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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/29988-8.txt b/29988-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10af77a --- /dev/null +++ b/29988-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9570 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, +No. 352, February 1845, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29988] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + + + + + + + + + + + BLACKWOOD'S + + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + + NO. CCCLII. FEBRUARY, 1845. VOL. LVII. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + NORTH'S SPECIMENS OF THE BRITISH CRITICS, 133 + + THE TOWER OF LONDON. BY THOMAS ROSCOE, 158 + + POEMS AND BALLADS OF GOETHE. NO. III., 165 + + SPAIN AS IT IS, 181 + + THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE, 194 + + THE OVERLAND PASSAGE, 204 + + MESMERISM, 219 + + AESTHETICS OF DRESS. ABOUT A BONNET, 242 + + GERMAN-AMERICAN ROMANCES, 251 + + + EDINBURGH + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON. + _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE + + +No. CCCLII. FEBRUARY, 1845. VOL. LVII. + + + + +NORTH'S SPECIMENS OF THE BRITISH CRITICS. + +DRYDEN. + + +Poetry, according to Lord Bacon a Third Part of Learning, must be a +social interest of momentous power. That Wisest of Men--so our dear +friends may have heard--extols it above history and above philosophy, as +the more divine in its origin, the more immediately and intimately +salutary and sanative in its use. Are not Shakspeare and Milton two of +our greatest moral teachers? CRITICISM opens to us the poetry we +possess; and, like a magnanimous kingly protector, shelters and fosters +all its springing growths. What is criticism as a science? Essentially +this--FEELING KNOWN--that is, affections of the heart and imagination +become understood subject-matter to the self-conscious intelligence. +Must feeling perish because intelligence sounds its depths? Quite the +reverse. Greatest minds are those in which, in and out of poetry, the +understanding contemplates the will. Then first the soul has its proper +strength. Disorderly passions are then tamed, and become the massy +pillars of high-built virtue. Criticism? It is a shape of +self-intuition. Confession and penitence, in the church, are a moral and +a religious criticism. The imagination is less august and solemn, but of +the same character. The first age of the world lived by divine +instincts; the later must by reason. How, then, shall we possess the +poetry of our being, unless we guard and arm it? If it be a benign, +holy, potent faculty, nevertheless it cannot, the most delicate of all +our faculties, sustain itself in the strife of opinions raging and +thundering around. Then, if it should rightly hold dominion over us, let +legislative opinion acknowledge, establish, and fortify that impaled +territory. The temper of the times is in sundry respects favourable, +notwithstanding its too frequent possession by an incensed political +spirit. Has there not been for half a century a spontaneous, an ardent, +a loving return in literature, of our own and all countries, to the old +and great in the productions of the human mind--to nature, with all her +fountains? Does not the spirit of man, in the great civilized nations at +this day, travail with desire of knowing itself, its laws, its +conditions, its means, its powers, its hopes? It studies with irregular, +often blind and perverted, efforts; but still it studies--itself. And is +not criticism, when it speaks, much bolder, more glowing and generous, +ampler-spirited, more inspiring, and withal more enquiring and +philosophical? During the whole period we speak of, poetry and +criticism--in nature near akin--with occasional complaints and quarrels, +have flourished amicably together, side by side. Both have been strong, +healthy, and good. Prigs of both kinds--the pert and the pompous--will +keep prating about the shallowness and superficiality of periodical +criticism--deep enough to drown the whole tribe in its very fords. They +call for systems. Why will they not be contented with the system of the +universe?--of which they know not that periodical criticism is a +conspicuous part. Every other year the nations without telescopes see +the rising of some new, bright, particular star. Comets, with tails like +O'Connell, are so common as to lose attraction, and blaze by weekly into +indiscoverable realms. We have constructed an Orrery of Ebony, which we +mean to exhibit at the next great cattle-show, displaying, in their +luminous order, the orbs and orbits of all the heavenly bodies. In the +centre----but this is not the time for such high revelations. We have +now another purpose; and, leaving all those golden urns to yield light +at their leisure, we desire you to take a look along with us at the +choice critics of other days, waked by our potent voice from the +long-gathering dust. In our plainer style, we beg, ladies and gentlemen, +to draw your attention to a series of articles in _Blackwood_, of which +this is Alpha. Omega is intended for a Christmas present to your +great-grandchildren. + +Ay, there were giants in those days, as well as in these--also much +dwarfs. But we shall not lose ourselves with you in the darkness of +antiquity--one longish stride backwards of some hundred and fifty years +or so, and then let us leisurely look about us for the Critics. Who +comes here? A grenadier--GLORIOUS JOHN. Him Scott, Hallam, Macaulay, +have pronounced, each in his own peculiar and admirable way, to have +been, in criticism, "a light to his people." Him Samuel Johnson called +"a man whom every English generation must mention with reverence as a +critic and a poet." + +"Dryden," says the sage, in a splendid eulogium on his prose writings, +"may be properly considered as the father of English criticism--as the +writer who first taught us to determine, upon principles, the merit of +composition. Of our former poets, the greatest dramatist wrote without +rules, conducted through life and nature by a genius that rarely misled, +and never deserted him. Of the rest, those who knew the laws of +propriety had neglected to teach them." And he adds wisely--"To judge +rightly of an author, we must transport ourselves to his time, and +examine what were the wants of his contemporaries, and what were his +means of supplying them. That which is easy at one time was difficult at +another." Let us, then, examine some of Dryden's expositions of +principles; and first, those on which he defends Heroic Verse in Rhyme, +as the best language of the tragic drama. + +This can be done effectually only by following him wherever he has +treated the subject, and by condensing all his opinions into one +consecutive argument. + +His first play, (a comedy,) "The Wild Gallant," was brought on the stage +in February 1662-3, and with indifferent success, though he has told us +that it was more than once the divertisement of Charles II. by his own +command, and a favourite with "the Castlemain." "The Rival Ladies" (a +tragi-comedy) was acted and published in the year following, and the +serious scenes are executed in rhyme. Of its success we know nothing in +particular; but Sir Walter thinks that the flowing verse into which some +part of the dialogue is thrown, with the strong point and antithesis +which all along distinguished his style, especially his argumentative +poetry, tended to redeem the credit of the author of the "Wild Gallant." +Up to this time Dryden, now in his thirty-third year, had not written +much; but in his "Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell," +"Astrea Redux, or Poem on the Happy Restoration and Return of his Sacred +Majesty," and "A Panegyric on his Coronation," he had not only shown his +measureless superiority to the Sprats and Wallers--poetasters of the +same class after all, though Sprat was always but a small fish, while +Waller was long thought like a whale--but manifested a vigour of thought +and expression that gave assurance of a veritable poet. In those noble +compositions he exults in his conscious power of numerous verse; and, +like an eagle in the middle element, sweeps along majestically on easy +wings. In "The Rival Ladies," the rhymed dialogue is exceedingly +graceful, the blank verse somewhat cumbrous; and, in his dedication to +the Earl of Orrery, he justifies himself "for following the new way; I +mean, of writing scenes _in verse_." It may here, once for all, be +remarked, that in all his disquisitions, by "verse" he usually means +rhyme as opposed to blank verse. "To speak properly," he says, "it is +not so much a new way amongst us, as an old way revived; for many years +before Shakspeare's plays was the tragedy of 'Queen Gorboduc,' in +English verse, written by that famous Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of +Dorset." Dryden here shows how little conversant he then was with the +old English drama. For the tragedy of "Ferrex and Porrex" was first +surreptitiously published under the title of "Gorboduc," who is not +Queen, but King of England; and it is not written in rhyme, but, +excepting the choruses, in blank verse; while Sackville's part of the +play comprehends only the two last acts, of themselves sufficient to +place him in the highest order of Noble Authors. "But supposing," he +continues, "our countrymen had not received this writing till of late, +shall we oppose ourselves to the most polished and civilized nations of +Europe? * * * All the Spanish and Italian tragedies I have yet seen are +writ in rhyme. * * * Shakspeare (who, with some errors not to be avoided +in that age, _had undoubtedly a larger soul of poesy than ever any of +our nation_,) was the first who, to shun the pains of continual rhyming, +invented that kind of writing which we call blank verse, but the French +more properly _prose mesurée_; into which the English tongue so +naturally glides, that in writing prose it is hardly to be avoided." +Here again, it is hardly indeed worth while to remark, is another +mistake; Marlow and several other dramatists having used blank verse +(but how inferior to the divine man's!) before Shakspeare. Coleridge +somewhere quotes a verse or two forming itself in prose composition as a +rarity and a fault; but, though it had better perhaps be avoided, and +though its frequent recurrence would be offensive, yet, when words in +their natural order do form a verse, it might be difficult to give a +good reason why they may not be permitted to do so, more especially if +they are not felt to be a verse insulated among the circumfluent prose. +From the very best prose we could pick out thousands of single verses, +which are to be found only when you seek for them; and not from rich +prose only like Coleridge's own or Jeremy Taylor's, but from the +poorest, like Dr Blair's or Gerald's of Aberdeen. Dryden says he cannot +"but admire how some men should perpetually stumble in a way so +easy"--that is, as blank verse--"into which the English tongue so +naturally glides," and should strive to attain it by inverting the order +of the words, to make the "blanks" sound more heroically--as, for +example, instead of "Sir, I ask your pardon," "Sir, I your pardon ask." +And adds--"I should judge him to have little command of English, when +the necessity of a rhyme should force often upon this rock; though +sometimes it cannot easily be avoided; _and, indeed, this is the only +inconvenience with which rhyme can be charged_." In this lively style +does he pursue his argument in favour of rhyme. For this it is which +makes its adversaries say _rhyme is not natural_! But the fault lies +with the poet who is not master of his art, and either makes a vicious +choice of words, or places them, for rhyme's sake, so unnaturally as no +man would in ordinary speech. But when it is so judiciously ordered that +the first word in the verse seems to beget the second, and that again +the next, till that becomes the last word in the line, which, in the +negligence of prose, would be so; it must then be granted, that rhyme +has all the advantages of prose--_besides its own_. + +"Glorious John" (who must have been laughing in his sleeve) then +declares, that the "excellence and dignity of it were never fully known +till Mr Waller taught it;" that it was afterwards "followed in the epic +by Sir John Denham, in his 'Cooper's Hill,' a poem which your lordship +knows, for the majesty of the style, is, and ever will be, the exact +standard of good writing;" and that we are "acknowledging for the +noblest use of it to Sir William D'Avenant, who at once brought it upon +the stage, _and made it perfect in the Siege of Rhodes_!" + +Having thus carried things all his own way, he triumphantly declares, +that the advantages which rhyme has over blank verse are so many, that +"it were lost time to name them." And then, with fresh vigour, he sets +himself to name some of the chief--and first, that one illustrated by +Sir Philip Sidney in his "Defence of Poesy," "the help it brings to +memory, which rhyme so knits up by the affinity of sound, that by +remembering the last word in one line, we often call to mind both the +verses." Then, in the quickness of repartees (which in discoursive +scenes fall very often) it has, he says, so particular a grace, and is +so aptly united to them, that the sudden smartness of the answer, and +the exactness of the rhyme, set off the beauty of each other. + +But its greatest benefit of all, according to Dryden, is, that it bounds +and circumscribes the fancy. The great easiness of blank verse renders +the poet too luxuriant; he is tempted to say many things which might be +better omitted, or at least shut up in fewer words. But when the +difficulty of artificial rhyming is interposed; where the poet commonly +confines his verse to his couplet, and must continue that verse in such +words that the rhyme shall naturally follow them, not they the rhyme, +the fancy then gives leisure to the judgment to come in; which, seeing +so heavy a task imposed, is ready to cut off all unnecessary expenses. +And this furnishes a complete answer, he maintains, to the ordinary +objection, that rhyme is only an embroidery of verse, to make that which +is ordinary in itself pass for excellent with less examination. For that +which most regulates the fancy, and gives the judgment its busiest +employment, is like to bring forth the richest and clearest thoughts. +The poet examines that most which he produces with the greatest leisure, +and which he knows must pass the severest test of the audience, because +they are aptest to have it ever in the memory. In conclusion, he winds +up skilfully by applying all he has said to "a fit subject"--that is, an +Heroic Play. For neither must the argument alone, but the characters and +persons, be great and noble, otherwise rhymed verse would be out of +place, which, for the reasons assigned, is manifestly suited for the +utterance of lofty sentiments, and for occasions of dignity and +importance. Heroic Plays were then all the rage, and Dryden was +meditating to enter on that career which for many years occupied his +genius, not essentially dramatic, to the exclusion of other kinds of +poetry in which he afterwards excelled all competitors. + +Sir Robert Howard's Heroic Play, the "Indian Queen," "part of which was +written by Dryden," and the whole revised and corrected no doubt, +especially in the article of versification, was acted in 1664 with great +applause. "It presented," says Sir Walter, "battles and sacrifices on +the stage, aërial demons singing in the air, and the god of dreams +ascending through a trap, the least of which has often saved a worse +tragedy." Evelyn, in his Memoirs, has recorded, that the scenes were the +richest ever seen in England, or perhaps elsewhere, upon a public stage. +Dryden, by its reception, was encouraged to engraft on it another drama +called the "Indian Emperor"--a continuation of the tale--which had the +most ample success, and, till a revolution in the public taste, retained +possession of the stage. Soon after its publication, Sir Robert Howard, +in a peevish Preface to some plays of his, chose to answer what Dryden +had said in behalf of verse in his Epistle Dedicatory to his "Rival +Ladies," and not only without any mention of his name, but without any +allusion to the "Indian Emperor," while he bestowed the most extravagant +eulogies on the heroic plays of my Lord of Orrery--"in whose verse the +greatness of the majesty seems unsullied with the cares, and the +inimitable fancy descends to us in such easy expressions, that they seem +as if neither had ever been added to the other, but both together +flowing from a height, like birds so high that use no balancing wings, +but only with an easy care preserve a steadiness in motion. But this +particular happiness among those multitudes which that excellent person +is an owner of, does not convince my reason but employ my wonder; yet I +am glad that such verse has been written for the stage, since it has so +happily exceeded those whom we seemed to imitate. But while I give these +arguments against verse, I may seem faulty that I have not only written +ill ones, but written any; but since it was the fashion, I was resolved, +as in all indifferent things, not to appear singular--the danger of the +vanity being greater than the error; and therefore I followed it as a +fashion, though very far off." Sir Robert appears to have been in the +sulks, for some cause not now known, with his great brother-in-law; and +was pleased to punish him by thus publicly pretending ignorance of his +existence as an heroic play-wright. Yet the "Annus Mirabilis" was about +this time dedicated to Sir Robert; and only about a year before, John +had had a helping hand with the "Indian Queen." My Lord of Orrery must +have been a proud man to have his gouty too so fervently kissed by the +jealous rivals. "The muses," Dryden had said in his dedication to that +nobleman, "have seldom employed your thoughts but when some violent fit +of the gout has snatched you from affairs of state; and, like the +priestess of Apollo, you never come to deliver your oracles but +unwillingly and in torments. So we are obliged to your lordship's misery +for our delight. You treat us with the cruel pleasure of a Turkish +triumph, where those who cut and wound their bodies, sing songs of +victory as they pass, and divert others with their own sufferings. Other +men endure their diseases--your lordship only can enjoy them." Dryden, +however, was not disposed to stomach Sir Robert's supercilious silence, +and took a noble revenge in his "Essay on Dramatic Poesy." + +This celebrated Essay was first published at the close of 1668; and the +writing of it, Dryden tells us, in a dedication, many years afterwards, +to the Earl of Dorset, "served as an amusement to me in the country, +when the violence of the last plague had driven me from the town. +Seeing, then, our theatres shut up, I was engaged in these kind of +thoughts with the same delight with which men think upon their absent +mistresses." It is in the form of dialogue; under the feigned +appellations of Lisideius, Crites, Eugenius, and Neander, the speakers +are Sir Charles Sedley, Sir Robert Howard, Lord Buckhurst, and Dryden. +Nothing can exceed the grace with which the dialogue is conducted--the +choice of scene is most happy--and the description of it in the highest +degree striking and poetical. + + "It was that memorable day, in the first summer of the late war, + when our navy engaged the Dutch; a day wherein the two most mighty + and best appointed fleets which any age had ever seen, disputed the + command of the greater half of the globe, the commerce of nations, + and the riches of the universe. While these vast floating bodies, + on either side, moved against each other in parallel lines, and our + countrymen, under the happy conduct of his Royal Highness, went + breaking, little by little, into the line of the enemies, the noise + of the cannon from both navies reached our ears about the city; so + that all men being alarmed with it, and in a dreadful suspense of + the event which they knew was then deciding, every one went + following the sound as his fancy led him; and leaving the town + almost empty, some took towards the Park, some cross the river, + some down it, all seeking the noise in the depth of silence. + + "Amongst the rest, it was the fortune of Eugenius, Crites, + Lisideius, and Neander, to be in company together, three of them + persons whom their wit and quality have made known to all the town, + and whom I have chose to hide under these borrowed names, that they + may not suffer by so ill a narration as I am going to make of their + discourse. + + "Taking, then, a barge, which a servant of Lisideius had provided + for them, they made haste to shoot the bridge, and left behind them + that great fall of waters which hindered them from hearing what + they desired; after which, having disengaged themselves from many + vessels which rode at anchor in the Thames, and almost blocked up + the passage towards Greenwich, they ordered the watermen to let + fall their oars more gently; and then every one favouring his own + curiosity with a strict silence, it was not long ere they perceived + the air to break about them like the noise of distant thunder, or + of swallows in a chimney--those little undulations of sound, though + almost vanishing before they reached them, yet still seeming to + retain somewhat of their first horror which they had betwixt the + fleets. After they had attentively listened till such time as the + sound, by little and little, went from them, Eugenius, lifting up + his head, and taking notice of it, was the first who congratulated + to the rest that happy omen of our nation's victory; adding, that + we had but this to desire in confirmation of it, that we might hear + no more of that noise which was now leaving the English coast. When + the rest had concurred in the same opinion, Crites, a person of + sharp judgment, and somewhat too delicate a taste in wit, which the + world hath mistaken in him for ill-nature, said, smiling to us, + that if the concernment of this battle had not been so exceeding + great, he could scarce have wished the victory at the price he knew + he must pay for it, in being subject to the reading and hearing of + so many ill verses as he was sure would be made on that subject; + adding, that no argument could 'scape some of these eternal + rhymers, who watch a battle with more diligence than the ravens and + birds of prey, and the worst of them surest to be first in upon the + quarry; while the better able, either out of modesty writ not at + all, or set that due value upon their poems, as to let them be + often desired and long expected. There are some of those + impertinent people of whom you speak, answered Lisideius, who, to + my knowledge, are already so provided either way, that they can + produce not only a panegyric upon the victory, but, if need be, a + funeral elegy upon the Duke, wherein, after they have crowned his + valour with many laurels, they will at last deplore the odds under + which he fell, concluding that his courage deserved a better + destiny. All the company smiled at the conceit of Lisideius; but + Crites, more eager than before, began to make particular exceptions + against some writers, and said the public magistrates ought to send + betimes to forbid them; and that it concerned the peace and quiet + of all honest people that ill poets should be as well silenced as + seditious preachers." + +We may perhaps have occasion, by and by, to notice other important +topics spiritedly and eloquently discussed by these choice spirits in +the barge; meanwhile our business is with the argument, "rhyme _versus_ +blank verse," between Crites and Neander. Crites maintains, sometimes in +the very words, Sir Robert's views in the Preface to his plays, in which +he had animadverted on Dryden's dedication to the "Rival Ladies," while +Neander combats them; and it may be observed, that the worthy Baronet is +made to speak forcibly and well--much better indeed, on the whole, than +he does in his own preface. From beginning to end there cannot be +imagined a more fair and gentlemanly dialogue. But first, we cannot +resist giving the very beautiful close. + + "Neander was pursuing this discussion so eagerly, that Eugenius had + called to him twice or thrice ere he took notice that the barge + stood still, and that they were at the foot of Somerset stairs, + where they had appointed it to land. The company were all sorry to + separate so soon, though a great part of the evening was already + spent; and stood awhile looking back on the water, upon which the + moonbeams played, and made it appear like floating quicksilver. At + last they went up through a crowd of French people, who were + merrily dancing in the open air, and nothing concerned for the + noise of guns which had alarmed the town that afternoon. Walking + three together to the Piazza, they parted there; Eugenius and + Lisideius to some pleasant appointment they had made, Crites and + Neander to their several lodgings." + +But now to the argument. Crites, who is not more long-winded than may be +permitted to a polite proser, at least on the Thames of a summer +evening, somewhat condensed, reasoneth thus. + +A play being the imitation of nature, dialogue is there presented as the +effect of sudden thought; and since no man without premeditation speaks +in rhyme, neither ought he to do it on the stage. The fancy may be +elevated to a higher pitch of thought than it is in ordinary discourse, +for men of excellent and quick parts may speak noble things extempore; +but surely not when fettered with rhyme, for what more unnatural than to +present the most free way of speaking in that which is the most +constrained? The Greek tragedians, therefore, wrote in iambics, the +kind of verse nearest to prose, which with us is blank verse. + +The champions of rhyme say that the quickness of repartees receives an +ornament from it in argumentative scenes. But do men not only light on a +sudden upon the wit but the rhyme too? Then must they be born poets. If +they do not seem in the dialogue to make rhymes whether they will or no, +it will look rather like the design of two than the answer of one--as if +your actors hold intelligence together, and perform their tricks like +fortune-tellers by confederacy. The hand of art will be too visible. +Neither is it any answer to say that, however you manage it, 'tis still +known to be a play; for a play is still an imitation of nature, and one +can be deceived only with a probability of truth. The mind of man does +naturally tend to truth, and the nearer any thing comes to the imitation +of it, the more readily will the imagination believe. + +Rhyme, it is said, circumscribes a quick and luxuriant fancy, which +would extend itself too far on every subject, did not the labour which +is required to well-turned and polished rhyme set bounds to it. But he +who wants judgment to confine his fancy in blank verse, may want it as +much in rhyme; and he who has it will avoid errors in both kinds. Latin +verse was as great a confinement to the imagination as rhyme; yet Ovid's +fancy was not limited by it, and Virgil needed it not to bind his. In +our own language, Ben Jonson confined himself to what ought to be said, +even in the liberty of blank verse; and Corneille, the most judicious of +the French poets, is still varying the same sense a hundred ways, and +dwelling eternally on the same subject, though confined by rhyme. + +Such is the substance of Crites' answer to Dryden's Defence of Rhyme; +and Neander, before replying, begs it to be understood that he excludes +all comedy from his defence, and that he does not deny that blank verse +may be also used; but he asserts that, in Serious Plays, where the +subject and characters are great, and the plot unmixed with mirth, which +might allay or divert those concernments which are produced, rhyme is +there as natural, and more effective, than blank verse--for what other +conditions, he asks, are required to make rhyme natural in itself, +besides an election of apt words, and a right disposition of them? The +due choice of your words expresses your sense naturally, and the due +placing them adapts the rhyme to it. If both the words and rhyme be apt, +one verse cannot be made merely for sake of the other, as Crites had +urged; for supposing there be a dependence of sense betwixt the first +line and the second, then, in the natural position of the words, the +latter line must of necessity flow from the former; and if there be no +dependence, yet still the due ordering of words makes the last line as +natural in itself as the other. A good poet, he affirms, never +establishes the first line till he has sought out such a rhyme as may +fit the verse, already prepared to heighten the second. Many times the +close of the sense falls into the middle of the next verse, or further +off; and he may often avail himself of the same advantages in English +which Virgil had in Latin--he may break off in the hemistich, and begin +another line. The not observing these two last things, makes plays which +are writ in verse so tedious; for though most commonly the sense is to +be confined to the couplet, yet nothing that does run in the same +channel can please always. 'Tis like the murmuring of a stream, which, +not varying in the fall, causes at first attention, at last drowsiness. +Variety of cadence is the best rule, the greatest help to the actor and +refreshment of the audience. + +If, then, verse may be made natural in itself, how becomes it unnatural +in a play? The stage, you say, is the representation of nature, and no +man in ordinary conversation speaks in rhyme. True; but neither does he +in blank verse. All the difference between them, when they are both +good, is the sound in one which the other wants; and if so, the +sweetness of it, and other advantages, handled in the Preface to the +"Rival Ladies," all stand good. + +The dialogue of plays, you say, is presented as the effect of sudden +thought; but that no man speaks _extempore_ in rhyme, which cannot +therefore be proper in dramatic poesy, unless we could suppose all men +born so much more than poets. But it must not be forgotten that the +question regards the nature of a Serious Play, which is indeed the +representation of nature, but nature wrought up to an high pitch. The +plot, the characters, the wit, the passions, the descriptions, are all +exalted above the level of common converse, as high as the imagination +of the poet can carry them, with proportion to verisimility. Tragedy is +wont to image to us the minds and fortunes of noble persons; and to +portray these exactly, heroic rhyme is nearest nature, as being the +noblest kind of modern verse. Verse, it is true, is not the effect of +sudden thought; but this hinders not that sudden thought may be +represented in verse, since these thoughts are such as must be higher +than nature can raise them without premeditation, especially to a +continuance of them, even out of verse; and consequently you cannot +imagine them to have been sudden, either in the poet or the actors. A +play to be like nature is to be set above it; as statues which are +placed on high are made greater than the life, that they may descend to +the sight in their just proportion. + +But rhyme, it has been argued, appears most unnatural in repartees or +short replies, when he who answers (it being presumed he knew not what +the other would say, yet) makes up that part of the verse which was left +incomplete, and supplies both the sound and the measure of it. This, +'tis said, looks rather like the confederacy of two than the answer of +one. But suppose the repartee were made in blank verse, is not the +measure as often supplied there as in rhyme?--the latter half of the +hemistich as commonly made up, or a second line subjoined, as a reply to +the former? But suppose it allowed to look like a confederacy. What more +beautiful than a well-contrived dance? You see there the united design +of many persons to make up one figure: after they have separated +themselves in many petty divisions, they rejoin one by one into a group: +the confederacy is plain among them, for chance could never produce any +thing so beautiful, and yet there is nothing in it that shocks your +sight. True, then, the hand of wit appears in repartee, as it must in +all kinds of verse. When, with the quiet and poignant brevity of it, +there mingles the cadency and sweetness of verse--"the soul of the +hearer has nothing more to desire." + +Rhyme was said by its defender to be a help to the poet's judgment, by +putting bounds to a wild overflowing fancy. And it was answered by the +admirer of blank verse, that he who wants judgment in the liberty of his +poesy, may as well show the defect of it when he is confined to verse; +for he who has judgment will avoid errors, and he who has it not will +commit them in all kind of writing. Granted that he who has judgment so +profound, strong, and infallible that he needs no help to keep it always +poised and right, will commit no faults in rhyme or out of it. But where +is that judgment to be found? Take it, therefore, as it is found in the +best poets. Judgment is indeed the master workman in a play; but he +requires many subordinate hands, many tools to his assistance, and rhyme +is one of them--it is a rule and line by which he keeps his building +compact and even, which otherwise lawless imagination would raise +loosely and irregularly--it is, in short, a slow and painful but the +surest kind of working. Second thoughts being usually the best, as +receiving the maturest digestion from judgment, and the last and most +mature product of these thoughts being artful and laboured verse, it may +well be inferred that verse is a great help to a luxuriant fancy, and +that is what the argument opposed was to evince. + +Sir Robert, though always made to speak well in the Dialogue, was yet +made to speak on the losing side; and in an address to the reader, +prefixed to "The Great Favourite, or the Duke of Lerma," a tragedy +published soon after, having, by way of retaliation, sharply criticised +some of Neander's dogmas about the drama, brought down on himself a cool +but cutting castigation--more severe than was merited by so small an +offence. His retort, in as far as the question of rhyme or blank verse +is concerned, was, however, to say the best of it, very feeble. "I +cannot, therefore, but beg leave of the reader to take a little notice +of the great pains the author of an Essay of Dramatic Poetry has taken +to prove rhyme as natural in a Serious Play, and more effectual, than +blank verse: Thus he states the question but pursues that which he calls +natural in a wrong application; for 'tis not the question, whether rhyme +or not rhyme be best or most natural for a grave or serious subject; but +what is nearest the nature of that which it presents. Now, after all the +endeavours of that ingenious person, a play will still be supposed to be +a composition of several persons speaking _extempore_, and it is as +certain, that good verses are the hardest things that can be imagined to +be so spoken; so that if any will be pleased to impose the rule of +measuring things to be the best by being nearest to nature, it is +proved, by consequence, that which is most remote from the thing +supposed, must needs be most improper; and therefore I may justly say, +that both I and the question were equally mistaken, for I do own, I had +rather read good than either blank verse or prose, and therefore the +author did himself injury, if he like verse so well in plays, to lay +down rules and raise arguments only unanswerable against himself." + +We had rather that Dryden should answer this than we; for much of it +eludes our comprehension. In his "Defence of the Essay on Dramatic +Poesy" he replies thus:--"A play will still be supposed to be a +composition of several persons speaking extempore," quoth Sir Robert; "I +must move leave to dissent from his opinion," requoth John; "for if I am +not deceived, a play is supposed to be the work of the poet, imitating +or representing the conversation of several persons; and this I think to +be as clear as he thinks the contrary." There he has the baronet on the +hip; and gives him a throw. He then makes bold to prove this +paradox--that one great reason why prose is not to be used in Serious +Plays is, "because it is too near the nature of converse." Thus, in +"Bartholomew Fair," or the lowest kind of comedy, where he was not to go +out of prose, Ben does yet so raise his matter, in that prose, as to +render it delightful, which he could never have performed had he only +said or done those very things that are daily spoken or practised in the +fair; for then the fair itself would be as full of pleasure to an +enquiring person as the play, which we manifestly see it is not. "But he +hath made an excellent lazar of it. The copy is of price, though the +original be vile." Even in the lowest prose comedy, then, the matter and +the wording must be lifted out of nature--as _we_ should now say, +idealized. In "Catiline" and "Sejanus" again, where the argument is +great, Ben sometimes ascends into rhyme; and had his genius been proper +for rhyme--which Dryden more than once asserts it was not--"it is +probable he would have adorned those subjects with that kind of writing. +Thus prose," he finely says, "though the rightful prince, yet is by +common consent deposed as too weak for the government of Serious Plays; +and he failing, there now start up two competitors, one the nearer in +blood, which is blank verse; the other more fit for the ends of +government, which is rhyme. Blank verse is, indeed, the nearer prose, +but he is blemished with the weakness of his predecessor. Rhyme (for I +will deal clearly) has somewhat of the usurper in him, but he is brave +and generous, and his dominion pleasing." + +It was then, "for the reason of delight," that the ancients wrote all +their tragedies in verse--and not in prose; because it was most remote +from conversation. Rhyme had not then been invented. But again he +reminds his adversary, that it seems to have been adopted by the general +consent of poets in all modern languages--and that almost all their +Serious Plays are written in it, which, though it be no demonstration +that therefore they ought to be so, yet at least the practice first, and +the continuation of it, shows that it attained the end, which was to +please. It is thus that Dryden deals with Sir Robert, as if blank verse +in Serious Plays had not a leg to stand on. Yet throughout he preserves +a wonderful air of candour and moderation, as most becoming the +victorious champion of rhyme. As, for example, where he allows that, +whether it be natural or not in plays, is a problem not demonstrable on +either side. But in reference to Sir Robert's acknowledgment, that he +had rather read good verse than prose, he adds triumphantly, "that is +enough for me; for if all the enemies of verse will confess as much, I +shall not need to prove that it is natural. I am satisfied if it cause +delight; for delight is the chief, if not the only end of poesy; +instruction can be admitted but in the second place, for poesy only +instructs as it delights. It is true, that to imitate well is a poet's +work; but to affect the soul, and to excite the passions, and, above +all, to move admiration, (which is the delight of Serious Plays,) a bare +imitation will not serve. The converse, therefore, which a poet is to +imitate, must be heightened with all the arts and ornaments of poesy; +and must be such as, strictly considered, could never be supposed spoken +by any without premeditation." + +In his various argument in defence of the use of rhyme on the stage, +Dryden, we have seen, always speaks of its peculiar adaptation to +"Serious Plays," or "Heroic Plays." In an essay thereon, prefixed to the +"Conquest of Grenada," in the pride of success he says, "whether heroic +verse ought to be admitted into Serious Plays, is not now to be +disputed." And he again takes up the obstinate objection to rhyme, which +he had not yet, it seems, battered to death, that it is not so near +conversation as prose, and therefore not so natural. But it is very +clear to all who understand poetry, that Serious Plays ought not to +imitate conversation too nearly. If nothing were to be traced above that +level, the foundation of poetry would be destroyed. Once grant that +thoughts may be exalted, and that images and actions may be raised above +the life, and described in measure without rhyme, and that leads you +insensibly from your principles; admit some latitude, and having +forsaken the imitation of ordinary converse, where are you now? "You are +gone beyond it, and to continue where you are, is to lodge in the open +fields between two inns." You have lost that which you call natural, and +have not acquired the last perfection of art. It was only custom, he +says, which cozened us so long; we thought because Shakspeare and +Fletcher went no further, that there the pillars of poetry were to be +erected; that because they excellently described passion without rhyme, +therefore rhyme was not capable of describing it. _"But time has since +convinced most men of that error._" + +What, then, according to Dryden's idea of it, was a serious or heroic +play? An heroic play, he says, ought to be an imitation, in little, of +an heroic poem; and, consequently, Love and Valour ought to be the +subject of it. D'Avenant's astonishing "Siege of Rhodes"--formerly +declared to be the _beau-idéal_ of an heroic play--was after all, it +seems, wanting in fulness of plot, variety of character, and even beauty +of style. Above all, it was not sufficiently great and majestic. He knew +not, honest man, that, in a true heroic play, you ought to draw all +things as far above the ordinary proportion of the stage, as that is +beyond the common words and actions of human life. The play that +imitates mere nature as she walks in this world, may be written in +suitable language; but, as in epic poetry all poets have agreed that we +shall behold the highest pattern of human life, so in the heroic play, +modelled by the rules of an heroic poem, we must be shown only +correspondent characters. Gods and spirits, too, are privileged to +appear on such a stage, and so are drums and trumpets. But Dryden +himself denies that he was the first to introduce representations of +battles on the English stage, Shakspeare having set him the example; +while Jonson, though he shows no battle, lets you hear in "Catiline," +from behind the scenes, the shouts of fighting armies. Warlike +instruments, and some fighting on the stage, are indeed necessary to +produce the effects of a heroic play. They help the imagination to gain +absolute dominion over the mind of an audience. + +Were we to believe Dryden, his heroic plays were dramatic imitations of +such epic poems as the Iliad and the Æneid. And he has the brazen-faced +assurance to say, that the first image he had of Almanzor, in the +"Conquest of Grenada," was from the Achilles of Homer! The next was +from Tasso's Rinaldo, and the third--_risum teneatis amici--from the +Artaban of Monsieur Calpranede_! Unquestionably our English heroic plays +were borrowed from the French--as these were the legitimate offspring of +the dramas of Calpranede and Scuderi. But Dryden's compositions are +unparalleled in any literature. Nature is systematically outraged in one +and all--from beginning to end. Never was such mouthing seen and heard +beneath moon and stars. Through the whole range of rant he rages like a +man inspired. He is the emperor of bombast. Yet these plays contain many +passages of powerful declamation--not a few of high eloquence; some that +in their argumentative amplitude, if they do not reach, border on the +sublime. Nor are their wanting outbreaks of genuine passion among the +utmost extravagances of false sentiment--when momentarily heroes and +heroines warm into men and women, and for a few sentences confabulate +like flesh and blood. + +But it is with Dryden as a critic, not as a poet, that we have now to +do; and we have said these few words about his heroic plays only in +connexion with our account of his argument in support of his doctrine +with regard to heroic verse in rhyme. That blank verse is better adapted +than any other for the drama, has been settled by Shakspeare. But though +Dryden has driven his argument too far, till his doctrine, as he +promulgates it, becomes untenable, as little do we doubt that he has +made good this position, that there may be good plays in rhyme. His +heroic plays are bad, not because they are in rhyme, but because they +are absurd; the rhyme is their chief merit; 'tis not possible to dream +what they had been in blank verse. True, that "All for Love" and "Don +Sebastian" are in blank verse, and may be said, after a fashion, to be +fine plays. But they are constructed on rational principles, and in them +he was doing his best to write like Shakspeare. What reason is there for +believing that those plays, in many respects excellent, are the better +for not being in rhyme? None whatever. Rhyme, in our opinion, would have +given them both a superior charm. In his heroic plays, it often carries +us along with absurdities which we know not whether we should call tame +or wild; it gives an air of originality to trivial commonplaces; it +embellishes what is vigorous, and invigorates what is beautiful; and +among events and characters alike unnatural, its music sustains our +flagging interest, and enables us to read on. There can be no doubt, +that in representations on the stage, the same cause must have been most +effective on audiences accustomed to that kind of pleasure, and who +delighted in rhyme, to them at once a necessary and a luxury of life. +"Aurengzebe," the last of his rhyming plays, is, to our mind, little if +at all inferior to "All for Love," or "Don Sebastian;" and we know that +it was most successful on the stage. + +Sir Walter says, "that during the space which occurred between the +writing of the 'Conquest of Grenada,' and 'Aurengzebe,' Dryden's +researches into the nature and causes of harmony of versification, led +him to conclude that the Drama ought to be emancipated from the fetters +of rhyme--and that the perusal of Shakspeare, on whom Dryden had now +turned his attention, led him to feel that something further might be +attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in +smooth verse, and that the scene ought to represent, not a fanciful set +of agents exerting their superhuman faculties in a fairyland of the +poet's own creation, but human characters acting from the direct and +energetic influence of human passions, with whose emotions the audience +might sympathize, because akin to the feelings of their own hearts. When +Dryden had once discovered that fear and pity were more likely to be +excited by other causes than the logic of metaphysical love, or the +dictates of fantastic honour, he must have found that rhyme sounded as +unnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the usual scale of +humanity, as the plate and mail of chivalry would have appeared on the +persons of the actors." All this is finely said; but does it not assume +the point in question? Dryden may have learned at last from the study of +Shakspeare, (in whom, however, he was well read many years before, as +witness his Essay on Dramatic Poesy,) that "something further might be +attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in +smooth verse." But we do not see the necessity of the inference, "that +rhyme sounded unnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the +usual scale of humanity." Is rhyme self-evidently unnatural in the +expression, in verse, of strong and deep human passion? To that +question, put thus generally, the right answer is--NO. And is it, then, +necessarily unnatural in the drama? + +Like all great powers, that of rhyme is a secret past finding out. In +itself a mere barbarous jingle, it yet gives perfection to speech. The +music of versification has endless varieties of measures, and rhyme +lends enchantment to them all. Not an affection, emotion, or passion of +the soul that may not be soothed by its syllablings, enkindled, or +raised to rapture. Pity and terror, joy and grief, love and devotion, +are all alike sensible of its influence; as the sweet similarities keep +echoing through some artful strain, that all the while is thought by +them who listen to come in simplicity from the unpremeditating heart. +Songs, hymns, elegies, epicedia, epithalamia--rhyme rules alike all the +shadowy tribes. The triumphant ode--the penitential psalm--wisdom's +moral lesson--the philosophic strain "that vindicates the ways of God to +man;" such is the range of rhyme, down all the depths of the pathetic, +up all the heights of the sublime. It is yet unlimited. Where shall we +find its bounds? Let us try. + +In the Epos, the poet in person is the relater. But he hides his own +personality in that of the Muse he invokes; and offers himself to his +auditors as the Voice only by which she speaks. She, the Muse, is +thought to be throughout a faithful recorder; for she is supposed to +have access to know all; and however marvellous may be the narrations, +they are accepted with undoubting faith. Since she speaks, or rather +sings, and the auditor only listens, the commonest and the most uncommon +events are, in one respect, upon an even footing. For the hearer must +picture them for himself. All are alike acted absent from the senses, +and before the imagination alone. Hence the Epic Poet has an +extraordinary facility afforded him for introducing into his work that +order of representation which is called the marvellous. For it is just +as easy to the hearer to set before his fancy a giant or a pigmy, as a +man; the one-eyed monster Polyphemus, as the beautiful, the graceful, +the swift, the strong, the sublime, the terrible Achilles. It is just as +easy for him to transport himself in fancy to the summit of Olympus, to +the palace of Jupiter, and to the Council or to the Banquet of the Gods, +or to the deep sea-caves where Thetis sits with her companion nymphs in +the hall of her father, the sea-god Nereus--as it is to remove himself +from the festal hall, where the poet is singing to him and to the other +guests, away to the camp of the Greeks, or to the court of Priam, or to +the bower of Andromache. He has no more difficulty to think of Minerva +darting, in the likeness of a hawk, from the snowy crest of Olympus to +the shore of the Hellespont--or to imagine the Thunderer in his +celestial car, lashing on his golden-maned steeds that pace the clouds +and the air, and waft him at the speed almost of a wish from the +unfolding portals of heaven to the summit of Mount Ida--than when he is +called upon, in the midst of some totally different scene, to figure to +himself a mortal hero, with waving crest, glittering in polished brass, +advancing erect in his war-chariot, hurling his lance that misses his +foe; and in return transpierced by that of his antagonist, falling +backwards to the ground in his resounding arms, and groaning out his +soul in the bloody dust. The truth is, that when you are called upon to +see and to hear _within the mind_, you rejoice in the capacities of +seeing and hearing that are thus unfolded in you, infinitely surpassing +similar capacities which you possess in your bodily eye and ear; and +therefore the stronger the demands that are made, the more readily even +do you comply with them; and in this way, in part, we must understand +the character that is impressed upon the _Iliad_, and the temper of mind +in the hearer answering to the character. It is one of infinite liberty. +The mind of the poet seems to be released from all bonds and from all +bounds; and the temper in the hearer is the same. Another character, +proper to Epic poetry, judging after its great model, the _Iliad_--is +_universality_. In the direct narrative, we have gods and men, heaven, +earth, sea, for seats of action--and, for a moment, a glimpse of hell. +Recollect whilst the conflagration of war is raging, how the poet has +found a moment, at the Scæan Gate, for the touching picture of an heroic +father, a noble mother, and a babe in arms, scared at his father's +dazzling and overshadowing helmet, who smiles, puts it from his head +upon the ground, and lifts up the boy, with a prayer to Jove. Sacrifices +to the gods, games, funeral rites, come in the course of the relation; +and because the scene of the poem is distracted with warfare, the great +poet has found, in the Vulcanian sculptures on the shield of Achilles, +place for images of peace--the labours of the husbandman; the mirthful +gathering in of the vintage with dance and song; the hymeneal pomp led +along the streets. And in the similes, what pictures from animal life +and manners! And then our enchantment is heightened by a prevailing +duplication. Throughout, or nearly so, the transactions that are +presented in the natural, are also presented in the supernatural. Thus +we have earthly councils, heavenly councils; warring men, warring gods; +kings of men, kings of gods; mortal husbands and wives, and sons and +daughters; immortal husbands and wives, and sons and daughters. Palaces +in heaven as on earth. The sea, in a manner, triplicates. Terrestrial +steeds--celestial steeds--marine steeds! The natural and supernatural +are united--when Achilles is half of mortal, half of immortal +derivation; when heavenly coursers are yoked in the chariots of men; +when Juno, for a moment, grants voice to the horse of Achilles; and the +horse, whom Achilles has unjustly reproved, answers prophesying the +death of the hero. + +Why Homer made the _Iliad_ in hexameters, no man can tell; but having +done so, he thereby constituted for ever the proper metre of Greek--and +Latin--Epic poetry. But what a multitude of subjects, how different from +one another does that, and every other Epic poem, comprehend! Glory to +the hexameter! it suits them all. Now, in every Epic poem, and in few +more than in the _Iliad_, there are many dramatic scenes. But in the +Greek tragic drama, the dialogue is mainly in iambics; for this reason, +that iambics are naturally suited for the language of conversation. Be +it so. Yet here in the Epic, the dialogue is felt to be as natural in +hexameters as the heart of man can desire. Hear Agamemnon and Achilles. +Call to mind that colloquy in Pelides' tent. + +Rhyme is unknown in Greek; and it is of rhyme that we are treating, +though you may not see our drift. From Homer, then, pass on to Ariosto +and Tasso. They, too, are Epic poets who have charmed the world. Their +poems may not have such a sweep as the _Iliad_, still their sweep is +great. Rich in rhyme is their language--rich the stanza they delighted +in--_ottava rima_, how rich the name! Is rhyme unnatural from the lips +of their peers and paladins? No--an inspired speech. Is hexameter blank +verse alone fit for the mouths of Greek heroes--eight-line stanzas of +oft-recurring rhymes for the mouths of Italian? Gentle shepherd, tell me +why. + +But the "Paradise Lost" is in blank verse. It is. The fallen angels +speak not in rhyme--nor Eve nor Adam. So Milton willed. But Dante's +Purgatory, and Hell, and Heaven, are in rhyme--ay, and in difficult +rhyme, too--_terza rima_. Yet the damned speak it naturally--so do the +blessed. How dreadful from Ugolino, how beautiful from Beatrice! + +But the drama--the drama--the drama--is your cry--what say we to the +drama? Listen, and you shall hear-- + +The Tragic Drama rose at Athens. The splendid and inexhaustible +mythology of gods and heroes, which had supplied the Epic Muse with the +materials of her magnificent relations, furnished the matter of a new +species of poetry. A palace--or a temple--or a cave by the wild +sea-shore, was painted; actors, representing by their attire, and their +majestic demeanour, heroes and heroines of the old departed world; nay, +upon high occasions, celestial gods and goddesses--trod the Stage and +spoke, in measured recitation, before assembled thousands of spectators, +seated in wonder and awe-stricken expectation. The change to the poet in +the manner of communicating with his hearers, alters the character of +the composition. The stage trodden by living feet, the scenery, voices +from human tongues varying with all the changes of emotion, impassioned +gestures, and events no longer spoken of, but transacted in presence, +before the eyes of the audience, are elements full of power, that claim +for tragedy and impose upon it a character of its own. The heart is more +interested, and the imagination less. Persons who accompany the whole +business that is to be done, with speaking--a poem consisting of +incessant dialogue--must disclose, with more precise and profounder +discovery, the minds represented as engaged. Motives are produced and +debated--the sudden turns of thought--the violent fluctuations of the +passions--the gentle variations of the feelings, appear. Time is given +for this internal display--and a species of poetry arises, distinguished +for the fulness and the decision with which the springs of action in the +human bosom are shown as breaking forth into, and determining, human +action. Meanwhile, the means that are thus afforded to the poet of a +more energetic representation, curb in him the flights of imagination. +To represent Neptune as at three strides from his seat on a mountain-top +descending the slope, that with all its woods quakes under the immortal +feet, and as reaching at the fourth step his wave-covered palace--this, +which was easy between the epic poet and his hearer, becomes out of +place and impossible for tragedy, simply because no actors and no stage +can represent a god so stepping and the hills so trembling. We know what +the pathetically sublime literature was which the drama gave to Athens; +how poets of profound and capacious spirits, who had looked into +themselves--and, so enlightened, had observed human life--were able, by +taking for their subjects the strongly portrayed characters and the +stern situations of the old Greek fable, to unite in their lofty and +impressive scenes the truth of nature and the tender interests which +endear our familiar homes, to the grandeur of heroic recollections, to +the awe of religion, and to the pomp, the magnificence, and the beauty +of a gorgeous yet intellectual art. + +The Greek Tragic drama is from end to end in verse; and unavoidably, +because 'tis a part of a splendid religious celebration. It is involved +in the solemn pomp of a festival. Therefore it dons its own solemn +festival robes. The musical form is our key to the spirit. And in that +varying musical form there are three degrees--first, the Iambic, nearest +real speech--second, the Lyrical dialogue, farther off--third, the full +Chorus--utmost removal. Pray, do not talk to us of the naturalness of +the language. You never heard the like spoken in all your days. Natural +it was on that stage--and over the roofless theatre the tutelary deities +of Athens leant listening from the sky. + +The model, or law, or self of the English drama, is _Shakspeare_. The +character of his drama is, the imaging of nature. A foremost +characteristic of nature is infinite and infinitely various production, +expressing or intimating an indefatigably and inexhaustibly active +spirit. But such a spirit of life, so acting and producing, appears to +us as a fountain, ever freshly flowing from the very hand of God. All +_that_ Shakspeare's drama images; and thus his art appears to us, as +always the highest art appears to us to be, a Divine thing. The musical +forms of his language should answer; and they do. They are; first, +prose; second, loose blank verse; third, tied blank verse; fourth, +rhyme.