violently; "I have picked no one's pocket," said he. "Rascal," +said the other, "you have got my pocket-book in your bosom." "No, I have +not," said the other; and, struggling more violently than before, the +pocket-book dropped from his bosom upon the ground. + +The other was now about to lay hands upon the fellow, who was still +struggling. "You had better take up your book," said I; "I can hold +him." He followed my advice; and, taking up his pocket-book, surveyed my +prisoner with a ferocious look, occasionally glaring at me. Yes, I had +seen him before--it was the stranger whom I had observed on London +Bridge, by the stall of the old apple-woman, with the cap and cloak; but, +instead of these, he now wore a hat and great-coat. "Well," said I, at +last, "what am I to do with this gentleman of ours?" nodding to the +prisoner, who had now left off struggling. "Shall I let him go?" + +"Go!" said the other; "go! The knave--the rascal; let him go, indeed! +Not so, he shall go before the Lord Mayor. Bring him along." + +"Oh, let me go," said the other: "let me go; this is the first offence, I +assure ye--the first time I ever thought to do anything wrong." + +"Hold your tongue," said I, "or I shall be angry with you. If I am not +very much mistaken, you once attempted to cheat me." + +"I never saw you before in all my life," said the fellow, though his +countenance seemed to belie his words. + +"That is not true," said I; "you are the man who attempted to cheat me of +one-and-ninepence in the coach-yard, on the first morning of my arrival +in London." + +"I don't doubt it," said the other; "a confirmed thief;" and here his +tones became peculiarly sharp; "I would fain see him hanged--crucified. +Drag him along." + +"I am no constable," said I; "you have got your pocket-book,--I would +rather you would bid me let him go." + +"Bid you let him go!" said the other almost furiously; "I command--stay, +what was I going to say? I was forgetting myself," he observed more +gently; "but he stole my pocket-book;--if you did but know what it +contained." + +"Well," said I, "if it contains anything valuable, be the more thankful +that you have recovered it; as for the man, I will help you to take him +where you please; but I wish you would let him go." + +The stranger hesitated, and there was an extraordinary play of emotion in +his features: he looked ferociously at the pickpocket, and, more than +once, somewhat suspiciously at myself; at last his countenance cleared, +and, with a good grace, he said, "Well, you have done me a great service, +and you have my consent to let him go; but the rascal shall not escape +with impunity," he exclaimed suddenly, as I let the man go, and starting +forward, before the fellow could escape, he struck him a violent blow on +the face. The man staggered, and had nearly fallen; recovering himself, +however, he said, "I tell you what, my fellow, if I ever meet you in this +street in a dark night, and I have a knife about me, it shall be the +worse for you; as for you, young man," said he to me; but, observing that +the other was making towards him, he left whatever he was about to say +unfinished, and, taking to his heels, was out of sight in a moment. + +The stranger and myself walked in the direction of Cheapside, the way in +which he had been originally proceeding; he was silent for a few moments, +at length he said, "You have really done me a great service, and I should +be ungrateful not to acknowledge it. I am a merchant; and a merchant's +pocket-book, as you perhaps know, contains many things of importance; +but, young man," he exclaimed, "I think I have seen you before; I thought +so at first, but where I cannot exactly say: where was it?" I mentioned +London Bridge and the old apple-woman. "Oh," said he, and smiled, and +there was something peculiar in his smile, "I remember now. Do you +frequently sit on London Bridge?" "Occasionally," said I; "that old +woman is an old friend of mine." "Friend?" said the stranger; "I am glad +of it, for I shall know where to find you. At present I am going to +'Change; time, you know, is precious to a merchant." We were by this +time close to Cheapside. "Farewell," said he; "I shall not forget this +service. I trust we shall soon meet again." He then shook me by the +hand and went his way. + +The next day, as I was seated beside the old woman in the booth, the +stranger again made his