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diff --git a/26433.txt b/26433.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7fc8723 --- /dev/null +++ b/26433.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9541 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, +Number 385. November, 1847., 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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 25, 2008 [EBook #26433] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S, NOVEMBER, 1847 *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Spellings are sometimes erratic. A few obvious misprints have been +corrected, but in general the original spelling has been retained. +Accents in the French phrases are inconsistent, and have not been +standardised. + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXXXV. NOVEMBER, 1847. Vol. LXII. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + THE NAVIGATION OF THE ANTIPODES. 515 + + AMERICAN COPYRIGHT. 534 + + EVENINGS AT SEA.--NO. II. 547 + HENRY MEYNELL. + + WAS RUBENS A COLOURIST? 564 + + THE AMERICAN LIBRARY. 574 + + UNITS: TENS: HUNDREDS: THOUSANDS. 593 + + RESEARCH AND ADVENTURE IN AUSTRALIA. 602 + + MAGUS MUIR. 614 + + A NOVEMBER MORNING'S REVERIE. 618 + + VALEDICTORY VISITS AT ROME. + THE VILLA BORGHESE. 622 + THE VILLA ALBANI. 626 + + HIGHLAND DESTITUTION. 630 + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE NAVIGATION OF THE ANTIPODES.[1] + + +One of the most striking, and perhaps the most intellectual advances +of the age, is in the progress of geographical discovery. It is +honourable to England, that this new impulse to a knowledge of the +globe began with her spirit of enterprise, and it is still more +honourable to her that that spirit was originally prompted by +benevolence. Cook, with whose voyages this era may be regarded as +originating, was almost a missionary of the benevolence of England, +and of George III.; and the example of both the great discoverer and +the good king has been so powerfully impressed on all the subsequent +attempts of English adventurers, that there has been scarcely a voyage +to new regions which has not been expressly devised to carry with it +some benefit to their people. + +When the spirit of discovery was thus once awakened, a succession of +intelligent and daring men were stimulated to the pursuit; and the +memorable James Bruce, who had begun life as a lawyer, grown weary of +the profession, and turned traveller through the South of Europe at a +period when the man who ventured across the Pyrenees was a hero; +gallantly fixed his eyes on Africa, as a region of wonders, of which +Europe had no other knowledge than as a land of lions, of men more +savage than the lions, and of treasures of ivory and gold teeming and +unexhausted since the days of Solomon. The hope of solving the old +classic problem, the source of the Nile, pointed his steps to +Abyssinia, and after a six years' preparation in his consulate of +Algiers, he set forward on his dangerous journey, and arrived at the +source of the Bahr-el-Azrek, (the Blue River,) one of the branches of +the great river. Unluckily he had been misdirected, for the true Nile +is the Bahr-el-Abiad, (the White River.) + +His volumes, published in 1790, excited equal curiosity and censure; +but the censure died away, the curiosity survived, and a succession of +travellers, chiefly sustained by the African Association, penetrated +by various routes into Africa. + +The discovery of the course of the Niger was now the great object. And +Mungo Park, a bold and intelligent discoverer, gave a strong +excitement to the public feeling by his "Travels," published towards +the close of the century. His adventures were told in a strain of good +sense and simplicity which fully gratified the public taste. And on +his unfortunate death, which happened in a second exploration of the +Niger in 1805, another expedition was fitted out under Captain Tuckey, +an experienced seaman, to ascertain the presumed identity of the Congo +with the Niger. But the sea-coast of Africa is deadly to Europeans, +and this effort failed through general disease. + +The next experiment was made by land--from Tripoli across the Great +Desert--under Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney. This effort was +partially baffled by sickness, but still more by the arts of the +native chiefs, who are singularly jealous of strangers. In a second +attempt Clapperton, the only survivor of the former, died. + +The problem of the course of the Niger was reserved for Richard +Lander, who in 1830, sailed down the Niger from Baossa, and reached +the Atlantic by the river Nun, one of its branches. + +Other travellers, more highly accomplished, but less fortunate, had in +the meantime explored the countries to the east and north of the +Mediterranean. Of these, Burckhardt, a German, was among the most +distinguished. After preparing himself for the most complete adoption +of Mahometan life by a sojourn of two years at Aleppo, and even +risking the pilgrimage to Mecca, he was on the point of travelling to +Fezzan, when he died of a country fever. His works throw much light on +the habits and literature of Syria and Palestine. The narratives of +Hamilton, Leigh, Belzoni, and of Salt the consul in Egypt, largely +increased the public interest in countries, universally known to have +been the birth-places of religion, science, and literature; and Lane +and Wilkinson have admirably availed themselves of those discoveries, +and added important information of their own. + +The old connexion of trade with China naturally suggested a wish for +more direct intercourse with that mysterious region, and in 1792, an +embassy conducted by Lord Macartney was sent to Pekin. The narrative +of the embassy, by Sir George Staunton, contributed largely to our +knowledge of the interior. But the late Chinese war, and the freedom +of our commerce, will probably open up all the secrets of this most +jealous of empires. + +The geographical discoveries of this embassy were of more value than +its diplomatic services. The coast of Corea was found to be bordered +by a vast and fertile Archipelago. The sea is actually studded with +islands; and the narratives of Macleod, and Captain Basil Hall, the +latter one of the liveliest narrators of his time, gave the +impression, that they contained scenes of singular beauty. + +On the cessation of the war in 1815, the British Admiralty directed +their leisure to the promotion of science; and the exploration of the +northern coasts of America was commenced in a series of expeditions +under the command of Parry, Ross, Back, Franklin, and other +enterprising officers. Their narratives gave us new islands and bays, +but the great problem of the north-west passage continues unsolved. + +It has been alleged, that such expeditions are useless. But it must be +remembered, that true philosophy disdains no advance of knowledge as +useless; that, however difficult, or even to our present means +impassable, the route may be, no man can decide on the means of +posterity; that we may yet find facilities as powerful for passing the +ice and the ocean, as the railroad for traversing the land; and that +the evident design of Providence in placing difficulties before man +is, to sharpen his faculties for their mastery. We have already +explored the whole northern coast, to within about two hundred miles +from Behring's Straits, and an expedition is at present on foot which +will probably complete the outline of the American continent towards +the Pole. + +Within the last quarter of a century, discovery has turned to the +islands of the Pacific, perhaps the most favoured region of the globe. +Our great continental colony of Australia, its growing population, and +its still more rapidly growing enterprise--its probable influence on +our Indian empire, and its still more probable supremacy over the +islands which cover the central Pacific, from the tenth to the +forty-fifth degrees of south latitude; have for the last thirty years +strongly directed the observation of government to the south. And a +succession of exploring voyages, from the days of Vancouver to the +present time, have been employed in ascertaining the character of +superb shores, and the capabilities of vast countries, which will +perhaps, in another century, exhibit the most vivid prosperity, +cultivation, and activity, of any dominion beyond the borders of +Europe. + +Australia has an importance in the eyes of England, superior perhaps +to all her other colonies. The climate is obviously more fitted for +the English frame than that of Canada or the West Indies. The English +settler alone is master of the mighty continent of New Holland; for +the natives are few, savage, and rapidly diminishing. The Englishman +may range over a territory of two thousand miles long, by seventeen +hundred broad, without meeting the subject of any other sovereign, or +hearing any other language than his own. The air is temperate, though +so near the equator, and the soil, though often unfertile, is +admirably adapted to the rearing of sheep and cattle. The adjoining +islands offer the finest opportunities for the commercial enterprise +of the Englishman; and its directness of navigation to India or China, +across an ocean that scarcely knows a storm, give it the promise of +being the great eastern _depot_ of the world. Van Diemen's Land, about +the size, with more than the fertility of Ireland, is said to resemble +Switzerland in picturesque beauty; and New Zealand, a territory of +fifteen hundred miles in length, and of every diversity of surface, is +already receiving the laws and the population of England. + +The distance is the chief drawback. Sydney is, by ordinary ship's +course, sixteen thousand miles from London, and the voyage, under the +most prosperous circumstances, has hitherto occupied about four +months. But better hopes are at hand. + +On the 20th of last May, a charter was obtained by a company for +establishing a steam communication with Sydney, which proposes to make +the whole course within about _two months_. The route is as +follows,--making twelve thousand seven hundred and thirty miles in +sixty-four days:-- + +From England to Singapore, by Egypt, eight thousand three hundred and +ninety miles. From Singapore to Fort Essington, by Batavia, two +thousand miles. From Port Essington to Sydney, two thousand three +hundred and forty miles; the rate being one hundred and ninety-nine +miles a-day. The first portion occupying forty-two days,--the second, +ten,--and the third, twelve. + +The subject was, for a considerable time, before government, and +various plans of communication had been suggested.--A route by the +Isthmus of Darien, and a route by the Cape with a branch to the +Mauritius. The route by Egypt and India has at length been chosen, and +the most sanguine hopes are entertained of its success. The steam +establishment will have the farther advantage of shortening the +distance by one-half between Calcutta and Sydney; and reducing it to +thirty days, or perhaps less. + +Bright prospects, too, are opening for India herself. The great +railway is decided on, the engineers are about to embark, and the +harvests of cotton and the thousand other tropical productions with +which that most magnificent of all countries is covered, will be +poured into the bosom of Australia and the world. + +It is scarcely possible to look upon the results of establishing +railroads in India, without something of the enthusiasm which belongs +more to poetry than to statistics. But, "in the Golden Peninsula," +there spreads before the Englishman a space of nearly a million and a +quarter of square miles, inhabited by about one hundred and +thirty-four millions of souls, with a sea-coast of immense extent, +washed by two oceans, and bordering on vast countries of hitherto +unexplored opulence. The resources of Birmah, Siam, and the Eastern +Archipelago, have been scarcely touched by the hand of man. Savage +governments, savage nations, and savage indolence, have left those +countries almost in a state of nature; yet it is within the tropics +that the true productiveness of the earth is alone to be looked for. +Our long winters, our mountains, and the comparative sterility of +Europe, prohibit that richness of produce which only waits the hand of +man in the South, and it is only when the industry of the European +shall be suffered to throw its strength into the Asiatic soil, that +man will ever be able to discover the true extent of the bounties +provided for him by creation. + +The three great divisions, or rather three zones of India--the country +comprehending the great northern chain of mountains, the belt of +plains, from the foot of the mountains to the head of the peninsulas, +a breadth of twelve hundred miles; and the peninsula itself, a +territory extending from thirty-five degrees north latitude to the +equator--give every temperature and every product of the world. The +mighty rivers intersecting this region, the Indus, the Ganges, and +their tributaries, will soon be occupied by the steamboat; and the +railway, running through immense plains on which the harvests of +thousands of years have been suffered to perish, will soon develope +the powers of the people and the fertility of the soil, by opening to +India the market of all nations. + +It is to India, that the chief enterprise of British commerce and +civilisation should be directed by an intelligent legislature. The +country will naturally become a vast British province, and this, not +by violence or injustice, but by the course of things, and the +interests of India itself. The native princes, reared in vice and +indolence, will be speedily found unfit to meet the requisitions of a +people growing in instruction. The race will perish, and their power +will be made over to England. The Indian, hitherto the slave of a +capricious tyranny, will then become the object of a judicious +protection,--his property secure, his person safe, his rights guarded, +and with equal law, in place of the grasping avarice of a crafty +minister, or the hot fury of a drunken tyrant. The Indian subject of +England will then form a contrast to the wretched serf of a Rajah, +that will be a more powerful pledge of obedience than fifty conquests. + +Even now, it can be no longer said, in the words of the eloquent +appeal of Burke, that if we left India, we should have no more +monuments of our sojourn to show, than if we had been lions and +tigers. We shall have to show the steamboat, the railroad, and the +true origin and foundation of both,--public honour, public +intelligence, and a sense of the rights of subjects and the duties of +sovereigns. + +The increasing passage of the southern commerce through Torres Strait, +had attracted the notice of the British government to the peculiar +perils of the navigation. The Strait is one of difficult passage from +the state of the currents, reefs, &c., and the difficulty was enhanced +by the imperfect nature of the charts. Along the east coast of +Australia, and as far to the north as New Guinea, an immense ridge of +coral rock extends; and through the gaps in this barrier reef, vessels +must find their way to the Torres Strait. The two government vessels, +the Fly and the Bramble, were sent out to make a survey of the barrier +reef. The especial objects of the expedition being--the survey of the +eastern edge of the great chain of reefs--the examination of all the +channels through the barrier reef, with details of those which afford +a safe passage--and the erection of beacons on their outer islands as +guides to the navigation. + +The commanders of the vessels were directed to give marked attention +to all circumstances connected with the health of the crews, the +climate, temperature, products, and science; and especially the +phenomena of magnetism. A geologist and a zoologist were added to the +expedition, the whole under the command of Captain Francis Blackwood. +In order to make the subsequent details more intelligible, we give a +brief abstract of the voyage. The Fly, with her tender the Bramble +schooner, sailed from Falmouth, April 11, 1842, and made the usual +course to the Cape, touching at Teneriffe on the way, where a party +ascended the Peak, and determined its height to be twelve thousand and +eighty feet above the sea. Reaching Van Diemen's Land in August, and +Australia soon after, they sailed from Port Stephens December 19, to +commence their survey. After an examination of the Capricorn Group, +they commenced the survey of the northern part of the great +barrier-reef, up to the Murray Islands. + +In the next year, they erected a beacon on Raines Islet to mark the +entrance of a good passage through the reef. The rest of the year was +spent in surveying Torres Straits. They remained thus occupied till +the beginning of 1845, when they sailed for Europe, and anchored at +Spithead in June 1845, after an absence of three years. + +The result of those investigations was, a large accession to our +previous knowledge of the sea to the eastward of Australia, now become +important from our settlements; and a survey of five hundred miles of +the great chain of coral reefs which act as the breakwater against the +ocean. + +We have heard much of coral islands, certainly the most curious means +of increasing the habitable part of the world; in fact, a new insect +manufacture of islands. They are of all sizes. We give the description +of a small one of this order in the Capricorn Group, an assemblage of +islands and reefs on the north-east coast of Australia, so called from +the parallel of the Tropic of Capricorn passing through them. + + "The beach was composed of coarse fragments of worn corals and + shells bleached by the weather. At the back of it, a ridge of the + same materials four or five feet high, and as many yards across, + completely encircled the Island, which was not a quarter of a mile + in diameter. Inside this regular ridge was a small sandy plain. + The encircling ridge was occupied by a belt of small trees, while + on the plain grew only a short scrubby vegetation, a foot or two + in height. Some vegetable soil was found, a few inches in + thickness, the result of the decomposition of vegetable matter and + birds' dung. On the weather side of the island was a coral reef of + two miles in diameter, enclosing a shallow lagoon. In this lagoon + were both sharks and turtles swimming about. The island was + stocked with sea-fowl, and the trees were loaded with their + nests." + +It was a sort of bird-paradise, into which the foot of man, the +destroyer, had probably never entered before. + +There is considerable beauty in a small coral reef, when seen from a +ship's mast-head, at a short distance, in clear weather. A small +island with a white sand-beach and a tuft of trees, is surrounded by a +symmetrically oval space of shallow water, of a bright grass-green +colour, enclosed by a ring of glittering surf as white as snow; +immediately outside of which is the rich dark blue of deep water. All +the sea is perfectly clear from any mixture of sand or mud. It is this +perfect clearness of the water which renders navigation among coral +reefs at all practicable; as a shoal with even five fathoms water on +it, can be discerned at a mile distance from a ship's mast-head, in +consequence of its greenish hue contrasting with the blue of deep +water. In seven fathoms water, the bottom can still be discerned on +looking over the side of a boat, especially if it have patches of +light-coloured sand; but in ten fathoms the depth of colour can +scarcely be distinguished from the dark azure of the unfathomable +ocean. This bed of reefs stretches along the coast of Australia, and +across Torres Strait, nearly to the coast of New Guinea, a distance of +one thousand miles! + +One of the charms of Natural History is, that it gives a perpetual +interest to Nature,--that things, to the common eye of no attraction, +have the power of giving singular gratification; and that, in fact, +the intelligent naturalist is indulged with a sense of beauty, and an +accession of knowledge in almost every production of nature. We cannot +avoid quoting the example in the writer's own words. The subject was a +block of coral, accidentally brought up by a fish-hook from the bottom +of one of the anchorages. Nothing could have been less promising, and +any one but a naturalist would have pronounced it to be nothing but a +piece of rock, and have flung it into the sea again. But what a source +of interest does it become in the hands of the man of science. + +"It was a mere worn dead fragment, but its surface was covered with +brown, crimson, and yellow _Nulliporae_, many small _Actinae_, and soft +branching _Corallines_, _Flustra_, and _Eschara_, and delicate +_Reteporae_, looking like beautiful lace-work carved in ivory. There +were several small sponges and _Alcyonia_, seaweeds of two or three +species, two species of _Comatula_, and one of _Aphiura_, of the most +vivid colours and markings, and many small, flat, round corals, +something like _Nummulites_ in external appearance. + +"On breaking into the block, boring shells of several species pierced +it in all directions, many still containing their inhabitants; while +two or three _Nereis_ lay twisted in and out among its hollows and +recesses, in which, likewise, were three small species of crabs." + +If it should be supposed that the receptacle or _nidus_ of all those +curious and varied things was a huge mass of rock, we are informed +that,-- + + "The block was not above a foot in diameter, and was a perfect + museum in itself, while its outside glared with colour, from the + many brightly and variously coloured animals and plants. It was by + no means a solitary instance; every block which could be procured + from the bottom, in from ten to twenty fathoms, was like it." + +The reflection on this exuberance of nature is striking and +true.--"What an inconceivable amount of animal life must be here +scattered over the bottom of the sea! to say nothing of that moving +through its waters; and this through spaces of hundreds of miles: +every corner and crevice, every point occupied by living beings, +which, as they become more minute, increase in tenfold abundance." + +And let it be remembered, too, that those creatures have not merely +life, but enjoyment; that they are not created for any conceivable use +of man, but for purposes and pleasures exclusively suited to their own +state of existence; that they exist in millions of millions, and that +the smallest living thing among those millions, not merely exceeds in +its formation, its capacities, and its senses, all that the powers of +man can imitate, but actually offers problems of science, in its +simple organisation, which have baffled the subtlest human sagacity +since the creation, and will probably baffle it while man treads the +globe. + +In the navigation along the coast, the officers had frequent meetings +with the natives, who seemed to have known but little of the English +settlements, for their conduct was exactly that of the savage. They +evidently looked with as much surprise on the ships, the boats, and +the men, as the inhabitants of Polynesia looked upon the first +navigators to their shores. They were all astonishment, much craft, +and a little hostility on safe occasions. + +But some parts of the coast still invite the settler, and the +communication of this knowledge from a pen so unprejudiced as that of +the voyager, may yet be a service in directing the course of +colonisation. We are told that the tract of coast between Broad Sound +and Whitsunday Passage, between the parallels of twenty-two degrees +fifteen seconds, and twenty degrees twenty seconds, exhibits peculiar +advantages. Superior fertility, better water, and a higher rise of +tide, are its visible merits. A solid range of hills, of a pretty +uniform height, cuts off from the interior a lower undulating strip of +land from five to ten miles broad, the whole seeming to be of a high +average fertility for Australia. The grass fine, close, and abundant; +the timber large-sized and various. The coast is indented with many +small bays and inlets. The great rise and fall of tide is, of course, +admirably adapted for the construction of docks for the building and +repair of ships. + +Nor are those advantages limited to the soil. The coast is protected, +as well as enriched and diversified, by numerous small islands, lofty, +rocky, and picturesque, covered with grass and pines. + +The most vexatious part of the narrative relates to the natives; +whether they have been molested by the half-savage whalers, or are +treacherous by habit, it was found necessary to be constantly on the +watch against their spears. The parties who were sent on shore merely +to take astronomical observations, were assailed, and were sometimes +forced to retaliate. Instead of the generally thin and meagre +population of Australia, some of those tribes were numerous, and of +striking figure, especially in the neighbourhood of Buckingham Bay. +These were friendly and familiar at first, often coming to the ships; +and so much confidence was at last placed in them, that the boats' +crews neglected to take their arms with them when they went for water, +or to haul the seine; but this was soon found to be perilous +confidence. + +"On the very last night of our stay, after catching a good haul of +fish, and distributing some of them to the natives, the boats were +suddenly assailed by a shower of spears and stones from the bushes. +The boatswain was knocked down by a large stone and much hurt. +Luckily, one of the men had a fowling-piece, and after firing it +without producing any effect, a ball was found in the boat, with which +one of the black fellows was hit, and the attack immediately ceased. + +"The man who was struck, after giving a start and a scream, showed the +marks on his breast and arms to his companions; and then going to the +water, and washing off the blood, seemed to think no more of it, but +walked about with perfect unconcern." + +Their spears exhibited a degree of ingenuity, which deserts them in +every instance of supplying the better wants of life. Into a piece of +bamboo, six feet three inches long, is inserted a piece of heavy wood, +two feet seven inches long, the junction being very neatly and firmly +secured with grass and gum. This piece of wood tapers to a point, on +which is fastened an old nail, very sharp, and bent up, so as to serve +for a barb; behind which, again, are two other barbs, made of the +spines from the tail of the stingray. All these are so secured by fine +grass and gum, that while quite firm against any ordinary resistance +in entering the body, a much less force would tear them off, in +endeavouring to withdraw the spear. + +The beauty of some of the coral reefs occasionally excited great +admiration. + +"I had hitherto," observes the writer, "been rather disappointed by +the coral reefs, so far as beauty was concerned; and though very +wonderful, I had not seen in them much to admire. One day, however, on +the lee side of one of the outer reefs, I had reason to change my +opinion. + +"In a small bight of the inner edge of the reef was a sheltered nook, +where every coral was in full life and luxuriance. Smooth round masses +_Moeandrina_ and _Astroea_ were contrasted with delicate leaf-like and +cup-shaped expansions of _Explanaria_, and with an infinite variety of +_Madreporiae_ and _Seriatoporae_, some with more finger-shaped +projections, others with large branching stems, and others again +exhibiting an elegant assemblage of interlacing twigs, of the most +delicate and exquisite workmanship. Their colours were unrivalled--vivid +greens, contrasting with more sober browns and yellows, mingled with +rich shades of purple, from pale pink to deep blue. Bright red, yellow, +and peach-coloured _Nulliporae_ clothed those masses that were dead, +mingled with beautiful pearly flakes of _Eschara_ and _Retepora_. + +"Among the branches of the corals, like birds among trees, floated +many beautiful fish, radiant with metallic greens and crimsons, or +fancifully banded with black and yellow stripes. Patches of clear +white sand were seen here and there for the floor, with dark hollows +and recesses, beneath overhanging masses and ledges. All those, seen +through the clear crystal water, the ripple of which gave motion and +quick play of light and shadow to the whole, formed a scene of the +rarest beauty, and left nothing to be desired by the eye, either in +elegance of form or brilliancy and harmony of colouring." + +This description we recommend to the rising generation of poets. It +may furnish them with a renewal of those conceptions of the dwellings +of sea nymphs and syrens, which have, grown rather faded, from +hereditary copying, but which would be much refreshed by a voyage to +the Great Barrier Reef, or its best substitute, a glance at Mr Jukes's +clever volumes. + +We now pass generally over the prominent features of this part of the +expedition. As it had been among the directions given by the +Admiralty, to mark the principal passage through the great reef by a +beacon, they fixed on Raine's Island, where they disturbed a colony of +another kind. The whole surface of the island, (a small one, of one +thousand yards long by five hundred wide, and in no part more than +twenty feet above high-water mark,) was covered with birds, young and +old; there were frigate birds, gannets, boobies, noddies, and black +and white terns; the only land birds being land-rails. The description +is very peculiar and picturesque. The frigate birds, (who may have +acted as a sort of aristocracy,) had a part completely to themselves; +their nests were a platform of a foot high, on each of which was one +young bird, (the heir to the estate.) But there were young of all +growths, some able to fly, some just hatched, and covered with a +yellowish down. Those which could not fly assumed a fierce aspect at +the approach of strangers, and snapped their beaks. The boobies and +gannets each also formed separate flocks, but few of them had either +eggs or young ones. All the rest of the island was covered with the +eggs and young ones of the terns and noddies. The terns' eggs lay +scattered about the ground, without any nest; the young terns also +seemed each unalterably attached to the spot where it had been +hatched, and immediately returned to it on being driven off. + +As night closed in, it was curious to see the long lines and flocks of +birds streaming from all quarters of the horizon towards the island. +The noise was incessant and most tiresome. On walking rapidly into the +centre of the island, countless myriads of birds rose shrieking on +every side, so that the clangour was absolutely deafening, "like the +roar of some great cataract." The voyagers could see no traces of +natives, nor of any other visitors to the island. + +Among the wonders of creation is the existence of those myriads of +creatures, wholly beyond the uses of man, living where man had +probably never trod since the Deluge, enjoying life to the full +capabilities of their organisation, sustained by an unfailing +provision, and preserved in health, animation, and animal happiness, +generation after generation, through thousands of years. Such is the +work of divine power; but can it be doubted that it is also the work +of divine benevolence; that the Great Disposer of all takes delight in +giving enjoyment to all the works of his hand; that He rejoices in +multiplying the means of enjoyment, its susceptibilities and its +occasions, to the utmost measure consistent with the happiness of the +whole; and that--even in those vast classes of inferior being which +can have no faculty of acknowledging their benefactor, from whom He +can obtain no tribute of affection, no proof of obedience, and no +return of gratitude--His exhaustless desire, of communicating +happiness acts throughout all? + +This view certainly cannot be got rid of by saying, that all classes +of nature are essential to each other. What was the importance of a +flock of sea fowl in the heart of the Pacific to the human race for +the last four thousand years? or what may it ever be? Yet they pursue +their instincts, exert their powers, sweep on the winds, range over +the ocean, and return on the wing night by night to their island, +nestle in their accustomed spots, and flutter over their young, +without a shock or a change, without a cessation of their pleasures or +a diminution of their powers through ages! What must be the vigilance +which watches over their perpetual possession of existence and +enjoyment; or what conclusion can be more just, natural, or +consolatory than that, "if not a sparrow falls to the ground without +the knowledge and supervision of Providence," a not less vigilant +care, and a not less profuse and exalted beneficence will be the +providential principle of the government of man, and the world of man! + +The examination of Torres Strait was a chief object of the expedition; +and we therefore give a sketch of a passage which is constantly rising +in importance. + +All the islands which stretch across the Strait have a common +character; all are steep and rocky, and some six hundred feet in +height. They are, in fact, the prolongation of the great mountain +chain of the eastern coast of Australia. The especial importance of +Torres Strait is, that it must continue to be almost the only safe +route to the Indian Ocean from the South Pacific--the S.E. trade-wind +blowing directly for the Strait nearly the whole year within the +tropics, and during the summer being the prevailing wind over a large +part of the extra-tropical sea. The attempt to pass to the north of +New Guinea would encounter a longer route, with dangers probably much +greater, in a sea still comparatively unexamined. + +But it is admitted that the navigation of the Torres Strait and the +Coral Sea, however exactly surveyed, must always be hazardous. Hazy +weather, errors of reckoning, errors in the chronometer, &c., must +always produce a considerable average of casualties in the Strait. +Yet, from the nature of the reef, when these casualties do occur, the +vessel will generally be fixed on the rocks long enough for the crew +to escape in their boats. There, however, a new hazard begins. The +only places of refuge for these boats at present are Port Essington, +six hundred miles beyond Cape York; or Coupang, in Timor, five or six +hundred miles further to the westward. + +Mr Jukes strongly recommends the formation of a post at Cape York, as +not merely enabling the shipwrecked crews to arrive at an immediate +place of safety, but as affording assistance to the vessel, and +securing her cargo. From Cape York there would be easy opportunities +of a passage to Singapore. In case of war, the advantages of having a +military station at this point would be of the highest value; as, +otherwise, an enemy's corvette might command the Strait. It would also +make a valuable depot for stores necessary for the relief of vessels. +In case of the further extension of steam navigation between India and +New South Wales, of which there can now be no doubt, Cape York would +make an excellent coal depot. In short, unless the narrator's +imagination runs away with him, it would answer any necessary purpose +of navigation, and ought to attract the consideration of government +without loss of time. + +Allowing for all the ardour of fancy, there can be no question that +the period is coming rapidly when the mind of Europe will be strongly +directed to the natural wealth of the vast chain of islands reaching +from New Caledonia to New Guinea. China, the Moluccas, and the great +islands of the South, will hereafter supply a commerce unequalled in +the East, or perhaps in the world. Of this Torres Strait must +inevitably be the channel; a new city will be necessary to concentrate +that commerce, and Cape York offers the foundation for a new +Singapore. + +If a philosopher were to inquire, in what portion of the globe man +might enjoy the largest portion of physical happiness; or if a +politician were to search for a new seat of empire, combining the +capacity of sustaining the largest population and the most direct +action on the great adjoining continent; or if the merchant were to +examine the Asiatic hemisphere, with a mere view to the richness and +variety of products--each would probably decide for the Indian +Archipelago; that immense region of immense islands lying between +Sumatra and New Guinea, east and west, and the Philippines and Timor, +north and south. + +They are at least a wholly new region; for though peopled for +hundreds, or perhaps thousands of years, and visited in the old times +of European commerce with more frequency than even in our active day, +their actual condition remains nearly unknown: their fertility is +comparatively neglected; their spontaneous products are left to waste; +their singular beauty is disregarded, and their mineral wealth is +unwrought. Their people are content with savage existence, and the +bounty of Heaven is thrown away in the loveliest portion of the globe. +Piracy at sea, war on land, tyranny, vice, and ignorance, are the +habits and characteristics of a zone which could sustain a population +as numerous as that of Europe, and supply the wants and even the +luxuries of half the world. Celebes, New Guinea, Timor, Java, Borneo, +that most magnificent of all islands, if it should not rather be +called a continent: the vast group of the Philippines, only await the +industry and intelligence of Europe. They will yet be brilliant +kingdoms and mighty empires. + +Why such noble realms should have been long given over to barbarism is +among the most curious questions of the philosopher, and of the +Christian. May they not have been kept back from European possession +and utility on the providential principle, which we discover so often +in the general order of the divine government; namely, to be reserved +as a reward and a stimulant to the growing progress of mankind? They +may have been suffered to remain in a state of savage life as a +penalty for the profligacy of their people, or they may have been +condemned to their mysterious obscurity until the impress of British +power on India and China should have been deeply made, and England +should be led, by the possession of India and the opening of the +Chinese coasts, to follow the new course of wealth prepared for her in +the commerce of the Indian Ocean. + +Whatever may be the truth of those suggestions, nothing can be more +evident, than that British discovery and British interests are now +involuntarily taking that direction. The settlement on Borneo by the +enterprise and intelligence of Mr Brookes has given our commerce, a +sudden and most unexpected footing in this queen of the Indian Ocean. +The English colonisation of Australia will inevitably sustain that +intercourse. The flourishing settlement of Singapore, and the growing +population of the west coast of America, from Oregon down to +California, all converge toward the same result, the increased +commerce and civilisation of the Indian islands. + +It is also to be remembered, that those are all events of the last ten +years. But when Mexico shall have given up the Californias, which +there seems every probability of her being compelled to do, or to see +them overrun by the active emigration from the United States, the +impulse will be still more rapid, powerful, and extensive. We look +upon the whole series of these coasts as all indication of some +striking advance prepared for the general family of man. + +In October 1844 the Fly left Port Essington, on her way to Java to +refit. On the way they passed a succession of islands, known by +scarcely more than name to the English navigator. They all seem to be +volcanic, though their volcanoes may sleep; and rapid as the glance of +the voyagers was, they all, even in the wildness of precipitous shores +and mountain peaks, exhibited beauty. + +They steered up the channel which passes between the shores of Java +and Madura, an island which seems to have been cut out of Java. The +Madura shore showed a continuous belt of the richest tropical +vegetation. The Java shore, though flat and swampy in this part, +showed a back ground of mountains, some of them from ten thousand to +twelve thousand feet high. They were now in Dutch territory; and, +passing by some Dutch steamers and vessels of war, cast anchor near +the town of Sourabaya. Here the captain and some of the officers +landed, found a large new fort or citadel in the act of fortifying; +walked through the town, which contained many good European houses, +mingled with hovels of the natives and Chinese; dined at a good +_table-d'hote_, got into a _caleche_, and drove round the town, which +seemed very extensive, and its suburbs still more so. Here, except for +the visages of the natives and the lamps of the Chinese, they might +have imagined themselves in Europe again. They drove up one road and +down another for several miles, under avenues of trees, interrupted +here and there by the country-houses of Europeans. Many of those +seemed spacious; and all were thrown open, and lighted with many +lamps. In front of the houses were parties of ladies and gentlemen, +sitting in verandas and porticoes, taking tea or wine, smoking or +playing cards, and chatting. They met one or two carriages of ladies +in full dress, driving about without bonnets to enjoy the cool of the +evening. + +Then came a scene of another kind. They re-entered the town by the +Chinese quarter. There they found grotesque-looking houses, lit up +with large paper lanterns of gaudy colours, with Chinese inscriptions +or monsters on them, and long rows of Chinese characters up and down +the door-posts or over the windows. Crowds of people swarmed along the +streets, and strange cries, in a Babel of languages, resounded in +their ears, and every variety of Eastern figure flitted about them, +from the half-naked Couli to the well-clothed Chinese in a loose white +jacket like a dressing-gown, the Arab merchant in his flowing robes, +and the Javanese gentleman in smart jacket and trousers, sash +petticoat, curious pent-house-like hat, and strange-handled creese or +dagger stuck in his girdle. The view of the country in the morning +was, however, much less captivating; it was flat and marshy, and +intersected by large ditches. The roads are on dykes four or five feet +above the level of the fields, and lined with rosewood trees, an +Eastern Holland. + +The Dutch have introduced a club, which they call _Concordia_, with +billiard-tables, magazines, a reading-room, and a department for +eating and drinking. Of this the voyagers were invited to be ordinary +members. There was a book club among the English residents, where they +enjoyed the sight of several new publications and periodicals. All +this was a pleasant interchange for cruising among coral reefs, and +being tossed about or starved in Torres Strait; and they seem to have +enjoyed it completely. Besides the Dutch civilities, they had a +general invitation from an English merchant, Mr Frazer, to his house a +few miles in the country. + +In those climates fresh air and cool rooms are the chief points. Mr +Frazer's house was on the Indian model. It had but one story and one +principal room, in the centre of the house, opening both before and +behind, by two large doorways, into spacious porticoes, as large as +the room itself, and supported by pillars. Each of the wings was +occupied by three good bed-rooms. It stood in an enclosure of about an +acre, with lawn, stables, and servants' offices. The floors were +tiles, covered with cane matting in the principal room. As soon as it +grows dusk, the central saloon is lighted up with many lamps, the +doors and windows still remaining open; and every now and then a +carriage drives up, some acquaintance drops in for an hour or two, +joins the dinner-table, if he has not dined, or smokes a cigar if he +has, and drives away again. This seems an easy life: and the colonist +who can thus lounge through the world certainly has not much reason to +exclaim against fortune. Yet this is the general life of all foreign +settlements. Among the guests a Mr Frazer's they met a remarkable +character, a Mr M'Cleland, a Scotsman. His history was adventurous; he +was the individual mentioned in Washington Irving's _Astoria_, who, on +the return of the party overland, left them, and pushed on ahead by +himself across the Rocky Mountains. From America he went to China, and +then fixed in Java, where, by energy and intelligence, he has made an +ample fortune. He is now possessor of a large foundery in the island. +The population of the town was about sixty thousand. The Javanese are +described generally as an excellent race of people, patient, +good-tempered, and very handy. The man who is to-day a carpenter, will +turn blacksmith the next, and the peasant will become a sailor. They +seem also to be as candid, as they are ingenious. One of the officers +at table said that a servant who had been for several years his +coachman, asked one day for permission to leave his service and go as +a sailor. On his being asked in turn whether he had any complaint to +make, the answer was, that he was only "tired of seeing the Colonel's +face every day." + +The Javanese gentleman is fond of dress, and his dress argues +considerable opulence among his class. He usually wears a smart green +velvet or cloth jacket with gold buttons, a shirt with gold studs, +loose trousers, and sometimes boots, and a petticoat and sash, in the +latter of which is always a large creese or dagger, ornamented with +gold and diamonds. The women of the higher class live retired, those +of the lower are seen every where. + +Life seems singularly busy in Sourabaya. The Chinese gentleman is +driving about all day in his pony chaise; the Chinese of the lower +order is running about with his wicker-cases as a pedlar, or else +selling fruit or cooked provisions, with a stove to keep them warm; or +sitting, in the primitive style, under a tamarind tree, with silver +and copper coinage before him to cash notes. And the river is as busy +as the shore; there are always groups of people bathing; men and women +are washing clothes; boats of all sizes, and for all purposes, laden +with produce, or crowded with people, are constantly passing along. +Then there are the troops, who, under the Dutch uniform, exhibit all +_castes_ and colours, from the European to the Negro--a force +amounting to about two thousand infantry, besides artillery and +cavalry; and all this goes on amid a perpetual clamour of voices, +cries of every trade, tongues of every barbarism, and that wild haste +and restless eagerness in every movement which belongs to seaport life +in every portion of the globe. + +The present discussions with the Dutch government on the subject of +labour make it of importance to know something on the subject of their +colonies in the East. It is a curious circumstance in the history of a +people priding themselves on the liberty of commerce and their +openness of dealing with mankind, that they seem to have always hidden +their Indian policy under the most jealous reserve. They adopted this +reserve from the first hour of their Indian navigation. But then +Holland was a republic, and a republic is always tyrannical in +proportion to its clamour for liberty, always oppressive in proportion +to its promise of equal rights, and always rapacious in proportion to +its professed respect for the principle of letting every man keep his +own. + +But though the cap is now exchanged for a crown, and the stadtholder +is a monarch, the policy seems to flourish on the old footing of their +close-handed fathers. + +The Eastern dominions of Holland are under the authority of a +governor-general and a council, composed of four members, and a +vice-president; the governor-general being president. This sounds well +at least for the liberty of discussion. But the sound is all. The +power of the council consists simply in giving its opinion, to which +the governor may refuse to listen. The governor receives his orders +directly from the colonial minister at home, and the colonial +minister, though apparently responsible to the sentiment of the +Chambers, yet echoes those of the King. + +But there is another authority which is supposed to rule the +government itself. This invisible prime mover is a joint commercial +company, the Maatschappy, established in 1824, with a charter giving +it a strict monopoly of all commerce to the Indies for twenty-five +years, which has been recently renewed for ten years more. The late +King was a large shareholder, the present King is presumed to inherit +his father's shares; most of the members of the Chambers are +shareholders; and the Maatschappy, besides the supply of the islands +with all necessaries, acts as agent for the Crown, receives the +produce gathered by the authorities of Java, carries it home, sells +it, and accounts for the proceeds to the Dutch government. But the +company have a still heavier hold on the government, a debt for +L3,340,000 sterling; and for this they have in mortgage the whole +produce received in the East, the company deducting their own interest +and commission before they pay the proceeds. + +But we have the gratification of being told that even the Maatschappy +does not carry every thing in triumph, and that there is a proposal to +release one-third of the sugar produced by parties having contracts +with them, on condition of the other two-thirds being delivered of a +superior quality; and it is added that this relaxation has taken place +simply from the distresses of the colonies, and in the hope of +introducing specie, there being nothing in use at present but a +debased copper coin. This measure would add to the trifling free +produce of Java about 18,500 tons. + +The Dutch possessions in the East are very large, and under due +management would be of incalculable value. They comprise part of the +island of Sumatra; the islands of Banca and Billiton; the islands of +Bintang and Linga; the Macassar government, including parts of Celebes +and Sumhana; the Molucca islands; the south-west half of Timor; some +late conquests in Bali; and large portions of the southern part of +Borneo, which have been recently formed into two residencies. For +these statistics we are indebted to the narrative of Mr Jukes. + +Java was first made known to us, with any degree of historical or +physical accuracy, by the late Sir Stamford Raffles, the amiable and +intelligent British Resident during its possession by our government +between 1811 and 1816. But it was known to Europe for three centuries +before. The Portuguese, once the great naval power, and most active +discoverers in Europe,--so much do the habits and faculties of nations +change,--had made to themselves a monopoly of eastern possession, +after the passage round the Cape by De Gama, and fixed upon Java for +their first settlement in the Indian Ocean. Almost a century passed, +before their supremacy was disturbed. But then a new and dangerous +rival appeared. The Dutch, already an enterprising and warlike nation, +sweeping every sea with their commercial or military ambition,--so +much have times been changed with them, too,--also fixed on Java, and +formed a vigorous and thriving settlement at Bantam. In the beginning +of the seventeenth century, the English, making a first and feeble +attempt at eastern commerce, to the south of India, formed a factory +at Bantam. But the Dutch, indignant at even the shadow of rivalry, +broke down alike the decaying influence of the Portuguese and the +rising influence of the English, planned a new and stately Eastern +Capital, which, in the spirit of the Hollander, they planted in the +most swampy part of the island; and, surrounded with ditches, in the +closest resemblance to Holland, led a pestilential existence in the +fatness of fens passable only through canals. Batavia was built, the +proverbial place of filth and opulence. The Dutch gradually became +masters of this fine island; divided it into seventeen provinces, and +occupying the commercial coast, left the southern to the divided and +helpless authority of the two native princes, the Sultan and the +Susuhunan. + +The French revolutionary war naturally involved the Dutch in the +general conquest of the Netherlands. The rash republicanism of the +factions which had expelled the stadtholder, was speedily punished by +the plunderings and corruptions of their new allies, and the insolent +and atrocious annexation of Holland to the French empire was followed +by the additional calamity of a war with England, which stripped her +of all her colonies. An English expedition sailed for Java, stormed +its defences, and took possession of Batavia and the Dutch possessions +on the island in 1811. An English government was established, Sir +Stamford Raffles was placed at its head, and Java with its infinite +natural resources and incomparable position, promised to become one of +the most important of the Indian colonies of England. + +But at the peace of Paris, in 1815, the British policy, which was +directed to the conciliation of the Dutch, and the erection of Holland +into a barrier against France, induced the restoration of Java. This +act of liberality met with strong remonstrance; and a memorial from +the British Resident placed in the fullest point of view the probable +value and actual advantages of retaining Java. But the policy was +already determined on. It is said that, on the Resident's return to +England, he found his original memoir in some of the depositories of +strangled remonstrances, with its seals unbroken. The reason however, +may have been, that the restoration was _un fait accompli_. + +But the sacrifice was useless. The sudden whim for Radicalism at home, +and revolution abroad, which seized British statesmen in the first +frenzy of the Reform Bill, instead of punishing the revolt of the +Belgians, suffered the dismemberment of the kingdom of the +Netherlands; a measure of the most shortsighted policy, which has now +placed Belgium in the most serious hazard of being absorbed by its +all-swallowing neighbour France, on the first convulsion of the +continent. But, as England has no inclination to disturb her +neighbours, and is never guilty of that last atrocity of nations, +breach of treaties; the great colony is still left in Dutch hands, and +will be left, until some new folly compels its resumption. + +Java is a noble island; singularly shaped, for its length is about +four times its average breadth; six hundred miles by about one hundred +and fifty. Its whole extent is fifty thousand square miles, or nearly +the size of England. But its fertility of all kinds is incalculably +superior. From its diversity of climate, it is obviously capable of +raising European as well as tropical productions. Its climate, too, is +healthful, notwithstanding the illfame of Batavia. Even there, the +inhabitants have at length learned to prefer fields to swamps, and +fresh air to the vapour of ditches; for the greater portion have +either gone into the interior, or live in suburbs extending to +considerable distances. In fact, the original fen-loving Hollander has +passed away, and another generation has sprung up, which prefers +health and long life even to dollars and dyspepsia. Yet, what is Java, +to the islands almost within her view? To Sumatra, with her one +hundred and sixty thousand square miles, and Borneo, with her two +hundred and eighty-six thousand--almost a continent; and those vast +territories not wild and barren plains, like the huge spaces of +Australia, nor frozen for one half of the year, like our settlements +in America, but overflowing with the richest vegetable products of the +earth, covered with herds of the buffalo and other cattle, and sheeted +with forests up to the summits of their ranges of mountains. What +their mineral wealth may be, remains for European investigation; but +gold has been found in their rivers, and from the various heights of +their hills, we may fairly suppose them, in some instances at least, +metalliferous. + +Yet Java--of the same extent with England, produce almost spontaneous, +without any endemic disease, and with the dissensions of the natives +kept down by the Dutch authority--is calculated to have but nine +millions of people, about less than half of the souls of England. So +little does population depend upon plenty, climate, or even upon +peace. The Dutch government appears to be honest, and the reverse of +severe; its offices are well conducted, its salaries seem to be +substantial and sufficient, and its general rule of the island appears +to be directed to suppressing violence among the native tribes. + +But the sudden impulse which now urges European enterprise to the +extremities of the earth; which sends expeditions to invade the +territories of the seal and the whale at the South Pole, and plants +cities within the gales of the arctic snows, must at length turn to +the golden islands of the Indian Ocean. There, new powers will be +awakened, new vigour will take place of old stagnation, and those +matchless portions of the globe will give their treasures to the full +use of man. + +As it was determined to refit the ship in Java, time was given for the +curiosity of Mr Jukes and the officers to employ itself in examining +the interior. After various difficulties, connected with official +forms in passing through the different Dutch provinces,--in which, +however, it is only justice to the governors to acknowledge, that in +general they conducted themselves with much civility,--the party, +consisting of four, at length set out. They found post-houses at every +half dozen miles apart, with a good carriage-road; they passed by a +succession of villages, through a flat country covered with rice and +sugar-cane, interspersed with large belts of wood. But those were +villages concealed by groves of fruit trees. On their way, they +stopped to see a sugar manufactory--a Belgian partnership. The house +was large and handsome, and the establishment complete. This is a new +manufacture in Java. They were now running along the northern coast of +the island, and after a drive of forty miles in six hours, they +arrived at Passarouan, which they unexpectedly found to be a large +town with several wide streets, Chinese houses in court yards, and +European residences, having lawns and carriage drives. The native +Javanese resided in separate quarters, each of which is surrounded by +a fence of bamboo paling, or a wall. We should conceive these people +to lead a primitive and pleasant life, for in those quarters the +bamboo houses seemed to be scattered indiscriminately under the shade +of bananas, cocoa nuts, and other fruit trees. + +The Dutch residents or governors, appear also to be very much at their +ease. The salary of the resident of Passarouan, though nominally but +L1,500 a-year, amounts to L3,400 sterling besides, as it is the custom +that each resident has a per centage on the coffee, sugar, tobacco, +rice, &c., raised in his district. An income of this order, when we +consider the cheapness of all the necessaries of life in the island, +must be regarded as a very liberal provision. + +They saw, as they passed through the rice fields, a curious but simple +contrivance for preserving the growing crops from the flocks of +sparrows. In the centre of the fields small sheds were erected on +posts, from which strings with feathers radiated in every direction. A +boy, or girl, was stationed in the shed to keep the strings in motion, +in order to frighten away the birds. + +On the road they passed a large market, crowded with people. They +found rows of stalls or long sheds, in some of which European +articles, such as cutlery and drapery, were offered for sale; in +others were drugs, fruit, confectionery, or salt fish. The +traffickers, too, seemed to be enjoying themselves, as some of the +stalls had benches before them, on which sat people drinking coffee, +and eating rice, hot sweet potatoes, fruit, and sweet-meats. Their +next stage was a town named Probolingo, and they were again surprised +at the extent of a place perfectly new to them. Broad roads with +avenues of lofty trees intersected each other at right angles, bounded +by the fences of the native Kampangs, or Javanese quarters, which +looked like large orchards. There were also at intervals European +houses of good size and appearance, each in its own grounds, with a +carriage-drive under the trees. They found, also, the still rarer +evidence of a comfortable condition of general intercourse,--a good +hotel; of which the master, however, spoke "but little English." Our +curiosity is left in doubt, whether his accomplishments were Dutch or +Javanese. + +There were some English settlers in this neighbourhood; and some of +the party drove out to visit the sugar establishment of Mr +Etty--brother of the well-known artist--about three miles from the +town. He was in England, but his sons came down in the evening to the +hotel to offer their civilities. They had been out pig-shooting, and +had enjoyed their sport, such as it is, for they had killed thirteen +pigs. The party were invited to similar shooting for the next day. + +On the next day they went; but an old carriage and a clumsy charioteer +delayed them, and they arrived some three hours after their +appointment. But etiquette does not seem to have been the order of the +day, for the inviters had gone out to enjoy their pig-shooting by +themselves. The invited were left to amuse themselves as they might +until seven or eight o'clock, when the inviters returned, and the +whole party sat down to dinner. At dinner, their talk was of tigers. + +Whether Mr Jukes gives this incident in wrath, or simple recollection, +we know not; but we surmise, that he and his friends would have been +just as well pleased if the owners of the sugar establishment had not +brought them out so far for nothing. + +Next day they proceeded on their excursion, and found native civility +on the alert every where. Some orders to this effect appeared to have +been sent to the Dutch authorities. At the first post-house where they +stopped, a man stepped forward with a tray of cups of tea, glasses of +cocoa and water, and rice-cakes; and a large party were awaiting them +with ponies. Each of them also found a man on horseback ready to +attend him, and carry his gun and game-bag. A petty chief rode before +them, and another with a small party brought up the rear, so that they +formed quite a cavalcade. But the natives with their gaily-coloured +dresses, blue and red coloured saddles, silver trappings to their +horses, and ornamented creeses in their girdles, "quite cut out the +Englishmen in appearance, with their dingy shooting-jackets and soiled +trousers." + +And here we may fairly ask the question, why those gentlemen should +have appeared in "dingy shooting-jackets and soiled trousers?" This is +not a question of dandyism. They were to appear before the authorities +of another country, before the gentlemen of another nation. They were +also to be presented to native gentlemen and rajahs, who have as quick +an eye for the outward man as any people in the world. And while those +showy costumes--even in so trifling a matter as the attendance on a +shooting-party--exhibited the taste of the people in those matters, +why should the Englishman exhibit his own, in dingy shooting-jackets +and soiled trousers? In fact, in matters of this kind, a man in +foreign countries, and especially in the military and naval service of +his country, should recollect the effect of this beggarliness on the +mind of strangers. The party must have been the objects of ridicule +and contempt to the very peasants around them. + +As they rose towards the hills, the country appeared to be in general +richer and more picturesque. From the summit of the first ridge the +country before them was gently undulating, interspersed with patches +of wood, that looked like a wide-spread park, till at some miles +distance it rose up the slopes of a volcanic mountain--the Lamongan. +On the sides of this huge volcano, the woods became thicker and more +continuous, till they reached the bare piles of ashes and cinders +forming the upper cone. + +The road then lay through coffee plantations. These were very +pleasant-looking places. The coffee shrubs were planted in rows, with +tall trees between each row to shelter the coffee from the sun. The +alleys between the trees were carpeted by rich green turf, forming +pleasant glades. The plantations were generally neatly fenced and +often extensive; as much as twenty or thirty acres in one plot. Every +now and then they passed on the roadside a noble tree, with +wide-spread, drooping branches, a species of banyan tree, under which +was often seen a bullock-waggon with its team. + +All this was oriental and picturesque; but the scenery sometimes +reminded them of spots in Devonshire, so green and fresh was all the +vegetation, and so pleasant were the deep narrow lanes and sparkling +brooks. Their halting-place for the day was a large and lofty +bamboo-house on a raised terrace of brick, having a broad veranda all +round, a large central saloon, and two or three good and +well-furnished bed-rooms on each side. This veranda had the advantage +also of a noble landscape. At the back, it looked down a steep bank to +a beautiful circular lake about a quarter of a mile across, bordered +by a thick belt of wood, and right over it at a few miles' distance, +the stately cone of the Lamongan, upwards of four thousand feet high, +with a wreath of white smoke curling from its summit. + +To this feast of natural beauty was added the more substantial one of +the table. In the veranda they found a table spread with a snow-white +cloth, and all the conveniencies of plate, glass, and cutlery. A troop +of willing servitors was in attendance, who covered the table with a +smoking-hot breakfast, piles of rice curries, pillaus, and fruits, +with tea and coffee. All this seemed to be done by enchantment; there +was no host, no master of the house to trouble them with ceremony; the +house and all that belonged to it seemed to be theirs as long as they +chose to stay. Whose was the furniture, or who provided the +entertainment, they knew not. In those comfortable quarters, they +determined to halt for the next day, and try to get a little shooting. + +The naturalist, however, on this evening, employed himself more +rationally than his companions. While they went out shooting, he took +his hammer and went to the ravine, to learn something about the masses +of lava and basalt which lay every where. The whole ground gave +evidences of the existence of an ancient volcano. The circular lake +seemed to have been a crater; its depth was said to be three hundred +and ninety feet. But the noble proportions of the landscape still +attracted the eye, and within the horizon shot up the pile of the +Semmi,--the loftiest, most perfect, and most majestic-looking cone +that they ever saw in Java, its height being twelve thousand two +hundred and ninety-two feet--a greater elevation than that of the Peak +of Teneriffe. Every thing was lovely in form and colour, and glittered +in the hot sunshine, while a fine fresh breeze from the south tempered +the heat, and gave it the feeling of a summer day at