[1] This unbounded variety of the musical form really seems to +answer to the premised idea; seems really to clothe infinite and +infinitely varied intellectual production. Observe, we beseech you, what +varieties of music! The rhyme--ay, the rhyme--has a dozen at +least;--couplets--interlaced rhyme--single rhyme and +double--anapests--diverse lyrical measures. Observe, too, that speakers +of all orders and characters use all the forms. Hamlet, Othello, Lear, +Coriolanus, Lance, use prose; Leontes and his little boy, Lear, +Coriolanus, and his domestics--to say nothing of the Steward--Macbeth +and his murderlings, use blank verse. Even Falstaff, now and then, a +verse. All, high and low, wise, merry, and sad, _rhyme_. Fools, witches, +fairies--we know not who else--use lyrical measures. Upon the whole, the +_uttermost_--that is, the musical form--answers herein to the +_innermost_ spirit. The spirit, endlessly-varying, creates +endlessly-varying musical form. The total character is accordingly +self-lawed, irrepressible creation. + +Blank verse, then, is the predominating musical form of Shakspeare's +comedies, histories, and tragedies. To such a degree as that _all_ the +other forms often slip from one's recollection; and, to speak strictly, +blank verse must be called the rule; while all other forms are diverse +exceptions. + +Only one comedy, the homely and English "Merry Wives of Windsor," has, +for its rule, prose. Even here the two true lovers hold their few short +colloquies in blank verse. And when the concluding fairy masque is +toward, blank verse rages. Page and Ford catch it. The merry wife, Mrs +Page, turns poetess to describe and project the superstitions to be +used. In the fairy-scene Sir John himself, Shakspeare's most dogged +observer of prose, is quelled by the spirit of the hour, and RHYMES. You +would think that the soul of Shakspeare has been held chained through +the play, and breaks loose for a moment ere ending it. All this being +said, it may be asked:--"Why is blank verse the ordinary musical form of +Shakspeare's Dramas?" And the obvious answer appears to be:--"Because it +has a _middle removedness_ or _estrangement_ from the ordinary speech of +men:--raising the language into imagination, and yet not out of +sympathy." + +Shakspeare and Sophocles agree in truth and strength, in life, passion, +and imagination. They differ inwardly herein--Shakspeare founds in the +power of nature. Under his hand nature brings forth art. The Attic +tragedy begins from art. Its first condition is order, since it is part +of a religious ceremonial. It resorts to nature, to quicken, strengthen, +bear up art. Nature enters upon the Athenian stage, under a previous +recognition of art as dominant. + +From all that has been now said--and it is more than we at first +intended to say--this conclusion follows, that there may be English +rhymed dramas. There are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian ones--and +fine ones too; and nothing in nature forbids that there may be +infinitely finer. That which universally affects off the stage, in all +kinds of poetry, would, in the work of a great master, affect on it. The +delusion of the theatre overcomes far greater difficulties carried with +us thither in the constitution of our habitual life, than the use of +rhyme by the visionary beings in the mimic scene. Beyond all doubt there +might arise in rhyme a most beautiful romantic drama. Unreal infused +into real, turns real at once into poetry. But this is of all degrees. +In the lowest prose of life there is an infusion which we overlook. We +should drop down dead without it. Let the unreal a little predominate; +and now we become sensible to its presence, and now we _call_ the +compound poetry. Let it be an affair of words, and we require verse as +the fitting form. Our stage and language have settled upon blank verse +as the proper metrical form for the proper measure of the unreal upon +the ordinary tragic stage. Rhymed verse has a more marked separation, or +is more distant from prose than blank verse is. Hence, you might suppose +that it will be fitted on the stage for a surcharge of the unreal. +Dryden's heroic tragedies are a proof, as far as one authority goes; and +even they had great power over audiences willing to be charmed, and +accustomed to what we should think a wide and continued departure from +nature. But imagine a romantic play, full of beautiful and tender +imagination, exquisitely written in rhyme, and modelled to some suitable +mould invented by a happy genius. Why, the "Gentle Shepherd," idealizing +modern Scottish pastoral life, was, in its humble way, an achievement; +and, within our memory, critics of the old school looked on it well +pleased when acted by lads and lasses of high degree, delighting to deem +themselves for an evening the simple dwellers in huts around Habbie's +How. + +Let us now collect together all that Dryden has, in different moods of +his unsettled and unsteady mind, written about Shakspeare. In the +Dialogue formerly spoken of, comparisons are made between the modern +English and the modern French drama. "If you consider the plots," says +Neander, "our own are fuller of variety, if the writing, ours are more +quick and fuller of spirit." And he denies--like a bold man as he +was--that the English have in aught imitated or borrowed from the +French. He says our plots are weaved in English looms; we endeavour +therein to follow the variety and greatness of characters, which are +derived to us from Shakspeare and Fletcher; the copiousness and +well-knitting of the intrigues we have from Jonson. These two things he +dares affirm of the English drama, that with more variety of plot and +character, it has equal regularity; and that in most of the irregular +plays of Shakspeare and Fletcher, (for Ben Jonson's are for the most +part regular,) there is a more masculine fancy and greater spirit in the +writing, than there is in any of the French. For a pattern of a perfect +play, he is proposing to examine "the Silent Woman" of Jonson, the most +careful and learned observer of the dramatic laws, when he is requested +by Eugenius to give in full Ben's character. He agrees to do so, but +says it will first be necessary to speak somewhat of Shakspeare and +Fletcher; "his rivals in poesy, and one of them, in my opinion, at least +his equal, perhaps his superior." Malone observes, that the caution +observed in this decision, proves the miserable taste of the age; and +Sir Walter, that Jonson, "by dint of learning and arrogance, fairly +bullied the age into receiving his own character of his merits, and that +he was not the only person of the name that has done so." This is coming +it rather too strong; yet to stand well with others there is nothing +like having a good opinion of one's-self, and proclaiming it with the +sound of a trumpet. + + "To begin, then, with Shakspeare. He was the man who, of all modern + and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive + soul; all the images of nature were still present to him, and he + drew them, not laboriously but luckily; when he describes any + thing, you more than see it--you feel it too. Those who accuse him + to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was + naturally learned, he needed not the spectacles of books to read + nature, he looked inwards and found her there. I cannot say he is + every where alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare + him with the greatest of mankind. He is many times flat and + insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious + swelling into bombast. But he is always great when some great + occasion is presented to him--no man can say he ever had a fit + subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above + the rest of poets, + + 'Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.' + + "The consideration of this made Mr Hales of Eton say, that there + was no subject of which any poet ever writ, but he would produce it + much better done in Shakspeare: and, however others are now + generally preferred before him, yet the age wherein he lived, which + had contemporaries with him, Fletcher, and Jonson, never equalled + them to him in their esteem; and in the last king's court, when + Ben's reputation was at highest, Sir John Suckling, and with him + the greater part of the courtiers, set our Shakspeare far above + him. + + "Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am next to speak, had, with the + advantage of Shakspeare's wit, which was their precedent, great + natural gifts, improved by study. Beaumont, especially, being so + accurate a judge of plays, that Ben Jonson while he lived submitted + all his writings to his censure, and, 'tis thought, used his + judgment in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots. What + value he had for him appeared by the verses he writ to him, and + therefore I need speak no further of it. The first play that + brought Fletcher and him into esteem was their 'Philaster;' for + before that they had written two or three very unsuccessfully, as + the like is reported of Ben Jonson before he writ 'Every Man in his + Humour.' Their plots were generally more regular than Shakspeare's, + especially those which were made before Beaumont's death; and they + understood and imitated the conversation of gentlemen much better, + whose wild debaucheries and quickness of wit in repartee no poet + before them could paint as they have done. Humour, which Ben Jonson + derived from particular persons, they made it not their business to + describe; they represented all the passions very lively, but, above + all, love. I am apt to believe the English language in them arrived + to the highest perfection--what words have since been taken in are + rather superfluous than ornamental. Their plays are now the most + pleasant and frequent entertainments of the stage, two of theirs + being acted through the year for one of Shakspeare's or Jonson's; + the reason is, because there is a certain gaiety in their comedies, + and pathos in their more serious plays, which suits generally with + all men's humours. Shakspeare's language is likewise a little + obsolete, and Ben Jonson's wit comes short of theirs. + + "As for Jonson, to whose character I am now arrived, if we look + upon him while he was himself, (for his last plays were but his + dotages,) I think him the most learned and judicious writer which + any theatre ever had. He was a most severe judge; of himself as + well as others. One cannot say he wanted wit, but rather that he + was frugal of it in his works; you find little to retouch or alter. + Wit and language, and humour also, in some measure, we had before + him; but something of art was wanting to the drama till he came. He + managed his strength to more advantage than any who succeeded him. + You seldom find him making love in any of his scenes, or + endeavouring to move the passions; his genius was too sullen and + saturnine to do it gracefully, especially when he knew he came + after those who had performed both to such an height. Humour was + his proper sphere, and in that he delighted most to represent + mechanic people. He was deeply conversant in the ancients, both + Greek and Latin, and he borrowed boldly from them. There is scarce + a poet or historian among the Roman authors of those times, whom he + has not translated in 'Sejanus' and 'Catiline.' But he has done his + robberies so openly, that one may see he fears not to be taxed by + any law. He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft + in other poets is only victory in him. With the spoils of those + writers he so represents old Rome to us, in its rites, ceremonies, + and customs, that, if one of their poets had written either of his + tragedies, we had seen less of it than in him. If there was any + fault in his language it was, that he weaved it too closely and + laboriously, in his comedies especially. Perhaps, too, he did a + little too much Romanize our tongue, leaving the words, which he + translated, almost as much Latin as he found them; wherein, though + he learnedly followed their language, he did not enough follow with + the idiom of ours. If I would compare him with Shakspeare, I must + acknowledge him the more correct poet, but Shakspeare the greater + wit. Shakspeare was the Homer, or father, of our dramatic poets; + Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing. I admire + him, but I love Shakspeare. To conclude of him, as he has given us + the most correct plays, so, in the precepts which he has laid down + in his 'Discoveries,' we have as many and profitable rules for + perfecting the stage as any wherewith the French can furnish us." + +Samuel Johnson truly says of the Dialogue, "that it will not be easy to +find, in all the opulence of our language, a treatise so artfully +variegated with successive representations of opposite probabilities, so +enlivened with imagery, and heightened with illustration." But we have +some difficulty in going along with him when he adds--"The account of +Shakspeare may stand as a perpetual model of encomiastic criticism, +exact without minuteness, and lofty without exaggeration. The praise +lavished by Longinus on the attestation of the heroes of Marathon by +Demosthenes, fades away before it. In a few lines is exhibited a +character, so sublime in its comprehension, and so curious in its +limitations, that nothing can be added, diminished, or reformed; nor +can the editors and admirers of Shakspeare, in all their emulation of +reverence, boast of much more than of having diffused and paraphrased +his epitome of excellence; of having changed Dryden's gold for baser +metal, of lower value, though of greater bulk." Since this great +critic's day--ay, with all his defects and perversities, Samuel was a +great critic--what a blaze of illumination has been brought to bear on +the genius of Shakspeare! Nevertheless, all honour to Glorious John! +Next comes the famous prologue:-- + + As when a tree's cut down, the secret root + Lives under ground, and thence new branches shoot; + So, from old Shakspeare's honour'd dust, this day + Springs up the buds, a new reviving play. + Shakspeare, who (taught by none) did first impart + To Fletcher wit, to labouring Jonson art; + He, monarch-like, gave those, his subjects, law, + And is that nature which they paint and draw. + Fletcher reach'd that which on his heights did grow, + While Jonson crept and gather'd all below. + This did his love, and this his mirth digest; + One imitates him most, the other best. + If they have since outwrit all other men, + 'Tis with the drops which fell from Shakspeare's pen. + The storm which vanish'd on the neighbouring shore, + Was taught by Shakspeare's 'Tempest' first to roar. + That innocence and beauty which did smile + In Fletcher, grew on this enchanted isle. + But Shakspeare's magic could not copied be-- + Within that circle none durst walk but he. + I must confess 'twas bold, nor would you now + That liberty to vulgar wits allow, + Which works by magic supernatural things; + But Shakspeare's power is sacred as a king's. + Those legends from old priesthood were received, + And he them writ as people them believed." + +Strange that he who could write so nobly about Shakspeare, could commit +such an outrage on his divine genius as the play to which this is the +prologue--"The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island," a Comedy. It +was--Dryden tells us, and we must believe him--"originally Shakspeare's; +a poet for whom Sir William D'Avenant had particularly a high +veneration, and whom he first taught me to admire." So the two together, +to show their joint and judicious admiration, set about altering "The +Tempest." Fletcher had imitated it all in vain in his "Sea Voyage;" "the +storm, the desert island, and the woman who had never seen a man, are +all implicit testimonies of it." Few more delightful poets than +Fletcher; but in an evil hour, and deserted by his good genius, did he +then hoist his sail. But now cover your face with your hands--and then +shut your ears. "_Sir John Suckling, a professed admirer of our author, +has followed his footsteps_ in his '_Goblins_;' his Regmella being an +open imitation of Shakspeare's Miranda, and his spirits, _though +counterfeit_, yet are copied from Ariel." But Sir William D'Avenant, "as +he was a man of quick and piercing imagination, soon found that somewhat +might be added to the design of Shakspeare, of which neither Fletcher +nor Suckling had ever thought;" "and this excellent contrivance," he was +pleased, says Dryden with looks of liveliest gratitude, "to communicate +to me, and to desire my assistance in it." You probably knew what was +the "excellent contrivance" by which "the last hand"--the hand after +Suckling's--"was put to it;" so that thenceforth the "Tempest" was to be +let alone in its glory. "The counterpart to Shakspeare's plot, namely, +that of a man who had never seen a woman, that by this means these two +characters of innocence and love might the more illustrate and commend +each other. _I confess that from the very first moment it so pleased me, +that I never writ_ any thing with more delight." Sir Walter says it +seems to have been undertaken chiefly with a view to give room for +scenical decoration, and that Dryden's share in the alteration was +probably little more than the care of adapting it to the stage. But +Dryden's own words contradict that supposition, and he further tells us +that his writings received D'Avenant's daily amendments; "and that is +the reason why it is not so faulty as the rest, which I have done +without the help and correction of so judicious a friend." They wrote +together at the same desk. And Dryden found D'Avenant of "so quick a +fancy, that nothing was proposed to him on which he would not suddenly +produce a thought, extremely pleasant and surprising. * * His +imagination was such as could not easily enter into any other man." It +had been easy enough, he adds, to have arrogated more to himself than +was his due in the writing of the play; but "besides the worthlessness +of the action, which deterred me from it, (there being nothing so base +as to rob the dead of his reputation,) I am satisfied I could never have +received so much honour in being thought the author of any poem, how +excellent soever--as I shall from the joining of my imperfections with +the merit and name of Shakspeare and Sir William D'Avenant." From all +this, and more of the same sort, 'tis plain that Dryden's share in the +composition was at least equal to--we should say, much greater +than--D'Avenant's. + +You must not meddle with Miranda--for she is all our own. Yet we +cheerfully introduce you to her sister, Dorinda, and leave you all alone +by yourselves for an hour's flirtation. Hush! she is describing the +ship! + + "This floating Ram did bear his horns above, + And tied with ribands, ruffling in the wind: + Sometimes he nodded down his head awhile, + And then the waves did heave him to the moon, + He climbing to the top of all the billows; + And then again he curtsied down so low + I could not see him. Till at last, all sidelong + With a great crack, his belly burst in pieces." + +We had but once before handled this performance--some threescore and ten +years ago, when a man of middle age. We dimly remember being amused in +our astonishment. Now that we are beginning to get a little old, we are, +perhaps, growing too fastidious; yet surely it is something very +shocking. Portsmouth Poll and Plymouth Sall--sisters originating at +Yarmouth--when brought into comparison with Miranda and Dorinda of the +enchanted island, to our imagination seem idealized into Vestal virgins. +True, they were famous--when not half seas over--for keeping a quiet +tongue in their mouths: with them mum was the word. Only when drunk as +blazes, poor things, did they, by word or gesture, offend modesty's most +sacred laws. But D'Avenant's and Dryden's daughters are such leering and +lascivious drabs, so dreadfully addicted to innuendoes and _doubles +entendres_ of the most alarming character, that, high as is our opinion +of the intrepidity of British seamen, we should not fear to back the two +at odds against a full-manned jolly-boat from a frigate in the offing +sent in to fill her water-casks. Caliban himself--and what a Caliban he +has become!--fights shy of the plenireps. Why--if it must be so--we give +our arm to his sister Sycorax, a "fearsome dear" no doubt, but what +better could one expect in a misbegotten monster? Oh, the confounding +mysteries of self-degrading genius! + +In the preface to "An Evening's Love; or, the Mock Astrologer," we again +meet with some criticism on Shakspeare. We learn from it that Dryden had +formed the ambitious design of writing on the difference betwixt the +plays of his own age and those of his predecessors on the English stage, +in order to show in what parts of "dramatic poesy we were excelled by +Ben Jonson--I mean, humour and contrivance of comedy; and _in what we +may justly claim precedence of Shakspeare and Fletcher_! namely, in +heroic plays." He had, moreover, proposed to treat "of the improvement +of our language since Fletcher's and Jonson's days, and, consequently, +of our refining the courtship, raillery, and conversation of plays." In +great attempts 'tis glorious even to fail; and assuredly had Dryden +essayed all this, his failure would have been complete. "I would," said +he, with his usual ignorance of his own and his age's worst sins and +defects, "have the characters well chosen, and kept distant from +interfering with each other, which is more than Fletcher _or Shakspeare +did_! * * I think there is no folly so great in any part of our age, as +the superfluity and waste of wit was in some of our predecessors, +particularly Fletcher _and Shakspeare_." Refining the courtship, +raillery, and conversation of plays! We cannot, perhaps, truly say very +much in praise of those qualities in Ben's comedies, admirable as they +are, and superior, in all respects, a thousand times over to the best of +Dryden's and of his contemporaries'; but wilfully blind indeed, or +worse, must the man who could thus write have been to the matchless +grace, vivacity, delicacy, prodigality, and poetry of Shakspeare's +comedy, which as far transcends all the happiest creations of other +men's wit, as the pervading pathos and sublimity of his tragedy all +their happiest inspirations from the holy fountain of ennobling or +pitying tears. + +In its day, the following Epilogue caused a great hubbub-- + + "They, who have best succeeded on the stage, + Have still conform'd their genius to their age. + Thus Jonson did mechanic humours show, + When men were dull, and conversation low. + Then comedy was faultless, but 'twas coarse: + Cobb's tankard was a jest, and Otter's horse. + And, as their comedy, their love was mean; + Except by chance, in some one labour'd scene, + Which must atone for an ill-written play. + They rose, but at their height could seldom stay: + Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; + And they have kept it since by being dead. + But, were they now to write, when critics weigh + Each line, and every word, throughout a play, + None of them, no not Jonson in his height, + Could pass without allowing grains for weight. + Think it not envy that these truths are told-- + Our poet's not malicious, though he's bold. + 'Tis not to brand them that their faults are shown, + But by their errors, to excuse his own. + If love and honour now are higher raised, + 'Tis not the poet, but the age is praised. + Wit's now arrived to a more high degree; + Our native language more refined and free; + Our ladies and our men now speak more wit, + In conversation, than those poets writ. + Then, one of these is, consequently, true; + That what this poet writes comes short of you, + And imitates you ill (which most he fears,) + Or else his writing is not worse than theirs. + Yet, though you judge (as sure the critics will) + That some before him writ with greater skill, + In this one praise he has their fame surpast, + To please an age more gallant than the last." + +Dryden was called over the coals for this sacrilegious Epilogue by +persons ill qualified for censors--among others, by my Lord +Rochester--and was instantly ready with his defence--an "Essay on the +Dramatic Poetry of the Last Age." In it he repeats the senseless +assertion, "that the language, wit, and conversation of our age are +improved and refined above the last;" and he takes care to include among +the writers of the last age, _Shakspeare_, Fletcher, and Jonson. "In +what," he asks "does the refinement of a language principally consist?" + + "Either in rejecting such old words or phrases which are ill + sounding or improper, or in admitting new, which are more proper, + more sounding, and more luxuriant. * * * Malice and partiality set + apart, let any man who understands English, read diligently the + works of _Shakspeare_ and Fletcher, and I dare undertake that he + will find in every page either some solecism of speech, or some + notorious flaw in sense; yet these men are reverenced, when we are + not forgiven. That their wit is great, and many times their + expressions noble, envy itself cannot deny. But the times were + ignorant in which they lived. Poetry was then, if not in its + infancy among us, at least not arrived to its vigour and maturity. + Witness the lameness of their plots, many of which, especially + those they writ first, (for even that age refined itself in some + measure,) were made up of some ridiculous, incoherent story, which + in one play many times took up the business of an age. I suppose I + need not name 'Pericles, Prince of Tyre,' _nor the historical plays + of Shakspeare_, besides many of the rest, as the 'Winter's Tale,' + 'Love's Labour Lost,' 'Measure for Measure,' which were either + founded on impossibilities, or at least so meanly written, that the + comedy neither caused your mirth, nor the serious part your + concernment." + +In all this this rash and wretched folly, Dryden shows his ignorance of +the order in which Shakspeare wrote his plays; and Sir Walter kindly +says, that there will be charity in believing that he was not intimately +acquainted with those he so summarily and unjustly condemns. But +unluckily this nonsense was written during the very time he was said by +Sir Walter to have been "engaged in a closer and more critical +examination of the ancient English poets than he had before bestowed +upon them;" and, from the perusal of Shakspeare, learning that the sole +staple of the drama was "human characters acting from the direct and +energetic influence of human passions." Yet Sir Walter was right; only +Dryden's opinions and judgments kept fluctuating all his life long, too +much obedient to the gusts of whim and caprice, or oftener still to the +irregular influences of an impatient spirit, that could not brook any +opposition from any quarter to its domineering self-will. For in not +many months after, in the Prologue to "Aurengzebe," are these noble +lines-- + + "But spite of all his pride, a secret shame + Invades his heart at Shakspeare's sacred name; + Awed when he hears his godlike Romans rage, + He, in a just despair, would quit the stage, + And to an age less polish'd, more unskill'd, + Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield." + +Less polished--more unskilled! Here, too, he is possessed with the same +foolish fancy as when he said, in the "Defence of the Epilogue,"--"But +these absurdities which those poets committed, may more properly be +called the age's fault than theirs. For besides the want of education +and learning, (which was their particular unhappiness,) they wanted the +benefit of converse. Their audiences were no better, and therefore were +satisfied with what they brought. Those who call theirs the golden age +of poetry, have only this reason for it, that they were then content +with acorns before they knew the use of bread!" Then, after a somewhat +hasty and unconvincing examination of certain incorrectnesses and +meannesses of expression even in Ben Jonson, learned as he was, he asks, +"What correctness after this can be expected from _Shakspeare_ or +Fletcher, who wanted that learning and care which Jonson had? I will +therefore spare myself the trouble of enquiring into their faults, who, +had they lived now, had doubtless written more correctly." Since +Shakspeare's days, too, the English language had been refined, he says, +by receiving new words and phrases, and becoming the richer for them, as +it would be "by importation of bullion." It is admitted, however, that +Shakspeare, Fletcher, and Jonson did indeed beautify our tongue by their +_curiosa felicitas_ in the use of old words, to which it often gave a +rare meaning; but in that they were followed by "Sir John Suckling and +Mr Waller, _who refined upon them_!" But the greatest improvement and +refinement of all, "in this age," is said to have been in wit. Pure wit, +and without alloy, was the wit of the court of Charles the Second, and +of the Clubs. It shines like gold, yea much fine gold, in the works of +all the master play-wrights. Whereas, "Shakspeare, who many times has +written better than any poet in any language, is yet so far from writing +wit always, or expressing that wit according to the dignity of the +subject, that he writes, in many places, below the dullest writers of +ours, or any preceding age. Never did any author precipitate himself +from such height of thought to so low expressions, as he often does. He +is the very Janus of poets; he wears almost every where two faces; and +you have scarce begun to admire the one ere you despise the other." That +the wit "of this age" is much more courtly, may, Dryden thinks, be +easily proved by viewing the characters of gentlemen which were written +in the last. For example--who do you think? Why, MERCUTIO. "Shakspeare +showed the best of his skill in Mercutio; and he said himself that he +was forced to kill him in the third act, to prevent being killed by him. +But for my part I cannot find he was so dangerous a person: I see +nothing in him but what was so exceedingly harmless, that he might have +lived to the end of the play and died in his bed, without offence to any +man." Wit Shakspeare had in common with his ingenious contemporaries; +but theirs, to speak out plainly, "was not that of gentlemen; there was +ever somewhat that was ill-natured and clownish in it, and which +confessed the conversation of the authors." "In this age," Dryden +declares the last and greatest advantage of writing proceeds from +conversation. "In that age" there was "less gallantry;" and "neither did +they (Shakspeare, Ben, and the rest) keep the best company of theirs." +But let the illustrious time-server speak at large. + + "Now, if they ask me, whence it is that our conversation is so much + refined? I must freely, and without flattery, ascribe it to the + court; and in it, particularly to the king, whose example gives a + law to it. His own misfortunes, and the nation's, afforded him an + opportunity, which is rarely allowed to sovereign princes--I mean + of travelling, and being conversant in the most polished courts of + Europe; and, thereby, of cultivating a spirit which was formed by + nature to receive the impressions of a gallant and generous + education. At his return, he found a nation lost as much in + barbarism as in rebellion; and, as the excellency of his nature + forgave the one, so the excellency of his manners reformed the + other. The desire of imitating so great a pattern, first awakened + the dull and heavy spirits of the English from their natural + reservedness; loosened them from their stiff forms of conversation, + and made them easy and pliant to each other in discourse. Thus, + insensibly, our way of living became more free; and the fire of the + English wit, which was before stifled under a constrained, + melancholy way of breeding, began first to display its force by + mixing the solidity of our nation with the air and gaiety of our + neighbours. This being granted to be true, it would be a wonder if + the poets, whose work is imitation, should be the only persons in + three kingdoms who should not receive advantage by it; or, if they + should not more easily imitate the wit and conversation of the + present age than of the past. + + "Let us, therefore, admire the beauties and the heights of + Shakspeare, without falling after him into a carelessness, and, as + I may call it, a lethargy of thought, for whole scenes together." + +Shakspeare lethargic--comatose! + +Sir Walter's admiration of "glorious John" was so much part of his very +nature, that he says, "it is a bold, perhaps presumptuous, task to +attempt to separate the true from the false criticism in the foregoing +essay: for who is qualified to be umpire betwixt Shakspeare and Dryden?" +None that ever breathed, better than his own great and good self. Yet +surely he was wrong in saying, that when Shakspeare wrote for the stage, +"wit was not required." Required or not, there it was in perfection, of +which Dryden, with all his endowments, had no idea. The question is not +as he puts it, were those "audiences incapable of receiving the delights +which a cultivated mind derives from the gradual development of a story, +the just dependence of its parts upon each other, the minute beauties of +language, and the absence of every thing incongruous or indecorous?" +They may have been so, though we do not believe they were. But the +question is, are Shakspeare's Plays, beyond all that ever were written, +distinguished for those very excellences, and free from almost all those +very defects? That they are, few if any will now dare to deny. While +the best of Dryden's own Plays, and still more those of his forgotten +contemporaries, infinitely inferior to Shakspeare's in all those very +excellences, are choke-full of all manner of faults and flagrant sins +against decorum and congruity, in the eyes of mere taste; and with a few +exceptions, according to no rules can be rated high as works of art. The +truth of all this manifestly forced itself upon Sir Walter's seldom +erring judgment, as he proceeded in the composition of the elaborate +note, in which he would fain have justified Dryden even at the expense +of Shakspeare. And, as it now stands, though beautifully written, it +swarms with _non-sequiturs_, and perplexing half-truths. + +In the Preface to "Troilus and Cressida," (1679,) Dryden again--and for +the last time--descants, in the same unsatisfactory strain, on +Shakspeare. Æschylus, he tells us, was held in the same veneration by +the Athenians of after ages as Shakspeare by his countrymen. But in the +age of that poet, the Greek tongue had arrived at its full perfection, +and they had among them an exact standard of writing and speaking; +whereas the English language, even in his (Dryden's) own age, was +wanting in the very foundation of certainty, "a perfect grammar:" so, +what must it have been in Shakspeare's time? + + "The tongue in general is so much refined since then, that many of + his words, and more of his phrases, are scarce intelligible. And of + those which we understand, some are ungrammatical, others coarse; + and his whole style is so pestered with figurative expressions, + that it is as affected as it is obscure. It is true that, in his + latter plays, he had worn off somewhat of the rust; but the tragedy + which I have undertaken to correct was in all probability one of + his first endeavours on the stage.... So lamely is it left to us, + that it is not divided into acts. For the play itself, the author + seems to have begun it with some fire. The characters of Pandarus + and Thersites are promising enough; but, as if he grew weary of his + task, after an entrance or two, he lets them fall; and the latter + part of the tragedy is nothing but a confusion of drums and + trumpets, excursions, and alarms. The persons who give name to the + tragedy are left alive. Cressida is false, and is not punished. + Yet, after all, because the play was Shakspeare's, and that there + appeared in some places of it the admirable genius of the author, I + undertook to remove that heap of rubbish, under which many + excellent thoughts lay wholly buried. Accordingly, I have + remodelled the plot, threw out many unnecessary persons, improved + those which were begun and left unfinished, as Hector, Troilus, + Pandarus, and Thersites, and added that of Andromache. After that, + I made, with no small trouble, an order and connexion of all the + scenes, removing them from the place where they were inartificially + set; and though it was impossible to keep them all unbroken, + because the scene must be sometimes in the city and sometimes in + the court, yet I have so ordered them, that there is a coherence of + them with one another, and a dependence on the main design: no + leaping from Troy to the Grecian tents, and thence back again, in + the same act, but a due proportion of time allowed for every + motion. I need not say that I have refined the language, which + before was obsolete; but I am willing to acknowledge, that as I + have often drawn his English nearer to our times, so I have + sometimes conformed my own to his; and consequently, the language + is not altogether so pure as it is significant." + +John Dryden and Samuel Johnson resemble one another very strongly in +their treatment of Shakspeare. Both of them seem at times to have +perfectly understood and felt his greatness, and both of them have +indited glorious things in its exaltation. Their praise is the utterance +of worship. You might believe them on their knees before an idol. But +theirs is a strange kind of reverence. It alternates with derision, and +is compatible with contempt. The god sinks into the man and the man is a +barbarian, babbling uncouth speech. "Coarse," "ungrammatical," +"obscure," "affected," "unintelligible," "rusty!" The words distilled +from the lips of Cordelia, Desdemona, Juliet, Imogen! + +Dryden informs us, that ages after the death of Æschylus, the Athenians +ordained an equal reward to the poets who could alter his plays to be +acted in the theatre, with those whose productions were wholly new, and +of their own. But the case, he laments, is not the same in England, +though the difficulties are greater. Æschylus wrote good Greek, +Shakspeare bad English; and to make it intelligible to a refined +audience was a hard job. Sorely "pestered with figurative expressions" +must have been the transmogrifier; and he had to look for wages, not to +a nation's gratitude, but a manager's greed. It was, indeed, a desperate +expedient for raising the funds. In his judgment the Play itself was but +a poor affair--an attempt by an apprentice, that, to be producible, +required the shaping of a master's hand. "Lamely left" it had to be set +on its feet ere it could tread the stage. With what _nonchalance_ does +he throw out "unnecessary persons," and improve "unfinished!" Hector, +Troilus, Pandarus, and Thersites, skilless Shakspeare had but +begun--artful Dryden made an end of them; Cressida, who was false as she +was fair, yet left alive to deceive more men, became a paragon of truth, +chastity, and suicide; and by an amazing stretch of invention, far +beyond the Swan's, was added Andromache. Dryden proudly announces that +"the scenes of Pandarus and Cressida, of Troilus and Pandarus, of +Andromache with Hector and the Trojans, in the second act, are wholly +new; together with that of Nestor and Ulysses with Thersites, and that +of Thersites with Ajax and Achilles. I will not weary my reader with the +scenes which are added of Pandarus and the lovers in the third, and +those of Thersites, which are wholly altered; but I cannot omit the last +scene in it, which is almost half the act, betwixt Troilus and Hector. I +have been so tedious in three acts, that I shall contract myself in the +two last. The beginning scenes of the fourth act are either added, or +changed wholly by me; the middle of it is Shakspeare's, altered and +mingled with my own; three or four of the last scenes are altogether +new; and the whole fifth act, both the plot and the writing, are my own +additions." O heavens! why was it not all "my own?" + +No human being can have a right to use another in such a way as this. +Shakspeare's plays were then, and are now, as much his own property as +the property of the public--or rather, the public holds them in trust. +Dryden was a delinquent towards the dead. His crime was sacrilege. In +reading _his_ "Troilus and Cressida," you ever and anon fear you have +lost your senses. Bits of veritable Shakspearean gold, burnished +star-bright, embossed in pewter! Diamonds set in dirt! Sentences +illuminated with words of power, suddenly rising and sinking, through a +flare of fustian! Here Apollo's lute--there hurdy-gurdy. + +"For the play itself," said Dryden insolently, "the author seems to have +begun it with some fire;" and here it is continued with much smoke. "The +characters of Pandarus and Thersites are promising enough;" here we +shudder at their performance. Such a monstrous Pandarus would have been +blackballed at the Pimp. Thersites--Shakspeare's Thersites--for Homer's +was another Thersites quite--finely called by Coleridge, "the Caliban of +demagogic life"--loses all individuality, and is but a brutal buffoon +grossly caricatured. The scene between Ulysses and Achilles, with its +wondrous wisdomful speech, is omitted! of itself, worth all the poetry +written between the Restoration and the Revolution. + +Spirit of Glorious John! forgive, we beseech thee, truth-telling +Christopher--but angels and ministers of grace defend us! WHO ART THOU? +Shakspeare's ghost. + + +PROLOGUE, SPOKEN BY MR BETTERTON, REPRESENTING THE GHOST OF SHAKSPEARE. + + "See, my loved Britons, see your Shakspeare rise, + An awful ghost confess'd to human eyes! + Unnamed, methinks, distinguish'd I had been + From other shades, by this eternal green, + About whose wreaths the vulgar poets strive, + And, with a touch, their wither'd bays revive. + Untaught, unpractised, in a barbarous age, + I found not, but created first the stage; + And if I drain'd no Greek or Latin store, + 'Twas that my own abundance gave me more. + On foreign trade I needed not rely, + Like fruitful Britain, rich without supply. + In this my rough-drawn play you shall behold + Some master-strokes, so manly and so bold, + That he who meant to alter, found 'em such, + He shook, and thought it sacrilege to touch. + Now, where are the successors to my name? + What bring they to fill out a poet's fame? + Weak, short-lived issues of a feeble age; + Scarce living to be christen'd on the stage! + For humour farce, for love they rhyme dispense, + That tolls the knell for their departed sense. + Dulness, that in a playhouse meets disgrace, + Might meet with reverence in its proper place. + The fulsome clench that nauseates the town, + Would from a judge or alderman go down-- + Such virtue is there in a robe and gown! + And that insipid stuff which here you hate, + Might somewhere else be call'd a grave debate: + Dulness is decent in the church and state. + But I forget that still 'tis understood + Bad plays are best decried by showing good. + Sit silent, then, that my pleased soul may see + A judging audience once, and worthy me. + My faithful scene from true records shall tell, + How Trojan valour did the Greek excel; + Your great forefathers shall their fame regain, + And Homer's angry ghost repine in vain." + +The best hand of any man that ever lived, at prologue and epilogue, was +Dryden. And here he showed himself to be the boldest too; and above fear +of ghosts. For though it was but a make-believe, it must have required +courage in Shakspeare's murderer to look on its mealy face. The ghost +speaks well--nobly--for six lines--though more like Dryden's than +Shakspeare's. _That_ was not his style when alive. The seventh line +would have choked him, had he been a mere light-and-shadow ghost. But in +death never would he thus have given the lie to his life. "Untaught," he +might have truly said--for he had no master. "Unpractised!" Nay, +"Troilus and Cressida" sprang from a brain that had teemed with many a +birth. "A barbarous age!" Read--"Great Eliza's golden time," when the +sun of England's genius was at meridian. "Sacrilege to touch!" Prologue +had not read Preface. Little did the "injured ghost" suspect the +spectacle that was to ensue. Much of what follows is, in worse degree, +Drydenish all over. Sweetest Shakspeare scoffed not so! + +Suppose Shakspeare's ghost to have slipped quietly into the manager's +box to witness the performance. Poets after death do not lose all memory +of their own earthly visions. Thoughts of the fairest are with them in +Paradise. At first sight of Dorinda he would have bolted. + +Dryden says, that "he knew not to distinguish the blown puffy style from +true sublimity." He would then have done so, and no mistake. "The fury +of his fancy often transported him beyond the bounds of judgment, either +in coining of new words and phrases, or racking words which were in use, +into the violence of catachresis." His ears would have been jarred by +Prospero's "polite conversation," so unlike what he, who had not "kept +the best society," was confined to "in a barbarous age." Yet Dryden +confessed that he "understood the nature of the passions," and "made his +characters distinct;" so that "his failings were not so much in the +passions themselves, as in his manner of expression." Unfortunately, his +vocabulary was neither choice nor extensive, and he "often obscured his +meaning by his words, and sometimes made it unintelligible." + + "To speak justly of this whole matter: it is neither height of + thought that is discommended, nor pathetic vehemence, nor any + nobleness of expression in its proper place; but it is a false + measure of all these, something which is like them, and is not + them; it is the Bristol stone, which appears like a diamond; it is + an extravagant thought instead of a sublime one; it is a roaring + madness instead of vehemence; a sound of words instead of sense. If + Shakspeare were stripped of all the bombasts in his passions, and + dressed in the most vulgar words, we should find the beauties of + his thoughts remaining; if his embroideries were burnt down, there + would still be silver at the bottom of the melting-pot, but I fear + (at least let me fear it for myself) that we, who ape his sounding + words, have nothing of his thought, but are all outside; there is + not so much as dwarf within our giant's clothes. Therefore, let not + Shakspeare suffer for our sakes; it is our fault, who succeed him + in an age that is more refined, if we imitate him so ill that we + copy his failings only, and make a virtue of that in our writings + which in his was an imperfection. + + "For what remains, the excellency of that poet was, as I have said, + in the more manly passions; Fletcher's in the softer. Shakspeare + writ better betwixt man and man; Fletcher betwixt man and woman: + consequently the one described friendship better--the other love. + Yet Shakspeare taught Fletcher to write love; and Juliet and + Desdemona are originals. It is true, the scholar had the softer + soul, but the master had the kinder. Friendship is both a virtue + and a passion essentially; love is passion only in its nature, and + is not a virtue but by accident: good-nature makes friendship, but + effeminacy love. Shakspeare had an universal mind, which + comprehended all characters and passions; Fletcher, a more confined + and limited: for though he treated love in perfection, yet honour, + ambition, revenge, and generally all the stronger passions, he + either touched not, or not masterly. To conclude all he was a limb + of Shakspeare." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: The prose even is, in its music, rude in ordinary folks--or +_artful_, as in Hamlet's admiration of the world.] + + + + +THE TOWER OF LONDON.--A POEM. + +BY THOMAS ROSCOE. + + +PART I. + + Proud Julian towers! ye whose grey turrets rise + In hoary grandeur, mingling with the skies-- + Whose name--thought--image--every spot are rife + With startling legends--themes of death in life! + Recall the voices of wrong'd spirits fled-- + Echoes of life that long survived their dead; + And let them tell the history of thy crimes, + The present teach, and warn all future times. + + Time's veil withdrawn, what tragedies of woe + Loom in the distance, fill the ghastly show! + Oh, tell what hearts, torn from light's cheering ray, + Within thy death-shades bled their lives away; + What anxious hopes, strifes, agonies, and fears, + In thy dread walls have linger'd years on years-- + Still mock'd the patient prisoner as he pray'd + That death would shroud his woes--too long delay'd! + + Could the great Norman, with prophetic eye, + Have scann'd the vista of futurity, + And seen the cell-worn phantoms, one by one, + Rise and descend--the father to the son-- + Whose purest blood, by treachery and guilt, + On thy polluted scaffolds has been spilt, + Methinks Ambition, with his subtle art, + Had fired his hero to a nobler part. + Yes! curst Ambition--spoiler of mankind-- + That with thy trophies lur'st the dazzled mind, + That 'neath the gorgeous veil thy conquests weave, + Would'st hide thy form, and Reason's eye deceive-- + By what strange spells still dost thou rule the mind + That madly worships thee, or, tamely blind, + Forbears to fathom thoughts, that at thy name + Should kindle horror, and o'erwhelm with shame. + + Alas, that thus the human heart should pay + Too willing homage to thy bloody sway; + Should stoop submissive to a fiend sublime + And venerate e'en the majesty of crime! + How soon to those that tempt thee art thou near-- + To prompt, direct, and steel the heart to fear! + Oh, not to such the voice of peace shall speak, + Nor placid zephyr fan their fever'd cheek; + Sleep ne'er shall seal their hot and blood-stain'd eye, + But conscious visions ever haunt them nigh; + Grandeur to them a faded flower shall be, + Wealth but a thorn, and power a fruitless tree; + And, as they near the tomb, with panting breast, + Shrink from the dread unknown, yet hope no rest! + + Stern towers of strength! once bulwarks of the land, + When feudal power bore sway with sovereign hand-- + Frown ye no more--the glory of the scene-- + Sad, silent witness of what crimes have been! + Accurst the day when first our Norman foe + Taught Albion's high-born Saxon sons to bow + 'Neath victor-pride and insolence--learn to feel + What earth's dark woes--when abject vassals kneel; + And worse the hour when his remorseless heir, + Alike uncheck'd by heaven, or earthly prayer, + With lusts ignoble, fed by martial might, + Usurp'd man's fair domains and native right. + + Ye generous spirits that protect the brave, + And watch the seaman o'er the crested wave, + Cast round the fearless soul your glorious spell, + That fired a Hampden and inspired a Tell-- + Why left ye Wallace, greatest of the free, + His hills' proud champion--heart of liberty-- + Alone to cope with tyranny and hate, + To sink at last in ignominious fate? + Sad Scotia wept, and still on valour's shrine + Our glistening tears, like pearly dewdrops, shine, + To tell the world how Albyn's hero bled, + And treasure still the memory of her dead. + Whose prison annals speak of thrilling deeds, + How truth is tortured and how genius bleeds? + Whose eye dare trace them down the tragic stream-- + Mark what fresh phantoms in the distance gleam, + As dark and darker o'er th' ensanguined page + The ruthless deed pollutes each later age? + See where the rose of Bolingbroke's rich bloom + Fades on the bed of martyr'd Richard's tomb! + Look where the spectre babes, still smiling fair, + Spring from the couch of death to realms of air! + Oh, thought accurst! that uncle, guardian, foe, + Should join in one to strike the murderous blow. + Ask we for tears from pity's sacred fount? + "Forbear!" cries vengeance--"that is my account." + There is a power--an eye whose light can span + The dark-laid schemes of the vain tyrant, man. + Lo! where it pierces through the shades of night, + And all its hideous secrets start to light-- + In vain earth's puny conquerors heaven defy-- + Their kingdom's dust, and but one throne on high. + See heaven's applause support the virtuous wrong'd, + And 'midst his state the despot's fears prolong'd. + Thou tyrant, yes! the declaration God + Himself hath utter'd--"I'm the avenging rod!" + Words wing'd with fate and fire! oh, not in vain + Ye cleft the air, and swept Gomorrah's plain, + When, dark idolatry unmask'd, she stood + The mark of heaven--a fiery solitude! + And still ye sped--still mark'd the varied page + In every time--through each revolving age-- + Wherever man trampled his fellow man, + Unscared by crimes, ye marr'd his ruthless plan-- + Still shall ye speed till time has pass'd away, + And retribution reigns o'er earth's last day. + + Methinks I hear from each relentless stone + The spirits of thy martyr'd victims groan, + And eager whispers Echo round each cell + The oft repeated legend, and re-dwell, + With the same fondness that bespeaks delight + In childhood's heart, when on some winter's night, + As stormy winds low whistle through the vale, + It shuddering lists the thrilling ghostly tale. + It seems but now that blood was spilt, whose stain + Proclaims the dastard soul--the bloody reign + Of the Eighth Harry--vampire to his wife, + Who traffick'd for his divorce with her life; + So fresh, so moist, each ruddy drop appears + Indelible through centuries of years! + And who is this whose beauteous figure moves, + Onward to meet the reeking form she loves; + Whose noble mien--whose dignity of grace, + Extort compassion from each gazing face? + 'Tis Dudley's bride! like some fair opening flower + Torn from its stem--she meets fate's direst hour; + Still unappall'd she views that bloody bier, + Takes her last sad farewell without a tear. + + Each weeping muse hath told how Essex died, + Favourite and victim, doom'd by female pride. + How courtly Suffolk spent his latest day, + And dying Raleigh penn'd his deathless lay. + Here noble Strafford too severely taught + How dearly royal confidence is bought; + Received the warrant which demands his breath, + And with a calm composure walk'd--to death. + Nor 'mong the names that liberty holds dear, + Shall the great Russell be forgotten here; + His country's boast--each patriot's honest pride-- + For them he lived--for them he wept and died. + + And must we yet another page unfold, + To glean fresh moral from the deeds of old? + Ye busy spirits that pervade the air, + And still with dark intents to earth repair; + That goad the passions of the human breast, + And bear the missives of Fate's stern behest-- + Say, stifle ye those thoughts that Heaven reveals-- + The tears of sympathy--the glow that steals + O'er the young heart, or prompts soft pity's sigh-- + The prayer to snatch from harsh captivity + The virtuous doom'd--teach but to praise--admire-- + Forbid to catch one spark of generous fire? + The godlike wish of genius, man to bless, + With rank and wealth still leaguing to oppress! + Oh! when shall glory wreathe bright virtue's claim, + And both to honour give a holier fame? + + Ye towers of death!