appearance, and, after a word or two, sat down +beside me; the old woman was sometimes reading the Bible, which she had +already had two or three days in her possession, and sometimes +discoursing with me. Our discourse rolled chiefly on philological +matters. + +"What do you call bread in your language?" said I. + +"You mean the language of those who bring me things to buy, or who did; +for, as I told you before, I shan't buy any more; it's no language of +mine, dear--they call bread pannam in their language." + +"Pannam!" said I, "pannam! evidently connected with, if not derived from, +the Latin panis; even as the word tanner, which signifieth a sixpence, is +connected with, if not derived from, the Latin tener, which is itself +connected with, if not derived from, tawno or tawner, which, in the +language of Mr. Petulengro, signifieth a sucking child. {386} Let me +see, what is the term for bread in the language of Mr. Petulengro? Morro, +or manro, as I have sometimes heard it called; is there not some +connection between these words and panis? Yes, I think there is; and I +should not wonder if morro, manro, and panis were connected, perhaps +derived from the same root; but what is that root? I don't know--I wish +I did; though, perhaps, I should not be the happier. Morro--manro! I +rather think morro is the oldest form; it is easier to say morro than +manro. Morro! Irish, aran; Welsh, bara; English, bread. I can see a +resemblance between all the words, and pannam too; and I rather think +that the Petulengrian word is the elder. How odd it would be if the +language of Mr. Petulengro should eventually turn out to be the mother of +all the languages in the world; yet it is certain that there are some +languages in which the terms for bread have no connection with the word +used by Mr. Petulengro, notwithstanding that those languages, in many +other points, exhibit a close affinity to the language of the horse-shoe +master: for example, bread, in Hebrew, is Laham, which assuredly exhibits +little similitude to the word used by the aforesaid Petulengro. In +Armenian it is--" + +"Zhats!" said the stranger, starting up. "By the Patriarch and the Three +Holy Churches, this is wonderful! How came you to know aught of +Armenian?" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + + +New Acquaintance--Wired Cases--Bread and Wine--Armenian Colonies--Learning +Without Money--What a Language--The Tide--Your Foible--Learning of the +Haiks--Old Proverb--Pressing Invitation. + +Just as I was about to reply to the interrogation of my new-formed +acquaintance, a man, with a dusky countenance, probably one of the +Lascars, or Mulattos, of whom the old woman had spoken, came up and +whispered to him, and with this man he presently departed,--not, however, +before he had told me the place of his abode, and requested me to visit +him. + +After the lapse of a few days, I called at the house, which he had +indicated. It was situated in a dark and narrow street, in the heart of +the city, at no great distance from the bank. I entered a counting-room, +in which a solitary clerk, with a foreign look, was writing. The +stranger was not at home; returning the next day, however, I met him at +the door as he was about to enter; he shook me warmly by the hand. "I am +glad to see you," said he; "follow me; I was just thinking of you." He +led me through the counting-room, to an apartment up a flight of stairs; +before ascending, however, he looked into the book in which the foreign- +visaged clerk was writing, and, seemingly not satisfied with the manner +in which he was executing his task, he gave him two or three cuffs, +telling him at the same time that he deserved crucifixion. + +The apartment above stairs, to which he led me, was large, with three +windows, which opened upon the street. The walls were hung with wired +cases, apparently containing books. There was a table and two or three +chairs; but the principal article of furniture was a long sofa, +extending, from the door by which we entered, to the farther end of the +apartment. Seating himself upon the sofa, my new acquaintance motioned +to me to sit beside him, and then, looking me full in the face, repeated +his former inquiry. "In the name of all that is wonderful, how came you +to know aught of my language?" + +"There is nothing wonderful in that," said I; "we are at the commencement +of a philological age, every one studies