home. + +Still, though all this seemed a land of magic, to those who probably +had never thought of Java but as a place of pestilence, of burning +soil, and scorching sunshine, it was not all fairy land. After dinner, +at dusk, as Mr Jukes was strolling round the house smoking a cigar, a +man with a long spear came up to him, and began to turn him back with +an earnest speech, of which the only word he understood was _machan_; +but it was an important one, and the point of the whole oration, for +it is the Javanese for tiger. + +Having recourse to one of the party as interpreter, he found that the +spearman was begging of him not to walk in the dark, as tigers were +abundant there; which, he emphatically assured them, eat men, and that +they had even sometimes come into the house. In the veranda they found +a guard of four spearmen, keeping watch for the same purpose. The +Englishman thought that they were jesting, until he saw that none of +the people themselves went a few yards beyond the house without a +torch. One man going to bathe in the lake just below, another +accompanied him with a torch. They also saw four men coming up the +road with two large torches, who, they said, were returning from their +work from the village hard by. They still thought their fears a little +exaggerated; but on that very night a man was killed by a tiger at a +village about two miles off, as he was going to his work before +daylight with two others. His body was recovered the next day. + +In the morning, the party went out to shoot any thing that came in +their way. Their success, however, was limited to a pig, and a brace +of jungle fowl. Some of the party saw tracks of tigers, but they +attack nobody during the day; the night being their time for +retaliation. Another division of their party coming home by a straight +course across the country, and just before it got dark, found +themselves on the borders of a district which had been mentioned to +them as the most noted haunt of tigers in the whole country. Cocking +their guns, however, they pushed through the grass, that rose often +three feet above their heads, for about half a mile, not without a +feeling of half hope, half fear, of the rush of a tiger through the +jungle. From this nervous predicament, however, they escaped. Half an +hour later they might have told a different story, or perhaps would +have been left without the power of telling one. Their shot-pouches +would have made but an indifferent defence against the charge of a +supperless tiger; and the philosopher might have finished his earthly +career in the retaliatory jaws of the lord of the jungle. + +We recommend Java to all country gentlemen tired of time; they will +have plenty of shooting of every kind there--the lion alone excepted; +bears are in abundance and great ferocity; wild boars in droves: with +the wild buffalo, the most dangerous of all animals to meet with, and +far more dreaded by the natives than the tiger himself. The tiger is +to be found every day throughout the year, and every where from +twilight to sunrise. For the more _recherches_ in shooting, there is +the rhinoceros, the most capital of all sport, as it is called; for in +nine instances out of ten he kills his man. Unless the sportsman hits +him in the eye, double barrels are unavailing; his hide would turn off +every thing but a cannon ball. If the shot is not imbedded in his +brain, he dashes after the sportsman at once; escape then can only be +by miracle, for unwieldy as he looks, he runs like a race-horse, rips +up the fugitive with his horn, and finishes by trampling him into a +mass of mortality that leaves not a feature distinguishable. Thus, +field-sports are not altogether confined to gentlemen. + +But for glories of this order, the amateur must travel to some +distance; he must penetrate the deep and trackless forests of the +southern Sultan, or ascend to the volcanic regions of the interior. + +We now hasten to the close of these interesting volumes. The whole +party seem to have been treated with remarkable civility, and to have +been shown all kinds of strange things. Among the other curiosities, +they were taken to visit the Sultan of Madura, a hospitable old man, +who treated them like fellow sultans, paraded his guards for them, +gave them a feast which seemed to be all but interminable, played the +native fiddle for them, led his own royal orchestra with some skill, +played _vingt-et-un_ with them, and finished by a species of _ombres +Chinoises_, or shadowy drama, which lasted through the whole night. As +the Englishmen began to droop, he exercised all the English which he +possessed, to offer them "a glass of grog," which he evidently +considered to be essential to English enjoyment; and after his +visitors had retired to rest, he continued to sit out the play--which +lasted the mortal measure of ten hours; a feat exceeding the +endurance, though probably not the _ennui_, of a regular amateur of +the Italian Opera. The populace, too, exhibited the same dramatic +ardour, for they continued gazing, laughing, and shouting, with all +the perseverance of their old sovereign. + +The revenues of this chief are enormous, though they amount only to +L8,000 sterling; but then we are to recollect that the wages of a +Javanese workman are but five duits, or five-sixths of an English +penny; and that for this he can "live very well." Man gets plantains +and fruits for almost nothing. His clothing is made of a simple +wrapper, and a day or two's cutting of bamboo gives him a very +sufficient house. Let this be compared with the Irish peasant, +shivering through three months of winter, and six months of wet, +paying five pounds an acre for his swampy potatoes, and out of his +holding paying tithe, tax, county rates, and all the other +encumbrances of what the political economists call "a highly civilised +state of society." We say "_vive le systeme feodal, vive la sauvagerie +Javannaise_." + +One half of the Sultan's revenue arises from a singular source--the +sale of birds' nests, which are found in the rocks, and which the +Chinese purchase as a restorative. The Chinese, a remarkably gross and +voluptuous people, are the greatest quacks on earth, and are +continually attempting to reinstate by medicine, what they have ruined +by excess. But soup is pleasant physic, and they boil these birds' +nests into soup, in full reliance on the miracle. + +The Englishmen tasted some of this soup, among the luxuries of the +Sultan's table, and highly approved of it; but its merits depended on +many capital ingredients, the birds' nests merely acting as a sort of +connective, an isinglass to the whole. It is probable that their whole +virtue is in the fashion. + +In looking at the future, through all the mists which beset the vision +of man, it seems scarcely possible to doubt that these regions are +intended for a vast and vigorous change. It may not be a European +change. Society may not be cast into the furnace, as it has been by +those struggles, wars, and revolutions, which were essential to the +working of the iron temperament of Europe. But Providence, if we may +so speak without irreverence, evidently delights in the variety, +multitude, and novelty of its highest expedients. If no two great +portions of the physical world are like in form, climate, product, and +even in the colouring of their skies, why are we to insist on +uniformity in government, in human feeling, or in those national +impulses which shape society? The throne, the constitution, and the +laws of England, noble advances as they are to the perfection of the +social system, may be unfit for the man sitting under his palm tree +within the tropics, the navigator in the summer seas of the Indian +Ocean, or even for the rude vigour and roving enterprise of Australia. +But we have no fears of the failure of that glorious and beneficent +Cycle, by which happiness seems revolving, by whatever slow degree, +through every race of mankind. There is but one thing which is +indispensable among all, and that one thing is, the only nation on +earth qualified to give Christianity; and we, with no presumptuous +glance, but with no hesitating belief, regard the almost boundless +colonial empire of England as conferred upon our island for the +express purpose of spreading pure religion through the various regions +of the globe. With all our sense of the caution necessary in +struggling against the rude prejudices of the barbarian, and with no +inferior sense of the caution necessary in the admixture of human +conceptions, with the will of Him who "walketh in clouds;" with all +our regret for the extravagance of enthusiasm, and all our conviction +of the evil which is daily done to truth by the rashness of +conjecture, we yet believe that a time is approaching, when the +elements of society will be, at least, partially dissolved, for the +sake of their replacement in higher purity and power; when the general +frame of dominion throughout the world, will be, at least, dislocated, +that it may be renewed in higher activity and beauty; and when a world +in which a new obedience, a new integrity, a new beneficence to man, +and a new homage to heaven, will be the characteristics, shall be +formed to vindicate the justice of Providence, and complete the +happiness of man. + +Then we shall see the original powers of those neglected nations +brightened, enlarged, and elevated into forms and uses, of which they +themselves have been unconscious since their birth. Then shall we see +governments on principles adapted to the nature of the dweller in the +Asiatic plains, of the hunter of the everlasting Himmalaya, and the +navigator of the waveless Pacific; calling out the native faculties +of those vast divisions of mankind, raising, the natural products of +inexhaustible soils, whose fertility is now buried in their bosom, and +sharing with the nations of the earth the countless mineral treasures +which have been locked up in their hills since the Creation; the whole +being poured out, to meet the new demands, increase the new +engagements, and stimulate the new animation of the increasing +millions of mankind. + +The observations made by Mr Jukes on the mental effect of the southern +climates of Asia, are striking, but they are the same which have been +made for thousands of years. The European is not made for those +climates. Carrying with him, in his first adventure, his original +energy of mind and frame, he is astonished to see the land tenanted by +human beings who are content with mere existence. The bold climber of +the hills,--the daring mariner,--the intelligent and delighted +inquirer into all the wonders of earth and ocean, sees himself +surrounded by men lying on sofas, living only to eat, and careless of +the whole brilliant profusion which tissues the ground, or fills the +forest, or variegates the shore. + +But the second generation inevitably feels the influence, and the son +of the sinewy and susceptible European becomes the languid, +self-satisfied, and voluptuous Oriental. + +In fact, the two races are totally different. The Asiatic has some +noble qualities. The Creator has not altogether effaced his own image +in any region of human habitancy. He has fancy, keenness of +conception, desperate but unwilling bravery, scientific faculties, and +a quiet delight in the richness of his own lovely islands and +pyramidal mountains. + +But, to the European alone is allotted the master quality of energy; +and by that gift he drives the world before him. This resistless +quality he perhaps owes chiefly to his sullen skies and rugged soils. +Even in the East, the man of the desert, the son of the storm and the +snow, has always been the conqueror of India. The Osmanli sultans were +forced to raise the boldest of their battalions among the Christians +of the north of Greece. And we shall yet see the Australian sweeping +before him the indolence of the Birman and the Javanese. This he will +owe to the sterility of his fields and the half European blasts of his +more salubrious and stringent atmosphere. The maxim of Montesquieu, +that "poverty always conquers wealth," solves but half the problem. +The true solution is, that the poverty of the soil compels the +exertion of a vigour, which severity of climate alone can generate +among a people. For three hundred years the population of Jutland and +Denmark almost annually swept the southern shores of Europe itself. +The Norman was invincible on land. Even the great barbarian invasions +which broke down the Roman empire, were the work of nerves hardened in +the forest and in the desert. The same causes have made the +storm-beaten Englishman lord of India. But India will never be a +British colony. It will never be, like America, a land of Englishmen. +The second generation will be Indians, while Australia will be the +southern England. This is evidently the law of a Will above man. + +We must congratulate Mr Jukes on the value of his publication. +Scientific without being abstruse, and picturesque without being +extravagant, he has made his volumes a striking and graceful addition +to our knowledge of countries, highly interesting in themselves, and, +assuming hourly importance in the eyes of the people of England. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] _Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H. M. S. Fly; in Torres +Strait, New Guinea, and other Islands of the Eastern Archipelago._ By +J.B.JUKES, Naturalist to the Expedition. 2 Vols. Boone, London. + + + + +_AMERICAN COPYRIGHT._ + + _New York, August, 1847._ + + +My Dear Godfrey,--I am sorry to begin my letter with an apology, but I +feel that one is due for the very unsatisfactory manner in which, on a +former occasion, I answered your grave inquiries about the pirates who +thrive on the plunder of Maga. The jocular vein which I incontinently +struck and perseveringly followed up, led me very wide of your mark, +and I was obliged to leave you quite unsatisfied on another point, +about which, for one who is not an author, you seem to be singularly +excited. To waive my astonishment at the _Benthamism_ of the phrase, +pray what is "International Copyright" to Godfrey, that he should weep +for such a Hecuba? I should have been as little surprised, had you +asked me to inquire the opinion of the Indians as to the best regimen +for infants. A veritable author, suffering by wholesale American +rapine, would have commanded my sympathies, and I should have replied +instinctively, in that tone of consideration which is always due to +dignified misfortune; but when you, with your rod and gun, soberly +popped me a query in which I could not see that either widgeon or +gudgeon were particularly concerned, I confess I feared you were +quizzing me, and was fairly off my guard. Forgive me that I was so +slow to appreciate the true state of the case. It has only very lately +occurred to me that both you and I are somewhat changed since we +placed the _summum bonum_ in Waltonian idleness, and that you have +very possibly renounced fly-fishing, and settled down into a literary +incubation, likely to bless the world with a brood of booklings. With +this consideration, I now again address you, intending to preserve +that propriety of thought and speech, which on the subject of literary +property, I feel due to the future Great Unknown of Southern Britain. +You observe that I take it for granted, you will affect the anonymous; +and I would venture to add my counsel to your choice of a course so +judicious. You have no idea how great an inconvenience you would +suffer, should Godfrey Hall be turned prematurely into another +Abbotsford--an event which is certain, should you allow the secret of +your new character to transpire. Your comparative nearness to the +metropolis would greatly facilitate the irruption of bores; especially +as there would probably be a branch railway chartered forthwith, for +the express purpose of setting down company at the nearest possible +point of access to your venerable gateway. Besides, even you have too +much regard to the land of Kit North, to entertain any desire to see +its most attractive shrine of pilgrimage too suddenly eclipsed; and +why should you court such an exposure of popular fickleness, when +about to become yourself "the comet of a season," and to go through +that brilliant perihelion, in which, reversing the feat of Horace with +his _lofty head_, you will sweep away all other stars with a swinge of +your luminous _caudality_? Yes, Godfrey--spare your own feelings, and +treat us to another Great Unknown! I am sure such will be your +determination, and so I will simply subjoin the hope that nothing will +interfere with the speedy completion of your maiden effort--"NAPPER +TANDY; or, 'TIS FIFTY YEARS SINCE." Don't startle at my naming your +hero, and suggesting your plot; for though I will venture to say that +I have hit the nail on the head, I assure you it is only a happy +surmise. You must know that nothing could be so interesting as a +recurrence to the exciting epoch of Ninety-eight; and why should not +the sister kingdom have its romance, as well as the land of the Scots? +I have always thought that Stuart rising very much overrated--a mere +scratch to what happened in Ireland. Kilmarnock was a poor-spirited +fellow compared with Emmet; and though there were many better men than +Balmerino among the United Irishmen, it would be hard to find a worse +one than Lord Lovat. I suspect, therefore, that besides your design, I +have actually discovered your title page; though it is barely +possible that the melancholy fate of Wolfe Tone, with the indistinct +tone of ferocity that is perceptible in his name, may have suggested +the compellation of that unfortunate gentleman, as more significant of +the wolfish atrocities with which your tale will necessarily abound. +Whatever be the name, make haste with the book, and do not wait ten +years in order to have another "Sixty Years Since." You must see that +congruity requires the semi-centenary, and that Sir Walter was a full +decennium behind-hand. The demise of O'Connell at this interesting +juncture, must be regarded as a coincidence every way satisfactory, +whether we consider the fulness of his fame, the conclusion of an era, +or the interests of your forthcoming work. It has prepared public +sympathy, and tuned the strings upon which you call successfully play +for the next quarter of an age; and I hazard little in arguing that +your literary nativity will be accomplished under the ascendant of the +most favourable planet. + +Regarding you, then, as what you will speedily become--a successful +adventurer, with a whole navy of American corsairs in chase of your +literary cargo--the question takes this shape:--How does the American +law of copyright affect you as a British author, and what can be done +to save "Napper Tandy"? To answer you properly, let me first expound +the law itself, which, for your special benefit, I have taken pains to +examine. + +You are doubtless aware that the constitution of this republic is one +which answers the great test proposed by Tom Paine, who imagined it to +be of the essence of a free constitution that it should be capable of +being _put into the pocket_! That splendid capability was never more +fully realised by the laws of a sixpenny club, than by the great +charter of American liberties. It is a thing written on paper, and may +be thrust into the breeches, or hung up on the wall, as best suits the +notions of its worshipper, and his manner of exhibiting respect. Now +the law of copyright is not here, as you suppose, a mere matter of +statute; nor is the doctrine that an author has no perpetual property +in what his intellect creates, a simple decision of courts. It is a +part of the constitution, which empowers the national Congress "to +promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing _for +limited times_, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their +respective writings and discoveries." An American writer has remarked, +that its equivalent would have been the concession of a power to +_promote_ the fisheries, by allowing to fishermen a _limited number_ +of the cod-fish and herrings which they take on a Newfoundland +fog-bank. Here then, you will say, is a fundamental obstruction to +literary justice in America! But your hasty conclusion will show that +you have thought but little on written constitutions. I agree with the +Count de Maistre, that such instruments are of all things the most +slippery. What is easier than for Congress to evade its restriction, +and make the _limited time_ exactly the years of Methusaleh! Such a +limit would be about as good as "to one's heirs for ever." But there +is yet another facility in written constitutions: "a breath unmakes +them, as a breath has made." In America, a constitution is as easily +overhauled, new-ribbed, and launched again, as ever a sloop-of-war was +dry-docked and new-coppered. Here, for instance, is the great "Empire +State" of New York, with a constitution hardly a year old! The +stripling who has just attained his majority, has actually survived +the whole life of its predecessor; and he who lives half as long +again, will see the new one superannuated and going the way of all +written constitutions. The late constitution of this State was in many +respects a noble one; but its successor plays the mischief with every +thing; and I have heard an old freeholder complain that he hardly +knows whether he has a house, a wife, or a head on his shoulders; so +radically has the revolution affected whatever is social and civil. +This will show you that there is, after all, no necessary perpetuity +in the present condition of things; and so I come to the statute, +which is the only just cause of complaint. + +The English origin of the law is very apparent. It retains some +features of the old statute of Queen Anne, with others of 54 Geo. +III., which has lately been made so familiar in parliamentary reports. +It secures authors in their property for a term of twenty-eight years, +and provides for renewing this security for half that period, upon a +renewal of entry. One copy of every work thus protected, must be +deposited with the Clerk of the United States' Court for the District +where it is entered; and by a late enactment, the author must +contribute another copy to the library of "the Smithsonian +Institute,"--that unmeaning benevolence of an unfortunate scion of the +Northumberland family, which is already beginning to be regarded as a +folly, and which one would think might have been made to subserve the +interests of authors, rather than furnish another occasion for the +exercise of legislative ingenuity, in adding to their many annoyances. +The other important features of the Act are the penalty for piracy, +and the restriction of protection to citizens and residents; in other +words, the punishment of piracy in certain cases, and its license in +others. Thus the same Act is dainty of rights, if the craft swim in +rivers and bays, but hands over to the black flag whatever is found on +the highway of nations. Persons pirating a copyright work are liable +to a forfeiture of every copy in their keeping, whether of their own +manufacture or otherwise; and besides this, to a fine of one dollar a +sheet upon the same, of which one moiety goes to the author, and the +residue to the government. Why should it be culpable to steal from a +resident, and laudable to do the same thing with a stranger? If a +foreign mechanic exports his goods, they are as safe in New York, as +the wealth of John Jacob Astor; but no kind of mercy is shown to the +product of a foreigner's brain--than which one would think nothing but +his soul should be more sacred among all Christian men. On the +contrary--not content with leaving him unprotected, there is in the +tariff an express provision for the encouragement of plunder. No one +pretends that the revenue of the United States requires the tax of ten +per cent. _ad valorem_, upon all importations of "books printed, +magazines, pamphlets, and illustrated newspapers, bound or unbound;" +yet, such are the terms of the tariff of 1846, and it was designed +expressly to prevent importations, and encourage the piratical, +manufacture of such things at home. I say so, because it is notorious, +and has been exposed by American writers themselves. + +Now, let us see how "Napper Tandy" is likely to fare under regulations +like these! Can it be possible, you will say, that the Model Republic +cherishes designs so predatory; and is there no other explanation of a +law which seems so outrageous? There are laws, I am aware, which are +by no means what they seem, and British law is the last to dispense +with a concession so important. I have, therefore, put this American +statute into every light that seemed likely to show it to better +advantage, and I confess there is one view of the subject, which, as +being myself a resident, it gives me pleasure to suggest. Is it not +conceivable, after all, that the original purpose of the statute was +merely to extend, to exactly such worthies as the author of "Napper +Tandy," a polite invitation to a literary sojourn in America? You know +how many British authors, with no such inducements, have preferred +Italy to their native land; and why should not this country, at least +in the partial eyes of its own legislators, be worthy of a share of +their company? The suggestion is equally complimentary to the +law-givers, and to those whose society is thus held at a premium. It +is true, that, excepting Will Cobbett, few English writers of eminence +have taken the hospitable hint; but who could have foreseen this +result, when so many of the literary race are perpetually sighing for +lodges in the wilderness, and dwellings in the desert! Monsieur Dumas +might indeed be reluctant to accept the flattering overtures of a +country which is known to cherish such antipathies to his great +ancestor Ham, and all that interesting family; and is quite, excusable +for preferring the persecutions of French courts of justice, to the +patronage which American law would more fully accord to his books than +to his person; but why should not you, my dear Godfrey, become as +original in your manner of life, as I am sure you will be in the +productions of your genius? Why should you not court a "boundless +contiguity of shade," and issue your immortal works from the depths of +a Pennsylvanian forest, as gracefully as Lord Byron sent forth his +from the more vulgarised retirement of Tuscany? Residing here, you +could hold the sons of rapine at bay, enjoying at once your American +harvests, and the golden remittances of your publishers in England. +But the crowning consideration is this, that should you undertake the +protection of your darling Maga, an arrangement with Mr Blackwood, and +the publication of "Napper Tandy" in his incomparable pages, would +seal the fate of the counterfeit, and forcibly recall to the mind of +Reprint & Co. the sigh of Othello over his lost occupation. You +stare--but it follows, by demonstration-- + + "For the intent and purpose of the law, + Hath full relation to the penalty." + +You enter "Napper Tandy" in the "Clerk's Office of the Southern +District of New York." The next number of _Blackwood_ comes out with +your first chapter, which Reprint unguardedly produces in his _fac +simile_. Don't you see, my dear fellow, that if you ever hooked a +gudgeon, you have as certainly caught the republisher? You seize ten +thousand copies in his warehouse, just as they are about to be +distributed over the land. On each copy, he must pay, in addition to +his forfeiture, one dollar a sheet; that is to say, ten thousand +dollars for your first chapter; of which, after the government has +gone snacks, one thousand guineas are your guarantee for the interest +which the Republic takes in her invited guests; and (to the dismay of +piracy,) + + "The law allows it, and the court awards." + +Mr Blackwood will doubtless take care that your work shall not be +completed too fast: and as long as the interminable "Napper Tandy" +continues, the press of the fac-simile must stand still. Meanwhile, +you commence a legitimate reprint, under the genuine Ebony arms, and +reign as a kind of lord-lieutenant, under his ambrosial majesty, +Christopher the Great. The stereotype plates of Maga reach you every +month, and the American public discern the difference between a true +fac-simile and a cunning counterfeit. Instead of the sham +_tete-de-Buchanan_, they see the very "trick of Coeur-de-lion's face;" +and finding themselves as little taxed for the original, as ever they +were for the humbug, vote you a public benefactor, and send a +round-robin to Congress demanding the instantaneous enactment of a +universal copyright law, if not the grant of a gold medal to the +beneficent Godfrey. I anticipate, however, your reply. Ten thousand +copyrights would not tempt you to pass more than three months in the +year away from your Kentish comforts and cousins! Very well--then +perish dreams of lord-lieutenancy; and learn the inevitable fate of +your neglected literary offspring. The same day that Import and +Profits advertise their London copies of "Napper Tandy," at five +dollars a volume, any number of shirtless little vagabonds will be +crying it in a pamphlet edition from Astor House to Wall Street, and +through all the thoroughfares, for a currency shilling. I wish you +might see your own degradation, as I shall be forced to behold that of +my friend. Think of an illustrated edition coming out, under the +auspices of Napper Tandy M'Dermot, Esq., in which that namesake of +your hero undertakes to give your biography, and describes you as the +occupant of a garret, in the receipt of wages from government, for +manufacturing false representations of characters inestimably dear to +patriots, and odious to tyrants only! Think of that person actually +taking out a copyright for his edition of your own book, on the +grounds of his thus doing for your character the very thing which he +reprobates as your detestable trade; and so enjoying for no very +"limited time," the enormous profits of the "standard American +edition" of your outcast work. Permit me to add, significantly-- + + "The fault, dear Godfrey, is not in the laws, + But in yourself, if you are pirated!" + +However, if you seriously ask me whether there is no chance of an +alteration in the laws, even should you persist in refusing the +invitation to America, I will candidly answer, that the progress of +civilisation is probably independent even of you, and may very likely +win the honours which would be yours, had you the boldness which +fortune delights to favour. If you think me too sanguine, you can +possibly obtain an interview with Mr Dickens, and qualify my +representations by the discouraging views he will give you. They say +here, that he came out to America on purpose to dun brother Jonathan, +and it is still spoken of with surprise, that though shrewdly invited +to dinner, he was not deterred from presenting his bill at the table. +The slight misunderstanding to which such a manoeuvre very naturally +gave rise, may have seemed to justify his doubts, as they did to check +the good intentions of his entertainers, with regard to the speedy +adjustment of grievances; yet I think I am not mistaken in believing +that popular sentiment in this country is just now setting strongly in +favour of a community of copyright between America and Great Britain. + +As a mere question of ethics, it can hardly be expected that while +doctors disagree, the popular conscience should be much disturbed by +the flagrancy of the present laws; yet it is only justice to the tone +of moral feeling which characterises what may fairly be called society +in America, to say that it is correct, if not even generous. The +leading periodicals, which may be taken as an index of the opinions of +educated men in general, have always been true to principle in the +discussion of this matter. The _New York Review_, which, during a +brief but honourable career was regarded as speaking the high-toned +sentiments of American churchmen, contained an elaborate article, as +early as in 1839, in which the conduct of Congress, reference to the +famous "British Authors' petition," was severely rebuked, and +criticised as scandalously unprincipled and disgraceful. About the +same time, under cover of its provincial blue and yellow, the _North +American_, or, as Mr Cooper calls it, the _East American_ came out in +defence of justice as toweringly as even Maga herself. The "British +Authors' petition" had been fiercely opposed by a "Boston booksellers' +memorial," which, among other things addressed to the lowest passions +of the mob, argued against a copyright law, that it would prevent them +from altering and interpolating English books, to accommodate +republican tastes! Hear then how the Boston reviewers--who in spite of +that snobbish sectarian air of perkiness and pretension which is +usually ascribed to them, can now and then do things very +handsomely--pounce upon their townsmen's morality. "We cannot help +expressing our surprise," say they,[2] "that the strange and +dishonourable ground assumed in that memorial, has not been more +pointedly reprobated. We can only account for the adoption of such a +document at all, by a body of respectable men, on the supposition that +its piratical doctrine, respecting literary property, escaped the +notice of the convention; ... for in our view, the doctrine to which +those respectable gentlemen seemed to give their public support, was +one to be mentioned, not in the company of honest men, _but only in +the society of footpads, housebreakers, and pickpockets_." In an +earlier number of the same work[3]--which was lashed by the _New York +Review_ for its astounding ignorance of the most celebrated letters of +Junius, and for quoting a judicial opinion of Lord Kaimes's as a +speech in the House of Lords--the reviewer, whose blundering +intrepidity is only saved from the ridiculous by the honesty of his +attempt, comes down on a nobler quarry, and thwacks the memory of Lord +Camden as if he had been another Thersites. Sir Joseph Yates gets a +sound drubbing from the same sturdy avenger of literary property, for +his share in the celebrated case of Millar _versus_ Taylor, as given +in Burrow's Reports.[4] I have been pleased too with the succinct +decision of a writer[5] who has produced an elaborate work on +political ethics, in which he lays it down that "the right of property +in a book seems to be clearer and more easily to be deduced from +absolute principle than any other." Except among the most ultra and +radical of theorists, I have met with nothing in American society, but +a most hearty subscription to such views as these: but, alas!--said +one in conversation upon this subject,--it is nothing that we think +right, nor would it be much to bring the people to agree with us, +unless something shall force it upon our demagogues. + +Public opinion is not always sovereign in America, as the remark of my +friend implies. It is curious to see how often a written constitution +deprives a people of the very privileges it was intended to perpetuate +and secure; and how the practical working of the American constitution +is frequently the very reverse of its design. By the constitutional +provisions, it would seem apparent, for instance, that the president +of this confederacy must always be the choice of a majority of the +nation's wisest men, themselves the free choice of the majority of the +people. Yet here I have lived under three successive presidents, +General Harrison, Mr Tyler, and Mr Polk, not one of them succeeding by +the _free choice_ of any one, and Mr Tyler against the suffrages of +all. The undefiled patriotism which is the hypothesis of the +constitution, does not exist; party, which it seems hardly to +anticipate, carries every thing; and parties are ruled by cabals. Thus +the greatest national measures, instead of originating with the +people, and taking shape in the hands of their servants, are begotten +in closets and conclaves, dictated to time-servers and adventurers, +and forced on the people, they cannot tell how--but in the name of +democracy and freedom. Yet, after all, public opinion is important, +because when even demagogues are inclined to do right, it is fatal to +their action if public opinion be wrong. For this reason, it may be +well for you to understand how far public opinion has advanced with +regard to our question. Its progress has been slow, but I believe +always in the right direction. Things promised well, when the Oregon +dispute became the occasion of an unnatural animosity against Great +Britain, and every measure which she was supposed to approve. In the +hurly-burly of wind and dust that was blown up under that passing +cloud, it is not to be wondered that Dickens and copyright were as +completely forgotten as orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody, +and whatever else goes to the art of using language correctly. A strip +of land that would not purchase the copyright of an almanac, became +the subject of the fiercest congressional interest; and the rights of +authors, and with them the noblest relations of the republic to the +other estates of the world, for the time were wholly lost sight of. +"Copyright" then passed into a watchword with some of those underlings +of literature, who thought to ride into favour as Cobden has been +carried into fortune, by taking the tide at its ebb and ("like little +wanton boys that swim on bladders") invoking the flood, as if their +yelping and outcries would bring the turn any sooner. A copyright club +was got up, it is said by a mere clique in this city, to which, from +the mere justice of its proposed ends, large numbers of respectable +men, throughout the country, gave in their nominal adhesion. I am not +aware that it has accomplished any other result than to favour some +ambitious young gentlemen in acquiring the autographs of eminent +persons abroad, with whom they opened an officious correspondence; for +it has been very generally voted a humbug, and has served to disgust +many with the very sound of "copyright," which has thus been degraded +into harmony with the scream of "Repeal" and "Free Trade." For awhile, +none joined the vociferation, according to my informant, but persons +whose stake in literary property was about as deep as the grievances +of others in England under the income-tax, or the impost on +wheel-carriages, hair-powder, and coats-of-arms. + +From temporary stagnation, however, the question has again revived; +and during the last six months it has been debated in the daily +newspapers, with very encouraging tokens of an improvement in the +moral sensibility of journalists. Even the tone of those who oppose +the progress of principle, has become so much modified, that they +rather excuse than defend the existing laws, representing them as +practically less grievous than is imagined. A journal which has +signalised itself by its resolute anti-copyright spirit, endeavours to +support this representation, by asserting that about as much is now +paid to British authors, for their proof-sheets, as would ordinarily +be paid for their copyrights! It is asserted in this gazette, that +Bulwer receives regularly from one hundred-and-fifty to two hundred +guineas for a copy of every novel, which he sends out in advance of +its publication in London. For similar proof-copies of their works, +James is said to command very nearly as much; and such writers as Dr +Dick, of Scotland, from fifty to a hundred guineas. What of it! It is +plain that if a single edition of such books be worth these prices, +the copyright must be considerably more valuable; and one would think +it apparent, that such occasional premiums have no more to do with +justice, than a levy of black mail, paid by its victim, because he +would fare no worse. The _New York Express_ exposes the sophistry of +its contemporary, by simply asking what is paid to authors of less +reputation, who may possess even superior merit; and _The Literary +World_--a periodical of _The Spectator_ class,--though it growls a +little at _Punch_, and now and then takes too much in dudgeon the +provocations of Maga, by no means allows its moral optics to be put +out, by the pepper occasionally thrown into them by foreign jesters +and critics. Perhaps it should be added, as somewhat significant, that +Mr Bryant, the poet, a prominent democrat and editor of the _New York +Evening Post_, has exerted himself in behalf of another memorial to +Congress for justice to authors; which is the more observable, because +Mr Legget, his late coadjutor and intimate friend, was perhaps the +most radical writer on the other side that has ever appeared in this +country, and regarded the maintenance of his extraordinary opinions as +essential to genuine democracy. It seems evident to me that no one's +political creed will be able to exclude much longer a principle, +which, if not instinctively discerned to be sound by every man's +conscience, commends itself so much the more forcibly to him who +subjects it to a rigid and thorough examination. + +So much for those great manufacturers and exponents of popular +opinion, the periodical and daily press. The influence of "the trade" +is next worthy of consideration; and I shall be able to report as +favourably of it. Although the "Boston memorial" was the doing of a +convention of booksellers, who faithfully represented, at that time, +the sentiments of their brethren of the craft, it is now very evident +that they are generally ashamed of it, and that another such +convention would be very likely to terminate in precisely the opposite +result. The _North American Review_[6] some time since announced the +conversion of no less important a personage than the chairman of the +committee which emitted the remarkable memorial itself; and the +gentleman is certainly to be congratulated upon the improved condition +of his moral health. Perhaps you saw in _The Times_--I think it was in +May last--the letter of an eminent American publisher, who not only +resented the impeachment of his professional species, as "the Fagins +of literature," but adroitly retorted the compliment upon divers +respectable houses in London. You must have noticed his declaration, +that the commercial house of which he is a member has uniformly +exerted its influence on the side of right. With some qualification, I +am happy to say that I believe the worthy bibliopole claims no more +than his due. Theoretically, his house has encouraged the copyright +movement; but I hope I am mistaken in fearing that it has not always +exhibited a practical consistency. The "Proverbial Philosophy" of Mr +Martin Farquhar Tupper was lately published in Philadelphia, with an +announcement, by the author himself, that his publisher had purchased +the privilege of its manufacture and sale; and this announcement was +accompanied by an appeal to respectable booksellers to regard the +moral right, in the absence of legal protection. The book has had +remarkable success, and more than one publisher, who would be called +respectable, has shown himself too weak to resist even the poor +temptation to disregard this reasonable claim. I am sorry to add, that +an advertising sheet is now lying on my table which describes the +"Proverbial Philosophy" of Tupper as part of Messrs Wiley and Putnam's +library of choice reading. Perhaps this internecine piracy among +booksellers themselves has had something to do with the convictions of +the craft, that the protection of authors would be their own best +defence and security. + +It needs now some resolute friend in Congress, and the copyright +measure would not long fail of success. Unhappily, the gentleman who +seemed best fitted for this purpose, and whose former exertions +deserve honourable mention, Mr Senator Preston, of South Carolina, has +retired from his public career, under the depressing influence of +disease; and my knowledge of the public men of America does not enable +me to mention any one who will immediately supply his place. Few men +of letters sit in Congress. It is too much the paradise of hack +politicians and menials of party. Great questions of right have little +interest in the eyes of such men. Nothing gains from them a natural +patronage, unless it be capable of being manufactured into "political +capital." It is surprising that the Americans endure the selfishness +with which their legislators will devote the greater part of a session +of Congress to personal intrigues and private interests, while great +national measures, demanded often by the whole people, are trifled +with, or absolutely neglected. The great matter of "cheap postage," +for example, though strongly urged by the mass of citizens, without +distinction of party, can scarcely gain a hearing; and the fate of +literary property must be the same, until some one arises to emulate +the examples of Talfourd and Lord Mahon, and give completeness to +their achievements, by carrying a corresponding measure through the +American Congress. Till then, we must leave them to their +responsibilities in "extending the area of freedom," which are, just +now, too great to afford them an opportunity of doing as much for the +area of copyright. + +Meantime, I may safely say, that public sentiment cannot but mature +into an eager desire of the consummation: not because of its justice, +but because of its policy. I should look for a triumph of principle, +rather than of interest, were I not pained to observe how seldom +political leaders in America are wont to address the conscience, and +rest any cause upon abstract right. The fathers of the republic knew +better than to leave the moral powers of the people unexercised; but +their successors seem to lack such faculties themselves, or to doubt +their existence in the people. The copyright measure, however, may be +safely left to the national sense of expediency. America is beginning +to feel the value of literary eminence, and must be pardoned, on this +account, for absurdly overrating at times the little that she already +possesses. You will be surprised to see in how many ways her +literature suffers by her present laws, and how safely avenging +justice may be trusted to repair its own injuries. Let me show you. + +The political theorist would say beforehand, that under the proposed +copyright law the people would be deprived of cheap books; and this is +one of the popular delusions that experience must dispel. The present +laws do indeed make books very cheap, if cheapness is to be estimated +only by the cost per copy, and if legibility, convenience, durability, +and honesty are to go for nothing: and if the _price which a whole +nation pays for such books in many serious losses_, is also to be +excluded from the calculation. The present laws encourage the rapid +manufacture of such books as will sell rapidly. Novels and light +reading of all kinds are thus multiplied, to the exclusion of more +valuable books, which sell slowly; and in consequence, an entire +nation becomes infected with the depraved appetite of mawkish +school-girls. But these novels must be printed at the lowest rate; for +being unprotected, some one will bring them out as cheaply as +possible, and he who does so command the market. Thus book-making +becomes a mean and debased art; and books are crowded upon the public, +at prices merely nominal; having much the appearance, and sharing the +fate, of newspapers, which perish in the using. At the same time, +these worthless books affect the prices of all books. Valuable works +required for libraries must be printed with the least possible +investment of capital, or not printed at all. If any one undertakes +such publications, he must stint the editor, shave the papermaker, +grind the printer, starve the stitchers, and make the binder slight +his work. This is the kind of "living" which the report of Congress +says is furnished to _thousands of persons_ by the republishing of +English works; and such it must be, where every publisher has to make +books _to sell_. The books thus published are dear at any price; and +the best works do not get before the public at all. No choice American +editions can be found of Burke, of Gibbon, of Hume, or even of +Robertson, the historian of the continent; but if one imports such an +edition, he finds himself taxed at the Custom-house to pay for the +miserable thing he refuses. You look in vain for an edition of Jeremy +Taylor; and if you import that of Bishop Heber, you pay a guinea to +the Customs to sustain the privilege of American publishers to publish +it if they choose. The writings of Lord Clarendon cannot be had in an +American edition; your importation is taxed, because at some future +day it may be convenient for some one to get up the whole in one +volume. The same is the case with the whole works of Milton, of +Dryden, and many others quite as essential to libraries: but the case +is still more provoking with the better class of modern works, such, +for instance, as Alison's "History of Europe." Under a copyright law, +it could be published in New York from the English plates, and sold +almost as cheap as the poor affair now in the market, which cannot be +better, because it would be immediately ruined by a less expensive +rival reprint. Yet, if I import a copy, to save my eyesight, I must +pay for refusing this. Thus every time an American buys a foreign +book--and such books are bought by thousands--he is paying for the +broad privilege of booksellers to make the books they import; a +privilege which they do not in general care to use, except in the case +of new and chiefly ephemeral works. + +Cheap books are now furnished, because the manufacturers dread +competition; but better books, for the same money, will be readily +supplied when the publisher has the market to himself, and fears no +competitor. You remember the article on Copyright, which appeared in +_Blackwood_ in January 1842, in which it is noticed that Campbell's +"Pleasures of Hope" sells at a shilling; that Moore, Wordsworth, and +Southey, are handsomely published at three shillings and sixpence a +volume; and that such a work as "Hallam's Middle Ages," is as cheap in +the London market as books can be made: yet all these pay their +authors, and are published in cheap editions, because they find it for +their interest. Under a community of copyright, the plates of these +very editions would be sent to New York, and the works would be in the +market at a slight advance upon the cost of press-work and paper--the +latter item being much less expensive here than in England. + +But the nation pays for its cheap books more dearly still, when you +consider the effect of its present system upon its literary men. It +forces this class of its citizens to "make brick without straw." For +the reasons I have shown, the books from which authors collect their +materials are not to be found at home, and can only be imported at an +aggravated expense, and often with great delays and trouble. Think of +my waiting ninety days in New York, to procure a work like "Lord +Clarendon's History of the Rebellion!" Now, I hazard nothing in saying +that many an American author has given up projected works of great +importance, from the discouragement of similar delays; whilst proofs +are manifold, that the chief defects of valuable works actually +produced in America may be traced to such inconveniences. The patient +author often confesses as much in his preface, without seeming to know +that his country, in stimulating the almost exclusive, publication of +trash, and taxing him to support such publications, is the fostering +patron to which he owes his difficulties. Thus does America nip her +young genius in the bud; and when it perchance comes to flower and +fruit, she is not behind-hand with a blight. The unknown production of +the American author is brought into a depressing competition with +works which have been tried in England, and found certain of success +in America. The popular British author, whom the public have long +demanded, is furnished at the lowest price--while the yet unheard-of +native aspirant, who can only hope for a limited patronage, an cannot +dispense with his copyright, must of course be paid more. Whilst all +the poems of Mr Tennyson, or his betters, maybe had for a dollar, the +maiden effort of an American youth cannot be furnished for much less. +Of course, his country has crushed her child, under the weight of an +unnatural disadvantage; and in proportion as he is worth any thing, +the chances are less that he will persevere against such odds. I know +of a man of sterling genius, whose early writings attracted the notice +of Maga, who has long since ceased to write for the public, in +consequence of the evils I now depict. His country may thank herself +that he has not taken rank with the first English authors of his +class. But the same system which thus deprives American authors of +natural patronage, destroys their chances abroad. Until their own +country relieves them, by putting foreign works on a level with theirs +as to chance of success, England gives them no copyright, and they +cannot get aid from her as heretofore. Cooper and Irving were +encouraged by England under a different state of things; and it is +safe to say, that under present circumstances there will be no more +Irvings and Coopers. I am surprised that American scholars submit with +such equanimity to grievances under which genius must languish and +emulation dies. + +I have now in my mind the case of a man of learning--whom I should +rejoice to name--of whom this country might well be proud, but whom +she hardly knows; a man, of whom I venture to say, that had he been +born an Englishman, he would have bequeathed his country another +immortal name. He would have done as much to ennoble his native land, +had she known how to foster instead of depressing his early +enthusiasm. With a mind fitted for the deepest and most accurate +research, and an education, of which the perfection is attributable to +his natural love of learning, he undertook, in the prime of life, to +accomplish a certain literary work, still a desideratum. With untiring +zeal and diligence under many discouragements, he devoted to his grand +design the best years of his manhood. In the collection of +materials--doubly difficult by reason of the evils of which I have +spoken--he spent much time, and exhausted his patrimony. After +gathering a noble store, and traversing the ocean to perfect his +acquirements in foreign libraries, he at length completed his task, +and laid before competent judges the results. These were pronounced of +the richest intrinsic value, and the earnest of future works in the +same department of letters, yet more honourable to their author and +more important to learning. But the very devotedness with which my +admirable friend has pursued his one great object, has deprived him of +a popular reputation. Though by birth and habits of life a gentleman, +refined by intercourse with the choice society of Europe, and +furnished with the best introductions, his overtures to publishers +here were repulsed with a rudeness of negative, which would have +shocked the sensibilities of a footman. Who cared for him, with his +parcel of manuscript, when some European work, which had gone through +the experiment of success, could be produced with a smaller +expenditure, and without per centage to the author! Can it be wondered +at that Harpy & Co. refused to treat with him, when a new treatise on +the inside of the moon, for which lunatics in general were gaping, and +for which twenty guineas had actually been paid to the learned Dr +Snooks, of North Britain, was actually waiting its turn for immediate +reproduction? Would Snatchett and Brothers cast an eye on their +compatriot's scrawled and blotted quires, when they had just run the +pen-knife through a new "Dombey," for which fifty compositors waited +stick-in-hand, and which the million expected with insatiable +greediness? The excellent person to whom I refer ran the gauntlet of +such patrons with no better success than my questions imply; and if +the dignified production to which I have referred shall ever see the +light, I am informed that it will first issue from the English press; +for should its author publish it here, at his own expense, he will be +forced to put it at a price which, compared with the pirated works of +British authors, will appear unreasonable, and kill it in the birth. +No American is patriot enough to buy a book, simply because it is +valuable, and the product of national genius: and Congress takes care +that if any be found to do so, they shall be roundly taxed for their +patriotism. + +I have given this instance because it has come under my immediate +notice; but you will not doubt, dear Godfrey, that the country which, +even in existing circumstances, has bred such writers, in their +several departments, as Prescott, and Audubon, and Wheaton, and Kent, +and Story, has crushed at least as many more by the pressure of her +copyright laws: and, if so, America has deprived herself of +intellectual sons, whose gifts, in their stimulated exercise, would +have made her rich, as well as illustrious in the sure sequel of their +fame. The "Calamities of Authors" are indeed proverbial, but few are +the unnatural mothers who, to prevent them, destroy genius in the +embryo. Yet there is an ingenuity of mischief in this government, from +which every thing that can be of benefit to letters, is sure to +suffer. Even the poor permission to import books _duty free_, which +has heretofore been enjoyed by the few public libraries that are +struggling into existence from private liberality, was, by the tariff +of 1846, peremptorily withdrawn; whether through a niggard parsimony, +or a besotted indifference to learning, more worthy of Caliph Omar +than of an enlightened state, it is difficult to conjecture. + +If things continue as they are, one thing is certain--it will be long +before America will have a literature. Nor am I disposed to sneer, +when I think of it, at the alarm of the _New York Gazette_, which is +afraid lest the Tories of Maga should gain a preponderating influence +in the minds of educated American youth. Why is it absurd to suppose +that, if given up to such teachers, the next generation of educated +Americans will be less democratic? In republican countries, the +_studiosi novarum rerum_ are always the well-bred and the travelled. +Wealth and foreign associations must produce, in a nation, the same +effects that fortune and admission to society create in a family. A +love of simplicity and of home give place to a sense of the importance +of fashion, and the value of whatever is valued by the world at large. +_Give us a king that we may be like other nations_, was not an outcry +peculiar to antiquity and to the Hebrews. In like circumstances, 'tis +the language of man's heart. It is an appetite to which all nations +come at last. Cincinnatus and his farmer's frock may do at the +beginning; but the end must be Caesar and the purple. Republics breed +in quick succession their Catilines and their Octavius. They run to +seed in empire, and so fructify into kingdoms--the staple form of +nations. The instinctive yearning for the first change is sure to be +developed as soon as the exhilaration of conquest makes evident the +importance of concentrated strength, and imperial splendour. If so, +the hour that will try the stability of this republic cannot be +distant. Already I have heard Americans complaining of the +thanklessness of bleeding for such a government as theirs; and +remarking, that under an empire, the army would return from Mexico +with Field-Marshal the Earl of Buena Vista, and Generals Lord Viscount +Vera-Cruz, Lord Worth of Monterey; Sir John Wool, Bart, and Sir Peter +Twiggs, Knight; and that the other officers would have as many +decorations on their breasts as feathers in their caps! The truth is, +that for lack of such baubles, they will all take their turns as +Presidents of the United States. But I cannot say that honest +democrats are altogether to be laughed at, for rightly estimating the +effects of a literature exclusively foreign, and generally adverse to +the manners and institutions of a people whose strength is to "dwell +alone, and not to be numbered among the nations." + +If you are meditating an article for Maga on American copyright, you +may employ my information for the purpose; but it will not be fair to +leave out of view the most efficient objections which are urged by +anti-copyright politicians, two of which I have not as yet mentioned. +It is said to be against American interests to grant copyright, +because the American value of British copyrights will far exceed the +British value of American copyrights. Whether this be true or not, the +argument is worth nothing, unless it be followed by the +conclusion--therefore it is expedient to steal. Yet, perhaps, if the +experiment were tried, the assertion would not prove to be true. The +most valuable American copyrights are those of _children's +schoolbooks_, in which extraordinary ingenuity has been shown, and +which are generally such as, with small emendations, would become very +popular in England. But however it may be at present--since the +present standard literature of England can never be copyrighted, who +can doubt that, with a more liberal system, the land of Washington +Irving would breed such popular authors, as would soon very nearly +equalize the exchanges, while America would still be immensely the +gainer in the increase of her celebrated men, commanding no longer a +merely provincial reputation, but taking rank in the broad world, and +ensuring foreign rewards, with universal renown. At all +events--honesty is always policy. Rising to the great standard of +right, this country would soon find her reward; if but in that wealth +of self-respect which comes only with a conscience void of offence, +and which no country can possess that is not nationally great and +generous, or at least honest enough to pay for what it needs, and +appropriates, and enjoys. + +The only remaining objection which need be mentioned has been very +operative with the vulgar, for whom alone it could have been intended. +It is said that England, however nearly allied, is still a foreign +country; that her writers write for their own countrymen; that, so far +as they are concerned, America is a mere accident; and that, +consequently, right has nothing to do with the case. It is conceded +that the comity of nations may furnish grounds for a fair +consideration of what is policy; but it is denied that moral +obligation invests the British author with any claim to literary +property in America. I must let you know how handsomely the answer has +been put by Americans themselves. The Boston reviewers say,[7]--"It is +true we are distinct nations--scarcely more so, however, than the +different Italian states. We have, like them, a community of language, +and although an ocean rolls between us, the improvements in navigation +have brought us nearer to each other, for all practical purposes, than +is the case with some of the nations of Italy. Yet such is the +indifference of our government to the interests of a national +literature, that our authors are still open to the depredations of +foreign pirates; and what is not less disgraceful, the British author, +from whose stores of wisdom and wit we are nourished, is turned over, +in like manner, to the tender mercies of our gentlemen of trade, for +their own exclusive benefit, and with perfect indifference to his +equitable claims." The _New York Review_[8] strongly reprobates the +same outrages, "especially between two nations descended from a common +stock, speaking the same language, whose political and civil +institutions, though differing in form, are essentially the same in +their liberal spirit and free principles--between two nations who are +ONE PEOPLE." This is a sentiment which even you, my dear Tory, will +not be unwilling to reciprocate; and I'll tell you when I felt its +truth with peculiar force. I was walking in a quiet part of this city +the other day, when I saw at a little distance a mutilated statue of +marble, representing some one of senatorial dignity in a Roman toga. +As I drew near I discovered an inscription at its foot, which informed +me that it was a grateful tribute, erected by the people of the +province of New York in 1775, to WILLIAM PITT. During the revolution +which immediately followed, it had been lost, and was only dug up this +year from the dirt and rubbish of an obscure part of this great +metropolis. It comes again to light, to remind America that, when she +reckons up the earliest champions of her rights, she must never forget +how much she owes to that noble British statesman. It thrilled me to +stand before that silent witness of a brotherhood which revolutions +cannot change. That England and America are twain is politically for +the benefit of each; that they are _one flesh_ is the unalterable fact +which perfects the prosperity of both. The reality of their union, +which that marble attests, is as fixed as the immoveable past; and I +felt it enough that each people can boast,-- + + "That CHATHAM'S language is their mother tongue." + +How good it is, then, to strengthen the bond by which Almighty God has +made two households still one family, especially when so many ties of +mutual interests, commerce, and literature work together to +corroborate the operation of nature! + +Speaking of Chatham, I am reminded of America's great friend +in the other House, and wish I could quote to Congress what was +uttered in her behalf, in her darkest hour, by the noble-hearted +Burke.[9]--"Every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every +prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. We balance +inconveniences; we give and take; we remit some rights that we may +enjoy others.... As we must give away some natural liberty to enjoy +civil advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil liberties _for the +advantages to be derived from the communion and fellowship of a great +empire_." This is what the orator called so beautifully "the chords of +a man;" and when America has well digested a principle thus laid down +for her sake in the Parliament of England, she will feel that her +political right to refuse just protection to the British author will +be a moral right only when she is able to forego the advantages of +literary communion and fellowship with the British empire. + +This matter of copyright has been so naturally debated as concerning +the Anglo-Saxon race alone, that I too have written as if the same +principles (though with less glaring necessity) did not extend to all +nations and languages of the earth. But I, for one, shall not be +content with less than their universal application. Happy, indeed, +will be the day when a British author puts pen to paper, feeling that +he addresses himself at once to--what is almost equivalent to +posterity--twenty millions of men in another hemisphere, and extending +from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouths of the St Lawrence, among whom +the author's is a sacred name, and when the aspiring American youth +can thank his Government for making him proprietor of his literary +creations wherever the law of England prevails upon the surface of the +round world. But there are interests in which all men are brethren, +and in which their brotherhood should be mutually and heartily +conceded. Next to our holy religion is that interest which belongs to +the interchange of ideas and a knowledge of each other's humanities. +Best of all will be the time, then, when the literature of all +Christian nations acquires an essential unity, not by spoliation and +wrong, but by mutual good offices; promoting the fraternization of +contemporary literatures, and holding together that precious wealth +bequeathed to the world by the bountiful and often suffering genius of +bygone generations. + +Forgive me, dear Godfrey, that my letter, which began with a song, +should thus conclude with a sermon. It is a very long letter, and I +wish I could advise you to defer the reading of it till our friend the +Vicar comes again to dine at the Hall. I would get you to read the +first half to him, and ask him to declaim the remainder to you; but I +know you would fall into your inveterate failing of shutting your eyes +to meditate, and going into a sound sleep at the most interesting +point of the discourse. Yours, &c. + + _To Godfrey Godfrey, Esq., &c. &c. &c._ + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] _N. A. Review_, vol. lvi. p. 227. + +[3] _N. A. Review_, vol. xlviii. p. 257. + +[4] Vol. iv. 2354. + +[5] _Lieber's Political Ethics_, vol. i. p. 132. + +[6] Vol. lvi., p. 227. + +[7] _North American Review_, vol. liv., p. 355. + +[8] Vol. iv., p. 300. + +[9] Speech on Conciliation with America. + + + + +EVENINGS AT SEA.