--the noblest still your prey, + Here spent in solitude their sunless day; + In your wall'd graves a living doom they found; + Broke o'er their night no ray, no gladd'ning sound. + Yet the mind's splendour, with imprison'd wings, + Rose high, and shone where the pure seraph sings; + Where human thought taught conscience it was free, + And burst the shackles of the Romish See. + Oh, sweetest liberty! how dear to die! + Bound by each sacred link;, each holy tie; + To save unspotted from the spoiler's hand, + Child of our heart--our own--our native land! + And, oh! how dear life's latest drop to shed, + To free the minds by superstition led;-- + To spread with holy earnest zeal abroad, + That priceless gem--freedom to worship God! + To keep unmingled with the world's vain lore, + The faith that lightens every darken'd hour; + That faith which can alone the sinner save, + Prepare for death, and raise him from the grave; + Show how, by yielding all, we surest prove, + How humbly, deeply, truly, we can love; + How much we prize that hope divinely given, + The key--the seal--the passport into heaven. + +PART II. + + What sudden blaze spreads through the crimson skies, + And still in loftier volumes seems to rise? + What meteor gleams, that from the fiery north, + In savage grandeur fast are bursting forth, + And light your very walls? Tell me, ye Towers-- + 'Tis Smithfield revelling in his festal hours, + Fed with your captives: shrieks that wildly pierce + The roaring flames now undulating fierce, + And gasping struggles, mingled groans, proclaim + The power of torture o'er the writhing frame. + Dark are your dens, and deep your secret cells, + Whose silent gloom your tale of horrors tells. + Saw ye how Cranmer dared--yet fear'd to die, + Trembling 'mid hopes of immortality? + He stood alone;--a brighter band appears + Unaw'd by threats--impregnable to fears; + Who suffer'd glad the sacred truth to spread, + In mild obedience to its fountain-head. + And when at length our popish James would see + Cold superstition bend th' unhallow'd knee, + The mystic tapers on our altars burn, + And clouds of incense shade the fragrant urn, + Shone England's prelates faithful to their call, + In bonds of truth within thy massive wall. + See grace divine--see Heaven in mercy pour, + The balm of peace on Albion's boasted shore. + + Once wrought by captive fingers on thy wall, + The hero's home and prison, grave and pall, + What dark lines meet the startled stranger's gaze, + Thoughts that ennoble--sentiments that raise + The iron'd captive from captivity, + How high above the power of tyranny!-- + And ye that wander by the evening tide, + Where mountains swell or mossy streamlets glide; + That on fresh hills can hail morn's orient ray, + And chant with birds your grateful hymns to day; + Or seek at noon, beneath some pleasant shade, + To feel the sunbeams cool'd by leafy glade-- + That free as air, morn, noon, and eve, can roam, + Where'er you list, and nature call your home; + Learn from a hopeless prisoner's words and fate, + "Virtue is valour--to be patient, great!" + When traced on prison walls, such words as these + Arrest the eye--appall e'en while they please-- + "Ah! hapless he who cannot bear the weight, + With patient heart of a too partial fate, + For adverse times and fortunes do not kill, + But rash impatience of impending ill." + + Yes, still they speak to bosoms that are free + Within the girdle of captivity; + Of spirits dauntless, who could spurn the chain + Of human punishment or mortal pain; + That e'en amid these precincts of despair, + Dared free themselves from thraldom's jealous care-- + Bound but by ties of faith and virtue, be + Heirs of bright hopes and immortality. + Oh! great mind's proud inscriptions! Who shall tell + What hand engraved those lines within that cell? + What heart yet steadfast while around him stood + Phantoms of death to chill his curdling blood, + Could battle with despair on reason's throne, + And conquer where the fiend would reign alone? + Ah! who can tell what sorrows pierced his breast-- + Ran through each vein, usurp'd his hours of rest? + What struggle nerved his trembling hand to trace + With moral courage words he dared to face + With acts that ask'd new efforts while he wrote + To man his soul and fix his every thought! + Tremble, thou tyrant! proud ambition, blush! + Hearts such as these thy power can never crush. + Are they forgotten? no, the rugged stone, + The lap of earth on which they rested lone; + The very implements of torture there-- + The axe, the rack, the tyrant's jealous care; + Each mark that meets successive ages' eyes + Speaks, trumpet-tongued, a fame that never dies; + And tells the thoughtful stranger, while the tear + Unbidden starts, that freedom triumph'd here-- + Plumed her immortal wings for nobler flight, + And bore her martyr'd brave to realms of light. + Nor false their faith, nor like the fleeting wind, + Their spirits fled! for theirs the unprison'd mind, + No tyrant-chains, no bonds of earth and time, + Could hold from truth and freedom's heights sublime-- + From that bright heaven of science, whence they shed + Fresh glory o'er man's cause for which they bled. + Ask what is left? their names forgotten now? + Their birth, their fortune? not a trace to show + Where sleeps their dust? Go, seek the blest abode, + Their mind's pure joy, the bosom of their God! + Then tell if in the dull cold prison's air, + And wasted to a living shadow there, + Earth scarcely knew them! if they were alone + Where they were cast, to pine away unknown? + Friends, had they none? nor beam'd a wish to share + Love, friendship, and to breathe the common air. + Lost, lost to all! like some lone desert flower, + Felt they unseen Time's slow consuming power, + And hail'd each parting day with fond delight, + As the tired pilgrim greets the waning light? + + No! glad bright spirits, guardians of the mind, + Were with them; as the demon-powers unbind + And lash their furies on the conscious breast + Of earth's fell tyrants who ne'er dream of rest. + Theirs, too, joy's harbinger, the thoughts aye fed + With brighter objects than of earth, that shed + A light within their narrow home, and gave + A triumph's lustre to the yawning grave. + And in that hour when the proud heart's o'erthrown, + And self all-powerless, self is truly known; + When pride no more could darken the free mind, + But all to God in firm faith was resign'd-- + Then drank their souls the stream of love divine, + More richly flowing than the Eastern mine; + Felt heaven expanding in the heart renew'd, + And more than friends in desert solitude. + + Peace to thy martyrs! thou art frowning now + With all the array of bold and martial show; + The same thy battlements with trophies dress'd, + Present defiance to the hostile breast; + Around thy walls the soldier keeps his ward, + Scared with war's sights no more thy peaceful guard. + Long may ye stand, the voice of other years, + And ope, in future times, no fount of tears + And sorrows like the past, such as have brought + A mournful gloom and shadow o'er the thought; + And if the eye one pitying drop has shed, + That drop is sacred, it embalms the dead. + What though a thousand years have roll'd away + Since thy dread walls entomb'd their noble prey; + To us they speak, ask the warm tear to flow + For ills now pressing and for present woe; + Bid us to succour fellow-men who haste + Along the thorny road of life, and taste + The bitterness of poverty, endure + All that befalls the too neglected poor; + And with no friend, no bounty to assist, + Steal from the world unwept for and unmiss'd. + + What though no dungeon wrap the wasting clay, + Or from the eye exclude the cheering ray; + What though no tortures visibly may tear + The writhing limbs, and leave their signet there; + Has not chill penury a poison'd dart, + Inflicting deeper wounds upon the heart? + All the decrees the sternest fate may bind, + To weigh the courage or display the mind-- + All man could bear, with heart unflinching bear, + Did not a dearer part his sufferings share-- + Worse than the captive's fate--wife, child, his all, + The husband, and the father's name, appall + His very soul, and bid him thrilling feel + Distraction, as he makes the vain appeal. + Upon his brow, where manhood's hand had seal'd + Its perfect dignity, is now reveal'd + A haggard wanness; from his livid eye + The manly fire has faded; cold and dry, + No more it glistens to the light. His thought, + To the last pitch of frantic memory wrought, + Turns to the partner of his heart and woe, + Who, weigh'd with grief, no lesser love can know; + Despair soon haunts the hope that fills his breast, + And passion's flood in tumult is express'd. + + Amid the plains where ample plenty spreads + Her copious stores and decks the yellow meads, + The outcast turns a ghastly look to heaven; + Oh, not for him is Nature's plenty given; + Robb'd of the birthright nature freely gave, + Save that last portion freely left--a grave! + Oh, that another power would rule man's heart, + Uncramp its free-born will in every part; + Mercy more swift, justice more just, more slow, + Grandeur less prone to deal the cruel blow, + To bind men's hands with fetters than with alms, + And spurn the only boon that soothes and calms. + + England! thou dearest child of liberty; + Free as thine ocean home for ever be; + Thy commerce thrive; may thy deserted poor + No more the pangs of poverty endure. + Then shall thy Towers, proud monument! display + The thousand trophies of a happier day; + And genial climes, from earth's remotest shore, + Their richest tributes to her genius pour, + With wealth from Ind, with treasures from the West, + Thy homes, thy hamlets--cities still be blest; + Till virtue, truth, and justice, shall combine, + And heavenly hope o'er many a bosom shine; + Auspicious days hail thy fair Sovereign's reign, + And happy subjects throng their golden train. + + + + +POEMS AND BALLADS OF GOETHE. + +No. III. + + +Goethe, though fertile in poems of the amatory and contemplative class, +was somewhat chary of putting forth his strength in the ballad. We have +already selected almost every specimen of this most popular and +fascinating description of poetry which is at all worthy of his +genius;--at least all of them which we thought likely, after making +every allowance for variety of taste, to fulfil the main object of our +task--to please and not offend. It would have been quite easy for us to +spin out the series by translating the whole section of ballads which +relate to the loves of "the Maid of the Mill," the "Gipsy's Song"--which +somewhat unaccountably has found favour in the eyes of Mrs Austin--and a +few more ditties of a similar nature, all of which we bequeath, with our +best wishes, as a legacy to any intrepid _rédacteur_ who may wish to +follow in our footsteps. For ourselves, we shall rigidly adhere to the +rule with which we set out, and separate the wheat from the chaff, +according to the best of our ability. + +The first specimen of our present selection is not properly German, nor +is it the unsuggested and original product of Goethe's muse. We believe +that it is an old ballad of Denmark; a country which possesses, next to +Scotland, the richest and most interesting store of ancient ballad +poetry in Europe. However, although originally Danish, it has received +some touches in passing through the alembic of translation, which may +warrant us in giving it a prominent place, and we are sure that no lover +of hoar tradition will blame us for its insertion. + + +THE WATER-MAN. + + "Oh, mother! rede me well, I pray; + How shall I woo me yon winsome May?" + + She has built him a horse of the water clear, + The saddle and bridle of sea-sand were. + + He has donn'd the garb of knight so gay, + And to Mary's Kirk he has ridden away. + + He tied his steed to the chancel door, + And he stepp'd round the Kirk three times and four. + + He has boune him into the Kirk, and all + Drew near to gaze on him, great and small. + + The priest he was standing in the quire;-- + "What gay young gallant comes branking here?" + + The winsome maid, to herself said she;-- + "Oh, were that gay young gallant for me!" + + He stepp'd o'er one stool, he stepp'd o'er two; + "Oh, maiden, plight me thy oath so true!" + + He stepp'd o'er three stools, he stepp'd o'er four; + "Wilt be mine, sweet May, for evermore?" + + She gave him her hand of the drifted snow-- + "Here hast thou my troth, and with thee I'll go." + + They went from the Kirk with the bridal train, + They danced in glee, and they danced full fain; + + They danced them down to the salt-sea strand, + And they left them there with hand in hand. + + "Now wait thee, love, with my steed so free, + And the bonniest bark I'll bring for thee." + + And when they pass'd to the white, white sand, + The ships came sailing towards the land; + + But when they were out in the midst of the sound, + Down went they all in the deep profound! + + Long, long on the shore, when the winds were high, + They heard from the waters the maiden's cry. + + I rede ye, damsels, as best I can-- + Tread not the dance with the Water-Man! + +This is strong, pure, rugged Norse, scarcely inferior, we think, in any +way, to the pitch of the old Scottish ballads. + + * * * * * + +Before we forsake the North, let us try "The King in Thule." We are +unfortunate in having to follow in the wake of the hundred translators +of Faust, some of whom (we may instance Lord Francis Egerton) have +already rendered this ballad as perfectly as may be; nevertheless we +shall give it, as Shakspeare says, "with a difference." + + +THE KING IN THULE. + + There was a king in Thule, + Was true till death I ween: + A vase he had of the ruddy gold, + The gift of his dying queen. + + He never pass'd it from him-- + At banquet 'twas his cup; + And still his eyes were fill'd with tears + Whene'er he took it up. + + So when his end drew nearer, + He told his cities fair, + And all his wealth, except that cup, + He left unto his heir. + + Once more he sate at royal board, + The knights around his knee, + Within the palace of his sires, + Hard by the roaring sea. + + Up rose the brave old monarch, + And drank with feeble breath, + Then threw the sacred goblet down + Into the flood beneath. + + He watch'd its tip reel round and dip, + Then settle in the main; + His eyes grew dim as it went down-- + He never drank again. + + * * * * * + +We shall now venture on an extravaganza which might have been well +illustrated by Hans Holbein. It is in the ultra-Germanic taste, such as +in our earlier days, whilst yet the Teutonic alphabet was a mystery, we +conceived to be the staple commodity of our neighbours. We shall never +quarrel with a wholesome spice of superstition; but, really, Hoffmann, +Apel, and their fantastic imitators, have done more to render their +national literature ridiculous, than the greatest poets to redeem it. +The following poem of Goethe is a strange piece of sarcasm directed +against that school, and is none the worse, perhaps, that it somewhat +out-herods Herod in its ghostly and grim solemnity. Like many other +satires, too, it verges closely upon the serious. We back it against any +production of M. G. Lewis. + + +THE DANCE OF DEATH. + + The warder look'd down at the depth of night + On the graves where the dead were sleeping, + And, clearly as day, was the pale moonlight + O'er the quiet churchyard creeping. + One after another the gravestones began + To heave and to open, and woman and man + Rose up in their ghastly apparel! + + Ho--ho for the dance!--and the phantoms outsprung + In skeleton roundel advancing, + The rich and the poor, and the old and the young, + But the winding-sheets hinder'd their dancing. + No shame had these revellers wasted and grim, + So they shook off the cerements from body and limb, + And scatter'd them over the hillocks. + + They crook'd their thighbones, and they shook their long shanks, + And wild was their reeling and limber; + And each bone as it crosses, it clinks and it clanks + Like the clapping of timber on timber. + The warder he laugh'd, though his laugh was not loud; + And the Fiend whisper'd to him--"Go, steal me the shroud + Of one of these skeleton dancers." + + He has done it! and backward with terrified glance + To the sheltering door ran the warder; + As calm as before look'd the moon on the dance, + Which they footed in hideous order. + But one and another seceding at last, + Slipp'd on their white garments and onward they pass'd, + And the deeps of the churchyard were quiet. + + Still, one of them stumbles and tumbles along, + And taps at each tomb that it seizes; + But 'tis none of its mates that has done it this wrong, + For it scents its grave-clothes in the breezes. + It shakes the tower gate, but _that_ drives it away, + For 'twas nail'd o'er with crosses--a goodly array-- + And well was it so for the warder! + + It must have its shroud--it must have it betimes-- + The quaint Gothic carving it catches, + And upwards from story to story it climbs + And scrambles with leaps and with snatches. + Now woe to the warder, poor sinner, betides! + Like a long-legged spider the skeleton strides + From buttress to buttress, still upward! + + The warder he shook, and the warder grew pale, + And gladly the shroud would have yielded! + The ghost had its clutch on the last iron rail + Which the top of the watch-turret shielded. + When the moon was obscured by the rush of a cloud, + ONE! thunder'd the bell, and unswathed by a shroud, + Down went the gaunt skeleton crashing! + + * * * * * + +A very pleasant piece of poetry to translate at midnight, as we did it, +with merely the assistance of a dying candle! + +After this feast of horrors, something more fanciful may not come amiss. +Let us pass to a competition of flowers in the golden, or--if you will +have it so--the iron age of chivalry. The meditations of a captive +knight have been a cherished theme for poets in all ages. Richard the +Lion-heart of England, and James I. of Scotland, have left us, in no +mean verse, the records of their own experience. We all remember how +nobly and how well Felicia Hemans portrayed the agony of the crusader as +he saw, from the window of his prison, the bright array of his Christian +comrades defiling through the pass below. We shall now take a similar +poem of Goethe, but one in a different vein:-- + + +THE FAIREST FLOWER. + +THE LAY OF THE CAPTIVE EARL. + + _The Earl._--I know a floweret passing fair, + And for its loss I pain me; + Fain would I hence to seek its lair, + But for these bonds that chain me. + My woes are aught but light to me, + For when I roam'd unbound and free + That flower was ever near me. + + Adown and round the castle's steep, + I let my glances wander; + But cannot from the dizzy keep, + Descry it, there or yonder. + Oh, he who'd bring it to my sight, + Or were he knave or were he knight, + Should be my friend for ever! + + _The Rose._--I blossom bright thy lattice near, + And hear what thou hast spoken; + 'Tis me--brave, ill-starr'd cavalier-- + The Rose, thou wouldst betoken! + Thy spirit spurns the base, the low, + And 'tis the queen of flowers, I know, + That in thy bosom reigneth. + + _The Earl._--All honour to thy purple cheer, + From swathes of verdure blowing; + And so art though to maidens dear, + As gold or jewels glowing. + Thy wreaths adorn the fairest face, + Yet art thou not the flower, whose grace + In solitude I cherish. + + _The Lily._--A haughty place usurps the rose, + And haughtier still doth covet; + But where the lily meekly blows, + Some gentle eye will love it. + The heart that beats in faithful breast, + And spotless is as my white vest, + Must value me the highest. + + _The Earl._--Spotless and true of heart am I, + And free from sinful failing, + Yet must I here a captive lie, + In loneliness bewailing. + I see an image fair in you + Of many maidens pure and true, + Yet know I something dearer. + + _The Carnation._--That may thy warder's garden show + In me, the bright carnation, + Else would the old man tend me so + With loving adoration? + In perfect round my petals meet, + And lifelong are with scent replete, + And with a burning colour. + + _The Earl._--None may the sweet carnation slight, + It is the gardener's pleasure, + Now he unfolds it to the light, + Now shields from it his treasure. + But no--the flower for which I pant, + No rare, no brilliant charms can vaunt, + 'Tis ever meek and lowly. + + _The Violet._--Conceal'd and bending I retreat, + Nor willingly had spoken, + Yet that same silence, since 'tis meet, + Shall now by me be broken. + If I be that which fills thy thought + Then must I grieve that I may not + Waft every perfume to thee. + + _The Earl._--I love the violet, indeed, + So modest in perfection, + So gently sweet--yet more I need + To soothe my heart's dejection. + To thee alone the truth I'll speak, + That not upon this rock so bleak + Is to be found my darling. + + In yon far vale, earth's truest wife + Sits where the brooks run playing, + And still must wear a woeful life + Till I with her am straying. + When a blue floweret by that spot + She plucks, and says--FORGET-ME-NOT, + I feel it here in bondage. + + Yes, when two truly love, its might + They own and feel in distance, + So I, within this dungeon's night, + Cling ever to existence. + And when my heart is nigh distraught, + If I but say--FORGET-ME-NOT, + Hope burns again within me! + + * * * * * + +Such is constant love--the light even of the dungeon! Nor, to the glory +of human nature be it said, is this a fiction. Witness Picciola--witness +those letters, perhaps the most touching that were ever penned, from +poor Camille Desmoulins to his wife, while waiting for the summons to +the guillotine--witness, above all, that fragment signed Quéret-Démery, +which could not get beyond the sullen walls of the Bastile until fifty +years after the agonizing request was preferred, when that +torture-chamber of cruelty was razed indignantly to the ground--"If, for +my consolation, Monseigneur would grant me, for the sake of God and the +most blessed Trinity, that I could have news of my dear wife! were it +only her name on a card to show that she is yet alive! It were the +sweetest consolation I could receive; and I should for ever bless the +greatness of Monseigneur." Poetry has no such eloquence as this. + +But we must not digress from our author. Here are a few lines of the +deepest feeling and truth, and most appropriate in the hours of +wretchedness-- + + +SORROW WITHOUT CONSOLATION. + + O, wherefore shouldst thou try + The tears of love to dry? + Nay, let them flow! + For didst thou only know, + How barren and how dead + Seems every thing below, + To those who have not tears enough to shed, + Thou'd'st rather bid them _weep_, and seek their comfort so. + + * * * * * + +The following stanzas, though rather inferior in merit, may be taken as +a companion to the above. Their structure reminds us of Cowley. + + +COMFORT IN TEARS. + + How is it that thou art so sad + When others are so gay? + Thou hast been weeping--nay, thou hast! + Thine eyes the truth betray. + + "And if I may not choose but weep, + Is not my grief mine own? + No heart was heavier yet for tears-- + O leave me, friend, alone!" + + Come, join this once the merry band, + They call aloud for thee, + And mourn no more for what is lost, + But let the past go free. + + "O, little know ye in your mirth + What wrings my heart so deep! + I have not lost the idol yet + For which I sigh and weep." + + Then rouse thee and take heart! thy blood + Is young and full of fire; + Youth should have hope and might to win, + And wear its best desire. + + "O, never may I hope to gain + What dwells from me so far; + It stands as high, it looks as bright, + As yonder burning star." + + Why, who would seek to woo the stars + Down from their glorious sphere? + Enough it is to worship them, + When nights are calm and clear. + + "Oh, I look up and worship too-- + My star it shines by day-- + Then let me weep the livelong light + The whilst it is away." + + * * * * * + +A thread from the distaff of Omphale may be stronger than the club of +Hercules. Here is an inconstant Romeo escaped from his Juliet, and yet +unable to shake off the magnetic spell which must haunt him to his dying +day. + + +TO A GOLDEN HEART. + + Pledge of departed bliss, + Once gentlest, holiest token! + Art thou more faithful than thy mistress is, + That ever I must wear thee, + And on my bosom bear thee, + Although the bond that knit her soul with mine is broken? + Why shouldest thou prove stronger? + Short are the days of love, and wouldst thou make them longer? + + Lili! in vain I shun thee! + Thy spell is still upon me. + In vain I wander through the distant forests strange, + In vain I roam at will + By foreign glade and hill, + For, ah! where'er I range, + Beside my heart, the heart of Lili nestles still! + + Like a bird that breaks its twine, + Is this poor heart of mine: + It fain into the summer bowers would fly, + And yet it cannot be + Again so wholly free; + For always it must bear + The token which is there, + To mark it as a thrall of past captivity. + + * * * * * + +Here, again, is Romeo before his escape. Poor Juliet! may we hope that +she still has, and may long possess, the power + + "To lure this tassel-gentle back again." + +Death, indeed, were a gentler fate than desertion. Truth to say, Goethe +would have made but a sorry Romeo, for he wanted the great and leading +virtue of constancy; and yet who can tell what Romeo might have become, +after six months' exile in Mantua? Juliet, we know, had taken the place +of Rosaline. Might not some fairer and newer star have arisen to eclipse +the image of the other? We will not credit the heresy. Far better that +the curtain should fall upon the dying lovers, before one shadow of +doubt or suspicion of infidelity has arisen to perplex the clear bright +mirror of their souls! + + +WELCOME AND DEPARTURE. + + To horse!--away o'er hill and steep! + Into the saddle blithe I sprung; + The eve was cradling earth to sleep, + And night upon the mountains hung. + With robes of mist around him set, + The oak like some huge giant stood, + While, with its hundred eyes of jet, + Peer'd darkness from the tangled wood. + + Amidst a bank of clouds, the moon + A sad and troubled glimmer shed; + The wind its chilly wings unclosed, + And whistled wildly round my head. + Night framed a thousand phantoms dire, + Yet did I never droop nor start; + Within my veins what living fire! + What quenchless glow within my heart! + + We met; and from thy glance a tide + Of stifling joy flow'd into me: + My heart was wholly by thy side, + My every breath was breathed for thee. + A blush was there, as if thy cheek + The gentlest hues of spring had caught, + And smiles so kind for me!--Great powers! + I hoped, yet I deserved them not! + + But morning came to end my bliss; + A long, a sad farewell we took. + What joy--what rapture in thy kiss, + What depth of anguish in thy look! + I left thee, dear! but after me + Thine eyes through tears look'd from above; + Yet to be loved--what ecstacy! + What ecstacy, ye gods, to love! + +Here are three small cabinet pictures of exquisite finish. We have +laboured hard to do justice to them, for the smallest gems are the most +difficult to copy; yet after all we have some doubts of our success. + + +EVENING. + + Peace breathes along the shade + Of every hill, + The tree-tops of the glade + Are hush'd and still; + All woodland murmurs cease, + The birds to rest within the brake are gone. + Be patient, weary heart--anon, + Thou, too, shalt be at peace! + + * * * * * + +A CALM AT SEA. + + Lies a calm along the deep, + Like a mirror sleeps the ocean, + And the anxious steersman sees + Round him neither stir nor motion. + + Not a breath of wind is stirring, + Dread the hush as of the grave-- + In the weary waste of waters + Not the lifting of a wave. + + * * * * * + +THE BREEZE. + + The mists they are scatter'd, + The blue sky looks brightly, + And Eolus looses + The wearisome chain! + The winds, how they whistle! + The steersman is busy-- + Hillio-ho, hillio-ho! + We dash through the billows-- + They flash far behind us-- + Land, land, boys, again! + + * * * * * + +In one of Goethe's little operas, which are far less studied than they +deserve, although replete with grace, melody, and humour, we stumbled +upon a ballad which we at once recognised as an old acquaintance. Some +of our readers may happen to recollect the very witty and popular ditty +called "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship," a peculiar favourite amongst +the lower orders in Scotland, but not, so far as we knew, transplanted +from its native soil. Our surprise, therefore, was great when we +discovered Captain Wedderburn dressed out in the garb of a _Junker_ of +the middle ages, and "bonny Girzie Sinclair," the Laird of Roslin's +daughter, masquerading as a German _Fraülein_. The coincidence, if it be +not plagiary, is so curious, that we have translated the ballad with a +much freer hand than usual, confessing at the same time that the +advantage, in point of humour and gallantry, is clearly on the side of +the old Mid-Lothian ditty. + + +THE CAVALIER'S CHOICE. + + It was a gallant cavalier + Of honour and renown, + And all to seek a ladye-love + He rode from town to town. + Till at a widow-woman's door + He drew the rein so free; + For at her side the knight espied + Her comely daughters three. + + Well might he gaze upon them, + For they were fair and tall; + Ye never have seen fairer + In bower nor yet in hall. + Small marvel if the gallant's heart + Beat quicker in his breast: + 'Twas hard to choose, and hard to lose-- + How might he wale the best? + + "Now, maidens, pretty maidens mine, + Who'll rede me riddles three? + And she who answers best of all + Shall be my own ladye!" + I ween they blush'd as maidens do + When such rare words they hear-- + "Now speak thy riddles, if thou wilt, + Thou gay young Cavalier!" + + "What's longer than the longest path? + First tell ye that to me; + And tell me what is deeper + Than is the deepest sea? + And tell me what is louder + Than is the loudest horn? + And tell me what is sharper + Than is the sharpest thorn? + + "And tell me what is greener + Than greenest grass on hill? + And tell me what is crueller + Than a wicked woman's will?" + The eldest and the second maid, + They sat and thought awhile; + But the youngest she look'd upward, + And spoke with merry smile. + + "O, love is surely longer far + Than the longest paths that be; + And hell, they say, is deeper + Than is the deepest sea; + And thunder it is louder + Than is the loudest horn; + And hunger it is sharper + Than is the sharpest thorn; + I know a deadly poison + More green than grass on hill; + And the foul fiend he is crueller + Than any woman's will!" + Scarce had the maiden spoken + When the youth was by her side, + And, all for what she answer'd him, + Has claim'd her as his bride. + + The eldest and the second maid, + They ponder'd and were dumb; + And there, perchance, are waiting yet + Till another wooer come. + Then, maidens, take this warning word, + Be neither slow nor shy, + And always, when a lover speaks, + Look kindly and reply. + + * * * * * + +The following beautiful verses are from Wilhelm Meister. We shall +venture to call them + + +RETRIBUTION. + + He that with tears did never eat his bread, + He that hath never lain through night's long hours, + Weeping in bitter anguish on his bed-- + He knows ye not, ye dread celestial powers. + Ye lead us onwards into life. Ye leave + The wretch to fall, then yield him up, in woe, + Remorse, and pain, unceasingly to grieve; + For every sin is punished here below. + + * * * * * + +We shall close this number with a series of poems, in imitation, or +rather after the manner of the antique, all of which possess singular +beauty. No man understood or appreciated the exquisite delicacy of the +Greek Anthology better than our author; and although we may, in several +of the versions, have fallen short of the originals, we trust that +enough still remains to convince the reader that we have not exaggerated +their merit. + + +POEMS AFTER THE MANNER OF THE ANTIQUE. + + +THE HUSBANDMAN. + + Lightly doth the furrow fold the golden grain within its breast, + Deeper shroud, old man, shall cover in thy limbs when laid at rest. + Blithely plough and sow as blithely! Here are springs of mortal cheer, + And when e'en the grave is closing, Hope is ever standing near. + + * * * * * + +ANACREON'S GRAVE. + + Where the rose is fresh and blooming--where the vine and myrtle spring-- + Where the turtle-dove is cooing--where the gay cicalas sing-- + Whose may be the grave surrounded with such store of comely grace, + Like a God-created garden? 'Tis Anacreon's resting-place. + Spring and summer and the autumn pour'd their gifts around the bard, + And, ere winter came to chill him, slept he safe beneath the sward. + + +THE BROTHERS. + + Slumber, Sleep--they were two brothers, servants to the Gods above; + Kind Prometheus lured them downwards, ever fill'd with earthly love; + But what Gods could bear so lightly, press'd too hard on men beneath; + Slumber did his brother's duty--Sleep was deepen'd into Death. + + * * * * * + +LOVE'S HOUR-GLASS. + + Eros! wherefore do I see thee, with the glass in either hand? + Fickle God! with double measure wouldst thou count the shifting sand? + "_This_ one flows for parted lovers--slowly drops each tiny bead-- + _That_ is for the days of dalliance, and it melts with golden speed." + + * * * * * + +WARNING. + + Do not touch him--do not wake him! Fast asleep is Amor lying; + Go--fulfil thy work appointed--do thy labour of the day. + Thus the wise and careful mother uses every moment flying, + Whilst her child is in the cradle--Slumbers pass too soon away. + + * * * * * + +SOLITUDE. + + Grant, O ye healing Nymphs, that have your haunts + By rock and stream and lonely forest glade, + The boon which, in their bosoms' silent depths, + Your votaries crave! Unto the sad of heart + Give comfort--knowledge unto him that doubts-- + Possession to the lover, and its joy. + For unto you the Gods have given, what they + Denied to man--to aid and to console + All those soe'er who put their trust in you. + + * * * * * + +PERFECT BLISS. + + All the divine perfections, which, while ere + Nature in thrift doled out 'mongst many a fair, + She shower'd with open hand, thou peerless one, on thee! + And she that was so wond'rously endow'd, + To whom a throng of noble knees were bow'd, + Gave all--Love's perfect gift--her glorious self, to me! + + +THE CHOSEN ROCK. + + Here, in the hush and stillness of mid-noon, + The lover lay and thought upon his love; + With blithesome voice he spoke to me: "Be thou + My witness, stone!--Yet, therefore, vaunt thee not, + For thou hast many partners of my joy-- + To every rock that crowns this grassy dell, + And looks on me and my felicity; + To every forest-stem that I embrace + In my entrancement as I roam along, + Stand thou for a memorial of my bliss! + All mingle with my rapture, and to all + I lift a consecrating cry of joy. + Yet do I lend a voice to thee alone, + As culls the Muse some favourite from the crowd, + And, with a kiss, inspires for evermore." + + * * * * * + +THE DEATH TRANCE. + + Weep, maiden, here by Cupid's grave! He fell, + Some nothing kill'd him--what I cannot tell. + But is he really dead?--I swear not that, in sooth; + A trifle--nothing--oft revives the youth. + + * * * * * + +PHILOMELA. + + Surely, surely, Amor nursed thee, songstress of the plaintive note, + And, in fond and childish fancy, fed thee from his pointed dart. + So, sweet Philomel, the poison sunk into thy guileless throat, + Till, with all love's weight of passion, strike its notes to every heart. + + * * * * * + +SACRED GROUND. + + A place to mark the Graces, when they come + Down from Olympus, still and secretly, + To join the Oreads in their festival, + Beneath the light of the benignant moon. + There lies the poet, watching them unseen, + The whilst they chant the sweetest songs of heaven, + Or, floating o'er the sward without a sound, + Lead on the mystic wonder of the dance. + All that is great in heaven, or fair on earth, + Unveils its glories to the dreamer's eye, + And all he tells the Muses. They again, + Knowing that Gods are jealous of their own, + Teach him, through all the passion of his verse, + To utter these high secrets reverently. + + +THE PARK. + + How beautiful! A garden fair as heaven, + Flowers of all hues, and smiling in the sun, + Where all was waste and wilderness before. + Well do ye imitate, ye gods of earth, + The great Creator. Rock, and lake, and glade, + Birds, fishes, and untamed beasts are here. + Your work were all an Eden, but for this-- + Here is no man unconscious of a pang, + No perfect Sabbath of unbroken rest. + + * * * * * + +THE TEACHERS. + + What time Diogenes, unmoved and still, + Lay in his tub, and bask'd him in the sun-- + What time Calanus clomb, with lightsome step + And smiling cheek, up to his fiery tomb-- + What rare examples there for Philip's son + To curb his overmastering lust of sway, + But that the Lord of the majestic world + Was all too great for lessons even like these! + + * * * * * + +MARRIAGE UNEQUAL. + + Alas, that even in a heavenly marriage, + The fairest lots should ne'er be reconciled! + Psyche wax'd old, and prudent in her carriage, + Whilst Cupid evermore remains the child. + + * * * * * + +HOLY FAMILY. + + O child of beauty rare-- + O mother chaste and fair-- + How happy seem they both, so far beyond compare! + She, in her infant blest, + And he in conscious rest, + Nestling within the soft warm cradle of her breast! + What joy that sight might bear + To him who sees them there, + If, with a pure and guilt-untroubled eye, + He looked upon the twain, like Joseph standing by. + + +EXCULPATION. + + Wilt thou dare to blame the woman for her seeming sudden changes, + Swaying east and swaying westward, as the breezes shake the tree? + Fool! thy selfish thought misguides thee--find the _man_ that never ranges; + Woman wavers but to seek him--Is not then the fault in thee? + + * * * * * + +THE MUSE'S MIRROR. + + To deck herself, the Muse, at early morn, + Wander'd a-down a wimpling brook, to find + Some glassy pool more quiet than the rest. + On sped the stream, and ever as it ran + It swept away her image, which did change + With every bend and dimple of the wave. + In wrath the Goddess turn'd her from the spot, + Yet after her the brook, with taunting tongue, + Did call--"'Tis plain thou wilt not see the truth + All purely though my mirror shows it thee!" + But she, meanwhile, stood with indifferent ear, + By a far corner of the crystal lake, + Delightedly surveying her fair form, + And settling flowerets in her golden hair. + + * * * * * + +PH[OE]BUS AND HERMES. + + The deep-brow'd lord of Delos once, and Maia's nimble-witted son, + Contended eagerly by whom the prize of glory should be won; + Hermes long'd to grasp the lyre,--the lyre Apollo hoped to gain, + And both their hearts were full of hope, and yet the hopes of both were vain. + + For Ares, to decide the strife, between them rudely dash'd in ire, + And waving high his falchion keen, he cleft in twain the golden lyre. + Loud Hermes laugh'd maliciously, but at the direful deed did fall + The deepest grief upon the heart of Phoebus and the Muses all. + + * * * * * + +A NEW LOVE. + + Love, not the simple youth that whilome wound + Himself about young Psyche's heart, look'd round + Olympus with a cold and roving eye, + That had accustom'd been to victory. + It rested on a Goddess, noblest far + Of all that noble throng--a glorious star-- + Venus Urania. And from that hour + He loved her. Ah! to his resistless power + Even she, the holy one, did yield at last, + And in his daring arms he held her fast. + A new and beauteous Love from that embrace + Had birth; that to the mother owed his grace + And purity of soul; whilst from his sire + He borrow'd all his passion, all his fire. + Him ever where the gracious Muses be + Thou'lt surely find. Such sweet society + Is his delight, and his sharp-pointed dart + Doth rouse within men's breasts the love of ART. + + * * * * * + +THE WREATHS. + + Our German Klopstock, if he had his will, + Would bar us from the skirts of Pindus old. + No more the classic laurel should be prized, + But the rough leaflets of our native oak + Alone should glisten in the poet's hair; + Yet did himself, with spirit unreclaim'd + From first allegiance to those early Gods, + Lead up to Golgotha's most awful height + With more than epic pomp the new Crusade. + But let him range the bright angelic host + On either hill--no matter. By his grave + All gentle hearts should bow them down and weep. + For where a hero and a saint have died, + Or where a poet sang prophetical, + Dying as greatly as they greatly lived, + To give memorial to all after times, + Of lofty worth and courage undismay'd; + There, in mute reverence, all devoutly kneel, + In homage of the thorn and laurel wreath, + That were at once their glory and their pang! + + * * * * * + +THE SWISS ALP. + + Yesterday thy head was brown, as are the flowing locks of love, + In the bright blue sky I watch'd thee towering, giant-like, above. + Now thy summit, white and hoary, glitters all with silver snow, + Which the stormy night hath shaken from its robes upon thy brow; + And I know that youth and age are bound with such mysterious meaning, + As the days are link'd together, one short dream but intervening. + + + + +SPAIN AS IT IS. + + +There exists in this country a numerous class of persons who, if they +were given their choice of an overland journey to India and back, or a +ramble through Spain, occupying the same space of time, would prefer the +former, as likely to be less inconvenient, and decidedly far less +perilous. The wars and rumours of wars, revolutions, rebellions, +skirmishes, and _pronunciamentos_, that newspapers have recorded during +the last ten or twelve years, with an occasional particularly bloody and +barbarous execution by way of interlude, have certainly not been +calculated to reassure timid travellers; nor can we well wonder that, at +the mere mention of an excursion beyond the Pyrenees, tourists are +seized with a vertigo; and that visions, not only of rancid _gaspachos_ +and vermin-haunted couches, but of chocolate-complexioned ruffians with +sugar-loaf hats, button-bedecked jackets, fierce mustaches, and lengthy +_escopetas_, peering out of the gloomy recesses of a cork wood, or from +among the silvery foliage of an olive grove, pass before the eyes of +their imagination. Dangers often appear greater at a distance than upon +close examination; many a phantom of ghastly aspect proves upon +inspection to be but a turnip-faced goblin after all: and we suspect +that if some of the timorous would adventure themselves upon Spanish +soil, they might find their precious persons far safer than they had +anticipated; and discover that they were in the hands neither of Caffres +nor cannibals, but amongst a courteous and generous people, who, if +occasionally a little too disposed to slit each other's weasands, on the +other hand are very rarely forgetful of the laws of hospitality, or of +the kindness and protection to which travellers in a foreign land have a +fair claim. We do not mean to recommend Spain as a desirable travelling +ground for those adventurous English dames, whom we have occasionally +met journeying by coachfuls in France, Germany, and other peaceable +lands, unsquired and unescorted save by their waiting-maids: to them the +encounter of _rateros_, _salteadores_, or other varieties of Spanish +banditti, might be in various respects disagreeable; but for men, who, +without leaving Europe, may wish to visit other scenes than those in +which every Cockney tourist has wandered, we know of few expeditions +more interesting than one into the interior of Spain. Fine scenery, +interesting monuments, associations historic, classic, and poetical, +and--which to our thinking is still preferable--a people who, in spite +of Gallo and Anglo manias, still possess great originality of character +and customs, are there to be met with. We cannot do better than refer +those persons who would like additional evidence on the subject, to the +volumes named at foot[2], in which they will see how a man possessed of +prudence, good sense, and good temper, may visit some of the wildest and +least frequented parts of the Peninsula, not only without injury or +annoyance, but with considerable pleasure and profit. + +Captain Widdrington's journey to Spain, in the Spring of 1843, had, as +he tells us, a twofold object. He was desirous of observing the effects +of the numerous changes that have taken place in that country since the +death of Ferdinand; and he, at the same time, thought that his +assistance and previous knowledge of the country and people, would be +useful to a scientific friend, Dr Daubeny, who had been commissioned by +the Agricultural Society to examine the formation of phosphorite in +Estremadura. This mineral, it was imagined, might be advantageously +substituted for bones as manure. + +The travellers had sketched out their route beforehand, and seem to have +adhered very closely to the plan they had laid down. Proceeding from +Bayonne to Madrid, after a short stay in that capital they struck into +Estremadura; visited the vein of phosphorite, and explored several +interesting districts, into which few travellers penetrate; thence to +the quicksilver mines at Almaden, and to various iron mines and +founderies, through Seville, Ronda, Malaga, and Granada, and back to +Madrid. Here Captain Widdrington separates from his companion, and +continues his peregrinations alone, through the kingdom of Leon, the +Asturias, and Galicia. In his narrative of this somewhat extensive +ramble, the gallant captain displays a very respectable degree of +knowledge on a considerable variety of subjects. Agriculture, geology, +natural history, the resources of Spain, and the best mode of applying +them, political intrigues and changes, the strange and apparently +inexplicable ups and downs of public men, are all touched upon in turn: +and if the earlier portion of his work is worthy of a member of the +learned societies to which he belongs, the latter part is no less +creditable to his habits of observation, and to the soundness of his +judgment. + +One of the first things that appear to have struck Captain Widdrington +on arriving at Madrid, was the great activity in the building +department--an activity arising chiefly from the sequestration of the +church property. Convents were being pulled down, or at least altered so +as to render them suitable to other purposes. The ground on which one +had stood had been converted into a public walk--a chapel had been +replaced by a covered market. The large convent of St Thomas was the +headquarters of the national guard; while that of the Trinity had been +appropriated to the reception of works of art, the spoils of the other +convents. One had been sold to a private speculator, who let it out in +chambers; another was the refuge of military invalids; a third, the +convent of St Catalina--which was set fire to while the Duke of +Angouleme was attending, in the year 1823, a mass celebrated in honour +of his successful campaign--had been demolished, and a building for the +senate and deputies was erecting on its site. The names of many of the +streets had been altered to those of various heroes of Spanish liberty; +such as Porlier, Lacy, the Empecinado, and others. The street of the +Alcala had been rebaptized after the Duque de la Victoria; but no doubt, +as the Captain observes, by this time _on a changé tout cela_. + +Of the Countess of Mina, who was then _aya_, or governess, to the queen, +some interesting details are given by Captain Widdrington, who had known +her and her husband when they were living in exile at Plymouth +subsequently to the affairs of 1823. Madame Mina appears to be a person +of very superior powers of mind, far better qualified to superintend the +female department of a Spanish queen's education, than the bigoted and +_afrancesada_ dowager-marchioness who preceded her in the office, and in +the selection of whom Maria Christina, with her usual selfishness, had +probably thought more of the political principles and opinions in which +she wished Isabella to be brought up, than of her daughter's future +welfare and happiness. The universal complaint of the _Spanish_ or +national party in the time of Christina was, that the queen's education +was neglected, or, it should rather be said, misconducted. The +queen-dowager's French tendencies were more than suspected. Of course, +when the popular party became in the ascendant, and Madame Mina received +the appointment, alike unsolicited and unexpected, of governess to the +queen, the _afrancesados_ set up a yell of horror and consternation. Her +husband's humble birth, her character, even her piety, and the mourning +habit she had worn ever since her husband's death, were made matters of +reproach to her. But though Mina had been born a tiller of the earth, he +had died a grandee of Spain, ennobled yet more by his patriotism and +great qualities than he could be by the tinsel of a title; the character +of the countess was that of a high-minded and virtuous woman; and as to +the accusation of being a _santarona_, or affectedly pious, it was no +less unjust than malicious. Here is Captain Widdrington's portrait of +her:-- + + "Her stature is rather below the middle size, and her person stout, + with an abundance of the blackest hair simply dressed; eyes very + large, dark and fuller than usual, even in this classic land of + them, and beaming with intelligence. Her forehead, and the lower + part of her face, are remarkable for their development, and an + admirable study for the phrenologists, who would pronounce them + models, as indicating firmness of character. Her constant costume + is the deepest black, which completely covers her person; and when + she accepted her appointment, it was stipulated that she should + never be required to lay it aside. The only ornament she wore was a + simple but rather massive gold chain and cross, which had a + singularly good effect in relieving the mass of deep black; and her + manner, noble and serious, bordering on the severe at first sight, + made her the _beau-idéal_ of a lady abbess." + +During the celebrated attack upon the palace at Madrid, on the 7th of +October 1841, the countess gave proof of energy, courage, and presence +of mind, worthy of Mina's widow, and of one who supplied the place of +mother to the queen and infanta of Spain. A most interesting account of +the transactions of that eventful night is to be found in the third +chapter of Captain Widdrington's book; and as he is indebted for the +details to Madame Mina herself, it is no doubt the most accurate that +has appeared before the public. The _alabarderos_, or halberdiers, who +formed the body-guard of the queen, and whose post was in the avenues +leading to the royal apartments, consisted of two hundred sergeants, +picked from the whole army, and placed under the command of a colonel +and lieutenant-colonel, who had the rank of lieutenant and sergeant in +this sacred band. "By the regulations, one-third of this little corps +ought always to have been on duty; but, 'Cosas de Espana,' when the +disturbance broke out, there were only the two officers and seventeen +privates present! The rest were in the town, at supper, or various other +engagements." And on this handful of men devolved the duty of defending +the queen against the attack of as many companies as they numbered +muskets. The first alarm was given by _vivas_ and other noises in the +quadrangle of the palace. Colonel Dulce, the commander of the +halberdiers, descended the stairs to enquire the cause of the uproar, +and was met on the landing-place by a detachment of the Princesa +regiment marching up. He ordered them to halt; they opened fire in +reply. Colonel Dulce retreated to the guard-room, and the skirmish +began. A double flight of steps leads up from one of the principal +entrances of the palace to this guard-room, of which the door is of +considerable size, and covered by a _mampara_ or moveable stuffed +screen, similar to those used in churches abroad. The alabarderos left +the mampara in its place, opening the door no more than was absolutely +necessary to fire through. The assailants took up their station at the +bottom of the stairs, and blazed away, vigorously replied to from the +_sala de armas_. The sides of the doorway and the mampara were riddled, +but the assailants could only fire at a guess, their opponents being +completely concealed behind the screen; and on the other hand, a stone +balustrade at the top of the staircase between the two flights and the +angle of the floor, protected the insurgents. The latter, no doubt, +thought the whole guard was at its post, so steady and incessant was the +fire the alabarderos kept up. To approach the guard-room door was +certain death. General Concha, the same who the other night danced the +third quadrille with Isabel at a court ball, taking the _pas_ of the +Spanish grandees there assembled, was present at this treasonable +attack, at the head of the Princesa regiment, in plain clothes, but with +a drawn sword. About midnight (the firing had begun at half-past +seven--what were the authorities about all that time?) Diego Leon, the +scapegoat of the affair, made his appearance in his usual dashing +attire, a showy hussar uniform, braided, belted, and befrogged, and took +command of the proceedings. "According to his own account, he went to +the foot of the great staircase, and called to the alabarderos to +discontinue firing, lest they should alarm the queen!" but the noise of +the musketry was such, that he could not make himself heard, even with +the aid of a trumpet! Things, however, had not gone as the conspirators +wished; the gallant defence of the halbardiers, which they had not +reckoned upon, had caused them to lose much time, and after a short +consultation Concha and Leon took to flight. Concha hid himself under +the dry arch of a bridge, and afterwards took refuge at the Danish +embassy, where he passed a few days, and was then conveyed from another +embassy (French, of course) to headquarters at Paris. His caution in +wearing plain clothes saved him; while poor Leon, who thought, as he +afterwards said, that uniform was the proper costume for the occasion, +was taken at Colmenar, a few leagues from Madrid. Captain Widdrington +says, with much truth, that nothing could be more characteristic of the +two men than their different mode of acting in this trifling particular. + +In the whole affair, Concha was the real director and manager, although +he sheltered himself behind the Count of Belascoain, who was put forward +as being a popular man, especially with the army. A braver or more +dashing cavalry officer than Leon could hardly be found, but he was of +the wrong stuff for a conspirator; his brains, as the Spaniards used to +say in rather a coarse proverb, were in the wrong place. But who that +had ever known or even seen him, could help regretting him, the +chivalrous, the high-hearted soldier, as much loved by his friends as he +was dreaded by his foes! His death was, doubtless, necessary as an +example, and should not be laid at the door of the Spanish government of +the day, but at that of the unprincipled and selfish faction that made a +tool of him. We are surprised to find, by Captain Widdrington's book, +that the petitions for his pardon, sent for signature to the national +guard of Madrid, were torn across and returned, the only name affixed to +them being that of Captain Guardia, who was then dying of wounds +received on the night of the insurrection. This speaks plainly as to the +general feeling in Madrid concerning the necessity of Leon's sentence +being put into execution, the national guard consisting of ten thousand +men, who represent every shade of political opinion. + +While the fighting was going on, the Countess of Mina was doing her best +to shield the queen and her sister from the bullets of the insurgents, +who surrounded the royal apartments on three sides, and seem to have +been tolerably careless where they sent their lead. A shot came into the +room where the queen and her sister lay in bed. They were frightened, +and got up, and the attendants placed mattresses on the floor, in the +angle of an alcove, upon which the children lay down, and after some +time fell asleep. "The poor children were hungry, and asked for supper, +but there was nothing to give them; and from two in the afternoon of the +7th, till eight in the morning of the 8th, they did not taste food." +What a curious picture is this! Isabel de Borbon, queen of Spain and the +Indies, lying on a mattress upon the floor, terrified and a-hungered, +her governess, the widow of an ex-peasant and guerilla, keeping watch +beside her; nineteen intrepid soldiers defending her against troops sent +by her own mother to attack her palace and carry off herself! + +Nor was this all. There was a private staircase leading from the +_entresol_ of the palace to the royal apartments; and although it had +been blocked up some time previously, the rebels were aware of its +existence, and were heard sawing at the barrier that closed it. "At this +time, the countess told me, she felt it her duty to rouse the queen and +prepare her for the worst, dictating to her the manner in which those +who should enter were to be addressed. The intention was, when they +should arrive at the inner door, to open it for fear of greater +violence, and admit them." If the conspirators could have got possession +of the queen's person, their plan was to wrap her in a cloak and mount +her behind one Fulgosio, who had been a colonel in the Carlist service, +but was included in the convention of Bergara. In this Tartar fashion +she was to have been carried off to the north of Spain. + +Captain Widdrington evidently considers that this daring attempt on the +part of Christina's faction, as well as subsequent almost equally +strange events that have occurred in Spain, were in great measure +concerted and organized in France, the money proceeding partly from the +French treasury and partly from the coffers of Christina--coffers which +she had taken excellent care to fill during the period of her regency. +We have been rather amused at the diplomatic caution displayed by the +Captain when alluding to French intrigues. The French are always "our +neighbours," and Louis Philippe "a certain personage." His meaning, +however, is plain enough, and we fully agree with him, that French gold +and French counsels and influence have been at the bottom of most of the +disturbances that have taken place in Spain since the year 1840. But +enough, for the present, of plots and plotters; we shall perhaps find +more of them before we bid our author farewell in Vigo Bay. At present +we will follow him to the mines of Almaden, whither he betakes himself +after rambling through a considerable portion of Estremadura, one of the +most fertile, but neglected and thinly peopled, of Spanish provinces. +"Nothing," he says, "is wanted but a good government to assist the +bounteous hand with which the gifts of Providence have been showered on +this beautiful region." But, alas! instead of a thriving peasantry and +well-tilled soil, what does he meet with? _Despoblados_, or deserts, +with here and there some wretched villages, few and far between, and +from time to time a _cortijo_, or farm-house, with its cultivated patch; +but the general face of the country is _zaral_, ground covered with the +cistus, numerous varieties of that beautiful plant abounding in the +province. Captain Widdrington mentions four sorts he found in +flower--the gum cistus, a large white species without spots, a smaller +white, and the purple kind common in English gardens. Furze, then just +breaking into flower, and _retama_, or brooms, vary the collection; +interesting enough, no doubt, to the botanist, but a melancholy sight +when one reflects on the far better purpose to which this fertile +territory might be applied. + +The roads through these districts are, as might be expected, execrable, +intersected by large open ditches to carry off the water; and +subsequently to each journey the diligence requires extensive repairs. +After Truxillo, however, public conveyances are no longer to be found, +and mules supply their place. On these the travellers reach Logrosan, +where is situate the vein of phosphorite that it was one of the objects +of their journey to visit. Four mule-loads of the mineral are taken as a +sample, and forwarded to Seville; and this done, an excursion is made to +the famous sanctuary of Guadelupe, in the sacristy at which place are +some of the finest paintings of Zurbaran. Not the least agreeable +portions of Captain Widdrington's book are his descriptions of the +churches and other edifices he visits, and of the pictures and carvings +they contain. Details of that kind are often apt to be dry and +wearisome; but these are done _con amore_, and varied by reflections and +criticisms, of which many are very interesting. + +It had been a matter of deliberation with Captain Widdrington, upon +commencing his wanderings in the Peninsula, whether it were advisable to +be armed or not. The usual advice one gets upon this subject on entering +Spain, is to take neither arms nor money, or at least no more of the +latter than is absolutely necessary for the journey. By being unarmed, +the traveller is said to avoid risk of ill treatment at the hands of any +banditti he may chance to encounter, and who, if they see him with +weapons, are apt either to give him a volley from some ambuscade, or to +murder him for having thought of resistance. Captain Widdrington's +theory is different. He calculates that, as the majority of Spanish +robbers are _rateros_, or ignoble and dastardly cut-purses, who prowl +about by twos and threes, it is just as well to be provided with a few +fire-arms, the mere sight of which may make all the difference between +being robbed or not. He has accordingly armed himself, his companion, +and attendant with muskets; and between Logrosan and Almaden he finds +the advantage of having done so. While passing through a wild and broken +country, with no road, and scarcely any visible track, he perceives +three suspicious-looking customers descending through a field to the +further side of a thicket which he is about to traverse. He calls up his +companions, who are a little in the rear--they look to their arms, and +prepare for a brush. If the three men that have been seen are alone, the +travellers are a match for them; but they may be only the van or +rearguard of a larger force. + +"After waiting a little time in silence, there was no appearance of +their emerging from the thicket, which was very close; and, as it would +have been imprudent to enter it, we called out to them to advance. They +were still invisible, but a voice answered--'Come on, we shall not +meddle with you.' We then rode through, and found them on the banks of a +pretty stream that flowed through the ravine, preparing to breakfast; +some beautiful bread, far better than any we could find in the villages, +being part of their intended repast. The man who had answered was +nearest to the ford, and the others a little higher up. Of course we +passed them at the 'recover,' and the simple salutation of _Vaya vd. +con Dios!