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+Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456
+       Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Chambers
+        Robert Chambers
+
+Release Date: November 28, 2007 [EBook #23655]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  No. 456. NEW SERIES.   SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1852.   PRICE 1-1/2_d._
+
+
+
+
+MRS CHISHOLM.
+
+
+This lady will be ranked with the memorable persons of the age; her
+enthusiastic and ceaseless endeavours to do good, the discretion and
+intelligence with which she pursues her aims, and her remarkable
+self-sacrifices in the cause of humanity, placing her in the category
+of the Mrs Frys and other heroic Englishwomen. The history of Mrs
+Chisholm's labours up to the present time is worthy of being fully
+told.
+
+Caroline Jones, as this lady was originally called, is the daughter of
+William Jones, a respectable yeoman of Northamptonshire; and when
+about twenty years of age, she was married to Captain A. Chisholm of
+the Madras army. Two years after this event, she removed with her
+husband to India, where she entered upon those movements of a public
+nature that have so eminently distinguished her. Shocked with the
+depravities to which the children of soldiers are exposed in the
+barrack-rooms, she rested not till she had established a School of
+Industry for girls, which became eminently successful, and, under an
+extended form, has continued to be of great social importance to
+Madras. The pupils were taught to sew, cook, and otherwise manage
+household affairs; and we are told, that on finishing their
+education, they were eagerly sought for as servants, or wives, by
+non-commissioned officers. In this career of usefulness, Mrs Chisholm
+employed herself until 1838, when, for the benefit of her husband's
+health, and that of her infant family, she left India for Australia,
+the climate of which seemed likely to prove beneficial. At the end of
+the year, she arrived in Sydney, where, besides attending to family
+matters, there was plenty of scope for philanthropic exertion. Drawing
+our information from a small work purporting to present a memoir of
+Mrs Chisholm,[1] it appears that 'the first objects that came under
+her notice, and were benefited by her benevolence, were a party of
+Highland emigrants, who had been sent to the shores of a country where
+the language spoken was to them strange and unknown, and without a
+friend to assist or guide them in that path of honourable labour which
+they desired. As a temporary means of relief, Mrs Chisholm lent them
+money to purchase tools and wheelbarrows, whereby they might cut and
+sell firewood to the inhabitants. The success of this experiment was
+gratifying both to the bestower and receiver; in the one it revived
+drooping hopes, the other it incited to larger enterprises of
+humanity.'
+
+In 1840, Captain Chisholm returned to his duties in India, leaving his
+wife and family to remain some time longer in Sydney; and from this
+period may be dated her extraordinary efforts for meliorating the
+condition of poor female emigrants. What fell under her notice in
+connection with these luckless individuals was truly appalling.
+Huddled into a barrack on arrival; no trouble taken to put girls in
+the way of earning an honest livelihood; moral pollution all around;
+the government authorities and everybody else too busy to mind whether
+emigration was rightly or wrongly conducted--there was evidently much
+to be done. In January 1841, Mrs Chisholm wrote to Lady Gipps, the
+wife of the governor, on the subject; tried to interest others; and
+although with some doubts as to the result, all expressed themselves
+interested. Much jealousy and prejudice, however, required to be
+overcome. Bigotry was even brought into play. There might be some deep
+sectarian scheme in the pretended efforts to serve these young and
+unprotected females. We need hardly speak in the language of
+detestation of this species of obstructiveness, which prevents
+hundreds of valuable schemes of social melioration from being entered
+into. Fortunately, Mrs Chisholm treated with scorn or indifference the
+various means adopted to retard her benevolent operations. She
+persevered until she had organised the Female Emigrants' Home. She
+says: 'I appealed to the public for support: after a time, this appeal
+was liberally met. There were neither sufficient arrangements made for
+removing emigrants into the interior, nor for protecting females on
+their arrival. A few only were properly protected, while hundreds were
+wandering about Sydney without friends or protection--great numbers of
+these young creatures were thrown out of employment by new arrivals. I
+received into the Home several, who, I found, had slept out many
+nights in the government domain, seeking the sheltered recesses of the
+rocks rather than encounter the dangers of the streets. It was
+estimated that there were 600 females, at the time I commenced,
+unprovided for in Sydney. I made an offer to the government of
+gratuitously devoting my time to the superintendence of a Home of
+Protection for them in the town, and also to exert myself to procure
+situations for them in the country.'
+
+While making arrangements for conducting the establishment for female
+emigrants, Mrs Chisholm acquired a consciousness that male emigrants
+of a humble class likewise required some degree of attention. Great
+numbers, for want of proper information, did not know what to do with
+themselves on arrival. 'At the time labourers were required in the
+interior, there were numbers idle in Sydney, supported at the expense
+of the government. Things wore a serious aspect; mischief-making
+parties, for some paltry gain, fed the spirit of discontent. The
+Irish lay in the streets, looking vacantly, and basking in the sun.
+Apart from them, Englishmen, sullen in feature, sat on gates and
+palings, letting their legs swing in the air. Another group was
+composed of Scotchmen, their hands thrust into their empty pockets,
+suspiciously glancing at everything and everybody from beneath their
+bushy eyebrows. Mrs Chisholm ventured to produce a change; she
+provided for the leaders first, shewed how she desired to be the
+friend of the industrious man, and went with numbers in search of
+employment, far into the country. She undertook journeys of 300 miles
+into the interior with families; and the further she went, the more
+satisfactory was the settlement of the parties accompanying this brave
+lady. "When the public had an opportunity of judging of the effect of
+my system," writes Mrs Chisholm, "they came forward, and enabled me to
+go on. The government contributed, in various ways, to the amount of
+about L.150. I met with great assistance from the country committees.
+The squatters and settlers were always willing to give me conveyance
+for the people. The country people always supplied provisions. Mr
+William Bradley, a native of the colony, authorised me to draw upon
+him for money, provisions, horses, or anything I might require; but
+the people met my efforts so readily, that I had no necessity to draw
+upon him for a sixpence. At public inns, the females were sheltered,
+and I was provisioned myself without charge: my personal expenses,
+during my seven years' service, amounted to only L.1, 18s. 6d. As
+numbers of the masters were afraid, if they advanced the money for the
+conveyance by the steamers, the parties would never reach the
+stations, I met the difficulty by advancing the fare, confiding in the
+good feeling of the man that he would keep to his agreement, and to
+the principle of the master that he would repay me. Although in
+hundreds of cases the masters were then strangers to me, I only lost
+L.16 by casualties. At times, I have paid as much as L.40 for
+steamers, and, from first to last, in following out my system, I have
+been the means of settling 11,000 souls. The largest number that ever
+left Sydney under my charge, at one time, was 147; but from accessions
+on the road, they increased considerably. The longest journey of this
+kind occupied five weeks, three weeks of which were passed on the
+road."'
+
+One cannot but admire the enthusiasm with which all this was gone
+through. The whole thing was a labour of love, and carried through, as
+will be observed, not without vast personal toil, and some degree of
+pecuniary outlay. Mrs Chisholm says she lost only L.16; but how few
+people in her rank, and with as comparatively moderate means, would
+give L.16 to promote any benevolent project whatsoever! The bulk of
+mankind content themselves with contributing criticism. They applaud
+or censure according as the thing looks in the eye of the world: when
+money is spoken of, they keep discreetly aloof.
+
+In her enterprise to put female emigrants on the road to fortune, Mrs
+Chisholm met with some curious cases of presumption. Many applications
+were made by young women who professed to be governesses, but were
+utterly incompetent for the situation. Among others came one who
+offered herself as a nursery governess, who, on inquiry, could neither
+read nor write nor spell correctly. Another wished for the situation
+of housekeeper, and with her the following dialogue took place:--'"Can
+you wash your own clothes?" "Never did such a thing in my life." "Can
+you make a dress?" "No." "Cook?" "No." "What _can_ you do?" "Why,
+ma'am, I could look after the servants; I could direct them: I should
+make an excellent housekeeper." "You are certain?" "Yes, or I would
+not say so." "Do you know the quantity of the different ingredients
+wanted for a beefsteak-pie of the size of that dish, and a
+rice-pudding of the same size?" "O no, ma'am--that's not what I meant:
+_I'd see that the servants did it!_" "But there might be great waste,
+and you not know it; besides, all, or nearly all, the servants sent to
+this colony require teaching."
+
+'Nothing, observes Mrs Chisholm, but my faith in Providence, that
+there must be a place fitting for every body in society, enabled me to
+bear such inflictions: this faith made me labour in seeking some
+suitable employment for each, and had I not possessed it, but turned
+them out, their fate would have been inevitable and horrible.'
+
+The business of attending to the 'Home,' and finding places for
+everybody, was not without some pleasant excitement. Mrs Chisholm was
+sometimes asked to find wives as well as servants; and as a specimen
+of applications on this delicate head, she gives the following amusing
+epistle, which is printed as she received it:--
+
+'"REVEREND MADAM--I heard you are the best to send to for a servant,
+and I heard our police magistrate say, it was best to leave all to
+you; and so I'll just do the same, as his honour says it's the best. I
+had a wife once, and so she was too good for me by the far, and it was
+God's will, ma'am; but I has a child, ma'am, that I wouldn't see a
+straw touch for the world; the boy's only four yeare old: and I has a
+snug fifty-acre farm and a town 'lotment, and I has no debts in the
+world, and one teem and four bullocks; and I'se ten head oh cattle,
+and a share on eight hundred sheep, so I as a rite to a desent
+servant, that can wash and cook and make the place decant; and I don't
+mind what religion she bey, if she is sober and good, only I'se a
+Protestant myself; and the boy I have, I promised the mother on her
+death-bed should be a Catholic, and I won't, anyhow, have any
+interference in this here matter. That I do like in writing nothing
+else, I wouldn't, mam, on any account in the world, be bound to marry;
+but I don't wish it altogether to be left out. I'll ge her fourteen
+wages, and if she don't like me, and I don't like her, I'll pay her
+back to Sydney. I want nothing in the world but what is honest, so
+make the agrement as you like, and I'll bide by it. I sends you all
+the papers, and you'l now I'm a man wot's to be trusted. I sends you
+five pounds; she may get wages first, for I know some of the gals, and
+the best on um, to, are not heavy we boxes; and supposing anything
+should happen, I would not like it to be said she come here in rags. I
+wants, also, a man and his wife; he must be willing to learn to
+plough, if he don't now how, and do a good fair day's work at
+anything; his wife must be a milker, and ha dustrious woman; I'll give
+them as much as they can eat and drink of tea and milk, and, whatever
+wages you set my name down for, I'll be bound to pay it. With all the
+honer in the world, I'se bound to remain your servant till death."
+There was something, remarks Mrs Chisholm, in the character of this
+honest bushman, during his colonial residence, to admire; he had
+gained his freedom, sent home money to his parents, and, during a long
+and tedious illness of twenty months, had attended his sick wife with
+patient care. Who would not get up an hour earlier to serve such a
+man?--I did, for I knew that early in the morning is the _best_ time
+to choose a wife. I went first into the governess-room--all asleep; I
+unlocked the Home-door--some dressed, others half-dressed, some too
+very cross: I have often remarked, that early in the day is the best
+time to judge of a woman's temper; but I wish this to be kept a
+secret. I remained half an hour in the Home; I then went through the
+tents, could not suit myself, and returned. At the Home-door, I found
+a girl at the wash-tub; she was at work with spirit; she was rather
+good-looking, very neat and tidy. I went into my office, and
+ascertained that, on board ship, her character was good. I desired the
+matron never to lose sight of her conduct, and report the same to me.
+Day after day passed, and I was at last fully determined to place her
+within reach of my applicant in the bush--that is, in a respectable
+family in his near neighbourhood; but I was able to arrange better,
+for I found that, amongst the families wanting situations, there was
+one related to her. I immediately engaged them as the bushman's
+servants; they were a respectable couple; the man a very prudent
+person. I told them to take the girl with them, and get her service
+near them, and on no account to allow her to live with a bachelor. I
+gave the girl three letters to respectable ladies, and she was engaged
+by one the fourth day after her arrival at ----. About a fortnight
+after, the bushman wrote to thank me for sending him the married
+couple; and concluded by saying: "With regard to that _other_ matter,
+upon my word you have suited me exactly; and as soon as our month is
+up, we is to be married." I received, says Mrs Chisholm, forty-one
+applications of this kind; but the above is the only girl I ever sent
+into the country with a _direct_ matrimonial intention.'
+
+That 'Providence has a place for everybody' is an axiom that cannot be
+too strongly insisted on. The difficulty, however, is to know where
+that place is. It will help considerably to relieve us of trouble on
+this score, if we bear in mind that we are not limited in our choice
+of country. If every place is filled in this old and settled
+territory, by all means go away to new regions which lie invitingly
+open for trial. In short, go to America, or go to Australia, and in
+either of these find your proper place. There can be no doubt of your
+discovering it, provided you but look for it. Great in this faith has
+Caroline Chisholm laboured. First, she helped women into situations in
+Australia; then she similarly helped men; next, she fell on the
+expedient of bringing wives and families to join husbands who longed
+for their society; and lastly, she organised plans for sending out
+young women to the colony, with a view to balance the inequality of
+the sexes. To execute her designs in a proper manner, she required to
+know the real wants and condition of settlers; and, will it be
+credited, that she set out on long and painful journeys in a covered
+spring-van, and did not desist till she had gathered six hundred
+biographies!
+
+In 1845, Mrs Chisholm was joined by her husband from India, and she
+prepared to return to England. Five years of earnest and successful
+endeavour had wonderfully altered the general opinion respecting her
+operations. There was no longer any fault-finding. Jealousies had been
+overcome. It was now the fashion to speak well of plans that were once
+viewed with apathy or suspicion. 'In February 1846, a public meeting
+was held at Sydney, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
+presenting to Mrs Chisholm, then on the eve of her departure for
+England, a testimonial of the estimation in which her labours on
+behalf of the emigrant population were viewed by the colonists. Some
+idea may be formed of the respect felt for the admirable lady, and
+acknowledgment of her public services, when eight members of the
+Legislative Council, the mayor of Sydney, the high-sheriff, thirteen
+magistrates, and many leading merchants, formed themselves into a
+committee to carry the wishes of the meeting into effect. The amount
+of each subscription was limited.' In a short time 150 guineas were
+raised, and presented with a laudatory address. 'Mrs Chisholm accepted
+the testimonial, in order to expend it in further promoting
+emigration, in restoring wives to husbands, and children to parents.
+In the course of her answer, she said: "It is my intention, if
+supported by your co-operation, to attempt more than I have hitherto
+performed." She left Australia in 1846, bearing with her the warm
+prayers of the working colonists, whose confidence and gratitude, both
+bond and free, she had thoroughly secured, charged with the
+self-imposed mission of representing in England the claims of those
+powerless classes who have neither honour nor pensions to bestow on
+their advocates.'
+
+Since 1846, Mrs Chisholm has resided near London, and devoted herself
+to the promotion of her last great scheme. This is to send emigrants
+to Australia, in what are called Family Groups, under the auspices of
+the Family Colonisation Loan Society. The main features of the plan
+are these: suitable and well-recommended persons are enrolled as
+members on paying a small fee; and they are sent out on paying
+two-thirds of the passage-money--the remaining third being paid as a
+loan by the society, which loan is to be repaid from wages received in
+the colony. No security is required for the loan. The society reckon
+on the integrity and gratitude of the emigrants, and on the principle
+of associating parties into groups, the members of which exercise a
+mutual supervision. A group consists of twelve adults. Friendless
+young women are introduced to and grouped with families. These
+introductions usually take place at Mrs Chisholm's residence once
+every week, when the groups are addressed in a friendly manner, and
+furnished with hints for their government on board ship.
+
+Another important feature in these operations, is to help poor
+emigrants to remit small sums to friends at home, the difficulty of
+making such remittances having formerly been very considerable. To
+organise a proper system of remitting, Captain Chisholm has returned
+to Australia, and, according to an account given by Mrs Chisholm in a
+letter to the _Times_, it appears that the system is realising all
+reasonable expectation. We copy the substance of this letter as a
+fitting conclusion to our sketch.
+
+'This is the first organised attempt of enabling the English emigrants
+in Australia to imitate the generous devotion of the Irish settled in
+the United States. While contemplating with admiration the laborious
+devotion proved by the remittance of millions sterling from the
+American Irish to remove their relations from a land of low wages and
+famine, I have always had a firm belief that the English emigrants in
+Australia only required the opportunity to imitate the noble example,
+and the "remittance-roll" is evidence of the correctness of my
+opinion.
+
+'Until very recently, there have been no channels through which the
+Australian settler could safely and cheaply remit small sums to
+England.
+
+'When I was resident in Sydney, many emigrants were anxious to send
+small sums to their friends "at home," and came to me with money for
+that purpose; but I found that the banks charged as much for L.15 as
+for L.50, and that they altogether declined to take the trouble of
+remitting small amounts. On making a representation of this fact to
+his excellency Sir George Gipps, he communicated with the banks
+through the Colonial Secretary, and they consented to receive small
+remittances from labouring people, if I personally accompanied the
+depositor; but, with my other engagements, it was impossible for me to
+spare many hours in the week to introducing shepherds and stockmen,
+with their L.5 or L.10, to the cashiers of the banks. Many a man,
+within my knowledge, has gone away on finding that he could not remit
+his intended present to his relations, and spent the amount in a
+drunken "spree." I therefore determined, that on my return to England,
+I would endeavour to organise some plan which should render labourers
+remitting their little tributes of affection to their friends nearly
+as easy as posting a letter.
+
+'As soon as the Family Colonisation Society was organised, Messrs
+Coutts & Co. consented to appoint agents, and receive the remittances
+due to the society. But in order to teach and encourage the labouring
+colonists to take advantage of the power of remitting to England, my
+husband saw that it was necessary that some one devoted to the work
+should proceed to the colonies. The society was not rich enough to pay
+an agent, or even to pay the expenses of an agent who would work
+without salary; therefore we determined to divide our income, and
+separate. My husband proceeded to the colony, to collect and remit the
+loans of the society's emigrants, and the savings of those emigrants
+who wished to be joined by parents, wives, children, brothers,
+sisters, or other relations. I remained here to assist such relations
+to emigrate in an economical, safe, and decent manner, as well as to
+carry on the correspondence needful for discovering the relatives of
+long-separated emigrants--often a difficult task. We determined to
+work thus until the labourers' remittances should swell to such an
+amount as would render it worth the attention of bankers as a matter
+of business, if the society were not inclined to continue the trouble
+and responsibility.
+
+'I am happy to say, my faith in the generous and honest disposition of
+British emigrants, English, Scotch, and Irish, has not been shaken,
+and that I may look forward with confidence to a very early date when
+the remittance connection of the Australian emigrants will be eagerly
+competed for by the most respectable firms.
+
+'My husband writes me, that the people are filled with joy at finding
+that they can safely send their earnings, and secure the passage of
+their friends. In seven weeks he received L.3000 in gold-dust or cash,
+and confidently expects to remit L.15,000 within twelve months, and
+could collect double that sum if he were able to visit the diggings.
+These remittances are not only from the emigrants sent out by the
+society, but from various persons of the humbler class who desire to
+be joined by their relations, and wish them to come out under my ship
+arrangements.
+
+'It is my intention to return to Australia in the early part of next
+year, and there endeavour to still further promote the reunion of
+families. I have addressed this letter to your widely-spread and
+influential columns, in order to call the attention of the commercial
+world to the profits which may be obtained by ministering to a demand
+which is arising among a humble class--in order to call the attention
+of statesmen and philanthropists to a new element of peace, order, and
+civilisation, more powerful than soldiers--to a golden chain of
+domestic feeling, which is bridging the seas between England and
+Australia. Many parents, wives, children, and brothers and sisters,
+have received remittances for passages.'
+
+More need hardly be said. As is generally known, ships are sailing
+almost weekly with emigrants of the class for whom Mrs Chisholm has so
+warmly interested herself; and we are glad to know from good
+authority, that already large sums of the lent money have been repaid,
+proving that the trust put in the honesty of the emigrants has not
+been misplaced. A great scheme, auxiliary to ordinary emigration, is
+therefore at work, and its usefulness is acknowledged, not only by the
+press and the public at large, but by parties ordinarily less alive to
+projects of social melioration--ministers of the crown. Every one may
+well concur in paying honour to Caroline Chisholm!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Memoirs Of Mrs Caroline Chisholm. London: Webb, Millington, & Co.
+1852.
+
+
+
+
+A GHOST OF A HEAD.
+
+
+Peter Leroux was a poor ploughman in the environs of Beaugeney. After
+passing the day in leading across the fields the three horses which
+were generally yoked to his plough, he returned to the farm in the
+evening, supped without many words, with his fellow-labourers, lighted
+his lantern, and then retired to bed in a species of shed
+communicating with the stables. His dreams were simple, and little
+coloured with the tints of imagination; his horses were for the most
+part their principal subject. On one occasion, he started from his
+slumbers in the midst of his fancied efforts to lift up the obstinate
+mare, which had taken it into her head to be weak in the legs; another
+time, the 'old gray' had entangled his hoof in the cords of the team.
+One night, he dreamed that he had just put an entirely new thong to
+his old whip, but that, notwithstanding, it obstinately refused to
+crack. This remarkable vision impressed him so deeply, that, on
+awaking, he seized the whip, which he was accustomed to place every
+night by his side; and in order thoroughly to assure himself that he
+was not stricken powerless, and deprived of the most gratifying
+prerogative of the ploughman, he took to smacking it violently in the
+dead of the night. At this noise, all the stable was in commotion; the
+horses, alarmed, neighed, and ran one against the other, almost
+breaking their cords; but, with some soothing words, Peter Leroux
+managed to appease all this tumult, and silence was immediately
+restored. This was one of those extraordinary events of his life which
+he never failed to relate every time that a cup of wine had made him
+eloquent, and he found a companion in the mood to listen to him.
+
+About the same period, dreams of quite a different kind occupied the
+mind of a certain M. Desalleaux, deputy of the public prosecutor in
+the criminal court of Orleans. Having made a promising _début_ in that
+office only a few months previously, there was no longer any position
+in the magistracy which he believed too high for his future
+attainment; and the post of keeper of the seals was one of the most
+frequent visions of his slumbers. But it was particularly in the
+intoxicating triumphs of oratory that his thoughts would revel in
+sleep, when the whole day had been given to the study of some case in
+which he was to plead. The glory of the Aguesseaux, and the other
+celebrated names of the great days of parliamentary eloquence,
+scarcely sufficed for his impatient ambition; it was in the most
+distant periods of the past--the times of the marvellous eloquence of
+Demosthenes--that he delighted to contemplate the likeness of his own
+ideal future. The attainment of power by eloquence; such was the idea,
+the text, so to speak, of his whole life--the one object for which he
+renounced all the ordinary hopes and pleasures of youth.
+
+One day, these two natures--that of Peter Leroux, lifted scarcely one
+degree above the range of the brute, and that of M. Desalleux,
+abstract and rectified to the highest pitch of intellectuality--found
+themselves face to face. A little contest was going on between them.
+M. Desalleux, sitting in his official place, demanded, upon evidence
+somewhat insufficient, the head of Peter Leroux, accused of murder;
+and Peter Leroux defended his head against the eloquence of M.
+Desalleux.
+
+Notwithstanding the remarkable disproportion of power which Providence
+had placed in this duel, the accused, for lack of conclusive proofs,
+would in all probability have escaped from the hands of the
+executioner; but from that very scantiness in the evidence arose an
+extraordinary opportunity for eloquence, which could not fail to be
+singularly useful to the ambitious hopes of M. Desalleux. In justice
+to himself, he could not neglect to take advantage of it.
+
+In the next place, an unlucky circumstance presented itself for poor
+Peter Leroux. Some days before the commencement of the trial, and in
+the presence of several ladies, who promised themselves the pleasure
+of being there to enjoy the spectacle, the young deputy had let fall
+an expression of his firm confidence in obtaining from the jury a
+verdict of condemnation. Every one will understand the painful
+position in which he would be placed if his prosecution failed, and
+Peter Leroux came back with his head upon his shoulders, to testify to
+the weakness of M. Desalleux's eloquence. Let us not be too severe
+upon the deputy of the public prosecutor: if he was not absolutely
+convinced, it was his duty to appear so, and only the more meritorious
+to utter such eloquent denunciations as for a century past had not
+been heard at the bar of the criminal court of Orleans. Oh, if you
+had been there to see how they were moved, those poor gentlemen of the
+jury!--moved almost to tears, when, in a fine and most sonorous
+peroration, he set before them the fearful picture of society shaken
+to its foundations--the whole community about to enter upon
+dissolution, immediately upon the acquittal of Peter Leroux! If you
+had only heard the courteous eulogiums exchanged on both sides, when
+the advocate of the accused, commencing his address, declared that he
+could not go further without rendering homage to the brilliant powers
+of oratory displayed by the deputy public prosecutor! If you had only
+heard the president of the court, making the same felicitations the
+text of his exordium, so well, that nothing would have persuaded you
+that it was not an academical fête, and that they were not simply
+awarding a prize for eloquence, instead of a sentence of death to a
+fellow-creature. You would have seen, in the midst of a crowd of
+'elegantly-attired members of the fair sex,' as the newspapers of the
+province said, the sister of M. Desalleux, receiving the compliments
+of all the ladies around her; while, at a little distance, the old
+father was weeping with joy at the sight of the noble son and
+incomparable orator whom he had given to the world.
+
+Six weeks after this scene of family happiness, Peter Leroux,
+accompanied by the executioner, mounted the condemned cart, which
+waited for him at the door of the jail of Orleans. They proceeded
+together to the Place du Martroie, which is the spot where executions
+take place. Here they found a scaffold erected, and a considerable
+concourse of persons expecting them. Peter Leroux, with the slow and
+heavy ascent of a sack of flour going up by means of a pulley to the
+top of a warehouse, mounts the steps of the scaffold. As he reached
+the platform, a ray of sunlight, playing upon the brilliant and
+polished steel of the instrument of justice, dazzled his eyes, and he
+seemed about to stumble; but the executioner, with the courteous
+attention of a host who knows how to do the honours of his house,
+sustained him by the arm, and placed him upon the plank of the
+guillotine. There Peter Leroux found the clerk of the court, who had
+come for the purpose of reading formally the order for execution; the
+gendarmes, who were charged to see that the public peace was kept
+during the business about to be transacted; and the assistants of the
+executioner, who, notwithstanding the ill name which has been given to
+them, pointed out to him, with a complaisance full of delicate
+consideration, the precise position in which to place himself under
+the axe. One minute after, Peter Leroux's head was divorced from his
+body, which operation was accomplished with such dexterity, that many
+of those present at the spectacle asked of their neighbours if it was
+already finished; and were told that it was; upon which they remarked,
+that it was the last time they would put themselves so much out of the
+way for so little.
+
+Three months had passed since the head and body of Peter Leroux had
+been cast into a corner of the cemetery, and, in all probability, the
+grave no longer concealed aught but his bones, when a new session of
+assizes was opened, and M. Desalleux had again to support a capital
+indictment.
+
+The day previous, he quitted at an early hour a ball to which he had
+been invited with all his family, at a château in the environs, and
+returned alone to the city, in order to prepare his case for the
+morrow.
+
+The night was dark; a warm wind from the south whistled drearily,
+while the buzz of the gay scene that he had left seemed to linger in
+his ears. A feeling of melancholy stole over him. The memory of many
+people whom he had known, and who were dead, returned to his mind;
+and, scarcely knowing why, he began to think of Peter Leroux.
+
+Nevertheless, as he drew near the city, and the first lights of the
+suburbs began to appear, all his sombre ideas vanished, and as soon as
+he found himself again at his desk, surrounded by his books and
+papers, he thought no longer of anything but his oration, which he had
+determined should be even yet more brilliant than any that had
+preceded it.
+
+His system of indictment was already nearly settled. It is
+singular, by the way, that French legal expression, a 'system of
+indictment'--that is to say, an absolute manner of grouping an
+_ensemble_ of facts and proofs, in virtue of which the prosecutor
+appropriates to himself the head of a man--as one would say, 'a system
+of philosophy'--that is, an _ensemble_ of reasonings and sophisms, by
+the aid of which we establish some harmless truth, theory, or fancy.
+His system of indictment was nearly completed, when the deposition of
+a witness which he had not examined, suddenly presented itself, with
+such an aspect as threatened to overturn all the edifice of his logic.
+He hesitated for some moments; but, as we have already seen, M.
+Desalleux, in his functions of deputy-prosecutor, consulted his vanity
+at least as often as his conscience. Invoking all his powers of logic
+and skill for turning words to his purpose, struggling muscle to
+muscle with the unlucky testimony, he did not despair of finally
+enlisting it in the number of his best arguments, as containing the
+most conclusive evidence against the prisoner; but, unfortunately, the
+trouble was considerable, and the night was already far advanced.
+
+The clock had just struck three, and the lamp upon his table, burning
+with a crust upon the wick, gave only a feeble light in the chamber.
+Having trimmed it, and feeling somewhat excited with his labours, he
+rose and walked to and fro, then returned and sat in his chair, from
+which, leaning back in an easy attitude, and suspending his
+reflections for awhile, he contemplated the stars which were shining
+through a window opposite. Suddenly lowering his gaze, he encountered
+what seemed to him two eyes staring in at him through the
+window-panes. Imagining that the reflection of the lamp, doubled by
+some flaw in the glass, had deceived him, he changed his place; but
+the vision only appeared more distinct. As he was not wanting in
+courage, he took a walking-stick, the only weapon within reach, and
+opened the window, to see who was the intruder who came thus to
+observe him at such an hour. The chamber which he occupied was high;
+above and below, the wall of his house was perfectly perpendicular,
+and afforded no means by which any one could climb or descend. In the
+narrow space between himself and the balcony, the smallest object
+could not have escaped him; but he saw nothing. He thought again that
+he must have been the dupe of one of those hallucinations that
+sometimes visit men in the night; and, with a smile, he applied
+himself again to his labours. But he had not written twenty lines,
+when he felt, before looking up, that there was something moving in a
+corner of the chamber. This began to alarm him, for it was not natural
+that the senses, one after the other, should conspire to deceive him.
+Raising his eyes, and shading them with his hand from the glare of the
+lamp beside him, he observed a dusky object advancing towards him with
+short hops like those of a raven. As the apparition approached him,
+its aspect became more terrifying; for it took the unmistakable form
+of a human head separated from the trunk and dripping with blood; and
+when at length, with a spring, it bounded upon the table, and rolled
+about over the papers scattered on his desk, M. Desalleux recognised
+the features of Peter Leroux, who no doubt had come to remind him that
+a good conscience is of greater value than eloquence. Overcome by a
+sensation of terror, M. Desalleux fainted. That morning, at daybreak,
+he was found stretched out insensible on the floor near a little pool
+of blood, which was also found in spots upon his desk, and on the
+leaves of his pleadings. It was supposed, and he took care never to
+contradict it, that he had been seized with a hemorrhage. It is
+scarcely necessary to add, that he was not in a state to speak at the
+trial, and that all his oratorical preparations were thrown away.
+
+Many days passed before the recollection of that terrible night faded
+from the memory of the deputy-prosecutor--many days before he could
+bear to be alone or in the dark without terror. After some months,
+however, the head of Peter Leroux not having repeated its visit, the
+pride of intellect began again to counterbalance the testimony of the
+senses, and again he asked himself, if he had not been duped by them.
+In order more surely to weaken their authority, which all his
+reasonings had not been able entirely to overcome, he called to his
+aid the opinion of his physician, communicating to him in confidence
+the story of his adventure. The doctor, who, by dint of long examining
+the human brain, without discovering the slightest trace of anything
+resembling a soul, had come to a learned conviction of materialism,
+did not fail to laugh heartily on listening to the recital of the
+nocturnal vision. This was perhaps the best manner of treating his
+patient; for by having the appearance of holding his fancy in
+derision, he forced, as it were, his self-esteem to take a part in the
+cure. Moreover, as may be imagined, he did not hesitate to explain to
+his patient, that his hallucination proceeded from an over-tension of
+the cerebral fibre, followed by congestion and evacuation of blood,
+which had been the causes of his seeing precisely what he had not
+seen. Powerfully reassured by this consultation, and as no accident
+happened to contradict its correctness, M. Desalleux by degrees
+regained his serenity of mind, and gradually returned to his former
+habits--modifying them simply insomuch that he laboured with an
+application somewhat less severe, and indulged, at the doctor's
+suggestion, in some of those amusements of life which he had hitherto
+totally neglected.
+
+M. Desalleux thought of a wife, and no man was more in a position than
+he to secure a good match; for, without speaking of personal
+advantages, the fame of his oratorical successes, and perhaps, more
+still, the little anxiety which he displayed for any other kind of
+success, had rendered him the object of more than one lady's ambition.
+But there was in the bent of his life something too positive for him
+to consent that even the love of a woman should find a place there
+unconditionally. Among the hearts which seemed ready to bestow
+themselves upon him, he calculated which was the particular one whose
+good-will was best supported by money, useful relations, and other
+social advantages. The first part of his romance being thus settled,
+he saw without regret that the bride who would bring him all these,
+was a young girl, witty, and of elegant exterior; whereupon he set
+about falling in love with her with all the passion of which he was
+capable, and with the approbation of her family, until at length a
+marriage was determined upon.
+
+Orleans had not, for a long time, seen a prettier bride than that of
+M. Desalleux; nor a family more happy than that of M. Desalleux; nor a
+wedding-ball so joyous and brilliant as that of M. Desalleux. That
+night he thought no more of his ambition; he lived only in the
+present. According to French custom, the guests remained until a late
+hour. Imprisoned in a corner of the saloon by a barrister, who had
+taken that opportune moment to recommend a case to him, the bridegroom
+looked, from time to time, at the timepiece, which pointed to a
+quarter to two. He had also remarked, that twice within a short time
+the mother of the bride had approached her, and whispered in her ear,
+and that the latter had replied with an air of confusion. Suddenly, at
+the conclusion of a contra-dance, he perceived, by a certain
+whispering that ran through the assembly, that something important was
+going on. Casting his eyes, while the barrister continued to talk to
+him, upon the seats which his wife and her ladies of honour had
+occupied during the whole evening, he perceived that they were empty;
+whereupon the grave deputy-prosecutor cutting short, as most men would
+have done under the circumstances, the argument of the barrister,
+advanced by a clever series of manoeuvres towards the door of the
+apartment; and at the moment when some domestics entered bearing
+refreshments, glided out, in the fond and mistaken belief that no one
+had remarked him.
+
+At the door of the nuptial chamber he met his mother-in-law, who was
+retiring with the various dignitaries, whose presence had been
+considered necessary, as well as some matrons who had joined the
+_cortège_. Pressing his hand, and with a faltering voice, the mother
+whispered to him a few words, and it was understood that she spoke of
+her daughter. M. Desalleux, smiling, replied with some affectionate
+phrases. Most assuredly in that moment he was not thinking of poor
+Peter Leroux.
+
+At the moment of closing the door of the chamber, the bride was
+already abed. He remarked, what appeared to him strange, that the
+curtains of her bed were drawn. The room was quite silent.
+
+The stillness, and the strange fact of the close-drawn curtains
+embarrassed him. His heart beat violently. He looked around, and
+remarked her dress and all her wedding-ornaments lying around him,
+with a graceful air of negligence, in various parts of the room. With
+a faltering voice he called upon his bride by name. Having no reply,
+he returned, perhaps to gain time, towards the door, assured himself
+that it was well fastened, then approaching the bed, he opened the
+curtains gently.
+
+By the flickering light of the lamp suspended from the ceiling, a
+singular vision presented itself to his eyes. Near his _fiancée_, who
+was fast asleep, the head of a man with black hair was lying on the
+white pillow. Was he again the victim of an error of the senses, or
+had some usurper dared to occupy his place? At all events, his
+substitute took little notice of him; for, as well as his wife, he was
+sound asleep, with his face turned towards the bottom of the alcove.
+In the moment when M. Desalleux leaned over the bed, to examine the
+features of this singular intruder, a long sigh, like that of a man
+awaking from slumber, broke the silence of the chamber; and at the
+same time the head of the stranger turning towards him, he recognised
+the face of Peter Leroux staring at him, with that very look of
+stupified astonishment with which for two hours the unlucky ploughman
+had listened to his brilliant discourse in the criminal court of
+Orleans.
+
+Perhaps, on any other occasion, the deputy-prosecutor, on finding
+himself a second time visited by this horrible vision, would have
+suspected that he had been guilty of some wicked action, for which he
+was doomed to this persecution: his conscience, if he had taken the
+trouble to cross-examine it, would have very soon told him what was
+his crime, in which case, being a good Catholic, he would perhaps have
+gone out and locked the door of the haunted room until morning, when
+he would have immediately ordered a mass for the repose of the soul of
+Peter Leroux; by means of this, and of some contributions to the fund
+for poor prisoners of justice, he might, perhaps, have regained his
+tranquillity of mind, and escaped for ever from the annoyance to which
+he had been subjected. At such a time, however, he felt more
+irritation than remorse; and he accordingly endeavoured to seize the
+intruder by the hair, and drag him from his resting-place. At the
+first movement that he made, however, the head, understanding his
+intentions, began to grind its teeth, and as he stretched out his
+hand, the bridegroom felt himself severely bitten. The pain of his
+wound increased his rage. He looked around for some weapon, went to
+the fireplace and seized a bar of steel which served to support the
+fire-irons, then returned, and striking several times upon the bed
+with all his force, endeavoured to destroy his hideous visitor. But
+the head, ducking and bobbing like the white gentleman with black
+spots, whom Punch has never been able to touch, dexterously slipped
+aside at every blow, which descended harmlessly upon the bed-clothes.
+For several minutes the furious bridegroom continued to waste his
+strength in this manner, when, springing with an extraordinary bound,
+the head passed over the shoulder of its adversary, and disappeared
+behind him before he could observe by what way it had escaped.
+
+After a careful search, and considerable raking in corners with the
+bar of steel, finding himself at length master of the field of battle,
+the deputy-prosecutor returned to the bed. The bride was still
+miraculously asleep; and, to his horror, he perceived, on lifting the
+coverlet, that she was lying in a pool of blood, left no doubt by the
+bleeding head. Misfortunes never come alone: while seeking for a cloth
+about the chamber, he struck the lamp with his forehead, and
+extinguished it.
+
+Meanwhile the night was advancing; already the window of the chamber
+began to glimmer with the coming day. Furious with the obstacles which
+heaven and earth seemed to set in his way, the deputy-prosecutor
+determined to solve the mystery. Approaching the bed again, he called
+upon his bride by the tenderest names, and endeavoured to awake her,
+yet she continued to sleep. Taking her in his arms, he embraced her
+passionately; but she slept on, and appeared insensible to all his
+caresses. What could this mean? Was it the feint of a bashful girl, or
+was he himself dreaming? It was growing lighter; and in the hope of
+dispelling the odious enchantments with which he was surrounded, M.
+Desalleux went to the window, and drew aside the blinds and curtains
+to let in the new day. Then the unhappy lawyer perceived for the first
+time why the blood refused to be dried up. Blinded by his anger in his
+combat with the head of Peter Leroux, and while he had supposed
+himself to be chastising his disturber, he had, in fact, been striking
+the head of his unfortunate bride. The blows had been dealt so quickly
+and with such violence, that she had died without a sigh, or, perhaps,
+without her assailant's hearing one, in the fury of the struggle.
+
+We leave to psychologists to explain this phenomenon; but on seeing
+that he had killed his bride, he was seized with a violent fit of
+laughter, which attracted the attention of his mother-in-law, who
+knocked gently at the door, and desired to know the cause of the
+disturbance. On hearing the voice of the mother of his wife, his
+terrible gaiety increased. Running to open the door, he seized her by
+the arm, and drawing her to the side of the bed, pulled back the
+curtains, and revealed to her the terrible spectacle; after which his
+laughter grew still more furious, until at length he sank exhausted on
+the floor.