--NO. II. + + +Our next narrator was a retired officer of the army, who had become a +settler in South America, after many years unprofitable service at +home and abroad. He had rapidly advanced in worldly wealth in the +country of his adoption, but memory seemed ever to do him a kindness, +when it bore him back to the days when he first entered on life's +journey; his sword, and a hopeful heart, his sole possessions. When +the subjects of our discourse chanced to awaken any of these +recollections, he would usually hold forth with such an energy of +prosiness, that we were fain to submit with as good a grace as +possible, where there was no escape, and endeavour to interest +ourselves in the adventures he had met with, and the fates and +fortunes of the companions of his youth. The story I give here, was +one he told us of a young officer, who had served in the regiment with +him. + + + + +HENRY MEYNELL. + + +In the _Gazette_, dated "War Office, 14th June, 1828," was contained +the following announcement:--"Henry Wardlaw Meynell, gentleman, to be +ensign"--the regiment does not matter, but its mess-room was honoured +by the presence of the above-named military aspirant one day, about +two months after the date of his commission. He was introduced to his +brother officers, examined by them from head to foot, shown into a +bare uncomfortable garret--of which he was installed proprietor, +allotted a tough old grenadier as his valet-de-chambre, and then left +to his own devices till dinner-time. + +While the iron-fingered veteran was extracting the smart new uniform +from the travelling chest, and arranging it on the oak table, under +the directing eye of his master, the officers in the mess-room were +forming their opinions of the appearance of the newcomer, with the +balmy assistance, in this mental effort, of strong military cigars. +His age was nearly twenty-one years, and he looked perhaps older. His +figure was tall, slight, and graceful, more formed than is usual in +early youth, and bespeaking strength and activity. His face was almost +beautiful in feature and form when silent, but as he spoke, a certain +thinness of the lips betrayed itself, and somewhat marred its singular +attractiveness. Dark brown hair, high clear forehead, teeth perfect, +in regularity and whiteness, oval outline, head and neck shapely, and +well set on--in short altogether such a person as one rarely sees, +either in a regiment, or elsewhere. + +As the "who is he?" is always a most important point of English +introduction, and I would fain hope that you may take some interest in +this person as we proceed, you should be told, that he is the second +son of the only brother of a bachelor squire of very large estate in +Yorkshire; his father, a profligate and spendthrift living at +Boulogne, while he and his brother are adopted by the uncle. His poor +broken-hearted mother has slept sweetly for many years near the +village church where she was wed. + +Eton received him when very young; he there lost his Yorkshire +manners, learnt to row and swim, and acquired a certain precocious +knowledge of the world, and proficiency in tying a white neckcloth. +The labours of the classics and science were alike distasteful to him; +study of any kind he abhorred; yet so acquisitive was his intellect, +retentive his memory, and powerful his ability, that when he left Eton +at eighteen, few youths presented a more showy surface of information. +He had had one or two narrow escapes from expulsion for offences, in +which the vices of maturer years were mixed up with boyish turbulence; +but a certain element of depth and caution, even in these outbreaks, +saved him from incurring their usual penalties. He was admirable in +all active exercises, had a magnificent voice, and singular taste and +talent for music and painting. As a social companion, he was +brilliant when he thought fit to exert himself; at other times he was +silent and rather thoughtful, perhaps too thoughtful for his years. +Though he always lived with the most dissipated and uproarious set, in +his vices there was a degree of refinement, less of the brute, more of +the devil; he did not err from impulse, but when opportunity presented +itself, he considered whether the pleasure were worth the sinning, and +if he thought it was, he sinned. He was more admired than liked among +his young companions; and those in authority over him were quite +uncertain whether he would turn out a hero or a villain. + +From Eton he went to Oxford, there took to dissipation and +extravagance, neglected all rules and application, wore out the +patience of the authorities, and the liberality of his uncle, and, +after about a year's trial, was withdrawn from the University to save +him from retiring by compulsion. He was then sent to travel for a year +under the prudent care of his elder brother. It will be unnecessary to +track them through their wanderings; suffice it to say, that they did +what young gentlemen travelling usually do, and visited the places +that every body visits, but with this difference, with regard to Henry +Meynell, that he acquired the principal European languages as he went +along, and travelled with his eyes open; what was gained with great +labour by others seemed to be as a gift to him. He had also begun to +consider that he might at last provoke his uncle too much, and injure +his prospects; so that he conducted himself with caution and tolerable +steadiness during his time of travel. To finish this apparent +reformation, a commission was obtained for him in an infantry regiment +under a martinet colonel, and a moderate allowance provided for his +support. Having given this sketch of his appearance, family, +character, and antecedents, he is now fairly entitled to take his seat +at the mess-table. + +His corps was what the young warriors of the present day, call "rather +slow," it had, indeed, been very much distinguished in the Peninsula, +but since then a severe course of Jamaica and Demerara had excluded +from it all wealthy and aristocratic elements; and the tablets it left +behind in the West Indies were only raised to the memory of Smiths and +Joneses, whose respective vacancies had since been filled up with +Joneses and Smiths. In those days the rotation system had not been yet +adopted, and the young gentlemen in "crack regiments," only knew of +yellow fevers and land-crabs, through reading of them in books; and +even through that channel, it would, perhaps, be unsafe to assert that +they were much informed on these subjects, or indeed on any other. + +At the head of the mess-table sat a gray-headed captain, who had been +frost-bitten in Canada, wounded in the Peninsula, and saved by an iron +constitution from the regimental doctor and yellow fever on Brimstone +Hill, St Kitts; and, despite his varied adventures and ailments, had +contrived to accumulate an immense rotundity in his person, and +quantity and vividness of colour in his countenance. At the foot, was +a tall young gentleman, with high cheekbones and a Celtic nose, who +had lately joined from Tipperary. The colonel sat in the centre of one +side of the table, stiff in attitude, sententious in discourse, +invulnerable in vanity; a fierce-looking navy captain, and the meek +mayor of the town, supported him to the right and left. A few diners +out, fathers of families, and men who played a good game of billiards, +and preferred the society of ensigns, were the remainder of the +guests; the other gentlemen in red were variations on the fat captain +and the Tipperary lieutenant. + +The mess-room was long and narrow, with a profusion of small windows +on both sides, causing the light to fall on every one's face. There +were two doors at each end of the room, and one at the side, which +last, as it led nowhere, and made a draught like a blow-pipe, had been +lately stopped up with a different coloured plaster from the rest of +the wall. But indeed there was such a curious variety of draughts, +that one was scarcely missed; every door and window in the room sent +in its current of air, to search under the table, flare the candles, +bear in in triumph the smell of burnt fat from the kitchen, and poke +into the tender places of rheumatic patients; while, in spite of all +these, the room was so close and redolent of dinner, that fish, flesh, +and fowl were breathed in every breath. A scant and well-worn carpet +covered the space on which the dinner-table stood; and portable +curtains of insufficient number and enormous size ornamented a few +favoured windows, waved in the erratic draughts, and tripped up +incautious attendants, diffusing all the while the stale odour of +tobacco smoke through the other varied smells. At one end of the room +was a round table with a faded red cloth, strewn with newspapers, the +corners of which had generally been abstracted for the purpose of +lighting cigars,--the "Army List," the king's regulations, and the +_Racing Calendar_. At the other end, a large screen, battered at the +edges from frequent packings, diverted the course of the kitchen steam +which entered by the door next it; this piece of furniture was covered +with prints, some caricatures of other days, some sporting +sketches--breaking cover--the Derby--fast coaches--the ring, &c.--some +opera beauties, on whom sportive and original ensigns had depicted +enormous moustaches, and others of rather an equivocal description. + +At a given signal, the covers were removed, and some dozen of +iron-heeled soldiers, dressed in various liveries, commenced +scattering the soup and fish about with the same reckless indifference +to consequences with which they would have stormed a breach. While +Meynell was gradually coughing himself into a recovery from the +effects of some fiercely peppered mulligatawney, he was asked by the +stiff colonel to take wine, when the fat captain, and all the others +at brief intervals followed the example. For some time, there was +steady attention paid to eating and drinking, and but few words +spoken, beyond "mutton if you please--thank you--rather under +done--glass of sherry--with pleasure--your health--I'll trouble you +for a wing, &c." But as the dinner progressed, and the fiery wine +began to tell, horses and dogs, wine and women, guards and grievances, +promotion and patronage, began to exert their influence on the +discourse, and by the time the cloth was removed, every one seemed to +talk louder than his neighbour, and the din was almost insupportable. +Then, through the roar of the many voices, was heard an ominous +shuffling behind the screen, now extended all across the room; an +attuning scream of the clarionet, moan of the violin, and grunt of the +bassoon, faintly foretold the coming storm, which in a few seconds +burst upon the ears in the most furious form of the "overture to +Zampa" by the regimental band; this continued, with variations, but +scarcely a lull, for a couple of hours. + +Meanwhile the bottles pass freely round, and the roar of voices +continues louder and thicker than ever; some of the younger officers, +mere boys, have yielded to their potent draughts, and sought their +rooms; others, maddened with the wine and din, shout snatches of +songs, argue vociferously, and loudly offer absurd bets, which the +sporting gentlemen, who are strong in billiards, note down in little +pocket-books. The band retires, whist tables are laid, brandy and +water and cigars make their appearance, and the mess-room is soon in a +cloud. After a couple of rubbers of whist, the colonel, and most of +the older officers and guests, retire. As the door closes behind them, +a flushed youth with swimming eyes and uncertain step, rushes to the +table and shouts, "Now we'll make a night of it,--the bones! the +bones!" Dice are soon brought, and the work of mischief begins. "Don't +you play, Meynell?" said the flushed youth. "Not to-night, thank you," +was the answer. Not to-night--for to-night he is cautiously feeling +his way,--the scene's new to him,--he does not yet find himself at +home, or on his strong point. He sits quietly down on the well-worn +sofa and looks on; his head, in spite of the fiery wine and +distracting band, is quite cool; he has watched himself and drunk but +sparingly, and now he watches others. + +The players are seated at the round table, with eager faces and +straining eyes watching the chances of the game. One of the guests is +among them, a man with black moustaches and rather foreign +appearance, a billiard-room acquaintance of the flushed youth; a +capital fellow, they said, up to every thing, and very amusing. It was +unlucky, however, for the cause of conviviality, that he was rather +indisposed that day, and could take very little wine. But fortune now +seemed to make amends to him for this deprivation, for he won at +almost every throw. The flushed youth curses his luck, but doubles his +stakes till he has lost a heavy sum. Meynell's quick eye observed that +the foreign-looking gentleman lowered his hand under the table before +each of these very successful throws. "You had better change the +game," said he coolly to the loser, "luck is against you." The youth +dashed the dice on the floor, seized the cards, and challenged the +party to "vingt-et-un;" as he had been the heaviest loser, the others +agreed, and the cards were dealt rapidly around. + +It is by this time well on towards the dawn, the gray light already +shows the shadowy outline of the distant hills, the dewy morning air +breathes softly in through the open windows, on the parched lips and +fevered brows of the gamblers; but it is an unheeded warning. Stake +after stake is lost, some light, others heavy, all, perhaps, more than +can be spared; but the worst loser is losing still. The loss is very +great, ruinous indeed; the pale man with the black moustaches has the +same strange luck as ever; he says he quite wonders at it himself. He +is dealer, and turns up a "vingt-et-un" almost every time. Now the +flushed youth flushes deeper, his teeth are set--his eyes fixed on the +table--an enormous sum is risked upon this chance, he has drawn +winning cards, but the dealer may have a "vingt-et-un," and beat him +still. The foreigner's hand is pressed on the table, outspread close +to his cards. All this time Meynell had keenly watched the play; he +had risen from the sofa noiselessly, taken a large carving-fork from +the supper table, and, unobserved by any of the excited players, stood +behind the dealer's chair; his thin lips firmly compressed, and the +fork grasped in his right hand, he leant over the table. This was at +the point of the game when the decisive card was to be turned. Quick +as thought, Meynell drives down the heavy fork through the dealer's +hand, nailing it to the table--there is an ace underneath it; writhing +with pain and shame, the unmasked cheat is hunted from the house. + +Meynell at once became the leading man of the regiment; petted by the +colonel on account of his aristocratic connexions, admired by the +older officers for his knowledge of the world, and looked up to by the +younger as the most daring in adventure, the most reckless in +dissipation and expense. He repaid himself for the moderation of the +first night at mess, when he was feeling his ground, by constant +self-indulgence when he knew his power,--while the influence of his +popularity and extraordinary social gifts, drew most of the youths, +already, perhaps, too much disposed for such pleasures, to follow his +example. The regiment had been rather dissipated before, but Meynell's +presence in it was oil to the flame; drinking, waste, and gambling, +became general, ruining the circumstances and constitution of many, +and injuriously affecting the morals of all. Scarcely a year had +passed after this time, when several mere boys, who had entered this +fatal corps with fair prospects and uncorrupted minds, were sent back +to their unhappy parents with blasted characters and broken fortunes. +In these sad catastrophes Meynell found a secret pleasure, strange as +it was diabolical. Though he used all his address to gain followers +and companions in his career, there was something flattering to his +malignant pride when any one broke down in the attempt to keep pace +with him. Sometimes after deep play, in which he was rarely a loser, +he would confer apparent kindnesses on the sufferers, forgive them +their liabilities, and render them pecuniary assistance; but such help +only postponed for a season the ruin that was almost sure to follow +his fatal patronage, while his seeming generosity increased his +influence, and silenced those who might have spoken against him. In +equipage, appearance, and manners, he was the ornament of the +regiment, and considered by those authorities who did not inquire +into morals, as a most promising young officer of high character and +attainments. + +I shall not weary you with any details of the next five years of his +military life, of his peace campaigns, and marches from one town to +another. But his track was marked with mischief wherever he went. He +had several times, from his expensive mode of living, been obliged to +appeal to his uncle for assistance, which was always rendered, +accompanied, of course, by long and ineffectual lectures on the +necessity of reformation. But the old man was flattered at his +nephew's popularity, and pleased with his varied powers and +accomplishments; by plausible representations, too, he was convinced +that the irregularities which occasionally reached even his ears, were +but the exuberance of youth, and the effervescence of a high spirit. +Latterly, however, when the applications for money became more +frequent, and the rumours of his dissipated life more numerous and +authentic, the Squire, after having discharged all existing debts, +communicated his determination to limit his nephew strictly within the +allowance for the future, and to refuse to meet any further +liabilities. + +Cautious, cool-headed, and able as Meynell was, he was wanting in that +self-command necessary to alter his mode of life; his expensive habits +and vices had, through long indulgence, become almost necessaries of +existence. With his eyes fully open to his danger, he still kept on in +the dark path that led to the ruin to which he had ruthlessly +consigned many an other, supported the while by a vague hope that some +lucky chance would turn up to carry him through his difficulties. +Tradesmen became pressing with their accounts,--he drew bills on his +agent, renewed these when they became due, and drew others. This could +not last long; the value of his commission was soon mortgaged; he +borrowed money of advertising bill-discounters at enormous interest, +and, in short, by the summer of 1834, Henry Meynell was a ruined man. + +At this period he had just marched with his regiment into a large +seaport town in the south of England, where they were to be quartered +for some time. About two miles inland from this town there is a small +country place of singular beauty. The house stands on the brow of a +green hill, the front looking over a magnificent neighbouring park, +varied with grove, and lake, and rivulet. At the back is a trimly kept +garden of tufts of flowers, like enormous bouquets thrown on the green +velvet sward, with here and there a sombre cypress or cedar in +pleasant contrast. A succession of small terraces, with steep grassy +steps, leads down to a rapid brook that forms a little waterfall +below. Half an arch of a bridge, ruined, no one knows how, many years +ago, now covered with thick clustering ivy, projects over the stream. +Beyond, lie rich undulating pastoral lands, where cattle and sheep are +grazing peacefully; on either side of the garden thick woods of beech +and sycamore reach from the brook up to the house, shutting in this +lonely spot with their dark green wall. The dwelling was originally +Elizabethan, but had been so often added to or diminished, that it +would be hard to say now what it is; but somehow the confusion of +gables and excrescences have altogether a very picturesque effect, and +luxuriant clematis and ivy conceal the architectural irregularities, +or at least divert the eye from their observation. At the entrance to +the house from the garden there is a porch, up a short flight of gray +stone steps; its sides are of trellis-work, covered with flowering +creepers. + +One sunny afternoon towards the end of June, in the year mentioned +above, a fresh breeze rustled through the leaves, shook the rich +clusters of fragrant roses that hung about the porch, and fanned the +cheek of a young girl standing on the steps, who looked as fair and +innocent as the flowers themselves. She was her mother's only child, +and had seen but eighteen years. Her father had been a gallant sailor, +knighted for his conduct in one action, and slain in the next. Her +mother, Lady Waring, was thus left widowed while yet young; but her +loved husband's memory, and the care of her little daughter Kate, +proved enough of earthly interests for her, and she remained single +ever afterwards. Sir William Waring had possessed a considerable +share, as sleeping partner, in an old-established banking-house that +bore the name of his family, as well as the residence I have tried to +describe, so that his widow and child were left in very affluent +circumstances. He was a first cousin of old Mr Meynell, the Yorkshire +squire. + +Lady Waring was seated on a rustic bench in the garden with a book in +her hand, but her eye fixed with fond admiration on her daughter. The +fair girl stood on the steps in the porch as on a pedestal surrounded +with a frame-work of flowers. A straw hat, with a wide leaf, was +placed coquettishly on one side of her head, and from its shade an +abundance of black glossy ringlets fell over the sunshine of her face. +She had never known a moment's sickness or sorrow; her eye had never +met a frown; her ears never heard a chiding. She seemed almost radiant +with health and happiness--her joyous smile the overflow of her glad +heart. + +Lady Waring beckoned her over, and as she moved to obey the summons, +the shadow of her graceful sinuous figure scarcely appeared to touch +the sward more lightly than herself. Kate sat down beside her mother, +put an arm round her, and looked up joyfully into her face. It was one +of those peculiar English days, when the sun shines with a fierce +heat, but the east wind is sharp and cold, and the air ungenial where +the rays do not reach. At the moment when Kate joined her mother, a +thick cloud passed above their heads, throwing a heavy shade over +them, while a breeze sweeping up from the brook cast a sudden chill. +With an involuntary shudder they pressed for a moment closer together. +At the same time a servant ushered a tall, strange gentleman into the +garden, "Mr Henry Meynell," he announced, and then withdrew. + +The kinsman received a cordial greeting, and, of course, an invitation +to remain that day, which was accepted. The charm of his manner and +conversation was irresistible when he strove to please: he strove his +utmost that night, and fully succeeded--mother and daughter were alike +won by him. When he rode away from the door at a late hour, Lady +Waring was eloquent in his praise. Kate's eloquence was silence, but +it spake quite as much, and that night she did not sleep so tranquilly +as was her wont. + +As Henry Meynell galloped home over the lonely road, the bland and +winning smile which had played over his face all the evening +contracted into a moody and sinister expression. The thin lips became +compressed, and his arched brows extended into a hard dark line over +his eyes. He was planning evil, and had no witness; at such times his +features seemed to take this peculiar appearance as their natural +cast; yet it was scarcely possible to believe that one, before so +handsome, could suddenly become repulsive and painful to behold. His +self-indulgent and dissipated life had already marked him with some of +the symptoms of premature decay. Though still in early manhood, a +slight wrinkle or two was perceptible; his cheek was pale when not +flushed with excitement; and his eye, betimes glassy and bloodshot, +would betray the excesses of the previous night. But still, with the +assistance of a judicious toilet, he could make his appearance present +a very respectable degree of youthfulness; and this had been an +occasion where no pains were spared to create a favourable impression. +He had an object in view. In the desperate state of his finances, an +advantageous marriage suggested itself to him as the easiest and +readiest mode of extricating himself from his difficulties, and +continuing his career of self-indulgence. His regiment having been +ordered into the neighbourhood of his wealthy cousin appeared an +opportunity too favourable to be neglected, so he had not lost a day +in making her acquaintance. He hated the prospect of marriage as an +inconvenience, but mocked at the idea of its being a restraint. The +fair girl he had marked for his own rather pleased him; he liked her +beauty, and was amused at her trusting innocence. He probably would +have made love to her for pastime even had she not been rich. As it +was, the sacrifice to his necessities which he intended to make was +somewhat mitigated in its severity. "I must have her money, so I am in +for the stupid folly of virtuous love-making and marriage," was the +sum of his thoughts as he dismounted at his stable-door. His spaniel +had been watching for his return, and ran out, barking joyously, and +leaping upon him. He was irritated at being thus disturbed in his +calculating reverie, and struck the faithful brute with his heavy +whip, driving it yelping away. "Go, stupid cur, you plague me with +your fondness," cried he, as he struck at the dog again. Alas for the +fair girl who filled this bad man's thoughts, and who thought but of +him that night! down in his cold heart she may not find one solitary +gem of tenderness or love to light her with its ray to hope and +happiness. + +Henry Meynell's visits to the Warings became very frequent, and at +length daily occurrences. These simple-minded people, who had lived so +long secluded from the world, had little opportunity of hearing the +unfavourable rumours of their guest's character, which were pretty +generally abroad; and if now and then a suspicion was suggested to the +elder lady, the tact and plausibility with which it was discovered and +removed, rather tended to strengthen than weaken his position in her +esteem. As for Kate, the advice and cautions of meddling friends of +course only fixed her more firmly in her preference. + +About six weeks thus passed away. He had played his game coolly and +steadily; his attentions were evident, but they were yet so mixed up +with respectful regard to Lady Waring and apparent interest in her +conversation, that the good lady had been more accustomed to look upon +him as the kinsman and friend of the family than as the suitor of her +child. So gradual had been his advances, that one, day, when she found +her daughter depressed and weeping, and at length guessed that +Meynell's temporary absence was the cause, the state of affairs +flashed upon her with the suddenness of a surprise. When enlightened, +she wondered with reason at her dulness in not having before +discovered a matter of such surpassing interest. "Why should I have +any secret from you, mother?" said Kate; "it is true I love him, and +dearly, and I am sure he loves me too, though he has never told me so. +I wonder why he has not come to-day; he promised to bring me the song +he sang to us last night on the broken bridge." Nevertheless, Meynell +came not that day; and it was getting late in the evening when Kate's +quick ear recognised the sound of his horse's feet on the +approach--the sweetest music she could hear. + +She was alone in the house when he entered, her mother being in the +garden on the favourite rustic seat. After the usual greetings, and +some hurried apologies for his late arrival on the ground of business +or duty, they walked out together to where Lady Waring sat. Her mind +was on them as they drew near; she had thought of them for hours in +anxious consultation within herself. She reflected on the lonely +condition of her child in case of her death; the apparent attachment +of the young people to each other; the amiable manners and brilliant +accomplishments of her kinsman; and her own affluence, which would +enable her to make amends for the want of fortune on his part. When +she looked on the manly and graceful soldier bending to her daughter's +ear, and saw the pale cheek of the fair girl become red, and the face, +lately sad and tearful, now beaming with happiness and content, she +thought she had found a fitting protector for her child, and that to +him it should be given to love her, comfort her, honour and keep her, +in sickness and in health. + +The mother held out a hand to each as they joined her, and welcomed +Henry Meynell with peculiar kindness of manner; then, as they strolled +down the terrace to the brook side, followed them with loving eyes, +suffused and dim with tears of pleasure. + +I would fain dwell upon this happy meeting and lengthen it to the +utmost. Why do the shadows fall so quickly? Why does dark night chase +away this gentle twilight, and the murmur of the brook grow loud and +hoarse, as all other sounds are sinking into silence? The winged hours +have flown rapidly away; the fair girl still wanders by the water's +edge, or leans over the parapet of the broken bridge. Through the +stillness of the evening air a voice has fallen softly on her ear that +fills her heart with happiness. Joy! joy! his love is spoken; his +manly troth is plighted. And she, too, in a few broken words of maiden +modesty but deep affection, has pledged away her faith, wealth, youth, +and beauty. Then the fond mother comes to seek her child; she needs no +tongue to tell her what has passed, for that fair young face is +radiant with happiness, bright and pure as a star in heaven; and Henry +Meynell's glance is full of fond and silent admiration. She bestows an +approving blessing. But while the group stands, as it would seem, lost +to all consciousness of the world beyond, the night has fallen dark +and sombre, and louder and hoarser than before is heard the murmur of +the brook in the silence of all other sounds. + +Meynell had been detained in the morning by a most disagreeable visit +from one of his discounting acquaintances. A large bill had become due +that day, and the man to whom it was owed insisted on immediate +settlement, under the threat of an arrest for the amount. Of course +there were no funds forthcoming, and credit was quite exhausted. +Something was necessary to be done; the scandal of being seized would +probably damage his hopes of success with Kate Waring; and he felt +that if he could only stave off this difficulty for a week or a little +more till the affair was concluded and her property in his power, that +all might yet be well. When other persuasions, entreaties, and +promises had failed to move his obdurate creditor, he at length +confided the hopes which he entertained of being very soon able, by a +judicious marriage, to meet his engagements; and gave a full account +of the progress which, he flattered himself, he had made in the lady's +good graces. The only terms, however, that he could obtain were, that +he should have two hours more allowed him to be introduced to a Jewish +gentleman, who might perhaps advance him the money required at a +remunerative rate of interest. There was nothing for him but to accept +this offer, and the Jewish gentleman was shown into his room. + +The money-lender was a slight, sallow man, with black hair, cut very +short, and face close shaven. As Meynell was introduced, he thought he +had a confused recollection of having met the man before, but a second +glance persuaded him that the face was strange. Exorbitant terms were +required and acceded to for the loan of the required sum for a +fortnight, but that signified little; he had no doubt of success, and +then a few hundreds more or less would be of little consequence. He +was, to say truth, agreeably surprised at the loan being given at any +price under his apparently desperate circumstances, when the only +security was the chance of a mercenary marriage. The usurer seemed, +indeed, quite in a hurry to write the check and receive the bond for +the debt. As he wrote, Meynell leant over him and observed that he +moved his pen with some difficulty and stiffness; on the back of his +right hand were two small, but deep scars close together. + +Never was bridegroom more eager to hasten the hour of his happiness. +The tedious arrangement of the necessary legal affairs was hurried on +by every means in his power; a fortnight was but little law, and he +now knew well that he must fall into the hands of one that would not +spare him; for though he did not appear to have recognised the +detected and punished cheat of his first night's mess party in the +money-lender, nor did the other show any knowledge of him, he could +not but suspect that there was something more than an accident in his +being thus put into the power of a man he had so dangerously provoked. +Lady Waring and Kate only attributed his pressing haste to the ardour +of affection, and with undoubted confidence received his plausible +explanations. The tenth day after that eventful evening was fixed for +the marriage--but the hour of wo was nearer still; the storm was about +to burst over the widow and her child. + +One morning, as Meynell was preparing to ride out to his daily visit, +a brother officer entered the room with a newspaper in his hand, and +the eager air of a man who has news of interest to communicate. "These +bankers, from the name, are probably some relations of your friends," +said he; "it seems a tremendous smash; a shilling in the pound, or +something of that sort, is talked of." + +Meynell's thin lips closed like a vice for one moment, but the next +he asked to see the paragraph spoken of, in a tone of apparent +indifference. He read it coolly, laid the paper aside, and changed the +conversation. When he was again alone his face grew dark as night, and +that demon expression swept over it like a tempest as, with an awful +curse, he struck his clenched hand on the table. He remained +motionless for many minutes, holding counsel in his ruthless, selfish +mind. Not a thought of others' wo suggested itself--not one doubt or +hesitation held him back from trampling on a trusting and devoted +heart. "But it may still not be true!" The hope, faint as it was, +aroused him to exertion. He rang the bell, and with his usual calmness +of manner and voice, said that he should not want his horse that day, +but that he might probably have to go away for a short time, and gave +directions to have every thing ready for his departure in an hour. He +then walked out into the town, made some inquiries, which resulted in +confirming the disastrous intelligence, wrote a cold and hurried note +to Lady Waring, in which "circumstances over which I have no control" +held a principal place, and a "necessary absence" was announced. +Before the message was despatched, he was on his route for the +Continent. + +The news of her ruin had also reached poor Lady Waring that morning; +she was for a time stupified by the suddenness and severity of the +blow, and, pale and speechless, still held up the letter before her +eyes. Kate, alarmed at her mother's silence, hastened to her side, and +a glance over the fatal paper told the cause. She put her soft, white +arm round the widow's neck, and looked into her face with a smile of +love and hopeful courage that, even in the first moment of misfortune, +made the burthen light. + +"I wish Henry were come, mother," said she. "He will cheer you. All +shall still be well. We shall be just as happy in poverty as we were +in wealth, and be kinder than ever. How I hope he may not hear of this +till we tell him! He would be so pained for our sakes; but when he +sees we bear it bravely he will rejoice." + +Alas, poor child! while you were speaking these words of trusting +consolation, he on whom you placed your fond faith, with cool head and +icy heart, was tracing the lines that were to tell of his base +desertion. + +It was long ere Kate could receive the dreadful conviction of the +truth. There was the note. Could she mistake the handwriting? The +bearer, too, had said that Meynell was gone; and the distant, chilling +tone--and no mention made of his return--and the news of her sudden +poverty! None but a woman that loved with a trusting and devoted heart +could doubt what all this meant. Days, weeks, months passed away, till +time wore out hope, for he never came. As some fainting wretch in a +famine visits his scanty store in trembling secrecy, bit by bit +consumes it to the last, and then despairs, so she lived on till her +faith grew less and less, and she hid its last remnant in her heart, +lest it should be torn from her; but it wasted fast away, and not a +shred was left. + +In the meantime Lady Waring had sold her place, discharged her +servants, except those who were indispensable, and made arrangements +to reside in a small house in the neighbouring town, where her pension +and the remnant of her fortune might enable her to live in comfort and +respectability. But, in the first instance, she went to live for a +time with some relations near their former residence, while the +necessary preparations were being made for the change. Kate's state of +mind and health were constant and increasing anxieties to the poor +mother, almost to the exclusion of the recollection of her other +misfortunes. Henry Meynell was never mentioned, but his handiwork was +plainly seen. Kate had rapidly grown old; the look of radiant +happiness and trustingness was gone. Her spirits were not altogether +depressed, but rather subject to pitiful variations; and at times the +hectic excitement of her manner was even more distressing than her +fits of despondency. + +Her kind friends tried to engage her in any amusements and occupations +that were attainable, and prevailed upon her to enter into the society +and gaiety of the town, where she was no sooner known than she became +a universal favourite. Lady Waring was conscious that Kate submitted +to these instances only to please her, and induce her to believe that +she was recovering her tranquillity of mind. But the mother felt that +the effort, however painful, might be useful, and in the end attain to +realise what was then but an appearance; so she always accompanied her +daughter, and did her utmost to maintain a cheerful countenance. This +painful struggle and simulation continued with more or less of success +till the end of August, when a newspaper announcement informed them +that Henry Meynell had been married a fortnight before at Rome to his +cousin Miss Susan Meynell, a lady some years older than himself, who +had always lived with his uncle as the prime favourite, and had +accompanied him to the Continent that year, on a journey undertaken +for his health. Henry had joined them not long before, in a state of +great poverty, but by the influence of an old preference which the +lady entertained for him, he had been reconciled to his uncle, who +made a comfortable settlement upon his favourite and the professedly +reformed prodigal. The news of his conduct to the Warings had not +reached the old man at that time. + +Lady Waring was astonished, indeed alarmed at the calmness with which +Kate appeared to receive the news of the consummation of Henry +Meynell's treacherous desertion. For an hour or two she seemed +depressed and absent, but afterwards set about the usual pursuits of +the day without any apparent change of manner. They were to be present +at a large ball that night; and Lady Waring could not but wonder when +she saw her daughter busied in arranging some simple ornaments for the +dress she was to wear, and preparing for the evening gaieties as if +nothing had occurred to disturb the current of her thoughts. At the +ball she entered into the spirit of the dance with apparently more +than usual zest: some among the many who sought her, almost fancied +they were gaining ground in her good graces, and that this unwonted +gaiety was the result of her being pleased with them. Her mother +watched her with alarm and surprise; her cheek was flushed, her eye +bright, her smile beaming on all around her. Was this real or unreal? +Could one so fair and good be without heart, and indifferent to the +unworthiness of him to whom she had given her troth? + +The weary ball is at last ended,--they reach home,--she bids her +mother good-night; as they separate, her cheek flushes furiously, and +her eye is brighter than ever, but she speaks quite calmly--so calmly, +indeed, that her mother is almost re-assured, and overcome with +fatigue lies down to rest and sleeps. Kate occupies the adjoining +room. + +At about six o'clock in the morning, Lady Waring, awoke from a +troubled and unrefreshing sleep. She fancied she heard light footsteps +in her daughter's chamber; they seemed regular and measured, as of +some one pacing slowly. She tried to collect her scattered thoughts, +and separate her confused dreams from her waking perceptions. The gray +light of morning already crept in through the crevices of the closed +windows, and threw a cold uncertain light on the familiar objects +around, only rendering them strange and indistinguishable. While yet +she lay uncertain, the footsteps left the next room and approached +hers, with the same light but measured sound. Her door opened and Kate +entered, still in her ball-dress, with her long black ringlets forced +back off her forehead. She drew the curtains aside gently and leant +over the bed, then pressed her little white hands over her temples, +and muttering some indistinct words, gazed upon her mother. + +Were the widow's life to be lengthened out into eternity itself, she +never might forget that look of her lost child. As a flash of the +destroying lightning, it blasted her heart's hope, and turned it to +ashes. She sprang up and clasped her arms round her daughter: "Mercy, +mercy, Kate!" she cried, "speak to me once more. Are you ill? Do you +suffer?" Oh! the sad, sad voice! Each word the poor girl spoke in +answer, froze her hearer's blood, as though that gentle breath had +been the ice-blast of the pole. "I do not know, mother," she replied, +"but I have such a pain here." She pressed her hands slowly over her +brow, and with her white taper fingers put back the loosened hair. +Then in hurried accents whispered,--"Do not tell him--do not let them +take me away--but God help me, mother!" she added wildly: "I think I +am MAD!" and it was true. She sank beneath her first and only sorrow. +In the effort to bear up against it, her mind gave way; and she who +might have diffused happiness on all around her, as a fountain sends +forth its waters, is to smile no more. + +She was attacked that morning by a violent fever which lasted many +weeks. At length she gradually seemed to amend, but remained quite +unconscious of her mother's unceasing care. The bright red spot that +burned upon her pale cheek, and the sharp hard cough that every now +and then shook her wasted frame, forbade awakening hope. "When she is +able to move," said her medical attendant, "the climate of Malta may +be beneficial, but it is my sad duty to say that there is no prospect +of her mind being re-established." "Save her for me," said the +wretched mother, "even should I never hear her bless me again. +Darkened though she may be, she is still the lesser light that rules +my night." + +After some time they went to Malta, and for nearly two years, Lady +Waring watched the alternations of her daughter's health with fond and +unceasing care. Almost a hope sometimes arose, but there soon again +came a relapse, and month by month she was plainly sinking, but very, +very slowly; the decay was so gradual, that her evidently approaching +end came on her wretched mother suddenly at last. She had been for +some time unable to leave her bed, or indeed even to move, and her +breathing became painful and difficult. + +It was on a January morning that the doctor felt it necessary to tell +Lady Waring that the end of her hopes and fears was at hand, for the +patient could not last beyond that day. So she sat down by the bedside +in calm despair to watch the expiring lamp. About seven in the +evening, a sudden change seemed to come over the dying girl,--an +animation of countenance, and a look of re-awaking intelligence. She +motioned feebly with her hand that her bed might be moved close to the +window, and when there, looked out anxiously upon the strange sea and +sky. She appeared to be making some mental effort, and after a little +while, turned her eyes towards the watcher, and murmured one blessed +word of recognition,--"Mother." + +Her setting sun, long hid by heavy mists, ere it sank below the +horizon, threw one level ray of pure unclouded light back over the +troubled sea of life. At the approach of death--out of the chaos of +her mind--the memories of the past rose up, and stood in a broad +picture before her sight; and from the ruins of her broken heart its +first and holiest affection ascended like an incense. "God will love +you, as you have loved me, mother;" she said. "Forgive him--I pray for +him--God will forgive him, and watch over you--good-bye--kiss me, +mother." As she lay wan, wasted, feeble, her voice was so faint and +low that it almost seemed to come from beyond the portals of the grave +itself, to pardon and to bless. + +The widow bent over the death-bed, and--oh, how tenderly!--pressed the +cold lips of her lost darling. At that loved touch, the failing tide +of life flowed back for a moment and flushed the pale cheek with joy +unspeakable--then ebbed away for ever. + +Now that we have left poor Kate where "the wicked cease from +troubling, and the weary are at rest," we must follow the dark course +of him for whom she died. His marriage had but a short time taken +place, when he resumed his former habits, and totally neglected his +wife. She at first tried to win him back by increased tenderness, but +he spurned it; then by tears and entreaties, but he derided them. As a +last effort, she tried to pique him by coldness--this pleased him +best, for it relieved him from her presence. He made no attempt to +conceal his dislike and contempt for his unhappy helpmate, or to throw +a veil over his irregularities and dissipation. He had been much +disappointed in the discovery that he could not obtain possession of +any of the capital of his wife's fortune; and the sale of his +commission, which was soon arranged, proved far from sufficient to +meet the liabilities awaiting him on his return to England. This +knowledge of the nature of the settlement was the ostensible ground of +a quarrel with his wife, which ended in her returning to her uncle's +house, and his establishing himself at a fashionable hotel in London, +soon after their return from the Continent. + +He had not been many days in England, before the implacable creditor +who held the largest bond against him found him out, and arrested him +for the amount, while riding in the Park, with all the insulting +vexation that the greatest publicity could create. That he could raise +the sum required for his release, appeared very unlikely indeed, under +the present circumstances, to be accomplished. When within the +precincts of the jail, Henry Meynell did not hesitate to write +imploringly to the wife he had outraged and the uncle he had so often +deceived, praying that they would pity his fallen condition, and +release him from the grasp of the law. He was not sparing in words of +humiliation and penitence, and promises of future good conduct. These +arts had been so often tried before, that they might well have lost +their effect on those to whom they were addressed; but his poor wife, +who was still fondly attached to him, in spite of his unpardonable +misconduct, could not bear the idea of his wasting in a jail, and used +her utmost efforts to get together whatever means she was possessed +of, and to persuade her uncle to assist him once more. + +After some months' delay the necessary sum was procured, and to the +chagrin and surprise of his creditor, Henry Meynell was once more at +liberty. He visited his wife for a short time, but very soon left her +again; she had deprived herself of the means of giving him any future +assistance by her sacrifices on this occasion. He, having no further +object to gain, determined to be burthened with her no more. + +From this time he appears to have been utterly lost; but little is +known of his proceedings for the next year and a-half. He was seen +occasionally haunting the billiard tables and gambling houses in +London and Paris, where his polished manners and prepossessing +appearance gave him many advantages, in carrying on his designs +against those inexperienced victims who were unfortunate enough to +attract his notice. But he was evidently liable to great reverses of +fortune at this time, for he was met by a former brother officer on +one occasion at Boulogne, so much reduced that he was fain to make +himself known, and pray for a small sum to take him over to London. +Finally, in the summer of 1836, he was concerned in some swindling +transaction which, on its discovery, brought him within the grasp of +the law. He had, however, so extensive an acquaintance and influence +among such as himself, who were in no small number in London at that +time, that for a while he managed, with their assistance, to elude the +police, and in a well-contrived disguise, as an old man, still +ventured to frequent houses of play. + +One night he recognised among the crowd, at a table in Leicester +Square, the well-known face of the detected cheat. He watched narrowly +to observe whether or not he was recognised. He feared to leave the +room suddenly lest it might excite a suspicion, but was reassured when +he saw that the pale man seemed so much absorbed in his game, as not +to notice the other faces round the board. + +When, after a time, the object of his anxiety rose much excited and +left the room, having lost all the money he appeared to possess, he +felt convinced that the danger had passed, and breathed freely again. + +It was early morning before he sallied out from the polluted +atmosphere where he had passed the night. He was proceeding slowly +along toward home, when, from out a narrow court, as he passed, a +policeman pounced upon him, and grasped him by the collar, while the +inveterate enemy from whom he thought he had escaped without +recognition, seized him at the same time. Henry Meynell saw at a +glance that there was no hope but in escape, so with all the exertion +of his powerful strength, he shook off his assailants. The foreigner +fell heavily to the ground, but the policeman tried to close again, +till a blow from Meynell struck him violently to the earth. Before +they recovered themselves, the object of their attack was beyond the +reach of capture. + +Meynell did not venture to go again to his lodgings: he changed his +dress at the house of an acquaintance, and, warned by his narrow +escape, determined at once to leave England. He wandered along by the +wharves, making inquiries about any vessels that were to sail +immediately, little caring what their destination might be. It so +happened that he heard of one at hand that was to sail for Canada that +day. He was at once resolved. A favourable night's play had put him in +possession of sufficient funds. He purchased a few necessary articles +for the voyage, and before evening fell, was sailing down the +river--an exile--an outcast from the land of his birth, which he was +never to see again. + +During the voyage, his great powers of conviviality made him a special +favourite of the captain of the vessel; of course, he bore an assumed +name, and professed to be merely going out with the intention of +becoming a settler, if he liked the promise of the country. He also +made up a plausible story, of having been disappointed in his passage +by another ship, and forced at the last moment to hurry on board this +one. With the captain, however, he held a greater confidence; and +although no particulars were entered into, it transpired during their +carouses that he and the law were at variance. + +The voyage passed without any event worth recording, and early on a +bright September morning they awoke under the shade of the bold +headland of Quebec. Meynell's critical taste was gratified by the +mingled grandeur and softness of the scene; he was in no hurry to go +ashore, friendless and objectless as he was, so he leant his head upon +his hand, and gazed out quietly over the side of the vessel, enjoying +the view so far as his diseased mind was capable of receiving +gratification from a harmless pleasure. He took little notice of the +boats that came to, and left the ship, nor did he ask the news of any +one. What cared he for news? He saw old friends or long separated +relatives meet on the deck with warm and happy recognition. But there +was none to welcome him. It would be hard to say what thoughts then +crossed the dark stage of his mind; some long hidden spring of feeling +may have been touched by what was passing round that lost and lonely +man; by little and little his head sank lower and lower, till his face +was buried in his hands, and so he stood. + +He had remained for a long time silent and motionless, when he was +suddenly aroused by a hand being placed on his shoulder. He turned +round with surprise, and found the captain of the ship by his side, +who said to him hurriedly. "The sooner you are out of this the better, +friend. A chap has been looking after you already, and I am sure he +will be back again." The post had arrived long before them, and +Meynell's implacable enemy had contrived to find out his destination, +and to prepare the authorities for his arrival by a description of his +person, that they might arrest him at once. In this difficulty his +friend the captain proved a ready counsellor. There chanced to be a +schooner alongside freighted with stores for the Indians of the +Saguenay, that was to sail almost immediately; the captain knew the +skipper of this craft, and arranged with him to take Meynell, who was +to remain in that remote part of the country till the danger blew +over. + +In a short time Meynell was steering down the river again, on his way +to the lonely Saguenay, little caring where he went; indeed, perhaps, +he would have chosen this adventure to a remote district, with the +novelty of the Indian life, as readily as any thing else, even had he +not been impelled to it by necessity. + +It may not be known to all that the Saguenay is a large river that +flows from a lake of considerable size, eastward into the St Lawrence, +which it joins on the north side, a hundred and forty miles below +Quebec. It is of great depth, the waters dark and gloomy, and the +scenery through which they pass magnificent, but of a desolate and +barren character. About seventy miles up this great tributary is an +infant settlement called Chicontimi, a station of the fur-traders. +Here the navigation ends, and, beyond, the labour of man has left but +slight traces. At the time of Meynell's arrival this district was +inhabited, or rather hunted over, by a tribe called by the Canadians, +"Montaignais Indians,"--a friendly honest race, expert fishers and +hunters, and valuable neighbours to the fur-traders. The schooner was +laden with stores of various kinds, to be exchanged with those people +for the produce of the chase. + +In three days Meynell reached Chicontimi. The fur-traders were +surprised at the unexpected visitor, but as he proved to be a smart +active fellow, and was not without means, they did not object to his +presence, and in a short time he made himself very useful. At this +period of the year, the Montaignais tribe always encamped near the +settlement, and bargained for the guns, powder and shot, blankets, and +other necessaries, for the hunting expeditions of the winter. Meynell +soon became a favourite among them; his facility in learning their +language, his strength and activity, and skill with the rifle, gave +him a great influence over their simple minds. He particularly +attached himself to an old hunter of much consideration, called +Ta-ou-renche, who had an orphan niece under his care, Atawa by name, +the acknowledged beauty of the tribe. After a time Meynell adopted +altogether the Indian mode of life. His days were passed in the chase, +or in wandering with his rod and gun by the shores of the beautiful +and almost unknown lakes of that lone and distant land. He soon became +as expert as the Montaignais themselves in their simple craft. + +The autumn passed away, and winter closed in with its accustomed +severity, locking up all nature in its icy grasp. The fish in the +lakes were then only to be obtained by laboriously cutting channels in +the massive ice, and all the birds and smaller animals had gone into +their mysterious exile. It was then time for the tribe to make their +usual journey to the distant hunting grounds of the north-east, where +the Moose and Carribboo deer were wont to supply them with abundance +for their winter's store. Meynell determined to accompany them, and +imitated and improved upon their simple preparations. He obtained from +the stores of the fur-dealers warm clothes, blankets, and ammunition +for the expedition; a small supply of pemican or preserved meat, and a +little flour, completed the loading of the light sleigh he was to drag +after him over the snow; this tobogan, as the Indians call it, is of a +very light structure, and carries a burthen of fifty or sixty pounds +weight, with but little labour to him who draws it along. + +The tribe started in the middle of December, crossing the frozen +waters of the Saguenay at Chicontimi, and then journeyed through the +forest towards the inland valleys of Labrador. For the first two days, +their route lay along the bank of a considerable river, which, on +account of its rapid current, in many parts was not frozen over; and +they rested at night at places where they had supplies of fish and +water. Their encampments were but rudely made, as the stay only lasted +for a night, and the severest cold of the winter was not yet come, to +demand a more elaborate and perfect shelter. Nearly eighty huge +watch-fires threw their glare over the dark woods at night; round each +was a family of the Montaignais, the hunters, their wives and +children. Meynell, Ta-ou-renche, and Atawa, formed one of these +groups. The Englishman was sadly fatigued and foot-sore after the +first day's journey, although it had been but a short one. The heavy +and unaccustomed snow-shoe hurt his feet, though Atawa's careful hands +had tied them on; and the weight of the tobogan wearied him, though +both of his companions had given him great aid. They watched him with +the tenderest care, and long after he slept soundly on his snowy +couch, Atawa sat with her eyes fixed upon his still beautiful face, +lighted up by the red flame of the watch-fire. The next day he got on +better, and in a week he was able to take his share in the labour, and +walk as stoutly as any of them. + +After they left the river's bank, they crossed a dreary table-land of +great extent, nearly a hundred and fifty miles across, where there was +no brook or lake, and but little wood, and that of a stunted and +blasted growth; under the thick covering of the snow was nothing but +rock and sand and sterile soil, for all that weary way. In a few +places they found masses of ice, which they melted down for water, but +there was neither fish nor game. Here they were obliged to consume +nearly all their store of provisions, but for this they were prepared, +and cared but little. Beyond this barren land lay the land of plenty, +where they and their forefathers, from time immemorial, had feasted on +the abundant forest-deer. About the thirteenth evening of their +journey, they encamped within sight of this deeply wooded undulating +country that they sought, and celebrated their arrival with rude +rejoicings. + +The next morning they started equipped for the chase, the women +following the hunters slowly with their burdens. Ta-ou-renche pushed +on among the foremost, Meynell nearly by his side, while their dogs, +half-starved and ravenous, dashed on in front. They had advanced for +an hour or two without meeting a quarry, to their great surprise, when +they heard the dogs giving tongue far ahead in a deep woody valley. +Ta-ou-renche and Meynell pushed on rapidly, full of hope, and excited +at the prospect of the chase; they reached the brow of the hill, and +descended at a run into the valley, where they found the dogs all +collected round the skeleton of a moose-deer, tugging furiously at its +huge bones. The snow around was much beaten down, and there was the +mark of a recent fire against the root of a tree close by. The Indian +stopped short, and remained motionless, as if frozen at the sight; +after a little while, other hunters came up, and all seemed equally +paralysed with terror. When they found voice, they cried, "The Great +Spirit is angry with his children; other hunters have slain the moose +and carribboo, and are many suns before us; for us there will be none +left, and we must die." + +They pushed on further till the evening, and passed other skeletons of +moose and carribboo deer, picked clean by the carrion-birds. They saw +the marks of many fires, and the remains of a large encampment, +deserted perhaps three weeks before. Some of the older hunters said +that, from the prints of the snow-shoes, they knew the Mic-Mac Indians +of New Brunswick were those who had swept the hunting grounds before +them, and that they were many in number. That night they held counsel +together as to what they should do; some were for returning at once, +to throw themselves on the charity of the fur-traders; but there arose +the appalling thought of the barren land they had passed through. +Others were for pushing on after the Mic-Macs to pray for a share of +their spoil--but how could they reach them? Some had consumed all +their provisions, the others had but enough left for one, or at most +two days. To remain where they were was death, and, on every side, +starvation stared them in the face. At last, they agreed to separate, +and that each family should take its chance alone. Ta-ou-renche +determined at once to push for Chicontimi, and Atawa and Meynell +followed his fortunes. + +The next morning they started on their return, and made a long day's +march back into the barren land. Poor Atawa was very weary, and could +give but little assistance in making the fire, and their rude shelter +for the night, and her uncle seemed oppressed and dejected; but +Meynell's vigorous health and bold spirit stood him in good stead. He +divided the scanty store of provisions that was left into three parts, +the travellers being each to carry their own share; he ate very +sparingly. Ta-ou-renche was not so discreet, but consumed nearly all +his portion at once, and the next morning finished what was left! The +weary journey continued--the cold became intense,--the north wind +swept over that awful solitude with a terrible severity; but still the +wanderers, in pain and weariness, pushed bravely on to the south-west. +Could they but reach the river's bank, they might find fish and fresh +water and still live. + +On the seventh night they halted in a small grove of stunted trees, +after a long day's travel, worn out with fatigue and hunger. The +Indian had not, for the last five days, had a morsel of food, and was +terribly emaciated; the others had fasted three days, and were almost +as much reduced and enfeebled. They had scarcely sufficient strength +among them to cut down wood for their fire, and collect and melt the +ice to slake their thirst; when they had heaped up a small bank of +snow, as shelter against the wind, they lay down almost helpless. A +few carrion moose-birds which had followed them for the last day, but +always out of reach of the guns, chattered among the trees. These +ill-omened visitors came closer and closer, as they saw the group +lying motionless, and chattered and hopped from branch to branch over +head, impatient for their prey. Meynell, making the exertion with +difficulty, cautiously seized his gun; but as he moved, the carrion +birds flew up into the air, and circled screaming above him; when he +became still, then again they approached. At last, by skilfully +watching his opportunity, he brought one of them down with a lucky +shot, and pounced on it greedily. The carrion and scanty spoil was +soon divided into three portions, and their share ravenously devoured +by the two men. After a little time they became deadly sick, the fire +spun round and round before their eyes, but at length Meynell fell +back in a heavy and almost death-like sleep. Atawa had just strength +enough left to fold the blanket close round the sleeper, and cast a +little more wood on the fire, when she too sank down exhausted. + +The Indian had till now borne the pangs of hunger with courage and +patience, but the morsel of food--the taste of blood, seemed to work +like intoxication upon him. As his sickness passed away, his eyes +glowed in their deep sockets, with a fierce and unnatural brightness. +His cheeks were withered up, and his black parched lips drawn back, +exposed his teeth in a horrible grin. Possessed with a momentary +strength, he raised himself on his hands and knees, and, grasping an +axe, moved stealthily towards the sleeper, madly thirsting for his +blood. Atawa saw him coming, and guessed his terrible intent; she +shook Meynell faintly, and called to him to awake. He