_ was interchanged. Had we omitted exchanging this compliment, +even with the people we were now dealing with, we should have risked +being thought unpolished." + +There is something characteristic and Gil Blas-like about this--Spanish +all over. Pass we on to the Almaden mines, of which there is a detailed +and very interesting account. + +The quicksilver mines of Almaden are one of the sure cards of the +Spanish finance minister, and during the late war, especially, were +often a great resource to the poverty-stricken government. When other +sources of revenue failed, there were always to be found speculators +willing to treat for the quicksilver contract; and these mines, like the +tobacco and other monopolies, and the Havanna revenue, have helped many +a Spanish minister in his moment of greatest need. Of course, as the +usual demand was money down, the bargains were frequently made at great +disadvantage to the seller; and, once made, the consumer is entirely at +the mercy of the contractor--the Almaden mines producing a very large +portion of all the quicksilver known to exist in the world. Madame +Calderon de la Barca, in her _Life in Mexico_, alludes to this when +speaking of the unsuccessful mining speculations in that country, where +"heaps of silver lie abandoned, because the expense of acquiring +quicksilver renders it wholly unprofitable to extract it." That lady +further observes, that quicksilver has been paid for at one hundred and +fifty dollars per quintal in real cash, when the same quantity was given +at credit by the Spanish government for fifty dollars. Madame Calderon +is good authority; but we suspect that the cause of such a vast +difference between the price given and demanded by the contractor, must +have been the cash advances required by the Spanish government. "The +contract once made," says Captain Widdrington, "it is clear that, +excepting any qualms of conscience the lessee may be influenced by, +there is no check upon his cupidity. The temptation to charge exorbitant +prices is increased by the habit of the government requiring large sums +to be paid down. This practice, which was unavoidable during the civil +war, when it frequently produced the only ready money they could lay +their hands on, has continued, and must still do so, unless a financial +change take place." + +Owing to this state of things, the profit to the government is only +about £75,000 per annum; although we are told that the price has been +raised, in a few years, from thirty-four to eighty-four dollars the +quintal--the price paid to the government we presume. The contract was +taken in 1843 by those great _accapareurs_ of good things, the +Rothschilds. Of course, as long as the civil war lasted, if the +contractors had to give money in advance, the risk they ran entitled +them to a large rate of profit. Had Don Carlos got the upper hand before +they had reimbursed themselves, their lien upon the mines would have +been so much waste paper; or even, without that, they might have been +exposed to considerable loss and delay had Messrs Cabrera, Balmaseda, +Palillos, or others of the same kidney, chosen to take a turn in that +direction, carry off the workmen, destroy or damage the works, or drown +out the mines. Gomez did pay Almaden a visit when he made the tour of +Spain with his expeditionary corps. He burned a part of the town and +plundered all he could; but did no harm to the mine--which was either +very foolish or very considerate of him. + +There is room for much curious speculation as to the effect which the +increased and increasing value of quicksilver may have upon the monetary +system of Europe, especially in France and other countries where silver +is the legal currency, and gold very little used on account of the +premium on it. It has been seen above, that, in Mexico, silver is not +worth refining, owing to the dearness of the mineral required for the +purpose. Unless something be discovered as a substitute for quicksilver, +the same result will, in all probability, ensue in other mining +districts; and the natural consequence will be the diminished use of +silver as a circulating medium, and the increased employment of gold, +the more so as the supply of the latter metal has of late years been +greatly augmented--a great deal now coming from Asiatic Russia--while +its wear and tear are very small. This change would not arise from a +scarcity of quicksilver, the quantity and quality of which, at Almaden +at least, improve as the miners get deeper into the vein; and, moreover, +the portion extracted is limited to 20,000 quintals, or weights of 105 +pounds English. "All the works are executed in a truly royal manner; and +so capacious and enlarged are the views carried out in the management, +that they only take away about one-half of the mineral, leaving the +other as a legacy to the future possessors of it, and to provide a +supply in case of unforeseen accidents in the workings." There are other +uses besides the refining of silver to which quicksilver is applied; and +should the contractors continue to raise the price of the latter, the +consequence must necessarily be an increase in the value of the former, +and a diminution in its consumption. + +There are five thousand men employed at the Almaden establishment, and +most of those who work in the mines suffer, as may be supposed, in their +health, from the unwholesome exhalations. In the summer, when they are +most liable to be affected in that way, work is suspended, the labourers +retire to their respective provinces to recruit, and generally return in +the autumn, restored by their native air. Temperance, cleanliness, and a +milk-diet appear to be the best preservatives from the pernicious +effects of the mercury-infected atmosphere. + +Captain Widdrington does not visit Catalonia, which we regret; for we +should like to have had the result of his observations on that turbulent +and troublesome province, to which he once or twice alludes. It must +truly be a difficult thing to legislate for a country split into so many +conflicting interests--fancied interests many of them--as Spain is. The +Catalonians, for instance, have got a notion that they are +cotton-manufacturers--a notion which their northern neighbours do all in +their power to nourish and encourage. Of course, the French would be +much annoyed to see Spanish ports opened to cotton goods at a reasonable +duty, until such time (if it ever arrives) as they can compete +successfully with English manufacturers. It suits their book much better +to have a prohibition, or what amounts to such, imposed on all foreign +cottons. The Pyrenees are high, but it is a long line of frontier from +Port Vendres to Bayonne, and the deuce is in it if they cannot manage to +smuggle more French calicoes and _percales_, and suchlike commodities +into Spain, than would ever be taken by the Spaniards were those +articles admitted at a reasonable duty, which would put a stop to +smuggling by rendering it unprofitable. At present there is a regular +tariff of smugglers' charges for passing goods, so much per cent on the +value, according to the bulk and nature of the articles; and the agents +of this traffic abound in Bayonne, Oleron, Perpignan, and all the +frontier towns. The idea prevailing in Spain, that Espartero intended +entering into a treaty of commerce with England, made him enemies of the +Catalonians, and indeed of the majority of the mercantile classes, most +of the members of which are more or less mad about the importance of +Spanish manufactures, or, at any rate, they seem to be nearly unanimous +in their wish to prohibit foreign goods. It is impossible to persuade +them, so pigheaded are they, that it would be better to admit foreign +manufactures at a fair duty, than to have their markets deluged with +smuggled ones that pay no duty at all. "To these miserable manufactures, +only capable of producing about one-half of what is required for the +consumption of the kingdom," (and that half, be it observed, of inferior +quality, and at vastly higher prices than the same merchandise could be +imported for,) "is the interest of the landed proprietors and commercial +class, as well as that of the entire community, sacrificed." + +These manufacturing madmen, the Catalonians, are the plague-spot of the +Peninsula. Obstinate, fiery, and selfish, they think only of themselves, +and of what they consider their interests, petty and miserable as the +latter are compared to those of the rest of Spain. The real interests of +the country are obvious to any but prejudiced understandings. It is a +land flowing with milk and honey, or, what is far better, with wine and +oil; abounding in valuable products, of which the export might be vastly +increased by admitting the manufactures of countries possessing, +perhaps, a less-favoured soil and climate, but a more industrious +population. Instead of making bad calicoes at a high price, let the +Spaniards set to work to clear and plant their _despoblados_--let them +improve their system of agriculture, their mode of producing oil; let +them cut canals and make roads, and get something like decent +communications between towns and provinces. The irrigation of the soil +in Spain is also a matter of great importance, and which, in many parts +of the country, is at present sadly neglected. There are vast districts +that remain uninhabited and barren, solely because people will not build +or live where they are beyond a certain distance from water; districts +where every thing is parched and dry for the greater part of the year, +and where the land, although rich in its nature, becomes worthless from +excessive drought. The system of Artesian wells might, we are persuaded, +be introduced to great advantage in Spain; and for such, as well as for +canals, railways, and similar improvements, abundance of foreign capital +would be forthcoming, if--and here is the sticking point--Spaniards +would only show a disposition to remain quiet, and turn their attention +to the arts of peace, instead of ruining their country, wasting their +blood, and degrading the national character, by all these unmeaning and +unprofitable _pronunciamentos_ and skirmishings. It is probably not very +important at this moment who rules over the Spaniards, provided the +government have power and energy enough to keep them from cutting each +others' throats, and to prevent their getting into a confirmed habit of +revolutions and rebellions. "In all the larger towns of Spain," we quote +Captain Widdrington, "there is a crowd of idlers, characters with little +or no occupation, frequenters of theatres and _cafés_, great readers of +journals, and considerable politicians, pretenders to small places, +excessively ignorant, and ready to join in any movement provided it be +attended with little personal risk to themselves. A large portion of +this class took a very active part in opposing the government, and were +delighted to figure in _juntas_, or fill other analogous situations, +giving them a momentary importance, and possibly a few dollars at the +public expense." And this is one of the great causes of the unsettled +state of Spain, the immense number of idlers. Wars and revolutions, +producing an unflourishing state of trade and agriculture, have +discouraged Spaniards, during the last thirty or forty years, from +putting their children to trades or professions. "There is no knowing +how long this war may last," they used to say during the Carlist +contest; "and as long as it lasts, there is no good to be done in +Spain." So, instead of bringing up their sons to work, they just let +them live on from day to day, gossiping and smoking; and at the present +moment there are many hundred thousand young and middle-aged men of the +lower and middle classes, especially the latter, who are idlers by +profession, and exactly correspond to Captain Widdrington's description. +These gentry have nothing particular to lose by any political rumpus, +and they flatter themselves they may gain; besides, they cannot be +always playing _monté_ or taking the _siesta_; and even if they could, a +change is sometimes agreeable. Now and then, too, they get tired of +hearing Aristides called the Just--that is a very common thing with +Spaniards--some mischievous political agent comes amongst them, they are +soon excited, get hold of an old musket or rusty fowling-piece, chuck up +their _sombreros_, cry _viva la Libertad!_ and rush about the town +uttering _gritos_; and in a few hours, and before they have any clear +idea of what they have been doing, they are told that they are heroes +and patriots, that "_Spaniards_ never shall be slaves," and all the rest +of the humbug and claptrap that revolutionary agitators always have upon +their tongue's tip. The poor idiots, fizzing and boiling over with their +fire-new enthusiasm, aimless and causeless as it is, are in ecstasies +for about a week, or until they discover, what is pretty often the case, +that instead of being better off, they have exchanged King Log for King +Stork. The fact is, Spaniards are not at present fit for a mild and +constitutional government. Espartero, who had got the country into +something like a state of respectability, fell into the error of +imagining that they were; and such was in great measure the cause of his +overthrow. The iron and remorseless rule of a Narvaez will perhaps suit +them better, and of a certainty it is what a large portion of them +richly deserve. + +To those persons who wish to understand what many have doubtless found +rather incomprehensible; namely, the causes, immediate and remote, that +led to the deposition of the Duque de la Victoria and the triumph of the +Moderado party--we recommend the attentive perusal of Captain +Widdrington's book, especially the chapter entitled, "On the +Pronunciamentos and Fall of the Regency." That chapter is a very +complete manual of the Spanish politics of the day, in a lucid and +simple form; and we were much pleased to find our own theories and +opinions on the subject confirmed by an eyewitness, and by so shrewd an +observer as Captain Widdrington. He traces the share that each party and +class in Spain took in the recent changes; and proves satisfactorily +enough, what every one who is acquainted with Spanish character and +feelings must have already been pretty certain of, that the revolution +in question was not a national one, but the result of intrigue, bribery, +and delusion--the work of a faction, aided by foreign gold. The +ill-judged selection of Lopez for minister, and the still more +injudicious act of agreeing to a _programme_ which he was afterwards +compelled to repudiate, were the fatal mistakes made by Espartero, who +was placed in a situation of extreme difficulty by his wish to govern +constitutionally. "It is impossible not to respect and admire the +firmness with which, to the very last, he carried through the principle, +sacrificing his station and rank to it; but, as far as the interests of +his country were concerned, no greater mistake was ever made in +government than the selection of Lopez." It is customary in Spain for a +new minister to make public his programme, or plan of campaign--but this +is considered a mere matter of form. In that of Lopez, however, amidst +the usual commonplaces, one article of vital importance had insinuated +itself; it was that of the amnesty, "which was so speciously made out as +completely to answer the purpose for which it was intended, that of +paving the way for bringing back the _afrancesado_ leaders who were +engaged in the attempt to carry off the Queen, in October 1841." It was +not deemed sufficient to recall the regent's mortal enemies; an attempt +was made to isolate him, by dismissing his most faithful friends, even +to the distinguished officer who acted as his private secretary, and who +now bears him company in his exile. Espartero naturally kicked at +this--as who would not in his place?--dismissed Lopez, and dissolved the +Chamber. But the people, especially those troublesome fellows the +Andalusians and Valencians, had got the fraternizing fit strong upon +them, and were mad after the programme. Juntas were +formed--pronunciamentos made--and misrule was again the order of the +day. + +As to the conduct of the army towards Espartero, it was unquestionably +most disgraceful; but it must be borne in mind that a large proportion +of the officers were his personal enemies, especially those of the +regiments of guards, which had been broken up after the war, when many +of the officers passed into line regiments. Others were partisans of +Leon, of Narvaez, or Christina; and another large section were won over +by the profuse promotion given by the juntas, who, as soon as the +pronunciamentos began, assumed the functions of government, and +scattered epaulets in absurd profusion. Truly, as Captain Widdrington +observes, one has heard of bloody wars and sickly seasons, and rapid +advancement consequent thereon, but nothing ever equalled the promotion +that was now given; and this system Espartero was also obliged to adopt, +in order not to be deserted by the lukewarm among his adherents, or by +those whom the prospect of a step of rank might have influenced to leave +him. There can be little doubt, too, that bribery was largely employed +by the Moderados. Witness the instance of Colonel Echalecu, which is no +case of suspicion, but an official and publicly known fact. He was +offered four millions of reals (forty thousand pounds sterling) to +surrender the fort of Montjuich, and a French steamer was put at his +disposal to convey him away. To the immortal honour of this gallant +Basque soldier be it said, he was proof against the temptation; true to +his colours, to his general, and to the established constitution of his +country, he held out the fort to the very last, and only gave it up when +every hope was lost, and the new order of things completely victorious. +The Moderados had the good sense to continue so faithful an officer in +his command; but, at the time of Amettler's revolt, he refused to +bombard Barcelona, and of course resigned. His, however, was a solitary +instance of virtue; far less brilliant baits were found irresistible by +the mass of officers, who used their influence to bring over the +soldiery, a credulous and ignorant class in Spain. The men, there is no +question, were disposed to stand by the regent, and some even held out +against their officers till compelled to give in; but at last all +followed in the stream, led away partly by habits of obedience, partly +by the hopes held out to them of more regular pay and better rations, +and still more by the prospect of obtaining their discharge previous to +the legal expiration of their term of service--the latter being the +strongest argument that can be urged to Spanish soldiers. + +The peasantry, with the exception, perhaps, of those around certain +towns, had neither voice nor part in the change; the nobility, sunk in +sloth and smothered by incapacity, looked on as idle spectators; and a +vast many of the restless and excitable spirits who got up the +revolution, were mere instruments in the hands of a faction, and knew +not what they did. Hear Captain Widdrington-- + + "The parties who began the pronunciamentos had neither the + intention nor the slightest idea, that the result of their + proceedings would be the fall of the regency. This I can most + positively assert to be fact." + +The Spaniards, especially those of the south, had got a sort of Utopian +notion into their very ill-furnished heads, that all parties were to +"kiss and be friends." The projected amnesty which Espartero so +unfortunately agreed to, was the cause of this idea getting ground. It +took them upon their weak side, carried them entirely off their legs; +and, acting under the influence of this frothy enthusiasm, they ran +a-muck, as the saying is, and only awakened from their day-dream to +curse the changes that their own folly had so largely contributed to +bring about. + +As to any body attempting to divine what will be the next move upon the +Spanish chessboard, it is out of the question, and nobody who knows the +character of the people will attempt to do it. Unquestionably there is +no such country in the world for anomalies of all kinds. _Cosas de +Espana!_ as Captain Widdrington amusingly enough says, when he meets +with some huge piece of inconsistency that astonishes even him, +accustomed though he be to the most contradictory vagaries on the part +of his Iberian friends. And it is exactly what intelligent Spaniards +themselves say, when similar absurdities on the part of their countrymen +are pointed out or reproached to them. "_Que quiere vd hombre_," cry +they with a shrug, "_son cosas de Espana_." What can we say to you? They +are Spanish doings. + +At Almaden the Captain finds a magnificent road leading to the town, +which had been commenced at great expense by a former governor. For some +distance it is fit for an approach to the largest capital, but on a +sudden it terminates--in a mule-track! _Cosas de Espana_. "I entered +Corunna just before nightfall, and although a regular fortress, seaport, +and chief place of the province--_Cosas de Espana_--not a sentinel was +mounted on the works!" Guards desert their post--witness the attack on +the palace, when seventeen men were present out of sixty-five; a +governor is absent from his province at the very time when he is most +wanted there; an official is sent for by one of his superiors, and +returns for answer that he can certainly come if necessary, but hopes he +shall be excused, as it would occasion him the trouble of dressing +himself--this in the middle of the day. The creature was no doubt lying +on a mattress, half naked, with a cigar in his mouth. These are +instances of "_Cosas de Espana_," always odd and sometimes +unintelligible, but usually to be explained by the system of laxity and +inattention to the duties of their respective posts and stations that +seems to extend to nearly all classes in Spain. + +Captain Widdrington professes the strictest impartiality in the accounts +and opinions he gives; and if we venture to point out an instance where +we think he has deviated a little from the straight line he drew for +himself at starting, it is only because his having done so in the +particular we refer to, is rather creditable to him than otherwise, and +is exactly the error that most warm-hearted men who passed any length of +time in the very agreeable society of Spaniards, would be apt to fall +into. But we cannot help thinking, that in some respects he takes too +favourable a view of the Spanish character; that he is led away by his +love for the nation. The following passages are rather remarkable-- + +"No people in existence," he says, "are so little anarchical in their +habits, or live, unless under immediate excitement, in a more orderly +and peaceable manner, or are so easily governed. The presiding genius of +the country is tranquillity, and quiet, inoffensive demeanour, in every +class of society, and in every part of the kingdom; nor is there any +necessity, unless where domination, or unpopular and false principles +are the object, for the application of force to coerce them at any time. +What they want, by their universal consent, is a steady, progressive, +and intelligent government, that will lead the way in the changes and +improvements which every class, at least the far greater majority, are +desirous of seeing carried out, but which their indolence and easy +habits prevent originating with themselves alone." + +"_Aide toi, et Dieu t'aidera_," says the French proverb. It is really a +pity that a proper dry-nurse cannot be procured for these quiet and +inoffensive people, who have been slaughtering each other, with small +intermission, for the last ten years, to say nothing of previous +instances of mansuetude. Unfortunately, however, they are as jealous of +being helped as, according to Captain Widdrington's own admission, they +are incompetent to help themselves. "_Es una lastima_," as they would +say; but really at this rate there seems no chance of their ever getting +their country into a prosperous, or even a decent, state. We fully agree +with Captain Widdrington in liking the Spanish character as a whole, in +appreciating its fine qualities, in rendering ample justice to that +courtesy of feeling and manner so agreeable to those who have +intercourse with Spaniards, and that may truly be called national, +seeing that it is found as commonly under the coarse _manta_ of the +muleteer as beneath the velvet-lined _capa_ of the high-born hidalgo; +but we have some small experience of Spain, and a more considerable one +of Spaniards, and we cannot for the life of us think them so tractable +and easy to guide into the right path, or so exceedingly averse to +bloodshed. "The truth is, that, excepting in cases of deadly feud, which +sometimes happen, in no country in the world is life more +secure."--(Vol. ii. p. 358.) We will not contradict the Captain, but it +has always appeared to us that human life is rated at a much lower value +in Spain than in any other civilized country we are acquainted with, and +that the natural consequence of that low valuation is the cool +indifference with which blood is there so frequently and abundantly +poured out upon the most trifling and insufficient grounds. + +At the end of a chapter on the church in Spain, we find a notice of Mr +Borrow's proceedings for the propagation of the Scriptures in the +Peninsula--proceedings which seem to have resulted in perfect failure. +"As to the object of the undertaking, it was not only a most complete +and entire failure, but of such a nature as entirely to defeat any +future attempt of the same kind." The meaning of this is clear, although +the sentence is of a curious turn. Further on, the Captain says--"It is +impossible not to regret, that the very large sums annually sent out of +the country, from the most pure and really religious and conscientious +motives, on this and other undertakings, producing equally little +result, were not devoted to the building or endowing of churches and +chapels in our own manufacturing districts, where they are so very much +needed." + +How can Captain Widdrington make such an observation as this latter one? +Surely he must be aware how much more interesting it is to provide for +the spiritual wants of people at a distance than for those of people in +our country. What missionary society, worthy of the name, would +undertake a church-building crusade into Lancashire or Yorkshire? It is +too near home, too commonplace. But let them discover some region at the +antipodes, inhabited by copper-coloured gentry with feathers upon their +heads and curtain rings through their noses, and _there_ is a worthy +field for the labours of the pious. In like manner, poor Spain, which +really might be allowed to set its temporal house a little in order, +before being expected to a depart from the faith that has been universal +in it since the expulsion of the Saracen, was deemed sufficiently +distant and dangerous to be interesting, and "the great London Caloro" +girded up his loins and departed thither. Of the peril he encountered, +the acquaintances he made, of how he galloped through the country on +silver-grey _burras--Anglicé_, female donkeys--and dropped tracts in +public walks and concealed Testaments in ruins and other queer places, +where robbers _might_ go, _might_ find them, and _might_ be improved by +their perusal, has he not written a most marvellous and amusing account +for the benefit of generations present and to come? Notwithstanding, +however, his missionary avocations and Munchausenish tendencies, we have +a sneaking kindness for friend Borrow, having collected from his +writings that he is a fellow of considerable pluck and energy, of +adventurous spirit, with a sharp eye for a good horse, and who would, no +doubt, have made an excellent dragoon, had it pleased God to call him to +that way of life. But we must say, that his manner of spreading the +Scriptures in Spain, puts us considerably in mind of those peripatetic +advertisers, whose handbills, thrust _nolens volens_ into the fist of +the passer-by, are for the most part cast unread into the gutter. It +would be curious to calculate the proportion borne by those Testaments +that Mr Borrow succeeded in getting really circulated and read in Spain, +to the very large number which he acknowledges to have been confiscated, +burnt, stolen on the road, or otherwise lost. The expense of the mission +must have been very considerable, and the same funds might have been +employed in this country with tenfold advantage both to humanity and the +Christian religion. + +There is a certain class of writers, some of whom ought to know better, +who have lately taken up the cudgels upon the pseudo-philanthropic side +of the question, and have expended a vast deal of uncalled-for +indignation and maudlin sympathy upon the rich and poor of this +country--the former of whom they would make out to be the most selfish +and hard-hearted of created beings, and the latter the most amiable and +ill-treated. According to these writers, it would appear as if no man, +with less than seven children to provide for, and more than ten +shillings a-week to do it with, could be possessed of any one of the +Christian virtues. Charity and kindness of heart exist, they would have +us to believe, in an inverse ratio to income, and the _warmest_ men, in +city parlance, are invariably those of the coldest feelings. The sickly +cant of this style of writing in a country where charity, both public +and private, is so extensive and practical; and its probable ill effects +in rendering the poorer classes discontented, are too evident for it to +be necessary to dwell upon them. It would be far better if the writers +who go to such large expense of sympathetic ink, would change the +direction of their virtuous indignation, and try if they have sufficient +influence to put an end to this foreign tract and testament mongering, +whether its scene be in Spain or at a greater distance. + +Before concluding, Captain Widdrington alludes to a growing shyness +towards English travellers in some of the large southern towns, owing to +the indiscretions, exaggerations, and absurdities of certain +tour-writers. It is a lamentable fact that, now-a-days, every booby who +gets on board a steamer, and leaves England for a few weeks or months, +thinks himself entitled to perpetrate a book about what he sees and +hears. We would fain whisper to such persons, that mere locomotion never +qualified any body to write a book, even of travels; that some powers of +observation, and a certain correctness of judgment, and even some +previous acquaintance with the history and character of the nation they +visit, are also necessary; and if, after that, they still persisted in +their designs, we would beg of them to remember that light words are apt +to travel both far and fast; that some part of their lucubrations may +possibly reach the countries they refer to--perhaps through the +instrumentality of the trunkmakers; and that in any case they should +avoid giving unfavourable details, even if true, of the private life and +habits of people who have shown them kindness and hospitality--details, +the data of which, if investigated, would be found, in most instances, +to be absurd and ridiculously insufficient. Some travelling bagman, or +half-fledged subaltern on his way to the Mediterranean, gets ashore at +Cadiz or Gibraltar, takes a run through three or four of the principal +Andalusian cities, perhaps has a letter of introduction, or else meets +at a _fonda_ with some good-natured Spaniard, who compassionates his +"goose look" and evident helplessness, invites him to his house, and +introduces him at a tertulia or two. The gosling picks up a few Spanish +sentences, hears a few anecdotes from some lying valet-de-place, who has +attached himself to the Señor Ingles, and leaves the country after a few +weeks', perhaps days', residence, considerably bewildered by all the +novelties he has seen, but without the slightest real addition to his +previous knowledge of Spanish character and customs. Six months +afterwards, the new work on Spain by Ensign Epaulet or Tedious Twaddle, +Esquire, issues forth, borne on a mighty blast of puffery, from the +laboratory of some fashionable publisher. + + "Nothing can be more harmless," says Captain Widdrington, "than + this mode of making a livelihood, provided their effusions are kept + within the bounds of moderation and charity, as well as confined to + such views as a rapid transit enables any one unacquainted with the + language and the people to make during a few hours' sojourn in the + place. This rule, however, has been broken in upon; and as it + unluckily happens that the females are generally a favourite + subject for the tirades of that class of writers, their random + assertions on subjects they had no means of investigating, and most + assuredly did not speak of from their own knowledge and experience, + have made both the Gaditanas and Malaguanas, and their relations + and countrymen, extremely irate." + +And with good reason, too, say we. It is not the first time we have +heard this sort of thing complained of. The practice is one that cannot +be too severely reprehended and we shall look out for such offenders in +future. + +There are a number of anecdotes and pleasant bits scattered through +Captain Widdrington's work, which is a happy blending of the amusing and +instructive, neither predominating to the injury of the other; and we +take leave both of the book and its accomplished author, with much +respect and gratitude. Before doing so, however, and having said much in +commendation, Captain Widdrington will perhaps permit us to offer him a +slight and well-intended hint in the contrary sense. When next the +truant-fit comes over him, and he favours us with the result of his +researches and observations in Spain or any other country--and we hope +it will not be long before he does thus favour us--may he be able to +devote rather more time to the mere authorship part of the work, to the +correction and chastening of his style. His sentences are often terribly +piled up and intricate, and some are really illogical in their +construction, to the extent of being difficult of comprehension. That +kind of negligence in an author, considerably diminishes the reader's +enjoyment even of the most interesting book. Captain Widdrington should +bear in mind, that however sterling his matter may be, some attention to +manner is also expected, and that the appearance, at least, of the most +valuable gems is deteriorated by an inelegant setting. Nevertheless, in +this book-making age, it may be considered highly creditable to an +author when faults of form and not of substance are the greatest with +which he can be reproached. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: _Spain and Spaniards in 1843._ By Captain S. E. +WIDDRINGTON, R.N., K.T.S., F.R.S., F.G.S. _A Journey across the Desert +from Ceylon to Marseilles, &c. &c._ By Major and Mrs GRIFFITH. 2 vols. +_Facts in Mesmerism, with Reasons for a Dispassionate Enquiry into it._ +By the Rev. CHAUNCY HARE TOWNSHEND, A.M.] + + + + +THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE. + +A TALE ABRIDGED FROM TIECK. + + +CHAPTER I. + +In the month of February, at the close of an exceedingly severe winter, +a singular tumult took place in the town of ----, the origin, progress, +and final pacification of which, gave rise to the most strange and +contradictory reports. Where every one _will_ relate, and no one knows +any thing of the matter, it is natural that the simplest circumstance +should become invested with an air of the marvellous. + +It was in one of the narrowest streets of the populous suburbs of the +town that this mysterious event took place. According to some, a traitor +or desperate rebel had been discovered and captured by the police; +others said that an atheist, who had secretly conspired with others to +tear up Christianity by the roots, had, after an obstinate resistance, +surrendered himself to the authorities, and was now lying in prison, +there to learn better principles. All agreed that the criminal had +defended himself in the most desperate manner. One man, who was a +profound politician and an execrable shoemaker, laboured to convince his +neighbours that the prisoner was at the head of a hundred secret +societies, which had their ramifications over France, Germany, Spain, +Italy, and the far East; and that, in fact, a monstrous insurrection was +on the very point of breaking out in the furthest parts of India, which, +like the cholera, would spread over Europe, and set in flame all its +combustible material. + +Thus much was certain, that a tumult had arisen in a small house in the +suburbs; that the police had been called in; that the populace had made +an uproar; that some eminent personage was seen amongst the crowd; and +that, after a little time, all became still again, without any body +being the wiser. In the house itself certain devastations had +undoubtedly been made, which some explained one way, some another, +according to their humours: the carpenters and joiners were busy in +repairing them. + +In this house had lived a man of whom no one in the neighbourhood knew +any thing. Whether he was a poet or a politician, a native or a +foreigner, no one could divine. The wisest were at fault. This only was +certain, that the unknown lived in a most quiet and retired manner; he +was seen on none of the promenades, nor in any public place; he was +young, was pronounced to be handsome, and his newly married bride, who +shared his solitude with him, was described as being miraculously +beautiful. + +It was about Christmas time when this young couple were sitting together +over the stove in their little apartment. "Of a truth," said the young +man, "how all this is to end is a riddle. All our resources seem now +exhausted." + +"Alas! yes, Henry," answered the beautiful Clara, to whom this was +addressed; "but whilst you, dearest, are still cheerful, I cannot feel +myself unfortunate." + +"Fortunate and unfortunate," replied Henry, "shall be with us but empty +words. The day when you quitted your father's house, and for my sake +abandoned all other considerations, decided our fortune for all our +lifetime to come. To live and to love, this is our watchword; in what +manner exactly we live shall be indifferent." + +"Indeed we are deprived of almost every thing," said the young wife, +"except each other. But I knew you were not rich, and you knew when I +left my father's house I could bring nothing with me; so love and +poverty came to us hand in hand. And now this little chamber, which we +never quit, and the talking together, and the looking into the eyes we +love--this is all our life." + +"Right! right!" said Henry, and springing up from his seat, he embraced +his charming companion with renewed fondness. "Here are we like Adam and +Eve in their paradise; and I think," he added, looking round the +apartment as he spoke, "no angel will come down from heaven for the +express purpose of driving us out of it." + +"If it were not," said Clara, a little dejected, "that the wood begins +to fail--and this winter is certainly the severest I ever knew"---- + +"Certainly," said Henry; "some fuel must somewhere be found. It is +inconceivable that we should be allowed to freeze from without, with all +this warm love within us. Quite impossible! I cannot help laughing +amidst it all, with a sense of ridiculous embarrassment, at the idea +that so simple a thing as a little coin cannot be procured." + +Clara smiled. "If only," said she, "we had some superfluous furniture, +any brass pans or copper kettles." + +"Ah! if only we were millionaires!" interrupted Henry gaily; "then we +could get wood in abundance, and perhaps," he added, looking slyly over +to the stove where some bread-soup was in preparation for their very +temperate repast, "some better fare for dinner. But," he continued in a +tone of humorous banter, which he frequently adopted, and pushing back +his chair a few paces as he spoke, "while you superintend the household +concerns, and give the necessary orders to the cook, I will withdraw +into my study. Now, what would I not write if only pen, paper, and ink, +were to be got at; and how studiously would I read if but a book could +be procured." + +"You must _think_, dearest," said Clara waggishly; "the stock of +thoughts, it is to be hoped, is not quite so low as our wood." + +"Dearest wife," he replied, "the cares of our establishment demand all +your attention; let me proceed undisturbed with my studies. I will +read," he continued, speaking as if to himself, "the journal I formerly +kept in our palmy days of stationery. And it strikes me that it would be +particularly profitable to study it backwards; to begin at the end, and +so lay a proper foundation for a full comprehension of the beginning. +All true wisdom goes in a circle, and is typified by a serpent biting at +its own tail. We will begin this time at the tail." + +Opening his journal at the last page, he began to read in the same +subdued tone--"They tell a tale of a raving criminal, who, being +condemned to death by starvation, ate himself gradually up. This is, in +fact, the story of life, and of all of us. In some there remains nothing +but the stomach and the mouth. With us there is left the soul, which is +expressly said to be inconsumable. So far as externals are concerned, I +have certainly flayed and devoured myself. That I should, up to this +day, have retained a certain dress-coat--I, who never go out--was +perfectly ridiculous. Mem.--Next birthday of my wife to appear before +her in a waist-coat and shirt sleeves, as it would be highly indecorous +to present myself to a person of her rank in a frock-coat somewhat +overworn." + +Here he came to the end both of the page and the book. Turning back, he +commenced at the page immediately preceding--"One can live very well +without napkins. And now I think of it, what are these miserable napkins +but a niggardly expedient for saving the table-cloth? Nay, what is this +table-cloth itself but a base economy for sparing the table! I pronounce +them both to be mere superfluities; both shall be sold, that we may eat +off the table in the manner of the patriarchs. We will live in the +fashion of our magnanimous ancestors. It is in no cynical, +Diogenes-humour that I banish them from the house, but from a resolution +not to follow the example of this poor-spirited age, which encumbers +itself with extravagant superfluities out of a sordid economy." + +"Exactly so," said Clara laughing. "Meanwhile, on the proceeds of those +and other superfluities, I invite you to a repast which, at all events, +shall not savour of extravagance." + +So saying, they sat down to their bread-soup. He who had seen them, +whatever he might have thought of the dinner, would have envied those +who partook of it, so cheerful were they, so joyful, so full of freaks +and frolics, over their simple provender. When the bread-soup was +dispatched, Clara slyly brought from the stove a covered plate, and set +before her astonished husband--a reserve of potatoes! "Long live thou +second Sir Walter Raleigh!" cried Henry. Whereupon they drank to each +other out of the pure element, and _hob-nobbed_ with such glee, that +Clara looked anxiously the next moment at the glasses, to see that they +had not cracked them in their enthusiasm. + +The dinner concluded, they drew their chairs, by way of variety, up to +the solitary window of their apartment, and amused themselves with +looking at the fantastic filigree work with which the frost had +decorated the inside of the glass. + +"My aunt used to maintain," said Clara, "that the room was warmer with +this ice on the window than when the glass was clear." + +"Possibly!" replied Henry. "But on the strength of this faith I would +not dispense with the fire." + +"How wonderfully various," said Clara, "are these ice-flowers! Is it not +strange, one seems to have seen them all in reality, yet cannot give a +name to a single one of them? And look how one grows over the other, and +how the noble leaves seem to expand, even as we speak of them." + +"It is your sweet breath, my dear, that is calling up these ghosts and +spirits of departed flowers," said Henry. "I imagine that some invisible +genius is reading all thy gentle and loving fancies, and pictures them +forth, as they arise, in these flower-phantoms; so that, by looking at +this glass, I know, even while you are silent, that your thoughts are +full of love--that they are dwelling upon me." + +A fond kiss was the answer and the reward of this pretty speech. + +Henry took up his journal, and beginning at the ante-penultimate page, +read aloud:--"To-day--Sold to that old miser of a bookseller, my rare +copy of Chaucer, the costly edition of Caxton. My friend, the dear, +noble Andreas Vandelmeer, made me a present of it on my birthday, when +we were at the university together. He had written to London for it +himself: paid an enormous price for it; and then had it bound, after his +own taste, in rich Gothic style. The old hunks of a bookseller will, no +doubt, send it back to London, and will get for it tenfold what he has +given me. I ought, at least, to have cut out the leaf where the +circumstance of this gift is recorded; and here I have written some +lamentable lines, signed with my present name and address. This is +vexatious. Parting with this book almost persuades me that something +like want is pressing on us; for, without doubt, it was the most +precious thing I possessed, and the memorial of my dearest and my only +friend. Oh, Andreas Vandelmeer! art thou still living? Where art thou? +And dost thou still think of me?" + +"I saw your pain," said Clara, as he concluded, "when you sold that +book; but this friend of your youth--you have never described him to +me." + +"He was in person," replied Henry, "somewhat resembling myself--rather +older and more staid. We knew each other as boys at school. I might say +he almost persecuted me with his love, so passionately did he press it +on me. He was ever complaining that my friendship was too cold. Rich as +he was, and tenderly as he had been brought up, no indulgence had made +him selfish. On leaving the university, he determined on going to India, +that distant land of wonder having fascinated his ardent imagination. +There was then quite a storm of entreaties and supplications that I +should accompany him. He assured me that I should make my fortune there, +as his own forefathers had in fact done. But my mother died about this +time, and my friends, moreover, procured for me a position in the +diplomatic body. He persuaded me, at least, to entrust to him the small +fortune I had inherited from my mother, that he might employ it +advantageously for me; a request which I have always suspected was made +in order that he might have, some future time, a pretext and disguise +for his generosity. We took leave of each other, and I repaired, in the +suite of my ambassador, to the town where your father resided--and +where"---- + +"The history becomes tolerably well known to us both. But this noble +Andreas--did you never hear of him again?" + +"I received two letters," answered Henry, "from that remote quarter of +the world. After which I heard, but through no authentic source, that he +died of the cholera. So far as fortune was concerned, I was left as you +see, entirely dependent on myself. Still, I enjoyed the favour of my +ambassador--was not unpopular at my court--could reckon on some powerful +friends;--but all this has disappeared." + +"All this, alas!" said Clara, "you have sacrificed for me. And I also am +a fugitive from home." + +"Then love must supply all. And so it has, and so it will. Has not our +honeymoon, as they vulgarly call it, lasted nearly a year?" + +"It shall last for ever!" said Clara. Then after a pause, which was +filled up as lovers' pauses usually are, she added. "But the worst blow +of all was the loss of your own book;--that dear poetry you had written. +If we had but kept a copy of it, we might have passed many hours of +these winter evenings in reading it. But then," she added, with a smile +and a sigh at the same time, "we should have wanted a candle." + +"We talk--we gossip," said Henry, "which is much better. I hear the +sweet tones of your voice; you sing me a song, or you break suddenly out +into that heavenly laugh of yours. What is there not in that musical, +jubilee laugh? When I hear it, angel mine, I am not only delighted, I +muse, I meditate, I am rapt. How much of character is there in a laugh! +You know no man till you have heard him laugh--till you know when and +how he will laugh. There are occasions--there are humours when a man +with whom we have been long familiar, shall quite startle and repel us, +by breaking out into a laugh which comes manifestly right from his +heart, and which yet we had never heard before. Even in fair ladies with +whom I have been much pleased, I have remarked the same thing. As in +many a heart a sweet angel slumbers unseen till some happy moment +awakens it, so there sleeps often in gracious and amiable characters, +deep in the background, a quite vulgar spirit, which starts into life +when something rudely comical penetrates into the less frequented +chambers of the mind. Our instinct teaches us that in that being there +lies something we must take heed of. + +"As to that young and thoughtless publisher," continued Henry, "who +became bankrupt and ran off with my glorious manuscript, he, no doubt, +did us good service; for how easily might my intercourse with him, while +the book was being printed, have led to our discovery? Your father has +not yet, be assured, relinquished his pursuit of us--my passport would +have been examined again with severer scrutiny--something, no doubt, +would have led to the suspicion that the name I bear is assumed. We +should have been separated. So, angel mine, we are happy as we are--most +happy!" + +It had now grown dark, and the fire was burned out; a candle to talk by +would have been certainly superfluous: so they retired early to their +sleeping apartment. Here they could continue their chat in the dark, +quite heedless of the heavy fall of snow that was encumbering their +windows. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Next morning, at approach of dawn, Clara hastened up to run to the +stove, to awake the sparks in the ashes. Henry soon came to her +assistance, and they laughed like children, as, with all their efforts, +the flame would _not_ come. At last, with much puffing and blowing, the +shavings kindled, and slips of wood were most artistically laid on so as +to heat the little stove without any waste of the precious store. "You +see, Henry dear," said Clara, "there is hardly enough for to-morrow, and +then"---- + +"A fresh supply must be had," said her husband, in a tone as if this +matter of supply was the simplest thing in the world; whereas he well +knew, that whatever stock of money remained to them, must be reserved +for the still more essential article of food. After breakfast, he again +took up his journal. "How I long to come to that page which records how +you and I, dearest, ran away with one another." + +"O Heaven!" cried Clara, "how strange, how unexpected as that eventful +moment! For some days my father had shown a certain ill-humour towards +me, and had spoken in a quite unusual manner. He had before expressed +his surprise at your frequent visits; now he did not name you, but +talked _at_ you, and spoke continually of young men who refused to know +their own position. If I was silent on these occasions he was angry; and +if I spoke it was still worse: he grew more and more bitter. One +morning, just as I was going out in the carriage to pay some visits, my +faithful maid ran down the steps after me, and, under pretence of +adjusting my dress, whispered into my ear that all was discovered--that +my desk had been broken open, and your letters found--and that, in a few +hours, I was to be sent off a prisoner to an aunt in a distant part of +the country. How sudden was my resolution! I had not ridden far before I +alighted from the carriage, under pretence of buying something at a +trinket-shop. I sent the coachman and servant away, bidding them return +for me in at hour, and then"---- + +"And then," interrupted Henry, "how delighted was I, how almost +terrified with joy, to see you suddenly enter my apartments! I had just +returned from my ambassador, and had by good chance some blank passports +with me; I filled one up with the first name that occurred; and then, +without further preparation, we entered a hired carriage, crossed the +borders, were married, and were happy." + +This animated dialogue was interrupted by the entrance of an old woman, +by name Christina, who had formerly been Clara's nurse. In their flight +they had entered into her little cottage as a place where they could +safely stop to rest themselves, and the faithful old dame had entreated +them to take her with them. She now lived in a small room below, in the +same house, and entirely supported herself by going out to work amongst +the neighbors. She entered the room at present to mention that she +should not sleep that night in her own apartment below; but that, +nevertheless, she should return next morning early enough to make their +usual daily purchases for them. Clara followed her out of the room to +speak with her apart. Henry, in her absence, as if relieved from the +necessity of supporting his spirits, or deprived of the power which +sustained them, sunk his head upon the table, and burst into tears. + +"Why cannot I," he muttered to himself, "work with my hands as this +poor woman does? I have still health and strength. But no--I dare +not--she would then, for the first time, feel the misery of our +position; she would torture herself to work also; besides, we should be +discovered and separated--and, come what may, while we can yet live, we +are happy." + +Clara returned in excellent spirits. They sat down to their frugal and +cheerful meal, to which some additions had been made by the obstinate +kindness of old Christina. "I could not have the heart to refuse her," +said Clara. "Now, if only wood were not wanting, all would be well." + +The next morning Clara slept longer than usual. She was surprised, on +waking, to see that the day had dawned, and still more to find that her +husband had left her side. Her astonishment was further increased when +she heard, in the next room, a crashing and grating noise, as of one +sawing through an obstinate piece of timber. She got up as speedily as +possible, to ascertain the cause of these unusual events. + +"Henry," she cried, as she entered the room, "what are you about there?" + +"Sawing wood, my dear," he replied, as he looked up panting from his +labours. + +"But how in the world did you come by that saw, and this famous piece of +wood?" + +"I remembered," answered Henry, "having seen in the loft above us, soon +after we came here, in one of my voyages of discovery, a saw and a +hatchet, belonging, I suppose, to some previous tenant of our apartment, +or perhaps to our old landlord. So much for these brave tools. As to +this noble piece of wood, it was till this morning the banister to our +staircase. Observe what solid, substantial men our ancestors were! What +a broad, magnificent piece of oak! This will make a quite different sort +of fire from your deal shavings and slips of fir." + +"But," cried Clara, "the damage to the house!" + +"No one comes to see us," said Henry. "We know these steps, and indeed +seldom or never go down them. The old Christina is the only person who +will miss it, and I will say to her very gravely--Look you, old lady, do +you think that a noble oak of the forest is to be hewn down, and then +planed and polished by carpenters and joiners, merely that you may come +up and down these steps a little more easily? No, no, such a magnificent +banister is a most palpable superfluity." + +"Since it is done," said Clara, "I will at least take my share in this +new species of woodcraft." + +So they laid the beam, which filled the apartment, on two chairs, and +first they sawed with united efforts at the middle to make it the more +manageable. It was hard work, for the oak was tough, and the saw was +old, and the workmen were more willing than skilful; but at length it +came in two with a crash. + +"Well," said Clara, as she looked up, and threw her ringlets aside, her +face glowing with the unwonted exercise, "this work has one advantage at +least; we want no fire this morning to warm us." + +After sawing off several square blocks, Henry set to work with his +hatchet to cleave them into pieces fit for the stove. It was fortunate +that, during this operation, which made the walls of their little +dwelling re-echo, their landlord was absent. Nor were the neighbours +likely to be much surprised at the noise, as many handicraftsmen +inhabited that locality. + +On this eventful day breakfast had been forgotten; dinner and breakfast +were consolidated into one meal. This being dispatched with their usual +cheerfulness, they retired to their seat by the window. To-day there was +no frost upon the glass; and the sky--all that could be seen of it--was +clear as crystal. It was a curiously simple prospect which this window +presented. Underneath them, over the ground-floor of the house, had been +constructed--for what reason it would not be easy to say--a tiled roof, +which projected in such a manner as completely to hide the narrow street +from their view. In front stretched the long low roof of a building, +which seemed to be used as a warehouse; and on both sides they were +hemmed in by the blank projecting walls and the tall chimneys of larger +houses--so that certain masses of brickwork, a long roof, and a fragment +of the open sky, was all that the eye could possibly command. This +complete isolation suited the lovers very well; for, besides that it +effectually concealed them from the discovery of their pursuers, it +permitted them to stand at the window, and talk and caress, without the +restraint occasioned by envious spectators. When they first occupied the +apartment, if they heard an unusual noise out of doors, they naturally +ran to the window to look down into the street; and it was not till +after many fruitless experiments that they learned to sit quiet on such +occasions. It was quite an event if a cat was seen stealthily making its +way over the long sloping roof in front of them. In the summer, when the +sparrows built their nests in the tall chimneys on either side, and were +perpetually flying to and fro, twittering, caressing, quarrelling--this +was quite a society. When a chimney-sweeper once thrust out his black +face from one of these chimneys, and shouted aloud to testify the +accomplishment of his ascent, it was an event that brought a shriek of +surprise from Clara. + +Thus passed the days, and the pair were happy as kings, though they were +living very like beggars. Very singular was their power of abstraction +from the future, their entire satisfaction with the present. Clara, it +is true, cast some anxious thoughts after the wood; but Henry brought in +every morning the necessary supply: there was no symptoms of failure. +She thought indeed, of late, that the grain of the wood seemed altered; +but it burned as well as ever. + +"Where," said Clara, one morning, "where is our faithful Christina? I +have not seen her for many a day. You rise in the morning before I can +get up--you take in the bread and the water-jug--I never see her. Why +does she not come up? Is she ill?" + +"No," said Henry, with a slight embarrassment of manner, which his wife +did not fail to detect. + +"Ah! you conceal something from me" she cried. "I will go down directly +and see what is the matter with her." + +"It is so long since you descended these steps, and there is no +banister--you will fall." + +"No, no, I know the steps--I could find them in the dark." + +"Those steps," said Henry, with a mock solemnity of manner--"those steps +will you never tread again!" + +"Oh, there is something you conceal from me!" exclaimed Clara. "Say what +you will, I will go down and see Christina." + +She turned quickly round and opened the door, but Henry clasped her as +quickly in his arms. + +"My dear," cried he, "will you break your neck?" + +The secret was at once disclosed. They stepped together to the +landing-place. There were no longer any stairs to be seen. Clara clasped +her little hands as she looked first down into the dark precipice below, +and then at her husband, who maintained the most comical gravity in the +world. She then ran back to the stove, snatched up one of the pieces of +wood, and, looking at it closely, said--"Ah, now I see why the grain was +so different! So, then, we have burned up the stairs?" + +"So it seems," answered Henry, quite calmly. "I hardly know why I kept +this secret from you--perhaps that you might not be distressed by any +superfluous scruples. Now that you know it, I am sure you will find it +quite reasonable." + +"But Christina?" + +"Oh, she is quite well! In the morning I let her down a cord, to which +she fastens her little basket. This I draw up, and afterwards the +water-jug. Our housekeeping proceeds in the most orderly fashion in the +world. When the banister was at an end, it struck me that one half at +least of the steps of our staircase might be dispensed with; it was but +to step a little higher, as one is forced to do in many houses. With the +help of Christina, who entered into this philosophical view of the +matter, I broke off the first, third, fifth, and so forth. When one half +of the steps was consumed, the other half was also condemned as +superfluous--for what do we want with stairs, we who never go out?" + +"But the landlord?" + +"He will not return till Easter. Meanwhile the weather will be getting +milder, and there are still some old doors and planks up above, which I +shall pronounce altogether superfluous. Therefore warm thee, dearest +Clara, without any care for the future." + +Things, however, did not quite fall out as expected. On the afternoon of +that very same day, a carriage was heard to drive up to the little +house. They heard the rattling of the wheels, the stopping of the +vehicle, the descent of the passengers. It was in vain to put their +heads out of window, they could see nothing there. But they heard the +sound of unpacking, then the greeting of neighbours--it was evident, +beyond a doubt, that their dreaded landlord had returned home much +sooner than he ought. The heavy tread of the gouty gentleman now +resounded in the passage--the crisis was at hand. Henry stood at the +half-open door, listening. Clara sat within, regarding him with a +questioning look. + +"I must go up," the landlord was now heard to say; "I must go up, and +see after my lodgers. I hope they are as cheerful as ever, and the young +wife as pretty." + +There was a pause. The old man was groping about in the dark. + +"How is this?" he muttered to himself. "Don't know my own house! Not +here--not there! Ulric! Ulric! help here!" + +Ulric, his servant and factotum, came to his assistance. + +"Help me up these stairs," said the landlord. "I am blinded--bewitched! +I cannot find the steps, and yet they were broad enough!" + +"Herr Emmerich," said the old and somewhat surly domestic, "you are a +little giddy from travelling." + +"An hypothesis," whispered Henry, turning to his wife, "which unhappily +will not hold." + +"Zounds!" cried Ulric, who had run his head against the wall, "I have +lost my wits too!" + +"I am groping right and left," said the landlord, "and all round, and up +above. I think the devil has taken the stairs!" + +"Another hypothesis," whispered Henry, "and a very bold one." + +Meanwhile the more sensible domestic had at once run for a light. This +he now returned with, and, holding it up in his sturdy fist, he +illuminated the quite empty space. + +"Ten thousand devils!" exclaimed the landlord, as he gazed around and +above him with astonishment. "This is the strangest business! Herr +Brand! Herr Brand! Is any one up there?" + +It was of no use to deny himself. Henry stepped out, bent over the +landing, and saw, by the uncertain flicker of the light, the portly form +of his landlord. + +"Ah, my worthy friend, Herr Emmerich!" he called out in the blandest +manner imaginable, "you are most welcome. It speaks well for the gout +that you have returned so much earlier than your appointed time. I am +delighted to see you looking so well." + +"Your obedient servant," answered the other; "but that is not the +question. What has become of my stairs?" + +"Stairs! were there any stairs here?" said Henry. "Indeed, my friend, I +go out so seldom, or rather not at all, that I take no notice of any +thing out of my own chamber. I study, I work--I concern myself about +little else." + +"Herr Brand," said the landlord, half choking with rage, "we must speak +about this in another tone! You are the only lodger. You shall give an +account before a court of justice"-- + +"Be not overwroth," replied Henry. "If you really contemplate legal +proceedings, I think I can be of use to you; for, now I think of it, I +perfectly remember that there _were_ stairs here, and have a vivid +recollection of having, in your absence, used them." + +"Used them!" cried the old man, stamping with his feet; "and how used +them? You have destroyed them--you have destroyed the house." + +"Nay, do not exaggerate, Herr Emmerich. I cannot ask you to walk +up-stairs, or you might see that these rooms we inhabit are in a perfect +state of preservation. As to this ladder, which was but an asses' bridge +for tedious visitors and bad men, I removed it with great difficulty, as +being superfluous." + +"But these steps," cried Emmerich, "with their noble banister, these +two-and-twenty broad, strong oaken steps, were an integral part of my +house. Old as I am, I never heard of a lodger who dealt as he pleased +with the stairs of a house." + +"Be patient," said Henry, "and you shall hear the real connexion of +events. The post failed in bringing our necessary remittances; the +winter was unusually severe; all ordinary means of procuring fuel were +wanting; I had recourse to this sort of forced loan. At the same time I +did not think, respected sir, that you would return before the warm +summer weather." + +"Nonsense!" said the landlord. "Summer weather! Do you think that these +my stairs will sprout out again, like asparagus, when the summer comes?" + +"Really," said Henry, "I am not sufficiently acquainted with the growth +and habits of the stair-plant to determine." + +"Ulric!" cried the wrathful landlord, "run for the police. You shall +find this no jesting matter." + +The police arrived. The inspector was scandalized at the outrage which +had been committed, and summoned the delinquent to surrender. + +"Never!" said Henry. "An Englishman says well that his house is his +castle; and mine is a castle with the drawbridge up." + +"There is an easy remedy for that," said the officer, who thereupon +called for a ladder, and gave command to his men to mount, to bind the +criminal with cords, and bring him down to his condign punishment. + +The house was now filled with the people of the neighbourhood. Men, +women, and children had been attracted to the spot, and a crowd of +curious spectators, assembled in the street, made their comments upon +the business. Clara had seated herself near the window, not a little +embarrassed; but as she saw that her husband still retained his +accustomed cheerfulness, she also kept her self-possession--not, +however, without much wondering how it would all end. Henry came in for +a moment to hearten her, and also to fetch something from the room. + +"We are shut up, my dear," said he, "like our famous Götz in his +Taxthausen. This obstinate trumpeter has summoned me to surrender at +mercy, and I will now answer him in the manner of our great model." + +Clara smiled. + +"Your fate is my fate," she said, and added to herself in a low voice: +"I think, if my father saw us now, he would forgive all." + +Henry again stepped out upon the landing, and seeing they were verily +bringing in a ladder, called to them in a solemn tone--"Gentlemen, +bethink you what you do. I have been prepared, weeks ago, for every +thing--for the very worst that can happen. I will not be taken prisoner, +but intend to defend myself to the last drop of my blood. Here do I +bring two blunderbusses loaded with ball, and this old cannon, a fearful +piece of ordnance, full to the throat with every destructive ingredient. +I have in this chamber powder and ball, cartridges, lead, all things +necessary to sustain the war; whilst my brave wife, who has been +accustomed to fire-arms, will load the pieces as I fire them. Advance, +therefore, if you wish blood to flow." + +Henry had laid two sticks and an old boot upon the floor. + +The leader of the police, who could distinguish nothing in the dark, +beckoned to his men to stand back. + +"Better," said he to Herr Emmerich, "that we starve out this formidable +rebel." + +"Starve, indeed!" said Henry: "we are provided for months to come with +all sorts of dried fruits--plums, pears, apples, biscuits. The winter is +nearly passed, but should fuel fail us, there is still in the roof above +much superfluous timber." + +"Oh, hear the heathen!" cried Emmerich in agony. "First he breaks to +pieces the bottom of my house, and then he threatens to unroof it." + +"It is beyond all example," said the officer. + +Many of the spectators, however, were secretly pleased at the distress +of the avaricious landlord. Some suggested the calling in of the +military, with their guns. + +"For Heaven's sake, no!" cried Emmerich; "the house will then be utterly +destroyed." + +"You are quite right," said Henry. "And have you forgotten what for many +years every newspaper has been repeating to us, that the first +cannon-shot, let it fall where it may, will set all Europe in blaze?" + +"He is a demagogue, a carbonaro," said the officer. "Who knows what +confederates he may have even in this crowd which surrounds us?" + +The alarm of the officer seemed, for a moment, to be justified, for a +shout was now heard from some of the populace who were collected in the +street. Emmerich and the officer turned round to enquire into the +meaning of this new demonstration. Henry took the opportunity to whisper +a word to his young wife. + +"Be of good cheer," he said; "we gain time. We shall be able to +capitulate. Perhaps even a Sickingen may come to our rescue." + +The shout of the mob had been occasioned by the appearance of a +brilliant equipage, which made its way slowly through the thronged and +narrow street. The footmen were clad in splendid livery, and a coachman, +covered with lace, drove four prancing steeds. The mob might be excused +for shouting "The king! The king!" The carriage stopped before the door +of the house which was now become the great point of attraction, and a +nobleman descended, elegantly attired and decorated with orders and +crosses. + +"Does a certain Herr Brand live here?" enquired the illustrious +stranger; "and what means all this uproar?" + +Hereupon fifty different voices made answer with as many different +accounts. The landlord, stepping forward, pointed to the dilapidated +condition of the house, and explained the real state of affairs. The +stranger continued to advance into the hall, and called with a loud +voice, "Does Herr Brand live here?" + +"Yes," replied Henry from above; "but who is this that asks?" + +"The ladder here!" cried the stranger. + +"No one ascends to this place!" said Henry. + +"Not if he brings back the Chaucer, the edition of Caxton?" + +"O Heaven! the good angel may ascend!" and immediately ran back to Clara +to communicate the joyful news. "Our Sickingen is verily come!" he +exclaimed. Tears of joy were starting to his eyes. + +A few words from the stranger, addressed to the landlord and the +officer, produced a sudden calm. The ladder was raised, and Henry, in a +moment, was in the arms of his old friend Andreas Vandelmeer! All was +now joy and congratulation in the little apartment, as Henry introduced +to his friend his dear and beautiful wife. The first greetings passed, +Vandelmeer informed them that the small fortune which Henry had +entrusted to his care had increased and multiplied itself, and that he +might now consider himself a rich man. Vandelmeer, on his return from +India, had landed at the port of London. There it had occurred to him to +procure some antiquarian present for his friend, like that which he had +formerly given him. Entering the bookseller's where his previous +purchase had been made, he saw a Chaucer, which attracted his attention +from its similarity to the one he had procured for his friend. It was, +in fact, the same. It had found its way back to its original owner. On +opening it, he found some melancholy lines written on the fly-leaf, and +signed with his present name and address. He immediately repurchased the +book, and hastened to the discovery, and, as it proved, the rescue of +his friend. + +To complete the happiness of all parties, he was able to inform them +that the father of Clara had laid aside his anger, and was desirous of +discovering his daughter only that he might receive and forgive her. +What need to say more? Even the landlord was content, and had reason to +congratulate himself on the devastation committed on his staircase. + + + + +THE OVERLAND PASSAGE. + + +Our intercourse with India has become so important within these few +years, and the rapid transit by the isthmus of Suez has become so +favourite a passage, that the public naturally feel an extreme curiosity +relative to every circumstance of the route. The whole is a splendid +novelty, sufficiently strange to retain some portion of the old wonder +which belongs to all things Arabian; sufficiently wild to supply us with +the scenes and adventures of barbarism; and yet sufficiently brought +within the sphere of European interests, to combine with the romance of +the wilderness, at once Oriental pomp and the powers and utilities of +civilized and Christian society. The contrast is of the most exciting +kind:--we have the Bedouin, with his lance and desert home, hovering +round the European carriage, but now guarding what his fathers would +have plundered; the caravan with all its camels, turbaned merchants, and +dashing cavalry, moving along the river's bank, on whose waters the +steam-boat is rushing; the many-coloured and many-named tribes of the +South, meeting the men of every European nation in the streets where the +haughty Osmanli was once master. The buildings offer scarcely a less +singular contrast:--the lofty, prison-like, close casemented fronts of +the huge Mahometan dwellings, frowning in grim repose upon the spruce +shops and glittering hotels of the French and Italian trader and +tavern-keeper; and though last, most memorable of all--the old Pasha, +the only man in existence who has given a new being to a people; the +true regenerator of his country, or rather the creator of a nation out +of one of the most abject, exhausted, and helpless races of mankind. +Egypt, the slave of the stranger for a thousand years, trampled on by +Saracen, Turk, Mameluke, and Frenchman; but by the enterprise and +intelligence of this extraordinary individual, suddenly raised to an +independent rank, and actually possessing a most influential interest in +the eyes of Europe and Asia. + +The route of the travellers begins with Ceylon. Ceylon is a fine +picturesque island, very fertile, strikingly placed for commerce, and +containing a tolerably intelligent population. Yet we do not seem to +have made much of its advantages hitherto; Singapore and even Hong-Kong +are likely to throw it into eclipse; and the chief benefit of its +possession is in keeping away foreign powers from too near an inspection +of our settlements in India. But its shores have the richness of +vegetation which belongs to the tropics, and the variety of aspect which +is so often found in the Asiatic islands. The Major and his wife +embarked on board the steamer "The India," in May 1844. The view from +the Point de Galle is striking. The town is shaded by trees, which give +it the look of richness and freshness that contributes such a charm to +the Oriental landscape. On the left of the bay is a headland clothed +with tropic vegetation. In front are two islands, giving variety to the +bay. Behind is the esplanade, shut in by hills covered with cocoa-nut +trees. At the foot of those hills is the native town and bridge, also +shaded by trees. Crowds of canoes, of various shapes and colours, moored +along the shore, complete the scene. + +The passengers were discontented with the India. They never saw any +thing like the dirt of the ship. The coal-dust penetrated into every +thing. It was in vain to sigh for a clean face and hands, for they were +unattainable. This must be true; yet it passes our comprehension. We +cannot understand why coal-dust should make its appearance at all for +the affliction of the passengers. It certainly blackens no one in our +European steamers. Its business is in the engine-room, and we never +heard of its making its _entrée_ into either the saloon or the cabin. +The India is complained of as being very ill adapted for the service, as +unwieldy, and inadequate to face the south-west monsoon. Yet the vessel +was handsomely decorated: the saloon was profusely ornamented with +gilding, cornices, and mirrors; the tables were richly veneered, and the +furniture was of morocco leather. All this exhibits no want of +liberality on the part of the proprietors; but a much heavier charge is +laid on the carelessness which allowed this handsome vessel to be +infested with disgusting vermin. "The swarms of cock-roaches," says Mrs +Darby Griffiths, "almost drove me out of my senses. The other day sixty +were killed in our cabin, and we might have killed as many more. They +are very large, about two inches and a half long, and run about my +pillows and sheets in the most disgusting manner. Rats are also very +numerous." Now, all this we can as little comprehend as the coal-dust. +If such things were, they must have arisen from the most extraordinary +negligence; and we hope the proprietors, enlightened by Mrs Darby +Griffith's book, will have the vessel cleansed out before her next +voyage. + +The monsoon was now direct against them, and the probability was, that +instead of getting to Aden in its teeth, their coal-dust would fail, and +they would be driven back to Bombay for more. But the commander of one +of the Oriental Company's ships, who was fortunately a passenger, +advised the captain to go south, for the purpose of meeting winds which +would afterwards blow him to the north-west. The advice was as +fortunately taken. They steamed till within two degrees of the line, and +then met with a south wind. This, however, though it drove them on their +course, made them roll terribly. The India was not prepared for this +rough treatment. There was not a swing-table in the ship. The +consequence was, that bottles of wine were rolling in every direction; +geese, turkeys, and curry were precipitated into the laps of the +unfortunate people on the lee-side; while those on the weather-side were +thrown forward with their faces on their plates. This was treatment +which probably John Bull would not like; but being a philosopher, and +besides a native of an island, he would endure it as one of the +necessities of nature. But there were four French passengers on board +who took it in a different way, and probably conceiving that a vessel at +sea was something in the nature of a stage-coach, and the Indian ocean a +high-road, they felt themselves peculiarly ill-used by this tossing; and +at every instance of having a bottle of wine emptied into their drapery, +they regarded it as a national insult, and complained bitterly to the +captain. The French are a belligerent people, and we are surprised that +this series of aggressions by the billows has not been taken up by Mons. +Thiers and his friends, as an additional evidence of the malice of +England to the _grande nation_. Sea-sickness, starvation, and the loss +of their claret, were acts worthy, indeed, of _perfide Albion_. The +captain himself was one of the victims to the "movement." The fair +tourist thus draws his portrait--whether the captain will admire either +the sketch or the limner, is another question. He is described as "an +immensely fat, punchy man, resembling a huge ball, with great fat red +cheeks which almost conceal his eyes, and a small turned-up nose." He +was, of course, always seated at the head of the table, and, she +supposed, considered it beneath his dignity to have his chair tied; but +this world is all made up of compromises and compensations--if the +captain preserved his dignity, he lost his balance. A surge came, "his +fixity of tenure was gone in a moment, and this solid dignitary was shot +forth, chair and all, and rolled against the bulkhead. Every body was in +roars of laughter." + +But though all this was toil and trouble for the miserable lords and +ladies of the creation, it was delight for the masters and mistresses of +the mighty element around them. The inhabitants of the ocean were in +full sport; whales were seen rushing through the brine, porpoises were +sporting with their sleek skins in the highest enjoyment through the +billows, and shoals of dolphins filled the waves with their splendid +pea-green and azure. It was an ocean fête, a _bal-paré_ of the finny +tribe, a gala-day of nature; while miserable men and women were +shrinking, and shivering, and sinking in heart, in the midst of the +animation, enjoyment, and magnificence of the world of waters. On the +third night of their sailing, the wind became higher, and the swell from +the south stronger than ever. They pitched about in the most dreadful +manner, and during the night two sails were carried away, and the +fore-topmast. They were now in peril; but they had the steam in reserve, +and steered for their port. On the 9th of June they were in smooth +water, running up between the coasts of Arabia and Africa. The weather +now suddenly changed; the sun became intensely hot, and though forty +miles from the shore, they were visited by numerous butterflies, +dragon-flies, and moths. In two days after, they sailed through an +orange-coloured sea, filled with a shoal of animalculæ fifteen miles +long. On the next day they came in sight of the harbour of Aden. This +whole track was the voyage from which the Arabian story-tellers have +fabricated such wonders. One of the voyages of the celebrated Sinbad the +sailor, the most picturesque of all voyagers, was over this very ocean. +The orange-coloured waters, the strong effluvium of the waves +intoxicating the brain, the wild headlands of Africa--each the dwelling +of a necromancer--the Maldives, filled with mermaids and sea-monsters, +the volcanic blaze that guarded the entrance to the Red Sea, the fiery +mountains of Aden, the Hadramant, or region of Death, the Babelmandeb, +or Gate of Tears, the Isle of Perim, and the Cape of Burials, wild, +black, and terrific--fill the Arab imagination with wonders that throw +all modern invention to an immeasurable distance. + +The town of Aden is not seen from the sea; it lies behind the mountains, +which are first visible. To look at the coast from this spot, nothing +but a sandy desert presents itself. The peninsula is joined to the +mainland, Arabia Felix, by a narrow sandy isthmus, nearly level with the +ocean. It is only 14,000 feet wide. There are three rocky islands in the +bay, one of which, commanding the isthmus, is fortified. The passengers +of the India were disturbed during the whole day by the yells of the +Arabs who were bringing the coals on board. They look more like demons +than human beings. "The coal-dust, of which we had lost sight for some +time, now began once more to turn every thing into its own colour. The +coolies employed in this service come from the coast of Zanzibar. They +keep up a continual yell during their work, and perform a kind of dance +all the time." They must be very well paid, and this is the true secret +of making men work. The African is no more lazy than other men, when he +can get value for his labour. This is the true secret for abolishing the +slave trade. Those men come hundreds or thousand of miles to cover +themselves with coal-dust, in an atmosphere where the thermometer +sometimes rises to 120° in the shade, and work "day and night until they +have finished their task," roaring and dancing all the time, +besides--and all this for the stimulant of wages. It is to be presumed +that their performance is "piece-work," the only work which brings out +the true effort of the labourer. Their zeal was said to be so great, +that every hundred tons of coal embarked cost the life of a man. But the +Africans have learned to drink grog; an accomplishment which we should +have thought they would not be long in acquiring, and since that period, +they live longer. This, we must acknowledge, is a new merit in grog; it +is the first time that we have heard of it as a promoter of longevity. + +The Arabs on the coast form two classes, perfectly distinct, at least in +their conduct to the English. The class of warriors, being robbers by +profession, are extremely anxious to rob us, and still more indignant at +our preventing their robbery of others. Their piracies have suffered +grievously from the vigilance of our gun-boats, and they have once or +twice actually attempted to storm our fortifications. The consequence +is, that they have been soundly beaten, the majority have left their +carcasses behind them, and the survivors have been taught a "moral +lesson," which has kept them at a respectful distance. But the Arab +cultivators are decent and industrious men, and form the servants of the +town. Whether we shall ever make a great southern colony of the country +adjoining the peninsula, must be a question of the future. But it is +said that a very fine and healthy country extends to the north, and that +the mountains visible from Aden enclose valleys of singular +productiveness and beauty. + +Taste in personal decoration differs a good deal in the south from that +of the north. The Arab, with a face as black as ink, thinks an enormous +shock of red hair the perfection of taste; he accordingly dyes his hair +with lime, and thus makes himself, unconsciously, the regular demon of +the stage. + +The entrance to the new British settlement is through masses of the +boldest and wildest rocks. After passing a defile between two mountains, +we come to the only access on this side, the "lofty mountains forming an +impregnable fortification." This entrance is cut through the solid rock. +A strong guard of sepoys is posted there. The passage is so high and +narrow, that "one might almost compare it to the eye in a darning +needle." This is a female comparison, but an expressive one. Issuing +from the pass, the whole valley of Aden lay like a map beneath, bounded +on three sides by precipitous mountains, rising up straight and barren +like a mighty wall, while on the fourth was the sea; but even there the +view was bounded by the island rock of Sera, thus completing the +fortification of this Eastern Gibraltar. + +Here the travellers were welcomed by a hospitable garrison surgeon and +his wife, found a dinner, an apartment, great civility, and a romantic +view of the Arab landscape by moonlight. They heard the drums and pipes +of one of the regiments, and were "startled by the loud report of a +cannon, which shook the frail tenement, and resounded with a lengthened +echo through the hills. It was the eight o'clock gun, which stood only a +stone's throw from the house, and on the same rock." The lady, as a +soldier's wife, ought to have been less alarmed; but she was in a land +where every thing was strange. "We were literally sleeping out in the +open air; as there were no doors, windows, or venetians to close, and +every breath of wind agitated the frail walls of bamboo and matting, I +was awoke in the night by the musquitto curtains blowing up; the wind +had risen, and came every now and then with sudden gusts; but its breath +was so soft, warm, and dry, that I, who had never ventured to bear a +night-blast in Ceylon, felt that it was harmless." + +Aden, in earlier times, formed one of the thirteen states of Yemen; and +prodigious tales are told of its opulence, its mosques and minarets, its +baths of jasper, and its crescents and colonnades. But Arabia is +proverbially a land of fable, and the glories of Aden exhibit Arabian +imagination in its highest stage. Possibly, while it continued a port +for the Indian trade, it may have shared the wealth which India has +always lavished on commerce. But a spot without a tree, without a mine, +and without a manufacture, could never have possessed solid wealth under +the languid industry and wild rapine of an Arab population. When we +recollect, too, how long the Turks were masters of this corner of +Arabia, we may well be sceptical of the opulence of periods when the +sword was the law. No memorials of its prosperity remain; no ruined +temples or broken columns attest the magnificence or the taste of an +earlier generation. Its only hope of opulence must be dated from its +first possession by the British. But the barrenness of the soil forbids +substantial wealth; and though the native merchants, relying on the +honour of British laws and the security of British arms, are flocking +into it by hundreds, and will soon flock into it by thousands, it must +be at best but a warehouse and a fortress, though both will, in all +probability, be of the most magnificent description. The population is +of the miscellaneous order which is to be found in all the Eastern +ports. The Parsees, the handsome and industrious race who are to be seen +every where in India; the Jews, keen and indefatigable, who are to be +seen in every part of the world; and the Arabs, whose glance and gesture +seem to despise both, are already crowding this half camp, half +capital. From eighty to a hundred camels, every morning, supply the +markets of Aden. They bring in baskets of fine fruit, grapes, melons, +dates, and peaches. The greater number bring also poultry, grass, and +straw. Troops of donkeys carry water in skins to every part of the town; +and there is no want of the necessaries of life, though of course they +are dear. Aden is excessively hot, but regarded as healthy. The air is +pure, dry, and elastic. The engineers are building works on the +different commanding positions; and Aden, within a few years, will +probably be the strongest fortification, as it is already one of the +finest ports, east of the Mediterranean. But we look to nobler +prospects; the inland country is perhaps one of the finest regions in +the world. Almost within view of Aden lies a country as picturesque as +Switzerland, and as fertile as the valleys of the tropics. It is +singularly salubrious; and, in point of extent, may be regarded as +unlimited. We see no possible reason why Aden should not, in the course +of a few years, be made the capital of a great Arabian colony. Conquest +must not be the means, but purchase might not be difficult; and +civilization and Christianity might be spread together through immense +territories, formed in the bounty of nature, and only waiting to be +filled with a free and vigorous population. It is only the centre and +north of Arabia that is desert. The coast, and especially the southern +extremity, are fertile. Without the ambition of empire, or the desire of +encroachment, British enterprize might here find a superb field, and the +Arabian peninsula might, for the first time in history, be added to the +civilized world. + +The travellers now ran up the Red Sea. The navigation has greatly +improved within these few years, in consequence of the intercourse +between England and India. Surveys have been made, and charts have been +formed, which almost divest the passage of peril. But the navigation is +still intricate, in consequence of the coral rocks and numerous shoals, +which, however, may be escaped by due vigilance, and the experienced +mariner has nothing to fear. The aspect of the coast, of both Africa and +Arabia, is wild and repulsive; but some compensation for the monotony of +the shores is to be found in the sea itself. When calm, the transparency +of the water exhibits the bottom to the depth of thirty fathoms. "And +what a new world is discovered through this vale of waters! what +treasures for the naturalist!" The sands are overspread with forests of +coral plants of every colour, shells of remarkable beauty; and, in the +midst of this sub-aqueous landscape, fish of brilliant hues sporting in +all directions. At length they reached the gulf of Suez, with the blue +peaks of Sinai in the distance, and continued running up the gulf, which +was one hundred and sixty miles long, until Suez came in sight. Here all +is dreary: deserts and sand-banks form the whole landscape. Arab boats +came alongside, and conveyed the passengers from the steamer. The town +looked dismal; its walls and fortifications were in decay; the +landing-place was crowded by sickly-looking creatures, the evident +victims of malaria, and the chief ornament of the place was a large +white-washed tomb. This condition of things was not much improved when +the party found themselves in the hotel of Messrs Hill and Co. +Musquittoes, and every species of frightful insect, made war against +sleep; and when their reign had passed away, and the travellers rose, +crowds of flies continued the persecution. The travellers made a bad +bargain in paying their passage-money at once from Suez to Alexandria; +and it is described as the wiser mode to pay only to Cairo, and then +take the choice of the several conveyances which are sure to be found +there. The Arab drivers and carriers seem to have fully acquired those +arts of extortion, which flourish in such abundance wherever English +money is to be found. They cheat, and lie, and cajole, with +extraordinary assiduity; and the majority of the passengers on this +occasion seem to have been detained unnecessarily on the road, and +treated badly at the station houses. The first part of the desert is +rather rocky than sandy, and the road seems to have been formed chiefly +by the carriage wheels. It is covered with great pieces of stone and +rock, which sorely tried the patience of the travellers. Hundreds of +carcasses of camels lie in the way; the flesh is soon eaten by the +wolves and rats, while the bones bleach in the sun. Little troops of +Arabs were met from time to time, sometimes on camels and sometimes on +horses. They were armed to the teeth, as black as negroes, and looked +ferocious enough to make any party of pacific travellers tremble for +their goods and chattels. But they were the patrols of Mohammed Ali, and +guardians of the goods which in other days they would have delighted to +plunder. There are eight stations on this road through the desert, all +built by that man of wonders, the Pasha. Of these, four are only +stables; but four are houses for the reception of travellers. They are +generally from twelve to sixteen miles apart. The station No. 6, though +by no means possessing the comforts of an English hotel, must be a +miracle to the old travellers of the desert. It consists of two +chambers, a kitchen, and servants' room, with a large public saloon +occupying the whole of one end, and completing a little centre court. +Three sides of the saloon were furnished with divans. There was a long +table in the centre, with several chairs, and a glass window at each end +of the room. But this was unluckily the season of flies, and they were +the torment of the travellers; table, wall, ceiling, and floors swarmed +with them. They flew into the face, the eyes, and the mouth. Thousands +of musquittoes were also buzzing round and biting every thing. The +breakfast was no sooner laid on the table than it was blackened with +flies. The beds were hiving, and intolerable. No. 4, the halfway-house, +was rather better. It is the largest of them all, and has a long row of +bedrooms, and two public saloons. It has a large courtyard, in which +were turkeys, geese, sheep, and goats, for the use of travellers. The +Arab coachman here tried a trick of the road. He sent up a message that +he had observed the lady looked very much tired, and that he therefore +advised them to get to the end of their journey as quickly as possible; +that they had better start in two hours, as the moon was very bright, +and that he would take them into Cairo by breakfast-time in the morning. +But it was suspected that this haste was in order that the passengers +waiting at Cairo to go by the India steamer should be conveyed across +the desert by himself, so they declined his offer, and enjoyed their +night's rest. On rising in the morning, they felt that they had reason +to congratulate themselves on their refusal of the night's journey; for +they found even the morning air bitter, and the atmosphere a wet fog. +The aspect of the country had now changed. Chains of hills disappeared, +and all was level sand. On the way they saw the mirage, sometimes +assuming the appearance of a distant harbour, at others, of an inland +lake reflecting the surrounding objects on its surface; and they met one +of the picturesque displays of Arabia, a wealthy Bey going on a +pilgrimage to Mecca. He had a train of twenty or thirty camels. Those +carrying himself and his harem had superb trappings. The women were +seated in large open boxes, hanging on each side as paniers. There were +red silk embroidered curtains hung round, like those on a bedstead, and +an awning over all. The bey was smoking his splendid pipe, and behind +came a crowd of slaves with provisions. The road on approaching Cairo +grew rougher than ever; it was often over ridges of rock just appearing +above the sand. The Pasha's "commissioners of paving" seem to have +slumbered on their posts as much as if they had been metropolitan. At +last a "silvery stream" was seen winding in the horizon--the "glorious +Nile!" The country now grew picturesque; a forest of domes and minarets +arose in the distance; and the Pyramids became visible. The road then +ran through a sort of suburb, where the Bedouins take up their quarters +on their visits to buy grain, they being not suffered within the walls. +It then passed between walled gardens filled with flowers, shrubs, +orange and olive trees; most of the walls were also surmounted with a +row of pillars, interlaced with vines--a species of ornament new to us, +but which, we should conceive, must add much to the beauty, external +and internal, of a garden. Cairo was entered at last; and its lofty +houses, and the general architecture of this noblest specimen of a +Mahometan capital, delighted the eyes which had so long seen nothing but +the sea, the rocky shore, and the desert. Cairo is, like all the rest of +the world, growing European, and even English. It has its hotels; and +the traveller, except that he hears more Arabic, and inhales more +tobacco smoke, will soon begin to imagine himself in Regent street. The +"Eastern Hotel" is a good house, where Englishmen get beefsteaks, port +wine, and brown stout; read the London papers; have waiters who at least +do their best to entertain them in their own tongue; and want nothing +but operas and omnibuses. But the dress still makes a distinction, and +it is wholly in favour of the Mussulman. All modern European dresses are +mean; the Oriental is the only man whose dress adds dignity to the human +form. When Sultan Mahmoud stripped off the turban, and turned the noble +dress of his people into the caricature of the European costume, he +struck a heavier blow at his sovereignty than ever was inflicted by the +Russian sabre or the Greek dagger. He smote the spirit of his nation. +The Egyptian officials wear the fez, or red nightcap--the fitting emblem +of an empire gone to sleep. But the general population of Egypt wear the +ancient turban, the finest ornament of the head ever invented by man; +that of the Egyptian Mahometan is white muslin; that of the Shereefs, or +line of Mahomet, is green; that of the Jews and Copts is black. The +remaining portions of the costume are such as, perhaps, we shall soon +see only upon the stage. The embroidered caftan, the flowing gown, the +full trouser of scarlet or violet-coloured cloth, the yellow morocco +boot, the jewelled dagger, and velvet-sheathed cimeter--all the +perfection of magnificence and taste in costume. The ample beard gives +completeness to the majesty of the countenance, and finishes the true +character of the "lord of the creation." + +The citadel of Cairo has a melancholy and memorable name, from the +horrid massacre of the Mamelukes in 1811, when four hundred and seventy +of those showy soldiers were murdered, and but one escaped by leaping +his horse from the battlements. The horse was killed; the man is now a +bey in the Pasha's service. The citadel stands on a hill, and contains +the Pasha's palace, a harem, a council-hall, police-offices, and a large +square, where the massacre was perpetrated. The view from the windows of +the palace is superb. Cairo is seen immediately beneath, skirted by +gardens on the right. Beyond those the mosques of the caliphs, and as +far as the eye can reach, the Arabian desert. In front is the Nile, a +silver stream, covered with sails of every description, till it is lost +in the groves of the Delta. The ports of Boulac and old Cairo, with +numerous villages, stud its banks, and from its bosom rise verdant +islands. To the left, the Nile is still visible, and beyond are seen the +Pyramids, which, though twelve miles off, appear quite close, from the +transparency of the air. In the citadel is also a mosque, now building +by the order of the Pasha. It is constructed of Oriental alabaster, is +of great size, already exhibits fine taste, and promises to be one of +the most beautiful structures in Egypt. But the Pasha has not yet +attained the European improvement of lamps in the streets. After +nightfall, the only light is from the shops, which, when they close, +leave the street in utter darkness. However, most of the pedestrians +carry lamps with them. How does it happen that no gas company has taken +pity upon this Egyptian darkness, and saved the Cairans from the chance +of having their throats cut, or at least their bones broken; for during +the summer a considerable portion of the poorer population sleep in the +streets? Still the Pasha is a man of taste, fond of living in gardens, +and sensible enough to have the garden of his favourite palace at +Shoobra laid out by a Scotch gardener. He used to reside a great deal +there, but now chiefly lives, when at Cairo, in the house of his +daughter, a widow, where his apartments are in the European style. +Nothing surprises a European traveller more than the people themselves; +and no problem can seem more mysterious than the means by which they are +enabled to supply so much expensive costume. The Egyptian gentleman +seems to want for nothing, wherever they find the money to pay for it. +Fine houses, fine furniture, fine horses, and fine clothes, seem to be +constantly at the command of a crowd who have nothing to do, who produce +nothing, and yet seem to have every thing. The Egyptian or Turkish lady +is an absolute bale of costly clothing--the more breadths of silk they +carry about them the better. Before leaving her home, she puts over her +house costume a large loose robe called a _tob_, made of silk or satin, +and always of some gay colour, pink, yellow, red, or violet. She next +puts on her face veil, a long strip of the finest white muslin, often +exquisitely embroidered. It is fastened just between the eyes, conceals +all the other features, and reaches to the feet. She next envelopes +herself in large cloak of rich black silk, tied round the head by a +piece of narrow riband. Her costume is completed by trousers of silk +gauze, and yellow morocco boots, which reach a considerable way up the +legs. How any human being can bear such a heap of clothing, especially +under the fiery sun and hot winds of Egypt, is to us inconceivable. It +must melt all vigour out of the body, and all life out of the soul; but +it is the fashion, and fashion works its wonders in Egypt as well as +elsewhere. The veil across the mouth, in a climate where every breath of +fresh air is precious, must be but a slower kind of strangulation. But +the preparative for a public appearance is not yet complete. Women of +condition never walk. They ride upon a donkey handsomely caparisoned, +sitting astride upon a high and broad saddle, covered with a rich Turkey +carpet. They ride with stirrups, but they never hold the reins; their +hands are busy in keeping down their cloaks. A servant leads the donkey +by the bridle. Their figures, when thus in motion, are the most +preposterous things imaginable. Huge as they are, the wind, which has no +respect for persons, gets under their cloaks, and blows them up to three +times their natural size. Those are the ladies of Egypt; the lower +orders imitate this absurdity and extravagance as far as they can, and +with their face veils, the most frightful things possible, shuffle +through the streets like strings of spectres. Poverty and labour may by +possibility keep the lower ranks in health; but how the higher among the +females can retain health, between their want of exercise, their full +feeding, their hot baths, and this perpetual hot bath of clothing, +defies all rational conjecture. The Egyptians of all ranks are terribly +afraid of what they call the evil eye, and stifle themselves and +children in all kinds of rags to avoid being bewitched. The peasants are +a fine-looking, strong-bodied race of men; but many of them are met +blind of an eye. This is attributed to the reluctance to be soldiers for +the glory of the Pasha. But Mohammed Ali was not to be thus tricked, and +he raised a regiment of one-eyed men. In other instances they are said +to have knocked out the fore-teeth to avoid biting a cartridge, or to +have cut off a joint of the first finger to prevent their drawing a +trigger. Even thus they are not able to escape the cunning Pasha. But +this shows the natural horror of the conscription; and we are not +surprised that men should adopt any expedient to escape so great a curse +and scandal to society. It is extraordinary that in this 19th century, +even of the Christian world, such an abomination should be suffered to +exist in Europe. It is equally extraordinary that it exists in every +country but England, and she can have no prouder distinction. The +habeas-corpus and her free enlistment, are two privileges without which +no real liberty can ever exist, and which, in any country, it would be +well worth a revolution, or ten revolutions, to obtain. Hers is the only +army into which no man can be forced, and in which every man is a +volunteer. And yet she has never wanted soldiers, and her soldiers have +never fought the worse. It is true, that when she has a militia they are +drawn by ballot from the population; but no militiaman is ever sent out +of the country; and as to those who are drawn, if they feel disinclined +to serve in this force, which acts merely as a national guard, ten +shillings will find a substitute at any time. It is also true that +England has impressment for the navy; but the man who makes the sea his +livelihood, adopts his profession voluntarily, and with the knowledge +that at some time or other he may be called upon to serve in the royal +navy. And even impressment is never adopted but on those extreme +emergencies which can seldom happen, and which may never happen again in +the life of man. But on the Continent, every man except the clergy, and +those in the employment of the state, is liable to be dragged to the +field, let his prospects or his propensities be what they may. In every +instance of war, parents look to their children with terror as they grow +up to the military age. The army is a national curse, and parental +feelings are a perpetual source of affliction. If the great body of the +people in Europe, instead of clamouring for imaginary rights, and +talking nonsense about constitutions, which they have neither the skill +to construct, nor would find worth the possession if they had them, +would concentrate their claims in a demand for the habeas-corpus, and +the abolition of the conscription, they would relieve themselves from +the two heaviest burdens of despotism, and obtain for themselves the two +highest advantages of genuine liberty. + +One of the curiosities of Cairo is the hair-oil bazar. The Egyptian +women are prodigious hairdressers and the variety of perfumes which they +lavish upon their hair and persons, exceed all European custom and +calculation. This bazar is all scents, oil, and gold braids for the +hair. It is nearly half a mile long. The odour, or the mixture of +odours, may well be presumed to be overpowering, when every other shop +is devoted to scented bottles--the intervening ones, containing perfumed +head-dresses, formed of braids of ribands and gold lace, which descend +to the ground. A warehouse of Turkish tables exhibited the luxurious +ingenuity of the workers in mother-of-pearl. They were richly wrought in +gold and silver ornaments. Within seven miles of Cairo, there still +exists a wonder of the old time, which must have made a great figure in +the Arab legends--a petrified forest lying in the desert, and which, to +complete the wonder, it is evident must have been petrified while still +standing. The trees are now lying on the ground, many of the trunks +forty feet long, with their branches beside them, all of stone, and +evidently shattered by the fall. Cairo, too, has its hospital for +lunatics; but this is a