+
+Alarmed at the shrieks of the mother, all the inmates of the house
+became witnesses of the scene, the report of which spread rapidly
+through the city. The same morning, upon a warrant from the
+procureur-general, M. Desalleux was conducted to the criminal prison
+of Orleans; and it has since been remarked, as a singular coincidence,
+that his cell was the same that had been occupied by Peter Leroux up
+to the day of his execution.
+
+The end of the deputy-prosecutor, however, was a little less tragic.
+Declared by the unanimous testimony of the physicians to be insane,
+the man who had dreamed of moving the world with his eloquence, was
+conducted to the hospital for lunatics, and for more than six months
+kept chained in a dark cell, as in the good old times. At the end of
+this time, however, as he appeared to be no longer dangerous, his
+chains were removed, and he was subjected to milder treatment.
+
+As soon as he recovered his liberty, a strange delusion took
+possession of him, which did not leave him until he died. He fancied
+himself a tight-rope dancer, and from morning to night danced with the
+gestures and movements of a man who holds a balancing-rod, and walks
+upon a cord.
+
+If any one visiting the city of Orleans would take the trouble to
+inquire of M. Troisétoiles, landlord of the Hôtel Aux Clés de la
+Ville, in the Place du Marché, he would obtain a confirmation of the
+truth of this history, together with many other facts and
+circumstances, collateral and ramificatory, concerning the bride and
+bridegroom, their relations and friends, which we have not thought
+necessary to state. With regard, however, to the tragic event which we
+have last described, M. Troisétoiles will simply relate what is known
+to the world on the subject--namely, that the deputy-prosecutor, being
+injured in mind by overstudy and application to business, knocked out
+his wife's brains on her wedding-night. We, however, although we
+decline to mention our sources of information, have been enabled to
+give the private and secret history of the tragedy, for the truth of
+which we are equally able to vouch.
+
+A bookseller in Orleans, sometime afterwards, conceived the idea of
+collecting and publishing a volume of the speeches which he had
+pronounced during his short but brilliant oratorical career. Three
+editions were exhausted successively, and not long since a fourth was
+announced.
+
+
+
+
+DIAMOND-CUTTING.
+
+
+The Koh-i-noor, the great diamond that, thanks to the still greater
+Exhibition, so many have seen, and so many more have heard of, is now
+in the hands of skilful diamond-cutters, that, unlike the sable
+beauties of Abyssinia, its charms may be augmented by a judicious
+reduction in magnitude and gravity. Cut at first with the view of
+preserving intact as much of the stone as possible, it never possessed
+the sparkling lustre derived from the scientific disposition of the
+several sides and angles, technically termed facets, of a
+well-polished diamond. It is now intended to be fashioned into a
+brilliant; that is, to have the form of two flattened pyramids joined
+at the base, the upper pyramid much flatter than the lower one. In
+England, the art of diamond-cutting has ceased to exist, but in
+Holland it still maintains its ancient pre-eminence; and from thence
+the cutters of the Koh-i-noor have been brought to perform an
+operation, which, taking into consideration the size of the stone, had
+never previously been accomplished in this country.
+
+It is not known, with any degree of certainty, whether the ancient
+inhabitants of the East had any knowledge of the art of
+diamond-cutting; but it is at the same time very clear, that the
+nations of the West knew nothing of it till a very late period. Even
+to the latter part of the fifteenth century, the diamond was
+appreciated principally for its supposed talismanic properties and its
+hardness; and as that hardness prevented its hidden beauties from
+being brought to light by cutting and polishing, it was regarded more
+as a rare cabalistic curiosity than a precious ornament. Some
+diamonds, however, whose natural form and polish were more favourable
+to the development of their clouded brilliancy, foretold the splendour
+they would display were it possible to cut and polish them as other
+gems. Numerous attempts were made to attain this desired end, but all
+in vain, until, about 1460, Louis de Berghen, a young jeweller of
+Bruges, succeeded in cutting the first diamond.
+
+The invention of the art of diamond-cutting has, like many others,
+whether mythically or not, been mixed up with a love-story. Berghen,
+it is said, was a poor working-jeweller, who had the audacity to fall
+in love with his wealthy master's daughter. The young lady was
+favourable to his suit; but on proposing to her father, the old man
+reproached him for poverty, and sneeringly said, in allusion to the
+supposed utter impossibility of the feat: 'When you can cut a diamond,
+you may marry my daughter, but not before.' These discouraging words
+induced a train of reflection in the mind of the young man. He
+considered how other hard substances were cut; iron, he mentally
+cogitated, is cut by steel. 'What is steel,' he exclaimed, a light
+breaking upon him, 'but iron?--the diamond, then, may be cut by a
+diamond.' Laying out all his available means in the purchase of two
+small diamonds, he contrived, by cementing them to two pieces of wood,
+to rub them against each other till they were reduced to dust. With
+this dust, and a machine which he invented, he cut two facets on
+another diamond, which he triumphantly exhibited to the old jeweller.
+But a diamond had never previously been cut: men, wise in their
+generation, had said that a diamond never could be cut; and
+consequently, according to the general mode of treating inventors in
+those days, a charge of sorcery was brought against the first
+diamond-cutter. Berghen, thrown into prison, had abundant leisure for
+deliberation. Two courses were open to him: one was to keep his
+secret, and be burned as a sorcerer; the other, to clear himself of
+that charge by shewing how he cut the diamond by natural means, and
+thus lose the exclusive benefit of his invention, to which he
+considered he was so justly entitled. He adopted neither. Fortunately,
+Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of Flanders, came to
+hold his court in the city of Bruges, and was soon informed of the
+diabolical art of the young jeweller. Charles was passionately fond of
+jewels, and possessed a very large diamond. Like the Spaniard, who, if
+the miracle were performed, did not care if Mohammed himself did it,
+the Bold duke sent for Berghen, and commanded him to cut and polish
+the large diamond, as he best could, either by aid of the Prince of
+Darkness, or his own unassisted efforts. In due time the work was
+completed; and Charles was so delighted with the brilliant beauty of
+the previously dull stone, that he remunerated the young jeweller with
+three thousand ducats. We need not inform the reader how Berghen soon
+married his lady-love; but we may state that, retaining the secret of
+diamond-cutting in his own family, he and his descendants acquired
+immense wealth. After the death of his patron Charles, he removed to
+Paris, where, for two centuries afterwards, the Berquins, as the name
+was Gallicised, were the most famous jewellers of their time.
+
+The after-history of that large diamond, the first ever cut in Europe
+at least, is perhaps worthy of narration. Charles constantly carried
+it with him on his own person, till at last a soldier found it beside
+the duke's dead body, on the fatal battle-field of Nancy. Unconscious
+of its value, the finder sold it for a crown to a priest; the priest,
+equally ignorant, sold it for three ducats to a pedler; the pedler
+sold it for a large sum to the Duke of Florence. From that prince it
+passed into the hands of Antonio king of Portugal, who, when a refugee
+in France, sold it for 70,000 francs to Nicholas de Harlay, Lord of
+Sancy; thus it has since been known, in the history of precious
+stones, as the Sancy Diamond. Sancy was a faithful adherent to Henry
+IV. of France, and, during the civil war, was sent by that monarch to
+solicit the assistance of the Swiss. Finding that nothing could be
+done without money, he sent a trusty servant to Paris for the diamond,
+enjoining him never to part with it in life to any one but himself.
+The servant arrived in Paris, and received the diamond, but never
+returned to his master. After waiting a considerable time, Sancy,
+feeling confident that the man had been robbed and murdered by one of
+the many hordes of robbers that then infested France, set out to
+endeavour to gain some traces of him. After many adventures, he
+discovered that a person answering the description of the servant had
+been found, robbed and murdered, in the Forest of Dole, and had been
+buried by the peasantry. Sancy immediately had the body disinterred,
+and found the diamond--the faithful fellow having, in obedience to his
+master's injunction, swallowed it. Sancy pawned the diamond with the
+Jews of Metz, and with the money raised troops for the service of his
+royal master. 'Put not your faith in princes,' is an adage as sound as
+it is ancient. Henry, seated on the throne that Sancy's exertions
+saved, took occasion of a petty court intrigue to ruin and disgrace
+his too faithful partisan. The pledged diamond never was redeemed; it
+remained in the hands of the Israelite money-lenders, till Louis XIV.
+purchased it for 600,000 francs. It then became one of the
+crown-jewels of France; but its vicissitudes were not over. In 1791,
+when the National Assembly appointed a commission of jewellers to
+examine the crown-jewels, the Sancy Diamond was valued at 1,000,000
+livres. At the restoration of Louis XVIII., it was nowhere to be
+found, and nothing positive has been heard of it since. But as so
+well-known and large a diamond could not readily be secretly disposed
+of without attracting attention in some quarter, it is shrewdly
+suspected that a jewel sold in 1830, by the Prince of Peace, for
+500,000 francs, to one of the wealthiest of the Russian nobility, was
+the missing Sancy Diamond.
+
+The operation of diamond-cutting is exceedingly simple, and is without
+doubt performed by the cutters of the Koh-i-noor at the present time
+in almost precisely the same manner as invented by Berghen. The stone
+is held in the proper position by being embedded, all but the salient
+angle to be cut or polished, in a solder of tin and lead. It is then
+applied to a rapidly-revolving horizontal iron wheel, constantly
+supplied with diamond-dust, and moistened with olive-oil. The anxious
+care and caution required in this operation render it a very tedious
+one: the cutting of the Koh-i-noor will last many months, and be
+attended with an immense expense. A still more tedious operation,
+however, is sometimes performed by diamond-cutters, when it is found
+necessary to cut a stone into two parts; it is termed sawing, and is
+thus managed:--The stone to be sawn is scratched across in the desired
+direction by a very keen splinter of diamond, technically termed a
+_sharp_. An exceedingly fine iron wire, with a small portion of
+sweet-oil and diamond-dust, is then laid upon this guiding scratch;
+and the workman draws the wire backwards and forwards, as we may see
+blocks of stone sawn on a larger scale in the yard of the statuary.
+Still greater care and attention are required in this operation than
+in diamond-cutting: seven months have been occupied in sawing a
+good-sized stone. Sometimes the diamond is cut by two being cemented
+each upon a separate handle, and rubbed together over a box, which
+catches the precious dust as it falls; but the stones thus cut are
+disfigured by scratches, and must subsequently be polished upon the
+wheel.
+
+For many years India supplied the rest of the world with diamonds; and
+it was long supposed that they were not to be found in any other part
+of the globe. The Portuguese settlers in Brazil, seeking for gold,
+found a number of small stones resembling pebbles, which, from their
+singularity, they kept as curiosities, using them as counters at their
+card-tables. An officer, who had been removed from the Portuguese
+settlements in India to serve in Brazil, suspected that these stones
+were diamonds, and sent a few to Portugal. The jewellers of Lisbon,
+having never seen a diamond in its unpolished state, laughed at the
+idea of such rude pebbles being of any value, and so the inquiry was
+for some time dropped. But the Dutch consul at Lisbon managed to
+procure one of the stones, and sent it to Holland, then almost the
+only country in Europe where diamond-cutting was pursued as a regular
+business. The stone, in due time, was returned to the consul in the
+form of a sparkling brilliant; and the Brazilian diamond-trade
+immediately commenced. The European dealers in diamonds, and many
+retired officers of the English and Dutch East India Companies, who,
+as was customary then, had, on their return to Europe, invested a
+large part of their wealth in those precious stones, fearing that a
+great reduction in price would follow, were alarmed when the Brazilian
+diamonds first came into the market. These interested parties
+published pamphlets, warning the public against purchasing the
+so-called Brazilian diamonds, stating that no diamonds were found in
+the Brazils, but that the inferior class of stones was purchased in
+India, sent to Brazil, and from thence imported as Brazilian diamonds.
+In consequence of these false statements being repeated by persons of
+rank and station, a strong prejudice existed against the Brazilian
+diamond, although it is now well known to be equal in every respect to
+its Indian brother. The Dutch, who then farmed the Brazilian
+diamond-mines from the crown of Portugal, met this trick of trade by
+another. They dug their diamonds in Brazil, brought them to Holland,
+and cut them, then sent them to India, from whence they returned to
+Europe as true Oriental jewels. We may add, that the anticipations of
+the dealers were not verified in defiance of the great influx from
+Brazil, and, later still, the discovery of the diamond in the Ural
+Mountains: the price of that stone is at present as high as ever it
+was.
+
+
+
+
+ASCENT TO THE BRÊCHE-DE-ROLAND.
+
+
+I do not think I shall be accused of exaggeration when I say, that the
+ascent to the Brêche-de-Roland is to the Pyrenean range what the
+passage of the Col de Géant is to the Alps. They are both tough
+undertakings, requiring sound legs and lungs, with a happy and
+powerful combination of patience, fortitude, and energy.
+
+The difficulty of ascending to the Brêche-de-Roland does not consist
+so much in its height--though this is 9537 feet--as in the nature of
+the ground to be surmounted; and after I had accomplished the feat, I
+no longer wondered that several persons had given in, and retraced
+their steps without attaining the Brêche. Before detailing my ascent
+to this wonderful place, it may be proper to state what it is like. On
+the flanks of the formidable and gigantic Mont Perdu rises Mont
+Marboré, from the summit of which stretches to the west a wall of rock
+from 400 to 600 feet high, in most places absolutely vertical. This
+huge natural wall forms the crest of the Pyrenees, and divides France
+from Spain at this part of the chain. In the middle of the natural
+barrier is a gap, which, when viewed from the French valley of the
+Gave de Gavernie, appears like a notch made in a jaw by the loss of a
+single tooth, but which is in reality a magnificent and colossal
+portal, 134 feet wide and 330 feet high.
+
+Of course, legendary lore is not at fault to account in its own
+poetical manner for this natural phenomenon. According to that oracle,
+the Brêche owes its origin to Roland, the brave Paladin, who, mounted
+on his war-horse, in his hot pursuit of the Moors, clove with one blow
+of his trusty sword Durandal a passage through this mighty wall; and
+it must be admitted that the sides of the gap are so smooth, that it
+requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that they were
+fashioned in some such artistical manner. Independently of the Brêche
+itself, which alone is highly deserving of a visit, the surrounding
+scenery is of the most imposing and magnificent character, and the
+whole, therefore, most justly ranks as one of the chief lions of the
+Pyrenees.
+
+The most usual, and by far the most advantageous starting-place, is
+the village of Gavarnie, near the Cirque of that name. In my
+ignorance, however, of the toilsome nature of the excursion, I started
+from Luz, eighteen miles from Gavarnie, where I was sojourning.
+Reader, were you ever at Luz? Sweet Luz! with its babbling crystal
+brook, in which tribes of pigs undergo sanitary ablutions; and its
+inn, famous for good cookery and active fleas. If you have been there,
+you will not have forgotten Madame Cazean--a model of a hostess. To
+her I made my wishes known respecting the ascent to the Brêche, and
+begged that she would find me a guide.
+
+In Switzerland, at such a place as Luz, surrounded by numerous
+excursion points of great interest, guides would be abundant; here,
+however, there are only a few, and these are obliged to pursue the
+callings of agriculture and hunting to eke out a subsistence. So, when
+I demanded a guide, Madame Cazean said she would send to the fields
+for Jaques St Laur, who was the best guide to the Brêche. And indeed
+if strength of limb and a huge sinewy frame were the chief
+qualifications for the affair, Jaques, I apprehend, would have stood
+unrivalled, for I never saw a more sturdy or Titanic mountaineer.
+
+The arrangements were soon made. We were to start at four o'clock in
+the morning--not a moment later: true to his promise, my burly guide
+appeared before the hotel door at that hour with two ponies, and in a
+few minutes we were _en route_. The morning broke gloriously. Peak by
+peak, the snow-crested first, and successively those beneath, became
+tinted by the rising sun, while the valleys gave evidence of
+approaching day by casting off their misty mantles. It makes the old
+young again, and the young to feel the blood dance yet more briskly
+through their veins, to breathe such air as wraps the Pyrenees in its
+balmy folds. The beauties of the valley, or rather gorge, begin at
+once. Woods, alternating with precipitous rocks, mountain peaks of
+great altitude and most picturesque forms, tower aloft; while below,
+the eye rests upon the _gave_, now deliciously green and peaceful, and
+now worming its way with agonised fury through the gorge. Many
+cascades of rare beauty streamed down from the summit of the
+precipices, and we were continually crossing high and narrow bridges
+suspended over deep gulfs. The box luxuriates in this defile,
+springing in tree-like proportions from every ledge.
+
+Before reaching Gèdres, which is about half-way to Gavarnie, a fine,
+though tantalising view of the Brêche is obtained. I gazed at the
+object of my expedition with anxious eyes, wondering how I was to get
+to its cloud land amidst the eternal snow-crowned Tours de Marboré;
+and I longed for the wings of one of the many eagles which sailed
+majestically overhead, to transport myself thither at once.
+
+At Gèdres the view of the Marboré is lost; but there is an almost
+overabundance of grand scenery in the mountains that tower to the
+right and left, and the gorges are filled with foaming cascades and
+flowers of wondrous beauty. Close to the cascades--so close, that they
+seem on the point of being swept away--are mills, not much larger than
+goodly-sized boxes, one above the other, like rows of black beads
+strung upon the white torrent. These mills are primitive in their
+construction, closely resembling the old hand-mill; but they grind the
+corn, and what more could the best mill in Europe do?
+
+Beyond Gèdres, a singularly grand and savage scene presents itself,
+called the Peyrada or Chaos. It is an _éboulement_, or slip of masses
+of gneiss which have fallen from great heights; and the ruins are so
+extensive, that it seems as if an entire mountain had been shivered
+to fragments. The path winds in zig-zags through a labyrinth of
+blocks, among which horse and rider appear like pigmies. The mountains
+increase in majesty as Gavarnie is approached--the Vignemale with its
+glaciers to the west; and the Pimène to the east, ranging among the
+highest. Gavarnie is a poor village, boasting one inn, in humble
+keeping with the place; poor, however, as it was, I was glad to draw
+bridle before the door, for we had ridden fast and furious, as my
+blood-stained spurs evidenced. I was about to dismount and recruit
+myself with a flask of the best wine, when Jaques peremptorily forbade
+such a proceeding. There was no time to be lost; a stirrup-cup and on.
+He, however, dismounted, and went into the house for ice-staffs and
+_crampons_, which were kept at the inn. Provided with these, and
+partially refreshed by a glass of very good wine, we hastened on our
+way. The morning continued most favourable; not a cloud obscured the
+outline of the mountains, and the snow-crested Marboré towered aloft,
+strongly pencilled against the deep-blue sky. Wonderful animals are
+the Pyrenean ponies. Small in stature, and with diminutive limbs, on
+they go, over ways rough enough to puzzle a goat, rarely pausing to
+pick their steps, and as rarely stumbling. The path, about half-way
+between Gavarnie and the Cirque, is carried over the torrent by two
+terribly narrow planks, without any manner of railing. Over this frail
+bridge, not three feet wide, my guide, much to my astonishment, rode
+his pony; and as my _monture_ evinced no asinine disinclination to
+follow, but, on the contrary, evidently regarded the proceeding as
+nothing extraordinary, I slackened my bridle, pressed my knees a
+little closer to the saddle, and committed myself to my fate. The
+torrent rushed at a fearfully giddy rate some twenty feet beneath, and
+the roar of waters was terrific; but my steed was proof against these
+things, which would have tried the nerves of a pedestrian tourist, and
+passed steadily over the narrow causeway as unswervingly as if it had
+been the broadest highway in France. This was the last feat of our
+horses; for, after a brisk canter, we dismounted in the arena of the
+Cirque, and turned the animals to graze, a girl who had accompanied us
+from Gavarnie engaging to look after them. We had ridden eighteen
+miles, and I doubt whether the distance was ever accomplished in less
+time.
+
+To render the first impression of the Cirque or _oule_ more
+impressive, a small projecting wall of rock marks the entry to the
+gigantic amphitheatre. This passed, the end of the world seems gained:
+a vast semicircle of rocks rises precipitously to the height of
+between 1000 and 2000 feet. These gigantic walls are divided into
+three or four steps or ledges, on each of which rests a glacier, from
+which stream cascades. That to the left is 1266 feet high, and bears
+the reputation of being the highest waterfall in Europe. The summit of
+this wondrous amphitheatre is crowned by everlasting ice and snow,
+resting on the crests of the Cylindre, so called from its shape, and
+10,500 feet high. The base of this fine mountain is embedded in a huge
+glacier, which gives birth to the high fall. Fit companion to the
+Cylindre rises the Tours de Marboré, forming a part of Mont Perdu. Not
+a scrap of vegetation breaks the ruggedness of the vast semicircle of
+rocks. The floor of the Cirque is an irregular heap of rocks, with the
+exception of a large heap of snow at the base of the precipices, under
+which the waters of the cascades run, like the torrents beneath the
+Swiss glaciers.
+
+It was impossible to take in this sublime spectacle at once, so
+overpowering were its features; and as we gazed tremblingly at the
+huge Cirque, I felt as if on the eve of being crushed by its impending
+walls.
+
+Within a few yards of the most western cascade, the ascent to the
+Brêche is made. Without a guide, however, the precise spot would be
+exceedingly difficult to find; and from its forbidding nature, few
+would be bold enough to make the essay. It is literally a rock-ladder,
+and is the only locality in the wide sweep of the Cirque affording the
+means of ascent. The rugged strata, which are here vertical, serve as
+steps in which one can insert the toes and fingers; but as the
+guidebook truly says: 'It is as abrupt as the ascent of a ladder; and
+wide spaces of smooth rock often intervene without any notch or
+projection offering a foothold. To those who cannot look down a sheer
+precipice many hundred feet deep without a tendency to giddiness,
+there is danger in this escalade, as well as in passing over some
+smooth projecting shoulders of rocks.' The climb is, in truth, most
+arduous--'bien pénible,' as my guide said. My _chaussure_ was sadly
+against me--thin-soled boots, which doubled under me. Let no one
+undertake this ascent without being strongly shod.
+
+As we ascended, new wonders were revealed--more precipices, cascades,
+and glaciers: it was literally alps on alps. The top of the great
+waterfall was still far above us; and it gave me a very good idea of
+its altitude, when, after more than an hour's ascent, I found that we
+were still beneath the level of the glacier from whence it is
+supplied. About two hours were occupied in ascending the first series
+of precipices, above which patches of snow are met with. Our course
+now lay through a kind of vertical gully nearly filled with snow. Up
+this we scrambled, taking advantage of the hardness of the snow to
+make it our path. Above us rose tremendous precipices, terminating in
+jagged peaks, on which my guide with his practised eye discerned a
+herd of izzards. I saw them remarkably well through my telescope,
+balanced, like aërial creatures, on the giddy heights, one amongst
+them evidently acting as sentinel. It was beautiful to witness their
+wild attitudes, ready, at a moment's warning from their watchful
+leader, to bound from crag to crag, or descend the awful precipices,
+where man's foot has never been.
+
+My guide, whose heart was evidently more in the hunting than in his
+present business, became half wild with excitement at the sight of
+these izzards. It was the largest herd he had seen that year, and,
+with many a _sacré_, he bemoaned his fate that he should be without
+his rifle; though I endeavoured to convince him that there was nothing
+to regret, as he could not at the same time hunt izzards and conduct
+me to the Brêche.
+
+We now fairly lost sight of the Cirque, and were in the midst of snow
+and glaciers which covered a steep, inclined about forty-five degrees.
+The surmounting of this slope was a most fatiguing affair for me, as
+the snow was very slippery, and it happened that I retrograded nearly
+as often as I advanced. This part of the ascent occupied about an
+hour. My guide now turned to the left, for the purpose of crossing a
+glacier, the inclination of which is so great that it is the next
+thing to impossible to ascend it. The passage over this glacier,
+beyond which lies the Brêche, is by far the most dangerous part of the
+undertaking. At the place where we encountered it, its breadth may be
+about four hundred yards; but throughout, its inclination is such that
+the slightest false step would prove fatal, for beneath are precipices
+of fearful depth. Here crampons are used. I was fairly exhausted when
+I came to the edge of this glacier, and despite the protestations of
+my guide, who declared that there was no time to lose, I threw myself
+on the snow, and would, had I been left alone, have been asleep in a
+few moments.
+
+It is customary for the few tourists who visit the Brêche to take two
+guides, for the purpose of crossing this glacier in safety; and I had
+cause to regret my ignorance of the practice, for although I trod most
+cautiously in the notches cut by my guide, yet my limbs were so weak,
+that when about half-way across, I stumbled, and for a moment gave
+myself up for lost. Happily, my guide was sufficiently near to grasp
+my extended arms, and shouting: 'Prenez garde! prenez garde! Courage!
+courage!' he sustained me until I recovered my balance. Then it was
+that I became fully aware of the mistake I had committed in making
+this excursion without previous training; and I admonished Jaques in
+future, to give those who desired to scale the Brêche fair warning of
+the dangers and difficulties attendant upon the undertaking.
+
+My escape was not rendered the less interesting by a story which my
+guide related to me of an unfortunate traveller, who when his crampon,
+by some accident, caught his trousers, lost his balance, and there
+being no friendly hand to arrest him, in an instant sped down the
+sloping ice with the speed of an avalanche, and was almost
+instantaneously lost for ever.
+
+It was here that Mr Paris, who was rash enough to attempt ascending to
+the Brêche without a guide, was obliged to give up the task. 'The
+sight of this glacier,' he observes, 'was too appalling. I could not
+summon sufficient resolution to attempt the passage, which was in
+distance about a quarter of a mile, and wisely, I think, abandoned it.
+To understand all its terrors, the place must be seen. Once slip, and
+you are gone for ever, past all human aid: the death is too frightful
+for contemplation.'
+
+Bracing my shattered nerves for the occasion, I resumed my labour,
+taking care, however, to hold my guide's hand; and thus moving slowly
+and cautiously, I had at length the inexpressible satisfaction of
+achieving the formidable passage of this terrible glacier. The rest of
+the journey was comparatively easy, though the elevation--above 9000
+feet--and the steepness were trying enough. But all sense of fatigue
+forsook me when the huge portal--the tiny notch as seen from
+Gèdres--yawned in all its stern magnificence before me. It was a fit
+reward for all my toil, and I felt that I would have willingly endured
+even greater sufferings to make acquaintance with such a scene as now
+met my astonished gaze.
+
+Eager to achieve the crowning feat of my undertaking, I hastened
+onwards; and with beating heart I soon stood within the jaws of the
+mighty portal, through which swept the howling wind. A step more, and
+I was in Spain. Glaciers slope away on each side of the wall; but all
+along the front of the Brêche, on the French side, the glacier is
+scooped out into a deep fosse or cavity, by the action of the sun's
+rays pouring from the south through the opening. A wild world of
+mountains appeared to the south, those in the foreground covered with
+snow, and the more distant looming hazily over the plains of
+Saragossa. And this was Spain!--wondrous land, defying description,
+and in memory resembling, not realities, but fragments of tremendous
+dreams. Towards France, the scene is softer. Mountains there are,
+sky-piled, but there are forests too, the home of wolves
+
+    Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave!
+    Burning for blood; bony, and gaunt, and grim;
+
+and vales of emerald, and silver streams, and gleaming lakes. But how
+hope to convey anything like a faithful impression of the panorama
+seen from the Brêche-de-Roland! I will not attempt it, preferring
+rather to advise the reader, should he not be stricken in years, to
+see it himself.
+
+My guide produced the contents of his wallet, which, thanks to Madame
+Cazean's provident forethought, were good and abundant; and having
+placed the wine-flasks in the ice--there was enough at hand to ice the
+great Heidelberg tun--I sat down on the ridge of the Brêche, one leg
+in Spain, the other in France, and my body in amiable neutrality. Oh,
+the delight of that repast! there never was so tender a fowl, never
+wine so good. While thus engaged in refreshing exhausted nature, I
+even forgot that the terrible glacier had to be recrossed, and the
+steep snow-slopes to be descended.
+
+The day continued faithful to its early morning promise. A bright
+sun--unfelt, however, at this great elevation--poured down a flood of
+light on the far-stretching glaciers and snow-fields, on which we
+discerned izzards, which seemed, when in motion, like points moving in
+space. These, and a few eagles, were the only living things that met
+our eye. Fain would I have spent hours here, but my guide was very
+properly obdurate; and having done great justice to our meal, we
+prepared to descend. Before leaving the Brêche, where we remained for
+about an hour and a half, he conducted me to a small cave on the
+Spanish side between the Brêche and the glacier, where smugglers pass
+the night, waiting for the early morning hours to descend into France.
+Desperate work! and desperate must be the men engaged in it. Being
+considerably recruited in strength, I found the passage of the glacier
+much less arduous than it was in ascending; and having passed it in
+safety, we flew down the snow inclines with delightful rapidity, in
+five minutes clearing ground which cost us an hour to surmount. We
+reached Gavarnie at seven o'clock, and pausing for half an hour, rode
+on to Luz, where we arrived as the night closed.
+
+
+
+
+OUR WILD-FRUITS.
+
+
+Why is it that the wild _flowers_ of England have attracted so much
+attention of late years, whilst the wild _fruits_ have been passed
+over in silence, and allowed to bud and bloom, to ripen their fruit,
+and to perish, inglorious and unnoticed? It would be difficult to give
+a reply to this question; I will therefore not attempt it, but rather
+invite you, my friends, to assist me in removing this reproach from
+the wild-fruits of our land, and give me a little of your attention
+whilst we inquire what these are, and where they grow, and examine a
+little into their structure and uses, as well as into their
+classification. In doing so, I think we shall find that, though
+England does not indigenously afford so many or such rich fruits as
+those which are the products of some other lands, yet that she
+possesses several kinds which, even in their uncultivated state, are
+edible, and pleasant to the taste, and some of which form the stocks
+on which, by budding or grafting, many of the most valuable
+productions of our gardens and orchards are established. I think that
+many will be surprised to find, that the list I shall give them of
+fruits indigenous in England is so long and so respectable. The plum,
+the cherry, the apple and pear tribes--the raspberry, with its
+allies--the gooseberry, and currant, red and black--the service-tree,
+with its pleasant subacid fruit, and the abounding whortleberry and
+cranberry tribes, which cover immense tracts of our hills with their
+myrtle-like foliage and pretty heath-like bloom, and produce such
+harvests of useful fruit freely to whoever will take the trouble of
+gathering it--are surely treasures not to be despised!
+
+It is true that in the present day, when the constantly increasing
+importation both of fruit and fruit-trees, together with the wonderful
+horticultural improvements which are daily taking place, have brought
+richer and better kinds of fruit more or less within the reach even of
+our poorest cottagers--when every little valley among the hills is
+enriched with its beautiful orchards, and every farmhouse and cottage
+may boast its luscious plum or cherry trees, and its row of bright
+fruited raspberry or strawberry plants--when all thrifty housewives
+may, at small expense, have their little store of pleasant jams and
+jellies made from fruits which used to be beyond the reach of even our
+island kings, and the 'sedulous bees' located on every homestead
+present us with their amber sweets--we can perhaps scarcely
+appreciate the real importance which must have attached to these now
+comparatively worthless fruits at a time when the land on which our
+most populous cities stand was covered by woods and brakes, nay, in
+many places by thick, tangled forests, or wild and deep morasses. But,
+even now, these fruits are treasures to the cotter and the child, as
+we shall see in the course of our discussion; and even to persons of
+more luxurious habits, several of those that I have named are of value
+and importance. Let us first look at those which rank under the
+natural order _Rosaceæ_, under which head we shall find the greatest
+number of our English fruit-bearing plants. We will give a little
+botanical sketch of the general characteristics of this order, as
+elucidatory of what we may hereafter have to say before we proceed to
+the details of any of its members. The chief of these characteristics
+are, that in the order _Rosaceæ_ the calyx is in most cases formed of
+five lobes, _with the petals and stamens rising from it_, the latter
+being generally numerous; the ovaries are several, or solitary, each
+of one cell, including, in most cases, one ovule or incipient seed--in
+some cases many--the style being lateral or terminal. Most flowers
+thus formed produce edible and harmless fruits. Loudon says: 'The
+ligneous species, which constitute this order, include the finest
+flowering shrub in the world--the rose--and trees which produce the
+most useful and agreeable fruit of temperate climates--namely, the
+apple, pear, plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and nectarine;' and he
+might have included the medlar and service trees. Now, this vast order
+is subdivided into several sub-orders or sections, under the first of
+which are classed all whose fruit is a drupe, of which the plum and
+cherry are examples. We will then take them first into our
+consideration, and begin by giving an account of what is the structure
+of a drupe.
+
+That part of the carpel called the ovary, which encloses the seed,
+thickens, and changes into a fleshy substance, which, as the fruit
+matures, softens, and becomes a juicy, and often delicious pulp; this
+is the part which we eat in the plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and all
+which we call stone-fruits. The lining of the ovary at the same time
+extends, and hardens into the stony case which encloses the kernel,
+which kernel is the young seed enlarged and perfected. All fruits of
+this formation are called drupes, as those of the apple and pear form
+are called pomes, and those of the bramble, and some other tribes,
+berries. Our woods supply us with two sorts of plum, both edible--the
+sloe, or blackthorn (_Prunus spinosa_), and the wild bullace (_P.
+institia_.) Every one knows the sloe, at least every one who has spent
+any part of his youth amidst woodland scenes; but as there are some
+who, having been 'all their life in populous cities pent,' know but
+little of country delights, for their benefit we will describe the
+growth and appearance of our plants, as well as their qualities,
+obvious or hidden. The sloe is more frequently seen as a spiny shrub
+than as a tree; but when the suckers are removed, and the strength of
+the plant is all allowed to go into one stem, it forms a highly
+characteristic small tree. In hedges, it seldom exceeds twenty feet in
+height, but in woods and parks, it often attains to thirty. The wood
+is hard, and takes a fine polish, but is apt to crack, and is
+therefore seldom used, except for the handles of tools, and other such
+purposes. It throws up very long upright shoots, which make excellent
+walking-sticks; indeed, more are made from this tree throughout Europe
+than from any other. The dry branches are valuable in forming hedges,
+and protection for young trees, as well as for other agricultural
+purposes. The bark is black, whence its name of blackthorn; the
+blossoms appear before the leaves, and beautify our hedges with their
+delicate whiteness during the cold month of March, when few other
+shrubs send forth their blossoms; and this season is therefore called
+by country-people 'blackthorn winter.' The leaves form a better
+substitute for tea than any other European plant; and they have been,
+and are abundantly used in the adulteration of that commodity. The
+fruit is a plum about the size of a small filbert, of a dark purple
+hue, coated with a most exquisite blue bloom. The flesh is of a sharp,
+bitter acid, yet not unpleasant even when raw; when fully ripe, it
+makes a tolerable preserve, or pudding, and the juice, when well
+fermented, makes a wine not unlike new port. The sloe, as well as the
+cherry, and all other plants of its tribe, contains in it a portion of
+prussic acid; but the quantity is so minute, that there can be no
+injury derived from the use of either the leaves or fruit of most
+species. The common laurel (_Cerasus laurocerasus_) contains it in
+greater quantity than any other kind, but even of this the berries may
+be eaten with impunity, and are freely used by gipsies, who both eat
+them raw and make them into puddings.
+
+The other plum of our wilds is the bullace (_P. institia_), the fruit
+of which differs from that of the sloe in being larger and less
+bitter. It is sometimes black, but oftener yellowish and waxy,
+beautifully tinted with red, and makes better pies and puddings than
+the sloe, for which purposes it is often sold in the markets. In
+Provence, where, as in other parts of France, this plum abounds, it is
+called 'Prune sibanelle,' because, from its sourness, it is impossible
+to whistle after eating it! The entire plant is used for much the same
+purposes as the sloe. Old Gerard says, that its leaves are 'good
+against the swelling of the uvula, the throat, gums, and kernels under
+the ears, throat, and jaws.' How far modern physicians might agree in
+this is doubtful; possibly they might class the prescription, as he
+does some of those of his predecessors, under the head of 'old wives'
+fables.' Both the plum and cherry send out from their bark a sort of
+gum, which exudes freely, particularly in old and diseased trees. It
+was formerly supposed to be sovereign against some diseases. The
+number of varieties which have been grafted on these wild stocks is
+very great. So long ago as 1597, Gerard recounts: 'I have threescore
+sorts in my garden (at Holborn), all strange and rare: there be in
+other places many more common, and yet yeerely commeth to our hands
+others not knowne before.' The bark of both kinds of wild plum was
+formerly much used in medicine, and considered equal to the Peruvian
+bark in cases of intermittent fever. But we must not forget, in
+recounting the _uses_ of these and other fruits, to take into our
+consideration the important additions that their free growth affords
+to the sources of enjoyment and amusement of our youthful population
+in country districts. 'Snagging' (for sloes are called _snags_ in some
+counties), nutting, blackberry picking, cherry hunting--all in their
+turn form attractions to the boys and girls in our villages; and many
+a merry party sallies forth into the woods on a half or whole holiday,
+with satchel, bag, and basket, to enjoy the fresh air and bright
+sunshine, and to leap, and jump, and rejoice in all the wild vagaries
+of youth among the fresh uplands and hills, scrambling over all
+obstruction--the elder climbing the old trees, and rifling them of
+their spoil--the younger and less adventurous hooking down the
+branches, and claiming the right of all they can collect 'by hook or
+by crook.' But wo to the poor mothers who have to mend the garments in
+which the onslaught has been made!--wo to the little boy or girl whose
+mother has not the good sense to discern, in her child's rosy cheeks
+and bright eyes, a compensation for the rags in the frock or trousers,
+which is sure to be the consequence of a day spent in harrying the
+shrubs and briers! But many centuries must our youth have thus
+'imbibed both sweet and smart' from yielding to these woodland
+attractions. May not we fancy whole herds of our little British or
+Anglo-Saxon ancestors rushing forth into the almost inaccessible woods
+which in those days clothed our island, their long sunny hair hanging
+to the waist--for 'no man was allowed to cut his hair until he had
+slaine an enemy of his country in the field, or at least taken his
+armes from him'--clothed in linen, their fair skins disfigured by the
+blue woad with which they were accustomed to paint themselves, and
+armed with cross-bows, all as merry, as idle, and as reckless as the
+children of the present century? We may fancy these little Leowulphs
+and Siegfrieds, with their admiring little Edgithas and Edithas
+looking on, whilst they climbed the tall trees with the agility of
+wild-cats and squirrels, most proud when they could attain the richest
+and ripest fruit, and but spurred on to greater enthusiasm by the
+knowledge that wolves and bears were by no means rare visitors in
+those pristine forests. Or we may picture to ourselves their parents
+and elders, after a long summer-day spent in hunting the wild-boar,
+the bear, or the more timid deer, rejoicing to slake their thirst, and
+refresh themselves with the cool and pleasant, though somewhat crude
+fruit, of the plum and bullace trees; and in doing so, we may perhaps
+come nearer to having some just idea of their real worth, and be led
+to see how graciously God adapts his gifts to the wants and
+circumstances of his creatures.
+
+The cherry is the next wild fruit which claims our attention, and of
+this we find two varieties. The first, the gean-tree (_Cerasus
+sylvestris_), called by the peasants in Suffolk and Cheshire,
+'Merny-tree,' from the French word _merisier_, is found in most parts
+of England in woods and coppices. This fruit is also called in some
+countries coroon, from _corone_, a crow. Its flowers are in nearly
+sessile umbels of the purest white; its leaves broadly lance-shaped
+and downy beneath, pointed and serrated, with two unequal glands at
+the base. The fruit is a drupe, globose, fleshy, and devoid of bloom.