slowly opened +his eyes, and thought it but a horrid dream, when he saw the wild +glaring eyes of the savage fixed upon him, and the gaunt arm upraised +to strike, while Atawa feebly tried to hold it back. The blow +descended the next moment, but the generous girl, unable to restrain +the maniac's force, threw herself in the way, and fell stricken +senseless on the snow. Her efforts had happily turned the edge of the +axe, and she was only stunned, not wounded. Meynell seized the Indian +by the throat; they struggled to their feet, and grappled closely +together: the madman's furious excitement lent him force for a time to +meet the greatly superior strength of his opponent but he failed +rapidly, his grasp relaxed, his eyes closed; Meynell, mustering all +his remaining energies, threw him back with violence, and then, +utterly exhausted in the struggle, fell himself also fainting to the +ground. + +When he began to recover, the dim morning light was reflected from the +snowy waste, the fire was nearly burnt down, and the intensity of the +cold had probably awakened him. Atawa still lay motionless; he tried +anxiously to arouse her, and at the same time to collect his scattered +thoughts, after the dreadful dream of the night before. She slowly +recovered, and opened her eyes to the sight of horror that presented +itself to their returning consciousness. Ta-ou-renche lay dead, and +half consumed in the fire: he had fallen stunned across the burning +logs, and perished miserably. + +Then a sudden terror seized the survivors, and lent them renewed +strength; they scarcely cast a second look on the charred corpse, but +rose up and fled away together, leaving every thing behind. For hours +they hurried on, and exchanged never a word, Atawa often casting a +terrified look behind, as though she thought she were pursued. About +mid-day, their failing limbs refused to carry them any farther, and +they lay down on the trunk of a fallen pine. The winter sun stood high +up in the cloudless heaven, pouring down its dazzling but chilly light +upon the frozen earth. To the dark line of the distant horizon, far as +the eye could reach lay the snowy desert. There was not a breath of +wind, no rustling leaves or murmuring waters, not a living thing +beside themselves breathed in that awful solitude; not a sound +awakened the echoes in its deathlike silence. Meynell's heart sank +within him; the brief energy lent him by the terror of the dreadful +scene he had left, yielded now to the reaction of despair. Their +throats were parched with thirst; the gnawing pangs of hunger racked +their wasted frames; they scarcely dared to look upon each other, so +fiercely burned the fire in their sunken eyes. He had ceased to hope; +with his feeble limbs stretched out, and his head rested on a branch, +he waited helplessly for death. + +The Indian girl dragged herself slowly to his side, put a small phial +to his parched lips, and poured a few drops of brandy down his throat. +He immediately revived, and the failing pulse resumed its play. "You +shall still live," she said; "a few hours' journey more, and we shall +reach the river; by this time the white man will be selling the pine +trees on its banks. I have kept this fire-water hidden till there was +no other hope, and now it must save me too, that I may guide you." She +tasted the invigorating cordial sparingly, and now, animated with new +strength, they set out bravely once again. Slowly and painfully they +press on, often falling through exhaustion, but the strong hope and +the stronger will urges them still on. The character of the country +begins to change, the trees become thicker and of a larger growth, the +ground varied with rise and hollow; and at length, to their great joy, +a well-known hill appears in sight, beyond which they know the +wished-for river runs. They drain the last drop from the phial, and +again refreshed press on,--on, through the thick woods and falling +shades of night. + +Then the moon arose in unclouded splendour; her silver rays, piercing +through the tall pine-trees, lighted them on their way, and in a +little time showed them a column of smoke rising from the far side of +the hill beyond the river into the still air. Hope was now almost a +certainty: they reached the high bank over the stream, but stumbling +and falling at nearly every step. In the vale beyond, they saw two or +three woodcutters' huts, lighted up by blazing watch-fires. + +Meynell rushed impatiently on, his eyes fixed upon the hope-inspiring +lights. "Hold! hold!" cried Atawa, vainly trying to restrain him, "one +step more, and you are lost!" But she spoke too late: ere the echoes +of her cry had ceased, Meynell's soul had gone to its last account. He +had approached too near the edge of the precipice: the snow gave way +beneath his feet; a moment more, and he lay a bleeding corpse upon the +ice-bound rocks below. Atawa's despairing shrieks brought out the +inmates of the huts. They were obliged to use force, to separate her +from the lifeless body; she rent her hair, and tried to lay violent +hands upon herself, long refusing all sustenance. From her incoherent +words, they at length gathered something of her story, and the +probable fate of the rest of her tribe. Some of the woodmen +immediately started in hopes of rendering assistance to the unhappy +Montaignais; they found six of the families on their way, in the last +stage of starvation, and saved them, but all the rest of the tribe +perished in that barren land. + +The following night the woodmen dug a hole, and laid the mangled +corpse to rest. It was so light and emaciated, that a child might have +borne it thither. They then heaped some snow over it, and, threading +their way by torchlight through the trees back to their huts, left it +without a blessing. So there he sleeps--unwept, save by the poor +Indian girl! his fate for years unknown to those who had wondered at +his gifts and beauty. His bones lie whitening in that distant land, no +friendly stone or sod to shelter them from the summer sun and wintry +frost. + +Let us yet dare to hope, that in those last dark days of toil and +suffering, where life and death were in the balance, He, whose love is +infinite, may have made the terrible punishment of this world the +furnace wherein to melt that iron heart, and mould it to His ends of +mercy. + + + + +WAS RUBENS A COLOURIST? + + +I do not ask if Rubens was a man of genius. I am only questioning the +title, which has been so generally conferred upon him, of a colourist. +I am aware that a host of artists and connoisseurs will rather admire +the audacity of making the inquiry, than pursue it, through the +necessary disquisition, into the true principles of art. It may be +possible that the taste of the English school, and of our English +collectors, may have become to a degree vitiated. And with regard to +the former, the artists, (and I say it without at all denying their +great abilities,) it may be very possible, nay, it is certain, that +any vitiation of taste must be a blight upon their powers, natural or +acquired, however great. I believe this very reputation of Rubens as +the great colourist, has been extensively injurious to the British +School of Art, (if there be such a _school_.) It has been so often +repeated, that artists take it up as an established fact, not to be +denied; and have too blindly admired, and hence endeavoured (though +for lack of the material they have failed) to imitate him in this one +department, his colour. The result has been melancholy enough; an +inferior, flimsy, and flashy style has been engendered, utterly +abhorrent from any sound and true principle of colouring. Even in +Rubens, there is this tendency to the flimsy, to the light glitter, +rather than to the substantial glory of the art: but it is much +disguised under his daring hand, and by the use of that lucid vehicle +which, independent of subject, and even colour, is pleasing in itself. +There is always power in his pictures, for his mind was vigorous to a +degree; a power that throws down the gauntlet, as it were, with a +confidence that disdains any disguise or fear of criticism: a +confidence the more manifest in the defects, particularly of grossness +and anachronism, bringing them out strongly palpable and conspicuous +by a more vivid colouring, more determined opposition of dark and +light,--as if he should say, behold, I dare. And this power has the +usual charm of all power; it commands respect, and too often +obeisance. But Rubens' colour requires Rubens' power in the other +departments of art. To endeavour to imitate him in that respect, with +any the least weakness either of hand or design, is only to set the +weakness in a more glaring light, dressing it up, not in the gorgeous +array and real jewellery of the court, but in the foil and tinsel +glitter, and mock regality of a low theatrical pageantry. And this +would be the case even if we had in use his luscious vehicle; but with +an inferior one, too often with a bad one, the case of weakness is +aggravated, and not unseldom the presumption and the failure of an +attempt the more conspicuous. + +I do not mean to say, that Rubens is universally imitated among us; +but where his peculiar style is not imitated, the vitiation to which +it has led is seen, in the general tendency of our artists, to shun +the deep and sober tones of the Italian school, and, as their phrase +is, to put as much daylight as possible into their works. But even +here I would pause to suggest, that _light_, daylight, in its _great_ +characteristic, is more lustrous than white, and will be produced +rather by the lower than the lighter tones, as may be seen in the +pictures of Claude, whose key of colouring is many degrees lower than +in pictures which affect his light, without his means of attaining it. + +It is surprising that there should be such inconsistency in the +decisions of taste; but this title of colourist has been bestowed +chiefly upon two painters, who in this very respect of colour were the +antipodes to each other, Titian and Rubens. Are there no steady sure +principles of colour? If there be, it is impossible that such +discordant judgments can be duly and justly given. + +It will be necessary to refer to something of a first principle, +before we can come to any true notion of good colouring. And it is +surprising, when we consider its simplicity, that it should, at least +practically, have escaped the due notice of artists in general. + +There are two things to be first considered in colour. Its +agreeability _per se_,--its charm upon the eye; and its adaptation to +a subject,--its _expressing the sentiment_. + +However well it may express the palpable substance and texture of +objects that are but parts, if it fail in these first two rules, the +colour of a picture is not good. With regard to the first, its +agreeability. Is it a startling assertion to say, that this does not +depend upon its naturalness? That it does so is a common opinion. +Aware, however, that the term naturalness would lead to a deeper +disquisition than I here mean to enter upon, I shall take it in its +common meaning, as it represents the common aspect of nature. Now, +besides that this aspect is subject to an almost infinite variety by +changes of atmosphere, and other accidents, affording the artist a +very wide range from which to select, it has a characteristic as +important as its light and its dark of colour,--_its illumination_; so +that a sacrifice (for art is a system of compensation) of one visible +truth, say a very light key, does not necessarily render a picture +less natural, if it attain that superior characteristic, which by the +other method it would not attain. + +Then, again, that very variety of nature, by its multiplicity, +disposes the mind ever to look for a constant change and new effect, +so that we are not easily startled by any actual unnaturalness, unless +it be very strange indeed, and entirely out of harmony, one part with +another, as we should be were one aspect only and constantly presented +to us. This may be exemplified by a dark mirror--and, better still, by +a Claude glass, as it is called, by which we look at nature through +coloured glasses. We do not the less recognise nature--nay, it is +impossible not to be charmed with the difference, and yet not for a +moment question the truth. I am not here discussing the propriety of +using such glasses--it may be right or it may be wrong, according to +the purpose the painter may have; I only mean to assert, that nature +will bear the changes and not offend any sense. The absolute +naturalness, then, of the colour of nature, in its strictest and most +limited sense, local and aerial, is not so necessary as that the eye +cannot be gratified without it. And it follows, that agreeability of +colour does not depend upon this strict naturalness. + +I said, that it is of the first importance that the colouring be +agreeable _per se_; that, without any regard to a subject, the eye +should be gratified by the general tone, the harmony of the parts, and +the quality--namely, whether it be opaque or transparent, and to what +degree. There are certain things that we greatly admire on this very +account--such as all precious gems, polished and lustrous stones and +marbles, especially those into which we can look as into a transparent +depth. + +A picture, therefore, cannot be said to be well coloured unless this +peculiar quality of agreeability be in it. To attain this, much +exactness may be sacrificed with safety. It should be considered +indispensable. + +And this perfect liberty of altering to a certain degree the +naturalness of colouring, leads properly to that second essential--its +adaptation to a subject, or its _expressing the sentiment_. For it is +manifest, that if we can, without offending, alter the whole aspect of +nature in most common scenes, we can still more surely do so when the +scenes are at all ideal or out of the common character. And we can do +it likewise without a sacrifice of truth, in the higher sense of +_truth_, as a term of art or of poetry. + +For the mind also _gives its own colouring_, or is unobservant of some +colours which the eye presents, and makes from all presented to it its +own selections and combinations, and suits them to its own conception +and creation. It has always been admitted that the painter's mind does +this with objects of form, omitting much, generalizing or selecting +few particulars. Now if this power be admitted with regard to objects +themselves, as to their forms and actual presence, why should it not, +with equal propriety, be extended to the colours of those objects, +even though they have a sensible effect upon the scenes which are +before us? But, as was said, _the mind colours_; it is not the slave +to the organ of sight, and in the painter, as in the poet, asserts its +privilege of _making_, delighting even to "exhaust worlds" and +"imagine new." It takes for an imperial use the contributions the eye +is ever offering, but converts them into riches of its own. It will +not be confined by space, nor limited by time, but gathers from the +wide world, and even beyond its range. Thus, in the simple yet +creative enthusiasm of his passion, did Burns gather, at one moment, +the flowers of all seasons, and all + + "To pu' a posy for his ain sweet May;" + +and cold would be the criticism that would stop to note the +impossibility; yet was it a great truth, the garden was his own heart, +and his every wish a new flower. Here they all were. + +It is the misfortune of art that this great power of the mind over +materials is not sufficiently and practically admitted. In colouring +we seem to have altogether abandoned the idea of invention. We go +quite contrary to the practice of those good architects of other ages, +who spoke and painted by their art; who invented because they felt the +religious awe, that solemn _chiaro-scuro_--and the painted windows, +not gorgeous and flaring with large masses of unmixed colours, (as are +the unmeaning windows the modern Templars have put up in their +ill-painted church, in which, too, the somewhat tame and dead +Byzantine colouring of the walls agrees not with the overpowering +glass of the windows;) these old architects, I say, affecting the "dim +religious light," and knowing the illumination and brilliancy of their +material, took colours without a name, for the most part neither raw +reds, nor blues, nor yellows, but mixed, and many of a low and subdued +tone; and so, when these windows represented subjects, the designs had +a suitable quaintness, a formality, a saint-like immutability, a holy +repose; and the very strong colours were sparingly used, and in very +small spaces; and the divisions of the lead that fastened the parts +together had doubtless, in the calculation of the architect, their +subduing effect. Religious poetry--the highest poetry, consequently +the highest truth--was here. There are who might prefer the modern +conventicle, with its glare of sunshine, and white glass, and bare, +unadorned, white-washed walls, and justify their want of taste by a +reference to nature, whose light and atmosphere, they will tell you, +they are admitting. And like this is the argument of many an artist, +when he would cover the poverty of his invention under the plea of his +imitation of nature--a plea, too, urged in ignorance of nature, for +nature does actually endeavour--if such a word as endeavour maybe used +where all is done without effort--to subdue the rawness of every +colour, and even to stain the white-wash we put upon her works, and +covers the lightest rocks with lichen. + +But as the mind _colours_, and absolute naturalness is not necessary, +it results that there must be a science by which the mind can effect +its purpose. + +For the cultivation of a sense arises from a want which the mind alone +at first feels, and to the mind in that state of desire things speak +suggestively that were before mute; discoveries are made into the +deeper and previously hidden secrets of nature, and new means are +invented of gratifying the awakened senses. Hence all art which is +above the merely common and uncultivated sense. All we see and all we +hear takes a vitality not its own from our thoughts, mixes itself (as +aliment does, and becomes our substance) with our intellectual +texture, and is anew created. + +Winds might have blown, and wild animals have uttered their cries, but +it was the heightened imagination that heard them _howl_ and _roar_. +And it was from a further cultivation of the sense, giving forth, at +every step, new wants, that the nature of all sounds was investigated +and music invented--science but discovering wonderful mysteries, +secrets, and gifted faculties drawing them out of their deep +hiding-places, making them palpable, and combining and converting them +into humanities whereby mankind may be delighted and improved. + +If, then, the ear has its science, so has the eye. There is the +mystery of colours as well as of sounds. Nor can it be justly said +that we are out of nature because we pursue that mystery beyond its +commonly perceptible and outward signs to its more intricate truths; +nay, on the contrary, as we have thereby _more_ of those truths, we +have _more_ of nature; and we know them to be truths by their power +and by their adoption. + +This science of colour has been, perhaps, too much neglected. In +conversing with artists, one is surprised how little attention they +have paid to it; and even where it has been studied, it is only upon +its surface, and by those well known diagrams which show the +oppositions. + +Few, indeed, consider colouring as a means of telling the story--as at +all sympathetic. In an historical subject, more attention is paid to +the exact naturalness of the light, the time of day, the local +colouring of the objects, as they probably were, than upon those tones +and hues which best belong to the feeling which the action represented +is meant to convey: by which practice an unnaturalness is too often +the result; for there is forced upon the eye a vividness and variety +of colours, in dresses, accessories, and the scene, which one present +at the action would never have noticed--which, as the feeling would +have rejected, so would the obedient eye have left undistinguished; +and we know how the eye is obedient to the feelings and withholds +impressions, and in the midst of crowds, to use a common expression, +will "fix itself on vacancy." It will do even more; it will adopt the +colouring which the feeling suggests--will set aside what is, and +assume what is not. Thus, in reading some melancholy tale, the very +scene becomes + + "Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;" + +and thus it is that actually the eye aids tile imagination while it + + "Breathes a browner horror o'er the woods." + +This neglect of colour as an end, as a means of narration, and as a +sympathy, is peculiar to modern art. And hence it is, that there is +less feeling among us for works of the Italian schools, than for those +less poetical, and too often mean and low ones of the Dutch and +Flemish. I mean not here to pass any censure on the colouring of the +Dutch and Flemish schools; it was admirable in its lucid and +harmonious, but mostly so in its imitative, character. Their subjects +seldom allowed scope for any high aim at sympathetic colouring: both +appealed to the eye,--not without exceptions, however,--to mention one +only, Rembrandt, whose colouring was generally ideal, and by it mostly +was the story told. But one perfection of colour they almost all of +them had, that agreeability, that gem-like lustre and richness, which +I spoke of as one of the essentials of good colouring. And in this, +even where modern art has professed to work upon the model of the +Flemish school, it has failed, and by endeavouring to go beyond that +school in brightness, has fallen very far short of its excellence; for +in the very light key that has been adopted, and the prevalence of +positive white, it has lost sight of that mellowness and illumination +which is so great a charm in the Dutch and Flemish pictures. It has, +too, mistaken lightness for brightness, and a certain chalkiness has +been the result. And artists who have fallen into this error, +perceiving, as they could not fail to do, this bad effect, have +endeavoured to divert the eye from this unpleasantness, by force, by +extreme contrasts of glazed dark, by vividness of partial crude +colours, and by the violence of that most disagreeable of all +pigments, as destructive of all real depth and atmosphere--asphaltum. + +In our assuming, then, this very high, this white key, we deviate from +the practice of every good school. It is not desirable that this +should be the peculiarity of the English school; but it certainly has +too great a tendency that way. The Dutch and Flemish are of a much +lower key, and the Italian of a lower still. Even in their landscape +it is remarkable, that the painters whose country was the lightest, +should have adopted the deepest tones; and that the landscapes of +their historical painters are of all the deepest, and they were the +best landscape painters. What exquisite richness and depth, and +jewel-like glow, is there in the landscape of Titian, and Giorgione; +and what illumination, that superior characteristic of nature, so much +overlooked now a-days. And yet our country is, from our atmosphere, +darker than theirs, and presents a greater variety of deep tones and +nameless colours. And as I before mentioned, the admired Claude, whom +I rank of the Italian school, is of a very low key, delighting in +masses of deep tones. And it is remarkable that his trees are never +edged out light with Naples yellow, as our artists are fond of doing, +but are mostly in dark masses, and whether near or distant, singly or +in groups, are always without any strong and vivid colour. His object +seems to have been to paint atmosphere not light, or rather that free +penetrating light which he best effected by his lower key. And from +this cause it is, that the eye rests, is filled, satisfied by the +general effect, is never irritated either by too much whiteness, or +too vivid colours; for he knew well that such irritation, though at +first it attracts and forces attention, is after a while painful, and +should therefore at any sacrifice be avoided. + +But, to return to colouring as an expression. Here is a great field +for practical experiment. On this subject I will quote a passage from +the Sketcher in Maga of Sept. 1833. + +"As in music all notes have their own expression, and combinations of +them have such diversity of effect upon the mind, may not the analogy +hold good with regard to colours? Has not every colour its own +character? And have not combinations of them effects similar to +certain combinations in sounds? This is a subject well worth the +attention of any one who has leisure and disposition to take it up: +and I am persuaded that the old masters either worked from a knowledge +of this art, or had such an instinctive perception of it, that it is +to be discovered in their works. Suppose a painter were to try various +colours on boards, and combinations of them--place them before him +separately with fixed attention, and then examine the channels into +which his thoughts would run. If he were to find their character to be +invariable, and peculiar to each of the boards put before him, he +would learn that before he trusts his subject to the canvass, he +should question himself as to the sentiment he intends it to express, +and what combination of colours would be consentient or dissentient to +it. + +"This will certainly account for the colours of the old (particularly +the historical) painters being so much at variance with common nature, +sometimes glaringly at variance with the locality and position of the +objects represented." "This knowledge of the effect of colours is +certainly very remarkable in the Bolognese school. Who ever saw +Corregio's backgrounds in nature, or indeed the whole colour of his +pictures, including figures? Examine his back-ground to his Christ in +the garden--what a mystery is in it! The Peter Martyr, at first sight, +from the charm of truth that genius has given to it, might pass for +the colour of common nature; but examine the picture as an artist, and +you will come to another conclusion, and you will the more admire +Titian." + +Some critics have been misled by the simplicity of art in this +masterpiece of Titian's, and have greatly admired the exactness with +which he has drawn and coloured every object; but they have been +deceived by that perfect unity which exists in all its parts, and have +wrongly conceived the kind of naturalness of the picture. It is full +of this sympathetic naturalness of colour; we are thoroughly +satisfied, and ascribe that general naturalness to each particular +part. Indeed if it were altogether in colour and forms no more than +common nature, there would be no real martyrdom in it--it would be but +a vulgar murder; but every part is in sympathy with the sentiment. Had +Titian merely represented the clear sky of Italy, and brought out +prominently green-leaved trees and herbage, because such things are, +and were in such a scene where this martyrdom was suffered, the +picture would not have been as it is, and must ever be, the admiration +of the world and a monument of the genius of Titian. There was wanted +a sky in which angels might come and go, and hover with the promise of +the crown and glory of martyrdom, and there must be an under and more +terrestrial sky, still grand and solemn, such as might take up the +tale of horror, and tell it among the congenial mountains; and such +there is in the voluminous clouds about the distant cliffs. And it is +very observable that, in this picture, Titian, the colourist, is most +sparing of what we are too fond of calling colour.[10] Colour, indeed, +there is, and of the greatest variety, but it is all of the subdued +hues, with which the very ground and trees are clothed, that nothing +shall presume to shine out of itself in the presence of the announcing +angels, and to be unshrouded before such a deed. + +I remember, I think it was about three years ago, a picture which well +exemplifies this ideal colouring. It was exhibited at the Institution; +it was of a female saint to whom the infant Saviour appears, by P. +Veronese. The very excellence of the colouring was in its _natural_ +unnaturalness; I say natural, because it was perfectly true to the +mystic dream, the saintly vision; a more common natural would have +ruined it. No one ever, it is true, saw such a sky--but in a gifted +trance it is such as would alone be seen, acknowledged, and remembered +as of a heavenly vision. All the colouring was like it, rich and +glorifying and unearthly, and imitative of the sanctifying light in +old cathedrals. The sky was of very mixed tones and hues of green. The +entire scene of the vision was thus hemmed in with the light and glory +of holiness, apart from the world's ideas and employments. Why should +modern painters be afraid of thus venturing into the ideal of +colouring? Never was there a greater mistake, than that the common +natural can represent the ideal. Wilkie with all his acuteness and +good sense was bewildered with a notion of their union, and thought +his sketches from the Holy Land would assist him in painting sacred +subjects; whereas the truth is, that the very realities before his +eyes would unpoeticise his whole mind; instead of trusting to his +feeling, to his visionary dream, he would begin to doubt, as he did, +what should be the exact costume, if his figures should stand or sit +as Asiatics. As we are removed from events by time, so should we be by +thought; we pass over an extensive region, and the clouds of days and +of nights pursue us out of it, and we look back upon it in our memory, +as under another light--the land itself, by distance and by memory +making it a part of our minds, more than of our vision, becomes +fabulous; it is no longer one for common language, but for song; and +so the pencil that would paint it must be dipped in the colours of +poetry. Memory glazes, to use a technical word, every scene. "The +resounding sea and the shadowy mountains are far between us," as Homer +says, and those fabulous territories that we love to revisit in the +dreams of poetic night. There are no muses with their golden harps on +Highgate Hill; nor would the painter that would paint them be over +wise to expect a glimpse of their white feet on the real +Parnassus.[11] As to nature in art, we make too much of a little +truth, neglecting the greater. It is not every creation that is +revealed to the eye; even to adore and to admire properly, we must +imagine a more beautiful than we see. The inventions of genius are but +discoveries in regions of a higher nature. + + "God's work invisible, + Not undiscover'd, their true stamp impress + On thought, creation's mirror, wherein do dwell + His unattained wonders numberless." + +Of late years some painters have taken up the novelty of representing +scriptural subjects as under the actual scenery and climate of the +holy land, and attempted besides to portray the characteristics of the +race,--a thing never dreamed of by the great painters of history. They +are partial to skies hot and cloudless, and to European feelings not +agreeable; forgetful of a land of promise and of wonder, and that +these subjects belong, and must be modified to the mental vision of +every age and country. They abhor the voluminous and richly coloured +clouds, as unnatural. Can they not feel the passage-- + + "Who maketh the clouds his chariot?" + +Let then, not only their forms, but their colours too, be as far as +may be worthy Him whom they are said to bear. They are, as it were, +the folding and unfolding volumes wherein the history of all creation +is written. As they are prominent in the language of poetry, so should +they ever be the materials for poetic art. + +I speak of this noble character of cloud skies, because a writer of +more persuasive power than mature judgement,--the Author of "Modern +Painters,"--has condemned them; that he has not felt them is +surprising. He has, however, in his second, in many respects admirable +part, manifested such change of opinion, and has shown such a growing +admiration for the old masters, whom in his first volume he treated +with so little respect, nay, with perfect contempt, that I cannot +doubt the operation of his better judgment, when in prosecuting his +subject, he will be led to consider the use of these materials of +nature to poetic art. + +I must not, however, forget that I began this paper with questioning +the title of Rubens as a colourist. It has been shown, that I consider +no painter a colourist, who does not unite the two essentials of +colour,--agreeability, and its perfect sympathy with the subject. + +I have endeavoured to show in what this agreeability consists. I have +not presumed to lay down any definite rules for the second great +essential; but I have endeavoured by illustration to enforce its +necessity; in this confident that a proper practice will follow, and +be the necessary result of a proper feeling. Now to speak of Rubens; +what are his characteristics as a colourist? Wherein lies his +excellence? I do not stop to repeat any of the extravagant praises +that have been so freely lavished upon him. But I would ask, is there +one _important_ picture by his hand, wherein the colour is of a +sentiment? Is there any one which, if you remove from it to such a +distance as not to see the subject in its particulars, will indicate +by its colouring what sort of narrative is to be told by a nearer +inspection? Try him by those in our National Gallery. I will take +first, his most powerful, and one of a subject most advantageous +perhaps to his manner, because there is no very striking sentiment to +be conveyed by it; for he seems scarcely serious in his treatment of +this passage in the Roman history. I speak of his "Rape of the +Sabines." Inasmuch as it is a picture of glare, and fluster, and +confusion, it may be said to represent the subject; but such ought not +to be the _sentiment_ of it. But inasmuch as it has this glare, and is +entirely deficient in all repose of colour, (for it is not requisite +to representation of violent action, that there should not be _that_ +character of repose of colour which the essential agreeability +demands,) the eye cannot rest upon it with satisfaction as a whole. +You must approach it then nearer, to see how the particular objects +are coloured. You will be pleased with the skill with which one colour +is set off by another; and, doubtless, you will acknowledge a certain +truth in the flesh tints: but all this while you are led away from the +subject, draw no conclusion from it as a whole, and are induced to +examine a detail which, however coloured with skill, and powerfully +executed, is vulgar and disgusting. A mere trifle more of gross +vulgarity would turn it into caricature, and you would think, that +Rubens had been a successfully laborious satirist upon the narrative +of the Roman historian. I confess that, but for its technical merits, +which are lost upon most of the visitors of the Gallery, the picture +would give me no pleasure whatever, nay, much disgust, as altogether +derogatory to the dignity of art. + +I purposely pass by his allegorical pictures as mere furniture for +walls, not being subjects of sentiment; nor should I very much care if +his "Peace and War" were in the sorry condition which has been wrongly +given to it. + +Examine then the Judgment of Paris. Here is a subject most favourable +for him. It shows glaringly the defect of his manner. Admit that his +flesh tints are most natural, that they are beautiful; has he not +sacrificed too much to make them so? All, excepting these nude +figures, is monotonous, has no relation by any tint to the figures, or +to any idea of sentiment such a subject may be supposed to convey. The +single excellence lies in the flesh-colouring of the three goddesses. +But when I use the word excellence, I do not mean to say that in this +respect he surpasses any other painter, as I will presently show. Now, +there is a peculiarity in Rubens' method, and which strictly belongs +to his colouring, from which arises what may be not improperly +designated flimsiness, that is, the leaving too much of the first +getting in of his picture, the first transparent sketchy brown. If in +some respect this gives force to the more solid parts, by the contrast +of the transparent with the opaque, yet is it rather a flashy force, +in which the means become too visible; an entire _substance_ is +wanted; we come too immediately to the bare ground of the canvass. And +this first colouring being a mere brown, not deserving the name of +colour, as it is not the real colour of the objects upon which it is +disposed, is in entire disagreement with the studied truth to nature +in the other parts. There is every reason to believe that Rubens, +after his return from Italy, was aware of this, by his partially +adopting the Italian method of more generally solid painting and after +glazing; but he returned to the Flemish method, and as it certainly +was the more expeditious, it may have better suited his hand, and the +demands upon it. Now, here it may be remarked, that even for the first +essential--agreeability of colouring, that is, of the substance of the +paint--it is necessary that it should be rich, really a substance, not +a merely thin wash: such was the positive depth of even the shadowy +parts in the back grounds of Corregio; the paint itself is a rich +substance, with the lustrous depth of precious stones. So that it +would appear that there is in Rubens' style of colouring an original +incompleteness, destructive in part of the naturalness he would aim +at; it is a mannerism, very tolerable in such light works as those +lucid and charming pictures by Teniers where all is light and +unlaboured; but becoming a weakness where the other labour and the +subject are important. + +Now, with regard to this celebrated excellence of his, in colouring +the nude, (and here it should be observed, that it is almost +exclusively in his female figures,) however natural it may be, is it +nature in its most agreeable, its most perfect colouring? It has been +said, and intended as praise, that the flesh looks as if it had fed +upon roses; but is it a praise? I should rather say it would not +unaptly express the thinness, the unsubstantialness of it, as of a +rose leaf surface merely. In form, indeed, the figures are any thing +but thin and unsubstantial: but I am considering only the colouring; +it is not rich; it has indeed the light and play of life, but it has +not the glow; it is a surface life, not life, warm life to the very +marrow, such as we see in the works of Titian and Giorgione. They did +not, as Rubens did, heighten the flesh with _pure white_; they +reserved the power of that for another purpose, preserving throughout +a lower tone, so that the eye shall not fasten upon any one particular +tint, the whole being of the character of the "_nimium lubricus +aspici_." Their _white_ and their _dark_, they artfully placed as +opposition, the cool white to set off the warmth, the life-glow of the +flesh, and the dark to make the low tone shine out fair; so that in +this very excellence of flesh painting, they were more perfect, that +one only approach to excellence, by which it should seem Rubens had +acquired his title as a colourist. But these painters, as well as many +others--though take only these, as the most striking contrasts to +Rubens--excelled also in the agreeability of their colouring, without +reference to subject, and in the sympathy with regard to it. So that +in them were united the two essentials. Whereas Rubens had in any +perfection neither; the one not at all, and the other only in a minor +part and degree. + +Such was the _general_ character of Rubens' colouring. I do not mean +that there are no felicitous exceptions. I would notice--but there the +human figure is not--his lioness on a ledge of rock; there is an +entire absence of his strong and flickering colours: on the contrary +all is dim--the scenery natural to the animal, for it partakes of its +proper colours, (and this is strictly true, as the hare and the fox +conceal themselves by their assimilating earths and forms.) The +spectator advances upon the scene, unaware of the stealthily lurking +danger. The dimness and repose are of a terror, that contrast and +forcible colour would at least mitigate; the surprise would be lost, +or rather be altogether of another kind; it would arm you for the +danger, which becomes sublime by taking you unprepared. And there is +his little landscape with the sun shedding his rays through the hole +in the tree, where the sentiment of the obscure--the dim wood--is +enhanced by the bright gleam--and there is in this little picture a +whole agreeability of colour. His landscapes in general are, however, +very strange; rather eccentric than natural in colour, yet preserving +the intended atmospheric effect by an idealism of colouring not quite +in keeping with the unromantic commonness of the scenery. + +But these exceptions do not indicate the _characteristics_ of Rubens +as a colourist; he is more known, and more imitated, as far as he can +be imitated, in the mannerism of his style which has been described. + +Deficient, then, as I think him to have been in these two essentials, +I am still disposed to question his claim to the title, and to ask, +"Was Rubens a colourist?" If the answer be in the negative, it may be +worth while to consider the precise point from which his style may be +said to have deviated from the right road; nor is it here necessary to +particularise, but to refer to the Italian practice generally, which +will be found to consist chiefly in this--in the choosing a low key; +and for the greatest perfection of colouring, the proper union of the +two essentials of good colouring, it may be safe to refer, first to +the Venetian, the Lombard, and then to the Bolognese schools. Not that +the Roman school is altogether to be omitted. Out of his polished +style, Raffaelle is often excellent--both rich in tone, and, where he +is not remarkably so, often sentimental. Some of his frescoes, as the +Heliodorus, are good examples. And in that small picture in our +National Gallery, the "St Catherine," the sentiment of purity and +loveliness is admirably sustained in the colouring. There is in the +best pictures of that school no affected flashiness of high lights--no +flimsiness in the unsubstantial paint in the shadows; there is an +evenness throughout, which, if it reach not the perfection of +colouring, is the best substitute for it. + +Power is not inconsistent with modesty--with forbearance. In the +flashy style, all the force is expended, and visibly so; and as in +that excess of power the flash of lightning is but momentary, we +cannot long bear the exhibition of such a power rendered continuous. +In the more modest--the subdued style--the artist conceals as much as +may be the very power he has used, thereby actually strengthening it; +for while you have all you want, you know not how much may be in +reserve, and you feel it unseen, or may believe it to be unseen, when +in fact it is before your eyes, though half veiled for a purpose. + +Let not any painter who would be a colourist deceive himself into the +belief that the most vivid and unmixed colours are the best for his +art, nor that even they are the truest to nature, in whatever sense he +may take the word nature. It is easy enough to lay on crude vermilion, +lake, and chrome yellows; yet the colours that shall be omitted shall +be infinite, and by far more beautiful than the chosen, and for which, +since the generality are not painters, nor scientific in the effects +of colours, there are no names. Let a painter who would have so +limited a scale and view of colour do his best, and the first +flower-bed he looks at will shame him with regard to those very +colours he has adopted, as with regard to those thousand shades of +hues, mixed and of endless variety, which are still more beautiful. We +scarcely ever in nature see a really unmixed colour; and that the +mixed are the most agreeable may be more than conjectured, from the +fact that, of the three, the blue, the red, and the yellow, the +mixture of the two will be so unsatisfactory, that the mind's eye +will, when withdrawn, supply the third. + +A few words only remain to be said. To complete, practically, +agreeability of colouring, there is wanting a more perfect vehicle for +our colours. Much attention has, of late years, been directed to this +subject; and there is every reason to believe not in vain. I wait, +impatiently enough, Mr Eastlake's other volume, in which he promises +to treat of the Italian methods. He has been indefatigable in +collecting materials,--has an eye to know well what is wanted; and, as +a scholar and collector of all that has been written on art, in +Italian, as well as other languages, has the best sources from which +to gather isolated facts, which, put together, may lead to most +important discoveries. + +Mrs Merrifield, also, whose translation from Cennino Cennini, and +whose works on fresco painting are so valuable, has been collecting +materials abroad, and will shortly publish her discoveries. The two +proofs to which we are to look are documents and chemistry. The secret +of Van Eyck may have been found out, but its modification under the +Italian practice will be, perhaps, the more important discovery. I am +glad also to learn, that Mr Hendrie intends to publish entire with +notes, the "De Magerne MS." in the British Museum. I believe artists +are already giving up the worst of vehicles, the meguilp, made of +mastic, of all the varnishes the most ready to decompose, as well as +to separate the paint, and produce those unseemly gashes which have +been the ruin of so many pictures. + +Whether colour be considered in its agreeability, _per se_, or in its +sympathetic, its sentimental application,--for the attainment of +either end, it is of the highest importance to resume the very +identical vehicle, and the mode of using it, which were the vehicle +and the methods of Titian, Giorgione, and Corregio, and generally of +the old masters. Yours ever, + + A----s. + + _4th June, 1847._ + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] Titian's palette was most simple: the great variety in the +colouring of his pictures was effected by the fewest and most common +colours--browns I believe he did not use, of which we boast to possess +so many; the ochres, red and yellow, with his black and blue, made +most or all of his deepest tones, the great depth being given, by +glazing over with the same, and touching in here and there slight +varieties, more or less of the red or yellow, lighter or darker being +used in these repetitions. Hence the harmony of his general +tones--upon which, as the subject required them, he laid his more +vivid colours. I believe the best painters have used the simplest +palette--the fewest colours. Our own Wilson is said to have replied to +one who told him a new brown was discovered, "I am sorry for it." But +by far the most injurious of all our pigments is asphaltum; it always +gives rather rottenness than depth. + +[11] Mr Etty has written a letter, which has been lithographed and +widely circulated, bearing so directly upon this subject, that I +cannot refrain from noticing it. And this I do, because the authority +of a Royal Academician, and one, I believe, selected to be judge in +the distribution of the prizes in Westminster Hall Exhibition, cannot +but have an influence, both with the public and the rising professors +of the art. + +He speaks of his high purposes in his choice of the subject of Joan of +Arc and other pictures, and the process by which those purposes were +brought to completion. He tells us, that in his enthusiasm he visited, +as a pilgrim, the spot where the heroic and tragic scenes of his +subject were enacted. He presumes that the houses there are now pretty +much what they were then; and he has thought an exact representation +of them necessary to historical truth, and he has accordingly +introduced them. + +Enthusiasm is good, but it should in this, as in all human concerns of +importance, be under the guidance of strong principles. Now here the +principles of historical painting, which separate that great act from +the lower and imitative, are violated. + +Had an eyewitness described as he felt the event which Mr Etty has +undertaken to paint, would he have told of or portrayed to the mind's +eye, and prominently, the very houses, with all their real accidents +of material and colours, so that, were a tile off a roof, your +sympathy must be made to stay for the noticing it? + +This precision is not for historical painting, for it is in antagonism +with poetry, (which is feeling high-wrought, by imagination.) It is +wrong in colouring as in design. With regard to the first, the +question should be asked--How would memory have coloured it to the +spectator in his after vision? How would imagination colour it in the +page of history? Details of this kind are sure to vulgarise a subject, +and by their little truths destroy the greater--the heroism, the +devotion--to which the eye would most naturally have been riveted, so +as to have seen little else, and to have been quite out of a condition +to arithmetise the pettinesses of things. Such treatment would better +suit the levity of the author of the "Pucelle" than the grave +historian or the still more serious and impressive historical painter. +It is very important that Mr Etty, if he is likely to be again +selected to pronounce judgment upon works of the competitors for +rewards in historical painting and honour, revise his opinions, and +test them by the established principles which are applicable alike to +poetry and to painting; and without the practical use of which, +genius, if it could co-exist, would be but an inane and objectless +extravagance. + + + + +THE AMERICAN LIBRARY.[12] + + +We are not--as the title placed at the head of this paper, till +further explained, might seem to imply--we are not about to pass in +review the whole literature of America. Scanty as that youthful +literature is, and may well confess itself to be, it would afford +subject for a long series of papers. Besides, the more distinguished +of its authors are generally known, and fairly appreciated, and we +should have no object nor interest just at present in determining, +with perhaps some nearer approach to accuracy than has hitherto been +done, the merits of such well-known writers as Irving, Cooper, +Prescott, Emerson, Channing, and others. But the series now in course +of publication by Messrs Wiley and Putnam, under the title of "Library +of American Books," has naturally attracted our attention, bringing as +it were some works before us for the first time, and presenting +what--after a few distinguished names are bracketed off--may be +supposed to be a fair specimen of the popular literature of that +country. + +It will be seen that we have taken up a pretty large handful for +present examination. Our collection will be acknowledged, we think, to +be no bad sample of the whole. At all events we have shaken from our +sheaf two or three unprofitable cars, and _one_ in particular so +empty, and so rotten withal, that to hang over it for close +examination was impossible. How it happens that the publishers of the +series have admitted to the "Library of American Books" as if it were +_a book_--a thing called "Big Abel and The Little Manhattan," is to +us, at this distance from the scene of operations, utterly +inexplicable. It is just possible that the author may have earned a +reputable name in some other department of letters; pity, then, he +should forfeit both it, and his character for sanity, by this +outrageous attempt at humour. Perhaps he is the potent editor of some +American broad-sheet, of which publishers stand in awe. We know not; +of this only we are sure, that more heinous trash was never before +exposed to public view. We read two chapters of it--more we are +persuaded than any other person in England has accomplished--and then +threw it aside with a sort of charitable contempt. For the sake of all +parties, readers, critics, publishers and the author himself, it +should be buried, at once, out of sight, with other things noisome and +corruptible. + +On the other hand, we shall be able to introduce to our readers +(should it be hitherto unknown to them) one volume, at least, which +they will be willing to transfer from the American to the English +library. The "Mosses from an old Manse," is occasionally written with +an elegance of style which may almost bear comparison with that of +Washington Irving; and though certainly it is inferior to the works of +that author in taste and judgment, and whatever may be described as +artistic talent, it exhibits deeper traces of thought and reflection. +What can our own circulating libraries be about? At all our places of +summer resort they drug us with the veriest trash, without a spark of +vitality in it, and here are tales and sketches like these of +Nathaniel Hawthorne, which it would have done one's heart good to have +read under shady coverts, or sitting--no unpleasant lounge--by the +sea-side on the rolling shingles of the beach. They give us the +sweepings of Mr Colburn's counter, and then boastfully proclaim the +zeal with which they serve the public. So certain other servants of +the public feed the eye with gaudy advertisements of every generous +liquor under heaven, and retail nothing but the sour ale of some +crafty brewer who has contrived to bind them to his vats and his +mash-tub. + +The first book we opened of this series is one called, with a charming +alliteration, "Views and Reviews," by the author of "The Yemassee, +&c." whom we fortunately learn, from another quarter, to be a +gentleman of the more commodious name of Mr Sims; and the first words +which caught our eye were "Americanism in Literature," printed in +capital letters, it being the title of an essay which has for its +object to stimulate the Americans to the formation of a national +literature. This appears to be a favourite subject with a certain +class of their writers, more distinguished for ardour than for +judgment. Mrs Margaret Fuller, in her Papers on Literature and Art, is +also eloquent on the same theme. Let us first hear Mr Sims. There is +in this gentleman's enthusiasm a business-like air which is highly +amusing. + +"Americanism in Literature. This is the right title. It indicates the +becoming object of our aim. Americanism in our literature is scarcely +implied by the usual phraseology. American literature _seems to be a +thing certainly_--_but it is not the thing exactly_. To put +Americanism in our letters, is to do a something much more important. +The phrase has a peculiar signification which is worth our +consideration. By a liberal extension of the courtesies of criticism, +we are already in possession of a due amount of American authorship; +but of such as is individual and properly peculiar to ourselves, we +cannot be said to enjoy much. Our writers are numerous--quite as many +perhaps as, in proportion to our years, our circumstances, and +necessities, might be looked for amongst any people. But, with very +few exceptions, their writings might as well be European. They are +European. The writers think after European models, draw their stimulus +and provocation from European books, fashion themselves to European +tastes, and look chiefly to the awards of European criticism. This is +to denationalise the American mind. _This is to enslave the national +heart--to place ourselves at the mercy of the foreigner, and to yield +all that is individual in our character and hope, to the paralysing +influence of his will, and frequently hostile purposes._"--(P. 1.) + +All the literati of Europe are manifestly in league to sap the +constitution and destroy the independence of America; and, at this +very time, its own men of letters:--the traitors!--are seeking a +European reputation. Truly a state of alarm which may be described as +unparalleled. "A nation," says our most profound and original patriot, +"_must do its own thinking, as well as its own fighting_, for as truly +as all history has shown that the people who rely for their defence in +battle on foreign mercenaries, inevitably become their prey; so the +nation falls a victim to that genius of another to which she passively +defers." Fearful to contemplate. There can be no safety for the United +States as long as people will read Bulwer and Dickens instead of our +"Yemassee," and our "Wigwams and Cabins." + +But a national literature--will it come for any calling to it? Will it +come the sooner for the banishment of all other literature? If Mr Sims +makes his escape into the woods, and sits there naked and ignorant as +a savage, will inspiration visit him? Will trying to _un_educate his +mind, however successful he may be in the attempt,--and he has really +carried his efforts in this direction to a most heroic length--exactly +enable him, or any other, to compete with this dreaded influence of +foreign literature? And if not, what other measures are to be taken +against this insidious enemy? We see none. + +But no nation was ever hurt, as far as we have heard, by the light of +genius shining on it from another. And as to this national +literature--though it will not obey the conjurations of Mr Sims, we +may be quite sure that, in due time, it will make its appearance. +America can no more _begin_ a literature, no more start fresh from its +woods and its prairies, than we here in England could commence a +literature, neither can it any more abstract itself from the influence +of its own institutions, the temper of its people, its history, its +natural scenery, than we here in England can manumit ourselves from +the influence of the age in which we live. These things determine +themselves by their own laws. You may as well call out to the tides of +the ocean to flow this way or that, as think to control these great +tidal movements of the human mind. America cannot _begin_ a +literature, for it must look up to the same wellhead, or rather to the +same mountain streams as ourselves; neither do we suppose that it is +seriously anxious to disclaim all connexion with Bacon and Shakspeare, +Milton and Locke; but it can, and will, continue and carry on a +literature of its own in a separate stream, branching from what we +must be permitted to call, for some time at least, the main current; +and which, now diverging from that, and now approaching to it, will at +length wear for itself a deep and independent channel. + +But such slow and gradual progress of things by no means suits the +impetuous patriotism of Mr Sims. He is possessed evidently with the +idea that some great explosion of national genius would suddenly take +place, if the people would but resolve upon it. It is an affair of +public opinion, like any other measure of policy; if but the universal +suffrage could be brought to bear upon it, the thing were done; it is +from the electoral urn that the whole scroll of poets and philosophers +is to be drawn. "Let the nation," he solemnly proclaims, "_but yield a +day's faith to its own genius, and that day will suffice for +triumph!_... Our development," he continues, "depends upon our faith +in what we are, and in our independence of foreign judgment." One +would think Mr Sims was fighting over again the war of independence. +Or has some old speech of Mr O'Connell's on the repeal of the union +got shuffled amongst his papers? One expects the sentence to close +with the reiterated quotation,-- + + "Who would be _free_, themselves must strike the blow!" + +As the freedom Mr Sims is struggling for, is the release from superior +genius, superior intelligence, from philosophy and taste, we may +surely congratulate him, at least, on his own personal attainment of +it. He has "struck the blow" for himself--whatever blow was necessary. +He is free. Free, and as barren, as the north wind. Free as the loose +and blinding sand upon a gusty day--and about as pleasing and as +profitable. His "Views and Reviews" demonstrate in every page that he +has quite liberated himself from all those fetters and prejudices +which, in Europe, go under the name of truth and common sense. + +Mrs or Miss Margaret Fuller--the titlepage does not enable us to +determine which is the correct designation, but, in the absence of +proof to the contrary, we shall bestow, what we hope we shall not +offend a lady who has written upon "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" +by still calling the more honourable title--Mrs Margaret Fuller has +touched upon the same theme in her papers upon literature and art. +She, too, sighs impatiently after a national literature. In an essay +devoted to the subject, she thus commences:--"It does not follow, +because many books are written by persons born in America, that there +exists an American literature. Before such can exist, _an original +idea must animate this nation_, and fresh currents of life must call +into life fresh thoughts along its shores."--(Vol. ii. p. 122.) + +An original idea!--and such as is to animate a whole nation! Certainly +it sounds fit and congruous that the new world, as their continent has +been called, should give us a new truth; and yet, as this new world +was, in fact, peopled by inhabitants from the old, who have carried on +life much in the same way as it has been conducted in the ancient +quarters of the globe, we fear there is little more chance of the +revelation of a great original idea in one hemisphere than the other. + +"We use the language of England," continues the lady, "and receive in +torrents the influence of her thought, yet it is, in many respects, +uncongenial and injurious to our constitution. What suits Great +Britain, with her insular position, _and consequent need to +concentrate and intensify her life_," (we hope our readers +understand--we cannot help them if they do not,) "with her limited +monarchy and spirit of trade, does not suit a mixed race, continually +enriched with new blood from other stocks the most unlike that of our +first descent, with ample field and verge enough to range in, and +leave every impulse free, and abundant opportunity to develop a +genius, wide and full as our rivers, _flowery_, _luxuriant_, _and +impassioned as our vast prairies_, _rooted in strength as the rocks on +which the Puritan fathers landed_." + +If the future genius of America is to write "to order," as some appear +to think, it would be difficult to give him, a more perplexing +programme than the lady here lays down. This rock of the Puritans, +standing amongst the luxuriant, flowery, and _impassioned_ prairies, +presents a very heterogeneous combination. And whether one who had +rooted himself upon such a rock would altogether approve the "leaving +every impulse free," may admit of a question. + +But it is altogether a superfluous and futile anxiety which agitates +these writers. A national literature the Americans will assuredly +have, if they have a literature at all. It cannot fail to assume a +certain national colour, although it would be impossible beforehand to +fix and determine it. No effort could prevent this. And how egregious +a mistake to imagine that they would hasten the advent of an American +literature by discarding European models, and breaking from the +influence of European modes of thought! It would be a sure expedient +for becoming ignorant and barbarous. They cannot discard European +models without an act of mental suicide; and who sees not that it is +only by embracing all, appropriating all, competing with all, that the +new and independent literature can be formed? + +And, after, all, what is this great boast of _nationality_ in +literature? Whatever is most excellent in the literature of every +country is precisely that which belongs to _humanity_, and not to the +nation. What is dearest and most prized at home is exactly that which +has a world-wide celebrity and a world-wide interest--that which +touches the sympathies of all men. Are the highest truths _national_? +Is there any trace of _locality_ in the purest and noblest of +sentiments? We invariably find that the same poets, and the same +passages of their works, which are most extolled at home, are the most +admired abroad. If there were any wondrous charm in this nationality +it would be otherwise. The foreigner would fail to admire what is most +delectable to the native. But the readers of all nations point at +once, and applaud invariably, at the same passage. Who ever rose from +the _Inferno_ of Dante without looking back to the story of Ugolino +and of Francesca? If a volume of choice extracts were to be culled +from the works of Dante, Ariosto, Petrarch, an Englishman and an +Italian would make no greater difference in their selection than would +two Englishmen or two Italians. + +Nationality one is sure to have, whether desirable or not, but the +great writers of every people are unquestionably those who, without +foregoing their national character, rise to be countrymen of the +world. Mr Sims, instead of complaining that his fellow-countrymen are +European, (may more of them become so!) should be assured of this, +that it is only those who rise to European reputation that can be the +founders of an American literature. The day that sees the American +poet or philosopher taking his place in the high European diet of +sages and of poets, is the day when the national literature has become +confirmed and established.[13] + +Mr Sims is, at all events, quite consistent with himself in his wish +to break loose from European literature--he who is disposed to break +loose entirely from all the past. History with him, _as history_, is +utterly worthless. It is absolutely of no value but as it affords a +raw material for novels and romances. One would hardly credit that a +man would utter such an absurdity. Here it is, however, formally +divulged. + + "The truth is--an important truth, which seems equally to have + escaped," &c., &c.--"the truth is, the chief value of history + consists in its proper employment for the purposes of + art!--Consists in its proper employment, as so much raw material + in the erection of noble fabrics and lovely forms, to which the + fire of genius imparts soul, and which the smile of taste informs + with beauty; and which, thus endowed and constituted, are so many + _temples of mind_--_so many shrines of purity_--_where the big, + blind, struggling heart_ of the multitude may rush--in its + vacancy, and be made to feel;--in its blindness, and be made to + see;--in its fear, and find countenance;--in its weakness, and be + rendered strong;--in the humility of its conscious baseness, and + be lifted into gradual excellence and hope!"