terrible scene. The unfortunate inmates are +chained and caged, and look like wild beasts, with just enough of the +human aspect left to make the scene terrible. A reform here would be +well worth the interference of European humanity. We wish that the +Hanwell Asylum would send a deputation with Dr Connolly at its head to +the Pasha. No man is more open to reason than Mohammed Ali, and the +European treatment of lunatics, transferred to an Egyptian dungeon, +would be one of the best triumphs of active humanity. + +The travellers at length left Cairo, and embarked on board Mills and +Company's steam-boat, named the Jack o' Lantern. It seemed to be merely +one of the common boats that ply on the river, with the addition of a +boiler and paddles, and is probably the smallest steamer extant. +However, when they entered the cabin upon the deck, they found every +thing nicely arranged and began to think better of their little vessel. +They had another advantage in its smallness, as the Nile was now so low +that numbers of vessels lay aground, and a large steamer would probably +have been unable to make the passage. The river seemed quite alive with +many-formed and many-coloured boats. Their picturesque sails, crossing +each other, made them at a distance look almost like butterflies +skimming over the water. The little steamer drew only two feet and a +half of water. She is jestingly described as of two and a half Cairo +donkey power. About six miles from Boulac, they passed under the walls +of Shoobra palace and gardens. Its groves form a striking object, and +its interior, cultivated by Greek gardeners, is an earthly Mahometan +paradise. It has bower-covered walks, gardens carpeted with flowers, +ever-flowing fountains, and a lake on which the luxurious Pasha is rowed +by the ladies of his harem. The Nile winds in the most extraordinary +manner across the tongues of land; boats and sails are seen close, +which are in reality a mile further down the stream. The banks were high +above the boat, through the present shallowness of the river. They were +chiefly of brown clay, and were frequently cut into chasms for the +purposes of irrigation. As they shot along, they saw large tracts +covered with cotton, wheat, Indian corn, and other crops. Date-trees in +abundance, the leaves large and like those of the cocoa, the fruit +hanging in large clusters, when ripe of a bright red. Water-melons +cultivated every where, often on the sandy banks of the river itself, +three or four times the size of a man's head, and absolutely loading the +beds. Numbers of the Egyptian villages were seen in the navigation of +the river. The houses are huddled together, are of unbaked clay, and +look like so many bee-hives. Every village has its date-trees, and every +hut has pigeons. The peasants in general seem intolerably indolent, and +groups of them are every where lying under the trees. Herds of fine +buffaloes, twice the size of those in Ceylon, were seen along the shore, +and sometimes swimming the river. Groups of magnificent cattle, larger +and finer than even our best English breed, were driven occasionally to +water at the river side. The Egyptian boats come to an anchor every +night; but the Jack o' Lantern dashed on, and by daybreak reached the +entrance of the Mahoudiah Canal, on which a track-boat carries +passengers to Alexandria. A high mound of earth here separates the canal +from the Nile, which flows on towards Rosetta. This embankment is about +forty feet wide. Some of Mrs Griffith's observations are at least +sufficiently expressive; for example:--"All the children, and some past +the age of what are usually styled little children, were running about +entirely devoid of clothing. We observed a great deal of this in Egypt. +_Men_ are often seen in the same condition; and the women of the lower +orders, having concealed their heads and faces, appear to think they +have done _all that is necessary_." This is certainly telling a good +deal; nothing more explicit could be required. The track-boats are +odious conveyances, long and narrow, and the present one very dirty, and +swarming with cockroaches. They were towed by three horses, ridden by +three men. In England one would have answered the purpose. The Canal +itself is an extraordinary work, worthy of the country of the Pyramids, +and one of the prodigies which despotism sometimes exhibits when the +iron sceptre is combined with a vigorous intellect. It is ninety feet +wide and forty-eight miles long, and yet was completed in six weeks. But +it took the labour of 250,000 men, who worked, if the story be true, +night and day. Along the canal were seen several large encampments of +troops, rather rough instruments, it is true, for polishing African +savagery into usefulness, but perhaps the only means by which great +things could have been done in so short a period as the reign of +Mohammed Ali. An Italian fellow-passenger, who had resided in Egypt +twenty-five years, gave it as the result of his experience, that without +the strong hand of power, the population would do nothing. Bread and +onions being their food, when those were obtained they had got all that +they asked for. They would leave their fruitful land to barrenness, and +would prefer sleeping under their trees, to the simplest operation of +agriculture in a soil that never requires the plough. Yet they are +singularly tenacious of their money, and often bury it, keeping their +secret to the last. The Italian told them that he was once witness to a +scene exactly in point. He accompanied the tax-gatherer to a miserable +village, where they entered one of the most miserable huts. The +tax-gatherer demanded his due, the Egyptian fell at his feet, protesting +that his family were starving, and that he had not a single coin to buy +bread. The tax-gatherer, finding him impracticable, ordered some of his +followers to give him a certain number of stripes. The peasant writhed +under the stripes, but continued his tale. The beating was renewed on +two days more, when the Italian interfered and implored mercy. But the +officer said that he must continue to flog, as he was certain that the +money would come forth at last. After six days' castigation, the +peasant's patience could hold out no longer. He dug a hole in the floor +of his hut, and exhibited gold and silver to a large amount. + +All this may be true; but it would be an injustice to human nature to +suppose that man, in any country, would prefer dirt, poverty, and +idleness, to comfort, activity, and employment, where he could be sure +of possessing the fruits of his labours. But where the unfortunate +peasant is liable to see his whole crop carried off the land at the +pleasure of one of the public officers, or the land itself torn from +him, or himself or his son carried off by the conscription, how can we +be surprised if he should think it not worth the while to trouble his +head or his hands about any thing? Give him security, and he will work; +give him property, and he will keep it; and give him the power of +enjoying his gains in defiance of the tax-gatherer, and he will exhibit +the manliness and perseverance which Providence has given to all. +Whether even the famous Pasha is not still too much of a Turk to venture +on an experiment which was never heard of in the land of a Mahometan +before, must be a matter more for the prophet than the politician; but +Egypt, so long the most abject of nations, and the perpetual slave of a +stranger, seems rapidly approaching to European civilization, and by her +association with Englishmen, and her English alliance, may yet be +prepared to take a high place among the regenerated governments of the +world. + +The road from the termination of the canal to Alexandria, about two +miles long, leads through a desert track. At last the Mediterranean +bursts upon the eye. In front rise Pompey's stately and well-known +pillar, and Cleopatra's needle. High sand-banks still intercept the view +of Alexandria. At length the gates are passed, a dusty avenue is +traversed, the great square is reached, and the English hotel receives +the travellers. Mahometanism is now left behind, for Alexandria is +comparatively an European capital. All the houses surrounding the great +square, including the dwellings of the consuls, have been built within +the last ten years by Ibrahim Pasha, who, prince and heir to the throne +as he is, here performs the part of a speculative builder, and lets out +his houses to Europeans. These houses are built as regularly as those in +Park Crescent, and are two stories high above the Porte Cochère. They +all have French windows with green Venetian shutters, and the whole +appearance is completely European. The likeness is sustained by +carriages of every description, filled with smartly dressed women, +driving through all the streets--a sight never seen at Cairo, for the +generality of the streets are scarcely wide enough for the passage of +donkeys. But the population is still motley and Asiatic. Turbans, caps, +and the scarlet fez, loose gowns, and embroidered trousers, make the +streets picturesque. On the other hand, crowds of Europeans, tourists, +merchants, and tailors, are to be seen mingling with the Asiatics; and +the effect is singularly varied and animated. + +The pageant of the French consul-general going to pay his respects to +the Viceroy, exhibited one of the shows of the place. First came a +number of officers of state, in embroidered jackets of black cachmere, +ornamented gaiters, and red morocco shoes. Each wore a cimeter, an +essential part of official costume. Next followed a fine brass band; +after them came a large body of infantry in three divisions, the whole +in heavy marching order. Their discipline and general appearance were +striking; they wore the summer dress, consisting of a white cotton +jacket and trousers, with red cloth skull-caps, and carried their +cartouche-boxes, cross-belts, and fire-locks in the European manner. The +next feature, and the prettiest, consisted of the Pasha's led horses, in +number about eighteen, all beautiful little Arabs, caparisoned with +crimson and black velvet, and cloth of gold. We repeat the description +of one, for the sake of tantalizing our European readers with the +Egyptian taste in housings. "The animal was a chestnut horse, of perfect +form and action. His saddle was of crimson velvet, thickly ribbed by +gold embroidery. His saddle-cloth was entirely of cloth of gold, +embossed with bullion, and studded with large gems; jewelled pistols +were seen in the holsters; the head-piece was variegated red, green, +and blue; embroidered and golden tassels hung from every part." But the +European portion of the scene by no means corresponded to the Oriental +display. The French consul followed in a barouche and pair, with his +_attachés_ and attendants in carriages; but the whole were mean-looking. +The French court-dress, or any court-dress, must appear contemptible in +its contrast with the stateliness of this people of silks and shawls, +jewelled weapons, and cloth of gold. + +Mohammed Ali is, after all, the true wonder of Egypt. A Turk without a +single prejudice of the Turk--an Oriental eager for the adoption of all +the knowledge, the arts, and the comforts of Europe--a Mahometan +allowing perfect religious toleration, and a despot moderating his +despotism by the manliest zeal for the prosperity of his country; he has +already raised himself to a reputation far beyond the rank of his +sovereignty, and will live in the memories of men, whenever they quote +the names of those who, rising above all the difficulties of their +original position, have proved their title to the mastery of nations. + +The Pasha affected nothing of the usual privacy, or even of the usual +pomp, of rajahs and sultans. He was constantly seen driving through +Alexandria, in a low berlin with four horses. The berlin was lined with +crimson silk, and there, squatting on one of the low broad seats, sat +the Viceroy. Two of his officers generally sat opposite to him, and by +his side his grandson--a handsome child between eight and nine years +old, of whom he seems remarkably fond. Like so many other eminent men, +his stature is below the middle size. His countenance is singularly +intelligent, his nose aquiline, and his eye quick and penetrating. He +does not take the trouble to dye his beard, as is the custom among +Orientalists. He wears it long and thick, and in all its snows. Years +have so little affected him, that he is regarded as a better life than +his son Ibrahim--his general, and confessedly a man of ability. But his +second son, Said Pasha, the half brother of Ibrahim, is regarded as +especially inheriting the talents of his father. He is an accomplished +man, speaks English and French fluently, seems to enter into his +father's views with great intelligence, and exhibits a manliness and +ardour of character which augur well for his country. But the appearance +of the Pasha is not without its attendant state. In front of his berlin +ride a number of attendants, caracoling in all directions. Behind the +carriage rides his express, mounted on a dromedary, in readiness to +start with despatches. The express is followed by his pipe-bearer; the +pipe-bearer followed by a servant mounted on a mule, and carrying the +light for the Pasha's pipe. The cavalcade is closed by a troop of the +officers in waiting, mounted on showy horses. + +At length the day of parting arrived, and the travellers embarked on +board the Tagus steamer. The view of Alexandria from the sea is stately. +A forest of masts, a quay of handsome houses, and the viceroyal palace +forming one side of the harbour, tell the stranger that he is +approaching the seat of sovereignty. The sea was rough, but of the +bright blue of the Mediterranean, and the steamer cut swiftly through +the waves. The vessel was clean and well arranged, the weather was fine, +and the travellers began to feel the freshness and elasticity of +European air. At length they arrived at Malta, and heard for the first +time for years, the striking of clocks and the ringing of church-bells. +They were at length in Europe. But there is one penalty on the return +from the East, which always puts the stranger in ill-humour. They were +compelled to perform quarantine. This was intolerably tedious, +expensive, and wearisome; yet all things come to an end at last, and, +after about a fortnight, they were set at liberty. + +Malta, in its soil and climate, belongs to Africa--in its population, +perhaps to Italy--in its garrison and commerce, to Europe--and in its +manners and habits, to the East. It is a medley of the three quarters of +the Old World; and, for the time, a medley of the most curious +description. The native carriages, peasant dresses, shops, furniture of +the houses, and even the houses themselves, are wholly unlike any thing +that has before met the English eye. Malta, in point of religious +observances, is like what St Paul said of Athens--it is overwhelmingly +pious. The church-bells are tolling all day long. Wherever it is +possible, the cultivation of the ground exhibits the industry of the +people. Every spot where earth can be found, is covered with some +species of produce. Large tracts are employed in the cultivation of the +cotton plant--fruit-trees fill the soil--the fig-tree is +luxuriant--pomegranate, peach, apple, and plum, are singularly +productive. Vines cover the walls, and the Maltese oranges have a +European reputation. The British possession of Malta originated in one +of those singular events by which short-sightedness and rapine are often +made their own punishers. The importance of Malta, as a naval station, +had long been obvious to England; and when, in the revolutionary war, +the chief hostilities of the war were transferred to the Mediterranean, +its value as a harbour for the English fleets became incalculable. Yet +it was still in possession of the knights; and, so far as England was +concerned, it might have remained in their hands for ever. A national +sense of justice would have prevented the seizure of the island, however +inadequate to defend itself against the navy of England. But Napoleon +had no such scruples. In his expedition to Egypt, he threw a body of +troops on shore at Malta; and, having either frightened or bribed its +masters, or perhaps both, plundered the churches of their plate, turned +out the knights, and left the island in possession of a French garrison. +Nothing could be less sagacious and less statesmanlike than this act; +for, by extinguishing the neutrality of the island, he exposed it to an +immediate blockade by the English. The result was exactly what he ought +to have foreseen. An English squadron was immediately dispatched to +summon the island; it eventually fell into the hands of the English, and +now seems destined to remain in English hands so long as we have a ship +in the Mediterranean. Malta is a prodigiously pious place, according to +the Maltese conception of piety. Masses are going on without +intermission--they fast twice a-week--religious processions are +constantly passing--priests are continually seen in the streets, +carrying the Host to the sick or dying. When the ceremonial is performed +within the house, some of the choristers generally remain kneeling +outside, and are joined by the passers-by. Thus crowds of people are +often to be seen kneeling in the streets. The Virgin, of course, is the +chief object of worship; for, nothing can be more true than the +expression, that for one prayer to the Deity there are ten to the +Virgin; and confession, at once the most childish and the most perilous +of all practices, is regarded as so essential, that those who cannot +produce a certificate from the priest of their having confessed, at +least once in the year, are excluded from the sacrament by an act of the +severest spiritual tyranny; and, if they should die thus excluded, their +funeral service will not be performed by the priest--an act which +implies a punishment beyond the grave. And yet the morals of the Maltese +certainly derive no superiority from either the priestly influence or +the personal mortification. + +The travellers now embarked on board the Neapolitan steamer, +Ercolano--bade adieu to Malta, and swept along the shore of Sicily. +Syracuse still exhibits, in the beauty of its landscape, and the +commanding nature of its situation, the taste of the Greeks in selecting +the sites of their cities. The land is still covered with noble ruins, +and the antiquarian might find a boundless field of interest and +knowledge. Catania, which was destroyed about two centuries ago, at once +by an earthquake and an eruption, is seated in a country of still more +striking beauty. The appearance of the city from the sea is of the most +picturesque order. It looks almost encircled by the lava which once +wrought such formidable devastation. But the plain is bounded by verdant +mountains, looking down on a lovely extent of orange and olive groves, +vineyards, and cornfields. But the grand feature of the landscape, and +the world has nothing nobler, is the colossal Etna; its lower circle +covered with vegetation--its centre belted with forests--its summit +covered with snow--and, above all, a crown of cloud, which so often +turns into a cloud of flame. The travellers were fortunate in seeing +this showy city under its most showy aspect. It was a gala-day in +Catania; flags were flying on all sides--fireworks and illuminations +were preparing--an altar was erected on the Cave, and all the world were +in their holiday costume. As the evening approached the scene became +still more brilliant, for the fireworks and illuminations then began to +have their effect. The evening was soft and Italian, the air pure, and +the sky without a cloud. From the water, the scene was fantastically +beautiful; the huge altar erected on the shore, was now a blaze of +light; the range of buildings, as they ascended from the shore, +glittered like diamonds in the distance. Fireworks, in great abundance +and variety, flashed about; and instrumental bands filled the night air +with harmony. The equipages which filled the streets were in general +elegant, and lined with silk; the dresses of the principal inhabitants +were in the highest fashion, and all looked perfectly at their ease, and +some looked even splendid. A remark is made, that this display of wealth +is surprising in what must be regarded as a provincial town. But this +remark may be extended to the whole south of Italy. It is a matter of +real difficulty to conceive how the Italians contrive to keep up any +thing approaching to the appearance which they make, in their Corsos, +and on their feast-days. Without mines to support them, as the Spaniards +were once supported; without colonies to bring them wealth; without +manufactures, and without commerce, how they contrive to sustain a life +of utter indolence, yet, at the same time, of considerable display, is a +curious problem. It is true, that many of them have places at court, and +flourish on sinecures; it is equally true, that their manner of living +at home is generally penurious in the extreme; it is also true that +gaming, and other arts not an atom more respectable, are customary to +supply this yawning life. Yet still, how the majority can exist at all, +is a natural question which it must require a deep insight into the +mysteries of Italian existence to solve. Whatever may be the secret, the +less Englishmen know on these subjects the better; communion with +foreign habits only deteriorates the integrity and purity of our own. On +the Continent, vice is systematized--virtue is scarcely more than a +name; and no worse intelligence has long reached us than the calculation +just published in the foreign newspapers, that there were 40,000 English +now residing in France, and 4000 English families in that especial sink +of superstition and profligacy, Italy. + +The sail from the Sicilian straits to Naples is picturesque. The +Liparis, with their volcanic summits, on one side--the Calabrian +highlands, on the other--a succession of rich mountains, clothed with +all kinds of verdure, and of the finest forms; and around, the perpetual +beauty of the Mediterranean. The travellers hove to at Pizza, in the +gulf of Euphania, the shore memorable for the gallant engagement in +which the English troops under Stuart, utterly routed the French under +Regnier--a battle which made the name of Maida immortal. Pizza has +obtained a melancholy notoriety by the death of Murat, who was shot by +order of a court-martial, as an invader and rebel, in October 1815. +Murat's personal intrepidity, and even his _fanfaronade_, excited an +interest for him in Europe. But he was a wild, rash, and reckless +instrument of Napoleon's furious and remorseless policy; the commandant +of the French army in Spain in 1808 could not complain of military +vengeance; and his death by the hands of the royal troops only relieved +Europe of the boldest disturber among the fallen followers of the great +usurper. + +The finest view of Naples is the one which the mob of tourists see the +last. Its approaches by land are all imperfect--the city is to be seen +only from the bay. Floating on the waters which form the most lovely of +all foregrounds, a vast sheet of crystal, a boundless mirror, a tissue +of purple, or any other of the fanciful names which the various hues and +aspects of the hour give to this renowned bay, the view comprehends the +city, the surrounding country, Posilipo on the left, Vesuvius on the +right, and between them a region of vineyards and vegetation, as poetic +and luxuriant as poet or painter could desire. + +The wonders of Pompeii are no longer wonders, and people go to see them +with something of the same spirit in which the citizens of London +saunter to Primrose hill. It was a beggarly little place from the +beginning; and the true wonder is, how it could ever have found +inhabitants, or how the inhabitants could ever have found room to eat, +drink, and sleep in. But Herculaneum is of a higher rank. If the +Neapolitan Government had any spirit, it would demolish the miserable +villages above it, and lay open this fine old monument of the cleverest, +though the most corrupt people of the earth, to the light of day. In all +probability we should learn from it more of the real state of the arts, +the manners, and the feelings of the Greek, partially modified by his +Italian colonization, than by any other record or memorial in existence. +In those vaults which still remain closed, owing to the indolence or +stupidity of the existing generation, eaten up as it is by monkery, and +spending more upon a _fête_ to the Madonna, or the liquifying of St +Januarius's blood, than would lay open half the city, there is every +probability that some of the most important literature of antiquity +still lies buried. Why will not some English company, tired of railroad +speculations and American stock, turn its discharge on Herculaneum, pour +its gold over the ground, exfoliate the city of the dead, recover its +statues, bronzes, frescoes, and mosaics, transplant them to Tower +Stairs, and sell them by the hands of George Robins, for the benefit of +the rising generation? This seems their only chance of revisiting the +light of day; for the money of all foreign sovereigns goes in fêtes and +fireworks, new patterns of soldiers' caps, and new costumes for the +maids of honour. + +We have now glanced over the general features of these volumes. They are +light and lively, and do credit to the writer's powers of observation. +The result of his details, however, is to impress on our minds, that the +"overland passage" is not yet fit for any female who is not inclined to +"rough it" in an extraordinary degree. To any woman it offers great +hardships; but to a woman of delicacy, the whole must be singularly +repulsive. Something is said of the decorations of the work proceeding +from the pencil of the lady's husband. Whether the lithographer has done +injustice to them, we know not; but they seem to us the very reverse of +decoration. The adoption, too, of new modes of spelling the Oriental +names, is wholly unnecessary. Harem, turned into Hharéem--Dervish into +Derwéesh--Mameluke into Memlook, give no new ideas, and only add +perplexity to our knowledge of the name. These words, with a crowd of +others, have already been fixed in English orthography by their natural +pronunciation; and the attempt to change them always renders their +pronunciation--which is, after all, the only important point--less true +to the original. On the whole, the "overland passage" seems to require +immense improvements. But we live in hope; English sagacity and English +perseverance will do much any where; and in Egypt they have for their +field one of the most important regions of the world. + + + + +MESMERISM. + + "They say miracles are past, and we have our philosophical persons + to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and + causeless."--_All's Well that Ends Well, Act II., Scene 3._ + + +From the many crude, illiterate, and unphilosophical speculations on the +subject of mesmerism which the present unwholesome activity of the +printing-press has ushered into the world, there is one book which +stands out in prominent and ornamental relief--a book written by a +member of the Church of England, a scholar and a gentleman; and the +influence of which, either for good or for harm, is not likely to be +ephemeral. Few, even of the most incredulous, can read with attention +the first half of "Facts in Mesmerism, by the Rev. Chauncy Hare +Townshend," of which a second edition has recently appeared, without +being staggered. The author leads the reader up a gentle slope, from +facts abnormal, it is true, but not contradictory to received notions, +to others deviating a little more from ordinary experience; and thence, +by a course of calm narrative, to still more anomalous incidents; until +at length, almost unconsciously, the incredible seems credible, +impossibilities and possibilities are confounded, and miracles are no +longer miraculous. + +There is much difficulty in dealing with such a book; gentlemanly +courtesy, which should grant what it would demand, and an unavoidable +faith in the purity of the author's intentions, entirely prevent our +treating it as the work of an empiric. It is evident that the author +believes what he writes, that the facts in mesmerism are facts to him; +to those unprepared by previous experience for the fallacies which the +enthusiastic temperament is led into, the book would be irresistible; to +those, however, accustomed to physical or phsycological investigation, +the last half of the work does much to unravel the web which the first +half has been engaged in weaving. When the author departs from the +narrative of facts, and endeavours to render those facts consistent with +reason and experience, we see the one-sided bias of his mind--we see +that he is not a judge but an advocate; and the faith which we should +repose on the circumstantial narrative of a gentleman, becomes changed +into the courtesy with which we listen to an honourable but deceived +enthusiast. + +If the utilitarian school has done harm by its hasty attempts to reduce +every thing to rule and to the dominion of human reason, no stronger +proof than this book need be given of the evils to which the opposite +extreme of transcendental philosophy has given rise. As an instance of +the fallacies to which one-sided philosophic views may lead, Mr +Townshend says, that if asked of what use is the eye if we can see +without it, he might answer, "To show us how to make a camera obscura." +The case is put illustratively, and we are far from wishing to take it +literally to the author's disadvantage; but, in setting at nought the +ordinary and sufficient reasoning on this subject, the author himself is +obliged to adopt a similar but weaker line of argument. Unfortunate it +is, that even in philosophy the judicial character is so rare; it is +vainly imagined that error may be counteracted by antagonist error; and +because neutrality is too often the companion of impotence, impartiality +is supposed to be synonymous with neutrality. + +It will be seen from the above, that Mr Townshend has failed to convince +us that all the "facts in mesmerism" are facts; and certainly if he has +failed, the herd of peripatetic lecturers[3] on the so-called science +are not likely to have succeeded; but, although unconvinced of the +marvellous, we are by no means indisposed to believe some of the +abnormal phenomena of mesmerism. We have witnessed several mesmeric +exhibitions--we have never seen any effect produced which was +contradictory to the possible of human experience, in which collusion or +delusion was fairly negatived. We insist on our right to doubt, to +disbelieve. The more startling the proposition, the more rigorous should +be the proof; we have never seen the tests which are applied to the most +trifling novelty in physical science applied to mesmeric _clairvoyance_, +and withstood. The advocates of it challenge enquiry in print, but they +shrink from, or sink under, experiment. + +In endeavouring to analyse the work before us, and to examine generally +the phenomena of mesmerism, we shall do our utmost to avoid the vices of +partial advocacy which we censure; we moreover agree with Mr Townshend, +that ridicule is not the weapon to be used. Satire, when on the side of +the majority, is persecution; it is striking from a vantage +ground--fair, perhaps, when the individual contends with the mass, as +when an author writes to expose the fallacies of social fashion; but +unfair, and very frequently unsuccessful, when directed against +partially developed truths, or even against such phenomena as we believe +mesmerism presents, viz. novel and curious psychical truths, o'erclouded +with the dense errors of sometimes enthusiasm, sometimes knavery. We +shall soberly examine the subject, because we think that much good may +be done by its investigation. The really skilful and judicious steer +clear of it from a fear of compromising their credit for commonsense; +and while the caution necessarily attendant upon habitual scientific +studies, dissuades the best men from meddling with that which may blight +their hardly-earned laurels, the public is left to be swayed to and fro +by an under-current of fallacious half-truths, far more seductive and +dangerous than absolute falsehoods. We cannot undertake to say, thus far +is true, and thus far false;--to mark out the actual limits of true +mesmeric phenomena, demands the very difficult and detailed enquiries +which, for the reasons just mentioned, have been hitherto withheld;--but +we think we shall be able to succeed in showing, that, though there be +much error, there is some truth, and truth of sufficient importance to +merit a calm and careful investigation. + +We may class the phenomena of mesmerism, as asserted by its professors, +as follows:-- + + 1st. Sleep, or coma, induced by external agency, (partly mental, + partly physical.) + + 2d. Somnambulism, or, as called by Mr Townshend, sleep-waking; + _i.e._ certain faculties rendered torpid while others are + sensitive. + + 3d. Insensibility to pain and other external _stimuli_. + + 4th. Physical attraction to the mesmeriser, and repulsion from + others; community of sensation with the mesmeriser. + + 5th. Clairvoyance, or the power of perception without the use of + the usual organs; and second-sight, or the power of prediction + respecting the mesmeric state and remedial agencies. + + 6th. Phreno-mesmerism, or the connexion between phrenology and + mesmerism. + + 7th. Curative effects. + +We believe these categories will include all the leading phenomena of +mesmerism. We purpose to give instances of these, partly derived from +our own experience, and partly from the book of Mr Townshend, or other +the best sources to which we can have recourse; to state fearlessly what +we believe may be true, and what we entirely disbelieve; and then to +examine the arguments by which the reason of the public has been +assailed, and in many cases rendered captive. + +First, then, as to the power of induced coma, we will relate an instance +which came under our own observation, and which serves to demonstrate +that a power may be exercised by one human being over another which will +produce a comatose or cataleptic state. In the Christmas week of the +year 1842, we dined at a friend's house with a party of eight, (numeric +perfection for a dinner-party, according to the ingenious author of the +_Original_.) In the evening, Mackay's book on popular delusions being on +the drawing-room table, some one asked if the author had treated of +mesmerism. Upon this, one of the party who had recently returned from +London--a man who had led a studious life, and of a highly nervous +temperament--said he had recently witnessed a mesmeric exhibition, and +would undertake to mesmerise any one present. Upon this, two or three +ladies volunteered as patients; and he commenced experimenting upon a +lady of some twenty-five years old, whom he had known intimately from +childhood, clever, and well read, but rather imaginative. To make the +thing more ridiculous, he knelt on both knees, and commenced making +passes with both hands slowly before her eyes, telling her, whenever she +took her eyes off, to look fixedly at him, and keeping a perfectly grave +face when every body around was laughing unreservedly. After this had +endured for some three minutes, the lady's eyes gradually closed, she +fell forwards, and was only prevented from farther falling by being +caught by the mesmeriser. He shook her, and, in rather a rough manner, +brought her to her senses; then, suspicious lest she had been purposely +deceiving him, questioned her seriously as to whether her sleep were +feigned or real. She assured him that it was not simulated, that the +sensation was irresistible, different from that of ordinary sleep, and +by no means unpleasant; but that the only disagreeable part was the +being roused. Upon this, the gentleman declared that he knew nothing of +mesmerism, and that, had he believed there was any thing in it, he would +not have attempted the joke. Another lady present, married, and having a +family, was now most anxious to have the experiment repeated upon her. +She said she had before sat to an experienced mesmeriser, who had +failed, and she was still incredulous, and believed that M---- had merely +given way to an imaginative temperament. It required considerable +persuasion to induce the gentleman who had before operated to try any +more experiments. He protested that he knew nothing about it, that he +had once seen a person said to be in the mesmeric state; but that, if he +succeeded again in inducing coma, he knew not at all how to awake the +patient. Curiously enough, he was instructed in the manipulation by the +sceptical patient, who had previously seen public mesmeric exhibitions. +After some further persuasion, and with the permission of the lady's +husband, who was present, he commenced again the same passes as with the +former patient, the only difference being, that he was in this case +sitting instead of kneeling. The patient kept constantly bursting into +fits of laughter, and as constantly apologising, telling him that his +gravity of face was irresistible. Of the other persons present, some +laughed, others were too much terrified to laugh, but they kept up a +constant running fire of comment, satirical and serious, upon the +mesmeriser and mesmerisee. In four or five minutes, the fits of laughter +of the latter assumed a rather unnatural character. It was evident she +forced herself to laugh in spite of the strongest disinclination, and in +a minute or two more she fixed into a state of ghastly catalepsy, the +eyes wide open, but the lids fixed, the features all rigid, (except the +lower lip, which was convulsed,) and pale as a corpse. The bystanders, +now much frightened, interfered, and laid hold of the mesmeriser. After +some time, water being given her to drink, she came to herself, and +appeared not to have suffered from the experiment. + +Notwithstanding the external difference of the case from the first, she +described her sensations as the same; viz. a sleep differing from +ordinary sleep, pleasing and irresistible, but the rousing very +disagreeable. The lady's husband now insisted on being operated on +himself. This was done, and entirely without success. Another lady was +also experimented on with no success; at least she said she felt sleepy, +but nothing more, which was not extraordinary, as it was now getting +late. When questioned as to what means he had used, the mesmeriser said +he had done nothing but stare steadily at the patients, making them also +look fixedly at him, and move his hands slowly and in uniform +directions, his instructor in these manoeuvres having been Tyrone +Power in the farce of _His Last Legs_. He stated that soon after the +commencement of the experiment, he felt an almost irresistible tendency +to go on with it; but whether this resulted from a conviction that he +was exercising some unknown influence, or from mere experimental +curiosity, he would not undertake to say--"this only was the witchcraft +he had used." + +The result was to all present conclusive as to the production of some +effect inexplicable upon received theories. The second case defied +simulation, and we believe it was equally removed from hysteria. The +patient was a strong-minded person, of a temperament neither nervous nor +hysterical, to all appearance perfectly calm, except when overcome by a +sense of the ridiculous, and before the experiment obstinately +incredulous. It was certainly a strong case. Any hypothesis to account +for it would be hasty; but one point suggests itself to us as arising +from the remark made by the mesmeriser, viz. that the only influence he +was conscious of using was that of a fixed determined stare. This may +possibly afford some key to a more philosophical examination of these +curious phenomena. + +The fabled effects of the basilisk, the serpent, and the evil eye, have +probably all some facts for their foundation. The effect of the human +eye in arresting the attacks of savage animals is better authenticated, +and its influence upon domestic animals may be more easily made the +subject of experimental proof. Let any one gaze steadily at a dog half +dozing at the fireside--the animal will, after a short time, become +restless, and if the stare be continued, will quit his resting-place, +and either shrink into a corner, or come forward and caress the person +staring. How much of this may be due to the habitual fixed look of stern +command with which censure or punishment is accompanied, it may be +difficult to say; but the fact undoubtedly is, that some influence, +either innate or induced, is exercised. Again, those who, in society, +habitually converse with an averted glance, we generally consider +wanting in moral force. We doubt the man who doubts himself. On the +other hand, if, in conversation, the ordinary look of awakened interest +be prolonged, and the eyes are kept fixed for a longer period than +usual, an embarrassed and somewhat painful feeling is the result; an +indistinct impulse makes it difficult to avert the eye, and at the same +time a consciousness of that impulse is an inducement to avert it. We +lay no undue stress upon these phenomena; but they are phenomena, and +fair subjects for scientific investigation. An explanation of mesmerism +has been sought in the physical effect of the stare alone; thus it is +said that, if a party look intently at a prominent object fixed to his +forehead, he will in time be thrown into mesmeric coma. There is more in +it, we think, than this; there is an influence exerted by that nearest +approach to the intercourse of soul--"the gaze into each other's +eyes"--the extent and _normæ_ of which are unknown. The schoolboy's +experiment of staring out of countenance, is not so bad a test of moral +power as it would at first sight be deemed to be. + +The second case we shall relate is also one at which we were personally +present, but one in which both mesmeriser and mesmerisee were, if we may +use the term, adepts--the former a gentleman of fortune and education; +the latter a half-educated young man, who had been in service as a +footman. We shall designate them as Mr M---- and G----. + +At this "_soirée magnétique_" G. was brought in in the sleep-waking +state, walking, or rather staggering, and holding the arm of Mr M., his +eyes to all appearance perfectly closed, and his gait and gestures those +of a drunken man. After some little time he was detached from the +mesmeriser, and followed him to different parts of the room. When in +proximity Mr M. raised his hand, the patient's hands followed it, his +legs the same, while they receded from the hands and legs of any other +of the party present. Some of these effects were certainly curious, and +not easy of explanation. The mesmeriser would walk or stand behind the +patient, and, waving his hands somewhat after the manner of the cachuca +dancer, the hands of the patient followed his with tolerable but not +unerring precision. We determined to bear in mind these effects when +some other phenomena were exhibiting, and try whether similar results +would ensue when the attention of the parties was devoted to other +subjects. When the attention of every body present was intently strained +upon some experiments which we shall presently mention, we approached, +as though watching the experiment, very near to G., and frequently +without his at all flinching; at other times we were told by Mr M. not +to come too near, and once in particular we observed, that having had +one knee and toe in close juxtaposition, almost in contact, with the +patient's, we retained it so for several seconds before he withdrew his +leg. These facts, which would probably be explained by mesmerists on the +ground of the whole power of sensation being concentrated upon one +object, rendered, however, the experiments upon mesmeric attraction +inconclusive. Passing over several experiments, such as the +mesmerisation of water, showing community of taste, in which, after some +hesitation, the patient selected from three or four glasses of water one +which had been tasted by the mesmeriser, we come to the most important +point, viz. the clairvoyance. One of the party stood behind the patient, +and he was asked how the former was dressed; his reply, after some +hesitation was, "not over nice--he has a queerish waist-coat on," (it +was a plain white.) A book was then taken off the table--one of the +annuals. Mr M. held his hands tightly over the eyes of G., and the +title-page was presented open opposite the covered eyes of the latter; +after struggling and moving his head about for some time, just as if +endeavouring to catch a glimpse of the book, he mentioned the place of +publication, and afterwards the title. Other experiments were proposed, +such as holding a book behind the party, or to different parts of his +body; but of these some did not succeed, others were not tried. To +obviate the doubt of the book having been previously seen, we were +requested to write, in large letters, a word on a card, such as a +slightly educated person could read, and to present it, looking at the +same time as closely as we wished at the eyes of G., the lids of which +were, as before, apparently tightly held down by Mr M. We did so: the +word was _Peru_; and, after some struggles, the word was read certainly +without an exposure of any part of the eye to us. We now proposed, as +likely to be more satisfactory, to write another word on a similar card, +and, instead of the hands of the mesmeriser being held over the eyes, to +place a piece of thin paper over the card. This, it was said, was +useless and would not succeed, as the influence would not be transmitted +through the person of the mesmeriser; we then proposed that he (the +mesmeriser) should place his hand over the card; in short, that the card +should be blinded and not the eye. Our reason will be obvious. According +to the known laws of vision, viz. the convergence of all the rays of +light to a focus in the eye, were the least part of this exposed, +vision, though imperfect, of every object within the visual angle, would +follow; but, were the object covered, a partial opening would assist +vision but little, and only _quoad_ the part exposed. The experiment +thus performed would have been optically conclusive; and we cannot see, +according to any of the mesmeric hypotheses, any mesmeric reason why it +should not have succeeded: it was, however, declined. We are obliged to +omit many other points in this evening's proceedings to avoid prolixity. +Though many facts were curious, and certainly not easy of explanation by +ordinary means, there was nothing which defied it; every _experimentum +crucis_ failed, and we, of course, remained unconvinced. + +The third case which we shall instance, was one at which we were also +personally present. Having been invited to view the mesmeric experiments +of Dr B., we arrived at his house, with a friend, at about ten in the +morning, and having been duly introduced to the Doctor in one room, were +instantly ushered into another, when a scene presented itself certainly +one of the most extraordinary we have ever witnessed. There were seven +females in the room, and not one man. On a sofa near the fire-place, a +young girl sat upright, supported by cushions, her eyes were fixed, and +opposite her stood a middle-aged woman, slowly moving her hands before +the eyes of the patient. On the hearth-rug near this lay a woman covered +with a coarse blanket. She appeared sound asleep, was breathing heavily, +and looked deadly pale. A third patient was seated on a chair, also +undergoing the mesmeric passes from another woman; and on the opposite +side of the room from the fire-place, two others were seated on chairs, +with their heads hanging on their shoulders, and eyes closed. +Description cannot convey the mystic and fearful appearance of this room +and its inmates to the first glance of the unexpectant spectator. Not a +word was spoken; the solemn silence, the immobility and deathlike pallor +of the objects, was awful--they were as breathing corpses. The clay-cold +nuns evoked from their tombs, presented not a more unearthly spectacle +to Robert of Normandy. The free-and-easy expressions of Dr B., however, +which first broke the silence, instantly dissolved the spell. "That +woman," he said, pointing to her on the floor, "has a disease of the +liver, and her left lung is somewhat affected. I think we shall do her +good. She is now getting into the clairvoyant state. She can see into +the next room." He then stooped over her, and said, "How are you, Mary?" +She replied, "I have the pain in my side very bad." He approached his +hand to the part affected, and again withdrew it several times, opening +the fingers as it neared, and closing them as it receded, as though he +would gently extract the pain. He again asked her how she felt; she said +better. He then pointed to the girl on the sofa, and said, "She is deaf +and dumb. We cannot get her asleep." He subsequently pointed out other +of the patients, and mentioned their ailments. These, and the sombre +darkness of the room, accounted to us for the unnatural paleness of the +patients. Dr B. next asked one of two sleeping patients to follow him +into another room. We accompanied him, and his experiments upon the +female, whom we shall call S., commenced. First of all, he placed her +hands with the palms together, and making with his fingers motions the +converse of those made in the former case, asked us to endeavour to +separate them. We did, and _instantly succeeded_, with no more effort +than would be expected were any woman of average strength purposely to +hold her hands together. "Ah!" said the Doctor, "not an easy matter, is +it?" We made no reply. He then walked, having on a pair of +loudly-creaking boots, to the other end of the room, and looked sternly +at the patient. She, after a second or two, followed him, and sat on the +same chair. He then said, "I willed her to come to me." + +He next asked our friend to hold the patient's hands, and ask her a +question _mentally_, without expressing it. + +After some little time she frowned, and endeavoured to withdraw her +hands. + +_Dr._ "Ah, she does not like your question! Ask her another." + +After some time she burst out into a fit of laughter. + +_Dr._ "Ah, you have tickled her fancy now!" + +What the question asked by our friend was, did not transpire. This +experiment having been so successful, we were asked to do the same. Not +without a feeling of shame we complied; and, taking hold of the +patient's hands, we mentally asked her the question--"Are you single or +married?" which question did not appear to us to involve any +metaphysical subtilty. However, after struggling and frowning for some +time, she said, with a sort of hysteric gasp, "He's a funny man!" + +_Dr B._ "Ah, she can't make you out!" + +We are not aware to what feature in our character the epithet _funny_ +will apply; but probably our self-esteem will not permit us justly to +appreciate the appositeness of this somewhat ambiguous epithet. So much, +however, for the power of divination, with which the mesmeriser seemed +perfectly satisfied. Dr B. now showed us a camomile flower, put it in +his mouth, and chewed it. The patient made a face as if tasting +something disagreeable, and, in answer to his questions, said it was +bitter. He then did the same with a lozenge; and after some time, +required, according to the doctor, for the removal of the bitter taste, +she said she tasted _lozenges_. + +_Dr B._ "There you see the community of taste." Dr B. now touched her +forehead a little above and outside of the eyebrows; she burst out +laughing. + +_Dr B._ "I touched the organ of gaiety." He then did the same with the +organs of music; she set up an old English ditty. Then touching these +organs with one hand, and placing the other on the top of her head, she +instantly changed the ballad to a doleful psalm-tune. Affection, +philo-progenitiveness, were in turn touched, the doctor stating aloud +beforehand what organ he was going to excite. We should weary our +readers with a detail of the platitudes which ensued. + +She was asked what was going on in the next room, and said, "Ah, Sophy +may try, but cannot get the girl asleep!" A few other experiments, such +as suspending chairs on her arms, &c., followed, and we returned to the +next room, where the deaf and dumb girl was found _fast asleep_. Upon +being asked how long she had been so, the female mesmeriser replied, +"Just after you left the room." No comment was made upon the answer of +the clairvoyante patient above given, which appeared to have been +forgotten by all but ourselves. + +Had we been anxious to give a factitious interest to our narrative, we +should certainly have avoided a description of the above cases, which +could not at the same time be made to possess graphic interest, and to +relate accurately the real facts as presented; but we have selected them +as having happened to ourselves, and as being shown not by public +exhibitors, but by parties both holding a highly respectable station in +life, and being, as we believe, among the best examples to be found of +English mesmerisers. Although invited as sceptical spectators, and the +experiments being in nowise confidential, we feel that the exhibition +not being public, we have no right to mention the names of the parties. + +It will be obvious that the three exhibitions we have selected differed +much in character. The first, as we have stated, to our minds defied +collusion or self-deception. The second was open to either construction, +though, from the character of the parties, we should think collusion +was, in the highest degree, improbable; and the experiments, although +not conclusive, were very curious, and some of them not easy of +explanation. In the third case, transparent and absurd as the +experiments seemed to us, and as the account of them will probably +appear to our readers, the doctor, from his position and practice, must +have been seriously injured by his mesmeric experiments; and therefore +there is fair reason to believe, that he was not a party to a fraud +which must have been objectless, and professionally injurious to him; +but how a man of experience could be carried away by such flimsy +devices, is a psychological curiosity, almost as marvellous as the +asserted phenomena of mesmerism. + +We are aware that, in giving the above accounts of experiments which we +have personally witnessed, our authority, being anonymous, is of no +great weight. We state them to avoid the charge of writing on what we +have not seen, and to show that we do not attempt unfairly to decry +mesmerism without seeing it fairly tried; if we felt justified in giving +the names of the parties, these instances would be much more conclusive. +Nearly all the cases in Mr Townshend's book are given without the names +of parties, probably for similar reasons to those which have induced us +to withhold them. + +The above cases supply instances of all the phenomena included in our +categories, except those of insensibility to pain, powers of prediction, +and the curative effects. Having never personally seen cases of this +description, we shall select examples of them from the book of Mr +Townshend and others; but before we give these instances, we will +extract from Mr Townshend's book his account of the first mesmeric +sitting at which he was present. This will give the reader a fair idea +of his attractive style, and of his state of mind previously to +witnessing, for the first time, mesmeric effects. + + "If to have been an unbeliever in the very existence of the state + in question, can add weight to my testimony, my reader, should he + also be a heretic on the subject, may be assured that his + incredulity in this respect can scarcely be greater than mine was, + up to the winter of 1836. That, at the time I mention, I should be + both ignorant and prejudiced on the score of mesmerism, will not + surprise those who are aware of its long proscription in England, + and the want of information upon it, which, till very lately, + prevailed there. + + "In the course of a residence at Antwerp, a valued friend detailed + to me some extraordinary results of mesmerism, to which he had been + an eyewitness. I could not altogether discredit the evidence of one + whom I knew to be both observant and incapable of falsehood; but I + took refuge in the supposition that he had been ingeniously + deceived. Reflecting, however, that to condemn before I had + examined was as unjust to others as it was unsatisfactory to + myself, I accepted readily the proposition of my friend to + introduce me to an acquaintance of his in Antwerp, who had learned + the practice of the mesmeric art from a German physician. We waited + together on Mr K----, the mesmeriser, (an agreeable and + well-informed person,) and stated to him that the object of our + visit was to prevail on him to exhibit to us a specimen of his + mysterious talent. To this he at first replied that he was rather + seeking to abjure a renown that had become troublesome--half the + world viewing him as a conjurer, and the other half as a getter-up + of strange comedies; 'but,' he kindly added, 'if you will promise + me a strictly private meeting, I will, this evening, do all in my + power to convince you that mesmerism is no delusion.' This being + agreed upon, with a stipulation that the members of my own family + should be present on the occasion, I, to remove all doubt of + complicity from every mind, proposed that Mr K---- should mesmerise + a person who should be a perfect stranger to him. To this he + readily acceded; and now the only difficulty was to find a subject + for our experiment. At length we thought of a young person in the + middling class of life, who had often done fine work for the ladies + of our family, and of whose character we had the most favourable + knowledge. Her mother was Irish, her father, who had been dead some + time, had been a Belgian, and she spoke English, Flemish, and + French, with perfect facility. Her widowed parent was chiefly + supported by her industry: and, in the midst of trying + circumstances, her temper was gay and cheerful, and her health + excellent. That she had never seen Mr K---- we were sure; and of + her probity and incapacity for feigning we had every reason to be + convinced. With our request, conveyed to her through one of the + ladies of our family, for whom she had conceived a warm affection, + she complied without hesitation. Not being of a nervous, though of + an excitable temperament, she had no fears whatever about what she + was to undergo. On the contrary, she had rather a desire to know + what the sensation of being mesmerised might be. Of the phenomena + which were to be developed in the mesmeric state, she knew + absolutely nothing; thus all deceptive imitation of them, on her + part, was rendered impossible. + + "About nine o'clock in the evening, our party assembled for what, + in foreign phrase, is called 'une séance magnétique.' Anna M----, + our mesmerisee, was already with us. Mr K---- arrived soon after, + and was introduced to his young patient, whose name we had + purposely avoided mentioning to him in the morning; not that we + feared imposition on either hand, but that we were determined, by + every precaution, to prevent any one from alleging that imposition + had been practised. Utterly unknown as the parties were to each + other, a game played by two confederates was plainly out of the + question. Almost immediately after the entrance of Mr K---- we + proceeded to the business of the evening. By his directions + Mademoiselle M---- placed herself in an arm-chair at one end of the + apartment, while he occupied a seat directly facing hers. He then + took each of her hands in one of his, and sat in such a manner as + that the knees and feet of both should be in contact. In this + position he remained for some time motionless, attentively + regarding her with eyes as unwinking as the lidless orbs which + Coleridge has attributed to the Genius of destruction. We had been + told previously to keep utter silence, and none of our + circle--composed of some five or six persons--felt inclined to + transgress this order. To me, novice as I was at that time in such + matters, it was a moment of absorbing interest: that which I had + heard mocked at as foolishness, that which I myself had doubted as + a dream, was, perhaps, about to be brought home to my conviction, + and established for ever in my mind as a reality. Should the + present trial prove successful, how much of my past experience must + be remodelled and reversed! + + "Convinced, as I have since been, to what valuable conclusions the + phenomena of mesmerism may conduct the enquirer, never, perhaps, + have I been more impressed with the importance of its pretensions + than at that moment, when my doubts of their validity were either + to be strengthened or removed. Concentrating my attention upon the + motionless pair, I observed that Mademoiselle M---- seemed at her + ease, and occasionally smiled or glanced at the assembled party; + but her eyes, as if by a charm, always reverted to those of her + mesmeriser, and at length seemed unable to turn away from them. + Then a heaviness, as of sleep, seemed to weigh down her eyelids, + and to pervade the expression of her countenance; her head drooped + on one side; her breathing became regular; at length her eyes + closed entirely, and, to all appearance, she was calmly asleep, in + just seven minutes from the time when Mr K---- first commenced his + operations. I should have observed that, as soon as the first + symptoms of drowsiness were manifested, the mesmeriser had + withdrawn his hands from those of Mademoiselle M----, and had + commenced what are called the mesmeric passes, conducting his + fingers slowly downward, without contact, along the arm of the + patient. For about five minutes, Mademoiselle M---- continued to + repose tranquilly, when suddenly she began to heave deep sighs, and + to turn and toss in her chair. She then called out, 'Je me trouve + malade! Je m'étouffe!' and rising in a wild manner, she continued + to repeat, 'Je m'étouffe!' evidently labouring under an oppression + of the breath. But all this time her eyes remained fast shut, and + at the command of her mesmeriser, she took his arm and walked, + still with her eyes shut, to the table. Mr K---- then said, + 'Voulez-vous que je vous éveille?'