+Several varieties occur in this species, differing chiefly in the
+colour of the fruit, which is, however, usually black. The wood is
+firm, strong, and heavy. Evelyn includes it in his list of
+forest-trees, and describes it as rising to a height of eighty feet,
+and producing valuable timber: he says, 'if sown in proper soil, they
+will thrive into stately trees, beautified with blossoms of surpassing
+whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bees and attracting birds.'
+The wood is useful for many purposes, and polishes well. Though the
+cherry is now classed among the fruits native to this isle, authors
+inform us that it was introduced by the Romans. Evelyn says: 'It was
+680 years after the foundation of Rome ere Italy had tasted a cherry
+of their own, which being then brought thither out of Pontus, did,
+after 120 years, travel _ad ultimos Britannos_.' Its name is derived
+from Kerasoon, the city whence it was first brought into Europe by
+Lucullus; and so valuable did he consider the acquisition, that he
+gave it a most conspicuous place among the royal treasures which he
+brought home from the sacking of the capital of Armenia. The fruit of
+the gean-tree is rather harsh till fully ripe, and then becomes
+somewhat vapid and watery, yet it is very grateful to the palate after
+a day's rambling in the woods; and, moreover, this wild stock is the
+source whence we have, by culture, obtained the rich varieties which
+now grace our gardens. The cherry is a very prolific tree. We have
+heard of one, the fruit of which sold for L.5 per annum for seven
+successive years; but it requires care in pruning, as it produces its
+fruit generally at the points of the branches, which should therefore
+never be shortened. Phillips says: 'Cherries bear the knife worse than
+any other sort of fruit-trees, and we would therefore impress on the
+pruner, that though the fruit was won by the sword, it may be lost by
+the knife!' The other species of cherry is the bird-cherry (_Cerasus
+padus_), a pretty little smooth-branched tree, with doubly-serrate,
+acute leaves, and beautiful white blossoms, which grow in long-shaped
+racemes, hanging in pendulous clusters, and forming an elegant
+ornament to the hedges and woods in May. It grows chiefly in Scotland
+and the north of England, where the peasants call the fruit, which is
+small, black, and harsh, 'hagberries.' This fruit can scarcely be
+called edible, but it gives an agreeable flavour to brandy; and in
+Sweden and other northern countries is sometimes added to home-made
+wines. There is, or was, a feast celebrated in Hamburg, called the
+Feast of Cherries, in which troops of children parade the streets with
+green boughs ornamented with cherries, to commemorate a triumph
+obtained in the following manner:--'In 1432, the Hussites threatened
+the city of Hamburg with immediate destruction, when one of the
+citizens, named Wolf, proposed that all the children in the city, from
+seven to fourteen years of age, should be clad in mourning, and sent
+as suppliants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites,
+was so touched with this spectacle, that he received the young
+suppliants, regaled them with cherries and other fruits, and promised
+them to spare the city. The children returned crowned with leaves,
+holding cherries, and crying "Victory!"'
+
+
+
+
+THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.
+
+                                   _September 1852._
+
+
+Progress, in one or other of the many forms in which it has of late
+presented itself, is now the prime subject of talk; and if the
+progress be real, it would not be easy to find a more satisfactory
+cause of conversation. Go-ahead people take much interest in the ocean
+steam-boat question; and now that the Collins line of steamers is
+supported by a grant from the United States government, double the
+amount of that paid to the British line, it is said that we are to be
+irrecoverably beaten in the passage of the 'ferry,' as Jonathan calls
+it, between Liverpool and New York. East sailing is no doubt an
+essential desideratum in these days--but what a price to pay for it! A
+quarter of a million on one side the Atlantic, and half a million on
+the other: as though there were not enterprise enough in either land
+to undertake the work--and do it well too--without a subsidy. One
+result may be safely predicated--that the winner will be the first to
+give in; and the timid may comfort themselves with the assurance, that
+neither national prosperity nor 'decadence' depends on the issue. A
+line to run from Liverpool to Portland, in the state of Maine, is in
+contemplation; and the Cunard Company are building four
+screw-steamers--the _Andes_, _Alps_, _Jura_, and _Etna_--which are to
+carry the mails to Chagres, as well as New York.
+
+The first steam-collier has come into the Thames, having run the
+distance from Newcastle in forty-eight hours. Forty hours, we are
+told, will surface in future, when the stiffness of the new machinery
+shall have worked off. She consumed eight tons of coal on the voyage,
+and brought 600 tons as cargo, the whole of which was discharged in
+the day, and the vessel went back for a further supply. Apart from the
+facilities for loading and unloading, the certainty with which these
+steamers will make the passage, will benefit the citizens of London,
+by saving them from the rise in price which inevitably follows the
+fall of the thermometer in December.
+
+But with all this, our already crowded river is becoming overcrowded,
+to remedy which a promising project is afoot for a new dock at
+Plaistow Marshes, a few miles below London Bridge, where a fleet or
+two of the ever-multiplying ships may find accommodation. The extent
+is to be ninety acres, with a mile of wharfage, and nearly 200,000
+feet of fireproof warehouse-room. How far this will meet the want, may
+be inferred from the fact, that the tonnage of the port of London has
+increased from 990,110 tons in 1828, to 2,170,322 tons in 1852. And if
+an experience of three years may be relied on, the increase is to be
+progressive; for of new British-built ships in 1849, the amount was
+121,266 tons; in 1850, 137,530 tons; in 1851, 152,563 tons. Such an
+augmentation shews, that we have nothing to fear from repeal of the
+Navigation Laws; and the fruits of unrestriction are shewn in the
+increased size of ships, in their improved external form, and interior
+accommodation. It may be mentioned here, that the Lords of the
+Admiralty have ordered that all ships' log-books sent to their
+department shall be true and faithful copies, with a track-chart of
+the winds experienced on the outward and homeward voyage, in addition
+to the usual information. Steam-vessels are to keep a record of the
+quantity of coal on board at noon each day--of the time it is
+estimated to last--and of the number of miles steamed in the previous
+twenty-four hours.
+
+Railways, too, exhibit signs of progress. The gross proceeds of the
+traffic for the first seven months of 1851 amounted to L.8,254,303,
+while for the same portion of the present year the sum is L.8,504,002;
+a result the more striking when it is remembered that last year we had
+the Exhibition. The new lines opened in 1851 comprised not more than
+269 miles--the smallest amount in any year since 1848--so that, at the
+end of December, we had 6890 miles of railway actually opened, and
+5101 miles authorised and still to be made. It is clear that the
+greater portion of the latter will never be attempted, seeing that
+people have really found out that railways are not exempt from the
+operation of the great natural laws of supply and demand. Some of the
+facts of last year's traffic are astounding: the total number of
+passengers conveyed was 85,391,095--twelve millions more than in the
+preceding year; and the aggregate returns amounted to L.14,997,459.
+What a difference when compared with the sum paid for travel and
+transport twenty years ago! In the United States, the number of miles
+of railway actually open is 13,200, which, by the end of 1855, it is
+expected will be increased to 18,000 or 20,000. There are 27,000 miles
+of electric telegraphs, but in this estimate the five or six lines
+between any two places are all counted. On one of the lines from New
+York to Washington, 253,857 messages were sent in the year ending last
+July, the toll for which amounted to 103,232 dollars--over L.20,000.
+
+Notwithstanding all this material development, in some respects there
+is no advance--except it be of fares, which on some lines running out
+of London have been increased in accordance with 'arrangements'
+between companies who seem desirous of substituting wholesale monopoly
+for wholesome competition. Murmurs on every side already attest the
+effects of such a change of system, and it is to be hoped that
+imperative means will be found of insuring more attention than at
+present to the comfort and safety of passengers. No one out of the
+position of a director or shareholder can see any good reason why
+English railway carriages should be less comfortably fitted up than
+those of the continent. How is it that second-class carriages are to
+be seen abroad with stuffed seats and padded backs, and never in
+England? It cannot be that we do not pay enough for the accommodation.
+We pay too much--a fact worth remembering with railway amalgamation
+looming in the future; an event which must not take place without the
+public coming in demonstrably as third party.
+
+The British Association have met, and gone through their usual routine
+of business, with what results--beyond the reports in the public
+prints--will be best shewn by the movement of science for the next few
+months. It is always something that knowledge is increased; but
+whether the accumulating of fact on fact, to the neglect of
+generalising those facts, be the true means thereunto, remains to be
+proved. Science has been soaring in search of facts; for the committee
+appointed to manage the Kew Observatory, thinking that the phenomena
+of meteorology would answer further questioning, have sent up a
+balloon, with instruments and observers, to make a series of
+observations. The temperature was read off from highly sensitive
+thermometers at each minute during the ascent, so as to ascertain the
+difference of the heat of successive strata of the atmosphere, and the
+rate of variation. In the first flight, the party reached the height
+of 19,500 feet, and came to a temperature of 7 degrees, or 25 degrees
+below the freezing-point, which, considering the state of the
+temperature at the surface, was an unexpected result--in fact, an
+abnormal one; and not dissimilar to that which so much astonished our
+neighbours across the Channel when Barral and Bixio went up. But if it
+be abnormal, as is said, it is remarkable that precisely the same
+temperature was met with at about the same height on the second
+ascent. Another object was, to bring down specimens of air from
+different altitudes, for analysis; to try the effect of the
+actinometer at great elevations; and to note the hygrometric
+condition. There are to be four ascents, so as, if possible, to obtain
+something like satisfactory data by repetition; and in due time,
+detailed reports of the whole of the observations will be made public.
+
+As ozone is at present attracting attention, it might have been worth
+while to ascertain the proportion of this constituent in the higher
+regions of the atmosphere. According to Messrs Frémy and Becquerel,
+the term ozone ought to be abandoned; for, after a series of careful
+experiments, they have come to the conclusion, that there is no real
+transformation of matter in the production of ozone, but that it is
+nothing more than 'electrified oxygen,' or oxygen in a particular
+state of chemical affinity. Further research will perhaps show us
+whether they or Schoenbein are in the right. At all events, the
+inquiry is interesting, particularly at this time, when cholera--to
+which ozone is antagonistic--is said to be again about to pay us a
+visit; and seeing that the doctrine of non-contagion, put forth so
+authoritatively by our General Board of Health, is disputed; and that
+a certain morbific influence can be conveyed and imparted, is shewn by
+abundant evidence to be alike probable and possible. What took place
+lately in Poland is cited as a case in point. Excavations were being
+made at Lask, near Kalisch, which laid open the cemetery where the
+bodies of those who died of cholera in 1832 had been buried. All who
+were engaged in the work died, and the disease spread fatally
+throughout the neighbourhood. What an important question here remains
+to be settled! and how is it to be settled while people are unclean
+and towns undrained?
+
+Astronomers have given good proof of activity during the present year,
+by the discovery of four new planets and one new comet--two of them by
+Mr Hind, who has now the merit of having discovered half a dozen of
+these minor members of our planetary system. Fifty years ago, such an
+achievement would have made an exalted reputation; but in these days
+of keen enterprise in science, as well as in commerce, we do not think
+much of finding such little worlds as those in question. If nothing
+short of the marvellous is to satisfy us, who shall say that even this
+will not present itself to the far-piercing ken of the new monster
+telescope--refracting, not reflecting--established on Wandsworth
+Common, at the cost of an amateur astronomer, for the promotion of the
+celestial science? Lord Rosse has now a competitor; and with a tube of
+eighty feet in length, and the power of looking direct at the distant
+object, may we not hope to hear of great discoveries by means of the
+new instrument? Photographers will be able to obtain what has long
+been a desideratum--a large image of the moon; and the sun will
+doubtless have to reveal a few more secrets concerning his physical
+constitution, to say nothing of the remote and mysterious nebulæ.
+Apropos of the sun, Father Secchi, of the observatory at Rome, has
+been questioning the great luminary with philosophical apparatus, to
+ascertain whether any difference could be detected in the heat from
+different parts of its surface, and the proportion lost in its passage
+through the atmosphere. He finds that the equatorial region is the
+hottest; and that, as on our earth, the temperature diminishes towards
+the poles: it is in the central region that spots most frequently
+appear. The result of the investigations is that, after allowing for
+absorption, the heat which comes to the earth corresponds in amount to
+that inferred from photometric experiments, whereby the experiments
+made at Paris and at Rome confirm each other.
+
+Now that Mr Fox Talbot has so praiseworthily given up his patent right
+to Talbotypes, except in the matter of portraits, the art of
+photography will find itself stimulated to yet further developments;
+and with free practice, many new applications of it will be
+discovered. Magic-lantern slides, for instance, obtained from the
+negative image, are already lowered in price, while their style and
+finish are singularly beautiful. The architect of the bridge now being
+built over the Neva, at St Petersburg, is turning it to account in a
+very practical manner. Being an Englishman, he has had to endure much
+jealousy and misrepresentation, and attempts have been made to
+prejudice the authorities against him. To counteract these designs, he
+takes every week photographs of the work, which distinctly shew its
+progress, and these he sends to the emperor, who looks at them in a
+stereoscope of the largest size, and can thus satisfy himself of the
+actual condition of the bridge by means which malice or envy would not
+easily falsify. If the photograph shews finished arches, of what use
+will it be to deny their existence? People out of Russia may perhaps
+find it worth while to try the same experiment; and before long, a new
+order of 'detectives' on elevated stations, will be taking photographs
+of all that passes in the streets, and pickpockets _in delicto_ will
+find their offence and their likeness imprinted by one and the same
+process. With such a means of detection, and all the police stations
+connected by telegraphic wires, what are the thieves to do?
+
+Manchester shews itself earnest in the cause of education, by having
+established a Free Library of 16,000 volumes for reference, and 5000
+for lending, and paid for it by voluntary subscription--L.800 of which
+was contributed by 20,000 of the working-classes. To their honour be
+it recorded! But the inhabitants have done yet more; they have made
+over the library to the town-council, that it may become one of their
+public institutions, and have agreed to pay a half-penny rate to
+provide the necessary funds for its perpetual maintenance. May they
+have their reward!
+
+Considering that educational reform or renovation may erelong be
+looked for at Oxford, in accordance with the recommendations of the
+University Commission, it behoves other parts of the kingdom to be
+fully awake to the importance of the subject. 'There is a spreading
+conviction, that man was made for a higher purpose than to be a beast
+of burden, or a creature of sense;' and it will not do to stifle this
+conviction. Comprehensive endeavours must be made to educate and
+enlighten; to touch the heart as well as to train the intellect. And
+it must not be forgotten, that education involves very much besides
+mere book-learning--the mechanical duties, namely, of everyday life.
+Something of the latter is to be tried in the City Hospice and
+Soup-kitchen just opened near the foot of Holborn Hill. Though fitted
+up in an old house, it is a training institute of a new kind, where
+individuals of both sexes will acquire useful knowledge in a practical
+way, best explained by a passage from the report of the opening:
+
+'In one portion of the educational department is an ironing-table,
+provided with the necessary utensils, for the purpose of instructing
+the women and girls in that necessary portion of domestic science,
+from the finest description of work down to the very coarsest.
+Adjoining this is a table laid out _en famille_; this also being
+considered, and justly so, no unimportant branch of knowledge. In
+another portion is a table prepared for a large party: every variety
+of glass likely to be required being properly placed, and every napkin
+being differently folded, so as to enable the ambitious neophyte to
+suit the taste of all mistresses. Beyond this is a small closet, with
+a window resembling those of an ordinary-sized house; and this the men
+and women are both taught to clean, while the closet itself serves as
+a cover for the simple operation of polishing boots and shoes. To this
+succeeds a table, upon which are placed the utensils for cleaning
+plate, and on another table the instruments for cleaning lamps.' Such
+an establishment ought to prosper; and perhaps this one will, if the
+giving away of soup for nothing, which is another part of its
+functions, does not kill it. There seems something incongruous in
+encouraging industry and self-reliance with one hand, and helplessness
+with the other.
+
+On the whole, it must be admitted that we are making progress, and
+those who think so, may very properly talk about it. Among a large
+number, the Crystal Palace becomes daily a greater subject of
+importance. Soon the last portions of the famous structure will be
+removed from Hyde Park, to rise in renewed beauty on the hill-slope at
+Sydenham; where the restored edifice is to become a permanent object
+of interest, far transcending all previous achievements in the way of
+exhibitions.
+
+Of foreign matters which have attracted attention, there is the
+remarkable fall of _grain_, not rain, in Belgium, a few weeks since,
+of a kind altogether unknown in that country. Some of it has been
+sown, with a view to judge of it by the plant; meanwhile, the learned
+are speculating as to its origin. The Dutch, pursuing their steady
+course of reclamation, have just added some hundreds of acres to their
+territory on the borders of the Scheldt; and it is said that the grand
+enterprise of draining the Haarlemmer-Meer is at last completed, there
+being nothing now left but a small running stream across the lowest
+part of the basin. The quantity pumped away in the last eight months
+of 1851, averaged a little over three inches per month, a small
+amount, apparently; but when it is known, that lowering the lake one
+inch only took away four million tons of water, we may form a fair
+idea of the importance of the work, and of the quantity lifted in the
+eight months. The depth at the beginning of this year was three feet
+eight inches, and this is now discharged. To have carried such a work
+to a successful issue, may be ranked among the greatest of engineering
+triumphs.
+
+To turn to another part of the world: there is something interesting
+from the Sandwich Islands. The king wishes to assimilate his
+government to that of England, to guard against the casualty of a
+_coup d'état_, and a small military force has been organised for
+defence. The Report of the Minister of the Interior states, that 130
+persons had taken the oath of allegiance within the year, of whom 66
+were citizens of the United States; 31 British; 15 Chinese; and 18 of
+other countries. The foreign letters received and sent numbered
+24,787--more than half to the United States; besides which 31,050
+domestic letters were transmitted among the group of islands. There
+are 535 free-schools, of which 431 are Protestant, with 12,976
+scholars, and 104 Roman Catholic, with 2056 scholars. There were 1171
+marriages; and the population returns shew that the number of natives
+is still slowly on the decrease, the births among them having been
+2424, while the deaths were 5792.
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF A YORKSHIRE GROOM.
+
+
+Letters from Parma, of the 9th instant, announce that the resolution
+has been taken at Vienna to deprive the Duke of Parma of the
+administration of his states, and to put in a regency, of which Ward
+is to be the head. The elevation of Ward affords not only a singular
+instance of the mutability of human affairs, but of the tendency of
+the Anglo-Saxon race, when transplanted to foreign countries, to
+emerge to eminence, and surpass others by the homely but rare
+qualities of common-sense and unfaltering energy. Ward was a Yorkshire
+groom. The Duke of Lucca, when on a visit to this country, perceiving
+the lad's merit, took him into his service, and promoted him, through
+the several degrees of command in his stable, to be head-groom of the
+ducal stud. Upon Ward's arrival in Italy with his master, it was soon
+found that the intelligence which he displayed in the management of
+the stables was applicable to a variety of other departments. In fact,
+the duke had such a high opinion of Ward's wisdom, that he very rarely
+omitted to consult him upon any question that he was perplexed to
+decide. As Louis XII. used to answer those who applied to him on any
+business, by referring them to the Cardinal d'Amboise, with the words:
+'Ask George,' so Charles of Lucca cut short all applications with 'Go
+to Ward.' He now became the factotum of the prince, won, in the
+disturbances which preceded the revolutionary year of 1848, a
+diplomatic dignity, and was despatched to Florence upon a confidential
+mission of the highest importance. He was deputed to deliver to the
+Grand Duke the act of abdication of the Duke of Lucca. Soon after, in
+1849, when the Duke of Lucca resigned his other states to his son,
+Ward became the head counsellor of this prince. Ward was on one
+occasion despatched to Vienna in a diplomatic capacity. Schwarzenberg
+was astonished at his capacity; in fact, the _ci-devant_ Yorkshire
+stable-boy was the only one of the diplomatic body that could make
+head against the impetuous counsels, or rather dictates, of
+Schwarzenberg; and this was found highly useful by other members of
+the diplomatic body. An English gentleman, supping one night at the
+Russian ambassador's, complimented him upon his excellent ham.
+'There's a member of our diplomatic corps here,' replied Meyendorff,
+'who supplies us all with hams from Yorkshire, of which county he is a
+native.' Ward visited England. The broad dialect and homely phrase
+betraying his origin through the profusion of orders of all countries
+sparkling on his breast, he rarely ventured to appear at evening
+_soirées_. Lord Palmerston declared he was one of the most remarkable
+men he had ever met with. Ward, through all his vicissitudes, has
+preserved an honest pride in his native country. He does not conceal
+his humble origin. The portraits of his parents, in their home-spun
+clothes, appear in his splendid saloon of the prime-minister of
+Parma.--_Newspaper paragraph._
+
+
+
+
+DURATION OF PLANTS.
+
+
+The several kinds of plants vary exceedingly in their degrees of
+longevity, some being annual, perfecting their growth within a year,
+ripening their seeds and perishing; others are perennial, and continue
+to grow and flourish for years and centuries. Warm and cold climates
+have much influence on the duration of plants, and, in some few
+instances, plants that are annual in cold climates become perennial
+when transplanted into warm regions, and the contrary when
+transplanted from warm to cold ones. There are some kinds of trees
+that are very short-lived, as the peach and the plum; others reach a
+great age, as the pear and the apple. Some kinds of forest-trees are
+remarkable for their duration, and specimens are in existence
+seemingly coeval with the date of the present order of things on our
+globe. The oak, chestnut, and pine of our forests, reach the age of
+from 300 to 500 years. The cypress or white cedar of our swamps has
+furnished individuals 800 or 900 years old. Trees are now living in
+England and Constantinople more than 1000 years old, of the yew,
+plane, and cypress varieties; and Addison found trees of the boabab
+growing near the Senegal, in Africa, which, reckoning from the
+ascertained age of others of the same species, must have been nearly
+4000 years of age. It may be remarked, that plants of the same variety
+attain about the same age in all climates where they are
+produced.--_American Courier._
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN TO LEZAYRE.
+
+BY THE REV. JAMES GILBORNE LYONS, LL.D.
+
+
+Lezayre is the name of a beautiful district in the Isle of Man.
+
+    I came to the place where my childhood had dwelt,
+    To the hearth where in early devotion I knelt--
+    The fern and the bramble grew wild in the hall,
+    And the long grass of summer waved green on the wall:
+    The roof-tree was fallen, the household had fled,
+    The garden was ruined, the roses were dead,
+    The wild bird flew scared from her desolate stone,
+    And I breathed in the home of my boyhood--alone.
+
+    That moment is past, but it left on my heart
+    A remembrance of sadness which will not depart:
+    I have wandered afar since that sorrowful day,
+    I have wept with the mournful, and laughed with the gay;
+    I have lived with the stranger, and drank of the rills
+    Which go warbling their music on loftier hills;
+    But I never forgot, in rejoicing or care,
+    That mouldering hearth, and those hills of Lezayre.
+
+    Yet droop not, my spirit! nor hopelessly mourn
+    Over ills which the best and the wisest have borne:
+    Though the greetings of love, and the voices of mirth,
+    May for ever be hushed in the homesteads of earth;
+    Though the dreams and the dwellings of childhood decay,
+    And the friends whom we cherish go hasting away,
+    No young hopes are scattered, no heart-strings are riven,
+    No partings are known in the households of Heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                    _Just Published,_
+
+             _Price 3s. 6d. Cloth lettered,_
+
+GENERAL TREATISE ON GEOGRAPHY: with a Copious PRONOUNCING and
+ETYMOLOGICAL INDEX. By A. F. FOSTER, A.M. Forming one of the Volumes
+of CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
+
+*** _This School Geography has been a considerable time in
+preparation, and will be found one of the most complete works of the
+kind._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+             _Price 2s. 6d. Cloth lettered,_
+
+CORNELIUS NEPOS. Illustrated with Copious English Notes and Prefaces.
+Forming one of the Volumes of the LATIN SECTION of CHAMBERS'S
+EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+             _Price 2s. 6d. Cloth lettered,_
+
+ELOCUTION: with a SELECTION of PIECES. By WILLIAM GRAHAM, F.E.I.S.,
+Teacher of Elocution in the Naval and Military Academy, and the
+Scottish Institution for the Education of Ladies. Forming one of the
+Volumes of CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                 _Price 6d. Paper Cover,_
+
+CHAMBERS'S POCKET MISCELLANY: forming a LITERARY COMPANION for the
+RAILWAY, the FIRESIDE, or the BUSH.
+
+VOLUME X.
+
+_To be continued in Monthly Volumes._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W. S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D. N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to
+MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all
+applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
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+    .poem
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456
+       Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Chambers
+        Robert Chambers
+
+Release Date: November 28, 2007 [EBook #23655]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL</h1>
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<div class="contents">
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#MRS_CHISHOLM"><b>MRS CHISHOLM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#A_GHOST_OF_A_HEAD"><b>A GHOST OF A HEAD.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#DIAMOND-CUTTING"><b>DIAMOND-CUTTING.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#ASCENT_TO_THE_BRECHE-DE-ROLAND"><b>ASCENT TO THE BR&Ecirc;CHE-DE-ROLAND.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#OUR_WILD-FRUITS"><b>OUR WILD-FRUITS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THINGS_TALKED_OF_IN_LONDON"><b>THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#ADVENTURES_OF_A_YORKSHIRE_GROOM"><b>ADVENTURES OF A YORKSHIRE GROOM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#DURATION_OF_PLANTS"><b>DURATION OF PLANTS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_RETURN_TO_LEZAYRE"><b>THE RETURN TO LEZAYRE.</b></a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<img src="images/banner.png"
+          width="100%"
+          alt="Banner: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal" />
+
+<h4>CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &amp;c.</h4>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<table width="100%"
+        summary="Volume, Date and Price">
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><b><span class="sc">No.</span> 456.&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="sc">New Series.</span></b></td>
+<td align="left"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1852.</b></td>
+<td align="right"><b><span class="sc">Price</span> 1&frac12;<i>d</i>.</b></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="MRS_CHISHOLM" id="MRS_CHISHOLM"></a>MRS CHISHOLM.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">This</span> lady will be ranked with the memorable persons of the age; her
+enthusiastic and ceaseless endeavours to do good, the discretion and
+intelligence with which she pursues her aims, and her remarkable
+self-sacrifices in the cause of humanity, placing her in the category
+of the Mrs Frys and other heroic Englishwomen. The history of Mrs
+Chisholm's labours up to the present time is worthy of being fully
+told.</p>
+
+<p>Caroline Jones, as this lady was originally called, is the daughter of
+William Jones, a respectable yeoman of Northamptonshire; and when
+about twenty years of age, she was married to Captain A. Chisholm of
+the Madras army. Two years after this event, she removed with her
+husband to India, where she entered upon those movements of a public
+nature that have so eminently distinguished her. Shocked with the
+depravities to which the children of soldiers are exposed in the
+barrack-rooms, she rested not till she had established a School of
+Industry for girls, which became eminently successful, and, under an
+extended form, has continued to be of great social importance to
+Madras. The pupils were taught to sew, cook, and otherwise manage
+household affairs; and we are told, that on finishing their education,
+they were eagerly sought for as servants, or wives, by
+non-commissioned officers. In this career of usefulness, Mrs Chisholm
+employed herself until 1838, when, for the benefit of her husband's
+health, and that of her infant family, she left India for Australia,
+the climate of which seemed likely to prove beneficial. At the end of
+the year, she arrived in Sydney, where, besides attending to family
+matters, there was plenty of scope for philanthropic exertion. Drawing
+our information from a small work purporting to present a memoir of
+Mrs Chisholm,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> it appears that 'the first objects that came under
+her notice, and were benefited by her benevolence, were a party of
+Highland emigrants, who had been sent to the shores of a country where
+the language spoken was to them strange and unknown, and without a
+friend to assist or guide them in that path of honourable labour which
+they desired. As a temporary means of relief, Mrs Chisholm lent them
+money to purchase tools and wheelbarrows, whereby they might cut and
+sell firewood to the inhabitants. The success of this experiment was
+gratifying both to the bestower and receiver; in the one it revived
+drooping hopes, the other it incited to larger enterprises of
+humanity.'</p>
+
+<p>In 1840, Captain Chisholm returned to his duties in India, leaving his
+wife and family to remain some time longer in Sydney; and from this
+period may be dated her extraordinary efforts for meliorating the
+condition of poor female emigrants. What fell under her notice in
+connection with these luckless individuals was truly appalling.
+Huddled into a barrack on arrival; no trouble taken to put girls in
+the way of earning an honest livelihood; moral pollution all around;
+the government authorities and everybody else too busy to mind whether
+emigration was rightly or wrongly conducted&mdash;there was evidently much
+to be done. In January 1841, Mrs Chisholm wrote to Lady Gipps, the
+wife of the governor, on the subject; tried to interest others; and
+although with some doubts as to the result, all expressed themselves
+interested. Much jealousy and prejudice, however, required to be
+overcome. Bigotry was even brought into play. There might be some deep
+sectarian scheme in the pretended efforts to serve these young and
+unprotected females. We need hardly speak in the language of
+detestation of this species of obstructiveness, which prevents
+hundreds of valuable schemes of social melioration from being entered
+into. Fortunately, Mrs Chisholm treated with scorn or indifference the
+various means adopted to retard her benevolent operations. She
+persevered until she had organised the Female Emigrants' Home. She
+says: 'I appealed to the public for support: after a time, this appeal
+was liberally met. There were neither sufficient arrangements made for
+removing emigrants into the interior, nor for protecting females on
+their arrival. A few only were properly protected, while hundreds were
+wandering about Sydney without friends or protection&mdash;great numbers of
+these young creatures were thrown out of employment by new arrivals. I
+received into the Home several, who, I found, had slept out many
+nights in the government domain, seeking the sheltered recesses of the
+rocks rather than encounter the dangers of the streets. It was
+estimated that there were 600 females, at the time I commenced,
+unprovided for in Sydney. I made an offer to the government of
+gratuitously devoting my time to the superintendence of a Home of
+Protection for them in the town, and also to exert myself to procure
+situations for them in the country.'</p>
+
+<p>While making arrangements for conducting the establishment for female
+emigrants, Mrs Chisholm acquired a consciousness that male emigrants
+of a humble class likewise required some degree of attention. Great
+numbers, for want of proper information, did not know what to do with
+themselves on arrival. 'At the time labourers were required in the
+interior, there were numbers idle in Sydney, supported at the expense
+of the government. Things wore a serious aspect; mischief-making
+parties, for some paltry gain, fed the spirit <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[pg 194]</a></span>of discontent. The
+Irish lay in the streets, looking vacantly, and basking in the sun.
+Apart from them, Englishmen, sullen in feature, sat on gates and
+palings, letting their legs swing in the air. Another group was
+composed of Scotchmen, their hands thrust into their empty pockets,
+suspiciously glancing at everything and everybody from beneath their
+bushy eyebrows. Mrs Chisholm ventured to produce a change; she
+provided for the leaders first, shewed how she desired to be the
+friend of the industrious man, and went with numbers in search of
+employment, far into the country. She undertook journeys of 300 miles
+into the interior with families; and the further she went, the more
+satisfactory was the settlement of the parties accompanying this brave
+lady. "When the public had an opportunity of judging of the effect of
+my system," writes Mrs Chisholm, "they came forward, and enabled me to
+go on. The government contributed, in various ways, to the amount of
+about L.150. I met with great assistance from the country committees.
+The squatters and settlers were always willing to give me conveyance
+for the people. The country people always supplied provisions. Mr
+William Bradley, a native of the colony, authorised me to draw upon
+him for money, provisions, horses, or anything I might require; but
+the people met my efforts so readily, that I had no necessity to draw
+upon him for a sixpence. At public inns, the females were sheltered,
+and I was provisioned myself without charge: my personal expenses,
+during my seven years' service, amounted to only L.1, 18s. 6d. As
+numbers of the masters were afraid, if they advanced the money for the
+conveyance by the steamers, the parties would never reach the
+stations, I met the difficulty by advancing the fare, confiding in the
+good feeling of the man that he would keep to his agreement, and to
+the principle of the master that he would repay me. Although in
+hundreds of cases the masters were then strangers to me, I only lost
+L.16 by casualties. At times, I have paid as much as L.40 for
+steamers, and, from first to last, in following out my system, I have
+been the means of settling 11,000 souls. The largest number that ever
+left Sydney under my charge, at one time, was 147; but from accessions
+on the road, they increased considerably. The longest journey of this
+kind occupied five weeks, three weeks of which were passed on the
+road."'</p>
+
+<p>One cannot but admire the enthusiasm with which all this was gone
+through. The whole thing was a labour of love, and carried through, as
+will be observed, not without vast personal toil, and some degree of
+pecuniary outlay. Mrs Chisholm says she lost only L.16; but how few
+people in her rank, and with as comparatively moderate means, would
+give L.16 to promote any benevolent project whatsoever! The bulk of
+mankind content themselves with contributing criticism. They applaud
+or censure according as the thing looks in the eye of the world: when
+money is spoken of, they keep discreetly aloof.</p>
+
+<p>In her enterprise to put female emigrants on the road to fortune, Mrs
+Chisholm met with some curious cases of presumption. Many applications
+were made by young women who professed to be governesses, but were
+utterly incompetent for the situation. Among others came one who
+offered herself as a nursery governess, who, on inquiry, could neither
+read nor write nor spell correctly. Another wished for the situation
+of housekeeper, and with her the following dialogue took place:&mdash;'"Can
+you wash your own clothes?" "Never did such a thing in my life." "Can
+you make a dress?" "No." "Cook?" "No." "What <i>can</i> you do?" "Why,
+ma'am, I could look after the servants; I could direct them: I should
+make an excellent housekeeper." "You are certain?" "Yes, or I would
+not say so." "Do you know the quantity of the different ingredients
+wanted for a beefsteak-pie of the size of that dish, and a
+rice-pudding of the same size?" "O no, ma'am&mdash;that's not what I meant:
+<i>I'd see that the servants did it!</i>" "But there might be great waste,
+and you not know it; besides, all, or nearly all, the servants sent to
+this colony require teaching."</p>
+
+<p>'Nothing, observes Mrs Chisholm, but my faith in Providence, that
+there must be a place fitting for every body in society, enabled me to
+bear such inflictions: this faith made me labour in seeking some
+suitable employment for each, and had I not possessed it, but turned
+them out, their fate would have been inevitable and horrible.'</p>
+
+<p>The business of attending to the 'Home,' and finding places for
+everybody, was not without some pleasant excitement. Mrs Chisholm was
+sometimes asked to find wives as well as servants; and as a specimen
+of applications on this delicate head, she gives the following amusing
+epistle, which is printed as she received it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'"<span class="smcap">Reverend Madam</span>&mdash;I heard you are the best to send to for a servant,
+and I heard our police magistrate say, it was best to leave all to
+you; and so I'll just do the same, as his honour says it's the best. I
+had a wife once, and so she was too good for me by the far, and it was
+God's will, ma'am; but I has a child, ma'am, that I wouldn't see a
+straw touch for the world; the boy's only four yeare old: and I has a
+snug fifty-acre farm and a town 'lotment, and I has no debts in the
+world, and one teem and four bullocks; and I'se ten head oh cattle,
+and a share on eight hundred sheep, so I as a rite to a desent
+servant, that can wash and cook and make the place decant; and I don't
+mind what religion she bey, if she is sober and good, only I'se a
+Protestant myself; and the boy I have, I promised the mother on her
+death-bed should be a Catholic, and I won't, anyhow, have any
+interference in this here matter. That I do like in writing nothing
+else, I wouldn't, mam, on any account in the world, be bound to marry;
+but I don't wish it altogether to be left out. I'll ge her fourteen
+wages, and if she don't like me, and I don't like her, I'll pay her
+back to Sydney. I want nothing in the world but what is honest, so
+make the agrement as you like, and I'll bide by it. I sends you all
+the papers, and you'l now I'm a man wot's to be trusted. I sends you
+five pounds; she may get wages first, for I know some of the gals, and
+the best on um, to, are not heavy we boxes; and supposing anything
+should happen, I would not like it to be said she come here in rags. I
+wants, also, a man and his wife; he must be willing to learn to
+plough, if he don't now how, and do a good fair day's work at
+anything; his wife must be a milker, and ha dustrious woman; I'll give
+them as much as they can eat and drink of tea and milk, and, whatever
+wages you set my name down for, I'll be bound to pay it. With all the
+honer in the world, I'se bound to remain your servant till death."
+There was something, remarks Mrs Chisholm, in the character of this
+honest bushman, during his colonial residence, to admire; he had
+gained his freedom, sent home money to his parents, and, during a long
+and tedious illness of twenty months, had attended his sick wife with
+patient care. Who would not get up an hour earlier to serve such a
+man?&mdash;I did, for I knew that early in the morning is the <i>best</i> time
+to choose a wife. I went first into the governess-room&mdash;all asleep; I
+unlocked the Home-door&mdash;some dressed, others half-dressed, some too
+very cross: I have often remarked, that early in the day is the best
+time to judge of a woman's temper; but I wish this to be kept a
+secret. I remained half an hour in the Home; I then went through the
+tents, could not suit myself, and returned. At the Home-door, I found
+a girl at the wash-tub; she was at work with spirit; she was rather
+good-looking, very neat and tidy. I went into my office, and
+ascertained that, on board ship, her character was good. I desired the
+matron never to lose sight of her conduct, and report the same to me.
+Day after day passed, and I was at last fully determined to place <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[pg 195]</a></span>her
+within reach of my applicant in the bush&mdash;that is, in a respectable
+family in his near neighbourhood; but I was able to arrange better,
+for I found that, amongst the families wanting situations, there was
+one related to her. I immediately engaged them as the bushman's
+servants; they were a respectable couple; the man a very prudent
+person. I told them to take the girl with them, and get her service
+near them, and on no account to allow her to live with a bachelor. I
+gave the girl three letters to respectable ladies, and she was engaged
+by one the fourth day after her arrival at &mdash;&mdash;. About a fortnight
+after, the bushman wrote to thank me for sending him the married
+couple; and concluded by saying: "With regard to that <i>other</i> matter,
+upon my word you have suited me exactly; and as soon as our month is
+up, we is to be married." I received, says Mrs Chisholm, forty-one
+applications of this kind; but the above is the only girl I ever sent
+into the country with a <i>direct</i> matrimonial intention.'</p>
+
+<p>That 'Providence has a place for everybody' is an axiom that cannot be
+too strongly insisted on. The difficulty, however, is to know where
+that place is. It will help considerably to relieve us of trouble on
+this score, if we bear in mind that we are not limited in our choice
+of country. If every place is filled in this old and settled
+territory, by all means go away to new regions which lie invitingly
+open for trial. In short, go to America, or go to Australia, and in
+either of these find your proper place. There can be no doubt of your
+discovering it, provided you but look for it. Great in this faith has
+Caroline Chisholm laboured. First, she helped women into situations in
+Australia; then she similarly helped men; next, she fell on the
+expedient of bringing wives and families to join husbands who longed
+for their society; and lastly, she organised plans for sending out
+young women to the colony, with a view to balance the inequality of
+the sexes. To execute her designs in a proper manner, she required to
+know the real wants and condition of settlers; and, will it be
+credited, that she set out on long and painful journeys in a covered
+spring-van, and did not desist till she had gathered six hundred
+biographies!</p>
+
+<p>In 1845, Mrs Chisholm was joined by her husband from India, and she
+prepared to return to England. Five years of earnest and successful
+endeavour had wonderfully altered the general opinion respecting her
+operations. There was no longer any fault-finding. Jealousies had been
+overcome. It was now the fashion to speak well of plans that were once
+viewed with apathy or suspicion. 'In February 1846, a public meeting
+was held at Sydney, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
+presenting to Mrs Chisholm, then on the eve of her departure for
+England, a testimonial of the estimation in which her labours on
+behalf of the emigrant population were viewed by the colonists. Some
+idea may be formed of the respect felt for the admirable lady, and
+acknowledgment of her public services, when eight members of the
+Legislative Council, the mayor of Sydney, the high-sheriff, thirteen
+magistrates, and many leading merchants, formed themselves into a
+committee to carry the wishes of the meeting into effect. The amount
+of each subscription was limited.' In a short time 150 guineas were
+raised, and presented with a laudatory address. 'Mrs Chisholm accepted
+the testimonial, in order to expend it in further promoting
+emigration, in restoring wives to husbands, and children to parents.