--(P. 24.) + +Here is truth and eloquence, at one blow, enough to stagger the +strongest of us. "It is the artist only who is the true historian," he +again resolutely affirms. We should apprehend that, unless history +were allowed to stand on a separate basis of its own, supported by its +own peculiar testimony, it could be of little use even in enlarging +the boundaries of art. History is said to enable the artist to +transcend the limits which the modes of thought and feeling of his own +day would else prescribe to him. But if the rules by which we judge of +truth in history be no other than those by which we judge of truth or +probability in works of fiction, (and to this the views of Mr Sims +inevitably conduct us)--if history has not its own independent place +and value--it can no longer lend this aid--no longer raise art above, +or out of the circle in which existing opinions and sympathies would +place her. Each generation of artists would not learn new truths from +history, but history would be rewritten by each generation of artists. +How, for example, could a Protestant of the nineteenth century, with +whom religion and morality are inseparably combined--with whom +conscience is always both moral and religious--how could he, guided +only by his own experience, represent, or give credit to that entire +separation of the two modes of feeling, moral and religious, which +encounters us frequently in the middle ages, and constantly in the +Pagan world? Surely a fact like this, learned from historical +testimony, has a value of its own, other and greater than any +fictitious representation which an artist might supply. But even this +fictitious representation, as we have said, would grow null and void +if not upheld by the independent testimony of history; the past would +become the attendant shadow merely of the present. + +We have the old predilection in favour of a _true story_, whenever it +can be had. Mr Sims has written some tales under the title of "The +Wigwam and the Cabin." They seem to be neither good nor bad;--it would +be a waste of time to cast about for the exact epithet that should +characterise them;--and in these tales we live much with the early +settlers and the Red-skins. All his stories put together, had they +twice their merit, are not equal in value to a few words he quotes +from the brief authentic memoir of Daniel Boon. What were any picture +from the hands of any artist whatever to the certainty we feel that +this stout-hearted, fearless man did verily walk the untrodden forest +alone, with as little disquiet as we parade the streets of a populous +city? Can any paradoxical reasoning about eternal truths, and the +universal reality of human sentiments, assimilate this _history_ of +Daniel Boon to the very best creation of the novelist? Here was the +veritable hero who did exist. "You see," says Boon, "how little human +nature requires. It is in our own hearts, rather than in the things +around us, that we are to seek felicity. A man may be happy in any +state. It only asks a perfect resignation to the will of Providence." +Commonplace moralities enough, in the mouth of a commonplace person. +Illustrated by the life of Boon, how they _tell_ upon us! They are the +words of the steadfast, solitary man, who could go forth single, +amongst wild beasts and savages, braving all manner of dangers, and +hardships, and deprivations. "I had plenty," he says, "in the midst of +want; was happy though surrounded by dangers; how should I be +melancholy? No populous city, with all its structures and all its +commerce, could afford me so much pleasure as I found here." + +Boon, though he never wrote so much as a single stanza about it, as we +hear, added to his love of enterprise a sincere passion for the +beauties of nature. No poet, therefore, could venture to draw upon his +imagination for a bolder picture than we have here in the _true story_ +of Daniel Boon, breaking upon the sublime solitudes of nature, +fearless and alone, and relying on his single manhood. The picture +could gather nothing from invention. Shall any one pretend to say that +it gathers nothing from being true? + +Mr Sims is very indignant that Niebahr should rob him of many heroic +and marvellous stories. How can Niebahr rob _him_ of any thing--who +looks not for truth in history, but for novel and romance? The great +German critic will not interfere with _his_ history--will leave him in +undisturbed possession of all his novels and romances--all his noble +fabrics--"temples of mind,"--"shrines of purity," &c. &c.--where he +may walk as "big and as blind," as he pleases. + +The new American literature which Mr Sims is to originate, will be as +little indebted, it seems, to science as to history. This, too, has +disturbed his faith in certain pleasing and most profitable stories. +"_That cold-blooded demon called Science_," he exclaims, "has taken +the place of all other demons. He has certainly cast out innumerable +devils, however he may still spare the principal. Whether we are the +better for his intervention is another question. There is reason to +apprehend that in disturbing our human faith in shadows, we have lost +some of those wholesome moral restraints which might have kept many of +us virtuous where the laws could not." + +A wholesome moral restraint in starting at every bush, and hating +every old woman for a witch! Mr Sims, from his own intellectual +altitude, pronounces these faiths to be "shadows;" he does not +believe--not he--in the walking about at night of impalpable white +sheets; but if you should happen to be of the same opinion with +himself, then the cold-blooded demon of science has seized you for his +prey. In this, there are many others who resemble Mr Sims; one often +meets with half-educated men and women, who would take it as an +affront, an unpardonable insult, if you were to suppose them addicted +to the childish superstitions of the nursery, who nevertheless cannot +endure to hear those very superstitions decried or exploded by others. +They want to "_dis_believe and tremble" at the same time. + +We must state, in justice to Mr Sims, that this outbreak against +science is the preluding strain to his "Wigwams and Cabins," where he +has the intention of dealing with the supernatural and the marvellous. +Let him tell his marvels, and welcome; a ghost story is just as good +now as ever it was; but why usher it in with this didactic folly? Of +these tales, as we do not wish again to refer to the works of Mr Sims, +we may say here, that they appear to give some insight into the manner +of life of the early settlers, and their intercourse with the savages. +In this point of view they might be read with profit, could we be sure +that the pictures they present were tolerably faithful. But a writer +who has no partiality whatever for matter of fact, and who +systematically prefers fiction to truth, comes before us with unusual +suspicion, and requires an additional guarantee.[14] + +"_Paperson Literature and Art._" Our readers have already had a +specimen, and not an unfavourable one, of the eloquence of Mrs +Margaret Fuller. This lady is by no means given to the flagrant +absurdities of the gentleman we have just parted with, but in her +writings there is a constant effort to be forcible, which leads her +always a little on the wrong side of good taste and common sense. +There is an uneasy and ceaseless labour to be brilliant and astute. +The reader is perpetually impressed with the effort that is put forth +in his favour,--an ambiguous claim, and the only one, that is made +upon his gratitude. + +America is not without her army of critics, her well-appointed and +disciplined array of reviewers. The _North American Review_ betrays no +inferiority to its brethren on this side of the Atlantic. Let there be +therefore no mistake in regarding Mrs Margaret Fuller as the +representative of the critical judgment of her country. But there is a +large section, or coterie, of its literary people, whose mode of +thinking we imagine this essayist may be considered as fairly +expressing. Even this section, we do not suppose that she _leads_; but +she has just that amount of talent and of hardihood which would prompt +her to press forward into the front rank of any band of thinkers she +had joined. She is not of that stout-hearted race who venture forth +alone; she must travel in company; but in that company she will go as +far as who goes farthest, and will occasionally dart from the ranks to +strike a little blow upon her own account. The writings of minds of +this calibre may be usefully studied for the indications they give of +the currents of opinion, whether on the graver matters of politics, +or, as in this instance, on the less important topics of literature. + +Amongst this lady's criticisms upon English poets, we remarked some +names, very highly lauded, of which we in England have heard little or +nothing. This, in our crowded literature, where so much of both what +is good and what is bad escapes detection, is no proof of an erroneous +judgment on her part. We, on the contrary, may have been culpably +neglectful. But when we looked at the quotations she makes to support +the praise she gives, we were speedily relieved from any self-reproach +of this description. Passages are cited for applause, in which there +is neither distinguishable thought, nor elegance of diction, nor even +an attempt at melody of verse; passages which could have won upon her +only (and herein these quotations, if they fail of giving a fair +representation of the poet, serve at least to characterise the +critic,) could have won upon her only by a seeming air of profundity, +by their utter contempt of perspicuous language, and a petulant +disregard of even that rhythm, or regulated harmony, which has been +supposed to distinguish verse from prose. For very manifest reasons, +however, these are not the occasions on which we prefer to test the +critical powers of Mrs Margaret Fuller. It is more advisable to +observe her manner when occupied upon established reputations, such as +Scott, and Byron, and Southey. + +Our critic partakes in the very general opinion which places the prose +works of Sir Walter Scott far above his poetry. It is an opinion we do +not share. Admirable as are, beyond all doubt, his novels, Sir Walter +Scott, in out humble estimation, has a greater chance of immortality +as the author of the Lay of the Last Minstrel, than as the author of +Waverley. That, perhaps, is our heresy, and Mrs Fuller may be +considered here as representing the more orthodox creed. And thus it +is she represents it. + +"The poetry of WALTER SCOTT has been _superseded_ by his prose, yet it +fills no unimportant niche in the literary history of the last half +century, and may be read, _at least once in life_, with great +pleasure. Marmion, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, &c., cannot, indeed, +be companions of those Sabbath hours of which the weariest, dreariest +life need not be destitute, for their bearing is _not upon the true +life of man_, his immortal life." (If Mrs Fuller wrote in the language +of the conventicle this would be intelligible; but she does not; what +does she mean?) "Coleridge felt this so deeply, that in a lately +published work, he is recorded to have said, 'not twenty lines of +Scott's poetry will ever reach posterity; it has relation to +nothing.'" (Vol. i. p. 63.) + +If Coleridge said this in the haste and vivacity of conversation, it +was great in justice to his memory to record and print it. "Not twenty +lines!"--"relation to nothing!" Why, there are scores of lines in his +earliest poem alone, which will ring long in the ears of men, for they +have relation to the simple unalterable, universal feelings of +mankind. + + "Oh, said he that his heart was cold!" + +We will not believe it. We are tempted to answer with a torrent of +quotation; but this is not the place. + +"To one who has read," continues Mrs Fuller, "Scott's novels first, +and looks in his poems for the same dramatic interest, the rich +humour, the tragic force, the highly wrought, yet flowing dialogue, +and the countless minutiae in the finish of character, they must bring +disappointment." He who looks for all and exactly the same things in +the poems which he had found in the novels, will assuredly, like other +foolish seekers, be disappointed. Sir Walter Scott did not put his +Bailie Nicol Jarvie nor his Andrew Fairservice into rhyme; nor does a +lay of border chivalry embrace all that variety of character, or of +dialogue, which finds ample room in the historical romance. + +Amongst a certain class of critics, it has been long a prevailing +humour to decry one Alexander Pope. Mrs Margaret Fuller is resolved +that if not first in the field against this notorious pretender, no +one shall show greater hardihood than herself in the attack upon him. +It is one of those occasions when, though surrounded by a goodly +company of friends, she yet finds opportunity for an individual act of +heroism. They are but a few words she utters--but match them if you +can! We do not flinch, we Amazonian warriors. It is _a-propos_ of Lord +Byron that she takes occasion to point a shaft, or rather to throw her +battle-axe, at the head of this flagrant impostor. The whole passage +must be quoted: + +"It is worthy of remark that Byron's moral perversion never paralysed +or obscured his intellectual powers, though it might lower their +aims. With regard to the plan and style of his works, he showed +strong good sense and clear judgment. The man who indulged such +narrowing egotism, such irrational scorn, would prime and polish +without mercy the stanzas in which he uttered them." (Wonderful! that +an egotist and a misanthrope should have been kept from defacing his +own verses. Then follows our terrible bye-blow.) "And this bewildered +idealist was a very bigot in behoof _of the common-sensical satirist, +the almost peevish realist_--_Pope_!" (P. 76.) + +With what consummate disdain does she condescend to give the +_coup-de-grace_ to the unhappy lingering author of the "Epistle to +Arbuthnot," and "The Rape of the Lock!" These poems of the "peevish +realist," shall have no place, since Mrs Margaret Fuller so determines +it, in the new literature of America. We will keep them here in +England--in a casket of gold, if we ever possess one. + +One other specimen of the lady's eloquence and critical discrimination +must suffice. She is characterising Southey. + +"The muse of Southey is a beautiful statue of crystal, in whose bosom +burns an immortal flame. We hardly admire as they deserve, the +perfection of the finish, and the elegance of the contours, because +our attention is so fixed on the radiance which glows through +them."--(P. 82.) + +Of this poet, who has so much flame in him that we cannot distinctly +see his features, it is said in almost the next sentence, "Even in his +most brilliant passages there is nothing of _the heat of inspiration_, +nothing of that _celestial fire_ which makes us feel that the author +has, by intensifying the action of the mind, raised himself to +communion with superior intelligences.(!) It is where he is most calm +that he is most beautiful; and, accordingly, he is more excellent in +the expression of sentiment than in narration." (The force of the +"accordingly" one does not see; surely there may be as much scope for +inspiration in sentiment as in narration.) "Scarce any writer presents +to us a sentiment with such a tearful depth of expression; but though +it is a tearful depth, those tears were shed long since, and Faith and +Love have hallowed them. You nowhere are made to feel the bitterness, +the vehemence of present emotion; _but the phoenix born from passion +is seen hovering over the ashes of what was once combined with it_." + +The young phoenix rises from the ashes of the old; so far we +comprehend. This, metaphorically understood, would infer that a new +and stronger passion rose from the ashes of the old and defunct one. +But into the allegorical signification of Mrs Fuller's phoenix, we +confess we cannot penetrate. We have a dim conception that it would +not be found to harmonise very well with that other meaning conveyed +to us in so dazzling a manner by the illuminated statue. Pity the lady +could not have found some other poet to take off her hands one of +those images: we are not so heartless as to suggest the expediency of +the absolute sacrifice of either. + +It is not to be supposed that this authoress is always so startling +and original as in these passages. She sometimes attains, and keeps +for a while, the level of commonplace. But we do not remember in the +whole of her two volumes a single passage where she rises to an +excellence above this. If we did, we should be happy to quote it. + +"_Tales, by Edgar A. Poe_," is the next book upon our list. No one can +read these tales, then close the volume, as he may with a thousand +other tales, and straightway forget what manner of book he has been +reading. Commonplace is the last epithet that can be applied to them. +They are strange--powerful--more strange than pleasing, and powerful +productions without rising to the rank of genius. The author is a +strong-headed man, which epithet by no means excludes the possibility +of being, at times, wrong-headed also. With little taste, and much +analytic power, one would rather employ such an artist on the +anatomical model of the Moorish Venus, than intrust to his hands any +other sort of Venus. In fine, one is not sorry to have read these +tales; one has no desire to read them twice. + +They are not framed according to the usual manner of stories. On each +occasion, it is something quite other than the mere story that the +author has in view, and which has impelled him to write. In one, he is +desirous of illustrating La Place's doctrine of probabilities as +applied to human events. In another, he displays his acumen in +unravelling or in constructing a tangled chain of circumstantial +evidence. In a third, ("The Black Cat") he appears at first to aim at +rivalling the fantastic horrors of Hoffman, but you soon observe that +the wild and horrible invention in which he deals, is strictly in the +service of an abstract idea which it is there to illustrate. His +analytic observation has led him, he thinks, to detect in men's minds +an absolute spirit of "perversity," prompting them to do the very +opposite of what reason and mankind pronounce to be right, simply +because they _do_ pronounce it to be right. The punishment of this +sort of diabolic spirit of perversity, he brings about by a train of +circumstances as hideous, incongruous, and absurd, as the sentiment +itself. + +There is, in the usual sense of the word, no passion in these tales, +neither is there any attempt made at dramatic dialogue. The bent of Mr +Poe's mind seems rather to have been towards reasoning than sentiment. +The style, too, has nothing peculiarly commendable; and when the +embellishments of metaphor and illustration are attempted, they are +awkward, strained, infelicitous. But the tales rivet the attention. +There is a marvellous skill in putting together the close array of +facts and of details which make up the narrative, or the picture, for +the effect of his description, as of his story, depends never upon any +bold display of the imagination, but on the agglomeration of +incidents, enumerated in the most veracious manner. In one of his +papers he describes the Mahlstrom or what he chooses to imagine the +Mahlstrom may be, and by dint of this careful and De Foe-like +painting, the horrid whirlpool is so placed before the mind, that we +feel as if we had seen, and been down into it. + +The "Gold Bug" is the first and the most striking of the series, owing +to the extreme and startling ingenuity with which the narrative is +constructed. It would be impossible, however, to convey an idea of +this species of merit, without telling the whole story; nor would it +be possible to tell the story in shorter compass, with any effect, +than it occupies here. The "Murders of the Rue Morgue," and "The +Mystery of Marie Roget," both turn on the interest excited by the +investigation of circumstantial evidence. But, unlike most stories of +this description, our sympathies are not called upon, either in the +fate of the person assassinated, or in behalf of some individual +falsely accused of the crime; the interest is sustained solely by the +nature of the evidence, and the inferences to be adduced from it. The +latter of these stories is, in fact, a transfer to the city of Paris +of a tragedy which had been really enacted in New York. The incidents +have been carefully preserved, the scene alone changed, and the object +of the author in thus re-narrating the facts seems to have been to +investigate the evidence again, and state his own conclusions as to +the probable culprit. From these, also, it would be quite as +impossible to make an extract as it would be to quote a passage from +an interesting _case_ as reported in one of our law-books. The last +story in the volume has, however, the advantage of being brief, and an +outline of it may convey some idea of the peculiar manner of Mr Poe. +It is entitled "The Man of the Crowd." + +The author describes himself as sitting on an autumnal evening at the +bow-window of the D---- coffee-house in London. He has just recovered +from an illness, and feels in that happy frame of mind, the precise +converse of ennui, where merely to breathe is enjoyment, and we feel a +fresh and inquisitive interest in all things around us. + +The passing crowd entertains him with its motley variety of costume +and character. He has watched till the sun has gone down, and the +streets have become indebted for their illumination solely to the gas +lamps. As the night deepened, the interest of the scene deepened also, +for the character of the crowd had insensibly but materially changed, +and strange features and aspects of ill omen begin to make their +appearance. + +With his brow to the glass of the window, our author was thus +occupied in scrutinising the passengers, when suddenly there came +within his field of vision a countenance, (it was that of a decrepid +old man of some sixty-five or seventy years of age) which at once +arrested and absorbed all his attention. It bore an expression which +might truly be called fiendish, for it gave the idea of mental power, +of cruelty, of malice, of intense--of supreme despair. It passed on. +There came a craving desire to see the face of that man again--to keep +him in view--to know more of him. Snatching up his hat, and hastily +putting on an over-coat, our excited observer ran into the street, +pursued the direction the stranger had taken, and soon overtook him. + +He noticed that the clothes of this man were filthy and ragged, but +that his linen, however neglected, was of finest texture. The strong +light of a gas lamp also revealed to him a diamond and a dagger. These +observations it was easy for him to make, for the stranger _never +looked behind_, but with chin dropped upon his breast, his glaring +eyes rolling a little to the right and left in their sunken sockets, +continued to urge his way along the populous thoroughfare. + +By and by he passed into a cross street, where there were fewer +persons. Here a change in his demeanour became apparent. He walked +more slowly, and with less object than before--more hesitatingly. He +crossed and re-crossed the way repeatedly without apparent aim. A +second turn brought him to a square, brilliantly lighted and +overflowing with life. The previous manner of the stranger now +re-appeared. With knit brows, and chin dropped upon his breast, he +took his way steadily through the throng. But his pursuer was +surprised to find that having made the circuit of this crowded +promenade, he turned, retraced his steps, and repeated the same walk +several times. + +It was now growing late, and it began to rain. The crowd within the +square dispersed. With a gesture of impatience, the stranger passed +into a bye-street almost deserted. Along this he rushed with a fearful +rapidity which could never have been expected from so old a man. It +brought him to a large bazaar, with the localities of which he +appeared perfectly acquainted, and where his original demeanour again +returned, as he forced his way to and fro, without aim, amongst the +host of buyers and sellers, looking at all objects with a wild and +vacant stare. + +All this excited still more the curiosity of his indefatigable +observer, who became more and more amazed at his behaviour, and felt +an increased desire to solve the enigma. The bazaar was now about to +close; lamps were here and there extinguished, every body was +preparing to depart. Returning into the street, the old man looked +anxiously around him for an instant, and then with incredible +swiftness, threaded a number of narrow and intricate lanes which led +him out in front of one of the principal theatres. The amusements were +just concluded, and the audience was streaming from the doors. The old +man was seen to gasp as he threw himself into the crowd, and then the +intense agony of his countenance seemed in some measure to abate. He +took the course which was pursued by the greater number of the +company. But these, as he proceeded, branched of right and left to +their several homes, and as the street became vacant, his restlessness +and vacillation re-appeared. Seized at length as with panic, he +hurried on with every mark of agitation, until he had plunged into one +of the most noisome and pestilential quarters, or rather suburbs of +the town. Here a number of the most abandoned of the populace were +reeling to and fro. + +"The spirits of the old man," the author shall conclude the story in +his own words, "again flickered up, as a lamp which is near its death +hour. Once more, he strode onward with elastic tread. Suddenly a +corner was turned, a blaze of light burst upon our sight, and we stood +before one of the huge, suburban temples of intemperance--one of the +palaces of the fiend, Gin. + +"It was near day-break; but a number of wretched inebriates still +pressed in and out of the flaunting entrance. With a half shriek of +joy, the old man forced a passage within, resumed at once his original +bearing, and stalked backward and forward, without apparent object +among the throng. He had not been thus long occupied, however, before +a rush to the doors gave token that the host was closing them for the +night. It was something even more intense than despair that I then +observed upon the countenance of the singular being I had watched so +pertinaciously. Yet he did not hesitate in his career, but, with a mad +energy, retraced his steps at once to the heart of the mighty London. +Long and swiftly he fled, while I followed him in the wildest +amazement, resolute not to abandon a scrutiny in which I now felt an +interest all-absorbing. The sun arose while we proceeded, and when we +had once again reached that most thronged mart of the populous town, +the street of the D---- Hotel, it presented an appearance of human +bustle and activity scarcely inferior to what I had seen on the +evening before. And here, long, amid the momently increasing +confusion, did I persist in the pursuit of the stranger. But, as +usual, he walked to and fro, and during the day did not pass out of +the turmoil of that street. And, as the shades of the second evening +came on, I grew wearied unto death, and stopping fully in front of the +wanderer, gazed at him steadfastly in the face. He noticed me not, but +resumed his solemn walk, while I, ceasing to follow, remained absorbed +in contemplation. 'This old man,' I said at length, 'is the type and +the genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. _He is the man of +the crowd._ It will be in vain to follow, for I shall learn no more of +him, nor of his deeds.'" + +In this description it would be difficult to recognise the topography +of London, or the manners of its inhabitants. That _Square_ +brilliantly illuminated and thronged with promenaders, the oldest +inhabitant would scarcely find. He closes his gin-palace at the hour +when, we believe, it would be about to re-open; and ejects his +multitude from the bazaar and the theatre about the same time. When he +lays his scene at Paris there is the same disregard to accuracy. There +is no want of names of streets and passages, but no Parisian would +find them, or find them in the juxtaposition he has placed them. This +is a matter hardly worth remarking; to his American readers an ideal +topography is as good as any other; we ourselves should be very little +disturbed by a novel which, laying its scene in New York, should +misname half the streets of that city. We are led to notice it chiefly +from a feeling of surprise, that one so partial to detail should not +have more frequently profited by the help which a common guide-book, +with its map, might have given him. + +Still less should we raise an objection on the manifest improbability +of this vigilant observer, a convalescent too, being able to keep upon +his legs, running or walking, the whole of the night and of the next +day, (to say nothing of the pedestrian powers of the old man.) In a +picture of this kind, a moral idea is sought to be portrayed by +imaginary incidents purposely exaggerated. The mind passing +immediately from these incidents to the idea they convey, regards them +as little more than a mode of expression of the moral truth. He who +should insist, in a case of this kind, on the improbability of the +facts, would find himself in the same position as that hapless critic +who, standing before the bronze statue of Canning, then lately erected +at Westminster, remarked, that "Mr Canning was surely not so tall as +he is there represented;" the proportions, in fact, approaching to the +colossal. "No, nor so green," said the wit to whom the observation had +been unhappily confided. When the artist made a bronze statue, eight +feet high, of Mr Canning, it was evidently not his stature nor his +complexion that he had designed to represent. + +Amongst the tales of Mr Poe are several papers which, we suppose, in +the exigency of language, we must denominate philosophical. They have +at least the merit of boldness, whether in the substratum of thought +they contain, or the machinery employed for its exposition. We shall +not be expected to encounter Mr Poe's metaphysics; our notice must be +here confined solely to the narrative or inventive portion of these +papers. In one of these, entitled "Mesmeric Revelations," the reader +may be a little startled to hear that he has adopted the mesmerised +patient as a vehicle of his ideas on the nature of the soul and of its +immortal life; the entranced subject having, in this case, an +introspective power still more remarkable than that which has hitherto +revealed itself only in a profound knowledge of his anatomical +structure. As we are not yet convinced that a human being becomes +supernaturally enlightened--in mesmerism more than in fanaticism--by +simply losing his senses; or that a man in a trance, however he got +there, is necessarily omniscient; we do not find that Mr Poe's +conjectures on these mysterious topics gather any weight whatever from +the authority of the spokesman to whom he has intrusted them. We are +not quite persuaded that a cataleptic patient sees very clearly what +is going on at the other side of our own world; when this has been +made evident to us, we shall be prepared to give him credit for +penetrating into the secrets of the next. + +In another of these nondescript papers, "The Conversation of Eiros and +Charmion," Mr Poe has very boldly undertaken to figure forth the +destruction of the world, and explain how that great and final +catastrophe will be accomplished. It is a remarkable instance of that +species of imaginary matter of fact description, to which we have +ventured to think that the Americans show something like a national +tendency. The description here is very unlike that with which Burnet +closes his "Theory of the Earth;" it is confined to the natural +history of the event; but there is nothing whatever in Mr Poe's manner +to diminish from the sacredness or the sublimity of the topic. With +some account of this singular and characteristic paper we shall +dismiss the volume of Mr Poe. + +The world has been destroyed. Eiros, who was living at the time, +relates to Charmion, who had died some years before, the nature of the +last awful event. + + "I need scarcely tell you," says the disembodied spirit, "that + even when you left us, men had agreed to understand those passages + in the most holy writings which speak of the final destruction of + all things by fire, as having reference to the orb of the earth + alone. But in regard to the immediate agency of the ruin, + speculation had been at fault from that epoch in astronomical + knowledge in which the comets were divested of the terrors of + flame. The very moderate density of these bodies had been well + established. They had been observed to pass among the satellites + of Jupiter without bringing about any sensible alteration either + in the masses or in the orbits of these secondary planets. We had + long regarded the wanderers as vapoury creations of inconceivable + tenuity, and as altogether incapable of doing injury to our + substantial globe, even in the event of contact. But contact was + not in any degree dreaded; for the elements of all the comets were + accurately known. That among _them_ we should look for the agency + of the threatened fiery destruction, had been for many years + considered an inadmissible idea. But wonders and wild fancies had + been, of late days, strangely rife among mankind; and although it + was only with a few of the ignorant that actual apprehension + prevailed upon the announcement by astronomers of a _new comet_, + yet this announcement was generally received with I know not what + of agitation and mistrust. + + "The elements of the strange orb were immediately calculated, and + it was at once conceded by all observers that its path, at + perihelion, would bring it into very close proximity with the + earth. There were two or three astronomers, of secondary note, who + resolutely maintained that a contact was inevitable. I cannot very + well express to you the effect of this intelligence upon the + people. For a few short days they would not believe an assertion + which their intellect, so long employed among worldly + considerations, could not in any manner grasp. But the truth of a + vitally important fact soon makes its way into the understanding + of even the most stolid. Finally, all men saw that astronomical + knowledge lied not, and they awaited the comet. + + "Its approach was not, at first, seemingly rapid, nor was its + appearance of very unusual character. It was of a dull red, and + had little perceptible train. For seven or eight days we saw no + material increase in its apparent diameter, and but a partial + alteration in its colour. Meantime the ordinary affairs of men + were discarded, and all interest absorbed in a growing discussion, + instituted by philosophers in respect to the cometary nature." + +That no material injury to the globe, or its inhabitants would result +from contact (which was now, however, certainly expected) with a body +of such extreme tenuity as the comet, was the opinion which gained +ground every day. The arguments of the theologians coincided with +those of men of science in allaying the apprehensions of mankind. For +as these were persuaded that the end of all things was to be brought +about by the agency of fire, and as it was proved that the comets were +not of a fiery nature, it followed that this dreaded stranger could +not come charged with any such mission as the destruction of the +globe. + + "What minor evils might arise from the contact were points of + elaborate question. The learned spoke of slight geological + disturbances, of probable alterations in climate, and consequently + in vegetation, of possible magnetic and electric influences. Many + held that no visible or perceptible effect would in any manner be + produced. While such discussions were going on, their subject + gradually approached, growing larger in apparent diameter, and of + a more brilliant lustre. Mankind grew paler as it came. All human + operations were suspended. + + * * * * * + + "It had now taken, with inconceivable rapidity, the character of a + gigantic mantle of rare flame, extending from horizon to horizon. + Yet a day, and men breathed with freedom. It was clear that we + were already within the influence of the comet; yet we lived. We + even felt an unusual elasticity of frame and vivacity of mind. The + exceeding tenuity of the object of our dread was apparent; for all + heavenly bodies were plainly visible through it. Meantime our + vegetation had perceptibly altered; and we gained faith, from this + predicted circumstance, in the foresight of the wise. A wild + luxuriance of foliage, utterly unknown before, burst out upon + every vegetable thing. + + "Yet another day, and the evil was not altogether upon us. It was + now evident that its nucleus would first reach us. A wild change + had come over all men; and the first sense of _pain_ was the wild + signal for general lamentation and horror. This first sense of + pain lay in a rigorous constriction of the breast and lungs, and + an insufferable dryness of the skin. It could not be denied that + our atmosphere was radically affected; and the conformation of + this atmosphere, and the possible modifications to which it might + be subjected, were now the topics of discussion. The result of + investigation sent an electric thrill of the intensest terror + through the universal heart of man. + + "It had been long known that the air which encircled us was a + compound of oxygen and nitrogen gases, in the proportion of + twenty-one measures of oxygen and seventy-nine of nitrogen in + every one hundred of the atmosphere. Oxygen, which was the + principle of combustion and the vehicle of heat, was absolutely + necessary to the support of animal life, and was the most powerful + and energetic agent in nature. Nitrogen, on the contrary, was + incapable of supporting either animal life or flame. An unnatural + excess of oxygen would result if it had been ascertained, in just + such an elevation of the animal spirits as we had latterly + experienced. It was the pursuit, the extension of the idea which + had engendered awe. What would be the result of _a total + extraction of the nitrogen_? A combustion, irresistible, + all-devouring, omniprevalent, immediate;--the entire fulfilment, + in all their minute and terrible details, of the fiery and + horror-inspiring denunciations of the prophecies of the Holy Book. + + "Why need I paint, Charmion, the now disenchained frenzy of + mankind? That tenuity in the comet which had previously inspired + us with hope, was now the source of the bitterness of despair. In + its impalpable gaseous character was clearly perceived the + consummation of fate. Meantime a day again passed, bearing away + with it the last shadow of hope. We gasped in the rapid + modification of the air. The red blood bounded tumultuously + through its strait channels. A furious delirium possessed all men; + and with arms rigidly outstretched towards the threatening + heavens, they trembled and shrieked aloud. But the nucleus of the + destroyer was now upon us;--even here in Aidenn, I shudder while I + speak. Let me be brief--brief as the ruin that overwhelmed. For a + moment there was a wild lurid light alone, visiting and + penetrating all things. Then--let us bow down, Charmion, before + the excessive majesty of the great God!--then there came a + shouting and pervading sound, as if from the mouth itself of HIM; + while the whole incumbent mass of ether in which we existed, burst + at once into a species of intense flame, for whose surpassing + brilliancy and all-fervid heat even the angels in the high + heavens, of pure knowledge, have no name. Thus ended all." + +"_Mosses from an Old Manse_," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the somewhat +quaint title given to a series of tales, and sketches, and +miscellaneous papers, because they were written in an old manse, some +time tenanted by the author, a description of which forms the first +paper in the series. We, have already intimated our opinion of this +writer. In many respects he is a strong contrast to the one we have +just left. For whereas Mr Poe is indebted to whatever good effect he +produces to a close detail and agglomeration of facts, Mr Hawthorne +appears to have little skill and little taste for dealing with matter +of fact or substantial incident, but relies for his favourable +impression on the charm of style, and the play of thought and fancy. + +The most serious defect in his stories is the frequent presence of +some palpable improbability which mars the effect of the whole--not +improbability, like that we already remarked on, which is intended and +wilfully perpetrated by the author--not improbability of incident +even, which we are not disposed very rigidly to inquire after in a +novelist--but improbability in the main motive and state of mind which +he has undertaken to describe, and which forms the turning-point of +the whole narrative. As long as the human being appears to act as a +human being would, under the circumstances depicted, it is surprising +how easily the mind, carried on by its sympathies with the feelings of +the actor, forgets to inquire into the probability of these +circumstances. Unfortunately, in Mr Hawthorne's stories, it is the +human being himself who is not probable, nor possible. + +It will be worth while to illustrate our meaning by an instance or +two, to show that, far from being hypercritical, our canon of +criticism is extremely indulgent, and that we never take the bluff and +surly objection--it cannot be!--until the improbability has reached +the core of the matter. In the first story, "The Birth Mark," we raise +no objection to the author, because he invents a chemistry of his own, +and supposes his hero in possession of marvellous secrets which enable +him to diffuse into the air an ether or perfume, the inhaling of which +shall displace a red mark from the cheek which a beautiful lady was +born with; it were hard times indeed, if a novelist might not do what +he pleased in a chemist's laboratory, and produce what drugs, what +perfumes, what potable gold or charmed elixir, he may have need of. +But we do object to the preposterous motive which prompts the amateur +of science to an operation of the most hazardous kind, on a being he +is represented as dearly loving. We are to believe that a good +_husband_ is afflicted, and grievously and incessantly tormented by a +slight red mark on the cheek of a beautiful woman, which, as a +_lover_, never gave him a moment's uneasiness, and which neither to +him nor to any one else abated one iota from her attractions. We are +to suppose that he braves the risk of the experiment--it succeeds for +a moment, then proves fatal, and destroys her--for what? Merely that +she who was so very beautiful should attain to an ideal perfection. +"Had she been less beautiful," we are told, "it might have heightened +his affection. But, seeing her otherwise so perfect, he found this one +defect grow more and more intolerable, with every moment of their +united lives." And then, we have some further bewildering explanation +about "his honourable love, so pure and lofty that it would accept +nothing less than perfection, nor miserably make itself contented with +an earthlier nature than he had dreamed of." Call you this "pure and +lofty love," when a woman is admired much as a connoisseur admires a +picture, who might indeed be supposed to fume and fret if there was +one little blot or blemish in it. Yet, even a connoisseur, who had an +exquisite picture by all old master, with only one trifling blemish on +it, would hardly trust himself or another to repair and retouch, in +order to render it perfect. Can any one recognise in this elaborate +nonsense about ideal perfection, any approximation to the feeling +which a man has for the wife he loves? If the novelist wished to +describe this egregious connoisseurship in female charms, he should +have put the folly into the head of some insane mortal, who, reversing +the enthusiasm by which some men have loved a picture or a statue as +if it were a real woman, had learned to love his beautiful wife as if +she were nothing else than a picture or a statue. + +Again, in the "Story of the Artist of the Beautiful," we breathe not a +word about the impossibility of framing out of springs and wheels so +marvellous a butterfly, that the seeming creature shall not only fly +and move its antennae, and fold and display its wings like the living +insect, but shall even surpass the living insect by showing a fine +sense of human character, and refusing to perch on the hand of those +who had not a genuine sentiment of beauty. The novelist shall put what +springs and wheels he pleases into his mechanism, but the springs and +wheels he places in the mechanist himself, must be those of genuine +humanity, or the whole fiction falls to the ground. Now the mechanist, +the hero of the story, the "Artist of the Beautiful," is described +throughout as animated with the feelings proper to the artist, not to +the mechanician. He is a young watchmaker, who, instead of plodding at +the usual and lucrative routine of his trade, devotes his time to the +structure of a most delicate and ingenious toy. We all know that a +case like this is very possible. Few men, we should imagine, are more +open to the impulse of emulation, the desire to do that which had +never been done before, than the ingenious mechanist; and few men more +completely under the dominion of their leading passion or project, +because every day brings some new contrivance, some new resource, and +the hope that died at night is revived in the morning. But Mr +Hawthorne is not contented with the natural and very strong impulse of +the mechanician; he speaks throughout of his enthusiastic artisan as +of some young Raphael intent upon "creating the beautiful." Springs, +and wheels, and chains, however fine and complicate, are not "the +beautiful." He might as well suppose the diligent anatomist, groping +amongst nerves and tissues, to be stimulated to _his_ task by an +especial passion for the beautiful. + +The passion of the ingenious mechanist we all understand; the passion +of the artist, sculptor, or painter, is equally intelligible; but the +confusion of the two in which Mr Hawthorne would vainly interest us, +is beyond all power of comprehension. These are the improbabilities +against which we contend. Moreover, when this wonderful butterfly is +made--which he says truly was "a gem of art that a monarch would have +purchased with honours and abundant wealth, and have treasured among +the jewels of his kingdom, as the most unique and wondrous of them +all,"--the artist sees it crushed in the hands of a child and looks +"placidly" on. So never did any human mechanist who at length had +succeeded in the dream and toil of his life. And at the conclusion of +the story we are told, in not very intelligible language,--"When the +artist rose high enough to achieve the Beautiful, the symbol by which +he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value to his +eyes, while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the +reality." + +It is not, perhaps, to the _stories_ we should be disposed to refer +for the happier specimens of Mr Hawthorne's writing, but rather to +those papers which we cannot better describe than as so many American +_Spectators_ of the year 1846--so much do they call to mind the style +of essay in the days of Steele and Addison. + +We may observe here, that American writers frequently remind us of +models of composition somewhat antiquated with ourselves. While, on +the one hand, there is a wild tendency to snatch at originality at any +cost--to coin new phrases--new _probabilities_--to "_intensify_" our +language with strange "_impulsive_" energy--to break loose, in short, +from all those restraints which have been thought to render style both +perspicuous and agreeable; there is, on the other hand--produced +partly by a very intelligible reaction--an effort somewhat too +apparent to be classical and correct. It is a very laudable effort, +and we should be justly accused of fastidiousness did we mention it as +in the least blameworthy. We would merely observe that an effect is +sometimes produced upon an English ear as if the writer belonged to a +previous era of our literature, to an epoch when to produce smooth and +well modulated sentences was something rarer and more valued than it +is now. It will be a proof how little of censure we attach to the +characteristic we are noticing, when we point to the writings of Dr +Channing for an illustration of our meaning. They have to us an air of +formality, a slight dash of pedantry. We seem to hear the echo, though +it has grown faint, of the Johnsonian rhythm. They are often not +ineloquent, but the eloquence seems to have passed under the hands of +the composition-master. The clever classical romance, called "The +Letters from Palmyra," has the same studied air. It is here, indeed, +more suited to the subject, for every writer, when treating of a +classical era, appears by a sort of intuitive propriety to recognise +the necessity of purifying to the utmost his own style. + +In some of Mr Hawthorne's papers we are reminded, and by no means +disagreeably, of the manner of Steele and Addison. "The Intelligence +Office" presents, in some parts, a very pleasing imitation of this +style. This central intelligence office is one open to all mankind to +make and record their various applications. The first person who +enters inquires for "a place," and when questioned what sort of place +he is seeking, very naively answers, "I want my place!--my own +place!--my true place in the world!--my thing to do!" The application +is entered, but very slender hope is given that he who is running +about the world in search of his place, will ever find it. + + "The next that entered was a man beyond the middle age, bearing + the look of one who knew the world and his own course in it. He + had just alighted from a handsome private carriage, which had + orders to wait in the street while its owner transacted his + business. This person came up to the desk with a quick determined + step, and looked the Intelligencer in the face with a resolute + eye, though at the same time some secret trouble gleamed from it. + + "'I have an estate to dispose of,' said he with a brevity that + seemed characteristic. + + "'Describe it,' said the Intelligencer. + + "The applicant proceeded to give the boundaries of his property, + its nature, comprising tillage, pasture, woodland, and pleasure + ground, in ample circuit; together with a mansion-house replete + with gorgeous furniture and all the luxurious artifices that + combined to render it a residence where life might flow onward in + a stream of golden days. + + "'I am a man of strong will,' said he in conclusion, 'and at my + first setting out in life as a poor unfriended youth, I resolved + to make myself the possessor of such a mansion and estate as this, + together with the revenue necessary to uphold it. I have succeeded + to the extent of my utmost wish. And this is the estate which I + have now concluded to dispose of.' + + "'And your terms?' asked the Intelligencer, after taking down the + particulars with which the stranger had supplied him. + + "'Easy--abundantly easy!' answered the successful man, smiling, + but with a stern and almost frightful contraction of the brow, as + if to quell an inward pang. 'I have been engaged in various sorts + of business--a distiller, a trader to Africa, an East India + merchant, a speculator in the stocks--and in the course of these + affairs have contracted an encumbrance of a certain nature. The + purchaser of the estate shall merely be required to assume this + burden to himself. + + "'I understand you,' said the man of intelligence, putting his pen + behind his ear. 'I fear that no bargain can be negociated on these + conditions. Very probably, the next possessor may acquire the + estate with a similar encumbrance, but it will be of his own + contracting, and will not lighten your burden in the least.'" + +Mr Hawthorne is by no means an equal writer. He is perpetually giving +his reader, who, being pleased by parts, would willingly think well of +the whole, some little awkward specimen of dubious taste. We confess, +even in the above short extract, to having passed over a sentence or +two, whose absence we have not thought it worth while to mark with +asterisks, and which would hardly bear out our Addisonian compliment. + + "But again the door is opened. A grandfatherly personage tottered + hastily into the office, with such an earnestness in his infirm + alacrity that his white hair floated backward, as he hurried up to + the desk. This venerable figure explained that he was in search of + To-morrow. + + "'I have spent all my life in pursuit of it,' added the sage old + gentleman, 'being assured that To-morrow has some vast benefit or + other in store for me. But I am now getting a little in years, and + must make haste; for unless I overtake To-morrow soon, I begin to + be afraid it will finally escape me.' + + "'This fugitive To-morrow, my venerable friend,' said the man of + intelligence, 'is a stray child of Time, and is flying from his + father into the region of the infinite. Continue your pursuit and + you will doubtless come up with him; but as to the earthly gifts + you expect, he has scattered them all among a throng of + Yesterdays.'" + +There is a nice bit of painting, as an artist might say, under the +title of "The Old Apple-dealer." We have seen the very man in England. +We had marked it for quotation, but it is too long, and we do not wish +to mar its effect by mutilation. + +In the "Celestial Railroad," we have a new Pilgrim's Progress +performed by _rail_. Instead of the slow, solitary, pensive pilgrimage +which John Bunyan describes, we travel in fashionable company, and in +the most agreeable manner. A certain Mr Smooth-it-away has eclipsed +the triumphs of Brunel. He has thrown a viaduct over the Slough of +Despond; he has tunnelled the hill Difficulty, and raised an admirable +causeway across the valley of Humiliation. The wicket gate, so +inconveniently narrow, has been converted into a commodious +station-house; and whereas it will be remembered there was a long +standing feud in the time of Christian between one Prince Beelzebub +and his adherents (famous for shooting deadly arrows) and the keeper +of the wicket gate, this dispute, much to the credit of the worthy and +enlightened directors, has been pacifically arranged on the principle +of mutual compromise. The Prince's subjects are pretty numerously +employed about the station-house. As to the fiery Apollyon, he was, as +Mr Smooth-it-away observed, "The very man to manage the engine," and +he has been made chief stoker. + +"One great convenience of the new method of going on pilgrimage we +must not forget to mention. Our enormous burdens, instead of being +carried on our shoulders, as had been the custom of old, are all +snugly deposited in the luggage-van." The company, too, is most +distinguished and fashionable; the conversation liberal and polite, +turning "upon the news of the day, topics of business, politics, or +the lighter matters of amusement; while religion, though indubitably +the main thing at heart, is thrown tastefully into the background." +The train stops for refreshment at Vanity Fair. Indeed, the whole +arrangements are admirable--up to a certain point. But it seems there +are difficulties _at the other terminus_ which the directors have not +hitherto been able to overcome. On the whole, we are left with the +persuasion that it is safer to go the old road, and in the old +fashion, each one with his own burden upon his shoulders. + +The story of "Roger Malvin's burial" is well told, and is the best of +his narrative pieces. "The New Adam and Eve," and several others, +might be mentioned for an agreeable vein of thought and play of fancy. +In one of his papers the author has attempted a more common species of +humour, and with some success. For variety's sake, we shall close our +notice of him, and for the present, of "The American Library," with an +extract from "Mrs Bullfrog." + +Mr Bullfrog is an elegant and fastidious linen-draper, of feminine +sensibility, and only too exquisite refinement. Such perfection of +beauty and of delicacy did he require in the woman he should honour +with the name of wife, that there was an awful chance of his obtaining +no wife at all; when he happily fell in with the amiable and refined +person, who in a very short time became Mrs Bullfrog. + +An unlucky accident, an upset of the carriage on their wedding trip, +giving rise to a strange display of masculine energy on the part of +Mrs B. and disarranging her glossy black ringlets and pearly teeth, so +as to occasion their disappearance and reappearance in a most +miraculous manner, has excited a strange disquietude in the else happy +bridegroom. + + "'To divert my mind,' says Mr Bullfrog, who tells his own story, + 'I took up the newspaper which had covered the little basket of + refreshments, and which now lay at the bottom of the coach, + blushing with a deep red stain, and emitting a potent spirituous + fume, from the contents of the broken bottle of _kalydor_. The + paper was two or three years old, but contained an article of + several columns, in which I soon grew wonderfully interested. It + was the report of a trial for breach of promise of marriage, + giving the testimony in full, with fervid extracts from both the + gentleman's and lady's amatory correspondence. The deserted damsel + had personally appeared in court, and had borne energetic evidence + to her lover's perfidy, and the strength of her blighted + affections. On the defendant's part, there had been an attempt, + though insufficiently sustained, to blast the plaintiff's + character, and a plea, in mitigation of damages, on account of her + unamiable temper. A horrible idea was suggested by the lady's + name. + + "'Madam,' said I, holding the newspaper before Mrs Bullfrog's + eyes--and though a small, delicate, and thin visaged man, I feel + assured that I looked very terrific--'Madam,' repeated I, through + my shut teeth, 'were you the plaintiff in this cause?' + + "'Oh my dear Mr Bullfrog,' replied my wife sweetly, 'I thought all + the world knew that!' + + "'Horror! horror!' exclaimed I, sinking back on the seat. + + "Covering my face with both hands, I emitted a deep groan, as if + my tormented soul were rending me asunder. I, the most exquisitely + fastidious of men, and whose wife was to be the most delicate and + refined of women, with all the fresh dew-drops glittering on her + virgin rosebud of a heart! I thought of the glossy ringlets and + pearly teeth--I thought of the kalydor--I thought of the + coachman's bruised ear and bloody nose--I thought of the tender + love-secrets, which she had whispered to the judge and jury, and a + thousand tittering auditors--and gave another groan! + + "'Mr Bullfrog,' said my wife. + + "As I made no reply, she gently took my hands within her own, + removed them from my face, and fixed her eyes steadfastly on mine. + + "'Mr Bullfrog,' said she, not unkindly, yet with all the decision + of her strong character, 'let me advise you to overcome this + foolish weakness, and prove yourself, to the best of your ability, + as good a husband as I will be a wife. You have discovered, + perhaps, some little imperfections in your bride. Well, what did + you expect? Women are not angels.' + + "'But why conceal these imperfections?' interposed I, tremulously. + + "'Now, my love, are you not a most unreasonable little man?' said + Mrs Bullfrog, patting me on the cheek. 'Ought a woman to expose + her frailties earlier than on the wedding day? Well, what a + strange man you are! Pooh! you are joking.' + + "'But the suit for breach of promise!' groaned I. + + "'Ah! and is that the rub?' exclaimed my wife. 'Is it possible + that you view that affair in an objectionable light? Mr Bullfrog, + I never could have dreamt it! Is it an objection, that I have + triumphantly defended myself against slander, and vindicated my + purity in a court of justice? Or do you complain, because your + wife has shown the proper spirit of a woman, and punished the + villain who trifled with her affections?' + + "'But,' persisted I, shrinking into a corner of the coach, + however; for I did not know precisely how much contradiction the + proper spirit of a woman would endure; 'but, my love, would it not + have been more dignified to treat the villain with the silent + contempt he merited?' + + "'That is all very well, Mr Bullfrog,' said my wife, slily; 'but + in that case where would have been the five thousand dollars which + are to stock your drygoods' store?' + + "'Mrs Bullfrog, upon your honour,' demanded I, as if my life hung + upon her words, 'is there no mistake about these five thousand + dollars?' + + "'Upon my word and honour there is none,' replied she. 'The jury + gave me every cent the rascal had; and I have kept it all for my + dear Bullfrog?' + + "'Then, thou dear woman,' cried I, with an overwhelming gush of + tenderness, 'let me fold thee to my heart! The basis of + matrimonial bliss is secure, and all thy little defects and + frailties are forgiven. Nay, since the result has been so + fortunate, I rejoice at the wrongs which drove thee to this + blessed lawsuit--happy Bullfrog that I am!'" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] _Views and Reviews of American Literature._ By the author of + _The Yemassee, &c. &c._ + _The Wigwam, and The Cabin_. By the same. + _Papers on Literature and Art_. By S. MARGARET FULLER. + _Tales_. By EDGAR A. POE. + _Mosses from an old Manse_. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. + +[13] For that strong nationality which ballads and other rude +productions written in a rude age exhibit, America comes, of course, +too late. But we doubt not that an attentive examination would already +detect in the productions of the American mind as striking traits of +national character as are usually seen in the works of civilized +epochs. A new species of wit is one of the last things which a student +of Joe Miller would have thought it possible to invent. Yet this the +Americans have achieved. Whatever may be the value attached to it, +many a laugh has been created by that monstrous exaggeration, so +worded as to give a momentary and bewildering sense of possibility to +something most egregiously absurd, which as decidedly belongs to +America as the bull does to Ireland. "A man is so tall that he has to +climb a ladder to shave himself." Not only is the feat impossible, but +no conception can be formed of its manner of execution, yet the turn +of the expression for an instant disguises, before it reveals, its +most flagrant nonsense. There is also a certain grave hoax, where some +fabulous matter is most veraciously reported, in which the Americans +have shown great success and something of a national predilection. +Some time ago we were all mystified by what seemed a most authentic +account of the sudden subsidence of the falls of Niagara. The wall of +rock over which the waters rush had been worn away, and, contrary to +the expectations of geologists, the bed of the river, immediately +behind it, had proved to be of a soft soil that could not resist the +torrent. The river had therefore formed for itself an inclined plane, +and the great fall had been converted into a _rapid_ of equally +astonishing character. If we do not mistake, the true and particular +account of certain animals which Herschel discovered in the moon at +the time he moved his great telescope, we believe, to the Cape of Good +Hope, came to us from the same quarter. It is a pity that _Gulliver's +Travels_ are already in existence. It is a book the Americans should +have written; they have been unjustly forestalled and defrauded by +that work. No doubt, other peculiar and national traits, and of a +higher order, would suggest themselves to any one who made it a +subject of examination. + +[14] The following summing-up by a judge on a trial for murder gives +us a singular specimen (if it can be depended on) of the dignity of +the ermine as sustained in South Carolina some half century ago. A +murder had been committed on one Major Spencer; the details, natural +and supernatural, we have no space for; suffice it to say, that the +evidence against the accused left no doubt of his guilt. The judge (an +Irishman by birth,) "who it must be understood was a real existence, +and who had no small reputation in his day in the south," thus charged +the jury. "'Fore God," said the judge, "the prisoner may be a very +innocent man, after all, as, by my faith, I do think there have been +many murderers before him; but he ought nevertheless to be hung as an +example to all other persons who suffer such strong proofs of guilt to +follow their innocent misdoings. Gentlemen of the jury, if this person +Macleod, or Macnab, didn't murder Major Spencer, either you or I did; +and you must now decide which of us it is! I say, gentlemen of the +jury, either you, or I, or the prisoner at the bar, murdered this man; +and if you have any doubts which of us it was, it is but justice and +mercy that you should give the prisoner the benefit of your doubts; +and so find your verdict. But, before God, should you find him not +guilty, Mr Attorney there can scarcely do any thing wiser than to put +us all upon trial for the deed." (P. 31.) + + + + +UNITS: TENS: HUNDREDS: THOUSANDS. + +CHAPTER I. + + +The first long vacation of my career as a barrister was at hand: and +as my professional gains had already exceeded the sum of L5, 4s. 11d., +I considered myself entitled to a few months' recreation. Of my +learned brethren there were numbers in similar circumstances with +myself; all of whom seemed convinced that the labours of the winter +required some pleasing way of renewing the elasticity of the mind. It +was soon evident that "travel," was to be the order of the summer. And +as the days grew longer and the sun brighter, a change gradually came +over the general topics of conversation among us. There was less of +the politics of the day, and the ordinary chit-chat of bar +appointments and doings: while on every side you heard of "the Rhine," +"the Danube," "the Pyramids," and even "the Falls of Niagara." +Frequent mention was made also of "the Land o' Cakes;" and some +adventurous men, it was said, were even preparing kilts for their +excursion. The more confined imaginations of others reached no farther +than Wales, or the Cumberland Lakes. Ireland, however, was scarce ever +named. It was the year derisively named "the Repeal year:" and the +alarming accounts of proceedings in it diverted the feet of "Saxon" +travellers to other lands. For my own part, I had made up my mind to +follow the herd at large, and submit to foreign extortion and +uncleanness, when circumstances occurred to alter my plans. Unforeseen +family affairs rendered it imperative on me to go to Dublin, on +business connected with a brother who was quartered there; and who, in +consequence of the prevailing alarms, was unable to procure even one +fortnight's leave of absence. Hitherto, among my companions, I had +talked merely of "the Geysers," "the Ural Mountains," or "the Caspian +Sea:" but when I found how matters stood, I determined to make the +best of my position. Accordingly, a day or two after, when solicited +by some acquaintances to join a "Rhine party," I expressed my +resolution of visiting Ireland. It was with difficulty I could +persuade them that I was not in jest: and when they did feel convinced +that I was really in earnest, numerous arguments were advanced to +dissuade me from so suicidal an act. Argument was followed by advice; +and numerous were the cautions I received, and the precautions I was +recommended to take. Among those present, was a friend of mine named +Thomson, who was rather given to be cynical in his remarks, and was +besides addicted to the study of phrenology. He declared that for his +part he was not so apprehensive concerning me on account of the pikes +of the Repealers as of the darts of Cupid. + +"Beware," said he, "of the Irish ladies. Truly they are bewitching; +but alas! they are seldom helps-meet for the Briefless." + +He then went on to say, that his hopes of my safety consisted +principally in my deficiency in "Constructiveness;" for that +"Amativeness" was developed, while "Caution," was all but absent. + +"Be sure," said my worthy aunt as I took leave of her,--"be sure not +to venture out of Dublin, else you will certainly be killed; and +promise me that you will join me in a fortnight at Cheltenham." + +I promised faithfully. + +"Invariably wear a bullet-proof dress," said Thomson; "to be sure, it +will reduce you to a skeleton; but it is better (for the present) that +the skeleton should have a soul than be without one!" + + +CHAPTER II. + +Edward Russell had been my school-fellow and college chum. Like +myself, he had been destined for the Lord Chancellorship, when the +death of an elder brother freed him from the probable burden of +keeping her majesty's conscience. The same event also relieved him of +certain obstacles in the way of proposing for, and obtaining the hand +of Fanny Felworth. Mrs Russell--at this time about two years +married--was the only daughter of Col. Felworth, who some years +previous had held a staff appointment in the south of England. Her +brother, Russell, and I, had been school-fellows some ten years before +the time I speak of; and I may add, that the Emerald Isle, fruitful as +it is in such characters, never produced a more light-hearted youth +than Frederick Felworth. The days of school are quickly followed by +the active business and the varied events of life. Russell and I went +to Cambridge; Felworth obtained a commission in a regiment then in +India. Soon after, Col. Felworth retired from the service, and went to +reside on his property in Ireland, accompanied by his daughter and a +widowed sister, his wife having died several years before. + +In early youth, correspondence is seldom regularly persevered in for +any length of time. Felworth wrote twice or thrice from India, and +then his letters ceased. Russell succeeded to his property some time +before his collegiate course was finished; and as soon as he took his +degree, went to Ireland. In his travels there, he visited the +Felworths, (which I suspect was his principal object,) and the natural +consequences followed. Immediately on his marriage, Russell went to +the Continent, where he remained until a few weeks previous to the +time of which I speak. Of Frederick Felworth, I saw occasional mention +in the Indian newspapers; such as his distinguishing himself in +tiger-shooting expeditions, riding horse-races, and the like. +Latterly, however, I had heard nothing of him. + +On my way to Ireland, I diverged a few miles from the line of railway, +for the purpose of spending a day with the Russells. I found the +"little Fanny" of former years now the staid matron, with the +apartment called the nursery not altogether untenanted. When Russell +and I were alone, we fell (as persons in such circumstances invariably +do) into conversation about old times and old friends. It is needless +to say that I made special inquiry after Frederick Felworth. I found +that he had returned from India a short time before Russell's +marriage: and that, when about to rejoin his regiment after a few +months' leave of absence, the Colonel feeling lonely after the +departure of his daughter, and finding infirmities growing upon him, +compelled him to sell out. + +"You remember," said Russell, "the passion he had for horses when a +boy; well, this madness (for it can be called by no other name) has +ever since continued on the increase;--and between farming, +magisterial duties, and his horses, he finds occupation and amusement +sufficient. The Colonel is daily feeling more and more the effects of +age, so that all matters devolve on Frederick. I was writing to him +this morning, and I promised that you would pay him a visit when in +Ireland. The house is called Craigduff, about forty miles from +Dublin." + +"I will very gladly do so," I replied; "but my stay will be short, as +I am under a positive promise of speedy return." + +"I am happy," added Russell, "to hear you will go. I have only to add +that the country about Craigduff is tranquil;--and (you are still +single,) though there is no charmer in the house, there is one not far +off." + +I did not see much of Mrs Russell during my stay, as some matters +seemed to engage a good deal of her attention. In a brief +conversation, however, which I had with her in the evening, I found +that she, like my friend Thomson, was a believer in the science of +Phrenology. + +Having been always accustomed to treat the subject as a butt for the +shafts of ridicule, I fear I did not then speak of it with due +respect. Conjecturing that "the baby" must have a fine development, I +ventured to ask what bumps were the most prominent. + +She immediately replied, that "number" was as largely developed on his +head as on his Uncle Frederick's. "But there is little use," she said, +"in talking to an unbeliever like you on the subject:--but this I +have to say, now that you are going to Craigduff, beware of Units! +(Edward, recollect you are not to explain.) Mark my words, _Beware of +Units!_ And now, good-night! You are to go, you say, by the early +train, so that I shall not see you in the morning; but when you come +to visit us on your return, I trust you will be able to tell me that +you _did_ beware of Units." + +After her departure, in every way, and with all legal ingenuity, did I +tempt the allegiance of her husband, but in vain. At last, when I felt +sure, that my cross-examination had left him no loophole for escape, +he gravely replied--"That he was not yet long enough married to +disobey his wife; but he hoped for better times in the future." + + +CHAPTER III. + +The life of officers in garrison, and the dinners at mess; the charms +of the daughters of Erin, and the splendid residence of viceroyalty; +the Wellington testimonial, and the late Mr Daniel O'Connell--have all +been described by competent and incompetent hands. At the period of my +visit, the Government, prepared for any emergency, had fortified the +barracks throughout the country, and poured a large body of troops +into every available position. There never was a more agreeable time +for those stationed at Dublin. The number of organised forces at the +disposal of the Government was so great, that no alarm of personal +danger prevailed in the capital; while the frightful state of the +provinces (the northern parts excepted) not only drove a number of +families into it, but prevented many from leaving it who otherwise +would have done so. These circumstances served to render the town much +gayer than it would otherwise have been at that period of the year. + +The business which took me to Ireland was not finished until the end +of the allotted fortnight. However, I determined to pay my promised +visit at Craigduff. Accordingly I addressed a letter to my respected +relative, stating that three days more were all that were required for +me to remain in Ireland; and that on the fifth I hoped to be with her +at Cheltenham. I need scarcely say that I took care not to alarm the +worthy lady, by telling her how I intended to spend the intervening +time. + +The last evening of my stay in Dublin was spent at a Mr Flixton's, in +one of the squares. This gentleman had a son who was in the same +regiment to which Felworth had belonged, and who, about a month +previous, had been on a visit to his former friend. This young man +spoke of him in the highest terms. He said he had talents for any +subject to which he might turn his attention; but that his horses +altogether engrossed him; "and such a collection as he has!" + +I had no further conversation with young Flixton at that time; but at +a subsequent part of the evening he came up to me with his partner, to +whom he introduced me. The lady appeared about eighteen years of age. +Her expression was one of combined intelligence and sweetness, while +her figure was symmetry itself. + +"I have just told Miss Vernon," said he, "that you are a friend of +Frederick Felworth, and that you are going to Craigduff in the +morning; and she says that you will most effectually show your +friendship for him by shooting Units. In this I perfectly agree with +Miss Vernon." + +Ere I had time to make any reply the music commenced, and they moved +off to take their places in the dance, but not before I observed a +semi-malicious smile pass over the countenance of the lady, at the +conclusion of her partner's remark. Presuming on the introduction my +young friend had given me, no sooner did I see her disengaged, than I +requested the honour of her hand in the next dance. She declined, +however, saying that her mamma was just about to leave the party, as +they had a journey before them the next day. At a signal from an +elderly lady, she arose and left the room. I was now doubly anxious to +unravel the mystery of "Units," whoever or whatever he, she, or it +might be; whom the one lady advised me to "beware of," for my own +sake--the other to "shoot," for my friend's sake. I resolved to ask +young Flixton, but he was nowhere to be found. + +"What a nice girl Miss Vernon is!" said my brother on our way home; +"and she has got twenty thousand pounds, too." + +"She is the most lovely girl that was in the room to-night," said I; +"but tell me all you know about her." + +"I can do so in a few words. Her father was a West India merchant; her +mother and she have been in Dublin for a few weeks; they are going +back to their residence to-morrow, which is situated somewhere near +Craigduff. I believe they are related to the Felworths. And now my +story is finished. But you had better retire to rest as soon as you +can, for you have but a few hours to sleep." + +Though I lay in bed, sleep forsook my eyelids. This may, in some +degree, have been owing to the excitement of the party; but still my +mind was strangely perplexed with the expression "Units." I felt that +Mrs Russell's expression, though uttered in jest, contained a good +deal of seriousness. "Shoot Units!" "Beware of Units!" What could be +the meaning? There are times certainly in which one is more given to +superstitious feelings than he is at others, and such, perhaps, was my +case at that time; I could not banish the thought that my future fate +in life was somehow connected with the unknown "Units." + +"After all," said I, throwing myself out of bed, "the nearest +expression to Mrs Russell's that I know of is, '_Take care of Number +One_.' It is an older precept, and most likely a wiser one; and +henceforward I will be doubly careful to observe it." + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The day after (or, more correctly, the same day) I arrived at +Craigduff, where I received a hearty Irish welcome. The first evening +with young Felworth was passed much in the same manner as a previous +one with Russell. After tea, three rubbers of long whist closed the +evening. Though I listened with close attention, I never heard the +word "Units" mentioned. + +The following morning, Frederick Felworth took me over the grounds and +farm, where I saw much to admire. Every thing was well arranged; and +even in the minutest matters I could detect the constant +superintendence of a master. + +"We will keep the stables for the last," said Felworth, "because they +are the best; and I flatter myself I can show you a stud unrivalled in +numerous respects." + +These words were spoken with an increased animation, giving clear +evidence wherein his tastes lay. + +"These two stables on this side of the yard each contain four horses. +There is a harness-room, you see, between them, and a loose-box at the +lower end of the farthest. We may as well go into the first one, +although you will see nothing in it but two fat family carriage-horses +and two ponies. The first of these lesser quadrupeds is my Aunt's, +which she drives in a small car on her numerous charitable visits. The +other is the Governor's, which he occasionally rides. Now let us come +to the next stable, which is mine solely and peculiarly; and if my +stud does not astonish and delight you, all I can say is I will be +much disappointed." + +With this preface we entered. The stable was well fitted up in every +respect. There were three horses in the stalls, and one in a +loose-box, which opened into the stable. Felworth stood for several +minutes in a sort of admiring gaze, merely remarking that he had not +seen his "pets" that day before, while they showed every symptom of +pleasure at his appearance. During this time I took a preliminary look +at the favourites individually. The first was an active-looking, +compact, black horse, with a fierce, unsettled expression of eye, and +several blemishes on his legs, while a chain attached from the wall to +the post prevented the unwary stranger from approaching too close. The +second was a powerful bay mare, with many good points, but little +beauty. The third was a remarkably handsome bay horse, of high +breeding. He was out of work, however, one of his legs being bound up. +The fourth was a thoroughbred gray horse, one of the finest animals I +ever beheld. + +"Now," said Felworth, "I would much like to have an 'opinion' from +you. Tell me candidly what you think of my nags." + +"I am no great critic," I replied; "but every one nowadays must be a +judge of horse-flesh. Whether or not the schoolmaster is abroad, there +is no excuse for ignorance on that subject. It strikes me that there +is great variety in your stud." + +"You are right there." + +"I do not much like the bearing of the black horse. I fear he is +rather eccentric." + +"He is a little wayward." + +"I cannot say that I admire the mare very much; she appears a homely, +useful sort of animal." + +"She is a real good one though; much better than she looks. She is +famous in the shafts with the black horse before her; but I hope you +will have ocular demonstration of that to-morrow. What think you of +the bay?" + +"He is a very nice horse; but he is in the stall of sickness, and +therefore we will pass over him; but the gray delights me. I would say +he is a Ganymede, a regular cupbearer." + +"Well," said Felworth, "since you have spoken so discreetly, I will +tell you all about them; and, first of all, their names. The black +horse I call 'UNITS.'" + +"Units! Units! Units!!!" exclaimed I. + +"Yes, Units. The bay mare 'TENS;' the bay horse 'HUNDREDS;' and the +gray 'THOUSANDS.' I must give you the reasons of their nomenclature. +The first cost me L5; the second L20. I bought her from a tenant on +the property who was emigrating to Canada; and, very unjockey-like, I +gave him just what he asked. I designed her for the farm; but her +paces proved so good that she was advanced to the exalted position in +which you see her. The bay horse I purchased in England, and gave 70 +guineas for him. I call him 'Hundreds,' because he is worth hundreds. +He is a beautiful horse in appearance, and then he is an excellent +roadster, and a well-trained hunter. He met with an accident at the +end of the season, but is in the fair way of recovery. His temper is +unequalled." + +"I presume he resembles Units in that particular," said I. + +"Indeed he is far from it; but here we are with my gallant gray. +Ganymede you are, and Ganymede I hope you will be! Win the county cup +but once more, old fellow, and then it will be our own! This horse was +bred on the farm here; he is the produce of a gray mare that you may +recollect my father mounted on in our birch-rod days. He deserves the +name of 'Thousands' undeniably; for Lord Oxfence, who was in the +regiment with me, offered a '_carte blanche_' for him." + +"No wonder," said I, "that your sister is so devout a believer in +phrenology, when she sees such effects of the development of 'number.' +But you have said nothing as yet of Units. I have heard of him before, +and I confess I have a singular interest in him." + +"Oh! never mind what Fanny says about him, for she entertains +unfounded prejudices against him." + +"Perhaps she does; but tell me what is that contrivance in the ceiling +right above him? A pulley, is it not?" + +"It is a pulley," replied Felworth; "but, since you are desirous to +hear, I had better begin from the commencement, and tell you the +entire history of this extraordinary animal, whose fame has reached +Westminster Hall. The man who owns the coach which passes this house +attended an auction in Dublin of cast horses from a dragoon regiment +about a year and a half since, and among them was exhibited the horse +before you. Of course he had managed to get a private opinion from the +sergeant in charge; and the account he heard of my dark friend was, +'_that they had had him only three months, and that he was an +untamable devil_.' When a regiment could not subdue him, who could? +Notwithstanding, from his superior shape, the proprietor bid for him, +and purchased him for something under five pounds. When he took him to +his stables, he found that the horse would not suffer an article of +harness to be put on him. This was bad enough. However, some days +after, by the assistance of all the men about the yard, they did +succeed. The horse was allowed to remain in that state all night, and +was put in as near-side wheeler in the coach which was to leave +Dublin that morning. The proprietor himself undertook to drive +him--for he is a famous hand in that way, and many a vicious horse has +he brought to reason. By good luck I happened to be a passenger +myself.--(Look, I beg of you, at the intelligence of his expression! +He knows we are talking of him.) Well, as I said, I was on the coach, +and beside the proprietor, while the regular coachman was immediately +behind us. The horse started pretty fairly. To be sure he made a +plunge or two, but the traces were strong, and his companions stout +and steady. For several miles we came along as pleasantly as needs be, +and never did I see a horse do his business in better style. It was +during this period that I heard the horse's previous history; and +further, I was told that, in the way of harnessing him, once the +saddle was on his back, (though it was no easy task to get it there,) +the remainder of the business had been easy. I hope you are not +tired.--Well, as you wish me, I will finish my history. Just at the +third milestone I felt a shock on the soles of my feet as if I had +been receiving the bastinado. I need not say this was from the heels +of Units on the under side of the board on which my feet rested. In a +moment after, the performance was repeated, with this difference, that +the blow was rather lower. But it was more serious; for on this +occasion he struck the front-boot with such force, that he was unable +to withdraw his foot, which went right through the board; and the +consequence was, that he fell against the pole. Had the other +wheel-horse not been as steady as a rock, we would have gone right +over. As it was, the driver pulled up at once; and immediately the +coachman and I were at the heads of the other horses. After several +terrific struggles, Units contrived to disengage himself. You see the +marks of the transaction still on his pastern; but do not go too near +him, for he is too thoroughly Irish to endure a Saxon. As soon as we +had loosed him from the coach, the proprietor directed the coachman to +take him back to Dublin, and to bring another horse. 'And tell the +fore-man' said he, 'to have him shot before I return this evening. I +shall lose only five pounds, and I will have no person's blood on my +head for that sum.' 'Stay,' said I, 'I will give you five pounds for +him, and take him with all his imperfections on his head, and on his +heels too.' I must say that the man was unwilling, but I carried my +point." + +"And what on earth did tempt you to buy such a brute?" + +"The fact was, the hunting season was over, and I wanted some +amusement, as I was rather in delicate health. India is severe on the +liver." + +"Had you foreseen your circumstances, you might have brought a tiger +home with you. But how did you get the horse to Craigduff?" + +"In the neatest and quickest possible way. I borrowed a rope from the +guard, and having made a temporary halter, I went to the back part of +the coach, and led him the whole way. It is forty miles, at seven +miles an hour, and he did the journey with ease. I was sure then that +I was possessed of a trump. But I must cut the matter short; for it +would keep you the whole day if I told you how we succeeded in +managing him. It was altogether by kindness, and a gradual discovery +of his little peculiarities. The pulley you inquired about, I look +upon as the greatest invention. It lets down the saddle upon his back, +and then, as I told you, he is quiet. It annually saves the life of a +man or two." + +"I told you," said I, taking advantage of a momentary pause, "that I +had a great interest in the horses: pray tell, me, can you make any +use of him?" + +"Any use of him! why he is the most useful animal in the world:--an +excellent saddle-horse; a first-rate jumper. He was not in my +possession three weeks when I won the five pounds he cost me. My +neighbour, Sir Edward, rode over here one morning on his famous horse +Thunderbolt, and he thought proper to call my new purchase +'Beelzebub.' This rather provoked me; and I offered to bet him the sum +I spoke of that I would pound him in twenty minutes; and this I did, +in half the time, by jumping his own park wall, which is near six feet +high. The horse must be ridden in a snaffle, as young Flixton could +tell you. He thought himself very wise, and insisted on having a +curb: the consequence was, that the very moment 'Units' felt it, he +started off right across the country, and his rider and he parted +company in the river below, near Mrs Vernon's house. Flixton was not +the least hurt; but a muddier, wetter, or angrier man you never saw. +Alice Vernon and I happened to be witnesses of the whole affair; and +she laughed,--how she did laugh!" (I will not display my horsemanship +before her, thought I.) "He is a pleasant horse in single harness," +continued Felworth; "and, if he did kick the market-cart to pieces, it +was owing to the carelessness of the servant in letting the reins fall +down about his feet. And if he did upset the gig and break my +collar-bone, it was my own fault. I knew he could not bear the sudden +opening out of an umbrella; and I ought to have called out to the man, +or turned the horse's head away. He is an excellent leader in tandem, +and very safe. He is certainly playful in starting with the other +horse behind him; but then we know his ways. But you will have ocular +demonstration of his performance in that way to-morrow, for I am +obliged to attend at sessions, in a village about seven miles off, and +we shall drive over after breakfast. Your curiosity about 'Units' is +now, I am sure, more than satisfied." + + +CHAPTER V. + +As we were entering the house, Felworth informed me that Mrs and Miss +Vernon were to join their family party at dinner that day; and that we +would be obliged to walk home with them in the evening. The time +passed most agreeably, and the walk was delightful! I shall not +attempt to describe the younger lady, for no words of mine can do her +justice. A great variety of the fairest and loveliest of the sex have +been depicted by writers of fiction from Sir Walter Scott downwards: +and few young gentlemen exist who have not at some time been "over +head and ears" in love. Now, it is a matter of fact, that the latter +look upon their Lucys, or Amys, or Dianas (for the time being) as +considerably excelling any of those with whose verbal portraiture they +are familiar. Need I say that I formed any exception? On that +moonlight night, as I parted from her, I felt satisfied that there was +no more lovely person in the world than Alice Vernon. + +The first words spoken on our return were by Felworth. "Perhaps you +are aware that Miss Vernon has a large fortune?" + +Rather surprised by the abruptness of the remark, I answered that I +was so; but that I would admire her just as much if she had not a +farthing in the world. + +"I have no doubt you would," was my companion's reply; "but that is +not the matter in consideration at present. I merely wish to tell you +an anecdote of Lieutenant Flixton. He is very easily roused, but soon +calms again. On this hint I spoke; and in the evening of the day of +the river business, as he and I were sitting together, I delicately +hinted to him the amusement he had afforded to Miss Vernon in the +morning. I wish you had seen him: his face grew red as scarlet, and he +exclaimed, "Put a side-saddle on 'Units,' and put 'tens of thousands' +on it, and they will be a well-matched pair!" I kept him in a state of +fever the whole time he remained, by threatening to tell the lady the +compliment he paid her. You know the Vernons are connexions of ours, +and that is one reason why they are residing at Violet-Bank now. But I +am sorry they are soon going away: for when Richard Vernon returns +from the West Indies, (and he is expected in two months,) his mother +and sister are going to live with him in London." + +These remarks of Felworth served to remove some unpleasant matters +from my mind. I saw that I would experience no rivalry from him; and I +thought myself a match for Flixton if I had but a fair field. + +I must confess that the next morning I did entertain serious +apprehensions of the proposed tandem expedition. And, had I been able +to devise any feasible plan of carrying Mrs Russell's advice into +execution, I would eagerly have adopted it. My difficulties, however, +seemed to be removed, as I perceived that the gig was brought to the +door with "Tens" alone in it but vain was my expectation! + +"You will please take your seat," said Felworth, "and make yourself +comfortable, and I will follow your example." + +We did so. "Units" was now led forward to his place in front by one +man, who held a cloth over his eyes, while another arranged the reins, +and gave them into Felworth's hand. The traces were still unfastened. + +"Now we go, Tens, Units! get along!" + +At the signal given, the horse made a tremendous plunge forward, while +Felworth, adroitly yielding his hand for the moment, drew him in +firmly but gently, while the two men, running alongside, attached the +traces. + +"Strange way 'Units' has of leaving home!" quietly remarked Felworth; +"but he is a peaceable animal after all, for you remark he never kicks +back. And can any thing be more steady than 'Tens?' You would not +depreciate her now." + +"Certainly not; a female Socrates is a good companion to that male +Xantippe." + +Felworth then went on to say, that the horse was perfectly safe as a +leader; and that, if he was not sure that he was so, he would not +consider himself justified in risking the life of any one. He added +that there were only two things of which he had the least dread;--the +one was, the sudden opening of an umbrella; but there was no risk of +that in weather such as we were then enjoying; the other was, a shot +fired near the horse; but then there was little danger in that way +either, for there was not a gun in the neighbourhood, nor any thing at +which to fire. When I expressed an opinion that he and I afforded +pretty fair marks ourselves, and that I had heard of such being +selected, he burst out laughing, and asked me if I had made my will +before I left England; and did I believe the half of the stories I +heard there about Ireland? He then remarked that a whip would last for +several generations if one always drove horses like "Units" and +"Tens." Before we arrived at our destination, he said he had directed +his servant to be in readiness to take home the gig from Violet-Bank, +for that we could return by another road, and call there. + +"I like your arrangement much," said I, "as I wish to pay my respects +to Mrs Vernon before I leave." + +"It is all very proper," said Felworth, "but there was no occasion to +lay such emphasis on the '_Mrs._'" + +After strolling about the village for an hour, Felworth despatched his +business, and we turned homewards. He did not appear so much inclined +for conversation as he had been in the morning; and we both soon +lapsed into comparative silence. The very act of driving has at any +time a tendency to produce a ruminating mood; and my thoughts +naturally turned on Alice Vernon. It was true, I had seen her only +twice, and on the first occasion only for a few minutes; yet, even +now, I could not bear the thought of her becoming the wife of another. +I knew I would probably see her in London when her brother returned; +but how many things might happen in the mean time? I felt she could +look on me only as a stranger. I wished much that I could have +remained longer at Craigduff; but for several reasons that was out of +the question. It was true I had been much pressed to prolong my stay, +but I had said that my visit was a stolen one. And now would I not +look excessively foolish, when it appeared that "imperative +circumstances" were turned into moonshine by a moonlight walk? I was +aroused from my reveries by an exclamation from Felworth, "There is +Alice Vernon, I am positive! You see her walking on the road before us +under the row of beech-trees. We will overtake her by the time she +comes to the end of them, by the quarry on the right." He proved +himself accurate; for we were only a few yards behind her, as she came +into the bright sunshine. At this moment (as was natural for any lady +to do) she opened out her parasol in the direct view of Units. The +consequence was that he made a sudden stop, so that the mare came +against him; this was followed by a quick bound to one side, so as +almost to pull "Tens" off her balance. Felworth, however, had the +horses well in hand; and even yet all matters might have gone right. +But just at that moment an explosion took place at the quarry beside +us. I saw the infuriate beast make a jump at the fence on the left. I +fancy I heard a crash--but I have no recollection of any thing more. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"He lives!--thank God, he lives!--and it was all my fault!" were the +first words I heard in returning consciousness. I felt very faint and +weak, but the tones sounded sweetly in my ears. I then heard some +directions to keep me "perfectly quiet." + +But I need not detail the progress of my recovery. I was in +Violet-Bank, near to which the accident had occurred. My brother soon +after came to see me; and even my worthy aunt, in her anxiety, +ventured into "that horrid country." Pleasant, indeed, were the hours +I passed in the period of my convalescence. + +As soon as was permitted by the doctor, I had a visit from Felworth. + +"Thank Providence," said he, "all is right with you now, but it was a +very doubtful matter for some hours. It was a bad business altogether. +Units was killed, and you nearly so." + +"But tell me exactly how you got off yourself: I perceive your +forehead cut, and your arm in a sling." + +"You see the whole of the injuries I received; but the mare is much +cut and bruised; both shafts of the gig were broken. I have preserved, +as a sad memorial of the day, the stone against which your head came +when you were pitched out. Fortunately, for me, I fell in a soft +place; and I was on my legs before the quarry-men gathered about you, +and carried you into the house. What presence of mind Alice had! She +sent for the doctor without a moment's delay; but women always act +best in such circumstances." + +"But Units, what of him?" + +"Why, one trace broke in his attempt to leap into the field; and, +fortunately for Tens, the other soon gave way; and then he galloped +home." + +"I thought you said he was killed." + +"And so he was, but not by fair play. My father, unfortunately, met +the man who was leading home the mare; and when he heard what had +occurred, he brought down his own pistols, and had the horse led out, +and shot on the spot. It was not out of vengeance that he did so, for +he was not aware at the time of the dangerous state you were in; but +he said that the horse would be the cause of death to some one yet. It +was from a kind motive he did so, but it was a sad blow to me. I will +never see the like of Units again." + +It was arranged that Alice and I were to be married in the following +September. + +"You were a sad truant," said my aunt, "to go from Dublin after the +cautions I gave you; but I give my full pardon under the +circumstances." + +I had a silent but powerful, advocate near me. + +Shortly after my recovery, I went to London, for the purpose of making +necessary arrangements for my marriage. When there, I called upon +Thomson, and narrated to him the entire events. + +"You are a very lucky fellow!" he said. "I look upon this horse +'Units' as having been your guardian angel. I told you you were +deficient in 'Constructiveness,' and your story proves it. Had it not +been that you got your head broken, or some other fortuitous event +occurred, you would have remained a bachelor to the end of your +days." + + + + +RESEARCH AND ADVENTURE IN AUSTRALIA.[15] + + +The confident mariner, spreading his canvass to the fickle gale, and +launching forth upon unknown seas in search of uncertain shores, to +combat the kraken and fish the pearl, scarcely exhibits more daring, +or braves greater perils, than the hardy landsman, who, on horse's +back or dromedary's hump, or his own mocassined feet, plunges into +tangled jungle and pathless prairie, adventuring himself, a solitary +pioneer, thousands of miles from the abodes of civilisation. If shoal +and squall and treacherous reef, pirates and storms, and tropical +calms scarce less terrible, when parched lips blacken for thirst in +the midst of boundless waters, await the seaman, dangers equally +imminent and inevitable, and more incessant beset the path of the +wanderer in the desert. The sailor has his days and weeks of safety +and repose and rude luxury, whilst the stately ship scuds merrily +before favouring breezes over a summer sea, and the light routine of +duty is but sufficient to give zest to the junk ration, the grog kid, +and the tobacco pipe. The storm over, he swings easily in his hammock, +recruiting strength for fresh exertion; and even when the winds howl +their worst, give him a tight ship and sea-room, and he holds himself +safe and laughs at the tempest. The explorer of trackless plain and +aboriginal forest is in a very different predicament. He is never +safe; his toils and tribulations are unceasing; danger may not exist, +but he must ever guard against it, for he knows not where it may lurk. +With him, security is temerity and eventual destruction. The ambushed +savage, the crouching beast of prey, the silent and deadly reptile, +the verdant swamp, flower-strewn and fathomless, wooing to +destruction, the rushing torrent and resistless hurricane, are but a +few of the dangers through which he threads his way. And when, at +close of day, weary and hungry, foot-sore or saddle-galled, he halts +for refreshment and repose, it seems but the beginning of his labours. +Wood must be cut and collected, the fire lit, the meal prepared, often +its very materials must be sought in pool and thicket, before the +wanderer can be at rest, and the cravings of appetite appeased. The +hardly-won repast concluded, the ground offers a comfortless couch to +his stiffened and jaded limbs, where to snatch such sleep as the +necessity of strict guard, and the ominous and mysterious noises of a +night in the desert, allow to descend upon his eyelids. + +With a thorough knowledge and appreciation of the many difficulties, +dangers, and discomforts, inseparable from such an expedition, Dr +Ludwig Leichhardt, a German gentleman, remarkable for enterprising +spirit and scientific zeal, left Moreton Bay, upon the east coast of +Australia, in September 1844, to proceed overland in a north-westerly +direction to Port Essington, on the north coast, a distance of more +than three thousand miles. The Doctor was no novice in such +wanderings; he had already devoted two years to exploring the district +north of Moreton Bay; undaunted by hardship, his thirst for knowledge +unappeased, he had scarcely returned when he was ready to start again. +Many dissuaded him, pointing out the vast field of research afforded +within the limits of New South Wales, urging innumerable dangers--some +imaginary, but more real--taxing him with overstrained enthusiasm, and +inordinate lust of fame; even blaming him as a madman and a suicide. +He was neither to be deterred nor cajoled from his expedition, but +made his preparations, limiting as much as possible the amount of +provisions and stores, in consideration of the difficulties of the +route and encumbrance of baggage. He was also compelled, in conformity +with the plan he had formed, and with the smallness of his means, to +restrict the number of his companions, and reject the offers of many +adventurous young men eager to accompany him. His party, at first +composed of six persons, had swelled to ten, when, upon the 30th +September, it left Jimba, the advanced post of the white man. The +stores consisted of sixteen head of cattle, twelve hundred pounds of +flour, two hundred pounds of sugar, eighty pounds of tea, and twenty +of gelatine, eight bags of shot, and thirty pounds of powder. Each man +had two pairs of strong trousers, three shirts, and two pairs of +shoes,--certainly no very sumptuous equipment for a journey expected +to last seven months, but which occupied fifteen. Fortunately, as they +advanced, game and wild animals, at first rare, became more plentiful; +and although the flour was expended at the end of the eighth month, +they managed, with the aid of kangaroos, emus, waterfowl, and other +beasts and birds, to protract their beef till their arrival at Port +Essington. The party comprised (besides Dr Leichhardt) Messrs Calvert, +Roper, Hodgson and Gilbert, John Murphy, a lad of sixteen, a convict +of the name of William Phillips, Caleb, an American negro, and +Messieurs Harry Brown and Charley, Australian aborigines, mutinous but +useful, of whose character and propensities we learn more than of +those of any other member of the party. The Doctor is, indeed, +remarkably silent with respect to his fellow-labourers in the vineyard +of Tasmanian discovery. Eight men of the adventurous disposition +implied by their engaging in such an expedition, could hardly be +thrown together for a year or more without displaying flashes of +character, and greater or less eccentricity, the result of their +exceptional position, of the many shifts and devices they had to +resort to. Of characteristic traits, however, we obtain few hints from +Dr Leichhardt, the most amiable, but the most matter-of-fact of +travellers. His sympathies and attention are engrossed by the stocks +and stones, the beasts, birds, trees and flowers around him. In them +he finds tongues and books, and with and of them he loves to +discourse. Although evidently a good comrade and considerate chief, +his enthusiasm as a naturalist and man of science preclude much heed +of his companions' peculiarities--if such they had. Enough that they +are at hand, ready to aid him in catering for a meal, in chasing stray +bullocks, replacing fallen baggage, and in the many other toils and +labours in which he manfully bears his share. Nothing less than the +departure of one, and the death of another, can elicit a passing hint +of their character and qualities. Mr Hodgson shot a kangaroo; Mr Roper +brought in eight cockatoos; Mr Phillips found a flesh-coloured +drupaceous fruit; Mr Calvert shot a native companion--not one of the +aborigines, but a bird so called; and thus the book goes on, every +thing put down with the dry brevity of a seaman's log. Hence Dr +Leichhardt's volume, though highly valuable and interesting to +naturalists and emigrants, will scarcely be appreciated by the general +reader. Learned and well written, the amusing element, which readers +of the present day are apt to make a condition for their favour, is +but scantily scattered through its pages. But it is a work of +unquestionable merit and utility, and its author's name will justly +stand high upon the honourable list of able and enterprising men, +whose courage, perseverance, and literary abilities, have contributed +so largely to our knowledge of the geography and productions of our +distant southern colonies. + +The first start of the expedition could hardly be called a good one; +at least, it was not such as to encourage the faint-hearted, or +falsify anticipations of extreme hardships and difficulties. A light +spring-cart, which the doctor had fondly hoped to take with him +through the wilderness, was broken the very first day. He was +fortunate enough to exchange it for three bullocks, and proceeded to +break in five of those animals for the pack-saddle, finding he could +not depend upon his horses for carrying baggage. But the bullocks gave +a deal of trouble, and were most unsatisfactory beasts of burthen. The +weight they could carry without injury and exhaustion, was very small +in comparison with their known strength,--not more than a hundred and +fifty pounds, Dr Leichhardt found, for a constancy--without the +advantage of roads. Mules would have been the proper carriers; and +troublesome, kicking, contrary demons as they often are, under a hot +sun and with the aggravation of flies, they could hardly have been +more refractory than their bovine substitutes. Persons whose whole +experience of bullocks, as beasts of draught and burthen, consists in +having seen a pair of them tugging, with painful docility and +resignation, at a heavy continental cart--a ponderous yoke across +their necks, or their heads attached with multitudinous thongs to the +extremity of a massive pole--can form but a faint idea of the +tribulations of the Doctor and his friends, who had to lead the +beasts, as best they might, with iron nose-rings, and who, moreover, +being wholly unused to cattle of that description, had at first a not +unnatural dislike of the horns. Then the pack-saddles did not fit, and +the immediate result was sore backs; the cargo would get loose and +fall off, to the fracture and destruction of straps; or the hornets, +whose nests, suspended from the branches, were disturbed by the +passage of the caravan, would drive the unlucky oxen nearly mad, by a +stinging assault upon their hind quarters. Finally, both horses and +bullocks had a singular propensity to stray back during the night to +the previous halting place, whence they had to be fetched in the +morning, causing great delay, and often postponing the start till +mid-day. Here is a significant little entry in the log, comprising the +entire proceedings of one day, which gives an idea of the difficulty +of progress. "Oct. 2--Bullocks astray, but found at last by Charley, +and a start attempted at one o'clock: the greater part of the bullocks +with sore backs. The native tobacco in blossom. One of the bullocks +broke his pack-saddle, and compelled us to halt." Only one small plug +of tobacco to all that peck of troubles! The nicotian flower the sole +object in the scene of disaster, on which the eye can rest with a +sensation of relief. Stray cattle, sore backs, broken saddles! The +combination of calamities can only be appreciated by those who have +encountered it, in the desert, and when anxious to prosecute their +march. For some time, these pleasant incidents were of daily +occurrence; added to which, the bullocks, in forcing their way through +tangled thickets, frequently tore the sacks, and wasted large +quantities of flour. And towards the latter part of the journey, when +Dr Leichhardt, owing to the death of three horses, unfortunately +drowned in a creek, had been forced to abandon, with tears in his +eyes, a large portion of his valuable botanical collection, he had the +intense mortification of seeing a reckless ox, foot-sore and heated by +a long day's march, plunge deliberately into a deep pond, where the +remainder of the dried plants, seeds, and the like, carefully packed +upon the animal's back, underwent a thorough and disastrous soaking. +As some amends for the trouble they gave, the bullocks proved useful +in an unexpected capacity, namely, as guards. They conceived an +antipathy to the natives, whom they charged in warlike style, whenever +they had the chance. The aborigines held them in great respect, took +them for large dogs (bull-dogs of course), and had a wholesome fear of +their bite. These notions the travellers did not deem it advisable to +dispel. + +Opossums and flying squirrels, kangaroos, (some standing nine feet +high,) and kangaroo rats, emus, ducks, and bronze-winged pigeons, were +the principal beasts and birds encountered during the journey. +Crocodiles were met with, and a few buffaloes. Fish of many kinds, now +and then turtles, were seen and caught in the pools, rivers, and +lagoons. Sand-flies, mosquitoes, and hornets, were very annoying, but +the cool night-breeze usually swept them away. The melodious note of +the glucking-bird, so named from the sound resembling "gluck, gluck," +the noisy call of the "laughing jackass," the hoot of the barking owl, +the howlings of native dogs, and the screech of the opossum, were the +principal sounds that broke the stillness of the bush. Kangaroos were +a great article of provender; the travellers chased them with dogs, so +long as the dogs lasted, but these perished, little by little, until +at last only one remained,--Spring by name,--a useful and valiant +brute, covered with honourable scars. He was of the breed known as the +kangaroo-dog, was exceedingly stanch and valuable, and the means of +obtaining a vast deal of game. Of course, he was an immense +favourite, and his masters had reckoned on his accompanying them to +the end of their journey. They carried a calabash of water for his +private use, as they were frequently very long without meeting with +any, and this precaution more than once saved Spring's life. At last, +during the latter part of a toilsome day's march, poor Spring lagged +in rear and was forgotten. The next day two of the party returned to +seek him, and found him almost dead, "stretched out in the deep cattle +track, which he seemed not to have quitted even to find a shady place. +They brought him to the camp; and I put his whole body, with the +exception of his head, under water, and bled him; he lived six hours +longer, when he began to bark, as if raving." And Spring gave up the +ghost, to the great comfort and relief of the emus and kangaroos, and +to the deep distress of the worthy Doctor and his biped companions. + +The party had been out but one month, when the scarcity of game, far +less abundant than had been expected, and the rapid shrinking of the +flour-sacks, rendered it necessary to diminish its numbers, lest +famine should be added to the many dangers of the journey. Mr Hodgson +and Caleb the negro accordingly returned to Moreton bay, the remaining +eight persons continuing their route. Two of these eight, as we have +already mentioned, were Australian aborigines, indebted to Christian +god-fathers for the baptismal names of Charley and Harry. Early in the +expedition, these two gentlemen became exceedingly troublesome; not +more so, however, than might reasonably be expected from the very +sullen and brutish expression of their uncomely physiognomies. Dr +Leichhardt favours us with a portrait of the pair, and notwithstanding +the embellishments of clean frocks, flowing neck-kerchiefs, and a +comb, we have seldom set eyes upon more unprepossessing countenances. +Any more hirsute we certainly never beheld, and their whole aspect +gives the idea of men who, in the natural state, would deem a tender +infant the most delicious of luncheons, and look upon a deceased +relative with the one absorbing idea of a juicy roast. We may be doing +injustice to the creatures, but appearances are not in their favour, +however British missionaries and mutton may have weaned them from +aboriginal barbarity and cannibal cravings. After they had been about +four months out, they began to play truant, to desert Dr Leichhardt +when reconnoitring, taking the provisions with them, and to wander +away without permission in quest of honey and opossums. At first the +Doctor overlooked their transgressions, or let them pass with a +reprimand; but he soon found occasion to regret his leniency, and that +he had not inflicted a severe and decided punishment. On the 19th +February the travellers, who had halted two days for the purpose of +jerking the beef of a bullock, were busy greasing their straps and +saddles, an operation rendered very necessary by the dust and +scorching heat, when Master Charley, thirsting after honeycomb and +greedy of opossum, left the camp, and was absent several hours. On his +return the Doctor reprimanded him, and threatened to stop his rations, +but was met with threats and abuse. "Finding it, therefore, necessary +to exercise my authority, I approached to show him out of the camp, +when the fellow gave me a violent blow upon the face, which severely +injured me, displacing two of my lower teeth." In return for which +brutal assault we expected to find that the Doctor and his friends +removed the surcingle and baggage-straps from the jaw-breaker's horse, +tied him to a tree with the latter, and with the former flogged his +black shoulders till he cried _peccavi_, and promised reform. Nothing +of the sort appears to have taken place, the good Doctor contenting +himself, as sole revenge for the injury done to his masticators, with +expelling the delinquent, who was accompanied from the camp by his +countryman and ally, Harry Brown. They soon got tired, however, of +going afoot and shifting for themselves, returned submissive and +sorry, and were allowed to rejoin the caravan. And though they +subsequently again gave cause of complaint, upon the whole they were +tolerably manageable during the rest of the expedition. + +The travellers were out a long time before falling in with natives, +although they saw signs of their vicinity, and ascertained that they +were objects of curious observation and some anxiety to the timid +Australians. They stumbled upon various native camps, recently +vacated, and occasionally took the liberty of helping themselves to +kangaroo nets and cordage, leaving in exchange fish hooks, +handkerchiefs, and other European articles. On the 6th of December, +upon rousing from his bivouac, Dr Leichhardt found "the horses had +gone back to Ruined Castle Creek, about twenty-one miles distant (!), +and the bullocks to the last camp, which, according to Charley, had +been visited by the Blackfellows, who had apparently examined it very +minutely. It was evident they kept an eye upon us, although they never +made their appearance." The Doctor's coolness in recording his +disasters is quite provoking. If he exhibited the same laudable calm +and resignation when he arose from his bed of reeds on the banks of +the finch-haunted water-hole, and found his cattle had gone back a +day's journey or more, as he does in writing down the fact, he is +certainly the most Job-like of travellers. We could sometimes quarrel +with him for making so very light of heavy inconveniences and positive +misfortunes. It is necessary to pause and reflect in order to +appreciate what he endured. The hasty reader, skimming the page +without allowing his imagination to dwell on the Doctor's brief +indications of the many sufferings, the wounds and sickness (the +latter often caused by unwholesome diet), the hunger and thirst, the +daily and nightly exposure, for fifteen months, to scorching suns and +drenching rains, undergone by himself and his companions, might +complete the perusal with the impression on his mind that the whole +affair was rather pleasant than otherwise--a sort of prolonged +pic-nic, varied by kangaroo hunts, fishing parties, and shooting +excursions. Bread stuffs, he would have to admit, were scarce in that +cornless land: but hard exercise and fresh air sharpen the appetite +and strengthen the digestion; and a keen woodsman will not heed +bannocks when he can get beef, varied by such an exotic viand as +kangaroo venison, and by such delicate and fantastical volatiles as +harlequin pigeons and rose-breasted cockatoos. Nay, so easy is it to +fight battles in one's back parlour, and to endure hardships with +one's feet on the fender, that this same imaginary and hastily-judging +reader, whose flippant conclusions we now quote, may think lightly of +the necessity in which our travellers found themselves of eating a +horse, as recorded in the Leichhardtian journal, p. 247. A horse broke +its thigh, and it was resolved to make the best of the meat. It proved +tolerably palatable, especially the liver and kidneys, pronounced +equal to those of a bullock. When the flour was gone, the only relief +from the monotony of a carnivorous diet was obtained by +experimentalising on seeds, fruits, and roots, of which many unknown +species were met with. How the party escaped death by poison is a +wonder, for they were very venturesome in their essays, and not +unfrequently were punished for their boldness by severe vomitings and +other unpleasant symptoms. The jerked meat they carried with them +often became musty and tainted, having been imperfectly dried, or from +the effects of rain. But their greatest difficulty was the frequent +scarcity of water, which sadly afflicted their horses, and prolonged +their route, compelling them to deviate from the direct course to +encamp near pools or lagoons. These were not always to be found; and +they often remained for very many hours, even for days, without other +water than they could carry in their scanty kettles. Then the bullocks +were allowed to stray in search of drink, and it was sometimes +necessary, in order to save the horses' lives, to take them back to +the previous night's camping place. The fatigues thus encountered +might well have exhausted the endurance and physical energies of the +strongest man. "I had been in a state of the most anxious suspense," +says Dr Leichhardt on one of these occasions, "about the fate of our +bullocks, and was deeply thankful to the Almighty when I heard they +were all safe. I had suffered much from thirst, having been +forty-eight hours without water, and which had been increased by a +run of two miles after my horse, which attempted to follow the others; +and also from a severe pain in the head, produced by the impatient +brute's _jumping with its hobbled fore-feet on my forehead_, as I lay +asleep with the bridle in my hand; but after drinking three quarts of +cold tea, which John had brought with him, I soon recovered, and +assisted to load our horses with the remainder of our luggage, when we +returned to join our companions. The weather was very hot during the +day, but a cool breeze moved over the plains, and the night, as usual, +was very cold." It needed men of iron frame to endure, without serious +and frequent indisposition, such terrible privations and sudden +contrasts of temperature. Nevertheless, none of the party seem to have +suffered from illness produced by other causes than irregular and +hazardous diet, except in the case of the Doctor, who once or twice +had a touch of lumbago. These violent transitions from heat to cold +were felt during only a portion of their journey. Towards the middle +of the time, in the month of June, they were greatly favoured by +climate. "The state of our health showed how congenial it was to the +human constitution; for, without the comforts which the civilised man +thinks essentially necessary to life, without flour, without salt, and +miserably clothed, we were yet all in health, although at times +suffering much from weakness and fatigue. At night we stretched +ourselves upon the ground, almost as naked as the natives; and though +most of my companions still used their tents, it was amply proved +afterwards that the want of this luxury was attended with no ill +consequences." All things are comparative; and to the Doctor, whose +sole canopy during the whole expedition was the vault of heaven, the +canvass covering enjoyed by his comrades evidently appeared a +Sybaritical indulgence. + +To return to the savages. The day after the retrograde movement of the +cattle to Ruined Castle Creek, and just as Dr Leichhardt was about to +start on a reconnoissance, the Blackfellows came down to where the +horses were grazing, and speared one of them in the shoulder. This was +the first act of hostility. The Australian aborigines are very +cowardly, and the aggressors hastily retreated into the bush on the +appearance of two or three white men. After this, in February, some +friendly and respectable barbarians were met with, and there was an +interchange of courtesy and presents. Generally the natives were shy, +entertaining feelings of mingled fear, aversion, and contempt for the +pale-skinned intruders upon their forest domain. Mr Roper and Charley, +out in search of water, fell in with a Blackfellow and his gin or +squaw. Like a brace of opossums, they were up a gum-tree in no time, +although the lady was in an advanced state of pregnancy. "As Mr Roper +moved round the base of the tree, in order to look the Blackfellow in +the face, and to speak with him, the latter studiously avoided looking +at Mr Roper, by shifting round and round the trunk like an iguana. The +woman also kept her face averted." A day or two afterwards, Mr Gilbert +and Charley met some more natives. "Two gins were so horror-struck at +the unwonted sight, that they immediately fled into the scrub; the men +commenced talking to them, but occasionally interrupted their speeches +by spitting and uttering a noise like pooh! pooh! apparently +expressive of their disgust." Meetings with the natives now became of +common occurrence; but as they showed much timidity, and, when ill +disposed, confined their hostile demonstrations to expectoration and +grimaces, the travellers entertained little apprehension of attack. +The night watch, regularly kept at the commencement of the expedition, +was now little more than nominal, and although each man was supposed +to take his turn of sentry, the guard was usually a sleepy one, and a +mere matter of form. They had reason to repent their negligence. +Encamped one evening in the dry bed of a lagoon, some in their tents, +others platting palm-leaf hats, the Doctor himself dozing near the +fire, a shower of spears fell amongst them, and the savages followed +up the treacherous attack by a charge with their waddies or clubs. The +Europeans were so completely off their guard that they did not know +where to find percussion caps for their guns. When the Doctor had +procured these, two or three shots sent the assailants to the right +about, with one of their number killed or wounded, for bloodstains +were on their track, and they were heard next morning wailing in the +woods. But the little caravan had suffered heavy loss. Gilbert was +killed; Roper and Calvert were severely injured and disfigured by +spear-wounds and blows from the waddies. It was a melancholy and +untoward event, but time could ill be spared to mourn. The dead man +was buried, a large fire made over his grave to prevent the natives +from detecting and disinterring the body, and with sad hearts the +little caravan prosecuted their march. The Doctor allows us to infer +that the wounded would gladly have prolonged the halt, but, although +feeling for their suffering state, he had duties to perform to himself +and his other companions; and being of opinion that motion would not +interfere with cure, he overruled objections, and insisted on +proceeding. The event proved he was right; the sick men, although +inconvenienced, were not injured by the march. Calvert was soon able +to resume his share in the labours of the camp and the hunting-field, +and Roper, although longer disabled, also eventually recovered. + +The eighth chapter of Dr Leichhardt's journal will be esteemed by the +general reader the most interesting in the book, for in it he deviates +somewhat from his usual track, is more sparing than his wont of +botanical and geographical details, and gives a few brief but +interesting particulars of the daily life and habits of his party. "I +usually rise," he says, "when I hear the merry laugh of the +laughing-jackass (a bird) which, from its regularity, has been not +unaptly named the settler's clock; a loud _cooee_ then rouses my +companions, Brown to make tea, Mr Calvert to season the stew with salt +and marjoram, and myself and the others to wash, and to prepare our +breakfast, which, for the party, consists of two pounds and a half of +meat, stewed over night; and to each a quart pot of tea. Mr Calvert +then gives to each his portion, and, by the time this important duty +is performed, Charley generally arrives with the horses, which are +then prepared for their day's duty." Towards eight o'clock the caravan +usually started, and after travelling about four hours, selected a +spot for that night's camp, which being pitched, the horses and +bullocks unloaded, the fire lighted, and the dried beef put on to stew +for the late dinner, the remainder of the afternoon was devoted to +washing and repairing clothes, mending saddles, shooting, fishing, +botanizing and writing up the log. The Doctor, who was of course +provided with sextant, chronometer, compass, and the other instruments +necessary to ascertain their whereabout in the wide desert, would take +his observations, calculate the latitude, ride out reconnoitring, and +plan the next day's route. Towards sunset came dinner, and soon after +nightfall all retired to their beds. "The two Blackfellows and myself +spread out each our own under the canopy of heaven, whilst Messrs +Roper, Calvert, Gilbert, Murphy, and Phillips, have their tents. Mr +Calvert entertains Roper with his conversation; John amuses Gilbert; +Brown tunes up his corrobori songs, in which Charley, until their late +quarrel, generally joined. Brown sings well, and his melodious +plaintive voice lulls me to sleep, when otherwise I am not disposed. +Mr Phillips is rather singular in his habits; he erects his tent +generally at a distance from the rest, under a shady tree, or in a +green bower of shrubs, where he makes himself as comfortable as the +place will allow, by spreading branches and grass under his couch, and +covering his tent with them, to keep it shady and cool, and even +planting lilies in blossom (crinum) before his tent, to enjoy their +sight during the short time of our stay." We would fain have heard +something more of this Phillips, whose love of solitude and flowers +contrast with his quality of a convict, and inspire interest and +curiosity. Whatever his crime, his companions apparently did not +repulse him, but he himself voluntarily avoided their society, perhaps +from a feeling of unworthiness and humiliation. Dr Leichhardt casually +mentions him here and there in his volume, and he seems to have +behaved steadily and well, for he was pardoned on returning to Sydney, +and received a portion of the thousand pounds appropriated from the +crown revenue to reward the adventurous party. Why he was originally +selected to form part of it, when numbers of young men of enterprising +spirit and untainted reputation were refused the privilege, the Doctor +does not think it necessary to inform us. + +To men far removed from the pleasures and luxuries of civilisation, +isolated in a desert, and leading a life of unceasing hardship and +privation, small treats afford great enjoyment. The pleasures of the +palate, especially, acquire unusual importance, and the discovery of +some fragrant fruit or succulent vegetable, the addition to the daily +stew of a bird or beast unusually flavorous, causes amongst these +grown children as much jubilation as a giant cake amongst a horde of +holiday urchins. "I had naturally," says the Doctor, "a great +antipathy against comfort-hunting and gourmandising, particularly on +an expedition like ours.... This antipathy I expressed, often perhaps, +too harshly, which caused discontent; but, on these occasions, my +patience was sorely tried." Notwithstanding his anti-epicurean +principles, the chief of the expedition good-humouredly gave in to the +fancies of his followers, who loved a feast now and then, and were +partial to celebrate notable days by such modest _hors-d'oeuvres_ and +supplementary condiments as the niggard forest and their indifferently +provided saddle-bags would afford. Homely indeed were the additions +thus made to their daily ration of _charqui_ beef, horse-flesh or +kangaroo. Let us dwell a moment upon the magnificent preparation for a +banquet on the natal day of her Majesty Queen Victoria. + +"May 24. It was the Queen's birth-day, and we celebrated it with +what--as our only remaining luxury--we were accustomed to call a fat +cake, made of four pounds of flour and some suet, which we had saved +for the express purpose, and with a pot of sugared tea. We had for +several months been without sugar, with the exception of about ten +pounds, which were reserved for cases of illness and for festivals." + +Assuredly no sumptuary laws were needed to restrain such revels as +these. "On another occasion, in consequence of the additional fatigues +of the day, I allowed some pieces of fat to be fried with our meat." +Horrible gluttony! After they had been some months out, an +extraordinary desire for fat diet took possession of the wanderers. At +first they felt disgust for it, and rejected it contemptuously, but +suddenly a total change occurred. "The relish continued to increase as +our bullocks grew poorer; and we became as eager to examine the +condition of a slaughtered beast as the natives, whose practice in +that respect we had formerly ridiculed." When they caught an emu, +their first and eager care was to pluck the feathers and cut into the +flesh, "to see how thick the fat was, and whether it was a _rich +yellow_." The Spartan Doctor himself was not proof against the greasy +fascination. Hear his confession of a frailty, and record of its +quick-succeeding punishment. 