languages: that is, every one +who is fit for nothing else; philology being the last resource of dulness +and ennui, I have got a little in advance of the throng, by mastering the +Armenian alphabet; but I foresee the time when every unmarriageable miss, +and desperate blockhead, will likewise have acquired the letters of +Mesroub, and will know the term for bread, in Armenian, and perhaps that +for wine." + +"Kini," said my companion; and that and the other word put me in mind of +the duties of hospitality. "Will you eat bread and drink wine with me?" + +"Willingly," said I. Whereupon my companion, unlocking a closet, +produced, on a silver salver, a loaf of bread, with a silver-handled +knife, and wine in a silver flask, with cups of the same metal. "I hope +you like my fare," said he, after we had both eaten and drunk. + +"I like your bread," said I, "for it is stale; I like not your wine; it +is sweet, and I hate sweet wine." + +"It is wine of Cyprus," said my entertainer; and, when I found that it +was wine of Cyprus, I tasted it again, and the second taste pleased me +much better than the first, notwithstanding that I still thought it +somewhat sweet. "So," said I, after a pause, looking at my companion, +"you are an Armenian?" + +"Yes," said he, "an Armenian born in London, but not less an Armenian on +that account. My father was a native of Ispahan, one of the celebrated +Armenian colony which was established there shortly after the time of the +dreadful hunger, which drove the children of Haik in swarms from their +original country, and scattered them over most parts of the eastern and +western world. In Ispahan he passed the greater portion of his life, +following mercantile pursuits with considerable success. Certain +enemies, however, having accused him to the despot of the place, of using +seditious language, he was compelled to flee, leaving most of his +property behind. Travelling in the direction of the west, he came at +last to London, where he established himself, and where he eventually +died, leaving behind a large property and myself, his only child, the +fruit of a marriage with an Armenian English woman, who did not survive +my birth more than three months." + +The Armenian then proceeded to tell me that he had carried on the +business of his father, which seemed to embrace most matters, from buying +silks of Lascars, to speculating in the funds, and that he had +considerably increased the property which his father had left him. He +candidly confessed that he was wonderfully fond of gold, and said there +was nothing like it for giving a person respectability and consideration +in the world: to which assertion I made no answer, being not exactly +prepared to contradict it. + +And, when he had related to me his history, he expressed a desire to know +something more of myself, whereupon I gave him the outline of my history, +concluding with saying, "I am now a poor author, or rather philologist, +upon the streets of London, possessed of many tongues, which I find of no +use in the world." + +"Learning without money is anything but desirable," said the Armenian, +"as it unfits a man for humble occupations. It is true that it may +occasionally beget him friends; I confess to you that your understanding +something of my language weighs more with me than the service you +rendered me in rescuing my pocket-book the other day from the claws of +that scoundrel whom I yet hope to see hanged, if not crucified, +notwithstanding there were in that pocket-book papers and documents of +considerable value. Yes, that circumstance makes my heart warm towards +you, for I am proud of my language--as I indeed well may be--what a +language, noble and energetic! quite original, differing from all others +both in words and structure." + +"You are mistaken," said I; "many languages resemble the Armenian both in +structure and words." + +"For example?" said the Armenian. + +"For example," said I, "the English." + +"The English?" said the Armenian; "show me one word in which the English +resembles the Armenian." + +"You walk on London Bridge," said I. + +"Yes," said the Armenian. + +"I saw you look over the balustrade the other morning." + +"True," said the Armenian. + +"Well, what did you see rushing up through the arches with noise and +foam?" + +"What was it?" said the Armenian. "What was it?