+In the course of her answer, she said: "It is my intention, if
+supported by your co-operation, to attempt more than I have hitherto
+performed." She left Australia in 1846, bearing with her the warm
+prayers of the working colonists, whose confidence and gratitude, both
+bond and free, she had thoroughly secured, charged with the
+self-imposed mission of representing in England the claims of those
+powerless classes who have neither honour nor pensions to bestow on
+their advocates.'</p>
+
+<p>Since 1846, Mrs Chisholm has resided near London, and devoted herself
+to the promotion of her last great scheme. This is to send emigrants
+to Australia, in what are called Family Groups, under the auspices of
+the Family Colonisation Loan Society. The main features of the plan
+are these: suitable and well-recommended persons are enrolled as
+members on paying a small fee; and they are sent out on paying
+two-thirds of the passage-money&mdash;the remaining third being paid as a
+loan by the society, which loan is to be repaid from wages received in
+the colony. No security is required for the loan. The society reckon
+on the integrity and gratitude of the emigrants, and on the principle
+of associating parties into groups, the members of which exercise a
+mutual supervision. A group consists of twelve adults. Friendless
+young women are introduced to and grouped with families. These
+introductions usually take place at Mrs Chisholm's residence once
+every week, when the groups are addressed in a friendly manner, and
+furnished with hints for their government on board ship.</p>
+
+<p>Another important feature in these operations, is to help poor
+emigrants to remit small sums to friends at home, the difficulty of
+making such remittances having formerly been very considerable. To
+organise a proper system of remitting, Captain Chisholm has returned
+to Australia, and, according to an account given by Mrs Chisholm in a
+letter to the <i>Times</i>, it appears that the system is realising all
+reasonable expectation. We copy the substance of this letter as a
+fitting conclusion to our sketch.</p>
+
+<p>'This is the first organised attempt of enabling the English emigrants
+in Australia to imitate the generous devotion of the Irish settled in
+the United States. While contemplating with admiration the laborious
+devotion proved by the remittance of millions sterling from the
+American Irish to remove their relations from a land of low wages and
+famine, I have always had a firm belief that the English emigrants in
+Australia only required the opportunity to imitate the noble example,
+and the "remittance-roll" is evidence of the correctness of my
+opinion.</p>
+
+<p>'Until very recently, there have been no channels through which the
+Australian settler could safely and cheaply remit small sums to
+England.</p>
+
+<p>'When I was resident in Sydney, many emigrants were anxious to send
+small sums to their friends "at home," and came to me with money for
+that purpose; but I found that the banks charged as much for L.15 as
+for L.50, and that they altogether declined to take the trouble of
+remitting small amounts. On making a representation of this fact to
+his excellency Sir George Gipps, he communicated with the banks
+through the Colonial Secretary, and they consented to receive small
+remittances from labouring people, if I personally accompanied the
+depositor; but, with my other engagements, it was impossible for me to
+spare many hours in the week to introducing shepherds and stockmen,
+with their L.5 or L.10, to the cashiers of the banks. Many a man,
+within my knowledge, has gone away on finding that he could not remit
+his intended present to his relations, and spent the amount in a
+drunken "spree." I therefore determined, that on my return to England,
+I would endeavour to organise some plan which should render labourers
+remitting their little tributes of affection to their friends nearly
+as easy as posting a letter.</p>
+
+<p>'As soon as the Family Colonisation Society was organised, Messrs
+Coutts &amp; Co. consented to appoint agents, and receive the remittances
+due to the society. But in order to teach and encourage the labouring
+colonists to take advantage of the power of remitting to England, my
+husband saw that it was necessary that some one devoted to the work
+should proceed to the colonies. The society was not rich enough to pay
+an agent, or even to pay the expenses of an agent who would work
+without salary; therefore we determined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[pg 196]</a></span>to divide our income, and
+separate. My husband proceeded to the colony, to collect and remit the
+loans of the society's emigrants, and the savings of those emigrants
+who wished to be joined by parents, wives, children, brothers,
+sisters, or other relations. I remained here to assist such relations
+to emigrate in an economical, safe, and decent manner, as well as to
+carry on the correspondence needful for discovering the relatives of
+long-separated emigrants&mdash;often a difficult task. We determined to
+work thus until the labourers' remittances should swell to such an
+amount as would render it worth the attention of bankers as a matter
+of business, if the society were not inclined to continue the trouble
+and responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>'I am happy to say, my faith in the generous and honest disposition of
+British emigrants, English, Scotch, and Irish, has not been shaken,
+and that I may look forward with confidence to a very early date when
+the remittance connection of the Australian emigrants will be eagerly
+competed for by the most respectable firms.</p>
+
+<p>'My husband writes me, that the people are filled with joy at finding
+that they can safely send their earnings, and secure the passage of
+their friends. In seven weeks he received L.3000 in gold-dust or cash,
+and confidently expects to remit L.15,000 within twelve months, and
+could collect double that sum if he were able to visit the diggings.
+These remittances are not only from the emigrants sent out by the
+society, but from various persons of the humbler class who desire to
+be joined by their relations, and wish them to come out under my ship
+arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>'It is my intention to return to Australia in the early part of next
+year, and there endeavour to still further promote the reunion of
+families. I have addressed this letter to your widely-spread and
+influential columns, in order to call the attention of the commercial
+world to the profits which may be obtained by ministering to a demand
+which is arising among a humble class&mdash;in order to call the attention
+of statesmen and philanthropists to a new element of peace, order, and
+civilisation, more powerful than soldiers&mdash;to a golden chain of
+domestic feeling, which is bridging the seas between England and
+Australia. Many parents, wives, children, and brothers and sisters,
+have received remittances for passages.'</p>
+
+<p>More need hardly be said. As is generally known, ships are sailing
+almost weekly with emigrants of the class for whom Mrs Chisholm has so
+warmly interested herself; and we are glad to know from good
+authority, that already large sums of the lent money have been repaid,
+proving that the trust put in the honesty of the emigrants has not
+been misplaced. A great scheme, auxiliary to ordinary emigration, is
+therefore at work, and its usefulness is acknowledged, not only by the
+press and the public at large, but by parties ordinarily less alive to
+projects of social melioration&mdash;ministers of the crown. Every one may
+well concur in paying honour to Caroline Chisholm!</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Memoirs of Mrs Caroline Chisholm. London: Webb,
+Millington, &amp; Co. 1852.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="A_GHOST_OF_A_HEAD" id="A_GHOST_OF_A_HEAD"></a>A GHOST OF A HEAD.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peter Leroux</span> was a poor ploughman in the environs of Beaugeney. After
+passing the day in leading across the fields the three horses which
+were generally yoked to his plough, he returned to the farm in the
+evening, supped without many words, with his fellow-labourers, lighted
+his lantern, and then retired to bed in a species of shed
+communicating with the stables. His dreams were simple, and little
+coloured with the tints of imagination; his horses were for the most
+part their principal subject. On one occasion, he started from his
+slumbers in the midst of his fancied efforts to lift up the obstinate
+mare, which had taken it into her head to be weak in the legs; another
+time, the 'old gray' had entangled his hoof in the cords of the team.
+One night, he dreamed that he had just put an entirely new thong to
+his old whip, but that, notwithstanding, it obstinately refused to
+crack. This remarkable vision impressed him so deeply, that, on
+awaking, he seized the whip, which he was accustomed to place every
+night by his side; and in order thoroughly to assure himself that he
+was not stricken powerless, and deprived of the most gratifying
+prerogative of the ploughman, he took to smacking it violently in the
+dead of the night. At this noise, all the stable was in commotion; the
+horses, alarmed, neighed, and ran one against the other, almost
+breaking their cords; but, with some soothing words, Peter Leroux
+managed to appease all this tumult, and silence was immediately
+restored. This was one of those extraordinary events of his life which
+he never failed to relate every time that a cup of wine had made him
+eloquent, and he found a companion in the mood to listen to him.</p>
+
+<p>About the same period, dreams of quite a different kind occupied the
+mind of a certain M. Desalleaux, deputy of the public prosecutor in
+the criminal court of Orleans. Having made a promising <i>d&eacute;but</i> in that
+office only a few months previously, there was no longer any position
+in the magistracy which he believed too high for his future
+attainment; and the post of keeper of the seals was one of the most
+frequent visions of his slumbers. But it was particularly in the
+intoxicating triumphs of oratory that his thoughts would revel in
+sleep, when the whole day had been given to the study of some case in
+which he was to plead. The glory of the Aguesseaux, and the other
+celebrated names of the great days of parliamentary eloquence,
+scarcely sufficed for his impatient ambition; it was in the most
+distant periods of the past&mdash;the times of the marvellous eloquence of
+Demosthenes&mdash;that he delighted to contemplate the likeness of his own
+ideal future. The attainment of power by eloquence; such was the idea,
+the text, so to speak, of his whole life&mdash;the one object for which he
+renounced all the ordinary hopes and pleasures of youth.</p>
+
+<p>One day, these two natures&mdash;that of Peter Leroux, lifted scarcely one
+degree above the range of the brute, and that of M. Desalleux,
+abstract and rectified to the highest pitch of intellectuality&mdash;found
+themselves face to face. A little contest was going on between them.
+M. Desalleux, sitting in his official place, demanded, upon evidence
+somewhat insufficient, the head of Peter Leroux, accused of murder;
+and Peter Leroux defended his head against the eloquence of M.
+Desalleux.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the remarkable disproportion of power which Providence
+had placed in this duel, the accused, for lack of conclusive proofs,
+would in all probability have escaped from the hands of the
+executioner; but from that very scantiness in the evidence arose an
+extraordinary opportunity for eloquence, which could not fail to be
+singularly useful to the ambitious hopes of M. Desalleux. In justice
+to himself, he could not neglect to take advantage of it.</p>
+
+<p>In the next place, an unlucky circumstance presented itself for poor
+Peter Leroux. Some days before the commencement of the trial, and in
+the presence of several ladies, who promised themselves the pleasure
+of being there to enjoy the spectacle, the young deputy had let fall
+an expression of his firm confidence in obtaining from the jury a
+verdict of condemnation. Every one will understand the painful
+position in which he would be placed if his prosecution failed, and
+Peter Leroux came back with his head upon his shoulders, to testify to
+the weakness of M. Desalleux's eloquence. Let us not be too severe
+upon the deputy of the public prosecutor: if he was not absolutely
+convinced, it was his duty to appear so, and only the more meritorious
+to utter such eloquent denunciations as for a century past had not
+been heard at the bar of the criminal court of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[pg 197]</a></span> Orleans. Oh, if you
+had been there to see how they were moved, those poor gentlemen of the
+jury!&mdash;moved almost to tears, when, in a fine and most sonorous
+peroration, he set before them the fearful picture of society shaken
+to its foundations&mdash;the whole community about to enter upon
+dissolution, immediately upon the acquittal of Peter Leroux! If you
+had only heard the courteous eulogiums exchanged on both sides, when
+the advocate of the accused, commencing his address, declared that he
+could not go further without rendering homage to the brilliant powers
+of oratory displayed by the deputy public prosecutor! If you had only
+heard the president of the court, making the same felicitations the
+text of his exordium, so well, that nothing would have persuaded you
+that it was not an academical f&ecirc;te, and that they were not simply
+awarding a prize for eloquence, instead of a sentence of death to a
+fellow-creature. You would have seen, in the midst of a crowd of
+'elegantly-attired members of the fair sex,' as the newspapers of the
+province said, the sister of M. Desalleux, receiving the compliments
+of all the ladies around her; while, at a little distance, the old
+father was weeping with joy at the sight of the noble son and
+incomparable orator whom he had given to the world.</p>
+
+<p>Six weeks after this scene of family happiness, Peter Leroux,
+accompanied by the executioner, mounted the condemned cart, which
+waited for him at the door of the jail of Orleans. They proceeded
+together to the Place du Martroie, which is the spot where executions
+take place. Here they found a scaffold erected, and a considerable
+concourse of persons expecting them. Peter Leroux, with the slow and
+heavy ascent of a sack of flour going up by means of a pulley to the
+top of a warehouse, mounts the steps of the scaffold. As he reached
+the platform, a ray of sunlight, playing upon the brilliant and
+polished steel of the instrument of justice, dazzled his eyes, and he
+seemed about to stumble; but the executioner, with the courteous
+attention of a host who knows how to do the honours of his house,
+sustained him by the arm, and placed him upon the plank of the
+guillotine. There Peter Leroux found the clerk of the court, who had
+come for the purpose of reading formally the order for execution; the
+gendarmes, who were charged to see that the public peace was kept
+during the business about to be transacted; and the assistants of the
+executioner, who, notwithstanding the ill name which has been given to
+them, pointed out to him, with a complaisance full of delicate
+consideration, the precise position in which to place himself under
+the axe. One minute after, Peter Leroux's head was divorced from his
+body, which operation was accomplished with such dexterity, that many
+of those present at the spectacle asked of their neighbours if it was
+already finished; and were told that it was; upon which they remarked,
+that it was the last time they would put themselves so much out of the
+way for so little.</p>
+
+<p>Three months had passed since the head and body of Peter Leroux had
+been cast into a corner of the cemetery, and, in all probability, the
+grave no longer concealed aught but his bones, when a new session of
+assizes was opened, and M. Desalleux had again to support a capital
+indictment.</p>
+
+<p>The day previous, he quitted at an early hour a ball to which he had
+been invited with all his family, at a ch&acirc;teau in the environs, and
+returned alone to the city, in order to prepare his case for the
+morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The night was dark; a warm wind from the south whistled drearily,
+while the buzz of the gay scene that he had left seemed to linger in
+his ears. A feeling of melancholy stole over him. The memory of many
+people whom he had known, and who were dead, returned to his mind;
+and, scarcely knowing why, he began to think of Peter Leroux.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, as he drew near the city, and the first lights of the
+suburbs began to appear, all his sombre ideas vanished, and as soon as
+he found himself again at his desk, surrounded by his books and
+papers, he thought no longer of anything but his oration, which he had
+determined should be even yet more brilliant than any that had
+preceded it.</p>
+
+<p>His system of indictment was already nearly settled. It is singular,
+by the way, that French legal expression, a 'system of
+indictment'&mdash;that is to say, an absolute manner of grouping an
+<i>ensemble</i> of facts and proofs, in virtue of which the prosecutor
+appropriates to himself the head of a man&mdash;as one would say, 'a system
+of philosophy'&mdash;that is, an <i>ensemble</i> of reasonings and sophisms, by
+the aid of which we establish some harmless truth, theory, or fancy.
+His system of indictment was nearly completed, when the deposition of
+a witness which he had not examined, suddenly presented itself, with
+such an aspect as threatened to overturn all the edifice of his logic.
+He hesitated for some moments; but, as we have already seen, M.
+Desalleux, in his functions of deputy-prosecutor, consulted his vanity
+at least as often as his conscience. Invoking all his powers of logic
+and skill for turning words to his purpose, struggling muscle to
+muscle with the unlucky testimony, he did not despair of finally
+enlisting it in the number of his best arguments, as containing the
+most conclusive evidence against the prisoner; but, unfortunately, the
+trouble was considerable, and the night was already far advanced.</p>
+
+<p>The clock had just struck three, and the lamp upon his table, burning
+with a crust upon the wick, gave only a feeble light in the chamber.
+Having trimmed it, and feeling somewhat excited with his labours, he
+rose and walked to and fro, then returned and sat in his chair, from
+which, leaning back in an easy attitude, and suspending his
+reflections for awhile, he contemplated the stars which were shining
+through a window opposite. Suddenly lowering his gaze, he encountered
+what seemed to him two eyes staring in at him through the
+window-panes. Imagining that the reflection of the lamp, doubled by
+some flaw in the glass, had deceived him, he changed his place; but
+the vision only appeared more distinct. As he was not wanting in
+courage, he took a walking-stick, the only weapon within reach, and
+opened the window, to see who was the intruder who came thus to
+observe him at such an hour. The chamber which he occupied was high;
+above and below, the wall of his house was perfectly perpendicular,
+and afforded no means by which any one could climb or descend. In the
+narrow space between himself and the balcony, the smallest object
+could not have escaped him; but he saw nothing. He thought again that
+he must have been the dupe of one of those hallucinations that
+sometimes visit men in the night; and, with a smile, he applied
+himself again to his labours. But he had not written twenty lines,
+when he felt, before looking up, that there was something moving in a
+corner of the chamber. This began to alarm him, for it was not natural
+that the senses, one after the other, should conspire to deceive him.
+Raising his eyes, and shading them with his hand from the glare of the
+lamp beside him, he observed a dusky object advancing towards him with
+short hops like those of a raven. As the apparition approached him,
+its aspect became more terrifying; for it took the unmistakable form
+of a human head separated from the trunk and dripping with blood; and
+when at length, with a spring, it bounded upon the table, and rolled
+about over the papers scattered on his desk, M. Desalleux recognised
+the features of Peter Leroux, who no doubt had come to remind him that
+a good conscience is of greater value than eloquence. Overcome by a
+sensation of terror, M. Desalleux fainted. That morning, at daybreak,
+he was found stretched out insensible on the floor near a little pool
+of blood, which was also found in spots upon his desk, and on the
+leaves of his pleadings. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[pg 198]</a></span>was supposed, and he took care never to
+contradict it, that he had been seized with a hemorrhage. It is
+scarcely necessary to add, that he was not in a state to speak at the
+trial, and that all his oratorical preparations were thrown away.</p>
+
+<p>Many days passed before the recollection of that terrible night faded
+from the memory of the deputy-prosecutor&mdash;many days before he could
+bear to be alone or in the dark without terror. After some months,
+however, the head of Peter Leroux not having repeated its visit, the
+pride of intellect began again to counterbalance the testimony of the
+senses, and again he asked himself, if he had not been duped by them.
+In order more surely to weaken their authority, which all his
+reasonings had not been able entirely to overcome, he called to his
+aid the opinion of his physician, communicating to him in confidence
+the story of his adventure. The doctor, who, by dint of long examining
+the human brain, without discovering the slightest trace of anything
+resembling a soul, had come to a learned conviction of materialism,
+did not fail to laugh heartily on listening to the recital of the
+nocturnal vision. This was perhaps the best manner of treating his
+patient; for by having the appearance of holding his fancy in
+derision, he forced, as it were, his self-esteem to take a part in the
+cure. Moreover, as may be imagined, he did not hesitate to explain to
+his patient, that his hallucination proceeded from an over-tension of
+the cerebral fibre, followed by congestion and evacuation of blood,
+which had been the causes of his seeing precisely what he had not
+seen. Powerfully reassured by this consultation, and as no accident
+happened to contradict its correctness, M. Desalleux by degrees
+regained his serenity of mind, and gradually returned to his former
+habits&mdash;modifying them simply insomuch that he laboured with an
+application somewhat less severe, and indulged, at the doctor's
+suggestion, in some of those amusements of life which he had hitherto
+totally neglected.</p>
+
+<p>M. Desalleux thought of a wife, and no man was more in a position than
+he to secure a good match; for, without speaking of personal
+advantages, the fame of his oratorical successes, and perhaps, more
+still, the little anxiety which he displayed for any other kind of
+success, had rendered him the object of more than one lady's ambition.
+But there was in the bent of his life something too positive for him
+to consent that even the love of a woman should find a place there
+unconditionally. Among the hearts which seemed ready to bestow
+themselves upon him, he calculated which was the particular one whose
+good-will was best supported by money, useful relations, and other
+social advantages. The first part of his romance being thus settled,
+he saw without regret that the bride who would bring him all these,
+was a young girl, witty, and of elegant exterior; whereupon he set
+about falling in love with her with all the passion of which he was
+capable, and with the approbation of her family, until at length a
+marriage was determined upon.</p>
+
+<p>Orleans had not, for a long time, seen a prettier bride than that of
+M. Desalleux; nor a family more happy than that of M. Desalleux; nor a
+wedding-ball so joyous and brilliant as that of M. Desalleux. That
+night he thought no more of his ambition; he lived only in the
+present. According to French custom, the guests remained until a late
+hour. Imprisoned in a corner of the saloon by a barrister, who had
+taken that opportune moment to recommend a case to him, the bridegroom
+looked, from time to time, at the timepiece, which pointed to a
+quarter to two. He had also remarked, that twice within a short time
+the mother of the bride had approached her, and whispered in her ear,
+and that the latter had replied with an air of confusion. Suddenly, at
+the conclusion of a contra-dance, he perceived, by a certain
+whispering that ran through the assembly, that something important was
+going on. Casting his eyes, while the barrister continued to talk to
+him, upon the seats which his wife and her ladies of honour had
+occupied during the whole evening, he perceived that they were empty;
+whereupon the grave deputy-prosecutor cutting short, as most men would
+have done under the circumstances, the argument of the barrister,
+advanced by a clever series of man&oelig;uvres towards the door of the
+apartment; and at the moment when some domestics entered bearing
+refreshments, glided out, in the fond and mistaken belief that no one
+had remarked him.</p>
+
+<p>At the door of the nuptial chamber he met his mother-in-law, who was
+retiring with the various dignitaries, whose presence had been
+considered necessary, as well as some matrons who had joined the
+<i>cort&egrave;ge</i>. Pressing his hand, and with a faltering voice, the mother
+whispered to him a few words, and it was understood that she spoke of
+her daughter. M. Desalleux, smiling, replied with some affectionate
+phrases. Most assuredly in that moment he was not thinking of poor
+Peter Leroux.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment of closing the door of the chamber, the bride was
+already abed. He remarked, what appeared to him strange, that the
+curtains of her bed were drawn. The room was quite silent.</p>
+
+<p>The stillness, and the strange fact of the close-drawn curtains
+embarrassed him. His heart beat violently. He looked around, and
+remarked her dress and all her wedding-ornaments lying around him,
+with a graceful air of negligence, in various parts of the room. With
+a faltering voice he called upon his bride by name. Having no reply,
+he returned, perhaps to gain time, towards the door, assured himself
+that it was well fastened, then approaching the bed, he opened the
+curtains gently.</p>
+
+<p>By the flickering light of the lamp suspended from the ceiling, a
+singular vision presented itself to his eyes. Near his <i>fianc&eacute;e</i>, who
+was fast asleep, the head of a man with black hair was lying on the
+white pillow. Was he again the victim of an error of the senses, or
+had some usurper dared to occupy his place? At all events, his
+substitute took little notice of him; for, as well as his wife, he was
+sound asleep, with his face turned towards the bottom of the alcove.
+In the moment when M. Desalleux leaned over the bed, to examine the
+features of this singular intruder, a long sigh, like that of a man
+awaking from slumber, broke the silence of the chamber; and at the
+same time the head of the stranger turning towards him, he recognised
+the face of Peter Leroux staring at him, with that very look of
+stupified astonishment with which for two hours the unlucky ploughman
+had listened to his brilliant discourse in the criminal court of
+Orleans.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps, on any other occasion, the deputy-prosecutor, on finding
+himself a second time visited by this horrible vision, would have
+suspected that he had been guilty of some wicked action, for which he
+was doomed to this persecution: his conscience, if he had taken the
+trouble to cross-examine it, would have very soon told him what was
+his crime, in which case, being a good Catholic, he would perhaps have
+gone out and locked the door of the haunted room until morning, when
+he would have immediately ordered a mass for the repose of the soul of
+Peter Leroux; by means of this, and of some contributions to the fund
+for poor prisoners of justice, he might, perhaps, have regained his
+tranquillity of mind, and escaped for ever from the annoyance to which
+he had been subjected. At such a time, however, he felt more
+irritation than remorse; and he accordingly endeavoured to seize the
+intruder by the hair, and drag him from his resting-place. At the
+first movement that he made, however, the head, understanding his
+intentions, began to grind its teeth, and as he stretched out his
+hand, the bridegroom felt himself severely bitten. The pain of his
+wound increased his rage. He looked around for some weapon, went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[pg 199]</a></span>to
+the fireplace and seized a bar of steel which served to support the
+fire-irons, then returned, and striking several times upon the bed
+with all his force, endeavoured to destroy his hideous visitor. But
+the head, ducking and bobbing like the white gentleman with black
+spots, whom Punch has never been able to touch, dexterously slipped
+aside at every blow, which descended harmlessly upon the bed-clothes.
+For several minutes the furious bridegroom continued to waste his
+strength in this manner, when, springing with an extraordinary bound,
+the head passed over the shoulder of its adversary, and disappeared
+behind him before he could observe by what way it had escaped.</p>
+
+<p>After a careful search, and considerable raking in corners with the
+bar of steel, finding himself at length master of the field of battle,
+the deputy-prosecutor returned to the bed. The bride was still
+miraculously asleep; and, to his horror, he perceived, on lifting the
+coverlet, that she was lying in a pool of blood, left no doubt by the
+bleeding head. Misfortunes never come alone: while seeking for a cloth
+about the chamber, he struck the lamp with his forehead, and
+extinguished it.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the night was advancing; already the window of the chamber
+began to glimmer with the coming day. Furious with the obstacles which
+heaven and earth seemed to set in his way, the deputy-prosecutor
+determined to solve the mystery. Approaching the bed again, he called
+upon his bride by the tenderest names, and endeavoured to awake her,
+yet she continued to sleep. Taking her in his arms, he embraced her
+passionately; but she slept on, and appeared insensible to all his
+caresses. What could this mean? Was it the feint of a bashful girl, or
+was he himself dreaming? It was growing lighter; and in the hope of
+dispelling the odious enchantments with which he was surrounded, M.
+Desalleux went to the window, and drew aside the blinds and curtains
+to let in the new day. Then the unhappy lawyer perceived for the first
+time why the blood refused to be dried up. Blinded by his anger in his
+combat with the head of Peter Leroux, and while he had supposed
+himself to be chastising his disturber, he had, in fact, been striking
+the head of his unfortunate bride. The blows had been dealt so quickly
+and with such violence, that she had died without a sigh, or, perhaps,
+without her assailant's hearing one, in the fury of the struggle.</p>
+
+<p>We leave to psychologists to explain this phenomenon; but on seeing
+that he had killed his bride, he was seized with a violent fit of
+laughter, which attracted the attention of his mother-in-law, who
+knocked gently at the door, and desired to know the cause of the
+disturbance. On hearing the voice of the mother of his wife, his
+terrible gaiety increased. Running to open the door, he seized her by
+the arm, and drawing her to the side of the bed, pulled back the
+curtains, and revealed to her the terrible spectacle; after which his
+laughter grew still more furious, until at length he sank exhausted on
+the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Alarmed at the shrieks of the mother, all the inmates of the house
+became witnesses of the scene, the report of which spread rapidly
+through the city. The same morning, upon a warrant from the
+procureur-general, M. Desalleux was conducted to the criminal prison
+of Orleans; and it has since been remarked, as a singular coincidence,
+that his cell was the same that had been occupied by Peter Leroux up
+to the day of his execution.</p>
+
+<p>The end of the deputy-prosecutor, however, was a little less tragic.
+Declared by the unanimous testimony of the physicians to be insane,
+the man who had dreamed of moving the world with his eloquence, was
+conducted to the hospital for lunatics, and for more than six months
+kept chained in a dark cell, as in the good old times. At the end of
+this time, however, as he appeared to be no longer dangerous, his
+chains were removed, and he was subjected to milder treatment.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he recovered his liberty, a strange delusion took
+possession of him, which did not leave him until he died. He fancied
+himself a tight-rope dancer, and from morning to night danced with the
+gestures and movements of a man who holds a balancing-rod, and walks
+upon a cord.</p>
+
+<p>If any one visiting the city of Orleans would take the trouble to
+inquire of M. Trois&eacute;toiles, landlord of the H&ocirc;tel Aux Cl&eacute;s de la
+Ville, in the Place du March&eacute;, he would obtain a confirmation of the
+truth of this history, together with many other facts and
+circumstances, collateral and ramificatory, concerning the bride and
+bridegroom, their relations and friends, which we have not thought
+necessary to state. With regard, however, to the tragic event which we
+have last described, M. Trois&eacute;toiles will simply relate what is known
+to the world on the subject&mdash;namely, that the deputy-prosecutor, being
+injured in mind by overstudy and application to business, knocked out
+his wife's brains on her wedding-night. We, however, although we
+decline to mention our sources of information, have been enabled to
+give the private and secret history of the tragedy, for the truth of
+which we are equally able to vouch.</p>
+
+<p>A bookseller in Orleans, sometime afterwards, conceived the idea of
+collecting and publishing a volume of the speeches which he had
+pronounced during his short but brilliant oratorical career. Three
+editions were exhausted successively, and not long since a fourth was
+announced.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="DIAMOND-CUTTING" id="DIAMOND-CUTTING"></a>DIAMOND-CUTTING.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Koh-i-noor, the great diamond that, thanks to the still greater
+Exhibition, so many have seen, and so many more have heard of, is now
+in the hands of skilful diamond-cutters, that, unlike the sable
+beauties of Abyssinia, its charms may be augmented by a judicious
+reduction in magnitude and gravity. Cut at first with the view of
+preserving intact as much of the stone as possible, it never possessed
+the sparkling lustre derived from the scientific disposition of the
+several sides and angles, technically termed facets, of a
+well-polished diamond. It is now intended to be fashioned into a
+brilliant; that is, to have the form of two flattened pyramids joined
+at the base, the upper pyramid much flatter than the lower one. In
+England, the art of diamond-cutting has ceased to exist, but in
+Holland it still maintains its ancient pre-eminence; and from thence
+the cutters of the Koh-i-noor have been brought to perform an
+operation, which, taking into consideration the size of the stone, had
+never previously been accomplished in this country.</p>
+
+<p>It is not known, with any degree of certainty, whether the ancient
+inhabitants of the East had any knowledge of the art of
+diamond-cutting; but it is at the same time very clear, that the
+nations of the West knew nothing of it till a very late period. Even
+to the latter part of the fifteenth century, the diamond was
+appreciated principally for its supposed talismanic properties and its
+hardness; and as that hardness prevented its hidden beauties from
+being brought to light by cutting and polishing, it was regarded more
+as a rare cabalistic curiosity than a precious ornament. Some
+diamonds, however, whose natural form and polish were more favourable
+to the development of their clouded brilliancy, foretold the splendour
+they would display were it possible to cut and polish them as other
+gems. Numerous attempts were made to attain this desired end, but all
+in vain, until, about 1460, Louis de Berghen, a young jeweller of
+Bruges, succeeded in cutting the first diamond.</p>
+
+<p>The invention of the art of diamond-cutting has, like many others,
+whether mythically or not, been mixed up with a love-story. Berghen,
+it is said, was a poor working-jeweller, who had the audacity to fall
+in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[pg 200]</a></span>love with his wealthy master's daughter. The young lady was
+favourable to his suit; but on proposing to her father, the old man
+reproached him for poverty, and sneeringly said, in allusion to the
+supposed utter impossibility of the feat: 'When you can cut a diamond,
+you may marry my daughter, but not before.' These discouraging words
+induced a train of reflection in the mind of the young man. He
+considered how other hard substances were cut; iron, he mentally
+cogitated, is cut by steel. 'What is steel,' he exclaimed, a light
+breaking upon him, 'but iron?&mdash;the diamond, then, may be cut by a
+diamond.' Laying out all his available means in the purchase of two
+small diamonds, he contrived, by cementing them to two pieces of wood,
+to rub them against each other till they were reduced to dust. With
+this dust, and a machine which he invented, he cut two facets on
+another diamond, which he triumphantly exhibited to the old jeweller.
+But a diamond had never previously been cut: men, wise in their
+generation, had said that a diamond never could be cut; and
+consequently, according to the general mode of treating inventors in
+those days, a charge of sorcery was brought against the first
+diamond-cutter. Berghen, thrown into prison, had abundant leisure for
+deliberation. Two courses were open to him: one was to keep his
+secret, and be burned as a sorcerer; the other, to clear himself of
+that charge by shewing how he cut the diamond by natural means, and
+thus lose the exclusive benefit of his invention, to which he
+considered he was so justly entitled. He adopted neither. Fortunately,
+Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of Flanders, came to
+hold his court in the city of Bruges, and was soon informed of the
+diabolical art of the young jeweller. Charles was passionately fond of
+jewels, and possessed a very large diamond. Like the Spaniard, who, if
+the miracle were performed, did not care if Mohammed himself did it,
+the Bold duke sent for Berghen, and commanded him to cut and polish
+the large diamond, as he best could, either by aid of the Prince of
+Darkness, or his own unassisted efforts. In due time the work was
+completed; and Charles was so delighted with the brilliant beauty of
+the previously dull stone, that he remunerated the young jeweller with
+three thousand ducats. We need not inform the reader how Berghen soon
+married his lady-love; but we may state that, retaining the secret of
+diamond-cutting in his own family, he and his descendants acquired
+immense wealth. After the death of his patron Charles, he removed to
+Paris, where, for two centuries afterwards, the Berquins, as the name
+was Gallicised, were the most famous jewellers of their time.</p>
+
+<p>The after-history of that large diamond, the first ever cut in Europe
+at least, is perhaps worthy of narration. Charles constantly carried
+it with him on his own person, till at last a soldier found it beside
+the duke's dead body, on the fatal battle-field of Nancy. Unconscious
+of its value, the finder sold it for a crown to a priest; the priest,
+equally ignorant, sold it for three ducats to a pedler; the pedler
+sold it for a large sum to the Duke of Florence. From that prince it
+passed into the hands of Antonio king of Portugal, who, when a refugee
+in France, sold it for 70,000 francs to Nicholas de Harlay, Lord of
+Sancy; thus it has since been known, in the history of precious
+stones, as the Sancy Diamond. Sancy was a faithful adherent to Henry
+IV. of France, and, during the civil war, was sent by that monarch to
+solicit the assistance of the Swiss. Finding that nothing could be
+done without money, he sent a trusty servant to Paris for the diamond,
+enjoining him never to part with it in life to any one but himself.
+The servant arrived in Paris, and received the diamond, but never
+returned to his master. After waiting a considerable time, Sancy,
+feeling confident that the man had been robbed and murdered by one of
+the many hordes of robbers that then infested France, set out to
+endeavour to gain some traces of him. After many adventures, he
+discovered that a person answering the description of the servant had
+been found, robbed and murdered, in the Forest of Dole, and had been
+buried by the peasantry. Sancy immediately had the body disinterred,
+and found the diamond&mdash;the faithful fellow having, in obedience to his
+master's injunction, swallowed it. Sancy pawned the diamond with the
+Jews of Metz, and with the money raised troops for the service of his
+royal master. 'Put not your faith in princes,' is an adage as sound as
+it is ancient. Henry, seated on the throne that Sancy's exertions
+saved, took occasion of a petty court intrigue to ruin and disgrace
+his too faithful partisan. The pledged diamond never was redeemed; it
+remained in the hands of the Israelite money-lenders, till Louis XIV.
+purchased it for 600,000 francs. It then became one of the
+crown-jewels of France; but its vicissitudes were not over. In 1791,
+when the National Assembly appointed a commission of jewellers to
+examine the crown-jewels, the Sancy Diamond was valued at 1,000,000
+livres. At the restoration of Louis XVIII., it was nowhere to be
+found, and nothing positive has been heard of it since. But as so
+well-known and large a diamond could not readily be secretly disposed
+of without attracting attention in some quarter, it is shrewdly
+suspected that a jewel sold in 1830, by the Prince of Peace, for
+500,000 francs, to one of the wealthiest of the Russian nobility, was
+the missing Sancy Diamond.</p>
+
+<p>The operation of diamond-cutting is exceedingly simple, and is without
+doubt performed by the cutters of the Koh-i-noor at the present time
+in almost precisely the same manner as invented by Berghen. The stone
+is held in the proper position by being embedded, all but the salient
+angle to be cut or polished, in a solder of tin and lead. It is then
+applied to a rapidly-revolving horizontal iron wheel, constantly
+supplied with diamond-dust, and moistened with olive-oil. The anxious
+care and caution required in this operation render it a very tedious
+one: the cutting of the Koh-i-noor will last many months, and be
+attended with an immense expense. A still more tedious operation,
+however, is sometimes performed by diamond-cutters, when it is found
+necessary to cut a stone into two parts; it is termed sawing, and is
+thus managed:&mdash;The stone to be sawn is scratched across in the desired
+direction by a very keen splinter of diamond, technically termed a
+<i>sharp</i>. An exceedingly fine iron wire, with a small portion of
+sweet-oil and diamond-dust, is then laid upon this guiding scratch;
+and the workman draws the wire backwards and forwards, as we may see
+blocks of stone sawn on a larger scale in the yard of the statuary.
+Still greater care and attention are required in this operation than
+in diamond-cutting: seven months have been occupied in sawing a
+good-sized stone. Sometimes the diamond is cut by two being cemented
+each upon a separate handle, and rubbed together over a box, which
+catches the precious dust as it falls; but the stones thus cut are
+disfigured by scratches, and must subsequently be polished upon the
+wheel.</p>
+
+<p>For many years India supplied the rest of the world with diamonds; and
+it was long supposed that they were not to be found in any other part
+of the globe. The Portuguese settlers in Brazil, seeking for gold,
+found a number of small stones resembling pebbles, which, from their
+singularity, they kept as curiosities, using them as counters at their
+card-tables. An officer, who had been removed from the Portuguese
+settlements in India to serve in Brazil, suspected that these stones
+were diamonds, and sent a few to Portugal. The jewellers of Lisbon,
+having never seen a diamond in its unpolished state, laughed at the
+idea of such rude pebbles being of any value, and so the inquiry was
+for some time dropped. But the Dutch consul at Lisbon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[pg 201]</a></span>managed to
+procure one of the stones, and sent it to Holland, then almost the
+only country in Europe where diamond-cutting was pursued as a regular
+business. The stone, in due time, was returned to the consul in the
+form of a sparkling brilliant; and the Brazilian diamond-trade
+immediately commenced. The European dealers in diamonds, and many
+retired officers of the English and Dutch East India Companies, who,
+as was customary then, had, on their return to Europe, invested a
+large part of their wealth in those precious stones, fearing that a
+great reduction in price would follow, were alarmed when the Brazilian
+diamonds first came into the market. These interested parties
+published pamphlets, warning the public against purchasing the
+so-called Brazilian diamonds, stating that no diamonds were found in
+the Brazils, but that the inferior class of stones was purchased in
+India, sent to Brazil, and from thence imported as Brazilian diamonds.
