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diff --git a/27020.txt b/27020.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38f1cdd --- /dev/null +++ b/27020.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9577 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, +No. 382, October 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, No. 382, October 1847 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 25, 2008 [EBook #27020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S, OCTOBER 1847 *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Patricia Bennett, 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.) + + + + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +NO. CCCLXXXII. AUGUST, 1847. VOL. LXII. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + GROTE'S HISTORY OF GREECE. 129 + BEN NEVIS AND BEN MUICH DHUI. 149 + LETTERS ON THE TRUTHS CONTAINED IN POPULAR + SUPERSTITIONS.--LETTER VII 166 + HISTORY OF THE CAPTIVITY OF NAPOLEON AT ST HELENA. 178 + JUANCHO THE BULL-FIGHTER. 197 + THE EMERALD STUDS. 214 + CAESAR. 235 + REID AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMON SENSE. 239 + + * * * * * + + + + +GROTE'S HISTORY OF GREECE.[1] + + +The appearance of a new history of Greece, of the pretensions, and the +just pretensions, of this of Mr Grote, is an event in literature which +must not pass by without some note or comment. Never were historical +studies pursued with so much success, or in so philosophical a spirit, +as in the present day, and that by the whole corps of European +scholarship, whether German, or French, or English; and it is saying +much, when we say of the work before us, that it is equal to the demands +of the critical age in which it appears, and that in just estimate of +historical testimony, and in true appreciation of the spirit of past +times, it is as superior to its predecessors as, in these very points, +the nineteenth century is in advance of all preceding centuries. + +The progress made in this department of study is very perceptible in the +several histories we possess of Greece. Mitford, notwithstanding his +acknowledged imperfections and demerits, has had the tribute of applause +paid to him, and deservedly, of having been the first to break through +that icy timidity with which the moderns were wont to write the annals +of ancient Greece. They seemed to be afraid of applying the knowledge +which time and science had brought them, to the events and writings of a +classical age and country, lest this should imply the presumption that +they were wiser than the ancients. They sat down to their task like +young scholars who are _construing_, not interpreting, their author. +Little discrimination was made between the learned writings before them. +If it was not, as it has been wittily observed, "all Greek, and +therefore all true," at least every thing that was Greek had a +mysterious air of learning which protected it from profane examination; +and incongruities and futilities, absurdities of reasoning, and +improbabilities of narrative, were veiled or half concealed under the +charm of Grecian typography. Mitford set aside this too great reverence +for the ancient literati. As he saw men, and not moving statues, in the +heroes of Grecian history, so he was persuaded that the writers of that +history were also men, fallible and prejudiced, like those who were +living and writing about him. But Mitford overcame one set of prejudices +by the force which prejudices of another kind had endowed him with. He +saw how party spirit had raged in modern as well as ancient times, but +he detected it with that proverbial readiness with which the thief +detects the thief; he wrote himself with the energy and penetration, the +want of candour and generosity, which at all times will distinguish the +advocate. Moreover, the scholarship of Europe has since his time assumed +so lofty a port, and taken such rapid strides, that on many subjects he +has been left lagging in the rear. + +The history of Greece by Dr Thirlwall is a great improvement on its +predecessor. It is written with profounder learning, and a more +equitable spirit; and is indeed pre-eminently distinguished by the +calmness, candour, and judge-like serenity that pervades it. In a style +always lucid in disquisition, and always elegant in narrative, he +appears to be solely anxious to communicate the fair result, whatever it +may be, to which his extensive reading has conducted him. But, +unfortunately, Dr Thirlwall wrote his history in one of those +_transition states_ of mind which render impossible the accomplishment +of an enduring work. He saw the futility of much that had been relied on +as basis of historical belief; he was not disposed to credulity, nor at +all likely to accept fable, in its own simple and gross form, for truth. +But he had not taught himself to forego the vain attempt to extract +history out of fable; he could not relinquish that habit of "learned +conjecture," so dear to the scholar, so fatal to the historian. In the +earlier portion of his work, he constructs his narrative under the +singular disadvantage of one who sees perpetually the weakness of his +own superstructure, yet continues to build on; and thus, with much show +of scaffolding, and after much putting up and pulling down, he leaves at +last but little standing on the soil. He had not laid down for himself a +previous rule for determining what should be admitted as historical +evidence, or the rules he had prescribed for himself were of an +uncertain, fluctuating character. Neither do we discover in Dr Thirlwall +the faculty, existing at least in any eminent degree, of realising to +himself, or vividly representing to others, the intellectual condition +of a nascent people, far removed from ourselves in habits of thought, +and trained under quite different institutions, religious and political. +In short, we note a deficiency--(to adopt the phraseology of Bacon)--in +what we may be allowed to describe, as the more philosophical +qualifications of the historian. + +Precisely in these lies the peculiar strength of Mr Grote. With +scholarship as extensive as that of his predecessors, he has united a +stricter discipline of mind, and habits of closer reasoning; and he +manifests a truer perception of the nature of past modes of thinking--of +the intellectual life of unlettered and Pagan ages. He has passed +through that _transition state_ in which Dr Thirlwall unfortunately +found himself, and has drawn with a firm hand the boundaries between +history and fable. Not only has he drawn the line, and determined the +principle on which the limits of the historical world should be marked +out, but he has had the fortitude to adhere to his own principles, and +has not allowed himself, in pursuit of some fragment of historic truth, +(many of which doubtless lie in a half-discovered state beyond the +circle he has drawn,) to transgress the boundary he has wisely +prescribed to himself. The history is not far enough advanced to enable +us to judge whether Mr Grote will preserve himself from a political +bias, the opposite of that which has been so much censured in Mitford. A +sufficient portion however, is published, to authorise us in saying that +it is not in point of _narrative_ that the present author will obtain +any advantage over his predecessors. It is in disquisition that he +rejoices, and succeeds; it is the argumentative matter which excites and +sustains him. His style seems to languish when the effort of +ratiocination gives place to the task of the narrator. We fancy we see +him resume the pen with listlessness, when nothing remains for the +historian but to tell his story. + +Neither can we congratulate Mr Grote on possessing the art of +arrangement or compression, on the knowing when to abbreviate, or how to +omit. His subject has in itself this unavoidable disadvantage, that the +history of Greece lies scattered and broken up amongst many independent +cities and communities: this disadvantage our author's voluminous and +discursive manner does nothing to remedy, does much to aggravate. One +would almost suspect that Mr Grote had entertained the idea that it +belonged to the history of Greece to give us an account of all that the +Greeks knew of history. It seems sufficient that a subject has been +mentioned by Herodotus to entitle it to a place in his pages. This +fulness of matter, it may be said, will enrich the work. Very true. But +what if, in this process of enriching, the work be made unreadable? +What if the treasures be so piled up and heaped together that to get at +them may be little less difficult than to extract the precious metals +originally from the mine? If the work advance on the plan hitherto +pursued, it will be found that, "A History of Greece" is far too +restricted a title, and that it should rather have been called a history +of the ancient world during the times when the Greeks rose and +flourished;--so well disposed does the author appear to wander over to +Phoenicia and Assyria, to Babylon and Egypt. Mr Alison might as well +have entitled his great historical work simply a history of the French +Revolution. It is true, there is no reason to be given why Mr Grote +should not do for ancient Europe during the period of the development of +the Greeks, what Mr Alison has done for modern Europe during the great +drama enacted by the people of France. Unhappily, however, Mr Grote does +not possess those descriptive powers which, in the work of Mr Alison, +render the parts which are most episodical, invariably the most +interesting; so that, however important and eventful the main stream of +his narrative may be, a reader of Alison always delights to find the +author starting afresh from some remote era, on some distant soil, and +call willingly quit even Paris and her Revolution, to revisit with him +the rustic republics of Switzerland, or to build up Holland again from +the sea, or to call to life the people of Poland, and fill the plains +again with their strange military diet of a hundred thousand mounted +senators. + +There is much of the philosopher, little of the artist, in Mr. Grote; +nor are the charms of style those which he has sedulously cultivated, or +by which he is anxious to obtain attention. He writes in a manly, +straightforward manner, and expresses his meaning with sufficient force +and perspicuity: but there is no sustained elegance of diction; there is +often all apparent disdain of it. At least we meet occasionally with +quite conversational expressions, introduced--not, be it remarked, with +that dexterous ease and felicitous taste which render them so effective +in compositions of the highest order--but bluntly, carelessly, as if +they were verily the first that came to hand, and the author did not +think it worth his while to look for others. It should be mentioned, +however, that this inequality of style is partly the effect of a desire +to keep as close as possible in his narrative to the original Greek, so +that it is the crudeness of _translation_ we sometimes encounter. We +raise no quarrel with him ourselves on this point; his language, in +general, is all that is requisite; but a critic disposed to be severe on +the minor delinquencies of style, might justify his censure by +extracting many a hasty and neglected sentence, and many all uncouth +expression. In fine, we accept of the present work as a valuable +contribution to the history of Greece, and to the science itself of +history; we accept it as a manifest improvement upon its predecessors in +some of the highest and most important elements of historical +composition; but we by no means accept it as _the_ History of Greece, as +the final narrative of the people of Athens and Sparta. For this it is +too polemical, diffuse, incondite. On the ground which this writer and +others have been obliged to contend for, which they have conquered and +cleared, our posterity will one day, it is to be hoped, see a structure +arise--grand, and simple, and yet ornate. For if the fitness of things +be a rule for our expectation, we may safely prophesy that some future +age will possess a History of Greece which will be to all other +histories what the Grecian temple is to all other temples; which shall +be itself a temple worthy of the memory of the most extraordinary people +that have yet appeared upon the earth. + +Mr Grote has done in the history of Greece what Dr Arnold did in that of +Rome: he has at once excluded the early legends entirely from the class +of historical records. The outcry which we sometimes hear against that +scepticism which has resulted from later and more severe investigations +into the nature of historical evidence, and the loss thereby sustained +of many a popular tale, is--need we insist upon it?--mere childishness. +It is never found that we lose any thing by truth, and certainly not +here. The popular tale, legend, or myth, may be displaced entirely from +the records of the past, (for what it contains, or may be supposed to +contain, of fact or event;) but it remains with us in its true character +of fable, as the offspring of the teeming invention and the ready faith +of an unlettered generation; and, in this character, is more thoroughly +understood by our present race of thinkers, and more vividly +appreciated, than it ever was before. But shall we believe _nothing_ of +it?--surely something, must be true,--is the whole legend to be lost? To +such exclamations we answer, that the whole legend, instead of being +lost, is regained, is restored to us. While you doubt of its true +nature, and strive to make it speak the language of history, you can +never see the legend itself,--never clearly understand it,--never gather +from it the curious knowledge it is able to reveal of our own species. +If, instead of looking askance at the bold inventions of past times, +with a half faith and a half denial, busied with tricks of +interpretation, and teased with ever-recurring incredulity, you embrace +it cordially as the genuine product of an imaginative age, redolent of +the marvellous, you will, as such, gather from it a far higher and more +profitable instruction than could be extracted from some supposed +historic fact which it is thought to conceal, and which is received as +credible on the very ground that it resembles a host of similar facts +already well established. + +We heartily approve and applaud the resolute abstinence with which Mr +Grote has refrained from seeking for some supposed historical basis in +mere legend and fable; we believe that his work, in this point of view, +is calculated to have an excellent influence, not only on all future +historians of Greece, but on all who shall undertake to write the early +history of any people whatever. With the exception of Dr Arnold's +History of Rome, we know of no work where there is the same true +appreciation shown of the real value, and proper use, of legendary +traditions. Certainly amongst the great scholars of Germany, whatever +their undoubted merits in other respects, there is very little of this +wise reticence, this philosophical forbearance; and if the two English +historians, whom we have named together, be surpassed in critical +knowledge by the learned men of Germany, or in brilliant narrative by +the writers of France, they are superior to their contemporaries in both +countries in the sound application of learning to ancient history, and +their attachment to the sobriety of truth. With much less show of +philosophic _system_, they have more of philosophy. + +"The times which I have thus set apart," writes Mr Grote, in his +preface, "from the region of history, are discernible only through a +different atmosphere--that of epic poetry and legend. To confound +together these disparate matters is, in my judgment, essentially +unphilosophical. I describe the earlier times by themselves, as +conceived by the faith and feeling of the first Greek, and known only +through their legends,--without presuming to measure how much or how +little of historical matter these legends may contain. If the reader +blame me for not assisting him to determine this,--if he ask me why I do +not undraw the curtain and disclose the picture,--I reply in the words +of the painter Zeuxis, when the same question was addressed to him, on +exhibiting his master-piece of imitative art--'The curtain _is_ the +picture.' What we now read as poetry and legend was once accredited +history, and the only genuine history which the first Greeks could +conceive or relish of their past time: the curtain conceals nothing +behind, and cannot by any ingenuity be withdrawn. I undertake only to +show it as it stands,--not to efface, still less to repaint it." + +A simple uninstructed age believes its own legend; it asks no question +upon the point of credibility; with such an age, to hear, is to believe. +Originally, indeed, with all of us, to have a conception of any thing is +tantamount to believing that it exists, or has existed: belief is no +separate act of mind, but is itself included in the perception or the +thought; it is experience and reflection which have to ingraft their +_disbelief_, and teach us that every thing we _think_ is not equally +_true_. An ignorant people are all children, and with them there is but +one rule of faith: the more vivid the impression, the stronger the +belief,--the more marvellous the story, the less possibility of doubting +it. And consider this--that we, owing to our scientific habits of +thought, and the long record of the by-gone world which lies open to us, +entertain it as a general law, that the past has, in certain essentials, +resembled the present; but our unlettered people, looking out into the +blank foretime, would have no such law to regulate or restrain their +belief. On the contrary, their impression would naturally be, that the +past was, essentially different from the present, or why was it _past_? +Why all this change and transiency, if the same things were to be +repeated? All people that have had no records have filled up the void +with beings and events as unlike as possible to those they were familiar +with. They had a prevailing impression that that blank space was the +region of the wonderful; and the day-dreamer, the imaginative man, who +was, naturally enough, proclaimed to be inspired, since none could tell +how his knowledge came, was generally at hand to fill up the blank space +with appropriate picture. + +An age of awakening criticism begins to find the legend doubtful--cannot +entirely believe, cannot entirely dismiss the old familiar +story,--begins to interpret it as allegory, or to separate the probable +incidents from the improbable, receiving the first, rejecting the +second. A new rule of faith has been introduced; not what is most +captivating and strange, but what best harmonises with the common +occurrences of life, is to be the most readily believed. The exuberant +legend is therefore pruned down and mutilated, or it is represented as +the fantastic shadow of some quite natural circumstance,--strange shadow +for such substance!--and in this state it is admitted to a certain +credence. But who sees not that this is no separation of history from +fable, but merely a reduction of the fable into something we can +pronounce to be probable? But the probability of this residue is no +sufficient ground for our belief; no one, surely, supposes that +imagination deals in nothing but impossibilities. The utmost effort, the +wildest flight of fancy, could not always keep clear of probability; and +it would be strange indeed if the romantic fiction could claim our faith +at every point where, by chance, it had touched the earth. One might as +well sift, in the same manner, a fiction of the Arabian Nights; and, +setting aside the supernatural, admit whatever is natural to be true. +The wonderful properties of Aladdin's lamp shall be given up; but that +Aladdin had an old lamp, and that his wife sold it when he was out of +the way, this shall remain admissible. + +A third age, however, arrives, still more critical, more justly and +profoundly analytic. It recognises that, by the process just described, +a dead residuum of little value and doubtful reality is the utmost that +can be obtained, While the real value of the subject of this untutored +chemistry has been lost in the experiment. It returns to the +legend--contemplates it in its entire, and genuine form. It sees that +the legend is the true history of the minds that created and believed +it--a very important history--but of little or nothing else. Seen in +this light, there is, indeed, no comparison between the value of the +poetic fable as a contribution to the history of mankind, and the value +of the prosaic and ordinary fact which a half critical age (if sure of +its _guess_) would extract from it. Think for a moment of all the +marvels of the Argonautic expedition; that vessel, itself sentient and +intelligent, having its prophet as well as pilot on board, darting +through rocks which move and join together, like huge pincers, to crush +the passing ship; think of the wondrous Medea who conducted the homeward +voyage, and reflect upon the sort of people who created and credited all +these marvels. Then turn to the semi-critical version of Strabo, where +the whole expedition resolves itself into an invasion of some unknown +king, of some unknown country, whose wealth stands typified in the +golden fleece. Such writers as Strabo commit a two-fold error. They +corrupt history, and they destroy the legend. They write an unauthorised +narrative, and explain the nature and genius of the fable in a manner +equally unauthorised. + +Or take an instance still more familiar. The legend tells us that +Romulus--as was thought befitting the founder of Rome--died in no +ordinary manner, but was translated to the skies. He had called the +people together on the field of Mars, "when," in the simple language +which Dr Arnold has appropriated to these legendary stories--"when all +on a sudden there arose a dreadful storm, and all was dark as night; and +the rain, and the thunder, and the lightning, were so terrible that all +the people fled from the field, and ran to their homes. At last the +storm was over, and they came back to the field of Mars, but Romulus was +nowhere to be found, for Mars, his father, had carried him up to heaven +in his chariot." Dionysius the Greek found, in this mysterious +disappearance, a proof of the assassination of Romulus by certain of his +nobles, who stabbed him and conveyed him away in the thunder-storm. And +our own Hooke thought himself equally sagacious, in his day, when he +adopted this interpretation. But what is it that we have here? Not +history certainly; and as little an intelligent view of the fable. + +What Hooke did, in his day, occasionally, and in an empirical manner, +some German literati have attempted in a quite systematic, _a priori_ +fashion. They first determine that the myth or legend has been composed +by a certain play of the imagination--as the representing the history of +a people, or a tribe, under the personal adventures of an imaginary +being; and then they hope to unravel this work of the fancy, and get +back again the raw material of plain truth. If they are partially +correct in describing this to have been _one_ course the imagination +pursued--which is all that can be admitted--still the attempt is utterly +hopeless to recover, in its first shape, what has been confessedly +disguised and distorted. The naturalists of Laputa were justified in +supposing that the light of the sun had much to do with the growth of +gerkins, but it does not follow that they would succeed in their project +of "extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers." + +For the _briefest_ illustration we can call to mind of this +philosophical ingenuity, we will refer the reader to Michelet's preface +to his History of Rome. We see the absurdity none the worse for it being +presented through the transparent medium of the French writer. He thus +explains the discovery of the learned Germans whom he follows:--"Ce +qu'il y a de plus original, c'est d'avoir prouve que ces fictions +historiques etaient une necessite de notre nature. L'humanite d'abord +materielle et grossiere, ne pouvait dans les langues encore toutes +concretes, exprimer la pensee abstraite, qu'en la realisant, en lui +donnant un corps, une personalite humaine, un nom propre. Le meme besoin +do simplification, si naturel a la faiblesse, fit aussi designer une +collection d'individus par un nom d'homme. Cet homme mythique, ce fils +de la pensee populaire, exprima a la fois le peuple et l'idee du peuple. +Romulus c'etait la force, et le peuple de la force; Juda, l'election +divine et le peuple elu." + +Having thus expounded the theory of the construction of a myth, he +afterwards tries his hand upon the resolution of one into its +constituent elements. The fourth chapter of his introduction commences +thus:--"Circe, dit Hesiode, (_Theog._ v. 1111, 1115) eut d'Ulysse deux +fils, Latinos et Agrios (le barbare,) qui au fond des saintes iles +gouvenerent la race celebre des Tyrseniens. J'enterpreterais volontiers +ce passage de la maniere suivante: Des Pelasges, navigateurs et +magiciens, (c'est-a-dire, industrieux) sortirent les deux grandes +societes Italiennes--les _Osci_, (dont les Latins sont une tribu,) et +les Tusci ou Etrusques. Circe, fille du soleil, a tous les caracteres +d'une Telchine Pelasgique. Le poete nous la montre pres d'un grand feu, +rarement utile dans un pays chaud, si ce n'est pour un but industriel; +elle file la toile, ou prepare de puissants breuvages." + +The theory and the application, it will be seen, are worthy of each +other. All comment would be superfluous. We have preferred to retain the +original language for this, amongst other reasons, that we should have +found it difficult to represent in honest English the exact degree of +affirmation to which the Frenchman pledges himself by his +"j'enterpreterais volontiers." It is something less than conviction, and +something more than guess;--it certainly should be, or it ought to have +no place in history. + +It is not by mangling the legend, or by predicating of it fantastic +modes of construction, that the few grains of sober fact concealed about +it are to be secured; but by studying honestly the laws of imagination +under which all fabulous narratives are constructed. However wildly the +fancy may range in the main events of a fable, there will be always a +certain portion of the details gathered from real life; and the manners +and morals of an age may be depicted in fictions, the substance of which +is altogether supernatural. The heroes fight like gods, but they dine +and dress like ordinary mortals. Achilles drags the body of Hector three +times round the walls of Troy, both armies looking on the while. Such +sight the earth never beheld. But the ear of the warrior and the harness +of his steeds resembled such as had been seen or heard of. The poet +invents a centaur, but not the bow and arrow he puts into his hands. His +hero scales the sky, but carries with him the sandal on his foot which +was made in the village below. + +"Three-fourths of the two volumes now presented to the public," +continues Mr Grote in his preface, "are destined to elucidate this age +of historical faith as distinguished from the later age of historical +reason: to exhibit its basis in the human mind--an omnipresent religious +and personal interpretation of nature; to illustrate it by comparison +with the like mental habit in early modern Europe; to show its immense +abundance and variety of narrative matter, with little care for +consistency between one story and another; lastly, to set forth the +causes which overgrew, and partially supplanted the old epical +sentiment, and introduced, in the room of literal faith, a variety of +compromises and interpretations." This is the just application of the +legends of Greece, forming, as they do, the very best description of the +people whose exploits and career the author is about to narrate. This is +a truer commencement of the history than that which appears at first +sight more strictly historical--namely, an investigation into the +obscure tribes which inhabited the same country prior to that people who +are known to us as Greeks--an investigation that is to be carried on by +strained interpretations of these very legends. We congratulate both +author and reader on this escape from the fruitless entanglement of the +Pelasgian controversy. Mr Grote seems to have taken due warning from the +difficulties and embarrassments in which his predecessor has here +involved himself. Dr Thirlwall is a judicious, a succinct, and lucid +writer, and yet a more tedious, confused, and utterly unsatisfactory +piece of history no man can read than the account he gives us, in his +opening volume, of the Pelasgians. The subject is clearly hopeless. From +the first sentence to the last of that account, a painful confusion +attends upon the reader--not the fault, we are ready to believe, of the +historian, unless it be a fault to attempt a statement of facts where +the materials for such a statement do not exist. "The people"--Dr +Thirlwall thus commences--"whom we call Greeks--the Hellenes--were not, +_at least under this name_, the first inhabitants of Greece. Many names +have been recorded of races that preceded them there, which they in +later times considered barbarous, or foreign in language and manners to +themselves." Here the very first sentence proclaims a doubt how far the +change was one of race or only of name, and this doubt pursues us +throughout the whole inquiry. It is never solved by the author, but is +sometimes _forgotten_ by him; for he occasionally proceeds with the +discussion as if he had left no such doubt behind him undetermined. At +one time he states distinctly, "we find that though in early times +Thessaly, and the north of Greece in general, was the scene of frequent +migrations and revolutions so that its ancient inhabitants may here and +there have been completely displaced by new tribes, Attica appears never +to have undergone such a change; and Peloponnesus lost no considerable +part of its original population till long after the whole had become +Hellenic." (P. 54.) Herodotus had said that certain Pelasgians living in +his time spoke a language different from the Greeks. Dr Thirlwall puts +the passage of Herodotus upon the rack to extract from it a confession +that the difference was not greater than between one dialect of Greek +from another. Yet, as the narrative proceeds--if narrative it can be +called--we have the Pelasgians and the Greeks represented as essentially +distinct people; and we hear of the difficulty of determining "the +precise point of civilisation to which the Pelasgians had advanced, +before the Greeks overtook and outstripped them." The whole treatise, +notwithstanding the air of decision now and then assumed, is but an +amplification of the doubt implied in the very first sentence of it. + +The legends which fill up the dark space with _eponymous_ heroes, as +they have been called--heroes who take the name of a tribe in order to +bestow it back upon the tribe; for it was the Greek mode of thinking at +these early periods to presume that every tribe, or _gens_, had a common +progenitor from whom it took its title and origin,--these legends are at +one time treated with the due suspicion which should attend upon them; +yet, at another, if a fortunate congruity, some lucky "dovetailing," can +be observed amongst them, they are raised into the rank of historical +evidence. The mode of interpretation which we have described as +characterising the first and undisciplined age of critical inquiry, is +not laid aside. Such personages as Danaus and Aeolus are still referred +to on emergency; and Dr Thirlwall still speaks of the Centaurs as "a +fabulous race, which, however, may be supposed to represent the earlier +and ruder inhabitants of the land." If we must call in the Centaurs to +our assistance, we may safely conclude with Mr Grote that the ancient +Pelasgians are "not knowable." + +"Whoever," writes our author, when the course of his narrative brings +him to speak of the anti-Hellenic tribes--"Whoever has examined the many +conflicting systems respecting the Pelasgi--from the literal belief of +Clavier, Larcher, and Raoul Rochette, (which appears to me at least the +most consistent way of proceeding,) to the interpretative and +half-incredulous processes applied by abler men--such as Niebuhr, or O. +Mueller, or Dr Thirlwall--will not be displeased with my resolution to +decline so insoluble a problem. No attested facts are now present to +us--none were present to Herodotus and Thucydides even in their age, on +which to build trustworthy affirmations respecting the anti-Hellenic +Pelasgians; and where such is the case we may without impropriety apply +the remark of Herodotus respecting one of the theories which he had +heard for explaining the inundation of the Nile by a supposed connexion +with the ocean--that the man who carries up his story into the invisible +world, passes out of the range of criticism."[2] And he adds the +following pithy note:--"Niebuhr puts together all the mythical and +genealogical traces, many of them in the highest degree vague and +equivocal, of the existence of Pelasgi in various localities; and then, +summing up their cumulative effect, asserts, 'not as an hypothesis, but +with full historical conviction, that there was a time when the +Pelasgians, perhaps the most extended people in all Europe, were spread +from the Po and the Arno to the Rhyndakus,' (near Cyzicus,) with only an +interruption in Thrace. What is perhaps the most remarkable of all, is +the contrast between his feeling of disgust, despair, and aversion to +the subject when he begins the inquiry:--'the name Pelasgi,' he says, +'is odious to the historian, who hates the spurious philology out of +which the pretences to knowledge on the subject of such extinct people +arise;' and the full confidence and satisfaction with which he concludes +it." + +Amongst these legends which Mr Grote thus relates for the simple purpose +of showing what filled the minds of the Greek people when we first +become historically acquainted with them, is one conspicuous above all +others, and to which most men still cling tenaciously, finding it +impossible to resign _all_ of it to the region of fable--we mean "the +divine tale of Troy." Many who relinquish without effort the Argonautic +expedition, and as an historical problem are glad to be rid of it,--who +resign all attempt to extract a prosaic truth out of the exploits of +Theseus or the labours of Hercules, and who smile at mention of the race +of Amazons--a race so well accredited in ancient times that neither the +sceptical Arrian nor Julius Caesar himself ventured to doubt of their +existence--would yet shrink from surrendering the tale of Troy, with all +its military details, and all its hosts, and all its kings and +chieftains, entirely to the domain of fiction. What! No part of it +true?--no Agamemnon?--no Ulysses?--no Troy taken?--no battles on that +plain where the traveller still traces the position of the hostile +forces? "Those old kings," they might exclaim in the language of Milton, +when writing in his history of that fabulous line of English monarchs +which sprang from Brute the Trojan--in his time still lingering in men's +faith, now suffered to sleep unvexed by the keenest historical +research,--"Those old and inborn kings, never any to have been real +persons, or done in their lives at least some part of what so long hath +been remembered--_it cannot be thought_, without too strict +incredulity."[3] + +Nevertheless the whole narrative, were it not for the familiarity we +early acquire with the persons and exploits of this famous legend, would +be seen at once to have all the characteristics of poetic fiction. And +it is curious to trace, with our author, how, after having long stood +its ground as veritable history amongst the people of Greece, it +sustained attack after attack, first from ancient then from modern +criticism, and has been gradually denuded of all its glorious +circumstance, till now, even for those who are most willing to believe, +there remains the driest, scantiest residue imaginable of what may be +pronounced to be probable fact. Herodotus, with all his veneration for +Homer, could not assent to attribute the Trojan war to the cause +popularly assigned: he seems to have been of the opinion of our Payne +Knight, that the Greeks and Trojans could not have been so mad as to +incur so dire calamities "for one little woman." We confess that, for +ourselves, this is not the part of the story which would have first +staggered us. The immediate cause may be very trifling that brings two +angry rivals into conflict, and, the war once commenced, they fight on +for victory; the first object of the strife is forgotten in the strife +itself, and each opponent thinks only how to destroy his enemy. +Herodotus, however, had heard another account from the priests of Egypt, +which made him still more disposed to dispute the popular tradition. +According to this account, Helen was in fact detained in Egypt during +the whole term of the siege. Paris, it seems, in sailing from Sparta, +had been driven thither by a storm; and the king of Egypt, hearing of +the wrong he had committed towards Menelaus, had sent him out of the +country, and detained Helen till her lawful husband should appear to +claim her. The misfortune was, that when the Greeks before Troy demanded +Helen, and were told that she neither was, nor had been in the town, +they would not believe the story, but continued to thunder at the gates. +"For if Helen had really been in Troy," says Herodotus, "she would +certainly have been given up, even if she had been mistress of Priam +himself instead of Paris: the Trojan king, with all his family and all +his subjects, would never knowingly have incurred utter and +irretrievable destruction for the purpose of retaining her; their +misfortune was, that while they did not possess, and therefore could not +restore her, they yet found it impossible to convince the Greeks that +such was the fact." + +Pausanias, a reasoning man, starts at the Trojan horse: he converts it +into a battering-ram, as he cannot believe the Trojans to have been +deceived by so childish a trick. + +Thucydides, a man who knew something of campaigning, is astonished at +the length of the siege; and perhaps his patriotism was put a little to +the blush at the idea that the assembled forces of Greece should be +occupied ten years before a town of very inconsiderable magnitude; for +no town of Ilium, we may remark in passing, ever existed that could +present a worthy object of attack to so great a power, or was at all +commensurate with the vast enterprise said to have been directed against +it. He concluded, therefore, without hesitation, "that the Greeks were +less numerous than the poets have represented, and that being, moreover, +very poor, they were unable to procure adequate and constant provisions: +hence they were compelled to disperse their army, and to employ a part +of it in cultivating the Chersonese, and a part in marauding expeditions +over the neighbourhood. Could the whole army have been employed against +Troy at once, the siege would have been much more speedily and easily +concluded." As Mr Grote justly observes, the critical historian might, +with equal authority, have proceeded by a shorter method, and at once +abridged the length of the siege. + +"Though literally believed," he continues, speaking of the Trojan war, +"though reverentially cherished, and numbered among the gigantic +phenomena of the past, by the Grecian public, it is in the eyes of +modern inquiry essentially a legend, and nothing more. If we are asked +if it be not a legend embodying portions of historical matter, and +raised upon a basis of truth,--whether there may not really have +occurred at the foot of the hill of Ilium a war purely human and +political, without gods, without heroes, without Helen, without Amazons, +without Ethiopians under the beautiful son of Eos, without the wooden +horse, without the characteristic and expressive features of the old +epical war--like the mutilated trunk of Deiphobus in the under-world--if +we are asked whether there was not really some such historical Trojan +war as this, our answer must be, that as the possibility of it cannot be +denied, so neither can the reality of it be affirmed. We possess nothing +but the ancient epic itself, without any independent evidence: had it +been an age of records, indeed, the Homeric epic, in its exquisite and +unsuspecting simplicity, would probably never have come into existence. +Whoever, therefore, ventures to dissect Homer, Arctinus, and Lesches, +and to pick out certain portions as matters of fact, while he sets aside +the rest as fiction, must do so in full reliance on his own powers of +historical divination, without any means either of proving or verifying +his conclusions."[4] + +Take Helen from Troy, and Achilles son of Thetis from the camp, and say +there was _a_ siege--this is a result which few, perhaps, would care to +contend about. It is the only result for which Dr Thirlwall contends, +who on this subject approximates as nearly as possible to the opinion of +Mr Grote. That there was a siege, however, Dr Thirlwall maintains with +considerable pertinacity; but it happens, curiously enough, that his +argument precisely supplies the last link that was wanting to complete +the sceptical view of the subject. Most persons, we apprehend, are +disposed to adhere to the belief that some famous siege must have taken +place, or why should the poet's imagination take this direction?--why +should he cluster his heroes and his exploits round the walls of Troy? +Now, the effect of Dr Thirlwall's line of argument is to show how the +poet's imagination was likely to take this direction, and yet there have +been no siege of Troy, none at least by Agamemnon and his allies, none +at the epoch which Homer assigns to it. + +"We conceive it necessary," says Dr Thirlwall, "to admit the reality of +the Trojan war as a general fact; but beyond this we scarcely venture to +proceed a single step."[5] He finds it impossible to adopt the poetical +story of its origin, partly from its inherent improbability, and partly +"because we are convinced that Helen is a merely mythological person. It +would be sufficient," he says, "to raise a strong suspicion of her +fabulous nature to observe that she is classed by Herodotus with Io, and +Europa, and Medea--all of them persons who, on distinct grounds, must +clearly be referred to the domain of mythology. This suspicion is +confirmed by all the particulars of her legend; by her birth, (the +daughter of Jupiter, according to Homer;) by her relation to the divine +Twins, whose worship seems to have been one of the most ancient forms of +religion in Peloponnesus, and especially in Laconia; and by the divine +honours paid to her in Laconia and elsewhere." + +Compelled to reject the cause of the war assigned by Homer, and finding +Helen a merely mythological person, "we are driven," he continues, "to +conjecture to discover the true cause; yet not so as to be wholly +without traces to direct us." He then refers to the legend which, +numbering Hercules among the Argonauts, supposes him, on the voyage, to +have rendered a service to the Trojan king Laomedon, who afterwards +defrauded him of his stipulated recompense. Whereupon Hercules, coming +with some seven ships, is said to have taken and sacked Troy; an event +which is alluded to and recognised by Homer. "And thus we see," adds the +author, "Troy already provoking the enmity or tempting the cupidity of +the Greeks, in the generation before the celebrated war; and it may be +easily conceived that if its power and opulence revived after this blow, +it might again excite the same feelings." + +Very easily conceived, but not rendered a jot more easy by aid of this +legend of Hercules. The story of him of the Twelve Labours, who had been +cheated of the divine mares for which he had bargained, and had mere +earthly mares given to him, and who therefore, in revenge, had sacked +the town of Troy, is, in the first place, so interpreted as to show +"that the opulence of that city had in former times tempted the cupidity +of the Greeks;" and then this interpretation is made a ground for +supposing that a similar motive had led to the expedition of Agamemnon +and his chiefs. As well, surely, have said at once of the second war, +what is said of the first, that it was an ordinary case of plunder and +violence. It is hard to understand how the earlier legend can assist in +giving an historical character to the later. + +But the elder legend may assist in explaining how a siege of Troy became +the great subject of the Homeric poems; and thus, whatever there was of +actual siege may be carried altogether into that remote anterior epoch +which is shadowed forth, if you will, under the exploits of Hercules. +For with that charming candour by which he often contrives to neutralise +the errors of his conjectural method of writing history, Dr Thirlwall +himself adds:--"This expedition of Hercules may indeed suggest a doubt +_whether it was not an earlier and simpler form of the same tradition, +which grew at length into the argument of the Iliad_; for there is a +striking resemblance between the two wars, not only in the events, but +in the principal actors. As the prominent figures in the second siege +are Agamemnon and Achilles, who represent the royal house of Mycenae, and +that of the Aeacids; so in the first the Argive Hercules is accompanied +by the Aeacid Telamon; and even the quarrel and reconciliation of the +allied chiefs are features common to both traditions."[6] + +The disquisition on the legend of Troy naturally leads the historian, +and will naturally suggest to our own readers, the mooted question of +the authorship of the Homeric poems. Some of them be happy to learn that +the opinion of Mr Grote is not of so sceptical a nature as they may +have been prepared to expect. The Wolfian hypothesis he by no means +adopts--namely, that before the time of Pisistratus, there was no such +thing in existence as an extended and entire epic, but that the two +great epics we now possess were then constructed by stringing together a +number of detached poems, the separate chants of the old Greek bards or +rhapsodists. Mr Grote sees in the _Odyssey_ all the marks of unity of +design, and of what he rather quaintly calls "single-headed authorship." +With regard to the _Iliad_, he admits that there is not the same +stringent evidence of an original plan according to which the whole poem +has been written, and he detects here the signs of interpolation and +addition. According to his view, there is in the poem, as we possess it, +an original whole, which he calls the Achilleis, to which additions have +been made from other sources, converting the Achilleis into an Iliad. +But our readers would prefer to have the words themselves of the author; +and the following passage will present them with a very intelligent view +of this famous controversy:-- + + "That the _Iliad_ is not so essentially one piece as the _Odyssey_, + every man agrees. It includes a much greater multiplicity of + events, and what is yet more important, a greater multiplicity of + prominent personages: the very indefinite title which it bears, as + contrasted with the speciality of the name _Odyssey_, marks the + difference at once. The parts stand out more conspicuously from the + whole, and admit more readily of being felt and appreciated in + detached recitation. We may also add, that it is of more unequal + execution than the _Odyssey-_-often rising to a far higher pitch of + grandeur, but also occasionally tamer: the story does not move on + continually; incidents occur without plausible motive, nor can we + shut our eyes to evidences of incoherence and contradiction. + + "To a certain extent, the _Iliad_ is open to all these remarks, + though Wolf and W. Mueller, and above all, Lachmann, exaggerate the + case in degree. And from hence has been deduced the hypothesis + which treats the part in their original state as separate integers, + independent of, and unconnected with each other, and forced into + unity only by the afterthought of a subsequent age; or sometimes + not even themselves as integers, but as aggregates grouped together + out of fragments still smaller--short epics formed by the + coalescence of still shorter songs. Now there is some plausibility + in these reasonings, so long as the _discrepancies_ are looked upon + as the whole of the case. But in point of fact they are not the + whole of the case; for it is not less true that there are large + portions of the _Iliad_, which present positive and undeniable + evidences of _coherence_, as antecedent and consequent, though we + are occasionally perplexed by inconsistencies of detail. To deal + with these latter, is a portion of the duties of a critic; but he + is not to treat the _Iliad_ as if inconsistency prevailed every + where throughout its parts; for coherence of parts--symmetrical + antecedence and consequence--is discernible throughout the larger + half of the poem. + + "Now the Wolfian theory explains the gaps and contradictions + throughout the narrative, but it explains nothing else. If (as + Lachmann thinks) the _Iliad_ originally consisted of sixteen songs + or little substantive epics, not only composed by different + authors, but by each without any view to conjunction with the + rest--we have then no right to expect any intrinsic continuity + between them; and all that continuity which we now find must be of + extraneous origin. Where are we to look for the origin? Lachmann + follows Wolf in ascribing the whole constructive process to + Peisistratus and his associates, at the period when the creative + epical faculty is admitted to have died out. But upon this + supposition, Peisistratus (or his associate) must have done much + more than omit, transpose, and interpolate, here and there; he must + have gone far to re-write the whole poem. A great poet might have + re-cast pre-existing separate songs into one comprehensive whole, + but no mere arrangers or compilers would be competent to do so; and + we are thus left without any means of accounting for that degree of + continuity and consistency which runs through so large a portion of + the _Iliad_, though not through the whole. The idea that the poem + as we read it grew out of atoms, not originally designed for the + places which they now occupy, involves us in new and inextricable + difficulties when we seek to elucidate either the mode of + coalescence or the degree of existing unity. + + "Admitting, then, premeditated adaptation of parts to a certain + extent as essential to the _Iliad_, we may yet inquire whether it + was produced all at once or gradually enlarged--whether by one + author or by several; and, if the parts be of different age, which + is the primitive kernel, and which are the additions? + + "Welcker, Lange, and Nitzeh, treat the Homeric poems as + representing a second step in advance in the progress of popular + poetry: First comes the age of short narrative songs; next, when + these have become numerous, there arise constructive minds who + re-cast and blend together many of them into a larger aggregate, + conceived upon some scheme of their own. The age of the epos is + followed by that of the epopee: short spontaneous effusions prepare + the way, and furnish materials for the architectonic genius of the + poet. It is farther presumed by the above-mentioned authors that + the pre-Homeric epic included a great abundance of such smaller + songs--a fact which admits of no proof, but which seems + countenanced by some passages in Homer, and is in itself no way + improbable. But the transition from such songs, assuming them to be + ever so numerous, to a combined and continuous poem, forms an epoch + in the intellectual history of a nation, implying mental qualities + of a higher order than those upon which the songs themselves + depend. Nor is it at all to be imagined that the materials pass + unaltered from their first state of combination: they must of + necessity be re-cast, and undergo an adapting process, in which the + genius of the organising poet consists; and we cannot hope, by + simply knowing them as they exist in the second stage, ever to + divine how they stood in the first. Such, in my judgment, is the + right conception of the Homeric epoch--an organising poetical mind, + still preserving that freshness of observation and vivacity of + details which constitutes the charm of the ballad. + + "Nothing is gained by studying the Iliad as a congeries of + fragments once independent of each other: no portion of the poem + can be shown to have ever been so, and the supposition introduces + difficulties greater than those which it removes. But it is not + necessary to affirm that the whole poem, as we now read it, + belonged to the original and preconceived plan. In this respect the + _Iliad_ produces upon my mind an impression totally different from + the _Odyssey._ In the latter poem the characters and incidents are + fewer; the whole plot appears of one projection, from the beginning + down to the death of the suitors: none of the parts look as if they + had been composed separately, and inserted by way of addition into + a pre-existing smaller poem. But the _Iliad_, on the contrary, + presents the appearance of a house built upon a plan comparatively + narrow, and subsequently enlarged by successive additions. The + first book, together with the eighth, and the books from the + eleventh to the twenty-second inclusive, seem to form the primary + organisation of the poem, then properly an _Achilleis_: the + twenty-third and twenty-fourth books are additions at the tail of + this primitive poem, which still leave it nothing more than an + enlarged _Achilleis_: but the books from the second to the seventh + inclusive, together with the tenth, are of a wider and more + comprehensive character, and convert the poem from an _Achilleis_ + into an _Iliad_. The primitive frontispiece, inscribed with the + anger of Achilles and its direct consequences, yet remains, after + it has ceased to be co-extensive with the poems. The parts added, + however, are not necessarily inferior in merit to the original + poem: so far is this from being the case, that amongst them are + comprehended some of the noblest efforts of the Grecian + epic."--(Vol. ii. p. 230.) + +To many persons the undisputed fact that the Homeric poems were composed +to be recited, not read, has appeared a convincing proof that they could +not have originally assumed the form in which they are known to us. For +setting aside the difficulty of preserving by the aid only of memory, +and the still greater difficulty of _composing_ a long poem without help +of the manuscript, to keep _secure_ the part already completed, what +motive, it has been said, could induce the poet to undertake so great +and so superfluous a labour? Why indite a poem so much longer than could +be recited on any one occasion, and which, _as a whole_, could never be +appreciated? But we would suggest that it is not necessary to suppose +that the poet commenced his labours with the project in view of writing +a long epic, in order to believe that we possess these two great poems +very nearly in the original form in which they were composed. If it were +the task of the poet or poets to supply a number of songs on the +adventures of a popular hero, or the achievements of some famous war, +such number of songs _must_ assume a certain consecutive order, the one +will necessarily grow out of the other. Let any one reflect for a moment +how the work of composition proceeds, and he will perceive that it would +be impossible for a poet to take any one such subject as the siege of +Troy, or the return of Ulysses, as the theme for a number of separate +poems, and not find that he was writing, with more or less continuity, +one long entire poem. This continuity would be improved and especially +attended to, when a certain _order_ came to be preserved (as we know it +was) in the recitation of the several poems. We have no difficulty, +therefore, in believing that, in the time of Pisistratus, the _editors_ +of Homer might have had very little to do to give them that degree of +completeness and unity which they at present display. A number of +consecutive songs upon the same subject would naturally grow into an +epic. + +No decisive argument, we submit, can be drawn from the absence or +limited application of the art of writing at the era assigned for the +composition of these poems. There is nothing left for us but to examine +the poems themselves, to determine what degree of unity of plan or of +authorship may be attributed to them. Unfortunately the critical +perception of scholars, equally eminent, leads to such different +results, that the controversy appears to be hopeless. Where one sees +with the utmost distinctness the difference of workmanship, another sees +with equal clearness the traces of the same genius and manner. And in +controversies of this nature, there is unhappily a most perverse +combination of the strongest conviction with an utter impotence to force +that conviction upon another. Between these two, a man is generally +driven into a passion; and thus we often find a bitter, acrid mood +infused into literary discussions, which, lying as they do apart from +the selfish and conflicting interests of men, would seem to be the +theatre for no such display. The controversy rages still in Germany, +and, it seems, with considerable heat. Lachmann, after dissecting a +certain portion of the Iliad into four songs, "in the highest degree +different in their spirit," tells us that whoever thinks the difference +of spirit inconsiderable--whoever does not feel it at once when pointed +out--whoever can believe that the parts as they stand now belong to one +artistically constructed epos, "will do well not to trouble himself any +more either with my criticisms, or with epic poetry, because he is too +weak to understand any thing about it--("_weil er zu schwach ist etwas +darin zu verstehen._") On the contrary, Ulrici, after having shown (or +tried to show) that the composition of Homer satisfies perfectly, in the +main, all the exigencies of an artistic epic, adds, that this will make +itself at once evident to all those who have any sense of artistical +symmetry, but that to those to whom that sense is wanting, no conclusive +demonstration call be given. He warns the latter, however, they are not +to deny the existence of that which their short-sighted vision cannot +distinguish, for every thing cannot be made clear to children, which the +mature man sees through at a glance! Mr Grote, from whom we quote these +instances, adds that he has the misfortune to dissent both from Lachmann +and Ulrici; for to him it appears a mistake to put (as Ulrici and others +have done) the Iliad and the Odyssey on the same footing. The sort of +compromise which Mr Grote offers seems very fair; but, for our part, we +beg _to reserve the point_; we will not commit ourselves on so delicate +a subject, by a hasty assent. But we promise to read our Homer again +with an especial regard to these boundaries he has pointed out between +the _Achilleis_ and the _Iliad_. + +Who Homer himself may have been, and if the blind bard ever existed, is +a question, of course, very different from the degree of unity to be +traced in the two great poems which have descended to us under his name. +On this subject Mr Grote gives us an hypothesis which, as far as we are +aware, is new and original. It has not, however, won our conviction--and +we had intended to offer some objections against it. But we have already +dwelt so long on this legendary period, that unless we break from it at +once, we shall have no space left to give any idea whatever of the +manner in which Mr Grote treats the more historical periods of his +history. We must be allowed, therefore, to make a bold and abrupt +transition; and, as every one in a history of Greece turns his eye first +toward Athens, we shall, at one single bound, light upon the city of +Minerva as she appeared in the age of Solon and Pisistratus. + +A fidelity to the spirit of the epoch upon which he is engaged, as well +as to the text of his authorities, we have already remarked, is a +distinguishing merit of Mr Grote. Of this, his chapters upon the age of +Solon might be cited as an illustration. We are persuaded that a reader +of many a history of Greece, unless himself observant, and on the watch +to detect, as he passes, the signs of the times, might proceed from the +age of Pisistratus to that of Pericles, and not be made aware how very +great the advancement, during that period, of the intellectual condition +of the people of Athens. He has been in Athens all the time, but how +very different have the Athenians become! And unless he were under the +guidance of some more powerful thinker than ordinarily wields the pen of +history, he might be little aware of the change. Mr Grote points it out +with great distinctness. + +At the first of these epochs, it is but a barbarous people, with +qualities which bode something better--that bear the name of Athenians. +Amongst the laws of Solon, is one which forbids "the sale of daughters +or sisters into slavery by fathers or brothers!" A law is enacted +against the exportation of all produce of the soil of Attica except +olive oil, and to enforce this commercial or non-commercial regulation, +"the archon was bound, on pain of forfeiting a hundred drachms, to +pronounce solemn curses against every offender!" The superstitious or +religious feelings, if we must honour them by the latter name, are rude +and violent in the extreme--give rise to frenzy amongst the people,--the +women especially,--and call for or admit of human sacrifice. _Both_ the +artifices by which Pisistratus on two several occasions succeeded in +obtaining the tyranny, indicate a people in the very first stages of +civilisation. But what shall be said of the second or grosser of these +artifices?--his entrance into Athens in a chariot with a tall damsel by +his side, personating Minerva, _visibly_ under the protection of the +goddess. + +It is worth observing, that the same class of historians who are given +to extract with an unauthorised boldness a prosaic fact from a poetic +legend, are also the slowest and most reluctant in understanding the +more startling facts which meet them on historic ground, in their simple +and full significance. They are bold before the fable, they are timid +before the fact. Nor is this surprising. In both cases they are on the +search for incidents analogous to those which the ordinary course of +life or of history has made familiar to their imagination. They see +these with an exuberant faith where they do not exist, and will see +nothing _but_ these when something of a far different nature is actually +put before them. Mr Grote, who refused to tread at all on the insecure +ground of the legend, meets this narrative of the second entry of +Pisistratus into Athens upon the level ground of history, and sees it in +its simple form, and sees the people in it. Dr Thirlwall, on the +contrary, who would read the history of a people's wars and emigrations +in the fabulous exploits of fabulous persons, is staggered at the +story--converts it all into a holiday pageant! It was some show or +procession, and all the world knew as well as Pisistratus that it was +the damsel Phye, and not Minerva, who stood in the chariot. + +"This story would indeed be singular," writes Dr Thirlwall, "if we +consider the expedient in the light of a stratagem, on which the +confederates relied for overcoming the resistance which they might +otherwise have expected from their adversaries. But it seems quite as +possible that the pageant was only designed to add extraordinary +solemnity to the entrance of Pisistratus, and to suggest the reflection +that it was by the special favour of Heaven he had been so unexpectedly +restored."--(Vol. ii. p. 67.) + +If this story stood alone in spirit and character, and there were no +other contemporary events to occasion us the same kind of surprise, some +such interpretation might not be unreasonable. But other facts which the +historian himself relates with their unabated and literal significance, +testify equally to the gross apprehension of the Athenian people at this +epoch. What shall we say, of the visit of Epimenides to purify the city? +The guilt, it seems, of sacrilege had, some time past, been incurred by +Megacles and his associates, who had put to death certain of their +enemies within the precincts of the temple of Minerva, whither they had +fled for refuge. Megacles might have starved them there, but was +scrupulous to bring this defilement upon the temple. He therefore +promised to spare their lives if they would quit the sanctuary. Upon +this they came forth, holding however, as an additional safeguard, a +rope in their hands which was fastened to the statue of Minerva. Better +not have trusted to the rope, for it broke. Megacles, seeing this, +pronounced aloud that the goddess had evidently withdrawn her +protection, and ordered them to be put to death. For this sacrilege--not +for the promise-breaking or bloodshed--a curse hung over the city. +Superstitious terrors haunted the inhabitants; the scarcity, the +sickness, every evil that afflicted them, was attributed to this cause; +and the women especially, gave themselves up to frantic demonstrations +of fear and piety. + +There was a man of Crete, born of a nymph, fed by the nymphs, if indeed +he was fed at all, for no one saw him eat. In his youth, this marvellous +Cretan had been sent by his father to bring home some stray sheep, and +turning aside into a cave for shelter from the noontide heat, had fallen +asleep. He slept on for fifty years. Either supernatural knowledge comes +in sleep, or Epimenides invented this fable to stop all inquiries as to +where, or how, he had passed the early period of his life. He attained +the age of one hundred and fifty-four--some say three hundred years. + +This remarkable person, supposed to know by what means the anger of the +gods might be propitiated, was called to Athens. What means he devised +for this purpose may easily be conjectured. After the performance of +certain religious ceremonies, the foundation of a new temple, and the +sacrifice of a human victim, the Athenians were restored to their usual +tranquillity. + + "The religious mission of Epimenides to Athens," observes Mr Grote, + "and its efficacious as well as healing influence on the public + mind, deserve notice as characteristics of the age in which they + occurred. If we transport ourselves two centuries forward to the + Peloponnesian war, when rational influences and positive habits of + thought had acquired a durable hold upon the superior minds, and + when practical discussion on political and judicial matters were + familiar to every Athenian citizen, no such uncontrollable + religious misery could well have subdued the entire public; and if + it had, no living man could have drawn to himself such universal + veneration as to be capable of effecting a cure. Plato, admitting + the real healing influence of rites and ceremonies, fully believed + in Epimenides as an inspired prophet during the past, but towards + those who preferred claims to supernatural power in his own day, he + was not so easy of faith: he, as well as Euripides and + Theophrastus, treated with indifference, and even with contempt, + the Orpheotelestae of the later times, who advertised themselves as + possessing the same patent knowledge of ceremonial rites, and the + same means of guiding the will of the gods, as Epimenides had + wielded before them.... Had Epimenides himself come to Athens in + those days, his visit would probably have been as much inoperative + to all public purposes as a repetition of the stratagem of Phye, + clothed and equipped as the goddess Athena, which had succeeded so + completely in the days of Peisistratus--a stratagem which even + Herodotus treats as incredibly absurd, although a century before + his time both the city of Athens and the Demas of Attica had + obeyed, as a divine mandate, the orders of this magnificent and + stately woman to restore Peisistratus."