'Tis _a propos_ of kites, which filthy +feeders, unaccustomed in the lonely bush to the sight of man, become +exceedingly daring and impudent. "Yesterday, I cleaned the fat gizzard +of a bustard to grill it on the embers, and the idea of the fat +dainty-bit made my mouth water. But, alas! whilst holding it in my +hand, a kite pounced down and carried it off, pursued by a dozen of +his comrades, eager to seize the booty." It needs no great stretch of +fancy to picture the Doctor, bereaved of his gizzard, sitting +open-mouthed and aghast at the foot of a gum-tree, his fingers still +shining from the unctuous contact, the moisture of anticipation oozing +from his lips, his eyes watching the flight of the felon kite, whilst +the 'possum on the branch above grins at his mishap. The loss was the +more serious, that game was not abundant just then. They had got into +a flat, sandy, uninteresting country; all box-trees and ant-hills, as +Australian Charley described it, with no cover, and nothing to shoot +at. Bad enough for the sportsman, but highly eligible squatting +ground, where the settler would have few trees to fell and abundant +grass for his cattle. As for the game, it came in tracts and +districts. Sometimes they thought themselves fortunate could they +secure a few pigeons, at others, they revelled in pinguid +plenty,--kangaroos roasted whole, fat ibis, flying foxes in scores, +and ducks by the dozen. The atmosphere of these latitudes must be +particularly favourable to the appetite, judging from the following +passage.--"Charley Brown and John, who had been left at the lagoon to +shoot waterfowl, returned with twenty ducks for luncheon, and went out +again during the afternoon to procure more for dinner and breakfast. +They succeeded in shooting thirty-one ducks and two geese; so that we +had fifty-one ducks and two geese for the three meals; and they were +all eaten, with the exception of a few bony remains, which some of the +party carried to the next camp. If we had had a hundred ducks, they +would have been eaten quite as readily, if such an extravagant feast +had been permitted." A century of the web-footed for one day's +consumption! And they were seven--no more! Surely this was playing at +ducks and drakes with their resources. Fourteen ducks, a leg, a wing, +and a bit of the breast, entombed, within twenty-four hours, in the +stomach of each of these seven men! The very feathers in their pillows +(had they had any) would have cried out against such voracity. Truly +it is without a spark of compassion that we read of their reduction, +precisely one week afterwards, to short and less palatable commons. +"Oct. 26. We enjoyed most gratefully our two wallabies, which were +stewed, and to which I had added some green hide, to render the broth +more substantial. This hide was _almost five months old_, and had +served as a case to my botanical collection, which, unfortunately, I +had been compelled to leave behind. It required, however, a little +longer stewing than a fresh hide, and was rather tasteless." We avow +total unacquaintance with wallabies, their size and edible qualities, +but, whatever their dimensions, the fact of a five-months'-old hide +having been stewed with them to ameliorate the broth, says very little +for their succulence. The sweetness, as well as the greenness of the +"case to the botanical collection," may fairly be doubted. We should +have an ill opinion of the pottage that needed an old portmanteau to +improve its consistency, and strongly mistrust the nutritious +qualities of the meagre wallabi-broth, which followed so closely on +the heels of the Feast of Ducks. + +It was very fortunate for Dr Leichhardt and his companions--who +certainly had abundance of difficulties to encounter--that the country +they traversed was nearly free from ferocious beasts and noxious +reptiles. They had plenty to do without combating such formidable +enemies. Throughout the whole journal there is no mention of any +dangerous animal, except crocodiles and alligators,--easily avoided, +and not much to be dreaded. On the 19th June, "Charley and Brown, who +had gone to the river, returned at a late hour, when they told us they +had seen the tracks of a large animal on the sands of the river, which +they judged to be about the size of a big dog, trailing a long tail +like a snake. Charley said, that when Brown fired his gun, a deep +noise like the bellowing of a bull was heard, which frightened both so +much that they immediately decamped. This was the first time we became +aware of the existence of the crocodile in the waters of the gulf." +Afterwards they not unfrequently fell in with them. Near the banks of +a magnificent salt-water river--named by Dr Leichhardt the "Robinson," +in honour of one of the promoters of the expedition--they came upon a +native well. "When Charley first discovered it, he saw a crocodile +leaning its long head over the clay-wall, enjoying a drink of fresh +water." Of venomous snakes and insects, we also find little or no +account in the Doctor's diary. Once only there was a suspicion of the +kind. Upon leaving a camp on the river Lynd, the lad Murphy's pony was +missing, and Charley went back to look for it. "He brought us the +melancholy news that he had found the poor beast on the sands of the +Lynd, with its body blown up, and bleeding from the nostrils. It had +either been bitten by a snake or had eaten some noxious herb, which +had fortunately been avoided by the other horses." Sand-flies and +mosquitoes were very troublesome, large yellow hornets savage in their +attacks, and ants every where. Of these, the species called the +funnel-ant is worthy of notice for the peculiarity of its nest. It +digs a perpendicular hole in the ground, and surrounds the opening +with an elevated wall, sloping outwards like a funnel; a style of +architecture of which, upon a rainy day, the tenant of the dwelling +must feel the disadvantage. The white ant is also met with, and builds +itself massive hills of enormous size. "I followed the Casuarina Creek +up to its head, and called it 'Big Ant-Hill Creek,' in consequence of +numerous gigantic strangely-buttressed structures of the white ant, +which I had never seen of such a form, and of so large a size." Within +three days' journey of the gulf of Carpentaria, the box-tree flat was +studded with turreted ant-hills, either single sharp cones, three to +five feet high, or united in rows and forming piles of remarkable +appearance. + +Their arrival at the gulf of Carpentaria, which occurred on the 5th +July, was a joyful event to the wanderers. From the map accompanying +Dr Leichhardt's journal, it appears they did not take the most direct +track from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, but inclined too much to the +right, reaching the gulf on its eastern instead of its southern shore, +and having consequently, as they were proceeding north-west, to strike +off at right angles in a S.S.W. direction. For this deviation from the +direct line, there may have been good reason in the nature of the +ground, the forests, mountains, and other difficulties to be avoided, +and in the necessity of preserving the vicinity of water. Hitherto the +progress of the expedition was most satisfactory, the only important +drawback being the death of poor Gilbert. A line of land communication +between the eastern and northern coasts of Australia had been +discovered and carefully mapped; it was well supplied with water, and +the country was excellent--available almost throughout for pastoral +purposes. The Doctor had special reason to rejoice at having got so +far on his expedition, for the time occupied in reaching the gulf +exceeded the period in which he had expected to arrive at Port +Essington, and his companions had begun to despond, and even to +question his abilities as a guide and leader. "We shall never come to +Port Essington,"--the melancholy cry that too often reached +Leichhardt's ears,--was exchanged for a joyful hurra at sight of salt +water. Fatigues and privations were for the time forgotten as though +the goal, instead of the half-way-house, had been attained. The +caravan had been nine months out; they had still nearly six to pass +before reaching their journey's end; and for various reasons, the +latter portion was the most painful and difficult. They got amongst +the salt creeks and lagoons, and fresh water was often very difficult +to find. Then the little stock of comforts they had brought from +Moreton Bay, became gradually exhausted. The flour was gone before +they reached the gulf; the sugar was finished up, even to the boiling +of the bags, that none of the saccharine particles might be lost--and +at length they came to their last pot of tea. This was a great +deprivation, for tea had been found most refreshing and restorative. +Their diet now was dry beef and water. They tried various substitutes +for the latter, but with no very good result. The M'Kenzie bean served +as coffee, and although disagreeing at first, was finally relished. Mr +Phillips, who discovered and adopted it, subsequently tried a similar +preparation of acacia seeds, whose effects, however, were such as not +to encourage consumers. To vary their edibles, they ate vine-beans in +porridge, and the young leaves of bullrushes--coming, in fact, as near +to grazing as human beings well can. Their animal food was not always +of the choicest, as the following passage testifies: "During the night +a great number of flying foxes came to revel in the honey of the +blossoms of the gum-trees. Charley shot three, and we made a late but +welcome supper of them. They were not so fat as those we had eaten +before, and tasted a little strong; but in messes made, at night, it +was always difficult to find out the cause of any particular taste, +as Master Brown wished to get as quickly as possible over his work, +and was not over particular in cleaning them." A negligence deserving +of the bastinado. The notion of any animal, bearing the name of fox, +being served up with the trail, is too full-flavoured to be agreeable, +and the dish might cause a revolt in the stomach of the least +particular of Australian bush-rangers. By this time, however, Dr +Leichhardt and his party were inured to every sort of abomination in +the way of food, and were not difficult to please. Other troubles they +had, more sensibly felt than the coarse quality of the vivers. Their +scanty wardrobe threatened to fail them; and, already reduced to the +produce of the forest for their daily food, it appeared by no means +improbable they would have to resort to the same primitive source for +raiment to cover their nakedness. "The few shirts we had with us +became so worn and threadbare, that the slightest tension would tear +them. To find materials for mending the body, we had to cut off the +sleeves; and when these were used, pieces were taken from the lower +part of the shirt to mend the upper. Our trousers became equally +patched, and the want of soap prevented us from washing them clean." +Worse than this, inflammation, boils, and prickly heat, tormented the +travellers, and their cattle showed symptoms of breaking down. At +first, there were plenty of spare horses, but these had perished from +accidents and disease; those which remained became daily weaker from +over-work and want of water, and were sore-footed and tired from +travelling over rocky ranges, their shoes, useless in the grass-land, +having been long since removed. Leichhardt, who, on reaching the gulf, +had sanguinely hoped the worst of the journey over, soon found his +mistake. Bad enough before, it was far worse now, and too much praise +can hardly be accorded to the cheerful courage with which the Doctor +endured hardships, wrestled with difficulties, sustained the spirits +of his companions, and pressed on over all obstacles, to the +termination of his long and weary pilgrimage. It was now (at the +beginning of December) not very distant. "Whilst we, were waiting for +our bullock," (they were reduced to their last, which they were +unwilling to kill, and took to Port Essington) "which had returned to +the running brook, a fine native stepped out of the forest with the +ease and grace of an Apollo, with a smiling countenance, and with the +confidence of a man to whom the whiteface was perfectly familiar. He +was unarmed, but a great number of his companions were keeping back to +watch the reception he should meet with. We received him, of course, +most cordially; and upon being joined by another good-looking little +man, we heard him utter distinctly, the words '_Commandant_!' '_Come +here!_' 'Very _good!_' '_What's your name?_' If my readers have at all +identified themselves with my feelings throughout this trying journey, +if they have imagined only a tithe of the difficulties we have +encountered, they will readily imagine the startling effect which +these, as it were, magic words produced; we were electrified--our joy +knew no limits, and I was ready to embrace the fellows, who, seeing +the happiness with which they inspired us, joined with a most merry +grin in the loud expression of our feelings." The party were within a +fortnight's march of Port Essington, where they arrived on the 17th +day of December, and received a kind welcome and needful supplies from +Captain MacArthur, commandant of the place. After a month's stay, they +took ship, and reached Sydney at the end of March. + +We have already referred to the strong feeling prevailing at Sydney +against the practicability of Dr Leichhardt's projected expedition, to +the numerous efforts made to induce him to abandon it, and to the +confident predictions of its failure, and of the destruction of all +engaged in it. It will be remembered, also, that about a month after +the departure of the adventurers from Moreton Bay, it had been found +necessary, in consequence of loss of stores and scarcity of game, to +send back some of the party, and that Mr Hodgson, suffering and +disheartened, had volunteered to return. His reappearance in the +colony strengthened the doubts already entertained, and little +surprise was excited when, a month or two afterwards, news came +through a party of natives, that the adventurous band had been +attacked, and its members murdered, by a tribe to the northward. There +could be small doubt of the catastrophe, which elicited from Mr Lynd +of Sydney, a bosom friend of Leichhardt, and to whom the Journal is +inscribed, some very beautiful stanzas. They were addressed to a party +formed to proceed, under guidance of Mr Hodgson, in the footsteps of +Dr Leichhardt, and to ascertain his fate. By favour of a near relative +of Mr Lynd, resident in the environs of Edinburgh, we are enabled here +to introduce them. + + Ye who prepare, with pilgrim feet, + Your long and doubtful path to wend, + If--whitening on the waste--ye meet + The relies of my murdered friend, + Collect them, and with reverence bear + To where some mountain streamlet flows, + There, by its mossy bank, prepare + The pillow of his long repose. + + It shall be by a stream, whose tides + Are drank by birds of every wing; + Where every lovelier flower abides + The earliest wakening touch of spring; + O meet that he, who so caress'd + All beauteous Nature's varied charms, + That he--her martyred son--should rest + Within his mother's fondest arms. + + When ye have made his narrow bed, + And laid the good man's ashes there, + Ye shall kneel down around the dead, + And wait upon your God in prayer; + What though no reverend man be near, + No anthem pour its solemn breath, + No holy walls invest his bier, + With all the hallowed pomp of death, + + Yet humble minds shall find the grace, + Devoutly bowed upon the sod, + To call that blessing round the place, + Which consecrates the soul to God: + And ye,--the wilds and wastes,--shall tell + How, faithful to the hopes of men, + The Mighty Power he served so well, + Shall breathe upon his bones again! + + When ye your gracious task have done, + Heap not the rock upon his dust! + The Angel of the Lord alone + Shall guard the ashes of the just! + But ye shall heed, with pious care, + The memory of that spot to keep; + And note the marks that guide me where + My venturous friend is laid in sleep. + + For oh, bethink,--in other times, + And be those happier times at hand, + When science, like the smile of God, + Comes bright'ning o'er that weary land, + How will her pilgrims hail the power, + Beneath the drooping miall's gloom, + To sit at eve, and mourn an hour, + And pluck a leaf on Leichhardt's tomb. + +These charming verses were dated the 2d of July 1845. It was not till +the close of the following March, that the cloud suspended over the +destiny of the expedition was suddenly dispelled by the appearance of +Leichhardt himself. As may be supposed, an enthusiastic welcome +awaited the pilgrim, whose bones were long since supposed to be +bleaching in the wilderness. Subscriptions were set on foot, and soon +amounted to fifteen hundred pounds, which, with another thousand +pounds voted by the Legislative Council, were divided amongst the +seven persons composing the expedition. Dr Leichhardt, to whom the +lion's share was with justice awarded, received it at a meeting held +in the School of Arts at Sydney, of which an account is given in +the _Sydney Herald_ under the head of "The Leichhardt Testimonial," and +where Dr Nicholson, speaker of the Legislative Council, addressed the +intrepid traveller, in a strain of high and well-merited eulogium. "It +would be difficult," he said, "to employ any terms that might be +considered as exaggerated, in acknowledging the enthusiasm, the +perseverance, and the talent, which prompted you to undertake, and +enabled you successfully to prosecute, your late perilous journey +through a portion of the hitherto untrodden wilds of Australia." A +flattering letter from the Colonial Secretary at Sydney, announcing +the government grant, a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society +of London, and another from that of Paris, have further rewarded Dr +Leichhardt's meritorious labours. Unflinching in pursuit of science, +he again set forth, in December 1845, on an overland journey to Swan +River, expected to occupy two years and a half. This time he is better +provided. His party consists of only eight persons, but he has mules +for the stores, fourteen horses, forty oxen, and two hundred and +seventy goats. And he further takes with him--light but pleasant +baggage--the warm sympathy and hearty good wishes of all to whom his +amiable character and previous labours are known, a class which the +publication of the present Journal will doubtless tend largely to +increase. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[15]_Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia, from Moreton Bay +to Port Essington_. By Dr LUDWIG LEICHHARDT. London: Boone, 1847. + + + + +MAGUS MUIR. + + +The subject of the following ballad is the atrocious and dastardly +assassination of James Sharp, Archbishop of St Andrews and Primate of +Scotland. + +More than one attempt was made upon the life of that eminent prelate. +On the 11th of July, 1668, a shot was fired into his carriage in the +High Street of Edinburgh, by one James Mitchell, a fanatical field +preacher, and an associate of the infamous Major Weir. The primate +escaped unharmed, but his colleague Honyman, Bishop of Orkney, +received a severe wound, from the effects of which he died in the +following year. The assassin Mitchell fled to Holland, but +subsequently returned, and was arrested in the midst of his +preparations for another diabolical attempt. This man, who afterwards +suffered for his crimes, and who in consequence has obtained a place +in the book of "Covenanting Martyrology," described his motive "as an +impulse of the Holy Spirit, and justified it from Phinehas killing +Cosbi and Zimri, and from that law in Deuteronomy commanding to kill +false prophets!" This is no matter of surprise, when it is recollected +that the "principles of assassination," as Mr C. K. Sharp observes, +"were strongly recommended in _Naphthali, Jus Populi Vindicatum_, and +afterwards in _The Hind let Loose_, which books were in almost as much +esteem with the Presbyterians as their Bibles." Sir George Mackenzie +states, "These irreligious and heterodox books, called _Naphthali_ and +_Jus Populi_, had made the killing of all dissenters from Presbytery +seem not only lawful, but a duty among many of that profession: and in +a postscript to _Jus Populi_, it was told that the sending of the +Archbishop of St Andrews' head to the king would be the best present +that could be made to Jesus Christ."[16] + +These principles, at first received with doubt, were afterwards +carried out to the utmost extent by the more violent of the insurgent +party. Murder and assault, frequently perpetrated upon unoffending and +defenceless persons, became so common, that the ordinary course of the +law was suspended, and its execution devolved upon the military. +Scotland was indeed in a complete state of terrorism. Gangs of armed +fanatics, who had openly renounced their allegiance, perambulated the +country, committing every sort of atrocity, and directing their +attacks promiscuously against the clerical incumbents and the civil +magistracy. + +But the crowning act of guilt was the murder of the unfortunate +Archbishop. On the 3d of May 1679, a party of the Fife non-conformists +were prowling near the village of Ceres, on the outlook, it is said, +for Carmichael the Sheriff-substitute of the county, against whom they +had sworn vengeance if he should ever fall into their hands. This +party consisted of twelve persons, at the head of whom were John +Balfour of Kinloch, better known by his _soubriquet_ of Burley, and +his brother-in-law, David Hackstoun of Rathillet. Balfour, whose moral +character had never stood high, though his religious fanaticism was +undoubted, had been at one time chamberlain to the Archbishop, and had +failed to account for a considerable portion of the rents, which it +was his official duty to levy. Hackstoun, whose earlier life had been +in little accordance with the ostensible tenets of his party, was also +in debt to the Archbishop, and had been arrested by the new +chamberlain. "These two persons," says Mr Lawson, "had most +substantial reasons for their rancour and hatred towards the +Archbishop, apart from their religious animosities." + +It does not seem to be clearly ascertained, whether Carmichael was the +real object of their search, or whether their design from the first +had been directed against the person of the Primate. It would appear, +however, from the depositions taken shortly after the murder, that the +deed had been long premeditated, and that three days previously some +of the assassins had met at a house in Ceres and concerted their +plans. The incumbent of Ceres, the Rev. Alexander Leslie, was also to +have been made a victim if found in company with the Prelate. + +Fortunately for himself, Carmichael eluded their search, but towards +evening the carriage of the Archbishop was seen approaching the waste +ground near St Andrews, which is still known by the name of Magus +Muir. A hurried council was then held. Hackstoun, probably from some +remnant of compunction, declined to take the lead; but Balfour, whose +bloodthirsty disposition was noted even in those unhappy times, +assumed the command, and called upon the others to follow him. The +consummation of the tragedy can best be told in the words of the +historian already quoted. + +"When the Primate's servants saw their master followed by a band of +men on horseback, they drove rapidly, but they were overtaken on the +muir about three miles west of St Andrews; the murderers having +previously satisfied themselves, by asking a female domestic of the +neighbouring farmer, who refused to inform them himself, that it was +really the Archbishop's coach. + +"Russell first came up, and recognised the Primate sitting with his +daughter. The Archbishop looked out of the coach, and Russell cast his +cloak from him, exclaiming,--'Judas, be taken!' The Primate ordered +the postilion to drive, at which Russell fired at the man, and called +to his associates to join him. With the exception of Hackstoun, they +threw off their cloaks, and continued firing at the coach for nearly +half a mile. A domestic of the Archbishop presented a carbine, but was +seized by the neck, and it was pulled out of his hands. One of the +assassins outrun the coach, and struck one of the horses on the head +with a sword. The postilion was ordered to stop, and for refusing he +was cut on the face and ankle. They soon rendered it impossible to +proceed further with the coach. Disregarding the screams, entreaties, +and tears of his daughter, a pistol was discharged at the Primate +beneath his left arm, and the young lady was seen removing the smoking +combustibles from her father's black gown. Another shot was fired, +and James Russell seized a sword from one of his associates, +dismounted, and at the coach-door called to the Archbishop, whom he +designated _Judas_, to come forth." Sir William Sharp's account of +what now occurred, which would be doubtless related to him by his +sister, is as follows:--"They fired several shots at the coach, and +commanded my dearest father to come out, which he said he would.--When +he had come out, not being yet wounded, he said,--'Gentlemen, I beg my +life!' 'No--bloody villain, betrayer of the cause of Christ--no +mercy!' Then said he,--'I ask none for myself, but have mercy on my +poor child!' and, holding up his hand to one of them to get his, that +he would spare his child, he cut him on the wrist. Then falling down +upon his knees, and holding up his hands, he prayed that God would +forgive them; and begging mercy for his sins from his Saviour, they +murdered him by sixteen great wounds in his back, head, and one above +his left eye, three in his left hand when he was holding it up, with a +shot above his left breast, which was found to be powder. After this +damnable deed they took the papers out of his pocket, robbed my sister +and their servants of all their papers, gold, and money, and one of +these hellish rascals cut my sister on the thumb, when she had him by +the bridle begging her father's life." + +So died with the calmness and intrepidity of a martyr this reverend +and learned prelate, maligned indeed by the fanatics of his own and +succeeding ages, but reverenced and beloved by those who best knew his +innate worth, unostentatious charity, and pure piety of soul. In the +words of a worthy Presbyterian divine of last century,--"His +inveterate enemies are agreed in ascribing to him the high praise of a +beneficent and humane disposition. He bestowed a considerable part of +his income in ministering to pressing indigence, and relieving the +wants of private distress. In the exercise of his charity, he had no +contracted views. The widows and orphans of the Presbyterian brethren +richly shared his bounty without knowing whence it came. He died with +the intrepidity of a hero, and the piety of a Christian, praying for +the assassins with his latest breath." + + Gently ye fall, ye summer showers, + On blade, and leaf, and tree; + Ye bring a blessing to the earth, + But nane--O nane, to me! + + Ye cannot wash this red right hand + Free from its deadly stain, + Ye cannot cool the burning ban + That lies within my brain. + + O be ye still, ye blithesome birds, + Within the woodland spray, + And keep your songs within your hearts + Until another day: + + And cease to fill the blooming brae + With warblings light and clear, + For there's a sweeter song than yours + That I maun never hear. + + It was upon the Magus Muir + Within the lanesome glen, + That in the gloaming hour I met + Wi' Burley and his men. + + Our hearts were hard as was the steel + We bore within the hand; + But harder was the heart of him + That led that bluidy band. + + Dark lay the clouds upon the west + Like mountains huge and still: + And fast the summer lightning leaped + Behind the distant hill. + + It shone on grim Rathillet's brow + With pale and ghastly glare: + I caught the glimpse of his cold gray eye-- + There was MURDER glittering there! + + * * * * * + + Away, away! o'er bent and hill, + Through moss and muir we sped: + Around us roared the midnight storm, + Behind us lay the dead. + + We spoke no word, we made no sign + But blindly rade we on, + For an angry voice was in our ears + That bade us to begone, + We were brothers all baptised in blood, + Yet sought to be alone! + + Away, away! with headlong speed + We rade through wind and rain, + And never more upon the earth + Did we all meet again. + + There's some have died upon the field, + And some upon the tree, + And some are bent and broken men + Within a far countrie, + But the heaviest curse hath lighted down + On him that tempted me! + + O hame, hame, hame!--that holy place-- + There is nae hame for me! + There's not a child that sees my face + But runs to its mither's knee. + + There's not a man of woman born + That dares to call me kin-- + O grave! wert thou but deep enough + To hide me and my sin! + + I wander east, I wander west, + I neither can stop nor stay, + But I dread the night when all men rest + Far more than the glint of day. + + O weary night, wi' all its stars + Sae clear, and pure, and hie! + Like the eyes of angels up in heaven + That will not weep for me! + + O weary night, when the silence lies + Around me, broad and deep, + And dreams of earth, and dreams of heaven, + That vex me in my sleep. + + For aye I see the murdered man, + As on the muir he lay, + With his pale white face, and reverend head, + And his locks sae thin and gray; + And my hand grows red with the holy blude + I shed that bitter day! + + O were I but a water drop + To melt into the sea-- + But never water yet came down + Could wash that blude from me! + + And O! to dream of that dear heaven + That I had hoped to win-- + And the heavy gates o' the burning gowd + That will not let me in! + + I hear the psalm that's sung in heaven, + When the morning breaks sae fair, + And my soul is sick wi' the melodie + Of the angels quiring there. + + I feel the breath of God's ain flowers + From out that happy land, + But the fairest flower o' Paradise + Would wither in my hand. + + And aye before me gapes a pit + Far deeper than the sea, + And waefn' sounds rise up below, + And deid men call on me. + + O that I never had been born, + And ne'er the light had seen! + Dear God--to look on yonder gates + And this dark gulf between! + + O that a wee wee bird wad come + Though 'twere but ance a-year! + And bring but sae much mool and earth + As its sma' feet could bear, + + And drap it in the ugsome hole + That lies 'twixt heaven and me, + I yet might hope, ere the warld were dune, + My soul might saved be! + + W. E. A. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[16] LAWSON'S _History of the Episcopal Church of Scotland_. + + + + +A NOVEMBER MORNING'S REVERIE. + +BY DELTA. + + + Hast thou a chamber in the utter West, + A cave of shelter from the glare of day, + Oh radiant Star of Morning! whose pure eye, + Like an archangel's, over the dim Earth, + With such ineffable effulgence shines? + Emblem of Sanctity and Peace art thou! + Thou leavest man, what time to daily toil + His steps are bent--what time the bustling world + Usurps his thought; and, through the sunny hours, + Unseen, forgot, art like the things that were; + But Twilight weeps for joy at thy return, + With brighter blaze the faggots on the hearth + Sparkle, and home records its happiest hour! + + Hark! 'tis the Robin's shrill yet mellow pipe, + That in the voiceless calm of the young morn, + Commingles with my dreams:--lo! as I draw + Aside the curtains of my couch, he sits, + Deep over-bower'd by broad geranium leaves, + (Leaves trembling 'neath the touch of sere decay,) + Upon the dewy window-sill, and perks + His restless black eye here and there, in search + Of crumbs, or shelter from the icy breath + Of wild winds rushing from the Polar sea: + For now November, with a brumal robe, + Mantles the moist and desolated earth; + Dim sullen clouds hang o'er the cheerless sky, + And yellow leaves bestrew the undergrove. + + 'Tis earliest sunrise. Through the hazy mass + Of vapours moving on like shadowy isles, + Athwart the pale, gray, spectral cope of heaven, + With what a feeble, inefficient glow + Looks out the Day; all things are still and calm, + Half wreathed in azure mist the skeleton woods, + And as a picture silent. Little bird! + Why with unnatural tameness comest thou thus, + Offering in fealty thy sweet simple songs + To the abode of man? Hath the rude wind + Chilled thy sweet woodland home, now quite despoiled + Of all its summer greenery, and swept + The bright, close, sheltering bowers, where merrily + Rang out thy notes--as of a haunting sprite, + There domiciled--the long blue summer through? + Moulders untenanted thy trim-built nest, + And do the unpropitious fates deny + Food for thy little wants, and Penury, + With tiny grip, drive thee to dubious walls,-- + Though terrors flutter at thy panting heart,-- + To stay the pangs which must be satisfied? + Alas! the dire sway of Necessity + Oft makes the darkest, most repugnant things + Familiar to us; links us to the feet + Of all we feared, or hated, or despised; + And, mingling poison with our daily food, + Yet asks the willing heart and smiling cheek: + Yea! to our subtlest and most tyrannous foes, + May we be driven for shelter, and in such + May our sole refuge lie, when all the joys, + That, iris-like, wantoned around our paths + Of prosperous fortune, one by one have died; + When day shuts in upon our hopes, and night + Ushers blank darkness only. Therefore we + Should pity thee, and have compassion on + Thy helpless state, poor bird, whose loveliness + Is yet unscathed, and whose melodious notes, + (Sweeter by melancholy rendered,) steal + With a deep supplication to the heart, + Telling that thou wert happy once--that now + Thou art most destitute; and yet, and yet-- + Only were thy small pinching wants supplied + By Charity--couldst be most happy still!-- + Is it not so? + + Out on unfeeling man! + Will he who drives the beggar from his gates, + And to the moan of fellow-man shuts up + Each avenue of feeling--will he deign + To think that such as Thou deserve his aid? + No! when the gust raves, and the floods descend, + Or the frost pinches, Thou may'st, at dim eve, + With forced and fearful love approach his home, + What time, 'mid western mists, the broad, red sun, + Sinking, calls out from heaven the earliest star; + And the crisp blazing of the dry Yule-log + Flickers upon the pictured walls, and lights + By fits the unshutter'd lattice; but, in vain, + Thy chirp repeated earnestly; the flap, + Against the obdurate pane, of thy small wing;-- + He hears thee not--he heeds not--but, at morn, + The ice-enamoured schoolboy, early afoot, + Finds thy small bulk beneath the alder stump, + Thy bright eyes closed, and tiny talons clench'd, + Stiff in the gripe of death. + + The floating plume + Tells how the wind blows, with a certainty + As great as doth the vessel's full-swoln sheets; + So doth the winged seed; 'tis not alone + In mighty things that we may truliest read + The heart, but in its temper and its tone:-- + Thus true Benevolence we ever find + Forgiving, gentle, tremblingly alive + To pity, and unweariedly intent + On all the little, thousand charities, + Which day by day calls forth. Oh! as we hope + Forgiveness of our earthly trespasses,-- + Of all our erring deeds and wayward thoughts,-- + When Time's dread reckoning comes,--oh! as we hope + Mercy, who need it much, let us, away + From kindness never turning, mould our hearts + To sympathy, and from all withering blight + Preserve them, and all deadening influences:-- + So 'twill be best for us. The All-seeing Eye, + Which numbers each particular hair, and notes + From heaven the sparrow's fall, shall pass not o'er + Without approval deeds unmarked by man-- + Deeds, which the right hand from the left conceals-- + Nor overlook the well-timed clemency, + That soothed and stilled the murmurs of distress. + + Enamour'd of all mysteries, in love + With doubt itself, and fond to disbelieve, + We ask not, "if realities be real?" + With Plato, or with Berkeley; but we know + Life comes not of itself, and what hath life,-- + However insignificant it seem + To us, whose noblest standard is ourselves,-- + Hath been by the Almighty's finger touch'd, + Or ne'er had been at all--it must be so. + Therefore 'tis by comparison alone + That things seem great or small; and noblest they + Whose sympathies, with a capacious range, + Would own no limit to their fond embrace. + Yea, there, as in all else, doth Duty dwell + With happiness: for far the happiest he, + Who through the roughnesses of life preserves + His boyish feelings, and who sees the world, + Not as it is in cold reality, + A motley scene of struggle and of strife, + But tinted with the glow of bright romance: + For him the morning has its star; the sun, + Rising or setting, fires for him the clouds + With glory; flowers for him have tales, + Like those which, for a thousand nights and one, + Enchained the East; each season as it rolls + Strikes in his bosom its peculiar chord, + Yet each alike harmonious, to a heart + That vibrates ever in sweet unison: + Each scene hath its own influence, nor less + The frost that mimics each on pool or pane: + Delight flows in alike from calm or storm: + Delight flows in to him from nature's shows + Of hill and dale, swift river, or still lake: + To him the very winds are musical-- + Have harmony AEolian, wild and sweet; + The stream sings to its banks, and the wild birds + To Echo--viewless tell-tale of the rocks-- + Who in the wantonness of love responds. + + Gifts, in the eye of Heaven, not always bear + The marketable value stamped by man + Upon them,--else the poor were truly poor, + The willing spirit destitute indeed. + In other balance are our actions weighed + By Him who sees the heart in all its thoughts; + Both what it wills and cannot, what it tries + And doth,--and with what motive, for what end. + Clouds clothe them like realities, and shine + Even so to human eyes; yet, not the less + Are only mockeries of the things they seem, + And melt as we survey them. Let us not + The shadow for the substance take, the Jay + For the true Bird of Paradise. A crust + Dealt, by the poor man, from his daily loaf, + To the wayfarer, poorer than himself-- + A cup of water, in the Saviour's name + Proffered, with ready hand, to thirsting lips,-- + Seem trifles in themselves, yet weigh for wine, + And gems, and gold, and frankincense. The mite,-- + The widow's offering, and her all, put in + With grief, because she had no more to give, + Yet given although her all,--was in the sight + Of Heaven a sumless treasury bestowed, + And reckoned such in her account above:-- + When Nineveh, through all her myriad streets, + Lay blackened with idolatry and crime, + God had preserved her--would have saved her whole-- + Had but the Prophet, as a leaven, found + His righteous ten! + + Therefore, Oh never deem + Thoughts, deeds, or feelings valueless, that bear + The balance of the heart to Virtue's side! + The coral worm seems nought, but coral worms + Combined heave up a reef, where mightiest keels + Are stranded, and the powers of man put down. + The water-drop wears out the stone; and cares + Trifling, if ceaseless, form an aggregate, + Whose burden weighs the buoyant heart to earth. + Think not the right path may be safely left, + Though 'twere but for one moment, and one step; + That one departure, slight howe'er it be, + From Innocence is nought. The young peach-bloom, + Rudely brushed off, can be restored no more, + By all the cunning of the painter's art; + Nor to the sered heart comes, in after life + Again,--however longed for, or bewailed,-- + Youth's early dews, the pure and delicate! + + + + +VALEDICTORY VISITS AT ROME. + + +Andiamo a Napoli; and so we will, in accordance with the repeated +suggestions we have received during the last ten days from all the +vetturini in Rome. Easter is gone by, the Girandola went off last +week, the English are going, and so is our bell, tinkle! tinkle! +tinkle!--as if its wire had a touch of vernal ague--while the old delf +plate in the hall is filled and running with cards, every pasteboard +parallelogram among them with two P's and a C in the corner; for we +are becoming too polite, it seems, to take leave of each other in our +own tongue. As the English quit Rome, the swallows arrive, and may be +seen in great muster flitting up and down the streets, looking at the +affiches of vacancies before fixing on a lodging. Unlike us, these +callow tourists--though many of them on their first visit to Rome--are +no sooner within the walls, than they find, without assistance, their +way to the Forum, and proceed to build and twitter in that very Temple +of Concord where Juvenal's storks of old made their nidus and their +noise! Andiamo a Napoli; yes, but not yet; we are sure at this season +to have an impatient patient or two to visit in the Babuino, or at +Serny's; who, labouring under incipient fever which has not yet tamed +them into submission, tell us they would--optative mood--be at +Florence in a week, and add--in the imperative--that they must be in +London in three! _Vedremmo!_ These cases--may they end well--are sure, +meanwhile, to be somewhat tedious in their progress; and besides, were +there none such, two motives have we for always lingering the last in +Rome: the one, to avoid the importunity of many indiscreet +acquaintance, who would else be sure at this season to plague us with +some trifling commission, on purpose to open a sudden correspondence, +in the hope of learning all about the heat, the fever, the mosquitoes, +the fare and the accommodation of Castellamare and Sorrento, thinking +themselves, meanwhile, perfect Talleyrands in diplomacy, in employing +a ruse which it is impossible not to see through; the other and more +important, to secure the necessary quiet while we linger about +favourite haunts, and refresh our memory with sites and scenes +endeared by long and intimate acquaintance. To describe people or +places accurately, requires a long and attentive familiarity, but to +do so feelingly and with effect, we should trust principally to first +and last impressions: either will be more likely to furnish a lively +representation, as far as it goes, than when too great intimacy with +details leads us to forget what is characteristic, and to dwell +without emphasis, or with equal and tedious emphasis, upon all alike. +New scenes, owing, perhaps, part of their charm to that circumstance, +may occasionally betray us into exaggeration; but the records of a +last _coup-d'oeil_, when we dwell with sad complacency upon every +feature, as upon those of a friend from whom we are about to part, are +characterised at once by an equal freshness, and by more truth, +feeling, and discrimination. We might proceed to exemplify this, from +a long series of first and last views in Italy: with some of them the +reader may be familiar, for we have frequently met in Maga's pages; +with others he will--should it so please him--become acquainted, when, +leaving the company of our present agreeable associates, we stand +forth an author of "Travels," and have more ample scope for our +egotism. We confine ourselves now to a few valedictory visits in and +about Rome. + + + + +THE VILLA BORGHESE. + + +It was on 15th April, 1843, seven A. M., when we went to take farewell +of the Borghese. In passing up the Via Babuino on our way thither, our +ears catch some of the well-known street cries. These generally +attract a momentary attention, even amidst all the bustle, activity, +and din of a great commercial city: how much more, then, in the +comparative stillness of Rome, particularly in the morning, when few +people are stirring, and we are most alive to sounds? Some of these +cries are not unpleasing: the first to greet us, plaintive and +melancholy in its character, is that of "_Aqua acetosa_," which +announces the water of a mineral spring in the neighbourhood, brought +in at sunrise for those who are too idle or too ill to drink it at its +source. Another kind of water--also very matutinal in its +delivery,--the "_Aqua vita_," is intonated by the _Aquavitario_, in a +sharp kestrel key,--hear him! Now, list to two men carrying a large +deep tub of honey between them, and bellowing in rapid alternation, +"_Miele_, _miele_," and say if their accents are mellifluous! Next, +comes a loud-tongued salesman, who out-brays Lablache, but confines +his singing to "_Che vuole_, _che vuole_!" and oranges and lemons are +his commodity. From an itinerant green-grocer, who passes with his +panniered donkey, suddenly bursts forth, "_Cimaroli, cimaroli_!" The +last cry we hear is that of "_Tutti vivi_, _tutti vivi_!" from the +_asparagaro_, who is bringing frogs and wild asparagus into Rome. Now +we are in the Piazza del Popolo, and having glanced a moment at those +buxom goddesses, at the foot of the Pincian hill, who look right well +this morning in their flowing robes, turn out of the Popolo Gate, just +as a large drove of lean turkeys, driven in from the Campagna, besiege +the entrance on their way to the bird-market, where they are to be +presently slaughtered, drawn, and quartered; their "disjecta membra" +exposed to sale at so many _baiocchi_ a pound; and their blood, which +is more esteemed than their flesh, hawked about the streets in cakes: +of course we are too humane to hint to them their coming destiny. In +front of the elegant Borghese entrance, and round the Park lodge, all +strewn about in picturesque disarray, we behold one of those numerous +herds of goats, which come in every morning, to be milked at the +different houseouse doors: their udders at present are brimful, and almost +touch the lintel of the gate where they are standing--"gravido +superant vix ubere limen;" and though they are emptied continually, +soon fill again,-- + + "Et plus ta main avare epuise leurs mammelles + Plus la douce ambroisie entre tes doigts ruisselle." + +Some are lying down to lighten their load; and some, with an air of +patient expectancy, turn their heads towards an "osteria cacinante" +opposite, knowing that so soon as their drover has finished his own +cold broccoli breakfast, he will come out to accompany them into Rome +to _disperse_ theirs. And now we are within the _enceinte_ of the +Borghese grounds, have passed the good-humoured _custode_ at the gate, +responded a hearty "_da vero_," to the "_che bella qiornata_" with +which we are greeted, tarried for an instant by the little pond to the +left, and heard the Babylonian willow susurrate the same salutation to +the water under its boughs, and then make for, and soon reach, the +large ever-spouting fountain which is scattering its comminuted +water-dust far and near, and bathes our cheek refreshingly as we pass +it: and now we are at the Borghese dairy, and now by Raphael's little +frescoed house, untenanted within, and with a solitary robin, the +_custode_ of the porch; but at the back premises we come upon an +artist in a blouse making a sketch. He could not have chosen a more +picturesque spot than this any where in the park: for _foreqround_, a +beautiful green sward, well dotted with recumbent and standing cows, +and interspersed with masses of acanthus-crowned ruin; and for the +_back_, the graceful sweep of the old gray Roman walls, with the Villa +Medici and the Pincian hill peering just above. Fain would we carry +away some such souvenir; but as nature or our misfortune forbid this, +our endeavour shall be to supply its place, however inadequately, by +dotting down a few words of description of one or two of the principal +trees, which here so greatly embellish the view. + +The Ilex, interesting alike from its appearance and physiology, first +engages our notice. Compact and solid while yet a shrub, (for hers is +indeed an _old_ head upon _young_ shoulders,) she grows like a tree +that is to count by centuries, and under no advantage of soil or +situation does her sober aspect change; no premature overgrowth was +ever known to weaken her fibres, those _tetes mortees_; the Lombardy +poplars there, whose only merit is their height, may shoot up ever so +tauntingly, for aught she cares, at her elbow; her ambition is not +like that of the stately pines, to nurse a noisy aviary on high; nor +does she seek to rival the fair sisterhood of the Acacias in the +youthful vanity of overdecking her person; one dark-coloured +investment lasts her, and remains unchanged the whole year through. +But though she takes no improper "pride in dress," even the rigid Dr +Watts would hardly be disposed to object to the exceedingly _charming_ +trimming of semi-transparent green flouncing, and the rich festoons of +straw-yellow tassels, with which--not to appear insensible to the +festivities of spring--she has just now fringed her winter apparel. +Making less demands upon the earth than many of her neighbours, she +turns her supplies to better account; her acorns from early youth are +firm and mature; excrescences, the common result of excess, mar not +the rough symmetry of her hardy frame--few insects feed upon that +uncompromising rind, which, opposing itself to most cryptogamic +alliance, seldom suffers moss or lichen to spread over its incised and +tesselated surface, + + "Save here and there in spots aye dank and dark, + When the green meshes fill the fissured bark." + +Much does the Ilex gain by this prudent economy of her resources; for, +long after the autumnal rains have stripped her companions bare, while +they are shivering and sighing in the blast, _she_ knows neither moult +nor change. Immutably serene, she plants the dense screen of +well-clothed boughs across the road, and affords shelter to the +careless wight who has forgotten his umbrella, keeping him dry and +warm under an impenetrable water-proof and winter-proof canopy. Of all +trees that bloom, (especially when as now in full feather,) few can +rival the acacia in delicacy of white, or in profusion of blossoming. +Nodding their heavy plumes and parting their leafy tresses in the +breeze, they are the charm of every spot where they grow; whether as +here, alternating in beautiful relief by the lofty wall of the +aqueduct, commingling their snowy bunches amidst thousands of red and +white Banksian roses; or else standing sentinel with a weeping willow +over some garden fountain. Whether alone or in company, there is not a +more beautiful sylvan blonde than the acacia; but it is too apparent +that such loveliness will not last, that her stature is fully beyond +her strength. For example, there is a row of them; none counts her +twelfth birth-day, and yet all are grown up! Turn we, now, to the +great stone pines: here they stand in the morning sun, that has +already cracked their fevered bark, and caused it to peel off in red +_laminae_ from the rugged trunk. See the ground at their base strewn +with these thin vegetable tiles; and large quantities of that most +beautiful of funguses, the _Clatharus Cancellatus_, chooses this +situation to blush and stink. This group is a well-known land-mark for +miles around Rome; far off in the Campagna we recognise the clump; the +dome of St Peter's itself meets not sooner the inquiring eye of the +arriving tourist. They are also the artists' trees; not a bough of +them but has been studied and depicted time after time for centuries; +they have stood oftener for their portraits than they have cones to +count, and are as familiar to the young painter, as the line-school +that beset the Pincian hill. These are the principal trees which give +character to the garden; but there are hosts of others that help to +make up the beauty of the scene; _Catalpas_, _Meleas_, _Brousenitias_, +_&c. &c._, all now in light green foliage. Some are still hung with +pods and berries of their last year's growth, producing an _insieme_ +of pictorial effect rarely to be met with out of Italy, and in Italy +only at this season of the year. Continuing our walk, we pass under +the rose-crowned aqueduct, and strike into the green avenue that +darkens beyond; listening to the distant water bubbling up from the +deepest recesses, and to the fitful whistle of blackbird and thrush, +as they flit athwart the moss-grown gravel, and perch momentarily on +the heads of mutilated termini and statues; whilst the clipt trees +vibrate under the wings of others extricating themselves on a +piratical cruise against a whole flotilla of butterflies, which is +rising and falling over the sunny parterres beyond. "The well-greaved +grillus" bounds twenty feet at a spring, and having thighs as thick as +a lark's to double under him, makes little use of his wings. Many a +callow bee is buzzing helplessly in the path. The gray _curculio_ +walks with snout erect, snuffing the morning air; and here we fall +upon a party of apprentice pill-beetles, learning to make up +stercoraceous boluses, and forming nearly as long a line as the +shopmen who are similarly engaged behind Holloway's counter in the +Strand. Near us, hordes of "quick-eyed lizards,"--insect crocodiles, +which much infest this region, start from their holes in the wall, +and, rustling along the box hedge, suddenly pounce upon a butterfly, +detach his wings--the whole walk is strewed with them--and having +bolted his body, retire again to their resting--no--they never +_rest_--lurking-places. Notwithstanding, however, these constant +aggressions, from both birds and reptiles, the _lepidopterous_ race is +not, it seems, to be exterminated; and there, in evidence, lies that +very blue-zoned peacock-butterfly, with his wings extended, and +motionless as if pinned to the gravel, on the same sunny spot where we +have been in the habit of noticing him for these three successive +Aprils past. The eye that follows butterflies takes note also of the +flowers on which they settle, but we must not indulge ourselves in +pointing them out to the reader, who, unless a botanist, or inclined +that way, might turn as restive as the young bride listening to her +"preceptor husband." + + "He showed the flowers from stamina to root, + Calyx and corol, pericarp and fruit; + Of all the parts, the size, the use, the shape: + While poor Augusta panted to escape: + The various foliage various plants produce, + Lunate and lyrate, runcinate, retuse, + Latent and patent, papilous and plain; + 'Oh!' said the pupil, 'it will turn my brain!'" + +And, therefore, though "flowers, fresh in hue and many in their +class," absolutely "_implore_ the pausing step," we forbear, and will +let him off this time with rehearsing only three or four among +them:--the _Allium fragrans_, he will join with us, if he has been in +Italy, in the wish that _all_ onions there were like it! the _Anchusa +Italica_, through whose long funnel the proboscis of the ever-buzzing +_Bombylius_ finds its way to the sweet nectar prepared within; the +_Scilla Lilio-hyacinthus_--a _Squill_ masquerading it as a _Hyacinth_; +the leaves of the _Cnicus Syraicus_, most beautiful of thistles, +glistening here in abundance, and scarcely inferior in attractions to +the far-famed _Acanthus_. But the society of plants is as promiscuous +as our own, and accordingly we find here the jaundiced _Chelidonium_ +filled with bilious juices; the feculent-smelling flowerets of the +_Smyrnum olusatrum_, and the stinking _Geranium robertianum_, mingle +with the sweets of _Calendula_, _Narcissus_, and _Jonquil_; not to +mention the _Orchis_ tribe, which flourishes in profusion. Traversing +the green arena of the amphitheatre,--where annual festas are held, +and occasional cricket matches played--to the left, and leaving the +Temple of Diana to the right, we come upon a deep descent just in +front of the villa, and enter it for a minute to cast a hasty +_coup-d'oeil_ at the ample frescoes of the ceiling and the grim +mosaics of the floor; the subjects of the latter, however, not being +congenial to an unbreakfasted stomach, we relinquish them presently, +for the beauties of the park.... By the time we think of retracing our +steps, the clock of Monte Citorio has struck ten; but the morning is +still delightfully cool and exhilarating; we have been overtaken and +passed by three pedestrians, each carrying away from the grounds +something more than mere recollections; one, a _semplicista_ of the +Rotunda, with a collection of Galenicals for his shop; another with a +pocket full of _Arum_ roots, which he has been grubbing up for his +wife, a _lavatrice_, to clear linen; and a third, whose handkerchief +contains several pounds weight of _prugnoli_--_Agaricus +prunulus_--destined for his breakfast. These do not long keep pace +with our lingering footsteps; we are loth to quit hastily, and for +the last time, this scene of by-gone pleasures. Oh! Villa Borghese, +well known to us from curly-pated boyhood, before Waterloo was won, +and often at intervals since, till now, when half our hair has become +gray, and the remainder has left our temples, while grown-up nephews +and nieces declare to us, what our contemporaries will not--the +progress of time--how many happy hours of careless childhood have we +frolicked away among thine avenues and plantations--on which we cast a +last sad look--with urchins now as bald as ourselves! In early youth +we have read our favourite authors under thy trees; a little later, +have botanised with friends who loved thee and nature as dearly as we +did; and thus have we learned to know thee, in every dress, in every +phase of light and shade, and in every month of the year. During our +last sojourn, in particular, this has been our favourite haunt; in +winter, when walking required speed, and stalactites of ice would +glisten occasionally from the aqueduct; or when summer returned, and +we could bask under the tall spread pines, and watch the cawing rooks +as they went and came over head, or screened ourselves in some dark +avenue from the fervency of the sun, from whence we could see him +blazing at both ends of it. A long and endearing familiarity has +indeed been ours, melancholy and unsating; and it has given rise to a +host of trying associations, conjured up by each new visit after a +brief absence from Rome, and now adds poignancy of regret to what we +feel _must_ be the last,-- + + "While at each step, against our will + Does memory, with pernicious skill, + Our captive thoughts enchain, + Recalls each joy that treach'rous smiled, + And of green griefs and sorrows wild, + Resuscitates the pain." + + + + +THE VILLA ALBANI. + + +An Italian villa is like any other Italian belle; we would rather pay +either a morning visit than summer and winter with them; both dress +themselves out for strangers, and often at the expense of their +rightful owners. An Italian villa is very charming for a brief spring, +malarious in summer and autumn, and incommodiously furnished for every +season. _Comfort_ makes but slow progress abroad, and has not yet +found its way into Italy at all; neither into her dictionaries as a +_name_, nor into her dwellings as a _thing_. What should we, +ease-loving English, think of a house, which, lined with marbles and +frescoes, carpeted with mosaics and adorned with statues, offered +nothing but niches and marble curule chairs to write on and to sit in? +Yet such is the general scheme and internal arrangement throughout +most villas in Italy; for as to the prime of the house, the _piano +nobile, that_ belongs as by prescriptive right to the Caesars, being +indeed only fitted for impassive marble and bronze emperors:--while +the over-hospitable entertainer of these august guests is content to +stow away himself and family in apartments which are frequently little +better than our offices for menials, in which his few articles of +rococo furniture, of all sorts and sizes, are crazy, cumbersome, +undusted, and ill-matched; in short, more like the promiscuous +contents of some inferior broker's shop, than the elegant +_ameublement_ we might have expected to correspond to the profusion of +objects of _vertu_ which grace the principal show-rooms of the +mansion. At home, we may differ in our notions about comfort in the +details, but there are certain conditions which are rightly held +essential to its possible existence; and if "the cold neat parlour, +and the gay glazed bed," have their admirers, it is because +cleanliness and neatness are two of them: but in Italy we look in vain +for either, and there is nothing to compensate their absence. Few +Englishmen could engage in literary labour in the fireless, +ill-furnished rooms which throughout Italy are a matter of course; +where carpets, curtains, or an easy chair, are unknown luxuries; and +into which, entering by various ill-placed and worse fitting windows +and doors, confluent draughts catch you in all directions, turning the +_sanctum_ of study into a perfect Temple of the Winds! Yet, to some +men, comfort seems as unnecessary as it is unattainable. The Italian +antiquary, in particular, had need be careless of his ease, and +regardless of external temperature; as that degree of it necessary for +the conservation of nude marble figures, is by no means congenial to +flesh and blood. This reflection occurs to us to-day--not for the +first time, certes--under the noble portico of the villa Albani, with +a volume of Winkelmann in our hand; for in this palace, and in some +such study as we have hinted at, must he have shivered over these +recondite labours, while meditating, composing, and consulting +authorities, to constitute himself hereafter the great oracle of the +fine arts. Had Winkelmann been half as curious in his research after +comfort as vertu, verily the world would have lost many an able +dissertation and ingenious conjecture; and this villa in +particular--to which we are now come to pay our respects--we fear our +last respects--had been deprived of this renowned commentary on her +treasures. Let us hope parenthetically that a recent perusal of the +venerable antiquary, together with some slight acquaintance with the +objects themselves, will on such an occasion excite in us a spark of +that enthusiasm which animates all his descriptions. What a beautiful +portico! we catch ourselves saying _con amore_ for the hundredth +time--and who will gainsay us?