+In consequence of these false statements being repeated by persons of
+rank and station, a strong prejudice existed against the Brazilian
+diamond, although it is now well known to be equal in every respect to
+its Indian brother. The Dutch, who then farmed the Brazilian
+diamond-mines from the crown of Portugal, met this trick of trade by
+another. They dug their diamonds in Brazil, brought them to Holland,
+and cut them, then sent them to India, from whence they returned to
+Europe as true Oriental jewels. We may add, that the anticipations of
+the dealers were not verified in defiance of the great influx from
+Brazil, and, later still, the discovery of the diamond in the Ural
+Mountains: the price of that stone is at present as high as ever it
+was.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="ASCENT_TO_THE_BRECHE-DE-ROLAND" id="ASCENT_TO_THE_BRECHE-DE-ROLAND"></a>ASCENT TO THE BR&Ecirc;CHE-DE-ROLAND.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">I do</span> not think I shall be accused of exaggeration when I say, that the
+ascent to the Br&ecirc;che-de-Roland is to the Pyrenean range what the
+passage of the Col de G&eacute;ant is to the Alps. They are both tough
+undertakings, requiring sound legs and lungs, with a happy and
+powerful combination of patience, fortitude, and energy.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty of ascending to the Br&ecirc;che-de-Roland does not consist
+so much in its height&mdash;though this is 9537 feet&mdash;as in the nature of
+the ground to be surmounted; and after I had accomplished the feat, I
+no longer wondered that several persons had given in, and retraced
+their steps without attaining the Br&ecirc;che. Before detailing my ascent
+to this wonderful place, it may be proper to state what it is like. On
+the flanks of the formidable and gigantic Mont Perdu rises Mont
+Marbor&eacute;, from the summit of which stretches to the west a wall of rock
+from 400 to 600 feet high, in most places absolutely vertical. This
+huge natural wall forms the crest of the Pyrenees, and divides France
+from Spain at this part of the chain. In the middle of the natural
+barrier is a gap, which, when viewed from the French valley of the
+Gave de Gavernie, appears like a notch made in a jaw by the loss of a
+single tooth, but which is in reality a magnificent and colossal
+portal, 134 feet wide and 330 feet high.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, legendary lore is not at fault to account in its own
+poetical manner for this natural phenomenon. According to that oracle,
+the Br&ecirc;che owes its origin to Roland, the brave Paladin, who, mounted
+on his war-horse, in his hot pursuit of the Moors, clove with one blow
+of his trusty sword Durandal a passage through this mighty wall; and
+it must be admitted that the sides of the gap are so smooth, that it
+requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that they were
+fashioned in some such artistical manner. Independently of the Br&ecirc;che
+itself, which alone is highly deserving of a visit, the surrounding
+scenery is of the most imposing and magnificent character, and the
+whole, therefore, most justly ranks as one of the chief lions of the
+Pyrenees.</p>
+
+<p>The most usual, and by far the most advantageous starting-place, is
+the village of Gavarnie, near the Cirque of that name. In my
+ignorance, however, of the toilsome nature of the excursion, I started
+from Luz, eighteen miles from Gavarnie, where I was sojourning.
+Reader, were you ever at Luz? Sweet Luz! with its babbling crystal
+brook, in which tribes of pigs undergo sanitary ablutions; and its
+inn, famous for good cookery and active fleas. If you have been there,
+you will not have forgotten Madame Cazean&mdash;a model of a hostess. To
+her I made my wishes known respecting the ascent to the Br&ecirc;che, and
+begged that she would find me a guide.</p>
+
+<p>In Switzerland, at such a place as Luz, surrounded by numerous
+excursion points of great interest, guides would be abundant; here,
+however, there are only a few, and these are obliged to pursue the
+callings of agriculture and hunting to eke out a subsistence. So, when
+I demanded a guide, Madame Cazean said she would send to the fields
+for Jaques St Laur, who was the best guide to the Br&ecirc;che. And indeed
+if strength of limb and a huge sinewy frame were the chief
+qualifications for the affair, Jaques, I apprehend, would have stood
+unrivalled, for I never saw a more sturdy or Titanic mountaineer.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangements were soon made. We were to start at four o'clock in
+the morning&mdash;not a moment later: true to his promise, my burly guide
+appeared before the hotel door at that hour with two ponies, and in a
+few minutes we were <i>en route</i>. The morning broke gloriously. Peak by
+peak, the snow-crested first, and successively those beneath, became
+tinted by the rising sun, while the valleys gave evidence of
+approaching day by casting off their misty mantles. It makes the old
+young again, and the young to feel the blood dance yet more briskly
+through their veins, to breathe such air as wraps the Pyrenees in its
+balmy folds. The beauties of the valley, or rather gorge, begin at
+once. Woods, alternating with precipitous rocks, mountain peaks of
+great altitude and most picturesque forms, tower aloft; while below,
+the eye rests upon the <i>gave</i>, now deliciously green and peaceful, and
+now worming its way with agonised fury through the gorge. Many
+cascades of rare beauty streamed down from the summit of the
+precipices, and we were continually crossing high and narrow bridges
+suspended over deep gulfs. The box luxuriates in this defile,
+springing in tree-like proportions from every ledge.</p>
+
+<p>Before reaching G&egrave;dres, which is about half-way to Gavarnie, a fine,
+though tantalising view of the Br&ecirc;che is obtained. I gazed at the
+object of my expedition with anxious eyes, wondering how I was to get
+to its cloud land amidst the eternal snow-crowned Tours de Marbor&eacute;;
+and I longed for the wings of one of the many eagles which sailed
+majestically overhead, to transport myself thither at once.</p>
+
+<p>At G&egrave;dres the view of the Marbor&eacute; is lost; but there is an almost
+overabundance of grand scenery in the mountains that tower to the
+right and left, and the gorges are filled with foaming cascades and
+flowers of wondrous beauty. Close to the cascades&mdash;so close, that they
+seem on the point of being swept away&mdash;are mills, not much larger than
+goodly-sized boxes, one above the other, like rows of black beads
+strung upon the white torrent. These mills are primitive in their
+construction, closely resembling the old hand-mill; but they grind the
+corn, and what more could the best mill in Europe do?</p>
+
+<p>Beyond G&egrave;dres, a singularly grand and savage scene presents itself,
+called the Peyrada or Chaos. It is an <i>&eacute;boulement</i>, or slip of masses
+of gneiss which have fallen from great heights; and the ruins are so
+extensive, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[pg 202]</a></span>that it seems as if an entire mountain had been shivered
+to fragments. The path winds in zig-zags through a labyrinth of
+blocks, among which horse and rider appear like pigmies. The mountains
+increase in majesty as Gavarnie is approached&mdash;the Vignemale with its
+glaciers to the west; and the Pim&egrave;ne to the east, ranging among the
+highest. Gavarnie is a poor village, boasting one inn, in humble
+keeping with the place; poor, however, as it was, I was glad to draw
+bridle before the door, for we had ridden fast and furious, as my
+blood-stained spurs evidenced. I was about to dismount and recruit
+myself with a flask of the best wine, when Jaques peremptorily forbade
+such a proceeding. There was no time to be lost; a stirrup-cup and on.
+He, however, dismounted, and went into the house for ice-staffs and
+<i>crampons</i>, which were kept at the inn. Provided with these, and
+partially refreshed by a glass of very good wine, we hastened on our
+way. The morning continued most favourable; not a cloud obscured the
+outline of the mountains, and the snow-crested Marbor&eacute; towered aloft,
+strongly pencilled against the deep-blue sky. Wonderful animals are
+the Pyrenean ponies. Small in stature, and with diminutive limbs, on
+they go, over ways rough enough to puzzle a goat, rarely pausing to
+pick their steps, and as rarely stumbling. The path, about half-way
+between Gavarnie and the Cirque, is carried over the torrent by two
+terribly narrow planks, without any manner of railing. Over this frail
+bridge, not three feet wide, my guide, much to my astonishment, rode
+his pony; and as my <i>monture</i> evinced no asinine disinclination to
+follow, but, on the contrary, evidently regarded the proceeding as
+nothing extraordinary, I slackened my bridle, pressed my knees a
+little closer to the saddle, and committed myself to my fate. The
+torrent rushed at a fearfully giddy rate some twenty feet beneath, and
+the roar of waters was terrific; but my steed was proof against these
+things, which would have tried the nerves of a pedestrian tourist, and
+passed steadily over the narrow causeway as unswervingly as if it had
+been the broadest highway in France. This was the last feat of our
+horses; for, after a brisk canter, we dismounted in the arena of the
+Cirque, and turned the animals to graze, a girl who had accompanied us
+from Gavarnie engaging to look after them. We had ridden eighteen
+miles, and I doubt whether the distance was ever accomplished in less
+time.</p>
+
+<p>To render the first impression of the Cirque or <i>oule</i> more
+impressive, a small projecting wall of rock marks the entry to the
+gigantic amphitheatre. This passed, the end of the world seems gained:
+a vast semicircle of rocks rises precipitously to the height of
+between 1000 and 2000 feet. These gigantic walls are divided into
+three or four steps or ledges, on each of which rests a glacier, from
+which stream cascades. That to the left is 1266 feet high, and bears
+the reputation of being the highest waterfall in Europe. The summit of
+this wondrous amphitheatre is crowned by everlasting ice and snow,
+resting on the crests of the Cylindre, so called from its shape, and
+10,500 feet high. The base of this fine mountain is embedded in a huge
+glacier, which gives birth to the high fall. Fit companion to the
+Cylindre rises the Tours de Marbor&eacute;, forming a part of Mont Perdu. Not
+a scrap of vegetation breaks the ruggedness of the vast semicircle of
+rocks. The floor of the Cirque is an irregular heap of rocks, with the
+exception of a large heap of snow at the base of the precipices, under
+which the waters of the cascades run, like the torrents beneath the
+Swiss glaciers.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to take in this sublime spectacle at once, so
+overpowering were its features; and as we gazed tremblingly at the
+huge Cirque, I felt as if on the eve of being crushed by its impending
+walls.</p>
+
+<p>Within a few yards of the most western cascade, the ascent to the
+Br&ecirc;che is made. Without a guide, however, the precise spot would be
+exceedingly difficult to find; and from its forbidding nature, few
+would be bold enough to make the essay. It is literally a rock-ladder,
+and is the only locality in the wide sweep of the Cirque affording the
+means of ascent. The rugged strata, which are here vertical, serve as
+steps in which one can insert the toes and fingers; but as the
+guidebook truly says: 'It is as abrupt as the ascent of a ladder; and
+wide spaces of smooth rock often intervene without any notch or
+projection offering a foothold. To those who cannot look down a sheer
+precipice many hundred feet deep without a tendency to giddiness,
+there is danger in this escalade, as well as in passing over some
+smooth projecting shoulders of rocks.' The climb is, in truth, most
+arduous&mdash;'bien p&eacute;nible,' as my guide said. My <i>chaussure</i> was sadly
+against me&mdash;thin-soled boots, which doubled under me. Let no one
+undertake this ascent without being strongly shod.</p>
+
+<p>As we ascended, new wonders were revealed&mdash;more precipices, cascades,
+and glaciers: it was literally alps on alps. The top of the great
+waterfall was still far above us; and it gave me a very good idea of
+its altitude, when, after more than an hour's ascent, I found that we
+were still beneath the level of the glacier from whence it is
+supplied. About two hours were occupied in ascending the first series
+of precipices, above which patches of snow are met with. Our course
+now lay through a kind of vertical gully nearly filled with snow. Up
+this we scrambled, taking advantage of the hardness of the snow to
+make it our path. Above us rose tremendous precipices, terminating in
+jagged peaks, on which my guide with his practised eye discerned a
+herd of izzards. I saw them remarkably well through my telescope,
+balanced, like a&euml;rial creatures, on the giddy heights, one amongst
+them evidently acting as sentinel. It was beautiful to witness their
+wild attitudes, ready, at a moment's warning from their watchful
+leader, to bound from crag to crag, or descend the awful precipices,
+where man's foot has never been.</p>
+
+<p>My guide, whose heart was evidently more in the hunting than in his
+present business, became half wild with excitement at the sight of
+these izzards. It was the largest herd he had seen that year, and,
+with many a <i>sacr&eacute;</i>, he bemoaned his fate that he should be without
+his rifle; though I endeavoured to convince him that there was nothing
+to regret, as he could not at the same time hunt izzards and conduct
+me to the Br&ecirc;che.</p>
+
+<p>We now fairly lost sight of the Cirque, and were in the midst of snow
+and glaciers which covered a steep, inclined about forty-five degrees.
+The surmounting of this slope was a most fatiguing affair for me, as
+the snow was very slippery, and it happened that I retrograded nearly
+as often as I advanced. This part of the ascent occupied about an
+hour. My guide now turned to the left, for the purpose of crossing a
+glacier, the inclination of which is so great that it is the next
+thing to impossible to ascend it. The passage over this glacier,
+beyond which lies the Br&ecirc;che, is by far the most dangerous part of the
+undertaking. At the place where we encountered it, its breadth may be
+about four hundred yards; but throughout, its inclination is such that
+the slightest false step would prove fatal, for beneath are precipices
+of fearful depth. Here crampons are used. I was fairly exhausted when
+I came to the edge of this glacier, and despite the protestations of
+my guide, who declared that there was no time to lose, I threw myself
+on the snow, and would, had I been left alone, have been asleep in a
+few moments.</p>
+
+<p>It is customary for the few tourists who visit the Br&ecirc;che to take two
+guides, for the purpose of crossing this glacier in safety; and I had
+cause to regret my ignorance of the practice, for although I trod most
+cautiously in the notches cut by my guide, yet my limbs were so weak,
+that when about half-way <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[pg 203]</a></span>across, I stumbled, and for a moment gave
+myself up for lost. Happily, my guide was sufficiently near to grasp
+my extended arms, and shouting: 'Prenez garde! prenez garde! Courage!
+courage!' he sustained me until I recovered my balance. Then it was
+that I became fully aware of the mistake I had committed in making
+this excursion without previous training; and I admonished Jaques in
+future, to give those who desired to scale the Br&ecirc;che fair warning of
+the dangers and difficulties attendant upon the undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>My escape was not rendered the less interesting by a story which my
+guide related to me of an unfortunate traveller, who when his crampon,
+by some accident, caught his trousers, lost his balance, and there
+being no friendly hand to arrest him, in an instant sped down the
+sloping ice with the speed of an avalanche, and was almost
+instantaneously lost for ever.</p>
+
+<p>It was here that Mr Paris, who was rash enough to attempt ascending to
+the Br&ecirc;che without a guide, was obliged to give up the task. 'The
+sight of this glacier,' he observes, 'was too appalling. I could not
+summon sufficient resolution to attempt the passage, which was in
+distance about a quarter of a mile, and wisely, I think, abandoned it.
+To understand all its terrors, the place must be seen. Once slip, and
+you are gone for ever, past all human aid: the death is too frightful
+for contemplation.'</p>
+
+<p>Bracing my shattered nerves for the occasion, I resumed my labour,
+taking care, however, to hold my guide's hand; and thus moving slowly
+and cautiously, I had at length the inexpressible satisfaction of
+achieving the formidable passage of this terrible glacier. The rest of
+the journey was comparatively easy, though the elevation&mdash;above 9000
+feet&mdash;and the steepness were trying enough. But all sense of fatigue
+forsook me when the huge portal&mdash;the tiny notch as seen from
+G&egrave;dres&mdash;yawned in all its stern magnificence before me. It was a fit
+reward for all my toil, and I felt that I would have willingly endured
+even greater sufferings to make acquaintance with such a scene as now
+met my astonished gaze.</p>
+
+<p>Eager to achieve the crowning feat of my undertaking, I hastened
+onwards; and with beating heart I soon stood within the jaws of the
+mighty portal, through which swept the howling wind. A step more, and
+I was in Spain. Glaciers slope away on each side of the wall; but all
+along the front of the Br&ecirc;che, on the French side, the glacier is
+scooped out into a deep fosse or cavity, by the action of the sun's
+rays pouring from the south through the opening. A wild world of
+mountains appeared to the south, those in the foreground covered with
+snow, and the more distant looming hazily over the plains of
+Saragossa. And this was Spain!&mdash;wondrous land, defying description,
+and in memory resembling, not realities, but fragments of tremendous
+dreams. Towards France, the scene is softer. Mountains there are,
+sky-piled, but there are forests too, the home of wolves</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Burning for blood; bony, and gaunt, and grim;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and vales of emerald, and silver streams, and gleaming lakes. But how
+hope to convey anything like a faithful impression of the panorama
+seen from the Br&ecirc;che-de-Roland! I will not attempt it, preferring
+rather to advise the reader, should he not be stricken in years, to
+see it himself.</p>
+
+<p>My guide produced the contents of his wallet, which, thanks to Madame
+Cazean's provident forethought, were good and abundant; and having
+placed the wine-flasks in the ice&mdash;there was enough at hand to ice the
+great Heidelberg tun&mdash;I sat down on the ridge of the Br&ecirc;che, one leg
+in Spain, the other in France, and my body in amiable neutrality. Oh,
+the delight of that repast! there never was so tender a fowl, never
+wine so good. While thus engaged in refreshing exhausted nature, I
+even forgot that the terrible glacier had to be recrossed, and the
+steep snow-slopes to be descended.</p>
+
+<p>The day continued faithful to its early morning promise. A bright
+sun&mdash;unfelt, however, at this great elevation&mdash;poured down a flood of
+light on the far-stretching glaciers and snow-fields, on which we
+discerned izzards, which seemed, when in motion, like points moving in
+space. These, and a few eagles, were the only living things that met
+our eye. Fain would I have spent hours here, but my guide was very
+properly obdurate; and having done great justice to our meal, we
+prepared to descend. Before leaving the Br&ecirc;che, where we remained for
+about an hour and a half, he conducted me to a small cave on the
+Spanish side between the Br&ecirc;che and the glacier, where smugglers pass
+the night, waiting for the early morning hours to descend into France.
+Desperate work! and desperate must be the men engaged in it. Being
+considerably recruited in strength, I found the passage of the glacier
+much less arduous than it was in ascending; and having passed it in
+safety, we flew down the snow inclines with delightful rapidity, in
+five minutes clearing ground which cost us an hour to surmount. We
+reached Gavarnie at seven o'clock, and pausing for half an hour, rode
+on to Luz, where we arrived as the night closed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="OUR_WILD-FRUITS" id="OUR_WILD-FRUITS"></a>OUR WILD-FRUITS.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Why</span> is it that the wild <i>flowers</i> of England have attracted so much
+attention of late years, whilst the wild <i>fruits</i> have been passed
+over in silence, and allowed to bud and bloom, to ripen their fruit,
+and to perish, inglorious and unnoticed? It would be difficult to give
+a reply to this question; I will therefore not attempt it, but rather
+invite you, my friends, to assist me in removing this reproach from
+the wild-fruits of our land, and give me a little of your attention
+whilst we inquire what these are, and where they grow, and examine a
+little into their structure and uses, as well as into their
+classification. In doing so, I think we shall find that, though
+England does not indigenously afford so many or such rich fruits as
+those which are the products of some other lands, yet that she
+possesses several kinds which, even in their uncultivated state, are
+edible, and pleasant to the taste, and some of which form the stocks
+on which, by budding or grafting, many of the most valuable
+productions of our gardens and orchards are established. I think that
+many will be surprised to find, that the list I shall give them of
+fruits indigenous in England is so long and so respectable. The plum,
+the cherry, the apple and pear tribes&mdash;the raspberry, with its
+allies&mdash;the gooseberry, and currant, red and black&mdash;the service-tree,
+with its pleasant subacid fruit, and the abounding whortleberry and
+cranberry tribes, which cover immense tracts of our hills with their
+myrtle-like foliage and pretty heath-like bloom, and produce such
+harvests of useful fruit freely to whoever will take the trouble of
+gathering it&mdash;are surely treasures not to be despised!</p>
+
+<p>It is true that in the present day, when the constantly increasing
+importation both of fruit and fruit-trees, together with the wonderful
+horticultural improvements which are daily taking place, have brought
+richer and better kinds of fruit more or less within the reach even of
+our poorest cottagers&mdash;when every little valley among the hills is
+enriched with its beautiful orchards, and every farmhouse and cottage
+may boast its luscious plum or cherry trees, and its row of bright
+fruited raspberry or strawberry plants&mdash;when all thrifty housewives
+may, at small expense, have their little store of pleasant jams and
+jellies made from fruits which used to be beyond the reach of even our
+island kings, and the 'sedulous bees' located on every homestead
+present us with their amber <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[pg 204]</a></span>sweets&mdash;we can perhaps scarcely
+appreciate the real importance which must have attached to these now
+comparatively worthless fruits at a time when the land on which our
+most populous cities stand was covered by woods and brakes, nay, in
+many places by thick, tangled forests, or wild and deep morasses. But,
+even now, these fruits are treasures to the cotter and the child, as
+we shall see in the course of our discussion; and even to persons of
+more luxurious habits, several of those that I have named are of value
+and importance. Let us first look at those which rank under the
+natural order <i>Rosace&aelig;</i>, under which head we shall find the greatest
+number of our English fruit-bearing plants. We will give a little
+botanical sketch of the general characteristics of this order, as
+elucidatory of what we may hereafter have to say before we proceed to
+the details of any of its members. The chief of these characteristics
+are, that in the order <i>Rosace&aelig;</i> the calyx is in most cases formed of
+five lobes, <i>with the petals and stamens rising from it</i>, the latter
+being generally numerous; the ovaries are several, or solitary, each
+of one cell, including, in most cases, one ovule or incipient seed&mdash;in
+some cases many&mdash;the style being lateral or terminal. Most flowers
+thus formed produce edible and harmless fruits. Loudon says: 'The
+ligneous species, which constitute this order, include the finest
+flowering shrub in the world&mdash;the rose&mdash;and trees which produce the
+most useful and agreeable fruit of temperate climates&mdash;namely, the
+apple, pear, plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and nectarine;' and he
+might have included the medlar and service trees. Now, this vast order
+is subdivided into several sub-orders or sections, under the first of
+which are classed all whose fruit is a drupe, of which the plum and
+cherry are examples. We will then take them first into our
+consideration, and begin by giving an account of what is the structure
+of a drupe.</p>
+
+<p>That part of the carpel called the ovary, which encloses the seed,
+thickens, and changes into a fleshy substance, which, as the fruit
+matures, softens, and becomes a juicy, and often delicious pulp; this
+is the part which we eat in the plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and all
+which we call stone-fruits. The lining of the ovary at the same time
+extends, and hardens into the stony case which encloses the kernel,
+which kernel is the young seed enlarged and perfected. All fruits of
+this formation are called drupes, as those of the apple and pear form
+are called pomes, and those of the bramble, and some other tribes,
+berries. Our woods supply us with two sorts of plum, both edible&mdash;the
+sloe, or blackthorn (<i>Prunus spinosa</i>), and the wild bullace (<i>P.
+institia</i>.) Every one knows the sloe, at least every one who has spent
+any part of his youth amidst woodland scenes; but as there are some
+who, having been 'all their life in populous cities pent,' know but
+little of country delights, for their benefit we will describe the
+growth and appearance of our plants, as well as their qualities,
+obvious or hidden. The sloe is more frequently seen as a spiny shrub
+than as a tree; but when the suckers are removed, and the strength of
+the plant is all allowed to go into one stem, it forms a highly
+characteristic small tree. In hedges, it seldom exceeds twenty feet in
+height, but in woods and parks, it often attains to thirty. The wood
+is hard, and takes a fine polish, but is apt to crack, and is
+therefore seldom used, except for the handles of tools, and other such
+purposes. It throws up very long upright shoots, which make excellent
+walking-sticks; indeed, more are made from this tree throughout Europe
+than from any other. The dry branches are valuable in forming hedges,
+and protection for young trees, as well as for other agricultural
+purposes. The bark is black, whence its name of blackthorn; the
+blossoms appear before the leaves, and beautify our hedges with their
+delicate whiteness during the cold month of March, when few other
+shrubs send forth their blossoms; and this season is therefore called
+by country-people 'blackthorn winter.' The leaves form a better
+substitute for tea than any other European plant; and they have been,
+and are abundantly used in the adulteration of that commodity. The
+fruit is a plum about the size of a small filbert, of a dark purple
+hue, coated with a most exquisite blue bloom. The flesh is of a sharp,
+bitter acid, yet not unpleasant even when raw; when fully ripe, it
+makes a tolerable preserve, or pudding, and the juice, when well
+fermented, makes a wine not unlike new port. The sloe, as well as the
+cherry, and all other plants of its tribe, contains in it a portion of
+prussic acid; but the quantity is so minute, that there can be no
+injury derived from the use of either the leaves or fruit of most
+species. The common laurel (<i>Cerasus laurocerasus</i>) contains it in
+greater quantity than any other kind, but even of this the berries may
+be eaten with impunity, and are freely used by gipsies, who both eat
+them raw and make them into puddings.</p>
+
+<p>The other plum of our wilds is the bullace (<i>P. institia</i>), the fruit
+of which differs from that of the sloe in being larger and less
+bitter. It is sometimes black, but oftener yellowish and waxy,
+beautifully tinted with red, and makes better pies and puddings than
+the sloe, for which purposes it is often sold in the markets. In
+Provence, where, as in other parts of France, this plum abounds, it is
+called 'Prune sibanelle,' because, from its sourness, it is impossible
+to whistle after eating it! The entire plant is used for much the same
+purposes as the sloe. Old Gerard says, that its leaves are 'good
+against the swelling of the uvula, the throat, gums, and kernels under
+the ears, throat, and jaws.' How far modern physicians might agree in
+this is doubtful; possibly they might class the prescription, as he
+does some of those of his predecessors, under the head of 'old wives'
+fables.' Both the plum and cherry send out from their bark a sort of
+gum, which exudes freely, particularly in old and diseased trees. It
+was formerly supposed to be sovereign against some diseases. The
+number of varieties which have been grafted on these wild stocks is
+very great. So long ago as 1597, Gerard recounts: 'I have threescore
+sorts in my garden (at Holborn), all strange and rare: there be in
+other places many more common, and yet yeerely commeth to our hands
+others not knowne before.' The bark of both kinds of wild plum was
+formerly much used in medicine, and considered equal to the Peruvian
+bark in cases of intermittent fever. But we must not forget, in
+recounting the <i>uses</i> of these and other fruits, to take into our
+consideration the important additions that their free growth affords
+to the sources of enjoyment and amusement of our youthful population
+in country districts. 'Snagging' (for sloes are called <i>snags</i> in some
+counties), nutting, blackberry picking, cherry hunting&mdash;all in their
+turn form attractions to the boys and girls in our villages; and many
+a merry party sallies forth into the woods on a half or whole holiday,
+with satchel, bag, and basket, to enjoy the fresh air and bright
+sunshine, and to leap, and jump, and rejoice in all the wild vagaries
+of youth among the fresh uplands and hills, scrambling over all
+obstruction&mdash;the elder climbing the old trees, and rifling them of
+their spoil&mdash;the younger and less adventurous hooking down the
+branches, and claiming the right of all they can collect 'by hook or
+by crook.' But wo to the poor mothers who have to mend the garments in
+which the onslaught has been made!&mdash;wo to the little boy or girl whose
+mother has not the good sense to discern, in her child's rosy cheeks
+and bright eyes, a compensation for the rags in the frock or trousers,
+which is sure to be the consequence of a day spent in harrying the
+shrubs and briers! But many centuries must our youth have thus
+'imbibed both sweet and smart' from yielding to these woodland
+attractions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[pg 205]</a></span> May not we fancy whole herds of our little British or
+Anglo-Saxon ancestors rushing forth into the almost inaccessible woods
+which in those days clothed our island, their long sunny hair hanging
+to the waist&mdash;for 'no man was allowed to cut his hair until he had
+slaine an enemy of his country in the field, or at least taken his
+armes from him'&mdash;clothed in linen, their fair skins disfigured by the
+blue woad with which they were accustomed to paint themselves, and
+armed with cross-bows, all as merry, as idle, and as reckless as the
+children of the present century? We may fancy these little Leowulphs
+and Siegfrieds, with their admiring little Edgithas and Edithas
+looking on, whilst they climbed the tall trees with the agility of
+wild-cats and squirrels, most proud when they could attain the richest
+and ripest fruit, and but spurred on to greater enthusiasm by the
+knowledge that wolves and bears were by no means rare visitors in
+those pristine forests. Or we may picture to ourselves their parents
+and elders, after a long summer-day spent in hunting the wild-boar,
+the bear, or the more timid deer, rejoicing to slake their thirst, and
+refresh themselves with the cool and pleasant, though somewhat crude
+fruit, of the plum and bullace trees; and in doing so, we may perhaps
+come nearer to having some just idea of their real worth, and be led
+to see how graciously God adapts his gifts to the wants and
+circumstances of his creatures.</p>
+
+<p>The cherry is the next wild fruit which claims our attention, and of
+this we find two varieties. The first, the gean-tree (<i>Cerasus
+sylvestris</i>), called by the peasants in Suffolk and Cheshire,
+'Merny-tree,' from the French word <i>merisier</i>, is found in most parts
+of England in woods and coppices. This fruit is also called in some
+countries coroon, from <i>corone</i>, a crow. Its flowers are in nearly
+sessile umbels of the purest white; its leaves broadly lance-shaped
+and downy beneath, pointed and serrated, with two unequal glands at
+the base. The fruit is a drupe, globose, fleshy, and devoid of bloom.
+Several varieties occur in this species, differing chiefly in the
+colour of the fruit, which is, however, usually black. The wood is
+firm, strong, and heavy. Evelyn includes it in his list of
+forest-trees, and describes it as rising to a height of eighty feet,
+and producing valuable timber: he says, 'if sown in proper soil, they
+will thrive into stately trees, beautified with blossoms of surpassing
+whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bees and attracting birds.'
+The wood is useful for many purposes, and polishes well. Though the
+cherry is now classed among the fruits native to this isle, authors
+inform us that it was introduced by the Romans. Evelyn says: 'It was
+680 years after the foundation of Rome ere Italy had tasted a cherry
+of their own, which being then brought thither out of Pontus, did,
+after 120 years, travel <i>ad ultimos Britannos</i>.' Its name is derived
+from Kerasoon, the city whence it was first brought into Europe by
+Lucullus; and so valuable did he consider the acquisition, that he
+gave it a most conspicuous place among the royal treasures which he
+brought home from the sacking of the capital of Armenia. The fruit of
+the gean-tree is rather harsh till fully ripe, and then becomes
+somewhat vapid and watery, yet it is very grateful to the palate after
+a day's rambling in the woods; and, moreover, this wild stock is the
+source whence we have, by culture, obtained the rich varieties which
+now grace our gardens. The cherry is a very prolific tree. We have
+heard of one, the fruit of which sold for L.5 per annum for seven
+successive years; but it requires care in pruning, as it produces its
+fruit generally at the points of the branches, which should therefore
+never be shortened. Phillips says: 'Cherries bear the knife worse than
+any other sort of fruit-trees, and we would therefore impress on the
+pruner, that though the fruit was won by the sword, it may be lost by
+the knife!' The other species of cherry is the bird-cherry (<i>Cerasus
+padus</i>), a pretty little smooth-branched tree, with doubly-serrate,
+acute leaves, and beautiful white blossoms, which grow in long-shaped
+racemes, hanging in pendulous clusters, and forming an elegant
+ornament to the hedges and woods in May. It grows chiefly in Scotland
+and the north of England, where the peasants call the fruit, which is
+small, black, and harsh, 'hagberries.' This fruit can scarcely be
+called edible, but it gives an agreeable flavour to brandy; and in
+Sweden and other northern countries is sometimes added to home-made
+wines. There is, or was, a feast celebrated in Hamburg, called the
+Feast of Cherries, in which troops of children parade the streets with
+green boughs ornamented with cherries, to commemorate a triumph
+obtained in the following manner:&mdash;'In 1432, the Hussites threatened
+the city of Hamburg with immediate destruction, when one of the
+citizens, named Wolf, proposed that all the children in the city, from
+seven to fourteen years of age, should be clad in mourning, and sent
+as suppliants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites,
+was so touched with this spectacle, that he received the young
+suppliants, regaled them with cherries and other fruits, and promised
+them to spare the city. The children returned crowned with leaves,
+holding cherries, and crying "Victory!"'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="THINGS_TALKED_OF_IN_LONDON" id="THINGS_TALKED_OF_IN_LONDON"></a>THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>September 1852.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Progress</span>, in one or other of the many forms in which it has of late
+presented itself, is now the prime subject of talk; and if the
+progress be real, it would not be easy to find a more satisfactory
+cause of conversation. Go-ahead people take much interest in the ocean
+steam-boat question; and now that the Collins line of steamers is
+supported by a grant from the United States government, double the
+amount of that paid to the British line, it is said that we are to be
+irrecoverably beaten in the passage of the 'ferry,' as Jonathan calls
+it, between Liverpool and New York. East sailing is no doubt an
+essential desideratum in these days&mdash;but what a price to pay for it! A
+quarter of a million on one side the Atlantic, and half a million on
+the other: as though there were not enterprise enough in either land
+to undertake the work&mdash;and do it well too&mdash;without a subsidy. One
+result may be safely predicated&mdash;that the winner will be the first to
+give in; and the timid may comfort themselves with the assurance, that
+neither national prosperity nor 'decadence' depends on the issue. A
+line to run from Liverpool to Portland, in the state of Maine, is in
+contemplation; and the Cunard Company are building four
+screw-steamers&mdash;the <i>Andes</i>, <i>Alps</i>, <i>Jura</i>, and <i>Etna</i>&mdash;which are to
+carry the mails to Chagres, as well as New York.</p>
+
+<p>The first steam-collier has come into the Thames, having run the
+distance from Newcastle in forty-eight hours. Forty hours, we are
+told, will surface in future, when the stiffness of the new machinery
+shall have worked off. She consumed eight tons of coal on the voyage,
+and brought 600 tons as cargo, the whole of which was discharged in
+the day, and the vessel went back for a further supply. Apart from the
+facilities for loading and unloading, the certainty with which these
+steamers will make the passage, will benefit the citizens of London,
+by saving them from the rise in price which inevitably follows the
+fall of the thermometer in December.</p>
+
+<p>But with all this, our already crowded river is becoming overcrowded,
+to remedy which a promising project is afoot for a new dock at
+Plaistow Marshes, a few miles below London Bridge, where a fleet or
+two of the ever-multiplying ships may find accommodation. The extent
+is to be ninety acres, with a mile of wharfage, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[pg 206]</a></span>and nearly 200,000
+feet of fireproof warehouse-room. How far this will meet the want, may
+be inferred from the fact, that the tonnage of the port of London has
+increased from 990,110 tons in 1828, to 2,170,322 tons in 1852. And if
+an experience of three years may be relied on, the increase is to be
+progressive; for of new British-built ships in 1849, the amount was
+121,266 tons; in 1850, 137,530 tons; in 1851, 152,563 tons. Such an
+augmentation shews, that we have nothing to fear from repeal of the
+Navigation Laws; and the fruits of unrestriction are shewn in the
+increased size of ships, in their improved external form, and interior
+accommodation. It may be mentioned here, that the Lords of the
+Admiralty have ordered that all ships' log-books sent to their
+department shall be true and faithful copies, with a track-chart of
+the winds experienced on the outward and homeward voyage, in addition
+to the usual information. Steam-vessels are to keep a record of the
+quantity of coal on board at noon each day&mdash;of the time it is
+estimated to last&mdash;and of the number of miles steamed in the previous
+twenty-four hours.</p>
+
+<p>Railways, too, exhibit signs of progress. The gross proceeds of the
+traffic for the first seven months of 1851 amounted to L.8,254,303,
+while for the same portion of the present year the sum is L.8,504,002;
+a result the more striking when it is remembered that last year we had
+the Exhibition. The new lines opened in 1851 comprised not more than
+269 miles&mdash;the smallest amount in any year since 1848&mdash;so that, at the
+end of December, we had 6890 miles of railway actually opened, and
+5101 miles authorised and still to be made. It is clear that the
+greater portion of the latter will never be attempted, seeing that
+people have really found out that railways are not exempt from the
+operation of the great natural laws of supply and demand. Some of the
+facts of last year's traffic are astounding: the total number of
+passengers conveyed was 85,391,095&mdash;twelve millions more than in the
+preceding year; and the aggregate returns amounted to L.14,997,459.
+What a difference when compared with the sum paid for travel and
+transport twenty years ago! In the United States, the number of miles
+of railway actually open is 13,200, which, by the end of 1855, it is
+expected will be increased to 18,000 or 20,000. There are 27,000 miles
+of electric telegraphs, but in this estimate the five or six lines
+between any two places are all counted. On one of the lines from New
+York to Washington, 253,857 messages were sent in the year ending last
+July, the toll for which amounted to 103,232 dollars&mdash;over L.20,000.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding all this material development, in some respects there
+is no advance&mdash;except it be of fares, which on some lines running out
+of London have been increased in accordance with 'arrangements'
+between companies who seem desirous of substituting wholesale monopoly
+for wholesome competition. Murmurs on every side already attest the
+effects of such a change of system, and it is to be hoped that
+imperative means will be found of insuring more attention than at
+present to the comfort and safety of passengers. No one out of the
+position of a director or shareholder can see any good reason why
+English railway carriages should be less comfortably fitted up than
+those of the continent. How is it that second-class carriages are to
+be seen abroad with stuffed seats and padded backs, and never in
+England? It cannot be that we do not pay enough for the accommodation.
+We pay too much&mdash;a fact worth remembering with railway amalgamation
+looming in the future; an event which must not take place without the
+public coming in demonstrably as third party.</p>
+
+<p>The British Association have met, and gone through their usual routine
+of business, with what results&mdash;beyond the reports in the public
+prints&mdash;will be best shewn by the movement of science for the next few
+months. It is always something that knowledge is increased; but
+whether the accumulating of fact on fact, to the neglect of
+generalising those facts, be the true means thereunto, remains to be
+proved. Science has been soaring in search of facts; for the committee
+appointed to manage the Kew Observatory, thinking that the phenomena
+of meteorology would answer further questioning, have sent up a
+balloon, with instruments and observers, to make a series of
+observations. The temperature was read off from highly sensitive
+thermometers at each minute during the ascent, so as to ascertain the
+difference of the heat of successive strata of the atmosphere, and the
+rate of variation. In the first flight, the party reached the height
+of 19,500 feet, and came to a temperature of 7 degrees, or 25 degrees
+below the freezing-point, which, considering the state of the
+temperature at the surface, was an unexpected result&mdash;in fact, an
+abnormal one; and not dissimilar to that which so much astonished our
+neighbours across the Channel when Barral and Bixio went up. But if it
+be abnormal, as is said, it is remarkable that precisely the same
+temperature was met with at about the same height on the second
+ascent. Another object was, to bring down specimens of air from
+different altitudes, for analysis; to try the effect of the
+actinometer at great elevations; and to note the hygrometric
+condition. There are to be four ascents, so as, if possible, to obtain
+something like satisfactory data by repetition; and in due time,
+detailed reports of the whole of the observations will be made public.</p>
+
+<p>As ozone is at present attracting attention, it might have been worth
+while to ascertain the proportion of this constituent in the higher
+regions of the atmosphere. According to Messrs Fr&eacute;my and Becquerel,
+the term ozone ought to be abandoned; for, after a series of careful
+experiments, they have come to the conclusion, that there is no real
+transformation of matter in the production of ozone, but that it is
+nothing more than 'electrified oxygen,' or oxygen in a particular
+state of chemical affinity. Further research will perhaps show us
+whether they or Schoenbein are in the right. At all events, the
+inquiry is interesting, particularly at this time, when cholera&mdash;to
+which ozone is antagonistic&mdash;is said to be again about to pay us a
+visit; and seeing that the doctrine of non-contagion, put forth so
+authoritatively by our General Board of Health, is disputed; and that
+a certain morbific influence can be conveyed and imparted, is shewn by
+abundant evidence to be alike probable and possible. What took place
+lately in Poland is cited as a case in point. Excavations were being
+made at Lask, near Kalisch, which laid open the cemetery where the
+bodies of those who died of cholera in 1832 had been buried. All who
+were engaged in the work died, and the disease spread fatally
+throughout the neighbourhood. What an important question here remains
+to be settled! and how is it to be settled while people are unclean
+and towns undrained?</p>
+
+<p>Astronomers have given good proof of activity during the present year,
+by the discovery of four new planets and one new comet&mdash;two of them by
+Mr Hind, who has now the merit of having discovered half a dozen of
+these minor members of our planetary system. Fifty years ago, such an
+achievement would have made an exalted reputation; but in these days
+of keen enterprise in science, as well as in commerce, we do not think
+much of finding such little worlds as those in question. If nothing
+short of the marvellous is to satisfy us, who shall say that even this
+will not present itself to the far-piercing ken of the new monster
+telescope&mdash;refracting, not reflecting&mdash;established on Wandsworth
+Common, at the cost of an amateur astronomer, for the promotion of the
+celestial science? Lord Rosse has now a competitor; and with a tube of
+eighty feet in length, and the power of looking direct at the distant
+object, may we not hope to hear of great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[pg 207]</a></span>discoveries by means of the
+new instrument? Photographers will be able to obtain what has long
+been a desideratum&mdash;a large image of the moon; and the sun will
+doubtless have to reveal a few more secrets concerning his physical
+constitution, to say nothing of the remote and mysterious nebul&aelig;.