--(Vol. iii. p. 116.) + +There is nothing to which we are more averse than the converting ancient +history into a field for the discussion of modern _party politics_. We +are fully persuaded that the most thorough English Conservative may +admire the Athenian republic; so far at least admire as to admit that it +is impossible to conceive how, under any other form of government, the +peculiar glories of Athens could have shone forth. And, indeed, an +Athenian democracy differs so entirely from any political institution +which the world sees at present, or will ever see again, that to carry +the strife of our politics back into those times, in other than a quite +general manner, is as futile as it is tasteless and vexatious. After +this avowal, we shall not be thought disposed to enter into any needless +cavil, upon this topic, with Mr Grote; we shall not, certainly, be upon +the watch to detect the too liberal politician in the historian of +Greece. An interest in the working of popular institutions is a +qualification the more for his task; and the historian himself must have +felt that it was no mean advantage he had acquired by having taken his +seat in our house of parliament, and mingled personally in the affairs +of a popular government. What the future volumes of the history may +disclose, we will not venture to prognosticate; but, hitherto, we have +met with nothing which deserves the opprobrium of being attributed to +party spirit. There is a certain _tone_ in some of his political +observations which, as may be supposed, we should not altogether adopt; +but many of them are excellent and instructive. Nothing could be better +than the following remarks on the necessity of a "constitutional +morality." He is speaking of the reforms of Cleisthenes. + + "It was necessary to create in the multitude, and through them to + force upon the leading ambitious men, that rare and difficult + sentiment which we may term a constitutional morality,--a paramount + reverence for the forms of the constitution, enforcing obedience to + the authorities acting under and within those forms, yet combined + with the habit of open speech, of action, subject only to definite + legal control, and unrestrained censure of those very authorities + as to all their public acts,--combined, too, with the perfect + confidence in the bosom of every citizen, amidst the bitterness of + party contest, that the forms of the constitution will not be less + sacred in the eyes of his opponents than in his own. This + co-existence of freedom and self-imposed restraint--of obedience to + authority with unmeasured censure of the persons exercising it--may + be found in the aristocracy of England, (since about 1688,) as well + as in the democracy of the American United States; and, because we + are familiar with it, we are apt to suppose it a natural sentiment; + though there seem to be few sentiments more difficult to establish + and diffuse among a community, judging by the experience of + history. We may see how imperfectly it exists, at this day, in the + Swiss cantons; and the many violences of the French Revolution + illustrate, amongst various other lessons, the fatal effects + arising from its absence, even among a people high in the scale of + intelligence. Yet the diffusion of such constitutional morality, + not merely among the majority of any community, but throughout the + whole, is the indispensable condition of a government at once free + and peaceable; since even any powerful and obstinate minority may + render the working of free institutions impracticable, without + being strong enough to conquer ascendency for themselves."--Vol. + iv. p. 205. + +Then follow, close on the extract we have just made, some observations +upon the famous law of Ostracism, which are well deserving of attention, +and which we would willingly quote did our space allow of it. Perhaps it +would be difficult, in following out the several applications of this +law, to show that it had exactly the beneficial operation which--arguing +on the theory of the institution,--is here assigned to it. But, at the +very lowest, this much may be said of the law of Ostracism, that it +gives to the stronger of two factions a means of deciding the contest +without appeal to force, before the contest rose to its maximum of +bitterness, and without necessity or excuse for those wholesale +banishments which afflicted the republics of Italy. If such an +institution had existed in the Florentine republic, we should not have +heard of those cruel banishments that Guelph and Ghibelline, Bianchi and +Neri, inflicted upon each other; such banishments as that, for instance, +in which its great poet Dante was involved. + +Of one remarkable event, characterising the working of the Athenian +government, we do not assent to the view presented to us by Mr Grote. +His last published volume brings down the affairs of Greece to the +battle of Marathon and the death of Miltiades. In the sentence passed on +the hero of Marathon, the operation of a popular government has been +often disadvantageously traced; the Athenians have been accused of +fickleness and ingratitude. Mr Grote repels the charge. With some +observations upon this defence, which forms the conclusion of the fourth +and last of the published volumes, we shall bring our own notice to a +close. + +_Ingratitude_, we readily admit, is not the proper word to be used on +such an occasion. A citizen serves the state, and is honoured; if he +commits a crime against the state he is not, on this account, to go +unpunished. His previous services invest him with no privilege to break +the laws, or act criminally. What man, capable of doing, a patriotic +action, would wish for such a privilege, or dream of laying claim to it? + +Not gratitude or ingratitude--but justice or injustice--is the issue to +be tried between Miltiades and the Athenian assembly. And although Mr +Grote is supported, in some measure, by Dr Thirlwall in the judgment he +gives on this transaction, we prefer to side here with the opinion +expressed by the earlier historian, Mr Mitford: we view the sentence +passed on Miltiades not as the triumph of law or justice, but of mere +party-spirit, the triumph of a faction gained through the unreasonable +anger of the people. + +Though the extract is rather long, we must, in justice, give the +narrative of Mr Grote in his own language. + + "His reputation (that of Miltiades) had been great before the + battle (of Marathon), and after it the admiration and confidence of + his countrymen knew no bounds; it appears indeed to have reached + such a pitch, that his head was turned, and he lost both his + patriotism and his prudence. He proposed to his countrymen to incur + the cost of equipping an armament of seventy ships, with an + adequate armed force, and to place it altogether at his discretion; + giving them no intimation whither he intended to go, but merely + assuring them that if they would follow him, he would conduct them + to a land where gold was abundant, and thus enrich them. Such a + promise, from the lips of the recent victor of Marathon, was + sufficient, and the armament was granted; no man except Miltiades + knowing what was its destination. He sailed immediately to the + island of Paros, laid siege to the town, and sent in a herald to + require from the inhabitants a contribution of one hundred talents, + on pain of entire destruction. His pretence for this attack was, + that the Parians had furnished a trireme to Datis for the Persian + fleet at Marathon; but his real motive (so Herodotus assures us) + was vindictive animosity against a Parian citizen named Lysagoras, + who had exasperated the Persian general Hydarnes against him. The + Parians amused him at first with evasions, until they had procured + a little delay to repair the defective portions of their wall, + after which they set him at defiance; and Miltiades in vain + prosecuted hostilities against them for the space of twenty-six + days: he ravaged the island, but his attacks made no impression on + the town. Beginning to despair of success in his military + operations, he entered into some negotiation (such at least was the + tale of the Parians themselves,) with a Parian woman named Timo, + priestess or attendant in the temple of Demeter (Ceres) near the + town-gates; this woman, promising to reveal to him a secret which + would place Paros in his power, induced him to visit by night a + temple to which no male person was admissible. He leaped the + exterior fence and approached the sanctuary; but on coming near was + seized with a panic terror and ran away, almost out of his senses; + on leaping the same fence to get back, he strained or bruised his + thigh badly, and became utterly disabled. In this melancholy state + he was placed on ship-board; the siege being raised, and the whole + armament returning to Athens." + + "Vehement was the indignation both of the armament and the + remaining Athenians against Miltiades on his return; and + Zanthippus, father of the great Perikles, became the spokesman of + this feeling. He impeached Miltiades before the popular judicature + as having been guilty of deceiving the people, and so having + deserved the penalty of death. The accused himself, disabled by his + injured thigh, which even began to show symptoms of gangrene, was + unable to stand or to say a word in his own defence; he lay on his + couch before the assembled judges, while his friends made the best + case they could in his behalf. Defence, it appears, there was none; + all they could do was to appeal to his previous services; they + reminded the people largely and emphatically of the inestimable + exploit of Marathon, coming in addition to his previous conquest of + Lemnos. The assembled dikasts or jurors showed their sense of these + powerful appeals, by rejecting the proposition of his accuser to + condemn him to death; but they imposed on him the penalty of fifty + talents 'for his iniquity.'" (Vol. iv. p. 488.) + +He died shortly after from his wound. + +On this narrative we must make one or two observations. The turn of +expression which the writer has selected for conveying the meaning of +the original Greek text of his authority, might lead us to imply that +when the Athenians placed a force of seventy ships at the command of +Miltiades they did not know on what _kind_ of expedition he was about to +employ them. "He would conduct them to a land where gold was abundant, +and thus enrich them." Surely no one had an idea that it was a voyage +of discovery, in search after some El Dorado that Miltiades was about to +undertake. Every one in Athens knew that the fleet was to be directed +against some of their neighbours: although, for very manifest +reasons,--the advantage of taking their victim by surprise, and of +leaving their general unfettered, to act according to circumstances,--the +objects of attack were not revealed, and on this a perfect secrecy was +allowed to be maintained. It should be also _added_ to this account, +that Zanthippes, father of Pericles, who made himself spokesman for the +angry feeling of the Athenians, was also, as Dr Thirwall tells us, +"the son of Ariphron, the chief of the rival house of the Alcmaonids," +who were little pleased with the sudden rise of Miltiades. + +From the same authority we may also learn, that "Paros was at this time +one of the most flourishing amongst the Cyclades." Miltiades directed +the expedition against Paros from personal motives, from vindictive +animosity against a Parian citizen; but Paros was rich, and could +therefore pay a ransom--the very object of the expedition; and the +pretext under which alone Athens could extort a ransom or a tribute from +its neighbours, that they had assisted the Persians, or failed in +bringing aid to the common cause against them, applied to Paros; it had +furnished, or was accused of having furnished, a trireme to Datis. +Whatever baseness Miltiades betrayed in using a public force for his own +private revenge, there is nothing to make it appear that the selection +of Paros for the object of his attack was not in perfect consistency +with the real public purpose of the enterprise. + +What crime in all this had Miltiades committed against the _Athenians_? +The injustice of the expedition they shared; for it would be +childishness to suppose that they sent their general out with seventy +ships, and had no idea that he would attack any one. The personal +motives which led him to direct it against Paros, however mean and +unworthy of him, are not shown to have been at variance with the +professed objects of the expedition. Nor can any one doubt for a moment +that if he had succeeded in extorting from the Parians, and others, a +large sum of money, the Athenians would have welcomed him back with +applause, as loud as the censure they bestowed on their defeated +generals, who, instead of plunder, brought them back only the disgrace +of having tried to plunder. There were those at hand ready to take +advantage of the public irritation; they accused him, and obtained his +condemnation. We are not claiming for Miltiades the praise of virtue; +nor should we make any pathetic appeal in his behalf. He was not free +from a moral delinquency; but, so far as the Athenians were concerned, +his substantial offence was failure in his enterprise. + +That his friends urged no other defence but that of his previous +services, is no proof that other grounds for acquittal were not present +to their minds. They were pleading before angry and irresponsible +judges, whom it, was their object to soothe and propitiate. Would the +strain of inculpatory observations that we have been making, have +answered their purpose? To tell an angry man that he is angry, because +he is disappointed, is not the way to abate his passion. That Miltiades +_had_ disappointed them was certain; undoubtedly the best method of +defence was to remind them of the great services that he had formerly +rendered them. It was not the demands of judicial reason his advocates +had to satisfy: they were pleading before judges whose feelings of the +moment were to be the law of the moment. + + "Thus closed the life of the conqueror of Marathon. The last act of + it," continues Mr Grote, "produces an impression so mournful, and + even shocking--his descent from the pinnacle of glory, to defeat, + mean tampering with a temple-servant, mortal bodily hurt, + undefended ignominy, and death under a sentence of heavy fine, is + so abrupt and unprepared--that readers, ancient and modern, have + not been satisfied without finding some one to blame for it: we + must except Herodotus, our original authority, who recounts the + transaction without dropping a single hint of blame against any + one. To speak ill of the people, as Machiavel has long ago + observed, is a strain in which every one at all times, even under a + democratical government indulges with impunity and without + provoking any opponent to reply; and in this case the hard fate of + Miltiades has been imputed to the vices of the Athenians and their + democracy--it has been cited in proof partly of their fickleness, + partly of their ingratitude. But however such blame may serve to + lighten the mental sadness arising from a series of painful facts, + it will not be found justified if we apply to those facts a + reasonable criticism." + +He thus vindicates the Athenians from the charge of _fickleness_, on the +ground that it was not they, but Miltiades who had changed. The fugitive +from Paros, and the victor of Marathon, were two very different persons. +As any remarkable instance of fickleness we should certainly not be +disposed to cite the case. The charge of _ingratitude_, we have +admitted, is, presuming that he was guilty, entirely displaced. But when +Mr Grote in his final summary says, "The fate of Miltiades thus, so far +from illustrating either the fickleness or the ingratitude of his +countrymen, attests their just appreciation of deserts," we must indeed +demur. No, no: this was not the triumph of justice over the finer +sensibilities of our nature, as Mr Grote would seem to imply. On the +fairest review we can give to the whole of the circumstances, we find on +the sentence passed upon Miltiades a gross instance of that old +notorious injustice which pronounces an enterprise meritorious or +criminal according to its success. The enterprise was altogether a +disgraceful affair. But the Athenians must be supposed cognisant of the +nature of the expedition for which they fitted out their seventy +ships:--_against them_, we repeat, the only substantial offence +committed was his failure; nor can we doubt that his welcome back to +Athens would have been quite different had there been a different issue +to the adventure. Justice there was none; unless it be justice for three +freebooters to pass sentence upon the fourth. + +Before concluding, we ought, perhaps, to take, some notice of the reform +in our orthography of Greek words which Mr Grote is desirous of +introducing, in order to assimilate the English to the Greek +pronunciation. The principal of these is the substitution of K for C. +Our own K, he justly observes, precisely coincides with the Greek K, +while a C may be either K or S. He writes Perikles, Alkibiades. To this +approximation of the English pronunciation to the Greek we can see +nothing to object. A reader of Greek finds it a mere annoyance, and sort +of barbarism, to be obliged to pronounce the same name one way while +reading Greek, and another when speaking or reading English; and to the +English reader it must be immaterial which pronunciation he _finally_ +adopts. Meanwhile, it must be allowed that the first changing of an old +familiar name is a disagreeable operation. We must leave the popular and +the learned taste to arrange it how they can together. Mr Grote has +wisely left some names--as Thucydides--in the old English form; in +matters of this kind nothing is gained by too rigid a consistency. It is +not improbable that his orthography will be adopted, in the first place, +by the more learned writers, and will from their pages find its way into +popular use. Mr Grote also, in speaking of the Greek deities, calls them +by their Greek names, and not by the Latin equivalents--As _Zeus_ for +Jupiter--_Athene_ for Minerva. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _A History of Greece._ BY GEORGE GROTE, ESQ. + +[2] Vol. ii. p. 346. + +[3] _Grote_: vol. i, p. 641, where the quotation is very effectively +introduced. + +[4] Vol. i. p. 434. + +[5] _Dr Thirlwall's Hist._ vol. i. p. 152. + +[6] _Thirlwall_, vol. i. p. 154. On the subject of the Trojan war we +quote the following passage from the same historian, as an instance of +the extremely slender thread which a conjectural writer will think it +worth his while to weave in amongst his arguments for the support of +some dubious fact. "One inevitable result," he says, "of such an event +as the Trojan war, must have been to diffuse amongst the Greeks a more +general knowledge of the isles and coasts of the Aegean, and to leave a +lively recollection of the beauty and fertility of the region in which +their battles had been fought. This would direct the attention of future +emigrants in search of new homes toward the same quarter; and the fact +that the tide of migration really set in this direction first, when the +state of Greece became unsettled, _may not unreasonably be thought to +confirm the reality of the Trojan war_." (P. 250.) Little need, one +would think, of a Trojan war to direct the tide of emigration to the +opposite coasts of Asia Minor. + + + + +BEN NEVIS AND BEN MUICH DHUI. + + +It was on a bright, hot day of July, which threw the first gleam of +sunshine across a long tract of soaking, foggy, dreary, hopeless +weather, that we ascended Ben Nevis. The act was unpremeditated. The wet +and fog of weeks had entered into our soul; and we had resolved, in the +spirit of indignant resignation, that we would _not_ attempt the hill. +Accordingly we were stalking lazily along General Wade's road: we had +left Fort William, and thought there might be a probability of reaching +Fort Augustus to dinner,--when we were not ungratefully surprised to see +the clouds tucking themselves up the side of the mountain in a peculiar +manner, which gives the experienced wanderer of the hills the firm +assurance of a glorious day. Soon afterwards, the great mountain became +visible from summit to base, and its round head and broad shoulders +stood dark against the bright blue sky. A sagacious-looking old +Highlander, who was passing, protested that the hill had never looked so +hopeful during the whole summer: the temptation was irresistible, so we +turned our steps towards the right, and commenced the ascent. + +It is one among the prevailing fallacies of the times, that to mount a +Highland hill is a very difficult operation, and that one should hire a +guide on the occasion. We lately witnessed a very distressing instance +of the alarming prevalence of this notion, in a young Chancery +barrister, fresh from Brick Court Temple, who asked us in a very solemn +tone of voice, if we could recommend him to "a steady guide to the top +of Arthur Seat." When matters have come to such a crisis, it is time to +speak out; and we are able, on the ground of long experience, to say, +that if the proper day be chosen, and the right method adopted, the +ascent of our grandest mountains is one of the simplest operations in +all pedestrianism. True, if people take it in the way in which pigs run +up all manner of streets, and go straight forward, looking neither to +the right nor to the left, they will run their heads against nature's +stone walls, which are at least as formidable as man's. But let any one +study the disposal of the ground, calculating the gradients and summit +levels as if he were a railway-engineer for the time being--let him +observe where the moss lies deep, and precipices rise too steep to be +scrambled over; and he will be very obtuse indeed, if he is not able to +chalk out for himself precisely the best way to the top. It is a good +general rule to keep by the side of a stream. That if you do so when you +are at the top of a hill, you will somehow or other find your way to the +bottom, is, we are convinced, a proposition as sound as Newton's theory +of gravitation. But in the ascent, the stream is often far better than a +human guide. It has no interest to lead you to the top of some +episodical hill and down again, and to make you scramble over an +occasional dangerous pass, to show you how impossible it is that you +could have found the way yourself, and how fortunate you are in having +secured the services of an intelligent and intrepid guide. On the +contrary, as long as you keep by the side of the stream you are always +gaining ground and making your way towards the higher levels, while you +avoid bogs: for the edge of a stream is generally the dryest part of a +mountain. + +Choosing the broadest and deepest scaur that is scratched down the +abrupt side of the lower range of the mountain, we find it, as we +anticipated, the channel of a clear dancing stream, which amuses us with +its babble for several hundred feet of the ascent. Some time ere we had +reached the base of the hill we had lost sight of the summit, and there +was before us only the broad steep bank, with its surface of alternate +stone and heather, and a few birch-trees peeping timidly forth from +crevices in the rock. After a considerable period of good hard climbing, +accompanied by nothing worthy of note either in the variations of the +scenery or in the incidents encountered, we are at the top of this +rampart; and behold! on the other side of a slight depression, in which +sleeps a small inky lake, the bold summit of the mountain rises clear +and abrupt and close, as one might see the dome of a cathedral from the +parapet on the roof. Here we linger to take a last look of the objects +at the foot of the hill, for ere we resume the ascent we shall lose +sight of them. Already Fort William looks like a collection of +rabbit-houses. The steam-boat on the lake is like a boy's Christmas toy. +The waters have assumed that hard burnished metallic appearance which +they convey to the eye raised far above them in a hot summer day. The +far-stretching moss, with one or two ghastly white stones standing erect +out of its blackness like druidical remains, carries the eye along its +surface to the dusky and mysterious ruins of Inverlochy Castle, which +has so sadly puzzled antiquaries to divine how its princely round towers +and broad barbican could have been erected in that wild and remote +region, where they stand patiently in their ruined grandeur, waiting +till our friend Billings shall, with his incomparable pencil, make each +tower and arch and moulding as familiar to the public eye as if the old +ruin stood in Fleet Street. + +Off we start with the lake to the left, taking care to keep the level we +have gained. A short interval of walking in a horizontal direction, and +again we must begin to climb. On this side the porphyry dome is round +and comparatively smooth--scarcely so abrupt as the outer range of hill +which we have just ascended. But wending north-eastwardly when near the +summit, we came suddenly to a spot where a huge fragment of the dome +had, as it were, been broken off, leaving a ghastly rent--how deep it +were difficult for the eye to fix, but the usual authorities tell us +that the precipices here are 1500 feet high. When we reached their edge, +we found that the clouds, which had been completely lifted up from the +smoother parts of the mountain, still lingered as if they had difficulty +in getting clear of the ragged edges of the cavernous opening, and +moving about restlessly like evil spirits, hither and thither, afforded +but partial glimpses of the deep vale below. Though Ben Nevis was at +this time rather deficient in his snowy honours, considerable patches +lay in the unsunned crevices of the precipice. It was a fine thing to +occupy one's-self in tilting over huge boulders, and to see them +gradually approach the edge of the gulf, and then leap thundering into +the mist. + +Turning our eyes from the terrible fascinations of the precipice to the +apex of the hill now in full view, a strange sight there met our eyes--a +sight so strange that we venture to say the reader no more anticipates +it than we did, at the moment when we looked from the yawning precipice +to what we expected to be a solitary mountain-top. "Pooh!" the reader +will say, "it was an eagle looking at the sun, or a red-deer snuffing +with his expanded nostrils the tainted air." We shake our heads. "Well, +then, it was a waterspout--or, perhaps, a beautiful rainbow--or +something electric, or a phenomenon of some sort." Utterly wrong. It was +neither more nor less, reader, than a crowd of soldiers, occupying +nearly the whole table-land of the summit! Yes, there they were, British +troops, with their red coats, dark gray trousers, and fatigue caps, as +distinctly as we ever saw them in Marshall's panoramas! We were reminded +of the fine description which Scott gives of the Highland girl who was +gazing indolently along the solitary glen of Gortuleg on the day of the +battle of Culloden, when it became suddenly peopled by the Jacobite +fugitives. "Impressed with the belief that they were fairies--who, +according to Highland tradition, are visible to men only from one +twinkle of the eyelid to another--she strove to refrain from the +vibration, which she believed would occasion the strange and magnificent +apparition to become invisible." But whether the eye winked or not, +there they were--substantial able-bodied fellows; what could it mean? +Had Colonel Mitchell discovered a new system for protecting the country +by fortifying the tops of mountains which an enemy never comes near? +Could it be some awkward squad sent to be drilled on this remote spot +that it might escape the observation of the sarcastic public? Such were +the theories as suddenly rejected as they were suggested. It was vain to +speculate. No solution we could devise made the slightest approach to +probability; and our only prospect of speedy relief was in pushing +rapidly forward. A very short sentence from the good-humoured looking +young fellow who received our first breathless and perplexed inquiry, +solved the mystery,--"did you never hear of the Ordnance Survey?" Yes, +indeed, we had heard of it; but our impression of it was as of something +like a mathematical line, with neither breadth nor thickness; but here +it was in substantial operation. The party were occupied in erecting a +sort of dwelling for themselves--half tent, half hut. Though in fatigue +dresses, and far from being very trim, it was easy to see that they were +not common soldiers. They belong, we believe, to the educated corps of +sappers and miners; and a short conversation with them showed that the +reputation of intelligence and civility long enjoyed by that +distinguished body has not been unjustly earned. Though not blind to the +magnificence of the panorama of mountain, lake, and distant +far-stretching forest-land that lay beneath our feet as we conversed, +they did not conceal their consciousness that the prospect of passing +some months on such a spot was not particularly cheering to +round-cheeked comfortable Englishmen, accustomed at Sandhurst and +Addiscombe to comforts even superior to those of the Saut Market. The +air was unexceptionably pure and abundant--yet the Bedford level might +have been preferable as a permanent residence. Many were the reflections +that occurred to us of the feelings of a set of men thus cut off from +the earth, down on which they looked, like so many Jacks on a huge +bean-stalk. What a place to encounter the first burst of the November +storm in, beneath the frail covering of a tent! How did their friends +address letters to them? Would a cover addressed "Mr Abel Thompson of +the Royal engineers, Top of Ben Nevis," be a document to which the +post-office would pay any more regard than to a letter addressed to one +of the fixed stars? Could they ask a friend to step up to dinner, or +exchange courtesies with the garrison of Fort William, into whose +windows they might peep with their telescopes? + +In the course of conversation with our new friends, we alighted on a +subject in which we have long taken an interest. They had already +conducted some operations on Ben Muich Dhui, and they were now +commencing such surveys on Ben Nevis, as would enable them finally to +decide which of these mountains has the honour of being the highest land +in the United Kingdom. Competition has of late run very close between +them; and the last accounts had shown Ben Muich Dhui only some twenty +feet or so a-head. We freely confess that we back Ben Muich Dhui in this +contest. It is true that Ben Nevis is in all respects a highly +meritorious hill. We must do justice to his manly civility and good +humour. We have found many a crabbed little crag more difficult of +access; and, for his height, we scarcely know another mountain, of which +it is so easy to reach the top. He stands majestic and alone, his own +spurs more nearly rivalling him than any of the neighbouring hills. +Rising straight from the sea, his whole height and magnificent +proportions are before us at once, and the view from the summit has an +unrivalled expanse. Still there are stronger charms about the great +centre of the Cairngorm range. Surrounded by his peers, he stands apart +from the every-day world in mysterious grandeur. The depth and +remoteness of the solitude, the huge mural precipices, the deep chasms +between the rocks, the waterfalls of unknown height, the hoary remains +of the primeval forest, the fields of snow, and the deep black lakes at +the foot of the precipices, are full of such associations of awe, and +grandeur, and mystery, as no other scenery in Britain is capable of +arousing. The recollections of these things inclined us still to favour +Ben Muich Dhui; and before separating from these hermits of her +Majesty's ordnance, we earnestly requested, if they had any influence in +the matter, that they would "find" for our favourite, to which we shall +now introduce our readers. + +Our public are certainly not amenable to the charge of neglecting what +is worth seeing, because it is distant and inaccessible. On the top of +the Righi, where people go to behold the sun rise over the Alps, we have +seen the English congregated in crowds on the wooden bench erected for +that purpose, making it look like a race-course stand, and carrying on a +bang-up sort of conversation-- + + Right against the eastern gate + Where the great sun begins his state,-- + +as if it were a starting-post, and they were laying bets on the events +of the day. The Schwartzwald, the Saxon Schweitz, nay, even the wild +Norrska Fiellen, swarm with British tourists; and we are credibly +informed that loud cries of "boots" and "waiter," with expostulations +against the quality of the bottled porter and the airing of the beds, +may be heard not far from Mount Sinai. Yet, in the centre of our own +island there is a group of scenery, as unlike the rest of the country as +if we had travelled to another hemisphere to see it--as grand and +beautiful as the objects which our tourists cross half the globe to +behold--which is scarcely known to those who profess to say that they +have visited every thing that is worth seeing in their own country. The +answer to this will probably be, that railway travelling has brought the +extremities of Europe together--that Switzerland is but four days from +London--that it is as easy to get to Chamouni as to Braemar--and that +the scenery of the Alps _must_ be finer than any thing to be seen in +Scotland. Even this broad proposition may be questioned. It was with no +small pride that one night, after a hard walk from Martigny to Chamouni, +we heard a distinguished Englishman, who has been able to compare with +each other the finest things both physical and mental which the world +has produced, and whose friendly face greeted us as we emerged from the +dark valley into a brilliantly lighted hotel--stand up for old Scotland, +and question if there were any thing, even in the gorgeous vale of +Chamouni itself, to excel our purple mountains and narrow glens. But if +we should be disposed to give the preference to the Alps, on that +principle of politeness, which actuated an Aberdeen fisherman, who had +found his way under the dome of St Paul's, to exclaim--"Weel, that jist +maks a perfect feel o' the Kirk o' Fitty"--we think there is something +inexpressibly interesting in beholding, in the middle of this busy +island of steam-engines and railways, of printing machines and spinning +jennies, one wide district where nature is still as supremely lord of +all--where man feels as much separated from all traces of the +workmanship of his fellows, as in the forests of Missouri, or the upper +gorges of the Himalayas. But it is not true that the Cairngorm range of +mountains is a distant place to tourists. It is in the very centre of +their haunts. They swarm in the valleys of the Spey and the Tay, at +Laggan, Blair Athol, and Braemar, and want but enterprise or originality +enough to direct their steps out of the beaten paths which have formed, +since Scottish touring became fashionable forty years ago, the regular +circles in which these creatures revolve. They care not in general to +imbibe the glories and the delights of scenery, but confine themselves +to the established Lions, which it is good for a man to be able in +society to _say_ that he has seen. "Well, I can say I have seen it," +says your routine tourist--whereby, if he knew the meaning of his own +words, he would be aware that he conveyed to mankind a testimony to his +folly in having made any effort to look at that which has produced no +impression whatever on his mind, and in looking at which he would not be +aware that he saw any thing remarkable, unless the guide-book and the +waiter at the inn had certified that it was an object of interest. It is +true, that to see our friends the Cairngorm hills, one must walk, and +that somewhat stiffly--but this is seldom an obstacle in any place where +pedestrianism is not unfashionable. In the Oberland of Switzerland, we +have seen green-spectacled, fat, plethoric, gentlemen, fresh from +'Change, wearing blouses and broad straw hats, carrying haversacks on +their shoulders, and tall alpenstocks in their hands to facilitate the +leaping of the chasms in the glaciers--looking all the time as if the +whole were some disagreeable dream, from which they hoped to awaken in +their easy-chair in the back office in Crane Alley. No! when personages +of this kind adopt the pilgrim's staff, we may be sure that there is a +good fund of pedestrianism still unexhausted, could the means of +stimulating it be found. But it is high time that we should point out +the way to our favourite land of precipices, cataracts, and snow. + +We shall suppose the traveller to be at Braemar, which he may have +reached by the Deeside road from Aberdeen, or in the direction of Spital +of Glenshee through the pass of the Vhrich-vhruich, (have the goodness, +reader, to pronounce that aloud,) or from the basin of the Tay by the +ancient Highland road through Glen Tilt, and the Ault-Shiloch-Vran. Even +the scenery round Braemar is in every way worthy of respect. The hills +are fine, there are noble forests of pine and birch, and some good +foaming waterfalls; while over all preside in majesty the precipices and +snow of Lochin-ye-gair. Still it is farther into the wilderness, at the +place where the three counties of Aberdeen, Inverness, and Banff meet, +that the traveller must look for the higher class of scenery of which we +are sending him in search. As Braemar, however, contains the latest inn +that will greet him in his journey, he must remember here to victual +himself for the voyage; and, partial as we are to pedestrianism, we +think he may as well take a vehicle or a Highland poney as far on his +route as either of them can go: it will not long encumber him. The linn +of Dee, where the river rushes furiously between two narrow rocks, is +generally the most remote object visited by the tourist on Dee-side. +There is little apparent inducement to farther progress. He sees before +him, about a mile farther on, the last human habitation--a shepherd's +cabin, without an inch of cultivated land about it; and he is told that +all beyond that is barrenness and desolation, until he reach the valley +of the Spey. The pine-trees at the same time decrease in number, the +hills become less craggy and abrupt, and the country in general assumes +a bleak, bare, windy, bog-and-moor appearance, that is apt to make, one +uncomfortable. + +Of the various methods of approaching Ben Muich Dhui, the most striking, +in our opinion, is one with which we never found any other person so +well acquainted as to exchange opinions with us about it. We did once, +it is true, coax a friend to attempt that route; he had come so far with +us as the edge of the Dee, but disliked crossing it. In the +superabundance of our zeal, we offered to carry him over on our +shoulders; but when we came to the middle of the stream, it so happened +that a foot tripped against a stone, and our friend was very neatly +tilted over our head into the water, without our receiving any +considerable damage, in our own proper person. He thereafter looked upon +us, according to an old Scottish proverb, as "not to ride the water +with;" and perhaps he was right. So we proceeded on our journey alone. +Our method was to cross right over the line of hills which here bound +the edge of the river. Though not precipitous, this bank is very +high--certainly not less than a thousand feet. When you reach the top, +if the day be clear, the whole Cairngorm range is before you on the +other side of the valley, from summit to base, as you may see Mont Blanc +from the Col de Balm, or the Jungfrau from the Wengern Alp. From this +bird's-eye view, you at once understand that peculiar structure of the +group, which makes the valleys so much deeper and narrower, and the +precipices so much more frightful, than those of any other of the +Scottish mountains. Here there are five summits springing from one root, +and all more than four thousand feet above the level of the sea. The +circumference of the whole group is as that of one mountain. We can +imagine it to have been a huge, wide, rounded hill, Ben Muich Dhui being +the highest part, and the whole as smooth and gentle as some of the Ural +range, where you might have a fixed engine, and "an incline," without +levelling or embanking. But at some time or other the whole mass had got +a jerk; and so it is split from top to bottom, and shivered, and shaken, +and disturbed into all shapes and positions, showing here and there such +chasms as the splitting in two of mountains some three thousand feet or +so in direct height must necessarily create. Having to his satisfaction +contemplated the group from this elevation, the traveller may descend +into Glen Lui Beg, as we shall presently describe it. + +Returning to the Dee,--about a mile below the Linn, the stream of the +Lui forces a passage through the steep banks and joins the river. We +enter the glen from which this stream flows by a narrow rocky pass, +through which the trees of the Mar forest struggle upwards. As we +proceed, the trees gradually become more scarce, the rocky barrier is +left behind us, and we are in a long grassy glen shut out from the +world. This is Glen Lui. A better introduction to the savage scenery +beyond, for the sake of contrast, there could not be. Every thing here +is peace and softness. Banks lofty, but round and smooth, intervene to +hide the summits of the mountains. The stream is not stagnant, but it +flows on with a gentle current, sometimes through sedge or between +grassy banks; elsewhere edged by a beach of the finest yellow sand. The +water is beautifully transparent, and even where it is deepest you may +count the shining pebbles below. A few weeping birches here and there +hang their graceful disconsolate ringlets almost into the stream; the +grass is as smooth as a shaven lawn, and much softer; and where a few +stones protrude through it, they are covered with a cushion of +many-coloured mosses. But with all its softness and beauty, the extreme +loneliness of the scene fills the mind with a sense of awe. It surely +must have been in such a spot that Wordsworth stood, or of such a scene +that he dreamed, when he gave that picture of perfect rest which he +professed to apply to a far different spot, Glen Almon--a rough, rocky +glen, with a turbulent brook running through it, where there never was +or can be silence: + + "A convent--even a hermit's cell + Would break the silence of this dell-- + It is not quiet--is not ease, + But something deeper far than these. + The separation that is here + Is of the grave, and of austere + And happy feelings of the dead." + +Nor in Glen Lui can one feel inclined to join in the charge of mysticism +which has been raised against this last simile. Its echoes in the heart +at once associate themselves with a few strange, mysterious, round +mounds, of the smoothest turf, and of the most regular, oval, or +circular construction, which rise here and there from the flat floor of +the valley. It needs no archaeological inquiry to tell us what they are: +we feel that they cover and have covered--who call tell how many hundred +years?--the remains of some ancient people, with whom history cannot +make us acquainted, and who have not even the benefit of tradition; for +how can there be traditions in places where no human beings dwell? + + "A noble race, but they are gone! + With their old forests wide and deep; + And we have fed our flocks upon + Hills where their generations sleep. + Their fountains slake our thirst at noon, + Upon their fields our harvest waves; + Our shepherds woo beneath their moon-- + Ah, let us spare at least their graves!" + +"Stop!" says a voice, "the quotation is utterly inappropriate--how can +there be flocks where not even a single sheep feeds--how can shepherds +woo beneath the moon where there are no damsels to woo?" Granted; but +the lines are pretty--they were the most appropriate that we could find, +and they blend in with one's feelings on this spot; for, if it be a +strange and melancholy sight in the Far West, beyond the Atlantic, to +alight upon the graves of a tribe of Indians whose history has become +extinct, is it not more strange still to look, in the centre of this +busy island, which has lived in history eighteen hundred years, on these +vestiges of an old extinct race, not turned up by the plough, or found +in digging the foundation of a cotton mill, but remaining there beneath +the open sky, as they were left of old, no successors of the aboriginal +race coming to touch them? Standing in Glen Lui, and remembering how +fast we are peopling Australia and the Oregon, one's mind becomes +confused about the laws of emigration and colonisation. Yet how soon may +all this be changed. Perhaps the glen may turn out to be a good trunk +level--the granite of Ben Muich Dhui peculiarly well adapted for +tunnelling, and the traffic something of an unknown and indescribable +extent: and some day soon the silence may be awakened with the fierce +whistle of the train, and the bell may ring, and passengers may be +ordered to be ready to take their places, and first, second, and third +class tickets may be stamped with the rapidity of button-making--who +knows? Nobody should prophesy in this age what may _not_ be done. We +once met a woful instance of a character for great sagacity utterly lost +at one blow, in consequence of such a prediction. The man had engaged to +eat the first locomotive that ever came to Manchester by steam from +Liverpool. On the day when this marvel was accomplished, he received a +polite note enclosing a piece of leather cut from the machinery, with an +intimation that when he had digested _that_, the rest of the engine +would be at his service. But the reader is getting tired of Glen Lui, +and insists on being led into more exciting scenery. + +After being for a few miles such as we have tried to describe it, the +glen becomes narrower, and the scenery rougher. Granite masses crop out +here and there. The pretty dejected weeping birches become mixed with +stern, stiff, surly pines, which look as if they could "do any thing but +weep," and not unnaturally suggest the notion that their harsh conduct +may be the cause of the tears of their gentler companions. At last a +mountain thrusts a spur into the glen, and divides it into two: we are +here at the foot of Cairngorm of Derrie, or the lesser Cairngorm. The +valley opening to the left is Glen Lui Beg, or Glen Luithe +Little--containing the shortest and best path to the top of Ben Muich +Dhui. The other to the right is Glen Derrie--one of the passes towards +Loch A'an or Avon, and the basin of the Spey. Both these glens are alike +in character. The precipitous sides of the great mountains between which +they run, frown over them and fill them with gloom. The two streams of +which the united waters lead so peaceful a wedded life in calm Glen Lui, +are thundering torrents, chafing among rocks, and now and then starting +unexpectedly at our feet down into deep black pools, making cataracts +which, in the regular touring districts, would be visited by thousands. +But the marked feature of these glens is the ancient forest. Somewhere +we believe in Glen Derrie there are the remains of a saw-mill, showing +that an attempt had been at one time made to apply the forest to +civilised purposes; but it was a vain attempt, and neither the Baltic +timber duties, nor the demand for railway sleepers, has brought the axe +to the root of the tree beneath the shadow of Ben Muich Dhui. There are +noble trees in the neighbouring forest of Braemar, but it is not in a +state of nature. The flat stump occurs here and there, showing that +commerce has made her selection, and destroyed the ancient unity of the +forest. In Glen Derrie, the tree lives to its destined old age, and +whether falling from decay, or swept to the ground by the tempest, lies +and rots, stopping perhaps the course of some small stream, and by +solution in the intercepted waters forming a petty peat-bog, which, +after a succession of generations, becomes hardened and encrusted with +lichens. Near such a mass of vegetable corruption and reorganisation, +lies the new-fallen tree with its twigs still full of sap. Around them +stand the hoary fathers of the forest, whose fate will come next. They +bear the scars and contortions of many a hard-fought battle with the +storms that often sweep the narrow glen. Some are bent double, with +their heads nearly touching the earth; and among other fantastic forms +it is not unusual to see the trunk of some aged warrior twisted round +and round, its outer surface resembling the strands of a rope. A due +proportion of the forest is still in its manly prime--tall, stout, +straight trees, lifting their huge branches on high, and bearing aloft +the solemn canopy of dark green that distinguishes "the scarcely waving +pine." We are tempted to have recourse to poetry again--we promise it +shall be the last time on this occasion: there are, however, some lines +by Campbell "on leaving a scene in Bavaria," which describe such a +region of grandeur, loneliness, and desolation, with a vigour and melody +that have been seldom equalled. They were first published not many +years before his death, and it seemed as if the ancient harp had been +re-strung to more than its old compass and power--but, alas! when we +spoke of these verses to himself, we found that, like all of his that +were fitted for immortality, they had been the fruit of his younger and +better days, and that a diffidence of their merit had retarded their +publication. Let the reader commit these two stanzas to memory, and +repeat them as he nears the base of Ben Muich Dhui. + + "Yes! I have loved thy wild abode, + Unknown, unploughed, untrodden shore; + Where scarce the woodman finds a road, + And scarce the fisher plies an oar; + For man's neglect I love thee more; + That art nor avarice intrude,-- + To tame thy torrents' thunder-shock, + Or prune thy vintage of the rock, + Magnificently rude. + + Unheeded spreads thy blossomed bud + Its milky bosom to the bee; + Unheeded falls along the flood + Thy desolate and aged tree. + Forsaken scene! how like to thee + The fate of unbefriended worth! + Like thine, her fruit unhonoured falls-- + Like thee, in solitude she calls + A thousand treasures forth." + +It is after proceeding through Glen Lui Beg, perhaps about three or four +miles from the opening of the glen, that we begin to mount Ben Muich +Dhui. At first we clamber over the roots and fallen trunks of trees; but +by degrees we leave the forest girdle behind, and precipices and snow, +with a scant growth of heather, become our sole companions. Keeping the +track where the slope of the hill is gentlest, we pass on the right Loch +Etichan, lying like a drop of ink at the base of a huge dark mural +precipice--yet it is not so small when seen near at hand. This little +tarn, with its back-ground of dark rocks interspersed with patches of +snow, might strongly remind the Alpine traveller of the lake near the +Hospice of the Grimsel. The two scenes are alike hard and leafless and +frozen-like--but the Alpine pass is one of the highways of Europe, and +thus one seldom crosses it without encountering a pilgrim here and +there. But few are the travellers that pass the edge of Loch Etichan, +and if the adventurous tourist desires company, he had better try to +find an eagle--not even the red-deer, we should suppose, when driven to +his utmost need, seeks such a shelter, and as for foxes and wild-cats +they know too well the value of comfortable quarters in snug glens, to +expose themselves to catch cold in so Greenland-like a region. + +The climber will know that he is at the top of Ben Muich Dhui, when he +has to scramble no longer over scaurs or ledges of rock, but walking on +a gentle ascent of turf, finds a cairn at its highest part. When he +stands on this cairn, he is entitled to consider himself the most +elevated personage in the United Kingdom. Around it is spread something +like a table-land, and one can go round the edges of the table, and look +down on the floor, where the Dee, the Avon, the Lui, and many other +streams, are seen like silver threads, while their forest banks resemble +beds of mignionette or young boxwood. There are at several points +prodigious precipices, from which one may contemplate the scene below; +but we recommend caution to the adventurer, as ugly blasts sometimes +sweep along the top. + +When a mountain is the chief of a district, we generally see from the +top a wide expanse of country. Other mountains are seen, but wide +valleys intervene, and thus they are carried to a graceful distance. +Probably, more summits are seen from Ben Nevis, than from any other +height in Scotland, but none of them press so closely on the monarch as +even to tread upon his spurs. The whole view is distant and panoramic. +It is quite otherwise with Ben Muich Dhui. Separated from it only by +narrow valleys, which some might call mere clefts, are Cairn Toul, Brae +Riach, Cairn Gorm, Ben Avon, and Ben-y-Bourd--all, we believe, ascending +more than four thousand feet above the level of the sea--along with +several other mountains which very closely approach that fine round +number. The vicinity of some of these summits to Ben Muich Dhui has +something frightful in it. Standing on the western shoulder of the hill, +you imagine that you might throw a stone to the top of Brae Riach--we +have been so much deceived by distance as to have seriously made the +attempt, we shall not venture to say how many years ago. Yet, between +these two summits rolls the river Dee; and Brae Riach presents right +opposite to the hill on which we stand, a mural precipice, said to be +two thousand feet high--an estimate which no one who looks on it will be +inclined to doubt. Brae Riach, indeed, is unlike any thing else in +Scotland. It is not properly a hill, but a long wall of precipice, +extending several miles along the valley of the Dee. Even in the +sunniest weather it is black as midnight, but in a few inequalities on +its smooth surface, the snow lies perpetually. Seldom is the cleft +between the two great summits free of clouds, which flit hither and +thither, adding somewhat to the mysterious awfulness of the gulf, and +seeming in their motions to cause certain deep but faint murmurs, which +are in reality the mingled sounds of the many torrents which course +through the glens, far, far below. + +Having had a satisfactory gaze at Brae Riach,--looking across the +street, as it were, to the interesting and mysterious house on the +opposite side,--the traveller may probably be reflecting on the best +method of descending. There is little hope, we may as well inform him, +of his return to Braemar to-night, unless he be a person of more than +ordinary pedestrian acquirements. For such a consummation, he may have +prepared himself according to his own peculiar ideas. If he be a +tea-totaller, he will have brought with him a large bottle of lemonade +and some oranges--we wish him much satisfaction in the consumption of +them, and hope they will keep his outer and inner man warm after the +dews of eve have descended. Perhaps his most prudent course (we consider +ourselves bound to give discreet advice, for perhaps we may have led +some heedless person into a scrape) will be to get down to Loch Avon, +and sleep under the Stone of Shelter. Proceeding along the table-land of +the hill, in a direction opposite to that by which he has ascended, the +traveller comes to a slight depression. If he descend, and then ascend +the bank towards the north-east, he will find himself on the top of a +precipice the foot of which is washed by the Loch. But this is a +dangerous windy spot: the ledge projects far out, and there is so little +shelter near it, that, from beneath, it has the appearance of +overhanging the waters. It is not an essential part of the route we are +about to suggest, and we would rather decline the responsibility of +recommending it to the attention of any one who is not a practised +cragsman. In the depression we have just mentioned will be found, unless +the elements have lately changed their arrangements and operations, the +largest of those fields of snow which, even in the heat of summer, +dispute with the heath and turf the pre-eminence on the upper ranges of +Ben Muich Dhui. If we were desirous of using high-sounding expressions, +we would call this field a glacier, but it must be at once admitted that +it does not possess the qualities that have lately made these frigid +regions a matter of ardent scientific inquiry. There are no icebergs or +fissures; and the mysterious principle of motion which keeps these +congealed oceans in a state of perpetual restlessness is unknown in the +smooth snow-fields of Ben Muich Dhui. But there are some features common +to both. The snow-field, like the glacier, is hardened by pressure into +a consistence resembling that of ice. A curious thing it is to topple a +huge stone down from a neighbouring precipice on one of these +snow-fields, and see how it hits the snow without sinking in it, and +bounds along, leaving no scratch on the hardened surface. A stream +issues from the field we are now alluding to, formed like the glacier +streams from the ceaseless melting of the snow. It passes forth beneath +a diminutive arch, such as the source of the Rhine might appear through +a diminishing glass; and looking through this arch to the interior of +the hardened snow, we see exemplified the sole pleasing peculiarity of +the glacier--the deep blue tint that it assumes in the interior of the +fissures, and on the tops of the arches whence the waters issue. This +field of snow, which we believe has never been known to perspire so much +in the hottest season as to evaporate altogether, constitutes the main +source of the Avon. The little stream, cold and leafless though it be, +is not without its beauties. Rarely have we seen such brilliant mosses +as those which cluster round its source: their extreme freshness may +probably be accounted for by remembering that every summer day deducts +so much from the extent of the snow-field, and that the turf in its +immediate neighbourhood has just been uncovered, and, relieved from +prison, is enjoying the first fresh burst of spring in July or August. +For our own part we think this region of fresh moss is quite worthy of +comparison with the far-famed _Jardin of the Talefre_, which we find +described in Murray's hand-book as "an oasis in the desert, an island in +the ice--a rock which is covered with a beautiful herbage, and enamelled +in August with flowers. This is the Jardin of this palace of nature, and +nothing can exceed the beauty of such a spot, amidst the overwhelming +sublimity of the surrounding objects, the Aiguilles of Charmoz, +Bletiere, and the Geant," &c. "Herbage," "flowers"!! Why, the jardin is +merely a rock protruding out of the glacier, and covered with lichens; +but, after all, was it reasonable to expect a better flower-show ten +thousand feet above the level of the sea, and some nine thousand or so +above all horticultural societies and prize exhibitions? + +As we follow the course of the little stream, it becomes gradually +enlarged by contributions from subsidiary snow streams; and winds along +for some distance not inconsiderable in the volume of its waters, +passing through a beautiful channel of fine sand, probably formed of the +_detritus_ of the granite rocks, swept along by the floods, caused by +the melting of the snow in spring. The water is exquisitely clear--a +feature which at once deprives it of all right to be considered +glacier-born; for filth is the peculiarity of the streams claiming this +high origin, and none can have seen without regretting it, the Rhone, +after having washed itself clean in the Lake Leman, and come forth a +sapphire blue, becoming afterwards as dirty as ever, because it happens +to fall in company with an old companion, the Arve, which, having never +seen good society, or had an opportunity of making itself respectable, +by the mere force of its native character, brings its reformed brother +back to his original mire, and accompanies him in that plight through +the respectable city of Lyons, till both plunge together into the great +ocean, where all the rivers of the earth, be they blue or yellow, clear +or boggy, classical or obscure, become alike indistinguishable. + +Perhaps our traveller is becoming tired of this small pleasant stream +running along a mere declivity of the table-land of Ben Muich Dhui. But +he will not be long distressed by its peaceful monotony. Presently, as +he comes in sight of the valley below, and Loch Avon lying in a small +pool at the base of the dizzy height, the stream leaps at once from the +edge of the hill, and disappears for a time, reappearing again far down +in a narrow thread, as white as the snow from which it has issued. Down +the wide channel, which the stream occupies in its moments of fulness +and pride--moments when it is all too terrible to be approached by +mortal footsteps--the traveller must find his way; and, if he understand +his business, he may, by judiciously adapting to his purpose the many +ledges and fractures caused by the furious bursts of the flooded stream, +and by a judicious system of zig-zagging, convert the channel, so far as +he is himself concerned, into a sort of rough staircase, some two +thousand feet or so in length. The torrent itself takes a more direct +course; and he who has descended by the ravine may well look up with +wonder at what has the appearance of a continuous cataract, which, +falling a large mass of waters at his feet, seems as if it diminished +and disappeared in the heavens. The Staubbach, or Fall of Dust, in +Lauter Brunen, is beyond question a fine object. The water is thrown +sheer off the edge of a perpendicular rock, and reaches the ground in a +massive shower nine hundred feet high. But with all respect for this +wonder of the world, we are scarcely disposed to admit that it is a +grander fall than this rumbling, irregular, unmeasured cataract which +tumbles through the cleft between Ben Muich Dhui and Ben Avon. We should +not omit, by the way, for the benefit of those who are better acquainted +with Scottish than with Continental scenery, to notice the resemblance +of this torrent to the Gray Mare's Tail in Moffat-dale. In the character +both of the stream itself and in the immediate scenery there are many +points of resemblance, every thing connected with the Avon being of +course on the larger scale. + +Our wanderer has perhaps indulged himself in the belief that he has been +traversing these solitudes quite alone--how will he feel if he shall +discover that he has been accompanied in every step and motion by a +shadowy figure of huge proportions and savage mien, flourishing in his +band a great pine-tree, in ghastly parallel with all the motions of the +traveller's staff? Such are the spirits of the air haunting this howling +wilderness, where the pale sheeted phantom of the burial vault or the +deserted cloister would lose all his terrors and feel himself utterly +insignificant. Sometimes the phantom's head is large and his body small, +then he receives the name of Fahin. James Hogg has asserted, not only +poetically, but in sober prose, that, he was acquainted with a man who + + "Beheld the fahin glide o'er the fell." + +For ourselves, are bound to confess that we never had the honour of +meeting with this megacephalous gentleman, nor did we ever encounter any +one who professed to have seen him, otherwise we would certainly have +reported the case to the Phrenological Society. But we no more doubt his +existence than that of the spectre of the Brocken. Sometimes the shadowy +spectre of Ben Muich Dhui is a gigantic exaggeration of the ordinary +human form seen stalking in a line with the traveller's route, striding +from mountain-top to mountain-top as _he_ steps from stone to stone, and +imitating on an enlarged scale all his gestures. The spectre has an +excellent excuse for all this unpolite mimicry--in fact, he cannot help +it, as the reader may infer from the following account, of one of his +appearances on a reduced scale. The description is given by Sir Thomas +Dick Lauder, who, along with Mr Grant of Ballindalloch, had ascended Ben +Muich Dhui:--"On descending from the top, at about half-past three, +P.M., an interesting optical appearance presented itself to our view. We +had turned towards the east, and the sun shone on our backs, when we saw +a very bright rainbow described on the mist before us. The bow, of +beautifully distinct prismatic colours, formed about two-thirds of a +circle, the extremities of which appeared to rest on the lower portion +of the mountain. In the centre of this incomplete circle, there was +described a luminous disc, surrounded by the prismatic colours displayed +in concentric rings. On the disc itself, each of the party (three in +number) as they stood at about fifty yards apart, saw his own figure +most distinctly delineated, although those of the other two were +invisible to him. The representation appeared of the natural size, and +the outline of the whole person of the spectator was most correctly +portrayed. To prove that the shadow seen by each individual was that of +himself, we resorted to various gestures, such as waving our hats, +flapping our plaids, &c., all which motions were exactly followed by the +airy figure. We then collected together, and stood as close to one +another as possible, when each could see three shadows in the disc; his +own, as distinctly as before, while those of his two companions were but +faintly discernible."