--'Oui, oui,' she exclaimed; 'je + m'étouffe.' Upon this Mr K---- again operated with his hands, but + in a different set of movements, and taking out his handkerchief, + agitated the air round the patient, who forthwith opened her eyes, + and stared about the room like a person awaking from sleep. No + traces of her indisposition, however, appeared to remain; and soon + shaking off all drowsiness, she was able to converse and laugh as + cheerfully as usual. On being asked what she remembered of her + sensations, she said that she had only a general idea of having + felt unwell and oppressed: that she had wished to open her eyes, + but could not, they felt as if lead were on them. Of having walked + to the table she had no recollection. Notwithstanding her having + suffered, she was desirous of being again mesmerised, and sat down + fearlessly to make a second trial. This time it was longer before + her eyes closed, and she never seemed to be reduced to more than a + state of half unconsciousness. When the mesmeriser asked her if she + slept, she answered in the tone of utter drowsiness, 'Je dors, et + je ne dors pas.' This lasted some time, when Mr K---- declared that + he was afraid of fatiguing his patient, (and probably his + spectators too,) and that he should disperse the mesmeric fluid. To + do so, however, seemed not so easy a matter as the first time when + he awoke the sleep-waker; with difficulty she appeared to rouse + herself; and even after having spoken a few words to us, and risen + from her chair, she suddenly relapsed into a state of torpor, and + fell prostrate to the ground, as if perfectly insensible. Mr K----, + entreating us not to be alarmed, raised her up--placed her in a + chair, and supported her head with his hand. It was then that I + distinctly recognised one of the asserted phenomena of mesmerism. + The head of Mademoiselle M---- followed every where, with unerring + certainty, the hand of her mesmeriser, and seemed irresistibly + attracted to it as iron to the loadstone. At length Mr K---- + succeeded in thoroughly awaking his patient, who, on being + interrogated respecting her past sensations, said that she retained + a recollection of her state of semi-consciousness, during which she + much desired to have been able to sleep wholly; but of her having + fallen to the ground, or of what had passed subsequently, she + remembered nothing whatever. To other enquiries she replied, that + the drowsy sensation which first stole over her was rather of an + agreeable nature, and that it was preceded by a slight tingling, + which ran down her arms in the direction of the mesmeriser's + fingers. Moreover she assured us, that the oppression she had at + one time felt was not fanciful, but real--not mental, but bodily, + and was accompanied by a peculiar pain in the region of the heart, + which, however, ceased immediately on the dispersion of the + mesmeric sleep. These statements were the rather to be relied upon, + inasmuch as the girl's character was neither timid nor + imaginative."--(P. 38-42.) + +We would willingly give the whole of the second sitting of the same +patient, in which were developed the phenomena of, + +1st, "Attraction towards the mesmeriser." + +2d, "A knowledge of what the mesmeriser ate and drank, indicating +community of sensation with him." + +3d, "An increased quickness of perception." + +4th, "A development of the power of vision." + +Our space will not permit us to give these in detail. We shall therefore +give an extract from the third sitting, where the clairvoyance was more +decidedly developed, and the impressions of Mr Townshend on the +phenomena he had witnessed are stated. + + "Upon first passing into the mesmeric state, Theodore seemed + absolutely insensible to every other than the mesmeriser's voice. + Some of our party went close to him, and shouted his name; but he + gave no tokens of hearing us until Mr K----, taking our hands, made + us touch those of Theodore and his own at the same time. This he + called putting us '_en rapport_' with the patient. After this + Theodore seemed to hear our voices equally with that of the + mesmeriser, but by no means to pay an equal attention to them. + + "With regard to the development of vision, the eyes of the patient + appeared to be firmly shut during the whole sitting, and yet he + gave the following proofs of accurate sight:-- + + "Without being guided by our voices, (for, in making the + experiment, we kept carefully silent,) he distinguished between the + different persons present, and the colours of their dresses. He + also named with accuracy various objects on the table, such as a + miniature picture, a drawing by Mr K----, &c. &c. + + "When the mesmeriser left him, and ran quickly amongst the chairs, + tables &c., of the apartment, he followed him, running also, and + taking the same turns, without once coming in contact with any + thing that stood in his way. + + "He told the hour accurately by Mr K----'s watch. + + "He played several games at dominoes with the different members of + our family, as readily as if his eyes had been perfectly open. + + "On these occasions the lights were placed in front of him, and he + arranged his dominoes on the table, with their backs to the + candles, in such a manner that, when I placed my head in the same + position as his own, I could scarcely, through the shade, + distinguish one from the other. Yet he took them up unerringly, + never hesitated in his play, generally won the game, and announced + the sum of the spots on such of his dominoes as remained over at + the end, before his adversaries could count theirs. One of our + party, a lady who had been extremely incredulous on the subject of + mesmerism, stooped down, so as to look under his eyelids all the + time he played, and declared herself convinced and satisfied that + his eyes were perfectly closed. It was not always, however, that + Theodore could be prevailed upon to exercise his power of vision. + Some words, written by the mesmeriser, of a tolerable size, being + shown to him, he declared, as Mademoiselle M---- did on another + occasion, that it was too small for him to distinguish. + + "Towards the conclusion of the sitting, the patient seemed much + fatigued, and, going to the sofa, arranged a pillow for himself + comfortably under his head; after which he appeared to pass into a + state more akin to natural sleep than his late sleep-waking. Mr + K---- allowed him to repose in this manner for a short time, and + then awoke him by the usual formula. A very few motions of the hand + were sufficient to restore him to full consciousness, and to his + usual character. The fatigue of which he had so lately complained + seemed wholly to have passed away, together with the memory of all + that he had been doing for the last hour. + + "I must now pause to set before my reader my own state of mind + respecting the facts I had witnessed. I perceived that important + deductions might be drawn from them, and that they bore upon + disputed questions of the highest interest to man, connected with + the three great mysteries of being--life, death, and immortality. + On these grounds I was resolved to enter upon a consistent course + of enquiry concerning them; though as yet, while all was new and + wonderful to my apprehension, I could scarcely do more than observe + and verify phenomena. It was, however, necessary that my views, + though for the present bounded, should be distinct. I had already + asked respecting mesmeric sleep-waking, 'Does it exist?' and to + this question, the cases which had fallen under my notice, and + which were above suspicion, seemed to answer decidedly in the + affirmative: but it was essential still further to enquire, 'Does + it exist so generally as to be pronounced a part--though a rarely + developed part--of the human constitution?' In order to determine + this, it was requisite to observe how far individuals of different + ages, stations, and temperaments, were capable of mesmeric + sleep-waking. I resolved, therefore, by experiments on as extensive + a scale as possible, to ascertain whether the state in question + were too commonly exhibited to be exceptional or idiosyncratic. + Again, the two cases that I had witnessed coincided in + characteristics; but could this coincidence be accidental? It might + still be asked, 'Were the phenomena displayed uncertain, mutable, + such as might never occur again; or were they orderly, invariable, + the growth of fixed causes, which, being present, implied their + presence also?' In fine, was mesmeric sleep-waking not only a + state, but entitled to rank as a distinct state, clearly and + permanently characterized; and, as such, set apart from all other + abnormal conditions of men? On its pretensions to be so considered, + rested, I conceived, its claims to notice and peculiar + investigation: to decide this point was, therefore, one of my chief + objects; and, respecting it, I was determined to seek that + certainty which can only be attained by a careful comparison of + facts, occurring under the same circumstances. To sum up my + intentions, I desired to show that man, through external human + influence, is capable of a species of sleep-waking different from + the common, not only inasmuch as it is otherwise produced, but as + it displays quite other characteristics when produced."--(P. + 49-52.) + +In the subsequent portions of the book, similar and still more wondrous +phenomena are produced by Mr Townshend. He mesmerises several Cambridge +friends. He procures two patients, designated by the names of Anna M---- +and E---- A----, who are said to be very susceptible of the mesmeric +state, and sight or mesmeric perception is manifested in a dark closet, +with large towels over the head, through the abdomen, through cards, +books, &c. &c. Anna M. is mesmerised unconsciously when in a separate +house from the mesmeriser; they predict remedies for themselves and +others, read thoughts,[4] state how they and others can be further +mesmerised and demesmerised. + +As an instance of the curative effects, and the power of predicting +remedies, we cite the following:-- + + "Accident threw in my way a lad of nineteen years of age, a Swiss + peasant, who for three years had nearly lost the faculty of sight. + His eyes betrayed but little appearance of disorder, and the + gradual decay of vision which he had experienced, was attributed to + a paralysis of the optic nerve, resulting from a scrofulous + tendency in the constitution of the patient. The boy, whom I shall + call by his Christian name of Johann, was intelligent, + mild-tempered, extremely sincere, and extremely unimaginative. He + had never heard of mesmerism till I spoke of it before him, and I + then only so far enlightened him on the subject, as to tell him + that it was something which might, perhaps, benefit his sight. At + first he betrayed some little reluctance to submit himself to + experiment, asking me if I were going to perform some very painful + operation upon him; but, when he found that the whole affair + consisted in sitting quiet, and letting me hold his hands, he no + longer felt any apprehension. + + "Before beginning to mesmerise, I ascertained, with as much + precision as possible, the patient's degree of blindness. I found + that he yet could see enough to perceive any large obstacle that + stood in his way. If a person came directly before him, he was + aware of the circumstance, but he could not at all distinguish + whether the individual were man or woman. I even put this to the + proof. A lady of our society stood before him, and he addressed her + as 'mein herr,' (sir.) In bright sunshine he could see a white + object, or the colour scarlet, when in a considerable mass, but + made mistakes as to the other colours. Between small objects he + could not at all discriminate. I held before him successively, a + book, a box, and a bunch of keys, and he could not distinguish + between them. In each case he saw something, he said, like a + shadow, but he could not tell what. He could not read one letter of + the largest print by means of eyesight; but he was very adroit in + reading by touch, in books prepared expressly for the blind, + running his fingers over the raised characters with great rapidity, + and thus acquiring a perception of them. Whatever trifling degree + of vision he possessed, could only be exercised on very near + objects: those which were at a distance from him, he perceived not + at all. I ascertained that he could not see a cottage at the end of + our garden, not more than a hundred yards off from where we were + standing. + + "These points being satisfactorily proved, I placed my patient in + the proper position, and began to mesmerise. Five minutes had + scarcely elapsed, when I found that I produced a manifest effect + upon the boy. He began to shiver at regular intervals, as if + affected by a succession of slight electric shocks. By degrees this + tremour subsided, the patient's eyes gradually closed, and in about + a quarter of an hour, he replied to an enquiry on my part--'Ich + schlaffe, aber nicht ganz tief'--(I sleep, but not soundly.) upon + this I endeavoured to deepen the patient's slumber by the mesmeric + passes, when suddenly he exclaimed--his eyes being closed all the + time--'I see--I see your hand--I see your head!' In order to put + this to the proof, I held my head in various positions, which he + followed with his finger; again, he told me accurately whether my + hand was shut or open. 'But,' he said, on being further questioned, + 'I do not see distinctly.--I see, as it were, sunbeams (sonnen + strahlen) which dazzle me.' 'Do you think,' I asked, 'that + mesmerism will do you good?' 'Ja freilich,' (yes, certainly,) he + replied; 'repeated often enough, it would cure me of my blindness.' + + "Afraid of fatiguing my patient, I did not trouble him with + experiments; and his one o'clock dinner being ready for him, I + dispersed his magnetic sleep. After he had dined, I took him into + the garden. As we were passing before some bee-hives, he suddenly + stopped, and seemed to look earnestly at them: 'What is it you + see?' I asked. 'A row of bee-hives,' he replied directly, and + continued--'Oh! this is wonderful!--I have not seen such things for + three years.' Of course, I was extremely surprised, for though I + had imagined that a long course of mesmerisation might benefit the + boy, I was entirely unprepared for so rapid an improvement in his + vision. My chief object had been to develop the faculty of sight in + sleep-waking; and I can assure my readers, that this increase of + visual power in the natural state was to me a kind of miracle, as + astonishing as it was unsought. My poor patient was in a state of + absolute enchantment. He grinned from ear to ear, and called out, + 'Das ist prächtig!' (This is charming!) Two ladies now passed + before us, when he said, 'Da sind zwei fräuenzimmer!' (There go two + ladies!) 'How dressed?' I asked. 'Their clothes are of a dark + colour,' he replied. This was true. I took my patient to a + summer-house that commanded an extensive prospect. I fear almost to + state it, but, nevertheless, it is perfectly true, that he saw and + pointed out the situation of a village in the valley below us. I + then brought Johann back to the house, when, in the presence of + several members of my family, he recognised, at first sight, + several small objects, (a flowerpot, I remember, amongst other + things,) and not only saw a little girl, one of our farmers' + children, sitting on the steps of a door, but also mentioned that + she had a round cap on her head. In the house, I showed Johann a + book, which, it will be remembered, he could not distinguish before + mesmerisation, and he named the object. But, though making great + efforts, he could not read one letter in the book. Having + ascertained this, I once more threw Johann into the mesmeric state, + with a view to discover how far a second mesmerisation could + strengthen his natural eyesight. As soon as I had awaked him, at + the interval of half an hour, I presented him with the same book, + (one of Marryat's novels,) when he accurately told me the larger + letters of the title-page, which were as follows--'Outward Bound.' + Johann belonging to an institution of the blind situated at some + distance from our residence, I had unhappily only the opportunity + of mesmerising him three times subsequently to the above successful + trial. The establishment, also, of which he was a member, changed + masters; and its new director having prejudices on the score of + mesmerism, there were difficulties purposely thrown in the way of + my following up that which I had so auspiciously begun."--(Pp. + 176-179) + +Many of these cases of clairvoyance, given by Mr Townshend, appear on +the face of them ambiguous; thus the reading is said to be effected with +difficulty and imperfectly, the difficulty to be increased by the +superposition of obstacles. Others, as related, certainly admit of no +explanation by deductions from ordinary experience. All we can say of +them, therefore, is, that we have fairly sought to see such phenomena, +and have never succeeded; when we see them, and can properly test them, +we will believe them. But from the internal evidence of the latter +portion of Mr Townshend's book, which we shall presently discuss, we +cannot, although not doubting his honesty of purpose, set our faith upon +his experiments and judgment. + +Mr Townshend gives no account of the phreno-mesmerism, or of the +surgical operations performed without any evidence of pain during the +mesmeric states. We have already related one of the former exhibitions, +which, we think, requires no further comment. Viewed abstractedly, the +attempt to support by the assumed accuracy of one science, at best in +its infancy, and confessedly fallible, another still more so, is making +too large demands upon public credulity to require much counter +argument. With regard to the surgical cases, they stand on a very +different ground; three operations, among the most painful of those to +which man is ever subjected, are alleged to have been performed during +the mesmeric state--Madame Plantin, amputation of cancerous breast; and +James Wombwell and Mary Ann Lakin, amputation of the leg above the knee. +The case of Wombwell was canvassed at length at the Royal Medical and +Chirurgical Society of London; and in that and the other cases there +seems to have been no question raised as to the facts of the patients +having undergone the operation without the usual evidence of suffering. +In Wombwell's case the divided end of the sciatic nerve was purposely +(it appears to us very wantonly) touched with the forceps, but without +any appearance of sensation on the part of the patient. In all these +cases the medical men most opposed to mesmerism seem to have admitted +the fact, and to have rested their incredulity on the various cases +known to them, of parties having borne operations with such fortitude as +not to have expressed the usual cries of suffering. + +In Madame Plantin's case it is stated; that she subsequently confessed +to a nurse in an hospital, that she felt the full pain, but purposely, +and by great effort, kept silent. This confession is, however, strongly +denied by Dr Elliotson and others, and does not appear to be clearly +substantiated. + +A professional "_odium_" appears to have arisen on the subject; and, +from the controversial tone of the speaking and writing on both sides, +it is difficult to get at the truth. We must say, however, that, +admitting the facts, which the antagonists of mesmerism seem to do, we +are more inclined to believe the paralysis of nervous sensation by +mesmeric influence, than that, with such inadequate motives as the +_patients_ could feel, they should have such marvellous self-control as +to feign sleep, and keep their whole muscular system in a relaxed state, +while suffering such exquisite pain. Medical men are, indeed, better +judges of the power of endurance and simulation than we can pretend to +be; but, to make their testimony conclusive, they should have witnessed +the operation. The elaborate research for causes explanatory of an +unseen case, lessens the weight of authority which would otherwise be +very high. + +Many other minor cases, such as teeth drawn, and division of tendons, +are given; and though we have never had an opportunity of witnessing +such effects, we must say we think, from their benefit to suffering +humanity, the possibility, however remote, of their truth, deserves +more calm and dispassionate enquiry than appears hitherto to have been +given them. + +While doctors, however, seek to explain, by various profound theories, +the efficient causes of asserted mesmeric cures, a member of the Church +of England, and popular preacher at Liverpool, the Rev. Hugh M. Neill, +M.A., has cut the Gordian knot, by a sermon preached at St Jude's +Church, on April 10th, 1842, and published in Nos. 599 and 600 of the +_Penny Pulpit_, price twopence. By this sermon it appears to have +occurred to the philosophic mind of the reverend divine, that mesmeric +marvels may be accounted for as accomplished by the direct agency of +Satan! Doubtless Satan is as actively at work in this the nineteenth +century, as in any anterior period of our history; but we are inclined +to think the progress of civilization has opened a sufficient number of +channels for his ingenuity, without rendering it necessary that he +should alarm the devout by miraculously interfering to assuage human +suffering. + +We have given above as many instances as our space will permit, of the +asserted phenomena of mesmerism; and now to return to Mr Townshend's +book. + +In taking a general view of the lines of argument adopted by the author +to support the possibility or probability of mesmerism, we perceive they +are of two sorts, essentially different, and in some measure +inconsistent with each other. + +1st, It is very properly argued, that our whole knowledge of the normal +course of nature is derived from experience; that a law is a mere +generalization from that experience, and is not any thing intrinsically +or necessarily true. Thus, if the sun were to rise in the west +to-morrow, instead of in the east, it would at first sight appear to be +a deviation from natural laws; in other words, a miracle. If, however, +the latter circumstance were wanting, after the first sensation of the +marvellous had subsided, the philosopher would enquire, whether, instead +of being a deviation from a law, it were not a subordinate instance of +some higher law, of which the period of history had been too short to +give any co-ordinate instances; and were it found, by a long course of +experience, that in every 4000 years a similar retrocession of the earth +took place, a new law would be established. Applying this to mesmerism, +it is said our notions of sleep and waking, of sight and hearing, and of +the possible limits and modes of sensation, are derived from experience +alone; we cannot estimate or understand the _modus agendi_ of a new +sensation, because we have never experienced it. If, then, it be proved, +by the acts of A, B, or C, that they attain cognizance of objects by +other means than those which any known organ of sensation will permit, +you must admit the fact, and by degrees its _rationale_ will become +supported by the same means as all other truths are supported, viz. by +habitual experience. Its law is, indeed, nothing but its constant +recurrence under similar circumstances. To take Mr Townshend's own mode +of enunciating this-- + + "Are we entitled to conclude, in any case, that, because we have + not hitherto been able to assign a law to certain operations, they + are therefore absolutely without law? Are we to assert, that the + orderly dispositions of the universe are deformed by a monstrous + exception; or is it not wiser to believe that our own knowledge is + in fault, whenever Nature appears inconsistent with herself? Surely + we have enough order around us to suggest, that all which to us + seems chance, is 'direction which we cannot see;' that all apparent + anomalies are but like those discords which, in the most masterly + music, prepare the transitions from one noble passage to another, + and are actually essential to the general harmony. In many + instances this is not mere conjecture. How much of fancied + imperfection and disorder has fled before our investigation! The + motions of comets at first appear to offer an exception to the + exact arrangements of the universe.--'They traverse all parts of + the heavens. Their paths have every possible inclination to the + plane of the ecliptic; and, unlike the planets, the motion of more + than half of those which have appeared has been retrograde--that + is, from east to west.' Yet have we been able to detect the + elements of regularity in the midst of all this seeming confusion, + and to predict with certainty the day, the hour, and the minute of + a comet's return to our region of the sky. + + "Experience also shows, that apparently insulated and lawless + phenomena may not only be reduced to a law, but to a well-known + law; that many a familiar agent puts on strange disguises; and that + events, with which, in their mazy channels, we seem to be + unacquainted, may be perfectly recognised by us at their source. + Thus galvanism and magnetic force are proved, by recent + discoveries, to be only forms of electricity; showing that a fact + may be altered, not in itself, but in the circumstances that + surround it, and that complexity of development is perfectly + consistent with unity of design. Instances like these, while they + encourage us to enquiry, should teach us to believe that all which + is needed to vindicate the regularity of nature is a more extended + observation on our parts."--(Pp. 14-15.) + +This is the highest and safest ground for the advocate of mesmerism to +tread; to support himself on this he has only to demonstrate his facts +beyond the possibility of a doubt, and the truth of the phenomena, +however inconsistent with previous experience, must in the end be +admitted. But to support him on this high ground his proof must be +demonstrative; he must be able to say--I ask not for faith, nor even a +balanced mind; but doubt to the utmost, examine with the most rigorous +scepticism; I stand upon the facts alone; I offer no explanation, or at +least I make their truth dependent upon no explanation. They are or they +are not. I will prove their existence, and I will defy you to disprove +them. + +It will not, we conceive, be denied, that one essential attribute of the +social mind, a jealousy of credence in apparent anomalies, is a just and +necessary guard upon human knowledge. If mere assertion were believed, +every succeeding day would upset the knowledge of the preceding day; and +however high the character of the assertor of new and abnormal facts may +be, he must not expect them to be received upon the strength of his +assertion. The best men may be deceived, and the best men may be led +astray by enthusiasm. When the slightest discovery in physical science +is published, it is immediately assailed by doubts from every quarter; +and its promulgator, if he be accustomed to research and trained to +scientific investigation, never complains of these doubts, because he +knows the vast number of perplexing deceptions in which he has himself +been entangled, and the caution with which he himself would receive a +similar announcement. + +It is vain to cite instances of truths unappreciated by the age in which +they were advanced. We deprecate as much as any the persecution with +which occasionally men who have seen far in advance of their age have +been attacked; but the saying, "Malheureux celui qui est en avance de +son siècle," is not always true: if the new truth be difficult of +demonstration it will be proportionately tardy of reception, but if easy +of proof it is very rapidly received. As an example of this we may +instance the discovery of Volta. In the history of physical science, +never was a more sudden leap taken than by this illustrious man--that a +juxtaposition of matter in its least organic form should produce such +surprising effects upon the human organism, was to the world, as it +existed in the year 1800, a most marvellous phenomenon; and had the link +in the finest chain of proof been wanting, men would have been justified +in any degree of scepticism or incredulity. But it was easy of +demonstration; any one with a dozen discs of iron and zinc, and the same +number of penny-pieces, could satisfy himself; and the consequence was, +the discovery was instantly admitted. Let mesmerists put the same power +of self-satisfaction into the hands of the world, and doubt will be at +once removed; if, as they say, their science is not of equal exactitude, +they must bide their time and not complain. + +Magnetism and electricity, moreover, often cited by Mr Townshend, and +undoubtedly the most surprising additions to human knowledge within the +historical period, though abnormal, are not contradictory to +experience--they were an entirely new series of facts added to our +previous store--they did not destroy or lessen the force of any +previously received truths. Not so mesmerism, and therefore the more +stringent should be, and is, the proof required. + +Come we now to the second class of arguments adopted in favour of +mesmerism, and by the same persons (Mr Townshend, for instance) as +support the first. Mr Townshend says, (p. 29,) "to the mesmeriser the +facts of mesmerism are no miracles;" and yet he avers that mesmerism can +make the blind see and the deaf hear. (Pp. xxxii., and 178.) We cannot +very clearly see his notion of a miracle. Passing over this, however, +and taking him to assert what the first branch of his argument requires +to be asserted, that there is no miracle, or that there is nothing but +the contradiction of a necessary truth, such as that three angles of a +triangle are equal to two right angles, which _may_ not fall within some +natural law of which we have not all the data--we cannot see why, in the +second half of his book, he so sedulously endeavours to prove that +mesmerism is consistent with experience, and may be supported upon +similar grounds, and accounted for by similar theories, to those by +which the agency of the imponderable forces is established and accounted +for. After using every argument in his power to show the fallibility of +experience, and the reasons why we should not disbelieve mesmerism +because contradictory to it, which contradiction he admits in terms, the +author writes a chapter, the title of which is, "Conformity of Mesmerism +with General Experience."--(P. 155.) As instances of these reverse modes +of viewing the subject, we quote the following passages--the one taken +from the commencement of the book, where the first line of argument is +adopted; the other from the latter portion, where the second is. + + "Thus, then, till the initial step towards a comprehension of + mesmerism be taken anew, there is no hope that it will ever be + understood or appreciated. Why unavailingly seek to reduce it to a + formula of which it is unsusceptible? If we ascribe it to a power + already ascertained, why not treat it, at least, as an entirely new + function of that power? Why limit it to what we know, when, + possibly, it may be destined to extend the boundaries of our + knowledge? Why are we to be trammelled with foregone conclusions? + Yet upon these very restrictions the opponents of mesmerism insist; + thus taking away from men the means of investigating the agency in + question, by forcing them to set about it in the wrong way."--(P. + 12.) + +Having, then, thus expressed himself in the early part of the work, +towards the close we find the following sentence. "Taking this simple +view of sensation, (that objects should be brought into a certain +relation with us by something intermediate,) we find nothing in +mesmerism contradictory of nature. Under its influence, the human frame +continues to be still a system of nerves acted upon by elastic media, +for the purpose of conveying to us the primal impulse of the Almighty +Mind, which made, sustains, and moves the universe--having, as I trust, +shown the conformity of mesmerism in all essential points with the +principles of nature, and the inferences of reason," &c. &c. + +If we are to admit mesmerism as a series of facts apparently +inconsistent with experience, it is most hasty and unphilosophical to +attempt to generalize it by crude hypotheses. To rest its probable truth +upon these hypotheses, is to take a totally different ground, and one +much lower and more assailable. We have no desire to be +hypercritical--to expose minor scientific inaccuracies in the work +before us; but we do not hesitate to assert, that, independently of its +inconsistency with the previous course of reasoning, the hypothesis or +hypotheses of Mr Townshend are most unsatisfactory. + +Heat, light, electricity, magnetism, are by some regarded as specific +fluids; by others, as undulations of one or more specific fluid; and by +a third class, as undulations or polarizations of ordinary matter. Thus, +by the first, light would be viewed as a material emanation from the +luminous body; by the second, as an undulation of an imponderable ether, +existing between the luminous body and the recipient; and by the third, +as an undulation of the air, glass, or other matter, placed between the +luminous body and the object. The last would regard the ether in the +planetary spaces, not as a specific imponderable fluid, but as a highly +attenuated expansion of air, gas, or other matter, having all the +functions of ordinary matter. Whewell has, indeed, published a +_demonstration_ that all matter is ponderable, and that imponderable +matter is not a conceivable idea. Be this as it may, the diversity of +opinion on this point shows the difficulty the mind finds in departing +from the truths of phenomena to the uncertainties of hypothesis; but if +hypothesis be justifiable, which it is only on the ground of absolute +necessity to link together, and render conventionally intelligible, +certain undoubted, undeniable facts, which have been associated together +under the terms _electricity_, _magnetism_, &c.--how difficult and +dangerous it must be when the facts which it seeks to associate are +denied by the mass of thinking men, when they are confessed to be +mysterious and irregular by their most strenuous advocates, each of whom +differs, in many respects, as to these facts! + +These difficulties have by no means been conquered by Mr Townshend. At +p. 11, he objects to this mode of theorizing, in the following strong +terms:-- + + "A certain school of German writers especially have theorized on + our subject, after the false method of explaining one class of + phenomena in nature by its fancied resemblance to another. Wishing, + perhaps, to avoid the error of the spiritualists, who solve the + problem in debate by the power of the soul alone, they have + ransacked the material world for analogies to mesmerism, till the + mind itself has been endued with its affinities and its poles. Such + attempts as these have done the greatest disservice to the cause we + advocate. They submit it to a wrong test. It is as if the laws of + light should be applied to a question in acoustics. It is as if we + should expect to find in a foreign kingdom the laws and customs of + our own."--(P. 11.) + +And yet, in the subsequent parts of his book, he asserts mesmerism to be +capable of "reflection like light"--to have "the attraction of +magnetism"--to be "transferred like heat;" to escape from a point like +electricity, and to have the sympathetic undulations of sound!--(Pp. +335, 6, 7, and 8.) + +Such general resemblances as the following are given:--- + + "We know that electricity is capable of all that modification in + its action which our case demands. Sometimes its effects are sudden + and energetic; sometimes of indefinite and uninterrupted + continuance. It is 'capable of moving with various degrees of + facility through the pores or even the substance of matter;' and is + not impeded in its action by the intervention of any substance + whatever, provided it be not in itself in an electric state. This + capacity of varied action and of pervading influence, has already + been shown to characterize the mesmeric medium."--(P. 335.) + +Why, what is here stated of electricity, may be said of heat, of light, +of any force, and its moving through the pores may be denied as easily +as asserted; by many it is thought to be a molecular polarization, and +not a transmission. + +Zinc and silver are said (p. 237) to "produce a taste resulting from the +galvanic concussion, and not from any actual flavour." This is +incorrect; zinc and silver produce a taste when in voltaic +communication, because they decompose the saliva, and eliminate acid and +alkaline constituents. + +Further on it is said, (p. 237,) "A spark drawn by means of a pointed +metal from the nose of a person charged with electricity, will give him +the sensation of smelling a phosphoric odour." This is also an erroneous +assumption; the electric spark, in passing through the atmosphere, +combines its constituents, and forms nitrous acid. This has a pungent +smell; probably there are some other physical changes wrought upon the +constituents of the atmosphere by the electric spark, which are now +objects of anxious enquiry to natural philosophers; yet none of them +have any doubt that the electric smell is the result of a physical or +chemical action of the spark, by which either the air is decomposed, or +fine portions of metal carried off, or both. So again-- + + "The electric medium is a far more swift and subtle messenger of + vision than is the luminous ether. 'A wheel revolving with celerity + sufficient to render its spokes invisible, when illuminated by a + flash of lightning, is seen for an instant with all its spokes + distinct, as if it were in a state of absolute repose, because, + however rapid the motion may be, the light has already come and + ceased before the wheel has had time to turn through a sensible + space.' Again, some ingenious experiments, by Professor Wheatstone, + demonstrate to a certainty, that the speed of the electric fluid + much surpasses the velocity of light. It is, therefore, a different + medium; yet can it serve for all the purposes of vision, and even + in a superior manner. After hearing these things, shall we start at + the notion of mesmeric sensation being conveyed through another + medium than that in ordinary action? Even should the sleep-waker + perceive the most distant objects, (as some are said to have done,) + can we, from the moment a means of communication is hinted to us, + be so much amazed? If his perception be more vivid, there seems to + be an efficient cause in his abjuring the grosser media for such as + are more swift and subtle."--(P. 272.) + +The electric medium is _not_ a messenger of vision. To call the light +produced by the electric spark electricity, would be the same as to call +magnetism electricity, heat electricity, motion electricity--for all +these are produced by it, and it by them. All modes of force are capable +of producing the other phenomenal effects of force. It is an obvious +fallacy to call the medium which transmits electric light, an electric +medium; this, if carried out, would overthrow natural as well as +conventional divisions, would subvert "the pales and forts of reason." + +Mr Townshend, accustomed to metaphysical abstractions, shows, in these +and many other instances, a want of acquaintance with physical science, +and entirely fails when he bases his reasoning upon it. Many of the +arguments of Mr Townshend are of such a transcendental nature, that we +fear, should we attempt to follow them, our readers would lose their +clairvoyance in the mist of metaphysical speculation. The following will +give a fair specimen of the conclusion to which such reasoning tends:-- + + "Indeed, if we lay to heart the deceptiveness and mutability of all + the external species of matter, at the same time considering that + we have no reason to deem it capable of change in its ultimate and + imperceptible particles; if, also, we reflect, that whatever is not + palpable in itself is yet indicated by its effects, forces us on + pure reason by withdrawing at once the aid and the illusion of our + external senses, we shall perhaps come to the conclusion that the + Invisible is the only true, exclaiming, with the old Latinist, + 'Invisibilia non decipiunt.'"--(P. 355.) + +And yet the facts of mesmerism are to be judged of by the very senses +which mesmerism proves to be so fallacious. It is because we _see_ that +E---- A---- reads when the book is presented to the back of his hand, +that we are to believe that he does not perceive with the usual organs. +Upon the rule which the author adopts, that "the invisible is the only +true," we cannot rely upon our deceptive organs and should disbelieve +mesmerism _because_ we see it. + +To analyse, in detail, the hypotheses of Mr Townshend would be quite +impossible in our limited space. We might, indeed, adopt method +sometimes used in controversial writing, and string together a parallel +column of minor contradictions. This would however, not only be totally +devoid of interest to the reader, but is not the object we have in view. +We seek not for critical errors or inconsistencies, but merely to +examine if there be any broad lines of truth or probability in his +theory. It is summed up as follows:-- + + "The real nature of vision is as shut to the vulgar as the mesmeric + mode of sight is to the learned. + + "By the eye we appreciate light and colour only: the rest is an + operation of the judgment. + + "Viewed metaphysically, seeing is but a particular kind of + knowledge: viewed physically, seeing consists in certain nervous + motions, responsive to the motions of a medium. That medium, in our + ordinary condition, is light, the action of which seems cut off and + intercepted in the case of mesmeric vision. + + "When, therefore, we hear that a mesmerised person has correctly + seen an object through obstacles which to us appear opaque, we, + conceiving no means of communication between the person and the + object, exclaim that the laws of nature have been violated. But, in + all cases where information is conveyed through interrupted spaces, + show but the means of communication, and astonishment ceases. + + "When we know that there is a medium permeating, in one or other of + its forms, all substances whatever, and that this medium is + eminently capable of exciting sensations of sight; and when we take + this in conjunction with a heightened sensibility in the + percipient person, rendering him aware of impulses whereof we are + not cognisant, we are no longer inclined to deny a fact or suppose + a miracle. + + "Finally, all sensation has but one principle. All that is required + for its production is, that objects should be brought into a + certain relation with us by something intermediate; and this is + effected by the impulsions of certain media upon nerves, the last + changes in which are the immediate forerunners of completed + sensation."--(P. 279.) + +In short, we think we do not unfairly express the author's theory in the +following query. As the application of the highest human powers (those +of Newton, for instance) have resolved the transmission of light to the +sensorium into the vibrations of an all-pervading ether, what is more +probable than that a similar ethereal medium may convey sensations of +objects through other channels? This may be, but another important +ingredient is wanting, viz. organization, or definite molecular +arrangement. Prick the eye, and, by the resulting morbid derangement, +change the molecular arrangement of its particles, and vision is +destroyed; pulverise the glass through which you look, and it is no +longer transparent. The ether (if there be an ether) in the pores of +these substances, can only convey correct impressions when these +particles have a definite arrangement; but the mesmeric ether is +dependent upon no such necessity. Density and tenacity, opacity and +transparency, homogeneous or heterogeneous bodies, are all equally +penetrable. And what is more strange, the mesmeric ether conveys +correct, and not distorted impressions. The same perception of form +which is conveyed through air, is convoyed through the cover of a book, +through the bones of the skull, or the muscles of the stomach. And, +still more extraordinary, this impression is identical as to the mental +idea it conveys with that conveyed in the normal manner through the eye. +The mesmeric ether has, therefore, not only the power of conveying +impressions, but of preserving their continuity through any impediment. +The formal impressions of a chair or table, which are conveyed by +ordinary vision in right lines to the retina, if these lines be +distorted by any intervening want of uniformity in the matter, are +proportionally distorted. Let striæ of glass of different density +intervene in an optical lens, and the objects are distorted; increase +the number of striæ, the object is more imperfect; and carry the +molecular derangement further, opacity is the result. Transparency and +opacity, then, viewed apart from all hypotheses, resolve themselves into +organization or molecular arrangement. Yet, by the mesmeric medium, a +chair or table is conveyed to the recipient in its distinct form, or, +what amounts to the same thing for the argument of conformity, they give +to the mind distinct ideas of these objects. If, then, there be a +mesmeric medium, which, being a purely hypothetic creation, cannot be +disproved, its requisites must be so totally at variance with the +requisites of ordinary ethereal media, that none of the rules which can +be applied to this can be applied to that. The arguments of Mr Townshend +depend on analogy, where there is no analogy. + +Many of the objects of vision, all indeed by which reading is effected, +are purposely constructed to suit the peculiar organization of the +eye--they are artifices specially appropriated to given sensations; thus +_black_ letters are printed on _white_ paper, because experience has +told us that black reflects no light, while white reflects all the +incident light. If we wish to read by another sense, we adapt our object +to such a sense; thus, for those who read by the finger, raised letters +are prepared, differing from the matrix in position but not in colour; +if we read by the ear, we address it by sounds and not by forms or +colours; and it would be far from impracticable to read by smell or +taste, by associating given odours or given tastes with given ideas. + +In all this, however, each sense requires a peculiar education and long +training--it is only by constant association of the word _table_ with +the thing _table_, that we connect the two ideas; but mesmeric +clairvoyance not only conveys things as things in all their proper forms +and colours, (p. 164,) without the intervention of the usual senses, but +it also dispenses with education or association, or instantly adapts to +a new sense the education hitherto specially and only adapted to +another. + +Thus the mesmeric medium should, and does, according to Mr Townshend, +(pp. 97, 99, 101,) convey to the person accustomed to read by the eye, +ideas and perceptions which he has hitherto associated with the +sight--to him accustomed to read by touch, ideas associated with +touch--and so of the rest, and that not of sight or touch of the object +itself, but of a mere arbitrary symbol of the object. + +_Table_ of five letters or forms--_table_ of two sounds, bearing no +resemblance to these letters or forms, or to the thing--_table_ but a +mere conventional substitute for the purpose of human convenience, yet +by the all-potent mesmeric medium, for which they have not been +previously framed, are definitely conveyed, and produce the require +perception and the required association. + +We trust we need go no further to show that mesmeric clairvoyance has, +at all events, no conformity with general experience; and that, if it be +true, the proofs of its truth cannot be based on its analogy with other +sensations. To sum up our arguments, we say--1st, That without +undervaluing testimony, mesmeric clairvoyance is not sufficiently proved +by competent witnesses to be admitted as fact: 2d, The reasoning in +support of it is insufficient, and, in most cases, fallacious. + +Perhaps the best arguments employed by Mr Townshend in favour of the +possibility of clairvoyance, are the authenticated cases of normal +sleepwalking; these have been very little examined, but appear, in one +respect, strikingly to differ from mesmeric coma. The eyes of the +somnambulist are said to be open, and therefore there is every optical +power of vision, and an increase of ordinary visual perception is all +that is requisite. The acts performed by the sleepwalker are, moreover, +generally those to which he is habitually accustomed; and, when this is +not the case, he fails, as many disastrous accidents have too fatally +testified. + +At the close of Mr Townshend's book is a short appendix, containing some +testimonials to the verity of mesmeric effects. Several of these are +anonymous, and the value of their authority cannot therefore be judged +of. Others are testimonies to mesmeric effects produced upon the +patients, E---- A---- or Anna M----. None of these are from persons of +very high authority; and they are, certainly, not such as would induce +us to rest our faith upon them. We grant to them their full right to be +convinced; but their testimony is not of sufficient force to produce +conviction in others. The two last testimonials, however, are of a very +different character. One of these is by Professor Agassiz, and the other +by Signor Ranieri of Naples. Both these are testimonials, not to any +effect produced upon an accustomed patient, but upon the testifiers +themselves; and the former, coming from a man of high distinction, and +accustomed to physical research, is undoubtedly of great weight. We +therefore give it in full. + + "Desirous to know what to think of mesmerism, I for a long time + sought for an opportunity of making some experiments in regard to + it upon myself, so as to avoid the doubts which might arise on the + nature of the sensations which we have heard described by + mesmerised persons. M. Desor, yesterday, in a visit which he made + to Berne, invited Mr Townshend, who had previously mesmerised him, + to accompany him to Neufchatel, and try to mesmerise me. These + gentlemen arrived here with the evening courier, and informed me of + their arrival. At eight o'clock I went to them. We continued at + supper till half past nine o'clock, and about ten o'clock Mr + Townshend commenced operating upon me. While we sat opposite to one + another, he, in the first place, only took hold of my hands, and + looked at me fixedly. I was firmly resolved to arrive at a + knowledge of the truth, whatever it might be; and therefore, the + moment I saw him endeavouring to exert an action upon me, I + silently addressed the Author of all things, beseeching him to give + me power to resist the influence, and to be conscientious in regard + to myself, as well as in regard to the facts. I then fixed my eyes + upon Mr Townshend, attentive to whatever passed. I was in very + suitable circumstances; the hour being early, and one at which I + was in the habit of studying, was far from disposing me to sleep. I + was sufficiently master of myself to experience no emotion, and to + repress all flights of imagination, even if I had been less calm; + accordingly it was a long time before I felt any effect from the + presence of Mr Townshend opposite me. However, after at least a + quarter of an hour, I felt a sensation of a current through all my + limbs, and from that moment my eyelids grew heavy. I then saw Mr + Townshend extend his hands before my eyes, as if he were about to + plunge his fingers into them; and then make different circular + movements around my eyes, which caused my eyelids to become still + heavier. I had the idea that he was endeavouring to make me close + my eyes; and yet it was not as if some one had threatened my eyes, + and, in the waking state, I had closed them to prevent him. It was + an irresistible heaviness of the lids, which compelled me to shut + them, and by degrees I found that I had no longer the power of + keeping them open; but did not the less retain my consciousness of + what was going on around me; so that I heard M. Desor speak to Mr + Townshend, understood what they said, and heard what questions they + asked me, just as if I had been awake; but I had not the power of + answering. I endeavoured in vain several times to do so; and when I + succeeded, I perceived that I was passing out of the state of + torpor in which I had been, and which was rather agreeable than + painful. + + "In this state I heard the watchman cry ten o'clock; then I heard + it strike a quarter past; but afterwards I fell into a deeper + sleep, although I never entirely lost my consciousness. It appeared + to me that Mr Townshend was endeavouring to put me into a sound + sleep; my movements seemed under his control, for I wished several + times to change the position of my arms, but had not sufficient + power to do it, or even really to will it; while I felt my head + carried to the right or left shoulder, and backwards or forwards, + without wishing it; and, indeed, in spite of the resistance which I + endeavoured to oppose, and this happened several times. + + "I experienced at the same time a feeling of great pleasure in + giving way to the attraction, which dragged me sometimes to one + side, sometimes to the other; then a kind of surprise on feeling my + head fall into Mr Townshend's hand, who appeared to me from that + time to be the cause of the attraction. To his enquiry if I were + well, and what I felt? I found I could not answer, but I smiled; I + felt that my features expanded in spite of my resistance; I was + inwardly confused at experiencing pleasure from an influence which + was mysterious to me. From this moment I wished to wake, and was + less at my ease; and yet on Mr Townshend asking me, whether I + wished to be awakened, I made a hesitating movement with my + shoulders. Mr Townshend then repeated some frictions, which + increased my sleep; yet I was always conscious of what was passing + around me. He then asked me, if I wished to become lucid, at the + same time continuing, as I felt, the frictions from the face to the + arms. I then experienced an indescribable sensation of delight, and + for an instant saw before me rays of dazzling light, which + instantly disappeared. I was then inwardly sorrowful at this state + being prolonged--it appeared to me that enough had been done with + me; I wished to awake, but could not, yet when Mr Townshend and M. + Desor spoke, I heard them. I also heard the clock, and the watchman + cry, but I did not know what hour he cried. Mr Townshend then + presented his watch to me, and asked if I could see the time, and + if I saw him; but I could distinguish nothing. I heard the clock + strike the quarter, but could not get out of my sleepy state. Mr + Townshend then woke me with some rapid transverse movements from + the middle of the face outwards, which instantly caused my eyes to + open, and at the same time I got up, saying to him, 'I thank you.' + It was a quarter past eleven. He then told me, and M. Desor + repeated the same thing, that the only fact which had satisfied + them that I was in a state of mesmeric sleep, was the facility with + which my head followed all the movements of his hand, although he + did not touch me, and the pleasure which I appeared to feel at the + moment when, after several repetitions of friction, he thus moved + my head at pleasure in all directions."