+Apropos of the sun, Father Secchi, of the observatory at Rome, has
+been questioning the great luminary with philosophical apparatus, to
+ascertain whether any difference could be detected in the heat from
+different parts of its surface, and the proportion lost in its passage
+through the atmosphere. He finds that the equatorial region is the
+hottest; and that, as on our earth, the temperature diminishes towards
+the poles: it is in the central region that spots most frequently
+appear. The result of the investigations is that, after allowing for
+absorption, the heat which comes to the earth corresponds in amount to
+that inferred from photometric experiments, whereby the experiments
+made at Paris and at Rome confirm each other.</p>
+
+<p>Now that Mr Fox Talbot has so praiseworthily given up his patent right
+to Talbotypes, except in the matter of portraits, the art of
+photography will find itself stimulated to yet further developments;
+and with free practice, many new applications of it will be
+discovered. Magic-lantern slides, for instance, obtained from the
+negative image, are already lowered in price, while their style and
+finish are singularly beautiful. The architect of the bridge now being
+built over the Neva, at St Petersburg, is turning it to account in a
+very practical manner. Being an Englishman, he has had to endure much
+jealousy and misrepresentation, and attempts have been made to
+prejudice the authorities against him. To counteract these designs, he
+takes every week photographs of the work, which distinctly shew its
+progress, and these he sends to the emperor, who looks at them in a
+stereoscope of the largest size, and can thus satisfy himself of the
+actual condition of the bridge by means which malice or envy would not
+easily falsify. If the photograph shews finished arches, of what use
+will it be to deny their existence? People out of Russia may perhaps
+find it worth while to try the same experiment; and before long, a new
+order of 'detectives' on elevated stations, will be taking photographs
+of all that passes in the streets, and pickpockets <i>in delicto</i> will
+find their offence and their likeness imprinted by one and the same
+process. With such a means of detection, and all the police stations
+connected by telegraphic wires, what are the thieves to do?</p>
+
+<p>Manchester shews itself earnest in the cause of education, by having
+established a Free Library of 16,000 volumes for reference, and 5000
+for lending, and paid for it by voluntary subscription&mdash;L.800 of which
+was contributed by 20,000 of the working-classes. To their honour be
+it recorded! But the inhabitants have done yet more; they have made
+over the library to the town-council, that it may become one of their
+public institutions, and have agreed to pay a half-penny rate to
+provide the necessary funds for its perpetual maintenance. May they
+have their reward!</p>
+
+<p>Considering that educational reform or renovation may erelong be
+looked for at Oxford, in accordance with the recommendations of the
+University Commission, it behoves other parts of the kingdom to be
+fully awake to the importance of the subject. 'There is a spreading
+conviction, that man was made for a higher purpose than to be a beast
+of burden, or a creature of sense;' and it will not do to stifle this
+conviction. Comprehensive endeavours must be made to educate and
+enlighten; to touch the heart as well as to train the intellect. And
+it must not be forgotten, that education involves very much besides
+mere book-learning&mdash;the mechanical duties, namely, of everyday life.
+Something of the latter is to be tried in the City Hospice and
+Soup-kitchen just opened near the foot of Holborn Hill. Though fitted
+up in an old house, it is a training institute of a new kind, where
+individuals of both sexes will acquire useful knowledge in a practical
+way, best explained by a passage from the report of the opening:</p>
+
+<p>'In one portion of the educational department is an ironing-table,
+provided with the necessary utensils, for the purpose of instructing
+the women and girls in that necessary portion of domestic science,
+from the finest description of work down to the very coarsest.
+Adjoining this is a table laid out <i>en famille</i>; this also being
+considered, and justly so, no unimportant branch of knowledge. In
+another portion is a table prepared for a large party: every variety
+of glass likely to be required being properly placed, and every napkin
+being differently folded, so as to enable the ambitious neophyte to
+suit the taste of all mistresses. Beyond this is a small closet, with
+a window resembling those of an ordinary-sized house; and this the men
+and women are both taught to clean, while the closet itself serves as
+a cover for the simple operation of polishing boots and shoes. To this
+succeeds a table, upon which are placed the utensils for cleaning
+plate, and on another table the instruments for cleaning lamps.' Such
+an establishment ought to prosper; and perhaps this one will, if the
+giving away of soup for nothing, which is another part of its
+functions, does not kill it. There seems something incongruous in
+encouraging industry and self-reliance with one hand, and helplessness
+with the other.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, it must be admitted that we are making progress, and
+those who think so, may very properly talk about it. Among a large
+number, the Crystal Palace becomes daily a greater subject of
+importance. Soon the last portions of the famous structure will be
+removed from Hyde Park, to rise in renewed beauty on the hill-slope at
+Sydenham; where the restored edifice is to become a permanent object
+of interest, far transcending all previous achievements in the way of
+exhibitions.</p>
+
+<p>Of foreign matters which have attracted attention, there is the
+remarkable fall of <i>grain</i>, not rain, in Belgium, a few weeks since,
+of a kind altogether unknown in that country. Some of it has been
+sown, with a view to judge of it by the plant; meanwhile, the learned
+are speculating as to its origin. The Dutch, pursuing their steady
+course of reclamation, have just added some hundreds of acres to their
+territory on the borders of the Scheldt; and it is said that the grand
+enterprise of draining the Haarlemmer-Meer is at last completed, there
+being nothing now left but a small running stream across the lowest
+part of the basin. The quantity pumped away in the last eight months
+of 1851, averaged a little over three inches per month, a small
+amount, apparently; but when it is known, that lowering the lake one
+inch only took away four million tons of water, we may form a fair
+idea of the importance of the work, and of the quantity lifted in the
+eight months. The depth at the beginning of this year was three feet
+eight inches, and this is now discharged. To have carried such a work
+to a successful issue, may be ranked among the greatest of engineering
+triumphs.</p>
+
+<p>To turn to another part of the world: there is something interesting
+from the Sandwich Islands. The king wishes to assimilate his
+government to that of England, to guard against the casualty of a
+<i>coup d'&eacute;tat</i>, and a small military force has been organised for
+defence. The Report of the Minister of the Interior states, that 130
+persons had taken the oath of allegiance within the year, of whom 66
+were citizens of the United States; 31 British; 15 Chinese; and 18 of
+other countries. The foreign letters received and sent numbered
+24,787&mdash;more than half to the United States; besides which 31,050
+domestic letters were transmitted among the group of islands. There
+are 535 free-schools, of which 431 are Protestant, with 12,976
+scholars, and 104 Roman Catholic, with 2056 scholars. There were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[pg 208]</a></span> 1171
+marriages; and the population returns shew that the number of natives
+is still slowly on the decrease, the births among them having been
+2424, while the deaths were 5792.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="ADVENTURES_OF_A_YORKSHIRE_GROOM" id="ADVENTURES_OF_A_YORKSHIRE_GROOM"></a>ADVENTURES OF A YORKSHIRE GROOM.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>Letters from Parma, of the 9th instant, announce that the resolution
+has been taken at Vienna to deprive the Duke of Parma of the
+administration of his states, and to put in a regency, of which Ward
+is to be the head. The elevation of Ward affords not only a singular
+instance of the mutability of human affairs, but of the tendency of
+the Anglo-Saxon race, when transplanted to foreign countries, to
+emerge to eminence, and surpass others by the homely but rare
+qualities of common-sense and unfaltering energy. Ward was a Yorkshire
+groom. The Duke of Lucca, when on a visit to this country, perceiving
+the lad's merit, took him into his service, and promoted him, through
+the several degrees of command in his stable, to be head-groom of the
+ducal stud. Upon Ward's arrival in Italy with his master, it was soon
+found that the intelligence which he displayed in the management of
+the stables was applicable to a variety of other departments. In fact,
+the duke had such a high opinion of Ward's wisdom, that he very rarely
+omitted to consult him upon any question that he was perplexed to
+decide. As Louis XII. used to answer those who applied to him on any
+business, by referring them to the Cardinal d'Amboise, with the words:
+'Ask George,' so Charles of Lucca cut short all applications with 'Go
+to Ward.' He now became the factotum of the prince, won, in the
+disturbances which preceded the revolutionary year of 1848, a
+diplomatic dignity, and was despatched to Florence upon a confidential
+mission of the highest importance. He was deputed to deliver to the
+Grand Duke the act of abdication of the Duke of Lucca. Soon after, in
+1849, when the Duke of Lucca resigned his other states to his son,
+Ward became the head counsellor of this prince. Ward was on one
+occasion despatched to Vienna in a diplomatic capacity. Schwarzenberg
+was astonished at his capacity; in fact, the <i>ci-devant</i> Yorkshire
+stable-boy was the only one of the diplomatic body that could make
+head against the impetuous counsels, or rather dictates, of
+Schwarzenberg; and this was found highly useful by other members of
+the diplomatic body. An English gentleman, supping one night at the
+Russian ambassador's, complimented him upon his excellent ham.
+'There's a member of our diplomatic corps here,' replied Meyendorff,
+'who supplies us all with hams from Yorkshire, of which county he is a
+native.' Ward visited England. The broad dialect and homely phrase
+betraying his origin through the profusion of orders of all countries
+sparkling on his breast, he rarely ventured to appear at evening
+<i>soir&eacute;es</i>. Lord Palmerston declared he was one of the most remarkable
+men he had ever met with. Ward, through all his vicissitudes, has
+preserved an honest pride in his native country. He does not conceal
+his humble origin. The portraits of his parents, in their home-spun
+clothes, appear in his splendid saloon of the prime-minister of
+Parma.&mdash;<i>Newspaper paragraph.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="DURATION_OF_PLANTS" id="DURATION_OF_PLANTS"></a>DURATION OF PLANTS.</h2>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p>The several kinds of plants vary exceedingly in their degrees of
+longevity, some being annual, perfecting their growth within a year,
+ripening their seeds and perishing; others are perennial, and continue
+to grow and flourish for years and centuries. Warm and cold climates
+have much influence on the duration of plants, and, in some few
+instances, plants that are annual in cold climates become perennial
+when transplanted into warm regions, and the contrary when
+transplanted from warm to cold ones. There are some kinds of trees
+that are very short-lived, as the peach and the plum; others reach a
+great age, as the pear and the apple. Some kinds of forest-trees are
+remarkable for their duration, and specimens are in existence
+seemingly coeval with the date of the present order of things on our
+globe. The oak, chestnut, and pine of our forests, reach the age of
+from 300 to 500 years. The cypress or white cedar of our swamps has
+furnished individuals 800 or 900 years old. Trees are now living in
+England and Constantinople more than 1000 years old, of the yew,
+plane, and cypress varieties; and Addison found trees of the boabab
+growing near the Senegal, in Africa, which, reckoning from the
+ascertained age of others of the same species, must have been nearly
+4000 years of age. It may be remarked, that plants of the same variety
+attain about the same age in all climates where they are
+produced.&mdash;<i>American Courier.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="THE_RETURN_TO_LEZAYRE" id="THE_RETURN_TO_LEZAYRE"></a>THE RETURN TO LEZAYRE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY THE REV. JAMES GILBORNE LYONS, LL.D.</h3>
+
+<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of
+    Contents</a></p>
+
+<p class="center">Lezayre is the name of a beautiful district in the Isle of Man.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I came to the place where my childhood had dwelt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To the hearth where in early devotion I knelt&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The fern and the bramble grew wild in the hall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the long grass of summer waved green on the wall:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The roof-tree was fallen, the household had fled,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The garden was ruined, the roses were dead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The wild bird flew scared from her desolate stone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I breathed in the home of my boyhood&mdash;alone.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That moment is past, but it left on my heart<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A remembrance of sadness which will not depart:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I have wandered afar since that sorrowful day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I have wept with the mournful, and laughed with the gay;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I have lived with the stranger, and drank of the rills<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which go warbling their music on loftier hills;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But I never forgot, in rejoicing or care,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That mouldering hearth, and those hills of Lezayre.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Yet droop not, my spirit! nor hopelessly mourn<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Over ills which the best and the wisest have borne:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though the greetings of love, and the voices of mirth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May for ever be hushed in the homesteads of earth;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though the dreams and the dwellings of childhood decay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the friends whom we cherish go hasting away,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No young hopes are scattered, no heart-strings are riven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No partings are known in the households of Heaven.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Just Published,</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Price 3s. 6d. Cloth lettered,</i></p>
+
+<p>GENERAL TREATISE ON GEOGRAPHY: with a Copious <span class="smcap">Pronouncing</span> and
+<span class="smcap">Etymological Index</span>. By A. F. <span class="smcap">Foster</span>, A.M. Forming one of the Volumes
+of <span class="smcap">Chambers's Educational Course</span>.</p>
+
+<p><sup>*</sup>*<sup>*</sup> <i>This School Geography has been a considerable time in
+preparation, and will be found one of the most complete works of the
+kind.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Price 2s. 6d. Cloth lettered,</i></p>
+
+<p>CORNELIUS NEPOS. Illustrated with Copious English Notes and Prefaces.
+Forming one of the Volumes of the <span class="smcap">Latin Section</span> of <span class="smcap">Chambers's
+Educational Course</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Price 2s. 6d. Cloth lettered,</i></p>
+
+<p>ELOCUTION: with a <span class="smcap">Selection</span> of <span class="smcap">Pieces</span>. By <span class="smcap">William Graham</span>, F.E.I.S.,
+Teacher of Elocution in the Naval and Military Academy, and the
+Scottish Institution for the Education of Ladies. Forming one of the
+Volumes of <span class="smcap">Chambers's Educational Course</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Price 6d. Paper Cover,</i></p>
+
+<p>CHAMBERS'S POCKET MISCELLANY: forming a <span class="smcap">Literary Companion</span> for the
+<span class="smcap">Railway</span>, the <span class="smcap">Fireside</span>, or the <span class="smcap">Bush</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="center">VOLUME X.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>To be continued in Monthly Volumes.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>Printed and Published by W. and R. <span class="smcap">Chambers</span>, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W. S. <span class="smcap">Orr</span>, Amen Corner, London; D. N. <span class="smcap">Chambers</span>, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. <span class="smcap">M'Glashan</span>, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.&mdash;Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to
+<span class="smcap">Maxwell &amp; Co.</span>, 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all
+applications respecting their insertion must be made.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456, by Various
+
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+</body>
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+Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456
+       Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Chambers
+        Robert Chambers
+
+Release Date: November 28, 2007 [EBook #23655]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
+
+  CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
+  INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
+
+
+  No. 456. NEW SERIES.   SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1852.   PRICE 1-1/2_d._
+
+
+
+
+MRS CHISHOLM.
+
+
+This lady will be ranked with the memorable persons of the age; her
+enthusiastic and ceaseless endeavours to do good, the discretion and
+intelligence with which she pursues her aims, and her remarkable
+self-sacrifices in the cause of humanity, placing her in the category
+of the Mrs Frys and other heroic Englishwomen. The history of Mrs
+Chisholm's labours up to the present time is worthy of being fully
+told.
+
+Caroline Jones, as this lady was originally called, is the daughter of
+William Jones, a respectable yeoman of Northamptonshire; and when
+about twenty years of age, she was married to Captain A. Chisholm of
+the Madras army. Two years after this event, she removed with her
+husband to India, where she entered upon those movements of a public
+nature that have so eminently distinguished her. Shocked with the
+depravities to which the children of soldiers are exposed in the
+barrack-rooms, she rested not till she had established a School of
+Industry for girls, which became eminently successful, and, under an
+extended form, has continued to be of great social importance to
+Madras. The pupils were taught to sew, cook, and otherwise manage
+household affairs; and we are told, that on finishing their
+education, they were eagerly sought for as servants, or wives, by
+non-commissioned officers. In this career of usefulness, Mrs Chisholm
+employed herself until 1838, when, for the benefit of her husband's
+health, and that of her infant family, she left India for Australia,
+the climate of which seemed likely to prove beneficial. At the end of
+the year, she arrived in Sydney, where, besides attending to family
+matters, there was plenty of scope for philanthropic exertion. Drawing
+our information from a small work purporting to present a memoir of
+Mrs Chisholm,[1] it appears that 'the first objects that came under
+her notice, and were benefited by her benevolence, were a party of
+Highland emigrants, who had been sent to the shores of a country where
+the language spoken was to them strange and unknown, and without a
+friend to assist or guide them in that path of honourable labour which
+they desired. As a temporary means of relief, Mrs Chisholm lent them
+money to purchase tools and wheelbarrows, whereby they might cut and
+sell firewood to the inhabitants. The success of this experiment was
+gratifying both to the bestower and receiver; in the one it revived
+drooping hopes, the other it incited to larger enterprises of
+humanity.'
+
+In 1840, Captain Chisholm returned to his duties in India, leaving his
+wife and family to remain some time longer in Sydney; and from this
+period may be dated her extraordinary efforts for meliorating the
+condition of poor female emigrants. What fell under her notice in
+connection with these luckless individuals was truly appalling.
+Huddled into a barrack on arrival; no trouble taken to put girls in
+the way of earning an honest livelihood; moral pollution all around;
+the government authorities and everybody else too busy to mind whether
+emigration was rightly or wrongly conducted--there was evidently much
+to be done. In January 1841, Mrs Chisholm wrote to Lady Gipps, the
+wife of the governor, on the subject; tried to interest others; and
+although with some doubts as to the result, all expressed themselves
+interested. Much jealousy and prejudice, however, required to be
+overcome. Bigotry was even brought into play. There might be some deep
+sectarian scheme in the pretended efforts to serve these young and
+unprotected females. We need hardly speak in the language of
+detestation of this species of obstructiveness, which prevents
+hundreds of valuable schemes of social melioration from being entered
+into. Fortunately, Mrs Chisholm treated with scorn or indifference the
+various means adopted to retard her benevolent operations. She
+persevered until she had organised the Female Emigrants' Home. She
+says: 'I appealed to the public for support: after a time, this appeal
+was liberally met. There were neither sufficient arrangements made for
+removing emigrants into the interior, nor for protecting females on
+their arrival. A few only were properly protected, while hundreds were
+wandering about Sydney without friends or protection--great numbers of
+these young creatures were thrown out of employment by new arrivals. I
+received into the Home several, who, I found, had slept out many
+nights in the government domain, seeking the sheltered recesses of the
+rocks rather than encounter the dangers of the streets. It was
+estimated that there were 600 females, at the time I commenced,
+unprovided for in Sydney. I made an offer to the government of
+gratuitously devoting my time to the superintendence of a Home of
+Protection for them in the town, and also to exert myself to procure
+situations for them in the country.'
+
+While making arrangements for conducting the establishment for female
+emigrants, Mrs Chisholm acquired a consciousness that male emigrants
+of a humble class likewise required some degree of attention. Great
+numbers, for want of proper information, did not know what to do with
+themselves on arrival. 'At the time labourers were required in the
+interior, there were numbers idle in Sydney, supported at the expense
+of the government. Things wore a serious aspect; mischief-making
+parties, for some paltry gain, fed the spirit of discontent. The
+Irish lay in the streets, looking vacantly, and basking in the sun.
+Apart from them, Englishmen, sullen in feature, sat on gates and
+palings, letting their legs swing in the air. Another group was
+composed of Scotchmen, their hands thrust into their empty pockets,
+suspiciously glancing at everything and everybody from beneath their
+bushy eyebrows. Mrs Chisholm ventured to produce a change; she
+provided for the leaders first, shewed how she desired to be the
+friend of the industrious man, and went with numbers in search of
+employment, far into the country. She undertook journeys of 300 miles
+into the interior with families; and the further she went, the more
+satisfactory was the settlement of the parties accompanying this brave
+lady. "When the public had an opportunity of judging of the effect of
+my system," writes Mrs Chisholm, "they came forward, and enabled me to
+go on. The government contributed, in various ways, to the amount of
+about L.150. I met with great assistance from the country committees.
+The squatters and settlers were always willing to give me conveyance
+for the people. The country people always supplied provisions. Mr
+William Bradley, a native of the colony, authorised me to draw upon
+him for money, provisions, horses, or anything I might require; but
+the people met my efforts so readily, that I had no necessity to draw
+upon him for a sixpence. At public inns, the females were sheltered,
+and I was provisioned myself without charge: my personal expenses,
+during my seven years' service, amounted to only L.1, 18s. 6d. As
+numbers of the masters were afraid, if they advanced the money for the
+conveyance by the steamers, the parties would never reach the
+stations, I met the difficulty by advancing the fare, confiding in the
+good feeling of the man that he would keep to his agreement, and to
+the principle of the master that he would repay me. Although in
+hundreds of cases the masters were then strangers to me, I only lost
+L.16 by casualties. At times, I have paid as much as L.40 for
+steamers, and, from first to last, in following out my system, I have
+been the means of settling 11,000 souls. The largest number that ever
+left Sydney under my charge, at one time, was 147; but from accessions
+on the road, they increased considerably. The longest journey of this
+kind occupied five weeks, three weeks of which were passed on the
+road."'
+
+One cannot but admire the enthusiasm with which all this was gone
+through. The whole thing was a labour of love, and carried through, as
+will be observed, not without vast personal toil, and some degree of
+pecuniary outlay. Mrs Chisholm says she lost only L.16; but how few
+people in her rank, and with as comparatively moderate means, would
+give L.16 to promote any benevolent project whatsoever! The bulk of
+mankind content themselves with contributing criticism. They applaud
+or censure according as the thing looks in the eye of the world: when
+money is spoken of, they keep discreetly aloof.
+
+In her enterprise to put female emigrants on the road to fortune, Mrs
+Chisholm met with some curious cases of presumption. Many applications
+were made by young women who professed to be governesses, but were
+utterly incompetent for the situation. Among others came one who
+offered herself as a nursery governess, who, on inquiry, could neither
+read nor write nor spell correctly. Another wished for the situation
+of housekeeper, and with her the following dialogue took place:--'"Can
+you wash your own clothes?" "Never did such a thing in my life." "Can
+you make a dress?" "No." "Cook?" "No." "What _can_ you do?" "Why,
+ma'am, I could look after the servants; I could direct them: I should
+make an excellent housekeeper." "You are certain?" "Yes, or I would
+not say so." "Do you know the quantity of the different ingredients
+wanted for a beefsteak-pie of the size of that dish, and a
+rice-pudding of the same size?" "O no, ma'am--that's not what I meant:
+_I'd see that the servants did it!_" "But there might be great waste,
+and you not know it; besides, all, or nearly all, the servants sent to
+this colony require teaching."
+
+'Nothing, observes Mrs Chisholm, but my faith in Providence, that
+there must be a place fitting for every body in society, enabled me to
+bear such inflictions: this faith made me labour in seeking some
+suitable employment for each, and had I not possessed it, but turned
+them out, their fate would have been inevitable and horrible.'
+
+The business of attending to the 'Home,' and finding places for
+everybody, was not without some pleasant excitement. Mrs Chisholm was
+sometimes asked to find wives as well as servants; and as a specimen
+of applications on this delicate head, she gives the following amusing
+epistle, which is printed as she received it:--
+
+'"REVEREND MADAM--I heard you are the best to send to for a servant,
+and I heard our police magistrate say, it was best to leave all to
+you; and so I'll just do the same, as his honour says it's the best. I
+had a wife once, and so she was too good for me by the far, and it was
+God's will, ma'am; but I has a child, ma'am, that I wouldn't see a
+straw touch for the world; the boy's only four yeare old: and I has a
+snug fifty-acre farm and a town 'lotment, and I has no debts in the
+world, and one teem and four bullocks; and I'se ten head oh cattle,
+and a share on eight hundred sheep, so I as a rite to a desent
+servant, that can wash and cook and make the place decant; and I don't
+mind what religion she bey, if she is sober and good, only I'se a
+Protestant myself; and the boy I have, I promised the mother on her
+death-bed should be a Catholic, and I won't, anyhow, have any
+interference in this here matter. That I do like in writing nothing
+else, I wouldn't, mam, on any account in the world, be bound to marry;
+but I don't wish it altogether to be left out. I'll ge her fourteen
+wages, and if she don't like me, and I don't like her, I'll pay her
+back to Sydney. I want nothing in the world but what is honest, so
+make the agrement as you like, and I'll bide by it. I sends you all
+the papers, and you'l now I'm a man wot's to be trusted. I sends you
+five pounds; she may get wages first, for I know some of the gals, and
+the best on um, to, are not heavy we boxes; and supposing anything
+should happen, I would not like it to be said she come here in rags. I
+wants, also, a man and his wife; he must be willing to learn to
+plough, if he don't now how, and do a good fair day's work at
+anything; his wife must be a milker, and ha dustrious woman; I'll give
+them as much as they can eat and drink of tea and milk, and, whatever
+wages you set my name down for, I'll be bound to pay it. With all the
+honer in the world, I'se bound to remain your servant till death."
+There was something, remarks Mrs Chisholm, in the character of this
+honest bushman, during his colonial residence, to admire; he had
+gained his freedom, sent home money to his parents, and, during a long
+and tedious illness of twenty months, had attended his sick wife with
+patient care. Who would not get up an hour earlier to serve such a
+man?--I did, for I knew that early in the morning is the _best_ time
+to choose a wife. I went first into the governess-room--all asleep; I
+unlocked the Home-door--some dressed, others half-dressed, some too
+very cross: I have often remarked, that early in the day is the best
+time to judge of a woman's temper; but I wish this to be kept a
+secret. I remained half an hour in the Home; I then went through the
+tents, could not suit myself, and returned. At the Home-door, I found
+a girl at the wash-tub; she was at work with spirit; she was rather
+good-looking, very neat and tidy. I went into my office, and
+ascertained that, on board ship, her character was good. I desired the
+matron never to lose sight of her conduct, and report the same to me.
+Day after day passed, and I was at last fully determined to place her
+within reach of my applicant in the bush--that is, in a respectable
+family in his near neighbourhood; but I was able to arrange better,
+for I found that, amongst the families wanting situations, there was
+one related to her. I immediately engaged them as the bushman's
+servants; they were a respectable couple; the man a very prudent
+person. I told them to take the girl with them, and get her service
+near them, and on no account to allow her to live with a bachelor. I
+gave the girl three letters to respectable ladies, and she was engaged
+by one the fourth day after her arrival at ----. About a fortnight
+after, the bushman wrote to thank me for sending him the married
+couple; and concluded by saying: "With regard to that _other_ matter,
+upon my word you have suited me exactly; and as soon as our month is
+up, we is to be married." I received, says Mrs Chisholm, forty-one
+applications of this kind; but the above is the only girl I ever sent
+into the country with a _direct_ matrimonial intention.'
+
+That 'Providence has a place for everybody' is an axiom that cannot be
+too strongly insisted on. The difficulty, however, is to know where
+that place is. It will help considerably to relieve us of trouble on
+this score, if we bear in mind that we are not limited in our choice
+of country. If every place is filled in this old and settled
+territory, by all means go away to new regions which lie invitingly
+open for trial. In short, go to America, or go to Australia, and in
+either of these find your proper place. There can be no doubt of your
+discovering it, provided you but look for it. Great in this faith has
+Caroline Chisholm laboured. First, she helped women into situations in
+Australia; then she similarly helped men; next, she fell on the
+expedient of bringing wives and families to join husbands who longed
+for their society; and lastly, she organised plans for sending out
+young women to the colony, with a view to balance the inequality of
+the sexes. To execute her designs in a proper manner, she required to
+know the real wants and condition of settlers; and, will it be
+credited, that she set out on long and painful journeys in a covered
+spring-van, and did not desist till she had gathered six hundred
+biographies!
+
+In 1845, Mrs Chisholm was joined by her husband from India, and she
+prepared to return to England. Five years of earnest and successful
+endeavour had wonderfully altered the general opinion respecting her
+operations. There was no longer any fault-finding. Jealousies had been
+overcome. It was now the fashion to speak well of plans that were once
+viewed with apathy or suspicion. 'In February 1846, a public meeting
+was held at Sydney, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
+presenting to Mrs Chisholm, then on the eve of her departure for
+England, a testimonial of the estimation in which her labours on
+behalf of the emigrant population were viewed by the colonists. Some
+idea may be formed of the respect felt for the admirable lady, and
+acknowledgment of her public services, when eight members of the
+Legislative Council, the mayor of Sydney, the high-sheriff, thirteen
+magistrates, and many leading merchants, formed themselves into a
+committee to carry the wishes of the meeting into effect. The amount
+of each subscription was limited.' In a short time 150 guineas were
+raised, and presented with a laudatory address. 'Mrs Chisholm accepted
+the testimonial, in order to expend it in further promoting
+emigration, in restoring wives to husbands, and children to parents.
+In the course of her answer, she said: "It is my intention, if
+supported by your co-operation, to attempt more than I have hitherto
+performed." She left Australia in 1846, bearing with her the warm
+prayers of the working colonists, whose confidence and gratitude, both
+bond and free, she had thoroughly secured, charged with the
+self-imposed mission of representing in England the claims of those
+powerless classes who have neither honour nor pensions to bestow on
+their advocates.'
+
+Since 1846, Mrs Chisholm has resided near London, and devoted herself
+to the promotion of her last great scheme. This is to send emigrants
+to Australia, in what are called Family Groups, under the auspices of
+the Family Colonisation Loan Society. The main features of the plan
+are these: suitable and well-recommended persons are enrolled as
+members on paying a small fee; and they are sent out on paying
+two-thirds of the passage-money--the remaining third being paid as a
+loan by the society, which loan is to be repaid from wages received in
+the colony. No security is required for the loan. The society reckon
+on the integrity and gratitude of the emigrants, and on the principle
+of associating parties into groups, the members of which exercise a
+mutual supervision. A group consists of twelve adults. Friendless
+young women are introduced to and grouped with families. These
+introductions usually take place at Mrs Chisholm's residence once
+every week, when the groups are addressed in a friendly manner, and
+furnished with hints for their government on board ship.
+
+Another important feature in these operations, is to help poor
+emigrants to remit small sums to friends at home, the difficulty of
+making such remittances having formerly been very considerable. To
+organise a proper system of remitting, Captain Chisholm has returned
+to Australia, and, according to an account given by Mrs Chisholm in a
+letter to the _Times_, it appears that the system is realising all
+reasonable expectation. We copy the substance of this letter as a
+fitting conclusion to our sketch.
+
+'This is the first organised attempt of enabling the English emigrants
+in Australia to imitate the generous devotion of the Irish settled in
+the United States. While contemplating with admiration the laborious
+devotion proved by the remittance of millions sterling from the
+American Irish to remove their relations from a land of low wages and
+famine, I have always had a firm belief that the English emigrants in
+Australia only required the opportunity to imitate the noble example,
+and the "remittance-roll" is evidence of the correctness of my
+opinion.
+
+'Until very recently, there have been no channels through which the
+Australian settler could safely and cheaply remit small sums to
+England.
+
+'When I was resident in Sydney, many emigrants were anxious to send
+small sums to their friends "at home," and came to me with money for
+that purpose; but I found that the banks charged as much for L.15 as
+for L.50, and that they altogether declined to take the trouble of
+remitting small amounts. On making a representation of this fact to
+his excellency Sir George Gipps, he communicated with the banks
+through the Colonial Secretary, and they consented to receive small
+remittances from labouring people, if I personally accompanied the
+depositor; but, with my other engagements, it was impossible for me to
+spare many hours in the week to introducing shepherds and stockmen,
+with their L.5 or L.10, to the cashiers of the banks. Many a man,
+within my knowledge, has gone away on finding that he could not remit
+his intended present to his relations, and spent the amount in a
+drunken "spree." I therefore determined, that on my return to England,
+I would endeavour to organise some plan which should render labourers
+remitting their little tributes of affection to their friends nearly
+as easy as posting a letter.
+
+'As soon as the Family Colonisation Society was organised, Messrs
+Coutts & Co. consented to appoint agents, and receive the remittances
+due to the society. But in order to teach and encourage the labouring
+colonists to take advantage of the power of remitting to England, my
+husband saw that it was necessary that some one devoted to the work
+should proceed to the colonies. The society was not rich enough to pay
+an agent, or even to pay the expenses of an agent who would work
+without salary; therefore we determined to divide our income, and
+separate. My husband proceeded to the colony, to collect and remit the
+loans of the society's emigrants, and the savings of those emigrants
+who wished to be joined by parents, wives, children, brothers,
+sisters, or other relations. I remained here to assist such relations
+to emigrate in an economical, safe, and decent manner, as well as to
+carry on the correspondence needful for discovering the relatives of
+long-separated emigrants--often a difficult task. We determined to
+work thus until the labourers' remittances should swell to such an
+amount as would render it worth the attention of bankers as a matter
+of business, if the society were not inclined to continue the trouble
+and responsibility.
+
+'I am happy to say, my faith in the generous and honest disposition of
+British emigrants, English, Scotch, and Irish, has not been shaken,
+and that I may look forward with confidence to a very early date when
+the remittance connection of the Australian emigrants will be eagerly
+competed for by the most respectable firms.
+
+'My husband writes me, that the people are filled with joy at finding
+that they can safely send their earnings, and secure the passage of
+their friends. In seven weeks he received L.3000 in gold-dust or cash,
+and confidently expects to remit L.15,000 within twelve months, and
+could collect double that sum if he were able to visit the diggings.
+These remittances are not only from the emigrants sent out by the
+society, but from various persons of the humbler class who desire to
+be joined by their relations, and wish them to come out under my ship
+arrangements.
+
+'It is my intention to return to Australia in the early part of next
+year, and there endeavour to still further promote the reunion of
+families. I have addressed this letter to your widely-spread and
+influential columns, in order to call the attention of the commercial
+world to the profits which may be obtained by ministering to a demand
+which is arising among a humble class--in order to call the attention
+of statesmen and philanthropists to a new element of peace, order, and
+civilisation, more powerful than soldiers--to a golden chain of
+domestic feeling, which is bridging the seas between England and
+Australia. Many parents, wives, children, and brothers and sisters,
+have received remittances for passages.'
+
+More need hardly be said. As is generally known, ships are sailing
+almost weekly with emigrants of the class for whom Mrs Chisholm has so
+warmly interested herself; and we are glad to know from good
+authority, that already large sums of the lent money have been repaid,
+proving that the trust put in the honesty of the emigrants has not
+been misplaced. A great scheme, auxiliary to ordinary emigration, is
+therefore at work, and its usefulness is acknowledged, not only by the
+press and the public at large, but by parties ordinarily less alive to
+projects of social melioration--ministers of the crown. Every one may
+well concur in paying honour to Caroline Chisholm!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Memoirs Of Mrs Caroline Chisholm. London: Webb, Millington, & Co.
+1852.
+
+
+
+
+A GHOST OF A HEAD.
+
+
+Peter Leroux was a poor ploughman in the environs of Beaugeney. After
+passing the day in leading across the fields the three horses which
+were generally yoked to his plough, he returned to the farm in the
+evening, supped without many words, with his fellow-labourers, lighted
+his lantern, and then retired to bed in a species of shed
+communicating with the stables. His dreams were simple, and little
+coloured with the tints of imagination; his horses were for the most
+part their principal subject. On one occasion, he started from his
+slumbers in the midst of his fancied efforts to lift up the obstinate
+mare, which had taken it into her head to be weak in the legs; another
+time, the 'old gray' had entangled his hoof in the cords of the team.
+One night, he dreamed that he had just put an entirely new thong to
+his old whip, but that, notwithstanding, it obstinately refused to
+crack. This remarkable vision impressed him so deeply, that, on
+awaking, he seized the whip, which he was accustomed to place every
+night by his side; and in order thoroughly to assure himself that he
+was not stricken powerless, and deprived of the most gratifying
+prerogative of the ploughman, he took to smacking it violently in the
+dead of the night. At this noise, all the stable was in commotion; the
+horses, alarmed, neighed, and ran one against the other, almost
+breaking their cords; but, with some soothing words, Peter Leroux
+managed to appease all this tumult, and silence was immediately
+restored. This was one of those extraordinary events of his life which
+he never failed to relate every time that a cup of wine had made him
+eloquent, and he found a companion in the mood to listen to him.
+
+About the same period, dreams of quite a different kind occupied the
+mind of a certain M. Desalleaux, deputy of the public prosecutor in
+the criminal court of Orleans. Having made a promising _debut_ in that
+office only a few months previously, there was no longer any position
+in the magistracy which he believed too high for his future
+attainment; and the post of keeper of the seals was one of the most
+frequent visions of his slumbers. But it was particularly in the
+intoxicating triumphs of oratory that his thoughts would revel in
+sleep, when the whole day had been given to the study of some case in
+which he was to plead. The glory of the Aguesseaux, and the other
+celebrated names of the great days of parliamentary eloquence,
+scarcely sufficed for his impatient ambition; it was in the most
+distant periods of the past--the times of the marvellous eloquence of
+Demosthenes--that he delighted to contemplate the likeness of his own
+ideal future. The attainment of power by eloquence; such was the idea,
+the text, so to speak, of his whole life--the one object for which he
+renounced all the ordinary hopes and pleasures of youth.
+
+One day, these two natures--that of Peter Leroux, lifted scarcely one
+degree above the range of the brute, and that of M. Desalleux,
+abstract and rectified to the highest pitch of intellectuality--found
+themselves face to face. A little contest was going on between them.
+M. Desalleux, sitting in his official place, demanded, upon evidence
+somewhat insufficient, the head of Peter Leroux, accused of murder;
+and Peter Leroux defended his head against the eloquence of M.
+Desalleux.
+
+Notwithstanding the remarkable disproportion of power which Providence
+had placed in this duel, the accused, for lack of conclusive proofs,
+would in all probability have escaped from the hands of the
+executioner; but from that very scantiness in the evidence arose an
+extraordinary opportunity for eloquence, which could not fail to be
+singularly useful to the ambitious hopes of M. Desalleux. In justice
+to himself, he could not neglect to take advantage of it.
+
+In the next place, an unlucky circumstance presented itself for poor
+Peter Leroux. Some days before the commencement of the trial, and in
+the presence of several ladies, who promised themselves the pleasure
+of being there to enjoy the spectacle, the young deputy had let fall
+an expression of his firm confidence in obtaining from the jury a
+verdict of condemnation. Every one will understand the painful
+position in which he would be placed if his prosecution failed, and
+Peter Leroux came back with his head upon his shoulders, to testify to
+the weakness of M. Desalleux's eloquence. Let us not be too severe
+upon the deputy of the public prosecutor: if he was not absolutely
+convinced, it was his duty to appear so, and only the more meritorious
+to utter such eloquent denunciations as for a century past had not
+been heard at the bar of the criminal court of Orleans. Oh, if you
+had been there to see how they were moved, those poor gentlemen of the
+jury!--moved almost to tears, when, in a fine and most sonorous
+peroration, he set before them the fearful picture of society shaken
+to its foundations--the whole community about to enter upon
+dissolution, immediately upon the acquittal of Peter Leroux! If you
+had only heard the courteous eulogiums exchanged on both sides, when
+the advocate of the accused, commencing his address, declared that he
+could not go further without rendering homage to the brilliant powers
+of oratory displayed by the deputy public prosecutor! If you had only
+heard the president of the court, making the same felicitations the
+text of his exordium, so well, that nothing would have persuaded you
+that it was not an academical fete, and that they were not simply
+awarding a prize for eloquence, instead of a sentence of death to a
+fellow-creature. You would have seen, in the midst of a crowd of
+'elegantly-attired members of the fair sex,' as the newspapers of the
+province said, the sister of M. Desalleux, receiving the compliments
+of all the ladies around her; while, at a little distance, the old
+father was weeping with joy at the sight of the noble son and
+incomparable orator whom he had given to the world.