[7] + +We are now at the upper extremity of Loch Avon, or, as it is pronounced, +Loch A'an, and beside the far-famed Stone of Shelter. We had a standing +feud with James Hogg about the extent of Loch Avon, ever since the day +of that celebrated encampment on Dee-side. Let us see. Thirty years have +now rolled by since that unmatched gathering of choice spirits--nay, +seventeen have passed and gone since we made regretful allusion, when +commemorating the Moray floods, to the history and fortunes of those who +were then assembled. Five years later, the Shepherd was himself gathered +to the dust; but he stuck to his principles to the last, and in a +discussion of the subject not many months before his death, after he +had just remarked that he had "a blessed constitution," he reiterated +his old statement, that Loch Avon exceeded twenty miles in length. His +views on this subject were indeed a sort of gauge of the Shepherd's +spirits. In his sombre moments he appeared to doubt if he were quite +correct in insisting that the length was twenty miles; when he was in +high spirits he would not abate one inch of the thirty. Now, when one +man maintains that a lake is thirty miles long, and another that it is +but a tenth part of that length, it is not always taken for granted that +the moderate man is in the right; but on the contrary, paradoxical +people are apt to abet his opponent, and it was provoking that we could +never find any better authority against the Shepherd than his own very +suspicious way of recording his experience at Loch Avon in a note to the +_Queen's Wake_: "I spent a summer day in visiting it. The hills were +clear of mist, yet the heavens were extremely dark--the effect upon the +scene exceeded all description. My mind during the whole day experienced +the same sort of sensation as if I had been in a dream." But if our +departed friend has left any disciples, we are now able to adduce +against them the highest parochial authority. We are told in the new +Statistical Account that--"Loch Avon lies in the southern extremity of +the parish, in the bosom of the Grampian mountain. It is estimated at +_three miles long_ and a mile broad. The scenery around it is +particularly wild and magnificent. The towering sides of Ben-y-Bourd, +Ben Muich Dhui, and Ben Bainac, rise all around it, and their rugged +bases skirt its edges, except at the narrow outlet of the Avon at its +eastern extremity. Its water is quite luminous, and of great depth, +especially along its northern side. It abounds in trout of a black +colour and slender shape, differing much in appearance from the trout +found in the limpid stream of the Avon which issues from it. At the west +end of the lake is the famous Clach Dhian or Shelter Stone. This stone +is an immense block of granite, which seems to have fallen from a +projecting rock above it, rising to the height of several hundred feet, +and forming the broad shoulder of Ben Muich Dhui. The stone rests on two +other blocks imbedded in a mass of rubbish, and thus forms a cave +sufficient to contain twelve or fifteen men. Here the visitor to the +scenery of Loch Avon takes up his abode for the night, and makes himself +as comfortable as he can where 'the Queen of the Storm sits,' and at a +distance of fifteen or twenty miles from all human abode."[8] + +At the eastern end of the lake, we stop to take a glance at the whole +scene. Right before us stands the broad top and the mural precipices of +Ben Avon, severing us from the north-western world. On the right, the +scarcely less craggy sides of Ben-y-Bourd and Ben Bainac wall up the +waters of the lake. The other side is conspicuous by a sharp peak of Ben +Muich Dhui--the same which we already mentioned as seeming to hang (and +it certainly does so seem from this point) over the edge of the water. +We never saw the sun shining on Loch Avon; we suspect its waters, so +beautifully transparent in themselves, are seldom visited by even a +midsummer gleam. Hence arises a prevailing and striking feature of the +scene--the abundant snows that fill the hollows in the banks, and +sometimes, even in midsummer, cover the slopes of the mountains. + +We incline to the belief that tourists in general would consider Loch +Avon the finest feature of the whole group of scenery which we have +undertaken to describe. For our own part we must admit that we prefer +the source of the Dee, to which the reader shall be presently +introduced, as more peculiar and original. Loch Avon is like a fragment +of the Alps imported and set down in Scotland. Our recollections of it +invariably become intertwined and confused with the features of the +scenery of the upper passes. The resemblance was particularly marked on +the first of August 1836: it was a late season, and every portion of the +mountains that did not consist of perpendicular rock appeared to be +covered with snow. The peak of Ben Muich Dhui shot forth from the snow +as like the Aiguilles of Mont Blanc, as one needle is like another. That +was on the whole an adventurous day with us. We had set off from Braemar +very early in the morning, taking a vehicle as far as it would penetrate +through Glen Lui. The day was scarcely promising, but we had so long +been baffled by the weather that we felt inclined at last to put it at +defiance, or at least treat it with no respect. In Glen Lui every thing +was calm and solemn. As we passed through Glen Derrie, the rain began to +fall, and the wind roared among the old trees. The higher we ascended, +the more fierce and relentless became the blast; and when we came within +sight of Loch Avon, the interstices in the tempest-driven clouds only +showed us a dreary, winter, Greenland-like chaos of snow and rocks and +torrents. It taxed our full philosophy, both of the existence of the +_ego_ and the _non-ego_, to preserve the belief that we were still in +the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and that it was the +first of August. Our indefinite projects had gradually been contracting +themselves within a narrow compass. To reach the Stone of Shelter was +now our utmost object of ambition, but it was clear that that was +impracticable--so we looked about for some place of refuge, and with +little difficulty discovered a stone about the size of a parish church +lying like a pebble at the foot of a mountain, with a projecting ledge +on the lee side, sufficiently large to protect our party. Some dry furze +happened, by a singular accident, to lie heaped in a corner of this +natural shed. With a little judicious management it was ignited, and +burned so well as to overcome the wetness of a mass of thick heather +roots, which we added to it. We were in the possession of some raw +venison;--do not open your eyes so, reader; it was most unromantically +and honestly come by, being duly entered in the bill at worthy Mrs +Clarke's inn, at Braemar. Having brought certain conjuring utensils with +us, we proceeded to cook our food and make ourselves comfortable. Water +was easily obtained in the neighbourhood, and being in possession of the +other essential elements of conviviality, we resolved that, as the +weather was determined to make it winter outside, we should have the +joys of winter within; the shrieks of the blast were drowned in our +convivial shouts-- + + "The storm without might rair and rustle, + Tam didna mind the storm a whistle." + +Another adventure we remember in the same place, but that was long, long +ago; in fact, it was when in boyhood we had first entered into that +awful wilderness. We had reached the top of Ben Muich Dhui early in the +day. Our little wallet of provisions we had left on a tuft of heather +where we had lain down to rest, and we could not afterwards find the +spot. Somewhat tired, and faint with hunger, we descended the rocks by +the side of the cataract, believing that Loch Avon, seemingly so small +from the summit of the mountain, was the little Tarn of Etichan, which +had been passed in the ascent from Dee-side. It was alarming to find the +lake extending its bulk as we approached, and to see the glens looking +so different from any of those we were acquainted with on Dee-side; but +to have returned up the mountain would have been insanity, and by +pursuing the track of a stream, one is sure in the end--at least in this +country--to reach inhabited land; so we followed the waters of the Avon, +so deep and transparent, that many miles down, where they join the Spey, +their deceptious character is embodied in the proverb-- + + "The water o' A'an, it rins sae clear, + 'Twould beguile a man o' a hunder year." + +A few miles below the exit of the stream from the loch, as the extreme +dimness of the valley showed that sunset was approaching, we met a +drover who had gone up into the wilderness in search of stray black +cattle. He could speak little English, but was able to give us the +startling intelligence that by what was merely a slight divergence at +first, we had gone down towards the strath of the Spey instead of that +of the Dee; and that we were some thirty miles from the home we had +expected to reach that evening. Our new friend took us under his charge, +and conducted us to a bothy, made of the bent roots of the pine-tree, +found in the neighbouring mosses, and covered with turf. It was so low, +that we could not stand upright in it, and a traveller might have walked +over it without observing that it was an edifice made with human hands. +The sole article of furniture, of which it could boast was a trough, in +which our new friend hospitably presented us with a supper of oatmeal +and water--our first nourishment for the day. The supply was liberal, +whatever might be thought of the quality of the repast. The floor of the +bothy was strewed with heather, somewhat coarse and stumpy, on which we +lay down and slept. Conscious of a confused noise and a sort of +jostling, it was with some surprise that we perceived that no less than +ten men had crowded themselves into that little hut and had lighted a +fire. It was like a realisation of some of Cooper's romantic incidents, +where, after a silent desert has been described, it somehow or other +becomes suddenly full of people and fertile in adventure. Our new +companions were not of the most agreeable cast: they were rough and +surly, hiding, we thought, a desire to avoid communication under the +pretence of inability to speak any thing but Gaelic; while, in the midst +of their Celtic communications with each other, they swore profusely in +the Scottish vernacular. What their pursuits were, or what occasion they +had to be in that wild region, was to us a complete mystery, opened up +slightly by reflecting on the two great lawless pursuits, smuggling and +poaching; of the fruit of neither of which, however, did we see any +symptom. Our position was not for many reasons, great and small, to be +envied: however, it was the best policy to make one of themselves for +the time being, so far as their somewhat repulsive manners would permit. +It was not, however, with much regret, that, after having been packed +for some hours with them on the hard stumps of heather, we left them in +full snore at sunrise on a clear morning, and ascended the hill dividing +the waters that run into the Spey from those which feed the Dee. The +dews lay heavy on the moss and heather, and, as we neared the top of the +ridge, glittered brightly in the new-risen sun; while here and there the +mists, forming themselves into round balls, gradually rolled up the +sides of the hills, and, mounting like balloons, disappeared in the blue +sky. As we passed down through the broken forest-land on the other side, +we could see, on the top of the gentler elevations, the slender-branched +horns of the red-deer between us and the sky. Even on our near approach +the beautiful animals showed no signs of panic,--perhaps they knew our +innocence; and they gazed idly as we passed, only tossing their heads in +the air, and scampering off disdainfully when we approached offensively +close. We reached the Dee by following the stream of the Quoich, which, +like the Lui, passes through the remains of an ancient forest. It +derives its convivial name from a peculiar cataract often visited by +tourists from Braemar. Here the stone is hollowed by the action of the +water into circular cavities like those of the Caldron Linn; and in one +of these the guides will have the audacity to tell you that a +bacchanalian party once made grog by tossing in a few ankers of brandy, +and that they consumed the whole on the premises. + +We must now tell our pilgrim how he is to find his way by the more +direct route from Loch Avon to Braemar, and we may at the same time +afford a hint to the reader who desires to proceed towards the lake +without crossing Ben Muich Dhui. Near where the stream of the Avon +issues, it is necessary to turn to the right, and to keep rather +ascending than descending. In a few miles the brow of the hill shuts us +out from the wintry wild, and in a hollow are seen two small lakes +called the Dhu Lochan, with nothing about them to attract notice but +their dreariness and their blackness. The course of a burn which feeds +them marks the way to the water-shier between the Spey and the Dee, +whence a slight descent leads down to Glen Derrie, the position of which +has been already described. + +We now propose another excursion--our last on the present occasion--to +the sources of the Dee. We place our wanderer again at the Linn of Dee. +As he proceeds up the stream, the banks become flatter, and the valleys +wider and less interesting, until after some miles--we really cannot say +how many--the river turns somewhat northwards, and the banks become more +close and rocky. At this spot there is a fine waterfall, which, in the +midst of a desert, has contrived to surround itself with a not +unbecoming clump of trees. The waters are divided into two; the +Geusachan burn joining the stream from the west. At last the conical +peak of Cairn Toul appears over-topping all the surrounding heights; and +then, a rent intervening, we approach and soon walk under the great +mural precipice of Brae Riach, which we have already surveyed to so much +advantage from the top of Ben Muich Dhui. We are here in the spot which +to us, of all this group of scenery, appears to be the most remarkable, +as being so unlike any other part of Scotland, or any place we have seen +elsewhere. The narrowness of the glen and the height of its walled sides +are felt in the constrained attitude in which we look up on either side +to the top, as if we were surveying some object of interest in a tenth +story window of our own High Street. This same narrowness imparts a +sensation as if one could not breathe freely. If we compare this defile +to another of the grandest mountain passes in Scotland--to Glencoe, we +find a marked difference between them. The scene of the great tragedy, +grand and impressive as it is, has no such narrow walled defiles. The +mountains are high, but they are of the sugar-loaf shape--abrupt, but +never one mass of precipice from top to bottom. Cairn Toul resembles +these hills, though it is considerably more precipitous: but Brae Riach +is as unlike them as a tower is distinct from a dome. In this narrow +glen we could tell of sunsets and sunrises, not accompanied by such +disagreeable associations as those we have recorded in Glen Avon. +Picture the very hottest day of a hot year. The journey in the wide +burning glen up from the Linn of Dee has been accomplished only with the +aid of sundry plunges in the deep, cold pools, which the stream has +filled with water fresh from the inner chambers of the mountains. The +moment we enter the narrow part of the glen, though the sun is still +pretty far up in the heavens, we are in twilight gloom. We have no +notice of his leaving the earth, save the gradual darkening of all +things around us. Then the moon is up, but we have no further +consciousness of his presence, save that the sharp peak of Cairn Toul +shows its outline more clearly even than by daylight; and a lovely roof +of light-blue, faintly studded with stars, contrasts with the dark sides +of our rocky chamber. In such a time, when one has mounted so far above +the level of the waters that they only make a distant murmur--when there +is not a breath of wind stirring any thing--it is strange with how many +mysterious voices the mountain yet speaks. Sometimes there is a +monotonous and continuous rumble as if some huge stone, many miles off, +were loosened from its position, and tumbling from rock to rock. Then +comes a loud distinct report as if a rock had been split; and faint +echoes of strange wailings touch the ear, as if this solemn desert were +frequented at night by animals as little known to the inhabitants of our +island as the uncouth wilds in which they live. But let not the wanderer +indulge in thoughts of this description beyond the bounds of a pleasant +imaginativeness. Let him take it for granted, that neither cayman nor +rattlesnake will disturb his rest; and having pitched on a dry spot, let +him pluck a large quantity of heather, making up a portion of it in +bundles, and setting them on end closely packed together with the flower +uppermost, while he reserves the rest to heap over himself. It is such a +bed as a prince has seldom the good fortune to take his rest on; and if +the wanderer have a good conscience, and the night be fine, he will +sleep far more soundly than if he were packed on the floor of a bothy, +with ten Highlanders who every now and then are giving their shoulders +nervous jerks against the heather stumps, or scratching the very skin +off their wrists. When he awakens, he finds himself nearer to the top of +Ben Muich Dhui than he had probably supposed, and the ascent is straight +and simple. He may be there to see the sun rise, a sight which has its +own peculiar glories, though most people prefer seeing the event from +some solitary hill, which, like Ben Nevis, Shehallion, or the Righi, +stands alone, and looks round on a distant panorama of mountains. + +To return to the Dee.--The river divides again, one stream coming +tumbling down through the cleft between Cairn Toul and Brae Riach, +called the Garchary Burn. The other, less precipitously inclined, comes +from between Brae Riach and Ben Mulch Dhul, and is called the Larig. +Like the Nile and the Niger, the Dee is a river of a disputed source. As +we shall presently find, the right of the Garchary to that distinction +is strongly maintained by pretty high authority; but we are ourselves +inclined to adopt the Larig, not only because it appeared to us to +contain a greater volume of water, but because it is more in the line of +the glen, and, though rough enough, is not so desperately flighty as the +Garchary, and does not join it in those great leaps which, however +surprising and worthy of admiration they may be in themselves, are not +quite consistent with the calm dignity of a river destined to pass close +to two universities. Following then the Larig over rocks and rough +stones, among which it chafes and foams, we reach a sort of barrier of +stones laid together by the hand of nature with the regularity of an +artificial breakwater. As we pass over this barrier, a hollow rumbling +is heard beneath; for the stream, at least at ordinary times, finds its +way in many rills deep down among the stones. When we reach the top of +the bank we are on the edge of a circular basin, abrupt and deep, but +full of water so exquisitely clear that the pebbly bottom is every where +visible. Here the various springs, passing by their own peculiar +conduit-pipes from the centre of the mountain, meet together, and east +up their waters into the round basin--one can see the surface disturbed +by the force of their gushing. Soon after passing these "wells of Dee," +we are at the head of the pass of Cairngorm, and join the waters which +run to the Spey. A path leads through the woods of Rothiemurchus to +Aviemore, on which the nearest house is, or used to be, that of a widow +named Mackenzie, who in that wide solitude extends her hospitality to +the wayfarer. Blessings on her! may her stoup never be dry, or her aumry +empty. It is needless to tell the traveller, that by this route he may +approach the scenery of the Cairngorm hills from Laggan, Rannoch, and +other places near Spey side. + +The claims of the Garchary to the leadership are supported by that +respectable topographer Dr Skene Keith--probably on account of his own +adventurous ascent of that turbulent stream, which we shall give in his +own words, merely premising that we suspect he was mistaken in his +discovery that the well he saw is called "Well Dee." + + "At two o'clock P.M. we set out to climb the mountain, still + keeping in sight of the river. In a few minutes we came to the foot + of a cataract, whose height we found to be one thousand feet, and + which contained about a fourth part of the water of which the + Garchary was now composed. In about half an hour after, we + perceived that the cataract came from a lake in the ridge of the + mountain of Cairn Toul, and that the summit of the mountain was + another thousand feet above the loch, which is called Loch na Youn, + or the Blue Lake. A short time after we saw the Dee (here called + the Garchary from this rocky bed, which signifies in Gaelic _the + rugged quarry_) tumbling in great majesty over the mountain down + another cataract; or as we afterwards found it, a chain of natural + cascades, above thirteen hundred feet high. It was in flood at this + time from the melting of the snow, and the late rains; and what was + most remarkable, an arch of snow covered the narrow glen from which + it tumbled over the rocks. We approached so near to the cataract as + to know that there was no other lake or stream; and then we had to + climb among huge rocks, varying from one to ten tons, and to catch + hold of the stones or fragments that projected, while we ascended + in an angle of seventy or eighty degrees. A little before four + o'clock we got to the top of the mountain, which I knew to be Brae + Riach, or the speckled mountain. Here we found the highest well, + which we afterwards learned was called Well Dee, and other five + copious fountains, which make a considerable stream before they + fall over the precipice. We sat down completely exhausted, at four + o'clock P.M. and drank of the highest well, which we found to be + four thousand and sixty feet above the level of the sea; and whose + fountain was only thirty-five degrees of heat on the 17th of July, + or three degrees above the freezing point. We mixed some good + whisky with this water, and recruited our strength [a very + judicious proceeding.] Then we poured as a libation into the + fountain a little of the excellent whisky which our landlord had + brought along with him [a very foolish proceeding.] After resting + half an hour, we ascended to the top of Brae Riach at five P.M., + and found it to be four thousand two hundred and eighty feet above + the level of the sea."[9] + +We must not bid farewell to this mountain desert without asking +attention to a peculiar feature in the hills connected with a disastrous +history. In many places the declivities are seamed with trenches some +forty or fifty feet deep, appearing as if they were made by a gigantic +plough-share which, instead of sand, casts up huge masses of rock on +either side, in parallel mounds, like the morains of a glacier. There +are many of these furrows on the side of Ben Muich Dhui, nearest to the +Dee. Though we had long noticed them, it was not until we happened to be +in that district, immediately after the great floods of 1829, that we +were forcibly told of the peculiar cause of this appearance. The old +furrows were as they had been before--the stones, gray, weather-beaten, +and covered with lichen, while heather and wildflowers grew in the +interstices. But among them were new scaurs, still like fresh wounds, +with the stones showing the sharpness of late fracture, and no herbage +covering the blood-red colour of the sand. It was clear from the +venerable appearance of the older scaurs, that only at long intervals do +the elements produce this formidable effect--at least many years had +passed since the last instance before 1829 had occurred. The theory of +the phenomenon appeared to be pretty simple. Each spring is a sort of +stone cistern, which, through its peculiar duct, sends forth to one part +of the surface of the earth the water it receives from another. If, +through inordinately heavy falls of rain, there be a great volume of +water pressing on the entrance tubes, the expansive force of the water +in the cistern increases in that accumulating ratio which is practically +exemplified in the hydraulic press, and the whole mass of water bursts +forth from the side of the mountain, as if it were a staved barrel, +rending rocks, and scattering their shattered fragments around like +dust. Hence we may presume arose these fierce pulsations which made the +rivers descend wave on wave. What a sight, to have been remembered and +thought on ever after, would it have been, had one been present in this +workshop of the storm while the work was going on! + +Now, reader, before we have done, let us confess that there are many +elements that we like to meet with in such things, wherein this little +contribution to the knowledge of British local scenery is deficient. +Fain would we have given it a more hospitable tone, telling of the +excellent cookery at this inn, and the good wines at the next, and the +general civility experienced at the third; but we cast ourselves, O +generous reader! on your mercy. How could we describe the comforts and +luxuries of inns, in a place where there is not a single house--a place +which, like the Irish milestone, is "fifteen miles from inny where"? + +As to the frequented methods of approach towards the border of the +wilderness which we have taken under our especial patronage, we profess +not to discuss them, leaving the public in the very competent hands of +the Messrs Anderson, whose "Guide to the Highlands and Islands of +Scotland" is, in relation to the inhabited districts, and the usual +tourists' routes, all-sufficient for its purpose. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] _Edinburgh New Philosophic Journal_, 1831, p. 165. + +[8] _New Statistical Account of Scotland--Banffshire_, p. 298. + +[9] _Dr Skene Keith's Surrey of Aberdeenshire_, p. 644. + + + + +LETTERS ON THE TRUTHS CONTAINED IN POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. + +LETTER VII--OBJECTS TO BE GAINED THROUGH THE ARTIFICIAL INDUCTION OF +TRANCE. + + +DEAR ARCHY,--I am tempted to write you a letter more than I had +originally intended,--a supplementary and final one. + +The powers which we have seen employed to shake the nerves and unsettle +the mind in the service of superstition,--can they be turned to no +useful purpose? + +To answer this question, I will give you a brief account of the two most +vigorous attempts which have been made to turn the elements we have been +considering to a profitable end. I have in my thoughts the invention of +ether-inhalation and the induction of trance in mesmerism. The witch +narcotised her pupils in order to produce in them delusive visions; the +surgeon stupifies his patient to prevent the pain of an operation being +felt. The fanatic preacher excites convulsions and trance in his +auditory to persuade them that they are visited by the Holy Spirit; +Mesmer produced the same effects as a means of curing disease. + +Let us first look into the simpler problem of ether-inhalation. + +It occurred to Mr Jackson, a chemist in the United States, that it might +be possible, and unattended with risk, so to stupify a patient with the +vapour of sulphuric ether that he might undergo a surgical operation +without suffering. He communicated the idea to Mr Morton, a dentist, who +carried it into execution with the happiest results. The patient became +unconscious,--a tooth was extracted;--no sign of pain escaped at the +time;--there was no recollection of suffering afterwards. Led by the +report of this success, in the course of the autumn of 1846, Messrs +Bigelow, Warren, and Heywood ventured to employ the same means in +surgical operations of a more serious description. The results obtained +on these occasions were not less satisfactory than the first had been. +Since then, in England, France, and Germany, this interesting experiment +has been repeated in numberless cases, and its general success may be +considered to be established. + +The effects produced by the inhalation of the vapour of sulphuric ether, +present a superficial resemblance to those produced by exposure to +carbonic acid; but they are more closely analogous to the effects of +inhaling nitrous oxide; and they may be compared and contrasted with +those of opium and alcoholic liquors. But the patient is neither in the +state of asphyxia, nor is he narcotised, nor drunk. The effects produced +are peculiar, and deserve a name of their own. + +To give you a distinct idea of the ordinary phenomena of etherisation, I +will cite three or four instances from a report on this subject by Dr +Heyfelder, Knight, professor of medicine, and director of the surgical +clinic at Erlangen. + +Dr Heyfelder himself, a strong and healthy man, after inhaling the +vapour of ether for a minute, experienced an agreeable warmth in his +whole person; after the second minute, he felt a disposition to cough, +and diminution of ordinary sensibility. Then an impression supervened +that some great change was about to take place within him. At the +expiration of the third minute, he _lost sensibility and consciousness_. +In this state he remained two minutes. The pulse was unaffected. Upon +coming to himself, he felt a general sense of exhaustion, with weakness +of the back and knees. For the remainder of the day he walked +unsteadily, and his mind was confused. + +A. T., aged thirty-six, a tall strong servant-maid, after inhaling for +seventeen minutes, became unconscious, and appeared not to feel a +trifling wound with a surgical needle. In a minute consciousness +returned. She laughed immoderately, spoke of an agreeable feeling of +warmth, and said she had had pleasant dreams. The pulse was slower, the +breathing deeper, during the inhalation. The same person upon inhaling, +on another occasion, with a better apparatus, became insensible after +two minutes. The eyes appeared red and suffused; a carious tooth was +then extracted, which caused her to moan slightly. On returning to +herself she complained of giddiness, but said she had experienced none +but agreeable feelings. She had no idea that the tooth had been +extracted. + +K. A., aged twenty-nine, upon beginning the inhalation, showed signs of +excitement, but in nine minutes lay relaxed like a corpse. A tooth was +extracted. Two minutes afterwards she awoke, moaning and disturbed. She +stated that she _had not felt the extraction of the tooth, but she had +heard it_. + +C. S., aged twenty-two, a strong and healthy young man, a student of +surgery, on commencing the inhalation, coughed, and there was a flow of +saliva and of tears. In three and a half minutes the skin appeared +insensible to pain. Consciousness remained perfect and undisturbed. The +skin was warm; the eyes were open; the hearing as usual; the speech, +however, was difficult. This state continued eighteen minutes, during +which, at _his request_, two teeth with large fangs were extracted. He +held himself perfectly still. He said, afterwards, that _he felt the +application of the instrument, but was sensible of no pain_, during the +extraction of the teeth. + +W. S., aged nineteen, a strong and healthy young man, a law-student, +after inhaling the ether-vapour a minute, began to move his arms about, +struck his knees, stamped with his feet, laughed. In three minutes the +laughter and excitement had increased. The eyes rolled, he sprang up, +talked volubly; the pulse was strong and frequent. In seven minutes he +breathed deeply, the eyelids closed, the pulse sank. In eight minutes he +began to snore, but heard when called to. In nine minutes the eyes were +suffused; the optic axes were directed upwards and outwards. At the end +of twelve minutes a tooth was extracted, when he uttered an exclamation +and laughed. On his return to himself, he said that he had _felt the +laceration, or tear, but had experienced no pain_. He thought he had +been at a carousal. + +If I add to these sketches that the patient sometimes becomes pale, +sometimes flushed,--that the pupils of the eyes are generally dilated +and fixed, sometimes natural and fixed, sometimes contracted,--that +violent excitement sometimes manifests itself attended with the +persistence or even exaltation of the ordinary sensibility,--that +sometimes hysteric fits are brought on; sometimes a state resembling +common intoxication,--you will have had the means of forming a +sufficiently exact and comprehensive idea of the features of +etherisation. + +Then, if we exclude the cases in which excitement, instead of collapse, +is induced, and, in general, cases complicated with disorder of the head +or chest, it appears that the inhalation of ether is not attended with +questionable or injurious consequences; and that it places the patient +in a condition in which the performance of a surgical operation may be +prudently contemplated. If the operation require any length of +time,--from thirty to forty minutes, for instance,--the state of +insensibility may be safely maintained, by causing the inhalation to be +resumed as often as its effects begin to wear off. In minor cases of +surgery, in which union of the wound _by adhesion_ is necessary to the +success of the operation--in harelip, for instance--an exacter +comparison is, perhaps, requisite than has yet been made of the relative +results obtained on etherised and non-etherised patients. In graver +cases, some of which always end fatally, symptoms, again, may +occasionally supervene, or continue from the time of the operation, +which are directly attributable to the etherisation. But, in all +probability, the entire proportion of recoveries in etherised cases will +be found to be increased, through the injurious effects being averted +which are produced by fear and suffering. There is every reason to +expect that a saving of human life will be thus realised,--an advantage +over and above the deliverance from pain and terror. + +So the invention of etherisation deserves to be rated as a signal +benefit to humanity. Nor is it to be lost sight of, that the invention +is quite in its infancy; and that any sound objections which may, at +present, be raised against it, are not unlikely to be obviated through +the modifications and improvements of which it is no doubt susceptible. +The amount of success already obtained, may further be deemed sufficient +to make us secure that the object of extinguishing the sufferings of +surgery will never _again_ be lost sight of by the medical profession +and the public. One item, partial indeed, but a tolerably severe one, in +the catalogue of the physical ills to which flesh is heir, is thus so +far in a fair way of being got rid of. + +The method of Mesmer was an attempt to cure bodily disease by making a +forcible impression on the nerves. And no doubt can be entertained that +many of his patients were the better for the violent succussion of the +system which his developed practice put them through. + +But mesmerism contained two things,--a bold empirical practice and a +mystical theory. Mesmer strove, by the latter, to explain the effects +which his practice produced. An odd fate his method and his theory will +have had. His method was considered, by many of his contemporaries, as +of solid importance; his theory was for the most part ridiculed as that +of a half-crazed enthusiast and impostor. Now, no reasonable person can +regard his practice in any other light than as a rough and hazardous +experiment. But his theory, in the mean time, is ceasing to be absurd; +for it admits of being represented as a very respectable anticipation of +Von Reichenbach's recent discoveries. + +Mesmer, a native of Switzerland, was born in 1734. He became a student +at Vienna, where his turn for the mystical led him to the studies of +alchemy and astrology. In the year 1766, he published a treatise on the +influence of the planets upon the human frame. It contains the idea that +a force extends throughout space through which the stars can affect the +body. In attempting to identify this force, Mesmer first supposed it to +be electricity. Afterwards, about the year 1773, he adopted the belief +that it must be ordinary magnetism. So at Vienna, from 1773 to 1775, he +employed the practice of stroking diseased parts of the body with +magnets. But, in 1776, making a tour in Bavaria and Switzerland, he fell +in with the notorious Father Gassner, who had at that time undertaken +the cure of the blind prince-bishop of Ratisbon by exorcism. Then Mesmer +observed that, without employing magnets, Gassner obtained very much the +same kind of effects upon the human body which he had produced with +their aid. The fact was not lost upon him. He threw away his magnets, +and henceforth operated with the hand alone. In 1777, his reputation a +little damaged by a failure in the case of the musician Paradies, Mesmer +left Vienna, and the following year betook himself to Paris. The great +success which he obtained there drew upon him the indignation and +jealousy of the faculty, who did not scruple to brand him with the +stigma of charlatanism. They averred that he threw difficulties in the +way of a satisfactory examination of his method; but perhaps he had +reason to suspect want of fairness in the proposed inquiry. He refused, +from the government, an offer of twenty thousand francs to divulge his +method; but he was ready to explain it, it is true, under a pledge of +secresy, to individuals for one hundred louis. But his practice itself +gave most support to the allegations against him. His patients were +received and treated with an air of mystery and studied effect. The +apartment, hung on every side with mirrors, was dimly lighted. A +profound silence was observed, broken only by strains of music, which +occasionally floated through the rooms. The patients were arranged +around a large vessel, which contained a heterogeneous mixture of +chemical ingredients. With this and with each other, they were placed in +relation, by holding cords or jointed rods; and among them moved slowly +and mysteriously Mesmer himself, affecting one by a touch, another by a +look, a third by continued stroking with the hand, a fourth by pointing +at him with a rod. + +What followed is easily conceivable from the scenes referred to in my +last letter, which are witnessed at religious revivals. One person +became hysterical, then another; one was seized with catalepsy, then +others; some with convulsions; some with palpitations of the heart, +perspirations, and other bodily disturbances. These effects, however +various and different, went all by the name of "salutary crises." The +method was supposed to produce, in the sick person, exactly the kind of +action propitious to his recovery. And it may easily be imagined that +many patients found themselves better after a course of this rude +empiricism; and that the impression made by these events, passing daily +in Paris, must have been very considerable. To the ignorant the scene +was full of wonderment. + +To ourselves, regarding it from our present vantage-ground, it contains +absolutely nothing of the marvellous. We discern the means which were in +operation, and which are theoretically sufficient to produce the result. +Those means consisted in,--first, high-wrought expectation and excited +fancy, enough alone to set some of the most excitable into +fits;--secondly, the contagious power of nervous disorder to cause the +like disorder in others, a power augmenting with the number of persons +infected;--thirdly, the physical influence upon the body of the _Od +force_ discovered by Von Reichenbach, which is produced in abundance by +chemical decomposition, which can be communicated to, and conveyed by +inanimate conductors, and which finally emanates with great vivacity +from the subtle chemistry of the living human frame itself. The reality +of this third cause you must allow me to take for granted without +farther explanation. Von Reichenbach's papers, the credit of which is +guaranteed by their publication in Liebig and Woehler's Annals of +Chemistry, have been now some time translated into English, and are in +the hands of most English readers. + +It is remarkable that Jussieu, the most competent judge in the +commission which, in 1784 condemned mesmerism as a scientific +imposition, was so much struck with the effects he witnessed, that he +recommended the subject, nevertheless, to the farther investigation of +medical men. His objections were to the theory. He laid it down, in the +separate report which he made, that the only physical cause in operation +was animal heat; curiously overlooking the point, that common heat was +not capable of doing the same things, and that, therefore, the effects +_must be owing to the agency of that something else_ which animal heat +contained in addition to common heat. + +It is unnecessary to follow Mesmer through his minor performances. The +relief sometimes obtained by stroking diseased parts with the hand had +before been proclaimed by Dr Greatorex, whose pretensions had no less an +advocate than the Honourable Robert Boyle. The extraordinary tales of +Mesmer's immediate and instantaneous personal power over individuals are +probably part exaggeration, part the real result of his confidence and +practice in the use of the means he wielded. Mesmer died in 1815. + +Among his pupils, when at the zenith of his fame, was the Marquis de +Puysegur. Returning from serving at the siege of Gibraltar, this young +officer found mesmerism the mode at Paris, and appears to have become, +for no other reason, one of the initiated. At the end of the course of +instruction, he professed himself to be no wiser than when he began; and +he ridiculed the credulity and the faith of his brothers, who were +stanch adherents of the new doctrine. However he did not forget his +lesson; and on going, the same spring, to his estate at Basancy, near +Soissons, he took occasion to mesmerise the daughter of his agent, and +another young person, for the toothach, who declared themselves, in a +few minutes, cured. This questionable success was sufficient to lead M. +de Puysegur, a few days after, to try his hand on a young peasant of the +name of Victor, who was suffering with a severe fluxion upon the chest. +What was M. de Puysegur's surprise when, at the end of a few minutes, +Victor went off into a kind of tranquil sleep, without crisis or +convulsion, and in that sleep began to gesticulate, and talk, and enter +into his private affairs. Then he became sad; and M. de Puysegur tried +mentally to inspire him with cheerful thoughts; he hummed a lively tune +to himself, _inaudibly_, and immediately Victor began to sing the air. +Victor remained asleep for an hour, and awoke composed, with his +symptoms mitigated. + +The case of Victor revolutionised the art of mesmerism. The large part +of his life in which M. Puysegur had nothing to do but to follow this +vein of inquiry, was occupied in practising and advocating a gentle +manipulation to induce sleep, in preference to the more violent crises. +I have no plea for telling you how M. de Puysegur served in the first +French revolutionary armies; how he quitted the service in disgust; how +narrowly he escaped the guillotine; how he lived in retirement +afterwards, benevolently endeavouring to do good to his sick neighbours +by mesmerism; how he survived the Restoration; and how, finally, he died +of a cold caught by serving again in the encampment at Rheims to assist +as an old _militaire_ at the _sacre_ of Charles X. + +For he had, to use the phrase of the moment, fulfilled his mission the +day that he put Victor to sleep. He had made a vast stride in advance of +his teacher. Not but that Mesmer must frequently have produced the same +effect, but _he_ had passed it over unheeded, as one only of the +numerous forms of salutary crisis; nor that M. de Puysegur himself +estimated, or that the knowledge had then been brought together which +would have enabled him to estimate, the value, or the real nature and +meaning, of the step which he had made. To himself he appeared to be +largely extending the domain of mesmerism, of which he had, in truth, +discovered and gone beyond the limits. + +The state which he had so promptly and fortunately induced in Victor, +was _neither more nor less than common trance_--the commonest form, +perhaps, of the great family of nervous disorders, to which ordinary +sleep-walking belongs, and of which I have already sketched the +divisions and relations in the fifth letter of this series. All that +remains, combining originality and value, of Mesmer's art, is, that it +furnishes the surest method of inducing this particular condition of the +system. Employed with collateral means calculated to shake the nerves +and excite the imagination, mesmerism causes the same variety of +convulsive and violent seizures which extremes of fanatical frenzy +excite; when it is employed in a gentle form and manner, with +accessaries that only soothe and tranquillise, the most plain and +unpretending form of trance quietly steps upon the scene. + +Perhaps you will wonder that I seem to attach so much importance to the +power which mesmerism offers us, of producing at pleasure mere ordinary +trance; and, unluckily, it is easy to overrate that importance; because, +for any plan we are yet in possession of, the induction of trance, +through mesmerism, is, in truth, a very uncertain and capricious affair. +It is but a limited number of persons who can be affected by mesmerism; +and the good to be obtained from the process is proportionately limited. + +The first object to which artificial induction of trance may be turned, +is the cure or alleviation of certain forms of disease. + +It has been mentioned that in many so-called cataleptic cases, a +condition of violent spasm is constantly present, _except_ when the +patient falls into an alternative state of trance. _The spontaneous +supervention of trance relieves the spasm._ + +I mentioned, too, in the fifth letter of this series, the case of Henry +Engelbrecht, who, after a life of asceticism, and a week of nearly total +abstinence, fell into a death-trance. _On waking from it, he felt +refreshed and stronger._ + +These results are quite intelligible. In trance, the nervous system is +put _out of gear_. The strain of its functions is suspended. Now, +perhaps for the first time since birth, the nervous system, a part or +the whole, experiences entire repose. The effect of this must be as +soothing to it, as is to a diseased joint the disposing it in a relaxed +position on a pillow. In this state of profound rest, it is natural that +the nervous system should recruit its forces; that if previously weak +and irritable, it should emerge from the trance stronger and more +composed; that the induction of trance many days repeated, and +maintained daily an hour or more, should finally enable the nerves to +recover any extent of mere loss of tone, with its dependent morbid +excitability, and to shake off various forms of disorder dependent upon +that cause. So might it be expected, that epilepsy, that hysteric and +cataleptic fits, that nervous palsy, that tic-doloreux, when caused by +no structural impairment of organ, should get weak under the use of this +means--other means, of course, not being thereby excluded, which +peculiar features of individual cases render advisable. And experience +justifies this reasonable anticipation. And it is found practically +that, for purely nervous disorders, the artificial induction of trance +is, generally speaking, the most efficient remedy. Nay, in cases of a +more serious complexion, where organic disease exists, some unnecessary +suffering and superfluous nervous irritability may be thus allayed and +discarded. Even more may be said in favour of the availability of this +practice. There are few diseases of any kind, and of other parts, in +which the nervous system does not, primarily or secondarily, become +implicated. And so far does disease in general contain an element which +often may be reached and modified with salutary effect, through the +means I am now advocating. When the prejudices of medical men against +the artificial induction of trance have subsided, and its sanative +agency has been fairly tried, and diligently studied, there is no doubt +it will take a high rank among the resources of medicine. + +In surgery, artificial trance is capable of playing a not less important +part than in medicine. + +For, as it has been already mentioned, an ordinary feature of trance is +the entire suspension of common feeling. As long as the trance is +maintained, the patient is impassive to all common impressions on the +touch; the smartest electric shock, a feather introduced into the nose, +burning, or cutting with a knife, excite no sensation. So that surgical +operations may be performed without suffering during trance just as in +the stupor produced by the ether inhalation. Then, as trance soothes the +nerves, the patient, over and above the extinction of pain, is in a +fitter state than otherwise for the infliction of physical violence. +Likewise the trance may be induced not only at the time of the +operation, but with equal safety on all the subsequent occasions when +the wound has to be disturbed and dressed,--so that, in addition, all +the after suffering attendant upon great operations may be thus avoided. +The drawback against the method, is the uncertainty there exists of +being able to induce trance artificially in any given case. But the +trial is always worth making; and the number who can, with a little +patience, be put thus as it were to sleep, is undoubtedly greater than +is imagined. + +The most celebrated case in which an operation has been performed upon a +patient in the state of artificial trance, is that of Madame Plantin. +She was sixty-four years of age, and laboured under scirrhus of the +breast. She was prepared for the operation by M. Chapelain, who on +several successive days threw her into trance by the ordinary mesmeric +manipulations. She was _then_ like an ordinary sleep-walker, and would +converse with indifference about the contemplated operation, the idea of +which, when she was in her natural state, filled her with terror. The +operation of removing the diseased breast was performed at Paris on the +12th of April 1829, by M. Jules Cloquet: it lasted from ten to twelve +minutes. During the whole of this time, the patient _in her trance_ +conversed calmly with M. Cloquet, and exhibited not the slightest sign +of suffering. Her expression of countenance did not change, nor were the +voice, the breathing, or the pulse, at all affected. After the wound was +dressed, the patient was awakened from the trance, when, on learning +that the operation was over, and seeing her children round her, Madame +Plantin was affected with considerable emotion: whereupon M. Chapelain, +to compose her, put her back into the state of trance. + +I copy the above particulars from Dr Foissac's "_Rapports et Discussions +de l'Academie Royale de Medicine sur le Magnetisme Animal_."--Paris, +1833. "My friend, Dr Warren of Boston, informed me that, being at Paris, +he had asked M. Jules Cloquet if the story were true. M. Cloquet +answered, "Perfectly." "Then why," said Dr Warren, "have you not +repeated the practice?" M. Cloquet replied, "that he had not dared: that +the prejudice against mesmerism was so strong at Paris, that he +probably would have lost his reputation and his income by so doing." + +Here, then, we discover two purposes of partial, indeed, but signal +utility, compassable by the induction of trance, at the very outset of +our inquiry into its utility. It will appear by-and-by that this +resource promises to afford yet farther assistance to the physician. In +the mean time, let us look at a relation of the subject which may appear +more interesting to the general reader. + +It has been mentioned that, in ordinary trance, the relations of +consciousness to the nervous system are altered; that the laws of +sensation and perception are suspended, or temporarily changed; that the +mind appears to gain new powers. For a long time we had to trust to the +chance turning up of cases of spontaneous trance, in the experience of +physicians of observation, for any light we could hope would be thrown +on those extraordinary phenomena. Now we possess around us, on every +side, adequate opportunities for completely elucidating these events, if +we please to employ them. The philosopher, when his speculations suggest +a new question to be put, can summon the attendance of a trance, as +easily as the Jupiter of the Iliad summoned a dream. Or, looking out for +two or three cases to which the induction of trance may be beneficial, +the physician may have in his house subjects for perpetual reference and +daily experiment. + +A gentleman with whom I have long been well acquainted, for many years +Chairman of the Quarter Sessions in a northern county, of which the last +year he was High Sheriff, has, like M. de Puysegur, amused some of his +leisure hours, and benevolently done not a little good, by taking the +trouble of mesmerising invalids, whom he has thus restored to health. In +constant correspondence with, and occasionally having the pleasure of +seeing this gentleman, I have learned from him the common course in +which the new powers of the mind which belong to trance are developed +under its artificial induction. The sketch which I propose to give of +this subject will be taken on his descriptions, which, I should observe, +tally in all essential points with what I meet with in French and German +authors. The little that I have myself seen of the matter, I will +mention preliminarily; the most astounding things, it appears to me +safer to shelter under the authority of Petetin, who, towards the close +of the last century, _in ignorance of mesmerism_, described these +phenomena _as they came before him spontaneously in catalepsy_. + +The method of inducing trance that is found to be most successful, is to +sit immediately fronting, and close to the patient, holding his hands or +thumbs, or pointing the extended hands towards his forehead, and slowly +moving them in passes down his face, shoulders, and arms. It is now +clear that the force brought into operation on this occasion, is the Od +force of Von Reichenbach. So the patients sometimes speak of seeing the +luminous aura proceeding from the finger-points of the operator, which +Von Reichenbach's performers described. There are many who are utterly +insensible to this agency. Others are sensible of it in slight, and in +various ways. A small proportion, three in ten perhaps, are susceptible +to the extent of being thrown into trance. + +In some, a common fit of hysterics is produced. In others, slight +headach, and a sense of weight on the eyebrows, and difficulty of +raising the eyelids supervene. + +In one young woman, whom I saw mesmerized for the first time by Dupotel, +nothing resulted but a sense of pricking and tingling wherever he +pointed with his hand; and her arm on one or two occasions jumped in the +most natural and conclusive manner, when, her eyes being covered, he +directed his outstretched finger to it. + +A gentleman, about thirty years of age, when the mesmerizer held his +outstretched hands pointed to his head, experienced no disposition to +sleep; but in two or three minutes, he began to shake his head and twist +his features about; at last, his head was jerked from side to side, and +forwards and backwards, with a violence that looked alarming. But he +said, when it was over, that the motion had not been unpleasant; that he +had moved in a sort voluntarily; although he could not refrain from it. +If the hands of the operator were pointed to his arm instead of his +head, the same violent jerks came in it, and gradually extended to the +whole body. I asked him to try to resist the influence, by holding his +arm out in strong muscular tension. This had the effect of retarding the +attack of the jerks, but, when it came on, it was more violent than +usual. + +A servant of mine, aged about twenty-five, was mesmerized by Lafontaine, +for a full half hour, and, no effect appearing to be produced, I told +him he might rise from the chair, and leave us. On getting up, he looked +uneasy and said his arms wore numb. They were perfectly paralysed from +the elbows downwards, and numb to the shoulders. This was the more +satisfactory, that neither the man himself, nor Lafontaine, nor the four +or five spectators, expected this result. The operator triumphantly drew +a pin and stuck-it into the man's hand, which bled but had no feeling. +Then heedlessly, to show it gave pain, Lafontaine stuck the pin into the +man's thigh, whose flashing eye, and half suppressed growl, denoted that +the aggression would certainly have been returned by another, had the +arm which should have done it not been really powerless. However, M. +Lafontaine made peace with the man, by restoring him the use and feeling +of his arms. This was done by dusting them, as it were, by quick +transverse motions of his extended hands. In five minutes nothing +remained of the palsy but a slight stiffness, which gradually wore off +in the course of the evening. + +Genuine and ordinary trance, I have seen produced by the same +manipulations in from three minutes, to half an hour. The patient's +eyelids have dropped, he has appeared on the point of sleeping, but he +has not sunk back upon his chair; then he has continued to sit upright, +and seemingly perfectly insensible to the loudest sound or the acutest +and most startling impressions on the sense of touch. The pulse is +commonly a little increased in frequency; the breathing is sometimes +heavier than usual. + +Occasionally, as in Victor's case, the patient quickly and spontaneously +emerges from the state of trance-sleep into trance half-waking; a +rapidity of development which I am persuaded occurs much more frequently +among the French than with the English or Germans. English patients, +especially, for the most part require a long course of education, many +sittings, to have the same powers drawn out. And these are by far the +most interesting cases. I will describe from Mr Williamson's account, +the course he has usually followed in developing his patient's powers, +and the order in which they have manifested themselves. + +On the first day, perhaps, nothing can be elicited. But after some +minutes the stupor seems as it were less embarrassing to the patient, +who appears less heavily slumbrous, and breathes lighter again; or it +may be the reverse, particularly if the patient is epileptic; after a +little, the breathing may be deeper, the state one of less composure. +Pointing with the hands to the pit of the stomach, laying the hands upon +the shoulders, and slowly moving them on the arms down to the hands, the +whole with the utmost quietude and composure on the part of the +operator, will dispel the oppression. + +And the interest of the first sitting is confined to the process of +awakening the patient, which is one of the most marvellous phenomena of +the whole. The operator lays his two thumbs on the space between the +eyebrows, and as it were vigorously smooths or irons his eyebrows, +rubbing them from within, outwards seven or eight times. Upon this, the +patient probably raises his head and his eyebrows, and draws a deeper +breath as if he would yawn; he is half awake, and blowing upon the +eyelids, or the repetition of the previous operation, or dusting the +forehead by smart transverse wavings of the hand, or blowing upon it, +causes the patient's countenance to become animated; the eyelids open, +he looks about him, recognises you, and begins to speak. If any feeling +of heaviness remains, any weight or pain of the forehead, another +repetition of the same manipulations sets all right. And yet this +patient would not have been awakened, if a gun had been fired at his +ear, or his arm had been cut off. + +At the next sitting, or the next to that, the living statue begins to +wake in its tranced life. The operator holds one hand over the opposite +hand of his patient, and makes as if he would draw the patient's hand +upwards, raising his own with short successive jerks, yet not too +abrupt. Then the patient's hand begins to follow his; and often having +ascended some inches, stops in the air cataleptic. This fixed state is +always relieved by transverse brushings with the hand, or by breathing +in addition, on the rigid limb. And it is most curious to see the whole +bodily frame, over which spasmodic rigidness may have crept, thus thawed +joint by joint. Then the first effect shown commonly is this motion, the +patient's hand following the operator's. At the same sitting, he begins +to hear, and there is intelligence in his countenance, when the operator +pronounces his name: perhaps his lips move, and he begins to answer +pertinently as in ordinary sleep-walking. But he hears the operator +alone best, and him even in a whisper. _Your_ voice, if you shout, he +does not hear: unless you take the operator's hand, and then he hears +_you_ too. In general, however, now the proximity of others seems in +some way to be sensible to him; and he appears uneasy when they crowd +close upon him. It seems that the force of the relation between the +operator and his patient naturally goes on increasing, as the powers of +the sleep-walker are developed; but that this is not necessarily the +case, and depends upon its being encouraged by much commerce between +them, and the exclusion of others from joining in this trance-communion. + +And now the patient--beginning to wake in trance, hearing and answering +the questions of the operator, moving each limb, or rising even, as the +operator's hand is raised to draw him into obedient following--enters +into a new relation with his mesmeriser. He _adopts sympathetically +every voluntary movement of the other_. When the latter rises from his +chair, _he_ rises; when he sits down, _he_ sits down; if he bows, _he_ +bows; if he make a grimace, _he_ makes the same. Yet his eyes are +closed. He certainly does not see. His mind has interpenetrated to a +small extent the nervous system of the operator; and is in relation with +his voluntary nerves and the anterior half of his cranio-spinal chord. +(These are the organs by which the impulse to voluntary motion is +conveyed and originated.) Farther into the other's being, he has not yet +got. So he does not _what the other thinks of, or wishes him to do_; but +only what the other either does, or goes through the mental part of +doing. So Victor sang the air, which M. de Puysegur only mentally +hummed. + +The next strange phenomenon marks that the mind of the untranced patient +has interpenetrated the nervous system of the other _a step farther_, +and is in relation besides with the posterior half of the cranio-spinal +chord and its nerves. For now the entranced person, who has no feeling, +or taste, or smell of his own, _feels, tastes, and smells every thing +that is made to tell on the senses of the operator_. If mustard or sugar +be put in his own mouth, he seems not to know that they are there; if +mustard is placed on the tongue of the operator, the entranced person +expresses great disgust, and tries as if to spit it out. The same with +bodily pain. If you pluck a hair from the operator's head, the other +complains of the pain you give _him_. + +To state in the closest way what has happened--the phenomena of +sympathetic motion and sympathetic sensation, thus displayed, are +exactly such as might be expected to follow, if the mind or conscious +principle of the entranced person were brought into relation with the +cranio-spinal chord of the operator and its nerves, and with no farther +portion of his nervous system. Later, it will be seen the +interpenetration can extend farther. + +But before this happens, a new phenomenon manifests itself, not of a +sympathetic character. The operator contrives to wake the entranced +person to the knowledge that he possesses new faculties. _He develops in +him new organs of sensation_, or rather helps to hasten his recognition +of their possession. + +It is to be observed, however, that many and many who can be thrown into +trance will not progress so far as to the present step. Others make a +tantalising half advance towards reaching it _thus_; and then stop. They +are asked, "Do you see any thing?" After some days at length, they +answer, "Yes"--"What?" "A light." "Where is the light?" Then they +intimate its place to be either before them, or at the crown of the +head, or behind one ear, or quite behind the head. And they describe the +colour of the light, which is commonly yellow. And each day it occupies +the same direction, and is seen equally when the room is light or dark. +Their eyes in the mean time are closed. And here, with many, the +phenomenon stops. + +But, with others, it goes thus strangely farther. In this light they +begin to discern objects, or they see whatever is presented to them in +the direction in which the light lies, whether before the forehead or at +the crown of the head, or wherever it may be. Sometimes the range of +this new sense is very limited, and the object to be seen must be held +near to the new organ. Sometimes it must touch it; generally, however, +the sense commands what the eye would, if it were placed there. + +One tries first to escape the improbability of an extempore organ of +sense being thus established, by supposing that the mind of the +entranced person has only penetrated a little deeper than before into +yours, and perceives what you see. But I had the following experiment +made, which excludes this solution of the phenomenon. The party standing +behind the entranced person, whose use it was to see with the back of +her head, held behind him a pack of cards, and then, drawing one of +them, presented it, without seeing it himself, to her new organ of +vision. She named the card justly each time the experiment was repeated. + +The degree of light suiting this new vision varies in different cases: +sometimes bright daylight is best; generally they prefer a moderate +light. Some distinguish objects and colours in a light so obscure that +the standers-by cannot distinguish the same with their eyes. + +The above phenomena have been, over and over again, verified by the +gentleman whom I before referred to, Mr J. W. Williamson of Whickham; +and not only have I received the accounts of them from himself, but from +two other gentlemen, who repeatedly witnessed their manifestation in +patients at Mr Williamson's residence. + +A parallel transposition of the sense of hearing I will exemplify from +the details of a case of catalepsy, or spontaneous trance, as they are +given by the observer, Dr Petetin, an eminent civil and military +physician of Lyons, where he was president of the Medical Society. The +work in which they are given is entitled, "Memoire sur la Catalepsie. +1787." + +M. Petetin attended a young married lady in a sort of fit. She lay +seemingly unconscious; when he raised her arm, it remained in the air +where he placed it. Being put to bed, she commenced singing. To stop +her, the doctor placed her limbs each in a different position. This +embarrassed her considerably, but she went on singing. She seemed +perfectly insensible. Pinching the skin, shouting in her ear, nothing +aroused attention. Then it happened that, in arranging her, the doctor's +foot slipped; and, as he recovered himself, half leaning over her, he +said, "how provoking we can't make her leave off singing!" "Ah, doctor," +she cried, "don't be angry! I won't sing any more," and she stopped. But +shortly she began again; and in vain did the doctor implore her, by the +loudest entreaties, addressed to her ear, to keep her promise and +desist. It then occurred to him to place himself in the same position as +when she heard him before. He raised the bed-clothes, bent his head +towards her stomach, and said, in a loud voice, "Do you, then, mean to +sing forever?" "Oh, what pain you have given me!" she exclaimed--"I +implore you speak lower;" at the same time she passed her hand over the +pit of her stomach. "In what way, then, do you hear?" said Dr Petetin. +"Like any one else," was the answer. "But I am speaking to your +stomach." "Is it possible!" she said. He then tried again whether she +could hear with her ears, speaking even through a tube to aggravate his +voice;--she heard nothing. On his asking her, at the pit of her stomach, +if she had not heard him,--"No," said she, "I am indeed unfortunate." + +A cognate phenomenon to the above is _the conversion of the patient's +new sense of vision in a direction inwards_. He looks into himself, and +sees his own inside as it were illuminated or transfigured. + +A few days after the scone just described, Dr Petetin's patient had +another attack of catalepsy. She still heard at the pit of her stomach, +but the manner of hearing was modified. In the mean time her countenance +expressed astonishment. Dr Petetin inquired the cause. "It is not +difficult," she answered, "to explain to you why I look astonished. I am +singing, doctor, to divert my attention from a sight which appals me. I +see my inside, and the strange forms of the organs, surrounded with a +network of light. My countenance must express what I feel,--astonishment +and fear. A physician who should have my complaint for a quarter of an +hour would think himself fortunate, as nature would reveal all her +secrets to him. If he was devoted to his profession, he would not, as I +do, desire to be quickly well." "Do you see your heart?" asked Dr +Petetin. "Yes, there it is; it beats at twice; the two sides in +agreement; when the upper part contracts, the lower part swells, and +immediately after that contracts. The blood rushes out all luminous, and +issues by two great vessels which are but a little apart." + +There are many cases like the above on record, perfectly attested. There +is no escaping from the facts. We have no resource but to believe them. +Things if possible still more marvellous remain behind. The more +advanced patient penetrates the sensoria of those around her, and knows +their thoughts and all the folds of their characters. She is able, +farther, to perceive objects, directly, at considerable--indefinite +distances. She can foresee coming events in her own health. Finally, she +can feel and discern by a kind of intuition, what is the matter with +another person either brought into her presence, or who is, in certain +other ways, identified by her. As the evidence of the possession of +these faculties by entranced persons is complete, and admits of no +question, an important use, I repeat, of the artificial induction of +trance is, that it will multiply occasions of sifting this extraordinary +field of psychological inquiry. + +In the mean time I will not trespass upon your patience farther, nor +weary you with farther instances, beyond giving the sequel of the case +of catalepsy of which I have above mentioned some particulars. You will +see in it a shadowing out of most of the other powers, which I have said +are occasionally manifested by persons in trance, which sometimes attain +an extraordinary vigour and compass, and which are maintained, or are +maintainable, for several years, being manifested for that time, though +not without caprice and occasional entire failures, on the patient +reverting to the entranced condition. One of the most interesting +features in what follows is, that it is evident M. Petetin was entirely +unacquainted with mesmerism; and, at the same time, that he had all but +discovered and developed the art of mesmeric manipulation himself. + +The following morning, (to give the latter part of the case of +catalepsy,) the access of the fit took place, according to custom, at +eight o'clock in the morning. Petetin arrived later than usual; he +announced himself by speaking to the fingers of the patient, (by which +he was heard.) "You are a very lazy person this morning, doctor," said +she. "It is true, madam; but if you knew the reason, you would not +reproach me." "Ah," said she, "I perceive, you have had a headach for +the last four hours; it will not leave you till six in the evening. You +are right to take nothing; no human means can prevent its running its +course." "Can you tell me on which side is the pain?" said Petetin. "On +the right side; it occupies the temple, the eye, the teeth: I warn you +that it will invade the left eye, and that you will suffer considerably +between three and four o'clock; at six you will be free from pain." The +prediction came out literally true. "If you wish me to believe you, you +must tell me what I hold in my hand?" "I see through your hand an +antique medal." + +Petetin inquired of his patient at what hour her own fit would cease: +"at eleven." "And the evening accession, when will it come on?" "At +seven o'clock." "In that case it will be later than usual." "It is true; +the periods of its recurrence are going to change to so and so." During +this conversation, the patient's countenance expressed annoyance. She +then said to M. Petetin, "My uncle has just entered; he is conversing +with my husband, _behind the screen_; his visit will fatigue me, beg him +to go away." The uncle, leaving, took with him by mistake her husband's +cloak, which she perceived, and sent her sister-in-law to reclaim it. + +In the evening, there were assembled, in the lady's apartment, a good +number of her relations and friends. Petetin had, intentionally, placed +a letter within his waistcoat, on his heart. He begged permission, on +arriving, to wear his cloak. Scarcely had the lady, the access having +come on, fallen into catalepsy, when she said, "And how long, doctor, +has it come into fashion to wear letters next the heart?" Petetin +pretended to deny the fact; she insisted on her correctness; and, +raising her hands, designated the size, and indicated exactly the place +of the letter. Petetin drew forth the letter, and held it, closed, to +the fingers of the patient. "If I were not a discreet person," she said, +"I should tell the contents; but to show you that I know them, they form +exactly two lines and a half of writing;" which, on opening the letter, +was shown to be the fact. + +A friend of the family, who was present, took out his purse and put it +in Dr Petetin's bosom, and folded his cloak over his chest. As soon as +Petetin approached his patient, she told him that he had the purse, and +named its exact contents. She then gave an inventory of the contents of +the pockets of all present; adding some pointed remark when the +opportunity offered. She said to her sister-in-law that the most +interesting thing in _her_ possession was a letter;--much to her +surprise, for she had received the letter the same evening and had +mentioned it to no one. + +The patient, in the mean time, lost strength daily, and could take no +food. The means employed failed of giving her relief, and it never +occurred to M. Petetin to inquire of her how he should treat her. At +length, with some vague idea that she suffered from too great electric +tension of the brain, he tried, fantastically enough, the effect of +making deep inspirations, standing close in front of the patient. No +effect followed from this absurd proceeding. _Then he placed one hand on +the forehead, the other on the pit of the stomach of the patient_, and +continued his inspirations. The patient now opened her eyes; her +features lost their fixed look; she rallied rapidly from the fit, which +lasted but a few minutes instead of the usual period of two hours more. +In eight days, under a pursuance of this treatment, she entirely +recovered from her fits, and with them ceased her extraordinary powers. +But, during these eight days, her powers manifested a still greater +extension; she foretold what was going to happen to her; she discussed, +with astonishing subtlety, questions of mental philosophy and +physiology; she caught what those around her meant to say, before they +expressed their wishes, and either did what they desired, or begged that +they would not ask her to do what was beyond her strength. + +In conclusion, let me animadvert upon the injustice with which, to its +own loss, society has treated mesmerism. The use of mesmerism in nervous +disorders, its use towards preventing suffering in surgical operations, +have been denied and scoffed at in the teeth of positive evidence. The +supposition of physical influence existing that can emanate from one +human being and affect the nerves of another, was steadily combated as a +gratuitous fiction, till Von Reichenbach's discoveries demonstrated its +soundness. And, finally, the marvels of _clairvoyance_ were considered +an absolute proof of the visionary character of animal magnetism, +because the world was ignorant that they occur independently of that +influence, which only happens to be one of the modes of inducing the +condition of trance in which they spontaneously manifest themselves. +Adieu, dear Archy. + +Yours, &c. + +MAC DAVUS. + + + + +HISTORY OF THE CAPTIVITY OF NAPOLEON AT ST HELENA.