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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29655-8.txt b/29655-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..799d603 --- /dev/null +++ b/29655-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14685 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, +No. 3, August, 1850., 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: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29655] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY, AUG. 1850 *** + + + + +Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +HARPER'S + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + +No. III.--AUGUST, 1850.--VOL. I. + + + + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE.] + +[From the Art-Journal.] + +PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOME OF SIR THOMAS MORE. + +BY MRS. S. C. HALL. + + +While living in the neighborhood of Chelsea, we determined to look upon +the few broken walls that once inclosed the residence of Sir Thomas +More, a man who, despite the bitterness inseparable from a persecuting +age, was of most wonderful goodness as well as intellectual power. We +first read over the memories of him preserved by Erasmus, Hoddesdon, +Roper, Aubrey, his own namesake, and others. It is pleasant to muse over +the past; pleasant to know that much of malice and bigotry has departed, +to return no more, that the prevalence of a spirit which could render +even Sir Thomas More unjust and, to seeming, cruel, is passing away. +Though we do implicitly believe there would be no lack of great hearts, +and brave hearts, at the present day, if it were necessary to bring them +to the test, still there have been few men like unto him. It is a +pleasant and a profitable task, so to sift through past ages, so to +separate the wheat from the chaff, to see, when the feelings of party +and prejudice sink to their proper insignificance, how the morally great +stands forth in its own dignity, bright, glorious, and everlasting. St. +Evremond sets forth the firmness and constancy of Petronius Arbiter in +his last moments, and imagines he discovers in them a softer nobility +of mind and resolution, than in the deaths of Seneca, Cato, or Socrates +himself; but Addison says, and we can not but think truly, "that if he +was so well pleased with gayety of humor in a dying man, he might have +found a much more noble instance of it in Sir Thomas More, who died upon +a point of religion, and is respected as a martyr by that side for which +he suffered." What was pious philosophy in this extraordinary man, might +seem frenzy in any one who does not resemble him as well in the +cheerfulness of his temper as in the sanctity of his life and manners. + +Oh, that some such man as he were to sit upon our woolsack now; what +would the world think, if when the mighty oracle commanded the next +cause to come on, the reply should be, "_Please your good lordship, +there is no other!_" Well might the smart epigrammatist write: + + When MORE some time had chancellor been, + No MORE suits did remain; + The same shall never MORE be seen, + Till MORE be there again! + +We mused over the history of his time until we slept, and dreamed: and +first in our dream we saw a fair meadow, and it was sprinkled over with +white daisies, and a bull was feeding therein; and as we looked upon him +he grew fatter and fatter, and roared in the wantonness of power and +strength, so that the earth trembled; and he plucked the branches off +the trees, and trampled on the ancient inclosures of the meadow, and as +he stormed, and bellowed, and destroyed, the daisies became human heads, +and the creature flung them about, and warmed his hoofs in the hot blood +that flowed from them and we grew sick and sorry at heart, and thought, +is there no one to slay the destroyer? And when we looked again, the +Eighth Harry was alone in the meadow; and, while many heads were lying +upon the grass, some kept perpetually bowing before him, while others +sung his praises as wise, just, and merciful. Then we heard a trumpet +ringing its scarlet music through the air, and we stood in the old +tilt-yard at Whitehall, and the pompous Wolsey, the bloated king, the +still living Holbein, the picturesque Surrey, the Aragonian Catharine, +the gentle Jane, the butterfly Anne Bullen, the coarse-seeming but +wise-thinking Ann of Cleves the precise Catherine Howard, and the stout +hearted Catherine Parr, passed us so closely by, that we could have +touched their garments; then a bowing troop of court gallants came on; +others whose names and actions you may read of in history; and then the +hero of our thoughts, Sir Thomas More--well dressed, for it was a time +of pageants--was talking somewhat apart to his pale-faced friend +Erasmus, while "Son Roper," as the chancellor loved to call his +son-in-law, stood watchfully and respectfully a little on one side. Even +if we had never seen the pictures Holbein painted of his first patron, +we should have known him by the bright benevolence of his aspect, the +singular purity of his complexion, his penetrating yet gentle eyes, and +the incomparable grandeur with which virtue and independence dignified +even an indifferent figure. His smile was so catching that the most +broken-hearted were won by it to forget their sorrows; and his voice, +low and sweet though it was, was so distinct, that we heard it above all +the coarse jests, loud music, and trumpet calls of the vain and idle +crowd. And while we listened, we awoke; resolved next day to make our +pilgrimage, perfectly satisfied at the outset, that though no fewer than +four houses in Chelsea contend for the honor of his residence, Doctor +King's arguments in favor of the site being the same as that of Beaufort +House--upon the greater part of which now stands Beaufort-row--are the +most conclusive; those who are curious in the matter can go and see his +manuscripts in the British Museum. Passing Beaufort-row, we proceeded +straight on to the turn leading to the Chelsea _Clock-house_. + +[Illustration: CLOCK HOUSE.] + +It is an old, patched-up, rickety dwelling, containing, perhaps, but few +of the original stones, yet interesting as being the lodge-entrance to +the offices of Beaufort-House; remarkable, also, as the dwelling of a +family of the name of Howard, who have occupied it for more than a +hundred years, the first possessor being gardener to Sir Hans Sloane, +into whose possession, after a lapse of years, and many changes, a +portion of Sir Thomas More's property had passed. This Howard had skill +in the distilling of herbs and perfumes, which his descendant carries on +to this day. We lifted the heavy brass knocker, and were admitted into +the "old clock-house." The interior shows evident marks of extreme age, +the flooring being ridgy and seamed, bearing their marks with a +discontented creaking, like the secret murmurs of a faded beauty against +her wrinkles! On the counter stood a few frost-bitten geraniums, and +drawers, containing various roots and seeds, were ranged round the +walls, while above them were placed good stout quart and pint bottles of +distilled waters. The man would have it that the "clock-house" was the +"real original" lodge-entrance to "Beaufort House;" and so we agreed it +might have been, but not, "_perhaps_" built during Sir Thomas More's +lifetime. To this insinuation he turned a deaf ear, assuring us that his +family, having lived there so long, must know all about it, and that the +brother of Sir Hans Sloane's gardener had made the great clock in old +Chelsea Church, as the church books could prove. "You can, if you +please," he said, "go under the archway at the side of this house, +leading into the Moravian chapel and burying-ground, where the notice, +that 'within are the Park-chapel Schools,' is put up." And that is quite +true; the Moravians now only use the chapel which was erected in their +burying-ground to perform an occasional funeral service in, and so they +"let it" to the infant school. The burying-ground is very pretty in the +summer time. Its space occupies only a small portion of the chancellor's +garden; part of its walls are very old, and the south one certainly +belonged to Beaufort House. There have been some who trace out a Tudor +arch and one or two Gothic windows as having been filled up with more +modern mason-work: but that may be fancy. There seems no doubt that the +Moravian chapel stands on the site of the old stables. + +"Then," we said, "the clock-house could only have been at the entrance +to the offices." The man looked for a moment a little hurt at this +observation, as derogatory to the dignity of his dwelling, but he +smiled, and said. "Perhaps so;" and very good-naturedly showed us the +cemetery of this interesting people. Indeed, their original settlement +in Chelsea is quite a romance. The chapel stands to the left of the +burying-ground, which is entered by a primitive wicket-gate; it forms a +square of thick grass, crossed by broad gravel walks, kept with the +greatest neatness The tombstones are all that, and the graves not +raised above the level of the sward. They are of two sizes only: the +larger for grown persons, the smaller for children. The inscriptions on +the grave-stones, in general, seldom record more than the names and ages +of the persons interred. The men are buried in one division, the women +in another. We read one or two of the names, and they were quaint and +strange: "Anne Rypheria Hurloch;" "Anna Benigna La Trobe;" and one was +especially interesting, James Gillray, forty years sexton to this simple +cemetery, and father of Gillray, the H. B. of the past century. One +thing pleased us mightily, the extreme old age to which the dwellers in +this house seemed to have attained. + +A line of ancient trees runs along the back of the narrow gardens of +Milman's-row, which is parallel with, but further from town than +Beaufort-row, and affords a grateful shade in the summer time. We +resolved to walk quietly round, and then enter the chapel. How strange +the changes of the world! The graves of a simple, peace-loving, +unambitious people were lying around us, and yet it was the place which +Erasmus describes as "Sir Thomas More's estate, purchased at Chelsey," +and where "he built him a house, neither mean nor subject to envy, yet +magnificent and commodious enough." How dearly he loved this place, and +how much care he bestowed upon it, can be gathered from the various +documents still extant.[1] The bravery with which, soon after he was +elected a burgess to parliament, he opposed a subsidy demanded by Henry +the Seventh, with so much power that he won the parliament to his +opinion, and incensed the king so greatly, that, out of revenge, he +committed the young barrister's father to the Tower, and fined him in +the fine of a hundred pounds! That bravery remained with him to the +last, and with it was mingled the simplicity which so frequently and so +beautifully blends with the intellectuality that seems to belong to a +higher world than this. When he "took to marrying," he fancied the +second daughter of a Mr. Colt, a gentleman of Essex; yet when he +considered the pain it must give the eldest to see her sister preferred +before her, he gave up his first love, and framed his fancy to the +elder. This lady died, after having brought him four children; but his +second choice, Dame Alice, has always seemed to us a punishment and a +sore trial. And yet how beautifully does Erasmus describe his mode of +living in this very place: "He converseth with his wife, his son, his +daughter-in-law, his three daughters and their husbands, with eleven +grandchildren. There is not a man living so affectionate to his children +as he. He loveth his old wife as if she were a young maid; he persuadeth +her to play on the lute, and so with the like gentleness he ordereth his +family. Such is the excellence of his temper, that whatsoever happeneth +that could not be helped, he loveth, as if nothing could have happened +more happily. You would say there was in that place Plato's academy; but +I do his house an injury in comparing it to Plato's academy, where there +were only disputations of numbers and geometrical figures, and sometimes +of moral virtues. I should rather call his house a school or university +of Christian religion; for, though there is none therein but readeth and +studyeth the liberal sciences, their special care is piety and +virtue."[2] + +[Illustration: MORE'S HOUSE.] + +The king was used to visit his "beloved chancellor" here for days +together to admire his terrace overhanging the Thames, to row in his +state barge, to ask opinions upon divers matters, and it is said that +the royal answer to Luther was composed under the chancellor's revising +eye. Still, the penetrating vision of Sir Thomas was in no decree +obscured by this glitter. One day the king came unexpectedly to Chelsea, +and having dined, walked with Sir Thomas for the space of an hour, in +the garden, having his arm about his neck. We pleased ourselves with the +notion that they walked where then we stood! Well might such +condescension cause his son Roper--for whom he entertained so warm an +affection--to congratulate his father upon such condescension, and to +remind him that he had never seen his majesty approach such familiarity +with any one, save once, when he was seen to walk arm in arm with +Cardinal Wolsey. "I thank our Lord," answered Sir Thomas, "I find his +grace my very good lord, indeed; and I do believe, he doth as +singularly love me as any subject within the realm; however, son Roper, +I may tell thee I have no cause to be proud thereof, for if my head +should win him a castle in France, it should not fail to go off." + +With the exception of his own family (and his wife formed an exception +here), there are few indeed of his contemporaries, notwithstanding the +eulogiums they are prone to heap upon him, who understood the elevated +and unworldly character of this extraordinary man. + +The Duke of Norfolk, coming one day to dine with him, found him in +Chelsea Church, singing in the choir, with his surplice on. "What! +what!" exclaimed the duke, "what, what, my Lord Chancellor a parish +clerk! a parish clerk! you dishonor the king and his office." And how +exquisite his reply, "Nay, you may not think your master and mine will +be offended with me for serving God his master, or thereby count his +office dishonored." Another reply to the same abject noble, is well +graven on our memory. He expostulated with him, like many of his other +friends, for braving the king's displeasure. "By the mass, Master More," +he said, "it is perilous striving with princes; therefore, I wish you +somewhat to incline to the king's pleasure, for '_indignatio Principis +mors est._'" "And is that all, my lord?" replied this man, so much above +all paltry considerations; "then in good faith the difference between +your grace and me is but this--that I may die to-day, and you +to-morrow." + +[Illustration: CHELSEA CHURCH.] + +He took great delight in beautifying Chelsea Church, although he had a +private chapel of his own; and when last there they told us the painted +window had been his gift. It must have been a rare sight to see the +chancellor of England sitting with the choir; and yet there was a fair +share of pomp in the manner of his servitor bowing at his lady's pew, +when the service of the mass was ended, and saying, "My lord is gone +_before_." But the day after he resigned the great seal of England (of +which his wife knew nothing), Sir Thomas presented himself at the +pew-door, and, after the fashion of his servitor, quaintly said, "Madam, +my lord is _gone."_ The vain woman could not comprehend his meaning, +which, when, during their short walk home, he fully explained, she was +greatly pained thereby, lamenting it with exceeding bitterness of +spirit. + +We fancied we could trace a gothic door or window in the wall; but our +great desire would have been to discover the water-gate from which he +took his departure the morning he was summoned to Lambeth to take the +oath of supremacy. True to what he believed right, he offered up his +prayers and confessions in Chelsea Church, and then, returning to his +own house, took an affectionate farewell of his wife and children, +forbidding them to accompany hum to the water-gate, as was their custom, +fearing, doubtless, that his mighty heart could not sustain a prolonged +interview. Who could paint the silent parting between him and all he +loved so well--the boat waiting at the foot of the stairs--the rowers in +their rich liveries, while their hearts, heavy with apprehension for the +fate of him they served, still trusted that nothing could be found to +harm so good a master--the pale and earnest countenance of "son Roper," +wondering at the calmness, at such a time, which more than all other +things, bespeaks the master mind. For a moment his hand lingered on the +gate, and in fastening the simple latch his fingers trembled, and then +he took his seat by his son's side; and in another moment the boat was +flying through the waters. For some time he spoke no word, but communed +with and strengthened his great heart by holy thoughts; then looking +straight into his son Roper's eyes, while his own brightened with a +glorious triumph, he exclaimed in the fullness of his rich-toned voice, +"I thank our Lord the field is won." It was no wonder that, overwhelmed +with apprehension, his son-in-law could not apprehend his meaning then, +but afterward bethought him that he signified how he had conquered the +world. + +The abbot of Westminster took him that same day into custody, on his +refusal to "take the king as head of his Church;" and upon his repeating +this refusal four days afterward, he was committed to the Tower. Then, +indeed, these heretofore bowers of bliss echoed to the weak and wavering +complaints of his proud wife, who disturbed him also in his prison by +her desires, so vain and so worldly, when compared with the elevated +feelings of his dear daughter Margaret. + +How did the fond, foolish woman seek to shake his purpose! "Seeing," she +said, "you have a house at Chelsea, a right fair house, your library, +your gallery, your garden, your orchard, and all other necessaries so +handsome about you, where you might in company with me, your wife, your +children, and household, be merry, I marvel that you who have been +always taken for so wise a man, can be content thus to be shut up among +mice and rats, and, too, when you might be abroad at your liberty, and +with the favor and good-will both of the king and his council, if you +would but do as all the bishops and best learned men of the realm have +done." + +And then not even angered by her folly, seeing how little was given her +to understand, he asked her if the house in Chelsea was any nearer +Heaven than the gloomy one he then occupied? ending his pleasant yet +wise parleying with a simple question: + +"Tell me," he said, "good Mistress Alice, how long do you think might we +live and enjoy that same house?" + +She answered, "Some twenty years." + +"Truly," he replied, "if you had said some thousand years, it might have +been somewhat; and yet he were a very bad merchant who would put himself +in danger to lose eternity for a thousand years. How much the rather if +we are not sure to enjoy it one day to an end?" + +It is for the glory of women that his daughter Margaret, while she loved +and honored him past all telling, strengthened his noble nature; for, +writing him during his fifteen months' imprisonment in the Tower, she +asks, in words not to be forgotten, "What do you think, most dear +father, doth comfort us at Chelsey, in this your absence? Surely, the +remembrance of your manner of life passed among us--your holy +conversation--your wholesome counsels--your examples of virtue, of which +there is hope that they do not only persevere with you, but that they +are, by God's grace, much more increased." + +After the endurance of fifteen months' imprisonment, he was arraigned, +tried, and found guilty of denying the king's supremacy. + +Alack! is there no painter of English history bold enough to immortalize +himself by painting this trial? Sir Thomas More was beheaded on Tower +Hill, in the bright sunshine of the month of July, on its fifth day, +1535, the king remitting the disgusting quartering of the quivering +flesh, because of his "high office." When told of the king's "mercy," +"Now, God forbid," he said, "the king should use anymore such to any of +my friends; and God bless all my posterity from such pardons." + +One man of all the crowd who wept at his death, reproached him with a +decision he had given in Chancery. More, nothing discomposed, replied, +that if it were still to do, he would give the same decision. This +happened twelve months before. And, while the last scene was enacting on +Tower-Hill, the king, who had walked in this very garden with his arm +round the neck, which, by his command, the ax had severed, was playing +at Tables in Whitehall, Queen Anne Bullen looking on; and when told that +Sir Thomas More was dead, casting his eyes upon the pretty fool that had +glittered in his pageants, he said, "Thou art the cause of this man's +death." The COWARD! to seek to turn upon a thing so weak as that, the +heavy sin which clung to his own soul! + +[Illustration: TOMB.] + +Some say the body lies in Chelsea Church, beneath the tomb we have +sketched--the epitaph having been written by himself before he +anticipated the manner of his death.[3] It is too long to insert; but +the lines at the conclusion are very like the man. The epitaph and +poetry are in Latin: we give the translation: + + "For Alice and for Thomas More's remains + Prepared, this tomb Johanna's form contains + One, married young; with mutual ardor blest, + A boy and three fair girls our joy confest. + The other (no small praise) of these appear'd + As fond as if by her own pangs endeared. + One lived with me, one lives in such sweet strife, + Slight preference could I give to either wife. + Oh! had it met Heaven's sanction and decree, + One hallowed bond might have united three; + Yet still be ours one grave, one lot on high! + Thus death, what life denied us, shall supply." + +[Illustration: ROPER's HOUSE.] + +Others tell that his remains were interred in the Tower,[4] and some +record that the head was sought and preserved by that same daughter +Margaret, who caused it to be buried in the family vault of the Ropers +in St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury;[5] and they add a pretty legend how +that, when his head was upon London Bridge, Margaret would be rowed +beneath it, and, nothing horrified at the sight, say aloud, "That head +has layde many a time in my lappe; would to God, would to God, it would +fall into my lappe as I pass under now," and the head did so fall, and +she carried it in her "lappe" until she placed it in her husband's, "son +Roper's" vault, at Canterbury. + +The king took possession of these fair grounds at Chelsea, and all the +chancellor's other property, namely, Dunkington, Trenkford, and Benley +Park, in Oxfordshire, allowing the widow he had made, twenty pounds per +year for her life, and indulging his petty tyranny still more, by +imprisoning Sir Thomas's daughter, Margaret, "both because she kept her +father's head for a relic, and that she meant to set her father's works +in print." + +We were calling to mind more minute particulars of the charities and +good deeds of this great man, when, standing at the moment opposite a +grave where some loving hand had planted two standard rose-trees, we +suddenly heard a chant of children's voices, the infant scholars singing +their little hymn; the tune, too, was a well-known and popular melody, +and very sweet, yet sad of sound; it was just such music, as for its +simplicity, would have been welcome to the mighty dead; and, as we +entered among the little songsters, the past faded away, and we found +ourselves speculating on the hopeful present. + + * * * * * + +We close Mrs. Hall's pleasant sketches of Sir Thomas More and his +localities, with a brief description of a scene in his prison, which the +pencil of Mr. Herbert, of the Royal Academy, has beautifully depicted. +It must be remembered that More was a zealous Roman Catholic. He was +committed to the Tower in 1534, by the licentious Henry VIII., partly to +punish him for refusing to assist that monarch in his marriage with +Anne Boleyn, "the pretty fool," as Mrs. Hall calls her; but particularly +because he declined to acknowledge the king's ecclesiastical supremacy +as head of the Reformed Church. There he remained until his execution +the following year. "During his imprisonment," says his son-in-law and +biographer, Roper, who married his favorite daughter Margaret, "one day, +looking from his window, he saw four monks (who also had refused the +oath of supremacy) going to their execution, and regretting that he +could not bear them company, said: 'Look, Megge, dost thou not see that +these blessed fathers be now going as cheerful to their death, as +bridegrooms to their marriage? By which thou may'st see, myne own good +daughter, what a great difference there is between such as have spent +all their days in a religious, hard, and penitential life, and such as +have (as thy poore father hath done) consumed all their time in pleasure +and ease;'" and so he proceeded to enlarge on their merits and +martyrdom. His grandson, Cresacre More, referring to this scene, says, +"By which most humble and heavenly meditation, we may easily guess what +a spirit of charity he had gotten by often meditation, that every sight +brought him new matter to practice most heroical resolutions." + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] After the death of More, this favorite home of his, where he had so +frequently gathered "a choice company of men distinguished by their +genius and learning," passed into the rapacious hands of his bad +sovereign, and by him was presented to Sir William Pawlet, ultimately +Lord High Treasurer and Marquis of Winchester; from his hands it passed +into Lord Dacre's, to whom succeeded Lord Burghley; then followed his +son, the Earl of Salisbury, as its master; from him it passed +successively to the Earl of Lincoln, Sir Arthur Gorges, the Earl of +Middlesex, Villiers duke of Buckingham, Sir Bulstrode Whitelock, the +second Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Bristol, the Duke of Beaufort, +and ultimately to Sir Hans Slonne, who obtained it in 1738, and after +keeping it for two years razed it to the ground; an unhappy want of +reverence on the part of the great naturalist for the home of so many +great men. There is a print of it by J. Knyff, in 1699, which is copied +(p. 292); it shows some old features, but it had then been enlarged and +altered. Erasmus has well described it as it was in More's lifetime. It +had "a chapel, a library, and a gallery, called the New Buildings, a +good distance from his main house, wherein his custom was to busy +himself in prayer and meditation, whensoever he was at leisure." +Heywood, in his _II Moro_ (Florence, 1556), describes "the garden as +wonderfully charming, both from the advantages of its site, for from one +part almost the whole of the noble city of London was visible, and from +the other the beautiful Thames, with green meadows by woody eminences +all around, and also for its own beauty, for it was crowned with an +almost perpetual verdure." At one side was a small green eminence to +command the prospect. + +[2] The conduct of this great man's house was a model to all, and as +near an approach to his own Utopia as might well be. Erasmus says, "I +should rather call his house a school or university of Christian +religion, for though there is none therein but readeth and studyeth the +liberal sciences, their special care is piety and virtue; there is no +quarreling or intemperate words heard; none seen idle; which household +discipline that worthy gentleman doth not govern, but with all kind and +courteous benevolence." The servant-men abode on one side of the house, +the women on another, and met at prayer-time, or on church festivals, +when More would read and expound to them. He suffered no cards or dice, +but gave each one his garden-plot for relaxation, or set them to sing or +play music. He had an affection for all who truly served him, and his +daughters' nurse is as affectionately remembered in his letters when +from home as are they themselves. "Thomas More sendeth greeting to his +most dear daughters Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cecily; and to Margaret +Giggs, as dear to him as if she were his own," are his words in one +letter; and his valued and trustworthy domestics appear in the family +pictures of the family by Holbein. They requited his attachment by +truest fidelity and love; and his daughter Margaret, in her last +passionate interview with her father on his way to the Tower, was +succeeded by Margaret Giggs and a maid-servant, who embraced and kissed +their condemned master, "of whom, he said after, it was homely but very +lovingly done." Of these and other of his servants, Erasmus remarks, +"after Sir Thomas More's death, none ever was touched with the least +suspicion of any evil fame." + +[3] Wood and Weaver both affirm that the body of More was first +deposited in the Tower Chapel, but was subsequently obtained by his +devoted and accomplished daughter, Margaret Roper, and re-interred in +Chelsea Church, in the tomb he had finished in 1532, the year in which +he had surrendered the chancellorship, and resolved to abide the issue +of his conscientious opposition to the king's wishes, as if he felt that +the tomb should then be prepared. + +[4] Faulkner, in his history of Chelsea, adheres to this opinion, and +says that the tomb in that church is but "an empty cenotaph." His +grandson, in his Life, says, "his body was buried in the Chapel of St. +Peter, in the Tower, in the belfry, or, as some say, as one entereth +into the vestry;" and he does not notice the story of his daughter's +re-interment of it elsewhere. + +[5] The Ropers lived at Canterbury, in St Dunstan's-street. The house is +destroyed, and a brewery occupies its site; but the picturesque old +gateway, of red brick, still remains, and is engraved above. Margaret +Roper, the noble-hearted, learned, and favorite daughter of More resided +here with her husband, until her death, in 1544, nine years after the +execution of her father, when she was buried in the family vault at St. +Dunstan's, where she had reverently placed the head of her father. The +story of her piety is thus told by Cresacre More, in his life of his +grandfather, Sir Thomas: "His head having remained about a month upon +London Bridge, and being to be cast into the Thames, because room should +be made for divers others, who, in plentiful sort, suffered martyrdom +for the same supremacy, shortly after, it was bought by his daughter +Margaret, lest, as she stoutly affirmed before the council, being called +before them after for the matter, it should be food for fishes; which +she buried, where she thought fittest." Anthony-a-Wood says, that she +preserved it in a leaden box, and placed it in her tomb "with great +devotion;" and in 1715, Dr. Rawlinson told Hearne the antiquary, that he +had seen it there "inclosed in an iron grate." This was fully confirmed +in 1835, when the chancel of the church being repaired, the Roper vault +was opened, and several persons descended into it, and saw the skull in +a leaden box, something like a bee-hive, open in the front, and which +was placed in a square recess, in the wall, with an iron-grating before +it. A drawing was made, which was engraved in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ +of May, 1837, which we have copied in our initial letter; Summerly, in +his Handbook to Canterbury, says: "In the print there, however, the +opening in the leaden box, inclosing the head, is made oval, whereas it +should be in the form of a triangle." We have therefore so corrected our +copy. + + + + +[From Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +A BUFFALO CHASE. + + +Early on the 4th we inspanned and continued our march for Booby, a large +party of savages still following the wagons. Before proceeding far I was +tempted by the beautiful appearance of the country to saddle horses, to +hunt in the mountains westward of my course. I directed the wagons to +proceed a few miles under guidance of the natives, and there await my +arrival. I was accompanied by Isaac, who was mounted on the Old Gray, +and carried my clumsy Dutch rifle of six to the pound. Two Bechuanas +followed us, leading four of my dogs. Having crossed a well wooded +strath, we reached a little crystal river, whose margin was trampled +down with the spoor of a great variety of heavy game, but especially of +buffalo and rhinoceros. We took up the spoor of a troop of buffaloes, +which we followed along a path made by the heavy beasts of the forest +through a neck in the hills; and emerging from the thicket, we beheld, +on the other side of a valley, which had opened upon us, a herd of about +ten huge bull buffaloes. These I attempted to stalk, but was defeated by +a large herd of zebras, which, getting our wind, charged past and +started the buffaloes. I ordered the Bechuanas to release the dogs; and +spurring Colesberg, which I rode for the first time since the affair +with the lioness, I gave chase. The buffaloes crossed the valley in +front of me, and made for a succession of dense thickets in the hills to +the northward. As they crossed the valley by riding hard I obtained a +broadside shot at the last bull, and fired both barrels into him. He, +however, continued his course, but I presently separated him, along with +two other bulls, from the troop. My rifle being a two-grooved, which is +hard to load, I was unable to do so on horseback, and followed with it +empty, in the hope of bringing them to bay. In passing through a grove +of thorny trees I lost sight of the wounded buffalo; he had turned short +and doubled back, a common practice with them when wounded. After +following the other two at a hard gallop for about two miles, I was +riding within five yards of their huge broad sterns. They exhaled a +strong bovine smell, which came hot in my face. I expected every minute +that they would come to bay, and give me time to load; but this they did +not seem disposed to do. At length, finding I had the speed of them, I +increased my pace; and going ahead, I placed myself right before the +finest bull, thus expecting to force him to stand at bay; upon which he +instantly charged me with a low roar, very similar to the voice of a +lion. Colesberg neatly avoided the charge, and the bull resumed his +northward course. We now entered on rocky ground, and the forest became +more dense as we proceeded. The buffaloes were evidently making for some +strong retreat. I, however, managed with much difficulty to hold them in +view, following as best I could through thorny thickets. Isaac rode +some hundred yards behind, and kept shouting to me to drop the pursuit, +or I should be killed. At last the buffaloes suddenly pulled up, and +stood at bay in a thicket, within twenty yards of me. Springing from my +horse, I hastily loaded my two-grooved rifle, which I had scarcely +completed when Isaac rode up and inquired what had become of the +buffaloes, little dreaming that they were standing within twenty yards +of him. I answered by pointing my rifle across his horse's nose, and +letting fly sharp right and left at the two buffaloes. A headlong +charge, accompanied by a muffled roar, was the result. In an instant I +was round a clump of tangled thorn-trees; but Isaac, by the violence of +his efforts to get his horse in motion, lost his balance, and at the +same instant, his girths giving way, himself, his saddle, and big Dutch +rifle, all came to the ground together, with a heavy crash right in the +path of the infuriated buffaloes. Two of the dogs, which had fortunately +that moment joined us, met them in their charge, and, by diverting their +attention, probably saved Isaac from instant destruction. The buffaloes +now took up another position in an adjoining thicket. They were both +badly wounded, blotches and pools of blood marking the ground where they +had stood. The dogs rendered me assistance by taking up their attention, +and in a few minutes these two noble bulls breathed their last beneath +the shade of a mimosa grove. Each of them in dying repeatedly uttered a +very striking, low, deep moan. This I subsequently ascertained the +buffalo invariably utters when in the act of expiring. + +On going up to them I was astonished to behold their size and powerful +appearance. Their horns reminded me of the rugged trunk of an oak-tree. +Each horn was upward of a foot in breadth at the base, and together they +effectually protected the skull with a massive and impenetrable shield. +The horns, descending and spreading out horizontally, completely +over-shadowed the animal's eyes, imparting to him a look the most +ferocious and sinister that can be imagined. On my way to the wagons I +shot a stag sassayby, and while I was engaged in removing his head a +troop of about thirty doe pallahs cantered past me, followed by one +princely old buck. Snatching up my rifle, I made a fine shot, and rolled +him over in the grass. + +Early in the afternoon I dispatched men with a pack-horse to bring the +finer of the two buffalo-heads. It was so ponderous that two powerful +men could with difficulty raise it from the ground. The Bechuanas who +had accompanied me, on hearing of my success, snatched up their shields +and assagais, and hastened to secure the flesh, nor did I see any more +of them, with the exception of the two Baquaines, who remained with me, +being engaged in a plot with my interpreter to prevent my penetrating to +Bamangwato. Isaac did not soon forget his adventure with the buffaloes; +and at night over the fire he informed my men that I was mad, and that +any man who followed me was going headlong to his own destruction. At an +early hour on the 5th, I continued my march through a glorious country +of hill and dale, throughout which water was abundant. + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +EARTH'S HARVESTS. + + "Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than War." + + MILTON'S _Sonnet to Cromwell._ + + + Two hundred years ago,[6] the moon + Shone on a battle plain; + Cold through that glowing night of June + Lay steeds and riders slain; + And daisies, bending 'neath strange dew, + Wept in the silver light; + The very turf a regal hue + Assumed that fatal night. + + Time past--but long, to tell the tale, + Some battle-ax or shield, + Or cloven skull, or shattered mail, + Were found upon the field; + The grass grew thickest on the spot + Where high were heaped the dead, + And well it marked had men forgot, + Where the great charge was made. + + To-day--the sun looks laughing down + Upon the harvest plain, + The little gleaners, rosy-brown, + The merry reapers' train; + The rich sheaves heaped together stand, + And resting in their shade, + A mother, working close at hand, + Her sleeping babe hath laid. + + A battle-field it was, and is, + For serried spears are there, + And against mighty foes upreared-- + Gaunt hunger, pale despair. + We'll thank God for the hearts of old, + Their strife our freedom sealed; + We'll praise Him for the sheaves of gold + Now on the battle-field. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Naseby, June 14, 1646. + + + + +[Illustration: Z. Taylor [From a Daguerreotype by BRADY.]] + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE PRESIDENT. + + +Who has not heard of the opening words with which the court preacher +Massilon startled the titled throng who had gathered in Notre Dame to do +the last honors to that monarch whose reign was the longest and most +splendid in French annals, "_God only is great!_" How often does the +knell of vanished power repeat the lesson! How constantly does the +fleeting away of our own men of might teach us that + + The paths of glory lead but to the grave! + +Death has again asserted his supremacy by striking down the most exalted +ruler of the land. The last sad cadence, dust to dust, his just been +faltered aver one who was our country's pride, and joy, and strength. +The love, the gratitude, and the veneration of a nation could not save +him. The crying need of an imperiled republic could not reprieve him. +His mortal strife over, his appointed task finished, he went down into +the cold embrace of the grave, and there, like a warrior taking his +rest, he lies and will lie forever. But he has left behind him what can +not die, the memory of noble aims and heroic deeds. The plain story of +his life is his best eulogy. + +ZACHARY TAYLOR was born in Orange County Virginia, in November, 1784. He +was the second son of Col. Richard Taylor, whose ancestors emigrated +from England about two centuries ago, and settled in Eastern Virginia. +The father, distinguished alike for patriotism and valor, served as +colonel in the revolutionary war, and took part in many important +engagements. About 1790 he left his Virginian farm and emigrated with +his family to Kentucky. He settled in the "dark and bloody ground," and +for years encountered all the trials then incident to border life. The +earliest impressions of young Zachary were the sudden foray of the +savage foe, the piercing warwhoop, the answering cry of defiance, the +gleam of the tomahawk, the crack of the rifle, the homestead saved by +his father's daring, the neighboring cottage wrapped in flames, or its +hearth-stone red with blood. Such scenes bound his young nerves with +iron, and fired his fresh soul with martial ardor; working upon his +superior nature they made arms his delight, and heroism his destiny. +Zachary was placed in school at an early age, and his teacher, who now +resides in Preston, Connecticut, still loves to dwell on the +studiousness of his habits, the quickness of his apprehension, the +modesty of his demeanor, the firmness and decision of his character, and +a general thoughtfulness, sagacity, and stability, that made him a +leader to his mates and a pride to his master. + +After leaving school, the military spirit of young Taylor was constantly +fanned by the popular excitement against the continual encroachments of +England; and soon after the murderous attack of the British ship Leopard +upon the Chesapeake, in 1808, he entered the army as first lieutenant in +the 7th regiment of infantry. He soon gained distinction in border +skirmishes with the Indians, and the declaration of war with England +found him promoted to the rank of captain. Within sixty days after the +commencement of hostilities in 1812, the imbecility of Hull lost to the +country its Michigan territory, and fearfully jeoparded the whole +northwestern region. It was of the utmost importance to intrust the few +and feeble forts of that great dominion to men of established valor and +discretion. Captain Taylor was at once invested with the command of FORT +HARRISON, situated on the Wabash, in the very heart of the Indian +country. The defenses of this post were in a miserable condition, and +its garrison consisted of only fifty men, of whom thirty were disabled +by sickness. With this little handful of soldiers, the young commander +immediately set about repairing the fortifications. He had hardly +completed his work, when, on the night of the 4th of September, an alarm +shot from one of his sentinels aroused him from a bed of fever, to meet +the attack of a large force of Miami Indians. Every man was at once +ordered to his post. A contiguous blockhouse was fired by the enemy, and +a thick discharge of bullets and arrows was opened upon the fort. The +darkness of the night, the howlings of the savages, the shrieks of the +women and children, the fast approaching flames, and the panic of the +debilitated soldiers, made up a scene of terror, but could not shake the +determination nor the judgment of the young chieftain. He inspired his +men with his own courage and energy. The flames were extinguished, the +consumed breast-works were renewed, and volley answered volley for six +long hours till day break enabled the Americans to aim with a deadly +precision that soon dispersed their foes. This gallant repulse, at odds +so unfavorable, prompted a report from Major General Hopkins to Governor +Shelby that "the firm and almost unparalleled defense of Fort Harrison +had raised for Captain Zachary Taylor a fabric of character not to be +affected by eulogy;" and forthwith procured from President Madison a +preferment to the rank of brevet major, the first brevet, it is said, +ever conferred in the American army. + +Major Taylor continued actively engaged throughout the war; but, being +without a separate command, he had no opportunity to again signalize +himself by any remarkable achievement. After the treaty of peace, he +remained at the West, faithfully performing his duties at different +military posts, and preparing himself for any future call to more active +service. In 1832, he was promoted to the rank of colonel; and soon after +the opening of the Florida war, he was ordered to that territory. Here +he was in constant service, and distinguished himself for his discretion +and gallantry in circumstances of the most trying difficulty and peril. +His entire career won for him universal esteem and confidence. + +The greatest achievement of Colonel Taylor in Florida was his victory of +OKEE-CHOBEE, which was gained on the 25th of December, 1837. The action +was very severe, and continued nearly four hours. The Indians, under the +command of Alligator and Sam Jones, numbered about 700 warriors, and +were posted in a dense hammock, with their front covered by a small +stream, almost impassable on account of quicksands, and with their +flanks secured by swamps that prevented all access. Colonel Taylor's +force amounted to about 500 men, a portion of whom were inexperienced +volunteers. By an extraordinary effort, the stream in front was crossed, +under a most galling fire of the enemy, by our soldiers, who sunk to the +middle in the mire. A close and desperate fight ensued, during which the +five companies of the sixth infantry, who bore the brunt of the fray, +lost every officer but one, and one of these companies saved only four +privates unharmed. The enemy's line was at last broken, and their right +flank turned. They were soon scattered in all directions, and were +pursued till near night. The American loss was 26 killed and 112 +wounded; that of the Indians was very large, but never definitely +ascertained. Throughout the whole engagement, Colonel Taylor was passing +on his horse from point to point within the sweep of the Indian rifles, +emboldening and directing his men, without the least apparent regard for +his own personal safety. This victory had a decisive influence upon the +turn of the war; and the government immediately testified their sense of +its importance by conferring upon its gallant winner the rank of +brigadier-general by brevet. + +In the following May, General Taylor succeeded General Jesup in the +command of the Florida army, and in this capacity, during two years, he +rendered vast services to the country by quelling the atrocities of +Indian warfare, and restoring peace and security to the southern +frontier. In 1840, at his own request, he was relieved by +Brigadier-general Armistead, and was ordered to the southwestern +department. Here he remained at various head-quarters until government +had occasion for his services in Texas. + +The project for the annexation of Texas, which was first officially +broached in the last year of President Tyler's administration, acquired +more and more weight and influence, until finally, in March, 1845, an +act to that effect was passed by both Houses of Congress, and was soon +after ratified by the Texian government. Mexico, although the +independence of Texas had been long before _de facto_ secured, stoutly +protested against the annexation. The special American envoy sent to the +Mexican capital to attempt an adjustment of this and other difficulties, +was refused a hearing, and great preparations were carried on by the +Mexican government for another invasion of Texas. In June, General +Taylor received orders to advance with his troops over the Sabine, and +protect all of the territory east of the Rio Grande, over which Texas +exercised jurisdiction. He accordingly marched into Texas, and in August +concentrated his forces, amounting to about 3000 men, at Corpus Christi. +Receiving orders from Washington to proceed to the Rio Grande, the +general, with his little army, moved westward in March, 1846: and after +considerable suffering from the heal and the want of food and water, +reached the banks of the river opposite Matamoras on the 28th of the +month. Colonel Twiggs, with a detachment of dragoons, in the mean time +took possession of Point Isabel, situated on an arm of the Gulf, about +25 miles east. General Taylor took every means to assure the Mexicans +that his purpose was not war, nor violence in any shape, but solely the +occupation of the Texian territory to the Rio Grande, until the boundary +should be definitively settled by the two republics. + +After encamping opposite Matamoras, the American general prepared with +great activity for Mexican aggression, by erecting fortifications, and +planting batteries. The Mexicans speedily evinced hostile intentions. +General Ampudia arrived at Matamoras with 1000 cavalry and 1500 +infantry, and made overtures to our foreign soldiers to "separate from +the Yankee bandits, and array themselves under the tricolored flag!" +Such solicitations were of course spurned with contempt. The American +general was summoned to withdraw his forces at the penalty of being +treated as an enemy; he replied that, while avoiding all occasion for +hostilities, he should faithfully execute the will of his government. +General Arista soon arrived at Matamoras, and, superseding Ampudia, +issued a proclamation to the American soldiers, begging them not to be +the "blind instruments of unholy and mad ambition, and rush on to +certain death." He immediately threw a large body of troops over the +river, in order to cut off all communication between General Taylor and +his dépôt at Point Isabel. A detachment of 61 soldiers, under Captain +Thornton, was waylaid by a Mexican force of ten times their number, and +after a bloody conflict and the loss of many lives, was obliged to +surrender. With but eight days' rations, and the country to the east +fast filling up with the Mexican troops, the position of General Taylor +became very critical. He at once resolved, at every hazard, to procure +additional supplies; and, leaving the fort under the command of Major +Brown, he set out with a large portion of his army, on the 1st of May, +for Point Isabel. He reached that place the next day without +molestation. Soon after his departure, the Mexicans opened their +batteries upon Fort Brown. The fire was steadily returned with two long +eighteen and sixteen brass six pounders by the garrison, which numbered +about 900 men. The bombardment of the fort was kept up at intervals from +batteries in its rear, as well as from the town, for six days. The +Americans, though possessed of little ammunition, and having to mourn +the fall of their gallant commander, sustained the cannonade with +unyielding firmness until the afternoon of the 8th, when their hearts +were thrilled with exultation by the answering peals of General Taylor +at PALO ALTO. + +On the evening of the 7th, the American general, with about 2000 men and +250 wagons left Point Isabel for the relief of Fort Brown, and after +advancing seven miles encamped. The next morning he resumed his march, +and at noon met 6000 Mexican troops under Arista, with 800 cavalry, and +seven field-pieces, in line of battle, on a plain flanked at both sides +by small pools, and partly covered in front by thickets of chaparral and +Palo Alto. General Taylor at once halted, refreshed his men, advanced to +within a quarter of a mile of the Mexican line, and gave battle. The +conflict first commenced between the artillery, and for two hours +Ringgold's, and Duncan's, and Churchill's batteries mowed down rank +after rank of the enemy. The infantry remained idle spectators until +General Torrejon, with a body of lancers, made a sally upon our train. +The advancing columns were received with a tremendous fire, and +faltered, broke, and fled. The battle now became general, and for a time +raged with terrific grandeur, amid a lurid cloud of smoke from the +artillery, and the burning grass of the prairie. It rested for an hour, +and then again moved on. The American batteries opened with more +tremendous effect than ever; yet the ranks of the enemy were broken only +to be refilled by fresh men courting destruction. Captain May charged +upon the left, but with too few men to be successful. The chivalrous +Ringgold fell. The cavalry of the enemy advanced upon our artillery of +the right to within close range, when a storm of cannister swept them +back like a tornado. Their infantry made a desperate onset upon our +infantry, but recoiled before their terrible reception. Again they +rallied, and again were they repulsed. Panic seized the baffled foe, and +soon squadron and column were in fall retreat. The conflict had lasted +five hours, with a loss to the Americans of 7 killed and 37 wounded, and +to the Mexicans of at least 250 killed and wounded. + +In the evening, a council of war was held upon the propriety of +persisting to advance upon Fort Brown in spite of the vastly superior +force of the enemy. Of the thirteen officers present some were for +retreating to Point Isabel, others for intrenching upon the spot, and +only four for pushing ahead. The general, after hearing all opinions, +settled the question by the laconic declaration, "I will be at Fort +Brown before to-morrow night if I live." In the morning the army again +marched. + +The enemy were again met most advantageously posted in the ravine of +RESACA DE LA PALMA within three miles of Fort Brown. About 4 P.M. the +battle commenced with great fury. The artillery on both sides did +terrible execution. By order of General Taylor, May, with his dragoons, +charged the enemy's batteries. The Mexicans reserved their fire until +the horses were near the cannons' mouth, and then poured out a broadside +which laid many a proud fellow low. Those of the dragoons not disabled +rushed on, overleaped the batteries, and seized the guns. The enemy +recoiled, again rallied, and with fixed bayonets returned to the onset. +Again they were repulsed. The "Tampico veterans" came to the rescue, +were met by the dragoons now reinforced with infantry, and all but +seventeen fell sword in hand after fighting with the most desperate +bravery. This decided the battle. The flanks of the enemy were turned, +and soon the rout became general. The Mexicans fled to the flat boats of +the river, and the shouts of the pursuers and the shrieks of the +drowning closed the scene. A great number of prisoners including 14 +officers, eight-pieces of artillery, and a large quantity of camp +equipage fell into the hands of the victors. The American loss was 39 +killed and 71 wounded; that of the enemy in the two actions was at least +1000 killed and wounded. Fort Brown was relieved, and the next day +Barita on the Mexican bank was taken by Colonel Wilson without +resistance. + +The victories of the 8th and 9th filled our country with exultation. +Government acknowledged the distinguished services of General Taylor by +making him Major-general by brevet; Congress passed resolutions of high +approval; Louisiana presented him with a sword, and the press every +where teemed with his praise. + +As soon as means could be procured, General Taylor crossed the Rio +Grande, took Matamoras without opposition, and made Colonel Twiggs its +governor. The army soon received large volunteer reinforcements, and on +the 5th of August the American general left Matamoras for Camargo, and +thence proceeded through Seralos to MONTEREY, where he arrived the 19th +of September. The Mexicans, under General Ampudia had placed this +strongly fortified town in a complete state of defense. Not only were +the walls and parapets lined with cannons, but the streets and houses +were barricaded and planted with artillery. The bishop's palace on a +hill at a short distance west of the city was converted into a perfect +fortress. The town was well supplied with ammunition, and manned with +7000 troops of the line, and from 2000 to 3000 irregulars. The attack +commenced on the 21st, and two important redoubts without the city, and +an important work within, were carried with a loss to the Americans in +killed and wounded of not less than 394. At three the next morning, a +considerable force under General Worth dragged their howitzers by main +strength up the hill, and assaulted the palace. The enemy made a +desperate sortie, but were driven back in confusion, and the +fortification was soon taken by the Americans with a loss of only 7 +killed and 12 wounded. The next night, the Mexicans evacuated nearly all +their defenses in the lower part of the city. The Americans entered the +succeeding day, and by the severest fighting slowly worked their way +from street to street and square to square, until they reached the heart +of the town. General Ampudia saw that further resistance was useless, +and, on the morning of the 24th, proposed to evacuate the city on +condition that he might take with him the personel and materiel of his +army. This condition was refused by the American general. A personal +interview between the two commanders ensued, which resulted in a +capitulation of the city, allowing the Mexicans to retire with their +forces and a certain portion of their materiel beyond the line formed by +the pass of the Rinconada and San Fernando de Presas and engaging the +Americans not to pass beyond that line for eight weeks. Our entire loss +during the operations was 12 officers and 108 men killed, 31 officers +and 337 men wounded; that of the enemy is not known, but was much +larger. The terms accorded by the conqueror were liberal, and dictated +by a regard to the interests of peace; they crowned a gallant conquest +of arms with a more sublime victory of magnanimity. + +General Taylor could not long remain inactive, and with a bold design to +seek out the enemy and fight him on his own ground, he marched as far as +Victoria. But by the transfer of the seat of the war to Vera Cruz, he +was deprived of the greater portion of his army, and was obliged to fall +back on Monterey. Here he remained until February, when, having received +large reinforcements of volunteers, he marched at the head of 4,500 men, +to meet Santa Anna; and on the 20th, took up a position at BUENA VISTA, +the great advantages of which had previously struck his notice. On the +22d, a Mexican army of 20,000 made its appearance, and Santa Anna +summoned the American commander to surrender. General Taylor, with +Spartan brevity, "declined acceding to the request." The next morning +the ten-hour's conflict began. We shall not attempt to rehearse the +history of that fearful battle: it is written forever on the memory of +the nation. The advance of the hostile host with muskets and swords, and +bayonets gleaming in the morning sun; the shouts of the marshaled +foemen; the opening roar of the artillery; the sheeted fire of the +musketry; the unchecked approach of the enemy; the outflanking by their +cavalry and its concentration in our rear; the immovable fortitude of +the Illinoians; the flight of the panic-stricken Indianians; the fall of +Lincoln; the wild shouts of Mexican triumph; the deadly and successful +charge upon the battery of O'Brien; the timely arrival of General Taylor +from Saltillo, and his composed survey, amid the iron hail, of the scene +of battle; the terrible onset of the Kentuckians and Illinoians; the +simultaneous opening of the batteries upon the Mexican masses in the +front and the rear; the impetuous but ill-fated charge of their cavalry +upon the rifles of Mississippi; the hemming-in of that cavalry, and the +errand of Lieutenant Crittenden to demand of Santa Anna its surrender; +the response of the confident chieftain by a similar demand; the +immortal rejoinder, "General Taylor never surrenders!" the escape of the +cavalry to a less exposed position; its baffled charge upon the Saltillo +train; its attack upon the hacienda, and its repulse by the horse of +Kentucky and Arkansas; the fall of Yell and Vaughan, the insolent +mission, under a white flag, to inquire what General Taylor was waiting +for; the curt reply "for General Santa Anna to surrender;" the junction, +by this ruse, of the Mexican cavalry in our rear with their main army; +the concentrated charge upon the American line; the overpowering of the +battery of O'Brien; the fearful crisis; the reinforcement of Captain +Bragg "by Major Bliss and I;" the "little more grape, Captain Bragg;" +the terrific carnage; the pause, the advance, the disorder, and the +retreat; the too eager pursuit of the Kentuckians and Illinoians down +the ravines; the sudden wheeling around of the retiring mass; the +desperate struggle, and the fall of Harden, McKee, and Clay; the +imminent destruction, and the rescuing artillery; the last breaking and +scattering of the Mexican squadrons and battalions; the joyous embrace +of Taylor and Wool; and Old Rough and Ready's "'Tis impossible to whip +us when we all pull together;" the arrival of cold nightfall; the +fireless, anxious, weary bivouac; the general's calm repose for another +day's work; the retreat of the enemy under the cover of darkness--are +not all these things familiar to every American schoolboy? The American +loss was 267 killed, 456 wounded, and 23 missing. The Mexicans left 500 +dead on the field, and the whole number of their killed and wounded was +probably near 2000. History tells not of a battle more bravely contested +and more nobly won: and well did the greatest warrior of the age, in +learning it exclaim, "General Taylor's a general indeed!" + +The victory of Buena Vista was the last and crowning achievement of +General Taylor's military life. His department in Mexico was entirely +reduced by it to subjection, and the subsequent operations of his army +were few and unimportant. At the close of the war he retired from +Mexico, carrying with him not only the adoration of his soldiers, but +even the respect and attachment of the very people he had vanquished. +Louisiana welcomed him with an ovation of the most fervent enthusiasm. +Thrilling eloquence from her most gifted sons, blessings, and smiles, +and wreaths from her fairest daughters, overwhelming huzzas from her +warm-hearted multitudes, triumphal arches, splendid processions, costly +banners, sumptuous festivals, and, in short, every mode of testifying +love and homage was employed; but modesty kept her wonted place in his +heart, and counsels of peace were, as ever, on his tongue. His prowess +in conflict was no more admirable than his self-forgetfulness in +triumph. + +His last great deed had hardly ceased to echo over the land, before the +people began to mark him out for their highest gift. He coveted no such +distinction, and constantly expressed a wish that Henry Clay might be +the chosen one. But the popular purpose grew stronger and stronger; and +General Taylor was named for the Presidency by one of the great +political parties of the country. During the political contest he +remained steadfastly true to himself. He neither stooped nor swerved, +neither sought nor shunned. He was borne by a triumphant majority to the +Presidential chair, and in a way that has impelled the most majestic +intellect of the nation to declare, that "no case ever happened in the +very best days of the Roman Republic, where any man found himself +clothed with the highest authority of the State, under circumstances +more repelling all suspicion of personal application, all suspicion of +pursuing any crooked path in politics, or all suspicion of having been +actuated by sinister views and purposes." + +The Inaugural Address of President Taylor was redolent with +old-fashioned patriotism, and breathed the very spirit of Washington. +And his subsequent administration, though beset by sectional strifes of +fearful violence, was conducted with wisdom, firmness, equanimity, and +moderation, on great national principles, and for great national ends. +Owing to his profound deference to the co-ordinate branches of +government, and his inability to either dictate or assume, his policy in +reference to some of the exciting questions of the day was not, during +the short period of his administration, fully proclaimed to Congress, +and pressed upon its adoption; but, though a southern man and a +slaveholder, he had deliberately and explicitly declared himself in +favor of the prompt and untrammeled admission of California into the +Union. He was taken away in the midst of the controversy, just as he was +about to submit his views upon the subject to the representatives of the +people. His last public appearance was in doing homage to Washington, +on the birthday of our liberties, and his last official act was adding a +new guaranty to the peace of the world, by signing the convention +recently concluded between our country and Great Britain respecting +Central America. Disease soon did its work. Confronting Death with the +fearless declaration, "I AM PREPARED--I HAVE ENDEAVORED TO DO MY DUTY," +the old hero succumbed--his first and last surrender. + +General Taylor married in early life a lady of Virginia, and was +connected either by affinity or blood with many of the most noted +families of the Old Dominion. His excellent consort, a son, and a +daughter, survive him. In person, General Taylor was about five feet +eight inches in height, and like most of our revolutionary generals, was +inclined to corpulency. His hair was gray, his brow ample, his eye +vivid, and his features plain, but full of firmness, intelligence, and +benevolence. His manners were easy and cordial, his dress, habits, and +tastes simple, and his style of living temperate in the extreme. His +speeches and his official papers, both military and civil, are alike +famed for their propriety of feeling and their chastity of diction. His +private life was unblemished, and the loveliness of his disposition made +him the idol of his own household and the favorite of all who knew him. +His martial courage was only equaled by his Spartan simplicity, his +unaffected modesty, his ever wakeful humanity, his inflexible integrity, +his uncompromising truthfulness, his lofty magnanimity, his unbounded +patriotism, and his unfaltering loyalty to duty. His mind was of an +original and solid cast, admirably balanced, and combining the +comprehensiveness of reason with the penetration of instinct. Its +controlling element was a strong, sterling sense, that of itself +rendered him a wise counselor and a safe leader. All of his personal +attributes and antecedents made him pre-eminently a man of the people, +and remarkably qualified him to be the stay and surety of his country in +this its day of danger. + + A braver soldier never wielded sword-- + A gentler heart did never sway in council. + But he is dead--and millions weep his loss. + + + + +[From "Hunting Adventures in South Africa."] + +ENCOUNTER WITH A LIONESS. + + +Suddenly I observed a number of vultures seated on the plain about a +quarter of a mile ahead of us, and close beside them stood a huge +lioness, consuming a blesblok which she had killed. She was assisted in +her repast by about a dozen jackals, which were feasting along with her +in the most friendly and confidential manner. Directing my followers' +attention to the spot, I remarked, "I see the lion;" to which they +replied, "Whar? whar? Yah! Almagtig! dat is he;" and instantly reining +in their steeds and wheeling about, they pressed their heels to their +horses' sides, and were preparing to betake themselves to flight. I +asked them what they were going to do. To which they answered, "We have +not yet placed caps on our rifles." This was true; but while this short +conversation was passing the lioness had observed us. Raising her full, +round face, she overhauled us for a few seconds, and then set off at a +smart canter toward a range of mountains some miles to the northward; +the whole troop of jackals also started off in another direction; there +was, therefore, no time to think of caps. The first move was to bring +her to bay, and not a second was to be lost. Spurring my good and lively +steed, and shouting to my men to follow, I flew across the plain, and, +being fortunately mounted on Colesberg, the flower of my stud, I gained +upon her at every stride. This was to me a joyful moment, and I at once +made up my mind that she or I must die. + +The lioness having had a long start of me, we went over a considerable +extent of ground before I came up with her. She was a large, full-grown +beast, and the bare and level nature of the plain added to her imposing +appearance. Finding that I gained upon her, she reduced her pace from a +canter to a trot, carrying her tail stuck out behind her, and slewed a +little to one side. I shouted loudly to her to halt, as I wished to +speak with her, upon which she suddenly pulled up, and sat on her +haunches like a dog, with her back toward me, not even deigning to look +round. She then appeared to say to herself, "Does this fellow know who +he is after?" Having thus sat for half a minute, as if involved in +thought, she sprang to her feet, and, fating about, stood looking at me +for a few seconds, moving her tail slowly from side to side, showing her +teeth, and growling fiercely. She next made a short run forward, making +a loud, rumbling noise like thunder. This she did to intimidate me; but, +finding that I did not flinch an inch, nor seem to heed her hostile +demonstrations, she quietly stretched out her massive arms, and lay down +on the grass. My Hottentots now coming up, we all three dismounted, and, +drawing our rifles from their holsters, we looked to see if the powder +was up in the nipples, and put on our caps. While this was doing the +lioness sat up, and showed evident symptoms of uneasiness. She looked +first at us, and then behind her, as if to see if the coast were clear; +after which she made a short run toward us, uttering her deep-drawn +murderous growls. Having secured the three horses to one another by +their rheims, we led them on as if we intended to pass her, in the hope +of obtaining a broadside. But this she carefully avoided to expose, +presenting only her full front. I had given Stofulus my Moore rifle, +with orders to shoot her if she should spring upon me, but on no account +to fire before me. Kleinboy was to stand ready to hand me my Purdey +rifle, in case the two-grooved Dixon should not prove sufficient. My men +as yet had been steady, but they were in a precious stew, their faces +having assumed a ghastly paleness, and I had a painful feeling that I +could place no reliance on them. + +Now, then, for it, neck or nothing! She is within sixty yards of us, and +she keeps advancing. We turned the horses' tails to her. I knelt on one +side, and, taking a steady aim at her breast, let fly. The ball cracked +loudly on her tawny hide, and crippled her in the shoulder, upon which +she charged with an appalling roar, and in the twinkling of an eye she +was in the midst of us. At this moment Stofolus's rifle exploded in his +hand, and Kleinboy, whom I had ordered to stand ready by me, danced +about like a duck in a gale of wind. The lioness sprang upon Colesberg, +and fearfully lacerated his ribs and haunches with her horrid teeth and +claws; the worst wound was on his haunch, which exhibited a sickening, +yawning gash, more than twelve inches long, almost laying bare the very +bone. I was very cool and steady, and did not feel in the least degree +nervous, having fortunately great confidence in my own shooting; but I +must confess, when the whole affair was over, I felt that it was a very +awful situation, and attended with extreme peril, as I had no friend +with me on whom I could rely. + +When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I stood out from the horses, ready +with my second barrel for the first chance she should give me of a clear +shot. This she quickly did; for, seemingly satisfied with the revenge +she had now taken, she quitted Colesberg, and, slewing her tail to one +side, trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking one step to +the left. I pitched my rifle to my shoulder, and in another second the +lioness was stretched on the plain a lifeless corpse. In the struggles +of death she half turned on her back, and stretched her neck and fore +arms convulsively, when she fell back to her former position; her mighty +arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw fell, blood streamed from +her mouth, and she expired. At the moment I fired my second shot, +Stofolus, who hardly knew whether he was alive or dead, allowed the +three horses to escape. These galloped frantically across the plain, on +which he and Kleinboy instantly started after them, leaving me standing +alone and unarmed within a few paces of the lioness, which they, from +their anxiety to be out of the way, evidently considered quite capable +of doing further mischief. + +Such is ever the case with these worthies, and with nearly all the +natives of South Africa. No reliance can be placed on them. They will to +a certainty forsake their master in the most dastardly manner in the +hour of peril, and leave him in the lurch. A stranger, however, hearing +these fellows recounting their own gallant adventures, when sitting in +the evening along with their comrades round a blazing fire, or under the +influence of their adored "Cape smoke" or native brandy, might fancy +them to be the bravest of the brave. Having skinned the lioness and cut +off her head, we placed her trophies upon Beauty and held for camp. +Before we had proceeded a hundred yards from the carcass, upward of +sixty vultures, whom the lioness had often fed were feasting on her +remains. + + + + +[From Dickens's "Household Words."] + +THE YOUNG ADVOCATE. + + +Antoine de Chaulieu was the son of a poor gentleman of Normandy, with a +long genealogy, a short rent-roll, and a large family. Jacques Rollet +was the son of a brewer, who did not know who his grandfather was; but +he had a long purse and only two children. As these youths flourished in +the early days of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and were near +neighbors, they naturally hated each other. Their enmity commenced at +school, where the delicate and refined De Chaulieu being the only +gentilhomme among the scholars, was the favorite of the master (who was +a bit of an aristocrat in his heart) although he was about the worst +dressed boy in the establishment, and never had a son to spend; while +Jacques Rollet, sturdy and rough, with smart clothes and plenty of +money, got flogged six days in the week, ostensibly for being stupid and +not learning his lessons--which, indeed, he did not--but, in reality, +for constantly quarreling with and insulting De Chaulieu, who had not +strength to cope with him. When they left the academy, the feud +continued in all its vigor, and was fostered by a thousand little +circumstances arising out of the state of the times, till a separation +ensued in consequence of an aunt of Antoine de Chaulieu's undertaking +the expense of sending him to Paris to study the law, and of maintaining +him there during the necessary period. + +With the progress of events came some degree of reaction in favor of +birth and nobility, and then Antoine, who had passed for the bar, began +to hold up his head and endeavored to push his fortunes; but fate seemed +against him. He felt certain that if he possessed any gift in the world +it was that of eloquence, but he could get no cause to plead; and his +aunt dying inopportunely, first his resources failed, and then his +health. He had no sooner returned to his home, than, to complicate his +difficulties completely, he fell in love with Mademoiselle Natalie de +Bellefonds, who had just returned from Paris, where she had been +completing her education. To expatiate on the perfections of +Mademoiselle Natalie, would be a waste of ink and paper; it is +sufficient to say that she really was a very charming girl, with a +fortune which, though not large, would have been a most desirable +acquisition to De Chaulieu, who had nothing. Neither was the fair +Natalie indisposed to listen to his addresses; but her father could not +be expected to countenance the suit of a gentleman, however well-born, +who had not a ten-sous piece in the world, and whose prospects were a +blank. + +While the ambitions and love-sick young barrister was thus pining in +unwelcome obscurity, his old acquaintance; Jacques Rollet, had been +acquiring an undesirable notoriety. There was nothing really bad in +Jacques' disposition, but having been bred up a democrat, with a hatred +of the nobility, he could not easily accommodate his rough humor to +treat them with civility when it was no longer safe to insult them. The +liberties he allowed himself whenever circumstances brought him into +contact with the higher classes of society, had led him into many +scrapes, out of which his father's money had one way or another released +him; but that source of safety had now failed. Old Rollet having been +too busy with the affairs of the nation to attend to his business, had +died insolvent, leaving his son with nothing but his own wits to help +him out of future difficulties, and it was not long before their +exercise was called for. Claudine Rollet, his sister, who was a very +pretty girl, had attracted the attention of Mademoiselle de Bellefonds' +brother, Alphonso; and as he paid her more attention than from such a +quarter was agreeable to Jacques, the young men had had more than one +quarrel on the subject, on which occasions they had each, +characteristically, given vent to their enmity, the one in contemptuous +monosyllables, and the other in a volley of insulting words. But +Claudine had another lover more nearly of her own condition of life; +this was Claperon, the deputy governor of the Rouen jail, with whom she +had made acquaintance during one or two compulsory visits paid by her +brother to that functionary; but Claudine, who was a bit of a coquette, +though she did not altogether reject his suit, gave him little +encouragement, so that betwixt hopes, and fears, and doubts, and +jealousies, poor Claperon led a very uneasy kind of life. + +Affairs had been for some time in this position, when, one fine morning, +Alphonse de Bellefonds was not to be found in his chamber when his +servant went to call him; neither had his bed been slept in. He had been +observed to go out rather late on the preceding evening, but whether or +not he had returned, nobody could tell. He had not appeared at supper, +but that was too ordinary an event to awaken suspicion; and little alarm +was excited till several hours had elapsed, when inquiries were +instituted and a search commenced, which terminated in the discovery of +his body, a good deal mangled, lying at the bottom of a pond which had +belonged to the old brewery. Before any investigations had been made, +every person had jumped to the conclusion that the young man had been +murdered, and that Jacques Rollet was the assassin. There was a strong +presumption in favor of that opinion, which further perquisitions tended +to confirm. Only the day before, Jacques had been heard to threaten +Mons. de Bellefonds with speedy vengeance. On the fatal evening, +Alphonse and Claudine had been seen together in the neighborhood of the +now dismantled brewery; and as Jacques, betwixt poverty and democracy, +was in bad odor with the prudent and respectable part of society, it was +not easy for him to bring witnesses to character, or prove an +unexceptionable alibi. As for the Bellefonds and De Chaulieus, and the +aristocracy in general, they entertained no doubt of his guilt, and, +finally, the magistrate; coming to the same opinion, Jacques Rollet was +committed for trial, and as a testimony of good will. Antoine de +Chaulieu was selected by the injured family to conduct the prosecution. + +Here, at last, was the opportunity he had sighed for! So interesting a +case, too, furnishing such ample occasion for passion, pathos, +indignation! And how eminently fortunate that the speech which he set +himself with ardor to prepare, would be delivered in the presence of the +father and brother of his mistress, and, perhaps, of the lady herself! +The evidence against Jacques, it is true, was altogether presumptive; +there was no proof whatever that he had committed the crime; and for his +own part, he stoutly denied it. But Antoine de Chaulieu entertained no +doubt of his guilt, and his speech was certainly well calculated to +carry that conviction into the bosom of others. It was of the highest +importance to his own reputation that he should procure a verdict, and +he confidently assured the afflicted and enraged family of the victim +that their vengeance should be satisfied. Under these circumstances +could any thing be more unwelcome than a piece of intelligence that was +privately conveyed to him late on the evening before the trial was to +come on, which tended strongly to exculpate the prisoner, without +indicating any other person as the criminal. Here was an opportunity +lost. The first step of the ladder on which he was to rise to fame, +fortune, and a wife, was slipping from under his feet. + +Of course, so interesting a trial was anticipated with great eagerness +by the public, and the court was crowded with all the beauty and fashion +of Rouen. Though Jacques Rollet persisted in asserting his innocence, +founding his defense chiefly on circumstances which were strongly +corroborated by the information that had reached De Chaulieu the +preceding evening--he was convicted. + +In spite of the very strong doubts he privately entertained respecting +the justice of the verdict, even De Chaulieu himself, in the first flush +of success, amid a crowd of congratulating friends, and the approving +smiles of his mistress, felt gratified and happy: his speech had, for +the time being, not only convinced others, but himself; warmed with his +own eloquence, he believed what he said. But when the glow was over, and +he found himself alone, he did not feel so comfortable. A latent doubt +of Rollet's guilt now burst strongly on his mind, and he felt that the +blood of the innocent would be on his head. It is true there was yet +time to save the life of the prisoner, but to admit Jacques innocent, +was to take the glory out of his own speech, and turn the sting of his +argument against himself. Besides, if he produced the witness who had +secretly given him the information, he should be self-condemned, for he +could not conceal that he had been aware of the circumstance before the +trial. + +Matters having gone so far, therefore, it was necessary that Jacques +Rollet should die; so the affair took its course; and early one morning +the guillotine was erected in the court-yard of the jail, three +criminals ascended the scaffold, and three heads fell into the basket, +which were presently afterward, with the trunks that had been attached +to them, buried in a corner of the cemetery. + +Antoine de Chaulieu was now fairly started in his career, and his +success was as rapid as the first step toward it had been tardy. He took +a pretty apartment in the Hôtel Marboeuf, Rue Grange-Batelière, and in +a short time was looked upon as one of the most rising young advocates +in Paris. His success in one line brought him success in another; he was +soon a favorite in society, and an object of interest to speculating +mothers; but his affections still adhered to his old love Natalie de +Bellefonds, whose family now gave their assent to the match--at least, +prospectively--a circumstance which furnished such an additional +incentive to his exertions, that in about two years from the date of his +first brilliant speech, he was in a sufficiently flourishing condition +to offer the young lady a suitable home. In anticipation of the happy +event, he engaged and furnished a suite of apartments in the Rue du +Helder; and as it was necessary that the bride should come to Paris to +provide her trousseau, it was agreed that the wedding should take place +there, instead of at Bellefonds, as had been first projected; an +arrangement the more desirable, that a press of business rendered Mons. +de Chaulieu's absence from Paris inconvenient. + +Brides and bridegrooms in France, except of the very high classes, are +not much in the habit of making those honeymoon excursions so universal +in this country. A day spent in visiting Versailles, or St. Cloud, or +even the public places of the city, is generally all that precedes the +settling down into the habits of daily life. In the present instance St. +Denis was selected, from the circumstance of Natalie's having a younger +sister at school there; and also because she had a particular desire to +see the Abbey. + +The wedding was to take place on a Thursday; and on the Wednesday +evening, having spent some hours most agreeably with Natalie, Antoine de +Chaulieu returned to spend his last night in his bachelor apartments. +His wardrobe and other small possessions, had already been packed up and +sent to his future home; and there was nothing left in his room now, but +his new wedding suit, which he inspected with considerable satisfaction +before he undressed and lay down to sleep. Sleep, however, was somewhat +slow to visit him; and the clock had struck _one_, before he closed his +eyes. When he opened them again it was broad daylight; and his first +thought was, had he overslept himself? He sat up in bed to look at the +clock which was exactly opposite, and as he did so, in the large mirror +over the fire-place, he perceived a figure standing behind him. As the +dilated eyes met his own, he saw it was the face of Jacques Rollet. +Overcome with horror he sunk back on his pillow, and it was some +minutes before he ventured to look again in that direction; when he did +so, the figure had disappeared. + +The sudden revulsion of feeling such a vision was calculated to occasion +in a man elate with joy, may be conceived! For some time after the death +of his former foe, he had been visited by not unfrequent twinges of +conscience; but of late, borne along by success, and the hurry of +Parisian life, these unpleasant remembrancers had grown rarer, till at +length they had faded away altogether. Nothing had been further from his +thoughts than Jacques Rollet, when he closed his eyes on the preceding +night, nor when he opened them to that sun which was to shine on what he +expected to be the happiest day of his life! Where were the high-strung +nerves now? The elastic frame? The bounding heart? + +Heavily and slowly he arose from his bed, for it was time to do so; and +with a trembling hand and quivering knees, he went through the processes +of the toilet, gashing his cheek with the razor, and spilling the water +over his well-polished boots. When he was dressed, scarcely venturing to +cast a glance in the mirror as he passed it, he quitted the room and +descended the stairs, taking the key of the door with him for the +purpose of leaving it with the porter; the man, however, being absent, +he laid it on the table in his lodge, and with a relaxed and languid +step proceeded on his way to the church, where presently arrived the +fair Natalie and her friends. How difficult it was now to look happy, +with that pallid face and extinguished eye! + +"How pale you are! Has any thing happened? You are surely ill?" were the +exclamations that met him on all sides. He tried to carry it off as well +as he could, but felt that the movements he would have wished to appear +alert, were only convulsive; and that the smiles with which he attempted +to relax his features, were but distorted grimaces. However, the church +was not the place for further inquiries; and while Natalie gently +pressed his hand in token of sympathy, they advanced to the altar, and +the ceremony was performed; after which they stepped into the carriage +waiting at the door, and drove to the apartments of Madme. de +Bellefonds, where an elegant _déjeuner_ was prepared. + +"What ails you, my dear husband?" inquired Natalie, as soon as they were +alone. + +"Nothing, love," he replied; "nothing, I assure you, but a restless +night and a little over-work, in order that I might have to-day free to +enjoy my happiness!" + +"Are you quite Sure? Is there nothing else?" + +"Nothing, indeed; and pray don't take notice of it, it only makes me +worse!" + +Natalie was not deceived, but she saw that what he said was true; notice +made him worse; so she contented herself with observing him quietly, and +saying nothing; but as he _felt_ she was observing him, she might almost +better have spoken; words are often less embarrassing things than too +curious eyes. + +When they reached Madame de Bellefonds' he had the same sort of +questioning and scrutiny to undergo, till he grew quite impatient under +it, and betrayed a degree of temper altogether unusual with him. Then +every body looked astonished; some whispered their remarks, and others +expressed them by their wondering eyes, till his brow knit, and his +pallid cheeks became flushed with anger. Neither could he divert +attention by eating; his parched mouth would not allow him to swallow +any thing but liquids, of which, however, he indulged in copious +libations; and it was an exceeding relief to him when the carriage, +which was to convey them to St. Denis, being announced, furnished an +excuse for hastily leaving the table. Looking at his watch, he declared +it was late; and Natalie, who saw how eager he was to be gone, threw her +shawl over her shoulders, and bidding her friends _good morning_, they +hurried away. + +It was a fine sunny day in June; and as they drove along the crowded +boulevards, and through the Porte St. Denis, the young bride and +bridegroom, to avoid each other's eyes, affected to be gazing out of the +windows; but when they reached that part of the road where there was +nothing but trees on each side, they felt it necessary to draw in their +heads, and make an attempt at conversation. De Chaulieu put his arm +round his wife's waist, and tried to rouse himself from his depression; +but it had by this time so reacted upon her, that she could not respond +to his efforts, and thus the conversation languished, till both felt +glad when they reached their destination, which would at all events +furnish them something to talk about. + +Having quitted the carriage, and ordered a dinner at the Hôtel de +l'Abbaye, the young couple proceeded to visit Mademoiselle Hortense de +Bellefonds, who was overjoyed to see her sister and new brother-in-law, +and doubly so when she found that they had obtained permission to take +her out to spend the afternoon with them. As there is little to be seen +at St. Denis but the Abbey, on quitting that part of it devoted to +education, they proceeded to visit the church, with its various objects +of interest; and as De Chaulieu's thoughts were now forced into another +direction, his cheerfulness began insensibly to return. Natalie looked +so beautiful, too, and the affection betwixt the two young sisters was +so pleasant to behold! And they spent a couple of hours wandering about +with Hortense, who was almost as well informed as the Suisse, till the +brazen doors were open which admitted them to the royal vault. +Satisfied, at length, with what they had seen, they began to think of +returning to the inn, the more especially as De Chaulieu, who had not +eaten a morsel of food since the previous evening, owned to being +hungry; so they directed their steps to the door, lingering here and +there as they went, to inspect a monument or a painting, when, happening +to turn his head aside to see if his wife, who had stopped to take a +last look at the tomb of King Dagobert, was following, he beheld with +horror the face of Jacques Rollett appearing from behind a column! At +the same instant, his wife joined him, and took his arm, inquiring if he +was not very much delighted with what he had seen He attempted to say +yes, but the word would not be forced out; and staggering out of the +door, he alleged that a sudden faintness had overcome him. + +They conducted him to the Hôtel, but Natalie now became seriously +alarmed; and well she might. His complexion looked ghastly, his limbs +shook, and his features bore an expression of indiscribable horror and +anguish. What could be the meaning of so extraordinary a change in the +gay, witly, prosperous De Chaulieu, who, till that morning, seemed not +to have a care in the world? For, plead illness as he might, she felt +certain, from the expression of his features, that his sufferings were +not of the body but of the mind; and, unable to imagine any reason for +such extraordinary manifestations, of which she had never before seen a +symptom, but a sudden aversion to herself, and regret for the step he +had taken, her pride took the alarm, and, concealing the distress, she +really felt, she began to assume a haughty and reserved manner toward +him, which he naturally interpreted into an evidence of anger and +contempt. The dinner was placed upon the table, but De Chaulieu's +appetite, of which he had lately boasted, was quite gone, nor was his +wife better able to eat. The young sister alone did justice to the +repast; but although the bridegroom could not eat, he could swallow +Champagne in such copious draughts, that ere long the terror and remorse +that the apparition of Jacques Rollet had awakened in his breast were +drowned in intoxication. Amazed and indignant, poor Natalie sat silently +observing this elect of her heart, till overcome with disappointment and +grief, she quitted the room with her sister, and retired to another +apartment, where she gave free vent to her feelings in tears. + +After passing a couple of hours in confidences and lamentations, they +recollected that the hours of liberty granted, as an especial favor, to +Mademoiselle Hortense, had expired: but ashamed to exhibit her husband +in his present condition to the eyes of strangers, Natalie prepared to +re-conduct her to the _Maison Royale_ herself. Looking into the +dining-room as they passed, they saw De Chaulieu lying on a sofa fast +asleep, in which state he continued when his wife returned. At length, +however, the driver of their carriage begged to know if Monsieur and +Madame were ready to return to Paris, and it became necessary to arouse +him. The transitory effects of the Champagne had now subsided; but when +De Chaulieu recollected what had happened, nothing could exceed his +shame and mortification. So engrossing indeed were these sensations that +they quite overpowered his previous ones, and, in his present vexation, +he, for the moment, forgot his fears. He knelt at his wife's feet, +begged her pardon a thousand times, swore that he adored her, and +declared that the illness and the effect of the wine had been purely the +consequences of fasting and over-work. It was not the easiest thing in +the world to reassure a woman whose pride, affection, and taste, had +been so severely wounded; but Natalie tried to believe, or to appear to +do so, and a sort of reconciliation ensued, not quite sincere on the +part of the wife, and very humbling on the part of the husband. Under +these circumstances it was impossible that he should recover his spirits +or facility of manner; his gayety was forced, his tenderness +constrained; his heart was heavy within him; and ever and anon the +source whence all this disappointment and woe had sprung would recur to +his perplexed and tortured mind. + +Thus mutually pained and distrustful, they returned to Paris, which they +reached about nine o'clock. In spite of her depression, Natalie, who had +not seen her new apartments, felt some curiosity about them, while De +Chaulieu anticipated a triumph in exhibiting the elegant home he had +prepared for her. With some alacrity, therefore, they stepped out of the +carriage, the gates of the Hôtel were thrown open, the _concierge_ rang +the bell which announced to the servants that their master and mistress +had arrived, and while these domestics appeared above, holding lights +over the balusters, Natalie, followed by her husband, ascended the +stairs. But when they reached the landing-place of the first flight, +they saw the figure of a man standing in a corner as if to make way for +them; the flash from above fell upon his face, and again Antoine de +Chaulieu recognized the feature of Jacques Rollet! + +From the circumstance of his wife's preceding him, the figure was not +observed by De Chaulieu till he was lifting his foot to place it on the +top stair: the sudden shock caused him to miss the step, and, without +uttering a sound, he fell back, and never stopped till he reached the +stones at the bottom. The screams of Natalie brought the concierge from +below and the maids from above, and an attempt was made to raise the +unfortunate man from the ground; but with cries of anguish he besought +them to desist. + +"Let me," he said, "die here! What a fearful vengeance is thine! Oh, +Natalie, Natalie!" he exclaimed to his wife, who was kneeling beside +him, "to win fame, and fortune, and yourself, I committed a dreadful +crime! With lying words I argued away the life of a fellow-creature, +whom, while I uttered them, I half believed to be innocent; and now, +when I have attained all I desired, and reached the summit of my hopes, +the Almighty has sent him back upon the earth to blast me with the +sight. Three times this day--three times this day! Again! again!"--and, +as he spoke, his wild and dilated eyes fixed themselves on one of the +individuals that surrounded him. + +"He is delirious," said they. + +"No," said the stranger! "What he says is true enough--at least in +part;" and bending over the expiring man, he added, "May Heaven forgive +you, Antoine de Chaulieu! I was not executed; one who well knew my +innocence saved my life. I may name him, for he is beyond the reach of +the law now--it was Claperon, the jailor, who loved Claudine, and had +himself killed Alphonse de Bellefonds from jealousy. An unfortunate +wretch had been several years in the jail for a murder committed during +the frenzy of a fit of insanity. Long confinement had reduced him to +idiocy. To save my life Claperon substituted the senseless being for me, +on the scaffold, and he was executed in my stead. He has quitted the +country, and I have been a vagabond on the face of the earth ever since +that time. At length I obtained, through the assistance of my sister, +the situation of concierge in the Hôtel Marboeuf, in the Rue +Grange-Batelière. I entered on my new place yesterday evening, and was +desired to awaken the gentleman on the third floor at seven o'clock. +When I entered the room to do so, you were asleep, but before I had time +to speak you awoke, and I recognized your features in the glass. Knowing +that I could not vindicate my innocence if you chose to seize me, I +fled, and seeing an omnibus starting for St. Denis, I got on it with a +vague idea of getting on to Calais, and crossing the Channel to England. +But having only a franc or two in my pocket, or indeed in the world, I +did not know how to procure the means of going forward; and while I was +lounging about the place, forming first one plan and then another, I saw +you in the church, and concluding you were in pursuit of me, I thought +the best way of eluding your vigilance was to make my way back to Paris +as fast as I could; so I set off instantly, and walked all the way; but +having no money to pay my night's lodging, I came here to borrow a +couple of livres of my sister Claudine, who lives in the fifth story." + +"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the dying man; "that sin is off my soul! +Natalie, dear wife, farewell! Forgive! forgive all!" + +These were the last words he uttered; the priest, who had been summoned +in haste, held up the cross before his failing sight; a few strong +convulsions shook the poor bruised and mangled frame; and then all was +still. + +And thus ended the Young Advocate's Wedding Day. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +THE REVOLUTIONISM OF MIRABEAU. + + +The moral is evolved out of the physical, and the extraordinary in +animal structure has a kinship to the portentous in human action. + +MIRABEAU, the infamous, born in an age, of a family, in a rank the most +vicious in the annals of vice, of parents whose depravity had +contaminated even their blood, was ushered with infinite difficulty into +the breathing scene he was so much to trouble, and offered, at the +outset of his disorderly career, misfortune and singularity in a +twisted fool, a tied tongue, and two molar teeth. + +Maltreated by fortune, which, at the age of three, turned him by +disease into the ugliest of children--"a tiger marked by the +small-pox"--caressed and neglected by his dissolute mother, disowned and +persecuted as a spurious graft in his house and home by the celebrated +"Economist," his father--his very childhood presaged the disorders of +his youth and manhood; and his father, mysteriously reverting to early +crimes and calamities as the blight of his life, made it matter of +complaint that Honoré Gabriel, as a boy, had more cleverness "than all +the devils in h--l," and seemed destined from his childhood "to disturb +the monarchy, as a second Cardinal de Retz." + +He was indeed _born_ a Revolutionist; and if he had not found the +elements of a _bouleversement_, was competent to have created them. But +just as nature gave the instinct, fortune supplied the breeding and the +occasion. The heir, pupil, find victim of a second family of Atreus and +Thyestes, the child was _trained_ into demoralization, vicissitude, and +daring. Believed himself to have been the favorite lover of the most +lovely of his sisters, he describes her as the "Atrocious +memoir-writer," a "Messalina, boasting of the purity of her morals, and +an absconding wife, bragging of her love for her husband." The Vicomte, +his brother, "would have been a _roué_ and a wit," he tells us, "in any +family but his own," and _was_, of a dissolute noblesse, its most +dissolute member. His mother, driven with contumely from her home and +the bosom of her family, under accusations the most revolting a wife may +hear from one who is her husband and a father, addressed the world in +public recriminations for her persecutor, not less disgusting or +condemnatory. The son himself, the most infamous man of his time, +completes the picture in the boast he made to the National Assembly, +that among the tragic woes of his family he had been the witness of +fifty-four lettres-de-cachet, seventeen of them on his own account! + +As in Eastern climates the abundance of degenerate man will, at some +spot and moment, reach a point where it breeds the plague which +diminishes by depopulation the evil it can not remove by more merciful +agencies, so would it seem that in France the demoralization which +necessitated a revolution, concentrating itself in one family, produced +the man who was to begin the catastrophe. + +At seventeen, leaving a military academy, he entered the army as a +sub-lieutenant, knowing, as he tells us, a little Latin, and no Greek, +but possessing, with very tolerable acquirements in the mathematics, a +fair share of the scattered erudition won by readings more desultory +than diligent. + +Presented at court, admitted to the rare aristocratic privilege of +riding in the king's carriages at Versailles, laughed at as the Princess +Elizabeth's living specimen of inoculation, the incipient courtier and +embryo revolutionist was awakened from his delightful vision to find +himself suddenly transferred from his regal residence and gayeties, to +the sombre solitude of a country jail. He had been guilty of a +passionate attachment to a young lady of disproportionate expectations. + +The young victim of parental wrong, thus severely taught that the +splendors of a court were but a veneer under which lay the terrible +springs of a wayward tyranny, killed time in brooding over the ideas and +studies which subsequently formed his "_Essai_" no less than his +character--"_sur le despotisme_." But before completing the work, the +father's monomania had been temporarily mitigated by the vengeance of a +year's imprisonment; and the son, instead of being sent to Surinam, the +Dutch Sierra Leone of that day, was graciously permitted, under the +_bourgeois_ name of "Buffiere," to enter as a gentleman volunteer the +French army that was about to crush the Corsicans in their noble +struggle against Genoese oppression. + +In this liberticidal war, the liberty-loving Mirabeau performed his +first manly act, won his first public distinction, and initiated that +series of paradox, and moral revolutionism, that was hence to follow him +as lover, _litterateur_, and politician, to the grave. As his sword was +against Corsica and freedom, his pen was for them. He wrote over the +ruins of both a boyish philippic, admired by his victims, and burnt by +his father! + +And while the brain that was to rule France as a tribune-king, was thus +evolving its idle progeny, the womb of a Corsican woman near him was +travailing with him who was to be Napoleon! At the instant France, by +the sword of her future liberator, was mowing down the new-born +liberties of Corsica--Corsica was breathing the breath of life into a +child, whose sword was to cleave down the fresh-won freedom of France! +As a Cæsar and a Marius sprung from the blood of the Gracchi, there +would have been no Corsican exterminator for France, had there been no +French exterminators for Corsica.[7] There are surely times when fate +plays with mortals, making of the murder of a generation or the +revolution of an empire a nursery game of coincidences! + +Of the twenty years that followed, bringing Mirabeau to the footsteps of +the revolution, and within two years of his death, it was the odd fate +of this gay and gifted noble, guilty of no offense against the state, +nor in a legal sense against society, to pass more than the moiety of +his time in the sad rôle of a state prisoner; and the main incidents in +the unhappy sequence of wrong and suffering, the inevitable but +unrecognized logic of Providence, were briefly, and in succession, a +profitless marriage with the most distinguished heiress of his province, +carried off from twenty more eligible rivals by the superior strategy +of seduction and defamation, pecuniary extravagance, dissipation, debts, +sequestration of property, marital separation, successive imprisonments +by paternal intervention, deadly hate with the father, permanent +alienation from his adulterous wife and only child, licentious +connection with a friend's wife, with whom he abandoned his country, +exile in Switzerland, Holland, and England, successive litigations +self-conducted, a ministerial spyship in Prussia, and a career more or +less stormy, as a _litterateur_, in France. + +Entombed in one of the horrid dungeons of Vincennes, solitary, hopeless, +almost without a sympathy, though in the very spring-tide of his rich +youth and activity, the angel of consolation, never far from us in our +darkest hour, came down, and in the genial guise of literature, visited +in his dungeon this man of infamies and suffering. It must, however, be +confessed against him that, maddened by the severity of a despotism +without appeal, in the wrong--and from that hand, too, whence he might +fairly have hoped a kinder gift, even the wholesomeness of books became +poisoned under his diseased digestion, and it became his wretched +pleasure through months to avenge himself on the virtue in whose injured +name he suffered, by licentious compilations, in which the man +degenerates into the satyr, and the distinctions of right and decency +are lost in the beastly excesses of a maniac imagination. + +But so morbid a vice in a mind like his can be protected by no madness +of the passions or vindictiveness of misanthropy from the healing +influence of time; and if the leisure of his tedious incarcerations gave +us four or five books in the worst of services, they gave us also those +extensive studies of history and its philosophy to which we owe, among +much else that is great in literature or in event, the three works on +"Despotism," "State Prisons," and "Lettres-de-Cachet." + +To our present purpose it would be of little use to indulge in any +lengthened analysis or literary estimate of these performances. +Gratifying his need of money, his love of fame, and, above all, a +vengeance warmly nursed, which even virtue can not censure, their +publication formed, probably, the happiest incidents of his life. The +first published in his twenty-fifth year, bears all the characteristics +of the young man of genius, roughened, no less than strengthened by the +asperities of the experience out of whose ireful plenitude he writes. +Rough and disorderly in arrangement, it is lofty, striking, eloquent in +style--cogent, daring, powerful in matter. + +The last, the result of his long, final imprisonment, and published in +his thirty-first year, possesses similar attributes, aggrandized, or +improved. A great work, involving an inquiry into the first principles +of government, and, therefore, of infinite practical utility in the +career reserved for him, it wants too obviously the elevation of a +Montesquieu, the philosophy of a Bolingbroke, or the comprehensive +profundity of a Burke. It is a work of genius, but by a partisan, an +advocate, a man of powerful emotion and vivid conception, having a +strong will, a high purpose, and an enduring conviction. With a great, +sometimes an inapt parade of erudition, and an occasional loss of time +in inflated and declamatory commonplaces, there is yet, as a general +rule, work, rather than literature, in his sentences, and the just, the +practical, the statesman-like are the dominating qualities. We must not +look for the artist in Mirabeau as a writer: he is above that: nor, +whatever the range of thought we may justly concede him, may we, +therefore, expect the sublime; he is below that. With the eloquence of +an impassioned imagination, united to the unornamented vigor of a ready, +versatile, and comprehensive reason, he reminds one of some colossal +engine in forceful, though not always in graceful action. + +In Holland, occupied in literature and the society of literary men, and +subsequently in England, in commerce with Franklin, Dr. Price, Samuel +Romilly, and Wilkes--among whom be it said, _en passant_, he acquired +the reputation of an habitual liar--a thousand circumstances must have +presented themselves, not more in his own studies than in the freedom, +seriousness, and activity he saw around him, to prepare and stimulate +his ambition for the lofty career of political action that awaited him +at home. In truth, if we may judge from the letters written during his +English residence, or the biographical fragments that occur in his other +correspondence, he seems, beyond his personal indigence, to have had no +other enduring interest but that of public affairs. His mind broods over +the tragic epochs of English history with a fascinating and curious +sympathy: there is an evident faith in a coming drama of popular action +for France, in which he is to play a leading part--a faith so early +ripened that, in 1782, meeting at Neufchatel certain State Deputies of +Geneva, he based on the inevitable meeting of the States General the +prediction, or rather the promise, that he would become a deputy, and in +that character restore their country to freedom. + +Returning to Paris at a moment when the increasing and unmanageable +_deficit_ brought national bankruptcy and confusion to the very door of +the state, a course of angry and mercenary pamphleteering on Finance, +while connecting him with discontented men of wealth and influence, +willing, jointly with the police, to hire or use his ready pen, forced +on him education in another important, if unattractive, department of +the great question of the times. + +His ministerial spyship in Prussia, which, subsequently divulged by his +own audacious publication of his secret correspondence, won from M. de +Montesquieu the remark, that "the infamy of the person might be +estimated by the infamy of the thing," was not without its compensations +in the political experience he extracted from it. It brought before him +the main interests of European diplomacy: won him access to the +principal intrigues and intriguers of a Court in transitionship, by the +death of Frederick, from eccentric greatness to orderly mediocrity; +habituated him to ministerial correspondence and reports, which, if +disgustingly mean, were, at all events, systematic and prescient, and +secured him--I could wish to say honestly--those historic and +statistical _data_ which, published in his elaborate work on the +Prussian monarchy, countenanced some serious claims to statesmanship. + +Misfortune, passion, solitude, suffering, travel, extraordinary +adventures, extensive readings, varied studies, innumerable writings +thus admirably endowing his mind, so disposed, too, by nature, for the +daring and stormy struggles of the revolution, the only resource that +could surely be wanting to so enormous a compound of intellectual +strength, I mean the power of oratory, he was fated to acquire in his +lengthened trials for the recovery of his wife and legal rights. + +Opposed by Alps of difficulties, the moral greater than the legal, for +the suits ploughed deeply into all the crimes or errors that had +dishonored his career, and would necessarily turn up masses of +documentary evidence, which on no less authority than that of his +father, must carry the tale of his infamy to every eye; yet his audacity +dared, as his genius surmounted, every disadvantage, and after fixing +the admiration of a province--to him a sufficient compensation--by the +ingenuity, the power, and the extraordinary resources of his eloquence +in a path so new to him, he succeeded in re-establishing his civil +rights, and but failed in the second, and, perhaps, less important suit, +by the accident of a technicality. + +Passing by his double election as Deputy, at Aix and Marseilles, marked +by excitement, insurrection and all the stirring incidents that, in a +moment of great public agitation, might be expected to accompany the +_début_ of a daring and accomplished demagogue, we are now brought to +the greatest epoch of France, and, therefore, of Mirabeau--the meeting +of the States General; and the observation is naturally suggested that, +if this extraordinary succession of circumstances, marvelous as +_incidents_, but still more marvelous as _coincidents_, had not +specially moulded the man for his work, it might well be doubted that +the French revolution could have happened, or at all events, in such +gigantic proportions. Mirabeau's life was, as we have seen, a pupilage, +as it is now to become a mastership, in revolution. His Saturn of a +father had trained him, from his youth upward, into the executionership +of his order; and Heaven itself, as if seconding some such inscrutable +design, seems to have stooped to lead by the hand this servant of +Nemesis, through paths the most devious and unfrequented, but, of all +others, the most fitted to form and conduct him to the emergency. + +A change, it is true of some kind in French Government, accompanied by +more or less confusion and bloodshed, had been long inevitable. Genius, +good sense, suffering, luxury, oppression, contumely, unprincipledness, +and folly, each boon of nature, each wrong of man, had concurred, after +more than a century of struggle, in necessitating a consummation. + +In my opinion, the popular horrors that darkened the end of the +eighteenth century, though pointed in their way by the finger of +Mirabeau, legitimately trace their pedigree to the royal grandeurs that +closed the preceding one. The French Revolution was born of Louis the +Fourteenth. His policy--his achievements--his failures, and, still more, +his personal character and court deportment, killed monarchy in the +hearts of the French people. The prominent ruling characteristic of +himself and reign was an all-absorbing egotism. A maelstrom of +selfishness, and unconscious of any law of reciprocity to arise from his +relations to a common humanity, this chief and example of a numerous +aristocracy was the grand centre to which was to be directed every +affection and service, from which was to be circulated every volition +and ordinance. And need I say that no eminence of intellectual power--no +prudence of personal deportment--no brilliancy of external achievement, +can or ought to have any effect on spectators so keen-witted and +impressionable as the French, save to make additionally insupportable a +character which, even on the smallest scale, is, of all others, the most +odious and repulsive. The stern unity and perfection of order in which +he was enabled to present political power--that necessary evil of human +existence--but added intensity to the hate, as it added grandeur to the +idea of his despotism. In the eyes of his suffering subjects it brought +him face to face with the catastrophes no less than with the glories of +his reign, and without the merit of the avowal--_adsum qui feci!_ gave +him all its dread responsibilities. An old despot surviving his +greatness while retaining the stinging irony of its title--a saint amid +the standing reminiscences of his adulteries, expiating his pleasures by +annihilating those of others, and tormenting consciences to save his +own--his suffering and downcast people became at length disabused but +too utterly of the base apotheosis of his person and character, so long +maintained by him in the name of a false glory and debased religion. +They even publicly rejoiced at a death-bed made pitiable by the absence +of his mistress, confessor, and family; and meeting in mobs that, +encountering his corpse on its way through by-lanes to hugger-mugger +interment at St. Denis, they might tear it into shreds, gave early and +portentous evidence that the germ of an envenomed and bloody democracy +had been elicited in the very perfection of his stern and heartless +tyranny. The unblushing excesses of the Regent and of Louis the +Fifteenth, who gratuitously withdrew the last vail that concealed the +utter rottenness of all that claimed popular obedience, under the names +of religion, and authority, sufficed, though scarcely needed, to +_complete_ the discredit of the French monarchy; and, ascending his +throne, surrounded by a dissolute clergy, an overbearing aristocracy, +and a discontented and impoverished people, the robed Louis the +Sixteenth seemed but the calf of atonement of the Scriptures decked for +sacrifice, and doomed to expiate a century of court gayeties and crimes +in which he had had no part! + +Mirabeau began the revolution with a thousand vague hopes and +expectations, and the conviction, communicated to his friend Mauvillon, +that "it was not given to human sagacity to devise where _all this_ +would end." A living conflict of passions and principles, of low needs +and high ambitions, of lofty genius and infamous repute, a demagogue by +policy, an aristocrat by vanity, a constitutionalist by conviction, his +public conduct anxiously and perpetually brought in evidence one or +other of these conflicting agencies; but beyond the personal aim of +recovering his rank, and winning some sort of greatness at any price, he +was without one pervading or dominant public purpose, save that of +extinguishing the despotism that had injured him. Above all policies, +_abstractedly_ considered, this was the one dear to his heart. "I come +here to grant, not to ask pardon," was his reply, in a voice of angry +defiance, to some oratorical assurance that a life of usefulness might +secure the pardon of his earlier delinquencies. A horrid, but too +natural vindictiveness had interwoven the hate of arbitrary power into +every fibre of his brain. It was a passion or sentiment that he never +abandoned: it may be even doubted if he could have been purchased out of +it. Despite all the evils and mischances of life, there stood erect in +his soul this one small altar to virtue, or something that resembled it, +which he would have thrown down but under the direst necessity. + +But of all the circumstances glanced at as furnishing the key to many of +the paradoxes of his public conduct, one of the most important, though +perhaps the least appreciated, is the dishonor of his repute. It is +difficult, with his present position in history, especially when taken +in relation to the now well-certified worthlessness of his +contemporaries, to realize to the imagination the full extent of his +infamy. "You dare," said his former friend Rulhiere, in a pamphlet that +had a wide circulation, "_You_ dare to speak of a country, Count +Mirabeau! If your brow were not trebly bronzed, how must you have +blushed at its very name! Have you one quality of father, friend, +brother, husband, or relative? An honorable vocation? Any one attribute +that constitutes the citizen? Not one! You are without a refuge, without +a relative. I seek your most ordinary domiciles, and I find them but in +the prison of Vincennes, the Chateau d'If, the fortress of Ioux, the +jail of Pontarlier!"[8] + +Dumont, coming over to Paris, was so moved by the discredit attached, +in respectable circles, to his acquaintance, that he visited him with +repugnance and as a duty, but records the characteristic incident, that +on his first call he was so won by the magic of his host's conversation, +as to depart resolved on retaining, at all hazards, so agreeable a +friendship. The mention of his name, with the sight of his person, at +the opening of the States General, elicited groans and hisses on all +sides. The _Tiers-Etat_--whom he had honored by his aristocratic +adoption--were unanimous in refusing him a hearing the two or three +occasions on which he first sought to address them. The queen, whose +life, family, and regal heritage were at stake, received the assurance, +that such a person was willing to assist the views of the court, with +"the contempt due to vice;"[9] and "assassin!" "robber!" "slanderer!" +were the epithets almost daily applied to him in the senate of the +nation! Society, expiring under the weight of its own vices, saw in him +that well-defined excess that entitled it to the merits of purgation in +his extruism, of atonement in his martyrdom, and to place the hand of +menace and malediction on his head, as the scape-goat of its redemption! + +Thus detested by all parties, his low character keeping him low, +Mirabeau, with all his marvelous power, found himself placed, by public +contempt, more even than by private need, at the mercy of circumstances. +Befoulment had so far eaten into his name, that, with occasionally the +best of desires, and always the greatest of energies, there stood a +blight over both. He felt that a moral leprosy incrusted him, which +repelled the good, and kept aloof the prudent. The contemned inferior, +in moral standing, of those that surrounded him, it was difficult to be +honest, and impossible to be independent. By a sort of law of nature, +too, his tarred repute attracted to it every floating feather of +suspicion, no less than of guilt, as to its natural seat; and thus it +happened that the lofty genius of Mirabeau, under the "grand hests" of a +hateful necessity, like the "too delicate spirit," Ariel, tasked to the +"strong biddings" of the "foul witch Sycorax," was condemned for a while +to pander rather than teach, to follow rather than lead, to please +rather than patronize, and to halloo others' opinions rather than +vindicate his own! + +No man could appreciate the misfortune more fully or sensitively than +himself. Dumont tells us that, taught by events that a good character +would have placed France at his feet, "he would have passed seven times +through the fiery furnace to purify his name;" and that, "weeping and +sobbing, he was accustomed to exclaim, 'Cruelly do I expiate the errors +of my youth!'" And, indeed, the more sensible his heart, the more rich +and elevated his soul, the more must his torments have been bitter and +redoubled; for the very preciousness of the gifts of nature, the charms +of society, even the friendship of those that surrounded him, must have +turned but to the increase of his wretchedness! + +It is easy to understand, then, that the tactics of Mirabeau, in the +first days of the revolution, were those of a man outside "a swelling +scene," + + "A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, + And monarchs to behold," + +which he could only occupy by rudely breaking through a thousand +circumvallations of usage, propriety, and public opinion. As it was the +boast of Luther, that he, an obscure monk, stood alone for some time +against respectable Europe, so Mirabeau, on the eve of his public +greatness, was the most isolated politician of his age. "Mean men, in +their rising," says Lord Bacon, "most adhere; but great men, that have +strength in themselves, were better to maintain themselves indifferent +and neutral." Instinctively feeling that this was the policy of his +position, when repelled by both sides, he haughtily repelled them in +return, and the more he was despised the more inevitable did he make the +establishment of his importance. As, without a party, he became one +himself, so without a plan he took that of events, and without a policy +was content with that of display. In these early days, indeed, his whole +plan, system, and policy was to make his individualism tell, to +demonstrate, to all parties, what he was worth in journalism as a +writer, in the Assembly as an orator, in every thing as a statesman. As +he had nothing but himself, it became his business to make the most of +the commodity, which, so valueless in the beginning, ended in +outworthing all that was opposed to it. + +But if this policy of display, no less than his education, sympathies, +and hates, bore him to the opposition, there were in his pecuniary +wants, and his ambitious dreams of a statesmanship, _à la Richelieu_, +circumstances that at times resistlessly brought him within the +influence of court power. Uncertain how far he could overpower the +disadvantages of his personal position, wounded that the movement party +were little inclined to value his co-operation, and still less to accept +his leadership, he early felt, or feigned alarm at the fermentation in +the public mind, and its possible evolution in great national +calamities; and before one act of legislation was accomplished, or he +had had a month's experience of the fanatical impracticability of one +side, I use his own words, and the intolerant spirit of resistance on +the other, he personally proposed to his enemy, Necker, and through him +to the queen, "the only _man_," he said, "connected with the court," to +concur, at the price of an embassadorship to Constantinople, in +supporting the court system of policy. + +He appears to have fancied for some days that his proposals were +accepted; but before he could enter on any of the Eastern arrangements +his active mind had already suggested, he learned that the overture was +rejected "with a contempt which," as Madame Campan sagaciously admits, +"the court would doubtless have concealed, if they could have foreseen +the future." Contenting himself with the angry menace, "They shall soon +hear some of my news," within a month he became the author of successive +defeats, the most insulting a monarch could receive from his parliament, +and which were fated to exercise an active influence in the overturn of +that royalty he was afterward to defend. + +The king, anxious to arrange the differences which kept the three orders +aloof from each other, and from legislation, had sent to the +_Tiers-Etat_ a message, wise in its suggestions, and conciliatory in its +tone. Under the eloquence of Mirabeau, the house passed to the order of +the day. + +Irritated by insult, and complaining that the antagonism of the three +orders prevented any progress in the public business for which they were +convened, the king summoned a general meeting of all the deputies, and +after an address, in which he expressed his royal pleasure that the +three orders should form separate chambers, he commanded the assembly to +disperse, that they might meet under the ordinances his prerogative had +prescribed. The clergy, the nobles obey; the commons remain uncertain, +hesitating, and almost in consternation. The royal command is again +communicated to them, with the intimation, that having heard the king's +intentions they had now only to obey. The crisis of the royal +prerogative, obedience, hung but on the turn of a feather: the repulsed +Mirabeau arose, and turned it against the king. "We _have_," said he, in +a voice of thunder, "we _have_ heard the intentions _attributed_ to the +king; and you, sir, who have no place, nor voice, nor right of speech +here, are not competent to remind us of them. Go tell your master that +we are here by the will of the people, and that we are not to be +expelled but by the power of bayonets!" + +Cheered and supported by the now reassured _Tiers-Etat_, he next, in +imitation of the English parliament, carried, that the persons of the +deputies were inviolate, that any one infringing that right should be +pursued as an enemy of the country, and that the payment of taxes, till +further legislation, should be obligatory only during the existence of +the legislative corps. + +Added to the bold title of "National Assembly," newly adopted, these +votes were the assumption of a kingship by the _Tiers-Etat_; and as +public opinion enthusiastically backed the innovation, the divided peers +and ecclesiastics were compelled at length to join, and be submerged in +the mass of popular deputies. + +A civil war could alone stand between royal power and its destruction. +For some weeks the court prepared for even such an eventuality. +"Ministers play high stakes," writes Mirabeau, on the 5th of July; "they +are compromising the king, for in menacing Paris and the Assembly they +are menacing France. All reaction is equal to action: the more the +pressure now, the more terrible do I foresee will be the reaction. Paris +will not suffer itself to be muzzled by a bevy of nobles thrown into +despair by their own stupidity; but they shall pay the penalty of the +attempt.... The storm must soon break out. It is arranged that I ask the +withdrawal of the troops; but be you ready (at Paris) to help the step!" + +The demand was evaded by the king; the soldiery were largely increased +and concentrated; the arrests of the more revolutionary deputies, +including, of course, Mirabeau, were decided on; Necker was summarily +dismissed: but on the other side able and active emissaries roused Paris +by statements the most exciting, and taking all characters, with the +costumes of either sex, caressed, fêted, and partially won over the +soldiery, and before the court could take one step toward its purposes, +Paris was in full insurrection, the troops corrupted or overpowered, the +Bastile taken, and under the plea of anarchical excuse, the whole +_bourgeoisie_ of Paris placed in a few hours under arms as National +Guards. + +The king, taught that it was not revolt but revolution, preferred, as +every body foresaw, submission to civil war, recalled Necker, and +visited triumphant Paris, at once the hostage and conquest of a popular +triumph. + +Mirabeau, more or less connected with the Orleanists, had speculated +with them on the chances of confusion; for to him it was a small thing, +provided he had bread, that it was baked in an oven warmed with the +conflagration of an empire. Looking forward with complacency to every +contingency of revolutionary crises, assured that a common danger, +flinging aside, as unimportant, questions of personal character, would +make power the prey of genius and audacity, he was correspondingly +annoyed by a re-arrangement that promised for a time a well-grounded +tranquillity. + +The destruction of the Bastile securing that of "The Syllas of thought," +he now transformed into a full political newspaper, his weekly "Letter +to his Constituents," under which title he had evaded, from the first +assembly of the States-General, the censorship on the press. Aware, from +a knowledge of Wilkes and his history, of the power of journalism to a +politician, and above all, to a demagogue in a free country, he was, in +the full sense of the term, the first newspaper editor of France, and +owed to the vigorous use of this novel agency, not only useful additions +to his pecuniary resources, but a great portion of that popular idolatry +that followed him to the grave. + +The court which, in calling together the States, had no higher aim than +to regenerate the finances of the country, and, as one step, to obtain +the help of the people in stripping a numerous aristocracy of their +baneful exemption from state-burdens, had already found out its own +share in the peril of the experiment, and now sought, by a close +alliance with the _noblesse_, to avert the ruin that too evidently +menaced both. But the torrent had but accumulated at each irresistible +concession, and every day's work added to the democratic elements of a +constitution that had already made royalty a cipher, and annihilated, +as political institutions, the church and aristocracy. + +Of course new schemes of regal antagonism again raised their heads, and +again a popular manifestation, bringing Paris into the very boudoir of +the queen, at Versailles, demonstrated the impuissance of all that took +the name of French royalism. The October insurrection was fomented by +Mirabeau and his Orleanist friends, for the same purpose as that of +July, to secure personal safety, and obtain a new scene of action, by +terrifying the court into exile, or the acceptance of Orleans' +protection. Had the duke been raised to the "lieutenant-generalship of +the kingdom," Mirabeau counted on a premiership, in which he purposed to +become the Chatham or Pitt of France. Had Louis the Sixteenth fled the +kingdom after the example of the Comte D'Artois, he purposed to proclaim +a republic, and become its "first consul;" and should the doom be that +France should be divided by civil war, and cut up into its old kingdoms, +he speculated on a sovereignty in his ancestral country, Provence, which +had already greeted him with so encouraging an enthusiasm. + +Strangeness of event! While the monarchy, so short-lived, still survived +the insatiate Mirabeau, two of the extraordinary contingencies he +speculated on have already happened, to the profit of other actors, and +the existing republic, in its mutinous armies, intolerant factions, and +insane dynasties, offers no very improbable portent that, even after +half a century of a centralized and well-fixed nationality, the old +repartition of kingdoms may again present itself! + +The great consummation of the confusion, however, failed for the +overmuch of means. "A bottle of brandy was given," said the orator, +"instead of a glass!" and the mob's capricious _impromptu_ of carrying +the king back with them to Paris, still more than the cowardice of the +Duke of Orleans, defeated this deep-laid Machiavelian combination. + +Whatever the character, however, of the people's success, it could not +but be an additional success for their leader. The revolution, of which +he stood recognized the unquestioned head, was now beyond all danger of +royal aggression, except by his own treacherous agency. In a campaign of +unimaginable brevity, he had not only vindicated the first place as an +orator in a senate now omnipotent, and become out of it the most potent +demagogue of his time, but as _un homme d'état_, surrounded by a +brilliant staff of the most active spirits and practical thinkers of the +day, Camille Desmoulins, Danton, Volney, Champfort, Lamourette, Cabanis, +Reybaz, Dumont, Duroverai, Claviere, Servan, De Caseaux, Panchaud, +Pellenc, Brissot, and others, was understood by every party to hold the +future destinies of France in his hand Emerging from two insurrections, +possessing, by his power, all their profits, and by his adroitness, none +of their responsibility, he found it now worth his while to break terms +with the Duke of Orleans, by a public expression of his contempt for +him as a scoundrel not worth the trouble that might be taken for him; +and excluded from the ministry, that lay open to him, by a self-denying +ordonnance of the Assembly, directly leveled at his pretensions, he +accepted a large subsidy from the king's brother--the Comte de +Provence--and formed with him, for the restoration or upholding a +monarchical authority, a mysterious and ineffective conspiracy, the +character and extent of which may be conjectured from its involving the +assassination of the Marquess de Lafayette. + +The hate of Mirabeau for this worthy but feeble nobleman--his diligent +colleague in the struggle for liberty--was as intense as, at first +sight, it seems incredible. He was his Mordecai at the king's gate, for +whom he could neither sleep nor eat. Remembering that Mirabeau's passion +for complicated intrigue and daring adventure, even in politics, was +extravagant to disease, it seems possible that, as he advanced in his +rapid greatness, he secretly nursed projects or hopes as incompatible +with a constitutional monarchy, and an organized public force, in +respectable hands, as with the despotism with which he had originally +battled; and that, in his successive conspiracies, now with the +Republicans and Orleanists, now with the Count de Provence and the +queen, he had no fixed intention of ultimately benefiting those he +professed to serve, but proposed to use them as ladders to that exalted +position of a Sylla or a Cæsar, which, as Bonaparte subsequently proved, +was no more, perhaps, beyond his grasp than his ambition; influenced by +the insidious suggestions and doubts he carefully spread abroad, the +queen, as he saw with pleasure, looked on the new commander of the +National Guards as a "Grandison-Cromwell" (Mirabeau's damaging epithet), +whose concealed ambition aimed at the constableship of France, as a step +to that dread of French sovereigns, the "Mayorship of the Palace;" and +hence the court systematically declined the aids it might so often have +derived from the honesty, the popularity, and sometimes the good sense +of the American volunteer. At all events, we know that the assassination +of Lafayette--twice it seems plotted--would have left the National +Guards in the hands of some less popular and more pliant chief; and +that, when the general specifically accused his rival of the horrid +project, naming time, place, and means, he won no better defense than +the reply, "You were sure of it, and I am alive! How good of you! And +you aspire to play a leading part in a revolution!" The compact with the +Comte de Provence was of short duration: the queen began to distrust the +personal views of her brother-in-law, who threatened to become the Duke +D'Orleans of a philosophical party, and Mirabeau, to whom popularity was +the only capital, probably found that he could not afford the sacrifices +his employers demanded. + +To preserve the _status quo_, and wait events, became now, for some +weeks or months, as much his policy as his accessibility to passion and +sudden influences would permit. He seemed to feel that he should give +time to the molten lava of his volcanic greatness to settle, harden, and +assume its individualism among things received. Holding aloof, +therefore, from indentification with either party--leaning now on one +side, now on the other; his speeches more with the movement, his policy +more with the court; forcing both parties into explanations, while +keeping himself, however, disengaged--he constituted himself their +arbitrator and moderator, overawing both extremes; and while maintaining +his pre-eminence of political influence, held himself ready to take +advantage, at the least cost of consistency, of any fundamental change +in the position of affairs. + +In the month of May or June, however, a private interview with the +queen, in the Royal Garden of St. Cloud, followed by others, to the +renewed scandal of her fame, laid the foundation of a new compact with +the court, and a more decided policy. The chivalry of Mirabeau revived +under the enthusiasm won by "Earth's loveliest vision"--a queen in +distress and a suppliant--and he pledged himself, as the Hungarians to +her royal mother, to die in the service of saving her throne. But the +highest endeavors of Mirabeau have always at their base, like the +monuments of his country, the filthy and the repulsive; and the chivalry +of this new saviour of the monarchy received sustentation in a +bribe--higgled for through months--of twenty thousand pounds, and a +pension of more than that per annum. + +About the end of the year, three or four months before his death, he +opened systematically his great campaign for what professedly was the +restoration of regal authority. He was to out-Herod in patriotism the +Herods of the Jacobin club: the court was to dare every thing short of +civil war--perhaps even that; and the existing confusion, whatever it +might be, was to be cured by another of greater extent, artificially +induced by the charlatanism of art political. His scheme, in some +points, it must be allowed, successfully imitated in our own days in +Prussia, was: + +First--To reorganize the party of Order in the Assembly; and while, as +far as possible, winning for it the sympathy of the country, to excite, +by all available agencies, distrust and discontent with the opposing +majority. + +Secondly--To inundate the provinces with publications against the +Assembly; and by commissioners, sent nominally for other purposes, to +obtain remonstrances from the departments against its further +continuance. + +Thirdly--At a proper opportunity, to dissolve the Assembly, and order +fresh elections; at the same time canceling the constitution as illegal, +and granting another by royal charter, formed on a popular basis, and on +the written instructions which (on a system unknown to England) had +originally been drawn up for each deputy by his electors. + +I shall not descend to discuss the oft-mooted point, how far the +wholesale venality that based the project is justified or palliated by +the object it is supposed to have had in view, because I know that with +Mirabeau money was not _a means_ to his defense of constitutional +monarchy, but his defense of constitutional monarchy a means to money. +If we except his relentless hate to French despotism in any hands not +his own, the principles, moral or political, of this leader of a nation +had no other tenure but the interest of his personal aggrandizement. + +On another debate, whether with a longer life he could have carried his +counter-revolution to success, I will only remark, that, conceding that +in robust health he would have had it at heart as sincerely as in the +recorded hours of his sickness and despondency, it may be admitted, that +a struggle which, under every imprudence, seemed long to hang in doubt, +with the aid of his energetic and masterly polity might, perhaps, have +poised for royalty. But it is not to be concealed that the difficulty of +arresting and unmaking were even greater than those of creating and +consolidating the revolution. The king's aversion to decisive measures, +and well-known horror of civil war, made him the worst of colleagues for +the only policy his tool could wield with effect; and the great +demagogue himself, when obliged to discard the mask of democratic +hypocrisy that still partly hid the subtle and venal traitor of his +party, would have lost, like Strafford, many of the elements of his +potency; and despoiled, especially, of the miraculous resources of his +eloquence, must have contented himself with that lucid, common-sense, +consecutive daring, and power of strategic combination, which his new +friends were so ill-fitted to support. + +Fortunately, perhaps, for his future fame, he died ere the structure his +arts had undermined tested his powers of reparation, and before that +wonderful magic of popularity which had so long survived, as it had, +indeed, so long anticipated, his deserts, had time to vanish under the +cock-crow of truth. His death was as well-timed as his political advent, +and has been praised by French wit as the best evidence of his tact; for +the expectations which the unparalleled rapidity, no less than the +innate marvelousness of his achievements had raised, no future activity +and fortune, scarcely those of a Napoleon, could have realized. + +But if the retrospect of his career must convince us that one man in so +short a period never accomplished so much before, against such +disadvantages, so also must we admit that probably never before did any +one rest so wholly for his amazing achievements on the sole power of +intrinsic genius. It was intellect that did all with Mirabeau; and made +his head, according to his own boast, a power among European states. It +united almost every possible capacity and attainment. His rare and +penetrating powers of observation were sustained by the equal depth and +justness of his discrimination, and the rapidity and accuracy of his +judgment. Uniting, to his admirable natural capacity, an activity and +habitual power of application, more marvelous almost in their extent +than even in their rare combination, he possessed an understanding full, +beyond precedent, both of the recorded knowledge of books, and of that +priceless experience of men and things, without which all else is +naught; and as the complement of these amazing and unparalleled +advantages, he had the still rarer advantage of a felicity and power of +diction every way worthy of so incomparable a genius. + +Looking with contempt at the stiff, ornamental, and childishly +antithetical style of his day and nation, he welded the flimsy elements +of the French language into instruments of strength akin to his own +conceptions, and wrought out of them a style for himself in which a +Demosthenic simplicity and severity of language is sustained by an +earnest and straightforward power which vivifies and amplifies all that +it touches. Startled by an innovation far beyond the conceptions of the +French academy, the writer was smiled at and neglected by the critics; +and it was not till they heard him launching from the tribune the +thunders of justice, disposing at pleasure of the inclinations of the +multitude, and subjugating even the captious by the imperious power of +his eloquence, that they began to discover that there was a "power of +life"[10] in his rude and singular language; that "things, commonplace, +in his hand became of electric power;"[11] and that, standing "like a +giant among pigmies,"[12] his style, albeit "savage,"[13] dominated the +assembly, stupefying, and thundering down all opposition. + +It is the affliction of history, that, while raising her monuments to +gigantic genius, she is compelled so often to record an immorality of +parallel proportions. It is right that the infamy of Mirabeau should be +as eternal as his greatness. He was a man who, in his political, as in +his private life, had no sense of right for its own sake, and from whom +conscience never won a sacrifice. With great and glorious aims at times, +he never had a disinterested one. His ambition, vanity, or passions, +were his only standard of conduct--a standard, be it added, which, +despite the wonderful justness of his judgments, the depravity of a +sunken nature kept always below even his needs. Policy with him was +often but a campaign of vengeance or market of venality, and the +glorious exercises of literature but a relaxation of indecency or +business of wrong. In the study, in the tribune, or in the +council-chamber, glory was the only element that remained to +counterpoise, often with a feather's weight, the smallest influence of +gold or spleen; and in the most critical epoch of an empire, the poising +of his tremendous influence--the influence of so much earnestness and +magical power--was the accident of an accident. We admit for him, in +palliation, the demoralizing influence of terrific example, and of +maddening oppression; but where is the worth of a morality that, in a +man of heroic mould, will not stand assay? and what is virtue but a +name, if she may be betrayed whenever she demands an effort? + +But however much a moral wreck was the heart of Mirabeau, nature, true +to the harmony, no less than the magnificence, of her great creations, +had essentially formed it of noble and gentle elements. Touched to the +core by the contaminating influence of "time and tide," its instincts +were yet to the kindly, the generous, and elevated; and those about him +who knew him best--attached to him more by his affections than his +glory--eagerly attested that in the bosom of this depraved citizen +resided most of the qualities which, under happier agencies, would have +made him a dutiful son, a devoted husband, an attached friend, and truly +noble character! + +In fine, with an eye to see at a glance, a mind to devise, a tongue to +persuade, a hand to execute, this great man was circumspect in +recklessness, poised and vigorous in violence, cool and calculating to a +minutia in audacity and passion. As a friend, affectionate and +volatile--as an enemy, fierce and placable--as a politician, patriotic +and venal. Proud of his patricianship, whose _status_ and manners he has +lost, he is humble about a statesmanship that makes the first of his +glories. The best of writers, his works are written for him; the +greatest of orators, his speeches are made for him! Has he the most +unerring of judgments? He prefers another's! Is he a popular tribune? He +is also a royalist parasite! Is he earnest? He is then insincere! Does +he evidence great principles? He seeks bribes! Does he enforce +moderation? He awaits vengeance! Does he cause confusion? He is seeking +order! Would he save the nation? He is selling its liberties! Wonderful +man! great with enormous weaknesses, bad with many excellencies, +immortal by the expedients of an hour, his genius is a combination of +almost impossible perfections, as his political life the colossal result +of a thousand contradictions. United, they yield a deathless character, +whose Titanic proportions shall, age after age, be huger, as the mighty +shadows that cover it shall grow darker! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] It was this invasion that made Corsica a French island, and +consequently Napoleon Bonaparte a French citizen + +[8] He had also been confined in two prisons, in the Ile de Rue, and the +Castle of Dijon. + +[9] Madame Campan's Memoirs. + +[10] Madame de Staël. + +[11] Bertrand de Moleville. + +[12] De Levis. + +[13] De Ferrieres. + + + + +[From Hogg's Instructor.] + +THE "COMMUNIST" SPARROW--AN ANECDOTE OF CUVIER. + + +We have been struck with the following anecdote of the great Cuvier, +which is recorded in the "Courrier de l'Europe" for February, 1850, and +trust the following translation will prove as interesting to our readers +as it has been to us. It forms an amusing chapter in natural history, +and forcibly illustrates that close observation which so frequently +characterizes eminent men. + +Poverty in youth has a purifying tendency, like the "live coal" of old +which the angel passed over the lips of Isaiah. It inures the soul to +struggling, and the mind to persevering labor and self-confidence: it +keeps the imagination away from the temptations of luxury, and the still +more fatal one of idleness, that parent of vice. It, moreover, becomes +one of the most fruitful sources of happiness to the man whom God +permits to come out of the crowd and take his place at the head of +science and art. It is with ineffable delight that he looks behind, and +says, in thinking of his cold and comfortless garret, "I came out of +that place, single and unknown." George Cuvier, that pupil of poverty, +loved to relate one of his first observations of natural history, which +he had made while tutor to the children of Count d'Henry. + +Cuvier and his scholars inhabited an old mansion in the county of Caux à +Fiquanville; the teacher's room overlooked the garden, and every +morning, at break of day, he opened the window to inhale the refreshing +air, before commencing his arduous duties to his indifferently trained +pupils. One morning he observed, not without pleasure, that two swallows +had begun to build their nest in the very corner of his little chamber +window. The birds labored with the ardor of two young lovers who are in +haste to start in housekeeping. The male bird brought the moistened clay +in his beak, which the female kneaded, and with the addition of some +chips of straw and hay, she built her little lodging with wonderful +skill. As soon as the outside was finished, the betrothed gathered +feathers, hair, and soft dry leaves for the inside, and then departed to +hide themselves in a neighboring wood, there to enjoy the sweets of +repose after their labor, and amid the thick foliage of the trees the +mysterious joys of the honeymoon. However that may be, they did not +think of returning to take possession of their nest till the end of +twelve or fifteen days. + +Alas! changes had taken place during their absence. While the swallows +were laboring with such assiduity in building a house, Cuvier had +observed two sparrows, that perched at a short distance, watching the +industry of the two birds, not without interchanging between themselves +some cries that appeared to Cuvier rather ironical. When the swallows +departed for their country excursion, the sparrows took no pains to +conceal their odious schemes; they impudently took possession of the +nest, which was empty and without an owner to defend it, and established +themselves there as though they had been its veritable builders. Cuvier +observed that the cunning sparrows were never both out of the nest at +the same time. One of the usurpers always remained as sentinel, with his +head placed at the opening, which served for a door, and with his large +beak interdicted the entrance of any other bird, except his companion, +or rather, to call things by their right names, his brother robber. The +swallows returned in due time to their nest, the male full of joy, which +showed itself in the brightness of his eye, and in the nervous kind of +motion in his flight; the female rather languid, and heavy with the +approach of laying. You can imagine their surprise at finding the nest, +on which they had bestowed so much care, occupied. The male, moved with +indignation and anger, rushed upon the nest to chase away the usurpers, +but he found himself face to face with the formidable beak of the +sparrow who, at that moment, guarded the stolen property. What could the +slim beak of the swallow do against the redoubtable pincers of the +sparrow, armed with a double and sharpened point? Very soon, the poor +proprietor, dispossessed and beaten back, retreated with his head +covered with blood, and his neck nearly stripped of its feathers. He +returned with flashing eye, and trembling with rage, to the side of his +wife, with whom he appeared for some minutes to hold counsel, after +which they flew away into the air, and quickly disappeared. The female +sparrow came back soon after; the male recounted all that had +passed--the arrival, the attack, and flight of the swallows--not without +accompanying the recital with what seemed to Cuvier to be roars of +laughter. Be this as it may, the housekeeper did not rest satisfied with +making only a hullah-balloo, for the female went forth again, and +collected in haste a much larger quantity of provisions than usual. As +soon as she returned, after having completed the supplies for a siege, +two pointed beaks, instead of one, defended the entrance to the nest. +Cries, however, began to fill the air, and an assemblage of swallows +gathered together on a neighboring roof. Cuvier recognized distinctly +the dispossessed couple, who related to each newcomer the impudent +robbery of the sparrow. The male, with blood-stained head and bared +neck, distinguished himself by the earnestness of his protestations and +appeals of vengeance. In a little while two hundred swallows had arrived +at the scene of conflict. While the little army was forming and +deliberating, all at once a cry of distress came from an adjacent +window. A young swallow, doubtless inexperienced, instead of taking part +in the counsels of his brethren, was chasing some flies which were +buzzing about a bunch of neglected or castaway flowers before the +window. The pupils of Cuvier had stretched a net there to catch +sparrows; one of the claws of the swallow was caught by the perfidious +net. At the cry which this hair-brained swallow made, a score of his +brethren flew to the rescue: but all their efforts were in vain; the +desperate struggles which the prisoner made to free himself from the +fatal trap only drew the ends tighter, and confined his foot more +firmly. Suddenly a detachment took wing, and, retiring about a hundred +paces, returned rapidly, and, one by one, gave a peck at the snare, +which each time, owing to the determined manner of the attack, received +a sharp twitch. Not one of the swallows missed its aim, so that, after +half an hour of this persevering and ingenious labor, the chafed string +broke, and the captive; rescued from the snare, went joyously to mingle +with his companions. Throughout this scene, which took place twenty feet +from Cuvier, and at almost as many from the usurped nest, the observer +kept perfectly still, and the sparrows made not the slightest movement +with their two large beaks, which, formidable and threatening, kept its +narrow entrance. The council of swallows, while a certain number of them +were succoring their companion, had continued to deliberate gravely. As +soon as all were united, the liberated prisoner included, they took +flight, and Cuvier felt convinced they had given up the field, or rather +the nest, to the robbers, who had so fraudulently possessed themselves +of it. Judge of his surprise when, in the course of a few seconds, he +beheld a cloud of two or three hundred swallows arrive, with the +rapidity of thought throw themselves before the nest, discharge at it +some mud which they had brought in their bills, and retire to give place +to another battalion, which repeated the same manoeuvre. They fired at +two or three inches from the nest, thus preventing the sparrows from +giving them any blows with their beaks. Besides, the mud, shot with such +perfidious precision, had so blinded the sparrows, after the first +discharge, that they very soon knew not in what manner to defend +themselves. Still the mud continued to thicken more and more on the +nest, whose original shape was soon obliterated: the opening would have +almost entirely disappeared, had not the sparrows, by their desperate +efforts at defense, broken away some portions of it. But the implacable +swallows, by a strategic movement, as rapidly as it was cleverly +executed, rushed upon the nest, beat down with their beaks and claws the +clay over the opening already half stopped up, and finished the attack +by hermetically closing it. Then there arose a thousand cries of +vengeance and victory. Nevertheless, the swallows ceased not the work of +destruction. They continued to carry up moistened clay till they had +built a second nest over the very opening of the besieged one. It was +raised by a hundred beaks at once, and, an hour after the execution of +the sparrows, the nest was occupied by the dispossessed swallows. The +drama was complete and terrible; the vengeance inexorable and fatal. The +unfortunate sparrows not only expiated their theft in the nest they had +taken possession of, whence they could not escape, and where suffocation +and hunger were gradually killing them, but they heard the songs of love +from the two swallows, who thus so cruelly made them wipe out the crime +of their theft. During the fight the female remained alone, languishing +and motionless, on an angle of the roof. It was with difficulty, and +with a heavy flight, that she left this spot to take up her abode in her +new house; and, doubtless, while the agony of the sparrows was being +filled up, she laid her eggs, for she did not stir out for two days; the +male, during that time, taking upon himself to search for insects and +hunt for flies. He brought them alive in his beak, and gave them to his +companion. Entirely devoted to the duties of incubation and maternity, +she was only seen now and then to put out her head to breathe the pure +air. Fifteen days after, the male flew away at day-break. He appeared +more gay and joyful than usual; during the whole day he ceased not to +bring to the nest a countless number of insects, and Cuvier, by standing +on tiptoe at his window, could distinctly see six little yellow and +hungry beaks, crying out, and swallowing with avidity all the food +brought by their father. The female did not leave her family till the +morrow; confinement and fatigue had made her very thin. Her plumage had +lost its lustre; but in seeing her contemplate her little ones, you +might conceive the maternal joy which filled her, and by what ineffable +compensations she felt herself indemnified for all her privations and +sufferings. After a short time the little creatures had advanced in +figure; their large yellow bills were transformed into little black and +charming ones; their naked bodies, covered here and there with ugly +tufts, were now clothed with elegant feathers, on which the light played +in brilliant flashes. They began to fly about the nest, and even to +accompany their mother when she hunted for flies in the neighborhood. + +Cuvier could not refrain from feelings of admiration, and was somewhat +affected when he saw the mother, with indefatigable patience and grace, +show her children how they should set about catching flies, which darted +about in the air--to suck in an incautious one, or carry away a spider +which had imprudently made his net between the branches of two trees. +Often she would hold out to them at a distance in her beak a booty which +excited their appetite; then she would go away by degrees, and gradually +draw them unconsciously off to a shorter or a longer distance from the +nest. The swallow taught her children to fly high when the air was calm, +for then the insects kept in a more elevated part of the air; or to skim +along the ground at the approach of a storm, as then the same insects +would direct their course toward the earth, where they might find +shelter under the stones at the fall of the first drop of rain. Then the +little ones, more experienced, began, under the guidance of their +father, to undertake longer flights. The mother, standing at the +entrance of the nest, seemed to give her instructions before they +departed: she awaited their return with anxiety, and when that was +delayed, took a flight high, very high in the air, and there flew to and +fro till she saw them. Then, full of a mother's joy, she would utter +cries of emotion, scud before them, bring them back to the nest, happy +and palpitating, and seemed to demand an account of the causes of their +delay. + +The autumn arrived. Some groups of swallows collected together on the +very roof of the mansion of Fiquanville. After grave deliberation, and a +vote being taken (whether by ballot or otherwise, Cuvier does not +mention), the young ones of the nest, along with the other young +swallows of the same age, were all placed in the middle of the troop; +and one morning a living cloud rose above the chateau, and flew away +swiftly due east. + +The following spring two swallows, worn down by fatigue, came to take +possession of the nest. Cuvier recognized them immediately; they were +the very same--those whose manners and habits he had studied the +preceding year. They proceeded to restore the nest, cracked and injured +in some places by the frost: they garnished anew the inside with fresh +feathers and choice moss, then, as last year, made an excursion of some +days. On the very morrow after their return, while they were darting to +and fro close to Cuvier's window, to whose presence they had become +accustomed, and which did not in the least incommode them, a +screech-owl, that seemed to fall from above, pounced upon the male, +seized him in his talons, and was already bearing him away, when Cuvier +took down his gun, which was within reach, primed and cocked it, and +fired at the owl; the fellow, mortally wounded, fell head over heels +into the garden, and Cuvier hastened to deliver the swallow from the +claws of the dead owl, who still held him with his formidable nails. The +poor swallow had received some deep wounds; the nails of the owl had +penetrated deeply into his side, and one of the drops of shot had broken +his leg. Cuvier dressed the wounds as well as he could, and, by the aid +of a ladder, replaced the invalid in his nest, while the female flew +sadly around it, uttering cries of despair. For three or four days she +never left the nest but to go in search of food, which she offered the +male. Cuvier saw his sickly head come out with difficulty, and try in +vain to take the food offered by his companion; every day he appeared to +get weaker. At length, one morning, Cuvier was awakened by the cries of +the female, who with her wings beat against the panes of his window. He +ran to the nest--alas! it contained only a dead body. From that fatal +moment the female never left her nest. Overwhelmed with grief, she, five +days after, died of despair, on the dead body of her companion. + +Some months after this, the Abbé Tessier, whom the revolutionary +persecution had compelled to flee to Normandy, where he disguised +himself under the dress of a military physician of the hospital of +Fécamp, fell in with the obscure tutor, who recounted to him the history +of the swallows. The abbé engaged him to deliver a course of lectures on +natural history to the pupils of that hospital, of which he was the +head, and wrote to Jussieu and Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, to inform them of +the individual he had become acquainted with. Cuvier entered into a +correspondence with these two learned men, and a short time after he was +elected to the chair of comparative anatomy at Paris His subsequent +career is well known. + + + + +[From Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +A GIRAFFE CHASE. + + +This day was to me rather a memorable one, as the first on which I saw +and slew the lofty, graceful-looking giraffe or camelopard, with which, +during many years of my life, I had longed to form an acquaintance. +These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, which are admirably +formed by nature to adorn the fair forests that clothe the boundless +plains of the interior, are widely distributed throughout the interior +of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In +countries unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found +generally in herds varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not +unfrequently met with herds containing thirty individuals, and on one +occasion I counted forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, +and about sixteen maybe reckoned as the average number of a herd. These +herds are composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe +of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark, chestnut-colored old bull of +the herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally +attaining to a height of upward of eighteen feet. The females are of +lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height +averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. Some writers have discovered +ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is +one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation; and when a +herd of them is seen scattered through a grove of the picturesque +parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on whose +uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height with +which nature has so admirably endowed them, he must, indeed, be slow of +conception who fails to discover both grace and dignity in all their +movements. There can be no doubt, that every animal is seen to the +greatest advantage in the haunts which nature destined him to adorn; and +among the various living creatures which beautify this fair creation I +have often traced a remarkable resemblance between the animal and the +general appearance of the locality in which it is found. This I first +remarked at an early period of my life, when entomology occupied a part +of my attention No person following this interesting pursuit can fail to +observe the extraordinary likeness which insects bear to the various +abodes in which they are met with. Thus, among the long green grass we +find a variety of long green insects, whose legs and antennæ so resemble +the shoots emanating from the stalks of the grass that it requires a +practiced eye to distinguish them. Throughout sandy districts varieties +of insects are met with of a color similar to the sand which they +inhabit. Among the green leaves of the various trees of the forest +innumerable leaf-colored insects are to be found; while, closely +adhering to the rough gray bark of these forest-trees, we observe +beautifully-colored, gray-looking; moths of various patterns, yet +altogether so resembling the bark as to be invisible to the passing +observer. In like manner among quadrupeds I have traced a corresponding +analogy, for, even in the case of the stupendous elephant, the ashy +color of his hide so corresponds with the general appearance of the gray +thorny jungles which he frequents throughout the day, that a person +unaccustomed to hunting elephants, standing on a commanding situation, +might look down upon a herd and fail to detect their presence. And +further, in the case of the giraffe, which is invariably met with among +venerable forests, where innumerable blasted and weather-beaten trunks +and stems occur, I have repeatedly been in doubt as to the presence of a +troop of them until I had recourse to my spy-glass; and on referring the +case to my savage attendants, I have known even their optics to fail, at +one time mistaking these dilapidated trunks for camelopards, and again +confounding real camelopards with these aged veterans of the forest. + +Although we had now been traveling many days through the country of the +giraffe, and had marched through forests in which their spoor was +abundant, our eyes had not yet been gifted with a sight of "Tootla" +himself; it was therefore with indescribable pleasure that, on the +evening of the 11th, I beheld a troop of these interesting animals. + +Our breakfast being finished, I resumed my journey through an endless +gray forest of cameel-dorn and other trees, the country slightly +undulating and grass abundant. A little before the sun went down my +driver remarked to me, "I was just going to say, sir, that that old tree +was a camelopard." On looking where he pointed, I saw that the old tree +was indeed a camelopard, and, on casting my eyes a little to the right, +I beheld a troop of them standing looking at us, their heads actually +towering above the trees of the forest. It was imprudent to commence a +chase at such a late hour, especially in a country of so level a +character, where the chances were against my being able to regain my +wagons that night. I, however, resolved to chance every thing; and +directing my men to catch and saddle Colesberg, I proceeded in haste to +buckle on my shooting-belt and spurs, and in two minutes I was in the +saddle. The giraffes stood looking at the wagons until I was within +sixty yards of them, when, galloping round a thick bushy tree, under +cover of which I had ridden, I suddenly beheld a sight the most +astounding that a sportsman's eye can encounter. Before me stood a troop +of ten colossal giraffes, the majority of which were from seventeen to +eighteen feet high. On beholding me they at at once made off, twisting +their long tails over their backs, making a loud switching noise with +them, and cantered along at an easy pace, which, however, obliged +Colesberg to put his best foot foremost to keep up with them. + +The sensations which I felt on this occasion were different from any +thing that I had before experienced during a long sporting career. My +senses were so absorbed by the wondrous and beautiful sight before me +that I rode along like one entranced, and felt inclined to disbelieve +that I was hunting living things of this world. The ground was firm and +favorable for riding. At every stride I gained upon the giraffes, and +after a short burst at a swinging gallop I was in the middle of them, +and turned the finest cow out of the herd. On finding herself driven +from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and +cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of +ground at every bound; while her neck and breast, coming in contact with +the dead old branches of the trees, were continually strewing them in my +path. In a few minutes I was riding within five yards of her stern, and, +firing at the gallop, I sent a bullet into her back. Increasing my pace, +I next rode alongside, and, placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few +feet of her, I fired my second shot behind the shoulder; the ball, +however, seemed to have little effect. I then placed myself directly in +front, when she came to a walk. Dismounting, I hastily loaded both +barrels, putting in double charges of powder. Before this was +accomplished she was off at a canter. In a short time I brought her to a +stand in the dry bed of a water-course, where I fired at fifteen yards, +aiming where I thought the heart lay, upon which she again made off. +Having loaded, I followed, and had very nearly lost her; she had turned +abruptly to the left, and was far out of sight among the trees. Once +more I brought her to a stand, and dismounted from my horse. There we +stood together alone in the wild wood. I gazed in wonder at her extreme +beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down +imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of +triumph for the blood I was shedding. Pointing my rifle toward the +skies, I sent a bullet through her neck. On receiving it, she reared +high on her hind legs, and fell backward with a heavy crash, making the +earth shake around her. A thick stream of dark blood spouted out from +the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment, and she expired. + + + + +[From Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey.] + +ADVENTURE IN A TURKISH HAREM. + +BY AUBREY DE VERE. + + +A short time before leaving Constantinople I enjoyed a piece of good +fortune which I believe has fallen to the lot of few men. Often as I +passed by the garden walls of some rich Pacha, I felt, as every one who +visits Constantinople feels, no small desire to penetrate, into that +mysterious region--his harem--and see something more than the mere +exterior of Turkish life. "The traveler landing at Stamboul complains," +I used to say to myself, "of the contrast between its external aspect +and the interior of the city; but the real interior, that is the inside +of the houses, the guarded retreats of those vailed forms which one +passes in gilded caiques--of these he sees nothing." Fortune favored my +aspirations. I happened to make acquaintance with a young Frenchman, +lively, spirited, and confident, who had sojourned at Constantinople for +a considerable time, and who bore there the character of prophet, +magician, and I know not what beside. The fact is, that he was a very +clever fellow, living on his wits, ever ready to turn his hand to any +thing, and numbering among his other accomplishments, a skill in +conjuring feats extraordinary even in the East. He used to exhibit +frequently before the Sultan, who always sent him away laden with +presents, and who would, probably, had he professed the Mohammedan +Faith, have made him his Prime Minister or his Lord High Admiral. + +There was nothing which this conjuror could not do. He told me that on +one occasion, dining in a numerous company, he had contrived to pick the +pocket of every one present, depriving one of his watch, another of his +purse, and a third of his pocket-handkerchief. As soon as the guests +discovered their losses, to which he managed to direct their attention, +a scene of violent excitement ensued, every one accusing his neighbor of +theft; and at last it was agreed that the police should be sent, for to +search the pockets of all present. The police arrived, and the search +was duly made, but without any effect. "I think," said the young +magician, "it would be but fair that the police should themselves +undergo the same scrutiny to which we have all submitted." The +suggestion was immediately acted on; and to the amazement of all +present, and especially of the supposed culprits, in the pockets of the +police all the missing articles were found. + +The life of this man had been strange and eventful. Having quarreled +with his family in early youth he had assumed an incognito, and enlisted +as a private soldier, I forget in what service. On one occasion, in his +first campaign, he was left for dead on the field of battle. In the +evening some peasants visited the field for the sake of plunder. He was +badly wounded, but had his wits sufficiently about him to know that, if +he wished not to have his throat cut, he had better lie still and feign +to be dead. In his turn he was visited by the marauders; but, as fame +goes, it turned out that while they were hunting after the few pence he +possessed, he contrived to lighten their pockets of their accumulated +spoil. He had grown tired of war, however, and had settled in +Constantinople, where he embarked in all manner of speculations, being +bent, among other things, upon establishing a theatre at Pera. In all +reverses he came down, like a cat, on his feet: he was sanguine and +good-humored, always disposed to shuffle the cards till the right one +came up; and, trusting a good deal to Fortune, while he improved what +she gave, he was of course rich in her good graces. + +One day this youth called on me, and mentioned that a chance had +befallen him which he should be glad to turn to account--particularly +if sure of not making too intimate an acquaintance with the Bosphorus in +the attempt. A certain wealthy Turk had applied to him for assistance +under very trying domestic circumstances. His favorite wife had lost a +precious ring, which had doubtless been stolen either by one of his +other wives, under the influence of jealousy, or by a female slave. +Would the magician pay a visit to his house, recover the ring, and +expose the delinquent? "Now," said he, "if I once get within the walls, +I shall be sure to force my way into the female apartments on some +pretense. If I find the ring, all is well: but if not, this Turk will +discover that I have been making a fool of him. However, as he is a +favorite at court, and can not but know in what flattering estimation I +am held there, he will probably treat me with the distinction I deserve. +In fine, I will try it. Will you come, too? you can help me in my +incantations, which will serve as an excuse." The proposal was too +tempting to be rejected, and at the hour agreed on we set off in such +state as we could command (in the East, state is essential to respect), +jogging over the rough streets, in one of those hearse-like carriages +without springs, which bring one's bones upon terms of far too intimate +a mutual acquaintance. + +We reached at last a gate, which promised little; but ere long we found +ourselves in one of those "high-walled gardens, green and old," which +are among the glories of the East. Passing between rows of orange and +lemon-trees, we reached the house, where we were received by a goodly +retinue of slaves, and conducted, accompanied by our dragoman, through a +long suite of apartments. In the last of them stood a tall, handsome, +and rather youthful man, in splendid attire, who welcomed us with a +grave courtesy. We took our seats, and were presented in due form with +long pipes, and with coffee, to me far more acceptable. After a +sufficient interval of time had passed for the most meditative and +abstracted of men to remember his purpose, our host, reminded of what he +had apparently forgotten by my companion's conjuring robes, an +electrical machine, and other instruments of incantation, which the +slaves carried from our carriage, civilly inquired when we intended to +commence operations. "What operations?" demanded my companion, with much +apparent unconcern. "The discovery of the ring." "Whenever his highness +pleased, and it suited the female part of his household to make their +appearance," was the answer. + +At this startling proposition even the Oriental sedateness of our +majestic host gave way, and he allowed his astonishment and displeasure +to become visible. "Who ever heard," he demanded, "of the wives of a +true believer being shown to a stranger, and that stranger an Infidel +and a Frank?" As much astonished in our turn, we demanded, "When a +magician had ever been heard of, who could discover a stolen treasure +without being confronted either with the person who had lost or the +person who had appropriated it?" For at least two hours, though +relieved by intervals of silence, the battle was carried on with much +occasional vehemence on his part, and on ours with an assumption of +perfect indifference. Our host at last, perceiving that our obstinacy +was equal to the decrees of Fate, retired, as we were informed, to +consult his mother on the subject. In a few minutes he returned, and +assured us that our proposition was ridiculous; upon which we rose with +much dignified displeasure, and moved toward the door, stating that our +beards had been made little of. A grave-looking man who belonged to the +household of our host, and occupied apparently a sort of +semi-ecclesiastical position, now interposed, and after some +consultation it was agreed that as we were not mere men, but prophets, +and infidel saints, an exception might be made in our favor without +violation of the Mussulman law; not, indeed, to the extent of allowing +us to profane the inner sanctuary of the harem with our presence, but so +far as to admit us into in apartment adjoining it, where the women would +be summoned to attend us. + +Accordingly, we passed through a long suite of rooms, and at last found +ourselves in a chamber lofty and large, fanned by a breeze from the +Bosphorus, over which its lattices were suspended, skirted by a low +divan, covered with carpets and cushions, and "invested with purpureal +gleams" by the splendid hangings through which the light feebly strove. +Among a confused heap of crimson pillows and orange drapery, at the +remote end of the apartment, sat, or rather reclined, the mother of our +reluctant host. I could observe only that she was aged, and lay there as +still as if she had belonged to the vegetable, not the human world. +Usually she was half-vailed by the smoke of her long pipe; but when its +wreaths chanced to float aside or grow thin, her dark eyes were fixed +upon us with an expression half indifferent and half averse. + +Presently a murmur of light feet was heard in an adjoining chamber: on +it moved along the floor of the gallery; and in trooped the company of +wives and female slaves. They laughed softly and musically as they +entered, but seemed frightened also; and at once raising their shawls +and drawing down their vails, they glided simultaneously into a +semicircle, and stood there with hands folded on their breasts. I sat +opposite to them, drinking coffee and smoking, or pretending to smoke a +pipe eight feet long: at one side stood the Mollah and some male members +of the household: at the other stood the handsome husband, apparently +but little contented with the course matters had taken; and my friend, +the magician, moved about among the implements of his art clad in a +black gown spangled with flame-colored devices, strange enough to strike +a bold heart with awe. Beyond the semicircle stood two children, a boy +and a girl, holding in their hands twisted rods of barley-sugar about a +yard long each, which they sucked assiduously the whole time of our +visit. There they stood, mute and still as statues, with dark eyes +fixed, now on us, and now on the extremity of their sugar wands. + +My companion commenced operations by displaying a number of conjuring +tricks intended to impress all present with the loftiest opinion of his +powers, and stopped every now and then to make his dragoman explain that +it would prove in vain to endeavor to deceive a being endowed with such +gifts. To these expositions the women apparently paid but little +attention; but the conjuring feats delighted them; and again and again +they laughed until, literally, the head of each dropped on her +neighbor's shoulder. After a time the husband, who alone had never +appeared the least entertained, interposed, and asked the conjuror +whether he had yet discovered the guilty party. With the utmost +coolness, my friend replied, "Certainly not: how could he while His +Highness's wives continued vailed?" This new demand created new +confusion and a long debate: I thought, however, that the women seemed +rather to advocate our cause. The husband, the Mollah, and the mother +again consulted; and in another moment the vails had dropped, and the +beauty of many an Eastern nation stood before us revealed. + +Four of those unvailed Orientals were, as we were informed, wives, and +six were slaves. The former were beautiful indeed, though beautiful in +different degrees and in various styles of beauty: of the latter two +only. They were, all of them, tall, slender, and dark-eyed, "shadowing +high beauty in their airy brows," and uniting a mystical with a +luxurious expression, like that of Sibyls who had been feasting with +Cleopatra. There was something to me strange as well as lovely in their +aspect--as strange as their condition, which seems a state half-way +between marriage and widowhood. They see no man except their husband; +and a visit from him (except in the case of the favorite) is a rare and +marvelous occurrence, like an eclipse of the sun. Their bearing toward +each other was that of sisters: in their movements I remarked an +extraordinary sympathy, which was the more striking on account of their +rapid transitions from the extreme of alarm to child-like wonder, and +again to boundless mirth. + +The favorite wife was a Circassian, and a fairer vision it would not be +easy to see. Intellectual in expression she could hardly be called; yet +she was full of dignity, as well as of pliant grace and of sweetness. +Her large black eyes, beaming with a soft and stealthy radiance, seemed +as if they would have yielded light in the darkness; and the heavy waves +of her hair, which, in the excitement of the tumultuous scene, she +carelessly flung over her shoulders, gleamed like a mirror. Her +complexion was the most exquisite I have ever seen, its smooth and +pearly purity being tinged with a color, unlike that of flower or of +fruit, of bud or of berry, but which reminded me of the vivid and +delicate tints which sometimes streak the inside of a shell. Though tall +she seemed as light as if she had been an embodied cloud, hovering over +the rich carpets like a child that does not feel the weight of its body; +and though stately in the intervals of rest, her mirth was a sort of +rapture. She, too, had that peculiar luxuriousness of aspect, in no +degree opposed to modesty, which belongs to the East: around her lips +was wreathed, in their stillness, an expression at once pleasurable and +pathetic, which seemed ever ready to break forth into a smile: her hands +seemed to leave with regret whatever they had rested on, and in parting +to leave something behind; and in all her soft and witching beauty she +reminded me of Browning's lines-- + + "No swan-soft woman, rubbed in lucid oils. + The gift of an enamored god, more fair." + +As feat succeeded to feat, and enchantment to enchantment, all remnant +of reserve was discarded, and no trace remained of that commingled alarm +and pleased expectation which had characterized those beaming +countenances when first they emerged from their vails. Those fair women +floated around us, and tossed their hands in the air, wholly forgetting +that their husband was by. Still, however, we had made but little +progress in our inquiry; and when the magician informed them that they +had better not try to conceal any thing from him, their only answer was +a look that said, "You came here to give us pleasure, not to +cross-question us." Resolved to use more formidable weapons, he began to +arrange an electrical machine, when the Mollah, after glancing at it two +or three times, approached and asked him whether that instrument also +was supernatural. The quick-witted Frenchman replied at once, "By no +means; it is a mere scientific toy." Then, turning to me, he added, in a +low voice, "He has seen it before--probably, he has traveled." In a few +minutes, the women were ranged in a ring, and linked hand-in-hand. He +then informed them, through our interpreter, that if a discovery was not +immediately made, each person should receive, at the same moment, a blow +from an invisible hand; that, the second time, the admonition would be +yet severer; and that, the third time, if his warning was still +despised, the culprit would drop down dead. This announcement was heard +with much gravity, but no confession followed it: the shock was given, +and the lovely circle was speedily dislinked, "with shrieks and +laughter." Again the shock was given, and with the same effect; but this +time the laughter was more subdued. Before making his last essay, the +magician addressed them in a long speech, telling them that he had +already discovered the secret, that if the culprit confessed, he would +make intercession for her, but that, if she did not, she must take the +consequences. Still no confession was made. For the first time, my +confident friend looked downcast. "It will not do," he said to me; "the +ring can not be recovered: they know nothing about it: probably it was +lost. We can not fulfill our engagement; and, indeed, I wish," he added, +"that we were well out of all this." + +I confess I wished the same, especially when I glanced at the master of +the household, who stood apart, gloomy as a thunder-cloud, and with the +look of a man who thinks himself in a decidedly false position. The +Easterns do not understand a jest, especially in a harem; and not being +addicted to irony (that great safety-valve for enthusiasm), they pass +rapidly from immovability to very significant and sometimes disagreeable +action. Speaking little, they deliver their souls by acting. I should +have been glad to hear our host talk, even though in a stormy voice: on +the whole, however, I trusted much to the self-possession and address of +my associate. Nor was I deceived. "Do as you see me do," he said to me +and the dragoman; and then, immediately after giving the third shock, +which was as ineffectual as those that preceded it, he advanced to our +grim host with a face radiant with satisfaction, and congratulated him +vehemently. "You are a happy man," he said. "Your household has not a +flaw in it. Fortunate it was that you sent for the wise man: I have +discovered the matter." "What have you discovered?" "The fate of the +ring. It has never been stolen: if it had, I would have restored it to +you. Fear nothing; your household is trustworthy and virtuous. I know +where the ring is; but I should deceive you if I bade you hope ever to +find it again. This is a great mystery, and the happy consummation +surpasses even my hopes. Adieu. The matter has turned out just as you +see. You were born under a lucky star. Happy is the man whose household +is trustworthy, and who, when his faith is tried, finds a faithful +counselor. I forbid you, henceforth and forever, to distrust any one of +your wives." + +It would be impossible to describe the countenance of our Mussulman +friend during this harangue. There he stood, like a tree half in +sunshine and half in shade; gratification struggling with displeasure in +his countenance, and wonder eclipsing both. It was not by any means our +policy to wait until he had adjusted the balance, and made up his mind +as to the exact degree of gratitude he owed his guests. On, accordingly, +we passed to the door. In a moment the instinct of courtesy prevailed, +and our host made a sign to one of his retinue. His slaves preceded us +with torches (it had grown late); and, accompanied by half the +household, as a guard of honor, we again traversed the large and +straggling house, passed through the garden, and entered the carriage +which waited for us beyond the wall. Our evening passed rapidly away as +we discussed our adventure; and I have more than once thought, with +pleasure, how amusing an incident the visit of the strangers must have +been to the secluded beauties. No doubt the baths of Constantinople have +rung with many a merry laugh occasioned by this invasion of the Franks. +Never, perhaps, have the inmates of a harem seen so much of the infidel +before, and conversed with him so familiarly, in the presence of their +husband. + + + + +[From Sharpe's Magazine.] + +THE WIFE OF KONG TOLV.[14] + +A FAIRY TALE OF SCANDINAVIA. + +BY THE AUTHOR "COLA MONTI." + + +Hyldreda Kalm stood at the door of her cottage, and looked abroad into +the quietness of the Sabbath morn. The village of Skjelskör lay at a +little distance down the vale, lighted by the sunshine of a Zealand +summer, which, though brief, is glowing and lovely even as that of the +south. Hyldreda had looked for seventeen years upon this beautiful +scene, the place where she was born. Sunday after Sunday she had stood +thus and listened for the distant tinkle of the church bell. A stranger, +passing by, might have said, how lovely were her face and form; but the +widowed mother, whose sole stay she was, and the little delicate sister, +who had been her darling from the cradle, would have answered, that if +none were so fair, none were likewise so good as Hyldreda; and that all +the village knew. If she did love to bestow greater taste and care on +her Sunday garments than most young damsels of her class, she had a +right--for was she not beautiful as any lady? And did not the eyes of +Esbern Lynge say so, when, week after week, he came up the hilly road, +and descended again to the little chapel, supporting the feeble mother's +slow steps, and watching his betrothed as she bounded on before, with +little Resa in her hand? + +"Is Esbern coming?" said the mother's voice within. + +"I know not--I did not look," answered Hyldreda, with a girlish +willfulness. "I saw only the sun shining on the river, and the oak-wood +waving in the breeze." + +"Look down the road, child; the time passes. Go quickly." + +"She is gone already," said Resa, laughing merrily. "She is standing +under the great elder-tree to wait for Esbern Lynge." + +"Call her back--call her back!" cried the mother, anxiously. "To stand +beneath an elder-tree, and this night will be St. John's Eve! On Sunday, +too, and she a Sunday child! Call her quickly, Resa." + +The little child lifted up her voice, "Hyld--" + +"Not her name--utter not her name!" And the widow Kalm went on muttering +to herself, "Perhaps the Hyldemoer[15] will not have heard. Alas the +day! when my child was born under an elder-tree, and I, poor desolate +mother! was terrified into giving my babe that name. Great Hyldemoer, be +propitiated! Holy Virgin!" and the widow's prayer became a curious +mingling of superstition and piety, "Blessed Mary! let not the elves +have power over my child! Have I not kept her heart from evil? does not +the holy cross lie on her pure breast day and night? Do I not lead her +every Sunday, winter and summer, in storm, sunshine, or snow, to the +chapel in the valley? And this day I will say for her a double prayer." + +The mother's counted beads had scarce come to an end when Hyldreda stood +by her side, and, following the light-footed damsel, came Esbern Lynge. + +"Child, why didst thou linger under the tree?" said the widow. "It does +not become a young maiden to stand flaunting outside her door. Who wert +thou watching so eagerly?" + +"Not thee, Esbern," laughed the girl, shaking her head at her betrothed, +who interposed with a happy conscious face; "I was looking at a grand +train that wound along the road, and thinking how pleasant it would be +to dress on a Sunday like the lady of the castle, and recline idly +behind four prancing horses instead of trudging on in these clumsy +shoes." + +The mother frowned, and Esbern Lynge looked sorrowful. + +"I wish I could give her all she longs for," sighed the young man, as +they proceeded on their way, his duteous arm supporting the widow, while +Hyldreda and Resa went bounding onward before them; "She is as beautiful +as a queen--I would that I could make her one." + +"Wish rather, Esbern, that Heaven may make her a pious, lowly-hearted +maid, and, in good time, a wife; that she may live in humility and +content, and die in peace among her own people." + +Esbern said nothing--he could not think of death and _her_ together. So +he and the widow Kalm walked on silently--and so slowly that they soon +lost sight of the two blithe sisters. + +Hyldreda was talking merrily of the grand sight she had just seen, and +describing to little Resa the gilded coach, the prancing horses, with +glittering harness. "Oh! but it was a goodly train, as it swept down +toward the river. Who knows? Perhaps it may have been the king and queen +themselves." + +"No," said little Resa, rather fearfully, "you know Kong Tolv[16] never +lets any mortal king pass the bridge of Skjelskör." + +"_Kong Tolv!_ what, more stories about Kong Tolv!" laughed the merry +maiden; "I never saw him; I wish I could see him, for then I might +believe in thy tales, little one." + +"Hush, hush!--But mother told me never to speak of these things to +thee," answered Resa; "unsay the wish, or some harm may come." + +"I care not! who would heed these elfin tales on such a lovely day? +Look, Resa, down that sunny meadow, where there is a cloud shadow +dancing on the grass; a strange cloud it is too, for it almost resembles +a human form." + +"It is Kong Tolv rolling himself in the sunshine," cried the trembling +child; "Look away, my sister, lest he should hear us." + +Again Hyldreda's fearless laugh made music through the still air, and +she kept looking back until they passed from the open road into the +gloom of the oak wood. + +"It is strange that thou shouldst be so brave," said Resa once more. "I +tremble at the very thought of the Elle-people of whom our villagers +tell, while thou hast not a single fear. Why is it, sister?" + +"I know not, save that I never yet feared any thing," answered Hyldreda, +carelessly. "As for Kong Tolv, let him come, I care not." + +While she spoke, a breeze swept through the oak wood, the trees began to +bend their tops, and the under branches were stirred with leafy +murmurings, as the young girl passed beneath. She lifted her fair face +to meet them. "Ah 'tis delicious, this soft scented wind; it touches my +face like airy kisses; it makes the leaves seem to talk to me in musical +whispers. Dost thou not hear them too, little Resa? and dost thou +not--?" + +Hyldreda suddenly stopped, and gazed eagerly down the road. + +"Well, sister," said Resa, "what art dreaming of now? Come, we shall be +late at church, and mother will scold." But the elder sister stood +motionless. "How strange thine eyes look; what dost thou see, Hyldreda." + +"Look--what is there!" + +"Nothing, but a cloud of dust that the wind sweeps forward. Stand back, +sister, or it will blind thee." + +Still Hyldreda bent forward with admiring eyes, muttering, "Oh! the +grand golden chariot, with its four beautiful white horses! And therein +sits a man--surely it is the king! and the lady beside him is the queen. +See, she turns--" + +Hyldreda paused, dumb with wonder, for despite the gorgeous show of +jeweled attire, she recognized that face. It was the same she had looked +at an hour before in the little cracked mirror. The lady in the carriage +was the exact counterpart of herself! + +The pageant came and vanished. Little Resa turned round and wiped her +eyes--she, innocent child, had seen nothing but a cloud of dust. Her +elder sister answered not her questionings, but remained silent, +oppressed by a nameless awe. It passed not, even when the chapel was +reached, and Hyldreda knelt to pray. Above the sound of the hymn she +heard the ravishing music of the leaves in the oak wood, and instead of +the priest she seemed to behold the two dazzling forms which had sat +side by side in the golden chariot. + +When service was ended, and all went homewards, she lingered under the +trees where the vision, or reality, whichever it was, had met her sight, +half longing for its reappearance. But her mother whispered something to +Esbern, and they hurried Hyldreda away. + +She laid aside her Sunday mantle, the scarlet woof which to spin, weave, +and fashion, had cost her a world of pains. How coarse and ugly it +seemed! She threw it contemptuously aside, and thought how beautiful +looked the purple-robed lady, who was so like herself. + +"And why should I not be as fair as she? I should, if I were only +dressed as fine. Heaven might as well have made me a lady, instead of a +poor peasant girl." + +These repinings entered the young heart hitherto so pure and happy. They +haunted her even when she rejoined her mother, Resa, and Esbern Lynge. +She prepared the noonday meal, but her step was heavy and her hand +unwilling. The fare seemed coarse, the cottage looked dark and poor. She +wondered what sort of a palace home was that owned by the beautiful +lady; and whether the king, if king the stranger were, presided at his +banquet table as awkwardly as did Esbern Lynge at the mean board here. + +At the twilight, Hyldreda did not steal out as usual to talk with her +lover beneath the rose-porch. She went and hid herself out of his sight, +under the branches of the great elder-tree, which to her had always a +strange charm, perhaps because it was the spot of all others where she +was forbidden to stay. However, this day Hyldreda began to feel herself +to be no longer a child, but a woman whose will was free. + +She sat under the dreamy darkness of the heavy foliage. Its faint sickly +odor overpowered her like a spell. Even the white bunches of elder +flowers seemed to grow alive in the twilight, and to change into faces, +looking at her whithersoever she turned. She shut her eyes, and tried to +summon back the phantom of the golden chariot, and especially of the +king-like man who sat inside. Scarce had she seen him clearly, but she +felt he looked a king. If wishing could bring to her so glorious a +fortune, she would almost like to have, in addition to the splendors of +rich dress and grand palaces, such a noble-looking man for her lord and +husband. + +And the poor maiden was rudely awakened from her dream, by feeling on +her delicate shoulders the two heavy hands of Esbern Lynge. + +Haughtily she took them off. Alas! he, loving her so much, had ever been +lightly loved in return! to-day he was not loved at all. He came at an +ill time, for the moment his hand put aside the elder branches, all the +dazzling fancies of his betrothed vanished in air. He came, too, with an +ill-wooing, for he implored her to trifle no more, but to fulfill her +mother's hope and his, and enter as mistress at the little blacksmith's +forge. She, who had just been dreaming of a palace home! Not a word she +answered at first, and then cold, cruel words, worse than silence. So +Esbern, who, though a lover, was a manly-hearted youth, and thought it +shame to be mocked by a girl's light tongue, left her there and went +away, not angry, but very sorrowful. + +Little Resa came to summon her sister. But Hyldreda trembled before the +gathering storm, for widow Kalm, though a tender mother, was one who +well knew how to rule. Her loud, severe voice already warned the girl of +the reproof that was coming. To avoid it only for a little, until her +own proud spirit was calmed. Hyldreda told Resa she would not come in +until after she had taken a little walk down the moonlight road. As she +passed from under the elder-tree, she heard a voice, like her mother's, +and yet not her mother's--no, it could never be, for it shouted after +her, + +"Come now, or come no more!" + +Some evil impulse goaded the haughty girl to assert her womanly right of +free action, and she passed from her home, flying with swift steps. A +little, only a little absence, to show her indignant pride, and she +would be back again, to heal all strife. Nevertheless, ere she was +aware, Hyldreda had reached the oak-wood, beneath which she had seen the +morning's bewildering sight. + +And there again, brighter in the moonlight than it had ever seemed in +the day, came sweeping by the stately pageant. Its torches flung red +shadows on the trees, its wheels resounded through the night's quiet +with a music as of silver bells. And sitting in his state alone, grand +but smiling, was the lord of all this splendor. + +The chariot stopped, and he dismounted. Then the whole train vanished, +and, shorn of all his glories, except a certain brightness which his +very presence seemed to shed, the king, if he were indeed such, stood +beside the trembling peasant maid. + +He did not address her, but looked in her face inquiringly, until +Hyldreda felt herself forced to be the first to speak. + +"My lord, who art thou, and what is thy will with me?" + +He smiled. "Thanks, gentle maiden, for thy question has taken off the +spell. Otherwise it could not be broken, even by Kong Tolv." + +Hyldreda shuddered with fear. Her fingers tried to seize the cross which +always lay on her breast, but no! she had thrown aside the coarse black +wooden crucifix, while dreaming of ornaments of gold. And it was St. +John's Eve, and she stood beneath the haunted oak-wood. No power had she +to fly, and her prayers died on her lips, for she knew herself in the +Hill-king's power. + +Kong Tolv began to woo, after the elfin fashion, brief and bold. "Fair +maiden, the Dronningstolen[17] is empty, and 'tis thou must fill it. +Come and enter my palace under the hill." + +But the maiden sobbed out that she was too lowly to sit on a queen's +chair, and that none of mortals, save the dead, made their home +underground. And she prayed the Elle-king to let her go back to her +mother and little Resa. + +He only laughed. "Wouldst be content, then, with the poor cottage, and +the black bread, and the labor from morn till eve. Didst thou not of +thyself wish for a palace and a lord like me? And did not the Hyldemoer +waft me the wish, so that I came to meet and welcome thee under the +hill?" + +Hyldreda made one despairing effort to escape, but she heard again Kong +Tolv's proud laugh, and looking up, she saw that the thick oak-wood had +changed to an army. In place of every tree stood a fierce warrior, ready +to guard every step. She thought it must be all a delirious dream that +would vanish with the morning. Suddenly she heard the far village clock +strike the hour. Mechanically she counted--one--two--three--four--up to +_twelve_. + +As she pronounced the last word, Kong Tolv caught her in his arms, +saying, "Thou hast named me and art mine." + +Instantly all the scene vanished, and Hyldreda found herself standing on +the bleak side of a little hill, alone in the moonlight. But very soon +the clear night darkened, and a heavy storm arose. Trembling, she looked +around for shelter, and saw in the hill-side a tiny door, which seemed +to invite her to enter. She did so! In a moment she stood dazzled by a +blaze of light--a mortal amidst the festival of the elves. She heard the +voice of Kong Tolv, half-speaking, half-singing, + + "Welcome, maiden, fair and free, + Thou hast come of thyself in the hill to me; + Stay thou here, nor thy fate deplore; + Thou hast come of thyself in at my door." + +And bewildered by the music, the dance, and the splendor, Hyldreda +remembered no more the cottage, with its one empty chair, nor the +miserable mother, nor the little sister straining her weeping eyes along +the lonely road. + + * * * * * + +The mortal maiden became the Elle-king's bride, and lived in the hill +for seven long years; at least, so they seemed in Elfinland, where time +passes like the passing of a strain of music, that dies but to be again +renewed. Little thought had she of the world above ground, for in the +hill-palace was continual pleasure, and magnificence without end. No +remembrance of lost kindred troubled her, for she sat in the +Dronningstolen, and all the elfin people bowed down before the wife of +the mighty Kong Tolv. + +She might have lived so always, with no desire ever to go back to earth, +save that one day she saw trickling down through the palace roof a +pearly stream. The elves fled away, for they said it was some mortal +weeping on the grassy hill overhead. But Hyldreda staid and looked on +until the stream settled into a clear, pellucid pool. A sweet mirror it +made, and the Hill-king's bride ever loved to see her own beauty. So she +went and gazed down into the shining water. + +There she beheld--not the image of the elfin-queen, but of the peasant +maid, with her mantle of crimson wool, her coarse dress, and her black +crucifix. She turned away in disgust, but soon her people brought her +elfin mirrors, wherein she could see her present self, gorgeously clad, +and a thousand times more fair. It kindled in her heart a proud desire. + +She said to her lord, "Let me go back for a little while to my native +village, and my ancient home, that I may show them all my splendor, and +my greatness. Let me enter, sitting in my gilded chariot, with the four +white horses, and feel myself as queen-like as the lady I once saw +beneath the oak-wood." + +Kong Tolv laughed, and assented. "But," he said, "keep thy own proud +self the while. The first sigh, the first tear, and I carry thee back +into the hill with shame." + +So Hyldreda left the fairy-palace, sweeping through the village, with a +pageant worthy a queen. Thus in her haughtiness, after seven years had +gone by, she came to her mother's door. + +Seven years, none of which had cast one shadow on the daughter's beauty. +But time and grief together had bowed the mother almost to the verge of +the grave. The one knew not the other, until little Resa came between; +little Resa, who looked her sister's olden self, blooming in the +sweetness of seventeen. Nothing to her was the magnificence of the +beautiful guest; she only saw Hyldreda, the lost and found. + +"Where hast thou been?" said the mother, doubtfully, when in answer to +all their caresses, the stately lady only looked on them with a proud +smile; "Who gave thee those grand dresses, and put the matron's vail +upon thy hair?" + +"I am the Hill-king's wife," said Hyldreda. "I dwell in a gorgeous +palace, and sit on a queen's throne." + +"God preserve thee!" answered the mother. But Hyldreda turned away, for +Kong Tolv had commanded her never to hear or utter the holy Name. She +began to inquire about her long-forgotten home, but half-carelessly, as +if she had no interest in it now. + +"And who was it," she asked, "that wept on the hill-side until the tears +dropped through, staining my palace walls?" + +"I," answered Resa, blushing; and then Hyldreda perceived that, young as +she was, the girl wore the matron's head-tire. "I, sitting there with my +babe, wept to think of my poor sister who died long ago, and never knew +the sweetness of wifehood and motherhood. And almost it grieved me, to +think that my love had blotted out the bitterness of her memory even +from the heart of Esbern Lynge." + +At the name, proudly laughed the elder sister, "Take thy husband, and be +happy, girl; I envy thee not; I am the wife of the great Hill-king." + +"And does thy lord love thee? Does he sit beside thee at eve, and let +thee lean thy tired head on his breast, as Esbern does with me? And hast +thou young children dancing about thy feet, and a little blue-eyed one +to creep dove-like to thy heart at nights, as mine does? Say, dear +sister, art thou as happy as I?" + +Hyldreda paused. Earth's sweet ties arose before her, and the grandeur +of her lot seemed only loneliness. Forgetting her lord's command, she +sighed, she even wept one regretful tear; and that moment in her +presence stood Kong Tolv. + +"Kill me, but save my mother, my sister," cried the wife, with a broken +heart. The prayer was needless; _they_ saw not the Elle-king, and he +marked not them--he only bore away Hyldreda, singing mockingly in her +ear something of the same rhyme which had bound her his: + + "Complainest thou here all drearily-- + Camest thou not of thyself in the hill to me? + And stayest thou here thy lot to deplore? + Camest thou not of thyself in at my door?" + +When the mother and sister of Hyldreda lifted up their eyes, they saw +nothing but a cloud of dust sweeping past the cottage-door, they heard +nothing but the ancient elder-tree howling aloud as its branches were +tossed about in a gust of wintry wind. + + * * * * * + +Kong Tolv took back to the hill his mortal bride. There he set her in a +golden chair, and brought to her to drink a silver horn of elfin-wine, +in the which he had dropped an ear of wheat. At the first draught, she +forgot the village where she had dwelt--at the second, she forgot the +sister who had been her darling--at the third, she forgot the mother who +bore her. Again she rejoiced in the glories of the fairy-palace, and in +the life of never-ceasing pleasure. + +Month after month rolled by--by her scarce counted, or counted only in +jest, as she would number a handful of roses, all held so fast and sure, +that none could fall or fade; or as she would mark one by one the little +waves of a rivulet whose source was eternally flowing. + +Hyldreda thought no more of any earthly thing, until there came, added +to her own, a young, new life. When her beautiful babe, half-elf, +half-mortal, nestled in her woman's breast, it wakened there the +fountain of human love, and of long-forgotten memories. + +"Oh! let me go home once--once more," she implored of her lord. "Let me +go to ask my mother's forgiveness, and above all, to crave the church's +blessing on this my innocent babe." + +Kong Tolv frowned, and then looked sad. For it is the one great sorrow +of the Elle-people, that they, with all others of the elfin race, are +shut out from Heaven's mercy. Therefore do they often steal mortal +wives, and strive to have their children christened according to holy +rite, in order to participate in the blessings granted to the offspring +of Adam. + +"Do as thou wilt," the Hill-king answered; "but know, there awaits a +penalty. In exchange for a soul, must be given a life." + +His dark saying fell coldly on the heart of the young mother. It +terrified her for a time, but soon the sweet strange wiles of her +elfin-babe beguiled her into renewed happiness; so that her longing +faded away. + +The child grew not like a mortal child. An unearthly beauty was in its +face; wondrous precocious signs marked it from its birth. Its +baby-speech was very wisdom. Its baby-smile was full of thought. The +mother read her olden soul--the pure soul that was hers of yore--in her +infant's eyes. + +One day when Hyldreda was following the child in its play, she noticed +it disappear through what seemed the outlet of the fairy-palace, which +outlet she herself had never been able to find. She forgot that her boy +was of elfin as well as of mortal race. Out it passed, the mother +eagerly pursuing, until she found herself with the child in a meadow +near the village of Skjelskör, where years ago she had often played. It +was on a Sunday morning, and cheerfully yet solemnly rang out the +chapel-bells. All the sounds and sights of earth came back upon her, +with a longing that would not be restrained. + +In the white frozen grass, for it was wintertime, knelt the wife of Kong +Tolv, holding fast to her bosom the elfin babe, who shivered at every +blast of wind, yet, shivering, seemed to smile. Hyldreda knelt, until +the chapel-bells ceased at service-time. And then there came bursting +from her lips the long-sealed prayers, the prayers of her childhood. +While she breathed them, the rich fairy garments crumbled from her, and +she remained clad in the coarse dress she wore when Kong Tolv carried +her away; save that it hung in miserable tatters, as if worn for years, +and through its rents the icy wind pierced her bosom, so that the heart +within might have sunk and died, but for the ever-abiding warmth of +maternal love. + +_That_ told her how in one other mother's heart there must be warmth +still. + +"I will go home," she murmured, "I will say, 'Mother, take me in and +save me, or else I die!'" And so, when the night closed, and all the +villagers were safe at home, and none could mock at her and her misery, +the poor desolate one crept to her mother's door. + +It had been open to her even when she came in her pride; how would it be +closed against her sorrow and humility? And was there ever a true +mother's breast, that while life yet throbbed there, was not a refuge +for a repentant child? + +Hyldreda found shelter and rest. But the little elfin babe, unused to +the air of earth, uttered continual moanings. At night, the strange eyes +never closed, but looked at her with a dumb entreaty. And tenfold +returned the mother's first desire, that her darling should become a +"christened child." + +Much the old grandame gloried in this, looking with distrust on the +pining, withered babe. But keenly upon Hyldreda's memory came back the +saying of Kong Tolv, that for a soul would be exchanged a life. It must +be _hers_. That, doubtless, was the purchase; and thus had Heaven +ordained the expiation of her sin. If so, meekly she would offer it, so +that Heaven would admit into its mercy her beloved child. It was in the +night--in the cold white night, that the widow Kalm, with her daughter +and the mysterious babe, came to the chapel of Skjelskör. All the way +thither they had been followed by strange, unearthly noises; and as they +passed beneath the oak-wood, it seemed as if the overhanging branches +were transformed into giant hands, that evermore snatched at the child. +But in vain; for the mother held it fast, and on its little breast she +had laid the wooden cross which she herself used to wear when a girl. +Bitterly the infant had wailed, but when they crossed the threshold of +the chapel, it ceased, and a smile broke over its face--a smile pure and +saintly, such as little children wear, lying in a sleep so beautiful +that the bier seems like the cradle. + +The mother beheld it, and thought, What if her foreboding should be +true; that the moment which opened the gate of Heaven's mercy unto her +babe, should close upon herself life and life's sweetnesses? But she +felt no fear. + +"Let me kiss thee once again, my babe, my darling!" she murmured; +"perhaps I may never kiss thee more. Even now, I feel as if my eyes were +growing dark, and thy little face were gliding from my sight. But I can +let thee go, my sweet! God will take care of thee, and keep thee safe, +even amidst this bitter world." + +She clasped and kissed the child once more, and, kneeling, calm, but +very pale, she awaited whatever might be her doom. + +The priest, performing by stealth what he almost deemed a desecration of +the hallowed rite, began to read the ceremony over the fairy babe. All +the while, it looked at him with those mysterious eyes, so lately opened +to the world, yet which seemed to express the emotions of a whole +existence. But when the sprinkled water touched them, they closed, +softly, slowly, like a blue flower at night. + +The mother, still living, and full of thankful wonder that she did live, +took from the priest's arms her recovered treasure, her Christian child. +It lay all smiling, but it lifted not its eyes: the color was fading on +its lips, and its little hands were growing cold. For it--not for her, +had been the warning. It had rendered up its little life, and received +an immortal soul. + + * * * * * + +For years after this, there abode in the village of Skjelskör a woman +whom some people thought was an utter stranger, for none so grave, and +at the same time so good, was ever known among the light-hearted people +of Zealand. Others said that if any one could come back alive from fairy +land, the woman must be Hyldreda Kalm. But as later generations arose, +they mocked at the story of Kong Tolv and the palace under the hill, and +considered the whole legend but an allegory, the moral of which they did +not fail to preach to their fair young daughters continually. + +Nevertheless, this woman had surely once lived, for her memory, embalmed +by its own rich virtues, long lingered in the place where she had dwelt. +She must have died there, too, for they pointed out her grave, and a +smaller one beside it, though whose that was, none knew. There was a +tradition that when she died--it was on a winter night, and the clock +was just striking _twelve_--there arose a stormy wind which swept +through the neighboring oak-wood, laying every tree prostrate on the +ground. And from that hour there was no record of the Elle-people or the +mighty Kong Tolv having been ever again seen in Zealand. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] The idea of this story is partly taken from a Danish _Visa_, or +legendary ballad, entitled "Proud Margaret." + +[15] _Hyldemoer_, elder-mother, is the name of a Danish elf inhabiting +the elder-tree. _Eda_ signifies a grandmother or female ancestor. +Children born on Sundays were especially under the power of the elves. + +[16] Kong Tolv, or _King Twelve_, is one of the Elle-kings who divide +the fairy sovereignty of Zealand. + +[17] Dronningstolen, or Queen's Chair. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. + +[_Continued from Page 233._] + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"THE ARMY SIXTY YEARS SINCE." + +I followed the soldiers as they marched beyond the outer boulevard, and +gained the open country. Many of the idlers dropped off here; others +accompanied us a little further; but at length, when the drums ceased to +beat, and were slung in marching order on the backs of the drummers, +when the men broke into the open order that French soldiers +instinctively assume on a march, the curiosity of the gazers appeared to +have nothing more to feed upon, and one by one they returned to the +capital, leaving me the only lingerer. + +To any one accustomed to military display, there was little to attract +notice in the column, which consisted of detachments from various corps, +horse, foot, and artillery; some were returning to their regiments after +a furlough; some had just issued from the hospitals, and were seated in +charettes, or country-cars; and, others, again, were peasant boys only a +few days before drawn in the conscription. There was every variety of +uniform, and, I may add, of raggedness, too--a coarse blouse and a pair +of worn shoes, with a red or blue handkerchief on the head, being the +dress of many among them. The republic was not rich in those days, and +cared little for the costume in which her victories were won. The +artillery alone seemed to preserve any thing like uniformity in dress. +They wore a plain uniform of blue, with long white gaiters coming half +way up the thigh; a low cocked hat, without feather, but with the +tricolored cockade in front. They were mostly men middle-aged, or past +the prime of life, bronzed, weather-beaten, hardy-looking fellows, whose +white mustaches contrasted well with their sunburned faces. All their +weapons and equipments were of a superior kind, and showed the care +bestowed upon an arm whose efficiency was the first discovery of the +republican generals. The greater number of these were Bretons, and +several of them had served in the fleet, still bearing in their looks +and carriage something of that air which seems inherent in the seaman. +They were grave, serious, and almost stern in manner, and very unlike +the young cavalry soldiers, who, mostly recruited from the south of +France, many of them Gascons, had all the high-hearted gayety and +reckless levity of their own peculiar land. A campaign to these fellows +seemed a pleasant excursion; they made a jest of every thing, from the +wan faces of the invalids, to the black bread of the "Commissary;" they +quizzed the new "Tourleroux," as the recruits were styled, and the old +"Grumblers," as it was the fashion to call the veterans of the army; +they passed their jokes on the republic, and even their own officers +came in for a share of their ridicule. The grenadiers, however, were +those who especially were made the subject of their sarcasm. They were +generally from the north of France, and the frontier country toward +Flanders, whence they probably imbibed a portion of that phlegm and +moroseness so very unlike the general gayety of French nature; and when +assailed by such adversaries, were perfectly incapable of reply or +retaliation. + +They all belonged to the army of the "Sambre et Meuse," which, although +at the beginning of the campaign highly distinguished for its successes, +had been latterly eclipsed by the extraordinary victories on the Upper +Rhine and in Western Germany; and it was curious to hear with what +intelligence and interest the greatest questions of strategy were +discussed by those who carried their packs as common soldiers in the +ranks. Movements and manoeuvres were criticised, attacked, defended, +ridiculed, and condemned, with a degree of acuteness and knowledge that +showed the enormous progress the nation had made in military science, +and with what ease the republic could recruit her officers from the +ranks of her armies. + +At noon the column halted in the wood of Belleville; and while the men +were resting, an express arrived announcing that a fresh body of troops +would soon arrive, and ordering the others to delay their march till +they came up. The orderly who brought the tidings could only say that he +believed some hurried news had come from Germany, for before he left +Paris the rappel was beating in different quarters, and the rumor ran +that reinforcements were to set out for Strasbourg with the utmost +dispatch. + +"And what troops are coming to join us?" said an old artillery sergeant, +in evident disbelief of the tidings. + +"Two batteries of artillery and the voltigeurs of the 4th, I know for +certain are coming," said the orderly, "and they spoke of a battalion of +grenadiers." + +"What! do these Germans need another lesson," said the cannonier, "I +thought Fleurus had taught them what our troops were made of?" + +"How you talk of Fleurus," interrupted a young hussar from the south; "I +have just come from the army of Italy, and, ma foi! we should never have +mentioned such a battle as Fleurus in a dispatch. Campaigning among +dykes and hedges--fighting with a river on one flank and a fortress on +the t'other--parade manoeuvres--where, at the first check, the enemy +retreats, and leaves you free, for the whole afternoon, to write off +your successes to the Directory. Had you seen our fellows scaling the +Alps, with avalanches of snow descending at every fire of the great +guns--forcing pass after pass against an enemy, posted on every cliff +and crag above us--cutting our way to victory by roads the hardiest +hunter had seldom trod; I call that war." + +"And I call it the skirmish of an outpost!" said the gruff veteran, as +he smoked away, in thorough contempt for the enthusiasm of the other. "I +have served under Kleber, Hoche, and Moreau, and I believe they are the +first generals of France." + +"There is a name greater than them all," cried the hussar with +eagerness. + +"Let us hear it, then--you mean Pichegru, perhaps, or Massena?" + +"No, I mean Bonaparte!" said the hussar, triumphantly. + +"A good officer, and one of us," said the artilleryman, touching his +belt to intimate the arm of the service the general belonged to "He +commanded the seige-train at Toulon." + +"He belongs to all," said the other. "He is a dragoon, a voltigeur, an +artillerist, a pontonièr--what you will--he knows every thing, as I know +my horse's saddle, and cloak-bag." + +Both parties now grew warm; and as each was not only an eager partisan, +but well acquainted with the leading events of the two campaigns they +undertook to defend, the dispute attracted a large circle of listeners, +who, either seated on the green-sward, or lying at full length, formed a +picturesque group under the shadow of the spreading oak trees. Mean +while the cooking went speedily forward, and the camp-kettles smoked +with a steam whose savory odor was not a little tantalizing to one who, +like myself, felt that he did not belong to the company. + +"What's thy mess, boy?" said an old grenadier to me, as I sat at a +little distance off, and affecting--but I fear very ill--a total +indifference to what went forward. + +"He is asking to what corps thou belong'st?" said another, seeing that +the question puzzled me. + +"Unfortunately I have none," said I. "I merely followed the march for +curiosity." + +"And thy father and mother, child--what will they say to thee on thy +return home?" + +"I have neither father, nor mother, nor home," said I, promptly. + +"Just like myself," said an old red-whiskered sapeur; "or if I ever had +parents, they never had the grace to own me. Come over here child, and +take share of my dinner." + +"No, parbleu! I'll have him for _my_ comrade," cried the young hussar. +"I was made a corporal yesterday, and have a large ration. Sit here, my +boy, and tell us how art called." + +"Maurice Tierney." + +"Maurice will do; few of us care for more than one name, except in the +dead muster they like to have it in full. Help thyself, my lad, and +here's the wine-flask beside thee." + +"How comes it thou hast this old uniform, boy," said he, pointing to my +sleeve. + +"It was one they gave me in the Temple," said I. "I was a 'rat du +prison' for some time." + +"Thunder of war!" exclaimed the cannonier, "I had rather stand a whole +platoon fire than see what thou must have seen, child." + +"And hast heart to go back there, boy," said the corporal, "and live the +same life again?" + +"No, I'll never go back," said I. "I'll be a soldier." + +"Well said, mon brave--thou'lt be a hussar, I know." + +"If nature has given thee a good head, and a quick eye, my boy, thou +might even do better; and in time, perhaps, wear a coat like mine," said +the cannonier. + +"Sacre bleu!" cried a little fellow, whose age might have been any thing +from boyhood to manhood--for while small of stature, he was shriveled +and wrinkled like a mummy--"why not be satisfied with the coat he +wears?" + +"And be a drummer, like thee," said the cannonier. + +"Just so, like me, and like Massena--he was a drummer, too." + +"No, no!" cried a dozen voices together, "that's not true." + +"He's right; Massena _was_ a drummer in the Eighth," said the cannonier; +"I remember him when he was like that boy yonder." + +"To be sure," said the little fellow, who, I now perceived, wore the +dress of a "tambour;" "and is it a disgrace to be the first to face the +enemy?" + +"And the first to turn his back to him, comrade," cried another. + +"Not always--not always"--said the little fellow, regardless of the +laugh against him. "Had it been so, I had not gained the battle of +Grandrengs on the Sambre." + +"Thou gain a battle!" shouted half-a-dozen, in derisive laughter. + +"What, Petit Pièrre gained the day at Grandrengs!" said the cannonier; +"why, I was there myself, and never heard of that till now." + +"I can believe it well," replied Pièrre; "many a man's merits go +unacknowledged: and Kleber got all the credit that belonged to Pièrre +Canot." + +"Let us hear about it, Pièrre, for even thy victory is unknown by name +to us, poor devils of the army of Italy. How call'st thou the place?" + +"Grandrengs," said Pièrre, proudly. "It's a name will live as long, +perhaps, as many of those high-sounding ones you have favored us with. +Mayhap, thou hast heard of Cambray?" + +"Never!" said the hussar, shaking his head. + +"Nor of 'Mons,' either, I'll be sworn?" continued Pièrre. + +"Quite true, I never heard of it before." + +"Voila!" exclaimed Pièrre, in contemptuous triumph. "And these are the +fellows who pretend to feel their country's glory, and take pride in her +conquests. Where hast thou been, lad, not to hear of places that every +child syllables nowadays?" + +"I will tell you where I've been," said the hussar, haughtily, and +dropping at the same time the familiar "thee" and "thou" of soldier +intercourse--"I've been at Montenotte, at Millesimo, at Mondove--" + +"Allons, done! with your disputes," broke in an old grenadier; "as if +France was not victorious whether the enemies were English or German. +Let us hear how Pièrre won his battle--at--at--" + +"At Grandrengs," said Pièrre. "They call it in the dispatch the 'action +of the Sambre,' because Kleber came up there--and Kleber being a great +man, and Pièrre Canot a little one, you understand, the glory attaches +to the place where the bullion epaulets are found--just as the old King +of Prussia used to say, 'Dieu est toujours a coté de gros bataillons.'" + +"I see we'll never come to this same victory of Grandrengs, with all +these turnings and twistings," muttered the artillery sergeant. + +"Thou art very near it now, comrade, if thou'lt listen," said Pièrre, as +he wiped his mouth after a long draught of the vine-flask. "I'll not +weary the honorable company with any description of the battle +generally, but just confine myself to that part of it, in which I was +myself in action. It is well known, that though we claimed the victory +of the 10th May, we did little more than keep our own, and were obliged +to cross the Sambre, and be satisfied with such a position as enabled us +to hold the two bridges over the river--and there we remained for four +days: some said preparing for a fresh attack upon Kaunitz, who commanded +the allies; some, and I believe they were right, alleging that our +generals were squabbling all day, and all night, too, with two +commissaries that the government had sent down to teach us how to win +battles. Ma foi! we had had some experience in that way ourselves, +without learning the art from two citizens with tricolored scarfs round +their waists, and yellow tops to their boots! However that might be, +early on the morning of the 20th we received orders to cross the river +in two strong columns and form on the opposite side; at the same time +that a division was to pass the stream by boat two miles higher up, and, +concealing themselves in a pine wood, be ready to take the enemy in +flank, when they believed that all the force was in the front. + +"Sacre tonnerre! I believe that our armies of the Sambre and the Rhine +never have any other notion of battles than that eternal flank +movement!" cried a young sergeant of the voltigeurs, who had just come +up from the army of Italy. "Our general used to split the enemy by the +centre, out him piecemeal by attack in columns, and then head him down +with artillery at short range--not leaving him time for a retreat in +heavy masses--" + +"Silence, silence, and let us hear Petit Pièrre," shouted a dozen +voices, who cared far more for an incident, than a scientific discussion +about manoeuvres. + +"The plan I speak of was General Moreau's," continued Pièrre; "and I +fancy that your Bonaparte has something to learn ere he be _his_ equal!" + +This rebuke seeming to have engaged the suffrages of the company, he +went on: "The boat division consisted of four battalions of infantry, +two batteries of light-artillery, and a voltigeur company of the +"Regiment de Marboeuf"--to which I was then, for the time, attached as +"Tambour en chef." What fellows they were--the greatest devils in the +whole army! They came from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and were as +reckless and undisciplined as when they strutted the streets of Paris. +When they were thrown out to skirmish, they used to play as many tricks +as school-boys: sometimes they'd run up to the roof of a cabin or a +hut--and they could climb like cats--and, sitting down on the chimney, +begin firing away at the enemy, as coolly as from a battery; sometimes +they'd capture half-a-dozen asses, and ride forward as if to charge, and +then, affecting to tumble off, the fellows would pick down any of the +enemy's officers that were fools enough to come near--scampering back to +the cover of the line, laughing and joking as if the whole were sport. I +saw one--when his wrist was shattered by a shot, and he couldn't +fire--take a comrade on his back and caper away like a horse, just to +tempt the Germans to come out of their lines. It was with these blessed +youths I was now to serve, for the Tambour of the Marboeuf was drowned +in crossing the Sambre a few days before. Well, we passed the river +safely, and, unperceived by the enemy, gained the pine wood, where we +formed in two columns, one of attack, and the other of support, the +voltigeurs about five hundred paces in advance of the leading files. The +morning was dull and hazy, for a heavy rain had fallen during the night, +and the country is flat, and so much intersected with drains, and dykes, +and ditches, that, after rain, the vapor is too thick to see twenty +yards on any side. Our business was to make a counter-march to the +right, and, guided by the noise of the cannonade, to come down upon the +enemy's flank in the thickest of the engagement. As we advanced, we +found ourselves in a kind of marshy plain, planted with willows, and so +thick, that it was often difficult for three men to march abreast. This +extended for a considerable distance, and, on escaping from it, we saw +that we were not above a mile from the enemy's left, which rested on a +little village." + +"I know it well," broke in the cannonier; "it's called Huyningen." + +"Just so. There was a formidable battery in position there; and part of +the place was stockaded, as if they expected an attack. Still there were +no videttes, nor any look-out party, so far as we could see; and our +commanding officer didn't well know what to make of it, whether it was a +point of concealed strength, or a position they were about to withdraw +from. At all events, it required caution; and, although the battle had +already begun on the right--as a loud cannonade and a heavy smoke told +us--he halted the brigade in the wood, and held a council of his +officers to see what was to be done. The resolution come to was, that +the voltigeurs should advance alone to explore the way, the rest of the +force remaining in ambush. We were to go out in sections of companies, +and, spreading over a wide surface, see what we could of the place. + +"Scarcely was the order given, when away we went; and it was now a race +who should be earliest up, and exchange first shot with the enemy. Some +dashed forward over the open field in front; others skulked along by +dykes and ditches; some, again, dodged here and there, as cover offered +its shelter; but about a dozen, of whom I was one, kept the track of +little cart-road, which, half-concealed by high banks and furze, ran in +a zig-zag line toward the village. I was always smart of foot; and now, +having newly joined the 'voltigeurs,' was naturally eager to show myself +not unworthy of my new associates. I went on at my best pace, and being +lightly equipped--neither musket nor ball-cartridge to carry--I soon out +stripped them all; and, after about twenty minutes' brisk running, saw +in front of me a long, low farm-house, the walls all pierced for +musketry, and two small eight-pounders in battery at the gate. I looked +back for my companions, but they were not up, not a man of them to be +seen. 'No matter,' thought I 'they'll be here soon; meanwhile, I'll make +for that little copse of brushwood;' for a small clump of low furze and +broom was standing at a little distance in front of the farm. All this +time, I ought to say, not a man of the enemy was to be seen, although I, +from where I stood, could see the crenelated walls, and the guns, as +they were pointed: at a distance all would seem like an ordinary +peasant-house. + +"As I crossed the open space to gain the copse, piff! came a bullet, +whizzing past me; and just as I reached the cover, piff! came another. I +ducked my head, and made for the thicket, but just as I did so, my foot +caught in a branch. I stumbled, and pitched forward; and, trying to save +myself, I grasped a bough above me. It smashed suddenly, and down I +went. Ay! down sure enough, for I went right through the furze, and into +a well--one of those old, walled wells they have in these countries, +with a huge bucket that fills up the whole space, and is worked by a +chain. Luckily the bucket was linked up near the top, and caught me, or +I should have gone where there would have been no more heard of Pièrre +Canot; as it was, I was sorely bruised by the fall, and didn't recover +myself for full ten minutes after. Then I discovered that I was sitting +in a large wooden trough, hooped with iron, and supported by two heavy +chains that passed over a windlass, about ten feet above my head. + +"I was safe enough, for the matter of that; at least none were likely to +discover me, as I could easily see, by the rust of the chain and he +grass-grown edges, that the well had been long disused. Now the position +was far from being pleasant. There stood the farm-house, full of +soldiers, the muskets ranging over every approach to where I lay. Of my +comrades, there was nothing to be seen, they had either missed the way +or retreated: and so time crept on, and I pondered on what might be +going forward elsewhere, and whether it would ever be my own fortune to +see my comrades again. + +"It might be an hour--it seemed three or four to me--after this, as I +looked over the plain, I saw the caps of our infantry just issuing over +the brushwood, and a glancing lustre of their bayonets, as the sun +tipped them. They were advancing, but, as it seemed, slowly--halting at +times, and then moving forward again, just like a force waiting for +others to come up. At last they debouched into the plain; but, to my +surprise, they wheeled about to the right, leaving the farm-house on +their flank, as if to march beyond it. This was to lose their way +totally: nothing would be easier than to carry the position of the farm, +for the Germans were evidently few, had no videttes, and thought +themselves in perfect security. I crept out from my ambush, and holding +my cap on a stick, tried to attract notice from our fellows, but none +saw me. I ventured at last to shout aloud, but with no better success; +so that, driven to the end of my resources, I set to and beat a +'roulade' on the drum, thundering away with all my might, and not caring +what might come of it, for I was half mad with vexation as well as +despair. They heard me now; I saw a staff officer gallop up to the head +of the leading division, and halt them: a volley came peppering from +behind me, but without doing me any injury, for I was safe once more in +my bucket. Then came another pause, and again I repeated my manoeuvre, +and to my delight perceived that our fellows were advancing at quick +march. I beat harder, and the drums of the grenadiers answered me. All +right now, thought I, as, springing forward, I called out, 'This way, +boys; the wall of the orchard has scarcely a man to defend it;' and I +rattled out the 'pas-de-charge' with all my force. One crashing fire of +guns and small arms answered me from the farm-house; and then away went +the Germans as hard as they could; such running never was seen! One of +the guns they carried off with them; the tackle of the other broke, and +the drivers, jumping off their saddles, took to their legs at once. Our +lads were over the walls, through the windows, between the stockades, +every where, in fact, in a minute, and once inside, they carried all +before them. The village was taken at the point of the bayonet, and in +less than an hour the whole force of the brigade was advancing in full +march on the enemy's flank. There was little resistance made after that, +and Kaunitz only saved his artillery by leaving his rear guard to be cut +to pieces." + +The cannonier nodded, as if in full assent, and Pièrre looked around him +with the air of a man who has vindicated his claim to greatness. + +"Of course," said he, "the dispatch said little about Pièrre Canot, but +a great deal about Moreau, and Kleber, and the rest of them." + +While some were well satisfied that Pièrre had well established his +merits as the conqueror of "Grandrengs," others quizzed him about the +heroism of lying hid in a well, and owing all his glory to a skin of +parchment. + +"An' thou went with the army of Italy, Pièrre," said the hussar, "thou'd +have seen men march boldly to victory, and not skulk under ground like a +mole." + +"I am tired of your song about this army of Italy," broke in the +cannonier; "we who have served in La Vendée and the North know what +fighting means, as well, mayhap, as men whose boldest feats are scaling +rocks and clambering up precipices. Your Bonaparte, is more like one of +these guerilla chiefs they have in the 'Basque,' than the general of a +French army." + +"The man who insults the army of Italy, or its chief, insults _me_!" +said the corporal, springing up, and casting a sort of haughty defiance +around him. + +"And then?" asked the other. + +"And then--if he be a French soldier--he knows what should follow." + +"Parbleu!" said the cannonier, coolly, "there would be little glory in +cutting you down, and even less in being wounded by you; but if you will +have it so, it's not an old soldier of the artillery will balk your +humor." + +As he spoke, he slowly arose from the ground, and tightening his +waist-belt, seemed prepared to follow the other. The rest sprung to +their feet at the same time, but not, as I anticipated, to offer a +friendly mediation between the angry parties, but in full approval of +their readiness to decide by the sword a matter too trivial to be called +a quarrel. + +In the midst of the whispering conferences as to place and weapons--for +the short, straight sword of the artillery was very unlike the curved +sabre of the hussar--the quick tramp of horses was heard, and suddenly +the head of a squadron was seen, as, with glancing helmets and +glittering equipments, they turned off the high-road, and entered the +wood. + +"Here they come; here come the troops!" was now heard on every side, and +all question of the duel was forgotten in the greater interest inspired +by the arrival of the others. The sight was strikingly picturesque, for, +as they rode up, the order to dismount was given, and in an instant the +whole squadron was at work, picketing and unsaddling their horses; +forage was shaken out before the weary and hungry beasts; kits were +unpacked, cooking utensils produced, and every one busy in preparing +for the bivouac. An infantry column followed close upon the others, +which was again succeeded by two batteries of field-artillery, and some +squadrons of heavy dragoons; and now the whole wood, far and near, was +crammed with soldiers, wagons, caissons, and camp-equipage. To me the +interest of the scene was never-ending; life, bustle, and gayety on +every side. The reckless pleasantry of the camp, too, seemed elevated by +the warlike accompaniments of the picture; the caparisoned horses, the +brass guns blackened on many a battle-field, the weather-seamed faces of +the hardy soldiers themselves, all conspiring to excite a high +enthusiasm for the career. + +Most of the equipments were new and strange to my eyes. I had never +before seen the grenadiers of the Republican Guard, with their enormous +shakos, and their long-flapped vests descending to the middle of the +thigh; neither had I seen the "Hussars de la mort," in their richly +braided uniform of black, and their long hair curled in ringlets at +either side of the face. The cuirassiers, too, with their low cocked +hats, and straight, black feathers, as well as the "Portes Drapeaux," +whose brilliant uniforms, all slashed with gold, seemed scarcely in +keeping with yellow-topped boots: all were now seen by me for the first +time. But of all the figures which amused me most by its singularity, +was that of a woman, who, in a short frock-coat and a low-crowned hat, +carried a little barrel at her side, and led an ass loaded with two +similar, but rather larger casks. Her air and gait were perfectly +soldier-like; and as she passed the different posts and sentries, she +saluted them in true military fashion. I was not long to remain in +ignorance of her vocation nor her name; for scarcely did she pass a +group without stopping to dispense a wonderful cordial that she carried; +and then I heard the familiar title of "La Mère Madou," uttered in every +form of panegyric. + +She was a short, stoutly-built figure, somewhat past the middle of life, +but without any impairment of activity in her movements. A pleasing +countenance, with good teeth and black eyes, a merry voice, and a ready +tongue, were qualities more than sufficient to make her a favorite with +the soldiers, whom I found she had followed to more than one battle +field. + +"Peste!" cried an old grenadier, as he spat out the liquor on the +ground. "This is one of those sweet things they make in Holland; it +smacks of treacle and bad lemons." + +"Ah, Grognard!" said she, laughing, "thou art more vised to corn-brandy, +with a clove of garlic in't, than to good curaçoa." + +"What, curaçoa! Mère Madou, hast got curaçoa there?" cried a +gray-whiskered captain, as he turned on his saddle at the word. + +"Yes, mon capitaine, and such as no burgomaster ever drank better;" and +she filled out a little glass, and presented it gracefully to him. + +"Encore, ma bonne Mère," said he, as he wiped his thick mustache; "that +liquor is another reason for extending the blessings of liberty to the +brave Dutch." + +"Didn't I tell you so?" said she, refilling the glass: "but, holloa, +there goes Gregoire at full speed. Ah, scoundrels that ye are, I see +what ye've done." And so was it: some of the wild, young voltigeur +fellows had fastened a lighted furze-bush to the beast's tail, and had +set him, at a gallop, through the very middle of the encampment, +upsetting tents, scattering cooking-pans, and tumbling the groups, as +they sat, in every direction. + +The confusion was tremendous; for the picketed horses jumped about, and +some, breaking loose, galloped here and there, while others set off with +half-unpacked wagons, scattering their loading as they went. + +It was only when the blazing furze had dropped off, that the cause of +the whole mischance would suffer himself to be captured, and led quietly +back to his mistress. Half crying with joy, and still wild with anger, +she kissed the beast, and abused her tormentors by turns. + +"Cannoniers that ye are," she cried, "ma foi! you'll have little face +for the fire when the day comes that ye should face it! Pauvre Gregoire, +they've left thee a tail like a tirailleur's feather! Plagues light on +the thieves that did it! Come here, boy," said she, addressing me, "hold +the bridle: what's thy corps, lad?" + +"I have none now; I only followed the soldiers from Paris." + +"Away with thee, street-runner; away with thee, then!" said she, +contemptuously; "there are no pockets to pick here, and if there were, +thou'd lose thy ears for the doing it. Be off, then; back with thee to +Paris and all its villainies. There are twenty thousand of thy trade +there, but there's work for ye all!" + +"Nay, Mère, don't be harsh with the boy," said a soldier; "you can see +by his coat that his heart is with us." + +"And he stole that, I'll be sworn," said she, pulling me round by the +arm, full in front of her. "Answer me, 'Gamin,' where didst find that +old tawdry jacket?" + +"I got it in a place where, if they had hold of thee and thy bad tongue, +it would fare worse with thee than thou thinkest!" said I, maddened by +the imputed theft and insolence together. + +"And where may that be, young slip of the galleys?" cried she, angrily. + +"In the 'Prison du Temple.'" + +"Is that their livery, then?" said she laughing, and pointing at me with +ridicule, "or is it a family dress made after thy father's?" + +"My father wore a soldier's coat, and bravely, too," said I, with +difficulty restraining the tears that rose to my eyes. + +"In what regiment, boy?" asked the soldier who spoke before. + +"In one that exists no longer," said I, sadly, and not wishing to allude +to a service that would find but slight favor in republican ears. + +"That must be the 24th of the Line; they were cut to pieces at +'Tongres.'" + +"No--no, he's thinking of the 9th, that got so roughly handled at +Fontenoy," said another. + +"Of neither," said I; "I am speaking of those who have left nothing but +a name behind them, the 'Garde du Corps' of the king." + +"Voila!" cried Madou, clapping her hands in astonishment at my +impertinence; "there's an aristocrat for you! Look at him, mes braves! +It's not every day we have the grand seigneurs condescending to come +among us! You can learn something of courtly manners from the polished +descendant of our nobility. Say, boy, art a count, or a baron, or +perhaps a duke." + +"Make way there--out of the road, Mère Madou," cried a dragoon, +curveting his horse in such a fashion as almost to upset ass and +"cantiniére" together, "the staff is coming." + +The mere mention of the word sent numbers off in full speed to their +quarters; and now, all was haste and bustle to prepare for the coming +inspection. The Mère's endeavors to drag her beast along were not very +successful; for, with the peculiar instinct of his species, the more +necessity there was of speed, the lazier he became; and as every one had +his own concerns to look after, she was left to her own unaided efforts +to drive him forward. + +"Thou'lt have a day in prison if thou'rt found here, Mère Madou," said a +dragoon, as he struck the ass with the flat of his sabre. + +"I know it well," cried she, passionately; "but I have none to help me. +Come here, lad; be good-natured, and forget what passed. Take his bridle +while I whip him on." + +I was at first disposed to refuse, but her pitiful face and sad plight +made me think better of it; and I seized the bridle at once; but just as +I had done so, the escort galloped forward, and the dragoons coming on +the flank of the miserable beast, over he went, barrels and all, +crushing me beneath him as he fell. + +"Is the boy hurt?" were the last words I heard, for I fainted; but a few +minutes after I found myself seated on the grass, while a soldier was +stanching the blood that ran freely from a cut in my forehead. + +"It is a trifle, general--a mere scratch," said a young officer to an +old man on horseback beside him, "and the leg is not broken." + +"Glad of it," said the old officer; "casualties are insufferable, except +before an enemy. Send the lad to his regiment." + +"He's only a camp-follower, general. He does not belong to us." + +"There, my lad, take this, then, and make thy way back to Paris," said +the old general, as he threw me a small piece of money. + +I looked up, and there, straight before me, saw the same officer who had +given me the assignat the night before. + +"General La Coste!" cried I, in delight, for I thought him already a +friend. + +"How is this--have I an acquaintance here?" said he, smiling: "on my +life! it's the young rogue I met this morning. Eh! art not thou the +artillery-driver I spoke to at the barrack?" + +"Yes, general, the same." + +"Diantre! It seems fated, then, that we are not to part company so +easily; for hadst thou remained in Paris, lad, we had most probably +never met again." + +"Ainsi je suis bien tombé, general," said I, punning upon my accident. + +He laughed heartily, less I suppose at the jest, which was a poor one, +than at the cool impudence with which I uttered it; and then turning to +one of the staff, said-- + +"I spoke to Berthollet about this boy already--see that they take him in +the 9th. I say, my lad, what's thy name?" + +"Tiernay, sir." + +"Ay, to be sure, Tiernay. Well, Tiernay, thou shalt be a hussar, my man. +See that I get no disgrace by the appointment." + +I kissed his hand fervently, and the staff rode forward, leaving me the +happiest heart that beat in all that crowded host. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE. + +If the guide who is to lead us on a long and devious track, stops at +every by-way, following out each path that seems to invite a ramble or +suggest a halt, we naturally might feel distrustful of his safe conduct, +and uneasy at the prospect of the road before us. In the same way may +the reader be disposed to fear that he who descends to slight and +trivial circumstances, will scarcely have time for events which ought to +occupy a wider space in his reminiscences; and for this reason I am +bound to apologize for the seeming transgression of my last chapter. +Most true it is, that were I to relate the entire of my life with a +similar diffuseness, my memoir would extend to a length far beyond what +I intend it to occupy. Such, however, is very remote from my thoughts. I +have dwelt with, perhaps, something of prolixity upon the soldier-life +and characteristics of a past day, because I shall yet have to speak of +changes, without which the contrast would be inappreciable; but I have +also laid stress upon an incident trivial in itself, because it formed +an event in my own fortunes. It was thus, in fact, that I became a +soldier. + +Now, the man who carries a musket in the ranks, may very reasonably be +deemed but a small ingredient of the mass that forms an army: and in our +day his thoughts, hopes, fears, and ambitions are probably as unknown +and uncared for, as the precise spot of earth that yielded the ore from +which his own weapon was smelted. This is not only reasonable, but it is +right. In the time of which I am now speaking it was far otherwise. The +Republic, in extinguishing a class had elevated the individual; and now +each, in whatever station he occupied, felt himself qualified to +entertain opinions and express sentiments, which, because they were his +own, he presumed them to be national. The idlers of the streets +discussed the deepest questions of politics; the soldiers talked of war +with all the presumption of consummate generalship. The great operations +of a campaign, and the various qualities of different commanders, were +the daily subjects of dispute in the camp. Upon one topic only were all +agreed; and there, indeed, our unanimity repaid all previous +discordance. We deemed France the only civilized nation of the globe, +and reckoned that people thrice happy who, by any contingency of +fortune, engaged our sympathy, or procured the distinction of our +presence in arms. We were the heaven-born disseminators of freedom +throughout Europe; the sworn enemies of kingly domination; and the +missionaries of a political creed, which was not alone to ennoble +mankind, but to render its condition eminently happy and prosperous. + +There could not be an easier lesson to learn than this, and particularly +when dinned into your ears all day, and from every rank and grade around +you. It was the programme of every message from the Directory; it was +the opening of every general order from the general; it was the +table-talk at your mess. The burden of every song, the title of every +military march performed by the regimental band, recalled it, even the +riding-master, as he followed the recruit around the weary circle, whip +in hand, mingled the orders he uttered with apposite axioms upon +republican grandeur. How I think I hear it still, as the grim old +quartermaster-sergeant, with his Alsatian accent and deep-toned voice, +would call out. + +"Elbows back! wrist lower and free from the side; free, I say, as every +citizen of a great Republic! head erect, as a Frenchman has a right to +carry it! chest full out, like one who can breathe the air of Heaven, +and ask no leave from king or despot! down with your heel, sir; think +that you crush a tyrant beneath it!" + +Such and such like were the running commentaries on equitation, till +often I forgot whether the lesson had more concern with a seat on +horseback or the great cause of monarchy throughout Europe. I suppose, +to use a popular phrase of our own day, "the system worked well;" +certainly the spirit of the army was unquestionable. From the grim old +veteran, with snow-white mustache, to the beardless boy, there was but +one hope and wish--the glory of France. How they understood that glory, +or in what it essentially consisted, is another and a very different +question. + +Enrolled as a soldier in the ninth regiment of Hussars, I accompanied +that corps to Nancy, where, at that time, a large cavalry school was +formed, and where the recruits from the different regiments were trained +and managed before being sent forward to their destination. + +A taste for equitation, and a certain aptitude for catching up the +peculiar character of the different horses, at once distinguished me in +the riding school, and I was at last adopted by the riding-master of the +regiment as a kind of _aide_ to him in his walk. When I thus became a +bold and skillful horseman, my proficiency interfered with my promotion, +for instead of accompanying my regiment, I was detained at Nancy, and +attached to the permanent staff of the cavalry school there. + +At first I asked for nothing better. It was a life of continued pleasure +and excitement, and while I daily acquired knowledge of a subject which +interested me deeply, I grew tall and strong of limb, and with that +readiness in danger, and that cool collectedness in moments of +difficulty, that are so admirably taught by the accidents and mischances +of a cavalry riding-school. + +The most vicious and unmanageable beasts from the Limousin were often +sent to us; and when any one of these was deemed peculiarly untractable, +"Give him to Tiernay," was the last appeal, before abandoning him as +hopeless. I'm certain I owe much of the formation of my character to my +life at this period, and that my love of adventure, my taste for +excitement, my obstinate resolution to conquer a difficulty, my +inflexible perseverance when thwarted, and my eager anxiety for praise, +were all picked up amid the sawdust and tan of the riding-school. How +long I might have continued satisfied with such triumphs, and content to +be the wonder of the freshly-joined conscripts, I know not, when +accident, or something very like it, decided the question. + +It was a calm, delicious evening in April, in the year after I had +entered the school, that I was strolling alone on the old fortified +wall, which, once a strong redoubt, was the favorite walk of the good +citizens of Nancy. I was somewhat tired with the fatigues of the day, +and sat down to rest under one of the acacia trees, whose delicious +blossom was already scenting the air. The night was still and noiseless; +not a man moved along the wall; the hum of the city was gradually +subsiding, and the lights in the cottages over the plain told that the +laborer was turning homeward from his toil. It was an hour to invite +calm thoughts, and so I fell a-dreaming over the tranquil pleasures of a +peasant's life, and the unruffled peace of an existence passed amid +scenes that were endeared by years of intimacy. "How happily," thought +I, "time must steal on in these quiet spots, where the strife and +struggle of war are unknown, and even the sounds of conflict, never +reach." Suddenly my musings were broken in upon by hearing the measured +tramp of cavalry, as at a walk, a long column wound their way along the +zig-zag approaches, which by many a redoubt and fosse, over many a draw +bridge, and beneath many a strong arch, led to the gates of Nancy. The +loud, sharp call of a trumpet was soon heard, and, after a brief parley, +the massive gates of the fortress were opened for the troops to enter. +From the position I occupied exactly over the gate, I could not only see +the long, dark line of armed men as they passed, but also hear the +colloquy which took place as they entered. + +"What regiment?" + +"Detachments of the 12th Dragoons and the 22d Chasseurs-à-Cheval." + +"Where from?" + +"Valence." + +"Where to?" + +"The army of the Rhine." + +"Pass on!" + +And with the words the ringing sound of the iron-shod horses was heard +beneath the vaulted entrance. As they issued from beneath the long, deep +arch, the men were formed in line along two sides of a wide "Place" +inside the walls, where, with that dispatch that habit teaches, the +billets were speedily distributed, and the parties "told off" in squads +for different parts of the city. The force seemed a considerable one, +and with all the celerity they could employ, the billeting occupied a +long time. As I watched the groups moving off, I heard the direction +given to one party, "Cavalry School--Rue de Lorraine." The young officer +who commanded the group took a direction exactly the reverse of the +right one; and hastening down from the rampart, I at once overtook them, +and explained the mistake. I offered them my guidance to the place, +which being willingly accepted, I walked along at their side. + +Chatting as we went, I heard that the dragoons were hastily withdrawn +from the La Vendée to form part of the force under General Hoche. The +young sous-lieutenant, a mere boy of my own age, had already served in +two campaigns in Holland and the south of France; had been wounded in +the Loire, and received his grade of officer at the hands of Hoche +himself on the field of battle. + +He could speak of no other name--Hoche was the hero of all his +thoughts--his gallantry, his daring, his military knowledge, his +coolness in danger, his impetuosity in attack, his personal amiability, +the mild gentleness of his manner, were themes the young soldier loved +to dwell on; and however pressed by me to talk of war and its chances, +he inevitably came back to the one loved theme--his general. + +When the men were safely housed for the night, I invited my new friend +to my own quarters, where, having provided the best entertainment I +could afford, we passed more than half the night in chatting. There was +nothing above mediocrity in the look or manner of the youth; his +descriptions of what he had seen were unmarked by any thing glowing or +picturesque; his observations did not evince either a quick or a +reflective mind, and yet, over this mass of commonplace, enthusiasm for +his leader had shed a rich glow, like a gorgeous sunlight on a +landscape, that made all beneath it seem brilliant and splendid. + +"And now," said he, after an account of the last action he had seen, +"and now, enough of myself; let's talk of thee. Where hast thou been?" + +"Here!" said I, with a sigh, and in a voice that shame had almost made +inaudible; "Here, here, at Nancy." + +"Not always here?" + +"Just so. Always here." + +"And what doing, mon cher. Thou art not one of the Municipal Guard, +surely?" + +"No," said I, smiling sadly; "I belong to the 'Ecole d'Equitation.'" + +"Ah, that's it," said he, in somewhat of confusion; "I always thought +they selected old sergeants en retraite, worn out veterans, and wounded +fellows, for riding-school duty." + +"Most of ours are such," said I, my shame increasing at every word--"but +somehow they chose me also, and I had no will in the matter--" + +"No will in the matter, parbleu! and why not? Every man in France has a +right to meet the enemy in the field. Thou art a soldier, a hussar of +the 9th, a brave and gallant corps, and art to be told, that thy +comrades have the road to fame and honor open to them; while thou art to +mope away life like an invalided drummer? It is too gross an indignity, +my boy, and must not be borne. Away with you to-morrow at day-break to +the 'Etat Major,' ask to see the commandant. You're in luck, too, for +our colonel is with him now, and he is sure to back your request. Say +that you served in the school to oblige your superiors; but that you can +not see all chances of distinction lost to you forever, by remaining +there. They've given you no grade yet, I see," continued he, looking at +my arm. + +"None: I am still a private." + +"And _I_ a sous-lieutenant, just because I have been where powder was +flashing! You can ride well, of course?" + +"I defy the wildest Limousin to shake me in my saddle." + +"And as a swordsman, what are you?" + +"Gros Jean calls me his best pupil." + +"Ah, true! you have Gros Jean here; the best 'sabreur' in France! And +here you are--a horseman, and one of Gros Jean's 'eléves'--rotting away +life in Nancy! Have you any friends in the service?" + +"Not one." + +"Not one! Nor relations, nor connections?" + +"None. I am Irish by descent. My family are only French by one +generation." + +"Irish? Ah! that's lucky too," said he. "Our colonel is an Irishman. His +name is Mahon. You're certain of getting your leave now. I'll present +you to him to-morrow. We are to halt two days here, and before that is +over, I hope you'll have made your last caracole in the riding-school of +Nancy." + +"But remember," cried I, "that although Irish by family, I have never +been there. I know nothing of either the people or the language; and do +not present me to the general as his countryman." + +"I'll call you by your name, as a soldier of the 9th Hussars; and leave +you to make out your claim as countrymen, if you please, together." + +This course was now agreed upon, and after some further talking, my +friend, refusing all my offers of a bed, coolly wrapped his cloak about +him, and, with his head on the table, fell fast asleep, long before I +had ceased thinking over his stories and his adventures in camp and +battle-field. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"TRONCHON." + +My duties in the riding-school were always over before mid-day, and as +noon was the hour appointed by the young lieutenant to present me to his +colonel, I was ready by that time, and anxiously awaiting his arrival. I +had done my best to smarten up my uniform, and make all my accoutrements +bright and glistening. My scabbard was polished like silver, the steel +front on my shako shone like a mirror, and the tinsel lace of my jacket +had undergone a process of scrubbing and cleaning that threatened its +very existence. My smooth chin and beardless upper lip, however, gave me +a degree of distress, that all other deficiencies failed to inflict: I +can dare to say, that no mediæval gentleman's bald spot ever cost _him_ +one half the misery, as did my lack of mustache occasion _me_. "A hussar +without beard, as well without spurs or sabretasche;" a tambour major +without his staff, a cavalry charger without a tail, couldn't be more +ridiculous: and there was that old sergeant of the riding-school, +"Tronchon," with a beard that might have made a mattress! How the goods +of this world are unequally distributed! thought I; still why might he +not spare me a little--a very little would suffice--just enough to give +the "air hussar" to my countenance. He's an excellent creature; the +kindest old fellow in the world. I'm certain he'd not refuse me; to be +sure the beard is a red one, and pretty much like bell-wire in +consistence; no matter, better that than this girlish smooth chin I now +wear. + +Tronchon was spelling out the _Moniteur's_ account of the Italian +campaign as I entered his room, and found it excessively difficult to +get back from the Alps and Apennines to the humble request I preferred. + +"Poor fellows," muttered he, "four battles in seven days, without stores +of any kind, or rations--almost without bread; and here comest thou, +whining because thou hasn't a beard." + +"If I were not a hussar--" + +"Bah!" said he, interrupting, "what of that? Where should'st thou have +had thy baptism of blood, boy? Art a child, nothing more." + +"I shared my quarters last night with one, not older, Tronchon, and _he_ +was an officer, and had seen many a battle-field." + +"I know that, too," said the veteran, with an expression of impatience, +"that General Bonaparte will give every boy his epaulets, before an old +and tried soldier." + +"It was not Bonaparte. It was--" + +"I care not who promoted the lad; the system is just the same with them +all. It is no longer, 'Where have you served? what have you seen?' but, +'Can you read glibly? can you write faster than speak? have you learned +to take towns upon paper, and attack a breast-work with a rule and a +pair of compasses!' This is what they called 'la génie,' 'la génie!' ha! +ha! ha!" cried he, laughing heartily; "that's the name old women used to +give the devil when I was a boy." + +It was with the greatest difficulty I could get him back from these +disagreeable reminiscences to the object of my visit, and, even then, I +could hardly persuade him that I was serious in asking the loan of a +beard. The prayer of my petition being once understood, he discussed the +project gravely enough; but to my surprise he was far more struck by the +absurd figure he should cut with his diminished mane, than I with my +mock mustache. + +"There's not a child in Nancy won't laugh at me--they'll cry, 'There +goes old Tronchon--he's like Klaber's charger, which the German cut the +tail off to make a shako plume!'" + +I assured him that he might as well pretend to miss one tree in the +forest of "Fontainebleu"--that after furnishing a squadron like myself, +his would be still the first beard in the Republic; and at last he +yielded, and gave in. + +Never did a little damsel of the nursery array her doll with +more delighted looks, and gaze upon her handiwork with more +self-satisfaction, than did old Tronchon survey me, as, with the aid of +a little gum, he decorated my lip with a stiff line of his iron red +beard. + +"Diantre!" cried he, in ecstasy, "if thou ben't something like a man, +after all. Who would have thought it would have made such a change? Thou +might pass for one that saw real smoke and real fire, any day, lad. Ay! +thou hast another look in thine eye, and another way to carry thy head, +now! Trust me, thou'lt look a different fellow on the left of the +squadron." + +I began to think so, too, as I looked at myself in the small triangle of +a looking-glass, which decorated Tronchon's wall, under a picture of +Kellerman, his first captain. I fancied that the improvement was most +decided. I thought that, bating a little over-ferocity, a something +verging upon the cruel, I was about as perfect a type of the hussar as +need be. My jacket seemed to fit tighter--my pelisse hung more +jauntily--my shako sat more saucily on one side of my head--my sabre +banged more proudly against my boot--my very spurs jangled with a +pleasanter music--and all because a little hair bristled over my lip, +and curled in two spiral flourishes across my cheek! I longed to see the +effect of my changed appearance, as I walked down the "Place Carrière," +or sauntered into the café where my comrades used to assemble. What will +Mademoiselle Josephine say, thought I, as I ask for my "petit vèrre," +caressing my mustache thus! Not a doubt of it, what a fan is to a woman, +a beard is to a soldier! a something to fill up the pauses in +conversation, by blandly smoothing with the finger, or fiercely curling +at the point! + +"And so thou art going to ask for thy grade, Maurice?" broke in +Tronchon, after a long silence. + +"Not at all. I am about to petition for employment upon active service. +I don't seek promotion till I have deserved it." + +"Better still, lad. I was eight years myself in the ranks before they +gave me the stripe on my arm. Parbleu! the Germans had given me some +three or four with the sabre before that time." + +"Do you think they'll refuse me, Tronchon?" + +"Not if thou go the right way about it, lad. Thou mustn't fancy it's +like asking leave from the captain to spend the evening in a guinguette, +or to go to the play with thy sweetheart. No, no, boy. It must be done +'en regle.' Thou'lt have to wait on the general at his quarters at four +o'clock, when he 'receives,' as they call it. Thou'lt be there, mayhap, +an hour, ay, two, or three belike, and after all, perhaps, won't see him +that day at all! I was a week trying to catch Kellerman, and, at last, +he only spoke to me going down stairs with his staff. + +"'Eh, Tronchon, another bullet in thy old carcass; want a furlough to +get strong again, eh?' + +"'No, colonel; all sound this time. I want to be a sergeant--I'm twelve +years and four months corporal.' + +"'Slow work, too,' said he, laughing, 'ain't it, Charles?' and he +pinched one of his young officers by the cheek. 'Let old Tronehon have +his grade; and I say, my good fellow,' said he to me, 'don't come +plaguing me any more about promotion, till I'm General of Division. You +hear that?' + +"Well, he's got his step since; but I never teased him after." + +"And why so, Tronchon?" said I. + +"I'll tell thee, lad," whispered he, in a low, confidential tone, as if +imparting a secret well worth the hearing. "They can find fellows every +day fit for lieutenants and chefs d'escadron. Parbleu! they meet with +them in every café, in every 'billiard' you enter; but a sergeant, +Maurice, one that drills his men on parade--can dress them like a +wall--see that every kit is well packed, and every cartouch well +filled--who knows every soul in his company as he knows the buckles of +his own sword-belt--that's what one should not chance upon, in haste. +It's easy enough to manoeuvre the men, Maurice; but to make them, boy, +to fashion the fellows so that they be like the pieces of a great +machine, that's the real labor--that's soldiering, indeed." + +"And you say I must write a petition, Tronchon?" said I, more anxious to +bring him back to my own affairs, than listen to these speculations of +his. "How shall I do it?" + +"Sit down there, lad, and I'll tell thee. I've done the thing some +scores of times, and know the words as well as I once knew my 'Pater.' +Parbleu, I often wish I could remember that now, just to keep me from +gloomy thoughts when I sit alone of an evening." + +It was not a little to his astonishment, but still more to his delight, +that I told the poor fellow I could help to refresh his memory, knowing, +as I did, every word of the litanies by heart; and, accordingly, it was +agreed on that I should impart religious instruction, in exchange for +the secular knowledge he was conferring upon me. + +"As for the petition," said Tronchon, seating himself opposite to me at +the table, "it is soon done; for, mark me, lad, these things must always +be short; if thou be long-winded, they put thee away, and tell some of +the clerks to look after thee--and there's an end of it. Be brief, +therefore, and next--be legible--write in a good, large round hand; just +as, if thou wert speaking, thou wouldst talk with a fine, clear, +distinct voice. Well, then, begin thus, 'Republic of France, one and +indivisible!' Make a flourish round that, lad, as if it came freely from +the pen. When a man writes 'FRANCE!' he should do it as he whirls his +sabre round his head in a charge! Ay, just so." + +"I'm ready, Tronchon, go on." + +"'Mon General!' Nay, nay--General mustn't be as large as France--yes, +that's better. 'The undersigned, whose certificates of service and +conduct are herewith inclosed.'" "Stay, stop a moment, Tronchon; don't +forget that I have got neither one or t'other." "No matter; I'll make +thee out both. Where was I? Ay, 'herewith inclosed; and whose wounds, as +the accompanying report will show--'" + +"Wounds! I never received one." + +"No matter, I'll--eh--what? Feu d'enfer! how stupid I am! What have I +been thinking of? Why, boy, it was a sick-furlough I was about to ask +for; the only kind of petition I have ever had to write in a life long." + +"And _I_ am asking for active service." + +"Ha! That came without asking for in my case." + +"Then, what's to be done, Tronchon? clearly, this won't do!" + +He nodded sententiously an assent, and, after a moment's rumination, +said, + +"It strikes me, lad, there can be no need of begging for that which +usually comes unlooked for; but if thou don't choose to wait for thy +billet for t'other world, but must go and seek it, the best way will be +to up and tell the general as much." + +"That was exactly my intention." + +"If he asks thee 'Canst ride?' just say, 'Old Tronchon taught me;' he'll +be one of the young hands, indeed, if he don't know that name! And mind, +lad, have no whims or caprices about whatever service he names thee for, +even were't the infantry itself! It's a hard word, that! I know it well! +but a man must make up his mind for any thing and every thing. Wear any +coat, go any where, face any enemy thou'rt ordered, and have none of +those new-fangled notions about this general, or that army. Be a good +soldier, and a good comrade. Share thy kit and thy purse to the last +sous, for it will not only be generous in thee, but that so long as thou +hoardest not, thou'lt never be over eager for pillage. Mind these +things, and with a stout heart and a sharp sabre, Maurice, 'tu ira +loin.' Yes, I tell thee again, lad, 'tu ira loin'." + +I give these three words as he said them, for they have rung in my ears +throughout all my life long. In moments of gratified ambition, in the +glorious triumph of success, they have sounded to me like the confirmed +predictions of one who foresaw my elevation, in less prosperous hours. +When fortune has looked dark and louring, they have been my comforter +and support, telling me not to be downcast or depressed, that the season +of sadness would soon pass away, and the road to fame and honor again +open before me. + +"You really think so, Tronchon? You think that I shall be something +yet?' + +"'Tu ira loin,' I say," repeated he emphatically, and with the air of an +oracle who would not suffer further interrogation. I therefore shook his +hand cordially, and set out to pay my visit to the general. + +(_To be continued.)_ + + + + +[From the London Eclectic Review.] + +HAVE GREAT POETS BECOME IMPOSSIBLE?[18] + + +"Poetry is declining--poetry is being extinguished--poetry is extinct. +To talk of poetry now is eccentricity--to write it is absurdity--to +publish it is moonstruck madness." So the changes are rung. Now, it is +impossible to deny that what is called poetry has become a drug, a bore, +and nuisance, and that the name "Poet," as commonly applied, is at +present about the shabbiest in the literary calendar. But we are far +from believing that poetry is extinct. We entertain, on the contrary, +sanguine hopes of its near and glorious resurrection. Soon do we hope to +hear those tones of high melody, which are now like the echoes of +forgotten thunder: + + "From land to land re-echoed solemnly, + Till silence become music." + +We expect, about the very time, when the presumption against the +revivication of poetry shall have attained the appearance of absolute +certainty, to witness a Tenth Avatar of Genius--and to witness its +effect, too, upon the sapient personages who had been predicting that it +was forever departed. + +But this, it seems, is "not a poetical age." For our parts, we know not +what age has not been poetical--in what age have not existed all the +elements of poetry, been developed all its passions, and been heard many +of its tones. "Were the dark ages poetical?" it will be asked. Yes, for +then, as now, there was pathos--there was passion--there were hatred, +revenge, love, grief, despair, religion. Wherever there is the fear of +death and of judgment, there is, and must be poetry--and when was that +feeling more intensely developed than during that dim period? The +victims of a spell are objects of poetical interest. Here was a strong +spell, embracing a world. Was no arm during the dark ages bared aloft in +defense of outraged innocence? Or was no head then covered with the +snows of a hundred winters, through one midnight despair? Was the voice +of prayer then stifled throughout Europe's hundred lands? Was the mighty +heart of man--the throbbing of which is just poetry, then utterly +silent? But it was not expressed! We maintain, on the contrary, that it +was--expressed at the time, in part by monks, and scalds, and orators, +and expressed afterward in the glad energy of the spring which human +nature made from its trance, into new life and motion. The elements of +poetry had been accumulating in secret. The renovation of letters merely +opened a passage for what had been struggling for vent. What is Dante's +work but a beautiful incarnation of the spirit of the Middle Ages? His +passion is that of a sublimated Inquisitor. His "Inferno" is such a +dream as might have been dreamed by a poet monk, whose body had been +macerated by austerities, and whose spirit had been darkened by long +broodings on the fate of the victims of perdition. It is the poetical +part of the passion of those ages of darkness finding a full voice--an +eternal echo. And it was not in vain that so deep had been the slumber, +when such had been its visions. There is a grandeur about any passion +when carried to excess. Superstition, therefore, became the inspiration +of one of the greatest productions of the universe. Dante was needed +precisely when he appeared. The precise quantity of poetical material to +answer the ends of a great original poet was accumulated; and the mighty +Florentine, when he rose, became the mouth-piece and oracle of his age +and of its cognate ages past--the exact index of all that redeemed, +animated, excited, or adorned them. + +The crusades, too, were another proof that the slumber in which Europe +had been buried was not absolutely and altogether that of stupor or +death. They occurred after the noon of that period we usually denominate +dark. But they were the realization of a dream which had often passed +through the monkish heart--the embodiment, of a wish which had often +brought tears into the eyes of genuine enthusiasts. There was, surely, +as much sublimity in the first conception as in the execution. What +indeed were the crusades, but the means of bringing to light, feelings, +desires, passions, a lofty disinterested heroism, which the very depth +of the former darkness had tended to foster and fire? + +If the dark ages had thus their poetical tendencies, climbing toward a +full poetic expression, surely no age need or can be destitute of +theirs--need or can be called unpoetical. But the misfortune is, that +men will not look at the essential poetry which is lying around them, +and under their feet. They suppose their age to be unpoetical, merely +because they grapple not with its great excitements, nor will venture to +sail upon its "mighty stream of tendency." They overlook the volcano in +the next mountain--while admiring or deploring those which have been +extinct for centuries, or which are a thousand miles away. They are +afraid that if they catch the spirit of their age in verse, they will +give it a temporary stamp; and therefore they either abstain from +writing, and take to abusing the age on which they have unluckily +fallen, or else come to the same resolution after an unsuccessful +attempt to revive faded stimulants. Dante embodied, for instance, his +countrymen's rude conception of future punishment--and he did well. But +our modern religious poets have never ventured to meddle with those +moral aspects of the subject which have now so generally supplanted the +material. They talk instead, with Pollok, of the "rocks of dark +damnation," or outrage common sense by such barbarous mis-creations as +he has sculptured on the gate of hell, and think they have written an +"Inferno," or that, if they have failed, it is because their age is not +poetical. + +Indeed, the least poetry is sometimes written in the most poetical ages. +Men, when acting poetry, have little time either to write or to read it. +There was less poetry written in the age of Charles I., than in that +which preceded it, and more poetry enacted. But the majority of men only +listen to the reverberations of emotion in song. They sympathize not +with poetry, but with poets. And, therefore, when a cluster of poets +die, or are buried before they be dead, they chant dirges over the death +of poetry--as if it ever did or ever could die! as if its roots, which +are just the roots of the human soul, were perishable--as if, especially +when a strong current of excitement was flowing, it were not plain, that +there was a poetry which should, in due time, develop its own masters to +record and prolong it forever. Surely, as long as the grass is green and +the sky is blue, as long as man's heart is warm and woman's face is +fair, poetry, like seed-time and harvest, like summer and winter shall +not cease. + +There was little poetry, some people think, about England's civil war, +because the leader of one party was a red-nosed fanatic. They, for their +part, cannot extract poetry from a red nose; but they are in raptures +with Milton. Fools! but for that civil war, its high and solemn +excitement, the deeds and daring of that red-nosed fanatic, would the +"Paradise Lost" ever have been written, or written as it has been? That +stupendous edifice of genius seems cemented by the blood of Naseby and +of Marston Moor. + +Such persons, too, see little that is poetical in the American +struggle--no mighty romance in tumbling a few chests of tea into the +Atlantic. Washington they think insipid; and because America has +produced hitherto no great poet, its whole history they regard as a +gigantic commonplace--thus ignoring the innumerable deeds of derring-do +which distinguished that immortal contest--blinding their eyes to the +"lines of empire" in the "infant face of that cradled Hercules," and the +tremendous sprawlings of his nascent strength--and seeking to degrade +those forests into whose depths a path for the sunbeams must be hewn, +and where, lightning appears to enter trembling, and to withdraw in +haste; forests which must one day drop down a poet, whose genius shall +be worthy of their age, their vastitude, the beauty which they inclose, +and the load of grandeur below which they bend. + +Nor, to the vulgar eye, does there seem much poetry in the French +Revolution, though it was the mightiest tide of human passion which ever +boiled and raved: a great deal, doubtless, in Burke's "Reflections"--but +none in the cry of a liberated people, which was heard in heaven--none +in the fall of the Bastile--none in Danton's giant figure, nor in +Charlotte Corday's homicide--nor in Madame Roland's scaffold speeches, +immortal though they be as the stars of heaven--nor in the wild song of +the six hundred Marseillese, marching northward "to die." The age of the +French Revolution was proved to be a grand and spirit-stirring age by +its after results--by bringing forth its genuine poet-children--its +Byrons and Shelleys--but needed not this late demonstration of its power +and tendencies. + +Surely our age, too, abounds in the elements of poetical excitement, +awaiting; only fit utterance. The harvest is rich and ripe--and nothing +now is wanting but laborers to put in the sickle. + +_Special_ objections might indeed, and have been taken, to the poetical +character of our time, which we may briefly dispose of before +enumerating the qualities which a new and great poet, aspiring to be the +Poet of the Age, must possess, and inquiring how far Mr. S. Yendys +exhibits those qualities in this very remarkable first effort, "The +Roman." + +"It is a mechanical age," say some. To use Shakspeare's words, "he is a +mechanical salt-butter rogue who says so." Men use more machines than +formerly, but are not one whit more machines themselves. Was James Watt +an automaton? Has the press become less an object of wonder or terror +since it was worked by steam? How sublime was the stoppage of a mail as +the index of rebellion. Luther's Bible was printed by a machine. The +organ is a machine--and not the roar of a lion in a midnight forest is +more sublime, or a fitter reply from earth to the thunder. The railway +carriages of this mechanical age are the conductors of the fire of +intellect and passion--and its steamboats may be loaded with +thunderbolts, as well as with bullocks or yarn. The great American ship +is but a machine; and yet how poetical it becomes, as it walks the +waters of the summer sea, or wrestles, like a demon of kindred power, +with the angry billows. Mechanism, indeed, may be called the short-hand +of poetry, concentrating its force and facilitating its operations. + +But this is an "age too late." So doubted Milton, while the shadow of +Shakspeare had scarce left the earth, and while he himself was writing +the greatest epic the world ever saw. And so any one may say, provided +he does not mutilate or restrain his genius in consequence. We have +reason to bless Providence that Milton did not act upon his hasty +peradventure. But some will attempt to prove its truth, by saying that +the field of poetry is limited--that the first cultivators will probably +exhaust it, and that, in fact, a decline in poetry has been +observed--the first poets being uniformly the best. But we deny that the +field of poetry is limited. That is nature and the deep heart of man; +or, more correctly, the field of poetry is human nature, and the +external universe, multiplied indefinitely by the imagination. This, +surely, is a wide enough territory. Where shall poetry, if sent forth +like Noah's dove, fail to find a resting-place? Each new fact in the +history of man and nature is a fact for _it_--suited to its purposes, +and awaiting its consecration. + +"The great writers have exhausted it." True, they have exhausted, +speaking generally, the topics they have handled. Few will think of +attempting the "Fall of Man" after Milton--and Dryden and Galt, alone, +have dared, to their own disgrace, to burst within Shakspeare's magic +circle. But the great poets have not verily occupied the entire field of +poetry--have not counted all the beatings of the human heart--have not +lighted on all those places whence poetry, like water from the smitten +rock, rushes at the touch of genius--have not exhausted all the "riches +fineless" which garnish the universe--nay, they have multiplied them +infinitely, and shed on them a deeper radiance. The more poetry there +is, the more there must be. A good criticism on a great poem becomes a +poem itself. It is the essence of poetry to increase and multiply--to +create an echo and shadow of its own power, even as the voice of the +cataract summons the spirits of the wilderness to return it in thunder. +As truly say that storms can exhaust the sky, as that poems can exhaust +the blue dome of poesy. We doubt, too, the dictum that the earliest +poets are uniformly the best. Who knows not that many prefer Eschylus to +Homer; and many, Virgil to Lucretius; and many, Milton to Shakspeare; +and that a nation sets Goethe above all men, save Shakspeare; and has +not the toast been actually given, "To the two greatest of +poets--Shakspeare and _Byron_?" To settle the endless questions +connected with such a topic by any dogmatical assertion of the +superiority of early poets, is obviously impossible. + +But "the age will not now read poetry." True, it will not read whatever +bears the name it will not read nursery themes; nor tenth-rate +imitations of tenth-rate imitations of Byron, Scott, or Wordsworth; nor +the effusions either of mystical cant, or of respectable commonplace; +nor yet very willingly the study-sweepings of reputed men, who deem, in +their complacency, that the world is gaping for the rinsings of their +intellect. But it will read genuine poetry, if it be accommodated to the +wants of the age, and if it be fairly brought before it. "Vain to cast +pearls before swine!" Cast down the pearls before you call the men of +the age swine. In truth, seldom had a true and new poet a fairer field, +or the prospect of a wider favor, than at this very time. The age +remembers that many of those poets it now delights to honor, were at +first received with obloquy or neglect. It is not so likely to renew the +disgraceful sin, since it recollects the disgraceful repentance. It is +becoming wide awake, and is ready to recognize every symptom of original +power. The reviews and literary journals are still, indeed, +comparatively an unfair medium; but, by their multitude and their +contradictions, have neutralized each other's power, and rendered the +public less willing and less apt to be bullied or blackguarded out of +its senses. Were Hazlitt alive now, and called, by any miserable +scribbler in the "Athenæum" or "Spectator," a dunce, he could laugh in +his face; instead of retiring as he did, perhaps hunger-bitten, to bleed +out his heart's blood in secret. Were Shelley now called in "Blackwood" +a madman, and Keats a mannikin, they would be as much disturbed by it as +the moon at the baying of a Lapland wolf. The good old art, in short, of +writing an author up or down, is dying hard, but dying fast; and the +public is beginning to follow the strange new fashion of discarding its +timid, or truculent, or too-much-seasoned tasters, and judging for +itself. We have often imaged to ourselves the rapture with which a poet, +of proper proportions and due culture, if writing in his age's spirit, +would be received in an age when the works of Coleridge, and Wordsworth, +and Keats, are so widely read and thoroughly appreciated. He would find +it "all ear." + +Great things, however, must be done by the man who cherishes this high +ambition. He must not only be at once a genius and an artist, but his +art and his genius must be proportioned, with chemical exactness, to +each other. He must not only be a poet, but have a distinct mission and +message, savoring of the prophetic--he must say as well as sing. He +must use his poetic powers as wonders attesting the purpose for which he +speaks--not as mere bravados of ostentatious power. He must, while +feeling the beauty, the charm, and the meaning of mysticism, stand above +it, on a clear and sun-lighted peak, and incline _rather_ to the +classical and masculine, than to the abstract and transcendental. His +genius should be less epic and didactic, than lyrical and popular. He +should be not so much the Homer as the Tyrtæus of this strange time. He +should have sung over to himself the deep controversies of his age, and +sought to reduce them into an unique and intelligible harmony. Into +scales of doubt, equally balanced, he should be ready to throw his lyre, +as a makeweight. Not a partisan either of the old or the new, he should +seek to set in song the numerous points in which they agree, and strive +to produce a glorious synthesis between them. He should stand (as on a +broad platform) on the identity and eternity of all that is good and +true--on the fact that "faiths never die, but are only translated"--on +the fact that beauty physical and beauty moral are in heart the same; +and that Christianity, as rightly understood, is at once the root and +the flower of all truth--and, standing on this, should sing his fearless +strains to the world. He should have a high idea of his art--counting it +a lower inspiration, a sacred trust, a minor grace--a plant from a seed +originally dropped out of the paradise of God! He should find in it a +work, and not a recreation--an affair of life, not of moments of +leisure. And while appealing, by his earnestness, his faith, his +holiness, his genius, to the imagination, the heart, and the conscience +of man, he should possess, or attain to, the mechanical ingenuity that +can satisfy man's constructive understanding, the elegance that can +please his sensuous taste, the fluency that can blend ease with +instruction, and the music that can touch through the ear the inner +springs of his being. Heart and genius, art and nature, sympathy with +man and God, love of the beautiful apparition of the universe, and of +that divine halo of Christianity which surrounds its head, must be +united in our poet. He should conjoin Byron's energy--better controlled; +Shelley's earnestness--better instructed; Keats's sensibility--guarded +and armed; Wordsworth's Christianized love of Nature; and Coleridge's +Christianized view of philosophy--to his own fancy, language, melody, +and purpose; a lofty ideal of man the spirit, to a deep sympathy with +man the worm, toiling, eating, drinking, struggling, falling, rising, +and progressing, amidst his actual environments; and become the Magnus +Apollo of our present age. + +Perhaps we have fixed the standard too high, and forced a renewal of the +exclamation in Rasselas, "Thou hast convinced me that no man can ever be +a poet"--or, at least, the poet thus described. But nothing, we are +persuaded, is in the imagination which may not be in the fact. Had we +defined a Shakspeare ere he arose, "impossible" had been the cry. It +must, too, be conceded that hitherto we have no rising, or nearly-risen +poet, who answers fully to our ideal. Macaulay and Aytoun are content +with being brilliant ballad-singers--they never seek to touch the deeper +spiritual chords of our being. Tennyson's exquisite genius is +neutralized, whether by fastidiousness of taste or by morbidity of +temperament--neutralized, we mean, so far as great future achievements +are concerned. Emerson's undisguised Pantheism casts a cold shade over +his genius and his poetry. There is something odd, mystical, and shall +we say affected, about both the Brownings, which mars their general +effect--the wine is good, but the shape of the cyathus is deliberately +_queer_. Samuel Brown is devoted to other pursuits. Marston's very +elegant, refined, and accomplished mind, lacks, perhaps, enough of the +manly, the forceful, and the profound. Bailey of "Festus," and Yendys of +the poem before us, are the most likely candidates for the vacant +laurel. + +That Bailey's _genius_ is all that need be desired in the "coming poet," +will be contested by few who have read and wondered at "Festus"--at its +fire of speech, its force of sentiment, its music of sound, its +Californian wealth of golden imagery; the infinite variety of its +scenes, speeches, and songs; the spirit of reverence which underlies all +its liberties, errors, and extravagances; and the originality which, +like the air of a mountain summit, renders its perusal at first +difficult, and almost deadly, but at last excites and elevates to +absolute intoxication. It has, however, been objected to it, that it +seems an exhaustion of the author's mind--that its purposeless, planless +shape betrays a lack of constructive power--that it becomes almost +polemical in its religious aspect, and gives up to party what was meant +for mankind--that it betrays a tendency toward obscure, mystical +raptures and allegorizings, scarcely consistent with healthy manhood of +mind, and which seems _growing_, as is testified by the "Angel +World"--that there is a great gulf between the powers it indicates, and +the task of leading the age--and that, on the whole, it is rather a +prodigious comet in the poetical heavens, than either a still, calm +luminary, or even the curdling of a future fair creation. + +Admitting the force of much of this criticism, and that Bailey's art and +aptitude to teach are unequal to his native power and richness of mind, +we are still willing to wait for a production more matured than +"Festus," and less fragmentary and dim than the "Angel World;" and till +then, must waive our judgment as to whether on his head the laurel crown +is transcendently to flourish. + +But meanwhile a young voice has suddenly been uplifted from a provincial +town in England, crying, "Hear me--I also am a poet; I aspire, too, to +prove myself worthy of being a teacher I aim at no middle flight, but +commit myself at once to high, difficult, and daring song, and that, +too, of varied kinds." Nor has the voice been despised or disregarded. +Some of the most fastidious of critical journals have already waxed +enthusiastic in his praise. Many fine spirits, both young and old, have +welcomed him with acclamation, as his own hero was admitted, for the +sake of one song, into the society of a band of experienced bards. Even +the few who deny--unjustly and captiously, as it appears to us--the +artistic, admit the poetical merit of his work And we have now before +us, not the miserable drudgery of weighing a would-be poet, but the +nobler duty of inquiring how far a man of undoubted genius, and great +artistic skill, is likely to fulfill the high-raised expectations of the +period. The scene of the "Roman" is in Italy. The hero is a patriot, +filled and devoured by a love for the liberation of Italy, and for the +re-establishment of the ancient Roman Republic--"One, entire, and +indivisible." To promote this purpose, he assumes the disguise of a +monk; and the history of his progress--addressing now little groups, now +single individuals, and now large multitudes of men--at one time +captivating, unwittingly, a young and enthusiastic lady, by the fervor +of his eloquence, who delivers him from death by suicide--and at +another, shaking the walls of his dungeon, through the power and +grandeur of his predictions and dreams--till at last, as, after the +mockery of a trial, he is led forth to death, he hears the shout of his +country, rising _en masse_--is the whole story of the piece. But around +this slender thread, the author has strung some of the largest, richest, +and most resplendent gems of poetry we have seen for years. + +Let us present our readers with a few passages, selected almost at +random. Take the "Song of the Dancers" for its music: + + "_Dancers._ Sing lowly, foot slowly, oh, why should we chase + The hour that gives heaven to this earthly embrace? + To-morrow, to-morrow, is dreary and lonely; + Then love as they love who would live to love only! + Closer yet, eyes of jet--breasts fair and sweet! + No eyes flash like those eyes that flash as they meet! + Weave brightly, wear lightly, the warm-woven chain, + Love on for to-night if we ne'er love again. + Fond youths! happy maidens! we are not alone! + Bright steps and sweet voices keep pace with our own, + Love-lorn Lusignuolo, the soft-sighing breeze, + The rose with the zephyr, the wind with the trees. + While heaven blushing pleasure, is full of love notes, + Soft down the sweet measure the fairy world floats." + + P. I, 2. + +Take the Monk's Appeal to his "Mother, Italy," for its eloquence: + + "By thine eternal youth, + And coeternal utterless dishonor-- + Past, present, future, life and death, all oaths + Which may bind earth and heaven, mother, I swear it + We know we have dishonored thee. We know + All thou canst tell the angels. At thy feet, + The feet where kings have trembled, we confess, + And weep; and only bid thee live, my mother, + To see how we can die. Thou shalt be free! + By all our sins, and all thy wrongs, we swear it + We swear it, mother, by the thousand omens + That heave this pregnant time. Tempests for whom + The Alps lack wombs--quick earthquakes--hurricanes + That moan and chafe, and thunder for the light, + And must be native here. Hark, hark, the angel! + I see the birthday in the imminent skies! + Clouds break in fire. Earth yawns. The exulting thunder + Shouts havoc to the whirlwinds. And men hear + Amid the terrors of consenting storms, + Floods, rocking worlds, mad seas, and rending mountains, + Above the infinite clash, one long great cry, + THOU SHALT BE FREE!" + + P. 14, 15. + +Take the few lines about "Truth," for their depth: + + "Truth is the equal sun, + Ripening no less the hemlock than the vine. + Truth is the flash that turns aside no more + For castle than for cot. Truth is a spear + Thrown by the blind. Truth is a Nemesis + Which leadeth her belovèd by the hand + Through all things; giving him no task to break + A bruisèd reed, but bidding him stand firm + Though she crush worlds." + + P. 21, 22. + +Take, for its harrowing power, blended with beauty, the description of a +"Lost Female," symbolizing the degradation of Italy, and addressed to +the heroine of the tale: + + "Or, oh, prince's daughter, if + In some proud street, leaning 'twixt night and day + From out thy palace balcony to meet + The breeze--that tempted by the hush of eve, + Steals from the fields about a city's shows, + And like a lost child, scared with wondering, flies, + From side to side in touching trust and terror, + Crying sweet country names and dropping flowers-- + Leaning to meet that breeze, and looking down + To the so silent city, if below, + With dress disordered, and disheveled passions + Streaming from desperate eyes that flash and flicker + Like corpse-lights (eyes that once were known on high + Morning and night, as welcome there as thine), + And brow of trodden snow, and form majestic + That might have walked unchallenged through the skies. + And reckless feet, fitful with wine and woe, + And songs of revel that fall dead about + Her ruined beauty--sadder than a wail-- + (As if the sweet maternal eve for pity + Took out the joy, and, with a blush of twilight, + Uncrowned the Bacchanal)--some outraged sister + Passeth, be patient, think upon yon heaven, + Where angels hail the Magdalen, look down + Upon that life in death, and say, 'My country!'" + + P. 36. + +Take, for its wondrous pathos and truth, the description of "Infancy:" + + "Thou little child, + Thy mother's joy, thy father's hope--thou bright + Pure dwelling where two fond hearts keep their gladness-- + Thou little potentate of love, who comest + With solemn sweet dominion to the old, + Who see thee in thy merry fancies charged + With the grave embassage of that dear past, + When they were young like thee--thou vindication + Of God--thou living witness against all men + Who have been babes--thou everlasting promise + Which no man keeps--thou portrait of our nature, + Which in despair and pride we scorn and worship." + + P. 71, 72. + +But time would fail us to quote, or even indicate a tithe of the +beautiful, melting, and magnificent passages in this noble "Roman." We +would merely request the reader's attention to the whole of the sixth +scene; to the ballad, a most exquisite and pathetic one, entitled the +"Winter's Night;" to the "Vision of Quirinus," a piece of powerful and +condensed imagination; and, best of all, to the "Dream of the Coliseum," +in scene viii.