--you don't mean the +_tide_?" + +"Do I not?" said I. + +"Well, what has the tide to do with the matter?" + +"Much," said I; "what is the tide?" + +"The ebb and flow of the sea," said the Armenian. + +"The sea itself; what is the Haik word for sea?" + +The Armenian gave a strong gasp; then, nodding his head thrice, "You are +right," said he; "the English word tide is the Armenian for sea; and now +I begin to perceive that there are many English words which are Armenian; +there is --- and ---, and there again in French there is --- and --- +derived from the Armenian. How strange, how singular!--I thank you. It +is a proud thing to see that the language of my race has had so much +influence over the languages of the world." + +I saw that all that related to his race was the weak point of the +Armenian. I did not flatter the Armenian with respect to his race or +language. "An inconsiderable people," said I, "shrewd and industrious, +but still an inconsiderable people. A language bold and expressive, and +of some antiquity, derived, though perhaps not immediately, from some +much older tongue. I do not think that the Armenian has had any +influence over the formation of the languages of the world. I am not +much indebted to the Armenian for the solution of any doubts; whereas to +the language of Mr. Petulengro--" + +"I have heard you mention that name before," said the Armenian; "who is +Mr. Petulengro?" + +And then I told the Armenian who Mr. Petulengro was. The Armenian spoke +contemptuously of Mr. Petulengro and his race. "Don't speak +contemptuously of Mr. Petulengro," said I, "nor of anything belonging to +him. He is a dark mysterious personage; all connected with him is a +mystery, especially his language; but I believe that his language is +doomed to solve a great philological problem--Mr. Petulengro--" + +"You appear agitated," said the Armenian; "take another glass of wine; +you possess a great deal of philological knowledge, but it appears to me +that the language of this Petulengro is your foible: but let us change +the subject; I feel much interested in you, and would fain be of service +to you. Can you cast accounts?" + +I shook my head. + +"Keep books?" + +"I have an idea that I could write books," said I; "but, as to keeping +them . . . " and here again I shook my head. + +The Armenian was silent some time; all at once, glancing at one of the +wire cases, with which, as I have already said, the walls of the room +were hung, he asked me if I was well acquainted with the learning of the +Haiks. "The books in these cases," said he, "contain the master-pieces +of Haik learning." + +"No," said I, "all I know of the learning of the Haiks is their +translation of the Bible." + +"You have never read Z---?" + +"No," said I, "I have never read Z---." + +"I have a plan," said the Armenian; "I think I can employ you agreeably +and profitably; I should like to see Z--- in an English dress; you shall +translate Z---. If you can read the Scriptures in Armenian, you can +translate Z---. He is our Esop, the most acute and clever of all our +moral writers--his philosophy--" + +"I will have nothing to do with him," said I. + +"Wherefore?" said the Armenian. + +"There is an old proverb," said I, '"that a burnt child avoids the fire.' +I have burnt my hands sufficiently with attempting to translate +philosophy, to make me cautious of venturing upon it again;" and then I +told the Armenian how I had been persuaded by the publisher to translate +his philosophy into German, and what sorry thanks I had received; "and +who knows," said I, "but the attempt to translate Armenian philosophy +into English might be attended with yet more disagreeable consequences." + +The Armenian smiled. "You would find me very different from the +publisher." + +"In many points I have no doubt I should," I replied; "but at the present +moment I feel like a bird which has escaped from a cage, and, though +hungry, feels no disposition to return. Of what nation is the dark man +below stairs, whom I saw writing at the desk?" + +"He is a Moldave," said the Armenian; "the dog [and here his eyes +sparkled] deserves to be crucified; he is continually making mistakes." + +The Armenian again renewed his proposition about Z---, which I again +refused, as I felt but little inclination to place myself beneath the +jurisdiction of a person who was in the habit of cuffing those whom he +employed, when they made mistakes. I presently took my departure; not, +however, before I had received from the Armenian a pressing invitation to +call upon him whenever I should feel disposed. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + + +What to Do--Strong Enough--Fame and Profit--Alliterative +Euphony--Excellent Fellow--Listen to Me--A Plan--Bagnigge Wells. + +Anxious thoughts frequently disturbed me at this time with respect to +what I was to do, and how support myself in the great city. My future +prospects were gloomy enough, and I looked forward and feared; sometimes +I felt half disposed to accept the offer of the Armenian, and to commence +forthwith, under his superintendence, the translation of the Haik Esop; +but the remembrance of the cuffs which I had seen him bestow upon the +Moldavian, when glancing over his shoulder into the ledger or whatever it +was on which he was employed, immediately drove the inclination from my +mind. I could not support the idea of the possibility of his staring +over my shoulder upon my translation of the Haik Esop, and, dissatisfied +with my attempts, treating me as he had treated the Moldavian clerk; +placing myself in a position which exposed me to such treatment, would +indeed be plunging into the fire after escaping from the frying-pan. The +publisher, insolent and overbearing as he was, whatever he might have +wished or thought, had never lifted his hand against me, or told me that +I merited crucifixion. + +What was I to do? turn porter? I was strong; but there was something +besides strength required to ply the trade of a porter--a mind of a +particularly phlegmatic temperament, which I did not possess. What +should I do?--enlist as a soldier? I was tall enough; but something +besides height is required to make a man play with credit the part of +soldier, I mean a private one--a spirit, if spirit it can be called, +which will not only enable a man to submit with patience to insolence and +abuse, and even to cuffs and kicks, but occasionally to the lash. I felt +that I was not qualified to be a soldier, at least a private one; far +better be a drudge to the most ferocious of publishers, editing Newgate +Lives, and writing in eighteenpenny Reviews--better to translate the Haik +Esop, under the superintendence of ten Armenians, than be a private +soldier in the English service; I did not decide rashly--I knew something +of soldiering. What should I do? I thought that I would make a last and +desperate attempt to dispose of the ballads and of Ab Gwilym. + +I had still an idea that, provided I could persuade any spirited +publisher to give these translations to the world, I should acquire both +considerable fame and profit; not, perhaps, a world-embracing fame such +as Byron's; but a fame not to be sneered at, which would last me a +considerable time, and would keep my heart from breaking;--profit, not +equal to that which Scott had made by his wondrous novels, but which +would prevent me from starving, and enable me to achieve some other +literary enterprise. I read and re-read my ballads, and the more I read +them the more I was convinced that the public, in the event of their +being published, would freely purchase, and hail them with the merited +applause. Were not the deeds and adventures wonderful and +heart-stirring, from which it is true I could claim no merit, being but +the translator; but had I not rendered them into English, with all their +original fire? Yes, I was confident I had; and I had no doubt that the +public would say so. And then, with respect to Ab Gwilym, had I not done +as much justice to him as to the Danish ballads; not only rendering +faithfully his thoughts, imagery, and phraseology, but even preserving in +my translation the alliterative euphony which constitutes one of the most +remarkable features of Welsh prosody? Yes, I had accomplished all this; +and I doubted not that the public would receive my translations from Ab +Gwilym with quite as much eagerness as my version of the Danish ballads. +But I found the publishers as untractable as ever, and to this day the +public has never had an opportunity of doing justice to the glowing fire +of my ballad versification, {397} and the alliterative euphony of my +imitations of Ab Gwilym. + +I had not seen Francis Ardry since the day I had seen him taking lessons +in elocution. One afternoon as I was seated at my table, my head resting +on my hands, he entered my apartment; sitting down, he inquired of me why +I had not