[10] + + +Whatever may be the pursuits of our posterity, whether the mind of +nations will turn on philosophy or politics, whether on a descent to the +centre of the earth, or on the model of a general Utopia--whether on a +telegraphic correspondence with the new planet, by a galvanised wire two +thousand eight hundred and fifty millions of miles long, or on a +Chartist government--we have not the slightest reason to doubt, that our +generation will be regarded as having lived in the most brilliant time +of the by-gone world. + +The years from 1789 to 1815 unquestionably include the most stirring +period since the great primal convulsion, that barbarian deluge, which +changed the face of Europe in the fifth century. But the vengeance which +called the Vandal from his forest to crush the Roman empire, and after +hewing down the Colossus which, for seven hundred years, had bestrode +the world, moulded kingdoms out of its fragments, was of a totally +different order from that which ruled over our great day of Change. In +that original revolution, man, as the individual, was scarcely more than +the sufferer. It was a vast outburst of force, as uncircumscribed as +uncontrollable, and as unconnected with motives merely human, as an +inroad of the ocean. It was a vast expanse of human existence, rushing +surge on surge over the barriers of fair and fertile empire. It was +hunger, and love of seizure, and hot thirst of blood, embodied in a mass +of mankind rushing down upon luxury and profligacy, and governmental +incapacity embodied in other masses of mankind. An invasion from the +African wilderness with all its lions and leopards in full roar, could +scarcely have less been urged by motives of human nature. + +But the great revolution which in our time shook Europe, and is still +spreading its shock to the confines of the world, was _human_ in the +most remarkable degree. It was the work of impulses fierce and wild, yet +peculiarly belonging to man. It was a succession of lights and shadows +of human character, contrasted in the most powerful degree, as they +passed before the eye of Europe--the ambition of man, the rage of man, +the voluptuousness, the ferocity, the gallantry, and the fortitude of +man, in all the varieties of human character. It was man in the robes of +tragedy, comedy, and pantomime, but it was every where _man_. Every +great event on which the revolution was suspended for the time, +originated with some remarkable individual, and took its shape even from +some peculiarity in that individual. + +Thus, the period of mob-massacre began with the sudden ascendency of +Marat--a hideous assassin, who regarded the knife as the only instrument +of governing, and proclaimed as his first principle of political +regeneration, that "half a million of heads must fall." + +The second stage, the Reign of Terror, began with Robespierre, a village +lawyer; in whose mingled cruelty and craft originated the bloody +mockeries of that "Revolutionary Tribunal," which, under the semblance +of trial, sent all the accused to the guillotine, and in all the +formalities of justice committed wholesale murder. + +The third stage was the reign of the Directory--the work of the +voluptuous Barras--and reflecting his profligacy in all the +dissoluteness of a government of plunder and confiscation, closing in +national debauchery and decay. + +The final stage was War--under the guidance of a man whose whole +character displayed the most prominent features of soldiership. From +that moment, the republic bore the sole impress of war. France had +placed at her head the most impetuous, subtle, ferocious, and +all-grasping, of the monarchs of mankind. She instantly took the shape +which, like the magicians of old commanding their familiar spirits, the +great magician of our age commanded her to assume. Peace--the rights of +man--the mutual ties of nations--the freedom of the serf and the +slave--the subversion of all the abuses of the ancient thrones--all the +old nominal principles of revolutionary patriotism, were instantly +thrown aside, like the rude weapons of a peasant insurrection, the pike +and the ox-goad, for the polished and powerful weapons of royal +armouries. In all the conquests of France the serf and the slave were +left in their chains; the continental kingdoms, bleeding by the sword +until they lay in utter exhaustion, were suffered to retain all their +abuses; the thrones, stripped of all their gold and jewels, were yet +suffered to stand. Every pretext of moral and physical redress was +contemptuously abandoned, and France herself exhibited the most singular +of all transformations.--The republic naked, frantic, and covered with +her own gore, was suddenly seen robed in the most superb investitures of +monarchy; assuming the most formal etiquette of empire, and covered with +royal titles. This was the most extraordinary change in the +recollections of history, and for the next hundred, or for the next +thousand years, it will excite wonder. But the whole period will be to +posterity what Virgil describes the Italian plains to have been to the +peasant of his day, a scene of gigantic recollections; as, turning up +with the ploughshare the site of ancient battles, he finds the remnants +of a race of bolder frame and more trenchant weapons--the weightier +sword and the mightier arm. + +What the next age may develop in the arts of life, or the knowledge of +nature, must remain in that limbo of vanity, to which Ariosto consigned +embryo politicians, and Milton consigned departed friars--the world of +the moon. But it will scarcely supply instances of more memorable +individual faculties, or of more powerful effects produced by those +faculties. The efforts of Conspiracy and Conquest in France, the efforts +of Conservatism and Constitution in England, produced a race of men whom +nothing but the crisis could have produced, and who will find no rivals +in the magnitude of their capacities, the value of their services, in +their loftiness of principle, and their influence on their age; until +some similar summons shall be uttered to the latent powers of mankind, +from some similar crisis of good and evil. The eloquence of Burke, Pitt, +Fox, and a crowd of their followers, in the senate of England, and the +almost fiendish vividness of the republican oratory, have remained +without equals, and almost without imitators--the brilliancy of French +soldiership, in a war which swept Europe with the swiftness and the +devastation of a flight of locusts--the British campaigns of the +Peninsula, those most consummate displays of fortitude and decision, of +the science which baffles an enemy, and of the bravery which crushes +him--will be lessons to the soldier in every period to come. + +But the foremost figure of the great history-piece of revolution, was +the man, of whose latter hours we are now contemplating. Napoleon may +not have been the ablest statesman, or the most scientific soldier, or +the most resistless conqueror, or the most magnificent monarch of +mankind--but what man of his day so closely combined all those +characters, and was so distinguished in them all? It is idle to call him +the child of chance--it is false to call his power the creation of +opportunity--it is trifling with the common understanding of man, to +doubt his genius. He was one of those few men, who are formed to guide +great changes in the affairs of nations. The celebrity of his early +career, and the support given to him by the disturbances of France, are +nothing in the consideration of the philosopher; or perhaps they but +separate him more widely from the course of things, and assimilate him +more essentially with those resistless influences of nature, which, +rising from we know not what, and operating we know not how, execute the +penalties of Heaven:--those moral pestilences which, like the physical, +springing from some spot of obscurity, and conveyed by the contact of +the obscure, suddenly expand into universal contagion, and lay waste the +mind of nations. + +In the earlier volumes of the Journal of Count Montholon, the assistance +of Las Cases was used to collect the imperial _dicta_. But on the +baron's being sent away from St Helena--an object which he appears to +have sought with all the eagerness of one determined to make his escape, +yet equally resolved on turning that escape into a subject of +complaint--the duty of recording Napoleon's opinions devolved on +Montholon. In the year 1818, Napoleon's health began visibly to break. +His communications with O'Meara, the surgeon appointed by the English +government, became more frequent; and as Napoleon was never closely +connected with any individual without an attempt to make him a partisan, +the governor's suspicions were excited by this frequency of intercourse. +We by no means desire to stain the memory of O'Meara (he is since dead) +with any dishonourable suspicion. But Sir Hudson Lowe cannot be blamed +for watching such a captive with all imaginable vigilance. The +recollection of the facility which too much dependance on his honour +gave to Napoleon's escape from Elba, justly sharpened the caution of the +governor. The fear of another European conflagration made the safeguard +of the Ex-Emperor an object of essential policy, not merely to England, +but to Europe; and the probability of similar convulsions rendered his +detention at St Helena as high a duty as ever was intrusted to a British +officer. + +We are not now about to discuss the charges made against Sir Hudson +Lowe; but it is observable, that they are made solely on the authority +of Napoleon, and of individuals dismissed for taking too strong an +interest in that extraordinary man. Those complaints may be easily +interpreted in the instance of the prisoner, as the results of such a +spirit having been vexed by the circumstances of his tremendous fall; +and also, in the instance of those who were dismissed, as a species of +excuse for the transactions which produced their dismissal. But there +can be no doubt that those complaints had not less the direct object of +keeping the name of the Ex-Emperor before the eyes of Europe; that they +were meant as stimulants to partisanship in France; and that, while they +gratified the incurable bile of the fallen dynasty against England, they +were also directed to produce the effect of reminding the French +soldiery that Napoleon was still in existence. + +Yet there was a pettiness in all his remonstrances, wholly inconsistent +with greatness of mind. He thus talks of Sir Hudson Lowe:-- + + "I never look on him without being reminded of the assassin of + Edward II. in the Castle of Berkeley, heating the bar of iron which + was to be the instrument of his crime. Nature revolts against him. + In my eyes she seems to have marked him, like Cain, with a seal of + reprobation." + +Napoleon's knowledge of history was here shown to be pretty much on a +par with his knowledge of scripture. The doubts regarding the death of +Edward II. had evidently not come to his knowledge; and, so far as Cain +was concerned, the sign was not one of reprobation, but of +protection--it was a mark that "no man should slay him." + +But all those complaints were utterly unworthy of a man who had played +so memorable a part in the affairs of Europe. He who had filled the +French throne had seen enough of this world's glory; and he who had +fallen from it had been plunged into a depth of disaster, which ought to +have made him regardless ever after of what man could do to him. A man +of his rank ought to have disdained both the good and ill which he could +receive from the governor of his prison. But he wanted the magnanimity +that bears misfortune well: when he could no longer play the master of +kingdoms, he was content to quarrel about valets; and having lost the +world, to make a little occupation for himself in complaining of the +want of etiquette in his dungeon. But the spirit of the intriguer +survived every other spirit within him, and it is by no means certain +that the return of O'Meara and Gourgaud to Europe was not a part of that +intrigue in which Napoleon played the Italian to the last hour of his +life. It is true that the general returned under a certificate of ill +health, and it is also perfectly possible that the surgeon was +unconscious of the intrigue. But there can be no doubt of the design; +and that design was, to excite a very considerable interest in Europe, +on behalf of the prisoner of St Helena. Gourgaud, immediately after his +arrival, wrote a long letter to Marie Louise, which was palpably +intended more for the Emperors of Russia and Austria than for the +feelings of the Ex-Empress, of whose interest in the matter the world +has had no knowledge whatever. + +In this letter it was declared, that Napoleon was dying in the most +frightful and prolonged agony. "Yes, Madame," said this epistle, "he +whom Divine and human laws unite to you by the most sacred ties--he whom +you have beheld an object of homage to almost all the sovereigns of +Europe, and over whose fate I saw you shed so many tears when he left +you, is perishing by a most cruel death--a captive on a rock in the +midst of the ocean, at a distance of two thousand leagues from those +whom he holds most dear." + +The letter then proceeds to point out the object of the appeal. "These +sufferings may continue for a long time. There is still time to save +him: the moment seems very favourable. The Sovereigns are about to +assemble at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle--passions seem +calmed--Napoleon is now far from being formidable. In these +circumstances let your Majesty deign to reflect what an effect a great +step on your part would produce--that, for instance, of going to this +Congress, and there soliciting a termination to the Emperor's +sufferings, of supplicating your august father to unite his efforts with +yours, in order to have Napoleon confided to his charge, if policy did +not permit him to be restored to liberty; and how great would be your +Majesty's own happiness: It would be said, the sovereigns of Europe, +after having vanquished the great Napoleon, abandoned him to his most +cruel enemies, they conducted him towards his grave by the most +prolonged and barbarous torments, the continuation of his agony urged +him even to demand more active executioners; he seemed forgotten, and +without hope of aid; but Marie Louise remained to him, and he was +restored to life." + +Whether this letter ever reached its address is not clear; but if it +did, it produced no discoverable effect. + +But the absence of those confidants increased the troubles of the +unlucky Montholon in a formidable degree, and Napoleon's habit of +dictating his thoughts and recollections, (which he frequently continued +for hours together, and sometimes into the middle of the night,) pressed +heavily on the Count and Bertrand; the latter being excluded after six +in the evening, when the sentinels were posted for the night, as he +resided with his family, and thus devolving the task of the night on +Montholon. Those dictations were sometimes on high questions of state, +and on theories of war; sometimes on matters of the day, as in the +following instance. + +The death of the Princess Charlotte, which threw the mind of England +into such distress, had just been made known at St Helena. Napoleon +spoke of it as reminding him of the perilous child-birth of Marie +Louise. "Had it not been for me," said he, "she would have lost her +life, like this poor Princess Charlotte. What a misfortune! young and +beautiful, destined to the throne of a great nation, and to die for want +of proper care on the part of her nearest relations! Where was her +husband? where was her mother? why were they not beside her, as I was +beside Marie Louise? She, too, would have died, had I left her to the +care of the professional people. She owes her life to my being with her +during the whole time of danger; for I shall never forget the moment +when the accoucheur Dubois came to me pale with fright, and hardly able +to articulate, and informed me that a choice must be made between the +life of the mother and that of the child. The peril was imminent; there +was not a moment to be lost in decision. 'Save the mother,' said I--'it +is her right. Proceed just as you would do in the case of a citizen's +wife of the Rue St Denis.' It is a remarkable fact, that this answer +produced an electric effect on Dubois. He recovered his _sang froid_, +and calmly explained to me the causes of the danger. In a quarter of an +hour afterwards, the King of Rome was born; but at first the infant was +believed to be dead, he had suffered so much on coming into the world, +and it was with much difficulty that the physicians recalled him to +life." + +It will probably be recollected as a similar instance of the advantage +of care and decision, that Queen Caroline was rescued from the same +hazard. Her accouchment was preceded by great suffering, and her +strength seemed totally exhausted. The attendants were in a state of +extreme alarm, when Lord Thurlow said, in his usual rough way, "Don't +think of princesses here: treat her like the washerwoman, and give her a +glass of brandy." The advice was followed, and the Princess speedily +recovered. + +Connected with the history of this short-lived son, is an anecdote, +which Napoleon related as an instance of his own love of justice. When +the palace was about to be built for the King of Rome at Passy, it was +necessary to purchase some buildings which already stood on the ground. +One of these was a hut belonging to a cooper, which the architects +valued at a thousand francs. But the cooper, resolving to make the most +of his tenure, now demanded ten times the sum. Napoleon ordered the +money to be given to him; but when the contract was brought to him to +sign, the fellow said, that "as an Emperor disturbed him," he ought to +pay for turning him out, and must give him thirty thousand francs. "The +good man is a little exacting," said Napoleon, "still there is some +sense in his argument. Give him the thirty thousand, and let me hear no +more about it." But the cooper, thinking that he had a fine opportunity, +now said that he could not take less than forty thousand. The architect +did not know what to say; he dared not again mention the matter to the +Emperor, and yet it was absolutely necessary to have the house. Napoleon +learned what was passing, and was angry, but allowed the offer of the +forty thousand. Again the dealer retracted, and demanded fifty thousand. +"He is a despicable creature," said the Emperor. "I will have none of +his paltry hut: it shall remain where it is, as a testimony of my +respect for the law." + +The works were still going on at the time of the exile, in 1814; and, +the cooper, finding himself in the midst of rubbish and building +materials, groaned over the consequences of his folly, or rather of his +extortion, for he had thus, deservedly, lost the opportunity of making +his fortune. + +The death of Cipriani, the _maitre d'hotel_, occurred about this time, +and was startling from its suddenness. He was serving Napoleon's dinner, +when he was attacked by such violent pains, that he was unable to reach +his chamber without assistance. He rolled on the ground, uttering +piercing cries. Four-and-twenty hours afterwards his coffin was carried +to the cemetery of Plantation House! Cipriani had been employed in the +secret police, and had distinguished himself by some difficult missions +in the affairs of Naples and Northern Italy. It was only after the +banishment to Elba that he had formed a part of the household. It was to +Cipriani that the taking of Capri was owing. In 1806, Sir Hudson Lowe +commanded at Capri, as lieutenant-colonel of a legion, composed of +Corsican and Neapolitan deserters. The position of Capri in the Bay of +Naples was of some importance for carrying on communications with those +hostile to the French interest in Italy. Salicetti, prime minister of +Naples, was vainly pondering on the capture of Capri; when it occurred +to him to employ Cipriani, to put it into his power by surprise or +treachery. Among the Corsicans under Sir H. Lowe's command, was one +Suzanelli, a profligate, who had reduced himself by his debaucheries to +acting as a spy. Cipriani soon ascertained that they had been +fellow-students at college. + +The whole story is curious, as an instance of the dexterity of Italian +treachery, and of the difficulty which an honest man must always find +in dealing with that people. Cipriani instantly found out Suzanelli, +who was then in Naples, and said, "I know all, but we are +fellow-countrymen--we have eaten the same soup: I do not desire to make +you lose your head: choose between the scaffold, and making your fortune +from your own country.--You are the spy of the English: help me to expel +them from Capri, and your fortune is made. Refuse, and you are my +prisoner, and will be shot within twenty-four hours." "I take your +offer," was the answer. "What do you want with me?" Cipriani proposed to +give him double what he received from the English, on condition of +handing over all the letters which he received for Naples, and +delivering the answers as if he had received them from the writers. +Suzanelli thenceforth communicated all news relative to the movements of +old Queen Caroline, and the British in the Mediterranean. Sir Hudson +Lowe's confidence in Suzanelli was so much increased by the apparently +important communications which the Neapolitan police had purposely made +to him, that he rewarded him profusely, and at length accepted his offer +of furnishing recruits to the Corsican legion at Capri. When the +garrison was corrupted through the medium of those recruits, and an +expedition was prepared at Naples, Suzanelli, in order to hoodwink the +governor of Capri, whose vigilance might be awakened by the +preparations, sent him a detailed report of the strength and object of +the expedition, but telling him that it was meant to attack the Isle of +Ponza. The expedition, under General La Marque, sailed at night, and the +French effected their landing by surprise. The Royal Maltese regiment +contained a great number of Suzanelli's recruits. They laid down their +arms, and surrendered the forts in their charge. The commandant +succeeded with difficulty in shutting himself up in the citadel with the +royal Corsican regiment. It was inaccessible by assault, but the French +dragged some heavy guns to a commanding height, and after a cannonade +the garrison capitulated. + +This story is not exactly true; for the capitulation was _not_ the +result of the cannonade; but water and provisions had totally failed. +The attempt made by an English frigate to succour the island had been +frustrated by a violent gale, and there was no resource but to give up +the island. Yet, if our memory is exact, there was _no_ capitulation; +for the garrison escaped without laying down their arms. + +It is proverbial, that great events frequently depend upon very little +causes. All the world now blames the precipitancy of Napoleon in leaving +Elba while the Congress was assembled. If he had waited until it was +dissolved, he would have gained all the time which must have been lost +by the Allies in reuniting their councils. The princes and diplomatists +would have been scattered; the armies would have marched homewards; +months would probably have elapsed before they could again have been +brought into the field; and during that period, there would have been +full opportunity for all the arts of intrigue and insinuation, which +Napoleon so well knew how to use. Or, if he had delayed his return for a +twelvemonth longer, he would have only found the obstacles so much the +more diminished. In short, to him, the gain of time was every thing. + +His own narrative on the subject now was, that he had been misled; that +he was fully sensible of the advantages of delay, but that accident had +betrayed him. He had established a secret correspondence with Vienna, +through which he received weekly accounts of all that had passed in +Congress, and was prepared to act accordingly. One of his agents, De +Chaboulon, arrived at Elba, at the same period with the Chevalier +D'Istria, (whom the King of Naples had sent with the despatch received +from his ambassador at Vienna,) announcing the closing of the Congress, +and the departure of the Emperor Alexander. On this intelligence +Napoleon determined immediately to set sail for France, without waiting +for the return of Cipriani, whom he had sent on a special mission. Had +he waited for that return, the Emperor Alexander would have been on his +way to Russia. But the result of his precipitancy was, that by rushing +into France, while the emperors and diplomatists were still in +combination, they were enabled to level the blow at him immediately. +Instead of negotiations, he was pursued with a hue and cry; and instead +of being treated as a prince, he was proclaimed an outlaw. Cipriani +arrived in Elba on the 27th of February, but Napoleon had sailed on the +evening of the 26th. So delicate was the interval between total ruin and +what might have been final security; for Cipriani brought news of the +Congress, and despatches from Vienna, which would have proved the +importance of delaying the departure of the expedition. + +But it must now be acknowledged that, if there ever was a human being +under the influence of infatuation, that being was Napoleon, in the +latter stages of his career. For ten years the favourite of fortune, the +long arrear had begun to be paid in the year 1812. His expedition to +Moscow was less a blunder than a frenzy. There was, perhaps, not one man +in a thousand in Europe but foresaw the almost inevitable ruin of his +army. We can recollect the rejoicing with which this perilous advance +was viewed in England, and the universal prediction that the Russian +deserts would be the grave of his army, if not of his empire. Poland had +been conquered in a march and a month. The residence of Napoleon at +Warsaw for the winter would have raised a Polish army for him, and would +have given him a year for the march to Moscow. But he was _infatuated_: +there is no other solution of the problem. He rushed on, captured the +capital, and was ruined. Even with Moscow in ashes round him, he still +persisted in the folly of supposing that he could persuade into peace an +empire which had just given so tremendous an evidence of its fidelity +and its fortitude. He was infatuated. He was detained amid the embers +until it was impossible to remain longer, and equally impossible to +escape the horrors of a Russian winter in a march of six hundred miles. +His hour was come. Of an army which numbered four hundred thousand men +on crossing the Niemen, probably not one thousand ever returned; for the +broken troops which actually came back had been reinforcements which +reached the Grand Army from time to time. He reached Paris with the +stamp of fallen sovereignty on his brow: the remainder of his career was +a struggle against his sentence. Waterloo was merely the scaffold: he +was under irretrievable condemnation long before. + +In his captivity, Napoleon was liberal in his donatives. On the +departure of Balcombe, in whose house he had remained for some time on +his arrival in the island, he gave him a bill for seventy-two thousand +francs, with the grant of a pension of twelve thousand,--saying to him +"I hear that your resignation of your employment is caused by the +quarrels drawn upon you through the hospitality which you showed me: I +should not wish you to regret ever having known me." + +A quarrel relative to the bulletins of Napoleon's health, produced an +order from the governor for the arrest of O'Meara. There was a vast +quantity of peevishness exercised on the subject, and Napoleon attempted +to raise this trifling affair into a general quarrel of the +commissioners. But on his declaring that he would no longer receive the +visits of O'Meara while under arrest, the governor revoked the order, +and O'Meara continued his attendance until instructions were received +from Lord Bathurst, to remove him from his situation in the household of +the Emperor, and send him to England. This gave another opportunity for +complaint. "I have lived too long," said Buonaparte; "your ministers are +very bold. When the Pope was my prisoner, I would have cut off my arm +rather than have signed an order for laying hands on his physician." + +Before leaving the island, O'Meara drew up a statement of his patient's +health, in which he seems to have regarded the liver as the chief seat +of his disease. A copy of this paper reached home, when Cardinal Fesch +and the mother of Napoleon had it examined by her own physician and four +medical professors of the university. They also pronounced the disease +to consist of an obstruction of the liver. So much for the certainty of +medicine. The whole report is now known to have been a blunder. Napoleon +ultimately died of a fearful disease, which probably has no connexion +with the liver at all. His disease was cancer in the stomach. + +The result of those quarrels, however, was to give a less circumscribed +promenade to Napoleon. On the decline of his health being distinctly +stated to Sir Hudson Lowe, he enlarged the circle of his exercise, and +Napoleon resumed his walks and works. From this period, too, he resumed +those dictations which, in the form of notes, contained his personal +opinions, or rather those apologies for his acts, which he now became +peculiarly anxious to leave behind him to posterity. + +Whatever may be the historic value of those notes, it is impossible to +read them without the interest belonging to transactions which shook +Europe, and without remembering that they were the language of a man by +far the most remarkable of his time, if not the most remarkable for the +result of his acts, since the fall of the Roman empire. In speaking of +the return from Elba--"I took," said he, "that resolution as soon as it +was proved to me that the Bourbons considered themselves as the +continuance of the Third Dynasty, and denied the legal existence of the +Republic, and the Empire, which were thenceforth to be regarded only as +usurping governments. The consequences of this system were flagrant. It +became the business of the bishops to reclaim their sees; the property +of the clergy, and the emigrants must be restored. All the services +rendered in the army of Conde and in La Vendee, all the acts of +treachery committed in opening the gates of France to the armies which +brought back the king, merited reward. All those rendered under the +standard of the Republic and the Empire were acts of felony." He then +gave his special view of the overthrow of the French monarchy. + + "The Revolution of 1789 was a general attack of the masses upon the + privileged classes. The nobles had occupied, either directly or + indirectly, all the posts of justice, high and low. They were exempt + from the charges of the state, and yet enjoyed all the advantages + accruing from them, by the exclusive possession of all honourable + and lucrative employments. The principal aim of the Revolution was + to abolish those privileges." He then declared the advantages of the + Revolution. "It had established the right of every citizen, + according to his merit, to attain to every employment; it had broken + down the arbitrary divisions of the provinces, and out of many + little nations formed a great one. It made the civil and criminal + laws the same every where--the regulations and taxes the same every + where. The half of the country changed its proprietors." + +This statement is true, and yet the mask is easily taken off the +Revolution. The whole question is, whether the means by which it was +purchased were not wholly unnecessary. It cost seven years of the most +cruel and comprehensive wickedness that the world ever saw; and, when at +last its violence overflowed the frontiers, it cost nearly a quarter of +a century of slaughter, of ruthless plunder and savage devastation, +concluding with the capture of the French capital itself, twice within +two years, and the restoration of the royal family by the bayonets of +the conquerors. + +Yet every beneficial change which was produced by the Revolution, at +this enormous waste of national strength and human happiness, had been +offered by the French throne before a drop of blood was shed; and was +disdained by the leaders of the populace, in their palpable preference +for the havoc of their species. + +In the beginning of November, 1818, Sir Hudson Lowe communicated to +Count Montholon a despatch from Lord Bathurst announcing the departure +from Italy of two priests, a physician, a _maitre d'hotel_ and cook, +sent by Cardinal Fesch, for the service of Longwood. This news was +received by the household with joy, in consequence of Napoleon's +declining health. Towards the end of November he became worse; and Dr +Stock, the surgeon of one of the ships on the station, was sent for, and +attended him for a while. Liver complaint was Napoleon's disease in the +opinion of the doctor; the true disease having escaped them all. The +paroxysm passed off, and for six weeks his constitution seemed to be +getting the better of his disease. + +The complaints of the governor's conduct appear to have been kept up +with the same restless assiduity. If we are to judge from a conversation +with Montholon, those complaints were of the most vexatious order. "It +is very hard," said Sir Hudson, "that I who take so much care to avoid +doing what is disagreeable, should be constantly made the victim of +calumnies; that I should be presented as an object of ridicule to the +eyes of the European powers; that the commissioners of the great powers +should say to me themselves, that Count Bertrand had declared to them +that I was a fool; that I could not be sure that the Emperor was at +Longwood; that I had been forty days without seeing him; and that he +might be dead without my knowing any thing of it." He further said that +the newspapers, and particularly the _Edinburgh Review_, were full of +articles which represented him as an assassin. But in the mean time, it +was necessary that the orderly officer should see Napoleon every day, +and that this might be done in any way he pleased. All that was +necessary was, that he should be seen. + +Yet this demand of seeing him, which was thus expressed in moderate +terms, and obviously essential to his safe keeping, was answered in the +lofty style of a melodrama. "Count Bertrand and myself have both +informed you, sir, that you should never violate the Emperor's privacy +without forcing his doors, and shedding blood." + +A great deal of the pretended irritation of Napoleon and his household, +arose from the governor's omission of the word Emperor in his notes; and +on this subject a cavil had existed even in England. Yet what could be +more childish than such a cavil, either in England or in St Helena? It +is a well-known diplomatic rule, that no title which a new power may +give to itself can be acknowledged, except as a matter of distinct +negotiation; and those Frenchmen must have known that the governor had +no right to acknowledge a title, which had never been acknowledged by +the British Cabinet. + +At length the quarrel rose to bullying. The governor having insisted on +his point, that Napoleon should be seen by the orderly officer; this was +fiercely refused; and at length Bertrand made use of offensive language, +filling up the offence by a challenge to the governor. The most +surprising matter in the whole business is, that Sir Hudson did not +instantly send the blusterer to the black-hole. It was obvious that the +idea of fighting with men under his charge was preposterous. But he +still, and we think injudiciously, as a matter of the code of honour, +wrote, that if Count Bertrand had not patience to wait another +opportunity, as he could not fight his _prisoner_, he might satisfy his +rage by fighting Lieutenant-Colonel Lyster, the bearer of his reply, who +was perfectly ready to draw his sword. Of this opportunity, however, +the Count had the wisdom to avoid taking advantage. + +The whole question now turned on the admission of the orderly officer, +to have personal evidence that Napoleon was still in the island--a +matter of obvious necessity, for Europe at that time teemed with the +projects of Revolutionary Frenchmen for setting him free. His escape +would have ruined the governor; but even if it had been a matter of +personal indifference to him, his sense of the public evils which might +be produced by the return of this most dangerous of all incendiaries +would doubtless have made his detention one of the first duties. + +However, finding at last that the state of Napoleon's health might +afford a sufficient guarantee against immediate escape, and evidently +with the purpose of softening the irritation between them as much as +possible, it was finally, though "temporarily," agreed to take +Montholon's word for his being at Longwood. On the 21st of September, +the priests and Dr Antomarchi arrived. Napoleon, always active and +inventive, now attempted to interest the Emperor of Russia in his +liberation. It must be owned, that this was rather a bold attempt for +the man who had invaded Russia, ravaged its provinces, massacred its +troops, and finished by leaving Moscow in flames. But he dexterously +limited himself to explaining the seizure of the Duchy of Oldenburg, +which was the commencement of the rapacious and absurd attempt to +exclude English merchandise from the Continent. Oldenburg was one of the +chief entrances by which those manufactures made their way into Germany. +Its invasion, and the countless robberies which followed, had been among +the first insolences of Napoleon, and the cause of the first irritations +of Alexander, as his sister was married to the reigning prince. Napoleon +lays the entire blame on Davoust, whom he charges with both the +conception and the execution. But if he had disapproved of the act, why +had he not annulled it? "I was on the point of doing so," said Napoleon, +"when I received a menacing note from Russia; but," said he, "from the +moment when the honour of France was implicated, I could no longer +disapprove of the marshal's proceedings." He glides over the invasion of +Russia with the same unhesitating facility. "I made war," said he, +"against Russia, in spite of myself. I knew better than the libellers +who reproached me with it, that Spain was a devouring cancer which I +ought to cure before engaging myself in a terrible struggle, the first +blow of which would be struck at a distance of five hundred leagues from +my frontiers. Poland and its resources were but poetry, in the first +months of the year 1812." He then adroitly flatters the Russian nation. +"I was not so mad as to think that I could conquer Russia without +immense efforts. I knew the bravery of the Russian army. The war of 1807 +had proved it to me." He then hints at the subject of his conversations +at Erfurth, and discloses some of those curious projects, by which +France and Russia were to divide the world. He says that Alexander +offered to exchange his Polish provinces for Constantinople. Under this +arrangement Syria and Egypt would have supplied to France the loss of +her colonies. He then admits that he had desired to marry the +Grand-duchess; and, finally asserting that the dynasty of the Bourbons +was forced upon the people, he declares himself willing to accept of +Russian intervention to save himself from the "martyrdom of that rock." + +It is evident that the conduct of the governor was constantly guided by +a wish to consult the convenience of his prisoner; but the most +important point of all was to guard against his escape. Gradually the +relaxations as to the limits of his movements became more satisfactory +even to the household themselves; and for some time in the latter period +of 1819 Napoleon was suffered to ride to considerable distances in the +island, without the attendance of all English officer. He now took long +rides--among others, one to the house of Sir William Doveton, on the +other side of the island. In the evenings he dictated narratives +relative to some of the more prominent points of his history, for the +purpose of their being sent to Europe, where he was determined, at +least, never to let the interest of his name die, and where, though he +was practically forgotten, this clever but utterly selfish individual +deceived himself into the belief that thousands and tens of thousands +were ready to sacrifice every thing for his restoration. On one of these +evenings he gave his own version of the revolt of Marshal Ney. + +It will be remembered that Ney, when the command of the troops was given +to him by Louis XVIII. made a dashing speech to the King, declaring that +"he would bring back the monster in an iron cage." But it happened that +he had no sooner seen the monster, than he walked over to him with his +whole army. This was an offence not to be forgiven; and the result was, +that on the restoration of the King, Ney was tried by a court-martial, +and shot. + +Of course, there could be but one opinion of this unfortunate officer's +conduct; but it is curious to observe the romantic colour which +Napoleon's dexterous fancy contrived to throw over the whole scene. + +"Marshal Ney," said he, "was perfectly loyal, when he received his last +orders from the King. But his fiery soul could not fail to be deeply +impressed by the intoxicating enthusiasm of the population of the +provinces, which was daily depriving him of some of his best troops, for +the national colours were hoisted on all sides." Notwithstanding this, +Ney, when the Emperor was ready at Lyons, resisted his recollections, +until he received the following letter from the Emperor. "Then he +yielded, and again placed himself under the banner of the empire." + +The letter was the following pithy performance:--"Cousin, my +major-general sends you the order of march. I do not doubt that the +moment you heard of my arrival at Lyons, you again raised the tricolored +standards among your troops. Execute the orders of Bertrand, and come +and join me at Chalons. I will receive you as I did the morning after +the battle of Moscow." It must be acknowledged that the man who could +have been seduced by this letter must have been a simpleton: it has all +the arrogance of a master, and even if he had been perfectly free, it +was evident that obedience would have made him a slave. But he had given +a solemn pledge to the King; he had been given the command of the army +on the strength of that pledge; and in carrying it over to the enemy of +the King, he compromised the honour and hazarded the life of every man +among them. The act was unpardonable, and he soon found it to be fatally +so. + +Napoleon makes no reference to the pledge, to the point of honour or the +point of duty, but pronounces his death a judicial assassination. Still, +he is evidently not quite clear on the subject; for he says, that even +if he had been guilty, his services to his country ought to have +arrested the hand of justice. + +Napoleon sometimes told interesting tales of his early career. One of +those, if true, shows how near the world was to the loss of an Emperor. +After the siege of Toulon, which his panegyrists regard as the first +step to his good fortune, he returned to Paris, apparently in the worst +possible mood for adventure. He was at this period suffering from +illness. His mother, too, had just communicated to him the discomforts +of her position.--She had been just obliged to fly from Corsica, where +the people were in a state of insurrection, and she was then at +Marseilles, without any means of subsistence. Napoleon had nothing +remaining, but an assignat of one hundred sous, his pay being in arrear. +"In this state of dejection I went out," said he, "as if urged to +suicide by an animal instinct, and walked along the quays, feeling my +weakness, but unable to conquer it. In a few more moments I should have +thrown myself into the water, when I ran against an individual dressed +like a simple mechanic, and who, recognising me, threw himself on my +neck, and cried, 'Is it you, Napoleon? what joy to see you again!' It +was Demasis, a former comrade of mine in the artillery regiment. He had +emigrated, and had returned to France in disguise, to see his aged +mother. He was about to go, when, stopping, he said, 'What is the +matter? You do not listen to me. You do not seem glad to see me. What +misfortune threatens you? You look to me, like a madman about to kill +himself.'" + +This direct appeal awoke Napoleon's feelings, and he told him every +thing. "Is that all?" said he; opening his coarse waistcoat, and +detaching a belt, he added, "here are thirty thousand francs in gold, +take them and save your mother." "I cannot," said Napoleon, "to this +day, explain to myself my motives for so doing, but I seized the gold as +if by a convulsive movement, and ran like a madman to send it to my +mother. It was not until it was out of my hands, that I thought of what +I had done. I hastened back to the spot where I had left Demasis, but he +was no longer there. For several days I went out in the morning, +returning not until evening, searching every place where I hoped to find +him." + +The end of the romance is as eccentric as the beginning. For fifteen +years Napoleon saw no more of his creditor. At the end of that time he +discovered him, and asked "why he had not applied to the Emperor." The +answer was, that he had no necessity for the money, but was afraid of +being compelled to quit his retirement, where he lived happily +practising horticulture. + +Napoleon now paid his debt, as it maybe presumed, magnificently; made +him accept three hundred thousand francs as a reimbursement from the +Emperor for the thirty thousand lent to the subaltern of artillery; and +besides, made him director-general of the gardens of the crown, with a +salary of thirty thousand francs. He also gave a government place to his +brother. + +Napoleon, who seems always to have had some floating ideas of fatalism +in his mind, remarked that two of his comrades, Demasis and Philipeau, +had peculiar influence on his destiny. Philipeau had emigrated, and was +the engineer employed by Sir Sydney Smith to construct the defences of +Acre. We have seen that Demasis stopped him at the moment when he was +about to drown himself. "Philipeau," said he, "stopped me before St +Jean d'Acre: but for him, I should have been master of this key of the +East. I should have marched upon Constantinople, and rebuilt the throne +of the East." + +This idea of sitting on the throne of the Turk, seems never to have left +Napoleon's mind. He was always talking of it, or dreaming of it. But it +may fairly be doubted, whether he could ever have found his way out of +Syria himself. With his fleet destroyed by Nelson, and his march along +the coast--perhaps the only practicable road--harassed by the English +cruisers; with the whole Turkish army ready to meet him in the defiles +of Mount Taurus; with Asia Minor still to be passed; and with the +English, Russian, and Turkish fleets and forces ready to meet him at +Constantinople, his death or capture would seem to be the certain +consequence of his fantastic expedition. The strongest imaginable +probability is, that instead of wearing the diadem of France, his head +would have figured on the spikes of the seraglio. + +Suicide is so often the unhappy resource of men indifferent to all +religion, that we can scarcely be surprised at its having been +contemplated more than once by a man of fierce passions, exposed to the +reverses of a life like Napoleon's. Of the dreadful audacity of a crime, +which directly wars with the Divine will, which cuts off all possibility +of repentance, and which thus sends the criminal before his Judge with +all his sins upon his head, there can be no conceivable doubt. The only +palliative can be, growing insanity. But in the instance which is now +stated by the intended self-murderer, there is no attempt at palliation +of any kind. + +"There was another period of my life," said Napoleon, "when I attempted +suicide; but you are certainly acquainted with this fact." "No, sire," +was Montholon's reply. + +"In that case, write what I shall tell you: for it is well that the +mysteries of Fontainbleau should one day be known." + +We condense into a few sentences this singular narrative, which begins +with an interview demanded by his marshals on the 4th of April 1815, +when he was preparing to move at the head of his army to attack the +Allies. The language of the marshals was emphatic. + + "The army is weary, discouraged, disorganised; desertion is at work + among the ranks. To re-enter Paris cannot be thought of: in + attempting to do so we should uselessly shed blood." + +Their proposal was, his resignation in favour of his son. + +Caulaincourt had already brought him the Emperor Alexander's opinion on +the subject. The envoy had thus reported the imperial conversation:--"I +carry on no diplomacy with you, but I cannot tell you every thing. +Understand this, and lose not a moment in rendering an account to the +Emperor Napoleon of our conversation, and of the situation of his +affairs here; and return again as quickly, bringing his abdication in +favour of his son. As to his personal fate, I give you my word of honour +that he will be properly treated. But lose not an hour, or all is lost +for him, and I shall no longer have power to do any thing either for him +or his dynasty." + +Napoleon proceeds. "I hesitated not to make the sacrifice demanded of my +patriotism. I sat down at a little table, and wrote my Act of Abdication +in favour of my son." But on that day Marmont with his army had +surrendered. The Allies instantly rejected all negotiation, after this +decisive blow in their favour. The Act of Resignation had not reached +them, and they determined on restoring the old monarchy at once. On this +the desertion was universal; and every man at Fontainbleau was evidently +thinking only of being the first to make his bargain with the Bourbons. +Napoleon, as a last experiment, proposed to try the effect of war in +Italy. + +But all shook their heads, and were silent. He at length signed the +unequivocal Abdication for himself, and his family. + +"From the time of my retreat from Russia," said he, "I had constantly +carried round my neck, in a little silken bag, a portion of a poisonous +powder which Ivan had prepared by my orders, when I was in fear of being +carried off by the Cossacks. My life no longer belonged to my country; +the events of the last few days had again rendered me master of it. Why +should I endure so much suffering? and who knows, that my death may not +place the crown on the head of my son? France was saved."