--a dream which will not suffer by comparison with that of +Sardanapalus. + +But it is not the brilliance of occasional parts and passages alone, +which justifies us in pronouncing the "Roman" an extraordinary +production. We look at it as a whole, and thus regarding it, we +find--first, a wondrous freedom from faults, major or minor, juvenile or +non-juvenile; wondrous, inasmuch as the author is still very young, not +many years, indeed, in advance of his majority. There is exaggeration, +we grant, in passages, but it is exaggeration as essential to the +circumstances and the characters as Lear's insane language is to his +madness, or Othello's turbid tide of figures to his jealousy. The +hero--an enthusiast--speaks always in enthusiastic terms; but of +extravagance we find little, and of absurdity or affectation none. +Diffusion there is, but it is often the beautiful diffusion of one who +dallies with beloved thoughts, and will not let them go till they have +told him all that is in their heart. And ever and anon we meet with +strong single lines and separate sentences, containing truth and fancy +concentrated as "lion's marrow." + +Take a few specimens. Of Italy he says: + + "She wraps the purple round her outraged breast, + And even in fetters cannot be a slave." + +Again, she + + "Stands menacled before the world, and bears + Two hemispheres--innumerable wrongs, + Illimitable glories." + + "The soul never + Can twice be virgin--the eye that strikes + Upon the hidden path to the unseen + Is henceforth for two worlds." + + "To both worlds + --The inner and the outer--we come naked, + The very noblest heart on earth, hath oft + No better lot than _to deserve_." + + "Before every man the world of beauty, + Like a great artist, standeth night and day + With patient hand retouching in the heart + God's defaced image." + + "Rude heaps that had been cities clad the ground + With history." + + "Strange fragments + Of forms once held divine, and still, _like angels_, + _Immortal every where_." + + "The poet, + In some rapt moment of intense attendance, + The skies being genial, and the earthly air + Propitious, catches on the inward ear + The awful and unutterable meanings + Of a divine soliloquy." + + "The very stars themselves are nearer to us than to-morrow." + + "The great man ... is set + Among us pigmies, with a heavenlier stature, + And brighter face than ours, that we must _leap_ + _Even to smite it._" + + "Great merchants, men + Who dealt in kingdoms; ruddy aruspex, + And pale philosopher, who bent beneath + The keys of wisdom." + + "The Coliseum ... stood out dark + With thoughts of ages: like some mighty captive + Upon his death-bed in a Christian land, + And lying, through the chant of Psalm and Creed + Unshriven and stern, with peace upon his brow, + And on his lips strange gods." + +Our readers must perceive from such extracts, that our author belongs +more to the masculine than to the mystic school. Deep in thought, he is +clear in language and in purpose. Since Byron's dramas, we have seldom +had such fiery and vigorous verse. He blends the strong with the tender, +in natural and sweet proportions. His genius, too, vaults into the lyric +motion with very great ease and mastery. He is a minstrel as well as a +bard, and has shown power over almost every form of lyrical composition. +His sentiment is clear without being commonplace, original, yet not +extravagant, and betokens, as well as his style, a masculine health, +maturity, and completeness, rarely to be met with in a first attempt. +Above all, his tone of mind, while sympathizing to rapture with the +liberal progress of the age, is that of one who feels the eternal +divinity and paramount power of the Christian religion; that what God +has once pronounced true can never become a lie; that what was once +really alive may change, but can never die; that Christianity is a fact, +great, real, and permanent, as birth or death; and that its seeming +decay is only the symptom that it is putting off the old skin, and about +to renew its mighty youth. + +We have thus found many, if not all, the qualities of our ideal poet +united in the author of the "Roman," and are not ashamed to say that we +expect more from him than from any other of our rising "Sons of the +Morning." But he must work and walk worthy of his high vocation, and of +the hopes which now lie upon him--hopes which must either be the ribbons +of his crown or the cords of his sacrifice. He must discard his tendency +to diffusion, and break in that demon-steed of eloquence, who sometimes +is apt to run away with him. He must give us next, not scattered scenes, +but a whole epic, the middle of which shall be as obvious as the +beginning or the end. He should, in his next work, seek less to please, +startle, or gain an audience, than to tell them in thunder and in music +what they ought to believe and to do. Thus acting, he may "fill his +crescent-sphere;" revive the power and glory of song; give voice to a +great dumb struggle in the mind of the age; rescue the lyre from the +camp of the Philistines, where it has been but too long detained; and +render possible the hope, that the day shall come when again, as +formerly, the names "of poet and of prophet are the same." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] The Roman: a Dramatic Poem. By Sydney Yendys. London: Rantley, +1850. + + + + +[From Sharpe's London Magazine.] + +RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. + + +In his intercourse with society, Campbell was a shrewd observer of those +often contradictory elements of which it is composed. Adverting to the +absurd and ludicrous, he had the art or talent of heightening their +effect by touches peculiarly his own; while the quiet gravity with which +he related his personal anecdotes or adventures, added greatly to the +charm, and often threw his unsuspecting hearers into uncontrollable fits +of laughter. Nor was the _pathos_ with which he dilated on some tale of +human misery less captivating; it runs through all his poetry, and in +hearing or relating a story of human wrongs or suffering, we have often +seen him affected to tears, which he vainly strove to conceal by an +abrupt transition to some ludicrous incident in his own personal +history. As an example, which has not yet found its way to the public, +we may relate the following, which he told one evening in our little +domestic circle where he was a frequent visitor, and where the +conversation had taken, as he thought, a somewhat too serious turn: + +"In my early life, when I resided in the island of Mull, most of those +old feudal customs which civilization had almost banished from the +Lowlands, were still religiously observed in the Hebrides--more +especially those of a social and festive character, which it was thought +had the effect of keeping up old acquaintance, and of tightening the +bonds of good fellowship. Rural weddings and "roaring wakes" were then +occasions for social rendezvous, which were not to be overlooked. Both +these ceremonies were accompanied by feasting, music, dancing, and that +liberal enjoyment of the native _browst_ which was too often carried to +excess. I was in general a willing and a welcome guest at these doings; +for, smitten as I often was with melancholy in this dreary solitude, I +was glad to avail myself of any occasion that promised even temporary +exhilaration. Well, the first of these meetings at which I was present +one evening, happened to be a _dredgee_, a term which I need only +explain, by saying that it was got up for the sake of a young widow, who +had just put on her weeds, and stood much in need of friendly sympathy, +and consolation. At first it was rather a dull affair, for the widow +looked very disconsolate, and every look of her fair face was +contagious. But as the _quaigh_ was active, and the whisky went its +frequent round, the circle became more lively; until at last, to my +utter astonishment, the bagpipes were introduced; and after a _coronach_ +or so--just to quiet the spirit of their departed host--up started a +couple of dancers, and began jigging it over the floor with all the +grace and agility peculiar to my Hebridean friends. This movement was +infectious: another and another couple started up--reel followed upon +reel, until the only parties who had resisted the infection," continued +the poet, "were the widow and myself, she, oppressed with her own +private sorrow, and I, restrained by feelings of courtesy from quitting +her side. I observed, however, that she 'kept time' with her hand--all +unconsciously, no doubt--against the bench where we sat, while her +thoughts were wandering about the moorland _Cairn_, which had that very +morning received her husband's remains. I pitied her from my very heart. +But, behold, just as I was addressing to her one of my most sympathizing +looks, up came a brisk Highlander, whose step and figure in the dance +had excited both admiration and envy; and, making a low bow to the +widow, followed by a few words of condolence, he craved the honor of her +hand for the next reel. The widow, as you may well suppose, was shocked +beyond measure! while I starting to my feet, made a show as if I meant +to resent the insult. But she, pulling me gently back, rebuked the +kilted stranger with a look, at which he instantly withdrew. In a few +minutes, however, the young chieftain returned to the charge. The widow +frowned, and wept, and declared that nothing on earth should ever tempt +her to such a breach of decorum. But the more she frowned, the more he +smiled, and pressed his suit: 'Just one reel,' he repeated, 'only one! +Allan of Mull, the best piper in the Isles, was only waiting her bidding +to strike up.' The plea was irresistible. 'Weel, weel,' sighed the +widow, rising, and giving him her hand, 'what maun be, maun be! But, +hech, sirs, let it be a lightsome spring, for I hae a heavy, heavy +heart!' The next minute the widow was capering away to a most +'lightsome' air--hands across--cast off--down the middle, and up again. +And a merrier dredgee," concluded the poet, "was never seen in Mull." + +On another occasion, when he presented a copy of some verses, which he +had just finished, to a lady of our family, he described their origin as +follows: "Many long years ago, while I was sealed up in the Hebrides, I +became intimate with a family who had a beautiful parrot, which a young +mariner had brought from South America, as a present to his sweetheart. +This happened long before my arrival in Mull; and Poll for many years +had been a much-prized and petted favorite in the household. He was a +captive, to be sure, but allowed at times to be outside his cage on +_parole_; and, always observing good faith and gratitude for such +indulgences, they were repeated as often as appeared consistent with +safe custody. The few words of Gaelic which he had picked up in his +voyage to the north, were just sufficient, on his arrival, to bespeak +the good-will of the family, and recommend himself to their hospitality; +but his vocabulary was soon increased--he became a great mimic--he could +imitate the cries of every domestic animal--the voices of the servants: +he could laugh, whistle, and scold, like any other biped around him. He +was, in short, a match even for Kelly's renowned parrot: for although he +could not, or would not, sing 'God save the King,' he was a proficient +in 'Charlie is my Darling,' and other Jacobite airs, with which he never +failed to regale the company, when properly introduced. + +"Poll was indeed a remarkable specimen of his tribe, and the daily +wonder of the whole neighborhood. Years flew by: and although kind +treatment had quite reconciled him to his cage, it could not ward off +the usual effects of old age, particularly in a climate where the sun +rarely penetrated within the bars of his prison. When I first saw him, +his memory had greatly failed him; while his bright green plumage was +vast verging into a silvery gray He had but little left of that +triumphant chuckle which used to provoke such laughter among the +younkers; and day after day he would sit mute and moping on his perch, +seldom answering the numerous questions that were put to him regarding +the cause of his malady. Had any child of the family been sick, it could +hardly have been treated with greater tenderness than Poll. + +"At last, one fine morning, just as the vernal equinox had blown a few +ships into harbor, a stranger was announced, and immediately recognized +by the master of the house as a 'Don' something--a Spanish merchant, +whose kindness to a young member of the family had been often mentioned +in his letters from Mexico. One of his own ships, a brig, in which he +had made the voyage, was then in the bay, driven in by stress of +weather, for Mull was no market for Spanish goods. But that was not my +business; he would most likely pay a visit to Greenock, where, in the +present day at least, Spanish cargoes are rife enough. + +"No sooner had their visitor exchanged salutations with the master of +the house and his family, than the parrot caught his eye; and, going up +to the cage, he addressed the aged bird in familiar Spanish. The effect +was electric: the poor blind captive seemed as if suddenly awakened to a +new existence; he fluttered his wings in ecstasy--opened his eyes, fixed +them, dim and sightless as they were, intently on the stranger; then +answered him in the same speech--not an accent of which he had ever +heard for twenty years. His joy was excessive--but it was very short; +for in the midst of his screams and antics, poor Poll dropped dead from +his perch." + +Such was the incident upon which Campbell composed the little ballad +entitled "The Parrot." It had taken strong hold of his memory, and, +after the lapse of forty years,[19] found its way into the pages of the +"New Monthly," and is now incorporated with his acknowledged poems. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] See "Life and Letters of Campbell." Vol. I. Residence in Mull. + + + + +[From Sharpe's London Magazine.] + +GALILEO AND HIS DAUGHTER. + +BY J. B. + + +I had been walking in a grove of lime-trees, arched above me, like the +stately roofing of a cathedral. As I entered, the daylight was yet +strong; but when I left my temporary retreat, the heavens were clustered +over with stars, and one of them, high above the old gray tower of the +ancient monastery of St. Augustine, almost cast a shadow across the +landscape--it was the planet Jupiter: and I have never observed it--at +least, thus eminent among its brethren--without being more or less +reminded of, + + "The starry Galileo, and his woes." + +To this planet did the philosopher direct the then newly-invented +telescope, the result being the discovery of four attendant moons: while +the analogy derived from the motions of these little stars, performing +their revolutions round the primary planet in perfect order and concord, +afforded an argument that had a powerful influence in confirming +Galileo's own views in favor of the Copernican system of the universe, +and ultimately converting the scientific world to the same opinion. + +Yet little more than two centuries since, on the 14th February, 1633, +the astronomer, cited before the Inquisition, arrived at Rome, to answer +the charge of heresy and blasphemy; while, a few months ago, in the +brief but glorious day-burst of Roman liberty, that very Inquisition was +invaded by an exultant populace, and among its archives, full memorials +of martyred worth and of heroic endurance, most eagerly, but in vain, +was sought the record of the process against the great philosopher. + +Galileo, on a former occasion, in reference to some of his scientific +discoveries, had heard rumors of papal persecution, and as a cautious +friend whispered to him the unpleasing tidings, he had exclaimed, "Never +will I barter the freedom of my intellect to one as liable to err as +myself!" + +The time quickly arrived to test his courage and his resolution. + +For a little while, we are informed, he was allowed to remain secluded +in the palace of his friend Nicolini. In a few months, however, he was +removed to an apartment in the Exchequer of the Inquisition, still being +permitted the attendance of his own servant, and many indulgences of +which they had not decided to deprive him. On the twenty-first of June, +of the same year, he appeared before the Holy Office. Through its gloomy +halls and passages he passed to the tribunal. There was little here, as +in the other ecclesiastical buildings of Rome, to captivate the senses. +The dark walls were unadorned with the creations of art; state and +ceremony were the gloomy ushers to the chamber of intolerance. In +silence and in mystery commenced the preparations. The familiars of the +office advanced to the astronomer, and arrayed him in the penitential +garment; and as he approached, with a slow and measured step, the +tribunal, cardinals, and prelates noiselessly assembled, and a dark +circle of officers and priests closed in, while, as if conscious that +the battle had commenced in earnest between mind and power, all the pomp +and splendor of the hierarchy of Rome--that system which had hitherto +possessed a sway unlimited over the fears and opinions of mankind--was +summoned up to increase the solemnity and significance of the judgment +about to be pronounced against him. + +To the tedious succession of technical proceedings, mocking justice by +their very assumption of formality, it would be needless to refer. +Solemnly, however, and by an authority which it was fatal to resist, +Galileo was called on to renounce a truth which his whole life had been +consecrated to reveal and to maintain, "The motion through space of the +Earth and Planets round the Sun." + +Then, immediately, assuming he had nothing to allege, would attempt no +resistance, and offer no defense, came the sentence of the tribunal, +banning and anathematizing all who held the doctrine, that the sun is +the centre of the system, as a tenet "philosophically false, and +formally heretical." + +And then they sentenced the old and infirm philosopher--this band of +infallibles!--they bade him abjure and detest the said errors and +heresies. They decreed his book to the flames, and they condemned him +for life to the dungeons of the Inquisition, bidding him recite, "once a +week, seven penitential psalms for the good of his soul!" + +Did Galileo yield? Did he renounce that theory now affording such ample +proof of the beauty and order of the universe; to whose very laws +Kepler, the friend and contemporary of the philosopher, was even then, +though unconsciously, bearing evidence, by his wonderful theorem of +velocities and distances, a problem which Newton afterward confirmed and +illustrated? + +Did Galileo yield? He did. Broken by age and infirmity, importuned by +friends more alarmed than himself, perhaps, at the terrors of that +merciless tribunal, he signed his abjuration; yielded all his judges +demanded; echoed their curse and ban, as their superstition or their +hate required. There is a darker tale dimly hinted by those familiar +with the technicalities of the Holy Office, that the terms, "Il rigoroso +esame," during which Galileo is reported to have answered like a good +Christian, officially announce the application of the torture. + +Then occurred, perhaps scarcely an hour afterward, that remarkable +episode in this man's history. As he arose from the ground on which, all +kneeling, he had pronounced his abjuration, he gave a significant stamp, +and whispered to a friend, "_E pur si muove!_" "Yet it does move"--ay, +and in spite of Inquisitions, has gone round--nay, the whole world of +thought itself has moved, and having received an impulse from such +minds, will revolve for ages in a glorious cycle for mankind! But the +most touching incident of Galileo's story is yet to come. + +After several years of confinement at Arcetri, the great astronomer was +permitted to retire to Florence, upon the conditions that he should +neither quit his house, nor receive the visits of his friends. They +removed him from a prison, to make a prison of his home. Alas! it was +even worse than this. + +Much as the greatest minds love fame, and struggle to obtain it, the +proudest triumphs of genius and of science, the applause of the world +itself, ever loud and obtrusive, is not to be compared to the low and +gentle murmurs of pleasure and of pride from those we love. There was +one being from whom Galileo had been accustomed to hear those +consolations--his child his gentle Maria Galilei. He had been otherwise +a solitary indeed, and now more than ever so, when he was cut off from +the communion of the greatest minds. To his lovely girl, his daughter, +his heart clung with more than fondness. No wife of Pliny, perhaps, ever +wafted to her husband with sweeter devotion the echoes of the applauding +world without, greeting him she loved, than she did--his Maria Galilei. +As he returned from prison, the way seemed tedious, the fleetest +traveling all too slow, till he should once more fold her to his heart; +and she, too, she anticipated meeting her father with a pleasure greater +than ever before enjoyed, since he had now become a victim, sainted in +her eyes, by the persecution he had suffered. + +Short, indeed, was this happiness, if enjoyed at all. Within the month, +she died, and the home of Galileo was more than a prison--it was a +desolate altar, on which the last and most precious of his household +gods was shivered. And he died too, a few years afterward, that good old +man! + +But he had yielded--he was no martyr! Yes, indeed! But be it remembered, +that if he possessed not the moral courage of a Huss, a Savonarola, or a +Luther, he was not called to exercise it in so high a cause. The +assertion and support of a religious truth is impressed with far deeper +obligations than the advocacy of a scientific one, however well +maintained by analogy, and confirmed by reason. + +Still there was a deep devotional sentiment that pervaded the character +of Galileo. Before he died, he became totally blind; yet he did not +despair. Like Milton, he labored on for mankind--nay, pursued his +scientific studies, inventing mechanical substitutes for his loss of +vision, to enable him still to pursue his arduous researches. + +It is true he was shut out, like the elder Herschel, from the view of +that glorious company, toward which his spirit had so often soared. Well +might his friend Castelli say, in allusion to his infirmity, "that the +noblest eyes were darkened which nature had ever made--eyes so +privileged, and gifted with such rare qualities, that they might be said +to have seen more than all those who had gone before him, and to have +opened the eyes of all who were to come." Galileo himself bore noble +tribute to his friend, when he exclaimed, + +"Never, never will I cease to use the senses which God has left me; and +though this heaven, this earth, this universe, be henceforth shrunk for +me into the narrow space which I myself fill, so it please God, it shall +content me." + +The malice of his enemies long survived his death. The partisans of Rome +disputed his right to make a will. They denied him a monument for which +large sums had been subscribed. + +A hundred years afterward, when a splendid memorial was about to be +erected to his memory, the President of the Florentine Academy descended +into his grave, and desecrated his remains, by bearing off, as _relics +for a museum_, the thumb of his right hand, and one of his vertebræ! So +the victims of the religious fury of one age become the martyrs of +science in another! + +And what is the moral of what we have written concerning Galileo? Is +there no teaching that may instruct our own times, especially when we +see how, through scorn and persecution, and this world's contumely, and +through the gloom and shadows of ignorance and fear, the form and +substance of mighty Truth rises, slowly and dimly, perchance, at first, +but grandly and majestically ere long? Little more than two hundred +years have passed since the death of Galileo, but ample justice has been +done to his memory. His name will be a watchword through all time, to +urge men forward in the great cause of moral and intellectual progress; +and the Tree of Knowledge, whose fruits were once on earth, plucked, +perhaps, ere they were matured, has shot up with its golden branches +into the skies, over which has radiated the smiles of a beneficent +Providence to cheer man onward in the career of virtue and intelligence. + +"There is something," as a profound writer has observed,[20] "in the +spirit of the present age, greater than the age itself. It is, the +appearance of a new power in the world, the multitude of minds now +pressing forward in the great task of the moral and intellectual +regeneration of mankind." + +And this cause must ultimately triumph. The energies and discoveries of +men like Galileo, remote as their history becomes, have an undying +influence. + +The power of a great mind is like the attraction of a sun. It appears in +the infinite bounds of space, far, far away, as a grain among other gold +dust at the feet of the Eternal, or, at most, but as a luminous spot; +and yet we know that its influence controls, and is necessary for, the +order and arrangement of the nearest, as well is the remotest system. So +in the moral and intellectual universe, from world to world, from star +to star, the influence of one great mind extends, and we are drawn +toward it by an unseen, but all-pervading affinity. Thus has the cause +of moral and intellectual progress a sure guarantee of success. It has +become a necessity, interwoven with the spirit of the age--a necessity +impressed by every revelation of social evil, as well as proclaimed by +every scientific discovery--gaining increased energy and power from the +manifestation of every new wonder and mystery of nature--nay, from the +building of every steam-ship, the laying down of every new line of +railway. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Channing. + + + + +[From Dickens's "Household Words."] + +EBENEZER ELLIOTT + + +The name of Ebenezer Elliott is associated with one of the greatest and +most important political changes of modern times, with events not yet +sufficiently removed from us, to allow of their being canvassed in this +place with that freedom which would serve the more fully to illustrate +his real merits. Elliott would have been a poet, in all that constitutes +true poetry, had the corn laws never existed. + +He was born on 25th March, 1781, at the New Foundry, Masborough, in the +parish of Rotherham, where his father was a clerk in the employment of +Messrs. Walker, with a salary of £60 or £70 per annum. His father was a +man of strong political tendencies, possessed of humorous and satiric +power, that might have qualified him for a comic actor. Such was the +character he bore for political sagacity that he was popularly known as +"Devil Elliott." The mother of the poet seems to have been a woman of an +extreme nervous temperament, constantly suffering from ill health, and +constitutionally awkward and diffident. + +Ebenezer commenced his early training at a dame's school; but shy, +awkward, and desultory, he made little progress; nor did he thrive much +better at the school in which he was afterward placed. Here he employed +his comrades to do his tasks for him, and of course laid no foundation +for his future education. His parents, disheartened by the lad's +apparent stolidity, sent him next to Dalton's school, two miles distant; +and here he certainly acquired something, for he retained, to old age, +the memory of some of the scenes through which he used to pass on his +way to and from this school. For want of the necessary preliminary +training, he could do little or nothing with letters: he rather +preferred playing truant and roaming the meadows in listless idleness, +wherever his fancy led him. This could not last. His father soon set him +to work in the foundry; and with this advantage, that the lad stood on +better terms with himself than he had been for a considerable period, +for he discovered that he could compete with others in work--sheer +hand-labor--if he could not in the school. One disadvantage, however, +arose, as he tells us, from his foundry life; for he acquired a relish +for vulgar pursuits, and the village alehouse divided his attentions +with the woods and fields. Still a deep impression of the charms of +nature had been made upon him by his boyish rambles, which the debasing +influences and associations into which he was thrown could not wholly +wipe out. He would still wander away in his accustomed haunts, and +purify his soul from her alehouse defilements, by copious draughts of +the fresh nectar of natural beauty imbibed from the sylvan scenery +around him. + +The childhood and youth of the future poet presented a strange medley of +opposites and antitheses. Without the ordinary measure of adaptation for +scholastic pursuits, he inhaled the vivid influences of external things, +delighting intensely in natural objects, and yet feeling an infinite +chagrin and remorse at his own idleness and ignorance. We find him +highly imaginative; making miniature lakes by sinking an iron vessel +filled with water in a heap of stones, and gazing therein with wondrous +enjoyment at the reflection of the sun and skies overhead; and +exhibiting a strange passion for looking on the faces of those who had +died violent deaths, although these dead men's features would haunt his +imagination for weeks afterward. + +He did not, indeed, at this period, possess the elements of an ordinary +education. A very simple circumstance sufficed to apply the spark which +fired his latent energies, and nascent poetical tendencies: and he +henceforward became a different being, elevated far above his former +self. He called one evening, after a drinking bout on the previous +night, on a maiden aunt, named Robinson, a widow possessed of about £30 +a year, by whom he was shown a number of "Sowerby's English Botany," +which her son was then purchasing in monthly parts. The plates made a +considerable impression on the awkward youth, and he assayed to copy +them by holding them to the light with a thin piece of paper before +them. When he found he could trace their forms by these means his +delight was unbounded, and every spare hour was devoted to the agreeable +task. Here commenced that intimate acquaintance with flowers, which +seems to pervade all his works. This aunt of Ebenezer's, (good soul! +would that every shy, gawky Ebenezer had such an aunt!) bent on +completing the charm she had so happily begun, displayed to him still +further her son's book of dried specimens; and this elated him beyond +measure. He forthwith commenced a similar collection for himself, for +which purpose he would roam the fields still more than ever, on Sundays +as well as week days, to the interruption of his attendances at chapel. +This book he called his "Dry Flora," (_Hortus Siccus_) and none so proud +as he when neighbors noticed his plants and pictures. He was not a +little pleased to feel himself a sort of wonder, as he passed through +the village with his plants; and, greedy of praise, he allowed his +acquaintance to believe that his drawings were at first hand, and made +by himself from nature. "Thomson's Seasons," read to him about this time +by his brother Giles, gave him a glimpse of the union of poetry with +natural beauty; and lit up in his mind an ambition which finally +transformed the illiterate, rugged, half-tutored youth into the man who +wrote "The Village Patriarch," and the "Corn Law Rhymes." + +From this time he set himself resolutely to the work of self-education. +His knowledge of the English language was meagre in the extreme; and he +succeeded at last only by making for himself a kind of grammar by +reading and observation. He then tried French, but his native indolence +prevailed, and he gave it up in despair. He read with avidity whatever +books came in his way; and a small legacy of books to his father came in +just at the right time. He says he could never read through a +second-rate book, and he therefore read masterpieces only; "after +Milton, then Shakspeare; then Ossian; then Junius; Paine's 'Common +Sense;' Swift's 'Tale of a Tub;' 'Joan of Arc;' Schiller's 'Robbers;' +Burger's 'Lenora;' Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall;' and long afterward, +Tasso, Dante, De Staël, Schlegel, Hazlitt, and the '_Westminster +Review_.'" Reading of this character might have been expected to lead to +something; and was well calculated to make an extraordinary impression +on such a mind as Elliott's; and we have the fruit of this course of +study in the poetry which from this time he began to throw off. + +He remained with his father from his sixteenth to his twenty-third year, +working laboriously without wages, except an occasional shilling or two +for pocket-money. He afterward tried business on his own account. He +made two efforts at Sheffield; the last commencing at the age of forty, +and with a borrowed capital of £150. He describes in his nervous +language the trials and difficulties he had to contend with; and all +these his imagination embodied for him in one grim and terrible form, +which he christened "Bread Tax." With this demon he grappled in +desperate energy, and assailed it vigorously with his caustic rhyme This +training, these mortifications, these misfortunes, and the demon "Bread +Tax" above all, made Elliott successively despised, hated, feared, and +admired, as public opinion changed toward him. + +Mr. Howitt describes his warehouse as a dingy, and not very extensive +place, heaped with iron of all sorts, sizes, and forms, with barely a +passage through the chaos of rusty bars into the inner sanctum, at once, +study, counting-house, library, and general receptacle of odds and ends +connected with his calling. Here and there, to complete the jumble, were +plaster casts of Shakspeare, Achilles, Ajax, and Napoleon, suggestive of +the presidency of literature over the materialism of commerce which +marked the career of this singular being. By dint of great industry he +began to flourish in business, and, at one time, could make a profit of +£20 a-day without moving from his seat. During this prosperous period he +built a handsome villa-residence in the suburbs. He now had leisure to +brood over the full force and effect of the Corn Laws. The subject was +earnestly discussed then in all manufacturing circles of that district. +Reverses now arrived. In 1837, he lost fully one-third of all his +savings, getting out of the storm at last with about £6,000, which he +wrote to Mr. Tait of Edinburgh, he intended, if possible, to retain. The +palmy days of £20 profits had gone by for Sheffield, and instead, all +was commercial disaster and distrust. Elliott did well to retire with +what little he had remaining. In his retreat he was still vividly +haunted by the demon "Bread Tax." This, then, was the period of the +Corn-Law Rhymes, and these bitter experiences lent to them that tone of +sincerity and earnestness--that fire and frenzy which they breathed, and +which sent them, hot, burning words of denunciation and wrath, into the +bosoms of the working classes--the toiling millions from whom Elliott +sprang. "Bread Tax," indeed, to him was a thing of terrible import and +bitter experience: hence he uses no gentle terms or honeyed phrases +when dealing with the obnoxious impost. Sometimes coarse invective and +angry assertion take the place of convincing reason and calm philosophy. +At others, there is a true vein of poetry and pathos running through the +rather unpoetic theme, which touches us with its Wordsworthian feeling +and gentleness. Then he would be found calling down thunders upon the +devoted heads of the monopolists, with all a fanatic's hearty zeal, and +in his fury he would even pursue them, not merely through the world, but +beyond its dim frontiers and across the threshold of another state. Take +them, however, as they stand--and more vigorous, effective, and +startling political poetry has not graced the literature of the age. + +It was not to be supposed but that this trumpet-blast of defiance, and +shrill scream of "war to the knife," should bring down upon him much +obloquy, much vituperation: but all this fell harmlessly upon him; he +rather liked it. When people began to bear with the turbid humor and +angry utterances of the "Corn Law Rhymer," and grew familiar with the +stormy march of his verse, it was discovered that he was something more +than a mere political party song-writer. He was a true poet, whose +credentials, signed and sealed in the court of nature, attested the +genuineness of his brotherhood with those children of song who make the +world holier and happier by the mellifluous strains they bring to us, +like fragments of a forgotten melody, from the far-off world of beauty +and of love. + +Elliott will not soon cease to be distinctively known as the "Corn Law +Rhymer;" but it will be by his non-political poems that he will be +chiefly remembered by posterity as the Poet of the People; for his name +will still be, as it has long been, a "Household Word," in the homes of +all such as love the pure influences of simple, sensuous, and natural +poetry. As an author he did not make his way fast: he had written poetry +for twenty years ere he had attracted much notice. A genial critique by +Southey in the "Quarterly," another by Carlyle in the "Edinburgh," and +favorable notices in the "Athenæum" and "New Monthly," brought him into +notice; and he gradually made his way until a new and cheap edition of +his works, in 1840, stamped him as a popular poet. His poetry is just +such as, knowing his history, we might have expected; and such as, not +knowing it, might have bodied forth to us the identical man as we find +him. + +As we have said, Nature was his school; but flowers were the especial +vocation of his muse. A small ironmonger--a keen and successful +tradesman--we should scarcely have given him credit for such an +exquisite love of the beautiful in Nature, as we find in some of those +lines written by him in the crowded counting-room of that dingy +warehouse. The incident of the floral miscellany; the subsequent study +of "The Seasons;" the long rambles in meadows and on hill-sides, +specimen-hunting for his _Hortus Siccus_, sufficiently account for the +exquisite sketches of scenery, and those vivid descriptions of natural +phenomena, which showed that the coinage of his brain had been stamped +in Nature's mint. The most casual reader would at once discover that, +with Thomson, he has ever been the devoted lover and worshiper of +Nature--at wanderer by babbling streams--a dreamer in the leafy +wilderness--a worshiper of morning upon the golden hill-tops. He gives +us pictures of rural scenery warm as the pencil of a Claude, and glowing +as the sunsets of Italy. + +A few sentences will complete our sketch, and bring us to the close of +the poet's pilgrimage. He had come out of the general collapse of +commercial affairs in 1837, with a small portion of the wealth he had +realized by diligent and continuous labor. He took a walk, on one +occasion, into the country, of about eighteen miles: reached Argilt +Hill, liked the place, returned, and resolved to buy it. He laid out in +house and land about one thousand guineas. His family consisted of Mrs. +Elliott and two daughters; a servant-maid; an occasional helper; a Welch +pony and small gig; "a dog almost as big as the mare, and much wiser +than his master; a pony-cart; a wheel-barrow; and a grindstone--and," +says he, "turn up your nose if you like!" + +From his own papers we learn that he had one son a clergyman, at +Lothedale, near Skipton; another in the steel trade, on Elliott's old +premises at Sheffield; two others unmarried, living on their means; +another "druggisting at Sheffield, in a sort of chimney called a shop;" +and another, a clergyman, living in the West Indies. Of his thirteen +children, five were dead, and of whom he says. "They left behind them no +memorial--but they are safe in the bosom of Mercy, and not quite +forgotten even here!" + +In this retirement he occasionally lectured and spoke at public +meetings; but he began to suffer from a spasmodic affection of the +nerves, which obliged him wholly to forego public speaking. This disease +grew worse; and in December, 1839, he was warned that he could not +continue to speak in public, except at the risk of sudden death. This +disorder lingered about him for about six years; he then fell ill of a +more serious disease, which threatened speedy termination. This was in +May, 1849. In September, he writes, "I have been _very, very_ ill." On +the first of December, 1849, the event, which had so long been +impending, occurred, and Elliott peacefully departed in the sixty-ninth +year of his age. + +Thus, then, the sun set on one whose life was one continued heroic +struggle with opposing influences--with ignorance first, then trade, +then the corn laws, then literary fame, and, last of all, disease: and +thus the world saw its last of the material breathing form of the rugged +but kindly being who made himself loved, feared, hated, and famous, as +the "CORN LAW RHYMER." + + + + +[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +CONFLICT WITH AN ELEPHANT. + + +In a few minutes one of those who had gone off to our left came running +breathless to say that he had seen the mighty game. I, halted for a +minute, and instructed Isaac, who carried the big Dutch rifle, to act +independently of me, while Kleinboy was to assist me in the chase; but, +as usual, when the row began, my followers thought only of number one. I +bared my arms to the shoulder, and, having imbibed a draught of aqua +pura from the calabash of one of the spoorers, I grasped my trusty +two-grooved rifle, and told my guide to go ahead. We proceeded silently +as might be for a few hundred yards, following the guide, when he +suddenly pointed, exclaiming, "Klow!" and before us stood a herd of +mighty bull elephants, packed together beneath a shady grove about a +hundred and fifty yards in advance. I rode slowly toward them, and, as +soon as they observed me, they made a loud rumbling noise, and, tossing +their trunks, wheeled right about and made off in one direction, +crashing through the forest and leaving a cloud of dust behind them. I +was accompanied by a detachment of my dogs, who assisted me in the +pursuit. + +The distance I had come, and the difficulties I had undergone to behold +these elephants, rose fresh before me. I determined that on this +occasion at least I would do my duty, and, dashing my spurs into +"Sunday's" ribs, I was very soon much too close in their rear for +safety. The elephants now made an inclination to my left, whereby I +obtained a good view of the ivory. The herd consisted of six bulls; four +of them were full grown, first-rate elephants; the other two were fine +fellows, but had not yet arrived at perfect stature. Of the four old +fellows, two had much finer tusks than the rest, and for a few seconds I +was undecided which of these two I would follow; when, suddenly, the one +which I fancied had the stoutest tusks broke from his comrades, and I at +once felt convinced that he was the patriarch of the herd, and followed +him accordingly. Cantering alongside, I was about to fire, when he +instantly turned, and, uttering a trumpet so strong and shrill that the +earth seemed to vibrate beneath my feet, he charged furiously after me +for several hundred yards in a direct line, not altering his course in +the slightest degree for the trees of the forest, which he snapped and +overthrew like reeds in his headlong career. + +When he pulled up in his charge, I likewise halted; and as he slowly +turned to retreat, I let fly at his shoulder, "Sunday" capering and +prancing, and giving me much trouble. On receiving the ball the elephant +shrugged his shoulder, and made off at a free, majestic walk. This shot +brought several of the dogs to my assistance which had been following +the other elephants, and on their coming up and barking another headlong +charge was the result, accompanied by the never-failing trumpet as +before In his charge he passed close to me, when I saluted him with a +second bullet in the shoulder of which he did not take the slightest +notice. I now determined not to fire again until I could make a steady +shot; but, although the elephant turned repeatedly, "Sunday" invariably +disappointed me, capering so that it was impossible to fire. At length, +exasperated, I became reckless of the danger, and, springing from the +saddle, approached the elephant under cover of a tree and gave him a +bullet in the side of the head, when, trumpeting so shrilly that the +forest trembled, he charged among the dogs, from whom he seemed to fancy +that the blow had come; after which he took up a position in a grove of +thorns, with his head toward me. I walked up very near, and, as he was +in the act of charging (being in those days under wrong impressions as +to the impracticability of bringing down an elephant with a shot in the +forehead), stood coolly in his path until he was within fifteen paces of +me, and let drive at the hollow of his forehead, in the vain expectation +that by so doing I should end his career. The shot only served to +increase his fury--an effect which, I had remarked, shots in the head +invariably produced; and, continuing his charge with incredible +quickness and impetuosity, he all but terminated my elephant-hunting +forever. A large party of the Bechuanas who had come up, yelled out +simultaneously, imagining I was killed, for the elephant was at one +moment almost on the top of me: I, however, escaped by my activity, and +by dodging round the bushy trees. As the elephant was charging, an +enormous thorn ran deep into the sole of my foot the old Badenoch +brogues, which I that day sported, being worn through, and this caused +me severe pain, laming me throughout the rest of the conflict. + +The elephant held on through the forest at a sweeping pace; but he was +hardly out of sight when I was loaded and in the saddle, and soon once +more alongside. About this time I heard Isaac blazing away at another +bull; but when the elephant charged, his cowardly heart failed him, and +he very soon made his appearance at a safe distance in my rear. My +elephant kept crashing along at a steady pace, with blood streaming from +his wounds; the dogs, which were knocked up with fatigue and thirst, no +longer barked around him, but had dropped astern. It was long before I +again fired, for I was afraid to dismount, and "Sunday" was extremely +troublesome. At length I fired sharp right and left from the saddle: he +got both balls behind the shoulder, and made a long charge after me, +rumbling and trumpeting as before. The whole body of the Bamangwato men +had now come up, and were following a short distance behind me. Among +these was Mollyeon, who volunteered to help; and being a very swift and +active fellow, he rendered me important service by holding my fidgety +horse's head while I fired and loaded. I then fired six broadsides from +the saddle, the elephant charging almost every time, and pursuing us +back to the main body in our rear, who fled in all directions as he +approached. + +The sun had now sunk behind the tops of the trees; it would very soon be +dark, and the elephant did not seem much distressed, notwithstanding all +he had received. I recollected that my time was short, and therefore at +once resolved to fire no more from the saddle, but to go close up to him +and fire on foot. Riding up to him. I dismounted, and, approaching very +near, I gave it him right and left in the side of the head, upon which +he made a long and determined charge after me; but I was now very +reckless of his charges, for I saw that he could not overtake me, and in +a twinkling I was loaded, and, again approaching, fired sharp right and +left behind his shoulder. Again he charged with a terrific trumpet, +which sent "Sunday" flying through the forest. This was his last charge. +The wounds which he had received began to tell on his constitution, and +he now stood at bay beside a thorny tree, with the dogs barking around +him. These, refreshed by the evening breeze, and perceiving that it was +nearly over with the elephant, had once more come to my assistance. +Having loaded, I drew near and fired right and left at his forehead. On +receiving these shots, instead of charging, he tossed his trunk up and +down, and by various sounds and motions, most gratifying to the hungry +natives, evinced that his demise was near. Again I loaded, and fired my +last shot behind his shoulder: on receiving it, he turned round the +bushy tree beside which he stood, and I ran round to give him the other +barrel, but the mighty old monarch of the forest needed no more; before +I could clear the bushy tree he fell heavily on his side, and his spirit +had fled. My feelings at this moment can only be understood by a few +brother Nimrods who have had the good fortune to enjoy a similar +encounter. I never felt so gratified on any former occasion as I did +then. + +By this time all the natives had come up; they were in the highest +spirits, and flocked around the elephant, laughing and talking at a +rapid pace. I climbed on to him, and sat enthroned upon his side, which +was as high as my eyes when standing on the ground. In a few minutes +night set in, when the natives, having illuminated the jungle with a +score of fires, and formed a semicircle of bushes to windward, lay down +to rest without partaking of a morsel of food. Mutchuisho would not +allow a man to put an assagai into the elephant until the morrow, and +placed two relays of sentries to keep watch on either side of him. My +dinner consisted of a piece of flesh from the temple of the elephant, +which I broiled on the hot embers. In the conflict I had lost my shirt, +which was reduced to streamers by the wait-a-bit thorns, and all the +clothing that remained was a pair of buckskin knee-breeches. + + + + +[From The Ladies' Companion.] + +LETTICE ARNOLD. + +By the Author of "TWO OLD MEN'S TALES," "EMILIA WYNDHAM," &C. + +[_Concluded from page 178._] + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Bless the Lord, oh my soul! and all that is within me bless his holy name; + Who forgiveth all thy iniquities and healeth all thy diseases, + Who saveth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving + kindness and tender mercies. + + +MRS. FISHER. + +I must now introduce you to Mrs. Fisher. She is so great a favorite of +mine, that before I relate what became of Myra, I must make you +acquainted with this lady. + +Mrs. Fisher was a respectable gentlewoman like personage of about +fifty-four, of a grave, authoritative and somewhat severe aspect; but +with the remains of very extraordinary personal beauty which she had +once possessed in an eminent degree. She was somewhat above the middle +size, of an erect, firm, full figure, her hair now gently turning gray, +drawn over her finely proportioned forehead; her eyes large, and of a +fine color and form--clear and steady; her mouth expressive of sense and +temper; and her dress in character with the rest. Mrs. Fisher was always +handsomely dressed in silks of the best description, but in slight +mourning, which she always wore; and on her head, also, a cap rather +plainer than the mode, but of the finest and most expensive materials: +nothing could be more dignified and complete than her appearance. + +When first Myra was introduced to her she was both daunted and +disappointed; the gravity, amounting almost to sternness, with which +Mrs. Fisher received her, and explained to her the duties she was +expected to perform, awed in the first place, and mortified in the +second. The establishment of this fashionable modiste, with which Myra +had associated nothing but laces and ribbons, dresses and trimmings, +embroidery and feathers, flattery and display, struck cold and dull upon +her imagination. She was introduced into a handsomely but very plainly +furnished sitting-room, where not one trace of any of those pretty +things were to be seen, and heard of nothing but regularity of hours, +persevering industry, quaker neatness, attention to health, and the +strictest observance of the rules of what she thought quite a prudish +propriety. + +Mrs. Fisher's life had been one of vicissitude, and in its vicissitudes, +she, a strong, earnest-minded woman, had learned much. She had known +sorrow, privation, cruelly hard labor, and the loneliness of utter +desolation of the heart She had, moreover, been extremely beautiful, and +she had experienced those innumerable perils to which such a gift +exposes an unprotected girl, struggling for her bread, under the +cruelest circumstances of oppressive labor. Every description of +hardship, and every description of temptation belonging to perhaps the +hardest and almost the most dangerous position of female life, Mrs. +Fisher had gone through. + +She had outlived its sufferings and escaped its snares. + +The suffering, thanks to one of the finest constitutions in the world; +the snares, thanks to what she always, with inexhaustible gratitude, +acknowledged as the special mercy and providence of God. + +An orphan at the dangerous age of seventeen, the lovely blooming young +creature was placed by her friends in one of the most fashionable and +largest milliners' establishments at that time in London, and had found +herself at once miserable and excited, oppressed and flattered. + +The mistress of this flourishing house, intent upon making a rapid +fortune before the years in which she could enjoy it should come to a +close, cared little--I might say nothing--for the welfare of the poor +creatures whose labors were to construct that edifice. She, in fact, +never thought about them. Want of thought may be pleaded as the excuse, +wretched one as it is, for the cruelties of those days. People certainly +had not the claim of common humanity sounded into their ears as it is +into all ears now. A few admirable philanthropists talked of it, and +preached it; but it was not to be heard calling in the streets, as it is +the triumph of our day to acknowledge, till the hardest heart for very +shame is forced to pay _some_ attention to the call. + +It never entered into Miss Lavington's head that she had any other +business with her young women, but to get all the work she possibly +could out of their hands, and as well done, and as speedily done as +possible. If she objected to night-work in addition to day-work, it was +not in the slightest degree out of compassion for the aching limbs and +wearied eyes of the poor girls; but because wax candles were expensive, +and tallow ones were apt to drip; and there was always double the duty +required from the superintendent (her special favorite), to keep the +young women at those times to their duty, and prevent fine materials +from being injured. + +Oh! those dreadful days and nights of the _season_, which the poor Lucy +Miles at that place went through. + +She--accustomed to the sweet fresh air of the country, to the cheerful +variety of daily labor in her father's large farm, and under the care of +a brisk, clever, but most kind and sensible mother--to be shut up +twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nay twenty hours before a +birth-night, in the sickening atmosphere of the close work-room. The +windows were rarely opened, if ever; for the poor young things were so +unnaturally chilly for want of exercise and due circulation of the +blood, that they said they should, and perhaps they might, have taken +cold if fresh air were admitted. There was nothing they all dreaded so +much as taking cold; those fatal coughs, which every season thinned the +ranks, to be filled with fresh victims, were invariably attributed to +some particular occasion when they had "taken cold." They did not know +that they were rejecting the very cordial of life and inhaling poison +when they kept the room so close. + +Oh! for the dreadful weariness which proceeds from _in_-action of the +limbs! so different from the wholesome fatigue of action, _In_-action +where the blood is stagnating in every vein: _in_-action, after which +rest is not rest, but a painful effort of the repressed currents to +recover their circulating power--so different from the delightful +sensation of wholesome rest after physical exertion. + +At first she felt it almost insupportable. I have heard her say that it +seemed at times as if she would have given years of her existence to be +allowed to get up and walk up and down the room for a few minutes. The +sensation was so insupportable. That craving desire of the body for what +it is in want of--be it water, be it bread, be it rest, be it change of +posture--is so dreadful in its urgency. The most abominable tortures men +have in their wickedness invented are founded upon this fact--tortures +that render the black history of inquisitors yet blacker: and here it +was, in one at least of its numerous forms, daily inflicted upon a set +of helpless young women, by a person who thought herself perfectly +justifiable, and whose conscience never pricked her in the least. + +Such is negligent moral habit. + +Oh! the delight at meal-times--to spring up, I was going to say--I meant +to _get_ up--for there was no _spring_ left in these poor stiffened +frames. Oh! the delight when the eye of that superintendent was no +longer watching the busy circle, and her voice calling to order any one +who durst just to raise a head, and pause in the unintermitting toil. +Oh! the delight to get up and come to breakfast, or dinner, or tea. + +They had not much appetite when they came to their meals to be sure. +There was only one thing they were always ready to enjoy, and that was +their tea. That blessed and long abused tea; which has done more to +sweeten private life with its gentle warmth and excitement, than any +cordial that has ever been invented. It is but a cordial, however; it is +not a nourishment; though a little sugar, and wretched blue milk, such +as London milk used to be, may be added to it. Most of the young ladies, +however, preferred it without these additions; they found it more +stimulating so, I believe, poor things! + +Such nourishment as they received, it is plain, would ill supply the +rapid exhaustion of their employment. One by one in the course of the +season they sickened and dropped off; some died out and out; some, alas! +tempted by suffering and insupportable fatigue, or by that vanity and +levity which seems to be too common a result with many girls living +together, did worse. There would have been a heavy record against her +every June, if Miss Lavington had taken the trouble to note down what +had become of her missing young ladies. + +I said they were relieved from their irksome continuance in one posture +by going to their meals, and what a relief it was; but they did not +always get that. When there was more than usual to be done, their tea +would be brought to them where they sat, and there would be no +intermission. + +So things went on at Miss Lavington's in those days. I wonder in how +many establishments of the same description, things go on so now! How +many to which that voice of humanity which "calls in the streets" has +not yet penetrated! + +We shall by-and-by see what was the case in Mrs. Fisher's, but for the +present we will go on with her history. + +So beautiful a young creature as she was, could not long escape trials, +yet more to be lamented than those of physical suffering. + +In the first place, there was the conversation of the young ladies +themselves; a whispering manner of conversation when at work; a busy +chattering of emancipated tongues during the intervals. And what was it +all about? + +Why, what was it likely to be about?--love and lovers--beauty and its +admirers--dress and its advantages--he and him--and, dear me, weren't +you in the Park last Sunday? Where could you be? and did you not see the +carriage go by? What had you on? Oh, that pink bonnet. I cribbed a bit +of Mrs. M----'s blond for a voilette. If people will send their own +materials they deserve as much. I've heard Mrs. Saunders (the +superintendent) say so scores of times. Well, well, and I saw it, I'm +certain of it. Well, did any thing come of it? + +Alas! alas! and so on--and so on--and so on. + +And Lucy was very soon taught to go on Sundays into the Park. At first, +poor girl, merely to breathe the fresh air and inhale the delicious west +wind, and look at trees and grass, and cows and deer once more, and +listen to the birds singing. At first she thought the crowds of gayly +dressed people quite spoiled the pleasure of the walk, and tried to coax +her companions to leave the ring, and come and walk in the wood with +her; but she soon learned better, and was rapidly becoming as bewitched +with the excitement of gazing, and the still greater excitement of being +gazed at, as any of them. + +She was so uncommonly beautiful that she got her full--and more than her +full share of this latter pleasure; and it was not long before she had +those for whom she looked out amid the crowds upon the ring, and felt +her heart beat with secret delight as she saw them. + +Then, as her health began to decline, as dislike insupportable for her +occupation and its confinement; as weariness not to be described, came +on; as longings for little luxuries to be seen in every shop which she +passed by, for fruit or confectionary, haunted her palled and diseased +appetite as the vision of food haunts the wretch who is starving; as the +desire of fine clothes, in which her companions managed to array +themselves; as the more insidious, and more honorable longings of the +heart, the desolate heart, beset her--cravings for affection and +sympathy; when all these temptations were embodied together in the shape +of one, but too gentle, and insinuating; oh, then it was perilous work +indeed! + +Her mother had tried to give her a good, honest, homely education; had +made such a Christian of her, as going to church, reading a chapter in +the Bible on a Sunday, and the catechism makes of a young girl. There +was nothing very vital, or earnest about it; but such as it was, it was +honest, and Lucy feared her God and reverenced her Saviour. Such +sentiments were something of a defense, but it is to be feared that they +were not firmly enough rooted in the character to have long resisted the +force of overwhelming temptation. + +This she was well aware of, and acknowledged to herself; and hence her +deep, pervading, ineffable gratitude, for the Providence which she +believed had saved her. + +She was getting on very fast on the evil road upon which she had +entered. Every Sunday the progress she made was fearful. A few more, at +the pace at which she was advancing, and there would have been an end of +it, when a most unexpected accident arrested her in the fatal career. + +One remarkably fine Sunday, when all the members of the establishment +had been enjoying their usual recreation in the Park--just as Lucy and +some of her giddy friends were coming through Grosvenor Gate, they saw +the superintendent before them. + +"There's that old Saunders, I declare!" cried one. "Stand back a little, +won't ye?--she'll see our bonnets else, and I'll be bound she'll know +the rosettes, and where they come from." + +There was time for no more. Mrs. Saunders, who was rather late, being in +haste to get home, attempted to cross, as a curricle at full speed came +driving down Parklane, and before the gentleman within could draw up, +the unfortunate woman was under the horses' heels. There was a terrible +bustle. The young ladies with the rosettes managed to escape; but Lucy, +who had at least preserved her integrity thus far, and had nothing about +her dress not strictly her own, rushed forward, and helped to raise the +poor woman, declaring she knew who she was, and was placed with her by +the assistants in the hackney coach in which she was carried home. + +Lucy was naturally of a very kind and humane disposition; and her +care of the poor suffering woman during the transit to Miss +Lavington's--united to the kindness and assiduity with which, every one +else but the under-maid of all being absent, she tended and waited upon +her--so engaged Mrs. Saunders's affection, that afterward, during the +whole of the subsequent illness, which broken limbs and ribs occasioned +she made it her particular request to Miss Lavington that Lucy might be +spared from the work-room to nurse and keep her company; adding for that +lady's satisfaction, that though the best nurse, and nicest young girl +of the lot, she certainly, being the youngest, was the least of a +proficient in the peculiar art she followed. + + * * * * * + +The poor woman lay groaning piteously upon her bed, waiting the arrival +of the surgeon. The surgeon, an elderly man, was out of town, and could +not attend; a young man, appeared in his place. He had just joined +himself to the old man in the quality of assistant and future partner; +and hearing that the case, was one of an accident, and urgent, he +hurried to the house, resolving to send for more experienced assistance, +if such should be found necessary. + +He was shown up-stairs, and hastily entered the room in which the +sufferer lay. She was very much bruised about the chest, and she drew +her breath with difficulty; and though exceedingly weak and faint, was +unable to lie down. She was resting in the arms of one who appeared to +the young man like an angel. + +The lovely girl, with a face of the tenderest pity, was holding the poor +groaning woman upon one arm, bending over her with an air of almost +divine kindness, and softly wiping the dew-drops which in the agony came +starting upon the patient's brow. + +The young man received an impression which death alone effaced, though +the bright visionary glance was only momentary. He was instantly by the +side of his patient, and soon with much skill and courage doing what was +necessary for immediate relief, though at the very first moment when he +had discovered the serious nature of the case, he had begged the young +lady to tell Miss Lavington that it would be proper to send for some +surgeon of more experience and eminence than himself to take the +direction of it. + +"Don't go away," said Mrs. Saunders feebly, as Lucy was rising to obey. +"Don't send her away, mister--I can't do without her--Miss Lavington's +not at home--one need not ask her for _me_. Who should be sent for?" + +The young man named a gentleman high in his profession. Was it that able +and benevolent man whom the world has so lately lost? That kind, frank, +manly, courageous man of genius, whom no one approached but to find help +and comfort? I don't know--but be he who he might, when he did at length +arrive, he gave the most unqualified praise to the proceedings of our +young gentleman, and called the color to the pale cheek of the young and +serious-looking student by his approbation. He finished his visit by +assuring Mrs. Saunders that she could not be in safer hands than those +in which he had found her, and recommended her to put herself entirely +under the charge of the young practitioner, adding an assurance that he +would be ready at any instant to come if he should be wanted; and that +he would, at all events, and in once or twice as a friend during the +progress of the case. + +Mrs. Saunders liked the looks of the young man much--and who did not? +and was quite contented with this arrangement, to which as I told you, +was added the comfort of retaining Lucy Miles as her nurse and companion +during what threatened to be a very tedious confinement. Miss Lavington +well knew the value of a Mrs. Saunders in such an establishment as hers, +and was willing to make any sacrifice to forward her recovery. + +So Lucy left the wearying work-room and the dangerous recreations of the +Sunday, to sit and watch by the bed-side of a peevish, uncomfortable +sort of an old woman, who was perpetually making demands upon her +patience and good-nature, but who really suffered so greatly from her +accident, that Lucy's pity and kindness were proof against every thing. +The young surgeon went and came--went and came--and every time he came, +this angel of beauty and goodness was ministering by the old woman's +bed. And those eyes of his--eyes of such prevailing power in their +almost enthusiastic expression of serious earnestness--were bent upon +her; and sometimes her eyes, soft and melting as those of the dove, or +bright and lustrous as twin stars, met his. + +He could not but linger in the sick woman's room a little longer than +was necessary, and the sick woman unwittingly favored this, for she took +a great liking to him, and nothing seemed to refresh and amuse her amid +her pains like a little chat with this nice young man. And then the +young surgeon remarked that at such times Lucy was allowed to sit +quietly down and amuse herself with a little needlework, and he thought +this an excellent reason for making his visits as as long as he decently +could. + +The young nurse and the young doctor all this while had conversed very +little with each other; but she listened and she gazed, and that was +quite enough. The case proved a very serious one. Poor Mrs. Saunders, +superintendent as she was, and not workwoman-driver, not slave--yet +could no more than the rest escape the deleterious effects of the close +work room. Her constitution was much impaired. The wines and cordials +she had accustomed herself to take to support nature, as she thought, +under these fatigues, had increased the mischief the wounds would not +heal as they ought; contusions would not disperse; the internal injury +in the chest began to assume a very threatening appearance. Mr. L. came +to the assistance of the young surgeon repeatedly--all that human skill +could do was done, but Mrs. Saunders grew alarmingly worse. + +For a long time she resisted the evidence which her own sensations might +have afforded her and avoided asking any questions which might enlighten +her. She was determined not to die, and, even in a case so awfully +serious and real as this, people seem to cling to the persuasion so +prevailing in lighter circumstances, that because a thing _shan't_ be, +it won't be, and because they are determined it is not, it _is_ not. So, +for many days, Mrs. Saunders went on, exceedingly angry if every body +did not say she was getting better, and half inclined to dismiss her +young surgeon, much as she liked him, because he looked grave after he +had visited her injuries. + +He _did_ look grave, very grave. He was exceedingly perplexed in his +mind as to what he ought to do: young surgeon as he was, fresh from +those schools which, alas! so many who are acquainted with them +represent as the very nurseries of infidelity and license both in speech +and action, he was a deeply, seriously pious man. Such young men there +are, who, like those three, walking unscathed through the furnace of +fire in the faith of the Lord their God, walk through a more terribly +destructive furnace--the furnace of temptation--in the same faith, and +"upon their bodies the fire hath no power, neither is a hair of the head +singed." + +In what tears, in what prayers, in what anguished hope, what fervent +aspiration, this sole treasure of a widowed mother, steeped in poverty +to the very lips, had been reared, it would be long to tell; but she had +committed him to one _never_ found faithless, and under that blessing +she had found in her pure and disinterested love for the being intrusted +to her charge, that which had given her an eloquence, and a power, and a +strength, which had told upon the boy. + +He proved one of those rare creatures who pass through every stage of +existence, as child, as schoolboy, as youth; through nursery, school, +college, marked as some bright peculiar being--peculiar only in this one +thing, sincere unaffected goodness. His religion had been, indeed, with +him a thing little professed, and rarely talked about, but it had been a +holy panoply about his heart--a bright shield, which had quenched all +the darts of evil: it shone around him like something of the radiance +from a higher world. There was a sort of a glory round the young saint's +head. + +Such being the man, you will not be surprised to hear that his practice +called forth most serious reflections--most melancholy and sad +thoughts--and in no sick room where he had ever attended more than in +the present one. + +He could not frequent the house as much as his attendance rendered +necessary without being pretty well aware of the spirit of the place; +and while he grieved over the ruinous waste of health to which these +young creatures were exposed, he was struck to the heart with horror at +the idea of their moral ruin. + +Mrs. Saunders talked openly and unreservedly, and betrayed the state of +mind she was in: so completely, so entirely devoted to, wrapt up in, +buried fathoms and fathoms deep in the things of this world: so totally +lost to--so entirely to seek in every thing connected with another: that +the large, mournful, serious eye, as it turned to the sweet young +creature sitting beside her, and passing her daily life in an element +such as this, gazed with an expression of sad and tender pity such as +the minister of heaven might cast upon a perishing soul. + +She did not quite understand all this. Those looks of interest, so +inexpressibly sweet to her, she thought were excited by the view of her +position as affected her health and comfort. She thought it was that +consumption which, sooner or later, she believed must be her fate, which +he was anticipating with so much compassion. She was blind to the far +more dreadful dangers which surrounded her. + +Poor Mrs. Saunders! At last it could no longer be concealed from her. +She must die. + +He broke the intelligence to her in the gentlest terms, as she, at last, +in a paroxysm of terror, asked the question; giving her what hope he +could, but still not denying that she stood in a fearful strait. It was +a terrible scene that followed. Such a frightful agitation and hurry to +accomplish in a few counted hours what ought to have been the business +of a life. Such calling for psalms and prayers; such piteous beseechings +for help; and, last of all, such an awful awakening of a slumbering +conscience. + +Like Richard's bed, on the eve of Bosworth fight, it seemed as if the +spectral shadows of all those she had injured in the body or the soul, +by her unerring demands upon one, and her negligence as to the other, +rose a host of dismal spectres round. Their pale, exhausted, pleading +looks, as she scolded and threatened, when the clock struck one, and the +task was yet undone, and the head for a moment dropped, and the +throbbing fingers were still. Those hollow coughs in which she would +_not_ believe--those hectic flushes that she would not see--and worse, +those walks, those letters, at which she had connived, because the girls +did so much better when they had some nonsense to amuse them. + +What fearful revelations were made as she raved aloud, or sank into a +drowsy, dreary delirium The old clergyman, who attended her, consoled, +and reasoned, and prayed in vain. The two young people--that lovely +girl, and that feeling, interesting, young man--stood by the bed +appalled: he, ghastly pale--pale with an agony of despairing pity--she, +trembling in every limb. + +The death agony, and then that poor woman went to her account. There was +no one in the room but themselves; it was late in the night, the +morning, indeed, began faintly to dawn. The maids were all gone to bed, +glad enough to escape the scene. He stood silently watching the +departing breath. It stopped. He gave a deep sigh, and, stooping down, +piously closed the eyes. She had turned away in horror and in dread, but +shedding some natural tears. He stood looking at her some time, as there +she stood, weeping by the bed; at last he spoke. + +"This may seem a strange time to choose, but I have something to say to +you. Will you listen to me?" + +She took her handkerchief from her eyes, and gazed at him with a +wondering, grave sort of look, as a child might do. His voice had +something so very remarkable in it. + +He passed to the side where she was standing, and said, "I am a very, +very poor man, and I have a helpless mother entirely dependent upon me +for support, and, if it were my last morsel of bread, ay, and wife and +children were perishing for want of it, it is _she_ who should have it." + +She only looked at him wondering like. + +"This is a fearful precipice upon which you stand. That poor creature +has sunk into the gulf which yawns beneath your feet. May God, in his +mercy, look upon her! But you, beautiful as one of heaven's angels--as +yet pure and sinless as a child--must you fall, sink, perish, in this +mass of loathsome corruption? Better starve, better die--far, far +better." + +"Alas, alas!" she cried, with a scared and terrified look, "Alas! alas! +ten hundred thousand times better. Oh, what must I do? what must I do?" + +"Take up your cross: venture upon the hardships of a poor man's wife. +Discard all the prides, and pomps, and vanities--the vain, vain +delusions of flattery: trample upon the sin, triumph over the +temptation. Put yourself under the protection of an honest man, who +loves you from his soul. Starve, if it must be, but die the death of the +righteous and pure." + +She gazed at him, amazed; she did not yet understand him. + +"Marry _me_. Come to my blessed, my excellent mother's roof. It is +homely, but it is honest; and let us labor and suffer together, if need +be. It is all I can offer you, but it will save you." + +The arms, the beautiful arms were expanded, as it were, in a very agony +of joy. The face! oh, was it not glorious in its beauty then! Did he +ever forget it? + +And so the contract was sealed, and so she was rescued from the pit of +destruction into which she was rapidly sinking. + +And this it was that had excited such impassioned, such lasting, such +devoted feelings of gratitude to Him who rules the course of this world, +in a heart which had only to be shown what was good to embrace it. + +Fisher was all he had said; extremely poor. His salary, as assistant, +was handsome, nevertheless. He received one hundred a year and his board +from the gentleman with whom he was; but his dress, which was +necessarily rather expensive, and his mother, who had only an annuity of +twelve pounds a year, consumed it all. Still you see he was by no means +actually starving; and he thought the young wife he was going to bring +home would be no very great addition to his expenses, and he trusted, if +children came, that he should, by his exertions, be able to provide for +them. In two years his engagement with the present gentleman as his +assistant would be at an end; and he had received from the old man, who +was a sort of humorist in his way, several very strong hints about +partnership, if he would be satisfied with a reasonable share. +Partnership would, in the course of time, he knew, become sole +proprietorship, at the death or retirement of his aged patron--one of +which events could not be very far distant. + +It was, therefore, with great satisfaction, after having summoned the +necessary attendance, and sent his young betrothed to rest, that Fisher +walked home on a fine fresh morning. + +It was true he had taken a step most people would call very imprudent, +thus to encumber himself with a young wife at the very outset of his +career; certainly, he had never intended any such thing. He had always +resolved to be patient, and have a little store of money by him, before +he persuaded any one to begin the world with him. He could not bear the +idea of all being dependent upon his own life, and risking the chance of +leaving a widow and a young family destitute. But this was an +exceptional case, for he could not, without trembling, contemplate the +dangers which surrounded this young and innocent girl. His medical +knowledge taught him but too well the perils to the health of one so +fresh and blooming, from labors in close rooms to which she was so +little accustomed--death stared her in the face, unless she escaped it +by means at which he shuddered to think. + +The only way in which he, young as he was, could possibly help her, was +to withdraw her from the dangerous scene and make her his wife; and on +that step he had been for some days resolving. The emotion she had +shown, the timorous joy, the sweet confidence in his love and honor, had +given a rapturous feeling of happiness to him quite new. He had intended +benevolently and kindly; he had met with all the blessings of sincere +attachment. + +Instead of walking to Mrs. Stedman's to take some rest, which he very +much needed, he went to his mother's house, or rather the house where he +had taken a snug little apartment for his mother. + +It lay somewhere out Brompton way; in which district neat rows of small +houses are to be found looking backward upon pleasant greens and +gardens. There he had found a modest little suite of apartments; one +sitting-room and two bedrooms--a room for his mother and another +sometimes occupied by himself. + +The little hut, a tiny place it was, was clean to the greatest nicety, +and though fitted up in the very simplest and cheapest manner, had an +air of perfect comfort. The walls were stained green, the drugget upon +the floor was pink and fawn; the chairs were covered with what used to +be called Manchester stripe--very clean and pleasant-looking, and +excellent for wash and wear. There was a pretty little table for tea and +dinner, and a nice, round three-clawed one close by the mother's +side--who was established in the only article of luxury in the room, a +very comfortable arm-chair. There the old lady passed her life. + +She had lost the use of her lower limbs for some years; but her health +of body and mind in other respects was sound. The only thing for which +the son had as yet _coveted_ a little more money, had been that he might +possess the means to give his mother the enjoyment of exercise and air; +and when he passed young men, the very pictures of health and strength, +lounging idly in their carriages, as one sometimes does in the Park, +though not given to such nonsense, he could not help uttering a secret +exclamation against the inequalities of fortune, and thinking the +blindness of the goddess of the wheel no fable. + +They were but passing thoughts these, such as the best have when they +languish for the means of bestowing good. + +Such indulgences, however, were rarely to be thought of, though now and +then he managed to obtain them; but as the best compensation he could +make, he paid a few guineas a year more for this pretty apartment, of +which the back room, elongated into a little bow-window, formed the +sitting-room--what would have been the front sitting-room being divided +into the two bedrooms. This pleasant bow-window looked over a row of +gardens belonging to the neighboring houses, and these to a considerable +tract of nursery-ground filled with rows of fruit trees, and all the +cheerful pleasant objects to be seen in such places. In summer the +arm-chair was wheeled to the window, and the whole of the view was +disclosed to the old lady; in winter it returned to the fire; but even +there she did not lose her pretty view altogether, the room was so +little that from her place she might easily command it. Miss Martineau, +in a book of hers, has given us a most valuable and interesting account +of the way in which, during a tedious and most trying illness, her +active spirit confined to one place, she used to amuse herself, and +while away the time by looking out of her window through her telescope +and watching all that was going on. This old lady did much the same, +minus the good telescope, which she had not. Her son, however, had +presented her with an old-fashioned opera-glass, which he had picked up +at some second-hand retailer or other, and as it was a good one, and, +moreover, very light to the hand, it did as well for her and better. + +In some things the old lady had a little resemblance to Miss Martineau. +She had the same cheerful activity of mind, the same readiness of +adapting herself to circumstances--things in a great measure +constitutional. She was, moreover, a very shrewd, sensible woman, and +deeply pious--pious in the most excellent way: really, vitally, +seriously. She came of a good old puritan stock, where piety had been +cherished from generation to generation. Some physiologists say, that +even the _acquired_ moral qualities and habits descend to the succeeding +generation. It is possible an aptness for good or evil may be, and often +is, inherited from those who have gone before. It would seem to have +been so in this case. The pious father and mother, children of as pious +parents, had left this pious daughter--and her excellencies had +descended in accumulated measure to her son. This old lay had been +sorely tried--death and poverty had done their worst--except in as far +as the cruel ravager had spared her this one boy, one of many children, +all followed the delicate, consumptive man who had been their father. +She had borne it all. Strong in faith, she had surrendered her treasures +to the Lord of Life, in trust that they should be found again when he +maketh up his jewels. Cheerful as was her temper, life's course had been +too rough with her, for her to value it very much, when those lovely, +promising buds, but half disclosed, were one after the other gathered. +But she had escaped that racking agony of the loving, but too faithless +mother--when all the sweets of nature in its abundance flow around her, +and _they_ are not there to enjoy. + + "When suns shine bright o'er heaven's blue vault serene, + Birds sing in trees, and sweet flowers deck the plain, + Weep I for thee, who in the cold, cold grave + Sleep, and all nature's harmony is vain. + But when dark clouds and threat'ning storms arise, + And doubt and fear my trembling soul invade; + My heart one comfort owns, _thou_ art not here, + Safe slumbering, in the earth's kind bosom laid." + +She was happier far than the author of these lines. + +She looked upward; she almost saw those she had lost, the objects of a +glorious resurrection--already living in the ineffable presence of the +God whom they had so faithfully endeavored to serve. + +I need not tell you, after this, that her spirits were subdued to a holy +calmness and composure. + +Her life had been one of the most active endeavors after usefulness. The +good she had managed to do can scarcely be calculated. Grains of sand +they might be, these hoarded minutes, but it was golden sand; the heap +accumulated was large and precious, at the end of sixty-five years. + +What money she had possessed she had expended courageously in giving a +professional education to her son. Her little annuity of twelve pounds a +year was all she had saved for herself. Upon that she believed with her +own exertions, she could manage to exist till her son was able to +support both; but she had been struck down earlier than she calculated +upon. She had at this time lost the use of her lower limbs altogether, +and was visited with such trembling in her hands, that she was obliged +to close the task abruptly, and to sit down dependent upon her son +before she had expected it. + +It had been very trying work till he obtained his present situation, and +he still felt very poor, because he was resolved every year to lay +twenty pounds or so by, that, in case any thing should happen to him, +his mother might have some little addition to her means provided. He was +rather strangely provident for the case of his own death; so young man +as he was; perhaps he felt the faltering spring of life within, which +he had inherited from his father. + +Three years the mother and son had thus lived together, and Fisher was +master of sixty pounds. + +He had never allowed himself to cast a thought upon marriage, though of +a temper ardently to desire, and rapturously to enjoy, domestic +felicity. He said to himself he must first provide for his mother's +independence, and then think about his own happiness. But the accident +which had brought him and Lucy together had produced other +thoughts--thoughts which he had, but the very day before the nursing so +suddenly closed, communicated to his mother, and she had said, + +"I think you are quite right, John. Imprudent marriages are, in most +cases, very wrong things--a mere tempting of Providence: and, that no +blessing follows such tempting, we know from the best authority: but +this is a most pious, benevolent, and very rational attempt to save a +fellow-creature upon the brink of destruction, and I think it would be a +want of faith, as well as a want of common humanity, in either of us to +hesitate; I am very glad she seems such a sweet, innocent, pretty +creature, for your sake, my darling John; I hope she will bring a +blessing into your dwelling and repay you for your goodness to me; I am +sorry she must come and live with your old mother, for young wives don't +like that--but I promise you I will do my very best to be as amiable as +an old woman can; and, moreover, I will neither be cross nor +disappointed if she is not always as amiable as a young woman ought to +be. Will that do? Yes, yes; fetch her away from that sink of iniquity, +and we'll all get along somehow or other, never fear." + +And so Lucy Miles, blushing like a rose, and, as her young and delighted +husband thought, more beauteous than an angel of light, was in a few +weeks married to John Fisher, and she went home to the old lady. + + "Amid the smoke of cities did you pass + The time of early youth, and there you learnt + From years of quiet industry to love + The living beings of your own fire-side." + +The eloquent tongue of Fisher had over and over again related with deep +feeling the history of all he owed to his mother, and Lucy, far from +feeling inclined to be jealous of the devoted affection he felt for her, +like a good loving girl as she was, extended the ardent attachment she +felt toward her husband to every thing that belonged to him. + +She had lost her own parents, whom she had loved exceedingly, though +they were quite ordinary people. She soon almost worshiped old Mrs. +Fisher. + +Lucy had been little improved by those who had the rearing of her; she +was a girl of excellent dispositions, but her education had been +commonplace. In the society of the old lady her good gifts, both of head +and heart, expanded rapidly. The passionate desire she felt to render +herself worthy of her husband, whom she adored almost as some superior +being, made her an apt and docile pupil. + +A few years thus spent, and you would scarcely have known her again. Her +piety was deep, and had become a habit--a part of her very soul; her +understanding naturally excellent, had been developed and strengthened; +the most earnest desire to perform her part well--to do good and extend +virtue and happiness, and to sweeten the lives of all with whom she had +to do, had succeeded to thoughtless good nature, and a sort of +instinctive kindness. Anxiety for her husband's health, which constantly +oppressed her, a sort of trembling fear that she should be bereaved +early of this transcendent, being; this it was, perhaps, which enhanced +the earnest, serious tone of one so young. + +She was extremely industrious, in the hope of adding to her husband's +means of rest and recreation, and the accidental acquaintance with a +French _modiste_, who had fallen ill in London, was in great distress, +and whom Fisher attended through charity, had put her into the way of +improving herself in this art more than she could have done even in that +eminent school, the work-room of Miss Lavington. The French-woman was a +very amiable, and pious person, too. She was a French Protestant; the +connection ripened into friendship, and it ended by placing Mrs. Fisher +in the state of life in which we find her. Fisher fell desperately ill +in consequence of a fever brought on at a dissection, from which he +narrowly escaped with life; the fever left him helpless and incapable of +exertion. The poor mother was by this time dead; he succeeded to the +vacant arm-chair. Then his wife resolved upon doing that openly which +she had till now done covertly, merely working for the bazaars. She +persuaded her husband, when a return to his profession appeared +hopeless, to let her employ his savings in setting up business with +Madame Noel, and from small beginnings had reached that high place in +her profession which she now occupied. + + * * * * * + +No sooner had Mrs. Fisher established a working-room of her own, and +engaged several young women to labor under her superintendence, than the +attention of her husband was seriously turned to the subject of those +evils from which he had rescued his wife. + +She had suffered much, and experienced several of the evils consequent +upon the manner such places were managed; but she would probably not +have reflected upon the causes of these evils, nor interested herself so +deeply as she afterward did in applying the remedies, if it had not been +for the promptings of this excellent man. + +His medical skill made him thoroughly aware of the injurious effect +produced upon the health by the ill-regulated system of such +establishments; and his thoughts, as he sat resigned to helplessness in +his arm-chair, were seriously directed to that subject. + +In consequence of his suggestions it was that Mrs. Fisher began her life +of business upon a plan of her own, to which she steadily adhered. At +first she found considerable difficulty in carrying it out--there are +always numerous obstructions to be met with in establishing any +improvements; but where the object is rational and benevolent, +perseverance and a determined will triumph over every difficulty. + +The first thing Fisher insisted upon was ventilation; the second, +warmth; the third, plenty of good, wholesome, and palatable food; the +fourth, exercise. He determined upon a house being selected which was +not closely built up behind, and that the room in which the young ladies +worked should be large and commodious in proportion to the inmates. A +portion of the little money he had saved was sacrificed to the +additional expense thus incurred. He looked upon it, he told his wife, +as given to charity, for which she must expect no return, and for which +he should look for no interest. A good wide grate, which should be well +supplied with a cheerful fire in winter, was to assist the ventilation +proceeding from a scientific plan of his own, which kept the room +constantly supplied with a change of air; and under the table at which +the girls sat at work, there was in winter a sort of long, square, +wooden pipe filled with hot water and covered with carpeting, upon which +they could put their feet: the extreme coldness of the feet arising from +want of circulation, being one of the causes to which Fisher attributed +many of the maladies incident to this mode of life. + +The next object of attention was the table. Fisher had been at school, +at one or two different schools, resembling each other in one thing +only--the scandalous--I must use the strong and offensive word--the +scandalous neglect or worse than neglect--the infamous and base +calculations upon the subject of food which pervaded the system of those +schools, and which pervaded, I am sorry to say, so many of the schools +with which he had chanced to be acquainted. In the course of his +practice as a medical man, his opportunities for observation had been +above the common. + +In fine ladies' schools, I can not assert that the shameful economy of +buying inferior provisions, and the shameful indifference as to how they +were cooked, which prevail in so many boys' schools, were to be +found--but a fault almost equally great prevailed too generally. There +was not _enough_. These growing girls, stimulated to most unnatural +exertions both of body and mind, peculiarly unnatural to growing girls +who require so much care, fresh air, exercise, and rest, for their due +development--these young things had very rarely nearly so much to eat as +they could have eaten. + +Sometimes enough was literally not set before them; at others, a sort of +fashion in the school to consider a good appetite as a proof of +coarseness, greediness, and vulgarity, worked but too effectually upon +these sensitive creatures. A girl at that age would rather be starved +than ridiculed or sneered at for eating. + +But in boys' schools--expensive boys' schools too--where six times as +much was paid for a boy's board as would have boarded him--either +through scandalous parsimony, or the most inexcusable negligence, he had +seen meat brought into the house not fit to eat; cheap and bad in +itself, but rendered doubly unwholesome in summer by the most utter +carelessness as to whether it was fresh. Boys are hardy things, and it +is right they should not be accustomed to be too nice; but wholesome, +plain roast and boiled is what they pay for and ought to have; and the +defrauding them of what is so necessary to health, vigor, and even +intellect, in this unprincipled manner, is almost the very worst form of +robbery any man can be guilty of. + +Fisher was resolved it should not be so in his wife's house. He and his +wife had agreed that the young ladies she employed should be lodged and +boarded under her roof, unless they had respectable parents who could +and would be fully answerable for them; and they should have a plentiful +and a pleasant table--that he was resolved upon. As he was competent to +little else, he took this matter upon himself. He calculated what ought +fairly to be laid out, and he laid it all out. He would not economize a +penny. If he was able to make a good bargain with his butcher, the young +ladies, not he, should have the benefit of it all. They should have a +bit of fish, or a little poultry, or a little good fruit, poor girls, to +vary a meal, to which they could not bring the sturdy appetite of much +out-of-door exercise. + +Then came the great chapter of that exercise. There was the +difficulty--how much time could Mrs. Fisher possibly afford to lose?--to +abandon to this object?--for the work must _pay_--or it could not +continue to be done. But the difficulty diminished upon examination. +Time may be counted by strength as well as by minutes. The same thing +may, by two different hands, be accomplished in most unequal portions of +time. + +The dreadful feeling of weariness, which, as Lucy, she so well +remembered--one consequence of sitting so long in an unchanged position, +and at the same employment--that dreadful feeling could not be forgotten +by her. Her horror at the recollection was so strong, that of this +matter she thought more than even her benevolent husband. + +He recollected to have heard that the Jesuits, those masters of human +development, physical as well as intellectual, never suffered a pupil to +be employed more than two hours upon the same thing without a change--to +get up and turn round the chair--to pace five minutes up and down the +room would in many cases suffice. Mr. Fisher laid down his plan. + +Two hours the young ladies worked, and then for ten minutes they were +allowed to lay down their needles; they might walk about the room, into +the passage, up and down stairs, or sit still and lounge. That +precious, useful _lounge_, so fatally denied to the wearied spine of +many a growing girl, was here permitted. They might look about them, or +close their eyes and be stupefied; in short, do just what they liked. + +It was soon found by experience that the work done after this refreshing +pause more than made up for the time thus expended. + +Such were some of the plans of this kind-hearted and highly-principled +man--and the blooming looks, the gay spirits, the bright eyes, of the +happy little community did credit to the scheme. + +Fisher lived but a few years to carry out the rule he had instituted; +but to his wife it was as a sacred legacy from his hand, and during the +whole course of her subsequent life she faithfully adhered to it. + +Her house was like a convent in some things, but it was a very happy +convent. Every thing proceeded with a clock-work order, and yet there +was a liberty such as few girls thus employed, in spite of their +intervals of license, could enjoy. + +It was a happy party, over which this remarkably handsome, and now +distinguishedly fashionable milliner, and dignified-looking lady +presided. Nothing indiscreet or unseemly was ever permitted. The rule, +perhaps, might be a little too grave, and the manner of the young ladies +too sedate; but they were innocent and good; and they had their +recreations, for Mrs. Fisher look them out, turn and turn about, upon a +Sunday, in her carriage, and the others walked with the two +superintendents--persons carefully selected for their good principles +and good conduct. + +Mrs. Fisher, too, was a little bit of a match-maker; and if she had a +weakness, it was her fondness for settling her young ladies. Nothing +pleased her better than when they were sought--and they were such nice, +well-behaved girls, this often happened--by worthy young men in their +own rank of life. Mrs. Fisher always gave the wedding-gown and bonnet, +and the wedding dinner, and a white satin reticule or bag, drawn with +rose-colored ribbons, with a pretty pink and white purse in it, with +silver tassels and rings, and containing a nice little sum for the +bride's pocket-money. You will easily understand how Mrs. Danvers had +struck up quite a friendship with Mrs. Fisher. Once, indeed, in her days +of youth and gayety, she had been one of her most valuable customers. +She had long done with fine things, but the interest she took in the +affairs of Mrs. Fisher's establishment had endeared her very much to +that good lady, and hence she had, at her earnest request, consented to +take Myra, though her own instinct, the moment she cast her eyes upon +this beautiful, dawdling-looking being, had assured her that she was, to +use her own phrase, not one of _her_ sort. + +Myra was grievously disappointed, upon her side. She was quite one to be +blind to the solid advantages of her position, and to look with +querulous regret upon all the flashy and brilliant part of such a +business, in which she was not allowed to take the least share. + +Precisely because she was so beautiful did Mrs. Fisher exclude her from +the show-room--that theatre which was to have been the scene of her +triumphs. + +The beautiful things she was employed in manufacturing left her hands to +be seen no more--and, alas! never by her to be tried on. It was +tantalizing work to part with them, and forever, as soon as they left +her hand. + +Then she was obliged to be punctual to a moment in her hours; a grievous +yoke to her who had never been educated to submit to any. To dress with +the most careful attention to neatness, though there was "nothing but a +pack of women to look at her"--to listen to "a prosy book"--a book, I +forgot to say, was read aloud in the work-room--instead of gossiping and +having a little fun; and to walk out on Sundays under the wing of that +old, hideous harridan, Mrs. Sterling, instead of going with her +companions where she pleased. In short, it was worse "than negro +slavery," but there was no help for it--there she was, and there she was +obliged to stay. + +Well, and did she improve under this good discipline? Was she any the +better for it? I am sorry to say very little. + +There are subjects that are almost unimprovable. She was, by nature, a +poor, shallow, weedy thing; her education had been the worst possible +for her. Evil habits, false views, low aims, had been imbibed, and not +one fault corrected while young; and self-experience, which rectifies in +most so much that is wrong, seemed to do nothing for her. There was no +substance to work upon. Mrs. Fisher was soon heartily tired of her, and +could have regretted her complaisance to Mrs. Danvers' wishes in +receiving her against her judgment; but she was too good to send her +away. She laughed, and accepted her as a penance for her sins, she +said--as a thorn in the flesh--and she let the thorn rankle there. She +remembered her honored Fisher, and the scene by the bed-side of poor +Saunders. She looked upon the endurance of this plague as a fresh +offering to the adored memory. + +She bore this infliction like a martyr for a long time; at last a smart +young tailor fell in love with Myra at church--a place where he had been +better employed thinking of other things. And so I believe he thought +after he had married her, in spite of the white dress and silk bonnet, +and the reticule with pink ribbons, and the bride's pocket-money, which +Mrs. Fisher bestowed with more pleasure and alacrity than even she had +been known to do upon many a worthier subject. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Yet once more, oh, ye laurels, and once more, + Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, + I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, + And with forced fingers rude, + Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. + Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear, + Compels me--" + + MILTON'S _Lycidas_. + +I must beg of you to slip over a portion of time, and to suppose about +two years passed over our heads, and we return to Lettice, who has +passed that period at General Melwyn's. + +So useful, so cheerful, so thoroughly good, so sincerely pious, so +generously disinterested she was; and the transformation she had +accomplished was astonishing. + +And was she as happy herself as she made others? Nobody at the Hazels +thought of exactly asking that question. And yet they might have +reflected a little, and inquired, whether to one, the source of so much +comfort to others, the natural felicity of her age was not denied? + +Could a young being like _her_ be _very_ happy, living with two old +people, and without one single companion of her own age? Without +prospect, without interest in that coming life, which the young +imagination paints in such lovely colors? + +One may boldly affirm she was _not_ so happy as she deserved to be, and +that it was quite impossible, with a heart formed for every tender +affection as was hers, that she _should_. + +She began to be visited by a troublesome guest, which in the days of +hardship she had never known. The very ease which surrounded her, the +exemption from all necessity for laborious industry actually increasing +the evil, gradually seemed to grow upon her. There was a secret distaste +for life--a void in the heart, not filled by natural affections--a +something which asked for tenderer relations, more earnest duties--a +home--a household--a family of her own! + +She blamed herself very much when first this little secret feeling of +dissatisfaction and discontent began to steal over her. How could she be +so ungrateful? She had every comfort in the world--more, much more, than +she had any title to expect; infinitely more than many far more +deserving than herself were allowed to enjoy. Why could she not have the +same light contented spirit within her breast, that had carried her +triumphantly through so many hardships, and enlivened so many clouded +days? + +Poor Lettice! It was vain to find fault with herself. Life would seem +flat. The mere routine of duties, unsweetened by natural affection, +would weary the spirit at times. There was a sweetness wanting to +existence--and existence, without that invigorating sweetness, is to the +best of us a tedious and an exhausting thing. + +So thought Catherine, when, about eighteen months or two years after her +marriage, she came for the first time with Edgar to visit her father +and mother. + +The regimental duties of the young officer had carried him to the Ionian +Islands very shortly after his marriage; promotion had brought him home, +and he and his young and happy wife, with a sweet infant of about twelve +months old, hastened down to the Hazels to visit Catherine's parents. + +I pass over the joy of the meeting--I pass over the satisfaction felt by +Catherine at the happy revolution which had taken place--at her father's +improved temper, her mother's more tranquil spirits, the absence of +Randall, and the general good behavior which pervaded the household. + +She looked upon every member of it with satisfaction except one; and +that was the very one who ought to have been the happiest; for she was +the cause and the origin of all this happiness. But Lettice did not, she +thought, look as she used to do; her eyes had lost something of their +vivacity; and the good heart of Catherine was grieved. + +"It pains me so, Edgar--you can not think," she said to her husband, as +she walked, leaning upon his arm, through the pleasant groves and +gardens of the Hazels. "I can scarcely enjoy my own happiness for +thinking of her. Poor, dear, she blames herself so for not being +perfectly happy--as if one could have effects without causes--as if the +life she leads here could make any one perfectly happy. Not one thing to +enjoy--for as to her comfortable room, and the good house, and the +pretty place, and all that sort of thing, a person soon gets used to it, +and it shuts out uneasiness, but it does not bring delight, at least to +a young thing of that age. Child of the house as I was, and early days +as they were with me when you were among us, Edgar--I never knew what +true happiness was till then--that is, I should very soon have felt a +want of some object of interest; though it _was_ my own father and +mother--" + +"So I took the liberty to lay before you, my fair haranguer, if you +recollect, when you made so many difficulties about carrying my +knapsack." + +"Ah! that was because it seemed so heartless, so cruel, to abandon my +parents just when they wanted me so exceedingly. But what a debt of +gratitude I owe to this dear Lettice for settling all these matters so +admirably for me." + +"I am glad you confess to a little of that debt, which I, on my part, +feel to be enormous." + +"I heartily wish there were any means of paying it. I wish I could make +Lettice as happy as she has made all of us." + +The young officer shook his handsome head. + +"Mammas in our rank of life make such a point of endeavoring to settle +their daughters--to start them in households of their own--where, if +they are exposed to many troubles which they escape under their father's +roof, they have many more interests and sources of happiness. But there +is nobody to think of such matters as connegated with this poor +fatherless and motherless girl." + +"Mothers, even in your rank, my love, don't always succeed in +accomplishing this momentous object. I don't see what possible chance +there is for one in Lettice's condition--except the grand one, the +effective one--in my opinion almost the only one, namely, the chapter of +accidents." + +"Ah! that chapter of accidents! It is a poor dependence." + +"Nay, Catherine, that is not said with your usual piety." + +"True--I am sorry--and yet, where another's happiness is concerned, one +feels as if it were wrong to trust too much--even to Providence; with +great reverence be it said--I mean, that in no given event can we +exactly tell how much we are expected to use our own exertions, how much +diligence on our part is required of us, in order to produce a happy +result." + +"I agree with you quite and entirely; and if there is a thing that +angers me beyond measure, it is to see a pious person fold his +hands--sit down and trust the happiness of another to, as he says, +Providence. If I have any just idea of Providence, an ample retribution +will be in store for these sort of religionists." + +"Well, that is just as I feel--but in a sort of confused way. You say +those things so much better than I do, Edgar." + +"Do I? Well, that is news to me." + +"But to return. Can not we do something for this good creature?" + +"I don't exactly see that we can do. Besides, there is your poor mother. +Would you pull down all her little edifice of happiness, by taking +Lettice away from her?" + +"That is a terrible consideration; and yet what was true of me is doubly +and trebly true of Lettice. My darling mother would not hear of me +relinquishing my happiness upon her account--and ought Lettice to be +allowed to make such a sacrifice?" + +"Well, well, my dear, it is time enough to begin to deprecate such a +sacrifice when the opportunity for it occurs, but I own I see little +hope of a romance for your poor, dear Lettice, seeing that an important +personage in such matters, namely, a hero, seems to me to be utterly out +of the question. There is not a young gentleman within twenty miles, so +far as I can see, that is in the least likely to think of the good +girl." + +"Alas, no! that is the worst of it." + +But the romance of Lettice's life was nearer than they imagined. + + * * * * * + +The visit of Catherine at the Hazels cheered up Lettice very much; and +in the delights of a little society with those of her own age, she soon +forgot all her quarrels with herself; and brushed away the cobwebs which +were gathering over her brain. She was enchanted, too, with the baby, +and as she felt that, while Catherine was with her mother, she rather +interfered with, than increased Mrs. Melwyn's enjoyment, she used to +indulge herself with long walks through the beautiful surrounding +country, accompanying the nurse and helping to carry the babe. + +She visited several lonely places and remote cottages, where she had +never been before; and began to feel a new interest given to existence +when she was privileged to assist others under the pressure of that want +and misery which she understood but too well. One evening she and the +nurse had strayed in a new direction, and did not exactly know where +they were. Very far from the house she was aware it could not be, by the +time she had been absent, but they had got into one of those deep, +hollow lanes, from which it is impossible to catch a glimpse of the +surrounding country: those lanes so still, and so beautiful, with their +broken sandy banks, covered with tufts of feathering grass, with peeping +primroses and violets, and barren strawberries between; the beech and +ash of the copses casting their slender branches across, and checkering +the way with innumerable broken lights! While, may be, as was here the +case, a long pebbly stream runs sparkling and shining upon one side of +the way, forming ten thousand little pools and waterfalls as it courses +along. + +Charmed with the scene, Lettice could not prevail upon herself to turn +back till she had pursued her way a little farther. At last a turn in +the lane brought her to a lowly and lonely cottage, which stood in a +place where the bank had a little receded, and the ground formed a small +grassy semicircle, with the steep banks rising all around it--here stood +the cottage. + +It was an ancient, picturesque looking thing, built one knows not when. +I have seen one such near Stony Cross in Hampshire, which the tradition +of the county affirms to be the very identical cottage into which the +dying William Rufus was carried, and I am half inclined to believe it. + +Their deep heavy roofs, huge roof-trees, little low walls and small +windows, speak of habits of life very remote from our own--and look to +me as if like a heap of earth--a tumulus--such edifices might stand +unchanged for tens of ages. + +The cottage before us was of this description, and had probably been a +woodman's hut when the surrounding country was all one huge forest. The +walls were not more than five feet high, over which hung the deep and +heavy roof, covered with moss, and the thatch was overlaid with a heap +of black mould, which afforded plentiful nourishment to stonecrops, and +various tufts of beautifully feathered grass, which waved in fantastic +plumes over it. The door, the frame of which was all aslant, seemed +almost buried in, and pressed down by this roof, placed in which were +two of those old windows which show that the roof itself formed the +upper chamber of the dwelling. A white rose bush was banded up on one +side of this door; a rosemary tree upon the other; a little border with +marigolds, lemon thyme and such like pot-herbs, ran round the house, +which lay in a tiny plot of ground carefully cultivated as a garden. +Here a very aged man, bent almost double as it would seem with the +weight of years, was very languidly digging or attempting it. + +The nurse was tired, so was the babe, so was Lettice. They agreed to ask +the old man's leave to enter the cottage, and sit down a little, before +attempting to return home. + +"May we go in, good man, and rest ourselves a little while?" asked +Lettice. + +"Anan--" + +"Will you give us leave to go in and rest ourselves a little? We are +both tired with carrying the baby." + +"I don't know well what it is you're saying. How many miles to +Brainford? Maybe two; but it's a weary while sin' I've been there." + +"He can't understand us, nurse, at all. He seems almost stone deaf. Let +us knock at the door, and see who's within, for you look ready to drop; +and I am so excessively tired I can hardly help you. However, give me +your sleeping babe at all events, for you really seem as if you could +stand no longer." + +She took the child, which had long been fast asleep, went to the cottage +door, and knocked. + +"Come in," said a voice. + +Not such a voice as she expected to hear, but a sweet, well-modulated +voice, that of a person of education. A man's voice, however, it was. +She hesitated a little, upon which some one rose and opened the door, +but started back upon seeing a young lady with a child in her arms, +looking excessively tired, and as if she could hold up no longer. + +"Pray, come in," he said, observing she hesitated, and, retreating back +a little as he spoke, showed a small bed not far from the fire, standing +in the chimney place, as it is called. In this bed lay a very aged +woman. A large, but very, very ancient Bible lay open upon the bed, and +a chair a little pushed back was standing near it. It would seem that +the young gentleman had risen from the chair where he to all appearance +had been reading the Bible to the bed-ridden old woman. "Pray, come in, +and sit down," he repeated, holding the door to let Lettice enter. "You +look exceedingly tired. The place is very humble but perfectly clean, +and poor old Betty Rigby will be very happy to give you leave to enter." + +The young man who spoke was dressed in deep black; but as there was a +crape band round his hat which lay upon the table, it would seem that he +was in mourning, and possibly, therefore, not a clergyman. He was +something above the middle height; but his figure was spoiled by its +extreme thinness, and a stoop in the shoulder which seemed to be the +effect of weakness. His face was very thin, and his cheek perfectly +pale; but his features were beautifully proportioned, and his large gray +eyes beamed with a subdued and melancholy splendor. There was the fire +of fever, and there was that of genius. + +The expression of this face was soft and sweet in the extreme, but it +was rendered almost painful by its cast of deep sadness. Lettice looked +at him, and was struck by his appearance in a way she had never in her +life been before. He was, I believe, as much struck with hers. These +unexpected meetings, in totally unexpected places, often produce such +sudden and deep impressions. The happier being was moved and interested +by the delicacy the attenuation, the profound sadness of the beautiful +countenance before her; the other with the bloom of health, the +cheerful, wholesome expression, the character and meaning of the face +presented to him, as the young girl stood there holding the sleeping +infant in her arms. Certainly though not regularly pretty, she was a +very picturesque and pleasing looking object at that moment. + +The old woman from her bed added her invitation to that of the young +man. + +"Please to walk in, miss. It's a poor place. Please take a chair. Oh, my +poor limbs! I've been bed-ridden these half-score years; but pray, sit +down and rest yourselves, and welcome. Law! but that's a pretty bairn, +ben't it." + +Lettice took the offered chair and sat down, still holding the baby; the +nurse occupied the other; the young man continued standing. + +"I am afraid we have interrupted you," said Lettice, glancing at the +book. + +"Oh, pray don't think of it! I am in no hurry to be gone. My time," with +a suppressed sigh, "is all my own. I will finish my lecture by-and-by." + +"Ay, do--do--that's a good gentleman. Do you know, ma'am, he's been the +kindest friend, young as he looks, that ever I or my good man met with. +You see we lie here out of the way like--it's a big monstrous parish +this, and our parson has a world of work to do. So we gets rather +overlooked, though, poor man, I believe, he does what he can. I've lived +here these ten years, crippled and bed-ridden as you see, but I got +along pretty well for some time, for I was a bit of a schollard in my +youth; but last winter my eyes took to being bad, and since then I've +not been able to read a line. All gets dizzy like. And I was very dull +and sore beset that I couldn't even see to read the word of God, and my +poor husband, that's the old man as is delving in the garden there, why +he has hardly any eyes left in his head. Enough just to potter about +like, an' see his way, but he couldn't read a line, and it was never so; +and so that blessed young gentleman--law! where is he? Why, I declare +he's gone!" + +The young gentleman had, indeed, quietly glided out of the cottage as +soon as his _éloge_ began. + +"That young gentleman--I can say what I like now he is gone--has been +_so_ good to us. Many's the half-crown he's given me, and a warm winter +coat of his own to my poor rheumatized old man. Oh! he's a blessed +one--and then he comes and sits and reads to me of an afternoon for an +hour together, because as how one day he called he found me a-cryin, +for why, I could no longer read the Holy Word--and he says 'Cheer up, +Betty, be of good comfort, I'll read it to you daily'--and when I said +'daily, sir--that'll take up too much of your time, I fear'--he sighed a +little, and said he'd nothing particular to do with his time." + +"Who is he? Does he belong to this neighborhood?" + +"No, miss, he's only been here maybe a half-year or so. He came down on +a visit to Mr. Hickman the doctor out there, Brainwood way, and +presently he went and lodged at a cottage hard by, to be near Hickman, +who's a great name for such complaints as his'n--A-A--I don't know +what's the name--but he's very bad, they say, and not able to do any +thing in the world. Well, he's the best, kindest, Christian young man, +you ever see or I ever see. The power of good he does among the +poor--poor young fellow--is not to be told or counted--but he's so +melancholy like, and so gentle, and so kind, it makes one a'most cry to +look at him; that's the worst of it." + +"He looks like a clergyman; I could fancy he was in holy orders. Do you +know whether he is so or not?" + +"Yes, ma'am, I have heard say that he is a parson, but nobody in these +parts has ever seen him in a pulpit; but now it strikes me I've heard +that he was to be curate to Mr. Thomas, of Briarwood parish, but he was +ta'en bad of his chest or his throat, and never able to speak up like, +so it would not do; he can not at present speak in a church, for his +voice sounds so low, so low." + +"I wonder we have never met with him, or heard of him before." + +"Oh, miss! he's not been in this country very long, and he goes out +nowhere but to visit the poor; and tired and weak as he looks, he seems +never tired of doing good." + +"He looks very pale and thin." + +"Ay, doesn't he? I'm afraid he's but badly; I've heard some say he was +in a galloping consumption, others a decline; I don't know, but he seems +mighty weak like." + +A little more talk went on in the same way, and then Lettice asked the +nurse whether she felt rested, as it was time to be returning home, and, +giving the poor bed-ridden patient a little money, which was received +with abundance of thanks, Lettice left the house. + +When she entered the little garden, she saw the young man was not gone; +he was leaning pensively against the gate, watching the swinging +branches of a magnificent ash tree, which grew upon a green plot by the +side of the lane. Beautiful it was as it spread its mighty magnificent +head against the deep blue summer sky, and a soft wind gently whispered +among its forest of leaves. + +Lettice could not help, as she observed the countenance of the young +man, who seemed lost in thought, admiring the extraordinary beauty of +its expression. Something of the sublime, something of the angelic, +which we see in a few remarkable countenances, but usually in those +which are spiritualized by mental sufferings, and great physical +delicacy. + +He started from his reverie as she and the nurse approached, and lifted +the latchet of the little wicket to lot them pass. And, as he did so, +the large, melancholy eye was lighted up with something of a pleasurable +expression, as he looked at Lettice, and said, + +"A beautiful afternoon. May I venture to ask were you intending to visit +that poor bed-ridden creature? I thought by the expression she used that +you were not acquainted with her case, and probably had never been in +the cottage before. Will you excuse me for saying she is in great +necessity?" + +"It is the first time I have ever been down this lane, sir, but I assure +you it shall not be the last; I will come and see the poor woman again. +There are few things I pity so much as the being bed-ridden." + +She had walked into the lane. He had quitted the garden too, and +continued to walk by her side talking as he went. + +"I hope there is not so much suffering in that state as we are apt to +imagine," he said; "at least, I have observed that very poor people are +enabled to bear it with wonderful cheerfulness and patience. I believe, +to those who have lived a life of hard labor, rest has something +acceptable in it, which compensates for many privations--but these old +creatures are also miserably poor. The parish can not allow much, and +they are so anxious not to be forced into the house, that they contrive +to make a very little do. The poor woman has been for years receiving +relief as member of a sick-club; but lately the managers have come to a +resolution, that she has been upon the list for such an unexampled +length of time, that they can not afford to go on with the allowance any +longer." + +"How cruel and unjust!" + +"Very sad, as it affects her comforts, poor creature, and certainly not +just; yet, as she paid only about three years, and has been receiving an +allowance for fifteen, it would be difficult, I fancy, to make the sort +of people who manage such clubs see it quite in that light. At all +events, we can get her no redress, for she does not belong to this +parish, though her husband does; and the club of which she is a member +is in a place at some distance, of which the living is sequestrated, and +there is no one of authority there to whom we can apply. I only take the +liberty of entering into these details, madam, in order to convince you +that any charity you may extend in this quarter, will be particularly +well applied." + +"I shall be very happy, if I can be of any use," said Lettice, "but I am +sorry to say, but little of my time is at my own disposal--it belongs to +another--I can not call it my own--and my purse is not very ample. But I +have more money than time," she added, cheerfully, "at all events. And, +if you will be pleased to point out in what way I can best help this +poor creature, I shall be very much obliged to you, for I am quite +longing for the pleasure of doing a little among the poor. I have been +very poor myself; and, besides, I used to visit them so much in my poor +father's day." + +"I have more time than money," he said, with a gentle but very +melancholy smile; "and, therefore, if you will give me leave, I _would_ +take the liberty of pointing out to you how you could help this poor +woman. If--if I knew...." + +"I live with General and Mrs. Melwyn--I am Mrs. Melwyn's _dame de +compagnie_," said Lettice, with simplicity. + +"And I am what ought to be Mr. Thomas's curate," answered he, "but that +I am too inefficient to merit the name. General Melwyn's family never +attends the parish church, I think." + +"No; we go to the chapel of ease at Furnival's Green. It is five miles +by the road to the parish church, and that road a very bad one. The +general does not like his carriage to go there. + +"So I have understood; and, therefore, Mr. Thomas is nearly a stranger, +and I perfectly one, to the family, though they are Mr. Thomas's +parishioners." + +"It seems so strange to me--a clergyman's daughter belonging formerly to +a small parish--that every individual in it should not be known to the +vicar. It ought not to be so, I think." + +"I entirely agree with you. But I believe Mr. Thomas and the general +never exactly understood or suited each other." + +"I don't know--I never heard." + +"I am myself not utterly unknown to every member of the family. I was at +school with the young gentleman who married Miss Melwyn.... Yet why do I +recall it? He has probably forgotten me altogether.... And yet, perhaps, +not altogether. Possibly he might remember James St. Leger;" and he +sighed. + +It was a light, suppressed sigh. It seemed to escape him without his +observing it. + +Lettice felt unusually interested in this conversation, little as there +may appear in it to interest any one; but there was something in the +look and tone of the young man that exercised a great power over her +imagination. His being of the _cloth_--a clergyman--may account for what +may seem rather strange in her entering into conversation with him. She +had been brought up to feel profound respect for every one in holy +orders; and, moreover, the habits of her life at one time, when she had +sunk to such depths of poverty, had, in a considerable degree, robbed +her of the conventional reserve of general society. She had been so used +at one time to be accosted and to accost without thinking of the +ceremony of an introduction, that she probably forgot the absence of it +in the present case, more than another equally discreet girl might have +done. + +The young man, on his part, seemed under the influence of a strange +charm. He continued to walk by her side, but he had ceased to speak. He +seemed lost in thought--melancholy thought. It certainly would seem as +if the allusion to Edgar's home, and his own school life, had roused a +host of painful recollections, in which he was for the time absorbed. + +So they followed the windings of the deep hollow lane together. +Necessarily it would seem, for this lane appeared to defy the proverb +and have no turning. But that it had one we know--and to it the little +party came at last. A gate led to some fields belonging to the estate of +the Hazels--Lettice and the nurse prepared to open it and enter. + +"Good morning, sir," said Lettice, "this is my way; I will strive to do +something for the poor woman you recommended to me, and I will mention +your recommendation to Mrs. Melwyn." + +He started as if suddenly awakened when she spoke; but he only said, +"Will you? It will be right and kind. Thank you, in her name." And, with +a grave, abstracted sort of salute, he left her, and pursued his way. + +Catherine was standing rather anxiously upon the hall-steps, looking +round and wondering what had become of her nurse and her baby, when +nurse, baby, and Lettice returned. + +"Dear people," she cried, "I _am_ glad you are come back." + +She had been, if the truth were told, a good deal fidgeted and +frightened, as young mothers are very apt to be, when the baby does not +come home at the usual hour. She had suffered a good deal of uneasiness, +and felt half inclined to be angry. A great many people with whom I am +acquainted, would have burst out into a somewhat petulant scold, when +the cause for anxiety was at an end, and baby and her party, all safe, +appeared quietly walking up the road as if nothing in the world were +amiss. The very quiet and tranquillity which proved that they were quite +unconscious of having done any thing wrong would have irritated some +people more than all the rest. I thought it was very nice of Catherine +to be good-humored and content as soon as she saw all was safe, after +the irritating anxiety she had just been going through. She, however, +ran eagerly down the steps, and her eyes sparkling with impatience +caught her little one in her arms and kissed it very fast and hard. That +being the only sign of an impatient spirit which she showed, and, except +crying out, "Oh! I am glad to see you safe back, all of you. Do you +know, Lettice, I began to wonder what had become of you?"--not a +syllable approaching to reproof passed her lips. + +"Dear Mrs. D'Arcy! Dear Catherine! I am afraid we are late. We went too +far--we partly lost ourselves. We got into a long, but oh! such a lovely +lane--where I never was before, and then, we have had a little wee bit +of an adventure." + +"Adventure! Oh goodness! I _am_ glad of that. Adventures are so +excessively rare in this country. I never met with one in my life, but +happening upon Edgar, as the people say, when he was coming from +hunting; and the wind had blown off my hat. A wind that blew somebody +good, that ... dear, beloved, Lettice, I wish to goodness, that I do--an +adventure of the like of that, might have happened to you." + +Lettice colored a little. + +"Gracious!" cried Catherine, laughing merrily, and peeping at her under +her bonnet--"I declare--you're blushing Lettice. Your adventure is +something akin to my adventure. Have you stumbled upon an unparalleled +youth--by mere accident as I did? and did he--did he pick up your hat?" + +"If he had," said Lettice, "I am afraid my face with my hair all blown +about it would not have looked quite so enchanting as yours must have +done. No, I did not lose my bonnet." + +"Any thing else? Your heart, perhaps?" + +"Dear Catherine! How can you be so silly." + +"Oh! it was such a blessed day when I lost mine," said Mrs. D'Arcy, +gayly. "Such a gain of a loss! that I wish just the same misfortune to +befall every one I love--and I love you dearly, Lettice." + +"There must be more than one heart lost I fancy, to make adventures turn +out as well as yours did, Catherine." + +"Oh! that's a matter of course in such sort of things. There is always +an exchange, where there is love at first sight. But now do tell me, +that's a dear girl, what your adventure was." + +"I only saw a clergyman reading to a poor woman--or rather I only saw a +clergyman, a Bible, and a poor woman, and thence concluded that he _had_ +been reading to her." + +"Oh! you tiresome creature. Poor, dear, old Mr. Hughes, I'll be bound. +Good old fellow--but such a hum-drum. Nay, Lettice, my dear, don't look +shocked and cross. A clergyman may be a very stupid, hum-drum, tiresome +fellow, as well as any other man. Don't pretend to deny that." + +"I would as lief not hear them called so--but this was not Mr. Hughes." + +"Oh, no! I remember now you were not in his parish. If you went down +Briarwood-lane far enough you would be in Briarwood parish. Mr. Thomas, +perhaps." + +"No." + +"Mr. Thomas's curate. Oh! of course the curate. Only I don't think Mr. +Thomas keeps one." + +"No; I believe not Mr. Thomas's, or any one else's curate; but a +gentleman who says he knew Captain D'Arcy at school." + +"Nay, that is too charming. That really is like an adventure." + +"Here, Edgar!" + +He was crossing the paddock at some little distance. + +"Come here for one instant. Do you recollect what I was talking to you +about this very morning? Well, Lettice has met with an adventure, and +has stumbled upon an old acquaintance of yours--reading the Bible to an +old woman--he was at school with you. + +"Well, as there were about five hundred people, more or less, who had +that honor--if you mean to know any thing about him, Miss Arnold, you +must go a little more into detail; and, first and foremost, what is the +young gentleman's name?" + +"James St. Leger," said Lettice. + +A start for answer, and, + +"Ha! Indeed! Poor fellow! _he_ turned up again. I little thought our +paths in life would ever cross more. How strange to unearth him in such +a remote corner of the world as Briarwood. Poor fellow! Well, what is he +like? and how does he look?" + +"Ill and melancholy," said Lettice. "I should say very ill and very +melancholy--and with reason I believe; for though he is in holy orders, +something is the matter with his throat or his chest; which renders him +useless in the pulpit." + +"You don't say so. His chest! I hope not. And yet," continued Edgar, as +if musing aloud, "I know not. He was one when I knew him, Miss Arnold, +so marked out through the vices of others for misery in this world, that +I used to think the sooner he went out of it the better for him." + +"Ah!" cried Catherine, "there is an interesting history here. Do tell it +us, Edgar. Of all your charming talks, what I like almost the best are +your reminiscences. He has such a memory, Lettice; and so much +penetration into the characters of persons: and the connection of +things; that nothing is so delightful as when he _will_ tell some old +history of his earlier years. Do, dear Edgar, tell us all about this +charming young curate of Briarwood." + +"Flatterer! Coaxing flatterer! Don't believe a word she says, Miss +Arnold. I am as empty-pated a rattle-skull, as ever was turned raw into +one of her Majesty's regiments--and that's saying a good deal, I can +tell you. But this dear creature here loves a bit of romance in her +heart. What's o'clock?" + +"Oh!" looking at the tiniest of watches, "a full two hours to dinner; +and such a day too for a story--and just look at that spreading oak with +the bench under it, and the deer lying crouching there so sweetly, and +the wind just lulling the boughs as it were to rest. Here, nurse, bundle +the baby away to her nursery. Now, _do_, there's a darling Edgar." + +"Why, my love, you are making awful preparation. It is almost as +terrible as reading a manuscript to begin a relation, all sitting +solemnly upon a bench under a tree together. There is not much to tell, +poor fellow; only I did pity him from my heart of hearts." + +Catherine had her way, and they sat down under the green leafy canopy of +this majestic oak; and she put her arm in her husband's, and her hand +into that of Lettice, and thus sitting between them, loving and beloved, +she listened, the happiest, as she was one of the honestest and best, +of heaven's creatures. + +"We were both together at a large rough sort of preparatory school," +began Edgar, "where there might be above a hundred boys or so. They were +mostly, if not entirely, intended for the military profession, and came +from parents of all sorts of positions and degrees, and of all sorts of +principles, characters, and manners. A very omnium gatherum that school +was, and the ways of it were as rough as in any school. I should think, +they could possibly be. I was a tall, healthy rebel, when I was sent +there, as strong as a little Hercules, and excessively proud of my force +and prowess. A bold, daring, cheerful, merry lad, as ever left his +mother's apron-string; very sorry to quit the dotingest of mothers, and +the happiest of homes, and the pleasantest of fathers; but mighty proud +to come out of the _Gynyseum_, and to be a man, as I thought it high +time I should, in cloth trowsers and jacket, instead of a black velvet +coatee. In I plunged, plump head-foremost amid the vortex, and was soon +in a thousand scrapes and quarrels, battling my way with my fists, and +my merry eye; for they used to tell me the merry eye did more for me +even than my impudence in fighting every thing that would condescend to +fight such a youngster. I was soon established, and then I breathed +after my victories, and began to look round. + +"So long as I had considered the throng about me but in the light of so +many adversaries to be beaten by main force, and their rude and +insulting ways only as provocatives to the fray, I had cared little for +their manners or their proceedings, their coarseness and vulgarity, +their brutality and their vices. But now, seated in peace upon the +eminence to which I had fought my way, I had time to breathe and to +observe. I can not describe to you how shocked, how sickened, how +disgusted I became. _Par parenthèse_, I will say that it has always been +an astonishment to me, how parents so tender as mine could send a frank, +honest-hearted, well-meaning little fellow into such a place. But the +school had a high reputation. I was then a fourth son, and had to make +my way as best I could in the profession chosen for me. So here I came. +I was about ten or eleven years old, I must add, in excuse for my +parents, though I called myself so young, I felt younger, because this +was my first school. To resume. When I had vanquished them, it is not in +words to describe how I despised and detested the majority of my +schoolfellows--for their vulgar pleasures, their offensive habits--their +hard, rough, brutal manners--their vicious principles, and their vile, +blasphemous impiety. I was a warm lover and a still more ardent hater, +and my hatred to most of them exceeded all bounds of reason; but it was +just such as a straightforward, warm-tempered fellow, is certain to +entertain without mitigation in such a case. + +"It is a bad element for a boy to be living in. However, I was saved +from becoming an utter young monster, by the presence in the school of +this very boy, James St. Leger. + +"In the bustle and hurry of my early wars, I had taken little heed of, +scarcely observed this boy at all. But when the pause came, I noticed +him. I noticed him for many reasons. He was tall for his age, slender, +and of extremely delicate make, but with limbs of a symmetry and beauty +that reminded one of a fine antique statue. His face, too, was extremely +beautiful; and there was something in his large, thoughtful, melancholy +eyes, that it was impossible ever to look upon and to forget. + +"I no sooner observed him at all, than my whole boyish soul seemed knit +to him. + +"His manner was extremely serious; the expression of his countenance sad +to a degree--deeply, intensely sad, I might say; yet through that deep +sadness there was a tender sweetness which was to me most interesting. I +never shall forget his smile--for laugh he never was heard to do. + +"I soon discovered two things, that made me feel more for him than all +the rest. One, that he was an extremely well-informed boy, and had +received a home education of a very superior order; and the other, that +he was most unfortunate, and that his misfortunes had one peculiar +ingredient of bitterness in them, namely, that they were of a nature to +excite the scorn and contempt of the vulgar herd that surrounded him, +rather than to move their rude hearts to sympathy and pity. + +"The propensity to good in rough, vulgar, thoughtless human beings, is +very apt to show itself in this way--in a sort of contemptuous disgust +against vice and folly, and an alienation from those connected with it, +however innocent We must accept it, upon reflection, I suppose, as a +rude form of good inclination; but I was too young for reflection--too +young to make allowances, too young to be equitable. Such conduct +appeared to me the most glaring and barbarous injustice, and excited in +me a passion ate indignation. + +"Never did I hear St. Leger taunted, as he often was, with the frailties +of his mother or the errors of his father, but my heart was all in a +flame--my fist clinched--my cheek burning. Many a fellow have I laid +prostrate upon the earth with a sudden blow who dared, in my presence, +to chase the color from St. Leger's cheek by alluding to the subject. +There was this remarkable in St. Leger, by the way, that he never +colored when his mother's shame or his father's end was alluded to, but +went deadly pale. + +"The history was a melancholy one of human frailty, and is soon told. +His mother had been extremely beautiful, his father the possessor of a +small independent fortune. They had lived happily together many years, +and she had brought him five children; four girls and this boy. I have +heard that the father doted with no common passion--in a _husband_, +Catherine--upon the beautiful creature, who was moreover accomplished +and clever. She seemed devoted to her children, and had given no common +attention to her boy in his early years. Hence his mental +accomplishments. The husband was, I suspect, rather her inferior in +intellect; and scarcely her equal in refinement and manner, but it's no +matter, it would have been probably the same whatever he had been. She +who will run astray under one set of circumstances, would probably have +run astray under any. She was very vain of her beauty and talents, and +had been spoiled by the idolatry and flattery of all who surrounded her. + +"I will not pain you by entering into any particulars; in brief, she +disgraced herself, and was ruined. + +"The rage, the passionate despair, the blind fury of the injured +husband, it was said, exceeded all bounds. There was of course every +sort of public scandal. Legal proceedings and the necessary +consequences--a divorce. The wretched history did not even end here. She +suffered horribly from shame and despair I have been told, but the shame +and despair, had not the effect it ought to have produced. She fell from +bad to worse, and was utterly lost. The husband did the same. Wild with +the stings of wounded affection, blinded with suffering, he flew for +refuge to any excitement which would for a moment assuage his agonies; +the gaming-table, and excess in drinking, soon finished the dismal +story. He shot himself in a paroxysm of delirium tremens, after having +lost almost every penny he possessed at Faro. + +"You tremble Catherine. Your hand in mine is cold. Oh the pernicious +woman! Oh the depths of the misery--if I were indeed to tell you all I +have met with and known--which are entailed upon the race by the vanity, +the folly, and the vice of women. Angels! yes, angels you are. Sweet +Saint--sweet Catherine, and men fall down and worship you--but woe for +them when she they worship, proves a fiend. + +"Dear Miss Arnold, you are shedding tears--but you _would_ have this +dismal story. You had better hear no more of it, let me stop now." + +"Go on--pray go on, Edgar. Tell us about the poor boy and the girls, you +said there were four of them." + +"The boy and his sisters were taken by some relations. It was about a +year after these events that I met him at this school. They had sent him +here, thinking the army the best place for him. To get him shot off, +poor fellow, perhaps, if they could. His four sisters were all then +living, and how tenderly, poor lad, he used to talk to me about them. +How he would grieve over the treatment they were receiving, with the +best intentions he acknowledged, but too hardening and severe he thought +for girls so delicate. They wanted a mother's fostering, a father's +protection, poor things, but he never alluded in the remotest way to +either father or mother. Adam, when he sprung from the earth, was not +more parentless than he seemed to consider himself. But he used to talk +of future for his sisters, and sometimes in his more cheerful moods, +would picture to himself what he would do when he should be a man, and +able to shelter them in a home, however humble, of his own. His whole +soul was wrapped up in these girls." + +"Did you ever hear what became of them?" + +"Three died of consumption, I have been told, just as they were opening +into the bloom of early womanhood, almost the loveliest creatures that +ever were seen." + +"And the fourth." + +"She was the most beautiful of all--a fine, high-spirited, dashing +creature. Her brother's secret terror and darling." + +"Well!" + +"She followed her mother's example, and died miserably at the age of +two-and-twenty." + +"What can we do for this man?" cried Catherine, when she had recovered +voice a little. "Edgar, what can we do for this man?" + +"Your first question, dear girl--always your first question--what can be +done?" Ever, my love, may you preserve that precious habit. My Catherine +never sits down lamenting, and wringing her hands helplessly about other +people's sorrows. The first thing she asks, is, "what _can be done_." + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Strongest minds + Are often those of whom the noisy world + Hears least; else surely this man had not left + His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed. + + Wordsworth. + +The first thing to be done, it was obvious to all parties, was for Edgar +to go and call upon Mr. St. Leger, which he did. + +He found him occupying one very small room, which served him for bed and +sitting room, in a small cottage upon the outskirts of the little +secluded town of Briarwood. He looked extremely ill; his beautiful +countenance was preternaturally pale; his large eyes far too bright and +large; his form attenuated; and his voice so faint, husky, and low that +it was with difficulty he could make himself heard, at least for any +length of time together. + +The expression of his countenance, however, was rather grave than sad; +resigned than melancholy. He was serious but perfectly composed; nay, +there was even a chastened cheerfulness in his manner. He looked like +one who had accepted the cup presented to him; had already exhausted +most of the bitter potion, and was calmly prepared to drain it to the +dregs. + +And so it had been. + +No man was ever more exquisitely constituted to suffer from +circumstances so agonizing than he. But his mind was of a lofty stamp; +he had not sunk under his sufferings. He had timely considered the +_reality_ of these things. He had learned to connect--really, truly, +faithfully--the trials and sorrows of this world with the retributions +of another. He had accepted the part allotted to him in the mysterious +scheme; had played it as best he could, and was now prepared for its +impending close. + +It is consoling to know one thing. In his character of minister of the +holy word of God he had been allowed the privilege of attending the last +illness of both mother and sister, both so deeply, deeply, yet silently +beloved, in spite of all; and, through those blessed means, the full +value and mercy of which, perhaps such grievous sinners are alone able +to entirely estimate, he had reconciled them, as he trusted, with that +God "who forgiveth all our iniquities and healeth all our diseases." +Having been allowed to do this, he felt as if it would be the basest +ingratitude to murmur because his services in the pulpit were suddenly +arrested by the disease in his chest, and with it a stop put to further +usefulness, and even to the supply of his daily bread. + +He was calmly expecting to die in the receipt of parish relief; for he +had not a penny beyond his curate's salary; and it was impossible to +allow Mr. Thomas, who was a poor man himself, to continue that, now the +hope of restoration to usefulness seemed at an end. It was not likely, +indeed, that he should, upon the spare hermit's diet which his scanty +means allowed, recover from a complaint of which weakness was the +foundation. + +He had tried to maintain himself by his pen; but the complaint which +prevented his preaching was equally against the position when writing. +He could do so little in this way that it would not furnish him with a +loaf a week. A ray of genuine pleasure, however, shot to his eye, and a +faint but beautiful flush mounted to his cheek, when Edgar entered and +cordially held out his hand. + +He was such a dear warm-hearted fellow, was Edgar. St. Leger had loved +him so entirely at school; and those days were not so _very_ long since! +The impression old Time had not even yet attempted with his busy fingers +to efface. + +"I am so glad to have found you out, my dear fellow," Edgar began. "Who +would have thought of meeting you, of all people in the world, here, +ensconsed in such a quiet nook of this busy island--a place where the +noise and bustle and stir of the Great Babylon can not even be heard. +But what are you doing in this place? for you look ill, I must say, and +you seem to be left to yourself without a human being to look after +you." + +"Much so. You know I am quite alone in the world." + +"A dismal position that, and I am come to put an end to it. My wife +insists upon making your acquaintance, and scuttled me off this morning +without giving me time to eat my breakfast, though, to own the truth, I +was ready enough of myself to set out. The general desired me to bring +his card; he is too infirm to go out himself, and he and Mrs. Melwyn +request the favor of your company to dinner to-morrow at six o'clock." + +"I should be very happy--but--," and he hesitated a little. + +"I'll come and fetch you in the dog-cart about five, and drive you down +again in the evening. It's a mere step by Hatherway-lane, which is quite +passable at this time of the year, whatever it may be in winter." + +St. Leger looked as if he should like very much to come. His was a +heart, indeed, formed for society, friendship, and love; not the least +of the monk or the hermit was to be found in his composition. And so it +was settled. + +St. Leger came to dinner, as arranged, Edgar fetching him up in the +dog-cart. + +Every one was struck with his appearance. There was a gentleness and +refinement in his manner which charmed Mrs. Melwyn; united to the ease +and politeness of a man of the world, equally acceptable to the general; +Catharine was delighted; and Lettice only in a little danger of being +too well pleased. + +His conversation soon showed him to be a man of a very superior turn of +thought, and was full of information. In short, it was some time, with +the exception of Edgar, since so agreeable a person had sat down at that +dinner-table; for the Hazels lay rather out of the way, and neither the +general nor Mrs. Melwyn were of a temper to cultivate society. + +Edgar returned home in the evening from an agreeable drive with his +friend through the bright glittering starlight night. It was slightly +frosty, and he came into the drawing-room rubbing his hands, with his +cheeks freshened by the air, looking as if he was prepared very much to +enjoy the fire. + +He found the whole party sitting up, and very amicably discussing the +new acquaintance, who had pleased them all so much. So Edgar sat down +between his wife and her mother, and readily joined in the conversation. + +The general, who really was much altered for the better under the good +influences of Lettice, had been speaking in high terms of their late +guest. And when Edgar came in and sat down in the circle, spreading his +hands to the fire, and looking very comfortable, the general, in an +amicable tone, began: + +"Really, Edgar, we have been saying we are quite obliged to you for +introducing to us so agreeable a man as this Mr. St. Leger, of yours. He +is quite a find in such a stupid neighborhood as ours, where, during the +ten years I have lived in it, I have never met one _resident_"--with an +emphasis upon the word, that it might not be supposed to include Edgar +himself--"one _resident_ whose company I thought worth a brass +farthing." + +"I am very glad my friend gives satisfaction, sir," said Edgar +cheerfully; "for I believe, poor fellow, he has much more to seek than +even yourself, general, in the article of companionship. One can not +think that the society of the worthy Mr. Thomas can afford much of +interest to a man like St. Leger. But whatever pleasure you may mutually +afford each other will soon be at an end, I fear; and I have been +beating my brains all the way coming home, to think what must be done." + +"Why must the pleasure come so soon to an end, Edgar?" asked Mrs. +Melwyn. + +"Why, if something can't be done, the poor lad is in a fair way to be +starved to death," was the answer. + +"Starved to death! How shockingly you do talk, Edgar," cried Mrs. +Melwyn. "I wish you would not say such things--you make one quite start. +The idea is too horrible--besides, it can not be true. People don't +starve to death nowadays--at least not in a sort of case like that." + +"I don't know--such things do sound as if they couldn't be true--and +yet," said Catherine, "they do come very nearly to the truth at times." + +"Indeed do they," said Lettice. "Starved to death," observed the +general, "I take to be merely a poetic exaggeration of yours, captain. +But do you mean to say that young man is literally in distressed +circumstances?" + +"The most urgently distressing circumstances, sir. The fact is, that he +inherited nothing from his father but a most scandalous list of debts, +which he most honorably sold every farthing of his own little property +to pay--relying for his subsistance upon the small stipend be was to +receive from Mr. Thomas. You don't like Mr. Thomas, sir." + +"Who would like such a stupid old drone?" + +"He's a worthy old fellow, nevertheless. Though his living is a very +poor one, he has acted with great liberality to James St. Leger. The +poor fellow has lost his voice: you would perceive in conversation how +very feeble and uncertain it was. It is utterly powerless in the +reading-desk; and yet Mr. Thomas has insisted upon retaining him--paying +his salary, and doing all the duty himself. As long as there was any +hope of recovery, to this St. Leger most unwillingly submitted; but, now +he despairs of ever again being useful, it is plain it can no longer be +done." + +"And what is to become of him?" exclaimed Lettice. + +She knew what it was to be utterly without resource--she knew how +possible it was for such things to happen in this world--she knew what +it was to be hungry and to want bread, and be without the means of +assistance--to be friendless, helpless, and abandoned by all. + +"What is to be done?" she cried. + +"What is to be done?" said the general, rather testily. "Why, the young +fellow must turn his hand to something else. None but a fool _starves_." + +"Ay, but," said Edgar, shaking his head, "but what is that something? I +see no prospect for one incapacitated by his cloth for enlisting as a +soldier or standing behind a counter, and by his illness for doing any +thing consistent with his profession." + +"I should think he might write a canting book," said the general with a +sneer; "_that_ would be sure to sell." + +"Whatever book St. Leger wrote," Edgar answered coldly, "would be a good +one, whether _canting_ or not. But he can not write a book. The fatigue, +the stooping, would be intolerable to his chest in its present irritable +state. Besides, if he did write a book, it's a hundred to one whether he +got any thing for it; and, moreover, the book is not written; and there +is an old proverb which says, while the grass grows the horse starves. +He literally _will_ starve, if some expedient can not be hit upon." + +"And that is too, too dreadful to think of," cried Mrs. Melwyn +piteously. "Oh, general!" + +"Oh, papa! oh, Edgar! Can you think of nothing?" added Catharine in the +same tone. + +"It would be a pity he should starve; for he is a remarkably +gentlemanlike, agreeable fellow," observed the general. "Edgar, do you +know what was meant by the term, one meets with in old books about +manners, of 'led captain?' I wish to heaven _I_ could have a led captain +like that." + +"Oh, there was the chaplain as well as the led captain in those days, +papa," said Catherine, readily. "Dearest papa, if one could but persuade +you you wanted a domestic chaplain." + +"Well, and what did the chaplain do in those days. Mrs. Pert?" + +"Why, he sat at the bottom of the table, and carved the sirloin." + +"And he read, and played at backgammon--when he was wanted, I believe," +put in Edgar. + +"And he did a great deal more," added Catherine in a graver tone. "He +kept the accounts, and looked after important business for his patron." + +"And visited the poor and was the almoner and their friend," said +Lettice in a low voice. + +"And played at bowls, and drank--" + +Catherine put her hand playfully over the general's mouth. + +"Don't, dear papa--you must _not_--you must not, indeed. Do you know +this irreverence in speaking of the members of so sacred a profession is +not at all what ought to be done. Don't Edgar. Dear papa, I may be +foolish, but I do _so_ dislike it." + +"Well, well, well--any thing for a quiet life." + +"But to resume the subject," locking her arm in his, and smiling with a +sweetness which no one, far least he, could resist. "Really and +seriously I do think it would be an excellent thing if you would ask Mr. +St. Leger to be your domestic chaplain." + +"Stuff and nonsense." + +"Not such stuff and nonsense as you think. Here's our darling +Lettice--think what a comfort she has been to mamma, and think what a +pleasant thing it would be for you to have a confidential and an +agreeable friend at your elbow--just as mamma has in Lettice. Hide your +face, Lettice, if you can't bear to be praised a little before it; but I +will have it done, for I see you don't like it. But, papa, you see +things are getting a good deal into disorder, they say, upon your +property out of doors, just for want of some one to look after them. I +verily believe, that if we could persuade this young gentleman to come +and do this for you, he would save you a vast deal of money." + +The general made no answer. He sank back in his chair, and seemed to +meditate. At last, turning to Edgar, he said, + +"That little wife of yours is really not such a fool as some might +suppose her to be, captain." + +"Really--' + +"What say you, Mrs. Melwyn? Is there any sense in the young lady's +suggestion, or is there not? What says Miss Arnold? Come, let us put it +to the vote." + +Mrs. Melwyn smiled. Catherine applauded and laughed, and kissed her +father, and declared he was the dearest piece of reasonableness in the +world. And, in short, the project was discussed, and one said this, and +the other said that, and after it had been talked over and commented +upon, with a hint from one quarter, and a suggestion from another, and +so on, it began to take a very feasible and inviting shape. + +Nothing could be more true than a person of this description in the +family was terribly wanted. The general was becoming every day less able +and less inclined to look after his own affairs. Things were mismanaged, +and he was robbed in the most notorious and unblushing manner. This must +be seen to. Of this Edgar and Catherine had been upon their return +speedily aware. The difficulty was how to get it done; and whom to trust +in their absence; which would soon, owing to the calls of the service, +take place again, and for an indefinite period of time. + +Mr. St. Leger seemed the very person for such an office, could he be +persuaded to undertake it; and his extremity was such, that, however +little agreeable to such a man the proposal might be, it appeared not +impossible that he might entertain it. Then he had made himself so much +favor with the general, that one difficulty, and the greatest, was +already overcome. + +Mrs. Melwyn seconded their designs with her most fervent wishes. She +could not venture to do much more. + +To have expressed her sentiments upon the subject--to have said how much +she felt the necessity of some such plan, and how ardently she desired +that it might be carried into execution, would have been one very likely +reason for setting her wayward old partner against it. + +She had found so much happiness in the possession of Lettice as a +friend, that she anticipated every possible advantage from a similar +arrangement for the general. + +You may remark as you go along, that it was because Lettice had so +admirably performed her own part, that the whole family were so desirous +of repeating it under other circumstances. Such are among the +incidental--if I may call them so--fruits of good conduct. + +If the vices spread wide their devastating influences--the virtues +extend their blessings a thousand fold. + +The general did not want for observation He had estimated the good which +had arisen from the admission of Lettice Arnold into his family, and he +felt well inclined to the scheme of having a companion of his own. He +could even tolerate the idea of a species of domestic chaplain; provided +the personage so designated would look to his home farm and keep his +accounts. + +The proposal was made to Mr. St. Leger. + +He hesitated. Edgar expected that he would. + +"I do not know," he said. "I feel as if I were, in some measure, running +the risk of degrading my holy office, by accepting, merely for my +personal convenience, a dependent position, where certain compliances, +as a necessary condition, might be expected, which are contrary to my +views of things." + +"Why so? I assure you, upon my honor, nothing of that sort is to be +apprehended. These are really very well meaning people, and you may +serve them more than you seem aware. The part of domestic chaplain is +not held beneath the members of your church. I own this is not a noble +family, and doubt whether you can legitimately claim the title. Yet the +office is the same." + +"Yes--if I may perform the duties of that office. On that condition +alone, will I entertain the thought of it for a moment. And I must add, +that as soon as ever I am in a condition--if that time ever arrives--to +resume my public duties, I am to be allowed to do so." + +"Unquestionably." + +"And, that while I reside under the general's roof, I may carry out +certain reforms which I believe to be greatly wanted." + +"No doubt." + +"And that I shall be enabled to assist Mr. Thomas in the care of this +extremity of his large parish, which so deplorably requires looking +after." + +The general grumbled a little at some of these conditions, but finally +consented to all. + +He was getting an old man. Perhaps he was not sorry--though he thought +it due to those ancient prejudices of his profession, I am happy to say +now fast growing obsolete, to appear so--perhaps he was not really +sorry, now the wheel was beginning to pause at the cistern, and the +darkness of age was closing around him, to have some one in his +household to call his attention to things which he began to feel had +been neglected too long. + +Perhaps he was not sorry to allow family prayer in a mansion, where the +voice of united family prayer had, till then, never been heard. To +anticipate a little--I may add, as certain, that he, who began with +never attending at all, was known to drop in once or twice; and ended by +scolding Lettice heartily in a morning if there was any danger of her +not having bound up his arm in time for him to be present. + +His gray venerable head--his broken, but still manly figure--his +wrinkled face--his still keen blue eye, might be seen at last amid his +household. The eye fixed in a sort of determined attention--the lips +muttering the prayer--a sort of child in religion still--yet far to seek +in many things; but accepted, we will hope, as a child. + +He could share, too, as afterward appeared, in the interest which Mrs. +Melwyn and Lettice, after Mr. St. Leger's arrival, ventured openly to +take in the concerns of the poor; and even in the establishment of a +school, against which, with an obstinate prejudice against the education +of the lower classes, the general had long so decidedly set his face. + +In short, having accepted all the conditions upon which alone St. Leger, +even in the extremity of his need, could be persuaded to accept a place +in his family, the old soldier ended by taking great comfort, great +interest, great pleasure, in all the improvements that were effected. + + * * * * * + +One difficulty presented itself in making the arrangement; and this came +from a quarter quite unexpected by Catherine--from poor Mrs. Melwyn. + +"Ah, Catherine," said she, coming into her room, and looking most +nervous and distressed, "take care what you and Edgar are about, in +bringing this Mr. St. Leger into the family. Suppose he should fall in +love with Lettice?" + +"Well, mamma, suppose he should--where would be the dreadful harm of +that?" said Catherine, laughing. + +"Ah, my dear! Pray, don't laugh, Catherine. What _would_ become of us +all?" + +"Why, what would become of you all?" + +"I'm sure I don't wish to be selfish. I should hate myself if I were. +But what _could_ we do without Lettice? Dear Catherine! only think of +it. And that would not be the worst. They could not marry--for they +would have nothing to live upon if they left us--so they would both be +miserable. For they _could_ neither go nor stay. It would be impossible +for them to go on living together here, if they were attached to each +other and could never be married. And so miserable as they would be, +Catherine, it makes me wretched to think of it." + +"Ah! dear, sweet mother, don't take up wretchedness at interest--that's +my own mother. They're not going to fall in love. Mr. St. Leger looks +not the least inclined that way." + +"Ah, that's easily said, but suppose they _did_?" + +"Well, suppose they did. I see no great harm in it; may I confess to +you, mother, for my part, I should be secretly quite glad of it." + +"Oh, Catherine! how _can_ you talk so? What would be _done_?" + +"Done! Why, let them marry to be sure, and live on here." + +"Live on here! Who on earth ever heard of such a scheme! Dearest +child, you are too romantic. You are almost absurd, my sweet +Catherine--forgive your poor mother for saying so." + +"No, that I won't," kissing her with that playful tenderness which so +well became her, "that I won't, naughty mamma. Because, do you know, you +say the most unjust thing in the world when you call me romantic. Why, +only ask papa, ask Edgar, ask Mrs. Danvers, ask any body, if I am not +common-sense personified." + +"If I asked your papa, my dear girl, he would only say you had a way of +persuading one into any thing, even into believing you had more head +than heart, my own darling," said the fond mother, her pale cheek +glowing, and those soft eyes swimming in delight, as she looked upon her +daughter. + +"That's right; and now you have acknowledged so much, my blessed mother, +I am going to sit down by you, and seriously to give you my well weighed +opinions upon this most weighty matter." So Catherine drew a low stool, +and sat too down by her mother's knee, and threw her arm over her lap, +and looked up in her face and began her discourse. + +"First of all, then, dearest mamma, I think you a little take up anxiety +at interest in this case. I really never did see a man that seemed to me +less likely to fall in love imprudently than this Mr. St. Leger. He is +so extremely grave and sedate, so serious, and so melancholy, and he +seems so completely to have done with this world--it has, indeed, proved +a bitter world to him--and to have so entirely placed his thoughts upon +another, that I think the probability very remote indeed, if to the +shadow of any thing above a possibility it amounts, of his ever taking +sufficient interest in present things to turn his thoughts upon his own +happiness. He seems absorbed in the performance of the duties to which +he has devoted himself. Secondly, this being my idea of the state of the +case, I have not the slightest apprehension in the world for dear +Lettice's happiness; because I know what a sensible, kind, and what a +well regulated heart hers is, and that she is far too good and +right-minded to attach herself in any way beyond mere benevolence, and +friendship, and so forth, where there was not a prospect of an adequate +return." + +"Oh, yes! my love, very true; yet, Catherine, you admit the possibility, +however remote, of what I fear. And then what _would_ become of us all? +Surely, it is not right to shut our eyes to this possibility." + +"Why, mamma, I don't deny the possibility you speak of, and I quite see +how wrong it would be to shut our eyes to it; but just listen to me, +dearest mother, and don't call me wild and romantic till you have heard +me out." + +"Well, my love, go on; I am all attention." + +"I should think it really, the most ridiculous thing in the world," and +she laughed a little to herself, "to enter so seriously into this +matter, if Edgar and I, alas! were not ordered away in so short a time, +and I fear my dearest mamma will be anxious and uncomfortable after I +am gone--about this possibility, if we do not settle plans a little, +and agree what ought, and what could be done, supposing this horrible +contingency to arise." + +"How well you understand your poor mother, love! Yes; that is just it. +Only let me have the worst placed steadily before my eyes, and the +remedies, if any, proposed, or if none, the state of the case +acknowledged, and I can bear the contemplation of almost any thing. I +think it is not patience, but courage, that your poor mother wants, my +child. Uncertainty--any thing that is vague--the evils of which are +undefined, seems to swell into such terrific magnitude. I am like a poor +frightened child, Catherine; the glimmering twilight is full of +monstrous spectres to me." + +"Yes, mamma, I believe that is a good deal the case with most of us; but +more especially with those who have so much sensibility and such +delicate nerves as you have. How I adore you, dear mother, for the +patient sweetness with which you bear that trying sort of constitution." + +"Dear child!" + +"Well, then, mother, to look this evil steadily in the face, as you say. +Suppose Lettice and Mr. St. Leger _were_ to form an attachment for each +other, what should hinder them from marrying?" + +"Ah, my dear, that was what I said before, what _would_ become of +them--they must starve." + +"Why so? why not live on here?" + +"Nay, Catherine, you made me promise not to call you romantic, but who +ever heard of such an out-of-the-way scheme. A young married couple, +living in the condition of domestic companions to people, and in another +man's house. Utterly impossible--what nobody ever attempted to +do--utterly out of the question." + +"Well, mamma, I, for one, think that a great many rather out-of-the-way +plans, which, nevertheless, might make people very happy, are often +rejected--merely because 'nobody ever heard of such a thing,' or, +'nobody ever thought of doing so, and therefore it is utterly +impossible.'... But I think I have observed that those who, in their own +private arrangements, have had the courage, upon well considered +grounds--mind I say upon _well considered grounds_--to overlook the +consideration of nobody ever having thought of doing such a thing +before--have found their account in it, and a vast deal of happiness has +been secured which would otherwise have been quite lost." + +"As how, Catherine. Give me instances. I don't quite follow you." + +"Why, in marriages, for instance, then, such cases arise very often. +Late marriages for one--between people quite advanced in years--which +the world often laugh and sneer at. Most wrongly in my opinion--for +through them how often do we see what would otherwise have been a +solitary old age, rendered cheerful and comfortable; and sometimes a +weary, disappointed life, consoled by a sweet friendship and affection +at its close. Then, there are marriages founded upon reason and +arrangement; such as when an ugly man with an ungraceful manner, yet +perhaps a good heart and head, and with it plenty of money, marries one +rather his inferior in social rank, whom his circumstances enable him to +indulge with many new sources of enjoyment, and who in return is +grateful for the elevation, and proud of a husband young ladies of his +own class might have looked down upon. Then there might be another +arrangement, which is, indeed, at present, I own, almost a romance, it +is so rarely entered into. I mean, supposing single women from different +families, somewhat advanced in life, were to put their little fortunes +together, and form a household, wherein, by their united means, they +might live easily--instead of almost in penury alone. In short, the +instances are innumerable, in which, I think, the path a little out of +the ordinary course, is the wisest a person can pursue." + +"Go on, my love, you talk so prettily, I like to hear you." + +The daughter kissed the soft white hand she held in hers--white it was +as the fairest wax, and still most beautiful. The signs of age were only +discernible in the wasting blue veins having become a little too +obvious. + +"Well, then, mamma, to draw my inference. I think, under the peculiar +circumstances of our family, you, who are so in want of children and +companions, could not do better, than if these two valuable creatures +_did_ attach themselves to one another, to let them marry and retain +them as long as they were so minded under your roof." + +"My goodness, child!" + +"I have planned it all. This house is so big. I should allot them an +apartment at the east end of it. Quite away from the drawing-room and +yours and my father's rooms--where they might feel as much at home as it +is possible for people to feel in another man's house. I should increase +their salary--by opening a policy upon their lives; as a provision for +their children if they had any. A large provision of this sort would not +be needed. It is not to be supposed their children would not have to +earn their own living as their parents had done before them. Why should +they not? _Nota bene_--Edgar and I hold that the rage for making +children independent, as it is called--that is, enabling them just to +exist, doing nothing, so as just to keep them from starving upon a +minimum income, is a very foolish thing among those whose habits of life +render no such independence necessary, and who have never thought of +enjoying this exemption from labor in their own case." + +"But, your father! And then, suppose they got tired of the plan, and +longed for a house of their own?" + +"My father is much more easily persuaded to what is good for him, than +we used to think, dear mother. See how nice he has been about Lettice +and this Mr. St. Leger. As to their wishing at last for a home of their +own, that is possible I allow: but think, sweetest mother, of the +pleasure of rewarding this dear, good girl, by making her happy. As for +the rest, fear not, mamma. God will provide." + +Mrs. Melwyn made no answer. But she listened more comfortably. The +nervous, anxious, harassed expression of face, which Catherine knew but +too well, began to compose, and her countenance to resume its sweet and +tranquil smile. + +"Mind, dear mamma, after all I am only speaking of the remote +possibility, and what might be done. You would have such pleasure in +carrying out the scheme. Oh! I do wish there were but a chance of +it--really I can't help it, mamma--it would be so nice;" said the +sanguine, kind-hearted Catherine. + + +CHAPTER X. + + Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, + And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray. + + Goldsmith. + +Accordingly, Mr. St. Leger, his objections having been overruled by +Edgar, accepted the place offered him in General Melwyn's family. + +In old times it would probably have been called, what it literally was, +that of domestic chaplain: and the dignity of the name, the defined +office, and the authority in the household which it implies, would not +have been without their use--but, in spite of the want of these +advantages, Mr. St. Leger managed to perform the duties, which, in his +opinion, attached to the office, to the satisfaction of every one. + +It had not been without considerable difficulty and hesitation that he +had persuaded himself to enter into the plan. He had scruples, as we +have seen; and he had, moreover, an almost invincible dislike to any +thing approaching to family dependence. + +The extremity of his circumstances, however, made him, upon a little +consideration, feel that the indulgence of these latter mentioned +feelings of pride and delicacy, was not only unreasonable but almost +positively wrong. And, as for the scruples connected with his +profession, Edgar did not find it difficult to dissipate them. + +He set forth, what was in truth the present state of the family at the +Hazels, and enlarged upon the very great need there was for the +introduction of more religious views than now prevailed. According to a +fashion almost universally prevalent when General Melwyn was young, +except with those of professed religious habits, and who were +universally stigmatized as Methodists, family prayer had been utterly +neglected in his family. And, notwithstanding the better discipline +maintained since the evil star of Randall had sunk beneath the horizon, +not the slightest approach to regularity, in this respect, had been as +yet made. Mrs. Melwyn was personally pious, though in a timid and +unconfiding way, her religion doing little to support and strengthen +her mind; but the general, though he did not live, as many of his +generation were doing, in the open profession of skepticism, and that +contempt for the Bible, which people brought up when Tom Paine passed +for a great genius, used to reckon so clever, yet it was but too +probable that he never approached his Creator, in the course of the +twenty-four hours, in any way; nor had he done so, since he was a child +at his mother's knee. + +The young captain and his lady were blest with loving, pious, simple +dispositions. They loved one another--they delighted in the dear, happy +world in which they lived, and in the sweet little creature, their own +darling and most precious possession, and they both loved, and most +gratefully served their God, who had given them all these good things, +and loved him with the full warmth of their feeling hearts. They showed +their reverence for divine things by every means in their power: and +though they were not of those who go about hurling the awful vengeance +of God, upon all they may think less pious than themselves, they were +naturally anxious, and as advancing years brought increase of serious +thought, they became more and more anxious that their parents should +share the consolations, and their house hold the moral guidance to be +derived from a better system. + +Then, as I hinted to you before, in anticipation of this change, there +had been a very serious neglect, upon the part of this family, of all +those duties connected with the poor and ignorant. None of those efforts +were here made to assist in softening the evils of destitution, or in +forwarding the instruction of the young, which almost every body, +nowadays, considers such obvious duties. + +Such were among the considerations urged by Edgar, and to such Mr. St. +Leger yielded. + +The general was profuse in his offers as regarded salary, and gave Edgar +a _carte blanche_ upon the matter; but Mr. St. Leger would only accept +of one hundred a year, and this, with the stipulation that so soon as +the state of his health would enable him, he should be at liberty to +undertake the duties belonging to a curate for Mr. Thomas, without +diminishing that gentleman's slender stipend by receiving any +remuneration from his hands. + +This last part of the arrangement was particularly acceptable to Mr. St. +Leger, as he thought with the highest satisfaction upon the probability +now opening of resuming his clerical duties, and of thus being able to +repay the debt of gratitude he felt to be owing to the good old vicar. + + * * * * * + +And now behold Mr. St. Leger introduced as a member of the family at the +Hazels, and shedding, on his part, as Lettice had before him done, upon +hers, a new set of benign influences upon this household. + +He was installed the first day by the general, with much politeness and +some little formality, in Edgar's place, at the bottom of the table; +that young gentleman having made it his particular request that he might +see his friend sitting there before his departure. With due gravity was +all this done; while Edgar, chuckling with delight, came and popped down +in his place by the side of his wife. + +The young stranger, looking extremely quiet and composed, without fuss, +ceremony, or hurry, took the place appointed to him; but, before seating +himself, with a serious air, he opened his ministerial functions, by +saying grace. + +Not as the general was wont to say it--for say it he did, more as if +making a grimace than even as going through a form--but so impressively +and reverently, though very briefly, that the hearts of those about to +sit down, were touched, and they were reminded in spite of themselves, +as they ought to be reminded, that there is One above all who is the +Giver of these good things. + +The scene was striking. The very footmen--the officer's footmen--paused, +napkin in hand; astonished--awe-struck by the service. They stood and +stared with vacant eyes, but remained stock still. + +That over, the dinner went on as usual. People ate and drank with +cheerful enjoyment. They all, indeed, felt particularly warm-hearted and +comfortable that day. A sort of genial glow seemed to pervade the little +party. The footmen rushed about more light-footed and assiduous than +ever; and, be it observed to their credit, they were all, without +exception, most particularly attentive to the new comer. + +In the evening, at ten o'clock, the bell rang for prayers. + +Mr. St. Leger, be it understood, had not stipulated for obligatory +attendance upon this service--only for the right to have candles in the +library, and of reading prayers to such as might chose to come; but Mrs. +Melwyn had ordered the servants to attend; and she, and Edgar, and +Catherine, were also there, leaving poor Lettice to take charge of the +general. + +The service was short, but impressive, as the grace had been before. It +was necessarily very brief, for the voice of the fair and delicate young +man, looking, indeed, as we might imagine one of the angels of the +churches, figured in Scripture, was so extremely feeble that more he +could not do. + +But even if he had possessed the power, I question whether much more he +would have done, he looked upon impressive brevity as the very soul of +such exercises in a family like the present. + +Poor Lettice! how hard she found it that evening to remain playing +backgammon with the general, when the rest went out of the room. Going +to attend those services to which she had been accustomed in the house +of her father; and after which, during her stay here, her heart had so +often yearned; but it could not be. + +She was, however, consoled by a whisper from Catherine, as she came +back, passing her upon her way to take her place by the fire. + +"To-morrow you go and I stay. We will take it in turns." + +The new plans were of course--as what taking place in a family is +not--discussed in full conclave that evening over the kitchen fire. + +The servants all came back and assembled round it preparatory to washing +up and going to bed; for though it was summer and warm weather, what +servant in the world does not enjoy the kitchen fire in the evening, be +the weather what it may? And, to tell truth, there are not a few in the +parlor, who usually would be glad to share the privilege; but to +proceed. + +"Well, Thomas, how do _you_ like these new ways of going on?" asked +Mary, the serious, stiff, time-dried, and smoke-dyed head-laundress--a +personage of unknown antiquity, and who had been in the family ever +since it was a family--addressing the fine powdered gentleman in silk +stockings, and pink, white, and silver livery, who leaned negligently +against the chimney-piece. + +"For my part, I'm glad, indeed, to see serious ways taken up in this +house; but how will it suit the rest of you? And especially you, my fine +young gentleman?" + +"Why," answered Thomas, assuming a grave and thoughtful aspect, "I'm +going to confess something which will, perhaps, astonish you, Mistress +Mary--and thus it is--if I'd been told twelve months ago that such new +regulations were to be introduced into this household, I have very great +doubts whether I could have made up my mind to have submitted to them; +but within these few hours, d'ye see, there's been a change." + +"Bravo, Thomas!" said the butler; "a conversion like--I've heard of such +things in my time." + +"Call it what you will, Mr. Buckminster, I call it a change--for a +change there has been." + +"What! well! what!" from different voices round. "Do tell us all about +it." + +"Why, Charles, you were there; and Mr. Buckminster, you were there too. +But Charles is young and giddy; and Mr. Buckminster being always rather +of the serious order, very probably the effect you see was not produced +so strongly upon either of them as upon me." + +"What effect? Well--" + +"Why of the grace, as was said before they sat down to dinner." + +"The grace! Was it the first time you ever heard grace said, you booby?" + +"Yes, I'd heard grace said--I should suppose as often as any as may be +here--though, perhaps, not so sensible to its importance and value as +some present, meaning you, Mistress Mary. The general, for one, never +used to omit it; but, save us! in what a scuffling careless manner it +was said. I protest to you, I thought no more of it than of Mr. +Buckminster taking off the covers and handing them to me. Just as a +necessary preliminary, as they say, to the dinner, and nothing on earth +more." + +"Well, do go on, Thomas. It's very _interesting_," said Mistress Mary, +and the rest gathered closer, all attention. + +"Well, I was a-going to go scuttling about just as usual, thinking only +of not making any noise lest I should see the general--heeding no more +of the grace than of what cook was doing at her fire--when that young +gentleman, as is come newly among us, bent forward and began to speak +it. The effect upon me was wonderful--it was electric--Mr. Buckminster, +you know what I mean; I stood as one arrested--I couldn't have moved or +_not_ cared if it had been never so--I really couldn't. It seemed to me +as if he truly _was_ thanking God for the good things that were set +before them. Their plenty, and their comfort, and their abundance; it +seemed to me as if things were opened to my mind--what I had never +thought of before--who it was--who _did_ give them, and us after them, +all sorts of delicacies, and food, and drink, when others might be +wanting a morsel of bread; and I seemed to be standing before Him--I +felt need to thank Him with the rest.... All this flashed through me +like lightning; but he had done in a moment, and they all sat down." + +"How beautiful Thomas does talk when he has a mind," whispered the +under-housemaid to the under-laundry-maid. "What a fine tall young man +he is, and what a gift of the gab." + +"Well," said the rest, "go on--is there any more?" + +"Yes, there is more. Someway, I could not get it out of my head--I kept +thinking of it all dinner. It was as much as I could do to mind what I +was about; and once I made such a clatter in putting a knife and fork +upon a plate, that if it hadn't been for the greatest good luck in the +world, I should have got it. But the general was talking quite +complacent like with the two young gentlemen, and by huge good fortune +never heeded." + +"Well!" + +"Well, when I got into the pantry and began washing up, I had more time +for quiet reflection. And this is what I thought. What a lot of +lubberly, inanimated, ungrateful, stupid slaves we all must be. Here +serving an earthly master, to the best of our abilities, for a few +beggarly pounds, and for his meat and drink and fine clothing; and very +well contented, moreover, when there's roast beef of a Sunday, or +plum-pudding, and a glass of wine besides on a wedding-day or a +birthday; and thank him, and feel pleased with him, and anxious next day +to do better than ordinary, mayhap--And there's the Great Master--the +Lord and Giver of all, who made us by his hand, and created us by his +power, and feeds us by his bounty, and shelters us by his care; and all +for no good of his, but ours--simply ours. For what's he to get of it, +but the satisfaction of his merciful and generous spirit, when he sees +his poor creatures happy? + +"And we are such dolts! such asses! such brute beasts! such stocks! +such stones! that here we go on from day to day, enjoying the life he +gives us, eating the bread and meat he gives us, drinking his good +refreshments, resting upon his warm beds, and so on.... Every day, and +every day, and every day--and who among us, I, most especially for one, +ever thinks, except may be by scuttling through a few rigmarole +words--ever thinks, I say, of thanking _Him_ for it--of lifting up a +warm, honest heart, of true real thanking, I mean? Of loving Him the +better, and trying to serve and please Him the better--when He, great +and powerful as He is--Lord of all the lords, emperors, and kings, that +ever wore crowns and coronets in this world--condescends to _let_ us +thank Him, to _like_ us to thank Him, and to take pleasure in our humble +love and service!" + +Ha paused--every eye was fixed upon the speaker. + +"And, therefore," continued Thomas, turning to the laundry-maid, who +stood there with a tear in her eye; "therefore, Mistress Mary, I _am_ +pleased with, and I do _like_ these new ways of going on, as you say; +and I bless God, and hope to do it well in my prayers this night, for +having at last made of us what I call a regular Christian family." + + * * * * * + +I have told you, a little in the way of anticipation, that the +popularity of Mr. St. Leger's new measures was not confined to the +kitchen; but that the general, by slow steps, gradually conformed to the +new usages established at the Hazels. + +Lettice and Catherine had not long to take it it turns to stay out with +him, playing backgammon, at the time of evening prayers. + +At first it was a polite--"Oh, pray don't think of staying in the +drawing-room upon my account; I can do very well by myself."... Next it +was, "Nay, rather than that, I will go into the library too; why should +I not?" He began to feel, at first, probably, from a vague sense of +propriety only, but before long from better reasons, that it was not +very seemly for the master of the house alone to be absent, when the +worship of God was going on in his family. + +So there he might, as I told you, ere long be seen, regularly at +night--in the morning more and more regularly--muttering the responses +between his teeth at first; at length, saying them aloud, and with +greater emphasis than any of the rest of the little congregation. His +once majestic figure, now bent with age, towering above the rest; and +his eagle eye of authority, still astonishingly piercing, rolling round +from time to time, upon the watch to detect and rebuke, by a glance, the +slightest sign of inattention upon the part of any of those assembled. + +It was a beautiful picture that evening meeting for prayer, for the +library was a very ancient room, it having retained the old fittings put +in at the time the Hazels was built, some three half centuries ago. The +massive and handsome book-cases of dark oak; the family pictures, grim +with age, which hung above them; the urns and heads of old philosophers +and poets adorning the cornice; the lofty chimney-piece, with the family +arms carved and emblazoned over it; the massive oaken chairs, with their +dark-green morocco cushions; the reading-desk; the large library table, +covered with portfolios of rare prints; and large books containing fine +illustrated editions of the standard authors of England; gave a somewhat +serious, almost religious aspect to the apartment. + +Mrs. Melwyn, in her soft gray silks and fine laces; her fair, colorless +cheek; her tender eyes bent downward; her devout, gentle, meek, humble +attitude and expression; Catherine by her side, in all the full bloom of +health and happiness; that charming-looking, handsome Edgar; and +Lettice, with so much character in her countenance, seated upon one side +of the room, formed a charming row of listening faces, with this rugged, +magnificent-looking old general at their head. + +On the opposite side were--the grave, stern, old housekeeper, so fat, so +grave, and so imposing; Mrs. Melwyn's new maid, a pretty young woman, in +the lightest possible apology for a cap, trimmed with pink ribbons; the +laundry-maid, so serious, and sitting stiff and starched as one of her +own clear muslins; the cook and housemaid looking as attentive as they +could; and the under-servants staring with vacant eyes--eyes that looked +as if they were ready to drop out of their heads; Mr. Buckminster, as +the charming Dickens has it, _so_ "respectable;" Thomas, all spirit and +enthusiasm; and Charles doing all in his power not to fall asleep. + +At the table the young minister, with that interesting and most delicate +face of his; his tall, wasted figure bending forward, his fair, +emaciated hands resting upon the book, from which, in a voice low and +feeble, but most penetrating and sweet, he read. + +They would come back to the drawing-room in such a composed, happy, +cheerful frame of mind. The general more remarkably so. He felt more +self-satisfaction than the others; because the course of proceeding was +so new to him that he imagined it to be very particularly meritorious. A +bit of a pharisee you will think--but not the least of that, I assure +you. Only people, at their first trying of such paths, do often find +them most peculiarly paths of pleasantness and ways of peace; and, this +sort of peace, this being at ease with the conscience, is, to be sure, +very soothing and comfortable. + +In short, nothing could proceed better than things did; and every one +was quite content but the charming match-maker, Catherine. + +She watched, and watched with the greatest interest; but watch as she +might, she could detect no symptoms of falling in love upon the part of +Mr. St. Leger. + +He spent, indeed, the whole of his mornings either in his own room or in +the library, absorbed in the books of divinity, of which there happened +to be a very valuable collection; a collection which had slept +undisturbed upon the shelves for many and many a long year. These +afforded to him a source of interest and improvement which he had never +enjoyed since he had left the too often neglected library of the small +college where he had been educated. He was ready to devour them. Every +moment of time he considered his own--and the whole of the morning was +chiefly at his disposal--was devoted to them; with the exception, be it +mentioned, of a large portion, which, when the weather would allow, was +spent in visiting among the poor at that end of the parish. + +At dinner Mr. St. Leger for the first time joined the family party. When +he did, however, it must be confessed, he made ample amends for his +absence, and was excessively agreeable. He had great powers of +conversation, and evidently considered it his duty to exert himself to +raise the tone of conversation at the general's table, so as to make the +time pass pleasantly with the old man. In this Edgar and Catherine +seconded him to the best of their power. + +Lettice said little. She sat at the bottom of the table, by Mr. St. +Leger; but though he often addressed her--taking care that she should +not feel left out--as did Catherine also, she was very silent. She had +not, indeed, much that she could venture to say. When conversation took +this higher tone, she felt afraid of her own ignorance; and then she +first knew what it was to lament not having had a better education. + +As they grew more intimate--for people who sit side by side at dinner +every day can not help growing intimate--Mr. St. Leger would gently +remark upon this reserve; and one day he began to speak openly upon the +subject. He had attributed her silence, I believe, to a bashful feeling +of inferiority in rank; for her face was so intelligent and full of +meaning, that he did not divine its real cause, so he said, with a +certain gentle abruptness which became him much: + +"I have discovered a fault in you, Miss Arnold, at last; though every +body here seems to think it impossible you should have one. May I tell +you of it?" + +"Oh! if you once begin with my faults, I am afraid you will never have +done. I know the length of the score that might be summed up against me, +though others are so good-natured as to forget it. Yes, indeed, I shall +be much obliged to you." + +"Don't you think it is the duty of all to exert themselves in a family +party, to make conversation circulate in an agreeable manner?" + +"To be sure, I do--and" ... how well you perform that duty, she was +prompted to say, but she did not. She hesitated a little, and then +added--"And, perhaps, you think I do not do that so much as I ought to +do." + +"Precisely. You will not be angry. No, you can not be angry. You never +are. The most trying and provoking things, I observe, can not ruffle +you. So I will venture to say, that I think you don't play fair by me. +We are both here chiefly to make ourselves agreeable, I believe; and I +sometimes wish I had a little more assistance in that duty from one who, +I am sure, could perform it admirably, if she so pleased." + +Lettice shook her head. Then she said, with her usual simplicity, "I +used to talk more before you came." + +"Did you? But that's not quite generous, is it, to throw the whole +burden upon me now I _am_ come, instead of sharing it? Why will you not +talk now?" + +"Simply, because I can't. Oh, Mr. St. Leger! the talk is so different +since you came here, and I feel my own incapacity so sadly--my own +ignorance so forcibly--I should say so painfully; but that, indeed, is +not my own fault, and that takes the worst pain, you know, out of +things." + +"Ignorant!" he said: "of what?" + +"Of all these things you talk about. I used to pick up a little from the +newspapers, but now I have done reading them I seem literally to know +nothing." + +"Nothing! Nothing about books, I suppose you mean; for you seem to me to +understand men and things better than most people I have met with." + +"I have experienced more, perhaps, than most girls of my age have done, +through my poverty and misfortunes; but what is that?" + +"Ah, Miss Arnold! what is it but the best part of all knowledge; to +understand one's self and others; the best of all possessions; to +possess one's own spirit. But I beg your pardon, I will only add, that I +do not, by what I say, intend at all to undervalue the advantages of +reading, or the happiness of having a love of reading. Do you love +reading?" + +"Why, I don't quite know. I find the books I read aloud to Mrs. Melwyn +often very tiresome, I must confess." + +"And what sort of books do you read to Mrs. Melwyn?" + +"Why, only two sorts--novels and essays." + +He laughed a little, in his quiet way, and then said, "I wonder at any +young lady disliking novels; I thought it was the very reading they +liked best; but as for essays, with very few exceptions, I must own I +share in your distaste for them." + +"I can't understand them very often. I am ashamed to say it; but the +writers use such fine language and such strange new words, and then they +go over and over again upon the same thought, and illustrate it twenty +different ways, when one happy illustration, I think, would be so much +better; I like a writer who marches promptly through a subject; those +essayists seem as if they never could have done." + +"What you say is just, in many instances, I think. It is a pity you have +not tried other reading. History, travels, poetry; you can not think how +pleasantly such subjects seem to fill and enlarge the mind. And if you +have a little time of your own, you can not easily believe, perhaps, how +much may be done. Even with an hour each day, of steady reading, a vast +deal." + +"Ah! but where shall I begin? Every body reads Hume's History of England +first, and I have never even done that; and if I were to begin I should +never get to the end of it." + +"Oh, yes, but you would, and be surprised to find how soon that end had +arrived, and what a pleasant journey you had made. But if you are +frightened at Hume, and I own he _looks_ formidable, let me select you +something in the library, to commence operations with, which will not be +quite so alarming." + +"Oh! if you would...." + +"With the greatest pleasure in the world. If you will allow me to assist +you a little in the choice of your books, I think, with the virtue of +perseverance--and I know you have all the virtues--you would get through +a good deal in a comparatively short space of time; and when I reflect +how much it would add to your happiness, as it does to every one's +happiness, I confess I can not feel easy till I have set you going." + +This conversation had been carried on in a low voice, while the rest had +been talking over some family matters together. The speakers at the head +of the table stopped, and the silence aroused the two. Catherine glanced +at them suddenly; she saw Lettice color a little, but Mr. St. Leger +preserved the most provoking composure. + +The evenings Mr. St. Leger devoted exclusively to the good pleasure of +the general. He read the newspapers, making them the vehicle of the most +intelligent and agreeable comments, he looked out the places mentioned +in the maps, and had something perpetually to say that was interesting +of this or that. He answered every question the general wanted solved in +the cleverest manner; and, in short, he so won upon the old man's heart, +that he became quite attached to him. The evenings, once so heavy, and +spent in a sort of irritable fretfulness, became quite delightful to +him: nor were they less delightful to others. At last, things came to +that pass that the wearisome backgammon was given up, and reading aloud +took its place. The ladies worked and read in turns, Edgar taking double +tides, and Mr. St. Leger doing a little, which he insisted upon, +assuring them that it did not hurt his chest at all. He was, indeed, +getting stronger and better every day; he was a beautiful reader. + +Lettice sat plying her busy needle, but with a countenance so filled +with intelligent pleasure, that it is not to be wondered at if Mr. St. +Leger, when his reading was over, and he had nothing else to do, and, +the books being usually such as he was well acquainted with, not much at +the moment to think of, took pleasure in observing her. + +He had not forgotten his promise of selecting authors for her own +private studies; he seemed to take much benevolent pleasure in +endeavoring to compensate to this generous and excellent creature, for +the intellectual disadvantages of a life devoted to others as hers had +been. He usually, also, found or made an opportunity for talking over +with her what she had been reading; and, he believed, in all sincerity, +and so did she, that he was actuated in these proceedings merely, as I +said, by the disinterested desire of offering compensation for past +sacrifices; stimulated by the very high value he himself attached to +mental cultivation, regarding it as the best source of independent +happiness both for men and women. + +But whatever were the motives with which he began this labor of +kindness, it is certain as he proceeded therein a vast deal more +interest and pleasure were mingled up with this little task than had +been the case at first. + +Her simple, unaffected purity of heart; her single-mindedness, unstained +by selfish thought, pride, or vanity, or folly, in its simplicity and +singleness of purpose, were displayed before him. The generous +benevolence of purpose; the warm and grateful piety; the peculiar +right-mindedness; the unaffected love for all that was excellent, true, +good, or beautiful, and the happy facility of detecting all that was +good or beneficial wherever it was to be found, and wherever observed; +the sweet cheerfulness and repose of the character; that resemblance to +a green field, which I have heard a husband of only too sensitive a +nature gratefully attribute to his partner; all this worked strongly, +though unmarked. + +Mr. St. Leger began to experience a sense of a sweetness, solace, and +enjoyment, in the presence of Lettice Arnold, that he had not found upon +this earth for years, and which he never had hoped to find again. + +But all this time he never dreamed of falling in love. His imagination +never traveled so far as to think of such a thing as appropriating this +rare blessing to himself. To live with her was his destiny at present, +and that seemed happiness enough; and, indeed he scarcely had got so far +as to acknowledge to his own heart, how much happiness that privilege +conferred. + +She, on her side, was equally tranquil, undisturbed by the slightest +participation in the romance Catherine would so gladly have commenced. +She went on contentedly, profiting by his instructions, delighting in +his company, and adoring his goodness; but would as soon have thought of +appropriating some "bright particular star" to herself as this gifted +man. + +She deemed him too infinitely her superior. + +Well, it is no use keeping the matter in suspense any longer. You all +see how it must end. + +You do not fret and worry yourselves as Catherine did, and abuse Mr. St. +Leger for his indifference. You see plainly enough that two such very +nice people, and so excellently suited to each other, must, thrown +together as they were every day, end by liking each other, which, but +for the previous arrangements of the excellent Catherine, would have +been a very perplexing business to all parties. + +When at last--just before Edgar and his wife were going to sail for +Canada, and he and she were making their farewell visit at the +Hazels--when at last Mr. St. Leger, after having looked for two or three +days very miserable, and having avoided every one, and particularly poor +Lettice--to whom he had not spoken a word all that time, and who was +miserable at the idea that she must have offended him--when at last he +took Edgar out walking, and then confessed that he thought it no longer +right, safe, or honorable, for him to remain at the Hazels, finding, as +he did, that one creature was becoming too dear to him; and he trembled +every moment, lest by betraying his secret he might disturb her +serenity. When at last the confession was made, and Edgar reported it to +his wife--then Catherine was ready to jump for joy. In vain Edgar strove +to look wise, and tell her to be reasonable. In vain he represented all +the objections that must be urged against her out-of-the-way scheme, as +he was ill-natured enough to call it. She would hear of none. + +No, nothing. She was perfectly unreasonable--her husband told her +so--but it was all in vain. Men are more easily discouraged at the idea +of any proceeding out of the usual course than women are. They do not, I +think, set so much value upon _abstract_ happiness, if I may use the +term; they think more of the attending circumstances, and less of that +one ingredient--genuine happiness--than women do. + +Catherine could and would think of nothing else, but how perfectly these +two were suited to each other, and how excessively happy they would be. + +Dear, good thing! how she labored in the cause, and what a world of +contradiction and trouble she had to go through. First, there was Mr. +St. Leger himself, to be persuaded to be happy upon her plan, the only +possible plan under the circumstances; then there was Lettice to +persuade that Mr. St. Leger's happiness and dignity would not be +hazarded; then there was Edgar to reason out of calling her romantic; +and last of all there was the general, for Mrs. Melwyn, I consider, as +Catherine did, already persuaded. + +This last task _did_ appear formidable. She put it off as long as she +could; she got every body else in the right frame of mind before she +ventured upon it; she had persuaded both Edgar and Mrs. Melwyn to second +her, if need were, and at length, with a dreadful feeling of +trepidation, she broached the subject to the old veteran. With all the +coolness she could muster she began her speech, and laid the whole +matter before him. He did not interrupt her while she spoke by one +single word, or remark good, bad, or indifferent. It was awful--her poor +little heart fluttered, as if it were going to stop; she expected the +storm every instant to burst forth in some terrible outbreak. She sat +there shuddering at her own rashness. If even Edgar had called her +absurd, what would her father do! If St. Leger himself had been so +difficult to manage, what would the old general say! He said nothing. +She would not be discouraged: she began to speak again, to recapitulate +every argument; she warmed with the subject; she was earnest, eloquent, +pathetic--tears were in the good creature's eyes; still he was silent. +At last, wearied out with useless exertion, she ceased to urge the +matter any further; and endeavoring to conquer her feelings of deep +disappointment, looked up in his face to see whether the slightest +relenting expression was visible in it. No; his eyes were fixed upon the +floor; he seemed lost in deep thought. + +"Papa," she ventured to say, "have you heard all I have been saying?" + +"Yes, child." + +Silence again for a few minutes, then--"Catherine, did you ever know me +do a good action in your life?" + +"Dear papa, what a question." + +"Did you ever know me, I say, to do one thoroughly generous, benevolent +action, without regard to self in the slightest degree--such as I +call--such as alone merits the name of a really _good_ action? If you +ever did, I can't easily forgive you." + +"Dearest papa! what have I done? Did I ever say? Did I ever hint? Dear +papa!" and she looked ready to cry. + +"Did you ever?--no--I know you never did." + +"Don't say so--don't think so badly of me, papa." + +"I'm not thinking badly of you, child--God forbid; for well he knows if +I ever did one really generous, benevolent action--one without reference +to self.... Heaven bless thee, thou dearest thing, thy life seems only +made up of such actions; but I say again, did you ever?--No; I know you +never did--and I'll tell you why I know it." + +"Ah, papa! What _can_ you mean?" + +"Because," he went on without seeming to mind her emotion, "because, I +observe, that whenever you want to persuade other people--your mother, +or Edgar, or Lettice, for instance--to do something you've set your +heart upon, you hussy--you always enlarge upon the happiness it will +give to other people; but when you're trying to come round me, you only +talk of how comfortable it will make myself." + +She could only utter a faint exclamation. The accusation, if accusation +it may be called, was not to be denied. + +"Now, Catherine, since this young man came into the house, what with his +conversation, he's a most gentlemanlike, agreeable converser as ever I +met with ... and the prayers, and the chapters, and such like; and, in +short, a certain new tone of thought altogether; there has been +gradually something new growing up in me. I have at times begun to think +back upon my life, and to recollect what a nasty, mean, greedy, +calculating, selfish fellow I've been throughout, never troubling myself +about other people's comforts, or so on, but going on as if every body +was only created to promote mine; and I'd have been glad, Catherine, +before I went into my grave, which won't be long too--I own to you I +would have been glad, for once in my life to have done a purely good, +unselfish thing--made a sacrifice, as you pious folk call it; and, +therefore, to own the truth, I have been very sorry, and could not help +feeling disappointed, as here you've sat prosing this half hour and +more, showing me what a great deal I was to get by this notable +arrangement of yours." + +"Papa!--dearest--dear papa!" + +"Be quiet--I have indeed--I'd have liked to have had something to give +up, instead of its being, as I verily believe it is, the most charmingly +delightful scheme for your mother and me that ever was hit upon--for +that man is the happiness of my life--my body's comfort and my soul's +health--and Lettice is more like a dear child than any thing else to +that poor mother of yours, whom I have not, perhaps, been so considerate +of as I ought; and to have them thus fixed together in this house, is +better luck than could be conceived, such as scarcely ever happens in +this world to any body; and far better than I--almost better than your +poor mother deserves. So you're a darling little courageous creature for +planning it, when I'll be bound they all thought you a fool, so have it +all your own way, and give your old father a kiss," which she joyfully +did. "And now you go to Mr. St. Leger, and tell him from me, that if he +consents to this scheme I shall esteem it the greatest favor and +satisfaction that was ever conferred upon me in my life. I know what it +is to be thus trusted by such a man--I know the confidence on his part +which such an arrangement implies--and you may add, that if he will only +extend to me his usual indulgence for human folly and frailty, I will do +every thing that is in the power of an ill-tempered, good-for-nothing, +selfish old fellow, to prevent him repenting his bargain. And tell +Lettice she's a darling, excellent creature; and I have thought so long, +though I have said little about it, and she has been like an angel of +love and peace in our family; and if she will only go on as she has +done, she will make us all as happy as the day is long; and tell your +mother I wish I did not enjoy the thoughts of this so much myself, that +I might have the pleasure of making an offering of my satisfaction to +her." + +"Dear!--dear beloved papa!" + +"Stop a little, child; Edgar and you will have to pay the piper, you +know." + +"Oh, gladly! thankfully!" + +"Because you see, my dear, if these two people marry and live with us, +and become as children, I must treat them, in a manner, as children, and +make a little codicil to my will; and you and Edgar will be something +the worse for it. But, bless you, child, there's enough for all." + +"And bless you, my honored, generous father, for thinking so; that there +is. Edgar and I only earnestly desired this; thank you, thank you, ten +thousand times." + +I will only detain you for a few moments longer, to tell you that the +scheme was carried into execution, and fully answered the hopes of the +generous contriver. + +Mr. St. Leger found, in the attachment of Lettice, a compensation for +the cruel sufferings of his past life; and, under her tender and +assiduous care, he speedily recovered his health and his powers of +usefulness. She, while performing a woman's best and happiest part, that +of proving the true happiness of an admirable and a superior man, +contrived likewise to fulfill all her other duties in the most complete +and exemplary manner. + +It would be difficult to say, whether the happiness she felt or +conferred was the greater. + +Exceptional people may venture upon exceptional measures. Those who are +a great deal more sweet tempered, and loving, and good, and reasonable +than others, may venture to seek happiness in ways that the generality +would be mad to attempt. + +And sensible, well-principled, right-tempered human beings, one may take +into close family intimacy, and discard that reserve, and those +arm's-length proceedings, which people's faults, in too many cases, +render prudent and necessary. + +It was because the subjects of Catherine's schemes were so excellent, +that the object of them was so wise. + +I have now told you how perfectly they answered upon trial; and I am +only sorry that the world contains so very few with whom one could +venture to make the same experiment. + +For a very large portion of possible happiness is thrown away, because +people are not fit to take part in plans of this nature--plans wherein +one shall give what he has, to receive back what he wants; and thus the +true social communism be established. + + + + +[From the Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers, Vol. II., unpublished.] + +RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. CHALMERS. + +HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE IN THE PULPIT. + + +The first sermon which Mr. Chalmers preached in Glasgow was delivered +before the Society of the Sons of the Clergy, on Thursday the 30th day +of March, 1815, a few months after his appointment, and a few months +previous to his admission as minister of the Tron Church. The recent +excitement of the canvass, the rumors strange and various, which +crossing the breadth of Scotland were circulating in all quarters +through the city, the quickened curiosity of opponents, the large but +somewhat tremulous expectation of friends, drew together a vast +multitude to hear him. Among the crowd which filled the church was a +young Oxford student, himself the son of a Scottish minister, who had +been surprised by hearing Mr. Chalmers's work on the Evidences of +Christianity mentioned with high approval, within the walls of an +English University, shortly after the date of its publication. The keen +dark eye of the youthful auditor fixed itself in searching scrutiny upon +the preacher, and a few years later his graceful and graphic pen drew +the following sketch: + +"I was a good deal surprised and perplexed with the first glimpse I +obtained of his countenance, for the light that streamed faintly upon it +for the moment did not reveal any thing like that general outline of +feature and visage for which my fancy had by some strange working of +presentiment, prepared me. By-and-by, however, the light became +stronger, and I was enabled to study the minutiae of his face pretty +leisurely, while he leaned forward and read aloud the words of the +Psalm, for that is always done in Scotland, not by the clerk, but the +clergyman himself. At first sight, no doubt, his face is a coarse one, +but a mysterious kind of meaning breathes from every part of it, that +such as have eyes to see cannot be long without discovering. It is very +pale, and the large, half-closed eyelids have a certain drooping +melancholy weight about them, which interested me very much. I +understood not why. The lips, too, are singularly pensive in their mode +of falling down at the sides, although there is no want of richness and +vigor in their central fullness of curve. The upper lip, from the nose +downward, is separated by a very deep line, which gives a sort of +leonine firmness of expression to all the lower part of the face. The +cheeks are square and strong, in texture like pieces of marble, with the +cheek-bones very broad and prominent. The eyes themselves are light in +color, and have a strange dreamy heaviness, that conveys any idea rather +than that of dullness, but which contrasts in a wonderful manner with +the dazzling watery glare they exhibit when expanded in their sockets, +and illuminated into all their flame and fervor in some moment of high +entranced enthusiasm. But the shape of the forehead is, perhaps, the +most singular part of the whole visage; and, indeed, it presents a +mixture so very singular, of forms commonly exhibited only in the widest +separation, that it is no wonder I should have required some little time +to comprehend the meaning of it. In the first place, it is without +exception the most marked mathematical forehead I ever met with--being +far wider across the eyebrows than either Mr. Playfair's or Mr. +Leslie's--and having the eyebrows themselves lifted up at their exterior +ends quite out of the usual line, a peculiarity which Spurzheim had +remarked in the countenances of almost all the great mathematical or +calculating geniuses--such, for example, if I rightly remember, as Sir +Isaac Newton himself, Kaestener, Euler, and many others. Immediately +above the extraordinary breadth of this region, which, in the heads of +most mathematical persons, is surmounted by no fine points of +organization whatever, immediately above this, in the forehead, there is +an arch of imagination, carrying out the summit boldly and roundly, in +a style to which the heads of very few poets present any thing +comparable, while over this again there is a grand apex of high and +solemn veneration and love, such as might have graced the bust of Plato +himself, and such as in living men I had never beheld equaled in any but +the majestic head of Canova. The whole is edged with a few crisp dark +locks, which stand forth boldly, and afford a fine relief to the +death-like paleness of those massive temples.... Of all human +compositions there is none surely which loses so much as a sermon does +when it is made to address itself to the eye of a solitary student in +his closet and not to the thrilling ears of a mighty mingled +congregation, through the very voice which nature has enriched with +notes more expressive than words can ever be of the meanings and +feelings of its author. Neither, perhaps, did the world ever possess any +orator whose minutest peculiarities of gesture and voice have more power +in increasing the effect of what he says--whose delivery, in other +words, is the first, and the second, and the third excellence of his +oratory--more truly than is that of Dr. Chalmers. And yet were the +spirit of the man less gifted than it is, there is no question these, +his lesser peculiarities, would never have been numbered among his +points of excellence. His voice is neither strong nor melodious, his +gestures are neither easy nor graceful; but, on the contrary, extremely +rude and awkward; his pronunciation is not only broadly national, but +broadly provincial, distorting almost every word he utters into some +barbarous novelty, which, had his hearer leisure to think of such +things, might be productive of an effect at once ludicrous and offensive +in a singular degree. But, of a truth, these are things which no +listener can attend to while this great preacher stands before him armed +with all the weapons of the most commanding eloquence, and swaying all +around him with its imperial rule. At first, indeed, there is nothing to +make one suspect what riches are in store. He commences in a low, +drawling key, which has not even the merit of being solemn, and advances +from sentence to sentence, and from paragraph to paragraph, while you +seek in vain to catch a single echo that gives promise of that which is +to come. There is, on the contrary, an appearance of constraint about +him that affects and distresses you. You are afraid that his breast is +weak, and that even the slight exertion he makes may be too much for it. +But then, with what tenfold richness does this dim preliminary curtain +make the glories of his eloquence to shine forth, when the heated spirit +at length shakes from it its chill confining fetters, and bursts out +elate and rejoicing in the full splendor of its disimprisoned wings.... +I have heard many men deliver sermons far better arranged in regard to +argument, and have heard very many deliver sermons far more uniform in +elegance both of conception and of style; but most unquestionably, I +have never heard, either in England or Scotland, or in any other +country, any preacher whose eloquence is capable of producing an effect +so strong and irresistible as his."[21] + + * * * * * + +FIRST DELIVERY OF THE ASTRONOMICAL DISCOURSES.--At the time of Dr. +Chalmers's settlement in Glasgow it was the custom that the clergymen of +the city should preach in rotation on Thursday in the Tron Church, a +duty which, as their number was then but eight, returned to each within +an interval of two months. On Thursday, the 23d of November, 1815, this +week-day service devolved on Dr. Chalmers. The entire novelty of the +discourse delivered upon this occasion, and the promise held out by the +preacher that a series of similar discourses was to follow, excited the +liveliest interest, not in his own congregation alone, but throughout +the whole community. He had presented to his hearers a sketch of the +recent discoveries of astronomy--distinct in outline, and drawn with all +the ease of one who was himself a master in the science, yet gorgeously +magnificent in many of its details, displaying, amid "the brilliant glow +of a blazing eloquence,"[22] the sublime poetry of the heavens. In his +subsequent discourses Dr. Chalmers proposed to discuss the argument or +rather prejudice against the Christian Revelation which grounds itself +on the vastness and variety of those unnumbered worlds which lie +scattered over the immeasurable fields of space. This discussion +occupied all the Thursday services allotted to him during the year 1816. +The spectacle which presented itself in the Trongate upon the day of the +delivery of each new astronomical discourse, was a most singular one. +Long ere the bell began to toll, a stream of people might be seen +pouring through the passage which led into the Tron Church. Across the +street, and immediately opposite to this passage, was the old +reading-room, where all the Glasgow merchants met. So soon, however, as +the gathering quickening stream upon the opposite side of the street +gave the accustomed warning, out flowed the occupants of the +coffee-room; the pages of the Herald or the Courier were for a while +forsaken, and during two of the best business hours of the day the old +reading-room wore a strange aspect of desolation. The busiest merchants +of the city were wont, indeed, upon those memorable days to leave their +desks, and kind masters allowed their clerks and apprentices to follow +their example. Out of the very heart of the great tumult an hour or two +stood redeemed for the highest exercises of the spirit; and the low +traffic of earth forgotten, heaven and its high economy and its human +sympathies and eternal interests, engrossed the mind at least and the +fancy of congregated thousands. + +In January, 1817, this series of discourses was announced as ready for +publication. It had generally been a matter of so much commercial risk +to issue a volume of sermons from the press, that recourse had been +often had in such cases to publication by subscription. Dr. Chalmers's +publisher, Mr. Smith, had hinted that perhaps this method ought in this +instance also to be tried. "It is far more agreeable to my feelings," +Dr. Chalmers wrote to him a few days before the day of publication, +"that the book should be introduced to the general market, and sell on +the public estimation of it, than that the neighborhood here should be +plied in all the shops with subscription papers, and as much as possible +wrung out of their partialities for the author." Neither author nor +publisher had at this time the least idea of the extraordinary success +which was awaiting their forthcoming volume. It was published on the +28th of January, 1817. In ten weeks 6000 copies had been disposed of, +the demand showing no symptom of decline. Nine editions were called for +within a year, and nearly 20,000 copies were in circulation. Never +previously, nor ever since, has any volume of sermons met with such +immediate and general acceptance. The "Tales of my Landlord" had a +month's start in the date of publication, and even with such a +competitor it ran an almost equal race. Not a few curious observers were +struck with the novel competition, and watched with lively curiosity how +the great Scottish preacher and the great Scottish novelist kept for a +whole year so nearly abreast of one another. It was, besides, the first +volume of Sermons which fairly broke the lines which had separated too +long the literary from the religious public. Its secondary merits won +audience for it in quarters where evangelical Christianity was nauseated +and despised. It disarmed even the keen hostility of Hazlitt, and kept +him for a whole forenoon spell-bound beneath its power. "These sermons," +he says, "ran like wild-fire through the country, were the darlings of +watering-places, were laid in the windows of inns, and were to be met +with in all places of public resort.... We remember finding the volume +in the orchard of the inn at Burford Bridge, near Boxhill, and passing a +whole and very delightful morning in reading it without quitting the +shade of an apple tree." The attractive volume stole an hour or two from +the occupations of the greatest statesman and orator of the day. +"Canning," says Sir James Mackintosh, "told me that he was entirely +converted to admiration of Chalmers; so is Bobus, whose conversion is +thought the greatest proof of victory. Canning says there are most +magnificent passages in his 'Astronomical Sermons."[23] Four years +before this time, through the pages of the "Edinburgh Christian +Instructor," Dr. Chalmers had said, "Men of tasteful and cultivated +literature are repelled from theology at the very outset by the +unseemly garb in which she is presented to them. If there be room for +the display of eloquence in urgent and pathetic exhortation, in masterly +discussion, in elevating greatness of conception, does not theology +embrace all these, and will not the language that is clearly and +appropriately expressive of them possess many of the constituents and +varieties of good writing? If theology, then, can command such an +advantage, on what principle should it be kept back from her?... In the +subject itself there is a grandeur which it were vain to look for in the +ordinary themes of eloquence or poetry. Let writers arise, then, to do +it justice. Let them be all things to all men, that they may gain some; +and if a single proselyte can be thereby drawn from the ranks of +literature, let all the embellishments of genius and fancy be thrown +around the subject. One man has already done much. Others are rising +around him, and with the advantage of a higher subject, they will in +time rival the unchristian moralists of the day, and overmatch them." He +was one of the first to answer to his own call, to fulfill his own +prediction. No single writer of our age has done so much to present the +truths of Christianity in new forms, and to invest them with all the +attractions of a fascinating eloquence; nor could a single volume be +named which has done more than this very volume of "Astronomical +Discourses" to soften and subdue those prejudices which the infidelity +of natural science engenders. + + * * * * * + +EFFECT OF HIS ELOQUENCE.--SERMON ON DISSIPATION IN LARGE CITIES.--Dr. +Chalmers returned to Glasgow on Saturday, the 27th December, and on the +following day found a prodigious crowd awaiting his appearance in the +Tron Church pulpit. His popularity as a preacher was now at its very +highest summit, and judging merely by the amount of physical energy +displayed by the preacher, and by the palpable and visible effects +produced upon his hearers, we conclude that it was about this period, +and within the walls of the Tron Church, that by far the most wonderful +exhibitions of his power as a pulpit orator were witnessed. "The Tron +Church contains, if I mistake not," says the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, who, as +frequently as he could, was a hearer in it, "about 1400 hearers, +according to the ordinary allowance of seat-room; when crowded of course +proportionally more. And, though I can not attempt any pictorial sketch +of the _place_, I may, in a sentence or two, present you with a few +touches of the _scene_ which I have, more than once or twice, witnessed +within its walls; not that it was at all peculiar, for it resembled +every other scene where the doctor in those days, when his eloquence was +in the prime of its vehemence and splendor, was called to preach. There +was one particular, indeed, which rendered such a scene, in a city like +Glasgow, peculiarly striking. I refer to the _time_ of it. To see a +place of worship, of the size mentioned, crammed above and below, on a +_Thursday forenoon_, during the busiest hours of the day, with fifteen +or sixteen hundred hearers, and these of all descriptions of persons, in +all descriptions of professional occupation, the busiest as well as +those who had most leisure on their hands, those who had least to spare +taking care so to arrange their business engagements previously as to +_make time_ for the purpose, all pouring in through the wide entrance at +the side of the Tron steeple, half an hour before the time of service, +to secure a seat, or content if too late for this to occupy, as many +did, standing room--this was, indeed, a novel and strange sight. Nor was +it once merely, or twice, but month after month the day was calculated +when his turn to preach again was to come round, and anticipated, with +even impatient longing, by multitudes. + +"Suppose the congregation thus assembled--pews filled with sitters, and +aisles, to a great extent, with standers. They wait in eager +expectation. The preacher appears. The devotional exercises of praise +and prayer having been gone through with unaffected simplicity and +earnestness, the entire assembly set themselves for the _treat_, with +feelings very diverse in kind, but all eager and intent. There is a hush +of dead silence. The text is announced, and he begins. Every countenance +is up--every eye bent, with fixed intentness, on the speaker. As he +kindles the interest grows. Every breath is held--every cough is +suppressed--every fidgety movement is settled--every one, riveted +himself by the spell of the impassioned and entrancing eloquence, knows +how sensitively his neighbor will resent the very slightest disturbance. +Then, by-and-by, there is a pause. The speaker stops--to gather +breath--to wipe his forehead--to adjust his gown, and purposely too, and +wisely, to give the audience, as well as himself, a moment or two of +relaxation. The moment is embraced--there is free breathing--suppressed +coughs get vent--postures are changed--there is a universal stir, as of +persons who could not have endured the constraint much longer--the +preacher bends forward--his hand is raised--all is again hushed. The +same stillness and strain of unrelaxed attention is repeated, more +intent still, it may be, than before, as the interest of the subject and +of the speaker advance. And so, for perhaps four or five times in the +course of a sermon, there is the _relaxation_ and the '_at it again_' +till the final winding up. + +"And _then_, the moment the last word was uttered, and followed by +the--'_let us pray_,' there was a scene for which no excuse or +palliation can be pleaded but the fact of its having been to many a +matter of difficulty, in the morning of a week-day, to accomplish the +abstraction of even so much of their time from business--the closing +prayer completely drowned by the hurried rush of large numbers from the +aisles and pews to the door; an unseemly scene, without doubt, as if so +many had come to the house of God not to worship, but simply to enjoy +the fascination of human eloquence. Even this much it was a great thing +for eloquence to accomplish. And how diversified soever the motives +which drew so many together, and the emotions awakened and impressions +produced by what was heard--though, in the terms of the text of one of +his most overpoweringly stirring and faithful appeals, he was to not a +few 'as one that had a pleasant voice and could play well on an +instrument,' yet there is abundant proof that, in the highest sense, +'his labor was not in vain in the Lord;' that the truths which, with so +much fearless fidelity and impassioned earnestness, he delivered, went +in many instances farther than the ear, or even the intellect--that they +reached the heart, and, by the power of the Spirit, turned it to God." + +"On Thursday, the 12th February, 1818," I now quote from a manuscript of +the Rev. Mr. Fraser, minister of Kilchrennan, "Dr. Chalmers preached in +the Tron Church before the Directors of the Magdalene Asylum. The sermon +delivered on this occasion was that 'On the Dissipation of Large +Cities.' Long before the service commenced every seat and passage was +crowded to excess, with the exception of the front pew of the gallery, +which was reserved for the magistrates. A vast number of students +deserted their classes at the University and were present. This was very +particularly the case in regard to the Moral Philosophy Class, which I +attended that session, as appeared on the following day when the list of +absentees was given in by the person who had called the catalogue, and +at the same time a petition from several of themselves was handed in to +the professor, praying for a remission of the fine for non-attendance, +on the ground that they had been hearing Dr. Chalmers. The doctor's +manner during the whole delivery of that magnificent discourse was +strikingly animated, while the enthusiasm and energy which he threw into +some of its bursts rendered them quite overpowering. One expression +which he used, together with his action, his look, and the very tones of +his voice when it came forth, made a most vivid and indelible impression +upon my memory: 'We, at the same time,' he said, 'have our eye perfectly +open to that great external improvement which has taken place, of late +years, in the manners of society. There is not the same grossness of +conversation. There is not the same impatience for the withdrawment of +him who, asked to grace the outset of an assembled party, is compelled, +at a certain step in the process of conviviality, by the obligations of +professional decency, to retire from it. There is not so frequent an +exaction of this as one of the established proprieties of social or of +fashionable life. And if such an exaction was ever laid by the +omnipotence of custom on a minister of Christianity, it is such an +exaction as ought never, never to be complied with. It is not for him to +lend the sanction of his presence to a meeting with which he could not +sit to its final termination. It is not for him to stand associated, +for a single hour, with an assemblage of men who begin with hypocrisy, +and end with downright blackguardism. It is not for him to watch the +progress of the coming ribaldry, and to hit the well selected moment +when talk and turbulence and boisterous merriment are on the eve of +bursting forth upon the company, and carrying them forward to the full +acme and uproar of their enjoyment. It is quite in vain to say, that he +has only sanctioned one part of such an entertainment. He has as good as +given his connivance to the whole of it, and left behind him a discharge +in full of all its abominations; and, therefore, be they who they may, +whether they rank among the proudest aristocracy of our land, or are +charioted in splendor along, as the wealthiest of our citizens, _or +flounce in the robes of magistracy_, it is his part to keep as purely +and indignantly aloof from such society as this, as he would from the +vilest and most debasing associations of profligacy.' + +"The words which I have underlined do not appear in the sermon as +printed. While uttering them, which he did with peculiar emphasis, +accompanying them with a flash from his eye and a stamp of his foot, he +threw his right arm with clenched hand right across the book-board, and +brandished it full in the face of the Town Council, sitting in array and +in state before him. Many eyes were in a moment directed toward the +magistrates. The words evidently fell upon them like a thunderbolt, and +seemed to startle like an electric shock the whole audience." + +Another interesting memorial of this sermon is supplied by Dr. Wardlaw, +who was present at its delivery. "The eloquence of that discourse was +absolutely overpowering. The subject was one eminently fitted to awaken +and summon to their utmost energy all his extraordinary powers; +especially when, after having cleared his ground by a luminously +scriptural exhibition of that supreme authority by which the evils he +was about to portray were interdicted, in contradistinction to the +prevailing maxims and practices of a worldly morality, he came forward +to the announcement and illustration of his main subject--'_the origin, +the progress, and the effects of a life of dissipation_.' His moral +portraitures were so graphically and vividly delineated--his warnings +and entreaties, especially to youth, so impassioned and earnest--his +admonitions so faithful, and his denunciations so fearless and so +fearful--and his exhortations to preventive and remedial appliances so +pointed and so urgent to all among his auditors who had either the +charge of youth, or the supervision of dependents! It was thrilling, +overwhelming. His whole soul seemed in every utterance. Although saying +to myself all the while, 'Oh! that this were in the hands of every +father, and master, and guardian, and young man in the land!' I yet +could not spare an eye from the preacher to mark how his appeal was +telling upon others. The breathless, the appalling silence told me of +that. Any person who reads that discourse, and who had the privilege of +listening to Dr. Chalmers during the prime and freshness of his public +eloquence, will readily imagine the effect of some passages in it, when +delivered with even more than the preacher's characteristic vehemence." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] _Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk_, 2d edit, vol. iii pp 267-273. + +[22] Foster. + +[23] _Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh_, vol. +ii. p. 343. The person known among his particular friends by the name of +"Bobus" was Robert Smith, who had held the office of Advocate-General in +Bengal, and who is not to be confounded with his namesake, the brother +of the Rev. Sydney Smith. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +THE OLD MAN'S BEQUEST; A STORY OF GOLD. + + +Through the ornamental grounds of a handsome country residence, at a +little distance from a large town in Ireland, a man of about fifty years +of age was walking, with a bent head, and the impress of sorrow on his +face. + +"Och, yer honor, give me one sixpence, or one penny, for God's sake," +cried a voice from the other side of a fancy paling which separated the +grounds in that quarter from a thoroughfare. "For heaven's sake, Mr. +Lawson, help me as ye helped me before. I know you've the heart and hand +to do it." + +The person addressed as Mr. Lawson looked up and saw a woman whom he +knew to be in most destitute circumstances, burdened with a large and +sickly family, whom she had struggled to support until her own health +was ruined. + +"I have no money--not one farthing," answered John Lawson. + +"No money!" reiterated the woman in surprise; "isn't it all yours, then? +isn't this garden yours, and that house, and all the grand things that +are in it yours? ay, and grand things they are--them pictures, and them +bright shinin' things in that drawing-room of yours and sure you deserve +them well, and may God preserve them long to you, for riches hasn't +hardened your heart, though there's many a one, and heaven knows the +gold turns their feelin's to iron." + +"It all belongs to my son, Henry Lawson, and Mrs. Lawson, and their +children--it is all theirs;" he sighed heavily, and deep emotion was +visible in every lineament of his thin and wrinkled face. + +The poor woman raised her bloodshot eyes to his face, as if she was +puzzled by his words. She saw that he was suffering, and with intuitive +delicacy, she desisted from pressing her wants, though her need was +great. + +"Well, well, yer honor, many's the good penny ye have given me and the +childer, and maybe the next time I see you you'll have more change." + +She was turning sadly away, when John Lawson requested her to remain, +and he made inquiries into the state of her family; the report he heard +seemed to touch him even to the forgetfulness of his own sorrows; he +bade her stop for a few moments and he would give her some relief. + +He walked rapidly toward the house and proceeded to the drawing-room. It +was a large and airy apartment, and furnished with evident profusion: +the sunlight of the bright summer day, admitted partially through the +amply-draperied windows, lighted up a variety of sparkling gilding in +picture-frames, and vases, and mirrors, and cornices; but John Lawson +looked round on the gay scene with a kind of shudder; he had neither +gold, silver, nor even copper in his pocket, or in his possession. + +He advanced to a lady who reclined on a rose-colored sofa, with a +fashionable novel in her hand, and, after some slight hesitation, he +addressed her, and stating the name and wants of the poor woman who had +begged for aid, he requested some money. + +As he said the words "some money," his lips quivered, and a tremor ran +through his whole frame, for his thoughts were vividly picturing a +recently departed period, when he was under no necessity of asking money +from any individual. + +"Bless me, my dear Mr. Lawson!" cried the lady, starting up from her +recumbent position, "did I not give you a whole handful of shillings +only the day before yesterday; and if you wasted it all on poor people +since, what am I to do? Why, indeed, we contribute so much to charitable +subscriptions, both Mr. Lawson and I, _you_ might be content to give a +little less to common beggars." + +Mrs. Lawson spoke with a smile on her lips, and with a soft caressing +voice, but a hard and selfish nature shone palpably from her blue eyes. +She was a young woman, and had the repute of beauty, which a clear +pink-and-white complexion, and tolerable features, with luxuriant light +hair, generally gains from a portion of the world. She was dressed for +the reception of morning visitors whom she expected, and she was +enveloped in expensive satin and blond, and jewelry in large +proportions. + +John Lawson seemed to feel every word she had uttered in the depths of +his soul, but he made a strong effort to restrain the passion which was +rising to his lips. + +"Augusta, my daughter, you are the wife of my only and most beloved +child--I wish to love you--I wish to live in peace with you, and +all--give me some money to relieve the wants of the unfortunate woman to +whom I have promised relief, and who is waiting without. I ask not for +myself, but for the poor and suffering--give me a trifle of money, I +say." + +"Indeed, Mr. Lawson, a bank would not support your demands for the poor +people; that woman for whom you are begging has been relieved twenty +times by us. I have no money just now." + +She threw herself back on the sofa and resumed her novel; but anger, +darting from her eyes, contrasted with the trained smile which still +remained on her lips. + +A dark shade of passion and scorn came over John Lawson's face, but he +strove to suppress it, and his voice was calm when he spoke. + +"Some time before my son married you, I gave up all my business to +him--I came to live here among trees and flowers--I gave up all the +lucrative business I had carried on to my son, partly because my health +was failing, and I longed to live with nature, away from the scenes of +traffic; but more especially, because I loved my son with no common +love, and I trusted to him as to a second self. I was not +disappointed--we had one purse and one heart before he married you; he +never questioned me concerning what I spent in charity--he never asked +to limit in any way my expenditure--he loved you, and I made no +conditions concerning what amount of income I was to receive, but still +I left him in entire possession of my business when he married you. I +trusted to your fair, young face, that you would not controvert my +wishes--that you would join me in my schemes of charity." + +"And have I not?" interrupted Mrs. Lawson, in a sharp voice, though the +habitual smile still graced her lips; "do I not subscribe to, I don't +know how many, charitable institutions? Charity, indeed--there's enough +spent in charity by myself and my husband. But I wish to stop +extravagances--it is only extravagance to spend so much on charity as +you would do if you could; therefore you shall not have any money just +now." + +Mrs. Lawson was one of those women who can cheerfully expend a most +lavish sum on a ball, a dress, or any other method by which rank and +luxury dissipate their abundance, but who are very economical, and talk +much of extravagance when money is demanded for purposes not connected +with display and style. + +"Augusta Lawson, listen to me," his voice was quivering with passion, +"my own wants are very few; in food, in clothes, in all points my +expenditure is trifling. I am not extravagant in my demands for the +poor, either. All I have expended in charity during the few years since +you came here, is but an insignificant amount as contrasted with the +income which I freely gave up to my son and you; therefore, some money +for the poor woman who is waiting, I shall now have; give me some +shillings, for God's sake, and let me go." He advanced closer to her, +and held out his hand. + +"Nonsense!" cried Mrs. Lawson; "I am mistress here--I am determined to +stop extravagance. You give too much to common beggars; I am determined +to stop it--do not ask me any further." + +A kind of convulsion passed over John Lawson's thin face; but he pressed +his hand closely on his breast, and was silent for some moments. + +"I was once rich, I believe. Yes--it is not a dream," he said, in a +slow, self-communing voice. "Gold and silver, once ye were plenty with +me; my hands; my pockets were filled--guineas, crowns, shillings--now I +have not one penny to give to that starving, dying woman, whose face of +misery might soften the very stones she looks on--not one penny." + +"Augusta," he said, turning suddenly toward her, after a second pause of +silence, "give me only one shilling, and I shall not think of the +bitter words you have just said?" + +"No; not one shilling," answered Mrs. Lawson, turning over a leaf of her +novel. + +"One sixpence, then--one small, poor sixpence. You do not know how even +a sixpence can gladden the black heart of poverty, when starvation is +come. One sixpence, I say--let me have it quickly." + +"Not one farthing I shall give you. I do beg you will trouble me no +further." + +Mrs. Lawson turned her back partially to him, and fixed all her +attention on the novel. + +"Woman! I have cringed and begged; I would not so beg for myself, from +you--no; I would lie down and die of want before I would, on my own +account, request of you--of your hard heart--one bit of bread. All the +finery that surrounds you is mine--it was purchased with my money, +though now you call it yours; and, usurping the authority of both master +and mistress here, you--in what you please to call your economical +management--dole out shillings to me when the humor seizes you, or +refuse me, as now, when it pleases you. But, woman, listen to me. I +shall never request you for one farthing of money again. No necessity of +others shall make me do it. You shall never again refuse me, for I shall +never give you the opportunity." + +He turned hastily from the room, with a face on which the deep emotion +of an aroused spirit was depicted strongly. + +In the lobby he met his son, Henry Lawson. The young man paused, +something struck by the excited appearance of his father. + +"Henry," said the father, abruptly, "I want some money; there is a poor +woman whom I wish to relieve--will you give me some money for her?" + +"Willingly, my dear father; but have you asked Augusta. You know I have +given her the management of the money-matters of the establishment, she +is so very clever and economical." + +"She has neither charity, nor pity, nor kindness; she saves from me; she +saves from the starving poor; she saves, that she may waste large sums +on parties and dresses. I shall never more ask her for money; give me a +few shillings. My God! the father begs of the son for what was his +own--for what he toiled all his youth--for what he gave up out of +trusting love to that son. Henry, my son, I am sick of asking and +begging--ay, sick--sick; but give me some shillings now." + +"You asked Augusta, then," said Henry, drawing out his purse, and +glancing with some apprehension to the drawing-room door. + +"Henry," cried Mrs. Lawson, appearing at that instant with a face +inflamed with anger--"Henry, _I_ would not give your father any money +to-day, because he is so very extravagant in giving it all away." + +Henry was in the act of opening his purse; he glanced apprehensively to +Mrs. Lawson; his face had a mild and passive expression, which was a +true index of his yielding and easily-governed nature. His features were +small, delicate, and almost effeminately handsome; and in every +lineament a want of decision and force of character was visible. + +"Henry, give me some shillings, I say--I am your father--I have a just +right." + +"Yes, yes, surely," said Henry, making a movement to open his purse. + +"Henry, I do not wish you to give him money to waste in charity, as he +calls it." + +Mrs. Lawson gave her husband an emphatic, but, at the same time, +cunningly caressing and smiling look. + +"Henry, I am your father--give me the money I want." + +"Augusta, my love, you know it was all his," said Henry, going close to +her, and speaking in a kind of whisper. + +"My dearest Henry, were it for any other purpose but for throwing away, +I would not refuse. I am your father's best friend, and your best +friend, in wishing to restrain all extravagance." + +"My dear father, she wishes to be economical, you know." + +He dangled the purse, undecidedly, in his fingers. + +"Will you give me the money at once, and let me go?" cried John Lawson, +elevating his voice. + +"My dear Augusta, it is better." + +"Henry, do not, I beg of you." + +"Henry, my son, will you let me have the money?" + +"Indeed, Augusta--" + +"Henry!" + +Mrs. Lawson articulated but the one word; there was enough of energy and +determination in it to make her husband close the purse he had almost +opened. + +"I ask you only this once more--give me the few shillings?" + +John Lawson bent forward in an eager manner; a feverish red kindled on +his sallow cheeks; his eyes were widely dilated, and his lips +compressed. There was a pause of some moments. + +"You will not give it me?" he said, in a voice deep-toned and singularly +calm, as contrasted with his convulsed face. + +Henry dangled the purse again in his hand, and looked uneasily and +irresolutely toward his wife. + +"No, he will not give it--you will get no money to squander on poor +people this day," Mrs. Lawson said, in a very sharp and decided voice. + +John Lawson did not say another word; he turned away and slowly +descended the stairs, and walked out of the house. + +He did not return that evening. He had been seen on the road leading to +the house of a relative who was in rather poor circumstances Henry felt +rather annoyed at his father's absence; he had no depth in his +affection, but he had been accustomed to see him and hear his voice +every day, and therefore he missed him, but consoled himself with the +thought that they would soon meet again, as it never entered his +imagination that his father had quitted the house for a lengthened +period. Mrs. Lawson felicitated herself on the event, and hoped that the +old man would remain some time with his relative. + +The following day a letter was handed to Henry; it was from his father, +and was as follows: + + "TO MY SON HENRY--I have at last come to the resolution of + quitting your house, which I can no longer call mine, in even + the least degree. For weeks--for months--ever since you + married--ever since your wife took upon herself what she calls + the management of your house and purse, I have felt bound down + under the weight of an oppressive bondage. I could not go and + take a pound or a shilling from our common stock, as I used to + do before you married, when you and I lived in one mind, and + when I believed that the very spirit of your departed, your + angel mother, dwelt in you, as you had, and have still, her + very face and form. No, no, we had no common stock when you + married. She put me on an allowance--ay, an allowance. You + lived, and saw me receiving an allowance; you whom I loved with + an idolatry which God has now punished; you to whom I freely + gave up my business--my money-making business. I gave it you--I + gave all to you--I would have given my very life and soul to + you, because I thought that with your mother's own face you had + her noble and generous nature. You were kind before you + married; but that marriage has proved your weakness and want of + natural affection. Yes, you stood at my side yesterday; you + looked on my face--I, the father who loved you beyond all + bounds of fatherly love--you stood and heard me beg for a few + shillings; you heard me supplicate earnestly and humbly, and + you would not give, because your wife was not willing. Henry, I + could force you to give me a share of the profits of your + business; but keep it--keep it all. You would not voluntarily + give me some shillings, and I shall not demand what right and + justice would give me. Keep all, every farthing. + + "It was for charity I asked the few shillings; you know it. You + know from whom I imbibed whatever I possess of the blessed + spirit of charity. I was as hard and unpitying as even your + wife before your mother taught me to feel and relieve the + demands of poverty. Yes, and she taught you; you can not forget + it. She taught you to give food to the starving, in your + earliest days. She strove to impress your infant mind with the + very soul of charity; and yesterday she looked down from the + heaven of the holy departed, and saw you refusing me, your + father, a few shillings to bestow on charity. + + "Henry, I can live with you and your wife no more. I should + grow avaricious in my old age, were I to remain with you. I + should long for money to call my own. Those doled out shillings + which I received wakened within me feelings of a dark + nature--covetousness, and envy, and discontent--which must have + shadowed the happiness of your mother in heaven to look down + upon. I must go and seek out an independent living for myself, + even yet, though I am fifty-two. Though my energies for + struggling with the world died, I thought, when your mother + died, and, leaving my active business to you, I retired to live + in the country, I must go forth again, as if I were young, to + seek for the means of existence, for I feel I was not made to + be a beggar--a creature hanging on the bounty of others; no, + no, the merciful God will give me strength yet to provide for + myself, though I am old, and broken down in mind and body. + Farewell; you who were once my beloved son, may God soften and + amend your heart." + +When Henry perused this letter, he would immediately have gone in search +of his father, in order to induce him to return home; but Mrs. Lawson +was at his side, and succeeded in persuading him to allow his father to +act as he pleased, and remain away as long as he wished. + + * * * * * + +Ten years rolled over our world, sinking millions beneath the black +waves of adverse fortune and fate, and raising the small number who, of +the innumerable aspirants for earthly good, usually succeed. Henry +Lawson was one of those whom time had lowered in fortune. His business +speculations had, for a lengthened period, been rather unsuccessful, +while Mrs. Lawson's expensive habits increased every day. At length +affairs came to such a crisis, that retrenchment or failure was +inevitable. Henry had enough of wisdom and spirit to insist on the first +alternative, and Mrs. Lawson was compelled by the pressure of +circumstances to yield in a certain degree; the country-house, +therefore, was let, Mrs. Lawson assigning as a reason, that she had lost +all relish for the country after the death of her dear children, both of +whom had died, leaving the parents childless. + +It was the morning of a close sultry day in July, and Mrs. Lawson was +seated in her drawing-room. She was dressed carefully and expensively as +of old, but she had been dunned and threatened at least half-a-dozen +times for the price of the satin dress she wore. Her face was thin and +pale, and there was a look of much care on her countenance; her eyes +were restless and sunken, and discontent spoke in their glances as she +looked on the chairs, sofas, and window-draperies, which had once been +bright-colored, but were now much faded. She had just come to the +resolution of having new covers and hangings, though their mercer's and +upholsterer's bills were long unsettled, when a visitor was shown into +the room. It was Mrs. Thompson, the wife of a very prosperous and +wealthy shopkeeper. + +Mrs. Lawson's thin lips wreathed themselves into bright smiles of +welcome, while the foul demon of envy took possession of her soul. Mrs. +Thompson's dress was of the most costly French satin, while hers was +merely British manufacture. They had been old school companions and +rivals in their girlish days. During the first years of the married life +of each, Mrs. Lawson had outshone Mrs. Thompson in every respect; but +now the eclipsed star beamed brightly and scornfully beside the clouds +which had rolled over her rival. Mrs. Thompson was, in face and figure, +in dress and speech, the very impersonation of vulgar and ostentatious +wealth. + +"My goodness, it's so hot!" she said, loosening the fastening of her +bonnet, the delicate French blond and white satin and plume, of which +that fabric was composed, contrasting rather painfully at the same time +with her flashed mahogany-colored complexion, and ungracefully-formed +features. "Bless me, I'm so glad we'll get off to our country-house +to-morrow. It's so very delightful, Mrs. Lawson, to have a country +residence to go to. Goodness me what a close room, and such a hot, dusty +street. It does just look so queer to me after Fitzherbert-square." + +To this Mrs. Lawson made a response as composed as she could; she would +have retorted bitterly and violently, but her husband had a connection +with the Thompson establishment, and for strong reasons she considered +it prudent to refrain from quarreling with Mrs. Thompson. She, +therefore, spoke but very little, and Mrs. Thompson was left at liberty +to give a lengthened detail of Mr. Thompson's great wealth and her own +great profusion. She began first with herself, and furnished an exact +detail of all the fine things she had purchased in the last month, down +to the latest box of pins. Next, her babies occupied her for half an +hour--the quantity of chicken they consumed, and the number of frocks +they soiled per diem were minutely chronicled. Then her house came under +consideration: she depicted the bright glory of the new _ponceau_ +furniture, as contrasted with shocking old faded things--and she glanced +significantly toward Mrs. Lawson's sofas and chairs. Next she made a +discursive detour to the culinary department, and gave a statement of +the number of stones of lump sugar she was getting boiled in preserves, +and of the days of the week in which they had puddings, and the days +they had pies at dinner. + +"But, Mrs. Lawson, dear, have you seen old Mr. Lawson since he came +home?" she said, when she was rising to depart; "but I suppose you +haven't, for they say he won't have any thing to do with his relations +now--he won't come near you, I have heard. They say he has brought such +a lot of money with him from South America." + +At this intelligence every feature of Mrs. Lawson's face brightened with +powerful interest. She inquired where Mr. Lawson stopped, and was +informed that he had arrived at the best hotel in the town about three +days previously, and that every one talked of the large fortune he had +made abroad, as he seemed to make no secret of the fact. + +A burning eagerness to obtain possession of that money entered Mrs. +Lawson's soul, and she thought every second of time drawn out to the +painful duration of a long hour, while Mrs. Thompson slowly moved her +ample skirts of satin across the drawing-room, and took her departure. +Mrs. Lawson dispatched a messenger immediately for her husband. + +Henry Lawson came in, and listened with surprise to the intelligence of +his father's return. He was taking up his hat to proceed to the hotel in +quest of him, when a carriage drove to the door. Mrs. Lawson's heart +palpitated with eagerness--if it should be her husband's father in his +own carriage--how delightful! that horrible Mrs. Thompson had not a +carriage of her own yet, though she was always talking of it. They, Mrs. +Lawson and her husband, had just been about setting up a carriage when +business failed with them. She ran briskly down the stairs--for long +years she had not flown with such alertness--rapid visions of gold, of +splendor, and triumph seemed to bear her along, as if she had not been a +being of earth. + +She was not disappointed, for there, at the open door, stood John +Lawson. He was enveloped in a cloak of fur, the costliness of which told +Mrs. Lawson that it was the purchase of wealth; a servant in plain +livery supported him, for he seemed a complete invalid. + +Mrs. Lawson threw her arms around his neck, and embraced him with a +warmth and eagerness which brought a cold and bitter smile over the +white, thin lips of John Lawson. He replied briefly to the welcomings he +received. He threw aside his cloak, and exhibited the figure of an +exceedingly emaciated and feeble old man, who had all the appearance of +ninety years, though he was little more than sixty; his face was worn +and fleshless to a painful degree; his hair was of the whitest shade of +great age, but his eyes had grown much more serene in their expression +than in his earlier days, notwithstanding a cast of suffering which his +whole countenance exhibited. He was plainly, but most carefully and +respectably dressed; a diamond ring of great value was on one of his +fingers; the lustre of the diamonds caught Mrs. Lawson's glance on her +first inspection of his person, and her heart danced with rapture--Mrs. +Thompson had no such ring, with all her boasting of all her finery. + +"I have come to see my child before I die," said the old man, gazing on +his son with earnest eyes; "you broke the ties of nature between us on +your part, when, ten years ago, you refused your father a few shillings +from your abundance, but--" + +He was interrupted by Mrs. Lawson, who uttered many voluble +protestations of her deep grief at her having, even though for the sake +of economy, refused the money her dear father had solicited before he +left them. She vowed that she had neither ate, nor slept, nor even +dressed herself for weeks after his departure; and that, sleeping or +waking, she was perpetually wishing she had given him the money, even +though she had known that he was going to throw it into the fire, or +lose it in any way. Her poor, dear father--oh, she wept so after she +heard that he had left the country. To be sure Henry could tell how, for +two or three nights, her pillow was soaked with tears. + +A cold, bitter smile again flitted across the old man's lips; he made no +response to her words, but in the one look which his hollow eyes east on +her, he seemed to read the falsehood of her assertions. + +"I was going to add," he said, "that though you forgot you were my son, +and refused to act as my son, when you withheld the paltry sum for which +I begged, yet I could not refrain from coming once more to look on my +child's face--to look on the face of my departed wife in yours--for I +know that a very brief period must finish my life now. I should not have +come here, I feel--I know it is the weakness of my nature--should have +died among strangers, for the strangers of other countries, the people +of a different hue, and a different language, I have found kind and +pitiful, compared with those of my own house. + +"Oh, don't say so--don't say so--you are our own beloved father; ah, my +heart clings to every feature of your poor, dear, old face; there are +the eyes and all that I used to talk to Henry so much about. Don't talk +of strangers--I shall nurse you and attend to you night and day." + +She made a movement, as if she would throw her arms around his neck +again, but the old man drew back. + +"Woman! your hypocritical words show me that your pitiless heart is +still unchanged--that it is grown even worse. You forced me out to the +world in my old age, when I should have had no thoughts except of God +and the world to come; you forced me to think of money-making, when my +hair was gray and my blood cold with years. Yes, I had to draw my +thoughts from the future existence, and to waste them on the miserable +toils of traffic, in order to make money; for it was better to do this +than to drag out my life a pensioner on your bounty, receiving shillings +and pence which you gave me as if it had been your heart's blood, though +I only asked my own. Woman! the black slavery of my dependence on you +was frightful; but now I can look you thanklessly in the face, for I +have the means of living without you. I spent sick and sleepless days +and nights, but I gained an independence; the merciful God blessed the +efforts of the old man, who strove to gain his livelihood--yes, I am +independent of you both. I came to see my son before I die--that is all +I want." + +Mrs. Lawson attempted a further justification of herself, but the words +died on her lips. The stern looks of the old man silenced her. + +After remaining for a short time, he rose to take his departure; but, at +the earnest solicitations of his son, he consented to remain for a few +days, only on condition that he should pay for his board and lodging. To +this Mrs. Lawson made a feint of resistance, but agreed in the end, as +the terms offered by the old man were very advantageous. + +"I shall soon have a lodging for which no mortal is called on to +pay--the great mother-earth," said the old man, "and I am glad, glad to +escape from this money-governed world. Do not smile so blandly on me, +both of you, and attend me with such false tenderness. There, take it +away," he said, as Mrs. Lawson was placing her most comfortable +footstool under his feet; "there was no attendance, no care, not a civil +action or kind look for me when I was poor John Lawson, the silly, most +silly old man, who had given up all to his son and his son's wife, for +the love of them, and expected, like a fool that he was, to live with +them on terms of perfect equality, and to have the family purse open to +him for any trifling sums he wished to take. Go, go for God's sake; try +and look bitterly on me now, as you did when you forced me out of your +house. I detest your obsequious attentions--I was as worthy of them ten +years ago, before I dragged down my old age to the debasing efforts of +money-making. You know I am rich; you would worship my money in me now. +Not a smiling look, not a soft word you bestow on me, but is for my +riches, not for me. Ay, you think you have my wealth in your grasp +already; you know I can not live long. Thank God that my life is almost +ended, and I hope my death will be a benefit to you, in softening your +hard hearts." + +Mrs. Lawson drew some hope from his last words, and she turned away her +head to hide the joy which shone on her face. + +In a few days the old man became seriously ill, and was altogether +confined to his room. As death evidently approached, his mind became +serene and calm, and he received the attentions which Mrs. Lawson and +his son lavished on him with a silent composure, which led them to hope +that he had completely forgotten their previous conduct to him. + +The night on which he died, he turned to his son, and said a few words, +a very few words, regarding worldly matters. He exhorted Henry to live +in a somewhat less expensive style, and to cultivate a spirit of +contentment without riches; then he blessed God that he was entering on +a world in which he would hear no more of money, or earthly possession. +He remained in a calm sleep during the greater part of the night, they +thought, but in the morning they found him dead. + +The funeral was over, and the time was come in which the old man's will +was to be opened Mrs. Lawson had waited for that moment--she would have +forcibly dragged time onward to that moment--she had execrated the long +hours of night since the old man's death--she had still more +anathematized the slowly passing days, when gazing furtively through a +corner of the blinded window, she saw fine equipages and finely-dressed +ladies passing, and she planned how she would shine when the old man's +wealth would be her own. She drew glorious mental pictures of how she +would burst from behind the shadowing cloud of poverty, and dazzle all +her acquaintances. Her dress, her carriage, her style of living would be +unique in her rank of life for taste and costliness. She would show them +she had got money--money at last--more money than them all. + +Now at last she sat and saw the will being opened; she felt that it was +a mere formality, for the old man had no one but them to whom he could +leave his money; she never once doubted but all would be theirs; she had +reasoned, and fancied herself into the firm conviction. Her only fear +was, that the amount might not be so large as she calculated on. + +She saw the packet opened. Her eyes dilated, her lips became parched; +her heart and brain burned with a fierce eagerness--money, money! at +last uttered the griping spirit within her. + +The will, after beginning in the usual formal style, was as follows: + +"I bequeath to my son Henry's wife, Augusta Lawson, a high and noble +gift" (Mrs. Lawson almost sprung from her seat with eagerness), "the +greatest of all legacies, I bequeath to Augusta Lawson--Charity! Augusta +Lawson refused me a few shillings which I wished to bestow on a starving +woman; but now I leave her joint executrix, with my son Henry, in the +distribution of all my money and all my effects, without any +reservation, in charity, to be applied to such charitable purposes as in +this, my last will and testament, I have directed." + +Then followed a statement of his effects and money, down to the most +minute particular; the money amounted to a very considerable sum; his +personal effects he directed to be sold, with the exception of his +valuable diamond ring, which he bequeathed to the orphan daughter of a +poor relation in whose house he had taken refuge, and remained for a +short time, previous to his going abroad. All the proceeds of his other +effects, together with the whole amount of his money, he bequeathed for +different charitable purposes, and gave minute directions as to the +manner in which various sums were to be expended. The largest amount he +directed to be distributed in yearly donations among the most indigent +old men and women within a circuit of ten miles of his native place. +Those who were residing with their sons, and their sons' wives, were to +receive by far the largest relief. He appointed as trustees two of the +most respectable merchants of the town, to whom he gave authority to see +the provisions of his will carried out, in case his son and Mrs. Lawson +should decline the duties of executor-ship which he had bequeathed to +them; the trustees were to exercise a surveillance over Mr. and Mrs. +Lawson, to see that the will should in every particular be strictly +carried into effect. The will was dated, and duly signed in the town in +South America where the old man had for some years resided; a codicil, +containing the bequest of the ring, with some further particulars +regarding the charities, had been added a few days previous to the old +man's death. + +Mrs. Lawson was carried fainting from the room before the reading of the +will was concluded. She was seized with violent fever, and her life was +despaired of. She recovered, however, and from the verge of the eternal +existence on which she had been, she returned to life with a less +worldly and ostentatious nature, and a soul more alive to the impulses +of kindness and charity. + + + + +[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +ELEPHANT SHOOTING. + + +It was a glorious day, with a cloudy sky, and the wind blew fresh off +the Southern Ocean. Having ridden some miles in a northerly direction, +we crossed the broad and gravelly bed of a periodical river, in which +were abundance of holes excavated by the elephants, containing delicious +water. Having passed the river, we entered an extensive grove of +picturesque cameel-dorn trees, clad in young foliage of the most +delicious green. On gaining a gentle eminence about a mile beyond this +grove, I looked forth upon an extensive hollow, where I beheld, for the +first time for many days, a fine old cock ostrich, which quickly +observed us, and dashed away to our left. I had ceased to devote my +attention to the ostrich, and was straining my eyes in an opposite +direction, when Kleinboy called out to me, "Dar loup de ould carle;" and +turning my eyes to the retreating ostrich, I beheld two first-rate old +bull elephants, charging along at their utmost speed within a hundred +yards of it. They seemed at first to be in great alarm, but quickly +discovering what it was that had caused their confusion, they at once +reduced their pace to a slow and stately walk. This was a fine look-out; +the country appeared to be favorable for an attack, and I was followed +by Wolf and Bonteberg, both tried and serviceable dogs with elephants. +Owing to the pace at which I had been riding, both dogs and horses were +out of breath, so I resolved not to attack the elephants immediately, +but to follow slowly, holding them in view. + +The elephants were proceeding right up the wind, and the distance +between us was about five hundred yards. I advanced quietly toward them, +and had proceeded about half way, when, casting my eyes to my right, I +beheld a whole herd of tearing bull elephants standing thick together on +a wooded eminence within three hundred yards of me. These elephants were +almost to leeward. Now, the correct thing to do was to slay the best in +each troop, which I accomplished in the following manner: I gave the +large herd my wind, upon which they instantly tossed their trunks aloft, +"a moment snuffed the tainted gale," and, wheeling about, charged right +down wind, crashing through the jungle in dire alarm. My object now was +to endeavor to select the finest bull, and hunt him to a distance from +the other troop, before I should commence to play upon his hide. +Stirring my steed, I galloped forward. Right in my path stood two +rhinoceroses of the white variety, and to these the dogs instantly gave +chase. I followed in the wake of the retreating elephants, tracing their +course by the red dust which they raised, and left in clouds behind +them. + +Presently emerging into an open glade, I came full in sight of the +mighty game: it was a truly glorious sight; there were nine or ten of +them, which were, with one exception, full-grown, first-rate bulls, and +all of them carried very long, heavy, and perfect tusks. Their first +panic being over, they had reduced their pace to a free, majestic walk, +and they followed one leader in a long line, exhibiting an appearance so +grand and striking, that any description, however brilliant, must fail +to convey to the mind of the reader an adequate idea of the reality. +Increasing my pace, I shot alongside, at the same time riding well out +from the elephants, the better to obtain an inspection of their tusks. +It was a difficult matter to decide which of them I should select, for +every elephant seemed better than his neighbor; but, on account of the +extraordinary size and beauty of his tusks, I eventually pitched upon a +patriarchal bull, which, as is usual with the heaviest, brought up the +rear. I presently separated him from his comrades, and endeavored to +drive him in a northerly direction. There is a peculiar art in driving +an elephant in the particular course which you may fancy, and, simple as +it may seem, it nevertheless requires the hunter to have a tolerable +idea of what he is about. It is widely different from driving in an +eland, which also requires judicious riding: if you approach too near +your elephant, or shout to him, a furious charge will certainly ensue, +while, on the other hand, if you give him too wide a berth, the chances +are that you lose him in the jungle, which, notwithstanding his size, is +a very simple matter, and, if once lost sight of, it is more than an +even bet that the hunter will never again obtain a glimpse of him. The +ground being favorable, Kleinboy called to me to commence firing, +remarking, very prudently, that he was probably making for some jungle +of wait-a-bits, where we might eventually lose him. I continued, +however, to reserve my fire until I had hunted him to what I considered +to be a safe distance from the two old fellows which we had at first +discovered. + +At length closing with him, I dared him to charge, which he instantly +did in fine style, and as he pulled up in his career I yelled to him a +note of bold defiance, and cantering alongside, again defied him to the +combat. It was thus the fight began, and the ground being still +favorable, I opened a sharp fire upon him, and in about a quarter of an +hour twelve of my bullets were lodged in his fore-quarters. He now +evinced strong symptoms of approaching dissolution, and stood catching +up the dust with the point of his trunk, and throwing it in clouds above +and around him. At such a moment it is extremely dangerous to approach +an elephant on foot, for I have remarked that, although nearly dead, he +can muster strength to make a charge with great impetuosity. Being +anxious to finish him, I dismounted from my steed, and availing myself +of the cover of a gigantic nwana-tree, whose diameter was not less than +ten feet, I ran up within twenty yards, and gave it him sharp right and +left behind the shoulder. These two shots wound up the proceeding; on +receiving them, he backed stern foremost into the cover, and then walked +slowly away. I had loaded my rifle, and was putting on the caps, when I +heard him fall over heavily; but, alas! the sound was accompanied by a +sharp crack, which I too well knew denoted the destruction of one of his +lovely tusks; and, on running forward, I found him lying dead, with the +tusk, which lay under, snapped through the middle. + +I did not tarry long for an inspection of the elephant, but mounting my +horse, at once set off to follow on the spoor of the two old fellows +which the ostrich had alarmed. Fortunately, I fell in with a party of +natives, who were on their way to the wagons with the impedimenta, and +assisted by these, I had sanguine hopes of shortly overtaking the noble +quarry. We had not gone far when two wild boars, with enormous tusks, +stood within thirty yards of me: but this was no time to fire: and a +little after a pair of white rhinoceroses stood directly in our path. +Casting my eyes to the right, I beheld within a quarter of a mile of me +a herd of eight or ten cow elephants, with calves, peacefully browsing +on a sparely-wooded knoll. The spoor we followed led due south, and the +wind was as fair as it could blow. We passed between the twin-looking, +abrupt, pyramidal hills, composed of huge disjointed blocks of granite, +which lay piled above each other in grand confusion. To the summit of +one of these I ascended with a native, but the forest in advance was so +impenetrable that we could see nothing of the game we sought. Descending +from the hillock, we resumed the spoor, and were enabled to follow at a +rapid pace, the native who led the spooring-party being the best tracker +in Bamangwato. I had presently very great satisfaction to perceive that +the elephants had not been alarmed, their course being strewed with +branches which they had chewed as they slowly fed along. The trackers +now became extremely excited, and I strained their eyes on every side in +the momentary expectation of beholding the elephants. At length we +emerged into an open glade, and, clearing a grove of thorny mimosas, we +came full in sight of one of them. Cautiously advancing, and looking to +my right, I next discovered his comrade, standing in a thicket of low +wait-a-bits, within a hundred and fifty yards of me; they were both +first-rate old bulls, with enormous tusks of great length. I dismounted, +and warily approached the second elephant for a closer inspection of his +tusks. As I drew near, he slightly turned his head, and I then perceived +that his farther one was damaged toward the point; while at the same +instant his comrade, raising his head clear of the bush on which he +browsed, displayed to my delighted eyes a pair of the most beautiful and +perfect tusks I had ever seen. + +Regaining my horse, I advanced toward this elephant, and when within +forty yards of him, he walked slowly on before me in an open space, his +huge ears gently flapping, and entirely concealing me from his view. +Inclining to the left, I slightly increased my pace, and walked past him +within sixty yards, upon which he observed me for the first time; but +probably mistaking "Sunday" for a hartebeest, he continued his course +with his eye upon me, but showed no symptoms of alarm. The natives had +requested me to endeavor, if possible, to hunt him toward the water, +which lay in a northerly direction, and this I resolved to do. Having +advanced a little, I gave him my wind, when he was instantly alarmed, +and backed into the bushes, holding his head high and right to me. Thus +he stood motionless as a statue, under the impression, probably, that, +owing to his Lilliputian dimensions, I had failed to observe him, and +fancying that I would pass on without detecting him. I rode slowly on, +and described a semicircle to obtain a shot at his shoulder, and halting +my horse, fired from the saddle; he got it in the shoulder-blade, and, +as slowly and silently I continued my course, he still stood gazing at +me in utter astonishment. Bill and Flam were now slipped by the natives, +and in another moment they were barking around him. I shouted loudly to +encourage the dogs and perplex the elephant, who seemed puzzled to know +what to think of us, and, shrilly trumpeting, charged headlong after the +dogs. Retreating, he backed into the thicket, then charged once more, +and made clean away, holding the course I wanted. When I tried to fire, +"Sunday" was very fidgety, and destroyed the correctness of my aim. +Approaching the elephant, I presently dismounted, and, running in, gave +him two fine shots behind the shoulder; then the dogs, which were both +indifferent ones, ran barking at him. The consequence was a terrific +charge, the dogs at once making for their master, and bringing the +elephant right upon me. I had no time to gain my saddle, but ran for my +life. The dogs, fortunately, took after "Sunday," who, alarmed by the +trumpeting, dashed frantically away, though in the heat of the affray I +could not help laughing to remark horse, dogs, and elephant all charging +along in a direct line. + +The dogs, having missed their master, held away for Kleinboy, who had +long disappeared, I knew not whither. "Sunday" stood still, and +commenced to graze, while the elephant, slowly passing within a few +yards of him, assumed a position under a tree beside him. Kleinboy +presently making his appearance, I called to him to ride in, and bring +me my steed; but he refused, and asked me if I wished him to go headlong +to destruction. "Sunday" having fed slowly away from the elephant. I +went up, and he allowed me to recapture him. I now plainly saw that the +elephant was dying, but I continued firing to hasten his demise. Toward +the end he took up a position in a dense thorny thicket, where for a +long time he remained. Approaching within twelve paces, I fired my two +last shots, aiming at his left side, close behind the shoulder. On +receiving these, he backed slowly through the thicket, and clearing it, +walked gently forward about twenty yards, when he suddenly came down +with tremendous violence right on his broadside. To my intense +mortification, the heavy fall was accompanied by a loud, sharp crack, +and on going up I found one of his matchless tusks broken short off by +the lip. This was a glorious day's sport: I had bagged, in one +afternoon, probably the two finest bull elephants in Bamangwato, and, +had it not been for the destruction of their noble trophies, which were +the two finest pair of tusks I had obtained that season, my triumph on +the occasion had been great and unalloyed. + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +THE POWER OF MERCY. + + +Quiet enough, in general, is the quaint old town of Lamborough. Why all +this bustle to-day? Along the hedge-bound roads which lead to it, carts, +chaises, vehicles of every description are jogging along filled with +countrymen; and here and there the scarlet cloak or straw bonnet of some +female occupying a chair, placed somewhat unsteadily behind them, +contrasts gayly with the dark coats, or gray smock-frocks of the front +row; from every cottage of the suburb, some individuals join the stream, +which rolls on increasing through the streets till it reaches the +castle. The ancient moat teems with idlers, and the hill opposite, +usually the quiet domain of a score or two of peaceful sheep, partakes +of the surrounding agitation. + +The voice of the multitude which surrounds the court-house, sounds like +the murmur of the sea, till suddenly it is raised to a sort of shout. +John West, the terror of the surrounding country, the sheep-stealer and +burglar, had been found guilty. + +"What is the sentence?" is asked by a hundred voices. + +The answer is "Transportation for Life." + +But there was one standing aloof on the hill, whose inquiring eye +wandered over the crowd with indescribable anguish, whose pallid cheek +grew more and more ghastly at every denunciation of the culprit, and +who, when at last the sentence was pronounced, fell insensible upon the +green-sward. It was the burglar's son. + +When the boy recovered from his swoon, it was late in the afternoon; he +was alone; the faint tinkling of the sheep-bell had again replaced the +sound of the human chorus of expectation, and dread, and jesting; all +was peaceful, he could not understand why he lay there, feeling so weak +and sick. He raised himself tremulously and looked around, the turf was +cut and spoiled by the trampling of many feet. All his life of the last +few months floated before his memory, his residence in his father's +hovel with ruffianly comrades, the desperate schemes he heard as he +pretended to sleep on his lowly bed, their expeditions at night, masked +and armed, their hasty returns, the news of his father's capture, his +own removal to the house of some female in the town, the court, the +trial, the condemnation. + +The father had been a harsh and brutal parent, but he had not positively +ill-used his boy. Of the great and merciful Father of the fatherless the +child knew nothing. He deemed himself alone in the world. Yet grief was +not his pervading feeling, nor the shame of being known as the son of a +transport. It was revenge which burned within him. He thought of the +crowd which had come to feast upon his father's agony; he longed to tear +them to pieces, and he plucked savagely a handful of the grass on which +he leant. Oh, that he were a man! that he could punish them +all--all--the spectators first, the constables, the judge, the jury, the +witnesses--one of them especially, a clergyman named Leyton, who had +given his evidence more positively, more clearly, than all the others. +Oh, that he could do that man some injury--but for him his father would +not have been identified and convicted. + +Suddenly a thought occurred to him, his eyes sparkled with fierce +delight. "I know where he lives," he said to himself; "he has the farm +and parsonage of Millwood. I will go there at once--it is almost dark +already. I will do as I have heard father say he once did to the squire. +I will set his barns and his house on fire. Yes, yes, he shall burn for +it--he shall get no more fathers transported." + +To procure a box of matches was an easy task, and that was all the +preparation the boy made. + +The autumn was far advanced. A cold wind was beginning to moan among the +almost leafless trees, and George West's teeth chattered, and his +ill-clad limbs grew numb as he walked along the fields leading to +Millwood. "Lucky it's a dark night; this fine wind will fan the flame +nicely," he repeated to himself. + +The clock was striking nine, but all was quiet as midnight; not a soul +stirring, not a light in the parsonage windows that he could see. He +dared not open the gate, lest the click of the latch should betray him, +so he softly climbed over; but scarcely had he dropped on the other side +of the wall before the loud barking of a dog startled him. He cowered +down behind the hay-rick, scarcely daring to breathe, expecting each +instant that the dog would spring upon him. It was some time before the +boy dared to stir, and as his courage cooled, his thirst for revenge +somewhat subsided also, till he almost determined to return to +Lamborough, but he was too tired, too cold, too hungry--besides, the +woman would beat him for staying out so late. What could he do? where +should he go? and as the sense of his lonely and forlorn position +returned, so did also the affectionate remembrance of his father, his +hatred of his accusers, his desire to satisfy his vengeance; and once +more, courageous through anger, he rose, took the box from his pocket, +and boldly drew one of them across the sand-paper. It flamed; he stuck +it hastily in the stack against which he rested--it only flickered a +little, and went out. In great trepidation, young West once more grasped +the whole of the remaining matches in his hand and ignited them, but at +the same instant the dog barked. He hears the gate open, a step is close +to him, the matches are extinguished, the lad makes a desperate effort +to escape, but a strong hand was laid on his shoulder, and a deep, calm +voice inquired, "What can have urged you to such a crime?" Then calling +loudly, the gentleman, without relinquishing his hold, soon obtained the +help of some farming men, who commenced a search with their lanterns all +about the farm. Of course they found no accomplices, nothing at all but +the handful of half-consumed matches the lad had dropped, and he all +that time stood trembling, and occasionally struggling, beneath the firm +but not rough grasp of the master who held him. + +At last the men were told to return to the house, and thither, by a +different path, was George led, till they entered a small, +poorly-furnished room. The walls were covered with books, as the bright +flame of the fire revealed to the anxious gaze of the little culprit. +The clergyman lit a lamp, and surveyed his prisoner attentively. The +lad's eyes were fixed on the ground, while Mr. Leyton's wandered from +his pale, pinched features to his scanty, ragged attire, through the +tatters of which he could discern the thin limbs quivering from cold or +fear; and when at last impelled by curiosity at the long silence, George +looked up, there was something so sadly compassionate in the stranger's +gentle look, that the boy could scarcely believe that he was really the +man whose evidence had mainly contributed to transport his father. At +the trial he had been unable to see his face, and nothing so kind had +ever gazed upon him. His proud bad feelings were already melting. + +"You look half-starved," said Mr. Leyton; "draw nearer to the fire, you +can sit down on that stool while I question you; and mind you answer me +the truth. I am not a magistrate, but of course can easily hand you over +to justice if you will not allow me to benefit you in my own way." + +George still stood twisting his ragged cap in his trembling fingers, and +with so much emotion depicted on his face, that the good clergyman +resumed, in still more soothing accents: "I have no wish to do you any +thing but good, my poor boy; look up at me, and see if you can not trust +me: you need not be thus frightened. I; only desire to hear the tale of +misery your appearance indicates, to relieve it, if I can." + +Here the young culprit's heart smote him. Was this the man whose house +he had tried to burn? On whom he had wished to bring ruin and perhaps +death? Was it a snare spread for him to lead to a confession? But when +he looked on that grave compassionate countenance, he felt that it was +_not_. + +"Come, my lad, tell me all." + +George had for years heard little but oaths, and curses, and ribald +jests, or the thief's jargon of his father's associates, and had been +constantly cuffed and punished; but the better part of his nature was +not extinguished; and at those words from the mouth of his _enemy_, he +dropped on his knees, and clasping his hands, tried to speak; but could +only sob. He had not wept before during that day of anguish; and now his +tears gushed forth so freely, his grief was so passionate as he half +knelt, half rested on the floor, that the good questioner saw that +sorrow must have its course ere calm could be restored. The young +penitent still wept, when a knock was heard at the door, and a lady +entered. It was the clergyman's wife, he kissed her as she asked how he +had succeeded with the wicked man in the jail? + +"He told me," replied Mr. Leyton, "that he had a son whose fate +tormented him more than his punishment. Indeed, his mind was so +distracted respecting the youth, that he was scarcely able to understand +my exhortations. He entreated me with agonizing energy to save his son +from such a life as he had led, and gave me the address of a woman in +whose house he lodged. I was, however, unable to find the boy in spite +of many earnest inquiries." + +"Did you hear his name?" asked the wife. + +"George West," was the reply. + +At the mention of his name, the boy ceased to sob. Breathlessly he heard +the account of his father's last request, of the benevolent clergyman's +wish to fulfill it. He started up, ran toward the door, and endeavored +to open it; Mr. Leyton calmly restrained him, "You must not escape," he +said. + +"I can not stop here. I can not bear to look at you. Let me go!" The lad +said this wildly, and shook himself away. + +"Why, I intend you nothing but kindness." + +A new flood of tears gushed forth; and George West said, between his +sobs, + +"While you were searching for me to help me, I was trying to burn you in +your house. I can not bear it." He sunk on his knees, and covered his +face with both hands. + +There was a long silence, for Mr. and Mrs. Leyton were as much moved as +the boy, who was bowed down with shame and penitence, to which hitherto +he had been a stranger. + +At last the clergyman asked, "What could have induced you to commit such +a crime?" + +Rising suddenly in the excitement of remorse, gratitude, and many +feelings new to him, he hesitated for a moment, and then told his story, +he related his trials, his sins, his sorrows, his supposed wrongs, his +burning anger at the terrible fate of his only parent, and his rage at +the exultation of the crowd: his desolation on recovering from his +swoon, his thirst for vengeance, the attempt to satisfy it. He spoke +with untaught, child-like simplicity, without attempting to suppress the +emotions which successively overcame him. + +When he ceased, the lady hastened to the crouching boy, and soothed him +with gentle words. The very tones of her voice were new to him. They +pierced his heart more acutely than the fiercest of the upbraidings and +denunciations of his old companions. He looked on his merciful +benefactors with bewildered tenderness. He kissed Mrs. Leyton's hand, +then gently laid on his shoulder. He gazed about like one in a dream who +dreaded to wake. He became faint and staggered. He was laid gently on a +sofa, and Mr. and Mrs. Leyton left him. + +Food was shortly administered to him, and after a time, when his senses +had become sufficiently collected, Mr. Leyton returned to the study, and +explained holy and beautiful things, which were new to the neglected +boy: of the great yet loving father; of Him who loved the poor, forlorn +wretch, equally with the richest, and noblest, and happiest; of the +force and efficacy of the sweet beatitude, "Blessed are the Merciful, +for they shall obtain Mercy." + +I heard this story from Mr. Leyton, during a visit to him in May. George +West was then head ploughman to a neighboring farmer, one of the +cleanest, best behaved, and most respected laborers in the parish. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +BORAX LAGOONS OF TUSCANY. + + +In a mountainous district of Tuscany, lying about twenty miles west of +Sienna, are situated the extraordinary lagoons from which borax is +obtained. Nothing can be more desolate than the aspect of the whole +surrounding country. The mountains, bare and bleak, appear to be +perpetually immersed in clouds of sulphurous vapor, which sometimes +ascend in wreathed or twisted columns, and at other times are beaten +down by the winds, and dispersed in heavy masses through the glens and +hollows. Here and there water-springs, in a state of boiling heat, and +incessantly emitting smoke and vapor, burst with immense noise from the +earth, which burns and shakes beneath your feet. The heat of the +atmosphere in the vicinity of the lagoons is almost intolerable, +especially when the wind blows about you the fiery vapor, deeply +impregnated with sulphur. Far and near the earth is covered with +glittering crystallizations of various minerals, while the soil beneath +is composed of black marl, streaked with chalk, which, at a distance, +imparts to it the appearance of variegated marble. As you proceed, you +are stunned by the noise of constant explosions, which remind you that +you are traversing the interior of a mighty crater, which in past ages +was, perhaps, filled with a flood of liquid fire. + +Borax was first brought to Europe, through India, from Thibet, where it +is found in a mountainous region, resembling in character the district +of Tuscany we have described. If we except some doubtful specimens, said +to have been discovered in coal-pits in Saxony, we may assert that the +mineral is found nowhere else in Europe, or that the territories of the +Grand Duke enjoy a natural monopoly of the article, which, with the +growth of the manufacturing system, is coming more and more into use +every day, especially in France. In former times, when the value of the +lagoons was not understood, the hollows and gorges in the mountains +where they are situated were regarded by the superstitious peasantry as +the entrance to hell. Experience taught them that it was in many +respects a region of death. Whatever living thing fell into the lagoons +inevitably perished, for the devouring acid almost in a moment separated +the flesh from the bones. Cattle were frequently thus lost, and the +peasants themselves or their children sometimes encountered a similar +fate. A celebrated chemist, engaged in making experiments on the +impregnated water, accidentally fell into a lagoon which he himself had +caused to be excavated, and perished immediately, leaving a wife and +several children in indigence. + +For many ages no use was made of the boracic acid, and the whole +district containing it--altogether about thirty miles in length--was +dreaded and shunned by the inhabitants. Many inducements were vainly +held out to the peasantry to cultivate the lands in the neighborhood, +which might generally be obtained for nothing. From time to time a few +adventurous families would take up their residence near Monte Cerboli, +and bring a few fields into cultivation, leaving, however, more than +nine-tenths of the land fallow. + +About the middle of the last century, Hoefer, who is described as +apothecary to the Grand Duke, first detected the presence of boracic +acid in the lagoon Orcherio, near Monte Botardo. Masgagin, a professor +of anatomy, found the mineral in a concrete state in several streams +issuing from the lagoons, and suggested the propriety of establishing +manufactories of borax. As late, however, as 1801, in consequence of the +failure of numerous experiments, Professor Gazzeri arrived at the +conclusion that the quantity of acid contained in the water of the +lagoons was too small to render the working of them profitable. But this +opinion was based on the old practice of attempting the extracting the +mineral by the use of charcoal furnaces. It was M. Larderel who +introduced the improved method of employing the hot vapors of the +lagoons themselves in the elaboration of the acid, and may be said to +have invented the present method, which will probably go on improving +for ages. + +The system of the Chevalier Larderel, now Comte de Pomerasce, displays +at once great ingenuity and courage. The _soffioni_, or vapors, having +been observed to burst forth with more or less vehemence in various +parts of the mountains--which, fortunately for industry and commerce, +are copiously irrigated with streams of water--the idea was conceived of +forming an artificial lagoon on the site of the most elevated vent. A +large basin having been excavated, the nearest stream was turned into +it. The burning blasts from below forcing up their way through the +water, keep it in a state of perpetual ebullition, and by degrees +impregnate it with boracic acid. Nothing can be more striking than the +appearance of such a lagoon. Surrounded by aridity and barrenness, its +surface presents the aspect of a huge caldron, boiling and steaming +perpetually, while its margin trembles, and resounds with the furious +explosions from below. Sometimes the vapor issues like a thread from the +water, and after rising for a considerable height, spreads, and assumes +an arborescent form as it is diluted by the atmospheric air. It then +goes circling over the surface of the lagoon, till, meeting with other +bodies of vapor in a similar condition, the whole commingling, +constitute a diminutive cloud, which is wafted by the breeze up the +peaks of the mountains, or precipitated into the valleys, according to +its comparative density. + +To stand on the brink of one of these deadly lakes, stunned by +subterranean thunder, shaken by incessant earthquakes, and scorched and +half suffocated by the fiery pestilential vapor, is to experience very +peculiar sensations, such as one feels within the crater of Vesuvius or +Ætna, or in the obscurity of the Grotto del Cave. + +Another lagoon is scooped out lower down the mountain, the site being +determined by the occurrence of soffioni; and here the same processes +are followed, and the same phenomena observable. The water from the +lagoon above, after it has received impregnation during twenty-four +hours, is let off, and conducted by an artificial channel to the second +lagoon; and from thence, with similar precautions, to a third, a fourth, +and so on, till it at length reaches a sixth or eighth lagoon, where the +process of impregnation is supposed to be completed. By this time the +water contains half per cent, of acid, which Professor Gazzeri +considered far too little to repay the expense of extracting it. From +the last lagoon it is conveyed into reservoirs, whence again, after +having remained quiescent a few hours, for what purpose is not stated, +it passes into the evaporating pans. "Here the hot vapor concentrates +the strength of the acid by passing under shallow leaden vessels from +the boiling fountains above, which it quits at a heat of 80 degrees +Reaumur, and is discharged at a heat of 60 degrees (101 Fahrenheit)." + +The evaporating pans are arranged on the same principles as the lagoons, +though in some cases almost four times as numerous, each placed on a +lower level than the other. In every successive pan the condensation +becomes greater. All the water at length descends into the +crystallizing vessels, where the process is completed. From these the +borax is conveyed to the drying-rooms, where in the course of a very few +hours, it is ready to be packed for exportation. The number of +establishments has for many years been on the increase, though about +twelve or fourteen years ago they did not exceed nine. Nothing can be +more fallacious than the opinions formed by hasty visitors on matters of +this kind, which are susceptible of perpetual improvement. When the +produce was from 7000 to 8000 Tuscan pounds per day, the manufacturers +were supposed to have reached the maximum, because all the water of the +mountains was supposed to have been called into requisition. Experience, +however, is perpetually teaching us new methods of economy; and though +it would _a priori_ be impossible to say by what means this economy is +to be effected, we can not permit ourselves to doubt that the +manufacture of borax in Tuscany will hereafter be carried to a degree of +perfection greatly transcending the expectations of those who formerly +wrote on the subject. One of these observes the atmosphere has some +influence on the results. In bright and clear weather, whether in winter +or summer, the vapors are less dense, but the depositions of boracic +acid in the lagoons are greater. Increased vapors indicate unfavorable +change of weather, and the lagoons are infallible barometers to the +neighborhood, even at a great distance, serving to regulate the +proceedings of the peasantry in their agricultural pursuits. + +As the quantity of boracic acid originally contained in the water of the +lagoons is so very small as we now know it to be, we can no longer +wonder at the opinion formerly entertained, that it did not exist at +all. After five or six successive impregnations we see it does not +exceed half per cent., which, estimating the quantity of borax at 7500 +pounds a day, will give 1,500,000 Tuscan pounds, or 500 tons, of water +for the same period. By the construction of immense cisterns for the +catching of rain water, by the employment of steam-engines for raising +it from below, and probably by creating artificial vents for the +soffioni, the quantity of borax produced might be almost indefinitely +increased, since the range of country through which the vapor ascends is +far too great for us to suppose it to be exhausted by the production of +7000 pounds of borax a day. Science in all likelihood will bring about a +revolution in this as in so many other manufactures, and our descendants +will look back with a smile on our hasty and unphilosophical decision. + +We are without information on many points connected with the population +of those districts, to throw light on which it would be necessary to +institute fresh investigations on the spot. The lagoons are usually +excavated by laborers from Lombardy, who wander southward in search of +employment in those months of the year during which the Apennines are +covered with snow. They do not, however, remain to be employed in the +business of manufacture. This is carried on by native Tuscan laborers, +who occupy houses, often spacious and well built, in the neighborhood of +the evaporating pans. They are in nearly all cases married men, and are +enabled to maintain themselves and their families on the comparatively +humble wages of a Tuscan lira a day. It would have been satisfactory to +know the number of the Lombard navigators from time to time employed in +excavating the lagoons, as well as of the native laborers, who carry on +operations after their departure; but we may with certainty infer the +successive appearance of fresh soffioni on the sides of the mountains +from the perpetually-recurring necessity of excavating new lagoons. +Again, from the immense increase of borax produced in former times we +may safely infer its increase in future. The quantity obtained was +quadrupled in four years by superior methods of extraction, by economy +of water and vapor, and other improvements suggested by experience. +There can, therefore, be no doubt in our minds that similar improvements +will produce similar results. In 1832, about 650,000 Tuscan pounds were +obtained; in 1836, 2,500,000. + +We quote the following suggestion from the observation of a traveler: +"It appears to me that the power and riches of these extraordinary +districts remain yet to be fully developed. They exhibit an immense +number of mighty steam-engines, furnished by nature at no cost, and +applicable to the production of an infinite variety of objects. In the +progress of time this vast machinery of heat and force will probably +become the moving central point of extensive manufacturing +establishments. The steam which has been so ingeniously applied to the +concentration and evaporation of the boracic acid, will probably +hereafter, instead of wasting itself in the air, be employed to move +huge engines, which will be directed to the infinite variety of +production which engages the attention of the industrious artisans; and +thus in course of time there can be little doubt that these lagoons, +which were fled from as objects of danger and terror by uninstructed +man, will gather round them a large, intelligent population, and become +sources of prosperity to innumerable individuals through countless +generations." + +Whoever has traveled through Tuscany, will every where have observed +that the peasants live in better houses than they do any where else in +Europe. Some one has said that nearly all their dwellings have been +built within the last eighty years, an observation which in itself shows +the substantial nature of their tenements, for where else will a +peasant's house last so long? In the secluded mountain valleys, where +agriculture supplies the only employment of the industrious classes, you +sometimes meet with very ancient cottages, built quite in the style of +the middle ages, with an abundance of projection and recesses, all +calculated to produce picturesqueness of effect. The modern houses, more +particularly in the district of the lagoons, are constructed more with +reference to comfort than show, the object being to secure as much room +and air as possible. In most places a garden is attached to every +dwelling; and where trees will grow, a large linden or chestnut +stretches its large boughs lovingly about the corner, and sometimes over +the roof, of the dwelling. Under this the peasant and his family sit to +enjoy themselves on summer evenings. Not to be entirely idle, however, +the father is usually engaged in weaving baskets, while the children +amuse themselves with cleaning and preparing the twigs; the mother, +often with a baby in her lap, applies herself to the reparation of the +family wardrobe; and the whole group, especially when lighted up by the +slanting rays of the setting sun, presents to the eye a picture not to +be equaled by Dutch or Flemish school. + +In other respects, the peasant of the lagoons aims at an inferior +standard of luxury. His house is by far the finest portion of his +possessions. The style of furniture, though comfortable, is inferior; +and in the matters of dress and food the most primitive theories +evidently prevail. Here, however, as in most other parts of Europe, we +behold the extremities, as it were, of two systems--the one which is +going out of date, and the one which is coming in. Much bigotry is no +doubt often displayed in the attachment of some persons to old habits +and customs, not otherwise valuable or respectable than from their mere +antiquity; but in several parts of Italy the advocates of novelty are +seldom in possession of so much comfort as they who abide by the habits +and customs of their forefathers. These, for the most part, are content +with the coarse manufactures of the country, which, rough and uncouth in +appearance, supply the requisite warmth, and are extremely enduring. On +the other hand, the imported goods within the reach of the poor, though +gay, and of brilliant colors, are too often of the most flimsy texture, +and melt away from about the persons of the wearers almost like vapor. +The two classes of peasants view each other with secret contempt; but +the old fashion is rapidly dying out because it is old, while the new +chiefly triumphs perhaps because it is new. + +A native, when questioned on the subject of the recent innovations, +observed that the lower classes of the population would have the means +of providing for their necessities if they were not so eager after +luxuries. The females are given to expensive dress, which deprives them +of the means of supplying themselves with more necessary articles. The +gluttony of the artisans has become proverbial among us: what is not +spent in finery in dress is consumed in pampering the appetite. In +consequence of the prosperity of the straw trade, which lasted from 1818 +to 1825, luxury spread throughout the country; and it would excite a +smile, were it not a subject for regret, to observe the country folks in +embroidered stockings and pumps, with large velvet bonnets trimmed with +feathers and lace; but in their homes they, as well as the artisans in +the towns, are miserably off; and they who are even genteelly dressed +when abroad, have rarely more than a miserable palliasse for a bed at +home. Deprived of the advantages of the straw trade, the situation of +the country people, especially those of the mountainous parts, is very +distressing. + +But this and similar causes operate much less on the population in the +district of the lagoons than elsewhere; and, indeed, it may almost be +said that these persons, for the most part, offer a striking contrast +with their neighbors. Notwithstanding the nature of the vapors by which +the air they breathe is impregnated, they are said, upon the whole, to +be healthy and long-lived; and the regularity of employment, the +goodness of their wages, and their constant residence on the same spot, +with many other causes, combine to render them one of the most thriving +sections of the Tuscan population. It must, nevertheless, be admitted +that we want several data for correctly appreciating their condition, +and these could only be supplied by one who should remain a long time +among them. The owners and conductors of the works are too much absorbed +by the love of gain to pay much attention to the state of the laborers, +who, as in most other parts of Italy, lead a retired life, and are +reserved and shy of communicating with strangers. On ordinary topics +they will converse with you freely enough, but the moment you allude to +their domestic concerns, they shrink into themselves, and decline +entering into explanations. This, however, they usually do in the most +civil manner, affecting stupidity, and carefully avoiding the least +appearance of rudeness. Even in the neighboring towns and villages the +laborers of the lagoons are little known; and the produce of their +manufacture, though exported to France and England, attracts little +notice to the country itself, except among those who are engaged in its +production. This will account for the very little that is popularly +known of the borax lagoons of Tuscany, or of the race of peasants by +whom they are rendered profitable. + + + + +[From Colburn's "New Monthly Magazine."] + +WALLACE AND FAWDON. + +BY LEIGH HUNT. + + +This ballad was suggested by one of the notes to the _Lay of the Last +Minstrel_. Wallace, the great Scottish patriot, had been defeated in a +sharp encounter with the English. He was forced to retreat with only +sixteen followers, the English pursued him with a bloodhound and his +sole chance of escape from that tremendous investigator was either in +baffling the scent altogether (which was impossible, unless fugitives +could take to the water, and continue there for some distance), or in +confusing it by the spilling of blood. For the latter purpose, a captive +was sometimes sacrificed; in which case the hound stopped upon the +body. + +The supernatural part of the story of Fawdon is treated by its first +relater, Harry the Minstrel, as a mere legend, and that not a very +credible one; but as a mere legend it is very fine, and quite sufficient +for poetical purposes; nor should the old poet's philosophy have thought +proper to gainsay it. Nevertheless, as the mysteries of the conscience +are more awful things than any merely gratuitous terror (besides leaving +optical phenomena quite as real as the latter may find them), even the +supernatural part of the story becomes probable when we consider the +agitations which the noble mind of Wallace may have undergone during +such trying physical circumstances, and such extremes of moral +responsibility. It seems clear, that however necessary the death of +Fawdon may have been to his companions, or to Scotland, his slayer +regretted it; I have suggested the kind of reason which he would most +likely have had for the regret; and, upon the whole, it is my opinion, +that Wallace actually saw the visions, and that the legend originated in +the fact. I do not mean to imply that Fawdon became present, embodied or +disembodied, whatever may have been the case with his spectre. I only +say that what the legend reports Wallace to have seen, was actually in +the hero's eyes. The remainder of the question I leave to the +psychologist. + + +PART THE FIRST. + + WALLACE with his sixteen men + Is on his weary way; + They have hasting been all night, + And hasting been all day; + And now, to lose their only hope, + They hear the bloodhound bay. + + The bloodhound's bay comes down the wind, + Right upon the road; + Town and tower are yet to pass, + With not a friend's abode. + + Wallace neither turn'd nor spake; + Closer drew the men; + Little had they said that day, + But most went cursing then. + + Oh! to meet twice sixteen foes + Coming from English ground, + And leave their bodies on the track, + To cheat King Edward's hound + + Oh! to overtake one wretch + That left them in the fight, + And leave him cloven to the ribs, + To mock the bloody spite. + + Suddenly dark Fawdon stopp'd, + As they near'd a town; + He stumbled with a desperate oath, + And cast him fiercely down. + + He said, "The leech took all my strength, + My body is unblest; + Come dog, come devil, or English rack, + Here must Fawdon rest." + + Fawdon was an Irishman, + Had join'd them in the war; + Four orphan children waited him + Down by Eden Scawr. + + But Wallace hated Fawdon's ways, + That were both fierce and shy; + And at his words he turn'd, and said, + "That's a traitor's lie. + + "No thought is thine of lingering here, + A captive for the hound; + Thine eye is bright; thy lucky flesh + Hath not a single wound: + The moment we depart, the lane + Will see thee from the ground." + + Fawdon would not speak nor stir, + Speak as any might; + Scorn'd or sooth'd, he sat and lour'd + As though in angry spite. + + Wallace drew a little back, + And waved his men apart; + And Fawdon half leap'd up, and cried, + "Thou wilt not have the heart!" + + Wallace with his dreadful sword, + Without further speech, + Clean cut off dark Fawdon's head, + Through its stifled screech: + + Through its stifled screech, and through + The arm that fenc'd his brow; + And Fawdon, as he leap'd, fell dead, + And safe is Wallace now. + + Safe is Wallace with his men, + And silent is the hound; + And on their way to Castle Gask + They quit the sullen ground. + + +PART THE SECOND. + + WALLACE lies in Castle Gask, + Resting with his men; + Not a soul has come, three days, + Within the warder's ken. + + Resting with his men is Wallace, + Yet he fareth ill + There are tumults in his blood, + And pangs upon his will. + + It was night, and all were housed, + Talking long and late; + Who is this that blows the horn + At the castle-gate? + + Who is this that blows a horn + Which none but Wallace hears? + Loud and louder grows the blast + In his frenzied ears. + + He sends by twos, he sends by threes, + He sends them all to learn; + He stands upon the stairs, and calls + But none of them return. + + Wallace flung him forth down stairs; + And there the moonlight fell + Across the yard upon a sight, + That makes him seem in hell + + Fawdon's headless trunk he sees, + With an arm in air, + Brandishing his bloody head + By the swinging hair. + + Wallace with a stifled screech + Turn'd and fled amain, + Up the stairs, and through the bowers, + With a burning brain: + + From a window Wallace leap'd + Fifteen feet to ground, + And never stopp'd till fast within + A nunnery's holy bound. + + And then he turn'd, in gasping doubt, + To see the fiend retire, + And saw him not at hand, but saw + Castle Gask on fire. + + All on fire was Castle Gask; + And on its top, endued + With the bulk of half a tower, + Headless Fawdon stood. + + Wide he held a burning beam, + And blackly fill'd the light; + His body seem'd, by some black art, + To look at Wallace, heart to heart, + Threatening through the night. + + Wallace that day week arose + From a feeble bed; + And gentle though he was before, + Yet now to orphans evermore + He gentlier bow'd his head. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE CLEVER CHILDREN? + + +During a visit to a friend in the country, I was enjoying a walk in his +garden before breakfast on a delightful morning in June, when my +attention was suddenly arrested by the pensive attitude of a little boy, +the son of my host, whom I observed standing before a rose-bush, which +he appeared to contemplate with much dissatisfaction. Children have +always been to me a most interesting study; and yielding to a wish to +discover what could have clouded the usually bright countenance of my +little friend, I inquired what had attracted him to this particular +rose-bush, which presented but a forlorn appearance when compared with +its more blooming companions. He replied: "This rose-bush is my _own_; +papa gave it to me in spring, and promised that no one else should touch +it. I have taken great pains with it; and as it was covered with +beautiful roses last summer, I hoped to have had many fine bouquets from +it; but all my care and watching have been useless: I see I shall not +have one full-blown rose after all." + +"And yet," said I, "it appears to be as healthy as any other bush in the +garden: tell me what you have done for it, as you say it has cost me so +much pains?" + +"After watching it for some time," he replied, "I discovered a very +great number of small buds, but they were almost concealed by the leaves +which grew so thickly; I therefore cleared away the greater part of +these, and my little buds then looked very well. I now found, as I +watched them, that though they grew larger every day, the green outside +continued so hard that I thought it impossible for the delicate +rose-leaves to force their way out; I therefore picked them open; but +the pale, shriveled blossoms which I found within never improved, but +died one after another. Yesterday morning I discovered one bud which the +leaves had till then hidden from me, and which was actually streaked +with the beautiful red of the flower confined in it; I carefully opened +and loosened it, in the hope that the warm sun would help it to blow: my +first thought this morning was of the pleasure I should have in +gathering my _one_ precious bud for mamma--but look at it now!" + +The withered, discolored petals to which the child thus directed my eye +did indeed present but a melancholy appearance, and I now understood the +cause of the looks of disappointment which had at first attracted my +attention. I explained to the zealous little gardener the mischief which +he had unintentionally done by removing the leaves and calyx with which +nature had covered and inclosed the flower until all its beauties should +be ready for full development; and having pointed out to him some buds +which had escaped his _care_, I left him full of hope that, by waiting +patiently for nature to accomplish her own work, he might yet have a +bouquet of his own roses to present to his mother. + +As I pursued my walk, it occurred to me that this childish incident +suggested an answer to the question asked by Dr. Johnson, "What becomes +of all the clever children?" Too often, it is to be feared, are the +precious human buds sacrificed to the same mistaken zeal that led to the +destruction of the roses which had been expected with so much pleasure +by their little owner. Perhaps a few hints, suggested--not by fanciful +theory, but by practical experience in the mental training of +children--may help to rescue some little ones from the blighting +influences to which they are too often exposed. + +The laws by which the physical development of every infant, during the +earliest period of its existence, is regulated, seem to afford a +striking lesson by the analogy they bear to these laws on which the +subsequent mental development depends; and by the wise arrangement of an +ever-kind Providence, this lesson is made immediately to precede the +period during which it should be carried into practice. On the babe's +first entrance into the world, it must be fed only with food suitable to +its delicate organs of digestion; on this depends its healthful growth, +and likewise the gradual strengthening of those organs. Its senses must +at first be acted upon very gently: too strong a light, or too loud a +noise, may impair its sight or hearing for life. + +The little limbs of a young infant must not be allowed to support the +body before they have acquired firmness sufficient for that task, +otherwise they will become deformed, and the whole system weakened; and +last, not least, fresh and pure air must be constantly inhaled by the +lungs, in order that they may supply vigor to the whole frame. All +enlightened parents are acquainted with these laws of nature, and +generally act on them; but when, owing to judicious management, their +children emerge from babyhood in full enjoyment of all the animal +organs, and with muscles and sinews growing firmer every day in +consequence of the exercise which their little owners delight in giving +them, is the same judicious management extended to the mind, of which +the body, which has been so carefully nourished, is only the outer case? +In too many cases it is not. Too often the tender mind is loaded with +information which it has no power of assimilating, and which, +consequently, can not nourish it. The mental faculties, instead of being +gradually exercised, are overwhelmed: parents who would check with +displeasure the efforts of a nurse who should attempt to make their +infant walk at too early a period, are ready eagerly to embrace any +system of so-called education which offers to do the same violence to +the intellect; forgetting that distortion of mind is at least as much to +be dreaded as that of the body, while the motives held out to encourage +the little victims are not calculated to produce a moral atmosphere +conducive either to good or great mental attainments. Children are +sometimes met with--though few and far between--whose minds seem ready +to drink in knowledge in whatever form or quantity it may be presented +to them; and the testimony of Dr. Combe, as well as of many other +judicious writers, proves the real state of the brain in such cases, and +also the general fate of the poor little prodigies. Such children, +however, are not the subject of these observations, of which the object +is to plead for those promising buds which are closely encased in their +"hard" but protecting covering; to plead for them especially at that +period when the "beautiful red streak" appears; in other words, when, +amid the thoughtless sports and simple studies of childhood, the +intellect begins to develop itself, and to seek nourishment from all +that is presented to it. There exists at the period alluded to a +readiness in comparison, and a shrewdness of observation, which might be +profitably employed in the great work of education. And here it may be +observed, that as to "educate" signifies to _bring out_, the term +_education_ can only be applied with propriety to a system which +performs this work, and never to one which confines itself to laying on +a surface-work of superficial information, unsupported by vigorous +mental powers. Information may be acquired at any age, provided that the +intellectual machinery has been kept in activity; whereas, if the latter +has been allowed to rust and stiffen from disease, the efforts of the +man--supposing him to have energy sufficient to make an effort--to +redress the wrongs done to the boy, will in most cases be vain. That +self-educated men are generally the best educated is a trite remark; so +trite, indeed, that it frequently falls on the ear without rousing +attention to the apparent paradox which it contains; and yet there must +be some reason well worthy of attention for the fact, that so many who, +in early life, have enjoyed advantages, have, on reaching manhood, found +themselves surpassed by others who have been forced to struggle up +unassisted, and in many cases surrounded by apparent obstacles to their +rise. It is obvious that the point in which the latter have the +advantage, is the necessity which they find for exercising their _own_ +intellectual powers at every step; and, moreover, for taking each step +firmly before they attempt the next; which necessity, while it may +retard the rapid skimming over various subjects which is sometimes +effected, gives new vigor continually to the mind, and also leads to the +habit of that "industry and patient thought" to which the immortal +Newton attributed all he had done; while at the same time a vivid +pleasure is taken in the acquirement of knowledge so obtained beyond any +that can be conferred by reward or encouragement from others. + +From these considerations, it appears that the most judicious system of +education is that in which the teacher rather directs the working of his +pupil's mind than works for him; and it must be recollected that such a +system, compared with some others, will be slow, though sure, in +producing the desired result. Every one familiar with children must have +observed with what apparently fresh interest they will listen to the +same tale repeated again and again Now, if time and repetition are +necessary to impress on the young mind facts interesting in themselves, +they are surely more necessary when the information to be imparted is in +itself dry and uninteresting, as is the ease with much which it is +requisite for children to learn. The system here recommended is one +which requires _patience_ both on the part of parents and teachers; but +patience so exercised would undoubtedly be rewarded by the results, one +of which would be, that we should not so frequently see "clever +children" wane into very commonplace, if not stupid men. + + + + +[From Fraser's Magazine.] + +LACK OF POETRY IN AMERICA. + + +After the Americans had established their political nationality beyond +cavil, and taken a positive rank among the powers of the civilized +world, they still remained subject to reproach, that in the worlds of +Art, Science, and Literature, they had no national existence. Admitting, +or, at any rate, feeling, the truth of this taunt, they bestirred +themselves resolutely to produce a practical refutation of it. Their +first and fullest success was, as might be expected from their +notoriously utilitarian character, in practical inventions. In oratory, +notwithstanding a tendency to more than Milesian floridness and +hyperbole, they have taken no mean stand among the free nations of +christendom. In history, despite the disadvantages arising from the +scarcity of large libraries, old records, and other appliances of the +historiographer, they have produced some books which are acknowledged +to be well worthy a place among our standard works, and which have +acquired, not merely an English, but a continental reputation. In the +fine arts, notwithstanding obviously still greater impediments--the want +at home, not only of great galleries and collections, but of the +thousand little symbols and associations that help to educate the +artist--the consequent necessity of going abroad to seek all that the +student requires--they have still made laudable progress. The paintings +of Washington Allston are the most noteworthy lions in Boston; the +statues of Powers command admiration even in London. In prose fiction, +the sweet sketches of Irving have acquired a renown second only to that +of the agreeable essayists whom he took for his models, while the Indian +and naval romances of Cooper are purchased at liberal prices by the +chary bibliopoles of England, and introduced to the Parisian public by +the same hand which translated Walter Scott. In poetry alone they are +still palpably inferior: no world-renowned minstrel has yet arisen in +the New Atlantis, and the number of those versifiers who have attained a +decided name and place among the lighter English literature of their +day, or whose claims to the title of poet are acknowledged _in all +sections_ of their own country, is but small. + +If we come to inquire into the causes of this deficiency, we are apt at +first to light upon several reasons why it should _not_ exist. In the +first place, there is nothing unpoetical about the country itself, but +every thing highly the reverse. All its antecedents and traditions, its +discovery, its early inhabitants, its first settlement by civilized men, +are eminently romantic. It is not wanting in battle-grounds, or in spots +hallowed by recollections and associations of patriots and sages. The +magnificence of its scenery is well known. The rivers of America are at +the same time the most beautiful and the most majestic in the world: the +sky of America, though dissimilar in hue, may vie in loveliness with the +sky of Italy. No one who has floated down the glorious Hudson (even amid +all the un-ideal associations of a gigantic American steamer), who has +watched the snowy sails--so different from the tarry, smoky canvas of +European craft--that speck that clear water; who has noticed the +faultless azure and snow of the heaven above, suggesting the highest +idea of purity, the frowning cliffs that palisade the shore, and the +rich masses of foliage that overhang them, tinged a thousand dyes by the +early autumn frost--no one who has observed all this, can doubt the +poetic capabilities of the land. + +A seeming solution, indeed, presents itself in the business, utilitarian +character of the people; and this solution would probably be immediately +accepted by very many of our readers. Brother Jonathan thinks and talks +of cotton, and flour, and dollars, and the ups and downs of stocks. +Poetry _doesn't pay_: he can not appreciate, and does not care for it. +"Let me get something for myself," he says, like the churl in +Theocritus. "Let the gods whom he invokes reward the poet. What do we +want with more verse? We have Milton and Shakspeare (whether we read +them or not). He is the poet for me who asks me for nothing;" and so the +poor Muses wither (or as Jonathan himself might say, _wilt_) away, and +perish from inanition and lack of sympathy. Very plausible; but now for +the paradox. So far from disliking, or underrating, or being indifferent +to poetry, the American public is the most eager devourer of it, in any +quantity, and of any quality; nor is there any country in which a +limited capital of inspiration will go farther. Let us suppose two +persons, both equally unknown, putting forth a volume of poems on each +side of the Atlantic; decidedly the chances are, that the American +candidate for poetic fame will find more readers, and more encouragement +in his country, than the British in his. Very copious editions of the +standard English poets are sold every year, generally in a form adapted +to the purses of the million; to further which end they are frequently +bound two or three in a volume (Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, for +instance, is a favorite combination). Even bardlings like Pollok enjoy a +large number of readers and editions. Nor is there--notwithstanding the +much-complained-of absence of an international copyright law--any +deficiency of home supply for the market. Writing English verses, +indeed, is as much a part of an American's education, as writing Latin +verses is of an Englishman's; recited "poems" always holding a prominent +place among their public collegiate exercises; about every third man, +and every other woman of the liberally-educated classes, writes +occasional rhymes, either for the edification of their private circle, +or the poets'-corner of some of the innumerable newspapers that encumber +the land; and the number of gentlemen and ladies one meets who have +published a volume of Something and Other Poems, is perfectly +astounding. + +The true secret seems to be, that the Americans, as a people, have not +received that education which enables a people to produce poets. For, +however true the _poeta nascitur_ adage may be negatively of +individuals, it is not true positively of nations. The formation of a +national poetic temperament is the work of a long education, and the +development of various influences. A peculiar classicality of taste, +involving a high critical standard, seems necessary, among the moderns, +to high poetic production; and such a taste has not yet been formed in +America. True, there are kinds of poetry--the Ballad and the Epic, +which, so far as we can trace them, are born, Pallas-like, full-grown; +which sound their fullest tone in a nation's infancy, and are but +faintly echoed in its maturity. But there are numbers in which lisps the +infancy, not of a nation merely, but of a race. And the Americans were +an old race though a young nation. They began with too much civilization +for the heroic school of poetry: they have not yet attained enough +cultivation for the philosophic. + + + + +[From the London Christian Times.] + +SIR ROBERT PEEL. + + +All the ordinary incidents of the past week have been thrown into +temporary oblivion, by the lamentable occurrence that has deprived the +country of one of its most eminent statesmen; the House of Commons, of +one of its chiefs; the family of the right honorable baronet of its most +amiable and distinguished head; and many of the public institutions, +those of the fine arts especially, of an enlightened and generous +patron. + +The late member for Tamworth was the eldest son of the first Sir R. +Peel, formerly of the house of Peel and Yates, which, in 1803, employed +about 15,000 persons at Bury, and which paid at that time £40,000 a year +duty on their printed cotton fabrics. In 1787, Mr. Peel married his +partner's daughter, Miss Yates, who bore the subject of this memoir--5th +February, 1788--in a little cottage, near Chamber Hall. The husband of +Miss Yates was very successful in his cotton speculations, and in 1798, +when the English Government appealed to the country for pecuniary aid to +carry on the French war, subscribed himself £10,000. Some notion may be +formed of the extent of the wealth of the first Sir R. Peel, from the +fact that when, in 1830, his will was proved, the _personal_ property +was sworn at £1,200,000. The much-lamented baronet received the +rudiments of his education under parental superintendence, near Bury. He +was removed to Harrow, when he became a form-fellow of the more +brilliant, but less amiable, Lord Byron, who has left several +commendatory notices of his youthful friend, and whose eminence he very +sagaciously predicted. + +From Harrow, Mr. Peel became a Gentleman Commoner of Christ Church, +Oxford, where, in 1808, he was the first who took the honors of double +first-class. In the following year, having attained his majority, he +entered the House of Commons for Cashel, as the nominee of Mr. Richard +Pennefather. Mr. Peel continued to represent the twelve electors of +Cashel and their lord till 1812, when he represented the close borough +of Chippenham, with a constituency of 135. The prodigious wealth of the +first baronet of Drayton Manor gave his son great advantages in the +House of Commons, where, in 1810, he was selected to second the Address, +in reply to the Royal Speech. Shortly after, he became the +Under-Secretary of State in the Perceval Cabinet, and, upon the fall of +his chief, though only twenty-six years of age, he was made principal +Secretary for Ireland--an office, at that time, of the greatest +difficulty and importance--and held that post with as much address as +his ultra-Toryism, and his extreme unpopularity in Ireland, admitted, +under the Viceroyships of the Duke of Richmond, Earl Whitworth, and Earl +Talbot. The most permanent and beneficial measure which Ireland owes to +its former Secretary, Peel, is its constabulary force, introduced in +1817, which was the wedge to the introduction of the English body of +police. + +The masterly tactics of the still youthful statesman, in part, but his +"thorough and throughout" Toryism, chiefly recommended him to the +electors of Oxford University, which he represented twelve years, till +1828; when, upon an obvious change in his opinions on the question of +Catholic emancipation, he was rejected. + +In 1820, Mr. Peel, then in his thirty-third year, had married Julia, the +daughter of General Sir John Floyd, who was only twenty-five, and who +survives her illustrious husband. The issue of this marriage is five +sons and two daughters. One of his sons has already entered diplomatic +employment in Switzerland; a second has recently entered, as our readers +will remember, the House of Commons; a third is in the army, and one in +the navy. One of Sir Robert's daughters was married to Viscount Villiers +in 1840. + +In 1819, the monetary affairs of the country had become so alarming, +that the House of Commons appointed a secret committee to inquire into +the state of the Bank of England, of which committee Mr. Peel was +appointed chairman. He had hitherto been one of the most strenuous +opponents of Mr. Horner's celebrated propositions of 1811, from which +period he had strongly defended the currency policy of Mr. Vansittart. +But the evidence produced to the secret committee effected a complete +change in Mr. Peel's opinions, and it was chiefly through his agency +that the currency was settled on its present metallic basis. In the +conflict, a touching incident of antagonism, between the subject of this +memoir and his father, occurred in the House of Commons. Mr. Peel was, +in 1822, promoted to the head of the Home-office, which he occupied till +the overthrow of Lord Liverpool, in 1827, when he retired, in +consequence, as it is alleged, of the elevation of Mr. Canning, whose +opinions were in favor of the abolition of the Roman Catholic +disabilities. Upon the accession of the Duke of Wellington to power, in +1828, Mr. Peel returned to the Home-office, and, in conjunction with his +noble friend, repealed the disabilities of the Roman Catholics; which +not only cost him Ireland, and brought upon him a hurricane of abuse +from his party, but shook the general confidence in either the soundness +or the integrity of his opinions. + +The skirts of the Gallic storm of 1830, that crushed the Bourbonic +throne, destroyed the Wellington Administration, and made the Reform +Bill no longer deferable, which the Whigs entered office to carry. +Meantime, the deceased had succeeded to an enormous estate and the +baronetcy, by the demise of his father, Sir R. Peel. But he was, in +opposition, fiercely assailed with the maledictions of Ireland; the +censures of the High Tory party--whom he was alleged to have +betrayed--the clamors of the advocates of a paper currency; and what, +perhaps, was the most difficult to bear, his party imputed to him the +real authorship of the Reform Bill and its consequences, by his +vacillation in reference to the emancipation of the Catholics. But, +nothing dismayed by the angry elements surrounding him, and the new +political vista of England and the Continent, Sir R. Peel now displayed +all the resources of his statesmanship in concentrating the new +Conservative party. He so far succeeded--chiefly through the want of +more courage and honesty in the Whigs--that he was again called to +office in 1834, during his brief tenancy of which, no one can withhold +praise for his command of temper, his Liberal tendencies, and his spirit +of general conciliation. In 1841, Sir R. Peel again entered office; +and--though he undeniably was enabled to do so by the Protectionist +party, by the force of circumstances, the stagnation of commerce, the +failure of the crops, and the famine in Ireland--he opened the ports, +and repealed the Corn-laws forever, to the consternation of the world, +and in opposition to all the opinions of his life; this was in 1845. +Since that period Sir R. Peel has been in Opposition, indeed, but not +its leader so much as a distinguished debater, an accomplished +financier, and the expositor of opinions which neither the Whigs nor +Tories heartily espouse. + +During forty years servitude in the House of Commons--though not +generally in favor of popular sentiments, and, in religious matters, +rather liberal than generous--Sir R. Peel has undoubtedly rendered, in +addition to his three great measures--the Bullion-law, Catholic +Emancipation, and the repeal of the Corn-law--many minor political +benefits to the country. Of this class of services, that which reflects +on him the most honor, is his amelioration of the Criminal Law. As to +the measures to which we have just alluded, there will still continue to +be a large diversity of opinion. Thousands of the wealthy classes will +regard them all as steps in the declination of the national power; while +the more popular mind, that rarely troubles itself with large or +profound views, has already registered its approval of them. + +It is a singular fact, that he spent eleven years in Parliamentary +opposition to the Bullion doctrine that he adopted in 1822; that he +waged strenuous war against the repeal of the Roman Catholic +disabilities for eighteen years, and at last carried them in spite of +his own party; and that for thirty years in the House of Commons, he +maintained that the prosperity of Great Britain depended on the +retention of her Corn-laws, which he repealed in 1845. It is, therefore, +clear that his final measures, in reference to these three great +departments of his political life, were rather concessions to the force +of events, than the voluntary policy of his own mind. His wisdom lay in +the concession. Many of his chief colleagues, in each of these +instances, would have blindly rushed upon destruction. His greater +sagacity foresaw the gulf and turned away, choosing to win the courage +of relinquishing his life's opinions, than that of courting the dangers +of resistance. And in these three famous instances of Sir R. Peel's +life, we have the true elaboration of his own character. He was by +education and preference a Tory; by necessity he became a +Progressionist. + +While we have felt it our duty to write the last paragraph, we +cheerfully record our admiration of Sir Robert Peel's great talents, of +his moral integrity, of his very exemplary private life, and, we +believe, of his firm attachment to his country and its institutions. He +is another memorable instance of what the children of democracy may +become in England, with adequate talents and exertions. Sir R. Peel owed +much to his wealth, to his associates, and to his early opinions. But +far beyond the factitious influences derivable from such sources, he had +great elements in himself. When his heart and mind received free +permission from his policy to display themselves, they were of the +highest order. Such a man is not easily made: of his loss we are only at +present very imperfectly able to appreciate the consequences, one of +which, we fear will be a mischievous re-formation of the Protectionist +party, and, if we read the auspices aright, his death will not improve +the Ministerial Whigs. + +The motion on Wednesday night, in the House of Commons, not to proceed +with public business that evening, in honor of the memory of Sir R. +Peel, was as becoming to the House itself as it was to its mover, Mr. +Hume. It is a poor recompense to a bereaved family, we are aware; but it +is such a tribute as has not always been granted to even greater men, +and to some of the blood royal. In due time the public feeling will +doubtless imbody itself in more tangible and permanent forms; and when +that occurs, it will not be the least of the monumental honors of the +deceased, that the gratitude of the widow, the orphan, the neglected +genius, and suffering worth, will lead many to shed their tears on the +bronze or marble effigies of him whose like England will not easily see +again. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +SPONGES. + + +About three centuries and a half before the Christian era, the question, +Are sponges animal or vegetable? was proposed by Aristotle, who, unable +himself to solve the difficulty, was contented, in the true spirit of a +lover of nature, with carefully recording the results of his accurate +observations, and advancing his opinion rather in the form of an inquiry +than of an allegation. Upward of two thousand years rolled away ere this +question was satisfactorily answered. Nay, we believe that the vegetable +theory has, even at the present time, its advocates; while some are +still disposed to consider that the sponge is at one period of its +existence a vegetable, and at another an animal. + +To any one who hesitates to acknowledge that the sponge is endowed with +animal life--confessedly in its lowest form, yet with a most exquisite +adaptation to its destiny--we would offer the spectacle of a living +sponge in a portion of its native element. We would let him gaze on the +animated fountain, which is perpetually sucking the water into its +substance through its countless pores, and after assimilating such +particles of it as are essential to its existence, ceaselessly expelling +it, at more distant intervals, through the larger channels which may be +observed on its outer surface. We would point out innumerable gemmules +of gelatinous matter, which at certain seasons of the year may be seen +spouting "from all parts of the living film which invests the horny +skeleton;"[24] until, at length, escaping from the nursery in which they +grew, they are carried off to the wide sea by means of the force of the +currents issuing from the sponge, though not left to perish at the mercy +of the waves. For he will find that the young animal or egg is covered +with numberless minute hairs or _cilia_, each one of which is endowed +with a distinct and innate power of vibration; so that by means of +thousands of almost invisible oars, the young sponge "shoots like a +microscopic meteor through the sea," until it arrives at some rock or +other place properly adapted for its future growth; then it settles +calmly and contentedly down, and gradually losing its locomotive power, +begins to spread on its base; and builds up, within its living +substance, a horny framework, such as we have already seen in its +parent. + +The above-named currents may be more distinctly seen by powdering the +surface of the water with chalk or any similar substance; and Professor +Grant mentions, that by placing pieces of cork or dry paper over the +apertures, he could see them moving "by the force of the currents at the +distance of ten feet from the table on which the specimen rested." + +Dr. Peysonell, who paid great attention to the structure of the sponge, +brought proofs of its animal vitality before the Royal Society in the +years 1752--57. And Mr. Ellis, five years afterward, by his dissections, +set the question quite at rest; though he fell into the error of +believing that the frame of the sponge was the outer case of worms or +polypes. Later examination, however, has shown that the _frame_ or +_sponge_, commonly so called, is an _internal_ skeleton, while the vital +power is simply composed of a slimy film which coats over every fibre, +and which, inert as it appears, possesses the power of secreting the +particles essential to its growth. + +It has been affirmed, that the sponge is observed to contract or shrink +when torn from the rooks; but there is satisfactory evidence to prove +that neither this nor any degree of laceration has a sensible effect on +this nerveless though vital mass. + +All sponges, however, have not a horny framework, but some, which are +thereby rendered useless in a commercial point of view, are supported by +a skeleton composed of siliceous particles imbedded in a tough, fibrous +material. These particles, or _spicula_, as they are termed, are so +uniform in the species to which they severally belong, that, in the +words of Professor Grant, if the soft portion be destroyed, and a "few +of them brought from any pan of the world on the point of a needle, they +would enable the zoologist to identify the species to which they +originally belonged." Professor R. Jones, however, considers that this +opinion should be received with considerable limitations. + +The last fact, trivial as it appears, assumes immense importance when we +learn that to these spicula we must turn for an explanation of the +isolated masses of flint which abound in various chalk formations. "The +mere assertion," says Rhymer Jones, "that flints were sponges, would no +doubt startle the reader who was unacquainted with the history of these +fossil relics of a former ocean;" and yet a little reflection "will +satisfy the most skeptical." For long ages the sponge is imbedded in the +chalk, through which water is continually percolating. A well-known law +of chemistry explains why similar matter should become aggregated; and +thus the siliceous matter of the sponge forms a nucleus for the +siliceous matter contained in the water, until at length the entire mass +is converted into a solid flint. But we are not left, he adds, to mere +conjecture or hypothesis on this point, "for nothing is more common in +chalky districts than to find flints, which, on _being broken, still +contain portions of the original sponge in an almost unaltered state_." + +There is every reason to believe that the sponge-fisheries of the Ægean +are at present conducted precisely in the same manner as they were in +the time of Aristotle. The sponge-divers are mostly inhabitants of the +islands which lie off the Carian coast, and of those situated between +Rhodes and Calymnos. These men--who form a distinct society, and are +governed by peculiar laws, which prohibit their marriage until they +shall have attained a prescribed proficiency in their art--go out in +little fleets, composed of caiques, each of six or seven tons' burden, +and manned by six or eight divers: each man is simply equipped with a +netted bag in which to place the sponges, and a hoop by which to suspend +it round his neck; and thus furnished, he descends to a depth of from +five to twenty, or even occasionally thirty fathoms. The sponges which +he collects are first saturated with fresh water, which destroys the +vitality, and decomposing the gelatinous matter, turns it black; this +matter is stamped out by the feet of the divers, and the sponges are +then dried in the sun, and strung in circles, after which they are ready +for sale and exportation. + +In a good locality an expert diver may bring up fifty okes in a day, and +for each oke he obtains about twenty-five drachmas. The weight is +calculated, says Forbes, when the sponges are dry, and a very large +sponge may weigh two okes. The chief sponge-markets are Smyrna. Rhodes, +and Napoli. + +Blount, who wrote in 1634, affirms that these sponge-divers "are from +infancy bred up on dry biscuites and other extenuatinge dyet, to make +them extreme lean; then takinge a spunge wet in oyle, they hold it, part +in their mouths, and part without, soe they go under water, where at +first they can not stay long, but after practice, the leanest stay an +hour and a halfe, even till the oyle of the spunge be corrupted.... Thus +they gather spunges from more than an hundred fathom deep," &c. All this +is very wonderful, but the narrator stamps the value of his tale by +telling us immediately afterward that "Samos is the only place in the +world on whose rocks the spunges grow." So that, in the words which he +elsewhere makes use of, "we applaude hys belief, but keep our owne." We +do not, however, mean to assert that there are not sponges of some +species (though not the sponge of commerce) which exist at a depth as +great as that which he mentions, for Forbes dredged a living specimen of +one small kind from 185 fathoms in the Gulf of Macri. + +The sponge of commerce (_Spongia officinalis_) was divided by Aristotle +into three kinds--namely, the loose and porous, the thick and close, and +the fine and compact. These last, which are rare, were called the +sponges of Achilles, and were placed by the ancients in the interior of +their helmets and boots, as protections from pressure and abrasion. + +The same naturalist states that those sponges are best which are found +on coasts where the water becomes suddenly deep, and attributes this +superiority to the greater equality of temperature obtained in such +waters--observations which have been corroborated by Professor E. +Forbes. + +Fifty-six species of sponges have been enumerated, ten or eleven of +which are found in the British isles. A portion of these inhabit fresh +water, among which we may mention the river sponge (_S. fluviatilis_), +which abounds in the Thames. Among the British sponges, too, is the +stinging or crumb-of-bread sponge (_S. urens_), a widely-diffused +species, which, when taken out of the sea is of a bright orange color, +and which will, if rubbed on the hand raise blisters. This stinging +quality is highly increased by drying the sponge; a process which also +gives it the color and appearance of crumbs of bread, whence its popular +name. + +Sponges, as may be imagined from the mode of their growth, are most +sportive in their forms: some a tubular, others mushroom-like, a few +almost globular, and still others branched or hand-shaped; in the warmer +seas they hang in fantastic and gorgeous fans from the roofs of +submarine caverns, or decorate the sides with vases of classic elegance, +though of nature's handiwork. Nor are their colors less various: some +are of the most brilliant scarlet or the brightest yellow, others green, +brown, blackish, or shining white; while Peron mentions one procured by +him in the South Sea which was of a beautiful purple, and from which a +liquor of the same color was extracted by the slightest pressure; with +this liquor he stained several different substances, and found that the +color was not affected by the action of the air, and that it would bear +several washings. + +The value of the sponge in surgery is well known; and it is also used, +medicinally, being for this purpose lightly burned to powder, and given +in small doses in scrofulous complaints. It has also been regarded as a +specific in leprosy and hydrophobia. It is, however, needless to say +that in these last it can have no influence whatever. + +There are several representations of sponges given in the balneal feasts +depicted on various Etruscan vases; and the sponge has been found in a +perfect state in a Roman barrow at Bartlow Hills. It was discovered near +the sacrificing utensils. Livy says that the covering of the breast of +the Samnite gladiators was sponge. + +When the animal matter remains in the sponges of various kinds, they +have always a very strong fishy smell, which may perhaps be regarded as +an additional proof of the fealty which they give to the animal kingdom. +Yet we must not omit that there are substances which, though they bear +the name of sponges, would rather appear, from their microscopic +structure, to belong to the vegetable world; we allude to those known as +_gelatinous sponges_, which are perfectly different from the sponges +properly so called. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] Professor Rymer Jones. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +THE RAILWAY WORKS AT CREWE. + + +"What place is this?" said the worthy old gentleman, my traveling +companion on the London and North Western railway, as he woke up from a +comfortable nap when the train slackened speed, and entered a spacious +and expensively-decorated station. + +"This is Crewe, sir, I believe." + +And scarcely had I answered, when there was a general shout of "Crewe, +Crewe!" from an army of porters who came rushing out, and pounced upon +the train as if it were their lawful prey. + +Presently a head peered in at the door, inquiring, + +"All here for the Liverpool line?" + +And on my elderly friend saying that he was for Manchester, he was +politely but smartly informed that he must change carriages here. So I +we both got out; and my friend, after some bother about his luggage, and +the use of some hasty language, was at last made "all right" by being +put into a carriage bearing an announcement that that was the +"Manchester train." On another carriage in front was a similar board +announcing the "Liverpool train," and behind was a third to announce +that for Chester. Passengers were running up and down the platform: some +looking after luggage, some for the right carriage, and others darting +into the handsome refreshment-room. But nobody seemed to think of going +away from the station; indeed the only mode of exit and entrance was +through a close-shut iron gate, beside which sat a policeman looking +with enviable coolness on all the bustle around him. There was a ring of +a bell; a banging of doors; a puff of the engine; and off went the train +to Liverpool. Another locomotive now appeared moving cautiously down the +line, and was speedily attached to the Manchester train, which was soon +out of sight. A third came; caught hold of the Chester train, and away +_it_ rushed. The passengers who had journeyed so amicably together from +London were now thoroughly dispersed, and ere the sun set, some would be +crossing the Scotch Border at Carlisle, some embarking at Holyhead for +Dublin, and others attending to their business on the Mersey or the Dee, +or amid the tall chimneys of Manchester. A luggage train came crawling +out from its hiding-place, and finding the coast clear, went thundering +past: the porters wiped their foreheads, and went to have a little rest; +and I, the solitary passenger for Crewe, was left cooling my heels on +the platform. + +"Where is Crewe?" I said to the guardian of the iron gate. + +"Cross the bridge, go straight on, and turn to the right," was the +concise reply. + +So I crossed the bridge, and found myself in a pleasant country road. +The flat rich fields of Cheshire extended on the left and to the right; +at the distance of about half a mile appeared the square massive tower +of a church, surrounded by long ranges of low buildings like work-shops, +and rows of houses evidently quite new. Some neat cottages lined the +sides of the road, and there were two or three inns all bearing marks of +youth; while some zealous people had caused a few bills, bearing the +words "Prepare to meet thy God," printed in conspicuous type, to be +affixed to the walls, giving a stranger not & very high idea of the +character of the people in the habit of using that road. Turning to the +right, I passed a Methodist chapel, bearing the date of its erection, +1848; a new flour-mill driven by water; a new inn with a brave new +sign-board; and, crossing the boundary made by the Chester line, I +arrived in Crewe. + +Not many years ago, there were only two or three houses here, and the +land on which the station and the town are built formed part of a good +Cheshire farm. The worthy farmer plowed his fields and reaped his +harvest, his dame made good Cheshire cheese; and both lived merrily on, +quite unconscious of the change that their farm was about to undergo. +The eyes of engineers were on it: it was placed, as an Irishman would +say, "very convanient" for railway purposes and after a few years had +rolled away, it became the great workshop of the Grand Junction Line, +and the point where the main line to Birmingham received its tributaries +from the north and west. Several thousands of people were brought here; +the company laid out streets and built houses; shops were opened; +churches and schools erected; a market-place provided; a Mechanics' +Institution established; many hotels built, one of which was destined +to lodge royalty for a night; and a town was erected with a rapidity +unexampled even in America. + +The general appearance of Crewe is very pleasing. The streets are wide, +and well paved; the houses are very neat and commodious, usually of two +stories, built of bricks, but the brick concealed by rough-cast plaster, +with porches, lattice-windows, and a little piece of garden-ground +before the door. The greater part of these houses belong to the company, +and are let to the men at rents from 2s. 9d. per week upward. The +accommodation is good, and it would be difficult to find such houses at +such low rents even in the suburbs of a large town. Water is plentifully +supplied by public pumps, and the town is well lighted with gas. The +names of the streets are expressive: some are called after the towns to +which their direction points--such as Liverpool, Chester, Sandbach, &c.; +others from the works to which they lead--such as Forge-street; and +others from well-known but very modern names--such as Prince +Albert-street. The placards on the walls, however, seem somewhat out of +place in a railway town, as nearly all have relation to sales of cattle, +timber, &c, indicating clearly enough that Crewe is but a mechanical +settlement in an agricultural district. The market-place is spacious, +and roofed over; the church is a handsome edifice of stone; and the +Mechanics' Institution a fine building with a large lecture-room (used +also as a town-hall), a good library and news-room, and commodious +class-rooms. These were all built by the company; and indeed the +completeness of every thing connected with the town gives evidence of +such an amplitude of means possessed by its founders, as seldom, if +ever, fall to the lot of private individuals. + +The most interesting objects, however, about Crewe are the railway +works. These are placed on a large tongue of land near the station, and +so adapted, that wagons, and carriages, and engines can easily be run +into them from the main line. In these works every thing connected with +"the rolling stock" of the company for the northern section of the line +(Walnerton being used for the southern) is made and repaired. The number +of hands employed at present is about eight hundred; but formerly, when +railways were more prosperous than now, it exceeded a thousand. The +workmen seem to belong, in tolerably equal proportions, to the four +great divisions of the United Kingdom; and the slow, deliberate speech +of the Scot, the rich brogue of the Irishman, and the sharp, quick +utterance of the Welshman, have lost very little of their purity and +richness amid the air of the county palatine of Chester. The greater +portion of the work is carried on in long, largo sheds, for the most +part of one story, and called the "fitting," "erecting," and other +shops, according to the nature of the work done in them. The artisans +may be divided into two great classes--the workers in metal, and those +in wood; the former being employed in making locomotives' wheels, axles, +springs, &c, and the latter in constructing the carriages. By far the +greatest number of hands are employed in the former. + +That our hasty inspection may begin at the beginning, let us peep at the +foundry. Both brass and iron are east here, but to-day it is iron. The +sandy floor is covered with moulds of all descriptions, and swarthy +workmen are preparing them to receive the melted iron. Occasionally you +are startled by the shout of "Mind your eye!" which must be taken in its +literal signification, for it comes from a moulder blowing away with a +bellows the superfluous grains of fine sand, which, if once in the eye, +will give some trouble. The moulds are ready, the furnace is opened, and +a stream of bright white metal rolls out into the pots prepared for its +reception, and is speedily poured into the moulds. In an adjoining shed +are blacksmiths plying forehammers; but their greatest efforts are +entirely eclipsed by the mighty steam-hammer that is seen at work in +another part of the shed. This hammer is the invention of Mr. Nasmyth, +of the Bridgewater Foundry, near Manchester. It moves up and down in a +strong frame, at a speed subject to such nice regulations, that, +according to the will of its director, it can gently drive a nail, or +crush to splinters a log of wood. When Lord John Russell lately visited +Manchester, the delicate touch of this hammer was strikingly displayed +before him: an egg was procured, and placed in a wine-glass, and such +was the power possessed over this giant, that after a little adjustment, +the mighty hammer was brought repeatedly down so as just to chip the egg +as gently as by a spoon in the hands of a child, while the glass was not +in the slightest degree injured or disturbed. The labor saved by this +hammer is immense. One man sits perched up on the frame to direct it, and +another stands below to guide the iron on the anvil. The great long bar, +white with heat, is pulled out of the furnace, laid on the massive piece +of iron under the frame, and, with a dull, heavy sound, down conies the +hammer, swiftly or slowly, according to the wishes of the director. From +the forge and the foundry the "rough-hewn" iron-work passes to be +planed, and its surface to be made "true." The wheel of an engine or a +carriage, for example, after being forged by the black-smith, requires +to be most carefully cut round the rim, so that the space between the +flange--that is, the projecting inner part of the wheel, and the outer +part--may be perfectly conical, in order that the least amount of +surface may be exposed to the rail, and consequently the least amount of +friction produced. Again, when a cylinder comes from the foundry, the +interior must be cut and polished to a perfect circle, otherwise it +would be useless. In short, there is no part of a locomotive that does +not require to be prepared with the most perfect accuracy to fit some +other part; and if this accuracy is not gained, the engine will either +not work at all, or work very imperfectly. It must be remembered that it +is hard metal, like iron and brass, that has thus to be wrought on, not +comparatively soft material, like wood and stone. + +But the machinery employed at Crewe seems capable of cutting any thing, +even though it were a rock of adamant. You pass into a shed full of +little machines, standing separate from each other, with all manner of +curious wheels and belts, driven by steam, of course, and each with a +man stationed by its side, gazing attentively at the little machine, as +if he were absorbed in thought; and, indeed, were it not for an +occasional quick movement of his hands, and a rapid change of position, +you might almost suppose that he was sleeping on his legs. But go close +up, and you notice that the machine is slowly moving backward and +forward, and still more slowly at the same time in a lateral direction. +Some curious piece of mechanism is placed on it, and the movements of +the machine cause a sharp steel-cutter to pass over the iron surface, +which cuts it as easily and truly as a joiner planes a piece of fir. The +side motion brings all the surface gradually under the instrument, but +the machine, clever and powerful though it is, requires to be constantly +watched and regulated, and hence the fixed attention of the man in +charge. At a large machine, you will see those long, curious rods called +"eccentrics" undergoing this operation; at another, a cylinder is being +planed; and at a third, the rims of wheels are being cut. The filings +thus made are preserved, and will be seen in large heaps in a yard, +ready to be melted down, and "used up" again. In some cases both iron +and brass filings are produced, which, of course, are mixed with each +other; but in a quiet corner of one of the sheds you will find a boy +with a heap of these filings before him, separating the brass from the +iron by means of a magnet. Only imagine a boy of fourteen or fifteen +doing nothing all day long except raking a magnet through a heap of +black and yellow dust, and brushing into a separate heap the iron +filings off his magnet! You will also see a series of three iron rollers +working on each other, by means of which plate iron can be twisted into +any given form; a mighty "punch" which will make a hole an inch in +diameter through iron an inch in thickness as easily as though it were +clay; and a sharp-cutting instrument that shears through sheets of iron +as easily as a pair of scissors through a sheet of paper. + +Go into another shed, and you will see all these various parts getting +their last touches from the hand, and being fitted into each other; and +here, also you find two or three men engraving, on circular segments of +brass, the names the various engines are to be known by. In another shed +the engines are being "erected." Here you see from twenty to thirty in +all stages of progress. Perhaps the framework only has been laid; or +the boiler, with its many rows of long, circular brass tubes, has just +been fastened, and is now receiving its outer clothing of long slips of +wood; or the whole is complete, merely wanting to be tried on the many +lines of rail in and around the sheds. There are two classes of engines +here, whose difference is observable at a glance: some have six wheels, +two of which are very large, about six feet in diameter, and the other +four much smaller. The two first only are driven by the machinery, the +others being merely what are called "bearing wheels." With this +description of engine more speed than power is obtained, and hence it is +used for passenger trains, where a high velocity is required, and where +there is usually little weight, comparatively speaking, to draw. The +others have only four wheels, not so large as the two just described, +but all driven by the machinery. Such engines I are more remarkable for +power than speed, and accordingly they are used for luggage trains. In +another shed, "The Hospital," will be found a number of engines laboring +under various disorders, sent here to be repaired. + +But carriages and wagons are also built here. You enter a shed (of two +stories this time), and find wood shavings instead of iron filings, and +the hissing of a circular saw instead of the quiet, steady scraping of a +"cutter." Here all the woodwork of the carriages is executed, and when +ready they are hoisted through a large trap-door in the roof to the +second story, where they are painted and varnished, and, if first-class, +"up-holstered." In a store-room above stairs, are piled heaps of +cushions ready for the most expensive carriages; at a table is a boy +stuffing with horse-hair the leathern belts that hang by the sides of +the windows; and elsewhere an artist is painting the arms of the company +on the panels of a door. Here and there are boards placed before a +carriage, with the intimation "Wet!" indicating that you must not go too +near; and some of the carriages give evidence of having seen service, +but are now renewing their youth under the skillful hands of the painter +and the upholsterer. When ready to "go on the line," they are let down +through the trap-door, fixed on their wheels and axles, and sent to +relieve others that require repair. + +Six o'clock strikes, and work ceases. In walking back leisurely to the +station, I saw many of the workmen digging in their little gardens, +"bringing themselves," as Emerson phrases it, "into primitive relations +with the soil and nature;" others were reading the papers of the day at +the Mechanics' Institution; others strolling among the green fields +round the town; and others walking to a class-room, to hear a teetotal +lecture; while some were proceeding to recreations of a very different +kind. I was admitted through the iron gate by the same policeman; the +"down" express train arrived, and it conveyed me in an hour and a half +to Liverpool, a distance of about forty-five miles, stopping only once +at the well-known town of Warrington. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +STEAM-BRIDGE OF THE ATLANTIC + + +In the summer of 1838 the Atlantic Ocean was crossed for the first time +by vessels exclusively propelled by steam-power. These pioneers were the +_Sirius_ and the _Great Western_--the former built for another class of +voyages, and afterward lost on the station between Cork and London; the +latter built expressly for Atlantic navigation, and which has ever since +been more or less employed in traversing that ocean. Other ships +followed: the _British Queen_, afterward sold to the Belgian government; +the _Great Liverpool_, subsequently altered and placed on the line +between Southampton and Alexandria; and the _President_, lost, no man +knows how or where, in the year 1841. Then came what is called "Cunard's +Line," consisting of a number of majestic steam-ships built in the +Clyde, to carry passengers and mails between Liverpool in Europe, and +Halifax, Boston, and New York in America; a service they have performed +with the most marvelous regularity. The only great misfortune that has +befallen this line has been the loss of one of the vessels, the +_Columbia_, which, in nautical phrase, "broke her back" on some rocks on +the American shore of the Atlantic. Then came the _Great Britain_, the +greatest of them all, differing from the others in two respects--first, +in being built of iron instead of wood; and second, in being propelled +by the Archimedean screw instead of by the old paddle-wheels; and, alas! +she has differed from them all in a third respect, inasmuch as neither +the same good-luck attended her as in general fell to the lot of the +ships of the Cunard Line, nor the same irretrievable bad fortune as was +met by the _President_ and the _Columbia_; for, after having made +several voyages very successfully, she, to the amazement of all mankind, +very quietly went ashore in Dundrum Bay, on the east coast of Ireland, +from whence, after spending a most uncomfortable winter, she was brought +back to Liverpool, and now lies in the Bramley-Moore Dock there, like a +huge mass of iron suffering under premature rust. But all this time +these ocean steamers that periodically brought to New York passengers +and intelligence from Europe were British built. They had been +constructed in the Avon, the Mersey, and the Clyde, the greater number +having been launched in the same waters as first received Henry Bell's +little _Comet_. Why did America not embark in such enterprise? As +regards steam navigation, Fulton was before Bell; New York before +Glasgow; the _Fulton's Folly_ before the _Cornet_; and was + + "The greatest nation + In all creation" + +to be outdone in the field of enterprise by the old Britishers? American +pride said "No;" American instinct said "No;" and, above all, American +capitalists said "No!" Keels were laid down in New York; the +shipbuilders' yards became unusually active; and the stately timbers of +majestic ships gradually rose before the admiring gaze of the citizens +of the great republic. + +But the race of William the Doubter is not yet extinct, and many, as +usual, shook their wise heads at the enterprise. It was admitted that in +inland navigation the Americans had beaten the world; that except an +occasional blow-up, their river steamers were really models of +enterprise and skill; but it was gravely added, the Mississippi is not +the Atlantic; icebergs are not snags; and an Atlantic wave is somewhat +different from an Ohio ripple. These truisms were of course undeniable; +but to them was quickly added another fact, about which there could be +as little mistake--namely, the arrival at Southampton, after a voyage +which, considering it was the first, was quite successful, of the +American-built steam-ship _Washington_ from New York. There seemed to be +a touch of calm irony in thus making the _Washington_ the first of their +Atlantic-crossing steamers, as if the Americans had said, "You doubting +Britishers! when you wished to play tyrant over us, did we not raise one +Washington who chastised you? and now that you want to monopolize +Atlantic navigation, we have raised another Washington, just to let you +know that we will beat you again!" + +The _Washington_, however, was only the precursor of greater vessels. +These were to sail between New York and Liverpool, carrying the mails +under a contract with the American government. In size, and speed, and +splendor of fittings, these new ships were to surpass the old; even +their names were, if possible, to be more grand and expressive. The +vessels of Cunard's Line had lately appropriated the names of the four +great continents of the globe, but the oceans remained, and their names +were adopted; the new steamers being called the _Atlantic_, _Pacific_, +_Arctic_, _Baltic_, and _Adriatic_. The first of these was dispatched +from New York on the 27th of April last, and arrived in the Mersey on +the 10th of May, thus making the passage in about thirteen days. The +voyage would have been made in a shorter time but for two accidents: the +bursting of the condenser, and the discovery, after the vessel was some +distance at sea, of the weakness of the floats or boards on the +paddle-wheels. About two days were entirely lost in making repairs; and +the speed was reduced, in order to prevent the floats from being +entirely torn away from the paddle-wheels. These things considered, the +passage was very successful. The average time occupied during 1849 by +the vessels of the old line between New York and Liverpool was 12; days; +but their voyages were longer than those of the _Atlantic_, as they +called at Halifax. The shortest passage was that made by the _Canada_ +from New York to Liverpool _via_ Halifax in eleven days four hours.[25] + + +The _Atlantic_ remained for nineteen days at Liverpool; and during all +that time she had to lie in a part of the river called the Sloyne, in +consequence of none of the dock-entrances being wide enough to allow her +to pass in. Her breadth, measuring across the paddle-boxes, is 75 feet; +of the vessels of Cunard's Line, about 70 feet; and the widest +dock-entrance is barely sufficient to admit the latter. The _Great +Britain_, though longer than any other steam-ship that ever entered the +Mersey, is not so broad, as, being propelled by the screw, she has no +paddle-wheels. A dock at the north shore is now in course of +construction expressly for the accommodation of the _Atlantic_ and her +consorts. + +For several days during her stay at Liverpool the _Atlantic_ was open to +visitors on payment of sixpence each, the money thus realized (upward of +£70) being paid over to the trustees of the Institution for the Blind, +whose church and school are now being removed to give greater space +round the station of the London and Northwestern Railway. On the day of +my visit crowds of people were waiting at the pier for the steamer that +was to convey them to the _Atlantic_. Whitsuntide visitors from the +manufacturing districts were hastening on board the numerous vessels +waiting to take them on pleasure excursions to the Isle of Man, North +Wales, or round the light-ship at the mouth of the river. There was +great risk of making mistakes in the hurry; and the remark of an old +sailor, that the vessel could "easily be known by the Yankee flag flying +at the fore," served only still further to confuse the many, who could +not tell one flag from another. However, a small tug-steamer soon +appeared with a dirty piece of bunting, just recognizable as the famous +"star-spangled banner," flying at the fore; and her deck was in a few +minutes so crowded, that orders were issued to take no more on board, +and away we steamed, leaving about a hundred people to exercise their +patience until the steamer's return. A man at my elbow, who afterward +appeared in the capacity of money-taker, whispered, "There's the +_captin_" and on looking up the gangway, I saw + + "A man of middle age, + In aspect manly, grave, and sage," + +looking calmly in the direction of the colossal ship of which he was the +commander; his complexion browned by exposure to sun and wind, storm and +spray; and his whole demeanor indicating the calm strength acquired by +long familiarity with the elements in their roughest moods. As we +approached the ship, her appearance was not prepossessing. She is +undoubtedly clumsy; the three masts are low, the funnel is short and +dumpy, there is no bowsprit, and her sides are painted black, relieved +only by one long streak of dark red. Her length between the +perpendiculars--that is, the length of her keel--is 276 feet; breadth +(exclusive of paddle-boxes), 45; thus keeping up the proportion, as old +as Noah's ark, of six feet of length to one of breadth. The stern is +rounded, having in the centre the American eagle, clasping the starred +and striped shield, but no other device. The figure-head is of colossal +dimensions, intended, say some, for Neptune; others say that it is the +"old Triton blowing his wreathed horn," so lovingly described by +Wordsworth; and some wags assert that it is the proprietor of the ship +blowing his own trumpet. The huge bulk of the _Atlantic_ was more +perceptible by contrast with the steamer--none of the smallest--that was +now alongside; for though the latter was large enough to accommodate +about four hundred people on deck, yet its funnel scarcely reached as +high as the bulwarks of the _Atlantic_. The diameter of the +paddle-wheels is 36 feet; and the floats, many of which, split and +broken, were lying about in the water, are nearly 15 feet long. The +depth of the hold is 31 feet, and the estimated burden 2860 tons, being +about the same as the _Great Britain_, and about 500 tons more than the +ships of the old Cunard Line. + +Like all the other Atlantic steamers, the run of the deck is almost a +straight line. Around the funnel, and between the paddle-boxes, is a +long wooden house, and another is placed at the stern. These contain the +state-rooms of the captain and officers; and in a cluster are to be +found the kitchen, the pastry-room, and the barber's shop. The two +former are, like similar establishments, replete with every convenience, +having even a French _maître de cuisine_; but the latter is quite +unique. It is fitted up with all necessary apparatus--with glass-cases +containing perfumery, &c.; and in the centre is "the barber's chair." +This is a comfortable, well-stuffed seat, with an inclined back. In +front is a stuffed trestle, on which to rest feet and legs; and behind +is a little stuffed apparatus like a crutch, on which to rest the head. +These are movable, so as to suit people of all sizes; and in this +comfortable horizontal position the passenger lies, and his beard is +taken off in a twinkling, let the Atlantic waves roll as they may. The +house at the stern contains a smoking-room, and a small apartment +completely sheltered from the weather for the steersman. The +smoking-room communicates with the cabin below, so that, after dinner, +those passengers so disposed may, without the least exposure to the +weather, or annoyance to their neighbors, enjoy the weed of old Virginia +in perfection. This smoking-room is the principal prospect of the man at +the helm, who, however, has to steer according to his signals. Before +him is a painted intimation that one bell means "port," and two bells +mean "starboard;" a like intimation appears on the large bell in the bow +of the ship; and according to the striking of the bell, so must he +steer. + +Proceeding below, we come to the great saloon, 67 feet long, and the +dining-saloon, 60 feet long, each being 20 feet broad, and divided from +each other by the steward's pantry. This pantry is more like a +silversmith's shop, the sides being lined with glass-cases stored with +beautifully-burnished plate; crockery of every description, well +secured, is seen in great quantities, and the neatness of arrangement +shows that the gilded inscription, full in the sight of every +visitor--"A place for every thing, and every thing in its place"--has +been reduced to practice. Above the tables in the dining-saloon are +suspended racks, cut to receive decanters, passes, &c. so that they can +be immediately placed on the table without the risk attendant on +carrying them from place to place. The two saloons are fitted up +in a very superior manner: rose, satin, and olive are the +principal woods that have been used, and some of the tables are of +beautifully-variegated marble, with metal supporters. The carpets are +very rich, and the coverings of the sofas, chairs, &c. are of the +same superior quality. The panels round the saloons contain +beautifully-finished emblems of each of the states in the Union, and a +few other devices that savor very strongly of republicanism. For +example, a young and beautiful figure, all radiant with health and +energy, wearing a cap of liberty, and waving a drawn sword, is +represented trampling on a feudal prince, from whose head a crown has +rolled in the dust. The cabin windows are of beautifully-painted glass, +embellished with the arms of New York, and other cities in the States. +Large circular glass ventilators, reaching from the deck to the lower +saloon, are also richly ornamented, while handsome mirrors multiply all +this splendor. The general effect is that of chasteness and a certain +kind of solidity. There is not much gilding, the colors used are not +gaudy, and there is a degree of elegant comfort about the saloons that +is sometimes wanting amid splendid fittings. There is a ladies' +drawing-room near the chief saloon full of every luxury. The berths are +about 150 in number, leading out, as usual, from the saloons. The most +novel feature about them is the "wedding-berths," wider and more +handsomely furnished than the others, intended for such newly-married +couples as wish to spend the first fortnight of the honeymoon on the +Atlantic. Such berths are, it seems, always to be found on board the +principal river-steamers in America, but are as yet unknown on this side +of the water. Each berth has a bell-rope communicating with a patented +machine called the "Annunciator." This is a circular plate about the +size of the face of an eight-day clock, covered with numbers +corresponding with those of the state-rooms. Each number is concealed by +a semi-circular plate, which is removed or turned round as soon as the +rope is pulled in the state-room with the corresponding number. A bell +is at the same time struck to call the attention of the stewards, who +then replace the plate in its former position, and attend to the +summons. + +The machinery which propels the ship consists of two engines, each of +500 horse-power, the engines of the old line being also two in number, +but only about 400 horse-power each Such cylinders, and shafts, and +pistons, and beams are, I believe unrivaled in the world. There are +four boilers, each heated by eight furnaces, in two rows of four each. +The consumption of coal is about fifty tons every twenty-four hours; +"and that," said one of the engineers, "is walking pretty fast into a +coal-mine, I guess!" According to the calculations of the very wise men +who predicted the failure of Atlantic steam navigation, such a vessel as +the _Atlantic_ ought to carry 3700 tons of coal; but it will be seen +that one-fourth of that quantity is more than enough, even making +allowance for extra stores to provide against accidents. In the +engine-room is a long box with five compartments, each communicating +with a wire fastened like a bell-pull to the side of the paddle-box. +These handles are marked respectively, "ahead," "slow," "fast," "back," +and "hook-on;" and whenever one is pulled, a printed card with the +corresponding signal appears in the box opposite the engineer, who has +to act accordingly. There is thus no noise of human voices on board this +ship: the helmsman steers by his bells, the engineer works by the +telegraph, and the steward waits by the annunciator. + +Two traces of national habits struck me very much. Even in the finest +saloon there are, in places where they would be least expected, handsome +"spittoons," the upper part fashioned like a shell, and painted a +sea-green or sky-blue color, thus giving ample facility for indulging in +that practice of spitting of which Americans are so fond. Again, much +amusement was caused by the attempt of one of the officers in charge of +the communication between the small steamer and the _Atlantic_ to +prevent the gentlemen from leaving the latter until the ladies had +seated themselves on the former. The appearance of the deck, crowded +with ladies only, and a host of gentlemen kept back, some impatient to +get down, but the greater part entering into the humor of the thing, was +quite new to English ideas. It is but fair to add that the ladies did +not seem to like it; and that, when the steamer again came alongside, it +was not repeated. + +Upon the whole, this Atlantic steamer is really worthy of the great +country from which she has come. If, in shape and general appearance, +she is inferior to the old vessels, she is decidedly equal, if not +superior, to them in machinery and fittings. Her powers as regards speed +have of course yet to be tried. One voyage is no test, nor even a series +of voyages during the summer months: she must cross and recross at least +for a year before any just comparison can be instituted. The regular +postal communication between Liverpool and the United States will +speedily be twice every week--the ships of the new line sailing on +Wednesday, and the old on Saturday. + +But other ports besides Liverpool are now dispatching steamers regularly +to America. Glasgow sent out a powerful screw steamer--the _City of +Glasgow_, 1087 tons--on 16th April, for New York, where she arrived on +3d May; thus making the passage in about seventeen days, in spite of +stormy weather and entanglements among ice; the average time taken by +the Liverpool steamers during 1849 being fourteen days. Her return +voyage, however, made under more favorable circumstances, was within +this average, the distance being steamed between the 18th May and the +1st June. A vessel called the _Viceroy_ is about to sail from Galway to +New York, and her voyage is looked forward to with considerable +interest. The _Washington_ and _Hermann_ sail regularly between Bremen +and Southampton and New York, and the _British Queen_ has been put on +the passage between Hamburg and New York. All these enterprises seem to +indicate that ere long the Atlantic carrying trade will be conducted in +steam-ships, and sailing vessels superseded to as great extent as has +been the case in the coasting trade. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] The _Atlantic_ has just made the passage direct in ten days and +sixteen hours. + + + + +[From Sharpe's Magazine] + +THE LITTLE HERO OF HAARLEM. + + +At an early period in the history of Holland, a boy was born in Haarlem, +a town remarkable for its variety of fortune in war, but happily still +more so for its manufactures and inventions in peace. His father was a +_sluicer_--that is, one whose employment it was to open and shut the +sluices, or large oak-gates which, placed at certain regular distances, +close the entrance of the canals, and secure Holland from the danger to +which it seems exposed, of finding itself under water, rather than above +it. When water is wanted, the sluicer raises the sluices more or less, +as required, as a cook turns the cock of a fountain, and closes them +again carefully at night; otherwise the water would flow into the +canals, then overflow them, and inundate the whole country; so that even +the little children in Holland are fully aware of the importance of a +punctual discharge of the sluicer's duties. The boy was about eight +years old when, one day, he asked permission to take some cakes to a +poor blind man, who lived at the other side of the dyke. His father gave +him leave, but charged him not to stay too late. The child promised, and +set off on his little journey. The blind man thankfully partook of his +young friend's cakes, and the boy, mindful of his father's orders, did +not wait, as usual, to hear one of the old man's stories, but as soon as +he had seen him eat one muffin, took leave of him to return home. + +As he went along by the canals, then quite full, for it was in October, +and the autumn rains had swelled the waters, the boy now stopped to pull +the little blue flowers which his mother loved so well, now, in childish +gayety, hummed some merry song. The road gradually became more solitary, +and soon neither the joyous shout of the villager, returning to his +cottage-home, nor the rough voice of the carter, grumbling at his lazy +horses, was any longer to be heard The little fellow now perceived that +the blue of the flowers in his hand was scarcely distinguishable from +the green of the surrounding herbage, and he looked up in some dismay. +The night was falling; not, however, a dark winter-night, but one of +those beautiful, clear, moonlight nights, in which every object is +perceptible, though not as distinctly as by day. The child thought of +his father, of his injunction, and was preparing to quit the ravine in +which he was almost buried, and to regain the beach, when suddenly a +slight noise, like the trickling of water upon pebbles, attracted his +attention. He was near one of the large sluices, and he now carefully +examines it, and soon discovers a hole in the wood, through which the +water was flowing. With the instant perception which every child in +Holland would have, the boy saw that the water must soon enlarge the +hole through which it was now only dropping, and that utter and general +ruin would be the consequence of the inundation of the country that must +follow. To see, to throw away the flowers, to climb from stone to stone +till he reached the hole, and to put his finger into it, was the work of +a moment, and, to his delight, he finds that he has succeeded in +stopping the flow of the water. + +This was all very well for a little while, and the child thought only of +the success of his device. But the night was closing in, and with the +night came the cold. The little boy looked around in vain. No one came. +He shouted--he called loudly--no one answered. He resolved to stay there +all night, but, alas! the cold was becoming every moment more biting, +and the poor finger fixed in the hole began to feel benumbed, and the +numbness soon extended to the hand, and thence throughout the whole arm. +The pain became still greater, still harder to bear, but still the boy +moved not. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he thought of his father, of +his mother, of his little bed, where he might now be sleeping so +soundly; but still the little fellow stirred not, for he knew that did +he remove the small slender finger which he had opposed to the escape of +the water, not only would he himself be drowned, but his father, his +brothers, his neighbors--nay, the whole village. We know not what +faltering of purpose, what momentary failures of courage there might +have been during that long and terrible night; but certain it is, that +at day-break he was found in the same painful position by a clergyman +returning from attendance on a death-bed, who, as he advanced, thought +he heard groans, and bending over the dyke, discovered a child seated on +a stone, writhing from pain, and with pale face and tearful eyes. + +"In the name of wonder, boy," he exclaimed, "what are you doing there?" + +"I am hindering the water from running out," was the answer, in perfect +simplicity, of the child, who, during that whole night had been evincing +such heroic fortitude and undaunted courage. + +The Muse of History, too often blind to (true) glory, has handed down to +posterity many a warrior, the destroyer of thousands of his +fellow-men--she has left us in ignorance of the name of this real little +hero of Haarlem. + + + + +[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +ADVENTURE WITH A SNAKE. + + +As I was examining the spoor of the game by the fountain, I suddenly +detected an enormous old rook-snake stealing in beneath a mass of rock +beside me. He was truly an enormous snake, and, having never before +dealt with this species of game, I did not exactly know how to set about +capturing him. Being very anxious to preserve his skin entire, and not +wishing to have recourse to my rifle, I cut a stout and tough stick +about eight feet long, and having lightened myself of my shooting-belt, +I commenced the attack. Seizing him by the tail, I tried to get him out +of his place of refuge; but I hauled in vain; he only drew his large +folds firmer together: I could not move him. At length I got a rheim +round one of his folds, about the middle of his body, and Kleinboy and I +commenced hauling away in good earnest. + +The snake, finding the ground too hot for him, relaxed his coils, and +suddenly bringing round his head to the front, he sprang out at us like +an arrow, with his immense and hideous mouth opened to its largest +dimensions, and before I could get out of his way he was clean out of +his hole, and made a second spring, throwing himself forward about eight +or ten feet, and snapping his horrid fangs within a foot of my naked +legs. I sprang out of his way, and getting hold of the green bough I had +cut, returned to the charge. The snake now glided along at top speed: he +knew the ground well, and was making for a mass of broken rocks, where +he would have been beyond my reach, but before he could gain this place +of refuge, I caught him two or three tremendous whacks on the head. He, +however, held on, and gained a pool of muddy water, which he was rapidly +crossing, when I again belabored him, and at length reduced his pace to +a stand. We then hanged him by the neck to a bough of a tree, and in +about fifteen minutes he seemed dead; but he again became very +troublesome during the operation of skinning, twisting his body in all +manner of ways. This serpent measured fourteen feet. + + + + +MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS + + +The death of President Taylor is the leading event of interest in our +domestic record for the month, as it has been the leading topic of +public attention throughout the country. He died at half-past ten +o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, July 9th, after an illness of but +five days, the last of which alone was deemed dangerous. Exposure to the +sun in attendance upon the public celebration of the Fourth, imprudent +diet on returning home, and neglect of medical remedies until too late, +aggravated rapidly and fatally the disease which he had contracted, +which few of our army officers escaped, and from which several have +already died, during his Mexican campaign. On the afternoon of Wednesday +his alarming condition was announced in the two Houses of Congress, both +of which at once adjourned: and they only met the next day to make +arrangements for his funeral, which took place on Saturday, and was +attended by a large military display, by the officers of government and +the representatives of foreign nations, and by an immense concourse of +his fellow-citizens. His death was announced on Thursday by the Vice +President, MILLARD FILLMORE, upon whom the duties of the Presidential +office at once devolved, by virtue of the provisions of the +Constitution, in a Message to both Houses of Congress, and suitable +words of eulogy were pronounced, in the Senate, by Senators DOWNS, of +Louisiana, WEBSTER, of Massachusetts, CASS, of Michigan, KING, of +Alabama, PEARCE, of Maryland, and BERRIEN, of Georgia; and in the House +by Mr. Speaker COBB, of Georgia, Messrs. CONRAD, of Louisiana, WINTHROP, +of Massachusetts, BAKER, of Illinois, BAYLY, of Virginia, HILLIARD, of +Alabama, JOHN A. KING, of New York, MCLANE, of Maryland, and MARSHALL, +of Kentucky. Mr. FILLMORE, on the same day, took the oath of the +Presidential office in presence of both Houses of Congress, and thus +quietly, quickly, and peaceably was effected a transfer of all the +Executive powers of this great nation--a transfer never effected without +difficulty, and often causing commotion, turmoil, and bloodshed in the +less free and more conservative nations of the Old World. In the +preceding pages of this Magazine will be found a condensed outline of +the life of the late President, which obviates the necessity of further +reference in this place. His decease was celebrated by public obsequies +in all the principal cities of the Union, and has awakened a universal +and intense sentiment of regretful grief. + +Immediately upon the death of President TAYLOR the members of his +Cabinet tendered their resignations to President FILLMORE, but at his +request, and for the safety of the public service, they retained their +offices for a few days, to give him the desired opportunity for care and +inquiry in selecting their successors. That selection was made as soon +as practicable, and on the 15th the President made the following +nominations, which were at once confirmed by the Senate, which had +previously and by a unanimous vote, chosen SENATOR WILLIAM R. KING, of +Alabama, to preside over its deliberations: + +_Secretary of State_ DANIEL WEBSTER, Mass. +_Secretary of the Treasury_ THOMAS CORWIN, Ohio. +_Secretary of the Interior_ JAMES A. PEARCE, Md. +_Secretary of War_ EDWARD BATES, Missouri. +_Secretary of the Navy_ WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, N. C. +_Attorney General_ JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, Ky. +_Postmaster General_ NATHAN K. HALL, N. York. + +It is understood that Mr. PEARCE declines the secretaryship of the +Interior, but no official nomination has yet been made to fill his +place. + +No business of public importance has been transacted in Congress. In the +SENATE the Compromise Bill, reported by Mr. CLAY from the Committee of +Thirteen, continues under debate. Mr. WEBSTER, on the 17th ult., made a +very eloquent speech in its support, declaring himself earnestly in +favor of admitting California, of providing a Territorial government for +New Mexico, without the anti-slavery proviso, which he deems +superfluous, and of settling the question of boundary between Texas and +New Mexico. He said he should have preferred to act upon these measures +separately, but he was willing to vote for them as conjoined in the +bill. Speeches were also made by several Senators against the bill, and +some amendments, offered to obviate objections entertained to it in +various quarters, were rejected. No decisive action has been had upon it +up to the time of putting these pages to press. + +The chief action in the HOUSE, of general interest, relates to what is +known as the _Galphin Claim,_ the history of which is briefly as +follows: Prior to the year 1773 George Galphin, the original claimant, +was a licensed trader among the Creek and Cherokee Indians in the then +province of Georgia. The Indians became indebted to him in amounts so +large that they were unable to pay them; and in 1773, in order to give +him security for his claims, they ceded to the King of Great Britain, as +trustee, a tract of land containing two and a half millions of acres. +The trust was accepted, commissioners were appointed, some of the lands +were sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the expenses of +the commission, but none was then paid to the claimants for whose +benefit the trust had been created. The sum found due to George Galphin +was £9791, for which amount a certificate was issued to him by the +Governor and Council in May, 1775. Meantime the war of the Revolution +broke out, and its successful result destroyed the trust, and the lands +were no longer subject to the control of the king. After the war was +over the state of Georgia granted these lands to those of her soldiers +who had been engaged in the war, and who became actual settlers upon +them. The descendants of Mr. Galphin applied to the state of Georgia for +the payment of their claims, as Georgia had merely succeeded to the +trusteeship of the King of England. The claim was prosecuted and pressed +for many years without success, it being contended that, as the lands +had been used to pay for services in the Revolution, the government of +the United States was properly liable for the private injury that might +have been sustained. In 1848 the Legislature of the state of Georgia +passed resolutions directing their Senators and Representatives in +Congress to urge the payment of these claims upon the General +Government; and Hon. GEORGE W. CRAWFORD was engaged by the claimants as +their agent, and was made interested to the amount of one-third of the +claim. Congress, at the session of 1848, passed a bill directing the +Secretary of the Treasury to examine and adjust the claims, and to pay +out of the public funds whatever might prove to be due. The Hon. R. J. +WALKER, then Secretary of the Treasury, examined the question, adjudged +the claim valid, paid the principal sum which he found to be due, +amounting to $43,518, and left the question of paying interest upon it +to the next Cabinet. In that Cabinet Mr. CRAWFORD held a seat, having +first transferred his agency for the claimants to Judge BRYAN, but +retaining his interest in the claim. The matter was pressed upon the +attention of the Secretary of the Treasury, who consulted the Attorney +General as to the legality of paying interest on a claim of this kind. +Mr. JOHNSON gave a written opinion in favor of its payment. Mr. MEREDITH +paid the interest, amounting to $191,352, Mr. CRAWFORD receiving his +share. The subject has been before Congress for several weeks, and has +excited a very earnest and somewhat acrimonious debate. The House, on +the 8th, adopted a resolution affirming that "the claim of the +representatives of George Galphin was not a just demand against the +United States," by a vote of 142 yeas and 49 nays. The same day they +adopted another resolution, declaring that "the act of Congress made it +the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the principal of said +claim, and it was therefore paid in conformity with law and precedent," +by a vote of 112 yeas and 66 nays. A third resolution, declaring that +"the act aforesaid did not authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to +pay interest on said claim, and its payment was not in conformity with +law or precedent," was also passed, 118 yeas and 71 nays. Soon after the +adoption of these resolutions, Mr. CRAWFORD addressed a letter to the +House asking that a suit might be commenced against him for the +recovery of the interest which he had received, and payment of which the +House had condemned, in order to bring the question to the test of the +judicial tribunals. No further action has yet been had upon the +subject.--The House has also taken action on the application of Mr. HUGH +N. SMITH, a delegate from New Mexico, chosen by a convention of her +people, to be admitted upon the floor of Congress, not of course to take +any other part in the business of that body than to be heard upon +questions affecting the rights and interests of his constituents. In the +early part of the session the application was referred to the proper +committee, the majority of which reported against his admission. On the +19th the whole subject was laid on the table--equivalent to Mr. SMITH'S +rejection--by a vote of 105 yeas, 94 nays, and 29 absent. This disposes +of the question for the present session, although substantially the same +issue will indubitably come up in some new form.--The next day a similar +resolution was adopted rejecting the application of Mr. BABBITT to be +admitted as a delegate from the Territory of Utah, or Deseret. + +The authorities of CUBA have decided to release the American prisoners +taken from the island of Contoy, beyond Spanish jurisdiction. This will +probably terminate all difficulties between the two governments growing +out of this affair.--Considerable currency has been given to a story +stated by correspondents of the London press, that the Spanish Gen. +NARVAEZ had grossly insulted the U.S. Minister at Madrid, refusing in +public to hold any intercourse with the representative of a nation which +tolerated and countenanced pirates and assassins. The story is entirely +discredited by direct advices.--The State Convention of Ohio called to +revise the Constitution has adjourned until the first Monday in +September.--A very destructive fire occurred at Philadelphia on the +night of the 9th ult. Although not in the chief business part of the +city, property to the amount of more than a million of dollars was +destroyed, and over _thirty_ lives were lost by the explosion of various +materials in the buildings burned The occurrence has elicited from Prof. +ROGERS, of the University of Pennsylvania, a letter stating that, in his +opinion, saltpetre by itself is not explosive, but that the great +quantity of oxygen which it contains greatly increases the combustion of +ignited matter with which it may be brought in contact, and that this +may evolve gases so rapidly as to cause an explosion.--The cholera is +prevailing with a good deal of fatality in some of the western cities. +In Cincinnati the number of deaths has averaged 20 to 35, and has been +as high as 65: in St. Louis it has been still higher, and in Nashville, +Tenn., it has been quite as large in proportion to the population. At +the latest advices it seemed to be diminishing. It has not made its +appearance in any of the eastern cities.--The case of Prof. WEBSTER, +convicted at Boston of the murder of Dr. PARKMAN, has been definitively +decided. Soon after the trial he sent in a petition for a full pardon, +on the ground of his entire innocence and ignorance of the whole matter, +solemnly asserting, and calling God to witness, that he knew nothing +whatever of the manner in which Dr. Parkman's remains came to be found +in his room. A few days afterward he sent in another petition, praying +for a commutation of his sentence. It was presented by the Rev. Dr. +PUTNAM, who had acted as his spiritual adviser, and who laid before the +Council a detailed confession, which he had received from Prof. Webster, +in which he confessed that he killed Dr. Parkman with a single blow from +a stick, but claimed that it was done without premeditation, in a moment +of great excitement caused by abusive language. He gave at length a +statement of the whole transaction. After considering the subject fully +and carefully, acting under the advice of the Council, Governor Briggs +decided against the application, and appointed Friday, the 30th day of +August, for the execution of the sentence of the Court. Upon that day, +therefore, Prof. Webster will undoubtedly be hung.--A good deal of +public interest has been enlisted in the performances of the new +American line of Transatlantic steamers, running between New York and +Liverpool. There are to be five steamers in the line, but only two of +them have as yet been finished. These two are the _Atlantic_ and the +_Pacific_, the former of which has made two trips, and the latter one, +each way. On the morning of Sunday, July 21st, the _Atlantic_ arrived at +New York at 3 o'clock, having left Liverpool on the 10th, at 11 o'clock +A.M.--making the passage in ten days and sixteen hours, the shortest by +several hours ever made between the two ports. Her passage out was also +very short. These trips have confirmed the opinion which has very +generally been entertained, that the Americans would speedily have a +line of steamers on the ocean superior in speed, comfort, and elegance +to those of the Cunard Company which have hitherto enjoyed so high a +reputation.--Mr. E. GEORGE SQUIER, U. S. Charge near the government of +Nicaragua, has returned to this country on a brief visit. We learn that +he has made a very full record of his observations upon the country in +which he has been residing, and that very volumnious papers from him on +the subject are in possession of the State Department. It is to be hoped +that they may be given to the public.--The initial steps have been taken +in Virginia toward an enterprise of decided importance to the southern +states if it should be carried out: it is nothing less than the +establishment of direct intercourse by a line of steamers between some +southern port and Liverpool, for the export of cotton and other articles +of southern growth, and for the transmission of southern correspondence, +&c. The meeting of delegates was held at Old Point on the 4th of July, +and committees were appointed to make proper representations on the +subject to Congress and the state Legislature, and to take such other +steps as they might deem essential.--A convention was held at Syracuse +of persons favorable to maintaining the existing Free School System of +the State of New York. The necessity for such action grows out of the +fact that the principle is to be submitted to the popular suffrage in +November. The Legislature of 1848 passed a law making education in the +common schools of the state absolutely free to all the children who +might choose to attend, making the law dependent for its validity on its +adoption by the people. Accordingly it was submitted to them in +November, 1848, and was sanctioned by a majority of over 90,000. It +accordingly went into effect. At the last session of the Legislature, +however, petitions were sent in, in great numbers, some of them praying +for the entire repeal of the law, and others for its essential +modification. The opponents of the law resisted the principle that +property should be taxed for purposes of education, inasmuch as men of +property would thus be compelled to pay for educating children not their +own. Others objected mainly to details of the law, and to the injurious +effect of the established mode of collecting the rate bills. The two +branches of the Legislature not being able to agree upon amendments of +the law, and not wishing to discard the principle on which it is +founded, agreed to submit it again to the popular suffrage. The +Convention in question assembled accordingly, to aid the law. Hon. +Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State, presided, and an address and +resolutions affirming the principles on which the law is based, and +calling on the people to give it their renewed support, were +adopted.--Col. FREMONT has received from the Royal Geographical Society +of London a medal, in token of their sense of his eminent services in +promoting the cause of geographical knowledge. It was presented through +the U.S. Minister.--MR. JOHN R. BARTLETT, who was appointed by the +President Commissioner to run the boundary line between Mexico and the +United States, in accordance with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, has +set out upon his mission. The point of departure is to be upon the Rio +Grande, and the Commissioners of the two countries are to meet at El +Paso. This will be the most extensive line of surveys ever made in the +United States, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and mostly +through a country wholly unknown. + + * * * * * + +From MEXICO we have advices to the 1st of July. The Presidential +election, which was to occur soon, was becoming a topic of general +discussion. There are several candidates, among whom Gen. Almonte, Gomez +Farias, and Domingo Ibarra are the best known in this country. Congress +was to have assembled, but not a quorum of the members could be +collected. The cholera was raging with excessive and terrible fatality. +From the 17th of May to the 16th of June there had been in the city of +Mexico 7,846 cases, and on the last day named there were 230 deaths. +Among the victims was Don Mariano Otero, a distinguished statesman and +lawyer. In San Luis and other sections it was prevailing with great +severity. The financial affairs of the State of Durango were in such a +condition that an extra session of the Legislature had been called in +order to save them from total ruin.--Advices have been received of the +conclusion of a treaty with the Mexican Government by the U.S. Minister, +Mr. LETCHER, by which is ceded the right of transit by railroad across +the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This step has been taken in accordance with, +and probably in consequence of, the position taken upon the subject by +President TAYLOR in his first message to Congress. The late President +POLK, when he sent out Mr. TRIST to negotiate a treaty of peace with +Mexico, authorized him to offer five millions of dollars for the right +which has now been secured without the expense of a dollar: and Mexico, +moreover, has now stipulated to protect the parties constructing the +work, as well as the work itself after it shall have been completed. The +benefits resulting from this treaty, if the work shall be completed, +will be of the most important character. As an auxiliary measure to the +Nicaraguan Canal, it will tend very powerfully to unite the Atlantic and +the Pacific states. + + * * * * * + +From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 17th of June. San Francisco +has been visited by two successive fires which had destroyed property to +the amount of several millions of dollars. A large proportion of the +goods burned were consigned by New York merchants to their agents in +California, so that the loss will fall very heavily upon them. As +insurance could not readily be effected the loss will be large. Nearly +three millions of dollars in gold dust have reached the United States +during the month. The foreigners resident in California had resisted the +payment of the tax of twenty-five dollars per month levied by the state +laws, and some difficulty was anticipated in enforcing payment, but at +the latest accounts this had been obviated, and every thing was quiet. +The intelligence from the mines encourages the belief that the quantity +of gold dug this season will be greater than ever before. From the +valleys of both the Sacramento and the San Joaquin very large amounts +were constantly obtained, and new mines have been found as far north as +Oregon, and as far south as Los Angelos. From the Mariposa mines many +very beautiful specimens of the gold-bearing quartz have been procured. +Difficulties had arisen with the Indians in different sections of the +country, and several severe battles between them and detachments of U. +S. troops had been fought. They grew mainly out of the hostile +disposition of the Indians which is often excited and encouraged by the +lawless conduct of the whites. Measures were in progress which, it was +hoped, would restore quiet and security. It is stated that the property +in San Francisco as assessed for taxation amounts to three hundred +millions of dollars. + + * * * * * + +From NEW MEXICO we have intelligence of some interest. It seems that the +people, becoming impatient of the delay of Congress in acting upon the +question of framing a government for them, and probably taking the hint +from the declared sentiments of President TAYLOR, resolved to form a +government for themselves. Public meetings were accordingly held, and +resolutions adopted, requesting Governor MUNROE to call a convention of +delegates from the several counties to form a State Constitution. Col. +MUNROE accordingly issued a proclamation to that effect, and a +Convention met at Santa Fé on the 15th of May. The session lasted eight +or ten days, and a Constitution was adopted, which was to go into +operation in July. The boundaries of the state were defined, and slavery +was prohibited. An election was soon to take place for members of the +Legislature. Two Senators and one Representative in Congress were to be +elected, and application was to be made for the immediate admission of +the State into the Union. + + * * * * * + +Of LITERARY INTELLIGENCE there is little of general interest. The +distinguished English novelist, Mr. G. P. R. JAMES, arrived with his +family at New York on the 4th of July, and will spend several months in +visiting different sections of the United States. There are very few +Englishmen who would be more cordially welcomed to this country than Mr. +JAMES. His long and most honorable and productive career as an author +has made him universally known, and his works have been very widely read +in the United States as well as in England. The officious and +impertinent gossip of a portion of our newspaper press led Mr. JAMES to +publish a note disclaiming the intention of writing a book upon this +country. We regret that he should have found it necessary either to +announce such a purpose, or to form it. This country has nothing to lose +from the published observations of a man at once so competent and so +candid. Mr. JAMES had for fellow-passengers Count DEMBINSKI, who was a +major in the Hungarian service and nephew of General DEMBINSKI, whose +name is so well known to the whole world in connection with that gallant +but ill-fated struggle. Count D. was also aid to KOSSUTH, and fled with +him, accompanied with his wife, whom he had married at Temeswar during +the war, to Turkey, whence he came to this country. He is a young man of +great talent and accomplishments, and will probably make the United +States his home.--The anniversary of the Declaration of American +Independence was celebrated on the 4th throughout the country with the +usual demonstrations. Orations were delivered in nearly all the +principal cities of the Union, some of which have since been published. +The ablest one that has fallen under our notice was delivered by Mr. E. +P. WHIPPLE before the authorities of Boston. He spoke upon Washington +and the Principles of the Revolution, holding up the former as a model +of greatness, combating the popular notion that he was not a man of +genius, and dwelling upon the fact that our revolution was fought, not +on abstract principles, or in the assertion of abstract rights, but for +the redress of practical evils and the attainment of practical ends. It +was a timely, able, and judicious address, and was marked by the +peculiar vigor of style and of thought, injured by an occasional +straining after effect in expression and phrases, which characterize the +writings of Mr. WHIPPLE. Senator FOOTE, of Mississippi, delivered an +address before the Washington Monument Association at the National +Capital; it was a strong appeal on behalf of united and harmonious +councils, and was both timely and effective. Hon. J. W. EDMONDS, of New +York city, delivered the address at Washington's Head Quarters at +New-burgh, which the Legislature of New York, very properly and +creditably, took measures at the last session to preserve as a permanent +monument of the revolution. E. A. RAYMOND. Esq. delivered an address at +Rochester, which was a skillfully condensed summary of the growth of the +country, and especially of its political development.--A new Historical +Society of the Episcopal Church has just been formed at Trinity College, +Hartford, Conn., of which Bishop BROWNELL has been chosen +President.--The inventor of the Ramage printing press, which, until +superseded by subsequent improvements, was an important step in the +progress of printing, ADAM RAMAGE, died at Philadelphia on the 9th of +July. He was a native of Scotland, and was nearly eighty years old at +the time of his death.--MARGARET FULLER, well known in this country as a +gifted and accomplished lady, and author of several works of marked +value and interest, perished on the 19th of July, by the wreck of the +ship Elizabeth from Leghorn, in which she had taken passage with her +husband, the Marquis d'Ossoli, and her child, in returning to her native +land from Italy, where she had been spending several years. Her loss +will be deplored by a large circle of personal friends, and by the still +larger number of those who knew her only through her writings. She was +the eldest daughter of Hon. Timothy Fuller, formerly a lawyer of Boston, +but more recently a resident of Cambridge. She was remarkable for her +thorough intellectual cultivation, being familiar with both the ancient +and most of the modern languages and their literature--for the vigor and +natural strength of her mind--for her conversational powers, and for her +enthusiastic devotion to letters and art. She was at Rome during the +recent revolution, and took the deepest interest in the struggles of +that day. She had been for some time engaged upon a work on Italy, which +it is feared has perished with her. Her husband and child were lost at +the same time. Mr. Henry Sumner, of Boston, also perished.--RALPH WALDO +EMERSON is traveling in the region on the Upper Waters of the +Mississippi.--No original books of special interest have been published +during the month. In our department of Literary Notices mention is made +of those which are of most importance.--Mr. PRESCOTT, the historian, is +traveling in Europe. He is announced as having been present at a recent +meeting of the London Archaeological Society.--Mr. H. N. HUDSON, whose +lectures on SHAKSPEARE have made him widely and favorably known as a +critic, has been engaged by a Boston publishing house to edit a new +edition of the works of the great Dramatist, which will be published +during the coming year. Mr. Hudson's ability and familiarity with the +subject will enable him to make a very valuable and interesting +work.--GARIBALDI, who achieved distinction in the defense of Rome +against the French, is coming to New York, where he was to be honored +with a public reception from the authorities.--The capture of Stoney +Point was celebrated this year at that place, for the first time. HUGH +MAXWELL, Esq., of New York, delivered the address. The celebration is +hereafter to be annual.--In no department of mechanism is the progress +of the age more conspicuous than in printing presses, as is shown by the +fact that Messrs. Hoe and Co., of New York, are now constructing a press +which will work from 15,000 to 20,000 per hour. It will be thirty-three +feet long, with eight printing cylinders, and will cost about +$21,000.--A newly invented locomotive engine, intended for use in the +streets of cities, has just been put upon the Hudson River Railroad at +its termination in New York. It consumes its own smoke, and is entirely +inclosed from public view--presenting the appearance of a simple +baggage-car. The engine is of ninety horse power. + + * * * * * + +News from LIBERIA has been received announcing that the government has +at last been able to effect the purchase of the Gallinas territories, +including the whole from Cape Mount to Shebar, except a small strip of +five miles of coast which will soon fall into their hands. The chief +importance of this purchase springs from the fact that Gallinas has been +for many years the head quarters of the slave-trade--an enormous number +of slaves having been shipped from there every year. The government paid +$9500 for the territory, and further agreed to appoint commissioners to +settle the wars in the country, and open trade with the interior tribes, +as well as to settle among them and instruct them in the arts of +civilized life. This may prove to be an important step not only toward +the suppression of the horrible traffic in slaves, which the united +efforts of England, France, and the United States have hither to been +unable to effect, but also toward the civilization of Africa, a result +to which no philanthropic mind can be indifferent. + + * * * * * + +In ENGLAND by far the most important event of the month is the sudden +death of Sir ROBERT PEEL. On the 29th of June he had called at +Buckingham Palace to pay his respects to the Queen, and was riding away +upon horseback, when his horse swerved slightly and threw him to the +ground; he fell sideways, striking upon his left shoulder. He was at +once raised up by several gentlemen who rushed to his assistance, and +said that he was very much hurt indeed. He was taken to his residence +and received all the attention of the highest surgical skill, which, +however, was less effective than would have been anticipated on account +of the intense pain which he suffered. He lingered until near midnight +of the 2d July, when he expired. A partial examination of his body +showed that one of his ribs had been broken and was pressing upon his +lungs. His family declined a public funeral tendered by the government, +and his remains were interred at Tamworth. Both houses of Parliament +adjourned, and demonstrations of profound regret and respect for his +character were general. An outline of his life and political career will +be found in the preceding pages of this Magazine. His death is justly +considered an event of great political importance. It was generally +anticipated that he would soon be called upon to resume the office of +prime minister, and universal confidence was felt in his large +experience, his eminent ability, and his intimate acquaintance with the +condition and events of the United Kingdom. + +The Greek question was still under discussion at our last advices: it +has led to events of no small importance in connection with the politics +of England and the fundamental principles of the British constitution. +On the 17th of June, in the House of Lords, Lord STANLEY moved a +resolution censuring the government for having adopted coercive measures +to enforce claims against Greece, doubtful in point of justice or +exaggerated in amount. He supported his motion at great length, entering +into a detailed history of the whole matter, and accusing the government +of having, through its foreign minister, insisted on exorbitant demands, +oppressed the weak, and endangered the peace of Europe. He was sustained +by the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Brougham and others, and was answered by +the Marquis of LANSDOWNE who, with others, defended the government. The +resolution was _carried_ by 169 to 132, showing a majority against the +government of 37. On the 20th, Mr. ROEBUCK called the attention of the +Commons to the vote of the Lords, and desired to know whether the +government would adopt any special course of conduct in consequence of +it. Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied that they should not alter their course in +respect to foreign powers at all, and that they did not feel called upon +to resign because the House of Lords had passed a vote of censure. That +house did not represent the nation: whenever the House of Commons should +adopt such a resolution the ministry would quit office. On the 24th, for +the purpose of enabling the Commons to express their opinion upon the +subject, Mr. ROEBUCK moved a resolution declaring that the principles on +which the foreign policy of the government had been regulated were +calculated to maintain the honor and dignity of the country, and in +times of unexampled difficulty, to preserve peace between England and +foreign nations. The motion was warmly opposed by Sir James Graham and +others, and was advocated with equal zeal. Lord PALMERSTON defended the +foreign policy of the government in a speech of five hours, marked by +great ability and eloquence. After going over the whole ground fully and +in detail, he concluded by challenging the verdict of the house, whether +the principles which had guided the foreign policy of the government had +been proper and fitting, and whether, as a subject of ancient Rome could +hold himself free from indignity by saying, "Civis Romanus sum," a +British subject in a foreign country should not be protected by the +vigilant eye and the strong arm of his government against injustice and +wrong. The debate was then adjourned, and had not been resumed at our +latest advices. The ministry seems very firmly to have taken the +position that England can be governed without the House of Lords, and +that its foreign policy is not to be shaped according to their wishes, +but according to the popular will, as represented by the Commons. This +position indicates the strong tendency which prevails in England even, +toward popular and democratic government. Lord John Russell, on the +20th, also remarked, in reply to the intimation that the foreign policy +of the government was calculated to foment differences between England +and other nations, that he could answer for it that Lord Palmerston, so +long as he should continue in office, would act not as a minister of +Austria, Russia, France, or any other country, but as the minister of +England. The declaration was received with great applause, not only in +the house but throughout the country. It is understood that the +diplomatic misunderstanding between France and England, growing out of +the Greek question, has been settled. No other business of general +interest in this country has been before Parliament during the month. +Inquiries were made in both Houses as to the Cuban expedition, and the +ministers stated that it was fitted out against the most strenuous +efforts of the American government, which has, nevertheless, been very +strongly censured for its inability to prevent it.--The government has +issued orders restricting very considerably the posting and delivery of +letters on Sunday, which has elicited very clamorous complaints in every +part of the country. Lord BROUGHAM in speaking of the matter in +Parliament, doubted the power of the government to issue such orders, +and said that it was causing a vast increase of Sunday travel and work +throughout the kingdom, as messengers were now dispatched to obtain +indispensable intelligence formerly received by mail. Lord Ashley had +carried a motion in the House of Lords to suppress Sunday labor in the +post-office, by a vote of 93 to 68.--Sir Edward Buxton on the 31st of +June, moved a resolution against exposing the free-grown sugar of the +British colonies to unrestricted competition with the sugar of +slave-trading countries. It failed, however, by 275 to 234.--A bill +prohibiting intra-mural interments, has passed the Commons. The +remaining transactions of Parliament have no general interest. + +The Queen while riding with the Prince in an open carriage, on the 27th +of June, was struck across the face by a respectably dressed man, armed +with a small cane. Her bonnet was cut through, and a severe wound was +inflicted upon her forehead. She attended the opera, however, in the +evening, and was received with great enthusiasm. The assailant proved to +be a discharged officer, named Robert Pate, subject to attacks of +insanity. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to transportation for +seven years.--Very shortly, fifteen screw steamers will ply between +Liverpool and various ports in the Mediterranean.--Meyerbeer, the +composer, has received the degree of Doctor from the University of +Jena.--Dr. GUTZLAFF, who is preaching at Berlin and at Potsdam, on +behalf of the Chinese mission, expresses a confident hope that the +Emperor of Japan will be converted to Christianity.--Mr. CORBOULD, the +artist, has received the commands of her Majesty to paint a large +picture of the grand coronation scene in the opera of "La Prophete," as +represented at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent-garden.--Mr. GIBSON, of +Rome, now in England, has received an order for a colossal group, in +marble, of figures of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, supported on either +side by Justice and Clemency. The figure of the queen will be ten feet +in height; the side figures, eight feet. This group will occupy a place +in the new Houses of Parliament.--The Duke of CAMBRIDGE died on the 8th +of July. He was the seventh and youngest son of George III., and was +seventy-six years old at the time of his death. + +Many accidents to vessels in the Northern Atlantic have arisen during +the season from floating icebergs. The ship Oriental, of Liverpool, was +lost, with all her crew and cargo from this cause, on the 27th of April; +and on the 29th of March, the English ship Signet, with all on board, +also foundered. Eighteen or twenty other vessels are known to have been +lost in the same manner, their crews having escaped. New hopes of the +safety of Sir John Franklin have been suggested by these reports. It is +supposed that these vast fields of ice are portions of the slowly +released masses, the growth of many preceding winters, which were first +broken two winters ago by the strong southwest and southerly gales over +all the North Atlantic and North Pacific; but which, in consequence of +their bulk and extent, were again condensed before they could be fairly +swept into the Atlantic, and thus offered continued obstruction to the +release of Franklin and his ships. Nor would this appear to be +impossible, assuming detention in the ice to have been the only danger, +and that continued means of subsistence were accessible.--The Steamer +_Orion_, plying between Liverpool and Glasgow, was wrecked June 18th, +off Port Patrick, in a smooth sea, by striking upon a rock, and over two +hundred lives were lost.--The baptism of the infant prince was +celebrated June 22d, the Duke of Wellington being one of the sponsors, +and the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who +named the royal infant, "Arthur William Patrick Albert." + + * * * * * + +The English LITERARY INTELLIGENCE of the month is summed up in the +Household Narrative, from which mainly we copy. It remarks that the +class of books which has received the largest additions, is that of +biography. Mr. Edmund Phipps has published extracts from the diaries and +literary remains of the author of _Tremaine_, with biographical and +critical comment, under the title of "_Memoirs of the Political and +Literary Life of Robert Plumer Ward_;" and the book has been made more +interesting than the subject would have seemed to promise, by the fact +of Mr. Ward's intimate connection, both in private and public life, with +the leading tory statesmen of the administrations of Addington, +Perceval, and Liverpool. The political and administrative +characteristics of the Duke of Wellington have probably never had such +vivid illustration.--Mr. Leigh Hunt has published his "_Autobiography, +with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries_," of which very +copious extracts were given in the July number of this Magazine. It will +be issued in a few days from the press of the Harpers. Some of it is the +republication of a former work, but the greater part is original, or at +least so changed by interpolations, recantations, or additions, as to +produce the effect of novelty.--The Reverend Mr. Field, an enthusiast +for the separate and silent system of imprisonment, has published a new +_Life of Howard_, dedicated to Prince Albert, of which the design +appears to be to counteract the evil tendency of a recent memoir of the +philanthropist, remarkable for what the reverend enthusiast calls "the +advocacy of democratic principles, and the aspersion of a godly +prince."--Each in a goodly-sized volume, we have had a sort of general +biographical notice of _Celebrated Etonians_, and of _Speakers of the +House of Commons_, the first by an able man, quite competent to the +subject.--Miss Pardoe has edited the first volume of a series of +_Memoirs of the Queens of Spain_, of which the author is a Spanish lady, +resident in America. An ingenious northern antiquary has published +memorials of one of the old border mansions, called Dilston Hall, which +amounts in effect to an interesting _Memoir of the Earl of +Derwentwater_, who suffered in the Jacobite rebellion. And, finally, Mr. +Andrew Bisset has done good service to both history and biography by a +very careful publication of the _Memoirs and Papers of Sir Andrew +Mitchell,_ Lord Chatham's embassador at the court of Frederic the Great, +and one of the very ablest of English diplomatists. + +To the department of philosophy a somewhat remarkable contribution is to +be noticed, under the title of _The Progress of the Intellect as +exemplified in the religious development of the Greeks and Hebrews_. The +writer is Mr. Robert William Mackay. Its design is to explain by a +rationalistic process all the religious faiths and beliefs which have +exerted the greatest influence over man, and to refer them exclusively +to moral and intellectual development. In this design the writer may, or +may not, have succeeded; but it is certain, making all draw-backs on the +score of what has probably been borrowed from German investigation, that +the book has high pretensions to eloquence and research, and reminds us +of a time when publication was less frequent than now, and a single book +might embody the labor of a life. For its antidote in respect of opinion +and purpose there has been published, not inopportunely, after a +peaceful slumber of nearly two centuries in the library at Wotton, _A +Rational Account of the True Religion_, by John Evelyn. Here the design +is, by all possible arguments and authorities, to confirm our faith in +Christianity. + +We must speak very summarily and briefly of the publications in general +literature. Of books of travel and adventure, the most attractive and +interesting in point of subject is, _Five Years of a Hunter's Life in +the Far Interior of South Africa_, by Mr. Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, a +kinsman of the Chief of Argyll, in whom a love of deer-stalking seems to +have gradually expanded into dimensions too gigantic to be satisfied +with any thing less than the stalking of the lion, the elephant, the +hippopotamus, the giraffe, or the rhinoceros. The book is filled with +astonishing incidents and anecdotes, and keeps the reader very nearly as +breathless with excitement as the elephant and lion-hunter himself must +have been. Copious extracts from the work will be found in the preceding +pages of this number.--Mr. Aubrey de Vere has published some very +graceful _Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey_; and the brave and +high-minded old General Pepe has given the world, _A Narrative of Scenes +and Events in Italy from 1847 to 1849_. Mr. Johnson, the distinguished +geographer of Edinburgh, has issued the most complete _General Gazetteer +of the World_ that has yet been comprised in a single volume; and as +part of the republication of the treatises of the Encyclopædia +Metropolitana, in separate and portable volumes, we have to mention an +interesting volume on Greek Literature by Mr. Justice Talfourd, the +Bishop of London, and other accomplished scholars.--In poetical +translation, a new version of _Æschylus_ by Professor Blackie, of +Aberdeen, has been issued; and in poetry, with the title of _In +Memoriam_, a noble and affecting series of elegies to the memory of a +friend (son of the historian Hallam), from the pen of Mr. Alfred +Tennyson. + +Considerable interest was excited by the unswathing of an Egyptian mummy +at the residence of Lord Londesborough, at which Mr. Birch of the +British Museum, describing the embalming process, and following in this +the narrative of Herodotus, said the subject had evidently suffered from +the use of bitumen and the application of heat, as the bones were +charred and the muscles calcined. DR. CORMACK has published a letter in +the _Athenæum_ expressing and sustaining the opinion that all mummies +were prepared in this way.--A recent number of Galignani contains an +interesting item of intelligence. It may be remembered that GOETHE in +1827 delivered over to the keeping of the Government of Weimar a +quantity of his papers, contained in a sealed casket, with an injunction +not to open it until 1850. The 17th of May being fixed for breaking the +seals, the authorities gave formal notice to the family of Goethe that +they would on that day deliver up the papers as directed by the deceased +poet. The descendants of the poet Schiller also received an intimation +that, as the papers were understood to concern their ancestor likewise, +they had a right to be present. The casket was opened with all due form, +and was found to contain the whole of the correspondence between Goethe +and Schiller. It is added, that these letters are immediately to be +published, according to directions found in the casket. A new society +has recently been formed in London for the investigation of the laws and +nature of epidemic diseases, of which Dr. Babington has been chosen +President. Another has been instituted for the collection of facts, +observations, &c, in Meteorology, of which Mr. Whitbread is to be the +first President. ROGERS the poet was severely injured by being knocked +down by a cab in the streets of London. Being 87 years old his case was +considered precarious, though at the last accounts he seems to have +partially recovered.--Several meetings have been held at the house of +Mr. Justice COLERIDGE for the purpose of initiating a subscription to do +honor, in some form, to the memory of Wordsworth, and have resulted in +the formation of a powerful committee, with the Bishop of London at its +head. The objects which this committee have in view are--to place a +whole length effigy of the deceased poet in Westminster Abbey--and, if +possible, to erect some monument to his memory in the neighborhood of +Grasmere. The list of subscriptions is headed by the Queen and her Royal +Consort, with a sum of £50.--Some singular decisions have recently been +made by the Vice Chancellor. It seems that a Mr. Hartley deceased in +1843, left directions in his will that £300 should be set apart as a +prize for the best Essay on "Natural Theology," treating it as a +substantive science, and as adequate to constitute a true, perfect, and +philosophical system of universal religion. It was ruled by the Vice +Chancellor that this bequest was void, on account of the evident +tendency which the essay so described would have to demoralize society +and subvert the church. Another decision, arising out of the same +trial, is yet more curious. Mr. Hartley had left £200 for the best essay +on Emigration, and appointed the American Minister trustee of the fund. +This bequest was also declared void, on the ground that such an essay +would encourage persons to emigrate to the United States, and so throw +off their allegiance to the Queen! The race of Justice Shallows seems +not to be extinct. + + * * * * * + +In FRANCE, after the passage of the electoral law, a bill was presented +for increasing the President's salary to 3,600,000 francs per annum. Its +introduction created considerable feeling. The committee to which it was +referred reported in its stead a bill granting 1,600,000 francs to +defray expenses incurred at the President's inauguration: and this was +afterward modified so as to grant 2,160,000 for the expenses of the +President, in which form it was adopted by the Assembly, by a vote of +354 to 308, a majority of 46 for the government. This is regarded as a +government triumph, but it was not won until after a sharp struggle, and +it has increased very considerably the public disaffection.--New laws +for the restriction of the press have also been brought forward. The +amount of caution money which newspapers are required to deposit is +increased, and the system of postage stamps is introduced. During the +discussion of these laws on the 8th of July, a scene of some warmth +occurred in the Assembly. M. Rouher, in the course of a speech, spoke of +the revolution of February as a great catastrophe, for which he was +immediately called to order by Girardin, recently elected a member by +the department of the Lower Rhine, as well as by others. The President +refused to call him to order, but rebuked those who had interrupted him. +The laws in regard to the press have been declared "urgent" by a vote of +370 to 251.--A man named Walker has been arrested on his own confession +of a design to assassinate Louis Napoleon, for which purpose he had +waited several hours for him to pass out of his gate. He proves to have +been insane.--M. Thiers has been on a visit to London, where he was +received with distinction. He visited Louis Philippe, whose health is +said to be failing. + + * * * * * + +In GERMANY the settlement of the Constitution makes little progress. The +Saxon chambers were suddenly dissolved on the 1st, to evade a +discussion in the Second Chamber on an address to the sovereign, +expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the government on the +German question; and the Second Chamber broke up in solemn silence, +withholding the usual cheers for the king. The Wurtemburg Diet, for a +similar reason, was prorogued on the 4th. The German senate has given +its consent for the meeting of the Peace Congress at Frankfort, and its +sessions will commence on the 23d of August. It is to be a New World's +Convention of the Friends of Peace. + + * * * * * + +The King of PRUSSIA has recovered from the wound inflicted by the +assassin Sefeloge. A royal decree has been published at Berlin, +curtailing still further the Freedom of the Press. The system of +"caution-money" is re-established, with the government powers of +canceling the license to sell newspapers, and of refusing conveyance by +post to obnoxious journals; and certain offenses against the press laws +are "withdrawn from the competency of a jury." Among the journals +affected by the decree is the London _Punch_, which has been proscribed +in the city of Konigsberg and its province, and placed on the list of +journals that are no longer permitted to pass through the post-office. + + * * * * * + +From PORTUGAL we have intelligence of difficulties with this country, +growing out of claims on that government which have been in existence +for many years. The amount claimed is about $300,000. The principal one +grows out of the destruction of the American ship, the General +Armstrong, during the war of 1812, by a British fleet, while lying in +the neutral port of Fayal, and therefore entitled to the protection of +the Portuguese government. According to the law of nations, Portugal is +responsible for her failure to protect her; and although Great Britain +is the party in equity responsible, the United States have to look, in +conformity to law, only to Portugal. The claims have been unsuccessfully +pressed for a number of years; but the administration of General Taylor +demanded an immediate settlement. Our Chargé, Mr. Clay, under +instructions, had required an answer to his demands within twenty days, +and an American squadron had meantime arrived in the Tagus to enforce +them. Some uneasiness was felt as to the issue, but it was believed that +the Portuguese government would yield. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + + LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. Edited by William Beattie. + In two volumes, 8vo, pp. 1077. New York: Harper and Brothers. + +This charming piece of biography is already familiar to the reading +public in this country, from the copious and flattering notices it has +received from the British journals and reviews. It will be welcomed in +its present complete form by every lover of literary history, no less +than by the admirers of the favorite poet of "The Pleasures of Hope." +The author had _abundance of materials at his command_, and has executed +his task with commendable industry and good taste. In any hands, the +subject could not be without intense interest, and as it has been +treated in the volumes before us, possesses a fascination rarely found +in any recent production. Free use is made of the letters of CAMPBELL, +many of which are of the highest order of epistolary composition, +abounding in those delicate and expressive touches which reveal the +heart of the man and the genius of the poet in the purest and most +beautiful light. + +The American edition is introduced by a letter of WASHINGTON IRVING to +the publishers, in which our admirable countryman relates some personal +reminiscences of CAMPBELL with so much felicity and exquisite grace, +that we can not avoid transferring them to our pages: + + "My acquaintance with Campbell commenced in, I think, 1810, + through his brother Archibald, a most amiable, modest, and + intelligent man, but more of a mathematician than a poet. He + resided at that time in New York, and had received from his + brother a manuscript copy of "O'Connor's Child; or, the Flower + of Love lies bleeding," for which he was desirous of finding a + purchaser among the American publishers. I negotiated the + matter for him with a publishing house in Philadelphia, which + offered a certain sum for the poem, provided I would write a + biographical sketch of the author to be prefixed to a volume + containing all his poetical works. To secure a good price for + the poet, I wrote the sketch, being furnished with facts by his + brother; it was done, however, in great haste, when I was 'not + in the vein,' and, of course, was very slight and imperfect. It + served, however, to put me at once on a friendly footing with + Campbell, so that, when I met him for the first time a few + years subsequently in England, he received me as an old friend. + He was living at that time in his rural retreat at Sydenham. + His modest mansion was fitted up in a simple style, but with a + tact and taste characteristic of the occupants. + + "Campbell's appearance was more in unison with his writings + than is generally the case with authors. He was about + thirty-seven years of age; of the middle size; lightly and + genteelly made: evidently of a delicate, sensitive + organization, with a fine intellectual countenance and a + beaming poetic eye. + + "He had now been about twelve years married. Mrs. Campbell + still retained much of that personal beauty for which he + praises her in his letters written in the early days of + matrimony; and her mental qualities seemed equally to justify + his eulogies: a rare circumstance, as none are more prone to + dupe themselves in affairs of the heart than men of lively + imaginations. She was, in fact, a more suitable wife for a poet + than poet's wives are apt to be; and for once a son of song had + married a reality and not a poetical fiction. + + "I had considered the early productions of Campbell as + brilliant indications of a genius yet to be developed, and + trusted that, during the long interval which had elapsed, he + had been preparing something to fulfill the public expectation; + I was greatly disappointed, therefore, to find that, as yet, he + had contemplated no great and sustained effort. My + disappointment in this respect was shared by others, who took + the same interest in his fame, and entertained the same idea of + his capacity. 'There he is, cooped up in Sydenham,' said a + great Edinburgh critic to me, 'simmering his brains to serve up + a little dish of poetry, instead of pouring out a whole + caldron.' + + "Scott, too, who took a cordial delight in Campbell's poetry, + expressed himself to the same effect. 'What a pity is it,' said + he to me, 'that Campbell does not give full sweep to his + genius. He has wings that would bear him up to the skies, and + he does now and then spread them grandly, but folds them up + again and resumes his perch, as if afraid to launch away. The + fact is, he is a bugbear to himself. The brightness of his + early success is a detriment to all his future efforts. _He is + afraid of the shadow that his own fame casts before him_. + + "Little was Scott aware at the time that he, in truth, was a + 'bugbear' to Campbell. This I infer from an observation of Mrs. + Campbell's in reply to an expression of regret on my part that + her husband did not attempt something on a grand scale. 'It is + unfortunate for Campbell,' said she, 'that he lives in the same + age with Scott and Byron.' I asked why. 'Oh,' said she, 'they + write so much and so rapidly. Now Campbell writes slowly, and + it takes him some time to get under way; and just as he has + fairly begun, out comes one of their poems, that sets the world + agog and quite daunts him, so that he throws by his pen in + despair.' + + "I pointed out the essential difference in their kinds of + poetry, and the qualities which insured perpetuity to that of + her husband. 'You can't persuade Campbell of that,' said she. + 'He is apt to undervalue his own works, and to consider his own + little lights put out whenever they come blazing out with their + great torches.' + + "I repeated the conversation to Scott some time afterward, and + it drew forth a characteristic comment. + + "'Pooh!' said he, good humoredly, 'how can Campbell mistake the + matter so much. Poetry goes by quality, not by bulk. My poems + are mere cairngorms, wrought up, perhaps, with a cunning hand, + and may pass well in the market as long as cairngorms are the + fashion; but they are mere Scotch pebbles after all; now Tom + Campbell's are real diamonds, and diamonds of the first water.' + + "I have not time at present to furnish personal anecdotes of my + intercourse with Campbell, neither does it afford any of a + striking nature. Though extending over a number of years, it + was never very intimate. His residence in the country, and my + long intervals of absence on the Continent, rendered our + meetings few and far between. To tell the truth, I was not much + drawn to Campbell, having taken up a wrong notion concerning + him from seeing him at times when his mind was ill at ease, and + preyed upon by secret griefs. I had thought him disposed to be + querulous and captious, and had heard his apparent discontent + attributed to jealous repining at the success of his poetical + contemporaries. In a word, I knew little of him but what might + be learned in the casual intercourse of general society, + whereas it required the close communion of confidential + friendship to sound the _depths of his character and know the + treasures of excellence_ hidden beneath its surface. Besides, + he was dogged for years by certain malignant scribblers, who + took a pleasure in misrepresenting all his actions, and holding + him up in an absurd and disparaging point of view. In what this + hostility originated I do not know, but it must have given much + annoyance to his sensitive mind, and may have affected his + popularity. I know not to what else to attribute a circumstance + to which I was a witness during my last visit to England. It + was at an annual dinner of the Literary Fund, at which Prince + Albert presided, and where was collected much of the prominent + talent of the kingdom. In the course of the evening Campbell + rose to make a speech. I had not seen him for years, and his + appearance showed the effect of age and ill health; it was + evident also, that his mind was obfuscated by the wine he had + been drinking. He was confused and tedious in his remarks; + still, there was nothing but what one would have thought would + be received with indulgence, if not deference, from a veteran + of his fame and standing, a living classic. On the contrary, to + my surprise, I soon observed signs of impatience in the + company; the poet was repeatedly interrupted by coughs and + discordant sounds, and as often endeavored to proceed; the + noise at length became intolerable, and he was absolutely + clamored down, sinking into his chair overwhelmed and + disconcerted. I could not have thought such treatment possible + to such a person at such a meeting. + + "Hallam, author of the Literary History of the Middle Ages, who + sat by me on this occasion, marked the mortification of the + poet, and it excited his generous sympathy. Being shortly + afterward on the floor to reply to a toast, he took occasion to + advert to the recent remarks of Campbell, and in so doing + called up in review all his eminent achievements in the world + of letters, and drew such a picture of his claims upon popular + gratitude and popular admiration as to convict the assembly of + the glaring impropriety they had been guilty of--to soothe the + wounded sensibility of the poet, and send him home to, I trust, + a quiet pillow. + + "I mention these things to illustrate the merit of the piece of + biography which you are about to lay before the American world. + It is a great act of justice to the memory of a distinguished + man, whose character has not been sufficiently known. It gives + an insight into his domestic as well as his literary life, and + lays open the springs of all his actions and the causes of all + his contrariety of conduct. We now see the real difficulties he + had to contend with in the earlier part of his literary career; + the worldly cares which pulled his spirit to the earth whenever + it would wing its way to the skies; the domestic afflictions, + tugging at his heart-strings even in his hours of genial + intercourse, and converting his very smiles into spasms; the + anxious days and sleepless nights preying upon his delicate + organization, producing that morbid sensitiveness and nervous + irritability which at times overlaid the real sweetness and + amenity of his nature, and obscured the unbounded generosity of + his heart. + + "The biography does more: it reveals the affectionate + considerateness of his conduct in all the domestic relations of + life. The generosity with which he shared his narrow means with + all the members of his family, and tasked his precarious + resources to add to their relief; his deep-felt tenderness as a + husband and a father, the source of exquisite home-happiness + for a time, but ultimately of unmitigated wretchedness; his + constant and devoted friendships, which in early life were + almost romantic passions, and which remained unwithered by age: + his sympathies with the distressed of every nation, class, and + condition; his love of children, that infallible sign of a + gentle and amiable nature; his sensibility to beauty of every + kind; his cordial feeling toward his literary contemporaries, + so opposite to the narrow and despicable jealousy imputed to + him; above all, the crowning romance of his life, his + enthusiasm in the cause of suffering Poland, a devotion carried + to the height of his poetic temperament, and, in fact, + exhausting all that poetic vein which, properly applied, might + have produced epics; these and many more traits set forth in + his biography bring forth his character in its true light, + dispel those clouds which malice and detraction may at times + have cast over it, and leave it in the full effulgence of its + poetic glory." + + THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF ANDREW COMBE, M.D. By George + Combe. Philadelphia: A. Hart. 12mo, pp. 424. + +The remarkable popularity of the works of ANDREW COMBE on Physiology and +Hygiene, in this country, will make the present biography an object of +interest with a very large number of readers. It is written with +singular impartiality, indeed with too little of the spirit of +affectionate admiration, by the celebrated George Combe, whose own +writings on the constitution of man and the observance of physical laws, +have made him a general favorite in many intelligent circles, which have +no peculiar interest in the special department of science with which his +name has been identified. Each of the brothers has the merit of +presenting important principles in plain language. With utility for +their motto, they have written for the mass of the people, and, perhaps, +have done more for the diffusion of popular knowledge, than many authors +whose intellectual pretensions are far superior to their own. Destitute, +to a remarkable degree, of every ray of imagination, with no approach to +the creative power, which is the test of genius, their writings are +marked with a robust common sense, a patience and clearness of +statement, and a fertility of simple, homely illustration, which account +for their deep impression on the popular mind. + +In early life, the subject of this memoir displayed none of the +brilliant qualities which give promise of future eminence. He was shy +and reserved in his manners, and with no facility in the use of words, +though often showing a certain droll humor in his actions. His progress +in learning was slow, though this may be ascribed in part to the +injudicious method which was pursued in his education. While engaged in +his medical studies, he first made the acquaintance of Dr. Spurzheim, an +event which decided the direction of his mind for the remainder of his +life. This soon ripened into intimate friendship, which was cherished by +frequent personal intercourse with Spurzheim during a visit at Paris. He +at once became a zealous convert to the doctrines of Phrenology, making +them the basis of his medical practice, and his anthropological system. + +From an imprudent exposure to cold, Dr. COMBE'S health early received a +severe shock, from the effects of which his system never fully +recovered. His subsequent life was that of an habitual invalid. He was +forced to maintain a constant battle with disease. While spreading the +principles of health in a multitude of households, wherever the English +language is spoken, by his lucid writings on the subject, he was +scarcely permitted for a single day to enjoy the inestimable treasure. +He, consequently, spent no small portion of his time in traveling in +different countries, visiting France, Belgium, Germany, and the United +States, and his letters and observations during these various tours +constitute one of the most interesting features in the present volume. +His death took place on the 9th of August, 1847. + +He left the character of a man of sterling integrity, excellent +judgment, admirable candor and fairness of mind, a single-hearted +devotion to truth, and a disposition of rare kindness and disinterested +humanity. His biography will be read with satisfaction, by those who +feel themselves indebted to his writings. It is simple, honest, +unpretending, like its subject. With the singularly prosaic mind of Mr. +George Combe, no one can expect to find it animated with any living +glow. It records the life of a public benefactor, but with as little +freshness or enthusiasm, as if the author were giving a Phrenological +lecture on a collection of skulls. + + + DR. JOHNSON; HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE AND HIS DEATH. New York: Harper + and Brothers. 12mo, pp. 405. + +The author of this volume is not surpassed by Boswell in reverence for +"the Great Old Samuel," but happily is not infected with his +puerilities. His book is a favorable specimen of the right kind of "Hero +Worship," dealing tenderly with every relic of the departed, and +religiously gathering every precious tribute to his memory. It +reproduces a variety of characteristic events and scenes in the life of +DR. JOHNSON, without having the air of a compilation. No source of +information seems to have been overlooked, while the labors of previous +writers are so digested and arranged as to give the effect of an +original production. The main subject to which the volume is devoted, is +the illustration of Dr. Johnson's religious character, but numerous +attractive episodes are also introduced, which relieve it from all +tendency to monotony. The last incidents in his life are described with +peculiar interest. Several chapters are wholly occupied with his +Churchmanship, and under different heads, we have a spirited description +of his humanity, his treatment of dissenters, his views of monastic +life, his sympathy with Roman Catholics, and his superstition, all the +statements being fortified with quotations from his own language. +Various questions of collateral interest are discussed by the author, as +suggested by the topics under review, and are usually treated with equal +ability and religious feeling. The work will doubtless be received as a +valuable complement to our Johnsonian literature. + + * * * * * + +_Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution_, published by Harper and +Brothers, has reached its fifth number, and fully sustains the wide +reputation which it has acquired, as an elegant, spirited, and +instructive work on American history. The union of narrative and +description, which forms a leading feature of the series, is managed by +Mr. Lossing with remarkable dexterity, and gives a perpetual charm to +the composition. In the five numbers already issued, we have a graphic +survey of the scenery and historical reminiscences of the portion of the +State of New York and of Canada, which is embraced within the routes of +our fashionable summer tourists. They describe the principal theatre of +the French and Indian Wars, and many of the most interesting localities +of the American Revolution, including Glenn's Falls, Lake George, +Ticonderoga and Champlain from Whitehall to St. John's, Montreal, +Quebec, the St. Lawrence to Kingston, Lake Ontario, Niagara, and a part +of the Upper Valley of the Mohawk--all truly classic ground to the lover +of American history. Whoever would obtain an accurate and indelible +impression of the great battle-grounds of the Revolution, while seeking +recreation in a summer jaunt, should not fail to make these beautiful +numbers his traveling companions. + +Harper and Brothers have reprinted SYDNEY SMITH'S posthumous Lectures +entitled _Sketches of Moral Philosophy_, which is introduced with a +commendatory letter by Lord Jeffrey, written but a few days before his +death, wherein he says that these Lectures "will do their author as much +credit as any thing he ever wrote, and produce on the whole a stronger +impression by the force and vivacity of his intellect, as well as a +truer and more engaging view of his character than what the world has +yet seen of his writings. The book seems to me to be full of good sense, +acuteness, and right feeling--very clearly and pleasingly written--and +with such an admirable mixture of logical intrepidity, with the absence +of all dogmatism, as is rarely met with in the conduct of such +discussions." The versatile author discusses a great variety of topics, +slenderly connected it is true, with Metaphysics or Moral Philosophy, +and on this account has left a far more readable volume, than if it had +been rigidly devoted to the questions which it professes to treat. His +remarks are always lively, pointed, and apposite, betraying a familiar +knowledge of the world, and a quick perception of the bearing and +character of current events, while their caustic wit is usually +attempered with an inexhaustible fountain of good humor. + +We have received _The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil_, volume 2d, from +the veteran editor of whose zeal and ability in maintaining the doctrine +of "harmony" and mutual dependence between all the great branches of +domestic industry, it affords abundant evidence. + +Mr. Skinner contends, with every appearance of assured conviction, that +as our country spreads over so many latitudes, and embraces climates and +resources more various and abundant than any other, our policy, too, +should be peculiar; and that instead of importing iron, cloth, and other +manufactures, for which we have materials, or capabilities +inexhaustible, we should import _men_, as the best of all importations, +whose demands, while occupied with other industries, would create a +steady and remunerating market for the products of agriculture, which, +he insists, would be, of all things, the surest guarantee for +improvements in the _art_ of terra-culture. This enterprise is one of +the ablest of the kind, to illustrate the importance of placing the +consumer by the side of the agriculturist; and whether reference be had +to the long services of the editor in the cause of cultivators of the +soil, or the earnestness and power with which he and his correspondents +enforce their doctrine, there can be no hesitation in saying, that those +who unite with them in opinion will do well to give encouragement to +_The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil_. It is but justice to add, that it +is well printed on fine paper, giving no less than 64 pages monthly, at +the rate of $5 for two subscribers, or $3 for one. Edited and published +by that old and tried soldier in the cause--the founder of the first +agricultural journal in the United States--J. S. SKINNER, 79, +Walnut-street, Philadelphia. + +Phillips, Sampson, and Co. have published a new edition of _The Rebels_, +one of the earliest and most popular novels of the admirable Mrs. Child. +Its character is too well known to authorize criticism at this time, and +its reproduction in the present edition will gratify the troops of +friends, with whom the author is a distinguished favorite. + +One of the most remarkable books of the month is _The Logic and Utility +of Mathematics_, by CHARLES DAVIES, LL.D., published by Barnes and Co. +It is not intended as a treatise on any special branch of mathematical +science, and demands for its full appreciation a general acquaintance +with the leading methods and routine of mathematical investigation. To +those who have a natural fondness for this pursuit, and enjoy the +leisure for a retrospect of their favorite studies, the present volume +will possess a charm, not surpassed by the fascinations of a romance. It +is an elaborate and lucid exposition of the principles which lie at the +foundation of pure mathematics, with a highly ingenious application of +their results to the development of the essential idea of Arithmetic, +Geometry, Algebra, Analytic Geometry, and the Differential and Integral +Calculus. The work is preceded by a general view of the subject of +Logic, mainly drawn from the writings of Archbishop Whately and Mr. +Mill, and closes with an essay on the utility of mathematics. Some +occasional exaggerations, in presenting the claims of the science to +which his life has been devoted, must here be pardoned to the +professional enthusiasm of the author. In general, the work is written +with singular circumspection; the views of the best thinkers on the +subject have been thoroughly digested, and are presented in an original +form; every thing bears the impress of the intellect of the writer; his +style is for the most part chaste, simple, transparent, and in admirable +harmony with the dignity of the subject, and his condensed +generalizations are often profound and always suggestive. + +_The Gallery of Illustrious Americans_, edited by C. EDWARDS LESTER, +Esq. has reached its seventh number, which contains a portrait and +biographical sketch of the distinguished ornithologist, J. J. AUDUBON. +The engraving presents a delightful view of the intellectual and +expressive features of the veteran forester, savan, and artist, while +the sketch by Mr. Lester gives a rapid and satisfactory summary of the +principal incidents in his adventurous life. The daguerreotypes by +BRADY, and the lithographs by D'AVIGNON, throughout this series, are +highly creditable specimens of their respective arts. The biographical +notices are carefully written and beautifully printed. The previous +numbers embrace Taylor, Calhoun, Webster, Wright, Clay, and Fremont--and +that our readers may form some idea of the striking fidelity of the +Portraits, we present, in a previous page, the well-known likeness of +our late President, copied on wood by Lossing, from the first number of +the work. + +A. Hart, Philadelphia, has reprinted from the English edition, _The +Phantom World_, from the French of CALMET, with a Preface and Notes by +Rev. HENRY CHRISTMAS, giving a general survey of the history and +philosophy of spirits, apparitions, ghosts, elves, fairies, spooks, +bogles, bugaboos, and hobgoblins. It will probably meet with an +extensive circulation in these days when Connecticut divines are haunted +by infernal visits, and the Rochester sibyls are on exhibition in New +York. + +_Dies Boreales, or Christopher Under Canvas_, is republished from +Blackwood's Magazine in a neat edition, by A. Hart, Philadelphia, and +will meet with a warm reception from the innumerable admirers of the +noble, eloquent, impassioned, kaleidoscopic, frisky, and genial old +Christopher. + +Among the valuable scientific serials now issuing from the New York +press, is _The Dictionary of Mechanics, Engine Works, and Engineering_, +edited by OLIVER BYRNE, and published by D. Appleton and Co. Of this +work we have thirteen numbers, which bring the subjects, in alphabetical +order, to the article on "Etching," the last number completing the +elaborate description of the "Steam Engine," which in itself forms a +treatise on a leading branch of practical science, and may be commended +in high terms to the attention both of the general reader and the +professional engineer. It is rarely that such a mass of important +information is condensed into so lucid and pleasing a form, attractive +no less by the clearness of its scientific details, than by the bright +picture which it gives of the progress of the useful arts in modern +times. + +Another work, of similar value, is _A Treatise on Marine and Naval +Architecture_, by JOHN W. GRIFFITHS, a serial which has reached its +seventh number, and has elicited the warmest encomiums from +distinguished constructors and engineers. The style is a fine model of +scientific discussion, presenting the first principles of naval +architecture with precision, compactness, and simplicity, abounding with +graphic descriptive details, and preserving a spirited freedom and +boldness in the most intricate and difficult expositions. The superior +character of its contents, with the low price at which it is afforded, +will insure it a wide circulation among American mechanics, who can not +fail to gain both a pecuniary and an intellectual advantage from its +perusal. + +_Specimens of the Bridges, Viaducts, &c., on the United Slates +Railroads_, by GEORGE DUGGIN, deserves an honorable place by the side of +the two preceding serials, as an important contribution to the science +of civil engineering in this country. The sixth number has already made +its appearance, being the commencement of an elaborate treatise on +Bridge-building, illustrated with sketches of the most remarkable +specimens in this branch of architecture. The multiplicity of works like +those we have just alluded to, and the great and instant popularity +which they attain, present a cheering proof of the prevalence of +scientific curiosity, and of the mental activity which leads to thorough +investigation, among the leading artisans of the United States. + +_The Second Book in Greek_, by John M'CLINTOCK, published by Harper and +Brothers, is the complement to the previous volume, entitled _First Book +in Greek_, which, as a practical manual in this branch of philology, has +elicited the warmest approbation of judicious teachers. Dr. M'Clintock +has brought the resources of a ripe and generous scholarship to the +preparation of this work, which, with the other volumes of his +Elementary Series in Greek and Latin, is a highly honorable proof of his +sound learning and correct taste. The present work gives a full view of +the Greek Syntax, with copious illustrations, and extracts from +Xenophon's Anabasis, Homer, Anacreon, and sentences from the Greek +Dramatists. Its peculiar merit consists in the progressive manner in +which the various difficulties of Greek combination are unfolded, the +pupil being thus led forward, by a natural sequence, to a mastery of the +complicated idioms of the language, and trained imperceptibly to a +perception of its rich and wonderful beauties. + +Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, have republished _Impressions and +Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849_, by ROBERT +BAIRD, an intelligent Scotchman, apparently of the legal profession, but +with little of the talent essential to the composition of a popular book +of travels. His remarks on the United States are in a more +discriminating tone than is often attained by English tourists, but the +whole tone of the volume is, for the most part, so prosy and commonplace +as to make its perusal an intolerable bore. + +Tallis, Willoughby, and Company are publishing a beautifully embellished +edition of _The Life of Christ_, by the Rev. JOHN FLEETWOOD, with +original illustrations by Warren, who has attained a distinguished +reputation, as a delineator of Oriental scenery, characters, and +costumes. It is to be completed in twenty-five parts, of which two have +been issued, in a style of elegant typography, highly creditable to the +taste and enterprise of the publishers. The biography of the Saviour by +Dr. Fleetwood is written with decorum and gravity, reproducing the +consecutive events of the sacred narrative in symmetrical order, and +presenting with becoming reserve, such moral reflections as are +naturally suggested by the different topics of the sublime history. The +work is happily distinguished from several recent attempts on similar +themes, by its freedom from the ambitious and disgusting pretension of +dressing up the severe simplicity of the Oriental writers in the tawdry +and finical robes of modern rhetoric. + +_The Shoulder-Knot_, by the Rev. B. F. TEFFT, published by Harper and +Brothers, is a work of more than common originality, intended to convey +important views of life, through the medium of fiction, and containing +many passages of remarkable vigor and beauty. The story is derived from +facts in the history of Louis XIII. of France, who, with his Queen, the +admirable Anne of Austria, the Queen Mother, the selfish and passionate +Mary, and the consummate master of intrigue, Cardinal Richelieu, is made +to act a leading part in the development of the narrative. The author +displays less skill in the artistic blending together of the principal +incidents of the plot, than in his isolated descriptions and +conversations, many of which indicate a high order of talent. The whole +story is pervaded with a wholesome and elevated religious tone, showing +the power of fictitious creation to illustrate the most vitally +important truths. + +Stringer and Townsend have published a _Supplement to Frank Forrester's +Fish and Fishing in the United States_, by W. H. HERBERT, correcting +some errors which had crept into the principal work on that subject, and +completing the memoirs of the finny tribes under the democratic +institutions of America, with the jaunty airiness of description, and +genuine relish of natural scenery (as well as of fried fish), which have +given such a wide celebrity to the flowing and unctuous pen of Frank +Forrester. + +The _Morning Watch_ is an anonymous poem, published by GEORGE P. PUTNAM, +breathing an atmosphere of tender, religious sentiment, and showing +considerable descriptive power. It has not, however, sufficient vigor of +imagination to atone for the intense subjectivity of thought which +throws a dim haze over the best-conceived passages. + +J. ROSS BROWNE'S _Report of the Debates in the Convention of California_ +on the Formation of the State Constitution, is a curious historical +document, and will possess still more interest when the antiquities of +the modern Eldorado shall become the object of learned research. + +_The Mothers of the Wise and Good_, by JABEZ BURNS, D.D., reprinted by +Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln, Boston, is a collection of interesting +incidents, showing the effects of maternal influence on the formation of +character, and tracing the excellence of many eminent men in various +walks of life, to the pure and exalted virtues with which they were +familiar in early life, within the sacred retirements of the domestic +circle. + +The seventh number of _Carlyle's Latter-Day Pamphlets_, issued by Harper +and Brothers, is a mere seven-fold repetition of the ancient discontent +of the author, whose mirth is changed into a permanent wail, and for +whom the "brave o'erhanging firmament has become only a foul and +pestilential congregation of vapors." The subject of this number is the +"Statue of Hudson," the great deposed Railway King. It says much more of +statues in general, than of this particular one of Hudson's. Like all +the recent productions of Carlyle, it reminds us of the strugglings of a +sick giant, whom his friends in mercy should compel to take to his bed +and turn his face to the wall. + +An elegant edition of _The Illustrated Domestic Bible_, by the Rev. +INGRAM COBBIN, is publishing in numbers by Samuel Hueston. It has brief +notes and reflections by the editor, and copious pictorial +embellishments, illustrative of Oriental scenery and manners. The work +is to be completed in twenty-five numbers. + +Stanford and Swords have reprinted a neat edition of _Earnestness_, or +_Incidents in the Life of an English Bishop_, by CHARLES B. TAYLOR, +whose rare talent for applying the resources of fiction to the +illustration of religious truth has given him an enviable reputation +with a large circle of readers. The present work will be found to +possess equal interest with the previous religious stories of the +author. + +_Amy Harrington_, by the author of _The Curate of Linwood_, another +spirited religious novel, directing a battery of red-hot shot against +the Tractarian or Puseyite movement in England, is republished by J. C. +Riker. It is written in a tone of uncommon earnestness, and contains +some passages of genuine pathos and eloquence. + +_The Vale of Cedars_, by GRACE AGUILAR, republished by D. Appleton and +Co., is a novel of more than ordinary power, indebted for its principal +interest to its vivid description of the social condition of Spain +during the reign of Isabella. The volume is introduced with an +interesting biographical sketch of the able authoress, who died in 1847. + +Crosby and Nichols, Boston, have republished _Chronicles and Characters +of the Stock Exchange_, by JOHN FRANCIS, a work describing the progress +of financial speculation in England, with great liveliness of +delineation, and illustrated with a variety of personal incidents and +scenes of the richest character. The volume is intended to give a +popular narrative of the money power of England, in a manner at once +interesting and suggestive, and it accomplishes its purpose with eminent +success. + +_Wah-to-yah, and the Taos Trail_, by LEWIS W. GARRARD published by H. W. +Derby and Co., Cincinnati, is a record of wild adventures among the +Indians, by a rollicking Western youth, who never misses the opportunity +for a scene, and who tells his story with a gay saucy, good-natured +audacity, which makes his book far more companionable than most volumes +of graver pretensions. Commend us to young Garrard, whoever he may be, +as a free and easy guide to the mysteries of life in the forest. + +_Poems_ by H. LADD SPENCER, published by Phillips, Sampson, and Co., +Boston, are rather remarkable specimens of juvenile precocity, most of +them having been written in the days of the author's earliest boyhood, +and some of them during his twelfth year, and at a period little less +remote. Their poetical merit must, of course, be inconsiderable, and +they are not sufficiently curious to warrant publication. + +D. Appleton and Co. have issued a novel entitled _Heloise, or the +Unrevealed Secret_, by TALVI, the gifted authoress of _The Sketch of the +Slavic Language and Literature_, which is entitled to special +commendation among the recent productions of American literature. +Without the machinery of a complicated plot, and in language that is +almost sculpturesque in its chaste simplicity, it possesses an intense +and unflagging interest, by its artistic delineation of character, its +profound insight into the mysteries of passion, and the calm, delicate, +spiritual beauty of its heroine. Its subtle conception of the nicest +variations of feeling, is no less remarkable than its precision in the +use of language, the work, for the most part, not only reading like the +production of a native, but of one familiar with the most intimate +resources of idiomatic English. A very few exceptions to this remark in +some portions of the dialogue, whose naïveté atones for their +inaccuracy, only present the general purity of the composition in a more +striking light. We sincerely trust that the writer, who has been so +happily distinguished in the field of literary research, will be +induced, by the success of this volume, to continue her labors in the +province of fictitious creation. Nothing is wanting to her assurance of +an enviable fame in this department of letters. + +_The Initials_ is the title of an English novel, reprinted by A. Hart, +Philadelphia, illustrative of German life and character, and in all +respects of more interest than would be predicted from its ambiguous +designation. + +_The Lorgnette_, published by Stringer and Townsend, continues to make +its appearance once a fortnight, and well sustains the reputation it has +acquired, as a brilliant, searching, and good-humored satirical +commentary on the many-colored phantasmagoria of the town. The name of +the author is still a dead secret, in spite of numerous hints and winks +among the knowing ones, and he is shrewd enough to prefer the prestige +of concealment to the tickling of his vanity by publicity. The most +noticeable feature in his work is its quiet, effective style of +composition, which is utterly free from the pyrotechnic arts of so many +current pretenders. + + + + +SUMMER FASHIONS. + + +FIG. 1. PROMENADE DRESS.--For walking in public gardens, _barège_ +dresses, plain or figured, are generally adopted; but _glacé_, or damask +bareges are the most _recherchés_. Dresses of shot silk form also +charming toilets. The skirts are less full than those of last year--but, +to compensate for it, they are trimmed with graduated flounces up to the +waist--as many as five are worn, and they are pinked and stamped at the +edges. The bodies are tight, and open in front; a cord connects the two +sides of the corsage, and buttons, either of silk, colored stones, or +steel, are placed on the centre of this cord. The sleeves are wider at +the bottom than at the top, and are trimmed with two small flounces; +from beneath them a large lace sleeve falls over the hand, leaving the +lower part of the arm uncovered. This form of sleeve is very becoming to +the hand. + +Mantelets are very slightly altered; they are, however, rather more +closely fitted to the figure than last year; they are all made of +_taffetas glacé_, and trimmed with pinked _ruches_ of the same material +for young persons, and with wide black lace for married ladies. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--PROMENADE DRESS.] + +FIG. 2, is a Pelerine of a pattern quite new; made of embroidered net, +trimmed with three rows of _point d'Alençon_, and ornamented with a +large knot of _ribbons Bayadère_. Another pattern is of Indian muslin +_Canezcu_, embroidered and trimmed with _malines_, open and buttoned up +in the back. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--PELERINE.] + +FIG. 3 is a neat costume for a little girl. + +Dress of glacé silk, shaded in light green and lilac. The skirt trimmed +with four rows of fringe of green and lilac silk intermingled. The +corsage low and plain, with a pelerine which passes along the back and +shoulders, and is brought down to the front of the waist in a point. +This pelerine is edged with two rows of fringe. The sleeves of the +dress, which are short, are edged simply with one row of fringe. +Attached to these short sleeves are long sleeves of white muslin made so +as to set nearly close to the upper part of the arms, but finished +between the elbow and the wrist with three drawings separated by bands +of needlework insertion. Above these drawings there is a frill which +falls back on the arm. The neck is covered by a chemisette of muslin, +finished at the throat with a trimming of needlework, turned over. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--LITTLE GIRL'S COSTUME.] + +FIG. 4. HOME DRESS.--Morning cap trimmed with Valenciennes and gauze +ribbons, cut out in the shape of leaves, muslin _guimpe bouillonné_, +with embroidered _entre-deux_; the gown _en gros d'Ecosse_, with facing +and trimmings cut out; _pagode_ sleeves, with a white muslin puffing +ornamented with a very large _bouillonné_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--HOME DRESS.] + +In the engraving (FIG. 5) is represented a BALL COSTUME, with a graceful +head-dress, composed of a vine garland with grapes; on each side hangs a +bunch of grapes (several little hunches are preferred). The novelty of +this year is to be observed in the length of the branches, which come +down on the shoulders, mixing with long curls. This head-dress is worn +also with _bandeaux_, but then the garland must be thicker in the lower +part. The leaves are of different colors, from the various shades of +green to the autumnal red tint. This kind of garland is made also of +ivy, with small red balls. The gowns are of _taffetas d'Italie_--_white, +rose_, or _blue_ (their shades are to be _glacés de blanc_): the body is +trimmed with a _berthe_, made of two rows of _blonde_; the front +ornamented with a puffing of white net laced with satin ribbons the +color of the gown. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--BALL DRESS.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume +1, No. 3, August, 1850., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY, AUG. 1850 *** + +***** This file should be named 29655-8.txt or 29655-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29655/ + +Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29655] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY, AUG. 1850 *** + + + + +Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> +<h1>HARPER'S</h1> + +<h2>NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.</h2> + +<h3>No. III.—AUGUST, 1850.—VOL. I.</h3> + +<p class="notes">Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved +to the end of the article. Table of contents has been created for the HTML version.</p> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#PILGRIMAGE_TO_THE_HOME_OF_SIR_THOMAS_MORE"><b>PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOME OF SIR THOMAS MORE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_BUFFALO_CHASE"><b>A BUFFALO CHASE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#EARTHS_HARVESTS"><b>EARTH'S HARVESTS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#BIOGRAPHICAL_SKETCH_OF_THE_LATE_PRESIDENT"><b>BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE PRESIDENT.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ENCOUNTER_WITH_A_LIONESS"><b>ENCOUNTER WITH A LIONESS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_YOUNG_ADVOCATE"><b>THE YOUNG ADVOCATE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_REVOLUTIONISM_OF_MIRABEAU"><b>THE REVOLUTIONISM OF MIRABEAU.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_COMMUNIST_SPARROW_AN_ANECDOTE_OF_CUVIER"><b>THE "COMMUNIST" SPARROW—AN ANECDOTE OF CUVIER.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_GIRAFFE_CHASE"><b>A GIRAFFE CHASE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADVENTURE_IN_A_TURKISH_HAREM"><b>ADVENTURE IN A TURKISH HAREM.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_WIFE_OF_KONG_TOLV14"><b>THE WIFE OF KONG TOLV.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#MAURICE_TIERNAY_THE_SOLDIER_OF_FORTUNE"><b>MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#HAVE_GREAT_POETS_BECOME_IMPOSSIBLE18"><b>HAVE GREAT POETS BECOME IMPOSSIBLE?</b></a><br /> +<a href="#RECOLLECTIONS_OF_THOMAS_CAMPBELL"><b>RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#GALILEO_AND_HIS_DAUGHTER"><b>GALILEO AND HIS DAUGHTER.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#EBENEZER_ELLIOTT"><b>EBENEZER ELLIOTT.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CONFLICT_WITH_AN_ELEPHANT"><b>CONFLICT WITH AN ELEPHANT.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LETTICE_ARNOLD"><b>LETTICE ARNOLD.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#RECOLLECTIONS_OF_DR_CHALMERS"><b>RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. CHALMERS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_OLD_MANS_BEQUEST_A_STORY_OF_GOLD"><b>THE OLD MAN'S BEQUEST; A STORY OF GOLD.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ELEPHANT_SHOOTING"><b>ELEPHANT SHOOTING.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_POWER_OF_MERCY"><b>THE POWER OF MERCY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#BORAX_LAGOONS_OF_TUSCANY"><b>BORAX LAGOONS OF TUSCANY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#WALLACE_AND_FAWDON"><b>WALLACE AND FAWDON.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#WHAT_BECOMES_OF_ALL_THE_CLEVER_CHILDREN"><b>WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE CLEVER CHILDREN?</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LACK_OF_POETRY_IN_AMERICA"><b>LACK OF POETRY IN AMERICA.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SIR_ROBERT_PEEL"><b>SIR ROBERT PEEL.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SPONGES"><b>SPONGES.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_RAILWAY_WORKS_AT_CREWE"><b>THE RAILWAY WORKS AT CREWE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#STEAM-BRIDGE_OF_THE_ATLANTIC"><b>STEAM-BRIDGE OF THE ATLANTIC.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_LITTLE_HERO_OF_HAARLEM"><b>THE LITTLE HERO OF HAARLEM.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ADVENTURE_WITH_A_SNAKE"><b>ADVENTURE WITH A SNAKE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#MONTHLY_RECORD_OF_CURRENT_EVENTS"><b>MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LITERARY_NOTICES"><b>LITERARY NOTICES.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SUMMER_FASHIONS"><b>SUMMER FASHIONS.</b></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h4>[From the Art-Journal.]</h4> +<h2><a name="PILGRIMAGE_TO_THE_HOME_OF_SIR_THOMAS_MORE" id="PILGRIMAGE_TO_THE_HOME_OF_SIR_THOMAS_MORE"></a>PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOME OF SIR THOMAS MORE.</h2> + +<h3>BY MRS. S. C. HALL.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 501px;"> +<img src="images/image1.jpg" width="501" height="450" alt="SIR THOMAS MORE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SIR THOMAS MORE.</span> +</div> + + + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/image2.jpg" width="214" height="200" alt="W" class="cap" /> + +<p class="cap_1">While living in the neighborhood of Chelsea, we determined to look upon +the few broken walls that once inclosed the residence of Sir Thomas +More, a man who, despite the bitterness inseparable from a persecuting +age, was of most wonderful goodness as well as intellectual power. We +first read over the memories of him preserved by Erasmus, Hoddesdon, +Roper, Aubrey, his own namesake, and others. It is pleasant to muse over +the past; pleasant to know that much of malice and bigotry has departed, +to return no more, that the prevalence of a spirit which could render +even Sir Thomas More unjust and, to seeming, cruel, is passing away. +Though we do implicitly believe there would be no lack of great hearts, +and brave hearts, at the present day, if it were necessary to bring them +to the test, still there have been few men like unto him. It is a +pleasant and a profitable task, so to sift through past ages, so to +separate the wheat from the chaff, to see, when the feelings of party +and prejudice sink to their proper insignificance, how the morally great +stands forth in its own dignity, bright, glorious, and everlasting. St. +Evremond sets forth the firmness and constancy of Petronius Arbiter in +his last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> moments, and imagines he discovers in them a softer nobility +of mind and resolution, than in the deaths of Seneca, Cato, or Socrates +himself; but Addison says, and we can not but think truly, "that if he +was so well pleased with gayety of humor in a dying man, he might have +found a much more noble instance of it in Sir Thomas More, who died upon +a point of religion, and is respected as a martyr by that side for which +he suffered." What was pious philosophy in this extraordinary man, might +seem frenzy in any one who does not resemble him as well in the +cheerfulness of his temper as in the sanctity of his life and manners.</p> +</div> + +<p>Oh, that some such man as he were to sit upon our woolsack now; what +would the world think, if when the mighty oracle commanded the next +cause to come on, the reply should be, "<i>Please your good lordship, +there is no other!</i>" Well might the smart epigrammatist write:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When <span class="smcap">More</span> some time had chancellor been,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">No <span class="smcap">more</span> suits did remain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The same shall never <span class="smcap">more</span> be seen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Till <span class="smcap">More</span> be there again!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We mused over the history of his time until we slept, and dreamed: and +first in our dream we saw a fair meadow, and it was sprinkled over with +white daisies, and a bull was feeding therein; and as we looked upon him +he grew fatter and fatter, and roared in the wantonness of power and +strength, so that the earth trembled; and he plucked the branches off +the trees, and trampled on the ancient inclosures of the meadow, and as +he stormed, and bellowed, and destroyed, the daisies became human heads, +and the creature flung them about, and warmed his hoofs in the hot blood +that flowed from them and we grew sick and sorry at heart, and thought, +is there no one to slay the destroyer? And when we looked again, the +Eighth Harry was alone in the meadow; and, while many heads were lying +upon the grass, some kept perpetually bowing before him, while others +sung his praises as wise, just, and merciful. Then we heard a trumpet +ringing its scarlet music through the air, and we stood in the old +tilt-yard at Whitehall, and the pompous Wolsey, the bloated king, the +still living Holbein, the picturesque Surrey, the Aragonian Catharine, +the gentle Jane, the butterfly Anne Bullen, the coarse-seeming but +wise-thinking Ann of Cleves the precise Catherine Howard, and the stout +hearted Catherine Parr, passed us so closely by, that we could have +touched their garments; then a bowing troop of court gallants came on; +others whose names and actions you may read of in history; and then the +hero of our thoughts, Sir Thomas More—well dressed, for it was a time +of pageants—was talking somewhat apart to his pale-faced friend +Erasmus, while "Son Roper," as the chancellor loved to call his +son-in-law, stood watchfully and respectfully a little on one side. Even +if we had never seen the pictures Holbein painted of his first patron, +we should have known him by the bright benevolence of his aspect, the +singular purity of his complexion, his penetrating yet gentle eyes, and +the incomparable grandeur with which virtue and independence dignified +even an indifferent figure. His smile was so catching that the most +broken-hearted were won by it to forget their sorrows; and his voice, +low and sweet though it was, was so distinct, that we heard it above all +the coarse jests, loud music, and trumpet calls of the vain and idle +crowd. And while we listened, we awoke; resolved next day to make our +pilgrimage, perfectly satisfied at the outset, that though no fewer than +four houses in Chelsea contend for the honor of his residence, Doctor +King's arguments in favor of the site being the same as that of Beaufort +House—upon the greater part of which now stands Beaufort-row—are the +most conclusive; those who are curious in the matter can go and see his +manuscripts in the British Museum. Passing Beaufort-row, we proceeded +straight on to the turn leading to the Chelsea <i>Clock-house</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/image3.jpg" width="450" height="265" alt="CLOCK HOUSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CLOCK HOUSE.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is an old, patched-up, rickety dwelling, containing, perhaps, but few +of the original stones, yet interesting as being the lodge-entrance to +the offices of Beaufort-House; remarkable, also, as the dwelling of a +family of the name of Howard, who have occupied it for more than a +hundred years, the first possessor being gardener to Sir Hans Sloane, +into whose possession, after a lapse of years, and many changes, a +portion of Sir Thomas More's property had passed. This Howard had skill +in the distilling of herbs and perfumes, which his descendant carries on +to this day. We lifted the heavy brass knocker, and were admitted into +the "old clock-house." The interior shows evident marks of extreme age, +the flooring being ridgy and seamed, bearing their marks with a +discontented creaking, like the secret murmurs of a faded beauty against +her wrinkles! On the counter stood a few frost-bitten geraniums, and +drawers, containing various roots and seeds, were ranged round the +walls, while above them were placed good stout quart and pint bottles of +distilled waters. The man would have it that the "clock-house" was the +"real original" lodge-entrance to "Beaufort House;" and so we agreed it +might have been, but not, "<i>perhaps</i>" built during Sir Thomas More's +lifetime. To this insinuation he turned a deaf ear, assuring us that his +family, having lived there so long, must know all about it, and that the +brother of Sir Hans Sloane's gardener had made the great clock in old +Chelsea Church, as the church books could prove. "You can, if you +please," he said, "go under the archway at the side of this house, +leading into the Moravian chapel and burying-ground, where the notice, +that 'within are the Park-chapel Schools,' is put up." And that is quite +true; the Moravians now only use the chapel which was erected in their +burying-ground to perform an occasional funeral service in, and so they +"let it" to the infant school. The burying-ground is very pretty in the +summer time. Its space occupies only a small portion of the chancellor's +garden; part of its walls are very old, and the south one certainly +belonged to Beaufort House. There have been some who trace out a Tudor +arch and one or two Gothic windows as having been filled up with more +modern mason-work: but that may be fancy. There seems no doubt that the +Moravian chapel stands on the site of the old stables.</p> + +<p>"Then," we said, "the clock-house could only have been at the entrance +to the offices." The man looked for a moment a little hurt at this +observation, as derogatory to the dignity of his dwelling, but he +smiled, and said. "Perhaps so;" and very good-naturedly showed us the +cemetery of this interesting people. Indeed, their original settlement +in Chelsea is quite a romance. The chapel stands to the left of the +burying-ground, which is entered by a primitive wicket-gate; it forms a +square of thick grass, crossed by broad gravel walks, kept with the +greatest neatness The tombstones are all that, and the graves not +raised above the level of the sward. They are of two sizes only: the +larger for grown persons, the smaller for children. The inscriptions on +the grave-stones, in general, seldom record more than the names and ages +of the persons interred. The men are buried in one division, the women +in another. We read one or two of the names, and they were quaint and +strange: "Anne Rypheria Hurloch;" "Anna Benigna La Trobe;" and one was +especially interesting, James Gillray, forty years sexton to this simple +cemetery, and father of Gillray, the H. B. of the past century. One +thing pleased us mightily, the extreme old age to which the dwellers in +this house seemed to have attained.</p> + +<p>A line of ancient trees runs along the back of the narrow gardens of +Milman's-row, which is parallel with, but further from town than +Beaufort-row, and affords a grateful shade in the summer time. We +resolved to walk quietly round, and then enter the chapel. How strange +the changes of the world! The graves of a simple, peace-loving, +unambitious people were lying around us, and yet it was the place which +Erasmus describes as "Sir Thomas More's estate, purchased at Chelsey," +and where "he built him a house, neither mean nor subject to envy, yet +magnificent and commodious enough." How dearly he loved this place, and +how much care he bestowed upon it, can be gathered from the various +documents still extant.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The bravery with which, soon after he was +elected a burgess to parliament, he opposed a subsidy demanded by Henry +the Seventh, with so much power that he won the parliament to his +opinion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> and incensed the king so greatly, that, out of revenge, he +committed the young barrister's father to the Tower, and fined him in +the fine of a hundred pounds! That bravery remained with him to the +last, and with it was mingled the simplicity which so frequently and so +beautifully blends with the intellectuality that seems to belong to a +higher world than this. When he "took to marrying," he fancied the +second daughter of a Mr. Colt, a gentleman of Essex; yet when he +considered the pain it must give the eldest to see her sister preferred +before her, he gave up his first love, and framed his fancy to the +elder. This lady died, after having brought him four children; but his +second choice, Dame Alice, has always seemed to us a punishment and a +sore trial. And yet how beautifully does Erasmus describe his mode of +living in this very place: "He converseth with his wife, his son, his +daughter-in-law, his three daughters and their husbands, with eleven +grandchildren. There is not a man living so affectionate to his children +as he. He loveth his old wife as if she were a young maid; he persuadeth +her to play on the lute, and so with the like gentleness he ordereth his +family. Such is the excellence of his temper, that whatsoever happeneth +that could not be helped, he loveth, as if nothing could have happened +more happily. You would say there was in that place Plato's academy; but +I do his house an injury in comparing it to Plato's academy, where there +were only disputations of numbers and geometrical figures, and sometimes +of moral virtues. I should rather call his house a school or university +of Christian religion; for, though there is none therein but readeth and +studyeth the liberal sciences, their special care is piety and +virtue."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/image4.jpg" width="550" height="283" alt="MORE'S HOUSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MORE'S HOUSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>The king was used to visit his "beloved chancellor" here for days +together to admire his terrace overhanging the Thames, to row in his +state barge, to ask opinions upon divers matters, and it is said that +the royal answer to Luther was composed under the chancellor's revising +eye. Still, the penetrating vision of Sir Thomas was in no decree +obscured by this glitter. One day the king came unexpectedly to Chelsea, +and having dined, walked with Sir Thomas for the space of an hour, in +the garden, having his arm about his neck. We pleased ourselves with the +notion that they walked where then we stood! Well might such +condescension cause his son Roper—for whom he entertained so warm an +affection—to congratulate his father upon such condescension, and to +remind him that he had never seen his majesty approach such familiarity +with any one, save once, when he was seen to walk arm in arm with +Cardinal Wolsey. "I thank our Lord," answered Sir Thomas, "I find his +grace my very good lord, indeed; and I do believe, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> doth as +singularly love me as any subject within the realm; however, son Roper, +I may tell thee I have no cause to be proud thereof, for if my head +should win him a castle in France, it should not fail to go off."</p> + +<p>With the exception of his own family (and his wife formed an exception +here), there are few indeed of his contemporaries, notwithstanding the +eulogiums they are prone to heap upon him, who understood the elevated +and unworldly character of this extraordinary man.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Norfolk, coming one day to dine with him, found him in +Chelsea Church, singing in the choir, with his surplice on. "What! +what!" exclaimed the duke, "what, what, my Lord Chancellor a parish +clerk! a parish clerk! you dishonor the king and his office." And how +exquisite his reply, "Nay, you may not think your master and mine will +be offended with me for serving God his master, or thereby count his +office dishonored." Another reply to the same abject noble, is well +graven on our memory. He expostulated with him, like many of his other +friends, for braving the king's displeasure. "By the mass, Master More," +he said, "it is perilous striving with princes; therefore, I wish you +somewhat to incline to the king's pleasure, for '<i>indignatio Principis +mors est.</i>'" "And is that all, my lord?" replied this man, so much above +all paltry considerations; "then in good faith the difference between +your grace and me is but this—that I may die to-day, and you +to-morrow."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image4a.jpg" width="500" height="320" alt="CHELSEA CHURCH." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CHELSEA CHURCH.</span> +</div> + +<p>He took great delight in beautifying Chelsea Church, although he had a +private chapel of his own; and when last there they told us the painted +window had been his gift. It must have been a rare sight to see the +chancellor of England sitting with the choir; and yet there was a fair +share of pomp in the manner of his servitor bowing at his lady's pew, +when the service of the mass was ended, and saying, "My lord is gone +<i>before</i>." But the day after he resigned the great seal of England (of +which his wife knew nothing), Sir Thomas presented himself at the +pew-door, and, after the fashion of his servitor, quaintly said, "Madam, +my lord is <i>gone."</i> The vain woman could not comprehend his meaning, +which, when, during their short walk home, he fully explained, she was +greatly pained thereby, lamenting it with exceeding bitterness of +spirit.</p> + +<p>We fancied we could trace a gothic door or window in the wall; but our +great desire would have been to discover the water-gate from which he +took his departure the morning he was summoned to Lambeth to take the +oath of supremacy. True to what he believed right, he offered up his +prayers and confessions in Chelsea Church, and then, returning to his +own house, took an affectionate farewell of his wife and children, +forbidding them to accompany hum to the water-gate, as was their custom, +fearing, doubtless, that his mighty heart could not sustain a prolonged +interview. Who could paint the silent parting between him and all he +loved so well—the boat waiting at the foot of the stairs—the rowers in +their rich liveries, while their hearts, heavy with apprehension for the +fate of him they served, still trusted that nothing could be found to +harm so good a master—the pale and earnest countenance of "son Roper," +wondering at the calmness, at such a time, which more than all other +things, bespeaks the master mind. For a moment his hand lingered on the +gate, and in fastening the simple latch his fingers trembled, and then +he took his seat by his son's side; and in another moment the boat was +flying through the waters. For some time he spoke no word, but communed +with and strengthened his great heart by holy thoughts; then looking +straight into his son Roper's eyes, while his own brightened with a +glorious triumph, he exclaimed in the fullness of his rich-toned voice, +"I thank our Lord the field is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> won." It was no wonder that, overwhelmed +with apprehension, his son-in-law could not apprehend his meaning then, +but afterward bethought him that he signified how he had conquered the +world.</p> + +<p>The abbot of Westminster took him that same day into custody, on his +refusal to "take the king as head of his Church;" and upon his repeating +this refusal four days afterward, he was committed to the Tower. Then, +indeed, these heretofore bowers of bliss echoed to the weak and wavering +complaints of his proud wife, who disturbed him also in his prison by +her desires, so vain and so worldly, when compared with the elevated +feelings of his dear daughter Margaret.</p> + +<p>How did the fond, foolish woman seek to shake his purpose! "Seeing," she +said, "you have a house at Chelsea, a right fair house, your library, +your gallery, your garden, your orchard, and all other necessaries so +handsome about you, where you might in company with me, your wife, your +children, and household, be merry, I marvel that you who have been +always taken for so wise a man, can be content thus to be shut up among +mice and rats, and, too, when you might be abroad at your liberty, and +with the favor and good-will both of the king and his council, if you +would but do as all the bishops and best learned men of the realm have +done."</p> + +<p>And then not even angered by her folly, seeing how little was given her +to understand, he asked her if the house in Chelsea was any nearer +Heaven than the gloomy one he then occupied? ending his pleasant yet +wise parleying with a simple question:</p> + +<p>"Tell me," he said, "good Mistress Alice, how long do you think might we +live and enjoy that same house?"</p> + +<p>She answered, "Some twenty years."</p> + +<p>"Truly," he replied, "if you had said some thousand years, it might have +been somewhat; and yet he were a very bad merchant who would put himself +in danger to lose eternity for a thousand years. How much the rather if +we are not sure to enjoy it one day to an end?"</p> + +<p>It is for the glory of women that his daughter Margaret, while she loved +and honored him past all telling, strengthened his noble nature; for, +writing him during his fifteen months' imprisonment in the Tower, she +asks, in words not to be forgotten, "What do you think, most dear +father, doth comfort us at Chelsey, in this your absence? Surely, the +remembrance of your manner of life passed among us—your holy +conversation—your wholesome counsels—your examples of virtue, of which +there is hope that they do not only persevere with you, but that they +are, by God's grace, much more increased."</p> + +<p>After the endurance of fifteen months' imprisonment, he was arraigned, +tried, and found guilty of denying the king's supremacy.</p> + +<p>Alack! is there no painter of English history bold enough to immortalize +himself by painting this trial? Sir Thomas More was beheaded on Tower +Hill, in the bright sunshine of the month of July, on its fifth day, +1535, the king remitting the disgusting quartering of the quivering +flesh, because of his "high office." When told of the king's "mercy," +"Now, God forbid," he said, "the king should use anymore such to any of +my friends; and God bless all my posterity from such pardons."</p> + +<p>One man of all the crowd who wept at his death, reproached him with a +decision he had given in Chancery. More, nothing discomposed, replied, +that if it were still to do, he would give the same decision. This +happened twelve months before. And, while the last scene was enacting on +Tower-Hill, the king, who had walked in this very garden with his arm +round the neck, which, by his command, the ax had severed, was playing +at Tables in Whitehall, Queen Anne Bullen looking on; and when told that +Sir Thomas More was dead, casting his eyes upon the pretty fool that had +glittered in his pageants, he said, "Thou art the cause of this man's +death." The <span class="smcap">COWARD</span>! to seek to turn upon a thing so weak as that, the +heavy sin which clung to his own soul!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;"> +<img src="images/image5.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="TOMB." title="" /> +<span class="caption">TOMB.</span> +</div> + +<p>Some say the body lies in Chelsea Church, beneath the tomb we have +sketched—the epitaph having been written by himself before he +anticipated the manner of his death.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> It is too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> long to insert; but +the lines at the conclusion are very like the man. The epitaph and +poetry are in Latin: we give the translation:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For Alice and for Thomas More's remains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prepared, this tomb Johanna's form contains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One, married young; with mutual ardor blest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A boy and three fair girls our joy confest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The other (no small praise) of these appear'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As fond as if by her own pangs endeared.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One lived with me, one lives in such sweet strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Slight preference could I give to either wife.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! had it met Heaven's sanction and decree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One hallowed bond might have united three;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet still be ours one grave, one lot on high!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus death, what life denied us, shall supply."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 373px;"> +<img src="images/image6.jpg" width="373" height="450" alt="ROPER's HOUSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ROPER's HOUSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Others tell that his remains were interred in the Tower,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and some +record that the head was sought and preserved by that same daughter +Margaret, who caused it to be buried in the family vault of the Ropers +in St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury;<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and they add a pretty legend how +that, when his head was upon London Bridge, Margaret would be rowed +beneath it, and, nothing horrified at the sight, say aloud, "That head +has layde many a time in my lappe; would to God, would to God, it would +fall into my lappe as I pass under now," and the head did so fall, and +she carried it in her "lappe" until she placed it in her husband's, "son +Roper's" vault, at Canterbury.</p> + +<p>The king took possession of these fair grounds at Chelsea, and all the +chancellor's other property, namely, Dunkington, Trenkford, and Benley +Park, in Oxfordshire, allowing the widow he had made, twenty pounds per +year for her life, and indulging his petty tyranny still more, by +imprisoning Sir Thomas's daughter, Margaret, "both because she kept her +father's head for a relic, and that she meant to set her father's works +in print."</p> + +<p>We were calling to mind more minute particulars of the charities and +good deeds of this great man, when, standing at the moment opposite a +grave where some loving hand had planted two standard rose-trees, we +suddenly heard a chant of children's voices, the infant scholars singing +their little hymn; the tune, too, was a well-known and popular melody, +and very sweet, yet sad of sound; it was just such music, as for its +simplicity, would have been welcome to the mighty dead; and, as we +entered among the little songsters, the past faded away, and we found +ourselves speculating on the hopeful present.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We close Mrs. Hall's pleasant sketches of Sir Thomas More and his +localities, with a brief description of a scene in his prison, which the +pencil of Mr. Herbert, of the Royal Academy, has beautifully depicted. +It must be remembered that More was a zealous Roman Catholic. He was +committed to the Tower in 1534, by the licentious Henry VIII., partly to +punish him for refusing to assist that monarch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> in his marriage with +Anne Boleyn, "the pretty fool," as Mrs. Hall calls her; but particularly +because he declined to acknowledge the king's ecclesiastical supremacy +as head of the Reformed Church. There he remained until his execution +the following year. "During his imprisonment," says his son-in-law and +biographer, Roper, who married his favorite daughter Margaret, "one day, +looking from his window, he saw four monks (who also had refused the +oath of supremacy) going to their execution, and regretting that he +could not bear them company, said: 'Look, Megge, dost thou not see that +these blessed fathers be now going as cheerful to their death, as +bridegrooms to their marriage? By which thou may'st see, myne own good +daughter, what a great difference there is between such as have spent +all their days in a religious, hard, and penitential life, and such as +have (as thy poore father hath done) consumed all their time in pleasure +and ease;'" and so he proceeded to enlarge on their merits and +martyrdom. His grandson, Cresacre More, referring to this scene, says, +"By which most humble and heavenly meditation, we may easily guess what +a spirit of charity he had gotten by often meditation, that every sight +brought him new matter to practice most heroical resolutions."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 295px;"> +<img src="images/image7.jpg" width="295" height="500" alt="SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER.</span> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> After the death of More, this favorite home of his, where +he had so frequently gathered "a choice company of men distinguished by +their genius and learning," passed into the rapacious hands of his bad +sovereign, and by him was presented to Sir William Pawlet, ultimately +Lord High Treasurer and Marquis of Winchester; from his hands it passed +into Lord Dacre's, to whom succeeded Lord Burghley; then followed his +son, the Earl of Salisbury, as its master; from him it passed +successively to the Earl of Lincoln, Sir Arthur Gorges, the Earl of +Middlesex, Villiers duke of Buckingham, Sir Bulstrode Whitelock, the +second Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Bristol, the Duke of Beaufort, +and ultimately to Sir Hans Slonne, who obtained it in 1738, and after +keeping it for two years razed it to the ground; an unhappy want of +reverence on the part of the great naturalist for the home of so many +great men. There is a print of it by J. Knyff, in 1699, which is copied +(p. 292); it shows some old features, but it had then been enlarged and +altered. Erasmus has well described it as it was in More's lifetime. It +had "a chapel, a library, and a gallery, called the New Buildings, a +good distance from his main house, wherein his custom was to busy +himself in prayer and meditation, whensoever he was at leisure." +Heywood, in his <i>II Moro</i> (Florence, 1556), describes "the garden as +wonderfully charming, both from the advantages of its site, for from one +part almost the whole of the noble city of London was visible, and from +the other the beautiful Thames, with green meadows by woody eminences +all around, and also for its own beauty, for it was crowned with an +almost perpetual verdure." At one side was a small green eminence to +command the prospect.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The conduct of this great man's house was a model to all, +and as near an approach to his own Utopia as might well be. Erasmus +says, "I should rather call his house a school or university of +Christian religion, for though there is none therein but readeth and +studyeth the liberal sciences, their special care is piety and virtue; +there is no quarreling or intemperate words heard; none seen idle; which +household discipline that worthy gentleman doth not govern, but with all +kind and courteous benevolence." The servant-men abode on one side of +the house, the women on another, and met at prayer-time, or on church +festivals, when More would read and expound to them. He suffered no +cards or dice, but gave each one his garden-plot for relaxation, or set +them to sing or play music. He had an affection for all who truly served +him, and his daughters' nurse is as affectionately remembered in his +letters when from home as are they themselves. "Thomas More sendeth +greeting to his most dear daughters Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cecily; and +to Margaret Giggs, as dear to him as if she were his own," are his words +in one letter; and his valued and trustworthy domestics appear in the +family pictures of the family by Holbein. They requited his attachment +by truest fidelity and love; and his daughter Margaret, in her last +passionate interview with her father on his way to the Tower, was +succeeded by Margaret Giggs and a maid-servant, who embraced and kissed +their condemned master, "of whom, he said after, it was homely but very +lovingly done." Of these and other of his servants, Erasmus remarks, +"after Sir Thomas More's death, none ever was touched with the least +suspicion of any evil fame."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Wood and Weaver both affirm that the body of More was first +deposited in the Tower Chapel, but was subsequently obtained by his +devoted and accomplished daughter, Margaret Roper, and re-interred in +Chelsea Church, in the tomb he had finished in 1532, the year in which +he had surrendered the chancellorship, and resolved to abide the issue +of his conscientious opposition to the king's wishes, as if he felt that +the tomb should then be prepared.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Faulkner, in his history of Chelsea, adheres to this +opinion, and says that the tomb in that church is but "an empty +cenotaph." His grandson, in his Life, says, "his body was buried in the +Chapel of St. Peter, in the Tower, in the belfry, or, as some say, as +one entereth into the vestry;" and he does not notice the story of his +daughter's re-interment of it elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The Ropers lived at Canterbury, in St Dunstan's-street. The +house is destroyed, and a brewery occupies its site; but the picturesque +old gateway, of red brick, still remains, and is engraved above. +Margaret Roper, the noble-hearted, learned, and favorite daughter of +More resided here with her husband, until her death, in 1544, nine years +after the execution of her father, when she was buried in the family +vault at St. Dunstan's, where she had reverently placed the head of her +father. The story of her piety is thus told by Cresacre More, in his +life of his grandfather, Sir Thomas: "His head having remained about a +month upon London Bridge, and being to be cast into the Thames, because +room should be made for divers others, who, in plentiful sort, suffered +martyrdom for the same supremacy, shortly after, it was bought by his +daughter Margaret, lest, as she stoutly affirmed before the council, +being called before them after for the matter, it should be food for +fishes; which she buried, where she thought fittest." Anthony-a-Wood +says, that she preserved it in a leaden box, and placed it in her tomb +"with great devotion;" and in 1715, Dr. Rawlinson told Hearne the +antiquary, that he had seen it there "inclosed in an iron grate." This +was fully confirmed in 1835, when the chancel of the church being +repaired, the Roper vault was opened, and several persons descended into +it, and saw the skull in a leaden box, something like a bee-hive, open +in the front, and which was placed in a square recess, in the wall, with +an iron-grating before it. A drawing was made, which was engraved in the +<i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> of May, 1837, which we have copied in our initial +letter; Summerly, in his Handbook to Canterbury, says: "In the print +there, however, the opening in the leaden box, inclosing the head, is +made oval, whereas it should be in the form of a triangle." We have +therefore so corrected our copy.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><h4>[From Hunting Adventures in South Africa.]</h4> +<h2><a name="A_BUFFALO_CHASE" id="A_BUFFALO_CHASE"></a>A BUFFALO CHASE.</h2> + + +<p>Early on the 4th we inspanned and continued our march for Booby, a large +party of savages still following the wagons. Before proceeding far I was +tempted by the beautiful appearance of the country to saddle horses, to +hunt in the mountains westward of my course. I directed the wagons to +proceed a few miles under guidance of the natives, and there await my +arrival. I was accompanied by Isaac, who was mounted on the Old Gray, +and carried my clumsy Dutch rifle of six to the pound. Two Bechuanas +followed us, leading four of my dogs. Having crossed a well wooded +strath, we reached a little crystal river, whose margin was trampled +down with the spoor of a great variety of heavy game, but especially of +buffalo and rhinoceros. We took up the spoor of a troop of buffaloes, +which we followed along a path made by the heavy beasts of the forest +through a neck in the hills; and emerging from the thicket, we beheld, +on the other side of a valley, which had opened upon us, a herd of about +ten huge bull buffaloes. These I attempted to stalk, but was defeated by +a large herd of zebras, which, getting our wind, charged past and +started the buffaloes. I ordered the Bechuanas to release the dogs; and +spurring Colesberg, which I rode for the first time since the affair +with the lioness, I gave chase. The buffaloes crossed the valley in +front of me, and made for a succession of dense thickets in the hills to +the northward. As they crossed the valley by riding hard I obtained a +broadside shot at the last bull, and fired both barrels into him. He, +however, continued his course, but I presently separated him, along with +two other bulls, from the troop. My rifle being a two-grooved, which is +hard to load, I was unable to do so on horseback, and followed with it +empty, in the hope of bringing them to bay. In passing through a grove +of thorny trees I lost sight of the wounded buffalo; he had turned short +and doubled back, a common practice with them when wounded. After +following the other two at a hard gallop for about two miles, I was +riding within five yards of their huge broad sterns. They exhaled a +strong bovine smell, which came hot in my face. I expected every minute +that they would come to bay, and give me time to load; but this they did +not seem disposed to do. At length, finding I had the speed of them, I +increased my pace; and going ahead, I placed myself right before the +finest bull, thus expecting to force him to stand at bay; upon which he +instantly charged me with a low roar, very similar to the voice of a +lion. Colesberg neatly avoided the charge, and the bull resumed his +northward course. We now entered on rocky ground, and the forest became +more dense as we proceeded. The buffaloes were evidently making for some +strong retreat. I, however, managed with much difficulty to hold them in +view, following as best I could through thorny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> thickets. Isaac rode +some hundred yards behind, and kept shouting to me to drop the pursuit, +or I should be killed. At last the buffaloes suddenly pulled up, and +stood at bay in a thicket, within twenty yards of me. Springing from my +horse, I hastily loaded my two-grooved rifle, which I had scarcely +completed when Isaac rode up and inquired what had become of the +buffaloes, little dreaming that they were standing within twenty yards +of him. I answered by pointing my rifle across his horse's nose, and +letting fly sharp right and left at the two buffaloes. A headlong +charge, accompanied by a muffled roar, was the result. In an instant I +was round a clump of tangled thorn-trees; but Isaac, by the violence of +his efforts to get his horse in motion, lost his balance, and at the +same instant, his girths giving way, himself, his saddle, and big Dutch +rifle, all came to the ground together, with a heavy crash right in the +path of the infuriated buffaloes. Two of the dogs, which had fortunately +that moment joined us, met them in their charge, and, by diverting their +attention, probably saved Isaac from instant destruction. The buffaloes +now took up another position in an adjoining thicket. They were both +badly wounded, blotches and pools of blood marking the ground where they +had stood. The dogs rendered me assistance by taking up their attention, +and in a few minutes these two noble bulls breathed their last beneath +the shade of a mimosa grove. Each of them in dying repeatedly uttered a +very striking, low, deep moan. This I subsequently ascertained the +buffalo invariably utters when in the act of expiring.</p> + +<p>On going up to them I was astonished to behold their size and powerful +appearance. Their horns reminded me of the rugged trunk of an oak-tree. +Each horn was upward of a foot in breadth at the base, and together they +effectually protected the skull with a massive and impenetrable shield. +The horns, descending and spreading out horizontally, completely +over-shadowed the animal's eyes, imparting to him a look the most +ferocious and sinister that can be imagined. On my way to the wagons I +shot a stag sassayby, and while I was engaged in removing his head a +troop of about thirty doe pallahs cantered past me, followed by one +princely old buck. Snatching up my rifle, I made a fine shot, and rolled +him over in the grass.</p> + +<p>Early in the afternoon I dispatched men with a pack-horse to bring the +finer of the two buffalo-heads. It was so ponderous that two powerful +men could with difficulty raise it from the ground. The Bechuanas who +had accompanied me, on hearing of my success, snatched up their shields +and assagais, and hastened to secure the flesh, nor did I see any more +of them, with the exception of the two Baquaines, who remained with me, +being engaged in a plot with my interpreter to prevent my penetrating to +Bamangwato. Isaac did not soon forget his adventure with the buffaloes; +and at night over the fire he informed my men that I was mad, and that +any man who followed me was going headlong to his own destruction. At an +early hour on the 5th, I continued my march through a glorious country +of hill and dale, throughout which water was abundant.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><h4>[From Household Words.]</h4> +<h2><a name="EARTHS_HARVESTS" id="EARTHS_HARVESTS"></a>EARTH'S HARVESTS.</h2> + + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than War."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10"><span class="smcap">Milton's</span> <i>Sonnet to Cromwell.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Two hundred years ago,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> the moon<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shone on a battle plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cold through that glowing night of June<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lay steeds and riders slain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And daisies, bending 'neath strange dew,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wept in the silver light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The very turf a regal hue<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Assumed that fatal night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Time past—but long, to tell the tale,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some battle-ax or shield,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or cloven skull, or shattered mail,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were found upon the field;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The grass grew thickest on the spot<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where high were heaped the dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And well it marked had men forgot,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where the great charge was made.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day—the sun looks laughing down<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upon the harvest plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The little gleaners, rosy-brown,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The merry reapers' train;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rich sheaves heaped together stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And resting in their shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mother, working close at hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her sleeping babe hath laid.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A battle-field it was, and is,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For serried spears are there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And against mighty foes upreared—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gaunt hunger, pale despair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We'll thank God for the hearts of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their strife our freedom sealed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We'll praise Him for the sheaves of gold<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now on the battle-field.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Naseby, June 14, 1646.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 439px;"> +<img src="images/image8.jpg" width="439" height="500" alt="Z. Taylor [From a Daguerreotype by Brady." title="" /> +<span class="caption">[From a Daguerreotype by Brady.]</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="BIOGRAPHICAL_SKETCH_OF_THE_LATE_PRESIDENT" id="BIOGRAPHICAL_SKETCH_OF_THE_LATE_PRESIDENT"></a>BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE PRESIDENT.</h2> + + +<p>Who has not heard of the opening words with which the court preacher +Massilon startled the titled throng who had gathered in Notre Dame to do +the last honors to that monarch whose reign was the longest and most +splendid in French annals, "<i>God only is great!</i>" How often does the +knell of vanished power repeat the lesson! How constantly does the +fleeting away of our own men of might teach us that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The paths of glory lead but to the grave!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Death has again asserted his supremacy by striking down the most exalted +ruler of the land. The last sad cadence, dust to dust, his just been +faltered aver one who was our country's pride, and joy, and strength. +The love, the gratitude, and the veneration of a nation could not save +him. The crying need of an imperiled republic could not reprieve him. +His mortal strife over, his appointed task finished, he went down into +the cold embrace of the grave, and there, like a warrior taking his +rest, he lies and will lie forever. But he has left behind him what can +not die, the memory of noble aims and heroic deeds. The plain story of +his life is his best eulogy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zachary Taylor</span> was born in Orange County Virginia, in November, 1784. He +was the second son of Col. Richard Taylor, whose ancestors emigrated +from England about two centuries ago, and settled in Eastern Virginia. +The father, distinguished alike for patriotism and valor, served as +colonel in the revolutionary war, and took part in many important +engagements. About 1790 he left his Virginian farm and emigrated with +his family to Kentucky. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> settled in the "dark and bloody ground," and +for years encountered all the trials then incident to border life. The +earliest impressions of young Zachary were the sudden foray of the +savage foe, the piercing warwhoop, the answering cry of defiance, the +gleam of the tomahawk, the crack of the rifle, the homestead saved by +his father's daring, the neighboring cottage wrapped in flames, or its +hearth-stone red with blood. Such scenes bound his young nerves with +iron, and fired his fresh soul with martial ardor; working upon his +superior nature they made arms his delight, and heroism his destiny. +Zachary was placed in school at an early age, and his teacher, who now +resides in Preston, Connecticut, still loves to dwell on the +studiousness of his habits, the quickness of his apprehension, the +modesty of his demeanor, the firmness and decision of his character, and +a general thoughtfulness, sagacity, and stability, that made him a +leader to his mates and a pride to his master.</p> + +<p>After leaving school, the military spirit of young Taylor was constantly +fanned by the popular excitement against the continual encroachments of +England; and soon after the murderous attack of the British ship Leopard +upon the Chesapeake, in 1808, he entered the army as first lieutenant in +the 7th regiment of infantry. He soon gained distinction in border +skirmishes with the Indians, and the declaration of war with England +found him promoted to the rank of captain. Within sixty days after the +commencement of hostilities in 1812, the imbecility of Hull lost to the +country its Michigan territory, and fearfully jeoparded the whole +northwestern region. It was of the utmost importance to intrust the few +and feeble forts of that great dominion to men of established valor and +discretion. Captain Taylor was at once invested with the command of <span class="smcap">Fort +Harrison</span>, situated on the Wabash, in the very heart of the Indian +country. The defenses of this post were in a miserable condition, and +its garrison consisted of only fifty men, of whom thirty were disabled +by sickness. With this little handful of soldiers, the young commander +immediately set about repairing the fortifications. He had hardly +completed his work, when, on the night of the 4th of September, an alarm +shot from one of his sentinels aroused him from a bed of fever, to meet +the attack of a large force of Miami Indians. Every man was at once +ordered to his post. A contiguous blockhouse was fired by the enemy, and +a thick discharge of bullets and arrows was opened upon the fort. The +darkness of the night, the howlings of the savages, the shrieks of the +women and children, the fast approaching flames, and the panic of the +debilitated soldiers, made up a scene of terror, but could not shake the +determination nor the judgment of the young chieftain. He inspired his +men with his own courage and energy. The flames were extinguished, the +consumed breast-works were renewed, and volley answered volley for six +long hours till day break enabled the Americans to aim with a deadly +precision that soon dispersed their foes. This gallant repulse, at odds +so unfavorable, prompted a report from Major General Hopkins to Governor +Shelby that "the firm and almost unparalleled defense of Fort Harrison +had raised for Captain Zachary Taylor a fabric of character not to be +affected by eulogy;" and forthwith procured from President Madison a +preferment to the rank of brevet major, the first brevet, it is said, +ever conferred in the American army.</p> + +<p>Major Taylor continued actively engaged throughout the war; but, being +without a separate command, he had no opportunity to again signalize +himself by any remarkable achievement. After the treaty of peace, he +remained at the West, faithfully performing his duties at different +military posts, and preparing himself for any future call to more active +service. In 1832, he was promoted to the rank of colonel; and soon after +the opening of the Florida war, he was ordered to that territory. Here +he was in constant service, and distinguished himself for his discretion +and gallantry in circumstances of the most trying difficulty and peril. +His entire career won for him universal esteem and confidence.</p> + +<p>The greatest achievement of Colonel Taylor in Florida was his victory of +<span class="smcap">Okee-Chobee</span>, which was gained on the 25th of December, 1837. The action +was very severe, and continued nearly four hours. The Indians, under the +command of Alligator and Sam Jones, numbered about 700 warriors, and +were posted in a dense hammock, with their front covered by a small +stream, almost impassable on account of quicksands, and with their +flanks secured by swamps that prevented all access. Colonel Taylor's +force amounted to about 500 men, a portion of whom were inexperienced +volunteers. By an extraordinary effort, the stream in front was crossed, +under a most galling fire of the enemy, by our soldiers, who sunk to the +middle in the mire. A close and desperate fight ensued, during which the +five companies of the sixth infantry, who bore the brunt of the fray, +lost every officer but one, and one of these companies saved only four +privates unharmed. The enemy's line was at last broken, and their right +flank turned. They were soon scattered in all directions, and were +pursued till near night. The American loss was 26 killed and 112 +wounded; that of the Indians was very large, but never definitely +ascertained. Throughout the whole engagement, Colonel Taylor was passing +on his horse from point to point within the sweep of the Indian rifles, +emboldening and directing his men, without the least apparent regard for +his own personal safety. This victory had a decisive influence upon the +turn of the war; and the government immediately testified their sense of +its importance by conferring upon its gallant winner the rank of +brigadier-general by brevet.</p> + +<p>In the following May, General Taylor succeeded General Jesup in the +command of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> Florida army, and in this capacity, during two years, he +rendered vast services to the country by quelling the atrocities of +Indian warfare, and restoring peace and security to the southern +frontier. In 1840, at his own request, he was relieved by +Brigadier-general Armistead, and was ordered to the southwestern +department. Here he remained at various head-quarters until government +had occasion for his services in Texas.</p> + +<p>The project for the annexation of Texas, which was first officially +broached in the last year of President Tyler's administration, acquired +more and more weight and influence, until finally, in March, 1845, an +act to that effect was passed by both Houses of Congress, and was soon +after ratified by the Texian government. Mexico, although the +independence of Texas had been long before <i>de facto</i> secured, stoutly +protested against the annexation. The special American envoy sent to the +Mexican capital to attempt an adjustment of this and other difficulties, +was refused a hearing, and great preparations were carried on by the +Mexican government for another invasion of Texas. In June, General +Taylor received orders to advance with his troops over the Sabine, and +protect all of the territory east of the Rio Grande, over which Texas +exercised jurisdiction. He accordingly marched into Texas, and in August +concentrated his forces, amounting to about 3000 men, at Corpus Christi. +Receiving orders from Washington to proceed to the Rio Grande, the +general, with his little army, moved westward in March, 1846: and after +considerable suffering from the heal and the want of food and water, +reached the banks of the river opposite Matamoras on the 28th of the +month. Colonel Twiggs, with a detachment of dragoons, in the mean time +took possession of Point Isabel, situated on an arm of the Gulf, about +25 miles east. General Taylor took every means to assure the Mexicans +that his purpose was not war, nor violence in any shape, but solely the +occupation of the Texian territory to the Rio Grande, until the boundary +should be definitively settled by the two republics.</p> + +<p>After encamping opposite Matamoras, the American general prepared with +great activity for Mexican aggression, by erecting fortifications, and +planting batteries. The Mexicans speedily evinced hostile intentions. +General Ampudia arrived at Matamoras with 1000 cavalry and 1500 +infantry, and made overtures to our foreign soldiers to "separate from +the Yankee bandits, and array themselves under the tricolored flag!" +Such solicitations were of course spurned with contempt. The American +general was summoned to withdraw his forces at the penalty of being +treated as an enemy; he replied that, while avoiding all occasion for +hostilities, he should faithfully execute the will of his government. +General Arista soon arrived at Matamoras, and, superseding Ampudia, +issued a proclamation to the American soldiers, begging them not to be +the "blind instruments of unholy and mad ambition, and rush on to +certain death." He immediately threw a large body of troops over the +river, in order to cut off all communication between General Taylor and +his dépôt at Point Isabel. A detachment of 61 soldiers, under Captain +Thornton, was waylaid by a Mexican force of ten times their number, and +after a bloody conflict and the loss of many lives, was obliged to +surrender. With but eight days' rations, and the country to the east +fast filling up with the Mexican troops, the position of General Taylor +became very critical. He at once resolved, at every hazard, to procure +additional supplies; and, leaving the fort under the command of Major +Brown, he set out with a large portion of his army, on the 1st of May, +for Point Isabel. He reached that place the next day without +molestation. Soon after his departure, the Mexicans opened their +batteries upon Fort Brown. The fire was steadily returned with two long +eighteen and sixteen brass six pounders by the garrison, which numbered +about 900 men. The bombardment of the fort was kept up at intervals from +batteries in its rear, as well as from the town, for six days. The +Americans, though possessed of little ammunition, and having to mourn +the fall of their gallant commander, sustained the cannonade with +unyielding firmness until the afternoon of the 8th, when their hearts +were thrilled with exultation by the answering peals of General Taylor +at <span class="smcap">Palo Alto</span>.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the 7th, the American general, with about 2000 men and +250 wagons left Point Isabel for the relief of Fort Brown, and after +advancing seven miles encamped. The next morning he resumed his march, +and at noon met 6000 Mexican troops under Arista, with 800 cavalry, and +seven field-pieces, in line of battle, on a plain flanked at both sides +by small pools, and partly covered in front by thickets of chaparral and +Palo Alto. General Taylor at once halted, refreshed his men, advanced to +within a quarter of a mile of the Mexican line, and gave battle. The +conflict first commenced between the artillery, and for two hours +Ringgold's, and Duncan's, and Churchill's batteries mowed down rank +after rank of the enemy. The infantry remained idle spectators until +General Torrejon, with a body of lancers, made a sally upon our train. +The advancing columns were received with a tremendous fire, and +faltered, broke, and fled. The battle now became general, and for a time +raged with terrific grandeur, amid a lurid cloud of smoke from the +artillery, and the burning grass of the prairie. It rested for an hour, +and then again moved on. The American batteries opened with more +tremendous effect than ever; yet the ranks of the enemy were broken only +to be refilled by fresh men courting destruction. Captain May charged +upon the left, but with too few men to be successful. The chivalrous +Ringgold fell. The cavalry of the enemy advanced upon our artillery of +the right to within close range, when a storm of cannister swept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> them +back like a tornado. Their infantry made a desperate onset upon our +infantry, but recoiled before their terrible reception. Again they +rallied, and again were they repulsed. Panic seized the baffled foe, and +soon squadron and column were in fall retreat. The conflict had lasted +five hours, with a loss to the Americans of 7 killed and 37 wounded, and +to the Mexicans of at least 250 killed and wounded.</p> + +<p>In the evening, a council of war was held upon the propriety of +persisting to advance upon Fort Brown in spite of the vastly superior +force of the enemy. Of the thirteen officers present some were for +retreating to Point Isabel, others for intrenching upon the spot, and +only four for pushing ahead. The general, after hearing all opinions, +settled the question by the laconic declaration, "I will be at Fort +Brown before to-morrow night if I live." In the morning the army again +marched.</p> + +<p>The enemy were again met most advantageously posted in the ravine of +<span class="smcap">Resaca de la Palma</span> within three miles of Fort Brown. About 4 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span> the +battle commenced with great fury. The artillery on both sides did +terrible execution. By order of General Taylor, May, with his dragoons, +charged the enemy's batteries. The Mexicans reserved their fire until +the horses were near the cannons' mouth, and then poured out a broadside +which laid many a proud fellow low. Those of the dragoons not disabled +rushed on, overleaped the batteries, and seized the guns. The enemy +recoiled, again rallied, and with fixed bayonets returned to the onset. +Again they were repulsed. The "Tampico veterans" came to the rescue, +were met by the dragoons now reinforced with infantry, and all but +seventeen fell sword in hand after fighting with the most desperate +bravery. This decided the battle. The flanks of the enemy were turned, +and soon the rout became general. The Mexicans fled to the flat boats of +the river, and the shouts of the pursuers and the shrieks of the +drowning closed the scene. A great number of prisoners including 14 +officers, eight-pieces of artillery, and a large quantity of camp +equipage fell into the hands of the victors. The American loss was 39 +killed and 71 wounded; that of the enemy in the two actions was at least +1000 killed and wounded. Fort Brown was relieved, and the next day +Barita on the Mexican bank was taken by Colonel Wilson without +resistance.</p> + +<p>The victories of the 8th and 9th filled our country with exultation. +Government acknowledged the distinguished services of General Taylor by +making him Major-general by brevet; Congress passed resolutions of high +approval; Louisiana presented him with a sword, and the press every +where teemed with his praise.</p> + +<p>As soon as means could be procured, General Taylor crossed the Rio +Grande, took Matamoras without opposition, and made Colonel Twiggs its +governor. The army soon received large volunteer reinforcements, and on +the 5th of August the American general left Matamoras for Camargo, and +thence proceeded through Seralos to <span class="smcap">Monterey</span>, where he arrived the 19th +of September. The Mexicans, under General Ampudia had placed this +strongly fortified town in a complete state of defense. Not only were +the walls and parapets lined with cannons, but the streets and houses +were barricaded and planted with artillery. The bishop's palace on a +hill at a short distance west of the city was converted into a perfect +fortress. The town was well supplied with ammunition, and manned with +7000 troops of the line, and from 2000 to 3000 irregulars. The attack +commenced on the 21st, and two important redoubts without the city, and +an important work within, were carried with a loss to the Americans in +killed and wounded of not less than 394. At three the next morning, a +considerable force under General Worth dragged their howitzers by main +strength up the hill, and assaulted the palace. The enemy made a +desperate sortie, but were driven back in confusion, and the +fortification was soon taken by the Americans with a loss of only 7 +killed and 12 wounded. The next night, the Mexicans evacuated nearly all +their defenses in the lower part of the city. The Americans entered the +succeeding day, and by the severest fighting slowly worked their way +from street to street and square to square, until they reached the heart +of the town. General Ampudia saw that further resistance was useless, +and, on the morning of the 24th, proposed to evacuate the city on +condition that he might take with him the personel and materiel of his +army. This condition was refused by the American general. A personal +interview between the two commanders ensued, which resulted in a +capitulation of the city, allowing the Mexicans to retire with their +forces and a certain portion of their materiel beyond the line formed by +the pass of the Rinconada and San Fernando de Presas and engaging the +Americans not to pass beyond that line for eight weeks. Our entire loss +during the operations was 12 officers and 108 men killed, 31 officers +and 337 men wounded; that of the enemy is not known, but was much +larger. The terms accorded by the conqueror were liberal, and dictated +by a regard to the interests of peace; they crowned a gallant conquest +of arms with a more sublime victory of magnanimity.</p> + +<p>General Taylor could not long remain inactive, and with a bold design to +seek out the enemy and fight him on his own ground, he marched as far as +Victoria. But by the transfer of the seat of the war to Vera Cruz, he +was deprived of the greater portion of his army, and was obliged to fall +back on Monterey. Here he remained until February, when, having received +large reinforcements of volunteers, he marched at the head of 4,500 men, +to meet Santa Anna; and on the 20th, took up a position at <span class="smcap">Buena Vista</span>, +the great advantages of which had previously struck his notice. On the +22d, a Mexican army of 20,000 made its appearance, and Santa Anna +summoned the American commander to surrender. General Taylor, with +Spartan brevity, "declined acceding to the request."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> The next morning +the ten-hour's conflict began. We shall not attempt to rehearse the +history of that fearful battle: it is written forever on the memory of +the nation. The advance of the hostile host with muskets and swords, and +bayonets gleaming in the morning sun; the shouts of the marshaled +foemen; the opening roar of the artillery; the sheeted fire of the +musketry; the unchecked approach of the enemy; the outflanking by their +cavalry and its concentration in our rear; the immovable fortitude of +the Illinoians; the flight of the panic-stricken Indianians; the fall of +Lincoln; the wild shouts of Mexican triumph; the deadly and successful +charge upon the battery of O'Brien; the timely arrival of General Taylor +from Saltillo, and his composed survey, amid the iron hail, of the scene +of battle; the terrible onset of the Kentuckians and Illinoians; the +simultaneous opening of the batteries upon the Mexican masses in the +front and the rear; the impetuous but ill-fated charge of their cavalry +upon the rifles of Mississippi; the hemming-in of that cavalry, and the +errand of Lieutenant Crittenden to demand of Santa Anna its surrender; +the response of the confident chieftain by a similar demand; the +immortal rejoinder, "General Taylor never surrenders!" the escape of the +cavalry to a less exposed position; its baffled charge upon the Saltillo +train; its attack upon the hacienda, and its repulse by the horse of +Kentucky and Arkansas; the fall of Yell and Vaughan, the insolent +mission, under a white flag, to inquire what General Taylor was waiting +for; the curt reply "for General Santa Anna to surrender;" the junction, +by this ruse, of the Mexican cavalry in our rear with their main army; +the concentrated charge upon the American line; the overpowering of the +battery of O'Brien; the fearful crisis; the reinforcement of Captain +Bragg "by Major Bliss and I;" the "little more grape, Captain Bragg;" +the terrific carnage; the pause, the advance, the disorder, and the +retreat; the too eager pursuit of the Kentuckians and Illinoians down +the ravines; the sudden wheeling around of the retiring mass; the +desperate struggle, and the fall of Harden, McKee, and Clay; the +imminent destruction, and the rescuing artillery; the last breaking and +scattering of the Mexican squadrons and battalions; the joyous embrace +of Taylor and Wool; and Old Rough and Ready's "'Tis impossible to whip +us when we all pull together;" the arrival of cold nightfall; the +fireless, anxious, weary bivouac; the general's calm repose for another +day's work; the retreat of the enemy under the cover of darkness—are +not all these things familiar to every American schoolboy? The American +loss was 267 killed, 456 wounded, and 23 missing. The Mexicans left 500 +dead on the field, and the whole number of their killed and wounded was +probably near 2000. History tells not of a battle more bravely contested +and more nobly won: and well did the greatest warrior of the age, in +learning it exclaim, "General Taylor's a general indeed!"</p> + +<p>The victory of Buena Vista was the last and crowning achievement of +General Taylor's military life. His department in Mexico was entirely +reduced by it to subjection, and the subsequent operations of his army +were few and unimportant. At the close of the war he retired from +Mexico, carrying with him not only the adoration of his soldiers, but +even the respect and attachment of the very people he had vanquished. +Louisiana welcomed him with an ovation of the most fervent enthusiasm. +Thrilling eloquence from her most gifted sons, blessings, and smiles, +and wreaths from her fairest daughters, overwhelming huzzas from her +warm-hearted multitudes, triumphal arches, splendid processions, costly +banners, sumptuous festivals, and, in short, every mode of testifying +love and homage was employed; but modesty kept her wonted place in his +heart, and counsels of peace were, as ever, on his tongue. His prowess +in conflict was no more admirable than his self-forgetfulness in +triumph.</p> + +<p>His last great deed had hardly ceased to echo over the land, before the +people began to mark him out for their highest gift. He coveted no such +distinction, and constantly expressed a wish that Henry Clay might be +the chosen one. But the popular purpose grew stronger and stronger; and +General Taylor was named for the Presidency by one of the great +political parties of the country. During the political contest he +remained steadfastly true to himself. He neither stooped nor swerved, +neither sought nor shunned. He was borne by a triumphant majority to the +Presidential chair, and in a way that has impelled the most majestic +intellect of the nation to declare, that "no case ever happened in the +very best days of the Roman Republic, where any man found himself +clothed with the highest authority of the State, under circumstances +more repelling all suspicion of personal application, all suspicion of +pursuing any crooked path in politics, or all suspicion of having been +actuated by sinister views and purposes."</p> + +<p>The Inaugural Address of President Taylor was redolent with +old-fashioned patriotism, and breathed the very spirit of Washington. +And his subsequent administration, though beset by sectional strifes of +fearful violence, was conducted with wisdom, firmness, equanimity, and +moderation, on great national principles, and for great national ends. +Owing to his profound deference to the co-ordinate branches of +government, and his inability to either dictate or assume, his policy in +reference to some of the exciting questions of the day was not, during +the short period of his administration, fully proclaimed to Congress, +and pressed upon its adoption; but, though a southern man and a +slaveholder, he had deliberately and explicitly declared himself in +favor of the prompt and untrammeled admission of California into the +Union. He was taken away in the midst of the controversy, just as he was +about to submit his views upon the subject to the representatives of the +people. His last public appearance was in doing homage to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> Washington, +on the birthday of our liberties, and his last official act was adding a +new guaranty to the peace of the world, by signing the convention +recently concluded between our country and Great Britain respecting +Central America. Disease soon did its work. Confronting Death with the +fearless declaration, "<span class="smcap">I am prepared—I have endeavored to do my duty</span>," +the old hero succumbed—his first and last surrender.</p> + +<p>General Taylor married in early life a lady of Virginia, and was +connected either by affinity or blood with many of the most noted +families of the Old Dominion. His excellent consort, a son, and a +daughter, survive him. In person, General Taylor was about five feet +eight inches in height, and like most of our revolutionary generals, was +inclined to corpulency. His hair was gray, his brow ample, his eye +vivid, and his features plain, but full of firmness, intelligence, and +benevolence. His manners were easy and cordial, his dress, habits, and +tastes simple, and his style of living temperate in the extreme. His +speeches and his official papers, both military and civil, are alike +famed for their propriety of feeling and their chastity of diction. His +private life was unblemished, and the loveliness of his disposition made +him the idol of his own household and the favorite of all who knew him. +His martial courage was only equaled by his Spartan simplicity, his +unaffected modesty, his ever wakeful humanity, his inflexible integrity, +his uncompromising truthfulness, his lofty magnanimity, his unbounded +patriotism, and his unfaltering loyalty to duty. His mind was of an +original and solid cast, admirably balanced, and combining the +comprehensiveness of reason with the penetration of instinct. Its +controlling element was a strong, sterling sense, that of itself +rendered him a wise counselor and a safe leader. All of his personal +attributes and antecedents made him pre-eminently a man of the people, +and remarkably qualified him to be the stay and surety of his country in +this its day of danger.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A braver soldier never wielded sword—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A gentler heart did never sway in council.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But he is dead—and millions weep his loss.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><h4>[From "Hunting Adventures in South Africa."]</h4> +<h2><a name="ENCOUNTER_WITH_A_LIONESS" id="ENCOUNTER_WITH_A_LIONESS"></a>ENCOUNTER WITH A LIONESS.</h2> + + + + +<p>Suddenly I observed a number of vultures seated on the plain about a +quarter of a mile ahead of us, and close beside them stood a huge +lioness, consuming a blesblok which she had killed. She was assisted in +her repast by about a dozen jackals, which were feasting along with her +in the most friendly and confidential manner. Directing my followers' +attention to the spot, I remarked, "I see the lion;" to which they +replied, "Whar? whar? Yah! Almagtig! dat is he;" and instantly reining +in their steeds and wheeling about, they pressed their heels to their +horses' sides, and were preparing to betake themselves to flight. I +asked them what they were going to do. To which they answered, "We have +not yet placed caps on our rifles." This was true; but while this short +conversation was passing the lioness had observed us. Raising her full, +round face, she overhauled us for a few seconds, and then set off at a +smart canter toward a range of mountains some miles to the northward; +the whole troop of jackals also started off in another direction; there +was, therefore, no time to think of caps. The first move was to bring +her to bay, and not a second was to be lost. Spurring my good and lively +steed, and shouting to my men to follow, I flew across the plain, and, +being fortunately mounted on Colesberg, the flower of my stud, I gained +upon her at every stride. This was to me a joyful moment, and I at once +made up my mind that she or I must die.</p> + +<p>The lioness having had a long start of me, we went over a considerable +extent of ground before I came up with her. She was a large, full-grown +beast, and the bare and level nature of the plain added to her imposing +appearance. Finding that I gained upon her, she reduced her pace from a +canter to a trot, carrying her tail stuck out behind her, and slewed a +little to one side. I shouted loudly to her to halt, as I wished to +speak with her, upon which she suddenly pulled up, and sat on her +haunches like a dog, with her back toward me, not even deigning to look +round. She then appeared to say to herself, "Does this fellow know who +he is after?" Having thus sat for half a minute, as if involved in +thought, she sprang to her feet, and, fating about, stood looking at me +for a few seconds, moving her tail slowly from side to side, showing her +teeth, and growling fiercely. She next made a short run forward, making +a loud, rumbling noise like thunder. This she did to intimidate me; but, +finding that I did not flinch an inch, nor seem to heed her hostile +demonstrations, she quietly stretched out her massive arms, and lay down +on the grass. My Hottentots now coming up, we all three dismounted, and, +drawing our rifles from their holsters, we looked to see if the powder +was up in the nipples, and put on our caps. While this was doing the +lioness sat up, and showed evident symptoms of uneasiness. She looked +first at us, and then behind her, as if to see if the coast were clear; +after which she made a short run toward us, uttering her deep-drawn +murderous growls. Having secured the three horses to one another by +their rheims, we led them on as if we intended to pass her, in the hope +of obtaining a broadside. But this she carefully avoided to expose, +presenting only her full front. I had given Stofulus my Moore rifle, +with orders to shoot her if she should spring upon me, but on no account +to fire before me. Kleinboy was to stand ready to hand me my Purdey +rifle, in case the two-grooved Dixon should not prove sufficient. My men +as yet had been steady, but they were in a precious stew, their faces +having assumed a ghastly paleness, and I had a painful feeling that I +could place no reliance on them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now, then, for it, neck or nothing! She is within sixty yards of us, and +she keeps advancing. We turned the horses' tails to her. I knelt on one +side, and, taking a steady aim at her breast, let fly. The ball cracked +loudly on her tawny hide, and crippled her in the shoulder, upon which +she charged with an appalling roar, and in the twinkling of an eye she +was in the midst of us. At this moment Stofolus's rifle exploded in his +hand, and Kleinboy, whom I had ordered to stand ready by me, danced +about like a duck in a gale of wind. The lioness sprang upon Colesberg, +and fearfully lacerated his ribs and haunches with her horrid teeth and +claws; the worst wound was on his haunch, which exhibited a sickening, +yawning gash, more than twelve inches long, almost laying bare the very +bone. I was very cool and steady, and did not feel in the least degree +nervous, having fortunately great confidence in my own shooting; but I +must confess, when the whole affair was over, I felt that it was a very +awful situation, and attended with extreme peril, as I had no friend +with me on whom I could rely.</p> + +<p>When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I stood out from the horses, ready +with my second barrel for the first chance she should give me of a clear +shot. This she quickly did; for, seemingly satisfied with the revenge +she had now taken, she quitted Colesberg, and, slewing her tail to one +side, trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking one step to +the left. I pitched my rifle to my shoulder, and in another second the +lioness was stretched on the plain a lifeless corpse. In the struggles +of death she half turned on her back, and stretched her neck and fore +arms convulsively, when she fell back to her former position; her mighty +arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw fell, blood streamed from +her mouth, and she expired. At the moment I fired my second shot, +Stofolus, who hardly knew whether he was alive or dead, allowed the +three horses to escape. These galloped frantically across the plain, on +which he and Kleinboy instantly started after them, leaving me standing +alone and unarmed within a few paces of the lioness, which they, from +their anxiety to be out of the way, evidently considered quite capable +of doing further mischief.</p> + +<p>Such is ever the case with these worthies, and with nearly all the +natives of South Africa. No reliance can be placed on them. They will to +a certainty forsake their master in the most dastardly manner in the +hour of peril, and leave him in the lurch. A stranger, however, hearing +these fellows recounting their own gallant adventures, when sitting in +the evening along with their comrades round a blazing fire, or under the +influence of their adored "Cape smoke" or native brandy, might fancy +them to be the bravest of the brave. Having skinned the lioness and cut +off her head, we placed her trophies upon Beauty and held for camp. +Before we had proceeded a hundred yards from the carcass, upward of +sixty vultures, whom the lioness had often fed were feasting on her +remains.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><h4>[From Dickens's "Household Words."]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_YOUNG_ADVOCATE" id="THE_YOUNG_ADVOCATE"></a>THE YOUNG ADVOCATE.</h2> + + + + +<p>Antoine de Chaulieu was the son of a poor gentleman of Normandy, with a +long genealogy, a short rent-roll, and a large family. Jacques Rollet +was the son of a brewer, who did not know who his grandfather was; but +he had a long purse and only two children. As these youths flourished in +the early days of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and were near +neighbors, they naturally hated each other. Their enmity commenced at +school, where the delicate and refined De Chaulieu being the only +gentilhomme among the scholars, was the favorite of the master (who was +a bit of an aristocrat in his heart) although he was about the worst +dressed boy in the establishment, and never had a son to spend; while +Jacques Rollet, sturdy and rough, with smart clothes and plenty of +money, got flogged six days in the week, ostensibly for being stupid and +not learning his lessons—which, indeed, he did not—but, in reality, +for constantly quarreling with and insulting De Chaulieu, who had not +strength to cope with him. When they left the academy, the feud +continued in all its vigor, and was fostered by a thousand little +circumstances arising out of the state of the times, till a separation +ensued in consequence of an aunt of Antoine de Chaulieu's undertaking +the expense of sending him to Paris to study the law, and of maintaining +him there during the necessary period.</p> + +<p>With the progress of events came some degree of reaction in favor of +birth and nobility, and then Antoine, who had passed for the bar, began +to hold up his head and endeavored to push his fortunes; but fate seemed +against him. He felt certain that if he possessed any gift in the world +it was that of eloquence, but he could get no cause to plead; and his +aunt dying inopportunely, first his resources failed, and then his +health. He had no sooner returned to his home, than, to complicate his +difficulties completely, he fell in love with Mademoiselle Natalie de +Bellefonds, who had just returned from Paris, where she had been +completing her education. To expatiate on the perfections of +Mademoiselle Natalie, would be a waste of ink and paper; it is +sufficient to say that she really was a very charming girl, with a +fortune which, though not large, would have been a most desirable +acquisition to De Chaulieu, who had nothing. Neither was the fair +Natalie indisposed to listen to his addresses; but her father could not +be expected to countenance the suit of a gentleman, however well-born, +who had not a ten-sous piece in the world, and whose prospects were a +blank.</p> + +<p>While the ambitions and love-sick young barrister was thus pining in +unwelcome obscurity, his old acquaintance; Jacques Rollet, had been +acquiring an undesirable notoriety. There was nothing really bad in +Jacques' disposition, but having been bred up a democrat, with a hatred +of the nobility, he could not easily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> accommodate his rough humor to +treat them with civility when it was no longer safe to insult them. The +liberties he allowed himself whenever circumstances brought him into +contact with the higher classes of society, had led him into many +scrapes, out of which his father's money had one way or another released +him; but that source of safety had now failed. Old Rollet having been +too busy with the affairs of the nation to attend to his business, had +died insolvent, leaving his son with nothing but his own wits to help +him out of future difficulties, and it was not long before their +exercise was called for. Claudine Rollet, his sister, who was a very +pretty girl, had attracted the attention of Mademoiselle de Bellefonds' +brother, Alphonso; and as he paid her more attention than from such a +quarter was agreeable to Jacques, the young men had had more than one +quarrel on the subject, on which occasions they had each, +characteristically, given vent to their enmity, the one in contemptuous +monosyllables, and the other in a volley of insulting words. But +Claudine had another lover more nearly of her own condition of life; +this was Claperon, the deputy governor of the Rouen jail, with whom she +had made acquaintance during one or two compulsory visits paid by her +brother to that functionary; but Claudine, who was a bit of a coquette, +though she did not altogether reject his suit, gave him little +encouragement, so that betwixt hopes, and fears, and doubts, and +jealousies, poor Claperon led a very uneasy kind of life.</p> + +<p>Affairs had been for some time in this position, when, one fine morning, +Alphonse de Bellefonds was not to be found in his chamber when his +servant went to call him; neither had his bed been slept in. He had been +observed to go out rather late on the preceding evening, but whether or +not he had returned, nobody could tell. He had not appeared at supper, +but that was too ordinary an event to awaken suspicion; and little alarm +was excited till several hours had elapsed, when inquiries were +instituted and a search commenced, which terminated in the discovery of +his body, a good deal mangled, lying at the bottom of a pond which had +belonged to the old brewery. Before any investigations had been made, +every person had jumped to the conclusion that the young man had been +murdered, and that Jacques Rollet was the assassin. There was a strong +presumption in favor of that opinion, which further perquisitions tended +to confirm. Only the day before, Jacques had been heard to threaten +Mons. de Bellefonds with speedy vengeance. On the fatal evening, +Alphonse and Claudine had been seen together in the neighborhood of the +now dismantled brewery; and as Jacques, betwixt poverty and democracy, +was in bad odor with the prudent and respectable part of society, it was +not easy for him to bring witnesses to character, or prove an +unexceptionable alibi. As for the Bellefonds and De Chaulieus, and the +aristocracy in general, they entertained no doubt of his guilt, and, +finally, the magistrate; coming to the same opinion, Jacques Rollet was +committed for trial, and as a testimony of good will. Antoine de +Chaulieu was selected by the injured family to conduct the prosecution.</p> + +<p>Here, at last, was the opportunity he had sighed for! So interesting a +case, too, furnishing such ample occasion for passion, pathos, +indignation! And how eminently fortunate that the speech which he set +himself with ardor to prepare, would be delivered in the presence of the +father and brother of his mistress, and, perhaps, of the lady herself! +The evidence against Jacques, it is true, was altogether presumptive; +there was no proof whatever that he had committed the crime; and for his +own part, he stoutly denied it. But Antoine de Chaulieu entertained no +doubt of his guilt, and his speech was certainly well calculated to +carry that conviction into the bosom of others. It was of the highest +importance to his own reputation that he should procure a verdict, and +he confidently assured the afflicted and enraged family of the victim +that their vengeance should be satisfied. Under these circumstances +could any thing be more unwelcome than a piece of intelligence that was +privately conveyed to him late on the evening before the trial was to +come on, which tended strongly to exculpate the prisoner, without +indicating any other person as the criminal. Here was an opportunity +lost. The first step of the ladder on which he was to rise to fame, +fortune, and a wife, was slipping from under his feet.</p> + +<p>Of course, so interesting a trial was anticipated with great eagerness +by the public, and the court was crowded with all the beauty and fashion +of Rouen. Though Jacques Rollet persisted in asserting his innocence, +founding his defense chiefly on circumstances which were strongly +corroborated by the information that had reached De Chaulieu the +preceding evening—he was convicted.</p> + +<p>In spite of the very strong doubts he privately entertained respecting +the justice of the verdict, even De Chaulieu himself, in the first flush +of success, amid a crowd of congratulating friends, and the approving +smiles of his mistress, felt gratified and happy: his speech had, for +the time being, not only convinced others, but himself; warmed with his +own eloquence, he believed what he said. But when the glow was over, and +he found himself alone, he did not feel so comfortable. A latent doubt +of Rollet's guilt now burst strongly on his mind, and he felt that the +blood of the innocent would be on his head. It is true there was yet +time to save the life of the prisoner, but to admit Jacques innocent, +was to take the glory out of his own speech, and turn the sting of his +argument against himself. Besides, if he produced the witness who had +secretly given him the information, he should be self-condemned, for he +could not conceal that he had been aware of the circumstance before the +trial.</p> + +<p>Matters having gone so far, therefore, it was necessary that Jacques +Rollet should die; so the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> affair took its course; and early one morning +the guillotine was erected in the court-yard of the jail, three +criminals ascended the scaffold, and three heads fell into the basket, +which were presently afterward, with the trunks that had been attached +to them, buried in a corner of the cemetery.</p> + +<p>Antoine de Chaulieu was now fairly started in his career, and his +success was as rapid as the first step toward it had been tardy. He took +a pretty apartment in the Hôtel Marbœuf, Rue Grange-Batelière, and in +a short time was looked upon as one of the most rising young advocates +in Paris. His success in one line brought him success in another; he was +soon a favorite in society, and an object of interest to speculating +mothers; but his affections still adhered to his old love Natalie de +Bellefonds, whose family now gave their assent to the match—at least, +prospectively—a circumstance which furnished such an additional +incentive to his exertions, that in about two years from the date of his +first brilliant speech, he was in a sufficiently flourishing condition +to offer the young lady a suitable home. In anticipation of the happy +event, he engaged and furnished a suite of apartments in the Rue du +Helder; and as it was necessary that the bride should come to Paris to +provide her trousseau, it was agreed that the wedding should take place +there, instead of at Bellefonds, as had been first projected; an +arrangement the more desirable, that a press of business rendered Mons. +de Chaulieu's absence from Paris inconvenient.</p> + +<p>Brides and bridegrooms in France, except of the very high classes, are +not much in the habit of making those honeymoon excursions so universal +in this country. A day spent in visiting Versailles, or St. Cloud, or +even the public places of the city, is generally all that precedes the +settling down into the habits of daily life. In the present instance St. +Denis was selected, from the circumstance of Natalie's having a younger +sister at school there; and also because she had a particular desire to +see the Abbey.</p> + +<p>The wedding was to take place on a Thursday; and on the Wednesday +evening, having spent some hours most agreeably with Natalie, Antoine de +Chaulieu returned to spend his last night in his bachelor apartments. +His wardrobe and other small possessions, had already been packed up and +sent to his future home; and there was nothing left in his room now, but +his new wedding suit, which he inspected with considerable satisfaction +before he undressed and lay down to sleep. Sleep, however, was somewhat +slow to visit him; and the clock had struck <i>one</i>, before he closed his +eyes. When he opened them again it was broad daylight; and his first +thought was, had he overslept himself? He sat up in bed to look at the +clock which was exactly opposite, and as he did so, in the large mirror +over the fire-place, he perceived a figure standing behind him. As the +dilated eyes met his own, he saw it was the face of Jacques Rollet. +Overcome with horror he sunk back on his pillow, and it was some +minutes before he ventured to look again in that direction; when he did +so, the figure had disappeared.</p> + +<p>The sudden revulsion of feeling such a vision was calculated to occasion +in a man elate with joy, may be conceived! For some time after the death +of his former foe, he had been visited by not unfrequent twinges of +conscience; but of late, borne along by success, and the hurry of +Parisian life, these unpleasant remembrancers had grown rarer, till at +length they had faded away altogether. Nothing had been further from his +thoughts than Jacques Rollet, when he closed his eyes on the preceding +night, nor when he opened them to that sun which was to shine on what he +expected to be the happiest day of his life! Where were the high-strung +nerves now? The elastic frame? The bounding heart?</p> + +<p>Heavily and slowly he arose from his bed, for it was time to do so; and +with a trembling hand and quivering knees, he went through the processes +of the toilet, gashing his cheek with the razor, and spilling the water +over his well-polished boots. When he was dressed, scarcely venturing to +cast a glance in the mirror as he passed it, he quitted the room and +descended the stairs, taking the key of the door with him for the +purpose of leaving it with the porter; the man, however, being absent, +he laid it on the table in his lodge, and with a relaxed and languid +step proceeded on his way to the church, where presently arrived the +fair Natalie and her friends. How difficult it was now to look happy, +with that pallid face and extinguished eye!</p> + +<p>"How pale you are! Has any thing happened? You are surely ill?" were the +exclamations that met him on all sides. He tried to carry it off as well +as he could, but felt that the movements he would have wished to appear +alert, were only convulsive; and that the smiles with which he attempted +to relax his features, were but distorted grimaces. However, the church +was not the place for further inquiries; and while Natalie gently +pressed his hand in token of sympathy, they advanced to the altar, and +the ceremony was performed; after which they stepped into the carriage +waiting at the door, and drove to the apartments of Madme. de +Bellefonds, where an elegant <i>déjeuner</i> was prepared.</p> + +<p>"What ails you, my dear husband?" inquired Natalie, as soon as they were +alone.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, love," he replied; "nothing, I assure you, but a restless +night and a little over-work, in order that I might have to-day free to +enjoy my happiness!"</p> + +<p>"Are you quite Sure? Is there nothing else?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, indeed; and pray don't take notice of it, it only makes me +worse!"</p> + +<p>Natalie was not deceived, but she saw that what he said was true; notice +made him worse; so she contented herself with observing him quietly, and +saying nothing; but as he <i>felt</i> she was observing him, she might almost +better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> have spoken; words are often less embarrassing things than too +curious eyes.</p> + +<p>When they reached Madame de Bellefonds' he had the same sort of +questioning and scrutiny to undergo, till he grew quite impatient under +it, and betrayed a degree of temper altogether unusual with him. Then +every body looked astonished; some whispered their remarks, and others +expressed them by their wondering eyes, till his brow knit, and his +pallid cheeks became flushed with anger. Neither could he divert +attention by eating; his parched mouth would not allow him to swallow +any thing but liquids, of which, however, he indulged in copious +libations; and it was an exceeding relief to him when the carriage, +which was to convey them to St. Denis, being announced, furnished an +excuse for hastily leaving the table. Looking at his watch, he declared +it was late; and Natalie, who saw how eager he was to be gone, threw her +shawl over her shoulders, and bidding her friends <i>good morning</i>, they +hurried away.</p> + +<p>It was a fine sunny day in June; and as they drove along the crowded +boulevards, and through the Porte St. Denis, the young bride and +bridegroom, to avoid each other's eyes, affected to be gazing out of the +windows; but when they reached that part of the road where there was +nothing but trees on each side, they felt it necessary to draw in their +heads, and make an attempt at conversation. De Chaulieu put his arm +round his wife's waist, and tried to rouse himself from his depression; +but it had by this time so reacted upon her, that she could not respond +to his efforts, and thus the conversation languished, till both felt +glad when they reached their destination, which would at all events +furnish them something to talk about.</p> + +<p>Having quitted the carriage, and ordered a dinner at the Hôtel de +l'Abbaye, the young couple proceeded to visit Mademoiselle Hortense de +Bellefonds, who was overjoyed to see her sister and new brother-in-law, +and doubly so when she found that they had obtained permission to take +her out to spend the afternoon with them. As there is little to be seen +at St. Denis but the Abbey, on quitting that part of it devoted to +education, they proceeded to visit the church, with its various objects +of interest; and as De Chaulieu's thoughts were now forced into another +direction, his cheerfulness began insensibly to return. Natalie looked +so beautiful, too, and the affection betwixt the two young sisters was +so pleasant to behold! And they spent a couple of hours wandering about +with Hortense, who was almost as well informed as the Suisse, till the +brazen doors were open which admitted them to the royal vault. +Satisfied, at length, with what they had seen, they began to think of +returning to the inn, the more especially as De Chaulieu, who had not +eaten a morsel of food since the previous evening, owned to being +hungry; so they directed their steps to the door, lingering here and +there as they went, to inspect a monument or a painting, when, happening +to turn his head aside to see if his wife, who had stopped to take a +last look at the tomb of King Dagobert, was following, he beheld with +horror the face of Jacques Rollett appearing from behind a column! At +the same instant, his wife joined him, and took his arm, inquiring if he +was not very much delighted with what he had seen He attempted to say +yes, but the word would not be forced out; and staggering out of the +door, he alleged that a sudden faintness had overcome him.</p> + +<p>They conducted him to the Hôtel, but Natalie now became seriously +alarmed; and well she might. His complexion looked ghastly, his limbs +shook, and his features bore an expression of indiscribable horror and +anguish. What could be the meaning of so extraordinary a change in the +gay, witly, prosperous De Chaulieu, who, till that morning, seemed not +to have a care in the world? For, plead illness as he might, she felt +certain, from the expression of his features, that his sufferings were +not of the body but of the mind; and, unable to imagine any reason for +such extraordinary manifestations, of which she had never before seen a +symptom, but a sudden aversion to herself, and regret for the step he +had taken, her pride took the alarm, and, concealing the distress, she +really felt, she began to assume a haughty and reserved manner toward +him, which he naturally interpreted into an evidence of anger and +contempt. The dinner was placed upon the table, but De Chaulieu's +appetite, of which he had lately boasted, was quite gone, nor was his +wife better able to eat. The young sister alone did justice to the +repast; but although the bridegroom could not eat, he could swallow +Champagne in such copious draughts, that ere long the terror and remorse +that the apparition of Jacques Rollet had awakened in his breast were +drowned in intoxication. Amazed and indignant, poor Natalie sat silently +observing this elect of her heart, till overcome with disappointment and +grief, she quitted the room with her sister, and retired to another +apartment, where she gave free vent to her feelings in tears.</p> + +<p>After passing a couple of hours in confidences and lamentations, they +recollected that the hours of liberty granted, as an especial favor, to +Mademoiselle Hortense, had expired: but ashamed to exhibit her husband +in his present condition to the eyes of strangers, Natalie prepared to +re-conduct her to the <i>Maison Royale</i> herself. Looking into the +dining-room as they passed, they saw De Chaulieu lying on a sofa fast +asleep, in which state he continued when his wife returned. At length, +however, the driver of their carriage begged to know if Monsieur and +Madame were ready to return to Paris, and it became necessary to arouse +him. The transitory effects of the Champagne had now subsided; but when +De Chaulieu recollected what had happened, nothing could exceed his +shame and mortification. So engrossing indeed were these sensations that +they quite overpowered his previous ones, and, in his present vexation, +he, for the moment, forgot his fears. He knelt at his wife's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> feet, +begged her pardon a thousand times, swore that he adored her, and +declared that the illness and the effect of the wine had been purely the +consequences of fasting and over-work. It was not the easiest thing in +the world to reassure a woman whose pride, affection, and taste, had +been so severely wounded; but Natalie tried to believe, or to appear to +do so, and a sort of reconciliation ensued, not quite sincere on the +part of the wife, and very humbling on the part of the husband. Under +these circumstances it was impossible that he should recover his spirits +or facility of manner; his gayety was forced, his tenderness +constrained; his heart was heavy within him; and ever and anon the +source whence all this disappointment and woe had sprung would recur to +his perplexed and tortured mind.</p> + +<p>Thus mutually pained and distrustful, they returned to Paris, which they +reached about nine o'clock. In spite of her depression, Natalie, who had +not seen her new apartments, felt some curiosity about them, while De +Chaulieu anticipated a triumph in exhibiting the elegant home he had +prepared for her. With some alacrity, therefore, they stepped out of the +carriage, the gates of the Hôtel were thrown open, the <i>concierge</i> rang +the bell which announced to the servants that their master and mistress +had arrived, and while these domestics appeared above, holding lights +over the balusters, Natalie, followed by her husband, ascended the +stairs. But when they reached the landing-place of the first flight, +they saw the figure of a man standing in a corner as if to make way for +them; the flash from above fell upon his face, and again Antoine de +Chaulieu recognized the feature of Jacques Rollet!</p> + +<p>From the circumstance of his wife's preceding him, the figure was not +observed by De Chaulieu till he was lifting his foot to place it on the +top stair: the sudden shock caused him to miss the step, and, without +uttering a sound, he fell back, and never stopped till he reached the +stones at the bottom. The screams of Natalie brought the concierge from +below and the maids from above, and an attempt was made to raise the +unfortunate man from the ground; but with cries of anguish he besought +them to desist.</p> + +<p>"Let me," he said, "die here! What a fearful vengeance is thine! Oh, +Natalie, Natalie!" he exclaimed to his wife, who was kneeling beside +him, "to win fame, and fortune, and yourself, I committed a dreadful +crime! With lying words I argued away the life of a fellow-creature, +whom, while I uttered them, I half believed to be innocent; and now, +when I have attained all I desired, and reached the summit of my hopes, +the Almighty has sent him back upon the earth to blast me with the +sight. Three times this day—three times this day! Again! again!"—and, +as he spoke, his wild and dilated eyes fixed themselves on one of the +individuals that surrounded him.</p> + +<p>"He is delirious," said they.</p> + +<p>"No," said the stranger! "What he says is true enough—at least in +part;" and bending over the expiring man, he added, "May Heaven forgive +you, Antoine de Chaulieu! I was not executed; one who well knew my +innocence saved my life. I may name him, for he is beyond the reach of +the law now—it was Claperon, the jailor, who loved Claudine, and had +himself killed Alphonse de Bellefonds from jealousy. An unfortunate +wretch had been several years in the jail for a murder committed during +the frenzy of a fit of insanity. Long confinement had reduced him to +idiocy. To save my life Claperon substituted the senseless being for me, +on the scaffold, and he was executed in my stead. He has quitted the +country, and I have been a vagabond on the face of the earth ever since +that time. At length I obtained, through the assistance of my sister, +the situation of concierge in the Hôtel Marbœuf, in the Rue +Grange-Batelière. I entered on my new place yesterday evening, and was +desired to awaken the gentleman on the third floor at seven o'clock. +When I entered the room to do so, you were asleep, but before I had time +to speak you awoke, and I recognized your features in the glass. Knowing +that I could not vindicate my innocence if you chose to seize me, I +fled, and seeing an omnibus starting for St. Denis, I got on it with a +vague idea of getting on to Calais, and crossing the Channel to England. +But having only a franc or two in my pocket, or indeed in the world, I +did not know how to procure the means of going forward; and while I was +lounging about the place, forming first one plan and then another, I saw +you in the church, and concluding you were in pursuit of me, I thought +the best way of eluding your vigilance was to make my way back to Paris +as fast as I could; so I set off instantly, and walked all the way; but +having no money to pay my night's lodging, I came here to borrow a +couple of livres of my sister Claudine, who lives in the fifth story."</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the dying man; "that sin is off my soul! +Natalie, dear wife, farewell! Forgive! forgive all!"</p> + +<p>These were the last words he uttered; the priest, who had been summoned +in haste, held up the cross before his failing sight; a few strong +convulsions shook the poor bruised and mangled frame; and then all was +still.</p> + +<p>And thus ended the Young Advocate's Wedding Day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From the Dublin University Magazine.]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_REVOLUTIONISM_OF_MIRABEAU" id="THE_REVOLUTIONISM_OF_MIRABEAU"></a>THE REVOLUTIONISM OF MIRABEAU.</h2> + + + +<p>The moral is evolved out of the physical, and the extraordinary in +animal structure has a kinship to the portentous in human action.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mirabeau</span>, the infamous, born in an age, of a family, in a rank the most +vicious in the annals of vice, of parents whose depravity had +contaminated even their blood, was ushered with infinite difficulty into +the breathing scene he was so much to trouble, and offered, at the +outset of his disorderly career, misfortune and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> singularity in a +twisted fool, a tied tongue, and two molar teeth.</p> + +<p>Maltreated by fortune, which, at the age of three, turned him by +disease into the ugliest of children—"a tiger marked by the +small-pox"—caressed and neglected by his dissolute mother, disowned and +persecuted as a spurious graft in his house and home by the celebrated +"Economist," his father—his very childhood presaged the disorders of +his youth and manhood; and his father, mysteriously reverting to early +crimes and calamities as the blight of his life, made it matter of +complaint that Honoré Gabriel, as a boy, had more cleverness "than all +the devils in h—l," and seemed destined from his childhood "to disturb +the monarchy, as a second Cardinal de Retz."</p> + +<p>He was indeed <i>born</i> a Revolutionist; and if he had not found the +elements of a <i>bouleversement</i>, was competent to have created them. But +just as nature gave the instinct, fortune supplied the breeding and the +occasion. The heir, pupil, find victim of a second family of Atreus and +Thyestes, the child was <i>trained</i> into demoralization, vicissitude, and +daring. Believed himself to have been the favorite lover of the most +lovely of his sisters, he describes her as the "Atrocious +memoir-writer," a "Messalina, boasting of the purity of her morals, and +an absconding wife, bragging of her love for her husband." The Vicomte, +his brother, "would have been a <i>roué</i> and a wit," he tells us, "in any +family but his own," and <i>was</i>, of a dissolute noblesse, its most +dissolute member. His mother, driven with contumely from her home and +the bosom of her family, under accusations the most revolting a wife may +hear from one who is her husband and a father, addressed the world in +public recriminations for her persecutor, not less disgusting or +condemnatory. The son himself, the most infamous man of his time, +completes the picture in the boast he made to the National Assembly, +that among the tragic woes of his family he had been the witness of +fifty-four lettres-de-cachet, seventeen of them on his own account!</p> + +<p>As in Eastern climates the abundance of degenerate man will, at some +spot and moment, reach a point where it breeds the plague which +diminishes by depopulation the evil it can not remove by more merciful +agencies, so would it seem that in France the demoralization which +necessitated a revolution, concentrating itself in one family, produced +the man who was to begin the catastrophe.</p> + +<p>At seventeen, leaving a military academy, he entered the army as a +sub-lieutenant, knowing, as he tells us, a little Latin, and no Greek, +but possessing, with very tolerable acquirements in the mathematics, a +fair share of the scattered erudition won by readings more desultory +than diligent.</p> + +<p>Presented at court, admitted to the rare aristocratic privilege of +riding in the king's carriages at Versailles, laughed at as the Princess +Elizabeth's living specimen of inoculation, the incipient courtier and +embryo revolutionist was awakened from his delightful vision to find +himself suddenly transferred from his regal residence and gayeties, to +the sombre solitude of a country jail. He had been guilty of a +passionate attachment to a young lady of disproportionate expectations.</p> + +<p>The young victim of parental wrong, thus severely taught that the +splendors of a court were but a veneer under which lay the terrible +springs of a wayward tyranny, killed time in brooding over the ideas and +studies which subsequently formed his "<i>Essai</i>" no less than his +character—"<i>sur le despotisme</i>." But before completing the work, the +father's monomania had been temporarily mitigated by the vengeance of a +year's imprisonment; and the son, instead of being sent to Surinam, the +Dutch Sierra Leone of that day, was graciously permitted, under the +<i>bourgeois</i> name of "Buffiere," to enter as a gentleman volunteer the +French army that was about to crush the Corsicans in their noble +struggle against Genoese oppression.</p> + +<p>In this liberticidal war, the liberty-loving Mirabeau performed his +first manly act, won his first public distinction, and initiated that +series of paradox, and moral revolutionism, that was hence to follow him +as lover, <i>litterateur</i>, and politician, to the grave. As his sword was +against Corsica and freedom, his pen was for them. He wrote over the +ruins of both a boyish philippic, admired by his victims, and burnt by +his father!</p> + +<p>And while the brain that was to rule France as a tribune-king, was thus +evolving its idle progeny, the womb of a Corsican woman near him was +travailing with him who was to be Napoleon! At the instant France, by +the sword of her future liberator, was mowing down the new-born +liberties of Corsica—Corsica was breathing the breath of life into a +child, whose sword was to cleave down the fresh-won freedom of France! +As a Cæsar and a Marius sprung from the blood of the Gracchi, there +would have been no Corsican exterminator for France, had there been no +French exterminators for Corsica.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> There are surely times when fate +plays with mortals, making of the murder of a generation or the +revolution of an empire a nursery game of coincidences!</p> + +<p>Of the twenty years that followed, bringing Mirabeau to the footsteps of +the revolution, and within two years of his death, it was the odd fate +of this gay and gifted noble, guilty of no offense against the state, +nor in a legal sense against society, to pass more than the moiety of +his time in the sad rôle of a state prisoner; and the main incidents in +the unhappy sequence of wrong and suffering, the inevitable but +unrecognized logic of Providence, were briefly, and in succession, a +profitless marriage with the most distinguished heiress of his province, +carried off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> from twenty more eligible rivals by the superior strategy +of seduction and defamation, pecuniary extravagance, dissipation, debts, +sequestration of property, marital separation, successive imprisonments +by paternal intervention, deadly hate with the father, permanent +alienation from his adulterous wife and only child, licentious +connection with a friend's wife, with whom he abandoned his country, +exile in Switzerland, Holland, and England, successive litigations +self-conducted, a ministerial spyship in Prussia, and a career more or +less stormy, as a <i>litterateur</i>, in France.</p> + +<p>Entombed in one of the horrid dungeons of Vincennes, solitary, hopeless, +almost without a sympathy, though in the very spring-tide of his rich +youth and activity, the angel of consolation, never far from us in our +darkest hour, came down, and in the genial guise of literature, visited +in his dungeon this man of infamies and suffering. It must, however, be +confessed against him that, maddened by the severity of a despotism +without appeal, in the wrong—and from that hand, too, whence he might +fairly have hoped a kinder gift, even the wholesomeness of books became +poisoned under his diseased digestion, and it became his wretched +pleasure through months to avenge himself on the virtue in whose injured +name he suffered, by licentious compilations, in which the man +degenerates into the satyr, and the distinctions of right and decency +are lost in the beastly excesses of a maniac imagination.</p> + +<p>But so morbid a vice in a mind like his can be protected by no madness +of the passions or vindictiveness of misanthropy from the healing +influence of time; and if the leisure of his tedious incarcerations gave +us four or five books in the worst of services, they gave us also those +extensive studies of history and its philosophy to which we owe, among +much else that is great in literature or in event, the three works on +"Despotism," "State Prisons," and "Lettres-de-Cachet."</p> + +<p>To our present purpose it would be of little use to indulge in any +lengthened analysis or literary estimate of these performances. +Gratifying his need of money, his love of fame, and, above all, a +vengeance warmly nursed, which even virtue can not censure, their +publication formed, probably, the happiest incidents of his life. The +first published in his twenty-fifth year, bears all the characteristics +of the young man of genius, roughened, no less than strengthened by the +asperities of the experience out of whose ireful plenitude he writes. +Rough and disorderly in arrangement, it is lofty, striking, eloquent in +style—cogent, daring, powerful in matter.</p> + +<p>The last, the result of his long, final imprisonment, and published in +his thirty-first year, possesses similar attributes, aggrandized, or +improved. A great work, involving an inquiry into the first principles +of government, and, therefore, of infinite practical utility in the +career reserved for him, it wants too obviously the elevation of a +Montesquieu, the philosophy of a Bolingbroke, or the comprehensive +profundity of a Burke. It is a work of genius, but by a partisan, an +advocate, a man of powerful emotion and vivid conception, having a +strong will, a high purpose, and an enduring conviction. With a great, +sometimes an inapt parade of erudition, and an occasional loss of time +in inflated and declamatory commonplaces, there is yet, as a general +rule, work, rather than literature, in his sentences, and the just, the +practical, the statesman-like are the dominating qualities. We must not +look for the artist in Mirabeau as a writer: he is above that: nor, +whatever the range of thought we may justly concede him, may we, +therefore, expect the sublime; he is below that. With the eloquence of +an impassioned imagination, united to the unornamented vigor of a ready, +versatile, and comprehensive reason, he reminds one of some colossal +engine in forceful, though not always in graceful action.</p> + +<p>In Holland, occupied in literature and the society of literary men, and +subsequently in England, in commerce with Franklin, Dr. Price, Samuel +Romilly, and Wilkes—among whom be it said, <i>en passant</i>, he acquired +the reputation of an habitual liar—a thousand circumstances must have +presented themselves, not more in his own studies than in the freedom, +seriousness, and activity he saw around him, to prepare and stimulate +his ambition for the lofty career of political action that awaited him +at home. In truth, if we may judge from the letters written during his +English residence, or the biographical fragments that occur in his other +correspondence, he seems, beyond his personal indigence, to have had no +other enduring interest but that of public affairs. His mind broods over +the tragic epochs of English history with a fascinating and curious +sympathy: there is an evident faith in a coming drama of popular action +for France, in which he is to play a leading part—a faith so early +ripened that, in 1782, meeting at Neufchatel certain State Deputies of +Geneva, he based on the inevitable meeting of the States General the +prediction, or rather the promise, that he would become a deputy, and in +that character restore their country to freedom.