been to see him. + +"I might ask the same question of you," I replied. "Wherefore have you +not been to see me?" Whereupon Francis Ardry told me that he had been +much engaged in his oratorical exercises, also in escorting the young +Frenchwoman about to places of public amusement; he then again questioned +me as to the reason of my not having been to see him. + +I returned an evasive answer. The truth was, that for some time past my +appearance, owing to the state of my finances, had been rather shabby; +and I did not wish to expose a fashionable young man like Francis Ardry, +who lived in a fashionable neighbourhood, to the imputation of having a +shabby acquaintance. I was aware that Francis Ardry was an excellent +fellow; but, on that very account, I felt, under existing circumstances, +a delicacy in visiting him. + +It is very possible that he had an inkling of how matters stood, as he +presently began to talk of my affairs and prospects. I told him of my +late ill success with the booksellers, and inveighed against their +blindness to their own interest in refusing to publish my translations. +"The last that I addressed myself to," said I, "told me not to trouble +him again unless I could bring him a decent novel or a tale." + +"Well," said Frank, "and why did you not carry him a decent novel or a +tale?" + +"Because I have neither," said I; "and to write them is, I believe, above +my capacity. At present I feel divested of all energy--heartless, and +almost hopeless." + +"I see how it is," said Francis Ardry, "you have overworked yourself, +and, worst of all, to no purpose. Take my advice; cast all care aside, +and only think of diverting yourself for a month at least." + +"Divert myself," said I; "and where am I to find the means?" + +"Be that care on my shoulders," said Francis Ardry. "Listen to me--my +uncles have been so delighted with the favourable accounts which they +have lately received from T--- of my progress in oratory, that, in the +warmth of their hearts, they made me a present yesterday of two hundred +pounds. This is more money than I want, at least for the present; do me +the favour to take half of it as a loan--hear me," said he, observing +that I was about to interrupt him; "I have a plan in my head--one of the +prettiest in the world. The sister of my charmer is just arrived from +France; she cannot speak a word of English; and, as Annette and myself +are much engaged in our own matters, we cannot pay her the attention +which we should wish, and which she deserves, for she is a truly +fascinating creature, although somewhat differing from my charmer, having +blue eyes and flaxen hair; whilst Annette, on the contrary . . . But I +hope you will shortly see Annette. Now, my plan is this--Take the money, +dress yourself fashionably, and conduct Annette's sister to Bagnigge +Wells." + +"And what should we do at Bagnigge Wells?" + +"Do!" said Francis Ardry. "Dance!" + +"But," said I, "I scarcely know anything of dancing." + +"Then here's an excellent opportunity of improving yourself. Like most +Frenchwomen, she dances divinely; however, if you object to Bagnigge +Wells and dancing, go to Brighton, and remain there a month or two, at +the end of which time you can return with your mind refreshed and +invigorated, and materials, perhaps, for a tale or novel." + +"I never heard a more foolish plan," said I, "or one less likely to +terminate profitably or satisfactorily. I thank you, however, for your +offer, which is, I dare say, well meant. If I am to escape from my cares +and troubles, and find my mind refreshed and invigorated, I must adopt +other means than conducting a French demoiselle to Brighton or Bagnigge +Wells, defraying the expense by borrowing from a friend." + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{0a} Pronounced _Lav'en-gro_, not _Lav-en'gro_, the two first syllables +exactly like those of _lavender_. Borrow meant it to stand for "word- +master, philologist," but--_nomen omen_--already in Grellmann (1787) +_latcho lavengro_ stood for "a liar." + +{1a} On 5th July 1803, at East Dereham, Norfolk, 17 miles west-north- +west of Norwich. + +{1b} Captain Thomas Borrow (1758-1824), the youngest of a family of +eight (three daughters and five sons). + +{1c} Trethinnick, near St. Cleer. + +{2} "In Cornwall are the best gentlemen."