-- + + "I hesitated no longer, but, leaping from my bed, mixed the poison + in a little water, and drank it, with a sort of happiness. + + "But time had taken away its strength; fearful pains drew forth some + groans from me; they were heard, and medical assistance arrived. It + was not Heaven's will that I should die so soon--St Helena was in my + _Destiny_." + +It may easily be supposed that projects were formed for carrying the +prisoner from St Helena. One of those is thus detailed. The captain of a +vessel returning from India, had arranged to bring a boat to a certain +point of the coast without running the risk of being stopped. This +person demanded a million of francs, not, as he said, for himself, but +for the individual whose concurrence was necessary. The million was not +to be payable until the vessel had reached America. This renders it +probable that the captain was a Yankee. At all events, it shows how +necessary was the vigilance of the governor, and how little connected +with tyranny were his precautions against evasion. Another project was +to be carried out, by submarine vessels, and on this experiment five or +six thousand Louis were expended in Europe. But Napoleon finished his +inquiry into these matters by refusing to have any thing to do with +them. It is probable that he expected his release on easier terms than +those of breaking his neck, as Montholon observes, "in descending the +precipices of St Helena," or being starved, shot, or drowned on his +passage across the Atlantic. But as his object was constantly to throw +obloquy on the Bourbons, he placed his fears to the account of their +treachery. + +"I should not," said he, "be six months in America without being +assassinated by the Count d'Artois's creatures. Remember the isle of +Elba. Did he not send the _Chouan Brulard_ there to organise my +assassination? And besides, we should always obey our destiny. Every +thing is written in Heaven. It is my martyrdom which will restore the +crown of France to my dynasty. I see in America nothing but +assassination or oblivion. I prefer St Helena." + +In the beginning of 1821, Napoleon began to grow lethargic. He had +generally spent the day in pacing up and down his apartment, and +dictating conversations and political recollections. But he now sat for +hours listlessly and perfectly silent on the sofa. It required the +strongest persuasion to induce him to take the air either on foot or _en +caleche_. + +Napoleon to the last was fond of burlesquing the hypocrisy or romance of +the Revolution. The 18th of _Brumaire_, which made him First Consul, and +had given him two colleagues, gave him the opportunity of developing the +patriotism of the Republic. Shortly after that period, Sieyes, supping +with the heads of the Republican party, said to them, at the same time +throwing his cap violently on the ground, "There is no longer a +Republic. I have for the last eight days been conferring with a man who +knows every thing. He needs neither counsel nor aid; policy, laws, and +the art of government are all as familiar to him as the command of an +army. I repeat to you, there is no longer a Republic." + +Sieyes was well known to be what the French call an _idealogue_. He was +a theorist on governments, which he invented in any convenient number. +For the Consulate he had his theory ready. The First Consul was to be +like an epicurean divinity, enjoying himself and taking care for no one. +But this tranquillity of position, and nonentity of power, by no means +suited the taste of Napoleon. "'Your Grand Elector," said he (the title +which seems to have been intended for his head of his new constitution,) +"would be nothing but an idle king. The time for do-nothing kings is +gone by--six millions of francs and the Tuilleries, to play the +stage-king in, put his signature to other peoples work, and do nothing +of himself, is a dream. Your Grand Elector would be nothing but a pig to +fatten, or a master, the more absolute because he would have no +responsibility.' It was on quitting me after this conversation," said +Napoleon, "that Sieyes said to Roger Ducos, 'My dear Colleague, we have +not a President, we have a master. You and I have no more to do, but to +make our fortunes before making our _paquets_.'" This was at least plain +speaking, and it discloses the secret of ninety-nine out of every +hundred of the Republicans. + +An amusing anecdote of the memorable Abbe is then told. He was Almoner +to one of the Princesses of France. One day, while he was reading mass, +the Princess, from some accidental circumstance, retired, and her ladies +followed her. Sieyes, who was busy reading his missal, did not at first +perceive her departure; but when he saw himself abandoned by all the +great people, and had no auditory left but the domestics, he closed the +book, and left the altar, crying, "I do not say mass for the rabble!" +This certainly was not very democratic, and yet Sieyes was soon +afterwards the most rampant of all possible democrats. + +The history of his patriotism, however, alike accounted for his former +contempt and his subsequent fraternisation. Previously to the Revolution +he was poor, neglected, and angry; but, as he was known to be a man of +ability, his name was mentioned to De Brienne, who, though an +archbishop, was Prime Minister. He was desired to attend at his next +levee; he attended, and was overlooked. He complained to his friend, who +repeated the complaint to the archbishop, who desired him to appear at +his levee; but was so much occupied with higher people, that the clever +but luckless Abbe was again overlooked. He made a third experiment, on +the promise that he should obtain audience; but he found the Archbishop +enveloped in a circle of _epaulets_, _grands cordons_, and mitres. To +penetrate this circle was impossible, and the Abbe, now furious at what +he regarded as a mockery, rushed to his chamber, seized a pen, and wrote +his powerful and memorable pamphlet entitled, "What is the third +Estate?" a fierce, but most forcible appeal to the vanity of the lower +orders, pronouncing them _the_ nation. This was a torch thrown into a +powder magazine--all was explosion; the church, the noblesse, and the +monarchy were suddenly extinguished, and France saw this man of long +views and powerful passions, suddenly raised from hunger and obscurity, +to the highest rank and the richest sinecurism of the republic. + +Antomarchi was not fortunate in his attendance on Napoleon. Of course he +felt, like every other foreigner, the ennui of the island, and he grew +impatient to return to Europe. At last he applied for permission, which +Napoleon gave him in the shape of a discharge, with the following sting +at the end. "During the fifteen months which we have spent in this +country, you have given his Majesty no confidence in your moral +character. You can be of no use to him in his illness, and your residing +here for several months longer would have no object, and be of no use." +However, a reconciliation was effected, and the doctor was suffered to +remain. But all the household now began to be intolerably tired. Three +of the household, including the Abbe, requested their conge. + +There is in the spirit of the foreigner a kind of gross levity, an +affectation of frivolity with respect to women, and a continual habit of +vulgar vanity, which seems to run through all ranks and ages of the +continental world. What can be more offensively trifling, than the +conduct which Napoleon narrates of himself, when Emperor, at Warsaw. + +A Madame Waleska seems to have been the general belle of the city. On +the night when Napoleon first saw this woman, at a ball, General +Bertrand and Louis de Perigord appeared as her public admirers. "They +both," said he, "kept hovering emulously round her." But Napoleon, +Emperor, husband, and mature as he was, chose to play the gallant on +this evening also. Finding the two Frenchmen in the way of his +attentions, he played the Emperor with effect on the spot. He gave an +order to Berthier, then head of his staff, instantly to send off M. +Perigord "to obtain news of the 6th corps," which was on the Passarge. +Thus one inconvenience was got rid of, but Bertrand was still present, +and during supper his attentions were so marked that, as he leaned over +Madame's chair, his aiguilettes danced on her shoulders. "Upon this," +said Napoleon, "my impatience was roused to such a pitch that I touched +him on the arm and drew him to the recess of a window, where I gave him +orders 'to set out for the head-quarters of Prince Jerome,' and without +losing an hour to bring me a report of the siege of Breslau." Such it is +to come in the way of Emperors. "The poor fellow was scarcely gone," +adds Napoleon, "when I repented of my angry impulse; and I should +certainly have recalled him, had I not remembered at the same minute +that his presence with Jerome would be useful to me." And this was the +conduct of a man then in the highest position of life, whose example +must have been a model to the multitude, and in whom even frivolity +would be a crime. + +Napoleon had long lived in a state of nervous fear, which must have made +even his high position comfortless to him. He had been for years in +dread of poison. "I have escaped poisoning," said he, "ten times, if I +have once." In St Helena he never eat or drank any thing which had not +been tasted first by one of the household! Montholon, during the night, +constantly tasted the drink prepared for him. On this subject, Napoleon +told the following anecdote. + +"He was one day leaving the dinner-table with the Empress Josephine, and +two or three other persons, when, as he was about to put his hand in his +pocket for his snuff-box, he perceived it lying on the mantel-piece, in +the saloon which he was entering. He was about to open it and take a +pinch, when his good star caused him to seat himself. He then felt that +his snuff-box was in one of his pockets. This excited inquiry, and on +sending the two boxes to be chemically tested, the snuff on the +mantel-piece was discovered to be poisoned." After this, it is somewhat +absurd in M. Montholon to give his hero credit for _sang froid_, and say +of him, that no one could take fewer precautions against such dangers +than the Emperor. His whole life seems to have been precautionary; +still, he sententiously talked the nonsense of fatalism. + +"Our last hour is written above," was his frequent remark. He had some +absurdities on the subject of medicine, which would have very +effectually assisted the fulfilment of this prediction. He had all idea +that he should cure himself of his immediate disease, and perhaps of +every other, by swallowing orange-flower water, and soup _a la reine_. + +The governor, during this period, constantly offered the services of an +English physician; and Dr Arnott was at last summoned, who pronounced +the disease to be very serious, and to be connected with great +inflammation in the region of the stomach. It was now, for the first +time, ascertained that his disease was ulceration of the stomach. There +is an occasional tribute to the humane conduct of the governor at this +time. On April eleventh, there is this memorandum:-- + + "Sir Hudson Lowe has left us in perfect tranquillity, since Dr + Arnott has been admitted, though he comes every day to the + apartments of the orderly officer, for the purpose of conferring + with the physician." + +Napoleon, now conscious of the dangerous nature of his disease, made his +will. He had conceived that he was worth in various property about two +hundred millions of francs, which he left by will, but of which we +believe the greater part was impounded by the French government, as +being public property. + +He now held a long conversation on the prospects of his son, whom he +regarded as not altogether beyond the hope of ascending the throne of +France. He predicted the fall of the reigning family. "The Bourbons," +said he, "will not maintain their position after my death." With an +exactness equally odd, but equally true, he predicted the rise of +another branch of the dynasty: "My son will arrive, after a time of +troubles; he has but one party to fear, that of the Duke of Orleans. +That party has been germinating for a long time. France is the country +where the chiefs of parties have the least interest. To rest for support +on them, is to build their hopes on sand." + +There is a brilliant shrewdness now and then, in his contempt of the +showy exhibitors in public life. "The great orators," said he, "who rule +the assemblies by the brilliancy of their eloquence, are in general men +of the most mediocre talents. They should not be opposed in their own +way, for they have always more noisy words at command than you. In my +council there were men possessed of much more eloquence than I was, but +I always defeated them by this simple argument,--Two and two make four. + + "My son will be obliged to allow the liberty of the press. This is a + necessity in the present day. My son ought to be a man of new ideas, + and of the cause which have made triumphant every where. + + "Let my son often read and reflect on history: that is the only true + philosophy. Let him read and meditate on the wars of the great + Captains. That is the only means of rightly learning the science of + war." + +In April, the signs of debility grew still more marked. On the 26th, at +four in the morning, after a calm night, he had what Montholon regards +as a dream, but what Napoleon evidently regarded as a vision. He said +with extraordinary emotion, "I have just seen my good Josephine, but she +would not embrace me; she disappeared at the moment when I was about to +take her in my arms; she was seated _there_; it seemed to me that I had +seen her yesterday evening; she is not changed--still the same, full of +devotion to me; she told me that we were about to see each other again, +never more to part. She assured me of that. Did you see her?" + +Montholon attributed this scene to feverish excitement, gave him his +potion, and he fell asleep; but on awaking he again spoke of the Empress +Josephine. + +It is difficult in speaking of dreams and actual visions, to know the +distinction. That the mind may be so perfectly acted upon during the +waking hours as to retain the impressions during sleep, is the +experience of every day. And yet we know so little of the means by which +truths may be communicated to the human spirit while the senses are +closed, that it would be unphilosophical to pronounce even upon those +fugitive thoughts as unreal. That Napoleon must have often reflected on +his selfish and cruel desertion of Josephine, it is perfectly natural to +conceive. That he may have bitterly regretted it, is equally natural, +for, from that day, his good fortune deserted him. And he might also +have discovered that he had committed a great crime, with no other fruit +than that of making a useless alliance, encumbering himself with an +ungenial companion, and leaving an orphan child dependant on strangers, +and continually tantalised by the recollections of a fallen throne. +Those feelings, in the solitude of his chamber, and the general +dejection of his captivity, must have so often clouded his declining +hours, that no miracle was required to embody them in such a vision as +that described. And yet, so many visitations of this kind have +undoubtedly occurred, that it would be rash to pronounce that this sight +of the woman who had so long been the partner of his brilliant days +might not have been given, to impress its moral on the few melancholy +hours which now lay between him and the grave. + +It is painful, after a scene which implies some softness of heart, to +find him unrepentant of one of the most repulsive, because the most +gratuitous crime of his career. In the course of the day, Bertrand, in +translating an English journal, inadvertently began to read an article +containing a violent attack on the conduct of Caulaincourt and Savary in +the seizure of the Duc d'Enghien. Napoleon, interrupting him, suddenly +cried, "This is shameful." He then sent for his will, and interlined the +following words:--"I caused the Duc d'Enghien to be arrested and tried, +because that step was essential to the interest, honour, and safety of +the French people, when the Count d'Artois was maintaining, by his own +confession, sixteen assassins in Paris. Under similar circumstances I +should act in the same way." Having written these few lines he gave back +the will. From this period he was engaged in writing codicils and +appointing executors. He gave to Marchand a diamond necklace, valued at +200,000 francs. He wound up those transactions by an extraordinary +letter,--no less than the form of an announcement of his own death. It +was in these words:-- + + "Monsieur le Gouverneur, the Emperor Napoleon breathed his last on + the ---- after a long and painful illness. I have the honour to + communicate this intelligence to you. + + "The Emperor had ordered me to communicate, if such be your desire, + his last wishes. I beg you to inform me, what are the arrangements, + prescribed by your government for the transportation of his remains + to France, as well as those relating to the persons of his suite. I + have the honour to be, &c., COUNT MONTHOLON." + +An act of this order implied a good deal of self-possession. But, even +to the last day he continued to occupy his mind with subjects +sufficiently trying at any period. On one of those nights he made +Montholon bring a table to his bed-side, and dictated for two hours; the +subjects being, the decoration of Versailles, and the organisation of +the National Guard. On the 30th of April he was given over by the +physicians. On the 3rd of May his fever continued, and his mind was +evidently beginning to be confused. On the 5th of May he passed a very +bad night and became delirious. "Twice," said Montholon, "I thought I +distinguished the unconnected words, _France--Armee--Tete +d'Armee--France_." + +His final hour now visibly approached. From six in the morning, until +half-past five in the evening of that day, he remained motionless, lying +on his back, with his right hand out of the bed, and his eyes fixed, +seemingly absorbed in deep meditation, and without any appearance of +suffering; his lips were slightly contracted; his whole face expressed +pleasant and gentle impressions. + +But he seems to have been awake to external objects to the last. For +whenever Antommarchi attempted to moisten his lips, he repulsed him with +his hand, and fixed his eyes on Montholon, as the only person whom he +would permit to attend him. At sunset he died. + +The immediate cause of his death was subsequently ascertained by the +surgeons to have been an extensive ulceration of the stomach. + +On the 9th of May the body was buried with military honours. On the +30th, Montholon, with the household, quitted St Helena. + +Thus obscurely, painfully, and almost ignominiously, closed the career +of the most brilliant, ambitious, and powerful monarch of his time. No +man had ever attained a higher rank, and sunk from it to a lower. No man +had ever been so favoured by fortune. No man had ever possessed so large +an influence over the mind of Europe, and been finally an object of +hostility so universal. He was the only man in history, against whom a +Continent in arms pronounced sentence of overthrow: the only soldier +whose personal fall was the declared object of a general war:--and the +only monarch whose capture ensured the fall of his dynasty, extinguished +an empire, and finished the loftiest dream of human ambition in a +dungeon. + +Napoleon, since his fall, has been denied genius. But if genius implies +the power of accomplishing great ends by means beyond the invention of +others, he was a genius. Every act of his career was a superb +innovation. As a soldier, he changed the whole art of war. Instead of +making campaigns of tactics, he made campaigns of triumphs. He wasted no +time in besieging towns; he rushed on the capital. He made no wars of +detachments, but threw a colossal force across the frontier, held its +mass together, and fought pitched battles day after day, until he +trampled down all resistance by the mere weight of a phalanx of 250,000 +men. Thus, in 1800, at Marengo, he reconquered Italy in twelve hours. In +1805, he broke down Austria in a three months' war. In 1806, he crushed +the Prussian army in four-and-twenty hours, and walked over the +monarchy. In 1807, he drove the Russians out of Germany, fought the two +desperate battles of Eylau and Friedland, and conquered that treaty of +Tilsit, by which he gave the Emperor Alexander a shadow of empire in +Asia, in exchange for the substance of universal empire in Europe. + +But his time was come. His wars had been wholly selfish. To aggrandise +his own name, he had covered Europe with blood. To place _himself_ at +the head of earthly power, he had broken faith with Turkey, with Russia, +with Germany, and with Spain. The blood, the spoil, and the misery of +millions were upon his head. His personal crimes concentrated the +vengeance of mankind upon his diadem. For the last three years of his +political and military existence, he seems to have lain under an actual +spell. Nothing but the judicial clouding of his intellect can account +for the precipitate infirmities of his judgment. His march to Russia, as +we have already observed, was a gigantic absurdity in the eyes of all +Europe--his delay at Moscow was a gigantic absurdity in the eyes of +every subaltern in his army. But his campaigns in France were only a +continuation of those absurdities. With fifty thousand men he was to +conquer three hundred thousand, backed by an actual million ready to +rush into the province of France. How was resistance possible? Treaty +was his only hope: yet he attempted to resist, and refused to treat. He +was beaten up to the walls of Paris. The Allies then offered him France: +he still fought, and only affected to negociate. At length the long +infatuation was consummated in his march _from_ Paris; the Allies +marched _to_ Paris; and Napoleon was instantly deposed, outlawed, and +undone. + +Even his second great experiment for power was but the infatuation +repeated. Every act was an error: his return from Elba ought to have +been delayed for at least a year. His campaign of 1815 ought to have +made head against the Prussians and Germans in the south, while he left +the English and Prussians to waste their strength against his +fortresses. Even in Belgium, he ought to have poured the whole mass of +his army on the English at once, instead of violating his own first +principle of war, and dividing it into three armies, Ney's at +Quatre-Bras, Grouchy's at Wavre, and his own at Ligny. + +Still, when routed at Waterloo, he had a powerful force in the field, +the remnant of his army, with Grouchy's corps. With those he ought to +have moved on slowly towards Paris, garrisoning the fortresses, breaking +up the roads, throwing every obstacle in the way of the Allies, and +finally, at the head of his 60,000 veterans, with the national guard of +the capital and the surrounding districts, (amounting to not less than +100,000 men,) at once making a front against the Allies, and +negociating. + +Above all things, he ought _never_ to have separated himself from the +army; as he thus stripped his party of all power at the moment, and +virtually delivered himself a prisoner to the Bourbonists in the +capital. Whatever might be the difficulty of deciding on his conduct at +the time, it is now perfectly easy to see, that all these were blunders +of the first magnitude, and that every step was direct to his ruin. + +He was no sooner in Paris, than he was made a prisoner; escaped being +shot, only through the mercy of the Allies; and, for the general quiet +of France and Europe, was consigned, for the remainder of his few and +melancholy years, to the prison of St Helena. + +The name of Napoleon has a great place in history. He was a great moving +power of the day of change, a great statesman, a brilliant soldier, and +a splendid ruler of the mightiest dominion that had existed under one +sceptre, since the days of Charlemagne. He was a man of vast projects, +vast means, and vast opportunities. But he had no greatness of mind; he +had but one purpose, personal aggrandizement; and for that purpose, he +adopted every vice of the heart of man. + +Without being bloodthirsty by nature, he was cruel by habit; without +being naturally avaricious, he was a universal spoiler; and without +savagely hating mankind, he spurned the feelings, the sufferings, and +the life of man. He was hollow, fierce, and remorseless, where his own +objects were concerned, and whether he cheated his party in the state, +or rode over a field covered with his dying troops, he regarded the +treachery as legitimate, and the slaughter as meritorious, if they +raised him a step nearer to the aim of his ambition. + +With the most splendid chances for establishing a name of perpetual +honour, this selfishness defeated them all. On his accession to the +throne, he might have secured Peace, as the principle of all European +government. He might have developed all the natural powers of his +empire, covered its rivers with commerce, filled its cities with +opulence, restored the neglected fertility of its plains, and rendered +its capital the centre of the most brilliant civilisation which the +world had ever seen. But War was for the _fame_ of Napoleon, and he +chose the havoc of war. + +In 1812 he might have restored the kingdom of Poland, and stamped +perpetual renown on his diadem, by an act of imperial justice. But he +preferred sacrificing it to the alliance of Austria--for the purpose of +devastating Russia. He might have exercised his boundless influence over +Spain, to bring the faculties of that noble country to the light, and +add the contributions of twelve millions of a half-forgotten race of +mankind, to the general happiness of the world. But he preferred being +called its conqueror, shedding its blood in torrents. To France herself +he might have given a rational liberty, have animated her literature, +taught common sense to her vanity, thrown the field open to her genius, +and guided her natural ardour, flexibility, and spirit of enterprise, to +achievements for the good of man, to which all the trophies of the sword +are pale. But he cast away all those illustrious opportunities, and +thought only of the shout of the rabble. + +Napoleon's career was _providential_; there is no name in history, whose +whole course bears so palpable a proof of his having been created for a +_historic_ purpose. Europe, in the partition of Poland, had committed a +great crime,--France, in the murder of her king, had committed a great +crime. The three criminal thrones, and the regicidal republic, were +alike to be punished. Napoleon was the appointed instrument for both +purposes. He first crushed the democracy, and then he broke the strength +of the three powers in the field--he thrice conquered the Austrian +capital--he turned Prussia into a province,--and his march to Russia +desolated her most populous provinces, and laid her Asiatic capital in +ashes. + +But France, which continually paid for all those fearful triumphs in her +blood, was still to suffer a final and retributive punishment. Her +armies were hunted from the Vistula to the Rhine, and from the Rhine to +the Seine. She saw her capital twice captured--her government twice +swept away--her conquests lost--her plunder recovered by its original +possessors, and her territory garrisoned by an army of strangers--her +army disbanded--her empire cut down to the limits of the old +monarchy--her old masters restored, and her idol torn from his altar. +Thus were thrown away the fruits of the Revolution, of the regicide, of +the democracy, and of a quarter of a century of wretchedness, fury, and +blood. + +On Napoleon himself fell the heaviest blow of all. All the shames, +sorrows, and sufferings of France were concentered on his head. He saw +his military power ruined--his last army slaughtered--his last adherents +exiled--his family fugitive,--his whole dynasty uncrowned, and himself +given up as a prisoner to England, to be sent to an English dungeon, to +be kept in English hands; to finish his solitary and bitter existence in +desertion and disease, and be laid in an English grave,--leaving to +mankind perhaps the most striking moral of blasted ambition ever given +to the world. + + * * * * * + +In 1840 England, at the solicitation of France, suffered the remains of +Napoleon to be brought to Europe. They were received in Paris with +military pomp, and on the 15th of December were entombed in the chapel +of the Invalides. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] _History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St Helena._ By General +Count MONTHOLON Vols. iii. and iv. London: H. Colburn. + + + + +JUANCHO THE BULL-FIGHTER. + + +M. Theophile Gautier, best known as a clever contributor to the critical +_feuilleton_ of a leading Paris newspaper, also enjoys a respectable +reputation as tale-teller and tourist. His books--although for the most +part slight in texture, and conveying the idea that the author might +have done better had he taken more pains--have certain merits of their +own. His style, sometimes defaced by affectation and pedantry, has a +lively smartness not unfrequently rising into wit. And in description he +is decidedly happy. Possessing an artist's eye, he paints with his pen; +his colouring is vivid, his outline characteristic. These qualities are +especially exemplified in a spirited and picturesque, but very _French_ +narrative, of an extensive ramble in Spain, published about four years +ago. He has now again drawn upon his Peninsular experience to produce a +tale illustrative of Spanish life and manners, chiefly in the lower +classes of society. His hero is a bull-fighter, his heroine a +_grisette_. Of bull-fights, especially within the last few years, one +has heard enough and to spare, since every literary traveller in Spain +thinks it incumbent on him to describe them. But this is the first +instance we remember where the incidents of the bull-ring, and the +exploits and peculiarities of its gladiators, are taken as groundwork +for a romantic tale. The attempt has been crowned with very considerable +success. + +The construction of M. Gautier's little romance is simple and +inartificial, the incidents are spirited, the style is fresh and +pleasant. Its character is quite Spanish, and one cannot doubt the +author's personal acquaintance with the scenes and types he +sketches--although here and there he has smoothed down with a little +French polish the rugged angles of Spanish nationality, and in other +places he may be accused of melodramatising rather over much. Through +the varnish which it is the novelist's privilege to lay on with a more +or less sparing brush, we obtain many interesting and correct glimpses +of classes of people whose habits and customs are unknown to foreigners, +and are likely to continue so, in great measure, until the appearance of +Spanish writers able and willing to depict them. The three principal +personages of the tale--the only important ones--are, a young gentleman +of Madrid, a bull-fighter named Juancho, and an orphan girl of humble +birth and great beauty. The story hinges upon the rivalry of the +gentleman and the _torero_ for the good graces of the grisette. There is +a secondary plot, associated and partly interwoven with the principal +one, but which serves little purpose, save that of prolonging a short +tale into a volume. It will scarcely be necessary to refer to it in +sketching the trials of the gentle Militona, and the feats and +misfortunes of the intrepid and unhappy Juancho. + +It was on a June afternoon of the year 184--that Don Andres de +Salcedo--a cavalier of good family, competent fortune, handsome +exterior, amiable character, and four-and-twenty years of age--emerged +from a house in the Calle San Bernardo at Madrid, where he had passed a +wearisome hour in practising a duet of Bellini's with Dona Feliciana +Vasquez de los Rios. This young lady, still in her teens, moderately +pretty and tolerably rich, Andres had from childhood been affianced +with, and was accustomed to consider as his future wife, although his +sentiments towards her were, in fact, of a very tepid description. +Betrothed as children by their parents, there was little real love +between them: they met without pleasure and parted without pain; their +engagement was an affair of habit, not of the heart. + +It was a _dia de toros_, as Monday is called in Madrid--that being the +day when bull-fights usually take place--and Andres, passionately +addicted to the Spanish sport, left the mansion of his mistress without +any lover-like reluctance, and hurried to the bull-ring. Through the +spacious street of Alcala, then crowded to suffocation with vehicles of +every description, horsemen, and pedestrians, all hurrying to the point +of grand attraction, the young man pressed onward with that alert and +active step peculiar to Spaniards--unquestionably the best walkers in +the world--joyfully fingering his ticket of _Sombra por la tarde_.[11] +It entitled him to a place close to the barrier; for Andres, despising +the elegance of the boxes, preferred leaning against the ropes intended +to prevent the bulls from leaping amongst the spectators. Thence each +detail of the combat is distinctly seen, each blow appreciated at its +just value; and in consideration of these advantages, Andres willingly +resigned his elbows to the contact of motley-jacketed muleteers, and his +curls to the perfume of the manolo's cigar. + +Although a bridegroom-elect ought not, strictly speaking, to perceive +the existence of other women than his intended, such scrupulous fidelity +is very rare except in romances: and Don Andres, albeit descended +neither from Don Juan Tenorio nor Don Juan de Marana, was led to the +circus by other attractions besides the brave swordsmanship of Luca +Blanco and of Montes' nephew. At the bull-fight on the previous Monday +he had seen a young girl of rare and singular beauty, whose features had +imprinted themselves on his memory with a minuteness and indelibility +quite extraordinary, considering the short time he had been able to +observe them. So casual a meeting should have left no more trace than +the picture to which one accords a passing glance. No word or sign had +been exchanged between Andres and the manola, (she apparently belonged +to that class,) who had been separated by several benches. Andres had no +reason to believe that the young girl had remarked his admiration, or +even perceived him. Her eyes, fixed upon the arena, had not for an +instant wandered from the incidents of the bull-fight, in which she +appeared to take an exclusive interest. It would have been natural to +forget her on the threshold of the circus; but, instead of that, her +image had haunted Andres all the week, recurring perpetually to his +memory with increased distinctness and perseverance. And it was a vague +hope, unacknowledged even to himself, of beholding the lovely manola, +that now doubled his usual impatience to reach the scene of the +bull-fight. + +At the very moment Andres passed under one of the three arcades of the +gate of Alcala, a _calesin_, or light calash, dashed through the crowd, +amidst a concert of curses and hisses, the usual sounds with which the +Spanish populace assail whatever deranges them in their pleasures, and +infringes upon the sovereignty of the pedestrian. This vehicle was of +outrageous magnificence. The body, borne by two enormous scarlet wheels, +was covered with groups of Cupids, and with Anacreontic attributes, such +as lyres, tambourines, Pandaean pipes, cooing doves, and hearts pierced +with arrows, executed at some remote period by a pencil more remarkable +for audacity than correctness of design. The mule harnessed to this +gaudy car, had the upper half of his body closely clipped, bore a lofty +panoply of coloured worsted upon his head, and was covered with bells +from nose to tail. A ferocious-looking charioteer, stripped to his +shirt-sleeves, a sheepskin jacket dangling from his shoulder, sat +sideways upon the shaft, and belaboured with his whip-handle the lean +flanks of his beast, which sprang forward with redoubled fury at each +repetition of the stimulant. + +There was nothing remarkable in the appearance of such a vehicle on a +Monday afternoon at the Alcala gate; and if we have honoured it with +especial notice, it is because, upon beholding it, the countenance of +Don Andres was illumined by an expression, of the most agreeable +surprise. The cabriolet contained two persons: one of these was a little +old woman, in an antiquated black dress, whose gown, too short by an +inch, disclosed the hem of one of those yellow woolen petticoats +commonly worn by Castilian peasants. This venerable creature belonged to +the class of women known in Spain as _Tia_ Pelona, _Tia_ Blasia, +according to their name, and which answer to the French Mother Michel, +Mother Godichon, in the society Paul de Kock delights to sketch. Her +large, black, cadaverous physiognomy was relieved by dark sunken eyes, +and by a pair of mustaches shading the corners of her lips. Although she +had long passed the age of coquetry, she arranged her elbows under her +serge mantilla with an air of no small pretension, and flirted with a +certain dexterity a large green paper fan. It could hardly be the sight +of this amiable creature that brought a smile of satisfaction across the +features of Don Andres. + +The second occupant of the cabriolet was a young girl, sixteen or +eighteen years old--sixteen rather than eighteen. A black silk mantilla, +drooping from the top of a tall tortoiseshell comb, round which a +magnificent plait of hair was twisted, formed a frame to her lovely +countenance, whose paleness bordered on the olive. Her foot, worthy of a +Chinese beauty, was extended on the front of the calash, showing a +delicate satin shoe and a tight silk stocking with coloured clocks. One +of her hands, slender and well formed, although a little sun-burnt, +played with the corners of her mantilla, and on the other, which held a +white handkerchief, sparkled several silver rings--the richest treasures +of the manola's jewel-case. Buttons of jet glittered on her sleeve, +completing this strictly Spanish costume. Andres recognised the charming +creature whose image had haunted him during the whole of the past week. +Accelerating his pace, he entered the bull-ring at the same time with +the two women. Chance had so distributed the numbers of the stalls that +Andres found himself seated next to the young manola. + +Whilst the benches of the amphitheatre became rapidly covered with +spectators, the bull-fighters assembled in a large white-washed +apartment, serving as a green-room for the actors in the sanguinary +drama. Amongst these was a man of five or eight-and-twenty, whose tawny +complexion, jet-black eyes, and crisp curling hair, told of an +Andalusian origin. A more robust body and better shaped limbs could +hardly be seen. They exhibited strength and agility combined in the +happiest proportions. Equally well qualified to run and to wrestle, +Nature, had she had the express intention of making a bull-fighter, +could not have succeeded better than when she moulded this slender +Hercules. Through the opening of his cloak glittered the spangles and +embroidery of his pink and silver vest, and the jewel of the ring that +confined the ends of his cravat; this jewel was of considerable value, +proving, as did the whole of the costume, that its owner belonged to the +aristocracy of his profession. His _mono_ of new ribbons, attached to +the lock of hair reserved expressly for that purpose, spread in gay +profusion over his nape; his montero, of the most glossy black, was +loaded with silk ornaments of the same colour; his pumps, +extraordinarily small and thin, would have done honour to a shoemaker, +and might have served a goddess of the ballet. + +Nevertheless, Juancho--such was the name of the torero--had not the +frank, open air of a handsome young fellow with gay garments on his +back, about to be applauded by a host of pretty women. Did apprehension +of the approaching contest disturb his serenity? Had he seen in his +dreams an infernal bull bearing a matador empaled upon his horns of +red-hot steel? Nothing of the sort. This gloomy air was his wont since a +twelvemonth. Without being on bad terms with his comrades, there no +longer existed between him and them that jovial and careless familiarity +usual amongst persons who share the chances of a perilous profession. He +did not repulse advances, but he made none; and although an Andalusian, +he was often taciturn. If he at times threw off his melancholy, it was +to run into the opposite extreme, and abandon himself to a gaiety as +violent as it was factitious. Then he would drink like a fish, dance +like a madman, and quarrel about every thing and about nothing. The fit +over, he relapsed into his previous moody reserve. + +The hour fixed for the commencement of the sport approached. Juancho +rose from his bench, threw off his cloak, took his sword, and mingled +with the motley group of _toreros_ and _chulos_, _banderillos_ and +_espadas_. The cloud had left his brow; his eyes sparkled, his nostril +was dilated. A singular expression of daring animated his fine features. +His foot pressed the ground energetically, and the nerves of his instep +quivered beneath the knitted silk like the tense-strings on a +guitar-handle. Juancho was really a splendid fellow, and his costume +wonderfully set off his physical perfections. A broad red sash encircled +his graceful waist; the silver embroideries covering his vest formed, at +the collar and pockets, and on the sleeves, patches where the groundwork +of the garment disappeared under the complications of the arabesques. It +was no longer pink embroidered with silver, but silver embroidered with +pink. So loaded were the shoulders with twist, filigree, knots and +ornaments of all kinds, that the arms seemed to issue from two crushed +crowns. The satin hose, braided and spangled on the seams, were +admirably adjusted to limbs combining power and elegance. The whole +dress was the masterpiece of Zapata of Granada,--of that Zapata, +unrivalled for _majo_ costumes, who weeps when he takes one home, and +offers his customer more money to resign it to him than he had asked for +making it. The learned in such matters did not consider the suit dear at +ten thousand reals. Worn by Juancho, it was worth twenty thousand. + +The last flourish of trumpets sounded; the arena was cleared of dogs and +boys, and the troop of bull-fighters entered. A murmur of admiration +greeted Juancho when he made his obeisance before the queen's box; he +bent the knee with so good a grace, with an air at once, so humble and +so proud, and rose again so gracefully and easily, that the severest +critics and oldest frequenters of the circus declared none had ever done +it better. + +Meanwhile Andres, delighted to have found the manola, paid little +attention to the preliminaries of the fight, and the first bull had +already ripped up a horse before he bestowed a single look upon the +arena. He gazed at the young girl by his side, with an intentness that +would doubtless have embarrassed her had she perceived it. He thought +her more charming than ever; and certainly a more perfect type of +Spanish beauty had never sat upon the blue granite benches of the Madrid +circus. With admiration amounting to ecstasy, Andres contemplated the +delicate profile, the thin, well-formed nose, with nostrils pink-tinted, +like the interior of a tropical shell; the full temples, where, beneath +the slightest possible tint of amber, meandered an imperceptible network +of blue veins; the mouth, fresh as a flower, ripe and ruddy as a fruit, +slightly opened by a half smile, and illuminated by a gleam of +mother-of-pearl; and above all, the eyes, whose glances, passing between +a thick double fringe of black lashes, possessed an irresistible +fascination. It was the Greek form with the Arab character: the style of +beauty would have had something startling in a London or Paris +drawing-room, but was perfectly in its place at a bull-fight and under +the ardent sky of Spain. + +The old woman, less attentive than the young one to the progress of the +sport, watched the proceedings of Andres with the look of a dog who +scents a thief. As he persisted in his contemplation of his pretty +neighbour, the old lady's anger gradually increased; she fidgeted on her +seat, rattled her fan, pushed her companion with her elbow, and asked +her all sorts of questions to oblige her to turn her head. But the young +girl either did not or would not understand; she gave short answers, and +resumed her attentive and serious attitude. + +"The devil take the old witch!" muttered Andres. "Tis a thousand pities +they have abolished the Inquisition! With such a face as that, she would +have been treated, without form of trial, to a ride on an ass, dressed +in a _san-benito_ and a sulphur shirt. She belongs to the seminary of +Barahona, and washes young girls for the sorcerers' sabbath." + +Juancho, whose turn to kill had not yet come, stood carelessly in the +centre of the circus, paying no more attention to the bulls than if +they had been so many sheep. He scarcely deigned to take two or three +steps aside when the furious beasts showed a disposition to attack him. +His large bright black eye glanced round boxes, galleries, and benches, +where thousands of fans, of every hue, fluttered and palpitated like +butterflies' wings. He evidently sought some one. At last a gleam of joy +flashed across his brown features, and he made the slightest possible +movement of his head, the sort of salutation that actors sometimes +address to their acquaintances before the curtain. It was directed to +the bench on which sat the old woman and the young girl. + +"Militona," said the duenna in a low voice, "Juancho sees us. Be +cautious! that young man ogles you, and Juancho is jealous." + +"What is that to me?" replied Militona in the same tone. + +"You know he does not jest with those who displease him." + +"I have not looked at the gentleman, and besides, am I not my own +mistress?" + +In saying she had not looked at Andres, Militona was guilty of a slight +equivocation. She had not _looked_ at him, perhaps, for women can see +without looking, but she could have given a most minute description of +his person. And out of respect to truth, we must here mention that she +took Don Andres de Salcedo for what he really was, a very smart and +good-looking cavalier. + +Andres, as a pretext for commencing a conversation, called one of those +dealers in oranges, preserved fruits, lozenges, and other sweetmeats, +who circulate in the corridor of the bull-ring, and offer their wares to +the spectators at the end of long sticks. + +"Senorita, will you accept some comfits?" said Andres, with an engaging +smile to his beautiful neighbour, offering her the open box. + +The young girl turned quickly round, and looked at him with an air of +uneasy surprise. + +"They are lemon and mint," said he, as if to decide her. + +Militona, suddenly making up her mind, plunged her little fingers into +the box, and took a pinch of the lozenges. + +"Luckily Juancho has his back turned," muttered a _majo_ who stood just +by, "or there would be blood on his knife to-night." + +"Will this lady take some?" continued Andres in a tone of exquisite +politeness, holding out the box to the horrible old woman, who was so +disconcerted by this piece of audacity that in her confusion she took +every one of the sugar-plums. Nevertheless, whilst emptying the box into +the palm of her hand, black as that of a mummy, she cast a furtive and +frightened glance at the circus, and heaved an enormous sigh. + +At that moment the orchestra sounded the death: it was Juancho's turn to +kill. He approached the municipal box, made the usual salutation and +demand, and threw his montero into the air in right cavalier style. The +audience, usually so tumultuous, became profoundly silent. The bull +Juancho had to kill was of formidable breed; seven horses, stretched +lifeless upon the sand, their bowels protruding from hideous wounds, +told of his fury and vigour. The two picadores had left the arena, +sorely bruised and crippled by numerous falls, and the supernumerary +waited in the corridor, foot in stirrup and lance in fist, ready to +replace them. The chulos prudently kept themselves in the vicinity of +the palisade, one foot on the wooden ledge which aids them to leap it in +case of danger; and the victorious bull ranged the circus--stained here +and there by large puddles of blood, which the attendants dared not +approach to scatter with sawdust--striking the doors with his horns, and +tossing the dead horses into the air. Juancho approached the monstrous +beast with that firm and deliberate step before which lions themselves +retreat. The bull, astonished at sight of a fresh adversary, paused, +uttered a deep roar, shook the slaver from his muzzle, scratched the +earth with his hoof, lowered his head two or three times, and made a few +paces backwards. Juancho was magnificent to behold: his countenance +expressed dauntless resolution; his fixed and steadfast eyes, whose +pupils, surrounded by white, resembled stars of jet, darted invisible +rays which pierced the bull like steel darts; unconsciously, he +subjected the brute to that magnetism by which Van Amburgh sends his +trembling tigers crouching to the extremity of their den. Each forward +step made by the man was responded to by a backward one of the ferocious +beast. At this triumph of moral over brute force, the audience, seized +with enthusiasm, burst into frantic applause, shouting and stamping, +yelling out _vivas_, and ringing the species of bells which amateurs +take with them to the bull-fights. Walls and ceilings cracked beneath +this storm of admiration, the paint crumbled off and flew about in +whirlwinds of white dust. The torero, thus applauded, raised his head, +with flashing eyes and joyful heart, to the place where Militona sat, as +if to lay at her feet the admiration of a whole city. The moment was +badly chosen. Militona had dropped her fan, and Don Andres, who had +snatched it up with all the precipitation of a person desirous to +strengthen with an additional thread the slender chain of a new +acquaintance, returned it to her with a happy smile and gallant gesture. +The young girl could not do less than acknowledge the polite attention +by a gracious smile and inclination of her head. Smile and bow were +detected by Juancho; his lips grew pale, his complexion green, the +orbits of his eyes became blood-shot, his hand contracted on his +sword-hilt, and the point of the weapon, which he held low, was thrust, +by a convulsive movement, thrice into the sand. The bull, no longer +under the spell of the fascinating glance, approached his adversary, who +neglected to put himself on guard. The interval between man and beast +was terribly small. + +"Master Juancho is not easily frightened," observed some of the more +callous spectators. + +"Juancho, have a care!" cried others, more humane; "Juancho _de mi +vida_, Juancho of my heart, Juancho of my soul, the bull is upon you!" + +As to Militona, whether it was that the habit of bull-fights had blunted +her sensibility, or that she had entire confidence in the consummate +skill of Juancho, or because she took little interest in the man over +whom she exercised such influence, her face continued as calm as if +nothing unusual was occurring; only a slight flush appeared in the +centre of her cheek, and the lace of her mantilla rose and fell upon her +bosom with increased rapidity. + +The cries of the spectators roused Juancho from his stupor: he drew +hastily back, and waved the scarlet folds of the _muleta_ before the +eyes of the bull. The instinct of self-preservation, the pride of the +gladiator, struggled in his breast with the desire to watch Militona; a +moment's neglect, a glance on one side, might cost him his life. It was +an infernal predicament for a jealous man. To behold, beside the woman +he loved, a gay, handsome, and attentive rival, while he, in the middle +of a circus, the eyes of twelve thousand spectators riveted upon him, +had, within a few inches of his breast, the sharp horns of a ferocious +beast which, under pain of dishonour, he could only kill in a certain +manner and by a wound in a certain place. + +The torero, once more master of the _jurisdiction_, as it is said in +tauromachian slang, settled himself firmly on his heels, and +manoeuvred with the muleta to make the bull lower his head. + +"What could he say to her," thought Jauncho, "that young fellow on whom +she smiled so sweetly?" Swayed by the reflection, he again forgot his +formidable antagonist, and involuntarily raised his eyes. The bull, +profiting by the momentary inattention, rushed upon the man; the latter, +taken unawares, leaped backwards, and, by a mechanical movement, made a +thrust with his sword. Several inches of the blade entered, but in the +wrong place. The weapon met the bone; a furious movement of the bull +made it rebound from the wound amidst a spout of blood, and fall to the +ground some paces off. Juancho was disarmed, and the bull more dangerous +than ever, for the misdirected thrust had served but to exasperate him. +The chulos ran to the rescue, waving their pink and blue cloaks. +Militona grew pale; the old woman uttered lamentable ejaculations, and +sighed like a stranded whale. The public, beholding Juancho's +inconceivable awkwardness, commenced one of those tremendous uproars in +which the Spanish people excel: a perfect hurricane of insulting +epithets, of vociferations and maledictions. "Away with the dog!" was +shouted on all sides; "Down with the thief, the assassin! To the galleys +with him! To Ceuta! The clumsy butcher, to spoil such a noble beast!" +And so on, through the entire vocabulary of abuse which the Spanish +tongue so abundantly supplies. Juancho stood erect under the storm of +insult, biting his lips, and tearing with his right hand the lace frills +of his shirt. His sleeve, ripped open by the bull's horn, disclosed his +arm a long violet scar. For an he tottered, and seemed about to fall, +suffocated by the violence of his emotions; but he promptly recovered +himself, ran to his sword, picked it up, straightened the bent blade +with his foot, and placed himself with his back towards the place where +Militona sat. At a sign he made, the chulos led the bull towards him by +tantalising it with their cloaks; and this time he dealt the animal a +downward thrust, in strict conformity with the laws of the sport--such a +one as the great Montes of Chiclana himself would not have disowned. The +sword was planted between the shoulders, and its cross-hilt, rising +between the horns of the bull, reminded of those Gothic engravings where +St Hubert is seen kneeling before a stag which bears a crucifix in its +antlers. + +The bull fell heavily on its knees before Juancho, as if doing homage to +his superiority, and after a short convulsion rolled over, its four feet +in the air. + +"Juancho has taken a brilliant revenge! What a splendid thrust! He is +superior to Arjona and the Chiclanero; do you not think so, Senorita?" +cried Andres enthusiastically to his neighbour. + +"For God's sake, sir, not another word!" replied Militona very quickly, +without turning her head and scarcely moving her lips. The words were +spoken in a tone at once so imperative and so imploring, that Andres +immediately saw it was not the artifice of a young girl begging to be +let alone, and hoping to be disobeyed. Neither could modesty dictate the +injunction. Nothing he had said called for such rigour, and manolas, the +grisettes of Madrid, are not usually--be it said without calumny--of +such extreme susceptibility. Real terror, apprehension of a danger +unknown to Andres, was indicated by the hasty sentence. + +"Can she be a princess in disguise?" said Andres to himself, +considerably puzzled how to act. "If I hold my tongue, I shall look like +a fool, or, at any rate, like a very middling sort of Don Juan: if I +persist, I shall perhaps cause the poor girl some disagreeable scene. +Can she be afraid of the duenna? Hardly. When that amiable old sorceress +devoured my comfits, she became in some sort an accomplice. It cannot be +she whom my infanta dreads. Is there a father, brother, husband, or +jealous lover in the neighbourhood?" But on looking around, Andres could +discover no one who seemed to pay the slightest attention to the +proceedings of the beautiful manola. + +From the moment of the bull's death till the end of the fight, Juancho +did not once look at Militona. He despatched with unparalleled dexterity +two other bulls that fell to his share, and was applauded as vehemently +as he had previously been hissed. Andres, either not deeming it prudent, +or not finding a good pretext to renew the conversation, didn't speak +another word to Militona, and even left the circus a few minutes before +the conclusion of the performances. Whilst stepping across the benches, +he whispered something to a boy of quick and intelligent physiognomy, +and then immediately disappeared. + +The boy, when the audience rose to depart, mingled in the crowd, and, +without any apparent design, attached himself to the steps of Militona +and the duenna. He saw them get into their cabriolet, and when the +vehicle rolled away on its great scarlet wheels, he hung on behind, as +if giving way to a childish impulse, and was whirled through a cloud of +dust, singing at the top of his voice the popular ditty of the Bulls of +Puerto. + +"Well done!" exclaimed Andres, who, from an alley of the Prado, which he +had already reached, saw cab and boy rattle past: "in an hour I shall +know the address of the charming manola." + +Andres had reckoned without the chapter of accidents. In the Calle de +los Desamparados, a cut across the face from the whip of the surly +_calesero_, forced the ragged Mercury to let go his hold. Before he +could pick himself up, and rub the dust and tears from his eyes, the +vehicle was at the farther end of the street, and although Perico, +impressed with the importance of his mission, followed it at the top of +his speed, he lost sight of it in the labyrinth of lanes adjacent to the +Plaza de Lavapies--literally, Washfeet Square--a low quarter of Madrid. +The most he could ascertain was, that the calesin had deposited its +burthen in one of four streets, but in which of them it was impossible +to say. With the bait of a dollar before his eyes, however, the urchin +was not to be discouraged; and late that night, as Don Andres was +returning from a wearisome tertulia, whither he had been compelled to +accompany Dona Feliciana de los Rios, he felt a pull at the skirt of his +coat. It was Perico. + +"Caballero," said the child, "she lives in the Calle del Povar, the +third house on the right. I saw her at her window, taking in the water +jar." + +It is difficult to describe the style of architecture of the house +inhabited by Militona, unless we designate it as the order composite. +Its front was characterised by a total absence of symmetry; the walls, +sadly out of the perpendicular, seemed about to fall, and would +doubtless have done so but for the support of sundry iron curves and +crosses, which held the bricks together, and of two adjacent houses of +more solid construction. From the lower part of the ricketty fabric the +plaster had peeled off in large scales, exposing the foundation wall; +whilst the upper stories, better preserved, exhibited traces of old pink +paint, as if the poor house blushed for shame of its miserable +condition. Near the roof of broken and disorderly tiles, which marked +out a brown festoon against the bright blue sky, was a little window, +surrounded by a recent coat of white plaster. On the right of this +casement hung a cage, containing a quail: on the left another cage, of +minute dimensions, decorated with red and yellow beads, served as palace +to a cricket. A jar of porous earth, suspended by the ears to a string, +and covered with a pearly moisture, held water cooling in the evening +breeze, and from time to time allowed a few drops to fall upon two pots +of sweet basil that stood beneath it. The window was that of Militona's +apartment. + +If the reader will venture to ascend with us this dark and broken +staircase, we will follow Militona as she trips lightly up it on her +return from the bull-fight; whilst old Aldonsa tolls behind, calling +upon the saints for succour, and clinging to the greasy rope that does +duty as a banister. On reaching the topmost landing-place, the pretty +manola raised a fragment of matting that hung before one of those +many-panelled doors common in Madrid, took her key and let herself in. +The interior of the room was humble enough. Whitewash replaced paper; a +scratched mirror--which reflected very imperfectly the charming +countenance of its owner--a plaster cast of St Antony, flanked by two +blue glass vases containing artificial flowers, a deal table, two +chairs, and a little bed covered with a muslin quilt, composed the +entire furniture. We must not forget an image of Our Lady, rudely +painted and gilt on glass, engravings of the fight of the second of May, +of the funeral of Daoiz and Velarde, and of a _picador_ on horseback; a +tambourine, a guitar, and a branch of palm, brought from church on the +previous Palm Sunday. Such was Militona's room; and although it +contained but the barest necessaries of life, it had not the chill and +dreary look of misery. A cheerful gleam illuminated it; the red brick +floor was gay and pleasant to the eye; there was no shade on the white +walls, or cobweb on the raftered roof--all was fresh, and bright, and +cheerful in the poor garret. In England it would have been perfect +destitution, in Spain it was almost comfort, and more than was +necessary for happiness. + +The old woman was at last at the top of the stairs; she entered the room +and let herself fall upon one of the two chairs, which cracked under her +weight. "The water jar, Militona, for mercy's sake! I am half suffocated +with the heat and dust; and those accursed lozenges have put my throat +in a flame." + +"You should not have eaten so many, _tia_," said the young girl, +smiling, and placing the jar to the old lady's lips. Aldonsa drank +eagerly, passed the back of her hand over her mouth, and fanned herself +in silence. + +"Talking of lozenges," said she after a pause, "how furiously Juancho +looked at us! I am sure he missed the bull because that young spark +spoke to you. Juancho is jealous as a tiger, and if he has fallen in +with yonder pretty gentleman, he will have made him repent his +gallantry. I would not give much for the young man's skin; it will have +some famous holes in it. Do you remember the slash he gave Luca, for +offering you a nosegay at the festival of San Isidro?" + +"I hope Juancho will commit no violence," exclaimed the young +girl--"What frightful slavery to be thus persecuted by his ferocious +love!" + +"It is your fault," retorted Aldonsa. "Why are you so pretty?" + +A sharp rap at the door, sounding as if given by an iron finger, +interrupted the conversation. The old woman got up and looked through +the little grating, inserted, according to Spanish custom, in the centre +of the door. Through the bars appeared the countenance of Juancho, pale +beneath the bronzed tint with which the sun of the arena had overlaid +it. Aldonsa opened the door and the torero entered. His features +betrayed the violent emotions that had agitated him in the bull-ring. To +the shame of having been hissed was superadded rage at not having +quitted the circus soon enough to overtake the young man who had been so +attentive to Militona. Where could he now find him? Doubtless he had +followed the manola and spoken to her again. And at the thought, +Juancho's hand mechanically sank to his girdle to seek his knife. + +The torero sat down upon the second chair. Militona stood at the window, +pulling a flower to pieces; the old woman fanned herself more rapidly +than ever: an awkward silence reigned in the apartment. Aldonsa was the +first to break it. + +"Does your arm hurt you, Juancho?" + +"No," replied the bull-fighter, fixing his deep gaze upon Militona. + +"You should bandage it, and apply salt and water," said the old woman, +determined not to let the conversation drop. + +Juancho made no reply, but addressed himself to Militona. + +"Who was the young man who sat beside you at the bull-fight?" + +"I do not know him. I never saw him before." + +"But you would like to know him?" + +"The supposition is polite. Well, and what if I should?" + +"I would kill him, the dainty gentleman in polished boots and white +gloves." + +"You talk like a madman, Juancho. What right have I given you to be +jealous of me? You love me, you say--is that my fault? Am I obliged to +adore you, because you have taken it into your head to find me pretty?" + +"True enough," interposed the old woman, "she is not obliged. +Nevertheless, you would make a handsome couple. Prettier hand never +rested on more vigorous arm; and if you danced a cachuca together at the +garden of the Delicias, people would stand on the chairs to look at +you." + +"Have I played the coquet with you, Juancho? Have I sought, by word, or +look, or smile, to engage your affections?" + +"No," replied the torero in a gloomy voice. + +"I never promised you any thing, or gave you any hope: I always bade you +forget me. Why torment and offend me by your unjustifiable violence? You +crippled poor Luca, an honest fellow, who amused me and made me laugh, +and you wounded your friend Gines almost to death, because he happened +to touch my hand. Do you think such conduct advances you in my good +opinion? And to-day at the circus you behaved absurdly; whilst watching +me, you let the bull come upon you, and gave a miserable thrust." + +"But I love you, Militona!" exclaimed the bull-fighter passionately. "I +love you with all my heart and soul; I see but you in the world, and a +bull's horn entering my breast would not make me turn my head when you +smile upon another man. True, my manners are not gentle, for I have +passed my life in contests with savage beasts, in slaying and exposing +myself to be slain. I cannot be soft and simpering like those delicate +young gentlemen who pass their time in reading the papers and having +their hair curled! But if you will not be mine," resumed Juancho after a +pause, striking the table violently with his fist, "at any rate no one +else shall call you his." And with these words he got up and left the +room. "I will find him!" he muttered, as he strode down the stairs, "and +cool his courtship with three inches of steel." + +All that night Juancho kept watch and ward in front of Militona's +dwelling, in hopes of falling in with her new admirer. Militona learned +this from old Aldonsa, who lived in the house, and she felt seriously +alarmed lest the handsome cavalier who had been so courteous to her at +the circus, and whom she could not remember without a certain interest, +should come to harm at the hands of the terrible torero who thus +tyrannised over her inclinations and scared away all aspirants to her +favour. Juancho, meanwhile, steady in his resolve to exterminate his +rival, had betaken himself, on coming off guard in the Calle del Povar, +to a tailor's in the Calle Mayor, and there had exchanged his usual +majo's dress for a suit of black and a round hat. Thus metamorphosed +into a sober citizen, he passed the day and evening in the Prado, the +most elegant coffee-houses, the theatres--in every place, in short, +where he thought it likely he should meet the object of his anger. But +nowhere could he find him, and that for the best of reasons. At the very +hour that the torero purchased the disguise intended to facilitate his +revenge, Don Andres, in the back shop of a clothes-dealer on the +Rastro--the great Madrid market for second-hand articles of every +description--donned the complete costume of a manolo, trusting it would +aid him in his designs upon Militona. Equipped in a round jacket of +snuff-coloured cloth, abundantly decorated with small buttons, in loose +pantaloons, a silk sash, a dark cloak and velvet-trimmed hat, which +garments, although not quite new, were not wanting in a certain +elegance, and sat trimly upon his well-made person, Andres hurried to +the Calle del Povar. He at once recognised the window described to him +by Perico; a curtain was drawn before it on the inner side, and nothing +indicated that the room had an occupant. + +"Doubtless she is gone out," thought Andres, "and will return only when +her day's work is finished. She must be a needle-woman, cigar-maker, +embroideress, or something of that kind," and he walked on. + +Militona had not gone out. She was cutting out a dress upon her little +table. The occupation required no great mystery, but nevertheless her +door was bolted, for fear probably of some sudden invasion on the part +of Juancho, rendered doubly dangerous by the absence of Tia Aldonsa. As +she worked, Militona's thoughts travelled faster than her needle. They +ran upon the young man who had gazed at her the previous evening, at the +circus, with so tender and ardent a gaze, and who had spoken a few words +to her in a voice that still sounded pleasantly in her ear. + +It was night, and Juancho, straitened and uncomfortable in his modern +costume, and wearied with fruitless researches, paced the alleys of the +Prado with hasty steps, looking every man in the face, but without +discovering his rival. At the same hour, Andres, seated in an +_orchateria de chufas_ (orgeat-shop) nearly opposite Militona's house, +quietly consumed a glass of iced lemonade. He had placed himself on +picket there, with Perico for his vedette. Juancho would have passed him +by without recognising him, or thinking of seeking his enemy under the +round jacket and felt hat of a manolo, but Militona, concealed in the +corner of her window, had not been deceived for an instant by the young +man's disguise. Love has sharper eyes than hatred. Devoured by anxiety, +the manola asked herself what could be the projects of the persevering +cavalier, and dreaded the terrible scene that must ensue should Juancho +discover him. Andres, his elbows upon the table, watched every one who +went in or out of the house; but night came and Militona had not +appeared. He began to doubt the correctness of his emissary's +information, when a light in the young girl's window showed that the +room was inhabited. Hastily writing a few words in pencil on a scrap of +paper, he called Perico, who lingered in the neighbourhood, and bade him +take the billet to the pretty manola. Perico slipped into the house, +fumbled his way up stairs, and discovered Militona's door by the light +shining through the cracks. Two discreet taps; the wicket was half +opened, and the note taken in. + +"It is to be hoped she can read," thought Andres, as he paid for his +lemonade, left the shop, and walked slowly up and down the street. This +was what he had written:-- + +"One who cannot forget you, and who would grieve to do so, ardently +desires to see you again; but after your last words at the circus, and +ignorant of your position, he fears to place you in peril by seeking an +interview. Danger to himself would be no obstacle. Extinguish your lamp, +and throw your answer from the window." + +In a few minutes the lamp disappeared, the window opened, and Militona +took in her water-jar. In so doing she upset one of the pots of sweet +basil, which fell into the street and was broken to pieces. Amidst the +brown earth scattered upon the pavement, something white was visible. It +was Militona's answer. Andres called a _sereno_, or watchman, who just +then passed, with his lantern at the end of his halbert, and begging him +to lower the light, read the following words, written in a tremulous +hand, and in large irregular letters:-- + +"Begone instantly.... I have no time to say more. To morrow, at ten +o'clock, in the church of San Isidro. For Heaven's sake begone! your +life is at stake." + +"Thank you, my good man," said Andres, putting a real into the sereno's +hand, "you may go." + +The street was quite deserted, and Andres was walking slowly away, when +the apparition of a man, wrapped in a cloak, beneath which the handle of +a guitar formed an acute angle, excited his curiosity, and he stepped +into the dark shadow of a low archway. The man threw back the folds of +his cloak, brought his guitar forward, and began that monotonous +thrumming which serves as accompaniment to serenades and seguidillas. +The object of this prelude evidently was to awaken the lady in whose +honour it was perpetrated; but Militona's window continued closed and +dark; and at last the man, compelled to content himself with an +invisible auditory,--in spite of the Spanish proverb, which says, no +woman sleeps so soundly that the twang of a guitar will not bring her to +the window,--began to sing in a strong Andalusian accent. The serenade +consisted of a dozen verses, in which the singer celebrated the charms +of a cruel mistress, vowed inextinguishable love, and denounced fearful +vengeance upon all rivals. The menaces, however, were far more abundant, +in this rude ditty, than the praises of beauty or protestations of +affection. + +"_Caramba_!" thought Andres, when the song concluded, "what ferocious +poetry! Nothing tame about those couplets. Let us see if Militona is +touched by the savage strain. This must be the terrible lover by whom +she is so frightened. She might be alarmed at less." + +Don Andres advanced his head a little; a moonbeam fell upon it, and +Juancho's quick eye detected