</p> + +<p>Returning to Paris at a moment when the increasing and unmanageable +<i>deficit</i> brought national bankruptcy and confusion to the very door of +the state, a course of angry and mercenary pamphleteering on Finance, +while connecting him with discontented men of wealth and influence, +willing, jointly with the police, to hire or use his ready pen, forced +on him education in another important, if unattractive, department of +the great question of the times.</p> + +<p>His ministerial spyship in Prussia, which, subsequently divulged by his +own audacious publication of his secret correspondence, won from M. de +Montesquieu the remark, that "the infamy of the person might be +estimated by the infamy of the thing," was not without its compensations +in the political experience he extracted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> from it. It brought before him +the main interests of European diplomacy: won him access to the +principal intrigues and intriguers of a Court in transitionship, by the +death of Frederick, from eccentric greatness to orderly mediocrity; +habituated him to ministerial correspondence and reports, which, if +disgustingly mean, were, at all events, systematic and prescient, and +secured him—I could wish to say honestly—those historic and +statistical <i>data</i> which, published in his elaborate work on the +Prussian monarchy, countenanced some serious claims to statesmanship.</p> + +<p>Misfortune, passion, solitude, suffering, travel, extraordinary +adventures, extensive readings, varied studies, innumerable writings +thus admirably endowing his mind, so disposed, too, by nature, for the +daring and stormy struggles of the revolution, the only resource that +could surely be wanting to so enormous a compound of intellectual +strength, I mean the power of oratory, he was fated to acquire in his +lengthened trials for the recovery of his wife and legal rights.</p> + +<p>Opposed by Alps of difficulties, the moral greater than the legal, for +the suits ploughed deeply into all the crimes or errors that had +dishonored his career, and would necessarily turn up masses of +documentary evidence, which on no less authority than that of his +father, must carry the tale of his infamy to every eye; yet his audacity +dared, as his genius surmounted, every disadvantage, and after fixing +the admiration of a province—to him a sufficient compensation—by the +ingenuity, the power, and the extraordinary resources of his eloquence +in a path so new to him, he succeeded in re-establishing his civil +rights, and but failed in the second, and, perhaps, less important suit, +by the accident of a technicality.</p> + +<p>Passing by his double election as Deputy, at Aix and Marseilles, marked +by excitement, insurrection and all the stirring incidents that, in a +moment of great public agitation, might be expected to accompany the +<i>début</i> of a daring and accomplished demagogue, we are now brought to +the greatest epoch of France, and, therefore, of Mirabeau—the meeting +of the States General; and the observation is naturally suggested that, +if this extraordinary succession of circumstances, marvelous as +<i>incidents</i>, but still more marvelous as <i>coincidents</i>, had not +specially moulded the man for his work, it might well be doubted that +the French revolution could have happened, or at all events, in such +gigantic proportions. Mirabeau's life was, as we have seen, a pupilage, +as it is now to become a mastership, in revolution. His Saturn of a +father had trained him, from his youth upward, into the executionership +of his order; and Heaven itself, as if seconding some such inscrutable +design, seems to have stooped to lead by the hand this servant of +Nemesis, through paths the most devious and unfrequented, but, of all +others, the most fitted to form and conduct him to the emergency.</p> + +<p>A change, it is true of some kind in French Government, accompanied by +more or less confusion and bloodshed, had been long inevitable. Genius, +good sense, suffering, luxury, oppression, contumely, unprincipledness, +and folly, each boon of nature, each wrong of man, had concurred, after +more than a century of struggle, in necessitating a consummation.</p> + +<p>In my opinion, the popular horrors that darkened the end of the +eighteenth century, though pointed in their way by the finger of +Mirabeau, legitimately trace their pedigree to the royal grandeurs that +closed the preceding one. The French Revolution was born of Louis the +Fourteenth. His policy—his achievements—his failures, and, still more, +his personal character and court deportment, killed monarchy in the +hearts of the French people. The prominent ruling characteristic of +himself and reign was an all-absorbing egotism. A maelstrom of +selfishness, and unconscious of any law of reciprocity to arise from his +relations to a common humanity, this chief and example of a numerous +aristocracy was the grand centre to which was to be directed every +affection and service, from which was to be circulated every volition +and ordinance. And need I say that no eminence of intellectual power—no +prudence of personal deportment—no brilliancy of external achievement, +can or ought to have any effect on spectators so keen-witted and +impressionable as the French, save to make additionally insupportable a +character which, even on the smallest scale, is, of all others, the most +odious and repulsive. The stern unity and perfection of order in which +he was enabled to present political power—that necessary evil of human +existence—but added intensity to the hate, as it added grandeur to the +idea of his despotism. In the eyes of his suffering subjects it brought +him face to face with the catastrophes no less than with the glories of +his reign, and without the merit of the avowal—<i>adsum qui feci!</i> gave +him all its dread responsibilities. An old despot surviving his +greatness while retaining the stinging irony of its title—a saint amid +the standing reminiscences of his adulteries, expiating his pleasures by +annihilating those of others, and tormenting consciences to save his +own—his suffering and downcast people became at length disabused but +too utterly of the base apotheosis of his person and character, so long +maintained by him in the name of a false glory and debased religion. +They even publicly rejoiced at a death-bed made pitiable by the absence +of his mistress, confessor, and family; and meeting in mobs that, +encountering his corpse on its way through by-lanes to hugger-mugger +interment at St. Denis, they might tear it into shreds, gave early and +portentous evidence that the germ of an envenomed and bloody democracy +had been elicited in the very perfection of his stern and heartless +tyranny. The unblushing excesses of the Regent and of Louis the +Fifteenth, who gratuitously withdrew the last vail that concealed the +utter rottenness of all that claimed popular obedience, under the names +of religion, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> authority, sufficed, though scarcely needed, to +<i>complete</i> the discredit of the French monarchy; and, ascending his +throne, surrounded by a dissolute clergy, an overbearing aristocracy, +and a discontented and impoverished people, the robed Louis the +Sixteenth seemed but the calf of atonement of the Scriptures decked for +sacrifice, and doomed to expiate a century of court gayeties and crimes +in which he had had no part!</p> + +<p>Mirabeau began the revolution with a thousand vague hopes and +expectations, and the conviction, communicated to his friend Mauvillon, +that "it was not given to human sagacity to devise where <i>all this</i> +would end." A living conflict of passions and principles, of low needs +and high ambitions, of lofty genius and infamous repute, a demagogue by +policy, an aristocrat by vanity, a constitutionalist by conviction, his +public conduct anxiously and perpetually brought in evidence one or +other of these conflicting agencies; but beyond the personal aim of +recovering his rank, and winning some sort of greatness at any price, he +was without one pervading or dominant public purpose, save that of +extinguishing the despotism that had injured him. Above all policies, +<i>abstractedly</i> considered, this was the one dear to his heart. "I come +here to grant, not to ask pardon," was his reply, in a voice of angry +defiance, to some oratorical assurance that a life of usefulness might +secure the pardon of his earlier delinquencies. A horrid, but too +natural vindictiveness had interwoven the hate of arbitrary power into +every fibre of his brain. It was a passion or sentiment that he never +abandoned: it may be even doubted if he could have been purchased out of +it. Despite all the evils and mischances of life, there stood erect in +his soul this one small altar to virtue, or something that resembled it, +which he would have thrown down but under the direst necessity.</p> + +<p>But of all the circumstances glanced at as furnishing the key to many of +the paradoxes of his public conduct, one of the most important, though +perhaps the least appreciated, is the dishonor of his repute. It is +difficult, with his present position in history, especially when taken +in relation to the now well-certified worthlessness of his +contemporaries, to realize to the imagination the full extent of his +infamy. "You dare," said his former friend Rulhiere, in a pamphlet that +had a wide circulation, "<i>You</i> dare to speak of a country, Count +Mirabeau! If your brow were not trebly bronzed, how must you have +blushed at its very name! Have you one quality of father, friend, +brother, husband, or relative? An honorable vocation? Any one attribute +that constitutes the citizen? Not one! You are without a refuge, without +a relative. I seek your most ordinary domiciles, and I find them but in +the prison of Vincennes, the Chateau d'If, the fortress of Ioux, the +jail of Pontarlier!"<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>Dumont, coming over to Paris, was so moved by the discredit attached, +in respectable circles, to his acquaintance, that he visited him with +repugnance and as a duty, but records the characteristic incident, that +on his first call he was so won by the magic of his host's conversation, +as to depart resolved on retaining, at all hazards, so agreeable a +friendship. The mention of his name, with the sight of his person, at +the opening of the States General, elicited groans and hisses on all +sides. The <i>Tiers-Etat</i>—whom he had honored by his aristocratic +adoption—were unanimous in refusing him a hearing the two or three +occasions on which he first sought to address them. The queen, whose +life, family, and regal heritage were at stake, received the assurance, +that such a person was willing to assist the views of the court, with +"the contempt due to vice;"<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and "assassin!" "robber!" "slanderer!" +were the epithets almost daily applied to him in the senate of the +nation! Society, expiring under the weight of its own vices, saw in him +that well-defined excess that entitled it to the merits of purgation in +his extruism, of atonement in his martyrdom, and to place the hand of +menace and malediction on his head, as the scape-goat of its redemption!</p> + +<p>Thus detested by all parties, his low character keeping him low, +Mirabeau, with all his marvelous power, found himself placed, by public +contempt, more even than by private need, at the mercy of circumstances. +Befoulment had so far eaten into his name, that, with occasionally the +best of desires, and always the greatest of energies, there stood a +blight over both. He felt that a moral leprosy incrusted him, which +repelled the good, and kept aloof the prudent. The contemned inferior, +in moral standing, of those that surrounded him, it was difficult to be +honest, and impossible to be independent. By a sort of law of nature, +too, his tarred repute attracted to it every floating feather of +suspicion, no less than of guilt, as to its natural seat; and thus it +happened that the lofty genius of Mirabeau, under the "grand hests" of a +hateful necessity, like the "too delicate spirit," Ariel, tasked to the +"strong biddings" of the "foul witch Sycorax," was condemned for a while +to pander rather than teach, to follow rather than lead, to please +rather than patronize, and to halloo others' opinions rather than +vindicate his own!</p> + +<p>No man could appreciate the misfortune more fully or sensitively than +himself. Dumont tells us that, taught by events that a good character +would have placed France at his feet, "he would have passed seven times +through the fiery furnace to purify his name;" and that, "weeping and +sobbing, he was accustomed to exclaim, 'Cruelly do I expiate the errors +of my youth!'" And, indeed, the more sensible his heart, the more rich +and elevated his soul, the more must his torments have been bitter and +redoubled; for the very preciousness of the gifts of nature, the charms +of society, even the friendship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> of those that surrounded him, must have +turned but to the increase of his wretchedness!</p> + +<p>It is easy to understand, then, that the tactics of Mirabeau, in the +first days of the revolution, were those of a man outside "a swelling +scene,"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And monarchs to behold,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>which he could only occupy by rudely breaking through a thousand +circumvallations of usage, propriety, and public opinion. As it was the +boast of Luther, that he, an obscure monk, stood alone for some time +against respectable Europe, so Mirabeau, on the eve of his public +greatness, was the most isolated politician of his age. "Mean men, in +their rising," says Lord Bacon, "most adhere; but great men, that have +strength in themselves, were better to maintain themselves indifferent +and neutral." Instinctively feeling that this was the policy of his +position, when repelled by both sides, he haughtily repelled them in +return, and the more he was despised the more inevitable did he make the +establishment of his importance. As, without a party, he became one +himself, so without a plan he took that of events, and without a policy +was content with that of display. In these early days, indeed, his whole +plan, system, and policy was to make his individualism tell, to +demonstrate, to all parties, what he was worth in journalism as a +writer, in the Assembly as an orator, in every thing as a statesman. As +he had nothing but himself, it became his business to make the most of +the commodity, which, so valueless in the beginning, ended in +outworthing all that was opposed to it.</p> + +<p>But if this policy of display, no less than his education, sympathies, +and hates, bore him to the opposition, there were in his pecuniary +wants, and his ambitious dreams of a statesmanship, <i>à la Richelieu</i>, +circumstances that at times resistlessly brought him within the +influence of court power. Uncertain how far he could overpower the +disadvantages of his personal position, wounded that the movement party +were little inclined to value his co-operation, and still less to accept +his leadership, he early felt, or feigned alarm at the fermentation in +the public mind, and its possible evolution in great national +calamities; and before one act of legislation was accomplished, or he +had had a month's experience of the fanatical impracticability of one +side, I use his own words, and the intolerant spirit of resistance on +the other, he personally proposed to his enemy, Necker, and through him +to the queen, "the only <i>man</i>," he said, "connected with the court," to +concur, at the price of an embassadorship to Constantinople, in +supporting the court system of policy.</p> + +<p>He appears to have fancied for some days that his proposals were +accepted; but before he could enter on any of the Eastern arrangements +his active mind had already suggested, he learned that the overture was +rejected "with a contempt which," as Madame Campan sagaciously admits, +"the court would doubtless have concealed, if they could have foreseen +the future." Contenting himself with the angry menace, "They shall soon +hear some of my news," within a month he became the author of successive +defeats, the most insulting a monarch could receive from his parliament, +and which were fated to exercise an active influence in the overturn of +that royalty he was afterward to defend.</p> + +<p>The king, anxious to arrange the differences which kept the three orders +aloof from each other, and from legislation, had sent to the +<i>Tiers-Etat</i> a message, wise in its suggestions, and conciliatory in its +tone. Under the eloquence of Mirabeau, the house passed to the order of +the day.</p> + +<p>Irritated by insult, and complaining that the antagonism of the three +orders prevented any progress in the public business for which they were +convened, the king summoned a general meeting of all the deputies, and +after an address, in which he expressed his royal pleasure that the +three orders should form separate chambers, he commanded the assembly to +disperse, that they might meet under the ordinances his prerogative had +prescribed. The clergy, the nobles obey; the commons remain uncertain, +hesitating, and almost in consternation. The royal command is again +communicated to them, with the intimation, that having heard the king's +intentions they had now only to obey. The crisis of the royal +prerogative, obedience, hung but on the turn of a feather: the repulsed +Mirabeau arose, and turned it against the king. "We <i>have</i>," said he, in +a voice of thunder, "we <i>have</i> heard the intentions <i>attributed</i> to the +king; and you, sir, who have no place, nor voice, nor right of speech +here, are not competent to remind us of them. Go tell your master that +we are here by the will of the people, and that we are not to be +expelled but by the power of bayonets!"</p> + +<p>Cheered and supported by the now reassured <i>Tiers-Etat</i>, he next, in +imitation of the English parliament, carried, that the persons of the +deputies were inviolate, that any one infringing that right should be +pursued as an enemy of the country, and that the payment of taxes, till +further legislation, should be obligatory only during the existence of +the legislative corps.</p> + +<p>Added to the bold title of "National Assembly," newly adopted, these +votes were the assumption of a kingship by the <i>Tiers-Etat</i>; and as +public opinion enthusiastically backed the innovation, the divided peers +and ecclesiastics were compelled at length to join, and be submerged in +the mass of popular deputies.</p> + +<p>A civil war could alone stand between royal power and its destruction. +For some weeks the court prepared for even such an eventuality. +"Ministers play high stakes," writes Mirabeau, on the 5th of July; "they +are compromising the king, for in menacing Paris and the Assembly they +are menacing France. All reaction is equal to action: the more the +pressure now, the more terrible do I foresee will be the reaction. Paris +will not suffer itself to be muzzled by a bevy of nobles thrown into +despair by their own stupidity; but they shall pay the penalty of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +attempt.... The storm must soon break out. It is arranged that I ask the +withdrawal of the troops; but be you ready (at Paris) to help the step!"</p> + +<p>The demand was evaded by the king; the soldiery were largely increased +and concentrated; the arrests of the more revolutionary deputies, +including, of course, Mirabeau, were decided on; Necker was summarily +dismissed: but on the other side able and active emissaries roused Paris +by statements the most exciting, and taking all characters, with the +costumes of either sex, caressed, fêted, and partially won over the +soldiery, and before the court could take one step toward its purposes, +Paris was in full insurrection, the troops corrupted or overpowered, the +Bastile taken, and under the plea of anarchical excuse, the whole +<i>bourgeoisie</i> of Paris placed in a few hours under arms as National +Guards.</p> + +<p>The king, taught that it was not revolt but revolution, preferred, as +every body foresaw, submission to civil war, recalled Necker, and +visited triumphant Paris, at once the hostage and conquest of a popular +triumph.</p> + +<p>Mirabeau, more or less connected with the Orleanists, had speculated +with them on the chances of confusion; for to him it was a small thing, +provided he had bread, that it was baked in an oven warmed with the +conflagration of an empire. Looking forward with complacency to every +contingency of revolutionary crises, assured that a common danger, +flinging aside, as unimportant, questions of personal character, would +make power the prey of genius and audacity, he was correspondingly +annoyed by a re-arrangement that promised for a time a well-grounded +tranquillity.</p> + +<p>The destruction of the Bastile securing that of "The Syllas of thought," +he now transformed into a full political newspaper, his weekly "Letter +to his Constituents," under which title he had evaded, from the first +assembly of the States-General, the censorship on the press. Aware, from +a knowledge of Wilkes and his history, of the power of journalism to a +politician, and above all, to a demagogue in a free country, he was, in +the full sense of the term, the first newspaper editor of France, and +owed to the vigorous use of this novel agency, not only useful additions +to his pecuniary resources, but a great portion of that popular idolatry +that followed him to the grave.</p> + +<p>The court which, in calling together the States, had no higher aim than +to regenerate the finances of the country, and, as one step, to obtain +the help of the people in stripping a numerous aristocracy of their +baneful exemption from state-burdens, had already found out its own +share in the peril of the experiment, and now sought, by a close +alliance with the <i>noblesse</i>, to avert the ruin that too evidently +menaced both. But the torrent had but accumulated at each irresistible +concession, and every day's work added to the democratic elements of a +constitution that had already made royalty a cipher, and annihilated, +as political institutions, the church and aristocracy.</p> + +<p>Of course new schemes of regal antagonism again raised their heads, and +again a popular manifestation, bringing Paris into the very boudoir of +the queen, at Versailles, demonstrated the impuissance of all that took +the name of French royalism. The October insurrection was fomented by +Mirabeau and his Orleanist friends, for the same purpose as that of +July, to secure personal safety, and obtain a new scene of action, by +terrifying the court into exile, or the acceptance of Orleans' +protection. Had the duke been raised to the "lieutenant-generalship of +the kingdom," Mirabeau counted on a premiership, in which he purposed to +become the Chatham or Pitt of France. Had Louis the Sixteenth fled the +kingdom after the example of the Comte D'Artois, he purposed to proclaim +a republic, and become its "first consul;" and should the doom be that +France should be divided by civil war, and cut up into its old kingdoms, +he speculated on a sovereignty in his ancestral country, Provence, which +had already greeted him with so encouraging an enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Strangeness of event! While the monarchy, so short-lived, still survived +the insatiate Mirabeau, two of the extraordinary contingencies he +speculated on have already happened, to the profit of other actors, and +the existing republic, in its mutinous armies, intolerant factions, and +insane dynasties, offers no very improbable portent that, even after +half a century of a centralized and well-fixed nationality, the old +repartition of kingdoms may again present itself!</p> + +<p>The great consummation of the confusion, however, failed for the +overmuch of means. "A bottle of brandy was given," said the orator, +"instead of a glass!" and the mob's capricious <i>impromptu</i> of carrying +the king back with them to Paris, still more than the cowardice of the +Duke of Orleans, defeated this deep-laid Machiavelian combination.</p> + +<p>Whatever the character, however, of the people's success, it could not +but be an additional success for their leader. The revolution, of which +he stood recognized the unquestioned head, was now beyond all danger of +royal aggression, except by his own treacherous agency. In a campaign of +unimaginable brevity, he had not only vindicated the first place as an +orator in a senate now omnipotent, and become out of it the most potent +demagogue of his time, but as <i>un homme d'état</i>, surrounded by a +brilliant staff of the most active spirits and practical thinkers of the +day, Camille Desmoulins, Danton, Volney, Champfort, Lamourette, Cabanis, +Reybaz, Dumont, Duroverai, Claviere, Servan, De Caseaux, Panchaud, +Pellenc, Brissot, and others, was understood by every party to hold the +future destinies of France in his hand Emerging from two insurrections, +possessing, by his power, all their profits, and by his adroitness, none +of their responsibility, he found it now worth his while to break terms +with the Duke of Orleans, by a public expression of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> contempt for +him as a scoundrel not worth the trouble that might be taken for him; +and excluded from the ministry, that lay open to him, by a self-denying +ordonnance of the Assembly, directly leveled at his pretensions, he +accepted a large subsidy from the king's brother—the Comte de +Provence—and formed with him, for the restoration or upholding a +monarchical authority, a mysterious and ineffective conspiracy, the +character and extent of which may be conjectured from its involving the +assassination of the Marquess de Lafayette.</p> + +<p>The hate of Mirabeau for this worthy but feeble nobleman—his diligent +colleague in the struggle for liberty—was as intense as, at first +sight, it seems incredible. He was his Mordecai at the king's gate, for +whom he could neither sleep nor eat. Remembering that Mirabeau's passion +for complicated intrigue and daring adventure, even in politics, was +extravagant to disease, it seems possible that, as he advanced in his +rapid greatness, he secretly nursed projects or hopes as incompatible +with a constitutional monarchy, and an organized public force, in +respectable hands, as with the despotism with which he had originally +battled; and that, in his successive conspiracies, now with the +Republicans and Orleanists, now with the Count de Provence and the +queen, he had no fixed intention of ultimately benefiting those he +professed to serve, but proposed to use them as ladders to that exalted +position of a Sylla or a Cæsar, which, as Bonaparte subsequently proved, +was no more, perhaps, beyond his grasp than his ambition; influenced by +the insidious suggestions and doubts he carefully spread abroad, the +queen, as he saw with pleasure, looked on the new commander of the +National Guards as a "Grandison-Cromwell" (Mirabeau's damaging epithet), +whose concealed ambition aimed at the constableship of France, as a step +to that dread of French sovereigns, the "Mayorship of the Palace;" and +hence the court systematically declined the aids it might so often have +derived from the honesty, the popularity, and sometimes the good sense +of the American volunteer. At all events, we know that the assassination +of Lafayette—twice it seems plotted—would have left the National +Guards in the hands of some less popular and more pliant chief; and +that, when the general specifically accused his rival of the horrid +project, naming time, place, and means, he won no better defense than +the reply, "You were sure of it, and I am alive! How good of you! And +you aspire to play a leading part in a revolution!" The compact with the +Comte de Provence was of short duration: the queen began to distrust the +personal views of her brother-in-law, who threatened to become the Duke +D'Orleans of a philosophical party, and Mirabeau, to whom popularity was +the only capital, probably found that he could not afford the sacrifices +his employers demanded.</p> + +<p>To preserve the <i>status quo</i>, and wait events, became now, for some +weeks or months, as much his policy as his accessibility to passion and +sudden influences would permit. He seemed to feel that he should give +time to the molten lava of his volcanic greatness to settle, harden, and +assume its individualism among things received. Holding aloof, +therefore, from indentification with either party—leaning now on one +side, now on the other; his speeches more with the movement, his policy +more with the court; forcing both parties into explanations, while +keeping himself, however, disengaged—he constituted himself their +arbitrator and moderator, overawing both extremes; and while maintaining +his pre-eminence of political influence, held himself ready to take +advantage, at the least cost of consistency, of any fundamental change +in the position of affairs.</p> + +<p>In the month of May or June, however, a private interview with the +queen, in the Royal Garden of St. Cloud, followed by others, to the +renewed scandal of her fame, laid the foundation of a new compact with +the court, and a more decided policy. The chivalry of Mirabeau revived +under the enthusiasm won by "Earth's loveliest vision"—a queen in +distress and a suppliant—and he pledged himself, as the Hungarians to +her royal mother, to die in the service of saving her throne. But the +highest endeavors of Mirabeau have always at their base, like the +monuments of his country, the filthy and the repulsive; and the chivalry +of this new saviour of the monarchy received sustentation in a +bribe—higgled for through months—of twenty thousand pounds, and a +pension of more than that per annum.</p> + +<p>About the end of the year, three or four months before his death, he +opened systematically his great campaign for what professedly was the +restoration of regal authority. He was to out-Herod in patriotism the +Herods of the Jacobin club: the court was to dare every thing short of +civil war—perhaps even that; and the existing confusion, whatever it +might be, was to be cured by another of greater extent, artificially +induced by the charlatanism of art political. His scheme, in some +points, it must be allowed, successfully imitated in our own days in +Prussia, was:</p> + +<p>First—To reorganize the party of Order in the Assembly; and while, as +far as possible, winning for it the sympathy of the country, to excite, +by all available agencies, distrust and discontent with the opposing +majority.</p> + +<p>Secondly—To inundate the provinces with publications against the +Assembly; and by commissioners, sent nominally for other purposes, to +obtain remonstrances from the departments against its further +continuance.</p> + +<p>Thirdly—At a proper opportunity, to dissolve the Assembly, and order +fresh elections; at the same time canceling the constitution as illegal, +and granting another by royal charter, formed on a popular basis, and on +the written instructions which (on a system unknown to England) had +originally been drawn up for each deputy by his electors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p> + +<p>I shall not descend to discuss the oft-mooted point, how far the +wholesale venality that based the project is justified or palliated by +the object it is supposed to have had in view, because I know that with +Mirabeau money was not <i>a means</i> to his defense of constitutional +monarchy, but his defense of constitutional monarchy a means to money. +If we except his relentless hate to French despotism in any hands not +his own, the principles, moral or political, of this leader of a nation +had no other tenure but the interest of his personal aggrandizement.</p> + +<p>On another debate, whether with a longer life he could have carried his +counter-revolution to success, I will only remark, that, conceding that +in robust health he would have had it at heart as sincerely as in the +recorded hours of his sickness and despondency, it may be admitted, that +a struggle which, under every imprudence, seemed long to hang in doubt, +with the aid of his energetic and masterly polity might, perhaps, have +poised for royalty. But it is not to be concealed that the difficulty of +arresting and unmaking were even greater than those of creating and +consolidating the revolution. The king's aversion to decisive measures, +and well-known horror of civil war, made him the worst of colleagues for +the only policy his tool could wield with effect; and the great +demagogue himself, when obliged to discard the mask of democratic +hypocrisy that still partly hid the subtle and venal traitor of his +party, would have lost, like Strafford, many of the elements of his +potency; and despoiled, especially, of the miraculous resources of his +eloquence, must have contented himself with that lucid, common-sense, +consecutive daring, and power of strategic combination, which his new +friends were so ill-fitted to support.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, perhaps, for his future fame, he died ere the structure his +arts had undermined tested his powers of reparation, and before that +wonderful magic of popularity which had so long survived, as it had, +indeed, so long anticipated, his deserts, had time to vanish under the +cock-crow of truth. His death was as well-timed as his political advent, +and has been praised by French wit as the best evidence of his tact; for +the expectations which the unparalleled rapidity, no less than the +innate marvelousness of his achievements had raised, no future activity +and fortune, scarcely those of a Napoleon, could have realized.</p> + +<p>But if the retrospect of his career must convince us that one man in so +short a period never accomplished so much before, against such +disadvantages, so also must we admit that probably never before did any +one rest so wholly for his amazing achievements on the sole power of +intrinsic genius. It was intellect that did all with Mirabeau; and made +his head, according to his own boast, a power among European states. It +united almost every possible capacity and attainment. His rare and +penetrating powers of observation were sustained by the equal depth and +justness of his discrimination, and the rapidity and accuracy of his +judgment. Uniting, to his admirable natural capacity, an activity and +habitual power of application, more marvelous almost in their extent +than even in their rare combination, he possessed an understanding full, +beyond precedent, both of the recorded knowledge of books, and of that +priceless experience of men and things, without which all else is +naught; and as the complement of these amazing and unparalleled +advantages, he had the still rarer advantage of a felicity and power of +diction every way worthy of so incomparable a genius.</p> + +<p>Looking with contempt at the stiff, ornamental, and childishly +antithetical style of his day and nation, he welded the flimsy elements +of the French language into instruments of strength akin to his own +conceptions, and wrought out of them a style for himself in which a +Demosthenic simplicity and severity of language is sustained by an +earnest and straightforward power which vivifies and amplifies all that +it touches. Startled by an innovation far beyond the conceptions of the +French academy, the writer was smiled at and neglected by the critics; +and it was not till they heard him launching from the tribune the +thunders of justice, disposing at pleasure of the inclinations of the +multitude, and subjugating even the captious by the imperious power of +his eloquence, that they began to discover that there was a "power of +life"<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> in his rude and singular language; that "things, commonplace, +in his hand became of electric power;"<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and that, standing "like a +giant among pigmies,"<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> his style, albeit "savage,"<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> dominated the +assembly, stupefying, and thundering down all opposition.</p> + +<p>It is the affliction of history, that, while raising her monuments to +gigantic genius, she is compelled so often to record an immorality of +parallel proportions. It is right that the infamy of Mirabeau should be +as eternal as his greatness. He was a man who, in his political, as in +his private life, had no sense of right for its own sake, and from whom +conscience never won a sacrifice. With great and glorious aims at times, +he never had a disinterested one. His ambition, vanity, or passions, +were his only standard of conduct—a standard, be it added, which, +despite the wonderful justness of his judgments, the depravity of a +sunken nature kept always below even his needs. Policy with him was +often but a campaign of vengeance or market of venality, and the +glorious exercises of literature but a relaxation of indecency or +business of wrong. In the study, in the tribune, or in the +council-chamber, glory was the only element that remained to +counterpoise, often with a feather's weight, the smallest influence of +gold or spleen; and in the most critical epoch of an empire, the poising +of his tremendous influence—the influence of so much earnestness and +magical power—was the accident of an accident. We admit for him, in +palliation, the demoralizing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> influence of terrific example, and of +maddening oppression; but where is the worth of a morality that, in a +man of heroic mould, will not stand assay? and what is virtue but a +name, if she may be betrayed whenever she demands an effort?</p> + +<p>But however much a moral wreck was the heart of Mirabeau, nature, true +to the harmony, no less than the magnificence, of her great creations, +had essentially formed it of noble and gentle elements. Touched to the +core by the contaminating influence of "time and tide," its instincts +were yet to the kindly, the generous, and elevated; and those about him +who knew him best—attached to him more by his affections than his +glory—eagerly attested that in the bosom of this depraved citizen +resided most of the qualities which, under happier agencies, would have +made him a dutiful son, a devoted husband, an attached friend, and truly +noble character!</p> + +<p>In fine, with an eye to see at a glance, a mind to devise, a tongue to +persuade, a hand to execute, this great man was circumspect in +recklessness, poised and vigorous in violence, cool and calculating to a +minutia in audacity and passion. As a friend, affectionate and +volatile—as an enemy, fierce and placable—as a politician, patriotic +and venal. Proud of his patricianship, whose <i>status</i> and manners he has +lost, he is humble about a statesmanship that makes the first of his +glories. The best of writers, his works are written for him; the +greatest of orators, his speeches are made for him! Has he the most +unerring of judgments? He prefers another's! Is he a popular tribune? He +is also a royalist parasite! Is he earnest? He is then insincere! Does +he evidence great principles? He seeks bribes! Does he enforce +moderation? He awaits vengeance! Does he cause confusion? He is seeking +order! Would he save the nation? He is selling its liberties! Wonderful +man! great with enormous weaknesses, bad with many excellencies, +immortal by the expedients of an hour, his genius is a combination of +almost impossible perfections, as his political life the colossal result +of a thousand contradictions. United, they yield a deathless character, +whose Titanic proportions shall, age after age, be huger, as the mighty +shadows that cover it shall grow darker!</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> It was this invasion that made Corsica a French island, and +consequently Napoleon Bonaparte a French citizen</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> He had also been confined in two prisons, in the Ile de +Rue, and the Castle of Dijon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Madame Campan's Memoirs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Madame de Staël.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Bertrand de Moleville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> De Levis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> De Ferrieres.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Hogg's Instructor.]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_COMMUNIST_SPARROW_AN_ANECDOTE_OF_CUVIER" id="THE_COMMUNIST_SPARROW_AN_ANECDOTE_OF_CUVIER"></a>THE "COMMUNIST" SPARROW—AN ANECDOTE OF CUVIER.</h2> + + + +<p>We have been struck with the following anecdote of the great Cuvier, +which is recorded in the "Courrier de l'Europe" for February, 1850, and +trust the following translation will prove as interesting to our readers +as it has been to us. It forms an amusing chapter in natural history, +and forcibly illustrates that close observation which so frequently +characterizes eminent men.</p> + +<p>Poverty in youth has a purifying tendency, like the "live coal" of old +which the angel passed over the lips of Isaiah. It inures the soul to +struggling, and the mind to persevering labor and self-confidence: it +keeps the imagination away from the temptations of luxury, and the still +more fatal one of idleness, that parent of vice. It, moreover, becomes +one of the most fruitful sources of happiness to the man whom God +permits to come out of the crowd and take his place at the head of +science and art. It is with ineffable delight that he looks behind, and +says, in thinking of his cold and comfortless garret, "I came out of +that place, single and unknown." George Cuvier, that pupil of poverty, +loved to relate one of his first observations of natural history, which +he had made while tutor to the children of Count d'Henry.</p> + +<p>Cuvier and his scholars inhabited an old mansion in the county of Caux à +Fiquanville; the teacher's room overlooked the garden, and every +morning, at break of day, he opened the window to inhale the refreshing +air, before commencing his arduous duties to his indifferently trained +pupils. One morning he observed, not without pleasure, that two swallows +had begun to build their nest in the very corner of his little chamber +window. The birds labored with the ardor of two young lovers who are in +haste to start in housekeeping. The male bird brought the moistened clay +in his beak, which the female kneaded, and with the addition of some +chips of straw and hay, she built her little lodging with wonderful +skill. As soon as the outside was finished, the betrothed gathered +feathers, hair, and soft dry leaves for the inside, and then departed to +hide themselves in a neighboring wood, there to enjoy the sweets of +repose after their labor, and amid the thick foliage of the trees the +mysterious joys of the honeymoon. However that may be, they did not +think of returning to take possession of their nest till the end of +twelve or fifteen days.</p> + +<p>Alas! changes had taken place during their absence. While the swallows +were laboring with such assiduity in building a house, Cuvier had +observed two sparrows, that perched at a short distance, watching the +industry of the two birds, not without interchanging between themselves +some cries that appeared to Cuvier rather ironical. When the swallows +departed for their country excursion, the sparrows took no pains to +conceal their odious schemes; they impudently took possession of the +nest, which was empty and without an owner to defend it, and established +themselves there as though they had been its veritable builders. Cuvier +observed that the cunning sparrows were never both out of the nest at +the same time. One of the usurpers always remained as sentinel, with his +head placed at the opening, which served for a door, and with his large +beak interdicted the entrance of any other bird, except his companion, +or rather, to call things by their right names, his brother robber. The +swallows returned in due time to their nest, the male full of joy, which +showed itself in the brightness of his eye, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> in the nervous kind of +motion in his flight; the female rather languid, and heavy with the +approach of laying. You can imagine their surprise at finding the nest, +on which they had bestowed so much care, occupied. The male, moved with +indignation and anger, rushed upon the nest to chase away the usurpers, +but he found himself face to face with the formidable beak of the +sparrow who, at that moment, guarded the stolen property. What could the +slim beak of the swallow do against the redoubtable pincers of the +sparrow, armed with a double and sharpened point? Very soon, the poor +proprietor, dispossessed and beaten back, retreated with his head +covered with blood, and his neck nearly stripped of its feathers. He +returned with flashing eye, and trembling with rage, to the side of his +wife, with whom he appeared for some minutes to hold counsel, after +which they flew away into the air, and quickly disappeared. The female +sparrow came back soon after; the male recounted all that had +passed—the arrival, the attack, and flight of the swallows—not without +accompanying the recital with what seemed to Cuvier to be roars of +laughter. Be this as it may, the housekeeper did not rest satisfied with +making only a hullah-balloo, for the female went forth again, and +collected in haste a much larger quantity of provisions than usual. As +soon as she returned, after having completed the supplies for a siege, +two pointed beaks, instead of one, defended the entrance to the nest. +Cries, however, began to fill the air, and an assemblage of swallows +gathered together on a neighboring roof. Cuvier recognized distinctly +the dispossessed couple, who related to each newcomer the impudent +robbery of the sparrow. The male, with blood-stained head and bared +neck, distinguished himself by the earnestness of his protestations and +appeals of vengeance. In a little while two hundred swallows had arrived +at the scene of conflict. While the little army was forming and +deliberating, all at once a cry of distress came from an adjacent +window. A young swallow, doubtless inexperienced, instead of taking part +in the counsels of his brethren, was chasing some flies which were +buzzing about a bunch of neglected or castaway flowers before the +window. The pupils of Cuvier had stretched a net there to catch +sparrows; one of the claws of the swallow was caught by the perfidious +net. At the cry which this hair-brained swallow made, a score of his +brethren flew to the rescue: but all their efforts were in vain; the +desperate struggles which the prisoner made to free himself from the +fatal trap only drew the ends tighter, and confined his foot more +firmly. Suddenly a detachment took wing, and, retiring about a hundred +paces, returned rapidly, and, one by one, gave a peck at the snare, +which each time, owing to the determined manner of the attack, received +a sharp twitch. Not one of the swallows missed its aim, so that, after +half an hour of this persevering and ingenious labor, the chafed string +broke, and the captive; rescued from the snare, went joyously to mingle +with his companions. Throughout this scene, which took place twenty feet +from Cuvier, and at almost as many from the usurped nest, the observer +kept perfectly still, and the sparrows made not the slightest movement +with their two large beaks, which, formidable and threatening, kept its +narrow entrance. The council of swallows, while a certain number of them +were succoring their companion, had continued to deliberate gravely. As +soon as all were united, the liberated prisoner included, they took +flight, and Cuvier felt convinced they had given up the field, or rather +the nest, to the robbers, who had so fraudulently possessed themselves +of it. Judge of his surprise when, in the course of a few seconds, he +beheld a cloud of two or three hundred swallows arrive, with the +rapidity of thought throw themselves before the nest, discharge at it +some mud which they had brought in their bills, and retire to give place +to another battalion, which repeated the same manœuvre. They fired at +two or three inches from the nest, thus preventing the sparrows from +giving them any blows with their beaks. Besides, the mud, shot with such +perfidious precision, had so blinded the sparrows, after the first +discharge, that they very soon knew not in what manner to defend +themselves. Still the mud continued to thicken more and more on the +nest, whose original shape was soon obliterated: the opening would have +almost entirely disappeared, had not the sparrows, by their desperate +efforts at defense, broken away some portions of it. But the implacable +swallows, by a strategic movement, as rapidly as it was cleverly +executed, rushed upon the nest, beat down with their beaks and claws the +clay over the opening already half stopped up, and finished the attack +by hermetically closing it. Then there arose a thousand cries of +vengeance and victory. Nevertheless, the swallows ceased not the work of +destruction. They continued to carry up moistened clay till they had +built a second nest over the very opening of the besieged one. It was +raised by a hundred beaks at once, and, an hour after the execution of +the sparrows, the nest was occupied by the dispossessed swallows. The +drama was complete and terrible; the vengeance inexorable and fatal. The +unfortunate sparrows not only expiated their theft in the nest they had +taken possession of, whence they could not escape, and where suffocation +and hunger were gradually killing them, but they heard the songs of love +from the two swallows, who thus so cruelly made them wipe out the crime +of their theft. During the fight the female remained alone, languishing +and motionless, on an angle of the roof. It was with difficulty, and +with a heavy flight, that she left this spot to take up her abode in her +new house; and, doubtless, while the agony of the sparrows was being +filled up, she laid her eggs, for she did not stir out for two days; the +male, during that time, taking upon himself to search for insects and +hunt for flies. He brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> them alive in his beak, and gave them to his +companion. Entirely devoted to the duties of incubation and maternity, +she was only seen now and then to put out her head to breathe the pure +air. Fifteen days after, the male flew away at day-break. He appeared +more gay and joyful than usual; during the whole day he ceased not to +bring to the nest a countless number of insects, and Cuvier, by standing +on tiptoe at his window, could distinctly see six little yellow and +hungry beaks, crying out, and swallowing with avidity all the food +brought by their father. The female did not leave her family till the +morrow; confinement and fatigue had made her very thin. Her plumage had +lost its lustre; but in seeing her contemplate her little ones, you +might conceive the maternal joy which filled her, and by what ineffable +compensations she felt herself indemnified for all her privations and +sufferings. After a short time the little creatures had advanced in +figure; their large yellow bills were transformed into little black and +charming ones; their naked bodies, covered here and there with ugly +tufts, were now clothed with elegant feathers, on which the light played +in brilliant flashes. They began to fly about the nest, and even to +accompany their mother when she hunted for flies in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>Cuvier could not refrain from feelings of admiration, and was somewhat +affected when he saw the mother, with indefatigable patience and grace, +show her children how they should set about catching flies, which darted +about in the air—to suck in an incautious one, or carry away a spider +which had imprudently made his net between the branches of two trees. +Often she would hold out to them at a distance in her beak a booty which +excited their appetite; then she would go away by degrees, and gradually +draw them unconsciously off to a shorter or a longer distance from the +nest. The swallow taught her children to fly high when the air was calm, +for then the insects kept in a more elevated part of the air; or to skim +along the ground at the approach of a storm, as then the same insects +would direct their course toward the earth, where they might find +shelter under the stones at the fall of the first drop of rain. Then the +little ones, more experienced, began, under the guidance of their +father, to undertake longer flights. The mother, standing at the +entrance of the nest, seemed to give her instructions before they +departed: she awaited their return with anxiety, and when that was +delayed, took a flight high, very high in the air, and there flew to and +fro till she saw them. Then, full of a mother's joy, she would utter +cries of emotion, scud before them, bring them back to the nest, happy +and palpitating, and seemed to demand an account of the causes of their +delay.</p> + +<p>The autumn arrived. Some groups of swallows collected together on the +very roof of the mansion of Fiquanville. After grave deliberation, and a +vote being taken (whether by ballot or otherwise, Cuvier does not +mention), the young ones of the nest, along with the other young +swallows of the same age, were all placed in the middle of the troop; +and one morning a living cloud rose above the chateau, and flew away +swiftly due east.</p> + +<p>The following spring two swallows, worn down by fatigue, came to take +possession of the nest. Cuvier recognized them immediately; they were +the very same—those whose manners and habits he had studied the +preceding year. They proceeded to restore the nest, cracked and injured +in some places by the frost: they garnished anew the inside with fresh +feathers and choice moss, then, as last year, made an excursion of some +days. On the very morrow after their return, while they were darting to +and fro close to Cuvier's window, to whose presence they had become +accustomed, and which did not in the least incommode them, a +screech-owl, that seemed to fall from above, pounced upon the male, +seized him in his talons, and was already bearing him away, when Cuvier +took down his gun, which was within reach, primed and cocked it, and +fired at the owl; the fellow, mortally wounded, fell head over heels +into the garden, and Cuvier hastened to deliver the swallow from the +claws of the dead owl, who still held him with his formidable nails. The +poor swallow had received some deep wounds; the nails of the owl had +penetrated deeply into his side, and one of the drops of shot had broken +his leg. Cuvier dressed the wounds as well as he could, and, by the aid +of a ladder, replaced the invalid in his nest, while the female flew +sadly around it, uttering cries of despair. For three or four days she +never left the nest but to go in search of food, which she offered the +male. Cuvier saw his sickly head come out with difficulty, and try in +vain to take the food offered by his companion; every day he appeared to +get weaker. At length, one morning, Cuvier was awakened by the cries of +the female, who with her wings beat against the panes of his window. He +ran to the nest—alas! it contained only a dead body. From that fatal +moment the female never left her nest. Overwhelmed with grief, she, five +days after, died of despair, on the dead body of her companion.</p> + +<p>Some months after this, the Abbé Tessier, whom the revolutionary +persecution had compelled to flee to Normandy, where he disguised +himself under the dress of a military physician of the hospital of +Fécamp, fell in with the obscure tutor, who recounted to him the history +of the swallows. The abbé engaged him to deliver a course of lectures on +natural history to the pupils of that hospital, of which he was the +head, and wrote to Jussieu and Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, to inform them of +the individual he had become acquainted with. Cuvier entered into a +correspondence with these two learned men, and a short time after he was +elected to the chair of comparative anatomy at Paris His subsequent +career is well known.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p> + +<h4>[From Hunting Adventures in South Africa.]</h4> +<h2><a name="A_GIRAFFE_CHASE" id="A_GIRAFFE_CHASE"></a>A GIRAFFE CHASE.</h2> + + + +<p>This day was to me rather a memorable one, as the first on which I saw +and slew the lofty, graceful-looking giraffe or camelopard, with which, +during many years of my life, I had longed to form an acquaintance. +These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, which are admirably +formed by nature to adorn the fair forests that clothe the boundless +plains of the interior, are widely distributed throughout the interior +of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In +countries unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found +generally in herds varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not +unfrequently met with herds containing thirty individuals, and on one +occasion I counted forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, +and about sixteen maybe reckoned as the average number of a herd. These +herds are composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe +of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark, chestnut-colored old bull of +the herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally +attaining to a height of upward of eighteen feet. The females are of +lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height +averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. Some writers have discovered +ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is +one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation; and when a +herd of them is seen scattered through a grove of the picturesque +parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on whose +uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height with +which nature has so admirably endowed them, he must, indeed, be slow of +conception who fails to discover both grace and dignity in all their +movements. There can be no doubt, that every animal is seen to the +greatest advantage in the haunts which nature destined him to adorn; and +among the various living creatures which beautify this fair creation I +have often traced a remarkable resemblance between the animal and the +general appearance of the locality in which it is found. This I first +remarked at an early period of my life, when entomology occupied a part +of my attention No person following this interesting pursuit can fail to +observe the extraordinary likeness which insects bear to the various +abodes in which they are met with. Thus, among the long green grass we +find a variety of long green insects, whose legs and antennæ so resemble +the shoots emanating from the stalks of the grass that it requires a +practiced eye to distinguish them. Throughout sandy districts varieties +of insects are met with of a color similar to the sand which they +inhabit. Among the green leaves of the various trees of the forest +innumerable leaf-colored insects are to be found; while, closely +adhering to the rough gray bark of these forest-trees, we observe +beautifully-colored, gray-looking; moths of various patterns, yet +altogether so resembling the bark as to be invisible to the passing +observer. In like manner among quadrupeds I have traced a corresponding +analogy, for, even in the case of the stupendous elephant, the ashy +color of his hide so corresponds with the general appearance of the gray +thorny jungles which he frequents throughout the day, that a person +unaccustomed to hunting elephants, standing on a commanding situation, +might look down upon a herd and fail to detect their presence. And +further, in the case of the giraffe, which is invariably met with among +venerable forests, where innumerable blasted and weather-beaten trunks +and stems occur, I have repeatedly been in doubt as to the presence of a +troop of them until I had recourse to my spy-glass; and on referring the +case to my savage attendants, I have known even their optics to fail, at +one time mistaking these dilapidated trunks for camelopards, and again +confounding real camelopards with these aged veterans of the forest.</p> + +<p>Although we had now been traveling many days through the country of the +giraffe, and had marched through forests in which their spoor was +abundant, our eyes had not yet been gifted with a sight of "Tootla" +himself; it was therefore with indescribable pleasure that, on the +evening of the 11th, I beheld a troop of these interesting animals.</p> + +<p>Our breakfast being finished, I resumed my journey through an endless +gray forest of cameel-dorn and other trees, the country slightly +undulating and grass abundant. A little before the sun went down my +driver remarked to me, "I was just going to say, sir, that that old tree +was a camelopard." On looking where he pointed, I saw that the old tree +was indeed a camelopard, and, on casting my eyes a little to the right, +I beheld a troop of them standing looking at us, their heads actually +towering above the trees of the forest. It was imprudent to commence a +chase at such a late hour, especially in a country of so level a +character, where the chances were against my being able to regain my +wagons that night. I, however, resolved to chance every thing; and +directing my men to catch and saddle Colesberg, I proceeded in haste to +buckle on my shooting-belt and spurs, and in two minutes I was in the +saddle. The giraffes stood looking at the wagons until I was within +sixty yards of them, when, galloping round a thick bushy tree, under +cover of which I had ridden, I suddenly beheld a sight the most +astounding that a sportsman's eye can encounter. Before me stood a troop +of ten colossal giraffes, the majority of which were from seventeen to +eighteen feet high. On beholding me they at at once made off, twisting +their long tails over their backs, making a loud switching noise with +them, and cantered along at an easy pace, which, however, obliged +Colesberg to put his best foot foremost to keep up with them.</p> + +<p>The sensations which I felt on this occasion were different from any +thing that I had before experienced during a long sporting career. My +senses were so absorbed by the wondrous and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> beautiful sight before me +that I rode along like one entranced, and felt inclined to disbelieve +that I was hunting living things of this world. The ground was firm and +favorable for riding. At every stride I gained upon the giraffes, and +after a short burst at a swinging gallop I was in the middle of them, +and turned the finest cow out of the herd. On finding herself driven +from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and +cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of +ground at every bound; while her neck and breast, coming in contact with +the dead old branches of the trees, were continually strewing them in my +path. In a few minutes I was riding within five yards of her stern, and, +firing at the gallop, I sent a bullet into her back. Increasing my pace, +I next rode alongside, and, placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few +feet of her, I fired my second shot behind the shoulder; the ball, +however, seemed to have little effect. I then placed myself directly in +front, when she came to a walk. Dismounting, I hastily loaded both +barrels, putting in double charges of powder. Before this was +accomplished she was off at a canter. In a short time I brought her to a +stand in the dry bed of a water-course, where I fired at fifteen yards, +aiming where I thought the heart lay, upon which she again made off. +Having loaded, I followed, and had very nearly lost her; she had turned +abruptly to the left, and was far out of sight among the trees. Once +more I brought her to a stand, and dismounted from my horse. There we +stood together alone in the wild wood. I gazed in wonder at her extreme +beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down +imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of +triumph for the blood I was shedding. Pointing my rifle toward the +skies, I sent a bullet through her neck. On receiving it, she reared +high on her hind legs, and fell backward with a heavy crash, making the +earth shake around her. A thick stream of dark blood spouted out from +the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment, and she expired.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey.]</h4> +<h2><a name="ADVENTURE_IN_A_TURKISH_HAREM" id="ADVENTURE_IN_A_TURKISH_HAREM"></a>ADVENTURE IN A TURKISH HAREM.</h2> + +<h3>BY AUBREY DE VERE.</h3> + + + +<p>A short time before leaving Constantinople I enjoyed a piece of good +fortune which I believe has fallen to the lot of few men. Often as I +passed by the garden walls of some rich Pacha, I felt, as every one who +visits Constantinople feels, no small desire to penetrate, into that +mysterious region—his harem—and see something more than the mere +exterior of Turkish life. "The traveler landing at Stamboul complains," +I used to say to myself, "of the contrast between its external aspect +and the interior of the city; but the real interior, that is the inside +of the houses, the guarded retreats of those vailed forms which one +passes in gilded caiques—of these he sees nothing." Fortune favored my +aspirations. I happened to make acquaintance with a young Frenchman, +lively, spirited, and confident, who had sojourned at Constantinople for +a considerable time, and who bore there the character of prophet, +magician, and I know not what beside. The fact is, that he was a very +clever fellow, living on his wits, ever ready to turn his hand to any +thing, and numbering among his other accomplishments, a skill in +conjuring feats extraordinary even in the East. He used to exhibit +frequently before the Sultan, who always sent him away laden with +presents, and who would, probably, had he professed the Mohammedan +Faith, have made him his Prime Minister or his Lord High Admiral.</p> + +<p>There was nothing which this conjuror could not do. He told me that on +one occasion, dining in a numerous company, he had contrived to pick the +pocket of every one present, depriving one of his watch, another of his +purse, and a third of his pocket-handkerchief. As soon as the guests +discovered their losses, to which he managed to direct their attention, +a scene of violent excitement ensued, every one accusing his neighbor of +theft; and at last it was agreed that the police should be sent, for to +search the pockets of all present. The police arrived, and the search +was duly made, but without any effect. "I think," said the young +magician, "it would be but fair that the police should themselves +undergo the same scrutiny to which we have all submitted." The +suggestion was immediately acted on; and to the amazement of all +present, and especially of the supposed culprits, in the pockets of the +police all the missing articles were found.</p> + +<p>The life of this man had been strange and eventful. Having quarreled +with his family in early youth he had assumed an incognito, and enlisted +as a private soldier, I forget in what service. On one occasion, in his +first campaign, he was left for dead on the field of battle. In the +evening some peasants visited the field for the sake of plunder. He was +badly wounded, but had his wits sufficiently about him to know that, if +he wished not to have his throat cut, he had better lie still and feign +to be dead. In his turn he was visited by the marauders; but, as fame +goes, it turned out that while they were hunting after the few pence he +possessed, he contrived to lighten their pockets of their accumulated +spoil. He had grown tired of war, however, and had settled in +Constantinople, where he embarked in all manner of speculations, being +bent, among other things, upon establishing a theatre at Pera. In all +reverses he came down, like a cat, on his feet: he was sanguine and +good-humored, always disposed to shuffle the cards till the right one +came up; and, trusting a good deal to Fortune, while he improved what +she gave, he was of course rich in her good graces.</p> + +<p>One day this youth called on me, and mentioned that a chance had +befallen him which he should be glad to turn to account—particularly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +if sure of not making too intimate an acquaintance with the Bosphorus in +the attempt. A certain wealthy Turk had applied to him for assistance +under very trying domestic circumstances. His favorite wife had lost a +precious ring, which had doubtless been stolen either by one of his +other wives, under the influence of jealousy, or by a female slave. +Would the magician pay a visit to his house, recover the ring, and +expose the delinquent? "Now," said he, "if I once get within the walls, +I shall be sure to force my way into the female apartments on some +pretense. If I find the ring, all is well: but if not, this Turk will +discover that I have been making a fool of him. However, as he is a +favorite at court, and can not but know in what flattering estimation I +am held there, he will probably treat me with the distinction I deserve. +In fine, I will try it. Will you come, too? you can help me in my +incantations, which will serve as an excuse." The proposal was too +tempting to be rejected, and at the hour agreed on we set off in such +state as we could command (in the East, state is essential to respect), +jogging over the rough streets, in one of those hearse-like carriages +without springs, which bring one's bones upon terms of far too intimate +a mutual acquaintance.</p> + +<p>We reached at last a gate, which promised little; but ere long we found +ourselves in one of those "high-walled gardens, green and old," which +are among the glories of the East. Passing between rows of orange and +lemon-trees, we reached the house, where we were received by a goodly +retinue of slaves, and conducted, accompanied by our dragoman, through a +long suite of apartments. In the last of them stood a tall, handsome, +and rather youthful man, in splendid attire, who welcomed us with a +grave courtesy. We took our seats, and were presented in due form with +long pipes, and with coffee, to me far more acceptable. After a +sufficient interval of time had passed for the most meditative and +abstracted of men to remember his purpose, our host, reminded of what he +had apparently forgotten by my companion's conjuring robes, an +electrical machine, and other instruments of incantation, which the +slaves carried from our carriage, civilly inquired when we intended to +commence operations. "What operations?" demanded my companion, with much +apparent unconcern. "The discovery of the ring." "Whenever his highness +pleased, and it suited the female part of his household to make their +appearance," was the answer.</p> + +<p>At this startling proposition even the Oriental sedateness of our +majestic host gave way, and he allowed his astonishment and displeasure +to become visible. "Who ever heard," he demanded, "of the wives of a +true believer being shown to a stranger, and that stranger an Infidel +and a Frank?" As much astonished in our turn, we demanded, "When a +magician had ever been heard of, who could discover a stolen treasure +without being confronted either with the person who had lost or the +person who had appropriated it?" For at least two hours, though +relieved by intervals of silence, the battle was carried on with much +occasional vehemence on his part, and on ours with an assumption of +perfect indifference. Our host at last, perceiving that our obstinacy +was equal to the decrees of Fate, retired, as we were informed, to +consult his mother on the subject. In a few minutes he returned, and +assured us that our proposition was ridiculous; upon which we rose with +much dignified displeasure, and moved toward the door, stating that our +beards had been made little of. A grave-looking man who belonged to the +household of our host, and occupied apparently a sort of +semi-ecclesiastical position, now interposed, and after some +consultation it was agreed that as we were not mere men, but prophets, +and infidel saints, an exception might be made in our favor without +violation of the Mussulman law; not, indeed, to the extent of allowing +us to profane the inner sanctuary of the harem with our presence, but so +far as to admit us into in apartment adjoining it, where the women would +be summoned to attend us.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, we passed through a long suite of rooms, and at last found +ourselves in a chamber lofty and large, fanned by a breeze from the +Bosphorus, over which its lattices were suspended, skirted by a low +divan, covered with carpets and cushions, and "invested with purpureal +gleams" by the splendid hangings through which the light feebly strove. +Among a confused heap of crimson pillows and orange drapery, at the +remote end of the apartment, sat, or rather reclined, the mother of our +reluctant host. I could observe only that she was aged, and lay there as +still as if she had belonged to the vegetable, not the human world. +Usually she was half-vailed by the smoke of her long pipe; but when its +wreaths chanced to float aside or grow thin, her dark eyes were fixed +upon us with an expression half indifferent and half averse.</p> + +<p>Presently a murmur of light feet was heard in an adjoining chamber: on +it moved along the floor of the gallery; and in trooped the company of +wives and female slaves. They laughed softly and musically as they +entered, but seemed frightened also; and at once raising their shawls +and drawing down their vails, they glided simultaneously into a +semicircle, and stood there with hands folded on their breasts. I sat +opposite to them, drinking coffee and smoking, or pretending to smoke a +pipe eight feet long: at one side stood the Mollah and some male members +of the household: at the other stood the handsome husband, apparently +but little contented with the course matters had taken; and my friend, +the magician, moved about among the implements of his art clad in a +black gown spangled with flame-colored devices, strange enough to strike +a bold heart with awe. Beyond the semicircle stood two children, a boy +and a girl, holding in their hands twisted rods of barley-sugar about a +yard long each, which they sucked assiduously the whole time of our +visit. There they stood, mute and still as statues, with dark eyes +fixed, now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> on us, and now on the extremity of their sugar wands.</p> + +<p>My companion commenced operations by displaying a number of conjuring +tricks intended to impress all present with the loftiest opinion of his +powers, and stopped every now and then to make his dragoman explain that +it would prove in vain to endeavor to deceive a being endowed with such +gifts. To these expositions the women apparently paid but little +attention; but the conjuring feats delighted them; and again and again +they laughed until, literally, the head of each dropped on her +neighbor's shoulder. After a time the husband, who alone had never +appeared the least entertained, interposed, and asked the conjuror +whether he had yet discovered the guilty party. With the utmost +coolness, my friend replied, "Certainly not: how could he while His +Highness's wives continued vailed?" This new demand created new +confusion and a long debate: I thought, however, that the women seemed +rather to advocate our cause. The husband, the Mollah, and the mother +again consulted; and in another moment the vails had dropped, and the +beauty of many an Eastern nation stood before us revealed.</p> + +<p>Four of those unvailed Orientals were, as we were informed, wives, and +six were slaves. The former were beautiful indeed, though beautiful in +different degrees and in various styles of beauty: of the latter two +only. They were, all of them, tall, slender, and dark-eyed, "shadowing +high beauty in their airy brows," and uniting a mystical with a +luxurious expression, like that of Sibyls who had been feasting with +Cleopatra. There was something to me strange as well as lovely in their +aspect—as strange as their condition, which seems a state half-way +between marriage and widowhood. They see no man except their husband; +and a visit from him (except in the case of the favorite) is a rare and +marvelous occurrence, like an eclipse of the sun. Their bearing toward +each other was that of sisters: in their movements I remarked an +extraordinary sympathy, which was the more striking on account of their +rapid transitions from the extreme of alarm to child-like wonder, and +again to boundless mirth.</p> + +<p>The favorite wife was a Circassian, and a fairer vision it would not be +easy to see. Intellectual in expression she could hardly be called; yet +she was full of dignity, as well as of pliant grace and of sweetness. +Her large black eyes, beaming with a soft and stealthy radiance, seemed +as if they would have yielded light in the darkness; and the heavy waves +of her hair, which, in the excitement of the tumultuous scene, she +carelessly flung over her shoulders, gleamed like a mirror. Her +complexion was the most exquisite I have ever seen, its smooth and +pearly purity being tinged with a color, unlike that of flower or of +fruit, of bud or of berry, but which reminded me of the vivid and +delicate tints which sometimes streak the inside of a shell. Though tall +she seemed as light as if she had been an embodied cloud, hovering over +the rich carpets like a child that does not feel the weight of its body; +and though stately in the intervals of rest, her mirth was a sort of +rapture. She, too, had that peculiar luxuriousness of aspect, in no +degree opposed to modesty, which belongs to the East: around her lips +was wreathed, in their stillness, an expression at once pleasurable and +pathetic, which seemed ever ready to break forth into a smile: her hands +seemed to leave with regret whatever they had rested on, and in parting +to leave something behind; and in all her soft and witching beauty she +reminded me of Browning's lines—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"No swan-soft woman, rubbed in lucid oils.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gift of an enamored god, more fair."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As feat succeeded to feat, and enchantment to enchantment, all remnant +of reserve was discarded, and no trace remained of that commingled alarm +and pleased expectation which had characterized those beaming +countenances when first they emerged from their vails. Those fair women +floated around us, and tossed their hands in the air, wholly forgetting +that their husband was by. Still, however, we had made but little +progress in our inquiry; and when the magician informed them that they +had better not try to conceal any thing from him, their only answer was +a look that said, "You came here to give us pleasure, not to +cross-question us." Resolved to use more formidable weapons, he began to +arrange an electrical machine, when the Mollah, after glancing at it two +or three times, approached and asked him whether that instrument also +was supernatural. The quick-witted Frenchman replied at once, "By no +means; it is a mere scientific toy." Then, turning to me, he added, in a +low voice, "He has seen it before—probably, he has traveled." In a few +minutes, the women were ranged in a ring, and linked hand-in-hand. He +then informed them, through our interpreter, that if a discovery was not +immediately made, each person should receive, at the same moment, a blow +from an invisible hand; that, the second time, the admonition would be +yet severer; and that, the third time, if his warning was still +despised, the culprit would drop down dead. This announcement was heard +with much gravity, but no confession followed it: the shock was given, +and the lovely circle was speedily dislinked, "with shrieks and +laughter." Again the shock was given, and with the same effect; but this +time the laughter was more subdued. Before making his last essay, the +magician addressed them in a long speech, telling them that he had +already discovered the secret, that if the culprit confessed, he would +make intercession for her, but that, if she did not, she must take the +consequences. Still no confession was made. For the first time, my +confident friend looked downcast. "It will not do," he said to me; "the +ring can not be recovered: they know nothing about it: probably it was +lost. We can not fulfill our engagement; and, indeed, I wish," he added, +"that we were well out of all this."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> + +<p>I confess I wished the same, especially when I glanced at the master of +the household, who stood apart, gloomy as a thunder-cloud, and with the +look of a man who thinks himself in a decidedly false position. The +Easterns do not understand a jest, especially in a harem; and not being +addicted to irony (that great safety-valve for enthusiasm), they pass +rapidly from immovability to very significant and sometimes disagreeable +action. Speaking little, they deliver their souls by acting. I should +have been glad to hear our host talk, even though in a stormy voice: on +the whole, however, I trusted much to the self-possession and address of +my associate. Nor was I deceived. "Do as you see me do," he said to me +and the dragoman; and then, immediately after giving the third shock, +which was as ineffectual as those that preceded it, he advanced to our +grim host with a face radiant with satisfaction, and congratulated him +vehemently. "You are a happy man," he said. "Your household has not a +flaw in it. Fortunate it was that you sent for the wise man: I have +discovered the matter." "What have you discovered?" "The fate of the +ring. It has never been stolen: if it had, I would have restored it to +you. Fear nothing; your household is trustworthy and virtuous. I know +where the ring is; but I should deceive you if I bade you hope ever to +find it again. This is a great mystery, and the happy consummation +surpasses even my hopes. Adieu. The matter has turned out just as you +see. You were born under a lucky star. Happy is the man whose household +is trustworthy, and who, when his faith is tried, finds a faithful +counselor. I forbid you, henceforth and forever, to distrust any one of +your wives."</p> + +<p>It would be impossible to describe the countenance of our Mussulman +friend during this harangue. There he stood, like a tree half in +sunshine and half in shade; gratification struggling with displeasure in +his countenance, and wonder eclipsing both. It was not by any means our +policy to wait until he had adjusted the balance, and made up his mind +as to the exact degree of gratitude he owed his guests. On, accordingly, +we passed to the door. In a moment the instinct of courtesy prevailed, +and our host made a sign to one of his retinue. His slaves preceded us +with torches (it had grown late); and, accompanied by half the +household, as a guard of honor, we again traversed the large and +straggling house, passed through the garden, and entered the carriage +which waited for us beyond the wall. Our evening passed rapidly away as +we discussed our adventure; and I have more than once thought, with +pleasure, how amusing an incident the visit of the strangers must have +been to the secluded beauties. No doubt the baths of Constantinople have +rung with many a merry laugh occasioned by this invasion of the Franks. +Never, perhaps, have the inmates of a harem seen so much of the infidel +before, and conversed with him so familiarly, in the presence of their +husband.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Sharpe's Magazine.]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_WIFE_OF_KONG_TOLV14" id="THE_WIFE_OF_KONG_TOLV14"></a>THE WIFE OF KONG TOLV.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></h2> + +<h3>A FAIRY TALE OF SCANDINAVIA.</h3> + +<h4>BY THE AUTHOR "COLA MONTI."</h4> + + + +<p>Hyldreda Kalm stood at the door of her cottage, and looked abroad into +the quietness of the Sabbath morn. The village of Skjelskör lay at a +little distance down the vale, lighted by the sunshine of a Zealand +summer, which, though brief, is glowing and lovely even as that of the +south. Hyldreda had looked for seventeen years upon this beautiful +scene, the place where she was born. Sunday after Sunday she had stood +thus and listened for the distant tinkle of the church bell. A stranger, +passing by, might have said, how lovely were her face and form; but the +widowed mother, whose sole stay she was, and the little delicate sister, +who had been her darling from the cradle, would have answered, that if +none were so fair, none were likewise so good as Hyldreda; and that all +the village knew. If she did love to bestow greater taste and care on +her Sunday garments than most young damsels of her class, she had a +right—for was she not beautiful as any lady? And did not the eyes of +Esbern Lynge say so, when, week after week, he came up the hilly road, +and descended again to the little chapel, supporting the feeble mother's +slow steps, and watching his betrothed as she bounded on before, with +little Resa in her hand?</p> + +<p>"Is Esbern coming?" said the mother's voice within.</p> + +<p>"I know not—I did not look," answered Hyldreda, with a girlish +willfulness. "I saw only the sun shining on the river, and the oak-wood +waving in the breeze."</p> + +<p>"Look down the road, child; the time passes. Go quickly."</p> + +<p>"She is gone already," said Resa, laughing merrily. "She is standing +under the great elder-tree to wait for Esbern Lynge."</p> + +<p>"Call her back—call her back!" cried the mother, anxiously. "To stand +beneath an elder-tree, and this night will be St. John's Eve! On Sunday, +too, and she a Sunday child! Call her quickly, Resa."</p> + +<p>The little child lifted up her voice, "Hyld—"</p> + +<p>"Not her name—utter not her name!" And the widow Kalm went on muttering +to herself, "Perhaps the Hyldemoer<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> will not have heard. Alas the +day! when my child was born under an elder-tree, and I, poor desolate +mother! was terrified into giving my babe that name. Great Hyldemoer, be +propitiated! Holy Virgin!" and the widow's prayer became a curious +mingling of superstition and piety, "Blessed Mary! let not the elves +have power over my child! Have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> I not kept her heart from evil? does not +the holy cross lie on her pure breast day and night? Do I not lead her +every Sunday, winter and summer, in storm, sunshine, or snow, to the +chapel in the valley? And this day I will say for her a double prayer."</p> + +<p>The mother's counted beads had scarce come to an end when Hyldreda stood +by her side, and, following the light-footed damsel, came Esbern Lynge.</p> + +<p>"Child, why didst thou linger under the tree?" said the widow. "It does +not become a young maiden to stand flaunting outside her door. Who wert +thou watching so eagerly?"</p> + +<p>"Not thee, Esbern," laughed the girl, shaking her head at her betrothed, +who interposed with a happy conscious face; "I was looking at a grand +train that wound along the road, and thinking how pleasant it would be +to dress on a Sunday like the lady of the castle, and recline idly +behind four prancing horses instead of trudging on in these clumsy +shoes."</p> + +<p>The mother frowned, and Esbern Lynge looked sorrowful.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could give her all she longs for," sighed the young man, as +they proceeded on their way, his duteous arm supporting the widow, while +Hyldreda and Resa went bounding onward before them; "She is as beautiful +as a queen—I would that I could make her one."</p> + +<p>"Wish rather, Esbern, that Heaven may make her a pious, lowly-hearted +maid, and, in good time, a wife; that she may live in humility and +content, and die in peace among her own people."</p> + +<p>Esbern said nothing—he could not think of death and <i>her</i> together. So +he and the widow Kalm walked on silently—and so slowly that they soon +lost sight of the two blithe sisters.</p> + +<p>Hyldreda was talking merrily of the grand sight she had just seen, and +describing to little Resa the gilded coach, the prancing horses, with +glittering harness. "Oh! but it was a goodly train, as it swept down +toward the river. Who knows? Perhaps it may have been the king and queen +themselves."</p> + +<p>"No," said little Resa, rather fearfully, "you know Kong Tolv<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> never +lets any mortal king pass the bridge of Skjelskör."</p> + +<p>"<i>Kong Tolv!</i> what, more stories about Kong Tolv!" laughed the merry +maiden; "I never saw him; I wish I could see him, for then I might +believe in thy tales, little one."</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush!—But mother told me never to speak of these things to +thee," answered Resa; "unsay the wish, or some harm may come."</p> + +<p>"I care not! who would heed these elfin tales on such a lovely day? +Look, Resa, down that sunny meadow, where there is a cloud shadow +dancing on the grass; a strange cloud it is too, for it almost resembles +a human form."</p> + +<p>"It is Kong Tolv rolling himself in the sunshine," cried the trembling +child; "Look away, my sister, lest he should hear us."</p> + +<p>Again Hyldreda's fearless laugh made music through the still air, and +she kept looking back until they passed from the open road into the +gloom of the oak wood.</p> + +<p>"It is strange that thou shouldst be so brave," said Resa once more. "I +tremble at the very thought of the Elle-people of whom our villagers +tell, while thou hast not a single fear. Why is it, sister?"</p> + +<p>"I know not, save that I never yet feared any thing," answered Hyldreda, +carelessly. "As for Kong Tolv, let him come, I care not."</p> + +<p>While she spoke, a breeze swept through the oak wood, the trees began to +bend their tops, and the under branches were stirred with leafy +murmurings, as the young girl passed beneath. She lifted her fair face +to meet them. "Ah 'tis delicious, this soft scented wind; it touches my +face like airy kisses; it makes the leaves seem to talk to me in musical +whispers. Dost thou not hear them too, little Resa? and dost thou +not—?"</p> + +<p>Hyldreda suddenly stopped, and gazed eagerly down the road.</p> + +<p>"Well, sister," said Resa, "what art dreaming of now? Come, we shall be +late at church, and mother will scold." But the elder sister stood +motionless. "How strange thine eyes look; what dost thou see, Hyldreda."</p> + +<p>"Look—what is there!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, but a cloud of dust that the wind sweeps forward. Stand back, +sister, or it will blind thee."</p> + +<p>Still Hyldreda bent forward with admiring eyes, muttering, "Oh! the +grand golden chariot, with its four beautiful white horses! And therein +sits a man—surely it is the king! and the lady beside him is the queen. +See, she turns—"</p> + +<p>Hyldreda paused, dumb with wonder, for despite the gorgeous show of +jeweled attire, she recognized that face. It was the same she had looked +at an hour before in the little cracked mirror. The lady in the carriage +was the exact counterpart of herself!</p> + +<p>The pageant came and vanished. Little Resa turned round and wiped her +eyes—she, innocent child, had seen nothing but a cloud of dust. Her +elder sister answered not her questionings, but remained silent, +oppressed by a nameless awe. It passed not, even when the chapel was +reached, and Hyldreda knelt to pray. Above the sound of the hymn she +heard the ravishing music of the leaves in the oak wood, and instead of +the priest she seemed to behold the two dazzling forms which had sat +side by side in the golden chariot.</p> + +<p>When service was ended, and all went homewards, she lingered under the +trees where the vision, or reality, whichever it was, had met her sight, +half longing for its reappearance. But her mother whispered something to +Esbern, and they hurried Hyldreda away.</p> + +<p>She laid aside her Sunday mantle, the scarlet woof which to spin, weave, +and fashion, had cost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> her a world of pains. How coarse and ugly it +seemed! She threw it contemptuously aside, and thought how beautiful +looked the purple-robed lady, who was so like herself.</p> + +<p>"And why should I not be as fair as she? I should, if I were only +dressed as fine. Heaven might as well have made me a lady, instead of a +poor peasant girl."</p> + +<p>These repinings entered the young heart hitherto so pure and happy. They +haunted her even when she rejoined her mother, Resa, and Esbern Lynge. +She prepared the noonday meal, but her step was heavy and her hand +unwilling. The fare seemed coarse, the cottage looked dark and poor. She +wondered what sort of a palace home was that owned by the beautiful +lady; and whether the king, if king the stranger were, presided at his +banquet table as awkwardly as did Esbern Lynge at the mean board here.</p> + +<p>At the twilight, Hyldreda did not steal out as usual to talk with her +lover beneath the rose-porch. She went and hid herself out of his sight, +under the branches of the great elder-tree, which to her had always a +strange charm, perhaps because it was the spot of all others where she +was forbidden to stay. However, this day Hyldreda began to feel herself +to be no longer a child, but a woman whose will was free.</p> + +<p>She sat under the dreamy darkness of the heavy foliage. Its faint sickly +odor overpowered her like a spell. Even the white bunches of elder +flowers seemed to grow alive in the twilight, and to change into faces, +looking at her whithersoever she turned. She shut her eyes, and tried to +summon back the phantom of the golden chariot, and especially of the +king-like man who sat inside. Scarce had she seen him clearly, but she +felt he looked a king. If wishing could bring to her so glorious a +fortune, she would almost like to have, in addition to the splendors of +rich dress and grand palaces, such a noble-looking man for her lord and +husband.</p> + +<p>And the poor maiden was rudely awakened from her dream, by feeling on +her delicate shoulders the two heavy hands of Esbern Lynge.</p> + +<p>Haughtily she took them off. Alas! he, loving her so much, had ever been +lightly loved in return! to-day he was not loved at all. He came at an +ill time, for the moment his hand put aside the elder branches, all the +dazzling fancies of his betrothed vanished in air. He came, too, with an +ill-wooing, for he implored her to trifle no more, but to fulfill her +mother's hope and his, and enter as mistress at the little blacksmith's +forge. She, who had just been dreaming of a palace home! Not a word she +answered at first, and then cold, cruel words, worse than silence. So +Esbern, who, though a lover, was a manly-hearted youth, and thought it +shame to be mocked by a girl's light tongue, left her there and went +away, not angry, but very sorrowful.</p> + +<p>Little Resa came to summon her sister. But Hyldreda trembled before the +gathering storm, for widow Kalm, though a tender mother, was one who +well knew how to rule. Her loud, severe voice already warned the girl of +the reproof that was coming. To avoid it only for a little, until her +own proud spirit was calmed. Hyldreda told Resa she would not come in +until after she had taken a little walk down the moonlight road. As she +passed from under the elder-tree, she heard a voice, like her mother's, +and yet not her mother's—no, it could never be, for it shouted after +her,</p> + +<p>"Come now, or come no more!"</p> + +<p>Some evil impulse goaded the haughty girl to assert her womanly right of +free action, and she passed from her home, flying with swift steps. A +little, only a little absence, to show her indignant pride, and she +would be back again, to heal all strife. Nevertheless, ere she was +aware, Hyldreda had reached the oak-wood, beneath which she had seen the +morning's bewildering sight.</p> + +<p>And there again, brighter in the moonlight than it had ever seemed in +the day, came sweeping by the stately pageant. Its torches flung red +shadows on the trees, its wheels resounded through the night's quiet +with a music as of silver bells. And sitting in his state alone, grand +but smiling, was the lord of all this splendor.</p> + +<p>The chariot stopped, and he dismounted. Then the whole train vanished, +and, shorn of all his glories, except a certain brightness which his +very presence seemed to shed, the king, if he were indeed such, stood +beside the trembling peasant maid.</p> + +<p>He did not address her, but looked in her face inquiringly, until +Hyldreda felt herself forced to be the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"My lord, who art thou, and what is thy will with me?"</p> + +<p>He smiled. "Thanks, gentle maiden, for thy question has taken off the +spell. Otherwise it could not be broken, even by Kong Tolv."</p> + +<p>Hyldreda shuddered with fear. Her fingers tried to seize the cross which +always lay on her breast, but no! she had thrown aside the coarse black +wooden crucifix, while dreaming of ornaments of gold. And it was St. +John's Eve, and she stood beneath the haunted oak-wood. No power had she +to fly, and her prayers died on her lips, for she knew herself in the +Hill-king's power.</p> + +<p>Kong Tolv began to woo, after the elfin fashion, brief and bold. "Fair +maiden, the Dronningstolen<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> is empty, and 'tis thou must fill it. +Come and enter my palace under the hill."</p> + +<p>But the maiden sobbed out that she was too lowly to sit on a queen's +chair, and that none of mortals, save the dead, made their home +underground. And she prayed the Elle-king to let her go back to her +mother and little Resa.</p> + +<p>He only laughed. "Wouldst be content, then, with the poor cottage, and +the black bread, and the labor from morn till eve. Didst thou not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> of +thyself wish for a palace and a lord like me? And did not the Hyldemoer +waft me the wish, so that I came to meet and welcome thee under the +hill?"</p> + +<p>Hyldreda made one despairing effort to escape, but she heard again Kong +Tolv's proud laugh, and looking up, she saw that the thick oak-wood had +changed to an army. In place of every tree stood a fierce warrior, ready +to guard every step. She thought it must be all a delirious dream that +would vanish with the morning. Suddenly she heard the far village clock +strike the hour. Mechanically she counted—one—two—three—four—up to +<i>twelve</i>.</p> + +<p>As she pronounced the last word, Kong Tolv caught her in his arms, +saying, "Thou hast named me and art mine."</p> + +<p>Instantly all the scene vanished, and Hyldreda found herself standing on +the bleak side of a little hill, alone in the moonlight. But very soon +the clear night darkened, and a heavy storm arose. Trembling, she looked +around for shelter, and saw in the hill-side a tiny door, which seemed +to invite her to enter. She did so! In a moment she stood dazzled by a +blaze of light—a mortal amidst the festival of the elves. She heard the +voice of Kong Tolv, half-speaking, half-singing,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Welcome, maiden, fair and free,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou hast come of thyself in the hill to me;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stay thou here, nor thy fate deplore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou hast come of thyself in at my door."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And bewildered by the music, the dance, and the splendor, Hyldreda +remembered no more the cottage, with its one empty chair, nor the +miserable mother, nor the little sister straining her weeping eyes along +the lonely road.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The mortal maiden became the Elle-king's bride, and lived in the hill +for seven long years; at least, so they seemed in Elfinland, where time +passes like the passing of a strain of music, that dies but to be again +renewed. Little thought had she of the world above ground, for in the +hill-palace was continual pleasure, and magnificence without end. No +remembrance of lost kindred troubled her, for she sat in the +Dronningstolen, and all the elfin people bowed down before the wife of +the mighty Kong Tolv.</p> + +<p>She might have lived so always, with no desire ever to go back to earth, +save that one day she saw trickling down through the palace roof a +pearly stream. The elves fled away, for they said it was some mortal +weeping on the grassy hill overhead. But Hyldreda staid and looked on +until the stream settled into a clear, pellucid pool. A sweet mirror it +made, and the Hill-king's bride ever loved to see her own beauty. So she +went and gazed down into the shining water.</p> + +<p>There she beheld—not the image of the elfin-queen, but of the peasant +maid, with her mantle of crimson wool, her coarse dress, and her black +crucifix. She turned away in disgust, but soon her people brought her +elfin mirrors, wherein she could see her present self, gorgeously clad, +and a thousand times more fair. It kindled in her heart a proud desire.</p> + +<p>She said to her lord, "Let me go back for a little while to my native +village, and my ancient home, that I may show them all my splendor, and +my greatness. Let me enter, sitting in my gilded chariot, with the four +white horses, and feel myself as queen-like as the lady I once saw +beneath the oak-wood."</p> + +<p>Kong Tolv laughed, and assented. "But," he said, "keep thy own proud +self the while. The first sigh, the first tear, and I carry thee back +into the hill with shame."</p> + +<p>So Hyldreda left the fairy-palace, sweeping through the village, with a +pageant worthy a queen. Thus in her haughtiness, after seven years had +gone by, she came to her mother's door.</p> + +<p>Seven years, none of which had cast one shadow on the daughter's beauty. +But time and grief together had bowed the mother almost to the verge of +the grave. The one knew not the other, until little Resa came between; +little Resa, who looked her sister's olden self, blooming in the +sweetness of seventeen. Nothing to her was the magnificence of the +beautiful guest; she only saw Hyldreda, the lost and found.</p> + +<p>"Where hast thou been?" said the mother, doubtfully, when in answer to +all their caresses, the stately lady only looked on them with a proud +smile; "Who gave thee those grand dresses, and put the matron's vail +upon thy hair?"</p> + +<p>"I am the Hill-king's wife," said Hyldreda. "I dwell in a gorgeous +palace, and sit on a queen's throne."</p> + +<p>"God preserve thee!" answered the mother. But Hyldreda turned away, for +Kong Tolv had commanded her never to hear or utter the holy Name. She +began to inquire about her long-forgotten home, but half-carelessly, as +if she had no interest in it now.</p> + +<p>"And who was it," she asked, "that wept on the hill-side until the tears +dropped through, staining my palace walls?"</p> + +<p>"I," answered Resa, blushing; and then Hyldreda perceived that, young as +she was, the girl wore the matron's head-tire. "I, sitting there with my +babe, wept to think of my poor sister who died long ago, and never knew +the sweetness of wifehood and motherhood. And almost it grieved me, to +think that my love had blotted out the bitterness of her memory even +from the heart of Esbern Lynge."</p> + +<p>At the name, proudly laughed the elder sister, "Take thy husband, and be +happy, girl; I envy thee not; I am the wife of the great Hill-king."</p> + +<p>"And does thy lord love thee? Does he sit beside thee at eve, and let +thee lean thy tired head on his breast, as Esbern does with me? And hast +thou young children dancing about thy feet, and a little blue-eyed one +to creep dove-like to thy heart at nights, as mine does? Say, dear +sister, art thou as happy as I?"</p> + +<p>Hyldreda paused. Earth's sweet ties arose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> before her, and the grandeur +of her lot seemed only loneliness. Forgetting her lord's command, she +sighed, she even wept one regretful tear; and that moment in her +presence stood Kong Tolv.</p> + +<p>"Kill me, but save my mother, my sister," cried the wife, with a broken +heart. The prayer was needless; <i>they</i> saw not the Elle-king, and he +marked not them—he only bore away Hyldreda, singing mockingly in her +ear something of the same rhyme which had bound her his:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Complainest thou here all drearily—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Camest thou not of thyself in the hill to me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And stayest thou here thy lot to deplore?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Camest thou not of thyself in at my door?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When the mother and sister of Hyldreda lifted up their eyes, they saw +nothing but a cloud of dust sweeping past the cottage-door, they heard +nothing but the ancient elder-tree howling aloud as its branches were +tossed about in a gust of wintry wind.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Kong Tolv took back to the hill his mortal bride. There he set her in a +golden chair, and brought to her to drink a silver horn of elfin-wine, +in the which he had dropped an ear of wheat. At the first draught, she +forgot the village where she had dwelt—at the second, she forgot the +sister who had been her darling—at the third, she forgot the mother who +bore her. Again she rejoiced in the glories of the fairy-palace, and in +the life of never-ceasing pleasure.</p> + +<p>Month after month rolled by—by her scarce counted, or counted only in +jest, as she would number a handful of roses, all held so fast and sure, +that none could fall or fade; or as she would mark one by one the little +waves of a rivulet whose source was eternally flowing.</p> + +<p>Hyldreda thought no more of any earthly thing, until there came, added +to her own, a young, new life. When her beautiful babe, half-elf, +half-mortal, nestled in her woman's breast, it wakened there the +fountain of human love, and of long-forgotten memories.</p> + +<p>"Oh! let me go home once—once more," she implored of her lord. "Let me +go to ask my mother's forgiveness, and above all, to crave the church's +blessing on this my innocent babe."</p> + +<p>Kong Tolv frowned, and then looked sad. For it is the one great sorrow +of the Elle-people, that they, with all others of the elfin race, are +shut out from Heaven's mercy. Therefore do they often steal mortal +wives, and strive to have their children christened according to holy +rite, in order to participate in the blessings granted to the offspring +of Adam.</p> + +<p>"Do as thou wilt," the Hill-king answered; "but know, there awaits a +penalty. In exchange for a soul, must be given a life."</p> + +<p>His dark saying fell coldly on the heart of the young mother. It +terrified her for a time, but soon the sweet strange wiles of her +elfin-babe beguiled her into renewed happiness; so that her longing +faded away.</p> + +<p>The child grew not like a mortal child. An unearthly beauty was in its +face; wondrous precocious signs marked it from its birth. Its +baby-speech was very wisdom. Its baby-smile was full of thought. The +mother read her olden soul—the pure soul that was hers of yore—in her +infant's eyes.</p> + +<p>One day when Hyldreda was following the child in its play, she noticed +it disappear through what seemed the outlet of the fairy-palace, which +outlet she herself had never been able to find. She forgot that her boy +was of elfin as well as of mortal race. Out it passed, the mother +eagerly pursuing, until she found herself with the child in a meadow +near the village of Skjelskör, where years ago she had often played. It +was on a Sunday morning, and cheerfully yet solemnly rang out the +chapel-bells. All the sounds and sights of earth came back upon her, +with a longing that would not be restrained.</p> + +<p>In the white frozen grass, for it was wintertime, knelt the wife of Kong +Tolv, holding fast to her bosom the elfin babe, who shivered at every +blast of wind, yet, shivering, seemed to smile. Hyldreda knelt, until +the chapel-bells ceased at service-time. And then there came bursting +from her lips the long-sealed prayers, the prayers of her childhood. +While she breathed them, the rich fairy garments crumbled from her, and +she remained clad in the coarse dress she wore when Kong Tolv carried +her away; save that it hung in miserable tatters, as if worn for years, +and through its rents the icy wind pierced her bosom, so that the heart +within might have sunk and died, but for the ever-abiding warmth of +maternal love.</p> + +<p><i>That</i> told her how in one other mother's heart there must be warmth +still.</p> + +<p>"I will go home," she murmured, "I will say, 'Mother, take me in and +save me, or else I die!'" And so, when the night closed, and all the +villagers were safe at home, and none could mock at her and her misery, +the poor desolate one crept to her mother's door.</p> + +<p>It had been open to her even when she came in her pride; how would it be +closed against her sorrow and humility? And was there ever a true +mother's breast, that while life yet throbbed there, was not a refuge +for a repentant child?</p> + +<p>Hyldreda found shelter and rest. But the little elfin babe, unused to +the air of earth, uttered continual moanings. At night, the strange eyes +never closed, but looked at her with a dumb entreaty. And tenfold +returned the mother's first desire, that her darling should become a +"christened child."</p> + +<p>Much the old grandame gloried in this, looking with distrust on the +pining, withered babe. But keenly upon Hyldreda's memory came back the +saying of Kong Tolv, that for a soul would be exchanged a life. It must +be <i>hers</i>. That, doubtless, was the purchase; and thus had Heaven +ordained the expiation of her sin. If so, meekly she would offer it, so +that Heaven would admit into its mercy her beloved child.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> It was in the +night—in the cold white night, that the widow Kalm, with her daughter +and the mysterious babe, came to the chapel of Skjelskör. All the way +thither they had been followed by strange, unearthly noises; and as they +passed beneath the oak-wood, it seemed as if the overhanging branches +were transformed into giant hands, that evermore snatched at the child. +But in vain; for the mother held it fast, and on its little breast she +had laid the wooden cross which she herself used to wear when a girl. +Bitterly the infant had wailed, but when they crossed the threshold of +the chapel, it ceased, and a smile broke over its face—a smile pure and +saintly, such as little children wear, lying in a sleep so beautiful +that the bier seems like the cradle.</p> + +<p>The mother beheld it, and thought, What if her foreboding should be +true; that the moment which opened the gate of Heaven's mercy unto her +babe, should close upon herself life and life's sweetnesses? But she +felt no fear.</p> + +<p>"Let me kiss thee once again, my babe, my darling!" she murmured; +"perhaps I may never kiss thee more. Even now, I feel as if my eyes were +growing dark, and thy little face were gliding from my sight. But I can +let thee go, my sweet! God will take care of thee, and keep thee safe, +even amidst this bitter world."</p> + +<p>She clasped and kissed the child once more, and, kneeling, calm, but +very pale, she awaited whatever might be her doom.</p> + +<p>The priest, performing by stealth what he almost deemed a desecration of +the hallowed rite, began to read the ceremony over the fairy babe. All +the while, it looked at him with those mysterious eyes, so lately opened +to the world, yet which seemed to express the emotions of a whole +existence. But when the sprinkled water touched them, they closed, +softly, slowly, like a blue flower at night.</p> + +<p>The mother, still living, and full of thankful wonder that she did live, +took from the priest's arms her recovered treasure, her Christian child. +It lay all smiling, but it lifted not its eyes: the color was fading on +its lips, and its little hands were growing cold. For it—not for her, +had been the warning. It had rendered up its little life, and received +an immortal soul.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>For years after this, there abode in the village of Skjelskör a woman +whom some people thought was an utter stranger, for none so grave, and +at the same time so good, was ever known among the light-hearted people +of Zealand. Others said that if any one could come back alive from fairy +land, the woman must be Hyldreda Kalm. But as later generations arose, +they mocked at the story of Kong Tolv and the palace under the hill, and +considered the whole legend but an allegory, the moral of which they did +not fail to preach to their fair young daughters continually.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, this woman had surely once lived, for her memory, embalmed +by its own rich virtues, long lingered in the place where she had dwelt. +She must have died there, too, for they pointed out her grave, and a +smaller one beside it, though whose that was, none knew. There was a +tradition that when she died—it was on a winter night, and the clock +was just striking <i>twelve</i>—there arose a stormy wind which swept +through the neighboring oak-wood, laying every tree prostrate on the +ground. And from that hour there was no record of the Elle-people or the +mighty Kong Tolv having been ever again seen in Zealand.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The idea of this story is partly taken from a Danish +<i>Visa</i>, or legendary ballad, entitled "Proud Margaret."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Hyldemoer</i>, elder-mother, is the name of a Danish elf +inhabiting the elder-tree. <i>Eda</i> signifies a grandmother or female +ancestor. Children born on Sundays were especially under the power of +the elves.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Kong Tolv, or <i>King Twelve</i>, is one of the Elle-kings who +divide the fairy sovereignty of Zealand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Dronningstolen, or Queen's Chair.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From the Dublin University Magazine.]</h4> + +<h2><a name="MAURICE_TIERNAY_THE_SOLDIER_OF_FORTUNE" id="MAURICE_TIERNAY_THE_SOLDIER_OF_FORTUNE"></a>MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.</h2> + +<h4>[<i>Continued from Page 233.</i>]</h4> + + + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>"THE ARMY SIXTY YEARS SINCE."</h4> + +<p>I followed the soldiers as they marched beyond the outer boulevard, and +gained the open country. Many of the idlers dropped off here; others +accompanied us a little further; but at length, when the drums ceased to +beat, and were slung in marching order on the backs of the drummers, +when the men broke into the open order that French soldiers +instinctively assume on a march, the curiosity of the gazers appeared to +have nothing more to feed upon, and one by one they returned to the +capital, leaving me the only lingerer.</p> + +<p>To any one accustomed to military display, there was little to attract +notice in the column, which consisted of detachments from various corps, +horse, foot, and artillery; some were returning to their regiments after +a furlough; some had just issued from the hospitals, and were seated in +charettes, or country-cars; and, others, again, were peasant boys only a +few days before drawn in the conscription. There was every variety of +uniform, and, I may add, of raggedness, too—a coarse blouse and a pair +of worn shoes, with a red or blue handkerchief on the head, being the +dress of many among them. The republic was not rich in those days, and +cared little for the costume in which her victories were won. The +artillery alone seemed to preserve any thing like uniformity in dress. +They wore a plain uniform of blue, with long white gaiters coming half +way up the thigh; a low cocked hat, without feather, but with the +tricolored cockade in front. They were mostly men middle-aged, or past +the prime of life, bronzed, weather-beaten, hardy-looking fellows, whose +white mustaches contrasted well with their sunburned faces. All their +weapons and equipments were of a superior kind, and showed the care +bestowed upon an arm whose efficiency was the first discovery of the +republican generals. The greater number of these were Bretons, and +several of them had served in the fleet, still bearing in their looks +and carriage something of that air which seems inherent in the seaman. +They were grave, serious, and almost stern in manner, and very unlike +the young cavalry soldiers, who, mostly recruited from the south<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> of +France, many of them Gascons, had all the high-hearted gayety and +reckless levity of their own peculiar land. A campaign to these fellows +seemed a pleasant excursion; they made a jest of every thing, from the +wan faces of the invalids, to the black bread of the "Commissary;" they +quizzed the new "Tourleroux," as the recruits were styled, and the old +"Grumblers," as it was the fashion to call the veterans of the army; +they passed their jokes on the republic, and even their own officers +came in for a share of their ridicule. The grenadiers, however, were +those who especially were made the subject of their sarcasm. They were +generally from the north of France, and the frontier country toward +Flanders, whence they probably imbibed a portion of that phlegm and +moroseness so very unlike the general gayety of French nature; and when +assailed by such adversaries, were perfectly incapable of reply or +retaliation.</p> + +<p>They all belonged to the army of the "Sambre et Meuse," which, although +at the beginning of the campaign highly distinguished for its successes, +had been latterly eclipsed by the extraordinary victories on the Upper +Rhine and in Western Germany; and it was curious to hear with what +intelligence and interest the greatest questions of strategy were +discussed by those who carried their packs as common soldiers in the +ranks. Movements and manœuvres were criticised, attacked, defended, +ridiculed, and condemned, with a degree of acuteness and knowledge that +showed the enormous progress the nation had made in military science, +and with what ease the republic could recruit her officers from the +ranks of her armies.</p> + +<p>At noon the column halted in the wood of Belleville; and while the men +were resting, an express arrived announcing that a fresh body of troops +would soon arrive, and ordering the others to delay their march till +they came up. The orderly who brought the tidings could only say that he +believed some hurried news had come from Germany, for before he left +Paris the rappel was beating in different quarters, and the rumor ran +that reinforcements were to set out for Strasbourg with the utmost +dispatch.</p> + +<p>"And what troops are coming to join us?" said an old artillery sergeant, +in evident disbelief of the tidings.</p> + +<p>"Two batteries of artillery and the voltigeurs of the 4th, I know for +certain are coming," said the orderly, "and they spoke of a battalion of +grenadiers."</p> + +<p>"What! do these Germans need another lesson," said the cannonier, "I +thought Fleurus had taught them what our troops were made of?"</p> + +<p>"How you talk of Fleurus," interrupted a young hussar from the south; "I +have just come from the army of Italy, and, ma foi! we should never have +mentioned such a battle as Fleurus in a dispatch. Campaigning among +dykes and hedges—fighting with a river on one flank and a fortress on +the t'other—parade manœuvres—where, at the first check, the enemy +retreats, and leaves you free, for the whole afternoon, to write off +your successes to the Directory. Had you seen our fellows scaling the +Alps, with avalanches of snow descending at every fire of the great +guns—forcing pass after pass against an enemy, posted on every cliff +and crag above us—cutting our way to victory by roads the hardiest +hunter had seldom trod; I call that war."</p> + +<p>"And I call it the skirmish of an outpost!" said the gruff veteran, as +he smoked away, in thorough contempt for the enthusiasm of the other. "I +have served under Kleber, Hoche, and Moreau, and I believe they are the +first generals of France."</p> + +<p>"There is a name greater than them all," cried the hussar with +eagerness.</p> + +<p>"Let us hear it, then—you mean Pichegru, perhaps, or Massena?"</p> + +<p>"No, I mean Bonaparte!" said the hussar, triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"A good officer, and one of us," said the artilleryman, touching his +belt to intimate the arm of the service the general belonged to "He +commanded the seige-train at Toulon."</p> + +<p>"He belongs to all," said the other. "He is a dragoon, a voltigeur, an +artillerist, a pontonièr—what you will—he knows every thing, as I know +my horse's saddle, and cloak-bag."</p> + +<p>Both parties now grew warm; and as each was not only an eager partisan, +but well acquainted with the leading events of the two campaigns they +undertook to defend, the dispute attracted a large circle of listeners, +who, either seated on the green-sward, or lying at full length, formed a +picturesque group under the shadow of the spreading oak trees. Mean +while the cooking went speedily forward, and the camp-kettles smoked +with a steam whose savory odor was not a little tantalizing to one who, +like myself, felt that he did not belong to the company.</p> + +<p>"What's thy mess, boy?" said an old grenadier to me, as I sat at a +little distance off, and affecting—but I fear very ill—a total +indifference to what went forward.</p> + +<p>"He is asking to what corps thou belong'st?" said another, seeing that +the question puzzled me.</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately I have none," said I. "I merely followed the march for +curiosity."</p> + +<p>"And thy father and mother, child—what will they say to thee on thy +return home?"</p> + +<p>"I have neither father, nor mother, nor home," said I, promptly.</p> + +<p>"Just like myself," said an old red-whiskered sapeur; "or if I ever had +parents, they never had the grace to own me. Come over here child, and +take share of my dinner."</p> + +<p>"No, parbleu! I'll have him for <i>my</i> comrade," cried the young hussar. +"I was made a corporal yesterday, and have a large ration. Sit here, my +boy, and tell us how art called."</p> + +<p>"Maurice Tierney."</p> + +<p>"Maurice will do; few of us care for more than one name, except in the +dead muster they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> like to have it in full. Help thyself, my lad, and +here's the wine-flask beside thee."</p> + +<p>"How comes it thou hast this old uniform, boy," said he, pointing to my +sleeve.</p> + +<p>"It was one they gave me in the Temple," said I. "I was a 'rat du +prison' for some time."</p> + +<p>"Thunder of war!" exclaimed the cannonier, "I had rather stand a whole +platoon fire than see what thou must have seen, child."</p> + +<p>"And hast heart to go back there, boy," said the corporal, "and live the +same life again?"</p> + +<p>"No, I'll never go back," said I. "I'll be a soldier."</p> + +<p>"Well said, mon brave—thou'lt be a hussar, I know."</p> + +<p>"If nature has given thee a good head, and a quick eye, my boy, thou +might even do better; and in time, perhaps, wear a coat like mine," said +the cannonier.</p> + +<p>"Sacre bleu!" cried a little fellow, whose age might have been any thing +from boyhood to manhood—for while small of stature, he was shriveled +and wrinkled like a mummy—"why not be satisfied with the coat he +wears?"</p> + +<p>"And be a drummer, like thee," said the cannonier.</p> + +<p>"Just so, like me, and like Massena—he was a drummer, too."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried a dozen voices together, "that's not true."</p> + +<p>"He's right; Massena <i>was</i> a drummer in the Eighth," said the cannonier; +"I remember him when he was like that boy yonder."</p> + +<p>"To be sure," said the little fellow, who, I now perceived, wore the +dress of a "tambour;" "and is it a disgrace to be the first to face the +enemy?"</p> + +<p>"And the first to turn his back to him, comrade," cried another.</p> + +<p>"Not always—not always"—said the little fellow, regardless of the +laugh against him. "Had it been so, I had not gained the battle of +Grandrengs on the Sambre."</p> + +<p>"Thou gain a battle!" shouted half-a-dozen, in derisive laughter.</p> + +<p>"What, Petit Pièrre gained the day at Grandrengs!" said the cannonier; +"why, I was there myself, and never heard of that till now."</p> + +<p>"I can believe it well," replied Pièrre; "many a man's merits go +unacknowledged: and Kleber got all the credit that belonged to Pièrre +Canot."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear about it, Pièrre, for even thy victory is unknown by name +to us, poor devils of the army of Italy. How call'st thou the place?"</p> + +<p>"Grandrengs," said Pièrre, proudly. "It's a name will live as long, +perhaps, as many of those high-sounding ones you have favored us with. +Mayhap, thou hast heard of Cambray?"</p> + +<p>"Never!" said the hussar, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"Nor of 'Mons,' either, I'll be sworn?" continued Pièrre.</p> + +<p>"Quite true, I never heard of it before."</p> + +<p>"Voila!" exclaimed Pièrre, in contemptuous triumph. "And these are the +fellows who pretend to feel their country's glory, and take pride in her +conquests. Where hast thou been, lad, not to hear of places that every +child syllables nowadays?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you where I've been," said the hussar, haughtily, and +dropping at the same time the familiar "thee" and "thou" of soldier +intercourse—"I've been at Montenotte, at Millesimo, at Mondove—"</p> + +<p>"Allons, done! with your disputes," broke in an old grenadier; "as if +France was not victorious whether the enemies were English or German. +Let us hear how Pièrre won his battle—at—at—"</p> + +<p>"At Grandrengs," said Pièrre. "They call it in the dispatch the 'action +of the Sambre,' because Kleber came up there—and Kleber being a great +man, and Pièrre Canot a little one, you understand, the glory attaches +to the place where the bullion epaulets are found—just as the old King +of Prussia used to say, 'Dieu est toujours a coté de gros bataillons.'"</p> + +<p>"I see we'll never come to this same victory of Grandrengs, with all +these turnings and twistings," muttered the artillery sergeant.</p> + +<p>"Thou art very near it now, comrade, if thou'lt listen," said Pièrre, as +he wiped his mouth after a long draught of the vine-flask. "I'll not +weary the honorable company with any description of the battle +generally, but just confine myself to that part of it, in which I was +myself in action. It is well known, that though we claimed the victory +of the 10th May, we did little more than keep our own, and were obliged +to cross the Sambre, and be satisfied with such a position as enabled us +to hold the two bridges over the river—and there we remained for four +days: some said preparing for a fresh attack upon Kaunitz, who commanded +the allies; some, and I believe they were right, alleging that our +generals were squabbling all day, and all night, too, with two +commissaries that the government had sent down to teach us how to win +battles. Ma foi! we had had some experience in that way ourselves, +without learning the art from two citizens with tricolored scarfs round +their waists, and yellow tops to their boots! However that might be, +early on the morning of the 20th we received orders to cross the river +in two strong columns and form on the opposite side; at the same time +that a division was to pass the stream by boat two miles higher up, and, +concealing themselves in a pine wood, be ready to take the enemy in +flank, when they believed that all the force was in the front.</p> + +<p>"Sacre tonnerre! I believe that our armies of the Sambre and the Rhine +never have any other notion of battles than that eternal flank +movement!" cried a young sergeant of the voltigeurs, who had just come +up from the army of Italy. "Our general used to split the enemy by the +centre, out him piecemeal by attack in columns, and then head him down +with artillery at short range—not leaving him time for a retreat in +heavy masses—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Silence, silence, and let us hear Petit Pièrre," shouted a dozen +voices, who cared far more for an incident, than a scientific discussion +about manœuvres.</p> + +<p>"The plan I speak of was General Moreau's," continued Pièrre; "and I +fancy that your Bonaparte has something to learn ere he be <i>his</i> equal!"</p> + +<p>This rebuke seeming to have engaged the suffrages of the company, he +went on: "The boat division consisted of four battalions of infantry, +two batteries of light-artillery, and a voltigeur company of the +"Regiment de Marbœuf"—to which I was then, for the time, attached as +"Tambour en chef." What fellows they were—the greatest devils in the +whole army! They came from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and were as +reckless and undisciplined as when they strutted the streets of Paris. +When they were thrown out to skirmish, they used to play as many tricks +as school-boys: sometimes they'd run up to the roof of a cabin or a +hut—and they could climb like cats—and, sitting down on the chimney, +begin firing away at the enemy, as coolly as from a battery; sometimes +they'd capture half-a-dozen asses, and ride forward as if to charge, and +then, affecting to tumble off, the fellows would pick down any of the +enemy's officers that were fools enough to come near—scampering back to +the cover of the line, laughing and joking as if the whole were sport. I +saw one—when his wrist was shattered by a shot, and he couldn't +fire—take a comrade on his back and caper away like a horse, just to +tempt the Germans to come out of their lines. It was with these blessed +youths I was now to serve, for the Tambour of the Marbœuf was drowned +in crossing the Sambre a few days before. Well, we passed the river +safely, and, unperceived by the enemy, gained the pine wood, where we +formed in two columns, one of attack, and the other of support, the +voltigeurs about five hundred paces in advance of the leading files. The +morning was dull and hazy, for a heavy rain had fallen during the night, +and the country is flat, and so much intersected with drains, and dykes, +and ditches, that, after rain, the vapor is too thick to see twenty +yards on any side. Our business was to make a counter-march to the +right, and, guided by the noise of the cannonade, to come down upon the +enemy's flank in the thickest of the engagement. As we advanced, we +found ourselves in a kind of marshy plain, planted with willows, and so +thick, that it was often difficult for three men to march abreast. This +extended for a considerable distance, and, on escaping from it, we saw +that we were not above a mile from the enemy's left, which rested on a +little village."</p> + +<p>"I know it well," broke in the cannonier; "it's called Huyningen."</p> + +<p>"Just so. There was a formidable battery in position there; and part of +the place was stockaded, as if they expected an attack. Still there were +no videttes, nor any look-out party, so far as we could see; and our +commanding officer didn't well know what to make of it, whether it was a +point of concealed strength, or a position they were about to withdraw +from. At all events, it required caution; and, although the battle had +already begun on the right—as a loud cannonade and a heavy smoke told +us—he halted the brigade in the wood, and held a council of his +officers to see what was to be done. The resolution come to was, that +the voltigeurs should advance alone to explore the way, the rest of the +force remaining in ambush. We were to go out in sections of companies, +and, spreading over a wide surface, see what we could of the place.</p> + +<p>"Scarcely was the order given, when away we went; and it was now a race +who should be earliest up, and exchange first shot with the enemy. Some +dashed forward over the open field in front; others skulked along by +dykes and ditches; some, again, dodged here and there, as cover offered +its shelter; but about a dozen, of whom I was one, kept the track of +little cart-road, which, half-concealed by high banks and furze, ran in +a zig-zag line toward the village. I was always smart of foot; and now, +having newly joined the 'voltigeurs,' was naturally eager to show myself +not unworthy of my new associates. I went on at my best pace, and being +lightly equipped—neither musket nor ball-cartridge to carry—I soon out +stripped them all; and, after about twenty minutes' brisk running, saw +in front of me a long, low farm-house, the walls all pierced for +musketry, and two small eight-pounders in battery at the gate. I looked +back for my companions, but they were not up, not a man of them to be +seen. 'No matter,' thought I 'they'll be here soon; meanwhile, I'll make +for that little copse of brushwood;' for a small clump of low furze and +broom was standing at a little distance in front of the farm. All this +time, I ought to say, not a man of the enemy was to be seen, although I, +from where I stood, could see the crenelated walls, and the guns, as +they were pointed: at a distance all would seem like an ordinary +peasant-house.</p> + +<p>"As I crossed the open space to gain the copse, piff! came a bullet, +whizzing past me; and just as I reached the cover, piff! came another. I +ducked my head, and made for the thicket, but just as I did so, my foot +caught in a branch. I stumbled, and pitched forward; and, trying to save +myself, I grasped a bough above me. It smashed suddenly, and down I +went. Ay! down sure enough, for I went right through the furze, and into +a well—one of those old, walled wells they have in these countries, +with a huge bucket that fills up the whole space, and is worked by a +chain. Luckily the bucket was linked up near the top, and caught me, or +I should have gone where there would have been no more heard of Pièrre +Canot; as it was, I was sorely bruised by the fall, and didn't recover +myself for full ten minutes after. Then I discovered that I was sitting +in a large wooden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> trough, hooped with iron, and supported by two heavy +chains that passed over a windlass, about ten feet above my head.</p> + +<p>"I was safe enough, for the matter of that; at least none were likely to +discover me, as I could easily see, by the rust of the chain and he +grass-grown edges, that the well had been long disused. Now the position +was far from being pleasant. There stood the farm-house, full of +soldiers, the muskets ranging over every approach to where I lay. Of my +comrades, there was nothing to be seen, they had either missed the way +or retreated: and so time crept on, and I pondered on what might be +going forward elsewhere, and whether it would ever be my own fortune to +see my comrades again.</p> + +<p>"It might be an hour—it seemed three or four to me—after this, as I +looked over the plain, I saw the caps of our infantry just issuing over +the brushwood, and a glancing lustre of their bayonets, as the sun +tipped them. They were advancing, but, as it seemed, slowly—halting at +times, and then moving forward again, just like a force waiting for +others to come up. At last they debouched into the plain; but, to my +surprise, they wheeled about to the right, leaving the farm-house on +their flank, as if to march beyond it. This was to lose their way +totally: nothing would be easier than to carry the position of the farm, +for the Germans were evidently few, had no videttes, and thought +themselves in perfect security. I crept out from my ambush, and holding +my cap on a stick, tried to attract notice from our fellows, but none +saw me. I ventured at last to shout aloud, but with no better success; +so that, driven to the end of my resources, I set to and beat a +'roulade' on the drum, thundering away with all my might, and not caring +what might come of it, for I was half mad with vexation as well as +despair. They heard me now; I saw a staff officer gallop up to the head +of the leading division, and halt them: a volley came peppering from +behind me, but without doing me any injury, for I was safe once more in +my bucket. Then came another pause, and again I repeated my manœuvre, +and to my delight perceived that our fellows were advancing at quick +march. I beat harder, and the drums of the grenadiers answered me. All +right now, thought I, as, springing forward, I called out, 'This way, +boys; the wall of the orchard has scarcely a man to defend it;' and I +rattled out the 'pas-de-charge' with all my force. One crashing fire of +guns and small arms answered me from the farm-house; and then away went +the Germans as hard as they could; such running never was seen! One of +the guns they carried off with them; the tackle of the other broke, and +the drivers, jumping off their saddles, took to their legs at once. Our +lads were over the walls, through the windows, between the stockades, +every where, in fact, in a minute, and once inside, they carried all +before them. The village was taken at the point of the bayonet, and in +less than an hour the whole force of the brigade was advancing in full +march on the enemy's flank. There was little resistance made after that, +and Kaunitz only saved his artillery by leaving his rear guard to be cut +to pieces."</p> + +<p>The cannonier nodded, as if in full assent, and Pièrre looked around him +with the air of a man who has vindicated his claim to greatness.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said he, "the dispatch said little about Pièrre Canot, but +a great deal about Moreau, and Kleber, and the rest of them."</p> + +<p>While some were well satisfied that Pièrre had well established his +merits as the conqueror of "Grandrengs," others quizzed him about the +heroism of lying hid in a well, and owing all his glory to a skin of +parchment.</p> + +<p>"An' thou went with the army of Italy, Pièrre," said the hussar, "thou'd +have seen men march boldly to victory, and not skulk under ground like a +mole."</p> + +<p>"I am tired of your song about this army of Italy," broke in the +cannonier; "we who have served in La Vendée and the North know what +fighting means, as well, mayhap, as men whose boldest feats are scaling +rocks and clambering up precipices. Your Bonaparte, is more like one of +these guerilla chiefs they have in the 'Basque,' than the general of a +French army."</p> + +<p>"The man who insults the army of Italy, or its chief, insults <i>me</i>!" +said the corporal, springing up, and casting a sort of haughty defiance +around him.</p> + +<p>"And then?" asked the other.</p> + +<p>"And then—if he be a French soldier—he knows what should follow."</p> + +<p>"Parbleu!" said the cannonier, coolly, "there would be little glory in +cutting you down, and even less in being wounded by you; but if you will +have it so, it's not an old soldier of the artillery will balk your +humor."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he slowly arose from the ground, and tightening his +waist-belt, seemed prepared to follow the other. The rest sprung to +their feet at the same time, but not, as I anticipated, to offer a +friendly mediation between the angry parties, but in full approval of +their readiness to decide by the sword a matter too trivial to be called +a quarrel.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the whispering conferences as to place and weapons—for +the short, straight sword of the artillery was very unlike the curved +sabre of the hussar—the quick tramp of horses was heard, and suddenly +the head of a squadron was seen, as, with glancing helmets and +glittering equipments, they turned off the high-road, and entered the +wood.</p> + +<p>"Here they come; here come the troops!" was now heard on every side, and +all question of the duel was forgotten in the greater interest inspired +by the arrival of the others. The sight was strikingly picturesque, for, +as they rode up, the order to dismount was given, and in an instant the +whole squadron was at work, picketing and unsaddling their horses; +forage was shaken out before the weary and hungry beasts; kits were +unpacked, cooking utensils produced, and every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> one busy in preparing +for the bivouac. An infantry column followed close upon the others, +which was again succeeded by two batteries of field-artillery, and some +squadrons of heavy dragoons; and now the whole wood, far and near, was +crammed with soldiers, wagons, caissons, and camp-equipage. To me the +interest of the scene was never-ending; life, bustle, and gayety on +every side. The reckless pleasantry of the camp, too, seemed elevated by +the warlike accompaniments of the picture; the caparisoned horses, the +brass guns blackened on many a battle-field, the weather-seamed faces of +the hardy soldiers themselves, all conspiring to excite a high +enthusiasm for the career.</p> + +<p>Most of the equipments were new and strange to my eyes. I had never +before seen the grenadiers of the Republican Guard, with their enormous +shakos, and their long-flapped vests descending to the middle of the +thigh; neither had I seen the "Hussars de la mort," in their richly +braided uniform of black, and their long hair curled in ringlets at +either side of the face. The cuirassiers, too, with their low cocked +hats, and straight, black feathers, as well as the "Portes Drapeaux," +whose brilliant uniforms, all slashed with gold, seemed scarcely in +keeping with yellow-topped boots: all were now seen by me for the first +time. But of all the figures which amused me most by its singularity, +was that of a woman, who, in a short frock-coat and a low-crowned hat, +carried a little barrel at her side, and led an ass loaded with two +similar, but rather larger casks. Her air and gait were perfectly +soldier-like; and as she passed the different posts and sentries, she +saluted them in true military fashion. I was not long to remain in +ignorance of her vocation nor her name; for scarcely did she pass a +group without stopping to dispense a wonderful cordial that she carried; +and then I heard the familiar title of "La Mère Madou," uttered in every +form of panegyric.</p> + +<p>She was a short, stoutly-built figure, somewhat past the middle of life, +but without any impairment of activity in her movements. A pleasing +countenance, with good teeth and black eyes, a merry voice, and a ready +tongue, were qualities more than sufficient to make her a favorite with +the soldiers, whom I found she had followed to more than one battle +field.</p> + +<p>"Peste!" cried an old grenadier, as he spat out the liquor on the +ground. "This is one of those sweet things they make in Holland; it +smacks of treacle and bad lemons."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Grognard!" said she, laughing, "thou art more vised to corn-brandy, +with a clove of garlic in't, than to good curaçoa."</p> + +<p>"What, curaçoa! Mère Madou, hast got curaçoa there?" cried a +gray-whiskered captain, as he turned on his saddle at the word.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mon capitaine, and such as no burgomaster ever drank better;" and +she filled out a little glass, and presented it gracefully to him.</p> + +<p>"Encore, ma bonne Mère," said he, as he wiped his thick mustache; "that +liquor is another reason for extending the blessings of liberty to the +brave Dutch."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you so?" said she, refilling the glass: "but, holloa, +there goes Gregoire at full speed. Ah, scoundrels that ye are, I see +what ye've done." And so was it: some of the wild, young voltigeur +fellows had fastened a lighted furze-bush to the beast's tail, and had +set him, at a gallop, through the very middle of the encampment, +upsetting tents, scattering cooking-pans, and tumbling the groups, as +they sat, in every direction.</p> + +<p>The confusion was tremendous; for the picketed horses jumped about, and +some, breaking loose, galloped here and there, while others set off with +half-unpacked wagons, scattering their loading as they went.</p> + +<p>It was only when the blazing furze had dropped off, that the cause of +the whole mischance would suffer himself to be captured, and led quietly +back to his mistress. Half crying with joy, and still wild with anger, +she kissed the beast, and abused her tormentors by turns.</p> + +<p>"Cannoniers that ye are," she cried, "ma foi! you'll have little face +for the fire when the day comes that ye should face it! Pauvre Gregoire, +they've left thee a tail like a tirailleur's feather! Plagues light on +the thieves that did it! Come here, boy," said she, addressing me, "hold +the bridle: what's thy corps, lad?"</p> + +<p>"I have none now; I only followed the soldiers from Paris."</p> + +<p>"Away with thee, street-runner; away with thee, then!" said she, +contemptuously; "there are no pockets to pick here, and if there were, +thou'd lose thy ears for the doing it. Be off, then; back with thee to +Paris and all its villainies. There are twenty thousand of thy trade +there, but there's work for ye all!"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Mère, don't be harsh with the boy," said a soldier; "you can see +by his coat that his heart is with us."</p> + +<p>"And he stole that, I'll be sworn," said she, pulling me round by the +arm, full in front of her. "Answer me, 'Gamin,' where didst find that +old tawdry jacket?"</p> + +<p>"I got it in a place where, if they had hold of thee and thy bad tongue, +it would fare worse with thee than thou thinkest!" said I, maddened by +the imputed theft and insolence together.</p> + +<p>"And where may that be, young slip of the galleys?" cried she, angrily.</p> + +<p>"In the 'Prison du Temple.'"</p> + +<p>"Is that their livery, then?" said she laughing, and pointing at me with +ridicule, "or is it a family dress made after thy father's?"</p> + +<p>"My father wore a soldier's coat, and bravely, too," said I, with +difficulty restraining the tears that rose to my eyes.</p> + +<p>"In what regiment, boy?" asked the soldier who spoke before.</p> + +<p>"In one that exists no longer," said I, sadly, and not wishing to allude +to a service that would find but slight favor in republican ears.</p> + +<p>"That must be the 24th of the Line; they were cut to pieces at +'Tongres.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No—no, he's thinking of the 9th, that got so roughly handled at +Fontenoy," said another.</p> + +<p>"Of neither," said I; "I am speaking of those who have left nothing but +a name behind them, the 'Garde du Corps' of the king."</p> + +<p>"Voila!" cried Madou, clapping her hands in astonishment at my +impertinence; "there's an aristocrat for you! Look at him, mes braves! +It's not every day we have the grand seigneurs condescending to come +among us! You can learn something of courtly manners from the polished +descendant of our nobility. Say, boy, art a count, or a baron, or +perhaps a duke."</p> + +<p>"Make way there—out of the road, Mère Madou," cried a dragoon, +curveting his horse in such a fashion as almost to upset ass and +"cantiniére" together, "the staff is coming."</p> + +<p>The mere mention of the word sent numbers off in full speed to their +quarters; and now, all was haste and bustle to prepare for the coming +inspection. The Mère's endeavors to drag her beast along were not very +successful; for, with the peculiar instinct of his species, the more +necessity there was of speed, the lazier he became; and as every one had +his own concerns to look after, she was left to her own unaided efforts +to drive him forward.</p> + +<p>"Thou'lt have a day in prison if thou'rt found here, Mère Madou," said a +dragoon, as he struck the ass with the flat of his sabre.</p> + +<p>"I know it well," cried she, passionately; "but I have none to help me. +Come here, lad; be good-natured, and forget what passed. Take his bridle +while I whip him on."</p> + +<p>I was at first disposed to refuse, but her pitiful face and sad plight +made me think better of it; and I seized the bridle at once; but just as +I had done so, the escort galloped forward, and the dragoons coming on +the flank of the miserable beast, over he went, barrels and all, +crushing me beneath him as he fell.</p> + +<p>"Is the boy hurt?" were the last words I heard, for I fainted; but a few +minutes after I found myself seated on the grass, while a soldier was +stanching the blood that ran freely from a cut in my forehead.</p> + +<p>"It is a trifle, general—a mere scratch," said a young officer to an +old man on horseback beside him, "and the leg is not broken."</p> + +<p>"Glad of it," said the old officer; "casualties are insufferable, except +before an enemy. Send the lad to his regiment."</p> + +<p>"He's only a camp-follower, general. He does not belong to us."</p> + +<p>"There, my lad, take this, then, and make thy way back to Paris," said +the old general, as he threw me a small piece of money.</p> + +<p>I looked up, and there, straight before me, saw the same officer who had +given me the assignat the night before.</p> + +<p>"General La Coste!" cried I, in delight, for I thought him already a +friend.</p> + +<p>"How is this—have I an acquaintance here?" said he, smiling: "on my +life! it's the young rogue I met this morning. Eh! art not thou the +artillery-driver I spoke to at the barrack?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, general, the same."</p> + +<p>"Diantre! It seems fated, then, that we are not to part company so +easily; for hadst thou remained in Paris, lad, we had most probably +never met again."</p> + +<p>"Ainsi je suis bien tombé, general," said I, punning upon my accident.</p> + +<p>He laughed heartily, less I suppose at the jest, which was a poor one, +than at the cool impudence with which I uttered it; and then turning to +one of the staff, said—</p> + +<p>"I spoke to Berthollet about this boy already—see that they take him in +the 9th. I say, my lad, what's thy name?"</p> + +<p>"Tiernay, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ay, to be sure, Tiernay. Well, Tiernay, thou shalt be a hussar, my man. +See that I get no disgrace by the appointment."</p> + +<p>I kissed his hand fervently, and the staff rode forward, leaving me the +happiest heart that beat in all that crowded host.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE.</h4> + +<p>If the guide who is to lead us on a long and devious track, stops at +every by-way, following out each path that seems to invite a ramble or +suggest a halt, we naturally might feel distrustful of his safe conduct, +and uneasy at the prospect of the road before us. In the same way may +the reader be disposed to fear that he who descends to slight and +trivial circumstances, will scarcely have time for events which ought to +occupy a wider space in his reminiscences; and for this reason I am +bound to apologize for the seeming transgression of my last chapter. +Most true it is, that were I to relate the entire of my life with a +similar diffuseness, my memoir would extend to a length far beyond what +I intend it to occupy. Such, however, is very remote from my thoughts. I +have dwelt with, perhaps, something of prolixity upon the soldier-life +and characteristics of a past day, because I shall yet have to speak of +changes, without which the contrast would be inappreciable; but I have +also laid stress upon an incident trivial in itself, because it formed +an event in my own fortunes. It was thus, in fact, that I became a +soldier.</p> + +<p>Now, the man who carries a musket in the ranks, may very reasonably be +deemed but a small ingredient of the mass that forms an army: and in our +day his thoughts, hopes, fears, and ambitions are probably as unknown +and uncared for, as the precise spot of earth that yielded the ore from +which his own weapon was smelted. This is not only reasonable, but it is +right. In the time of which I am now speaking it was far otherwise. The +Republic, in extinguishing a class had elevated the individual; and now +each, in whatever station he occupied, felt himself qualified to +entertain opinions and express sentiments, which, because they were his +own, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> presumed them to be national. The idlers of the streets +discussed the deepest questions of politics; the soldiers talked of war +with all the presumption of consummate generalship. The great operations +of a campaign, and the various qualities of different commanders, were +the daily subjects of dispute in the camp. Upon one topic only were all +agreed; and there, indeed, our unanimity repaid all previous +discordance. We deemed France the only civilized nation of the globe, +and reckoned that people thrice happy who, by any contingency of +fortune, engaged our sympathy, or procured the distinction of our +presence in arms. We were the heaven-born disseminators of freedom +throughout Europe; the sworn enemies of kingly domination; and the +missionaries of a political creed, which was not alone to ennoble +mankind, but to render its condition eminently happy and prosperous.</p> + +<p>There could not be an easier lesson to learn than this, and particularly +when dinned into your ears all day, and from every rank and grade around +you. It was the programme of every message from the Directory; it was +the opening of every general order from the general; it was the +table-talk at your mess. The burden of every song, the title of every +military march performed by the regimental band, recalled it, even the +riding-master, as he followed the recruit around the weary circle, whip +in hand, mingled the orders he uttered with apposite axioms upon +republican grandeur. How I think I hear it still, as the grim old +quartermaster-sergeant, with his Alsatian accent and deep-toned voice, +would call out.</p> + +<p>"Elbows back! wrist lower and free from the side; free, I say, as every +citizen of a great Republic! head erect, as a Frenchman has a right to +carry it! chest full out, like one who can breathe the air of Heaven, +and ask no leave from king or despot! down with your heel, sir; think +that you crush a tyrant beneath it!"</p> + +<p>Such and such like were the running commentaries on equitation, till +often I forgot whether the lesson had more concern with a seat on +horseback or the great cause of monarchy throughout Europe. I suppose, +to use a popular phrase of our own day, "the system worked well;" +certainly the spirit of the army was unquestionable. From the grim old +veteran, with snow-white mustache, to the beardless boy, there was but +one hope and wish—the glory of France. How they understood that glory, +or in what it essentially consisted, is another and a very different +question.</p> + +<p>Enrolled as a soldier in the ninth regiment of Hussars, I accompanied +that corps to Nancy, where, at that time, a large cavalry school was +formed, and where the recruits from the different regiments were trained +and managed before being sent forward to their destination.</p> + +<p>A taste for equitation, and a certain aptitude for catching up the +peculiar character of the different horses, at once distinguished me in +the riding school, and I was at last adopted by the riding-master of the +regiment as a kind of <i>aide</i> to him in his walk. When I thus became a +bold and skillful horseman, my proficiency interfered with my promotion, +for instead of accompanying my regiment, I was detained at Nancy, and +attached to the permanent staff of the cavalry school there.</p> + +<p>At first I asked for nothing better. It was a life of continued pleasure +and excitement, and while I daily acquired knowledge of a subject which +interested me deeply, I grew tall and strong of limb, and with that +readiness in danger, and that cool collectedness in moments of +difficulty, that are so admirably taught by the accidents and mischances +of a cavalry riding-school.</p> + +<p>The most vicious and unmanageable beasts from the Limousin were often +sent to us; and when any one of these was deemed peculiarly untractable, +"Give him to Tiernay," was the last appeal, before abandoning him as +hopeless. I'm certain I owe much of the formation of my character to my +life at this period, and that my love of adventure, my taste for +excitement, my obstinate resolution to conquer a difficulty, my +inflexible perseverance when thwarted, and my eager anxiety for praise, +were all picked up amid the sawdust and tan of the riding-school. How +long I might have continued satisfied with such triumphs, and content to +be the wonder of the freshly-joined conscripts, I know not, when +accident, or something very like it, decided the question.</p> + +<p>It was a calm, delicious evening in April, in the year after I had +entered the school, that I was strolling alone on the old fortified +wall, which, once a strong redoubt, was the favorite walk of the good +citizens of Nancy. I was somewhat tired with the fatigues of the day, +and sat down to rest under one of the acacia trees, whose delicious +blossom was already scenting the air. The night was still and noiseless; +not a man moved along the wall; the hum of the city was gradually +subsiding, and the lights in the cottages over the plain told that the +laborer was turning homeward from his toil. It was an hour to invite +calm thoughts, and so I fell a-dreaming over the tranquil pleasures of a +peasant's life, and the unruffled peace of an existence passed amid +scenes that were endeared by years of intimacy. "How happily," thought +I, "time must steal on in these quiet spots, where the strife and +struggle of war are unknown, and even the sounds of conflict, never +reach." Suddenly my musings were broken in upon by hearing the measured +tramp of cavalry, as at a walk, a long column wound their way along the +zig-zag approaches, which by many a redoubt and fosse, over many a draw +bridge, and beneath many a strong arch, led to the gates of Nancy. The +loud, sharp call of a trumpet was soon heard, and, after a brief parley, +the massive gates of the fortress were opened for the troops to enter. +From the position I occupied exactly over the gate, I could not only see +the long, dark line of armed men as they passed, but also hear the +colloquy which took place as they entered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What regiment?"</p> + +<p>"Detachments of the 12th Dragoons and the 22d Chasseurs-à-Cheval."</p> + +<p>"Where from?"</p> + +<p>"Valence."</p> + +<p>"Where to?"</p> + +<p>"The army of the Rhine."</p> + +<p>"Pass on!"</p> + +<p>And with the words the ringing sound of the iron-shod horses was heard +beneath the vaulted entrance. As they issued from beneath the long, deep +arch, the men were formed in line along two sides of a wide "Place" +inside the walls, where, with that dispatch that habit teaches, the +billets were speedily distributed, and the parties "told off" in squads +for different parts of the city. The force seemed a considerable one, +and with all the celerity they could employ, the billeting occupied a +long time. As I watched the groups moving off, I heard the direction +given to one party, "Cavalry School—Rue de Lorraine." The young officer +who commanded the group took a direction exactly the reverse of the +right one; and hastening down from the rampart, I at once overtook them, +and explained the mistake. I offered them my guidance to the place, +which being willingly accepted, I walked along at their side.</p> + +<p>Chatting as we went, I heard that the dragoons were hastily withdrawn +from the La Vendée to form part of the force under General Hoche. The +young sous-lieutenant, a mere boy of my own age, had already served in +two campaigns in Holland and the south of France; had been wounded in +the Loire, and received his grade of officer at the hands of Hoche +himself on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>He could speak of no other name—Hoche was the hero of all his +thoughts—his gallantry, his daring, his military knowledge, his +coolness in danger, his impetuosity in attack, his personal amiability, +the mild gentleness of his manner, were themes the young soldier loved +to dwell on; and however pressed by me to talk of war and its chances, +he inevitably came back to the one loved theme—his general.</p> + +<p>When the men were safely housed for the night, I invited my new friend +to my own quarters, where, having provided the best entertainment I +could afford, we passed more than half the night in chatting. There was +nothing above mediocrity in the look or manner of the youth; his +descriptions of what he had seen were unmarked by any thing glowing or +picturesque; his observations did not evince either a quick or a +reflective mind, and yet, over this mass of commonplace, enthusiasm for +his leader had shed a rich glow, like a gorgeous sunlight on a +landscape, that made all beneath it seem brilliant and splendid.</p> + +<p>"And now," said he, after an account of the last action he had seen, +"and now, enough of myself; let's talk of thee. Where hast thou been?"</p> + +<p>"Here!" said I, with a sigh, and in a voice that shame had almost made +inaudible; "Here, here, at Nancy."</p> + +<p>"Not always here?"</p> + +<p>"Just so. Always here."</p> + +<p>"And what doing, mon cher. Thou art not one of the Municipal Guard, +surely?"</p> + +<p>"No," said I, smiling sadly; "I belong to the 'Ecole d'Equitation.'"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's it," said he, in somewhat of confusion; "I always thought +they selected old sergeants en retraite, worn out veterans, and wounded +fellows, for riding-school duty."</p> + +<p>"Most of ours are such," said I, my shame increasing at every word—"but +somehow they chose me also, and I had no will in the matter—"</p> + +<p>"No will in the matter, parbleu! and why not? Every man in France has a +right to meet the enemy in the field. Thou art a soldier, a hussar of +the 9th, a brave and gallant corps, and art to be told, that thy +comrades have the road to fame and honor open to them; while thou art to +mope away life like an invalided drummer? It is too gross an indignity, +my boy, and must not be borne. Away with you to-morrow at day-break to +the 'Etat Major,' ask to see the commandant. You're in luck, too, for +our colonel is with him now, and he is sure to back your request. Say +that you served in the school to oblige your superiors; but that you can +not see all chances of distinction lost to you forever, by remaining +there. They've given you no grade yet, I see," continued he, looking at +my arm.</p> + +<p>"None: I am still a private."</p> + +<p>"And <i>I</i> a sous-lieutenant, just because I have been where powder was +flashing! You can ride well, of course?"</p> + +<p>"I defy the wildest Limousin to shake me in my saddle."</p> + +<p>"And as a swordsman, what are you?"</p> + +<p>"Gros Jean calls me his best pupil."</p> + +<p>"Ah, true! you have Gros Jean here; the best 'sabreur' in France! And +here you are—a horseman, and one of Gros Jean's 'eléves'—rotting away +life in Nancy! Have you any friends in the service?"</p> + +<p>"Not one."</p> + +<p>"Not one! Nor relations, nor connections?"</p> + +<p>"None. I am Irish by descent. My family are only French by one +generation."</p> + +<p>"Irish? Ah! that's lucky too," said he. "Our colonel is an Irishman. His +name is Mahon. You're certain of getting your leave now. I'll present +you to him to-morrow. We are to halt two days here, and before that is +over, I hope you'll have made your last caracole in the riding-school of +Nancy."</p> + +<p>"But remember," cried I, "that although Irish by family, I have never +been there. I know nothing of either the people or the language; and do +not present me to the general as his countryman."</p> + +<p>"I'll call you by your name, as a soldier of the 9th Hussars; and leave +you to make out your claim as countrymen, if you please, together."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p> + +<p>This course was now agreed upon, and after some further talking, my +friend, refusing all my offers of a bed, coolly wrapped his cloak about +him, and, with his head on the table, fell fast asleep, long before I +had ceased thinking over his stories and his adventures in camp and +battle-field.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>"TRONCHON."</h4> + +<p>My duties in the riding-school were always over before mid-day, and as +noon was the hour appointed by the young lieutenant to present me to his +colonel, I was ready by that time, and anxiously awaiting his arrival. I +had done my best to smarten up my uniform, and make all my accoutrements +bright and glistening. My scabbard was polished like silver, the steel +front on my shako shone like a mirror, and the tinsel lace of my jacket +had undergone a process of scrubbing and cleaning that threatened its +very existence. My smooth chin and beardless upper lip, however, gave me +a degree of distress, that all other deficiencies failed to inflict: I +can dare to say, that no mediæval gentleman's bald spot ever cost <i>him</i> +one half the misery, as did my lack of mustache occasion <i>me</i>. "A hussar +without beard, as well without spurs or sabretasche;" a tambour major +without his staff, a cavalry charger without a tail, couldn't be more +ridiculous: and there was that old sergeant of the riding-school, +"Tronchon," with a beard that might have made a mattress! How the goods +of this world are unequally distributed! thought I; still why might he +not spare me a little—a very little would suffice—just enough to give +the "air hussar" to my countenance. He's an excellent creature; the +kindest old fellow in the world. I'm certain he'd not refuse me; to be +sure the beard is a red one, and pretty much like bell-wire in +consistence; no matter, better that than this girlish smooth chin I now +wear.</p> + +<p>Tronchon was spelling out the <i>Moniteur's</i> account of the Italian +campaign as I entered his room, and found it excessively difficult to +get back from the Alps and Apennines to the humble request I preferred.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellows," muttered he, "four battles in seven days, without stores +of any kind, or rations—almost without bread; and here comest thou, +whining because thou hasn't a beard."</p> + +<p>"If I were not a hussar—"</p> + +<p>"Bah!" said he, interrupting, "what of that? Where should'st thou have +had thy baptism of blood, boy? Art a child, nothing more."</p> + +<p>"I shared my quarters last night with one, not older, Tronchon, and <i>he</i> +was an officer, and had seen many a battle-field."</p> + +<p>"I know that, too," said the veteran, with an expression of impatience, +"that General Bonaparte will give every boy his epaulets, before an old +and tried soldier."</p> + +<p>"It was not Bonaparte. It was—"</p> + +<p>"I care not who promoted the lad; the system is just the same with them +all. It is no longer, 'Where have you served? what have you seen?' but, +'Can you read glibly? can you write faster than speak? have you learned +to take towns upon paper, and attack a breast-work with a rule and a +pair of compasses!' This is what they called 'la génie,' 'la génie!' ha! +ha! ha!" cried he, laughing heartily; "that's the name old women used to +give the devil when I was a boy."</p> + +<p>It was with the greatest difficulty I could get him back from these +disagreeable reminiscences to the object of my visit, and, even then, I +could hardly persuade him that I was serious in asking the loan of a +beard. The prayer of my petition being once understood, he discussed the +project gravely enough; but to my surprise he was far more struck by the +absurd figure he should cut with his diminished mane, than I with my +mock mustache.</p> + +<p>"There's not a child in Nancy won't laugh at me—they'll cry, 'There +goes old Tronchon—he's like Klaber's charger, which the German cut the +tail off to make a shako plume!'"</p> + +<p>I assured him that he might as well pretend to miss one tree in the +forest of "Fontainebleu"—that after furnishing a squadron like myself, +his would be still the first beard in the Republic; and at last he +yielded, and gave in.</p> + +<p>Never did a little damsel of the nursery array her doll with +more delighted looks, and gaze upon her handiwork with more +self-satisfaction, than did old Tronchon survey me, as, with the aid of +a little gum, he decorated my lip with a stiff line of his iron red +beard.</p> + +<p>"Diantre!" cried he, in ecstasy, "if thou ben't something like a man, +after all. Who would have thought it would have made such a change? Thou +might pass for one that saw real smoke and real fire, any day, lad. Ay! +thou hast another look in thine eye, and another way to carry thy head, +now! Trust me, thou'lt look a different fellow on the left of the +squadron."</p> + +<p>I began to think so, too, as I looked at myself in the small triangle of +a looking-glass, which decorated Tronchon's wall, under a picture of +Kellerman, his first captain. I fancied that the improvement was most +decided. I thought that, bating a little over-ferocity, a something +verging upon the cruel, I was about as perfect a type of the hussar as +need be. My jacket seemed to fit tighter—my pelisse hung more +jauntily—my shako sat more saucily on one side of my head—my sabre +banged more proudly against my boot—my very spurs jangled with a +pleasanter music—and all because a little hair bristled over my lip, +and curled in two spiral flourishes across my cheek! I longed to see the +effect of my changed appearance, as I walked down the "Place Carrière," +or sauntered into the café where my comrades used to assemble. What will +Mademoiselle Josephine say, thought I, as I ask for my "petit vèrre," +caressing my mustache thus! Not a doubt of it, what a fan is to a woman, +a beard is to a soldier! a something to fill up the pauses in +conversation, by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> blandly smoothing with the finger, or fiercely curling +at the point!</p> + +<p>"And so thou art going to ask for thy grade, Maurice?" broke in +Tronchon, after a long silence.</p> + +<p>"Not at all. I am about to petition for employment upon active service. +I don't seek promotion till I have deserved it."</p> + +<p>"Better still, lad. I was eight years myself in the ranks before they +gave me the stripe on my arm. Parbleu! the Germans had given me some +three or four with the sabre before that time."</p> + +<p>"Do you think they'll refuse me, Tronchon?"</p> + +<p>"Not if thou go the right way about it, lad. Thou mustn't fancy it's +like asking leave from the captain to spend the evening in a guinguette, +or to go to the play with thy sweetheart. No, no, boy. It must be done +'en regle.' Thou'lt have to wait on the general at his quarters at four +o'clock, when he 'receives,' as they call it. Thou'lt be there, mayhap, +an hour, ay, two, or three belike, and after all, perhaps, won't see him +that day at all! I was a week trying to catch Kellerman, and, at last, +he only spoke to me going down stairs with his staff.</p> + +<p>"'Eh, Tronchon, another bullet in thy old carcass; want a furlough to +get strong again, eh?'</p> + +<p>"'No, colonel; all sound this time. I want to be a sergeant—I'm twelve +years and four months corporal.'</p> + +<p>"'Slow work, too,' said he, laughing, 'ain't it, Charles?' and he +pinched one of his young officers by the cheek. 'Let old Tronehon have +his grade; and I say, my good fellow,' said he to me, 'don't come +plaguing me any more about promotion, till I'm General of Division. You +hear that?'</p> + +<p>"Well, he's got his step since; but I never teased him after."</p> + +<p>"And why so, Tronchon?" said I.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell thee, lad," whispered he, in a low, confidential tone, as if +imparting a secret well worth the hearing. "They can find fellows every +day fit for lieutenants and chefs d'escadron. Parbleu! they meet with +them in every café, in every 'billiard' you enter; but a sergeant, +Maurice, one that drills his men on parade—can dress them like a +wall—see that every kit is well packed, and every cartouch well +filled—who knows every soul in his company as he knows the buckles of +his own sword-belt—that's what one should not chance upon, in haste. +It's easy enough to manœuvre the men, Maurice; but to make them, boy, +to fashion the fellows so that they be like the pieces of a great +machine, that's the real labor—that's soldiering, indeed."</p> + +<p>"And you say I must write a petition, Tronchon?" said I, more anxious to +bring him back to my own affairs, than listen to these speculations of +his. "How shall I do it?"</p> + +<p>"Sit down there, lad, and I'll tell thee. I've done the thing some +scores of times, and know the words as well as I once knew my 'Pater.' +Parbleu, I often wish I could remember that now, just to keep me from +gloomy thoughts when I sit alone of an evening."</p> + +<p>It was not a little to his astonishment, but still more to his delight, +that I told the poor fellow I could help to refresh his memory, knowing, +as I did, every word of the litanies by heart; and, accordingly, it was +agreed on that I should impart religious instruction, in exchange for +the secular knowledge he was conferring upon me.</p> + +<p>"As for the petition," said Tronchon, seating himself opposite to me at +the table, "it is soon done; for, mark me, lad, these things must always +be short; if thou be long-winded, they put thee away, and tell some of +the clerks to look after thee—and there's an end of it. Be brief, +therefore, and next—be legible—write in a good, large round hand; just +as, if thou wert speaking, thou wouldst talk with a fine, clear, +distinct voice. Well, then, begin thus, 'Republic of France, one and +indivisible!' Make a flourish round that, lad, as if it came freely from +the pen. When a man writes '<span class="smcap">France!</span>' he should do it as he whirls his +sabre round his head in a charge! Ay, just so."</p> + +<p>"I'm ready, Tronchon, go on."</p> + +<p>"'Mon General!' Nay, nay—General mustn't be as large as France—yes, +that's better. 'The undersigned, whose certificates of service and +conduct are herewith inclosed.'" "Stay, stop a moment, Tronchon; don't +forget that I have got neither one or t'other." "No matter; I'll make +thee out both. Where was I? Ay, 'herewith inclosed; and whose wounds, as +the accompanying report will show—'"</p> + +<p>"Wounds! I never received one."</p> + +<p>"No matter, I'll—eh—what? Feu d'enfer! how stupid I am! What have I +been thinking of? Why, boy, it was a sick-furlough I was about to ask +for; the only kind of petition I have ever had to write in a life long."</p> + +<p>"And <i>I</i> am asking for active service."</p> + +<p>"Ha! That came without asking for in my case."</p> + +<p>"Then, what's to be done, Tronchon? clearly, this won't do!"</p> + +<p>He nodded sententiously an assent, and, after a moment's rumination, +said,</p> + +<p>"It strikes me, lad, there can be no need of begging for that which +usually comes unlooked for; but if thou don't choose to wait for thy +billet for t'other world, but must go and seek it, the best way will be +to up and tell the general as much."</p> + +<p>"That was exactly my intention."</p> + +<p>"If he asks thee 'Canst ride?' just say, 'Old Tronchon taught me;' he'll +be one of the young hands, indeed, if he don't know that name! And mind, +lad, have no whims or caprices about whatever service he names thee for, +even were't the infantry itself! It's a hard word, that! I know it well! +but a man must make up his mind for any thing and every thing. Wear any +coat, go any where, face any enemy thou'rt ordered, and have none of +those new-fangled notions about this general, or that army. Be a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> good +soldier, and a good comrade. Share thy kit and thy purse to the last +sous, for it will not only be generous in thee, but that so long as thou +hoardest not, thou'lt never be over eager for pillage. Mind these +things, and with a stout heart and a sharp sabre, Maurice, 'tu ira +loin.' Yes, I tell thee again, lad, 'tu ira loin'."</p> + +<p>I give these three words as he said them, for they have rung in my ears +throughout all my life long. In moments of gratified ambition, in the +glorious triumph of success, they have sounded to me like the confirmed +predictions of one who foresaw my elevation, in less prosperous hours. +When fortune has looked dark and louring, they have been my comforter +and support, telling me not to be downcast or depressed, that the season +of sadness would soon pass away, and the road to fame and honor again +open before me.</p> + +<p>"You really think so, Tronchon? You think that I shall be something +yet?'</p> + +<p>"'Tu ira loin,' I say," repeated he emphatically, and with the air of an +oracle who would not suffer further interrogation. I therefore shook his +hand cordially, and set out to pay my visit to the general.</p> + +<h4>(<i>To be continued.)</i></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From the London Eclectic Review.]</h4> +<h2><a name="HAVE_GREAT_POETS_BECOME_IMPOSSIBLE18" id="HAVE_GREAT_POETS_BECOME_IMPOSSIBLE18"></a>HAVE GREAT POETS BECOME IMPOSSIBLE?<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></h2> + + + +<p>"Poetry is declining—poetry is being extinguished—poetry is extinct. +To talk of poetry now is eccentricity—to write it is absurdity—to +publish it is moonstruck madness." So the changes are rung. Now, it is +impossible to deny that what is called poetry has become a drug, a bore, +and nuisance, and that the name "Poet," as commonly applied, is at +present about the shabbiest in the literary calendar. But we are far +from believing that poetry is extinct. We entertain, on the contrary, +sanguine hopes of its near and glorious resurrection. Soon do we hope to +hear those tones of high melody, which are now like the echoes of +forgotten thunder:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"From land to land re-echoed solemnly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till silence become music."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We expect, about the very time, when the presumption against the +revivication of poetry shall have attained the appearance of absolute +certainty, to witness a Tenth Avatar of Genius—and to witness its +effect, too, upon the sapient personages who had been predicting that it +was forever departed.</p> + +<p>But this, it seems, is "not a poetical age." For our parts, we know not +what age has not been poetical—in what age have not existed all the +elements of poetry, been developed all its passions, and been heard many +of its tones. "Were the dark ages poetical?" it will be asked. Yes, for +then, as now, there was pathos—there was passion—there were hatred, +revenge, love, grief, despair, religion. Wherever there is the fear of +death and of judgment, there is, and must be poetry—and when was that +feeling more intensely developed than during that dim period? The +victims of a spell are objects of poetical interest. Here was a strong +spell, embracing a world. Was no arm during the dark ages bared aloft in +defense of outraged innocence? Or was no head then covered with the +snows of a hundred winters, through one midnight despair? Was the voice +of prayer then stifled throughout Europe's hundred lands? Was the mighty +heart of man—the throbbing of which is just poetry, then utterly +silent? But it was not expressed! We maintain, on the contrary, that it +was—expressed at the time, in part by monks, and scalds, and orators, +and expressed afterward in the glad energy of the spring which human +nature made from its trance, into new life and motion. The elements of +poetry had been accumulating in secret. The renovation of letters merely +opened a passage for what had been struggling for vent. What is Dante's +work but a beautiful incarnation of the spirit of the Middle Ages? His +passion is that of a sublimated Inquisitor. His "Inferno" is such a +dream as might have been dreamed by a poet monk, whose body had been +macerated by austerities, and whose spirit had been darkened by long +broodings on the fate of the victims of perdition. It is the poetical +part of the passion of those ages of darkness finding a full voice—an +eternal echo. And it was not in vain that so deep had been the slumber, +when such had been its visions. There is a grandeur about any passion +when carried to excess. Superstition, therefore, became the inspiration +of one of the greatest productions of the universe. Dante was needed +precisely when he appeared. The precise quantity of poetical material to +answer the ends of a great original poet was accumulated; and the mighty +Florentine, when he rose, became the mouth-piece and oracle of his age +and of its cognate ages past—the exact index of all that redeemed, +animated, excited, or adorned them.</p> + +<p>The crusades, too, were another proof that the slumber in which Europe +had been buried was not absolutely and altogether that of stupor or +death. They occurred after the noon of that period we usually denominate +dark. But they were the realization of a dream which had often passed +through the monkish heart—the embodiment, of a wish which had often +brought tears into the eyes of genuine enthusiasts. There was, surely, +as much sublimity in the first conception as in the execution. What +indeed were the crusades, but the means of bringing to light, feelings, +desires, passions, a lofty disinterested heroism, which the very depth +of the former darkness had tended to foster and fire?</p> + +<p>If the dark ages had thus their poetical tendencies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> climbing toward a +full poetic expression, surely no age need or can be destitute of +theirs—need or can be called unpoetical. But the misfortune is, that +men will not look at the essential poetry which is lying around them, +and under their feet. They suppose their age to be unpoetical, merely +because they grapple not with its great excitements, nor will venture to +sail upon its "mighty stream of tendency." They overlook the volcano in +the next mountain—while admiring or deploring those which have been +extinct for centuries, or which are a thousand miles away. They are +afraid that if they catch the spirit of their age in verse, they will +give it a temporary stamp; and therefore they either abstain from +writing, and take to abusing the age on which they have unluckily +fallen, or else come to the same resolution after an unsuccessful +attempt to revive faded stimulants. Dante embodied, for instance, his +countrymen's rude conception of future punishment—and he did well. But +our modern religious poets have never ventured to meddle with those +moral aspects of the subject which have now so generally supplanted the +material. They talk instead, with Pollok, of the "rocks of dark +damnation," or outrage common sense by such barbarous mis-creations as +he has sculptured on the gate of hell, and think they have written an +"Inferno," or that, if they have failed, it is because their age is not +poetical.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the least poetry is sometimes written in the most poetical ages. +Men, when acting poetry, have little time either to write or to read it. +There was less poetry written in the age of Charles I., than in that +which preceded it, and more poetry enacted. But the majority of men only +listen to the reverberations of emotion in song. They sympathize not +with poetry, but with poets. And, therefore, when a cluster of poets +die, or are buried before they be dead, they chant dirges over the death +of poetry—as if it ever did or ever could die! as if its roots, which +are just the roots of the human soul, were perishable—as if, especially +when a strong current of excitement was flowing, it were not plain, that +there was a poetry which should, in due time, develop its own masters to +record and prolong it forever. Surely, as long as the grass is green and +the sky is blue, as long as man's heart is warm and woman's face is +fair, poetry, like seed-time and harvest, like summer and winter shall +not cease.</p> + +<p>There was little poetry, some people think, about England's civil war, +because the leader of one party was a red-nosed fanatic. They, for their +part, cannot extract poetry from a red nose; but they are in raptures +with Milton. Fools! but for that civil war, its high and solemn +excitement, the deeds and daring of that red-nosed fanatic, would the +"Paradise Lost" ever have been written, or written as it has been? That +stupendous edifice of genius seems cemented by the blood of Naseby and +of Marston Moor.</p> + +<p>Such persons, too, see little that is poetical in the American +struggle—no mighty romance in tumbling a few chests of tea into the +Atlantic. Washington they think insipid; and because America has +produced hitherto no great poet, its whole history they regard as a +gigantic commonplace—thus ignoring the innumerable deeds of derring-do +which distinguished that immortal contest—blinding their eyes to the +"lines of empire" in the "infant face of that cradled Hercules," and the +tremendous sprawlings of his nascent strength—and seeking to degrade +those forests into whose depths a path for the sunbeams must be hewn, +and where, lightning appears to enter trembling, and to withdraw in +haste; forests which must one day drop down a poet, whose genius shall +be worthy of their age, their vastitude, the beauty which they inclose, +and the load of grandeur below which they bend.</p> + +<p>Nor, to the vulgar eye, does there seem much poetry in the French +Revolution, though it was the mightiest tide of human passion which ever +boiled and raved: a great deal, doubtless, in Burke's "Reflections"—but +none in the cry of a liberated people, which was heard in heaven—none +in the fall of the Bastile—none in Danton's giant figure, nor in +Charlotte Corday's homicide—nor in Madame Roland's scaffold speeches, +immortal though they be as the stars of heaven—nor in the wild song of +the six hundred Marseillese, marching northward "to die." The age of the +French Revolution was proved to be a grand and spirit-stirring age by +its after results—by bringing forth its genuine poet-children—its +Byrons and Shelleys—but needed not this late demonstration of its power +and tendencies.</p> + +<p>Surely our age, too, abounds in the elements of poetical excitement, +awaiting; only fit utterance. The harvest is rich and ripe—and nothing +now is wanting but laborers to put in the sickle.</p> + +<p><i>Special</i> objections might indeed, and have been taken, to the poetical +character of our time, which we may briefly dispose of before +enumerating the qualities which a new and great poet, aspiring to be the +Poet of the Age, must possess, and inquiring how far Mr. S. Yendys +exhibits those qualities in this very remarkable first effort, "The +Roman."</p> + +<p>"It is a mechanical age," say some. To use Shakspeare's words, "he is a +mechanical salt-butter rogue who says so." Men use more machines than +formerly, but are not one whit more machines themselves. Was James Watt +an automaton? Has the press become less an object of wonder or terror +since it was worked by steam? How sublime was the stoppage of a mail as +the index of rebellion. Luther's Bible was printed by a machine. The +organ is a machine—and not the roar of a lion in a midnight forest is +more sublime, or a fitter reply from earth to the thunder. The railway +carriages of this mechanical age are the conductors of the fire of +intellect and passion—and its steamboats may be loaded with +thunderbolts, as well as with bullocks or yarn. The great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> American ship +is but a machine; and yet how poetical it becomes, as it walks the +waters of the summer sea, or wrestles, like a demon of kindred power, +with the angry billows. Mechanism, indeed, may be called the short-hand +of poetry, concentrating its force and facilitating its operations.</p> + +<p>But this is an "age too late." So doubted Milton, while the shadow of +Shakspeare had scarce left the earth, and while he himself was writing +the greatest epic the world ever saw. And so any one may say, provided +he does not mutilate or restrain his genius in consequence. We have +reason to bless Providence that Milton did not act upon his hasty +peradventure. But some will attempt to prove its truth, by saying that +the field of poetry is limited—that the first cultivators will probably +exhaust it, and that, in fact, a decline in poetry has been +observed—the first poets being uniformly the best. But we deny that the +field of poetry is limited. That is nature and the deep heart of man; +or, more correctly, the field of poetry is human nature, and the +external universe, multiplied indefinitely by the imagination. This, +surely, is a wide enough territory. Where shall poetry, if sent forth +like Noah's dove, fail to find a resting-place? Each new fact in the +history of man and nature is a fact for <i>it</i>—suited to its purposes, +and awaiting its consecration.</p> + +<p>"The great writers have exhausted it." True, they have exhausted, +speaking generally, the topics they have handled. Few will think of +attempting the "Fall of Man" after Milton—and Dryden and Galt, alone, +have dared, to their own disgrace, to burst within Shakspeare's magic +circle. But the great poets have not verily occupied the entire field of +poetry—have not counted all the beatings of the human heart—have not +lighted on all those places whence poetry, like water from the smitten +rock, rushes at the touch of genius—have not exhausted all the "riches +fineless" which garnish the universe—nay, they have multiplied them +infinitely, and shed on them a deeper radiance. The more poetry there +is, the more there must be. A good criticism on a great poem becomes a +poem itself. It is the essence of poetry to increase and multiply—to +create an echo and shadow of its own power, even as the voice of the +cataract summons the spirits of the wilderness to return it in thunder. +As truly say that storms can exhaust the sky, as that poems can exhaust +the blue dome of poesy. We doubt, too, the dictum that the earliest +poets are uniformly the best. Who knows not that many prefer Eschylus to +Homer; and many, Virgil to Lucretius; and many, Milton to Shakspeare; +and that a nation sets Goethe above all men, save Shakspeare; and has +not the toast been actually given, "To the two greatest of +poets—Shakspeare and <i>Byron</i>?" To settle the endless questions +connected with such a topic by any dogmatical assertion of the +superiority of early poets, is obviously impossible.</p> + +<p>But "the age will not now read poetry." True, it will not read whatever +bears the name it will not read nursery themes; nor tenth-rate +imitations of tenth-rate imitations of Byron, Scott, or Wordsworth; nor +the effusions either of mystical cant, or of respectable commonplace; +nor yet very willingly the study-sweepings of reputed men, who deem, in +their complacency, that the world is gaping for the rinsings of their +intellect. But it will read genuine poetry, if it be accommodated to the +wants of the age, and if it be fairly brought before it. "Vain to cast +pearls before swine!" Cast down the pearls before you call the men of +the age swine. In truth, seldom had a true and new poet a fairer field, +or the prospect of a wider favor, than at this very time. The age +remembers that many of those poets it now delights to honor, were at +first received with obloquy or neglect. It is not so likely to renew the +disgraceful sin, since it recollects the disgraceful repentance. It is +becoming wide awake, and is ready to recognize every symptom of original +power. The reviews and literary journals are still, indeed, +comparatively an unfair medium; but, by their multitude and their +contradictions, have neutralized each other's power, and rendered the +public less willing and less apt to be bullied or blackguarded out of +its senses. Were Hazlitt alive now, and called, by any miserable +scribbler in the "Athenæum" or "Spectator," a dunce, he could laugh in +his face; instead of retiring as he did, perhaps hunger-bitten, to bleed +out his heart's blood in secret. Were Shelley now called in "Blackwood" +a madman, and Keats a mannikin, they would be as much disturbed by it as +the moon at the baying of a Lapland wolf. The good old art, in short, of +writing an author up or down, is dying hard, but dying fast; and the +public is beginning to follow the strange new fashion of discarding its +timid, or truculent, or too-much-seasoned tasters, and judging for +itself. We have often imaged to ourselves the rapture with which a poet, +of proper proportions and due culture, if writing in his age's spirit, +would be received in an age when the works of Coleridge, and Wordsworth, +and Keats, are so widely read and thoroughly appreciated. He would find +it "all ear."</p> + +<p>Great things, however, must be done by the man who cherishes this high +ambition. He must not only be at once a genius and an artist, but his +art and his genius must be proportioned, with chemical exactness, to +each other. He must not only be a poet, but have a distinct mission and +message, savoring of the prophetic—he must say as well as sing. He +must use his poetic powers as wonders attesting the purpose for which he +speaks—not as mere bravados of ostentatious power. He must, while +feeling the beauty, the charm, and the meaning of mysticism, stand above +it, on a clear and sun-lighted peak, and incline <i>rather</i> to the +classical and masculine, than to the abstract and transcendental. His +genius should be less epic and didactic, than lyrical and popular. He +should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> be not so much the Homer as the Tyrtæus of this strange time. He +should have sung over to himself the deep controversies of his age, and +sought to reduce them into an unique and intelligible harmony. Into +scales of doubt, equally balanced, he should be ready to throw his lyre, +as a makeweight. Not a partisan either of the old or the new, he should +seek to set in song the numerous points in which they agree, and strive +to produce a glorious synthesis between them. He should stand (as on a +broad platform) on the identity and eternity of all that is good and +true—on the fact that "faiths never die, but are only translated"—on +the fact that beauty physical and beauty moral are in heart the same; +and that Christianity, as rightly understood, is at once the root and +the flower of all truth—and, standing on this, should sing his fearless +strains to the world. He should have a high idea of his art—counting it +a lower inspiration, a sacred trust, a minor grace—a plant from a seed +originally dropped out of the paradise of God! He should find in it a +work, and not a recreation—an affair of life, not of moments of +leisure. And while appealing, by his earnestness, his faith, his +holiness, his genius, to the imagination, the heart, and the conscience +of man, he should possess, or attain to, the mechanical ingenuity that +can satisfy man's constructive understanding, the elegance that can +please his sensuous taste, the fluency that can blend ease with +instruction, and the music that can touch through the ear the inner +springs of his being. Heart and genius, art and nature, sympathy with +man and God, love of the beautiful apparition of the universe, and of +that divine halo of Christianity which surrounds its head, must be +united in our poet. He should conjoin Byron's energy—better controlled; +Shelley's earnestness—better instructed; Keats's sensibility—guarded +and armed; Wordsworth's Christianized love of Nature; and Coleridge's +Christianized view of philosophy—to his own fancy, language, melody, +and purpose; a lofty ideal of man the spirit, to a deep sympathy with +man the worm, toiling, eating, drinking, struggling, falling, rising, +and progressing, amidst his actual environments; and become the Magnus +Apollo of our present age.</p> + +<p>Perhaps we have fixed the standard too high, and forced a renewal of the +exclamation in Rasselas, "Thou hast convinced me that no man can ever be +a poet"—or, at least, the poet thus described. But nothing, we are +persuaded, is in the imagination which may not be in the fact. Had we +defined a Shakspeare ere he arose, "impossible" had been the cry. It +must, too, be conceded that hitherto we have no rising, or nearly-risen +poet, who answers fully to our ideal. Macaulay and Aytoun are content +with being brilliant ballad-singers—they never seek to touch the deeper +spiritual chords of our being. Tennyson's exquisite genius is +neutralized, whether by fastidiousness of taste or by morbidity of +temperament—neutralized, we mean, so far as great future achievements +are concerned. Emerson's undisguised Pantheism casts a cold shade over +his genius and his poetry. There is something odd, mystical, and shall +we say affected, about both the Brownings, which mars their general +effect—the wine is good, but the shape of the cyathus is deliberately +<i>queer</i>. Samuel Brown is devoted to other pursuits. Marston's very +elegant, refined, and accomplished mind, lacks, perhaps, enough of the +manly, the forceful, and the profound. Bailey of "Festus," and Yendys of +the poem before us, are the most likely candidates for the vacant +laurel.</p> + +<p>That Bailey's <i>genius</i> is all that need be desired in the "coming poet," +will be contested by few who have read and wondered at "Festus"—at its +fire of speech, its force of sentiment, its music of sound, its +Californian wealth of golden imagery; the infinite variety of its +scenes, speeches, and songs; the spirit of reverence which underlies all +its liberties, errors, and extravagances; and the originality which, +like the air of a mountain summit, renders its perusal at first +difficult, and almost deadly, but at last excites and elevates to +absolute intoxication. It has, however, been objected to it, that it +seems an exhaustion of the author's mind—that its purposeless, planless +shape betrays a lack of constructive power—that it becomes almost +polemical in its religious aspect, and gives up to party what was meant +for mankind—that it betrays a tendency toward obscure, mystical +raptures and allegorizings, scarcely consistent with healthy manhood of +mind, and which seems <i>growing</i>, as is testified by the "Angel +World"—that there is a great gulf between the powers it indicates, and +the task of leading the age—and that, on the whole, it is rather a +prodigious comet in the poetical heavens, than either a still, calm +luminary, or even the curdling of a future fair creation.</p> + +<p>Admitting the force of much of this criticism, and that Bailey's art and +aptitude to teach are unequal to his native power and richness of mind, +we are still willing to wait for a production more matured than +"Festus," and less fragmentary and dim than the "Angel World;" and till +then, must waive our judgment as to whether on his head the laurel crown +is transcendently to flourish.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile a young voice has suddenly been uplifted from a provincial +town in England, crying, "Hear me—I also am a poet; I aspire, too, to +prove myself worthy of being a teacher I aim at no middle flight, but +commit myself at once to high, difficult, and daring song, and that, +too, of varied kinds." Nor has the voice been despised or disregarded. +Some of the most fastidious of critical journals have already waxed +enthusiastic in his praise. Many fine spirits, both young and old, have +welcomed him with acclamation, as his own hero was admitted, for the +sake of one song, into the society of a band of experienced bards. Even +the few who deny—unjustly and captiously, as it appears to us—the +artistic, admit the poetical merit of his work And we have now before +us, not the miserable drudgery of weighing a would-be poet, but the +nobler duty of inquiring how far a man of undoubted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> genius, and great +artistic skill, is likely to fulfill the high-raised expectations of the +period. The scene of the "Roman" is in Italy. The hero is a patriot, +filled and devoured by a love for the liberation of Italy, and for the +re-establishment of the ancient Roman Republic—"One, entire, and +indivisible." To promote this purpose, he assumes the disguise of a +monk; and the history of his progress—addressing now little groups, now +single individuals, and now large multitudes of men—at one time +captivating, unwittingly, a young and enthusiastic lady, by the fervor +of his eloquence, who delivers him from death by suicide—and at +another, shaking the walls of his dungeon, through the power and +grandeur of his predictions and dreams—till at last, as, after the +mockery of a trial, he is led forth to death, he hears the shout of his +country, rising <i>en masse</i>—is the whole story of the piece. But around +this slender thread, the author has strung some of the largest, richest, +and most resplendent gems of poetry we have seen for years.</p> + +<p>Let us present our readers with a few passages, selected almost at +random. Take the "Song of the Dancers" for its music:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"<i>Dancers.</i> Sing lowly, foot slowly, oh, why should we chase<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hour that gives heaven to this earthly embrace?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow, to-morrow, is dreary and lonely;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then love as they love who would live to love only!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Closer yet, eyes of jet—breasts fair and sweet!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No eyes flash like those eyes that flash as they meet!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weave brightly, wear lightly, the warm-woven chain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love on for to-night if we ne'er love again.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fond youths! happy maidens! we are not alone!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bright steps and sweet voices keep pace with our own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love-lorn Lusignuolo, the soft-sighing breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rose with the zephyr, the wind with the trees.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While heaven blushing pleasure, is full of love notes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soft down the sweet measure the fairy world floats."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i36">P. I, 2.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Take the Monk's Appeal to his "Mother, Italy," for its eloquence:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i18">"By thine eternal youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And coeternal utterless dishonor—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Past, present, future, life and death, all oaths<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which may bind earth and heaven, mother, I swear it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We know we have dishonored thee. We know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All thou canst tell the angels. At thy feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The feet where kings have trembled, we confess,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And weep; and only bid thee live, my mother,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To see how we can die. Thou shalt be free!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By all our sins, and all thy wrongs, we swear it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We swear it, mother, by the thousand omens<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That heave this pregnant time. Tempests for whom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Alps lack wombs—quick earthquakes—hurricanes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That moan and chafe, and thunder for the light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And must be native here. Hark, hark, the angel!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see the birthday in the imminent skies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clouds break in fire. Earth yawns. The exulting thunder<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shouts havoc to the whirlwinds. And men hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the terrors of consenting storms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Floods, rocking worlds, mad seas, and rending mountains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above the infinite clash, one long great cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Thou shalt be free!</span>"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i36">P. 14, 15.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Take the few lines about "Truth," for their depth:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22">"Truth is the equal sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ripening no less the hemlock than the vine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Truth is the flash that turns aside no more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For castle than for cot. Truth is a spear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrown by the blind. Truth is a Nemesis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which leadeth her belovèd by the hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through all things; giving him no task to break<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A bruisèd reed, but bidding him stand firm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though she crush worlds."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i36">P. 21, 22.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Take, for its harrowing power, blended with beauty, the description of a +"Lost Female," symbolizing the degradation of Italy, and addressed to +the heroine of the tale:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"Or, oh, prince's daughter, if<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In some proud street, leaning 'twixt night and day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From out thy palace balcony to meet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The breeze—that tempted by the hush of eve,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Steals from the fields about a city's shows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And like a lost child, scared with wondering, flies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From side to side in touching trust and terror,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crying sweet country names and dropping flowers—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaning to meet that breeze, and looking down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the so silent city, if below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With dress disordered, and disheveled passions<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Streaming from desperate eyes that flash and flicker<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like corpse-lights (eyes that once were known on high<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Morning and night, as welcome there as thine),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And brow of trodden snow, and form majestic<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That might have walked unchallenged through the skies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And reckless feet, fitful with wine and woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And songs of revel that fall dead about<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her ruined beauty—sadder than a wail—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(As if the sweet maternal eve for pity<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Took out the joy, and, with a blush of twilight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uncrowned the Bacchanal)—some outraged sister<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passeth, be patient, think upon yon heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where angels hail the Magdalen, look down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon that life in death, and say, 'My country!'"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i36">P. 36.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Take, for its wondrous pathos and truth, the description of "Infancy:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i23">"Thou little child,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy mother's joy, thy father's hope—thou bright<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pure dwelling where two fond hearts keep their gladness—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou little potentate of love, who comest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With solemn sweet dominion to the old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who see thee in thy merry fancies charged<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the grave embassage of that dear past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When they were young like thee—thou vindication<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of God—thou living witness against all men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who have been babes—thou everlasting promise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which no man keeps—thou portrait of our nature,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which in despair and pride we scorn and worship."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i36">P. 71, 72.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But time would fail us to quote, or even indicate a tithe of the +beautiful, melting, and magnificent passages in this noble "Roman." We +would merely request the reader's attention to the whole of the sixth +scene; to the ballad, a most exquisite and pathetic one, entitled the +"Winter's Night;" to the "Vision of Quirinus," a piece of powerful and +condensed imagination; and, best of all, to the "Dream of the Coliseum," +in scene viii.—a dream which will not suffer by comparison with that of +Sardanapalus.</p> + +<p>But it is not the brilliance of occasional parts and passages alone, +which justifies us in pronouncing the "Roman" an extraordinary +production. We look at it as a whole, and thus regarding it, we +find—first, a wondrous freedom from faults, major or minor, juvenile or +non-juvenile; wondrous, inasmuch as the author is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> still very young, not +many years, indeed, in advance of his majority. There is exaggeration, +we grant, in passages, but it is exaggeration as essential to the +circumstances and the characters as Lear's insane language is to his +madness, or Othello's turbid tide of figures to his jealousy. The +hero—an enthusiast—speaks always in enthusiastic terms; but of +extravagance we find little, and of absurdity or affectation none. +Diffusion there is, but it is often the beautiful diffusion of one who +dallies with beloved thoughts, and will not let them go till they have +told him all that is in their heart. And ever and anon we meet with +strong single lines and separate sentences, containing truth and fancy +concentrated as "lion's marrow."</p> + +<p>Take a few specimens. Of Italy he says:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"She wraps the purple round her outraged breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And even in fetters cannot be a slave."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Again, she</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Stands menacled before the world, and bears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two hemispheres—innumerable wrongs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Illimitable glories."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i19">"The soul never<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can twice be virgin—the eye that strikes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the hidden path to the unseen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is henceforth for two worlds."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i19">"To both worlds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—The inner and the outer—we come naked,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The very noblest heart on earth, hath oft<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No better lot than <i>to deserve</i>."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Before every man the world of beauty,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a great artist, standeth night and day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With patient hand retouching in the heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God's defaced image."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rude heaps that had been cities clad the ground<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With history."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22">"Strange fragments<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of forms once held divine, and still, <i>like angels</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Immortal every where</i>."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i28">"The poet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In some rapt moment of intense attendance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The skies being genial, and the earthly air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Propitious, catches on the inward ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The awful and unutterable meanings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a divine soliloquy."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The very stars themselves are nearer to us than to-morrow."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"The great man ... is set<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among us pigmies, with a heavenlier stature,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And brighter face than ours, that we must <i>leap</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Even to smite it.</i>"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16">"Great merchants, men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who dealt in kingdoms; ruddy aruspex,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pale philosopher, who bent beneath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The keys of wisdom."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"The Coliseum ... stood out dark<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thoughts of ages: like some mighty captive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon his death-bed in a Christian land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lying, through the chant of Psalm and Creed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unshriven and stern, with peace upon his brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on his lips strange gods."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Our readers must perceive from such extracts, that our author belongs +more to the masculine than to the mystic school. Deep in thought, he is +clear in language and in purpose. Since Byron's dramas, we have seldom +had such fiery and vigorous verse. He blends the strong with the tender, +in natural and sweet proportions. His genius, too, vaults into the lyric +motion with very great ease and mastery. He is a minstrel as well as a +bard, and has shown power over almost every form of lyrical composition. +His sentiment is clear without being commonplace, original, yet not +extravagant, and betokens, as well as his style, a masculine health, +maturity, and completeness, rarely to be met with in a first attempt. +Above all, his tone of mind, while sympathizing to rapture with the +liberal progress of the age, is that of one who feels the eternal +divinity and paramount power of the Christian religion; that what God +has once pronounced true can never become a lie; that what was once +really alive may change, but can never die; that Christianity is a fact, +great, real, and permanent, as birth or death; and that its seeming +decay is only the symptom that it is putting off the old skin, and about +to renew its mighty youth.</p> + +<p>We have thus found many, if not all, the qualities of our ideal poet +united in the author of the "Roman," and are not ashamed to say that we +expect more from him than from any other of our rising "Sons of the +Morning." But he must work and walk worthy of his high vocation, and of +the hopes which now lie upon him—hopes which must either be the ribbons +of his crown or the cords of his sacrifice. He must discard his tendency +to diffusion, and break in that demon-steed of eloquence, who sometimes +is apt to run away with him. He must give us next, not scattered scenes, +but a whole epic, the middle of which shall be as obvious as the +beginning or the end. He should, in his next work, seek less to please, +startle, or gain an audience, than to tell them in thunder and in music +what they ought to believe and to do. Thus acting, he may "fill his +crescent-sphere;" revive the power and glory of song; give voice to a +great dumb struggle in the mind of the age; rescue the lyre from the +camp of the Philistines, where it has been but too long detained; and +render possible the hope, that the day shall come when again, as +formerly, the names "of poet and of prophet are the same."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> The Roman: a Dramatic Poem. By Sydney Yendys. London: +Rantley, 1850.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Sharpe's London Magazine.]</h4> +<h2><a name="RECOLLECTIONS_OF_THOMAS_CAMPBELL" id="RECOLLECTIONS_OF_THOMAS_CAMPBELL"></a>RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.</h2> + + + +<p>In his intercourse with society, Campbell was a shrewd observer of those +often contradictory elements of which it is composed. Adverting to the +absurd and ludicrous, he had the art or talent of heightening their +effect by touches peculiarly his own; while the quiet gravity with which +he related his personal anecdotes or adventures, added greatly to the +charm, and often threw his unsuspecting hearers into uncontrollable fits +of laughter. Nor was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> the <i>pathos</i> with which he dilated on some tale of +human misery less captivating; it runs through all his poetry, and in +hearing or relating a story of human wrongs or suffering, we have often +seen him affected to tears, which he vainly strove to conceal by an +abrupt transition to some ludicrous incident in his own personal +history. As an example, which has not yet found its way to the public, +we may relate the following, which he told one evening in our little +domestic circle where he was a frequent visitor, and where the +conversation had taken, as he thought, a somewhat too serious turn:</p> + +<p>"In my early life, when I resided in the island of Mull, most of those +old feudal customs which civilization had almost banished from the +Lowlands, were still religiously observed in the Hebrides—more +especially those of a social and festive character, which it was thought +had the effect of keeping up old acquaintance, and of tightening the +bonds of good fellowship. Rural weddings and "roaring wakes" were then +occasions for social rendezvous, which were not to be overlooked. Both +these ceremonies were accompanied by feasting, music, dancing, and that +liberal enjoyment of the native <i>browst</i> which was too often carried to +excess. I was in general a willing and a welcome guest at these doings; +for, smitten as I often was with melancholy in this dreary solitude, I +was glad to avail myself of any occasion that promised even temporary +exhilaration. Well, the first of these meetings at which I was present +one evening, happened to be a <i>dredgee</i>, a term which I need only +explain, by saying that it was got up for the sake of a young widow, who +had just put on her weeds, and stood much in need of friendly sympathy, +and consolation. At first it was rather a dull affair, for the widow +looked very disconsolate, and every look of her fair face was +contagious. But as the <i>quaigh</i> was active, and the whisky went its +frequent round, the circle became more lively; until at last, to my +utter astonishment, the bagpipes were introduced; and after a <i>coronach</i> +or so—just to quiet the spirit of their departed host—up started a +couple of dancers, and began jigging it over the floor with all the +grace and agility peculiar to my Hebridean friends. This movement was +infectious: another and another couple started up—reel followed upon +reel, until the only parties who had resisted the infection," continued +the poet, "were the widow and myself, she, oppressed with her own +private sorrow, and I, restrained by feelings of courtesy from quitting +her side. I observed, however, that she 'kept time' with her hand—all +unconsciously, no doubt—against the bench where we sat, while her +thoughts were wandering about the moorland <i>Cairn</i>, which had that very +morning received her husband's remains. I pitied her from my very heart. +But, behold, just as I was addressing to her one of my most sympathizing +looks, up came a brisk Highlander, whose step and figure in the dance +had excited both admiration and envy; and, making a low bow to the +widow, followed by a few words of condolence, he craved the honor of her +hand for the next reel. The widow, as you may well suppose, was shocked +beyond measure! while I starting to my feet, made a show as if I meant +to resent the insult. But she, pulling me gently back, rebuked the +kilted stranger with a look, at which he instantly withdrew. In a few +minutes, however, the young chieftain returned to the charge. The widow +frowned, and wept, and declared that nothing on earth should ever tempt +her to such a breach of decorum. But the more she frowned, the more he +smiled, and pressed his suit: 'Just one reel,' he repeated, 'only one! +Allan of Mull, the best piper in the Isles, was only waiting her bidding +to strike up.' The plea was irresistible. 'Weel, weel,' sighed the +widow, rising, and giving him her hand, 'what maun be, maun be! But, +hech, sirs, let it be a lightsome spring, for I hae a heavy, heavy +heart!' The next minute the widow was capering away to a most +'lightsome' air—hands across—cast off—down the middle, and up again. +And a merrier dredgee," concluded the poet, "was never seen in Mull."</p> + +<p>On another occasion, when he presented a copy of some verses, which he +had just finished, to a lady of our family, he described their origin as +follows: "Many long years ago, while I was sealed up in the Hebrides, I +became intimate with a family who had a beautiful parrot, which a young +mariner had brought from South America, as a present to his sweetheart. +This happened long before my arrival in Mull; and Poll for many years +had been a much-prized and petted favorite in the household. He was a +captive, to be sure, but allowed at times to be outside his cage on +<i>parole</i>; and, always observing good faith and gratitude for such +indulgences, they were repeated as often as appeared consistent with +safe custody. The few words of Gaelic which he had picked up in his +voyage to the north, were just sufficient, on his arrival, to bespeak +the good-will of the family, and recommend himself to their hospitality; +but his vocabulary was soon increased—he became a great mimic—he could +imitate the cries of every domestic animal—the voices of the servants: +he could laugh, whistle, and scold, like any other biped around him. He +was, in short, a match even for Kelly's renowned parrot: for although he +could not, or would not, sing 'God save the King,' he was a proficient +in 'Charlie is my Darling,' and other Jacobite airs, with which he never +failed to regale the company, when properly introduced.</p> + +<p>"Poll was indeed a remarkable specimen of his tribe, and the daily +wonder of the whole neighborhood. Years flew by: and although kind +treatment had quite reconciled him to his cage, it could not ward off +the usual effects of old age, particularly in a climate where the sun +rarely penetrated within the bars of his prison. When I first saw him, +his memory had greatly failed him; while his bright green plumage was +vast verging into a silvery gray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> He had but little left of that +triumphant chuckle which used to provoke such laughter among the +younkers; and day after day he would sit mute and moping on his perch, +seldom answering the numerous questions that were put to him regarding +the cause of his malady. Had any child of the family been sick, it could +hardly have been treated with greater tenderness than Poll.</p> + +<p>"At last, one fine morning, just as the vernal equinox had blown a few +ships into harbor, a stranger was announced, and immediately recognized +by the master of the house as a 'Don' something—a Spanish merchant, +whose kindness to a young member of the family had been often mentioned +in his letters from Mexico. One of his own ships, a brig, in which he +had made the voyage, was then in the bay, driven in by stress of +weather, for Mull was no market for Spanish goods. But that was not my +business; he would most likely pay a visit to Greenock, where, in the +present day at least, Spanish cargoes are rife enough.</p> + +<p>"No sooner had their visitor exchanged salutations with the master of +the house and his family, than the parrot caught his eye; and, going up +to the cage, he addressed the aged bird in familiar Spanish. The effect +was electric: the poor blind captive seemed as if suddenly awakened to a +new existence; he fluttered his wings in ecstasy—opened his eyes, fixed +them, dim and sightless as they were, intently on the stranger; then +answered him in the same speech—not an accent of which he had ever +heard for twenty years. His joy was excessive—but it was very short; +for in the midst of his screams and antics, poor Poll dropped dead from +his perch."</p> + +<p>Such was the incident upon which Campbell composed the little ballad +entitled "The Parrot." It had taken strong hold of his memory, and, +after the lapse of forty years,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> found its way into the pages of the +"New Monthly," and is now incorporated with his acknowledged poems.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> See "Life and Letters of Campbell." Vol. I. Residence in +Mull.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Sharpe's London Magazine.]</h4> +<h2><a name="GALILEO_AND_HIS_DAUGHTER" id="GALILEO_AND_HIS_DAUGHTER"></a>GALILEO AND HIS DAUGHTER.</h2> + +<h3>BY J. B.</h3> + + + +<p>I had been walking in a grove of lime-trees, arched above me, like the +stately roofing of a cathedral. As I entered, the daylight was yet +strong; but when I left my temporary retreat, the heavens were clustered +over with stars, and one of them, high above the old gray tower of the +ancient monastery of St. Augustine, almost cast a shadow across the +landscape—it was the planet Jupiter: and I have never observed it—at +least, thus eminent among its brethren—without being more or less +reminded of,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The starry Galileo, and his woes."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To this planet did the philosopher direct the then newly-invented +telescope, the result being the discovery of four attendant moons: while +the analogy derived from the motions of these little stars, performing +their revolutions round the primary planet in perfect order and concord, +afforded an argument that had a powerful influence in confirming +Galileo's own views in favor of the Copernican system of the universe, +and ultimately converting the scientific world to the same opinion.</p> + +<p>Yet little more than two centuries since, on the 14th February, 1633, +the astronomer, cited before the Inquisition, arrived at Rome, to answer +the charge of heresy and blasphemy; while, a few months ago, in the +brief but glorious day-burst of Roman liberty, that very Inquisition was +invaded by an exultant populace, and among its archives, full memorials +of martyred worth and of heroic endurance, most eagerly, but in vain, +was sought the record of the process against the great philosopher.</p> + +<p>Galileo, on a former occasion, in reference to some of his scientific +discoveries, had heard rumors of papal persecution, and as a cautious +friend whispered to him the unpleasing tidings, he had exclaimed, "Never +will I barter the freedom of my intellect to one as liable to err as +myself!"</p> + +<p>The time quickly arrived to test his courage and his resolution.</p> + +<p>For a little while, we are informed, he was allowed to remain secluded +in the palace of his friend Nicolini. In a few months, however, he was +removed to an apartment in the Exchequer of the Inquisition, still being +permitted the attendance of his own servant, and many indulgences of +which they had not decided to deprive him. On the twenty-first of June, +of the same year, he appeared before the Holy Office. Through its gloomy +halls and passages he passed to the tribunal. There was little here, as +in the other ecclesiastical buildings of Rome, to captivate the senses. +The dark walls were unadorned with the creations of art; state and +ceremony were the gloomy ushers to the chamber of intolerance. In +silence and in mystery commenced the preparations. The familiars of the +office advanced to the astronomer, and arrayed him in the penitential +garment; and as he approached, with a slow and measured step, the +tribunal, cardinals, and prelates noiselessly assembled, and a dark +circle of officers and priests closed in, while, as if conscious that +the battle had commenced in earnest between mind and power, all the pomp +and splendor of the hierarchy of Rome—that system which had hitherto +possessed a sway unlimited over the fears and opinions of mankind—was +summoned up to increase the solemnity and significance of the judgment +about to be pronounced against him.</p> + +<p>To the tedious succession of technical proceedings, mocking justice by +their very assumption of formality, it would be needless to refer. +Solemnly, however, and by an authority which it was fatal to resist, +Galileo was called on to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> renounce a truth which his whole life had been +consecrated to reveal and to maintain, "The motion through space of the +Earth and Planets round the Sun."</p> + +<p>Then, immediately, assuming he had nothing to allege, would attempt no +resistance, and offer no defense, came the sentence of the tribunal, +banning and anathematizing all who held the doctrine, that the sun is +the centre of the system, as a tenet "philosophically false, and +formally heretical."</p> + +<p>And then they sentenced the old and infirm philosopher—this band of +infallibles!—they bade him abjure and detest the said errors and +heresies. They decreed his book to the flames, and they condemned him +for life to the dungeons of the Inquisition, bidding him recite, "once a +week, seven penitential psalms for the good of his soul!"</p> + +<p>Did Galileo yield? Did he renounce that theory now affording such ample +proof of the beauty and order of the universe; to whose very laws +Kepler, the friend and contemporary of the philosopher, was even then, +though unconsciously, bearing evidence, by his wonderful theorem of +velocities and distances, a problem which Newton afterward confirmed and +illustrated?</p> + +<p>Did Galileo yield? He did. Broken by age and infirmity, importuned by +friends more alarmed than himself, perhaps, at the terrors of that +merciless tribunal, he signed his abjuration; yielded all his judges +demanded; echoed their curse and ban, as their superstition or their +hate required. There is a darker tale dimly hinted by those familiar +with the technicalities of the Holy Office, that the terms, "Il rigoroso +esame," during which Galileo is reported to have answered like a good +Christian, officially announce the application of the torture.</p> + +<p>Then occurred, perhaps scarcely an hour afterward, that remarkable +episode in this man's history. As he arose from the ground on which, all +kneeling, he had pronounced his abjuration, he gave a significant stamp, +and whispered to a friend, "<i>E pur si muove!</i>" "Yet it does move"—ay, +and in spite of Inquisitions, has gone round—nay, the whole world of +thought itself has moved, and having received an impulse from such +minds, will revolve for ages in a glorious cycle for mankind! But the +most touching incident of Galileo's story is yet to come.</p> + +<p>After several years of confinement at Arcetri, the great astronomer was +permitted to retire to Florence, upon the conditions that he should +neither quit his house, nor receive the visits of his friends. They +removed him from a prison, to make a prison of his home. Alas! it was +even worse than this.</p> + +<p>Much as the greatest minds love fame, and struggle to obtain it, the +proudest triumphs of genius and of science, the applause of the world +itself, ever loud and obtrusive, is not to be compared to the low and +gentle murmurs of pleasure and of pride from those we love. There was +one being from whom Galileo had been accustomed to hear those +consolations—his child his gentle Maria Galilei. He had been otherwise +a solitary indeed, and now more than ever so, when he was cut off from +the communion of the greatest minds. To his lovely girl, his daughter, +his heart clung with more than fondness. No wife of Pliny, perhaps, ever +wafted to her husband with sweeter devotion the echoes of the applauding +world without, greeting him she loved, than she did—his Maria Galilei. +As he returned from prison, the way seemed tedious, the fleetest +traveling all too slow, till he should once more fold her to his heart; +and she, too, she anticipated meeting her father with a pleasure greater +than ever before enjoyed, since he had now become a victim, sainted in +her eyes, by the persecution he had suffered.</p> + +<p>Short, indeed, was this happiness, if enjoyed at all. Within the month, +she died, and the home of Galileo was more than a prison—it was a +desolate altar, on which the last and most precious of his household +gods was shivered. And he died too, a few years afterward, that good old +man!</p> + +<p>But he had yielded—he was no martyr! Yes, indeed! But be it remembered, +that if he possessed not the moral courage of a Huss, a Savonarola, or a +Luther, he was not called to exercise it in so high a cause. The +assertion and support of a religious truth is impressed with far deeper +obligations than the advocacy of a scientific one, however well +maintained by analogy, and confirmed by reason.</p> + +<p>Still there was a deep devotional sentiment that pervaded the character +of Galileo. Before he died, he became totally blind; yet he did not +despair. Like Milton, he labored on for mankind—nay, pursued his +scientific studies, inventing mechanical substitutes for his loss of +vision, to enable him still to pursue his arduous researches.</p> + +<p>It is true he was shut out, like the elder Herschel, from the view of +that glorious company, toward which his spirit had so often soared. Well +might his friend Castelli say, in allusion to his infirmity, "that the +noblest eyes were darkened which nature had ever made—eyes so +privileged, and gifted with such rare qualities, that they might be said +to have seen more than all those who had gone before him, and to have +opened the eyes of all who were to come." Galileo himself bore noble +tribute to his friend, when he exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"Never, never will I cease to use the senses which God has left me; and +though this heaven, this earth, this universe, be henceforth shrunk for +me into the narrow space which I myself fill, so it please God, it shall +content me."</p> + +<p>The malice of his enemies long survived his death. The partisans of Rome +disputed his right to make a will. They denied him a monument for which +large sums had been subscribed.</p> + +<p>A hundred years afterward, when a splendid memorial was about to be +erected to his memory, the President of the Florentine Academy descended +into his grave, and desecrated his remains, by bearing off, as <i>relics +for a museum</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> the thumb of his right hand, and one of his vertebræ! So +the victims of the religious fury of one age become the martyrs of +science in another!</p> + +<p>And what is the moral of what we have written concerning Galileo? Is +there no teaching that may instruct our own times, especially when we +see how, through scorn and persecution, and this world's contumely, and +through the gloom and shadows of ignorance and fear, the form and +substance of mighty Truth rises, slowly and dimly, perchance, at first, +but grandly and majestically ere long? Little more than two hundred +years have passed since the death of Galileo, but ample justice has been +done to his memory. His name will be a watchword through all time, to +urge men forward in the great cause of moral and intellectual progress; +and the Tree of Knowledge, whose fruits were once on earth, plucked, +perhaps, ere they were matured, has shot up with its golden branches +into the skies, over which has radiated the smiles of a beneficent +Providence to cheer man onward in the career of virtue and intelligence.</p> + +<p>"There is something," as a profound writer has observed,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> "in the +spirit of the present age, greater than the age itself. It is, the +appearance of a new power in the world, the multitude of minds now +pressing forward in the great task of the moral and intellectual +regeneration of mankind."</p> + +<p>And this cause must ultimately triumph. The energies and discoveries of +men like Galileo, remote as their history becomes, have an undying +influence.</p> + +<p>The power of a great mind is like the attraction of a sun. It appears in +the infinite bounds of space, far, far away, as a grain among other gold +dust at the feet of the Eternal, or, at most, but as a luminous spot; +and yet we know that its influence controls, and is necessary for, the +order and arrangement of the nearest, as well is the remotest system. So +in the moral and intellectual universe, from world to world, from star +to star, the influence of one great mind extends, and we are drawn +toward it by an unseen, but all-pervading affinity. Thus has the cause +of moral and intellectual progress a sure guarantee of success. It has +become a necessity, interwoven with the spirit of the age—a necessity +impressed by every revelation of social evil, as well as proclaimed by +every scientific discovery—gaining increased energy and power from the +manifestation of every new wonder and mystery of nature—nay, from the +building of every steam-ship, the laying down of every new line of +railway.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Channing.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Dickens's "Household Words."]</h4> +<h2><a name="EBENEZER_ELLIOTT" id="EBENEZER_ELLIOTT"></a>EBENEZER ELLIOTT</h2> + + + +<p>The name of Ebenezer Elliott is associated with one of the greatest and +most important political changes of modern times, with events not yet +sufficiently removed from us, to allow of their being canvassed in this +place with that freedom which would serve the more fully to illustrate +his real merits. Elliott would have been a poet, in all that constitutes +true poetry, had the corn laws never existed.</p> + +<p>He was born on 25th March, 1781, at the New Foundry, Masborough, in the +parish of Rotherham, where his father was a clerk in the employment of +Messrs. Walker, with a salary of £60 or £70 per annum. His father was a +man of strong political tendencies, possessed of humorous and satiric +power, that might have qualified him for a comic actor. Such was the +character he bore for political sagacity that he was popularly known as +"Devil Elliott." The mother of the poet seems to have been a woman of an +extreme nervous temperament, constantly suffering from ill health, and +constitutionally awkward and diffident.</p> + +<p>Ebenezer commenced his early training at a dame's school; but shy, +awkward, and desultory, he made little progress; nor did he thrive much +better at the school in which he was afterward placed. Here he employed +his comrades to do his tasks for him, and of course laid no foundation +for his future education. His parents, disheartened by the lad's +apparent stolidity, sent him next to Dalton's school, two miles distant; +and here he certainly acquired something, for he retained, to old age, +the memory of some of the scenes through which he used to pass on his +way to and from this school. For want of the necessary preliminary +training, he could do little or nothing with letters: he rather +preferred playing truant and roaming the meadows in listless idleness, +wherever his fancy led him. This could not last. His father soon set him +to work in the foundry; and with this advantage, that the lad stood on +better terms with himself than he had been for a considerable period, +for he discovered that he could compete with others in work—sheer +hand-labor—if he could not in the school. One disadvantage, however, +arose, as he tells us, from his foundry life; for he acquired a relish +for vulgar pursuits, and the village alehouse divided his attentions +with the woods and fields. Still a deep impression of the charms of +nature had been made upon him by his boyish rambles, which the debasing +influences and associations into which he was thrown could not wholly +wipe out. He would still wander away in his accustomed haunts, and +purify his soul from her alehouse defilements, by copious draughts of +the fresh nectar of natural beauty imbibed from the sylvan scenery +around him.</p> + +<p>The childhood and youth of the future poet presented a strange medley of +opposites and antitheses. Without the ordinary measure of adaptation for +scholastic pursuits, he inhaled the vivid influences of external things, +delighting intensely in natural objects, and yet feeling an infinite +chagrin and remorse at his own idleness and ignorance. We find him +highly imaginative; making miniature lakes by sinking an iron vessel +filled with water in a heap of stones, and gazing therein with wondrous +enjoyment at the reflection of the sun and skies overhead;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> and +exhibiting a strange passion for looking on the faces of those who had +died violent deaths, although these dead men's features would haunt his +imagination for weeks afterward.</p> + +<p>He did not, indeed, at this period, possess the elements of an ordinary +education. A very simple circumstance sufficed to apply the spark which +fired his latent energies, and nascent poetical tendencies: and he +henceforward became a different being, elevated far above his former +self. He called one evening, after a drinking bout on the previous +night, on a maiden aunt, named Robinson, a widow possessed of about £30 +a year, by whom he was shown a number of "Sowerby's English Botany," +which her son was then purchasing in monthly parts. The plates made a +considerable impression on the awkward youth, and he assayed to copy +them by holding them to the light with a thin piece of paper before +them. When he found he could trace their forms by these means his +delight was unbounded, and every spare hour was devoted to the agreeable +task. Here commenced that intimate acquaintance with flowers, which +seems to pervade all his works. This aunt of Ebenezer's, (good soul! +would that every shy, gawky Ebenezer had such an aunt!) bent on +completing the charm she had so happily begun, displayed to him still +further her son's book of dried specimens; and this elated him beyond +measure. He forthwith commenced a similar collection for himself, for +which purpose he would roam the fields still more than ever, on Sundays +as well as week days, to the interruption of his attendances at chapel. +This book he called his "Dry Flora," (<i>Hortus Siccus</i>) and none so proud +as he when neighbors noticed his plants and pictures. He was not a +little pleased to feel himself a sort of wonder, as he passed through +the village with his plants; and, greedy of praise, he allowed his +acquaintance to believe that his drawings were at first hand, and made +by himself from nature. "Thomson's Seasons," read to him about this time +by his brother Giles, gave him a glimpse of the union of poetry with +natural beauty; and lit up in his mind an ambition which finally +transformed the illiterate, rugged, half-tutored youth into the man who +wrote "The Village Patriarch," and the "Corn Law Rhymes."</p> + +<p>From this time he set himself resolutely to the work of self-education. +His knowledge of the English language was meagre in the extreme; and he +succeeded at last only by making for himself a kind of grammar by +reading and observation. He then tried French, but his native indolence +prevailed, and he gave it up in despair. He read with avidity whatever +books came in his way; and a small legacy of books to his father came in +just at the right time. He says he could never read through a +second-rate book, and he therefore read masterpieces only; "after +Milton, then Shakspeare; then Ossian; then Junius; Paine's 'Common +Sense;' Swift's 'Tale of a Tub;' 'Joan of Arc;' Schiller's 'Robbers;' +Burger's 'Lenora;' Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall;' and long afterward, +Tasso, Dante, De Staël, Schlegel, Hazlitt, and the '<i>Westminster +Review</i>.'" Reading of this character might have been expected to lead to +something; and was well calculated to make an extraordinary impression +on such a mind as Elliott's; and we have the fruit of this course of +study in the poetry which from this time he began to throw off.</p> + +<p>He remained with his father from his sixteenth to his twenty-third year, +working laboriously without wages, except an occasional shilling or two +for pocket-money. He afterward tried business on his own account. He +made two efforts at Sheffield; the last commencing at the age of forty, +and with a borrowed capital of £150. He describes in his nervous +language the trials and difficulties he had to contend with; and all +these his imagination embodied for him in one grim and terrible form, +which he christened "Bread Tax." With this demon he grappled in +desperate energy, and assailed it vigorously with his caustic rhyme This +training, these mortifications, these misfortunes, and the demon "Bread +Tax" above all, made Elliott successively despised, hated, feared, and +admired, as public opinion changed toward him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howitt describes his warehouse as a dingy, and not very extensive +place, heaped with iron of all sorts, sizes, and forms, with barely a +passage through the chaos of rusty bars into the inner sanctum, at once, +study, counting-house, library, and general receptacle of odds and ends +connected with his calling. Here and there, to complete the jumble, were +plaster casts of Shakspeare, Achilles, Ajax, and Napoleon, suggestive of +the presidency of literature over the materialism of commerce which +marked the career of this singular being. By dint of great industry he +began to flourish in business, and, at one time, could make a profit of +£20 a-day without moving from his seat. During this prosperous period he +built a handsome villa-residence in the suburbs. He now had leisure to +brood over the full force and effect of the Corn Laws. The subject was +earnestly discussed then in all manufacturing circles of that district. +Reverses now arrived. In 1837, he lost fully one-third of all his +savings, getting out of the storm at last with about £6,000, which he +wrote to Mr. Tait of Edinburgh, he intended, if possible, to retain. The +palmy days of £20 profits had gone by for Sheffield, and instead, all +was commercial disaster and distrust. Elliott did well to retire with +what little he had remaining. In his retreat he was still vividly +haunted by the demon "Bread Tax." This, then, was the period of the +Corn-Law Rhymes, and these bitter experiences lent to them that tone of +sincerity and earnestness—that fire and frenzy which they breathed, and +which sent them, hot, burning words of denunciation and wrath, into the +bosoms of the working classes—the toiling millions from whom Elliott +sprang. "Bread Tax," indeed, to him was a thing of terrible import and +bitter experience:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> hence he uses no gentle terms or honeyed phrases +when dealing with the obnoxious impost. Sometimes coarse invective and +angry assertion take the place of convincing reason and calm philosophy. +At others, there is a true vein of poetry and pathos running through the +rather unpoetic theme, which touches us with its Wordsworthian feeling +and gentleness. Then he would be found calling down thunders upon the +devoted heads of the monopolists, with all a fanatic's hearty zeal, and +in his fury he would even pursue them, not merely through the world, but +beyond its dim frontiers and across the threshold of another state. Take +them, however, as they stand—and more vigorous, effective, and +startling political poetry has not graced the literature of the age.</p> + +<p>It was not to be supposed but that this trumpet-blast of defiance, and +shrill scream of "war to the knife," should bring down upon him much +obloquy, much vituperation: but all this fell harmlessly upon him; he +rather liked it. When people began to bear with the turbid humor and +angry utterances of the "Corn Law Rhymer," and grew familiar with the +stormy march of his verse, it was discovered that he was something more +than a mere political party song-writer. He was a true poet, whose +credentials, signed and sealed in the court of nature, attested the +genuineness of his brotherhood with those children of song who make the +world holier and happier by the mellifluous strains they bring to us, +like fragments of a forgotten melody, from the far-off world of beauty +and of love.</p> + +<p>Elliott will not soon cease to be distinctively known as the "Corn Law +Rhymer;" but it will be by his non-political poems that he will be +chiefly remembered by posterity as the Poet of the People; for his name +will still be, as it has long been, a "Household Word," in the homes of +all such as love the pure influences of simple, sensuous, and natural +poetry. As an author he did not make his way fast: he had written poetry +for twenty years ere he had attracted much notice. A genial critique by +Southey in the "Quarterly," another by Carlyle in the "Edinburgh," and +favorable notices in the "Athenæum" and "New Monthly," brought him into +notice; and he gradually made his way until a new and cheap edition of +his works, in 1840, stamped him as a popular poet. His poetry is just +such as, knowing his history, we might have expected; and such as, not +knowing it, might have bodied forth to us the identical man as we find +him.</p> + +<p>As we have said, Nature was his school; but flowers were the especial +vocation of his muse. A small ironmonger—a keen and successful +tradesman—we should scarcely have given him credit for such an +exquisite love of the beautiful in Nature, as we find in some of those +lines written by him in the crowded counting-room of that dingy +warehouse. The incident of the floral miscellany; the subsequent study +of "The Seasons;" the long rambles in meadows and on hill-sides, +specimen-hunting for his <i>Hortus Siccus</i>, sufficiently account for the +exquisite sketches of scenery, and those vivid descriptions of natural +phenomena, which showed that the coinage of his brain had been stamped +in Nature's mint. The most casual reader would at once discover that, +with Thomson, he has ever been the devoted lover and worshiper of +Nature—at wanderer by babbling streams—a dreamer in the leafy +wilderness—a worshiper of morning upon the golden hill-tops. He gives +us pictures of rural scenery warm as the pencil of a Claude, and glowing +as the sunsets of Italy.</p> + +<p>A few sentences will complete our sketch, and bring us to the close of +the poet's pilgrimage. He had come out of the general collapse of +commercial affairs in 1837, with a small portion of the wealth he had +realized by diligent and continuous labor. He took a walk, on one +occasion, into the country, of about eighteen miles: reached Argilt +Hill, liked the place, returned, and resolved to buy it. He laid out in +house and land about one thousand guineas. His family consisted of Mrs. +Elliott and two daughters; a servant-maid; an occasional helper; a Welch +pony and small gig; "a dog almost as big as the mare, and much wiser +than his master; a pony-cart; a wheel-barrow; and a grindstone—and," +says he, "turn up your nose if you like!"</p> + +<p>From his own papers we learn that he had one son a clergyman, at +Lothedale, near Skipton; another in the steel trade, on Elliott's old +premises at Sheffield; two others unmarried, living on their means; +another "druggisting at Sheffield, in a sort of chimney called a shop;" +and another, a clergyman, living in the West Indies. Of his thirteen +children, five were dead, and of whom he says. "They left behind them no +memorial—but they are safe in the bosom of Mercy, and not quite +forgotten even here!"</p> + +<p>In this retirement he occasionally lectured and spoke at public +meetings; but he began to suffer from a spasmodic affection of the +nerves, which obliged him wholly to forego public speaking. This disease +grew worse; and in December, 1839, he was warned that he could not +continue to speak in public, except at the risk of sudden death. This +disorder lingered about him for about six years; he then fell ill of a +more serious disease, which threatened speedy termination. This was in +May, 1849. In September, he writes, "I have been <i>very, very</i> ill." On +the first of December, 1849, the event, which had so long been +impending, occurred, and Elliott peacefully departed in the sixty-ninth +year of his age.</p> + +<p>Thus, then, the sun set on one whose life was one continued heroic +struggle with opposing influences—with ignorance first, then trade, +then the corn laws, then literary fame, and, last of all, disease: and +thus the world saw its last of the material breathing form of the rugged +but kindly being who made himself loved, feared, hated, and famous, as +the "<span class="smcap">Corn Law Rhymer</span>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<h4>[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.]</h4> +<h2><a name="CONFLICT_WITH_AN_ELEPHANT" id="CONFLICT_WITH_AN_ELEPHANT"></a>CONFLICT WITH AN ELEPHANT.</h2> + + + +<p>In a few minutes one of those who had gone off to our left came running +breathless to say that he had seen the mighty game. I, halted for a +minute, and instructed Isaac, who carried the big Dutch rifle, to act +independently of me, while Kleinboy was to assist me in the chase; but, +as usual, when the row began, my followers thought only of number one. I +bared my arms to the shoulder, and, having imbibed a draught of aqua +pura from the calabash of one of the spoorers, I grasped my trusty +two-grooved rifle, and told my guide to go ahead. We proceeded silently +as might be for a few hundred yards, following the guide, when he +suddenly pointed, exclaiming, "Klow!" and before us stood a herd of +mighty bull elephants, packed together beneath a shady grove about a +hundred and fifty yards in advance. I rode slowly toward them, and, as +soon as they observed me, they made a loud rumbling noise, and, tossing +their trunks, wheeled right about and made off in one direction, +crashing through the forest and leaving a cloud of dust behind them. I +was accompanied by a detachment of my dogs, who assisted me in the +pursuit.</p> + +<p>The distance I had come, and the difficulties I had undergone to behold +these elephants, rose fresh before me. I determined that on this +occasion at least I would do my duty, and, dashing my spurs into +"Sunday's" ribs, I was very soon much too close in their rear for +safety. The elephants now made an inclination to my left, whereby I +obtained a good view of the ivory. The herd consisted of six bulls; four +of them were full grown, first-rate elephants; the other two were fine +fellows, but had not yet arrived at perfect stature. Of the four old +fellows, two had much finer tusks than the rest, and for a few seconds I +was undecided which of these two I would follow; when, suddenly, the one +which I fancied had the stoutest tusks broke from his comrades, and I at +once felt convinced that he was the patriarch of the herd, and followed +him accordingly. Cantering alongside, I was about to fire, when he +instantly turned, and, uttering a trumpet so strong and shrill that the +earth seemed to vibrate beneath my feet, he charged furiously after me +for several hundred yards in a direct line, not altering his course in +the slightest degree for the trees of the forest, which he snapped and +overthrew like reeds in his headlong career.</p> + +<p>When he pulled up in his charge, I likewise halted; and as he slowly +turned to retreat, I let fly at his shoulder, "Sunday" capering and +prancing, and giving me much trouble. On receiving the ball the elephant +shrugged his shoulder, and made off at a free, majestic walk. This shot +brought several of the dogs to my assistance which had been following +the other elephants, and on their coming up and barking another headlong +charge was the result, accompanied by the never-failing trumpet as +before In his charge he passed close to me, when I saluted him with a +second bullet in the shoulder of which he did not take the slightest +notice. I now determined not to fire again until I could make a steady +shot; but, although the elephant turned repeatedly, "Sunday" invariably +disappointed me, capering so that it was impossible to fire. At length, +exasperated, I became reckless of the danger, and, springing from the +saddle, approached the elephant under cover of a tree and gave him a +bullet in the side of the head, when, trumpeting so shrilly that the +forest trembled, he charged among the dogs, from whom he seemed to fancy +that the blow had come; after which he took up a position in a grove of +thorns, with his head toward me. I walked up very near, and, as he was +in the act of charging (being in those days under wrong impressions as +to the impracticability of bringing down an elephant with a shot in the +forehead), stood coolly in his path until he was within fifteen paces of +me, and let drive at the hollow of his forehead, in the vain expectation +that by so doing I should end his career. The shot only served to +increase his fury—an effect which, I had remarked, shots in the head +invariably produced; and, continuing his charge with incredible +quickness and impetuosity, he all but terminated my elephant-hunting +forever. A large party of the Bechuanas who had come up, yelled out +simultaneously, imagining I was killed, for the elephant was at one +moment almost on the top of me: I, however, escaped by my activity, and +by dodging round the bushy trees. As the elephant was charging, an +enormous thorn ran deep into the sole of my foot the old Badenoch +brogues, which I that day sported, being worn through, and this caused +me severe pain, laming me throughout the rest of the conflict.</p> + +<p>The elephant held on through the forest at a sweeping pace; but he was +hardly out of sight when I was loaded and in the saddle, and soon once +more alongside. About this time I heard Isaac blazing away at another +bull; but when the elephant charged, his cowardly heart failed him, and +he very soon made his appearance at a safe distance in my rear. My +elephant kept crashing along at a steady pace, with blood streaming from +his wounds; the dogs, which were knocked up with fatigue and thirst, no +longer barked around him, but had dropped astern. It was long before I +again fired, for I was afraid to dismount, and "Sunday" was extremely +troublesome. At length I fired sharp right and left from the saddle: he +got both balls behind the shoulder, and made a long charge after me, +rumbling and trumpeting as before. The whole body of the Bamangwato men +had now come up, and were following a short distance behind me. Among +these was Mollyeon, who volunteered to help; and being a very swift and +active fellow, he rendered me important service by holding my fidgety +horse's head while I fired and loaded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> I then fired six broadsides from +the saddle, the elephant charging almost every time, and pursuing us +back to the main body in our rear, who fled in all directions as he +approached.</p> + +<p>The sun had now sunk behind the tops of the trees; it would very soon be +dark, and the elephant did not seem much distressed, notwithstanding all +he had received. I recollected that my time was short, and therefore at +once resolved to fire no more from the saddle, but to go close up to him +and fire on foot. Riding up to him. I dismounted, and, approaching very +near, I gave it him right and left in the side of the head, upon which +he made a long and determined charge after me; but I was now very +reckless of his charges, for I saw that he could not overtake me, and in +a twinkling I was loaded, and, again approaching, fired sharp right and +left behind his shoulder. Again he charged with a terrific trumpet, +which sent "Sunday" flying through the forest. This was his last charge. +The wounds which he had received began to tell on his constitution, and +he now stood at bay beside a thorny tree, with the dogs barking around +him. These, refreshed by the evening breeze, and perceiving that it was +nearly over with the elephant, had once more come to my assistance. +Having loaded, I drew near and fired right and left at his forehead. On +receiving these shots, instead of charging, he tossed his trunk up and +down, and by various sounds and motions, most gratifying to the hungry +natives, evinced that his demise was near. Again I loaded, and fired my +last shot behind his shoulder: on receiving it, he turned round the +bushy tree beside which he stood, and I ran round to give him the other +barrel, but the mighty old monarch of the forest needed no more; before +I could clear the bushy tree he fell heavily on his side, and his spirit +had fled. My feelings at this moment can only be understood by a few +brother Nimrods who have had the good fortune to enjoy a similar +encounter. I never felt so gratified on any former occasion as I did +then.</p> + +<p>By this time all the natives had come up; they were in the highest +spirits, and flocked around the elephant, laughing and talking at a +rapid pace. I climbed on to him, and sat enthroned upon his side, which +was as high as my eyes when standing on the ground. In a few minutes +night set in, when the natives, having illuminated the jungle with a +score of fires, and formed a semicircle of bushes to windward, lay down +to rest without partaking of a morsel of food. Mutchuisho would not +allow a man to put an assagai into the elephant until the morrow, and +placed two relays of sentries to keep watch on either side of him. My +dinner consisted of a piece of flesh from the temple of the elephant, +which I broiled on the hot embers. In the conflict I had lost my shirt, +which was reduced to streamers by the wait-a-bit thorns, and all the +clothing that remained was a pair of buckskin knee-breeches.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From The Ladies' Companion.]</h4> +<h2><a name="LETTICE_ARNOLD" id="LETTICE_ARNOLD"></a>LETTICE ARNOLD.</h2> + +<h3>By the Author of "<span class="smcap">Two Old Men's Tales</span>," "<span class="smcap">Emilia Wyndham,</span>" &c.</h3> + +<h4>[<i>Concluded from page 178.</i>]</h4> + + + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bless the Lord, oh my soul! and all that is within me bless his holy name;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who forgiveth all thy iniquities and healeth all thy diseases,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who saveth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>MRS. FISHER.</h4> + +<p>I must now introduce you to Mrs. Fisher. She is so great a favorite of +mine, that before I relate what became of Myra, I must make you +acquainted with this lady.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fisher was a respectable gentlewoman like personage of about +fifty-four, of a grave, authoritative and somewhat severe aspect; but +with the remains of very extraordinary personal beauty which she had +once possessed in an eminent degree. She was somewhat above the middle +size, of an erect, firm, full figure, her hair now gently turning gray, +drawn over her finely proportioned forehead; her eyes large, and of a +fine color and form—clear and steady; her mouth expressive of sense and +temper; and her dress in character with the rest. Mrs. Fisher was always +handsomely dressed in silks of the best description, but in slight +mourning, which she always wore; and on her head, also, a cap rather +plainer than the mode, but of the finest and most expensive materials: +nothing could be more dignified and complete than her appearance.</p> + +<p>When first Myra was introduced to her she was both daunted and +disappointed; the gravity, amounting almost to sternness, with which +Mrs. Fisher received her, and explained to her the duties she was +expected to perform, awed in the first place, and mortified in the +second. The establishment of this fashionable modiste, with which Myra +had associated nothing but laces and ribbons, dresses and trimmings, +embroidery and feathers, flattery and display, struck cold and dull upon +her imagination. She was introduced into a handsomely but very plainly +furnished sitting-room, where not one trace of any of those pretty +things were to be seen, and heard of nothing but regularity of hours, +persevering industry, quaker neatness, attention to health, and the +strictest observance of the rules of what she thought quite a prudish +propriety.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fisher's life had been one of vicissitude, and in its vicissitudes, +she, a strong, earnest-minded woman, had learned much. She had known +sorrow, privation, cruelly hard labor, and the loneliness of utter +desolation of the heart She had, moreover, been extremely beautiful, and +she had experienced those innumerable perils to which such a gift +exposes an unprotected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> girl, struggling for her bread, under the +cruelest circumstances of oppressive labor. Every description of +hardship, and every description of temptation belonging to perhaps the +hardest and almost the most dangerous position of female life, Mrs. +Fisher had gone through.</p> + +<p>She had outlived its sufferings and escaped its snares.</p> + +<p>The suffering, thanks to one of the finest constitutions in the world; +the snares, thanks to what she always, with inexhaustible gratitude, +acknowledged as the special mercy and providence of God.</p> + +<p>An orphan at the dangerous age of seventeen, the lovely blooming young +creature was placed by her friends in one of the most fashionable and +largest milliners' establishments at that time in London, and had found +herself at once miserable and excited, oppressed and flattered.</p> + +<p>The mistress of this flourishing house, intent upon making a rapid +fortune before the years in which she could enjoy it should come to a +close, cared little—I might say nothing—for the welfare of the poor +creatures whose labors were to construct that edifice. She, in fact, +never thought about them. Want of thought may be pleaded as the excuse, +wretched one as it is, for the cruelties of those days. People certainly +had not the claim of common humanity sounded into their ears as it is +into all ears now. A few admirable philanthropists talked of it, and +preached it; but it was not to be heard calling in the streets, as it is +the triumph of our day to acknowledge, till the hardest heart for very +shame is forced to pay <i>some</i> attention to the call.</p> + +<p>It never entered into Miss Lavington's head that she had any other +business with her young women, but to get all the work she possibly +could out of their hands, and as well done, and as speedily done as +possible. If she objected to night-work in addition to day-work, it was +not in the slightest degree out of compassion for the aching limbs and +wearied eyes of the poor girls; but because wax candles were expensive, +and tallow ones were apt to drip; and there was always double the duty +required from the superintendent (her special favorite), to keep the +young women at those times to their duty, and prevent fine materials +from being injured.</p> + +<p>Oh! those dreadful days and nights of the <i>season</i>, which the poor Lucy +Miles at that place went through.</p> + +<p>She—accustomed to the sweet fresh air of the country, to the cheerful +variety of daily labor in her father's large farm, and under the care of +a brisk, clever, but most kind and sensible mother—to be shut up +twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nay twenty hours before a +birth-night, in the sickening atmosphere of the close work-room. The +windows were rarely opened, if ever; for the poor young things were so +unnaturally chilly for want of exercise and due circulation of the +blood, that they said they should, and perhaps they might, have taken +cold if fresh air were admitted. There was nothing they all dreaded so +much as taking cold; those fatal coughs, which every season thinned the +ranks, to be filled with fresh victims, were invariably attributed to +some particular occasion when they had "taken cold." They did not know +that they were rejecting the very cordial of life and inhaling poison +when they kept the room so close.</p> + +<p>Oh! for the dreadful weariness which proceeds from <i>in</i>-action of the +limbs! so different from the wholesome fatigue of action, <i>In</i>-action +where the blood is stagnating in every vein: <i>in</i>-action, after which +rest is not rest, but a painful effort of the repressed currents to +recover their circulating power—so different from the delightful +sensation of wholesome rest after physical exertion.</p> + +<p>At first she felt it almost insupportable. I have heard her say that it +seemed at times as if she would have given years of her existence to be +allowed to get up and walk up and down the room for a few minutes. The +sensation was so insupportable. That craving desire of the body for what +it is in want of—be it water, be it bread, be it rest, be it change of +posture—is so dreadful in its urgency. The most abominable tortures men +have in their wickedness invented are founded upon this fact—tortures +that render the black history of inquisitors yet blacker: and here it +was, in one at least of its numerous forms, daily inflicted upon a set +of helpless young women, by a person who thought herself perfectly +justifiable, and whose conscience never pricked her in the least.</p> + +<p>Such is negligent moral habit.</p> + +<p>Oh! the delight at meal-times—to spring up, I was going to say—I meant +to <i>get</i> up—for there was no <i>spring</i> left in these poor stiffened +frames. Oh! the delight when the eye of that superintendent was no +longer watching the busy circle, and her voice calling to order any one +who durst just to raise a head, and pause in the unintermitting toil. +Oh! the delight to get up and come to breakfast, or dinner, or tea.</p> + +<p>They had not much appetite when they came to their meals to be sure. +There was only one thing they were always ready to enjoy, and that was +their tea. That blessed and long abused tea; which has done more to +sweeten private life with its gentle warmth and excitement, than any +cordial that has ever been invented. It is but a cordial, however; it is +not a nourishment; though a little sugar, and wretched blue milk, such +as London milk used to be, may be added to it. Most of the young ladies, +however, preferred it without these additions; they found it more +stimulating so, I believe, poor things!</p> + +<p>Such nourishment as they received, it is plain, would ill supply the +rapid exhaustion of their employment. One by one in the course of the +season they sickened and dropped off; some died out and out; some, alas! +tempted by suffering and insupportable fatigue, or by that vanity and +levity which seems to be too common a result with many girls living +together, did worse. There would have been a heavy record against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> her +every June, if Miss Lavington had taken the trouble to note down what +had become of her missing young ladies.</p> + +<p>I said they were relieved from their irksome continuance in one posture +by going to their meals, and what a relief it was; but they did not +always get that. When there was more than usual to be done, their tea +would be brought to them where they sat, and there would be no +intermission.</p> + +<p>So things went on at Miss Lavington's in those days. I wonder in how +many establishments of the same description, things go on so now! How +many to which that voice of humanity which "calls in the streets" has +not yet penetrated!</p> + +<p>We shall by-and-by see what was the case in Mrs. Fisher's, but for the +present we will go on with her history.</p> + +<p>So beautiful a young creature as she was, could not long escape trials, +yet more to be lamented than those of physical suffering.</p> + +<p>In the first place, there was the conversation of the young ladies +themselves; a whispering manner of conversation when at work; a busy +chattering of emancipated tongues during the intervals. And what was it +all about?</p> + +<p>Why, what was it likely to be about?—love and lovers—beauty and its +admirers—dress and its advantages—he and him—and, dear me, weren't +you in the Park last Sunday? Where could you be? and did you not see the +carriage go by? What had you on? Oh, that pink bonnet. I cribbed a bit +of Mrs. M——'s blond for a voilette. If people will send their own +materials they deserve as much. I've heard Mrs. Saunders (the +superintendent) say so scores of times. Well, well, and I saw it, I'm +certain of it. Well, did any thing come of it?</p> + +<p>Alas! alas! and so on—and so on—and so on.</p> + +<p>And Lucy was very soon taught to go on Sundays into the Park. At first, +poor girl, merely to breathe the fresh air and inhale the delicious west +wind, and look at trees and grass, and cows and deer once more, and +listen to the birds singing. At first she thought the crowds of gayly +dressed people quite spoiled the pleasure of the walk, and tried to coax +her companions to leave the ring, and come and walk in the wood with +her; but she soon learned better, and was rapidly becoming as bewitched +with the excitement of gazing, and the still greater excitement of being +gazed at, as any of them.</p> + +<p>She was so uncommonly beautiful that she got her full—and more than her +full share of this latter pleasure; and it was not long before she had +those for whom she looked out amid the crowds upon the ring, and felt +her heart beat with secret delight as she saw them.</p> + +<p>Then, as her health began to decline, as dislike insupportable for her +occupation and its confinement; as weariness not to be described, came +on; as longings for little luxuries to be seen in every shop which she +passed by, for fruit or confectionary, haunted her palled and diseased +appetite as the vision of food haunts the wretch who is starving; as the +desire of fine clothes, in which her companions managed to array +themselves; as the more insidious, and more honorable longings of the +heart, the desolate heart, beset her—cravings for affection and +sympathy; when all these temptations were embodied together in the shape +of one, but too gentle, and insinuating; oh, then it was perilous work +indeed!</p> + +<p>Her mother had tried to give her a good, honest, homely education; had +made such a Christian of her, as going to church, reading a chapter in +the Bible on a Sunday, and the catechism makes of a young girl. There +was nothing very vital, or earnest about it; but such as it was, it was +honest, and Lucy feared her God and reverenced her Saviour. Such +sentiments were something of a defense, but it is to be feared that they +were not firmly enough rooted in the character to have long resisted the +force of overwhelming temptation.</p> + +<p>This she was well aware of, and acknowledged to herself; and hence her +deep, pervading, ineffable gratitude, for the Providence which she +believed had saved her.</p> + +<p>She was getting on very fast on the evil road upon which she had +entered. Every Sunday the progress she made was fearful. A few more, at +the pace at which she was advancing, and there would have been an end of +it, when a most unexpected accident arrested her in the fatal career.</p> + +<p>One remarkably fine Sunday, when all the members of the establishment +had been enjoying their usual recreation in the Park—just as Lucy and +some of her giddy friends were coming through Grosvenor Gate, they saw +the superintendent before them.</p> + +<p>"There's that old Saunders, I declare!" cried one. "Stand back a little, +won't ye?—she'll see our bonnets else, and I'll be bound she'll know +the rosettes, and where they come from."</p> + +<p>There was time for no more. Mrs. Saunders, who was rather late, being in +haste to get home, attempted to cross, as a curricle at full speed came +driving down Parklane, and before the gentleman within could draw up, +the unfortunate woman was under the horses' heels. There was a terrible +bustle. The young ladies with the rosettes managed to escape; but Lucy, +who had at least preserved her integrity thus far, and had nothing about +her dress not strictly her own, rushed forward, and helped to raise the +poor woman, declaring she knew who she was, and was placed with her by +the assistants in the hackney coach in which she was carried home.</p> + +<p>Lucy was naturally of a very kind and humane disposition; and her +care of the poor suffering woman during the transit to Miss +Lavington's—united to the kindness and assiduity with which, every one +else but the under-maid of all being absent, she tended and waited upon +her—so engaged Mrs. Saunders's affection, that afterward, during the +whole of the subsequent illness, which broken limbs and ribs occasioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +she made it her particular request to Miss Lavington that Lucy might be +spared from the work-room to nurse and keep her company; adding for that +lady's satisfaction, that though the best nurse, and nicest young girl +of the lot, she certainly, being the youngest, was the least of a +proficient in the peculiar art she followed.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The poor woman lay groaning piteously upon her bed, waiting the arrival +of the surgeon. The surgeon, an elderly man, was out of town, and could +not attend; a young man, appeared in his place. He had just joined +himself to the old man in the quality of assistant and future partner; +and hearing that the case, was one of an accident, and urgent, he +hurried to the house, resolving to send for more experienced assistance, +if such should be found necessary.</p> + +<p>He was shown up-stairs, and hastily entered the room in which the +sufferer lay. She was very much bruised about the chest, and she drew +her breath with difficulty; and though exceedingly weak and faint, was +unable to lie down. She was resting in the arms of one who appeared to +the young man like an angel.</p> + +<p>The lovely girl, with a face of the tenderest pity, was holding the poor +groaning woman upon one arm, bending over her with an air of almost +divine kindness, and softly wiping the dew-drops which in the agony came +starting upon the patient's brow.</p> + +<p>The young man received an impression which death alone effaced, though +the bright visionary glance was only momentary. He was instantly by the +side of his patient, and soon with much skill and courage doing what was +necessary for immediate relief, though at the very first moment when he +had discovered the serious nature of the case, he had begged the young +lady to tell Miss Lavington that it would be proper to send for some +surgeon of more experience and eminence than himself to take the +direction of it.</p> + +<p>"Don't go away," said Mrs. Saunders feebly, as Lucy was rising to obey. +"Don't send her away, mister—I can't do without her—Miss Lavington's +not at home—one need not ask her for <i>me</i>. Who should be sent for?"</p> + +<p>The young man named a gentleman high in his profession. Was it that able +and benevolent man whom the world has so lately lost? That kind, frank, +manly, courageous man of genius, whom no one approached but to find help +and comfort? I don't know—but be he who he might, when he did at length +arrive, he gave the most unqualified praise to the proceedings of our +young gentleman, and called the color to the pale cheek of the young and +serious-looking student by his approbation. He finished his visit by +assuring Mrs. Saunders that she could not be in safer hands than those +in which he had found her, and recommended her to put herself entirely +under the charge of the young practitioner, adding an assurance that he +would be ready at any instant to come if he should be wanted; and that +he would, at all events, and in once or twice as a friend during the +progress of the case.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Saunders liked the looks of the young man much—and who did not? +and was quite contented with this arrangement, to which as I told you, +was added the comfort of retaining Lucy Miles as her nurse and companion +during what threatened to be a very tedious confinement. Miss Lavington +well knew the value of a Mrs. Saunders in such an establishment as hers, +and was willing to make any sacrifice to forward her recovery.</p> + +<p>So Lucy left the wearying work-room and the dangerous recreations of the +Sunday, to sit and watch by the bed-side of a peevish, uncomfortable +sort of an old woman, who was perpetually making demands upon her +patience and good-nature, but who really suffered so greatly from her +accident, that Lucy's pity and kindness were proof against every thing. +The young surgeon went and came—went and came—and every time he came, +this angel of beauty and goodness was ministering by the old woman's +bed. And those eyes of his—eyes of such prevailing power in their +almost enthusiastic expression of serious earnestness—were bent upon +her; and sometimes her eyes, soft and melting as those of the dove, or +bright and lustrous as twin stars, met his.</p> + +<p>He could not but linger in the sick woman's room a little longer than +was necessary, and the sick woman unwittingly favored this, for she took +a great liking to him, and nothing seemed to refresh and amuse her amid +her pains like a little chat with this nice young man. And then the +young surgeon remarked that at such times Lucy was allowed to sit +quietly down and amuse herself with a little needlework, and he thought +this an excellent reason for making his visits as as long as he decently +could.</p> + +<p>The young nurse and the young doctor all this while had conversed very +little with each other; but she listened and she gazed, and that was +quite enough. The case proved a very serious one. Poor Mrs. Saunders, +superintendent as she was, and not workwoman-driver, not slave—yet +could no more than the rest escape the deleterious effects of the close +work room. Her constitution was much impaired. The wines and cordials +she had accustomed herself to take to support nature, as she thought, +under these fatigues, had increased the mischief the wounds would not +heal as they ought; contusions would not disperse; the internal injury +in the chest began to assume a very threatening appearance. Mr. L. came +to the assistance of the young surgeon repeatedly—all that human skill +could do was done, but Mrs. Saunders grew alarmingly worse.</p> + +<p>For a long time she resisted the evidence which her own sensations might +have afforded her and avoided asking any questions which might enlighten +her. She was determined not to die, and, even in a case so awfully +serious and real as this, people seem to cling to the persuasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> so +prevailing in lighter circumstances, that because a thing <i>shan't</i> be, +it won't be, and because they are determined it is not, it <i>is</i> not. So, +for many days, Mrs. Saunders went on, exceedingly angry if every body +did not say she was getting better, and half inclined to dismiss her +young surgeon, much as she liked him, because he looked grave after he +had visited her injuries.</p> + +<p>He <i>did</i> look grave, very grave. He was exceedingly perplexed in his +mind as to what he ought to do: young surgeon as he was, fresh from +those schools which, alas! so many who are acquainted with them +represent as the very nurseries of infidelity and license both in speech +and action, he was a deeply, seriously pious man. Such young men there +are, who, like those three, walking unscathed through the furnace of +fire in the faith of the Lord their God, walk through a more terribly +destructive furnace—the furnace of temptation—in the same faith, and +"upon their bodies the fire hath no power, neither is a hair of the head +singed."</p> + +<p>In what tears, in what prayers, in what anguished hope, what fervent +aspiration, this sole treasure of a widowed mother, steeped in poverty +to the very lips, had been reared, it would be long to tell; but she had +committed him to one <i>never</i> found faithless, and under that blessing +she had found in her pure and disinterested love for the being intrusted +to her charge, that which had given her an eloquence, and a power, and a +strength, which had told upon the boy.</p> + +<p>He proved one of those rare creatures who pass through every stage of +existence, as child, as schoolboy, as youth; through nursery, school, +college, marked as some bright peculiar being—peculiar only in this one +thing, sincere unaffected goodness. His religion had been, indeed, with +him a thing little professed, and rarely talked about, but it had been a +holy panoply about his heart—a bright shield, which had quenched all +the darts of evil: it shone around him like something of the radiance +from a higher world. There was a sort of a glory round the young saint's +head.</p> + +<p>Such being the man, you will not be surprised to hear that his practice +called forth most serious reflections—most melancholy and sad +thoughts—and in no sick room where he had ever attended more than in +the present one.</p> + +<p>He could not frequent the house as much as his attendance rendered +necessary without being pretty well aware of the spirit of the place; +and while he grieved over the ruinous waste of health to which these +young creatures were exposed, he was struck to the heart with horror at +the idea of their moral ruin.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Saunders talked openly and unreservedly, and betrayed the state of +mind she was in: so completely, so entirely devoted to, wrapt up in, +buried fathoms and fathoms deep in the things of this world: so totally +lost to—so entirely to seek in every thing connected with another: that +the large, mournful, serious eye, as it turned to the sweet young +creature sitting beside her, and passing her daily life in an element +such as this, gazed with an expression of sad and tender pity such as +the minister of heaven might cast upon a perishing soul.</p> + +<p>She did not quite understand all this. Those looks of interest, so +inexpressibly sweet to her, she thought were excited by the view of her +position as affected her health and comfort. She thought it was that +consumption which, sooner or later, she believed must be her fate, which +he was anticipating with so much compassion. She was blind to the far +more dreadful dangers which surrounded her.</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Saunders! At last it could no longer be concealed from her. +She must die.</p> + +<p>He broke the intelligence to her in the gentlest terms, as she, at last, +in a paroxysm of terror, asked the question; giving her what hope he +could, but still not denying that she stood in a fearful strait. It was +a terrible scene that followed. Such a frightful agitation and hurry to +accomplish in a few counted hours what ought to have been the business +of a life. Such calling for psalms and prayers; such piteous beseechings +for help; and, last of all, such an awful awakening of a slumbering +conscience.</p> + +<p>Like Richard's bed, on the eve of Bosworth fight, it seemed as if the +spectral shadows of all those she had injured in the body or the soul, +by her unerring demands upon one, and her negligence as to the other, +rose a host of dismal spectres round. Their pale, exhausted, pleading +looks, as she scolded and threatened, when the clock struck one, and the +task was yet undone, and the head for a moment dropped, and the +throbbing fingers were still. Those hollow coughs in which she would +<i>not</i> believe—those hectic flushes that she would not see—and worse, +those walks, those letters, at which she had connived, because the girls +did so much better when they had some nonsense to amuse them.</p> + +<p>What fearful revelations were made as she raved aloud, or sank into a +drowsy, dreary delirium The old clergyman, who attended her, consoled, +and reasoned, and prayed in vain. The two young people—that lovely +girl, and that feeling, interesting, young man—stood by the bed +appalled: he, ghastly pale—pale with an agony of despairing pity—she, +trembling in every limb.</p> + +<p>The death agony, and then that poor woman went to her account. There was +no one in the room but themselves; it was late in the night, the +morning, indeed, began faintly to dawn. The maids were all gone to bed, +glad enough to escape the scene. He stood silently watching the +departing breath. It stopped. He gave a deep sigh, and, stooping down, +piously closed the eyes. She had turned away in horror and in dread, but +shedding some natural tears. He stood looking at her some time, as there +she stood, weeping by the bed; at last he spoke.</p> + +<p>"This may seem a strange time to choose, but I have something to say to +you. Will you listen to me?"</p> + +<p>She took her handkerchief from her eyes, and gazed at him with a +wondering, grave sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> look, as a child might do. His voice had +something so very remarkable in it.</p> + +<p>He passed to the side where she was standing, and said, "I am a very, +very poor man, and I have a helpless mother entirely dependent upon me +for support, and, if it were my last morsel of bread, ay, and wife and +children were perishing for want of it, it is <i>she</i> who should have it."</p> + +<p>She only looked at him wondering like.</p> + +<p>"This is a fearful precipice upon which you stand. That poor creature +has sunk into the gulf which yawns beneath your feet. May God, in his +mercy, look upon her! But you, beautiful as one of heaven's angels—as +yet pure and sinless as a child—must you fall, sink, perish, in this +mass of loathsome corruption? Better starve, better die—far, far +better."</p> + +<p>"Alas, alas!" she cried, with a scared and terrified look, "Alas! alas! +ten hundred thousand times better. Oh, what must I do? what must I do?"</p> + +<p>"Take up your cross: venture upon the hardships of a poor man's wife. +Discard all the prides, and pomps, and vanities—the vain, vain +delusions of flattery: trample upon the sin, triumph over the +temptation. Put yourself under the protection of an honest man, who +loves you from his soul. Starve, if it must be, but die the death of the +righteous and pure."</p> + +<p>She gazed at him, amazed; she did not yet understand him.</p> + +<p>"Marry <i>me</i>. Come to my blessed, my excellent mother's roof. It is +homely, but it is honest; and let us labor and suffer together, if need +be. It is all I can offer you, but it will save you."</p> + +<p>The arms, the beautiful arms were expanded, as it were, in a very agony +of joy. The face! oh, was it not glorious in its beauty then! Did he +ever forget it?</p> + +<p>And so the contract was sealed, and so she was rescued from the pit of +destruction into which she was rapidly sinking.</p> + +<p>And this it was that had excited such impassioned, such lasting, such +devoted feelings of gratitude to Him who rules the course of this world, +in a heart which had only to be shown what was good to embrace it.</p> + +<p>Fisher was all he had said; extremely poor. His salary, as assistant, +was handsome, nevertheless. He received one hundred a year and his board +from the gentleman with whom he was; but his dress, which was +necessarily rather expensive, and his mother, who had only an annuity of +twelve pounds a year, consumed it all. Still you see he was by no means +actually starving; and he thought the young wife he was going to bring +home would be no very great addition to his expenses, and he trusted, if +children came, that he should, by his exertions, be able to provide for +them. In two years his engagement with the present gentleman as his +assistant would be at an end; and he had received from the old man, who +was a sort of humorist in his way, several very strong hints about +partnership, if he would be satisfied with a reasonable share. +Partnership would, in the course of time, he knew, become sole +proprietorship, at the death or retirement of his aged patron—one of +which events could not be very far distant.</p> + +<p>It was, therefore, with great satisfaction, after having summoned the +necessary attendance, and sent his young betrothed to rest, that Fisher +walked home on a fine fresh morning.</p> + +<p>It was true he had taken a step most people would call very imprudent, +thus to encumber himself with a young wife at the very outset of his +career; certainly, he had never intended any such thing. He had always +resolved to be patient, and have a little store of money by him, before +he persuaded any one to begin the world with him. He could not bear the +idea of all being dependent upon his own life, and risking the chance of +leaving a widow and a young family destitute. But this was an +exceptional case, for he could not, without trembling, contemplate the +dangers which surrounded this young and innocent girl. His medical +knowledge taught him but too well the perils to the health of one so +fresh and blooming, from labors in close rooms to which she was so +little accustomed—death stared her in the face, unless she escaped it +by means at which he shuddered to think.</p> + +<p>The only way in which he, young as he was, could possibly help her, was +to withdraw her from the dangerous scene and make her his wife; and on +that step he had been for some days resolving. The emotion she had +shown, the timorous joy, the sweet confidence in his love and honor, had +given a rapturous feeling of happiness to him quite new. He had intended +benevolently and kindly; he had met with all the blessings of sincere +attachment.</p> + +<p>Instead of walking to Mrs. Stedman's to take some rest, which he very +much needed, he went to his mother's house, or rather the house where he +had taken a snug little apartment for his mother.</p> + +<p>It lay somewhere out Brompton way; in which district neat rows of small +houses are to be found looking backward upon pleasant greens and +gardens. There he had found a modest little suite of apartments; one +sitting-room and two bedrooms—a room for his mother and another +sometimes occupied by himself.</p> + +<p>The little hut, a tiny place it was, was clean to the greatest nicety, +and though fitted up in the very simplest and cheapest manner, had an +air of perfect comfort. The walls were stained green, the drugget upon +the floor was pink and fawn; the chairs were covered with what used to +be called Manchester stripe—very clean and pleasant-looking, and +excellent for wash and wear. There was a pretty little table for tea and +dinner, and a nice, round three-clawed one close by the mother's +side—who was established in the only article of luxury in the room, a +very comfortable arm-chair. There the old lady passed her life.</p> + +<p>She had lost the use of her lower limbs for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> some years; but her health +of body and mind in other respects was sound. The only thing for which +the son had as yet <i>coveted</i> a little more money, had been that he might +possess the means to give his mother the enjoyment of exercise and air; +and when he passed young men, the very pictures of health and strength, +lounging idly in their carriages, as one sometimes does in the Park, +though not given to such nonsense, he could not help uttering a secret +exclamation against the inequalities of fortune, and thinking the +blindness of the goddess of the wheel no fable.</p> + +<p>They were but passing thoughts these, such as the best have when they +languish for the means of bestowing good.</p> + +<p>Such indulgences, however, were rarely to be thought of, though now and +then he managed to obtain them; but as the best compensation he could +make, he paid a few guineas a year more for this pretty apartment, of +which the back room, elongated into a little bow-window, formed the +sitting-room—what would have been the front sitting-room being divided +into the two bedrooms. This pleasant bow-window looked over a row of +gardens belonging to the neighboring houses, and these to a considerable +tract of nursery-ground filled with rows of fruit trees, and all the +cheerful pleasant objects to be seen in such places. In summer the +arm-chair was wheeled to the window, and the whole of the view was +disclosed to the old lady; in winter it returned to the fire; but even +there she did not lose her pretty view altogether, the room was so +little that from her place she might easily command it. Miss Martineau, +in a book of hers, has given us a most valuable and interesting account +of the way in which, during a tedious and most trying illness, her +active spirit confined to one place, she used to amuse herself, and +while away the time by looking out of her window through her telescope +and watching all that was going on. This old lady did much the same, +minus the good telescope, which she had not. Her son, however, had +presented her with an old-fashioned opera-glass, which he had picked up +at some second-hand retailer or other, and as it was a good one, and, +moreover, very light to the hand, it did as well for her and better.</p> + +<p>In some things the old lady had a little resemblance to Miss Martineau. +She had the same cheerful activity of mind, the same readiness of +adapting herself to circumstances—things in a great measure +constitutional. She was, moreover, a very shrewd, sensible woman, and +deeply pious—pious in the most excellent way: really, vitally, +seriously. She came of a good old puritan stock, where piety had been +cherished from generation to generation. Some physiologists say, that +even the <i>acquired</i> moral qualities and habits descend to the succeeding +generation. It is possible an aptness for good or evil may be, and often +is, inherited from those who have gone before. It would seem to have +been so in this case. The pious father and mother, children of as pious +parents, had left this pious daughter—and her excellencies had +descended in accumulated measure to her son. This old lay had been +sorely tried—death and poverty had done their worst—except in as far +as the cruel ravager had spared her this one boy, one of many children, +all followed the delicate, consumptive man who had been their father. +She had borne it all. Strong in faith, she had surrendered her treasures +to the Lord of Life, in trust that they should be found again when he +maketh up his jewels. Cheerful as was her temper, life's course had been +too rough with her, for her to value it very much, when those lovely, +promising buds, but half disclosed, were one after the other gathered. +But she had escaped that racking agony of the loving, but too faithless +mother—when all the sweets of nature in its abundance flow around her, +and <i>they</i> are not there to enjoy.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When suns shine bright o'er heaven's blue vault serene,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Birds sing in trees, and sweet flowers deck the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weep I for thee, who in the cold, cold grave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sleep, and all nature's harmony is vain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when dark clouds and threat'ning storms arise,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And doubt and fear my trembling soul invade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart one comfort owns, <i>thou</i> art not here,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Safe slumbering, in the earth's kind bosom laid."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She was happier far than the author of these lines.</p> + +<p>She looked upward; she almost saw those she had lost, the objects of a +glorious resurrection—already living in the ineffable presence of the +God whom they had so faithfully endeavored to serve.</p> + +<p>I need not tell you, after this, that her spirits were subdued to a holy +calmness and composure.</p> + +<p>Her life had been one of the most active endeavors after usefulness. The +good she had managed to do can scarcely be calculated. Grains of sand +they might be, these hoarded minutes, but it was golden sand; the heap +accumulated was large and precious, at the end of sixty-five years.</p> + +<p>What money she had possessed she had expended courageously in giving a +professional education to her son. Her little annuity of twelve pounds a +year was all she had saved for herself. Upon that she believed with her +own exertions, she could manage to exist till her son was able to +support both; but she had been struck down earlier than she calculated +upon. She had at this time lost the use of her lower limbs altogether, +and was visited with such trembling in her hands, that she was obliged +to close the task abruptly, and to sit down dependent upon her son +before she had expected it.</p> + +<p>It had been very trying work till he obtained his present situation, and +he still felt very poor, because he was resolved every year to lay +twenty pounds or so by, that, in case any thing should happen to him, +his mother might have some little addition to her means provided. He was +rather strangely provident for the case of his own death; so young man +as he was; perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> he felt the faltering spring of life within, which +he had inherited from his father.</p> + +<p>Three years the mother and son had thus lived together, and Fisher was +master of sixty pounds.</p> + +<p>He had never allowed himself to cast a thought upon marriage, though of +a temper ardently to desire, and rapturously to enjoy, domestic +felicity. He said to himself he must first provide for his mother's +independence, and then think about his own happiness. But the accident +which had brought him and Lucy together had produced other +thoughts—thoughts which he had, but the very day before the nursing so +suddenly closed, communicated to his mother, and she had said,</p> + +<p>"I think you are quite right, John. Imprudent marriages are, in most +cases, very wrong things—a mere tempting of Providence: and, that no +blessing follows such tempting, we know from the best authority: but +this is a most pious, benevolent, and very rational attempt to save a +fellow-creature upon the brink of destruction, and I think it would be a +want of faith, as well as a want of common humanity, in either of us to +hesitate; I am very glad she seems such a sweet, innocent, pretty +creature, for your sake, my darling John; I hope she will bring a +blessing into your dwelling and repay you for your goodness to me; I am +sorry she must come and live with your old mother, for young wives don't +like that—but I promise you I will do my very best to be as amiable as +an old woman can; and, moreover, I will neither be cross nor +disappointed if she is not always as amiable as a young woman ought to +be. Will that do? Yes, yes; fetch her away from that sink of iniquity, +and we'll all get along somehow or other, never fear."</p> + +<p>And so Lucy Miles, blushing like a rose, and, as her young and delighted +husband thought, more beauteous than an angel of light, was in a few +weeks married to John Fisher, and she went home to the old lady.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Amid the smoke of cities did you pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The time of early youth, and there you learnt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From years of quiet industry to love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The living beings of your own fire-side."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The eloquent tongue of Fisher had over and over again related with deep +feeling the history of all he owed to his mother, and Lucy, far from +feeling inclined to be jealous of the devoted affection he felt for her, +like a good loving girl as she was, extended the ardent attachment she +felt toward her husband to every thing that belonged to him.</p> + +<p>She had lost her own parents, whom she had loved exceedingly, though +they were quite ordinary people. She soon almost worshiped old Mrs. +Fisher.</p> + +<p>Lucy had been little improved by those who had the rearing of her; she +was a girl of excellent dispositions, but her education had been +commonplace. In the society of the old lady her good gifts, both of head +and heart, expanded rapidly. The passionate desire she felt to render +herself worthy of her husband, whom she adored almost as some superior +being, made her an apt and docile pupil.</p> + +<p>A few years thus spent, and you would scarcely have known her again. Her +piety was deep, and had become a habit—a part of her very soul; her +understanding naturally excellent, had been developed and strengthened; +the most earnest desire to perform her part well—to do good and extend +virtue and happiness, and to sweeten the lives of all with whom she had +to do, had succeeded to thoughtless good nature, and a sort of +instinctive kindness. Anxiety for her husband's health, which constantly +oppressed her, a sort of trembling fear that she should be bereaved +early of this transcendent, being; this it was, perhaps, which enhanced +the earnest, serious tone of one so young.</p> + +<p>She was extremely industrious, in the hope of adding to her husband's +means of rest and recreation, and the accidental acquaintance with a +French <i>modiste</i>, who had fallen ill in London, was in great distress, +and whom Fisher attended through charity, had put her into the way of +improving herself in this art more than she could have done even in that +eminent school, the work-room of Miss Lavington. The French-woman was a +very amiable, and pious person, too. She was a French Protestant; the +connection ripened into friendship, and it ended by placing Mrs. Fisher +in the state of life in which we find her. Fisher fell desperately ill +in consequence of a fever brought on at a dissection, from which he +narrowly escaped with life; the fever left him helpless and incapable of +exertion. The poor mother was by this time dead; he succeeded to the +vacant arm-chair. Then his wife resolved upon doing that openly which +she had till now done covertly, merely working for the bazaars. She +persuaded her husband, when a return to his profession appeared +hopeless, to let her employ his savings in setting up business with +Madame Noel, and from small beginnings had reached that high place in +her profession which she now occupied.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>No sooner had Mrs. Fisher established a working-room of her own, and +engaged several young women to labor under her superintendence, than the +attention of her husband was seriously turned to the subject of those +evils from which he had rescued his wife.</p> + +<p>She had suffered much, and experienced several of the evils consequent +upon the manner such places were managed; but she would probably not +have reflected upon the causes of these evils, nor interested herself so +deeply as she afterward did in applying the remedies, if it had not been +for the promptings of this excellent man.</p> + +<p>His medical skill made him thoroughly aware of the injurious effect +produced upon the health by the ill-regulated system of such +establishments; and his thoughts, as he sat resigned to helplessness in +his arm-chair, were seriously directed to that subject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p> + +<p>In consequence of his suggestions it was that Mrs. Fisher began her life +of business upon a plan of her own, to which she steadily adhered. At +first she found considerable difficulty in carrying it out—there are +always numerous obstructions to be met with in establishing any +improvements; but where the object is rational and benevolent, +perseverance and a determined will triumph over every difficulty.</p> + +<p>The first thing Fisher insisted upon was ventilation; the second, +warmth; the third, plenty of good, wholesome, and palatable food; the +fourth, exercise. He determined upon a house being selected which was +not closely built up behind, and that the room in which the young ladies +worked should be large and commodious in proportion to the inmates. A +portion of the little money he had saved was sacrificed to the +additional expense thus incurred. He looked upon it, he told his wife, +as given to charity, for which she must expect no return, and for which +he should look for no interest. A good wide grate, which should be well +supplied with a cheerful fire in winter, was to assist the ventilation +proceeding from a scientific plan of his own, which kept the room +constantly supplied with a change of air; and under the table at which +the girls sat at work, there was in winter a sort of long, square, +wooden pipe filled with hot water and covered with carpeting, upon which +they could put their feet: the extreme coldness of the feet arising from +want of circulation, being one of the causes to which Fisher attributed +many of the maladies incident to this mode of life.