--with its thirty columns of different +coloured granites and rare marbles, cipolino, porta santa, occhio di +pavone (_vide_ Corsi); its busts, its ornamented tazzas, its statues, +and many other _et coeteras_ too numerous to catalogue. Among the +statues, our eye soon singles out the queenly figure of Agrippina +seated in her marble chair. Stateliness and high rank apparent in her +features, grace and perfect self-possession in her attitude, doubtless +she is expecting a deputation of importance, or maybe a visit from the +emperor, and has prepared her well-tutored countenance to receive +either with dignity. Here are the busts of Nerva and of the first +Caesar, to whose characters, while history gives the key, we are apt to +fancy, as we stare at them, that to Lavater we owe the discovery. +Those ubiquitous emperors Hadrian, Trajan, Antoninus _Pius_, and +Gordianus _ditto_, on whom as on other boring acquaintance you are +sure to stumble in every gallery at Rome till you almost yawn in their +faces, are here of course. Besides these, by way of novelty, we fall +in with the grave, much-bearded, long-faced bust, _Epicurus_ +underwritten on the pedestal. If it _be_ that sage, then has not his +face any vestige of the jovial "live while you live" expression which +we might have expected, were he true to his own philosophy; but, on +the contrary, a dignified Melancthon sadness, as if, like Solomon, he +had had enough of pleasure, and had found nothing but "vanity and +vexation of spirit" from them all. Opposite to him, we look with +interest on the much less apocryphal head of Scipio Africanus, not +only exhibiting on his bald temple a large crucial cicatrice, in token +of a wound which we know him to have received, but presenting the +singular appearance of having been trefined, an operation of which +there is certainly no record in his life. Just before we ascend, we +glance up at those beautiful Caryatides, who give their name to one of +the principal saloons, and, loitering for a few moments on the stair +before a charming little group of Niobe and her children, are +presently in the gallery above. There--omitting all minor objects of +interest chronicled in the guide books, (which we have now no time to +re-examine,)--we devote ourselves chiefly to the reconsidering two or +three favourite marbles and bronzes. First among the former stands the +Minerva, a specimen of Roman sublime, (_vide_ Winkelmann)--perfect, +say all the guide books; but how a lady with an artificial nose, and a +right arm palpably modern, can be so considered, it would be difficult +to explain. By the side of his wise daughter is niched a noble statue +of Jupiter, executed by some great artist while the god was master of +Olympus, and probably brought to Rome when he had ceased to reign, and +his effects were sold. In the effeminate Antinous, an alto-relievo of +whitest marble, we admire the prototype of that arrow-stricken youth, +the comely St Sebastian. Nothing can exceed the grace of the bronze +Apollo; but, on looking from his form into his face, you are +surprised to find him literally _stone_-blind; a shocking case of +double cataract, produced by adopting for eyes two sardonyxes, whereof +the second layer, representing the iris, is dark, while the white +centre of the orb, corresponding to the pupil, exhibits a hopeless +opacity. We pause in succession before those weird sisters, arranged +stiffly _a l'Etrusque_, who are receiving the infant Bacchus, not to +give him milk, you may be sure, but to dry-nurse him upon Burgundy; a +perfectly intellectual head, planted upon misshapen shoulders, +supposed to be AEsop, a beautiful deformity; a Hercules, leaning +against a column, and reposing after some of his many labours; the +large marble vase with Bacchante figures and attendant Fauns, carrying +skins of wine to keep up the festivities; all these are well worthy of +a longer inspection than we have now time to bestow. The mosaics on +the floor, too, offer pleasing representations of different objects of +natural history; many birds, "goldfinch, bullfinch, greenfinch, +chaffinch, and all the finches of the grove;" cicadae and dragonflies, +fruits and flowers, the arbutus and the ivy, commingling their various +forms and colours, and all inimitably executed. Descending slowly, we +find ourselves once more at Agrippina's side in the Portico; not this +time to look at the statues, but out upon the prospect, _sub dio_, and +amuse ourselves with tracking the broken and often interrupted lines +of converging aqueducts that cross and recross the plain. The clear +Italian atmosphere renders objects so distinct, that with a glass we +can read the names of the _locanda_ at Frascati, nine miles off, and +almost determine what provisions the man in the white apron has in his +hand. Tivoli and Frascati, not far distant from each other, stand high +upon the hills; and still higher up is Rocca di Papa on its lofty +site; while between us and them, in the dancing air, lies that +malarious Campagna, which, though unfruitful in corn, wine, or olives, +yields notwithstanding a rich harvest of its own. From it, every year +are gathered bushels of imperial and consular coins; engraved stones, +and other works of ancient art; and from the same "marble wilderness" +many of the busts and bas-reliefs, which adorn not only this villa, +but also most of the mansions in and about Rome. But we have to walk +home; and we accordingly look with natural alarm at the garden, with +its broad shadeless walks blazing in the sun; the sparrows can bear +the heat no longer; a whole bevy, who for the last five minutes have +been jargoning their uneasiness over our head, have finally gone off +to seek shelter in the bushes;--their instinct having first prompted +several expedients to relieve their distress, all of which failed +them; thus, when they found that sitting either in company or "alone +upon the house top" would not do, and that hopping on the tiles +blistered their feet, they bethought them of the metal pipes, and +tried to effect an entrance, but quickly issued screaming, having made +the discovery, that they had only got out of the fire into a +frying-pan. On issuing from the Portico, we pass a large fountain, in +which the gold fish keep studiously at the bottom of the water, while +the restless dragon-fly (who finds the glittering shell-work too hot +to hold him) is as studiously skimming backwards and forwards over the +surface, to cool and refresh himself; and the frogs, in a neighboring +tank, while conjugal duties keep them also on the top, feebly croak as +they float with their wives among the green feculence, and make love +behind the bulrushes. On leaving the garden, we mount our green +spectacles, hoist our umbrella, and resolutely set our face homeward +and Romeward. Half an hour's broiling walk brings us up under the +friendly covert of the city walls; following the _giro_ of which, we +arrive in about as much time as it has taken us to reach them, at the +Popolo Gate, and enter the Piazza, which no mortal wight would now +care to traverse, who could avoid it. The owls--how cruel to place +owls upon an obelisk dedicated to the _sun_--never blinked to a +brighter flood of light in the streets of Thebes, than that which here +streams on every object to-day. The Tazza's fountain, at its base, is +a perfect cauldron, in which the glowing water bubbles up against, the +sides, as if it were actually about to _boil over_; the domes of the +two churches, opposite the city gate, will soon warm their capacious +interiors, from the large, supply of caloric they are now rapidly +absorbing; a stand of bayonets before the Dogana, sparkles as if it +were on fire; and when we have arrived at the foot of the wide white +Scalinata of the Trinita di Monti, the whole expanse from top to +bottom shines with unmitigated and unsupportable splendour. No +importunate beggar can stand and rattle his tin box on the summit, and +if he could, there is no passenger to heed or hear him; the Sabine +model belle is not there to offer herself to the first artist who +wants a madonna or a saint, nor amateur bandits, nor faun-like +children playing on the steps; even the patient goats, long since +milked, lie panting under the convent wall; not a dog is visible on +the large _immondezaro_ in front of it; and had we not had already +painful experience of the heat of the day, the donkey who lives below, +in the court of the Palazzo Mignanelli, exhibits it most strikingly; +there he stands, a fine subject for Pinelli, with a wo-begone +countenance,--Sancho's ass not more triste--ruminating over a heap of +fresh vegetables, which he feebly snuffs, and wants resolution to +stoop his head and munch; whilst his adopted friend, the large +house-dog, totally regardless of his charge, sleeps heavily in the +opposite corner of the court. + +It required an early dinner, and a long siesta afterwards, in our +darkened, water-sprinkled rooms, to resuscitate us to any fresh +exertion; but as the Ave Maria approached, we were sufficiently +refreshed to climb the Quirinal Mount, in order to witness one of our +few remaining Roman sunsets from its summit. We pass, to reach it, +down the Via Felice, across the Piazza Barberini, and up the steepest +hill in Rome, by the Via Quatro Fontani; from its brow, we look +momentarily down on the Viminal side, to Santa Maria Maggiore, with +all the other objects that present themselves to view from this spot; +and presently find ourselves at the end of that long street of +convents and churches, which issues at its other extremity in the +Porta Pia, forming a straight line of nearly a mile and a half in +length; and here we are in that well-known Piazza, which is bounded on +one side by the Papal Palace and its gardens; on the opposite by the +Colonna and its ruin-scattered grounds; backed by the palaces +Ruspigliosi and Guardi Nobile, and an open view of the Campagna in +front. No position could have been better chosen than this, for the +display of the two finest colossal statues in the world; they stand in +the midst, with the Theban Obelisk and the Roman Fountain between +them, all blending into a matchless group. As we look from this lofty +vantage ground, high over the roofs of Rome, we see the sun preparing +to take farewell of us, behind the ridge of Monte Mario; but the +convent walls on the height where we stand enjoy his beams a few +minutes longer, though they have ceased to strike upon the city at its +foot. Soon, however, he touches the horizon and begins to dip; the +palace windows behind us blaze away as if for an illumination; and +when the last golden speck has disappeared from the ridge, the whole +landscape changes colour; the yellow tint is instantaneously +transformed into a rosy light, deepening, and becoming more and more +beautiful every minute, till the short southern twilight is over; the +somewhat harsh outline of the obelisk is softened during this brief +point of time; a gentle air, (the breath of evening,) fans our cheek; +fire-flies light their lamps all around, and night suddenly overtakes +us,--"_ruit nox_." Scarcely ten minutes have elapsed since we stood +here, and already the dilated nostril and meaning eye of the restive +coursers, then so strikingly exhibited, are scarcely any longer +distinguishable; while the dark curvilinear outline of their bodies, +and the towering forms of "the great Twin Brethren" at their heads, +gain not only in stature, but in grandeur too, by this very +indistinctness,--the obscure being a well-known element of the +sublime,--and the eye becomes more and more conscious of their vast +proportions the less it is enabled to enter minutely into details. + + + + +HIGHLAND DESTITUTION. + + +The appalling horrors with which the Irish famine of last season set +in, seemed to exceed any similar scene of national affliction that had +been witnessed in modern times. It appeared as if the worst tragedies +that had been enacted in sieges and shipwrecks were to be realised in +the midst of comparative abundance, and within reach of friendly aid. +It was right, however, that the clamant demands for relief, uttered by +her starving millions, should not stifle the smaller voice of +suffering that issued from our Scottish shores. Nor was this the case: +the Christian philanthropy of Britain did justice to the cause of +patience and fortitude. The fountains of private beneficence were +opened, and Scotland was better protected from the miseries of this +visitation by individual exertion, than Ireland with all the aid and +apparatus of government interference. + +Making every abatement for the natural exaggeration incident to such a +calamity, no doubt can be entertained as to the general condition of +our Highlands and Islands in the early part of the past year. Great +distress was almost every where prevalent, and every day that passed +was tending to increase it. A large portion of the food of the people +had failed, and the remnant of the preceding year's corn crop was +their only means of subsistence. That resource could not long be +relied on; and the great problem was, in what manner the destitute +thousands of our countrymen were to be fed till the returning harvest +should visit them with its scanty and precarious bounty. Too many of +them were habitually on the verge of starvation, and the crumbling +away of the slender support on which alone they stood, brought them at +once to the low abyss of wretchedness in which they would have been +left if public generosity had not interposed. + +The task of those who undertook to distribute the large relief fund +subscribed was attended with great difficulty, and involved a solemn +responsibility of the highest kind. They appear to us, on a review of +their arrangements, to have proceeded with judgment and good feeling; +anxious, on the one hand, to alleviate want, and on the other, to +avert those moral mischiefs that follow in the wake of gratuitous or +indiscriminate liberality. Their object necessarily was, to do as much +good and as little harm as the emergency would permit. + +Something has recently been said of the great extent to which the +distress in those districts was originally over-stated by the +individuals who came forward to rouse the benevolence of their +countrymen on behalf of the Highlands. We are by no means prepared to +join in this view. It is impossible to describe the consequences of a +coming famine with mathematical precision. Besides, the destitution is +not yet over. And it is at least clear, even as to the past, that +_except for the exertions of the proprietors_, which might or might +not have been so largely made, the destitution would have fully borne +out the predictions which were uttered. It could not with certainty be +assumed that the smaller and less wealthy proprietors, in particular, +would have been able to make the great sacrifices which they have so +generously submitted to, and without which the people of Wester Ross +and Skye, of Islay and Colonsay, and many other places, would have +laid on the relief fund a burden far heavier than it has had to bear. + +This at least is certain, that the fund has not been dispensed upon +any extravagant views of the existence of destitution. The large +surplus that remains on hand, demonstrates the caution and economy +with which the distribution has been conducted. The money has not been +lavished merely because it had been subscribed; and the difficult +object has been accomplished, of keeping in check those demands which +were likely to become more clamorous and more unreasonable, in +proportion as the means existed of satisfying them. + +It would serve little purpose to examine in detail the operations of +the Relief Board, which are already before the public in the reports +which they have published from time to time. It is, perhaps, +sufficient to say, that they present, in a great degree, the features +which might have been looked for in the working of a scheme devised on +the spur of an emergency, and destined to be followed out in remote +localities, and under influences partaking, in no ordinary degree, of +the taint of human frailty. In some parts of the country, the local +committees have done their duty conscientiously and respectably; in +others we are afraid they are not entitled to the same praise. Yet, on +the whole, things have answered better than could have been expected; +and undoubtedly the greatest benefit was derived from the able +superintendence of the two general inspectors employed by the board, +Captain Eliott and Dr Boyter, whose services to the public in this +important duty cannot be too highly commended. + +It is quite clear, however, that the local machinery, which was +necessarily or allowably resorted to at the outset, ought no longer to +be kept up, if further operations are required for the relief of +destitution. There must now be a more stringent examination of the +claims which may be preferred, and a more rigid enforcement of the +proper regulations, than could well be insisted for when the field was +new and the urgency irresistible. A continuance of any past laxity +would now be inexcusable and eminently mischievous, by tending to +perpetuate in the Highlands those social evils and anomalies which the +present calamity is naturally calculated to expose and extirpate. + +It is almost needless to ask the question, whether the operations of +the Relief Board are still necessary. Every one acquainted with the +Highlands and Islands is aware that the results of last year's failure +of the potato are still at work, and must necessarily prolong the +distress for some time to come. The fund which has been subscribed for +the relief of that distress must necessarily, therefore, be employed +in its legitimate and destined purpose, until that purpose be +accomplished or the fund exhausted. Independently of any blight in the +present potato crop, great distress will arise from the limited +breadth of potatoes that has been planted, and from the fact that the +cottars, who, in other years, were allowed ground to plant potatoes +for themselves, have been deprived of that resource, from the +necessity of retaining the whole arable farms for the direct use of +the tenants and crofters. It is believed, also, that the corn crops of +this year, though highly favourable in the lower parts of the country, +have neither been so early nor so productive in the Islands as was at +one time expected. + +It is, therefore, with perfect propriety and justice that the Board +have determined to retain the balance in their hands, in the mean +time, as a sacred deposit for the relief of that continued distress, +which both the reports of their own inspectors, and the information of +the government officers, establish to be still prevalent. On this +point the late report of Sir John F. Burgoyne as to Ireland applies in +a smaller degree to a very great part of the Highlands and Islands. + +In continuing the system of relief, however, the board must keep in +view more closely and constantly than ever the leading principles +which originally guided them, and which we believe to be founded on +the most solid grounds of humanity and social policy. + +1. Nothing must be done to relieve of their legal obligations those +who are bound by law to support the infirm poor. Wherever a poor law +is established, it must, we conceive, be fully and fairly enforced +against those liable in relief, to the extent of what is imposed upon +them. In no other way will selfish or thoughtless men be taught a due +interest in the social condition of their neighbours, and make the +necessary exertion to raise or preserve them from a state of +pauperism, the effects of which they are themselves to feel in their +only sensitive part. + +2. It must be a rule, all but inflexible, that the able-bodied, +receiving relief, shall give, at the time, or engage to give +afterwards, a corresponding amount of labour in return; and that +engagement must be strictly enforced. This rule is not necessary +merely for the purpose of economising the fund, and benefiting the +public by useful employment. It is essential for preserving the +destitute both from the feeling, and from the reality, of that +degradation which attends on eating the bread of idleness. We believe +that much mischief was done, in 1837, by exonerating those who had +obtained aid from the obligations of labour which they had undertaken, +and which we know, in some districts, broke down all the restraints of +self-respect, and implanted a spirit of dependence and mendicity, even +in persons of a decent station. The evils of famine itself are +great,--its moral no less than its physical effects are fearfully +destructive. But the injury done is hardly less when the poor are +deprived, by gratuitous and reckless largesses, of those habits of +industry, independence, and self-respect, which are their best +possessions, and their only means of rightly bearing their lot or +raising themselves in the scale of existence. + +3. A peculiar portion of the population, consisting chiefly of +solitary females unfit for active employment, and yet not sufficiently +disabled to be objects of parochial aid, will require a humane and +indulgent consideration. The Committees hitherto seem to have advanced +them little stores of wool and flax, to enable them to give some +return for their support; and a great deal of meritorious exertion has +in this way been fostered. We presume that at least to a certain +extent this humane system may be continued. + +4. Another obvious and incalculable boon will be conferred on the +country, if we can bridge over the chasm that has hitherto divided the +Highlands and Islands from the labour markets of the south. It was +indeed a strange anomaly, that strong men should be lying down to die +in the Isles, or even on the mainland of Scotland, and that within two +or three hundred miles of their homes, and on Scottish soil, there +should be a want of labourers, and the easy means of earning ample +wages. This appears to us one of the great objects to be now +consulted, and to which the attention of the Board has already been +anxiously directed: to remove the obstacles that have existed to a +free intercourse between different parts of the country, and more +particularly between the Saxon and Celtic districts. There are many +causes that combine to fix a Highlander to his home, even in the midst +of misery. Among these are ignorance of better things, and that +strangeness and helplessness, produced by a change of scene, which +half-civilised men are apt to feel with almost the timidity of +children. The diversity of the Highland and the Lowland tongue is +another impediment, but one which is daily disappearing, and is never +so likely to vanish as under the pressure of necessity. The very +virtues of the Highland character contribute to keep them where they +are, and are assisted in doing so by some of those defects which are +akin to their good qualities. Their patient endurance of cold and +privation cooperates with the congenial tendency towards indolence, to +fix them in a state of miserable inaction, rather than submit to the +active exertion that would increase their comforts. Every thing will +now combine to overcome these difficulties; the _res angusta domi_ +will now be vividly felt, if it can ever be felt at all; while +fortunately both the benevolence and the necessities, both the wishes +and the interests of their Lowland neighbours, concur in desiring that +a new supply should be obtained from that quarter, in aid of what the +south itself affords. Not only railways now forming, but also the +great amount of draining operations contemplated, or already in +progress under recent enactments, must tend in an eminent degree to +alleviate the sufferings of the distressed districts, if a free +current of labour can be established, so as to redress the +inequalities prevailing in different places. The labour market may not +be so favourable this year as it was last, but it will still, we hope, +be sufficiently so for this purpose. + +We have a strong impression that a change of this kind, if prudently +brought about without deranging local agriculture, will of itself do a +great deal for the permanent relief of those localities where distress +now prevails. Labourers thus obtained may in some respects be +inferior, from want of skill, and even from want of strength. But our +Highland countrymen have recommendations in their sober and orderly +habits, which are not to be found in some of their competitors in the +labour-market. Even railway contractors, though not likely to be +swayed, except by economical views, are beginning to tire of the +scenes of disorder and disturbance too frequently exhibited by workmen +from other quarters. If the natives of the Scottish Highlands can be +fairly roused to exertion, at a distance from home, their characters +will be improved, and their views enlarged. They will begin to taste +the benefits of better subsistence, and of some command of money; and +their frugal habits, as well as their kindly affections, will +communicate the advantage and spread the example among their suffering +countrymen whom they have left behind. + +This resource, then, must be pressed by the Board with the whole force +of their influence, upon all the able-bodied in the distressed +districts who can with propriety be required to leave their +localities; and we should not quarrel with a very strict +administration of wholesome compulsion to effect so essential an +object. + +5. The most difficult and delicate duty which the Relief Board will +have to discharge, regards the selection of works to be undertaken or +sanctioned by them, as affording employment for those destitute +persons whom they must relieve on the spot. It must here be kept in +view, on the one hand, that the permanent improvement of the Highlands +is no proper or direct object of the subscriptions received. On the +other hand, it will clearly be necessary, after every attempt to +remove labourers to the south, that some work should be provided in +each locality, on which those persons may be employed who cannot be so +removed, and who yet stand in need of relief. It would be mischievous +and wasteful to relieve such persons without exacting labour from +them, and just as reprehensible to employ them in digging holes and +filling them up again, or in any other occupation equally useless and +unproductive. If their work is to be obtained, it should be directed +into some channel that will benefit themselves and the community. +Public roads, harbours, piers, breakwaters, and the like, appear an +obvious outlet for the labour thus placed at the command of the Board; +and we are not even averse, within certain limits, to admitting their +exertions in the improvement of their own crofts, provided, at least, +the benefit thence arising be secured to the occupant by some +reasonable tenure, and that no continuance is thus effected of an +improper system of occupation. It seems no objection to such +operations that proprietors will indirectly benefit by them. It is +impossible to devise any local work that is not open to the same +objection, which would indeed be insuperable, if it were proposed to +expend the money on local improvements as a direct and substantive +object. But where the relief must be given, and the work is only to be +taken to the extent of the relief, and as a return for it, we think +almost any employment better than none, as we know no evil that can +outweigh the moral mischief arising from gratuitous distribution. At +the same time, the Board must require the co-operation of proprietors +where-ever they can, and must insist for such terms as the +circumstances of each case may recommend. + +Guarded by some such principles of action, we anticipate that the +relief operations in Scotland will, on the whole, be attended with no +small degree of moral as well as of physical benefit. + +The subject of Emigration is too large and complicated to be now +discussed. That remedy is perhaps essential to the thorough cure of +the social disorders prevailing in the Highlands. But it must not be +rashly resorted to; nor can it ever be safe or effectual without the +cordial co-operation of the government. + +The operation and effects of the calamity with which so large a +portion of Scotland has now been visited, cannot be suffered to pass +away without an effort to extract from them a moral law and a moral +lesson for our future guidance. + +It is obvious that the suffering which has been felt, arises from the +social system being in so great a degree _based upon the potato +culture_. The dependence of the great bulk of the destitute population +on a plant which, though more productive of mere sustenance than any +other, yet stands lowest in the scale of all our articles of food, is +demonstrated by the distress that has been occasioned by the failure +of that crop, and is indeed implied in all the exertions that have +been made to give relief. This is obviously an unsound foundation for +social life. It places the labouring classes on the very border of +starvation, and leaves no margin whatever for any contingencies. On +the failure of the potato, the ground can only be applied to the +cultivation of other produce, which on the same space would yield a +far inferior quantity of food, and thus a large portion of the year is +left unprovided for. + +It is impossible to exclude from consideration at this time the +important question of the state of the Scotch Poor Law. On this +momentous subject we beg leave explicitly to decline at present any +announcement of opinion; and we confess that we do not think a season +of calamity is at all the proper period for legislating on a matter +which involves so much feeling, and which yet requires such grave +consideration, and so much cautious arrangement. It cannot, however, +be denied, that the events which we have lately witnessed afford +important elements and examples which must influence any opinion that +we may form, and which should be treasured up as materials for +ultimately arriving at a sound conclusion. + +No one desirous of making up his mind on this point will +fail to consult, on one side of this question, the very able +"Observations"[17] which have just appeared from the pen of Dr Alison, +and to which, without adopting all the writer's views, we have great +pleasure in directing attention, as to a most powerful and temperate +argument in favour of an able-bodied Poor Law. If talents of a very +high order, if an enlarged and enlightened experience, and a long +consideration of the subject,--if a life passed, whether +professionally or in private, in the exercise of the most active and +disinterested benevolence,--if these qualifications entitle a witness +to be heard in such a cause, Dr Alison may well claim for his opinions +the greatest deference and respect: and the logical precision, and +clear and candid statement, which this essay exhibits, will secure +even from his opponents a ready and cordial approbation. Again we say, +that we do not wish to adopt his arguments as our own, but we +willingly contribute to embody them in a more permanent form, and to +offer them to the attention of our readers, that they may prevail, if +they cannot be answered, or may receive an answer, if an answer can be +given. + +The general nature of Dr Alison's views will be understood by quoting +his table of contents, which contains a synopsis of his argument: + + "All questions regarding Poverty and Destitution are inseparably + connected with the Theory of Population, i. e., the observation of + the conditions by which Population is regulated;--the best system + of Management of the Poor being that under which there is least + redundancy of population. + + "The unequivocal tests of a population being redundant, are + Pestilence and Famine; these taking effect on such a population + much more than on any other; and the experience of both, within + the last few years in this country, proves unequivocally, that it + is in those portions of it where there is no effective legal + provision for the poor--not in those where there is such + provision--that the population is redundant. + + "The peculiar Fever of 1843, as well as ordinary Typhus, now + prevail much more extensively among the destitute Irish, hitherto + unprotected by law, than among any others--and the effect of all + other predisposing causes, in favouring their diffusion, is + trifling in comparison with Destitution, and its inseparable + concomitant, crowding in ill-ventilated rooms. + + "The Famine of 1846-7, consequent on the failure of the Potato + Crop, (_i. e._ of the cheapest and poorest food on which life can + be supported,) clearly reveals the parts of the country where the + population is redundant; and this is throughout Ireland, until + very lately absolutely without provision, and in 106 districts of + Scotland, where, without exception, there has been no assessment + and a nearly illusory legal provision for the poor. + + "These facts not only prove incontestably that an effective Poor + Law does not foster redundant population, but justify the belief, + that the absence of a legal provision against Destitution is a + great and general predisposing cause, with which others have no + doubt concurred, in producing such redundancy; and that the + presence of such a provision greatly favours the checks upon it. + + "This it may be distinctly observed to do in two ways--1. By + keeping up the standard of comfort among the poor themselves; 2. + By giving every proprietor of land a direct and obvious interest + in constantly watching and habitually checking the growth of a + _parasite_ population, for whose labour there is no demand, on his + property. + + "The statement that the English Poor Rate increases more rapidly + than the wealth and population of the country, and threatens to + absorb that wealth, is statistically proved to be erroneous. + + "The other accusation brought against an effective legal + provision, that it injures the character of a people, and + depresses the industry, and checks the improvement of a country, + is equally opposed to statistical facts. + + "The lower orders of the Highlanders and Irish--whose resource + when destitute is mendicity, are much more disposed to idleness + than the English labouring men. + + "Yet this disposition among the Highlanders has been greatly + exaggerated. + + "Where it is most offensive, it is amongst those who have been + most impoverished and neglected. + + "The inquiries of the agents of the Relief Committees, as well as + those of the Royal Commissioners on the Poor Laws, have + _proved_,-- + + "1. That there has been a great deficiency in the application of + capital and skill to develop the resources of the Highlands and + Islands. + + "2. That the skilful application, even of a moderate capital, to + various undertakings requiring labour, opens a prospect of great + improvement in the country. These resources existing, the + inference is inevitable, that if the higher ranks in the Highlands + are bound to support their poor, they can and will, in general, + find "remunerative employment" for them rather than maintain them + in idleness. + + "And the observations of the agents of the Committees, dispensing + a voluntary fund, but guarding it--as a well-regulated relief + would be guarded,--by the 'Labour Test' therefore affording an + earnest of what maybe expected from the habitual operation of such + a Law,--have shewn that, under its influence, the 'aboriginal + idleness' of the Highlanders rapidly disappears. + + "The principle that an effective legal provision against all kinds + of destitution is useful to a country, as a wholesome stimulus + both to capitalists and labourers, is clearly stated by Sir Robert + Peel, _and now recognised and acted on in reference to Ireland_. + + "The evidence of the resources of Ireland, in the absence of that + stimulus, having been very imperfectly developed,--from the Report + of the Committee on the occupation of lands, and other + sources,--is just similar to that in the Highlands. + + "And the effect of an incipient Poor-Rate in forcing on profitable + improvements, as well as in equalising the burden imposed on the + higher ranks by the destitution of the lower, begins to show + itself in Ireland unequivocally. + + "There are probably some districts both in the Highlands and in + Ireland, where 'profitable investments of labour' cannot be found, + which can only be effectually relieved by emigration and + colonisation. + + "To which purpose, in the case of the Highlands, the surplus funds + in the hands of the Relief Committee, and even an additional + subscription, may be very properly applied, provided that the + districts requiring it are pointed out by their own agents, and + that the wholesome stimulus of an effective Poor Law, embracing + the case of destitution from want of employment, _now existing in + all other parts of her Majesty's dominions_, be extended to + Scotland." + +We make no apology for the copiousness of the extracts which we are +now to make, and which, we think, will sufficiently explain themselves +without much commentary from us. + +Nothing can be fairer than the footing on which Dr Alison places his +argument at the outset. + + "Very little reflection appears to be sufficient to show, that the + best system of management of the poor (_ceteris paribus_) must be + that which gives the least encouragement to redundancy of + population. I have always regarded, therefore, the doctrine of + Malthus--by which all such questions are held to be inseparably + connected with the theory of population--to be the true basis of + all speculative inquiry on this subject; and I cannot help saying + again, that in consequence of some hasty expressions which he + used, and of the great practical error, which, as I believe, and + as he himself evidently suspected in the latter part of his life, + he had committed in the application of his principle, justice has + not yet been generally done to the truth and importance of that + fundamental principle itself. In the present state of this + country, and indeed of every civilised country, and with a view to + the happiness of the human race upon earth, it seems hardly + possible to exaggerate the importance of any inquiries which + promise to indicate the conditions by which the relation of the + population to the demand for labour, and the means of subsistence + there existing, is determined, and may be regulated. + + "We cannot indeed expect, that so striking results can follow from + this or any other principle in political science, as have already + rewarded the labour of man in investigating the laws of the + material world. The beautiful expressions of Cicero, in describing + the power which man has acquired over Nature, are more applicable + to the present age, than to any one that has preceded it. 'Nos + campis, nos montibus fruimur; nostri sunt amnes, nostri lacus; nos + fruges serimus, nos arbores; nos aquarum inductionibus terris + fecunditatem damus; nos flumina arcemus, dirigimus, avertimus; + nostris denique manibus in rerum natura quasi alteram naturam + efficere conamur.' We can hardly anticipate, that science shall + acquire a similar power of regulating the condition of human + society or the progress of human affairs. In regard to the changes + which these affairs undergo in the progress of time, we are all of + us agents, rather than contrivers. 'L'homme avance dans + l'execution d'un plan qu'il n'a point concu, qu'il ne connoit meme + pas; il est l'ouvrier intelligent et libre d'une oeuvre qui n'est + pas la sienne; il ne la reconnoit, ne la comprend que plus tard, + lorsqu'elle se manifeste au dehors et dans les realites, et meme + alors il ne la comprend que tres incompletement."--(GUIZOT.) Still + we may observe, that in all applications of science, moral and + political, as well as physical, to the good of mankind, the same + principle holds true, 'Natura non vincitur nisi parendo;' and that + even in those cases where man is the agent, he may likewise be the + interpreter and the minister of Nature. It is only by acquiring a + knowledge of the natural laws of motion, of heat, of chemical + action, that we acquire that power, "quasi alteram naturam + efficere," which Cicero describes; and those events which are due + to the agency of free, and intelligent, and responsible human + beings, although liable to the influence of a greater number of + disturbing forces, and therefore requiring careful investigation, + are still subject to laws, which are imposed on the constitution + of the human race, and which may be ascertained by observations + belonging to the department of statistical science. + + "That the natural tendency of the human race is to increase on any + given portion, or on the whole of the earth's surface, in a much + more rapid ratio than the means of subsistence can be made to + increase, I apprehend to be an undeniable fact. I am aware of + various objections which have been stated to this principle, but + shall not enter on these objections farther than to state, that + two considerations appear to me to have been overlooked by those + who have advanced them. _First_, That the term 'means of + subsistence,' is not to be restricted to the raising from the land + of articles of food, but applies to the extraction from the + earth's surface, and the preparation for the use of man, of all + productions of Nature, which are either necessary to human + existence or adapted for human comfort, and which have, therefore, + an exchangeable value;--_secondly_, that the question regarding + these, which concerns us in this inquiry, is not how much a given + number of men may raise, but how much a given portion of the + earth's surface can supply; and what relation this quantity bears + to the power of reproduction granted to the human race. When these + considerations are kept in view, it does not appear to me that the + objections to the general principle laid down by Malthus are of + any weight; and the truth of the principle appears to be strongly + illustrated by the care taken by Nature to have a certain number + of carnivorous genera, in every order of animals, and among the + animated inhabitants of every portion of the earth's surface, + whereby the tendency to excess in every class of animals is + continually checked and repressed. And although it is certain that + the causes of human suffering of all sorts, as of human diseases, + are very generally complex, yet we may certainly assert, that this + principle is essentially concerned, as a great and permanent + predisposing cause, in all those sufferings which result from + poverty, and must be carefully kept in view in all wise + regulations for their relief. + + "Neither is it incumbent on those who acquiesce in this general + principle, to assert that the natural checks on this tendency to + excessive reproduction in the human race have been well named or + fully expounded by Malthus. But the great distinction which he + pointed out, of the _positive_ and the _preventive_ checks on + population, is undoubtedly of extreme importance. And in regard to + the positive checks, by which it is easy to see that the progress + of the human race upon earth has been hitherto rendered so very + different from what might have been expected from its powers of + reproduction,--when we reflect on the effects of War, of Disease + of all kinds, and especially of Pestilence, of Famine, of Vice, of + Polygamy, of Tyranny, and misgovernment of all kinds,--while we + can easily perceive that all these may be ultimately instruments + of good in the hands of Him who can 'make even the wrath of man to + praise Him,'--yet we must acknowledge that all, if not properly + ranked together under the general name of Misery, are yet causes + of human suffering,--so general, and so great, that the most + meritorious of all exertions of the human mind are those, which + are directed to the object of counteracting and limiting the + action of these positive checks on population; and on this + consideration it is wise for us to reflect deeply, because it is + thus only that we can judge of the value of the great preventive + check of Moral Restraint, by which alone the human race can be + duly proportioned to the means of subsistence provided for it, + without suffering the evils which are involved in the operation of + the different positive checks above enumerated. + + "I consider, therefore, the general principles of Malthus as not + only true, but so important, that the exposition and illustration + of them is a real and lasting benefit to mankind. The real error + of Malthus lay simply in his supposing, that moral restraint is + necessarily or generally weakened by a legal provision against + destitution; and this is no part of his general theory, but was, + as I maintain, a hypothetical assumption, by which he thought that + his theory was made applicable in practice. His argument against + Poor Laws was this syllogism: Whatever weakens the moral restraint + on population must ultimately injure a people; but a legal + protection against destitution weakens that moral restraint; + therefore Poor Laws, giving that legal protection, must ultimately + injure any people among whom they are enforced. The answer, as I + conceive, is simply 'Negatur minor.' How do you know that a legal + protection against destitution must necessarily weaken moral + restraint? The only answer that I have ever seen, amounts only to + an _assertion_ or conjecture, that more young persons will marry, + when they know that they may claim from the law protection against + death by cold and hunger, than when they have no such protection. + But this is only _an opinion_, supported perhaps by reference to a + few individual cases, but resting on no foundation of statistical + facts. Where are the facts to prove that early marriages are more + frequent, and that population becomes more redundant, among those + who have a legal provision against destitution, than among those + who have none? I have never seen any such facts, on such a scale + as is obviously necessary to avoid the fallacies attending + individual observations; and the facts to which I have now to + advert, are on a scale, the extent of which we must all deplore, + and all tending, like many others formerly stated, to prove that + the greatest redundancy of population in her Majesty's dominions + exists among those portions of her subjects who have hitherto + enjoyed _no legal protection_, against destitution. As it is + generally avowed that it is for the sake of the poor + themselves,--with a view to their ultimate preservation from the + evils of destitution,--that the law giving them protection in the + meantime is opposed, these facts must be regarded as decisive of + the question." + +It will not generally be disputed that a correct view of the main +cause of distress is contained in what follows:-- + + "The famine, consequent on the failure of the potato crop in 1846, + considered independently of disease, presents a still more + remarkable collection of facts, the proper view of which appears + to me to be this. The potato is an article of diet throughout the + whole of this country, particularly useful to the working classes, + and its importance to them seems to be fully illustrated by the + pretty frequent occurrence of scurvy in many places, where it had + been unknown for more than a century, since the beginning of the + winter 1846-7,--that is, since the use of the potato has been + necessarily nearly abandoned. + + "But it is only in certain districts that the people have been + absolutely dependent on the potato, and been reduced to absolute + destitution by its failure; and the reason obviously is, that the + potato, although much less desirable, as the chief article of + diet, than many others, is that by which the greatest number of + persons may be fed from a given quantity of land in this climate. + When we find a population, therefore, living chiefly on potatoes, + and reduced to absolute destitution, unable to purchase other + food, when the potato crop fails,--we have at once disclosed to + us the undeniable fact, that that population is redundant. It is + greater than can be maintained in that district, otherwise than on + the poorest diet by which life can be supported, and greater than + the labour usually done in that district demands. Now I formerly + stated, that such a redundant population, living, as a foreign + author expresses it, 'en parasite,' on the working people of the + country, exists most remarkably in Scotland, in districts where no + poor-law is enforced; and I have now only to show how amply that + statement is confirmed by the facts which the present famine in + some parts of Scotland has brought to light." + +Whatever be its merits, the argument for a comprehensive Poor Law is +placed on its true basis in the following passages:-- + + "If it be still said, that there is a difficulty in perceiving how + the natural increase of population should be restrained,--implying + that marriages should in general be rendered later and less + productive,--by laws which give protection against destitution, I + can only repeat what I formerly stated, that in order to + understand this, it is only necessary to suppose, what is quite in + accordance with individual observation, that human conduct, and + particularly the conduct of young persons, is more generally + influenced by hope than by fear,--that more are deterred from + early and imprudent marriages by the hope and prospect of + maintaining and bettering their condition in life, than by the + fear of absolute destitution. The examples of the Highlands and of + Ireland are more than enough to show, that this last is not a + motive on which the legislator can place reliance, as influencing + the conduct of young persons in extreme poverty. No legislation + can take from them the resource of mendicity, of one kind or + another, as a safeguard, in ordinary circumstances, against death + by famine; and _experience shows_ that those who are brought up in + habits of mendicity, or of continued association with mendicants, + will trust to this resource, and marry and rear families, where no + other prospect of their maintenance can be perceived; whereas + those who have been brought up in habits of comparative comfort, + and accustomed to artificial wants, will look to bettering their + condition, and be influenced by the preventive check of moral + restraint, to a degree, as Mr Farr--judging from the general + results of the registration of marriages in England--expresses it, + which 'will hardly be credited when stated in figures.' + + "I have repeatedly stated likewise, that I consider an efficient + poor law, extending to all forms of destitution, as affording a + salutary preventive check on early marriages and excessive + population in another way, which is easily illustrated by + statistical facts, viz. by making it obviously the interest of + landed proprietors always to throw obstacles in the way of such + marriages among persons who are likely to become burdensome on the + poor rates, _i. e._ among all who have no clear prospect of + profitable employment. The number of crofters, and still more of + cotters, living _en parasite_ on the occupiers of the soil in the + Highlands, is the theme of continual lamentation; but the question + seldom occurs to those who make this complaint,--would such a + population be allowed to settle on the lands of an English + proprietor, who is familiar with the operation of the poor-rate?" + +The following remarks also are well deserving of attention:-- + + "But, setting aside the argument of Malthus against effective Poor + Laws, the chief resource of the opponents of such laws has of late + years been the assertion, that a legal provision against + destitution leads naturally to relaxation of industry; that + idleness, if not improvidence, is thus fostered among the poor, + and that in this manner, the improvement of a country, necessarily + dependent on the industry of its lower orders, is retarded. I have + always maintained, that this assertion likewise is distinctly + refuted, and not only that it is refuted, but the very contrary + established, by statistical facts; that it is indeed made in face + of the demonstrable fact, that the nations most celebrated for + industry have long enjoyed a legal protection against destitution; + that the people of England, speaking generally, are probably, to + use the words of Lord Abinger,--'the most trustworthy and + effective labourers in the world,' and that the greatest degree of + idleness to be seen on the face of the earth exists among people + who have no such protection; whose only resource, therefore, when + destitute, is mendicity." + +Dr Alison endeavours to show that wherever the _labour test_ is +applied, an able-bodied Poor Law is disarmed of its apparent dangers. + + "Where the bounty dispensed by Dr Boyter and Captain Eliott has + been combined with 'strict attention to the rules laid down by the + Central Relief Board,' (which are exactly similar to those which + would be adopted by any experienced official Board dispensing + legal relief to the able-bodied under the safeguard of the labour + test,) its effects in stimulating the industry of the people, and + improving the prospects of the country, appear to have been + uniform and decided. And when it is remembered that, + notwithstanding the failure of the potato crop, and consequent + destitution of so large a population in the Highlands, the Relief + Committees have been not only able to prevent any death by famine, + but to open in so many places a fair prospect of improvement of + the country, and of reformation of the manners of the people, at + an expense in all not exceeding L100,000, it is surely not + unreasonable to expect, that in ordinary seasons, and after some + further assistance shall have been given them for the purpose of + emigration, the proprietors of the Highlands and Islands will be + perfectly able to bear a similar burden to that _which the + legislature has now imposed on Ireland_. + + "I observe with the utmost satisfaction that the principle of a + Poor Law, skilfully imposed and judiciously regulated, and + extending to _all kinds_ of destitution, being a useful stimulus, + both to the industry of the people, and to the exertions of the + landlords and other capitalists of a country, (and a reasonable + security to others assisting them,) has now been fairly recognised + and _acted on_, in reference to Ireland. It is distinctly avowed + in the following extract from Sir Robert Peel's speech at + Tamworth, 1st June 1847. 'We have experience of the evils of + periodical returns of destitution in Ireland; we see periodically + a million or a million and a half of people absolutely in a + starving state,--in a state which is disgraceful, while it is + dangerous to the security of life and property. I believe it is a + great point _to give security to those people_ that they shall not + starve,--that they shall have a demand upon the land. I believe it + is necessary to give _a new stimulus to industry_,--_to impress + upon the proprietors and the occupying tenants, that they must + look on the cultivation of the land in a new light_; and that the + demands of poverty will not be so great when all persons do all + that they can to lighten the pressure.' + +We shall quote only a part of Dr Alison's observations on Ireland, but +they contain information of some interest. + + "In proof that the natural resources of Ireland, in the absence of + this stimulus, have been equally neglected as those of the + Highlands, I may quote a few sentences from the official Report of + the Commission on the Occupation of Lands in Ireland. 'The general + tenor of the evidence before the Commissioners goes to prove, that + the agricultural practice throughout Ireland is _defective in the + highest degree_, and furnishes the most encouraging proofs, that + where judicious exertions have been made to improve the condition + and texture of the soil, and introduce a better selection and + rotation of crops, these exertions _have been attended with the + most striking success and profit_.' 'The lands in almost every + district require drainage; drainage and deep moving of the lands + have proved most remunerative operations wherever they have been + applied, but as yet they have been introduced only to a very + limited extent; and the most valuable crops, and most profitable + rotations, cannot be adopted in wet lands.' (See Report of that + Commission in London newspapers, Sept. 3, 1847.) + + "The Commission above mentioned stated as their opinion, that the + potato may perhaps be regarded as the main cause of that inertia + of the Irish character, which prevents the development of the + resources of the country; but with all deference to that opinion, + I would observe, that in this case, as in the Highlands, the + fundamental evil appears to be, the existence of a population, + such as nothing but the potato can support, who 'cannot find + employment,' as these commissioners themselves state, 'during + several months of the year,' and therefore cannot afford to + purchase any other food, and whose only resource, when they cannot + find employment, is beggary; and that it is the absence of skill + and capital to give them work, rather than the presence of the + potato to keep them alive, which ought chiefly to fix the + attention of those who wish to see the resources of the country + developed. And without giving any opinion on the political + question, how far it is just or expedient for Great Britain to + give farther assistance by advances of money, to aid the + improvement of Ireland, we may at least repeat here what was + stated as to the Highlands, that when it becomes the clear and + obvious interest of every proprietor in a country, to introduce + capital into it, with the specific object of employing the poor, + as well as improving his property, we may expect, either that such + improvements as will prove 'profitable investments of labour,' + will be prosecuted, or else, that the land will pass into other + hands, more capable of 'developing its resources.'" + + "When we read and reflect on these statements, I think it must + occur to every one, that whatever other auxiliary measures may be + devised, the greatest boon that has been conferred on Ireland in + our time, is the Law which has not only given a security, never + known before, for the lives of the poor, but has made that motive + to exertion, and to the application of capital to 'profitable + investments of industry,' which is here distinctly avowed, equally + operative on the proprietors of land in every Poor Law union in + that country, and in all time coming; and I believe I may add, that + the individual to whom Ireland is chiefly indebted for this + inestimable boon, is one whose name we do not find connected with + any of the questions of religion or of party politics, which have + caused so much useless excitement; but who has distinctly perceived + the root of the evil,--the absence of any security, either for the + lives of the poor, or for the useful application of capital to the + employment of labour, and has applied himself patiently and + steadily to the legitimate remedy--viz. Mr Poulett Scrope. + + "It is true that we have many representations, from Poor Law + unions in Ireland, of the utter inability of the proprietors and + occupiers of the soil to bear the burden which the new Poor Law + has imposed upon them; and I give no opinion on the questions, + whether they have a claim in equity on further assistance from + England, or whether the rate has been imposed in the most + judicious way. But when it is said, that they are utterly unable + to support the poor of Ireland by a rate, the question presents + itself--How do they propose that those poor are to be supported + without a rate? I apprehend it can only be by begging; and of whom + are they to beg? It can only be from the occupiers of the soil, + and other inhabitants of the country. Now, will the ability of + those inhabitants to bear this burden be _lessened_ by a law which + will, in one way or other, compel the landlords (often absentees) + to share it along with them?--and will, at the same time, make it + the obvious interest of the landlords to introduce capital into + the country, and expend it there in 'remunerative employment?' + + "On the present state of Ireland I can speak with some confidence, + because I can give the opinion of a friend, the Count de + Strzelicki, who is well entitled to judge, because he was + previously thoroughly acquainted with agriculture, and because he + nobly undertook the painful office of dispensing the bounty of the + London Association in the very worst district of Ireland, during + the worst period of the famine; and who expresses himself + thus:--The real evil and curse of Ireland is neither religious nor + political, but lies simply in so many of the landlords being + bankrupts, and so many of those who are well off being absentees; + others again, equally well off, resident, judicious, benevolent, + and far-sighted, being unsupported in their efforts, and isolated + in their action upon the masses, who, long since cast away by the + proprietary, have been dragging their miserable existence in + recklessness, distrust, and rancour. It is this dislocation--even + antagonism--of social interests and relations, combined with the + _irresponsibility of the property for its poverty_, that + constitutes the '_circus viciosus_,' the source of all the evils + of this unfortunate and interesting country. + + "'But now, _in consequence of the new Poor Law_, and other new + enactments of Parliament, those who have a real interest in the + preservation of their property, will be forced to look, as they + never did before, to the improvement of their tenantry. Those who + are insolvent must part with the nominal tenure of land, and leave + their estates to capitalists who can better discharge the duty of + landlords; and lastly, the masses, who hitherto had been abandoned + to themselves and to their brutal instinct for self-preservation, + will find henceforth their interest linked with that of the + landlord, and will find advice, help, encouragement, and, in + extreme cases, a legal support. + + "'Every real friend of Ireland, and particularly those who, like + myself, have had an insight into the many excellent intellectual + and moral qualities of their character, while sympathising with + the hardships which at first will be felt by many from the new + system, cannot but acknowledge that it is only now that its + society is being placed on its proper basis, and in a fair way to + amelioration and prosperity.' + + "This opinion was given in a letter to a common friend, and + without reference to any speculation of mine as to the management + of the poor. In a subsequent letter to myself he adds, 'It is only + since I came to Ireland that I have become conscious of _the real + value of a legal provision for the poor_, and of the demoralising + effect of private alms. Already we see some good symptoms of the + action of the new Poor Law. It is by the provision made to employ + men, and not by feeding them, that the operation of the law + begins. The out-door relief will, I am sure, act not as a premium + to idleness, but as a _stimulus to landlords_ to supply labour, + and thus prevent the people from falling on it.'" + +On the absolute or eventual necessity of emigration, Dr Alison's +views seem to be sound and satisfactory. + + "That there are some parts of the Highlands which may be relieved + more rapidly and effectually by aid of some form of emigration + than in any other way, I have no doubt. In many such cases it is + probably unnecessary to remove the people farther than to those + parts of the low country, where, by a little well directed + inquiry, employment may be found for them, as was done by the + Glasgow 'Committee on Employment;' but in others it is quite + certain that emigration to the colonies may be safely and + beneficially managed. And the importance of this subject becomes + much greater when we consider, that so large a surplus remains of + the sum raised for the relief of distress there, the disposal of + which is at this moment a question of difficulty. I am so much + impressed with the truth of the last observation of Dr Boyter, as + applicable to certain districts of the Highlands, that I should + think it highly advisable to apply the greater part, or even the + whole, of this surplus of L115,000 to this salutary drainage of + the population. An equal sum might be advanced by Government, to + be gradually repaid, just as in the case of assistance given to + proprietors by the Drainage Act; and the whole sum might be + expended in aiding emigration and such colonisation as Dr Boyter + describes. Nay, I am persuaded that few of the subscribers to the + Highland Destitution Fund would scruple to renew their + subscriptions, provided they had any security that the Highland + proprietors, thus relieved of a portion of their population, would + really exert themselves to develop the resources _now known to + exist_ in their country, and so maintain the remainder without + farther claims on the rest of the community. But I cannot think it + reasonable or right, that while we have periodical returns of + destitution in the Highlands, demanding aid from all parts of the + country and from the colonies, to prevent many deaths by famine, a + Highland proprietor should be enabled to advertise a property for + sale, at the upset price of L48,000, and to state as an inducement + to purchasers, that the _whole_ public burdens are L40 a-year. + (See advertisement of sale of lands in Skye, _Edinburgh Courant_, + Sept. 16, 1847.) I should think it highly imprudent for the + Committee intrusted with that money for the benefit of the poor in + the Highlands, to part with it for any kind of emigration, + excepting on _two_ express conditions: 1. That agents appointed by + the Committee, unprejudiced and disinterested, (and probably + better judges on the point than Captain Eliott and Dr Boyter + cannot be found,) shall report on the localities in which this + remedy should be applied, in consequence of "profitable + investments of industry" not existing at home; and, 2. That + application be made to the Legislature for a measure, which should + place the remaining portion of the Highlanders under the + circumstances which are known _by experience_ to be most + favourable to the development of the resources of a country, and + at the same time to the action of the preventive check on + excessive population, _i. e._, under the operation of an effective + and judicious Legal Provision for the Poor." + +The following sentences form an impressive conclusion to this +valuable, dissertation. + + "I have only to add, that being firmly convinced that a + well-regulated Poor Law is really, as stated by Sir Robert Peel, a + wholesome stimulus to enterprise and industry, and a check upon + extravagance and improvidence, I have written this paper to + prove,--by evidence on so large a scale, that it excludes all + fallacies attending individual cases, and ought to command + conviction,--that it is only in those parts of this country where + this salutary precaution has been neglected, that such periodical + returns of destitution and famine, as he describes, have been + suffered or are to be apprehended. But, as it is obviously + essential to this beneficial effect of a Poor Law, that it should + secure relief to _destitution from want of work_, the practical + result of all that has been stated is, to confirm the arguments + which I formerly adduced in favour of the extension of a legal + right to relief to the able-bodied in Scotland, when destitute + from that cause;--guarded of course by the exaction of work in + return for it when there are no means of applying, or when such + exaction is thought better than applying, the workhouse test. And + notwithstanding the strong feeling of distrust (or prejudice, as I + believe it) which still exists among many respectable persons on + this point, I confidently expect that this right--_now granted to + the inhabitants of every other part of her Majesty's European + dominions_, and soon to be accompanied, as I hope, in all parts, + by an improved law of settlement _i. e._, by combinations or + unions instead of parishes,--cannot be much longer withheld from + the inhabitants of Scotland." + + Nor can I doubt that the intelligent people of this country, + seriously reflecting on the lessons which have been taught them by + those two appalling but instructive visitations of + Providence,--pestilence and famine--will soon perceive, whether it + is by the aid or without the aid of an effective legal provision + against destitution, that the sacred duty of charity is most + effectually performed; and what are the consequences to all ranks + of society which follow from its being neglected. + + _Magna est veritas et praevalebit._ + +It is right that views so important and so ably stated, and which are +obviously prompted by so pure a spirit of philanthropy and true piety, +should receive the full weight that they are entitled to; and should +be canvassed and considered by all who feel an interest in the +question. + +On the other hand, there are obvious considerations of an opposite +kind which should be fairly weighed. Independently of the general +arguments against an able-bodied Poor Law, with which political +economists are familiar, the special question arises, whether the +Highlands of Scotland have not been brought into their existing +condition partly by the peculiarities of national character, and +partly by the transition that is now in progress from a system of +ancient vassalage to more modern ideas of calculation and +independence. The patriarchal state which prevailed under the old +habits of clanship is now at an end, so far as regards the +proprietors, who are unable to maintain or govern their retainers as +of old, while the population generally continue in their former +condition of helpless tutelage, and must now be taught to act and +provide for themselves. The Lowlands of Scotland, though not +possessing an able-bodied Poor Law, are free from those evils by which +the Highlands are afflicted, and the population are scarcely, if at +all, in an inferior state to the corresponding portion of the English +nation. + +Further, there arises the very grave consideration, that whatever may +be the abstract or original merits of an able-bodied Poor Law, the +introduction of such a system in an advanced state of society is a +matter of great delicacy, and may, from the very novelty of its +operation, often lead to utter idleness on the one hand, and +confiscation on the other. It ought not, in any view, to be attempted, +without being accompanied by some well digested plan of public +colonisation, to relieve the pressure which might otherwise over-power +the resources of all who are to be burdened. + +We would say, in conclusion, that whatever may be the state of this +argument, it lies in a great degree with the proprietors in the +Highlands and Islands to avert the threatened evil, if they consider +it as such, by a gradual but entire change in the system of the +occupation of land. The great argument we have seen for an able-bodied +Poor Law is, that it compels the proprietary classes to keep down the +population by a feeling of self-interest. This object must, in some +way or other, be attained. Without harshness, without any sudden +removals, every opportunity must be sought of remodelling the plan of +small possessions, and the principle must be laid down and enforced, +that no one shall continue in the condition of a tenant who does not +occupy enough of ground to raise, at least, _an ample corn crop_ for +the support of his family. If the potato system continues,--if, after +the present calamity passes away, its lessons are forgotten, it is not +probable that the benevolence of the public would again be equally +liberal as it has now been, where the visitation was so sudden and +unexpected, and no clear or unequivocal warning of its approach had +previously been received. + +We hope, however, for better things; and trust that the present crisis +will be duly improved, and will form a new era of prosperity and +increased civilisation and happiness for the Highlands and Islands of +Scotland. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[17] _Observations on the Famine of 1846-7 in the Highlands of +Scotland, and in Ireland, as illustrating the connexion of the +principle of population, with the management of the poor._ By W. P. +ALISON, M.D., &c. + + + + +_Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +62, Number 385. 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