him. "Good!" said Andres to himself, "I am +caught. Now then, cool and steady." + +Juancho threw down his guitar, which resounded mournfully on the +pavement, and ran up to Andres, whose face was now in the full +moonlight, and whom he at once recognised. + +"What do you here at this hour?" said the bull-fighter, in a voice that +trembled with passion. + +"I listen to your music; it is a refined amusement." + +"If you listened, you heard that I allow no one to set foot in this +street when I sing." + +"I am naturally very disobedient," replied Andres, with perfect +coolness. + +"You will change your character to-day." + +"Certainly not--I am attached to my habits." + +"Defend yourself, then, or die!" cried Juancho, drawing his knife, and +rolling his cloak round his arm. His movements were imitated by Andres, +who placed himself on guard with a promptness that showed knowledge of +the weapon, and somewhat surprised the bull-fighter. Andres had long +practised the _navaja_ under one of the best teachers in Seville, as at +Paris one sees young men of fashion take lessons of _savate_ and +singlestick, reduced to mathematical principles by Lecourt and Boucher. + +Juancho hovered about his adversary, advancing his left arm, protected +by numerous folds of cloth, as a buckler, his right drawn back to give +more swing and force to the blow; now stooping with knees bent, then +rising up like a giant, and again sinking down like a dwarf; but the +point of his knife was always met by the cloaked arm of Andres. +Alternately retreating and suddenly and impetuously attacking, he sprang +right and left, balancing his blade on his hand, as though about to hurl +it at his foe. Andres replied several times to these varied attacks by +such rapid and well-directed thrusts, that a less adroit combatant than +Juancho would hardly have parried them. It was truly a fine fight, and +worthy a circle of spectators learned in the art; but, unfortunately, +the windows were all closed, and the street was empty. Academicians of +San Lucar, of the Potro of Cordova, of the Albaycin of Granada, and of +the _barrio_ of Triana,[12] why were ye not there to witness the doughty +deeds of those valiant champions? + +The two champions, vigorous though they were, grew fatigued with such +violent exertions; the sweat streamed from their temples, their breasts +heaved like the bellows of a forge, their feet were heavier on the +ground, their movements less elastic. Juancho felt the point of Andres' +knife pierce his sleeve, and his rage redoubled; with a desperate bound, +and at risk of his life, he sprang, like a panther, upon his enemy. +Andres fell backwards, and, in his fall, burst open the +imperfectly-fastened door of Militona's house, in front of which the +duel occurred. Juancho walked quietly away. The _sereno_, who just then +passed the end of the street, uttered his monotonous cry;--"_Las once y +media, y sereno._"[13] + +In an agony of anxiety, Militona had listened from her window to the +noise of this conflict; she would have called for help, but her tongue +clove to her palate, and terror compressed her throat with its iron +fingers. At last, half frantic, and unconscious of what she did, she +staggered downstairs, and reached the door just as it was forced open by +the weight of Andres' inanimate body. + +The next morning, soon after day-break, when the torero, in cloak and +slouched hat, walked into the neighbourhood of the Plaza de Lavapies to +hear what was said of the night's events, he learned, to his intense +horror, that Andres, severely but not mortally wounded, had been +conveyed to Militona's room, and placed in her bed, where he now lay, +carefully tended by the manola, of whose humane and charitable conduct +the gossips of the quarter were loud in praise. When Juancho heard this, +his knees shook, and he was forced to support himself against the wall. +His rival in the chamber, and on the bed, of Militona! He could scarcely +refrain from rolling on the ground, and tearing his breast with his +nails. Recovering himself, he entered the house and ascended the stairs +with a heavy and sinister-sounding step. "In her chamber! In her +chamber!" he muttered. And, as he spoke, he instinctively opened and +shut his long Albacete knife. On reaching the top of the stairs, he +knocked violently at the manola's door. + +Andres started on his bed of suffering; Militona, who was seated near +him, turned deadly pale, and rose to her feet as if impelled by springs. +Tia Aldonsa looked horribly frightened, and devoutly crossed herself. +The blow was so imperative as to command attention; a repetition of the +summons would have forced the door from its hinges. With trembling hand +Aldonsa opened the wicket, and beheld Juancho's face at the aperture. +Medusa's mask, livid amidst its grim and snaky locks, could hardly have +produced a more terrible effect upon the poor old woman. Speechless and +petrified, she stood with fixed eyeballs, open mouth, and hands +extended. True it was, that the torero's head, seen through the grating, +had no very amiable and encouraging aspect; his eyes were injected with +blood; his face was livid, and his cheek-bones, whence the usual ruddy +tinge had fled, formed two white spots in his cadaverous countenance; +his distended nostrils palpitated like those of ferocious beasts that +had scent of a prey; his teeth were pressed upon his lip, which was +swollen and bloody from the bite. Jealousy, fury, and revenge had set +their stamp on his distorted features. + +"Blessed Lady of Almudena!" muttered the old woman, "deliver us from +this peril, and I promise you a wax taper with a velvet handle." + +Courageous as he was, Andres experienced that uneasy feeling to which +the bravest men are subject when exposed to a danger against which they +are defenceless. He mechanically extended his hand to seek some weapon. + +As nobody opened the door, Juancho applied his shoulder to it and gave a +push; the planks cracked, and the plaster crumbled from round the lock +and hinges. Then Militona, placing herself before Andres, said in a calm +and firm voice to the old woman, who was half crazed with terror: + +"Aldonsa, open the door; I insist upon it." + +Aldonsa drew the bolt, and, standing close to the wall, pulled the door +back upon her for protection, like a helot letting a tiger into the +arena, or a servant admitting into the bull-ring some furious native of +Gaviria or Colmenar. Juancho, who expected more resistance, entered +slowly, as if disconcerted by the absence of obstacles. But a single +glance at Andres, stretched in Militona's bed, brought back all his +fury. He seized the door, to which Tia Aldonsa, who thought her last +hour come, clung with all her might, and shutting it in spite of the +poor old woman's efforts, placed his back against it and crossed his +arms upon his breast. + +"Angels of heaven!" muttered Aldonsa, her teeth chattering with terror, +"he will murder us all three. I will call out of the window." + +And she made a step in that direction. But Juancho, guessing her +intention, seized her by the gown, and with a single jerk replaced her +against the wall, her skirt half torn off. + +"Hag!" he cried, "if you attempt to call out, I will twist your neck +like a fowl's, and send your old soul to the devil. Come not between me +and the object of my wrath, or I crush you on my path." + +And he pointed to Andres, who, pale and feeble, in vain endeavoured to +raise his head from the pillow. It was a horrible situation. No noise +had been made that could alarm the neighbours, who, moreover, would have +been more likely to lock themselves in their rooms for fear of Juancho, +than to render assistance. There were no means of apprising the police, +or obtaining succour from without. Poor Andres, severely wounded, weak +from loss of blood, without arms, and unable to use them had he had any, +lay at the mercy of a ruffian intoxicated with rage and jealousy. All +this because he had ogled a pretty manola at a bull-fight. It is +allowable to suppose that at that moment he regretted the tea-table, +piano, and prosaic society of Dona Feliciana de los Rios. Nevertheless, +on casting a supplicatory glance at Militona, as if to implore her not +to risk her safety in his defence, he found her so marvellously lovely +in her pallor and emotion, that he could not think her acquaintance +dearly purchased even by this great peril. She stood erect, one hand on +the edge of Andres' bed, whom she seemed resolved to protect, the other +extended towards the door with a gesture of supreme majesty. + +"What do you here, murderer?" she cried, in clear and thrilling tones. +"You sought a lover; you find a wounded and helpless man. Begone! Fear +you not lest the wound break out afresh at your presence? Are you not +sick of bloodshed? Do you come as an assassin?" + +The young girl accentuated the last word in so singular a manner, and +accompanied it with so piercing and terrible a look, that Juancho was +embarrassed, reddened, turned pale, and the ferocity of his countenance +was exchanged for an expression of uneasiness. After a pause, he spoke +in a choked and faltering voice. + +"Swear, by the relics of Monte Sagrado, and by the image of the Virgin +del Pilar, by your dead father, and your sainted mother, that you do not +love this man, and I instantly depart." + +Andres awaited Militona's reply with intense anxiety. She made none. Her +long black lashes drooped over her cheek, which was suffused with a +faint tinge of pink. Although this silence was perhaps his doom to +death, Andres felt his heart leap with joy. + +"If you will not swear," continued Juancho, "affirm it. I will believe +you; you have never lied. But if you keep silence, I must kill him." And +he approached the bed with uplifted knife. + +"You love him?" + +"Yes!" exclaimed the young girl, with flashing eyes and a voice +trembling with passion and indignation. "I love him. If he dies on my +account, let him know at least that he is beloved. Let him carry to his +grave that word, his consolation and your torture." + +With a bound, Juancho stood beside Militona, whose arm he rudely +grasped. + +"Do not repeat it," he exclaimed, "or I throw you, with my knife in your +heart, upon the body of your minion." + +"What care I!" cried the courageous girl. "Think you I will live, if he +dies?" + +Andres made a desperate effort to raise himself. He endeavoured to call +out; a reddish foam rose to his lips--his wound had opened. He fell back +senseless upon his pillow. + +"If you do not depart," cried Militona to the torero, "I hold you vile, +base, and a coward. I believe all that has been said of you; I believe +that you could have saved Domingues when the bull knelt upon his breast, +and that you would not, because you were meanly jealous of him." + +"Militona! Militona! you have a right to hate me, although never did man +love woman as I love you; but you have no right to despise me. No human +power could save Domingues." + +"If you would not have me think you an assassin, depart!" + +"Yes, I will wait till he is cured," replied Juancho, in a gloomy +tone.--"Take good care of him. I have sworn, that whilst I live, no man +shall call you his." + +During this stormy scene, old Aldonsa had slipped out to sound an alarm +in the neighbourhood. Five or six men now rushed into the room, seized +Juancho and dragged him out with them. But on the landing-place he shook +them from him, as a bull shakes off a pack of dogs, and forcing his way +through all opposition, reached the street and was lost to view in the +maze of buildings that surrounds the Plaza de Lavapies. + +The friends of Don Andres de Salcedo, uneasy at his disappearance, had +already applied to the police to obtain news of his fate. Researches +were made, and Argamasilla and Covachuelo, two of the most wily +alguazils of the secret police, at last succeeded in ferreting out +traces of the missing cavalier. Orders were given to arrest Juancho the +bull-fighter, on a charge of assassination. But the Madrid police are +not very celebrated for courage and decision, and the two thief-catchers +above named, to whom the execution of the warrant was intrusted, +proceeded on their mission with infinite delicacy, awed by the notorious +strength and fierceness of the torero. Evil tongues were ready to assert +that they took considerable pains not to meet with the man for whose +capture they affected to be anxious. At last, however, a clumsy spy +reported to them that the object of their timid researches had just +entered the circus with as calm an air as if he had no crime upon his +conscience, or fear of the arm of justice. Argamasilla and Covachuelo +could no longer evade the performance of their duty, and were compelled +to betake themselves to the place pointed out. + +The unwelcome information was correct. Juancho had gone to the +circus,--driven thither by the force of habit rather than by any +interest in the sport that had once engrossed his thoughts and energies. +Since the terrible scene in Militona's room had convinced him she loved +another, his courage and energy seemed to have deserted him. He was +morose, listless, and indifferent to every thing. Nevertheless he had +instinctively wandered down to the bull-ring, to look at some remarkably +fine beasts that had been brought to the stable for the next day's +fight. He was still there, and was walking across the arena, when +Argamasilla and Covachuelo arrived with a little squad of assistants, +and Covachuelo, with infinite ceremony and courtesy, informed Juancho +that he was under the painful necessity of conducting him to prison. +Juancho shrugged his shoulders contemptuously and walked on. The +alguazil made a sign, and two men laid hands upon the torero, who +brushed them away as though they had been flies upon his sleeve. The +whole band then precipitated themselves upon him; he struggled +furiously, and knocked them about like nine-pins, but, sensible that he +must at last be overpowered by numbers, he managed gradually to get near +the _toril_,[14] and then, shaking off his assailants by a sudden +effort, he opened the door, and took refuge in that dangerous asylum. +His enemies endeavoured to follow him, but whilst they tried to force +the door, it suddenly flew open, and a bull, hunted from his stall by +Juancho, dashed with lowered horns and dreadful bellow amongst the +terrified troop. The poor devils had but just time to climb the +barriers, and one of them only escaped with a terrible rent in his lower +garments. + +This daring proceeding of the besieged greatly disconcerted the +besiegers. Nevertheless they plucked up courage, and, after a while, +ventured to return to the charge. This time two bulls rushed out, and as +the police dispersed and got away with all the agility of fear, the wild +animals, seeing no human foes, turned their wrath against each other, +crossed their horns, and with muzzles in the dust of the circus, made +furious efforts for mastery. + +"Comrade," cried Covachuelo to Juancho, "we know the extent of your +ammunition. You have still five bulls to let off; after that you will be +compelled to surrender unconditionally. If you capitulate and come out +at once, I will take you to prison with due regard for your feelings, +without handcuffs, in a coach at your own expense, and will say nothing +in my report of the resistance you have made, which would aggravate your +case." + +Juancho, careless about his liberty, ceased his defence, and gave +himself up to Argamasilla and Covachuelo, who took him to prison with +all the honours of war. + +The torero's case was a bad one. The public prosecutor represented the +nocturnal combat as an attempted assassination. Fortunately Andres, whom +a good constitution and Militona's unremitting care speedily restored to +health, interceded for him, representing the affair as a duel, fought +with an unusual weapon certainly, but with one which he could accept, +because he was acquainted with its management. The generous young man, +happy in Militona's love, thought poor Juancho had suffered sufficiently +on his account, without being sent to the galleys for a wound now +perfectly healed. Andres held his present happiness cheaply bought at +the price of a stab. And as a murder can hardly be very severely +punished, when the victim is in perfect health and pleads for his +assassin, the result of Salcedo's mediation, and of the interest he +made, was the release of Juancho, who left his prison with the bitter +regret of owing his liberty to the man he most hated upon earth, and +from whom he would sooner have died than receive a favour. + +"Unhappy wretch that I am!" he exclaimed, when he once more found +himself unfettered and in sunshine. "Henceforward, I must hold this +man's life sacred, or deserve the epithet of coward and villain. Oh! I +would a thousand times have preferred the galleys! In ten years I should +have returned and could have revenged myself." + +From that day Juancho disappeared. It was said that he had been seen +galloping on his famous black horse in the direction of Andalusia. Be +that as it might, he was no more seen in Madrid. + +The departure of the bull-fighter was shortly followed by the marriage +of Andres and Militona, Andres having been released from his previous +engagement with Dona Feliciana de los Rios, who had discovered, during +his illness, that she had in fact very little affection for her +betrothed husband, and had encouraged the attentions of a rich English +traveller. The double marriage took place on the same day and in the +same church. Militona had insisted on making her own wedding dress; it +was a masterpiece, and seemed cut out of the leaves of a lily. It was so +well made, that nobody remarked it. Feliciana's dress was extravagantly +rich. When they came out of church, every body said of Feliciana, "What +a lovely gown!" and, of Militona, "What a charming person!" + +Two months had elapsed, and Don Andres de Salcedo and his lady lived in +retirement at a delicious country villa near Granada. With good sense +that equalled her beauty, Militona refused to mix in the society to +which her marriage elevated her, until she should have repaired the +deficiencies of an imperfect education. The departure of a friend for +the Manillas, compelled her husband to visit Cadiz, and she accompanied +him. They found the Gaditanos raving of a torero who performed prodigies +of skill and courage. Such temerity had never before been witnessed. He +gave out that he came from Lima in South America, and was then engaged +at Puerto-de-Santa-Maria. Thither Andre's, who felt his old tauromachian +ardour revive at the report of such prowess, persuaded his wife to +accompany him, and at the appointed hour they took their places in a box +at the circus. On all sides they heard praises of this famous torero. +His incredible feats were in every body's mouth, and all declared that +if he was not killed, he would very soon eclipse the fame of the great +Montes himself. + +The fight began, and the torero made his appearance. He was dressed in +black; his vest, garnished with ornaments of silk and jet, had a sombre +richness harmonizing with the wild and almost sinister countenance of +its wearer; a yellow sash was twisted round his meagre person, which +seemed composed solely of bone and muscle. His dark countenance was +traversed by furrows, traced, as it seemed, rather by the hand of care +than by lapse of years; for although youth had disappeared from his +features, middle age had not yet set its stamp upon them. There was +something in the face and figure of the man which Audres thought he +remembered; but he could not call to mind when or where he had seen him. +Militona, on the other hand, did not doubt for an instant. In spite of +his small resemblance to his former self, she at once recognised +Juancho. + +The terrible change wrought in so short a time had something that +alarmed her. It proved how terrible was the passion that had thus played +havoc with this man of iron frame. + +Hastily opening her fan to conceal her face, she said to Andres in a +hurried voice: + +"It is Juancho." + +But her movement was too late; the torero had seen her; with his hand he +waved a salutation. + +"Juancho it really is!" cried Andres; "the poor fellow is sadly changed; +he has grown ten years older. Ah! _he_ is the new torero, of whom they +talk so much: he has returned to the bull-ring." + +"Let us go, Andres," said Militona to her husband. "I know not why, but +I am very uneasy; I feel sure something will happen." + +"What can happen," replied Andres, "except the death of horses and the +fall of a few picadores?" + +"I fear lest Juancho should commit some extravagance,--some furious +act." + +"You cannot forget that unlucky stab, or lucky one, I should rather call +it, since to it I owe my present happiness." And Andres tenderly pressed +the hand of his bride, to whose cheeks the blood that for an instant had +left them, now began to return. "If you knew Latin--which you +fortunately do not--I would tell you that the law of _non bis in idem_ +guarantees my safety. Besides the honest fellow has had time to calm +himself." + +Juancho performed prodigies. He behaved as if invulnerable; took bulls +by the tail and made them waltz, put his foot between their horns and +leaped over them, tore off the ribbons with which they were adorned, +planted himself right in their path and harassed them with unparalleled +audacity. The delighted spectators were outrageous in their applause, +and swore that such a bull-fight had never been witnessed since the days +of the Cid Campeador. The other bull-fighters, electrified by the +example of their chief, seemed equally reckless of danger. The picadores +advanced to the very centre of the circus, the banderillos drove their +darts into the flanks of the bull without once missing. When any of them +were hard pressed, Juancho was ever at hand, prompt to distract the +attention of the furious beast, and draw its anger on himself. One of +the chulos fell, and would have been ripped from navel to chin, had not +Juancho, at risk of his life, forced the bull from its victim. Every +thrust he gave was delivered with such skill and force that the sword +entered exactly between the shoulders, and disappeared to the hilt. The +bulls fell at his feet as though struck by lightning, and a second blow +was never once required. + +"_Caramba_!" exclaimed Andres, "Montes, the Chiclanero, Arjona, Labi, +and the rest of them, had better take care; Juancho will excel them all, +if he has not done so already." + +But such exploits as these were not destined to be repeated; Juancho +attained that day the highest sublimity of the art; he did things that +will never be done again. Militona herself could not help applauding; +Andres was wild with delight and admiration; the delirium was at its +height; frantic acclamations greeted every movement of Juancho. + +The sixth bull was let into the arena. + +Then an extraordinary and unheard-of thing occurred: Juancho, after +playing the bull and manoeuvring his cloak with consummate dexterity, +took his sword, and, instead of plunging it into the animal's neck, as +was expected, hurled it from him with such force, that it turned over +and over in the air, and stuck deep in the ground at the other end of +the circus. + +"What is he about," was shouted on all sides. "This is madness--not +courage! What new scheme is this? Will he kill the bull with his bare +hands?" + +Juancho cast one look at Militona--one ineffable look of love and +suffering. Then he remained motionless before the bull. The beast +lowered its head. One of its horns entered the breast of the man, and +came out red to the very root. A shriek of horror from a thousand voices +rent the sky. + +Militona fell back upon her chair in a deathlike swoon. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] _Sombra por la tarde_,--"shade for the afternoon." The tickets for +the bull-fight vary in value according as they are for the sunny or +shady side of the arena. + +[12] Places of bad fame in the respective towns, frequented by thieves +and suspicious characters. + +[13] "Half-past eleven, and a fine night." + +[14] The stable where the bulls are kept. + + + + + +THE EMERALD STUDS. + +A REMINISCENCE OF THE CIRCUIT. + + +CHAPTER I. + +"Hallo, Tom! Are you not up yet? Why, man, the judges have gone down to +the court half an hour ago, escorted by the most ragged regiment of +ruffians that ever handled a Lochaber-axe." + +Such was my matutinal salutation to my friend Thomas Strachan, as I +entered his room on a splendid spring morning. Tom and I were early +college allies. We had attended, or rather, to speak more correctly, +taken out tickets for the different law classes during the same +sessions. We had fulminated together within the walls of the Juridical +Society on legal topics which might have broken the heart of Erskine, +and rewarded ourselves diligently thereafter with the usual relaxations +of a crab and a comfortable tumbler. We had aggravated the same grinder +with our deplorable exposition of the Pandects, and finally assumed, on +the same day, the full-blown honours of the Advocate's wig and gown. Nor +did our fraternal parallel end there: for although we had walked the +boards of the Parliament House with praiseworthy diligence for a couple +of sessions, neither of us had experienced the dulcet sensation which is +communicated to the palm by the contact of the first professional +guinea. In vain did we attempt to insinuate ourselves into the good +graces of the agents, and coin our intellects into such jocular remarks, +as are supposed to find most favour in the eyes of facetious +practitioners. In vain did I carry about with me, for a whole week, an +artificial process most skilfully made up; and in vain did Tom compound +and circulate a delectable ditty, entitled, "The Song of the +Multiplepoinding." Not a single solicitor would listen to our wooing, or +even intrust us with the task of making the simplest motion. I believe +they thought me too fast, and Tom too much of a genius: and, therefore, +both of us were left among the ranks of the briefless army of the stove. +This would not do. Our souls burned within us with a noble thirst for +legal fame and fees. We held a consultation (without an agent) at the +Rainbow, and finally determined that since Edinburgh would not hear us, +Jedburgh should have the privilege of monopolising our maiden eloquence +at the ensuing justiciary circuit. Jedburgh presents a capital field to +the ambition of a youthful advocate. Very few counsel go that way; the +cases are usually trifling, and the juries easily bamboozled. It has +besides this immense advantage--that should you by any accident happen +to break down, nobody will in all probability be the wiser for it, +provided you have the good sense to ingratiate yourself with the +circuit-clerk. + +Tom and I arrived at Jedburgh the afternoon before the circuit began. I +was not acquainted with a human being within the parliamentary +boundaries of that respectable borough, and therefore experienced but a +slight spasm of disappointment when informed by the waiter at the inn, +that no inquiries had yet been made after me, on the part of writers +desirous of professional assistance. Strachan had been wiser. Somehow or +other, he had gotten a letter of introduction to one Bailie Beerie, a +notable civic dignitary of the place; and accordingly, on presenting his +credentials, was invited by that functionary to dinner, with a hint that +he "might maybe see a wheen real leddies in the evening." This pointed +so plainly to a white choker and dress boots, that Strachan durst not +take the liberty of volunteering the attendance of his friend; and +accordingly I had been left alone to wile away, as I best might, the +tedium of a sluggish evening. Before starting, however, Tom pledged +himself to return in time for supper; as he entertained a painful +conviction that the party would be excessively slow. + +So long as it was light, I amused myself pretty well, by strolling along +the banks of the river, and enunciating a splendid speech for the pannel +in an imaginary case of murder. However, before I reached the +peroration, (which was to consist of a vivid picture of the deathbed of +a despairing jury-man, conscience-stricken by the recollection of an +erroneous verdict,) the shades of evening began to close in; the trouts +ceased to leap in the pool, and the rooks desisted from their cawing. I +returned to discuss my solitary mutton at the inn; and then, having +nothing to do, sat down to a moderate libation, and an odd number of the +Temperance Magazine, which valuable tract had been left for the +reformation of the traveller by some peripatetic disciple of Father +Mathew. + +Nine o'clock came, but so did not Strachan. I began to wax wroth, +muttered anathemas against my faithless friend, rang for the waiter, +and--having ascertained the fact that a Masonic Lodge was that evening +engaged in celebrating the festival of its peculiar patron--I set out +for the purpose of assisting in the pious and mystic labours of the +Brethren of the Jedburgh St Jeremy. At twelve, when I returned to my +quarters, escorted by the junior deacon, I was informed that Strachan +had not made his appearance, and accordingly I went to bed. + +Next morning, I found Tom, as already mentioned, in his couch. There was +a fine air of negligence in the manner in which his habiliments were +scattered over the room. One glazed boot lay within the fender, whilst +the other had been chucked into a coal-scuttle; and there were evident +marks of mud on the surface of his glossy kerseymeres. Strachan himself +looked excessively pale, and the sole rejoinder he made to my +preliminary remark was, a request for soda-water. + +"Tom," said I, inexpressibly shocked at the implied confession of the +nature of his vespers--"I wonder you are not ashamed of yourself! Have +you no higher regard for the dignity of the bar you represent, than to +expose yourself before a Jedburgh Bailie?" + +"Dignity be hanged!" replied the incorrigible Strachan. "Bailie Beerie +is a brick, and I won't hear a word against him. But, O Fred! if you +only knew what you missed last night! Such a splendid woman--by Jove, +sir, a thoroughbred angel. A bust like one of Titian's beauties, and the +voice of a lovelorn nightingale!" + +"One of the Misses Beerie, I presume. Come, Tom, I think I can fill up +your portrait. Hair of the auburn complexion, slightly running into the +carrot--skin fair, but freckled--greenish eyes--red elbows--culpable +ankles--elephantine waist--and sentiments savouring of the Secession." + +"Ring the bell for the waiter, and hold your impious tongue. You never +were farther from the mark in your life. The wing of the raven is not +more glossy than her hair--and oh, the depth and melting lustre of those +dark unfathomable eyes! Waiter! a bottle of soda-water, and you may put +in a thimbleful of cognac." + +"Come, Tom!--none of your ravings. Is this an actual Armida, or a new +freak of your own imagination?" + +"_Bona fide_--an angel in every thing, barring the wings." + +"Then how the deuce did such a phenomenon happen to emerge at the +Bailie's?" + +"That's the very question I was asking myself during the whole time of +dinner. She was clearly not a Scotswoman. When she spoke, it was in the +sweet low accents of a southern clime, and she waved away the proffered +haggis with an air of the prettiest disgust!" + +"But the Bailie knew her?" + +"Of course he did. I got the whole story out of him after dinner, and, +upon my honour, I think it is the most romantic one I have ever heard. +About a week ago, the lady arrived here without attendants. Some say she +came in the mail-coach--others in a dark travelling chariot and pair. +However, what matters it? the jewel can derive no lustre or value from +the casket!" + +"Yes--but one always likes to have some kind of idea of the setting. Get +on." + +"She seemed in great distress, and inquired whether there were any +letters at the post-office addressed to the Honourable Dorothea Percy. +No such epistle was to be found. She then interrogated the landlord, +whether an elderly lady, whose appearance she minutely described, had +been seen in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh; but except old Mrs +Slammingham of Summertrees, who has been bed-ridden for years, there was +nobody in the county who at all answered to the description. On hearing +this, the lady seemed profoundly agitated--shut herself up in a private +parlour, and refused all sustenance." + +"Had she not a reticule with sandwiches, Tom?" + +"Do not tempt me to commit justifiable homicide--you see I am in the act +of shaving.--At last the landlady, who is a most respectable person, and +who felt deeply interested at the desolate situation of the poor young +lady, ventured to solicit an interview. She was admitted. There are +moments when the sympathy of even the humblest friend is precious. Miss +Percy felt grateful for the interest so displayed, and confided the tale +of her griefs to the matronly bosom of the hostess." + +"And she told you? + +"No,--but she told Bailie Beerie. That active magistrate thought it his +duty to interfere. He waited upon Miss Percy, and from her lips he +gathered the full particulars of her history. Percy is not her real +name, but she is the daughter of an English peer of very ancient family. +Her father having married a second time, Dorothea was exposed to the +persecutions of a low-minded vulgar woman, whose whole ideas were of +that mean and mercenary description which characterise the Caucasian +race. Naomi Shekles was the offspring of a Jew, and she hated, whilst +she envied, the superior charms of the noble Norman maiden. But she had +gained an enormous supremacy over the wavering intellect of the elderly +Viscount; and Dorothea was commanded to receive, with submission, the +addressses of a loathsome apostate, who had made a prodigious fortune in +the railways." + +"One of the tribe of Issachar?" + +"Exactly. A miscreant whose natural function was the vending of cast +habiliments. Conceive, Fred, what the fair young creature must have felt +at the bare idea of such shocking spousals! She besought, prayed, +implored,--but all in vain. Mammon had taken too deep a root in the +paternal heart,--the old coronet had been furbished up by means of +Israelitish gold, and the father could not see any degradation in +forcing upon his child an alliance similar to his own." + +"You interest me excessively." + +"Is it not a strange tale?" continued Thomas, adjusting a false collar +round his neck. "I knew you would agree with me when I came to the +pathetic part. Well, Fred, the altar was decked, the ornaments ready, +the Rabbi bespoke----" + +"Do you mean to say, Strachan, that Lady Dorothea was to have been +married after the fashion of the Jews?" + +"I don't know exactly. I think Beerie said it was a Rabbi; but that may +have been a flight of his own imagination. However, somebody was ready +to have tied the nuptial knot, and all the joys of existence, and its +hopes, were about to fade for ever from the vision of my poor Dorothea!" + +"_Your_ Dorothea!" cried I in amazement. "Why, Tom--you don't mean to +insinuate that you have gone that length already?" + +"Did I say mine?" repeated Strachan, looking somewhat embarrassed. "It +was a mere figure of speech: you always take one up so uncommonly +short.--Nothing remained for her but flight, or submission to the Cruel +mandate. Like a heroic girl, in whose veins the blood of the old +crusaders was bounding, she preferred the former alternative. The only +relation whom she could apply in so delicate, a juncture, was an aged +aunt, residing somewhere in the north of Scotland. To her she wrote, +beseeching her, as she regarded the memory of her buried sister, to +receive her miserable child; and she appointed this town, Jedburgh, as +the place of meeting." + +"But where's the aunt?" + +"That's just the mysterious part of the business. The crisis was so +imminent that Dorothea could not wait for a reply. She disguised +herself,--packed up a few jewels which had been bequeathed to her by +her mother,--and, at the dead of night, escaped from her father's +mansion. Judge of her terror when, on arriving here, panting and perhaps +pursued, she could obtain no trace whatever of her venerable relative. +Alone, inexperienced and unfriended, I tremble to think what might have +been her fate, had it not been for the kind humanity of Beerie." + +"And what was the Bailie's line of conduct?" + +"He behaved to her, Fred, like a parent. He supplied her wants, and +invited her to make his house her home, at least until the aunt should +appear. But the noble creature would not subject herself to the weight +of so many obligations. She accepted, indeed, his assistance, but +preferred remaining here, until she could place herself beneath +legitimate guardianship. And doubtless," continued Strachan with +fervour, "her good angel is watching over her." + +"And this is the whole story?" + +"The whole." + +"Do you know, Tom, it looks uncommonly like a piece of deliberate +humbug!" + +"Your ignorance misleads you, Fred. You would not say so had you seen +her. So sweet--so gentle--with such a tinge of melancholy resignation in +her eye, like that of a virgin martyr about to suffer at the stake! No +one could look upon her for a moment, and doubt her purity and truth." + +"Perhaps. But you must allow that we are not living exactly in the ages +of romance. An elopement with an officer of dragoons is about the +farthest extent of legitimate enterprise which is left to a modern +damsel; and, upon my word, I think the story would have told better, had +some such hero been inserted as a sort of counterpoise to the Jew. But +what's the matter? Have you lost any thing?" + +"It is very odd!" said Strachan, "I am perfectly certain that I had on +my emerald studs last night. I recollect that Dorothea admired them +exceedingly. Where on earth can I have put them?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure. I suspect, Tom, you and the Bailie were rather +convivial after supper. Is your watch wound up?" + +"Of course it is. I assure you you are quite wrong. It was a mere matter +of four or five tumblers. Very odd this! Why--I can't find my watch +neither!" + +"Hallo! what the deuce! Have we fallen into a den of thieves? This is a +nice beginning to our circuit practice." + +"I could swear, Fred, that I put it below my pillow before I went to +sleep. I remember, now, that it was some time before I could fit in the +key. What can have become of it?" + +"And you have not left your room since?" + +"No, on my word of honour!" + +"Pooh--pooh! Then it can't possibly be gone. Look beneath the bolster." + +But in vain did we search beneath bolster, mattress, and blankets; yea, +even downwards to the fundamental straw. Not a trace was to be seen of +Cox Savory's horizontal lever, jewelled, as Tom pathetically remarked, +in four special holes, and warranted to go for a year without more than +a minute's deviation. Neither were the emerald studs, the pride of +Strachan's heart, forthcoming. Boots, chamber-maid, and waiter were +collectively summoned--all assisted in the search, and all asseverated +their own integrity. + +"Are ye sure, sir, that ye brocht them hame?" said the waiter, an acute +lad, who had served his apprenticeship at a commercial tavern in the +Gorbals; "Ye was gey an' fou when ye cam in here yestreen." + +"What do you mean, you rascal?" + +"Ye ken ye wadna gang to bed till ye had anither tumbler." + +"Don't talk trash! It was the weakest cold-without in the creation." + +"And then ye had a sair fecht on politics wi' anither man in the +coffee-room." + +"Ha! I remember now--the bagman, who is a member of the League! Where is +the commercial villain?" + +"He gaed aff at sax preceesely, this morning, in his gig, to Kelso." + +"Then, by the head of Thistlewood!" cried Strachan, frantically, "my +ticker will be turned into tracts against the corn-laws!" + +"Hoot na!" said the waiter, "I canna think that. He looked an unco +respectable-like man." + +"No man can be respectable," replied the aristocratic Thomas, "who +sports such infernal opinions as I heard him utter last night. My poor +studs! Fred.--they were a gift from Mary Rivers before we quarreled, and +I would not have lost them for the universe! Only think of them being +exposed for sale at a free-trade bazar!" + +"Come, Tom--they may turn up yet." + +"Never in this world, except at a pawnbroker's. I could go mad to think +that my last memorial of Mary is in all probability glittering in the +unclean shirt of a bagman!" + +"Had you not better apply to the Fiscal?" + +"For what purpose? Doubtless the scoundrel has driven off to the nearest +railway, and is triumphantly counting the mile-posts as he steams to his +native Leeds. No, Fred. Both watch and studs are gone beyond the hope of +redemption." + +"The loss is certainly a serious one." + +"No doubt of it: but a thought strikes me. You recollect the edict, +_nautae_, _caupones_, _stabularii_? I have not studied the civil law for +nothing and am clearly of opinion, that in such a case the landlord is +liable." + +"By Jove! I believe you are right. But it would be as well to turn up +Shaw and Dunlop for a precedent before you make any row about it. +Besides, it may be rather difficult to establish that you lost them at +the inn." + +"If they only refer the matter to my oath, I can easily settle that +point," replied Strachan. "Besides, now that I think of it, Miss Percy +can speak to the watch. She asked me what o'clock it was just before we +parted on the stairs." + +"Eh, what! Is the lady in this house?" + +"To be sure--did I not tell you so?" + +"I say, Tom--couldn't you contrive to let one have a peep at this angel +of yours?" + +"Quite impossible. She is the shyest creature in the world, and would +shrink from the sight of a stranger." + +"But, my dear Tom----" + +"I can't do it, I tell you; so it's no use asking me." + +"Well, I must say you are abominably selfish. But what on earth are you +going to do with that red and blue Joinville? You can't go down to court +without a white neckcloth." + +"I am not going down to court." + +"Why, my good fellow! what on earth is the meaning of this?" + +"I am not going down to court, that's all. I say, Fred, how do I look in +this sort of thing?" + +"Uncommonly like a cock-pheasant in full plumage. But tell me what you +mean?" + +"Why, since you must needs know, I am going up stairs to breakfast with +Miss Percy." + +So saying, Mr Strachan made me a polite bow, and left the apartment. I +took my solitary way to the courthouse, marvelling at the extreme +rapidity of the effect which is produced by the envenomed darts of +Cupid. + + +CHAPTER II. + +On entering the court, I found that the business had commenced. An +enormous raw-boned fellow, with a shock of the fieriest hair, and hands +of such dimensions that a mere glimpse of them excited unpleasant +sensations at your windpipe, was stationed at the bar, to which, from +previous practice, he had acquired a sort of prescriptive right. + +"James M'Wilkin, or Wilkinson, or Wilson," said the presiding judge, in +a tone of disgust which heightened with each successive alias, "attend +to the indictment which is about to be preferred against you." + +And certainly, if the indictment contained a true statement of the +facts, James M'Wilkin, or Wilkinson, or Wilson was about as +thoroughpaced a marauder as ever perambulated a common. He was charged +with sheep-stealing and assault; inasmuch as, on a certain night +subsequent to the Kelso fair, he, the said individual with the plural +denominations, did wickedly and feloniously steal, uplift, and away +take from a field adjoining to the Northumberland road, six wethers, the +property, or in the lawful possession of, Jacob Gubbins, grazier, then +and now or lately residing in Morpeth; and moreover, on being followed +by the said Gubbins, who demanded restitution of his property, he, the +said M'Wilkin, &c., had, in the most brutal manner, struck, knocked +down, and lavished divers kicks upon the corporality of the Northumbrian +bumpkin, to the fracture of three of his ribs, and otherwise, to the +injury of his person. + +During the perusal of this formidable document by the clerk, M'Wilkin +stood scratching his poll, and leering about him as though he considered +the whole ceremony as a sort of solemn joke. I never in the course of my +life cast eyes on a more nonchalant or unmitigated ruffian. + +"How do you say, M'Wilkin," asked the judge; "are you guilty or not +guilty?" + +"Not guilty, aff course. D'ye tak me for a fule?" and M'Wilkin flounced +down upon his seat, as though he had been an ornament to society. + +"Have you a counsel?" asked the judge. + +"De'il ane--nor a bawbee," replied the freebooter. + +Acting upon the noble principle of Scottish jurisprudence, that no man +shall undergo his trial without sufficient legal advice, his lordship in +the kindest manner asked me to take charge of the fortunes of the +forlorn M'Wilkin. Of course I made no scruples; for, so long as it was +matter of practice, I should have felt no hesitation in undertaking the +defence of Beelzebub. I therefore leaned across the dock, and exchanged +a few hurried sentences with my first client. + +"Why don't you plead guilty?" + +"What for? I've been here before. Man, I'm thinking ye're a saft ane!" + +"Did you not steal the sheep."' + +"Ay--that's just the question. Let them find that out." + +"But the grazier saw you?" + +"I blackened his e'es." + +"You'll be transported to a dead certainty." + +"Deevil a fears, if ye're worth the price o' half a mutchkin. I'm +saying--get me a Hawick jury, and it's a' richt. They ken me gey and +weel thereabouts." + +Although I was by no means satisfied in my own mind that an intimate +acquaintance with M'Wilkin and his previous pursuits would be a strong +recommendation in his favour to any possible assize, I thought it best +to follow his instructions, and managed my challenges so well that I +secured a majority of Hawickers. The jury being sworn in, the cause +proceeded; and certainly, before three witnesses had been examined, it +appeared to me beyond all manner of doubt, that, in the language of Tom +Campbell, my unfortunate client was + + "Doom'd the long coves of Sydney isle to see," + +as a permanent addition to that cultivated and Patagonian population. +The grazier stood to his story like a man, and all efforts to break him +down by cross-examination were fruitless. There was also another hawbuck +who swore to the sheep, and was witness to the assault; so that, in +fact, the evidence was legally complete. + +Whilst I was occupied in the vain attempt to make Gubbins contradict +himself, there had been a slight commotion in the court-room. On looking +round afterwards, I was astonished to behold my friend Strachan seated +in the magistrate's box, next to a very pretty and showily-dressed +woman, to whom he was paying the most marked and deliberate attention. +On the other side of her was an individual in a civic chain, whose fat, +pursy, apoplectic appearance, and nose of the colour of an Orleans plum, +thoroughly realised my mental picture of the Bailie. His small, +blood-shot eyes twinkled with magisterial dignity and importance; and he +looked, beside Miss Percy--for I could not doubt that it was she--like a +satyr in charge of Florimel. + +The last witness for the crown, a very noted police officer from +Glasgow, was then put into the box, to prove a previous conviction +against my friend M'Wilkin. This man bore a high reputation in his +calling, and was, indeed, esteemed as a sort of Scottish Vidocq, who +knew by headmark every filcher of a handkerchief between Caithness and +the Border. He met the bold broad stare of the prisoner with a kind of +nod, as much as to assure him that his time was very nearly up; and then +deliberately proceeded to take a hawk's-eye view of the assembly. I +noticed a sort of quiet sneer as he glanced at the Magistrate's box. + +"Poor Strachan!" thought I. "His infatuation must indeed be palpable, +since even a common officer can read his secret in a moment." + +I might just as well have tried to shake Ailsa Craig as to make an +impression upon this witness; however, heroically devoted to my trust, I +hazarded the attempt, and ended by bringing out several additional tales +of turpitude in the life and times of M'Wilkin. + +"Make room there in the passage! The lady has fainted," cried the macer. + +I started to my feet, and was just in time to see Miss Percy conveyed +from the court in an apparently inanimate state, by the Bailie and the +agitated Strachan. + +"Devilish fine-looking woman that!" observed the Advocate-Depute across +the table. "Where did your friend Mr Strachan get hold of her?" + +"I really don't know. I say--are you going to address the jury for the +crown?" + +"It is quite immaterial. The case is distinctly proved, and I presume +you don't intend to speak?" + +"I'm not so sure of that." + +"Oh, well,--in that case I suppose I must say a word or two. This closes +the evidence for the crown, my lord," and the Depute began to turn over +his papers preparatory to a short harangue. + +He had just commenced his speech, when I felt a hand laid upon my +shoulder. I looked around: Strachan was behind me, pale and almost +breathless with excitement. + +"Fred--can I depend upon your friendship?" + +"Of course you can. What's the row?" + +"Have you ten pounds about you?" + +"Yes--but what do you mean to do with them? Surely you are not going to +make a blockhead of yourself by bolting?" + +"No--no! give me the money--quick!" + +"On your word of honour, Tom?" + +"On my sacred word of honour!--That's a good fellow--thank you, Fred;" +and Strachen pocketed the currency. "Now," said he, "I have just one +other request to make." + +"What's that?" + +"Speak against time, there's a dear fellow! Spin out the case as long as +you can, and don't let the jury retire for at least three quarters of an +hour. I know you can do it better than any other man at the bar." + +"Are you in earnest, Tom?" + +"Most solemnly. My whole future happiness--nay, perhaps the life of a +human being depends upon it." + +"In that case I think I shall tip them an hour." + +"Heaven reward you, Fred! I never can forget your kindness!" + +"But where shall I see you afterwards?" + +"At the hotel. Now, my dear boy, be sure that you pitch it in, and, if +possible, get the judge to charge after you. Time's all that's +wanted--adieu!" and Tom disappeared in a twinkling. + +I had little leisure to turn over the meaning of this interview in my +mind, for the address of my learned opponent was very short and pithy. +He merely pointed out the clear facts, as substantiated by evidence, and +brought home to the unhappy M'Wilkin; and concluded by demanding a +verdict on both charges contained in the indictment against the +prisoner. + +"Do you wish to say any thing, sir?" said the judge to me, with a kind +of tone which indicated his hope that I was going to say nothing. +Doubtless his lordship thought that, as a very young counsel, I would +take the hint; but he was considerably mistaken in his man. I came to +the bar for practice--I went on the circuit with the solemn +determination to speak in every case, however desperate; and it needed +not the admonition of Strachan to make me carry my purpose into +execution. What did I care about occupying the time of the court? His +lordship was paid to listen, and could very well afford to hear the man +who was pleading for M'Wilkin without a fee. I must say, however, that +he looked somewhat disgusted when I rose. + +A first appearance is a nervous thing, but there is nothing like going +boldly at your subject. "_Fiat experimentum in corpore vili_," is a +capital maxim in the Justiciary Court. The worse your case, the less +chance you have to spoil it; and I never had a worse than M'Wilkin's. + +I began by buttering the jury on their evident intelligence and the high +functions they had to discharge, which of course were magnified to the +skies. I then went slap-dash at the evidence; and, as I could say +nothing in favour of my client, directed a tremendous battery of abuse +and insinuation against his accuser. + +"And who is this Gubbins, gentlemen, that you should believe this most +incredible, most atrocious, and most clumsy apocrypha of his? I will +tell you. He is an English butcher--a dealer in cattle and in +bestial--one of those men who derive their whole subsistence from the +profits realised by the sale of our native Scottish produce. This is the +way in which our hills are depopulated, and our glens converted into +solitudes. It is for him and his confederates--not for us--that our +shepherds watch and toil, that our herds and flocks are reared, that the +richness of the land is absorbed! And who speaks to the character of +this Gubbins? You have heard the pointless remarks made by my learned +friend upon the character of my unfortunate client; but he has not dared +to adduce in this court one single witness in behalf of the character of +his witness. Gentlemen, he durst not do it! Gubbins has deponed to you +that he bought those sheep at the fair of Kelso, from a person of the +name of Shiells, and that he paid the money for them. Where is the +evidence of that? Where is Shiells to tell us whether he actually sold +these sheep, or whether on the contrary they were not stolen from him? +Has it been proved to you, gentlemen, that M'Wilkin is not a friend of +Shiells--that he did not receive notice of the theft--that he did not +pursue the robber, and, recognising the stolen property by their mark, +seize them for the benefit of their owner? No such proof at least has +been led upon the part of the crown, and in the absence of it, I ask you +fearlessly, whether you can possibly violate your consciences by +returning a verdict of guilty? Is it not possible--nay, is it not +extremely probable, that Gubbins was the actual thief? Was it not his +interest, far more than M'Wilkin's, to abstract those poor unhappy +sheep, because it is avowedly his trade to fill the insatiable maw of +the Southron? And in that case, who should be at the bar? Gubbins! +Gubbins, I say, who this day has the unparalleled audacity to appear +before an enlightened Scottish jury, and to give evidence which, in +former times, might have led to the awful consequence of the execution +of an innocent man! And this is what my learned friend calls evidence! +Evidence to condemn a fellow-countryman, gentlemen? No--not to condemn a +dog!" + +Having thus summarily disposed of Gubbins, I turned my artillery against +the attendant drover and the policeman. The first I indignantly +denounced as either an accomplice or a tool: the second I smote more +severely. Policemen are not popular in Hawick; and, knowing this, I +contrived to blacken the Scottish Vidocq as a bloodhound. + +But by far the finest flight of fancy in which I indulged was reserved +for the peroration. I was not quite sure of the effect of my commentary +on the evidence, and therefore thought it might be advisable to touch +upon a national raw. + +"And now, gentlemen," said I, "assuming for one moment that all my +learned friend has said to you is true--that the sheep really belonged +to this Gubbins, and were taken from him by M'Wilkin--let us calmly and +deliberately consider how far such a proceeding can be construed into a +crime. What has my unfortunate client done that he should be condemned +by a jury of his countrymen? What he stands charged with is simply +this--that he has prevented an Englishman from driving away the produce +of our native hills. And is this a crime? It may be so, for aught I +know, by statute; but sure I am, that in the intention, to which alone +you must look, there lies a far deeper element of patriotism than of +deliberate guilt. Think for one moment, gentlemen, of the annals of +which we are so proud--of the ballads still chanted in the hall and in +the hamlet--of the lonely graves and headstones that are scattered all +along the surface of the southern muirs. Do not these annals tell us how +the princes and the nobles of the land were wont to think it neither +crime nor degradation to march with their retainers across the Borders, +and to harry with fire and sword the fields of Northumberland and +Durham? Randolph and the Bruce have done it, and yet no one dares to +attach the stigma of dishonour to their names. Do not our ballads tell +how at Lammas-tide, + + 'The doughty Earl of Douglas rade + Into England to fetch a prey?' + +And who shall venture to impeach the honour of the hero who fell upon +the field of Otterbourne? Need I remind you of those who have died in +their country's cause, and whose graves are still made the object of +many a pious pilgrimage? Need I speak of Flodden, that woful place where +the Flowers of the Forest were left lying in one ghastly heap around +their king? Ah, gentlemen! have I touched you now? True, it was in the +Olden time that these things were done and celebrated; but remember +this, that society may change its place, states and empires may rise and +be consolidated, but patriotism still lives enduring and undying as of +yore! And who shall dare to say that patriotism was not the motive of +M'Wilkin? Who shall presume to analyse or to blame the instinct which +may have driven him to the deed? Call him not a felon--call him rather a +poet; for over his kindling imagination fell the mighty shadow of the +past. Old thoughts, old feelings, old impulses, were burning in his +soul. He saw in Gubbins, not the grazier, but the lawless spoiler of his +country; and he rose, as a Borderer should, to vindicate the honour of +his race. He may have been mistaken in what he did, but the motive, at +least, was pure. Honour it then, gentlemen, for it is the same motive +which is at all times the best safeguard of a nation's independence; and +do honour likewise to yourselves by pronouncing a unanimous verdict of +acquittal in favour of the prisoner at the bar!" + +By the time I had finished this harangue, I was wrought up to such a +pitch of enthusiasm, that I really considered M'Wilkin in the light of +an extremely ill-used individual, and the tears stood in my eyes as I +recapitulated the history of his wrongs. Several of the jury, too, began +to get extremely excited, and looked as fierce as falcons when I +reminded them of the field of Flodden. But my hopes were considerably +damped when I heard the charge of his lordship. With all respect for the +eminent Senator who that day presided on the bench, I think he went +rather too far when he designated my maiden-effort a rhapsody which +could only be excused on account of the inexperience of the gentleman +who uttered it. Passing from that unpleasant style of stricture, he went +_seriatim_ over all the crimes of M'Wilkin, and very distinctly +indicated his opinion that a more consummate ruffian had seldom figured +in the dock. When he concluded, however, there was a good deal of +whispering in the jury-box, and at last the gentlemen of the assize +requested permission to retire. + +"That was a fine flare-up of yours, Freddy," said Anthony Whaup, the +only other counsel for the prisoners upon the circuit. "You came it +rather strong, though, in the national line. I don't think our venerable +friend overhead half likes your ideas of international law." + +"Why, yes--I confess he gave me a tolerable wigging. But what would you +have me do? I must have said something." + +"Oh, by Jove, you were perfectly right! I always make a point of +speaking myself; and I can assure you that you did remarkably well. It +was a novel view, but decidedly ingenious, and may lead to great +results. If that fellow gets off, you may rely upon it there will be +some bloodshed again upon the Border." + +"And a jolly calendar, of course, for next circuit. I say, Authony,--how +many cases have you got?" + +"Two thefts with habit and repute, a hame-sucken, rather a good forgery, +and an assault with intent to commit." + +"Long?" + +"Rather--but poor pay. I haven't sacked more than nine guineas +altogether. Gad!" continued Anthony, stretching himself, "this is slow +work. I'd rather by a great deal be rowing on the canal." + +"Hush! here come the jury." + +They entered, took their seats, and each man in succession answered to +his name. I stole a glance at M'Wilkin. He looked as leonine as ever, +and kept winking perseveringly to the Hawickers. + +"Now, gentlemen," said the clerk of court, "what is your verdict?" + +The foreman rose. + +"The jury, by a majority, find the charges against the prisoner NOT +PROVEN." + +"Hurrah!" shouted M'Wilkin, reckless of all authority. "Hurrah! I +say--you counsellor in the wig--ye shanna want a sheep's head thae three +years, if there's ane to be had on the Border!" + +And in this way I gained my first acquittal. + + +CHAPTER III. + +I found Strachan in his room with his face buried in the bed-clothes. He +was kicking his legs as though he suffered under a violent fit of the +toothache. + +"I say, Tom, what's the matter? Look up, man! Do you know I've got that +scoundrel off?" + +No answer. + +"Tom, I say! Tom, you dunderhead--what do you mean by making an ass of +yourself this way? Get up, for shame, and answer me!" + +Poor Strachan raised his head from the coverlet. His eyes were +absolutely pink, and his cheeks of the tint of a lemon. + +"O Fred, Fred!" said he with a series of interjectional gasps. "I am the +most unfortunate wretch in the universe. All the hopes I had formerly +cherished are blighted at once in the bud! She is gone, my friend--gone +away from me, and, alas! I fear for ever! + +"The deuce she has! and how?" + +"Oh what madness tempted me to lead her to the court?--what infatuation +it was to expose those angelic features to the risk of recognition! Who +that ever saw those dove-like eyes could forget them?" + +"I have no objection to the eyes--they were really very passable. But +who twigged her?" + +"An emissary of her father's--that odious miscreant who was giving +evidence at the trial." + +"The policeman? Whew! Tom!--I don't like that." + +"He was formerly the land-steward of the Viscount;--a callous, cruel +wretch, who was more than suspected of having made away with his wife." + +"And did he recognise her?" + +"Dorothea says that she felt fascinated by the glitter of his cold gray +eye. A shuddering sensation passed through her frame, just as the poor +warbler of the woods quivers at the approach of the rattle-snake. A dark +mist gathered before her sight, and she saw no more until she awoke to +consciousness within my arms." + +"Very pretty work, truly! And what then?" + +"In great agitation, she told me that she durst tarry no longer here. +She was certain that the officer would make it his business to track +her, and communicate her hiding-place to her family; and she shook with +horror when she thought of the odious Israelitish bridegroom. 'The +caverns of the deep green sea--the high Tarpeian rock--the Lencadian +cliff of Sappho,'--she said, 'all would be preferable to that! And yet, +O Thomas, to think that we should have met so suddenly, and that to part +for ever!' 'Pon my soul, Fred, I am the most miserable of created +beings." + +"Why, what on earth has become of her?" + +"Gone--and I don't know whither. She would not even apprise the Bailie +of her departure, lest she might leave some clue for discovery. She +desired me to see him, to thank him, and to pay him for her,--all of +which I promised to do. With one kiss--one deep, burning, agonised kiss, +which I shall carry with me to my grave--- she tore herself away, sprang +into the postchaise, and in another moment was lost to me for ever!" + +"And my ten pounds?" said I, in a tone of considerable emotion. + +"Would you have had me think twice," asked Strachan indignantly, "before +I tendered my assistance to a forlorn angel in distress, even though she +possessed no deeper claims on my sympathy? I thought, Frederick, you had +more chivalry in your nature. You need not be uneasy about that +trifle;--I shall be in funds some time about Christmas." + +"Humph! I thought it was a P.P. transaction, but no matter. And is this +all the clue you have got to the future residence of the lady?" + +"No,--she is to write me from the nearest post-town. You will see, Fred, +when the letter arrives, how well worthy she is of my adoration." + +I have found, by long experience, that it is no use remonstrating with a +man who is head-over-ears in love. The tender passion affects us +differently, according to our constitutions. One set of fellows, who are +generally the pleasantest, seldom get beyond the length of flirtation. +They are always at it, but constantly changing, and therefore manage to +get through a tolerable catalogue of attachments before they are finally +brought to book. Such men are quite able to take care of themselves, and +require but little admonition. You no doubt hear them now and then +abused for trifling with the affections of young women--as if the latter +had themselves the slightest remorse in playing precisely the same +game!