--_Corn. Prov._ (B.) + +{4a} Earl of Orford. Borrow's father rose from private to sergeant in +the Coldstream Guards, and, passing in 1792 to the West Norfolk Militia, +was six years later promoted adjutant with the rank of captain (Knapp, i. +7-16). + +{4b} Dereham. + +{4c} Ann Perfrement (1772-1858). They married in 1793 (Knapp, i. 16- +26). + +{7} John Thomas Borrow (1800-1833), ensign and lieutenant in his +father's regiment, art student under Old Crome and Benjamin Haydon, and +from 1826 a mining agent in Mexico. + +{19} Norwegian ells--about eight feet. (B.) + +{22} Dereham. + +{31a} Charles Hyde Wollaston (1772-1850), vicar from 1806--my mother's +uncle. + +{31b} James Philo (1745-1829), an old soldier, for fifty years parish +clerk. + +{33} In 1810. + +{37} Whittlesea Mere. In 1786 it measured 3.5 miles from east to west +by 2.5 miles, and it was drained in 1850-51. + +{44} Much such a man, perhaps a descendant, travelled East Anglia about +1866. He used to visit schools to exhibit his snakes. + +{48} Better _bengesko_ or _beng's_, devil's. + +{50} _Tiny tawny_ is not Romany. _Tarno_ means "small" or "young." + +{52} _Sap_, snake; _sapengro_, snake-charmer. + +{65} Berwick-upon-Tweed. Its walls are not lofty. + +{69a} In 1813. + +{69b} South-western. + +{71} Borrow and his brother seem to have been at the High School in +March 1814, probably only for the one winter session. James Pillans was +rector, and the four under-masters were William Ritchie, Aglionby Ross +Carson (Borrow's), George Irvine, James Gray. + +{72} William Bowie; probably from Gaelic _buidhe_, yellow, and so not +Norse at all. + +{75} Northern. + +{79} David Haggart (1801-21), thief, was born and hanged at Edinburgh. +He enlisted as a drummer in July 1813, and killed a Dumfries turnkey in +1820. His curious _Autobiography_ is written largely in thieves' cant. + +{82a} Northern. + +{82b} Perhaps two hundred feet. + +{88} Fifteen months. + +{89a} Harwich. + +{89b} Cork Harbour. + +{90} Cork. + +{93} Clonmel. + +{98} Elzevirs are not generally huge. + +{104} In Tipperary county, twenty miles north of Clonmel. In 1816. + +{131} Norwich. + +{132a} Till 1886 a prison, and now a museum. A square Norman keep. + +{132b} The tower is Norman, the spire Decorated, 215 feet high. + +{133} The Bishop's Bridge (1295) over the Wensum. + +{134} Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805), was born at Burnham-Thorpe +Rectory, Norfolk, near Wells. + +{140} Borrow clean omits his two years (1816-18) at Norwich Grammar +School, under Edward Valpy (1764-1832), headmaster 1810-29. This was +probably because, horsed on James Martineau's back, he was flogged for +running away to turn smuggler or freebooter. Sir James Brooke was +another schoolfellow. + +{142} The Rev. Thomas D'Eterville, a Norman _emigre_. + +{146} The Yare. + +{147} Earlham Hall. + +{148} Joseph John Gurney (1788-1847), Quaker banker of Norwich, and +philanthropist, a brother of Mrs. Fry. See A. J. C. Hare's _The Gurneys +of Earlham_ (2 vols., 1895). + +{152} Tombland Fair, on Norwich Castle Hill, the day before Good Friday. + +{154} _Cf._ Introduction, p. xxv. + +{156} Snake-charmer. + +{157} Monschold (pron. _Muzzle_) Heath, near Norwich. + +{158} Better _Tarno Tikno_, little baby. + +{161} _Petulengro_, farrier, the esoteric Romany name of the Smith +family. It is derived from the Modern Greek _petalon_, horse-shoe, if +that, indeed, is not borrowed from the Romany. + +{162a} Truth, brother. + +{162b} Book. + +{162c} Hill. + +{163a} Passing bad money. + +{163b} Gypsies. + +{163c} Better _gaujoes_, non-Gypsies or Gentiles. + +{164a} Yes. + +{164b} Magistrate of the town. + +{165a} Child. + +{165b} In the town, telling fortunes. + +{166a} House. + +{166b} Going. + +{169a} In Vol. i. p. 320 of _Etymologicon Universale_ (3 vols., 1822- +25), by the Rev. Walter Whiter (1758-1832), from 1797 rector of +Hardingham, near Wymondham, occurs this suggestion: "It will perhaps be +discovered by some future inquirer that from a horde of vagrant _Gipseys_ +once issued that band of sturdy robbers, the companions of Romulus and of +Remus, who laid the foundations of the _Eternal City_ on the banks of the +Tibur." This sounds truly Borrovian; and scattered through the amazing +_Etymologicon_ are twenty-six Romany words, very correctly spelt, which I +used to think Whiter must have learnt from George Borrow. But there are +words that Borrow does not seem to have known--_poshe_, near; _kam_, sun; +_ria_, sir (vocative), and _petalles_, horse-shoe (accusative). Whiter +appears to have known Romany better than Borrow. Borrow certainly meant +to write a good deal about Whiter, for in a letter to John Murray of 1st +December 1842 he sketches _Lavengro_: "Capital subject--early life; +studies and adventures; some account of my father, William Taylor, +Whiter, Big Ben, etc. etc." (Knapp, ii. 5). But he barely mentions +Whiter in chap. xxiv. of _Lavengro_. In the _Gypsy Lore Journal_ (i. +1888, pp. 102-4) I had an article on Whiter. That on Whiter by Mr. +Courtney, in vol. lxi. of the _Dictionary of National Biography_ (1900), +shows that he was writing on the Gypsy language in 1800 and 1811. + +{169b} Fighter. + +{170a} Husband. + +{170b} Gentleman. + +{170c} London. + +{170d} Song. + +{178} Borrow's _Wild Wales_ gives a full account of his Welsh studies at +this period. + +{180} He was articled on 30th March 1819 to Messrs. Simpson & Rackham +solicitors, for five years. + +{198} Klopstock. (B.) + +{199} John Crome, "Old Crome" (1768-1811), the great landscape-painter +of the "Norwich School." + +{208} Lodowick Muggleton (1609-98), a London Puritan tailor, founded his +sect about 1651. + +{211} William Taylor (1765-1836), "of Norwich," introduced German +literature to English readers, and corresponded with Southey, Scott, +Godwin, etc. He seems to have made an infidel of Borrow by 1824 (Knapp, +ii. 261-2). See Life of Taylor by Robberds (1843). + +{225a} Samuel Parr (1747-1825). + +{225b} See note on p. 169. + +{230} John Thurtell (_c._ 1791-1824), the son of a Norwich alderman, was +hanged at Hertford for the brutal murder in Gill's Hill Lane of a fellow- +swindler, William Weare. He figures also in Hazlitt's "Prize-fight," and +Sir Walter Scott visited the scene of Weare's murder. + +{233} Spinoza. + +{239} Rather shaky Romany. _Chivios_ and _rovel_ should be _chido si_ +and _rovenna_. + +{240} Enough. + +{249} Absolutely meaningless to any English Gypsy that ever walked. +Borrow seems to have fancied it was Hungarian Romany, but it isn't. + +{264} Anglo-Hanoverian victory over the French, 1759. + +{265} 2nd April 1824. + +{270} Sir Richard Phillips (1767-1840), schoolmaster, hosier, stationer, +publisher, author, Radical, vegetarian, etc., removed from Leicester to +London in 1795, was knighted in 1808, and finally retired to Brighton. + +{278} By the Rev. Legh Richmond (1772-1827). Elizabeth Wallbridge, the +dairyman's daughter, is buried at Arreton, in the Isle of Wight; and +2,000,000 copies of the tract, which was written in 1809, are said to +have been sold in the author's lifetime. + +{287} _The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders_, by +Daniel Defoe, appeared on 27th January 1722. + +{293} Quite incredible. Norwich had its own papers. + +{306} By Prof. Knapp identified with William Gifford (1757-1826), +translator of Juvenal, editor of the _Anti-Jacobin_, the _Quarterly +Review_, etc.; but Mr. Leslie Stephen argues, in _Literature_ (April 8, +1899, p. 375), that Gifford was then a rich bachelor with a sinecure of +1000 pounds a year, and that a much likelier identification is with John +Carey (1756-1826), the "_Gradus_ Carey," who edited Quintilian in 1822, +and did work for Sir Richard Phillips. + +{316a} _Celebrated Trials_ (6 vols., 1825). + +{316b} _The Universal Review_, March 1824-Jan. 1825. + +{324} 29th April 1824. + +{326} The ex-mayor, Robert Hawkes. + +{328} Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846), who shot himself in his +studio. + +{335} George Borrow about this time suffered much from the horrors, and +meditated suicide (Knapp, i. 96-98). + +{340} Byron's corpse, on its way from Missolonghi to Hucknall Church, +near Newstead in Notts, was removed on Monday, 12th July 1814, from Sir +Edward Knatchbull's house in Great George Street, Westminster, at 11 a.m. + +{365} John Murray (1778-1843), publisher, the second of the name, the +first of Albemarle Street. + +{386} _Tarno_ means simply "young" or "little." + +{397} _Romantic Ballads_, _translated from the Danish_, _and +Miscellaneous Pieces_, by George Borrow, did appear in Norwich in 1826. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAVENGRO*** + + +******* This file should be named 22877.txt or 22877.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/8/7/22877 + + + +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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