+
+Six weeks after this scene of family happiness, Peter Leroux,
+accompanied by the executioner, mounted the condemned cart, which
+waited for him at the door of the jail of Orleans. They proceeded
+together to the Place du Martroie, which is the spot where executions
+take place. Here they found a scaffold erected, and a considerable
+concourse of persons expecting them. Peter Leroux, with the slow and
+heavy ascent of a sack of flour going up by means of a pulley to the
+top of a warehouse, mounts the steps of the scaffold. As he reached
+the platform, a ray of sunlight, playing upon the brilliant and
+polished steel of the instrument of justice, dazzled his eyes, and he
+seemed about to stumble; but the executioner, with the courteous
+attention of a host who knows how to do the honours of his house,
+sustained him by the arm, and placed him upon the plank of the
+guillotine. There Peter Leroux found the clerk of the court, who had
+come for the purpose of reading formally the order for execution; the
+gendarmes, who were charged to see that the public peace was kept
+during the business about to be transacted; and the assistants of the
+executioner, who, notwithstanding the ill name which has been given to
+them, pointed out to him, with a complaisance full of delicate
+consideration, the precise position in which to place himself under
+the axe. One minute after, Peter Leroux's head was divorced from his
+body, which operation was accomplished with such dexterity, that many
+of those present at the spectacle asked of their neighbours if it was
+already finished; and were told that it was; upon which they remarked,
+that it was the last time they would put themselves so much out of the
+way for so little.
+
+Three months had passed since the head and body of Peter Leroux had
+been cast into a corner of the cemetery, and, in all probability, the
+grave no longer concealed aught but his bones, when a new session of
+assizes was opened, and M. Desalleux had again to support a capital
+indictment.
+
+The day previous, he quitted at an early hour a ball to which he had
+been invited with all his family, at a chateau in the environs, and
+returned alone to the city, in order to prepare his case for the
+morrow.
+
+The night was dark; a warm wind from the south whistled drearily,
+while the buzz of the gay scene that he had left seemed to linger in
+his ears. A feeling of melancholy stole over him. The memory of many
+people whom he had known, and who were dead, returned to his mind;
+and, scarcely knowing why, he began to think of Peter Leroux.
+
+Nevertheless, as he drew near the city, and the first lights of the
+suburbs began to appear, all his sombre ideas vanished, and as soon as
+he found himself again at his desk, surrounded by his books and
+papers, he thought no longer of anything but his oration, which he had
+determined should be even yet more brilliant than any that had
+preceded it.
+
+His system of indictment was already nearly settled. It is
+singular, by the way, that French legal expression, a 'system of
+indictment'--that is to say, an absolute manner of grouping an
+_ensemble_ of facts and proofs, in virtue of which the prosecutor
+appropriates to himself the head of a man--as one would say, 'a system
+of philosophy'--that is, an _ensemble_ of reasonings and sophisms, by
+the aid of which we establish some harmless truth, theory, or fancy.
+His system of indictment was nearly completed, when the deposition of
+a witness which he had not examined, suddenly presented itself, with
+such an aspect as threatened to overturn all the edifice of his logic.
+He hesitated for some moments; but, as we have already seen, M.
+Desalleux, in his functions of deputy-prosecutor, consulted his vanity
+at least as often as his conscience. Invoking all his powers of logic
+and skill for turning words to his purpose, struggling muscle to
+muscle with the unlucky testimony, he did not despair of finally
+enlisting it in the number of his best arguments, as containing the
+most conclusive evidence against the prisoner; but, unfortunately, the
+trouble was considerable, and the night was already far advanced.
+
+The clock had just struck three, and the lamp upon his table, burning
+with a crust upon the wick, gave only a feeble light in the chamber.
+Having trimmed it, and feeling somewhat excited with his labours, he
+rose and walked to and fro, then returned and sat in his chair, from
+which, leaning back in an easy attitude, and suspending his
+reflections for awhile, he contemplated the stars which were shining
+through a window opposite. Suddenly lowering his gaze, he encountered
+what seemed to him two eyes staring in at him through the
+window-panes. Imagining that the reflection of the lamp, doubled by
+some flaw in the glass, had deceived him, he changed his place; but
+the vision only appeared more distinct. As he was not wanting in
+courage, he took a walking-stick, the only weapon within reach, and
+opened the window, to see who was the intruder who came thus to
+observe him at such an hour. The chamber which he occupied was high;
+above and below, the wall of his house was perfectly perpendicular,
+and afforded no means by which any one could climb or descend. In the
+narrow space between himself and the balcony, the smallest object
+could not have escaped him; but he saw nothing. He thought again that
+he must have been the dupe of one of those hallucinations that
+sometimes visit men in the night; and, with a smile, he applied
+himself again to his labours. But he had not written twenty lines,
+when he felt, before looking up, that there was something moving in a
+corner of the chamber. This began to alarm him, for it was not natural
+that the senses, one after the other, should conspire to deceive him.
+Raising his eyes, and shading them with his hand from the glare of the
+lamp beside him, he observed a dusky object advancing towards him with
+short hops like those of a raven. As the apparition approached him,
+its aspect became more terrifying; for it took the unmistakable form
+of a human head separated from the trunk and dripping with blood; and
+when at length, with a spring, it bounded upon the table, and rolled
+about over the papers scattered on his desk, M. Desalleux recognised
+the features of Peter Leroux, who no doubt had come to remind him that
+a good conscience is of greater value than eloquence. Overcome by a
+sensation of terror, M. Desalleux fainted. That morning, at daybreak,
+he was found stretched out insensible on the floor near a little pool
+of blood, which was also found in spots upon his desk, and on the
+leaves of his pleadings. It was supposed, and he took care never to
+contradict it, that he had been seized with a hemorrhage. It is
+scarcely necessary to add, that he was not in a state to speak at the
+trial, and that all his oratorical preparations were thrown away.
+
+Many days passed before the recollection of that terrible night faded
+from the memory of the deputy-prosecutor--many days before he could
+bear to be alone or in the dark without terror. After some months,
+however, the head of Peter Leroux not having repeated its visit, the
+pride of intellect began again to counterbalance the testimony of the
+senses, and again he asked himself, if he had not been duped by them.
+In order more surely to weaken their authority, which all his
+reasonings had not been able entirely to overcome, he called to his
+aid the opinion of his physician, communicating to him in confidence
+the story of his adventure. The doctor, who, by dint of long examining
+the human brain, without discovering the slightest trace of anything
+resembling a soul, had come to a learned conviction of materialism,
+did not fail to laugh heartily on listening to the recital of the
+nocturnal vision. This was perhaps the best manner of treating his
+patient; for by having the appearance of holding his fancy in
+derision, he forced, as it were, his self-esteem to take a part in the
+cure. Moreover, as may be imagined, he did not hesitate to explain to
+his patient, that his hallucination proceeded from an over-tension of
+the cerebral fibre, followed by congestion and evacuation of blood,
+which had been the causes of his seeing precisely what he had not
+seen. Powerfully reassured by this consultation, and as no accident
+happened to contradict its correctness, M. Desalleux by degrees
+regained his serenity of mind, and gradually returned to his former
+habits--modifying them simply insomuch that he laboured with an
+application somewhat less severe, and indulged, at the doctor's
+suggestion, in some of those amusements of life which he had hitherto
+totally neglected.
+
+M. Desalleux thought of a wife, and no man was more in a position than
+he to secure a good match; for, without speaking of personal
+advantages, the fame of his oratorical successes, and perhaps, more
+still, the little anxiety which he displayed for any other kind of
+success, had rendered him the object of more than one lady's ambition.
+But there was in the bent of his life something too positive for him
+to consent that even the love of a woman should find a place there
+unconditionally. Among the hearts which seemed ready to bestow
+themselves upon him, he calculated which was the particular one whose
+good-will was best supported by money, useful relations, and other
+social advantages. The first part of his romance being thus settled,
+he saw without regret that the bride who would bring him all these,
+was a young girl, witty, and of elegant exterior; whereupon he set
+about falling in love with her with all the passion of which he was
+capable, and with the approbation of her family, until at length a
+marriage was determined upon.
+
+Orleans had not, for a long time, seen a prettier bride than that of
+M. Desalleux; nor a family more happy than that of M. Desalleux; nor a
+wedding-ball so joyous and brilliant as that of M. Desalleux. That
+night he thought no more of his ambition; he lived only in the
+present. According to French custom, the guests remained until a late
+hour. Imprisoned in a corner of the saloon by a barrister, who had
+taken that opportune moment to recommend a case to him, the bridegroom
+looked, from time to time, at the timepiece, which pointed to a
+quarter to two. He had also remarked, that twice within a short time
+the mother of the bride had approached her, and whispered in her ear,
+and that the latter had replied with an air of confusion. Suddenly, at
+the conclusion of a contra-dance, he perceived, by a certain
+whispering that ran through the assembly, that something important was
+going on. Casting his eyes, while the barrister continued to talk to
+him, upon the seats which his wife and her ladies of honour had
+occupied during the whole evening, he perceived that they were empty;
+whereupon the grave deputy-prosecutor cutting short, as most men would
+have done under the circumstances, the argument of the barrister,
+advanced by a clever series of manoeuvres towards the door of the
+apartment; and at the moment when some domestics entered bearing
+refreshments, glided out, in the fond and mistaken belief that no one
+had remarked him.
+
+At the door of the nuptial chamber he met his mother-in-law, who was
+retiring with the various dignitaries, whose presence had been
+considered necessary, as well as some matrons who had joined the
+_cortege_. Pressing his hand, and with a faltering voice, the mother
+whispered to him a few words, and it was understood that she spoke of
+her daughter. M. Desalleux, smiling, replied with some affectionate
+phrases. Most assuredly in that moment he was not thinking of poor
+Peter Leroux.
+
+At the moment of closing the door of the chamber, the bride was
+already abed. He remarked, what appeared to him strange, that the
+curtains of her bed were drawn. The room was quite silent.
+
+The stillness, and the strange fact of the close-drawn curtains
+embarrassed him. His heart beat violently. He looked around, and
+remarked her dress and all her wedding-ornaments lying around him,
+with a graceful air of negligence, in various parts of the room. With
+a faltering voice he called upon his bride by name. Having no reply,
+he returned, perhaps to gain time, towards the door, assured himself
+that it was well fastened, then approaching the bed, he opened the
+curtains gently.
+
+By the flickering light of the lamp suspended from the ceiling, a
+singular vision presented itself to his eyes. Near his _fiancee_, who
+was fast asleep, the head of a man with black hair was lying on the
+white pillow. Was he again the victim of an error of the senses, or
+had some usurper dared to occupy his place? At all events, his
+substitute took little notice of him; for, as well as his wife, he was
+sound asleep, with his face turned towards the bottom of the alcove.
+In the moment when M. Desalleux leaned over the bed, to examine the
+features of this singular intruder, a long sigh, like that of a man
+awaking from slumber, broke the silence of the chamber; and at the
+same time the head of the stranger turning towards him, he recognised
+the face of Peter Leroux staring at him, with that very look of
+stupified astonishment with which for two hours the unlucky ploughman
+had listened to his brilliant discourse in the criminal court of
+Orleans.
+
+Perhaps, on any other occasion, the deputy-prosecutor, on finding
+himself a second time visited by this horrible vision, would have
+suspected that he had been guilty of some wicked action, for which he
+was doomed to this persecution: his conscience, if he had taken the
+trouble to cross-examine it, would have very soon told him what was
+his crime, in which case, being a good Catholic, he would perhaps have
+gone out and locked the door of the haunted room until morning, when
+he would have immediately ordered a mass for the repose of the soul of
+Peter Leroux; by means of this, and of some contributions to the fund
+for poor prisoners of justice, he might, perhaps, have regained his
+tranquillity of mind, and escaped for ever from the annoyance to which
+he had been subjected. At such a time, however, he felt more
+irritation than remorse; and he accordingly endeavoured to seize the
+intruder by the hair, and drag him from his resting-place. At the
+first movement that he made, however, the head, understanding his
+intentions, began to grind its teeth, and as he stretched out his
+hand, the bridegroom felt himself severely bitten. The pain of his
+wound increased his rage. He looked around for some weapon, went to
+the fireplace and seized a bar of steel which served to support the
+fire-irons, then returned, and striking several times upon the bed
+with all his force, endeavoured to destroy his hideous visitor. But
+the head, ducking and bobbing like the white gentleman with black
+spots, whom Punch has never been able to touch, dexterously slipped
+aside at every blow, which descended harmlessly upon the bed-clothes.
+For several minutes the furious bridegroom continued to waste his
+strength in this manner, when, springing with an extraordinary bound,
+the head passed over the shoulder of its adversary, and disappeared
+behind him before he could observe by what way it had escaped.
+
+After a careful search, and considerable raking in corners with the
+bar of steel, finding himself at length master of the field of battle,
+the deputy-prosecutor returned to the bed. The bride was still
+miraculously asleep; and, to his horror, he perceived, on lifting the
+coverlet, that she was lying in a pool of blood, left no doubt by the
+bleeding head. Misfortunes never come alone: while seeking for a cloth
+about the chamber, he struck the lamp with his forehead, and
+extinguished it.
+
+Meanwhile the night was advancing; already the window of the chamber
+began to glimmer with the coming day. Furious with the obstacles which
+heaven and earth seemed to set in his way, the deputy-prosecutor
+determined to solve the mystery. Approaching the bed again, he called
+upon his bride by the tenderest names, and endeavoured to awake her,
+yet she continued to sleep. Taking her in his arms, he embraced her
+passionately; but she slept on, and appeared insensible to all his
+caresses. What could this mean? Was it the feint of a bashful girl, or
+was he himself dreaming? It was growing lighter; and in the hope of
+dispelling the odious enchantments with which he was surrounded, M.
+Desalleux went to the window, and drew aside the blinds and curtains
+to let in the new day. Then the unhappy lawyer perceived for the first
+time why the blood refused to be dried up. Blinded by his anger in his
+combat with the head of Peter Leroux, and while he had supposed
+himself to be chastising his disturber, he had, in fact, been striking
+the head of his unfortunate bride. The blows had been dealt so quickly
+and with such violence, that she had died without a sigh, or, perhaps,
+without her assailant's hearing one, in the fury of the struggle.
+
+We leave to psychologists to explain this phenomenon; but on seeing
+that he had killed his bride, he was seized with a violent fit of
+laughter, which attracted the attention of his mother-in-law, who
+knocked gently at the door, and desired to know the cause of the
+disturbance. On hearing the voice of the mother of his wife, his
+terrible gaiety increased. Running to open the door, he seized her by
+the arm, and drawing her to the side of the bed, pulled back the
+curtains, and revealed to her the terrible spectacle; after which his
+laughter grew still more furious, until at length he sank exhausted on
+the floor.
+
+Alarmed at the shrieks of the mother, all the inmates of the house
+became witnesses of the scene, the report of which spread rapidly
+through the city. The same morning, upon a warrant from the
+procureur-general, M. Desalleux was conducted to the criminal prison
+of Orleans; and it has since been remarked, as a singular coincidence,
+that his cell was the same that had been occupied by Peter Leroux up
+to the day of his execution.
+
+The end of the deputy-prosecutor, however, was a little less tragic.
+Declared by the unanimous testimony of the physicians to be insane,
+the man who had dreamed of moving the world with his eloquence, was
+conducted to the hospital for lunatics, and for more than six months
+kept chained in a dark cell, as in the good old times. At the end of
+this time, however, as he appeared to be no longer dangerous, his
+chains were removed, and he was subjected to milder treatment.
+
+As soon as he recovered his liberty, a strange delusion took
+possession of him, which did not leave him until he died. He fancied
+himself a tight-rope dancer, and from morning to night danced with the
+gestures and movements of a man who holds a balancing-rod, and walks
+upon a cord.
+
+If any one visiting the city of Orleans would take the trouble to
+inquire of M. Troisetoiles, landlord of the Hotel Aux Cles de la
+Ville, in the Place du Marche, he would obtain a confirmation of the
+truth of this history, together with many other facts and
+circumstances, collateral and ramificatory, concerning the bride and
+bridegroom, their relations and friends, which we have not thought
+necessary to state. With regard, however, to the tragic event which we
+have last described, M. Troisetoiles will simply relate what is known
+to the world on the subject--namely, that the deputy-prosecutor, being
+injured in mind by overstudy and application to business, knocked out
+his wife's brains on her wedding-night. We, however, although we
+decline to mention our sources of information, have been enabled to
+give the private and secret history of the tragedy, for the truth of
+which we are equally able to vouch.
+
+A bookseller in Orleans, sometime afterwards, conceived the idea of
+collecting and publishing a volume of the speeches which he had
+pronounced during his short but brilliant oratorical career. Three
+editions were exhausted successively, and not long since a fourth was
+announced.
+
+
+
+
+DIAMOND-CUTTING.
+
+
+The Koh-i-noor, the great diamond that, thanks to the still greater
+Exhibition, so many have seen, and so many more have heard of, is now
+in the hands of skilful diamond-cutters, that, unlike the sable
+beauties of Abyssinia, its charms may be augmented by a judicious
+reduction in magnitude and gravity. Cut at first with the view of
+preserving intact as much of the stone as possible, it never possessed
+the sparkling lustre derived from the scientific disposition of the
+several sides and angles, technically termed facets, of a
+well-polished diamond. It is now intended to be fashioned into a
+brilliant; that is, to have the form of two flattened pyramids joined
+at the base, the upper pyramid much flatter than the lower one. In
+England, the art of diamond-cutting has ceased to exist, but in
+Holland it still maintains its ancient pre-eminence; and from thence
+the cutters of the Koh-i-noor have been brought to perform an
+operation, which, taking into consideration the size of the stone, had
+never previously been accomplished in this country.
+
+It is not known, with any degree of certainty, whether the ancient
+inhabitants of the East had any knowledge of the art of
+diamond-cutting; but it is at the same time very clear, that the
+nations of the West knew nothing of it till a very late period. Even
+to the latter part of the fifteenth century, the diamond was
+appreciated principally for its supposed talismanic properties and its
+hardness; and as that hardness prevented its hidden beauties from
+being brought to light by cutting and polishing, it was regarded more
+as a rare cabalistic curiosity than a precious ornament. Some
+diamonds, however, whose natural form and polish were more favourable
+to the development of their clouded brilliancy, foretold the splendour
+they would display were it possible to cut and polish them as other
+gems. Numerous attempts were made to attain this desired end, but all
+in vain, until, about 1460, Louis de Berghen, a young jeweller of
+Bruges, succeeded in cutting the first diamond.
+
+The invention of the art of diamond-cutting has, like many others,
+whether mythically or not, been mixed up with a love-story. Berghen,
+it is said, was a poor working-jeweller, who had the audacity to fall
+in love with his wealthy master's daughter. The young lady was
+favourable to his suit; but on proposing to her father, the old man
+reproached him for poverty, and sneeringly said, in allusion to the
+supposed utter impossibility of the feat: 'When you can cut a diamond,
+you may marry my daughter, but not before.' These discouraging words
+induced a train of reflection in the mind of the young man. He
+considered how other hard substances were cut; iron, he mentally
+cogitated, is cut by steel. 'What is steel,' he exclaimed, a light
+breaking upon him, 'but iron?--the diamond, then, may be cut by a
+diamond.' Laying out all his available means in the purchase of two
+small diamonds, he contrived, by cementing them to two pieces of wood,
+to rub them against each other till they were reduced to dust. With
+this dust, and a machine which he invented, he cut two facets on
+another diamond, which he triumphantly exhibited to the old jeweller.
+But a diamond had never previously been cut: men, wise in their
+generation, had said that a diamond never could be cut; and
+consequently, according to the general mode of treating inventors in
+those days, a charge of sorcery was brought against the first
+diamond-cutter. Berghen, thrown into prison, had abundant leisure for
+deliberation. Two courses were open to him: one was to keep his
+secret, and be burned as a sorcerer; the other, to clear himself of
+that charge by shewing how he cut the diamond by natural means, and
+thus lose the exclusive benefit of his invention, to which he
+considered he was so justly entitled. He adopted neither. Fortunately,
+Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of Flanders, came to
+hold his court in the city of Bruges, and was soon informed of the
+diabolical art of the young jeweller. Charles was passionately fond of
+jewels, and possessed a very large diamond. Like the Spaniard, who, if
+the miracle were performed, did not care if Mohammed himself did it,
+the Bold duke sent for Berghen, and commanded him to cut and polish
+the large diamond, as he best could, either by aid of the Prince of
+Darkness, or his own unassisted efforts. In due time the work was
+completed; and Charles was so delighted with the brilliant beauty of
+the previously dull stone, that he remunerated the young jeweller with
+three thousand ducats. We need not inform the reader how Berghen soon
+married his lady-love; but we may state that, retaining the secret of
+diamond-cutting in his own family, he and his descendants acquired
+immense wealth. After the death of his patron Charles, he removed to
+Paris, where, for two centuries afterwards, the Berquins, as the name
+was Gallicised, were the most famous jewellers of their time.
+
+The after-history of that large diamond, the first ever cut in Europe
+at least, is perhaps worthy of narration. Charles constantly carried
+it with him on his own person, till at last a soldier found it beside
+the duke's dead body, on the fatal battle-field of Nancy. Unconscious
+of its value, the finder sold it for a crown to a priest; the priest,
+equally ignorant, sold it for three ducats to a pedler; the pedler
+sold it for a large sum to the Duke of Florence. From that prince it
+passed into the hands of Antonio king of Portugal, who, when a refugee
+in France, sold it for 70,000 francs to Nicholas de Harlay, Lord of
+Sancy; thus it has since been known, in the history of precious
+stones, as the Sancy Diamond. Sancy was a faithful adherent to Henry
+IV. of France, and, during the civil war, was sent by that monarch to
+solicit the assistance of the Swiss. Finding that nothing could be
+done without money, he sent a trusty servant to Paris for the diamond,
+enjoining him never to part with it in life to any one but himself.
+The servant arrived in Paris, and received the diamond, but never
+returned to his master. After waiting a considerable time, Sancy,
+feeling confident that the man had been robbed and murdered by one of
+the many hordes of robbers that then infested France, set out to
+endeavour to gain some traces of him. After many adventures, he
+discovered that a person answering the description of the servant had
+been found, robbed and murdered, in the Forest of Dole, and had been
+buried by the peasantry. Sancy immediately had the body disinterred,
+and found the diamond--the faithful fellow having, in obedience to his
+master's injunction, swallowed it. Sancy pawned the diamond with the
+Jews of Metz, and with the money raised troops for the service of his
+royal master. 'Put not your faith in princes,' is an adage as sound as
+it is ancient. Henry, seated on the throne that Sancy's exertions
+saved, took occasion of a petty court intrigue to ruin and disgrace
+his too faithful partisan. The pledged diamond never was redeemed; it
+remained in the hands of the Israelite money-lenders, till Louis XIV.
+purchased it for 600,000 francs. It then became one of the
+crown-jewels of France; but its vicissitudes were not over. In 1791,
+when the National Assembly appointed a commission of jewellers to
+examine the crown-jewels, the Sancy Diamond was valued at 1,000,000
+livres. At the restoration of Louis XVIII., it was nowhere to be
+found, and nothing positive has been heard of it since. But as so
+well-known and large a diamond could not readily be secretly disposed
+of without attracting attention in some quarter, it is shrewdly
+suspected that a jewel sold in 1830, by the Prince of Peace, for
+500,000 francs, to one of the wealthiest of the Russian nobility, was
+the missing Sancy Diamond.
+
+The operation of diamond-cutting is exceedingly simple, and is without
+doubt performed by the cutters of the Koh-i-noor at the present time
+in almost precisely the same manner as invented by Berghen. The stone
+is held in the proper position by being embedded, all but the salient
+angle to be cut or polished, in a solder of tin and lead. It is then
+applied to a rapidly-revolving horizontal iron wheel, constantly
+supplied with diamond-dust, and moistened with olive-oil. The anxious
+care and caution required in this operation render it a very tedious
+one: the cutting of the Koh-i-noor will last many months, and be
+attended with an immense expense. A still more tedious operation,
+however, is sometimes performed by diamond-cutters, when it is found
+necessary to cut a stone into two parts; it is termed sawing, and is
+thus managed:--The stone to be sawn is scratched across in the desired
+direction by a very keen splinter of diamond, technically termed a
+_sharp_. An exceedingly fine iron wire, with a small portion of
+sweet-oil and diamond-dust, is then laid upon this guiding scratch;
+and the workman draws the wire backwards and forwards, as we may see
+blocks of stone sawn on a larger scale in the yard of the statuary.
+Still greater care and attention are required in this operation than
+in diamond-cutting: seven months have been occupied in sawing a
+good-sized stone. Sometimes the diamond is cut by two being cemented
+each upon a separate handle, and rubbed together over a box, which
+catches the precious dust as it falls; but the stones thus cut are
+disfigured by scratches, and must subsequently be polished upon the
+wheel.
+
+For many years India supplied the rest of the world with diamonds; and
+it was long supposed that they were not to be found in any other part
+of the globe. The Portuguese settlers in Brazil, seeking for gold,
+found a number of small stones resembling pebbles, which, from their
+singularity, they kept as curiosities, using them as counters at their
+card-tables. An officer, who had been removed from the Portuguese
+settlements in India to serve in Brazil, suspected that these stones
+were diamonds, and sent a few to Portugal. The jewellers of Lisbon,
+having never seen a diamond in its unpolished state, laughed at the
+idea of such rude pebbles being of any value, and so the inquiry was
+for some time dropped. But the Dutch consul at Lisbon managed to
+procure one of the stones, and sent it to Holland, then almost the
+only country in Europe where diamond-cutting was pursued as a regular
+business. The stone, in due time, was returned to the consul in the
+form of a sparkling brilliant; and the Brazilian diamond-trade
+immediately commenced. The European dealers in diamonds, and many
+retired officers of the English and Dutch East India Companies, who,
+as was customary then, had, on their return to Europe, invested a
+large part of their wealth in those precious stones, fearing that a
+great reduction in price would follow, were alarmed when the Brazilian
+diamonds first came into the market. These interested parties
+published pamphlets, warning the public against purchasing the
+so-called Brazilian diamonds, stating that no diamonds were found in
+the Brazils, but that the inferior class of stones was purchased in
+India, sent to Brazil, and from thence imported as Brazilian diamonds.
+In consequence of these false statements being repeated by persons of
+rank and station, a strong prejudice existed against the Brazilian
+diamond, although it is now well known to be equal in every respect to
+its Indian brother. The Dutch, who then farmed the Brazilian
+diamond-mines from the crown of Portugal, met this trick of trade by
+another. They dug their diamonds in Brazil, brought them to Holland,
+and cut them, then sent them to India, from whence they returned to
+Europe as true Oriental jewels. We may add, that the anticipations of
+the dealers were not verified in defiance of the great influx from
+Brazil, and, later still, the discovery of the diamond in the Ural
+Mountains: the price of that stone is at present as high as ever it
+was.
+
+
+
+
+ASCENT TO THE BRECHE-DE-ROLAND.
+
+
+I do not think I shall be accused of exaggeration when I say, that the
+ascent to the Breche-de-Roland is to the Pyrenean range what the
+passage of the Col de Geant is to the Alps. They are both tough
+undertakings, requiring sound legs and lungs, with a happy and
+powerful combination of patience, fortitude, and energy.
+
+The difficulty of ascending to the Breche-de-Roland does not consist
+so much in its height--though this is 9537 feet--as in the nature of
+the ground to be surmounted; and after I had accomplished the feat, I
+no longer wondered that several persons had given in, and retraced
+their steps without attaining the Breche. Before detailing my ascent
+to this wonderful place, it may be proper to state what it is like. On
+the flanks of the formidable and gigantic Mont Perdu rises Mont
+Marbore, from the summit of which stretches to the west a wall of rock
+from 400 to 600 feet high, in most places absolutely vertical. This
+huge natural wall forms the crest of the Pyrenees, and divides France
+from Spain at this part of the chain. In the middle of the natural
+barrier is a gap, which, when viewed from the French valley of the
+Gave de Gavernie, appears like a notch made in a jaw by the loss of a
+single tooth, but which is in reality a magnificent and colossal
+portal, 134 feet wide and 330 feet high.
+
+Of course, legendary lore is not at fault to account in its own
+poetical manner for this natural phenomenon. According to that oracle,
+the Breche owes its origin to Roland, the brave Paladin, who, mounted
+on his war-horse, in his hot pursuit of the Moors, clove with one blow
+of his trusty sword Durandal a passage through this mighty wall; and
+it must be admitted that the sides of the gap are so smooth, that it
+requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that they were
+fashioned in some such artistical manner. Independently of the Breche
+itself, which alone is highly deserving of a visit, the surrounding
+scenery is of the most imposing and magnificent character, and the
+whole, therefore, most justly ranks as one of the chief lions of the
+Pyrenees.
+
+The most usual, and by far the most advantageous starting-place, is
+the village of Gavarnie, near the Cirque of that name. In my
+ignorance, however, of the toilsome nature of the excursion, I started
+from Luz, eighteen miles from Gavarnie, where I was sojourning.
+Reader, were you ever at Luz? Sweet Luz! with its babbling crystal
+brook, in which tribes of pigs undergo sanitary ablutions; and its
+inn, famous for good cookery and active fleas. If you have been there,
+you will not have forgotten Madame Cazean--a model of a hostess. To
+her I made my wishes known respecting the ascent to the Breche, and
+begged that she would find me a guide.
+
+In Switzerland, at such a place as Luz, surrounded by numerous
+excursion points of great interest, guides would be abundant; here,
+however, there are only a few, and these are obliged to pursue the
+callings of agriculture and hunting to eke out a subsistence. So, when
+I demanded a guide, Madame Cazean said she would send to the fields
+for Jaques St Laur, who was the best guide to the Breche. And indeed
+if strength of limb and a huge sinewy frame were the chief
+qualifications for the affair, Jaques, I apprehend, would have stood
+unrivalled, for I never saw a more sturdy or Titanic mountaineer.
+
+The arrangements were soon made. We were to start at four o'clock in
+the morning--not a moment later: true to his promise, my burly guide
+appeared before the hotel door at that hour with two ponies, and in a
+few minutes we were _en route_. The morning broke gloriously. Peak by
+peak, the snow-crested first, and successively those beneath, became
+tinted by the rising sun, while the valleys gave evidence of
+approaching day by casting off their misty mantles. It makes the old
+young again, and the young to feel the blood dance yet more briskly
+through their veins, to breathe such air as wraps the Pyrenees in its
+balmy folds. The beauties of the valley, or rather gorge, begin at
+once. Woods, alternating with precipitous rocks, mountain peaks of
+great altitude and most picturesque forms, tower aloft; while below,
+the eye rests upon the _gave_, now deliciously green and peaceful, and
+now worming its way with agonised fury through the gorge. Many
+cascades of rare beauty streamed down from the summit of the
+precipices, and we were continually crossing high and narrow bridges
+suspended over deep gulfs. The box luxuriates in this defile,
+springing in tree-like proportions from every ledge.
+
+Before reaching Gedres, which is about half-way to Gavarnie, a fine,
+though tantalising view of the Breche is obtained. I gazed at the
+object of my expedition with anxious eyes, wondering how I was to get
+to its cloud land amidst the eternal snow-crowned Tours de Marbore;
+and I longed for the wings of one of the many eagles which sailed
+majestically overhead, to transport myself thither at once.
+
+At Gedres the view of the Marbore is lost; but there is an almost
+overabundance of grand scenery in the mountains that tower to the
+right and left, and the gorges are filled with foaming cascades and
+flowers of wondrous beauty. Close to the cascades--so close, that they
+seem on the point of being swept away--are mills, not much larger than
+goodly-sized boxes, one above the other, like rows of black beads
+strung upon the white torrent. These mills are primitive in their
+construction, closely resembling the old hand-mill; but they grind the
+corn, and what more could the best mill in Europe do?
+
+Beyond Gedres, a singularly grand and savage scene presents itself,
+called the Peyrada or Chaos. It is an _eboulement_, or slip of masses
+of gneiss which have fallen from great heights; and the ruins are so
+extensive, that it seems as if an entire mountain had been shivered
+to fragments. The path winds in zig-zags through a labyrinth of
+blocks, among which horse and rider appear like pigmies. The mountains
+increase in majesty as Gavarnie is approached--the Vignemale with its
+glaciers to the west; and the Pimene to the east, ranging among the
+highest. Gavarnie is a poor village, boasting one inn, in humble
+keeping with the place; poor, however, as it was, I was glad to draw
+bridle before the door, for we had ridden fast and furious, as my
+blood-stained spurs evidenced. I was about to dismount and recruit
+myself with a flask of the best wine, when Jaques peremptorily forbade
+such a proceeding. There was no time to be lost; a stirrup-cup and on.
+He, however, dismounted, and went into the house for ice-staffs and
+_crampons_, which were kept at the inn. Provided with these, and
+partially refreshed by a glass of very good wine, we hastened on our
+way. The morning continued most favourable; not a cloud obscured the
+outline of the mountains, and the snow-crested Marbore towered aloft,
+strongly pencilled against the deep-blue sky. Wonderful animals are
+the Pyrenean ponies. Small in stature, and with diminutive limbs, on
+they go, over ways rough enough to puzzle a goat, rarely pausing to
+pick their steps, and as rarely stumbling. The path, about half-way
+between Gavarnie and the Cirque, is carried over the torrent by two
+terribly narrow planks, without any manner of railing. Over this frail
+bridge, not three feet wide, my guide, much to my astonishment, rode
+his pony; and as my _monture_ evinced no asinine disinclination to
+follow, but, on the contrary, evidently regarded the proceeding as
+nothing extraordinary, I slackened my bridle, pressed my knees a
+little closer to the saddle, and committed myself to my fate. The
+torrent rushed at a fearfully giddy rate some twenty feet beneath, and
+the roar of waters was terrific; but my steed was proof against these
+things, which would have tried the nerves of a pedestrian tourist, and
+passed steadily over the narrow causeway as unswervingly as if it had
+been the broadest highway in France. This was the last feat of our
+horses; for, after a brisk canter, we dismounted in the arena of the
+Cirque, and turned the animals to graze, a girl who had accompanied us
+from Gavarnie engaging to look after them. We had ridden eighteen
+miles, and I doubt whether the distance was ever accomplished in less
+time.
+
+To render the first impression of the Cirque or _oule_ more
+impressive, a small projecting wall of rock marks the entry to the
+gigantic amphitheatre. This passed, the end of the world seems gained:
+a vast semicircle of rocks rises precipitously to the height of
+between 1000 and 2000 feet. These gigantic walls are divided into
+three or four steps or ledges, on each of which rests a glacier, from
+which stream cascades. That to the left is 1266 feet high, and bears
+the reputation of being the highest waterfall in Europe. The summit of
+this wondrous amphitheatre is crowned by everlasting ice and snow,
+resting on the crests of the Cylindre, so called from its shape, and
+10,500 feet high. The base of this fine mountain is embedded in a huge
+glacier, which gives birth to the high fall. Fit companion to the
+Cylindre rises the Tours de Marbore, forming a part of Mont Perdu. Not
+a scrap of vegetation breaks the ruggedness of the vast semicircle of
+rocks. The floor of the Cirque is an irregular heap of rocks, with the
+exception of a large heap of snow at the base of the precipices, under
+which the waters of the cascades run, like the torrents beneath the
+Swiss glaciers.
+
+It was impossible to take in this sublime spectacle at once, so
+overpowering were its features; and as we gazed tremblingly at the
+huge Cirque, I felt as if on the eve of being crushed by its impending
+walls.
+
+Within a few yards of the most western cascade, the ascent to the
+Breche is made. Without a guide, however, the precise spot would be
+exceedingly difficult to find; and from its forbidding nature, few
+would be bold enough to make the essay. It is literally a rock-ladder,
+and is the only locality in the wide sweep of the Cirque affording the
+means of ascent. The rugged strata, which are here vertical, serve as
+steps in which one can insert the toes and fingers; but as the
+guidebook truly says: 'It is as abrupt as the ascent of a ladder; and
+wide spaces of smooth rock often intervene without any notch or
+projection offering a foothold. To those who cannot look down a sheer
+precipice many hundred feet deep without a tendency to giddiness,
+there is danger in this escalade, as well as in passing over some
+smooth projecting shoulders of rocks.' The climb is, in truth, most
+arduous--'bien penible,' as my guide said. My _chaussure_ was sadly
+against me--thin-soled boots, which doubled under me. Let no one
+undertake this ascent without being strongly shod.
+
+As we ascended, new wonders were revealed--more precipices, cascades,
+and glaciers: it was literally alps on alps. The top of the great
+waterfall was still far above us; and it gave me a very good idea of
+its altitude, when, after more than an hour's ascent, I found that we
+were still beneath the level of the glacier from whence it is
+supplied. About two hours were occupied in ascending the first series
+of precipices, above which patches of snow are met with. Our course
+now lay through a kind of vertical gully nearly filled with snow. Up
+this we scrambled, taking advantage of the hardness of the snow to
+make it our path. Above us rose tremendous precipices, terminating in
+jagged peaks, on which my guide with his practised eye discerned a
+herd of izzards. I saw them remarkably well through my telescope,
+balanced, like aerial creatures, on the giddy heights, one amongst
+them evidently acting as sentinel. It was beautiful to witness their
+wild attitudes, ready, at a moment's warning from their watchful
+leader, to bound from crag to crag, or descend the awful precipices,
+where man's foot has never been.
+
+My guide, whose heart was evidently more in the hunting than in his
+present business, became half wild with excitement at the sight of
+these izzards. It was the largest herd he had seen that year, and,
+with many a _sacre_, he bemoaned his fate that he should be without
+his rifle; though I endeavoured to convince him that there was nothing
+to regret, as he could not at the same time hunt izzards and conduct
+me to the Breche.
+
+We now fairly lost sight of the Cirque, and were in the midst of snow
+and glaciers which covered a steep, inclined about forty-five degrees.
+The surmounting of this slope was a most fatiguing affair for me, as
+the snow was very slippery, and it happened that I retrograded nearly
+as often as I advanced. This part of the ascent occupied about an
+hour. My guide now turned to the left, for the purpose of crossing a
+glacier, the inclination of which is so great that it is the next
+thing to impossible to ascend it. The passage over this glacier,
+beyond which lies the Breche, is by far the most dangerous part of the
+undertaking. At the place where we encountered it, its breadth may be
+about four hundred yards; but throughout, its inclination is such that
+the slightest false step would prove fatal, for beneath are precipices
+of fearful depth. Here crampons are used. I was fairly exhausted when
+I came to the edge of this glacier, and despite the protestations of
+my guide, who declared that there was no time to lose, I threw myself
+on the snow, and would, had I been left alone, have been asleep in a
+few moments.
+
+It is customary for the few tourists who visit the Breche to take two
+guides, for the purpose of crossing this glacier in safety; and I had
+cause to regret my ignorance of the practice, for although I trod most
+cautiously in the notches cut by my guide, yet my limbs were so weak,
+that when about half-way across, I stumbled, and for a moment gave
+myself up for lost. Happily, my guide was sufficiently near to grasp
+my extended arms, and shouting: 'Prenez garde! prenez garde! Courage!