</p> + +<p>The next object of attention was the table. Fisher had been at school, +at one or two different schools, resembling each other in one thing +only—the scandalous—I must use the strong and offensive word—the +scandalous neglect or worse than neglect—the infamous and base +calculations upon the subject of food which pervaded the system of those +schools, and which pervaded, I am sorry to say, so many of the schools +with which he had chanced to be acquainted. In the course of his +practice as a medical man, his opportunities for observation had been +above the common.</p> + +<p>In fine ladies' schools, I can not assert that the shameful economy of +buying inferior provisions, and the shameful indifference as to how they +were cooked, which prevail in so many boys' schools, were to be +found—but a fault almost equally great prevailed too generally. There +was not <i>enough</i>. These growing girls, stimulated to most unnatural +exertions both of body and mind, peculiarly unnatural to growing girls +who require so much care, fresh air, exercise, and rest, for their due +development—these young things had very rarely nearly so much to eat as +they could have eaten.</p> + +<p>Sometimes enough was literally not set before them; at others, a sort of +fashion in the school to consider a good appetite as a proof of +coarseness, greediness, and vulgarity, worked but too effectually upon +these sensitive creatures. A girl at that age would rather be starved +than ridiculed or sneered at for eating.</p> + +<p>But in boys' schools—expensive boys' schools too—where six times as +much was paid for a boy's board as would have boarded him—either +through scandalous parsimony, or the most inexcusable negligence, he had +seen meat brought into the house not fit to eat; cheap and bad in +itself, but rendered doubly unwholesome in summer by the most utter +carelessness as to whether it was fresh. Boys are hardy things, and it +is right they should not be accustomed to be too nice; but wholesome, +plain roast and boiled is what they pay for and ought to have; and the +defrauding them of what is so necessary to health, vigor, and even +intellect, in this unprincipled manner, is almost the very worst form of +robbery any man can be guilty of.</p> + +<p>Fisher was resolved it should not be so in his wife's house. He and his +wife had agreed that the young ladies she employed should be lodged and +boarded under her roof, unless they had respectable parents who could +and would be fully answerable for them; and they should have a plentiful +and a pleasant table—that he was resolved upon. As he was competent to +little else, he took this matter upon himself. He calculated what ought +fairly to be laid out, and he laid it all out. He would not economize a +penny. If he was able to make a good bargain with his butcher, the young +ladies, not he, should have the benefit of it all. They should have a +bit of fish, or a little poultry, or a little good fruit, poor girls, to +vary a meal, to which they could not bring the sturdy appetite of much +out-of-door exercise.</p> + +<p>Then came the great chapter of that exercise. There was the +difficulty—how much time could Mrs. Fisher possibly afford to lose?—to +abandon to this object?—for the work must <i>pay</i>—or it could not +continue to be done. But the difficulty diminished upon examination. +Time may be counted by strength as well as by minutes. The same thing +may, by two different hands, be accomplished in most unequal portions of +time.</p> + +<p>The dreadful feeling of weariness, which, as Lucy, she so well +remembered—one consequence of sitting so long in an unchanged position, +and at the same employment—that dreadful feeling could not be forgotten +by her. Her horror at the recollection was so strong, that of this +matter she thought more than even her benevolent husband.</p> + +<p>He recollected to have heard that the Jesuits, those masters of human +development, physical as well as intellectual, never suffered a pupil to +be employed more than two hours upon the same thing without a change—to +get up and turn round the chair—to pace five minutes up and down the +room would in many cases suffice. Mr. Fisher laid down his plan.</p> + +<p>Two hours the young ladies worked, and then for ten minutes they were +allowed to lay down their needles; they might walk about the room, into +the passage, up and down stairs, or sit still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> and lounge. That +precious, useful <i>lounge</i>, so fatally denied to the wearied spine of +many a growing girl, was here permitted. They might look about them, or +close their eyes and be stupefied; in short, do just what they liked.</p> + +<p>It was soon found by experience that the work done after this refreshing +pause more than made up for the time thus expended.</p> + +<p>Such were some of the plans of this kind-hearted and highly-principled +man—and the blooming looks, the gay spirits, the bright eyes, of the +happy little community did credit to the scheme.</p> + +<p>Fisher lived but a few years to carry out the rule he had instituted; +but to his wife it was as a sacred legacy from his hand, and during the +whole course of her subsequent life she faithfully adhered to it.</p> + +<p>Her house was like a convent in some things, but it was a very happy +convent. Every thing proceeded with a clock-work order, and yet there +was a liberty such as few girls thus employed, in spite of their +intervals of license, could enjoy.</p> + +<p>It was a happy party, over which this remarkably handsome, and now +distinguishedly fashionable milliner, and dignified-looking lady +presided. Nothing indiscreet or unseemly was ever permitted. The rule, +perhaps, might be a little too grave, and the manner of the young ladies +too sedate; but they were innocent and good; and they had their +recreations, for Mrs. Fisher look them out, turn and turn about, upon a +Sunday, in her carriage, and the others walked with the two +superintendents—persons carefully selected for their good principles +and good conduct.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fisher, too, was a little bit of a match-maker; and if she had a +weakness, it was her fondness for settling her young ladies. Nothing +pleased her better than when they were sought—and they were such nice, +well-behaved girls, this often happened—by worthy young men in their +own rank of life. Mrs. Fisher always gave the wedding-gown and bonnet, +and the wedding dinner, and a white satin reticule or bag, drawn with +rose-colored ribbons, with a pretty pink and white purse in it, with +silver tassels and rings, and containing a nice little sum for the +bride's pocket-money. You will easily understand how Mrs. Danvers had +struck up quite a friendship with Mrs. Fisher. Once, indeed, in her days +of youth and gayety, she had been one of her most valuable customers. +She had long done with fine things, but the interest she took in the +affairs of Mrs. Fisher's establishment had endeared her very much to +that good lady, and hence she had, at her earnest request, consented to +take Myra, though her own instinct, the moment she cast her eyes upon +this beautiful, dawdling-looking being, had assured her that she was, to +use her own phrase, not one of <i>her</i> sort.</p> + +<p>Myra was grievously disappointed, upon her side. She was quite one to be +blind to the solid advantages of her position, and to look with +querulous regret upon all the flashy and brilliant part of such a +business, in which she was not allowed to take the least share.</p> + +<p>Precisely because she was so beautiful did Mrs. Fisher exclude her from +the show-room—that theatre which was to have been the scene of her +triumphs.</p> + +<p>The beautiful things she was employed in manufacturing left her hands to +be seen no more—and, alas! never by her to be tried on. It was +tantalizing work to part with them, and forever, as soon as they left +her hand.</p> + +<p>Then she was obliged to be punctual to a moment in her hours; a grievous +yoke to her who had never been educated to submit to any. To dress with +the most careful attention to neatness, though there was "nothing but a +pack of women to look at her"—to listen to "a prosy book"—a book, I +forgot to say, was read aloud in the work-room—instead of gossiping and +having a little fun; and to walk out on Sundays under the wing of that +old, hideous harridan, Mrs. Sterling, instead of going with her +companions where she pleased. In short, it was worse "than negro +slavery," but there was no help for it—there she was, and there she was +obliged to stay.</p> + +<p>Well, and did she improve under this good discipline? Was she any the +better for it? I am sorry to say very little.</p> + +<p>There are subjects that are almost unimprovable. She was, by nature, a +poor, shallow, weedy thing; her education had been the worst possible +for her. Evil habits, false views, low aims, had been imbibed, and not +one fault corrected while young; and self-experience, which rectifies in +most so much that is wrong, seemed to do nothing for her. There was no +substance to work upon. Mrs. Fisher was soon heartily tired of her, and +could have regretted her complaisance to Mrs. Danvers' wishes in +receiving her against her judgment; but she was too good to send her +away. She laughed, and accepted her as a penance for her sins, she +said—as a thorn in the flesh—and she let the thorn rankle there. She +remembered her honored Fisher, and the scene by the bed-side of poor +Saunders. She looked upon the endurance of this plague as a fresh +offering to the adored memory.</p> + +<p>She bore this infliction like a martyr for a long time; at last a smart +young tailor fell in love with Myra at church—a place where he had been +better employed thinking of other things. And so I believe he thought +after he had married her, in spite of the white dress and silk bonnet, +and the reticule with pink ribbons, and the bride's pocket-money, which +Mrs. Fisher bestowed with more pleasure and alacrity than even she had +been known to do upon many a worthier subject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yet once more, oh, ye laurels, and once more,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with forced fingers rude,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Compels me—"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16"><span class="smcap">Milton's</span> <i>Lycidas</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I must beg of you to slip over a portion of time, and to suppose about +two years passed over our heads, and we return to Lettice, who has +passed that period at General Melwyn's.</p> + +<p>So useful, so cheerful, so thoroughly good, so sincerely pious, so +generously disinterested she was; and the transformation she had +accomplished was astonishing.</p> + +<p>And was she as happy herself as she made others? Nobody at the Hazels +thought of exactly asking that question. And yet they might have +reflected a little, and inquired, whether to one, the source of so much +comfort to others, the natural felicity of her age was not denied?</p> + +<p>Could a young being like <i>her</i> be <i>very</i> happy, living with two old +people, and without one single companion of her own age? Without +prospect, without interest in that coming life, which the young +imagination paints in such lovely colors?</p> + +<p>One may boldly affirm she was <i>not</i> so happy as she deserved to be, and +that it was quite impossible, with a heart formed for every tender +affection as was hers, that she <i>should</i>.</p> + +<p>She began to be visited by a troublesome guest, which in the days of +hardship she had never known. The very ease which surrounded her, the +exemption from all necessity for laborious industry actually increasing +the evil, gradually seemed to grow upon her. There was a secret distaste +for life—a void in the heart, not filled by natural affections—a +something which asked for tenderer relations, more earnest duties—a +home—a household—a family of her own!</p> + +<p>She blamed herself very much when first this little secret feeling of +dissatisfaction and discontent began to steal over her. How could she be +so ungrateful? She had every comfort in the world—more, much more, than +she had any title to expect; infinitely more than many far more +deserving than herself were allowed to enjoy. Why could she not have the +same light contented spirit within her breast, that had carried her +triumphantly through so many hardships, and enlivened so many clouded +days?</p> + +<p>Poor Lettice! It was vain to find fault with herself. Life would seem +flat. The mere routine of duties, unsweetened by natural affection, +would weary the spirit at times. There was a sweetness wanting to +existence—and existence, without that invigorating sweetness, is to the +best of us a tedious and an exhausting thing.</p> + +<p>So thought Catherine, when, about eighteen months or two years after her +marriage, she came for the first time with Edgar to visit her father +and mother.</p> + +<p>The regimental duties of the young officer had carried him to the Ionian +Islands very shortly after his marriage; promotion had brought him home, +and he and his young and happy wife, with a sweet infant of about twelve +months old, hastened down to the Hazels to visit Catherine's parents.</p> + +<p>I pass over the joy of the meeting—I pass over the satisfaction felt by +Catherine at the happy revolution which had taken place—at her father's +improved temper, her mother's more tranquil spirits, the absence of +Randall, and the general good behavior which pervaded the household.</p> + +<p>She looked upon every member of it with satisfaction except one; and +that was the very one who ought to have been the happiest; for she was +the cause and the origin of all this happiness. But Lettice did not, she +thought, look as she used to do; her eyes had lost something of their +vivacity; and the good heart of Catherine was grieved.</p> + +<p>"It pains me so, Edgar—you can not think," she said to her husband, as +she walked, leaning upon his arm, through the pleasant groves and +gardens of the Hazels. "I can scarcely enjoy my own happiness for +thinking of her. Poor, dear, she blames herself so for not being +perfectly happy—as if one could have effects without causes—as if the +life she leads here could make any one perfectly happy. Not one thing to +enjoy—for as to her comfortable room, and the good house, and the +pretty place, and all that sort of thing, a person soon gets used to it, +and it shuts out uneasiness, but it does not bring delight, at least to +a young thing of that age. Child of the house as I was, and early days +as they were with me when you were among us, Edgar—I never knew what +true happiness was till then—that is, I should very soon have felt a +want of some object of interest; though it <i>was</i> my own father and +mother—"</p> + +<p>"So I took the liberty to lay before you, my fair haranguer, if you +recollect, when you made so many difficulties about carrying my +knapsack."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that was because it seemed so heartless, so cruel, to abandon my +parents just when they wanted me so exceedingly. But what a debt of +gratitude I owe to this dear Lettice for settling all these matters so +admirably for me."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you confess to a little of that debt, which I, on my part, +feel to be enormous."</p> + +<p>"I heartily wish there were any means of paying it. I wish I could make +Lettice as happy as she has made all of us."</p> + +<p>The young officer shook his handsome head.</p> + +<p>"Mammas in our rank of life make such a point of endeavoring to settle +their daughters—to start them in households of their own—where, if +they are exposed to many troubles which they escape under their father's +roof, they have many more interests and sources of happiness. But there +is nobody to think of such matters as connegated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> with this poor +fatherless and motherless girl."</p> + +<p>"Mothers, even in your rank, my love, don't always succeed in +accomplishing this momentous object. I don't see what possible chance +there is for one in Lettice's condition—except the grand one, the +effective one—in my opinion almost the only one, namely, the chapter of +accidents."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that chapter of accidents! It is a poor dependence."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Catherine, that is not said with your usual piety."</p> + +<p>"True—I am sorry—and yet, where another's happiness is concerned, one +feels as if it were wrong to trust too much—even to Providence; with +great reverence be it said—I mean, that in no given event can we +exactly tell how much we are expected to use our own exertions, how much +diligence on our part is required of us, in order to produce a happy +result."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you quite and entirely; and if there is a thing that +angers me beyond measure, it is to see a pious person fold his +hands—sit down and trust the happiness of another to, as he says, +Providence. If I have any just idea of Providence, an ample retribution +will be in store for these sort of religionists."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is just as I feel—but in a sort of confused way. You say +those things so much better than I do, Edgar."</p> + +<p>"Do I? Well, that is news to me."</p> + +<p>"But to return. Can not we do something for this good creature?"</p> + +<p>"I don't exactly see that we can do. Besides, there is your poor mother. +Would you pull down all her little edifice of happiness, by taking +Lettice away from her?"</p> + +<p>"That is a terrible consideration; and yet what was true of me is doubly +and trebly true of Lettice. My darling mother would not hear of me +relinquishing my happiness upon her account—and ought Lettice to be +allowed to make such a sacrifice?"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, my dear, it is time enough to begin to deprecate such a +sacrifice when the opportunity for it occurs, but I own I see little +hope of a romance for your poor, dear Lettice, seeing that an important +personage in such matters, namely, a hero, seems to me to be utterly out +of the question. There is not a young gentleman within twenty miles, so +far as I can see, that is in the least likely to think of the good +girl."</p> + +<p>"Alas, no! that is the worst of it."</p> + +<p>But the romance of Lettice's life was nearer than they imagined.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The visit of Catherine at the Hazels cheered up Lettice very much; and +in the delights of a little society with those of her own age, she soon +forgot all her quarrels with herself; and brushed away the cobwebs which +were gathering over her brain. She was enchanted, too, with the baby, +and as she felt that, while Catherine was with her mother, she rather +interfered with, than increased Mrs. Melwyn's enjoyment, she used to +indulge herself with long walks through the beautiful surrounding +country, accompanying the nurse and helping to carry the babe.</p> + +<p>She visited several lonely places and remote cottages, where she had +never been before; and began to feel a new interest given to existence +when she was privileged to assist others under the pressure of that want +and misery which she understood but too well. One evening she and the +nurse had strayed in a new direction, and did not exactly know where +they were. Very far from the house she was aware it could not be, by the +time she had been absent, but they had got into one of those deep, +hollow lanes, from which it is impossible to catch a glimpse of the +surrounding country: those lanes so still, and so beautiful, with their +broken sandy banks, covered with tufts of feathering grass, with peeping +primroses and violets, and barren strawberries between; the beech and +ash of the copses casting their slender branches across, and checkering +the way with innumerable broken lights! While, may be, as was here the +case, a long pebbly stream runs sparkling and shining upon one side of +the way, forming ten thousand little pools and waterfalls as it courses +along.</p> + +<p>Charmed with the scene, Lettice could not prevail upon herself to turn +back till she had pursued her way a little farther. At last a turn in +the lane brought her to a lowly and lonely cottage, which stood in a +place where the bank had a little receded, and the ground formed a small +grassy semicircle, with the steep banks rising all around it—here stood +the cottage.</p> + +<p>It was an ancient, picturesque looking thing, built one knows not when. +I have seen one such near Stony Cross in Hampshire, which the tradition +of the county affirms to be the very identical cottage into which the +dying William Rufus was carried, and I am half inclined to believe it.</p> + +<p>Their deep heavy roofs, huge roof-trees, little low walls and small +windows, speak of habits of life very remote from our own—and look to +me as if like a heap of earth—a tumulus—such edifices might stand +unchanged for tens of ages.</p> + +<p>The cottage before us was of this description, and had probably been a +woodman's hut when the surrounding country was all one huge forest. The +walls were not more than five feet high, over which hung the deep and +heavy roof, covered with moss, and the thatch was overlaid with a heap +of black mould, which afforded plentiful nourishment to stonecrops, and +various tufts of beautifully feathered grass, which waved in fantastic +plumes over it. The door, the frame of which was all aslant, seemed +almost buried in, and pressed down by this roof, placed in which were +two of those old windows which show that the roof itself formed the +upper chamber of the dwelling. A white rose bush was banded up on one +side of this door; a rosemary tree upon the other; a little border with +marigolds, lemon thyme and such like pot-herbs, ran round the house, +which lay in a tiny plot of ground carefully cultivated as a garden. +Here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> a very aged man, bent almost double as it would seem with the +weight of years, was very languidly digging or attempting it.</p> + +<p>The nurse was tired, so was the babe, so was Lettice. They agreed to ask +the old man's leave to enter the cottage, and sit down a little, before +attempting to return home.</p> + +<p>"May we go in, good man, and rest ourselves a little while?" asked +Lettice.</p> + +<p>"Anan—"</p> + +<p>"Will you give us leave to go in and rest ourselves a little? We are +both tired with carrying the baby."</p> + +<p>"I don't know well what it is you're saying. How many miles to +Brainford? Maybe two; but it's a weary while sin' I've been there."</p> + +<p>"He can't understand us, nurse, at all. He seems almost stone deaf. Let +us knock at the door, and see who's within, for you look ready to drop; +and I am so excessively tired I can hardly help you. However, give me +your sleeping babe at all events, for you really seem as if you could +stand no longer."</p> + +<p>She took the child, which had long been fast asleep, went to the cottage +door, and knocked.</p> + +<p>"Come in," said a voice.</p> + +<p>Not such a voice as she expected to hear, but a sweet, well-modulated +voice, that of a person of education. A man's voice, however, it was. +She hesitated a little, upon which some one rose and opened the door, +but started back upon seeing a young lady with a child in her arms, +looking excessively tired, and as if she could hold up no longer.</p> + +<p>"Pray, come in," he said, observing she hesitated, and, retreating back +a little as he spoke, showed a small bed not far from the fire, standing +in the chimney place, as it is called. In this bed lay a very aged +woman. A large, but very, very ancient Bible lay open upon the bed, and +a chair a little pushed back was standing near it. It would seem that +the young gentleman had risen from the chair where he to all appearance +had been reading the Bible to the bed-ridden old woman. "Pray, come in, +and sit down," he repeated, holding the door to let Lettice enter. "You +look exceedingly tired. The place is very humble but perfectly clean, +and poor old Betty Rigby will be very happy to give you leave to enter."</p> + +<p>The young man who spoke was dressed in deep black; but as there was a +crape band round his hat which lay upon the table, it would seem that he +was in mourning, and possibly, therefore, not a clergyman. He was +something above the middle height; but his figure was spoiled by its +extreme thinness, and a stoop in the shoulder which seemed to be the +effect of weakness. His face was very thin, and his cheek perfectly +pale; but his features were beautifully proportioned, and his large gray +eyes beamed with a subdued and melancholy splendor. There was the fire +of fever, and there was that of genius.</p> + +<p>The expression of this face was soft and sweet in the extreme, but it +was rendered almost painful by its cast of deep sadness. Lettice looked +at him, and was struck by his appearance in a way she had never in her +life been before. He was, I believe, as much struck with hers. These +unexpected meetings, in totally unexpected places, often produce such +sudden and deep impressions. The happier being was moved and interested +by the delicacy the attenuation, the profound sadness of the beautiful +countenance before her; the other with the bloom of health, the +cheerful, wholesome expression, the character and meaning of the face +presented to him, as the young girl stood there holding the sleeping +infant in her arms. Certainly though not regularly pretty, she was a +very picturesque and pleasing looking object at that moment.</p> + +<p>The old woman from her bed added her invitation to that of the young +man.</p> + +<p>"Please to walk in, miss. It's a poor place. Please take a chair. Oh, my +poor limbs! I've been bed-ridden these half-score years; but pray, sit +down and rest yourselves, and welcome. Law! but that's a pretty bairn, +ben't it."</p> + +<p>Lettice took the offered chair and sat down, still holding the baby; the +nurse occupied the other; the young man continued standing.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid we have interrupted you," said Lettice, glancing at the +book.</p> + +<p>"Oh, pray don't think of it! I am in no hurry to be gone. My time," with +a suppressed sigh, "is all my own. I will finish my lecture by-and-by."</p> + +<p>"Ay, do—do—that's a good gentleman. Do you know, ma'am, he's been the +kindest friend, young as he looks, that ever I or my good man met with. +You see we lie here out of the way like—it's a big monstrous parish +this, and our parson has a world of work to do. So we gets rather +overlooked, though, poor man, I believe, he does what he can. I've lived +here these ten years, crippled and bed-ridden as you see, but I got +along pretty well for some time, for I was a bit of a schollard in my +youth; but last winter my eyes took to being bad, and since then I've +not been able to read a line. All gets dizzy like. And I was very dull +and sore beset that I couldn't even see to read the word of God, and my +poor husband, that's the old man as is delving in the garden there, why +he has hardly any eyes left in his head. Enough just to potter about +like, an' see his way, but he couldn't read a line, and it was never so; +and so that blessed young gentleman—law! where is he? Why, I declare +he's gone!"</p> + +<p>The young gentleman had, indeed, quietly glided out of the cottage as +soon as his <i>éloge</i> began.</p> + +<p>"That young gentleman—I can say what I like now he is gone—has been +<i>so</i> good to us. Many's the half-crown he's given me, and a warm winter +coat of his own to my poor rheumatized old man. Oh! he's a blessed +one—and then he comes and sits and reads to me of an afternoon for an +hour together, because as how one day he called he found me a-cryin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +for why, I could no longer read the Holy Word—and he says 'Cheer up, +Betty, be of good comfort, I'll read it to you daily'—and when I said +'daily, sir—that'll take up too much of your time, I fear'—he sighed a +little, and said he'd nothing particular to do with his time."</p> + +<p>"Who is he? Does he belong to this neighborhood?"</p> + +<p>"No, miss, he's only been here maybe a half-year or so. He came down on +a visit to Mr. Hickman the doctor out there, Brainwood way, and +presently he went and lodged at a cottage hard by, to be near Hickman, +who's a great name for such complaints as his'n—A-A—I don't know +what's the name—but he's very bad, they say, and not able to do any +thing in the world. Well, he's the best, kindest, Christian young man, +you ever see or I ever see. The power of good he does among the +poor—poor young fellow—is not to be told or counted—but he's so +melancholy like, and so gentle, and so kind, it makes one a'most cry to +look at him; that's the worst of it."</p> + +<p>"He looks like a clergyman; I could fancy he was in holy orders. Do you +know whether he is so or not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am, I have heard say that he is a parson, but nobody in these +parts has ever seen him in a pulpit; but now it strikes me I've heard +that he was to be curate to Mr. Thomas, of Briarwood parish, but he was +ta'en bad of his chest or his throat, and never able to speak up like, +so it would not do; he can not at present speak in a church, for his +voice sounds so low, so low."</p> + +<p>"I wonder we have never met with him, or heard of him before."</p> + +<p>"Oh, miss! he's not been in this country very long, and he goes out +nowhere but to visit the poor; and tired and weak as he looks, he seems +never tired of doing good."</p> + +<p>"He looks very pale and thin."</p> + +<p>"Ay, doesn't he? I'm afraid he's but badly; I've heard some say he was +in a galloping consumption, others a decline; I don't know, but he seems +mighty weak like."</p> + +<p>A little more talk went on in the same way, and then Lettice asked the +nurse whether she felt rested, as it was time to be returning home, and, +giving the poor bed-ridden patient a little money, which was received +with abundance of thanks, Lettice left the house.</p> + +<p>When she entered the little garden, she saw the young man was not gone; +he was leaning pensively against the gate, watching the swinging +branches of a magnificent ash tree, which grew upon a green plot by the +side of the lane. Beautiful it was as it spread its mighty magnificent +head against the deep blue summer sky, and a soft wind gently whispered +among its forest of leaves.</p> + +<p>Lettice could not help, as she observed the countenance of the young +man, who seemed lost in thought, admiring the extraordinary beauty of +its expression. Something of the sublime, something of the angelic, +which we see in a few remarkable countenances, but usually in those +which are spiritualized by mental sufferings, and great physical +delicacy.</p> + +<p>He started from his reverie as she and the nurse approached, and lifted +the latchet of the little wicket to lot them pass. And, as he did so, +the large, melancholy eye was lighted up with something of a pleasurable +expression, as he looked at Lettice, and said,</p> + +<p>"A beautiful afternoon. May I venture to ask were you intending to visit +that poor bed-ridden creature? I thought by the expression she used that +you were not acquainted with her case, and probably had never been in +the cottage before. Will you excuse me for saying she is in great +necessity?"</p> + +<p>"It is the first time I have ever been down this lane, sir, but I assure +you it shall not be the last; I will come and see the poor woman again. +There are few things I pity so much as the being bed-ridden."</p> + +<p>She had walked into the lane. He had quitted the garden too, and +continued to walk by her side talking as he went.</p> + +<p>"I hope there is not so much suffering in that state as we are apt to +imagine," he said; "at least, I have observed that very poor people are +enabled to bear it with wonderful cheerfulness and patience. I believe, +to those who have lived a life of hard labor, rest has something +acceptable in it, which compensates for many privations—but these old +creatures are also miserably poor. The parish can not allow much, and +they are so anxious not to be forced into the house, that they contrive +to make a very little do. The poor woman has been for years receiving +relief as member of a sick-club; but lately the managers have come to a +resolution, that she has been upon the list for such an unexampled +length of time, that they can not afford to go on with the allowance any +longer."</p> + +<p>"How cruel and unjust!"</p> + +<p>"Very sad, as it affects her comforts, poor creature, and certainly not +just; yet, as she paid only about three years, and has been receiving an +allowance for fifteen, it would be difficult, I fancy, to make the sort +of people who manage such clubs see it quite in that light. At all +events, we can get her no redress, for she does not belong to this +parish, though her husband does; and the club of which she is a member +is in a place at some distance, of which the living is sequestrated, and +there is no one of authority there to whom we can apply. I only take the +liberty of entering into these details, madam, in order to convince you +that any charity you may extend in this quarter, will be particularly +well applied."</p> + +<p>"I shall be very happy, if I can be of any use," said Lettice, "but I am +sorry to say, but little of my time is at my own disposal—it belongs to +another—I can not call it my own—and my purse is not very ample. But I +have more money than time," she added, cheerfully, "at all events. And, +if you will be pleased to point out in what way I can best help this +poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> creature, I shall be very much obliged to you, for I am quite +longing for the pleasure of doing a little among the poor. I have been +very poor myself; and, besides, I used to visit them so much in my poor +father's day."</p> + +<p>"I have more time than money," he said, with a gentle but very +melancholy smile; "and, therefore, if you will give me leave, I <i>would</i> +take the liberty of pointing out to you how you could help this poor +woman. If—if I knew...."</p> + +<p>"I live with General and Mrs. Melwyn—I am Mrs. Melwyn's <i>dame de +compagnie</i>," said Lettice, with simplicity.</p> + +<p>"And I am what ought to be Mr. Thomas's curate," answered he, "but that +I am too inefficient to merit the name. General Melwyn's family never +attends the parish church, I think."</p> + +<p>"No; we go to the chapel of ease at Furnival's Green. It is five miles +by the road to the parish church, and that road a very bad one. The +general does not like his carriage to go there.</p> + +<p>"So I have understood; and, therefore, Mr. Thomas is nearly a stranger, +and I perfectly one, to the family, though they are Mr. Thomas's +parishioners."</p> + +<p>"It seems so strange to me—a clergyman's daughter belonging formerly to +a small parish—that every individual in it should not be known to the +vicar. It ought not to be so, I think."</p> + +<p>"I entirely agree with you. But I believe Mr. Thomas and the general +never exactly understood or suited each other."</p> + +<p>"I don't know—I never heard."</p> + +<p>"I am myself not utterly unknown to every member of the family. I was at +school with the young gentleman who married Miss Melwyn.... Yet why do I +recall it? He has probably forgotten me altogether.... And yet, perhaps, +not altogether. Possibly he might remember James St. Leger;" and he +sighed.</p> + +<p>It was a light, suppressed sigh. It seemed to escape him without his +observing it.</p> + +<p>Lettice felt unusually interested in this conversation, little as there +may appear in it to interest any one; but there was something in the +look and tone of the young man that exercised a great power over her +imagination. His being of the <i>cloth</i>—a clergyman—may account for what +may seem rather strange in her entering into conversation with him. She +had been brought up to feel profound respect for every one in holy +orders; and, moreover, the habits of her life at one time, when she had +sunk to such depths of poverty, had, in a considerable degree, robbed +her of the conventional reserve of general society. She had been so used +at one time to be accosted and to accost without thinking of the +ceremony of an introduction, that she probably forgot the absence of it +in the present case, more than another equally discreet girl might have +done.</p> + +<p>The young man, on his part, seemed under the influence of a strange +charm. He continued to walk by her side, but he had ceased to speak. He +seemed lost in thought—melancholy thought. It certainly would seem as +if the allusion to Edgar's home, and his own school life, had roused a +host of painful recollections, in which he was for the time absorbed.</p> + +<p>So they followed the windings of the deep hollow lane together. +Necessarily it would seem, for this lane appeared to defy the proverb +and have no turning. But that it had one we know—and to it the little +party came at last. A gate led to some fields belonging to the estate of +the Hazels—Lettice and the nurse prepared to open it and enter.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, sir," said Lettice, "this is my way; I will strive to do +something for the poor woman you recommended to me, and I will mention +your recommendation to Mrs. Melwyn."</p> + +<p>He started as if suddenly awakened when she spoke; but he only said, +"Will you? It will be right and kind. Thank you, in her name." And, with +a grave, abstracted sort of salute, he left her, and pursued his way.</p> + +<p>Catherine was standing rather anxiously upon the hall-steps, looking +round and wondering what had become of her nurse and her baby, when +nurse, baby, and Lettice returned.</p> + +<p>"Dear people," she cried, "I <i>am</i> glad you are come back."</p> + +<p>She had been, if the truth were told, a good deal fidgeted and +frightened, as young mothers are very apt to be, when the baby does not +come home at the usual hour. She had suffered a good deal of uneasiness, +and felt half inclined to be angry. A great many people with whom I am +acquainted, would have burst out into a somewhat petulant scold, when +the cause for anxiety was at an end, and baby and her party, all safe, +appeared quietly walking up the road as if nothing in the world were +amiss. The very quiet and tranquillity which proved that they were quite +unconscious of having done any thing wrong would have irritated some +people more than all the rest. I thought it was very nice of Catherine +to be good-humored and content as soon as she saw all was safe, after +the irritating anxiety she had just been going through. She, however, +ran eagerly down the steps, and her eyes sparkling with impatience +caught her little one in her arms and kissed it very fast and hard. That +being the only sign of an impatient spirit which she showed, and, except +crying out, "Oh! I am glad to see you safe back, all of you. Do you +know, Lettice, I began to wonder what had become of you?"—not a +syllable approaching to reproof passed her lips.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mrs. D'Arcy! Dear Catherine! I am afraid we are late. We went too +far—we partly lost ourselves. We got into a long, but oh! such a lovely +lane—where I never was before, and then, we have had a little wee bit +of an adventure."</p> + +<p>"Adventure! Oh goodness! I <i>am</i> glad of that. Adventures are so +excessively rare in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> this country. I never met with one in my life, but +happening upon Edgar, as the people say, when he was coming from +hunting; and the wind had blown off my hat. A wind that blew somebody +good, that ... dear, beloved, Lettice, I wish to goodness, that I do—an +adventure of the like of that, might have happened to you."</p> + +<p>Lettice colored a little.</p> + +<p>"Gracious!" cried Catherine, laughing merrily, and peeping at her under +her bonnet—"I declare—you're blushing Lettice. Your adventure is +something akin to my adventure. Have you stumbled upon an unparalleled +youth—by mere accident as I did? and did he—did he pick up your hat?"</p> + +<p>"If he had," said Lettice, "I am afraid my face with my hair all blown +about it would not have looked quite so enchanting as yours must have +done. No, I did not lose my bonnet."</p> + +<p>"Any thing else? Your heart, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"Dear Catherine! How can you be so silly."</p> + +<p>"Oh! it was such a blessed day when I lost mine," said Mrs. D'Arcy, +gayly. "Such a gain of a loss! that I wish just the same misfortune to +befall every one I love—and I love you dearly, Lettice."</p> + +<p>"There must be more than one heart lost I fancy, to make adventures turn +out as well as yours did, Catherine."</p> + +<p>"Oh! that's a matter of course in such sort of things. There is always +an exchange, where there is love at first sight. But now do tell me, +that's a dear girl, what your adventure was."</p> + +<p>"I only saw a clergyman reading to a poor woman—or rather I only saw a +clergyman, a Bible, and a poor woman, and thence concluded that he <i>had</i> +been reading to her."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you tiresome creature. Poor, dear, old Mr. Hughes, I'll be bound. +Good old fellow—but such a hum-drum. Nay, Lettice, my dear, don't look +shocked and cross. A clergyman may be a very stupid, hum-drum, tiresome +fellow, as well as any other man. Don't pretend to deny that."</p> + +<p>"I would as lief not hear them called so—but this was not Mr. Hughes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I remember now you were not in his parish. If you went down +Briarwood-lane far enough you would be in Briarwood parish. Mr. Thomas, +perhaps."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Thomas's curate. Oh! of course the curate. Only I don't think Mr. +Thomas keeps one."</p> + +<p>"No; I believe not Mr. Thomas's, or any one else's curate; but a +gentleman who says he knew Captain D'Arcy at school."</p> + +<p>"Nay, that is too charming. That really is like an adventure."</p> + +<p>"Here, Edgar!"</p> + +<p>He was crossing the paddock at some little distance.</p> + +<p>"Come here for one instant. Do you recollect what I was talking to you +about this very morning? Well, Lettice has met with an adventure, and +has stumbled upon an old acquaintance of yours—reading the Bible to an +old woman—he was at school with you.</p> + +<p>"Well, as there were about five hundred people, more or less, who had +that honor—if you mean to know any thing about him, Miss Arnold, you +must go a little more into detail; and, first and foremost, what is the +young gentleman's name?"</p> + +<p>"James St. Leger," said Lettice.</p> + +<p>A start for answer, and,</p> + +<p>"Ha! Indeed! Poor fellow! <i>he</i> turned up again. I little thought our +paths in life would ever cross more. How strange to unearth him in such +a remote corner of the world as Briarwood. Poor fellow! Well, what is he +like? and how does he look?"</p> + +<p>"Ill and melancholy," said Lettice. "I should say very ill and very +melancholy—and with reason I believe; for though he is in holy orders, +something is the matter with his throat or his chest; which renders him +useless in the pulpit."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so. His chest! I hope not. And yet," continued Edgar, as +if musing aloud, "I know not. He was one when I knew him, Miss Arnold, +so marked out through the vices of others for misery in this world, that +I used to think the sooner he went out of it the better for him."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" cried Catherine, "there is an interesting history here. Do tell it +us, Edgar. Of all your charming talks, what I like almost the best are +your reminiscences. He has such a memory, Lettice; and so much +penetration into the characters of persons: and the connection of +things; that nothing is so delightful as when he <i>will</i> tell some old +history of his earlier years. Do, dear Edgar, tell us all about this +charming young curate of Briarwood."</p> + +<p>"Flatterer! Coaxing flatterer! Don't believe a word she says, Miss +Arnold. I am as empty-pated a rattle-skull, as ever was turned raw into +one of her Majesty's regiments—and that's saying a good deal, I can +tell you. But this dear creature here loves a bit of romance in her +heart. What's o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" looking at the tiniest of watches, "a full two hours to dinner; +and such a day too for a story—and just look at that spreading oak with +the bench under it, and the deer lying crouching there so sweetly, and +the wind just lulling the boughs as it were to rest. Here, nurse, bundle +the baby away to her nursery. Now, <i>do</i>, there's a darling Edgar."</p> + +<p>"Why, my love, you are making awful preparation. It is almost as +terrible as reading a manuscript to begin a relation, all sitting +solemnly upon a bench under a tree together. There is not much to tell, +poor fellow; only I did pity him from my heart of hearts."</p> + +<p>Catherine had her way, and they sat down under the green leafy canopy of +this majestic oak; and she put her arm in her husband's, and her hand +into that of Lettice, and thus sitting between them, loving and beloved, +she listened,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> the happiest, as she was one of the honestest and best, +of heaven's creatures.</p> + +<p>"We were both together at a large rough sort of preparatory school," +began Edgar, "where there might be above a hundred boys or so. They were +mostly, if not entirely, intended for the military profession, and came +from parents of all sorts of positions and degrees, and of all sorts of +principles, characters, and manners. A very omnium gatherum that school +was, and the ways of it were as rough as in any school. I should think, +they could possibly be. I was a tall, healthy rebel, when I was sent +there, as strong as a little Hercules, and excessively proud of my force +and prowess. A bold, daring, cheerful, merry lad, as ever left his +mother's apron-string; very sorry to quit the dotingest of mothers, and +the happiest of homes, and the pleasantest of fathers; but mighty proud +to come out of the <i>Gynyseum</i>, and to be a man, as I thought it high +time I should, in cloth trowsers and jacket, instead of a black velvet +coatee. In I plunged, plump head-foremost amid the vortex, and was soon +in a thousand scrapes and quarrels, battling my way with my fists, and +my merry eye; for they used to tell me the merry eye did more for me +even than my impudence in fighting every thing that would condescend to +fight such a youngster. I was soon established, and then I breathed +after my victories, and began to look round.</p> + +<p>"So long as I had considered the throng about me but in the light of so +many adversaries to be beaten by main force, and their rude and +insulting ways only as provocatives to the fray, I had cared little for +their manners or their proceedings, their coarseness and vulgarity, +their brutality and their vices. But now, seated in peace upon the +eminence to which I had fought my way, I had time to breathe and to +observe. I can not describe to you how shocked, how sickened, how +disgusted I became. <i>Par parenthèse</i>, I will say that it has always been +an astonishment to me, how parents so tender as mine could send a frank, +honest-hearted, well-meaning little fellow into such a place. But the +school had a high reputation. I was then a fourth son, and had to make +my way as best I could in the profession chosen for me. So here I came. +I was about ten or eleven years old, I must add, in excuse for my +parents, though I called myself so young, I felt younger, because this +was my first school. To resume. When I had vanquished them, it is not in +words to describe how I despised and detested the majority of my +schoolfellows—for their vulgar pleasures, their offensive habits—their +hard, rough, brutal manners—their vicious principles, and their vile, +blasphemous impiety. I was a warm lover and a still more ardent hater, +and my hatred to most of them exceeded all bounds of reason; but it was +just such as a straightforward, warm-tempered fellow, is certain to +entertain without mitigation in such a case.</p> + +<p>"It is a bad element for a boy to be living in. However, I was saved +from becoming an utter young monster, by the presence in the school of +this very boy, James St. Leger.</p> + +<p>"In the bustle and hurry of my early wars, I had taken little heed of, +scarcely observed this boy at all. But when the pause came, I noticed +him. I noticed him for many reasons. He was tall for his age, slender, +and of extremely delicate make, but with limbs of a symmetry and beauty +that reminded one of a fine antique statue. His face, too, was extremely +beautiful; and there was something in his large, thoughtful, melancholy +eyes, that it was impossible ever to look upon and to forget.</p> + +<p>"I no sooner observed him at all, than my whole boyish soul seemed knit +to him.</p> + +<p>"His manner was extremely serious; the expression of his countenance sad +to a degree—deeply, intensely sad, I might say; yet through that deep +sadness there was a tender sweetness which was to me most interesting. I +never shall forget his smile—for laugh he never was heard to do.</p> + +<p>"I soon discovered two things, that made me feel more for him than all +the rest. One, that he was an extremely well-informed boy, and had +received a home education of a very superior order; and the other, that +he was most unfortunate, and that his misfortunes had one peculiar +ingredient of bitterness in them, namely, that they were of a nature to +excite the scorn and contempt of the vulgar herd that surrounded him, +rather than to move their rude hearts to sympathy and pity.</p> + +<p>"The propensity to good in rough, vulgar, thoughtless human beings, is +very apt to show itself in this way—in a sort of contemptuous disgust +against vice and folly, and an alienation from those connected with it, +however innocent We must accept it, upon reflection, I suppose, as a +rude form of good inclination; but I was too young for reflection—too +young to make allowances, too young to be equitable. Such conduct +appeared to me the most glaring and barbarous injustice, and excited in +me a passion ate indignation.</p> + +<p>"Never did I hear St. Leger taunted, as he often was, with the frailties +of his mother or the errors of his father, but my heart was all in a +flame—my fist clinched—my cheek burning. Many a fellow have I laid +prostrate upon the earth with a sudden blow who dared, in my presence, +to chase the color from St. Leger's cheek by alluding to the subject. +There was this remarkable in St. Leger, by the way, that he never +colored when his mother's shame or his father's end was alluded to, but +went deadly pale.</p> + +<p>"The history was a melancholy one of human frailty, and is soon told. +His mother had been extremely beautiful, his father the possessor of a +small independent fortune. They had lived happily together many years, +and she had brought him five children; four girls and this boy. I have +heard that the father doted with no common passion—in a <i>husband</i>, +Catherine—upon the beautiful creature, who was moreover<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> accomplished +and clever. She seemed devoted to her children, and had given no common +attention to her boy in his early years. Hence his mental +accomplishments. The husband was, I suspect, rather her inferior in +intellect; and scarcely her equal in refinement and manner, but it's no +matter, it would have been probably the same whatever he had been. She +who will run astray under one set of circumstances, would probably have +run astray under any. She was very vain of her beauty and talents, and +had been spoiled by the idolatry and flattery of all who surrounded her.</p> + +<p>"I will not pain you by entering into any particulars; in brief, she +disgraced herself, and was ruined.</p> + +<p>"The rage, the passionate despair, the blind fury of the injured +husband, it was said, exceeded all bounds. There was of course every +sort of public scandal. Legal proceedings and the necessary +consequences—a divorce. The wretched history did not even end here. She +suffered horribly from shame and despair I have been told, but the shame +and despair, had not the effect it ought to have produced. She fell from +bad to worse, and was utterly lost. The husband did the same. Wild with +the stings of wounded affection, blinded with suffering, he flew for +refuge to any excitement which would for a moment assuage his agonies; +the gaming-table, and excess in drinking, soon finished the dismal +story. He shot himself in a paroxysm of delirium tremens, after having +lost almost every penny he possessed at Faro.</p> + +<p>"You tremble Catherine. Your hand in mine is cold. Oh the pernicious +woman! Oh the depths of the misery—if I were indeed to tell you all I +have met with and known—which are entailed upon the race by the vanity, +the folly, and the vice of women. Angels! yes, angels you are. Sweet +Saint—sweet Catherine, and men fall down and worship you—but woe for +them when she they worship, proves a fiend.</p> + +<p>"Dear Miss Arnold, you are shedding tears—but you <i>would</i> have this +dismal story. You had better hear no more of it, let me stop now."</p> + +<p>"Go on—pray go on, Edgar. Tell us about the poor boy and the girls, you +said there were four of them."</p> + +<p>"The boy and his sisters were taken by some relations. It was about a +year after these events that I met him at this school. They had sent him +here, thinking the army the best place for him. To get him shot off, +poor fellow, perhaps, if they could. His four sisters were all then +living, and how tenderly, poor lad, he used to talk to me about them. +How he would grieve over the treatment they were receiving, with the +best intentions he acknowledged, but too hardening and severe he thought +for girls so delicate. They wanted a mother's fostering, a father's +protection, poor things, but he never alluded in the remotest way to +either father or mother. Adam, when he sprung from the earth, was not +more parentless than he seemed to consider himself. But he used to talk +of future for his sisters, and sometimes in his more cheerful moods, +would picture to himself what he would do when he should be a man, and +able to shelter them in a home, however humble, of his own. His whole +soul was wrapped up in these girls."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear what became of them?"</p> + +<p>"Three died of consumption, I have been told, just as they were opening +into the bloom of early womanhood, almost the loveliest creatures that +ever were seen."</p> + +<p>"And the fourth."</p> + +<p>"She was the most beautiful of all—a fine, high-spirited, dashing +creature. Her brother's secret terror and darling."</p> + +<p>"Well!"</p> + +<p>"She followed her mother's example, and died miserably at the age of +two-and-twenty."</p> + +<p>"What can we do for this man?" cried Catherine, when she had recovered +voice a little. "Edgar, what can we do for this man?"</p> + +<p>"Your first question, dear girl—always your first question—what can be +done?" Ever, my love, may you preserve that precious habit. My Catherine +never sits down lamenting, and wringing her hands helplessly about other +people's sorrows. The first thing she asks, is, "what <i>can be done</i>."</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i24">Strongest minds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are often those of whom the noisy world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hears least; else surely this man had not left<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i25">Wordsworth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The first thing to be done, it was obvious to all parties, was for Edgar +to go and call upon Mr. St. Leger, which he did.</p> + +<p>He found him occupying one very small room, which served him for bed and +sitting room, in a small cottage upon the outskirts of the little +secluded town of Briarwood. He looked extremely ill; his beautiful +countenance was preternaturally pale; his large eyes far too bright and +large; his form attenuated; and his voice so faint, husky, and low that +it was with difficulty he could make himself heard, at least for any +length of time together.</p> + +<p>The expression of his countenance, however, was rather grave than sad; +resigned than melancholy. He was serious but perfectly composed; nay, +there was even a chastened cheerfulness in his manner. He looked like +one who had accepted the cup presented to him; had already exhausted +most of the bitter potion, and was calmly prepared to drain it to the +dregs.</p> + +<p>And so it had been.</p> + +<p>No man was ever more exquisitely constituted to suffer from +circumstances so agonizing than he. But his mind was of a lofty stamp; +he had not sunk under his sufferings. He had timely considered the +<i>reality</i> of these things. He had learned to connect—really, truly, +faithfully—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> trials and sorrows of this world with the retributions +of another. He had accepted the part allotted to him in the mysterious +scheme; had played it as best he could, and was now prepared for its +impending close.</p> + +<p>It is consoling to know one thing. In his character of minister of the +holy word of God he had been allowed the privilege of attending the last +illness of both mother and sister, both so deeply, deeply, yet silently +beloved, in spite of all; and, through those blessed means, the full +value and mercy of which, perhaps such grievous sinners are alone able +to entirely estimate, he had reconciled them, as he trusted, with that +God "who forgiveth all our iniquities and healeth all our diseases." +Having been allowed to do this, he felt as if it would be the basest +ingratitude to murmur because his services in the pulpit were suddenly +arrested by the disease in his chest, and with it a stop put to further +usefulness, and even to the supply of his daily bread.</p> + +<p>He was calmly expecting to die in the receipt of parish relief; for he +had not a penny beyond his curate's salary; and it was impossible to +allow Mr. Thomas, who was a poor man himself, to continue that, now the +hope of restoration to usefulness seemed at an end. It was not likely, +indeed, that he should, upon the spare hermit's diet which his scanty +means allowed, recover from a complaint of which weakness was the +foundation.</p> + +<p>He had tried to maintain himself by his pen; but the complaint which +prevented his preaching was equally against the position when writing. +He could do so little in this way that it would not furnish him with a +loaf a week. A ray of genuine pleasure, however, shot to his eye, and a +faint but beautiful flush mounted to his cheek, when Edgar entered and +cordially held out his hand.</p> + +<p>He was such a dear warm-hearted fellow, was Edgar. St. Leger had loved +him so entirely at school; and those days were not so <i>very</i> long since! +The impression old Time had not even yet attempted with his busy fingers +to efface.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad to have found you out, my dear fellow," Edgar began. "Who +would have thought of meeting you, of all people in the world, here, +ensconsed in such a quiet nook of this busy island—a place where the +noise and bustle and stir of the Great Babylon can not even be heard. +But what are you doing in this place? for you look ill, I must say, and +you seem to be left to yourself without a human being to look after +you."</p> + +<p>"Much so. You know I am quite alone in the world."</p> + +<p>"A dismal position that, and I am come to put an end to it. My wife +insists upon making your acquaintance, and scuttled me off this morning +without giving me time to eat my breakfast, though, to own the truth, I +was ready enough of myself to set out. The general desired me to bring +his card; he is too infirm to go out himself, and he and Mrs. Melwyn +request the favor of your company to dinner to-morrow at six o'clock."</p> + +<p>"I should be very happy—but—," and he hesitated a little.</p> + +<p>"I'll come and fetch you in the dog-cart about five, and drive you down +again in the evening. It's a mere step by Hatherway-lane, which is quite +passable at this time of the year, whatever it may be in winter."</p> + +<p>St. Leger looked as if he should like very much to come. His was a +heart, indeed, formed for society, friendship, and love; not the least +of the monk or the hermit was to be found in his composition. And so it +was settled.</p> + +<p>St. Leger came to dinner, as arranged, Edgar fetching him up in the +dog-cart.</p> + +<p>Every one was struck with his appearance. There was a gentleness and +refinement in his manner which charmed Mrs. Melwyn; united to the ease +and politeness of a man of the world, equally acceptable to the general; +Catharine was delighted; and Lettice only in a little danger of being +too well pleased.</p> + +<p>His conversation soon showed him to be a man of a very superior turn of +thought, and was full of information. In short, it was some time, with +the exception of Edgar, since so agreeable a person had sat down at that +dinner-table; for the Hazels lay rather out of the way, and neither the +general nor Mrs. Melwyn were of a temper to cultivate society.</p> + +<p>Edgar returned home in the evening from an agreeable drive with his +friend through the bright glittering starlight night. It was slightly +frosty, and he came into the drawing-room rubbing his hands, with his +cheeks freshened by the air, looking as if he was prepared very much to +enjoy the fire.</p> + +<p>He found the whole party sitting up, and very amicably discussing the +new acquaintance, who had pleased them all so much. So Edgar sat down +between his wife and her mother, and readily joined in the conversation.</p> + +<p>The general, who really was much altered for the better under the good +influences of Lettice, had been speaking in high terms of their late +guest. And when Edgar came in and sat down in the circle, spreading his +hands to the fire, and looking very comfortable, the general, in an +amicable tone, began:</p> + +<p>"Really, Edgar, we have been saying we are quite obliged to you for +introducing to us so agreeable a man as this Mr. St. Leger, of yours. He +is quite a find in such a stupid neighborhood as ours, where, during the +ten years I have lived in it, I have never met one <i>resident</i>"—with an +emphasis upon the word, that it might not be supposed to include Edgar +himself—"one <i>resident</i> whose company I thought worth a brass +farthing."</p> + +<p>"I am very glad my friend gives satisfaction, sir," said Edgar +cheerfully; "for I believe, poor fellow, he has much more to seek than +even yourself, general, in the article of companionship. One can not +think that the society of the worthy Mr. Thomas can afford much of +interest to a man like St. Leger. But whatever pleasure you may mutually +afford each other will soon be at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> an end, I fear; and I have been +beating my brains all the way coming home, to think what must be done."</p> + +<p>"Why must the pleasure come so soon to an end, Edgar?" asked Mrs. +Melwyn.</p> + +<p>"Why, if something can't be done, the poor lad is in a fair way to be +starved to death," was the answer.</p> + +<p>"Starved to death! How shockingly you do talk, Edgar," cried Mrs. +Melwyn. "I wish you would not say such things—you make one quite start. +The idea is too horrible—besides, it can not be true. People don't +starve to death nowadays—at least not in a sort of case like that."</p> + +<p>"I don't know—such things do sound as if they couldn't be true—and +yet," said Catherine, "they do come very nearly to the truth at times."</p> + +<p>"Indeed do they," said Lettice. "Starved to death," observed the +general, "I take to be merely a poetic exaggeration of yours, captain. +But do you mean to say that young man is literally in distressed +circumstances?"</p> + +<p>"The most urgently distressing circumstances, sir. The fact is, that he +inherited nothing from his father but a most scandalous list of debts, +which he most honorably sold every farthing of his own little property +to pay—relying for his subsistance upon the small stipend be was to +receive from Mr. Thomas. You don't like Mr. Thomas, sir."</p> + +<p>"Who would like such a stupid old drone?"</p> + +<p>"He's a worthy old fellow, nevertheless. Though his living is a very +poor one, he has acted with great liberality to James St. Leger. The +poor fellow has lost his voice: you would perceive in conversation how +very feeble and uncertain it was. It is utterly powerless in the +reading-desk; and yet Mr. Thomas has insisted upon retaining him—paying +his salary, and doing all the duty himself. As long as there was any +hope of recovery, to this St. Leger most unwillingly submitted; but, now +he despairs of ever again being useful, it is plain it can no longer be +done."</p> + +<p>"And what is to become of him?" exclaimed Lettice.</p> + +<p>She knew what it was to be utterly without resource—she knew how +possible it was for such things to happen in this world—she knew what +it was to be hungry and to want bread, and be without the means of +assistance—to be friendless, helpless, and abandoned by all.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" said the general, rather testily. "Why, the young +fellow must turn his hand to something else. None but a fool <i>starves</i>."</p> + +<p>"Ay, but," said Edgar, shaking his head, "but what is that something? I +see no prospect for one incapacitated by his cloth for enlisting as a +soldier or standing behind a counter, and by his illness for doing any +thing consistent with his profession."</p> + +<p>"I should think he might write a canting book," said the general with a +sneer; "<i>that</i> would be sure to sell."</p> + +<p>"Whatever book St. Leger wrote," Edgar answered coldly, "would be a good +one, whether <i>canting</i> or not. But he can not write a book. The fatigue, +the stooping, would be intolerable to his chest in its present irritable +state. Besides, if he did write a book, it's a hundred to one whether he +got any thing for it; and, moreover, the book is not written; and there +is an old proverb which says, while the grass grows the horse starves. +He literally <i>will</i> starve, if some expedient can not be hit upon."</p> + +<p>"And that is too, too dreadful to think of," cried Mrs. Melwyn +piteously. "Oh, general!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa! oh, Edgar! Can you think of nothing?" added Catharine in the +same tone.</p> + +<p>"It would be a pity he should starve; for he is a remarkably +gentlemanlike, agreeable fellow," observed the general. "Edgar, do you +know what was meant by the term, one meets with in old books about +manners, of 'led captain?' I wish to heaven <i>I</i> could have a led captain +like that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there was the chaplain as well as the led captain in those days, +papa," said Catherine, readily. "Dearest papa, if one could but persuade +you you wanted a domestic chaplain."</p> + +<p>"Well, and what did the chaplain do in those days. Mrs. Pert?"</p> + +<p>"Why, he sat at the bottom of the table, and carved the sirloin."</p> + +<p>"And he read, and played at backgammon—when he was wanted, I believe," +put in Edgar.</p> + +<p>"And he did a great deal more," added Catherine in a graver tone. "He +kept the accounts, and looked after important business for his patron."</p> + +<p>"And visited the poor and was the almoner and their friend," said +Lettice in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"And played at bowls, and drank—"</p> + +<p>Catherine put her hand playfully over the general's mouth.</p> + +<p>"Don't, dear papa—you must <i>not</i>—you must not, indeed. Do you know +this irreverence in speaking of the members of so sacred a profession is +not at all what ought to be done. Don't Edgar. Dear papa, I may be +foolish, but I do <i>so</i> dislike it."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, well—any thing for a quiet life."</p> + +<p>"But to resume the subject," locking her arm in his, and smiling with a +sweetness which no one, far least he, could resist. "Really and +seriously I do think it would be an excellent thing if you would ask Mr. +St. Leger to be your domestic chaplain."</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense."</p> + +<p>"Not such stuff and nonsense as you think. Here's our darling +Lettice—think what a comfort she has been to mamma, and think what a +pleasant thing it would be for you to have a confidential and an +agreeable friend at your elbow—just as mamma has in Lettice. Hide your +face, Lettice, if you can't bear to be praised a little before it; but I +will have it done, for I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> see you don't like it. But, papa, you see +things are getting a good deal into disorder, they say, upon your +property out of doors, just for want of some one to look after them. I +verily believe, that if we could persuade this young gentleman to come +and do this for you, he would save you a vast deal of money."</p> + +<p>The general made no answer. He sank back in his chair, and seemed to +meditate. At last, turning to Edgar, he said,</p> + +<p>"That little wife of yours is really not such a fool as some might +suppose her to be, captain."</p> + +<p>"Really—'</p> + +<p>"What say you, Mrs. Melwyn? Is there any sense in the young lady's +suggestion, or is there not? What says Miss Arnold? Come, let us put it +to the vote."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Melwyn smiled. Catherine applauded and laughed, and kissed her +father, and declared he was the dearest piece of reasonableness in the +world. And, in short, the project was discussed, and one said this, and +the other said that, and after it had been talked over and commented +upon, with a hint from one quarter, and a suggestion from another, and +so on, it began to take a very feasible and inviting shape.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more true than a person of this description in the +family was terribly wanted. The general was becoming every day less able +and less inclined to look after his own affairs. Things were mismanaged, +and he was robbed in the most notorious and unblushing manner. This must +be seen to. Of this Edgar and Catherine had been upon their return +speedily aware. The difficulty was how to get it done; and whom to trust +in their absence; which would soon, owing to the calls of the service, +take place again, and for an indefinite period of time.</p> + +<p>Mr. St. Leger seemed the very person for such an office, could he be +persuaded to undertake it; and his extremity was such, that, however +little agreeable to such a man the proposal might be, it appeared not +impossible that he might entertain it. Then he had made himself so much +favor with the general, that one difficulty, and the greatest, was +already overcome.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Melwyn seconded their designs with her most fervent wishes. She +could not venture to do much more.</p> + +<p>To have expressed her sentiments upon the subject—to have said how much +she felt the necessity of some such plan, and how ardently she desired +that it might be carried into execution, would have been one very likely +reason for setting her wayward old partner against it.</p> + +<p>She had found so much happiness in the possession of Lettice as a +friend, that she anticipated every possible advantage from a similar +arrangement for the general.</p> + +<p>You may remark as you go along, that it was because Lettice had so +admirably performed her own part, that the whole family were so desirous +of repeating it under other circumstances. Such are among the +incidental—if I may call them so—fruits of good conduct.</p> + +<p>If the vices spread wide their devastating influences—the virtues +extend their blessings a thousand fold.</p> + +<p>The general did not want for observation He had estimated the good which +had arisen from the admission of Lettice Arnold into his family, and he +felt well inclined to the scheme of having a companion of his own. He +could even tolerate the idea of a species of domestic chaplain; provided +the personage so designated would look to his home farm and keep his +accounts.</p> + +<p>The proposal was made to Mr. St. Leger.</p> + +<p>He hesitated. Edgar expected that he would.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," he said. "I feel as if I were, in some measure, running +the risk of degrading my holy office, by accepting, merely for my +personal convenience, a dependent position, where certain compliances, +as a necessary condition, might be expected, which are contrary to my +views of things."</p> + +<p>"Why so? I assure you, upon my honor, nothing of that sort is to be +apprehended. These are really very well meaning people, and you may +serve them more than you seem aware. The part of domestic chaplain is +not held beneath the members of your church. I own this is not a noble +family, and doubt whether you can legitimately claim the title. Yet the +office is the same."</p> + +<p>"Yes—if I may perform the duties of that office. On that condition +alone, will I entertain the thought of it for a moment. And I must add, +that as soon as ever I am in a condition—if that time ever arrives—to +resume my public duties, I am to be allowed to do so."</p> + +<p>"Unquestionably."</p> + +<p>"And, that while I reside under the general's roof, I may carry out +certain reforms which I believe to be greatly wanted."</p> + +<p>"No doubt."</p> + +<p>"And that I shall be enabled to assist Mr. Thomas in the care of this +extremity of his large parish, which so deplorably requires looking +after."</p> + +<p>The general grumbled a little at some of these conditions, but finally +consented to all.</p> + +<p>He was getting an old man. Perhaps he was not sorry—though he thought +it due to those ancient prejudices of his profession, I am happy to say +now fast growing obsolete, to appear so—perhaps he was not really +sorry, now the wheel was beginning to pause at the cistern, and the +darkness of age was closing around him, to have some one in his +household to call his attention to things which he began to feel had +been neglected too long.</p> + +<p>Perhaps he was not sorry to allow family prayer in a mansion, where the +voice of united family prayer had, till then, never been heard. To +anticipate a little—I may add, as certain, that he, who began with +never attending at all, was known to drop in once or twice; and ended by +scolding Lettice heartily in a morning if there was any danger of her +not having bound up his arm in time for him to be present.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span></p> + +<p>His gray venerable head—his broken, but still manly figure—his +wrinkled face—his still keen blue eye, might be seen at last amid his +household. The eye fixed in a sort of determined attention—the lips +muttering the prayer—a sort of child in religion still—yet far to seek +in many things; but accepted, we will hope, as a child.</p> + +<p>He could share, too, as afterward appeared, in the interest which Mrs. +Melwyn and Lettice, after Mr. St. Leger's arrival, ventured openly to +take in the concerns of the poor; and even in the establishment of a +school, against which, with an obstinate prejudice against the education +of the lower classes, the general had long so decidedly set his face.</p> + +<p>In short, having accepted all the conditions upon which alone St. Leger, +even in the extremity of his need, could be persuaded to accept a place +in his family, the old soldier ended by taking great comfort, great +interest, great pleasure, in all the improvements that were effected.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>One difficulty presented itself in making the arrangement; and this came +from a quarter quite unexpected by Catherine—from poor Mrs. Melwyn.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Catherine," said she, coming into her room, and looking most +nervous and distressed, "take care what you and Edgar are about, in +bringing this Mr. St. Leger into the family. Suppose he should fall in +love with Lettice?"</p> + +<p>"Well, mamma, suppose he should—where would be the dreadful harm of +that?" said Catherine, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear! Pray, don't laugh, Catherine. What <i>would</i> become of us +all?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what would become of you all?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't wish to be selfish. I should hate myself if I were. +But what <i>could</i> we do without Lettice? Dear Catherine! only think of +it. And that would not be the worst. They could not marry—for they +would have nothing to live upon if they left us—so they would both be +miserable. For they <i>could</i> neither go nor stay. It would be impossible +for them to go on living together here, if they were attached to each +other and could never be married. And so miserable as they would be, +Catherine, it makes me wretched to think of it."</p> + +<p>"Ah! dear, sweet mother, don't take up wretchedness at interest—that's +my own mother. They're not going to fall in love. Mr. St. Leger looks +not the least inclined that way."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's easily said, but suppose they <i>did</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Well, suppose they did. I see no great harm in it; may I confess to +you, mother, for my part, I should be secretly quite glad of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Catherine! how <i>can</i> you talk so? What would be <i>done</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Done! Why, let them marry to be sure, and live on here."</p> + +<p>"Live on here! Who on earth ever heard of such a scheme! Dearest +child, you are too romantic. You are almost absurd, my sweet +Catherine—forgive your poor mother for saying so."</p> + +<p>"No, that I won't," kissing her with that playful tenderness which so +well became her, "that I won't, naughty mamma. Because, do you know, you +say the most unjust thing in the world when you call me romantic. Why, +only ask papa, ask Edgar, ask Mrs. Danvers, ask any body, if I am not +common-sense personified."</p> + +<p>"If I asked your papa, my dear girl, he would only say you had a way of +persuading one into any thing, even into believing you had more head +than heart, my own darling," said the fond mother, her pale cheek +glowing, and those soft eyes swimming in delight, as she looked upon her +daughter.</p> + +<p>"That's right; and now you have acknowledged so much, my blessed mother, +I am going to sit down by you, and seriously to give you my well weighed +opinions upon this most weighty matter." So Catherine drew a low stool, +and sat too down by her mother's knee, and threw her arm over her lap, +and looked up in her face and began her discourse.</p> + +<p>"First of all, then, dearest mamma, I think you a little take up anxiety +at interest in this case. I really never did see a man that seemed to me +less likely to fall in love imprudently than this Mr. St. Leger. He is +so extremely grave and sedate, so serious, and so melancholy, and he +seems so completely to have done with this world—it has, indeed, proved +a bitter world to him—and to have so entirely placed his thoughts upon +another, that I think the probability very remote indeed, if to the +shadow of any thing above a possibility it amounts, of his ever taking +sufficient interest in present things to turn his thoughts upon his own +happiness. He seems absorbed in the performance of the duties to which +he has devoted himself. Secondly, this being my idea of the state of the +case, I have not the slightest apprehension in the world for dear +Lettice's happiness; because I know what a sensible, kind, and what a +well regulated heart hers is, and that she is far too good and +right-minded to attach herself in any way beyond mere benevolence, and +friendship, and so forth, where there was not a prospect of an adequate +return."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! my love, very true; yet, Catherine, you admit the possibility, +however remote, of what I fear. And then what <i>would</i> become of us all? +Surely, it is not right to shut our eyes to this possibility."</p> + +<p>"Why, mamma, I don't deny the possibility you speak of, and I quite see +how wrong it would be to shut our eyes to it; but just listen to me, +dearest mother, and don't call me wild and romantic till you have heard +me out."</p> + +<p>"Well, my love, go on; I am all attention."</p> + +<p>"I should think it really, the most ridiculous thing in the world," and +she laughed a little to herself, "to enter so seriously into this +matter, if Edgar and I, alas! were not ordered away in so short a time, +and I fear my dearest mamma will be anxious and uncomfortable after I +am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> gone—about this possibility, if we do not settle plans a little, +and agree what ought, and what could be done, supposing this horrible +contingency to arise."</p> + +<p>"How well you understand your poor mother, love! Yes; that is just it. +Only let me have the worst placed steadily before my eyes, and the +remedies, if any, proposed, or if none, the state of the case +acknowledged, and I can bear the contemplation of almost any thing. I +think it is not patience, but courage, that your poor mother wants, my +child. Uncertainty—any thing that is vague—the evils of which are +undefined, seems to swell into such terrific magnitude. I am like a poor +frightened child, Catherine; the glimmering twilight is full of +monstrous spectres to me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, mamma, I believe that is a good deal the case with most of us; but +more especially with those who have so much sensibility and such +delicate nerves as you have. How I adore you, dear mother, for the +patient sweetness with which you bear that trying sort of constitution."</p> + +<p>"Dear child!"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, mother, to look this evil steadily in the face, as you say. +Suppose Lettice and Mr. St. Leger <i>were</i> to form an attachment for each +other, what should hinder them from marrying?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear, that was what I said before, what <i>would</i> become of +them—they must starve."</p> + +<p>"Why so? why not live on here?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Catherine, you made me promise not to call you romantic, but who +ever heard of such an out-of-the-way scheme. A young married couple, +living in the condition of domestic companions to people, and in another +man's house. Utterly impossible—what nobody ever attempted to +do—utterly out of the question."</p> + +<p>"Well, mamma, I, for one, think that a great many rather out-of-the-way +plans, which, nevertheless, might make people very happy, are often +rejected—merely because 'nobody ever heard of such a thing,' or, +'nobody ever thought of doing so, and therefore it is utterly +impossible.'... But I think I have observed that those who, in their own +private arrangements, have had the courage, upon well considered +grounds—mind I say upon <i>well considered grounds</i>—to overlook the +consideration of nobody ever having thought of doing such a thing +before—have found their account in it, and a vast deal of happiness has +been secured which would otherwise have been quite lost."</p> + +<p>"As how, Catherine. Give me instances. I don't quite follow you."</p> + +<p>"Why, in marriages, for instance, then, such cases arise very often. +Late marriages for one—between people quite advanced in years—which +the world often laugh and sneer at. Most wrongly in my opinion—for +through them how often do we see what would otherwise have been a +solitary old age, rendered cheerful and comfortable; and sometimes a +weary, disappointed life, consoled by a sweet friendship and affection +at its close. Then, there are marriages founded upon reason and +arrangement; such as when an ugly man with an ungraceful manner, yet +perhaps a good heart and head, and with it plenty of money, marries one +rather his inferior in social rank, whom his circumstances enable him to +indulge with many new sources of enjoyment, and who in return is +grateful for the elevation, and proud of a husband young ladies of his +own class might have looked down upon. Then there might be another +arrangement, which is, indeed, at present, I own, almost a romance, it +is so rarely entered into. I mean, supposing single women from different +families, somewhat advanced in life, were to put their little fortunes +together, and form a household, wherein, by their united means, they +might live easily—instead of almost in penury alone. In short, the +instances are innumerable, in which, I think, the path a little out of +the ordinary course, is the wisest a person can pursue."</p> + +<p>"Go on, my love, you talk so prettily, I like to hear you."</p> + +<p>The daughter kissed the soft white hand she held in hers—white it was +as the fairest wax, and still most beautiful. The signs of age were only +discernible in the wasting blue veins having become a little too +obvious.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, mamma, to draw my inference. I think, under the peculiar +circumstances of our family, you, who are so in want of children and +companions, could not do better, than if these two valuable creatures +<i>did</i> attach themselves to one another, to let them marry and retain +them as long as they were so minded under your roof."</p> + +<p>"My goodness, child!"</p> + +<p>"I have planned it all. This house is so big. I should allot them an +apartment at the east end of it. Quite away from the drawing-room and +yours and my father's rooms—where they might feel as much at home as it +is possible for people to feel in another man's house. I should increase +their salary—by opening a policy upon their lives; as a provision for +their children if they had any. A large provision of this sort would not +be needed. It is not to be supposed their children would not have to +earn their own living as their parents had done before them. Why should +they not? <i>Nota bene</i>—Edgar and I hold that the rage for making +children independent, as it is called—that is, enabling them just to +exist, doing nothing, so as just to keep them from starving upon a +minimum income, is a very foolish thing among those whose habits of life +render no such independence necessary, and who have never thought of +enjoying this exemption from labor in their own case."</p> + +<p>"But, your father! And then, suppose they got tired of the plan, and +longed for a house of their own?"</p> + +<p>"My father is much more easily persuaded to what is good for him, than +we used to think, dear mother. See how nice he has been about Lettice +and this Mr. St. Leger. As to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> wishing at last for a home of their +own, that is possible I allow: but think, sweetest mother, of the +pleasure of rewarding this dear, good girl, by making her happy. As for +the rest, fear not, mamma. God will provide."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Melwyn made no answer. But she listened more comfortably. The +nervous, anxious, harassed expression of face, which Catherine knew but +too well, began to compose, and her countenance to resume its sweet and +tranquil smile.</p> + +<p>"Mind, dear mamma, after all I am only speaking of the remote +possibility, and what might be done. You would have such pleasure in +carrying out the scheme. Oh! I do wish there were but a chance of +it—really I can't help it, mamma—it would be so nice;" said the +sanguine, kind-hearted Catherine.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">Goldsmith.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Accordingly, Mr. St. Leger, his objections having been overruled by +Edgar, accepted the place offered him in General Melwyn's family.</p> + +<p>In old times it would probably have been called, what it literally was, +that of domestic chaplain: and the dignity of the name, the defined +office, and the authority in the household which it implies, would not +have been without their use—but, in spite of the want of these +advantages, Mr. St. Leger managed to perform the duties, which, in his +opinion, attached to the office, to the satisfaction of every one.</p> + +<p>It had not been without considerable difficulty and hesitation that he +had persuaded himself to enter into the plan. He had scruples, as we +have seen; and he had, moreover, an almost invincible dislike to any +thing approaching to family dependence.</p> + +<p>The extremity of his circumstances, however, made him, upon a little +consideration, feel that the indulgence of these latter mentioned +feelings of pride and delicacy, was not only unreasonable but almost +positively wrong. And, as for the scruples connected with his +profession, Edgar did not find it difficult to dissipate them.</p> + +<p>He set forth, what was in truth the present state of the family at the +Hazels, and enlarged upon the very great need there was for the +introduction of more religious views than now prevailed. According to a +fashion almost universally prevalent when General Melwyn was young, +except with those of professed religious habits, and who were +universally stigmatized as Methodists, family prayer had been utterly +neglected in his family. And, notwithstanding the better discipline +maintained since the evil star of Randall had sunk beneath the horizon, +not the slightest approach to regularity, in this respect, had been as +yet made. Mrs. Melwyn was personally pious, though in a timid and +unconfiding way, her religion doing little to support and strengthen +her mind; but the general, though he did not live, as many of his +generation were doing, in the open profession of skepticism, and that +contempt for the Bible, which people brought up when Tom Paine passed +for a great genius, used to reckon so clever, yet it was but too +probable that he never approached his Creator, in the course of the +twenty-four hours, in any way; nor had he done so, since he was a child +at his mother's knee.</p> + +<p>The young captain and his lady were blest with loving, pious, simple +dispositions. They loved one another—they delighted in the dear, happy +world in which they lived, and in the sweet little creature, their own +darling and most precious possession, and they both loved, and most +gratefully served their God, who had given them all these good things, +and loved him with the full warmth of their feeling hearts. They showed +their reverence for divine things by every means in their power: and +though they were not of those who go about hurling the awful vengeance +of God, upon all they may think less pious than themselves, they were +naturally anxious, and as advancing years brought increase of serious +thought, they became more and more anxious that their parents should +share the consolations, and their house hold the moral guidance to be +derived from a better system.</p> + +<p>Then, as I hinted to you before, in anticipation of this change, there +had been a very serious neglect, upon the part of this family, of all +those duties connected with the poor and ignorant. None of those efforts +were here made to assist in softening the evils of destitution, or in +forwarding the instruction of the young, which almost every body, +nowadays, considers such obvious duties.</p> + +<p>Such were among the considerations urged by Edgar, and to such Mr. St. +Leger yielded.</p> + +<p>The general was profuse in his offers as regarded salary, and gave Edgar +a <i>carte blanche</i> upon the matter; but Mr. St. Leger would only accept +of one hundred a year, and this, with the stipulation that so soon as +the state of his health would enable him, he should be at liberty to +undertake the duties belonging to a curate for Mr. Thomas, without +diminishing that gentleman's slender stipend by receiving any +remuneration from his hands.</p> + +<p>This last part of the arrangement was particularly acceptable to Mr. St. +Leger, as he thought with the highest satisfaction upon the probability +now opening of resuming his clerical duties, and of thus being able to +repay the debt of gratitude he felt to be owing to the good old vicar.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>And now behold Mr. St. Leger introduced as a member of the family at the +Hazels, and shedding, on his part, as Lettice had before him done, upon +hers, a new set of benign influences upon this household.</p> + +<p>He was installed the first day by the general,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> with much politeness and +some little formality, in Edgar's place, at the bottom of the table; +that young gentleman having made it his particular request that he might +see his friend sitting there before his departure. With due gravity was +all this done; while Edgar, chuckling with delight, came and popped down +in his place by the side of his wife.</p> + +<p>The young stranger, looking extremely quiet and composed, without fuss, +ceremony, or hurry, took the place appointed to him; but, before seating +himself, with a serious air, he opened his ministerial functions, by +saying grace.</p> + +<p>Not as the general was wont to say it—for say it he did, more as if +making a grimace than even as going through a form—but so impressively +and reverently, though very briefly, that the hearts of those about to +sit down, were touched, and they were reminded in spite of themselves, +as they ought to be reminded, that there is One above all who is the +Giver of these good things.</p> + +<p>The scene was striking. The very footmen—the officer's footmen—paused, +napkin in hand; astonished—awe-struck by the service. They stood and +stared with vacant eyes, but remained stock still.</p> + +<p>That over, the dinner went on as usual. People ate and drank with +cheerful enjoyment. They all, indeed, felt particularly warm-hearted and +comfortable that day. A sort of genial glow seemed to pervade the little +party. The footmen rushed about more light-footed and assiduous than +ever; and, be it observed to their credit, they were all, without +exception, most particularly attentive to the new comer.</p> + +<p>In the evening, at ten o'clock, the bell rang for prayers.</p> + +<p>Mr. St. Leger, be it understood, had not stipulated for obligatory +attendance upon this service—only for the right to have candles in the +library, and of reading prayers to such as might chose to come; but Mrs. +Melwyn had ordered the servants to attend; and she, and Edgar, and +Catherine, were also there, leaving poor Lettice to take charge of the +general.</p> + +<p>The service was short, but impressive, as the grace had been before. It +was necessarily very brief, for the voice of the fair and delicate young +man, looking, indeed, as we might imagine one of the angels of the +churches, figured in Scripture, was so extremely feeble that more he +could not do.</p> + +<p>But even if he had possessed the power, I question whether much more he +would have done, he looked upon impressive brevity as the very soul of +such exercises in a family like the present.</p> + +<p>Poor Lettice! how hard she found it that evening to remain playing +backgammon with the general, when the rest went out of the room. Going +to attend those services to which she had been accustomed in the house +of her father; and after which, during her stay here, her heart had so +often yearned; but it could not be.</p> + +<p>She was, however, consoled by a whisper from Catherine, as she came +back, passing her upon her way to take her place by the fire.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow you go and I stay. We will take it in turns."</p> + +<p>The new plans were of course—as what taking place in a family is +not—discussed in full conclave that evening over the kitchen fire.</p> + +<p>The servants all came back and assembled round it preparatory to washing +up and going to bed; for though it was summer and warm weather, what +servant in the world does not enjoy the kitchen fire in the evening, be +the weather what it may? And, to tell truth, there are not a few in the +parlor, who usually would be glad to share the privilege; but to +proceed.</p> + +<p>"Well, Thomas, how do <i>you</i> like these new ways of going on?" asked +Mary, the serious, stiff, time-dried, and smoke-dyed head-laundress—a +personage of unknown antiquity, and who had been in the family ever +since it was a family—addressing the fine powdered gentleman in silk +stockings, and pink, white, and silver livery, who leaned negligently +against the chimney-piece.</p> + +<p>"For my part, I'm glad, indeed, to see serious ways taken up in this +house; but how will it suit the rest of you? And especially you, my fine +young gentleman?"</p> + +<p>"Why," answered Thomas, assuming a grave and thoughtful aspect, "I'm +going to confess something which will, perhaps, astonish you, Mistress +Mary—and thus it is—if I'd been told twelve months ago that such new +regulations were to be introduced into this household, I have very great +doubts whether I could have made up my mind to have submitted to them; +but within these few hours, d'ye see, there's been a change."</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Thomas!" said the butler; "a conversion like—I've heard of such +things in my time."</p> + +<p>"Call it what you will, Mr. Buckminster, I call it a change—for a +change there has been."</p> + +<p>"What! well! what!" from different voices round. "Do tell us all about +it."</p> + +<p>"Why, Charles, you were there; and Mr. Buckminster, you were there too. +But Charles is young and giddy; and Mr. Buckminster being always rather +of the serious order, very probably the effect you see was not produced +so strongly upon either of them as upon me."</p> + +<p>"What effect? Well—"</p> + +<p>"Why of the grace, as was said before they sat down to dinner."</p> + +<p>"The grace! Was it the first time you ever heard grace said, you booby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'd heard grace said—I should suppose as often as any as may be +here—though, perhaps, not so sensible to its importance and value as +some present, meaning you, Mistress Mary. The general, for one, never +used to omit it; but, save us! in what a scuffling careless manner it +was said. I protest to you, I thought no more of it than of Mr. +Buckminster taking off the covers and handing them to me. Just as a +necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> preliminary, as they say, to the dinner, and nothing on earth +more."</p> + +<p>"Well, do go on, Thomas. It's very <i>interesting</i>," said Mistress Mary, +and the rest gathered closer, all attention.</p> + +<p>"Well, I was a-going to go scuttling about just as usual, thinking only +of not making any noise lest I should see the general—heeding no more +of the grace than of what cook was doing at her fire—when that young +gentleman, as is come newly among us, bent forward and began to speak +it. The effect upon me was wonderful—it was electric—Mr. Buckminster, +you know what I mean; I stood as one arrested—I couldn't have moved or +<i>not</i> cared if it had been never so—I really couldn't. It seemed to me +as if he truly <i>was</i> thanking God for the good things that were set +before them. Their plenty, and their comfort, and their abundance; it +seemed to me as if things were opened to my mind—what I had never +thought of before—who it was—who <i>did</i> give them, and us after them, +all sorts of delicacies, and food, and drink, when others might be +wanting a morsel of bread; and I seemed to be standing before Him—I +felt need to thank Him with the rest.... All this flashed through me +like lightning; but he had done in a moment, and they all sat down."</p> + +<p>"How beautiful Thomas does talk when he has a mind," whispered the +under-housemaid to the under-laundry-maid. "What a fine tall young man +he is, and what a gift of the gab."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the rest, "go on—is there any more?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is more. Someway, I could not get it out of my head—I kept +thinking of it all dinner. It was as much as I could do to mind what I +was about; and once I made such a clatter in putting a knife and fork +upon a plate, that if it hadn't been for the greatest good luck in the +world, I should have got it. But the general was talking quite +complacent like with the two young gentlemen, and by huge good fortune +never heeded."</p> + +<p>"Well!"</p> + +<p>"Well, when I got into the pantry and began washing up, I had more time +for quiet reflection. And this is what I thought. What a lot of +lubberly, inanimated, ungrateful, stupid slaves we all must be. Here +serving an earthly master, to the best of our abilities, for a few +beggarly pounds, and for his meat and drink and fine clothing; and very +well contented, moreover, when there's roast beef of a Sunday, or +plum-pudding, and a glass of wine besides on a wedding-day or a +birthday; and thank him, and feel pleased with him, and anxious next day +to do better than ordinary, mayhap—And there's the Great Master—the +Lord and Giver of all, who made us by his hand, and created us by his +power, and feeds us by his bounty, and shelters us by his care; and all +for no good of his, but ours—simply ours. For what's he to get of it, +but the satisfaction of his merciful and generous spirit, when he sees +his poor creatures happy?</p> + +<p>"And we are such dolts! such asses! such brute beasts! such stocks! +such stones! that here we go on from day to day, enjoying the life he +gives us, eating the bread and meat he gives us, drinking his good +refreshments, resting upon his warm beds, and so on.... Every day, and +every day, and every day—and who among us, I, most especially for one, +ever thinks, except may be by scuttling through a few rigmarole +words—ever thinks, I say, of thanking <i>Him</i> for it—of lifting up a +warm, honest heart, of true real thanking, I mean? Of loving Him the +better, and trying to serve and please Him the better—when He, great +and powerful as He is—Lord of all the lords, emperors, and kings, that +ever wore crowns and coronets in this world—condescends to <i>let</i> us +thank Him, to <i>like</i> us to thank Him, and to take pleasure in our humble +love and service!"</p> + +<p>Ha paused—every eye was fixed upon the speaker.</p> + +<p>"And, therefore," continued Thomas, turning to the laundry-maid, who +stood there with a tear in her eye; "therefore, Mistress Mary, I <i>am</i> +pleased with, and I do <i>like</i> these new ways of going on, as you say; +and I bless God, and hope to do it well in my prayers this night, for +having at last made of us what I call a regular Christian family."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I have told you, a little in the way of anticipation, that the +popularity of Mr. St. Leger's new measures was not confined to the +kitchen; but that the general, by slow steps, gradually conformed to the +new usages established at the Hazels.</p> + +<p>Lettice and Catherine had not long to take it it turns to stay out with +him, playing backgammon, at the time of evening prayers.</p> + +<p>At first it was a polite—"Oh, pray don't think of staying in the +drawing-room upon my account; I can do very well by myself."... Next it +was, "Nay, rather than that, I will go into the library too; why should +I not?" He began to feel, at first, probably, from a vague sense of +propriety only, but before long from better reasons, that it was not +very seemly for the master of the house alone to be absent, when the +worship of God was going on in his family.</p> + +<p>So there he might, as I told you, ere long be seen, regularly at +night—in the morning more and more regularly—muttering the responses +between his teeth at first; at length, saying them aloud, and with +greater emphasis than any of the rest of the little congregation. His +once majestic figure, now bent with age, towering above the rest; and +his eagle eye of authority, still astonishingly piercing, rolling round +from time to time, upon the watch to detect and rebuke, by a glance, the +slightest sign of inattention upon the part of any of those assembled.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful picture that evening meeting for prayer, for the +library was a very ancient room, it having retained the old fittings put +in at the time the Hazels was built, some three half centuries ago. The +massive and handsome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> book-cases of dark oak; the family pictures, grim +with age, which hung above them; the urns and heads of old philosophers +and poets adorning the cornice; the lofty chimney-piece, with the family +arms carved and emblazoned over it; the massive oaken chairs, with their +dark-green morocco cushions; the reading-desk; the large library table, +covered with portfolios of rare prints; and large books containing fine +illustrated editions of the standard authors of England; gave a somewhat +serious, almost religious aspect to the apartment.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Melwyn, in her soft gray silks and fine laces; her fair, colorless +cheek; her tender eyes bent downward; her devout, gentle, meek, humble +attitude and expression; Catherine by her side, in all the full bloom of +health and happiness; that charming-looking, handsome Edgar; and +Lettice, with so much character in her countenance, seated upon one side +of the room, formed a charming row of listening faces, with this rugged, +magnificent-looking old general at their head.</p> + +<p>On the opposite side were—the grave, stern, old housekeeper, so fat, so +grave, and so imposing; Mrs. Melwyn's new maid, a pretty young woman, in +the lightest possible apology for a cap, trimmed with pink ribbons; the +laundry-maid, so serious, and sitting stiff and starched as one of her +own clear muslins; the cook and housemaid looking as attentive as they +could; and the under-servants staring with vacant eyes—eyes that looked +as if they were ready to drop out of their heads; Mr. Buckminster, as +the charming Dickens has it, <i>so</i> "respectable;" Thomas, all spirit and +enthusiasm; and Charles doing all in his power not to fall asleep.</p> + +<p>At the table the young minister, with that interesting and most delicate +face of his; his tall, wasted figure bending forward, his fair, +emaciated hands resting upon the book, from which, in a voice low and +feeble, but most penetrating and sweet, he read.</p> + +<p>They would come back to the drawing-room in such a composed, happy, +cheerful frame of mind. The general more remarkably so. He felt more +self-satisfaction than the others; because the course of proceeding was +so new to him that he imagined it to be very particularly meritorious. A +bit of a pharisee you will think—but not the least of that, I assure +you. Only people, at their first trying of such paths, do often find +them most peculiarly paths of pleasantness and ways of peace; and, this +sort of peace, this being at ease with the conscience, is, to be sure, +very soothing and comfortable.</p> + +<p>In short, nothing could proceed better than things did; and every one +was quite content but the charming match-maker, Catherine.</p> + +<p>She watched, and watched with the greatest interest; but watch as she +might, she could detect no symptoms of falling in love upon the part of +Mr. St. Leger.</p> + +<p>He spent, indeed, the whole of his mornings either in his own room or in +the library, absorbed in the books of divinity, of which there happened +to be a very valuable collection; a collection which had slept +undisturbed upon the shelves for many and many a long year. These +afforded to him a source of interest and improvement which he had never +enjoyed since he had left the too often neglected library of the small +college where he had been educated. He was ready to devour them. Every +moment of time he considered his own—and the whole of the morning was +chiefly at his disposal—was devoted to them; with the exception, be it +mentioned, of a large portion, which, when the weather would allow, was +spent in visiting among the poor at that end of the parish.</p> + +<p>At dinner Mr. St. Leger for the first time joined the family party. When +he did, however, it must be confessed, he made ample amends for his +absence, and was excessively agreeable. He had great powers of +conversation, and evidently considered it his duty to exert himself to +raise the tone of conversation at the general's table, so as to make the +time pass pleasantly with the old man. In this Edgar and Catherine +seconded him to the best of their power.</p> + +<p>Lettice said little. She sat at the bottom of the table, by Mr. St. +Leger; but though he often addressed her—taking care that she should +not feel left out—as did Catherine also, she was very silent. She had +not, indeed, much that she could venture to say. When conversation took +this higher tone, she felt afraid of her own ignorance; and then she +first knew what it was to lament not having had a better education.</p> + +<p>As they grew more intimate—for people who sit side by side at dinner +every day can not help growing intimate—Mr. St. Leger would gently +remark upon this reserve; and one day he began to speak openly upon the +subject. He had attributed her silence, I believe, to a bashful feeling +of inferiority in rank; for her face was so intelligent and full of +meaning, that he did not divine its real cause, so he said, with a +certain gentle abruptness which became him much:</p> + +<p>"I have discovered a fault in you, Miss Arnold, at last; though every +body here seems to think it impossible you should have one. May I tell +you of it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! if you once begin with my faults, I am afraid you will never have +done. I know the length of the score that might be summed up against me, +though others are so good-natured as to forget it. Yes, indeed, I shall +be much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it is the duty of all to exert themselves in a family +party, to make conversation circulate in an agreeable manner?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure, I do—and" ... how well you perform that duty, she was +prompted to say, but she did not. She hesitated a little, and then +added—"And, perhaps, you think I do not do that so much as I ought to +do."</p> + +<p>"Precisely. You will not be angry. No, you can not be angry. You never +are. The most trying and provoking things, I observe, can not ruffle +you. So I will venture to say, that I think you don't play fair by me. +We are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> both here chiefly to make ourselves agreeable, I believe; and I +sometimes wish I had a little more assistance in that duty from one who, +I am sure, could perform it admirably, if she so pleased."</p> + +<p>Lettice shook her head. Then she said, with her usual simplicity, "I +used to talk more before you came."</p> + +<p>"Did you? But that's not quite generous, is it, to throw the whole +burden upon me now I <i>am</i> come, instead of sharing it? Why will you not +talk now?"</p> + +<p>"Simply, because I can't. Oh, Mr. St. Leger! the talk is so different +since you came here, and I feel my own incapacity so sadly—my own +ignorance so forcibly—I should say so painfully; but that, indeed, is +not my own fault, and that takes the worst pain, you know, out of +things."</p> + +<p>"Ignorant!" he said: "of what?"</p> + +<p>"Of all these things you talk about. I used to pick up a little from the +newspapers, but now I have done reading them I seem literally to know +nothing."</p> + +<p>"Nothing! Nothing about books, I suppose you mean; for you seem to me to +understand men and things better than most people I have met with."</p> + +<p>"I have experienced more, perhaps, than most girls of my age have done, +through my poverty and misfortunes; but what is that?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Miss Arnold! what is it but the best part of all knowledge; to +understand one's self and others; the best of all possessions; to +possess one's own spirit. But I beg your pardon, I will only add, that I +do not, by what I say, intend at all to undervalue the advantages of +reading, or the happiness of having a love of reading. Do you love +reading?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I don't quite know. I find the books I read aloud to Mrs. Melwyn +often very tiresome, I must confess."</p> + +<p>"And what sort of books do you read to Mrs. Melwyn?"</p> + +<p>"Why, only two sorts—novels and essays."</p> + +<p>He laughed a little, in his quiet way, and then said, "I wonder at any +young lady disliking novels; I thought it was the very reading they +liked best; but as for essays, with very few exceptions, I must own I +share in your distaste for them."</p> + +<p>"I can't understand them very often. I am ashamed to say it; but the +writers use such fine language and such strange new words, and then they +go over and over again upon the same thought, and illustrate it twenty +different ways, when one happy illustration, I think, would be so much +better; I like a writer who marches promptly through a subject; those +essayists seem as if they never could have done."</p> + +<p>"What you say is just, in many instances, I think. It is a pity you have +not tried other reading. History, travels, poetry; you can not think how +pleasantly such subjects seem to fill and enlarge the mind. And if you +have a little time of your own, you can not easily believe, perhaps, how +much may be done. Even with an hour each day, of steady reading, a vast +deal."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but where shall I begin? Every body reads Hume's History of England +first, and I have never even done that; and if I were to begin I should +never get to the end of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but you would, and be surprised to find how soon that end had +arrived, and what a pleasant journey you had made. But if you are +frightened at Hume, and I own he <i>looks</i> formidable, let me select you +something in the library, to commence operations with, which will not be +quite so alarming."</p> + +<p>"Oh! if you would...."</p> + +<p>"With the greatest pleasure in the world. If you will allow me to assist +you a little in the choice of your books, I think, with the virtue of +perseverance—and I know you have all the virtues—you would get through +a good deal in a comparatively short space of time; and when I reflect +how much it would add to your happiness, as it does to every one's +happiness, I confess I can not feel easy till I have set you going."</p> + +<p>This conversation had been carried on in a low voice, while the rest had +been talking over some family matters together. The speakers at the head +of the table stopped, and the silence aroused the two. Catherine glanced +at them suddenly; she saw Lettice color a little, but Mr. St. Leger +preserved the most provoking composure.</p> + +<p>The evenings Mr. St. Leger devoted exclusively to the good pleasure of +the general. He read the newspapers, making them the vehicle of the most +intelligent and agreeable comments, he looked out the places mentioned +in the maps, and had something perpetually to say that was interesting +of this or that. He answered every question the general wanted solved in +the cleverest manner; and, in short, he so won upon the old man's heart, +that he became quite attached to him. The evenings, once so heavy, and +spent in a sort of irritable fretfulness, became quite delightful to +him: nor were they less delightful to others. At last, things came to +that pass that the wearisome backgammon was given up, and reading aloud +took its place. The ladies worked and read in turns, Edgar taking double +tides, and Mr. St. Leger doing a little, which he insisted upon, +assuring them that it did not hurt his chest at all. He was, indeed, +getting stronger and better every day; he was a beautiful reader.</p> + +<p>Lettice sat plying her busy needle, but with a countenance so filled +with intelligent pleasure, that it is not to be wondered at if Mr. St. +Leger, when his reading was over, and he had nothing else to do, and, +the books being usually such as he was well acquainted with, not much at +the moment to think of, took pleasure in observing her.</p> + +<p>He had not forgotten his promise of selecting authors for her own +private studies; he seemed to take much benevolent pleasure in +endeavoring to compensate to this generous and excellent creature, for +the intellectual disadvantages of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> life devoted to others as hers had +been. He usually, also, found or made an opportunity for talking over +with her what she had been reading; and, he believed, in all sincerity, +and so did she, that he was actuated in these proceedings merely, as I +said, by the disinterested desire of offering compensation for past +sacrifices; stimulated by the very high value he himself attached to +mental cultivation, regarding it as the best source of independent +happiness both for men and women.</p> + +<p>But whatever were the motives with which he began this labor of +kindness, it is certain as he proceeded therein a vast deal more +interest and pleasure were mingled up with this little task than had +been the case at first.</p> + +<p>Her simple, unaffected purity of heart; her single-mindedness, unstained +by selfish thought, pride, or vanity, or folly, in its simplicity and +singleness of purpose, were displayed before him. The generous +benevolence of purpose; the warm and grateful piety; the peculiar +right-mindedness; the unaffected love for all that was excellent, true, +good, or beautiful, and the happy facility of detecting all that was +good or beneficial wherever it was to be found, and wherever observed; +the sweet cheerfulness and repose of the character; that resemblance to +a green field, which I have heard a husband of only too sensitive a +nature gratefully attribute to his partner; all this worked strongly, +though unmarked.</p> + +<p>Mr. St. Leger began to experience a sense of a sweetness, solace, and +enjoyment, in the presence of Lettice Arnold, that he had not found upon +this earth for years, and which he never had hoped to find again.</p> + +<p>But all this time he never dreamed of falling in love. His imagination +never traveled so far as to think of such a thing as appropriating this +rare blessing to himself. To live with her was his destiny at present, +and that seemed happiness enough; and, indeed he scarcely had got so far +as to acknowledge to his own heart, how much happiness that privilege +conferred.</p> + +<p>She, on her side, was equally tranquil, undisturbed by the slightest +participation in the romance Catherine would so gladly have commenced. +She went on contentedly, profiting by his instructions, delighting in +his company, and adoring his goodness; but would as soon have thought of +appropriating some "bright particular star" to herself as this gifted +man.</p> + +<p>She deemed him too infinitely her superior.</p> + +<p>Well, it is no use keeping the matter in suspense any longer. You all +see how it must end.</p> + +<p>You do not fret and worry yourselves as Catherine did, and abuse Mr. St. +Leger for his indifference. You see plainly enough that two such very +nice people, and so excellently suited to each other, must, thrown +together as they were every day, end by liking each other, which, but +for the previous arrangements of the excellent Catherine, would have +been a very perplexing business to all parties.</p> + +<p>When at last—just before Edgar and his wife were going to sail for +Canada, and he and she were making their farewell visit at the +Hazels—when at last Mr. St. Leger, after having looked for two or three +days very miserable, and having avoided every one, and particularly poor +Lettice—to whom he had not spoken a word all that time, and who was +miserable at the idea that she must have offended him—when at last he +took Edgar out walking, and then confessed that he thought it no longer +right, safe, or honorable, for him to remain at the Hazels, finding, as +he did, that one creature was becoming too dear to him; and he trembled +every moment, lest by betraying his secret he might disturb her +serenity. When at last the confession was made, and Edgar reported it to +his wife—then Catherine was ready to jump for joy. In vain Edgar strove +to look wise, and tell her to be reasonable. In vain he represented all +the objections that must be urged against her out-of-the-way scheme, as +he was ill-natured enough to call it. She would hear of none.</p> + +<p>No, nothing. She was perfectly unreasonable—her husband told her +so—but it was all in vain. Men are more easily discouraged at the idea +of any proceeding out of the usual course than women are. They do not, I +think, set so much value upon <i>abstract</i> happiness, if I may use the +term; they think more of the attending circumstances, and less of that +one ingredient—genuine happiness—than women do.</p> + +<p>Catherine could and would think of nothing else, but how perfectly these +two were suited to each other, and how excessively happy they would be.</p> + +<p>Dear, good thing! how she labored in the cause, and what a world of +contradiction and trouble she had to go through. First, there was Mr. +St. Leger himself, to be persuaded to be happy upon her plan, the only +possible plan under the circumstances; then there was Lettice to +persuade that Mr. St. Leger's happiness and dignity would not be +hazarded; then there was Edgar to reason out of calling her romantic; +and last of all there was the general, for Mrs. Melwyn, I consider, as +Catherine did, already persuaded.</p> + +<p>This last task <i>did</i> appear formidable. She put it off as long as she +could; she got every body else in the right frame of mind before she +ventured upon it; she had persuaded both Edgar and Mrs. Melwyn to second +her, if need were, and at length, with a dreadful feeling of +trepidation, she broached the subject to the old veteran. With all the +coolness she could muster she began her speech, and laid the whole +matter before him. He did not interrupt her while she spoke by one +single word, or remark good, bad, or indifferent. It was awful—her poor +little heart fluttered, as if it were going to stop; she expected the +storm every instant to burst forth in some terrible outbreak. She sat +there shuddering at her own rashness. If even Edgar had called her +absurd, what would her father do! If St. Leger himself had been so +difficult to manage, what would the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> general say! He said nothing. +She would not be discouraged: she began to speak again, to recapitulate +every argument; she warmed with the subject; she was earnest, eloquent, +pathetic—tears were in the good creature's eyes; still he was silent. +At last, wearied out with useless exertion, she ceased to urge the +matter any further; and endeavoring to conquer her feelings of deep +disappointment, looked up in his face to see whether the slightest +relenting expression was visible in it. No; his eyes were fixed upon the +floor; he seemed lost in deep thought.</p> + +<p>"Papa," she ventured to say, "have you heard all I have been saying?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, child."</p> + +<p>Silence again for a few minutes, then—"Catherine, did you ever know me +do a good action in your life?"</p> + +<p>"Dear papa, what a question."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever know me, I say, to do one thoroughly generous, benevolent +action, without regard to self in the slightest degree—such as I +call—such as alone merits the name of a really <i>good</i> action? If you +ever did, I can't easily forgive you."</p> + +<p>"Dearest papa! what have I done? Did I ever say? Did I ever hint? Dear +papa!" and she looked ready to cry.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever?—no—I know you never did."</p> + +<p>"Don't say so—don't think so badly of me, papa."</p> + +<p>"I'm not thinking badly of you, child—God forbid; for well he knows if +I ever did one really generous, benevolent action—one without reference +to self.... Heaven bless thee, thou dearest thing, thy life seems only +made up of such actions; but I say again, did you ever?—No; I know you +never did—and I'll tell you why I know it."</p> + +<p>"Ah, papa! What <i>can</i> you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Because," he went on without seeming to mind her emotion, "because, I +observe, that whenever you want to persuade other people—your mother, +or Edgar, or Lettice, for instance—to do something you've set your +heart upon, you hussy—you always enlarge upon the happiness it will +give to other people; but when you're trying to come round me, you only +talk of how comfortable it will make myself."</p> + +<p>She could only utter a faint exclamation. The accusation, if accusation +it may be called, was not to be denied.</p> + +<p>"Now, Catherine, since this young man came into the house, what with his +conversation, he's a most gentlemanlike, agreeable converser as ever I +met with ... and the prayers, and the chapters, and such like; and, in +short, a certain new tone of thought altogether; there has been +gradually something new growing up in me. I have at times begun to think +back upon my life, and to recollect what a nasty, mean, greedy, +calculating, selfish fellow I've been throughout, never troubling myself +about other people's comforts, or so on, but going on as if every body +was only created to promote mine; and I'd have been glad, Catherine, +before I went into my grave, which won't be long too—I own to you I +would have been glad, for once in my life to have done a purely good, +unselfish thing—made a sacrifice, as you pious folk call it; and, +therefore, to own the truth, I have been very sorry, and could not help +feeling disappointed, as here you've sat prosing this half hour and +more, showing me what a great deal I was to get by this notable +arrangement of yours."</p> + +<p>"Papa!—dearest—dear papa!"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet—I have indeed—I'd have liked to have had something to give +up, instead of its being, as I verily believe it is, the most charmingly +delightful scheme for your mother and me that ever was hit upon—for +that man is the happiness of my life—my body's comfort and my soul's +health—and Lettice is more like a dear child than any thing else to +that poor mother of yours, whom I have not, perhaps, been so considerate +of as I ought; and to have them thus fixed together in this house, is +better luck than could be conceived, such as scarcely ever happens in +this world to any body; and far better than I—almost better than your +poor mother deserves. So you're a darling little courageous creature for +planning it, when I'll be bound they all thought you a fool, so have it +all your own way, and give your old father a kiss," which she joyfully +did. "And now you go to Mr. St. Leger, and tell him from me, that if he +consents to this scheme I shall esteem it the greatest favor and +satisfaction that was ever conferred upon me in my life. I know what it +is to be thus trusted by such a man—I know the confidence on his part +which such an arrangement implies—and you may add, that if he will only +extend to me his usual indulgence for human folly and frailty, I will do +every thing that is in the power of an ill-tempered, good-for-nothing, +selfish old fellow, to prevent him repenting his bargain. And tell +Lettice she's a darling, excellent creature; and I have thought so long, +though I have said little about it, and she has been like an angel of +love and peace in our family; and if she will only go on as she has +done, she will make us all as happy as the day is long; and tell your +mother I wish I did not enjoy the thoughts of this so much myself, that +I might have the pleasure of making an offering of my satisfaction to +her."</p> + +<p>"Dear!—dear beloved papa!"</p> + +<p>"Stop a little, child; Edgar and you will have to pay the piper, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, gladly! thankfully!"</p> + +<p>"Because you see, my dear, if these two people marry and live with us, +and become as children, I must treat them, in a manner, as children, and +make a little codicil to my will; and you and Edgar will be something +the worse for it. But, bless you, child, there's enough for all."</p> + +<p>"And bless you, my honored, generous father, for thinking so; that there +is. Edgar and I only earnestly desired this; thank you, thank you, ten +thousand times."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p> + +<p>I will only detain you for a few moments longer, to tell you that the +scheme was carried into execution, and fully answered the hopes of the +generous contriver.</p> + +<p>Mr. St. Leger found, in the attachment of Lettice, a compensation for +the cruel sufferings of his past life; and, under her tender and +assiduous care, he speedily recovered his health and his powers of +usefulness. She, while performing a woman's best and happiest part, that +of proving the true happiness of an admirable and a superior man, +contrived likewise to fulfill all her other duties in the most complete +and exemplary manner.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to say, whether the happiness she felt or +conferred was the greater.</p> + +<p>Exceptional people may venture upon exceptional measures. Those who are +a great deal more sweet tempered, and loving, and good, and reasonable +than others, may venture to seek happiness in ways that the generality +would be mad to attempt.</p> + +<p>And sensible, well-principled, right-tempered human beings, one may take +into close family intimacy, and discard that reserve, and those +arm's-length proceedings, which people's faults, in too many cases, +render prudent and necessary.</p> + +<p>It was because the subjects of Catherine's schemes were so excellent, +that the object of them was so wise.</p> + +<p>I have now told you how perfectly they answered upon trial; and I am +only sorry that the world contains so very few with whom one could +venture to make the same experiment.</p> + +<p>For a very large portion of possible happiness is thrown away, because +people are not fit to take part in plans of this nature—plans wherein +one shall give what he has, to receive back what he wants; and thus the +true social communism be established.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h4>[From the Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers, Vol. II., unpublished.]</h4> +<h2><a name="RECOLLECTIONS_OF_DR_CHALMERS" id="RECOLLECTIONS_OF_DR_CHALMERS"></a>RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. CHALMERS.</h2> + +<h3>HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE IN THE PULPIT.</h3> + + +<p>The first sermon which Mr. Chalmers preached in Glasgow was delivered +before the Society of the Sons of the Clergy, on Thursday the 30th day +of March, 1815, a few months after his appointment, and a few months +previous to his admission as minister of the Tron Church. The recent +excitement of the canvass, the rumors strange and various, which +crossing the breadth of Scotland were circulating in all quarters +through the city, the quickened curiosity of opponents, the large but +somewhat tremulous expectation of friends, drew together a vast +multitude to hear him. Among the crowd which filled the church was a +young Oxford student, himself the son of a Scottish minister, who had +been surprised by hearing Mr. Chalmers's work on the Evidences of +Christianity mentioned with high approval, within the walls of an +English University, shortly after the date of its publication. The keen +dark eye of the youthful auditor fixed itself in searching scrutiny upon +the preacher, and a few years later his graceful and graphic pen drew +the following sketch:</p> + +<p>"I was a good deal surprised and perplexed with the first glimpse I +obtained of his countenance, for the light that streamed faintly upon it +for the moment did not reveal any thing like that general outline of +feature and visage for which my fancy had by some strange working of +presentiment, prepared me. By-and-by, however, the light became +stronger, and I was enabled to study the minutiae of his face pretty +leisurely, while he leaned forward and read aloud the words of the +Psalm, for that is always done in Scotland, not by the clerk, but the +clergyman himself. At first sight, no doubt, his face is a coarse one, +but a mysterious kind of meaning breathes from every part of it, that +such as have eyes to see cannot be long without discovering. It is very +pale, and the large, half-closed eyelids have a certain drooping +melancholy weight about them, which interested me very much. I +understood not why. The lips, too, are singularly pensive in their mode +of falling down at the sides, although there is no want of richness and +vigor in their central fullness of curve. The upper lip, from the nose +downward, is separated by a very deep line, which gives a sort of +leonine firmness of expression to all the lower part of the face. The +cheeks are square and strong, in texture like pieces of marble, with the +cheek-bones very broad and prominent. The eyes themselves are light in +color, and have a strange dreamy heaviness, that conveys any idea rather +than that of dullness, but which contrasts in a wonderful manner with +the dazzling watery glare they exhibit when expanded in their sockets, +and illuminated into all their flame and fervor in some moment of high +entranced enthusiasm. But the shape of the forehead is, perhaps, the +most singular part of the whole visage; and, indeed, it presents a +mixture so very singular, of forms commonly exhibited only in the widest +separation, that it is no wonder I should have required some little time +to comprehend the meaning of it. In the first place, it is without +exception the most marked mathematical forehead I ever met with—being +far wider across the eyebrows than either Mr. Playfair's or Mr. +Leslie's—and having the eyebrows themselves lifted up at their exterior +ends quite out of the usual line, a peculiarity which Spurzheim had +remarked in the countenances of almost all the great mathematical or +calculating geniuses—such, for example, if I rightly remember, as Sir +Isaac Newton himself, Kaestener, Euler, and many others. Immediately +above the extraordinary breadth of this region, which, in the heads of +most mathematical persons, is surmounted by no fine points of +organization whatever, immediately above this, in the forehead, there is +an arch of imagination, carrying out the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> summit boldly and roundly, in +a style to which the heads of very few poets present any thing +comparable, while over this again there is a grand apex of high and +solemn veneration and love, such as might have graced the bust of Plato +himself, and such as in living men I had never beheld equaled in any but +the majestic head of Canova. The whole is edged with a few crisp dark +locks, which stand forth boldly, and afford a fine relief to the +death-like paleness of those massive temples.... Of all human +compositions there is none surely which loses so much as a sermon does +when it is made to address itself to the eye of a solitary student in +his closet and not to the thrilling ears of a mighty mingled +congregation, through the very voice which nature has enriched with +notes more expressive than words can ever be of the meanings and +feelings of its author. Neither, perhaps, did the world ever possess any +orator whose minutest peculiarities of gesture and voice have more power +in increasing the effect of what he says—whose delivery, in other +words, is the first, and the second, and the third excellence of his +oratory—more truly than is that of Dr. Chalmers. And yet were the +spirit of the man less gifted than it is, there is no question these, +his lesser peculiarities, would never have been numbered among his +points of excellence. His voice is neither strong nor melodious, his +gestures are neither easy nor graceful; but, on the contrary, extremely +rude and awkward; his pronunciation is not only broadly national, but +broadly provincial, distorting almost every word he utters into some +barbarous novelty, which, had his hearer leisure to think of such +things, might be productive of an effect at once ludicrous and offensive +in a singular degree. But, of a truth, these are things which no +listener can attend to while this great preacher stands before him armed +with all the weapons of the most commanding eloquence, and swaying all +around him with its imperial rule. At first, indeed, there is nothing to +make one suspect what riches are in store. He commences in a low, +drawling key, which has not even the merit of being solemn, and advances +from sentence to sentence, and from paragraph to paragraph, while you +seek in vain to catch a single echo that gives promise of that which is +to come. There is, on the contrary, an appearance of constraint about +him that affects and distresses you. You are afraid that his breast is +weak, and that even the slight exertion he makes may be too much for it. +But then, with what tenfold richness does this dim preliminary curtain +make the glories of his eloquence to shine forth, when the heated spirit +at length shakes from it its chill confining fetters, and bursts out +elate and rejoicing in the full splendor of its disimprisoned wings.... +I have heard many men deliver sermons far better arranged in regard to +argument, and have heard very many deliver sermons far more uniform in +elegance both of conception and of style; but most unquestionably, I +have never heard, either in England or Scotland, or in any other +country, any preacher whose eloquence is capable of producing an effect +so strong and irresistible as his."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Delivery Of The Astronomical Discourses.</span>—At the time of Dr. +Chalmers's settlement in Glasgow it was the custom that the clergymen of +the city should preach in rotation on Thursday in the Tron Church, a +duty which, as their number was then but eight, returned to each within +an interval of two months. On Thursday, the 23d of November, 1815, this +week-day service devolved on Dr. Chalmers. The entire novelty of the +discourse delivered upon this occasion, and the promise held out by the +preacher that a series of similar discourses was to follow, excited the +liveliest interest, not in his own congregation alone, but throughout +the whole community. He had presented to his hearers a sketch of the +recent discoveries of astronomy—distinct in outline, and drawn with all +the ease of one who was himself a master in the science, yet gorgeously +magnificent in many of its details, displaying, amid "the brilliant glow +of a blazing eloquence,"<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> the sublime poetry of the heavens. In his +subsequent discourses Dr. Chalmers proposed to discuss the argument or +rather prejudice against the Christian Revelation which grounds itself +on the vastness and variety of those unnumbered worlds which lie +scattered over the immeasurable fields of space. This discussion +occupied all the Thursday services allotted to him during the year 1816. +The spectacle which presented itself in the Trongate upon the day of the +delivery of each new astronomical discourse, was a most singular one. +Long ere the bell began to toll, a stream of people might be seen +pouring through the passage which led into the Tron Church. Across the +street, and immediately opposite to this passage, was the old +reading-room, where all the Glasgow merchants met. So soon, however, as +the gathering quickening stream upon the opposite side of the street +gave the accustomed warning, out flowed the occupants of the +coffee-room; the pages of the Herald or the Courier were for a while +forsaken, and during two of the best business hours of the day the old +reading-room wore a strange aspect of desolation. The busiest merchants +of the city were wont, indeed, upon those memorable days to leave their +desks, and kind masters allowed their clerks and apprentices to follow +their example. Out of the very heart of the great tumult an hour or two +stood redeemed for the highest exercises of the spirit; and the low +traffic of earth forgotten, heaven and its high economy and its human +sympathies and eternal interests, engrossed the mind at least and the +fancy of congregated thousands.</p> + +<p>In January, 1817, this series of discourses was announced as ready for +publication. It had generally been a matter of so much commercial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> risk +to issue a volume of sermons from the press, that recourse had been +often had in such cases to publication by subscription. Dr. Chalmers's +publisher, Mr. Smith, had hinted that perhaps this method ought in this +instance also to be tried. "It is far more agreeable to my feelings," +Dr. Chalmers wrote to him a few days before the day of publication, +"that the book should be introduced to the general market, and sell on +the public estimation of it, than that the neighborhood here should be +plied in all the shops with subscription papers, and as much as possible +wrung out of their partialities for the author." Neither author nor +publisher had at this time the least idea of the extraordinary success +which was awaiting their forthcoming volume. It was published on the +28th of January, 1817. In ten weeks 6000 copies had been disposed of, +the demand showing no symptom of decline. Nine editions were called for +within a year, and nearly 20,000 copies were in circulation. Never +previously, nor ever since, has any volume of sermons met with such +immediate and general acceptance. The "Tales of my Landlord" had a +month's start in the date of publication, and even with such a +competitor it ran an almost equal race. Not a few curious observers were +struck with the novel competition, and watched with lively curiosity how +the great Scottish preacher and the great Scottish novelist kept for a +whole year so nearly abreast of one another. It was, besides, the first +volume of Sermons which fairly broke the lines which had separated too +long the literary from the religious public. Its secondary merits won +audience for it in quarters where evangelical Christianity was nauseated +and despised. It disarmed even the keen hostility of Hazlitt, and kept +him for a whole forenoon spell-bound beneath its power. "These sermons," +he says, "ran like wild-fire through the country, were the darlings of +watering-places, were laid in the windows of inns, and were to be met +with in all places of public resort.... We remember finding the volume +in the orchard of the inn at Burford Bridge, near Boxhill, and passing a +whole and very delightful morning in reading it without quitting the +shade of an apple tree." The attractive volume stole an hour or two from +the occupations of the greatest statesman and orator of the day. +"Canning," says Sir James Mackintosh, "told me that he was entirely +converted to admiration of Chalmers; so is Bobus, whose conversion is +thought the greatest proof of victory. Canning says there are most +magnificent passages in his 'Astronomical Sermons."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Four years +before this time, through the pages of the "Edinburgh Christian +Instructor," Dr. Chalmers had said, "Men of tasteful and cultivated +literature are repelled from theology at the very outset by the +unseemly garb in which she is presented to them. If there be room for +the display of eloquence in urgent and pathetic exhortation, in masterly +discussion, in elevating greatness of conception, does not theology +embrace all these, and will not the language that is clearly and +appropriately expressive of them possess many of the constituents and +varieties of good writing? If theology, then, can command such an +advantage, on what principle should it be kept back from her?... In the +subject itself there is a grandeur which it were vain to look for in the +ordinary themes of eloquence or poetry. Let writers arise, then, to do +it justice. Let them be all things to all men, that they may gain some; +and if a single proselyte can be thereby drawn from the ranks of +literature, let all the embellishments of genius and fancy be thrown +around the subject. One man has already done much. Others are rising +around him, and with the advantage of a higher subject, they will in +time rival the unchristian moralists of the day, and overmatch them." He +was one of the first to answer to his own call, to fulfill his own +prediction. No single writer of our age has done so much to present the +truths of Christianity in new forms, and to invest them with all the +attractions of a fascinating eloquence; nor could a single volume be +named which has done more than this very volume of "Astronomical +Discourses" to soften and subdue those prejudices which the infidelity +of natural science engenders.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Effect of his Eloquence.—Sermon on Dissipation in Large Cities.</span>—Dr. +Chalmers returned to Glasgow on Saturday, the 27th December, and on the +following day found a prodigious crowd awaiting his appearance in the +Tron Church pulpit. His popularity as a preacher was now at its very +highest summit, and judging merely by the amount of physical energy +displayed by the preacher, and by the palpable and visible effects +produced upon his hearers, we conclude that it was about this period, +and within the walls of the Tron Church, that by far the most wonderful +exhibitions of his power as a pulpit orator were witnessed. "The Tron +Church contains, if I mistake not," says the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, who, as +frequently as he could, was a hearer in it, "about 1400 hearers, +according to the ordinary allowance of seat-room; when crowded of course +proportionally more. And, though I can not attempt any pictorial sketch +of the <i>place</i>, I may, in a sentence or two, present you with a few +touches of the <i>scene</i> which I have, more than once or twice, witnessed +within its walls; not that it was at all peculiar, for it resembled +every other scene where the doctor in those days, when his eloquence was +in the prime of its vehemence and splendor, was called to preach. There +was one particular, indeed, which rendered such a scene, in a city like +Glasgow, peculiarly striking. I refer to the <i>time</i> of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> To see a +place of worship, of the size mentioned, crammed above and below, on a +<i>Thursday forenoon</i>, during the busiest hours of the day, with fifteen +or sixteen hundred hearers, and these of all descriptions of persons, in +all descriptions of professional occupation, the busiest as well as +those who had most leisure on their hands, those who had least to spare +taking care so to arrange their business engagements previously as to +<i>make time</i> for the purpose, all pouring in through the wide entrance at +the side of the Tron steeple, half an hour before the time of service, +to secure a seat, or content if too late for this to occupy, as many +did, standing room—this was, indeed, a novel and strange sight. Nor was +it once merely, or twice, but month after month the day was calculated +when his turn to preach again was to come round, and anticipated, with +even impatient longing, by multitudes.</p> + +<p>"Suppose the congregation thus assembled—pews filled with sitters, and +aisles, to a great extent, with standers. They wait in eager +expectation. The preacher appears. The devotional exercises of praise +and prayer having been gone through with unaffected simplicity and +earnestness, the entire assembly set themselves for the <i>treat</i>, with +feelings very diverse in kind, but all eager and intent. There is a hush +of dead silence. The text is announced, and he begins. Every countenance +is up—every eye bent, with fixed intentness, on the speaker. As he +kindles the interest grows. Every breath is held—every cough is +suppressed—every fidgety movement is settled—every one, riveted +himself by the spell of the impassioned and entrancing eloquence, knows +how sensitively his neighbor will resent the very slightest disturbance. +Then, by-and-by, there is a pause. The speaker stops—to gather +breath—to wipe his forehead—to adjust his gown, and purposely too, and +wisely, to give the audience, as well as himself, a moment or two of +relaxation. The moment is embraced—there is free breathing—suppressed +coughs get vent—postures are changed—there is a universal stir, as of +persons who could not have endured the constraint much longer—the +preacher bends forward—his hand is raised—all is again hushed. The +same stillness and strain of unrelaxed attention is repeated, more +intent still, it may be, than before, as the interest of the subject and +of the speaker advance. And so, for perhaps four or five times in the +course of a sermon, there is the <i>relaxation</i> and the '<i>at it again</i>' +till the final winding up.</p> + +<p>"And <i>then</i>, the moment the last word was uttered, and followed by +the—'<i>let us pray</i>,' there was a scene for which no excuse or +palliation can be pleaded but the fact of its having been to many a +matter of difficulty, in the morning of a week-day, to accomplish the +abstraction of even so much of their time from business—the closing +prayer completely drowned by the hurried rush of large numbers from the +aisles and pews to the door; an unseemly scene, without doubt, as if so +many had come to the house of God not to worship, but simply to enjoy +the fascination of human eloquence. Even this much it was a great thing +for eloquence to accomplish. And how diversified soever the motives +which drew so many together, and the emotions awakened and impressions +produced by what was heard—though, in the terms of the text of one of +his most overpoweringly stirring and faithful appeals, he was to not a +few 'as one that had a pleasant voice and could play well on an +instrument,' yet there is abundant proof that, in the highest sense, +'his labor was not in vain in the Lord;' that the truths which, with so +much fearless fidelity and impassioned earnestness, he delivered, went +in many instances farther than the ear, or even the intellect—that they +reached the heart, and, by the power of the Spirit, turned it to God."</p> + +<p>"On Thursday, the 12th February, 1818," I now quote from a manuscript of +the Rev. Mr. Fraser, minister of Kilchrennan, "Dr. Chalmers preached in +the Tron Church before the Directors of the Magdalene Asylum. The sermon +delivered on this occasion was that 'On the Dissipation of Large +Cities.' Long before the service commenced every seat and passage was +crowded to excess, with the exception of the front pew of the gallery, +which was reserved for the magistrates. A vast number of students +deserted their classes at the University and were present. This was very +particularly the case in regard to the Moral Philosophy Class, which I +attended that session, as appeared on the following day when the list of +absentees was given in by the person who had called the catalogue, and +at the same time a petition from several of themselves was handed in to +the professor, praying for a remission of the fine for non-attendance, +on the ground that they had been hearing Dr. Chalmers. The doctor's +manner during the whole delivery of that magnificent discourse was +strikingly animated, while the enthusiasm and energy which he threw into +some of its bursts rendered them quite overpowering. One expression +which he used, together with his action, his look, and the very tones of +his voice when it came forth, made a most vivid and indelible impression +upon my memory: 'We, at the same time,' he said, 'have our eye perfectly +open to that great external improvement which has taken place, of late +years, in the manners of society. There is not the same grossness of +conversation. There is not the same impatience for the withdrawment of +him who, asked to grace the outset of an assembled party, is compelled, +at a certain step in the process of conviviality, by the obligations of +professional decency, to retire from it. There is not so frequent an +exaction of this as one of the established proprieties of social or of +fashionable life. And if such an exaction was ever laid by the +omnipotence of custom on a minister of Christianity, it is such an +exaction as ought never, never to be complied with. It is not for him to +lend the sanction of his presence to a meeting with which he could not +sit to its final<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> termination. It is not for him to stand associated, +for a single hour, with an assemblage of men who begin with hypocrisy, +and end with downright blackguardism. It is not for him to watch the +progress of the coming ribaldry, and to hit the well selected moment +when talk and turbulence and boisterous merriment are on the eve of +bursting forth upon the company, and carrying them forward to the full +acme and uproar of their enjoyment. It is quite in vain to say, that he +has only sanctioned one part of such an entertainment. He has as good as +given his connivance to the whole of it, and left behind him a discharge +in full of all its abominations; and, therefore, be they who they may, +whether they rank among the proudest aristocracy of our land, or are +charioted in splendor along, as the wealthiest of our citizens, <i>or +flounce in the robes of magistracy</i>, it is his part to keep as purely +and indignantly aloof from such society as this, as he would from the +vilest and most debasing associations of profligacy.'</p> + +<p>"The words which I have underlined do not appear in the sermon as +printed. While uttering them, which he did with peculiar emphasis, +accompanying them with a flash from his eye and a stamp of his foot, he +threw his right arm with clenched hand right across the book-board, and +brandished it full in the face of the Town Council, sitting in array and +in state before him. Many eyes were in a moment directed toward the +magistrates. The words evidently fell upon them like a thunderbolt, and +seemed to startle like an electric shock the whole audience."</p> + +<p>Another interesting memorial of this sermon is supplied by Dr. Wardlaw, +who was present at its delivery. "The eloquence of that discourse was +absolutely overpowering. The subject was one eminently fitted to awaken +and summon to their utmost energy all his extraordinary powers; +especially when, after having cleared his ground by a luminously +scriptural exhibition of that supreme authority by which the evils he +was about to portray were interdicted, in contradistinction to the +prevailing maxims and practices of a worldly morality, he came forward +to the announcement and illustration of his main subject—'<i>the origin, +the progress, and the effects of a life of dissipation</i>.' His moral +portraitures were so graphically and vividly delineated—his warnings +and entreaties, especially to youth, so impassioned and earnest—his +admonitions so faithful, and his denunciations so fearless and so +fearful—and his exhortations to preventive and remedial appliances so +pointed and so urgent to all among his auditors who had either the +charge of youth, or the supervision of dependents! It was thrilling, +overwhelming. His whole soul seemed in every utterance. Although saying +to myself all the while, 'Oh! that this were in the hands of every +father, and master, and guardian, and young man in the land!' I yet +could not spare an eye from the preacher to mark how his appeal was +telling upon others. The breathless, the appalling silence told me of +that. Any person who reads that discourse, and who had the privilege of +listening to Dr. Chalmers during the prime and freshness of his public +eloquence, will readily imagine the effect of some passages in it, when +delivered with even more than the preacher's characteristic vehemence."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk</i>, 2d edit, vol. iii pp +267-273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Foster.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. Sir James +Mackintosh</i>, vol. ii. p. 343. The person known among his particular +friends by the name of "Bobus" was Robert Smith, who had held the office +of Advocate-General in Bengal, and who is not to be confounded with his +namesake, the brother of the Rev. Sydney Smith.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From the Dublin University Magazine.]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_OLD_MANS_BEQUEST_A_STORY_OF_GOLD" id="THE_OLD_MANS_BEQUEST_A_STORY_OF_GOLD"></a>THE OLD MAN'S BEQUEST; A STORY OF GOLD.</h2> + + + +<p>Through the ornamental grounds of a handsome country residence, at a +little distance from a large town in Ireland, a man of about fifty years +of age was walking, with a bent head, and the impress of sorrow on his +face.</p> + +<p>"Och, yer honor, give me one sixpence, or one penny, for God's sake," +cried a voice from the other side of a fancy paling which separated the +grounds in that quarter from a thoroughfare. "For heaven's sake, Mr. +Lawson, help me as ye helped me before. I know you've the heart and hand +to do it."</p> + +<p>The person addressed as Mr. Lawson looked up and saw a woman whom he +knew to be in most destitute circumstances, burdened with a large and +sickly family, whom she had struggled to support until her own health +was ruined.</p> + +<p>"I have no money—not one farthing," answered John Lawson.</p> + +<p>"No money!" reiterated the woman in surprise; "isn't it all yours, then? +isn't this garden yours, and that house, and all the grand things that +are in it yours? ay, and grand things they are—them pictures, and them +bright shinin' things in that drawing-room of yours and sure you deserve +them well, and may God preserve them long to you, for riches hasn't +hardened your heart, though there's many a one, and heaven knows the +gold turns their feelin's to iron."</p> + +<p>"It all belongs to my son, Henry Lawson, and Mrs. Lawson, and their +children—it is all theirs;" he sighed heavily, and deep emotion was +visible in every lineament of his thin and wrinkled face.</p> + +<p>The poor woman raised her bloodshot eyes to his face, as if she was +puzzled by his words. She saw that he was suffering, and with intuitive +delicacy, she desisted from pressing her wants, though her need was +great.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, yer honor, many's the good penny ye have given me and the +childer, and maybe the next time I see you you'll have more change."</p> + +<p>She was turning sadly away, when John Lawson requested her to remain, +and he made inquiries into the state of her family; the report he heard +seemed to touch him even to the forgetfulness of his own sorrows; he +bade her stop for a few moments and he would give her some relief.</p> + +<p>He walked rapidly toward the house and proceeded to the drawing-room. It +was a large and airy apartment, and furnished with evident profusion: +the sunlight of the bright summer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> day, admitted partially through the +amply-draperied windows, lighted up a variety of sparkling gilding in +picture-frames, and vases, and mirrors, and cornices; but John Lawson +looked round on the gay scene with a kind of shudder; he had neither +gold, silver, nor even copper in his pocket, or in his possession.</p> + +<p>He advanced to a lady who reclined on a rose-colored sofa, with a +fashionable novel in her hand, and, after some slight hesitation, he +addressed her, and stating the name and wants of the poor woman who had +begged for aid, he requested some money.</p> + +<p>As he said the words "some money," his lips quivered, and a tremor ran +through his whole frame, for his thoughts were vividly picturing a +recently departed period, when he was under no necessity of asking money +from any individual.</p> + +<p>"Bless me, my dear Mr. Lawson!" cried the lady, starting up from her +recumbent position, "did I not give you a whole handful of shillings +only the day before yesterday; and if you wasted it all on poor people +since, what am I to do? Why, indeed, we contribute so much to charitable +subscriptions, both Mr. Lawson and I, <i>you</i> might be content to give a +little less to common beggars."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson spoke with a smile on her lips, and with a soft caressing +voice, but a hard and selfish nature shone palpably from her blue eyes. +She was a young woman, and had the repute of beauty, which a clear +pink-and-white complexion, and tolerable features, with luxuriant light +hair, generally gains from a portion of the world. She was dressed for +the reception of morning visitors whom she expected, and she was +enveloped in expensive satin and blond, and jewelry in large +proportions.</p> + +<p>John Lawson seemed to feel every word she had uttered in the depths of +his soul, but he made a strong effort to restrain the passion which was +rising to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Augusta, my daughter, you are the wife of my only and most beloved +child—I wish to love you—I wish to live in peace with you, and +all—give me some money to relieve the wants of the unfortunate woman to +whom I have promised relief, and who is waiting without. I ask not for +myself, but for the poor and suffering—give me a trifle of money, I +say."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Mr. Lawson, a bank would not support your demands for the poor +people; that woman for whom you are begging has been relieved twenty +times by us. I have no money just now."</p> + +<p>She threw herself back on the sofa and resumed her novel; but anger, +darting from her eyes, contrasted with the trained smile which still +remained on her lips.</p> + +<p>A dark shade of passion and scorn came over John Lawson's face, but he +strove to suppress it, and his voice was calm when he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Some time before my son married you, I gave up all my business to +him—I came to live here among trees and flowers—I gave up all the +lucrative business I had carried on to my son, partly because my health +was failing, and I longed to live with nature, away from the scenes of +traffic; but more especially, because I loved my son with no common +love, and I trusted to him as to a second self. I was not +disappointed—we had one purse and one heart before he married you; he +never questioned me concerning what I spent in charity—he never asked +to limit in any way my expenditure—he loved you, and I made no +conditions concerning what amount of income I was to receive, but still +I left him in entire possession of my business when he married you. I +trusted to your fair, young face, that you would not controvert my +wishes—that you would join me in my schemes of charity."</p> + +<p>"And have I not?" interrupted Mrs. Lawson, in a sharp voice, though the +habitual smile still graced her lips; "do I not subscribe to, I don't +know how many, charitable institutions? Charity, indeed—there's enough +spent in charity by myself and my husband. But I wish to stop +extravagances—it is only extravagance to spend so much on charity as +you would do if you could; therefore you shall not have any money just +now."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson was one of those women who can cheerfully expend a most +lavish sum on a ball, a dress, or any other method by which rank and +luxury dissipate their abundance, but who are very economical, and talk +much of extravagance when money is demanded for purposes not connected +with display and style.</p> + +<p>"Augusta Lawson, listen to me," his voice was quivering with passion, +"my own wants are very few; in food, in clothes, in all points my +expenditure is trifling. I am not extravagant in my demands for the +poor, either. All I have expended in charity during the few years since +you came here, is but an insignificant amount as contrasted with the +income which I freely gave up to my son and you; therefore, some money +for the poor woman who is waiting, I shall now have; give me some +shillings, for God's sake, and let me go." He advanced closer to her, +and held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" cried Mrs. Lawson; "I am mistress here—I am determined to +stop extravagance. You give too much to common beggars; I am determined +to stop it—do not ask me any further."</p> + +<p>A kind of convulsion passed over John Lawson's thin face; but he pressed +his hand closely on his breast, and was silent for some moments.</p> + +<p>"I was once rich, I believe. Yes—it is not a dream," he said, in a +slow, self-communing voice. "Gold and silver, once ye were plenty with +me; my hands; my pockets were filled—guineas, crowns, shillings—now I +have not one penny to give to that starving, dying woman, whose face of +misery might soften the very stones she looks on—not one penny."</p> + +<p>"Augusta," he said, turning suddenly toward her, after a second pause of +silence, "give me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> only one shilling, and I shall not think of the +bitter words you have just said?"</p> + +<p>"No; not one shilling," answered Mrs. Lawson, turning over a leaf of her +novel.</p> + +<p>"One sixpence, then—one small, poor sixpence. You do not know how even +a sixpence can gladden the black heart of poverty, when starvation is +come. One sixpence, I say—let me have it quickly."</p> + +<p>"Not one farthing I shall give you. I do beg you will trouble me no +further."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson turned her back partially to him, and fixed all her +attention on the novel.</p> + +<p>"Woman! I have cringed and begged; I would not so beg for myself, from +you—no; I would lie down and die of want before I would, on my own +account, request of you—of your hard heart—one bit of bread. All the +finery that surrounds you is mine—it was purchased with my money, +though now you call it yours; and, usurping the authority of both master +and mistress here, you—in what you please to call your economical +management—dole out shillings to me when the humor seizes you, or +refuse me, as now, when it pleases you. But, woman, listen to me. I +shall never request you for one farthing of money again. No necessity of +others shall make me do it. You shall never again refuse me, for I shall +never give you the opportunity."</p> + +<p>He turned hastily from the room, with a face on which the deep emotion +of an aroused spirit was depicted strongly.</p> + +<p>In the lobby he met his son, Henry Lawson. The young man paused, +something struck by the excited appearance of his father.</p> + +<p>"Henry," said the father, abruptly, "I want some money; there is a poor +woman whom I wish to relieve—will you give me some money for her?"</p> + +<p>"Willingly, my dear father; but have you asked Augusta. You know I have +given her the management of the money-matters of the establishment, she +is so very clever and economical."</p> + +<p>"She has neither charity, nor pity, nor kindness; she saves from me; she +saves from the starving poor; she saves, that she may waste large sums +on parties and dresses. I shall never more ask her for money; give me a +few shillings. My God! the father begs of the son for what was his +own—for what he toiled all his youth—for what he gave up out of +trusting love to that son. Henry, my son, I am sick of asking and +begging—ay, sick—sick; but give me some shillings now."</p> + +<p>"You asked Augusta, then," said Henry, drawing out his purse, and +glancing with some apprehension to the drawing-room door.</p> + +<p>"Henry," cried Mrs. Lawson, appearing at that instant with a face +inflamed with anger—"Henry, <i>I</i> would not give your father any money +to-day, because he is so very extravagant in giving it all away."</p> + +<p>Henry was in the act of opening his purse; he glanced apprehensively to +Mrs. Lawson; his face had a mild and passive expression, which was a +true index of his yielding and easily-governed nature. His features were +small, delicate, and almost effeminately handsome; and in every +lineament a want of decision and force of character was visible.</p> + +<p>"Henry, give me some shillings, I say—I am your father—I have a just +right."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, surely," said Henry, making a movement to open his purse.</p> + +<p>"Henry, I do not wish you to give him money to waste in charity, as he +calls it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson gave her husband an emphatic, but, at the same time, +cunningly caressing and smiling look.</p> + +<p>"Henry, I am your father—give me the money I want."</p> + +<p>"Augusta, my love, you know it was all his," said Henry, going close to +her, and speaking in a kind of whisper.</p> + +<p>"My dearest Henry, were it for any other purpose but for throwing away, +I would not refuse. I am your father's best friend, and your best +friend, in wishing to restrain all extravagance."</p> + +<p>"My dear father, she wishes to be economical, you know."</p> + +<p>He dangled the purse, undecidedly, in his fingers.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me the money at once, and let me go?" cried John Lawson, +elevating his voice.</p> + +<p>"My dear Augusta, it is better."</p> + +<p>"Henry, do not, I beg of you."</p> + +<p>"Henry, my son, will you let me have the money?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Augusta—"</p> + +<p>"Henry!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson articulated but the one word; there was enough of energy and +determination in it to make her husband close the purse he had almost +opened.</p> + +<p>"I ask you only this once more—give me the few shillings?"</p> + +<p>John Lawson bent forward in an eager manner; a feverish red kindled on +his sallow cheeks; his eyes were widely dilated, and his lips +compressed. There was a pause of some moments.</p> + +<p>"You will not give it me?" he said, in a voice deep-toned and singularly +calm, as contrasted with his convulsed face.</p> + +<p>Henry dangled the purse again in his hand, and looked uneasily and +irresolutely toward his wife.</p> + +<p>"No, he will not give it—you will get no money to squander on poor +people this day," Mrs. Lawson said, in a very sharp and decided voice.</p> + +<p>John Lawson did not say another word; he turned away and slowly +descended the stairs, and walked out of the house.</p> + +<p>He did not return that evening. He had been seen on the road leading to +the house of a relative who was in rather poor circumstances Henry felt +rather annoyed at his father's absence; he had no depth in his +affection, but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> had been accustomed to see him and hear his voice +every day, and therefore he missed him, but consoled himself with the +thought that they would soon meet again, as it never entered his +imagination that his father had quitted the house for a lengthened +period. Mrs. Lawson felicitated herself on the event, and hoped that the +old man would remain some time with his relative.</p> + +<p>The following day a letter was handed to Henry; it was from his father, +and was as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">To my Son Henry</span>—I have at last come to the resolution of +quitting your house, which I can no longer call mine, in even +the least degree. For weeks—for months—ever since you +married—ever since your wife took upon herself what she calls +the management of your house and purse, I have felt bound down +under the weight of an oppressive bondage. I could not go and +take a pound or a shilling from our common stock, as I used to +do before you married, when you and I lived in one mind, and +when I believed that the very spirit of your departed, your +angel mother, dwelt in you, as you had, and have still, her +very face and form. No, no, we had no common stock when you +married. She put me on an allowance—ay, an allowance. You +lived, and saw me receiving an allowance; you whom I loved with +an idolatry which God has now punished; you to whom I freely +gave up my business—my money-making business. I gave it you—I +gave all to you—I would have given my very life and soul to +you, because I thought that with your mother's own face you had +her noble and generous nature. You were kind before you +married; but that marriage has proved your weakness and want of +natural affection. Yes, you stood at my side yesterday; you +looked on my face—I, the father who loved you beyond all +bounds of fatherly love—you stood and heard me beg for a few +shillings; you heard me supplicate earnestly and humbly, and +you would not give, because your wife was not willing. Henry, I +could force you to give me a share of the profits of your +business; but keep it—keep it all. You would not voluntarily +give me some shillings, and I shall not demand what right and +justice would give me. Keep all, every farthing.</p> + +<p>"It was for charity I asked the few shillings; you know it. You +know from whom I imbibed whatever I possess of the blessed +spirit of charity. I was as hard and unpitying as even your +wife before your mother taught me to feel and relieve the +demands of poverty. Yes, and she taught you; you can not forget +it. She taught you to give food to the starving, in your +earliest days. She strove to impress your infant mind with the +very soul of charity; and yesterday she looked down from the +heaven of the holy departed, and saw you refusing me, your +father, a few shillings to bestow on charity.</p> + +<p>"Henry, I can live with you and your wife no more. I should +grow avaricious in my old age, were I to remain with you. I +should long for money to call my own. Those doled out shillings +which I received wakened within me feelings of a dark +nature—covetousness, and envy, and discontent—which must have +shadowed the happiness of your mother in heaven to look down +upon. I must go and seek out an independent living for myself, +even yet, though I am fifty-two. Though my energies for +struggling with the world died, I thought, when your mother +died, and, leaving my active business to you, I retired to live +in the country, I must go forth again, as if I were young, to +seek for the means of existence, for I feel I was not made to +be a beggar—a creature hanging on the bounty of others; no, +no, the merciful God will give me strength yet to provide for +myself, though I am old, and broken down in mind and body. +Farewell; you who were once my beloved son, may God soften and +amend your heart."</p></div> + +<p>When Henry perused this letter, he would immediately have gone in search +of his father, in order to induce him to return home; but Mrs. Lawson +was at his side, and succeeded in persuading him to allow his father to +act as he pleased, and remain away as long as he wished.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Ten years rolled over our world, sinking millions beneath the black +waves of adverse fortune and fate, and raising the small number who, of +the innumerable aspirants for earthly good, usually succeed. Henry +Lawson was one of those whom time had lowered in fortune. His business +speculations had, for a lengthened period, been rather unsuccessful, +while Mrs. Lawson's expensive habits increased every day. At length +affairs came to such a crisis, that retrenchment or failure was +inevitable. Henry had enough of wisdom and spirit to insist on the first +alternative, and Mrs. Lawson was compelled by the pressure of +circumstances to yield in a certain degree; the country-house, +therefore, was let, Mrs. Lawson assigning as a reason, that she had lost +all relish for the country after the death of her dear children, both of +whom had died, leaving the parents childless.</p> + +<p>It was the morning of a close sultry day in July, and Mrs. Lawson was +seated in her drawing-room. She was dressed carefully and expensively as +of old, but she had been dunned and threatened at least half-a-dozen +times for the price of the satin dress she wore. Her face was thin and +pale, and there was a look of much care on her countenance; her eyes +were restless and sunken, and discontent spoke in their glances as she +looked on the chairs, sofas, and window-draperies, which had once been +bright-colored, but were now much faded. She had just come to the +resolution of having new covers and hangings, though their mercer's and +upholsterer's bills were long unsettled, when a visitor was shown into +the room. It was Mrs. Thompson, the wife of a very prosperous and +wealthy shopkeeper.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson's thin lips wreathed themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> into bright smiles of +welcome, while the foul demon of envy took possession of her soul. Mrs. +Thompson's dress was of the most costly French satin, while hers was +merely British manufacture. They had been old school companions and +rivals in their girlish days. During the first years of the married life +of each, Mrs. Lawson had outshone Mrs. Thompson in every respect; but +now the eclipsed star beamed brightly and scornfully beside the clouds +which had rolled over her rival. Mrs. Thompson was, in face and figure, +in dress and speech, the very impersonation of vulgar and ostentatious +wealth.</p> + +<p>"My goodness, it's so hot!" she said, loosening the fastening of her +bonnet, the delicate French blond and white satin and plume, of which +that fabric was composed, contrasting rather painfully at the same time +with her flashed mahogany-colored complexion, and ungracefully-formed +features. "Bless me, I'm so glad we'll get off to our country-house +to-morrow. It's so very delightful, Mrs. Lawson, to have a country +residence to go to. Goodness me what a close room, and such a hot, dusty +street. It does just look so queer to me after Fitzherbert-square."</p> + +<p>To this Mrs. Lawson made a response as composed as she could; she would +have retorted bitterly and violently, but her husband had a connection +with the Thompson establishment, and for strong reasons she considered +it prudent to refrain from quarreling with Mrs. Thompson. She, +therefore, spoke but very little, and Mrs. Thompson was left at liberty +to give a lengthened detail of Mr. Thompson's great wealth and her own +great profusion. She began first with herself, and furnished an exact +detail of all the fine things she had purchased in the last month, down +to the latest box of pins. Next, her babies occupied her for half an +hour—the quantity of chicken they consumed, and the number of frocks +they soiled per diem were minutely chronicled. Then her house came under +consideration: she depicted the bright glory of the new <i>ponceau</i> +furniture, as contrasted with shocking old faded things—and she glanced +significantly toward Mrs. Lawson's sofas and chairs. Next she made a +discursive detour to the culinary department, and gave a statement of +the number of stones of lump sugar she was getting boiled in preserves, +and of the days of the week in which they had puddings, and the days +they had pies at dinner.</p> + +<p>"But, Mrs. Lawson, dear, have you seen old Mr. Lawson since he came +home?" she said, when she was rising to depart; "but I suppose you +haven't, for they say he won't have any thing to do with his relations +now—he won't come near you, I have heard. They say he has brought such +a lot of money with him from South America."</p> + +<p>At this intelligence every feature of Mrs. Lawson's face brightened with +powerful interest. She inquired where Mr. Lawson stopped, and was +informed that he had arrived at the best hotel in the town about three +days previously, and that every one talked of the large fortune he had +made abroad, as he seemed to make no secret of the fact.</p> + +<p>A burning eagerness to obtain possession of that money entered Mrs. +Lawson's soul, and she thought every second of time drawn out to the +painful duration of a long hour, while Mrs. Thompson slowly moved her +ample skirts of satin across the drawing-room, and took her departure. +Mrs. Lawson dispatched a messenger immediately for her husband.</p> + +<p>Henry Lawson came in, and listened with surprise to the intelligence of +his father's return. He was taking up his hat to proceed to the hotel in +quest of him, when a carriage drove to the door. Mrs. Lawson's heart +palpitated with eagerness—if it should be her husband's father in his +own carriage—how delightful! that horrible Mrs. Thompson had not a +carriage of her own yet, though she was always talking of it. They, Mrs. +Lawson and her husband, had just been about setting up a carriage when +business failed with them. She ran briskly down the stairs—for long +years she had not flown with such alertness—rapid visions of gold, of +splendor, and triumph seemed to bear her along, as if she had not been a +being of earth.</p> + +<p>She was not disappointed, for there, at the open door, stood John +Lawson. He was enveloped in a cloak of fur, the costliness of which told +Mrs. Lawson that it was the purchase of wealth; a servant in plain +livery supported him, for he seemed a complete invalid.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson threw her arms around his neck, and embraced him with a +warmth and eagerness which brought a cold and bitter smile over the +white, thin lips of John Lawson. He replied briefly to the welcomings he +received. He threw aside his cloak, and exhibited the figure of an +exceedingly emaciated and feeble old man, who had all the appearance of +ninety years, though he was little more than sixty; his face was worn +and fleshless to a painful degree; his hair was of the whitest shade of +great age, but his eyes had grown much more serene in their expression +than in his earlier days, notwithstanding a cast of suffering which his +whole countenance exhibited. He was plainly, but most carefully and +respectably dressed; a diamond ring of great value was on one of his +fingers; the lustre of the diamonds caught Mrs. Lawson's glance on her +first inspection of his person, and her heart danced with rapture—Mrs. +Thompson had no such ring, with all her boasting of all her finery.</p> + +<p>"I have come to see my child before I die," said the old man, gazing on +his son with earnest eyes; "you broke the ties of nature between us on +your part, when, ten years ago, you refused your father a few shillings +from your abundance, but—"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by Mrs. Lawson, who uttered many voluble +protestations of her deep grief at her having, even though for the sake +of economy, refused the money her dear father had solicited before he +left them. She vowed that she had neither ate, nor slept, nor even +dressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> herself for weeks after his departure; and that, sleeping or +waking, she was perpetually wishing she had given him the money, even +though she had known that he was going to throw it into the fire, or +lose it in any way. Her poor, dear father—oh, she wept so after she +heard that he had left the country. To be sure Henry could tell how, for +two or three nights, her pillow was soaked with tears.</p> + +<p>A cold, bitter smile again flitted across the old man's lips; he made no +response to her words, but in the one look which his hollow eyes east on +her, he seemed to read the falsehood of her assertions.</p> + +<p>"I was going to add," he said, "that though you forgot you were my son, +and refused to act as my son, when you withheld the paltry sum for which +I begged, yet I could not refrain from coming once more to look on my +child's face—to look on the face of my departed wife in yours—for I +know that a very brief period must finish my life now. I should not have +come here, I feel—I know it is the weakness of my nature—should have +died among strangers, for the strangers of other countries, the people +of a different hue, and a different language, I have found kind and +pitiful, compared with those of my own house.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't say so—don't say so—you are our own beloved father; ah, my +heart clings to every feature of your poor, dear, old face; there are +the eyes and all that I used to talk to Henry so much about. Don't talk +of strangers—I shall nurse you and attend to you night and day."</p> + +<p>She made a movement, as if she would throw her arms around his neck +again, but the old man drew back.</p> + +<p>"Woman! your hypocritical words show me that your pitiless heart is +still unchanged—that it is grown even worse. You forced me out to the +world in my old age, when I should have had no thoughts except of God +and the world to come; you forced me to think of money-making, when my +hair was gray and my blood cold with years. Yes, I had to draw my +thoughts from the future existence, and to waste them on the miserable +toils of traffic, in order to make money; for it was better to do this +than to drag out my life a pensioner on your bounty, receiving shillings +and pence which you gave me as if it had been your heart's blood, though +I only asked my own. Woman! the black slavery of my dependence on you +was frightful; but now I can look you thanklessly in the face, for I +have the means of living without you. I spent sick and sleepless days +and nights, but I gained an independence; the merciful God blessed the +efforts of the old man, who strove to gain his livelihood—yes, I am +independent of you both. I came to see my son before I die—that is all +I want."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson attempted a further justification of herself, but the words +died on her lips. The stern looks of the old man silenced her.</p> + +<p>After remaining for a short time, he rose to take his departure; but, at +the earnest solicitations of his son, he consented to remain for a few +days, only on condition that he should pay for his board and lodging. To +this Mrs. Lawson made a feint of resistance, but agreed in the end, as +the terms offered by the old man were very advantageous.</p> + +<p>"I shall soon have a lodging for which no mortal is called on to +pay—the great mother-earth," said the old man, "and I am glad, glad to +escape from this money-governed world. Do not smile so blandly on me, +both of you, and attend me with such false tenderness. There, take it +away," he said, as Mrs. Lawson was placing her most comfortable +footstool under his feet; "there was no attendance, no care, not a civil +action or kind look for me when I was poor John Lawson, the silly, most +silly old man, who had given up all to his son and his son's wife, for +the love of them, and expected, like a fool that he was, to live with +them on terms of perfect equality, and to have the family purse open to +him for any trifling sums he wished to take. Go, go for God's sake; try +and look bitterly on me now, as you did when you forced me out of your +house. I detest your obsequious attentions—I was as worthy of them ten +years ago, before I dragged down my old age to the debasing efforts of +money-making. You know I am rich; you would worship my money in me now. +Not a smiling look, not a soft word you bestow on me, but is for my +riches, not for me. Ay, you think you have my wealth in your grasp +already; you know I can not live long. Thank God that my life is almost +ended, and I hope my death will be a benefit to you, in softening your +hard hearts."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson drew some hope from his last words, and she turned away her +head to hide the joy which shone on her face.</p> + +<p>In a few days the old man became seriously ill, and was altogether +confined to his room. As death evidently approached, his mind became +serene and calm, and he received the attentions which Mrs. Lawson and +his son lavished on him with a silent composure, which led them to hope +that he had completely forgotten their previous conduct to him.</p> + +<p>The night on which he died, he turned to his son, and said a few words, +a very few words, regarding worldly matters. He exhorted Henry to live +in a somewhat less expensive style, and to cultivate a spirit of +contentment without riches; then he blessed God that he was entering on +a world in which he would hear no more of money, or earthly possession. +He remained in a calm sleep during the greater part of the night, they +thought, but in the morning they found him dead.</p> + +<p>The funeral was over, and the time was come in which the old man's will +was to be opened Mrs. Lawson had waited for that moment—she would have +forcibly dragged time onward to that moment—she had execrated the long +hours of night since the old man's death—she had still more +anathematized the slowly passing days, when gazing furtively through a +corner of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> blinded window, she saw fine equipages and finely-dressed +ladies passing, and she planned how she would shine when the old man's +wealth would be her own. She drew glorious mental pictures of how she +would burst from behind the shadowing cloud of poverty, and dazzle all +her acquaintances. Her dress, her carriage, her style of living would be +unique in her rank of life for taste and costliness. She would show them +she had got money—money at last—more money than them all.</p> + +<p>Now at last she sat and saw the will being opened; she felt that it was +a mere formality, for the old man had no one but them to whom he could +leave his money; she never once doubted but all would be theirs; she had +reasoned, and fancied herself into the firm conviction. Her only fear +was, that the amount might not be so large as she calculated on.</p> + +<p>She saw the packet opened. Her eyes dilated, her lips became parched; +her heart and brain burned with a fierce eagerness—money, money! at +last uttered the griping spirit within her.</p> + +<p>The will, after beginning in the usual formal style, was as follows:</p> + +<p>"I bequeath to my son Henry's wife, Augusta Lawson, a high and noble +gift" (Mrs. Lawson almost sprung from her seat with eagerness), "the +greatest of all legacies, I bequeath to Augusta Lawson—Charity! Augusta +Lawson refused me a few shillings which I wished to bestow on a starving +woman; but now I leave her joint executrix, with my son Henry, in the +distribution of all my money and all my effects, without any +reservation, in charity, to be applied to such charitable purposes as in +this, my last will and testament, I have directed."</p> + +<p>Then followed a statement of his effects and money, down to the most +minute particular; the money amounted to a very considerable sum; his +personal effects he directed to be sold, with the exception of his +valuable diamond ring, which he bequeathed to the orphan daughter of a +poor relation in whose house he had taken refuge, and remained for a +short time, previous to his going abroad. All the proceeds of his other +effects, together with the whole amount of his money, he bequeathed for +different charitable purposes, and gave minute directions as to the +manner in which various sums were to be expended. The largest amount he +directed to be distributed in yearly donations among the most indigent +old men and women within a circuit of ten miles of his native place. +Those who were residing with their sons, and their sons' wives, were to +receive by far the largest relief. He appointed as trustees two of the +most respectable merchants of the town, to whom he gave authority to see +the provisions of his will carried out, in case his son and Mrs. Lawson +should decline the duties of executor-ship which he had bequeathed to +them; the trustees were to exercise a surveillance over Mr. and Mrs. +Lawson, to see that the will should in every particular be strictly +carried into effect. The will was dated, and duly signed in the town in +South America where the old man had for some years resided; a codicil, +containing the bequest of the ring, with some further particulars +regarding the charities, had been added a few days previous to the old +man's death.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lawson was carried fainting from the room before the reading of the +will was concluded. She was seized with violent fever, and her life was +despaired of. She recovered, however, and from the verge of the eternal +existence on which she had been, she returned to life with a less +worldly and ostentatious nature, and a soul more alive to the impulses +of kindness and charity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.]</h4> +<h2><a name="ELEPHANT_SHOOTING" id="ELEPHANT_SHOOTING"></a>ELEPHANT SHOOTING.</h2> + + + +<p>It was a glorious day, with a cloudy sky, and the wind blew fresh off +the Southern Ocean. Having ridden some miles in a northerly direction, +we crossed the broad and gravelly bed of a periodical river, in which +were abundance of holes excavated by the elephants, containing delicious +water. Having passed the river, we entered an extensive grove of +picturesque cameel-dorn trees, clad in young foliage of the most +delicious green. On gaining a gentle eminence about a mile beyond this +grove, I looked forth upon an extensive hollow, where I beheld, for the +first time for many days, a fine old cock ostrich, which quickly +observed us, and dashed away to our left. I had ceased to devote my +attention to the ostrich, and was straining my eyes in an opposite +direction, when Kleinboy called out to me, "Dar loup de ould carle;" and +turning my eyes to the retreating ostrich, I beheld two first-rate old +bull elephants, charging along at their utmost speed within a hundred +yards of it. They seemed at first to be in great alarm, but quickly +discovering what it was that had caused their confusion, they at once +reduced their pace to a slow and stately walk. This was a fine look-out; +the country appeared to be favorable for an attack, and I was followed +by Wolf and Bonteberg, both tried and serviceable dogs with elephants. +Owing to the pace at which I had been riding, both dogs and horses were +out of breath, so I resolved not to attack the elephants immediately, +but to follow slowly, holding them in view.</p> + +<p>The elephants were proceeding right up the wind, and the distance +between us was about five hundred yards. I advanced quietly toward them, +and had proceeded about half way, when, casting my eyes to my right, I +beheld a whole herd of tearing bull elephants standing thick together on +a wooded eminence within three hundred yards of me. These elephants were +almost to leeward. Now, the correct thing to do was to slay the best in +each troop, which I accomplished in the following manner: I gave the +large herd my wind, upon which they instantly tossed their trunks aloft, +"a moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> snuffed the tainted gale," and, wheeling about, charged right +down wind, crashing through the jungle in dire alarm. My object now was +to endeavor to select the finest bull, and hunt him to a distance from +the other troop, before I should commence to play upon his hide. +Stirring my steed, I galloped forward. Right in my path stood two +rhinoceroses of the white variety, and to these the dogs instantly gave +chase. I followed in the wake of the retreating elephants, tracing their +course by the red dust which they raised, and left in clouds behind +them.</p> + +<p>Presently emerging into an open glade, I came full in sight of the +mighty game: it was a truly glorious sight; there were nine or ten of +them, which were, with one exception, full-grown, first-rate bulls, and +all of them carried very long, heavy, and perfect tusks. Their first +panic being over, they had reduced their pace to a free, majestic walk, +and they followed one leader in a long line, exhibiting an appearance so +grand and striking, that any description, however brilliant, must fail +to convey to the mind of the reader an adequate idea of the reality. +Increasing my pace, I shot alongside, at the same time riding well out +from the elephants, the better to obtain an inspection of their tusks. +It was a difficult matter to decide which of them I should select, for +every elephant seemed better than his neighbor; but, on account of the +extraordinary size and beauty of his tusks, I eventually pitched upon a +patriarchal bull, which, as is usual with the heaviest, brought up the +rear. I presently separated him from his comrades, and endeavored to +drive him in a northerly direction. There is a peculiar art in driving +an elephant in the particular course which you may fancy, and, simple as +it may seem, it nevertheless requires the hunter to have a tolerable +idea of what he is about. It is widely different from driving in an +eland, which also requires judicious riding: if you approach too near +your elephant, or shout to him, a furious charge will certainly ensue, +while, on the other hand, if you give him too wide a berth, the chances +are that you lose him in the jungle, which, notwithstanding his size, is +a very simple matter, and, if once lost sight of, it is more than an +even bet that the hunter will never again obtain a glimpse of him. The +ground being favorable, Kleinboy called to me to commence firing, +remarking, very prudently, that he was probably making for some jungle +of wait-a-bits, where we might eventually lose him. I continued, +however, to reserve my fire until I had hunted him to what I considered +to be a safe distance from the two old fellows which we had at first +discovered.</p> + +<p>At length closing with him, I dared him to charge, which he instantly +did in fine style, and as he pulled up in his career I yelled to him a +note of bold defiance, and cantering alongside, again defied him to the +combat. It was thus the fight began, and the ground being still +favorable, I opened a sharp fire upon him, and in about a quarter of an +hour twelve of my bullets were lodged in his fore-quarters. He now +evinced strong symptoms of approaching dissolution, and stood catching +up the dust with the point of his trunk, and throwing it in clouds above +and around him. At such a moment it is extremely dangerous to approach +an elephant on foot, for I have remarked that, although nearly dead, he +can muster strength to make a charge with great impetuosity. Being +anxious to finish him, I dismounted from my steed, and availing myself +of the cover of a gigantic nwana-tree, whose diameter was not less than +ten feet, I ran up within twenty yards, and gave it him sharp right and +left behind the shoulder. These two shots wound up the proceeding; on +receiving them, he backed stern foremost into the cover, and then walked +slowly away. I had loaded my rifle, and was putting on the caps, when I +heard him fall over heavily; but, alas! the sound was accompanied by a +sharp crack, which I too well knew denoted the destruction of one of his +lovely tusks; and, on running forward, I found him lying dead, with the +tusk, which lay under, snapped through the middle.</p> + +<p>I did not tarry long for an inspection of the elephant, but mounting my +horse, at once set off to follow on the spoor of the two old fellows +which the ostrich had alarmed. Fortunately, I fell in with a party of +natives, who were on their way to the wagons with the impedimenta, and +assisted by these, I had sanguine hopes of shortly overtaking the noble +quarry. We had not gone far when two wild boars, with enormous tusks, +stood within thirty yards of me: but this was no time to fire: and a +little after a pair of white rhinoceroses stood directly in our path. +Casting my eyes to the right, I beheld within a quarter of a mile of me +a herd of eight or ten cow elephants, with calves, peacefully browsing +on a sparely-wooded knoll. The spoor we followed led due south, and the +wind was as fair as it could blow. We passed between the twin-looking, +abrupt, pyramidal hills, composed of huge disjointed blocks of granite, +which lay piled above each other in grand confusion. To the summit of +one of these I ascended with a native, but the forest in advance was so +impenetrable that we could see nothing of the game we sought. Descending +from the hillock, we resumed the spoor, and were enabled to follow at a +rapid pace, the native who led the spooring-party being the best tracker +in Bamangwato. I had presently very great satisfaction to perceive that +the elephants had not been alarmed, their course being strewed with +branches which they had chewed as they slowly fed along. The trackers +now became extremely excited, and I strained their eyes on every side in +the momentary expectation of beholding the elephants. At length we +emerged into an open glade, and, clearing a grove of thorny mimosas, we +came full in sight of one of them. Cautiously advancing, and looking to +my right, I next discovered his comrade, standing in a thicket of low +wait-a-bits, within a hundred and fifty yards of me;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> they were both +first-rate old bulls, with enormous tusks of great length. I dismounted, +and warily approached the second elephant for a closer inspection of his +tusks. As I drew near, he slightly turned his head, and I then perceived +that his farther one was damaged toward the point; while at the same +instant his comrade, raising his head clear of the bush on which he +browsed, displayed to my delighted eyes a pair of the most beautiful and +perfect tusks I had ever seen.</p> + +<p>Regaining my horse, I advanced toward this elephant, and when within +forty yards of him, he walked slowly on before me in an open space, his +huge ears gently flapping, and entirely concealing me from his view. +Inclining to the left, I slightly increased my pace, and walked past him +within sixty yards, upon which he observed me for the first time; but +probably mistaking "Sunday" for a hartebeest, he continued his course +with his eye upon me, but showed no symptoms of alarm. The natives had +requested me to endeavor, if possible, to hunt him toward the water, +which lay in a northerly direction, and this I resolved to do. Having +advanced a little, I gave him my wind, when he was instantly alarmed, +and backed into the bushes, holding his head high and right to me. Thus +he stood motionless as a statue, under the impression, probably, that, +owing to his Lilliputian dimensions, I had failed to observe him, and +fancying that I would pass on without detecting him. I rode slowly on, +and described a semicircle to obtain a shot at his shoulder, and halting +my horse, fired from the saddle; he got it in the shoulder-blade, and, +as slowly and silently I continued my course, he still stood gazing at +me in utter astonishment. Bill and Flam were now slipped by the natives, +and in another moment they were barking around him. I shouted loudly to +encourage the dogs and perplex the elephant, who seemed puzzled to know +what to think of us, and, shrilly trumpeting, charged headlong after the +dogs. Retreating, he backed into the thicket, then charged once more, +and made clean away, holding the course I wanted. When I tried to fire, +"Sunday" was very fidgety, and destroyed the correctness of my aim. +Approaching the elephant, I presently dismounted, and, running in, gave +him two fine shots behind the shoulder; then the dogs, which were both +indifferent ones, ran barking at him. The consequence was a terrific +charge, the dogs at once making for their master, and bringing the +elephant right upon me. I had no time to gain my saddle, but ran for my +life. The dogs, fortunately, took after "Sunday," who, alarmed by the +trumpeting, dashed frantically away, though in the heat of the affray I +could not help laughing to remark horse, dogs, and elephant all charging +along in a direct line.</p> + +<p>The dogs, having missed their master, held away for Kleinboy, who had +long disappeared, I knew not whither. "Sunday" stood still, and +commenced to graze, while the elephant, slowly passing within a few +yards of him, assumed a position under a tree beside him. Kleinboy +presently making his appearance, I called to him to ride in, and bring +me my steed; but he refused, and asked me if I wished him to go headlong +to destruction. "Sunday" having fed slowly away from the elephant. I +went up, and he allowed me to recapture him. I now plainly saw that the +elephant was dying, but I continued firing to hasten his demise. Toward +the end he took up a position in a dense thorny thicket, where for a +long time he remained. Approaching within twelve paces, I fired my two +last shots, aiming at his left side, close behind the shoulder. On +receiving these, he backed slowly through the thicket, and clearing it, +walked gently forward about twenty yards, when he suddenly came down +with tremendous violence right on his broadside. To my intense +mortification, the heavy fall was accompanied by a loud, sharp crack, +and on going up I found one of his matchless tusks broken short off by +the lip. This was a glorious day's sport: I had bagged, in one +afternoon, probably the two finest bull elephants in Bamangwato, and, +had it not been for the destruction of their noble trophies, which were +the two finest pair of tusks I had obtained that season, my triumph on +the occasion had been great and unalloyed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Dickens's Household Words.]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_POWER_OF_MERCY" id="THE_POWER_OF_MERCY"></a>THE POWER OF MERCY.</h2> + + + +<p>Quiet enough, in general, is the quaint old town of Lamborough. Why all +this bustle to-day? Along the hedge-bound roads which lead to it, carts, +chaises, vehicles of every description are jogging along filled with +countrymen; and here and there the scarlet cloak or straw bonnet of some +female occupying a chair, placed somewhat unsteadily behind them, +contrasts gayly with the dark coats, or gray smock-frocks of the front +row; from every cottage of the suburb, some individuals join the stream, +which rolls on increasing through the streets till it reaches the +castle. The ancient moat teems with idlers, and the hill opposite, +usually the quiet domain of a score or two of peaceful sheep, partakes +of the surrounding agitation.</p> + +<p>The voice of the multitude which surrounds the court-house, sounds like +the murmur of the sea, till suddenly it is raised to a sort of shout. +John West, the terror of the surrounding country, the sheep-stealer and +burglar, had been found guilty.</p> + +<p>"What is the sentence?" is asked by a hundred voices.</p> + +<p>The answer is "Transportation for Life."</p> + +<p>But there was one standing aloof on the hill, whose inquiring eye +wandered over the crowd with indescribable anguish, whose pallid cheek +grew more and more ghastly at every denunciation of the culprit, and +who, when at last the sentence was pronounced, fell insensible upon the +green-sward. It was the burglar's son.</p> + +<p>When the boy recovered from his swoon, it was late in the afternoon; he +was alone; the faint tinkling of the sheep-bell had again replaced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> the +sound of the human chorus of expectation, and dread, and jesting; all +was peaceful, he could not understand why he lay there, feeling so weak +and sick. He raised himself tremulously and looked around, the turf was +cut and spoiled by the trampling of many feet. All his life of the last +few months floated before his memory, his residence in his father's +hovel with ruffianly comrades, the desperate schemes he heard as he +pretended to sleep on his lowly bed, their expeditions at night, masked +and armed, their hasty returns, the news of his father's capture, his +own removal to the house of some female in the town, the court, the +trial, the condemnation.</p> + +<p>The father had been a harsh and brutal parent, but he had not positively +ill-used his boy. Of the great and merciful Father of the fatherless the +child knew nothing. He deemed himself alone in the world. Yet grief was +not his pervading feeling, nor the shame of being known as the son of a +transport. It was revenge which burned within him. He thought of the +crowd which had come to feast upon his father's agony; he longed to tear +them to pieces, and he plucked savagely a handful of the grass on which +he leant. Oh, that he were a man! that he could punish them +all—all—the spectators first, the constables, the judge, the jury, the +witnesses—one of them especially, a clergyman named Leyton, who had +given his evidence more positively, more clearly, than all the others. +Oh, that he could do that man some injury—but for him his father would +not have been identified and convicted.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a thought occurred to him, his eyes sparkled with fierce +delight. "I know where he lives," he said to himself; "he has the farm +and parsonage of Millwood. I will go there at once—it is almost dark +already. I will do as I have heard father say he once did to the squire. +I will set his barns and his house on fire. Yes, yes, he shall burn for +it—he shall get no more fathers transported."</p> + +<p>To procure a box of matches was an easy task, and that was all the +preparation the boy made.</p> + +<p>The autumn was far advanced. A cold wind was beginning to moan among the +almost leafless trees, and George West's teeth chattered, and his +ill-clad limbs grew numb as he walked along the fields leading to +Millwood. "Lucky it's a dark night; this fine wind will fan the flame +nicely," he repeated to himself.</p> + +<p>The clock was striking nine, but all was quiet as midnight; not a soul +stirring, not a light in the parsonage windows that he could see. He +dared not open the gate, lest the click of the latch should betray him, +so he softly climbed over; but scarcely had he dropped on the other side +of the wall before the loud barking of a dog startled him. He cowered +down behind the hay-rick, scarcely daring to breathe, expecting each +instant that the dog would spring upon him. It was some time before the +boy dared to stir, and as his courage cooled, his thirst for revenge +somewhat subsided also, till he almost determined to return to +Lamborough, but he was too tired, too cold, too hungry—besides, the +woman would beat him for staying out so late. What could he do? where +should he go? and as the sense of his lonely and forlorn position +returned, so did also the affectionate remembrance of his father, his +hatred of his accusers, his desire to satisfy his vengeance; and once +more, courageous through anger, he rose, took the box from his pocket, +and boldly drew one of them across the sand-paper. It flamed; he stuck +it hastily in the stack against which he rested—it only flickered a +little, and went out. In great trepidation, young West once more grasped +the whole of the remaining matches in his hand and ignited them, but at +the same instant the dog barked. He hears the gate open, a step is close +to him, the matches are extinguished, the lad makes a desperate effort +to escape, but a strong hand was laid on his shoulder, and a deep, calm +voice inquired, "What can have urged you to such a crime?" Then calling +loudly, the gentleman, without relinquishing his hold, soon obtained the +help of some farming men, who commenced a search with their lanterns all +about the farm. Of course they found no accomplices, nothing at all but +the handful of half-consumed matches the lad had dropped, and he all +that time stood trembling, and occasionally struggling, beneath the firm +but not rough grasp of the master who held him.</p> + +<p>At last the men were told to return to the house, and thither, by a +different path, was George led, till they entered a small, +poorly-furnished room. The walls were covered with books, as the bright +flame of the fire revealed to the anxious gaze of the little culprit. +The clergyman lit a lamp, and surveyed his prisoner attentively. The +lad's eyes were fixed on the ground, while Mr. Leyton's wandered from +his pale, pinched features to his scanty, ragged attire, through the +tatters of which he could discern the thin limbs quivering from cold or +fear; and when at last impelled by curiosity at the long silence, George +looked up, there was something so sadly compassionate in the stranger's +gentle look, that the boy could scarcely believe that he was really the +man whose evidence had mainly contributed to transport his father. At +the trial he had been unable to see his face, and nothing so kind had +ever gazed upon him. His proud bad feelings were already melting.</p> + +<p>"You look half-starved," said Mr. Leyton; "draw nearer to the fire, you +can sit down on that stool while I question you; and mind you answer me +the truth. I am not a magistrate, but of course can easily hand you over +to justice if you will not allow me to benefit you in my own way."</p> + +<p>George still stood twisting his ragged cap in his trembling fingers, and +with so much emotion depicted on his face, that the good clergyman +resumed, in still more soothing accents: "I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> no wish to do you any +thing but good, my poor boy; look up at me, and see if you can not trust +me: you need not be thus frightened. I; only desire to hear the tale of +misery your appearance indicates, to relieve it, if I can."</p> + +<p>Here the young culprit's heart smote him. Was this the man whose house +he had tried to burn? On whom he had wished to bring ruin and perhaps +death? Was it a snare spread for him to lead to a confession? But when +he looked on that grave compassionate countenance, he felt that it was +<i>not</i>.</p> + +<p>"Come, my lad, tell me all."</p> + +<p>George had for years heard little but oaths, and curses, and ribald +jests, or the thief's jargon of his father's associates, and had been +constantly cuffed and punished; but the better part of his nature was +not extinguished; and at those words from the mouth of his <i>enemy</i>, he +dropped on his knees, and clasping his hands, tried to speak; but could +only sob. He had not wept before during that day of anguish; and now his +tears gushed forth so freely, his grief was so passionate as he half +knelt, half rested on the floor, that the good questioner saw that +sorrow must have its course ere calm could be restored. The young +penitent still wept, when a knock was heard at the door, and a lady +entered. It was the clergyman's wife, he kissed her as she asked how he +had succeeded with the wicked man in the jail?</p> + +<p>"He told me," replied Mr. Leyton, "that he had a son whose fate +tormented him more than his punishment. Indeed, his mind was so +distracted respecting the youth, that he was scarcely able to understand +my exhortations. He entreated me with agonizing energy to save his son +from such a life as he had led, and gave me the address of a woman in +whose house he lodged. I was, however, unable to find the boy in spite +of many earnest inquiries."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear his name?" asked the wife.</p> + +<p>"George West," was the reply.</p> + +<p>At the mention of his name, the boy ceased to sob. Breathlessly he heard +the account of his father's last request, of the benevolent clergyman's +wish to fulfill it. He started up, ran toward the door, and endeavored +to open it; Mr. Leyton calmly restrained him, "You must not escape," he +said.</p> + +<p>"I can not stop here. I can not bear to look at you. Let me go!" The lad +said this wildly, and shook himself away.</p> + +<p>"Why, I intend you nothing but kindness."</p> + +<p>A new flood of tears gushed forth; and George West said, between his +sobs,</p> + +<p>"While you were searching for me to help me, I was trying to burn you in +your house. I can not bear it." He sunk on his knees, and covered his +face with both hands.</p> + +<p>There was a long silence, for Mr. and Mrs. Leyton were as much moved as +the boy, who was bowed down with shame and penitence, to which hitherto +he had been a stranger.</p> + +<p>At last the clergyman asked, "What could have induced you to commit such +a crime?"</p> + +<p>Rising suddenly in the excitement of remorse, gratitude, and many +feelings new to him, he hesitated for a moment, and then told his story, +he related his trials, his sins, his sorrows, his supposed wrongs, his +burning anger at the terrible fate of his only parent, and his rage at +the exultation of the crowd: his desolation on recovering from his +swoon, his thirst for vengeance, the attempt to satisfy it. He spoke +with untaught, child-like simplicity, without attempting to suppress the +emotions which successively overcame him.</p> + +<p>When he ceased, the lady hastened to the crouching boy, and soothed him +with gentle words. The very tones of her voice were new to him. They +pierced his heart more acutely than the fiercest of the upbraidings and +denunciations of his old companions. He looked on his merciful +benefactors with bewildered tenderness. He kissed Mrs. Leyton's hand, +then gently laid on his shoulder. He gazed about like one in a dream who +dreaded to wake. He became faint and staggered. He was laid gently on a +sofa, and Mr. and Mrs. Leyton left him.</p> + +<p>Food was shortly administered to him, and after a time, when his senses +had become sufficiently collected, Mr. Leyton returned to the study, and +explained holy and beautiful things, which were new to the neglected +boy: of the great yet loving father; of Him who loved the poor, forlorn +wretch, equally with the richest, and noblest, and happiest; of the +force and efficacy of the sweet beatitude, "Blessed are the Merciful, +for they shall obtain Mercy."</p> + +<p>I heard this story from Mr. Leyton, during a visit to him in May. George +West was then head ploughman to a neighboring farmer, one of the +cleanest, best behaved, and most respected laborers in the parish.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]</h4> +<h2><a name="BORAX_LAGOONS_OF_TUSCANY" id="BORAX_LAGOONS_OF_TUSCANY"></a>BORAX LAGOONS OF TUSCANY.</h2> + + + +<p>In a mountainous district of Tuscany, lying about twenty miles west of +Sienna, are situated the extraordinary lagoons from which borax is +obtained. Nothing can be more desolate than the aspect of the whole +surrounding country. The mountains, bare and bleak, appear to be +perpetually immersed in clouds of sulphurous vapor, which sometimes +ascend in wreathed or twisted columns, and at other times are beaten +down by the winds, and dispersed in heavy masses through the glens and +hollows. Here and there water-springs, in a state of boiling heat, and +incessantly emitting smoke and vapor, burst with immense noise from the +earth, which burns and shakes beneath your feet. The heat of the +atmosphere in the vicinity of the lagoons is almost intolerable, +especially when the wind blows about you the fiery vapor, deeply +impregnated with sulphur. Far and near the earth is covered with +glittering crystallizations of various minerals, while the soil beneath +is composed of black marl, streaked with chalk, which, at a distance, +imparts to it the appearance of variegated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> marble. As you proceed, you +are stunned by the noise of constant explosions, which remind you that +you are traversing the interior of a mighty crater, which in past ages +was, perhaps, filled with a flood of liquid fire.</p> + +<p>Borax was first brought to Europe, through India, from Thibet, where it +is found in a mountainous region, resembling in character the district +of Tuscany we have described. If we except some doubtful specimens, said +to have been discovered in coal-pits in Saxony, we may assert that the +mineral is found nowhere else in Europe, or that the territories of the +Grand Duke enjoy a natural monopoly of the article, which, with the +growth of the manufacturing system, is coming more and more into use +every day, especially in France. In former times, when the value of the +lagoons was not understood, the hollows and gorges in the mountains +where they are situated were regarded by the superstitious peasantry as +the entrance to hell. Experience taught them that it was in many +respects a region of death. Whatever living thing fell into the lagoons +inevitably perished, for the devouring acid almost in a moment separated +the flesh from the bones. Cattle were frequently thus lost, and the +peasants themselves or their children sometimes encountered a similar +fate. A celebrated chemist, engaged in making experiments on the +impregnated water, accidentally fell into a lagoon which he himself had +caused to be excavated, and perished immediately, leaving a wife and +several children in indigence.</p> + +<p>For many ages no use was made of the boracic acid, and the whole +district containing it—altogether about thirty miles in length—was +dreaded and shunned by the inhabitants. Many inducements were vainly +held out to the peasantry to cultivate the lands in the neighborhood, +which might generally be obtained for nothing. From time to time a few +adventurous families would take up their residence near Monte Cerboli, +and bring a few fields into cultivation, leaving, however, more than +nine-tenths of the land fallow.</p> + +<p>About the middle of the last century, Hoefer, who is described as +apothecary to the Grand Duke, first detected the presence of boracic +acid in the lagoon Orcherio, near Monte Botardo. Masgagin, a professor +of anatomy, found the mineral in a concrete state in several streams +issuing from the lagoons, and suggested the propriety of establishing +manufactories of borax. As late, however, as 1801, in consequence of the +failure of numerous experiments, Professor Gazzeri arrived at the +conclusion that the quantity of acid contained in the water of the +lagoons was too small to render the working of them profitable. But this +opinion was based on the old practice of attempting the extracting the +mineral by the use of charcoal furnaces. It was M. Larderel who +introduced the improved method of employing the hot vapors of the +lagoons themselves in the elaboration of the acid, and may be said to +have invented the present method, which will probably go on improving +for ages.</p> + +<p>The system of the Chevalier Larderel, now Comte de Pomerasce, displays +at once great ingenuity and courage. The <i>soffioni</i>, or vapors, having +been observed to burst forth with more or less vehemence in various +parts of the mountains—which, fortunately for industry and commerce, +are copiously irrigated with streams of water—the idea was conceived of +forming an artificial lagoon on the site of the most elevated vent. A +large basin having been excavated, the nearest stream was turned into +it. The burning blasts from below forcing up their way through the +water, keep it in a state of perpetual ebullition, and by degrees +impregnate it with boracic acid. Nothing can be more striking than the +appearance of such a lagoon. Surrounded by aridity and barrenness, its +surface presents the aspect of a huge caldron, boiling and steaming +perpetually, while its margin trembles, and resounds with the furious +explosions from below. Sometimes the vapor issues like a thread from the +water, and after rising for a considerable height, spreads, and assumes +an arborescent form as it is diluted by the atmospheric air. It then +goes circling over the surface of the lagoon, till, meeting with other +bodies of vapor in a similar condition, the whole commingling, +constitute a diminutive cloud, which is wafted by the breeze up the +peaks of the mountains, or precipitated into the valleys, according to +its comparative density.</p> + +<p>To stand on the brink of one of these deadly lakes, stunned by +subterranean thunder, shaken by incessant earthquakes, and scorched and +half suffocated by the fiery pestilential vapor, is to experience very +peculiar sensations, such as one feels within the crater of Vesuvius or +Ætna, or in the obscurity of the Grotto del Cave.</p> + +<p>Another lagoon is scooped out lower down the mountain, the site being +determined by the occurrence of soffioni; and here the same processes +are followed, and the same phenomena observable. The water from the +lagoon above, after it has received impregnation during twenty-four +hours, is let off, and conducted by an artificial channel to the second +lagoon; and from thence, with similar precautions, to a third, a fourth, +and so on, till it at length reaches a sixth or eighth lagoon, where the +process of impregnation is supposed to be completed. By this time the +water contains half per cent, of acid, which Professor Gazzeri +considered far too little to repay the expense of extracting it. From +the last lagoon it is conveyed into reservoirs, whence again, after +having remained quiescent a few hours, for what purpose is not stated, +it passes into the evaporating pans. "Here the hot vapor concentrates +the strength of the acid by passing under shallow leaden vessels from +the boiling fountains above, which it quits at a heat of 80 degrees +Reaumur, and is discharged at a heat of 60 degrees (101 Fahrenheit)."</p> + +<p>The evaporating pans are arranged on the same principles as the lagoons, +though in some cases almost four times as numerous, each placed on a +lower level than the other. In every successive pan the condensation +becomes greater.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> All the water at length descends into the +crystallizing vessels, where the process is completed. From these the +borax is conveyed to the drying-rooms, where in the course of a very few +hours, it is ready to be packed for exportation. The number of +establishments has for many years been on the increase, though about +twelve or fourteen years ago they did not exceed nine. Nothing can be +more fallacious than the opinions formed by hasty visitors on matters of +this kind, which are susceptible of perpetual improvement. When the +produce was from 7000 to 8000 Tuscan pounds per day, the manufacturers +were supposed to have reached the maximum, because all the water of the +mountains was supposed to have been called into requisition. Experience, +however, is perpetually teaching us new methods of economy; and though +it would <i>a priori</i> be impossible to say by what means this economy is +to be effected, we can not permit ourselves to doubt that the +manufacture of borax in Tuscany will hereafter be carried to a degree of +perfection greatly transcending the expectations of those who formerly +wrote on the subject. One of these observes the atmosphere has some +influence on the results. In bright and clear weather, whether in winter +or summer, the vapors are less dense, but the depositions of boracic +acid in the lagoons are greater. Increased vapors indicate unfavorable +change of weather, and the lagoons are infallible barometers to the +neighborhood, even at a great distance, serving to regulate the +proceedings of the peasantry in their agricultural pursuits.</p> + +<p>As the quantity of boracic acid originally contained in the water of the +lagoons is so very small as we now know it to be, we can no longer +wonder at the opinion formerly entertained, that it did not exist at +all. After five or six successive impregnations we see it does not +exceed half per cent., which, estimating the quantity of borax at 7500 +pounds a day, will give 1,500,000 Tuscan pounds, or 500 tons, of water +for the same period. By the construction of immense cisterns for the +catching of rain water, by the employment of steam-engines for raising +it from below, and probably by creating artificial vents for the +soffioni, the quantity of borax produced might be almost indefinitely +increased, since the range of country through which the vapor ascends is +far too great for us to suppose it to be exhausted by the production of +7000 pounds of borax a day. Science in all likelihood will bring about a +revolution in this as in so many other manufactures, and our descendants +will look back with a smile on our hasty and unphilosophical decision.</p> + +<p>We are without information on many points connected with the population +of those districts, to throw light on which it would be necessary to +institute fresh investigations on the spot. The lagoons are usually +excavated by laborers from Lombardy, who wander southward in search of +employment in those months of the year during which the Apennines are +covered with snow. They do not, however, remain to be employed in the +business of manufacture. This is carried on by native Tuscan laborers, +who occupy houses, often spacious and well built, in the neighborhood of +the evaporating pans. They are in nearly all cases married men, and are +enabled to maintain themselves and their families on the comparatively +humble wages of a Tuscan lira a day. It would have been satisfactory to +know the number of the Lombard navigators from time to time employed in +excavating the lagoons, as well as of the native laborers, who carry on +operations after their departure; but we may with certainty infer the +successive appearance of fresh soffioni on the sides of the mountains +from the perpetually-recurring necessity of excavating new lagoons. +Again, from the immense increase of borax produced in former times we +may safely infer its increase in future. The quantity obtained was +quadrupled in four years by superior methods of extraction, by economy +of water and vapor, and other improvements suggested by experience. +There can, therefore, be no doubt in our minds that similar improvements +will produce similar results. In 1832, about 650,000 Tuscan pounds were +obtained; in 1836, 2,500,000.</p> + +<p>We quote the following suggestion from the observation of a traveler: +"It appears to me that the power and riches of these extraordinary +districts remain yet to be fully developed. They exhibit an immense +number of mighty steam-engines, furnished by nature at no cost, and +applicable to the production of an infinite variety of objects. In the +progress of time this vast machinery of heat and force will probably +become the moving central point of extensive manufacturing +establishments. The steam which has been so ingeniously applied to the +concentration and evaporation of the boracic acid, will probably +hereafter, instead of wasting itself in the air, be employed to move +huge engines, which will be directed to the infinite variety of +production which engages the attention of the industrious artisans; and +thus in course of time there can be little doubt that these lagoons, +which were fled from as objects of danger and terror by uninstructed +man, will gather round them a large, intelligent population, and become +sources of prosperity to innumerable individuals through countless +generations."</p> + +<p>Whoever has traveled through Tuscany, will every where have observed +that the peasants live in better houses than they do any where else in +Europe. Some one has said that nearly all their dwellings have been +built within the last eighty years, an observation which in itself shows +the substantial nature of their tenements, for where else will a +peasant's house last so long? In the secluded mountain valleys, where +agriculture supplies the only employment of the industrious classes, you +sometimes meet with very ancient cottages, built quite in the style of +the middle ages, with an abundance of projection and recesses, all +calculated to produce picturesqueness of effect. The modern houses, more +particularly in the district of the lagoons,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> are constructed more with +reference to comfort than show, the object being to secure as much room +and air as possible. In most places a garden is attached to every +dwelling; and where trees will grow, a large linden or chestnut +stretches its large boughs lovingly about the corner, and sometimes over +the roof, of the dwelling. Under this the peasant and his family sit to +enjoy themselves on summer evenings. Not to be entirely idle, however, +the father is usually engaged in weaving baskets, while the children +amuse themselves with cleaning and preparing the twigs; the mother, +often with a baby in her lap, applies herself to the reparation of the +family wardrobe; and the whole group, especially when lighted up by the +slanting rays of the setting sun, presents to the eye a picture not to +be equaled by Dutch or Flemish school.</p> + +<p>In other respects, the peasant of the lagoons aims at an inferior +standard of luxury. His house is by far the finest portion of his +possessions. The style of furniture, though comfortable, is inferior; +and in the matters of dress and food the most primitive theories +evidently prevail. Here, however, as in most other parts of Europe, we +behold the extremities, as it were, of two systems—the one which is +going out of date, and the one which is coming in. Much bigotry is no +doubt often displayed in the attachment of some persons to old habits +and customs, not otherwise valuable or respectable than from their mere +antiquity; but in several parts of Italy the advocates of novelty are +seldom in possession of so much comfort as they who abide by the habits +and customs of their forefathers. These, for the most part, are content +with the coarse manufactures of the country, which, rough and uncouth in +appearance, supply the requisite warmth, and are extremely enduring. On +the other hand, the imported goods within the reach of the poor, though +gay, and of brilliant colors, are too often of the most flimsy texture, +and melt away from about the persons of the wearers almost like vapor. +The two classes of peasants view each other with secret contempt; but +the old fashion is rapidly dying out because it is old, while the new +chiefly triumphs perhaps because it is new.</p> + +<p>A native, when questioned on the subject of the recent innovations, +observed that the lower classes of the population would have the means +of providing for their necessities if they were not so eager after +luxuries. The females are given to expensive dress, which deprives them +of the means of supplying themselves with more necessary articles. The +gluttony of the artisans has become proverbial among us: what is not +spent in finery in dress is consumed in pampering the appetite. In +consequence of the prosperity of the straw trade, which lasted from 1818 +to 1825, luxury spread throughout the country; and it would excite a +smile, were it not a subject for regret, to observe the country folks in +embroidered stockings and pumps, with large velvet bonnets trimmed with +feathers and lace; but in their homes they, as well as the artisans in +the towns, are miserably off; and they who are even genteelly dressed +when abroad, have rarely more than a miserable palliasse for a bed at +home. Deprived of the advantages of the straw trade, the situation of +the country people, especially those of the mountainous parts, is very +distressing.</p> + +<p>But this and similar causes operate much less on the population in the +district of the lagoons than elsewhere; and, indeed, it may almost be +said that these persons, for the most part, offer a striking contrast +with their neighbors. Notwithstanding the nature of the vapors by which +the air they breathe is impregnated, they are said, upon the whole, to +be healthy and long-lived; and the regularity of employment, the +goodness of their wages, and their constant residence on the same spot, +with many other causes, combine to render them one of the most thriving +sections of the Tuscan population. It must, nevertheless, be admitted +that we want several data for correctly appreciating their condition, +and these could only be supplied by one who should remain a long time +among them. The owners and conductors of the works are too much absorbed +by the love of gain to pay much attention to the state of the laborers, +who, as in most other parts of Italy, lead a retired life, and are +reserved and shy of communicating with strangers. On ordinary topics +they will converse with you freely enough, but the moment you allude to +their domestic concerns, they shrink into themselves, and decline +entering into explanations. This, however, they usually do in the most +civil manner, affecting stupidity, and carefully avoiding the least +appearance of rudeness. Even in the neighboring towns and villages the +laborers of the lagoons are little known; and the produce of their +manufacture, though exported to France and England, attracts little +notice to the country itself, except among those who are engaged in its +production. This will account for the very little that is popularly +known of the borax lagoons of Tuscany, or of the race of peasants by +whom they are rendered profitable.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Colburn's "New Monthly Magazine."]</h4> +<h2><a name="WALLACE_AND_FAWDON" id="WALLACE_AND_FAWDON"></a>WALLACE AND FAWDON.</h2> + +<h3>BY LEIGH HUNT.</h3> + + + +<p>This ballad was suggested by one of the notes to the <i>Lay of the Last +Minstrel</i>. Wallace, the great Scottish patriot, had been defeated in a +sharp encounter with the English. He was forced to retreat with only +sixteen followers, the English pursued him with a bloodhound and his +sole chance of escape from that tremendous investigator was either in +baffling the scent altogether (which was impossible, unless fugitives +could take to the water, and continue there for some distance), or in +confusing it by the spilling of blood. For the latter purpose, a captive +was sometimes sacrificed; in which case the hound stopped upon the +body.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p> + +<p>The supernatural part of the story of Fawdon is treated by its first +relater, Harry the Minstrel, as a mere legend, and that not a very +credible one; but as a mere legend it is very fine, and quite sufficient +for poetical purposes; nor should the old poet's philosophy have thought +proper to gainsay it. Nevertheless, as the mysteries of the conscience +are more awful things than any merely gratuitous terror (besides leaving +optical phenomena quite as real as the latter may find them), even the +supernatural part of the story becomes probable when we consider the +agitations which the noble mind of Wallace may have undergone during +such trying physical circumstances, and such extremes of moral +responsibility. It seems clear, that however necessary the death of +Fawdon may have been to his companions, or to Scotland, his slayer +regretted it; I have suggested the kind of reason which he would most +likely have had for the regret; and, upon the whole, it is my opinion, +that Wallace actually saw the visions, and that the legend originated in +the fact. I do not mean to imply that Fawdon became present, embodied or +disembodied, whatever may have been the case with his spectre. I only +say that what the legend reports Wallace to have seen, was actually in +the hero's eyes. The remainder of the question I leave to the +psychologist.</p> + + +<h4>PART THE FIRST.</h4> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Wallace</span> with his sixteen men<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is on his weary way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They have hasting been all night,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And hasting been all day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now, to lose their only hope,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They hear the bloodhound bay.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The bloodhound's bay comes down the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Right upon the road;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Town and tower are yet to pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With not a friend's abode.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wallace neither turn'd nor spake;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Closer drew the men;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Little had they said that day,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But most went cursing then.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! to meet twice sixteen foes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Coming from English ground,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And leave their bodies on the track,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To cheat King Edward's hound<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! to overtake one wretch<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That left them in the fight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And leave him cloven to the ribs,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To mock the bloody spite.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Suddenly dark Fawdon stopp'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As they near'd a town;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He stumbled with a desperate oath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And cast him fiercely down.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He said, "The leech took all my strength,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My body is unblest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come dog, come devil, or English rack,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Here must Fawdon rest."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fawdon was an Irishman,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Had join'd them in the war;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Four orphan children waited him<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Down by Eden Scawr.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But Wallace hated Fawdon's ways,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That were both fierce and shy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And at his words he turn'd, and said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"That's a traitor's lie.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"No thought is thine of lingering here,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A captive for the hound;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thine eye is bright; thy lucky flesh<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hath not a single wound:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moment we depart, the lane<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will see thee from the ground."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fawdon would not speak nor stir,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Speak as any might;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scorn'd or sooth'd, he sat and lour'd<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As though in angry spite.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wallace drew a little back,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And waved his men apart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Fawdon half leap'd up, and cried,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Thou wilt not have the heart!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wallace with his dreadful sword,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Without further speech,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clean cut off dark Fawdon's head,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through its stifled screech:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Through its stifled screech, and through<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The arm that fenc'd his brow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Fawdon, as he leap'd, fell dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And safe is Wallace now.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Safe is Wallace with his men,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And silent is the hound;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on their way to Castle Gask<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They quit the sullen ground.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>PART THE SECOND.</h4> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Wallace</span> lies in Castle Gask,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Resting with his men;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not a soul has come, three days,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Within the warder's ken.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Resting with his men is Wallace,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet he fareth ill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There are tumults in his blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And pangs upon his will.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It was night, and all were housed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Talking long and late;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who is this that blows the horn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">At the castle-gate?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who is this that blows a horn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which none but Wallace hears?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Loud and louder grows the blast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In his frenzied ears.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He sends by twos, he sends by threes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He sends them all to learn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He stands upon the stairs, and calls<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But none of them return.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wallace flung him forth down stairs;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And there the moonlight fell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Across the yard upon a sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That makes him seem in hell<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fawdon's headless trunk he sees,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With an arm in air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brandishing his bloody head<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By the swinging hair.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wallace with a stifled screech<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Turn'd and fled amain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up the stairs, and through the bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With a burning brain:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From a window Wallace leap'd<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fifteen feet to ground,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never stopp'd till fast within<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A nunnery's holy bound.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And then he turn'd, in gasping doubt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To see the fiend retire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And saw him not at hand, but saw<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Castle Gask on fire.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All on fire was Castle Gask;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And on its top, endued<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the bulk of half a tower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Headless Fawdon stood.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wide he held a burning beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And blackly fill'd the light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His body seem'd, by some black art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To look at Wallace, heart to heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Threatening through the night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wallace that day week arose<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From a feeble bed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gentle though he was before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet now to orphans evermore<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He gentlier bow'd his head.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]</h4> +<h2><a name="WHAT_BECOMES_OF_ALL_THE_CLEVER_CHILDREN" id="WHAT_BECOMES_OF_ALL_THE_CLEVER_CHILDREN"></a>WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE CLEVER CHILDREN?</h2> + + + +<p>During a visit to a friend in the country, I was enjoying a walk in his +garden before breakfast on a delightful morning in June, when my +attention was suddenly arrested by the pensive attitude of a little boy, +the son of my host, whom I observed standing before a rose-bush, which +he appeared to contemplate with much dissatisfaction. Children have +always been to me a most interesting study; and yielding to a wish to +discover what could have clouded the usually bright countenance of my +little friend, I inquired what had attracted him to this particular +rose-bush, which presented but a forlorn appearance when compared with +its more blooming companions. He replied: "This rose-bush is my <i>own</i>; +papa gave it to me in spring, and promised that no one else should touch +it. I have taken great pains with it; and as it was covered with +beautiful roses last summer, I hoped to have had many fine bouquets from +it; but all my care and watching have been useless: I see I shall not +have one full-blown rose after all."</p> + +<p>"And yet," said I, "it appears to be as healthy as any other bush in the +garden: tell me what you have done for it, as you say it has cost me so +much pains?"</p> + +<p>"After watching it for some time," he replied, "I discovered a very +great number of small buds, but they were almost concealed by the leaves +which grew so thickly; I therefore cleared away the greater part of +these, and my little buds then looked very well. I now found, as I +watched them, that though they grew larger every day, the green outside +continued so hard that I thought it impossible for the delicate +rose-leaves to force their way out; I therefore picked them open; but +the pale, shriveled blossoms which I found within never improved, but +died one after another. Yesterday morning I discovered one bud which the +leaves had till then hidden from me, and which was actually streaked +with the beautiful red of the flower confined in it; I carefully opened +and loosened it, in the hope that the warm sun would help it to blow: my +first thought this morning was of the pleasure I should have in +gathering my <i>one</i> precious bud for mamma—but look at it now!"</p> + +<p>The withered, discolored petals to which the child thus directed my eye +did indeed present but a melancholy appearance, and I now understood the +cause of the looks of disappointment which had at first attracted my +attention. I explained to the zealous little gardener the mischief which +he had unintentionally done by removing the leaves and calyx with which +nature had covered and inclosed the flower until all its beauties should +be ready for full development; and having pointed out to him some buds +which had escaped his <i>care</i>, I left him full of hope that, by waiting +patiently for nature to accomplish her own work, he might yet have a +bouquet of his own roses to present to his mother.</p> + +<p>As I pursued my walk, it occurred to me that this childish incident +suggested an answer to the question asked by Dr. Johnson, "What becomes +of all the clever children?" Too often, it is to be feared, are the +precious human buds sacrificed to the same mistaken zeal that led to the +destruction of the roses which had been expected with so much pleasure +by their little owner. Perhaps a few hints, suggested—not by fanciful +theory, but by practical experience in the mental training of +children—may help to rescue some little ones from the blighting +influences to which they are too often exposed.</p> + +<p>The laws by which the physical development of every infant, during the +earliest period of its existence, is regulated, seem to afford a +striking lesson by the analogy they bear to these laws on which the +subsequent mental development depends; and by the wise arrangement of an +ever-kind Providence, this lesson is made immediately to precede the +period during which it should be carried into practice. On the babe's +first entrance into the world, it must be fed only with food suitable to +its delicate organs of digestion; on this depends its healthful growth, +and likewise the gradual strengthening of those organs. Its senses must +at first be acted upon very gently: too strong a light, or too loud a +noise, may impair its sight or hearing for life.</p> + +<p>The little limbs of a young infant must not be allowed to support the +body before they have acquired firmness sufficient for that task, +otherwise they will become deformed, and the whole system weakened; and +last, not least, fresh and pure air must be constantly inhaled by the +lungs, in order that they may supply vigor to the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> frame. All +enlightened parents are acquainted with these laws of nature, and +generally act on them; but when, owing to judicious management, their +children emerge from babyhood in full enjoyment of all the animal +organs, and with muscles and sinews growing firmer every day in +consequence of the exercise which their little owners delight in giving +them, is the same judicious management extended to the mind, of which +the body, which has been so carefully nourished, is only the outer case? +In too many cases it is not. Too often the tender mind is loaded with +information which it has no power of assimilating, and which, +consequently, can not nourish it. The mental faculties, instead of being +gradually exercised, are overwhelmed: parents who would check with +displeasure the efforts of a nurse who should attempt to make their +infant walk at too early a period, are ready eagerly to embrace any +system of so-called education which offers to do the same violence to +the intellect; forgetting that distortion of mind is at least as much to +be dreaded as that of the body, while the motives held out to encourage +the little victims are not calculated to produce a moral atmosphere +conducive either to good or great mental attainments. Children are +sometimes met with—though few and far between—whose minds seem ready +to drink in knowledge in whatever form or quantity it may be presented +to them; and the testimony of Dr. Combe, as well as of many other +judicious writers, proves the real state of the brain in such cases, and +also the general fate of the poor little prodigies. Such children, +however, are not the subject of these observations, of which the object +is to plead for those promising buds which are closely encased in their +"hard" but protecting covering; to plead for them especially at that +period when the "beautiful red streak" appears; in other words, when, +amid the thoughtless sports and simple studies of childhood, the +intellect begins to develop itself, and to seek nourishment from all +that is presented to it. There exists at the period alluded to a +readiness in comparison, and a shrewdness of observation, which might be +profitably employed in the great work of education. And here it may be +observed, that as to "educate" signifies to <i>bring out</i>, the term +<i>education</i> can only be applied with propriety to a system which +performs this work, and never to one which confines itself to laying on +a surface-work of superficial information, unsupported by vigorous +mental powers. Information may be acquired at any age, provided that the +intellectual machinery has been kept in activity; whereas, if the latter +has been allowed to rust and stiffen from disease, the efforts of the +man—supposing him to have energy sufficient to make an effort—to +redress the wrongs done to the boy, will in most cases be vain. That +self-educated men are generally the best educated is a trite remark; so +trite, indeed, that it frequently falls on the ear without rousing +attention to the apparent paradox which it contains; and yet there must +be some reason well worthy of attention for the fact, that so many who, +in early life, have enjoyed advantages, have, on reaching manhood, found +themselves surpassed by others who have been forced to struggle up +unassisted, and in many cases surrounded by apparent obstacles to their +rise. It is obvious that the point in which the latter have the +advantage, is the necessity which they find for exercising their <i>own</i> +intellectual powers at every step; and, moreover, for taking each step +firmly before they attempt the next; which necessity, while it may +retard the rapid skimming over various subjects which is sometimes +effected, gives new vigor continually to the mind, and also leads to the +habit of that "industry and patient thought" to which the immortal +Newton attributed all he had done; while at the same time a vivid +pleasure is taken in the acquirement of knowledge so obtained beyond any +that can be conferred by reward or encouragement from others.</p> + +<p>From these considerations, it appears that the most judicious system of +education is that in which the teacher rather directs the working of his +pupil's mind than works for him; and it must be recollected that such a +system, compared with some others, will be slow, though sure, in +producing the desired result. Every one familiar with children must have +observed with what apparently fresh interest they will listen to the +same tale repeated again and again Now, if time and repetition are +necessary to impress on the young mind facts interesting in themselves, +they are surely more necessary when the information to be imparted is in +itself dry and uninteresting, as is the ease with much which it is +requisite for children to learn. The system here recommended is one +which requires <i>patience</i> both on the part of parents and teachers; but +patience so exercised would undoubtedly be rewarded by the results, one +of which would be, that we should not so frequently see "clever +children" wane into very commonplace, if not stupid men.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Fraser's Magazine.]</h4> +<h2><a name="LACK_OF_POETRY_IN_AMERICA" id="LACK_OF_POETRY_IN_AMERICA"></a>LACK OF POETRY IN AMERICA.</h2> + + + +<p>After the Americans had established their political nationality beyond +cavil, and taken a positive rank among the powers of the civilized +world, they still remained subject to reproach, that in the worlds of +Art, Science, and Literature, they had no national existence. Admitting, +or, at any rate, feeling, the truth of this taunt, they bestirred +themselves resolutely to produce a practical refutation of it. Their +first and fullest success was, as might be expected from their +notoriously utilitarian character, in practical inventions. In oratory, +notwithstanding a tendency to more than Milesian floridness and +hyperbole, they have taken no mean stand among the free nations of +christendom. In history, despite the disadvantages arising from the +scarcity of large libraries, old records, and other appliances of the +historiographer, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> have produced some books which are acknowledged +to be well worthy a place among our standard works, and which have +acquired, not merely an English, but a continental reputation. In the +fine arts, notwithstanding obviously still greater impediments—the want +at home, not only of great galleries and collections, but of the +thousand little symbols and associations that help to educate the +artist—the consequent necessity of going abroad to seek all that the +student requires—they have still made laudable progress. The paintings +of Washington Allston are the most noteworthy lions in Boston; the +statues of Powers command admiration even in London. In prose fiction, +the sweet sketches of Irving have acquired a renown second only to that +of the agreeable essayists whom he took for his models, while the Indian +and naval romances of Cooper are purchased at liberal prices by the +chary bibliopoles of England, and introduced to the Parisian public by +the same hand which translated Walter Scott. In poetry alone they are +still palpably inferior: no world-renowned minstrel has yet arisen in +the New Atlantis, and the number of those versifiers who have attained a +decided name and place among the lighter English literature of their +day, or whose claims to the title of poet are acknowledged <i>in all +sections</i> of their own country, is but small.</p> + +<p>If we come to inquire into the causes of this deficiency, we are apt at +first to light upon several reasons why it should <i>not</i> exist. In the +first place, there is nothing unpoetical about the country itself, but +every thing highly the reverse. All its antecedents and traditions, its +discovery, its early inhabitants, its first settlement by civilized men, +are eminently romantic. It is not wanting in battle-grounds, or in spots +hallowed by recollections and associations of patriots and sages. The +magnificence of its scenery is well known. The rivers of America are at +the same time the most beautiful and the most majestic in the world: the +sky of America, though dissimilar in hue, may vie in loveliness with the +sky of Italy. No one who has floated down the glorious Hudson (even amid +all the un-ideal associations of a gigantic American steamer), who has +watched the snowy sails—so different from the tarry, smoky canvas of +European craft—that speck that clear water; who has noticed the +faultless azure and snow of the heaven above, suggesting the highest +idea of purity, the frowning cliffs that palisade the shore, and the +rich masses of foliage that overhang them, tinged a thousand dyes by the +early autumn frost—no one who has observed all this, can doubt the +poetic capabilities of the land.</p> + +<p>A seeming solution, indeed, presents itself in the business, utilitarian +character of the people; and this solution would probably be immediately +accepted by very many of our readers. Brother Jonathan thinks and talks +of cotton, and flour, and dollars, and the ups and downs of stocks. +Poetry <i>doesn't pay</i>: he can not appreciate, and does not care for it. +"Let me get something for myself," he says, like the churl in +Theocritus. "Let the gods whom he invokes reward the poet. What do we +want with more verse? We have Milton and Shakspeare (whether we read +them or not). He is the poet for me who asks me for nothing;" and so the +poor Muses wither (or as Jonathan himself might say, <i>wilt</i>) away, and +perish from inanition and lack of sympathy. Very plausible; but now for +the paradox. So far from disliking, or underrating, or being indifferent +to poetry, the American public is the most eager devourer of it, in any +quantity, and of any quality; nor is there any country in which a +limited capital of inspiration will go farther. Let us suppose two +persons, both equally unknown, putting forth a volume of poems on each +side of the Atlantic; decidedly the chances are, that the American +candidate for poetic fame will find more readers, and more encouragement +in his country, than the British in his. Very copious editions of the +standard English poets are sold every year, generally in a form adapted +to the purses of the million; to further which end they are frequently +bound two or three in a volume (Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, for +instance, is a favorite combination). Even bardlings like Pollok enjoy a +large number of readers and editions. Nor is there—notwithstanding the +much-complained-of absence of an international copyright law—any +deficiency of home supply for the market. Writing English verses, +indeed, is as much a part of an American's education, as writing Latin +verses is of an Englishman's; recited "poems" always holding a prominent +place among their public collegiate exercises; about every third man, +and every other woman of the liberally-educated classes, writes +occasional rhymes, either for the edification of their private circle, +or the poets'-corner of some of the innumerable newspapers that encumber +the land; and the number of gentlemen and ladies one meets who have +published a volume of Something and Other Poems, is perfectly +astounding.</p> + +<p>The true secret seems to be, that the Americans, as a people, have not +received that education which enables a people to produce poets. For, +however true the <i>poeta nascitur</i> adage may be negatively of +individuals, it is not true positively of nations. The formation of a +national poetic temperament is the work of a long education, and the +development of various influences. A peculiar classicality of taste, +involving a high critical standard, seems necessary, among the moderns, +to high poetic production; and such a taste has not yet been formed in +America. True, there are kinds of poetry—the Ballad and the Epic, +which, so far as we can trace them, are born, Pallas-like, full-grown; +which sound their fullest tone in a nation's infancy, and are but +faintly echoed in its maturity. But there are numbers in which lisps the +infancy, not of a nation merely, but of a race. And the Americans were +an old race though a young nation. They began with too much civilization +for the heroic school of poetry: they have not yet attained enough +cultivation for the philosophic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span></p> + +<h4>[From the London Christian Times.]</h4> + +<h2><a name="SIR_ROBERT_PEEL" id="SIR_ROBERT_PEEL"></a>SIR ROBERT PEEL.</h2> + + + +<p>All the ordinary incidents of the past week have been thrown into +temporary oblivion, by the lamentable occurrence that has deprived the +country of one of its most eminent statesmen; the House of Commons, of +one of its chiefs; the family of the right honorable baronet of its most +amiable and distinguished head; and many of the public institutions, +those of the fine arts especially, of an enlightened and generous +patron.</p> + +<p>The late member for Tamworth was the eldest son of the first Sir R. +Peel, formerly of the house of Peel and Yates, which, in 1803, employed +about 15,000 persons at Bury, and which paid at that time £40,000 a year +duty on their printed cotton fabrics. In 1787, Mr. Peel married his +partner's daughter, Miss Yates, who bore the subject of this memoir—5th +February, 1788—in a little cottage, near Chamber Hall. The husband of +Miss Yates was very successful in his cotton speculations, and in 1798, +when the English Government appealed to the country for pecuniary aid to +carry on the French war, subscribed himself £10,000. Some notion may be +formed of the extent of the wealth of the first Sir R. Peel, from the +fact that when, in 1830, his will was proved, the <i>personal</i> property +was sworn at £1,200,000. The much-lamented baronet received the +rudiments of his education under parental superintendence, near Bury. He +was removed to Harrow, when he became a form-fellow of the more +brilliant, but less amiable, Lord Byron, who has left several +commendatory notices of his youthful friend, and whose eminence he very +sagaciously predicted.</p> + +<p>From Harrow, Mr. Peel became a Gentleman Commoner of Christ Church, +Oxford, where, in 1808, he was the first who took the honors of double +first-class. In the following year, having attained his majority, he +entered the House of Commons for Cashel, as the nominee of Mr. Richard +Pennefather. Mr. Peel continued to represent the twelve electors of +Cashel and their lord till 1812, when he represented the close borough +of Chippenham, with a constituency of 135. The prodigious wealth of the +first baronet of Drayton Manor gave his son great advantages in the +House of Commons, where, in 1810, he was selected to second the Address, +in reply to the Royal Speech. Shortly after, he became the +Under-Secretary of State in the Perceval Cabinet, and, upon the fall of +his chief, though only twenty-six years of age, he was made principal +Secretary for Ireland—an office, at that time, of the greatest +difficulty and importance—and held that post with as much address as +his ultra-Toryism, and his extreme unpopularity in Ireland, admitted, +under the Viceroyships of the Duke of Richmond, Earl Whitworth, and Earl +Talbot. The most permanent and beneficial measure which Ireland owes to +its former Secretary, Peel, is its constabulary force, introduced in +1817, which was the wedge to the introduction of the English body of +police.</p> + +<p>The masterly tactics of the still youthful statesman, in part, but his +"thorough and throughout" Toryism, chiefly recommended him to the +electors of Oxford University, which he represented twelve years, till +1828; when, upon an obvious change in his opinions on the question of +Catholic emancipation, he was rejected.</p> + +<p>In 1820, Mr. Peel, then in his thirty-third year, had married Julia, the +daughter of General Sir John Floyd, who was only twenty-five, and who +survives her illustrious husband. The issue of this marriage is five +sons and two daughters. One of his sons has already entered diplomatic +employment in Switzerland; a second has recently entered, as our readers +will remember, the House of Commons; a third is in the army, and one in +the navy. One of Sir Robert's daughters was married to Viscount Villiers +in 1840.</p> + +<p>In 1819, the monetary affairs of the country had become so alarming, +that the House of Commons appointed a secret committee to inquire into +the state of the Bank of England, of which committee Mr. Peel was +appointed chairman. He had hitherto been one of the most strenuous +opponents of Mr. Horner's celebrated propositions of 1811, from which +period he had strongly defended the currency policy of Mr. Vansittart. +But the evidence produced to the secret committee effected a complete +change in Mr. Peel's opinions, and it was chiefly through his agency +that the currency was settled on its present metallic basis. In the +conflict, a touching incident of antagonism, between the subject of this +memoir and his father, occurred in the House of Commons. Mr. Peel was, +in 1822, promoted to the head of the Home-office, which he occupied till +the overthrow of Lord Liverpool, in 1827, when he retired, in +consequence, as it is alleged, of the elevation of Mr. Canning, whose +opinions were in favor of the abolition of the Roman Catholic +disabilities. Upon the accession of the Duke of Wellington to power, in +1828, Mr. Peel returned to the Home-office, and, in conjunction with his +noble friend, repealed the disabilities of the Roman Catholics; which +not only cost him Ireland, and brought upon him a hurricane of abuse +from his party, but shook the general confidence in either the soundness +or the integrity of his opinions.</p> + +<p>The skirts of the Gallic storm of 1830, that crushed the Bourbonic +throne, destroyed the Wellington Administration, and made the Reform +Bill no longer deferable, which the Whigs entered office to carry. +Meantime, the deceased had succeeded to an enormous estate and the +baronetcy, by the demise of his father, Sir R. Peel. But he was, in +opposition, fiercely assailed with the maledictions of Ireland; the +censures of the High Tory party—whom he was alleged to have +betrayed—the clamors of the advocates of a paper currency; and what, +perhaps, was the most difficult to bear, his party imputed to him the +real authorship of the Reform Bill and its consequences, by his +vacillation in reference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> to the emancipation of the Catholics. But, +nothing dismayed by the angry elements surrounding him, and the new +political vista of England and the Continent, Sir R. Peel now displayed +all the resources of his statesmanship in concentrating the new +Conservative party. He so far succeeded—chiefly through the want of +more courage and honesty in the Whigs—that he was again called to +office in 1834, during his brief tenancy of which, no one can withhold +praise for his command of temper, his Liberal tendencies, and his spirit +of general conciliation. In 1841, Sir R. Peel again entered office; +and—though he undeniably was enabled to do so by the Protectionist +party, by the force of circumstances, the stagnation of commerce, the +failure of the crops, and the famine in Ireland—he opened the ports, +and repealed the Corn-laws forever, to the consternation of the world, +and in opposition to all the opinions of his life; this was in 1845. +Since that period Sir R. Peel has been in Opposition, indeed, but not +its leader so much as a distinguished debater, an accomplished +financier, and the expositor of opinions which neither the Whigs nor +Tories heartily espouse.</p> + +<p>During forty years servitude in the House of Commons—though not +generally in favor of popular sentiments, and, in religious matters, +rather liberal than generous—Sir R. Peel has undoubtedly rendered, in +addition to his three great measures—the Bullion-law, Catholic +Emancipation, and the repeal of the Corn-law—many minor political +benefits to the country. Of this class of services, that which reflects +on him the most honor, is his amelioration of the Criminal Law. As to +the measures to which we have just alluded, there will still continue to +be a large diversity of opinion. Thousands of the wealthy classes will +regard them all as steps in the declination of the national power; while +the more popular mind, that rarely troubles itself with large or +profound views, has already registered its approval of them.</p> + +<p>It is a singular fact, that he spent eleven years in Parliamentary +opposition to the Bullion doctrine that he adopted in 1822; that he +waged strenuous war against the repeal of the Roman Catholic +disabilities for eighteen years, and at last carried them in spite of +his own party; and that for thirty years in the House of Commons, he +maintained that the prosperity of Great Britain depended on the +retention of her Corn-laws, which he repealed in 1845. It is, therefore, +clear that his final measures, in reference to these three great +departments of his political life, were rather concessions to the force +of events, than the voluntary policy of his own mind. His wisdom lay in +the concession. Many of his chief colleagues, in each of these +instances, would have blindly rushed upon destruction. His greater +sagacity foresaw the gulf and turned away, choosing to win the courage +of relinquishing his life's opinions, than that of courting the dangers +of resistance. And in these three famous instances of Sir R. Peel's +life, we have the true elaboration of his own character. He was by +education and preference a Tory; by necessity he became a +Progressionist.</p> + +<p>While we have felt it our duty to write the last paragraph, we +cheerfully record our admiration of Sir Robert Peel's great talents, of +his moral integrity, of his very exemplary private life, and, we +believe, of his firm attachment to his country and its institutions. He +is another memorable instance of what the children of democracy may +become in England, with adequate talents and exertions. Sir R. Peel owed +much to his wealth, to his associates, and to his early opinions. But +far beyond the factitious influences derivable from such sources, he had +great elements in himself. When his heart and mind received free +permission from his policy to display themselves, they were of the +highest order. Such a man is not easily made: of his loss we are only at +present very imperfectly able to appreciate the consequences, one of +which, we fear will be a mischievous re-formation of the Protectionist +party, and, if we read the auspices aright, his death will not improve +the Ministerial Whigs.</p> + +<p>The motion on Wednesday night, in the House of Commons, not to proceed +with public business that evening, in honor of the memory of Sir R. +Peel, was as becoming to the House itself as it was to its mover, Mr. +Hume. It is a poor recompense to a bereaved family, we are aware; but it +is such a tribute as has not always been granted to even greater men, +and to some of the blood royal. In due time the public feeling will +doubtless imbody itself in more tangible and permanent forms; and when +that occurs, it will not be the least of the monumental honors of the +deceased, that the gratitude of the widow, the orphan, the neglected +genius, and suffering worth, will lead many to shed their tears on the +bronze or marble effigies of him whose like England will not easily see +again.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]</h4> +<h2><a name="SPONGES" id="SPONGES"></a>SPONGES.</h2> + + + +<p>About three centuries and a half before the Christian era, the question, +Are sponges animal or vegetable? was proposed by Aristotle, who, unable +himself to solve the difficulty, was contented, in the true spirit of a +lover of nature, with carefully recording the results of his accurate +observations, and advancing his opinion rather in the form of an inquiry +than of an allegation. Upward of two thousand years rolled away ere this +question was satisfactorily answered. Nay, we believe that the vegetable +theory has, even at the present time, its advocates; while some are +still disposed to consider that the sponge is at one period of its +existence a vegetable, and at another an animal.</p> + +<p>To any one who hesitates to acknowledge that the sponge is endowed with +animal life—confessedly in its lowest form, yet with a most exquisite +adaptation to its destiny—we would offer the spectacle of a living +sponge in a portion of its native element. We would let him gaze<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> on the +animated fountain, which is perpetually sucking the water into its +substance through its countless pores, and after assimilating such +particles of it as are essential to its existence, ceaselessly expelling +it, at more distant intervals, through the larger channels which may be +observed on its outer surface. We would point out innumerable gemmules +of gelatinous matter, which at certain seasons of the year may be seen +spouting "from all parts of the living film which invests the horny +skeleton;"<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> until, at length, escaping from the nursery in which they +grew, they are carried off to the wide sea by means of the force of the +currents issuing from the sponge, though not left to perish at the mercy +of the waves. For he will find that the young animal or egg is covered +with numberless minute hairs or <i>cilia</i>, each one of which is endowed +with a distinct and innate power of vibration; so that by means of +thousands of almost invisible oars, the young sponge "shoots like a +microscopic meteor through the sea," until it arrives at some rock or +other place properly adapted for its future growth; then it settles +calmly and contentedly down, and gradually losing its locomotive power, +begins to spread on its base; and builds up, within its living +substance, a horny framework, such as we have already seen in its +parent.</p> + +<p>The above-named currents may be more distinctly seen by powdering the +surface of the water with chalk or any similar substance; and Professor +Grant mentions, that by placing pieces of cork or dry paper over the +apertures, he could see them moving "by the force of the currents at the +distance of ten feet from the table on which the specimen rested."</p> + +<p>Dr. Peysonell, who paid great attention to the structure of the sponge, +brought proofs of its animal vitality before the Royal Society in the +years 1752—57. And Mr. Ellis, five years afterward, by his dissections, +set the question quite at rest; though he fell into the error of +believing that the frame of the sponge was the outer case of worms or +polypes. Later examination, however, has shown that the <i>frame</i> or +<i>sponge</i>, commonly so called, is an <i>internal</i> skeleton, while the vital +power is simply composed of a slimy film which coats over every fibre, +and which, inert as it appears, possesses the power of secreting the +particles essential to its growth.</p> + +<p>It has been affirmed, that the sponge is observed to contract or shrink +when torn from the rooks; but there is satisfactory evidence to prove +that neither this nor any degree of laceration has a sensible effect on +this nerveless though vital mass.</p> + +<p>All sponges, however, have not a horny framework, but some, which are +thereby rendered useless in a commercial point of view, are supported by +a skeleton composed of siliceous particles imbedded in a tough, fibrous +material. These particles, or <i>spicula</i>, as they are termed, are so +uniform in the species to which they severally belong, that, in the +words of Professor Grant, if the soft portion be destroyed, and a "few +of them brought from any pan of the world on the point of a needle, they +would enable the zoologist to identify the species to which they +originally belonged." Professor R. Jones, however, considers that this +opinion should be received with considerable limitations.</p> + +<p>The last fact, trivial as it appears, assumes immense importance when we +learn that to these spicula we must turn for an explanation of the +isolated masses of flint which abound in various chalk formations. "The +mere assertion," says Rhymer Jones, "that flints were sponges, would no +doubt startle the reader who was unacquainted with the history of these +fossil relics of a former ocean;" and yet a little reflection "will +satisfy the most skeptical." For long ages the sponge is imbedded in the +chalk, through which water is continually percolating. A well-known law +of chemistry explains why similar matter should become aggregated; and +thus the siliceous matter of the sponge forms a nucleus for the +siliceous matter contained in the water, until at length the entire mass +is converted into a solid flint. But we are not left, he adds, to mere +conjecture or hypothesis on this point, "for nothing is more common in +chalky districts than to find flints, which, on <i>being broken, still +contain portions of the original sponge in an almost unaltered state</i>."</p> + +<p>There is every reason to believe that the sponge-fisheries of the Ægean +are at present conducted precisely in the same manner as they were in +the time of Aristotle. The sponge-divers are mostly inhabitants of the +islands which lie off the Carian coast, and of those situated between +Rhodes and Calymnos. These men—who form a distinct society, and are +governed by peculiar laws, which prohibit their marriage until they +shall have attained a prescribed proficiency in their art—go out in +little fleets, composed of caiques, each of six or seven tons' burden, +and manned by six or eight divers: each man is simply equipped with a +netted bag in which to place the sponges, and a hoop by which to suspend +it round his neck; and thus furnished, he descends to a depth of from +five to twenty, or even occasionally thirty fathoms. The sponges which +he collects are first saturated with fresh water, which destroys the +vitality, and decomposing the gelatinous matter, turns it black; this +matter is stamped out by the feet of the divers, and the sponges are +then dried in the sun, and strung in circles, after which they are ready +for sale and exportation.</p> + +<p>In a good locality an expert diver may bring up fifty okes in a day, and +for each oke he obtains about twenty-five drachmas. The weight is +calculated, says Forbes, when the sponges are dry, and a very large +sponge may weigh two okes. The chief sponge-markets are Smyrna. Rhodes, +and Napoli.</p> + +<p>Blount, who wrote in 1634, affirms that these sponge-divers "are from +infancy bred up on dry biscuites and other extenuatinge dyet, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> make +them extreme lean; then takinge a spunge wet in oyle, they hold it, part +in their mouths, and part without, soe they go under water, where at +first they can not stay long, but after practice, the leanest stay an +hour and a halfe, even till the oyle of the spunge be corrupted.... Thus +they gather spunges from more than an hundred fathom deep," &c. All this +is very wonderful, but the narrator stamps the value of his tale by +telling us immediately afterward that "Samos is the only place in the +world on whose rocks the spunges grow." So that, in the words which he +elsewhere makes use of, "we applaude hys belief, but keep our owne." We +do not, however, mean to assert that there are not sponges of some +species (though not the sponge of commerce) which exist at a depth as +great as that which he mentions, for Forbes dredged a living specimen of +one small kind from 185 fathoms in the Gulf of Macri.</p> + +<p>The sponge of commerce (<i>Spongia officinalis</i>) was divided by Aristotle +into three kinds—namely, the loose and porous, the thick and close, and +the fine and compact. These last, which are rare, were called the +sponges of Achilles, and were placed by the ancients in the interior of +their helmets and boots, as protections from pressure and abrasion.</p> + +<p>The same naturalist states that those sponges are best which are found +on coasts where the water becomes suddenly deep, and attributes this +superiority to the greater equality of temperature obtained in such +waters—observations which have been corroborated by Professor E. +Forbes.</p> + +<p>Fifty-six species of sponges have been enumerated, ten or eleven of +which are found in the British isles. A portion of these inhabit fresh +water, among which we may mention the river sponge (<i>S. fluviatilis</i>), +which abounds in the Thames. Among the British sponges, too, is the +stinging or crumb-of-bread sponge (<i>S. urens</i>), a widely-diffused +species, which, when taken out of the sea is of a bright orange color, +and which will, if rubbed on the hand raise blisters. This stinging +quality is highly increased by drying the sponge; a process which also +gives it the color and appearance of crumbs of bread, whence its popular +name.</p> + +<p>Sponges, as may be imagined from the mode of their growth, are most +sportive in their forms: some a tubular, others mushroom-like, a few +almost globular, and still others branched or hand-shaped; in the warmer +seas they hang in fantastic and gorgeous fans from the roofs of +submarine caverns, or decorate the sides with vases of classic elegance, +though of nature's handiwork. Nor are their colors less various: some +are of the most brilliant scarlet or the brightest yellow, others green, +brown, blackish, or shining white; while Peron mentions one procured by +him in the South Sea which was of a beautiful purple, and from which a +liquor of the same color was extracted by the slightest pressure; with +this liquor he stained several different substances, and found that the +color was not affected by the action of the air, and that it would bear +several washings.</p> + +<p>The value of the sponge in surgery is well known; and it is also used, +medicinally, being for this purpose lightly burned to powder, and given +in small doses in scrofulous complaints. It has also been regarded as a +specific in leprosy and hydrophobia. It is, however, needless to say +that in these last it can have no influence whatever.</p> + +<p>There are several representations of sponges given in the balneal feasts +depicted on various Etruscan vases; and the sponge has been found in a +perfect state in a Roman barrow at Bartlow Hills. It was discovered near +the sacrificing utensils. Livy says that the covering of the breast of +the Samnite gladiators was sponge.</p> + +<p>When the animal matter remains in the sponges of various kinds, they +have always a very strong fishy smell, which may perhaps be regarded as +an additional proof of the fealty which they give to the animal kingdom. +Yet we must not omit that there are substances which, though they bear +the name of sponges, would rather appear, from their microscopic +structure, to belong to the vegetable world; we allude to those known as +<i>gelatinous sponges</i>, which are perfectly different from the sponges +properly so called.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Professor Rymer Jones.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_RAILWAY_WORKS_AT_CREWE" id="THE_RAILWAY_WORKS_AT_CREWE"></a>THE RAILWAY WORKS AT CREWE.</h2> + + + +<p>"What place is this?" said the worthy old gentleman, my traveling +companion on the London and North Western railway, as he woke up from a +comfortable nap when the train slackened speed, and entered a spacious +and expensively-decorated station.</p> + +<p>"This is Crewe, sir, I believe."</p> + +<p>And scarcely had I answered, when there was a general shout of "Crewe, +Crewe!" from an army of porters who came rushing out, and pounced upon +the train as if it were their lawful prey.</p> + +<p>Presently a head peered in at the door, inquiring,</p> + +<p>"All here for the Liverpool line?"</p> + +<p>And on my elderly friend saying that he was for Manchester, he was +politely but smartly informed that he must change carriages here. So I +we both got out; and my friend, after some bother about his luggage, and +the use of some hasty language, was at last made "all right" by being +put into a carriage bearing an announcement that that was the +"Manchester train." On another carriage in front was a similar board +announcing the "Liverpool train," and behind was a third to announce +that for Chester. Passengers were running up and down the platform: some +looking after luggage, some for the right carriage, and others darting +into the handsome refreshment-room. But nobody seemed to think of going +away from the station; indeed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> only mode of exit and entrance was +through a close-shut iron gate, beside which sat a policeman looking +with enviable coolness on all the bustle around him. There was a ring of +a bell; a banging of doors; a puff of the engine; and off went the train +to Liverpool. Another locomotive now appeared moving cautiously down the +line, and was speedily attached to the Manchester train, which was soon +out of sight. A third came; caught hold of the Chester train, and away +<i>it</i> rushed. The passengers who had journeyed so amicably together from +London were now thoroughly dispersed, and ere the sun set, some would be +crossing the Scotch Border at Carlisle, some embarking at Holyhead for +Dublin, and others attending to their business on the Mersey or the Dee, +or amid the tall chimneys of Manchester. A luggage train came crawling +out from its hiding-place, and finding the coast clear, went thundering +past: the porters wiped their foreheads, and went to have a little rest; +and I, the solitary passenger for Crewe, was left cooling my heels on +the platform.</p> + +<p>"Where is Crewe?" I said to the guardian of the iron gate.</p> + +<p>"Cross the bridge, go straight on, and turn to the right," was the +concise reply.</p> + +<p>So I crossed the bridge, and found myself in a pleasant country road. +The flat rich fields of Cheshire extended on the left and to the right; +at the distance of about half a mile appeared the square massive tower +of a church, surrounded by long ranges of low buildings like work-shops, +and rows of houses evidently quite new. Some neat cottages lined the +sides of the road, and there were two or three inns all bearing marks of +youth; while some zealous people had caused a few bills, bearing the +words "Prepare to meet thy God," printed in conspicuous type, to be +affixed to the walls, giving a stranger not & very high idea of the +character of the people in the habit of using that road. Turning to the +right, I passed a Methodist chapel, bearing the date of its erection, +1848; a new flour-mill driven by water; a new inn with a brave new +sign-board; and, crossing the boundary made by the Chester line, I +arrived in Crewe.</p> + +<p>Not many years ago, there were only two or three houses here, and the +land on which the station and the town are built formed part of a good +Cheshire farm. The worthy farmer plowed his fields and reaped his +harvest, his dame made good Cheshire cheese; and both lived merrily on, +quite unconscious of the change that their farm was about to undergo. +The eyes of engineers were on it: it was placed, as an Irishman would +say, "very convanient" for railway purposes and after a few years had +rolled away, it became the great workshop of the Grand Junction Line, +and the point where the main line to Birmingham received its tributaries +from the north and west. Several thousands of people were brought here; +the company laid out streets and built houses; shops were opened; +churches and schools erected; a market-place provided; a Mechanics' +Institution established; many hotels built, one of which was destined +to lodge royalty for a night; and a town was erected with a rapidity +unexampled even in America.</p> + +<p>The general appearance of Crewe is very pleasing. The streets are wide, +and well paved; the houses are very neat and commodious, usually of two +stories, built of bricks, but the brick concealed by rough-cast plaster, +with porches, lattice-windows, and a little piece of garden-ground +before the door. The greater part of these houses belong to the company, +and are let to the men at rents from 2s. 9d. per week upward. The +accommodation is good, and it would be difficult to find such houses at +such low rents even in the suburbs of a large town. Water is plentifully +supplied by public pumps, and the town is well lighted with gas. The +names of the streets are expressive: some are called after the towns to +which their direction points—such as Liverpool, Chester, Sandbach, &c.; +others from the works to which they lead—such as Forge-street; and +others from well-known but very modern names—such as Prince +Albert-street. The placards on the walls, however, seem somewhat out of +place in a railway town, as nearly all have relation to sales of cattle, +timber, &c., indicating clearly enough that Crewe is but a mechanical +settlement in an agricultural district. The market-place is spacious, +and roofed over; the church is a handsome edifice of stone; and the +Mechanics' Institution a fine building with a large lecture-room (used +also as a town-hall), a good library and news-room, and commodious +class-rooms. These were all built by the company; and indeed the +completeness of every thing connected with the town gives evidence of +such an amplitude of means possessed by its founders, as seldom, if +ever, fall to the lot of private individuals.</p> + +<p>The most interesting objects, however, about Crewe are the railway +works. These are placed on a large tongue of land near the station, and +so adapted, that wagons, and carriages, and engines can easily be run +into them from the main line. In these works every thing connected with +"the rolling stock" of the company for the northern section of the line +(Walnerton being used for the southern) is made and repaired. The number +of hands employed at present is about eight hundred; but formerly, when +railways were more prosperous than now, it exceeded a thousand. The +workmen seem to belong, in tolerably equal proportions, to the four +great divisions of the United Kingdom; and the slow, deliberate speech +of the Scot, the rich brogue of the Irishman, and the sharp, quick +utterance of the Welshman, have lost very little of their purity and +richness amid the air of the county palatine of Chester. The greater +portion of the work is carried on in long, largo sheds, for the most +part of one story, and called the "fitting," "erecting," and other +shops, according to the nature of the work done in them. The artisans +may be divided into two great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> classes—the workers in metal, and those +in wood; the former being employed in making locomotives' wheels, axles, +springs, &c., and the latter in constructing the carriages. By far the +greatest number of hands are employed in the former.</p> + +<p>That our hasty inspection may begin at the beginning, let us peep at the +foundry. Both brass and iron are east here, but to-day it is iron. The +sandy floor is covered with moulds of all descriptions, and swarthy +workmen are preparing them to receive the melted iron. Occasionally you +are startled by the shout of "Mind your eye!" which must be taken in its +literal signification, for it comes from a moulder blowing away with a +bellows the superfluous grains of fine sand, which, if once in the eye, +will give some trouble. The moulds are ready, the furnace is opened, and +a stream of bright white metal rolls out into the pots prepared for its +reception, and is speedily poured into the moulds. In an adjoining shed +are blacksmiths plying forehammers; but their greatest efforts are +entirely eclipsed by the mighty steam-hammer that is seen at work in +another part of the shed. This hammer is the invention of Mr. Nasmyth, +of the Bridgewater Foundry, near Manchester. It moves up and down in a +strong frame, at a speed subject to such nice regulations, that, +according to the will of its director, it can gently drive a nail, or +crush to splinters a log of wood. When Lord John Russell lately visited +Manchester, the delicate touch of this hammer was strikingly displayed +before him: an egg was procured, and placed in a wine-glass, and such +was the power possessed over this giant, that after a little adjustment, +the mighty hammer was brought repeatedly down so as just to chip the egg +as gently as by a spoon in the hands of a child, while the glass was not +in the slightest degree injured or disturbed. The labor saved by this +hammer is immense. One man sits perched up on the frame to direct it, and +another stands below to guide the iron on the anvil. The great long bar, +white with heat, is pulled out of the furnace, laid on the massive piece +of iron under the frame, and, with a dull, heavy sound, down conies the +hammer, swiftly or slowly, according to the wishes of the director. From +the forge and the foundry the "rough-hewn" iron-work passes to be +planed, and its surface to be made "true." The wheel of an engine or a +carriage, for example, after being forged by the black-smith, requires +to be most carefully cut round the rim, so that the space between the +flange—that is, the projecting inner part of the wheel, and the outer +part—may be perfectly conical, in order that the least amount of +surface may be exposed to the rail, and consequently the least amount of +friction produced. Again, when a cylinder comes from the foundry, the +interior must be cut and polished to a perfect circle, otherwise it +would be useless. In short, there is no part of a locomotive that does +not require to be prepared with the most perfect accuracy to fit some +other part; and if this accuracy is not gained, the engine will either +not work at all, or work very imperfectly. It must be remembered that it +is hard metal, like iron and brass, that has thus to be wrought on, not +comparatively soft material, like wood and stone.</p> + +<p>But the machinery employed at Crewe seems capable of cutting any thing, +even though it were a rock of adamant. You pass into a shed full of +little machines, standing separate from each other, with all manner of +curious wheels and belts, driven by steam, of course, and each with a +man stationed by its side, gazing attentively at the little machine, as +if he were absorbed in thought; and, indeed, were it not for an +occasional quick movement of his hands, and a rapid change of position, +you might almost suppose that he was sleeping on his legs. But go close +up, and you notice that the machine is slowly moving backward and +forward, and still more slowly at the same time in a lateral direction. +Some curious piece of mechanism is placed on it, and the movements of +the machine cause a sharp steel-cutter to pass over the iron surface, +which cuts it as easily and truly as a joiner planes a piece of fir. The +side motion brings all the surface gradually under the instrument, but +the machine, clever and powerful though it is, requires to be constantly +watched and regulated, and hence the fixed attention of the man in +charge. At a large machine, you will see those long, curious rods called +"eccentrics" undergoing this operation; at another, a cylinder is being +planed; and at a third, the rims of wheels are being cut. The filings +thus made are preserved, and will be seen in large heaps in a yard, +ready to be melted down, and "used up" again. In some cases both iron +and brass filings are produced, which, of course, are mixed with each +other; but in a quiet corner of one of the sheds you will find a boy +with a heap of these filings before him, separating the brass from the +iron by means of a magnet. Only imagine a boy of fourteen or fifteen +doing nothing all day long except raking a magnet through a heap of +black and yellow dust, and brushing into a separate heap the iron +filings off his magnet! You will also see a series of three iron rollers +working on each other, by means of which plate iron can be twisted into +any given form; a mighty "punch" which will make a hole an inch in +diameter through iron an inch in thickness as easily as though it were +clay; and a sharp-cutting instrument that shears through sheets of iron +as easily as a pair of scissors through a sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>Go into another shed, and you will see all these various parts getting +their last touches from the hand, and being fitted into each other; and +here, also you find two or three men engraving, on circular segments of +brass, the names the various engines are to be known by. In another shed +the engines are being "erected." Here you see from twenty to thirty in +all stages of progress. Perhaps the framework only has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> been laid; or +the boiler, with its many rows of long, circular brass tubes, has just +been fastened, and is now receiving its outer clothing of long slips of +wood; or the whole is complete, merely wanting to be tried on the many +lines of rail in and around the sheds. There are two classes of engines +here, whose difference is observable at a glance: some have six wheels, +two of which are very large, about six feet in diameter, and the other +four much smaller. The two first only are driven by the machinery, the +others being merely what are called "bearing wheels." With this +description of engine more speed than power is obtained, and hence it is +used for passenger trains, where a high velocity is required, and where +there is usually little weight, comparatively speaking, to draw. The +others have only four wheels, not so large as the two just described, +but all driven by the machinery. Such engines I are more remarkable for +power than speed, and accordingly they are used for luggage trains. In +another shed, "The Hospital," will be found a number of engines laboring +under various disorders, sent here to be repaired.</p> + +<p>But carriages and wagons are also built here. You enter a shed (of two +stories this time), and find wood shavings instead of iron filings, and +the hissing of a circular saw instead of the quiet, steady scraping of a +"cutter." Here all the woodwork of the carriages is executed, and when +ready they are hoisted through a large trap-door in the roof to the +second story, where they are painted and varnished, and, if first-class, +"up-holstered." In a store-room above stairs, are piled heaps of +cushions ready for the most expensive carriages; at a table is a boy +stuffing with horse-hair the leathern belts that hang by the sides of +the windows; and elsewhere an artist is painting the arms of the company +on the panels of a door. Here and there are boards placed before a +carriage, with the intimation "Wet!" indicating that you must not go too +near; and some of the carriages give evidence of having seen service, +but are now renewing their youth under the skillful hands of the painter +and the upholsterer. When ready to "go on the line," they are let down +through the trap-door, fixed on their wheels and axles, and sent to +relieve others that require repair.</p> + +<p>Six o'clock strikes, and work ceases. In walking back leisurely to the +station, I saw many of the workmen digging in their little gardens, +"bringing themselves," as Emerson phrases it, "into primitive relations +with the soil and nature;" others were reading the papers of the day at +the Mechanics' Institution; others strolling among the green fields +round the town; and others walking to a class-room, to hear a teetotal +lecture; while some were proceeding to recreations of a very different +kind. I was admitted through the iron gate by the same policeman; the +"down" express train arrived, and it conveyed me in an hour and a half +to Liverpool, a distance of about forty-five miles, stopping only once +at the well-known town of Warrington.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]</h4> +<h2><a name="STEAM-BRIDGE_OF_THE_ATLANTIC" id="STEAM-BRIDGE_OF_THE_ATLANTIC"></a>STEAM-BRIDGE OF THE ATLANTIC.</h2> + + + +<p>In the summer of 1838 the Atlantic Ocean was crossed for the first time +by vessels exclusively propelled by steam-power. These pioneers were the +<i>Sirius</i> and the <i>Great Western</i>—the former built for another class of +voyages, and afterward lost on the station between Cork and London; the +latter built expressly for Atlantic navigation, and which has ever since +been more or less employed in traversing that ocean. Other ships +followed: the <i>British Queen</i>, afterward sold to the Belgian government; +the <i>Great Liverpool</i>, subsequently altered and placed on the line +between Southampton and Alexandria; and the <i>President</i>, lost, no man +knows how or where, in the year 1841. Then came what is called "Cunard's +Line," consisting of a number of majestic steam-ships built in the +Clyde, to carry passengers and mails between Liverpool in Europe, and +Halifax, Boston, and New York in America; a service they have performed +with the most marvelous regularity. The only great misfortune that has +befallen this line has been the loss of one of the vessels, the +<i>Columbia</i>, which, in nautical phrase, "broke her back" on some rocks on +the American shore of the Atlantic. Then came the <i>Great Britain</i>, the +greatest of them all, differing from the others in two respects—first, +in being built of iron instead of wood; and second, in being propelled +by the Archimedean screw instead of by the old paddle-wheels; and, alas! +she has differed from them all in a third respect, inasmuch as neither +the same good-luck attended her as in general fell to the lot of the +ships of the Cunard Line, nor the same irretrievable bad fortune as was +met by the <i>President</i> and the <i>Columbia</i>; for, after having made +several voyages very successfully, she, to the amazement of all mankind, +very quietly went ashore in Dundrum Bay, on the east coast of Ireland, +from whence, after spending a most uncomfortable winter, she was brought +back to Liverpool, and now lies in the Bramley-Moore Dock there, like a +huge mass of iron suffering under premature rust. But all this time +these ocean steamers that periodically brought to New York passengers +and intelligence from Europe were British built. They had been +constructed in the Avon, the Mersey, and the Clyde, the greater number +having been launched in the same waters as first received Henry Bell's +little <i>Comet</i>. Why did America not embark in such enterprise? As +regards steam navigation, Fulton was before Bell; New York before +Glasgow; the <i>Fulton's Folly</i> before the <i>Cornet</i>; and was</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The greatest nation<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all creation"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>to be outdone in the field of enterprise by the old Britishers? American +pride said "No;" American instinct said "No;" and, above all, American +capitalists said "No!" Keels were laid down in New York; the +shipbuilders' yards became unusually active; and the stately timbers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> of +majestic ships gradually rose before the admiring gaze of the citizens +of the great republic.</p> + +<p>But the race of William the Doubter is not yet extinct, and many, as +usual, shook their wise heads at the enterprise. It was admitted that in +inland navigation the Americans had beaten the world; that except an +occasional blow-up, their river steamers were really models of +enterprise and skill; but it was gravely added, the Mississippi is not +the Atlantic; icebergs are not snags; and an Atlantic wave is somewhat +different from an Ohio ripple. These truisms were of course undeniable; +but to them was quickly added another fact, about which there could be +as little mistake—namely, the arrival at Southampton, after a voyage +which, considering it was the first, was quite successful, of the +American-built steam-ship <i>Washington</i> from New York. There seemed to be +a touch of calm irony in thus making the <i>Washington</i> the first of their +Atlantic-crossing steamers, as if the Americans had said, "You doubting +Britishers! when you wished to play tyrant over us, did we not raise one +Washington who chastised you? and now that you want to monopolize +Atlantic navigation, we have raised another Washington, just to let you +know that we will beat you again!"</p> + +<p>The <i>Washington</i>, however, was only the precursor of greater vessels. +These were to sail between New York and Liverpool, carrying the mails +under a contract with the American government. In size, and speed, and +splendor of fittings, these new ships were to surpass the old; even +their names were, if possible, to be more grand and expressive. The +vessels of Cunard's Line had lately appropriated the names of the four +great continents of the globe, but the oceans remained, and their names +were adopted; the new steamers being called the <i>Atlantic</i>, <i>Pacific</i>, +<i>Arctic</i>, <i>Baltic</i>, and <i>Adriatic</i>. The first of these was dispatched +from New York on the 27th of April last, and arrived in the Mersey on +the 10th of May, thus making the passage in about thirteen days. The +voyage would have been made in a shorter time but for two accidents: the +bursting of the condenser, and the discovery, after the vessel was some +distance at sea, of the weakness of the floats or boards on the +paddle-wheels. About two days were entirely lost in making repairs; and +the speed was reduced, in order to prevent the floats from being +entirely torn away from the paddle-wheels. These things considered, the +passage was very successful. The average time occupied during 1849 by +the vessels of the old line between New York and Liverpool was 12; days; +but their voyages were longer than those of the <i>Atlantic</i>, as they +called at Halifax. The shortest passage was that made by the <i>Canada</i> +from New York to Liverpool <i>via</i> Halifax in eleven days four hours.