--but in most cases such censure is undeserved, for they are quite +as much in earnest as their neighbours, so long as the impulse lasts. +The true explanation is, that they have survived their first passion, +and that their faith is somewhat shaken in the boyish creed of the +absolute perfectibility of woman. The great disappointment of life does +not make them misanthropes--but it forces them to caution, and to a +closer appreciation of character than is usually undertaken in the first +instance. They have become, perhaps, more selfish--certainly more +suspicious, and though often on the verge of a proposal, they never +commit themselves without an extreme degree of deliberation. + +Another set seem designed by nature to be the absolute victims of woman. +Whenever they fall in love, they do it with an earnestness and an +obstinacy which is actually appalling. The adored object of their +affections can twine them round her finger, quarrel with them, cheat +them, caricature them, or flirt with others, without the least risk of +severing the triple cord of attachment. They become as tame as +poodle-dogs, will submit patiently to any manner of cruelty or caprice, +and in fact seem rather to be grateful for such treatment than +otherwise. Clever women usually contrive to secure a captive of this +kind. He is useful to them in a hundred ways, never interferes with +their schemes, and, if the worst comes to the worst, they can always +fall back upon him as a _pis-aller_. + +My friend Tom Strachan belonged decidedly to this latter section. Mary +Rivers, a remarkably clever and very showy girl, but as arrant a flirt +as ever wore rosebud in her bosom, had engrossed the whole of his heart +before he reached the reflecting age of twenty, and kept him for nearly +five years in a state of uncomplaining bondage. Not that I believe she +ever cared about him. Tom was as poor as a church-mouse, and had nothing +on earth to look to except the fruits of his professional industry, +which, judging from all appearances, would be a long time indeed in +ripening. Mary was not the sort of person to put up with love in a +cottage, even had Tom's circumstances been adequate to defray the rent +of a tenement of that description: she had a vivid appreciation not only +of the substantials, but of the higher luxuries of existence. But her +vanity was flattered at having in her train at least one devoted +dangler, whom she could play off, whenever opportunity required, against +some more valuable admirer. Besides, Strachan was a man of family, tall, +good-looking, and unquestionably clever in his way: he also danced the +polka well, and was useful in the ball-room or the pic-nic. So Mary +Rivers kept him on in a kind of blissful dream, just sunning him +sufficiently with her smiles to make him believe that he was beloved, +but never allowing matters to go so far as to lead to the report that +they were engaged. Tom asked for nothing more. He was quite contented to +indulge for years in a dream of future bliss, and wrote during the +interval a great many more sonnets than summonses. Unfortunately sonnets +don't pay well, so that his worldly affairs did not progress at any +remarkable ratio. And he only awoke to a sense of his real situation, +when Miss Rivers, having picked a quarrel with him one day in the +Zoological Gardens, announced on the next to her friends that she had +accepted the hand of a bilious East India merchant. + +Tom made an awful row about it--grew as attenuated and brown as an +eel--and garnished his conversation with several significant hints about +suicide. He was, however, saved from that ghastly alternative by being +drafted into a Rowing Club, who plied their gondolas daily on the Union +Canal. Hard exercise, beer, and pulling had their usual sanatory effect, +and Tom gradually recovered his health, if not his spirits. + +It was at this very crisis that he fell in with this mysterious Miss +Percy. There was an immense hole in his affections which required to be +filled up; and, as nature abhors a vacuum, he plugged it with the image +of Dorothea. The flight, therefore, of the fair levanter, after so brief +an intercourse, was quite enough to upset him. He was in the situation +of a man who is informed over-night that he has succeeded to a large +fortune, and who gets a letter next morning explaining that it is a mere +mistake. I was therefore not at all astonished either at his paroxysms +or his credulity. + +We had rather a dreary dinner that day. The judges always entertain the +first day of circuit, and it is considered matter of etiquette that the +counsel should attend. Sometimes these forensic feeds are pleasant +enough; but on the present occasion there was a visible damp thrown over +the spirits of the party. His lordship was evidently savage at the +unforeseen escape of M'Wilkin, and looked upon me, as I thought, with +somewhat of a prejudiced eye. Bailie Beeric and the other magistrates +seemed uneasy at their unusual proximity to a personage who had the +power of death and transportation, and therefore abstained from emitting +the accustomed torrent of civic facetiousness. One of the sheriffs +wanted to be off on a cruise, and another was unwell with the gout. The +Depute Advocate was fagged; Whaup surly as a bear with a sore ear, on +account of the tenuity of his fees; and Strachan, of course, in an +extremely unconversational mood. So I had nothing for it but to eat and +drink as plentifully as I could, and very thankful I was that the claret +was tolerably sound. + +We rose from table early. As I did not like to leave Tom to himself in +his present state of mind, we adjourned to his room for the purpose of +enjoying a cigar; and there, sure enough, upon the table lay the +expected missive. Strachan dashed at it like a pike pouncing upon a +parr; I lay down upon the sofa, lit my weed, and amused myself by +watching his physiognomy. + +"Dear suffering angel!" said Tom at last, with a sort of whimper, +"Destiny has done its worst! We have parted, and the first fond dream of +our love has vanished before the cold and dreary dawn of reality! O my +friend--we were like the two birds in the Oriental fable, each doomed to +traverse the world before we could encounter our mate--we met, and +almost in the same hour the thunderbolt burst above us!" + +"Yes--two very nice birds," said I. "But what does she say in the +letter?" + +"You may read it," replied Tom, and he handed me the epistle. It was +rather a superior specimen of penmanship, and I don't choose to +criticise the style. Its tenor was as follows:-- + + "I am hardly yet, my dear friend, capable of estimating the true + extent of my emotions. Like the buoyant seaweed torn from its native + bed among the submarine forest of the corals, I have been tossed + from wave to wave, hurried onwards by a stream more resistless than + that which sweeps through the Gulf of Labrador, and far--far away as + yet is the wished-for haven of my rest. Hitherto my life has been a + tissue of calamity and wo. Over my head since childhood, has + stretched a dull and dreary canopy of clouds, shutting me out for + ever from a glimpse of the blessed sun. Once, and but once only have + I seen a chasm in that envious veil--only once and for a few, a + _very_ few moments, have I gazed upon the blue empyrean, and felt my + heart expand and thrill to the glories of its liquid lustre. That + once--oh, Mr Strachan, can I ever forget it?--that once comprises + the era of the few hours which were the silent witnesses of our + meeting! + + "Am I weak in writing to you thus? Perhaps I am; but then, Thomas, I + have never been taught to dissemble. Did I, however, think it + probable that we should ever meet again--that I should hear from + your lips a repetition of that language which now is chronicled in + my soul--it may be that I would not have dared to risk an avowal so + candid and so dear! As it is, it matters not. You have been my + benefactor, my kind consoler--my friend. You have told me that you + love; and in the fullness and native simplicity of my heart, I + believe you. And if it be any satisfaction to you to know that your + sentiments have been at least appreciated, believe that of all the + pangs which the poor Dorothea has suffered, this last agony of + parting has been incomparably the most severe. + + "You asked me if there was no hope. Oh, my Thomas! what would I not + give could I venture to answer, yes? But it cannot be! You are young + and happy, and will yet be fortunate and beloved: why, then, should + I permit so fair an existence to be blighted by the upas-tree of + destiny under which I am doomed to languish? You shall not say that + I am selfish--you shall not hereafter reproach me for having + permitted you to share a burden too great for both of us to carry. + You must learn the one great lesson of existence, to submit and to + forget! + + "I am going far away, to the margin of that inhospitable shore which + receives upon its rocks the billows of the unbroken Atlantic,--or + haply, amongst the remoter isles, I shall listen to the seamew's + cry. Do not weep for me. Amidst the myriad of bright and glowing + things which flutter over the surface of this green creation, let + one feeble, choking, over-burdened heart be forgotten! Follow me + not--seek me not--for, like the mermaid on the approach of the + mariner, I should shrink from the face of man into the glassy + caverns of the deep. + + "Adieu, Thomas, adieu! Say what you will for me to the noble and + generous Beerie. Would to heaven that I could send him some token in + return for all his kindness, but a good and gallant heart is its own + most adequate reward. + + "They are putting to the horses--I can hear the rumble of the + chariot! Oh, once more, dear friend--alas, too inexpressibly + dear!--take my last farewell. Adieu--my heart is breaking as I write + the bitter word!--forget me. + + DOROTHEA." + +"Do you wonder at my sorrow now?" said Strachan, as I laid down the +passionate epistle. + +"Why, no. It is well got up upon the whole, and does credit to the +lady's erudition. But I don't see why she should insist so strongly upon +eternal separation. Have you no idea whereabouts that aunt of hers may +happen to reside?" + +"Not the slightest." + +"Because, judging from her letter, it must be somewhere about Benbecula +or Tiree. I shouldn't even wonder if she had a summer box on St Kilda." + +"Right! I did not think of that--you observe she speaks of the remoter +isles." + +"To be sure, and for half a century there has not been a mermaid seen to +the east of the Lewis. Now, take my advice, Tom--don't make a fool of +yourself in the meantime, but wait until the Court of Session rises in +July. That will allow plenty of time for matters to settle; and if the +old Viscount and that abominable Abiram don't find her out before then, +you may depend upon it they will abandon the search. In the interim, the +lady will have cooled. Walks upon the sea-shore are uncommonly dull +without something like reciprocal sentimentality. The odds are, that the +old aunt is addicted to snuff, tracts, and the distribution of flannel, +and before August, the fair Dorothea will be yearning for a sight of her +adorer. You can easily gammon Anthony Whaup into a loan of that yacht of +his which he makes such a boast of; and if you go prudently about it, +and flatter him on the score of his steering, I haven't the least doubt +that he will victual his hooker and give you a cruise in it for +nothing." + +"Admirable, my dear Fred! We shall touch at all the isles from Iona to +Uist; and if Miss Percy be indeed there--" + +"You can carry her off on five minutes' notice, and our long friend will +be abundantly delighted. Only, mind this! If you want my candid opinion +on the wisdom of such an alliance, I should strongly recommend you to +meddle no farther in the matter, for I have my doubts about the +Honourable Dorothea, and--" + +"Bah, Fred! Doubts after such a letter as that? Impossible! No, my dear +friend--your scheme is admirable--unexceptionable, and I shall certainly +act upon it. But oh--it is a weary time till July!" + +"Merely a short interval of green pease and strawberries. I advise you, +however, to fix down Whaup as early as you can for the cruise." + +The hint was rapidly taken. We sent for our facetious friend, ordered +supper, and in the course of a couple of tumblers, persuaded him that +his knowledge of nautical affairs was not exceeded by that of T. P. +Cooke, and that he was much deeper versed in the mysteries of +sky-scraping than Fenimore Cooper. Whaup gave in. By dint of a little +extra persuasion, I believe we might have coaxed him into a voyage for +Otaheite; and before we parted for the evening it was agreed that +Strachan should hold himself in readiness to start for the Western +Islands about the latter end of July--Whaup being responsible for the +provisions and champagne, whilst Tom pledged himself to cigars. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +I never ascertained the exact amount of the sum which Tom handed over to +the Bailie. It must, however, have been considerable, for he took to +retrenching his expenditure, and never once dropped a hint about the ten +pounds which I was so singularly verdant as to lend him. The summer +session stole away as quickly as its predecessors, though not, in so far +as I was concerned, quite as unprofitably, for I got a couple of +Sheriff-court papers to draw in consequence of my M'Wilkin appearance. +Tom, however, was very low about himself, and affected solitude. He +would not join in any of the strawberry lunches or fish dinners so +attractive to the junior members of the bar; but frequented the +Botanical Gardens, where he might be seen any fine afternoon, stretched +upon the bank beside the pond, concocting sonnets, or inscribing the +name of Dorothea upon the monument dedicated to Linnaeus. + +Time, however, stole on. The last man who was going to be married got +his valedictory dinner at the close of session. Gowns were thrown off, +wigs boxed up, and we all dispersed to the country wheresoever our +inclination might lead us. I resolved to devote the earlier part of the +vacation to the discovery of the town of Clackmannan--a place of which I +had often heard, but which no human being whom I ever encountered had +seen. Whaup was not oblivious of his promise, and Strachan clove unto +him like a limpet. + +We did not meet again until September was well-nigh over. In common with +Strachan, I had adopted the resolution of changing my circuit, and +henceforth adhering to Glasgow, which, from its superior supply of +criminals, is the favourite resort of our young forensic aspirants. So I +packed my portmanteau, invoked the assistance of Saint Rollox, and +started for the balmy west. + +The first man I met in George's Square was my own delightful Thomas. He +looked rather thin; was fearfully sun-burned; had on a pair of canvass +trowsers most wofully bespattered with tar, and evidently had not shaved +for a fortnight. + +"Why, Tom, my dear fellow!" cried I, "can this possibly be you? What the +deuce have you been doing with yourself? You look as hairy as Robinson +Crusoe." + +"You should see Whaup,--he's rather worse off than Friday. We have just +landed at the Broomielaw, but I was obliged to leave Anthony in a tavern +for fear we should be mobbed in the street. I'm off by the rail to +Edinburgh, to get some decent toggery for us both. Lend me a pound-note, +will you?" + +"Certainly--that's eleven, you recollect. But what's the meaning of all +this? Where is the yacht?" + +"Safe--under twenty fathoms of dark blue water, at a place they call the +Sneeshanish Islands. Catch me going out again, with Anthony as +steersman!" + +"No doubt he is an odd sort of Palinurus. But when did this happen?" + +"Ten days ago. We were three days and nights upon the rock, with nothing +to eat except two biscuits, raw mussels and tangle!" + +"Mercy on us! and how did you get off?" + +"In a kelp-boat from Harris. But I haven't time for explanation just +now. Go down, like a good fellow, to the Broomielaw, No. 431--you will +find Anthony enjoying himself with beef steaks and bottled stout, in the +back parlour of the Cat and Bagpipes. I must refer you to him for the +details." + +"One word more--you'll be back to the circuit?" + +"Decidedly. To-morrow morning: as soon as I can get my things together." + +"And the lady--What news of her?" + +The countenance of Strachan fell. + +"Ah, my dear friend! I wish you had not touched upon that string--you +have set my whole frame a jarring. No trace of her--none--none! I fear I +shall never see her more!" + +"Come! don't be down-hearted. One never can tell what may happen. +Perhaps you may meet her sooner than you think." + +"You are a kind-hearted-fellow, Fred. But I've lost all hope. Nothing +but a dreary existence is now before me, and--but, by Jupiter, there +goes the starting bell!" + +Tom vanished, like Aubrey's apparition, with a melodious twang, and a +perceptible odour of tar; and so, being determined to expiscate the +matter, I proceeded towards the Broomielaw, and in due time became +master of the locality of the Cat and Bagpipes. + +"Is there a Mr Whaup here?" I inquired of Mrs M'Tavish, the landlady, +who was filling a gill-stoup at the bar. + +"Here you are, old chap!" cried the hilarious voice of Anthony from an +inner apartment. "Turn to the right, steer clear of the scrubbing +brushes, and help yourself to a mouthful of Guinness." + +I obeyed. Heavens, what a figure he was! His trowsers were rent both at +the knees and elsewhere, and were kept together solely by means of +whip-cord. His shirt had evidently not benefited by the removal of the +excise duties upon soap, and was screened from the scrutiny of the +beholder by an extempore paletot, fabricated out of sail-cloth, without +the remotest apology for sleeves. + +Anthony, however, looked well in health, and appeared to be in +tremendous spirits. + +"Tip us your fin, my old coxs'un!" said he, winking at me over the rim +of an enormous pewter vessel which effectually eclipsed the lower +segment of his visage. "Blessed if I ain't as glad to see you as one of +Mother Carey's chickens in a squall." + +"Come, Anthony! leave off your nautical nonsense, and talk like a man of +the world. What on earth have you and Tom Strachan, been after?" + +"Nothing on earth, but a good deal on sea, and a trifle on as +uncomfortable a section of basalt as ever served two unhappy buccaniers +for bed, table, and sofa. The chilliness is not off me yet." + +"But how did it happen?" + +"Very simply: but I'll tell you all about it. It's a long story, though, +so if you please I shall top off with something hot. I'm glad you've +come, however, for I had some doubts how far this sort of original +Petersham would inspire confidence as to my credit in the bosom of the +fair M'Tavish. It's all right now, however, so here goes for my yarn." + +But I shall not follow my friend through all the windings of his +discourse, varied though it certainly was, like the adventures of the +venerated Sinbad. Suffice it to say, that they were hardly out of sight +of the Cumbraes before Tom confided the whole tale of his sorrows to +the callous Anthony, who, as he expressed it, had come out for a lark, +and had no idea of the of rummaging the whole of the west coast and the +adjacent islands for a petticoat. Moved, however, by the pathetic +entreaties of Strachan, and, perhaps, somewhat reconciled to the quest +by the dim vision of an elopement, Anthony magnanimously waived his +objections, and the two kept cruising together, in a little shell of a +yacht, all round the western Archipelago. Besides themselves, there were +only a man and a boy on board. + +"It was slow work," said Anthony,--"deucedly slow. I would not have +minded the thing so much if Strachan had been reasonably sociable; but +it was rather irksome, you will allow, when, after the boy had brought +in the kettle, and we had made every thing snug for the night, Master +Strachan began to maunder about the lady's eyes, and to tear his hair, +and to call himself the most miserable dog in existence. I had serious +thoughts, at one time, of leaving him ashore on Mull or Skye, and making +off direct to the Orkneys; but good-nature was always my foible, so I +went on, beating from one place to another, as though we had been +looking for the wreck of the Florida. + +"I'll never take another cruise with a lover so long as I live. Tom led +me all manner of dances, and we were twice fired at from farm-houses +where he was caterwauling beneath the windows with a guitar. It seems he +had heard that flame of his sing a Spanish air at Jedburgh. Tom must +needs pick it up, and you have no idea how he pestered me. Go where we +would, he kept harping on that abominable ditty, in the hopes that his +mistress might hear him; and, when I remonstrated on the absurdity of +the proceeding, he quoted the case of Blondel, and some trash out of +Uhland's ballads. Serenading on the west coast is by no means a pleasant +pastime. The nights are as raw as an anchovy, and the midges +particularly plentiful. + +"Well, sir, we could find no trace of the lady after all. Strachan got +into low spirits, and I confess that I was sometimes sulky--so we had an +occasional blow up, which by no means added to the conviviality of the +voyage. One evening, just at sundown, we entered the Sound of +Sneeshanish--an ugly place, let me tell you, at the best, but especially +to be avoided in any thing like a gale of wind. The clouds in the +horizon looked particularly threatening, and I got a little anxious, for +I knew that there were rocks about, and not a light-house in the whole +of the district. + +"In an hour or two it grew as dark as a wolf's throat. I could not for +the life of me make out where we were, for the Sound is very narrow in +some parts, and occasionally I thought that I could hear breakers ahead. + +"'Tom,' said I, 'Tom, you lubber!'--for our esteemed friend was, as +usual, lying on the deck, with a cigar in his mouth, twangling at that +eternal guitar--'take hold of the helm, will you, for a minute, while I +go down and look at the chart.' + +"I was as cold as a cucumber; so, after having ascertained, as I best +could, the bearings about the Sound, I rather think I _did_ stop below +for one moment--but not longer--just to mix a glass of swizzle by way of +fortification, for I didn't expect to get to bed that night. All of a +sudden I heard a shout from the bows, bolted upon deck, and there, sure +enough, was a black object right ahead, with the surf shooting over it. + +"'Luff, Tom! or we are all dead men;--Luff, I say!' shouted I. I might +as well have called to a millstone. Tom was in a kind of trance. + +"'O Dorothea!' said our friend. + +"'To the devil with Dorothea!' roared I, snatching the tiller from his +hand. + +"It was too late. We went smash upon the rock, with a force that sent us +headlong upon the deck, and Strachan staggered to his feet, bleeding +profusely at the proboscis. + +"Down came the sail rattling about our ears, and over lurched the yacht. +I saw there was no time to lose, so I leaped at once upon the rock, and +called upon the rest to follow me. They did so, and were lucky to escape +with no more disaster than a ruffling of the cuticle on the basalt; for +in two minutes more all was over. Some of the timbers had been staved in +at the first concussion. She rapidly filled,--and down went, before my +eyes, the Caption the tidiest little craft that ever pitched her +broadside into the hull of a Frenchman!" + +"Very well told indeed," said I, "only, Anthony, it does strike me that +the last paragraph is not quite original. I've heard something like it +in my younger days, at the Adelphi. But what became of you afterwards?" + +"Faith, we were in a fix, as you may easily conceive. All we could do +was to scramble up the rocks,--which, fortunately, were not too +precipitous,--until we reached a dry place, where we lay, huddled +together, until morning. When light came, we found that we were not on +the main land, but on a kind of little stack in the very centre of the +channel, without a blade of grass upon it, or the prospect of a sail in +sight. This was a nice situation for two members of the Scottish bar! +The first thing we did was to inquire into the state of provisions, +which found to consist of a couple of biscuits, that little Jim, the +boy, happened to have about him. Of course we followed the example of +the earlier navigators, and confiscated these _pro bono publico_. We had +not a drop of alcohol among us, but, very luckily, picked up a small keg +of fresh water, which, I believe, was our salvation. Strachan did not +behave well. He wanted to keep half-a-dozen cigars to himself; but such +monstrous selfishness could not be permitted, and the rest of us took +them from him by force. I shall always blame myself for having weakly +restored to him a cheroot." + +"And what followed?" + +"Why, we remained three days upon the rock. Fortunately the weather was +moderate, so that we were not absolutely washed away, but for all that +it was consumedly cold of nights. The worst thing, however, was the +deplorable state of our larder. We finished the biscuits the first day, +trusting to be speedily relieved; but the sun set without a vestige of a +sail, and we supped sparingly upon tangle. Next morning we were so +ravenous that we could have eaten raw squirrels. That day we subsisted +entirely upon shell-fish, and smoked all our cigars. On the third we +bolted two old gloves, buttons and all; and, do you know, Fred, I began +to be seriously alarmed about the boy Jim, for Strachan kept eying him +like an ogre, began to mutter some horrid suggestions as to the +propriety of casting lots, and execrated his own stupidity in being +unprovided with a jar of pickles." + +"O Anthony--for shame!" + +"Well--I'm sure he was thinking about it, if he did not say so. However, +we lunched upon a shoe, and for my own part, whenever I go upon another +voyage, I shall take the precaution of providing myself with pliable +French boots--your Kilmarnock leather is so very intolerably tough! +Towards evening, to our infinite joy, we descried a boat entering the +Sound. We shouted, as you may be sure, like demons. The Celtic +Samaritans came up, and, thanks to the kindness of Rory M'Gregor the +master, we each of us went to sleep that night with at least two gallons +of oatmeal porridge comfortably stowed beneath our belts. And that's the +whole history." + +"And how do you feel after such unexampled privation?" + +"Not a hair the worse. But this I know, that if ever I am caught again +on such idiotical errand as hunting for a young woman through the +Highlands, my nearest of kin are at perfect liberty to have me cognosced +without opposition." + +"Ah--you are no lover, Anthony. Strachan, now, would go barefooted +through Stony Arabia, for the mere chance of a casual glimpse at his +mistress." + +"All I can say, my dear fellow, is, that if connubial happiness cannot +be purchased without a month's twangling on a guitar and three +consecutive suppers upon sea-weed, I know at least one respectable young +barrister who is likely to die unmarried. But I say, Fred, let us have a +coach and drive up to your hotel. You can lend me a coat, I suppose, or +something of the sort, until Strachan arrives; and just be good enough, +will you, to settle with Mrs M'Tavish for the bill, for, by all my hopes +of a sheriffship, I have been thoroughly purged of my tin." + +The matter may not be of any especial interest to the public; at the +same time I think it right to record the fact that Anthony Whaup owes me +seven shillings and eightpence unto this day. + +"That is all I can tell you about it," said Mr Hedger, as he handed me +the last of three indictments, with the joyful accompaniment of the +fees. "That is all I can tell you about it. If the _alibi_ will hold +water, good and well--if not, M'Closkie will be transported." + +Hedger is the very best criminal agent I ever met with. There is always +a point in his cases--his precognitions are perfect, and pleading, under +such auspices, becomes a kind of realised romance. + +"By the way," said he, "is there a Mr Strachan of your bar at circuit? I +have a curious communication from a prisoner who is desirous to have him +as her counsel." + +"Indeed? I am glad to hear it. Mr Strachan is a particular friend of +mine, and will be here immediately. I shall be glad to introduce you. Is +it a heavy case?" + +"No, but rather an odd one--a theft of money committed at the Blenheim +hotel. The woman seems a person of education, but, as she obstinately +refuses to tell me her story, I know very little more about it than is +contained in the face of the indictment." + +"What is her name?" + +"Why you know that is a matter not very easily ascertained. She called +herself Euphemia Saville when brought up for examination, and of course +she will be tried as such. She is well dressed, and rather pretty, but +she won't have any other counsel than Mr Strachan; and singularly +enough, she has positively forbidden me to send him a fee on the ground +that he would take it as an insult." + +"I should feel particularly obliged if the whole public would take to +insulting me perpetually in that manner! But really this is an odd +history. Do you think she is acquainted with my friend?" + +Hedger winked. + +"I can't say," said he "for, to tell you the truth, I know nothing +earthly about it. Only she was so extremely desirous to have him +engaged, that I thought it not a little remarkable. I hope your friend +won't take offence if I mention what the woman said?" + +"Not in the least, you may be sure of that. And, _apropos_, here he +comes." + +And in effect Whaup and Strachan now walked into the counsel's +apartment, demure, shaven, and well dressed--altogether two very +different looking individuals from the tatterdemalions of yesterday. + +"Good morning, Fred," cried Whaup; "Servant, Mr Hedger--lots of work +going, eh? Are the pleas nearly over yet?" + +"Very nearly, I believe, Mr Whaup. Would you have the kindness to----" + +"Oh, certainly," said I. "Strachan, allow me to introduce my friend Mr +Hedger, who is desirous of your professional advice." + +"I say, Freddy," said Whaup, looking sulkily at the twain as they +retired to a window to consult, "what's in the wind now? Has old Hedger +got a spite at any of his clients?" + +"How should I know? What do you mean?" + +"Because I should rather think," said Anthony, "that in our friend +Strachan's hands the lad runs a remarkably good chance of a sea voyage +to the colonies, that's all." + +"Fie for shame, Anthony! You should not bear malice." + +"No more I do--but I can't forget the loss of the little Caption all +through his stupid blundering; and this morning he must needs sleep so +long that he lost the early train, and has very likely cut me out of +business for the sheer want of a pair of reputable trousers." + +"Never mind--there is a good time coming." + +"Which means, I suppose, that you have got the pick of the cases? Very +well: it can't be helped, so I shall even show myself in court by way of +public advertisement." + +So saying, my long friend wrestled himself into his gown, adjusted his +wig knowingly upon his cranium, and rushed toward the court-room as +vehemently as though the weal of the whole criminal population of the +west depended upon his individual exertions. + +"Freddy, come here, if you please," said Strachan, "this is a very +extraordinary circumstance! Do you know that this woman, Euphemia +Saville, though she wishes me to act as her counsel, has positively +refused to see me!" + +"Very odd, certainly! Do you know her?" + +"I never heard of the name in my life. Are you sure, Mr Hedger, that +there is no mistake?" + +"Quite sure, sir. She gave me, in fact, a minute description of your +person, which perhaps I may be excused from repeating." + +"Oh, I understand," said Tom, fishingly; "complimentary, I suppose--eh?" + +"Why yes, rather so," replied Hedger hesitatingly; and he cast at the +same time a glance at the limbs of my beloved friend, which convinced me +that Miss Saville's communication had, somehow or other, borne reference +to the shape of a parenthesis. "But, at all events, you may be sure she +has seen you. I really can imagine no reason for an interview. We often +have people who take the same kind of whims, and you have no idea of +their obstinacy. The best way will be to let the Crown lead its +evidence, and trust entirely to cross-examination. I shall take care, at +all events, that her appearance shall not damage her. She is well +dressed, and I don't doubt will make use of her cambric handkerchief." + +"And a very useful thing that same cambric is," observed I. "Come, Tom, +my boy, pluck up courage! You have opportunity now for a grand display; +and if you can poke in something about chivalry and undefended +loveliness, you may be sure it will have an effect on the jury. There is +a strong spice of romance in the composition of the men of the Middle +Ward." + +"The whole thing, however, seems to me most mysterious." + +"Very; but that is surely an additional charm. We seldom find a chapter +from the Mysteries of Udolfo transferred to the records of the +Justiciary Court of Scotland." + +"Well, then, I suppose it must be so. Fred, will you sit beside me at +the trial? I'm not used to this sort of thing as yet, and I possibly may +feel nervous." + +"Not a bit of you. At any rate I shall be there, and of course you may +command me." + +In due time the cause was called. Miss Euphemia Saville ascended the +trap stair, and took her seat between a pair of policemen with +exceedingly luxuriant whiskers. + +I must allow that I felt a strong curiosity about Euphemia. Her name was +peculiar; the circumstances under which she came forward were unusual; +and her predilection for Strachan was tantalising. Her appearance, +however, did little to solve the mystery. She was neatly, even elegantly +dressed in black, with a close-fitting bonnet and thick veil, which at +first effectually obscured her countenance. This, indeed, she partially +removed when called upon to plead to the indictment; but the law of no +civilised coountry that I know of is so savage as to prohibit the use of +a handkerchief, and the fair Saville availed herself of the privilege by +burying her countenance in cambric. I could only get a glimpse Of some +beautiful black braided hair and a forehead that resembled alabaster. To +all appearance she was extremely agitated, and sobbed as she answered to +the charge. + +The tender-hearted Strachan was not the sort of man to behold the +sorrows of his client without emotion. In behalf of the junior members +of the Scottish bar I will say this, that they invariably fight tooth +and nail when a pretty girl is concerned, and I have frequently heard +bursts of impassioned eloquence poured forth in defence of a pair of +bright eyes or a piquant figure, in cases where an elderly or wizened +dame would have run a strong chance of finding no Cicero by her side. +Tom accordingly approached the bar for the purpose of putting some +questions to his client, but not a word could he extract in reply. +Euphemia drew down her veil, and waved her hand with a repulsive +gesture. + +"I don't know what to make of her," said Strachan; "only she seems to be +a monstrous fine woman. It is clear, however, that she has mistaken me +for somebody else. I never saw her in my life before." + +"Hedger deserves great credit for the way he has got her up. Observe, +Tom, there is no finery about her; no ribbons or gaudy scarfs, which are +as unsuitable at a trial as at a funeral. Black is your only wear to +find favour in the eyes of a jury." + +"True. It is a pity that so little attention is paid to the aesthetics of +criminal clothing. But here comes the first witness--Grobey I think they +call him--the fellow who lost the money." + +Mr Grobey mounted the witness-box like a cow ascending a staircase. He +was a huge, elephantine animal of some sixteen stone, with bushy +eyebrows and a bald pate, which he ever and anon affectionately caressed +with a red and yellow bandana. Strachan started at the sound of his +voice, surveyed him wistfully for a moment, and then said to me in a +hurried whisper-- + +"As I live, Fred, that is the identical bagman who boned my emerald +studs at Jedburgh!" + +"You don't mean to say it?" + +"Fact, upon my honour! There is no mistaking his globular freetrading +nose. Would it not be possible to object to his evidence on that +ground?" + +"Mercy on us! no.--Reflect--there is no conviction." + +"True. But he stole them nevertheless. I'll ask him about them when I +cross." + +Mr Grobey's narrative, however, as embraced in animated dialogue with +the public prosecutor, threw some new and unexpected light upon the +matter. Grobey was a traveller in the employment of the noted house of +Barnacles, Deadeye, and Company, and perambulated the country for the +benevolent purpose of administering to deficiency of vision. In the +course of his wanderings, he had arrived at the Blenheim, where, after a +light supper of fresh herrings, toasted cheese, and Edinburgh ale, +assisted, _more Bagmannorum_, by several glasses of stiff brandy and +water, he had retired to his apartment to sleep off the labours of the +day. Somnus, however, did not descend that night with his usual +lightness upon Grobey. On the contrary, the deity seemed changed into a +ponderous weight, which lay heavily upon the chest of the moaning and +suffocated traveller; and notwithstanding a paralysis which appeared to +have seized upon his limbs, every external object in the apartment +became visible to him as by the light of a magic lantern. He heard his +watch ticking, like a living creature, upon the dressing-table where he +had left it. His black morocco pocketbook was distinctly visible, beside +the looking-glass, and two spectral boots stood up amidst the varied +shadows of the night. Grobey was very uncomfortable. He began to +entertain the horrid idea that a fiend was hovering, through his +chamber. + +All at once he heard the door creaking upon its hinges. There was a +slight rustling of muslin, a low sigh, and then momentary silence. +"What, in the name of John Bright, can that be?" thought the terrified +traveller; but he had not to wait long for explanation. The door opened +slowly--a female figure, arrayed from head to foot in robes of virgin +whiteness, glided in, and fixed her eyes, with an expression of deep +solemnity and menace, upon the countenance of Grobey. He lay breathless +and motionless beneath the spell. This might have lasted for about a +minute, during which time, as Grobey expressed it, his very entrails +were convulsed with fear. The apparition then moved onwards, still +keeping her eyes upon the couch. She stood for a moment near the window, +raised her arm with a monitory gesture to the sky, and then all at once +seemed to disappear as it absorbed in the watery moonshine. Grobey was +as bold a bagman as ever flanked a mare with his gig-whip, but this +awful visitation was too much. Boots, looking-glass, and table swam with +a distracting whirl before his eyes; he uttered a feeble yell, and +immediately lapsed into a swoon. + +It was bright morning when he awoke. He started up, rubbed his eyes, and +endeavoured to persuade himself that it was all an illusion. To be sure +there were the boots untouched, the coat, the hat, and the portmanteau; +but where--oh where--were the watch and the plethoric pocketbook, with +its bunch of bank-notes and other minor memoranda? Gone--spirited away; +and with a shout of despair old Grobey summoned the household. + +The police were straightway taken into his confidence. The tale of the +midnight apparition--of the Demon Lady--was told and listened to, at +first with somewhat of an incredulous smile; but when the landlord +stated that an unknown damosel had been sojourning for two days at the +hotel, that she had that morning vanished in a hackney-coach without +leaving any trace of her address, and that, moreover, certain spoons of +undeniable silver were amissing, Argus pricked up his ears, and after +some few preliminary inquiries, issued forth in quest of the fugitive. +Two days afterwards the fair Saville was discovered in a temperance +hotel; and although the pocketbook had disappeared, both the +recognisable notes and the watch were found in her possession. A number +of pawn-tickets, also, which were contained in her reticule, served to +collect from divers quarters a great mass of _bijouterie_, amongst which +were the Blenheim spoons. + +Such was Mr Grobey's evidence as afterwards supplemented by the police. +Tom rose to cross-examine. + +"Pray, Mr Grobey," said he, adjusting his gown upon his shoulders with a +very knowing and determined air as though he intended to expose his +victim--"Pray, Mr Grobey, are you any judge of studs?" + +"I ain't a racing man," replied Grobey, "but I knows an oss when I sees +it." + +"Don't equivocate, sir, if you please. Recollect you are upon your +oath," said Strachan, irritated by a slight titter which followed upon +Grobey's answer. "I mean studs, sir--emerald studs for example?" + +"I ain't. But the lady is," replied Grobey. + +"How do you mean, sir?" + +"'Cos there vos five pair on them taken out of pawn with her tickets." + +"How do you know that, sir?" + +"'Cos I seed them." + +"Were you at Jedburgh, sir, in the month of April last?" + +"I was." + +"Do you recollect seeing me there?" + +"Perfectly." + +"Do you remember what passed upon that occasion?" + +"You was rather confluscated, I think." + +There was a general laugh. + +"Mr Strachan," said the judge mildly, "I am always sorry to interrupt a +young counsel, but I really cannot see the relevancy of these questions. +The Court can have nothing to do with your communications with the +witness. I presume I need not take a note of these latter answers." + +"Very well, my lord," said Tom, rather discomfited at being cut out of +his revenge on the bagman, "I shall ask him something else;" and he +commenced his examination in right earnest. Grobey, however, stood +steadfast to the letter of his previous testimony. + +Another witness was called; and to my surprise the Scottish Vidocq +appeared. He spoke to the apprehension and the search, and also to the +character of the prisoner. In his eyes she had long been chronicled as +habit and repute a thief. + +"You know the prisoner then?" said Strachan rising. + +"I do. Any time these three years." + +"Under what name is she known to you?" + +"Betsy Brown is her real name, but she has gone by twenty others." + +"By twenty, do you say?" + +"There or thereabouts. She always flies at high game; and, being a +remarkably clever woman, she passes herself off for a lady." + +"Have you ever seen her elsewhere than in Glasgow?" + +"I have." + +"Where?" + +"At Jedburgh." + +I cannot tell what impulse it was that made me twitch Strachan's gown at +this moment. It was not altogether a suspicion, but rather a +presentiment of coming danger. Strachan took the hint and changed his +line. + +"Can you specify any of her other names?" + +"I can. There are half-a-dozen of them here on the pawn-tickets. Shall I +read them?" + +"If you please." + +"One diamond ring, pledged in name of Lady Emily Delaroche. A garnet +brooch and chain--Miss Maria Mortimer. Three gold seals--Mrs Markham +Vere. A watch and three emerald studs--the Honourable Dorothea +Percy----" + +There was a loud shriek from the bar, and a bustle--the prisoner had +fainted. + +I looked at Strachan. He was absolutely as white as a corpse. + +"My dear Tom," said I, "hadn't you better go out into the open air?" + +"No!" was the firm reply; "I am here to do my duty, and I'll do it." + +And in effect, the Spartan boy with the fox gnawing into his side, did +not acquit himself more heroically than my friend. The case was a clear +one, no doubt, but Tom made a noble speech, and was highly complimented +by the Judge upon his ability. No sooner, however, had he finished it +than he left the Court. + +I saw him two hours afterwards. + +"Tom," said I, "About these emerald studs--I think I could get them back +from the Fiscal." + +"Keep them to yourself. I'm off to India." + +"Bah!--go down to the Highlands for a month." + +Tom did so; purveyed himself a kilt; met an heiress at the Inverness +Meeting, and married her. He is now the happy father of half-a-dozen +children, and a good many of us would give a trifle for his practice. +But to this day he is as mad as a March hare if an allusion is made in +his presence to any kind of studs whatsoever. + + + + +CAESAR. + + + Wake, Rome! destruction's at thy door. + Rouse thee! for thou wilt sleep no more + Till thou shalt sleep in death: + The tramp of storm-shod Mars is near-- + His chariot's thundering roll I hear, + His trumpet's startling breath. + Who comes?--not they, thy fear of old, + The blue-eyed Gauls, the Cimbrians bold, + Who like a hail-shower in the May + Came, and like hail they pass'd away; + But one with surer sword, + A child whom thou hast nursed, thy son, + Thy well-beloved, thy favoured one, + Thy Caesar comes--thy lord! + + The ghost of Marius walks to-night + By Anio's banks in shaggy plight, + And laughs with savage glee; + And Sylla from his loathsome death, + Scenting red Murder's reeking breath, + Doth rise to look on thee. + Signs blot the sky; the deep-vex'd earth + Breeds portents of a monstrous birth; + And augurs pale with fear have noted + The dark-vein'd liver strangely bloated, + Hinting some dire disaster. + To right the wrongs of human kind + Behold! the lordly Rome to bind, + A Roman comes--a master. + + He comes whom, nor the Belgic band, + The bravest Nervii might withstand + With pleasure-spurning souls + Nor they might give his star eclipse, + The sea-swept Celts with high-tower'd ships, + Where westmost ocean rolls. + Him broad-waved Rhine reluctant own'd + As 'neath the firm-set planks it groan'd, + Then, when the march of spoiling Rome + Stirr'd the far German's forest-home; + And when he show'd his rods + Back to their marshy dens withdrew + The Titan-hearted Suevians blue, + That dared the immortal gods. + + Him Britain from her extreme shores, + Where fierce the huge-heaved ocean roars, + Beholding, bent the knee. + Now, Pompey, now! from rushing Fate + Thy Rome redeem: but 'tis too late, + Nor lives that strength in thee. + In vain for thee State praises flow + From lofty-sounding Cicero; + Vainly Marcellus prates thy cause, + And Cato, true to parchment laws, + Protests with rigid hands: + The echo of a by-gone fame, + The shadow of a mighty name, + The far-praised Pompey stands. + + Lift up thine eyes, and see! Sheer down, + From where the Alps tremendous frown, + Strides War, which Julius leads: + Eager to follow, to pursue-- + Sleepless, to one high purpose true, + The prosperous soldier speeds. + He comes, all eye to scan, all hand + To do, the instinct of command; + With firm-set tread, and pointed will, + And harden'd courage, practised skill, + And anger-whetted sword: + A man to seize, and firmly hold-- + To his own use a world to mould-- + Rome's not unworthy lord! + + The little Rubicon doth brim + Its purple tide--a check for him, + Hinted, how vainly![15] He + All bounds and marks, the world's dull wonder, + Calmly o'erleaps, and snaps asunder + All reverend ties that be! + The soldier carries in his sword + The primal right by bridge or ford + To pass. Shall kingly Caesar fall + And kiss the ground--the Senate's thrall + And boastful Pompey's drudge? + Forthwith, with one bold plunge, is pass'd + The fateful flood--"the DIE is CAST; + Let Fortune be the judge!"[16] + + The day rose on Ariminum + With War's shrill cry--They come! they come! + Nor they unwelcomed came; + Pisauram, Fanum's shrine, and thou, + Ancon, with thy sea-fronting brow, + Own'd the great soldier's name. + And all Picenum's orchard-fields, + And the strong-forted Asculum yields: + And where, beyond high Apennine, + Clitumnus feeds the white, white kine; + And 'mid Pelignian hills-- + Short time, with his Corfinian bands, + Stout Aenobarbus stiffly stands + Where urgent Caesar wills![17] + + Flee, Pompey, flee! the ancient awe + Of magisterial rule and law, + Authority and state, + The Consul's name, the Lictor's rods, + The pomp of Capitolian gods, + Stem not the flooding fate. + Beneath the Volscian hills, and near + Where exiled Marius lurk'd in fear, + 'Mid stagnant Liris' marshes, there + Breathe first in that luxurious lair + Where famous Hannibal lay;[18] + Nor tarry; while the chance is thine. + Hie o'er the Samnian Apennine + To the far Calabrian bay! + + Wing thy sure speed! Who hounds thy path? + Fierce as the Furies in their wrath + The blood-stain'd wretch pursue, + He comes, Rome's tempest-footed son, + Victor, but deeming nothing done + While aught remains to do. + Above Brundusium's bosom'd bay + He stands, lashing the Adrian spray. + With piers of enterprise the sea + Her fleet-wing'd chariot trims for thee, + To the Greek coast to bear thee; + There, where Enipeus rolls his flood + Through storied fields made fat with blood,[19] + For fate's last blow prepare thee. + + There will thy dwindled hosts, increased + By kings and tetrarchs of the East, + And sons of swarthy Nile; + From Pontus and from Colchis far, + The gather'd ranks of motley war, + Let fortune seem to smile + A moment, that with sterner frown, + She, when she strikes, may strike thee down. + A flattering fool shall be thy guide,[20] + And hope shall whisper to thy pride + Things that may not befall. + Thy forward-springing wit shall boast + The numbers of thy counted host-- + That pride may have a fall. + + Hoar Pindus, from his rocky barriers, + Looks on thy ranks of gay-plumed warriors, + And sees an ominous sight: + The leafy tent for victory graced, + Foresnatching fate with impious haste + From gods that rule the fight. + Thus fools have perish'd; and thus thou, + Spurr'd to sheer death, art blinded now. + Feeble thy clouds of clattering horse + To dash his steady ordered force; + From twanging bow and sling + Dintless the missile hail is pour'd, + Where the Tenth Legion wields the sword, + And Caesar leads the wing.[21] + + 'Tis done. And sire to son shall tell + What on Emathian plains befell, + A God-ordain'd disaster; + How justice dealt the even blow, + And Rome that laid the nations low + Herself hath found a master. + Oh, had thou known thyself to rule, + That train'd the world in thy stern school, + Fate might have gentlier dealt; but now + Thyself thy proper Fury, thou + Hast struck the avenging blow. + On sandy Afric's treacherous shore, + Fresh from red Pharsaly's streaming gore, + Lies Rome with Pompey low. + + J. S. B. + +INVERURY, 1847. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] The Rubicon, which is a small torrent, a little north of _Rimini_ +(_Ariminum_), flowing into the Hadriatic, was, at the time of Caesar's +famous passage, swollen to a considerable stream by three days' +rain.--LUCAN, i. 213-19. + +[16] "'Hic,' ait--'hic pacem temerataque jura relinquo. + Te, Fortuna, sequor, procul hinc jam foedera sunto; + Credidunus Fatis, uterdum est judice bello.'"--LUCAN, i. 227. + +[17] Caesar met with no opposition in his march to Rome except from +Domitius Aenobarbus, who was stationed at Corfinium, amid the Apennines, +east of the Eucine lake. The line of march which Caesarr took, through +Picenum, was, as Gibbon has remarked, calculated at once to clear his +rear of the Pompeian party, and to frighten Pompey himself, not only out +of Rome, but, as actually happened, out of Italy. + +[18] Pompey fled to _Capua_, passing the marshes of _Minturnae_ at the +mouth of the _Liris_ (now the Garigliano), and from thence over the +Apennines, by the Via Appia, to Brundusium in the ancient _Calabria_. + +[19] An allusion to the battle of _Cynoscephalae_, which subjected +Macedonia to the Romans (B. C. 197.) The scene of this battle was on the +same plain of Thessaly through which the Enipeus flows into the Peneus, +passing by Pharsalus in its course. This alludes to the battle of +Dyrrachium, where Pompey was successful for a moment, only to revive in +his party that vain confidence and shallow conceit which was their +original ruin. + +[20] _Labienus_, Caesar's lieutenant in the Gallic war; but who +afterwards joined Pompey. He gave his new master bad advice.--_Bellum +Civile_, iii. + +[21] See the order of battle of both parties.--_Bellum Civile_, iii. 68, +69. + + + + + +REID AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMON SENSE.[22] + + +Although Dr Reid does not stand in the very highest rank of +philosophers, this incomparable edition of his works goes far to redress +his deficiencies, and to render his writings, taken in connexion with +the editorial commentaries, a most engaging and profitable study. It is +probable that the book derives much of its excellence from the very +imperfections of the textual author. Had Reid been a more learned man, +he might have failed to elicit the unparalleled erudition of his +editor,--had he been a clearer and closer thinker, Sir William +Hamilton's vigorous logic and speculative acuteness, would probably have +found a narrower field for their display. On the whole, we cannot wish +that Reid had been either more erudite or more perspicacious, so pointed +and felicitous is the style in which his errors are corrected, his +thoughts reduced to greater precision, his ambiguities pointed out and +cleared up, and his whole system set in its most advantageous light, by +his admiring, though by no means idolatrous editor. + +Besides being a model of editorship, this single volume is, in so far as +philosophy and the history of philosophical opinion are concerned, of +itself a literature. We must add, however, that Sir William Hamilton's +dissertations, though abundant, are not yet completed. Yet, in spite of +this drawback, the work is one which ought to wipe away effectually from +our country the reproach of imperfect learning and shallow speculation; +for in depth of thought, and extent and accuracy of knowledge, the +editor's own contributions are of themselves sufficient to bring up our +national philosophy (which had fallen somewhat into arrear) to a level +with that of the most scientific countries in Europe. + +In the remarks that are to follow, we shall confine ourselves to a +critique of the philosophy of Dr Reid, and of its collateral topics. Sir +William Hamilton's dissertations are too elaborate and important to be +discussed, unless in an article, or series of articles, devoted +exclusively to themselves. Should we appear in aught to press the +philosophy of common sense too hard, we conceive that our strictures +are, to a considerable extent, borne out by the admissions of Sir +William Hamilton himself, in regard to the tenets of the founder of the +school. And should some of our shafts glance off against the editor's +own opinions, he has only himself to blame for it. If we see a fatal +flaw in the constitution of all, and consequently of his, psychology, it +was his writings that first opened our eyes to it. So lucidly has he +explained certain philosophical doctrines, that they cannot stop at the +point to which he has carried them. They must be rolled forward into a +new development which perhaps may be at variance with the old one, where +he tarries. But his powerful arm first set the stone in motion, and he +must be content to let it travel whithersoever it may. He has taught +those who study him _to think_--and he must stand the consequences, +whether they think in unison with himself or not. We, conceive, however, +that even those who differ from him most, would readily own, that to his +instructive disquisitions they were indebted for at least one half of +all that they know of philosophy. + +In entering on an examination of the system of Dr Reid, we must ask +first of all, what is the great problem about which philosophers in all +ages have busied themselves most, and which consequently must have +engaged, and did engage, a large share of the attention of the champion +of Common Sense? We must also state the _fact_ which gives rise to the +problem of philosophy. + +The perception of a material universe, as it is the most prominent fact +of cognition, so has it given rise to the problem which has been most +agitated by philosophers. This question does not relate to the existence +of the fact. The existence of the perception of matter is admitted on +all hands. It refers to the nature, or origin, or constitution of the +fact. Is the perception of matter simple and indivisible, or is it +composite and divisible? Is it the ultimate, or is it only the +penultimate, _datum_ of cognition? Is it a relation constituted by the +concurrence of a mental or subjective, and a material or objective +element,--or do we impose upon ourselves in regarding it as such? Is it +a state, or modification of the human mind? Is it an effect that can be +distinguished from its cause? Is it an event consequent on the presence +of real antecedent objects? These interrogations are somewhat varied in +their form, but each of them embodies the whole point at issue, each of +them contains the cardinal question of philosophy. The perception of +matter is the admitted fact. The _character_ of this fact--that is the +point which speculation undertakes to canvass, and endeavours to +decipher. + +Another form in which the question may be put is this: We all believe in +the existence of matter--but what _kind_ of matter do we believe in the +existence of? matter _per se_, or matter _cum perceptione_? If the +former--this implies that the given fact (the perception of matter) is +compound and submits to analysis; if the latter--this implies that it is +simple and defies partition. + +Opposite answers to this question are returned by psychology and +metaphysics. In the estimation of metaphysic, the perception of matter +is the absolutely elementary in cognition, the _ne plus ultra_ of +thought. Reason cannot get beyond, or behind it. It has no pedigree. It +admits of no analysis. It is not a relation constituted by the +coalescence of an objective and a subjective element. It is not a state +or modification of the human mind. It is not an effect which can be +distinguished from its cause. It is not brought about by the presence of +antecedent realities. It is positively the FIRST, with no forerunner. +The perception-of-matter is one mental word, of which the verbal words +are mere syllables. We impose upon ourselves, and we also falsify the +fact, if we take any other view of it than this. Thus speaks metaphysic, +though perhaps not always with an unfaltering voice. + +Psychology, or the science of the human mind, teaches a very different +doctrine. According to this science, the perception of matter is a +secondary and composite truth. It admits of being analysed into a +subjective and an objective element--a mental modification called +perception on the one hand, and matter _per se_ on the other. It is an +effect induced by real objects. It is not the first _datum_ of +intelligence. It has matter itself for its antecedent. Such, in very +general terms, is the explanation of the perception of matter which +psychology proposes. + +Psychology and metaphysics are thus radically opposed to each other in +their solutions of the highest problem of speculation. Stated concisely, +the difference between them is this:--psychology regards the perception +of matter as susceptible of analytic treatment, and travels, or +endeavours to travel, beyond the given fact: metaphysic stops short in +the given fact, and there makes a stand, declaring it to be all +indissoluble unity. Psychology holds her analysis to be an analysis of +things. Metaphysic holds the psychological analysis to be an analysis +of sounds--and nothing more. + +These observations exhibit, in their loftiest generalisation, the two +counter doctrines on the subject of perception. We now propose to follow +them into their details, for the purpose both of eliciting the truth and +of arriving at a correct judgment in regard to the reformation which Dr +Reid is supposed to have effected in this department of philosophy. + +The psychological or analytic doctrine is the first which we shall +discuss, on account of its connexion with the investigations of Dr +Reid,--in regard to whom we may state, beforehand, our conclusion and +its grounds, which are these:--that Reid broke down in his philosophy, +both polemical and positive, because he assumed the psychological and +not the metaphysical doctrine of perception as the basis of his +arguments. He did not regard the perception of matter as absolutely +primary and simple; but in common with all psychologists, he conceived +that it admitted of being resolved into a mental condition, and a +material reality; and the consequence was, that he fell into the very +errors which it was the professed business of his life to denounce and +exterminate. How this catastrophe came about we shall endeavour shortly +to explain. + +Reid's leading design was to overthrow scepticism and idealism. In +furtherance of this intention, he proposed to himself the accomplishment +of two subsidiary ends,--the refutation of what is called the ideal or +representative theory of perception, and the substitution of a doctrine +of intuitive perception in its room. He takes, and he usually gets, +credit for having accomplished both of these objects. But if it be true +that the representative theory is but the inevitable development of the +doctrine which treats the perception of matter analytically, and if it +be true that Reid adopts this latter doctrine, it is obvious that his +claims cannot be admitted without a very considerable deduction. That +both of these things are true may be established, we think, beyond the +possibility of a doubt. + +In the first place, then, we have to show that the theory of a +representative perception (which Reid is supposed to have overthrown) is +identical with the doctrine which treats the perception of matter +analytically;--and, in the second, we have to show that Reid himself +followed the analytic or psychological procedure in his treatment of +this fact, and founded upon the analysis his own doctrine of perception. + +_First_, The representative theory is that doctrine of perception which +teaches that, in our intercourse with the external universe, we are not +immediately cognisant of real objects themselves, but only of certain +mental transcripts or images of them, which, in the language of the +different philosophical schools, were termed ideas, representations, +phantasms, or species. According to this doctrine we are cognisant of +real things, not in and through themselves, but in and through these +species or representations. The representations are the immediate or +proximate, the real things are the mediate or remote, objects of the +mind. The existence of the former is a matter of knowledge, the +existence of the latter is merely a matter of belief. + +To understand this theory, we must construe its nomenclature into, the +language of the present day. What, then, is the modern synonym for the +"ideas," "representations," "phantasms," and "species," which the theory +in question declares to be vicarious of real objects? There cannot be a +doubt that the word _perception_ is that synonym. So that the +representative theory, when fairly interpreted, amounts simply to +this;--that the mind is immediately cognisant, not of real objects +themselves, but _only of its own perceptions of real objects_. To accuse +the representationist of maintaining a doctrine more repugnant to common +sense than this, or in any way different from it, would be both +erroneous and unjust. The golden rule of philosophical criticism is, to +give every system the benefit of the most favourable interpretation +which it admits of. + +This, then, is the true version of representationism,--namely, that our +perceptions of material things, and not material things _per se_, are +the proximate objects of our consciousness when we hold intercourse with +the external universe. + +Now, this is a doctrine which inevitably emerges the instant that the +analysis of the perception of matter is set on foot and admitted. When a +philosopher divides, or imagines that he divides, the perception of +matter into two things, perception _and_ matter, holding the former to +be a state of his own mind, and the latter to be no such state; he does, +in that analysis, and without saying one other word, avow himself to be +a thoroughgoing representationist. For his analysis declares that, in +perception, the mind has an immediate or proximate, and a mediate or +remote object. Its perception of matter is the proximate object--the +object of its consciousness; matter itself, the material existence, is +the remote object--the object of its belief. But such a doctrine is +representationism, in the strictest sense of the word. It is the very +essence and definition of the representative theory to recognise, in +perception, a remote as well as a proximate object of the mind. Every +system which does this, is necessarily a representative system. The +doctrine which treats the perception of matter analytically does this; +therefore the analytic or psychological doctrine is identical with the +representative theory. Both hold that the perceptive process involves +two objects--an immediate and a mediate; and nothing more is required to +establish their perfect identity. The analysis of the fact which we call +the perception of matter, is unquestionably the groundwork and pervading +principle of the theory of a representative perception, whatever form of +expression this scheme may at any time have assumed. + +_Secondly_, Did Dr Reid go to work analytically in his treatment of the +perception of matter? Undoubtedly he did. He followed the ordinary +psychological practice. He regarded the _datum_ as divisible into +perception and matter. The perception he held to be an act, if not a +modification, of our minds; the matter, he regarded as something which +existed out of the mind and irrespective of all perception. Right or +wrong, he resolved, or conceived that he had resolved, the perception of +matter into its constituent elements--these being a mental operation on +the one hand, and a material existence on the other. In short, however +ambiguous many of Dr Reid's principles may be, there can be no doubt +that he founded his doctrine of perception on an analysis of the given +fact with which he had to deal. He says, indeed, but little about this +analysis, so completely does he take it for granted. He accepted, as a +thing of course, the notorious distinction between the perception of +matter and matter itself: and, in doing so, he merely followed the +example of all preceding psychologists. + +These two points being established,--_first_, that the theory of +representationism necessarily arises out of an analysis of the +perception of matter; and _secondly_, that Reid analysed or accepted the +analysis of this fact,--it follows as a necessary consequence, that +Reid, so far from having overthrown the representative theory, was +himself a representationist. His analysis gave him more than he +bargained for. He wished to obtain only one, that is, only a proximate +object in perception; but his analysis necessarily gave him two: it gave +him a remote as well as a proximate object. The mental mode or operation +which he calls the perception of matter, and which he distinguishes from +matter itself, this, in his philosophy, is the proximate object of +consciousness, and is precisely equivalent to the species, phantasms, +representations of the older psychology; the real existence, matter +itself, which he distinguishes from the perception of it, this is the +remote object of the mind, and is precisely equivalent to the mediate or +represented object of the older psychology. He and therepresentationists, +moreover, agree in hold ing that the latter is the object of belief rather +than of knowledge. + +The merits of Dr Reid, then, as a reformer of philosophy, amount in our +opinion to this:--he was among the first[23] to _say_ and to _write_ +that the representative theory of perception was false and erroneous, +and was the fountainhead of scepticism and idealism. But this admission +of his merits must be accompanied by the qualification that he adopted, +as the basis of his philosophy, a principle which rendered nugatory all +his protestations. It is of no use to disclaim a conclusion if we accept +the premises which inevitably lead to it. Dr Reid disclaimed the +representative theory, but he embraced its premises, and thus he +virtually ratified the conclusions of the very system which he +clamourously denounced. In his language, he is opposed to +representationism, but in his doctrine, he lends it the strongest +support, by accepting as the foundation of his philosophy an analysis of +the perception of matter. + +In regard to the _second_ end which Dr Reid is supposed to have +overtaken,--the establishment of a doctrine of intuitive as opposed to a +doctrine of representative perception, it is unnecessary to say much. If +we have proved him to be a representationist, he cannot be held to be an +intuitionist. Indeed, a doctrine of intuitive perception is a sheer +impossibility upon his principles. A doctrine of intuition implies that +the mind in perceiving matter has only one, namely, a proximate object. +But the analysis of the perception of matter yields as its result, a +remote as well as a proximate object. The proximate object is the +perception--the remote object is the reality. And thus the analysis of +the given fact necessarily renders abortive every endeavour to construct +a doctrine of intuitive perception. The attempt _must_ end in +representationism. The only basis for a doctrine of intuitive perception +which will never give way, is a resolute forbearance from all analysis +of the fact. Do not tamper with it, and you are safe. + +Such is the judgment which we are reluctantly compelled to pronounce on +the philosophy of Dr Reid in reference to its two cardinal claims--the +refutation of the ideal theory, and the establishment of a truer +doctrine--a doctrine of intuitive perception. In neither of these +undertakings do we think that he has succeeded, and we have exhibited +the grounds of our opinion. We do not blame him for this: he simply +missed his way at the outset. Representationism could not possibly be +avoided, neither could intuitionism be possibly fallen in with, on the +analytic road which he took. + +But we have not yet done with the consideration of the psychological or +analytic doctrine of perception. We proceed to examine the entanglements +in which reason gets involved when she accepts the perception of matter +not in its natural and indissoluble unity, but as analysed by +philosophers into a mental and a material factor. We have still an eye +to Dr Reid. He came to the rescue of reason--how did it fare with him in +the struggle? + +The analysis so often referred to affords a starting point, as has been +shown, to representationism: it is also the tap-root of scepticism and +idealism. These four things hang together in an inevitable sequence. +Scepticism and idealism dog representationism, and representationism +dogs the analysis of the perception of matter, just as obstinately as +substance is dogged by shadow. More explicitly stated, the order in +which they move is this:--The analysis divides the perception of matter +into perception and matter--two separate things. Upon this, +representationism declares, that the perception is the proximate and +that the matter is the remote object of the mind. Then scepticism +declares, that the existence of the matter which has been separated from +the perception is problematical, because it is not the direct object of +consciousness, and is consequently hypothetical. And, last of all, +idealism takes up the ball and declares, that this hypothetical matter +is not only problematical, but that it is non-existent. These are the +perplexities which rise up to embarrass reason whenever she is weak +enough to accept from philosophers their analysis of the perception of +matter. They are only the just punishment of her infatuated facility. +But what has Reid done to extricate reason from her embarrassments? + +We must remember that Reid commenced with analysis, and that +consequently he embraced representationism,--in its spirit, if not +positively in its letter. But how did he evade the fangs of scepticism +and idealism--to say nothing of destroying--these sleuth-hounds which on +this road were sure to be down upon his track the moment they got wind +of him? We put the question in a less figurative form,--When scepticism +and idealism doubted or denied the independent existence of matter, how +did Reid vindicate it? He faced about and appealed boldly to our +instinctive and irresistible _belief_ in its independent existence. + +The crisis of the strife centres in this appeal. In itself, the appeal +is perfectly competent and legitimate. But it may be met, on the part of +the sceptic and idealist, by two modes of tactic. The one tactic is +weak, and gives an easy triumph to Dr Reid: the other is more +formidable, and, in our opinion, lays him prostrate. + +_The first Sceptical Tactic._ In answer to Dr Reid's appeal, the sceptic +or idealist may say, "Doubtless we have a belief in the independent +existence of matter; but this belief is not to be trusted. It is an +insufficient guarantee for that which it avouches. It does not follow +that a thing is true because we instinctively believe it to be true. It +does not follow that matter exists because we cannot but believe it to +exist. You must prove its existence by a better argument than mere +belief."