+courage!' he sustained me until I recovered my balance. Then it was
+that I became fully aware of the mistake I had committed in making
+this excursion without previous training; and I admonished Jaques in
+future, to give those who desired to scale the Breche fair warning of
+the dangers and difficulties attendant upon the undertaking.
+
+My escape was not rendered the less interesting by a story which my
+guide related to me of an unfortunate traveller, who when his crampon,
+by some accident, caught his trousers, lost his balance, and there
+being no friendly hand to arrest him, in an instant sped down the
+sloping ice with the speed of an avalanche, and was almost
+instantaneously lost for ever.
+
+It was here that Mr Paris, who was rash enough to attempt ascending to
+the Breche without a guide, was obliged to give up the task. 'The
+sight of this glacier,' he observes, 'was too appalling. I could not
+summon sufficient resolution to attempt the passage, which was in
+distance about a quarter of a mile, and wisely, I think, abandoned it.
+To understand all its terrors, the place must be seen. Once slip, and
+you are gone for ever, past all human aid: the death is too frightful
+for contemplation.'
+
+Bracing my shattered nerves for the occasion, I resumed my labour,
+taking care, however, to hold my guide's hand; and thus moving slowly
+and cautiously, I had at length the inexpressible satisfaction of
+achieving the formidable passage of this terrible glacier. The rest of
+the journey was comparatively easy, though the elevation--above 9000
+feet--and the steepness were trying enough. But all sense of fatigue
+forsook me when the huge portal--the tiny notch as seen from
+Gedres--yawned in all its stern magnificence before me. It was a fit
+reward for all my toil, and I felt that I would have willingly endured
+even greater sufferings to make acquaintance with such a scene as now
+met my astonished gaze.
+
+Eager to achieve the crowning feat of my undertaking, I hastened
+onwards; and with beating heart I soon stood within the jaws of the
+mighty portal, through which swept the howling wind. A step more, and
+I was in Spain. Glaciers slope away on each side of the wall; but all
+along the front of the Breche, on the French side, the glacier is
+scooped out into a deep fosse or cavity, by the action of the sun's
+rays pouring from the south through the opening. A wild world of
+mountains appeared to the south, those in the foreground covered with
+snow, and the more distant looming hazily over the plains of
+Saragossa. And this was Spain!--wondrous land, defying description,
+and in memory resembling, not realities, but fragments of tremendous
+dreams. Towards France, the scene is softer. Mountains there are,
+sky-piled, but there are forests too, the home of wolves
+
+    Cruel as death, and hungry as the grave!
+    Burning for blood; bony, and gaunt, and grim;
+
+and vales of emerald, and silver streams, and gleaming lakes. But how
+hope to convey anything like a faithful impression of the panorama
+seen from the Breche-de-Roland! I will not attempt it, preferring
+rather to advise the reader, should he not be stricken in years, to
+see it himself.
+
+My guide produced the contents of his wallet, which, thanks to Madame
+Cazean's provident forethought, were good and abundant; and having
+placed the wine-flasks in the ice--there was enough at hand to ice the
+great Heidelberg tun--I sat down on the ridge of the Breche, one leg
+in Spain, the other in France, and my body in amiable neutrality. Oh,
+the delight of that repast! there never was so tender a fowl, never
+wine so good. While thus engaged in refreshing exhausted nature, I
+even forgot that the terrible glacier had to be recrossed, and the
+steep snow-slopes to be descended.
+
+The day continued faithful to its early morning promise. A bright
+sun--unfelt, however, at this great elevation--poured down a flood of
+light on the far-stretching glaciers and snow-fields, on which we
+discerned izzards, which seemed, when in motion, like points moving in
+space. These, and a few eagles, were the only living things that met
+our eye. Fain would I have spent hours here, but my guide was very
+properly obdurate; and having done great justice to our meal, we
+prepared to descend. Before leaving the Breche, where we remained for
+about an hour and a half, he conducted me to a small cave on the
+Spanish side between the Breche and the glacier, where smugglers pass
+the night, waiting for the early morning hours to descend into France.
+Desperate work! and desperate must be the men engaged in it. Being
+considerably recruited in strength, I found the passage of the glacier
+much less arduous than it was in ascending; and having passed it in
+safety, we flew down the snow inclines with delightful rapidity, in
+five minutes clearing ground which cost us an hour to surmount. We
+reached Gavarnie at seven o'clock, and pausing for half an hour, rode
+on to Luz, where we arrived as the night closed.
+
+
+
+
+OUR WILD-FRUITS.
+
+
+Why is it that the wild _flowers_ of England have attracted so much
+attention of late years, whilst the wild _fruits_ have been passed
+over in silence, and allowed to bud and bloom, to ripen their fruit,
+and to perish, inglorious and unnoticed? It would be difficult to give
+a reply to this question; I will therefore not attempt it, but rather
+invite you, my friends, to assist me in removing this reproach from
+the wild-fruits of our land, and give me a little of your attention
+whilst we inquire what these are, and where they grow, and examine a
+little into their structure and uses, as well as into their
+classification. In doing so, I think we shall find that, though
+England does not indigenously afford so many or such rich fruits as
+those which are the products of some other lands, yet that she
+possesses several kinds which, even in their uncultivated state, are
+edible, and pleasant to the taste, and some of which form the stocks
+on which, by budding or grafting, many of the most valuable
+productions of our gardens and orchards are established. I think that
+many will be surprised to find, that the list I shall give them of
+fruits indigenous in England is so long and so respectable. The plum,
+the cherry, the apple and pear tribes--the raspberry, with its
+allies--the gooseberry, and currant, red and black--the service-tree,
+with its pleasant subacid fruit, and the abounding whortleberry and
+cranberry tribes, which cover immense tracts of our hills with their
+myrtle-like foliage and pretty heath-like bloom, and produce such
+harvests of useful fruit freely to whoever will take the trouble of
+gathering it--are surely treasures not to be despised!
+
+It is true that in the present day, when the constantly increasing
+importation both of fruit and fruit-trees, together with the wonderful
+horticultural improvements which are daily taking place, have brought
+richer and better kinds of fruit more or less within the reach even of
+our poorest cottagers--when every little valley among the hills is
+enriched with its beautiful orchards, and every farmhouse and cottage
+may boast its luscious plum or cherry trees, and its row of bright
+fruited raspberry or strawberry plants--when all thrifty housewives
+may, at small expense, have their little store of pleasant jams and
+jellies made from fruits which used to be beyond the reach of even our
+island kings, and the 'sedulous bees' located on every homestead
+present us with their amber sweets--we can perhaps scarcely
+appreciate the real importance which must have attached to these now
+comparatively worthless fruits at a time when the land on which our
+most populous cities stand was covered by woods and brakes, nay, in
+many places by thick, tangled forests, or wild and deep morasses. But,
+even now, these fruits are treasures to the cotter and the child, as
+we shall see in the course of our discussion; and even to persons of
+more luxurious habits, several of those that I have named are of value
+and importance. Let us first look at those which rank under the
+natural order _Rosaceae_, under which head we shall find the greatest
+number of our English fruit-bearing plants. We will give a little
+botanical sketch of the general characteristics of this order, as
+elucidatory of what we may hereafter have to say before we proceed to
+the details of any of its members. The chief of these characteristics
+are, that in the order _Rosaceae_ the calyx is in most cases formed of
+five lobes, _with the petals and stamens rising from it_, the latter
+being generally numerous; the ovaries are several, or solitary, each
+of one cell, including, in most cases, one ovule or incipient seed--in
+some cases many--the style being lateral or terminal. Most flowers
+thus formed produce edible and harmless fruits. Loudon says: 'The
+ligneous species, which constitute this order, include the finest
+flowering shrub in the world--the rose--and trees which produce the
+most useful and agreeable fruit of temperate climates--namely, the
+apple, pear, plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and nectarine;' and he
+might have included the medlar and service trees. Now, this vast order
+is subdivided into several sub-orders or sections, under the first of
+which are classed all whose fruit is a drupe, of which the plum and
+cherry are examples. We will then take them first into our
+consideration, and begin by giving an account of what is the structure
+of a drupe.
+
+That part of the carpel called the ovary, which encloses the seed,
+thickens, and changes into a fleshy substance, which, as the fruit
+matures, softens, and becomes a juicy, and often delicious pulp; this
+is the part which we eat in the plum, cherry, apricot, peach, and all
+which we call stone-fruits. The lining of the ovary at the same time
+extends, and hardens into the stony case which encloses the kernel,
+which kernel is the young seed enlarged and perfected. All fruits of
+this formation are called drupes, as those of the apple and pear form
+are called pomes, and those of the bramble, and some other tribes,
+berries. Our woods supply us with two sorts of plum, both edible--the
+sloe, or blackthorn (_Prunus spinosa_), and the wild bullace (_P.
+institia_.) Every one knows the sloe, at least every one who has spent
+any part of his youth amidst woodland scenes; but as there are some
+who, having been 'all their life in populous cities pent,' know but
+little of country delights, for their benefit we will describe the
+growth and appearance of our plants, as well as their qualities,
+obvious or hidden. The sloe is more frequently seen as a spiny shrub
+than as a tree; but when the suckers are removed, and the strength of
+the plant is all allowed to go into one stem, it forms a highly
+characteristic small tree. In hedges, it seldom exceeds twenty feet in
+height, but in woods and parks, it often attains to thirty. The wood
+is hard, and takes a fine polish, but is apt to crack, and is
+therefore seldom used, except for the handles of tools, and other such
+purposes. It throws up very long upright shoots, which make excellent
+walking-sticks; indeed, more are made from this tree throughout Europe
+than from any other. The dry branches are valuable in forming hedges,
+and protection for young trees, as well as for other agricultural
+purposes. The bark is black, whence its name of blackthorn; the
+blossoms appear before the leaves, and beautify our hedges with their
+delicate whiteness during the cold month of March, when few other
+shrubs send forth their blossoms; and this season is therefore called
+by country-people 'blackthorn winter.' The leaves form a better
+substitute for tea than any other European plant; and they have been,
+and are abundantly used in the adulteration of that commodity. The
+fruit is a plum about the size of a small filbert, of a dark purple
+hue, coated with a most exquisite blue bloom. The flesh is of a sharp,
+bitter acid, yet not unpleasant even when raw; when fully ripe, it
+makes a tolerable preserve, or pudding, and the juice, when well
+fermented, makes a wine not unlike new port. The sloe, as well as the
+cherry, and all other plants of its tribe, contains in it a portion of
+prussic acid; but the quantity is so minute, that there can be no
+injury derived from the use of either the leaves or fruit of most
+species. The common laurel (_Cerasus laurocerasus_) contains it in
+greater quantity than any other kind, but even of this the berries may
+be eaten with impunity, and are freely used by gipsies, who both eat
+them raw and make them into puddings.
+
+The other plum of our wilds is the bullace (_P. institia_), the fruit
+of which differs from that of the sloe in being larger and less
+bitter. It is sometimes black, but oftener yellowish and waxy,
+beautifully tinted with red, and makes better pies and puddings than
+the sloe, for which purposes it is often sold in the markets. In
+Provence, where, as in other parts of France, this plum abounds, it is
+called 'Prune sibanelle,' because, from its sourness, it is impossible
+to whistle after eating it! The entire plant is used for much the same
+purposes as the sloe. Old Gerard says, that its leaves are 'good
+against the swelling of the uvula, the throat, gums, and kernels under
+the ears, throat, and jaws.' How far modern physicians might agree in
+this is doubtful; possibly they might class the prescription, as he
+does some of those of his predecessors, under the head of 'old wives'
+fables.' Both the plum and cherry send out from their bark a sort of
+gum, which exudes freely, particularly in old and diseased trees. It
+was formerly supposed to be sovereign against some diseases. The
+number of varieties which have been grafted on these wild stocks is
+very great. So long ago as 1597, Gerard recounts: 'I have threescore
+sorts in my garden (at Holborn), all strange and rare: there be in
+other places many more common, and yet yeerely commeth to our hands
+others not knowne before.' The bark of both kinds of wild plum was
+formerly much used in medicine, and considered equal to the Peruvian
+bark in cases of intermittent fever. But we must not forget, in
+recounting the _uses_ of these and other fruits, to take into our
+consideration the important additions that their free growth affords
+to the sources of enjoyment and amusement of our youthful population
+in country districts. 'Snagging' (for sloes are called _snags_ in some
+counties), nutting, blackberry picking, cherry hunting--all in their
+turn form attractions to the boys and girls in our villages; and many
+a merry party sallies forth into the woods on a half or whole holiday,
+with satchel, bag, and basket, to enjoy the fresh air and bright
+sunshine, and to leap, and jump, and rejoice in all the wild vagaries
+of youth among the fresh uplands and hills, scrambling over all
+obstruction--the elder climbing the old trees, and rifling them of
+their spoil--the younger and less adventurous hooking down the
+branches, and claiming the right of all they can collect 'by hook or
+by crook.' But wo to the poor mothers who have to mend the garments in
+which the onslaught has been made!--wo to the little boy or girl whose
+mother has not the good sense to discern, in her child's rosy cheeks
+and bright eyes, a compensation for the rags in the frock or trousers,
+which is sure to be the consequence of a day spent in harrying the
+shrubs and briers! But many centuries must our youth have thus
+'imbibed both sweet and smart' from yielding to these woodland
+attractions. May not we fancy whole herds of our little British or
+Anglo-Saxon ancestors rushing forth into the almost inaccessible woods
+which in those days clothed our island, their long sunny hair hanging
+to the waist--for 'no man was allowed to cut his hair until he had
+slaine an enemy of his country in the field, or at least taken his
+armes from him'--clothed in linen, their fair skins disfigured by the
+blue woad with which they were accustomed to paint themselves, and
+armed with cross-bows, all as merry, as idle, and as reckless as the
+children of the present century? We may fancy these little Leowulphs
+and Siegfrieds, with their admiring little Edgithas and Edithas
+looking on, whilst they climbed the tall trees with the agility of
+wild-cats and squirrels, most proud when they could attain the richest
+and ripest fruit, and but spurred on to greater enthusiasm by the
+knowledge that wolves and bears were by no means rare visitors in
+those pristine forests. Or we may picture to ourselves their parents
+and elders, after a long summer-day spent in hunting the wild-boar,
+the bear, or the more timid deer, rejoicing to slake their thirst, and
+refresh themselves with the cool and pleasant, though somewhat crude
+fruit, of the plum and bullace trees; and in doing so, we may perhaps
+come nearer to having some just idea of their real worth, and be led
+to see how graciously God adapts his gifts to the wants and
+circumstances of his creatures.
+
+The cherry is the next wild fruit which claims our attention, and of
+this we find two varieties. The first, the gean-tree (_Cerasus
+sylvestris_), called by the peasants in Suffolk and Cheshire,
+'Merny-tree,' from the French word _merisier_, is found in most parts
+of England in woods and coppices. This fruit is also called in some
+countries coroon, from _corone_, a crow. Its flowers are in nearly
+sessile umbels of the purest white; its leaves broadly lance-shaped
+and downy beneath, pointed and serrated, with two unequal glands at
+the base. The fruit is a drupe, globose, fleshy, and devoid of bloom.
+Several varieties occur in this species, differing chiefly in the
+colour of the fruit, which is, however, usually black. The wood is
+firm, strong, and heavy. Evelyn includes it in his list of
+forest-trees, and describes it as rising to a height of eighty feet,
+and producing valuable timber: he says, 'if sown in proper soil, they
+will thrive into stately trees, beautified with blossoms of surpassing
+whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bees and attracting birds.'
+The wood is useful for many purposes, and polishes well. Though the
+cherry is now classed among the fruits native to this isle, authors
+inform us that it was introduced by the Romans. Evelyn says: 'It was
+680 years after the foundation of Rome ere Italy had tasted a cherry
+of their own, which being then brought thither out of Pontus, did,
+after 120 years, travel _ad ultimos Britannos_.' Its name is derived
+from Kerasoon, the city whence it was first brought into Europe by
+Lucullus; and so valuable did he consider the acquisition, that he
+gave it a most conspicuous place among the royal treasures which he
+brought home from the sacking of the capital of Armenia. The fruit of
+the gean-tree is rather harsh till fully ripe, and then becomes
+somewhat vapid and watery, yet it is very grateful to the palate after
+a day's rambling in the woods; and, moreover, this wild stock is the
+source whence we have, by culture, obtained the rich varieties which
+now grace our gardens. The cherry is a very prolific tree. We have
+heard of one, the fruit of which sold for L.5 per annum for seven
+successive years; but it requires care in pruning, as it produces its
+fruit generally at the points of the branches, which should therefore
+never be shortened. Phillips says: 'Cherries bear the knife worse than
+any other sort of fruit-trees, and we would therefore impress on the
+pruner, that though the fruit was won by the sword, it may be lost by
+the knife!' The other species of cherry is the bird-cherry (_Cerasus
+padus_), a pretty little smooth-branched tree, with doubly-serrate,
+acute leaves, and beautiful white blossoms, which grow in long-shaped
+racemes, hanging in pendulous clusters, and forming an elegant
+ornament to the hedges and woods in May. It grows chiefly in Scotland
+and the north of England, where the peasants call the fruit, which is
+small, black, and harsh, 'hagberries.' This fruit can scarcely be
+called edible, but it gives an agreeable flavour to brandy; and in
+Sweden and other northern countries is sometimes added to home-made
+wines. There is, or was, a feast celebrated in Hamburg, called the
+Feast of Cherries, in which troops of children parade the streets with
+green boughs ornamented with cherries, to commemorate a triumph
+obtained in the following manner:--'In 1432, the Hussites threatened
+the city of Hamburg with immediate destruction, when one of the
+citizens, named Wolf, proposed that all the children in the city, from
+seven to fourteen years of age, should be clad in mourning, and sent
+as suppliants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites,
+was so touched with this spectacle, that he received the young
+suppliants, regaled them with cherries and other fruits, and promised
+them to spare the city. The children returned crowned with leaves,
+holding cherries, and crying "Victory!"'
+
+
+
+
+THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.
+
+                                   _September 1852._
+
+
+Progress, in one or other of the many forms in which it has of late
+presented itself, is now the prime subject of talk; and if the
+progress be real, it would not be easy to find a more satisfactory
+cause of conversation. Go-ahead people take much interest in the ocean
+steam-boat question; and now that the Collins line of steamers is
+supported by a grant from the United States government, double the
+amount of that paid to the British line, it is said that we are to be
+irrecoverably beaten in the passage of the 'ferry,' as Jonathan calls
+it, between Liverpool and New York. East sailing is no doubt an
+essential desideratum in these days--but what a price to pay for it! A
+quarter of a million on one side the Atlantic, and half a million on
+the other: as though there were not enterprise enough in either land
+to undertake the work--and do it well too--without a subsidy. One
+result may be safely predicated--that the winner will be the first to
+give in; and the timid may comfort themselves with the assurance, that
+neither national prosperity nor 'decadence' depends on the issue. A
+line to run from Liverpool to Portland, in the state of Maine, is in
+contemplation; and the Cunard Company are building four
+screw-steamers--the _Andes_, _Alps_, _Jura_, and _Etna_--which are to
+carry the mails to Chagres, as well as New York.
+
+The first steam-collier has come into the Thames, having run the
+distance from Newcastle in forty-eight hours. Forty hours, we are
+told, will surface in future, when the stiffness of the new machinery
+shall have worked off. She consumed eight tons of coal on the voyage,
+and brought 600 tons as cargo, the whole of which was discharged in
+the day, and the vessel went back for a further supply. Apart from the
+facilities for loading and unloading, the certainty with which these
+steamers will make the passage, will benefit the citizens of London,
+by saving them from the rise in price which inevitably follows the
+fall of the thermometer in December.
+
+But with all this, our already crowded river is becoming overcrowded,
+to remedy which a promising project is afoot for a new dock at
+Plaistow Marshes, a few miles below London Bridge, where a fleet or
+two of the ever-multiplying ships may find accommodation. The extent
+is to be ninety acres, with a mile of wharfage, and nearly 200,000
+feet of fireproof warehouse-room. How far this will meet the want, may
+be inferred from the fact, that the tonnage of the port of London has
+increased from 990,110 tons in 1828, to 2,170,322 tons in 1852. And if
+an experience of three years may be relied on, the increase is to be
+progressive; for of new British-built ships in 1849, the amount was
+121,266 tons; in 1850, 137,530 tons; in 1851, 152,563 tons. Such an
+augmentation shews, that we have nothing to fear from repeal of the
+Navigation Laws; and the fruits of unrestriction are shewn in the
+increased size of ships, in their improved external form, and interior
+accommodation. It may be mentioned here, that the Lords of the
+Admiralty have ordered that all ships' log-books sent to their
+department shall be true and faithful copies, with a track-chart of
+the winds experienced on the outward and homeward voyage, in addition
+to the usual information. Steam-vessels are to keep a record of the
+quantity of coal on board at noon each day--of the time it is
+estimated to last--and of the number of miles steamed in the previous
+twenty-four hours.
+
+Railways, too, exhibit signs of progress. The gross proceeds of the
+traffic for the first seven months of 1851 amounted to L.8,254,303,
+while for the same portion of the present year the sum is L.8,504,002;
+a result the more striking when it is remembered that last year we had
+the Exhibition. The new lines opened in 1851 comprised not more than
+269 miles--the smallest amount in any year since 1848--so that, at the
+end of December, we had 6890 miles of railway actually opened, and
+5101 miles authorised and still to be made. It is clear that the
+greater portion of the latter will never be attempted, seeing that
+people have really found out that railways are not exempt from the
+operation of the great natural laws of supply and demand. Some of the
+facts of last year's traffic are astounding: the total number of
+passengers conveyed was 85,391,095--twelve millions more than in the
+preceding year; and the aggregate returns amounted to L.14,997,459.
+What a difference when compared with the sum paid for travel and
+transport twenty years ago! In the United States, the number of miles
+of railway actually open is 13,200, which, by the end of 1855, it is
+expected will be increased to 18,000 or 20,000. There are 27,000 miles
+of electric telegraphs, but in this estimate the five or six lines
+between any two places are all counted. On one of the lines from New
+York to Washington, 253,857 messages were sent in the year ending last
+July, the toll for which amounted to 103,232 dollars--over L.20,000.
+
+Notwithstanding all this material development, in some respects there
+is no advance--except it be of fares, which on some lines running out
+of London have been increased in accordance with 'arrangements'
+between companies who seem desirous of substituting wholesale monopoly
+for wholesome competition. Murmurs on every side already attest the
+effects of such a change of system, and it is to be hoped that
+imperative means will be found of insuring more attention than at
+present to the comfort and safety of passengers. No one out of the
+position of a director or shareholder can see any good reason why
+English railway carriages should be less comfortably fitted up than
+those of the continent. How is it that second-class carriages are to
+be seen abroad with stuffed seats and padded backs, and never in
+England? It cannot be that we do not pay enough for the accommodation.
+We pay too much--a fact worth remembering with railway amalgamation
+looming in the future; an event which must not take place without the
+public coming in demonstrably as third party.
+
+The British Association have met, and gone through their usual routine
+of business, with what results--beyond the reports in the public
+prints--will be best shewn by the movement of science for the next few
+months. It is always something that knowledge is increased; but
+whether the accumulating of fact on fact, to the neglect of
+generalising those facts, be the true means thereunto, remains to be
+proved. Science has been soaring in search of facts; for the committee
+appointed to manage the Kew Observatory, thinking that the phenomena
+of meteorology would answer further questioning, have sent up a
+balloon, with instruments and observers, to make a series of
+observations. The temperature was read off from highly sensitive
+thermometers at each minute during the ascent, so as to ascertain the
+difference of the heat of successive strata of the atmosphere, and the
+rate of variation. In the first flight, the party reached the height
+of 19,500 feet, and came to a temperature of 7 degrees, or 25 degrees
+below the freezing-point, which, considering the state of the
+temperature at the surface, was an unexpected result--in fact, an
+abnormal one; and not dissimilar to that which so much astonished our
+neighbours across the Channel when Barral and Bixio went up. But if it
+be abnormal, as is said, it is remarkable that precisely the same
+temperature was met with at about the same height on the second
+ascent. Another object was, to bring down specimens of air from
+different altitudes, for analysis; to try the effect of the
+actinometer at great elevations; and to note the hygrometric
+condition. There are to be four ascents, so as, if possible, to obtain
+something like satisfactory data by repetition; and in due time,
+detailed reports of the whole of the observations will be made public.
+
+As ozone is at present attracting attention, it might have been worth
+while to ascertain the proportion of this constituent in the higher
+regions of the atmosphere. According to Messrs Fremy and Becquerel,
+the term ozone ought to be abandoned; for, after a series of careful
+experiments, they have come to the conclusion, that there is no real
+transformation of matter in the production of ozone, but that it is
+nothing more than 'electrified oxygen,' or oxygen in a particular
+state of chemical affinity. Further research will perhaps show us
+whether they or Schoenbein are in the right. At all events, the
+inquiry is interesting, particularly at this time, when cholera--to
+which ozone is antagonistic--is said to be again about to pay us a
+visit; and seeing that the doctrine of non-contagion, put forth so
+authoritatively by our General Board of Health, is disputed; and that
+a certain morbific influence can be conveyed and imparted, is shewn by
+abundant evidence to be alike probable and possible. What took place
+lately in Poland is cited as a case in point. Excavations were being
+made at Lask, near Kalisch, which laid open the cemetery where the
+bodies of those who died of cholera in 1832 had been buried. All who
+were engaged in the work died, and the disease spread fatally
+throughout the neighbourhood. What an important question here remains
+to be settled! and how is it to be settled while people are unclean
+and towns undrained?
+
+Astronomers have given good proof of activity during the present year,
+by the discovery of four new planets and one new comet--two of them by
+Mr Hind, who has now the merit of having discovered half a dozen of
+these minor members of our planetary system. Fifty years ago, such an
+achievement would have made an exalted reputation; but in these days
+of keen enterprise in science, as well as in commerce, we do not think
+much of finding such little worlds as those in question. If nothing
+short of the marvellous is to satisfy us, who shall say that even this
+will not present itself to the far-piercing ken of the new monster
+telescope--refracting, not reflecting--established on Wandsworth
+Common, at the cost of an amateur astronomer, for the promotion of the
+celestial science? Lord Rosse has now a competitor; and with a tube of
+eighty feet in length, and the power of looking direct at the distant
+object, may we not hope to hear of great discoveries by means of the
+new instrument? Photographers will be able to obtain what has long
+been a desideratum--a large image of the moon; and the sun will
+doubtless have to reveal a few more secrets concerning his physical
+constitution, to say nothing of the remote and mysterious nebulae.
+Apropos of the sun, Father Secchi, of the observatory at Rome, has
+been questioning the great luminary with philosophical apparatus, to
+ascertain whether any difference could be detected in the heat from
+different parts of its surface, and the proportion lost in its passage
+through the atmosphere. He finds that the equatorial region is the
+hottest; and that, as on our earth, the temperature diminishes towards
+the poles: it is in the central region that spots most frequently
+appear. The result of the investigations is that, after allowing for
+absorption, the heat which comes to the earth corresponds in amount to
+that inferred from photometric experiments, whereby the experiments
+made at Paris and at Rome confirm each other.
+
+Now that Mr Fox Talbot has so praiseworthily given up his patent right
+to Talbotypes, except in the matter of portraits, the art of
+photography will find itself stimulated to yet further developments;
+and with free practice, many new applications of it will be
+discovered. Magic-lantern slides, for instance, obtained from the
+negative image, are already lowered in price, while their style and
+finish are singularly beautiful. The architect of the bridge now being
+built over the Neva, at St Petersburg, is turning it to account in a
+very practical manner. Being an Englishman, he has had to endure much
+jealousy and misrepresentation, and attempts have been made to
+prejudice the authorities against him. To counteract these designs, he
+takes every week photographs of the work, which distinctly shew its
+progress, and these he sends to the emperor, who looks at them in a
+stereoscope of the largest size, and can thus satisfy himself of the
+actual condition of the bridge by means which malice or envy would not
+easily falsify. If the photograph shews finished arches, of what use
+will it be to deny their existence? People out of Russia may perhaps
+find it worth while to try the same experiment; and before long, a new
+order of 'detectives' on elevated stations, will be taking photographs
+of all that passes in the streets, and pickpockets _in delicto_ will
+find their offence and their likeness imprinted by one and the same
+process. With such a means of detection, and all the police stations
+connected by telegraphic wires, what are the thieves to do?
+
+Manchester shews itself earnest in the cause of education, by having
+established a Free Library of 16,000 volumes for reference, and 5000
+for lending, and paid for it by voluntary subscription--L.800 of which
+was contributed by 20,000 of the working-classes. To their honour be
+it recorded! But the inhabitants have done yet more; they have made
+over the library to the town-council, that it may become one of their
+public institutions, and have agreed to pay a half-penny rate to
+provide the necessary funds for its perpetual maintenance. May they
+have their reward!
+
+Considering that educational reform or renovation may erelong be
+looked for at Oxford, in accordance with the recommendations of the
+University Commission, it behoves other parts of the kingdom to be
+fully awake to the importance of the subject. 'There is a spreading
+conviction, that man was made for a higher purpose than to be a beast
+of burden, or a creature of sense;' and it will not do to stifle this
+conviction. Comprehensive endeavours must be made to educate and
+enlighten; to touch the heart as well as to train the intellect. And
+it must not be forgotten, that education involves very much besides
+mere book-learning--the mechanical duties, namely, of everyday life.
+Something of the latter is to be tried in the City Hospice and
+Soup-kitchen just opened near the foot of Holborn Hill. Though fitted
+up in an old house, it is a training institute of a new kind, where
+individuals of both sexes will acquire useful knowledge in a practical
+way, best explained by a passage from the report of the opening:
+
+'In one portion of the educational department is an ironing-table,
+provided with the necessary utensils, for the purpose of instructing
+the women and girls in that necessary portion of domestic science,
+from the finest description of work down to the very coarsest.
+Adjoining this is a table laid out _en famille_; this also being
+considered, and justly so, no unimportant branch of knowledge. In
+another portion is a table prepared for a large party: every variety
+of glass likely to be required being properly placed, and every napkin
+being differently folded, so as to enable the ambitious neophyte to
+suit the taste of all mistresses. Beyond this is a small closet, with
+a window resembling those of an ordinary-sized house; and this the men
+and women are both taught to clean, while the closet itself serves as
+a cover for the simple operation of polishing boots and shoes. To this
+succeeds a table, upon which are placed the utensils for cleaning
+plate, and on another table the instruments for cleaning lamps.' Such
+an establishment ought to prosper; and perhaps this one will, if the
+giving away of soup for nothing, which is another part of its
+functions, does not kill it. There seems something incongruous in
+encouraging industry and self-reliance with one hand, and helplessness
+with the other.
+
+On the whole, it must be admitted that we are making progress, and
+those who think so, may very properly talk about it. Among a large
+number, the Crystal Palace becomes daily a greater subject of
+importance. Soon the last portions of the famous structure will be
+removed from Hyde Park, to rise in renewed beauty on the hill-slope at
+Sydenham; where the restored edifice is to become a permanent object
+of interest, far transcending all previous achievements in the way of
+exhibitions.
+
+Of foreign matters which have attracted attention, there is the
+remarkable fall of _grain_, not rain, in Belgium, a few weeks since,
+of a kind altogether unknown in that country. Some of it has been
+sown, with a view to judge of it by the plant; meanwhile, the learned
+are speculating as to its origin. The Dutch, pursuing their steady
+course of reclamation, have just added some hundreds of acres to their
+territory on the borders of the Scheldt; and it is said that the grand
+enterprise of draining the Haarlemmer-Meer is at last completed, there
+being nothing now left but a small running stream across the lowest
+part of the basin. The quantity pumped away in the last eight months
+of 1851, averaged a little over three inches per month, a small
+amount, apparently; but when it is known, that lowering the lake one
+inch only took away four million tons of water, we may form a fair
+idea of the importance of the work, and of the quantity lifted in the
+eight months. The depth at the beginning of this year was three feet
+eight inches, and this is now discharged. To have carried such a work
+to a successful issue, may be ranked among the greatest of engineering
+triumphs.
+
+To turn to another part of the world: there is something interesting
+from the Sandwich Islands. The king wishes to assimilate his
+government to that of England, to guard against the casualty of a
+_coup d'etat_, and a small military force has been organised for
+defence. The Report of the Minister of the Interior states, that 130
+persons had taken the oath of allegiance within the year, of whom 66
+were citizens of the United States; 31 British; 15 Chinese; and 18 of
+other countries. The foreign letters received and sent numbered
+24,787--more than half to the United States; besides which 31,050
+domestic letters were transmitted among the group of islands. There
+are 535 free-schools, of which 431 are Protestant, with 12,976
+scholars, and 104 Roman Catholic, with 2056 scholars. There were 1171
+marriages; and the population returns shew that the number of natives
+is still slowly on the decrease, the births among them having been
+2424, while the deaths were 5792.
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF A YORKSHIRE GROOM.
+
+
+Letters from Parma, of the 9th instant, announce that the resolution
+has been taken at Vienna to deprive the Duke of Parma of the
+administration of his states, and to put in a regency, of which Ward
+is to be the head. The elevation of Ward affords not only a singular
+instance of the mutability of human affairs, but of the tendency of
+the Anglo-Saxon race, when transplanted to foreign countries, to
+emerge to eminence, and surpass others by the homely but rare
+qualities of common-sense and unfaltering energy. Ward was a Yorkshire
+groom. The Duke of Lucca, when on a visit to this country, perceiving
+the lad's merit, took him into his service, and promoted him, through
+the several degrees of command in his stable, to be head-groom of the
+ducal stud. Upon Ward's arrival in Italy with his master, it was soon
+found that the intelligence which he displayed in the management of
+the stables was applicable to a variety of other departments. In fact,
+the duke had such a high opinion of Ward's wisdom, that he very rarely
+omitted to consult him upon any question that he was perplexed to
+decide. As Louis XII. used to answer those who applied to him on any
+business, by referring them to the Cardinal d'Amboise, with the words:
+'Ask George,' so Charles of Lucca cut short all applications with 'Go
+to Ward.' He now became the factotum of the prince, won, in the
+disturbances which preceded the revolutionary year of 1848, a
+diplomatic dignity, and was despatched to Florence upon a confidential
+mission of the highest importance. He was deputed to deliver to the
+Grand Duke the act of abdication of the Duke of Lucca. Soon after, in
+1849, when the Duke of Lucca resigned his other states to his son,
+Ward became the head counsellor of this prince. Ward was on one
+occasion despatched to Vienna in a diplomatic capacity. Schwarzenberg
+was astonished at his capacity; in fact, the _ci-devant_ Yorkshire
+stable-boy was the only one of the diplomatic body that could make
+head against the impetuous counsels, or rather dictates, of
+Schwarzenberg; and this was found highly useful by other members of
+the diplomatic body. An English gentleman, supping one night at the
+Russian ambassador's, complimented him upon his excellent ham.
+'There's a member of our diplomatic corps here,' replied Meyendorff,
+'who supplies us all with hams from Yorkshire, of which county he is a
+native.' Ward visited England. The broad dialect and homely phrase
+betraying his origin through the profusion of orders of all countries
+sparkling on his breast, he rarely ventured to appear at evening
+_soirees_. Lord Palmerston declared he was one of the most remarkable
+men he had ever met with. Ward, through all his vicissitudes, has
+preserved an honest pride in his native country. He does not conceal
+his humble origin. The portraits of his parents, in their home-spun
+clothes, appear in his splendid saloon of the prime-minister of
+Parma.--_Newspaper paragraph._
+
+
+
+
+DURATION OF PLANTS.
+
+
+The several kinds of plants vary exceedingly in their degrees of
+longevity, some being annual, perfecting their growth within a year,
+ripening their seeds and perishing; others are perennial, and continue
+to grow and flourish for years and centuries. Warm and cold climates
+have much influence on the duration of plants, and, in some few
+instances, plants that are annual in cold climates become perennial
+when transplanted into warm regions, and the contrary when
+transplanted from warm to cold ones. There are some kinds of trees
+that are very short-lived, as the peach and the plum; others reach a
+great age, as the pear and the apple. Some kinds of forest-trees are
+remarkable for their duration, and specimens are in existence
+seemingly coeval with the date of the present order of things on our
+globe. The oak, chestnut, and pine of our forests, reach the age of
+from 300 to 500 years. The cypress or white cedar of our swamps has
+furnished individuals 800 or 900 years old. Trees are now living in
+England and Constantinople more than 1000 years old, of the yew,
+plane, and cypress varieties; and Addison found trees of the boabab
+growing near the Senegal, in Africa, which, reckoning from the
+ascertained age of others of the same species, must have been nearly
+4000 years of age. It may be remarked, that plants of the same variety
+attain about the same age in all climates where they are
+produced.--_American Courier._
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN TO LEZAYRE.
+
+BY THE REV. JAMES GILBORNE LYONS, LL.D.
+
+
+Lezayre is the name of a beautiful district in the Isle of Man.
+
+    I came to the place where my childhood had dwelt,
+    To the hearth where in early devotion I knelt--
+    The fern and the bramble grew wild in the hall,
+    And the long grass of summer waved green on the wall:
+    The roof-tree was fallen, the household had fled,
+    The garden was ruined, the roses were dead,
+    The wild bird flew scared from her desolate stone,
+    And I breathed in the home of my boyhood--alone.
+
+    That moment is past, but it left on my heart
+    A remembrance of sadness which will not depart:
+    I have wandered afar since that sorrowful day,
+    I have wept with the mournful, and laughed with the gay;
+    I have lived with the stranger, and drank of the rills
+    Which go warbling their music on loftier hills;
+    But I never forgot, in rejoicing or care,
+    That mouldering hearth, and those hills of Lezayre.
+
+    Yet droop not, my spirit! nor hopelessly mourn
+    Over ills which the best and the wisest have borne:
+    Though the greetings of love, and the voices of mirth,
+    May for ever be hushed in the homesteads of earth;
+    Though the dreams and the dwellings of childhood decay,
+    And the friends whom we cherish go hasting away,
+    No young hopes are scattered, no heart-strings are riven,
+    No partings are known in the households of Heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                    _Just Published,_
+
+             _Price 3s. 6d. Cloth lettered,_
+
+GENERAL TREATISE ON GEOGRAPHY: with a Copious PRONOUNCING and
+ETYMOLOGICAL INDEX. By A. F. FOSTER, A.M. Forming one of the Volumes
+of CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
+
+*** _This School Geography has been a considerable time in
+preparation, and will be found one of the most complete works of the
+kind._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+             _Price 2s. 6d. Cloth lettered,_
+
+CORNELIUS NEPOS. Illustrated with Copious English Notes and Prefaces.
+Forming one of the Volumes of the LATIN SECTION of CHAMBERS'S
+EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+             _Price 2s. 6d. Cloth lettered,_
+
+ELOCUTION: with a SELECTION of PIECES. By WILLIAM GRAHAM, F.E.I.S.,
+Teacher of Elocution in the Naval and Military Academy, and the
+Scottish Institution for the Education of Ladies. Forming one of the
+Volumes of CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                 _Price 6d. Paper Cover,_
+
+CHAMBERS'S POCKET MISCELLANY: forming a LITERARY COMPANION for the
+RAILWAY, the FIRESIDE, or the BUSH.
+
+VOLUME X.
+
+_To be continued in Monthly Volumes._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
+Also sold by W. S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D. N. CHAMBERS, 55 West
+Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street,
+Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to
+MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all
+applications respecting their insertion must be made.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456, by Various
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