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + + +<p>The <i>Atlantic</i> remained for nineteen days at Liverpool; and during all +that time she had to lie in a part of the river called the Sloyne, in +consequence of none of the dock-entrances being wide enough to allow her +to pass in. Her breadth, measuring across the paddle-boxes, is 75 feet; +of the vessels of Cunard's Line, about 70 feet; and the widest +dock-entrance is barely sufficient to admit the latter. The <i>Great +Britain</i>, though longer than any other steam-ship that ever entered the +Mersey, is not so broad, as, being propelled by the screw, she has no +paddle-wheels. A dock at the north shore is now in course of +construction expressly for the accommodation of the <i>Atlantic</i> and her +consorts.</p> + +<p>For several days during her stay at Liverpool the <i>Atlantic</i> was open to +visitors on payment of sixpence each, the money thus realized (upward of +£70) being paid over to the trustees of the Institution for the Blind, +whose church and school are now being removed to give greater space +round the station of the London and Northwestern Railway. On the day of +my visit crowds of people were waiting at the pier for the steamer that +was to convey them to the <i>Atlantic</i>. Whitsuntide visitors from the +manufacturing districts were hastening on board the numerous vessels +waiting to take them on pleasure excursions to the Isle of Man, North +Wales, or round the light-ship at the mouth of the river. There was +great risk of making mistakes in the hurry; and the remark of an old +sailor, that the vessel could "easily be known by the Yankee flag flying +at the fore," served only still further to confuse the many, who could +not tell one flag from another. However, a small tug-steamer soon +appeared with a dirty piece of bunting, just recognizable as the famous +"star-spangled banner," flying at the fore; and her deck was in a few +minutes so crowded, that orders were issued to take no more on board, +and away we steamed, leaving about a hundred people to exercise their +patience until the steamer's return. A man at my elbow, who afterward +appeared in the capacity of money-taker, whispered, "There's the +<i>captin</i>" and on looking up the gangway, I saw</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A man of middle age,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In aspect manly, grave, and sage,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>looking calmly in the direction of the colossal ship of which he was the +commander; his complexion browned by exposure to sun and wind, storm and +spray; and his whole demeanor indicating the calm strength acquired by +long familiarity with the elements in their roughest moods. As we +approached the ship, her appearance was not prepossessing. She is +undoubtedly clumsy; the three masts are low, the funnel is short and +dumpy, there is no bowsprit, and her sides are painted black, relieved +only by one long streak of dark red. Her length between the +perpendiculars—that is, the length of her keel—is 276 feet; breadth +(exclusive of paddle-boxes), 45; thus keeping up the proportion, as old +as Noah's ark, of six feet of length to one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> breadth. The stern is +rounded, having in the centre the American eagle, clasping the starred +and striped shield, but no other device. The figure-head is of colossal +dimensions, intended, say some, for Neptune; others say that it is the +"old Triton blowing his wreathed horn," so lovingly described by +Wordsworth; and some wags assert that it is the proprietor of the ship +blowing his own trumpet. The huge bulk of the <i>Atlantic</i> was more +perceptible by contrast with the steamer—none of the smallest—that was +now alongside; for though the latter was large enough to accommodate +about four hundred people on deck, yet its funnel scarcely reached as +high as the bulwarks of the <i>Atlantic</i>. The diameter of the +paddle-wheels is 36 feet; and the floats, many of which, split and +broken, were lying about in the water, are nearly 15 feet long. The +depth of the hold is 31 feet, and the estimated burden 2860 tons, being +about the same as the <i>Great Britain</i>, and about 500 tons more than the +ships of the old Cunard Line.</p> + +<p>Like all the other Atlantic steamers, the run of the deck is almost a +straight line. Around the funnel, and between the paddle-boxes, is a +long wooden house, and another is placed at the stern. These contain the +state-rooms of the captain and officers; and in a cluster are to be +found the kitchen, the pastry-room, and the barber's shop. The two +former are, like similar establishments, replete with every convenience, +having even a French <i>maître de cuisine</i>; but the latter is quite +unique. It is fitted up with all necessary apparatus—with glass-cases +containing perfumery, &c.; and in the centre is "the barber's chair." +This is a comfortable, well-stuffed seat, with an inclined back. In +front is a stuffed trestle, on which to rest feet and legs; and behind +is a little stuffed apparatus like a crutch, on which to rest the head. +These are movable, so as to suit people of all sizes; and in this +comfortable horizontal position the passenger lies, and his beard is +taken off in a twinkling, let the Atlantic waves roll as they may. The +house at the stern contains a smoking-room, and a small apartment +completely sheltered from the weather for the steersman. The +smoking-room communicates with the cabin below, so that, after dinner, +those passengers so disposed may, without the least exposure to the +weather, or annoyance to their neighbors, enjoy the weed of old Virginia +in perfection. This smoking-room is the principal prospect of the man at +the helm, who, however, has to steer according to his signals. Before +him is a painted intimation that one bell means "port," and two bells +mean "starboard;" a like intimation appears on the large bell in the bow +of the ship; and according to the striking of the bell, so must he +steer.</p> + +<p>Proceeding below, we come to the great saloon, 67 feet long, and the +dining-saloon, 60 feet long, each being 20 feet broad, and divided from +each other by the steward's pantry. This pantry is more like a +silversmith's shop, the sides being lined with glass-cases stored with +beautifully-burnished plate; crockery of every description, well +secured, is seen in great quantities, and the neatness of arrangement +shows that the gilded inscription, full in the sight of every +visitor—"A place for every thing, and every thing in its place"—has +been reduced to practice. Above the tables in the dining-saloon are +suspended racks, cut to receive decanters, passes, &c. so that they can +be immediately placed on the table without the risk attendant on +carrying them from place to place. The two saloons are fitted up +in a very superior manner: rose, satin, and olive are the +principal woods that have been used, and some of the tables are of +beautifully-variegated marble, with metal supporters. The carpets are +very rich, and the coverings of the sofas, chairs, &c. are of the +same superior quality. The panels round the saloons contain +beautifully-finished emblems of each of the states in the Union, and a +few other devices that savor very strongly of republicanism. For +example, a young and beautiful figure, all radiant with health and +energy, wearing a cap of liberty, and waving a drawn sword, is +represented trampling on a feudal prince, from whose head a crown has +rolled in the dust. The cabin windows are of beautifully-painted glass, +embellished with the arms of New York, and other cities in the States. +Large circular glass ventilators, reaching from the deck to the lower +saloon, are also richly ornamented, while handsome mirrors multiply all +this splendor. The general effect is that of chasteness and a certain +kind of solidity. There is not much gilding, the colors used are not +gaudy, and there is a degree of elegant comfort about the saloons that +is sometimes wanting amid splendid fittings. There is a ladies' +drawing-room near the chief saloon full of every luxury. The berths are +about 150 in number, leading out, as usual, from the saloons. The most +novel feature about them is the "wedding-berths," wider and more +handsomely furnished than the others, intended for such newly-married +couples as wish to spend the first fortnight of the honeymoon on the +Atlantic. Such berths are, it seems, always to be found on board the +principal river-steamers in America, but are as yet unknown on this side +of the water. Each berth has a bell-rope communicating with a patented +machine called the "Annunciator." This is a circular plate about the +size of the face of an eight-day clock, covered with numbers +corresponding with those of the state-rooms. Each number is concealed by +a semi-circular plate, which is removed or turned round as soon as the +rope is pulled in the state-room with the corresponding number. A bell +is at the same time struck to call the attention of the stewards, who +then replace the plate in its former position, and attend to the +summons.</p> + +<p>The machinery which propels the ship consists of two engines, each of +500 horse-power, the engines of the old line being also two in number, +but only about 400 horse-power each Such cylinders, and shafts, and +pistons, and beams are, I believe unrivaled in the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> There are +four boilers, each heated by eight furnaces, in two rows of four each. +The consumption of coal is about fifty tons every twenty-four hours; +"and that," said one of the engineers, "is walking pretty fast into a +coal-mine, I guess!" According to the calculations of the very wise men +who predicted the failure of Atlantic steam navigation, such a vessel as +the <i>Atlantic</i> ought to carry 3700 tons of coal; but it will be seen +that one-fourth of that quantity is more than enough, even making +allowance for extra stores to provide against accidents. In the +engine-room is a long box with five compartments, each communicating +with a wire fastened like a bell-pull to the side of the paddle-box. +These handles are marked respectively, "ahead," "slow," "fast," "back," +and "hook-on;" and whenever one is pulled, a printed card with the +corresponding signal appears in the box opposite the engineer, who has +to act accordingly. There is thus no noise of human voices on board this +ship: the helmsman steers by his bells, the engineer works by the +telegraph, and the steward waits by the annunciator.</p> + +<p>Two traces of national habits struck me very much. Even in the finest +saloon there are, in places where they would be least expected, handsome +"spittoons," the upper part fashioned like a shell, and painted a +sea-green or sky-blue color, thus giving ample facility for indulging in +that practice of spitting of which Americans are so fond. Again, much +amusement was caused by the attempt of one of the officers in charge of +the communication between the small steamer and the <i>Atlantic</i> to +prevent the gentlemen from leaving the latter until the ladies had +seated themselves on the former. The appearance of the deck, crowded +with ladies only, and a host of gentlemen kept back, some impatient to +get down, but the greater part entering into the humor of the thing, was +quite new to English ideas. It is but fair to add that the ladies did +not seem to like it; and that, when the steamer again came alongside, it +was not repeated.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole, this Atlantic steamer is really worthy of the great +country from which she has come. If, in shape and general appearance, +she is inferior to the old vessels, she is decidedly equal, if not +superior, to them in machinery and fittings. Her powers as regards speed +have of course yet to be tried. One voyage is no test, nor even a series +of voyages during the summer months: she must cross and recross at least +for a year before any just comparison can be instituted. The regular +postal communication between Liverpool and the United States will +speedily be twice every week—the ships of the new line sailing on +Wednesday, and the old on Saturday.</p> + +<p>But other ports besides Liverpool are now dispatching steamers regularly +to America. Glasgow sent out a powerful screw steamer—the <i>City of +Glasgow</i>, 1087 tons—on 16th April, for New York, where she arrived on +3d May; thus making the passage in about seventeen days, in spite of +stormy weather and entanglements among ice; the average time taken by +the Liverpool steamers during 1849 being fourteen days. Her return +voyage, however, made under more favorable circumstances, was within +this average, the distance being steamed between the 18th May and the +1st June. A vessel called the <i>Viceroy</i> is about to sail from Galway to +New York, and her voyage is looked forward to with considerable +interest. The <i>Washington</i> and <i>Hermann</i> sail regularly between Bremen +and Southampton and New York, and the <i>British Queen</i> has been put on +the passage between Hamburg and New York. All these enterprises seem to +indicate that ere long the Atlantic carrying trade will be conducted in +steam-ships, and sailing vessels superseded to as great extent as has +been the case in the coasting trade.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The <i>Atlantic</i> has just made the passage direct in ten +days and sixteen hours.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Sharpe's Magazine]</h4> +<h2><a name="THE_LITTLE_HERO_OF_HAARLEM" id="THE_LITTLE_HERO_OF_HAARLEM"></a>THE LITTLE HERO OF HAARLEM.</h2> + + + +<p>At an early period in the history of Holland, a boy was born in Haarlem, +a town remarkable for its variety of fortune in war, but happily still +more so for its manufactures and inventions in peace. His father was a +<i>sluicer</i>—that is, one whose employment it was to open and shut the +sluices, or large oak-gates which, placed at certain regular distances, +close the entrance of the canals, and secure Holland from the danger to +which it seems exposed, of finding itself under water, rather than above +it. When water is wanted, the sluicer raises the sluices more or less, +as required, as a cook turns the cock of a fountain, and closes them +again carefully at night; otherwise the water would flow into the +canals, then overflow them, and inundate the whole country; so that even +the little children in Holland are fully aware of the importance of a +punctual discharge of the sluicer's duties. The boy was about eight +years old when, one day, he asked permission to take some cakes to a +poor blind man, who lived at the other side of the dyke. His father gave +him leave, but charged him not to stay too late. The child promised, and +set off on his little journey. The blind man thankfully partook of his +young friend's cakes, and the boy, mindful of his father's orders, did +not wait, as usual, to hear one of the old man's stories, but as soon as +he had seen him eat one muffin, took leave of him to return home.</p> + +<p>As he went along by the canals, then quite full, for it was in October, +and the autumn rains had swelled the waters, the boy now stopped to pull +the little blue flowers which his mother loved so well, now, in childish +gayety, hummed some merry song. The road gradually became more solitary, +and soon neither the joyous shout of the villager, returning to his +cottage-home, nor the rough voice of the carter, grumbling at his lazy +horses, was any longer to be heard The little fellow now perceived that +the blue of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> the flowers in his hand was scarcely distinguishable from +the green of the surrounding herbage, and he looked up in some dismay. +The night was falling; not, however, a dark winter-night, but one of +those beautiful, clear, moonlight nights, in which every object is +perceptible, though not as distinctly as by day. The child thought of +his father, of his injunction, and was preparing to quit the ravine in +which he was almost buried, and to regain the beach, when suddenly a +slight noise, like the trickling of water upon pebbles, attracted his +attention. He was near one of the large sluices, and he now carefully +examines it, and soon discovers a hole in the wood, through which the +water was flowing. With the instant perception which every child in +Holland would have, the boy saw that the water must soon enlarge the +hole through which it was now only dropping, and that utter and general +ruin would be the consequence of the inundation of the country that must +follow. To see, to throw away the flowers, to climb from stone to stone +till he reached the hole, and to put his finger into it, was the work of +a moment, and, to his delight, he finds that he has succeeded in +stopping the flow of the water.</p> + +<p>This was all very well for a little while, and the child thought only of +the success of his device. But the night was closing in, and with the +night came the cold. The little boy looked around in vain. No one came. +He shouted—he called loudly—no one answered. He resolved to stay there +all night, but, alas! the cold was becoming every moment more biting, +and the poor finger fixed in the hole began to feel benumbed, and the +numbness soon extended to the hand, and thence throughout the whole arm. +The pain became still greater, still harder to bear, but still the boy +moved not. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he thought of his father, of +his mother, of his little bed, where he might now be sleeping so +soundly; but still the little fellow stirred not, for he knew that did +he remove the small slender finger which he had opposed to the escape of +the water, not only would he himself be drowned, but his father, his +brothers, his neighbors—nay, the whole village. We know not what +faltering of purpose, what momentary failures of courage there might +have been during that long and terrible night; but certain it is, that +at day-break he was found in the same painful position by a clergyman +returning from attendance on a death-bed, who, as he advanced, thought +he heard groans, and bending over the dyke, discovered a child seated on +a stone, writhing from pain, and with pale face and tearful eyes.</p> + +<p>"In the name of wonder, boy," he exclaimed, "what are you doing there?"</p> + +<p>"I am hindering the water from running out," was the answer, in perfect +simplicity, of the child, who, during that whole night had been evincing +such heroic fortitude and undaunted courage.</p> + +<p>The Muse of History, too often blind to (true) glory, has handed down to +posterity many a warrior, the destroyer of thousands of his +fellow-men—she has left us in ignorance of the name of this real little +hero of Haarlem.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.]</h4> +<h2><a name="ADVENTURE_WITH_A_SNAKE" id="ADVENTURE_WITH_A_SNAKE"></a>ADVENTURE WITH A SNAKE.</h2> + + + +<p>As I was examining the spoor of the game by the fountain, I suddenly +detected an enormous old rook-snake stealing in beneath a mass of rock +beside me. He was truly an enormous snake, and, having never before +dealt with this species of game, I did not exactly know how to set about +capturing him. Being very anxious to preserve his skin entire, and not +wishing to have recourse to my rifle, I cut a stout and tough stick +about eight feet long, and having lightened myself of my shooting-belt, +I commenced the attack. Seizing him by the tail, I tried to get him out +of his place of refuge; but I hauled in vain; he only drew his large +folds firmer together: I could not move him. At length I got a rheim +round one of his folds, about the middle of his body, and Kleinboy and I +commenced hauling away in good earnest.</p> + +<p>The snake, finding the ground too hot for him, relaxed his coils, and +suddenly bringing round his head to the front, he sprang out at us like +an arrow, with his immense and hideous mouth opened to its largest +dimensions, and before I could get out of his way he was clean out of +his hole, and made a second spring, throwing himself forward about eight +or ten feet, and snapping his horrid fangs within a foot of my naked +legs. I sprang out of his way, and getting hold of the green bough I had +cut, returned to the charge. The snake now glided along at top speed: he +knew the ground well, and was making for a mass of broken rocks, where +he would have been beyond my reach, but before he could gain this place +of refuge, I caught him two or three tremendous whacks on the head. He, +however, held on, and gained a pool of muddy water, which he was rapidly +crossing, when I again belabored him, and at length reduced his pace to +a stand. We then hanged him by the neck to a bough of a tree, and in +about fifteen minutes he seemed dead; but he again became very +troublesome during the operation of skinning, twisting his body in all +manner of ways. This serpent measured fourteen feet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="MONTHLY_RECORD_OF_CURRENT_EVENTS" id="MONTHLY_RECORD_OF_CURRENT_EVENTS"></a>MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS</h2> + + +<p>The death of President Taylor is the leading event of interest in our +domestic record for the month, as it has been the leading topic of +public attention throughout the country. He died at half-past ten +o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, July 9th, after an illness of but +five days, the last of which alone was deemed dangerous. Exposure to the +sun in attendance upon the public celebration of the Fourth, imprudent +diet on returning home, and neglect of medical remedies until too late, +aggravated rapidly and fatally the disease which he had contracted, +which few of our army officers escaped, and from which several have +already died, during his Mexican campaign. On the afternoon of Wednesday +his alarming condition was announced in the two Houses of Congress, both +of which at once adjourned: and they only met the next day to make +arrangements for his funeral, which took place on Saturday, and was +attended by a large military display, by the officers of government and +the representatives of foreign nations, and by an immense concourse of +his fellow-citizens. His death was announced on Thursday by the Vice +President, <span class="smcap">Millard Fillmore</span>, upon whom the duties of the Presidential +office at once devolved, by virtue of the provisions of the +Constitution, in a Message to both Houses of Congress, and suitable +words of eulogy were pronounced, in the Senate, by Senators <span class="smcap">Downs</span>, of +Louisiana, <span class="smcap">Webster</span>, of Massachusetts, <span class="smcap">Cass</span>, of Michigan, <span class="smcap">King</span>, of +Alabama, <span class="smcap">Pearce</span>, of Maryland, and <span class="smcap">Berrien</span>, of Georgia; and in the House +by Mr. Speaker <span class="smcap">Cobb</span>, of Georgia, Messrs. <span class="smcap">Conrad</span>, of Louisiana, <span class="smcap">Winthrop</span>, +of Massachusetts, <span class="smcap">Baker</span>, of Illinois, <span class="smcap">Bayly</span>, of Virginia, <span class="smcap">Hilliard</span>, of +Alabama, <span class="smcap">John A. King</span>, of New York, <span class="smcap">McLane</span>, of Maryland, and <span class="smcap">Marshall</span>, +of Kentucky. Mr. <span class="smcap">Fillmore</span>, on the same day, took the oath of the +Presidential office in presence of both Houses of Congress, and thus +quietly, quickly, and peaceably was effected a transfer of all the +Executive powers of this great nation—a transfer never effected without +difficulty, and often causing commotion, turmoil, and bloodshed in the +less free and more conservative nations of the Old World. In the +preceding pages of this Magazine will be found a condensed outline of +the life of the late President, which obviates the necessity of further +reference in this place. His decease was celebrated by public obsequies +in all the principal cities of the Union, and has awakened a universal +and intense sentiment of regretful grief.</p> + +<p>Immediately upon the death of President <span class="smcap">Taylor</span> the members of his +Cabinet tendered their resignations to President <span class="smcap">Fillmore</span>, but at his +request, and for the safety of the public service, they retained their +offices for a few days, to give him the desired opportunity for care and +inquiry in selecting their successors. That selection was made as soon +as practicable, and on the 15th the President made the following +nominations, which were at once confirmed by the Senate, which had +previously and by a unanimous vote, chosen <span class="smcap">Senator William R. King</span>, of +Alabama, to preside over its deliberations:</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Secretary of State</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Daniel Webster</span>, Mass.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Secretary of the Treasury</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Thomas Corwin</span>, Ohio.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Secretary of the Interior</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">James A. Pearce</span>, Md.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Secretary of War</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Edward Bates</span>, Missouri.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Secretary of the Navy</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">William A. Graham</span>, N. C.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Attorney General</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">John J. Crittenden</span>, Ky.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Postmaster General</i></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Nathan K. Hall</span>, N. York.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>It is understood that Mr. <span class="smcap">Pearce</span> declines the secretaryship of the +Interior, but no official nomination has yet been made to fill his +place.</p> + +<p>No business of public importance has been transacted in Congress. In the +<span class="smcap">Senate</span> the Compromise Bill, reported by Mr. <span class="smcap">Clay</span> from the Committee of +Thirteen, continues under debate. Mr. <span class="smcap">Webster</span>, on the 17th ult., made a +very eloquent speech in its support, declaring himself earnestly in +favor of admitting California, of providing a Territorial government for +New Mexico, without the anti-slavery proviso, which he deems +superfluous, and of settling the question of boundary between Texas and +New Mexico. He said he should have preferred to act upon these measures +separately, but he was willing to vote for them as conjoined in the +bill. Speeches were also made by several Senators against the bill, and +some amendments, offered to obviate objections entertained to it in +various quarters, were rejected. No decisive action has been had upon it +up to the time of putting these pages to press.</p> + +<p>The chief action in the <span class="smcap">House</span>, of general interest, relates to what is +known as the <i>Galphin Claim,</i> the history of which is briefly as +follows: Prior to the year 1773 George Galphin, the original claimant, +was a licensed trader among the Creek and Cherokee Indians in the then +province of Georgia. The Indians became indebted to him in amounts so +large that they were unable to pay them; and in 1773, in order to give +him security for his claims, they ceded to the King of Great Britain, as +trustee, a tract of land containing two and a half millions of acres. +The trust was accepted, commissioners were appointed, some of the lands +were sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the expenses of +the commission, but none was then paid to the claimants for whose +benefit the trust had been created. The sum found due to George<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> Galphin +was £9791, for which amount a certificate was issued to him by the +Governor and Council in May, 1775. Meantime the war of the Revolution +broke out, and its successful result destroyed the trust, and the lands +were no longer subject to the control of the king. After the war was +over the state of Georgia granted these lands to those of her soldiers +who had been engaged in the war, and who became actual settlers upon +them. The descendants of Mr. Galphin applied to the state of Georgia for +the payment of their claims, as Georgia had merely succeeded to the +trusteeship of the King of England. The claim was prosecuted and pressed +for many years without success, it being contended that, as the lands +had been used to pay for services in the Revolution, the government of +the United States was properly liable for the private injury that might +have been sustained. In 1848 the Legislature of the state of Georgia +passed resolutions directing their Senators and Representatives in +Congress to urge the payment of these claims upon the General +Government; and Hon. <span class="smcap">George W. Crawford</span> was engaged by the claimants as +their agent, and was made interested to the amount of one-third of the +claim. Congress, at the session of 1848, passed a bill directing the +Secretary of the Treasury to examine and adjust the claims, and to pay +out of the public funds whatever might prove to be due. The Hon. <span class="smcap">R. J. +Walker</span>, then Secretary of the Treasury, examined the question, adjudged +the claim valid, paid the principal sum which he found to be due, +amounting to $43,518, and left the question of paying interest upon it +to the next Cabinet. In that Cabinet Mr. <span class="smcap">Crawford</span> held a seat, having +first transferred his agency for the claimants to Judge <span class="smcap">Bryan</span>, but +retaining his interest in the claim. The matter was pressed upon the +attention of the Secretary of the Treasury, who consulted the Attorney +General as to the legality of paying interest on a claim of this kind. +Mr. <span class="smcap">Johnson</span> gave a written opinion in favor of its payment. Mr. <span class="smcap">Meredith</span> +paid the interest, amounting to $191,352, Mr. <span class="smcap">Crawford</span> receiving his +share. The subject has been before Congress for several weeks, and has +excited a very earnest and somewhat acrimonious debate. The House, on +the 8th, adopted a resolution affirming that "the claim of the +representatives of George Galphin was not a just demand against the +United States," by a vote of 142 yeas and 49 nays. The same day they +adopted another resolution, declaring that "the act of Congress made it +the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the principal of said +claim, and it was therefore paid in conformity with law and precedent," +by a vote of 112 yeas and 66 nays. A third resolution, declaring that +"the act aforesaid did not authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to +pay interest on said claim, and its payment was not in conformity with +law or precedent," was also passed, 118 yeas and 71 nays. Soon after the +adoption of these resolutions, Mr. <span class="smcap">Crawford</span> addressed a letter to the +House asking that a suit might be commenced against him for the +recovery of the interest which he had received, and payment of which the +House had condemned, in order to bring the question to the test of the +judicial tribunals. No further action has yet been had upon the +subject.—The House has also taken action on the application of Mr. <span class="smcap">Hugh +N. Smith</span>, a delegate from New Mexico, chosen by a convention of her +people, to be admitted upon the floor of Congress, not of course to take +any other part in the business of that body than to be heard upon +questions affecting the rights and interests of his constituents. In the +early part of the session the application was referred to the proper +committee, the majority of which reported against his admission. On the +19th the whole subject was laid on the table—equivalent to Mr. <span class="smcap">Smith's</span> +rejection—by a vote of 105 yeas, 94 nays, and 29 absent. This disposes +of the question for the present session, although substantially the same +issue will indubitably come up in some new form.—The next day a similar +resolution was adopted rejecting the application of Mr. <span class="smcap">Babbitt</span> to be +admitted as a delegate from the Territory of Utah, or Deseret.</p> + +<p>The authorities of <span class="smcap">Cuba</span> have decided to release the American prisoners +taken from the island of Contoy, beyond Spanish jurisdiction. This will +probably terminate all difficulties between the two governments growing +out of this affair.—Considerable currency has been given to a story +stated by correspondents of the London press, that the Spanish Gen. +<span class="smcap">Narvaez</span> had grossly insulted the U.S. Minister at Madrid, refusing in +public to hold any intercourse with the representative of a nation which +tolerated and countenanced pirates and assassins. The story is entirely +discredited by direct advices.—The State Convention of Ohio called to +revise the Constitution has adjourned until the first Monday in +September.—A very destructive fire occurred at Philadelphia on the +night of the 9th ult. Although not in the chief business part of the +city, property to the amount of more than a million of dollars was +destroyed, and over <i>thirty</i> lives were lost by the explosion of various +materials in the buildings burned The occurrence has elicited from Prof. +<span class="smcap">Rogers</span>, of the University of Pennsylvania, a letter stating that, in his +opinion, saltpetre by itself is not explosive, but that the great +quantity of oxygen which it contains greatly increases the combustion of +ignited matter with which it may be brought in contact, and that this +may evolve gases so rapidly as to cause an explosion.—The cholera is +prevailing with a good deal of fatality in some of the western cities. +In Cincinnati the number of deaths has averaged 20 to 35, and has been +as high as 65: in St. Louis it has been still higher, and in Nashville, +Tenn., it has been quite as large in proportion to the population. At +the latest advices it seemed to be diminishing. It has not made its +appearance in any of the eastern cities.—The case of Prof. <span class="smcap">Webster</span>, +convicted at Boston of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> murder of Dr. <span class="smcap">Parkman</span>, has been definitively +decided. Soon after the trial he sent in a petition for a full pardon, +on the ground of his entire innocence and ignorance of the whole matter, +solemnly asserting, and calling God to witness, that he knew nothing +whatever of the manner in which Dr. Parkman's remains came to be found +in his room. A few days afterward he sent in another petition, praying +for a commutation of his sentence. It was presented by the Rev. Dr. +<span class="smcap">Putnam</span>, who had acted as his spiritual adviser, and who laid before the +Council a detailed confession, which he had received from Prof. Webster, +in which he confessed that he killed Dr. Parkman with a single blow from +a stick, but claimed that it was done without premeditation, in a moment +of great excitement caused by abusive language. He gave at length a +statement of the whole transaction. After considering the subject fully +and carefully, acting under the advice of the Council, Governor Briggs +decided against the application, and appointed Friday, the 30th day of +August, for the execution of the sentence of the Court. Upon that day, +therefore, Prof. Webster will undoubtedly be hung.—A good deal of +public interest has been enlisted in the performances of the new +American line of Transatlantic steamers, running between New York and +Liverpool. There are to be five steamers in the line, but only two of +them have as yet been finished. These two are the <i>Atlantic</i> and the +<i>Pacific</i>, the former of which has made two trips, and the latter one, +each way. On the morning of Sunday, July 21st, the <i>Atlantic</i> arrived at +New York at 3 o'clock, having left Liverpool on the 10th, at 11 o'clock +<span class="smcap">a.m.</span>—making the passage in ten days and sixteen hours, the shortest by +several hours ever made between the two ports. Her passage out was also +very short. These trips have confirmed the opinion which has very +generally been entertained, that the Americans would speedily have a +line of steamers on the ocean superior in speed, comfort, and elegance +to those of the Cunard Company which have hitherto enjoyed so high a +reputation.—Mr. <span class="smcap">E. George Squier</span>, U. S. Charge near the government of +Nicaragua, has returned to this country on a brief visit. We learn that +he has made a very full record of his observations upon the country in +which he has been residing, and that very volumnious papers from him on +the subject are in possession of the State Department. It is to be hoped +that they may be given to the public.—The initial steps have been taken +in Virginia toward an enterprise of decided importance to the southern +states if it should be carried out: it is nothing less than the +establishment of direct intercourse by a line of steamers between some +southern port and Liverpool, for the export of cotton and other articles +of southern growth, and for the transmission of southern correspondence, +&c. The meeting of delegates was held at Old Point on the 4th of July, +and committees were appointed to make proper representations on the +subject to Congress and the state Legislature, and to take such other +steps as they might deem essential.—A convention was held at Syracuse +of persons favorable to maintaining the existing Free School System of +the State of New York. The necessity for such action grows out of the +fact that the principle is to be submitted to the popular suffrage in +November. The Legislature of 1848 passed a law making education in the +common schools of the state absolutely free to all the children who +might choose to attend, making the law dependent for its validity on its +adoption by the people. Accordingly it was submitted to them in +November, 1848, and was sanctioned by a majority of over 90,000. It +accordingly went into effect. At the last session of the Legislature, +however, petitions were sent in, in great numbers, some of them praying +for the entire repeal of the law, and others for its essential +modification. The opponents of the law resisted the principle that +property should be taxed for purposes of education, inasmuch as men of +property would thus be compelled to pay for educating children not their +own. Others objected mainly to details of the law, and to the injurious +effect of the established mode of collecting the rate bills. The two +branches of the Legislature not being able to agree upon amendments of +the law, and not wishing to discard the principle on which it is +founded, agreed to submit it again to the popular suffrage. The +Convention in question assembled accordingly, to aid the law. Hon. +Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State, presided, and an address and +resolutions affirming the principles on which the law is based, and +calling on the people to give it their renewed support, were +adopted.—Col. <span class="smcap">Fremont</span> has received from the Royal Geographical Society +of London a medal, in token of their sense of his eminent services in +promoting the cause of geographical knowledge. It was presented through +the U.S. Minister.—<span class="smcap">Mr. John R. Bartlett</span>, who was appointed by the +President Commissioner to run the boundary line between Mexico and the +United States, in accordance with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, has +set out upon his mission. The point of departure is to be upon the Rio +Grande, and the Commissioners of the two countries are to meet at El +Paso. This will be the most extensive line of surveys ever made in the +United States, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and mostly +through a country wholly unknown.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Mexico</span> we have advices to the 1st of July. The Presidential +election, which was to occur soon, was becoming a topic of general +discussion. There are several candidates, among whom Gen. Almonte, Gomez +Farias, and Domingo Ibarra are the best known in this country. Congress +was to have assembled, but not a quorum of the members could be +collected. The cholera was raging with excessive and terrible fatality. +From the 17th of May to the 16th of June there had been in the city of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> +Mexico 7,846 cases, and on the last day named there were 230 deaths. +Among the victims was Don Mariano Otero, a distinguished statesman and +lawyer. In San Luis and other sections it was prevailing with great +severity. The financial affairs of the State of Durango were in such a +condition that an extra session of the Legislature had been called in +order to save them from total ruin.—Advices have been received of the +conclusion of a treaty with the Mexican Government by the U.S. Minister, +Mr. <span class="smcap">Letcher</span>, by which is ceded the right of transit by railroad across +the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This step has been taken in accordance with, +and probably in consequence of, the position taken upon the subject by +President <span class="smcap">Taylor</span> in his first message to Congress. The late President +<span class="smcap">Polk</span>, when he sent out Mr. <span class="smcap">Trist</span> to negotiate a treaty of peace with +Mexico, authorized him to offer five millions of dollars for the right +which has now been secured without the expense of a dollar: and Mexico, +moreover, has now stipulated to protect the parties constructing the +work, as well as the work itself after it shall have been completed. The +benefits resulting from this treaty, if the work shall be completed, +will be of the most important character. As an auxiliary measure to the +Nicaraguan Canal, it will tend very powerfully to unite the Atlantic and +the Pacific states.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">California</span> we have intelligence to the 17th of June. San Francisco +has been visited by two successive fires which had destroyed property to +the amount of several millions of dollars. A large proportion of the +goods burned were consigned by New York merchants to their agents in +California, so that the loss will fall very heavily upon them. As +insurance could not readily be effected the loss will be large. Nearly +three millions of dollars in gold dust have reached the United States +during the month. The foreigners resident in California had resisted the +payment of the tax of twenty-five dollars per month levied by the state +laws, and some difficulty was anticipated in enforcing payment, but at +the latest accounts this had been obviated, and every thing was quiet. +The intelligence from the mines encourages the belief that the quantity +of gold dug this season will be greater than ever before. From the +valleys of both the Sacramento and the San Joaquin very large amounts +were constantly obtained, and new mines have been found as far north as +Oregon, and as far south as Los Angelos. From the Mariposa mines many +very beautiful specimens of the gold-bearing quartz have been procured. +Difficulties had arisen with the Indians in different sections of the +country, and several severe battles between them and detachments of U. +S. troops had been fought. They grew mainly out of the hostile +disposition of the Indians which is often excited and encouraged by the +lawless conduct of the whites. Measures were in progress which, it was +hoped, would restore quiet and security. It is stated that the property +in San Francisco as assessed for taxation amounts to three hundred +millions of dollars.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">New Mexico</span> we have intelligence of some interest. It seems that the +people, becoming impatient of the delay of Congress in acting upon the +question of framing a government for them, and probably taking the hint +from the declared sentiments of President <span class="smcap">Taylor</span>, resolved to form a +government for themselves. Public meetings were accordingly held, and +resolutions adopted, requesting Governor <span class="smcap">Munroe</span> to call a convention of +delegates from the several counties to form a State Constitution. Col. +<span class="smcap">Munroe</span> accordingly issued a proclamation to that effect, and a +Convention met at Santa Fé on the 15th of May. The session lasted eight +or ten days, and a Constitution was adopted, which was to go into +operation in July. The boundaries of the state were defined, and slavery +was prohibited. An election was soon to take place for members of the +Legislature. Two Senators and one Representative in Congress were to be +elected, and application was to be made for the immediate admission of +the State into the Union.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of <span class="smcap">Literary Intelligence</span> there is little of general interest. The +distinguished English novelist, Mr. <span class="smcap">G. P. R. James</span>, arrived with his +family at New York on the 4th of July, and will spend several months in +visiting different sections of the United States. There are very few +Englishmen who would be more cordially welcomed to this country than Mr. +<span class="smcap">James</span>. His long and most honorable and productive career as an author +has made him universally known, and his works have been very widely read +in the United States as well as in England. The officious and +impertinent gossip of a portion of our newspaper press led Mr. <span class="smcap">James</span> to +publish a note disclaiming the intention of writing a book upon this +country. We regret that he should have found it necessary either to +announce such a purpose, or to form it. This country has nothing to lose +from the published observations of a man at once so competent and so +candid. Mr. <span class="smcap">James</span> had for fellow-passengers Count <span class="smcap">Dembinski</span>, who was a +major in the Hungarian service and nephew of General <span class="smcap">Dembinski</span>, whose +name is so well known to the whole world in connection with that gallant +but ill-fated struggle. Count D. was also aid to <span class="smcap">Kossuth</span>, and fled with +him, accompanied with his wife, whom he had married at Temeswar during +the war, to Turkey, whence he came to this country. He is a young man of +great talent and accomplishments, and will probably make the United +States his home.—The anniversary of the Declaration of American +Independence was celebrated on the 4th throughout the country with the +usual demonstrations. Orations were delivered in nearly all the +principal cities of the Union, some of which have since been published. +The ablest one that has fallen under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> our notice was delivered by Mr. E. +P. <span class="smcap">Whipple</span> before the authorities of Boston. He spoke upon Washington +and the Principles of the Revolution, holding up the former as a model +of greatness, combating the popular notion that he was not a man of +genius, and dwelling upon the fact that our revolution was fought, not +on abstract principles, or in the assertion of abstract rights, but for +the redress of practical evils and the attainment of practical ends. It +was a timely, able, and judicious address, and was marked by the +peculiar vigor of style and of thought, injured by an occasional +straining after effect in expression and phrases, which characterize the +writings of Mr. <span class="smcap">Whipple</span>. Senator <span class="smcap">Foote</span>, of Mississippi, delivered an +address before the Washington Monument Association at the National +Capital; it was a strong appeal on behalf of united and harmonious +councils, and was both timely and effective. Hon. J. W. <span class="smcap">Edmonds</span>, of New +York city, delivered the address at Washington's Head Quarters at +New-burgh, which the Legislature of New York, very properly and +creditably, took measures at the last session to preserve as a permanent +monument of the revolution. E. A. <span class="smcap">Raymond</span>. Esq. delivered an address at +Rochester, which was a skillfully condensed summary of the growth of the +country, and especially of its political development.—A new Historical +Society of the Episcopal Church has just been formed at Trinity College, +Hartford, Conn., of which Bishop <span class="smcap">Brownell</span> has been chosen +President.—The inventor of the Ramage printing press, which, until +superseded by subsequent improvements, was an important step in the +progress of printing, <span class="smcap">Adam Ramage</span>, died at Philadelphia on the 9th of +July. He was a native of Scotland, and was nearly eighty years old at +the time of his death.—<span class="smcap">Margaret Fuller</span>, well known in this country as a +gifted and accomplished lady, and author of several works of marked +value and interest, perished on the 19th of July, by the wreck of the +ship Elizabeth from Leghorn, in which she had taken passage with her +husband, the Marquis d'Ossoli, and her child, in returning to her native +land from Italy, where she had been spending several years. Her loss +will be deplored by a large circle of personal friends, and by the still +larger number of those who knew her only through her writings. She was +the eldest daughter of Hon. Timothy Fuller, formerly a lawyer of Boston, +but more recently a resident of Cambridge. She was remarkable for her +thorough intellectual cultivation, being familiar with both the ancient +and most of the modern languages and their literature—for the vigor and +natural strength of her mind—for her conversational powers, and for her +enthusiastic devotion to letters and art. She was at Rome during the +recent revolution, and took the deepest interest in the struggles of +that day. She had been for some time engaged upon a work on Italy, which +it is feared has perished with her. Her husband and child were lost at +the same time. Mr. Henry Sumner, of Boston, also perished.—<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo +Emerson</span> is traveling in the region on the Upper Waters of the +Mississippi.—No original books of special interest have been published +during the month. In our department of Literary Notices mention is made +of those which are of most importance.—Mr. <span class="smcap">Prescott</span>, the historian, is +traveling in Europe. He is announced as having been present at a recent +meeting of the London Archaeological Society.—Mr. H. N. <span class="smcap">Hudson</span>, whose +lectures on <span class="smcap">Shakspeare</span> have made him widely and favorably known as a +critic, has been engaged by a Boston publishing house to edit a new +edition of the works of the great Dramatist, which will be published +during the coming year. Mr. Hudson's ability and familiarity with the +subject will enable him to make a very valuable and interesting +work.—<span class="smcap">Garibaldi</span>, who achieved distinction in the defense of Rome +against the French, is coming to New York, where he was to be honored +with a public reception from the authorities.—The capture of Stoney +Point was celebrated this year at that place, for the first time. <span class="smcap">Hugh +Maxwell</span>, Esq., of New York, delivered the address. The celebration is +hereafter to be annual.—In no department of mechanism is the progress +of the age more conspicuous than in printing presses, as is shown by the +fact that Messrs. Hoe and Co., of New York, are now constructing a press +which will work from 15,000 to 20,000 per hour. It will be thirty-three +feet long, with eight printing cylinders, and will cost about +$21,000.—A newly invented locomotive engine, intended for use in the +streets of cities, has just been put upon the Hudson River Railroad at +its termination in New York. It consumes its own smoke, and is entirely +inclosed from public view—presenting the appearance of a simple +baggage-car. The engine is of ninety horse power.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>News from <span class="smcap">Liberia</span> has been received announcing that the government has +at last been able to effect the purchase of the Gallinas territories, +including the whole from Cape Mount to Shebar, except a small strip of +five miles of coast which will soon fall into their hands. The chief +importance of this purchase springs from the fact that Gallinas has been +for many years the head quarters of the slave-trade—an enormous number +of slaves having been shipped from there every year. The government paid +$9500 for the territory, and further agreed to appoint commissioners to +settle the wars in the country, and open trade with the interior tribes, +as well as to settle among them and instruct them in the arts of +civilized life. This may prove to be an important step not only toward +the suppression of the horrible traffic in slaves, which the united +efforts of England, France, and the United States have hither to been +unable to effect, but also toward the civilization of Africa, a result +to which no philanthropic mind can be indifferent.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">England</span> by far the most important event<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> of the month is the sudden +death of Sir <span class="smcap">Robert Peel</span>. On the 29th of June he had called at +Buckingham Palace to pay his respects to the Queen, and was riding away +upon horseback, when his horse swerved slightly and threw him to the +ground; he fell sideways, striking upon his left shoulder. He was at +once raised up by several gentlemen who rushed to his assistance, and +said that he was very much hurt indeed. He was taken to his residence +and received all the attention of the highest surgical skill, which, +however, was less effective than would have been anticipated on account +of the intense pain which he suffered. He lingered until near midnight +of the 2d July, when he expired. A partial examination of his body +showed that one of his ribs had been broken and was pressing upon his +lungs. His family declined a public funeral tendered by the government, +and his remains were interred at Tamworth. Both houses of Parliament +adjourned, and demonstrations of profound regret and respect for his +character were general. An outline of his life and political career will +be found in the preceding pages of this Magazine. His death is justly +considered an event of great political importance. It was generally +anticipated that he would soon be called upon to resume the office of +prime minister, and universal confidence was felt in his large +experience, his eminent ability, and his intimate acquaintance with the +condition and events of the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p>The Greek question was still under discussion at our last advices: it +has led to events of no small importance in connection with the politics +of England and the fundamental principles of the British constitution. +On the 17th of June, in the House of Lords, Lord <span class="smcap">Stanley</span> moved a +resolution censuring the government for having adopted coercive measures +to enforce claims against Greece, doubtful in point of justice or +exaggerated in amount. He supported his motion at great length, entering +into a detailed history of the whole matter, and accusing the government +of having, through its foreign minister, insisted on exorbitant demands, +oppressed the weak, and endangered the peace of Europe. He was sustained +by the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Brougham and others, and was answered by +the Marquis of <span class="smcap">Lansdowne</span> who, with others, defended the government. The +resolution was <i>carried</i> by 169 to 132, showing a majority against the +government of 37. On the 20th, Mr. <span class="smcap">Roebuck</span> called the attention of the +Commons to the vote of the Lords, and desired to know whether the +government would adopt any special course of conduct in consequence of +it. Lord <span class="smcap">John Russell</span> replied that they should not alter their course in +respect to foreign powers at all, and that they did not feel called upon +to resign because the House of Lords had passed a vote of censure. That +house did not represent the nation: whenever the House of Commons should +adopt such a resolution the ministry would quit office. On the 24th, for +the purpose of enabling the Commons to express their opinion upon the +subject, Mr. <span class="smcap">Roebuck</span> moved a resolution declaring that the principles on +which the foreign policy of the government had been regulated were +calculated to maintain the honor and dignity of the country, and in +times of unexampled difficulty, to preserve peace between England and +foreign nations. The motion was warmly opposed by Sir James Graham and +others, and was advocated with equal zeal. Lord <span class="smcap">Palmerston</span> defended the +foreign policy of the government in a speech of five hours, marked by +great ability and eloquence. After going over the whole ground fully and +in detail, he concluded by challenging the verdict of the house, whether +the principles which had guided the foreign policy of the government had +been proper and fitting, and whether, as a subject of ancient Rome could +hold himself free from indignity by saying, "Civis Romanus sum," a +British subject in a foreign country should not be protected by the +vigilant eye and the strong arm of his government against injustice and +wrong. The debate was then adjourned, and had not been resumed at our +latest advices. The ministry seems very firmly to have taken the +position that England can be governed without the House of Lords, and +that its foreign policy is not to be shaped according to their wishes, +but according to the popular will, as represented by the Commons. This +position indicates the strong tendency which prevails in England even, +toward popular and democratic government. Lord John Russell, on the +20th, also remarked, in reply to the intimation that the foreign policy +of the government was calculated to foment differences between England +and other nations, that he could answer for it that Lord Palmerston, so +long as he should continue in office, would act not as a minister of +Austria, Russia, France, or any other country, but as the minister of +England. The declaration was received with great applause, not only in +the house but throughout the country. It is understood that the +diplomatic misunderstanding between France and England, growing out of +the Greek question, has been settled. No other business of general +interest in this country has been before Parliament during the month. +Inquiries were made in both Houses as to the Cuban expedition, and the +ministers stated that it was fitted out against the most strenuous +efforts of the American government, which has, nevertheless, been very +strongly censured for its inability to prevent it.—The government has +issued orders restricting very considerably the posting and delivery of +letters on Sunday, which has elicited very clamorous complaints in every +part of the country. Lord <span class="smcap">Brougham</span> in speaking of the matter in +Parliament, doubted the power of the government to issue such orders, +and said that it was causing a vast increase of Sunday travel and work +throughout the kingdom, as messengers were now dispatched to obtain +indispensable intelligence formerly received by mail. Lord Ashley had +carried a motion in the House of Lords to suppress Sunday labor in the +post-office, by a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> vote of 93 to 68.—Sir Edward Buxton on the 31st of +June, moved a resolution against exposing the free-grown sugar of the +British colonies to unrestricted competition with the sugar of +slave-trading countries. It failed, however, by 275 to 234.—A bill +prohibiting intra-mural interments, has passed the Commons. The +remaining transactions of Parliament have no general interest.</p> + +<p>The Queen while riding with the Prince in an open carriage, on the 27th +of June, was struck across the face by a respectably dressed man, armed +with a small cane. Her bonnet was cut through, and a severe wound was +inflicted upon her forehead. She attended the opera, however, in the +evening, and was received with great enthusiasm. The assailant proved to +be a discharged officer, named Robert Pate, subject to attacks of +insanity. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to transportation for +seven years.—Very shortly, fifteen screw steamers will ply between +Liverpool and various ports in the Mediterranean.—Meyerbeer, the +composer, has received the degree of Doctor from the University of +Jena.—Dr. <span class="smcap">Gutzlaff</span>, who is preaching at Berlin and at Potsdam, on +behalf of the Chinese mission, expresses a confident hope that the +Emperor of Japan will be converted to Christianity.—Mr. <span class="smcap">Corbould</span>, the +artist, has received the commands of her Majesty to paint a large +picture of the grand coronation scene in the opera of "La Prophete," as +represented at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent-garden.—Mr. <span class="smcap">Gibson</span>, of +Rome, now in England, has received an order for a colossal group, in +marble, of figures of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, supported on either +side by Justice and Clemency. The figure of the queen will be ten feet +in height; the side figures, eight feet. This group will occupy a place +in the new Houses of Parliament.—The Duke of <span class="smcap">Cambridge</span> died on the 8th +of July. He was the seventh and youngest son of George III., and was +seventy-six years old at the time of his death.</p> + +<p>Many accidents to vessels in the Northern Atlantic have arisen during +the season from floating icebergs. The ship Oriental, of Liverpool, was +lost, with all her crew and cargo from this cause, on the 27th of April; +and on the 29th of March, the English ship Signet, with all on board, +also foundered. Eighteen or twenty other vessels are known to have been +lost in the same manner, their crews having escaped. New hopes of the +safety of Sir John Franklin have been suggested by these reports. It is +supposed that these vast fields of ice are portions of the slowly +released masses, the growth of many preceding winters, which were first +broken two winters ago by the strong southwest and southerly gales over +all the North Atlantic and North Pacific; but which, in consequence of +their bulk and extent, were again condensed before they could be fairly +swept into the Atlantic, and thus offered continued obstruction to the +release of Franklin and his ships. Nor would this appear to be +impossible, assuming detention in the ice to have been the only danger, +and that continued means of subsistence were accessible.—The Steamer +<i>Orion</i>, plying between Liverpool and Glasgow, was wrecked June 18th, +off Port Patrick, in a smooth sea, by striking upon a rock, and over two +hundred lives were lost.—The baptism of the infant prince was +celebrated June 22d, the Duke of Wellington being one of the sponsors, +and the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who +named the royal infant, "Arthur William Patrick Albert."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The English <span class="smcap">Literary Intelligence</span> of the month is summed up in the +Household Narrative, from which mainly we copy. It remarks that the +class of books which has received the largest additions, is that of +biography. Mr. Edmund Phipps has published extracts from the diaries and +literary remains of the author of <i>Tremaine</i>, with biographical and +critical comment, under the title of "<i>Memoirs of the Political and +Literary Life of Robert Plumer Ward</i>;" and the book has been made more +interesting than the subject would have seemed to promise, by the fact +of Mr. Ward's intimate connection, both in private and public life, with +the leading tory statesmen of the administrations of Addington, +Perceval, and Liverpool. The political and administrative +characteristics of the Duke of Wellington have probably never had such +vivid illustration.—Mr. Leigh Hunt has published his "<i>Autobiography, +with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries</i>," of which very +copious extracts were given in the July number of this Magazine. It will +be issued in a few days from the press of the Harpers. Some of it is the +republication of a former work, but the greater part is original, or at +least so changed by interpolations, recantations, or additions, as to +produce the effect of novelty.—The Reverend Mr. Field, an enthusiast +for the separate and silent system of imprisonment, has published a new +<i>Life of Howard</i>, dedicated to Prince Albert, of which the design +appears to be to counteract the evil tendency of a recent memoir of the +philanthropist, remarkable for what the reverend enthusiast calls "the +advocacy of democratic principles, and the aspersion of a godly +prince."—Each in a goodly-sized volume, we have had a sort of general +biographical notice of <i>Celebrated Etonians</i>, and of <i>Speakers of the +House of Commons</i>, the first by an able man, quite competent to the +subject.—Miss Pardoe has edited the first volume of a series of +<i>Memoirs of the Queens of Spain</i>, of which the author is a Spanish lady, +resident in America. An ingenious northern antiquary has published +memorials of one of the old border mansions, called Dilston Hall, which +amounts in effect to an interesting <i>Memoir of the Earl of +Derwentwater</i>, who suffered in the Jacobite rebellion. And, finally, Mr. +Andrew Bisset has done good service to both history and biography by a +very careful publication of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span><i>Memoirs and Papers of Sir Andrew +Mitchell,</i> Lord Chatham's embassador at the court of Frederic the Great, +and one of the very ablest of English diplomatists.</p> + +<p>To the department of philosophy a somewhat remarkable contribution is to +be noticed, under the title of <i>The Progress of the Intellect as +exemplified in the religious development of the Greeks and Hebrews</i>. The +writer is Mr. Robert William Mackay. Its design is to explain by a +rationalistic process all the religious faiths and beliefs which have +exerted the greatest influence over man, and to refer them exclusively +to moral and intellectual development. In this design the writer may, or +may not, have succeeded; but it is certain, making all draw-backs on the +score of what has probably been borrowed from German investigation, that +the book has high pretensions to eloquence and research, and reminds us +of a time when publication was less frequent than now, and a single book +might embody the labor of a life. For its antidote in respect of opinion +and purpose there has been published, not inopportunely, after a +peaceful slumber of nearly two centuries in the library at Wotton, <i>A +Rational Account of the True Religion</i>, by John Evelyn. Here the design +is, by all possible arguments and authorities, to confirm our faith in +Christianity.</p> + +<p>We must speak very summarily and briefly of the publications in general +literature. Of books of travel and adventure, the most attractive and +interesting in point of subject is, <i>Five Years of a Hunter's Life in +the Far Interior of South Africa</i>, by Mr. Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, a +kinsman of the Chief of Argyll, in whom a love of deer-stalking seems to +have gradually expanded into dimensions too gigantic to be satisfied +with any thing less than the stalking of the lion, the elephant, the +hippopotamus, the giraffe, or the rhinoceros. The book is filled with +astonishing incidents and anecdotes, and keeps the reader very nearly as +breathless with excitement as the elephant and lion-hunter himself must +have been. Copious extracts from the work will be found in the preceding +pages of this number.—Mr. Aubrey de Vere has published some very +graceful <i>Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey</i>; and the brave and +high-minded old General Pepe has given the world, <i>A Narrative of Scenes +and Events in Italy from 1847 to 1849</i>. Mr. Johnson, the distinguished +geographer of Edinburgh, has issued the most complete <i>General Gazetteer +of the World</i> that has yet been comprised in a single volume; and as +part of the republication of the treatises of the Encyclopædia +Metropolitana, in separate and portable volumes, we have to mention an +interesting volume on Greek Literature by Mr. Justice Talfourd, the +Bishop of London, and other accomplished scholars.—In poetical +translation, a new version of <i>Æschylus</i> by Professor Blackie, of +Aberdeen, has been issued; and in poetry, with the title of <i>In +Memoriam</i>, a noble and affecting series of elegies to the memory of a +friend (son of the historian Hallam), from the pen of Mr. Alfred +Tennyson.</p> + +<p>Considerable interest was excited by the unswathing of an Egyptian mummy +at the residence of Lord Londesborough, at which Mr. Birch of the +British Museum, describing the embalming process, and following in this +the narrative of Herodotus, said the subject had evidently suffered from +the use of bitumen and the application of heat, as the bones were +charred and the muscles calcined. <span class="smcap">Dr. Cormack</span> has published a letter in +the <i>Athenæum</i> expressing and sustaining the opinion that all mummies +were prepared in this way.—A recent number of Galignani contains an +interesting item of intelligence. It may be remembered that <span class="smcap">Goethe</span> in +1827 delivered over to the keeping of the Government of Weimar a +quantity of his papers, contained in a sealed casket, with an injunction +not to open it until 1850. The 17th of May being fixed for breaking the +seals, the authorities gave formal notice to the family of Goethe that +they would on that day deliver up the papers as directed by the deceased +poet. The descendants of the poet Schiller also received an intimation +that, as the papers were understood to concern their ancestor likewise, +they had a right to be present. The casket was opened with all due form, +and was found to contain the whole of the correspondence between Goethe +and Schiller. It is added, that these letters are immediately to be +published, according to directions found in the casket. A new society +has recently been formed in London for the investigation of the laws and +nature of epidemic diseases, of which Dr. Babington has been chosen +President. Another has been instituted for the collection of facts, +observations, &c., in Meteorology, of which Mr. Whitbread is to be the +first President. <span class="smcap">Rogers</span> the poet was severely injured by being knocked +down by a cab in the streets of London. Being 87 years old his case was +considered precarious, though at the last accounts he seems to have +partially recovered.—Several meetings have been held at the house of +Mr. Justice <span class="smcap">Coleridge</span> for the purpose of initiating a subscription to do +honor, in some form, to the memory of Wordsworth, and have resulted in +the formation of a powerful committee, with the Bishop of London at its +head. The objects which this committee have in view are—to place a +whole length effigy of the deceased poet in Westminster Abbey—and, if +possible, to erect some monument to his memory in the neighborhood of +Grasmere. The list of subscriptions is headed by the Queen and her Royal +Consort, with a sum of £50.—Some singular decisions have recently been +made by the Vice Chancellor. It seems that a Mr. Hartley deceased in +1843, left directions in his will that £300 should be set apart as a +prize for the best Essay on "Natural Theology," treating it as a +substantive science, and as adequate to constitute a true, perfect, and +philosophical system of universal religion. It was ruled by the Vice +Chancellor that this bequest was void, on account of the evident +tendency which the essay so described would have to demoralize society +and subvert the church.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> Another decision, arising out of the same +trial, is yet more curious. Mr. Hartley had left £200 for the best essay +on Emigration, and appointed the American Minister trustee of the fund. +This bequest was also declared void, on the ground that such an essay +would encourage persons to emigrate to the United States, and so throw +off their allegiance to the Queen! The race of Justice Shallows seems +not to be extinct.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">France</span>, after the passage of the electoral law, a bill was presented +for increasing the President's salary to 3,600,000 francs per annum. Its +introduction created considerable feeling. The committee to which it was +referred reported in its stead a bill granting 1,600,000 francs to +defray expenses incurred at the President's inauguration: and this was +afterward modified so as to grant 2,160,000 for the expenses of the +President, in which form it was adopted by the Assembly, by a vote of +354 to 308, a majority of 46 for the government. This is regarded as a +government triumph, but it was not won until after a sharp struggle, and +it has increased very considerably the public disaffection.—New laws +for the restriction of the press have also been brought forward. The +amount of caution money which newspapers are required to deposit is +increased, and the system of postage stamps is introduced. During the +discussion of these laws on the 8th of July, a scene of some warmth +occurred in the Assembly. M. Rouher, in the course of a speech, spoke of +the revolution of February as a great catastrophe, for which he was +immediately called to order by Girardin, recently elected a member by +the department of the Lower Rhine, as well as by others. The President +refused to call him to order, but rebuked those who had interrupted him. +The laws in regard to the press have been declared "urgent" by a vote of +370 to 251.—A man named Walker has been arrested on his own confession +of a design to assassinate Louis Napoleon, for which purpose he had +waited several hours for him to pass out of his gate. He proves to have +been insane.—M. Thiers has been on a visit to London, where he was +received with distinction. He visited Louis Philippe, whose health is +said to be failing.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In <span class="smcap">Germany</span> the settlement of the Constitution makes little progress. The +Saxon chambers were suddenly dissolved on the 1st, to evade a +discussion in the Second Chamber on an address to the sovereign, +expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the government on the +German question; and the Second Chamber broke up in solemn silence, +withholding the usual cheers for the king. The Wurtemburg Diet, for a +similar reason, was prorogued on the 4th. The German senate has given +its consent for the meeting of the Peace Congress at Frankfort, and its +sessions will commence on the 23d of August. It is to be a New World's +Convention of the Friends of Peace.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The King of <span class="smcap">Prussia</span> has recovered from the wound inflicted by the +assassin Sefeloge. A royal decree has been published at Berlin, +curtailing still further the Freedom of the Press. The system of +"caution-money" is re-established, with the government powers of +canceling the license to sell newspapers, and of refusing conveyance by +post to obnoxious journals; and certain offenses against the press laws +are "withdrawn from the competency of a jury." Among the journals +affected by the decree is the London <i>Punch</i>, which has been proscribed +in the city of Konigsberg and its province, and placed on the list of +journals that are no longer permitted to pass through the post-office.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>From <span class="smcap">Portugal</span> we have intelligence of difficulties with this country, +growing out of claims on that government which have been in existence +for many years. The amount claimed is about $300,000. The principal one +grows out of the destruction of the American ship, the General +Armstrong, during the war of 1812, by a British fleet, while lying in +the neutral port of Fayal, and therefore entitled to the protection of +the Portuguese government. According to the law of nations, Portugal is +responsible for her failure to protect her; and although Great Britain +is the party in equity responsible, the United States have to look, in +conformity to law, only to Portugal. The claims have been unsuccessfully +pressed for a number of years; but the administration of General Taylor +demanded an immediate settlement. Our Chargé, Mr. Clay, under +instructions, had required an answer to his demands within twenty days, +and an American squadron had meantime arrived in the Tagus to enforce +them. Some uneasiness was felt as to the issue, but it was believed that +the Portuguese government would yield.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LITERARY_NOTICES" id="LITERARY_NOTICES"></a>LITERARY NOTICES.</h2> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell.</span> Edited by William Beattie. +In two volumes, 8vo, pp. 1077. New York: Harper and Brothers.</p></div> + +<p>This charming piece of biography is already familiar to the reading +public in this country, from the copious and flattering notices it has +received from the British journals and reviews. It will be welcomed in +its present complete form by every lover of literary history, no less +than by the admirers of the favorite poet of "The Pleasures of Hope." +The author had <i>abundance of materials at his command</i>, and has executed +his task with commendable industry and good taste. In any hands, the +subject could not be without intense interest, and as it has been +treated in the volumes before us, possesses a fascination rarely found +in any recent production. Free use is made of the letters of <span class="smcap">Campbell</span>, +many of which are of the highest order of epistolary composition, +abounding in those delicate and expressive touches which reveal the +heart of the man and the genius of the poet in the purest and most +beautiful light.</p> + +<p>The American edition is introduced by a letter of <span class="smcap">Washington Irving</span> to +the publishers, in which our admirable countryman relates some personal +reminiscences of <span class="smcap">Campbell</span> with so much felicity and exquisite grace, +that we can not avoid transferring them to our pages:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My acquaintance with Campbell commenced in, I think, 1810, +through his brother Archibald, a most amiable, modest, and +intelligent man, but more of a mathematician than a poet. He +resided at that time in New York, and had received from his +brother a manuscript copy of "O'Connor's Child; or, the Flower +of Love lies bleeding," for which he was desirous of finding a +purchaser among the American publishers. I negotiated the +matter for him with a publishing house in Philadelphia, which +offered a certain sum for the poem, provided I would write a +biographical sketch of the author to be prefixed to a volume +containing all his poetical works. To secure a good price for +the poet, I wrote the sketch, being furnished with facts by his +brother; it was done, however, in great haste, when I was 'not +in the vein,' and, of course, was very slight and imperfect. It +served, however, to put me at once on a friendly footing with +Campbell, so that, when I met him for the first time a few +years subsequently in England, he received me as an old friend. +He was living at that time in his rural retreat at Sydenham. +His modest mansion was fitted up in a simple style, but with a +tact and taste characteristic of the occupants.</p> + +<p>"Campbell's appearance was more in unison with his writings +than is generally the case with authors. He was about +thirty-seven years of age; of the middle size; lightly and +genteelly made: evidently of a delicate, sensitive +organization, with a fine intellectual countenance and a +beaming poetic eye.</p> + +<p>"He had now been about twelve years married. Mrs. Campbell +still retained much of that personal beauty for which he +praises her in his letters written in the early days of +matrimony; and her mental qualities seemed equally to justify +his eulogies: a rare circumstance, as none are more prone to +dupe themselves in affairs of the heart than men of lively +imaginations. She was, in fact, a more suitable wife for a poet +than poet's wives are apt to be; and for once a son of song had +married a reality and not a poetical fiction.</p> + +<p>"I had considered the early productions of Campbell as +brilliant indications of a genius yet to be developed, and +trusted that, during the long interval which had elapsed, he +had been preparing something to fulfill the public expectation; +I was greatly disappointed, therefore, to find that, as yet, he +had contemplated no great and sustained effort. My +disappointment in this respect was shared by others, who took +the same interest in his fame, and entertained the same idea of +his capacity. 'There he is, cooped up in Sydenham,' said a +great Edinburgh critic to me, 'simmering his brains to serve up +a little dish of poetry, instead of pouring out a whole +caldron.'</p> + +<p>"Scott, too, who took a cordial delight in Campbell's poetry, +expressed himself to the same effect. 'What a pity is it,' said +he to me, 'that Campbell does not give full sweep to his +genius. He has wings that would bear him up to the skies, and +he does now and then spread them grandly, but folds them up +again and resumes his perch, as if afraid to launch away. The +fact is, he is a bugbear to himself. The brightness of his +early success is a detriment to all his future efforts. <i>He is +afraid of the shadow that his own fame casts before him</i>.</p> + +<p>"Little was Scott aware at the time that he, in truth, was a +'bugbear' to Campbell. This I infer from an observation of Mrs. +Campbell's in reply to an expression of regret on my part that +her husband did not attempt something on a grand scale. 'It is +unfortunate for Campbell,' said she, 'that he lives in the same +age with Scott and Byron.' I asked why. 'Oh,' said she, 'they +write so much and so rapidly. Now Campbell writes slowly, and +it takes him some time to get under way; and just as he has +fairly begun, out comes one of their poems, that sets the world +agog and quite daunts him, so that he throws by his pen in +despair.'</p> + +<p>"I pointed out the essential difference in their kinds of +poetry, and the qualities which insured perpetuity to that of +her husband. 'You can't persuade Campbell of that,' said she. +'He is apt to undervalue his own works, and to consider his own +little lights put out whenever they come blazing out with their +great torches.'</p> + +<p>"I repeated the conversation to Scott some time afterward, and +it drew forth a characteristic comment.</p> + +<p>"'Pooh!' said he, good humoredly, 'how can Campbell mistake the +matter so much. Poetry goes by quality, not by bulk. My poems +are mere cairngorms, wrought up, perhaps, with a cunning hand, +and may pass well in the market as long as cairngorms are the +fashion; but they are mere Scotch pebbles after all; now Tom +Campbell's are real diamonds, and diamonds of the first water.'</p> + +<p>"I have not time at present to furnish personal anecdotes of my +intercourse with Campbell, neither does it afford any of a +striking nature. Though extending over a number of years, it +was never very intimate. His residence in the country, and my +long intervals of absence on the Continent, rendered our +meetings few and far between. To tell the truth, I was not much +drawn to Campbell, having taken up a wrong notion concerning +him from seeing him at times when his mind was ill at ease, and +preyed upon by secret griefs. I had thought him disposed to be +querulous and captious, and had heard his apparent discontent +attributed to jealous repining at the success of his poetical +contemporaries. In a word, I knew little of him but what might +be learned in the casual intercourse of general society, +whereas it required the close communion of confidential +friendship to sound the <i>depths of his character and know the +treasures of excellence</i> hidden beneath its surface. Besides, +he was dogged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> for years by certain malignant scribblers, who +took a pleasure in misrepresenting all his actions, and holding +him up in an absurd and disparaging point of view. In what this +hostility originated I do not know, but it must have given much +annoyance to his sensitive mind, and may have affected his +popularity. I know not to what else to attribute a circumstance +to which I was a witness during my last visit to England. It +was at an annual dinner of the Literary Fund, at which Prince +Albert presided, and where was collected much of the prominent +talent of the kingdom. In the course of the evening Campbell +rose to make a speech. I had not seen him for years, and his +appearance showed the effect of age and ill health; it was +evident also, that his mind was obfuscated by the wine he had +been drinking. He was confused and tedious in his remarks; +still, there was nothing but what one would have thought would +be received with indulgence, if not deference, from a veteran +of his fame and standing, a living classic. On the contrary, to +my surprise, I soon observed signs of impatience in the +company; the poet was repeatedly interrupted by coughs and +discordant sounds, and as often endeavored to proceed; the +noise at length became intolerable, and he was absolutely +clamored down, sinking into his chair overwhelmed and +disconcerted. I could not have thought such treatment possible +to such a person at such a meeting.</p> + +<p>"Hallam, author of the Literary History of the Middle Ages, who +sat by me on this occasion, marked the mortification of the +poet, and it excited his generous sympathy. Being shortly +afterward on the floor to reply to a toast, he took occasion to +advert to the recent remarks of Campbell, and in so doing +called up in review all his eminent achievements in the world +of letters, and drew such a picture of his claims upon popular +gratitude and popular admiration as to convict the assembly of +the glaring impropriety they had been guilty of—to soothe the +wounded sensibility of the poet, and send him home to, I trust, +a quiet pillow.</p> + +<p>"I mention these things to illustrate the merit of the piece of +biography which you are about to lay before the American world. +It is a great act of justice to the memory of a distinguished +man, whose character has not been sufficiently known. It gives +an insight into his domestic as well as his literary life, and +lays open the springs of all his actions and the causes of all +his contrariety of conduct. We now see the real difficulties he +had to contend with in the earlier part of his literary career; +the worldly cares which pulled his spirit to the earth whenever +it would wing its way to the skies; the domestic afflictions, +tugging at his heart-strings even in his hours of genial +intercourse, and converting his very smiles into spasms; the +anxious days and sleepless nights preying upon his delicate +organization, producing that morbid sensitiveness and nervous +irritability which at times overlaid the real sweetness and +amenity of his nature, and obscured the unbounded generosity of +his heart.</p> + +<p>"The biography does more: it reveals the affectionate +considerateness of his conduct in all the domestic relations of +life. The generosity with which he shared his narrow means with +all the members of his family, and tasked his precarious +resources to add to their relief; his deep-felt tenderness as a +husband and a father, the source of exquisite home-happiness +for a time, but ultimately of unmitigated wretchedness; his +constant and devoted friendships, which in early life were +almost romantic passions, and which remained unwithered by age: +his sympathies with the distressed of every nation, class, and +condition; his love of children, that infallible sign of a +gentle and amiable nature; his sensibility to beauty of every +kind; his cordial feeling toward his literary contemporaries, +so opposite to the narrow and despicable jealousy imputed to +him; above all, the crowning romance of his life, his +enthusiasm in the cause of suffering Poland, a devotion carried +to the height of his poetic temperament, and, in fact, +exhausting all that poetic vein which, properly applied, might +have produced epics; these and many more traits set forth in +his biography bring forth his character in its true light, +dispel those clouds which malice and detraction may at times +have cast over it, and leave it in the full effulgence of its +poetic glory."</p></div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Life and Correspondence of Andrew Combe, M.D.</span> By George +Combe. Philadelphia: A. Hart. 12mo, pp. 424.</p></div> + +<p>The remarkable popularity of the works of <span class="smcap">Andrew Combe</span> on Physiology and +Hygiene, in this country, will make the present biography an object of +interest with a very large number of readers. It is written with +singular impartiality, indeed with too little of the spirit of +affectionate admiration, by the celebrated George Combe, whose own +writings on the constitution of man and the observance of physical laws, +have made him a general favorite in many intelligent circles, which have +no peculiar interest in the special department of science with which his +name has been identified. Each of the brothers has the merit of +presenting important principles in plain language. With utility for +their motto, they have written for the mass of the people, and, perhaps, +have done more for the diffusion of popular knowledge, than many authors +whose intellectual pretensions are far superior to their own. Destitute, +to a remarkable degree, of every ray of imagination, with no approach to +the creative power, which is the test of genius, their writings are +marked with a robust common sense, a patience and clearness of +statement, and a fertility of simple, homely illustration, which account +for their deep impression on the popular mind.</p> + +<p>In early life, the subject of this memoir displayed none of the +brilliant qualities which give promise of future eminence. He was shy +and reserved in his manners, and with no facility in the use of words, +though often showing a certain droll humor in his actions. His progress +in learning was slow, though this may be ascribed in part to the +injudicious method which was pursued in his education. While engaged in +his medical studies, he first made the acquaintance of Dr. Spurzheim, an +event which decided the direction of his mind for the remainder of his +life. This soon ripened into intimate friendship, which was cherished by +frequent personal intercourse with Spurzheim during a visit at Paris. He +at once became a zealous convert to the doctrines of Phrenology, making +them the basis of his medical practice, and his anthropological system.</p> + +<p>From an imprudent exposure to cold, Dr. <span class="smcap">Combe's</span> health early received a +severe shock, from the effects of which his system never fully +recovered. His subsequent life was that of an habitual invalid. He was +forced to maintain a constant battle with disease. While spreading the +principles of health in a multitude of households, wherever the English +language is spoken, by his lucid writings on the subject, he was +scarcely permitted for a single day to enjoy the inestimable treasure. +He, consequently, spent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> no small portion of his time in traveling in +different countries, visiting France, Belgium, Germany, and the United +States, and his letters and observations during these various tours +constitute one of the most interesting features in the present volume. +His death took place on the 9th of August, 1847.</p> + +<p>He left the character of a man of sterling integrity, excellent +judgment, admirable candor and fairness of mind, a single-hearted +devotion to truth, and a disposition of rare kindness and disinterested +humanity. His biography will be read with satisfaction, by those who +feel themselves indebted to his writings. It is simple, honest, +unpretending, like its subject. With the singularly prosaic mind of Mr. +George Combe, no one can expect to find it animated with any living +glow. It records the life of a public benefactor, but with as little +freshness or enthusiasm, as if the author were giving a Phrenological +lecture on a collection of skulls.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Dr. Johnson; His Religious Life and His Death.</span> New York: Harper +and Brothers. 12mo, pp. 405.</p></div> + +<p>The author of this volume is not surpassed by Boswell in reverence for +"the Great Old Samuel," but happily is not infected with his +puerilities. His book is a favorable specimen of the right kind of "Hero +Worship," dealing tenderly with every relic of the departed, and +religiously gathering every precious tribute to his memory. It +reproduces a variety of characteristic events and scenes in the life of +<span class="smcap">Dr. Johnson</span>, without having the air of a compilation. No source of +information seems to have been overlooked, while the labors of previous +writers are so digested and arranged as to give the effect of an +original production. The main subject to which the volume is devoted, is +the illustration of Dr. Johnson's religious character, but numerous +attractive episodes are also introduced, which relieve it from all +tendency to monotony. The last incidents in his life are described with +peculiar interest. Several chapters are wholly occupied with his +Churchmanship, and under different heads, we have a spirited description +of his humanity, his treatment of dissenters, his views of monastic +life, his sympathy with Roman Catholics, and his superstition, all the +statements being fortified with quotations from his own language. +Various questions of collateral interest are discussed by the author, as +suggested by the topics under review, and are usually treated with equal +ability and religious feeling. The work will doubtless be received as a +valuable complement to our Johnsonian literature.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution</i>, published by Harper and +Brothers, has reached its fifth number, and fully sustains the wide +reputation which it has acquired, as an elegant, spirited, and +instructive work on American history. The union of narrative and +description, which forms a leading feature of the series, is managed by +Mr. Lossing with remarkable dexterity, and gives a perpetual charm to +the composition. In the five numbers already issued, we have a graphic +survey of the scenery and historical reminiscences of the portion of the +State of New York and of Canada, which is embraced within the routes of +our fashionable summer tourists. They describe the principal theatre of +the French and Indian Wars, and many of the most interesting localities +of the American Revolution, including Glenn's Falls, Lake George, +Ticonderoga and Champlain from Whitehall to St. John's, Montreal, +Quebec, the St. Lawrence to Kingston, Lake Ontario, Niagara, and a part +of the Upper Valley of the Mohawk—all truly classic ground to the lover +of American history. Whoever would obtain an accurate and indelible +impression of the great battle-grounds of the Revolution, while seeking +recreation in a summer jaunt, should not fail to make these beautiful +numbers his traveling companions.</p> + +<p>Harper and Brothers have reprinted <span class="smcap">Sydney Smith's</span> posthumous Lectures +entitled <i>Sketches of Moral Philosophy</i>, which is introduced with a +commendatory letter by Lord Jeffrey, written but a few days before his +death, wherein he says that these Lectures "will do their author as much +credit as any thing he ever wrote, and produce on the whole a stronger +impression by the force and vivacity of his intellect, as well as a +truer and more engaging view of his character than what the world has +yet seen of his writings. The book seems to me to be full of good sense, +acuteness, and right feeling—very clearly and pleasingly written—and +with such an admirable mixture of logical intrepidity, with the absence +of all dogmatism, as is rarely met with in the conduct of such +discussions." The versatile author discusses a great variety of topics, +slenderly connected it is true, with Metaphysics or Moral Philosophy, +and on this account has left a far more readable volume, than if it had +been rigidly devoted to the questions which it professes to treat. His +remarks are always lively, pointed, and apposite, betraying a familiar +knowledge of the world, and a quick perception of the bearing and +character of current events, while their caustic wit is usually +attempered with an inexhaustible fountain of good humor.</p> + +<p>We have received <i>The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil</i>, volume 2d, from +the veteran editor of whose zeal and ability in maintaining the doctrine +of "harmony" and mutual dependence between all the great branches of +domestic industry, it affords abundant evidence.</p> + +<p>Mr. Skinner contends, with every appearance of assured conviction, that +as our country spreads over so many latitudes, and embraces climates and +resources more various and abundant than any other, our policy, too, +should be peculiar; and that instead of importing iron, cloth, and other +manufactures, for which we have materials, or capabilities +inexhaustible, we should import<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> <i>men</i>, as the best of all importations, +whose demands, while occupied with other industries, would create a +steady and remunerating market for the products of agriculture, which, +he insists, would be, of all things, the surest guarantee for +improvements in the <i>art</i> of terra-culture. This enterprise is one of +the ablest of the kind, to illustrate the importance of placing the +consumer by the side of the agriculturist; and whether reference be had +to the long services of the editor in the cause of cultivators of the +soil, or the earnestness and power with which he and his correspondents +enforce their doctrine, there can be no hesitation in saying, that those +who unite with them in opinion will do well to give encouragement to +<i>The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil</i>. It is but justice to add, that it +is well printed on fine paper, giving no less than 64 pages monthly, at +the rate of $5 for two subscribers, or $3 for one. Edited and published +by that old and tried soldier in the cause—the founder of the first +agricultural journal in the United States—<span class="smcap">J. S. Skinner</span>, 79, +Walnut-street, Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>Phillips, Sampson, and Co. have published a new edition of <i>The Rebels</i>, +one of the earliest and most popular novels of the admirable Mrs. Child. +Its character is too well known to authorize criticism at this time, and +its reproduction in the present edition will gratify the troops of +friends, with whom the author is a distinguished favorite.</p> + +<p>One of the most remarkable books of the month is <i>The Logic and Utility +of Mathematics</i>, by <span class="smcap">Charles Davies</span>, LL.D., published by Barnes and Co. +It is not intended as a treatise on any special branch of mathematical +science, and demands for its full appreciation a general acquaintance +with the leading methods and routine of mathematical investigation. To +those who have a natural fondness for this pursuit, and enjoy the +leisure for a retrospect of their favorite studies, the present volume +will possess a charm, not surpassed by the fascinations of a romance. It +is an elaborate and lucid exposition of the principles which lie at the +foundation of pure mathematics, with a highly ingenious application of +their results to the development of the essential idea of Arithmetic, +Geometry, Algebra, Analytic Geometry, and the Differential and Integral +Calculus. The work is preceded by a general view of the subject of +Logic, mainly drawn from the writings of Archbishop Whately and Mr. +Mill, and closes with an essay on the utility of mathematics. Some +occasional exaggerations, in presenting the claims of the science to +which his life has been devoted, must here be pardoned to the +professional enthusiasm of the author. In general, the work is written +with singular circumspection; the views of the best thinkers on the +subject have been thoroughly digested, and are presented in an original +form; every thing bears the impress of the intellect of the writer; his +style is for the most part chaste, simple, transparent, and in admirable +harmony with the dignity of the subject, and his condensed +generalizations are often profound and always suggestive.</p> + +<p><i>The Gallery of Illustrious Americans</i>, edited by <span class="smcap">C. Edwards Lester</span>, +Esq. has reached its seventh number, which contains a portrait and +biographical sketch of the distinguished ornithologist, J. J. <span class="smcap">Audubon</span>. +The engraving presents a delightful view of the intellectual and +expressive features of the veteran forester, savan, and artist, while +the sketch by Mr. Lester gives a rapid and satisfactory summary of the +principal incidents in his adventurous life. The daguerreotypes by +<span class="smcap">Brady</span>, and the lithographs by <span class="smcap">D'Avignon</span>, throughout this series, are +highly creditable specimens of their respective arts. The biographical +notices are carefully written and beautifully printed. The previous +numbers embrace Taylor, Calhoun, Webster, Wright, Clay, and Fremont—and +that our readers may form some idea of the striking fidelity of the +Portraits, we present, in a previous page, the well-known likeness of +our late President, copied on wood by Lossing, from the first number of +the work.</p> + +<p>A. Hart, Philadelphia, has reprinted from the English edition, <i>The +Phantom World</i>, from the French of <span class="smcap">Calmet</span>, with a Preface and Notes by +Rev. <span class="smcap">Henry Christmas</span>, giving a general survey of the history and +philosophy of spirits, apparitions, ghosts, elves, fairies, spooks, +bogles, bugaboos, and hobgoblins. It will probably meet with an +extensive circulation in these days when Connecticut divines are haunted +by infernal visits, and the Rochester sibyls are on exhibition in New +York.</p> + +<p><i>Dies Boreales, or Christopher Under Canvas</i>, is republished from +Blackwood's Magazine in a neat edition, by A. Hart, Philadelphia, and +will meet with a warm reception from the innumerable admirers of the +noble, eloquent, impassioned, kaleidoscopic, frisky, and genial old +Christopher.</p> + +<p>Among the valuable scientific serials now issuing from the New York +press, is <i>The Dictionary of Mechanics, Engine Works, and Engineering</i>, +edited by <span class="smcap">Oliver Byrne</span>, and published by D. Appleton and Co. Of this +work we have thirteen numbers, which bring the subjects, in alphabetical +order, to the article on "Etching," the last number completing the +elaborate description of the "Steam Engine," which in itself forms a +treatise on a leading branch of practical science, and may be commended +in high terms to the attention both of the general reader and the +professional engineer. It is rarely that such a mass of important +information is condensed into so lucid and pleasing a form, attractive +no less by the clearness of its scientific details, than by the bright +picture which it gives of the progress of the useful arts in modern +times.</p> + +<p>Another work, of similar value, is <i>A Treatise on Marine and Naval +Architecture</i>, by <span class="smcap">John W. Griffiths</span>, a serial which has reached its +seventh number, and has elicited the warmest encomiums from +distinguished constructors and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> engineers. The style is a fine model of +scientific discussion, presenting the first principles of naval +architecture with precision, compactness, and simplicity, abounding with +graphic descriptive details, and preserving a spirited freedom and +boldness in the most intricate and difficult expositions. The superior +character of its contents, with the low price at which it is afforded, +will insure it a wide circulation among American mechanics, who can not +fail to gain both a pecuniary and an intellectual advantage from its +perusal.</p> + +<p><i>Specimens of the Bridges, Viaducts, &c., on the United Slates +Railroads</i>, by <span class="smcap">George Duggin</span>, deserves an honorable place by the side of +the two preceding serials, as an important contribution to the science +of civil engineering in this country. The sixth number has already made +its appearance, being the commencement of an elaborate treatise on +Bridge-building, illustrated with sketches of the most remarkable +specimens in this branch of architecture. The multiplicity of works like +those we have just alluded to, and the great and instant popularity +which they attain, present a cheering proof of the prevalence of +scientific curiosity, and of the mental activity which leads to thorough +investigation, among the leading artisans of the United States.</p> + +<p><i>The Second Book in Greek</i>, by John <span class="smcap">M'Clintock</span>, published by Harper and +Brothers, is the complement to the previous volume, entitled <i>First Book +in Greek</i>, which, as a practical manual in this branch of philology, has +elicited the warmest approbation of judicious teachers. Dr. M'Clintock +has brought the resources of a ripe and generous scholarship to the +preparation of this work, which, with the other volumes of his +Elementary Series in Greek and Latin, is a highly honorable proof of his +sound learning and correct taste. The present work gives a full view of +the Greek Syntax, with copious illustrations, and extracts from +Xenophon's Anabasis, Homer, Anacreon, and sentences from the Greek +Dramatists. Its peculiar merit consists in the progressive manner in +which the various difficulties of Greek combination are unfolded, the +pupil being thus led forward, by a natural sequence, to a mastery of the +complicated idioms of the language, and trained imperceptibly to a +perception of its rich and wonderful beauties.</p> + +<p>Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, have republished <i>Impressions and +Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849</i>, by <span class="smcap">Robert +Baird</span>, an intelligent Scotchman, apparently of the legal profession, but +with little of the talent essential to the composition of a popular book +of travels. His remarks on the United States are in a more +discriminating tone than is often attained by English tourists, but the +whole tone of the volume is, for the most part, so prosy and commonplace +as to make its perusal an intolerable bore.</p> + +<p>Tallis, Willoughby, and Company are publishing a beautifully embellished +edition of <i>The Life of Christ</i>, by the Rev. <span class="smcap">John Fleetwood</span>, with +original illustrations by Warren, who has attained a distinguished +reputation, as a delineator of Oriental scenery, characters, and +costumes. It is to be completed in twenty-five parts, of which two have +been issued, in a style of elegant typography, highly creditable to the +taste and enterprise of the publishers. The biography of the Saviour by +Dr. Fleetwood is written with decorum and gravity, reproducing the +consecutive events of the sacred narrative in symmetrical order, and +presenting with becoming reserve, such moral reflections as are +naturally suggested by the different topics of the sublime history. The +work is happily distinguished from several recent attempts on similar +themes, by its freedom from the ambitious and disgusting pretension of +dressing up the severe simplicity of the Oriental writers in the tawdry +and finical robes of modern rhetoric.</p> + +<p><i>The Shoulder-Knot</i>, by the Rev. <span class="smcap">B. F. Tefft</span>, published by Harper and +Brothers, is a work of more than common originality, intended to convey +important views of life, through the medium of fiction, and containing +many passages of remarkable vigor and beauty. The story is derived from +facts in the history of Louis XIII. of France, who, with his Queen, the +admirable Anne of Austria, the Queen Mother, the selfish and passionate +Mary, and the consummate master of intrigue, Cardinal Richelieu, is made +to act a leading part in the development of the narrative. The author +displays less skill in the artistic blending together of the principal +incidents of the plot, than in his isolated descriptions and +conversations, many of which indicate a high order of talent. The whole +story is pervaded with a wholesome and elevated religious tone, showing +the power of fictitious creation to illustrate the most vitally +important truths.</p> + +<p>Stringer and Townsend have published a <i>Supplement to Frank Forrester's +Fish and Fishing in the United States</i>, by <span class="smcap">W. H. Herbert</span>, correcting +some errors which had crept into the principal work on that subject, and +completing the memoirs of the finny tribes under the democratic +institutions of America, with the jaunty airiness of description, and +genuine relish of natural scenery (as well as of fried fish), which have +given such a wide celebrity to the flowing and unctuous pen of Frank +Forrester.</p> + +<p>The <i>Morning Watch</i> is an anonymous poem, published by <span class="smcap">George P. Putnam</span>, +breathing an atmosphere of tender, religious sentiment, and showing +considerable descriptive power. It has not, however, sufficient vigor of +imagination to atone for the intense subjectivity of thought which +throws a dim haze over the best-conceived passages.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">J. Ross Browne's</span> <i>Report of the Debates in the Convention of California</i> +on the Formation of the State Constitution, is a curious historical +document, and will possess still more interest when the antiquities of +the modern Eldorado shall become the object of learned research.</p> + +<p><i>The Mothers of the Wise and Good</i>, by <span class="smcap">Jabez Burns</span>, D.D., reprinted by +Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln, Boston, is a collection of interesting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> +incidents, showing the effects of maternal influence on the formation of +character, and tracing the excellence of many eminent men in various +walks of life, to the pure and exalted virtues with which they were +familiar in early life, within the sacred retirements of the domestic +circle.</p> + +<p>The seventh number of <i>Carlyle's Latter-Day Pamphlets</i>, issued by Harper +and Brothers, is a mere seven-fold repetition of the ancient discontent +of the author, whose mirth is changed into a permanent wail, and for +whom the "brave o'erhanging firmament has become only a foul and +pestilential congregation of vapors." The subject of this number is the +"Statue of Hudson," the great deposed Railway King. It says much more of +statues in general, than of this particular one of Hudson's. Like all +the recent productions of Carlyle, it reminds us of the strugglings of a +sick giant, whom his friends in mercy should compel to take to his bed +and turn his face to the wall.</p> + +<p>An elegant edition of <i>The Illustrated Domestic Bible</i>, by the Rev. +<span class="smcap">Ingram Cobbin</span>, is publishing in numbers by Samuel Hueston. It has brief +notes and reflections by the editor, and copious pictorial +embellishments, illustrative of Oriental scenery and manners. The work +is to be completed in twenty-five numbers.</p> + +<p>Stanford and Swords have reprinted a neat edition of <i>Earnestness</i>, or +<i>Incidents in the Life of an English Bishop</i>, by <span class="smcap">Charles B. Taylor</span>, +whose rare talent for applying the resources of fiction to the +illustration of religious truth has given him an enviable reputation +with a large circle of readers. The present work will be found to +possess equal interest with the previous religious stories of the +author.</p> + +<p><i>Amy Harrington</i>, by the author of <i>The Curate of Linwood</i>, another +spirited religious novel, directing a battery of red-hot shot against +the Tractarian or Puseyite movement in England, is republished by J. C. +Riker. It is written in a tone of uncommon earnestness, and contains +some passages of genuine pathos and eloquence.</p> + +<p><i>The Vale of Cedars</i>, by <span class="smcap">Grace Aguilar</span>, republished by D. Appleton and +Co., is a novel of more than ordinary power, indebted for its principal +interest to its vivid description of the social condition of Spain +during the reign of Isabella. The volume is introduced with an +interesting biographical sketch of the able authoress, who died in 1847.</p> + +<p>Crosby and Nichols, Boston, have republished <i>Chronicles and Characters +of the Stock Exchange</i>, by <span class="smcap">John Francis</span>, a work describing the progress +of financial speculation in England, with great liveliness of +delineation, and illustrated with a variety of personal incidents and +scenes of the richest character. The volume is intended to give a +popular narrative of the money power of England, in a manner at once +interesting and suggestive, and it accomplishes its purpose with eminent +success.</p> + +<p><i>Wah-to-yah, and the Taos Trail</i>, by <span class="smcap">Lewis W. Garrard</span> published by H. W. +Derby and Co., Cincinnati, is a record of wild adventures among the +Indians, by a rollicking Western youth, who never misses the opportunity +for a scene, and who tells his story with a gay saucy, good-natured +audacity, which makes his book far more companionable than most volumes +of graver pretensions. Commend us to young Garrard, whoever he may be, +as a free and easy guide to the mysteries of life in the forest.</p> + +<p><i>Poems</i> by <span class="smcap">H. Ladd Spencer</span>, published by Phillips, Sampson, and Co., +Boston, are rather remarkable specimens of juvenile precocity, most of +them having been written in the days of the author's earliest boyhood, +and some of them during his twelfth year, and at a period little less +remote. Their poetical merit must, of course, be inconsiderable, and +they are not sufficiently curious to warrant publication.</p> + +<p>D. Appleton and Co. have issued a novel entitled <i>Heloise, or the +Unrevealed Secret</i>, by <span class="smcap">Talvi</span>, the gifted authoress of <i>The Sketch of the +Slavic Language and Literature</i>, which is entitled to special +commendation among the recent productions of American literature. +Without the machinery of a complicated plot, and in language that is +almost sculpturesque in its chaste simplicity, it possesses an intense +and unflagging interest, by its artistic delineation of character, its +profound insight into the mysteries of passion, and the calm, delicate, +spiritual beauty of its heroine. Its subtle conception of the nicest +variations of feeling, is no less remarkable than its precision in the +use of language, the work, for the most part, not only reading like the +production of a native, but of one familiar with the most intimate +resources of idiomatic English. A very few exceptions to this remark in +some portions of the dialogue, whose naïveté atones for their +inaccuracy, only present the general purity of the composition in a more +striking light. We sincerely trust that the writer, who has been so +happily distinguished in the field of literary research, will be +induced, by the success of this volume, to continue her labors in the +province of fictitious creation. Nothing is wanting to her assurance of +an enviable fame in this department of letters.</p> + +<p><i>The Initials</i> is the title of an English novel, reprinted by A. Hart, +Philadelphia, illustrative of German life and character, and in all +respects of more interest than would be predicted from its ambiguous +designation.</p> + +<p><i>The Lorgnette</i>, published by Stringer and Townsend, continues to make +its appearance once a fortnight, and well sustains the reputation it has +acquired, as a brilliant, searching, and good-humored satirical +commentary on the many-colored phantasmagoria of the town. The name of +the author is still a dead secret, in spite of numerous hints and winks +among the knowing ones, and he is shrewd enough to prefer the prestige +of concealment to the tickling of his vanity by publicity. The most +noticeable feature in his work is its quiet, effective style of +composition, which is utterly free from the pyrotechnic arts of so many +current pretenders.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SUMMER_FASHIONS" id="SUMMER_FASHIONS"></a>SUMMER FASHIONS.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Fig. 1. Promenade Dress.</span>—For walking in public gardens, <i>barège</i> +dresses, plain or figured, are generally adopted; but <i>glacé</i>, or damask +bareges are the most <i>recherchés</i>. Dresses of shot silk form also +charming toilets. The skirts are less full than those of last year—but, +to compensate for it, they are trimmed with graduated flounces up to the +waist—as many as five are worn, and they are pinked and stamped at the +edges. The bodies are tight, and open in front; a cord connects the two +sides of the corsage, and buttons, either of silk, colored stones, or +steel, are placed on the centre of this cord. The sleeves are wider at +the bottom than at the top, and are trimmed with two small flounces; +from beneath them a large lace sleeve falls over the hand, leaving the +lower part of the arm uncovered. This form of sleeve is very becoming to +the hand.</p> + +<p>Mantelets are very slightly altered; they are, however, rather more +closely fitted to the figure than last year; they are all made of +<i>taffetas glacé</i>, and trimmed with pinked <i>ruches</i> of the same material +for young persons, and with wide black lace for married ladies.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 311px;"> +<img src="images/image9.jpg" width="311" height="550" alt="Fig. 1.—Promenade Dress." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 1.—Promenade Dress.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 2, is a Pelerine of a pattern quite new; made of embroidered net, +trimmed with three rows of <i>point d'Alençon</i>, and ornamented with a +large knot of <i>ribbons Bayadère</i>. Another pattern is of Indian muslin +<i>Canezcu</i>, embroidered and trimmed with <i>malines</i>, open and buttoned up +in the back.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 231px;"> +<img src="images/image10.jpg" width="231" height="200" alt="Fig. 2.—Pelerine." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 2.—Pelerine.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 3 is a neat costume for a little girl.</p> + +<p>Dress of glacé silk, shaded in light green and lilac. The skirt trimmed +with four rows of fringe of green and lilac silk intermingled. The +corsage low and plain, with a pelerine which passes along the back and +shoulders, and is brought down to the front of the waist in a point. +This pelerine is edged with two rows of fringe. The sleeves of the +dress, which are short, are edged simply with one row of fringe. +Attached to these short sleeves are long sleeves of white muslin made so +as to set nearly close to the upper part of the arms, but finished +between the elbow and the wrist with three drawings separated by bands +of needlework insertion. Above these drawings there is a frill which +falls back on the arm. The neck is covered by a chemisette of muslin, +finished at the throat with a trimming of needlework, turned over.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 194px;"> +<img src="images/image11.jpg" width="194" height="400" alt="Fig. 3.—Little Girl's Costume." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 3.—Little Girl's Costume.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fig. 4. Home Dress.</span>—Morning cap trimmed with Valenciennes and gauze +ribbons, cut out in the shape of leaves, muslin <i>guimpe bouillonné</i>, +with embroidered <i>entre-deux</i>; the gown <i>en gros d'Ecosse</i>, with facing +and trimmings cut out; <i>pagode</i> sleeves, with a white muslin puffing +ornamented with a very large <i>bouillonné</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 363px;"> +<img src="images/image12.jpg" width="363" height="450" alt="Fig. 4.—Home Dress." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 4.—Home Dress.</span> +</div> + +<p>In the engraving (<span class="smcap">Fig. 5</span>) is represented a <span class="smcap">Ball Costume</span>, with a graceful +head-dress, composed of a vine garland with grapes; on each side hangs a +bunch of grapes (several little hunches are preferred). The novelty of +this year is to be observed in the length of the branches, which come +down on the shoulders, mixing with long curls. This head-dress is worn +also with <i>bandeaux</i>, but then the garland must be thicker in the lower +part. The leaves are of different colors, from the various shades of +green to the autumnal red tint. This kind of garland is made also of +ivy, with small red balls. The gowns are of <i>taffetas d'Italie</i>—<i>white, +rose</i>, or <i>blue</i> (their shades are to be <i>glacés de blanc</i>): the body is +trimmed with a <i>berthe</i>, made of two rows of <i>blonde</i>; the front +ornamented with a puffing of white net laced with satin ribbons the +color of the gown.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 330px;"> +<img src="images/image13.jpg" width="330" height="450" alt="Fig. 5.—Ball Dress." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 5.—Ball Dress.</span> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume +1, No. 3, August, 1850., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY, AUG. 1850 *** + +***** This file should be named 29655-h.htm or 29655-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29655/ + +Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29655] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY, AUG. 1850 *** + + + + +Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +HARPER'S + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + +No. III.--AUGUST, 1850.--VOL. I. + + + + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE.] + +[From the Art-Journal.] + +PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOME OF SIR THOMAS MORE. + +BY MRS. S. C. HALL. + + +While living in the neighborhood of Chelsea, we determined to look upon +the few broken walls that once inclosed the residence of Sir Thomas +More, a man who, despite the bitterness inseparable from a persecuting +age, was of most wonderful goodness as well as intellectual power. We +first read over the memories of him preserved by Erasmus, Hoddesdon, +Roper, Aubrey, his own namesake, and others. It is pleasant to muse over +the past; pleasant to know that much of malice and bigotry has departed, +to return no more, that the prevalence of a spirit which could render +even Sir Thomas More unjust and, to seeming, cruel, is passing away. +Though we do implicitly believe there would be no lack of great hearts, +and brave hearts, at the present day, if it were necessary to bring them +to the test, still there have been few men like unto him. It is a +pleasant and a profitable task, so to sift through past ages, so to +separate the wheat from the chaff, to see, when the feelings of party +and prejudice sink to their proper insignificance, how the morally great +stands forth in its own dignity, bright, glorious, and everlasting. St. +Evremond sets forth the firmness and constancy of Petronius Arbiter in +his last moments, and imagines he discovers in them a softer nobility +of mind and resolution, than in the deaths of Seneca, Cato, or Socrates +himself; but Addison says, and we can not but think truly, "that if he +was so well pleased with gayety of humor in a dying man, he might have +found a much more noble instance of it in Sir Thomas More, who died upon +a point of religion, and is respected as a martyr by that side for which +he suffered." What was pious philosophy in this extraordinary man, might +seem frenzy in any one who does not resemble him as well in the +cheerfulness of his temper as in the sanctity of his life and manners. + +Oh, that some such man as he were to sit upon our woolsack now; what +would the world think, if when the mighty oracle commanded the next +cause to come on, the reply should be, "_Please your good lordship, +there is no other!_" Well might the smart epigrammatist write: + + When MORE some time had chancellor been, + No MORE suits did remain; + The same shall never MORE be seen, + Till MORE be there again! + +We mused over the history of his time until we slept, and dreamed: and +first in our dream we saw a fair meadow, and it was sprinkled over with +white daisies, and a bull was feeding therein; and as we looked upon him +he grew fatter and fatter, and roared in the wantonness of power and +strength, so that the earth trembled; and he plucked the branches off +the trees, and trampled on the ancient inclosures of the meadow, and as +he stormed, and bellowed, and destroyed, the daisies became human heads, +and the creature flung them about, and warmed his hoofs in the hot blood +that flowed from them and we grew sick and sorry at heart, and thought, +is there no one to slay the destroyer? And when we looked again, the +Eighth Harry was alone in the meadow; and, while many heads were lying +upon the grass, some kept perpetually bowing before him, while others +sung his praises as wise, just, and merciful. Then we heard a trumpet +ringing its scarlet music through the air, and we stood in the old +tilt-yard at Whitehall, and the pompous Wolsey, the bloated king, the +still living Holbein, the picturesque Surrey, the Aragonian Catharine, +the gentle Jane, the butterfly Anne Bullen, the coarse-seeming but +wise-thinking Ann of Cleves the precise Catherine Howard, and the stout +hearted Catherine Parr, passed us so closely by, that we could have +touched their garments; then a bowing troop of court gallants came on; +others whose names and actions you may read of in history; and then the +hero of our thoughts, Sir Thomas More--well dressed, for it was a time +of pageants--was talking somewhat apart to his pale-faced friend +Erasmus, while "Son Roper," as the chancellor loved to call his +son-in-law, stood watchfully and respectfully a little on one side. Even +if we had never seen the pictures Holbein painted of his first patron, +we should have known him by the bright benevolence of his aspect, the +singular purity of his complexion, his penetrating yet gentle eyes, and +the incomparable grandeur with which virtue and independence dignified +even an indifferent figure. His smile was so catching that the most +broken-hearted were won by it to forget their sorrows; and his voice, +low and sweet though it was, was so distinct, that we heard it above all +the coarse jests, loud music, and trumpet calls of the vain and idle +crowd. And while we listened, we awoke; resolved next day to make our +pilgrimage, perfectly satisfied at the outset, that though no fewer than +four houses in Chelsea contend for the honor of his residence, Doctor +King's arguments in favor of the site being the same as that of Beaufort +House--upon the greater part of which now stands Beaufort-row--are the +most conclusive; those who are curious in the matter can go and see his +manuscripts in the British Museum. Passing Beaufort-row, we proceeded +straight on to the turn leading to the Chelsea _Clock-house_. + +[Illustration: CLOCK HOUSE.] + +It is an old, patched-up, rickety dwelling, containing, perhaps, but few +of the original stones, yet interesting as being the lodge-entrance to +the offices of Beaufort-House; remarkable, also, as the dwelling of a +family of the name of Howard, who have occupied it for more than a +hundred years, the first possessor being gardener to Sir Hans Sloane, +into whose possession, after a lapse of years, and many changes, a +portion of Sir Thomas More's property had passed. This Howard had skill +in the distilling of herbs and perfumes, which his descendant carries on +to this day. We lifted the heavy brass knocker, and were admitted into +the "old clock-house." The interior shows evident marks of extreme age, +the flooring being ridgy and seamed, bearing their marks with a +discontented creaking, like the secret murmurs of a faded beauty against +her wrinkles! On the counter stood a few frost-bitten geraniums, and +drawers, containing various roots and seeds, were ranged round the +walls, while above them were placed good stout quart and pint bottles of +distilled waters. The man would have it that the "clock-house" was the +"real original" lodge-entrance to "Beaufort House;" and so we agreed it +might have been, but not, "_perhaps_" built during Sir Thomas More's +lifetime. To this insinuation he turned a deaf ear, assuring us that his +family, having lived there so long, must know all about it, and that the +brother of Sir Hans Sloane's gardener had made the great clock in old +Chelsea Church, as the church books could prove. "You can, if you +please," he said, "go under the archway at the side of this house, +leading into the Moravian chapel and burying-ground, where the notice, +that 'within are the Park-chapel Schools,' is put up." And that is quite +true; the Moravians now only use the chapel which was erected in their +burying-ground to perform an occasional funeral service in, and so they +"let it" to the infant school. The burying-ground is very pretty in the +summer time. Its space occupies only a small portion of the chancellor's +garden; part of its walls are very old, and the south one certainly +belonged to Beaufort House. There have been some who trace out a Tudor +arch and one or two Gothic windows as having been filled up with more +modern mason-work: but that may be fancy. There seems no doubt that the +Moravian chapel stands on the site of the old stables. + +"Then," we said, "the clock-house could only have been at the entrance +to the offices." The man looked for a moment a little hurt at this +observation, as derogatory to the dignity of his dwelling, but he +smiled, and said. "Perhaps so;" and very good-naturedly showed us the +cemetery of this interesting people. Indeed, their original settlement +in Chelsea is quite a romance. The chapel stands to the left of the +burying-ground, which is entered by a primitive wicket-gate; it forms a +square of thick grass, crossed by broad gravel walks, kept with the +greatest neatness The tombstones are all that, and the graves not +raised above the level of the sward. They are of two sizes only: the +larger for grown persons, the smaller for children. The inscriptions on +the grave-stones, in general, seldom record more than the names and ages +of the persons interred. The men are buried in one division, the women +in another. We read one or two of the names, and they were quaint and +strange: "Anne Rypheria Hurloch;" "Anna Benigna La Trobe;" and one was +especially interesting, James Gillray, forty years sexton to this simple +cemetery, and father of Gillray, the H. B. of the past century. One +thing pleased us mightily, the extreme old age to which the dwellers in +this house seemed to have attained. + +A line of ancient trees runs along the back of the narrow gardens of +Milman's-row, which is parallel with, but further from town than +Beaufort-row, and affords a grateful shade in the summer time. We +resolved to walk quietly round, and then enter the chapel. How strange +the changes of the world! The graves of a simple, peace-loving, +unambitious people were lying around us, and yet it was the place which +Erasmus describes as "Sir Thomas More's estate, purchased at Chelsey," +and where "he built him a house, neither mean nor subject to envy, yet +magnificent and commodious enough." How dearly he loved this place, and +how much care he bestowed upon it, can be gathered from the various +documents still extant.[1] The bravery with which, soon after he was +elected a burgess to parliament, he opposed a subsidy demanded by Henry +the Seventh, with so much power that he won the parliament to his +opinion, and incensed the king so greatly, that, out of revenge, he +committed the young barrister's father to the Tower, and fined him in +the fine of a hundred pounds! That bravery remained with him to the +last, and with it was mingled the simplicity which so frequently and so +beautifully blends with the intellectuality that seems to belong to a +higher world than this. When he "took to marrying," he fancied the +second daughter of a Mr. Colt, a gentleman of Essex; yet when he +considered the pain it must give the eldest to see her sister preferred +before her, he gave up his first love, and framed his fancy to the +elder. This lady died, after having brought him four children; but his +second choice, Dame Alice, has always seemed to us a punishment and a +sore trial. And yet how beautifully does Erasmus describe his mode of +living in this very place: "He converseth with his wife, his son, his +daughter-in-law, his three daughters and their husbands, with eleven +grandchildren. There is not a man living so affectionate to his children +as he. He loveth his old wife as if she were a young maid; he persuadeth +her to play on the lute, and so with the like gentleness he ordereth his +family. Such is the excellence of his temper, that whatsoever happeneth +that could not be helped, he loveth, as if nothing could have happened +more happily. You would say there was in that place Plato's academy; but +I do his house an injury in comparing it to Plato's academy, where there +were only disputations of numbers and geometrical figures, and sometimes +of moral virtues. I should rather call his house a school or university +of Christian religion; for, though there is none therein but readeth and +studyeth the liberal sciences, their special care is piety and +virtue."[2] + +[Illustration: MORE'S HOUSE.] + +The king was used to visit his "beloved chancellor" here for days +together to admire his terrace overhanging the Thames, to row in his +state barge, to ask opinions upon divers matters, and it is said that +the royal answer to Luther was composed under the chancellor's revising +eye. Still, the penetrating vision of Sir Thomas was in no decree +obscured by this glitter. One day the king came unexpectedly to Chelsea, +and having dined, walked with Sir Thomas for the space of an hour, in +the garden, having his arm about his neck. We pleased ourselves with the +notion that they walked where then we stood! Well might such +condescension cause his son Roper--for whom he entertained so warm an +affection--to congratulate his father upon such condescension, and to +remind him that he had never seen his majesty approach such familiarity +with any one, save once, when he was seen to walk arm in arm with +Cardinal Wolsey. "I thank our Lord," answered Sir Thomas, "I find his +grace my very good lord, indeed; and I do believe, he doth as +singularly love me as any subject within the realm; however, son Roper, +I may tell thee I have no cause to be proud thereof, for if my head +should win him a castle in France, it should not fail to go off." + +With the exception of his own family (and his wife formed an exception +here), there are few indeed of his contemporaries, notwithstanding the +eulogiums they are prone to heap upon him, who understood the elevated +and unworldly character of this extraordinary man. + +The Duke of Norfolk, coming one day to dine with him, found him in +Chelsea Church, singing in the choir, with his surplice on. "What! +what!" exclaimed the duke, "what, what, my Lord Chancellor a parish +clerk! a parish clerk! you dishonor the king and his office." And how +exquisite his reply, "Nay, you may not think your master and mine will +be offended with me for serving God his master, or thereby count his +office dishonored." Another reply to the same abject noble, is well +graven on our memory. He expostulated with him, like many of his other +friends, for braving the king's displeasure. "By the mass, Master More," +he said, "it is perilous striving with princes; therefore, I wish you +somewhat to incline to the king's pleasure, for '_indignatio Principis +mors est._'" "And is that all, my lord?" replied this man, so much above +all paltry considerations; "then in good faith the difference between +your grace and me is but this--that I may die to-day, and you +to-morrow." + +[Illustration: CHELSEA CHURCH.] + +He took great delight in beautifying Chelsea Church, although he had a +private chapel of his own; and when last there they told us the painted +window had been his gift. It must have been a rare sight to see the +chancellor of England sitting with the choir; and yet there was a fair +share of pomp in the manner of his servitor bowing at his lady's pew, +when the service of the mass was ended, and saying, "My lord is gone +_before_." But the day after he resigned the great seal of England (of +which his wife knew nothing), Sir Thomas presented himself at the +pew-door, and, after the fashion of his servitor, quaintly said, "Madam, +my lord is _gone."_ The vain woman could not comprehend his meaning, +which, when, during their short walk home, he fully explained, she was +greatly pained thereby, lamenting it with exceeding bitterness of +spirit. + +We fancied we could trace a gothic door or window in the wall; but our +great desire would have been to discover the water-gate from which he +took his departure the morning he was summoned to Lambeth to take the +oath of supremacy. True to what he believed right, he offered up his +prayers and confessions in Chelsea Church, and then, returning to his +own house, took an affectionate farewell of his wife and children, +forbidding them to accompany hum to the water-gate, as was their custom, +fearing, doubtless, that his mighty heart could not sustain a prolonged +interview. Who could paint the silent parting between him and all he +loved so well--the boat waiting at the foot of the stairs--the rowers in +their rich liveries, while their hearts, heavy with apprehension for the +fate of him they served, still trusted that nothing could be found to +harm so good a master--the pale and earnest countenance of "son Roper," +wondering at the calmness, at such a time, which more than all other +things, bespeaks the master mind. For a moment his hand lingered on the +gate, and in fastening the simple latch his fingers trembled, and then +he took his seat by his son's side; and in another moment the boat was +flying through the waters. For some time he spoke no word, but communed +with and strengthened his great heart by holy thoughts; then looking +straight into his son Roper's eyes, while his own brightened with a +glorious triumph, he exclaimed in the fullness of his rich-toned voice, +"I thank our Lord the field is won." It was no wonder that, overwhelmed +with apprehension, his son-in-law could not apprehend his meaning then, +but afterward bethought him that he signified how he had conquered the +world. + +The abbot of Westminster took him that same day into custody, on his +refusal to "take the king as head of his Church;" and upon his repeating +this refusal four days afterward, he was committed to the Tower. Then, +indeed, these heretofore bowers of bliss echoed to the weak and wavering +complaints of his proud wife, who disturbed him also in his prison by +her desires, so vain and so worldly, when compared with the elevated +feelings of his dear daughter Margaret. + +How did the fond, foolish woman seek to shake his purpose! "Seeing," she +said, "you have a house at Chelsea, a right fair house, your library, +your gallery, your garden, your orchard, and all other necessaries so +handsome about you, where you might in company with me, your wife, your +children, and household, be merry, I marvel that you who have been +always taken for so wise a man, can be content thus to be shut up among +mice and rats, and, too, when you might be abroad at your liberty, and +with the favor and good-will both of the king and his council, if you +would but do as all the bishops and best learned men of the realm have +done." + +And then not even angered by her folly, seeing how little was given her +to understand, he asked her if the house in Chelsea was any nearer +Heaven than the gloomy one he then occupied? ending his pleasant yet +wise parleying with a simple question: + +"Tell me," he said, "good Mistress Alice, how long do you think might we +live and enjoy that same house?" + +She answered, "Some twenty years." + +"Truly," he replied, "if you had said some thousand years, it might have +been somewhat; and yet he were a very bad merchant who would put himself +in danger to lose eternity for a thousand years. How much the rather if +we are not sure to enjoy it one day to an end?" + +It is for the glory of women that his daughter Margaret, while she loved +and honored him past all telling, strengthened his noble nature; for, +writing him during his fifteen months' imprisonment in the Tower, she +asks, in words not to be forgotten, "What do you think, most dear +father, doth comfort us at Chelsey, in this your absence? Surely, the +remembrance of your manner of life passed among us--your holy +conversation--your wholesome counsels--your examples of virtue, of which +there is hope that they do not only persevere with you, but that they +are, by God's grace, much more increased." + +After the endurance of fifteen months' imprisonment, he was arraigned, +tried, and found guilty of denying the king's supremacy. + +Alack! is there no painter of English history bold enough to immortalize +himself by painting this trial? Sir Thomas More was beheaded on Tower +Hill, in the bright sunshine of the month of July, on its fifth day, +1535, the king remitting the disgusting quartering of the quivering +flesh, because of his "high office." When told of the king's "mercy," +"Now, God forbid," he said, "the king should use anymore such to any of +my friends; and God bless all my posterity from such pardons." + +One man of all the crowd who wept at his death, reproached him with a +decision he had given in Chancery. More, nothing discomposed, replied, +that if it were still to do, he would give the same decision. This +happened twelve months before. And, while the last scene was enacting on +Tower-Hill, the king, who had walked in this very garden with his arm +round the neck, which, by his command, the ax had severed, was playing +at Tables in Whitehall, Queen Anne Bullen looking on; and when told that +Sir Thomas More was dead, casting his eyes upon the pretty fool that had +glittered in his pageants, he said, "Thou art the cause of this man's +death." The COWARD! to seek to turn upon a thing so weak as that, the +heavy sin which clung to his own soul! + +[Illustration: TOMB.] + +Some say the body lies in Chelsea Church, beneath the tomb we have +sketched--the epitaph having been written by himself before he +anticipated the manner of his death.[3] It is too long to insert; but +the lines at the conclusion are very like the man. The epitaph and +poetry are in Latin: we give the translation: + + "For Alice and for Thomas More's remains + Prepared, this tomb Johanna's form contains + One, married young; with mutual ardor blest, + A boy and three fair girls our joy confest. + The other (no small praise) of these appear'd + As fond as if by her own pangs endeared. + One lived with me, one lives in such sweet strife, + Slight preference could I give to either wife. + Oh! had it met Heaven's sanction and decree, + One hallowed bond might have united three; + Yet still be ours one grave, one lot on high! + Thus death, what life denied us, shall supply." + +[Illustration: ROPER's HOUSE.] + +Others tell that his remains were interred in the Tower,[4] and some +record that the head was sought and preserved by that same daughter +Margaret, who caused it to be buried in the family vault of the Ropers +in St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury;[5] and they add a pretty legend how +that, when his head was upon London Bridge, Margaret would be rowed +beneath it, and, nothing horrified at the sight, say aloud, "That head +has layde many a time in my lappe; would to God, would to God, it would +fall into my lappe as I pass under now," and the head did so fall, and +she carried it in her "lappe" until she placed it in her husband's, "son +Roper's" vault, at Canterbury. + +The king took possession of these fair grounds at Chelsea, and all the +chancellor's other property, namely, Dunkington, Trenkford, and Benley +Park, in Oxfordshire, allowing the widow he had made, twenty pounds per +year for her life, and indulging his petty tyranny still more, by +imprisoning Sir Thomas's daughter, Margaret, "both because she kept her +father's head for a relic, and that she meant to set her father's works +in print." + +We were calling to mind more minute particulars of the charities and +good deeds of this great man, when, standing at the moment opposite a +grave where some loving hand had planted two standard rose-trees, we +suddenly heard a chant of children's voices, the infant scholars singing +their little hymn; the tune, too, was a well-known and popular melody, +and very sweet, yet sad of sound; it was just such music, as for its +simplicity, would have been welcome to the mighty dead; and, as we +entered among the little songsters, the past faded away, and we found +ourselves speculating on the hopeful present. + + * * * * * + +We close Mrs. Hall's pleasant sketches of Sir Thomas More and his +localities, with a brief description of a scene in his prison, which the +pencil of Mr. Herbert, of the Royal Academy, has beautifully depicted. +It must be remembered that More was a zealous Roman Catholic. He was +committed to the Tower in 1534, by the licentious Henry VIII., partly to +punish him for refusing to assist that monarch in his marriage with +Anne Boleyn, "the pretty fool," as Mrs. Hall calls her; but particularly +because he declined to acknowledge the king's ecclesiastical supremacy +as head of the Reformed Church. There he remained until his execution +the following year. "During his imprisonment," says his son-in-law and +biographer, Roper, who married his favorite daughter Margaret, "one day, +looking from his window, he saw four monks (who also had refused the +oath of supremacy) going to their execution, and regretting that he +could not bear them company, said: 'Look, Megge, dost thou not see that +these blessed fathers be now going as cheerful to their death, as +bridegrooms to their marriage? By which thou may'st see, myne own good +daughter, what a great difference there is between such as have spent +all their days in a religious, hard, and penitential life, and such as +have (as thy poore father hath done) consumed all their time in pleasure +and ease;'" and so he proceeded to enlarge on their merits and +martyrdom. His grandson, Cresacre More, referring to this scene, says, +"By which most humble and heavenly meditation, we may easily guess what +a spirit of charity he had gotten by often meditation, that every sight +brought him new matter to practice most heroical resolutions." + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] After the death of More, this favorite home of his, where he had so +frequently gathered "a choice company of men distinguished by their +genius and learning," passed into the rapacious hands of his bad +sovereign, and by him was presented to Sir William Pawlet, ultimately +Lord High Treasurer and Marquis of Winchester; from his hands it passed +into Lord Dacre's, to whom succeeded Lord Burghley; then followed his +son, the Earl of Salisbury, as its master; from him it passed +successively to the Earl of Lincoln, Sir Arthur Gorges, the Earl of +Middlesex, Villiers duke of Buckingham, Sir Bulstrode Whitelock, the +second Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Bristol, the Duke of Beaufort, +and ultimately to Sir Hans Slonne, who obtained it in 1738, and after +keeping it for two years razed it to the ground; an unhappy want of +reverence on the part of the great naturalist for the home of so many +great men. There is a print of it by J. Knyff, in 1699, which is copied +(p. 292); it shows some old features, but it had then been enlarged and +altered. Erasmus has well described it as it was in More's lifetime. It +had "a chapel, a library, and a gallery, called the New Buildings, a +good distance from his main house, wherein his custom was to busy +himself in prayer and meditation, whensoever he was at leisure." +Heywood, in his _II Moro_ (Florence, 1556), describes "the garden as +wonderfully charming, both from the advantages of its site, for from one +part almost the whole of the noble city of London was visible, and from +the other the beautiful Thames, with green meadows by woody eminences +all around, and also for its own beauty, for it was crowned with an +almost perpetual verdure." At one side was a small green eminence to +command the prospect. + +[2] The conduct of this great man's house was a model to all, and as +near an approach to his own Utopia as might well be. Erasmus says, "I +should rather call his house a school or university of Christian +religion, for though there is none therein but readeth and studyeth the +liberal sciences, their special care is piety and virtue; there is no +quarreling or intemperate words heard; none seen idle; which household +discipline that worthy gentleman doth not govern, but with all kind and +courteous benevolence." The servant-men abode on one side of the house, +the women on another, and met at prayer-time, or on church festivals, +when More would read and expound to them. He suffered no cards or dice, +but gave each one his garden-plot for relaxation, or set them to sing or +play music. He had an affection for all who truly served him, and his +daughters' nurse is as affectionately remembered in his letters when +from home as are they themselves. "Thomas More sendeth greeting to his +most dear daughters Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cecily; and to Margaret +Giggs, as dear to him as if she were his own," are his words in one +letter; and his valued and trustworthy domestics appear in the family +pictures of the family by Holbein. They requited his attachment by +truest fidelity and love; and his daughter Margaret, in her last +passionate interview with her father on his way to the Tower, was +succeeded by Margaret Giggs and a maid-servant, who embraced and kissed +their condemned master, "of whom, he said after, it was homely but very +lovingly done." Of these and other of his servants, Erasmus remarks, +"after Sir Thomas More's death, none ever was touched with the least +suspicion of any evil fame." + +[3] Wood and Weaver both affirm that the body of More was first +deposited in the Tower Chapel, but was subsequently obtained by his +devoted and accomplished daughter, Margaret Roper, and re-interred in +Chelsea Church, in the tomb he had finished in 1532, the year in which +he had surrendered the chancellorship, and resolved to abide the issue +of his conscientious opposition to the king's wishes, as if he felt that +the tomb should then be prepared. + +[4] Faulkner, in his history of Chelsea, adheres to this opinion, and +says that the tomb in that church is but "an empty cenotaph." His +grandson, in his Life, says, "his body was buried in the Chapel of St. +Peter, in the Tower, in the belfry, or, as some say, as one entereth +into the vestry;" and he does not notice the story of his daughter's +re-interment of it elsewhere. + +[5] The Ropers lived at Canterbury, in St Dunstan's-street. The house is +destroyed, and a brewery occupies its site; but the picturesque old +gateway, of red brick, still remains, and is engraved above. Margaret +Roper, the noble-hearted, learned, and favorite daughter of More resided +here with her husband, until her death, in 1544, nine years after the +execution of her father, when she was buried in the family vault at St. +Dunstan's, where she had reverently placed the head of her father. The +story of her piety is thus told by Cresacre More, in his life of his +grandfather, Sir Thomas: "His head having remained about a month upon +London Bridge, and being to be cast into the Thames, because room should +be made for divers others, who, in plentiful sort, suffered martyrdom +for the same supremacy, shortly after, it was bought by his daughter +Margaret, lest, as she stoutly affirmed before the council, being called +before them after for the matter, it should be food for fishes; which +she buried, where she thought fittest." Anthony-a-Wood says, that she +preserved it in a leaden box, and placed it in her tomb "with great +devotion;" and in 1715, Dr. Rawlinson told Hearne the antiquary, that he +had seen it there "inclosed in an iron grate." This was fully confirmed +in 1835, when the chancel of the church being repaired, the Roper vault +was opened, and several persons descended into it, and saw the skull in +a leaden box, something like a bee-hive, open in the front, and which +was placed in a square recess, in the wall, with an iron-grating before +it. A drawing was made, which was engraved in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ +of May, 1837, which we have copied in our initial letter; Summerly, in +his Handbook to Canterbury, says: "In the print there, however, the +opening in the leaden box, inclosing the head, is made oval, whereas it +should be in the form of a triangle." We have therefore so corrected our +copy. + + + + +[From Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +A BUFFALO CHASE. + + +Early on the 4th we inspanned and continued our march for Booby, a large +party of savages still following the wagons. Before proceeding far I was +tempted by the beautiful appearance of the country to saddle horses, to +hunt in the mountains westward of my course. I directed the wagons to +proceed a few miles under guidance of the natives, and there await my +arrival. I was accompanied by Isaac, who was mounted on the Old Gray, +and carried my clumsy Dutch rifle of six to the pound. Two Bechuanas +followed us, leading four of my dogs. Having crossed a well wooded +strath, we reached a little crystal river, whose margin was trampled +down with the spoor of a great variety of heavy game, but especially of +buffalo and rhinoceros. We took up the spoor of a troop of buffaloes, +which we followed along a path made by the heavy beasts of the forest +through a neck in the hills; and emerging from the thicket, we beheld, +on the other side of a valley, which had opened upon us, a herd of about +ten huge bull buffaloes. These I attempted to stalk, but was defeated by +a large herd of zebras, which, getting our wind, charged past and +started the buffaloes. I ordered the Bechuanas to release the dogs; and +spurring Colesberg, which I rode for the first time since the affair +with the lioness, I gave chase. The buffaloes crossed the valley in +front of me, and made for a succession of dense thickets in the hills to +the northward. As they crossed the valley by riding hard I obtained a +broadside shot at the last bull, and fired both barrels into him. He, +however, continued his course, but I presently separated him, along with +two other bulls, from the troop. My rifle being a two-grooved, which is +hard to load, I was unable to do so on horseback, and followed with it +empty, in the hope of bringing them to bay. In passing through a grove +of thorny trees I lost sight of the wounded buffalo; he had turned short +and doubled back, a common practice with them when wounded. After +following the other two at a hard gallop for about two miles, I was +riding within five yards of their huge broad sterns. They exhaled a +strong bovine smell, which came hot in my face. I expected every minute +that they would come to bay, and give me time to load; but this they did +not seem disposed to do. At length, finding I had the speed of them, I +increased my pace; and going ahead, I placed myself right before the +finest bull, thus expecting to force him to stand at bay; upon which he +instantly charged me with a low roar, very similar to the voice of a +lion. Colesberg neatly avoided the charge, and the bull resumed his +northward course. We now entered on rocky ground, and the forest became +more dense as we proceeded. The buffaloes were evidently making for some +strong retreat. I, however, managed with much difficulty to hold them in +view, following as best I could through thorny thickets. Isaac rode +some hundred yards behind, and kept shouting to me to drop the pursuit, +or I should be killed. At last the buffaloes suddenly pulled up, and +stood at bay in a thicket, within twenty yards of me. Springing from my +horse, I hastily loaded my two-grooved rifle, which I had scarcely +completed when Isaac rode up and inquired what had become of the +buffaloes, little dreaming that they were standing within twenty yards +of him. I answered by pointing my rifle across his horse's nose, and +letting fly sharp right and left at the two buffaloes. A headlong +charge, accompanied by a muffled roar, was the result. In an instant I +was round a clump of tangled thorn-trees; but Isaac, by the violence of +his efforts to get his horse in motion, lost his balance, and at the +same instant, his girths giving way, himself, his saddle, and big Dutch +rifle, all came to the ground together, with a heavy crash right in the +path of the infuriated buffaloes. Two of the dogs, which had fortunately +that moment joined us, met them in their charge, and, by diverting their +attention, probably saved Isaac from instant destruction. The buffaloes +now took up another position in an adjoining thicket. They were both +badly wounded, blotches and pools of blood marking the ground where they +had stood. The dogs rendered me assistance by taking up their attention, +and in a few minutes these two noble bulls breathed their last beneath +the shade of a mimosa grove. Each of them in dying repeatedly uttered a +very striking, low, deep moan. This I subsequently ascertained the +buffalo invariably utters when in the act of expiring. + +On going up to them I was astonished to behold their size and powerful +appearance. Their horns reminded me of the rugged trunk of an oak-tree. +Each horn was upward of a foot in breadth at the base, and together they +effectually protected the skull with a massive and impenetrable shield. +The horns, descending and spreading out horizontally, completely +over-shadowed the animal's eyes, imparting to him a look the most +ferocious and sinister that can be imagined. On my way to the wagons I +shot a stag sassayby, and while I was engaged in removing his head a +troop of about thirty doe pallahs cantered past me, followed by one +princely old buck. Snatching up my rifle, I made a fine shot, and rolled +him over in the grass. + +Early in the afternoon I dispatched men with a pack-horse to bring the +finer of the two buffalo-heads. It was so ponderous that two powerful +men could with difficulty raise it from the ground. The Bechuanas who +had accompanied me, on hearing of my success, snatched up their shields +and assagais, and hastened to secure the flesh, nor did I see any more +of them, with the exception of the two Baquaines, who remained with me, +being engaged in a plot with my interpreter to prevent my penetrating to +Bamangwato. Isaac did not soon forget his adventure with the buffaloes; +and at night over the fire he informed my men that I was mad, and that +any man who followed me was going headlong to his own destruction. At an +early hour on the 5th, I continued my march through a glorious country +of hill and dale, throughout which water was abundant. + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +EARTH'S HARVESTS. + + "Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than War." + + MILTON'S _Sonnet to Cromwell._ + + + Two hundred years ago,[6] the moon + Shone on a battle plain; + Cold through that glowing night of June + Lay steeds and riders slain; + And daisies, bending 'neath strange dew, + Wept in the silver light; + The very turf a regal hue + Assumed that fatal night. + + Time past--but long, to tell the tale, + Some battle-ax or shield, + Or cloven skull, or shattered mail, + Were found upon the field; + The grass grew thickest on the spot + Where high were heaped the dead, + And well it marked had men forgot, + Where the great charge was made. + + To-day--the sun looks laughing down + Upon the harvest plain, + The little gleaners, rosy-brown, + The merry reapers' train; + The rich sheaves heaped together stand, + And resting in their shade, + A mother, working close at hand, + Her sleeping babe hath laid. + + A battle-field it was, and is, + For serried spears are there, + And against mighty foes upreared-- + Gaunt hunger, pale despair. + We'll thank God for the hearts of old, + Their strife our freedom sealed; + We'll praise Him for the sheaves of gold + Now on the battle-field. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Naseby, June 14, 1646. + + + + +[Illustration: Z. Taylor [From a Daguerreotype by BRADY.]] + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE PRESIDENT. + + +Who has not heard of the opening words with which the court preacher +Massilon startled the titled throng who had gathered in Notre Dame to do +the last honors to that monarch whose reign was the longest and most +splendid in French annals, "_God only is great!_" How often does the +knell of vanished power repeat the lesson! How constantly does the +fleeting away of our own men of might teach us that + + The paths of glory lead but to the grave! + +Death has again asserted his supremacy by striking down the most exalted +ruler of the land. The last sad cadence, dust to dust, his just been +faltered aver one who was our country's pride, and joy, and strength. +The love, the gratitude, and the veneration of a nation could not save +him. The crying need of an imperiled republic could not reprieve him. +His mortal strife over, his appointed task finished, he went down into +the cold embrace of the grave, and there, like a warrior taking his +rest, he lies and will lie forever. But he has left behind him what can +not die, the memory of noble aims and heroic deeds. The plain story of +his life is his best eulogy. + +ZACHARY TAYLOR was born in Orange County Virginia, in November, 1784. He +was the second son of Col. Richard Taylor, whose ancestors emigrated +from England about two centuries ago, and settled in Eastern Virginia. +The father, distinguished alike for patriotism and valor, served as +colonel in the revolutionary war, and took part in many important +engagements. About 1790 he left his Virginian farm and emigrated with +his family to Kentucky. He settled in the "dark and bloody ground," and +for years encountered all the trials then incident to border life. The +earliest impressions of young Zachary were the sudden foray of the +savage foe, the piercing warwhoop, the answering cry of defiance, the +gleam of the tomahawk, the crack of the rifle, the homestead saved by +his father's daring, the neighboring cottage wrapped in flames, or its +hearth-stone red with blood. Such scenes bound his young nerves with +iron, and fired his fresh soul with martial ardor; working upon his +superior nature they made arms his delight, and heroism his destiny. +Zachary was placed in school at an early age, and his teacher, who now +resides in Preston, Connecticut, still loves to dwell on the +studiousness of his habits, the quickness of his apprehension, the +modesty of his demeanor, the firmness and decision of his character, and +a general thoughtfulness, sagacity, and stability, that made him a +leader to his mates and a pride to his master. + +After leaving school, the military spirit of young Taylor was constantly +fanned by the popular excitement against the continual encroachments of +England; and soon after the murderous attack of the British ship Leopard +upon the Chesapeake, in 1808, he entered the army as first lieutenant in +the 7th regiment of infantry. He soon gained distinction in border +skirmishes with the Indians, and the declaration of war with England +found him promoted to the rank of captain. Within sixty days after the +commencement of hostilities in 1812, the imbecility of Hull lost to the +country its Michigan territory, and fearfully jeoparded the whole +northwestern region. It was of the utmost importance to intrust the few +and feeble forts of that great dominion to men of established valor and +discretion. Captain Taylor was at once invested with the command of FORT +HARRISON, situated on the Wabash, in the very heart of the Indian +country. The defenses of this post were in a miserable condition, and +its garrison consisted of only fifty men, of whom thirty were disabled +by sickness. With this little handful of soldiers, the young commander +immediately set about repairing the fortifications. He had hardly +completed his work, when, on the night of the 4th of September, an alarm +shot from one of his sentinels aroused him from a bed of fever, to meet +the attack of a large force of Miami Indians. Every man was at once +ordered to his post. A contiguous blockhouse was fired by the enemy, and +a thick discharge of bullets and arrows was opened upon the fort. The +darkness of the night, the howlings of the savages, the shrieks of the +women and children, the fast approaching flames, and the panic of the +debilitated soldiers, made up a scene of terror, but could not shake the +determination nor the judgment of the young chieftain. He inspired his +men with his own courage and energy. The flames were extinguished, the +consumed breast-works were renewed, and volley answered volley for six +long hours till day break enabled the Americans to aim with a deadly +precision that soon dispersed their foes. This gallant repulse, at odds +so unfavorable, prompted a report from Major General Hopkins to Governor +Shelby that "the firm and almost unparalleled defense of Fort Harrison +had raised for Captain Zachary Taylor a fabric of character not to be +affected by eulogy;" and forthwith procured from President Madison a +preferment to the rank of brevet major, the first brevet, it is said, +ever conferred in the American army. + +Major Taylor continued actively engaged throughout the war; but, being +without a separate command, he had no opportunity to again signalize +himself by any remarkable achievement. After the treaty of peace, he +remained at the West, faithfully performing his duties at different +military posts, and preparing himself for any future call to more active +service. In 1832, he was promoted to the rank of colonel; and soon after +the opening of the Florida war, he was ordered to that territory. Here +he was in constant service, and distinguished himself for his discretion +and gallantry in circumstances of the most trying difficulty and peril. +His entire career won for him universal esteem and confidence. + +The greatest achievement of Colonel Taylor in Florida was his victory of +OKEE-CHOBEE, which was gained on the 25th of December, 1837. The action +was very severe, and continued nearly four hours. The Indians, under the +command of Alligator and Sam Jones, numbered about 700 warriors, and +were posted in a dense hammock, with their front covered by a small +stream, almost impassable on account of quicksands, and with their +flanks secured by swamps that prevented all access. Colonel Taylor's +force amounted to about 500 men, a portion of whom were inexperienced +volunteers. By an extraordinary effort, the stream in front was crossed, +under a most galling fire of the enemy, by our soldiers, who sunk to the +middle in the mire. A close and desperate fight ensued, during which the +five companies of the sixth infantry, who bore the brunt of the fray, +lost every officer but one, and one of these companies saved only four +privates unharmed. The enemy's line was at last broken, and their right +flank turned. They were soon scattered in all directions, and were +pursued till near night. The American loss was 26 killed and 112 +wounded; that of the Indians was very large, but never definitely +ascertained. Throughout the whole engagement, Colonel Taylor was passing +on his horse from point to point within the sweep of the Indian rifles, +emboldening and directing his men, without the least apparent regard for +his own personal safety. This victory had a decisive influence upon the +turn of the war; and the government immediately testified their sense of +its importance by conferring upon its gallant winner the rank of +brigadier-general by brevet. + +In the following May, General Taylor succeeded General Jesup in the +command of the Florida army, and in this capacity, during two years, he +rendered vast services to the country by quelling the atrocities of +Indian warfare, and restoring peace and security to the southern +frontier. In 1840, at his own request, he was relieved by +Brigadier-general Armistead, and was ordered to the southwestern +department. Here he remained at various head-quarters until government +had occasion for his services in Texas. + +The project for the annexation of Texas, which was first officially +broached in the last year of President Tyler's administration, acquired +more and more weight and influence, until finally, in March, 1845, an +act to that effect was passed by both Houses of Congress, and was soon +after ratified by the Texian government. Mexico, although the +independence of Texas had been long before _de facto_ secured, stoutly +protested against the annexation. The special American envoy sent to the +Mexican capital to attempt an adjustment of this and other difficulties, +was refused a hearing, and great preparations were carried on by the +Mexican government for another invasion of Texas. In June, General +Taylor received orders to advance with his troops over the Sabine, and +protect all of the territory east of the Rio Grande, over which Texas +exercised jurisdiction. He accordingly marched into Texas, and in August +concentrated his forces, amounting to about 3000 men, at Corpus Christi. +Receiving orders from Washington to proceed to the Rio Grande, the +general, with his little army, moved westward in March, 1846: and after +considerable suffering from the heal and the want of food and water, +reached the banks of the river opposite Matamoras on the 28th of the +month. Colonel Twiggs, with a detachment of dragoons, in the mean time +took possession of Point Isabel, situated on an arm of the Gulf, about +25 miles east. General Taylor took every means to assure the Mexicans +that his purpose was not war, nor violence in any shape, but solely the +occupation of the Texian territory to the Rio Grande, until the boundary +should be definitively settled by the two republics. + +After encamping opposite Matamoras, the American general prepared with +great activity for Mexican aggression, by erecting fortifications, and +planting batteries. The Mexicans speedily evinced hostile intentions. +General Ampudia arrived at Matamoras with 1000 cavalry and 1500 +infantry, and made overtures to our foreign soldiers to "separate from +the Yankee bandits, and array themselves under the tricolored flag!" +Such solicitations were of course spurned with contempt. The American +general was summoned to withdraw his forces at the penalty of being +treated as an enemy; he replied that, while avoiding all occasion for +hostilities, he should faithfully execute the will of his government. +General Arista soon arrived at Matamoras, and, superseding Ampudia, +issued a proclamation to the American soldiers, begging them not to be +the "blind instruments of unholy and mad ambition, and rush on to +certain death." He immediately threw a large body of troops over the +river, in order to cut off all communication between General Taylor and +his depot at Point Isabel. A detachment of 61 soldiers, under Captain +Thornton, was waylaid by a Mexican force of ten times their number, and +after a bloody conflict and the loss of many lives, was obliged to +surrender. With but eight days' rations, and the country to the east +fast filling up with the Mexican troops, the position of General Taylor +became very critical. He at once resolved, at every hazard, to procure +additional supplies; and, leaving the fort under the command of Major +Brown, he set out with a large portion of his army, on the 1st of May, +for Point Isabel. He reached that place the next day without +molestation. Soon after his departure, the Mexicans opened their +batteries upon Fort Brown. The fire was steadily returned with two long +eighteen and sixteen brass six pounders by the garrison, which numbered +about 900 men. The bombardment of the fort was kept up at intervals from +batteries in its rear, as well as from the town, for six days. The +Americans, though possessed of little ammunition, and having to mourn +the fall of their gallant commander, sustained the cannonade with +unyielding firmness until the afternoon of the 8th, when their hearts +were thrilled with exultation by the answering peals of General Taylor +at PALO ALTO. + +On the evening of the 7th, the American general, with about 2000 men and +250 wagons left Point Isabel for the relief of Fort Brown, and after +advancing seven miles encamped. The next morning he resumed his march, +and at noon met 6000 Mexican troops under Arista, with 800 cavalry, and +seven field-pieces, in line of battle, on a plain flanked at both sides +by small pools, and partly covered in front by thickets of chaparral and +Palo Alto. General Taylor at once halted, refreshed his men, advanced to +within a quarter of a mile of the Mexican line, and gave battle. The +conflict first commenced between the artillery, and for two hours +Ringgold's, and Duncan's, and Churchill's batteries mowed down rank +after rank of the enemy. The infantry remained idle spectators until +General Torrejon, with a body of lancers, made a sally upon our train. +The advancing columns were received with a tremendous fire, and +faltered, broke, and fled. The battle now became general, and for a time +raged with terrific grandeur, amid a lurid cloud of smoke from the +artillery, and the burning grass of the prairie. It rested for an hour, +and then again moved on. The American batteries opened with more +tremendous effect than ever; yet the ranks of the enemy were broken only +to be refilled by fresh men courting destruction. Captain May charged +upon the left, but with too few men to be successful. The chivalrous +Ringgold fell. The cavalry of the enemy advanced upon our artillery of +the right to within close range, when a storm of cannister swept them +back like a tornado. Their infantry made a desperate onset upon our +infantry, but recoiled before their terrible reception. Again they +rallied, and again were they repulsed. Panic seized the baffled foe, and +soon squadron and column were in fall retreat. The conflict had lasted +five hours, with a loss to the Americans of 7 killed and 37 wounded, and +to the Mexicans of at least 250 killed and wounded. + +In the evening, a council of war was held upon the propriety of +persisting to advance upon Fort Brown in spite of the vastly superior +force of the enemy. Of the thirteen officers present some were for +retreating to Point Isabel, others for intrenching upon the spot, and +only four for pushing ahead. The general, after hearing all opinions, +settled the question by the laconic declaration, "I will be at Fort +Brown before to-morrow night if I live." In the morning the army again +marched. + +The enemy were again met most advantageously posted in the ravine of +RESACA DE LA PALMA within three miles of Fort Brown. About 4 P.M. the +battle commenced with great fury. The artillery on both sides did +terrible execution. By order of General Taylor, May, with his dragoons, +charged the enemy's batteries. The Mexicans reserved their fire until +the horses were near the cannons' mouth, and then poured out a broadside +which laid many a proud fellow low. Those of the dragoons not disabled +rushed on, overleaped the batteries, and seized the guns. The enemy +recoiled, again rallied, and with fixed bayonets returned to the onset. +Again they were repulsed. The "Tampico veterans" came to the rescue, +were met by the dragoons now reinforced with infantry, and all but +seventeen fell sword in hand after fighting with the most desperate +bravery. This decided the battle. The flanks of the enemy were turned, +and soon the rout became general. The Mexicans fled to the flat boats of +the river, and the shouts of the pursuers and the shrieks of the +drowning closed the scene. A great number of prisoners including 14 +officers, eight-pieces of artillery, and a large quantity of camp +equipage fell into the hands of the victors. The American loss was 39 +killed and 71 wounded; that of the enemy in the two actions was at least +1000 killed and wounded. Fort Brown was relieved, and the next day +Barita on the Mexican bank was taken by Colonel Wilson without +resistance. + +The victories of the 8th and 9th filled our country with exultation. +Government acknowledged the distinguished services of General Taylor by +making him Major-general by brevet; Congress passed resolutions of high +approval; Louisiana presented him with a sword, and the press every +where teemed with his praise. + +As soon as means could be procured, General Taylor crossed the Rio +Grande, took Matamoras without opposition, and made Colonel Twiggs its +governor. The army soon received large volunteer reinforcements, and on +the 5th of August the American general left Matamoras for Camargo, and +thence proceeded through Seralos to MONTEREY, where he arrived the 19th +of September. The Mexicans, under General Ampudia had placed this +strongly fortified town in a complete state of defense. Not only were +the walls and parapets lined with cannons, but the streets and houses +were barricaded and planted with artillery. The bishop's palace on a +hill at a short distance west of the city was converted into a perfect +fortress. The town was well supplied with ammunition, and manned with +7000 troops of the line, and from 2000 to 3000 irregulars. The attack +commenced on the 21st, and two important redoubts without the city, and +an important work within, were carried with a loss to the Americans in +killed and wounded of not less than 394. At three the next morning, a +considerable force under General Worth dragged their howitzers by main +strength up the hill, and assaulted the palace. The enemy made a +desperate sortie, but were driven back in confusion, and the +fortification was soon taken by the Americans with a loss of only 7 +killed and 12 wounded. The next night, the Mexicans evacuated nearly all +their defenses in the lower part of the city. The Americans entered the +succeeding day, and by the severest fighting slowly worked their way +from street to street and square to square, until they reached the heart +of the town. General Ampudia saw that further resistance was useless, +and, on the morning of the 24th, proposed to evacuate the city on +condition that he might take with him the personel and materiel of his +army. This condition was refused by the American general. A personal +interview between the two commanders ensued, which resulted in a +capitulation of the city, allowing the Mexicans to retire with their +forces and a certain portion of their materiel beyond the line formed by +the pass of the Rinconada and San Fernando de Presas and engaging the +Americans not to pass beyond that line for eight weeks. Our entire loss +during the operations was 12 officers and 108 men killed, 31 officers +and 337 men wounded; that of the enemy is not known, but was much +larger. The terms accorded by the conqueror were liberal, and dictated +by a regard to the interests of peace; they crowned a gallant conquest +of arms with a more sublime victory of magnanimity. + +General Taylor could not long remain inactive, and with a bold design to +seek out the enemy and fight him on his own ground, he marched as far as +Victoria. But by the transfer of the seat of the war to Vera Cruz, he +was deprived of the greater portion of his army, and was obliged to fall +back on Monterey. Here he remained until February, when, having received +large reinforcements of volunteers, he marched at the head of 4,500 men, +to meet Santa Anna; and on the 20th, took up a position at BUENA VISTA, +the great advantages of which had previously struck his notice. On the +22d, a Mexican army of 20,000 made its appearance, and Santa Anna +summoned the American commander to surrender. General Taylor, with +Spartan brevity, "declined acceding to the request." The next morning +the ten-hour's conflict began. We shall not attempt to rehearse the +history of that fearful battle: it is written forever on the memory of +the nation. The advance of the hostile host with muskets and swords, and +bayonets gleaming in the morning sun; the shouts of the marshaled +foemen; the opening roar of the artillery; the sheeted fire of the +musketry; the unchecked approach of the enemy; the outflanking by their +cavalry and its concentration in our rear; the immovable fortitude of +the Illinoians; the flight of the panic-stricken Indianians; the fall of +Lincoln; the wild shouts of Mexican triumph; the deadly and successful +charge upon the battery of O'Brien; the timely arrival of General Taylor +from Saltillo, and his composed survey, amid the iron hail, of the scene +of battle; the terrible onset of the Kentuckians and Illinoians; the +simultaneous opening of the batteries upon the Mexican masses in the +front and the rear; the impetuous but ill-fated charge of their cavalry +upon the rifles of Mississippi; the hemming-in of that cavalry, and the +errand of Lieutenant Crittenden to demand of Santa Anna its surrender; +the response of the confident chieftain by a similar demand; the +immortal rejoinder, "General Taylor never surrenders!" the escape of the +cavalry to a less exposed position; its baffled charge upon the Saltillo +train; its attack upon the hacienda, and its repulse by the horse of +Kentucky and Arkansas; the fall of Yell and Vaughan, the insolent +mission, under a white flag, to inquire what General Taylor was waiting +for; the curt reply "for General Santa Anna to surrender;" the junction, +by this ruse, of the Mexican cavalry in our rear with their main army; +the concentrated charge upon the American line; the overpowering of the +battery of O'Brien; the fearful crisis; the reinforcement of Captain +Bragg "by Major Bliss and I;" the "little more grape, Captain Bragg;" +the terrific carnage; the pause, the advance, the disorder, and the +retreat; the too eager pursuit of the Kentuckians and Illinoians down +the ravines; the sudden wheeling around of the retiring mass; the +desperate struggle, and the fall of Harden, McKee, and Clay; the +imminent destruction, and the rescuing artillery; the last breaking and +scattering of the Mexican squadrons and battalions; the joyous embrace +of Taylor and Wool; and Old Rough and Ready's "'Tis impossible to whip +us when we all pull together;" the arrival of cold nightfall; the +fireless, anxious, weary bivouac; the general's calm repose for another +day's work; the retreat of the enemy under the cover of darkness--are +not all these things familiar to every American schoolboy? The American +loss was 267 killed, 456 wounded, and 23 missing. The Mexicans left 500 +dead on the field, and the whole number of their killed and wounded was +probably near 2000. History tells not of a battle more bravely contested +and more nobly won: and well did the greatest warrior of the age, in +learning it exclaim, "General Taylor's a general indeed!" + +The victory of Buena Vista was the last and crowning achievement of +General Taylor's military life. His department in Mexico was entirely +reduced by it to subjection, and the subsequent operations of his army +were few and unimportant. At the close of the war he retired from +Mexico, carrying with him not only the adoration of his soldiers, but +even the respect and attachment of the very people he had vanquished. +Louisiana welcomed him with an ovation of the most fervent enthusiasm. +Thrilling eloquence from her most gifted sons, blessings, and smiles, +and wreaths from her fairest daughters, overwhelming huzzas from her +warm-hearted multitudes, triumphal arches, splendid processions, costly +banners, sumptuous festivals, and, in short, every mode of testifying +love and homage was employed; but modesty kept her wonted place in his +heart, and counsels of peace were, as ever, on his tongue. His prowess +in conflict was no more admirable than his self-forgetfulness in +triumph. + +His last great deed had hardly ceased to echo over the land, before the +people began to mark him out for their highest gift. He coveted no such +distinction, and constantly expressed a wish that Henry Clay might be +the chosen one. But the popular purpose grew stronger and stronger; and +General Taylor was named for the Presidency by one of the great +political parties of the country. During the political contest he +remained steadfastly true to himself. He neither stooped nor swerved, +neither sought nor shunned. He was borne by a triumphant majority to the +Presidential chair, and in a way that has impelled the most majestic +intellect of the nation to declare, that "no case ever happened in the +very best days of the Roman Republic, where any man found himself +clothed with the highest authority of the State, under circumstances +more repelling all suspicion of personal application, all suspicion of +pursuing any crooked path in politics, or all suspicion of having been +actuated by sinister views and purposes." + +The Inaugural Address of President Taylor was redolent with +old-fashioned patriotism, and breathed the very spirit of Washington. +And his subsequent administration, though beset by sectional strifes of +fearful violence, was conducted with wisdom, firmness, equanimity, and +moderation, on great national principles, and for great national ends. +Owing to his profound deference to the co-ordinate branches of +government, and his inability to either dictate or assume, his policy in +reference to some of the exciting questions of the day was not, during +the short period of his administration, fully proclaimed to Congress, +and pressed upon its adoption; but, though a southern man and a +slaveholder, he had deliberately and explicitly declared himself in +favor of the prompt and untrammeled admission of California into the +Union. He was taken away in the midst of the controversy, just as he was +about to submit his views upon the subject to the representatives of the +people. His last public appearance was in doing homage to Washington, +on the birthday of our liberties, and his last official act was adding a +new guaranty to the peace of the world, by signing the convention +recently concluded between our country and Great Britain respecting +Central America. Disease soon did its work. Confronting Death with the +fearless declaration, "I AM PREPARED--I HAVE ENDEAVORED TO DO MY DUTY," +the old hero succumbed--his first and last surrender. + +General Taylor married in early life a lady of Virginia, and was +connected either by affinity or blood with many of the most noted +families of the Old Dominion. His excellent consort, a son, and a +daughter, survive him. In person, General Taylor was about five feet +eight inches in height, and like most of our revolutionary generals, was +inclined to corpulency. His hair was gray, his brow ample, his eye +vivid, and his features plain, but full of firmness, intelligence, and +benevolence. His manners were easy and cordial, his dress, habits, and +tastes simple, and his style of living temperate in the extreme. His +speeches and his official papers, both military and civil, are alike +famed for their propriety of feeling and their chastity of diction. His +private life was unblemished, and the loveliness of his disposition made +him the idol of his own household and the favorite of all who knew him. +His martial courage was only equaled by his Spartan simplicity, his +unaffected modesty, his ever wakeful humanity, his inflexible integrity, +his uncompromising truthfulness, his lofty magnanimity, his unbounded +patriotism, and his unfaltering loyalty to duty. His mind was of an +original and solid cast, admirably balanced, and combining the +comprehensiveness of reason with the penetration of instinct. Its +controlling element was a strong, sterling sense, that of itself +rendered him a wise counselor and a safe leader. All of his personal +attributes and antecedents made him pre-eminently a man of the people, +and remarkably qualified him to be the stay and surety of his country in +this its day of danger. + + A braver soldier never wielded sword-- + A gentler heart did never sway in council. + But he is dead--and millions weep his loss. + + + + +[From "Hunting Adventures in South Africa."] + +ENCOUNTER WITH A LIONESS. + + +Suddenly I observed a number of vultures seated on the plain about a +quarter of a mile ahead of us, and close beside them stood a huge +lioness, consuming a blesblok which she had killed. She was assisted in +her repast by about a dozen jackals, which were feasting along with her +in the most friendly and confidential manner. Directing my followers' +attention to the spot, I remarked, "I see the lion;" to which they +replied, "Whar? whar? Yah! Almagtig! dat is he;" and instantly reining +in their steeds and wheeling about, they pressed their heels to their +horses' sides, and were preparing to betake themselves to flight. I +asked them what they were going to do. To which they answered, "We have +not yet placed caps on our rifles." This was true; but while this short +conversation was passing the lioness had observed us. Raising her full, +round face, she overhauled us for a few seconds, and then set off at a +smart canter toward a range of mountains some miles to the northward; +the whole troop of jackals also started off in another direction; there +was, therefore, no time to think of caps. The first move was to bring +her to bay, and not a second was to be lost. Spurring my good and lively +steed, and shouting to my men to follow, I flew across the plain, and, +being fortunately mounted on Colesberg, the flower of my stud, I gained +upon her at every stride. This was to me a joyful moment, and I at once +made up my mind that she or I must die. + +The lioness having had a long start of me, we went over a considerable +extent of ground before I came up with her. She was a large, full-grown +beast, and the bare and level nature of the plain added to her imposing +appearance. Finding that I gained upon her, she reduced her pace from a +canter to a trot, carrying her tail stuck out behind her, and slewed a +little to one side. I shouted loudly to her to halt, as I wished to +speak with her, upon which she suddenly pulled up, and sat on her +haunches like a dog, with her back toward me, not even deigning to look +round. She then appeared to say to herself, "Does this fellow know who +he is after?" Having thus sat for half a minute, as if involved in +thought, she sprang to her feet, and, fating about, stood looking at me +for a few seconds, moving her tail slowly from side to side, showing her +teeth, and growling fiercely. She next made a short run forward, making +a loud, rumbling noise like thunder. This she did to intimidate me; but, +finding that I did not flinch an inch, nor seem to heed her hostile +demonstrations, she quietly stretched out her massive arms, and lay down +on the grass. My Hottentots now coming up, we all three dismounted, and, +drawing our rifles from their holsters, we looked to see if the powder +was up in the nipples, and put on our caps. While this was doing the +lioness sat up, and showed evident symptoms of uneasiness. She looked +first at us, and then behind her, as if to see if the coast were clear; +after which she made a short run toward us, uttering her deep-drawn +murderous growls. Having secured the three horses to one another by +their rheims, we led them on as if we intended to pass her, in the hope +of obtaining a broadside. But this she carefully avoided to expose, +presenting only her full front. I had given Stofulus my Moore rifle, +with orders to shoot her if she should spring upon me, but on no account +to fire before me. Kleinboy was to stand ready to hand me my Purdey +rifle, in case the two-grooved Dixon should not prove sufficient. My men +as yet had been steady, but they were in a precious stew, their faces +having assumed a ghastly paleness, and I had a painful feeling that I +could place no reliance on them. + +Now, then, for it, neck or nothing! She is within sixty yards of us, and +she keeps advancing. We turned the horses' tails to her. I knelt on one +side, and, taking a steady aim at her breast, let fly. The ball cracked +loudly on her tawny hide, and crippled her in the shoulder, upon which +she charged with an appalling roar, and in the twinkling of an eye she +was in the midst of us. At this moment Stofolus's rifle exploded in his +hand, and Kleinboy, whom I had ordered to stand ready by me, danced +about like a duck in a gale of wind. The lioness sprang upon Colesberg, +and fearfully lacerated his ribs and haunches with her horrid teeth and +claws; the worst wound was on his haunch, which exhibited a sickening, +yawning gash, more than twelve inches long, almost laying bare the very +bone. I was very cool and steady, and did not feel in the least degree +nervous, having fortunately great confidence in my own shooting; but I +must confess, when the whole affair was over, I felt that it was a very +awful situation, and attended with extreme peril, as I had no friend +with me on whom I could rely. + +When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I stood out from the horses, ready +with my second barrel for the first chance she should give me of a clear +shot. This she quickly did; for, seemingly satisfied with the revenge +she had now taken, she quitted Colesberg, and, slewing her tail to one +side, trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking one step to +the left. I pitched my rifle to my shoulder, and in another second the +lioness was stretched on the plain a lifeless corpse. In the struggles +of death she half turned on her back, and stretched her neck and fore +arms convulsively, when she fell back to her former position; her mighty +arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw fell, blood streamed from +her mouth, and she expired. At the moment I fired my second shot, +Stofolus, who hardly knew whether he was alive or dead, allowed the +three horses to escape. These galloped frantically across the plain, on +which he and Kleinboy instantly started after them, leaving me standing +alone and unarmed within a few paces of the lioness, which they, from +their anxiety to be out of the way, evidently considered quite capable +of doing further mischief. + +Such is ever the case with these worthies, and with nearly all the +natives of South Africa. No reliance can be placed on them. They will to +a certainty forsake their master in the most dastardly manner in the +hour of peril, and leave him in the lurch. A stranger, however, hearing +these fellows recounting their own gallant adventures, when sitting in +the evening along with their comrades round a blazing fire, or under the +influence of their adored "Cape smoke" or native brandy, might fancy +them to be the bravest of the brave. Having skinned the lioness and cut +off her head, we placed her trophies upon Beauty and held for camp. +Before we had proceeded a hundred yards from the carcass, upward of +sixty vultures, whom the lioness had often fed were feasting on her +remains. + + + + +[From Dickens's "Household Words."] + +THE YOUNG ADVOCATE. + + +Antoine de Chaulieu was the son of a poor gentleman of Normandy, with a +long genealogy, a short rent-roll, and a large family. Jacques Rollet +was the son of a brewer, who did not know who his grandfather was; but +he had a long purse and only two children. As these youths flourished in +the early days of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and were near +neighbors, they naturally hated each other. Their enmity commenced at +school, where the delicate and refined De Chaulieu being the only +gentilhomme among the scholars, was the favorite of the master (who was +a bit of an aristocrat in his heart) although he was about the worst +dressed boy in the establishment, and never had a son to spend; while +Jacques Rollet, sturdy and rough, with smart clothes and plenty of +money, got flogged six days in the week, ostensibly for being stupid and +not learning his lessons--which, indeed, he did not--but, in reality, +for constantly quarreling with and insulting De Chaulieu, who had not +strength to cope with him. When they left the academy, the feud +continued in all its vigor, and was fostered by a thousand little +circumstances arising out of the state of the times, till a separation +ensued in consequence of an aunt of Antoine de Chaulieu's undertaking +the expense of sending him to Paris to study the law, and of maintaining +him there during the necessary period. + +With the progress of events came some degree of reaction in favor of +birth and nobility, and then Antoine, who had passed for the bar, began +to hold up his head and endeavored to push his fortunes; but fate seemed +against him. He felt certain that if he possessed any gift in the world +it was that of eloquence, but he could get no cause to plead; and his +aunt dying inopportunely, first his resources failed, and then his +health. He had no sooner returned to his home, than, to complicate his +difficulties completely, he fell in love with Mademoiselle Natalie de +Bellefonds, who had just returned from Paris, where she had been +completing her education. To expatiate on the perfections of +Mademoiselle Natalie, would be a waste of ink and paper; it is +sufficient to say that she really was a very charming girl, with a +fortune which, though not large, would have been a most desirable +acquisition to De Chaulieu, who had nothing. Neither was the fair +Natalie indisposed to listen to his addresses; but her father could not +be expected to countenance the suit of a gentleman, however well-born, +who had not a ten-sous piece in the world, and whose prospects were a +blank. + +While the ambitions and love-sick young barrister was thus pining in +unwelcome obscurity, his old acquaintance; Jacques Rollet, had been +acquiring an undesirable notoriety. There was nothing really bad in +Jacques' disposition, but having been bred up a democrat, with a hatred +of the nobility, he could not easily accommodate his rough humor to +treat them with civility when it was no longer safe to insult them. The +liberties he allowed himself whenever circumstances brought him into +contact with the higher classes of society, had led him into many +scrapes, out of which his father's money had one way or another released +him; but that source of safety had now failed. Old Rollet having been +too busy with the affairs of the nation to attend to his business, had +died insolvent, leaving his son with nothing but his own wits to help +him out of future difficulties, and it was not long before their +exercise was called for. Claudine Rollet, his sister, who was a very +pretty girl, had attracted the attention of Mademoiselle de Bellefonds' +brother, Alphonso; and as he paid her more attention than from such a +quarter was agreeable to Jacques, the young men had had more than one +quarrel on the subject, on which occasions they had each, +characteristically, given vent to their enmity, the one in contemptuous +monosyllables, and the other in a volley of insulting words. But +Claudine had another lover more nearly of her own condition of life; +this was Claperon, the deputy governor of the Rouen jail, with whom she +had made acquaintance during one or two compulsory visits paid by her +brother to that functionary; but Claudine, who was a bit of a coquette, +though she did not altogether reject his suit, gave him little +encouragement, so that betwixt hopes, and fears, and doubts, and +jealousies, poor Claperon led a very uneasy kind of life. + +Affairs had been for some time in this position, when, one fine morning, +Alphonse de Bellefonds was not to be found in his chamber when his +servant went to call him; neither had his bed been slept in. He had been +observed to go out rather late on the preceding evening, but whether or +not he had returned, nobody could tell. He had not appeared at supper, +but that was too ordinary an event to awaken suspicion; and little alarm +was excited till several hours had elapsed, when inquiries were +instituted and a search commenced, which terminated in the discovery of +his body, a good deal mangled, lying at the bottom of a pond which had +belonged to the old brewery. Before any investigations had been made, +every person had jumped to the conclusion that the young man had been +murdered, and that Jacques Rollet was the assassin. There was a strong +presumption in favor of that opinion, which further perquisitions tended +to confirm. Only the day before, Jacques had been heard to threaten +Mons. de Bellefonds with speedy vengeance. On the fatal evening, +Alphonse and Claudine had been seen together in the neighborhood of the +now dismantled brewery; and as Jacques, betwixt poverty and democracy, +was in bad odor with the prudent and respectable part of society, it was +not easy for him to bring witnesses to character, or prove an +unexceptionable alibi. As for the Bellefonds and De Chaulieus, and the +aristocracy in general, they entertained no doubt of his guilt, and, +finally, the magistrate; coming to the same opinion, Jacques Rollet was +committed for trial, and as a testimony of good will. Antoine de +Chaulieu was selected by the injured family to conduct the prosecution. + +Here, at last, was the opportunity he had sighed for! So interesting a +case, too, furnishing such ample occasion for passion, pathos, +indignation! And how eminently fortunate that the speech which he set +himself with ardor to prepare, would be delivered in the presence of the +father and brother of his mistress, and, perhaps, of the lady herself! +The evidence against Jacques, it is true, was altogether presumptive; +there was no proof whatever that he had committed the crime; and for his +own part, he stoutly denied it. But Antoine de Chaulieu entertained no +doubt of his guilt, and his speech was certainly well calculated to +carry that conviction into the bosom of others. It was of the highest +importance to his own reputation that he should procure a verdict, and +he confidently assured the afflicted and enraged family of the victim +that their vengeance should be satisfied. Under these circumstances +could any thing be more unwelcome than a piece of intelligence that was +privately conveyed to him late on the evening before the trial was to +come on, which tended strongly to exculpate the prisoner, without +indicating any other person as the criminal. Here was an opportunity +lost. The first step of the ladder on which he was to rise to fame, +fortune, and a wife, was slipping from under his feet. + +Of course, so interesting a trial was anticipated with great eagerness +by the public, and the court was crowded with all the beauty and fashion +of Rouen. Though Jacques Rollet persisted in asserting his innocence, +founding his defense chiefly on circumstances which were strongly +corroborated by the information that had reached De Chaulieu the +preceding evening--he was convicted. + +In spite of the very strong doubts he privately entertained respecting +the justice of the verdict, even De Chaulieu himself, in the first flush +of success, amid a crowd of congratulating friends, and the approving +smiles of his mistress, felt gratified and happy: his speech had, for +the time being, not only convinced others, but himself; warmed with his +own eloquence, he believed what he said. But when the glow was over, and +he found himself alone, he did not feel so comfortable. A latent doubt +of Rollet's guilt now burst strongly on his mind, and he felt that the +blood of the innocent would be on his head. It is true there was yet +time to save the life of the prisoner, but to admit Jacques innocent, +was to take the glory out of his own speech, and turn the sting of his +argument against himself. Besides, if he produced the witness who had +secretly given him the information, he should be self-condemned, for he +could not conceal that he had been aware of the circumstance before the +trial. + +Matters having gone so far, therefore, it was necessary that Jacques +Rollet should die; so the affair took its course; and early one morning +the guillotine was erected in the court-yard of the jail, three +criminals ascended the scaffold, and three heads fell into the basket, +which were presently afterward, with the trunks that had been attached +to them, buried in a corner of the cemetery. + +Antoine de Chaulieu was now fairly started in his career, and his +success was as rapid as the first step toward it had been tardy. He took +a pretty apartment in the Hotel Marboeuf, Rue Grange-Bateliere, and in +a short time was looked upon as one of the most rising young advocates +in Paris. His success in one line brought him success in another; he was +soon a favorite in society, and an object of interest to speculating +mothers; but his affections still adhered to his old love Natalie de +Bellefonds, whose family now gave their assent to the match--at least, +prospectively--a circumstance which furnished such an additional +incentive to his exertions, that in about two years from the date of his +first brilliant speech, he was in a sufficiently flourishing condition +to offer the young lady a suitable home. In anticipation of the happy +event, he engaged and furnished a suite of apartments in the Rue du +Helder; and as it was necessary that the bride should come to Paris to +provide her trousseau, it was agreed that the wedding should take place +there, instead of at Bellefonds, as had been first projected; an +arrangement the more desirable, that a press of business rendered Mons. +de Chaulieu's absence from Paris inconvenient. + +Brides and bridegrooms in France, except of the very high classes, are +not much in the habit of making those honeymoon excursions so universal +in this country. A day spent in visiting Versailles, or St. Cloud, or +even the public places of the city, is generally all that precedes the +settling down into the habits of daily life. In the present instance St. +Denis was selected, from the circumstance of Natalie's having a younger +sister at school there; and also because she had a particular desire to +see the Abbey. + +The wedding was to take place on a Thursday; and on the Wednesday +evening, having spent some hours most agreeably with Natalie, Antoine de +Chaulieu returned to spend his last night in his bachelor apartments. +His wardrobe and other small possessions, had already been packed up and +sent to his future home; and there was nothing left in his room now, but +his new wedding suit, which he inspected with considerable satisfaction +before he undressed and lay down to sleep. Sleep, however, was somewhat +slow to visit him; and the clock had struck _one_, before he closed his +eyes. When he opened them again it was broad daylight; and his first +thought was, had he overslept himself? He sat up in bed to look at the +clock which was exactly opposite, and as he did so, in the large mirror +over the fire-place, he perceived a figure standing behind him. As the +dilated eyes met his own, he saw it was the face of Jacques Rollet. +Overcome with horror he sunk back on his pillow, and it was some +minutes before he ventured to look again in that direction; when he did +so, the figure had disappeared. + +The sudden revulsion of feeling such a vision was calculated to occasion +in a man elate with joy, may be conceived! For some time after the death +of his former foe, he had been visited by not unfrequent twinges of +conscience; but of late, borne along by success, and the hurry of +Parisian life, these unpleasant remembrancers had grown rarer, till at +length they had faded away altogether. Nothing had been further from his +thoughts than Jacques Rollet, when he closed his eyes on the preceding +night, nor when he opened them to that sun which was to shine on what he +expected to be the happiest day of his life! Where were the high-strung +nerves now? The elastic frame? The bounding heart? + +Heavily and slowly he arose from his bed, for it was time to do so; and +with a trembling hand and quivering knees, he went through the processes +of the toilet, gashing his cheek with the razor, and spilling the water +over his well-polished boots. When he was dressed, scarcely venturing to +cast a glance in the mirror as he passed it, he quitted the room and +descended the stairs, taking the key of the door with him for the +purpose of leaving it with the porter; the man, however, being absent, +he laid it on the table in his lodge, and with a relaxed and languid +step proceeded on his way to the church, where presently arrived the +fair Natalie and her friends. How difficult it was now to look happy, +with that pallid face and extinguished eye! + +"How pale you are! Has any thing happened? You are surely ill?" were the +exclamations that met him on all sides. He tried to carry it off as well +as he could, but felt that the movements he would have wished to appear +alert, were only convulsive; and that the smiles with which he attempted +to relax his features, were but distorted grimaces. However, the church +was not the place for further inquiries; and while Natalie gently +pressed his hand in token of sympathy, they advanced to the altar, and +the ceremony was performed; after which they stepped into the carriage +waiting at the door, and drove to the apartments of Madme. de +Bellefonds, where an elegant _dejeuner_ was prepared. + +"What ails you, my dear husband?" inquired Natalie, as soon as they were +alone. + +"Nothing, love," he replied; "nothing, I assure you, but a restless +night and a little over-work, in order that I might have to-day free to +enjoy my happiness!" + +"Are you quite Sure? Is there nothing else?" + +"Nothing, indeed; and pray don't take notice of it, it only makes me +worse!" + +Natalie was not deceived, but she saw that what he said was true; notice +made him worse; so she contented herself with observing him quietly, and +saying nothing; but as he _felt_ she was observing him, she might almost +better have spoken; words are often less embarrassing things than too +curious eyes. + +When they reached Madame de Bellefonds' he had the same sort of +questioning and scrutiny to undergo, till he grew quite impatient under +it, and betrayed a degree of temper altogether unusual with him. Then +every body looked astonished; some whispered their remarks, and others +expressed them by their wondering eyes, till his brow knit, and his +pallid cheeks became flushed with anger. Neither could he divert +attention by eating; his parched mouth would not allow him to swallow +any thing but liquids, of which, however, he indulged in copious +libations; and it was an exceeding relief to him when the carriage, +which was to convey them to St. Denis, being announced, furnished an +excuse for hastily leaving the table. Looking at his watch, he declared +it was late; and Natalie, who saw how eager he was to be gone, threw her +shawl over her shoulders, and bidding her friends _good morning_, they +hurried away. + +It was a fine sunny day in June; and as they drove along the crowded +boulevards, and through the Porte St. Denis, the young bride and +bridegroom, to avoid each other's eyes, affected to be gazing out of the +windows; but when they reached that part of the road where there was +nothing but trees on each side, they felt it necessary to draw in their +heads, and make an attempt at conversation. De Chaulieu put his arm +round his wife's waist, and tried to rouse himself from his depression; +but it had by this time so reacted upon her, that she could not respond +to his efforts, and thus the conversation languished, till both felt +glad when they reached their destination, which would at all events +furnish them something to talk about. + +Having quitted the carriage, and ordered a dinner at the Hotel de +l'Abbaye, the young couple proceeded to visit Mademoiselle Hortense de +Bellefonds, who was overjoyed to see her sister and new brother-in-law, +and doubly so when she found that they had obtained permission to take +her out to spend the afternoon with them. As there is little to be seen +at St. Denis but the Abbey, on quitting that part of it devoted to +education, they proceeded to visit the church, with its various objects +of interest; and as De Chaulieu's thoughts were now forced into another +direction, his cheerfulness began insensibly to return. Natalie looked +so beautiful, too, and the affection betwixt the two young sisters was +so pleasant to behold! And they spent a couple of hours wandering about +with Hortense, who was almost as well informed as the Suisse, till the +brazen doors were open which admitted them to the royal vault. +Satisfied, at length, with what they had seen, they began to think of +returning to the inn, the more especially as De Chaulieu, who had not +eaten a morsel of food since the previous evening, owned to being +hungry; so they directed their steps to the door, lingering here and +there as they went, to inspect a monument or a painting, when, happening +to turn his head aside to see if his wife, who had stopped to take a +last look at the tomb of King Dagobert, was following, he beheld with +horror the face of Jacques Rollett appearing from behind a column! At +the same instant, his wife joined him, and took his arm, inquiring if he +was not very much delighted with what he had seen He attempted to say +yes, but the word would not be forced out; and staggering out of the +door, he alleged that a sudden faintness had overcome him. + +They conducted him to the Hotel, but Natalie now became seriously +alarmed; and well she might. His complexion looked ghastly, his limbs +shook, and his features bore an expression of indiscribable horror and +anguish. What could be the meaning of so extraordinary a change in the +gay, witly, prosperous De Chaulieu, who, till that morning, seemed not +to have a care in the world? For, plead illness as he might, she felt +certain, from the expression of his features, that his sufferings were +not of the body but of the mind; and, unable to imagine any reason for +such extraordinary manifestations, of which she had never before seen a +symptom, but a sudden aversion to herself, and regret for the step he +had taken, her pride took the alarm, and, concealing the distress, she +really felt, she began to assume a haughty and reserved manner toward +him, which he naturally interpreted into an evidence of anger and +contempt. The dinner was placed upon the table, but De Chaulieu's +appetite, of which he had lately boasted, was quite gone, nor was his +wife better able to eat. The young sister alone did justice to the +repast; but although the bridegroom could not eat, he could swallow +Champagne in such copious draughts, that ere long the terror and remorse +that the apparition of Jacques Rollet had awakened in his breast were +drowned in intoxication. Amazed and indignant, poor Natalie sat silently +observing this elect of her heart, till overcome with disappointment and +grief, she quitted the room with her sister, and retired to another +apartment, where she gave free vent to her feelings in tears. + +After passing a couple of hours in confidences and lamentations, they +recollected that the hours of liberty granted, as an especial favor, to +Mademoiselle Hortense, had expired: but ashamed to exhibit her husband +in his present condition to the eyes of strangers, Natalie prepared to +re-conduct her to the _Maison Royale_ herself. Looking into the +dining-room as they passed, they saw De Chaulieu lying on a sofa fast +asleep, in which state he continued when his wife returned. At length, +however, the driver of their carriage begged to know if Monsieur and +Madame were ready to return to Paris, and it became necessary to arouse +him. The transitory effects of the Champagne had now subsided; but when +De Chaulieu recollected what had happened, nothing could exceed his +shame and mortification. So engrossing indeed were these sensations that +they quite overpowered his previous ones, and, in his present vexation, +he, for the moment, forgot his fears. He knelt at his wife's feet, +begged her pardon a thousand times, swore that he adored her, and +declared that the illness and the effect of the wine had been purely the +consequences of fasting and over-work. It was not the easiest thing in +the world to reassure a woman whose pride, affection, and taste, had +been so severely wounded; but Natalie tried to believe, or to appear to +do so, and a sort of reconciliation ensued, not quite sincere on the +part of the wife, and very humbling on the part of the husband. Under +these circumstances it was impossible that he should recover his spirits +or facility of manner; his gayety was forced, his tenderness +constrained; his heart was heavy within him; and ever and anon the +source whence all this disappointment and woe had sprung would recur to +his perplexed and tortured mind. + +Thus mutually pained and distrustful, they returned to Paris, which they +reached about nine o'clock. In spite of her depression, Natalie, who had +not seen her new apartments, felt some curiosity about them, while De +Chaulieu anticipated a triumph in exhibiting the elegant home he had +prepared for her. With some alacrity, therefore, they stepped out of the +carriage, the gates of the Hotel were thrown open, the _concierge_ rang +the bell which announced to the servants that their master and mistress +had arrived, and while these domestics appeared above, holding lights +over the balusters, Natalie, followed by her husband, ascended the +stairs. But when they reached the landing-place of the first flight, +they saw the figure of a man standing in a corner as if to make way for +them; the flash from above fell upon his face, and again Antoine de +Chaulieu recognized the feature of Jacques Rollet! + +From the circumstance of his wife's preceding him, the figure was not +observed by De Chaulieu till he was lifting his foot to place it on the +top stair: the sudden shock caused him to miss the step, and, without +uttering a sound, he fell back, and never stopped till he reached the +stones at the bottom. The screams of Natalie brought the concierge from +below and the maids from above, and an attempt was made to raise the +unfortunate man from the ground; but with cries of anguish he besought +them to desist. + +"Let me," he said, "die here! What a fearful vengeance is thine! Oh, +Natalie, Natalie!" he exclaimed to his wife, who was kneeling beside +him, "to win fame, and fortune, and yourself, I committed a dreadful +crime! With lying words I argued away the life of a fellow-creature, +whom, while I uttered them, I half believed to be innocent; and now, +when I have attained all I desired, and reached the summit of my hopes, +the Almighty has sent him back upon the earth to blast me with the +sight. Three times this day--three times this day! Again! again!"--and, +as he spoke, his wild and dilated eyes fixed themselves on one of the +individuals that surrounded him. + +"He is delirious," said they. + +"No," said the stranger! "What he says is true enough--at least in +part;" and bending over the expiring man, he added, "May Heaven forgive +you, Antoine de Chaulieu! I was not executed; one who well knew my +innocence saved my life. I may name him, for he is beyond the reach of +the law now--it was Claperon, the jailor, who loved Claudine, and had +himself killed Alphonse de Bellefonds from jealousy. An unfortunate +wretch had been several years in the jail for a murder committed during +the frenzy of a fit of insanity. Long confinement had reduced him to +idiocy. To save my life Claperon substituted the senseless being for me, +on the scaffold, and he was executed in my stead. He has quitted the +country, and I have been a vagabond on the face of the earth ever since +that time. At length I obtained, through the assistance of my sister, +the situation of concierge in the Hotel Marboeuf, in the Rue +Grange-Bateliere. I entered on my new place yesterday evening, and was +desired to awaken the gentleman on the third floor at seven o'clock. +When I entered the room to do so, you were asleep, but before I had time +to speak you awoke, and I recognized your features in the glass. Knowing +that I could not vindicate my innocence if you chose to seize me, I +fled, and seeing an omnibus starting for St. Denis, I got on it with a +vague idea of getting on to Calais, and crossing the Channel to England. +But having only a franc or two in my pocket, or indeed in the world, I +did not know how to procure the means of going forward; and while I was +lounging about the place, forming first one plan and then another, I saw +you in the church, and concluding you were in pursuit of me, I thought +the best way of eluding your vigilance was to make my way back to Paris +as fast as I could; so I set off instantly, and walked all the way; but +having no money to pay my night's lodging, I came here to borrow a +couple of livres of my sister Claudine, who lives in the fifth story." + +"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the dying man; "that sin is off my soul! +Natalie, dear wife, farewell! Forgive! forgive all!" + +These were the last words he uttered; the priest, who had been summoned +in haste, held up the cross before his failing sight; a few strong +convulsions shook the poor bruised and mangled frame; and then all was +still. + +And thus ended the Young Advocate's Wedding Day. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +THE REVOLUTIONISM OF MIRABEAU. + + +The moral is evolved out of the physical, and the extraordinary in +animal structure has a kinship to the portentous in human action. + +MIRABEAU, the infamous, born in an age, of a family, in a rank the most +vicious in the annals of vice, of parents whose depravity had +contaminated even their blood, was ushered with infinite difficulty into +the breathing scene he was so much to trouble, and offered, at the +outset of his disorderly career, misfortune and singularity in a +twisted fool, a tied tongue, and two molar teeth. + +Maltreated by fortune, which, at the age of three, turned him by +disease into the ugliest of children--"a tiger marked by the +small-pox"--caressed and neglected by his dissolute mother, disowned and +persecuted as a spurious graft in his house and home by the celebrated +"Economist," his father--his very childhood presaged the disorders of +his youth and manhood; and his father, mysteriously reverting to early +crimes and calamities as the blight of his life, made it matter of +complaint that Honore Gabriel, as a boy, had more cleverness "than all +the devils in h--l," and seemed destined from his childhood "to disturb +the monarchy, as a second Cardinal de Retz." + +He was indeed _born_ a Revolutionist; and if he had not found the +elements of a _bouleversement_, was competent to have created them. But +just as nature gave the instinct, fortune supplied the breeding and the +occasion. The heir, pupil, find victim of a second family of Atreus and +Thyestes, the child was _trained_ into demoralization, vicissitude, and +daring. Believed himself to have been the favorite lover of the most +lovely of his sisters, he describes her as the "Atrocious +memoir-writer," a "Messalina, boasting of the purity of her morals, and +an absconding wife, bragging of her love for her husband." The Vicomte, +his brother, "would have been a _roue_ and a wit," he tells us, "in any +family but his own," and _was_, of a dissolute noblesse, its most +dissolute member. His mother, driven with contumely from her home and +the bosom of her family, under accusations the most revolting a wife may +hear from one who is her husband and a father, addressed the world in +public recriminations for her persecutor, not less disgusting or +condemnatory. The son himself, the most infamous man of his time, +completes the picture in the boast he made to the National Assembly, +that among the tragic woes of his family he had been the witness of +fifty-four lettres-de-cachet, seventeen of them on his own account! + +As in Eastern climates the abundance of degenerate man will, at some +spot and moment, reach a point where it breeds the plague which +diminishes by depopulation the evil it can not remove by more merciful +agencies, so would it seem that in France the demoralization which +necessitated a revolution, concentrating itself in one family, produced +the man who was to begin the catastrophe. + +At seventeen, leaving a military academy, he entered the army as a +sub-lieutenant, knowing, as he tells us, a little Latin, and no Greek, +but possessing, with very tolerable acquirements in the mathematics, a +fair share of the scattered erudition won by readings more desultory +than diligent. + +Presented at court, admitted to the rare aristocratic privilege of +riding in the king's carriages at Versailles, laughed at as the Princess +Elizabeth's living specimen of inoculation, the incipient courtier and +embryo revolutionist was awakened from his delightful vision to find +himself suddenly transferred from his regal residence and gayeties, to +the sombre solitude of a country jail. He had been guilty of a +passionate attachment to a young lady of disproportionate expectations. + +The young victim of parental wrong, thus severely taught that the +splendors of a court were but a veneer under which lay the terrible +springs of a wayward tyranny, killed time in brooding over the ideas and +studies which subsequently formed his "_Essai_" no less than his +character--"_sur le despotisme_." But before completing the work, the +father's monomania had been temporarily mitigated by the vengeance of a +year's imprisonment; and the son, instead of being sent to Surinam, the +Dutch Sierra Leone of that day, was graciously permitted, under the +_bourgeois_ name of "Buffiere," to enter as a gentleman volunteer the +French army that was about to crush the Corsicans in their noble +struggle against Genoese oppression. + +In this liberticidal war, the liberty-loving Mirabeau performed his +first manly act, won his first public distinction, and initiated that +series of paradox, and moral revolutionism, that was hence to follow him +as lover, _litterateur_, and politician, to the grave. As his sword was +against Corsica and freedom, his pen was for them. He wrote over the +ruins of both a boyish philippic, admired by his victims, and burnt by +his father! + +And while the brain that was to rule France as a tribune-king, was thus +evolving its idle progeny, the womb of a Corsican woman near him was +travailing with him who was to be Napoleon! At the instant France, by +the sword of her future liberator, was mowing down the new-born +liberties of Corsica--Corsica was breathing the breath of life into a +child, whose sword was to cleave down the fresh-won freedom of France! +As a Caesar and a Marius sprung from the blood of the Gracchi, there +would have been no Corsican exterminator for France, had there been no +French exterminators for Corsica.[7] There are surely times when fate +plays with mortals, making of the murder of a generation or the +revolution of an empire a nursery game of coincidences! + +Of the twenty years that followed, bringing Mirabeau to the footsteps of +the revolution, and within two years of his death, it was the odd fate +of this gay and gifted noble, guilty of no offense against the state, +nor in a legal sense against society, to pass more than the moiety of +his time in the sad role of a state prisoner; and the main incidents in +the unhappy sequence of wrong and suffering, the inevitable but +unrecognized logic of Providence, were briefly, and in succession, a +profitless marriage with the most distinguished heiress of his province, +carried off from twenty more eligible rivals by the superior strategy +of seduction and defamation, pecuniary extravagance, dissipation, debts, +sequestration of property, marital separation, successive imprisonments +by paternal intervention, deadly hate with the father, permanent +alienation from his adulterous wife and only child, licentious +connection with a friend's wife, with whom he abandoned his country, +exile in Switzerland, Holland, and England, successive litigations +self-conducted, a ministerial spyship in Prussia, and a career more or +less stormy, as a _litterateur_, in France. + +Entombed in one of the horrid dungeons of Vincennes, solitary, hopeless, +almost without a sympathy, though in the very spring-tide of his rich +youth and activity, the angel of consolation, never far from us in our +darkest hour, came down, and in the genial guise of literature, visited +in his dungeon this man of infamies and suffering. It must, however, be +confessed against him that, maddened by the severity of a despotism +without appeal, in the wrong--and from that hand, too, whence he might +fairly have hoped a kinder gift, even the wholesomeness of books became +poisoned under his diseased digestion, and it became his wretched +pleasure through months to avenge himself on the virtue in whose injured +name he suffered, by licentious compilations, in which the man +degenerates into the satyr, and the distinctions of right and decency +are lost in the beastly excesses of a maniac imagination. + +But so morbid a vice in a mind like his can be protected by no madness +of the passions or vindictiveness of misanthropy from the healing +influence of time; and if the leisure of his tedious incarcerations gave +us four or five books in the worst of services, they gave us also those +extensive studies of history and its philosophy to which we owe, among +much else that is great in literature or in event, the three works on +"Despotism," "State Prisons," and "Lettres-de-Cachet." + +To our present purpose it would be of little use to indulge in any +lengthened analysis or literary estimate of these performances. +Gratifying his need of money, his love of fame, and, above all, a +vengeance warmly nursed, which even virtue can not censure, their +publication formed, probably, the happiest incidents of his life. The +first published in his twenty-fifth year, bears all the characteristics +of the young man of genius, roughened, no less than strengthened by the +asperities of the experience out of whose ireful plenitude he writes. +Rough and disorderly in arrangement, it is lofty, striking, eloquent in +style--cogent, daring, powerful in matter. + +The last, the result of his long, final imprisonment, and published in +his thirty-first year, possesses similar attributes, aggrandized, or +improved. A great work, involving an inquiry into the first principles +of government, and, therefore, of infinite practical utility in the +career reserved for him, it wants too obviously the elevation of a +Montesquieu, the philosophy of a Bolingbroke, or the comprehensive +profundity of a Burke. It is a work of genius, but by a partisan, an +advocate, a man of powerful emotion and vivid conception, having a +strong will, a high purpose, and an enduring conviction. With a great, +sometimes an inapt parade of erudition, and an occasional loss of time +in inflated and declamatory commonplaces, there is yet, as a general +rule, work, rather than literature, in his sentences, and the just, the +practical, the statesman-like are the dominating qualities. We must not +look for the artist in Mirabeau as a writer: he is above that: nor, +whatever the range of thought we may justly concede him, may we, +therefore, expect the sublime; he is below that. With the eloquence of +an impassioned imagination, united to the unornamented vigor of a ready, +versatile, and comprehensive reason, he reminds one of some colossal +engine in forceful, though not always in graceful action. + +In Holland, occupied in literature and the society of literary men, and +subsequently in England, in commerce with Franklin, Dr. Price, Samuel +Romilly, and Wilkes--among whom be it said, _en passant_, he acquired +the reputation of an habitual liar--a thousand circumstances must have +presented themselves, not more in his own studies than in the freedom, +seriousness, and activity he saw around him, to prepare and stimulate +his ambition for the lofty career of political action that awaited him +at home. In truth, if we may judge from the letters written during his +English residence, or the biographical fragments that occur in his other +correspondence, he seems, beyond his personal indigence, to have had no +other enduring interest but that of public affairs. His mind broods over +the tragic epochs of English history with a fascinating and curious +sympathy: there is an evident faith in a coming drama of popular action +for France, in which he is to play a leading part--a faith so early +ripened that, in 1782, meeting at Neufchatel certain State Deputies of +Geneva, he based on the inevitable meeting of the States General the +prediction, or rather the promise, that he would become a deputy, and in +that character restore their country to freedom. + +Returning to Paris at a moment when the increasing and unmanageable +_deficit_ brought national bankruptcy and confusion to the very door of +the state, a course of angry and mercenary pamphleteering on Finance, +while connecting him with discontented men of wealth and influence, +willing, jointly with the police, to hire or use his ready pen, forced +on him education in another important, if unattractive, department of +the great question of the times. + +His ministerial spyship in Prussia, which, subsequently divulged by his +own audacious publication of his secret correspondence, won from M. de +Montesquieu the remark, that "the infamy of the person might be +estimated by the infamy of the thing," was not without its compensations +in the political experience he extracted from it. It brought before him +the main interests of European diplomacy: won him access to the +principal intrigues and intriguers of a Court in transitionship, by the +death of Frederick, from eccentric greatness to orderly mediocrity; +habituated him to ministerial correspondence and reports, which, if +disgustingly mean, were, at all events, systematic and prescient, and +secured him--I could wish to say honestly--those historic and +statistical _data_ which, published in his elaborate work on the +Prussian monarchy, countenanced some serious claims to statesmanship. + +Misfortune, passion, solitude, suffering, travel, extraordinary +adventures, extensive readings, varied studies, innumerable writings +thus admirably endowing his mind, so disposed, too, by nature, for the +daring and stormy struggles of the revolution, the only resource that +could surely be wanting to so enormous a compound of intellectual +strength, I mean the power of oratory, he was fated to acquire in his +lengthened trials for the recovery of his wife and legal rights. + +Opposed by Alps of difficulties, the moral greater than the legal, for +the suits ploughed deeply into all the crimes or errors that had +dishonored his career, and would necessarily turn up masses of +documentary evidence, which on no less authority than that of his +father, must carry the tale of his infamy to every eye; yet his audacity +dared, as his genius surmounted, every disadvantage, and after fixing +the admiration of a province--to him a sufficient compensation--by the +ingenuity, the power, and the extraordinary resources of his eloquence +in a path so new to him, he succeeded in re-establishing his civil +rights, and but failed in the second, and, perhaps, less important suit, +by the accident of a technicality. + +Passing by his double election as Deputy, at Aix and Marseilles, marked +by excitement, insurrection and all the stirring incidents that, in a +moment of great public agitation, might be expected to accompany the +_debut_ of a daring and accomplished demagogue, we are now brought to +the greatest epoch of France, and, therefore, of Mirabeau--the meeting +of the States General; and the observation is naturally suggested that, +if this extraordinary succession of circumstances, marvelous as +_incidents_, but still more marvelous as _coincidents_, had not +specially moulded the man for his work, it might well be doubted that +the French revolution could have happened, or at all events, in such +gigantic proportions. Mirabeau's life was, as we have seen, a pupilage, +as it is now to become a mastership, in revolution. His Saturn of a +father had trained him, from his youth upward, into the executionership +of his order; and Heaven itself, as if seconding some such inscrutable +design, seems to have stooped to lead by the hand this servant of +Nemesis, through paths the most devious and unfrequented, but, of all +others, the most fitted to form and conduct him to the emergency. + +A change, it is true of some kind in French Government, accompanied by +more or less confusion and bloodshed, had been long inevitable. Genius, +good sense, suffering, luxury, oppression, contumely, unprincipledness, +and folly, each boon of nature, each wrong of man, had concurred, after +more than a century of struggle, in necessitating a consummation. + +In my opinion, the popular horrors that darkened the end of the +eighteenth century, though pointed in their way by the finger of +Mirabeau, legitimately trace their pedigree to the royal grandeurs that +closed the preceding one. The French Revolution was born of Louis the +Fourteenth. His policy--his achievements--his failures, and, still more, +his personal character and court deportment, killed monarchy in the +hearts of the French people. The prominent ruling characteristic of +himself and reign was an all-absorbing egotism. A maelstrom of +selfishness, and unconscious of any law of reciprocity to arise from his +relations to a common humanity, this chief and example of a numerous +aristocracy was the grand centre to which was to be directed every +affection and service, from which was to be circulated every volition +and ordinance. And need I say that no eminence of intellectual power--no +prudence of personal deportment--no brilliancy of external achievement, +can or ought to have any effect on spectators so keen-witted and +impressionable as the French, save to make additionally insupportable a +character which, even on the smallest scale, is, of all others, the most +odious and repulsive. The stern unity and perfection of order in which +he was enabled to present political power--that necessary evil of human +existence--but added intensity to the hate, as it added grandeur to the +idea of his despotism. In the eyes of his suffering subjects it brought +him face to face with the catastrophes no less than with the glories of +his reign, and without the merit of the avowal--_adsum qui feci!_ gave +him all its dread responsibilities. An old despot surviving his +greatness while retaining the stinging irony of its title--a saint amid +the standing reminiscences of his adulteries, expiating his pleasures by +annihilating those of others, and tormenting consciences to save his +own--his suffering and downcast people became at length disabused but +too utterly of the base apotheosis of his person and character, so long +maintained by him in the name of a false glory and debased religion. +They even publicly rejoiced at a death-bed made pitiable by the absence +of his mistress, confessor, and family; and meeting in mobs that, +encountering his corpse on its way through by-lanes to hugger-mugger +interment at St. Denis, they might tear it into shreds, gave early and +portentous evidence that the germ of an envenomed and bloody democracy +had been elicited in the very perfection of his stern and heartless +tyranny. The unblushing excesses of the Regent and of Louis the +Fifteenth, who gratuitously withdrew the last vail that concealed the +utter rottenness of all that claimed popular obedience, under the names +of religion, and authority, sufficed, though scarcely needed, to +_complete_ the discredit of the French monarchy; and, ascending his +throne, surrounded by a dissolute clergy, an overbearing aristocracy, +and a discontented and impoverished people, the robed Louis the +Sixteenth seemed but the calf of atonement of the Scriptures decked for +sacrifice, and doomed to expiate a century of court gayeties and crimes +in which he had had no part! + +Mirabeau began the revolution with a thousand vague hopes and +expectations, and the conviction, communicated to his friend Mauvillon, +that "it was not given to human sagacity to devise where _all this_ +would end." A living conflict of passions and principles, of low needs +and high ambitions, of lofty genius and infamous repute, a demagogue by +policy, an aristocrat by vanity, a constitutionalist by conviction, his +public conduct anxiously and perpetually brought in evidence one or +other of these conflicting agencies; but beyond the personal aim of +recovering his rank, and winning some sort of greatness at any price, he +was without one pervading or dominant public purpose, save that of +extinguishing the despotism that had injured him. Above all policies, +_abstractedly_ considered, this was the one dear to his heart. "I come +here to grant, not to ask pardon," was his reply, in a voice of angry +defiance, to some oratorical assurance that a life of usefulness might +secure the pardon of his earlier delinquencies. A horrid, but too +natural vindictiveness had interwoven the hate of arbitrary power into +every fibre of his brain. It was a passion or sentiment that he never +abandoned: it may be even doubted if he could have been purchased out of +it. Despite all the evils and mischances of life, there stood erect in +his soul this one small altar to virtue, or something that resembled it, +which he would have thrown down but under the direst necessity. + +But of all the circumstances glanced at as furnishing the key to many of +the paradoxes of his public conduct, one of the most important, though +perhaps the least appreciated, is the dishonor of his repute. It is +difficult, with his present position in history, especially when taken +in relation to the now well-certified worthlessness of his +contemporaries, to realize to the imagination the full extent of his +infamy. "You dare," said his former friend Rulhiere, in a pamphlet that +had a wide circulation, "_You_ dare to speak of a country, Count +Mirabeau! If your brow were not trebly bronzed, how must you have +blushed at its very name! Have you one quality of father, friend, +brother, husband, or relative? An honorable vocation? Any one attribute +that constitutes the citizen? Not one! You are without a refuge, without +a relative. I seek your most ordinary domiciles, and I find them but in +the prison of Vincennes, the Chateau d'If, the fortress of Ioux, the +jail of Pontarlier!"[8] + +Dumont, coming over to Paris, was so moved by the discredit attached, +in respectable circles, to his acquaintance, that he visited him with +repugnance and as a duty, but records the characteristic incident, that +on his first call he was so won by the magic of his host's conversation, +as to depart resolved on retaining, at all hazards, so agreeable a +friendship. The mention of his name, with the sight of his person, at +the opening of the States General, elicited groans and hisses on all +sides. The _Tiers-Etat_--whom he had honored by his aristocratic +adoption--were unanimous in refusing him a hearing the two or three +occasions on which he first sought to address them. The queen, whose +life, family, and regal heritage were at stake, received the assurance, +that such a person was willing to assist the views of the court, with +"the contempt due to vice;"[9] and "assassin!" "robber!" "slanderer!" +were the epithets almost daily applied to him in the senate of the +nation! Society, expiring under the weight of its own vices, saw in him +that well-defined excess that entitled it to the merits of purgation in +his extruism, of atonement in his martyrdom, and to place the hand of +menace and malediction on his head, as the scape-goat of its redemption! + +Thus detested by all parties, his low character keeping him low, +Mirabeau, with all his marvelous power, found himself placed, by public +contempt, more even than by private need, at the mercy of circumstances. +Befoulment had so far eaten into his name, that, with occasionally the +best of desires, and always the greatest of energies, there stood a +blight over both. He felt that a moral leprosy incrusted him, which +repelled the good, and kept aloof the prudent. The contemned inferior, +in moral standing, of those that surrounded him, it was difficult to be +honest, and impossible to be independent. By a sort of law of nature, +too, his tarred repute attracted to it every floating feather of +suspicion, no less than of guilt, as to its natural seat; and thus it +happened that the lofty genius of Mirabeau, under the "grand hests" of a +hateful necessity, like the "too delicate spirit," Ariel, tasked to the +"strong biddings" of the "foul witch Sycorax," was condemned for a while +to pander rather than teach, to follow rather than lead, to please +rather than patronize, and to halloo others' opinions rather than +vindicate his own! + +No man could appreciate the misfortune more fully or sensitively than +himself. Dumont tells us that, taught by events that a good character +would have placed France at his feet, "he would have passed seven times +through the fiery furnace to purify his name;" and that, "weeping and +sobbing, he was accustomed to exclaim, 'Cruelly do I expiate the errors +of my youth!'" And, indeed, the more sensible his heart, the more rich +and elevated his soul, the more must his torments have been bitter and +redoubled; for the very preciousness of the gifts of nature, the charms +of society, even the friendship of those that surrounded him, must have +turned but to the increase of his wretchedness! + +It is easy to understand, then, that the tactics of Mirabeau, in the +first days of the revolution, were those of a man outside "a swelling +scene," + + "A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, + And monarchs to behold," + +which he could only occupy by rudely breaking through a thousand +circumvallations of usage, propriety, and public opinion. As it was the +boast of Luther, that he, an obscure monk, stood alone for some time +against respectable Europe, so Mirabeau, on the eve of his public +greatness, was the most isolated politician of his age. "Mean men, in +their rising," says Lord Bacon, "most adhere; but great men, that have +strength in themselves, were better to maintain themselves indifferent +and neutral." Instinctively feeling that this was the policy of his +position, when repelled by both sides, he haughtily repelled them in +return, and the more he was despised the more inevitable did he make the +establishment of his importance. As, without a party, he became one +himself, so without a plan he took that of events, and without a policy +was content with that of display. In these early days, indeed, his whole +plan, system, and policy was to make his individualism tell, to +demonstrate, to all parties, what he was worth in journalism as a +writer, in the Assembly as an orator, in every thing as a statesman. As +he had nothing but himself, it became his business to make the most of +the commodity, which, so valueless in the beginning, ended in +outworthing all that was opposed to it. + +But if this policy of display, no less than his education, sympathies, +and hates, bore him to the opposition, there were in his pecuniary +wants, and his ambitious dreams of a statesmanship, _a la Richelieu_, +circumstances that at times resistlessly brought him within the +influence of court power. Uncertain how far he could overpower the +disadvantages of his personal position, wounded that the movement party +were little inclined to value his co-operation, and still less to accept +his leadership, he early felt, or feigned alarm at the fermentation in +the public mind, and its possible evolution in great national +calamities; and before one act of legislation was accomplished, or he +had had a month's experience of the fanatical impracticability of one +side, I use his own words, and the intolerant spirit of resistance on +the other, he personally proposed to his enemy, Necker, and through him +to the queen, "the only _man_," he said, "connected with the court," to +concur, at the price of an embassadorship to Constantinople, in +supporting the court system of policy. + +He appears to have fancied for some days that his proposals were +accepted; but before he could enter on any of the Eastern arrangements +his active mind had already suggested, he learned that the overture was +rejected "with a contempt which," as Madame Campan sagaciously admits, +"the court would doubtless have concealed, if they could have foreseen +the future." Contenting himself with the angry menace, "They shall soon +hear some of my news," within a month he became the author of successive +defeats, the most insulting a monarch could receive from his parliament, +and which were fated to exercise an active influence in the overturn of +that royalty he was afterward to defend. + +The king, anxious to arrange the differences which kept the three orders +aloof from each other, and from legislation, had sent to the +_Tiers-Etat_ a message, wise in its suggestions, and conciliatory in its +tone. Under the eloquence of Mirabeau, the house passed to the order of +the day. + +Irritated by insult, and complaining that the antagonism of the three +orders prevented any progress in the public business for which they were +convened, the king summoned a general meeting of all the deputies, and +after an address, in which he expressed his royal pleasure that the +three orders should form separate chambers, he commanded the assembly to +disperse, that they might meet under the ordinances his prerogative had +prescribed. The clergy, the nobles obey; the commons remain uncertain, +hesitating, and almost in consternation. The royal command is again +communicated to them, with the intimation, that having heard the king's +intentions they had now only to obey. The crisis of the royal +prerogative, obedience, hung but on the turn of a feather: the repulsed +Mirabeau arose, and turned it against the king. "We _have_," said he, in +a voice of thunder, "we _have_ heard the intentions _attributed_ to the +king; and you, sir, who have no place, nor voice, nor right of speech +here, are not competent to remind us of them. Go tell your master that +we are here by the will of the people, and that we are not to be +expelled but by the power of bayonets!" + +Cheered and supported by the now reassured _Tiers-Etat_, he next, in +imitation of the English parliament, carried, that the persons of the +deputies were inviolate, that any one infringing that right should be +pursued as an enemy of the country, and that the payment of taxes, till +further legislation, should be obligatory only during the existence of +the legislative corps. + +Added to the bold title of "National Assembly," newly adopted, these +votes were the assumption of a kingship by the _Tiers-Etat_; and as +public opinion enthusiastically backed the innovation, the divided peers +and ecclesiastics were compelled at length to join, and be submerged in +the mass of popular deputies. + +A civil war could alone stand between royal power and its destruction. +For some weeks the court prepared for even such an eventuality. +"Ministers play high stakes," writes Mirabeau, on the 5th of July; "they +are compromising the king, for in menacing Paris and the Assembly they +are menacing France. All reaction is equal to action: the more the +pressure now, the more terrible do I foresee will be the reaction. Paris +will not suffer itself to be muzzled by a bevy of nobles thrown into +despair by their own stupidity; but they shall pay the penalty of the +attempt.... The storm must soon break out. It is arranged that I ask the +withdrawal of the troops; but be you ready (at Paris) to help the step!" + +The demand was evaded by the king; the soldiery were largely increased +and concentrated; the arrests of the more revolutionary deputies, +including, of course, Mirabeau, were decided on; Necker was summarily +dismissed: but on the other side able and active emissaries roused Paris +by statements the most exciting, and taking all characters, with the +costumes of either sex, caressed, feted, and partially won over the +soldiery, and before the court could take one step toward its purposes, +Paris was in full insurrection, the troops corrupted or overpowered, the +Bastile taken, and under the plea of anarchical excuse, the whole +_bourgeoisie_ of Paris placed in a few hours under arms as National +Guards. + +The king, taught that it was not revolt but revolution, preferred, as +every body foresaw, submission to civil war, recalled Necker, and +visited triumphant Paris, at once the hostage and conquest of a popular +triumph. + +Mirabeau, more or less connected with the Orleanists, had speculated +with them on the chances of confusion; for to him it was a small thing, +provided he had bread, that it was baked in an oven warmed with the +conflagration of an empire. Looking forward with complacency to every +contingency of revolutionary crises, assured that a common danger, +flinging aside, as unimportant, questions of personal character, would +make power the prey of genius and audacity, he was correspondingly +annoyed by a re-arrangement that promised for a time a well-grounded +tranquillity. + +The destruction of the Bastile securing that of "The Syllas of thought," +he now transformed into a full political newspaper, his weekly "Letter +to his Constituents," under which title he had evaded, from the first +assembly of the States-General, the censorship on the press. Aware, from +a knowledge of Wilkes and his history, of the power of journalism to a +politician, and above all, to a demagogue in a free country, he was, in +the full sense of the term, the first newspaper editor of France, and +owed to the vigorous use of this novel agency, not only useful additions +to his pecuniary resources, but a great portion of that popular idolatry +that followed him to the grave. + +The court which, in calling together the States, had no higher aim than +to regenerate the finances of the country, and, as one step, to obtain +the help of the people in stripping a numerous aristocracy of their +baneful exemption from state-burdens, had already found out its own +share in the peril of the experiment, and now sought, by a close +alliance with the _noblesse_, to avert the ruin that too evidently +menaced both. But the torrent had but accumulated at each irresistible +concession, and every day's work added to the democratic elements of a +constitution that had already made royalty a cipher, and annihilated, +as political institutions, the church and aristocracy. + +Of course new schemes of regal antagonism again raised their heads, and +again a popular manifestation, bringing Paris into the very boudoir of +the queen, at Versailles, demonstrated the impuissance of all that took +the name of French royalism. The October insurrection was fomented by +Mirabeau and his Orleanist friends, for the same purpose as that of +July, to secure personal safety, and obtain a new scene of action, by +terrifying the court into exile, or the acceptance of Orleans' +protection. Had the duke been raised to the "lieutenant-generalship of +the kingdom," Mirabeau counted on a premiership, in which he purposed to +become the Chatham or Pitt of France. Had Louis the Sixteenth fled the +kingdom after the example of the Comte D'Artois, he purposed to proclaim +a republic, and become its "first consul;" and should the doom be that +France should be divided by civil war, and cut up into its old kingdoms, +he speculated on a sovereignty in his ancestral country, Provence, which +had already greeted him with so encouraging an enthusiasm. + +Strangeness of event! While the monarchy, so short-lived, still survived +the insatiate Mirabeau, two of the extraordinary contingencies he +speculated on have already happened, to the profit of other actors, and +the existing republic, in its mutinous armies, intolerant factions, and +insane dynasties, offers no very improbable portent that, even after +half a century of a centralized and well-fixed nationality, the old +repartition of kingdoms may again present itself! + +The great consummation of the confusion, however, failed for the +overmuch of means. "A bottle of brandy was given," said the orator, +"instead of a glass!" and the mob's capricious _impromptu_ of carrying +the king back with them to Paris, still more than the cowardice of the +Duke of Orleans, defeated this deep-laid Machiavelian combination. + +Whatever the character, however, of the people's success, it could not +but be an additional success for their leader. The revolution, of which +he stood recognized the unquestioned head, was now beyond all danger of +royal aggression, except by his own treacherous agency. In a campaign of +unimaginable brevity, he had not only vindicated the first place as an +orator in a senate now omnipotent, and become out of it the most potent +demagogue of his time, but as _un homme d'etat_, surrounded by a +brilliant staff of the most active spirits and practical thinkers of the +day, Camille Desmoulins, Danton, Volney, Champfort, Lamourette, Cabanis, +Reybaz, Dumont, Duroverai, Claviere, Servan, De Caseaux, Panchaud, +Pellenc, Brissot, and others, was understood by every party to hold the +future destinies of France in his hand Emerging from two insurrections, +possessing, by his power, all their profits, and by his adroitness, none +of their responsibility, he found it now worth his while to break terms +with the Duke of Orleans, by a public expression of his contempt for +him as a scoundrel not worth the trouble that might be taken for him; +and excluded from the ministry, that lay open to him, by a self-denying +ordonnance of the Assembly, directly leveled at his pretensions, he +accepted a large subsidy from the king's brother--the Comte de +Provence--and formed with him, for the restoration or upholding a +monarchical authority, a mysterious and ineffective conspiracy, the +character and extent of which may be conjectured from its involving the +assassination of the Marquess de Lafayette. + +The hate of Mirabeau for this worthy but feeble nobleman--his diligent +colleague in the struggle for liberty--was as intense as, at first +sight, it seems incredible. He was his Mordecai at the king's gate, for +whom he could neither sleep nor eat. Remembering that Mirabeau's passion +for complicated intrigue and daring adventure, even in politics, was +extravagant to disease, it seems possible that, as he advanced in his +rapid greatness, he secretly nursed projects or hopes as incompatible +with a constitutional monarchy, and an organized public force, in +respectable hands, as with the despotism with which he had originally +battled; and that, in his successive conspiracies, now with the +Republicans and Orleanists, now with the Count de Provence and the +queen, he had no fixed intention of ultimately benefiting those he +professed to serve, but proposed to use them as ladders to that exalted +position of a Sylla or a Caesar, which, as Bonaparte subsequently proved, +was no more, perhaps, beyond his grasp than his ambition; influenced by +the insidious suggestions and doubts he carefully spread abroad, the +queen, as he saw with pleasure, looked on the new commander of the +National Guards as a "Grandison-Cromwell" (Mirabeau's damaging epithet), +whose concealed ambition aimed at the constableship of France, as a step +to that dread of French sovereigns, the "Mayorship of the Palace;" and +hence the court systematically declined the aids it might so often have +derived from the honesty, the popularity, and sometimes the good sense +of the American volunteer. At all events, we know that the assassination +of Lafayette--twice it seems plotted--would have left the National +Guards in the hands of some less popular and more pliant chief; and +that, when the general specifically accused his rival of the horrid +project, naming time, place, and means, he won no better defense than +the reply, "You were sure of it, and I am alive! How good of you! And +you aspire to play a leading part in a revolution!" The compact with the +Comte de Provence was of short duration: the queen began to distrust the +personal views of her brother-in-law, who threatened to become the Duke +D'Orleans of a philosophical party, and Mirabeau, to whom popularity was +the only capital, probably found that he could not afford the sacrifices +his employers demanded. + +To preserve the _status quo_, and wait events, became now, for some +weeks or months, as much his policy as his accessibility to passion and +sudden influences would permit. He seemed to feel that he should give +time to the molten lava of his volcanic greatness to settle, harden, and +assume its individualism among things received. Holding aloof, +therefore, from indentification with either party--leaning now on one +side, now on the other; his speeches more with the movement, his policy +more with the court; forcing both parties into explanations, while +keeping himself, however, disengaged--he constituted himself their +arbitrator and moderator, overawing both extremes; and while maintaining +his pre-eminence of political influence, held himself ready to take +advantage, at the least cost of consistency, of any fundamental change +in the position of affairs. + +In the month of May or June, however, a private interview with the +queen, in the Royal Garden of St. Cloud, followed by others, to the +renewed scandal of her fame, laid the foundation of a new compact with +the court, and a more decided policy. The chivalry of Mirabeau revived +under the enthusiasm won by "Earth's loveliest vision"--a queen in +distress and a suppliant--and he pledged himself, as the Hungarians to +her royal mother, to die in the service of saving her throne. But the +highest endeavors of Mirabeau have always at their base, like the +monuments of his country, the filthy and the repulsive; and the chivalry +of this new saviour of the monarchy received sustentation in a +bribe--higgled for through months--of twenty thousand pounds, and a +pension of more than that per annum. + +About the end of the year, three or four months before his death, he +opened systematically his great campaign for what professedly was the +restoration of regal authority. He was to out-Herod in patriotism the +Herods of the Jacobin club: the court was to dare every thing short of +civil war--perhaps even that; and the existing confusion, whatever it +might be, was to be cured by another of greater extent, artificially +induced by the charlatanism of art political. His scheme, in some +points, it must be allowed, successfully imitated in our own days in +Prussia, was: + +First--To reorganize the party of Order in the Assembly; and while, as +far as possible, winning for it the sympathy of the country, to excite, +by all available agencies, distrust and discontent with the opposing +majority. + +Secondly--To inundate the provinces with publications against the +Assembly; and by commissioners, sent nominally for other purposes, to +obtain remonstrances from the departments against its further +continuance. + +Thirdly--At a proper opportunity, to dissolve the Assembly, and order +fresh elections; at the same time canceling the constitution as illegal, +and granting another by royal charter, formed on a popular basis, and on +the written instructions which (on a system unknown to England) had +originally been drawn up for each deputy by his electors. + +I shall not descend to discuss the oft-mooted point, how far the +wholesale venality that based the project is justified or palliated by +the object it is supposed to have had in view, because I know that with +Mirabeau money was not _a means_ to his defense of constitutional +monarchy, but his defense of constitutional monarchy a means to money. +If we except his relentless hate to French despotism in any hands not +his own, the principles, moral or political, of this leader of a nation +had no other tenure but the interest of his personal aggrandizement. + +On another debate, whether with a longer life he could have carried his +counter-revolution to success, I will only remark, that, conceding that +in robust health he would have had it at heart as sincerely as in the +recorded hours of his sickness and despondency, it may be admitted, that +a struggle which, under every imprudence, seemed long to hang in doubt, +with the aid of his energetic and masterly polity might, perhaps, have +poised for royalty. But it is not to be concealed that the difficulty of +arresting and unmaking were even greater than those of creating and +consolidating the revolution. The king's aversion to decisive measures, +and well-known horror of civil war, made him the worst of colleagues for +the only policy his tool could wield with effect; and the great +demagogue himself, when obliged to discard the mask of democratic +hypocrisy that still partly hid the subtle and venal traitor of his +party, would have lost, like Strafford, many of the elements of his +potency; and despoiled, especially, of the miraculous resources of his +eloquence, must have contented himself with that lucid, common-sense, +consecutive daring, and power of strategic combination, which his new +friends were so ill-fitted to support. + +Fortunately, perhaps, for his future fame, he died ere the structure his +arts had undermined tested his powers of reparation, and before that +wonderful magic of popularity which had so long survived, as it had, +indeed, so long anticipated, his deserts, had time to vanish under the +cock-crow of truth. His death was as well-timed as his political advent, +and has been praised by French wit as the best evidence of his tact; for +the expectations which the unparalleled rapidity, no less than the +innate marvelousness of his achievements had raised, no future activity +and fortune, scarcely those of a Napoleon, could have realized. + +But if the retrospect of his career must convince us that one man in so +short a period never accomplished so much before, against such +disadvantages, so also must we admit that probably never before did any +one rest so wholly for his amazing achievements on the sole power of +intrinsic genius. It was intellect that did all with Mirabeau; and made +his head, according to his own boast, a power among European states. It +united almost every possible capacity and attainment. His rare and +penetrating powers of observation were sustained by the equal depth and +justness of his discrimination, and the rapidity and accuracy of his +judgment. Uniting, to his admirable natural capacity, an activity and +habitual power of application, more marvelous almost in their extent +than even in their rare combination, he possessed an understanding full, +beyond precedent, both of the recorded knowledge of books, and of that +priceless experience of men and things, without which all else is +naught; and as the complement of these amazing and unparalleled +advantages, he had the still rarer advantage of a felicity and power of +diction every way worthy of so incomparable a genius. + +Looking with contempt at the stiff, ornamental, and childishly +antithetical style of his day and nation, he welded the flimsy elements +of the French language into instruments of strength akin to his own +conceptions, and wrought out of them a style for himself in which a +Demosthenic simplicity and severity of language is sustained by an +earnest and straightforward power which vivifies and amplifies all that +it touches. Startled by an innovation far beyond the conceptions of the +French academy, the writer was smiled at and neglected by the critics; +and it was not till they heard him launching from the tribune the +thunders of justice, disposing at pleasure of the inclinations of the +multitude, and subjugating even the captious by the imperious power of +his eloquence, that they began to discover that there was a "power of +life"[10] in his rude and singular language; that "things, commonplace, +in his hand became of electric power;"[11] and that, standing "like a +giant among pigmies,"[12] his style, albeit "savage,"[13] dominated the +assembly, stupefying, and thundering down all opposition. + +It is the affliction of history, that, while raising her monuments to +gigantic genius, she is compelled so often to record an immorality of +parallel proportions. It is right that the infamy of Mirabeau should be +as eternal as his greatness. He was a man who, in his political, as in +his private life, had no sense of right for its own sake, and from whom +conscience never won a sacrifice. With great and glorious aims at times, +he never had a disinterested one. His ambition, vanity, or passions, +were his only standard of conduct--a standard, be it added, which, +despite the wonderful justness of his judgments, the depravity of a +sunken nature kept always below even his needs. Policy with him was +often but a campaign of vengeance or market of venality, and the +glorious exercises of literature but a relaxation of indecency or +business of wrong. In the study, in the tribune, or in the +council-chamber, glory was the only element that remained to +counterpoise, often with a feather's weight, the smallest influence of +gold or spleen; and in the most critical epoch of an empire, the poising +of his tremendous influence--the influence of so much earnestness and +magical power--was the accident of an accident. We admit for him, in +palliation, the demoralizing influence of terrific example, and of +maddening oppression; but where is the worth of a morality that, in a +man of heroic mould, will not stand assay? and what is virtue but a +name, if she may be betrayed whenever she demands an effort? + +But however much a moral wreck was the heart of Mirabeau, nature, true +to the harmony, no less than the magnificence, of her great creations, +had essentially formed it of noble and gentle elements. Touched to the +core by the contaminating influence of "time and tide," its instincts +were yet to the kindly, the generous, and elevated; and those about him +who knew him best--attached to him more by his affections than his +glory--eagerly attested that in the bosom of this depraved citizen +resided most of the qualities which, under happier agencies, would have +made him a dutiful son, a devoted husband, an attached friend, and truly +noble character! + +In fine, with an eye to see at a glance, a mind to devise, a tongue to +persuade, a hand to execute, this great man was circumspect in +recklessness, poised and vigorous in violence, cool and calculating to a +minutia in audacity and passion. As a friend, affectionate and +volatile--as an enemy, fierce and placable--as a politician, patriotic +and venal. Proud of his patricianship, whose _status_ and manners he has +lost, he is humble about a statesmanship that makes the first of his +glories. The best of writers, his works are written for him; the +greatest of orators, his speeches are made for him! Has he the most +unerring of judgments? He prefers another's! Is he a popular tribune? He +is also a royalist parasite! Is he earnest? He is then insincere! Does +he evidence great principles? He seeks bribes! Does he enforce +moderation? He awaits vengeance! Does he cause confusion? He is seeking +order! Would he save the nation? He is selling its liberties! Wonderful +man! great with enormous weaknesses, bad with many excellencies, +immortal by the expedients of an hour, his genius is a combination of +almost impossible perfections, as his political life the colossal result +of a thousand contradictions. United, they yield a deathless character, +whose Titanic proportions shall, age after age, be huger, as the mighty +shadows that cover it shall grow darker! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] It was this invasion that made Corsica a French island, and +consequently Napoleon Bonaparte a French citizen + +[8] He had also been confined in two prisons, in the Ile de Rue, and the +Castle of Dijon. + +[9] Madame Campan's Memoirs. + +[10] Madame de Stael. + +[11] Bertrand de Moleville. + +[12] De Levis. + +[13] De Ferrieres. + + + + +[From Hogg's Instructor.] + +THE "COMMUNIST" SPARROW--AN ANECDOTE OF CUVIER. + + +We have been struck with the following anecdote of the great Cuvier, +which is recorded in the "Courrier de l'Europe" for February, 1850, and +trust the following translation will prove as interesting to our readers +as it has been to us. It forms an amusing chapter in natural history, +and forcibly illustrates that close observation which so frequently +characterizes eminent men. + +Poverty in youth has a purifying tendency, like the "live coal" of old +which the angel passed over the lips of Isaiah. It inures the soul to +struggling, and the mind to persevering labor and self-confidence: it +keeps the imagination away from the temptations of luxury, and the still +more fatal one of idleness, that parent of vice. It, moreover, becomes +one of the most fruitful sources of happiness to the man whom God +permits to come out of the crowd and take his place at the head of +science and art. It is with ineffable delight that he looks behind, and +says, in thinking of his cold and comfortless garret, "I came out of +that place, single and unknown." George Cuvier, that pupil of poverty, +loved to relate one of his first observations of natural history, which +he had made while tutor to the children of Count d'Henry. + +Cuvier and his scholars inhabited an old mansion in the county of Caux a +Fiquanville; the teacher's room overlooked the garden, and every +morning, at break of day, he opened the window to inhale the refreshing +air, before commencing his arduous duties to his indifferently trained +pupils. One morning he observed, not without pleasure, that two swallows +had begun to build their nest in the very corner of his little chamber +window. The birds labored with the ardor of two young lovers who are in +haste to start in housekeeping. The male bird brought the moistened clay +in his beak, which the female kneaded, and with the addition of some +chips of straw and hay, she built her little lodging with wonderful +skill. As soon as the outside was finished, the betrothed gathered +feathers, hair, and soft dry leaves for the inside, and then departed to +hide themselves in a neighboring wood, there to enjoy the sweets of +repose after their labor, and amid the thick foliage of the trees the +mysterious joys of the honeymoon. However that may be, they did not +think of returning to take possession of their nest till the end of +twelve or fifteen days. + +Alas! changes had taken place during their absence. While the swallows +were laboring with such assiduity in building a house, Cuvier had +observed two sparrows, that perched at a short distance, watching the +industry of the two birds, not without interchanging between themselves +some cries that appeared to Cuvier rather ironical. When the swallows +departed for their country excursion, the sparrows took no pains to +conceal their odious schemes; they impudently took possession of the +nest, which was empty and without an owner to defend it, and established +themselves there as though they had been its veritable builders. Cuvier +observed that the cunning sparrows were never both out of the nest at +the same time. One of the usurpers always remained as sentinel, with his +head placed at the opening, which served for a door, and with his large +beak interdicted the entrance of any other bird, except his companion, +or rather, to call things by their right names, his brother robber. The +swallows returned in due time to their nest, the male full of joy, which +showed itself in the brightness of his eye, and in the nervous kind of +motion in his flight; the female rather languid, and heavy with the +approach of laying. You can imagine their surprise at finding the nest, +on which they had bestowed so much care, occupied. The male, moved with +indignation and anger, rushed upon the nest to chase away the usurpers, +but he found himself face to face with the formidable beak of the +sparrow who, at that moment, guarded the stolen property. What could the +slim beak of the swallow do against the redoubtable pincers of the +sparrow, armed with a double and sharpened point? Very soon, the poor +proprietor, dispossessed and beaten back, retreated with his head +covered with blood, and his neck nearly stripped of its feathers. He +returned with flashing eye, and trembling with rage, to the side of his +wife, with whom he appeared for some minutes to hold counsel, after +which they flew away into the air, and quickly disappeared. The female +sparrow came back soon after; the male recounted all that had +passed--the arrival, the attack, and flight of the swallows--not without +accompanying the recital with what seemed to Cuvier to be roars of +laughter. Be this as it may, the housekeeper did not rest satisfied with +making only a hullah-balloo, for the female went forth again, and +collected in haste a much larger quantity of provisions than usual. As +soon as she returned, after having completed the supplies for a siege, +two pointed beaks, instead of one, defended the entrance to the nest. +Cries, however, began to fill the air, and an assemblage of swallows +gathered together on a neighboring roof. Cuvier recognized distinctly +the dispossessed couple, who related to each newcomer the impudent +robbery of the sparrow. The male, with blood-stained head and bared +neck, distinguished himself by the earnestness of his protestations and +appeals of vengeance. In a little while two hundred swallows had arrived +at the scene of conflict. While the little army was forming and +deliberating, all at once a cry of distress came from an adjacent +window. A young swallow, doubtless inexperienced, instead of taking part +in the counsels of his brethren, was chasing some flies which were +buzzing about a bunch of neglected or castaway flowers before the +window. The pupils of Cuvier had stretched a net there to catch +sparrows; one of the claws of the swallow was caught by the perfidious +net. At the cry which this hair-brained swallow made, a score of his +brethren flew to the rescue: but all their efforts were in vain; the +desperate struggles which the prisoner made to free himself from the +fatal trap only drew the ends tighter, and confined his foot more +firmly. Suddenly a detachment took wing, and, retiring about a hundred +paces, returned rapidly, and, one by one, gave a peck at the snare, +which each time, owing to the determined manner of the attack, received +a sharp twitch. Not one of the swallows missed its aim, so that, after +half an hour of this persevering and ingenious labor, the chafed string +broke, and the captive; rescued from the snare, went joyously to mingle +with his companions. Throughout this scene, which took place twenty feet +from Cuvier, and at almost as many from the usurped nest, the observer +kept perfectly still, and the sparrows made not the slightest movement +with their two large beaks, which, formidable and threatening, kept its +narrow entrance. The council of swallows, while a certain number of them +were succoring their companion, had continued to deliberate gravely. As +soon as all were united, the liberated prisoner included, they took +flight, and Cuvier felt convinced they had given up the field, or rather +the nest, to the robbers, who had so fraudulently possessed themselves +of it. Judge of his surprise when, in the course of a few seconds, he +beheld a cloud of two or three hundred swallows arrive, with the +rapidity of thought throw themselves before the nest, discharge at it +some mud which they had brought in their bills, and retire to give place +to another battalion, which repeated the same manoeuvre. They fired at +two or three inches from the nest, thus preventing the sparrows from +giving them any blows with their beaks. Besides, the mud, shot with such +perfidious precision, had so blinded the sparrows, after the first +discharge, that they very soon knew not in what manner to defend +themselves. Still the mud continued to thicken more and more on the +nest, whose original shape was soon obliterated: the opening would have +almost entirely disappeared, had not the sparrows, by their desperate +efforts at defense, broken away some portions of it. But the implacable +swallows, by a strategic movement, as rapidly as it was cleverly +executed, rushed upon the nest, beat down with their beaks and claws the +clay over the opening already half stopped up, and finished the attack +by hermetically closing it. Then there arose a thousand cries of +vengeance and victory. Nevertheless, the swallows ceased not the work of +destruction. They continued to carry up moistened clay till they had +built a second nest over the very opening of the besieged one. It was +raised by a hundred beaks at once, and, an hour after the execution of +the sparrows, the nest was occupied by the dispossessed swallows. The +drama was complete and terrible; the vengeance inexorable and fatal. The +unfortunate sparrows not only expiated their theft in the nest they had +taken possession of, whence they could not escape, and where suffocation +and hunger were gradually killing them, but they heard the songs of love +from the two swallows, who thus so cruelly made them wipe out the crime +of their theft. During the fight the female remained alone, languishing +and motionless, on an angle of the roof. It was with difficulty, and +with a heavy flight, that she left this spot to take up her abode in her +new house; and, doubtless, while the agony of the sparrows was being +filled up, she laid her eggs, for she did not stir out for two days; the +male, during that time, taking upon himself to search for insects and +hunt for flies. He brought them alive in his beak, and gave them to his +companion. Entirely devoted to the duties of incubation and maternity, +she was only seen now and then to put out her head to breathe the pure +air. Fifteen days after, the male flew away at day-break. He appeared +more gay and joyful than usual; during the whole day he ceased not to +bring to the nest a countless number of insects, and Cuvier, by standing +on tiptoe at his window, could distinctly see six little yellow and +hungry beaks, crying out, and swallowing with avidity all the food +brought by their father. The female did not leave her family till the +morrow; confinement and fatigue had made her very thin. Her plumage had +lost its lustre; but in seeing her contemplate her little ones, you +might conceive the maternal joy which filled her, and by what ineffable +compensations she felt herself indemnified for all her privations and +sufferings. After a short time the little creatures had advanced in +figure; their large yellow bills were transformed into little black and +charming ones; their naked bodies, covered here and there with ugly +tufts, were now clothed with elegant feathers, on which the light played +in brilliant flashes. They began to fly about the nest, and even to +accompany their mother when she hunted for flies in the neighborhood. + +Cuvier could not refrain from feelings of admiration, and was somewhat +affected when he saw the mother, with indefatigable patience and grace, +show her children how they should set about catching flies, which darted +about in the air--to suck in an incautious one, or carry away a spider +which had imprudently made his net between the branches of two trees. +Often she would hold out to them at a distance in her beak a booty which +excited their appetite; then she would go away by degrees, and gradually +draw them unconsciously off to a shorter or a longer distance from the +nest. The swallow taught her children to fly high when the air was calm, +for then the insects kept in a more elevated part of the air; or to skim +along the ground at the approach of a storm, as then the same insects +would direct their course toward the earth, where they might find +shelter under the stones at the fall of the first drop of rain. Then the +little ones, more experienced, began, under the guidance of their +father, to undertake longer flights. The mother, standing at the +entrance of the nest, seemed to give her instructions before they +departed: she awaited their return with anxiety, and when that was +delayed, took a flight high, very high in the air, and there flew to and +fro till she saw them. Then, full of a mother's joy, she would utter +cries of emotion, scud before them, bring them back to the nest, happy +and palpitating, and seemed to demand an account of the causes of their +delay. + +The autumn arrived. Some groups of swallows collected together on the +very roof of the mansion of Fiquanville. After grave deliberation, and a +vote being taken (whether by ballot or otherwise, Cuvier does not +mention), the young ones of the nest, along with the other young +swallows of the same age, were all placed in the middle of the troop; +and one morning a living cloud rose above the chateau, and flew away +swiftly due east. + +The following spring two swallows, worn down by fatigue, came to take +possession of the nest. Cuvier recognized them immediately; they were +the very same--those whose manners and habits he had studied the +preceding year. They proceeded to restore the nest, cracked and injured +in some places by the frost: they garnished anew the inside with fresh +feathers and choice moss, then, as last year, made an excursion of some +days. On the very morrow after their return, while they were darting to +and fro close to Cuvier's window, to whose presence they had become +accustomed, and which did not in the least incommode them, a +screech-owl, that seemed to fall from above, pounced upon the male, +seized him in his talons, and was already bearing him away, when Cuvier +took down his gun, which was within reach, primed and cocked it, and +fired at the owl; the fellow, mortally wounded, fell head over heels +into the garden, and Cuvier hastened to deliver the swallow from the +claws of the dead owl, who still held him with his formidable nails. The +poor swallow had received some deep wounds; the nails of the owl had +penetrated deeply into his side, and one of the drops of shot had broken +his leg. Cuvier dressed the wounds as well as he could, and, by the aid +of a ladder, replaced the invalid in his nest, while the female flew +sadly around it, uttering cries of despair. For three or four days she +never left the nest but to go in search of food, which she offered the +male. Cuvier saw his sickly head come out with difficulty, and try in +vain to take the food offered by his companion; every day he appeared to +get weaker. At length, one morning, Cuvier was awakened by the cries of +the female, who with her wings beat against the panes of his window. He +ran to the nest--alas! it contained only a dead body. From that fatal +moment the female never left her nest. Overwhelmed with grief, she, five +days after, died of despair, on the dead body of her companion. + +Some months after this, the Abbe Tessier, whom the revolutionary +persecution had compelled to flee to Normandy, where he disguised +himself under the dress of a military physician of the hospital of +Fecamp, fell in with the obscure tutor, who recounted to him the history +of the swallows. The abbe engaged him to deliver a course of lectures on +natural history to the pupils of that hospital, of which he was the +head, and wrote to Jussieu and Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, to inform them of +the individual he had become acquainted with. Cuvier entered into a +correspondence with these two learned men, and a short time after he was +elected to the chair of comparative anatomy at Paris His subsequent +career is well known. + + + + +[From Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +A GIRAFFE CHASE. + + +This day was to me rather a memorable one, as the first on which I saw +and slew the lofty, graceful-looking giraffe or camelopard, with which, +during many years of my life, I had longed to form an acquaintance. +These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, which are admirably +formed by nature to adorn the fair forests that clothe the boundless +plains of the interior, are widely distributed throughout the interior +of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In +countries unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found +generally in herds varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not +unfrequently met with herds containing thirty individuals, and on one +occasion I counted forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, +and about sixteen maybe reckoned as the average number of a herd. These +herds are composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe +of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark, chestnut-colored old bull of +the herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally +attaining to a height of upward of eighteen feet. The females are of +lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height +averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. Some writers have discovered +ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is +one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation; and when a +herd of them is seen scattered through a grove of the picturesque +parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on whose +uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height with +which nature has so admirably endowed them, he must, indeed, be slow of +conception who fails to discover both grace and dignity in all their +movements. There can be no doubt, that every animal is seen to the +greatest advantage in the haunts which nature destined him to adorn; and +among the various living creatures which beautify this fair creation I +have often traced a remarkable resemblance between the animal and the +general appearance of the locality in which it is found. This I first +remarked at an early period of my life, when entomology occupied a part +of my attention No person following this interesting pursuit can fail to +observe the extraordinary likeness which insects bear to the various +abodes in which they are met with. Thus, among the long green grass we +find a variety of long green insects, whose legs and antennae so resemble +the shoots emanating from the stalks of the grass that it requires a +practiced eye to distinguish them. Throughout sandy districts varieties +of insects are met with of a color similar to the sand which they +inhabit. Among the green leaves of the various trees of the forest +innumerable leaf-colored insects are to be found; while, closely +adhering to the rough gray bark of these forest-trees, we observe +beautifully-colored, gray-looking; moths of various patterns, yet +altogether so resembling the bark as to be invisible to the passing +observer. In like manner among quadrupeds I have traced a corresponding +analogy, for, even in the case of the stupendous elephant, the ashy +color of his hide so corresponds with the general appearance of the gray +thorny jungles which he frequents throughout the day, that a person +unaccustomed to hunting elephants, standing on a commanding situation, +might look down upon a herd and fail to detect their presence. And +further, in the case of the giraffe, which is invariably met with among +venerable forests, where innumerable blasted and weather-beaten trunks +and stems occur, I have repeatedly been in doubt as to the presence of a +troop of them until I had recourse to my spy-glass; and on referring the +case to my savage attendants, I have known even their optics to fail, at +one time mistaking these dilapidated trunks for camelopards, and again +confounding real camelopards with these aged veterans of the forest. + +Although we had now been traveling many days through the country of the +giraffe, and had marched through forests in which their spoor was +abundant, our eyes had not yet been gifted with a sight of "Tootla" +himself; it was therefore with indescribable pleasure that, on the +evening of the 11th, I beheld a troop of these interesting animals. + +Our breakfast being finished, I resumed my journey through an endless +gray forest of cameel-dorn and other trees, the country slightly +undulating and grass abundant. A little before the sun went down my +driver remarked to me, "I was just going to say, sir, that that old tree +was a camelopard." On looking where he pointed, I saw that the old tree +was indeed a camelopard, and, on casting my eyes a little to the right, +I beheld a troop of them standing looking at us, their heads actually +towering above the trees of the forest. It was imprudent to commence a +chase at such a late hour, especially in a country of so level a +character, where the chances were against my being able to regain my +wagons that night. I, however, resolved to chance every thing; and +directing my men to catch and saddle Colesberg, I proceeded in haste to +buckle on my shooting-belt and spurs, and in two minutes I was in the +saddle. The giraffes stood looking at the wagons until I was within +sixty yards of them, when, galloping round a thick bushy tree, under +cover of which I had ridden, I suddenly beheld a sight the most +astounding that a sportsman's eye can encounter. Before me stood a troop +of ten colossal giraffes, the majority of which were from seventeen to +eighteen feet high. On beholding me they at at once made off, twisting +their long tails over their backs, making a loud switching noise with +them, and cantered along at an easy pace, which, however, obliged +Colesberg to put his best foot foremost to keep up with them. + +The sensations which I felt on this occasion were different from any +thing that I had before experienced during a long sporting career. My +senses were so absorbed by the wondrous and beautiful sight before me +that I rode along like one entranced, and felt inclined to disbelieve +that I was hunting living things of this world. The ground was firm and +favorable for riding. At every stride I gained upon the giraffes, and +after a short burst at a swinging gallop I was in the middle of them, +and turned the finest cow out of the herd. On finding herself driven +from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and +cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of +ground at every bound; while her neck and breast, coming in contact with +the dead old branches of the trees, were continually strewing them in my +path. In a few minutes I was riding within five yards of her stern, and, +firing at the gallop, I sent a bullet into her back. Increasing my pace, +I next rode alongside, and, placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few +feet of her, I fired my second shot behind the shoulder; the ball, +however, seemed to have little effect. I then placed myself directly in +front, when she came to a walk. Dismounting, I hastily loaded both +barrels, putting in double charges of powder. Before this was +accomplished she was off at a canter. In a short time I brought her to a +stand in the dry bed of a water-course, where I fired at fifteen yards, +aiming where I thought the heart lay, upon which she again made off. +Having loaded, I followed, and had very nearly lost her; she had turned +abruptly to the left, and was far out of sight among the trees. Once +more I brought her to a stand, and dismounted from my horse. There we +stood together alone in the wild wood. I gazed in wonder at her extreme +beauty, while her soft dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down +imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of +triumph for the blood I was shedding. Pointing my rifle toward the +skies, I sent a bullet through her neck. On receiving it, she reared +high on her hind legs, and fell backward with a heavy crash, making the +earth shake around her. A thick stream of dark blood spouted out from +the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment, and she expired. + + + + +[From Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey.] + +ADVENTURE IN A TURKISH HAREM. + +BY AUBREY DE VERE. + + +A short time before leaving Constantinople I enjoyed a piece of good +fortune which I believe has fallen to the lot of few men. Often as I +passed by the garden walls of some rich Pacha, I felt, as every one who +visits Constantinople feels, no small desire to penetrate, into that +mysterious region--his harem--and see something more than the mere +exterior of Turkish life. "The traveler landing at Stamboul complains," +I used to say to myself, "of the contrast between its external aspect +and the interior of the city; but the real interior, that is the inside +of the houses, the guarded retreats of those vailed forms which one +passes in gilded caiques--of these he sees nothing." Fortune favored my +aspirations. I happened to make acquaintance with a young Frenchman, +lively, spirited, and confident, who had sojourned at Constantinople for +a considerable time, and who bore there the character of prophet, +magician, and I know not what beside. The fact is, that he was a very +clever fellow, living on his wits, ever ready to turn his hand to any +thing, and numbering among his other accomplishments, a skill in +conjuring feats extraordinary even in the East. He used to exhibit +frequently before the Sultan, who always sent him away laden with +presents, and who would, probably, had he professed the Mohammedan +Faith, have made him his Prime Minister or his Lord High Admiral. + +There was nothing which this conjuror could not do. He told me that on +one occasion, dining in a numerous company, he had contrived to pick the +pocket of every one present, depriving one of his watch, another of his +purse, and a third of his pocket-handkerchief. As soon as the guests +discovered their losses, to which he managed to direct their attention, +a scene of violent excitement ensued, every one accusing his neighbor of +theft; and at last it was agreed that the police should be sent, for to +search the pockets of all present. The police arrived, and the search +was duly made, but without any effect. "I think," said the young +magician, "it would be but fair that the police should themselves +undergo the same scrutiny to which we have all submitted." The +suggestion was immediately acted on; and to the amazement of all +present, and especially of the supposed culprits, in the pockets of the +police all the missing articles were found. + +The life of this man had been strange and eventful. Having quarreled +with his family in early youth he had assumed an incognito, and enlisted +as a private soldier, I forget in what service. On one occasion, in his +first campaign, he was left for dead on the field of battle. In the +evening some peasants visited the field for the sake of plunder. He was +badly wounded, but had his wits sufficiently about him to know that, if +he wished not to have his throat cut, he had better lie still and feign +to be dead. In his turn he was visited by the marauders; but, as fame +goes, it turned out that while they were hunting after the few pence he +possessed, he contrived to lighten their pockets of their accumulated +spoil. He had grown tired of war, however, and had settled in +Constantinople, where he embarked in all manner of speculations, being +bent, among other things, upon establishing a theatre at Pera. In all +reverses he came down, like a cat, on his feet: he was sanguine and +good-humored, always disposed to shuffle the cards till the right one +came up; and, trusting a good deal to Fortune, while he improved what +she gave, he was of course rich in her good graces. + +One day this youth called on me, and mentioned that a chance had +befallen him which he should be glad to turn to account--particularly +if sure of not making too intimate an acquaintance with the Bosphorus in +the attempt. A certain wealthy Turk had applied to him for assistance +under very trying domestic circumstances. His favorite wife had lost a +precious ring, which had doubtless been stolen either by one of his +other wives, under the influence of jealousy, or by a female slave. +Would the magician pay a visit to his house, recover the ring, and +expose the delinquent? "Now," said he, "if I once get within the walls, +I shall be sure to force my way into the female apartments on some +pretense. If I find the ring, all is well: but if not, this Turk will +discover that I have been making a fool of him. However, as he is a +favorite at court, and can not but know in what flattering estimation I +am held there, he will probably treat me with the distinction I deserve. +In fine, I will try it. Will you come, too? you can help me in my +incantations, which will serve as an excuse." The proposal was too +tempting to be rejected, and at the hour agreed on we set off in such +state as we could command (in the East, state is essential to respect), +jogging over the rough streets, in one of those hearse-like carriages +without springs, which bring one's bones upon terms of far too intimate +a mutual acquaintance. + +We reached at last a gate, which promised little; but ere long we found +ourselves in one of those "high-walled gardens, green and old," which +are among the glories of the East. Passing between rows of orange and +lemon-trees, we reached the house, where we were received by a goodly +retinue of slaves, and conducted, accompanied by our dragoman, through a +long suite of apartments. In the last of them stood a tall, handsome, +and rather youthful man, in splendid attire, who welcomed us with a +grave courtesy. We took our seats, and were presented in due form with +long pipes, and with coffee, to me far more acceptable. After a +sufficient interval of time had passed for the most meditative and +abstracted of men to remember his purpose, our host, reminded of what he +had apparently forgotten by my companion's conjuring robes, an +electrical machine, and other instruments of incantation, which the +slaves carried from our carriage, civilly inquired when we intended to +commence operations. "What operations?" demanded my companion, with much +apparent unconcern. "The discovery of the ring." "Whenever his highness +pleased, and it suited the female part of his household to make their +appearance," was the answer. + +At this startling proposition even the Oriental sedateness of our +majestic host gave way, and he allowed his astonishment and displeasure +to become visible. "Who ever heard," he demanded, "of the wives of a +true believer being shown to a stranger, and that stranger an Infidel +and a Frank?" As much astonished in our turn, we demanded, "When a +magician had ever been heard of, who could discover a stolen treasure +without being confronted either with the person who had lost or the +person who had appropriated it?" For at least two hours, though +relieved by intervals of silence, the battle was carried on with much +occasional vehemence on his part, and on ours with an assumption of +perfect indifference. Our host at last, perceiving that our obstinacy +was equal to the decrees of Fate, retired, as we were informed, to +consult his mother on the subject. In a few minutes he returned, and +assured us that our proposition was ridiculous; upon which we rose with +much dignified displeasure, and moved toward the door, stating that our +beards had been made little of. A grave-looking man who belonged to the +household of our host, and occupied apparently a sort of +semi-ecclesiastical position, now interposed, and after some +consultation it was agreed that as we were not mere men, but prophets, +and infidel saints, an exception might be made in our favor without +violation of the Mussulman law; not, indeed, to the extent of allowing +us to profane the inner sanctuary of the harem with our presence, but so +far as to admit us into in apartment adjoining it, where the women would +be summoned to attend us. + +Accordingly, we passed through a long suite of rooms, and at last found +ourselves in a chamber lofty and large, fanned by a breeze from the +Bosphorus, over which its lattices were suspended, skirted by a low +divan, covered with carpets and cushions, and "invested with purpureal +gleams" by the splendid hangings through which the light feebly strove. +Among a confused heap of crimson pillows and orange drapery, at the +remote end of the apartment, sat, or rather reclined, the mother of our +reluctant host. I could observe only that she was aged, and lay there as +still as if she had belonged to the vegetable, not the human world. +Usually she was half-vailed by the smoke of her long pipe; but when its +wreaths chanced to float aside or grow thin, her dark eyes were fixed +upon us with an expression half indifferent and half averse. + +Presently a murmur of light feet was heard in an adjoining chamber: on +it moved along the floor of the gallery; and in trooped the company of +wives and female slaves. They laughed softly and musically as they +entered, but seemed frightened also; and at once raising their shawls +and drawing down their vails, they glided simultaneously into a +semicircle, and stood there with hands folded on their breasts. I sat +opposite to them, drinking coffee and smoking, or pretending to smoke a +pipe eight feet long: at one side stood the Mollah and some male members +of the household: at the other stood the handsome husband, apparently +but little contented with the course matters had taken; and my friend, +the magician, moved about among the implements of his art clad in a +black gown spangled with flame-colored devices, strange enough to strike +a bold heart with awe. Beyond the semicircle stood two children, a boy +and a girl, holding in their hands twisted rods of barley-sugar about a +yard long each, which they sucked assiduously the whole time of our +visit. There they stood, mute and still as statues, with dark eyes +fixed, now on us, and now on the extremity of their sugar wands. + +My companion commenced operations by displaying a number of conjuring +tricks intended to impress all present with the loftiest opinion of his +powers, and stopped every now and then to make his dragoman explain that +it would prove in vain to endeavor to deceive a being endowed with such +gifts. To these expositions the women apparently paid but little +attention; but the conjuring feats delighted them; and again and again +they laughed until, literally, the head of each dropped on her +neighbor's shoulder. After a time the husband, who alone had never +appeared the least entertained, interposed, and asked the conjuror +whether he had yet discovered the guilty party. With the utmost +coolness, my friend replied, "Certainly not: how could he while His +Highness's wives continued vailed?" This new demand created new +confusion and a long debate: I thought, however, that the women seemed +rather to advocate our cause. The husband, the Mollah, and the mother +again consulted; and in another moment the vails had dropped, and the +beauty of many an Eastern nation stood before us revealed. + +Four of those unvailed Orientals were, as we were informed, wives, and +six were slaves. The former were beautiful indeed, though beautiful in +different degrees and in various styles of beauty: of the latter two +only. They were, all of them, tall, slender, and dark-eyed, "shadowing +high beauty in their airy brows," and uniting a mystical with a +luxurious expression, like that of Sibyls who had been feasting with +Cleopatra. There was something to me strange as well as lovely in their +aspect--as strange as their condition, which seems a state half-way +between marriage and widowhood. They see no man except their husband; +and a visit from him (except in the case of the favorite) is a rare and +marvelous occurrence, like an eclipse of the sun. Their bearing toward +each other was that of sisters: in their movements I remarked an +extraordinary sympathy, which was the more striking on account of their +rapid transitions from the extreme of alarm to child-like wonder, and +again to boundless mirth. + +The favorite wife was a Circassian, and a fairer vision it would not be +easy to see. Intellectual in expression she could hardly be called; yet +she was full of dignity, as well as of pliant grace and of sweetness. +Her large black eyes, beaming with a soft and stealthy radiance, seemed +as if they would have yielded light in the darkness; and the heavy waves +of her hair, which, in the excitement of the tumultuous scene, she +carelessly flung over her shoulders, gleamed like a mirror. Her +complexion was the most exquisite I have ever seen, its smooth and +pearly purity being tinged with a color, unlike that of flower or of +fruit, of bud or of berry, but which reminded me of the vivid and +delicate tints which sometimes streak the inside of a shell. Though tall +she seemed as light as if she had been an embodied cloud, hovering over +the rich carpets like a child that does not feel the weight of its body; +and though stately in the intervals of rest, her mirth was a sort of +rapture. She, too, had that peculiar luxuriousness of aspect, in no +degree opposed to modesty, which belongs to the East: around her lips +was wreathed, in their stillness, an expression at once pleasurable and +pathetic, which seemed ever ready to break forth into a smile: her hands +seemed to leave with regret whatever they had rested on, and in parting +to leave something behind; and in all her soft and witching beauty she +reminded me of Browning's lines-- + + "No swan-soft woman, rubbed in lucid oils. + The gift of an enamored god, more fair." + +As feat succeeded to feat, and enchantment to enchantment, all remnant +of reserve was discarded, and no trace remained of that commingled alarm +and pleased expectation which had characterized those beaming +countenances when first they emerged from their vails. Those fair women +floated around us, and tossed their hands in the air, wholly forgetting +that their husband was by. Still, however, we had made but little +progress in our inquiry; and when the magician informed them that they +had better not try to conceal any thing from him, their only answer was +a look that said, "You came here to give us pleasure, not to +cross-question us." Resolved to use more formidable weapons, he began to +arrange an electrical machine, when the Mollah, after glancing at it two +or three times, approached and asked him whether that instrument also +was supernatural. The quick-witted Frenchman replied at once, "By no +means; it is a mere scientific toy." Then, turning to me, he added, in a +low voice, "He has seen it before--probably, he has traveled." In a few +minutes, the women were ranged in a ring, and linked hand-in-hand. He +then informed them, through our interpreter, that if a discovery was not +immediately made, each person should receive, at the same moment, a blow +from an invisible hand; that, the second time, the admonition would be +yet severer; and that, the third time, if his warning was still +despised, the culprit would drop down dead. This announcement was heard +with much gravity, but no confession followed it: the shock was given, +and the lovely circle was speedily dislinked, "with shrieks and +laughter." Again the shock was given, and with the same effect; but this +time the laughter was more subdued. Before making his last essay, the +magician addressed them in a long speech, telling them that he had +already discovered the secret, that if the culprit confessed, he would +make intercession for her, but that, if she did not, she must take the +consequences. Still no confession was made. For the first time, my +confident friend looked downcast. "It will not do," he said to me; "the +ring can not be recovered: they know nothing about it: probably it was +lost. We can not fulfill our engagement; and, indeed, I wish," he added, +"that we were well out of all this." + +I confess I wished the same, especially when I glanced at the master of +the household, who stood apart, gloomy as a thunder-cloud, and with the +look of a man who thinks himself in a decidedly false position. The +Easterns do not understand a jest, especially in a harem; and not being +addicted to irony (that great safety-valve for enthusiasm), they pass +rapidly from immovability to very significant and sometimes disagreeable +action. Speaking little, they deliver their souls by acting. I should +have been glad to hear our host talk, even though in a stormy voice: on +the whole, however, I trusted much to the self-possession and address of +my associate. Nor was I deceived. "Do as you see me do," he said to me +and the dragoman; and then, immediately after giving the third shock, +which was as ineffectual as those that preceded it, he advanced to our +grim host with a face radiant with satisfaction, and congratulated him +vehemently. "You are a happy man," he said. "Your household has not a +flaw in it. Fortunate it was that you sent for the wise man: I have +discovered the matter." "What have you discovered?" "The fate of the +ring. It has never been stolen: if it had, I would have restored it to +you. Fear nothing; your household is trustworthy and virtuous. I know +where the ring is; but I should deceive you if I bade you hope ever to +find it again. This is a great mystery, and the happy consummation +surpasses even my hopes. Adieu. The matter has turned out just as you +see. You were born under a lucky star. Happy is the man whose household +is trustworthy, and who, when his faith is tried, finds a faithful +counselor. I forbid you, henceforth and forever, to distrust any one of +your wives." + +It would be impossible to describe the countenance of our Mussulman +friend during this harangue. There he stood, like a tree half in +sunshine and half in shade; gratification struggling with displeasure in +his countenance, and wonder eclipsing both. It was not by any means our +policy to wait until he had adjusted the balance, and made up his mind +as to the exact degree of gratitude he owed his guests. On, accordingly, +we passed to the door. In a moment the instinct of courtesy prevailed, +and our host made a sign to one of his retinue. His slaves preceded us +with torches (it had grown late); and, accompanied by half the +household, as a guard of honor, we again traversed the large and +straggling house, passed through the garden, and entered the carriage +which waited for us beyond the wall. Our evening passed rapidly away as +we discussed our adventure; and I have more than once thought, with +pleasure, how amusing an incident the visit of the strangers must have +been to the secluded beauties. No doubt the baths of Constantinople have +rung with many a merry laugh occasioned by this invasion of the Franks. +Never, perhaps, have the inmates of a harem seen so much of the infidel +before, and conversed with him so familiarly, in the presence of their +husband. + + + + +[From Sharpe's Magazine.] + +THE WIFE OF KONG TOLV.