--This mode of meeting the appeal we hold to be pure trifling. +We join issue with Dr Reid in maintaining that our nature is not rooted +in delusion, and that the primitive convictions of common sense, must be +accepted as infallible. If the sceptic admits that we _have_ a natural +belief in the independent existence of matter, there is an end to him: +Dr Reid's victory is secure. This first tactic is a feeble and mistaken +manoeuvre. + +_The Second Sceptical Tactic._ This position is not so easily turned. +The stronghold of the sceptic and idealist is this: they deny the +primitive belief to which Dr Reid appeals to be _the fact_. It is not +true, they say, that any man believes in the independent existence of +matter. And this is perfectly obvious the moment that it is explained. +Matter in its _independent_ existence, matter _per se_, is matter +disengaged in thought from all perception of it present or remembered. +Now, does any man believe in the existence of such matter? +Unquestionably not. No man by any possibility can. What the matter is +which man really believes in shall be explained when we come to speak of +the metaphysical solution of the problem--perhaps sooner. Meanwhile we +remark that Dr Reid's appeal to the conviction of common sense in favour +of the existence of matter _per se_, is rebutted, and in our opinion +triumphantly, by the denial on the part of scepticism and idealism that +any such belief exists. Scepticism and idealism not only deny the +independent existence of matter, but they deny that any man believes in +the independent existence of matter. And in this denial they are most +indubitably right. For observe what such a belief requires as its +condition. A man must disengage in thought, a tree, for instance, from +the thought of all perception of it, and then he must believe in its +existence thus disengaged. If he has not disengaged, in his mind, the +tree from its perception, (from its present perception, if the tree be +before him--from its remembered perception, if it be not before him,) he +cannot believe in the existence of the tree disengaged from its +perception; for the tree is not disengaged from its perception. But +unless he believes in the existence of the tree disengaged from its +perception, he does not believe in the independent existence of the +tree,--in the existence of the tree _per se_. Now, can the mind by any +effort effect this disengagement? The thing is an absolute +impossibility. The condition on which the belief hinges cannot be +purified, and consequently the belief itself cannot be entertained. + +People have, then, _no belief_ in the independent existence of +matter--that is, in the existence of matter entirely denuded of +perception. This point being proved, what becomes of Dr Reid's appeal to +_this belief_ in support of matter's independent existence? It has not +only no force; it has no meaning. This second tactic is invincible. +Scepticism and idealism are perfectly in the right when they refuse to +accept as the guarantee of independent matter a belief which itself has +no manner of existence. How can they be vanquished by an appeal to a +nonentity? + +A question may here be raised. If the belief in question be not the +fact, what has hitherto prevented scepticism from putting a final +extinguisher on Reid's appeal by _proving_ that no such belief exists? A +very sufficient reason has prevented scepticism, from doing this--from +explicitly extinguishing the appeal. There is a division of labour in +speculation as well as in other pursuits. It is the sceptic's business +simply to deny the existence of the belief: it is no part of his +business to exhibit the grounds of his denial. _We_ have explained these +grounds; but were the sceptic to do this, he would be travelling out of +his vocation. Observe how the case stands. The reason why matter _per +se_ is not and cannot be believed in, is because it is impossible for +thought to disengage matter from perception, and consequently it is +impossible for thought to believe in the disengaged existence of matter. +The matter to be, believed in is not disengaged from the perception, +consequently it cannot be believed to be disengaged from the perception. +But unless it be believed to be disengaged from the perception, it +cannot be believed to exist _per se_. In short, as we have already said, +the impossibility of complying with the _condition_ of the belief is the +ground on which the sceptic denies the _existence_ of the belief. But +the sceptic is himself debarred from producing these grounds. Why? +Because their exhibition would be tantamount to a rejection of the +principle which he has _accepted_ at the hands of the orthodox and +dogmatic psychologist. That principle is the analysis so often spoken +of--the separation, namely, of the perception of matter into perception +and matter _per se_. The sceptic accepts this analysis. His business is +simply to _accept_, not to discover or scrutinise principles. Having +accepted the analysis, he then denies that any belief attaches to the +existence of matter _per se_. In this he is quite right. But he cannot, +consistently with his calling, exhibit the ground of his denial; for +this ground is, as we have shown, the impossibility of performing the +analysis,--of effecting the requisite disengagement. But the sceptic has +accepted the analysis, has admitted the disengagement. He therefore +cannot now retract: and he has no wish to retract. His special +mission--his only object is to confound the principle which he has +accepted by means of the reaction of its consequence. The inevitable +consequence which ensues when the analysis of the perception of matter +is admitted is the extinction of all belief in the existence of matter. +The analysis gives us a kind of matter to believe in to which no belief +corresponds. The sceptic is content with pronouncing this to be the fact +without going into its reason. It is not his business to correct, by a +direct exposure, the error of the principle which the dogmatist lays +down, and which he accepts. The analysis is the psychologist's affair; +let _him_ look to it. Were the sceptic to make it his, he would emerge, +from the sceptical crisis, and pass into a new stage of speculation. He, +indeed, subverts it indirectly by a _reductio ad absurdum_. But he does +not _say_ that he subverts it--he leaves the orthodox proposer of the +principle to find that out. + +Reid totally misconceived the nature of scepticism and idealism in their +bearings on this problem. He regarded them as habits of thought--as +dispositions of mind peculiar to certain individuals of vexatious +character and unsound principles, instead of viewing them as catholic +eras in the development of all genuine speculative thinking. In his eyes +they were subjective crotchets limited to some, and not objective crises +common to all, who think. He made _personal_ matters of them--a thing +not to be endured. For instance, in dealing with Hume, he conceived that +the scepticism which confronted him in the pages of that great genius, +was _Hume's_ scepticism, and was not the scepticism of human nature at +large,--was not his own scepticism just as much as it was Hume's. _His_ +soul, so he thought, was free from the obnoxious flaw, merely because +_his_ anatomy, shallower than Hume's, refused to lay it bare. With such +views it was impossible for Reid to eliminate scepticism and idealism +from philosophy. These foes are the foes of each man's own house and +heart, and nothing can be made of them if we attack them in the person +of another. Ultimately and fairly to get rid of them, a man must first +of all thoroughly digest them, and take them up into the vital +circulation of his own reason. The only way of putting them back is by +carrying them forward. + +From having never properly secreted scepticism and idealism in his own +mind, Reid fell into the commission of one of the gravest errors of +which a philosopher can be guilty. He falsified the fact in regard to +our primitive beliefs--a thing which the obnoxious systems against which +he was fighting never did. He conceived that scepticism and idealism +called in question a fact which was countenanced by a natural belief; +accordingly, he confronted their denial with the allegation that the +disputed fact--the existence of matter _per se_--was guaranteed by a +primitive conviction of our nature. But this fact receives no support +from any such source. There is no belief in the whole repository of the +mind which can be fitted on to the existence of matter denuded of all +perception. Therefore, in maintaining the contrary, Reid falsified the +fact in regard to our primitive convictions--in regard to those +principles of common sense which he professed to follow as his guide. +This was a serious slip. The rash step which he here took plunged him +into a much deeper error than that of the sceptic or idealist. They +err[24] in common with him in accepting as their starting-point the +analysis of the perception of matter. He errs, by himself, in +maintaining that there is a belief where no belief exists. + +But do not scepticism and idealism doubt matter's existence +_altogether_, or deny to it _any_ kind of existence? Certainly they do; +and in harmony with the principle from which they start they must do +this. The _only_ kind of matter which the analysis of the perception of +matter yields, is matter _per se_. The existence of such matter is, as +we have shown, altogether uncountenanced either by consciousness or +belief. But there is no other kind of matter in the field. We must +therefore either believe in the existence of matter _per se_, or we must +believe in the existence of _no_ matter whatever. We do not, and we +cannot believe in the existence of matter _per se_; therefore, we cannot +believe in the existence of matter at all. This is not satisfactory, but +it is closely consequential. + +But why not, it may be said--why not cut the knot, and set the question +at rest, by admitting at once that every man _does_, popularly speaking, +believe in the existence of matter, and that he practically walks in the +light of that belief during every moment of his life? This observation +tempts us into a digression, and we shall yield to the temptation. The +problem of perception admits of being treated in _three_ several ways: +_first_, we may ignore it altogether,--we may refuse to entertain it at +all; or, _secondly_, we may discuss it in the manner just proposed--we +may lay it down as gospel that everyman does believe in the existence of +matter, and acts at all times upon this conviction, and we may expatiate +diffusely over these smooth truths; or, _thirdly_, we may follow and +contemplate the subtle and often perplexed windings which reason takes +in working her way through the problem--a problem which, though +apparently clearer than the noonday sun, is really darker than the +mysteries of Erebus. In short, we may _speculate_ the problem. In +grappling with it, we may trust ourselves to the mighty current of +_thinking_, with all its whirling eddies,--certain that if our thinking +be genuine objective thinking, which deals with nothing but +_ascertained_ facts--it will bring us at last into the haven of truth. +We now propose to consider which of these modes of treating the problem +is the best; we shall begin by making a few remarks upon the _second_, +for it was this which brought us to a stand, and seduced us into the +present digression. + +It is, no doubt, perfectly true, that we all believe in the existence +of matter, and that we all act up to this belief. But surely that +statement is not a thing, to be put into a book and _sold_. It is not +even a thing which one man is entitled to tell _gratuitously_ to another +man who knows it just as well as he does. It must be admitted upon a +moment's reflection, that to communicate such information is to trifle +with people's patience in an intolerable degree, is to trespass most +abominably upon public or upon private indulgence. What, then, shall we +say, when we find this kind of truth not only gravely imparted, but +vehemently reiterated and enforced by scientific men, as it is in the +pages of Dr Reid and other celebrated expounders of the philosophy of +the human mind? We shall only say, that the economy of science is less +understood than that of commerce; and that while material articles, such +as air and sunshine, which are accessible to all, are for that reason +excluded from the market of trade, many intellectual wares, which are at +least equally accessible, are most preposterously permitted to have a +place in the market of science. Such wares are the instinctive +principles of Dr Reid. To inform a man that the material universe +exists, and that he believes in its existence, is to take for granted +that he is an idiot. + +The circumstance which led the philosophers of Common Sense to traffic +in this kind of article, was perhaps the notion that truths had a value +in communication in proportion to their _importance_ to mankind. But +that is a most mistaken idea. The most important truths have absolutely +no value in communication. The truth that "each of us exists"--the truth +"that each of us is the same person to-day that he was yesterday," the +truth that "a material universe exists, and that we believe in its +existence,"--all these are most important truths--most important things +to know. It is difficult to see how we could get on without this +knowledge. Yet they are not worth one straw in communication. And why +not? Just for the same reason that atmospheric air, though absolutely +indispensable to our existence, has no value whatever in exchange--this +reason being that we can get, and have already got, both the air and the +truths, in unlimited abundance for nothing,--and thanks to no man. Why +_give_ a man what he has already _got_ to his heart's content--why +_teach_ him what he already _knows_ even to repletion? + +It is not its importance, then, which confers upon truth its value in +communication. In other words, it is a most superfluous civility for one +man to impart truth to another, solely because it happens to be +important. If the important truth be already perfectly well known to the +recipient, and if the imparter of it is aware that the recipient knows +it just as well as he does,--"thank you _for nothing_" is, we think, the +mildest reply that could be made in the circumstances. The fact is, that +the value of truth is measured by precisely the same standard which +determines the value of wealth. This standard is in neither case the +importance of the article,--it is always its difficulty of +attainment,--its cost of production. Has _labour_ been expended on its +formation or acquisition; then the article, if a material commodity, has +a value in exchange--if a truth, it has a value in communication. Has no +labour been bestowed upon it, and has Nature herself furnished it to +every human being in overflowing abundance, then the thing is altogether +destitute of exchange-value--whether it be an article of matter or of +mind. No man can, without impertinence, transmit or convey such a +commodity to his neighbour. + +If this be the law on the subject, (and we conceive that it must be so +ruled) it settles the question as to the _second_ mode of dealing with +the problem of perception. It establishes the point that this method of +treating the problem is not to be permitted. It is _tabooed_ by the very +nature of things. Air and sunshine are excellent and most important +articles, but they are not things to carry to market in +bottles,--because no labour is required to produce them, and because +they are the gratuitous and abundant property of every living soul. In +the same way, the existence of a material universe--and the fact that +we believe in its existence--these are most important truths; but they +are not things to take to market in books, and for a like reason. They +are important things to _know_, but they are not important things to +_tell_. We conceive, in short, that Nature, by rendering these and +similar truths unreservedly patent to the whole human race, has affixed +to them her own contraband,--interdicting their communication; and that +Dr Reid, in making them the staple of his publications, was fighting +against an eternal law. He undertook to teach the world certain truths +connected with perception, which by his own admission the world already +knew just as well as he did--and which required no labour for their +production. This way of going to work with any problem, is certainly not +the best. These remarks settle, we think, the general pretensions of the +philosophy of Common Sense. In justice, however, to this philosophy, we +must not omit to mention, that Sir William Hamilton has adduced the +evidence of no less than one hundred and six witnesses, whose testimony +goes to establish that it is a [Greek: ktema es aei]--a perpetual +possession, "a _joy_ for ever." + +The _first_ and _third_ modes of dealing with our problem remain to be +considered. The first mode ignores the problem altogether, it refuses to +have any thing to do with it. Perhaps this mode is the best of the +three. We will not say that it is not: it is at any rate preferable to +the second. But once admit that philosophy is a legitimate occupation, +and this mode must be set aside, for it is a negation of all philosophy. +Every thing depends upon this admission. But the admission is, we +conceive, a point which has been already, and long ago decided. Men must +and will philosophise. That being the case, the only alternative left +is, that we should discuss the highest problem of philosophy in the +terms of the _third_ mode proposed. We have called this the speculative +method--which means nothing more than that we should expend upon the +investigation the uttermost toil and application of thought; and that we +should estimate the truths which we arrive at, not by the scale of their +importance, but by the scale of their difficulty of attainment,--of +their cost of production. _Labour_, we repeat it, is the standard which +measures the value of truth, as well as the value of wealth. + +A still more cogent argument in favour of the strictly speculative +treatment of the problem is this. The problem of perception may be said +to be a _reversed_ problem. What are the means in every other problem, +are in _this_ problem the end--and what is the end in every other +problem, is in this problem the means. In every other problem the +solution of the problem is the end desiderated: the means are the +thinking requisite for its solution. But here the case is inverted. In +_our_ problem the desiderated solution is the means, the end is the +development, or, we should rather say, the creation of speculative +thought--a kind of thought different altogether from ordinary popular +thinking. "Oh! then," some one will perhaps exclaim, "after all, the +whole question about perception resolves it into a _mere gymnastic_ of +the mind." Good sir--do you know what you are saying? Do _you_ think +that the mind itself is any thing except a mere gymnastic of the mind. +If you do--you are most deplorably mistaken. Most assuredly the mind +only _is_ what the mind _does_. The existence of thought is the exercise +of thought. Now if this be true, there is the strongest possible reason +for treating the problem after a purely speculative fashion. The problem +and its desired solution--these are only the means which enable a new +species of thinking, (and that the very highest) viz. speculative +thinking, to deploy into existence. This deployment is the end. But how +can this end be attained if we check the speculative evolution in its +first movements, by throwing ourselves into the arms of the _apparently_ +Common Sense convictions of Dr Reid? We use the word "apparently," +because, in reference to this problem, the apparently Common Sense +convictions of Dr Reid, are not the _really_ Common Sense convictions of +mankind. These latter can only be got at through the severest discipline +of speculation. + +Our final answer, then, to the question which led us into this +digression is this:--It is quite true that the material world exists: it +is quite true that we believe in this existence, and always act in +conformity with our faith. Whole books may be written in confirmation of +these truths. They may be published and paraded in a manner which +apparently settles the entire problem of perception. And yet this is not +the right way to go to work. It settles nothing but what all men, women, +and children have already settled. The truths thus formally +substantiated were produced without an effort--every one has already got +from Nature at least as much of them as he cares to have; and therefore, +whatever their importance may be, they cannot, with any sort of +propriety, be made the subjects of conveyance from man to man. We must +either leave the problem altogether alone, (a thing, however, which we +should have thought of sooner,) or we must adopt the speculative +treatment. The argument, moreover, contained in the preceding paragraph, +appears to render this treatment imperative; and accordingly we now +return to it, after our somewhat lengthened digression. + +We must take up the thread of our discourse at the point where we +dropped it. The crisis to which the discussion had conducted us was +this; that the existence of matter could not be believed in _at all_. +The psychological analysis necessarily lands us in this conclusion: for +the psychological analysis gives us, for matter, nothing but matter _per +se_. But matter _per se_ is what no man does or can believe in. We are +reluctant to reiterate the proof; but it is this: to believe in the +existence of matter _per se_ is to believe in the existence of matter +liberated from perception; but we, cannot believe in the existence of +matter liberated from perception, for no power of thinking will liberate +matter from perception; therefore, we cannot believe in the existence of +matter _per se_. This argument admits of being exhibited in a still more +forcible form. We commence with an illustration. If a man believes that +a thing exists as one thing, he cannot believe that this same thing +exists as another thing. For instance, if a man believes that a tree +exists as a tree, he cannot believe that it exists as a house. Apply +this to the subject in hand. If a man believes that matter exists as a +thing _not_ disengaged from perception, he cannot believe that it exists +as a thing _disengaged_ from perception. Now, there cannot be a doubt +that the _only_ kind of matter in which man believes is matter _not_ +disengaged from perception. He therefore cannot believe in matter +_disengaged_ from perception. His mind is already preoccupied by the +belief that matter is _this one thing_, and, therefore, he cannot +believe that it is _that other thing_. His faith is, in this instance, +forestalled, just as much as his faith is forestalled from believing +that a tree is a house, when he already believes that it is a tree. + +There are two very good reasons, then, why we cannot believe in the +existence of matter at all, if we accept as our starting point the +psychological analysis. This analysis gives us, for matter, matter _per +se_. But matter _per se_ cannot be believed in; 1st, because the +condition on which the belief depends cannot be complied with; and, +2dly, because the matter which we _already_ believe in is something +quite different from matter _per se_. In trying to believe in the +existence of matter _per se_, we always find that we are believing in +the existence of _something else_, namely, in the existence of matter +_cum perceptione_. But it is not to the psychological analysis that we +are indebted for this matter, which is something else than matter _per +se_. The psychological analysis does its best to annihilate it. It gives +us nothing but matter _per se_,--a thing which neither is nor can be +believed in. We are thus prevented from believing in the existence of +_any_ kind of matter. In a word, the psychological analysis of the +perception of matter necessarily converts who embrace it into sceptics +or idealists. + +In this predicament what shall we do? Shall we abandon the analysis as a +treacherous principle, or shall we, with Dr Reid, make one more stand in +its defence? In order that the analysis may have fair play we shall give +it another chance, by quoting Mr Stewart's exposition of Reid's +doctrine, which must be regarded as a perfectly faithful +representation:--"Dr Reid," says Mr Stewart, "was the first person who +had courage to lay completely aside all the common _hypothetical_ +language concerning perception, and to exhibit _the difficulty_, in all +its magnitude, by a plain _statement of the fact_. To what, then, it may +be asked, does this statement amount? Merely to this; that the mind is +so formed that certain impressions produced on our organs of sense, by +external objects, are _followed_ by corresponding sensations, and that +these sensations, (which have no more resemblance to the qualities of +matter, than the words of a language have to the things they denote,) +are _followed_ by a perception of the existence and qualities of the +bodies by which the impressions are made;--that all the steps of this +process are equally incomprehensible."[25] There are at least two points +which are well worthy of being attended to in this quotation. _First_, +Mr Stewart says that Reid "exhibited the difficulty of the problem of +perception, in all its magnitude, by a plain statement of fact." What +does that mean? It means this; that Reid stated, indeed, the fact +correctly--namely, _that_ external objects give rise to sensations and +perceptions, but that still his statement did not penetrate to the heart +of the business, but by his own admission, left the difficulty +undiminished. What difficulty? The difficulty as to _how_ external +objects give rise to sensations and perceptions. Reid did not undertake +to settle that point--a wise declinature, in the estimation of Mr +Stewart. Now Mr Stewart, understanding, as he did, the philosophy of +causation, ought to have known that every difficulty as to _how_ one +thing gives rise to another, is purely a difficulty of the mind's +creation, and not of nature's making, and is, therefore, no difficulty +at all. Let us explain this,--a man says he knows _that_ fire explodes +gunpowder; but he does not know _how_ or by what means it does this. +Suppose, then, he finds out the means, he is still just where he was; he +must again ask how or by what means these discovered means explode the +gunpowder; and so on _ad infinitum_. Now the mind may quibble with +itself for ever, and _make_ what difficulties it pleases in this way; +but there is no _real_ difficulty in the case. In considering any +sequence, we always know the _how_ or the means as soon as we know the +_that_ or the fact. These means may be more proximate or more remote +means, but they are invariably given either proximately or remotely +along with and in the fact. As soon as we know _that_ fire explodes +gunpowder, we know _how_ fire explodes gunpowder,--for fire is itself +the means which explodes gunpowder,--the _how_ by which it is ignited. +In the same way, _if_ we knew that matter gave rise to perception, there +would be no difficulty as to _how_ it did so. Matter would be itself the +means which gave rise to perception. We conceive, therefore, that Mr +Stewart did not consider what he was saying when he affirmed that Reid's +plain statement of facts exhibited _the difficulty_ in all its +magnitude. If Reid's statement _be_ a statement of fact, all difficulty +vanishes,--the question of perception is relieved from every species of +perplexity. If it _be_ the fact that perception is consequent on the +presence of matter, Reid must be admitted to have explained, to the +satisfaction of all mankind, _how_ perception is brought about. Matter +is itself the means by which it is brought about. + +_Secondly_, then--Is it the fact that matter gives rise to perception? +That is the question. Is it the fact that these two things stand to each +other in the relation of antecedent and consequent? Reid's "plain +statement of fact," as reported by Mr Stewart, maintains that they do. +Reid lays it down as a fact, that perceptions _follow_ sensations, that +sensations _follow_ certain impressions made on our organs of sense by +external objects, which stand first in the series. The sequence, then, +is this--1_st_, Real external objects; 2_d_, Impressions made on our +organs of sense; 3_d_, Sensations; 4_th_, Perceptions. It will simplify +the discussion if we leave out of account Nos. 2 and 3, limiting +ourselves to the statement that real objects precede perceptions. This +is declared to be a fact--of course an _observed_ fact; for a fact can +with no sort of propriety be called a fact, unless some person or other +has _observed_ it. Reid "laid completely aside all the common +_hypothetical_ language concerning perception." His plain statement (so +says Mr Stewart) contains nothing but facts--facts established, of +course, by observation. It is a fact of observation then, according to +Reid, that real objects precede perceptions; that perceptions follow +when real objects are present. Now, when a man proclaims as fact such a +sequence as this, what must he first of all have done? He must have +observed the antecedent _before_ it was followed by the consequent; he +must have observed the cause out of combination with the effect; +otherwise his statement is a pure hypothesis or fiction. For instance, +when a man says that a shower of rain (No. 1), is followed by a +refreshed vegetation (No. 2), he must have observed both No. 1 and No. +2, and he must have observed them as two separate things. Had he never +observed any thing but No. 2 (the refreshed vegetation), he might form +what conjectures he pleased in regard to its antecedent, but he never +could lay it down _as an observed fact_, that this antecedent was a +shower of rain. In the same way, when a man affirms it to be a fact of +observation (as Dr Reid does, according to Stewart) that material +objects are _followed_ by perceptions, it is absolutely necessary for +the credit of his statement that he should have observed this to be the +case; that he should have observed material objects before they were +followed by perceptions; that he should have observed the antecedent +separate from the consequent: otherwise his statement, instead of being +complimented as a plain statement of fact, must be condemned as a +tortuous statement of hypothesis. Unless he has observed No. 1 and No. 2 +in sequence, he is not entitled to declare that this is an observed +sequence. Now, did Reid, or did any man ever observe matter anterior to +his perception of it? Had Reid a faculty which enabled him to catch +matter before it had passed in to perception? Did he ever observe it, as +Hudibras says, "undressed?" Mr Stewart implies that he had such a +faculty. But the notion is preposterous. No man can observe matter prior +to his perception of it; for his observation of it presupposes his +perception of it. Our observation of matter _begins_ absolutely with the +perception of it. Observation always gives the perception of matter as +the _first_ term in the series, and not matter itself. To pretend (as +Reid and Stewart do) that observation can go behind perception, and lay +hold of matter before it has given rise to perception--this is too +ludicrous a doctrine to be even mentioned; and we should not have +alluded to it, but for the countenance which it has received from the +two great apostles of common sense. + +This last bold attempt, then, on the part of Reid and Stewart (for +Stewart adopts the doctrine which he reports) to prop their tottering +analysis on direct observation and experience, must be pronounced a +failure. Reid's "plain statement of fact" is not a _true_ statement of +_observed_ fact; it is a vicious statement of _conjectured_ fact. +Observation depones to the existence of the perception of matter as the +first _datum_ with which it has to deal, but it depones to the existence +of nothing anterior to this. + +But will not abstract thinking bear out the analysis by yielding to us +matter _per se_ as a legitimate inference of reason? No; it will do +nothing of the kind. To make good this inference, observe what abstract +thinking must do. It must bring under the notice of the mind matter _per +se_ (No. 1) as something which is _not_ the perception of it (No. 2): +but whenever thought tries to bring No. 1 under the notice of the mind, +it is No. 2 (or the perception of matter) which invariably comes. We may +ring for No. 1, but No. 2 always answers the bell. We may labour to +construe a tree _per se_ to the mind, but what we always _do_ construe +to the mind is the perception of a tree. What we want is No. 1, but what +we always get is No. 2. To unravel the thing explicitly--the manner in +which we impose upon ourselves is this:--As explanatory of the +perceptive process, we construe to our minds _two number twos_, and one +of these we _call_ No. 1. For example, we have the perception of a tree +(No. 2); we wish to think the tree itself (No. 1) as that which gives +rise to the perception. But this No. 1 is merely No. 2 over again. _It_ +is thought of as the perception of a tree, _i. e._ as No. 2. We _call_ +it the tree itself, or No. 1; but we _think_ it as the perception of the +tree, or as No. 2. The first or explanatory term (the matter _per se_) +is merely a repetition in thought (though called by a different name) of +the second term--the term to be explained--viz. the perception of +matter. Abstract thinking, then, equally with direct observation, +refuses to lend any support to the analysis; for a thing cannot be said +to be analysed when it is merely multiplied or repeated, which is all +that abstract thinking does in regard to the perception of matter. The +matter _per se_, which abstract thinking supposes that it separates from +the perception of matter, is merely an iteration of the perception of +matter. + +Our conclusion therefore is, that the analysis of the perception of +matter into the two things, perception and matter (the ordinary +psychological principle), must, on all accounts, be abandoned. It is +both treacherous and impracticable. + +Before proceeding to consider the metaphysical solution of the problem, +we shall gather up into a few sentences the reasonings which in the +preceding discussion are diffused over a considerable surface. The +ordinary, or psychological doctrine of perception, reposes upon an +analysis of the perception of matter into two separate things,--a +modification of our minds (the one thing) consequent on the presence of +matter _per se_, which is the other thing. This analysis inevitably +leads to a theory of representative perception, because it yields as its +result a proximate and a remote object. It is the essence of +representationism to recognise both of these as instrumental in +perception. But representationism leads to scepticism--for it is +possible that the remote or real object (matter _per se_), not being an +object of consciousness, may not be instrumental in the process. +Scepticism doubts its instrumentality, and, doubting its +instrumentality, it, of course, doubts its existence; for not being an +object of consciousness, its existence is only postulated in order to +account for something which _is_ an object of consciousness, viz. +perception. If, therefore, we doubt that matter has any hand in bringing +about perception, we, of course, doubt the existence of matter. This +scepticism does. Idealism denies its instrumentality and existence. In +these circumstances what does Dr Reid do? He admits that matter _per se_ +is not an object of consciousness; but he endeavours to save its +existence by an appeal to our natural and irresistible belief in its +existence. But scepticism and idealism doubt and deny the existence of +matter _per se_, not merely because it is no object of consciousness, +but, moreover, because it is no object of belief. And in this they are +perfectly right. It _is_ no object of belief. Dr Reid's appeal, +therefore, goes for nothing. He has put into the witness-box a +nonentity. And scepticism and idealism are at any rate for the present +reprieved. But do not scepticism and idealism go still further in their +denial--do they not extend it from a denial in the existence of matter +_per se_, to a denial in the existence of matter altogether? Yes, and +they must do this. They can only deal with the matter which the +psychological analysis affords. The only kind of matter which the +psychological analysis affords is matter _per se_, and it affords this +as all matter whatsoever. Therefore, in denying the existence of matter +_per se_, scepticism and idealism must deny the existence of matter out +and out. This, then, is the legitimate _terminus_ to which the accepted +analysis conducts us. We are all, as we at present stand, either +sceptics or idealists, every man of us. Shall the analysis, then, be +given up? Not if it can be substantiated by any good plea: for _truth_ +must be accepted, be the consequences what they may. Can the analysis, +then, be made good either by observation or by reasoning,--the only +competent authorities, now that belief has been declared _hors de +combat_? Stewart says that Reid made it good by means of direct +observation; but the claim is too ridiculous to be listened to for a +single instant. We have also shown that reasoning is incompetent to make +out and support the analysis; and therefore our conclusion is, that it +falls to the ground as a thing altogether impracticable as well as +false, and that the attempt to re-establish it ought never, on any +account, to be renewed. + + * * * * * + +We have dwelt so long on the exposition of the psychological or analytic +solution of the problem of perception, that we have but little space to +spare for the discussion of the metaphysical doctrine. We shall unfold +it as briefly as we can. + +The principle of the metaphysical doctrine is precisely the opposite of +the principle of the psychological doctrine. The one attempts all +analysis; the other forbears from all analysis of the given fact--the +perception of matter. And why does metaphysic make no attempt to dissect +this fact? Simply because the thing cannot be done. The fact yields not +to the solvent of thought: it yields not to the solvent of observation: +it yields not to the solvent of belief, for man has no belief in the +existence of matter from which perception (present and remembered) has +been withdrawn. An impotence of the mind does indeed apparently resolve +the supposed synthesis: but essential thinking exposes the imposition, +restores the divided elements to their pristine integrity, and +extinguishes the theory which would explain the _datum_ by means of the +concurrence of a subjective or mental, and an objective or material +factor. The convicted weakness of psychology is thus the root which +gives strength to metaphysic. The failure of psychology affords to +metaphysic a foundation of adamant. And perhaps no better or more +comprehensive description of the object of metaphysical or speculative +philosophy could be given than this,--that it is a science which exists, +and has at all times existed, chiefly for the purpose of exposing the +vanity and confounding the pretensions of what is called the "science of +the human mind." The turning-round of thought from psychology to +metaphysic is the true interpretation of the Platonic conversion of the +soul from ignorance to knowledge--from mere opinion to certainty and +satisfaction: in other words, from a discipline in which the thinking is +only _apparent_, to a discipline in which the thinking is _real_. +Ordinary observation does not reveal to us the real, but only the +apparent revolutions of the celestial orbs. We must call astronomy to +our aid if we would reach the truth. In the same way, ordinary or +psychological thinking may show us the apparent movements of +thought--but it is powerless to decipher the real figures described in +that mightier than planetary scheme. Metaphysic alone can teach us to +read aright the intellectual skies. Psychology regards the universe of +thought from the Ptolemaic point of view, making man, as this system +made the earth, the centre of the whole: metaphysic regards it from the +Copernican point of view, making God, as this scheme makes the sun, the +regulating principle of all. The difference is as great between "the +science of the human mind" and metaphysic, as it is between the +Ptolemaic and the Copernican astronomy, and it is very much of the same +kind. + +But the opposition between psychology and metaphysic, which we would at +present confine ourselves to the consideration of, is this:--the +psychological blindness consists in supposing that the analysis so often +referred to is practicable, and has been made out: the metaphysical +insight consists in seeing that the analysis is null and impracticable. +The superiority of metaphysic, then, does not consist in doing, or in +attempting more than psychology. It consists in seeing that psychology +proposes to execute, the impossible, (a thing which psychology does not +herself see, but persists in attempting;) and it consists, moreover, in +refraining from this audacious attempt, and in adopting a humbler, a +less adventurous, and a more circumspect method. Metaphysic (viewed in +its ideal character) aims at nothing but what it can fully overtake. It +is quite a mistake to imagine that this science proposes to carry a man +beyond the length of his tether. The psychologist, indeed, launches the +mind into imaginary spheres; but metaphysic binds it down to the fact, +and there sternly bids it to abide. _That_ is the profession of the +metaphysican, considered in his beau-ideal. That, too, is the practice +(making allowance for the infirmities incident to humanity, and which +prevent the ideal from ever being perfectly realised)--the practice of +all the true astronomers of thought, from Plato down to Schelling and +Hegel. If these philosophers accomplish more than the psychologist, it +is only because they attempt much less. + +In taking up the problem of perception all that metaphysic demands is +the _whole_ given fact. That is her only postulate. And it is +undoubtedly a stipulation which she is justly entitled to make. Now, +what is, in this case, the _whole_ given fact? When we perceive an +object, what is the whole given fact before us? In stating it, we must +not consult elegance of expression: the whole given fact is this,--"We +apprehend the perception of an object." The fact before us is +comprehended wholly in that statement, but in nothing short of it. Now, +does metaphysic give no countenance to an analysis of this fact? That is +a new question--a question on which we have not yet touched. +Observe,--the fact which metaphysic declares to be absolutely +unsusceptible of analysis is "the perception of matter." But the fact +which we are now considering is a totally different fact: it is _our +apprehension of_ the perception of matter--and it does not follow that +metaphysic will also declare this fact to be ultimate and +indecompoundable. Were metaphysic to do this, it would reduce us to the +condition of subjective or egoistic idealism. But metaphysic is not so +absurd. It denies the divisibility of the one fact; but it does itself +divide the other. And it is perfectly competent for metaphysic to do +this, inasmuch as "our apprehension of the perception of matter" is a +different fact from "the perception of matter itself." The former is, in +the estimation of metaphysic, susceptible of analysis--the latter is +not. Metaphysic thus escapes the imputation of leading us into +subjective idealism. This will become more apparent as we proceed. + +"Our apprehension of the perception of matter,"--this, then, is the +whole given fact with which metaphysic has to deal. And this fact +metaphysic proceeds to analyse into a subjective and an objective +factor--giving to the human mind that part of the _datum_ which belongs +to the human mind, and withholding from the human mind that part of the +_datum_ to which it has no proper or exclusive claim. But at what point +in the _datum_ does metaphysic insert the dissecting knife, or introduce +the solvent which is to effect the proposed dualisation? At a very +different point from that at which psychology insinuates her +"ineffectual fire." Psychology cuts down between perception and matter, +making the former subjective and the latter objective. Metaphysic cuts +down between "our apprehension"--and "the perception of matter;" making +the latter, "the perception of matter," totally objective, and the +former, "our apprehension," alone subjective. Admitting, then, that the +total fact we have to deal with is this, "our apprehension of the +perception of matter"--the difference of treatment which this fact +experiences at the hand of psychology and metaphysic is this:--they both +divide the fact; but psychology divides it as follows;--"Our +apprehension of the perception of"--that is the subjective part of the +_datum_--the part that belongs to the human mind;--"Matter _per se_" is +the objective part of the _datum_, the part of the _datum_ which exists +independently of the human mind. Metaphysic divides it at a different +point, "our apprehension of:" this, according to metaphysic, is the +subjective part of the process--it is all which can with any propriety +be attributed to the human mind:--"the perception of matter," this is +the objective part of the _datum_--the part of it which exists +independently of the human mind--and to the possession of which the +human mind has no proper claim--no title at all. + +Before explaining what the grounds are which authorise metaphysic in +making a division so different from the psychological division of the +fact which they both discuss, we shall make a few remarks for the +purpose of extirpating, if possible, any lingering prejudice which may +still lurk in the reader's mind in favour of the psychological +partition. + +According to metaphysic, the perception of matter is not the whole +given fact with which we have to deal in working out this problem--(it +is not the whole given fact; for, as we have said, our apprehension of, +or participation in, the perception of matter--this is the whole given +fact);--but the perception of matter is the _whole objective_ part of +the given fact. But it will, perhaps, be asked--Are there not here two +given facts? Does not the perception of matter imply two _data_? Is not +the perception one given fact, and is not the matter itself another +given fact--and are not these two facts perfectly distinct from one +another? No: it is the false analysis of psychologists which we have +already exposed that deceives us. But there is another circumstance +which, perhaps, contributes more than any thing else to assist and +perpetuate our delusion. This is the construction of language. We shall +take this opportunity to put the student of philosophy upon his guard +against its misleading tendency. + +People imagine that because two (or rather three) words are employed to +denote the fact, (the perception of matter,) that therefore there are +two separate facts and thoughts corresponding to these separate words. +But it is a great mistake to suppose that the analysis of facts and +thoughts necessarily runs parallel with the analysis of sounds. Man, as +Homer says, is [Greek: merops], or a word-divider; and he often carries +this propensity so far as to divide words where there is no +corresponding division of thoughts or of things. This is a very +convenient practice, in so far as the ordinary business of life is +concerned: for it saves much circumlocution, much expenditure of sound. +But it runs the risk of making great havoc with scientific thinking; and +there cannot be a doubt that it has helped to confirm psychology in its +worst errors, by leading the unwary thinker to suppose that he has got +before him a complete fact or thought, when he has merely got before him +a complete word. There are whole words which, taken by themselves, have +no thoughts or things corresponding to them, any more than there are +thoughts and things corresponding to each of the separate syllables of +which these words are composed. The words "perception" and "matter" are +cases in point. These words have no meaning,--they have neither facts +nor thoughts corresponding to them, when taken out of correlation to +each other. The word "perception" must be supplemented (mentally at +least) by the words "of matter," before it has any kind of sense--before +it denotes any thing that exists; and in like manner the word "matter" +must be mentally supplemented by the words "perception of," before it +has any kind of sense, or denotes any real existence. The psychologist +would think it absurd if any one were to maintain that there is one +separate existence in nature corresponding to the syllable _mat-_, and +another separate existence corresponding to the syllable _ter_--the +component syllables of the word "matter." In the estimation of the +metaphysician, it is just as ridiculous to suppose that there is an +existing fact or modification in us corresponding to the three syllables +_perception_, and a fact or existence in nature corresponding to the two +syllables _matter_. The word "perception" is merely part of a word +which, for convenience' sake, is allowed to represent the whole word; +and so is the word "matter." The word "perception-of-matter" is always +the one total word--the word to the mind,--and the existence which this +word denotes is a totally objective existence. + +But in these remarks we are reiterating (we hope, however, that we are +also enforcing) our previous arguments. No power of the mind can divide +into two facts, or two existences, or two thoughts, that one prominent +fact which stands forth in its integrity as the perception-of-matter. +Despite, then, the misleading construction of language--despite the +plausible artifices of psychology, we must just accept this fact as we +find it,--that is, we must accept it indissoluble and entire, and we +must keep it indissoluble and entire. We have seen what psychology +brought us to by tampering with it, under the pretence of a spurious, +because impracticable analysis. + +We proceed to exhibit the grounds upon which the metaphysician claims +for the perception of matter a totally objective existence. The question +may be stated thus: Where are we to place this _datum_? in our minds or +_out of_ our minds? We cannot place part of it in our own minds, and +part of it out of our minds, for it has been proved to be not subject to +partition. Whereever we place it, then, there must we place it whole and +undivided. Has the perception of matter, then, its proper location in +the human mind, or has it not? Does its existence depend upon our +existence, or has it a being altogether independent of us? + +Now that, and that alone, is the point to decide which our natural +belief should be appealed to; but Dr Reid did not see this. His appeal +to the conviction of common sense was premature. He appealed to this +belief without allowing scepticism and idealism to run their full +course; without allowing them to confound the psychological analysis, +and thus bring, us back to a better condition by compelling us to accept +the fact, not as given in the spurious analysis of man, but as given in +the eternal synthesis of God. The consequence was, that Reid's appeal +came to naught. Instead of interrogating our belief as to the objective +existence of the perception of matter, (the proper question,) the +question which he brought under its notice was the objective existence +of matter _per se_--matter _minus_ perception. Now, matter _per se_, or +_minus_ perception, is a thing which no belief will countenance. Reid, +however, could not admit this. Having appealed to the belief, he was +compelled to distort its evidence in his own favour, and to force it, in +spite of itself, to bear testimony to the fact which he wished it to +establish. Thus Dr Reid's appeal not only came to naught, but being +premature, it drove him, as has been said and shown, to falsify the +primitive convictions of our nature. Scepticism must indeed be terrible, +when it could thus hurry an honest man into a philosophical falsehood. + +The question, then, which we have to refer to our natural belief, and +abide the answer whatever it may be, is this:--Is the perception of +matter (taken in its integrity, as it must be taken,) is it a +modification of the human mind, or is it not? We answer unhesitatingly +for ourselves, that _our_ belief is, that it is not. This "confession of +faith" saves us from the imputation of subjective idealism, and we care +not what other kind of idealism we are charged with. We can think of no +sort of evidence to prove that the perception of matter is a +modification of the human mind, or that the human mind is its proper and +exclusive abode: and all our belief sets in towards the opposite +conclusion. Our primitive conviction, when we do nothing to pervert it, +is that the perception of matter is not, either wholly, or in part, a +condition of the human soul; is not bounded in any direction by the +narrow limits of our intellectual span, but that it "dwells apart," a +mighty and independent system, a city fitted up and upheld by the +everlasting God. Who told us that we were placed in a world composed of +matter, which gives rise to our subsequent internal perceptions of it, +and not that we were let down at once into a universe composed of +external perceptions of matter, that were there beforehand and from all +eternity--and in which we, the creatures of a day, are merely allowed to +participate by the gracious Power to whom they really appertain? We, +perversely philosophising, told ourselves the former of these +alternatives; but our better nature, the convictions that we have +received from God himself, assure us that the latter of them is the +truth. The latter is by far the simpler, as well as by far the sublimer +doctrine. But it is not on the authority either of its simplicity or its +sublimity, that we venture to propound it--it is on account of its +perfect consonance, both with the primitive convictions of our +unsophisticated common sense, and with the more delicate and complex +evidence of our speculative reason. + +When a man consults his own nature, in an impartial spirit, he +inevitably finds that his genuine belief in the existence of matter is +not a belief in the independent existence of matter _per se_--but is a +belief in the independent existence of the perception of matter which he +is for the time participating in. The very last thing which he naturally +believes in, is, that the perception is a state of his own mind, and +that the matter is something different from it, and exists apart _in +natura rerum_. He they _say_ that he believes this, but he never does +really believe it. At any rate, he believes in the _first_ place that +they exist _together_, wherever they exist. The perception which a man +has of a sheet of paper, does not come before him as something distinct +from the sheet of paper itself. The two are identical: they are +indivisible: they are not two, but one. The only question then is, +whether the perception of a sheet of paper (taken as it must be in its +indissoluble totality) is a state of the man's own mind--or is no such +state. And, in settlement of this question, there cannot be a doubt that +he believes in the _second_ place, that the perception of a sheet of +paper is not a modification of his own mind, but is an objective thing +which exists altogether independent of him, and one which would still +exist, although he, and all other created beings were annihilated. All +that he believes to be his (or subjective) is _his participation in_ the +perception of this object. In a word, it is the perception of matter, +and not matter _per se_, which is the _kind_ of matter, in the +independent and permanent existence of which man rests and reposes his +belief. There is no truth or satisfaction to be found in any other +doctrine. + +This metaphysical theory of perception is a doctrine of pure +intuitionism: it steers clear of all the perplexities of +representationism; for it gives us in perception only one--that is, only +a proximate object: this object is the perception of matter,--and this +is one indivisible object. It is not, and cannot be, split into a +proximate and a remote object. The doctrine, therefore, is proof against +all the cavils of scepticism. We may add, that the entire objectivity of +this _datum_ (which the metaphysical doctrine proclaims) makes it proof +against the imputation of idealism,--at least of every species of absurd +or objectionable idealism. + +But what are these objective perceptions of matter, and to whom do they +belong? This question leads us to speak of the circumstance which +renders the metaphysical doctrine of perception so truly valuable. This +doctrine is valuable chiefly on account of the indestructible foundation +which it affords to the _a priori_ argument in favour of the existence +of God. The substance of the argument is this,--matter is the perception +of matter. The perception of matter does not belong to man; it is no +state of the human mind,--man merely participates in it. But it must +belong to some mind,--for perceptions without an intelligence in which +they inhere are, inconceivable and contradictory. They must therefore be +the property of the Divine mind; states of the everlasting intellect; +_ideas_ of the Lord and Ruler of all things, and which come before us as +_realities_,--so forcibly do they contrast themselves with the +evanescent and irregular ideas of our feeble understandings. We must, +however, beware, above all things, of regarding these Divine ideas as +_mere_ ideas. An idea, as usually understood, is that from which all +reality has been abstracted; but the perception of matter is a Divine +idea, from which the reality has not been abstracted, and from which it +cannot be abstracted. + +But what, it will be asked--what becomes of the senses if this doctrine +be admitted? What is their use and office? Just the same as +before,--only with this difference, that whereas the psychological +doctrine teaches that the exercise of the senses is the condition upon +which we are permitted to apprehend objective material things--the +metaphysical doctrine teaches that the exercise of the senses is the +condition upon which we are permitted to apprehend or participate in the +objective perception of material things. There is no real difficulty in +the question just raised; and therefore, with this explanatory hint, we +leave it, our space being exhausted. + +Anticipations of this doctrine are to be found in the writings of every +great metaphysician--of every man that ever speculated. It is announced +in the speculations of Malebranche--still more explicitly in those of +Berkeley; but though it forms the substance of their systems, from +foundation-stone to pinnacle, it is not proclaimed with sufficiently +unequivocal distinctness by either of these two great philosophers. +Malebranche made the perception of matter totally objective, and vested +the perception in the Divine mind, as we do. But he erred in this +respect: having made the perception of matter altogether objective, he +analysed it in its objectivity into perception (_idee_) and matter _per +se_. We should rather say that he attempted to do this: and of course he +failed, for the thing, as we have shown, is absolutely impossible. +Berkeley made no such attempt. He regarded the perception of matter as +not only totally objective, but as absolutely indivisible; and therefore +we are disposed to regard him as the greatest metaphysician of his own +country--(we do not mean Ireland; but England, Scotland, and +Ireland)--at the very least. + +When this elaborate edition of Reid's works shall be completed--shall +have received its last consummate polish from the hand of its +accomplished editor--we promise to review the many important topics +(partly philosophical and partly physiological) which Sir William +Hamilton has discussed in a manner which is worthy of his own great +reputation, and which renders all compliment superfluous. We are assured +that the philosophical public is waiting with anxious impatience for the +completion of these discussions. In the mean time, we heartily recommend +the volume to the student of philosophy as one of the most important +works which our higher literature contains, and as one from which he +will derive equal gratification and instruction, whether he agrees with +its contents or not. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] _The Works of Thomas Reid, D.D._ Edited by SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON, +Bart., Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of +Edinburgh; with Copious Notes and Supplementary Dissertations by the +Editor. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co. 1846. + +[23] _Among the first._ He was not _the_ first. Berkeley had preceded +him in denouncing most unequivocally the whole theory of +representationism. The reason why Berkeley does not get the credit of +this is, because his performance is even more explicit and cogent than +his promise. He made no phrase about refuting the theory--he simply +refuted it. Reid _said_ the business--but Berkeley _did_ it. The two +greatest and most unaccountable blunders in the whole history of +philosophy are, probably Reid's allegations that Berkeley was a +representationist, and that he was an idealist; understanding by the +word _idealist_, one who denies the existence of a real external +universe. From every page of his writings, it is obvious that Berkeley +was neither the one of these nor the other, even in the remotest degree. + +[24] _They err._--This, however, can scarcely be called an error. It is +the business of the sceptic at least to accept the principles generally +recognised, and to develop their conclusions, however absurd or +revolting. If the principles are false to begin with, that is no fault +of his, but of those at whose hands he received them. + +[25] _Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind_. Part I. ch. i. + + + * * * * * + +NOTE _in reference to an Article in our last Number, and to_ PROFESSOR +WILSON'S _Letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh Evening Courant, dated +30th June._ + +MESSRS BLACKWOOD regret to find that some observations regarding the +University of Edinburgh, contained in an article in their last Number, +should have occasioned feelings of pain and disapprobation in one of +their earliest and best supporters, Professor Wilson, of whose connexion +with the Magazine they are justly proud, and whose friendship they hope +ever to retain undiminished. + +These observations did not at the time appear to them in the aspect in +which they now see that they may be regarded. 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