[14] + +A FAIRY TALE OF SCANDINAVIA. + +BY THE AUTHOR "COLA MONTI." + + +Hyldreda Kalm stood at the door of her cottage, and looked abroad into +the quietness of the Sabbath morn. The village of Skjelskoer lay at a +little distance down the vale, lighted by the sunshine of a Zealand +summer, which, though brief, is glowing and lovely even as that of the +south. Hyldreda had looked for seventeen years upon this beautiful +scene, the place where she was born. Sunday after Sunday she had stood +thus and listened for the distant tinkle of the church bell. A stranger, +passing by, might have said, how lovely were her face and form; but the +widowed mother, whose sole stay she was, and the little delicate sister, +who had been her darling from the cradle, would have answered, that if +none were so fair, none were likewise so good as Hyldreda; and that all +the village knew. If she did love to bestow greater taste and care on +her Sunday garments than most young damsels of her class, she had a +right--for was she not beautiful as any lady? And did not the eyes of +Esbern Lynge say so, when, week after week, he came up the hilly road, +and descended again to the little chapel, supporting the feeble mother's +slow steps, and watching his betrothed as she bounded on before, with +little Resa in her hand? + +"Is Esbern coming?" said the mother's voice within. + +"I know not--I did not look," answered Hyldreda, with a girlish +willfulness. "I saw only the sun shining on the river, and the oak-wood +waving in the breeze." + +"Look down the road, child; the time passes. Go quickly." + +"She is gone already," said Resa, laughing merrily. "She is standing +under the great elder-tree to wait for Esbern Lynge." + +"Call her back--call her back!" cried the mother, anxiously. "To stand +beneath an elder-tree, and this night will be St. John's Eve! On Sunday, +too, and she a Sunday child! Call her quickly, Resa." + +The little child lifted up her voice, "Hyld--" + +"Not her name--utter not her name!" And the widow Kalm went on muttering +to herself, "Perhaps the Hyldemoer[15] will not have heard. Alas the +day! when my child was born under an elder-tree, and I, poor desolate +mother! was terrified into giving my babe that name. Great Hyldemoer, be +propitiated! Holy Virgin!" and the widow's prayer became a curious +mingling of superstition and piety, "Blessed Mary! let not the elves +have power over my child! Have I not kept her heart from evil? does not +the holy cross lie on her pure breast day and night? Do I not lead her +every Sunday, winter and summer, in storm, sunshine, or snow, to the +chapel in the valley? And this day I will say for her a double prayer." + +The mother's counted beads had scarce come to an end when Hyldreda stood +by her side, and, following the light-footed damsel, came Esbern Lynge. + +"Child, why didst thou linger under the tree?" said the widow. "It does +not become a young maiden to stand flaunting outside her door. Who wert +thou watching so eagerly?" + +"Not thee, Esbern," laughed the girl, shaking her head at her betrothed, +who interposed with a happy conscious face; "I was looking at a grand +train that wound along the road, and thinking how pleasant it would be +to dress on a Sunday like the lady of the castle, and recline idly +behind four prancing horses instead of trudging on in these clumsy +shoes." + +The mother frowned, and Esbern Lynge looked sorrowful. + +"I wish I could give her all she longs for," sighed the young man, as +they proceeded on their way, his duteous arm supporting the widow, while +Hyldreda and Resa went bounding onward before them; "She is as beautiful +as a queen--I would that I could make her one." + +"Wish rather, Esbern, that Heaven may make her a pious, lowly-hearted +maid, and, in good time, a wife; that she may live in humility and +content, and die in peace among her own people." + +Esbern said nothing--he could not think of death and _her_ together. So +he and the widow Kalm walked on silently--and so slowly that they soon +lost sight of the two blithe sisters. + +Hyldreda was talking merrily of the grand sight she had just seen, and +describing to little Resa the gilded coach, the prancing horses, with +glittering harness. "Oh! but it was a goodly train, as it swept down +toward the river. Who knows? Perhaps it may have been the king and queen +themselves." + +"No," said little Resa, rather fearfully, "you know Kong Tolv[16] never +lets any mortal king pass the bridge of Skjelskoer." + +"_Kong Tolv!_ what, more stories about Kong Tolv!" laughed the merry +maiden; "I never saw him; I wish I could see him, for then I might +believe in thy tales, little one." + +"Hush, hush!--But mother told me never to speak of these things to +thee," answered Resa; "unsay the wish, or some harm may come." + +"I care not! who would heed these elfin tales on such a lovely day? +Look, Resa, down that sunny meadow, where there is a cloud shadow +dancing on the grass; a strange cloud it is too, for it almost resembles +a human form." + +"It is Kong Tolv rolling himself in the sunshine," cried the trembling +child; "Look away, my sister, lest he should hear us." + +Again Hyldreda's fearless laugh made music through the still air, and +she kept looking back until they passed from the open road into the +gloom of the oak wood. + +"It is strange that thou shouldst be so brave," said Resa once more. "I +tremble at the very thought of the Elle-people of whom our villagers +tell, while thou hast not a single fear. Why is it, sister?" + +"I know not, save that I never yet feared any thing," answered Hyldreda, +carelessly. "As for Kong Tolv, let him come, I care not." + +While she spoke, a breeze swept through the oak wood, the trees began to +bend their tops, and the under branches were stirred with leafy +murmurings, as the young girl passed beneath. She lifted her fair face +to meet them. "Ah 'tis delicious, this soft scented wind; it touches my +face like airy kisses; it makes the leaves seem to talk to me in musical +whispers. Dost thou not hear them too, little Resa? and dost thou +not--?" + +Hyldreda suddenly stopped, and gazed eagerly down the road. + +"Well, sister," said Resa, "what art dreaming of now? Come, we shall be +late at church, and mother will scold." But the elder sister stood +motionless. "How strange thine eyes look; what dost thou see, Hyldreda." + +"Look--what is there!" + +"Nothing, but a cloud of dust that the wind sweeps forward. Stand back, +sister, or it will blind thee." + +Still Hyldreda bent forward with admiring eyes, muttering, "Oh! the +grand golden chariot, with its four beautiful white horses! And therein +sits a man--surely it is the king! and the lady beside him is the queen. +See, she turns--" + +Hyldreda paused, dumb with wonder, for despite the gorgeous show of +jeweled attire, she recognized that face. It was the same she had looked +at an hour before in the little cracked mirror. The lady in the carriage +was the exact counterpart of herself! + +The pageant came and vanished. Little Resa turned round and wiped her +eyes--she, innocent child, had seen nothing but a cloud of dust. Her +elder sister answered not her questionings, but remained silent, +oppressed by a nameless awe. It passed not, even when the chapel was +reached, and Hyldreda knelt to pray. Above the sound of the hymn she +heard the ravishing music of the leaves in the oak wood, and instead of +the priest she seemed to behold the two dazzling forms which had sat +side by side in the golden chariot. + +When service was ended, and all went homewards, she lingered under the +trees where the vision, or reality, whichever it was, had met her sight, +half longing for its reappearance. But her mother whispered something to +Esbern, and they hurried Hyldreda away. + +She laid aside her Sunday mantle, the scarlet woof which to spin, weave, +and fashion, had cost her a world of pains. How coarse and ugly it +seemed! She threw it contemptuously aside, and thought how beautiful +looked the purple-robed lady, who was so like herself. + +"And why should I not be as fair as she? I should, if I were only +dressed as fine. Heaven might as well have made me a lady, instead of a +poor peasant girl." + +These repinings entered the young heart hitherto so pure and happy. They +haunted her even when she rejoined her mother, Resa, and Esbern Lynge. +She prepared the noonday meal, but her step was heavy and her hand +unwilling. The fare seemed coarse, the cottage looked dark and poor. She +wondered what sort of a palace home was that owned by the beautiful +lady; and whether the king, if king the stranger were, presided at his +banquet table as awkwardly as did Esbern Lynge at the mean board here. + +At the twilight, Hyldreda did not steal out as usual to talk with her +lover beneath the rose-porch. She went and hid herself out of his sight, +under the branches of the great elder-tree, which to her had always a +strange charm, perhaps because it was the spot of all others where she +was forbidden to stay. However, this day Hyldreda began to feel herself +to be no longer a child, but a woman whose will was free. + +She sat under the dreamy darkness of the heavy foliage. Its faint sickly +odor overpowered her like a spell. Even the white bunches of elder +flowers seemed to grow alive in the twilight, and to change into faces, +looking at her whithersoever she turned. She shut her eyes, and tried to +summon back the phantom of the golden chariot, and especially of the +king-like man who sat inside. Scarce had she seen him clearly, but she +felt he looked a king. If wishing could bring to her so glorious a +fortune, she would almost like to have, in addition to the splendors of +rich dress and grand palaces, such a noble-looking man for her lord and +husband. + +And the poor maiden was rudely awakened from her dream, by feeling on +her delicate shoulders the two heavy hands of Esbern Lynge. + +Haughtily she took them off. Alas! he, loving her so much, had ever been +lightly loved in return! to-day he was not loved at all. He came at an +ill time, for the moment his hand put aside the elder branches, all the +dazzling fancies of his betrothed vanished in air. He came, too, with an +ill-wooing, for he implored her to trifle no more, but to fulfill her +mother's hope and his, and enter as mistress at the little blacksmith's +forge. She, who had just been dreaming of a palace home! Not a word she +answered at first, and then cold, cruel words, worse than silence. So +Esbern, who, though a lover, was a manly-hearted youth, and thought it +shame to be mocked by a girl's light tongue, left her there and went +away, not angry, but very sorrowful. + +Little Resa came to summon her sister. But Hyldreda trembled before the +gathering storm, for widow Kalm, though a tender mother, was one who +well knew how to rule. Her loud, severe voice already warned the girl of +the reproof that was coming. To avoid it only for a little, until her +own proud spirit was calmed. Hyldreda told Resa she would not come in +until after she had taken a little walk down the moonlight road. As she +passed from under the elder-tree, she heard a voice, like her mother's, +and yet not her mother's--no, it could never be, for it shouted after +her, + +"Come now, or come no more!" + +Some evil impulse goaded the haughty girl to assert her womanly right of +free action, and she passed from her home, flying with swift steps. A +little, only a little absence, to show her indignant pride, and she +would be back again, to heal all strife. Nevertheless, ere she was +aware, Hyldreda had reached the oak-wood, beneath which she had seen the +morning's bewildering sight. + +And there again, brighter in the moonlight than it had ever seemed in +the day, came sweeping by the stately pageant. Its torches flung red +shadows on the trees, its wheels resounded through the night's quiet +with a music as of silver bells. And sitting in his state alone, grand +but smiling, was the lord of all this splendor. + +The chariot stopped, and he dismounted. Then the whole train vanished, +and, shorn of all his glories, except a certain brightness which his +very presence seemed to shed, the king, if he were indeed such, stood +beside the trembling peasant maid. + +He did not address her, but looked in her face inquiringly, until +Hyldreda felt herself forced to be the first to speak. + +"My lord, who art thou, and what is thy will with me?" + +He smiled. "Thanks, gentle maiden, for thy question has taken off the +spell. Otherwise it could not be broken, even by Kong Tolv." + +Hyldreda shuddered with fear. Her fingers tried to seize the cross which +always lay on her breast, but no! she had thrown aside the coarse black +wooden crucifix, while dreaming of ornaments of gold. And it was St. +John's Eve, and she stood beneath the haunted oak-wood. No power had she +to fly, and her prayers died on her lips, for she knew herself in the +Hill-king's power. + +Kong Tolv began to woo, after the elfin fashion, brief and bold. "Fair +maiden, the Dronningstolen[17] is empty, and 'tis thou must fill it. +Come and enter my palace under the hill." + +But the maiden sobbed out that she was too lowly to sit on a queen's +chair, and that none of mortals, save the dead, made their home +underground. And she prayed the Elle-king to let her go back to her +mother and little Resa. + +He only laughed. "Wouldst be content, then, with the poor cottage, and +the black bread, and the labor from morn till eve. Didst thou not of +thyself wish for a palace and a lord like me? And did not the Hyldemoer +waft me the wish, so that I came to meet and welcome thee under the +hill?" + +Hyldreda made one despairing effort to escape, but she heard again Kong +Tolv's proud laugh, and looking up, she saw that the thick oak-wood had +changed to an army. In place of every tree stood a fierce warrior, ready +to guard every step. She thought it must be all a delirious dream that +would vanish with the morning. Suddenly she heard the far village clock +strike the hour. Mechanically she counted--one--two--three--four--up to +_twelve_. + +As she pronounced the last word, Kong Tolv caught her in his arms, +saying, "Thou hast named me and art mine." + +Instantly all the scene vanished, and Hyldreda found herself standing on +the bleak side of a little hill, alone in the moonlight. But very soon +the clear night darkened, and a heavy storm arose. Trembling, she looked +around for shelter, and saw in the hill-side a tiny door, which seemed +to invite her to enter. She did so! In a moment she stood dazzled by a +blaze of light--a mortal amidst the festival of the elves. She heard the +voice of Kong Tolv, half-speaking, half-singing, + + "Welcome, maiden, fair and free, + Thou hast come of thyself in the hill to me; + Stay thou here, nor thy fate deplore; + Thou hast come of thyself in at my door." + +And bewildered by the music, the dance, and the splendor, Hyldreda +remembered no more the cottage, with its one empty chair, nor the +miserable mother, nor the little sister straining her weeping eyes along +the lonely road. + + * * * * * + +The mortal maiden became the Elle-king's bride, and lived in the hill +for seven long years; at least, so they seemed in Elfinland, where time +passes like the passing of a strain of music, that dies but to be again +renewed. Little thought had she of the world above ground, for in the +hill-palace was continual pleasure, and magnificence without end. No +remembrance of lost kindred troubled her, for she sat in the +Dronningstolen, and all the elfin people bowed down before the wife of +the mighty Kong Tolv. + +She might have lived so always, with no desire ever to go back to earth, +save that one day she saw trickling down through the palace roof a +pearly stream. The elves fled away, for they said it was some mortal +weeping on the grassy hill overhead. But Hyldreda staid and looked on +until the stream settled into a clear, pellucid pool. A sweet mirror it +made, and the Hill-king's bride ever loved to see her own beauty. So she +went and gazed down into the shining water. + +There she beheld--not the image of the elfin-queen, but of the peasant +maid, with her mantle of crimson wool, her coarse dress, and her black +crucifix. She turned away in disgust, but soon her people brought her +elfin mirrors, wherein she could see her present self, gorgeously clad, +and a thousand times more fair. It kindled in her heart a proud desire. + +She said to her lord, "Let me go back for a little while to my native +village, and my ancient home, that I may show them all my splendor, and +my greatness. Let me enter, sitting in my gilded chariot, with the four +white horses, and feel myself as queen-like as the lady I once saw +beneath the oak-wood." + +Kong Tolv laughed, and assented. "But," he said, "keep thy own proud +self the while. The first sigh, the first tear, and I carry thee back +into the hill with shame." + +So Hyldreda left the fairy-palace, sweeping through the village, with a +pageant worthy a queen. Thus in her haughtiness, after seven years had +gone by, she came to her mother's door. + +Seven years, none of which had cast one shadow on the daughter's beauty. +But time and grief together had bowed the mother almost to the verge of +the grave. The one knew not the other, until little Resa came between; +little Resa, who looked her sister's olden self, blooming in the +sweetness of seventeen. Nothing to her was the magnificence of the +beautiful guest; she only saw Hyldreda, the lost and found. + +"Where hast thou been?" said the mother, doubtfully, when in answer to +all their caresses, the stately lady only looked on them with a proud +smile; "Who gave thee those grand dresses, and put the matron's vail +upon thy hair?" + +"I am the Hill-king's wife," said Hyldreda. "I dwell in a gorgeous +palace, and sit on a queen's throne." + +"God preserve thee!" answered the mother. But Hyldreda turned away, for +Kong Tolv had commanded her never to hear or utter the holy Name. She +began to inquire about her long-forgotten home, but half-carelessly, as +if she had no interest in it now. + +"And who was it," she asked, "that wept on the hill-side until the tears +dropped through, staining my palace walls?" + +"I," answered Resa, blushing; and then Hyldreda perceived that, young as +she was, the girl wore the matron's head-tire. "I, sitting there with my +babe, wept to think of my poor sister who died long ago, and never knew +the sweetness of wifehood and motherhood. And almost it grieved me, to +think that my love had blotted out the bitterness of her memory even +from the heart of Esbern Lynge." + +At the name, proudly laughed the elder sister, "Take thy husband, and be +happy, girl; I envy thee not; I am the wife of the great Hill-king." + +"And does thy lord love thee? Does he sit beside thee at eve, and let +thee lean thy tired head on his breast, as Esbern does with me? And hast +thou young children dancing about thy feet, and a little blue-eyed one +to creep dove-like to thy heart at nights, as mine does? Say, dear +sister, art thou as happy as I?" + +Hyldreda paused. Earth's sweet ties arose before her, and the grandeur +of her lot seemed only loneliness. Forgetting her lord's command, she +sighed, she even wept one regretful tear; and that moment in her +presence stood Kong Tolv. + +"Kill me, but save my mother, my sister," cried the wife, with a broken +heart. The prayer was needless; _they_ saw not the Elle-king, and he +marked not them--he only bore away Hyldreda, singing mockingly in her +ear something of the same rhyme which had bound her his: + + "Complainest thou here all drearily-- + Camest thou not of thyself in the hill to me? + And stayest thou here thy lot to deplore? + Camest thou not of thyself in at my door?" + +When the mother and sister of Hyldreda lifted up their eyes, they saw +nothing but a cloud of dust sweeping past the cottage-door, they heard +nothing but the ancient elder-tree howling aloud as its branches were +tossed about in a gust of wintry wind. + + * * * * * + +Kong Tolv took back to the hill his mortal bride. There he set her in a +golden chair, and brought to her to drink a silver horn of elfin-wine, +in the which he had dropped an ear of wheat. At the first draught, she +forgot the village where she had dwelt--at the second, she forgot the +sister who had been her darling--at the third, she forgot the mother who +bore her. Again she rejoiced in the glories of the fairy-palace, and in +the life of never-ceasing pleasure. + +Month after month rolled by--by her scarce counted, or counted only in +jest, as she would number a handful of roses, all held so fast and sure, +that none could fall or fade; or as she would mark one by one the little +waves of a rivulet whose source was eternally flowing. + +Hyldreda thought no more of any earthly thing, until there came, added +to her own, a young, new life. When her beautiful babe, half-elf, +half-mortal, nestled in her woman's breast, it wakened there the +fountain of human love, and of long-forgotten memories. + +"Oh! let me go home once--once more," she implored of her lord. "Let me +go to ask my mother's forgiveness, and above all, to crave the church's +blessing on this my innocent babe." + +Kong Tolv frowned, and then looked sad. For it is the one great sorrow +of the Elle-people, that they, with all others of the elfin race, are +shut out from Heaven's mercy. Therefore do they often steal mortal +wives, and strive to have their children christened according to holy +rite, in order to participate in the blessings granted to the offspring +of Adam. + +"Do as thou wilt," the Hill-king answered; "but know, there awaits a +penalty. In exchange for a soul, must be given a life." + +His dark saying fell coldly on the heart of the young mother. It +terrified her for a time, but soon the sweet strange wiles of her +elfin-babe beguiled her into renewed happiness; so that her longing +faded away. + +The child grew not like a mortal child. An unearthly beauty was in its +face; wondrous precocious signs marked it from its birth. Its +baby-speech was very wisdom. Its baby-smile was full of thought. The +mother read her olden soul--the pure soul that was hers of yore--in her +infant's eyes. + +One day when Hyldreda was following the child in its play, she noticed +it disappear through what seemed the outlet of the fairy-palace, which +outlet she herself had never been able to find. She forgot that her boy +was of elfin as well as of mortal race. Out it passed, the mother +eagerly pursuing, until she found herself with the child in a meadow +near the village of Skjelskoer, where years ago she had often played. It +was on a Sunday morning, and cheerfully yet solemnly rang out the +chapel-bells. All the sounds and sights of earth came back upon her, +with a longing that would not be restrained. + +In the white frozen grass, for it was wintertime, knelt the wife of Kong +Tolv, holding fast to her bosom the elfin babe, who shivered at every +blast of wind, yet, shivering, seemed to smile. Hyldreda knelt, until +the chapel-bells ceased at service-time. And then there came bursting +from her lips the long-sealed prayers, the prayers of her childhood. +While she breathed them, the rich fairy garments crumbled from her, and +she remained clad in the coarse dress she wore when Kong Tolv carried +her away; save that it hung in miserable tatters, as if worn for years, +and through its rents the icy wind pierced her bosom, so that the heart +within might have sunk and died, but for the ever-abiding warmth of +maternal love. + +_That_ told her how in one other mother's heart there must be warmth +still. + +"I will go home," she murmured, "I will say, 'Mother, take me in and +save me, or else I die!'" And so, when the night closed, and all the +villagers were safe at home, and none could mock at her and her misery, +the poor desolate one crept to her mother's door. + +It had been open to her even when she came in her pride; how would it be +closed against her sorrow and humility? And was there ever a true +mother's breast, that while life yet throbbed there, was not a refuge +for a repentant child? + +Hyldreda found shelter and rest. But the little elfin babe, unused to +the air of earth, uttered continual moanings. At night, the strange eyes +never closed, but looked at her with a dumb entreaty. And tenfold +returned the mother's first desire, that her darling should become a +"christened child." + +Much the old grandame gloried in this, looking with distrust on the +pining, withered babe. But keenly upon Hyldreda's memory came back the +saying of Kong Tolv, that for a soul would be exchanged a life. It must +be _hers_. That, doubtless, was the purchase; and thus had Heaven +ordained the expiation of her sin. If so, meekly she would offer it, so +that Heaven would admit into its mercy her beloved child. It was in the +night--in the cold white night, that the widow Kalm, with her daughter +and the mysterious babe, came to the chapel of Skjelskoer. All the way +thither they had been followed by strange, unearthly noises; and as they +passed beneath the oak-wood, it seemed as if the overhanging branches +were transformed into giant hands, that evermore snatched at the child. +But in vain; for the mother held it fast, and on its little breast she +had laid the wooden cross which she herself used to wear when a girl. +Bitterly the infant had wailed, but when they crossed the threshold of +the chapel, it ceased, and a smile broke over its face--a smile pure and +saintly, such as little children wear, lying in a sleep so beautiful +that the bier seems like the cradle. + +The mother beheld it, and thought, What if her foreboding should be +true; that the moment which opened the gate of Heaven's mercy unto her +babe, should close upon herself life and life's sweetnesses? But she +felt no fear. + +"Let me kiss thee once again, my babe, my darling!" she murmured; +"perhaps I may never kiss thee more. Even now, I feel as if my eyes were +growing dark, and thy little face were gliding from my sight. But I can +let thee go, my sweet! God will take care of thee, and keep thee safe, +even amidst this bitter world." + +She clasped and kissed the child once more, and, kneeling, calm, but +very pale, she awaited whatever might be her doom. + +The priest, performing by stealth what he almost deemed a desecration of +the hallowed rite, began to read the ceremony over the fairy babe. All +the while, it looked at him with those mysterious eyes, so lately opened +to the world, yet which seemed to express the emotions of a whole +existence. But when the sprinkled water touched them, they closed, +softly, slowly, like a blue flower at night. + +The mother, still living, and full of thankful wonder that she did live, +took from the priest's arms her recovered treasure, her Christian child. +It lay all smiling, but it lifted not its eyes: the color was fading on +its lips, and its little hands were growing cold. For it--not for her, +had been the warning. It had rendered up its little life, and received +an immortal soul. + + * * * * * + +For years after this, there abode in the village of Skjelskoer a woman +whom some people thought was an utter stranger, for none so grave, and +at the same time so good, was ever known among the light-hearted people +of Zealand. Others said that if any one could come back alive from fairy +land, the woman must be Hyldreda Kalm. But as later generations arose, +they mocked at the story of Kong Tolv and the palace under the hill, and +considered the whole legend but an allegory, the moral of which they did +not fail to preach to their fair young daughters continually. + +Nevertheless, this woman had surely once lived, for her memory, embalmed +by its own rich virtues, long lingered in the place where she had dwelt. +She must have died there, too, for they pointed out her grave, and a +smaller one beside it, though whose that was, none knew. There was a +tradition that when she died--it was on a winter night, and the clock +was just striking _twelve_--there arose a stormy wind which swept +through the neighboring oak-wood, laying every tree prostrate on the +ground. And from that hour there was no record of the Elle-people or the +mighty Kong Tolv having been ever again seen in Zealand. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] The idea of this story is partly taken from a Danish _Visa_, or +legendary ballad, entitled "Proud Margaret." + +[15] _Hyldemoer_, elder-mother, is the name of a Danish elf inhabiting +the elder-tree. _Eda_ signifies a grandmother or female ancestor. +Children born on Sundays were especially under the power of the elves. + +[16] Kong Tolv, or _King Twelve_, is one of the Elle-kings who divide +the fairy sovereignty of Zealand. + +[17] Dronningstolen, or Queen's Chair. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. + +[_Continued from Page 233._] + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"THE ARMY SIXTY YEARS SINCE." + +I followed the soldiers as they marched beyond the outer boulevard, and +gained the open country. Many of the idlers dropped off here; others +accompanied us a little further; but at length, when the drums ceased to +beat, and were slung in marching order on the backs of the drummers, +when the men broke into the open order that French soldiers +instinctively assume on a march, the curiosity of the gazers appeared to +have nothing more to feed upon, and one by one they returned to the +capital, leaving me the only lingerer. + +To any one accustomed to military display, there was little to attract +notice in the column, which consisted of detachments from various corps, +horse, foot, and artillery; some were returning to their regiments after +a furlough; some had just issued from the hospitals, and were seated in +charettes, or country-cars; and, others, again, were peasant boys only a +few days before drawn in the conscription. There was every variety of +uniform, and, I may add, of raggedness, too--a coarse blouse and a pair +of worn shoes, with a red or blue handkerchief on the head, being the +dress of many among them. The republic was not rich in those days, and +cared little for the costume in which her victories were won. The +artillery alone seemed to preserve any thing like uniformity in dress. +They wore a plain uniform of blue, with long white gaiters coming half +way up the thigh; a low cocked hat, without feather, but with the +tricolored cockade in front. They were mostly men middle-aged, or past +the prime of life, bronzed, weather-beaten, hardy-looking fellows, whose +white mustaches contrasted well with their sunburned faces. All their +weapons and equipments were of a superior kind, and showed the care +bestowed upon an arm whose efficiency was the first discovery of the +republican generals. The greater number of these were Bretons, and +several of them had served in the fleet, still bearing in their looks +and carriage something of that air which seems inherent in the seaman. +They were grave, serious, and almost stern in manner, and very unlike +the young cavalry soldiers, who, mostly recruited from the south of +France, many of them Gascons, had all the high-hearted gayety and +reckless levity of their own peculiar land. A campaign to these fellows +seemed a pleasant excursion; they made a jest of every thing, from the +wan faces of the invalids, to the black bread of the "Commissary;" they +quizzed the new "Tourleroux," as the recruits were styled, and the old +"Grumblers," as it was the fashion to call the veterans of the army; +they passed their jokes on the republic, and even their own officers +came in for a share of their ridicule. The grenadiers, however, were +those who especially were made the subject of their sarcasm. They were +generally from the north of France, and the frontier country toward +Flanders, whence they probably imbibed a portion of that phlegm and +moroseness so very unlike the general gayety of French nature; and when +assailed by such adversaries, were perfectly incapable of reply or +retaliation. + +They all belonged to the army of the "Sambre et Meuse," which, although +at the beginning of the campaign highly distinguished for its successes, +had been latterly eclipsed by the extraordinary victories on the Upper +Rhine and in Western Germany; and it was curious to hear with what +intelligence and interest the greatest questions of strategy were +discussed by those who carried their packs as common soldiers in the +ranks. Movements and manoeuvres were criticised, attacked, defended, +ridiculed, and condemned, with a degree of acuteness and knowledge that +showed the enormous progress the nation had made in military science, +and with what ease the republic could recruit her officers from the +ranks of her armies. + +At noon the column halted in the wood of Belleville; and while the men +were resting, an express arrived announcing that a fresh body of troops +would soon arrive, and ordering the others to delay their march till +they came up. The orderly who brought the tidings could only say that he +believed some hurried news had come from Germany, for before he left +Paris the rappel was beating in different quarters, and the rumor ran +that reinforcements were to set out for Strasbourg with the utmost +dispatch. + +"And what troops are coming to join us?" said an old artillery sergeant, +in evident disbelief of the tidings. + +"Two batteries of artillery and the voltigeurs of the 4th, I know for +certain are coming," said the orderly, "and they spoke of a battalion of +grenadiers." + +"What! do these Germans need another lesson," said the cannonier, "I +thought Fleurus had taught them what our troops were made of?" + +"How you talk of Fleurus," interrupted a young hussar from the south; "I +have just come from the army of Italy, and, ma foi! we should never have +mentioned such a battle as Fleurus in a dispatch. Campaigning among +dykes and hedges--fighting with a river on one flank and a fortress on +the t'other--parade manoeuvres--where, at the first check, the enemy +retreats, and leaves you free, for the whole afternoon, to write off +your successes to the Directory. Had you seen our fellows scaling the +Alps, with avalanches of snow descending at every fire of the great +guns--forcing pass after pass against an enemy, posted on every cliff +and crag above us--cutting our way to victory by roads the hardiest +hunter had seldom trod; I call that war." + +"And I call it the skirmish of an outpost!" said the gruff veteran, as +he smoked away, in thorough contempt for the enthusiasm of the other. "I +have served under Kleber, Hoche, and Moreau, and I believe they are the +first generals of France." + +"There is a name greater than them all," cried the hussar with +eagerness. + +"Let us hear it, then--you mean Pichegru, perhaps, or Massena?" + +"No, I mean Bonaparte!" said the hussar, triumphantly. + +"A good officer, and one of us," said the artilleryman, touching his +belt to intimate the arm of the service the general belonged to "He +commanded the seige-train at Toulon." + +"He belongs to all," said the other. "He is a dragoon, a voltigeur, an +artillerist, a pontonier--what you will--he knows every thing, as I know +my horse's saddle, and cloak-bag." + +Both parties now grew warm; and as each was not only an eager partisan, +but well acquainted with the leading events of the two campaigns they +undertook to defend, the dispute attracted a large circle of listeners, +who, either seated on the green-sward, or lying at full length, formed a +picturesque group under the shadow of the spreading oak trees. Mean +while the cooking went speedily forward, and the camp-kettles smoked +with a steam whose savory odor was not a little tantalizing to one who, +like myself, felt that he did not belong to the company. + +"What's thy mess, boy?" said an old grenadier to me, as I sat at a +little distance off, and affecting--but I fear very ill--a total +indifference to what went forward. + +"He is asking to what corps thou belong'st?" said another, seeing that +the question puzzled me. + +"Unfortunately I have none," said I. "I merely followed the march for +curiosity." + +"And thy father and mother, child--what will they say to thee on thy +return home?" + +"I have neither father, nor mother, nor home," said I, promptly. + +"Just like myself," said an old red-whiskered sapeur; "or if I ever had +parents, they never had the grace to own me. Come over here child, and +take share of my dinner." + +"No, parbleu! I'll have him for _my_ comrade," cried the young hussar. +"I was made a corporal yesterday, and have a large ration. Sit here, my +boy, and tell us how art called." + +"Maurice Tierney." + +"Maurice will do; few of us care for more than one name, except in the +dead muster they like to have it in full. Help thyself, my lad, and +here's the wine-flask beside thee." + +"How comes it thou hast this old uniform, boy," said he, pointing to my +sleeve. + +"It was one they gave me in the Temple," said I. "I was a 'rat du +prison' for some time." + +"Thunder of war!" exclaimed the cannonier, "I had rather stand a whole +platoon fire than see what thou must have seen, child." + +"And hast heart to go back there, boy," said the corporal, "and live the +same life again?" + +"No, I'll never go back," said I. "I'll be a soldier." + +"Well said, mon brave--thou'lt be a hussar, I know." + +"If nature has given thee a good head, and a quick eye, my boy, thou +might even do better; and in time, perhaps, wear a coat like mine," said +the cannonier. + +"Sacre bleu!" cried a little fellow, whose age might have been any thing +from boyhood to manhood--for while small of stature, he was shriveled +and wrinkled like a mummy--"why not be satisfied with the coat he +wears?" + +"And be a drummer, like thee," said the cannonier. + +"Just so, like me, and like Massena--he was a drummer, too." + +"No, no!" cried a dozen voices together, "that's not true." + +"He's right; Massena _was_ a drummer in the Eighth," said the cannonier; +"I remember him when he was like that boy yonder." + +"To be sure," said the little fellow, who, I now perceived, wore the +dress of a "tambour;" "and is it a disgrace to be the first to face the +enemy?" + +"And the first to turn his back to him, comrade," cried another. + +"Not always--not always"--said the little fellow, regardless of the +laugh against him. "Had it been so, I had not gained the battle of +Grandrengs on the Sambre." + +"Thou gain a battle!" shouted half-a-dozen, in derisive laughter. + +"What, Petit Pierre gained the day at Grandrengs!" said the cannonier; +"why, I was there myself, and never heard of that till now." + +"I can believe it well," replied Pierre; "many a man's merits go +unacknowledged: and Kleber got all the credit that belonged to Pierre +Canot." + +"Let us hear about it, Pierre, for even thy victory is unknown by name +to us, poor devils of the army of Italy. How call'st thou the place?" + +"Grandrengs," said Pierre, proudly. "It's a name will live as long, +perhaps, as many of those high-sounding ones you have favored us with. +Mayhap, thou hast heard of Cambray?" + +"Never!" said the hussar, shaking his head. + +"Nor of 'Mons,' either, I'll be sworn?" continued Pierre. + +"Quite true, I never heard of it before." + +"Voila!" exclaimed Pierre, in contemptuous triumph. "And these are the +fellows who pretend to feel their country's glory, and take pride in her +conquests. Where hast thou been, lad, not to hear of places that every +child syllables nowadays?" + +"I will tell you where I've been," said the hussar, haughtily, and +dropping at the same time the familiar "thee" and "thou" of soldier +intercourse--"I've been at Montenotte, at Millesimo, at Mondove--" + +"Allons, done! with your disputes," broke in an old grenadier; "as if +France was not victorious whether the enemies were English or German. +Let us hear how Pierre won his battle--at--at--" + +"At Grandrengs," said Pierre. "They call it in the dispatch the 'action +of the Sambre,' because Kleber came up there--and Kleber being a great +man, and Pierre Canot a little one, you understand, the glory attaches +to the place where the bullion epaulets are found--just as the old King +of Prussia used to say, 'Dieu est toujours a cote de gros bataillons.'" + +"I see we'll never come to this same victory of Grandrengs, with all +these turnings and twistings," muttered the artillery sergeant. + +"Thou art very near it now, comrade, if thou'lt listen," said Pierre, as +he wiped his mouth after a long draught of the vine-flask. "I'll not +weary the honorable company with any description of the battle +generally, but just confine myself to that part of it, in which I was +myself in action. It is well known, that though we claimed the victory +of the 10th May, we did little more than keep our own, and were obliged +to cross the Sambre, and be satisfied with such a position as enabled us +to hold the two bridges over the river--and there we remained for four +days: some said preparing for a fresh attack upon Kaunitz, who commanded +the allies; some, and I believe they were right, alleging that our +generals were squabbling all day, and all night, too, with two +commissaries that the government had sent down to teach us how to win +battles. Ma foi! we had had some experience in that way ourselves, +without learning the art from two citizens with tricolored scarfs round +their waists, and yellow tops to their boots! However that might be, +early on the morning of the 20th we received orders to cross the river +in two strong columns and form on the opposite side; at the same time +that a division was to pass the stream by boat two miles higher up, and, +concealing themselves in a pine wood, be ready to take the enemy in +flank, when they believed that all the force was in the front. + +"Sacre tonnerre! I believe that our armies of the Sambre and the Rhine +never have any other notion of battles than that eternal flank +movement!" cried a young sergeant of the voltigeurs, who had just come +up from the army of Italy. "Our general used to split the enemy by the +centre, out him piecemeal by attack in columns, and then head him down +with artillery at short range--not leaving him time for a retreat in +heavy masses--" + +"Silence, silence, and let us hear Petit Pierre," shouted a dozen +voices, who cared far more for an incident, than a scientific discussion +about manoeuvres. + +"The plan I speak of was General Moreau's," continued Pierre; "and I +fancy that your Bonaparte has something to learn ere he be _his_ equal!" + +This rebuke seeming to have engaged the suffrages of the company, he +went on: "The boat division consisted of four battalions of infantry, +two batteries of light-artillery, and a voltigeur company of the +"Regiment de Marboeuf"--to which I was then, for the time, attached as +"Tambour en chef." What fellows they were--the greatest devils in the +whole army! They came from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and were as +reckless and undisciplined as when they strutted the streets of Paris. +When they were thrown out to skirmish, they used to play as many tricks +as school-boys: sometimes they'd run up to the roof of a cabin or a +hut--and they could climb like cats--and, sitting down on the chimney, +begin firing away at the enemy, as coolly as from a battery; sometimes +they'd capture half-a-dozen asses, and ride forward as if to charge, and +then, affecting to tumble off, the fellows would pick down any of the +enemy's officers that were fools enough to come near--scampering back to +the cover of the line, laughing and joking as if the whole were sport. I +saw one--when his wrist was shattered by a shot, and he couldn't +fire--take a comrade on his back and caper away like a horse, just to +tempt the Germans to come out of their lines. It was with these blessed +youths I was now to serve, for the Tambour of the Marboeuf was drowned +in crossing the Sambre a few days before. Well, we passed the river +safely, and, unperceived by the enemy, gained the pine wood, where we +formed in two columns, one of attack, and the other of support, the +voltigeurs about five hundred paces in advance of the leading files. The +morning was dull and hazy, for a heavy rain had fallen during the night, +and the country is flat, and so much intersected with drains, and dykes, +and ditches, that, after rain, the vapor is too thick to see twenty +yards on any side. Our business was to make a counter-march to the +right, and, guided by the noise of the cannonade, to come down upon the +enemy's flank in the thickest of the engagement. As we advanced, we +found ourselves in a kind of marshy plain, planted with willows, and so +thick, that it was often difficult for three men to march abreast. This +extended for a considerable distance, and, on escaping from it, we saw +that we were not above a mile from the enemy's left, which rested on a +little village." + +"I know it well," broke in the cannonier; "it's called Huyningen." + +"Just so. There was a formidable battery in position there; and part of +the place was stockaded, as if they expected an attack. Still there were +no videttes, nor any look-out party, so far as we could see; and our +commanding officer didn't well know what to make of it, whether it was a +point of concealed strength, or a position they were about to withdraw +from. At all events, it required caution; and, although the battle had +already begun on the right--as a loud cannonade and a heavy smoke told +us--he halted the brigade in the wood, and held a council of his +officers to see what was to be done. The resolution come to was, that +the voltigeurs should advance alone to explore the way, the rest of the +force remaining in ambush. We were to go out in sections of companies, +and, spreading over a wide surface, see what we could of the place. + +"Scarcely was the order given, when away we went; and it was now a race +who should be earliest up, and exchange first shot with the enemy. Some +dashed forward over the open field in front; others skulked along by +dykes and ditches; some, again, dodged here and there, as cover offered +its shelter; but about a dozen, of whom I was one, kept the track of +little cart-road, which, half-concealed by high banks and furze, ran in +a zig-zag line toward the village. I was always smart of foot; and now, +having newly joined the 'voltigeurs,' was naturally eager to show myself +not unworthy of my new associates. I went on at my best pace, and being +lightly equipped--neither musket nor ball-cartridge to carry--I soon out +stripped them all; and, after about twenty minutes' brisk running, saw +in front of me a long, low farm-house, the walls all pierced for +musketry, and two small eight-pounders in battery at the gate. I looked +back for my companions, but they were not up, not a man of them to be +seen. 'No matter,' thought I 'they'll be here soon; meanwhile, I'll make +for that little copse of brushwood;' for a small clump of low furze and +broom was standing at a little distance in front of the farm. All this +time, I ought to say, not a man of the enemy was to be seen, although I, +from where I stood, could see the crenelated walls, and the guns, as +they were pointed: at a distance all would seem like an ordinary +peasant-house. + +"As I crossed the open space to gain the copse, piff! came a bullet, +whizzing past me; and just as I reached the cover, piff! came another. I +ducked my head, and made for the thicket, but just as I did so, my foot +caught in a branch. I stumbled, and pitched forward; and, trying to save +myself, I grasped a bough above me. It smashed suddenly, and down I +went. Ay! down sure enough, for I went right through the furze, and into +a well--one of those old, walled wells they have in these countries, +with a huge bucket that fills up the whole space, and is worked by a +chain. Luckily the bucket was linked up near the top, and caught me, or +I should have gone where there would have been no more heard of Pierre +Canot; as it was, I was sorely bruised by the fall, and didn't recover +myself for full ten minutes after. Then I discovered that I was sitting +in a large wooden trough, hooped with iron, and supported by two heavy +chains that passed over a windlass, about ten feet above my head. + +"I was safe enough, for the matter of that; at least none were likely to +discover me, as I could easily see, by the rust of the chain and he +grass-grown edges, that the well had been long disused. Now the position +was far from being pleasant. There stood the farm-house, full of +soldiers, the muskets ranging over every approach to where I lay. Of my +comrades, there was nothing to be seen, they had either missed the way +or retreated: and so time crept on, and I pondered on what might be +going forward elsewhere, and whether it would ever be my own fortune to +see my comrades again. + +"It might be an hour--it seemed three or four to me--after this, as I +looked over the plain, I saw the caps of our infantry just issuing over +the brushwood, and a glancing lustre of their bayonets, as the sun +tipped them. They were advancing, but, as it seemed, slowly--halting at +times, and then moving forward again, just like a force waiting for +others to come up. At last they debouched into the plain; but, to my +surprise, they wheeled about to the right, leaving the farm-house on +their flank, as if to march beyond it. This was to lose their way +totally: nothing would be easier than to carry the position of the farm, +for the Germans were evidently few, had no videttes, and thought +themselves in perfect security. I crept out from my ambush, and holding +my cap on a stick, tried to attract notice from our fellows, but none +saw me. I ventured at last to shout aloud, but with no better success; +so that, driven to the end of my resources, I set to and beat a +'roulade' on the drum, thundering away with all my might, and not caring +what might come of it, for I was half mad with vexation as well as +despair. They heard me now; I saw a staff officer gallop up to the head +of the leading division, and halt them: a volley came peppering from +behind me, but without doing me any injury, for I was safe once more in +my bucket. Then came another pause, and again I repeated my manoeuvre, +and to my delight perceived that our fellows were advancing at quick +march. I beat harder, and the drums of the grenadiers answered me. All +right now, thought I, as, springing forward, I called out, 'This way, +boys; the wall of the orchard has scarcely a man to defend it;' and I +rattled out the 'pas-de-charge' with all my force. One crashing fire of +guns and small arms answered me from the farm-house; and then away went +the Germans as hard as they could; such running never was seen! One of +the guns they carried off with them; the tackle of the other broke, and +the drivers, jumping off their saddles, took to their legs at once. Our +lads were over the walls, through the windows, between the stockades, +every where, in fact, in a minute, and once inside, they carried all +before them. The village was taken at the point of the bayonet, and in +less than an hour the whole force of the brigade was advancing in full +march on the enemy's flank. There was little resistance made after that, +and Kaunitz only saved his artillery by leaving his rear guard to be cut +to pieces." + +The cannonier nodded, as if in full assent, and Pierre looked around him +with the air of a man who has vindicated his claim to greatness. + +"Of course," said he, "the dispatch said little about Pierre Canot, but +a great deal about Moreau, and Kleber, and the rest of them." + +While some were well satisfied that Pierre had well established his +merits as the conqueror of "Grandrengs," others quizzed him about the +heroism of lying hid in a well, and owing all his glory to a skin of +parchment. + +"An' thou went with the army of Italy, Pierre," said the hussar, "thou'd +have seen men march boldly to victory, and not skulk under ground like a +mole." + +"I am tired of your song about this army of Italy," broke in the +cannonier; "we who have served in La Vendee and the North know what +fighting means, as well, mayhap, as men whose boldest feats are scaling +rocks and clambering up precipices. Your Bonaparte, is more like one of +these guerilla chiefs they have in the 'Basque,' than the general of a +French army." + +"The man who insults the army of Italy, or its chief, insults _me_!" +said the corporal, springing up, and casting a sort of haughty defiance +around him. + +"And then?" asked the other. + +"And then--if he be a French soldier--he knows what should follow." + +"Parbleu!" said the cannonier, coolly, "there would be little glory in +cutting you down, and even less in being wounded by you; but if you will +have it so, it's not an old soldier of the artillery will balk your +humor." + +As he spoke, he slowly arose from the ground, and tightening his +waist-belt, seemed prepared to follow the other. The rest sprung to +their feet at the same time, but not, as I anticipated, to offer a +friendly mediation between the angry parties, but in full approval of +their readiness to decide by the sword a matter too trivial to be called +a quarrel. + +In the midst of the whispering conferences as to place and weapons--for +the short, straight sword of the artillery was very unlike the curved +sabre of the hussar--the quick tramp of horses was heard, and suddenly +the head of a squadron was seen, as, with glancing helmets and +glittering equipments, they turned off the high-road, and entered the +wood. + +"Here they come; here come the troops!" was now heard on every side, and +all question of the duel was forgotten in the greater interest inspired +by the arrival of the others. The sight was strikingly picturesque, for, +as they rode up, the order to dismount was given, and in an instant the +whole squadron was at work, picketing and unsaddling their horses; +forage was shaken out before the weary and hungry beasts; kits were +unpacked, cooking utensils produced, and every one busy in preparing +for the bivouac. An infantry column followed close upon the others, +which was again succeeded by two batteries of field-artillery, and some +squadrons of heavy dragoons; and now the whole wood, far and near, was +crammed with soldiers, wagons, caissons, and camp-equipage. To me the +interest of the scene was never-ending; life, bustle, and gayety on +every side. The reckless pleasantry of the camp, too, seemed elevated by +the warlike accompaniments of the picture; the caparisoned horses, the +brass guns blackened on many a battle-field, the weather-seamed faces of +the hardy soldiers themselves, all conspiring to excite a high +enthusiasm for the career. + +Most of the equipments were new and strange to my eyes. I had never +before seen the grenadiers of the Republican Guard, with their enormous +shakos, and their long-flapped vests descending to the middle of the +thigh; neither had I seen the "Hussars de la mort," in their richly +braided uniform of black, and their long hair curled in ringlets at +either side of the face. The cuirassiers, too, with their low cocked +hats, and straight, black feathers, as well as the "Portes Drapeaux," +whose brilliant uniforms, all slashed with gold, seemed scarcely in +keeping with yellow-topped boots: all were now seen by me for the first +time. But of all the figures which amused me most by its singularity, +was that of a woman, who, in a short frock-coat and a low-crowned hat, +carried a little barrel at her side, and led an ass loaded with two +similar, but rather larger casks. Her air and gait were perfectly +soldier-like; and as she passed the different posts and sentries, she +saluted them in true military fashion. I was not long to remain in +ignorance of her vocation nor her name; for scarcely did she pass a +group without stopping to dispense a wonderful cordial that she carried; +and then I heard the familiar title of "La Mere Madou," uttered in every +form of panegyric. + +She was a short, stoutly-built figure, somewhat past the middle of life, +but without any impairment of activity in her movements. A pleasing +countenance, with good teeth and black eyes, a merry voice, and a ready +tongue, were qualities more than sufficient to make her a favorite with +the soldiers, whom I found she had followed to more than one battle +field. + +"Peste!" cried an old grenadier, as he spat out the liquor on the +ground. "This is one of those sweet things they make in Holland; it +smacks of treacle and bad lemons." + +"Ah, Grognard!" said she, laughing, "thou art more vised to corn-brandy, +with a clove of garlic in't, than to good curacoa." + +"What, curacoa! Mere Madou, hast got curacoa there?" cried a +gray-whiskered captain, as he turned on his saddle at the word. + +"Yes, mon capitaine, and such as no burgomaster ever drank better;" and +she filled out a little glass, and presented it gracefully to him. + +"Encore, ma bonne Mere," said he, as he wiped his thick mustache; "that +liquor is another reason for extending the blessings of liberty to the +brave Dutch." + +"Didn't I tell you so?" said she, refilling the glass: "but, holloa, +there goes Gregoire at full speed. Ah, scoundrels that ye are, I see +what ye've done." And so was it: some of the wild, young voltigeur +fellows had fastened a lighted furze-bush to the beast's tail, and had +set him, at a gallop, through the very middle of the encampment, +upsetting tents, scattering cooking-pans, and tumbling the groups, as +they sat, in every direction. + +The confusion was tremendous; for the picketed horses jumped about, and +some, breaking loose, galloped here and there, while others set off with +half-unpacked wagons, scattering their loading as they went. + +It was only when the blazing furze had dropped off, that the cause of +the whole mischance would suffer himself to be captured, and led quietly +back to his mistress. Half crying with joy, and still wild with anger, +she kissed the beast, and abused her tormentors by turns. + +"Cannoniers that ye are," she cried, "ma foi! you'll have little face +for the fire when the day comes that ye should face it! Pauvre Gregoire, +they've left thee a tail like a tirailleur's feather! Plagues light on +the thieves that did it! Come here, boy," said she, addressing me, "hold +the bridle: what's thy corps, lad?" + +"I have none now; I only followed the soldiers from Paris." + +"Away with thee, street-runner; away with thee, then!" said she, +contemptuously; "there are no pockets to pick here, and if there were, +thou'd lose thy ears for the doing it. Be off, then; back with thee to +Paris and all its villainies. There are twenty thousand of thy trade +there, but there's work for ye all!" + +"Nay, Mere, don't be harsh with the boy," said a soldier; "you can see +by his coat that his heart is with us." + +"And he stole that, I'll be sworn," said she, pulling me round by the +arm, full in front of her. "Answer me, 'Gamin,' where didst find that +old tawdry jacket?" + +"I got it in a place where, if they had hold of thee and thy bad tongue, +it would fare worse with thee than thou thinkest!" said I, maddened by +the imputed theft and insolence together. + +"And where may that be, young slip of the galleys?" cried she, angrily. + +"In the 'Prison du Temple.'" + +"Is that their livery, then?" said she laughing, and pointing at me with +ridicule, "or is it a family dress made after thy father's?" + +"My father wore a soldier's coat, and bravely, too," said I, with +difficulty restraining the tears that rose to my eyes. + +"In what regiment, boy?" asked the soldier who spoke before. + +"In one that exists no longer," said I, sadly, and not wishing to allude +to a service that would find but slight favor in republican ears. + +"That must be the 24th of the Line; they were cut to pieces at +'Tongres.'" + +"No--no, he's thinking of the 9th, that got so roughly handled at +Fontenoy," said another. + +"Of neither," said I; "I am speaking of those who have left nothing but +a name behind them, the 'Garde du Corps' of the king." + +"Voila!" cried Madou, clapping her hands in astonishment at my +impertinence; "there's an aristocrat for you! Look at him, mes braves! +It's not every day we have the grand seigneurs condescending to come +among us! You can learn something of courtly manners from the polished +descendant of our nobility. Say, boy, art a count, or a baron, or +perhaps a duke." + +"Make way there--out of the road, Mere Madou," cried a dragoon, +curveting his horse in such a fashion as almost to upset ass and +"cantiniere" together, "the staff is coming." + +The mere mention of the word sent numbers off in full speed to their +quarters; and now, all was haste and bustle to prepare for the coming +inspection. The Mere's endeavors to drag her beast along were not very +successful; for, with the peculiar instinct of his species, the more +necessity there was of speed, the lazier he became; and as every one had +his own concerns to look after, she was left to her own unaided efforts +to drive him forward. + +"Thou'lt have a day in prison if thou'rt found here, Mere Madou," said a +dragoon, as he struck the ass with the flat of his sabre. + +"I know it well," cried she, passionately; "but I have none to help me. +Come here, lad; be good-natured, and forget what passed. Take his bridle +while I whip him on." + +I was at first disposed to refuse, but her pitiful face and sad plight +made me think better of it; and I seized the bridle at once; but just as +I had done so, the escort galloped forward, and the dragoons coming on +the flank of the miserable beast, over he went, barrels and all, +crushing me beneath him as he fell. + +"Is the boy hurt?" were the last words I heard, for I fainted; but a few +minutes after I found myself seated on the grass, while a soldier was +stanching the blood that ran freely from a cut in my forehead. + +"It is a trifle, general--a mere scratch," said a young officer to an +old man on horseback beside him, "and the leg is not broken." + +"Glad of it," said the old officer; "casualties are insufferable, except +before an enemy. Send the lad to his regiment." + +"He's only a camp-follower, general. He does not belong to us." + +"There, my lad, take this, then, and make thy way back to Paris," said +the old general, as he threw me a small piece of money. + +I looked up, and there, straight before me, saw the same officer who had +given me the assignat the night before. + +"General La Coste!" cried I, in delight, for I thought him already a +friend. + +"How is this--have I an acquaintance here?" said he, smiling: "on my +life! it's the young rogue I met this morning. Eh! art not thou the +artillery-driver I spoke to at the barrack?" + +"Yes, general, the same." + +"Diantre! It seems fated, then, that we are not to part company so +easily; for hadst thou remained in Paris, lad, we had most probably +never met again." + +"Ainsi je suis bien tombe, general," said I, punning upon my accident. + +He laughed heartily, less I suppose at the jest, which was a poor one, +than at the cool impudence with which I uttered it; and then turning to +one of the staff, said-- + +"I spoke to Berthollet about this boy already--see that they take him in +the 9th. I say, my lad, what's thy name?" + +"Tiernay, sir." + +"Ay, to be sure, Tiernay. Well, Tiernay, thou shalt be a hussar, my man. +See that I get no disgrace by the appointment." + +I kissed his hand fervently, and the staff rode forward, leaving me the +happiest heart that beat in all that crowded host. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE. + +If the guide who is to lead us on a long and devious track, stops at +every by-way, following out each path that seems to invite a ramble or +suggest a halt, we naturally might feel distrustful of his safe conduct, +and uneasy at the prospect of the road before us. In the same way may +the reader be disposed to fear that he who descends to slight and +trivial circumstances, will scarcely have time for events which ought to +occupy a wider space in his reminiscences; and for this reason I am +bound to apologize for the seeming transgression of my last chapter. +Most true it is, that were I to relate the entire of my life with a +similar diffuseness, my memoir would extend to a length far beyond what +I intend it to occupy. Such, however, is very remote from my thoughts. I +have dwelt with, perhaps, something of prolixity upon the soldier-life +and characteristics of a past day, because I shall yet have to speak of +changes, without which the contrast would be inappreciable; but I have +also laid stress upon an incident trivial in itself, because it formed +an event in my own fortunes. It was thus, in fact, that I became a +soldier. + +Now, the man who carries a musket in the ranks, may very reasonably be +deemed but a small ingredient of the mass that forms an army: and in our +day his thoughts, hopes, fears, and ambitions are probably as unknown +and uncared for, as the precise spot of earth that yielded the ore from +which his own weapon was smelted. This is not only reasonable, but it is +right. In the time of which I am now speaking it was far otherwise. The +Republic, in extinguishing a class had elevated the individual; and now +each, in whatever station he occupied, felt himself qualified to +entertain opinions and express sentiments, which, because they were his +own, he presumed them to be national. The idlers of the streets +discussed the deepest questions of politics; the soldiers talked of war +with all the presumption of consummate generalship. The great operations +of a campaign, and the various qualities of different commanders, were +the daily subjects of dispute in the camp. Upon one topic only were all +agreed; and there, indeed, our unanimity repaid all previous +discordance. We deemed France the only civilized nation of the globe, +and reckoned that people thrice happy who, by any contingency of +fortune, engaged our sympathy, or procured the distinction of our +presence in arms. We were the heaven-born disseminators of freedom +throughout Europe; the sworn enemies of kingly domination; and the +missionaries of a political creed, which was not alone to ennoble +mankind, but to render its condition eminently happy and prosperous. + +There could not be an easier lesson to learn than this, and particularly +when dinned into your ears all day, and from every rank and grade around +you. It was the programme of every message from the Directory; it was +the opening of every general order from the general; it was the +table-talk at your mess. The burden of every song, the title of every +military march performed by the regimental band, recalled it, even the +riding-master, as he followed the recruit around the weary circle, whip +in hand, mingled the orders he uttered with apposite axioms upon +republican grandeur. How I think I hear it still, as the grim old +quartermaster-sergeant, with his Alsatian accent and deep-toned voice, +would call out. + +"Elbows back! wrist lower and free from the side; free, I say, as every +citizen of a great Republic! head erect, as a Frenchman has a right to +carry it! chest full out, like one who can breathe the air of Heaven, +and ask no leave from king or despot! down with your heel, sir; think +that you crush a tyrant beneath it!" + +Such and such like were the running commentaries on equitation, till +often I forgot whether the lesson had more concern with a seat on +horseback or the great cause of monarchy throughout Europe. I suppose, +to use a popular phrase of our own day, "the system worked well;" +certainly the spirit of the army was unquestionable. From the grim old +veteran, with snow-white mustache, to the beardless boy, there was but +one hope and wish--the glory of France. How they understood that glory, +or in what it essentially consisted, is another and a very different +question. + +Enrolled as a soldier in the ninth regiment of Hussars, I accompanied +that corps to Nancy, where, at that time, a large cavalry school was +formed, and where the recruits from the different regiments were trained +and managed before being sent forward to their destination. + +A taste for equitation, and a certain aptitude for catching up the +peculiar character of the different horses, at once distinguished me in +the riding school, and I was at last adopted by the riding-master of the +regiment as a kind of _aide_ to him in his walk. When I thus became a +bold and skillful horseman, my proficiency interfered with my promotion, +for instead of accompanying my regiment, I was detained at Nancy, and +attached to the permanent staff of the cavalry school there. + +At first I asked for nothing better. It was a life of continued pleasure +and excitement, and while I daily acquired knowledge of a subject which +interested me deeply, I grew tall and strong of limb, and with that +readiness in danger, and that cool collectedness in moments of +difficulty, that are so admirably taught by the accidents and mischances +of a cavalry riding-school. + +The most vicious and unmanageable beasts from the Limousin were often +sent to us; and when any one of these was deemed peculiarly untractable, +"Give him to Tiernay," was the last appeal, before abandoning him as +hopeless. I'm certain I owe much of the formation of my character to my +life at this period, and that my love of adventure, my taste for +excitement, my obstinate resolution to conquer a difficulty, my +inflexible perseverance when thwarted, and my eager anxiety for praise, +were all picked up amid the sawdust and tan of the riding-school. How +long I might have continued satisfied with such triumphs, and content to +be the wonder of the freshly-joined conscripts, I know not, when +accident, or something very like it, decided the question. + +It was a calm, delicious evening in April, in the year after I had +entered the school, that I was strolling alone on the old fortified +wall, which, once a strong redoubt, was the favorite walk of the good +citizens of Nancy. I was somewhat tired with the fatigues of the day, +and sat down to rest under one of the acacia trees, whose delicious +blossom was already scenting the air. The night was still and noiseless; +not a man moved along the wall; the hum of the city was gradually +subsiding, and the lights in the cottages over the plain told that the +laborer was turning homeward from his toil. It was an hour to invite +calm thoughts, and so I fell a-dreaming over the tranquil pleasures of a +peasant's life, and the unruffled peace of an existence passed amid +scenes that were endeared by years of intimacy. "How happily," thought +I, "time must steal on in these quiet spots, where the strife and +struggle of war are unknown, and even the sounds of conflict, never +reach." Suddenly my musings were broken in upon by hearing the measured +tramp of cavalry, as at a walk, a long column wound their way along the +zig-zag approaches, which by many a redoubt and fosse, over many a draw +bridge, and beneath many a strong arch, led to the gates of Nancy. The +loud, sharp call of a trumpet was soon heard, and, after a brief parley, +the massive gates of the fortress were opened for the troops to enter. +From the position I occupied exactly over the gate, I could not only see +the long, dark line of armed men as they passed, but also hear the +colloquy which took place as they entered. + +"What regiment?" + +"Detachments of the 12th Dragoons and the 22d Chasseurs-a-Cheval." + +"Where from?" + +"Valence." + +"Where to?" + +"The army of the Rhine." + +"Pass on!" + +And with the words the ringing sound of the iron-shod horses was heard +beneath the vaulted entrance. As they issued from beneath the long, deep +arch, the men were formed in line along two sides of a wide "Place" +inside the walls, where, with that dispatch that habit teaches, the +billets were speedily distributed, and the parties "told off" in squads +for different parts of the city. The force seemed a considerable one, +and with all the celerity they could employ, the billeting occupied a +long time. As I watched the groups moving off, I heard the direction +given to one party, "Cavalry School--Rue de Lorraine." The young officer +who commanded the group took a direction exactly the reverse of the +right one; and hastening down from the rampart, I at once overtook them, +and explained the mistake. I offered them my guidance to the place, +which being willingly accepted, I walked along at their side. + +Chatting as we went, I heard that the dragoons were hastily withdrawn +from the La Vendee to form part of the force under General Hoche. The +young sous-lieutenant, a mere boy of my own age, had already served in +two campaigns in Holland and the south of France; had been wounded in +the Loire, and received his grade of officer at the hands of Hoche +himself on the field of battle. + +He could speak of no other name--Hoche was the hero of all his +thoughts--his gallantry, his daring, his military knowledge, his +coolness in danger, his impetuosity in attack, his personal amiability, +the mild gentleness of his manner, were themes the young soldier loved +to dwell on; and however pressed by me to talk of war and its chances, +he inevitably came back to the one loved theme--his general. + +When the men were safely housed for the night, I invited my new friend +to my own quarters, where, having provided the best entertainment I +could afford, we passed more than half the night in chatting. There was +nothing above mediocrity in the look or manner of the youth; his +descriptions of what he had seen were unmarked by any thing glowing or +picturesque; his observations did not evince either a quick or a +reflective mind, and yet, over this mass of commonplace, enthusiasm for +his leader had shed a rich glow, like a gorgeous sunlight on a +landscape, that made all beneath it seem brilliant and splendid. + +"And now," said he, after an account of the last action he had seen, +"and now, enough of myself; let's talk of thee. Where hast thou been?" + +"Here!" said I, with a sigh, and in a voice that shame had almost made +inaudible; "Here, here, at Nancy." + +"Not always here?" + +"Just so. Always here." + +"And what doing, mon cher. Thou art not one of the Municipal Guard, +surely?" + +"No," said I, smiling sadly; "I belong to the 'Ecole d'Equitation.'" + +"Ah, that's it," said he, in somewhat of confusion; "I always thought +they selected old sergeants en retraite, worn out veterans, and wounded +fellows, for riding-school duty." + +"Most of ours are such," said I, my shame increasing at every word--"but +somehow they chose me also, and I had no will in the matter--" + +"No will in the matter, parbleu! and why not? Every man in France has a +right to meet the enemy in the field. Thou art a soldier, a hussar of +the 9th, a brave and gallant corps, and art to be told, that thy +comrades have the road to fame and honor open to them; while thou art to +mope away life like an invalided drummer? It is too gross an indignity, +my boy, and must not be borne. Away with you to-morrow at day-break to +the 'Etat Major,' ask to see the commandant. You're in luck, too, for +our colonel is with him now, and he is sure to back your request. Say +that you served in the school to oblige your superiors; but that you can +not see all chances of distinction lost to you forever, by remaining +there. They've given you no grade yet, I see," continued he, looking at +my arm. + +"None: I am still a private." + +"And _I_ a sous-lieutenant, just because I have been where powder was +flashing! You can ride well, of course?" + +"I defy the wildest Limousin to shake me in my saddle." + +"And as a swordsman, what are you?" + +"Gros Jean calls me his best pupil." + +"Ah, true! you have Gros Jean here; the best 'sabreur' in France! And +here you are--a horseman, and one of Gros Jean's 'eleves'--rotting away +life in Nancy! Have you any friends in the service?" + +"Not one." + +"Not one! Nor relations, nor connections?" + +"None. I am Irish by descent. My family are only French by one +generation." + +"Irish? Ah! that's lucky too," said he. "Our colonel is an Irishman. His +name is Mahon. You're certain of getting your leave now. I'll present +you to him to-morrow. We are to halt two days here, and before that is +over, I hope you'll have made your last caracole in the riding-school of +Nancy." + +"But remember," cried I, "that although Irish by family, I have never +been there. I know nothing of either the people or the language; and do +not present me to the general as his countryman." + +"I'll call you by your name, as a soldier of the 9th Hussars; and leave +you to make out your claim as countrymen, if you please, together." + +This course was now agreed upon, and after some further talking, my +friend, refusing all my offers of a bed, coolly wrapped his cloak about +him, and, with his head on the table, fell fast asleep, long before I +had ceased thinking over his stories and his adventures in camp and +battle-field. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"TRONCHON." + +My duties in the riding-school were always over before mid-day, and as +noon was the hour appointed by the young lieutenant to present me to his +colonel, I was ready by that time, and anxiously awaiting his arrival. I +had done my best to smarten up my uniform, and make all my accoutrements +bright and glistening. My scabbard was polished like silver, the steel +front on my shako shone like a mirror, and the tinsel lace of my jacket +had undergone a process of scrubbing and cleaning that threatened its +very existence. My smooth chin and beardless upper lip, however, gave me +a degree of distress, that all other deficiencies failed to inflict: I +can dare to say, that no mediaeval gentleman's bald spot ever cost _him_ +one half the misery, as did my lack of mustache occasion _me_. "A hussar +without beard, as well without spurs or sabretasche;" a tambour major +without his staff, a cavalry charger without a tail, couldn't be more +ridiculous: and there was that old sergeant of the riding-school, +"Tronchon," with a beard that might have made a mattress! How the goods +of this world are unequally distributed! thought I; still why might he +not spare me a little--a very little would suffice--just enough to give +the "air hussar" to my countenance. He's an excellent creature; the +kindest old fellow in the world. I'm certain he'd not refuse me; to be +sure the beard is a red one, and pretty much like bell-wire in +consistence; no matter, better that than this girlish smooth chin I now +wear. + +Tronchon was spelling out the _Moniteur's_ account of the Italian +campaign as I entered his room, and found it excessively difficult to +get back from the Alps and Apennines to the humble request I preferred. + +"Poor fellows," muttered he, "four battles in seven days, without stores +of any kind, or rations--almost without bread; and here comest thou, +whining because thou hasn't a beard." + +"If I were not a hussar--" + +"Bah!" said he, interrupting, "what of that? Where should'st thou have +had thy baptism of blood, boy? Art a child, nothing more." + +"I shared my quarters last night with one, not older, Tronchon, and _he_ +was an officer, and had seen many a battle-field." + +"I know that, too," said the veteran, with an expression of impatience, +"that General Bonaparte will give every boy his epaulets, before an old +and tried soldier." + +"It was not Bonaparte. It was--" + +"I care not who promoted the lad; the system is just the same with them +all. It is no longer, 'Where have you served? what have you seen?' but, +'Can you read glibly? can you write faster than speak? have you learned +to take towns upon paper, and attack a breast-work with a rule and a +pair of compasses!' This is what they called 'la genie,' 'la genie!' ha! +ha! ha!" cried he, laughing heartily; "that's the name old women used to +give the devil when I was a boy." + +It was with the greatest difficulty I could get him back from these +disagreeable reminiscences to the object of my visit, and, even then, I +could hardly persuade him that I was serious in asking the loan of a +beard. The prayer of my petition being once understood, he discussed the +project gravely enough; but to my surprise he was far more struck by the +absurd figure he should cut with his diminished mane, than I with my +mock mustache. + +"There's not a child in Nancy won't laugh at me--they'll cry, 'There +goes old Tronchon--he's like Klaber's charger, which the German cut the +tail off to make a shako plume!'" + +I assured him that he might as well pretend to miss one tree in the +forest of "Fontainebleu"--that after furnishing a squadron like myself, +his would be still the first beard in the Republic; and at last he +yielded, and gave in. + +Never did a little damsel of the nursery array her doll with +more delighted looks, and gaze upon her handiwork with more +self-satisfaction, than did old Tronchon survey me, as, with the aid of +a little gum, he decorated my lip with a stiff line of his iron red +beard. + +"Diantre!" cried he, in ecstasy, "if thou ben't something like a man, +after all. Who would have thought it would have made such a change? Thou +might pass for one that saw real smoke and real fire, any day, lad. Ay! +thou hast another look in thine eye, and another way to carry thy head, +now! Trust me, thou'lt look a different fellow on the left of the +squadron." + +I began to think so, too, as I looked at myself in the small triangle of +a looking-glass, which decorated Tronchon's wall, under a picture of +Kellerman, his first captain. I fancied that the improvement was most +decided. I thought that, bating a little over-ferocity, a something +verging upon the cruel, I was about as perfect a type of the hussar as +need be. My jacket seemed to fit tighter--my pelisse hung more +jauntily--my shako sat more saucily on one side of my head--my sabre +banged more proudly against my boot--my very spurs jangled with a +pleasanter music--and all because a little hair bristled over my lip, +and curled in two spiral flourishes across my cheek! I longed to see the +effect of my changed appearance, as I walked down the "Place Carriere," +or sauntered into the cafe where my comrades used to assemble. What will +Mademoiselle Josephine say, thought I, as I ask for my "petit verre," +caressing my mustache thus! Not a doubt of it, what a fan is to a woman, +a beard is to a soldier! a something to fill up the pauses in +conversation, by blandly smoothing with the finger, or fiercely curling +at the point! + +"And so thou art going to ask for thy grade, Maurice?" broke in +Tronchon, after a long silence. + +"Not at all. I am about to petition for employment upon active service. +I don't seek promotion till I have deserved it." + +"Better still, lad. I was eight years myself in the ranks before they +gave me the stripe on my arm. Parbleu! the Germans had given me some +three or four with the sabre before that time." + +"Do you think they'll refuse me, Tronchon?" + +"Not if thou go the right way about it, lad. Thou mustn't fancy it's +like asking leave from the captain to spend the evening in a guinguette, +or to go to the play with thy sweetheart. No, no, boy. It must be done +'en regle.' Thou'lt have to wait on the general at his quarters at four +o'clock, when he 'receives,' as they call it. Thou'lt be there, mayhap, +an hour, ay, two, or three belike, and after all, perhaps, won't see him +that day at all! I was a week trying to catch Kellerman, and, at last, +he only spoke to me going down stairs with his staff. + +"'Eh, Tronchon, another bullet in thy old carcass; want a furlough to +get strong again, eh?' + +"'No, colonel; all sound this time. I want to be a sergeant--I'm twelve +years and four months corporal.' + +"'Slow work, too,' said he, laughing, 'ain't it, Charles?' and he +pinched one of his young officers by the cheek. 'Let old Tronehon have +his grade; and I say, my good fellow,' said he to me, 'don't come +plaguing me any more about promotion, till I'm General of Division. You +hear that?' + +"Well, he's got his step since; but I never teased him after." + +"And why so, Tronchon?" said I. + +"I'll tell thee, lad," whispered he, in a low, confidential tone, as if +imparting a secret well worth the hearing. "They can find fellows every +day fit for lieutenants and chefs d'escadron. Parbleu! they meet with +them in every cafe, in every 'billiard' you enter; but a sergeant, +Maurice, one that drills his men on parade--can dress them like a +wall--see that every kit is well packed, and every cartouch well +filled--who knows every soul in his company as he knows the buckles of +his own sword-belt--that's what one should not chance upon, in haste. +It's easy enough to manoeuvre the men, Maurice; but to make them, boy, +to fashion the fellows so that they be like the pieces of a great +machine, that's the real labor--that's soldiering, indeed." + +"And you say I must write a petition, Tronchon?" said I, more anxious to +bring him back to my own affairs, than listen to these speculations of +his. "How shall I do it?" + +"Sit down there, lad, and I'll tell thee. I've done the thing some +scores of times, and know the words as well as I once knew my 'Pater.' +Parbleu, I often wish I could remember that now, just to keep me from +gloomy thoughts when I sit alone of an evening." + +It was not a little to his astonishment, but still more to his delight, +that I told the poor fellow I could help to refresh his memory, knowing, +as I did, every word of the litanies by heart; and, accordingly, it was +agreed on that I should impart religious instruction, in exchange for +the secular knowledge he was conferring upon me. + +"As for the petition," said Tronchon, seating himself opposite to me at +the table, "it is soon done; for, mark me, lad, these things must always +be short; if thou be long-winded, they put thee away, and tell some of +the clerks to look after thee--and there's an end of it. Be brief, +therefore, and next--be legible--write in a good, large round hand; just +as, if thou wert speaking, thou wouldst talk with a fine, clear, +distinct voice. Well, then, begin thus, 'Republic of France, one and +indivisible!' Make a flourish round that, lad, as if it came freely from +the pen. When a man writes 'FRANCE!' he should do it as he whirls his +sabre round his head in a charge! Ay, just so." + +"I'm ready, Tronchon, go on." + +"'Mon General!' Nay, nay--General mustn't be as large as France--yes, +that's better. 'The undersigned, whose certificates of service and +conduct are herewith inclosed.'" "Stay, stop a moment, Tronchon; don't +forget that I have got neither one or t'other." "No matter; I'll make +thee out both. Where was I? Ay, 'herewith inclosed; and whose wounds, as +the accompanying report will show--'" + +"Wounds! I never received one." + +"No matter, I'll--eh--what? Feu d'enfer! how stupid I am! What have I +been thinking of? Why, boy, it was a sick-furlough I was about to ask +for; the only kind of petition I have ever had to write in a life long." + +"And _I_ am asking for active service." + +"Ha! That came without asking for in my case." + +"Then, what's to be done, Tronchon? clearly, this won't do!" + +He nodded sententiously an assent, and, after a moment's rumination, +said, + +"It strikes me, lad, there can be no need of begging for that which +usually comes unlooked for; but if thou don't choose to wait for thy +billet for t'other world, but must go and seek it, the best way will be +to up and tell the general as much." + +"That was exactly my intention." + +"If he asks thee 'Canst ride?' just say, 'Old Tronchon taught me;' he'll +be one of the young hands, indeed, if he don't know that name! And mind, +lad, have no whims or caprices about whatever service he names thee for, +even were't the infantry itself! It's a hard word, that! I know it well! +but a man must make up his mind for any thing and every thing. Wear any +coat, go any where, face any enemy thou'rt ordered, and have none of +those new-fangled notions about this general, or that army. Be a good +soldier, and a good comrade. Share thy kit and thy purse to the last +sous, for it will not only be generous in thee, but that so long as thou +hoardest not, thou'lt never be over eager for pillage. Mind these +things, and with a stout heart and a sharp sabre, Maurice, 'tu ira +loin.' Yes, I tell thee again, lad, 'tu ira loin'." + +I give these three words as he said them, for they have rung in my ears +throughout all my life long. In moments of gratified ambition, in the +glorious triumph of success, they have sounded to me like the confirmed +predictions of one who foresaw my elevation, in less prosperous hours. +When fortune has looked dark and louring, they have been my comforter +and support, telling me not to be downcast or depressed, that the season +of sadness would soon pass away, and the road to fame and honor again +open before me. + +"You really think so, Tronchon? You think that I shall be something +yet?' + +"'Tu ira loin,' I say," repeated he emphatically, and with the air of an +oracle who would not suffer further interrogation. I therefore shook his +hand cordially, and set out to pay my visit to the general. + +(_To be continued.)_ + + + + +[From the London Eclectic Review.] + +HAVE GREAT POETS BECOME IMPOSSIBLE?[18] + + +"Poetry is declining--poetry is being extinguished--poetry is extinct. +To talk of poetry now is eccentricity--to write it is absurdity--to +publish it is moonstruck madness." So the changes are rung. Now, it is +impossible to deny that what is called poetry has become a drug, a bore, +and nuisance, and that the name "Poet," as commonly applied, is at +present about the shabbiest in the literary calendar. But we are far +from believing that poetry is extinct. We entertain, on the contrary, +sanguine hopes of its near and glorious resurrection. Soon do we hope to +hear those tones of high melody, which are now like the echoes of +forgotten thunder: + + "From land to land re-echoed solemnly, + Till silence become music." + +We expect, about the very time, when the presumption against the +revivication of poetry shall have attained the appearance of absolute +certainty, to witness a Tenth Avatar of Genius--and to witness its +effect, too, upon the sapient personages who had been predicting that it +was forever departed. + +But this, it seems, is "not a poetical age." For our parts, we know not +what age has not been poetical--in what age have not existed all the +elements of poetry, been developed all its passions, and been heard many +of its tones. "Were the dark ages poetical?" it will be asked. Yes, for +then, as now, there was pathos--there was passion--there were hatred, +revenge, love, grief, despair, religion. Wherever there is the fear of +death and of judgment, there is, and must be poetry--and when was that +feeling more intensely developed than during that dim period? The +victims of a spell are objects of poetical interest. Here was a strong +spell, embracing a world. Was no arm during the dark ages bared aloft in +defense of outraged innocence? Or was no head then covered with the +snows of a hundred winters, through one midnight despair? Was the voice +of prayer then stifled throughout Europe's hundred lands? Was the mighty +heart of man--the throbbing of which is just poetry, then utterly +silent? But it was not expressed! We maintain, on the contrary, that it +was--expressed at the time, in part by monks, and scalds, and orators, +and expressed afterward in the glad energy of the spring which human +nature made from its trance, into new life and motion. The elements of +poetry had been accumulating in secret. The renovation of letters merely +opened a passage for what had been struggling for vent. What is Dante's +work but a beautiful incarnation of the spirit of the Middle Ages? His +passion is that of a sublimated Inquisitor. His "Inferno" is such a +dream as might have been dreamed by a poet monk, whose body had been +macerated by austerities, and whose spirit had been darkened by long +broodings on the fate of the victims of perdition. It is the poetical +part of the passion of those ages of darkness finding a full voice--an +eternal echo. And it was not in vain that so deep had been the slumber, +when such had been its visions. There is a grandeur about any passion +when carried to excess. Superstition, therefore, became the inspiration +of one of the greatest productions of the universe. Dante was needed +precisely when he appeared. The precise quantity of poetical material to +answer the ends of a great original poet was accumulated; and the mighty +Florentine, when he rose, became the mouth-piece and oracle of his age +and of its cognate ages past--the exact index of all that redeemed, +animated, excited, or adorned them. + +The crusades, too, were another proof that the slumber in which Europe +had been buried was not absolutely and altogether that of stupor or +death. They occurred after the noon of that period we usually denominate +dark. But they were the realization of a dream which had often passed +through the monkish heart--the embodiment, of a wish which had often +brought tears into the eyes of genuine enthusiasts. There was, surely, +as much sublimity in the first conception as in the execution. What +indeed were the crusades, but the means of bringing to light, feelings, +desires, passions, a lofty disinterested heroism, which the very depth +of the former darkness had tended to foster and fire? + +If the dark ages had thus their poetical tendencies, climbing toward a +full poetic expression, surely no age need or can be destitute of +theirs--need or can be called unpoetical. But the misfortune is, that +men will not look at the essential poetry which is lying around them, +and under their feet. They suppose their age to be unpoetical, merely +because they grapple not with its great excitements, nor will venture to +sail upon its "mighty stream of tendency." They overlook the volcano in +the next mountain--while admiring or deploring those which have been +extinct for centuries, or which are a thousand miles away. They are +afraid that if they catch the spirit of their age in verse, they will +give it a temporary stamp; and therefore they either abstain from +writing, and take to abusing the age on which they have unluckily +fallen, or else come to the same resolution after an unsuccessful +attempt to revive faded stimulants. Dante embodied, for instance, his +countrymen's rude conception of future punishment--and he did well. But +our modern religious poets have never ventured to meddle with those +moral aspects of the subject which have now so generally supplanted the +material. They talk instead, with Pollok, of the "rocks of dark +damnation," or outrage common sense by such barbarous mis-creations as +he has sculptured on the gate of hell, and think they have written an +"Inferno," or that, if they have failed, it is because their age is not +poetical. + +Indeed, the least poetry is sometimes written in the most poetical ages. +Men, when acting poetry, have little time either to write or to read it. +There was less poetry written in the age of Charles I., than in that +which preceded it, and more poetry enacted. But the majority of men only +listen to the reverberations of emotion in song. They sympathize not +with poetry, but with poets. And, therefore, when a cluster of poets +die, or are buried before they be dead, they chant dirges over the death +of poetry--as if it ever did or ever could die! as if its roots, which +are just the roots of the human soul, were perishable--as if, especially +when a strong current of excitement was flowing, it were not plain, that +there was a poetry which should, in due time, develop its own masters to +record and prolong it forever. Surely, as long as the grass is green and +the sky is blue, as long as man's heart is warm and woman's face is +fair, poetry, like seed-time and harvest, like summer and winter shall +not cease. + +There was little poetry, some people think, about England's civil war, +because the leader of one party was a red-nosed fanatic. They, for their +part, cannot extract poetry from a red nose; but they are in raptures +with Milton. Fools! but for that civil war, its high and solemn +excitement, the deeds and daring of that red-nosed fanatic, would the +"Paradise Lost" ever have been written, or written as it has been? That +stupendous edifice of genius seems cemented by the blood of Naseby and +of Marston Moor. + +Such persons, too, see little that is poetical in the American +struggle--no mighty romance in tumbling a few chests of tea into the +Atlantic. Washington they think insipid; and because America has +produced hitherto no great poet, its whole history they regard as a +gigantic commonplace--thus ignoring the innumerable deeds of derring-do +which distinguished that immortal contest--blinding their eyes to the +"lines of empire" in the "infant face of that cradled Hercules," and the +tremendous sprawlings of his nascent strength--and seeking to degrade +those forests into whose depths a path for the sunbeams must be hewn, +and where, lightning appears to enter trembling, and to withdraw in +haste; forests which must one day drop down a poet, whose genius shall +be worthy of their age, their vastitude, the beauty which they inclose, +and the load of grandeur below which they bend. + +Nor, to the vulgar eye, does there seem much poetry in the French +Revolution, though it was the mightiest tide of human passion which ever +boiled and raved: a great deal, doubtless, in Burke's "Reflections"--but +none in the cry of a liberated people, which was heard in heaven--none +in the fall of the Bastile--none in Danton's giant figure, nor in +Charlotte Corday's homicide--nor in Madame Roland's scaffold speeches, +immortal though they be as the stars of heaven--nor in the wild song of +the six hundred Marseillese, marching northward "to die." The age of the +French Revolution was proved to be a grand and spirit-stirring age by +its after results--by bringing forth its genuine poet-children--its +Byrons and Shelleys--but needed not this late demonstration of its power +and tendencies. + +Surely our age, too, abounds in the elements of poetical excitement, +awaiting; only fit utterance. The harvest is rich and ripe--and nothing +now is wanting but laborers to put in the sickle. + +_Special_ objections might indeed, and have been taken, to the poetical +character of our time, which we may briefly dispose of before +enumerating the qualities which a new and great poet, aspiring to be the +Poet of the Age, must possess, and inquiring how far Mr. S. Yendys +exhibits those qualities in this very remarkable first effort, "The +Roman." + +"It is a mechanical age," say some. To use Shakspeare's words, "he is a +mechanical salt-butter rogue who says so." Men use more machines than +formerly, but are not one whit more machines themselves. Was James Watt +an automaton? Has the press become less an object of wonder or terror +since it was worked by steam? How sublime was the stoppage of a mail as +the index of rebellion. Luther's Bible was printed by a machine. The +organ is a machine--and not the roar of a lion in a midnight forest is +more sublime, or a fitter reply from earth to the thunder. The railway +carriages of this mechanical age are the conductors of the fire of +intellect and passion--and its steamboats may be loaded with +thunderbolts, as well as with bullocks or yarn. The great American ship +is but a machine; and yet how poetical it becomes, as it walks the +waters of the summer sea, or wrestles, like a demon of kindred power, +with the angry billows. Mechanism, indeed, may be called the short-hand +of poetry, concentrating its force and facilitating its operations. + +But this is an "age too late." So doubted Milton, while the shadow of +Shakspeare had scarce left the earth, and while he himself was writing +the greatest epic the world ever saw. And so any one may say, provided +he does not mutilate or restrain his genius in consequence. We have +reason to bless Providence that Milton did not act upon his hasty +peradventure. But some will attempt to prove its truth, by saying that +the field of poetry is limited--that the first cultivators will probably +exhaust it, and that, in fact, a decline in poetry has been +observed--the first poets being uniformly the best. But we deny that the +field of poetry is limited. That is nature and the deep heart of man; +or, more correctly, the field of poetry is human nature, and the +external universe, multiplied indefinitely by the imagination. This, +surely, is a wide enough territory. Where shall poetry, if sent forth +like Noah's dove, fail to find a resting-place? Each new fact in the +history of man and nature is a fact for _it_--suited to its purposes, +and awaiting its consecration. + +"The great writers have exhausted it." True, they have exhausted, +speaking generally, the topics they have handled. Few will think of +attempting the "Fall of Man" after Milton--and Dryden and Galt, alone, +have dared, to their own disgrace, to burst within Shakspeare's magic +circle. But the great poets have not verily occupied the entire field of +poetry--have not counted all the beatings of the human heart--have not +lighted on all those places whence poetry, like water from the smitten +rock, rushes at the touch of genius--have not exhausted all the "riches +fineless" which garnish the universe--nay, they have multiplied them +infinitely, and shed on them a deeper radiance. The more poetry there +is, the more there must be. A good criticism on a great poem becomes a +poem itself. It is the essence of poetry to increase and multiply--to +create an echo and shadow of its own power, even as the voice of the +cataract summons the spirits of the wilderness to return it in thunder. +As truly say that storms can exhaust the sky, as that poems can exhaust +the blue dome of poesy. We doubt, too, the dictum that the earliest +poets are uniformly the best. Who knows not that many prefer Eschylus to +Homer; and many, Virgil to Lucretius; and many, Milton to Shakspeare; +and that a nation sets Goethe above all men, save Shakspeare; and has +not the toast been actually given, "To the two greatest of +poets--Shakspeare and _Byron_?" To settle the endless questions +connected with such a topic by any dogmatical assertion of the +superiority of early poets, is obviously impossible. + +But "the age will not now read poetry." True, it will not read whatever +bears the name it will not read nursery themes; nor tenth-rate +imitations of tenth-rate imitations of Byron, Scott, or Wordsworth; nor +the effusions either of mystical cant, or of respectable commonplace; +nor yet very willingly the study-sweepings of reputed men, who deem, in +their complacency, that the world is gaping for the rinsings of their +intellect. But it will read genuine poetry, if it be accommodated to the +wants of the age, and if it be fairly brought before it. "Vain to cast +pearls before swine!" Cast down the pearls before you call the men of +the age swine. In truth, seldom had a true and new poet a fairer field, +or the prospect of a wider favor, than at this very time. The age +remembers that many of those poets it now delights to honor, were at +first received with obloquy or neglect. It is not so likely to renew the +disgraceful sin, since it recollects the disgraceful repentance. It is +becoming wide awake, and is ready to recognize every symptom of original +power. The reviews and literary journals are still, indeed, +comparatively an unfair medium; but, by their multitude and their +contradictions, have neutralized each other's power, and rendered the +public less willing and less apt to be bullied or blackguarded out of +its senses. Were Hazlitt alive now, and called, by any miserable +scribbler in the "Athenaeum" or "Spectator," a dunce, he could laugh in +his face; instead of retiring as he did, perhaps hunger-bitten, to bleed +out his heart's blood in secret. Were Shelley now called in "Blackwood" +a madman, and Keats a mannikin, they would be as much disturbed by it as +the moon at the baying of a Lapland wolf. The good old art, in short, of +writing an author up or down, is dying hard, but dying fast; and the +public is beginning to follow the strange new fashion of discarding its +timid, or truculent, or too-much-seasoned tasters, and judging for +itself. We have often imaged to ourselves the rapture with which a poet, +of proper proportions and due culture, if writing in his age's spirit, +would be received in an age when the works of Coleridge, and Wordsworth, +and Keats, are so widely read and thoroughly appreciated. He would find +it "all ear." + +Great things, however, must be done by the man who cherishes this high +ambition. He must not only be at once a genius and an artist, but his +art and his genius must be proportioned, with chemical exactness, to +each other. He must not only be a poet, but have a distinct mission and +message, savoring of the prophetic--he must say as well as sing. He +must use his poetic powers as wonders attesting the purpose for which he +speaks--not as mere bravados of ostentatious power. He must, while +feeling the beauty, the charm, and the meaning of mysticism, stand above +it, on a clear and sun-lighted peak, and incline _rather_ to the +classical and masculine, than to the abstract and transcendental. His +genius should be less epic and didactic, than lyrical and popular. He +should be not so much the Homer as the Tyrtaeus of this strange time. He +should have sung over to himself the deep controversies of his age, and +sought to reduce them into an unique and intelligible harmony. Into +scales of doubt, equally balanced, he should be ready to throw his lyre, +as a makeweight. Not a partisan either of the old or the new, he should +seek to set in song the numerous points in which they agree, and strive +to produce a glorious synthesis between them. He should stand (as on a +broad platform) on the identity and eternity of all that is good and +true--on the fact that "faiths never die, but are only translated"--on +the fact that beauty physical and beauty moral are in heart the same; +and that Christianity, as rightly understood, is at once the root and +the flower of all truth--and, standing on this, should sing his fearless +strains to the world. He should have a high idea of his art--counting it +a lower inspiration, a sacred trust, a minor grace--a plant from a seed +originally dropped out of the paradise of God! He should find in it a +work, and not a recreation--an affair of life, not of moments of +leisure. And while appealing, by his earnestness, his faith, his +holiness, his genius, to the imagination, the heart, and the conscience +of man, he should possess, or attain to, the mechanical ingenuity that +can satisfy man's constructive understanding, the elegance that can +please his sensuous taste, the fluency that can blend ease with +instruction, and the music that can touch through the ear the inner +springs of his being. Heart and genius, art and nature, sympathy with +man and God, love of the beautiful apparition of the universe, and of +that divine halo of Christianity which surrounds its head, must be +united in our poet. He should conjoin Byron's energy--better controlled; +Shelley's earnestness--better instructed; Keats's sensibility--guarded +and armed; Wordsworth's Christianized love of Nature; and Coleridge's +Christianized view of philosophy--to his own fancy, language, melody, +and purpose; a lofty ideal of man the spirit, to a deep sympathy with +man the worm, toiling, eating, drinking, struggling, falling, rising, +and progressing, amidst his actual environments; and become the Magnus +Apollo of our present age. + +Perhaps we have fixed the standard too high, and forced a renewal of the +exclamation in Rasselas, "Thou hast convinced me that no man can ever be +a poet"--or, at least, the poet thus described. But nothing, we are +persuaded, is in the imagination which may not be in the fact. Had we +defined a Shakspeare ere he arose, "impossible" had been the cry. It +must, too, be conceded that hitherto we have no rising, or nearly-risen +poet, who answers fully to our ideal. Macaulay and Aytoun are content +with being brilliant ballad-singers--they never seek to touch the deeper +spiritual chords of our being. Tennyson's exquisite genius is +neutralized, whether by fastidiousness of taste or by morbidity of +temperament--neutralized, we mean, so far as great future achievements +are concerned. Emerson's undisguised Pantheism casts a cold shade over +his genius and his poetry. There is something odd, mystical, and shall +we say affected, about both the Brownings, which mars their general +effect--the wine is good, but the shape of the cyathus is deliberately +_queer_. Samuel Brown is devoted to other pursuits. Marston's very +elegant, refined, and accomplished mind, lacks, perhaps, enough of the +manly, the forceful, and the profound. Bailey of "Festus," and Yendys of +the poem before us, are the most likely candidates for the vacant +laurel. + +That Bailey's _genius_ is all that need be desired in the "coming poet," +will be contested by few who have read and wondered at "Festus"--at its +fire of speech, its force of sentiment, its music of sound, its +Californian wealth of golden imagery; the infinite variety of its +scenes, speeches, and songs; the spirit of reverence which underlies all +its liberties, errors, and extravagances; and the originality which, +like the air of a mountain summit, renders its perusal at first +difficult, and almost deadly, but at last excites and elevates to +absolute intoxication. It has, however, been objected to it, that it +seems an exhaustion of the author's mind--that its purposeless, planless +shape betrays a lack of constructive power--that it becomes almost +polemical in its religious aspect, and gives up to party what was meant +for mankind--that it betrays a tendency toward obscure, mystical +raptures and allegorizings, scarcely consistent with healthy manhood of +mind, and which seems _growing_, as is testified by the "Angel +World"--that there is a great gulf between the powers it indicates, and +the task of leading the age--and that, on the whole, it is rather a +prodigious comet in the poetical heavens, than either a still, calm +luminary, or even the curdling of a future fair creation. + +Admitting the force of much of this criticism, and that Bailey's art and +aptitude to teach are unequal to his native power and richness of mind, +we are still willing to wait for a production more matured than +"Festus," and less fragmentary and dim than the "Angel World;" and till +then, must waive our judgment as to whether on his head the laurel crown +is transcendently to flourish. + +But meanwhile a young voice has suddenly been uplifted from a provincial +town in England, crying, "Hear me--I also am a poet; I aspire, too, to +prove myself worthy of being a teacher I aim at no middle flight, but +commit myself at once to high, difficult, and daring song, and that, +too, of varied kinds." Nor has the voice been despised or disregarded. +Some of the most fastidious of critical journals have already waxed +enthusiastic in his praise. Many fine spirits, both young and old, have +welcomed him with acclamation, as his own hero was admitted, for the +sake of one song, into the society of a band of experienced bards. Even +the few who deny--unjustly and captiously, as it appears to us--the +artistic, admit the poetical merit of his work And we have now before +us, not the miserable drudgery of weighing a would-be poet, but the +nobler duty of inquiring how far a man of undoubted genius, and great +artistic skill, is likely to fulfill the high-raised expectations of the +period. The scene of the "Roman" is in Italy. The hero is a patriot, +filled and devoured by a love for the liberation of Italy, and for the +re-establishment of the ancient Roman Republic--"One, entire, and +indivisible." To promote this purpose, he assumes the disguise of a +monk; and the history of his progress--addressing now little groups, now +single individuals, and now large multitudes of men--at one time +captivating, unwittingly, a young and enthusiastic lady, by the fervor +of his eloquence, who delivers him from death by suicide--and at +another, shaking the walls of his dungeon, through the power and +grandeur of his predictions and dreams--till at last, as, after the +mockery of a trial, he is led forth to death, he hears the shout of his +country, rising _en masse_--is the whole story of the piece. But around +this slender thread, the author has strung some of the largest, richest, +and most resplendent gems of poetry we have seen for years. + +Let us present our readers with a few passages, selected almost at +random. Take the "Song of the Dancers" for its music: + + "_Dancers._ Sing lowly, foot slowly, oh, why should we chase + The hour that gives heaven to this earthly embrace? + To-morrow, to-morrow, is dreary and lonely; + Then love as they love who would live to love only! + Closer yet, eyes of jet--breasts fair and sweet! + No eyes flash like those eyes that flash as they meet! + Weave brightly, wear lightly, the warm-woven chain, + Love on for to-night if we ne'er love again. + Fond youths! happy maidens! we are not alone! + Bright steps and sweet voices keep pace with our own, + Love-lorn Lusignuolo, the soft-sighing breeze, + The rose with the zephyr, the wind with the trees. + While heaven blushing pleasure, is full of love notes, + Soft down the sweet measure the fairy world floats." + + P. I, 2. + +Take the Monk's Appeal to his "Mother, Italy," for its eloquence: + + "By thine eternal youth, + And coeternal utterless dishonor-- + Past, present, future, life and death, all oaths + Which may bind earth and heaven, mother, I swear it + We know we have dishonored thee. We know + All thou canst tell the angels. At thy feet, + The feet where kings have trembled, we confess, + And weep; and only bid thee live, my mother, + To see how we can die. Thou shalt be free! + By all our sins, and all thy wrongs, we swear it + We swear it, mother, by the thousand omens + That heave this pregnant time. Tempests for whom + The Alps lack wombs--quick earthquakes--hurricanes + That moan and chafe, and thunder for the light, + And must be native here. Hark, hark, the angel! + I see the birthday in the imminent skies! + Clouds break in fire. Earth yawns. The exulting thunder + Shouts havoc to the whirlwinds. And men hear + Amid the terrors of consenting storms, + Floods, rocking worlds, mad seas, and rending mountains, + Above the infinite clash, one long great cry, + THOU SHALT BE FREE!" + + P. 14, 15. + +Take the few lines about "Truth," for their depth: + + "Truth is the equal sun, + Ripening no less the hemlock than the vine. + Truth is the flash that turns aside no more + For castle than for cot. Truth is a spear + Thrown by the blind. Truth is a Nemesis + Which leadeth her beloved by the hand + Through all things; giving him no task to break + A bruised reed, but bidding him stand firm + Though she crush worlds." + + P. 21, 22. + +Take, for its harrowing power, blended with beauty, the description of a +"Lost Female," symbolizing the degradation of Italy, and addressed to +the heroine of the tale: + + "Or, oh, prince's daughter, if + In some proud street, leaning 'twixt night and day + From out thy palace balcony to meet + The breeze--that tempted by the hush of eve, + Steals from the fields about a city's shows, + And like a lost child, scared with wondering, flies, + From side to side in touching trust and terror, + Crying sweet country names and dropping flowers-- + Leaning to meet that breeze, and looking down + To the so silent city, if below, + With dress disordered, and disheveled passions + Streaming from desperate eyes that flash and flicker + Like corpse-lights (eyes that once were known on high + Morning and night, as welcome there as thine), + And brow of trodden snow, and form majestic + That might have walked unchallenged through the skies. + And reckless feet, fitful with wine and woe, + And songs of revel that fall dead about + Her ruined beauty--sadder than a wail-- + (As if the sweet maternal eve for pity + Took out the joy, and, with a blush of twilight, + Uncrowned the Bacchanal)--some outraged sister + Passeth, be patient, think upon yon heaven, + Where angels hail the Magdalen, look down + Upon that life in death, and say, 'My country!'" + + P. 36. + +Take, for its wondrous pathos and truth, the description of "Infancy:" + + "Thou little child, + Thy mother's joy, thy father's hope--thou bright + Pure dwelling where two fond hearts keep their gladness-- + Thou little potentate of love, who comest + With solemn sweet dominion to the old, + Who see thee in thy merry fancies charged + With the grave embassage of that dear past, + When they were young like thee--thou vindication + Of God--thou living witness against all men + Who have been babes--thou everlasting promise + Which no man keeps--thou portrait of our nature, + Which in despair and pride we scorn and worship." + + P. 71, 72. + +But time would fail us to quote, or even indicate a tithe of the +beautiful, melting, and magnificent passages in this noble "Roman." We +would merely request the reader's attention to the whole of the sixth +scene; to the ballad, a most exquisite and pathetic one, entitled the +"Winter's Night;" to the "Vision of Quirinus," a piece of powerful and +condensed imagination; and, best of all, to the "Dream of the Coliseum," +in scene viii.--a dream which will not suffer by comparison with that of +Sardanapalus. + +But it is not the brilliance of occasional parts and passages alone, +which justifies us in pronouncing the "Roman" an extraordinary +production. We look at it as a whole, and thus regarding it, we +find--first, a wondrous freedom from faults, major or minor, juvenile or +non-juvenile; wondrous, inasmuch as the author is still very young, not +many years, indeed, in advance of his majority. There is exaggeration, +we grant, in passages, but it is exaggeration as essential to the +circumstances and the characters as Lear's insane language is to his +madness, or Othello's turbid tide of figures to his jealousy. The +hero--an enthusiast--speaks always in enthusiastic terms; but of +extravagance we find little, and of absurdity or affectation none. +Diffusion there is, but it is often the beautiful diffusion of one who +dallies with beloved thoughts, and will not let them go till they have +told him all that is in their heart. And ever and anon we meet with +strong single lines and separate sentences, containing truth and fancy +concentrated as "lion's marrow." + +Take a few specimens. Of Italy he says: + + "She wraps the purple round her outraged breast, + And even in fetters cannot be a slave." + +Again, she + + "Stands menacled before the world, and bears + Two hemispheres--innumerable wrongs, + Illimitable glories." + + "The soul never + Can twice be virgin--the eye that strikes + Upon the hidden path to the unseen + Is henceforth for two worlds." + + "To both worlds + --The inner and the outer--we come naked, + The very noblest heart on earth, hath oft + No better lot than _to deserve_." + + "Before every man the world of beauty, + Like a great artist, standeth night and day + With patient hand retouching in the heart + God's defaced image." + + "Rude heaps that had been cities clad the ground + With history." + + "Strange fragments + Of forms once held divine, and still, _like angels_, + _Immortal every where_." + + "The poet, + In some rapt moment of intense attendance, + The skies being genial, and the earthly air + Propitious, catches on the inward ear + The awful and unutterable meanings + Of a divine soliloquy." + + "The very stars themselves are nearer to us than to-morrow." + + "The great man ... is set + Among us pigmies, with a heavenlier stature, + And brighter face than ours, that we must _leap_ + _Even to smite it._" + + "Great merchants, men + Who dealt in kingdoms; ruddy aruspex, + And pale philosopher, who bent beneath + The keys of wisdom." + + "The Coliseum ... stood out dark + With thoughts of ages: like some mighty captive + Upon his death-bed in a Christian land, + And lying, through the chant of Psalm and Creed + Unshriven and stern, with peace upon his brow, + And on his lips strange gods." + +Our readers must perceive from such extracts, that our author belongs +more to the masculine than to the mystic school. Deep in thought, he is +clear in language and in purpose. Since Byron's dramas, we have seldom +had such fiery and vigorous verse. He blends the strong with the tender, +in natural and sweet proportions. His genius, too, vaults into the lyric +motion with very great ease and mastery. He is a minstrel as well as a +bard, and has shown power over almost every form of lyrical composition. +His sentiment is clear without being commonplace, original, yet not +extravagant, and betokens, as well as his style, a masculine health, +maturity, and completeness, rarely to be met with in a first attempt. +Above all, his tone of mind, while sympathizing to rapture with the +liberal progress of the age, is that of one who feels the eternal +divinity and paramount power of the Christian religion; that what God +has once pronounced true can never become a lie; that what was once +really alive may change, but can never die; that Christianity is a fact, +great, real, and permanent, as birth or death; and that its seeming +decay is only the symptom that it is putting off the old skin, and about +to renew its mighty youth. + +We have thus found many, if not all, the qualities of our ideal poet +united in the author of the "Roman," and are not ashamed to say that we +expect more from him than from any other of our rising "Sons of the +Morning." But he must work and walk worthy of his high vocation, and of +the hopes which now lie upon him--hopes which must either be the ribbons +of his crown or the cords of his sacrifice. He must discard his tendency +to diffusion, and break in that demon-steed of eloquence, who sometimes +is apt to run away with him. He must give us next, not scattered scenes, +but a whole epic, the middle of which shall be as obvious as the +beginning or the end. He should, in his next work, seek less to please, +startle, or gain an audience, than to tell them in thunder and in music +what they ought to believe and to do. Thus acting, he may "fill his +crescent-sphere;" revive the power and glory of song; give voice to a +great dumb struggle in the mind of the age; rescue the lyre from the +camp of the Philistines, where it has been but too long detained; and +render possible the hope, that the day shall come when again, as +formerly, the names "of poet and of prophet are the same." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] The Roman: a Dramatic Poem. By Sydney Yendys. London: Rantley, +1850. + + + + +[From Sharpe's London Magazine.] + +RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. + + +In his intercourse with society, Campbell was a shrewd observer of those +often contradictory elements of which it is composed. Adverting to the +absurd and ludicrous, he had the art or talent of heightening their +effect by touches peculiarly his own; while the quiet gravity with which +he related his personal anecdotes or adventures, added greatly to the +charm, and often threw his unsuspecting hearers into uncontrollable fits +of laughter. Nor was the _pathos_ with which he dilated on some tale of +human misery less captivating; it runs through all his poetry, and in +hearing or relating a story of human wrongs or suffering, we have often +seen him affected to tears, which he vainly strove to conceal by an +abrupt transition to some ludicrous incident in his own personal +history. As an example, which has not yet found its way to the public, +we may relate the following, which he told one evening in our little +domestic circle where he was a frequent visitor, and where the +conversation had taken, as he thought, a somewhat too serious turn: + +"In my early life, when I resided in the island of Mull, most of those +old feudal customs which civilization had almost banished from the +Lowlands, were still religiously observed in the Hebrides--more +especially those of a social and festive character, which it was thought +had the effect of keeping up old acquaintance, and of tightening the +bonds of good fellowship. Rural weddings and "roaring wakes" were then +occasions for social rendezvous, which were not to be overlooked. Both +these ceremonies were accompanied by feasting, music, dancing, and that +liberal enjoyment of the native _browst_ which was too often carried to +excess. I was in general a willing and a welcome guest at these doings; +for, smitten as I often was with melancholy in this dreary solitude, I +was glad to avail myself of any occasion that promised even temporary +exhilaration. Well, the first of these meetings at which I was present +one evening, happened to be a _dredgee_, a term which I need only +explain, by saying that it was got up for the sake of a young widow, who +had just put on her weeds, and stood much in need of friendly sympathy, +and consolation. At first it was rather a dull affair, for the widow +looked very disconsolate, and every look of her fair face was +contagious. But as the _quaigh_ was active, and the whisky went its +frequent round, the circle became more lively; until at last, to my +utter astonishment, the bagpipes were introduced; and after a _coronach_ +or so--just to quiet the spirit of their departed host--up started a +couple of dancers, and began jigging it over the floor with all the +grace and agility peculiar to my Hebridean friends. This movement was +infectious: another and another couple started up--reel followed upon +reel, until the only parties who had resisted the infection," continued +the poet, "were the widow and myself, she, oppressed with her own +private sorrow, and I, restrained by feelings of courtesy from quitting +her side. I observed, however, that she 'kept time' with her hand--all +unconsciously, no doubt--against the bench where we sat, while her +thoughts were wandering about the moorland _Cairn_, which had that very +morning received her husband's remains. I pitied her from my very heart. +But, behold, just as I was addressing to her one of my most sympathizing +looks, up came a brisk Highlander, whose step and figure in the dance +had excited both admiration and envy; and, making a low bow to the +widow, followed by a few words of condolence, he craved the honor of her +hand for the next reel. The widow, as you may well suppose, was shocked +beyond measure! while I starting to my feet, made a show as if I meant +to resent the insult. But she, pulling me gently back, rebuked the +kilted stranger with a look, at which he instantly withdrew. In a few +minutes, however, the young chieftain returned to the charge. The widow +frowned, and wept, and declared that nothing on earth should ever tempt +her to such a breach of decorum. But the more she frowned, the more he +smiled, and pressed his suit: 'Just one reel,' he repeated, 'only one! +Allan of Mull, the best piper in the Isles, was only waiting her bidding +to strike up.' The plea was irresistible. 'Weel, weel,' sighed the +widow, rising, and giving him her hand, 'what maun be, maun be! But, +hech, sirs, let it be a lightsome spring, for I hae a heavy, heavy +heart!' The next minute the widow was capering away to a most +'lightsome' air--hands across--cast off--down the middle, and up again. +And a merrier dredgee," concluded the poet, "was never seen in Mull." + +On another occasion, when he presented a copy of some verses, which he +had just finished, to a lady of our family, he described their origin as +follows: "Many long years ago, while I was sealed up in the Hebrides, I +became intimate with a family who had a beautiful parrot, which a young +mariner had brought from South America, as a present to his sweetheart. +This happened long before my arrival in Mull; and Poll for many years +had been a much-prized and petted favorite in the household. He was a +captive, to be sure, but allowed at times to be outside his cage on +_parole_; and, always observing good faith and gratitude for such +indulgences, they were repeated as often as appeared consistent with +safe custody. The few words of Gaelic which he had picked up in his +voyage to the north, were just sufficient, on his arrival, to bespeak +the good-will of the family, and recommend himself to their hospitality; +but his vocabulary was soon increased--he became a great mimic--he could +imitate the cries of every domestic animal--the voices of the servants: +he could laugh, whistle, and scold, like any other biped around him. He +was, in short, a match even for Kelly's renowned parrot: for although he +could not, or would not, sing 'God save the King,' he was a proficient +in 'Charlie is my Darling,' and other Jacobite airs, with which he never +failed to regale the company, when properly introduced. + +"Poll was indeed a remarkable specimen of his tribe, and the daily +wonder of the whole neighborhood. Years flew by: and although kind +treatment had quite reconciled him to his cage, it could not ward off +the usual effects of old age, particularly in a climate where the sun +rarely penetrated within the bars of his prison. When I first saw him, +his memory had greatly failed him; while his bright green plumage was +vast verging into a silvery gray He had but little left of that +triumphant chuckle which used to provoke such laughter among the +younkers; and day after day he would sit mute and moping on his perch, +seldom answering the numerous questions that were put to him regarding +the cause of his malady. Had any child of the family been sick, it could +hardly have been treated with greater tenderness than Poll. + +"At last, one fine morning, just as the vernal equinox had blown a few +ships into harbor, a stranger was announced, and immediately recognized +by the master of the house as a 'Don' something--a Spanish merchant, +whose kindness to a young member of the family had been often mentioned +in his letters from Mexico. One of his own ships, a brig, in which he +had made the voyage, was then in the bay, driven in by stress of +weather, for Mull was no market for Spanish goods. But that was not my +business; he would most likely pay a visit to Greenock, where, in the +present day at least, Spanish cargoes are rife enough. + +"No sooner had their visitor exchanged salutations with the master of +the house and his family, than the parrot caught his eye; and, going up +to the cage, he addressed the aged bird in familiar Spanish. The effect +was electric: the poor blind captive seemed as if suddenly awakened to a +new existence; he fluttered his wings in ecstasy--opened his eyes, fixed +them, dim and sightless as they were, intently on the stranger; then +answered him in the same speech--not an accent of which he had ever +heard for twenty years. His joy was excessive--but it was very short; +for in the midst of his screams and antics, poor Poll dropped dead from +his perch." + +Such was the incident upon which Campbell composed the little ballad +entitled "The Parrot." It had taken strong hold of his memory, and, +after the lapse of forty years,[19] found its way into the pages of the +"New Monthly," and is now incorporated with his acknowledged poems. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] See "Life and Letters of Campbell." Vol. I. Residence in Mull. + + + + +[From Sharpe's London Magazine.] + +GALILEO AND HIS DAUGHTER. + +BY J. B. + + +I had been walking in a grove of lime-trees, arched above me, like the +stately roofing of a cathedral. As I entered, the daylight was yet +strong; but when I left my temporary retreat, the heavens were clustered +over with stars, and one of them, high above the old gray tower of the +ancient monastery of St. Augustine, almost cast a shadow across the +landscape--it was the planet Jupiter: and I have never observed it--at +least, thus eminent among its brethren--without being more or less +reminded of, + + "The starry Galileo, and his woes." + +To this planet did the philosopher direct the then newly-invented +telescope, the result being the discovery of four attendant moons: while +the analogy derived from the motions of these little stars, performing +their revolutions round the primary planet in perfect order and concord, +afforded an argument that had a powerful influence in confirming +Galileo's own views in favor of the Copernican system of the universe, +and ultimately converting the scientific world to the same opinion. + +Yet little more than two centuries since, on the 14th February, 1633, +the astronomer, cited before the Inquisition, arrived at Rome, to answer +the charge of heresy and blasphemy; while, a few months ago, in the +brief but glorious day-burst of Roman liberty, that very Inquisition was +invaded by an exultant populace, and among its archives, full memorials +of martyred worth and of heroic endurance, most eagerly, but in vain, +was sought the record of the process against the great philosopher. + +Galileo, on a former occasion, in reference to some of his scientific +discoveries, had heard rumors of papal persecution, and as a cautious +friend whispered to him the unpleasing tidings, he had exclaimed, "Never +will I barter the freedom of my intellect to one as liable to err as +myself!" + +The time quickly arrived to test his courage and his resolution. + +For a little while, we are informed, he was allowed to remain secluded +in the palace of his friend Nicolini. In a few months, however, he was +removed to an apartment in the Exchequer of the Inquisition, still being +permitted the attendance of his own servant, and many indulgences of +which they had not decided to deprive him. On the twenty-first of June, +of the same year, he appeared before the Holy Office. Through its gloomy +halls and passages he passed to the tribunal. There was little here, as +in the other ecclesiastical buildings of Rome, to captivate the senses. +The dark walls were unadorned with the creations of art; state and +ceremony were the gloomy ushers to the chamber of intolerance. In +silence and in mystery commenced the preparations. The familiars of the +office advanced to the astronomer, and arrayed him in the penitential +garment; and as he approached, with a slow and measured step, the +tribunal, cardinals, and prelates noiselessly assembled, and a dark +circle of officers and priests closed in, while, as if conscious that +the battle had commenced in earnest between mind and power, all the pomp +and splendor of the hierarchy of Rome--that system which had hitherto +possessed a sway unlimited over the fears and opinions of mankind--was +summoned up to increase the solemnity and significance of the judgment +about to be pronounced against him. + +To the tedious succession of technical proceedings, mocking justice by +their very assumption of formality, it would be needless to refer. +Solemnly, however, and by an authority which it was fatal to resist, +Galileo was called on to renounce a truth which his whole life had been +consecrated to reveal and to maintain, "The motion through space of the +Earth and Planets round the Sun." + +Then, immediately, assuming he had nothing to allege, would attempt no +resistance, and offer no defense, came the sentence of the tribunal, +banning and anathematizing all who held the doctrine, that the sun is +the centre of the system, as a tenet "philosophically false, and +formally heretical." + +And then they sentenced the old and infirm philosopher--this band of +infallibles!--they bade him abjure and detest the said errors and +heresies. They decreed his book to the flames, and they condemned him +for life to the dungeons of the Inquisition, bidding him recite, "once a +week, seven penitential psalms for the good of his soul!" + +Did Galileo yield? Did he renounce that theory now affording such ample +proof of the beauty and order of the universe; to whose very laws +Kepler, the friend and contemporary of the philosopher, was even then, +though unconsciously, bearing evidence, by his wonderful theorem of +velocities and distances, a problem which Newton afterward confirmed and +illustrated? + +Did Galileo yield? He did. Broken by age and infirmity, importuned by +friends more alarmed than himself, perhaps, at the terrors of that +merciless tribunal, he signed his abjuration; yielded all his judges +demanded; echoed their curse and ban, as their superstition or their +hate required. There is a darker tale dimly hinted by those familiar +with the technicalities of the Holy Office, that the terms, "Il rigoroso +esame," during which Galileo is reported to have answered like a good +Christian, officially announce the application of the torture. + +Then occurred, perhaps scarcely an hour afterward, that remarkable +episode in this man's history. As he arose from the ground on which, all +kneeling, he had pronounced his abjuration, he gave a significant stamp, +and whispered to a friend, "_E pur si muove!_" "Yet it does move"--ay, +and in spite of Inquisitions, has gone round--nay, the whole world of +thought itself has moved, and having received an impulse from such +minds, will revolve for ages in a glorious cycle for mankind! But the +most touching incident of Galileo's story is yet to come. + +After several years of confinement at Arcetri, the great astronomer was +permitted to retire to Florence, upon the conditions that he should +neither quit his house, nor receive the visits of his friends. They +removed him from a prison, to make a prison of his home. Alas! it was +even worse than this. + +Much as the greatest minds love fame, and struggle to obtain it, the +proudest triumphs of genius and of science, the applause of the world +itself, ever loud and obtrusive, is not to be compared to the low and +gentle murmurs of pleasure and of pride from those we love. There was +one being from whom Galileo had been accustomed to hear those +consolations--his child his gentle Maria Galilei. He had been otherwise +a solitary indeed, and now more than ever so, when he was cut off from +the communion of the greatest minds. To his lovely girl, his daughter, +his heart clung with more than fondness. No wife of Pliny, perhaps, ever +wafted to her husband with sweeter devotion the echoes of the applauding +world without, greeting him she loved, than she did--his Maria Galilei. +As he returned from prison, the way seemed tedious, the fleetest +traveling all too slow, till he should once more fold her to his heart; +and she, too, she anticipated meeting her father with a pleasure greater +than ever before enjoyed, since he had now become a victim, sainted in +her eyes, by the persecution he had suffered. + +Short, indeed, was this happiness, if enjoyed at all. Within the month, +she died, and the home of Galileo was more than a prison--it was a +desolate altar, on which the last and most precious of his household +gods was shivered. And he died too, a few years afterward, that good old +man! + +But he had yielded--he was no martyr! Yes, indeed! But be it remembered, +that if he possessed not the moral courage of a Huss, a Savonarola, or a +Luther, he was not called to exercise it in so high a cause. The +assertion and support of a religious truth is impressed with far deeper +obligations than the advocacy of a scientific one, however well +maintained by analogy, and confirmed by reason. + +Still there was a deep devotional sentiment that pervaded the character +of Galileo. Before he died, he became totally blind; yet he did not +despair. Like Milton, he labored on for mankind--nay, pursued his +scientific studies, inventing mechanical substitutes for his loss of +vision, to enable him still to pursue his arduous researches. + +It is true he was shut out, like the elder Herschel, from the view of +that glorious company, toward which his spirit had so often soared. Well +might his friend Castelli say, in allusion to his infirmity, "that the +noblest eyes were darkened which nature had ever made--eyes so +privileged, and gifted with such rare qualities, that they might be said +to have seen more than all those who had gone before him, and to have +opened the eyes of all who were to come." Galileo himself bore noble +tribute to his friend, when he exclaimed, + +"Never, never will I cease to use the senses which God has left me; and +though this heaven, this earth, this universe, be henceforth shrunk for +me into the narrow space which I myself fill, so it please God, it shall +content me." + +The malice of his enemies long survived his death. The partisans of Rome +disputed his right to make a will. They denied him a monument for which +large sums had been subscribed. + +A hundred years afterward, when a splendid memorial was about to be +erected to his memory, the President of the Florentine Academy descended +into his grave, and desecrated his remains, by bearing off, as _relics +for a museum_, the thumb of his right hand, and one of his vertebrae! So +the victims of the religious fury of one age become the martyrs of +science in another! + +And what is the moral of what we have written concerning Galileo? Is +there no teaching that may instruct our own times, especially when we +see how, through scorn and persecution, and this world's contumely, and +through the gloom and shadows of ignorance and fear, the form and +substance of mighty Truth rises, slowly and dimly, perchance, at first, +but grandly and majestically ere long? Little more than two hundred +years have passed since the death of Galileo, but ample justice has been +done to his memory. His name will be a watchword through all time, to +urge men forward in the great cause of moral and intellectual progress; +and the Tree of Knowledge, whose fruits were once on earth, plucked, +perhaps, ere they were matured, has shot up with its golden branches +into the skies, over which has radiated the smiles of a beneficent +Providence to cheer man onward in the career of virtue and intelligence. + +"There is something," as a profound writer has observed,[20] "in the +spirit of the present age, greater than the age itself. It is, the +appearance of a new power in the world, the multitude of minds now +pressing forward in the great task of the moral and intellectual +regeneration of mankind." + +And this cause must ultimately triumph. The energies and discoveries of +men like Galileo, remote as their history becomes, have an undying +influence. + +The power of a great mind is like the attraction of a sun. It appears in +the infinite bounds of space, far, far away, as a grain among other gold +dust at the feet of the Eternal, or, at most, but as a luminous spot; +and yet we know that its influence controls, and is necessary for, the +order and arrangement of the nearest, as well is the remotest system. So +in the moral and intellectual universe, from world to world, from star +to star, the influence of one great mind extends, and we are drawn +toward it by an unseen, but all-pervading affinity. Thus has the cause +of moral and intellectual progress a sure guarantee of success. It has +become a necessity, interwoven with the spirit of the age--a necessity +impressed by every revelation of social evil, as well as proclaimed by +every scientific discovery--gaining increased energy and power from the +manifestation of every new wonder and mystery of nature--nay, from the +building of every steam-ship, the laying down of every new line of +railway. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Channing. + + + + +[From Dickens's "Household Words."] + +EBENEZER ELLIOTT + + +The name of Ebenezer Elliott is associated with one of the greatest and +most important political changes of modern times, with events not yet +sufficiently removed from us, to allow of their being canvassed in this +place with that freedom which would serve the more fully to illustrate +his real merits. Elliott would have been a poet, in all that constitutes +true poetry, had the corn laws never existed. + +He was born on 25th March, 1781, at the New Foundry, Masborough, in the +parish of Rotherham, where his father was a clerk in the employment of +Messrs. Walker, with a salary of L60 or L70 per annum. His father was a +man of strong political tendencies, possessed of humorous and satiric +power, that might have qualified him for a comic actor. Such was the +character he bore for political sagacity that he was popularly known as +"Devil Elliott." The mother of the poet seems to have been a woman of an +extreme nervous temperament, constantly suffering from ill health, and +constitutionally awkward and diffident. + +Ebenezer commenced his early training at a dame's school; but shy, +awkward, and desultory, he made little progress; nor did he thrive much +better at the school in which he was afterward placed. Here he employed +his comrades to do his tasks for him, and of course laid no foundation +for his future education. His parents, disheartened by the lad's +apparent stolidity, sent him next to Dalton's school, two miles distant; +and here he certainly acquired something, for he retained, to old age, +the memory of some of the scenes through which he used to pass on his +way to and from this school. For want of the necessary preliminary +training, he could do little or nothing with letters: he rather +preferred playing truant and roaming the meadows in listless idleness, +wherever his fancy led him. This could not last. His father soon set him +to work in the foundry; and with this advantage, that the lad stood on +better terms with himself than he had been for a considerable period, +for he discovered that he could compete with others in work--sheer +hand-labor--if he could not in the school. One disadvantage, however, +arose, as he tells us, from his foundry life; for he acquired a relish +for vulgar pursuits, and the village alehouse divided his attentions +with the woods and fields. Still a deep impression of the charms of +nature had been made upon him by his boyish rambles, which the debasing +influences and associations into which he was thrown could not wholly +wipe out. He would still wander away in his accustomed haunts, and +purify his soul from her alehouse defilements, by copious draughts of +the fresh nectar of natural beauty imbibed from the sylvan scenery +around him. + +The childhood and youth of the future poet presented a strange medley of +opposites and antitheses. Without the ordinary measure of adaptation for +scholastic pursuits, he inhaled the vivid influences of external things, +delighting intensely in natural objects, and yet feeling an infinite +chagrin and remorse at his own idleness and ignorance. We find him +highly imaginative; making miniature lakes by sinking an iron vessel +filled with water in a heap of stones, and gazing therein with wondrous +enjoyment at the reflection of the sun and skies overhead; and +exhibiting a strange passion for looking on the faces of those who had +died violent deaths, although these dead men's features would haunt his +imagination for weeks afterward. + +He did not, indeed, at this period, possess the elements of an ordinary +education. A very simple circumstance sufficed to apply the spark which +fired his latent energies, and nascent poetical tendencies: and he +henceforward became a different being, elevated far above his former +self. He called one evening, after a drinking bout on the previous +night, on a maiden aunt, named Robinson, a widow possessed of about L30 +a year, by whom he was shown a number of "Sowerby's English Botany," +which her son was then purchasing in monthly parts. The plates made a +considerable impression on the awkward youth, and he assayed to copy +them by holding them to the light with a thin piece of paper before +them. When he found he could trace their forms by these means his +delight was unbounded, and every spare hour was devoted to the agreeable +task. Here commenced that intimate acquaintance with flowers, which +seems to pervade all his works. This aunt of Ebenezer's, (good soul! +would that every shy, gawky Ebenezer had such an aunt!) bent on +completing the charm she had so happily begun, displayed to him still +further her son's book of dried specimens; and this elated him beyond +measure. He forthwith commenced a similar collection for himself, for +which purpose he would roam the fields still more than ever, on Sundays +as well as week days, to the interruption of his attendances at chapel. +This book he called his "Dry Flora," (_Hortus Siccus_) and none so proud +as he when neighbors noticed his plants and pictures. He was not a +little pleased to feel himself a sort of wonder, as he passed through +the village with his plants; and, greedy of praise, he allowed his +acquaintance to believe that his drawings were at first hand, and made +by himself from nature. "Thomson's Seasons," read to him about this time +by his brother Giles, gave him a glimpse of the union of poetry with +natural beauty; and lit up in his mind an ambition which finally +transformed the illiterate, rugged, half-tutored youth into the man who +wrote "The Village Patriarch," and the "Corn Law Rhymes." + +From this time he set himself resolutely to the work of self-education. +His knowledge of the English language was meagre in the extreme; and he +succeeded at last only by making for himself a kind of grammar by +reading and observation. He then tried French, but his native indolence +prevailed, and he gave it up in despair. He read with avidity whatever +books came in his way; and a small legacy of books to his father came in +just at the right time. He says he could never read through a +second-rate book, and he therefore read masterpieces only; "after +Milton, then Shakspeare; then Ossian; then Junius; Paine's 'Common +Sense;' Swift's 'Tale of a Tub;' 'Joan of Arc;' Schiller's 'Robbers;' +Burger's 'Lenora;' Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall;' and long afterward, +Tasso, Dante, De Stael, Schlegel, Hazlitt, and the '_Westminster +Review_.'" Reading of this character might have been expected to lead to +something; and was well calculated to make an extraordinary impression +on such a mind as Elliott's; and we have the fruit of this course of +study in the poetry which from this time he began to throw off. + +He remained with his father from his sixteenth to his twenty-third year, +working laboriously without wages, except an occasional shilling or two +for pocket-money. He afterward tried business on his own account. He +made two efforts at Sheffield; the last commencing at the age of forty, +and with a borrowed capital of L150. He describes in his nervous +language the trials and difficulties he had to contend with; and all +these his imagination embodied for him in one grim and terrible form, +which he christened "Bread Tax." With this demon he grappled in +desperate energy, and assailed it vigorously with his caustic rhyme This +training, these mortifications, these misfortunes, and the demon "Bread +Tax" above all, made Elliott successively despised, hated, feared, and +admired, as public opinion changed toward him. + +Mr. Howitt describes his warehouse as a dingy, and not very extensive +place, heaped with iron of all sorts, sizes, and forms, with barely a +passage through the chaos of rusty bars into the inner sanctum, at once, +study, counting-house, library, and general receptacle of odds and ends +connected with his calling. Here and there, to complete the jumble, were +plaster casts of Shakspeare, Achilles, Ajax, and Napoleon, suggestive of +the presidency of literature over the materialism of commerce which +marked the career of this singular being. By dint of great industry he +began to flourish in business, and, at one time, could make a profit of +L20 a-day without moving from his seat. During this prosperous period he +built a handsome villa-residence in the suburbs. He now had leisure to +brood over the full force and effect of the Corn Laws. The subject was +earnestly discussed then in all manufacturing circles of that district. +Reverses now arrived. In 1837, he lost fully one-third of all his +savings, getting out of the storm at last with about L6,000, which he +wrote to Mr. Tait of Edinburgh, he intended, if possible, to retain. The +palmy days of L20 profits had gone by for Sheffield, and instead, all +was commercial disaster and distrust. Elliott did well to retire with +what little he had remaining. In his retreat he was still vividly +haunted by the demon "Bread Tax." This, then, was the period of the +Corn-Law Rhymes, and these bitter experiences lent to them that tone of +sincerity and earnestness--that fire and frenzy which they breathed, and +which sent them, hot, burning words of denunciation and wrath, into the +bosoms of the working classes--the toiling millions from whom Elliott +sprang. "Bread Tax," indeed, to him was a thing of terrible import and +bitter experience: hence he uses no gentle terms or honeyed phrases +when dealing with the obnoxious impost. Sometimes coarse invective and +angry assertion take the place of convincing reason and calm philosophy. +At others, there is a true vein of poetry and pathos running through the +rather unpoetic theme, which touches us with its Wordsworthian feeling +and gentleness. Then he would be found calling down thunders upon the +devoted heads of the monopolists, with all a fanatic's hearty zeal, and +in his fury he would even pursue them, not merely through the world, but +beyond its dim frontiers and across the threshold of another state. Take +them, however, as they stand--and more vigorous, effective, and +startling political poetry has not graced the literature of the age. + +It was not to be supposed but that this trumpet-blast of defiance, and +shrill scream of "war to the knife," should bring down upon him much +obloquy, much vituperation: but all this fell harmlessly upon him; he +rather liked it. When people began to bear with the turbid humor and +angry utterances of the "Corn Law Rhymer," and grew familiar with the +stormy march of his verse, it was discovered that he was something more +than a mere political party song-writer. He was a true poet, whose +credentials, signed and sealed in the court of nature, attested the +genuineness of his brotherhood with those children of song who make the +world holier and happier by the mellifluous strains they bring to us, +like fragments of a forgotten melody, from the far-off world of beauty +and of love. + +Elliott will not soon cease to be distinctively known as the "Corn Law +Rhymer;" but it will be by his non-political poems that he will be +chiefly remembered by posterity as the Poet of the People; for his name +will still be, as it has long been, a "Household Word," in the homes of +all such as love the pure influences of simple, sensuous, and natural +poetry. As an author he did not make his way fast: he had written poetry +for twenty years ere he had attracted much notice. A genial critique by +Southey in the "Quarterly," another by Carlyle in the "Edinburgh," and +favorable notices in the "Athenaeum" and "New Monthly," brought him into +notice; and he gradually made his way until a new and cheap edition of +his works, in 1840, stamped him as a popular poet. His poetry is just +such as, knowing his history, we might have expected; and such as, not +knowing it, might have bodied forth to us the identical man as we find +him. + +As we have said, Nature was his school; but flowers were the especial +vocation of his muse. A small ironmonger--a keen and successful +tradesman--we should scarcely have given him credit for such an +exquisite love of the beautiful in Nature, as we find in some of those +lines written by him in the crowded counting-room of that dingy +warehouse. The incident of the floral miscellany; the subsequent study +of "The Seasons;" the long rambles in meadows and on hill-sides, +specimen-hunting for his _Hortus Siccus_, sufficiently account for the +exquisite sketches of scenery, and those vivid descriptions of natural +phenomena, which showed that the coinage of his brain had been stamped +in Nature's mint. The most casual reader would at once discover that, +with Thomson, he has ever been the devoted lover and worshiper of +Nature--at wanderer by babbling streams--a dreamer in the leafy +wilderness--a worshiper of morning upon the golden hill-tops. He gives +us pictures of rural scenery warm as the pencil of a Claude, and glowing +as the sunsets of Italy. + +A few sentences will complete our sketch, and bring us to the close of +the poet's pilgrimage. He had come out of the general collapse of +commercial affairs in 1837, with a small portion of the wealth he had +realized by diligent and continuous labor. He took a walk, on one +occasion, into the country, of about eighteen miles: reached Argilt +Hill, liked the place, returned, and resolved to buy it. He laid out in +house and land about one thousand guineas. His family consisted of Mrs. +Elliott and two daughters; a servant-maid; an occasional helper; a Welch +pony and small gig; "a dog almost as big as the mare, and much wiser +than his master; a pony-cart; a wheel-barrow; and a grindstone--and," +says he, "turn up your nose if you like!" + +From his own papers we learn that he had one son a clergyman, at +Lothedale, near Skipton; another in the steel trade, on Elliott's old +premises at Sheffield; two others unmarried, living on their means; +another "druggisting at Sheffield, in a sort of chimney called a shop;" +and another, a clergyman, living in the West Indies. Of his thirteen +children, five were dead, and of whom he says. "They left behind them no +memorial--but they are safe in the bosom of Mercy, and not quite +forgotten even here!" + +In this retirement he occasionally lectured and spoke at public +meetings; but he began to suffer from a spasmodic affection of the +nerves, which obliged him wholly to forego public speaking. This disease +grew worse; and in December, 1839, he was warned that he could not +continue to speak in public, except at the risk of sudden death. This +disorder lingered about him for about six years; he then fell ill of a +more serious disease, which threatened speedy termination. This was in +May, 1849. In September, he writes, "I have been _very, very_ ill." On +the first of December, 1849, the event, which had so long been +impending, occurred, and Elliott peacefully departed in the sixty-ninth +year of his age. + +Thus, then, the sun set on one whose life was one continued heroic +struggle with opposing influences--with ignorance first, then trade, +then the corn laws, then literary fame, and, last of all, disease: and +thus the world saw its last of the material breathing form of the rugged +but kindly being who made himself loved, feared, hated, and famous, as +the "CORN LAW RHYMER." + + + + +[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +CONFLICT WITH AN ELEPHANT. + + +In a few minutes one of those who had gone off to our left came running +breathless to say that he had seen the mighty game. I, halted for a +minute, and instructed Isaac, who carried the big Dutch rifle, to act +independently of me, while Kleinboy was to assist me in the chase; but, +as usual, when the row began, my followers thought only of number one. I +bared my arms to the shoulder, and, having imbibed a draught of aqua +pura from the calabash of one of the spoorers, I grasped my trusty +two-grooved rifle, and told my guide to go ahead. We proceeded silently +as might be for a few hundred yards, following the guide, when he +suddenly pointed, exclaiming, "Klow!" and before us stood a herd of +mighty bull elephants, packed together beneath a shady grove about a +hundred and fifty yards in advance. I rode slowly toward them, and, as +soon as they observed me, they made a loud rumbling noise, and, tossing +their trunks, wheeled right about and made off in one direction, +crashing through the forest and leaving a cloud of dust behind them. I +was accompanied by a detachment of my dogs, who assisted me in the +pursuit. + +The distance I had come, and the difficulties I had undergone to behold +these elephants, rose fresh before me. I determined that on this +occasion at least I would do my duty, and, dashing my spurs into +"Sunday's" ribs, I was very soon much too close in their rear for +safety. The elephants now made an inclination to my left, whereby I +obtained a good view of the ivory. The herd consisted of six bulls; four +of them were full grown, first-rate elephants; the other two were fine +fellows, but had not yet arrived at perfect stature. Of the four old +fellows, two had much finer tusks than the rest, and for a few seconds I +was undecided which of these two I would follow; when, suddenly, the one +which I fancied had the stoutest tusks broke from his comrades, and I at +once felt convinced that he was the patriarch of the herd, and followed +him accordingly. Cantering alongside, I was about to fire, when he +instantly turned, and, uttering a trumpet so strong and shrill that the +earth seemed to vibrate beneath my feet, he charged furiously after me +for several hundred yards in a direct line, not altering his course in +the slightest degree for the trees of the forest, which he snapped and +overthrew like reeds in his headlong career. + +When he pulled up in his charge, I likewise halted; and as he slowly +turned to retreat, I let fly at his shoulder, "Sunday" capering and +prancing, and giving me much trouble. On receiving the ball the elephant +shrugged his shoulder, and made off at a free, majestic walk. This shot +brought several of the dogs to my assistance which had been following +the other elephants, and on their coming up and barking another headlong +charge was the result, accompanied by the never-failing trumpet as +before In his charge he passed close to me, when I saluted him with a +second bullet in the shoulder of which he did not take the slightest +notice. I now determined not to fire again until I could make a steady +shot; but, although the elephant turned repeatedly, "Sunday" invariably +disappointed me, capering so that it was impossible to fire. At length, +exasperated, I became reckless of the danger, and, springing from the +saddle, approached the elephant under cover of a tree and gave him a +bullet in the side of the head, when, trumpeting so shrilly that the +forest trembled, he charged among the dogs, from whom he seemed to fancy +that the blow had come; after which he took up a position in a grove of +thorns, with his head toward me. I walked up very near, and, as he was +in the act of charging (being in those days under wrong impressions as +to the impracticability of bringing down an elephant with a shot in the +forehead), stood coolly in his path until he was within fifteen paces of +me, and let drive at the hollow of his forehead, in the vain expectation +that by so doing I should end his career. The shot only served to +increase his fury--an effect which, I had remarked, shots in the head +invariably produced; and, continuing his charge with incredible +quickness and impetuosity, he all but terminated my elephant-hunting +forever. A large party of the Bechuanas who had come up, yelled out +simultaneously, imagining I was killed, for the elephant was at one +moment almost on the top of me: I, however, escaped by my activity, and +by dodging round the bushy trees. As the elephant was charging, an +enormous thorn ran deep into the sole of my foot the old Badenoch +brogues, which I that day sported, being worn through, and this caused +me severe pain, laming me throughout the rest of the conflict. + +The elephant held on through the forest at a sweeping pace; but he was +hardly out of sight when I was loaded and in the saddle, and soon once +more alongside. About this time I heard Isaac blazing away at another +bull; but when the elephant charged, his cowardly heart failed him, and +he very soon made his appearance at a safe distance in my rear. My +elephant kept crashing along at a steady pace, with blood streaming from +his wounds; the dogs, which were knocked up with fatigue and thirst, no +longer barked around him, but had dropped astern. It was long before I +again fired, for I was afraid to dismount, and "Sunday" was extremely +troublesome. At length I fired sharp right and left from the saddle: he +got both balls behind the shoulder, and made a long charge after me, +rumbling and trumpeting as before. The whole body of the Bamangwato men +had now come up, and were following a short distance behind me. Among +these was Mollyeon, who volunteered to help; and being a very swift and +active fellow, he rendered me important service by holding my fidgety +horse's head while I fired and loaded. I then fired six broadsides from +the saddle, the elephant charging almost every time, and pursuing us +back to the main body in our rear, who fled in all directions as he +approached. + +The sun had now sunk behind the tops of the trees; it would very soon be +dark, and the elephant did not seem much distressed, notwithstanding all +he had received. I recollected that my time was short, and therefore at +once resolved to fire no more from the saddle, but to go close up to him +and fire on foot. Riding up to him. I dismounted, and, approaching very +near, I gave it him right and left in the side of the head, upon which +he made a long and determined charge after me; but I was now very +reckless of his charges, for I saw that he could not overtake me, and in +a twinkling I was loaded, and, again approaching, fired sharp right and +left behind his shoulder. Again he charged with a terrific trumpet, +which sent "Sunday" flying through the forest. This was his last charge. +The wounds which he had received began to tell on his constitution, and +he now stood at bay beside a thorny tree, with the dogs barking around +him. These, refreshed by the evening breeze, and perceiving that it was +nearly over with the elephant, had once more come to my assistance. +Having loaded, I drew near and fired right and left at his forehead. On +receiving these shots, instead of charging, he tossed his trunk up and +down, and by various sounds and motions, most gratifying to the hungry +natives, evinced that his demise was near. Again I loaded, and fired my +last shot behind his shoulder: on receiving it, he turned round the +bushy tree beside which he stood, and I ran round to give him the other +barrel, but the mighty old monarch of the forest needed no more; before +I could clear the bushy tree he fell heavily on his side, and his spirit +had fled. My feelings at this moment can only be understood by a few +brother Nimrods who have had the good fortune to enjoy a similar +encounter. I never felt so gratified on any former occasion as I did +then. + +By this time all the natives had come up; they were in the highest +spirits, and flocked around the elephant, laughing and talking at a +rapid pace. I climbed on to him, and sat enthroned upon his side, which +was as high as my eyes when standing on the ground. In a few minutes +night set in, when the natives, having illuminated the jungle with a +score of fires, and formed a semicircle of bushes to windward, lay down +to rest without partaking of a morsel of food. Mutchuisho would not +allow a man to put an assagai into the elephant until the morrow, and +placed two relays of sentries to keep watch on either side of him. My +dinner consisted of a piece of flesh from the temple of the elephant, +which I broiled on the hot embers. In the conflict I had lost my shirt, +which was reduced to streamers by the wait-a-bit thorns, and all the +clothing that remained was a pair of buckskin knee-breeches. + + + + +[From The Ladies' Companion.] + +LETTICE ARNOLD. + +By the Author of "TWO OLD MEN'S TALES," "EMILIA WYNDHAM," &C. + +[_Concluded from page 178._] + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Bless the Lord, oh my soul! and all that is within me bless his holy name; + Who forgiveth all thy iniquities and healeth all thy diseases, + Who saveth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving + kindness and tender mercies. + + +MRS. FISHER. + +I must now introduce you to Mrs. Fisher. She is so great a favorite of +mine, that before I relate what became of Myra, I must make you +acquainted with this lady. + +Mrs. Fisher was a respectable gentlewoman like personage of about +fifty-four, of a grave, authoritative and somewhat severe aspect; but +with the remains of very extraordinary personal beauty which she had +once possessed in an eminent degree. She was somewhat above the middle +size, of an erect, firm, full figure, her hair now gently turning gray, +drawn over her finely proportioned forehead; her eyes large, and of a +fine color and form--clear and steady; her mouth expressive of sense and +temper; and her dress in character with the rest. Mrs. Fisher was always +handsomely dressed in silks of the best description, but in slight +mourning, which she always wore; and on her head, also, a cap rather +plainer than the mode, but of the finest and most expensive materials: +nothing could be more dignified and complete than her appearance. + +When first Myra was introduced to her she was both daunted and +disappointed; the gravity, amounting almost to sternness, with which +Mrs. Fisher received her, and explained to her the duties she was +expected to perform, awed in the first place, and mortified in the +second. The establishment of this fashionable modiste, with which Myra +had associated nothing but laces and ribbons, dresses and trimmings, +embroidery and feathers, flattery and display, struck cold and dull upon +her imagination. She was introduced into a handsomely but very plainly +furnished sitting-room, where not one trace of any of those pretty +things were to be seen, and heard of nothing but regularity of hours, +persevering industry, quaker neatness, attention to health, and the +strictest observance of the rules of what she thought quite a prudish +propriety. + +Mrs. Fisher's life had been one of vicissitude, and in its vicissitudes, +she, a strong, earnest-minded woman, had learned much. She had known +sorrow, privation, cruelly hard labor, and the loneliness of utter +desolation of the heart She had, moreover, been extremely beautiful, and +she had experienced those innumerable perils to which such a gift +exposes an unprotected girl, struggling for her bread, under the +cruelest circumstances of oppressive labor. Every description of +hardship, and every description of temptation belonging to perhaps the +hardest and almost the most dangerous position of female life, Mrs. +Fisher had gone through. + +She had outlived its sufferings and escaped its snares. + +The suffering, thanks to one of the finest constitutions in the world; +the snares, thanks to what she always, with inexhaustible gratitude, +acknowledged as the special mercy and providence of God. + +An orphan at the dangerous age of seventeen, the lovely blooming young +creature was placed by her friends in one of the most fashionable and +largest milliners' establishments at that time in London, and had found +herself at once miserable and excited, oppressed and flattered. + +The mistress of this flourishing house, intent upon making a rapid +fortune before the years in which she could enjoy it should come to a +close, cared little--I might say nothing--for the welfare of the poor +creatures whose labors were to construct that edifice. She, in fact, +never thought about them. Want of thought may be pleaded as the excuse, +wretched one as it is, for the cruelties of those days. People certainly +had not the claim of common humanity sounded into their ears as it is +into all ears now. A few admirable philanthropists talked of it, and +preached it; but it was not to be heard calling in the streets, as it is +the triumph of our day to acknowledge, till the hardest heart for very +shame is forced to pay _some_ attention to the call. + +It never entered into Miss Lavington's head that she had any other +business with her young women, but to get all the work she possibly +could out of their hands, and as well done, and as speedily done as +possible. If she objected to night-work in addition to day-work, it was +not in the slightest degree out of compassion for the aching limbs and +wearied eyes of the poor girls; but because wax candles were expensive, +and tallow ones were apt to drip; and there was always double the duty +required from the superintendent (her special favorite), to keep the +young women at those times to their duty, and prevent fine materials +from being injured. + +Oh! those dreadful days and nights of the _season_, which the poor Lucy +Miles at that place went through. + +She--accustomed to the sweet fresh air of the country, to the cheerful +variety of daily labor in her father's large farm, and under the care of +a brisk, clever, but most kind and sensible mother--to be shut up +twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nay twenty hours before a +birth-night, in the sickening atmosphere of the close work-room. The +windows were rarely opened, if ever; for the poor young things were so +unnaturally chilly for want of exercise and due circulation of the +blood, that they said they should, and perhaps they might, have taken +cold if fresh air were admitted. There was nothing they all dreaded so +much as taking cold; those fatal coughs, which every season thinned the +ranks, to be filled with fresh victims, were invariably attributed to +some particular occasion when they had "taken cold." They did not know +that they were rejecting the very cordial of life and inhaling poison +when they kept the room so close. + +Oh! for the dreadful weariness which proceeds from _in_-action of the +limbs! so different from the wholesome fatigue of action, _In_-action +where the blood is stagnating in every vein: _in_-action, after which +rest is not rest, but a painful effort of the repressed currents to +recover their circulating power--so different from the delightful +sensation of wholesome rest after physical exertion. + +At first she felt it almost insupportable. I have heard her say that it +seemed at times as if she would have given years of her existence to be +allowed to get up and walk up and down the room for a few minutes. The +sensation was so insupportable. That craving desire of the body for what +it is in want of--be it water, be it bread, be it rest, be it change of +posture--is so dreadful in its urgency. The most abominable tortures men +have in their wickedness invented are founded upon this fact--tortures +that render the black history of inquisitors yet blacker: and here it +was, in one at least of its numerous forms, daily inflicted upon a set +of helpless young women, by a person who thought herself perfectly +justifiable, and whose conscience never pricked her in the least. + +Such is negligent moral habit. + +Oh! the delight at meal-times--to spring up, I was going to say--I meant +to _get_ up--for there was no _spring_ left in these poor stiffened +frames. Oh! the delight when the eye of that superintendent was no +longer watching the busy circle, and her voice calling to order any one +who durst just to raise a head, and pause in the unintermitting toil. +Oh! the delight to get up and come to breakfast, or dinner, or tea. + +They had not much appetite when they came to their meals to be sure. +There was only one thing they were always ready to enjoy, and that was +their tea. That blessed and long abused tea; which has done more to +sweeten private life with its gentle warmth and excitement, than any +cordial that has ever been invented. It is but a cordial, however; it is +not a nourishment; though a little sugar, and wretched blue milk, such +as London milk used to be, may be added to it. Most of the young ladies, +however, preferred it without these additions; they found it more +stimulating so, I believe, poor things! + +Such nourishment as they received, it is plain, would ill supply the +rapid exhaustion of their employment. One by one in the course of the +season they sickened and dropped off; some died out and out; some, alas! +tempted by suffering and insupportable fatigue, or by that vanity and +levity which seems to be too common a result with many girls living +together, did worse. There would have been a heavy record against her +every June, if Miss Lavington had taken the trouble to note down what +had become of her missing young ladies. + +I said they were relieved from their irksome continuance in one posture +by going to their meals, and what a relief it was; but they did not +always get that. When there was more than usual to be done, their tea +would be brought to them where they sat, and there would be no +intermission. + +So things went on at Miss Lavington's in those days. I wonder in how +many establishments of the same description, things go on so now! How +many to which that voice of humanity which "calls in the streets" has +not yet penetrated! + +We shall by-and-by see what was the case in Mrs. Fisher's, but for the +present we will go on with her history. + +So beautiful a young creature as she was, could not long escape trials, +yet more to be lamented than those of physical suffering. + +In the first place, there was the conversation of the young ladies +themselves; a whispering manner of conversation when at work; a busy +chattering of emancipated tongues during the intervals. And what was it +all about? + +Why, what was it likely to be about?--love and lovers--beauty and its +admirers--dress and its advantages--he and him--and, dear me, weren't +you in the Park last Sunday? Where could you be? and did you not see the +carriage go by? What had you on? Oh, that pink bonnet. I cribbed a bit +of Mrs. M----'s blond for a voilette. If people will send their own +materials they deserve as much. I've heard Mrs. Saunders (the +superintendent) say so scores of times. Well, well, and I saw it, I'm +certain of it. Well, did any thing come of it? + +Alas! alas! and so on--and so on--and so on. + +And Lucy was very soon taught to go on Sundays into the Park. At first, +poor girl, merely to breathe the fresh air and inhale the delicious west +wind, and look at trees and grass, and cows and deer once more, and +listen to the birds singing. At first she thought the crowds of gayly +dressed people quite spoiled the pleasure of the walk, and tried to coax +her companions to leave the ring, and come and walk in the wood with +her; but she soon learned better, and was rapidly becoming as bewitched +with the excitement of gazing, and the still greater excitement of being +gazed at, as any of them. + +She was so uncommonly beautiful that she got her full--and more than her +full share of this latter pleasure; and it was not long before she had +those for whom she looked out amid the crowds upon the ring, and felt +her heart beat with secret delight as she saw them. + +Then, as her health began to decline, as dislike insupportable for her +occupation and its confinement; as weariness not to be described, came +on; as longings for little luxuries to be seen in every shop which she +passed by, for fruit or confectionary, haunted her palled and diseased +appetite as the vision of food haunts the wretch who is starving; as the +desire of fine clothes, in which her companions managed to array +themselves; as the more insidious, and more honorable longings of the +heart, the desolate heart, beset her--cravings for affection and +sympathy; when all these temptations were embodied together in the shape +of one, but too gentle, and insinuating; oh, then it was perilous work +indeed! + +Her mother had tried to give her a good, honest, homely education; had +made such a Christian of her, as going to church, reading a chapter in +the Bible on a Sunday, and the catechism makes of a young girl. There +was nothing very vital, or earnest about it; but such as it was, it was +honest, and Lucy feared her God and reverenced her Saviour. Such +sentiments were something of a defense, but it is to be feared that they +were not firmly enough rooted in the character to have long resisted the +force of overwhelming temptation. + +This she was well aware of, and acknowledged to herself; and hence her +deep, pervading, ineffable gratitude, for the Providence which she +believed had saved her. + +She was getting on very fast on the evil road upon which she had +entered. Every Sunday the progress she made was fearful. A few more, at +the pace at which she was advancing, and there would have been an end of +it, when a most unexpected accident arrested her in the fatal career. + +One remarkably fine Sunday, when all the members of the establishment +had been enjoying their usual recreation in the Park--just as Lucy and +some of her giddy friends were coming through Grosvenor Gate, they saw +the superintendent before them. + +"There's that old Saunders, I declare!" cried one. "Stand back a little, +won't ye?--she'll see our bonnets else, and I'll be bound she'll know +the rosettes, and where they come from." + +There was time for no more. Mrs. Saunders, who was rather late, being in +haste to get home, attempted to cross, as a curricle at full speed came +driving down Parklane, and before the gentleman within could draw up, +the unfortunate woman was under the horses' heels. There was a terrible +bustle. The young ladies with the rosettes managed to escape; but Lucy, +who had at least preserved her integrity thus far, and had nothing about +her dress not strictly her own, rushed forward, and helped to raise the +poor woman, declaring she knew who she was, and was placed with her by +the assistants in the hackney coach in which she was carried home. + +Lucy was naturally of a very kind and humane disposition; and her +care of the poor suffering woman during the transit to Miss +Lavington's--united to the kindness and assiduity with which, every one +else but the under-maid of all being absent, she tended and waited upon +her--so engaged Mrs. Saunders's affection, that afterward, during the +whole of the subsequent illness, which broken limbs and ribs occasioned +she made it her particular request to Miss Lavington that Lucy might be +spared from the work-room to nurse and keep her company; adding for that +lady's satisfaction, that though the best nurse, and nicest young girl +of the lot, she certainly, being the youngest, was the least of a +proficient in the peculiar art she followed. + + * * * * * + +The poor woman lay groaning piteously upon her bed, waiting the arrival +of the surgeon. The surgeon, an elderly man, was out of town, and could +not attend; a young man, appeared in his place. He had just joined +himself to the old man in the quality of assistant and future partner; +and hearing that the case, was one of an accident, and urgent, he +hurried to the house, resolving to send for more experienced assistance, +if such should be found necessary. + +He was shown up-stairs, and hastily entered the room in which the +sufferer lay. She was very much bruised about the chest, and she drew +her breath with difficulty; and though exceedingly weak and faint, was +unable to lie down. She was resting in the arms of one who appeared to +the young man like an angel. + +The lovely girl, with a face of the tenderest pity, was holding the poor +groaning woman upon one arm, bending over her with an air of almost +divine kindness, and softly wiping the dew-drops which in the agony came +starting upon the patient's brow. + +The young man received an impression which death alone effaced, though +the bright visionary glance was only momentary. He was instantly by the +side of his patient, and soon with much skill and courage doing what was +necessary for immediate relief, though at the very first moment when he +had discovered the serious nature of the case, he had begged the young +lady to tell Miss Lavington that it would be proper to send for some +surgeon of more experience and eminence than himself to take the +direction of it. + +"Don't go away," said Mrs. Saunders feebly, as Lucy was rising to obey. +"Don't send her away, mister--I can't do without her--Miss Lavington's +not at home--one need not ask her for _me_. Who should be sent for?" + +The young man named a gentleman high in his profession. Was it that able +and benevolent man whom the world has so lately lost? That kind, frank, +manly, courageous man of genius, whom no one approached but to find help +and comfort? I don't know--but be he who he might, when he did at length +arrive, he gave the most unqualified praise to the proceedings of our +young gentleman, and called the color to the pale cheek of the young and +serious-looking student by his approbation. He finished his visit by +assuring Mrs. Saunders that she could not be in safer hands than those +in which he had found her, and recommended her to put herself entirely +under the charge of the young practitioner, adding an assurance that he +would be ready at any instant to come if he should be wanted; and that +he would, at all events, and in once or twice as a friend during the +progress of the case. + +Mrs. Saunders liked the looks of the young man much--and who did not? +and was quite contented with this arrangement, to which as I told you, +was added the comfort of retaining Lucy Miles as her nurse and companion +during what threatened to be a very tedious confinement. Miss Lavington +well knew the value of a Mrs. Saunders in such an establishment as hers, +and was willing to make any sacrifice to forward her recovery. + +So Lucy left the wearying work-room and the dangerous recreations of the +Sunday, to sit and watch by the bed-side of a peevish, uncomfortable +sort of an old woman, who was perpetually making demands upon her +patience and good-nature, but who really suffered so greatly from her +accident, that Lucy's pity and kindness were proof against every thing. +The young surgeon went and came--went and came--and every time he came, +this angel of beauty and goodness was ministering by the old woman's +bed. And those eyes of his--eyes of such prevailing power in their +almost enthusiastic expression of serious earnestness--were bent upon +her; and sometimes her eyes, soft and melting as those of the dove, or +bright and lustrous as twin stars, met his. + +He could not but linger in the sick woman's room a little longer than +was necessary, and the sick woman unwittingly favored this, for she took +a great liking to him, and nothing seemed to refresh and amuse her amid +her pains like a little chat with this nice young man. And then the +young surgeon remarked that at such times Lucy was allowed to sit +quietly down and amuse herself with a little needlework, and he thought +this an excellent reason for making his visits as as long as he decently +could. + +The young nurse and the young doctor all this while had conversed very +little with each other; but she listened and she gazed, and that was +quite enough. The case proved a very serious one. Poor Mrs. Saunders, +superintendent as she was, and not workwoman-driver, not slave--yet +could no more than the rest escape the deleterious effects of the close +work room. Her constitution was much impaired. The wines and cordials +she had accustomed herself to take to support nature, as she thought, +under these fatigues, had increased the mischief the wounds would not +heal as they ought; contusions would not disperse; the internal injury +in the chest began to assume a very threatening appearance. Mr. L. came +to the assistance of the young surgeon repeatedly--all that human skill +could do was done, but Mrs. Saunders grew alarmingly worse. + +For a long time she resisted the evidence which her own sensations might +have afforded her and avoided asking any questions which might enlighten +her. She was determined not to die, and, even in a case so awfully +serious and real as this, people seem to cling to the persuasion so +prevailing in lighter circumstances, that because a thing _shan't_ be, +it won't be, and because they are determined it is not, it _is_ not. So, +for many days, Mrs. Saunders went on, exceedingly angry if every body +did not say she was getting better, and half inclined to dismiss her +young surgeon, much as she liked him, because he looked grave after he +had visited her injuries. + +He _did_ look grave, very grave. He was exceedingly perplexed in his +mind as to what he ought to do: young surgeon as he was, fresh from +those schools which, alas! so many who are acquainted with them +represent as the very nurseries of infidelity and license both in speech +and action, he was a deeply, seriously pious man. Such young men there +are, who, like those three, walking unscathed through the furnace of +fire in the faith of the Lord their God, walk through a more terribly +destructive furnace--the furnace of temptation--in the same faith, and +"upon their bodies the fire hath no power, neither is a hair of the head +singed." + +In what tears, in what prayers, in what anguished hope, what fervent +aspiration, this sole treasure of a widowed mother, steeped in poverty +to the very lips, had been reared, it would be long to tell; but she had +committed him to one _never_ found faithless, and under that blessing +she had found in her pure and disinterested love for the being intrusted +to her charge, that which had given her an eloquence, and a power, and a +strength, which had told upon the boy. + +He proved one of those rare creatures who pass through every stage of +existence, as child, as schoolboy, as youth; through nursery, school, +college, marked as some bright peculiar being--peculiar only in this one +thing, sincere unaffected goodness. His religion had been, indeed, with +him a thing little professed, and rarely talked about, but it had been a +holy panoply about his heart--a bright shield, which had quenched all +the darts of evil: it shone around him like something of the radiance +from a higher world. There was a sort of a glory round the young saint's +head. + +Such being the man, you will not be surprised to hear that his practice +called forth most serious reflections--most melancholy and sad +thoughts--and in no sick room where he had ever attended more than in +the present one. + +He could not frequent the house as much as his attendance rendered +necessary without being pretty well aware of the spirit of the place; +and while he grieved over the ruinous waste of health to which these +young creatures were exposed, he was struck to the heart with horror at +the idea of their moral ruin. + +Mrs. Saunders talked openly and unreservedly, and betrayed the state of +mind she was in: so completely, so entirely devoted to, wrapt up in, +buried fathoms and fathoms deep in the things of this world: so totally +lost to--so entirely to seek in every thing connected with another: that +the large, mournful, serious eye, as it turned to the sweet young +creature sitting beside her, and passing her daily life in an element +such as this, gazed with an expression of sad and tender pity such as +the minister of heaven might cast upon a perishing soul. + +She did not quite understand all this. Those looks of interest, so +inexpressibly sweet to her, she thought were excited by the view of her +position as affected her health and comfort. She thought it was that +consumption which, sooner or later, she believed must be her fate, which +he was anticipating with so much compassion. She was blind to the far +more dreadful dangers which surrounded her. + +Poor Mrs. Saunders! At last it could no longer be concealed from her. +She must die. + +He broke the intelligence to her in the gentlest terms, as she, at last, +in a paroxysm of terror, asked the question; giving her what hope he +could, but still not denying that she stood in a fearful strait. It was +a terrible scene that followed. Such a frightful agitation and hurry to +accomplish in a few counted hours what ought to have been the business +of a life. Such calling for psalms and prayers; such piteous beseechings +for help; and, last of all, such an awful awakening of a slumbering +conscience. + +Like Richard's bed, on the eve of Bosworth fight, it seemed as if the +spectral shadows of all those she had injured in the body or the soul, +by her unerring demands upon one, and her negligence as to the other, +rose a host of dismal spectres round. Their pale, exhausted, pleading +looks, as she scolded and threatened, when the clock struck one, and the +task was yet undone, and the head for a moment dropped, and the +throbbing fingers were still. Those hollow coughs in which she would +_not_ believe--those hectic flushes that she would not see--and worse, +those walks, those letters, at which she had connived, because the girls +did so much better when they had some nonsense to amuse them. + +What fearful revelations were made as she raved aloud, or sank into a +drowsy, dreary delirium The old clergyman, who attended her, consoled, +and reasoned, and prayed in vain. The two young people--that lovely +girl, and that feeling, interesting, young man--stood by the bed +appalled: he, ghastly pale--pale with an agony of despairing pity--she, +trembling in every limb. + +The death agony, and then that poor woman went to her account. There was +no one in the room but themselves; it was late in the night, the +morning, indeed, began faintly to dawn. The maids were all gone to bed, +glad enough to escape the scene. He stood silently watching the +departing breath. It stopped. He gave a deep sigh, and, stooping down, +piously closed the eyes. She had turned away in horror and in dread, but +shedding some natural tears. He stood looking at her some time, as there +she stood, weeping by the bed; at last he spoke. + +"This may seem a strange time to choose, but I have something to say to +you. Will you listen to me?" + +She took her handkerchief from her eyes, and gazed at him with a +wondering, grave sort of look, as a child might do. His voice had +something so very remarkable in it. + +He passed to the side where she was standing, and said, "I am a very, +very poor man, and I have a helpless mother entirely dependent upon me +for support, and, if it were my last morsel of bread, ay, and wife and +children were perishing for want of it, it is _she_ who should have it." + +She only looked at him wondering like. + +"This is a fearful precipice upon which you stand. That poor creature +has sunk into the gulf which yawns beneath your feet. May God, in his +mercy, look upon her! But you, beautiful as one of heaven's angels--as +yet pure and sinless as a child--must you fall, sink, perish, in this +mass of loathsome corruption? Better starve, better die--far, far +better." + +"Alas, alas!" she cried, with a scared and terrified look, "Alas! alas! +ten hundred thousand times better. Oh, what must I do? what must I do?" + +"Take up your cross: venture upon the hardships of a poor man's wife. +Discard all the prides, and pomps, and vanities--the vain, vain +delusions of flattery: trample upon the sin, triumph over the +temptation. Put yourself under the protection of an honest man, who +loves you from his soul. Starve, if it must be, but die the death of the +righteous and pure." + +She gazed at him, amazed; she did not yet understand him. + +"Marry _me_. Come to my blessed, my excellent mother's roof. It is +homely, but it is honest; and let us labor and suffer together, if need +be. It is all I can offer you, but it will save you." + +The arms, the beautiful arms were expanded, as it were, in a very agony +of joy. The face! oh, was it not glorious in its beauty then! Did he +ever forget it? + +And so the contract was sealed, and so she was rescued from the pit of +destruction into which she was rapidly sinking. + +And this it was that had excited such impassioned, such lasting, such +devoted feelings of gratitude to Him who rules the course of this world, +in a heart which had only to be shown what was good to embrace it. + +Fisher was all he had said; extremely poor. His salary, as assistant, +was handsome, nevertheless. He received one hundred a year and his board +from the gentleman with whom he was; but his dress, which was +necessarily rather expensive, and his mother, who had only an annuity of +twelve pounds a year, consumed it all. Still you see he was by no means +actually starving; and he thought the young wife he was going to bring +home would be no very great addition to his expenses, and he trusted, if +children came, that he should, by his exertions, be able to provide for +them. In two years his engagement with the present gentleman as his +assistant would be at an end; and he had received from the old man, who +was a sort of humorist in his way, several very strong hints about +partnership, if he would be satisfied with a reasonable share. +Partnership would, in the course of time, he knew, become sole +proprietorship, at the death or retirement of his aged patron--one of +which events could not be very far distant. + +It was, therefore, with great satisfaction, after having summoned the +necessary attendance, and sent his young betrothed to rest, that Fisher +walked home on a fine fresh morning. + +It was true he had taken a step most people would call very imprudent, +thus to encumber himself with a young wife at the very outset of his +career; certainly, he had never intended any such thing. He had always +resolved to be patient, and have a little store of money by him, before +he persuaded any one to begin the world with him. He could not bear the +idea of all being dependent upon his own life, and risking the chance of +leaving a widow and a young family destitute. But this was an +exceptional case, for he could not, without trembling, contemplate the +dangers which surrounded this young and innocent girl. His medical +knowledge taught him but too well the perils to the health of one so +fresh and blooming, from labors in close rooms to which she was so +little accustomed--death stared her in the face, unless she escaped it +by means at which he shuddered to think. + +The only way in which he, young as he was, could possibly help her, was +to withdraw her from the dangerous scene and make her his wife; and on +that step he had been for some days resolving. The emotion she had +shown, the timorous joy, the sweet confidence in his love and honor, had +given a rapturous feeling of happiness to him quite new. He had intended +benevolently and kindly; he had met with all the blessings of sincere +attachment. + +Instead of walking to Mrs. Stedman's to take some rest, which he very +much needed, he went to his mother's house, or rather the house where he +had taken a snug little apartment for his mother. + +It lay somewhere out Brompton way; in which district neat rows of small +houses are to be found looking backward upon pleasant greens and +gardens. There he had found a modest little suite of apartments; one +sitting-room and two bedrooms--a room for his mother and another +sometimes occupied by himself. + +The little hut, a tiny place it was, was clean to the greatest nicety, +and though fitted up in the very simplest and cheapest manner, had an +air of perfect comfort. The walls were stained green, the drugget upon +the floor was pink and fawn; the chairs were covered with what used to +be called Manchester stripe--very clean and pleasant-looking, and +excellent for wash and wear. There was a pretty little table for tea and +dinner, and a nice, round three-clawed one close by the mother's +side--who was established in the only article of luxury in the room, a +very comfortable arm-chair. There the old lady passed her life. + +She had lost the use of her lower limbs for some years; but her health +of body and mind in other respects was sound. The only thing for which +the son had as yet _coveted_ a little more money, had been that he might +possess the means to give his mother the enjoyment of exercise and air; +and when he passed young men, the very pictures of health and strength, +lounging idly in their carriages, as one sometimes does in the Park, +though not given to such nonsense, he could not help uttering a secret +exclamation against the inequalities of fortune, and thinking the +blindness of the goddess of the wheel no fable. + +They were but passing thoughts these, such as the best have when they +languish for the means of bestowing good. + +Such indulgences, however, were rarely to be thought of, though now and +then he managed to obtain them; but as the best compensation he could +make, he paid a few guineas a year more for this pretty apartment, of +which the back room, elongated into a little bow-window, formed the +sitting-room--what would have been the front sitting-room being divided +into the two bedrooms. This pleasant bow-window looked over a row of +gardens belonging to the neighboring houses, and these to a considerable +tract of nursery-ground filled with rows of fruit trees, and all the +cheerful pleasant objects to be seen in such places. In summer the +arm-chair was wheeled to the window, and the whole of the view was +disclosed to the old lady; in winter it returned to the fire; but even +there she did not lose her pretty view altogether, the room was so +little that from her place she might easily command it. Miss Martineau, +in a book of hers, has given us a most valuable and interesting account +of the way in which, during a tedious and most trying illness, her +active spirit confined to one place, she used to amuse herself, and +while away the time by looking out of her window through her telescope +and watching all that was going on. This old lady did much the same, +minus the good telescope, which she had not. Her son, however, had +presented her with an old-fashioned opera-glass, which he had picked up +at some second-hand retailer or other, and as it was a good one, and, +moreover, very light to the hand, it did as well for her and better. + +In some things the old lady had a little resemblance to Miss Martineau. +She had the same cheerful activity of mind, the same readiness of +adapting herself to circumstances--things in a great measure +constitutional. She was, moreover, a very shrewd, sensible woman, and +deeply pious--pious in the most excellent way: really, vitally, +seriously. She came of a good old puritan stock, where piety had been +cherished from generation to generation. Some physiologists say, that +even the _acquired_ moral qualities and habits descend to the succeeding +generation. It is possible an aptness for good or evil may be, and often +is, inherited from those who have gone before. It would seem to have +been so in this case. The pious father and mother, children of as pious +parents, had left this pious daughter--and her excellencies had +descended in accumulated measure to her son. This old lay had been +sorely tried--death and poverty had done their worst--except in as far +as the cruel ravager had spared her this one boy, one of many children, +all followed the delicate, consumptive man who had been their father. +She had borne it all. Strong in faith, she had surrendered her treasures +to the Lord of Life, in trust that they should be found again when he +maketh up his jewels. Cheerful as was her temper, life's course had been +too rough with her, for her to value it very much, when those lovely, +promising buds, but half disclosed, were one after the other gathered. +But she had escaped that racking agony of the loving, but too faithless +mother--when all the sweets of nature in its abundance flow around her, +and _they_ are not there to enjoy. + + "When suns shine bright o'er heaven's blue vault serene, + Birds sing in trees, and sweet flowers deck the plain, + Weep I for thee, who in the cold, cold grave + Sleep, and all nature's harmony is vain. + But when dark clouds and threat'ning storms arise, + And doubt and fear my trembling soul invade; + My heart one comfort owns, _thou_ art not here, + Safe slumbering, in the earth's kind bosom laid." + +She was happier far than the author of these lines. + +She looked upward; she almost saw those she had lost, the objects of a +glorious resurrection--already living in the ineffable presence of the +God whom they had so faithfully endeavored to serve. + +I need not tell you, after this, that her spirits were subdued to a holy +calmness and composure. + +Her life had been one of the most active endeavors after usefulness. The +good she had managed to do can scarcely be calculated. Grains of sand +they might be, these hoarded minutes, but it was golden sand; the heap +accumulated was large and precious, at the end of sixty-five years. + +What money she had possessed she had expended courageously in giving a +professional education to her son. Her little annuity of twelve pounds a +year was all she had saved for herself. Upon that she believed with her +own exertions, she could manage to exist till her son was able to +support both; but she had been struck down earlier than she calculated +upon. She had at this time lost the use of her lower limbs altogether, +and was visited with such trembling in her hands, that she was obliged +to close the task abruptly, and to sit down dependent upon her son +before she had expected it. + +It had been very trying work till he obtained his present situation, and +he still felt very poor, because he was resolved every year to lay +twenty pounds or so by, that, in case any thing should happen to him, +his mother might have some little addition to her means provided. He was +rather strangely provident for the case of his own death; so young man +as he was; perhaps he felt the faltering spring of life within, which +he had inherited from his father. + +Three years the mother and son had thus lived together, and Fisher was +master of sixty pounds. + +He had never allowed himself to cast a thought upon marriage, though of +a temper ardently to desire, and rapturously to enjoy, domestic +felicity. He said to himself he must first provide for his mother's +independence, and then think about his own happiness. But the accident +which had brought him and Lucy together had produced other +thoughts--thoughts which he had, but the very day before the nursing so +suddenly closed, communicated to his mother, and she had said, + +"I think you are quite right, John. Imprudent marriages are, in most +cases, very wrong things--a mere tempting of Providence: and, that no +blessing follows such tempting, we know from the best authority: but +this is a most pious, benevolent, and very rational attempt to save a +fellow-creature upon the brink of destruction, and I think it would be a +want of faith, as well as a want of common humanity, in either of us to +hesitate; I am very glad she seems such a sweet, innocent, pretty +creature, for your sake, my darling John; I hope she will bring a +blessing into your dwelling and repay you for your goodness to me; I am +sorry she must come and live with your old mother, for young wives don't +like that--but I promise you I will do my very best to be as amiable as +an old woman can; and, moreover, I will neither be cross nor +disappointed if she is not always as amiable as a young woman ought to +be. Will that do? Yes, yes; fetch her away from that sink of iniquity, +and we'll all get along somehow or other, never fear." + +And so Lucy Miles, blushing like a rose, and, as her young and delighted +husband thought, more beauteous than an angel of light, was in a few +weeks married to John Fisher, and she went home to the old lady. + + "Amid the smoke of cities did you pass + The time of early youth, and there you learnt + From years of quiet industry to love + The living beings of your own fire-side." + +The eloquent tongue of Fisher had over and over again related with deep +feeling the history of all he owed to his mother, and Lucy, far from +feeling inclined to be jealous of the devoted affection he felt for her, +like a good loving girl as she was, extended the ardent attachment she +felt toward her husband to every thing that belonged to him. + +She had lost her own parents, whom she had loved exceedingly, though +they were quite ordinary people. She soon almost worshiped old Mrs. +Fisher. + +Lucy had been little improved by those who had the rearing of her; she +was a girl of excellent dispositions, but her education had been +commonplace. In the society of the old lady her good gifts, both of head +and heart, expanded rapidly. The passionate desire she felt to render +herself worthy of her husband, whom she adored almost as some superior +being, made her an apt and docile pupil. + +A few years thus spent, and you would scarcely have known her again. Her +piety was deep, and had become a habit--a part of her very soul; her +understanding naturally excellent, had been developed and strengthened; +the most earnest desire to perform her part well--to do good and extend +virtue and happiness, and to sweeten the lives of all with whom she had +to do, had succeeded to thoughtless good nature, and a sort of +instinctive kindness. Anxiety for her husband's health, which constantly +oppressed her, a sort of trembling fear that she should be bereaved +early of this transcendent, being; this it was, perhaps, which enhanced +the earnest, serious tone of one so young. + +She was extremely industrious, in the hope of adding to her husband's +means of rest and recreation, and the accidental acquaintance with a +French _modiste_, who had fallen ill in London, was in great distress, +and whom Fisher attended through charity, had put her into the way of +improving herself in this art more than she could have done even in that +eminent school, the work-room of Miss Lavington. The French-woman was a +very amiable, and pious person, too. She was a French Protestant; the +connection ripened into friendship, and it ended by placing Mrs. Fisher +in the state of life in which we find her. Fisher fell desperately ill +in consequence of a fever brought on at a dissection, from which he +narrowly escaped with life; the fever left him helpless and incapable of +exertion. The poor mother was by this time dead; he succeeded to the +vacant arm-chair. Then his wife resolved upon doing that openly which +she had till now done covertly, merely working for the bazaars. She +persuaded her husband, when a return to his profession appeared +hopeless, to let her employ his savings in setting up business with +Madame Noel, and from small beginnings had reached that high place in +her profession which she now occupied. + + * * * * * + +No sooner had Mrs. Fisher established a working-room of her own, and +engaged several young women to labor under her superintendence, than the +attention of her husband was seriously turned to the subject of those +evils from which he had rescued his wife. + +She had suffered much, and experienced several of the evils consequent +upon the manner such places were managed; but she would probably not +have reflected upon the causes of these evils, nor interested herself so +deeply as she afterward did in applying the remedies, if it had not been +for the promptings of this excellent man. + +His medical skill made him thoroughly aware of the injurious effect +produced upon the health by the ill-regulated system of such +establishments; and his thoughts, as he sat resigned to helplessness in +his arm-chair, were seriously directed to that subject. + +In consequence of his suggestions it was that Mrs. Fisher began her life +of business upon a plan of her own, to which she steadily adhered. At +first she found considerable difficulty in carrying it out--there are +always numerous obstructions to be met with in establishing any +improvements; but where the object is rational and benevolent, +perseverance and a determined will triumph over every difficulty. + +The first thing Fisher insisted upon was ventilation; the second, +warmth; the third, plenty of good, wholesome, and palatable food; the +fourth, exercise. He determined upon a house being selected which was +not closely built up behind, and that the room in which the young ladies +worked should be large and commodious in proportion to the inmates. A +portion of the little money he had saved was sacrificed to the +additional expense thus incurred. He looked upon it, he told his wife, +as given to charity, for which she must expect no return, and for which +he should look for no interest. A good wide grate, which should be well +supplied with a cheerful fire in winter, was to assist the ventilation +proceeding from a scientific plan of his own, which kept the room +constantly supplied with a change of air; and under the table at which +the girls sat at work, there was in winter a sort of long, square, +wooden pipe filled with hot water and covered with carpeting, upon which +they could put their feet: the extreme coldness of the feet arising from +want of circulation, being one of the causes to which Fisher attributed +many of the maladies incident to this mode of life. + +The next object of attention was the table. Fisher had been at school, +at one or two different schools, resembling each other in one thing +only--the scandalous--I must use the strong and offensive word--the +scandalous neglect or worse than neglect--the infamous and base +calculations upon the subject of food which pervaded the system of those +schools, and which pervaded, I am sorry to say, so many of the schools +with which he had chanced to be acquainted. In the course of his +practice as a medical man, his opportunities for observation had been +above the common. + +In fine ladies' schools, I can not assert that the shameful economy of +buying inferior provisions, and the shameful indifference as to how they +were cooked, which prevail in so many boys' schools, were to be +found--but a fault almost equally great prevailed too generally. There +was not _enough_. These growing girls, stimulated to most unnatural +exertions both of body and mind, peculiarly unnatural to growing girls +who require so much care, fresh air, exercise, and rest, for their due +development--these young things had very rarely nearly so much to eat as +they could have eaten. + +Sometimes enough was literally not set before them; at others, a sort of +fashion in the school to consider a good appetite as a proof of +coarseness, greediness, and vulgarity, worked but too effectually upon +these sensitive creatures. A girl at that age would rather be starved +than ridiculed or sneered at for eating. + +But in boys' schools--expensive boys' schools too--where six times as +much was paid for a boy's board as would have boarded him--either +through scandalous parsimony, or the most inexcusable negligence, he had +seen meat brought into the house not fit to eat; cheap and bad in +itself, but rendered doubly unwholesome in summer by the most utter +carelessness as to whether it was fresh. Boys are hardy things, and it +is right they should not be accustomed to be too nice; but wholesome, +plain roast and boiled is what they pay for and ought to have; and the +defrauding them of what is so necessary to health, vigor, and even +intellect, in this unprincipled manner, is almost the very worst form of +robbery any man can be guilty of. + +Fisher was resolved it should not be so in his wife's house. He and his +wife had agreed that the young ladies she employed should be lodged and +boarded under her roof, unless they had respectable parents who could +and would be fully answerable for them; and they should have a plentiful +and a pleasant table--that he was resolved upon. As he was competent to +little else, he took this matter upon himself. He calculated what ought +fairly to be laid out, and he laid it all out. He would not economize a +penny. If he was able to make a good bargain with his butcher, the young +ladies, not he, should have the benefit of it all. They should have a +bit of fish, or a little poultry, or a little good fruit, poor girls, to +vary a meal, to which they could not bring the sturdy appetite of much +out-of-door exercise. + +Then came the great chapter of that exercise. There was the +difficulty--how much time could Mrs. Fisher possibly afford to lose?--to +abandon to this object?--for the work must _pay_--or it could not +continue to be done. But the difficulty diminished upon examination. +Time may be counted by strength as well as by minutes. The same thing +may, by two different hands, be accomplished in most unequal portions of +time. + +The dreadful feeling of weariness, which, as Lucy, she so well +remembered--one consequence of sitting so long in an unchanged position, +and at the same employment--that dreadful feeling could not be forgotten +by her. Her horror at the recollection was so strong, that of this +matter she thought more than even her benevolent husband. + +He recollected to have heard that the Jesuits, those masters of human +development, physical as well as intellectual, never suffered a pupil to +be employed more than two hours upon the same thing without a change--to +get up and turn round the chair--to pace five minutes up and down the +room would in many cases suffice. Mr. Fisher laid down his plan. + +Two hours the young ladies worked, and then for ten minutes they were +allowed to lay down their needles; they might walk about the room, into +the passage, up and down stairs, or sit still and lounge. That +precious, useful _lounge_, so fatally denied to the wearied spine of +many a growing girl, was here permitted. They might look about them, or +close their eyes and be stupefied; in short, do just what they liked. + +It was soon found by experience that the work done after this refreshing +pause more than made up for the time thus expended. + +Such were some of the plans of this kind-hearted and highly-principled +man--and the blooming looks, the gay spirits, the bright eyes, of the +happy little community did credit to the scheme. + +Fisher lived but a few years to carry out the rule he had instituted; +but to his wife it was as a sacred legacy from his hand, and during the +whole course of her subsequent life she faithfully adhered to it. + +Her house was like a convent in some things, but it was a very happy +convent. Every thing proceeded with a clock-work order, and yet there +was a liberty such as few girls thus employed, in spite of their +intervals of license, could enjoy. + +It was a happy party, over which this remarkably handsome, and now +distinguishedly fashionable milliner, and dignified-looking lady +presided. Nothing indiscreet or unseemly was ever permitted. The rule, +perhaps, might be a little too grave, and the manner of the young ladies +too sedate; but they were innocent and good; and they had their +recreations, for Mrs. Fisher look them out, turn and turn about, upon a +Sunday, in her carriage, and the others walked with the two +superintendents--persons carefully selected for their good principles +and good conduct. + +Mrs. Fisher, too, was a little bit of a match-maker; and if she had a +weakness, it was her fondness for settling her young ladies. Nothing +pleased her better than when they were sought--and they were such nice, +well-behaved girls, this often happened--by worthy young men in their +own rank of life. Mrs. Fisher always gave the wedding-gown and bonnet, +and the wedding dinner, and a white satin reticule or bag, drawn with +rose-colored ribbons, with a pretty pink and white purse in it, with +silver tassels and rings, and containing a nice little sum for the +bride's pocket-money. You will easily understand how Mrs. Danvers had +struck up quite a friendship with Mrs. Fisher. Once, indeed, in her days +of youth and gayety, she had been one of her most valuable customers. +She had long done with fine things, but the interest she took in the +affairs of Mrs. Fisher's establishment had endeared her very much to +that good lady, and hence she had, at her earnest request, consented to +take Myra, though her own instinct, the moment she cast her eyes upon +this beautiful, dawdling-looking being, had assured her that she was, to +use her own phrase, not one of _her_ sort. + +Myra was grievously disappointed, upon her side. She was quite one to be +blind to the solid advantages of her position, and to look with +querulous regret upon all the flashy and brilliant part of such a +business, in which she was not allowed to take the least share. + +Precisely because she was so beautiful did Mrs. Fisher exclude her from +the show-room--that theatre which was to have been the scene of her +triumphs. + +The beautiful things she was employed in manufacturing left her hands to +be seen no more--and, alas! never by her to be tried on. It was +tantalizing work to part with them, and forever, as soon as they left +her hand. + +Then she was obliged to be punctual to a moment in her hours; a grievous +yoke to her who had never been educated to submit to any. To dress with +the most careful attention to neatness, though there was "nothing but a +pack of women to look at her"--to listen to "a prosy book"--a book, I +forgot to say, was read aloud in the work-room--instead of gossiping and +having a little fun; and to walk out on Sundays under the wing of that +old, hideous harridan, Mrs. Sterling, instead of going with her +companions where she pleased. In short, it was worse "than negro +slavery," but there was no help for it--there she was, and there she was +obliged to stay. + +Well, and did she improve under this good discipline? Was she any the +better for it? I am sorry to say very little. + +There are subjects that are almost unimprovable. She was, by nature, a +poor, shallow, weedy thing; her education had been the worst possible +for her. Evil habits, false views, low aims, had been imbibed, and not +one fault corrected while young; and self-experience, which rectifies in +most so much that is wrong, seemed to do nothing for her. There was no +substance to work upon. Mrs. Fisher was soon heartily tired of her, and +could have regretted her complaisance to Mrs. Danvers' wishes in +receiving her against her judgment; but she was too good to send her +away. She laughed, and accepted her as a penance for her sins, she +said--as a thorn in the flesh--and she let the thorn rankle there. She +remembered her honored Fisher, and the scene by the bed-side of poor +Saunders. She looked upon the endurance of this plague as a fresh +offering to the adored memory. + +She bore this infliction like a martyr for a long time; at last a smart +young tailor fell in love with Myra at church--a place where he had been +better employed thinking of other things. And so I believe he thought +after he had married her, in spite of the white dress and silk bonnet, +and the reticule with pink ribbons, and the bride's pocket-money, which +Mrs. Fisher bestowed with more pleasure and alacrity than even she had +been known to do upon many a worthier subject. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Yet once more, oh, ye laurels, and once more, + Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, + I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, + And with forced fingers rude, + Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. + Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear, + Compels me--" + + MILTON'S _Lycidas_. + +I must beg of you to slip over a portion of time, and to suppose about +two years passed over our heads, and we return to Lettice, who has +passed that period at General Melwyn's. + +So useful, so cheerful, so thoroughly good, so sincerely pious, so +generously disinterested she was; and the transformation she had +accomplished was astonishing. + +And was she as happy herself as she made others? Nobody at the Hazels +thought of exactly asking that question. And yet they might have +reflected a little, and inquired, whether to one, the source of so much +comfort to others, the natural felicity of her age was not denied? + +Could a young being like _her_ be _very_ happy, living with two old +people, and without one single companion of her own age? Without +prospect, without interest in that coming life, which the young +imagination paints in such lovely colors? + +One may boldly affirm she was _not_ so happy as she deserved to be, and +that it was quite impossible, with a heart formed for every tender +affection as was hers, that she _should_. + +She began to be visited by a troublesome guest, which in the days of +hardship she had never known. The very ease which surrounded her, the +exemption from all necessity for laborious industry actually increasing +the evil, gradually seemed to grow upon her. There was a secret distaste +for life--a void in the heart, not filled by natural affections--a +something which asked for tenderer relations, more earnest duties--a +home--a household--a family of her own! + +She blamed herself very much when first this little secret feeling of +dissatisfaction and discontent began to steal over her. How could she be +so ungrateful? She had every comfort in the world--more, much more, than +she had any title to expect; infinitely more than many far more +deserving than herself were allowed to enjoy. Why could she not have the +same light contented spirit within her breast, that had carried her +triumphantly through so many hardships, and enlivened so many clouded +days? + +Poor Lettice! It was vain to find fault with herself. Life would seem +flat. The mere routine of duties, unsweetened by natural affection, +would weary the spirit at times. There was a sweetness wanting to +existence--and existence, without that invigorating sweetness, is to the +best of us a tedious and an exhausting thing. + +So thought Catherine, when, about eighteen months or two years after her +marriage, she came for the first time with Edgar to visit her father +and mother. + +The regimental duties of the young officer had carried him to the Ionian +Islands very shortly after his marriage; promotion had brought him home, +and he and his young and happy wife, with a sweet infant of about twelve +months old, hastened down to the Hazels to visit Catherine's parents. + +I pass over the joy of the meeting--I pass over the satisfaction felt by +Catherine at the happy revolution which had taken place--at her father's +improved temper, her mother's more tranquil spirits, the absence of +Randall, and the general good behavior which pervaded the household. + +She looked upon every member of it with satisfaction except one; and +that was the very one who ought to have been the happiest; for she was +the cause and the origin of all this happiness. But Lettice did not, she +thought, look as she used to do; her eyes had lost something of their +vivacity; and the good heart of Catherine was grieved. + +"It pains me so, Edgar--you can not think," she said to her husband, as +she walked, leaning upon his arm, through the pleasant groves and +gardens of the Hazels. "I can scarcely enjoy my own happiness for +thinking of her. Poor, dear, she blames herself so for not being +perfectly happy--as if one could have effects without causes--as if the +life she leads here could make any one perfectly happy. Not one thing to +enjoy--for as to her comfortable room, and the good house, and the +pretty place, and all that sort of thing, a person soon gets used to it, +and it shuts out uneasiness, but it does not bring delight, at least to +a young thing of that age. Child of the house as I was, and early days +as they were with me when you were among us, Edgar--I never knew what +true happiness was till then--that is, I should very soon have felt a +want of some object of interest; though it _was_ my own father and +mother--" + +"So I took the liberty to lay before you, my fair haranguer, if you +recollect, when you made so many difficulties about carrying my +knapsack." + +"Ah! that was because it seemed so heartless, so cruel, to abandon my +parents just when they wanted me so exceedingly. But what a debt of +gratitude I owe to this dear Lettice for settling all these matters so +admirably for me." + +"I am glad you confess to a little of that debt, which I, on my part, +feel to be enormous." + +"I heartily wish there were any means of paying it. I wish I could make +Lettice as happy as she has made all of us." + +The young officer shook his handsome head. + +"Mammas in our rank of life make such a point of endeavoring to settle +their daughters--to start them in households of their own--where, if +they are exposed to many troubles which they escape under their father's +roof, they have many more interests and sources of happiness. But there +is nobody to think of such matters as connegated with this poor +fatherless and motherless girl." + +"Mothers, even in your rank, my love, don't always succeed in +accomplishing this momentous object. I don't see what possible chance +there is for one in Lettice's condition--except the grand one, the +effective one--in my opinion almost the only one, namely, the chapter of +accidents." + +"Ah! that chapter of accidents! It is a poor dependence." + +"Nay, Catherine, that is not said with your usual piety." + +"True--I am sorry--and yet, where another's happiness is concerned, one +feels as if it were wrong to trust too much--even to Providence; with +great reverence be it said--I mean, that in no given event can we +exactly tell how much we are expected to use our own exertions, how much +diligence on our part is required of us, in order to produce a happy +result." + +"I agree with you quite and entirely; and if there is a thing that +angers me beyond measure, it is to see a pious person fold his +hands--sit down and trust the happiness of another to, as he says, +Providence. If I have any just idea of Providence, an ample retribution +will be in store for these sort of religionists." + +"Well, that is just as I feel--but in a sort of confused way. You say +those things so much better than I do, Edgar." + +"Do I? Well, that is news to me." + +"But to return. Can not we do something for this good creature?" + +"I don't exactly see that we can do. Besides, there is your poor mother. +Would you pull down all her little edifice of happiness, by taking +Lettice away from her?" + +"That is a terrible consideration; and yet what was true of me is doubly +and trebly true of Lettice. My darling mother would not hear of me +relinquishing my happiness upon her account--and ought Lettice to be +allowed to make such a sacrifice?" + +"Well, well, my dear, it is time enough to begin to deprecate such a +sacrifice when the opportunity for it occurs, but I own I see little +hope of a romance for your poor, dear Lettice, seeing that an important +personage in such matters, namely, a hero, seems to me to be utterly out +of the question. There is not a young gentleman within twenty miles, so +far as I can see, that is in the least likely to think of the good +girl." + +"Alas, no! that is the worst of it." + +But the romance of Lettice's life was nearer than they imagined. + + * * * * * + +The visit of Catherine at the Hazels cheered up Lettice very much; and +in the delights of a little society with those of her own age, she soon +forgot all her quarrels with herself; and brushed away the cobwebs which +were gathering over her brain. She was enchanted, too, with the baby, +and as she felt that, while Catherine was with her mother, she rather +interfered with, than increased Mrs. Melwyn's enjoyment, she used to +indulge herself with long walks through the beautiful surrounding +country, accompanying the nurse and helping to carry the babe. + +She visited several lonely places and remote cottages, where she had +never been before; and began to feel a new interest given to existence +when she was privileged to assist others under the pressure of that want +and misery which she understood but too well. One evening she and the +nurse had strayed in a new direction, and did not exactly know where +they were. Very far from the house she was aware it could not be, by the +time she had been absent, but they had got into one of those deep, +hollow lanes, from which it is impossible to catch a glimpse of the +surrounding country: those lanes so still, and so beautiful, with their +broken sandy banks, covered with tufts of feathering grass, with peeping +primroses and violets, and barren strawberries between; the beech and +ash of the copses casting their slender branches across, and checkering +the way with innumerable broken lights! While, may be, as was here the +case, a long pebbly stream runs sparkling and shining upon one side of +the way, forming ten thousand little pools and waterfalls as it courses +along. + +Charmed with the scene, Lettice could not prevail upon herself to turn +back till she had pursued her way a little farther. At last a turn in +the lane brought her to a lowly and lonely cottage, which stood in a +place where the bank had a little receded, and the ground formed a small +grassy semicircle, with the steep banks rising all around it--here stood +the cottage. + +It was an ancient, picturesque looking thing, built one knows not when. +I have seen one such near Stony Cross in Hampshire, which the tradition +of the county affirms to be the very identical cottage into which the +dying William Rufus was carried, and I am half inclined to believe it. + +Their deep heavy roofs, huge roof-trees, little low walls and small +windows, speak of habits of life very remote from our own--and look to +me as if like a heap of earth--a tumulus--such edifices might stand +unchanged for tens of ages. + +The cottage before us was of this description, and had probably been a +woodman's hut when the surrounding country was all one huge forest. The +walls were not more than five feet high, over which hung the deep and +heavy roof, covered with moss, and the thatch was overlaid with a heap +of black mould, which afforded plentiful nourishment to stonecrops, and +various tufts of beautifully feathered grass, which waved in fantastic +plumes over it. The door, the frame of which was all aslant, seemed +almost buried in, and pressed down by this roof, placed in which were +two of those old windows which show that the roof itself formed the +upper chamber of the dwelling. A white rose bush was banded up on one +side of this door; a rosemary tree upon the other; a little border with +marigolds, lemon thyme and such like pot-herbs, ran round the house, +which lay in a tiny plot of ground carefully cultivated as a garden. +Here a very aged man, bent almost double as it would seem with the +weight of years, was very languidly digging or attempting it. + +The nurse was tired, so was the babe, so was Lettice. They agreed to ask +the old man's leave to enter the cottage, and sit down a little, before +attempting to return home. + +"May we go in, good man, and rest ourselves a little while?" asked +Lettice. + +"Anan--" + +"Will you give us leave to go in and rest ourselves a little? We are +both tired with carrying the baby." + +"I don't know well what it is you're saying. How many miles to +Brainford? Maybe two; but it's a weary while sin' I've been there." + +"He can't understand us, nurse, at all. He seems almost stone deaf. Let +us knock at the door, and see who's within, for you look ready to drop; +and I am so excessively tired I can hardly help you. However, give me +your sleeping babe at all events, for you really seem as if you could +stand no longer." + +She took the child, which had long been fast asleep, went to the cottage +door, and knocked. + +"Come in," said a voice. + +Not such a voice as she expected to hear, but a sweet, well-modulated +voice, that of a person of education. A man's voice, however, it was. +She hesitated a little, upon which some one rose and opened the door, +but started back upon seeing a young lady with a child in her arms, +looking excessively tired, and as if she could hold up no longer. + +"Pray, come in," he said, observing she hesitated, and, retreating back +a little as he spoke, showed a small bed not far from the fire, standing +in the chimney place, as it is called. In this bed lay a very aged +woman. A large, but very, very ancient Bible lay open upon the bed, and +a chair a little pushed back was standing near it. It would seem that +the young gentleman had risen from the chair where he to all appearance +had been reading the Bible to the bed-ridden old woman. "Pray, come in, +and sit down," he repeated, holding the door to let Lettice enter. "You +look exceedingly tired. The place is very humble but perfectly clean, +and poor old Betty Rigby will be very happy to give you leave to enter." + +The young man who spoke was dressed in deep black; but as there was a +crape band round his hat which lay upon the table, it would seem that he +was in mourning, and possibly, therefore, not a clergyman. He was +something above the middle height; but his figure was spoiled by its +extreme thinness, and a stoop in the shoulder which seemed to be the +effect of weakness. His face was very thin, and his cheek perfectly +pale; but his features were beautifully proportioned, and his large gray +eyes beamed with a subdued and melancholy splendor. There was the fire +of fever, and there was that of genius. + +The expression of this face was soft and sweet in the extreme, but it +was rendered almost painful by its cast of deep sadness. Lettice looked +at him, and was struck by his appearance in a way she had never in her +life been before. He was, I believe, as much struck with hers. These +unexpected meetings, in totally unexpected places, often produce such +sudden and deep impressions. The happier being was moved and interested +by the delicacy the attenuation, the profound sadness of the beautiful +countenance before her; the other with the bloom of health, the +cheerful, wholesome expression, the character and meaning of the face +presented to him, as the young girl stood there holding the sleeping +infant in her arms. Certainly though not regularly pretty, she was a +very picturesque and pleasing looking object at that moment. + +The old woman from her bed added her invitation to that of the young +man. + +"Please to walk in, miss. It's a poor place. Please take a chair. Oh, my +poor limbs! I've been bed-ridden these half-score years; but pray, sit +down and rest yourselves, and welcome. Law! but that's a pretty bairn, +ben't it." + +Lettice took the offered chair and sat down, still holding the baby; the +nurse occupied the other; the young man continued standing. + +"I am afraid we have interrupted you," said Lettice, glancing at the +book. + +"Oh, pray don't think of it! I am in no hurry to be gone. My time," with +a suppressed sigh, "is all my own. I will finish my lecture by-and-by." + +"Ay, do--do--that's a good gentleman. Do you know, ma'am, he's been the +kindest friend, young as he looks, that ever I or my good man met with. +You see we lie here out of the way like--it's a big monstrous parish +this, and our parson has a world of work to do. So we gets rather +overlooked, though, poor man, I believe, he does what he can. I've lived +here these ten years, crippled and bed-ridden as you see, but I got +along pretty well for some time, for I was a bit of a schollard in my +youth; but last winter my eyes took to being bad, and since then I've +not been able to read a line. All gets dizzy like. And I was very dull +and sore beset that I couldn't even see to read the word of God, and my +poor husband, that's the old man as is delving in the garden there, why +he has hardly any eyes left in his head. Enough just to potter about +like, an' see his way, but he couldn't read a line, and it was never so; +and so that blessed young gentleman--law! where is he? Why, I declare +he's gone!" + +The young gentleman had, indeed, quietly glided out of the cottage as +soon as his _eloge_ began. + +"That young gentleman--I can say what I like now he is gone--has been +_so_ good to us. Many's the half-crown he's given me, and a warm winter +coat of his own to my poor rheumatized old man. Oh! he's a blessed +one--and then he comes and sits and reads to me of an afternoon for an +hour together, because as how one day he called he found me a-cryin, +for why, I could no longer read the Holy Word--and he says 'Cheer up, +Betty, be of good comfort, I'll read it to you daily'--and when I said +'daily, sir--that'll take up too much of your time, I fear'--he sighed a +little, and said he'd nothing particular to do with his time." + +"Who is he? Does he belong to this neighborhood?" + +"No, miss, he's only been here maybe a half-year or so. He came down on +a visit to Mr. Hickman the doctor out there, Brainwood way, and +presently he went and lodged at a cottage hard by, to be near Hickman, +who's a great name for such complaints as his'n--A-A--I don't know +what's the name--but he's very bad, they say, and not able to do any +thing in the world. Well, he's the best, kindest, Christian young man, +you ever see or I ever see. The power of good he does among the +poor--poor young fellow--is not to be told or counted--but he's so +melancholy like, and so gentle, and so kind, it makes one a'most cry to +look at him; that's the worst of it." + +"He looks like a clergyman; I could fancy he was in holy orders. Do you +know whether he is so or not?" + +"Yes, ma'am, I have heard say that he is a parson, but nobody in these +parts has ever seen him in a pulpit; but now it strikes me I've heard +that he was to be curate to Mr. Thomas, of Briarwood parish, but he was +ta'en bad of his chest or his throat, and never able to speak up like, +so it would not do; he can not at present speak in a church, for his +voice sounds so low, so low." + +"I wonder we have never met with him, or heard of him before." + +"Oh, miss! he's not been in this country very long, and he goes out +nowhere but to visit the poor; and tired and weak as he looks, he seems +never tired of doing good." + +"He looks very pale and thin." + +"Ay, doesn't he? I'm afraid he's but badly; I've heard some say he was +in a galloping consumption, others a decline; I don't know, but he seems +mighty weak like." + +A little more talk went on in the same way, and then Lettice asked the +nurse whether she felt rested, as it was time to be returning home, and, +giving the poor bed-ridden patient a little money, which was received +with abundance of thanks, Lettice left the house. + +When she entered the little garden, she saw the young man was not gone; +he was leaning pensively against the gate, watching the swinging +branches of a magnificent ash tree, which grew upon a green plot by the +side of the lane. Beautiful it was as it spread its mighty magnificent +head against the deep blue summer sky, and a soft wind gently whispered +among its forest of leaves. + +Lettice could not help, as she observed the countenance of the young +man, who seemed lost in thought, admiring the extraordinary beauty of +its expression. Something of the sublime, something of the angelic, +which we see in a few remarkable countenances, but usually in those +which are spiritualized by mental sufferings, and great physical +delicacy. + +He started from his reverie as she and the nurse approached, and lifted +the latchet of the little wicket to lot them pass. And, as he did so, +the large, melancholy eye was lighted up with something of a pleasurable +expression, as he looked at Lettice, and said, + +"A beautiful afternoon. May I venture to ask were you intending to visit +that poor bed-ridden creature? I thought by the expression she used that +you were not acquainted with her case, and probably had never been in +the cottage before. Will you excuse me for saying she is in great +necessity?" + +"It is the first time I have ever been down this lane, sir, but I assure +you it shall not be the last; I will come and see the poor woman again. +There are few things I pity so much as the being bed-ridden." + +She had walked into the lane. He had quitted the garden too, and +continued to walk by her side talking as he went. + +"I hope there is not so much suffering in that state as we are apt to +imagine," he said; "at least, I have observed that very poor people are +enabled to bear it with wonderful cheerfulness and patience. I believe, +to those who have lived a life of hard labor, rest has something +acceptable in it, which compensates for many privations--but these old +creatures are also miserably poor. The parish can not allow much, and +they are so anxious not to be forced into the house, that they contrive +to make a very little do. The poor woman has been for years receiving +relief as member of a sick-club; but lately the managers have come to a +resolution, that she has been upon the list for such an unexampled +length of time, that they can not afford to go on with the allowance any +longer." + +"How cruel and unjust!" + +"Very sad, as it affects her comforts, poor creature, and certainly not +just; yet, as she paid only about three years, and has been receiving an +allowance for fifteen, it would be difficult, I fancy, to make the sort +of people who manage such clubs see it quite in that light. At all +events, we can get her no redress, for she does not belong to this +parish, though her husband does; and the club of which she is a member +is in a place at some distance, of which the living is sequestrated, and +there is no one of authority there to whom we can apply. I only take the +liberty of entering into these details, madam, in order to convince you +that any charity you may extend in this quarter, will be particularly +well applied." + +"I shall be very happy, if I can be of any use," said Lettice, "but I am +sorry to say, but little of my time is at my own disposal--it belongs to +another--I can not call it my own--and my purse is not very ample. But I +have more money than time," she added, cheerfully, "at all events. And, +if you will be pleased to point out in what way I can best help this +poor creature, I shall be very much obliged to you, for I am quite +longing for the pleasure of doing a little among the poor. I have been +very poor myself; and, besides, I used to visit them so much in my poor +father's day." + +"I have more time than money," he said, with a gentle but very +melancholy smile; "and, therefore, if you will give me leave, I _would_ +take the liberty of pointing out to you how you could help this poor +woman. If--if I knew...." + +"I live with General and Mrs. Melwyn--I am Mrs. Melwyn's _dame de +compagnie_," said Lettice, with simplicity. + +"And I am what ought to be Mr. Thomas's curate," answered he, "but that +I am too inefficient to merit the name. General Melwyn's family never +attends the parish church, I think." + +"No; we go to the chapel of ease at Furnival's Green. It is five miles +by the road to the parish church, and that road a very bad one. The +general does not like his carriage to go there. + +"So I have understood; and, therefore, Mr. Thomas is nearly a stranger, +and I perfectly one, to the family, though they are Mr. Thomas's +parishioners." + +"It seems so strange to me--a clergyman's daughter belonging formerly to +a small parish--that every individual in it should not be known to the +vicar. It ought not to be so, I think." + +"I entirely agree with you. But I believe Mr. Thomas and the general +never exactly understood or suited each other." + +"I don't know--I never heard." + +"I am myself not utterly unknown to every member of the family. I was at +school with the young gentleman who married Miss Melwyn.... Yet why do I +recall it? He has probably forgotten me altogether.... And yet, perhaps, +not altogether. Possibly he might remember James St. Leger;" and he +sighed. + +It was a light, suppressed sigh. It seemed to escape him without his +observing it. + +Lettice felt unusually interested in this conversation, little as there +may appear in it to interest any one; but there was something in the +look and tone of the young man that exercised a great power over her +imagination. His being of the _cloth_--a clergyman--may account for what +may seem rather strange in her entering into conversation with him. She +had been brought up to feel profound respect for every one in holy +orders; and, moreover, the habits of her life at one time, when she had +sunk to such depths of poverty, had, in a considerable degree, robbed +her of the conventional reserve of general society. She had been so used +at one time to be accosted and to accost without thinking of the +ceremony of an introduction, that she probably forgot the absence of it +in the present case, more than another equally discreet girl might have +done. + +The young man, on his part, seemed under the influence of a strange +charm. He continued to walk by her side, but he had ceased to speak. He +seemed lost in thought--melancholy thought. It certainly would seem as +if the allusion to Edgar's home, and his own school life, had roused a +host of painful recollections, in which he was for the time absorbed. + +So they followed the windings of the deep hollow lane together. +Necessarily it would seem, for this lane appeared to defy the proverb +and have no turning. But that it had one we know--and to it the little +party came at last. A gate led to some fields belonging to the estate of +the Hazels--Lettice and the nurse prepared to open it and enter. + +"Good morning, sir," said Lettice, "this is my way; I will strive to do +something for the poor woman you recommended to me, and I will mention +your recommendation to Mrs. Melwyn." + +He started as if suddenly awakened when she spoke; but he only said, +"Will you? It will be right and kind. Thank you, in her name." And, with +a grave, abstracted sort of salute, he left her, and pursued his way. + +Catherine was standing rather anxiously upon the hall-steps, looking +round and wondering what had become of her nurse and her baby, when +nurse, baby, and Lettice returned. + +"Dear people," she cried, "I _am_ glad you are come back." + +She had been, if the truth were told, a good deal fidgeted and +frightened, as young mothers are very apt to be, when the baby does not +come home at the usual hour. She had suffered a good deal of uneasiness, +and felt half inclined to be angry. A great many people with whom I am +acquainted, would have burst out into a somewhat petulant scold, when +the cause for anxiety was at an end, and baby and her party, all safe, +appeared quietly walking up the road as if nothing in the world were +amiss. The very quiet and tranquillity which proved that they were quite +unconscious of having done any thing wrong would have irritated some +people more than all the rest. I thought it was very nice of Catherine +to be good-humored and content as soon as she saw all was safe, after +the irritating anxiety she had just been going through. She, however, +ran eagerly down the steps, and her eyes sparkling with impatience +caught her little one in her arms and kissed it very fast and hard. That +being the only sign of an impatient spirit which she showed, and, except +crying out, "Oh! I am glad to see you safe back, all of you. Do you +know, Lettice, I began to wonder what had become of you?"--not a +syllable approaching to reproof passed her lips. + +"Dear Mrs. D'Arcy! Dear Catherine! I am afraid we are late. We went too +far--we partly lost ourselves. We got into a long, but oh! such a lovely +lane--where I never was before, and then, we have had a little wee bit +of an adventure." + +"Adventure! Oh goodness! I _am_ glad of that. Adventures are so +excessively rare in this country. I never met with one in my life, but +happening upon Edgar, as the people say, when he was coming from +hunting; and the wind had blown off my hat. A wind that blew somebody +good, that ... dear, beloved, Lettice, I wish to goodness, that I do--an +adventure of the like of that, might have happened to you." + +Lettice colored a little. + +"Gracious!" cried Catherine, laughing merrily, and peeping at her under +her bonnet--"I declare--you're blushing Lettice. Your adventure is +something akin to my adventure. Have you stumbled upon an unparalleled +youth--by mere accident as I did? and did he--did he pick up your hat?" + +"If he had," said Lettice, "I am afraid my face with my hair all blown +about it would not have looked quite so enchanting as yours must have +done. No, I did not lose my bonnet." + +"Any thing else? Your heart, perhaps?" + +"Dear Catherine! How can you be so silly." + +"Oh! it was such a blessed day when I lost mine," said Mrs. D'Arcy, +gayly. "Such a gain of a loss! that I wish just the same misfortune to +befall every one I love--and I love you dearly, Lettice." + +"There must be more than one heart lost I fancy, to make adventures turn +out as well as yours did, Catherine." + +"Oh! that's a matter of course in such sort of things. There is always +an exchange, where there is love at first sight. But now do tell me, +that's a dear girl, what your adventure was." + +"I only saw a clergyman reading to a poor woman--or rather I only saw a +clergyman, a Bible, and a poor woman, and thence concluded that he _had_ +been reading to her." + +"Oh! you tiresome creature. Poor, dear, old Mr. Hughes, I'll be bound. +Good old fellow--but such a hum-drum. Nay, Lettice, my dear, don't look +shocked and cross. A clergyman may be a very stupid, hum-drum, tiresome +fellow, as well as any other man. Don't pretend to deny that." + +"I would as lief not hear them called so--but this was not Mr. Hughes." + +"Oh, no! I remember now you were not in his parish. If you went down +Briarwood-lane far enough you would be in Briarwood parish. Mr. Thomas, +perhaps." + +"No." + +"Mr. Thomas's curate. Oh! of course the curate. Only I don't think Mr. +Thomas keeps one." + +"No; I believe not Mr. Thomas's, or any one else's curate; but a +gentleman who says he knew Captain D'Arcy at school." + +"Nay, that is too charming. That really is like an adventure." + +"Here, Edgar!" + +He was crossing the paddock at some little distance. + +"Come here for one instant. Do you recollect what I was talking to you +about this very morning? Well, Lettice has met with an adventure, and +has stumbled upon an old acquaintance of yours--reading the Bible to an +old woman--he was at school with you. + +"Well, as there were about five hundred people, more or less, who had +that honor--if you mean to know any thing about him, Miss Arnold, you +must go a little more into detail; and, first and foremost, what is the +young gentleman's name?" + +"James St. Leger," said Lettice. + +A start for answer, and, + +"Ha! Indeed! Poor fellow! _he_ turned up again. I little thought our +paths in life would ever cross more. How strange to unearth him in such +a remote corner of the world as Briarwood. Poor fellow! Well, what is he +like? and how does he look?" + +"Ill and melancholy," said Lettice. "I should say very ill and very +melancholy--and with reason I believe; for though he is in holy orders, +something is the matter with his throat or his chest; which renders him +useless in the pulpit." + +"You don't say so. His chest! I hope not. And yet," continued Edgar, as +if musing aloud, "I know not. He was one when I knew him, Miss Arnold, +so marked out through the vices of others for misery in this world, that +I used to think the sooner he went out of it the better for him." + +"Ah!" cried Catherine, "there is an interesting history here. Do tell it +us, Edgar. Of all your charming talks, what I like almost the best are +your reminiscences. He has such a memory, Lettice; and so much +penetration into the characters of persons: and the connection of +things; that nothing is so delightful as when he _will_ tell some old +history of his earlier years. Do, dear Edgar, tell us all about this +charming young curate of Briarwood." + +"Flatterer! Coaxing flatterer! Don't believe a word she says, Miss +Arnold. I am as empty-pated a rattle-skull, as ever was turned raw into +one of her Majesty's regiments--and that's saying a good deal, I can +tell you. But this dear creature here loves a bit of romance in her +heart. What's o'clock?" + +"Oh!" looking at the tiniest of watches, "a full two hours to dinner; +and such a day too for a story--and just look at that spreading oak with +the bench under it, and the deer lying crouching there so sweetly, and +the wind just lulling the boughs as it were to rest. Here, nurse, bundle +the baby away to her nursery. Now, _do_, there's a darling Edgar." + +"Why, my love, you are making awful preparation. It is almost as +terrible as reading a manuscript to begin a relation, all sitting +solemnly upon a bench under a tree together. There is not much to tell, +poor fellow; only I did pity him from my heart of hearts." + +Catherine had her way, and they sat down under the green leafy canopy of +this majestic oak; and she put her arm in her husband's, and her hand +into that of Lettice, and thus sitting between them, loving and beloved, +she listened, the happiest, as she was one of the honestest and best, +of heaven's creatures. + +"We were both together at a large rough sort of preparatory school," +began Edgar, "where there might be above a hundred boys or so. They were +mostly, if not entirely, intended for the military profession, and came +from parents of all sorts of positions and degrees, and of all sorts of +principles, characters, and manners. A very omnium gatherum that school +was, and the ways of it were as rough as in any school. I should think, +they could possibly be. I was a tall, healthy rebel, when I was sent +there, as strong as a little Hercules, and excessively proud of my force +and prowess. A bold, daring, cheerful, merry lad, as ever left his +mother's apron-string; very sorry to quit the dotingest of mothers, and +the happiest of homes, and the pleasantest of fathers; but mighty proud +to come out of the _Gynyseum_, and to be a man, as I thought it high +time I should, in cloth trowsers and jacket, instead of a black velvet +coatee. In I plunged, plump head-foremost amid the vortex, and was soon +in a thousand scrapes and quarrels, battling my way with my fists, and +my merry eye; for they used to tell me the merry eye did more for me +even than my impudence in fighting every thing that would condescend to +fight such a youngster. I was soon established, and then I breathed +after my victories, and began to look round. + +"So long as I had considered the throng about me but in the light of so +many adversaries to be beaten by main force, and their rude and +insulting ways only as provocatives to the fray, I had cared little for +their manners or their proceedings, their coarseness and vulgarity, +their brutality and their vices. But now, seated in peace upon the +eminence to which I had fought my way, I had time to breathe and to +observe. I can not describe to you how shocked, how sickened, how +disgusted I became. _Par parenthese_, I will say that it has always been +an astonishment to me, how parents so tender as mine could send a frank, +honest-hearted, well-meaning little fellow into such a place. But the +school had a high reputation. I was then a fourth son, and had to make +my way as best I could in the profession chosen for me. So here I came. +I was about ten or eleven years old, I must add, in excuse for my +parents, though I called myself so young, I felt younger, because this +was my first school. To resume. When I had vanquished them, it is not in +words to describe how I despised and detested the majority of my +schoolfellows--for their vulgar pleasures, their offensive habits--their +hard, rough, brutal manners--their vicious principles, and their vile, +blasphemous impiety. I was a warm lover and a still more ardent hater, +and my hatred to most of them exceeded all bounds of reason; but it was +just such as a straightforward, warm-tempered fellow, is certain to +entertain without mitigation in such a case. + +"It is a bad element for a boy to be living in. However, I was saved +from becoming an utter young monster, by the presence in the school of +this very boy, James St. Leger. + +"In the bustle and hurry of my early wars, I had taken little heed of, +scarcely observed this boy at all. But when the pause came, I noticed +him. I noticed him for many reasons. He was tall for his age, slender, +and of extremely delicate make, but with limbs of a symmetry and beauty +that reminded one of a fine antique statue. His face, too, was extremely +beautiful; and there was something in his large, thoughtful, melancholy +eyes, that it was impossible ever to look upon and to forget. + +"I no sooner observed him at all, than my whole boyish soul seemed knit +to him. + +"His manner was extremely serious; the expression of his countenance sad +to a degree--deeply, intensely sad, I might say; yet through that deep +sadness there was a tender sweetness which was to me most interesting. I +never shall forget his smile--for laugh he never was heard to do. + +"I soon discovered two things, that made me feel more for him than all +the rest. One, that he was an extremely well-informed boy, and had +received a home education of a very superior order; and the other, that +he was most unfortunate, and that his misfortunes had one peculiar +ingredient of bitterness in them, namely, that they were of a nature to +excite the scorn and contempt of the vulgar herd that surrounded him, +rather than to move their rude hearts to sympathy and pity. + +"The propensity to good in rough, vulgar, thoughtless human beings, is +very apt to show itself in this way--in a sort of contemptuous disgust +against vice and folly, and an alienation from those connected with it, +however innocent We must accept it, upon reflection, I suppose, as a +rude form of good inclination; but I was too young for reflection--too +young to make allowances, too young to be equitable. Such conduct +appeared to me the most glaring and barbarous injustice, and excited in +me a passion ate indignation. + +"Never did I hear St. Leger taunted, as he often was, with the frailties +of his mother or the errors of his father, but my heart was all in a +flame--my fist clinched--my cheek burning. Many a fellow have I laid +prostrate upon the earth with a sudden blow who dared, in my presence, +to chase the color from St. Leger's cheek by alluding to the subject. +There was this remarkable in St. Leger, by the way, that he never +colored when his mother's shame or his father's end was alluded to, but +went deadly pale. + +"The history was a melancholy one of human frailty, and is soon told. +His mother had been extremely beautiful, his father the possessor of a +small independent fortune. They had lived happily together many years, +and she had brought him five children; four girls and this boy. I have +heard that the father doted with no common passion--in a _husband_, +Catherine--upon the beautiful creature, who was moreover accomplished +and clever. She seemed devoted to her children, and had given no common +attention to her boy in his early years. Hence his mental +accomplishments. The husband was, I suspect, rather her inferior in +intellect; and scarcely her equal in refinement and manner, but it's no +matter, it would have been probably the same whatever he had been. She +who will run astray under one set of circumstances, would probably have +run astray under any. She was very vain of her beauty and talents, and +had been spoiled by the idolatry and flattery of all who surrounded her. + +"I will not pain you by entering into any particulars; in brief, she +disgraced herself, and was ruined. + +"The rage, the passionate despair, the blind fury of the injured +husband, it was said, exceeded all bounds. There was of course every +sort of public scandal. Legal proceedings and the necessary +consequences--a divorce. The wretched history did not even end here. She +suffered horribly from shame and despair I have been told, but the shame +and despair, had not the effect it ought to have produced. She fell from +bad to worse, and was utterly lost. The husband did the same. Wild with +the stings of wounded affection, blinded with suffering, he flew for +refuge to any excitement which would for a moment assuage his agonies; +the gaming-table, and excess in drinking, soon finished the dismal +story. He shot himself in a paroxysm of delirium tremens, after having +lost almost every penny he possessed at Faro. + +"You tremble Catherine. Your hand in mine is cold. Oh the pernicious +woman! Oh the depths of the misery--if I were indeed to tell you all I +have met with and known--which are entailed upon the race by the vanity, +the folly, and the vice of women. Angels! yes, angels you are. Sweet +Saint--sweet Catherine, and men fall down and worship you--but woe for +them when she they worship, proves a fiend. + +"Dear Miss Arnold, you are shedding tears--but you _would_ have this +dismal story. You had better hear no more of it, let me stop now." + +"Go on--pray go on, Edgar. Tell us about the poor boy and the girls, you +said there were four of them." + +"The boy and his sisters were taken by some relations. It was about a +year after these events that I met him at this school. They had sent him +here, thinking the army the best place for him. To get him shot off, +poor fellow, perhaps, if they could. His four sisters were all then +living, and how tenderly, poor lad, he used to talk to me about them. +How he would grieve over the treatment they were receiving, with the +best intentions he acknowledged, but too hardening and severe he thought +for girls so delicate. They wanted a mother's fostering, a father's +protection, poor things, but he never alluded in the remotest way to +either father or mother. Adam, when he sprung from the earth, was not +more parentless than he seemed to consider himself. But he used to talk +of future for his sisters, and sometimes in his more cheerful moods, +would picture to himself what he would do when he should be a man, and +able to shelter them in a home, however humble, of his own. His whole +soul was wrapped up in these girls." + +"Did you ever hear what became of them?" + +"Three died of consumption, I have been told, just as they were opening +into the bloom of early womanhood, almost the loveliest creatures that +ever were seen." + +"And the fourth." + +"She was the most beautiful of all--a fine, high-spirited, dashing +creature. Her brother's secret terror and darling." + +"Well!" + +"She followed her mother's example, and died miserably at the age of +two-and-twenty." + +"What can we do for this man?" cried Catherine, when she had recovered +voice a little. "Edgar, what can we do for this man?" + +"Your first question, dear girl--always your first question--what can be +done?" Ever, my love, may you preserve that precious habit. My Catherine +never sits down lamenting, and wringing her hands helplessly about other +people's sorrows. The first thing she asks, is, "what _can be done_." + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Strongest minds + Are often those of whom the noisy world + Hears least; else surely this man had not left + His graces unrevealed and unproclaimed. + + Wordsworth. + +The first thing to be done, it was obvious to all parties, was for Edgar +to go and call upon Mr. St. Leger, which he did. + +He found him occupying one very small room, which served him for bed and +sitting room, in a small cottage upon the outskirts of the little +secluded town of Briarwood. He looked extremely ill; his beautiful +countenance was preternaturally pale; his large eyes far too bright and +large; his form attenuated; and his voice so faint, husky, and low that +it was with difficulty he could make himself heard, at least for any +length of time together. + +The expression of his countenance, however, was rather grave than sad; +resigned than melancholy. He was serious but perfectly composed; nay, +there was even a chastened cheerfulness in his manner. He looked like +one who had accepted the cup presented to him; had already exhausted +most of the bitter potion, and was calmly prepared to drain it to the +dregs. + +And so it had been. + +No man was ever more exquisitely constituted to suffer from +circumstances so agonizing than he. But his mind was of a lofty stamp; +he had not sunk under his sufferings. He had timely considered the +_reality_ of these things. He had learned to connect--really, truly, +faithfully--the trials and sorrows of this world with the retributions +of another. He had accepted the part allotted to him in the mysterious +scheme; had played it as best he could, and was now prepared for its +impending close. + +It is consoling to know one thing. In his character of minister of the +holy word of God he had been allowed the privilege of attending the last +illness of both mother and sister, both so deeply, deeply, yet silently +beloved, in spite of all; and, through those blessed means, the full +value and mercy of which, perhaps such grievous sinners are alone able +to entirely estimate, he had reconciled them, as he trusted, with that +God "who forgiveth all our iniquities and healeth all our diseases." +Having been allowed to do this, he felt as if it would be the basest +ingratitude to murmur because his services in the pulpit were suddenly +arrested by the disease in his chest, and with it a stop put to further +usefulness, and even to the supply of his daily bread. + +He was calmly expecting to die in the receipt of parish relief; for he +had not a penny beyond his curate's salary; and it was impossible to +allow Mr. Thomas, who was a poor man himself, to continue that, now the +hope of restoration to usefulness seemed at an end. It was not likely, +indeed, that he should, upon the spare hermit's diet which his scanty +means allowed, recover from a complaint of which weakness was the +foundation. + +He had tried to maintain himself by his pen; but the complaint which +prevented his preaching was equally against the position when writing. +He could do so little in this way that it would not furnish him with a +loaf a week. A ray of genuine pleasure, however, shot to his eye, and a +faint but beautiful flush mounted to his cheek, when Edgar entered and +cordially held out his hand. + +He was such a dear warm-hearted fellow, was Edgar. St. Leger had loved +him so entirely at school; and those days were not so _very_ long since! +The impression old Time had not even yet attempted with his busy fingers +to efface. + +"I am so glad to have found you out, my dear fellow," Edgar began. "Who +would have thought of meeting you, of all people in the world, here, +ensconsed in such a quiet nook of this busy island--a place where the +noise and bustle and stir of the Great Babylon can not even be heard. +But what are you doing in this place? for you look ill, I must say, and +you seem to be left to yourself without a human being to look after +you." + +"Much so. You know I am quite alone in the world." + +"A dismal position that, and I am come to put an end to it. My wife +insists upon making your acquaintance, and scuttled me off this morning +without giving me time to eat my breakfast, though, to own the truth, I +was ready enough of myself to set out. The general desired me to bring +his card; he is too infirm to go out himself, and he and Mrs. Melwyn +request the favor of your company to dinner to-morrow at six o'clock." + +"I should be very happy--but--," and he hesitated a little. + +"I'll come and fetch you in the dog-cart about five, and drive you down +again in the evening. It's a mere step by Hatherway-lane, which is quite +passable at this time of the year, whatever it may be in winter." + +St. Leger looked as if he should like very much to come. His was a +heart, indeed, formed for society, friendship, and love; not the least +of the monk or the hermit was to be found in his composition. And so it +was settled. + +St. Leger came to dinner, as arranged, Edgar fetching him up in the +dog-cart. + +Every one was struck with his appearance. There was a gentleness and +refinement in his manner which charmed Mrs. Melwyn; united to the ease +and politeness of a man of the world, equally acceptable to the general; +Catharine was delighted; and Lettice only in a little danger of being +too well pleased. + +His conversation soon showed him to be a man of a very superior turn of +thought, and was full of information. In short, it was some time, with +the exception of Edgar, since so agreeable a person had sat down at that +dinner-table; for the Hazels lay rather out of the way, and neither the +general nor Mrs. Melwyn were of a temper to cultivate society. + +Edgar returned home in the evening from an agreeable drive with his +friend through the bright glittering starlight night. It was slightly +frosty, and he came into the drawing-room rubbing his hands, with his +cheeks freshened by the air, looking as if he was prepared very much to +enjoy the fire. + +He found the whole party sitting up, and very amicably discussing the +new acquaintance, who had pleased them all so much. So Edgar sat down +between his wife and her mother, and readily joined in the conversation. + +The general, who really was much altered for the better under the good +influences of Lettice, had been speaking in high terms of their late +guest. And when Edgar came in and sat down in the circle, spreading his +hands to the fire, and looking very comfortable, the general, in an +amicable tone, began: + +"Really, Edgar, we have been saying we are quite obliged to you for +introducing to us so agreeable a man as this Mr. St. Leger, of yours. He +is quite a find in such a stupid neighborhood as ours, where, during the +ten years I have lived in it, I have never met one _resident_"--with an +emphasis upon the word, that it might not be supposed to include Edgar +himself--"one _resident_ whose company I thought worth a brass +farthing." + +"I am very glad my friend gives satisfaction, sir," said Edgar +cheerfully; "for I believe, poor fellow, he has much more to seek than +even yourself, general, in the article of companionship. One can not +think that the society of the worthy Mr. Thomas can afford much of +interest to a man like St. Leger. But whatever pleasure you may mutually +afford each other will soon be at an end, I fear; and I have been +beating my brains all the way coming home, to think what must be done." + +"Why must the pleasure come so soon to an end, Edgar?" asked Mrs. +Melwyn. + +"Why, if something can't be done, the poor lad is in a fair way to be +starved to death," was the answer. + +"Starved to death! How shockingly you do talk, Edgar," cried Mrs. +Melwyn. "I wish you would not say such things--you make one quite start. +The idea is too horrible--besides, it can not be true. People don't +starve to death nowadays--at least not in a sort of case like that." + +"I don't know--such things do sound as if they couldn't be true--and +yet," said Catherine, "they do come very nearly to the truth at times." + +"Indeed do they," said Lettice. "Starved to death," observed the +general, "I take to be merely a poetic exaggeration of yours, captain. +But do you mean to say that young man is literally in distressed +circumstances?" + +"The most urgently distressing circumstances, sir. The fact is, that he +inherited nothing from his father but a most scandalous list of debts, +which he most honorably sold every farthing of his own little property +to pay--relying for his subsistance upon the small stipend be was to +receive from Mr. Thomas. You don't like Mr. Thomas, sir." + +"Who would like such a stupid old drone?" + +"He's a worthy old fellow, nevertheless. Though his living is a very +poor one, he has acted with great liberality to James St. Leger. The +poor fellow has lost his voice: you would perceive in conversation how +very feeble and uncertain it was. It is utterly powerless in the +reading-desk; and yet Mr. Thomas has insisted upon retaining him--paying +his salary, and doing all the duty himself. As long as there was any +hope of recovery, to this St. Leger most unwillingly submitted; but, now +he despairs of ever again being useful, it is plain it can no longer be +done." + +"And what is to become of him?" exclaimed Lettice. + +She knew what it was to be utterly without resource--she knew how +possible it was for such things to happen in this world--she knew what +it was to be hungry and to want bread, and be without the means of +assistance--to be friendless, helpless, and abandoned by all. + +"What is to be done?" she cried. + +"What is to be done?" said the general, rather testily. "Why, the young +fellow must turn his hand to something else. None but a fool _starves_." + +"Ay, but," said Edgar, shaking his head, "but what is that something? I +see no prospect for one incapacitated by his cloth for enlisting as a +soldier or standing behind a counter, and by his illness for doing any +thing consistent with his profession." + +"I should think he might write a canting book," said the general with a +sneer; "_that_ would be sure to sell." + +"Whatever book St. Leger wrote," Edgar answered coldly, "would be a good +one, whether _canting_ or not. But he can not write a book. The fatigue, +the stooping, would be intolerable to his chest in its present irritable +state. Besides, if he did write a book, it's a hundred to one whether he +got any thing for it; and, moreover, the book is not written; and there +is an old proverb which says, while the grass grows the horse starves. +He literally _will_ starve, if some expedient can not be hit upon." + +"And that is too, too dreadful to think of," cried Mrs. Melwyn +piteously. "Oh, general!" + +"Oh, papa! oh, Edgar! Can you think of nothing?" added Catharine in the +same tone. + +"It would be a pity he should starve; for he is a remarkably +gentlemanlike, agreeable fellow," observed the general. "Edgar, do you +know what was meant by the term, one meets with in old books about +manners, of 'led captain?' I wish to heaven _I_ could have a led captain +like that." + +"Oh, there was the chaplain as well as the led captain in those days, +papa," said Catherine, readily. "Dearest papa, if one could but persuade +you you wanted a domestic chaplain." + +"Well, and what did the chaplain do in those days. Mrs. Pert?" + +"Why, he sat at the bottom of the table, and carved the sirloin." + +"And he read, and played at backgammon--when he was wanted, I believe," +put in Edgar. + +"And he did a great deal more," added Catherine in a graver tone. "He +kept the accounts, and looked after important business for his patron." + +"And visited the poor and was the almoner and their friend," said +Lettice in a low voice. + +"And played at bowls, and drank--" + +Catherine put her hand playfully over the general's mouth. + +"Don't, dear papa--you must _not_--you must not, indeed. Do you know +this irreverence in speaking of the members of so sacred a profession is +not at all what ought to be done. Don't Edgar. Dear papa, I may be +foolish, but I do _so_ dislike it." + +"Well, well, well--any thing for a quiet life." + +"But to resume the subject," locking her arm in his, and smiling with a +sweetness which no one, far least he, could resist. "Really and +seriously I do think it would be an excellent thing if you would ask Mr. +St. Leger to be your domestic chaplain." + +"Stuff and nonsense." + +"Not such stuff and nonsense as you think. Here's our darling +Lettice--think what a comfort she has been to mamma, and think what a +pleasant thing it would be for you to have a confidential and an +agreeable friend at your elbow--just as mamma has in Lettice. Hide your +face, Lettice, if you can't bear to be praised a little before it; but I +will have it done, for I see you don't like it. But, papa, you see +things are getting a good deal into disorder, they say, upon your +property out of doors, just for want of some one to look after them. I +verily believe, that if we could persuade this young gentleman to come +and do this for you, he would save you a vast deal of money." + +The general made no answer. He sank back in his chair, and seemed to +meditate. At last, turning to Edgar, he said, + +"That little wife of yours is really not such a fool as some might +suppose her to be, captain." + +"Really--' + +"What say you, Mrs. Melwyn? Is there any sense in the young lady's +suggestion, or is there not? What says Miss Arnold? Come, let us put it +to the vote." + +Mrs. Melwyn smiled. Catherine applauded and laughed, and kissed her +father, and declared he was the dearest piece of reasonableness in the +world. And, in short, the project was discussed, and one said this, and +the other said that, and after it had been talked over and commented +upon, with a hint from one quarter, and a suggestion from another, and +so on, it began to take a very feasible and inviting shape. + +Nothing could be more true than a person of this description in the +family was terribly wanted. The general was becoming every day less able +and less inclined to look after his own affairs. Things were mismanaged, +and he was robbed in the most notorious and unblushing manner. This must +be seen to. Of this Edgar and Catherine had been upon their return +speedily aware. The difficulty was how to get it done; and whom to trust +in their absence; which would soon, owing to the calls of the service, +take place again, and for an indefinite period of time. + +Mr. St. Leger seemed the very person for such an office, could he be +persuaded to undertake it; and his extremity was such, that, however +little agreeable to such a man the proposal might be, it appeared not +impossible that he might entertain it. Then he had made himself so much +favor with the general, that one difficulty, and the greatest, was +already overcome. + +Mrs. Melwyn seconded their designs with her most fervent wishes. She +could not venture to do much more. + +To have expressed her sentiments upon the subject--to have said how much +she felt the necessity of some such plan, and how ardently she desired +that it might be carried into execution, would have been one very likely +reason for setting her wayward old partner against it. + +She had found so much happiness in the possession of Lettice as a +friend, that she anticipated every possible advantage from a similar +arrangement for the general. + +You may remark as you go along, that it was because Lettice had so +admirably performed her own part, that the whole family were so desirous +of repeating it under other circumstances. Such are among the +incidental--if I may call them so--fruits of good conduct. + +If the vices spread wide their devastating influences--the virtues +extend their blessings a thousand fold. + +The general did not want for observation He had estimated the good which +had arisen from the admission of Lettice Arnold into his family, and he +felt well inclined to the scheme of having a companion of his own. He +could even tolerate the idea of a species of domestic chaplain; provided +the personage so designated would look to his home farm and keep his +accounts. + +The proposal was made to Mr. St. Leger. + +He hesitated. Edgar expected that he would. + +"I do not know," he said. "I feel as if I were, in some measure, running +the risk of degrading my holy office, by accepting, merely for my +personal convenience, a dependent position, where certain compliances, +as a necessary condition, might be expected, which are contrary to my +views of things." + +"Why so? I assure you, upon my honor, nothing of that sort is to be +apprehended. These are really very well meaning people, and you may +serve them more than you seem aware. The part of domestic chaplain is +not held beneath the members of your church. I own this is not a noble +family, and doubt whether you can legitimately claim the title. Yet the +office is the same." + +"Yes--if I may perform the duties of that office. On that condition +alone, will I entertain the thought of it for a moment. And I must add, +that as soon as ever I am in a condition--if that time ever arrives--to +resume my public duties, I am to be allowed to do so." + +"Unquestionably." + +"And, that while I reside under the general's roof, I may carry out +certain reforms which I believe to be greatly wanted." + +"No doubt." + +"And that I shall be enabled to assist Mr. Thomas in the care of this +extremity of his large parish, which so deplorably requires looking +after." + +The general grumbled a little at some of these conditions, but finally +consented to all. + +He was getting an old man. Perhaps he was not sorry--though he thought +it due to those ancient prejudices of his profession, I am happy to say +now fast growing obsolete, to appear so--perhaps he was not really +sorry, now the wheel was beginning to pause at the cistern, and the +darkness of age was closing around him, to have some one in his +household to call his attention to things which he began to feel had +been neglected too long. + +Perhaps he was not sorry to allow family prayer in a mansion, where the +voice of united family prayer had, till then, never been heard. To +anticipate a little--I may add, as certain, that he, who began with +never attending at all, was known to drop in once or twice; and ended by +scolding Lettice heartily in a morning if there was any danger of her +not having bound up his arm in time for him to be present. + +His gray venerable head--his broken, but still manly figure--his +wrinkled face--his still keen blue eye, might be seen at last amid his +household. The eye fixed in a sort of determined attention--the lips +muttering the prayer--a sort of child in religion still--yet far to seek +in many things; but accepted, we will hope, as a child. + +He could share, too, as afterward appeared, in the interest which Mrs. +Melwyn and Lettice, after Mr. St. Leger's arrival, ventured openly to +take in the concerns of the poor; and even in the establishment of a +school, against which, with an obstinate prejudice against the education +of the lower classes, the general had long so decidedly set his face. + +In short, having accepted all the conditions upon which alone St. Leger, +even in the extremity of his need, could be persuaded to accept a place +in his family, the old soldier ended by taking great comfort, great +interest, great pleasure, in all the improvements that were effected. + + * * * * * + +One difficulty presented itself in making the arrangement; and this came +from a quarter quite unexpected by Catherine--from poor Mrs. Melwyn. + +"Ah, Catherine," said she, coming into her room, and looking most +nervous and distressed, "take care what you and Edgar are about, in +bringing this Mr. St. Leger into the family. Suppose he should fall in +love with Lettice?" + +"Well, mamma, suppose he should--where would be the dreadful harm of +that?" said Catherine, laughing. + +"Ah, my dear! Pray, don't laugh, Catherine. What _would_ become of us +all?" + +"Why, what would become of you all?" + +"I'm sure I don't wish to be selfish. I should hate myself if I were. +But what _could_ we do without Lettice? Dear Catherine! only think of +it. And that would not be the worst. They could not marry--for they +would have nothing to live upon if they left us--so they would both be +miserable. For they _could_ neither go nor stay. It would be impossible +for them to go on living together here, if they were attached to each +other and could never be married. And so miserable as they would be, +Catherine, it makes me wretched to think of it." + +"Ah! dear, sweet mother, don't take up wretchedness at interest--that's +my own mother. They're not going to fall in love. Mr. St. Leger looks +not the least inclined that way." + +"Ah, that's easily said, but suppose they _did_?" + +"Well, suppose they did. I see no great harm in it; may I confess to +you, mother, for my part, I should be secretly quite glad of it." + +"Oh, Catherine! how _can_ you talk so? What would be _done_?" + +"Done! Why, let them marry to be sure, and live on here." + +"Live on here! Who on earth ever heard of such a scheme! Dearest +child, you are too romantic. You are almost absurd, my sweet +Catherine--forgive your poor mother for saying so." + +"No, that I won't," kissing her with that playful tenderness which so +well became her, "that I won't, naughty mamma. Because, do you know, you +say the most unjust thing in the world when you call me romantic. Why, +only ask papa, ask Edgar, ask Mrs. Danvers, ask any body, if I am not +common-sense personified." + +"If I asked your papa, my dear girl, he would only say you had a way of +persuading one into any thing, even into believing you had more head +than heart, my own darling," said the fond mother, her pale cheek +glowing, and those soft eyes swimming in delight, as she looked upon her +daughter. + +"That's right; and now you have acknowledged so much, my blessed mother, +I am going to sit down by you, and seriously to give you my well weighed +opinions upon this most weighty matter." So Catherine drew a low stool, +and sat too down by her mother's knee, and threw her arm over her lap, +and looked up in her face and began her discourse. + +"First of all, then, dearest mamma, I think you a little take up anxiety +at interest in this case. I really never did see a man that seemed to me +less likely to fall in love imprudently than this Mr. St. Leger. He is +so extremely grave and sedate, so serious, and so melancholy, and he +seems so completely to have done with this world--it has, indeed, proved +a bitter world to him--and to have so entirely placed his thoughts upon +another, that I think the probability very remote indeed, if to the +shadow of any thing above a possibility it amounts, of his ever taking +sufficient interest in present things to turn his thoughts upon his own +happiness. He seems absorbed in the performance of the duties to which +he has devoted himself. Secondly, this being my idea of the state of the +case, I have not the slightest apprehension in the world for dear +Lettice's happiness; because I know what a sensible, kind, and what a +well regulated heart hers is, and that she is far too good and +right-minded to attach herself in any way beyond mere benevolence, and +friendship, and so forth, where there was not a prospect of an adequate +return." + +"Oh, yes! my love, very true; yet, Catherine, you admit the possibility, +however remote, of what I fear. And then what _would_ become of us all? +Surely, it is not right to shut our eyes to this possibility." + +"Why, mamma, I don't deny the possibility you speak of, and I quite see +how wrong it would be to shut our eyes to it; but just listen to me, +dearest mother, and don't call me wild and romantic till you have heard +me out." + +"Well, my love, go on; I am all attention." + +"I should think it really, the most ridiculous thing in the world," and +she laughed a little to herself, "to enter so seriously into this +matter, if Edgar and I, alas! were not ordered away in so short a time, +and I fear my dearest mamma will be anxious and uncomfortable after I +am gone--about this possibility, if we do not settle plans a little, +and agree what ought, and what could be done, supposing this horrible +contingency to arise." + +"How well you understand your poor mother, love! Yes; that is just it. +Only let me have the worst placed steadily before my eyes, and the +remedies, if any, proposed, or if none, the state of the case +acknowledged, and I can bear the contemplation of almost any thing. I +think it is not patience, but courage, that your poor mother wants, my +child. Uncertainty--any thing that is vague--the evils of which are +undefined, seems to swell into such terrific magnitude. I am like a poor +frightened child, Catherine; the glimmering twilight is full of +monstrous spectres to me." + +"Yes, mamma, I believe that is a good deal the case with most of us; but +more especially with those who have so much sensibility and such +delicate nerves as you have. How I adore you, dear mother, for the +patient sweetness with which you bear that trying sort of constitution." + +"Dear child!" + +"Well, then, mother, to look this evil steadily in the face, as you say. +Suppose Lettice and Mr. St. Leger _were_ to form an attachment for each +other, what should hinder them from marrying?" + +"Ah, my dear, that was what I said before, what _would_ become of +them--they must starve." + +"Why so? why not live on here?" + +"Nay, Catherine, you made me promise not to call you romantic, but who +ever heard of such an out-of-the-way scheme. A young married couple, +living in the condition of domestic companions to people, and in another +man's house. Utterly impossible--what nobody ever attempted to +do--utterly out of the question." + +"Well, mamma, I, for one, think that a great many rather out-of-the-way +plans, which, nevertheless, might make people very happy, are often +rejected--merely because 'nobody ever heard of such a thing,' or, +'nobody ever thought of doing so, and therefore it is utterly +impossible.'... But I think I have observed that those who, in their own +private arrangements, have had the courage, upon well considered +grounds--mind I say upon _well considered grounds_--to overlook the +consideration of nobody ever having thought of doing such a thing +before--have found their account in it, and a vast deal of happiness has +been secured which would otherwise have been quite lost." + +"As how, Catherine. Give me instances. I don't quite follow you." + +"Why, in marriages, for instance, then, such cases arise very often. +Late marriages for one--between people quite advanced in years--which +the world often laugh and sneer at. Most wrongly in my opinion--for +through them how often do we see what would otherwise have been a +solitary old age, rendered cheerful and comfortable; and sometimes a +weary, disappointed life, consoled by a sweet friendship and affection +at its close. Then, there are marriages founded upon reason and +arrangement; such as when an ugly man with an ungraceful manner, yet +perhaps a good heart and head, and with it plenty of money, marries one +rather his inferior in social rank, whom his circumstances enable him to +indulge with many new sources of enjoyment, and who in return is +grateful for the elevation, and proud of a husband young ladies of his +own class might have looked down upon. Then there might be another +arrangement, which is, indeed, at present, I own, almost a romance, it +is so rarely entered into. I mean, supposing single women from different +families, somewhat advanced in life, were to put their little fortunes +together, and form a household, wherein, by their united means, they +might live easily--instead of almost in penury alone. In short, the +instances are innumerable, in which, I think, the path a little out of +the ordinary course, is the wisest a person can pursue." + +"Go on, my love, you talk so prettily, I like to hear you." + +The daughter kissed the soft white hand she held in hers--white it was +as the fairest wax, and still most beautiful. The signs of age were only +discernible in the wasting blue veins having become a little too +obvious. + +"Well, then, mamma, to draw my inference. I think, under the peculiar +circumstances of our family, you, who are so in want of children and +companions, could not do better, than if these two valuable creatures +_did_ attach themselves to one another, to let them marry and retain +them as long as they were so minded under your roof." + +"My goodness, child!" + +"I have planned it all. This house is so big. I should allot them an +apartment at the east end of it. Quite away from the drawing-room and +yours and my father's rooms--where they might feel as much at home as it +is possible for people to feel in another man's house. I should increase +their salary--by opening a policy upon their lives; as a provision for +their children if they had any. A large provision of this sort would not +be needed. It is not to be supposed their children would not have to +earn their own living as their parents had done before them. Why should +they not? _Nota bene_--Edgar and I hold that the rage for making +children independent, as it is called--that is, enabling them just to +exist, doing nothing, so as just to keep them from starving upon a +minimum income, is a very foolish thing among those whose habits of life +render no such independence necessary, and who have never thought of +enjoying this exemption from labor in their own case." + +"But, your father! And then, suppose they got tired of the plan, and +longed for a house of their own?" + +"My father is much more easily persuaded to what is good for him, than +we used to think, dear mother. See how nice he has been about Lettice +and this Mr. St. Leger. As to their wishing at last for a home of their +own, that is possible I allow: but think, sweetest mother, of the +pleasure of rewarding this dear, good girl, by making her happy. As for +the rest, fear not, mamma. God will provide." + +Mrs. Melwyn made no answer. But she listened more comfortably. The +nervous, anxious, harassed expression of face, which Catherine knew but +too well, began to compose, and her countenance to resume its sweet and +tranquil smile. + +"Mind, dear mamma, after all I am only speaking of the remote +possibility, and what might be done. You would have such pleasure in +carrying out the scheme. Oh! I do wish there were but a chance of +it--really I can't help it, mamma--it would be so nice;" said the +sanguine, kind-hearted Catherine. + + +CHAPTER X. + + Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, + And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray. + + Goldsmith. + +Accordingly, Mr. St. Leger, his objections having been overruled by +Edgar, accepted the place offered him in General Melwyn's family. + +In old times it would probably have been called, what it literally was, +that of domestic chaplain: and the dignity of the name, the defined +office, and the authority in the household which it implies, would not +have been without their use--but, in spite of the want of these +advantages, Mr. St. Leger managed to perform the duties, which, in his +opinion, attached to the office, to the satisfaction of every one. + +It had not been without considerable difficulty and hesitation that he +had persuaded himself to enter into the plan. He had scruples, as we +have seen; and he had, moreover, an almost invincible dislike to any +thing approaching to family dependence. + +The extremity of his circumstances, however, made him, upon a little +consideration, feel that the indulgence of these latter mentioned +feelings of pride and delicacy, was not only unreasonable but almost +positively wrong. And, as for the scruples connected with his +profession, Edgar did not find it difficult to dissipate them. + +He set forth, what was in truth the present state of the family at the +Hazels, and enlarged upon the very great need there was for the +introduction of more religious views than now prevailed. According to a +fashion almost universally prevalent when General Melwyn was young, +except with those of professed religious habits, and who were +universally stigmatized as Methodists, family prayer had been utterly +neglected in his family. And, notwithstanding the better discipline +maintained since the evil star of Randall had sunk beneath the horizon, +not the slightest approach to regularity, in this respect, had been as +yet made. Mrs. Melwyn was personally pious, though in a timid and +unconfiding way, her religion doing little to support and strengthen +her mind; but the general, though he did not live, as many of his +generation were doing, in the open profession of skepticism, and that +contempt for the Bible, which people brought up when Tom Paine passed +for a great genius, used to reckon so clever, yet it was but too +probable that he never approached his Creator, in the course of the +twenty-four hours, in any way; nor had he done so, since he was a child +at his mother's knee. + +The young captain and his lady were blest with loving, pious, simple +dispositions. They loved one another--they delighted in the dear, happy +world in which they lived, and in the sweet little creature, their own +darling and most precious possession, and they both loved, and most +gratefully served their God, who had given them all these good things, +and loved him with the full warmth of their feeling hearts. They showed +their reverence for divine things by every means in their power: and +though they were not of those who go about hurling the awful vengeance +of God, upon all they may think less pious than themselves, they were +naturally anxious, and as advancing years brought increase of serious +thought, they became more and more anxious that their parents should +share the consolations, and their house hold the moral guidance to be +derived from a better system. + +Then, as I hinted to you before, in anticipation of this change, there +had been a very serious neglect, upon the part of this family, of all +those duties connected with the poor and ignorant. None of those efforts +were here made to assist in softening the evils of destitution, or in +forwarding the instruction of the young, which almost every body, +nowadays, considers such obvious duties. + +Such were among the considerations urged by Edgar, and to such Mr. St. +Leger yielded. + +The general was profuse in his offers as regarded salary, and gave Edgar +a _carte blanche_ upon the matter; but Mr. St. Leger would only accept +of one hundred a year, and this, with the stipulation that so soon as +the state of his health would enable him, he should be at liberty to +undertake the duties belonging to a curate for Mr. Thomas, without +diminishing that gentleman's slender stipend by receiving any +remuneration from his hands. + +This last part of the arrangement was particularly acceptable to Mr. St. +Leger, as he thought with the highest satisfaction upon the probability +now opening of resuming his clerical duties, and of thus being able to +repay the debt of gratitude he felt to be owing to the good old vicar. + + * * * * * + +And now behold Mr. St. Leger introduced as a member of the family at the +Hazels, and shedding, on his part, as Lettice had before him done, upon +hers, a new set of benign influences upon this household. + +He was installed the first day by the general, with much politeness and +some little formality, in Edgar's place, at the bottom of the table; +that young gentleman having made it his particular request that he might +see his friend sitting there before his departure. With due gravity was +all this done; while Edgar, chuckling with delight, came and popped down +in his place by the side of his wife. + +The young stranger, looking extremely quiet and composed, without fuss, +ceremony, or hurry, took the place appointed to him; but, before seating +himself, with a serious air, he opened his ministerial functions, by +saying grace. + +Not as the general was wont to say it--for say it he did, more as if +making a grimace than even as going through a form--but so impressively +and reverently, though very briefly, that the hearts of those about to +sit down, were touched, and they were reminded in spite of themselves, +as they ought to be reminded, that there is One above all who is the +Giver of these good things. + +The scene was striking. The very footmen--the officer's footmen--paused, +napkin in hand; astonished--awe-struck by the service. They stood and +stared with vacant eyes, but remained stock still. + +That over, the dinner went on as usual. People ate and drank with +cheerful enjoyment. They all, indeed, felt particularly warm-hearted and +comfortable that day. A sort of genial glow seemed to pervade the little +party. The footmen rushed about more light-footed and assiduous than +ever; and, be it observed to their credit, they were all, without +exception, most particularly attentive to the new comer. + +In the evening, at ten o'clock, the bell rang for prayers. + +Mr. St. Leger, be it understood, had not stipulated for obligatory +attendance upon this service--only for the right to have candles in the +library, and of reading prayers to such as might chose to come; but Mrs. +Melwyn had ordered the servants to attend; and she, and Edgar, and +Catherine, were also there, leaving poor Lettice to take charge of the +general. + +The service was short, but impressive, as the grace had been before. It +was necessarily very brief, for the voice of the fair and delicate young +man, looking, indeed, as we might imagine one of the angels of the +churches, figured in Scripture, was so extremely feeble that more he +could not do. + +But even if he had possessed the power, I question whether much more he +would have done, he looked upon impressive brevity as the very soul of +such exercises in a family like the present. + +Poor Lettice! how hard she found it that evening to remain playing +backgammon with the general, when the rest went out of the room. Going +to attend those services to which she had been accustomed in the house +of her father; and after which, during her stay here, her heart had so +often yearned; but it could not be. + +She was, however, consoled by a whisper from Catherine, as she came +back, passing her upon her way to take her place by the fire. + +"To-morrow you go and I stay. We will take it in turns." + +The new plans were of course--as what taking place in a family is +not--discussed in full conclave that evening over the kitchen fire. + +The servants all came back and assembled round it preparatory to washing +up and going to bed; for though it was summer and warm weather, what +servant in the world does not enjoy the kitchen fire in the evening, be +the weather what it may? And, to tell truth, there are not a few in the +parlor, who usually would be glad to share the privilege; but to +proceed. + +"Well, Thomas, how do _you_ like these new ways of going on?" asked +Mary, the serious, stiff, time-dried, and smoke-dyed head-laundress--a +personage of unknown antiquity, and who had been in the family ever +since it was a family--addressing the fine powdered gentleman in silk +stockings, and pink, white, and silver livery, who leaned negligently +against the chimney-piece. + +"For my part, I'm glad, indeed, to see serious ways taken up in this +house; but how will it suit the rest of you? And especially you, my fine +young gentleman?" + +"Why," answered Thomas, assuming a grave and thoughtful aspect, "I'm +going to confess something which will, perhaps, astonish you, Mistress +Mary--and thus it is--if I'd been told twelve months ago that such new +regulations were to be introduced into this household, I have very great +doubts whether I could have made up my mind to have submitted to them; +but within these few hours, d'ye see, there's been a change." + +"Bravo, Thomas!" said the butler; "a conversion like--I've heard of such +things in my time." + +"Call it what you will, Mr. Buckminster, I call it a change--for a +change there has been." + +"What! well! what!" from different voices round. "Do tell us all about +it." + +"Why, Charles, you were there; and Mr. Buckminster, you were there too. +But Charles is young and giddy; and Mr. Buckminster being always rather +of the serious order, very probably the effect you see was not produced +so strongly upon either of them as upon me." + +"What effect? Well--" + +"Why of the grace, as was said before they sat down to dinner." + +"The grace! Was it the first time you ever heard grace said, you booby?" + +"Yes, I'd heard grace said--I should suppose as often as any as may be +here--though, perhaps, not so sensible to its importance and value as +some present, meaning you, Mistress Mary. The general, for one, never +used to omit it; but, save us! in what a scuffling careless manner it +was said. I protest to you, I thought no more of it than of Mr. +Buckminster taking off the covers and handing them to me. Just as a +necessary preliminary, as they say, to the dinner, and nothing on earth +more." + +"Well, do go on, Thomas. It's very _interesting_," said Mistress Mary, +and the rest gathered closer, all attention. + +"Well, I was a-going to go scuttling about just as usual, thinking only +of not making any noise lest I should see the general--heeding no more +of the grace than of what cook was doing at her fire--when that young +gentleman, as is come newly among us, bent forward and began to speak +it. The effect upon me was wonderful--it was electric--Mr. Buckminster, +you know what I mean; I stood as one arrested--I couldn't have moved or +_not_ cared if it had been never so--I really couldn't. It seemed to me +as if he truly _was_ thanking God for the good things that were set +before them. Their plenty, and their comfort, and their abundance; it +seemed to me as if things were opened to my mind--what I had never +thought of before--who it was--who _did_ give them, and us after them, +all sorts of delicacies, and food, and drink, when others might be +wanting a morsel of bread; and I seemed to be standing before Him--I +felt need to thank Him with the rest.... All this flashed through me +like lightning; but he had done in a moment, and they all sat down." + +"How beautiful Thomas does talk when he has a mind," whispered the +under-housemaid to the under-laundry-maid. "What a fine tall young man +he is, and what a gift of the gab." + +"Well," said the rest, "go on--is there any more?" + +"Yes, there is more. Someway, I could not get it out of my head--I kept +thinking of it all dinner. It was as much as I could do to mind what I +was about; and once I made such a clatter in putting a knife and fork +upon a plate, that if it hadn't been for the greatest good luck in the +world, I should have got it. But the general was talking quite +complacent like with the two young gentlemen, and by huge good fortune +never heeded." + +"Well!" + +"Well, when I got into the pantry and began washing up, I had more time +for quiet reflection. And this is what I thought. What a lot of +lubberly, inanimated, ungrateful, stupid slaves we all must be. Here +serving an earthly master, to the best of our abilities, for a few +beggarly pounds, and for his meat and drink and fine clothing; and very +well contented, moreover, when there's roast beef of a Sunday, or +plum-pudding, and a glass of wine besides on a wedding-day or a +birthday; and thank him, and feel pleased with him, and anxious next day +to do better than ordinary, mayhap--And there's the Great Master--the +Lord and Giver of all, who made us by his hand, and created us by his +power, and feeds us by his bounty, and shelters us by his care; and all +for no good of his, but ours--simply ours. For what's he to get of it, +but the satisfaction of his merciful and generous spirit, when he sees +his poor creatures happy? + +"And we are such dolts! such asses! such brute beasts! such stocks! +such stones! that here we go on from day to day, enjoying the life he +gives us, eating the bread and meat he gives us, drinking his good +refreshments, resting upon his warm beds, and so on.... Every day, and +every day, and every day--and who among us, I, most especially for one, +ever thinks, except may be by scuttling through a few rigmarole +words--ever thinks, I say, of thanking _Him_ for it--of lifting up a +warm, honest heart, of true real thanking, I mean? Of loving Him the +better, and trying to serve and please Him the better--when He, great +and powerful as He is--Lord of all the lords, emperors, and kings, that +ever wore crowns and coronets in this world--condescends to _let_ us +thank Him, to _like_ us to thank Him, and to take pleasure in our humble +love and service!" + +Ha paused--every eye was fixed upon the speaker. + +"And, therefore," continued Thomas, turning to the laundry-maid, who +stood there with a tear in her eye; "therefore, Mistress Mary, I _am_ +pleased with, and I do _like_ these new ways of going on, as you say; +and I bless God, and hope to do it well in my prayers this night, for +having at last made of us what I call a regular Christian family." + + * * * * * + +I have told you, a little in the way of anticipation, that the +popularity of Mr. St. Leger's new measures was not confined to the +kitchen; but that the general, by slow steps, gradually conformed to the +new usages established at the Hazels. + +Lettice and Catherine had not long to take it it turns to stay out with +him, playing backgammon, at the time of evening prayers. + +At first it was a polite--"Oh, pray don't think of staying in the +drawing-room upon my account; I can do very well by myself."... Next it +was, "Nay, rather than that, I will go into the library too; why should +I not?" He began to feel, at first, probably, from a vague sense of +propriety only, but before long from better reasons, that it was not +very seemly for the master of the house alone to be absent, when the +worship of God was going on in his family. + +So there he might, as I told you, ere long be seen, regularly at +night--in the morning more and more regularly--muttering the responses +between his teeth at first; at length, saying them aloud, and with +greater emphasis than any of the rest of the little congregation. His +once majestic figure, now bent with age, towering above the rest; and +his eagle eye of authority, still astonishingly piercing, rolling round +from time to time, upon the watch to detect and rebuke, by a glance, the +slightest sign of inattention upon the part of any of those assembled. + +It was a beautiful picture that evening meeting for prayer, for the +library was a very ancient room, it having retained the old fittings put +in at the time the Hazels was built, some three half centuries ago. The +massive and handsome book-cases of dark oak; the family pictures, grim +with age, which hung above them; the urns and heads of old philosophers +and poets adorning the cornice; the lofty chimney-piece, with the family +arms carved and emblazoned over it; the massive oaken chairs, with their +dark-green morocco cushions; the reading-desk; the large library table, +covered with portfolios of rare prints; and large books containing fine +illustrated editions of the standard authors of England; gave a somewhat +serious, almost religious aspect to the apartment. + +Mrs. Melwyn, in her soft gray silks and fine laces; her fair, colorless +cheek; her tender eyes bent downward; her devout, gentle, meek, humble +attitude and expression; Catherine by her side, in all the full bloom of +health and happiness; that charming-looking, handsome Edgar; and +Lettice, with so much character in her countenance, seated upon one side +of the room, formed a charming row of listening faces, with this rugged, +magnificent-looking old general at their head. + +On the opposite side were--the grave, stern, old housekeeper, so fat, so +grave, and so imposing; Mrs. Melwyn's new maid, a pretty young woman, in +the lightest possible apology for a cap, trimmed with pink ribbons; the +laundry-maid, so serious, and sitting stiff and starched as one of her +own clear muslins; the cook and housemaid looking as attentive as they +could; and the under-servants staring with vacant eyes--eyes that looked +as if they were ready to drop out of their heads; Mr. Buckminster, as +the charming Dickens has it, _so_ "respectable;" Thomas, all spirit and +enthusiasm; and Charles doing all in his power not to fall asleep. + +At the table the young minister, with that interesting and most delicate +face of his; his tall, wasted figure bending forward, his fair, +emaciated hands resting upon the book, from which, in a voice low and +feeble, but most penetrating and sweet, he read. + +They would come back to the drawing-room in such a composed, happy, +cheerful frame of mind. The general more remarkably so. He felt more +self-satisfaction than the others; because the course of proceeding was +so new to him that he imagined it to be very particularly meritorious. A +bit of a pharisee you will think--but not the least of that, I assure +you. Only people, at their first trying of such paths, do often find +them most peculiarly paths of pleasantness and ways of peace; and, this +sort of peace, this being at ease with the conscience, is, to be sure, +very soothing and comfortable. + +In short, nothing could proceed better than things did; and every one +was quite content but the charming match-maker, Catherine. + +She watched, and watched with the greatest interest; but watch as she +might, she could detect no symptoms of falling in love upon the part of +Mr. St. Leger. + +He spent, indeed, the whole of his mornings either in his own room or in +the library, absorbed in the books of divinity, of which there happened +to be a very valuable collection; a collection which had slept +undisturbed upon the shelves for many and many a long year. These +afforded to him a source of interest and improvement which he had never +enjoyed since he had left the too often neglected library of the small +college where he had been educated. He was ready to devour them. Every +moment of time he considered his own--and the whole of the morning was +chiefly at his disposal--was devoted to them; with the exception, be it +mentioned, of a large portion, which, when the weather would allow, was +spent in visiting among the poor at that end of the parish. + +At dinner Mr. St. Leger for the first time joined the family party. When +he did, however, it must be confessed, he made ample amends for his +absence, and was excessively agreeable. He had great powers of +conversation, and evidently considered it his duty to exert himself to +raise the tone of conversation at the general's table, so as to make the +time pass pleasantly with the old man. In this Edgar and Catherine +seconded him to the best of their power. + +Lettice said little. She sat at the bottom of the table, by Mr. St. +Leger; but though he often addressed her--taking care that she should +not feel left out--as did Catherine also, she was very silent. She had +not, indeed, much that she could venture to say. When conversation took +this higher tone, she felt afraid of her own ignorance; and then she +first knew what it was to lament not having had a better education. + +As they grew more intimate--for people who sit side by side at dinner +every day can not help growing intimate--Mr. St. Leger would gently +remark upon this reserve; and one day he began to speak openly upon the +subject. He had attributed her silence, I believe, to a bashful feeling +of inferiority in rank; for her face was so intelligent and full of +meaning, that he did not divine its real cause, so he said, with a +certain gentle abruptness which became him much: + +"I have discovered a fault in you, Miss Arnold, at last; though every +body here seems to think it impossible you should have one. May I tell +you of it?" + +"Oh! if you once begin with my faults, I am afraid you will never have +done. I know the length of the score that might be summed up against me, +though others are so good-natured as to forget it. Yes, indeed, I shall +be much obliged to you." + +"Don't you think it is the duty of all to exert themselves in a family +party, to make conversation circulate in an agreeable manner?" + +"To be sure, I do--and" ... how well you perform that duty, she was +prompted to say, but she did not. She hesitated a little, and then +added--"And, perhaps, you think I do not do that so much as I ought to +do." + +"Precisely. You will not be angry. No, you can not be angry. You never +are. The most trying and provoking things, I observe, can not ruffle +you. So I will venture to say, that I think you don't play fair by me. +We are both here chiefly to make ourselves agreeable, I believe; and I +sometimes wish I had a little more assistance in that duty from one who, +I am sure, could perform it admirably, if she so pleased." + +Lettice shook her head. Then she said, with her usual simplicity, "I +used to talk more before you came." + +"Did you? But that's not quite generous, is it, to throw the whole +burden upon me now I _am_ come, instead of sharing it? Why will you not +talk now?" + +"Simply, because I can't. Oh, Mr. St. Leger! the talk is so different +since you came here, and I feel my own incapacity so sadly--my own +ignorance so forcibly--I should say so painfully; but that, indeed, is +not my own fault, and that takes the worst pain, you know, out of +things." + +"Ignorant!" he said: "of what?" + +"Of all these things you talk about. I used to pick up a little from the +newspapers, but now I have done reading them I seem literally to know +nothing." + +"Nothing! Nothing about books, I suppose you mean; for you seem to me to +understand men and things better than most people I have met with." + +"I have experienced more, perhaps, than most girls of my age have done, +through my poverty and misfortunes; but what is that?" + +"Ah, Miss Arnold! what is it but the best part of all knowledge; to +understand one's self and others; the best of all possessions; to +possess one's own spirit. But I beg your pardon, I will only add, that I +do not, by what I say, intend at all to undervalue the advantages of +reading, or the happiness of having a love of reading. Do you love +reading?" + +"Why, I don't quite know. I find the books I read aloud to Mrs. Melwyn +often very tiresome, I must confess." + +"And what sort of books do you read to Mrs. Melwyn?" + +"Why, only two sorts--novels and essays." + +He laughed a little, in his quiet way, and then said, "I wonder at any +young lady disliking novels; I thought it was the very reading they +liked best; but as for essays, with very few exceptions, I must own I +share in your distaste for them." + +"I can't understand them very often. I am ashamed to say it; but the +writers use such fine language and such strange new words, and then they +go over and over again upon the same thought, and illustrate it twenty +different ways, when one happy illustration, I think, would be so much +better; I like a writer who marches promptly through a subject; those +essayists seem as if they never could have done." + +"What you say is just, in many instances, I think. It is a pity you have +not tried other reading. History, travels, poetry; you can not think how +pleasantly such subjects seem to fill and enlarge the mind. And if you +have a little time of your own, you can not easily believe, perhaps, how +much may be done. Even with an hour each day, of steady reading, a vast +deal." + +"Ah! but where shall I begin? Every body reads Hume's History of England +first, and I have never even done that; and if I were to begin I should +never get to the end of it." + +"Oh, yes, but you would, and be surprised to find how soon that end had +arrived, and what a pleasant journey you had made. But if you are +frightened at Hume, and I own he _looks_ formidable, let me select you +something in the library, to commence operations with, which will not be +quite so alarming." + +"Oh! if you would...." + +"With the greatest pleasure in the world. If you will allow me to assist +you a little in the choice of your books, I think, with the virtue of +perseverance--and I know you have all the virtues--you would get through +a good deal in a comparatively short space of time; and when I reflect +how much it would add to your happiness, as it does to every one's +happiness, I confess I can not feel easy till I have set you going." + +This conversation had been carried on in a low voice, while the rest had +been talking over some family matters together. The speakers at the head +of the table stopped, and the silence aroused the two. Catherine glanced +at them suddenly; she saw Lettice color a little, but Mr. St. Leger +preserved the most provoking composure. + +The evenings Mr. St. Leger devoted exclusively to the good pleasure of +the general. He read the newspapers, making them the vehicle of the most +intelligent and agreeable comments, he looked out the places mentioned +in the maps, and had something perpetually to say that was interesting +of this or that. He answered every question the general wanted solved in +the cleverest manner; and, in short, he so won upon the old man's heart, +that he became quite attached to him. The evenings, once so heavy, and +spent in a sort of irritable fretfulness, became quite delightful to +him: nor were they less delightful to others. At last, things came to +that pass that the wearisome backgammon was given up, and reading aloud +took its place. The ladies worked and read in turns, Edgar taking double +tides, and Mr. St. Leger doing a little, which he insisted upon, +assuring them that it did not hurt his chest at all. He was, indeed, +getting stronger and better every day; he was a beautiful reader. + +Lettice sat plying her busy needle, but with a countenance so filled +with intelligent pleasure, that it is not to be wondered at if Mr. St. +Leger, when his reading was over, and he had nothing else to do, and, +the books being usually such as he was well acquainted with, not much at +the moment to think of, took pleasure in observing her. + +He had not forgotten his promise of selecting authors for her own +private studies; he seemed to take much benevolent pleasure in +endeavoring to compensate to this generous and excellent creature, for +the intellectual disadvantages of a life devoted to others as hers had +been. He usually, also, found or made an opportunity for talking over +with her what she had been reading; and, he believed, in all sincerity, +and so did she, that he was actuated in these proceedings merely, as I +said, by the disinterested desire of offering compensation for past +sacrifices; stimulated by the very high value he himself attached to +mental cultivation, regarding it as the best source of independent +happiness both for men and women. + +But whatever were the motives with which he began this labor of +kindness, it is certain as he proceeded therein a vast deal more +interest and pleasure were mingled up with this little task than had +been the case at first. + +Her simple, unaffected purity of heart; her single-mindedness, unstained +by selfish thought, pride, or vanity, or folly, in its simplicity and +singleness of purpose, were displayed before him. The generous +benevolence of purpose; the warm and grateful piety; the peculiar +right-mindedness; the unaffected love for all that was excellent, true, +good, or beautiful, and the happy facility of detecting all that was +good or beneficial wherever it was to be found, and wherever observed; +the sweet cheerfulness and repose of the character; that resemblance to +a green field, which I have heard a husband of only too sensitive a +nature gratefully attribute to his partner; all this worked strongly, +though unmarked. + +Mr. St. Leger began to experience a sense of a sweetness, solace, and +enjoyment, in the presence of Lettice Arnold, that he had not found upon +this earth for years, and which he never had hoped to find again. + +But all this time he never dreamed of falling in love. His imagination +never traveled so far as to think of such a thing as appropriating this +rare blessing to himself. To live with her was his destiny at present, +and that seemed happiness enough; and, indeed he scarcely had got so far +as to acknowledge to his own heart, how much happiness that privilege +conferred. + +She, on her side, was equally tranquil, undisturbed by the slightest +participation in the romance Catherine would so gladly have commenced. +She went on contentedly, profiting by his instructions, delighting in +his company, and adoring his goodness; but would as soon have thought of +appropriating some "bright particular star" to herself as this gifted +man. + +She deemed him too infinitely her superior. + +Well, it is no use keeping the matter in suspense any longer. You all +see how it must end. + +You do not fret and worry yourselves as Catherine did, and abuse Mr. St. +Leger for his indifference. You see plainly enough that two such very +nice people, and so excellently suited to each other, must, thrown +together as they were every day, end by liking each other, which, but +for the previous arrangements of the excellent Catherine, would have +been a very perplexing business to all parties. + +When at last--just before Edgar and his wife were going to sail for +Canada, and he and she were making their farewell visit at the +Hazels--when at last Mr. St. Leger, after having looked for two or three +days very miserable, and having avoided every one, and particularly poor +Lettice--to whom he had not spoken a word all that time, and who was +miserable at the idea that she must have offended him--when at last he +took Edgar out walking, and then confessed that he thought it no longer +right, safe, or honorable, for him to remain at the Hazels, finding, as +he did, that one creature was becoming too dear to him; and he trembled +every moment, lest by betraying his secret he might disturb her +serenity. When at last the confession was made, and Edgar reported it to +his wife--then Catherine was ready to jump for joy. In vain Edgar strove +to look wise, and tell her to be reasonable. In vain he represented all +the objections that must be urged against her out-of-the-way scheme, as +he was ill-natured enough to call it. She would hear of none. + +No, nothing. She was perfectly unreasonable--her husband told her +so--but it was all in vain. Men are more easily discouraged at the idea +of any proceeding out of the usual course than women are. They do not, I +think, set so much value upon _abstract_ happiness, if I may use the +term; they think more of the attending circumstances, and less of that +one ingredient--genuine happiness--than women do. + +Catherine could and would think of nothing else, but how perfectly these +two were suited to each other, and how excessively happy they would be. + +Dear, good thing! how she labored in the cause, and what a world of +contradiction and trouble she had to go through. First, there was Mr. +St. Leger himself, to be persuaded to be happy upon her plan, the only +possible plan under the circumstances; then there was Lettice to +persuade that Mr. St. Leger's happiness and dignity would not be +hazarded; then there was Edgar to reason out of calling her romantic; +and last of all there was the general, for Mrs. Melwyn, I consider, as +Catherine did, already persuaded. + +This last task _did_ appear formidable. She put it off as long as she +could; she got every body else in the right frame of mind before she +ventured upon it; she had persuaded both Edgar and Mrs. Melwyn to second +her, if need were, and at length, with a dreadful feeling of +trepidation, she broached the subject to the old veteran. With all the +coolness she could muster she began her speech, and laid the whole +matter before him. He did not interrupt her while she spoke by one +single word, or remark good, bad, or indifferent. It was awful--her poor +little heart fluttered, as if it were going to stop; she expected the +storm every instant to burst forth in some terrible outbreak. She sat +there shuddering at her own rashness. If even Edgar had called her +absurd, what would her father do! If St. Leger himself had been so +difficult to manage, what would the old general say! He said nothing. +She would not be discouraged: she began to speak again, to recapitulate +every argument; she warmed with the subject; she was earnest, eloquent, +pathetic--tears were in the good creature's eyes; still he was silent. +At last, wearied out with useless exertion, she ceased to urge the +matter any further; and endeavoring to conquer her feelings of deep +disappointment, looked up in his face to see whether the slightest +relenting expression was visible in it. No; his eyes were fixed upon the +floor; he seemed lost in deep thought. + +"Papa," she ventured to say, "have you heard all I have been saying?" + +"Yes, child." + +Silence again for a few minutes, then--"Catherine, did you ever know me +do a good action in your life?" + +"Dear papa, what a question." + +"Did you ever know me, I say, to do one thoroughly generous, benevolent +action, without regard to self in the slightest degree--such as I +call--such as alone merits the name of a really _good_ action? If you +ever did, I can't easily forgive you." + +"Dearest papa! what have I done? Did I ever say? Did I ever hint? Dear +papa!" and she looked ready to cry. + +"Did you ever?--no--I know you never did." + +"Don't say so--don't think so badly of me, papa." + +"I'm not thinking badly of you, child--God forbid; for well he knows if +I ever did one really generous, benevolent action--one without reference +to self.... Heaven bless thee, thou dearest thing, thy life seems only +made up of such actions; but I say again, did you ever?--No; I know you +never did--and I'll tell you why I know it." + +"Ah, papa! What _can_ you mean?" + +"Because," he went on without seeming to mind her emotion, "because, I +observe, that whenever you want to persuade other people--your mother, +or Edgar, or Lettice, for instance--to do something you've set your +heart upon, you hussy--you always enlarge upon the happiness it will +give to other people; but when you're trying to come round me, you only +talk of how comfortable it will make myself." + +She could only utter a faint exclamation. The accusation, if accusation +it may be called, was not to be denied. + +"Now, Catherine, since this young man came into the house, what with his +conversation, he's a most gentlemanlike, agreeable converser as ever I +met with ... and the prayers, and the chapters, and such like; and, in +short, a certain new tone of thought altogether; there has been +gradually something new growing up in me. I have at times begun to think +back upon my life, and to recollect what a nasty, mean, greedy, +calculating, selfish fellow I've been throughout, never troubling myself +about other people's comforts, or so on, but going on as if every body +was only created to promote mine; and I'd have been glad, Catherine, +before I went into my grave, which won't be long too--I own to you I +would have been glad, for once in my life to have done a purely good, +unselfish thing--made a sacrifice, as you pious folk call it; and, +therefore, to own the truth, I have been very sorry, and could not help +feeling disappointed, as here you've sat prosing this half hour and +more, showing me what a great deal I was to get by this notable +arrangement of yours." + +"Papa!--dearest--dear papa!" + +"Be quiet--I have indeed--I'd have liked to have had something to give +up, instead of its being, as I verily believe it is, the most charmingly +delightful scheme for your mother and me that ever was hit upon--for +that man is the happiness of my life--my body's comfort and my soul's +health--and Lettice is more like a dear child than any thing else to +that poor mother of yours, whom I have not, perhaps, been so considerate +of as I ought; and to have them thus fixed together in this house, is +better luck than could be conceived, such as scarcely ever happens in +this world to any body; and far better than I--almost better than your +poor mother deserves. So you're a darling little courageous creature for +planning it, when I'll be bound they all thought you a fool, so have it +all your own way, and give your old father a kiss," which she joyfully +did. "And now you go to Mr. St. Leger, and tell him from me, that if he +consents to this scheme I shall esteem it the greatest favor and +satisfaction that was ever conferred upon me in my life. I know what it +is to be thus trusted by such a man--I know the confidence on his part +which such an arrangement implies--and you may add, that if he will only +extend to me his usual indulgence for human folly and frailty, I will do +every thing that is in the power of an ill-tempered, good-for-nothing, +selfish old fellow, to prevent him repenting his bargain. And tell +Lettice she's a darling, excellent creature; and I have thought so long, +though I have said little about it, and she has been like an angel of +love and peace in our family; and if she will only go on as she has +done, she will make us all as happy as the day is long; and tell your +mother I wish I did not enjoy the thoughts of this so much myself, that +I might have the pleasure of making an offering of my satisfaction to +her." + +"Dear!--dear beloved papa!" + +"Stop a little, child; Edgar and you will have to pay the piper, you +know." + +"Oh, gladly! thankfully!" + +"Because you see, my dear, if these two people marry and live with us, +and become as children, I must treat them, in a manner, as children, and +make a little codicil to my will; and you and Edgar will be something +the worse for it. But, bless you, child, there's enough for all." + +"And bless you, my honored, generous father, for thinking so; that there +is. Edgar and I only earnestly desired this; thank you, thank you, ten +thousand times." + +I will only detain you for a few moments longer, to tell you that the +scheme was carried into execution, and fully answered the hopes of the +generous contriver. + +Mr. St. Leger found, in the attachment of Lettice, a compensation for +the cruel sufferings of his past life; and, under her tender and +assiduous care, he speedily recovered his health and his powers of +usefulness. She, while performing a woman's best and happiest part, that +of proving the true happiness of an admirable and a superior man, +contrived likewise to fulfill all her other duties in the most complete +and exemplary manner. + +It would be difficult to say, whether the happiness she felt or +conferred was the greater. + +Exceptional people may venture upon exceptional measures. Those who are +a great deal more sweet tempered, and loving, and good, and reasonable +than others, may venture to seek happiness in ways that the generality +would be mad to attempt. + +And sensible, well-principled, right-tempered human beings, one may take +into close family intimacy, and discard that reserve, and those +arm's-length proceedings, which people's faults, in too many cases, +render prudent and necessary. + +It was because the subjects of Catherine's schemes were so excellent, +that the object of them was so wise. + +I have now told you how perfectly they answered upon trial; and I am +only sorry that the world contains so very few with whom one could +venture to make the same experiment. + +For a very large portion of possible happiness is thrown away, because +people are not fit to take part in plans of this nature--plans wherein +one shall give what he has, to receive back what he wants; and thus the +true social communism be established. + + + + +[From the Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers, Vol. II., unpublished.] + +RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. CHALMERS. + +HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE IN THE PULPIT. + + +The first sermon which Mr. Chalmers preached in Glasgow was delivered +before the Society of the Sons of the Clergy, on Thursday the 30th day +of March, 1815, a few months after his appointment, and a few months +previous to his admission as minister of the Tron Church. The recent +excitement of the canvass, the rumors strange and various, which +crossing the breadth of Scotland were circulating in all quarters +through the city, the quickened curiosity of opponents, the large but +somewhat tremulous expectation of friends, drew together a vast +multitude to hear him. Among the crowd which filled the church was a +young Oxford student, himself the son of a Scottish minister, who had +been surprised by hearing Mr. Chalmers's work on the Evidences of +Christianity mentioned with high approval, within the walls of an +English University, shortly after the date of its publication. The keen +dark eye of the youthful auditor fixed itself in searching scrutiny upon +the preacher, and a few years later his graceful and graphic pen drew +the following sketch: + +"I was a good deal surprised and perplexed with the first glimpse I +obtained of his countenance, for the light that streamed faintly upon it +for the moment did not reveal any thing like that general outline of +feature and visage for which my fancy had by some strange working of +presentiment, prepared me. By-and-by, however, the light became +stronger, and I was enabled to study the minutiae of his face pretty +leisurely, while he leaned forward and read aloud the words of the +Psalm, for that is always done in Scotland, not by the clerk, but the +clergyman himself. At first sight, no doubt, his face is a coarse one, +but a mysterious kind of meaning breathes from every part of it, that +such as have eyes to see cannot be long without discovering. It is very +pale, and the large, half-closed eyelids have a certain drooping +melancholy weight about them, which interested me very much. I +understood not why. The lips, too, are singularly pensive in their mode +of falling down at the sides, although there is no want of richness and +vigor in their central fullness of curve. The upper lip, from the nose +downward, is separated by a very deep line, which gives a sort of +leonine firmness of expression to all the lower part of the face. The +cheeks are square and strong, in texture like pieces of marble, with the +cheek-bones very broad and prominent. The eyes themselves are light in +color, and have a strange dreamy heaviness, that conveys any idea rather +than that of dullness, but which contrasts in a wonderful manner with +the dazzling watery glare they exhibit when expanded in their sockets, +and illuminated into all their flame and fervor in some moment of high +entranced enthusiasm. But the shape of the forehead is, perhaps, the +most singular part of the whole visage; and, indeed, it presents a +mixture so very singular, of forms commonly exhibited only in the widest +separation, that it is no wonder I should have required some little time +to comprehend the meaning of it. In the first place, it is without +exception the most marked mathematical forehead I ever met with--being +far wider across the eyebrows than either Mr. Playfair's or Mr. +Leslie's--and having the eyebrows themselves lifted up at their exterior +ends quite out of the usual line, a peculiarity which Spurzheim had +remarked in the countenances of almost all the great mathematical or +calculating geniuses--such, for example, if I rightly remember, as Sir +Isaac Newton himself, Kaestener, Euler, and many others. Immediately +above the extraordinary breadth of this region, which, in the heads of +most mathematical persons, is surmounted by no fine points of +organization whatever, immediately above this, in the forehead, there is +an arch of imagination, carrying out the summit boldly and roundly, in +a style to which the heads of very few poets present any thing +comparable, while over this again there is a grand apex of high and +solemn veneration and love, such as might have graced the bust of Plato +himself, and such as in living men I had never beheld equaled in any but +the majestic head of Canova. The whole is edged with a few crisp dark +locks, which stand forth boldly, and afford a fine relief to the +death-like paleness of those massive temples.... Of all human +compositions there is none surely which loses so much as a sermon does +when it is made to address itself to the eye of a solitary student in +his closet and not to the thrilling ears of a mighty mingled +congregation, through the very voice which nature has enriched with +notes more expressive than words can ever be of the meanings and +feelings of its author. Neither, perhaps, did the world ever possess any +orator whose minutest peculiarities of gesture and voice have more power +in increasing the effect of what he says--whose delivery, in other +words, is the first, and the second, and the third excellence of his +oratory--more truly than is that of Dr. Chalmers. And yet were the +spirit of the man less gifted than it is, there is no question these, +his lesser peculiarities, would never have been numbered among his +points of excellence. His voice is neither strong nor melodious, his +gestures are neither easy nor graceful; but, on the contrary, extremely +rude and awkward; his pronunciation is not only broadly national, but +broadly provincial, distorting almost every word he utters into some +barbarous novelty, which, had his hearer leisure to think of such +things, might be productive of an effect at once ludicrous and offensive +in a singular degree. But, of a truth, these are things which no +listener can attend to while this great preacher stands before him armed +with all the weapons of the most commanding eloquence, and swaying all +around him with its imperial rule. At first, indeed, there is nothing to +make one suspect what riches are in store. He commences in a low, +drawling key, which has not even the merit of being solemn, and advances +from sentence to sentence, and from paragraph to paragraph, while you +seek in vain to catch a single echo that gives promise of that which is +to come. There is, on the contrary, an appearance of constraint about +him that affects and distresses you. You are afraid that his breast is +weak, and that even the slight exertion he makes may be too much for it. +But then, with what tenfold richness does this dim preliminary curtain +make the glories of his eloquence to shine forth, when the heated spirit +at length shakes from it its chill confining fetters, and bursts out +elate and rejoicing in the full splendor of its disimprisoned wings.... +I have heard many men deliver sermons far better arranged in regard to +argument, and have heard very many deliver sermons far more uniform in +elegance both of conception and of style; but most unquestionably, I +have never heard, either in England or Scotland, or in any other +country, any preacher whose eloquence is capable of producing an effect +so strong and irresistible as his."[21] + + * * * * * + +FIRST DELIVERY OF THE ASTRONOMICAL DISCOURSES.--At the time of Dr. +Chalmers's settlement in Glasgow it was the custom that the clergymen of +the city should preach in rotation on Thursday in the Tron Church, a +duty which, as their number was then but eight, returned to each within +an interval of two months. On Thursday, the 23d of November, 1815, this +week-day service devolved on Dr. Chalmers. The entire novelty of the +discourse delivered upon this occasion, and the promise held out by the +preacher that a series of similar discourses was to follow, excited the +liveliest interest, not in his own congregation alone, but throughout +the whole community. He had presented to his hearers a sketch of the +recent discoveries of astronomy--distinct in outline, and drawn with all +the ease of one who was himself a master in the science, yet gorgeously +magnificent in many of its details, displaying, amid "the brilliant glow +of a blazing eloquence,"[22] the sublime poetry of the heavens. In his +subsequent discourses Dr. Chalmers proposed to discuss the argument or +rather prejudice against the Christian Revelation which grounds itself +on the vastness and variety of those unnumbered worlds which lie +scattered over the immeasurable fields of space. This discussion +occupied all the Thursday services allotted to him during the year 1816. +The spectacle which presented itself in the Trongate upon the day of the +delivery of each new astronomical discourse, was a most singular one. +Long ere the bell began to toll, a stream of people might be seen +pouring through the passage which led into the Tron Church. Across the +street, and immediately opposite to this passage, was the old +reading-room, where all the Glasgow merchants met. So soon, however, as +the gathering quickening stream upon the opposite side of the street +gave the accustomed warning, out flowed the occupants of the +coffee-room; the pages of the Herald or the Courier were for a while +forsaken, and during two of the best business hours of the day the old +reading-room wore a strange aspect of desolation. The busiest merchants +of the city were wont, indeed, upon those memorable days to leave their +desks, and kind masters allowed their clerks and apprentices to follow +their example. Out of the very heart of the great tumult an hour or two +stood redeemed for the highest exercises of the spirit; and the low +traffic of earth forgotten, heaven and its high economy and its human +sympathies and eternal interests, engrossed the mind at least and the +fancy of congregated thousands. + +In January, 1817, this series of discourses was announced as ready for +publication. It had generally been a matter of so much commercial risk +to issue a volume of sermons from the press, that recourse had been +often had in such cases to publication by subscription. Dr. Chalmers's +publisher, Mr. Smith, had hinted that perhaps this method ought in this +instance also to be tried. "It is far more agreeable to my feelings," +Dr. Chalmers wrote to him a few days before the day of publication, +"that the book should be introduced to the general market, and sell on +the public estimation of it, than that the neighborhood here should be +plied in all the shops with subscription papers, and as much as possible +wrung out of their partialities for the author." Neither author nor +publisher had at this time the least idea of the extraordinary success +which was awaiting their forthcoming volume. It was published on the +28th of January, 1817. In ten weeks 6000 copies had been disposed of, +the demand showing no symptom of decline. Nine editions were called for +within a year, and nearly 20,000 copies were in circulation. Never +previously, nor ever since, has any volume of sermons met with such +immediate and general acceptance. The "Tales of my Landlord" had a +month's start in the date of publication, and even with such a +competitor it ran an almost equal race. Not a few curious observers were +struck with the novel competition, and watched with lively curiosity how +the great Scottish preacher and the great Scottish novelist kept for a +whole year so nearly abreast of one another. It was, besides, the first +volume of Sermons which fairly broke the lines which had separated too +long the literary from the religious public. Its secondary merits won +audience for it in quarters where evangelical Christianity was nauseated +and despised. It disarmed even the keen hostility of Hazlitt, and kept +him for a whole forenoon spell-bound beneath its power. "These sermons," +he says, "ran like wild-fire through the country, were the darlings of +watering-places, were laid in the windows of inns, and were to be met +with in all places of public resort.... We remember finding the volume +in the orchard of the inn at Burford Bridge, near Boxhill, and passing a +whole and very delightful morning in reading it without quitting the +shade of an apple tree." The attractive volume stole an hour or two from +the occupations of the greatest statesman and orator of the day. +"Canning," says Sir James Mackintosh, "told me that he was entirely +converted to admiration of Chalmers; so is Bobus, whose conversion is +thought the greatest proof of victory. Canning says there are most +magnificent passages in his 'Astronomical Sermons."[23] Four years +before this time, through the pages of the "Edinburgh Christian +Instructor," Dr. Chalmers had said, "Men of tasteful and cultivated +literature are repelled from theology at the very outset by the +unseemly garb in which she is presented to them. If there be room for +the display of eloquence in urgent and pathetic exhortation, in masterly +discussion, in elevating greatness of conception, does not theology +embrace all these, and will not the language that is clearly and +appropriately expressive of them possess many of the constituents and +varieties of good writing? If theology, then, can command such an +advantage, on what principle should it be kept back from her?... In the +subject itself there is a grandeur which it were vain to look for in the +ordinary themes of eloquence or poetry. Let writers arise, then, to do +it justice. Let them be all things to all men, that they may gain some; +and if a single proselyte can be thereby drawn from the ranks of +literature, let all the embellishments of genius and fancy be thrown +around the subject. One man has already done much. Others are rising +around him, and with the advantage of a higher subject, they will in +time rival the unchristian moralists of the day, and overmatch them." He +was one of the first to answer to his own call, to fulfill his own +prediction. No single writer of our age has done so much to present the +truths of Christianity in new forms, and to invest them with all the +attractions of a fascinating eloquence; nor could a single volume be +named which has done more than this very volume of "Astronomical +Discourses" to soften and subdue those prejudices which the infidelity +of natural science engenders. + + * * * * * + +EFFECT OF HIS ELOQUENCE.--SERMON ON DISSIPATION IN LARGE CITIES.--Dr. +Chalmers returned to Glasgow on Saturday, the 27th December, and on the +following day found a prodigious crowd awaiting his appearance in the +Tron Church pulpit. His popularity as a preacher was now at its very +highest summit, and judging merely by the amount of physical energy +displayed by the preacher, and by the palpable and visible effects +produced upon his hearers, we conclude that it was about this period, +and within the walls of the Tron Church, that by far the most wonderful +exhibitions of his power as a pulpit orator were witnessed. "The Tron +Church contains, if I mistake not," says the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, who, as +frequently as he could, was a hearer in it, "about 1400 hearers, +according to the ordinary allowance of seat-room; when crowded of course +proportionally more. And, though I can not attempt any pictorial sketch +of the _place_, I may, in a sentence or two, present you with a few +touches of the _scene_ which I have, more than once or twice, witnessed +within its walls; not that it was at all peculiar, for it resembled +every other scene where the doctor in those days, when his eloquence was +in the prime of its vehemence and splendor, was called to preach. There +was one particular, indeed, which rendered such a scene, in a city like +Glasgow, peculiarly striking. I refer to the _time_ of it. To see a +place of worship, of the size mentioned, crammed above and below, on a +_Thursday forenoon_, during the busiest hours of the day, with fifteen +or sixteen hundred hearers, and these of all descriptions of persons, in +all descriptions of professional occupation, the busiest as well as +those who had most leisure on their hands, those who had least to spare +taking care so to arrange their business engagements previously as to +_make time_ for the purpose, all pouring in through the wide entrance at +the side of the Tron steeple, half an hour before the time of service, +to secure a seat, or content if too late for this to occupy, as many +did, standing room--this was, indeed, a novel and strange sight. Nor was +it once merely, or twice, but month after month the day was calculated +when his turn to preach again was to come round, and anticipated, with +even impatient longing, by multitudes. + +"Suppose the congregation thus assembled--pews filled with sitters, and +aisles, to a great extent, with standers. They wait in eager +expectation. The preacher appears. The devotional exercises of praise +and prayer having been gone through with unaffected simplicity and +earnestness, the entire assembly set themselves for the _treat_, with +feelings very diverse in kind, but all eager and intent. There is a hush +of dead silence. The text is announced, and he begins. Every countenance +is up--every eye bent, with fixed intentness, on the speaker. As he +kindles the interest grows. Every breath is held--every cough is +suppressed--every fidgety movement is settled--every one, riveted +himself by the spell of the impassioned and entrancing eloquence, knows +how sensitively his neighbor will resent the very slightest disturbance. +Then, by-and-by, there is a pause. The speaker stops--to gather +breath--to wipe his forehead--to adjust his gown, and purposely too, and +wisely, to give the audience, as well as himself, a moment or two of +relaxation. The moment is embraced--there is free breathing--suppressed +coughs get vent--postures are changed--there is a universal stir, as of +persons who could not have endured the constraint much longer--the +preacher bends forward--his hand is raised--all is again hushed. The +same stillness and strain of unrelaxed attention is repeated, more +intent still, it may be, than before, as the interest of the subject and +of the speaker advance. And so, for perhaps four or five times in the +course of a sermon, there is the _relaxation_ and the '_at it again_' +till the final winding up. + +"And _then_, the moment the last word was uttered, and followed by +the--'_let us pray_,' there was a scene for which no excuse or +palliation can be pleaded but the fact of its having been to many a +matter of difficulty, in the morning of a week-day, to accomplish the +abstraction of even so much of their time from business--the closing +prayer completely drowned by the hurried rush of large numbers from the +aisles and pews to the door; an unseemly scene, without doubt, as if so +many had come to the house of God not to worship, but simply to enjoy +the fascination of human eloquence. Even this much it was a great thing +for eloquence to accomplish. And how diversified soever the motives +which drew so many together, and the emotions awakened and impressions +produced by what was heard--though, in the terms of the text of one of +his most overpoweringly stirring and faithful appeals, he was to not a +few 'as one that had a pleasant voice and could play well on an +instrument,' yet there is abundant proof that, in the highest sense, +'his labor was not in vain in the Lord;' that the truths which, with so +much fearless fidelity and impassioned earnestness, he delivered, went +in many instances farther than the ear, or even the intellect--that they +reached the heart, and, by the power of the Spirit, turned it to God." + +"On Thursday, the 12th February, 1818," I now quote from a manuscript of +the Rev. Mr. Fraser, minister of Kilchrennan, "Dr. Chalmers preached in +the Tron Church before the Directors of the Magdalene Asylum. The sermon +delivered on this occasion was that 'On the Dissipation of Large +Cities.' Long before the service commenced every seat and passage was +crowded to excess, with the exception of the front pew of the gallery, +which was reserved for the magistrates. A vast number of students +deserted their classes at the University and were present. This was very +particularly the case in regard to the Moral Philosophy Class, which I +attended that session, as appeared on the following day when the list of +absentees was given in by the person who had called the catalogue, and +at the same time a petition from several of themselves was handed in to +the professor, praying for a remission of the fine for non-attendance, +on the ground that they had been hearing Dr. Chalmers. The doctor's +manner during the whole delivery of that magnificent discourse was +strikingly animated, while the enthusiasm and energy which he threw into +some of its bursts rendered them quite overpowering. One expression +which he used, together with his action, his look, and the very tones of +his voice when it came forth, made a most vivid and indelible impression +upon my memory: 'We, at the same time,' he said, 'have our eye perfectly +open to that great external improvement which has taken place, of late +years, in the manners of society. There is not the same grossness of +conversation. There is not the same impatience for the withdrawment of +him who, asked to grace the outset of an assembled party, is compelled, +at a certain step in the process of conviviality, by the obligations of +professional decency, to retire from it. There is not so frequent an +exaction of this as one of the established proprieties of social or of +fashionable life. And if such an exaction was ever laid by the +omnipotence of custom on a minister of Christianity, it is such an +exaction as ought never, never to be complied with. It is not for him to +lend the sanction of his presence to a meeting with which he could not +sit to its final termination. It is not for him to stand associated, +for a single hour, with an assemblage of men who begin with hypocrisy, +and end with downright blackguardism. It is not for him to watch the +progress of the coming ribaldry, and to hit the well selected moment +when talk and turbulence and boisterous merriment are on the eve of +bursting forth upon the company, and carrying them forward to the full +acme and uproar of their enjoyment. It is quite in vain to say, that he +has only sanctioned one part of such an entertainment. He has as good as +given his connivance to the whole of it, and left behind him a discharge +in full of all its abominations; and, therefore, be they who they may, +whether they rank among the proudest aristocracy of our land, or are +charioted in splendor along, as the wealthiest of our citizens, _or +flounce in the robes of magistracy_, it is his part to keep as purely +and indignantly aloof from such society as this, as he would from the +vilest and most debasing associations of profligacy.' + +"The words which I have underlined do not appear in the sermon as +printed. While uttering them, which he did with peculiar emphasis, +accompanying them with a flash from his eye and a stamp of his foot, he +threw his right arm with clenched hand right across the book-board, and +brandished it full in the face of the Town Council, sitting in array and +in state before him. Many eyes were in a moment directed toward the +magistrates. The words evidently fell upon them like a thunderbolt, and +seemed to startle like an electric shock the whole audience." + +Another interesting memorial of this sermon is supplied by Dr. Wardlaw, +who was present at its delivery. "The eloquence of that discourse was +absolutely overpowering. The subject was one eminently fitted to awaken +and summon to their utmost energy all his extraordinary powers; +especially when, after having cleared his ground by a luminously +scriptural exhibition of that supreme authority by which the evils he +was about to portray were interdicted, in contradistinction to the +prevailing maxims and practices of a worldly morality, he came forward +to the announcement and illustration of his main subject--'_the origin, +the progress, and the effects of a life of dissipation_.' His moral +portraitures were so graphically and vividly delineated--his warnings +and entreaties, especially to youth, so impassioned and earnest--his +admonitions so faithful, and his denunciations so fearless and so +fearful--and his exhortations to preventive and remedial appliances so +pointed and so urgent to all among his auditors who had either the +charge of youth, or the supervision of dependents! It was thrilling, +overwhelming. His whole soul seemed in every utterance. Although saying +to myself all the while, 'Oh! that this were in the hands of every +father, and master, and guardian, and young man in the land!' I yet +could not spare an eye from the preacher to mark how his appeal was +telling upon others. The breathless, the appalling silence told me of +that. Any person who reads that discourse, and who had the privilege of +listening to Dr. Chalmers during the prime and freshness of his public +eloquence, will readily imagine the effect of some passages in it, when +delivered with even more than the preacher's characteristic vehemence." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] _Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk_, 2d edit, vol. iii pp 267-273. + +[22] Foster. + +[23] _Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh_, vol. +ii. p. 343. The person known among his particular friends by the name of +"Bobus" was Robert Smith, who had held the office of Advocate-General in +Bengal, and who is not to be confounded with his namesake, the brother +of the Rev. Sydney Smith. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +THE OLD MAN'S BEQUEST; A STORY OF GOLD. + + +Through the ornamental grounds of a handsome country residence, at a +little distance from a large town in Ireland, a man of about fifty years +of age was walking, with a bent head, and the impress of sorrow on his +face. + +"Och, yer honor, give me one sixpence, or one penny, for God's sake," +cried a voice from the other side of a fancy paling which separated the +grounds in that quarter from a thoroughfare. "For heaven's sake, Mr. +Lawson, help me as ye helped me before. I know you've the heart and hand +to do it." + +The person addressed as Mr. Lawson looked up and saw a woman whom he +knew to be in most destitute circumstances, burdened with a large and +sickly family, whom she had struggled to support until her own health +was ruined. + +"I have no money--not one farthing," answered John Lawson. + +"No money!" reiterated the woman in surprise; "isn't it all yours, then? +isn't this garden yours, and that house, and all the grand things that +are in it yours? ay, and grand things they are--them pictures, and them +bright shinin' things in that drawing-room of yours and sure you deserve +them well, and may God preserve them long to you, for riches hasn't +hardened your heart, though there's many a one, and heaven knows the +gold turns their feelin's to iron." + +"It all belongs to my son, Henry Lawson, and Mrs. Lawson, and their +children--it is all theirs;" he sighed heavily, and deep emotion was +visible in every lineament of his thin and wrinkled face. + +The poor woman raised her bloodshot eyes to his face, as if she was +puzzled by his words. She saw that he was suffering, and with intuitive +delicacy, she desisted from pressing her wants, though her need was +great. + +"Well, well, yer honor, many's the good penny ye have given me and the +childer, and maybe the next time I see you you'll have more change." + +She was turning sadly away, when John Lawson requested her to remain, +and he made inquiries into the state of her family; the report he heard +seemed to touch him even to the forgetfulness of his own sorrows; he +bade her stop for a few moments and he would give her some relief. + +He walked rapidly toward the house and proceeded to the drawing-room. It +was a large and airy apartment, and furnished with evident profusion: +the sunlight of the bright summer day, admitted partially through the +amply-draperied windows, lighted up a variety of sparkling gilding in +picture-frames, and vases, and mirrors, and cornices; but John Lawson +looked round on the gay scene with a kind of shudder; he had neither +gold, silver, nor even copper in his pocket, or in his possession. + +He advanced to a lady who reclined on a rose-colored sofa, with a +fashionable novel in her hand, and, after some slight hesitation, he +addressed her, and stating the name and wants of the poor woman who had +begged for aid, he requested some money. + +As he said the words "some money," his lips quivered, and a tremor ran +through his whole frame, for his thoughts were vividly picturing a +recently departed period, when he was under no necessity of asking money +from any individual. + +"Bless me, my dear Mr. Lawson!" cried the lady, starting up from her +recumbent position, "did I not give you a whole handful of shillings +only the day before yesterday; and if you wasted it all on poor people +since, what am I to do? Why, indeed, we contribute so much to charitable +subscriptions, both Mr. Lawson and I, _you_ might be content to give a +little less to common beggars." + +Mrs. Lawson spoke with a smile on her lips, and with a soft caressing +voice, but a hard and selfish nature shone palpably from her blue eyes. +She was a young woman, and had the repute of beauty, which a clear +pink-and-white complexion, and tolerable features, with luxuriant light +hair, generally gains from a portion of the world. She was dressed for +the reception of morning visitors whom she expected, and she was +enveloped in expensive satin and blond, and jewelry in large +proportions. + +John Lawson seemed to feel every word she had uttered in the depths of +his soul, but he made a strong effort to restrain the passion which was +rising to his lips. + +"Augusta, my daughter, you are the wife of my only and most beloved +child--I wish to love you--I wish to live in peace with you, and +all--give me some money to relieve the wants of the unfortunate woman to +whom I have promised relief, and who is waiting without. I ask not for +myself, but for the poor and suffering--give me a trifle of money, I +say." + +"Indeed, Mr. Lawson, a bank would not support your demands for the poor +people; that woman for whom you are begging has been relieved twenty +times by us. I have no money just now." + +She threw herself back on the sofa and resumed her novel; but anger, +darting from her eyes, contrasted with the trained smile which still +remained on her lips. + +A dark shade of passion and scorn came over John Lawson's face, but he +strove to suppress it, and his voice was calm when he spoke. + +"Some time before my son married you, I gave up all my business to +him--I came to live here among trees and flowers--I gave up all the +lucrative business I had carried on to my son, partly because my health +was failing, and I longed to live with nature, away from the scenes of +traffic; but more especially, because I loved my son with no common +love, and I trusted to him as to a second self. I was not +disappointed--we had one purse and one heart before he married you; he +never questioned me concerning what I spent in charity--he never asked +to limit in any way my expenditure--he loved you, and I made no +conditions concerning what amount of income I was to receive, but still +I left him in entire possession of my business when he married you. I +trusted to your fair, young face, that you would not controvert my +wishes--that you would join me in my schemes of charity." + +"And have I not?" interrupted Mrs. Lawson, in a sharp voice, though the +habitual smile still graced her lips; "do I not subscribe to, I don't +know how many, charitable institutions? Charity, indeed--there's enough +spent in charity by myself and my husband. But I wish to stop +extravagances--it is only extravagance to spend so much on charity as +you would do if you could; therefore you shall not have any money just +now." + +Mrs. Lawson was one of those women who can cheerfully expend a most +lavish sum on a ball, a dress, or any other method by which rank and +luxury dissipate their abundance, but who are very economical, and talk +much of extravagance when money is demanded for purposes not connected +with display and style. + +"Augusta Lawson, listen to me," his voice was quivering with passion, +"my own wants are very few; in food, in clothes, in all points my +expenditure is trifling. I am not extravagant in my demands for the +poor, either. All I have expended in charity during the few years since +you came here, is but an insignificant amount as contrasted with the +income which I freely gave up to my son and you; therefore, some money +for the poor woman who is waiting, I shall now have; give me some +shillings, for God's sake, and let me go." He advanced closer to her, +and held out his hand. + +"Nonsense!" cried Mrs. Lawson; "I am mistress here--I am determined to +stop extravagance. You give too much to common beggars; I am determined +to stop it--do not ask me any further." + +A kind of convulsion passed over John Lawson's thin face; but he pressed +his hand closely on his breast, and was silent for some moments. + +"I was once rich, I believe. Yes--it is not a dream," he said, in a +slow, self-communing voice. "Gold and silver, once ye were plenty with +me; my hands; my pockets were filled--guineas, crowns, shillings--now I +have not one penny to give to that starving, dying woman, whose face of +misery might soften the very stones she looks on--not one penny." + +"Augusta," he said, turning suddenly toward her, after a second pause of +silence, "give me only one shilling, and I shall not think of the +bitter words you have just said?" + +"No; not one shilling," answered Mrs. Lawson, turning over a leaf of her +novel. + +"One sixpence, then--one small, poor sixpence. You do not know how even +a sixpence can gladden the black heart of poverty, when starvation is +come. One sixpence, I say--let me have it quickly." + +"Not one farthing I shall give you. I do beg you will trouble me no +further." + +Mrs. Lawson turned her back partially to him, and fixed all her +attention on the novel. + +"Woman! I have cringed and begged; I would not so beg for myself, from +you--no; I would lie down and die of want before I would, on my own +account, request of you--of your hard heart--one bit of bread. All the +finery that surrounds you is mine--it was purchased with my money, +though now you call it yours; and, usurping the authority of both master +and mistress here, you--in what you please to call your economical +management--dole out shillings to me when the humor seizes you, or +refuse me, as now, when it pleases you. But, woman, listen to me. I +shall never request you for one farthing of money again. No necessity of +others shall make me do it. You shall never again refuse me, for I shall +never give you the opportunity." + +He turned hastily from the room, with a face on which the deep emotion +of an aroused spirit was depicted strongly. + +In the lobby he met his son, Henry Lawson. The young man paused, +something struck by the excited appearance of his father. + +"Henry," said the father, abruptly, "I want some money; there is a poor +woman whom I wish to relieve--will you give me some money for her?" + +"Willingly, my dear father; but have you asked Augusta. You know I have +given her the management of the money-matters of the establishment, she +is so very clever and economical." + +"She has neither charity, nor pity, nor kindness; she saves from me; she +saves from the starving poor; she saves, that she may waste large sums +on parties and dresses. I shall never more ask her for money; give me a +few shillings. My God! the father begs of the son for what was his +own--for what he toiled all his youth--for what he gave up out of +trusting love to that son. Henry, my son, I am sick of asking and +begging--ay, sick--sick; but give me some shillings now." + +"You asked Augusta, then," said Henry, drawing out his purse, and +glancing with some apprehension to the drawing-room door. + +"Henry," cried Mrs. Lawson, appearing at that instant with a face +inflamed with anger--"Henry, _I_ would not give your father any money +to-day, because he is so very extravagant in giving it all away." + +Henry was in the act of opening his purse; he glanced apprehensively to +Mrs. Lawson; his face had a mild and passive expression, which was a +true index of his yielding and easily-governed nature. His features were +small, delicate, and almost effeminately handsome; and in every +lineament a want of decision and force of character was visible. + +"Henry, give me some shillings, I say--I am your father--I have a just +right." + +"Yes, yes, surely," said Henry, making a movement to open his purse. + +"Henry, I do not wish you to give him money to waste in charity, as he +calls it." + +Mrs. Lawson gave her husband an emphatic, but, at the same time, +cunningly caressing and smiling look. + +"Henry, I am your father--give me the money I want." + +"Augusta, my love, you know it was all his," said Henry, going close to +her, and speaking in a kind of whisper. + +"My dearest Henry, were it for any other purpose but for throwing away, +I would not refuse. I am your father's best friend, and your best +friend, in wishing to restrain all extravagance." + +"My dear father, she wishes to be economical, you know." + +He dangled the purse, undecidedly, in his fingers. + +"Will you give me the money at once, and let me go?" cried John Lawson, +elevating his voice. + +"My dear Augusta, it is better." + +"Henry, do not, I beg of you." + +"Henry, my son, will you let me have the money?" + +"Indeed, Augusta--" + +"Henry!" + +Mrs. Lawson articulated but the one word; there was enough of energy and +determination in it to make her husband close the purse he had almost +opened. + +"I ask you only this once more--give me the few shillings?" + +John Lawson bent forward in an eager manner; a feverish red kindled on +his sallow cheeks; his eyes were widely dilated, and his lips +compressed. There was a pause of some moments. + +"You will not give it me?" he said, in a voice deep-toned and singularly +calm, as contrasted with his convulsed face. + +Henry dangled the purse again in his hand, and looked uneasily and +irresolutely toward his wife. + +"No, he will not give it--you will get no money to squander on poor +people this day," Mrs. Lawson said, in a very sharp and decided voice. + +John Lawson did not say another word; he turned away and slowly +descended the stairs, and walked out of the house. + +He did not return that evening. He had been seen on the road leading to +the house of a relative who was in rather poor circumstances Henry felt +rather annoyed at his father's absence; he had no depth in his +affection, but he had been accustomed to see him and hear his voice +every day, and therefore he missed him, but consoled himself with the +thought that they would soon meet again, as it never entered his +imagination that his father had quitted the house for a lengthened +period. Mrs. Lawson felicitated herself on the event, and hoped that the +old man would remain some time with his relative. + +The following day a letter was handed to Henry; it was from his father, +and was as follows: + + "TO MY SON HENRY--I have at last come to the resolution of + quitting your house, which I can no longer call mine, in even + the least degree. For weeks--for months--ever since you + married--ever since your wife took upon herself what she calls + the management of your house and purse, I have felt bound down + under the weight of an oppressive bondage. I could not go and + take a pound or a shilling from our common stock, as I used to + do before you married, when you and I lived in one mind, and + when I believed that the very spirit of your departed, your + angel mother, dwelt in you, as you had, and have still, her + very face and form. No, no, we had no common stock when you + married. She put me on an allowance--ay, an allowance. You + lived, and saw me receiving an allowance; you whom I loved with + an idolatry which God has now punished; you to whom I freely + gave up my business--my money-making business. I gave it you--I + gave all to you--I would have given my very life and soul to + you, because I thought that with your mother's own face you had + her noble and generous nature. You were kind before you + married; but that marriage has proved your weakness and want of + natural affection. Yes, you stood at my side yesterday; you + looked on my face--I, the father who loved you beyond all + bounds of fatherly love--you stood and heard me beg for a few + shillings; you heard me supplicate earnestly and humbly, and + you would not give, because your wife was not willing. Henry, I + could force you to give me a share of the profits of your + business; but keep it--keep it all. You would not voluntarily + give me some shillings, and I shall not demand what right and + justice would give me. Keep all, every farthing. + + "It was for charity I asked the few shillings; you know it. You + know from whom I imbibed whatever I possess of the blessed + spirit of charity. I was as hard and unpitying as even your + wife before your mother taught me to feel and relieve the + demands of poverty. Yes, and she taught you; you can not forget + it. She taught you to give food to the starving, in your + earliest days. She strove to impress your infant mind with the + very soul of charity; and yesterday she looked down from the + heaven of the holy departed, and saw you refusing me, your + father, a few shillings to bestow on charity. + + "Henry, I can live with you and your wife no more. I should + grow avaricious in my old age, were I to remain with you. I + should long for money to call my own. Those doled out shillings + which I received wakened within me feelings of a dark + nature--covetousness, and envy, and discontent--which must have + shadowed the happiness of your mother in heaven to look down + upon. I must go and seek out an independent living for myself, + even yet, though I am fifty-two. Though my energies for + struggling with the world died, I thought, when your mother + died, and, leaving my active business to you, I retired to live + in the country, I must go forth again, as if I were young, to + seek for the means of existence, for I feel I was not made to + be a beggar--a creature hanging on the bounty of others; no, + no, the merciful God will give me strength yet to provide for + myself, though I am old, and broken down in mind and body. + Farewell; you who were once my beloved son, may God soften and + amend your heart." + +When Henry perused this letter, he would immediately have gone in search +of his father, in order to induce him to return home; but Mrs. Lawson +was at his side, and succeeded in persuading him to allow his father to +act as he pleased, and remain away as long as he wished. + + * * * * * + +Ten years rolled over our world, sinking millions beneath the black +waves of adverse fortune and fate, and raising the small number who, of +the innumerable aspirants for earthly good, usually succeed. Henry +Lawson was one of those whom time had lowered in fortune. His business +speculations had, for a lengthened period, been rather unsuccessful, +while Mrs. Lawson's expensive habits increased every day. At length +affairs came to such a crisis, that retrenchment or failure was +inevitable. Henry had enough of wisdom and spirit to insist on the first +alternative, and Mrs. Lawson was compelled by the pressure of +circumstances to yield in a certain degree; the country-house, +therefore, was let, Mrs. Lawson assigning as a reason, that she had lost +all relish for the country after the death of her dear children, both of +whom had died, leaving the parents childless. + +It was the morning of a close sultry day in July, and Mrs. Lawson was +seated in her drawing-room. She was dressed carefully and expensively as +of old, but she had been dunned and threatened at least half-a-dozen +times for the price of the satin dress she wore. Her face was thin and +pale, and there was a look of much care on her countenance; her eyes +were restless and sunken, and discontent spoke in their glances as she +looked on the chairs, sofas, and window-draperies, which had once been +bright-colored, but were now much faded. She had just come to the +resolution of having new covers and hangings, though their mercer's and +upholsterer's bills were long unsettled, when a visitor was shown into +the room. It was Mrs. Thompson, the wife of a very prosperous and +wealthy shopkeeper. + +Mrs. Lawson's thin lips wreathed themselves into bright smiles of +welcome, while the foul demon of envy took possession of her soul. Mrs. +Thompson's dress was of the most costly French satin, while hers was +merely British manufacture. They had been old school companions and +rivals in their girlish days. During the first years of the married life +of each, Mrs. Lawson had outshone Mrs. Thompson in every respect; but +now the eclipsed star beamed brightly and scornfully beside the clouds +which had rolled over her rival. Mrs. Thompson was, in face and figure, +in dress and speech, the very impersonation of vulgar and ostentatious +wealth. + +"My goodness, it's so hot!" she said, loosening the fastening of her +bonnet, the delicate French blond and white satin and plume, of which +that fabric was composed, contrasting rather painfully at the same time +with her flashed mahogany-colored complexion, and ungracefully-formed +features. "Bless me, I'm so glad we'll get off to our country-house +to-morrow. It's so very delightful, Mrs. Lawson, to have a country +residence to go to. Goodness me what a close room, and such a hot, dusty +street. It does just look so queer to me after Fitzherbert-square." + +To this Mrs. Lawson made a response as composed as she could; she would +have retorted bitterly and violently, but her husband had a connection +with the Thompson establishment, and for strong reasons she considered +it prudent to refrain from quarreling with Mrs. Thompson. She, +therefore, spoke but very little, and Mrs. Thompson was left at liberty +to give a lengthened detail of Mr. Thompson's great wealth and her own +great profusion. She began first with herself, and furnished an exact +detail of all the fine things she had purchased in the last month, down +to the latest box of pins. Next, her babies occupied her for half an +hour--the quantity of chicken they consumed, and the number of frocks +they soiled per diem were minutely chronicled. Then her house came under +consideration: she depicted the bright glory of the new _ponceau_ +furniture, as contrasted with shocking old faded things--and she glanced +significantly toward Mrs. Lawson's sofas and chairs. Next she made a +discursive detour to the culinary department, and gave a statement of +the number of stones of lump sugar she was getting boiled in preserves, +and of the days of the week in which they had puddings, and the days +they had pies at dinner. + +"But, Mrs. Lawson, dear, have you seen old Mr. Lawson since he came +home?" she said, when she was rising to depart; "but I suppose you +haven't, for they say he won't have any thing to do with his relations +now--he won't come near you, I have heard. They say he has brought such +a lot of money with him from South America." + +At this intelligence every feature of Mrs. Lawson's face brightened with +powerful interest. She inquired where Mr. Lawson stopped, and was +informed that he had arrived at the best hotel in the town about three +days previously, and that every one talked of the large fortune he had +made abroad, as he seemed to make no secret of the fact. + +A burning eagerness to obtain possession of that money entered Mrs. +Lawson's soul, and she thought every second of time drawn out to the +painful duration of a long hour, while Mrs. Thompson slowly moved her +ample skirts of satin across the drawing-room, and took her departure. +Mrs. Lawson dispatched a messenger immediately for her husband. + +Henry Lawson came in, and listened with surprise to the intelligence of +his father's return. He was taking up his hat to proceed to the hotel in +quest of him, when a carriage drove to the door. Mrs. Lawson's heart +palpitated with eagerness--if it should be her husband's father in his +own carriage--how delightful! that horrible Mrs. Thompson had not a +carriage of her own yet, though she was always talking of it. They, Mrs. +Lawson and her husband, had just been about setting up a carriage when +business failed with them. She ran briskly down the stairs--for long +years she had not flown with such alertness--rapid visions of gold, of +splendor, and triumph seemed to bear her along, as if she had not been a +being of earth. + +She was not disappointed, for there, at the open door, stood John +Lawson. He was enveloped in a cloak of fur, the costliness of which told +Mrs. Lawson that it was the purchase of wealth; a servant in plain +livery supported him, for he seemed a complete invalid. + +Mrs. Lawson threw her arms around his neck, and embraced him with a +warmth and eagerness which brought a cold and bitter smile over the +white, thin lips of John Lawson. He replied briefly to the welcomings he +received. He threw aside his cloak, and exhibited the figure of an +exceedingly emaciated and feeble old man, who had all the appearance of +ninety years, though he was little more than sixty; his face was worn +and fleshless to a painful degree; his hair was of the whitest shade of +great age, but his eyes had grown much more serene in their expression +than in his earlier days, notwithstanding a cast of suffering which his +whole countenance exhibited. He was plainly, but most carefully and +respectably dressed; a diamond ring of great value was on one of his +fingers; the lustre of the diamonds caught Mrs. Lawson's glance on her +first inspection of his person, and her heart danced with rapture--Mrs. +Thompson had no such ring, with all her boasting of all her finery. + +"I have come to see my child before I die," said the old man, gazing on +his son with earnest eyes; "you broke the ties of nature between us on +your part, when, ten years ago, you refused your father a few shillings +from your abundance, but--" + +He was interrupted by Mrs. Lawson, who uttered many voluble +protestations of her deep grief at her having, even though for the sake +of economy, refused the money her dear father had solicited before he +left them. She vowed that she had neither ate, nor slept, nor even +dressed herself for weeks after his departure; and that, sleeping or +waking, she was perpetually wishing she had given him the money, even +though she had known that he was going to throw it into the fire, or +lose it in any way. Her poor, dear father--oh, she wept so after she +heard that he had left the country. To be sure Henry could tell how, for +two or three nights, her pillow was soaked with tears. + +A cold, bitter smile again flitted across the old man's lips; he made no +response to her words, but in the one look which his hollow eyes east on +her, he seemed to read the falsehood of her assertions. + +"I was going to add," he said, "that though you forgot you were my son, +and refused to act as my son, when you withheld the paltry sum for which +I begged, yet I could not refrain from coming once more to look on my +child's face--to look on the face of my departed wife in yours--for I +know that a very brief period must finish my life now. I should not have +come here, I feel--I know it is the weakness of my nature--should have +died among strangers, for the strangers of other countries, the people +of a different hue, and a different language, I have found kind and +pitiful, compared with those of my own house. + +"Oh, don't say so--don't say so--you are our own beloved father; ah, my +heart clings to every feature of your poor, dear, old face; there are +the eyes and all that I used to talk to Henry so much about. Don't talk +of strangers--I shall nurse you and attend to you night and day." + +She made a movement, as if she would throw her arms around his neck +again, but the old man drew back. + +"Woman! your hypocritical words show me that your pitiless heart is +still unchanged--that it is grown even worse. You forced me out to the +world in my old age, when I should have had no thoughts except of God +and the world to come; you forced me to think of money-making, when my +hair was gray and my blood cold with years. Yes, I had to draw my +thoughts from the future existence, and to waste them on the miserable +toils of traffic, in order to make money; for it was better to do this +than to drag out my life a pensioner on your bounty, receiving shillings +and pence which you gave me as if it had been your heart's blood, though +I only asked my own. Woman! the black slavery of my dependence on you +was frightful; but now I can look you thanklessly in the face, for I +have the means of living without you. I spent sick and sleepless days +and nights, but I gained an independence; the merciful God blessed the +efforts of the old man, who strove to gain his livelihood--yes, I am +independent of you both. I came to see my son before I die--that is all +I want." + +Mrs. Lawson attempted a further justification of herself, but the words +died on her lips. The stern looks of the old man silenced her. + +After remaining for a short time, he rose to take his departure; but, at +the earnest solicitations of his son, he consented to remain for a few +days, only on condition that he should pay for his board and lodging. To +this Mrs. Lawson made a feint of resistance, but agreed in the end, as +the terms offered by the old man were very advantageous. + +"I shall soon have a lodging for which no mortal is called on to +pay--the great mother-earth," said the old man, "and I am glad, glad to +escape from this money-governed world. Do not smile so blandly on me, +both of you, and attend me with such false tenderness. There, take it +away," he said, as Mrs. Lawson was placing her most comfortable +footstool under his feet; "there was no attendance, no care, not a civil +action or kind look for me when I was poor John Lawson, the silly, most +silly old man, who had given up all to his son and his son's wife, for +the love of them, and expected, like a fool that he was, to live with +them on terms of perfect equality, and to have the family purse open to +him for any trifling sums he wished to take. Go, go for God's sake; try +and look bitterly on me now, as you did when you forced me out of your +house. I detest your obsequious attentions--I was as worthy of them ten +years ago, before I dragged down my old age to the debasing efforts of +money-making. You know I am rich; you would worship my money in me now. +Not a smiling look, not a soft word you bestow on me, but is for my +riches, not for me. Ay, you think you have my wealth in your grasp +already; you know I can not live long. Thank God that my life is almost +ended, and I hope my death will be a benefit to you, in softening your +hard hearts." + +Mrs. Lawson drew some hope from his last words, and she turned away her +head to hide the joy which shone on her face. + +In a few days the old man became seriously ill, and was altogether +confined to his room. As death evidently approached, his mind became +serene and calm, and he received the attentions which Mrs. Lawson and +his son lavished on him with a silent composure, which led them to hope +that he had completely forgotten their previous conduct to him. + +The night on which he died, he turned to his son, and said a few words, +a very few words, regarding worldly matters. He exhorted Henry to live +in a somewhat less expensive style, and to cultivate a spirit of +contentment without riches; then he blessed God that he was entering on +a world in which he would hear no more of money, or earthly possession. +He remained in a calm sleep during the greater part of the night, they +thought, but in the morning they found him dead. + +The funeral was over, and the time was come in which the old man's will +was to be opened Mrs. Lawson had waited for that moment--she would have +forcibly dragged time onward to that moment--she had execrated the long +hours of night since the old man's death--she had still more +anathematized the slowly passing days, when gazing furtively through a +corner of the blinded window, she saw fine equipages and finely-dressed +ladies passing, and she planned how she would shine when the old man's +wealth would be her own. She drew glorious mental pictures of how she +would burst from behind the shadowing cloud of poverty, and dazzle all +her acquaintances. Her dress, her carriage, her style of living would be +unique in her rank of life for taste and costliness. She would show them +she had got money--money at last--more money than them all. + +Now at last she sat and saw the will being opened; she felt that it was +a mere formality, for the old man had no one but them to whom he could +leave his money; she never once doubted but all would be theirs; she had +reasoned, and fancied herself into the firm conviction. Her only fear +was, that the amount might not be so large as she calculated on. + +She saw the packet opened. Her eyes dilated, her lips became parched; +her heart and brain burned with a fierce eagerness--money, money! at +last uttered the griping spirit within her. + +The will, after beginning in the usual formal style, was as follows: + +"I bequeath to my son Henry's wife, Augusta Lawson, a high and noble +gift" (Mrs. Lawson almost sprung from her seat with eagerness), "the +greatest of all legacies, I bequeath to Augusta Lawson--Charity! Augusta +Lawson refused me a few shillings which I wished to bestow on a starving +woman; but now I leave her joint executrix, with my son Henry, in the +distribution of all my money and all my effects, without any +reservation, in charity, to be applied to such charitable purposes as in +this, my last will and testament, I have directed." + +Then followed a statement of his effects and money, down to the most +minute particular; the money amounted to a very considerable sum; his +personal effects he directed to be sold, with the exception of his +valuable diamond ring, which he bequeathed to the orphan daughter of a +poor relation in whose house he had taken refuge, and remained for a +short time, previous to his going abroad. All the proceeds of his other +effects, together with the whole amount of his money, he bequeathed for +different charitable purposes, and gave minute directions as to the +manner in which various sums were to be expended. The largest amount he +directed to be distributed in yearly donations among the most indigent +old men and women within a circuit of ten miles of his native place. +Those who were residing with their sons, and their sons' wives, were to +receive by far the largest relief. He appointed as trustees two of the +most respectable merchants of the town, to whom he gave authority to see +the provisions of his will carried out, in case his son and Mrs. Lawson +should decline the duties of executor-ship which he had bequeathed to +them; the trustees were to exercise a surveillance over Mr. and Mrs. +Lawson, to see that the will should in every particular be strictly +carried into effect. The will was dated, and duly signed in the town in +South America where the old man had for some years resided; a codicil, +containing the bequest of the ring, with some further particulars +regarding the charities, had been added a few days previous to the old +man's death. + +Mrs. Lawson was carried fainting from the room before the reading of the +will was concluded. She was seized with violent fever, and her life was +despaired of. She recovered, however, and from the verge of the eternal +existence on which she had been, she returned to life with a less +worldly and ostentatious nature, and a soul more alive to the impulses +of kindness and charity. + + + + +[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +ELEPHANT SHOOTING. + + +It was a glorious day, with a cloudy sky, and the wind blew fresh off +the Southern Ocean. Having ridden some miles in a northerly direction, +we crossed the broad and gravelly bed of a periodical river, in which +were abundance of holes excavated by the elephants, containing delicious +water. Having passed the river, we entered an extensive grove of +picturesque cameel-dorn trees, clad in young foliage of the most +delicious green. On gaining a gentle eminence about a mile beyond this +grove, I looked forth upon an extensive hollow, where I beheld, for the +first time for many days, a fine old cock ostrich, which quickly +observed us, and dashed away to our left. I had ceased to devote my +attention to the ostrich, and was straining my eyes in an opposite +direction, when Kleinboy called out to me, "Dar loup de ould carle;" and +turning my eyes to the retreating ostrich, I beheld two first-rate old +bull elephants, charging along at their utmost speed within a hundred +yards of it. They seemed at first to be in great alarm, but quickly +discovering what it was that had caused their confusion, they at once +reduced their pace to a slow and stately walk. This was a fine look-out; +the country appeared to be favorable for an attack, and I was followed +by Wolf and Bonteberg, both tried and serviceable dogs with elephants. +Owing to the pace at which I had been riding, both dogs and horses were +out of breath, so I resolved not to attack the elephants immediately, +but to follow slowly, holding them in view. + +The elephants were proceeding right up the wind, and the distance +between us was about five hundred yards. I advanced quietly toward them, +and had proceeded about half way, when, casting my eyes to my right, I +beheld a whole herd of tearing bull elephants standing thick together on +a wooded eminence within three hundred yards of me. These elephants were +almost to leeward. Now, the correct thing to do was to slay the best in +each troop, which I accomplished in the following manner: I gave the +large herd my wind, upon which they instantly tossed their trunks aloft, +"a moment snuffed the tainted gale," and, wheeling about, charged right +down wind, crashing through the jungle in dire alarm. My object now was +to endeavor to select the finest bull, and hunt him to a distance from +the other troop, before I should commence to play upon his hide. +Stirring my steed, I galloped forward. Right in my path stood two +rhinoceroses of the white variety, and to these the dogs instantly gave +chase. I followed in the wake of the retreating elephants, tracing their +course by the red dust which they raised, and left in clouds behind +them. + +Presently emerging into an open glade, I came full in sight of the +mighty game: it was a truly glorious sight; there were nine or ten of +them, which were, with one exception, full-grown, first-rate bulls, and +all of them carried very long, heavy, and perfect tusks. Their first +panic being over, they had reduced their pace to a free, majestic walk, +and they followed one leader in a long line, exhibiting an appearance so +grand and striking, that any description, however brilliant, must fail +to convey to the mind of the reader an adequate idea of the reality. +Increasing my pace, I shot alongside, at the same time riding well out +from the elephants, the better to obtain an inspection of their tusks. +It was a difficult matter to decide which of them I should select, for +every elephant seemed better than his neighbor; but, on account of the +extraordinary size and beauty of his tusks, I eventually pitched upon a +patriarchal bull, which, as is usual with the heaviest, brought up the +rear. I presently separated him from his comrades, and endeavored to +drive him in a northerly direction. There is a peculiar art in driving +an elephant in the particular course which you may fancy, and, simple as +it may seem, it nevertheless requires the hunter to have a tolerable +idea of what he is about. It is widely different from driving in an +eland, which also requires judicious riding: if you approach too near +your elephant, or shout to him, a furious charge will certainly ensue, +while, on the other hand, if you give him too wide a berth, the chances +are that you lose him in the jungle, which, notwithstanding his size, is +a very simple matter, and, if once lost sight of, it is more than an +even bet that the hunter will never again obtain a glimpse of him. The +ground being favorable, Kleinboy called to me to commence firing, +remarking, very prudently, that he was probably making for some jungle +of wait-a-bits, where we might eventually lose him. I continued, +however, to reserve my fire until I had hunted him to what I considered +to be a safe distance from the two old fellows which we had at first +discovered. + +At length closing with him, I dared him to charge, which he instantly +did in fine style, and as he pulled up in his career I yelled to him a +note of bold defiance, and cantering alongside, again defied him to the +combat. It was thus the fight began, and the ground being still +favorable, I opened a sharp fire upon him, and in about a quarter of an +hour twelve of my bullets were lodged in his fore-quarters. He now +evinced strong symptoms of approaching dissolution, and stood catching +up the dust with the point of his trunk, and throwing it in clouds above +and around him. At such a moment it is extremely dangerous to approach +an elephant on foot, for I have remarked that, although nearly dead, he +can muster strength to make a charge with great impetuosity. Being +anxious to finish him, I dismounted from my steed, and availing myself +of the cover of a gigantic nwana-tree, whose diameter was not less than +ten feet, I ran up within twenty yards, and gave it him sharp right and +left behind the shoulder. These two shots wound up the proceeding; on +receiving them, he backed stern foremost into the cover, and then walked +slowly away. I had loaded my rifle, and was putting on the caps, when I +heard him fall over heavily; but, alas! the sound was accompanied by a +sharp crack, which I too well knew denoted the destruction of one of his +lovely tusks; and, on running forward, I found him lying dead, with the +tusk, which lay under, snapped through the middle. + +I did not tarry long for an inspection of the elephant, but mounting my +horse, at once set off to follow on the spoor of the two old fellows +which the ostrich had alarmed. Fortunately, I fell in with a party of +natives, who were on their way to the wagons with the impedimenta, and +assisted by these, I had sanguine hopes of shortly overtaking the noble +quarry. We had not gone far when two wild boars, with enormous tusks, +stood within thirty yards of me: but this was no time to fire: and a +little after a pair of white rhinoceroses stood directly in our path. +Casting my eyes to the right, I beheld within a quarter of a mile of me +a herd of eight or ten cow elephants, with calves, peacefully browsing +on a sparely-wooded knoll. The spoor we followed led due south, and the +wind was as fair as it could blow. We passed between the twin-looking, +abrupt, pyramidal hills, composed of huge disjointed blocks of granite, +which lay piled above each other in grand confusion. To the summit of +one of these I ascended with a native, but the forest in advance was so +impenetrable that we could see nothing of the game we sought. Descending +from the hillock, we resumed the spoor, and were enabled to follow at a +rapid pace, the native who led the spooring-party being the best tracker +in Bamangwato. I had presently very great satisfaction to perceive that +the elephants had not been alarmed, their course being strewed with +branches which they had chewed as they slowly fed along. The trackers +now became extremely excited, and I strained their eyes on every side in +the momentary expectation of beholding the elephants. At length we +emerged into an open glade, and, clearing a grove of thorny mimosas, we +came full in sight of one of them. Cautiously advancing, and looking to +my right, I next discovered his comrade, standing in a thicket of low +wait-a-bits, within a hundred and fifty yards of me; they were both +first-rate old bulls, with enormous tusks of great length. I dismounted, +and warily approached the second elephant for a closer inspection of his +tusks. As I drew near, he slightly turned his head, and I then perceived +that his farther one was damaged toward the point; while at the same +instant his comrade, raising his head clear of the bush on which he +browsed, displayed to my delighted eyes a pair of the most beautiful and +perfect tusks I had ever seen. + +Regaining my horse, I advanced toward this elephant, and when within +forty yards of him, he walked slowly on before me in an open space, his +huge ears gently flapping, and entirely concealing me from his view. +Inclining to the left, I slightly increased my pace, and walked past him +within sixty yards, upon which he observed me for the first time; but +probably mistaking "Sunday" for a hartebeest, he continued his course +with his eye upon me, but showed no symptoms of alarm. The natives had +requested me to endeavor, if possible, to hunt him toward the water, +which lay in a northerly direction, and this I resolved to do. Having +advanced a little, I gave him my wind, when he was instantly alarmed, +and backed into the bushes, holding his head high and right to me. Thus +he stood motionless as a statue, under the impression, probably, that, +owing to his Lilliputian dimensions, I had failed to observe him, and +fancying that I would pass on without detecting him. I rode slowly on, +and described a semicircle to obtain a shot at his shoulder, and halting +my horse, fired from the saddle; he got it in the shoulder-blade, and, +as slowly and silently I continued my course, he still stood gazing at +me in utter astonishment. Bill and Flam were now slipped by the natives, +and in another moment they were barking around him. I shouted loudly to +encourage the dogs and perplex the elephant, who seemed puzzled to know +what to think of us, and, shrilly trumpeting, charged headlong after the +dogs. Retreating, he backed into the thicket, then charged once more, +and made clean away, holding the course I wanted. When I tried to fire, +"Sunday" was very fidgety, and destroyed the correctness of my aim. +Approaching the elephant, I presently dismounted, and, running in, gave +him two fine shots behind the shoulder; then the dogs, which were both +indifferent ones, ran barking at him. The consequence was a terrific +charge, the dogs at once making for their master, and bringing the +elephant right upon me. I had no time to gain my saddle, but ran for my +life. The dogs, fortunately, took after "Sunday," who, alarmed by the +trumpeting, dashed frantically away, though in the heat of the affray I +could not help laughing to remark horse, dogs, and elephant all charging +along in a direct line. + +The dogs, having missed their master, held away for Kleinboy, who had +long disappeared, I knew not whither. "Sunday" stood still, and +commenced to graze, while the elephant, slowly passing within a few +yards of him, assumed a position under a tree beside him. Kleinboy +presently making his appearance, I called to him to ride in, and bring +me my steed; but he refused, and asked me if I wished him to go headlong +to destruction. "Sunday" having fed slowly away from the elephant. I +went up, and he allowed me to recapture him. I now plainly saw that the +elephant was dying, but I continued firing to hasten his demise. Toward +the end he took up a position in a dense thorny thicket, where for a +long time he remained. Approaching within twelve paces, I fired my two +last shots, aiming at his left side, close behind the shoulder. On +receiving these, he backed slowly through the thicket, and clearing it, +walked gently forward about twenty yards, when he suddenly came down +with tremendous violence right on his broadside. To my intense +mortification, the heavy fall was accompanied by a loud, sharp crack, +and on going up I found one of his matchless tusks broken short off by +the lip. This was a glorious day's sport: I had bagged, in one +afternoon, probably the two finest bull elephants in Bamangwato, and, +had it not been for the destruction of their noble trophies, which were +the two finest pair of tusks I had obtained that season, my triumph on +the occasion had been great and unalloyed. + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +THE POWER OF MERCY. + + +Quiet enough, in general, is the quaint old town of Lamborough. Why all +this bustle to-day? Along the hedge-bound roads which lead to it, carts, +chaises, vehicles of every description are jogging along filled with +countrymen; and here and there the scarlet cloak or straw bonnet of some +female occupying a chair, placed somewhat unsteadily behind them, +contrasts gayly with the dark coats, or gray smock-frocks of the front +row; from every cottage of the suburb, some individuals join the stream, +which rolls on increasing through the streets till it reaches the +castle. The ancient moat teems with idlers, and the hill opposite, +usually the quiet domain of a score or two of peaceful sheep, partakes +of the surrounding agitation. + +The voice of the multitude which surrounds the court-house, sounds like +the murmur of the sea, till suddenly it is raised to a sort of shout. +John West, the terror of the surrounding country, the sheep-stealer and +burglar, had been found guilty. + +"What is the sentence?" is asked by a hundred voices. + +The answer is "Transportation for Life." + +But there was one standing aloof on the hill, whose inquiring eye +wandered over the crowd with indescribable anguish, whose pallid cheek +grew more and more ghastly at every denunciation of the culprit, and +who, when at last the sentence was pronounced, fell insensible upon the +green-sward. It was the burglar's son. + +When the boy recovered from his swoon, it was late in the afternoon; he +was alone; the faint tinkling of the sheep-bell had again replaced the +sound of the human chorus of expectation, and dread, and jesting; all +was peaceful, he could not understand why he lay there, feeling so weak +and sick. He raised himself tremulously and looked around, the turf was +cut and spoiled by the trampling of many feet. All his life of the last +few months floated before his memory, his residence in his father's +hovel with ruffianly comrades, the desperate schemes he heard as he +pretended to sleep on his lowly bed, their expeditions at night, masked +and armed, their hasty returns, the news of his father's capture, his +own removal to the house of some female in the town, the court, the +trial, the condemnation. + +The father had been a harsh and brutal parent, but he had not positively +ill-used his boy. Of the great and merciful Father of the fatherless the +child knew nothing. He deemed himself alone in the world. Yet grief was +not his pervading feeling, nor the shame of being known as the son of a +transport. It was revenge which burned within him. He thought of the +crowd which had come to feast upon his father's agony; he longed to tear +them to pieces, and he plucked savagely a handful of the grass on which +he leant. Oh, that he were a man! that he could punish them +all--all--the spectators first, the constables, the judge, the jury, the +witnesses--one of them especially, a clergyman named Leyton, who had +given his evidence more positively, more clearly, than all the others. +Oh, that he could do that man some injury--but for him his father would +not have been identified and convicted. + +Suddenly a thought occurred to him, his eyes sparkled with fierce +delight. "I know where he lives," he said to himself; "he has the farm +and parsonage of Millwood. I will go there at once--it is almost dark +already. I will do as I have heard father say he once did to the squire. +I will set his barns and his house on fire. Yes, yes, he shall burn for +it--he shall get no more fathers transported." + +To procure a box of matches was an easy task, and that was all the +preparation the boy made. + +The autumn was far advanced. A cold wind was beginning to moan among the +almost leafless trees, and George West's teeth chattered, and his +ill-clad limbs grew numb as he walked along the fields leading to +Millwood. "Lucky it's a dark night; this fine wind will fan the flame +nicely," he repeated to himself. + +The clock was striking nine, but all was quiet as midnight; not a soul +stirring, not a light in the parsonage windows that he could see. He +dared not open the gate, lest the click of the latch should betray him, +so he softly climbed over; but scarcely had he dropped on the other side +of the wall before the loud barking of a dog startled him. He cowered +down behind the hay-rick, scarcely daring to breathe, expecting each +instant that the dog would spring upon him. It was some time before the +boy dared to stir, and as his courage cooled, his thirst for revenge +somewhat subsided also, till he almost determined to return to +Lamborough, but he was too tired, too cold, too hungry--besides, the +woman would beat him for staying out so late. What could he do? where +should he go? and as the sense of his lonely and forlorn position +returned, so did also the affectionate remembrance of his father, his +hatred of his accusers, his desire to satisfy his vengeance; and once +more, courageous through anger, he rose, took the box from his pocket, +and boldly drew one of them across the sand-paper. It flamed; he stuck +it hastily in the stack against which he rested--it only flickered a +little, and went out. In great trepidation, young West once more grasped +the whole of the remaining matches in his hand and ignited them, but at +the same instant the dog barked. He hears the gate open, a step is close +to him, the matches are extinguished, the lad makes a desperate effort +to escape, but a strong hand was laid on his shoulder, and a deep, calm +voice inquired, "What can have urged you to such a crime?" Then calling +loudly, the gentleman, without relinquishing his hold, soon obtained the +help of some farming men, who commenced a search with their lanterns all +about the farm. Of course they found no accomplices, nothing at all but +the handful of half-consumed matches the lad had dropped, and he all +that time stood trembling, and occasionally struggling, beneath the firm +but not rough grasp of the master who held him. + +At last the men were told to return to the house, and thither, by a +different path, was George led, till they entered a small, +poorly-furnished room. The walls were covered with books, as the bright +flame of the fire revealed to the anxious gaze of the little culprit. +The clergyman lit a lamp, and surveyed his prisoner attentively. The +lad's eyes were fixed on the ground, while Mr. Leyton's wandered from +his pale, pinched features to his scanty, ragged attire, through the +tatters of which he could discern the thin limbs quivering from cold or +fear; and when at last impelled by curiosity at the long silence, George +looked up, there was something so sadly compassionate in the stranger's +gentle look, that the boy could scarcely believe that he was really the +man whose evidence had mainly contributed to transport his father. At +the trial he had been unable to see his face, and nothing so kind had +ever gazed upon him. His proud bad feelings were already melting. + +"You look half-starved," said Mr. Leyton; "draw nearer to the fire, you +can sit down on that stool while I question you; and mind you answer me +the truth. I am not a magistrate, but of course can easily hand you over +to justice if you will not allow me to benefit you in my own way." + +George still stood twisting his ragged cap in his trembling fingers, and +with so much emotion depicted on his face, that the good clergyman +resumed, in still more soothing accents: "I have no wish to do you any +thing but good, my poor boy; look up at me, and see if you can not trust +me: you need not be thus frightened. I; only desire to hear the tale of +misery your appearance indicates, to relieve it, if I can." + +Here the young culprit's heart smote him. Was this the man whose house +he had tried to burn? On whom he had wished to bring ruin and perhaps +death? Was it a snare spread for him to lead to a confession? But when +he looked on that grave compassionate countenance, he felt that it was +_not_. + +"Come, my lad, tell me all." + +George had for years heard little but oaths, and curses, and ribald +jests, or the thief's jargon of his father's associates, and had been +constantly cuffed and punished; but the better part of his nature was +not extinguished; and at those words from the mouth of his _enemy_, he +dropped on his knees, and clasping his hands, tried to speak; but could +only sob. He had not wept before during that day of anguish; and now his +tears gushed forth so freely, his grief was so passionate as he half +knelt, half rested on the floor, that the good questioner saw that +sorrow must have its course ere calm could be restored. The young +penitent still wept, when a knock was heard at the door, and a lady +entered. It was the clergyman's wife, he kissed her as she asked how he +had succeeded with the wicked man in the jail? + +"He told me," replied Mr. Leyton, "that he had a son whose fate +tormented him more than his punishment. Indeed, his mind was so +distracted respecting the youth, that he was scarcely able to understand +my exhortations. He entreated me with agonizing energy to save his son +from such a life as he had led, and gave me the address of a woman in +whose house he lodged. I was, however, unable to find the boy in spite +of many earnest inquiries." + +"Did you hear his name?" asked the wife. + +"George West," was the reply. + +At the mention of his name, the boy ceased to sob. Breathlessly he heard +the account of his father's last request, of the benevolent clergyman's +wish to fulfill it. He started up, ran toward the door, and endeavored +to open it; Mr. Leyton calmly restrained him, "You must not escape," he +said. + +"I can not stop here. I can not bear to look at you. Let me go!" The lad +said this wildly, and shook himself away. + +"Why, I intend you nothing but kindness." + +A new flood of tears gushed forth; and George West said, between his +sobs, + +"While you were searching for me to help me, I was trying to burn you in +your house. I can not bear it." He sunk on his knees, and covered his +face with both hands. + +There was a long silence, for Mr. and Mrs. Leyton were as much moved as +the boy, who was bowed down with shame and penitence, to which hitherto +he had been a stranger. + +At last the clergyman asked, "What could have induced you to commit such +a crime?" + +Rising suddenly in the excitement of remorse, gratitude, and many +feelings new to him, he hesitated for a moment, and then told his story, +he related his trials, his sins, his sorrows, his supposed wrongs, his +burning anger at the terrible fate of his only parent, and his rage at +the exultation of the crowd: his desolation on recovering from his +swoon, his thirst for vengeance, the attempt to satisfy it. He spoke +with untaught, child-like simplicity, without attempting to suppress the +emotions which successively overcame him. + +When he ceased, the lady hastened to the crouching boy, and soothed him +with gentle words. The very tones of her voice were new to him. They +pierced his heart more acutely than the fiercest of the upbraidings and +denunciations of his old companions. He looked on his merciful +benefactors with bewildered tenderness. He kissed Mrs. Leyton's hand, +then gently laid on his shoulder. He gazed about like one in a dream who +dreaded to wake. He became faint and staggered. He was laid gently on a +sofa, and Mr. and Mrs. Leyton left him. + +Food was shortly administered to him, and after a time, when his senses +had become sufficiently collected, Mr. Leyton returned to the study, and +explained holy and beautiful things, which were new to the neglected +boy: of the great yet loving father; of Him who loved the poor, forlorn +wretch, equally with the richest, and noblest, and happiest; of the +force and efficacy of the sweet beatitude, "Blessed are the Merciful, +for they shall obtain Mercy." + +I heard this story from Mr. Leyton, during a visit to him in May. George +West was then head ploughman to a neighboring farmer, one of the +cleanest, best behaved, and most respected laborers in the parish. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +BORAX LAGOONS OF TUSCANY. + + +In a mountainous district of Tuscany, lying about twenty miles west of +Sienna, are situated the extraordinary lagoons from which borax is +obtained. Nothing can be more desolate than the aspect of the whole +surrounding country. The mountains, bare and bleak, appear to be +perpetually immersed in clouds of sulphurous vapor, which sometimes +ascend in wreathed or twisted columns, and at other times are beaten +down by the winds, and dispersed in heavy masses through the glens and +hollows. Here and there water-springs, in a state of boiling heat, and +incessantly emitting smoke and vapor, burst with immense noise from the +earth, which burns and shakes beneath your feet. The heat of the +atmosphere in the vicinity of the lagoons is almost intolerable, +especially when the wind blows about you the fiery vapor, deeply +impregnated with sulphur. Far and near the earth is covered with +glittering crystallizations of various minerals, while the soil beneath +is composed of black marl, streaked with chalk, which, at a distance, +imparts to it the appearance of variegated marble. As you proceed, you +are stunned by the noise of constant explosions, which remind you that +you are traversing the interior of a mighty crater, which in past ages +was, perhaps, filled with a flood of liquid fire. + +Borax was first brought to Europe, through India, from Thibet, where it +is found in a mountainous region, resembling in character the district +of Tuscany we have described. If we except some doubtful specimens, said +to have been discovered in coal-pits in Saxony, we may assert that the +mineral is found nowhere else in Europe, or that the territories of the +Grand Duke enjoy a natural monopoly of the article, which, with the +growth of the manufacturing system, is coming more and more into use +every day, especially in France. In former times, when the value of the +lagoons was not understood, the hollows and gorges in the mountains +where they are situated were regarded by the superstitious peasantry as +the entrance to hell. Experience taught them that it was in many +respects a region of death. Whatever living thing fell into the lagoons +inevitably perished, for the devouring acid almost in a moment separated +the flesh from the bones. Cattle were frequently thus lost, and the +peasants themselves or their children sometimes encountered a similar +fate. A celebrated chemist, engaged in making experiments on the +impregnated water, accidentally fell into a lagoon which he himself had +caused to be excavated, and perished immediately, leaving a wife and +several children in indigence. + +For many ages no use was made of the boracic acid, and the whole +district containing it--altogether about thirty miles in length--was +dreaded and shunned by the inhabitants. Many inducements were vainly +held out to the peasantry to cultivate the lands in the neighborhood, +which might generally be obtained for nothing. From time to time a few +adventurous families would take up their residence near Monte Cerboli, +and bring a few fields into cultivation, leaving, however, more than +nine-tenths of the land fallow. + +About the middle of the last century, Hoefer, who is described as +apothecary to the Grand Duke, first detected the presence of boracic +acid in the lagoon Orcherio, near Monte Botardo. Masgagin, a professor +of anatomy, found the mineral in a concrete state in several streams +issuing from the lagoons, and suggested the propriety of establishing +manufactories of borax. As late, however, as 1801, in consequence of the +failure of numerous experiments, Professor Gazzeri arrived at the +conclusion that the quantity of acid contained in the water of the +lagoons was too small to render the working of them profitable. But this +opinion was based on the old practice of attempting the extracting the +mineral by the use of charcoal furnaces. It was M. Larderel who +introduced the improved method of employing the hot vapors of the +lagoons themselves in the elaboration of the acid, and may be said to +have invented the present method, which will probably go on improving +for ages. + +The system of the Chevalier Larderel, now Comte de Pomerasce, displays +at once great ingenuity and courage. The _soffioni_, or vapors, having +been observed to burst forth with more or less vehemence in various +parts of the mountains--which, fortunately for industry and commerce, +are copiously irrigated with streams of water--the idea was conceived of +forming an artificial lagoon on the site of the most elevated vent. A +large basin having been excavated, the nearest stream was turned into +it. The burning blasts from below forcing up their way through the +water, keep it in a state of perpetual ebullition, and by degrees +impregnate it with boracic acid. Nothing can be more striking than the +appearance of such a lagoon. Surrounded by aridity and barrenness, its +surface presents the aspect of a huge caldron, boiling and steaming +perpetually, while its margin trembles, and resounds with the furious +explosions from below. Sometimes the vapor issues like a thread from the +water, and after rising for a considerable height, spreads, and assumes +an arborescent form as it is diluted by the atmospheric air. It then +goes circling over the surface of the lagoon, till, meeting with other +bodies of vapor in a similar condition, the whole commingling, +constitute a diminutive cloud, which is wafted by the breeze up the +peaks of the mountains, or precipitated into the valleys, according to +its comparative density. + +To stand on the brink of one of these deadly lakes, stunned by +subterranean thunder, shaken by incessant earthquakes, and scorched and +half suffocated by the fiery pestilential vapor, is to experience very +peculiar sensations, such as one feels within the crater of Vesuvius or +AEtna, or in the obscurity of the Grotto del Cave. + +Another lagoon is scooped out lower down the mountain, the site being +determined by the occurrence of soffioni; and here the same processes +are followed, and the same phenomena observable. The water from the +lagoon above, after it has received impregnation during twenty-four +hours, is let off, and conducted by an artificial channel to the second +lagoon; and from thence, with similar precautions, to a third, a fourth, +and so on, till it at length reaches a sixth or eighth lagoon, where the +process of impregnation is supposed to be completed. By this time the +water contains half per cent, of acid, which Professor Gazzeri +considered far too little to repay the expense of extracting it. From +the last lagoon it is conveyed into reservoirs, whence again, after +having remained quiescent a few hours, for what purpose is not stated, +it passes into the evaporating pans. "Here the hot vapor concentrates +the strength of the acid by passing under shallow leaden vessels from +the boiling fountains above, which it quits at a heat of 80 degrees +Reaumur, and is discharged at a heat of 60 degrees (101 Fahrenheit)." + +The evaporating pans are arranged on the same principles as the lagoons, +though in some cases almost four times as numerous, each placed on a +lower level than the other. In every successive pan the condensation +becomes greater. All the water at length descends into the +crystallizing vessels, where the process is completed. From these the +borax is conveyed to the drying-rooms, where in the course of a very few +hours, it is ready to be packed for exportation. The number of +establishments has for many years been on the increase, though about +twelve or fourteen years ago they did not exceed nine. Nothing can be +more fallacious than the opinions formed by hasty visitors on matters of +this kind, which are susceptible of perpetual improvement. When the +produce was from 7000 to 8000 Tuscan pounds per day, the manufacturers +were supposed to have reached the maximum, because all the water of the +mountains was supposed to have been called into requisition. Experience, +however, is perpetually teaching us new methods of economy; and though +it would _a priori_ be impossible to say by what means this economy is +to be effected, we can not permit ourselves to doubt that the +manufacture of borax in Tuscany will hereafter be carried to a degree of +perfection greatly transcending the expectations of those who formerly +wrote on the subject. One of these observes the atmosphere has some +influence on the results. In bright and clear weather, whether in winter +or summer, the vapors are less dense, but the depositions of boracic +acid in the lagoons are greater. Increased vapors indicate unfavorable +change of weather, and the lagoons are infallible barometers to the +neighborhood, even at a great distance, serving to regulate the +proceedings of the peasantry in their agricultural pursuits. + +As the quantity of boracic acid originally contained in the water of the +lagoons is so very small as we now know it to be, we can no longer +wonder at the opinion formerly entertained, that it did not exist at +all. After five or six successive impregnations we see it does not +exceed half per cent., which, estimating the quantity of borax at 7500 +pounds a day, will give 1,500,000 Tuscan pounds, or 500 tons, of water +for the same period. By the construction of immense cisterns for the +catching of rain water, by the employment of steam-engines for raising +it from below, and probably by creating artificial vents for the +soffioni, the quantity of borax produced might be almost indefinitely +increased, since the range of country through which the vapor ascends is +far too great for us to suppose it to be exhausted by the production of +7000 pounds of borax a day. Science in all likelihood will bring about a +revolution in this as in so many other manufactures, and our descendants +will look back with a smile on our hasty and unphilosophical decision. + +We are without information on many points connected with the population +of those districts, to throw light on which it would be necessary to +institute fresh investigations on the spot. The lagoons are usually +excavated by laborers from Lombardy, who wander southward in search of +employment in those months of the year during which the Apennines are +covered with snow. They do not, however, remain to be employed in the +business of manufacture. This is carried on by native Tuscan laborers, +who occupy houses, often spacious and well built, in the neighborhood of +the evaporating pans. They are in nearly all cases married men, and are +enabled to maintain themselves and their families on the comparatively +humble wages of a Tuscan lira a day. It would have been satisfactory to +know the number of the Lombard navigators from time to time employed in +excavating the lagoons, as well as of the native laborers, who carry on +operations after their departure; but we may with certainty infer the +successive appearance of fresh soffioni on the sides of the mountains +from the perpetually-recurring necessity of excavating new lagoons. +Again, from the immense increase of borax produced in former times we +may safely infer its increase in future. The quantity obtained was +quadrupled in four years by superior methods of extraction, by economy +of water and vapor, and other improvements suggested by experience. +There can, therefore, be no doubt in our minds that similar improvements +will produce similar results. In 1832, about 650,000 Tuscan pounds were +obtained; in 1836, 2,500,000. + +We quote the following suggestion from the observation of a traveler: +"It appears to me that the power and riches of these extraordinary +districts remain yet to be fully developed. They exhibit an immense +number of mighty steam-engines, furnished by nature at no cost, and +applicable to the production of an infinite variety of objects. In the +progress of time this vast machinery of heat and force will probably +become the moving central point of extensive manufacturing +establishments. The steam which has been so ingeniously applied to the +concentration and evaporation of the boracic acid, will probably +hereafter, instead of wasting itself in the air, be employed to move +huge engines, which will be directed to the infinite variety of +production which engages the attention of the industrious artisans; and +thus in course of time there can be little doubt that these lagoons, +which were fled from as objects of danger and terror by uninstructed +man, will gather round them a large, intelligent population, and become +sources of prosperity to innumerable individuals through countless +generations." + +Whoever has traveled through Tuscany, will every where have observed +that the peasants live in better houses than they do any where else in +Europe. Some one has said that nearly all their dwellings have been +built within the last eighty years, an observation which in itself shows +the substantial nature of their tenements, for where else will a +peasant's house last so long? In the secluded mountain valleys, where +agriculture supplies the only employment of the industrious classes, you +sometimes meet with very ancient cottages, built quite in the style of +the middle ages, with an abundance of projection and recesses, all +calculated to produce picturesqueness of effect. The modern houses, more +particularly in the district of the lagoons, are constructed more with +reference to comfort than show, the object being to secure as much room +and air as possible. In most places a garden is attached to every +dwelling; and where trees will grow, a large linden or chestnut +stretches its large boughs lovingly about the corner, and sometimes over +the roof, of the dwelling. Under this the peasant and his family sit to +enjoy themselves on summer evenings. Not to be entirely idle, however, +the father is usually engaged in weaving baskets, while the children +amuse themselves with cleaning and preparing the twigs; the mother, +often with a baby in her lap, applies herself to the reparation of the +family wardrobe; and the whole group, especially when lighted up by the +slanting rays of the setting sun, presents to the eye a picture not to +be equaled by Dutch or Flemish school. + +In other respects, the peasant of the lagoons aims at an inferior +standard of luxury. His house is by far the finest portion of his +possessions. The style of furniture, though comfortable, is inferior; +and in the matters of dress and food the most primitive theories +evidently prevail. Here, however, as in most other parts of Europe, we +behold the extremities, as it were, of two systems--the one which is +going out of date, and the one which is coming in. Much bigotry is no +doubt often displayed in the attachment of some persons to old habits +and customs, not otherwise valuable or respectable than from their mere +antiquity; but in several parts of Italy the advocates of novelty are +seldom in possession of so much comfort as they who abide by the habits +and customs of their forefathers. These, for the most part, are content +with the coarse manufactures of the country, which, rough and uncouth in +appearance, supply the requisite warmth, and are extremely enduring. On +the other hand, the imported goods within the reach of the poor, though +gay, and of brilliant colors, are too often of the most flimsy texture, +and melt away from about the persons of the wearers almost like vapor. +The two classes of peasants view each other with secret contempt; but +the old fashion is rapidly dying out because it is old, while the new +chiefly triumphs perhaps because it is new. + +A native, when questioned on the subject of the recent innovations, +observed that the lower classes of the population would have the means +of providing for their necessities if they were not so eager after +luxuries. The females are given to expensive dress, which deprives them +of the means of supplying themselves with more necessary articles. The +gluttony of the artisans has become proverbial among us: what is not +spent in finery in dress is consumed in pampering the appetite. In +consequence of the prosperity of the straw trade, which lasted from 1818 +to 1825, luxury spread throughout the country; and it would excite a +smile, were it not a subject for regret, to observe the country folks in +embroidered stockings and pumps, with large velvet bonnets trimmed with +feathers and lace; but in their homes they, as well as the artisans in +the towns, are miserably off; and they who are even genteelly dressed +when abroad, have rarely more than a miserable palliasse for a bed at +home. Deprived of the advantages of the straw trade, the situation of +the country people, especially those of the mountainous parts, is very +distressing. + +But this and similar causes operate much less on the population in the +district of the lagoons than elsewhere; and, indeed, it may almost be +said that these persons, for the most part, offer a striking contrast +with their neighbors. Notwithstanding the nature of the vapors by which +the air they breathe is impregnated, they are said, upon the whole, to +be healthy and long-lived; and the regularity of employment, the +goodness of their wages, and their constant residence on the same spot, +with many other causes, combine to render them one of the most thriving +sections of the Tuscan population. It must, nevertheless, be admitted +that we want several data for correctly appreciating their condition, +and these could only be supplied by one who should remain a long time +among them. The owners and conductors of the works are too much absorbed +by the love of gain to pay much attention to the state of the laborers, +who, as in most other parts of Italy, lead a retired life, and are +reserved and shy of communicating with strangers. On ordinary topics +they will converse with you freely enough, but the moment you allude to +their domestic concerns, they shrink into themselves, and decline +entering into explanations. This, however, they usually do in the most +civil manner, affecting stupidity, and carefully avoiding the least +appearance of rudeness. Even in the neighboring towns and villages the +laborers of the lagoons are little known; and the produce of their +manufacture, though exported to France and England, attracts little +notice to the country itself, except among those who are engaged in its +production. This will account for the very little that is popularly +known of the borax lagoons of Tuscany, or of the race of peasants by +whom they are rendered profitable. + + + + +[From Colburn's "New Monthly Magazine."] + +WALLACE AND FAWDON. + +BY LEIGH HUNT. + + +This ballad was suggested by one of the notes to the _Lay of the Last +Minstrel_. Wallace, the great Scottish patriot, had been defeated in a +sharp encounter with the English. He was forced to retreat with only +sixteen followers, the English pursued him with a bloodhound and his +sole chance of escape from that tremendous investigator was either in +baffling the scent altogether (which was impossible, unless fugitives +could take to the water, and continue there for some distance), or in +confusing it by the spilling of blood. For the latter purpose, a captive +was sometimes sacrificed; in which case the hound stopped upon the +body. + +The supernatural part of the story of Fawdon is treated by its first +relater, Harry the Minstrel, as a mere legend, and that not a very +credible one; but as a mere legend it is very fine, and quite sufficient +for poetical purposes; nor should the old poet's philosophy have thought +proper to gainsay it. Nevertheless, as the mysteries of the conscience +are more awful things than any merely gratuitous terror (besides leaving +optical phenomena quite as real as the latter may find them), even the +supernatural part of the story becomes probable when we consider the +agitations which the noble mind of Wallace may have undergone during +such trying physical circumstances, and such extremes of moral +responsibility. It seems clear, that however necessary the death of +Fawdon may have been to his companions, or to Scotland, his slayer +regretted it; I have suggested the kind of reason which he would most +likely have had for the regret; and, upon the whole, it is my opinion, +that Wallace actually saw the visions, and that the legend originated in +the fact. I do not mean to imply that Fawdon became present, embodied or +disembodied, whatever may have been the case with his spectre. I only +say that what the legend reports Wallace to have seen, was actually in +the hero's eyes. The remainder of the question I leave to the +psychologist. + + +PART THE FIRST. + + WALLACE with his sixteen men + Is on his weary way; + They have hasting been all night, + And hasting been all day; + And now, to lose their only hope, + They hear the bloodhound bay. + + The bloodhound's bay comes down the wind, + Right upon the road; + Town and tower are yet to pass, + With not a friend's abode. + + Wallace neither turn'd nor spake; + Closer drew the men; + Little had they said that day, + But most went cursing then. + + Oh! to meet twice sixteen foes + Coming from English ground, + And leave their bodies on the track, + To cheat King Edward's hound + + Oh! to overtake one wretch + That left them in the fight, + And leave him cloven to the ribs, + To mock the bloody spite. + + Suddenly dark Fawdon stopp'd, + As they near'd a town; + He stumbled with a desperate oath, + And cast him fiercely down. + + He said, "The leech took all my strength, + My body is unblest; + Come dog, come devil, or English rack, + Here must Fawdon rest." + + Fawdon was an Irishman, + Had join'd them in the war; + Four orphan children waited him + Down by Eden Scawr. + + But Wallace hated Fawdon's ways, + That were both fierce and shy; + And at his words he turn'd, and said, + "That's a traitor's lie. + + "No thought is thine of lingering here, + A captive for the hound; + Thine eye is bright; thy lucky flesh + Hath not a single wound: + The moment we depart, the lane + Will see thee from the ground." + + Fawdon would not speak nor stir, + Speak as any might; + Scorn'd or sooth'd, he sat and lour'd + As though in angry spite. + + Wallace drew a little back, + And waved his men apart; + And Fawdon half leap'd up, and cried, + "Thou wilt not have the heart!" + + Wallace with his dreadful sword, + Without further speech, + Clean cut off dark Fawdon's head, + Through its stifled screech: + + Through its stifled screech, and through + The arm that fenc'd his brow; + And Fawdon, as he leap'd, fell dead, + And safe is Wallace now. + + Safe is Wallace with his men, + And silent is the hound; + And on their way to Castle Gask + They quit the sullen ground. + + +PART THE SECOND. + + WALLACE lies in Castle Gask, + Resting with his men; + Not a soul has come, three days, + Within the warder's ken. + + Resting with his men is Wallace, + Yet he fareth ill + There are tumults in his blood, + And pangs upon his will. + + It was night, and all were housed, + Talking long and late; + Who is this that blows the horn + At the castle-gate? + + Who is this that blows a horn + Which none but Wallace hears? + Loud and louder grows the blast + In his frenzied ears. + + He sends by twos, he sends by threes, + He sends them all to learn; + He stands upon the stairs, and calls + But none of them return. + + Wallace flung him forth down stairs; + And there the moonlight fell + Across the yard upon a sight, + That makes him seem in hell + + Fawdon's headless trunk he sees, + With an arm in air, + Brandishing his bloody head + By the swinging hair. + + Wallace with a stifled screech + Turn'd and fled amain, + Up the stairs, and through the bowers, + With a burning brain: + + From a window Wallace leap'd + Fifteen feet to ground, + And never stopp'd till fast within + A nunnery's holy bound. + + And then he turn'd, in gasping doubt, + To see the fiend retire, + And saw him not at hand, but saw + Castle Gask on fire. + + All on fire was Castle Gask; + And on its top, endued + With the bulk of half a tower, + Headless Fawdon stood. + + Wide he held a burning beam, + And blackly fill'd the light; + His body seem'd, by some black art, + To look at Wallace, heart to heart, + Threatening through the night. + + Wallace that day week arose + From a feeble bed; + And gentle though he was before, + Yet now to orphans evermore + He gentlier bow'd his head. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE CLEVER CHILDREN? + + +During a visit to a friend in the country, I was enjoying a walk in his +garden before breakfast on a delightful morning in June, when my +attention was suddenly arrested by the pensive attitude of a little boy, +the son of my host, whom I observed standing before a rose-bush, which +he appeared to contemplate with much dissatisfaction. Children have +always been to me a most interesting study; and yielding to a wish to +discover what could have clouded the usually bright countenance of my +little friend, I inquired what had attracted him to this particular +rose-bush, which presented but a forlorn appearance when compared with +its more blooming companions. He replied: "This rose-bush is my _own_; +papa gave it to me in spring, and promised that no one else should touch +it. I have taken great pains with it; and as it was covered with +beautiful roses last summer, I hoped to have had many fine bouquets from +it; but all my care and watching have been useless: I see I shall not +have one full-blown rose after all." + +"And yet," said I, "it appears to be as healthy as any other bush in the +garden: tell me what you have done for it, as you say it has cost me so +much pains?" + +"After watching it for some time," he replied, "I discovered a very +great number of small buds, but they were almost concealed by the leaves +which grew so thickly; I therefore cleared away the greater part of +these, and my little buds then looked very well. I now found, as I +watched them, that though they grew larger every day, the green outside +continued so hard that I thought it impossible for the delicate +rose-leaves to force their way out; I therefore picked them open; but +the pale, shriveled blossoms which I found within never improved, but +died one after another. Yesterday morning I discovered one bud which the +leaves had till then hidden from me, and which was actually streaked +with the beautiful red of the flower confined in it; I carefully opened +and loosened it, in the hope that the warm sun would help it to blow: my +first thought this morning was of the pleasure I should have in +gathering my _one_ precious bud for mamma--but look at it now!" + +The withered, discolored petals to which the child thus directed my eye +did indeed present but a melancholy appearance, and I now understood the +cause of the looks of disappointment which had at first attracted my +attention. I explained to the zealous little gardener the mischief which +he had unintentionally done by removing the leaves and calyx with which +nature had covered and inclosed the flower until all its beauties should +be ready for full development; and having pointed out to him some buds +which had escaped his _care_, I left him full of hope that, by waiting +patiently for nature to accomplish her own work, he might yet have a +bouquet of his own roses to present to his mother. + +As I pursued my walk, it occurred to me that this childish incident +suggested an answer to the question asked by Dr. Johnson, "What becomes +of all the clever children?" Too often, it is to be feared, are the +precious human buds sacrificed to the same mistaken zeal that led to the +destruction of the roses which had been expected with so much pleasure +by their little owner. Perhaps a few hints, suggested--not by fanciful +theory, but by practical experience in the mental training of +children--may help to rescue some little ones from the blighting +influences to which they are too often exposed. + +The laws by which the physical development of every infant, during the +earliest period of its existence, is regulated, seem to afford a +striking lesson by the analogy they bear to these laws on which the +subsequent mental development depends; and by the wise arrangement of an +ever-kind Providence, this lesson is made immediately to precede the +period during which it should be carried into practice. On the babe's +first entrance into the world, it must be fed only with food suitable to +its delicate organs of digestion; on this depends its healthful growth, +and likewise the gradual strengthening of those organs. Its senses must +at first be acted upon very gently: too strong a light, or too loud a +noise, may impair its sight or hearing for life. + +The little limbs of a young infant must not be allowed to support the +body before they have acquired firmness sufficient for that task, +otherwise they will become deformed, and the whole system weakened; and +last, not least, fresh and pure air must be constantly inhaled by the +lungs, in order that they may supply vigor to the whole frame. All +enlightened parents are acquainted with these laws of nature, and +generally act on them; but when, owing to judicious management, their +children emerge from babyhood in full enjoyment of all the animal +organs, and with muscles and sinews growing firmer every day in +consequence of the exercise which their little owners delight in giving +them, is the same judicious management extended to the mind, of which +the body, which has been so carefully nourished, is only the outer case? +In too many cases it is not. Too often the tender mind is loaded with +information which it has no power of assimilating, and which, +consequently, can not nourish it. The mental faculties, instead of being +gradually exercised, are overwhelmed: parents who would check with +displeasure the efforts of a nurse who should attempt to make their +infant walk at too early a period, are ready eagerly to embrace any +system of so-called education which offers to do the same violence to +the intellect; forgetting that distortion of mind is at least as much to +be dreaded as that of the body, while the motives held out to encourage +the little victims are not calculated to produce a moral atmosphere +conducive either to good or great mental attainments. Children are +sometimes met with--though few and far between--whose minds seem ready +to drink in knowledge in whatever form or quantity it may be presented +to them; and the testimony of Dr. Combe, as well as of many other +judicious writers, proves the real state of the brain in such cases, and +also the general fate of the poor little prodigies. Such children, +however, are not the subject of these observations, of which the object +is to plead for those promising buds which are closely encased in their +"hard" but protecting covering; to plead for them especially at that +period when the "beautiful red streak" appears; in other words, when, +amid the thoughtless sports and simple studies of childhood, the +intellect begins to develop itself, and to seek nourishment from all +that is presented to it. There exists at the period alluded to a +readiness in comparison, and a shrewdness of observation, which might be +profitably employed in the great work of education. And here it may be +observed, that as to "educate" signifies to _bring out_, the term +_education_ can only be applied with propriety to a system which +performs this work, and never to one which confines itself to laying on +a surface-work of superficial information, unsupported by vigorous +mental powers. Information may be acquired at any age, provided that the +intellectual machinery has been kept in activity; whereas, if the latter +has been allowed to rust and stiffen from disease, the efforts of the +man--supposing him to have energy sufficient to make an effort--to +redress the wrongs done to the boy, will in most cases be vain. That +self-educated men are generally the best educated is a trite remark; so +trite, indeed, that it frequently falls on the ear without rousing +attention to the apparent paradox which it contains; and yet there must +be some reason well worthy of attention for the fact, that so many who, +in early life, have enjoyed advantages, have, on reaching manhood, found +themselves surpassed by others who have been forced to struggle up +unassisted, and in many cases surrounded by apparent obstacles to their +rise. It is obvious that the point in which the latter have the +advantage, is the necessity which they find for exercising their _own_ +intellectual powers at every step; and, moreover, for taking each step +firmly before they attempt the next; which necessity, while it may +retard the rapid skimming over various subjects which is sometimes +effected, gives new vigor continually to the mind, and also leads to the +habit of that "industry and patient thought" to which the immortal +Newton attributed all he had done; while at the same time a vivid +pleasure is taken in the acquirement of knowledge so obtained beyond any +that can be conferred by reward or encouragement from others. + +From these considerations, it appears that the most judicious system of +education is that in which the teacher rather directs the working of his +pupil's mind than works for him; and it must be recollected that such a +system, compared with some others, will be slow, though sure, in +producing the desired result. Every one familiar with children must have +observed with what apparently fresh interest they will listen to the +same tale repeated again and again Now, if time and repetition are +necessary to impress on the young mind facts interesting in themselves, +they are surely more necessary when the information to be imparted is in +itself dry and uninteresting, as is the ease with much which it is +requisite for children to learn. The system here recommended is one +which requires _patience_ both on the part of parents and teachers; but +patience so exercised would undoubtedly be rewarded by the results, one +of which would be, that we should not so frequently see "clever +children" wane into very commonplace, if not stupid men. + + + + +[From Fraser's Magazine.] + +LACK OF POETRY IN AMERICA. + + +After the Americans had established their political nationality beyond +cavil, and taken a positive rank among the powers of the civilized +world, they still remained subject to reproach, that in the worlds of +Art, Science, and Literature, they had no national existence. Admitting, +or, at any rate, feeling, the truth of this taunt, they bestirred +themselves resolutely to produce a practical refutation of it. Their +first and fullest success was, as might be expected from their +notoriously utilitarian character, in practical inventions. In oratory, +notwithstanding a tendency to more than Milesian floridness and +hyperbole, they have taken no mean stand among the free nations of +christendom. In history, despite the disadvantages arising from the +scarcity of large libraries, old records, and other appliances of the +historiographer, they have produced some books which are acknowledged +to be well worthy a place among our standard works, and which have +acquired, not merely an English, but a continental reputation. In the +fine arts, notwithstanding obviously still greater impediments--the want +at home, not only of great galleries and collections, but of the +thousand little symbols and associations that help to educate the +artist--the consequent necessity of going abroad to seek all that the +student requires--they have still made laudable progress. The paintings +of Washington Allston are the most noteworthy lions in Boston; the +statues of Powers command admiration even in London. In prose fiction, +the sweet sketches of Irving have acquired a renown second only to that +of the agreeable essayists whom he took for his models, while the Indian +and naval romances of Cooper are purchased at liberal prices by the +chary bibliopoles of England, and introduced to the Parisian public by +the same hand which translated Walter Scott. In poetry alone they are +still palpably inferior: no world-renowned minstrel has yet arisen in +the New Atlantis, and the number of those versifiers who have attained a +decided name and place among the lighter English literature of their +day, or whose claims to the title of poet are acknowledged _in all +sections_ of their own country, is but small. + +If we come to inquire into the causes of this deficiency, we are apt at +first to light upon several reasons why it should _not_ exist. In the +first place, there is nothing unpoetical about the country itself, but +every thing highly the reverse. All its antecedents and traditions, its +discovery, its early inhabitants, its first settlement by civilized men, +are eminently romantic. It is not wanting in battle-grounds, or in spots +hallowed by recollections and associations of patriots and sages. The +magnificence of its scenery is well known. The rivers of America are at +the same time the most beautiful and the most majestic in the world: the +sky of America, though dissimilar in hue, may vie in loveliness with the +sky of Italy. No one who has floated down the glorious Hudson (even amid +all the un-ideal associations of a gigantic American steamer), who has +watched the snowy sails--so different from the tarry, smoky canvas of +European craft--that speck that clear water; who has noticed the +faultless azure and snow of the heaven above, suggesting the highest +idea of purity, the frowning cliffs that palisade the shore, and the +rich masses of foliage that overhang them, tinged a thousand dyes by the +early autumn frost--no one who has observed all this, can doubt the +poetic capabilities of the land. + +A seeming solution, indeed, presents itself in the business, utilitarian +character of the people; and this solution would probably be immediately +accepted by very many of our readers. Brother Jonathan thinks and talks +of cotton, and flour, and dollars, and the ups and downs of stocks. +Poetry _doesn't pay_: he can not appreciate, and does not care for it. +"Let me get something for myself," he says, like the churl in +Theocritus. "Let the gods whom he invokes reward the poet. What do we +want with more verse? We have Milton and Shakspeare (whether we read +them or not). He is the poet for me who asks me for nothing;" and so the +poor Muses wither (or as Jonathan himself might say, _wilt_) away, and +perish from inanition and lack of sympathy. Very plausible; but now for +the paradox. So far from disliking, or underrating, or being indifferent +to poetry, the American public is the most eager devourer of it, in any +quantity, and of any quality; nor is there any country in which a +limited capital of inspiration will go farther. Let us suppose two +persons, both equally unknown, putting forth a volume of poems on each +side of the Atlantic; decidedly the chances are, that the American +candidate for poetic fame will find more readers, and more encouragement +in his country, than the British in his. Very copious editions of the +standard English poets are sold every year, generally in a form adapted +to the purses of the million; to further which end they are frequently +bound two or three in a volume (Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, for +instance, is a favorite combination). Even bardlings like Pollok enjoy a +large number of readers and editions. Nor is there--notwithstanding the +much-complained-of absence of an international copyright law--any +deficiency of home supply for the market. Writing English verses, +indeed, is as much a part of an American's education, as writing Latin +verses is of an Englishman's; recited "poems" always holding a prominent +place among their public collegiate exercises; about every third man, +and every other woman of the liberally-educated classes, writes +occasional rhymes, either for the edification of their private circle, +or the poets'-corner of some of the innumerable newspapers that encumber +the land; and the number of gentlemen and ladies one meets who have +published a volume of Something and Other Poems, is perfectly +astounding. + +The true secret seems to be, that the Americans, as a people, have not +received that education which enables a people to produce poets. For, +however true the _poeta nascitur_ adage may be negatively of +individuals, it is not true positively of nations. The formation of a +national poetic temperament is the work of a long education, and the +development of various influences. A peculiar classicality of taste, +involving a high critical standard, seems necessary, among the moderns, +to high poetic production; and such a taste has not yet been formed in +America. True, there are kinds of poetry--the Ballad and the Epic, +which, so far as we can trace them, are born, Pallas-like, full-grown; +which sound their fullest tone in a nation's infancy, and are but +faintly echoed in its maturity. But there are numbers in which lisps the +infancy, not of a nation merely, but of a race. And the Americans were +an old race though a young nation. They began with too much civilization +for the heroic school of poetry: they have not yet attained enough +cultivation for the philosophic. + + + + +[From the London Christian Times.] + +SIR ROBERT PEEL. + + +All the ordinary incidents of the past week have been thrown into +temporary oblivion, by the lamentable occurrence that has deprived the +country of one of its most eminent statesmen; the House of Commons, of +one of its chiefs; the family of the right honorable baronet of its most +amiable and distinguished head; and many of the public institutions, +those of the fine arts especially, of an enlightened and generous +patron. + +The late member for Tamworth was the eldest son of the first Sir R. +Peel, formerly of the house of Peel and Yates, which, in 1803, employed +about 15,000 persons at Bury, and which paid at that time L40,000 a year +duty on their printed cotton fabrics. In 1787, Mr. Peel married his +partner's daughter, Miss Yates, who bore the subject of this memoir--5th +February, 1788--in a little cottage, near Chamber Hall. The husband of +Miss Yates was very successful in his cotton speculations, and in 1798, +when the English Government appealed to the country for pecuniary aid to +carry on the French war, subscribed himself L10,000. Some notion may be +formed of the extent of the wealth of the first Sir R. Peel, from the +fact that when, in 1830, his will was proved, the _personal_ property +was sworn at L1,200,000. The much-lamented baronet received the +rudiments of his education under parental superintendence, near Bury. He +was removed to Harrow, when he became a form-fellow of the more +brilliant, but less amiable, Lord Byron, who has left several +commendatory notices of his youthful friend, and whose eminence he very +sagaciously predicted. + +From Harrow, Mr. Peel became a Gentleman Commoner of Christ Church, +Oxford, where, in 1808, he was the first who took the honors of double +first-class. In the following year, having attained his majority, he +entered the House of Commons for Cashel, as the nominee of Mr. Richard +Pennefather. Mr. Peel continued to represent the twelve electors of +Cashel and their lord till 1812, when he represented the close borough +of Chippenham, with a constituency of 135. The prodigious wealth of the +first baronet of Drayton Manor gave his son great advantages in the +House of Commons, where, in 1810, he was selected to second the Address, +in reply to the Royal Speech. Shortly after, he became the +Under-Secretary of State in the Perceval Cabinet, and, upon the fall of +his chief, though only twenty-six years of age, he was made principal +Secretary for Ireland--an office, at that time, of the greatest +difficulty and importance--and held that post with as much address as +his ultra-Toryism, and his extreme unpopularity in Ireland, admitted, +under the Viceroyships of the Duke of Richmond, Earl Whitworth, and Earl +Talbot. The most permanent and beneficial measure which Ireland owes to +its former Secretary, Peel, is its constabulary force, introduced in +1817, which was the wedge to the introduction of the English body of +police. + +The masterly tactics of the still youthful statesman, in part, but his +"thorough and throughout" Toryism, chiefly recommended him to the +electors of Oxford University, which he represented twelve years, till +1828; when, upon an obvious change in his opinions on the question of +Catholic emancipation, he was rejected. + +In 1820, Mr. Peel, then in his thirty-third year, had married Julia, the +daughter of General Sir John Floyd, who was only twenty-five, and who +survives her illustrious husband. The issue of this marriage is five +sons and two daughters. One of his sons has already entered diplomatic +employment in Switzerland; a second has recently entered, as our readers +will remember, the House of Commons; a third is in the army, and one in +the navy. One of Sir Robert's daughters was married to Viscount Villiers +in 1840. + +In 1819, the monetary affairs of the country had become so alarming, +that the House of Commons appointed a secret committee to inquire into +the state of the Bank of England, of which committee Mr. Peel was +appointed chairman. He had hitherto been one of the most strenuous +opponents of Mr. Horner's celebrated propositions of 1811, from which +period he had strongly defended the currency policy of Mr. Vansittart. +But the evidence produced to the secret committee effected a complete +change in Mr. Peel's opinions, and it was chiefly through his agency +that the currency was settled on its present metallic basis. In the +conflict, a touching incident of antagonism, between the subject of this +memoir and his father, occurred in the House of Commons. Mr. Peel was, +in 1822, promoted to the head of the Home-office, which he occupied till +the overthrow of Lord Liverpool, in 1827, when he retired, in +consequence, as it is alleged, of the elevation of Mr. Canning, whose +opinions were in favor of the abolition of the Roman Catholic +disabilities. Upon the accession of the Duke of Wellington to power, in +1828, Mr. Peel returned to the Home-office, and, in conjunction with his +noble friend, repealed the disabilities of the Roman Catholics; which +not only cost him Ireland, and brought upon him a hurricane of abuse +from his party, but shook the general confidence in either the soundness +or the integrity of his opinions. + +The skirts of the Gallic storm of 1830, that crushed the Bourbonic +throne, destroyed the Wellington Administration, and made the Reform +Bill no longer deferable, which the Whigs entered office to carry. +Meantime, the deceased had succeeded to an enormous estate and the +baronetcy, by the demise of his father, Sir R. Peel. But he was, in +opposition, fiercely assailed with the maledictions of Ireland; the +censures of the High Tory party--whom he was alleged to have +betrayed--the clamors of the advocates of a paper currency; and what, +perhaps, was the most difficult to bear, his party imputed to him the +real authorship of the Reform Bill and its consequences, by his +vacillation in reference to the emancipation of the Catholics. But, +nothing dismayed by the angry elements surrounding him, and the new +political vista of England and the Continent, Sir R. Peel now displayed +all the resources of his statesmanship in concentrating the new +Conservative party. He so far succeeded--chiefly through the want of +more courage and honesty in the Whigs--that he was again called to +office in 1834, during his brief tenancy of which, no one can withhold +praise for his command of temper, his Liberal tendencies, and his spirit +of general conciliation. In 1841, Sir R. Peel again entered office; +and--though he undeniably was enabled to do so by the Protectionist +party, by the force of circumstances, the stagnation of commerce, the +failure of the crops, and the famine in Ireland--he opened the ports, +and repealed the Corn-laws forever, to the consternation of the world, +and in opposition to all the opinions of his life; this was in 1845. +Since that period Sir R. Peel has been in Opposition, indeed, but not +its leader so much as a distinguished debater, an accomplished +financier, and the expositor of opinions which neither the Whigs nor +Tories heartily espouse. + +During forty years servitude in the House of Commons--though not +generally in favor of popular sentiments, and, in religious matters, +rather liberal than generous--Sir R. Peel has undoubtedly rendered, in +addition to his three great measures--the Bullion-law, Catholic +Emancipation, and the repeal of the Corn-law--many minor political +benefits to the country. Of this class of services, that which reflects +on him the most honor, is his amelioration of the Criminal Law. As to +the measures to which we have just alluded, there will still continue to +be a large diversity of opinion. Thousands of the wealthy classes will +regard them all as steps in the declination of the national power; while +the more popular mind, that rarely troubles itself with large or +profound views, has already registered its approval of them. + +It is a singular fact, that he spent eleven years in Parliamentary +opposition to the Bullion doctrine that he adopted in 1822; that he +waged strenuous war against the repeal of the Roman Catholic +disabilities for eighteen years, and at last carried them in spite of +his own party; and that for thirty years in the House of Commons, he +maintained that the prosperity of Great Britain depended on the +retention of her Corn-laws, which he repealed in 1845. It is, therefore, +clear that his final measures, in reference to these three great +departments of his political life, were rather concessions to the force +of events, than the voluntary policy of his own mind. His wisdom lay in +the concession. Many of his chief colleagues, in each of these +instances, would have blindly rushed upon destruction. His greater +sagacity foresaw the gulf and turned away, choosing to win the courage +of relinquishing his life's opinions, than that of courting the dangers +of resistance. And in these three famous instances of Sir R. Peel's +life, we have the true elaboration of his own character. He was by +education and preference a Tory; by necessity he became a +Progressionist. + +While we have felt it our duty to write the last paragraph, we +cheerfully record our admiration of Sir Robert Peel's great talents, of +his moral integrity, of his very exemplary private life, and, we +believe, of his firm attachment to his country and its institutions. He +is another memorable instance of what the children of democracy may +become in England, with adequate talents and exertions. Sir R. Peel owed +much to his wealth, to his associates, and to his early opinions. But +far beyond the factitious influences derivable from such sources, he had +great elements in himself. When his heart and mind received free +permission from his policy to display themselves, they were of the +highest order. Such a man is not easily made: of his loss we are only at +present very imperfectly able to appreciate the consequences, one of +which, we fear will be a mischievous re-formation of the Protectionist +party, and, if we read the auspices aright, his death will not improve +the Ministerial Whigs. + +The motion on Wednesday night, in the House of Commons, not to proceed +with public business that evening, in honor of the memory of Sir R. +Peel, was as becoming to the House itself as it was to its mover, Mr. +Hume. It is a poor recompense to a bereaved family, we are aware; but it +is such a tribute as has not always been granted to even greater men, +and to some of the blood royal. In due time the public feeling will +doubtless imbody itself in more tangible and permanent forms; and when +that occurs, it will not be the least of the monumental honors of the +deceased, that the gratitude of the widow, the orphan, the neglected +genius, and suffering worth, will lead many to shed their tears on the +bronze or marble effigies of him whose like England will not easily see +again. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +SPONGES. + + +About three centuries and a half before the Christian era, the question, +Are sponges animal or vegetable? was proposed by Aristotle, who, unable +himself to solve the difficulty, was contented, in the true spirit of a +lover of nature, with carefully recording the results of his accurate +observations, and advancing his opinion rather in the form of an inquiry +than of an allegation. Upward of two thousand years rolled away ere this +question was satisfactorily answered. Nay, we believe that the vegetable +theory has, even at the present time, its advocates; while some are +still disposed to consider that the sponge is at one period of its +existence a vegetable, and at another an animal. + +To any one who hesitates to acknowledge that the sponge is endowed with +animal life--confessedly in its lowest form, yet with a most exquisite +adaptation to its destiny--we would offer the spectacle of a living +sponge in a portion of its native element. We would let him gaze on the +animated fountain, which is perpetually sucking the water into its +substance through its countless pores, and after assimilating such +particles of it as are essential to its existence, ceaselessly expelling +it, at more distant intervals, through the larger channels which may be +observed on its outer surface. We would point out innumerable gemmules +of gelatinous matter, which at certain seasons of the year may be seen +spouting "from all parts of the living film which invests the horny +skeleton;"[24] until, at length, escaping from the nursery in which they +grew, they are carried off to the wide sea by means of the force of the +currents issuing from the sponge, though not left to perish at the mercy +of the waves. For he will find that the young animal or egg is covered +with numberless minute hairs or _cilia_, each one of which is endowed +with a distinct and innate power of vibration; so that by means of +thousands of almost invisible oars, the young sponge "shoots like a +microscopic meteor through the sea," until it arrives at some rock or +other place properly adapted for its future growth; then it settles +calmly and contentedly down, and gradually losing its locomotive power, +begins to spread on its base; and builds up, within its living +substance, a horny framework, such as we have already seen in its +parent. + +The above-named currents may be more distinctly seen by powdering the +surface of the water with chalk or any similar substance; and Professor +Grant mentions, that by placing pieces of cork or dry paper over the +apertures, he could see them moving "by the force of the currents at the +distance of ten feet from the table on which the specimen rested." + +Dr. Peysonell, who paid great attention to the structure of the sponge, +brought proofs of its animal vitality before the Royal Society in the +years 1752--57. And Mr. Ellis, five years afterward, by his dissections, +set the question quite at rest; though he fell into the error of +believing that the frame of the sponge was the outer case of worms or +polypes. Later examination, however, has shown that the _frame_ or +_sponge_, commonly so called, is an _internal_ skeleton, while the vital +power is simply composed of a slimy film which coats over every fibre, +and which, inert as it appears, possesses the power of secreting the +particles essential to its growth. + +It has been affirmed, that the sponge is observed to contract or shrink +when torn from the rooks; but there is satisfactory evidence to prove +that neither this nor any degree of laceration has a sensible effect on +this nerveless though vital mass. + +All sponges, however, have not a horny framework, but some, which are +thereby rendered useless in a commercial point of view, are supported by +a skeleton composed of siliceous particles imbedded in a tough, fibrous +material. These particles, or _spicula_, as they are termed, are so +uniform in the species to which they severally belong, that, in the +words of Professor Grant, if the soft portion be destroyed, and a "few +of them brought from any pan of the world on the point of a needle, they +would enable the zoologist to identify the species to which they +originally belonged." Professor R. Jones, however, considers that this +opinion should be received with considerable limitations. + +The last fact, trivial as it appears, assumes immense importance when we +learn that to these spicula we must turn for an explanation of the +isolated masses of flint which abound in various chalk formations. "The +mere assertion," says Rhymer Jones, "that flints were sponges, would no +doubt startle the reader who was unacquainted with the history of these +fossil relics of a former ocean;" and yet a little reflection "will +satisfy the most skeptical." For long ages the sponge is imbedded in the +chalk, through which water is continually percolating. A well-known law +of chemistry explains why similar matter should become aggregated; and +thus the siliceous matter of the sponge forms a nucleus for the +siliceous matter contained in the water, until at length the entire mass +is converted into a solid flint. But we are not left, he adds, to mere +conjecture or hypothesis on this point, "for nothing is more common in +chalky districts than to find flints, which, on _being broken, still +contain portions of the original sponge in an almost unaltered state_." + +There is every reason to believe that the sponge-fisheries of the AEgean +are at present conducted precisely in the same manner as they were in +the time of Aristotle. The sponge-divers are mostly inhabitants of the +islands which lie off the Carian coast, and of those situated between +Rhodes and Calymnos. These men--who form a distinct society, and are +governed by peculiar laws, which prohibit their marriage until they +shall have attained a prescribed proficiency in their art--go out in +little fleets, composed of caiques, each of six or seven tons' burden, +and manned by six or eight divers: each man is simply equipped with a +netted bag in which to place the sponges, and a hoop by which to suspend +it round his neck; and thus furnished, he descends to a depth of from +five to twenty, or even occasionally thirty fathoms. The sponges which +he collects are first saturated with fresh water, which destroys the +vitality, and decomposing the gelatinous matter, turns it black; this +matter is stamped out by the feet of the divers, and the sponges are +then dried in the sun, and strung in circles, after which they are ready +for sale and exportation. + +In a good locality an expert diver may bring up fifty okes in a day, and +for each oke he obtains about twenty-five drachmas. The weight is +calculated, says Forbes, when the sponges are dry, and a very large +sponge may weigh two okes. The chief sponge-markets are Smyrna. Rhodes, +and Napoli. + +Blount, who wrote in 1634, affirms that these sponge-divers "are from +infancy bred up on dry biscuites and other extenuatinge dyet, to make +them extreme lean; then takinge a spunge wet in oyle, they hold it, part +in their mouths, and part without, soe they go under water, where at +first they can not stay long, but after practice, the leanest stay an +hour and a halfe, even till the oyle of the spunge be corrupted.... Thus +they gather spunges from more than an hundred fathom deep," &c. All this +is very wonderful, but the narrator stamps the value of his tale by +telling us immediately afterward that "Samos is the only place in the +world on whose rocks the spunges grow." So that, in the words which he +elsewhere makes use of, "we applaude hys belief, but keep our owne." We +do not, however, mean to assert that there are not sponges of some +species (though not the sponge of commerce) which exist at a depth as +great as that which he mentions, for Forbes dredged a living specimen of +one small kind from 185 fathoms in the Gulf of Macri. + +The sponge of commerce (_Spongia officinalis_) was divided by Aristotle +into three kinds--namely, the loose and porous, the thick and close, and +the fine and compact. These last, which are rare, were called the +sponges of Achilles, and were placed by the ancients in the interior of +their helmets and boots, as protections from pressure and abrasion. + +The same naturalist states that those sponges are best which are found +on coasts where the water becomes suddenly deep, and attributes this +superiority to the greater equality of temperature obtained in such +waters--observations which have been corroborated by Professor E. +Forbes. + +Fifty-six species of sponges have been enumerated, ten or eleven of +which are found in the British isles. A portion of these inhabit fresh +water, among which we may mention the river sponge (_S. fluviatilis_), +which abounds in the Thames. Among the British sponges, too, is the +stinging or crumb-of-bread sponge (_S. urens_), a widely-diffused +species, which, when taken out of the sea is of a bright orange color, +and which will, if rubbed on the hand raise blisters. This stinging +quality is highly increased by drying the sponge; a process which also +gives it the color and appearance of crumbs of bread, whence its popular +name. + +Sponges, as may be imagined from the mode of their growth, are most +sportive in their forms: some a tubular, others mushroom-like, a few +almost globular, and still others branched or hand-shaped; in the warmer +seas they hang in fantastic and gorgeous fans from the roofs of +submarine caverns, or decorate the sides with vases of classic elegance, +though of nature's handiwork. Nor are their colors less various: some +are of the most brilliant scarlet or the brightest yellow, others green, +brown, blackish, or shining white; while Peron mentions one procured by +him in the South Sea which was of a beautiful purple, and from which a +liquor of the same color was extracted by the slightest pressure; with +this liquor he stained several different substances, and found that the +color was not affected by the action of the air, and that it would bear +several washings. + +The value of the sponge in surgery is well known; and it is also used, +medicinally, being for this purpose lightly burned to powder, and given +in small doses in scrofulous complaints. It has also been regarded as a +specific in leprosy and hydrophobia. It is, however, needless to say +that in these last it can have no influence whatever. + +There are several representations of sponges given in the balneal feasts +depicted on various Etruscan vases; and the sponge has been found in a +perfect state in a Roman barrow at Bartlow Hills. It was discovered near +the sacrificing utensils. Livy says that the covering of the breast of +the Samnite gladiators was sponge. + +When the animal matter remains in the sponges of various kinds, they +have always a very strong fishy smell, which may perhaps be regarded as +an additional proof of the fealty which they give to the animal kingdom. +Yet we must not omit that there are substances which, though they bear +the name of sponges, would rather appear, from their microscopic +structure, to belong to the vegetable world; we allude to those known as +_gelatinous sponges_, which are perfectly different from the sponges +properly so called. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] Professor Rymer Jones. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +THE RAILWAY WORKS AT CREWE. + + +"What place is this?" said the worthy old gentleman, my traveling +companion on the London and North Western railway, as he woke up from a +comfortable nap when the train slackened speed, and entered a spacious +and expensively-decorated station. + +"This is Crewe, sir, I believe." + +And scarcely had I answered, when there was a general shout of "Crewe, +Crewe!" from an army of porters who came rushing out, and pounced upon +the train as if it were their lawful prey. + +Presently a head peered in at the door, inquiring, + +"All here for the Liverpool line?" + +And on my elderly friend saying that he was for Manchester, he was +politely but smartly informed that he must change carriages here. So I +we both got out; and my friend, after some bother about his luggage, and +the use of some hasty language, was at last made "all right" by being +put into a carriage bearing an announcement that that was the +"Manchester train." On another carriage in front was a similar board +announcing the "Liverpool train," and behind was a third to announce +that for Chester. Passengers were running up and down the platform: some +looking after luggage, some for the right carriage, and others darting +into the handsome refreshment-room. But nobody seemed to think of going +away from the station; indeed the only mode of exit and entrance was +through a close-shut iron gate, beside which sat a policeman looking +with enviable coolness on all the bustle around him. There was a ring of +a bell; a banging of doors; a puff of the engine; and off went the train +to Liverpool. Another locomotive now appeared moving cautiously down the +line, and was speedily attached to the Manchester train, which was soon +out of sight. A third came; caught hold of the Chester train, and away +_it_ rushed. The passengers who had journeyed so amicably together from +London were now thoroughly dispersed, and ere the sun set, some would be +crossing the Scotch Border at Carlisle, some embarking at Holyhead for +Dublin, and others attending to their business on the Mersey or the Dee, +or amid the tall chimneys of Manchester. A luggage train came crawling +out from its hiding-place, and finding the coast clear, went thundering +past: the porters wiped their foreheads, and went to have a little rest; +and I, the solitary passenger for Crewe, was left cooling my heels on +the platform. + +"Where is Crewe?" I said to the guardian of the iron gate. + +"Cross the bridge, go straight on, and turn to the right," was the +concise reply. + +So I crossed the bridge, and found myself in a pleasant country road. +The flat rich fields of Cheshire extended on the left and to the right; +at the distance of about half a mile appeared the square massive tower +of a church, surrounded by long ranges of low buildings like work-shops, +and rows of houses evidently quite new. Some neat cottages lined the +sides of the road, and there were two or three inns all bearing marks of +youth; while some zealous people had caused a few bills, bearing the +words "Prepare to meet thy God," printed in conspicuous type, to be +affixed to the walls, giving a stranger not & very high idea of the +character of the people in the habit of using that road. Turning to the +right, I passed a Methodist chapel, bearing the date of its erection, +1848; a new flour-mill driven by water; a new inn with a brave new +sign-board; and, crossing the boundary made by the Chester line, I +arrived in Crewe. + +Not many years ago, there were only two or three houses here, and the +land on which the station and the town are built formed part of a good +Cheshire farm. The worthy farmer plowed his fields and reaped his +harvest, his dame made good Cheshire cheese; and both lived merrily on, +quite unconscious of the change that their farm was about to undergo. +The eyes of engineers were on it: it was placed, as an Irishman would +say, "very convanient" for railway purposes and after a few years had +rolled away, it became the great workshop of the Grand Junction Line, +and the point where the main line to Birmingham received its tributaries +from the north and west. Several thousands of people were brought here; +the company laid out streets and built houses; shops were opened; +churches and schools erected; a market-place provided; a Mechanics' +Institution established; many hotels built, one of which was destined +to lodge royalty for a night; and a town was erected with a rapidity +unexampled even in America. + +The general appearance of Crewe is very pleasing. The streets are wide, +and well paved; the houses are very neat and commodious, usually of two +stories, built of bricks, but the brick concealed by rough-cast plaster, +with porches, lattice-windows, and a little piece of garden-ground +before the door. The greater part of these houses belong to the company, +and are let to the men at rents from 2s. 9d. per week upward. The +accommodation is good, and it would be difficult to find such houses at +such low rents even in the suburbs of a large town. Water is plentifully +supplied by public pumps, and the town is well lighted with gas. The +names of the streets are expressive: some are called after the towns to +which their direction points--such as Liverpool, Chester, Sandbach, &c.; +others from the works to which they lead--such as Forge-street; and +others from well-known but very modern names--such as Prince +Albert-street. The placards on the walls, however, seem somewhat out of +place in a railway town, as nearly all have relation to sales of cattle, +timber, &c, indicating clearly enough that Crewe is but a mechanical +settlement in an agricultural district. The market-place is spacious, +and roofed over; the church is a handsome edifice of stone; and the +Mechanics' Institution a fine building with a large lecture-room (used +also as a town-hall), a good library and news-room, and commodious +class-rooms. These were all built by the company; and indeed the +completeness of every thing connected with the town gives evidence of +such an amplitude of means possessed by its founders, as seldom, if +ever, fall to the lot of private individuals. + +The most interesting objects, however, about Crewe are the railway +works. These are placed on a large tongue of land near the station, and +so adapted, that wagons, and carriages, and engines can easily be run +into them from the main line. In these works every thing connected with +"the rolling stock" of the company for the northern section of the line +(Walnerton being used for the southern) is made and repaired. The number +of hands employed at present is about eight hundred; but formerly, when +railways were more prosperous than now, it exceeded a thousand. The +workmen seem to belong, in tolerably equal proportions, to the four +great divisions of the United Kingdom; and the slow, deliberate speech +of the Scot, the rich brogue of the Irishman, and the sharp, quick +utterance of the Welshman, have lost very little of their purity and +richness amid the air of the county palatine of Chester. The greater +portion of the work is carried on in long, largo sheds, for the most +part of one story, and called the "fitting," "erecting," and other +shops, according to the nature of the work done in them. The artisans +may be divided into two great classes--the workers in metal, and those +in wood; the former being employed in making locomotives' wheels, axles, +springs, &c, and the latter in constructing the carriages. By far the +greatest number of hands are employed in the former. + +That our hasty inspection may begin at the beginning, let us peep at the +foundry. Both brass and iron are east here, but to-day it is iron. The +sandy floor is covered with moulds of all descriptions, and swarthy +workmen are preparing them to receive the melted iron. Occasionally you +are startled by the shout of "Mind your eye!" which must be taken in its +literal signification, for it comes from a moulder blowing away with a +bellows the superfluous grains of fine sand, which, if once in the eye, +will give some trouble. The moulds are ready, the furnace is opened, and +a stream of bright white metal rolls out into the pots prepared for its +reception, and is speedily poured into the moulds. In an adjoining shed +are blacksmiths plying forehammers; but their greatest efforts are +entirely eclipsed by the mighty steam-hammer that is seen at work in +another part of the shed. This hammer is the invention of Mr. Nasmyth, +of the Bridgewater Foundry, near Manchester. It moves up and down in a +strong frame, at a speed subject to such nice regulations, that, +according to the will of its director, it can gently drive a nail, or +crush to splinters a log of wood. When Lord John Russell lately visited +Manchester, the delicate touch of this hammer was strikingly displayed +before him: an egg was procured, and placed in a wine-glass, and such +was the power possessed over this giant, that after a little adjustment, +the mighty hammer was brought repeatedly down so as just to chip the egg +as gently as by a spoon in the hands of a child, while the glass was not +in the slightest degree injured or disturbed. The labor saved by this +hammer is immense. One man sits perched up on the frame to direct it, and +another stands below to guide the iron on the anvil. The great long bar, +white with heat, is pulled out of the furnace, laid on the massive piece +of iron under the frame, and, with a dull, heavy sound, down conies the +hammer, swiftly or slowly, according to the wishes of the director. From +the forge and the foundry the "rough-hewn" iron-work passes to be +planed, and its surface to be made "true." The wheel of an engine or a +carriage, for example, after being forged by the black-smith, requires +to be most carefully cut round the rim, so that the space between the +flange--that is, the projecting inner part of the wheel, and the outer +part--may be perfectly conical, in order that the least amount of +surface may be exposed to the rail, and consequently the least amount of +friction produced. Again, when a cylinder comes from the foundry, the +interior must be cut and polished to a perfect circle, otherwise it +would be useless. In short, there is no part of a locomotive that does +not require to be prepared with the most perfect accuracy to fit some +other part; and if this accuracy is not gained, the engine will either +not work at all, or work very imperfectly. It must be remembered that it +is hard metal, like iron and brass, that has thus to be wrought on, not +comparatively soft material, like wood and stone. + +But the machinery employed at Crewe seems capable of cutting any thing, +even though it were a rock of adamant. You pass into a shed full of +little machines, standing separate from each other, with all manner of +curious wheels and belts, driven by steam, of course, and each with a +man stationed by its side, gazing attentively at the little machine, as +if he were absorbed in thought; and, indeed, were it not for an +occasional quick movement of his hands, and a rapid change of position, +you might almost suppose that he was sleeping on his legs. But go close +up, and you notice that the machine is slowly moving backward and +forward, and still more slowly at the same time in a lateral direction. +Some curious piece of mechanism is placed on it, and the movements of +the machine cause a sharp steel-cutter to pass over the iron surface, +which cuts it as easily and truly as a joiner planes a piece of fir. The +side motion brings all the surface gradually under the instrument, but +the machine, clever and powerful though it is, requires to be constantly +watched and regulated, and hence the fixed attention of the man in +charge. At a large machine, you will see those long, curious rods called +"eccentrics" undergoing this operation; at another, a cylinder is being +planed; and at a third, the rims of wheels are being cut. The filings +thus made are preserved, and will be seen in large heaps in a yard, +ready to be melted down, and "used up" again. In some cases both iron +and brass filings are produced, which, of course, are mixed with each +other; but in a quiet corner of one of the sheds you will find a boy +with a heap of these filings before him, separating the brass from the +iron by means of a magnet. Only imagine a boy of fourteen or fifteen +doing nothing all day long except raking a magnet through a heap of +black and yellow dust, and brushing into a separate heap the iron +filings off his magnet! You will also see a series of three iron rollers +working on each other, by means of which plate iron can be twisted into +any given form; a mighty "punch" which will make a hole an inch in +diameter through iron an inch in thickness as easily as though it were +clay; and a sharp-cutting instrument that shears through sheets of iron +as easily as a pair of scissors through a sheet of paper. + +Go into another shed, and you will see all these various parts getting +their last touches from the hand, and being fitted into each other; and +here, also you find two or three men engraving, on circular segments of +brass, the names the various engines are to be known by. In another shed +the engines are being "erected." Here you see from twenty to thirty in +all stages of progress. Perhaps the framework only has been laid; or +the boiler, with its many rows of long, circular brass tubes, has just +been fastened, and is now receiving its outer clothing of long slips of +wood; or the whole is complete, merely wanting to be tried on the many +lines of rail in and around the sheds. There are two classes of engines +here, whose difference is observable at a glance: some have six wheels, +two of which are very large, about six feet in diameter, and the other +four much smaller. The two first only are driven by the machinery, the +others being merely what are called "bearing wheels." With this +description of engine more speed than power is obtained, and hence it is +used for passenger trains, where a high velocity is required, and where +there is usually little weight, comparatively speaking, to draw. The +others have only four wheels, not so large as the two just described, +but all driven by the machinery. Such engines I are more remarkable for +power than speed, and accordingly they are used for luggage trains. In +another shed, "The Hospital," will be found a number of engines laboring +under various disorders, sent here to be repaired. + +But carriages and wagons are also built here. You enter a shed (of two +stories this time), and find wood shavings instead of iron filings, and +the hissing of a circular saw instead of the quiet, steady scraping of a +"cutter." Here all the woodwork of the carriages is executed, and when +ready they are hoisted through a large trap-door in the roof to the +second story, where they are painted and varnished, and, if first-class, +"up-holstered." In a store-room above stairs, are piled heaps of +cushions ready for the most expensive carriages; at a table is a boy +stuffing with horse-hair the leathern belts that hang by the sides of +the windows; and elsewhere an artist is painting the arms of the company +on the panels of a door. Here and there are boards placed before a +carriage, with the intimation "Wet!" indicating that you must not go too +near; and some of the carriages give evidence of having seen service, +but are now renewing their youth under the skillful hands of the painter +and the upholsterer. When ready to "go on the line," they are let down +through the trap-door, fixed on their wheels and axles, and sent to +relieve others that require repair. + +Six o'clock strikes, and work ceases. In walking back leisurely to the +station, I saw many of the workmen digging in their little gardens, +"bringing themselves," as Emerson phrases it, "into primitive relations +with the soil and nature;" others were reading the papers of the day at +the Mechanics' Institution; others strolling among the green fields +round the town; and others walking to a class-room, to hear a teetotal +lecture; while some were proceeding to recreations of a very different +kind. I was admitted through the iron gate by the same policeman; the +"down" express train arrived, and it conveyed me in an hour and a half +to Liverpool, a distance of about forty-five miles, stopping only once +at the well-known town of Warrington. + + + + +[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.] + +STEAM-BRIDGE OF THE ATLANTIC + + +In the summer of 1838 the Atlantic Ocean was crossed for the first time +by vessels exclusively propelled by steam-power. These pioneers were the +_Sirius_ and the _Great Western_--the former built for another class of +voyages, and afterward lost on the station between Cork and London; the +latter built expressly for Atlantic navigation, and which has ever since +been more or less employed in traversing that ocean. Other ships +followed: the _British Queen_, afterward sold to the Belgian government; +the _Great Liverpool_, subsequently altered and placed on the line +between Southampton and Alexandria; and the _President_, lost, no man +knows how or where, in the year 1841. Then came what is called "Cunard's +Line," consisting of a number of majestic steam-ships built in the +Clyde, to carry passengers and mails between Liverpool in Europe, and +Halifax, Boston, and New York in America; a service they have performed +with the most marvelous regularity. The only great misfortune that has +befallen this line has been the loss of one of the vessels, the +_Columbia_, which, in nautical phrase, "broke her back" on some rocks on +the American shore of the Atlantic. Then came the _Great Britain_, the +greatest of them all, differing from the others in two respects--first, +in being built of iron instead of wood; and second, in being propelled +by the Archimedean screw instead of by the old paddle-wheels; and, alas! +she has differed from them all in a third respect, inasmuch as neither +the same good-luck attended her as in general fell to the lot of the +ships of the Cunard Line, nor the same irretrievable bad fortune as was +met by the _President_ and the _Columbia_; for, after having made +several voyages very successfully, she, to the amazement of all mankind, +very quietly went ashore in Dundrum Bay, on the east coast of Ireland, +from whence, after spending a most uncomfortable winter, she was brought +back to Liverpool, and now lies in the Bramley-Moore Dock there, like a +huge mass of iron suffering under premature rust. But all this time +these ocean steamers that periodically brought to New York passengers +and intelligence from Europe were British built. They had been +constructed in the Avon, the Mersey, and the Clyde, the greater number +having been launched in the same waters as first received Henry Bell's +little _Comet_. Why did America not embark in such enterprise? As +regards steam navigation, Fulton was before Bell; New York before +Glasgow; the _Fulton's Folly_ before the _Cornet_; and was + + "The greatest nation + In all creation" + +to be outdone in the field of enterprise by the old Britishers? American +pride said "No;" American instinct said "No;" and, above all, American +capitalists said "No!" Keels were laid down in New York; the +shipbuilders' yards became unusually active; and the stately timbers of +majestic ships gradually rose before the admiring gaze of the citizens +of the great republic. + +But the race of William the Doubter is not yet extinct, and many, as +usual, shook their wise heads at the enterprise. It was admitted that in +inland navigation the Americans had beaten the world; that except an +occasional blow-up, their river steamers were really models of +enterprise and skill; but it was gravely added, the Mississippi is not +the Atlantic; icebergs are not snags; and an Atlantic wave is somewhat +different from an Ohio ripple. These truisms were of course undeniable; +but to them was quickly added another fact, about which there could be +as little mistake--namely, the arrival at Southampton, after a voyage +which, considering it was the first, was quite successful, of the +American-built steam-ship _Washington_ from New York. There seemed to be +a touch of calm irony in thus making the _Washington_ the first of their +Atlantic-crossing steamers, as if the Americans had said, "You doubting +Britishers! when you wished to play tyrant over us, did we not raise one +Washington who chastised you? and now that you want to monopolize +Atlantic navigation, we have raised another Washington, just to let you +know that we will beat you again!" + +The _Washington_, however, was only the precursor of greater vessels. +These were to sail between New York and Liverpool, carrying the mails +under a contract with the American government. In size, and speed, and +splendor of fittings, these new ships were to surpass the old; even +their names were, if possible, to be more grand and expressive. The +vessels of Cunard's Line had lately appropriated the names of the four +great continents of the globe, but the oceans remained, and their names +were adopted; the new steamers being called the _Atlantic_, _Pacific_, +_Arctic_, _Baltic_, and _Adriatic_. The first of these was dispatched +from New York on the 27th of April last, and arrived in the Mersey on +the 10th of May, thus making the passage in about thirteen days. The +voyage would have been made in a shorter time but for two accidents: the +bursting of the condenser, and the discovery, after the vessel was some +distance at sea, of the weakness of the floats or boards on the +paddle-wheels. About two days were entirely lost in making repairs; and +the speed was reduced, in order to prevent the floats from being +entirely torn away from the paddle-wheels. These things considered, the +passage was very successful. The average time occupied during 1849 by +the vessels of the old line between New York and Liverpool was 12; days; +but their voyages were longer than those of the _Atlantic_, as they +called at Halifax. The shortest passage was that made by the _Canada_ +from New York to Liverpool _via_ Halifax in eleven days four hours.[25] + + +The _Atlantic_ remained for nineteen days at Liverpool; and during all +that time she had to lie in a part of the river called the Sloyne, in +consequence of none of the dock-entrances being wide enough to allow her +to pass in. Her breadth, measuring across the paddle-boxes, is 75 feet; +of the vessels of Cunard's Line, about 70 feet; and the widest +dock-entrance is barely sufficient to admit the latter. The _Great +Britain_, though longer than any other steam-ship that ever entered the +Mersey, is not so broad, as, being propelled by the screw, she has no +paddle-wheels. A dock at the north shore is now in course of +construction expressly for the accommodation of the _Atlantic_ and her +consorts. + +For several days during her stay at Liverpool the _Atlantic_ was open to +visitors on payment of sixpence each, the money thus realized (upward of +L70) being paid over to the trustees of the Institution for the Blind, +whose church and school are now being removed to give greater space +round the station of the London and Northwestern Railway. On the day of +my visit crowds of people were waiting at the pier for the steamer that +was to convey them to the _Atlantic_. Whitsuntide visitors from the +manufacturing districts were hastening on board the numerous vessels +waiting to take them on pleasure excursions to the Isle of Man, North +Wales, or round the light-ship at the mouth of the river. There was +great risk of making mistakes in the hurry; and the remark of an old +sailor, that the vessel could "easily be known by the Yankee flag flying +at the fore," served only still further to confuse the many, who could +not tell one flag from another. However, a small tug-steamer soon +appeared with a dirty piece of bunting, just recognizable as the famous +"star-spangled banner," flying at the fore; and her deck was in a few +minutes so crowded, that orders were issued to take no more on board, +and away we steamed, leaving about a hundred people to exercise their +patience until the steamer's return. A man at my elbow, who afterward +appeared in the capacity of money-taker, whispered, "There's the +_captin_" and on looking up the gangway, I saw + + "A man of middle age, + In aspect manly, grave, and sage," + +looking calmly in the direction of the colossal ship of which he was the +commander; his complexion browned by exposure to sun and wind, storm and +spray; and his whole demeanor indicating the calm strength acquired by +long familiarity with the elements in their roughest moods. As we +approached the ship, her appearance was not prepossessing. She is +undoubtedly clumsy; the three masts are low, the funnel is short and +dumpy, there is no bowsprit, and her sides are painted black, relieved +only by one long streak of dark red. Her length between the +perpendiculars--that is, the length of her keel--is 276 feet; breadth +(exclusive of paddle-boxes), 45; thus keeping up the proportion, as old +as Noah's ark, of six feet of length to one of breadth. The stern is +rounded, having in the centre the American eagle, clasping the starred +and striped shield, but no other device. The figure-head is of colossal +dimensions, intended, say some, for Neptune; others say that it is the +"old Triton blowing his wreathed horn," so lovingly described by +Wordsworth; and some wags assert that it is the proprietor of the ship +blowing his own trumpet. The huge bulk of the _Atlantic_ was more +perceptible by contrast with the steamer--none of the smallest--that was +now alongside; for though the latter was large enough to accommodate +about four hundred people on deck, yet its funnel scarcely reached as +high as the bulwarks of the _Atlantic_. The diameter of the +paddle-wheels is 36 feet; and the floats, many of which, split and +broken, were lying about in the water, are nearly 15 feet long. The +depth of the hold is 31 feet, and the estimated burden 2860 tons, being +about the same as the _Great Britain_, and about 500 tons more than the +ships of the old Cunard Line. + +Like all the other Atlantic steamers, the run of the deck is almost a +straight line. Around the funnel, and between the paddle-boxes, is a +long wooden house, and another is placed at the stern. These contain the +state-rooms of the captain and officers; and in a cluster are to be +found the kitchen, the pastry-room, and the barber's shop. The two +former are, like similar establishments, replete with every convenience, +having even a French _maitre de cuisine_; but the latter is quite +unique. It is fitted up with all necessary apparatus--with glass-cases +containing perfumery, &c.; and in the centre is "the barber's chair." +This is a comfortable, well-stuffed seat, with an inclined back. In +front is a stuffed trestle, on which to rest feet and legs; and behind +is a little stuffed apparatus like a crutch, on which to rest the head. +These are movable, so as to suit people of all sizes; and in this +comfortable horizontal position the passenger lies, and his beard is +taken off in a twinkling, let the Atlantic waves roll as they may. The +house at the stern contains a smoking-room, and a small apartment +completely sheltered from the weather for the steersman. The +smoking-room communicates with the cabin below, so that, after dinner, +those passengers so disposed may, without the least exposure to the +weather, or annoyance to their neighbors, enjoy the weed of old Virginia +in perfection. This smoking-room is the principal prospect of the man at +the helm, who, however, has to steer according to his signals. Before +him is a painted intimation that one bell means "port," and two bells +mean "starboard;" a like intimation appears on the large bell in the bow +of the ship; and according to the striking of the bell, so must he +steer. + +Proceeding below, we come to the great saloon, 67 feet long, and the +dining-saloon, 60 feet long, each being 20 feet broad, and divided from +each other by the steward's pantry. This pantry is more like a +silversmith's shop, the sides being lined with glass-cases stored with +beautifully-burnished plate; crockery of every description, well +secured, is seen in great quantities, and the neatness of arrangement +shows that the gilded inscription, full in the sight of every +visitor--"A place for every thing, and every thing in its place"--has +been reduced to practice. Above the tables in the dining-saloon are +suspended racks, cut to receive decanters, passes, &c. so that they can +be immediately placed on the table without the risk attendant on +carrying them from place to place. The two saloons are fitted up +in a very superior manner: rose, satin, and olive are the +principal woods that have been used, and some of the tables are of +beautifully-variegated marble, with metal supporters. The carpets are +very rich, and the coverings of the sofas, chairs, &c. are of the +same superior quality. The panels round the saloons contain +beautifully-finished emblems of each of the states in the Union, and a +few other devices that savor very strongly of republicanism. For +example, a young and beautiful figure, all radiant with health and +energy, wearing a cap of liberty, and waving a drawn sword, is +represented trampling on a feudal prince, from whose head a crown has +rolled in the dust. The cabin windows are of beautifully-painted glass, +embellished with the arms of New York, and other cities in the States. +Large circular glass ventilators, reaching from the deck to the lower +saloon, are also richly ornamented, while handsome mirrors multiply all +this splendor. The general effect is that of chasteness and a certain +kind of solidity. There is not much gilding, the colors used are not +gaudy, and there is a degree of elegant comfort about the saloons that +is sometimes wanting amid splendid fittings. There is a ladies' +drawing-room near the chief saloon full of every luxury. The berths are +about 150 in number, leading out, as usual, from the saloons. The most +novel feature about them is the "wedding-berths," wider and more +handsomely furnished than the others, intended for such newly-married +couples as wish to spend the first fortnight of the honeymoon on the +Atlantic. Such berths are, it seems, always to be found on board the +principal river-steamers in America, but are as yet unknown on this side +of the water. Each berth has a bell-rope communicating with a patented +machine called the "Annunciator." This is a circular plate about the +size of the face of an eight-day clock, covered with numbers +corresponding with those of the state-rooms. Each number is concealed by +a semi-circular plate, which is removed or turned round as soon as the +rope is pulled in the state-room with the corresponding number. A bell +is at the same time struck to call the attention of the stewards, who +then replace the plate in its former position, and attend to the +summons. + +The machinery which propels the ship consists of two engines, each of +500 horse-power, the engines of the old line being also two in number, +but only about 400 horse-power each Such cylinders, and shafts, and +pistons, and beams are, I believe unrivaled in the world. There are +four boilers, each heated by eight furnaces, in two rows of four each. +The consumption of coal is about fifty tons every twenty-four hours; +"and that," said one of the engineers, "is walking pretty fast into a +coal-mine, I guess!" According to the calculations of the very wise men +who predicted the failure of Atlantic steam navigation, such a vessel as +the _Atlantic_ ought to carry 3700 tons of coal; but it will be seen +that one-fourth of that quantity is more than enough, even making +allowance for extra stores to provide against accidents. In the +engine-room is a long box with five compartments, each communicating +with a wire fastened like a bell-pull to the side of the paddle-box. +These handles are marked respectively, "ahead," "slow," "fast," "back," +and "hook-on;" and whenever one is pulled, a printed card with the +corresponding signal appears in the box opposite the engineer, who has +to act accordingly. There is thus no noise of human voices on board this +ship: the helmsman steers by his bells, the engineer works by the +telegraph, and the steward waits by the annunciator. + +Two traces of national habits struck me very much. Even in the finest +saloon there are, in places where they would be least expected, handsome +"spittoons," the upper part fashioned like a shell, and painted a +sea-green or sky-blue color, thus giving ample facility for indulging in +that practice of spitting of which Americans are so fond. Again, much +amusement was caused by the attempt of one of the officers in charge of +the communication between the small steamer and the _Atlantic_ to +prevent the gentlemen from leaving the latter until the ladies had +seated themselves on the former. The appearance of the deck, crowded +with ladies only, and a host of gentlemen kept back, some impatient to +get down, but the greater part entering into the humor of the thing, was +quite new to English ideas. It is but fair to add that the ladies did +not seem to like it; and that, when the steamer again came alongside, it +was not repeated. + +Upon the whole, this Atlantic steamer is really worthy of the great +country from which she has come. If, in shape and general appearance, +she is inferior to the old vessels, she is decidedly equal, if not +superior, to them in machinery and fittings. Her powers as regards speed +have of course yet to be tried. One voyage is no test, nor even a series +of voyages during the summer months: she must cross and recross at least +for a year before any just comparison can be instituted. The regular +postal communication between Liverpool and the United States will +speedily be twice every week--the ships of the new line sailing on +Wednesday, and the old on Saturday. + +But other ports besides Liverpool are now dispatching steamers regularly +to America. Glasgow sent out a powerful screw steamer--the _City of +Glasgow_, 1087 tons--on 16th April, for New York, where she arrived on +3d May; thus making the passage in about seventeen days, in spite of +stormy weather and entanglements among ice; the average time taken by +the Liverpool steamers during 1849 being fourteen days. Her return +voyage, however, made under more favorable circumstances, was within +this average, the distance being steamed between the 18th May and the +1st June. A vessel called the _Viceroy_ is about to sail from Galway to +New York, and her voyage is looked forward to with considerable +interest. The _Washington_ and _Hermann_ sail regularly between Bremen +and Southampton and New York, and the _British Queen_ has been put on +the passage between Hamburg and New York. All these enterprises seem to +indicate that ere long the Atlantic carrying trade will be conducted in +steam-ships, and sailing vessels superseded to as great extent as has +been the case in the coasting trade. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] The _Atlantic_ has just made the passage direct in ten days and +sixteen hours. + + + + +[From Sharpe's Magazine] + +THE LITTLE HERO OF HAARLEM. + + +At an early period in the history of Holland, a boy was born in Haarlem, +a town remarkable for its variety of fortune in war, but happily still +more so for its manufactures and inventions in peace. His father was a +_sluicer_--that is, one whose employment it was to open and shut the +sluices, or large oak-gates which, placed at certain regular distances, +close the entrance of the canals, and secure Holland from the danger to +which it seems exposed, of finding itself under water, rather than above +it. When water is wanted, the sluicer raises the sluices more or less, +as required, as a cook turns the cock of a fountain, and closes them +again carefully at night; otherwise the water would flow into the +canals, then overflow them, and inundate the whole country; so that even +the little children in Holland are fully aware of the importance of a +punctual discharge of the sluicer's duties. The boy was about eight +years old when, one day, he asked permission to take some cakes to a +poor blind man, who lived at the other side of the dyke. His father gave +him leave, but charged him not to stay too late. The child promised, and +set off on his little journey. The blind man thankfully partook of his +young friend's cakes, and the boy, mindful of his father's orders, did +not wait, as usual, to hear one of the old man's stories, but as soon as +he had seen him eat one muffin, took leave of him to return home. + +As he went along by the canals, then quite full, for it was in October, +and the autumn rains had swelled the waters, the boy now stopped to pull +the little blue flowers which his mother loved so well, now, in childish +gayety, hummed some merry song. The road gradually became more solitary, +and soon neither the joyous shout of the villager, returning to his +cottage-home, nor the rough voice of the carter, grumbling at his lazy +horses, was any longer to be heard The little fellow now perceived that +the blue of the flowers in his hand was scarcely distinguishable from +the green of the surrounding herbage, and he looked up in some dismay. +The night was falling; not, however, a dark winter-night, but one of +those beautiful, clear, moonlight nights, in which every object is +perceptible, though not as distinctly as by day. The child thought of +his father, of his injunction, and was preparing to quit the ravine in +which he was almost buried, and to regain the beach, when suddenly a +slight noise, like the trickling of water upon pebbles, attracted his +attention. He was near one of the large sluices, and he now carefully +examines it, and soon discovers a hole in the wood, through which the +water was flowing. With the instant perception which every child in +Holland would have, the boy saw that the water must soon enlarge the +hole through which it was now only dropping, and that utter and general +ruin would be the consequence of the inundation of the country that must +follow. To see, to throw away the flowers, to climb from stone to stone +till he reached the hole, and to put his finger into it, was the work of +a moment, and, to his delight, he finds that he has succeeded in +stopping the flow of the water. + +This was all very well for a little while, and the child thought only of +the success of his device. But the night was closing in, and with the +night came the cold. The little boy looked around in vain. No one came. +He shouted--he called loudly--no one answered. He resolved to stay there +all night, but, alas! the cold was becoming every moment more biting, +and the poor finger fixed in the hole began to feel benumbed, and the +numbness soon extended to the hand, and thence throughout the whole arm. +The pain became still greater, still harder to bear, but still the boy +moved not. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he thought of his father, of +his mother, of his little bed, where he might now be sleeping so +soundly; but still the little fellow stirred not, for he knew that did +he remove the small slender finger which he had opposed to the escape of +the water, not only would he himself be drowned, but his father, his +brothers, his neighbors--nay, the whole village. We know not what +faltering of purpose, what momentary failures of courage there might +have been during that long and terrible night; but certain it is, that +at day-break he was found in the same painful position by a clergyman +returning from attendance on a death-bed, who, as he advanced, thought +he heard groans, and bending over the dyke, discovered a child seated on +a stone, writhing from pain, and with pale face and tearful eyes. + +"In the name of wonder, boy," he exclaimed, "what are you doing there?" + +"I am hindering the water from running out," was the answer, in perfect +simplicity, of the child, who, during that whole night had been evincing +such heroic fortitude and undaunted courage. + +The Muse of History, too often blind to (true) glory, has handed down to +posterity many a warrior, the destroyer of thousands of his +fellow-men--she has left us in ignorance of the name of this real little +hero of Haarlem. + + + + +[From Cumming's Hunting Adventures in South Africa.] + +ADVENTURE WITH A SNAKE. + + +As I was examining the spoor of the game by the fountain, I suddenly +detected an enormous old rook-snake stealing in beneath a mass of rock +beside me. He was truly an enormous snake, and, having never before +dealt with this species of game, I did not exactly know how to set about +capturing him. Being very anxious to preserve his skin entire, and not +wishing to have recourse to my rifle, I cut a stout and tough stick +about eight feet long, and having lightened myself of my shooting-belt, +I commenced the attack. Seizing him by the tail, I tried to get him out +of his place of refuge; but I hauled in vain; he only drew his large +folds firmer together: I could not move him. At length I got a rheim +round one of his folds, about the middle of his body, and Kleinboy and I +commenced hauling away in good earnest. + +The snake, finding the ground too hot for him, relaxed his coils, and +suddenly bringing round his head to the front, he sprang out at us like +an arrow, with his immense and hideous mouth opened to its largest +dimensions, and before I could get out of his way he was clean out of +his hole, and made a second spring, throwing himself forward about eight +or ten feet, and snapping his horrid fangs within a foot of my naked +legs. I sprang out of his way, and getting hold of the green bough I had +cut, returned to the charge. The snake now glided along at top speed: he +knew the ground well, and was making for a mass of broken rocks, where +he would have been beyond my reach, but before he could gain this place +of refuge, I caught him two or three tremendous whacks on the head. He, +however, held on, and gained a pool of muddy water, which he was rapidly +crossing, when I again belabored him, and at length reduced his pace to +a stand. We then hanged him by the neck to a bough of a tree, and in +about fifteen minutes he seemed dead; but he again became very +troublesome during the operation of skinning, twisting his body in all +manner of ways. This serpent measured fourteen feet. + + + + +MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS + + +The death of President Taylor is the leading event of interest in our +domestic record for the month, as it has been the leading topic of +public attention throughout the country. He died at half-past ten +o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, July 9th, after an illness of but +five days, the last of which alone was deemed dangerous. Exposure to the +sun in attendance upon the public celebration of the Fourth, imprudent +diet on returning home, and neglect of medical remedies until too late, +aggravated rapidly and fatally the disease which he had contracted, +which few of our army officers escaped, and from which several have +already died, during his Mexican campaign. On the afternoon of Wednesday +his alarming condition was announced in the two Houses of Congress, both +of which at once adjourned: and they only met the next day to make +arrangements for his funeral, which took place on Saturday, and was +attended by a large military display, by the officers of government and +the representatives of foreign nations, and by an immense concourse of +his fellow-citizens. His death was announced on Thursday by the Vice +President, MILLARD FILLMORE, upon whom the duties of the Presidential +office at once devolved, by virtue of the provisions of the +Constitution, in a Message to both Houses of Congress, and suitable +words of eulogy were pronounced, in the Senate, by Senators DOWNS, of +Louisiana, WEBSTER, of Massachusetts, CASS, of Michigan, KING, of +Alabama, PEARCE, of Maryland, and BERRIEN, of Georgia; and in the House +by Mr. Speaker COBB, of Georgia, Messrs. CONRAD, of Louisiana, WINTHROP, +of Massachusetts, BAKER, of Illinois, BAYLY, of Virginia, HILLIARD, of +Alabama, JOHN A. KING, of New York, MCLANE, of Maryland, and MARSHALL, +of Kentucky. Mr. FILLMORE, on the same day, took the oath of the +Presidential office in presence of both Houses of Congress, and thus +quietly, quickly, and peaceably was effected a transfer of all the +Executive powers of this great nation--a transfer never effected without +difficulty, and often causing commotion, turmoil, and bloodshed in the +less free and more conservative nations of the Old World. In the +preceding pages of this Magazine will be found a condensed outline of +the life of the late President, which obviates the necessity of further +reference in this place. His decease was celebrated by public obsequies +in all the principal cities of the Union, and has awakened a universal +and intense sentiment of regretful grief. + +Immediately upon the death of President TAYLOR the members of his +Cabinet tendered their resignations to President FILLMORE, but at his +request, and for the safety of the public service, they retained their +offices for a few days, to give him the desired opportunity for care and +inquiry in selecting their successors. That selection was made as soon +as practicable, and on the 15th the President made the following +nominations, which were at once confirmed by the Senate, which had +previously and by a unanimous vote, chosen SENATOR WILLIAM R. KING, of +Alabama, to preside over its deliberations: + +_Secretary of State_ DANIEL WEBSTER, Mass. +_Secretary of the Treasury_ THOMAS CORWIN, Ohio. +_Secretary of the Interior_ JAMES A. PEARCE, Md. +_Secretary of War_ EDWARD BATES, Missouri. +_Secretary of the Navy_ WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, N. C. +_Attorney General_ JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, Ky. +_Postmaster General_ NATHAN K. HALL, N. York. + +It is understood that Mr. PEARCE declines the secretaryship of the +Interior, but no official nomination has yet been made to fill his +place. + +No business of public importance has been transacted in Congress. In the +SENATE the Compromise Bill, reported by Mr. CLAY from the Committee of +Thirteen, continues under debate. Mr. WEBSTER, on the 17th ult., made a +very eloquent speech in its support, declaring himself earnestly in +favor of admitting California, of providing a Territorial government for +New Mexico, without the anti-slavery proviso, which he deems +superfluous, and of settling the question of boundary between Texas and +New Mexico. He said he should have preferred to act upon these measures +separately, but he was willing to vote for them as conjoined in the +bill. Speeches were also made by several Senators against the bill, and +some amendments, offered to obviate objections entertained to it in +various quarters, were rejected. No decisive action has been had upon it +up to the time of putting these pages to press. + +The chief action in the HOUSE, of general interest, relates to what is +known as the _Galphin Claim,_ the history of which is briefly as +follows: Prior to the year 1773 George Galphin, the original claimant, +was a licensed trader among the Creek and Cherokee Indians in the then +province of Georgia. The Indians became indebted to him in amounts so +large that they were unable to pay them; and in 1773, in order to give +him security for his claims, they ceded to the King of Great Britain, as +trustee, a tract of land containing two and a half millions of acres. +The trust was accepted, commissioners were appointed, some of the lands +were sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the expenses of +the commission, but none was then paid to the claimants for whose +benefit the trust had been created. The sum found due to George Galphin +was L9791, for which amount a certificate was issued to him by the +Governor and Council in May, 1775. Meantime the war of the Revolution +broke out, and its successful result destroyed the trust, and the lands +were no longer subject to the control of the king. After the war was +over the state of Georgia granted these lands to those of her soldiers +who had been engaged in the war, and who became actual settlers upon +them. The descendants of Mr. Galphin applied to the state of Georgia for +the payment of their claims, as Georgia had merely succeeded to the +trusteeship of the King of England. The claim was prosecuted and pressed +for many years without success, it being contended that, as the lands +had been used to pay for services in the Revolution, the government of +the United States was properly liable for the private injury that might +have been sustained. In 1848 the Legislature of the state of Georgia +passed resolutions directing their Senators and Representatives in +Congress to urge the payment of these claims upon the General +Government; and Hon. GEORGE W. CRAWFORD was engaged by the claimants as +their agent, and was made interested to the amount of one-third of the +claim. Congress, at the session of 1848, passed a bill directing the +Secretary of the Treasury to examine and adjust the claims, and to pay +out of the public funds whatever might prove to be due. The Hon. R. J. +WALKER, then Secretary of the Treasury, examined the question, adjudged +the claim valid, paid the principal sum which he found to be due, +amounting to $43,518, and left the question of paying interest upon it +to the next Cabinet. In that Cabinet Mr. CRAWFORD held a seat, having +first transferred his agency for the claimants to Judge BRYAN, but +retaining his interest in the claim. The matter was pressed upon the +attention of the Secretary of the Treasury, who consulted the Attorney +General as to the legality of paying interest on a claim of this kind. +Mr. JOHNSON gave a written opinion in favor of its payment. Mr. MEREDITH +paid the interest, amounting to $191,352, Mr. CRAWFORD receiving his +share. The subject has been before Congress for several weeks, and has +excited a very earnest and somewhat acrimonious debate. The House, on +the 8th, adopted a resolution affirming that "the claim of the +representatives of George Galphin was not a just demand against the +United States," by a vote of 142 yeas and 49 nays. The same day they +adopted another resolution, declaring that "the act of Congress made it +the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the principal of said +claim, and it was therefore paid in conformity with law and precedent," +by a vote of 112 yeas and 66 nays. A third resolution, declaring that +"the act aforesaid did not authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to +pay interest on said claim, and its payment was not in conformity with +law or precedent," was also passed, 118 yeas and 71 nays. Soon after the +adoption of these resolutions, Mr. CRAWFORD addressed a letter to the +House asking that a suit might be commenced against him for the +recovery of the interest which he had received, and payment of which the +House had condemned, in order to bring the question to the test of the +judicial tribunals. No further action has yet been had upon the +subject.--The House has also taken action on the application of Mr. HUGH +N. SMITH, a delegate from New Mexico, chosen by a convention of her +people, to be admitted upon the floor of Congress, not of course to take +any other part in the business of that body than to be heard upon +questions affecting the rights and interests of his constituents. In the +early part of the session the application was referred to the proper +committee, the majority of which reported against his admission. On the +19th the whole subject was laid on the table--equivalent to Mr. SMITH'S +rejection--by a vote of 105 yeas, 94 nays, and 29 absent. This disposes +of the question for the present session, although substantially the same +issue will indubitably come up in some new form.--The next day a similar +resolution was adopted rejecting the application of Mr. BABBITT to be +admitted as a delegate from the Territory of Utah, or Deseret. + +The authorities of CUBA have decided to release the American prisoners +taken from the island of Contoy, beyond Spanish jurisdiction. This will +probably terminate all difficulties between the two governments growing +out of this affair.--Considerable currency has been given to a story +stated by correspondents of the London press, that the Spanish Gen. +NARVAEZ had grossly insulted the U.S. Minister at Madrid, refusing in +public to hold any intercourse with the representative of a nation which +tolerated and countenanced pirates and assassins. The story is entirely +discredited by direct advices.--The State Convention of Ohio called to +revise the Constitution has adjourned until the first Monday in +September.--A very destructive fire occurred at Philadelphia on the +night of the 9th ult. Although not in the chief business part of the +city, property to the amount of more than a million of dollars was +destroyed, and over _thirty_ lives were lost by the explosion of various +materials in the buildings burned The occurrence has elicited from Prof. +ROGERS, of the University of Pennsylvania, a letter stating that, in his +opinion, saltpetre by itself is not explosive, but that the great +quantity of oxygen which it contains greatly increases the combustion of +ignited matter with which it may be brought in contact, and that this +may evolve gases so rapidly as to cause an explosion.--The cholera is +prevailing with a good deal of fatality in some of the western cities. +In Cincinnati the number of deaths has averaged 20 to 35, and has been +as high as 65: in St. Louis it has been still higher, and in Nashville, +Tenn., it has been quite as large in proportion to the population. At +the latest advices it seemed to be diminishing. It has not made its +appearance in any of the eastern cities.--The case of Prof. WEBSTER, +convicted at Boston of the murder of Dr. PARKMAN, has been definitively +decided. Soon after the trial he sent in a petition for a full pardon, +on the ground of his entire innocence and ignorance of the whole matter, +solemnly asserting, and calling God to witness, that he knew nothing +whatever of the manner in which Dr. Parkman's remains came to be found +in his room. A few days afterward he sent in another petition, praying +for a commutation of his sentence. It was presented by the Rev. Dr. +PUTNAM, who had acted as his spiritual adviser, and who laid before the +Council a detailed confession, which he had received from Prof. Webster, +in which he confessed that he killed Dr. Parkman with a single blow from +a stick, but claimed that it was done without premeditation, in a moment +of great excitement caused by abusive language. He gave at length a +statement of the whole transaction. After considering the subject fully +and carefully, acting under the advice of the Council, Governor Briggs +decided against the application, and appointed Friday, the 30th day of +August, for the execution of the sentence of the Court. Upon that day, +therefore, Prof. Webster will undoubtedly be hung.--A good deal of +public interest has been enlisted in the performances of the new +American line of Transatlantic steamers, running between New York and +Liverpool. There are to be five steamers in the line, but only two of +them have as yet been finished. These two are the _Atlantic_ and the +_Pacific_, the former of which has made two trips, and the latter one, +each way. On the morning of Sunday, July 21st, the _Atlantic_ arrived at +New York at 3 o'clock, having left Liverpool on the 10th, at 11 o'clock +A.M.--making the passage in ten days and sixteen hours, the shortest by +several hours ever made between the two ports. Her passage out was also +very short. These trips have confirmed the opinion which has very +generally been entertained, that the Americans would speedily have a +line of steamers on the ocean superior in speed, comfort, and elegance +to those of the Cunard Company which have hitherto enjoyed so high a +reputation.--Mr. E. GEORGE SQUIER, U. S. Charge near the government of +Nicaragua, has returned to this country on a brief visit. We learn that +he has made a very full record of his observations upon the country in +which he has been residing, and that very volumnious papers from him on +the subject are in possession of the State Department. It is to be hoped +that they may be given to the public.--The initial steps have been taken +in Virginia toward an enterprise of decided importance to the southern +states if it should be carried out: it is nothing less than the +establishment of direct intercourse by a line of steamers between some +southern port and Liverpool, for the export of cotton and other articles +of southern growth, and for the transmission of southern correspondence, +&c. The meeting of delegates was held at Old Point on the 4th of July, +and committees were appointed to make proper representations on the +subject to Congress and the state Legislature, and to take such other +steps as they might deem essential.--A convention was held at Syracuse +of persons favorable to maintaining the existing Free School System of +the State of New York. The necessity for such action grows out of the +fact that the principle is to be submitted to the popular suffrage in +November. The Legislature of 1848 passed a law making education in the +common schools of the state absolutely free to all the children who +might choose to attend, making the law dependent for its validity on its +adoption by the people. Accordingly it was submitted to them in +November, 1848, and was sanctioned by a majority of over 90,000. It +accordingly went into effect. At the last session of the Legislature, +however, petitions were sent in, in great numbers, some of them praying +for the entire repeal of the law, and others for its essential +modification. The opponents of the law resisted the principle that +property should be taxed for purposes of education, inasmuch as men of +property would thus be compelled to pay for educating children not their +own. Others objected mainly to details of the law, and to the injurious +effect of the established mode of collecting the rate bills. The two +branches of the Legislature not being able to agree upon amendments of +the law, and not wishing to discard the principle on which it is +founded, agreed to submit it again to the popular suffrage. The +Convention in question assembled accordingly, to aid the law. Hon. +Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State, presided, and an address and +resolutions affirming the principles on which the law is based, and +calling on the people to give it their renewed support, were +adopted.--Col. FREMONT has received from the Royal Geographical Society +of London a medal, in token of their sense of his eminent services in +promoting the cause of geographical knowledge. It was presented through +the U.S. Minister.--MR. JOHN R. BARTLETT, who was appointed by the +President Commissioner to run the boundary line between Mexico and the +United States, in accordance with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, has +set out upon his mission. The point of departure is to be upon the Rio +Grande, and the Commissioners of the two countries are to meet at El +Paso. This will be the most extensive line of surveys ever made in the +United States, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and mostly +through a country wholly unknown. + + * * * * * + +From MEXICO we have advices to the 1st of July. The Presidential +election, which was to occur soon, was becoming a topic of general +discussion. There are several candidates, among whom Gen. Almonte, Gomez +Farias, and Domingo Ibarra are the best known in this country. Congress +was to have assembled, but not a quorum of the members could be +collected. The cholera was raging with excessive and terrible fatality. +From the 17th of May to the 16th of June there had been in the city of +Mexico 7,846 cases, and on the last day named there were 230 deaths. +Among the victims was Don Mariano Otero, a distinguished statesman and +lawyer. In San Luis and other sections it was prevailing with great +severity. The financial affairs of the State of Durango were in such a +condition that an extra session of the Legislature had been called in +order to save them from total ruin.--Advices have been received of the +conclusion of a treaty with the Mexican Government by the U.S. Minister, +Mr. LETCHER, by which is ceded the right of transit by railroad across +the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This step has been taken in accordance with, +and probably in consequence of, the position taken upon the subject by +President TAYLOR in his first message to Congress. The late President +POLK, when he sent out Mr. TRIST to negotiate a treaty of peace with +Mexico, authorized him to offer five millions of dollars for the right +which has now been secured without the expense of a dollar: and Mexico, +moreover, has now stipulated to protect the parties constructing the +work, as well as the work itself after it shall have been completed. The +benefits resulting from this treaty, if the work shall be completed, +will be of the most important character. As an auxiliary measure to the +Nicaraguan Canal, it will tend very powerfully to unite the Atlantic and +the Pacific states. + + * * * * * + +From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 17th of June. San Francisco +has been visited by two successive fires which had destroyed property to +the amount of several millions of dollars. A large proportion of the +goods burned were consigned by New York merchants to their agents in +California, so that the loss will fall very heavily upon them. As +insurance could not readily be effected the loss will be large. Nearly +three millions of dollars in gold dust have reached the United States +during the month. The foreigners resident in California had resisted the +payment of the tax of twenty-five dollars per month levied by the state +laws, and some difficulty was anticipated in enforcing payment, but at +the latest accounts this had been obviated, and every thing was quiet. +The intelligence from the mines encourages the belief that the quantity +of gold dug this season will be greater than ever before. From the +valleys of both the Sacramento and the San Joaquin very large amounts +were constantly obtained, and new mines have been found as far north as +Oregon, and as far south as Los Angelos. From the Mariposa mines many +very beautiful specimens of the gold-bearing quartz have been procured. +Difficulties had arisen with the Indians in different sections of the +country, and several severe battles between them and detachments of U. +S. troops had been fought. They grew mainly out of the hostile +disposition of the Indians which is often excited and encouraged by the +lawless conduct of the whites. Measures were in progress which, it was +hoped, would restore quiet and security. It is stated that the property +in San Francisco as assessed for taxation amounts to three hundred +millions of dollars. + + * * * * * + +From NEW MEXICO we have intelligence of some interest. It seems that the +people, becoming impatient of the delay of Congress in acting upon the +question of framing a government for them, and probably taking the hint +from the declared sentiments of President TAYLOR, resolved to form a +government for themselves. Public meetings were accordingly held, and +resolutions adopted, requesting Governor MUNROE to call a convention of +delegates from the several counties to form a State Constitution. Col. +MUNROE accordingly issued a proclamation to that effect, and a +Convention met at Santa Fe on the 15th of May. The session lasted eight +or ten days, and a Constitution was adopted, which was to go into +operation in July. The boundaries of the state were defined, and slavery +was prohibited. An election was soon to take place for members of the +Legislature. Two Senators and one Representative in Congress were to be +elected, and application was to be made for the immediate admission of +the State into the Union. + + * * * * * + +Of LITERARY INTELLIGENCE there is little of general interest. The +distinguished English novelist, Mr. G. P. R. JAMES, arrived with his +family at New York on the 4th of July, and will spend several months in +visiting different sections of the United States. There are very few +Englishmen who would be more cordially welcomed to this country than Mr. +JAMES. His long and most honorable and productive career as an author +has made him universally known, and his works have been very widely read +in the United States as well as in England. The officious and +impertinent gossip of a portion of our newspaper press led Mr. JAMES to +publish a note disclaiming the intention of writing a book upon this +country. We regret that he should have found it necessary either to +announce such a purpose, or to form it. This country has nothing to lose +from the published observations of a man at once so competent and so +candid. Mr. JAMES had for fellow-passengers Count DEMBINSKI, who was a +major in the Hungarian service and nephew of General DEMBINSKI, whose +name is so well known to the whole world in connection with that gallant +but ill-fated struggle. Count D. was also aid to KOSSUTH, and fled with +him, accompanied with his wife, whom he had married at Temeswar during +the war, to Turkey, whence he came to this country. He is a young man of +great talent and accomplishments, and will probably make the United +States his home.--The anniversary of the Declaration of American +Independence was celebrated on the 4th throughout the country with the +usual demonstrations. Orations were delivered in nearly all the +principal cities of the Union, some of which have since been published. +The ablest one that has fallen under our notice was delivered by Mr. E. +P. WHIPPLE before the authorities of Boston. He spoke upon Washington +and the Principles of the Revolution, holding up the former as a model +of greatness, combating the popular notion that he was not a man of +genius, and dwelling upon the fact that our revolution was fought, not +on abstract principles, or in the assertion of abstract rights, but for +the redress of practical evils and the attainment of practical ends. It +was a timely, able, and judicious address, and was marked by the +peculiar vigor of style and of thought, injured by an occasional +straining after effect in expression and phrases, which characterize the +writings of Mr. WHIPPLE. Senator FOOTE, of Mississippi, delivered an +address before the Washington Monument Association at the National +Capital; it was a strong appeal on behalf of united and harmonious +councils, and was both timely and effective. Hon. J. W. EDMONDS, of New +York city, delivered the address at Washington's Head Quarters at +New-burgh, which the Legislature of New York, very properly and +creditably, took measures at the last session to preserve as a permanent +monument of the revolution. E. A. RAYMOND. Esq. delivered an address at +Rochester, which was a skillfully condensed summary of the growth of the +country, and especially of its political development.--A new Historical +Society of the Episcopal Church has just been formed at Trinity College, +Hartford, Conn., of which Bishop BROWNELL has been chosen +President.--The inventor of the Ramage printing press, which, until +superseded by subsequent improvements, was an important step in the +progress of printing, ADAM RAMAGE, died at Philadelphia on the 9th of +July. He was a native of Scotland, and was nearly eighty years old at +the time of his death.--MARGARET FULLER, well known in this country as a +gifted and accomplished lady, and author of several works of marked +value and interest, perished on the 19th of July, by the wreck of the +ship Elizabeth from Leghorn, in which she had taken passage with her +husband, the Marquis d'Ossoli, and her child, in returning to her native +land from Italy, where she had been spending several years. Her loss +will be deplored by a large circle of personal friends, and by the still +larger number of those who knew her only through her writings. She was +the eldest daughter of Hon. Timothy Fuller, formerly a lawyer of Boston, +but more recently a resident of Cambridge. She was remarkable for her +thorough intellectual cultivation, being familiar with both the ancient +and most of the modern languages and their literature--for the vigor and +natural strength of her mind--for her conversational powers, and for her +enthusiastic devotion to letters and art. She was at Rome during the +recent revolution, and took the deepest interest in the struggles of +that day. She had been for some time engaged upon a work on Italy, which +it is feared has perished with her. Her husband and child were lost at +the same time. Mr. Henry Sumner, of Boston, also perished.--RALPH WALDO +EMERSON is traveling in the region on the Upper Waters of the +Mississippi.--No original books of special interest have been published +during the month. In our department of Literary Notices mention is made +of those which are of most importance.--Mr. PRESCOTT, the historian, is +traveling in Europe. He is announced as having been present at a recent +meeting of the London Archaeological Society.--Mr. H. N. HUDSON, whose +lectures on SHAKSPEARE have made him widely and favorably known as a +critic, has been engaged by a Boston publishing house to edit a new +edition of the works of the great Dramatist, which will be published +during the coming year. Mr. Hudson's ability and familiarity with the +subject will enable him to make a very valuable and interesting +work.--GARIBALDI, who achieved distinction in the defense of Rome +against the French, is coming to New York, where he was to be honored +with a public reception from the authorities.--The capture of Stoney +Point was celebrated this year at that place, for the first time. HUGH +MAXWELL, Esq., of New York, delivered the address. The celebration is +hereafter to be annual.--In no department of mechanism is the progress +of the age more conspicuous than in printing presses, as is shown by the +fact that Messrs. Hoe and Co., of New York, are now constructing a press +which will work from 15,000 to 20,000 per hour. It will be thirty-three +feet long, with eight printing cylinders, and will cost about +$21,000.--A newly invented locomotive engine, intended for use in the +streets of cities, has just been put upon the Hudson River Railroad at +its termination in New York. It consumes its own smoke, and is entirely +inclosed from public view--presenting the appearance of a simple +baggage-car. The engine is of ninety horse power. + + * * * * * + +News from LIBERIA has been received announcing that the government has +at last been able to effect the purchase of the Gallinas territories, +including the whole from Cape Mount to Shebar, except a small strip of +five miles of coast which will soon fall into their hands. The chief +importance of this purchase springs from the fact that Gallinas has been +for many years the head quarters of the slave-trade--an enormous number +of slaves having been shipped from there every year. The government paid +$9500 for the territory, and further agreed to appoint commissioners to +settle the wars in the country, and open trade with the interior tribes, +as well as to settle among them and instruct them in the arts of +civilized life. This may prove to be an important step not only toward +the suppression of the horrible traffic in slaves, which the united +efforts of England, France, and the United States have hither to been +unable to effect, but also toward the civilization of Africa, a result +to which no philanthropic mind can be indifferent. + + * * * * * + +In ENGLAND by far the most important event of the month is the sudden +death of Sir ROBERT PEEL. On the 29th of June he had called at +Buckingham Palace to pay his respects to the Queen, and was riding away +upon horseback, when his horse swerved slightly and threw him to the +ground; he fell sideways, striking upon his left shoulder. He was at +once raised up by several gentlemen who rushed to his assistance, and +said that he was very much hurt indeed. He was taken to his residence +and received all the attention of the highest surgical skill, which, +however, was less effective than would have been anticipated on account +of the intense pain which he suffered. He lingered until near midnight +of the 2d July, when he expired. A partial examination of his body +showed that one of his ribs had been broken and was pressing upon his +lungs. His family declined a public funeral tendered by the government, +and his remains were interred at Tamworth. Both houses of Parliament +adjourned, and demonstrations of profound regret and respect for his +character were general. An outline of his life and political career will +be found in the preceding pages of this Magazine. His death is justly +considered an event of great political importance. It was generally +anticipated that he would soon be called upon to resume the office of +prime minister, and universal confidence was felt in his large +experience, his eminent ability, and his intimate acquaintance with the +condition and events of the United Kingdom. + +The Greek question was still under discussion at our last advices: it +has led to events of no small importance in connection with the politics +of England and the fundamental principles of the British constitution. +On the 17th of June, in the House of Lords, Lord STANLEY moved a +resolution censuring the government for having adopted coercive measures +to enforce claims against Greece, doubtful in point of justice or +exaggerated in amount. He supported his motion at great length, entering +into a detailed history of the whole matter, and accusing the government +of having, through its foreign minister, insisted on exorbitant demands, +oppressed the weak, and endangered the peace of Europe. He was sustained +by the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Brougham and others, and was answered by +the Marquis of LANSDOWNE who, with others, defended the government. The +resolution was _carried_ by 169 to 132, showing a majority against the +government of 37. On the 20th, Mr. ROEBUCK called the attention of the +Commons to the vote of the Lords, and desired to know whether the +government would adopt any special course of conduct in consequence of +it. Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied that they should not alter their course in +respect to foreign powers at all, and that they did not feel called upon +to resign because the House of Lords had passed a vote of censure. That +house did not represent the nation: whenever the House of Commons should +adopt such a resolution the ministry would quit office. On the 24th, for +the purpose of enabling the Commons to express their opinion upon the +subject, Mr. ROEBUCK moved a resolution declaring that the principles on +which the foreign policy of the government had been regulated were +calculated to maintain the honor and dignity of the country, and in +times of unexampled difficulty, to preserve peace between England and +foreign nations. The motion was warmly opposed by Sir James Graham and +others, and was advocated with equal zeal. Lord PALMERSTON defended the +foreign policy of the government in a speech of five hours, marked by +great ability and eloquence. After going over the whole ground fully and +in detail, he concluded by challenging the verdict of the house, whether +the principles which had guided the foreign policy of the government had +been proper and fitting, and whether, as a subject of ancient Rome could +hold himself free from indignity by saying, "Civis Romanus sum," a +British subject in a foreign country should not be protected by the +vigilant eye and the strong arm of his government against injustice and +wrong. The debate was then adjourned, and had not been resumed at our +latest advices. The ministry seems very firmly to have taken the +position that England can be governed without the House of Lords, and +that its foreign policy is not to be shaped according to their wishes, +but according to the popular will, as represented by the Commons. This +position indicates the strong tendency which prevails in England even, +toward popular and democratic government. Lord John Russell, on the +20th, also remarked, in reply to the intimation that the foreign policy +of the government was calculated to foment differences between England +and other nations, that he could answer for it that Lord Palmerston, so +long as he should continue in office, would act not as a minister of +Austria, Russia, France, or any other country, but as the minister of +England. The declaration was received with great applause, not only in +the house but throughout the country. It is understood that the +diplomatic misunderstanding between France and England, growing out of +the Greek question, has been settled. No other business of general +interest in this country has been before Parliament during the month. +Inquiries were made in both Houses as to the Cuban expedition, and the +ministers stated that it was fitted out against the most strenuous +efforts of the American government, which has, nevertheless, been very +strongly censured for its inability to prevent it.--The government has +issued orders restricting very considerably the posting and delivery of +letters on Sunday, which has elicited very clamorous complaints in every +part of the country. Lord BROUGHAM in speaking of the matter in +Parliament, doubted the power of the government to issue such orders, +and said that it was causing a vast increase of Sunday travel and work +throughout the kingdom, as messengers were now dispatched to obtain +indispensable intelligence formerly received by mail. Lord Ashley had +carried a motion in the House of Lords to suppress Sunday labor in the +post-office, by a vote of 93 to 68.--Sir Edward Buxton on the 31st of +June, moved a resolution against exposing the free-grown sugar of the +British colonies to unrestricted competition with the sugar of +slave-trading countries. It failed, however, by 275 to 234.--A bill +prohibiting intra-mural interments, has passed the Commons. The +remaining transactions of Parliament have no general interest. + +The Queen while riding with the Prince in an open carriage, on the 27th +of June, was struck across the face by a respectably dressed man, armed +with a small cane. Her bonnet was cut through, and a severe wound was +inflicted upon her forehead. She attended the opera, however, in the +evening, and was received with great enthusiasm. The assailant proved to +be a discharged officer, named Robert Pate, subject to attacks of +insanity. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to transportation for +seven years.--Very shortly, fifteen screw steamers will ply between +Liverpool and various ports in the Mediterranean.--Meyerbeer, the +composer, has received the degree of Doctor from the University of +Jena.--Dr. GUTZLAFF, who is preaching at Berlin and at Potsdam, on +behalf of the Chinese mission, expresses a confident hope that the +Emperor of Japan will be converted to Christianity.--Mr. CORBOULD, the +artist, has received the commands of her Majesty to paint a large +picture of the grand coronation scene in the opera of "La Prophete," as +represented at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent-garden.--Mr. GIBSON, of +Rome, now in England, has received an order for a colossal group, in +marble, of figures of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, supported on either +side by Justice and Clemency. The figure of the queen will be ten feet +in height; the side figures, eight feet. This group will occupy a place +in the new Houses of Parliament.--The Duke of CAMBRIDGE died on the 8th +of July. He was the seventh and youngest son of George III., and was +seventy-six years old at the time of his death. + +Many accidents to vessels in the Northern Atlantic have arisen during +the season from floating icebergs. The ship Oriental, of Liverpool, was +lost, with all her crew and cargo from this cause, on the 27th of April; +and on the 29th of March, the English ship Signet, with all on board, +also foundered. Eighteen or twenty other vessels are known to have been +lost in the same manner, their crews having escaped. New hopes of the +safety of Sir John Franklin have been suggested by these reports. It is +supposed that these vast fields of ice are portions of the slowly +released masses, the growth of many preceding winters, which were first +broken two winters ago by the strong southwest and southerly gales over +all the North Atlantic and North Pacific; but which, in consequence of +their bulk and extent, were again condensed before they could be fairly +swept into the Atlantic, and thus offered continued obstruction to the +release of Franklin and his ships. Nor would this appear to be +impossible, assuming detention in the ice to have been the only danger, +and that continued means of subsistence were accessible.--The Steamer +_Orion_, plying between Liverpool and Glasgow, was wrecked June 18th, +off Port Patrick, in a smooth sea, by striking upon a rock, and over two +hundred lives were lost.--The baptism of the infant prince was +celebrated June 22d, the Duke of Wellington being one of the sponsors, +and the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who +named the royal infant, "Arthur William Patrick Albert." + + * * * * * + +The English LITERARY INTELLIGENCE of the month is summed up in the +Household Narrative, from which mainly we copy. It remarks that the +class of books which has received the largest additions, is that of +biography. Mr. Edmund Phipps has published extracts from the diaries and +literary remains of the author of _Tremaine_, with biographical and +critical comment, under the title of "_Memoirs of the Political and +Literary Life of Robert Plumer Ward_;" and the book has been made more +interesting than the subject would have seemed to promise, by the fact +of Mr. Ward's intimate connection, both in private and public life, with +the leading tory statesmen of the administrations of Addington, +Perceval, and Liverpool. The political and administrative +characteristics of the Duke of Wellington have probably never had such +vivid illustration.--Mr. Leigh Hunt has published his "_Autobiography, +with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries_," of which very +copious extracts were given in the July number of this Magazine. It will +be issued in a few days from the press of the Harpers. Some of it is the +republication of a former work, but the greater part is original, or at +least so changed by interpolations, recantations, or additions, as to +produce the effect of novelty.--The Reverend Mr. Field, an enthusiast +for the separate and silent system of imprisonment, has published a new +_Life of Howard_, dedicated to Prince Albert, of which the design +appears to be to counteract the evil tendency of a recent memoir of the +philanthropist, remarkable for what the reverend enthusiast calls "the +advocacy of democratic principles, and the aspersion of a godly +prince."--Each in a goodly-sized volume, we have had a sort of general +biographical notice of _Celebrated Etonians_, and of _Speakers of the +House of Commons_, the first by an able man, quite competent to the +subject.--Miss Pardoe has edited the first volume of a series of +_Memoirs of the Queens of Spain_, of which the author is a Spanish lady, +resident in America. An ingenious northern antiquary has published +memorials of one of the old border mansions, called Dilston Hall, which +amounts in effect to an interesting _Memoir of the Earl of +Derwentwater_, who suffered in the Jacobite rebellion. And, finally, Mr. +Andrew Bisset has done good service to both history and biography by a +very careful publication of the _Memoirs and Papers of Sir Andrew +Mitchell,_ Lord Chatham's embassador at the court of Frederic the Great, +and one of the very ablest of English diplomatists. + +To the department of philosophy a somewhat remarkable contribution is to +be noticed, under the title of _The Progress of the Intellect as +exemplified in the religious development of the Greeks and Hebrews_. The +writer is Mr. Robert William Mackay. Its design is to explain by a +rationalistic process all the religious faiths and beliefs which have +exerted the greatest influence over man, and to refer them exclusively +to moral and intellectual development. In this design the writer may, or +may not, have succeeded; but it is certain, making all draw-backs on the +score of what has probably been borrowed from German investigation, that +the book has high pretensions to eloquence and research, and reminds us +of a time when publication was less frequent than now, and a single book +might embody the labor of a life. For its antidote in respect of opinion +and purpose there has been published, not inopportunely, after a +peaceful slumber of nearly two centuries in the library at Wotton, _A +Rational Account of the True Religion_, by John Evelyn. Here the design +is, by all possible arguments and authorities, to confirm our faith in +Christianity. + +We must speak very summarily and briefly of the publications in general +literature. Of books of travel and adventure, the most attractive and +interesting in point of subject is, _Five Years of a Hunter's Life in +the Far Interior of South Africa_, by Mr. Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, a +kinsman of the Chief of Argyll, in whom a love of deer-stalking seems to +have gradually expanded into dimensions too gigantic to be satisfied +with any thing less than the stalking of the lion, the elephant, the +hippopotamus, the giraffe, or the rhinoceros. The book is filled with +astonishing incidents and anecdotes, and keeps the reader very nearly as +breathless with excitement as the elephant and lion-hunter himself must +have been. Copious extracts from the work will be found in the preceding +pages of this number.--Mr. Aubrey de Vere has published some very +graceful _Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey_; and the brave and +high-minded old General Pepe has given the world, _A Narrative of Scenes +and Events in Italy from 1847 to 1849_. Mr. Johnson, the distinguished +geographer of Edinburgh, has issued the most complete _General Gazetteer +of the World_ that has yet been comprised in a single volume; and as +part of the republication of the treatises of the Encyclopaedia +Metropolitana, in separate and portable volumes, we have to mention an +interesting volume on Greek Literature by Mr. Justice Talfourd, the +Bishop of London, and other accomplished scholars.--In poetical +translation, a new version of _AEschylus_ by Professor Blackie, of +Aberdeen, has been issued; and in poetry, with the title of _In +Memoriam_, a noble and affecting series of elegies to the memory of a +friend (son of the historian Hallam), from the pen of Mr. Alfred +Tennyson. + +Considerable interest was excited by the unswathing of an Egyptian mummy +at the residence of Lord Londesborough, at which Mr. Birch of the +British Museum, describing the embalming process, and following in this +the narrative of Herodotus, said the subject had evidently suffered from +the use of bitumen and the application of heat, as the bones were +charred and the muscles calcined. DR. CORMACK has published a letter in +the _Athenaeum_ expressing and sustaining the opinion that all mummies +were prepared in this way.--A recent number of Galignani contains an +interesting item of intelligence. It may be remembered that GOETHE in +1827 delivered over to the keeping of the Government of Weimar a +quantity of his papers, contained in a sealed casket, with an injunction +not to open it until 1850. The 17th of May being fixed for breaking the +seals, the authorities gave formal notice to the family of Goethe that +they would on that day deliver up the papers as directed by the deceased +poet. The descendants of the poet Schiller also received an intimation +that, as the papers were understood to concern their ancestor likewise, +they had a right to be present. The casket was opened with all due form, +and was found to contain the whole of the correspondence between Goethe +and Schiller. It is added, that these letters are immediately to be +published, according to directions found in the casket. A new society +has recently been formed in London for the investigation of the laws and +nature of epidemic diseases, of which Dr. Babington has been chosen +President. Another has been instituted for the collection of facts, +observations, &c, in Meteorology, of which Mr. Whitbread is to be the +first President. ROGERS the poet was severely injured by being knocked +down by a cab in the streets of London. Being 87 years old his case was +considered precarious, though at the last accounts he seems to have +partially recovered.--Several meetings have been held at the house of +Mr. Justice COLERIDGE for the purpose of initiating a subscription to do +honor, in some form, to the memory of Wordsworth, and have resulted in +the formation of a powerful committee, with the Bishop of London at its +head. The objects which this committee have in view are--to place a +whole length effigy of the deceased poet in Westminster Abbey--and, if +possible, to erect some monument to his memory in the neighborhood of +Grasmere. The list of subscriptions is headed by the Queen and her Royal +Consort, with a sum of L50.--Some singular decisions have recently been +made by the Vice Chancellor. It seems that a Mr. Hartley deceased in +1843, left directions in his will that L300 should be set apart as a +prize for the best Essay on "Natural Theology," treating it as a +substantive science, and as adequate to constitute a true, perfect, and +philosophical system of universal religion. It was ruled by the Vice +Chancellor that this bequest was void, on account of the evident +tendency which the essay so described would have to demoralize society +and subvert the church. Another decision, arising out of the same +trial, is yet more curious. Mr. Hartley had left L200 for the best essay +on Emigration, and appointed the American Minister trustee of the fund. +This bequest was also declared void, on the ground that such an essay +would encourage persons to emigrate to the United States, and so throw +off their allegiance to the Queen! The race of Justice Shallows seems +not to be extinct. + + * * * * * + +In FRANCE, after the passage of the electoral law, a bill was presented +for increasing the President's salary to 3,600,000 francs per annum. Its +introduction created considerable feeling. The committee to which it was +referred reported in its stead a bill granting 1,600,000 francs to +defray expenses incurred at the President's inauguration: and this was +afterward modified so as to grant 2,160,000 for the expenses of the +President, in which form it was adopted by the Assembly, by a vote of +354 to 308, a majority of 46 for the government. This is regarded as a +government triumph, but it was not won until after a sharp struggle, and +it has increased very considerably the public disaffection.--New laws +for the restriction of the press have also been brought forward. The +amount of caution money which newspapers are required to deposit is +increased, and the system of postage stamps is introduced. During the +discussion of these laws on the 8th of July, a scene of some warmth +occurred in the Assembly. M. Rouher, in the course of a speech, spoke of +the revolution of February as a great catastrophe, for which he was +immediately called to order by Girardin, recently elected a member by +the department of the Lower Rhine, as well as by others. The President +refused to call him to order, but rebuked those who had interrupted him. +The laws in regard to the press have been declared "urgent" by a vote of +370 to 251.--A man named Walker has been arrested on his own confession +of a design to assassinate Louis Napoleon, for which purpose he had +waited several hours for him to pass out of his gate. He proves to have +been insane.--M. Thiers has been on a visit to London, where he was +received with distinction. He visited Louis Philippe, whose health is +said to be failing. + + * * * * * + +In GERMANY the settlement of the Constitution makes little progress. The +Saxon chambers were suddenly dissolved on the 1st, to evade a +discussion in the Second Chamber on an address to the sovereign, +expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the government on the +German question; and the Second Chamber broke up in solemn silence, +withholding the usual cheers for the king. The Wurtemburg Diet, for a +similar reason, was prorogued on the 4th. The German senate has given +its consent for the meeting of the Peace Congress at Frankfort, and its +sessions will commence on the 23d of August. It is to be a New World's +Convention of the Friends of Peace. + + * * * * * + +The King of PRUSSIA has recovered from the wound inflicted by the +assassin Sefeloge. A royal decree has been published at Berlin, +curtailing still further the Freedom of the Press. The system of +"caution-money" is re-established, with the government powers of +canceling the license to sell newspapers, and of refusing conveyance by +post to obnoxious journals; and certain offenses against the press laws +are "withdrawn from the competency of a jury." Among the journals +affected by the decree is the London _Punch_, which has been proscribed +in the city of Konigsberg and its province, and placed on the list of +journals that are no longer permitted to pass through the post-office. + + * * * * * + +From PORTUGAL we have intelligence of difficulties with this country, +growing out of claims on that government which have been in existence +for many years. The amount claimed is about $300,000. The principal one +grows out of the destruction of the American ship, the General +Armstrong, during the war of 1812, by a British fleet, while lying in +the neutral port of Fayal, and therefore entitled to the protection of +the Portuguese government. According to the law of nations, Portugal is +responsible for her failure to protect her; and although Great Britain +is the party in equity responsible, the United States have to look, in +conformity to law, only to Portugal. The claims have been unsuccessfully +pressed for a number of years; but the administration of General Taylor +demanded an immediate settlement. Our Charge, Mr. Clay, under +instructions, had required an answer to his demands within twenty days, +and an American squadron had meantime arrived in the Tagus to enforce +them. Some uneasiness was felt as to the issue, but it was believed that +the Portuguese government would yield. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + + LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. Edited by William Beattie. + In two volumes, 8vo, pp. 1077. New York: Harper and Brothers. + +This charming piece of biography is already familiar to the reading +public in this country, from the copious and flattering notices it has +received from the British journals and reviews. It will be welcomed in +its present complete form by every lover of literary history, no less +than by the admirers of the favorite poet of "The Pleasures of Hope." +The author had _abundance of materials at his command_, and has executed +his task with commendable industry and good taste. In any hands, the +subject could not be without intense interest, and as it has been +treated in the volumes before us, possesses a fascination rarely found +in any recent production. Free use is made of the letters of CAMPBELL, +many of which are of the highest order of epistolary composition, +abounding in those delicate and expressive touches which reveal the +heart of the man and the genius of the poet in the purest and most +beautiful light. + +The American edition is introduced by a letter of WASHINGTON IRVING to +the publishers, in which our admirable countryman relates some personal +reminiscences of CAMPBELL with so much felicity and exquisite grace, +that we can not avoid transferring them to our pages: + + "My acquaintance with Campbell commenced in, I think, 1810, + through his brother Archibald, a most amiable, modest, and + intelligent man, but more of a mathematician than a poet. He + resided at that time in New York, and had received from his + brother a manuscript copy of "O'Connor's Child; or, the Flower + of Love lies bleeding," for which he was desirous of finding a + purchaser among the American publishers. I negotiated the + matter for him with a publishing house in Philadelphia, which + offered a certain sum for the poem, provided I would write a + biographical sketch of the author to be prefixed to a volume + containing all his poetical works. To secure a good price for + the poet, I wrote the sketch, being furnished with facts by his + brother; it was done, however, in great haste, when I was 'not + in the vein,' and, of course, was very slight and imperfect. It + served, however, to put me at once on a friendly footing with + Campbell, so that, when I met him for the first time a few + years subsequently in England, he received me as an old friend. + He was living at that time in his rural retreat at Sydenham. + His modest mansion was fitted up in a simple style, but with a + tact and taste characteristic of the occupants. + + "Campbell's appearance was more in unison with his writings + than is generally the case with authors. He was about + thirty-seven years of age; of the middle size; lightly and + genteelly made: evidently of a delicate, sensitive + organization, with a fine intellectual countenance and a + beaming poetic eye. + + "He had now been about twelve years married. Mrs. Campbell + still retained much of that personal beauty for which he + praises her in his letters written in the early days of + matrimony; and her mental qualities seemed equally to justify + his eulogies: a rare circumstance, as none are more prone to + dupe themselves in affairs of the heart than men of lively + imaginations. She was, in fact, a more suitable wife for a poet + than poet's wives are apt to be; and for once a son of song had + married a reality and not a poetical fiction. + + "I had considered the early productions of Campbell as + brilliant indications of a genius yet to be developed, and + trusted that, during the long interval which had elapsed, he + had been preparing something to fulfill the public expectation; + I was greatly disappointed, therefore, to find that, as yet, he + had contemplated no great and sustained effort. My + disappointment in this respect was shared by others, who took + the same interest in his fame, and entertained the same idea of + his capacity. 'There he is, cooped up in Sydenham,' said a + great Edinburgh critic to me, 'simmering his brains to serve up + a little dish of poetry, instead of pouring out a whole + caldron.' + + "Scott, too, who took a cordial delight in Campbell's poetry, + expressed himself to the same effect. 'What a pity is it,' said + he to me, 'that Campbell does not give full sweep to his + genius. He has wings that would bear him up to the skies, and + he does now and then spread them grandly, but folds them up + again and resumes his perch, as if afraid to launch away. The + fact is, he is a bugbear to himself. The brightness of his + early success is a detriment to all his future efforts. _He is + afraid of the shadow that his own fame casts before him_. + + "Little was Scott aware at the time that he, in truth, was a + 'bugbear' to Campbell. This I infer from an observation of Mrs. + Campbell's in reply to an expression of regret on my part that + her husband did not attempt something on a grand scale. 'It is + unfortunate for Campbell,' said she, 'that he lives in the same + age with Scott and Byron.' I asked why. 'Oh,' said she, 'they + write so much and so rapidly. Now Campbell writes slowly, and + it takes him some time to get under way; and just as he has + fairly begun, out comes one of their poems, that sets the world + agog and quite daunts him, so that he throws by his pen in + despair.' + + "I pointed out the essential difference in their kinds of + poetry, and the qualities which insured perpetuity to that of + her husband. 'You can't persuade Campbell of that,' said she. + 'He is apt to undervalue his own works, and to consider his own + little lights put out whenever they come blazing out with their + great torches.' + + "I repeated the conversation to Scott some time afterward, and + it drew forth a characteristic comment. + + "'Pooh!' said he, good humoredly, 'how can Campbell mistake the + matter so much. Poetry goes by quality, not by bulk. My poems + are mere cairngorms, wrought up, perhaps, with a cunning hand, + and may pass well in the market as long as cairngorms are the + fashion; but they are mere Scotch pebbles after all; now Tom + Campbell's are real diamonds, and diamonds of the first water.' + + "I have not time at present to furnish personal anecdotes of my + intercourse with Campbell, neither does it afford any of a + striking nature. Though extending over a number of years, it + was never very intimate. His residence in the country, and my + long intervals of absence on the Continent, rendered our + meetings few and far between. To tell the truth, I was not much + drawn to Campbell, having taken up a wrong notion concerning + him from seeing him at times when his mind was ill at ease, and + preyed upon by secret griefs. I had thought him disposed to be + querulous and captious, and had heard his apparent discontent + attributed to jealous repining at the success of his poetical + contemporaries. In a word, I knew little of him but what might + be learned in the casual intercourse of general society, + whereas it required the close communion of confidential + friendship to sound the _depths of his character and know the + treasures of excellence_ hidden beneath its surface. Besides, + he was dogged for years by certain malignant scribblers, who + took a pleasure in misrepresenting all his actions, and holding + him up in an absurd and disparaging point of view. In what this + hostility originated I do not know, but it must have given much + annoyance to his sensitive mind, and may have affected his + popularity. I know not to what else to attribute a circumstance + to which I was a witness during my last visit to England. It + was at an annual dinner of the Literary Fund, at which Prince + Albert presided, and where was collected much of the prominent + talent of the kingdom. In the course of the evening Campbell + rose to make a speech. I had not seen him for years, and his + appearance showed the effect of age and ill health; it was + evident also, that his mind was obfuscated by the wine he had + been drinking. He was confused and tedious in his remarks; + still, there was nothing but what one would have thought would + be received with indulgence, if not deference, from a veteran + of his fame and standing, a living classic. On the contrary, to + my surprise, I soon observed signs of impatience in the + company; the poet was repeatedly interrupted by coughs and + discordant sounds, and as often endeavored to proceed; the + noise at length became intolerable, and he was absolutely + clamored down, sinking into his chair overwhelmed and + disconcerted. I could not have thought such treatment possible + to such a person at such a meeting. + + "Hallam, author of the Literary History of the Middle Ages, who + sat by me on this occasion, marked the mortification of the + poet, and it excited his generous sympathy. Being shortly + afterward on the floor to reply to a toast, he took occasion to + advert to the recent remarks of Campbell, and in so doing + called up in review all his eminent achievements in the world + of letters, and drew such a picture of his claims upon popular + gratitude and popular admiration as to convict the assembly of + the glaring impropriety they had been guilty of--to soothe the + wounded sensibility of the poet, and send him home to, I trust, + a quiet pillow. + + "I mention these things to illustrate the merit of the piece of + biography which you are about to lay before the American world. + It is a great act of justice to the memory of a distinguished + man, whose character has not been sufficiently known. It gives + an insight into his domestic as well as his literary life, and + lays open the springs of all his actions and the causes of all + his contrariety of conduct. We now see the real difficulties he + had to contend with in the earlier part of his literary career; + the worldly cares which pulled his spirit to the earth whenever + it would wing its way to the skies; the domestic afflictions, + tugging at his heart-strings even in his hours of genial + intercourse, and converting his very smiles into spasms; the + anxious days and sleepless nights preying upon his delicate + organization, producing that morbid sensitiveness and nervous + irritability which at times overlaid the real sweetness and + amenity of his nature, and obscured the unbounded generosity of + his heart. + + "The biography does more: it reveals the affectionate + considerateness of his conduct in all the domestic relations of + life. The generosity with which he shared his narrow means with + all the members of his family, and tasked his precarious + resources to add to their relief; his deep-felt tenderness as a + husband and a father, the source of exquisite home-happiness + for a time, but ultimately of unmitigated wretchedness; his + constant and devoted friendships, which in early life were + almost romantic passions, and which remained unwithered by age: + his sympathies with the distressed of every nation, class, and + condition; his love of children, that infallible sign of a + gentle and amiable nature; his sensibility to beauty of every + kind; his cordial feeling toward his literary contemporaries, + so opposite to the narrow and despicable jealousy imputed to + him; above all, the crowning romance of his life, his + enthusiasm in the cause of suffering Poland, a devotion carried + to the height of his poetic temperament, and, in fact, + exhausting all that poetic vein which, properly applied, might + have produced epics; these and many more traits set forth in + his biography bring forth his character in its true light, + dispel those clouds which malice and detraction may at times + have cast over it, and leave it in the full effulgence of its + poetic glory." + + THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF ANDREW COMBE, M.D. By George + Combe. Philadelphia: A. Hart. 12mo, pp. 424. + +The remarkable popularity of the works of ANDREW COMBE on Physiology and +Hygiene, in this country, will make the present biography an object of +interest with a very large number of readers. It is written with +singular impartiality, indeed with too little of the spirit of +affectionate admiration, by the celebrated George Combe, whose own +writings on the constitution of man and the observance of physical laws, +have made him a general favorite in many intelligent circles, which have +no peculiar interest in the special department of science with which his +name has been identified. Each of the brothers has the merit of +presenting important principles in plain language. With utility for +their motto, they have written for the mass of the people, and, perhaps, +have done more for the diffusion of popular knowledge, than many authors +whose intellectual pretensions are far superior to their own. Destitute, +to a remarkable degree, of every ray of imagination, with no approach to +the creative power, which is the test of genius, their writings are +marked with a robust common sense, a patience and clearness of +statement, and a fertility of simple, homely illustration, which account +for their deep impression on the popular mind. + +In early life, the subject of this memoir displayed none of the +brilliant qualities which give promise of future eminence. He was shy +and reserved in his manners, and with no facility in the use of words, +though often showing a certain droll humor in his actions. His progress +in learning was slow, though this may be ascribed in part to the +injudicious method which was pursued in his education. While engaged in +his medical studies, he first made the acquaintance of Dr. Spurzheim, an +event which decided the direction of his mind for the remainder of his +life. This soon ripened into intimate friendship, which was cherished by +frequent personal intercourse with Spurzheim during a visit at Paris. He +at once became a zealous convert to the doctrines of Phrenology, making +them the basis of his medical practice, and his anthropological system. + +From an imprudent exposure to cold, Dr. COMBE'S health early received a +severe shock, from the effects of which his system never fully +recovered. His subsequent life was that of an habitual invalid. He was +forced to maintain a constant battle with disease. While spreading the +principles of health in a multitude of households, wherever the English +language is spoken, by his lucid writings on the subject, he was +scarcely permitted for a single day to enjoy the inestimable treasure. +He, consequently, spent no small portion of his time in traveling in +different countries, visiting France, Belgium, Germany, and the United +States, and his letters and observations during these various tours +constitute one of the most interesting features in the present volume. +His death took place on the 9th of August, 1847. + +He left the character of a man of sterling integrity, excellent +judgment, admirable candor and fairness of mind, a single-hearted +devotion to truth, and a disposition of rare kindness and disinterested +humanity. His biography will be read with satisfaction, by those who +feel themselves indebted to his writings. It is simple, honest, +unpretending, like its subject. With the singularly prosaic mind of Mr. +George Combe, no one can expect to find it animated with any living +glow. It records the life of a public benefactor, but with as little +freshness or enthusiasm, as if the author were giving a Phrenological +lecture on a collection of skulls. + + + DR. JOHNSON; HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE AND HIS DEATH. New York: Harper + and Brothers. 12mo, pp. 405. + +The author of this volume is not surpassed by Boswell in reverence for +"the Great Old Samuel," but happily is not infected with his +puerilities. His book is a favorable specimen of the right kind of "Hero +Worship," dealing tenderly with every relic of the departed, and +religiously gathering every precious tribute to his memory. It +reproduces a variety of characteristic events and scenes in the life of +DR. JOHNSON, without having the air of a compilation. No source of +information seems to have been overlooked, while the labors of previous +writers are so digested and arranged as to give the effect of an +original production. The main subject to which the volume is devoted, is +the illustration of Dr. Johnson's religious character, but numerous +attractive episodes are also introduced, which relieve it from all +tendency to monotony. The last incidents in his life are described with +peculiar interest. Several chapters are wholly occupied with his +Churchmanship, and under different heads, we have a spirited description +of his humanity, his treatment of dissenters, his views of monastic +life, his sympathy with Roman Catholics, and his superstition, all the +statements being fortified with quotations from his own language. +Various questions of collateral interest are discussed by the author, as +suggested by the topics under review, and are usually treated with equal +ability and religious feeling. The work will doubtless be received as a +valuable complement to our Johnsonian literature. + + * * * * * + +_Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution_, published by Harper and +Brothers, has reached its fifth number, and fully sustains the wide +reputation which it has acquired, as an elegant, spirited, and +instructive work on American history. The union of narrative and +description, which forms a leading feature of the series, is managed by +Mr. Lossing with remarkable dexterity, and gives a perpetual charm to +the composition. In the five numbers already issued, we have a graphic +survey of the scenery and historical reminiscences of the portion of the +State of New York and of Canada, which is embraced within the routes of +our fashionable summer tourists. They describe the principal theatre of +the French and Indian Wars, and many of the most interesting localities +of the American Revolution, including Glenn's Falls, Lake George, +Ticonderoga and Champlain from Whitehall to St. John's, Montreal, +Quebec, the St. Lawrence to Kingston, Lake Ontario, Niagara, and a part +of the Upper Valley of the Mohawk--all truly classic ground to the lover +of American history. Whoever would obtain an accurate and indelible +impression of the great battle-grounds of the Revolution, while seeking +recreation in a summer jaunt, should not fail to make these beautiful +numbers his traveling companions. + +Harper and Brothers have reprinted SYDNEY SMITH'S posthumous Lectures +entitled _Sketches of Moral Philosophy_, which is introduced with a +commendatory letter by Lord Jeffrey, written but a few days before his +death, wherein he says that these Lectures "will do their author as much +credit as any thing he ever wrote, and produce on the whole a stronger +impression by the force and vivacity of his intellect, as well as a +truer and more engaging view of his character than what the world has +yet seen of his writings. The book seems to me to be full of good sense, +acuteness, and right feeling--very clearly and pleasingly written--and +with such an admirable mixture of logical intrepidity, with the absence +of all dogmatism, as is rarely met with in the conduct of such +discussions." The versatile author discusses a great variety of topics, +slenderly connected it is true, with Metaphysics or Moral Philosophy, +and on this account has left a far more readable volume, than if it had +been rigidly devoted to the questions which it professes to treat. His +remarks are always lively, pointed, and apposite, betraying a familiar +knowledge of the world, and a quick perception of the bearing and +character of current events, while their caustic wit is usually +attempered with an inexhaustible fountain of good humor. + +We have received _The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil_, volume 2d, from +the veteran editor of whose zeal and ability in maintaining the doctrine +of "harmony" and mutual dependence between all the great branches of +domestic industry, it affords abundant evidence. + +Mr. Skinner contends, with every appearance of assured conviction, that +as our country spreads over so many latitudes, and embraces climates and +resources more various and abundant than any other, our policy, too, +should be peculiar; and that instead of importing iron, cloth, and other +manufactures, for which we have materials, or capabilities +inexhaustible, we should import _men_, as the best of all importations, +whose demands, while occupied with other industries, would create a +steady and remunerating market for the products of agriculture, which, +he insists, would be, of all things, the surest guarantee for +improvements in the _art_ of terra-culture. This enterprise is one of +the ablest of the kind, to illustrate the importance of placing the +consumer by the side of the agriculturist; and whether reference be had +to the long services of the editor in the cause of cultivators of the +soil, or the earnestness and power with which he and his correspondents +enforce their doctrine, there can be no hesitation in saying, that those +who unite with them in opinion will do well to give encouragement to +_The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil_. It is but justice to add, that it +is well printed on fine paper, giving no less than 64 pages monthly, at +the rate of $5 for two subscribers, or $3 for one. Edited and published +by that old and tried soldier in the cause--the founder of the first +agricultural journal in the United States--J. S. SKINNER, 79, +Walnut-street, Philadelphia. + +Phillips, Sampson, and Co. have published a new edition of _The Rebels_, +one of the earliest and most popular novels of the admirable Mrs. Child. +Its character is too well known to authorize criticism at this time, and +its reproduction in the present edition will gratify the troops of +friends, with whom the author is a distinguished favorite. + +One of the most remarkable books of the month is _The Logic and Utility +of Mathematics_, by CHARLES DAVIES, LL.D., published by Barnes and Co. +It is not intended as a treatise on any special branch of mathematical +science, and demands for its full appreciation a general acquaintance +with the leading methods and routine of mathematical investigation. To +those who have a natural fondness for this pursuit, and enjoy the +leisure for a retrospect of their favorite studies, the present volume +will possess a charm, not surpassed by the fascinations of a romance. It +is an elaborate and lucid exposition of the principles which lie at the +foundation of pure mathematics, with a highly ingenious application of +their results to the development of the essential idea of Arithmetic, +Geometry, Algebra, Analytic Geometry, and the Differential and Integral +Calculus. The work is preceded by a general view of the subject of +Logic, mainly drawn from the writings of Archbishop Whately and Mr. +Mill, and closes with an essay on the utility of mathematics. Some +occasional exaggerations, in presenting the claims of the science to +which his life has been devoted, must here be pardoned to the +professional enthusiasm of the author. In general, the work is written +with singular circumspection; the views of the best thinkers on the +subject have been thoroughly digested, and are presented in an original +form; every thing bears the impress of the intellect of the writer; his +style is for the most part chaste, simple, transparent, and in admirable +harmony with the dignity of the subject, and his condensed +generalizations are often profound and always suggestive. + +_The Gallery of Illustrious Americans_, edited by C. EDWARDS LESTER, +Esq. has reached its seventh number, which contains a portrait and +biographical sketch of the distinguished ornithologist, J. J. AUDUBON. +The engraving presents a delightful view of the intellectual and +expressive features of the veteran forester, savan, and artist, while +the sketch by Mr. Lester gives a rapid and satisfactory summary of the +principal incidents in his adventurous life. The daguerreotypes by +BRADY, and the lithographs by D'AVIGNON, throughout this series, are +highly creditable specimens of their respective arts. The biographical +notices are carefully written and beautifully printed. The previous +numbers embrace Taylor, Calhoun, Webster, Wright, Clay, and Fremont--and +that our readers may form some idea of the striking fidelity of the +Portraits, we present, in a previous page, the well-known likeness of +our late President, copied on wood by Lossing, from the first number of +the work. + +A. Hart, Philadelphia, has reprinted from the English edition, _The +Phantom World_, from the French of CALMET, with a Preface and Notes by +Rev. HENRY CHRISTMAS, giving a general survey of the history and +philosophy of spirits, apparitions, ghosts, elves, fairies, spooks, +bogles, bugaboos, and hobgoblins. It will probably meet with an +extensive circulation in these days when Connecticut divines are haunted +by infernal visits, and the Rochester sibyls are on exhibition in New +York. + +_Dies Boreales, or Christopher Under Canvas_, is republished from +Blackwood's Magazine in a neat edition, by A. Hart, Philadelphia, and +will meet with a warm reception from the innumerable admirers of the +noble, eloquent, impassioned, kaleidoscopic, frisky, and genial old +Christopher. + +Among the valuable scientific serials now issuing from the New York +press, is _The Dictionary of Mechanics, Engine Works, and Engineering_, +edited by OLIVER BYRNE, and published by D. Appleton and Co. Of this +work we have thirteen numbers, which bring the subjects, in alphabetical +order, to the article on "Etching," the last number completing the +elaborate description of the "Steam Engine," which in itself forms a +treatise on a leading branch of practical science, and may be commended +in high terms to the attention both of the general reader and the +professional engineer. It is rarely that such a mass of important +information is condensed into so lucid and pleasing a form, attractive +no less by the clearness of its scientific details, than by the bright +picture which it gives of the progress of the useful arts in modern +times. + +Another work, of similar value, is _A Treatise on Marine and Naval +Architecture_, by JOHN W. GRIFFITHS, a serial which has reached its +seventh number, and has elicited the warmest encomiums from +distinguished constructors and engineers. The style is a fine model of +scientific discussion, presenting the first principles of naval +architecture with precision, compactness, and simplicity, abounding with +graphic descriptive details, and preserving a spirited freedom and +boldness in the most intricate and difficult expositions. The superior +character of its contents, with the low price at which it is afforded, +will insure it a wide circulation among American mechanics, who can not +fail to gain both a pecuniary and an intellectual advantage from its +perusal. + +_Specimens of the Bridges, Viaducts, &c., on the United Slates +Railroads_, by GEORGE DUGGIN, deserves an honorable place by the side of +the two preceding serials, as an important contribution to the science +of civil engineering in this country. The sixth number has already made +its appearance, being the commencement of an elaborate treatise on +Bridge-building, illustrated with sketches of the most remarkable +specimens in this branch of architecture. The multiplicity of works like +those we have just alluded to, and the great and instant popularity +which they attain, present a cheering proof of the prevalence of +scientific curiosity, and of the mental activity which leads to thorough +investigation, among the leading artisans of the United States. + +_The Second Book in Greek_, by John M'CLINTOCK, published by Harper and +Brothers, is the complement to the previous volume, entitled _First Book +in Greek_, which, as a practical manual in this branch of philology, has +elicited the warmest approbation of judicious teachers. Dr. M'Clintock +has brought the resources of a ripe and generous scholarship to the +preparation of this work, which, with the other volumes of his +Elementary Series in Greek and Latin, is a highly honorable proof of his +sound learning and correct taste. The present work gives a full view of +the Greek Syntax, with copious illustrations, and extracts from +Xenophon's Anabasis, Homer, Anacreon, and sentences from the Greek +Dramatists. Its peculiar merit consists in the progressive manner in +which the various difficulties of Greek combination are unfolded, the +pupil being thus led forward, by a natural sequence, to a mastery of the +complicated idioms of the language, and trained imperceptibly to a +perception of its rich and wonderful beauties. + +Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, have republished _Impressions and +Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849_, by ROBERT +BAIRD, an intelligent Scotchman, apparently of the legal profession, but +with little of the talent essential to the composition of a popular book +of travels. His remarks on the United States are in a more +discriminating tone than is often attained by English tourists, but the +whole tone of the volume is, for the most part, so prosy and commonplace +as to make its perusal an intolerable bore. + +Tallis, Willoughby, and Company are publishing a beautifully embellished +edition of _The Life of Christ_, by the Rev. JOHN FLEETWOOD, with +original illustrations by Warren, who has attained a distinguished +reputation, as a delineator of Oriental scenery, characters, and +costumes. It is to be completed in twenty-five parts, of which two have +been issued, in a style of elegant typography, highly creditable to the +taste and enterprise of the publishers. The biography of the Saviour by +Dr. Fleetwood is written with decorum and gravity, reproducing the +consecutive events of the sacred narrative in symmetrical order, and +presenting with becoming reserve, such moral reflections as are +naturally suggested by the different topics of the sublime history. The +work is happily distinguished from several recent attempts on similar +themes, by its freedom from the ambitious and disgusting pretension of +dressing up the severe simplicity of the Oriental writers in the tawdry +and finical robes of modern rhetoric. + +_The Shoulder-Knot_, by the Rev. B. F. TEFFT, published by Harper and +Brothers, is a work of more than common originality, intended to convey +important views of life, through the medium of fiction, and containing +many passages of remarkable vigor and beauty. The story is derived from +facts in the history of Louis XIII. of France, who, with his Queen, the +admirable Anne of Austria, the Queen Mother, the selfish and passionate +Mary, and the consummate master of intrigue, Cardinal Richelieu, is made +to act a leading part in the development of the narrative. The author +displays less skill in the artistic blending together of the principal +incidents of the plot, than in his isolated descriptions and +conversations, many of which indicate a high order of talent. The whole +story is pervaded with a wholesome and elevated religious tone, showing +the power of fictitious creation to illustrate the most vitally +important truths. + +Stringer and Townsend have published a _Supplement to Frank Forrester's +Fish and Fishing in the United States_, by W. H. HERBERT, correcting +some errors which had crept into the principal work on that subject, and +completing the memoirs of the finny tribes under the democratic +institutions of America, with the jaunty airiness of description, and +genuine relish of natural scenery (as well as of fried fish), which have +given such a wide celebrity to the flowing and unctuous pen of Frank +Forrester. + +The _Morning Watch_ is an anonymous poem, published by GEORGE P. PUTNAM, +breathing an atmosphere of tender, religious sentiment, and showing +considerable descriptive power. It has not, however, sufficient vigor of +imagination to atone for the intense subjectivity of thought which +throws a dim haze over the best-conceived passages. + +J. ROSS BROWNE'S _Report of the Debates in the Convention of California_ +on the Formation of the State Constitution, is a curious historical +document, and will possess still more interest when the antiquities of +the modern Eldorado shall become the object of learned research. + +_The Mothers of the Wise and Good_, by JABEZ BURNS, D.D., reprinted by +Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln, Boston, is a collection of interesting +incidents, showing the effects of maternal influence on the formation of +character, and tracing the excellence of many eminent men in various +walks of life, to the pure and exalted virtues with which they were +familiar in early life, within the sacred retirements of the domestic +circle. + +The seventh number of _Carlyle's Latter-Day Pamphlets_, issued by Harper +and Brothers, is a mere seven-fold repetition of the ancient discontent +of the author, whose mirth is changed into a permanent wail, and for +whom the "brave o'erhanging firmament has become only a foul and +pestilential congregation of vapors." The subject of this number is the +"Statue of Hudson," the great deposed Railway King. It says much more of +statues in general, than of this particular one of Hudson's. Like all +the recent productions of Carlyle, it reminds us of the strugglings of a +sick giant, whom his friends in mercy should compel to take to his bed +and turn his face to the wall. + +An elegant edition of _The Illustrated Domestic Bible_, by the Rev. +INGRAM COBBIN, is publishing in numbers by Samuel Hueston. It has brief +notes and reflections by the editor, and copious pictorial +embellishments, illustrative of Oriental scenery and manners. The work +is to be completed in twenty-five numbers. + +Stanford and Swords have reprinted a neat edition of _Earnestness_, or +_Incidents in the Life of an English Bishop_, by CHARLES B. TAYLOR, +whose rare talent for applying the resources of fiction to the +illustration of religious truth has given him an enviable reputation +with a large circle of readers. The present work will be found to +possess equal interest with the previous religious stories of the +author. + +_Amy Harrington_, by the author of _The Curate of Linwood_, another +spirited religious novel, directing a battery of red-hot shot against +the Tractarian or Puseyite movement in England, is republished by J. C. +Riker. It is written in a tone of uncommon earnestness, and contains +some passages of genuine pathos and eloquence. + +_The Vale of Cedars_, by GRACE AGUILAR, republished by D. Appleton and +Co., is a novel of more than ordinary power, indebted for its principal +interest to its vivid description of the social condition of Spain +during the reign of Isabella. The volume is introduced with an +interesting biographical sketch of the able authoress, who died in 1847. + +Crosby and Nichols, Boston, have republished _Chronicles and Characters +of the Stock Exchange_, by JOHN FRANCIS, a work describing the progress +of financial speculation in England, with great liveliness of +delineation, and illustrated with a variety of personal incidents and +scenes of the richest character. The volume is intended to give a +popular narrative of the money power of England, in a manner at once +interesting and suggestive, and it accomplishes its purpose with eminent +success. + +_Wah-to-yah, and the Taos Trail_, by LEWIS W. GARRARD published by H. W. +Derby and Co., Cincinnati, is a record of wild adventures among the +Indians, by a rollicking Western youth, who never misses the opportunity +for a scene, and who tells his story with a gay saucy, good-natured +audacity, which makes his book far more companionable than most volumes +of graver pretensions. Commend us to young Garrard, whoever he may be, +as a free and easy guide to the mysteries of life in the forest. + +_Poems_ by H. LADD SPENCER, published by Phillips, Sampson, and Co., +Boston, are rather remarkable specimens of juvenile precocity, most of +them having been written in the days of the author's earliest boyhood, +and some of them during his twelfth year, and at a period little less +remote. Their poetical merit must, of course, be inconsiderable, and +they are not sufficiently curious to warrant publication. + +D. Appleton and Co. have issued a novel entitled _Heloise, or the +Unrevealed Secret_, by TALVI, the gifted authoress of _The Sketch of the +Slavic Language and Literature_, which is entitled to special +commendation among the recent productions of American literature. +Without the machinery of a complicated plot, and in language that is +almost sculpturesque in its chaste simplicity, it possesses an intense +and unflagging interest, by its artistic delineation of character, its +profound insight into the mysteries of passion, and the calm, delicate, +spiritual beauty of its heroine. Its subtle conception of the nicest +variations of feeling, is no less remarkable than its precision in the +use of language, the work, for the most part, not only reading like the +production of a native, but of one familiar with the most intimate +resources of idiomatic English. A very few exceptions to this remark in +some portions of the dialogue, whose naivete atones for their +inaccuracy, only present the general purity of the composition in a more +striking light. We sincerely trust that the writer, who has been so +happily distinguished in the field of literary research, will be +induced, by the success of this volume, to continue her labors in the +province of fictitious creation. Nothing is wanting to her assurance of +an enviable fame in this department of letters. + +_The Initials_ is the title of an English novel, reprinted by A. Hart, +Philadelphia, illustrative of German life and character, and in all +respects of more interest than would be predicted from its ambiguous +designation. + +_The Lorgnette_, published by Stringer and Townsend, continues to make +its appearance once a fortnight, and well sustains the reputation it has +acquired, as a brilliant, searching, and good-humored satirical +commentary on the many-colored phantasmagoria of the town. The name of +the author is still a dead secret, in spite of numerous hints and winks +among the knowing ones, and he is shrewd enough to prefer the prestige +of concealment to the tickling of his vanity by publicity. The most +noticeable feature in his work is its quiet, effective style of +composition, which is utterly free from the pyrotechnic arts of so many +current pretenders. + + + + +SUMMER FASHIONS. + + +FIG. 1. PROMENADE DRESS.--For walking in public gardens, _barege_ +dresses, plain or figured, are generally adopted; but _glace_, or damask +bareges are the most _recherches_. Dresses of shot silk form also +charming toilets. The skirts are less full than those of last year--but, +to compensate for it, they are trimmed with graduated flounces up to the +waist--as many as five are worn, and they are pinked and stamped at the +edges. The bodies are tight, and open in front; a cord connects the two +sides of the corsage, and buttons, either of silk, colored stones, or +steel, are placed on the centre of this cord. The sleeves are wider at +the bottom than at the top, and are trimmed with two small flounces; +from beneath them a large lace sleeve falls over the hand, leaving the +lower part of the arm uncovered. This form of sleeve is very becoming to +the hand. + +Mantelets are very slightly altered; they are, however, rather more +closely fitted to the figure than last year; they are all made of +_taffetas glace_, and trimmed with pinked _ruches_ of the same material +for young persons, and with wide black lace for married ladies. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--PROMENADE DRESS.] + +FIG. 2, is a Pelerine of a pattern quite new; made of embroidered net, +trimmed with three rows of _point d'Alencon_, and ornamented with a +large knot of _ribbons Bayadere_. Another pattern is of Indian muslin +_Canezcu_, embroidered and trimmed with _malines_, open and buttoned up +in the back. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--PELERINE.] + +FIG. 3 is a neat costume for a little girl. + +Dress of glace silk, shaded in light green and lilac. The skirt trimmed +with four rows of fringe of green and lilac silk intermingled. The +corsage low and plain, with a pelerine which passes along the back and +shoulders, and is brought down to the front of the waist in a point. +This pelerine is edged with two rows of fringe. The sleeves of the +dress, which are short, are edged simply with one row of fringe. +Attached to these short sleeves are long sleeves of white muslin made so +as to set nearly close to the upper part of the arms, but finished +between the elbow and the wrist with three drawings separated by bands +of needlework insertion. Above these drawings there is a frill which +falls back on the arm. The neck is covered by a chemisette of muslin, +finished at the throat with a trimming of needlework, turned over. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--LITTLE GIRL'S COSTUME.] + +FIG. 4. HOME DRESS.--Morning cap trimmed with Valenciennes and gauze +ribbons, cut out in the shape of leaves, muslin _guimpe bouillonne_, +with embroidered _entre-deux_; the gown _en gros d'Ecosse_, with facing +and trimmings cut out; _pagode_ sleeves, with a white muslin puffing +ornamented with a very large _bouillonne_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--HOME DRESS.] + +In the engraving (FIG. 5) is represented a BALL COSTUME, with a graceful +head-dress, composed of a vine garland with grapes; on each side hangs a +bunch of grapes (several little hunches are preferred). The novelty of +this year is to be observed in the length of the branches, which come +down on the shoulders, mixing with long curls. This head-dress is worn +also with _bandeaux_, but then the garland must be thicker in the lower +part. The leaves are of different colors, from the various shades of +green to the autumnal red tint. This kind of garland is made also of +ivy, with small red balls. The gowns are of _taffetas d'Italie_--_white, +rose_, or _blue_ (their shades are to be _glaces de blanc_): the body is +trimmed with a _berthe_, made of two rows of _blonde_; the front +ornamented with a puffing of white net laced with satin ribbons the +color of the gown. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--BALL DRESS.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume +1, No. 3, August, 1850., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY, AUG. 1850 *** + +***** This file should be named 29655.txt or 29655.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29655/ + +Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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