--(P. 385 to 388.) + +This we think a most interesting and valuable document, and the best key +we have ever seen to the _facts_ of mesmerism. It is the production of a +resolute, religious, and philosophic mind, and bears all the impress of +truth; it proves that there are facts worthy of the most careful +investigation--it proves a power of inducing a comatose or sleep-waking +state--an influence exercised by one mind over another--and it goes far +to prove a physical attraction subsisting between two persons in +mesmeric relation. But, on the other hand, how strikingly do the +phenomena here described differ from those exhibited by the other +patients. In those cases, to use the general proposition of Mr +Townshend, "the sleep-waker seems incapable of analysing his new +sensations while they last, still more of remembering them when they are +over. The state of mesmerism is to him as death."--(P. 156.) Here, on +the other hand, the patient analyses all the sensations he experienced, +and recollects them when they are over; here, notwithstanding the +efforts of the mesmeriser, the production of the mesmeric effect, and no +resistance on the part of the mesmerisee, the latter does not become +clairvoyant; "_je ne distinguais rien_," are the emphatic words of +Professor Agassiz. + +Precisely similar is the testimony of Signor Ranieri, the historian-- + + Having been mesmerised by my honourable friend Mr Hare Townshend, I + will simply describe the phenomena which I experienced before, + during, and after my mesmerisation. Mr Townshend commenced by + making me sit upon a sofa, he sat upon a chair opposite me, and + keeping my hands in his, placed them on my knees. He looked at me + fixedly, and from time to time let go my hands, and placed the + points of his fingers in a straight line opposite my eyes, at an + inch, I should think, from my pupils; then, describing a kind of + ellipse, he brought his hands down again upon mine. After he had + moved his hands thus alternately from my eyes to my knees for ten + minutes, I felt an irresistible desire to close my eyelids. I + continued, nevertheless, to hear his voice, and that of my sister, + who was in the same room. Whenever they put questions to me, I + always answered him correctly; but the whole of my muscular system + was in a state of peculiar weakness, and of almost perfect + disobedience to my will; and, consequently, the pronunciation of + the words with which I wished to answer had become extremely + difficult. + + "Whilst I experienced to a certain point the effects of sleep, not + only was I not a stranger to all that was passing around me, but I + even took more than usual interest in it. All my conceptions were + more rapid; I experienced nervous startings to which I am not + accustomed; in short, my whole nervous system was in a state of + perfect exaltation, and appeared to have acquired all the + superabundance of power which the muscular system had lost. + + "The following are the principal phenomena which I was able to feel + distinctly. Mr Townshend did not fail to ask me occasionally if I + could see him or my sister without opening my eyelids; but this was + always impossible, and all that I could say I had seen was a + glimmering of light, interrupted by the black and confused images + of the objects presented to me; a light which appeared to me a + little less clear than that which we commonly see when we shut the + eyelids opposite the sun or a candle. + + "Mr Townshend at last determined to demesmerise me. He began to + make elliptical movements with his hands, the reverse of those + which he had made at the commencement; I could now open my eyes + without any kind of effort, my whole muscular system became + perfectly obedient to my will; I was able to get up, and was + perfectly awake; but I remained nearly an hour in a kind of + stupefaction very similar to that which sometimes attacks me in the + mornings, if I rise two or three hours later than usual."--(P. 388 + to 390.) + +Similar, as to the general conclusions, are the reports of the French +Academy and the testimonies of all rigorous and well-conducted +scientific examination. These testimonies apply to facts which it is the +duty of those experimentalists and physiologists, who have time and +opportunity at their disposal, fairly to investigate. + +The insensibility to pain, and to the effects of the galvanic shock, are +also within the limits of the credible--and the latter is the more easy +of proof, as being incapable of simulation. As we stated at the +commencement, so we repeat here; mesmerism has been too little +investigated by competent persons, and is too much mystified by +charlatanism, to enable us accurately to define the limits of the true +and false, far less to predict what may be the discoveries to which it +may lead. With regard to the facts of clairvoyance, we are at present +entirely incredulous. Mr Townshend says, p. 91-- + + "Let, then, body after body of learned men deny the phenomena of + mesmerism, and logically disprove their existence; an appeal may + ever, and at any moment, be made to the proof by experiment; and + even should experiment itself fail a thousand times, the success of + the thousandth and first trial would justify further examination. + Till the authority of observation can be wholly set aside, the + subject of our enquiry can never be said to have undergone its + final ostracism." + +This is certainly a strong proposition; nevertheless it is with the hope +that observation may be directed to the _facts_ of mesmerism, that we +have written the preceding pages. In reasoning on a subject, we can use +only those lights which experience has given us. The efficacy of logical +disproof, somewhat contemptuously treated by Mr Townshend in the above +passage, is yet fully vindicated by the latter half of the book itself, +which is an endeavour, logically, to bring home mesmerism to the +understanding of men of experience. It is vain to make light of logic, +when the parties who set it at nought are themselves obliged to use it +to prove its own worthlessness. You must not exalt _reason_, and we will +give you the _reason_ why--this cuts their own ground from under them. +We so far agree with the last quoted sentence, as to admit that, when +experiments fairly tried by competent parties have and do succeed, +mesmerism will be established--hitherto they have _not_ succeeded. The +alleged proofs are not brought home to the observation of cautious, +thinking men; and reason, thus at once derided and appealed to, is +unsatisfied. Time "may bring in its revenges," may show things which +would be to us marvellous; and we deny no future possibilities. At +present, we admit some very curious phenomena, which we would willingly +see further examined; but we are unconvinced of those facts of mesmerism +enounced by its professors, which wholly contradict our previous +experience. Upon what we consider the only safe grounds for the general +admission of newly asserted facts, the evidence in support of these +should more than counterpoise the evidence for their rejection. Up to +the present time, balancing, as we have endeavoured to do, impartially, +the evidence in favour of clairvoyance, and the preternatural powers of +mesmerism, against those of an opposite tendency, the former seems to us +inordinately outweighed. On the other hand, the production, by external +influence, either of absolute coma or of sleep-waking, whether resulting +from imagination in the patient, or from an effort of the will on the +part of the mesmeriser, or from both conjointly, has been too lightly +estimated and too little examined. This alone is in itself an effect so +novel, so mysterious, and apparently so connected with the mainsprings +of sentient existence, as to deserve and demand a rigorous, impartial, +and persevering scrutiny. + + * * * * * + +Since this article was written, the letters of Miss Martineau have +appeared. Had these been published earlier, we should undoubtedly have +noticed them at some length; they have not, however, induced us to alter +any thing we have written; they have, indeed, confirmed one remark made +above. The effects described by Miss Martineau as produced upon herself, +are credible and not preternatural, while the second-sight of the girl +J---- is preternatural and not credible; _i. e._ not credible as +preternatural, otherwise easily explicable. + +In this, as in every mesmeric case, the marvellous effects are developed +by the uneducated--the most easily deceived, and the most ready to be +deceivers. + +The clairvoyant writers have greatly the advantage of the sceptics in +one respect, viz. the public interest of their communications. Every one +reads the description of new marvels, few care to examine the arguments +in contravention of them. + + "Pol, me occidistis, amici, + Non servastis, ait, cui sic extorta voluptas, + Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3: For an account of one of the most notorious of the public +exhibitions of mesmeric clairvoyance, we refer the reader, who may feel +sufficiently interested in the matter, to the papers of Dr Forbes in the +_Lancet_, New Series, Vol. i. p. 581, and to the counter statement in +the _Zoist_, Vol. ii. No. 7.] + +[Footnote 4: P. 316.] + + + + +ÆSTHETICS OF DRESS. + +NO. II. + +ABOUT A BONNET. + + +So then, having "put down" hats, we come to bonnets; this is the due +order of things--hats should be taken off before bonnets always; "common +politeness makes us stop and do it." And here, as the immortal Butler +found it necessary in olden times to lament the perils that environed a +man meddling with a hard subject, so we might well indulge in an +ejaculation at what may be our fate if we presume to take liberties with +the head-dress of the ladies. Actæon, when he contemplated Diana +_simplicem munditiis_, paid a severe penalty in the transformation of +his own head; and so, perhaps, we may incur--but never mind; the task, +worthy of a Hercules, (for the hydra of female fashion is more than +hundred-headed,) must be gone through with, and the _scrivano umillimo_ +must push his pen even under the pole of a lady's bonnet. + +The best-dressed woman in the world was our great-great-great +progenitrix; we really cannot trace up the pedigree, but you all know +whom we mean--your common mother and ours: we have the highest authority +among our own poets for saying so. There can be no doubt that her +_coiffure_ was perfect. It is a law of nature--it was true then--it has +been true ever since--it is indisputable at the present day--the +expressive beauty of a woman lies in her face: whatever, therefore, +conceals the face is a disfigurement, and inherits the principle of the +ugly. Ye who would study the æsthetics of human habiliments, look at the +lovely lines of the female face; contemplate that fairest type of the +animated creation; observe the soft emotions of her gentle soul, now +shooting forth rays of tender light from between her long enclasping +eyelashes, now arching her rosy lips into the playful lineaments of +Cupid's mortal bow; or gaze upon the subdued and affectionate +contentment of the maternal countenance--remember, while you were yet +young, your mother's look of love, that look which was all-powerful to +master your fiercest passions in your wildest mood--who will say that +the female face ought to be concealed? As far as we, the more powerful, +though not the better, portion of the human race are concerned--off with +the bonnet! off with the veil! say we. But there are others to be +consulted in settling this preliminary dogma of taste--the feelings and +the inclinations of woman herself are entitled to at least as much +regard as the imperious wishes of man. She, who possesses the bright but +fleetly fading gift of beauty, has also that inestimable, indefinable +accompaniment of it--modesty. Beauty is too sensitive a gem to be always +exposed to the light of admiration; it must be ensheathed in modesty for +its rays to retain their primitive lustre; it would perish from exposure +to the natural changes of the atmosphere, but it would die much sooner +from the incomprehensible, yet positive, effects of moral lassitude. To +use a commonplace simile, gentle reader, woman's beauty is like +champagne, it gets terribly into a man's head: do not, however, leave +the cork out of your champagne bottle--the sparkling spirit will all +evaporate; and do not quarrel with your sweet-heart if she muffles up +her face sometimes, and will not let you look at it for a week +together--her eyes will be all the brighter when you next see them. +There is a good cause for it; man is an ungrateful, hardly-pleased +animal; every indulgence that woman grants him loosens her power over +him. Women have an innate right to conceal their heads! + +We arrive, then, at the foundation of taste for a lady's head-dress. Her +face, her head, is naturally so beautiful, that the less it is +concealed--as far as the mere gratification of the eye is concerned--the +better; but the necessity for veiling and protecting this precious +object is so inevitable, that a suitable extraneous covering must be +provided; let that covering be as consonant to her natural excellence as +it is possible to make it. + +Now, we are not going to write a history of all the changes of female +head-dress that have taken place since the world began: nothing at all +of the kind. We refer the curious amateur to the work of that learned +Dutchman--we forget his name, 'tis all the same--_De Re Vestiaria_; or +he may look into Wilkinson's _Ancient Egyptians_--there is a pretty +considerable variety of bonnets or caps to be seen therein, we +calculate. If he be a decided _cognoscente_, let him rather go to the +Attic gallery in the British Museum, and examine the Panathenaic +procession, where the virgins are in the simple attire of the best days +of Greece: but here, or in any of the monuments of that foster-country +of art, and in all the series of Roman sculpture and coins, he will find +no head-dress for a female beyond that of the veil. The great artists +and the great conquerors of the world never tolerated any thing beyond +this flowing drapery of the veil, as the covering for their wives' or +daughters' heads. They were satisfied with the beautiful contrast given +by the curving lines of its graceful folds; they admired its simplicity; +and they saw the perfect suitableness of its nature to its purpose. The +veil could be hastily drawn over the head, so as to conceal every +feature, and protect it from the gaze of man or the roughness of the +seasons--and it could as easily be withdrawn partially to allow of "a +sidelong glance of love," or wholly to give "a gaze of welcome," to a +relation and a friend. Happy men those old Greeks and Romans! they had +no bills for milliners--whatever their jewellers' accounts might have +come to! When they travelled, their slaves were not pestered with +bonnet-boxes and similar abominations--a clean yard or two of +Phoenician gauze, or Asian linen, set up Mrs Secretary Pericles, or +Mrs General Cæsar, with a braw new veil. There was little caprice of +fashion--the veil would always fall into something like the same or at +least similar folds; and we do believe that, for a thousand years or +more, the type of the _mode_ remained fixed. Whether the ancient +Asiatics made their women wear precisely the same mask-veils as those +jealous rascals the Turks and Arabs do at the present day, we do not +know, and we are not now going to enquire: we only wish to protest, _en +passant_, against these same modern Eastern veils; they are the most +frightful, unclassical, unbecoming things ever invented as face-cases. +Our present purpose is with the head-dress of modern British ladies--let +us look into their bonnets. + +And truly a bonnet, taken by itself, without the jewel that often lies +under it--a bonnet _per se_--is as bad a thing as a hat; something +between a coal-scuttle and a bread-basket; it is only fit to be married +to the hat, and, let us add--settled in the country. But it is, +nevertheless capricious in its ugliness, just as its possessor is +capricious in her prettiness; for, look at it from behind, its lines do +not greatly deviate from the circular form of the head; it seems like a +smart case;--look at it from before; there it is seen to best advantage +as an oval frame, set with ribands, flowers, and laces, for the sweet +picture within; but look at it from the side, and the genuine, vulgar, +cookmaid form of the coal-scuttle is instantly perceived. It serves in +this view evidently as blinkers do to a horse in harness, just to keep +the animal from shying, or to guard off a chance stroke of the whip. But +it is uncommonly tantalizing into the bargain. You walk along Regent +Street some fine day, and for a hundred paces or more you are troubled +by the crowd keeping you always in the rear of an old, faded, frumpy +bonnet, that hinders you from watching a sweet little _chapeau-de-soie_ +immediately beyond. Your patience is exhausted, and your curiosity +driven to the highest pitch of anxiety; you make a desperate stride, +push by the old bonnet, and look round with indignation to see what +beldam had thus been between you and the "cynosure of neighbouring +eyes:"--whew! 'tis the pretty young shop-girl that served you with your +last pair of gloves, and measured them so fascinatingly along your hand, +that your heart still palpitates with the electrical touch of her +fingers. You pocket your indignation, exchange one of your blandest +smiles, and pass on, still striding to see what lovely features grace +that exquisite _chapeau_. Half afraid, of course--for she is a lady +evidently, and you pique yourself on being a perfect gentleman--you +venture, as you pass, to let your eye just glance within the sacred +enclosure of blonde and primroses;--pshaw! it's old Miss Thingamy, that +you had to hand down to dinner the other day at Lady Dash's; and +instantly catching your eye, she gives you a condescending nod, and +you're forced to escort her all the way up to Portland Place! It's +enough to make a man hang himself; and, to say the truth, many a poor +fellow has been ruined by bonnets before now--even Napoleon himself had +to pay for _thirty-six_ new bonnets within _one month_ for Josephine! + +Bonnets, however, have more to do with women than with men; and we defy +our fair friends to prove that these articles of dress, about which they +are always so anxious, (a woman--a regular genuine woman, reader--will +sacrifice a great deal for a bonnet,) are either useful or ornamental. +And first, for their use; if they were good for any thing, they would +protect the head from cold, wet, and sunshine. Now, as far as cold is +concerned, they do so to a certain degree, but not a tenth part so well +as something else we shall talk of by and by; as for wet--what woman +ever trusted to her bonnet in a shower of rain? What woman does not +either pop up her parasol, or green cotton umbrella, or, if she has not +these female arms, ties over it her pocket-handkerchief, in a vain +attempt to keep off the pluvious god? Women are more frightened at +spoiling their bonnets than any other article of their dress: let them +but once get their bonnets under the dripping eaves of an umbrella, and, +like ostriches sticking their heads under ground, they think their whole +persons safe;--we appeal to any man who has walked down Cheapside with +his eyes open, on a rainy day, whether this be not true. And then for +the sun--who among the ladies trust to her bonnet for keeping her face +from freckling? Else why all the paraphernalia of parasols? why all +these endless patents for sylphides and sunscreens of every kind, form, +and colour? why can you never meet a lady in a summerwalk without one of +these elegant little contrivances in her hand? Comfort, we apprehend, +does not reside in a bonnet: look at a lady travelling, whether in a +carriage or a railroad diligence--she cannot for a moment lean back into +one of the nice pillowed corners of the vehicle, without running +imminent risk of crushing her bonnet; her head can never repose; she has +no travelling-cap, like a man, to put on while she stows away her bonnet +in some convenient place: the stiffened gauze, or canvass, or paper, of +which its inner framework is composed, rustles and crackles with every +attempt at compression; and a pound's worth or two of damage may be done +by a gentle tap or squeeze. Women, if candid, would allow that their +bonnets gave them much more trouble than comfort, and that they have +remained in use solely as conventional objects of dress--we will not +allow, of ornament. The only position in which a bonnet is becoming--and +even then it is only the modern class of bonnets--is, when they are +viewed full front: further, as we observed before, they make a nice +_encadrement_ for the face: and, with their endless adjuncts of lace, +ribands, and flowers, they commonly set off even moderately pretty +features to advantage. But is only the present kind of bonnet that does +so; the old-fashioned, poking, flaunting, square-cornered bonnet never +became any female physiognomy: it is only the small, tight, +come-and-kiss-me style of bonnet now worn by ladies, that is at all +tolerable. All this refers, however, only to that portion of the fairer +half of the human race which is in the bloom and vigour of youth and +womanhood: those that are still in childhood, or sinking into the vale +of years, cannot have a more inappropriate, more useless, covering for +the head than what they now wear, at least in England. Simplicity, which +should be the attribute of youth, and dignity, which should belong to +age, cannot be compatible with a modern bonnet: fifty inventions might +be made of coverings more suitable to these two stages of life. + +How, then, has it come to pass that women have persuaded themselves, or +have been overpersuaded, into the belief that a bonnet is the highest +point of perfection in their dress? It has all been done by a foolish +imitation of the caprices of French milliners, themselves actuated by +millions of caprices and fancies--but at the same time by one +steadily-enduring principle, that novelty and change, no matter how +useless, how extravagant, form the soul of their peculiar trade. For, +note it down--the bonnet mania has not mounted upwards from the lower to +the higher ranks of society; on the contrary, it has been a regular +plant, sown as a trifling casual seed in the hotbed of some silly +creature's brain, and then sending down its roots into many an inferior +class. Any one who has crossed the British Channel, knows that the +bonnet--as we understand the word in England--is not an article of +national costume in any portion of the world except our own +island--America and Australia we place, of course, out of the pale of +taste. In France itself, the peasantry, and all classes of women +immediately under the conventional denomination of ladies, wear +_bonnets_. This word does not signify the same thing as with us, gentle +reader. The French word _bonnet_ means a snow-white cap, whether rising +into an enormous cone, like those of the Norman beauties, or limited to +a jaunting frill and lappels, like those of the Parisian grisettes. The +real bonnets, the French female _chapeau_, is worn only by those who +call themselves ladies; and this difference of costume marks a most +decided difference of rank and self-esteem in the various grades of +Gallic society. In the Bourbonnois, it is true, and in some parts of +Switzerland and Germany, straw-hats of various sizes are worn by the +peasantry; but these do not resemble the actual bonnet of the nineteenth +century. Who does not know the exquisite national head-dresses of the +Italian and Spanish women, from pictorial representation, if not from +actual inspection? Who has not read of the Greek cap and veil? Who has +not heard of the national caps of Poland, Hungary, and Russia? Not the +slightest approximation to the eccentricity of the bonnet is to be found +in any of these. In all of them, not caprice, but the more rational +qualities of use and ornament, have been studiously regarded. It is in +England only that our lower classes of women have abandoned their +national costume, and are content to suffer the inconvenient +consequences of imitating their superiors. Let any one who has traversed +Europe only recall to his mind the appearances of the female peasants as +to their head-dress, whether in their houses or in the fields, and +comparing them with the tattered, dirty things worn by the labourers' +wives and daughters of England, say which are to be preferred in point +of taste--which are the cleanest--which are the most becoming. + +Not to go too far back into the mist of antiquity, the earliest traces +that we can find of hats being commonly worn in England, are to be met +with somewhere in the first half of the last century. Previous to that +time ladies wore hoods and caps; and in the Middle Ages muffled their +heads in wimples and veils; but some time or other--in the reign of the +second George, we believe--some lady or other stuck on her head a round +silk hat with a low crown and a broad brim, perfectly circular, and the +brim or ledge at right angles to the crown or head-piece. This she +subsequently changed into a straw one, and this was the root of the +evil--_hinc illæ lachrymæ!_ We are aware that, at the gay court of Louis +XIV., and even before he had a court, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, when +she went to battle or to hunt, wore a gold-laced semi-cocked hat: so did +Madame de Montespan when she accompanied the king to one of his grand +_parties de chasse_. But then, at the same time, these illustrious +"leaders of _ton_" put on gold-embroidered male coats, and evidently +endeavoured to transform themselves into men while partaking in manly +sports and dangers. Their hunting-hats bore no more relation to the +bonnets of their descendants, than do the black beaver hats of the +latter, when they mount their horses in Hyde Park or the Bois de +Boulogne. Indeed this very custom of wearing the male hat, is derived by +our modern belles from the times we are speaking of. Plain beaver or +felt hats were worn by some of our farmers' wives as early as the reign +of Charles I.; but, to judge from the prints of that date, they borrowed +them from their husbands. And to a period like this is to be traced the +custom, still extant throughout most parts of Wales, for the women to +wear the same head-costume as the men. The round ladies' hat, however, +of the middle and end of the last century, may be seen in its primitive +state in those enormous circles of straw, brought from Tuscany, and sold +in our milliners' shops, fit to be pinched and cut into the prevailing +fashion. The hats, both of men and women--when once they had quitted the +becoming costume of the Middle Ages--arose out of one and the same type; +a large circle of stuff with a projecting central cap for the skull. +Human invention, in the matter of hats, seems for several centuries to +have rested in this solitary idea. When this circular adumbral and +pluvial roofing had to be adapted to the female head, it was found +advisable to fasten it down to the cranium--not, indeed, by any screw +driven therein, nor by any intriguing with the locks of woman's hair, +but by the simple expedient of ribands passing under the chin. The +difficulty consisted in attaching the upper ends of these ribands; for +if they were sewn on under the overlapping brim, the same brim would +take liberties on a windy day, and would flap up and down like an Indian +punka. If they were sewn outside, they acted like the sheets of a ship's +sail, and pulled down the struggling circumference into two ugly +projections, bellying out before and behind. However, women, for +comfort's sake, having got an awkward article to deal with, preferred +the latter alternative--tied down their hats with ribands, (men, be it +remembered, at the same time, tied _up_ their brims into the prim, high, +cocked shape,) and called these ugly coverings "gipsy hats." We remember +something like them, dear reader, + + "When first we went a-gipsying, long long ago." + +Before matters had arrived at this pitch of ugliness, the ladies of the +court of George III.--the very antipodes of that of Louis XIV.--had +essayed, under the auspices of good Queen Charlotte, to render the round +hat, with the straight-projecting brim, less ugly; but their invention +carried them no further than to surround it, at one time, with a deep +ruff of ribands, or they crushed it into an untidy rumble-tumble shape; +at another, they let copious streamers float from the crown down their +backs; or again, they gave it a monstrous pitch up behind. There is this +to be said in their excuse--they hardly knew what parasols and umbrellas +were. They wielded enormous fans, nearly two feet long; they had +capuchins to their cloaks; and they delighted in the rotundity of hoops. +Peace be with the souls of our grandmothers! Good old creatures! they +were not very tasty, to be sure; but they wore glorious stiff taffety +fardingales, and they have left us many an ample commode full of real +china. As times wore on, and as the free-and-easy revolutionary school +came to inculcate their loose doctrines on women as well as men, the +ladies began to find the hinder pokes of their hats uncommon nuisances; +and so, in a fit of spleen, one day the Duchess of G----, or some other +woman of fashion, cut off this hinder protuberance, and appeared, to the +scandal of her neighbours, _plus_ the front poke, _minus_ the back one. +This was a daring, free-thinking, revolutionary innovation. Somebody had +probably done it at Paris before her; but the startling idea had gone +forth--women began to see daylight through their hats--the dawn of +emancipation appeared--clip, clip, went the scissors, and, for the time +being, the dynasty of gipsy hats had ceased to reign. Hereupon--the +consequence of all changes of dynasties--whether of bonnets or Bourbons, +'tis much the same--a fearful period of anarchy ensued: every milliner's +shop in Paris and London was pregnant with new shapes--bonnets +periodically overturned bonnets, numbers were devoted to the block every +week, and each succeeding month saw fresh competitors for public favour +coming to the giddy vortex of fashion. Husbands suffered dreadfully +during those troublous times: many a man's temper and purse were then +irremediably damaged; and there seemed to be no means of escaping from +this reign of female terror, this bonnetian chaos, until the great peace +of 1814 brought about a prompt solution. Here, to be classical in so +grave a matter, we may observe, that, just as Virgil in his Georgics +represents a civil tumult, even in its loudest hubbub, to be suddenly +calmed by the appearance of some man of known virtue and authority, so +in London--and therefore in England--the visit of an illustrious lady, +and the cut of her bonnet, appeased the agitated breasts of our fair +countrywomen, and reduced their fancy to a fixed idea. The Grand-duchess +of Oldenburg came over with her brother, the Emperor of all the Russias, +and wore on her head, not a coronet--but such a bonnet! + + "Ye powers who dress the head, if such there are, + And make the change of woman's taste your care!" + +--so Cowper might well have exclaimed, had he been then living. Tell us, +ye gods, whence did her imperial highness derive the idea of her bonnet? +Truly, we can conjecture no other source, than these very words +designating her rank, for the bonnet was imperial--none but such a lady +would have dared to originate it; and it was also high--high indeed! The +crown rose eighteen inches in perpendicular altitude from the nape of +the neck, while the front poke retained the modest dimensions of the +original gipsy hat. We recollect the duchess in Hyde Park with this +monstrous headgear, and the women all in ecstacy at the delightful +novelty. The success of this bonnet was universal--it was a "tremendous +hit," as they say in the play-bills; every woman that could afford it +raised her crown, and Oldenburgized her head. Well, this fashion lasted +tolerably long; it had the great value of rendering public opinion +nearly uniform; but it got old, as all fashions must do, and died a +natural death--not without an heir, a worthy heir. The new idea, you +will perceive, was that of inordinate length, in one way or the other. +The duchess had got it all up aloft--up in her top-royals--the new +bonnet (we really do not know who invented it, but some wicked little +hussy at Paris, no doubt) had it all down below, in the main-sail; the +crown dwindled to nothing, and out went the front poke to exactly the +same length, eighteen inches. This was truly exquisite--every body was +in raptures. The bonnet was tied tight under the chin, and to see a +woman's face you had to look down a sort of semi-funnelled hollow, where +the ambiguous shade of her countenance was illuminated only by the +radiance of her eyes. Here, too, the success was immense; the mothers of +us, the young bloods, the choice spirits of the present day, all wore +bonnets of this kind, when our governors went wooing them in +narrow-brimmed overtopping hats. The next change of any note worth +mentioning, was one of comparatively recent times, such as some of us +may remember their first loves in; it was derived from a partial return +to the primitive round expanded hat, and was in its chief glory, when +that last great piece of French dirty work, the Revolution of 1830, was +perpetrated. Women had retrograded to the old circular idea; they had +given up their pokes. It was too much--female folly had, it was +supposed, worn itself out--a revolution was wanted, and it came. To wear +the hat, however, in its primitive rotundity was impossible--it would +have suited a lady in the West Indies, but not in Europe; to tie down +the brim would not do, it would have been re-adopting the worn-out +fashions; so, just as was done in the Parisian political revolution, a +compromise of principles was resorted to--women cut off part of their +brims, turned the circle into a sort of eccentric oval, and rejoiced in +the redundant curve projecting now from the left, now on the right side +of their heads. Ribands, stiffened out into gigantic bows, set forth the +ample _chapeau_ right gaily; the brim stretched itself out with all the +insolence of a public favourite; and at length Tom Hood showed us how a +lady might go to church on a rainy day, and shelter the whole family +beneath her maternal hat. The present queen of the French wore an +enormous chapeau of this kind at the audience which Louis Philippe gave +to the peers and deputies that came to offer him the throne; every lady +in England, of a certain age, has worn a hat of the same sort. + +We are bound to allow that this hat had something of the useful in it: +the ample size of the brim effectually warded off both sun and rain; and +we much question whether the parasol trade did not rather languish under +its influence. But then it had corresponding disadvantages; it was +unbearable in a windy day, and rendered any thing like close contact +with a friend impossible. To get a kiss from your pretty cousin, or your +maiden aunt, if you met them in the street, was quite out of the +question, unless you previously doffed your hat; and, as for two young +ladies laying their heads together and whispering soft secrets, no such +thing was practicable. The downfall, therefore, of such stiff and +unwieldy hats might have been foretold from an early period of their +existence; it came, and with it a counter-revolution--a restoration of +the legitimist bonnet. But, mark the malignity of a certain elderly +personage, whose name and residence we never mention in ears polite; a +change, a final change, came, and it came from the source of all +abominations--Paris! Yes! 'twas a pure and genuine invention of the +fickle people--of _la jeune France_! We gave up the restored bonnet, and +we adopted the little, reduced, cut-away, impudent bonnet of the present +moment. Now, with regard to the actual origin of this same form of +bonnet, which has met with universal approbation, but which has no +really good qualities to recommend it, except those of portability and +warmth to the ears of the wearer--we make, with some regret, the +following assertion, upon the accuracy of which we stake our æsthetic +reputation. We were witnesses of the fact; any man in Paris, who had his +eyes about him, must have witnessed the same thing; we appeal to all the +_lions_ of the Bois, or the Boulevard des Italiens: these small bonnets, +and the peculiar mode of wearing them at the back of the head were first +introduced in Paris by a class of persons, to whom we cannot make any +more definite allusion than to say that their names must not be +mentioned. These people invented these bonnets, and wore them for nearly +six months before they were imitated; and then, the fashion being taken +up by the milliners, became general both in France and England. A +corresponding change in the cut of the upper portions of ladies' gowns, +and in the manner of putting on the shawl--that very cut and manner now +universally adopted--came from the same source, and at the same time. +These changes added greatly to female comfort, we admit; and they were +founded, mainly, on principles of good taste; but they had also other +causes, obvious to the æsthetician and the ethnologist, which we abstain +from noticing. Once more, having been eye-witnesses to the change, and +having at the time maliciously speculated within our own breasts as to +how long it would take for such a _mode_ to run the round of women's +heads--our anticipations having been fully realized--we pledge ourselves +to the accuracy of this statement. + +Well, then, having thus run a-muck against bonnets, what reparation are +we to make to the fair sex, for abusing their taste and condemning their +practice? We will try to point out to them certain leading ideas, which +may bring them back to sounder principles, and make the covering of +their heads worthy of the beauty of their faces. And here, as in the +case of hats, the first thing to be aimed at must be, utility--the +second, ornament. Be it observed, too, that we are writing for the +latitude of England; because in this respect, as in most others, the +climate ought to decide upon the basis of national costume. Now an +Englishwoman, of whatever grade she may be, requires, when she goes out +of doors, protection principally from wet, next from cold, and lastly +from heat. Her head-dress, to be really useful, ought to comprise +qualities that will effect these three objects. The substance, +therefore, of the covering cannot consist of cotton, linen, or silk, at +_all_ times of the year; these substances will do for the more +temperate or the hotter seasons, but not in winter--that is to say, they +will not be serviceable during five months out of the twelve. In this +inclement season nothing but woollen cloth or fur ought to be the +principal article of female head-dress; only these two substances will +effectually keep off wet and cold. They may be lined with silk or any +other soft substance, but the foundation, we repeat, ought to be fur or +woollen cloth; both of them articles of English manufacture or +preparation--one varying through all degrees of price; the other within +the reach of most persons, even in the middling classes of society. In +the summer, silk, linen, cotton, or any other light fabric, will effect +the purpose proposed--protection from the rays of the sun, and from the +casual wet that may occur--though from the last, less than from the +first inconvenience. So much for the common _substance_ of an +Englishwoman's out-of-door head-dress--for the _material_, that is to +say: its use should always be modified by the rank and occupation of the +wearer. The _form_ must be ascertained from a reference to the +principles laid down above, as to the combining a proper degree of +concealment, with the due exhibiting of the beautiful features of the +female face; the covering should afford ample concealment when wanted, +but should also admit of the head being completely exposed when +required. Now, the veil gives abundant concealment, but does not admit +of total removal, and is rather inconvenient to the wearer; it is apt to +get in the way, and is in danger of causing a slovenly, or even a dirty, +appearance; it is more suited for in-door, than for out-of-door +use--more for a warm than a cold climate. The _hood_ is the best thing +we know of, for combining the two requisites of complete concealment and +complete exposure. It unites by its shape all the purposes of form, to +the applicability of any kind of soft material; and it is suitable to +the climate of this country at any period of the year. But, "how ugly!" +the ladies will exclaim--"who could bear to tie her head up in a +pudding-bag?--Does not the very form of the hood approach too nearly to +that of the head, and thus violate a fundamental principle of +æsthetics?" Our reply must be, that there are various kinds of hoods, +and that, if they be considered ugly, it is more from their strangeness, +through long disuse, than from any fault in their natural form. Besides, +the very principle of concealment, so essential to a woman's modesty, +militates rather against the principle of beauty; we admit it to be a +difficulty--we would even say that the head of the female while +out-of-doors, amid the busy throng, does not admit of the same degree of +ornament as the head of the male. If we can make woman's covering +graceful, it is enough; the beauty of it should be reserved for the +drawing-room and the boudoir--it should not be exhibited in the street. +And after all, beauty for beauty, we will back a hood against a bonnet +any day in the week. + +Bear with us, however, gentle ladies, while we explain to you how we +would have you make and wear your hoods; and, to do so the better, +examine with us some of those delightful portraits of the time of Rubens +and Vandyke, when, among the nobler classes of females, dress had +certainly attained a high, if not its highest point of picturesque and +elegant effect. Look at some of those admirable Flemish pictures, where +you will see many a pretty face enveloped in a fur-trimmed hood, and +observe how much grace and modest dignity is given by that simple +habiliment. It is something of this kind which we would recommend. For +example--if a hood, so cut as not to admit of too close a conformation +to the shape of the head, were attached to a tippet which might descend +and protect the shoulders, or come even lower, at the fancy of the +wearer, and were fastened round the neck, the hood itself might be +elevated so as to cover the head, and might be drawn even over the face; +or it might be instantly thrown back, and would lie on the upper part of +the neck in picturesque and graceful folds. The lines of such a +covering, not so flowing, indeed, as those of a veil, would yet be not +inelegant; and they would afford sufficient contrast to the features of +the face, while they would be far superior to the unmeaning rigidity of +the bonnet. Hoods, such as those, are even now worn by some ladies for +carriage purposes, or while going to evening parties; and they would +look just as well in the bright light of the sun, as by the pale rays of +the moon. Consider for a moment the comfort and the utility of such a +dress; what a complete protection from cold, and, if necessary, from +wet! Even in summer, the hood would keep off the sun's beams much more +effectually than any bonnet; it would be light, warm, portable--useable +at pleasure, always ornamental, always becoming. These hoods would be of +service, whether for a walk or for a journey in a carriage; they would +not need to be disentangled from the person like bonnets; they would +merely have to be thrown back; they never could get spoiled by crushing; +they never would need cumbrous boxes to be carried in; and, what is +worthy of consideration, their cost might always be suited to the means +of the wearer. They would admit of any kind of ornament that would not +destroy their principle of utility;--for ornament ceases to be ornament +when it negatives the purpose of the object to which it is applied--it +becomes in such a case a mere excrescence: they might be edged and lined +with any, the most sumptuous or the plainest materials: they might be +attached round the neck by rich cords of gold and jewelled clasps; or +they might be fastened with simple ribands. Thus, in spring time, a +young and high-born damsel might wear her hood and tippet of +light-coloured silk or brocade, edged with ermine or swan's-down, and +attached with silver cords and clasps of pearl--while the noble matron +might wear the same of crimson or purple velvet, edged with sable, and +attached with golden cords and diamonds. The peasant's wife and daughter +might use hoods of black, blue, or grey woollen cloth, lined with grey +linen, edged with plain riband, and fastened with a simple button. How +much better, how much more rational, how much more becoming, such +head-dresses as these, than the gay but useless ribands, feathers, and +chapeaux of the one class, or the misshapen, uncomfortable, +untidy-looking bonnets of the other! According to the present system, it +is almost impossible to infer the rank of a lady from her external +costume--many a milliner's girl has passed for a duchess before +now--whereas by the adoption of articles of dress, founded on principles +like those of the hood, some decisive marks of distinction might be +obtained. Thus the rich furs and the jewels, or the gold brocade of the +princess, might indeed be imitated by the merchant's wife--who at the +present day is nearly her equal in wealth--the representative of +political power in, what is called, a constitutional government; but the +shop-girl and the dancing-mistress might break their hearts with spite, +ere they could set up a system of dress in keeping with hoods of the +kind alluded to. We do not recommend, that distinction of dress +according to difference of rank should be carried to an undue limit; for +in the present age of the world, and especially in our country, where +the basis of society is shifting, and where the pivots of the commonweal +are loose, too little distinction of rank is allowed; rank is not +respected as it ought to be; but, nevertheless, the promiscuous jumbling +together and confounding of all men is carried too far; it is one of the +elements of republicanism and anarchy that we should do well to +discourage. To ladies, more than to men, would distinctions of dress be +useful, and with them they would be more practicable of reintroduction; +any thing that would tend to augment the outward respect of men for +women, and of women for each other, would be so much gained toward a +revival of some of the soundest maxims of former days. + +Bonnets, then, to Orcus! Hoods to the seventh heaven! + + H. L. J. + + + + +GERMAN-AMERICAN ROMANCES. + +THE VICEROY AND THE ARISTOCRACY, OR MEXICO IN 1812. + +PART THE FIRST. + + +The most obvious defect of the German school of romance is the universal +tendency of its writers to the indefinite and periphrastic, and the +consequent absence of the characteristic and the true in their +descriptions both of human and of external nature. Much of this +prevailing habit may perhaps be attributed to the example of Goethe, +who, in his works of fiction, narrates the adventures of A and B, +residing in the town of C, situate in some nameless and inscrutable +section of Germany. And when, to all this mystery, is superadded the +ponderous and ungraceful style of most German writers, and the Latin +construction of their interminable sentences, for the solution of which +the reader must wade to the final word, the lack of good original +novels, and the universal preference, in Germany, of translations from +French and English authors, will be readily accounted for. The main +source of these defects in the German writers may be found in their +retired and bookish habits. Shut up in their studies, with no companions +but their books and their meerschaums, and viewing the eternal world +through the loopholes of retreat, often anxious, too, to advance and +illustrate some pet theory of their own, their writings smell horribly +of the lamp, and are long-winded, tedious, and unnatural. Another cause +of the deficiencies above-named, may perhaps be discovered in the +severity of German censorship, and the apprehension that more clearness +and identity in their descriptions of persons and places might be +twisted into political and personal allusions. + +The admitted superiority of French and English works of fiction, may be +attributed to the widely different habits of the writers. Nearly all the +French, and many of the English writers of the present day, are men of +the world, eschewing solitude, and mixing largely in society. The good +effects of this frequent collision with their fellow-men are visible in +their works, many of which display a deep knowledge of human nature, a +vivid power of description, and a command of dialogue, not only spirited +and natural, but often rising with the occasion into dramatic point and +brilliancy. + +At length, however, a new and radiant star has arisen in the cloudy +firmament of German fiction--a novel-writer whose works exhibit a +striking example of entire exemption from the defects so evident in the +great majority of his brethren. This is a nameless personage, known +among German reviewers as Der Unbekannte, or the Unknown, and who has +broken ground that no German writer had hitherto ventured upon. Some +have supposed him to be a Pennsylvanian, a considerable part of which +state was originally colonized by Germans, whose descendants still, to a +large extent, preserve the language and habits of the mother country. +Another report stated him to be a native German, who had emigrated to +Louisiana, and established himself there as a planter. Nothing definite, +in short, is known; but what is certain is, that he has been long +resident in the United States and in Mexico, and has made excellent use +of his opportunities for becoming acquainted with those countries and +their inhabitants. His subjects are, with slight exceptions, +Transatlantic, his materials original, his style singularly natural and +forcible; proving that however rugged the German language may appear in +the works of others, it will yield to the hand of a master, and readily +adapt itself to every subject. + +Our readers will probably not have forgotten a series of American, +Texian, and Mexican tales and sketches, which have appeared during the +last few months in the pages of this magazine. With some alterations and +adaptations, intended to render them more acceptable to English tastes, +they are selections from the works of the writer above described. These +works being published, as already mentioned, anonymously, and at prices +beyond the means of most German readers, are but partially known and +read even in Germany; and in this country they are entirely unknown, +such portions excepted as have appeared without a name in our recent +numbers. Having there presented our readers with specimens only, and for +the most part of his latest works, we will now proceed to give them some +account of one of his earliest and most important productions--a Mexican +historical romance of striking interest, dated two years subsequently to +the first revolutionary outbreak in Mexico, and exhibiting a degree of +descriptive and dramatic power unparalleled in the whole range of German +fiction. + +When, in the year 1776, the British colonies, now known as the United +States of America, made their declaration of independence, the struggle +that ensued was unmarked by any circumstances of particular atrocity or +blood-thirstiness, except perhaps, occasionally, on the part of the +Indian allies of either party. The fight was between men of the same +race, who had been accustomed to look upon each other as countrymen and +brothers, and whose sympathies and feelings were in many respects in +unison; it was fought manfully and fairly, as beseemed civilized men in +the eighteenth century of the Christian era. Whatever wrongs, real or +imaginary, the British Americans had to complain of, they had none that +sufficed, even in their own eyes, to justify reprisals or cruelties +beyond those which the most humanely conducted and least envenomed wars +inevitably entail. But it was under strikingly different circumstances +that the second of the two great republics which, with the exception of +British possessions, now comprise the whole civilized portion of the +North American continent, started into existence. In the former instance +was seen the young and vigorous country which, having attained its +majority, and feeling itself able to dispense with parental +guardianship, asserted its independence, and vindicated it, with a +strong hand, it is true, but yet with a warm heart and a cool judgment. +In the latter case it was the spring of the caged tiger, that for years +had pined in narrow prison beneath the scourge of its keeper, whom it at +last turned upon and rent in its fury. + +Subdued by the fierce assault of a handful of desperate adventurers, the +history of Mexico, from the earliest period of its conquest, is one +continuous record of oppression and cruelty on the one hand, of long and +bitter suffering on the other. Deprived of its religious and customs, +its priesthood and legitimate sovereigns mercilessly tortured and slain, +its temples and institutions annihilated, its very history and +traditions blotted out, Mexico, in the hands of the Spaniards, was +rapidly transformed from a flourishing and independent empire into a +huge province; while its inhabitants became a disposable horde, on whom +the conquerors seemed to think they were conferring a benefit, when they +made gift of them by hundreds and thousands, like sheep or oxen, to a +lawless and reckless soldiery. Their houses and lands, sometimes even +their wives and children, were snatched from them, and they were driven +in herds to labour in the mines, or condemned to carry burdens over +pathless and precipitous mountains; like the Gibeonites of old, they +were made hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the congregation. +Expelled from the towns, and confined to hamlets and villages, whence +they were only summoned to toil in the service of their oppressors, they +became in time entirely brutalized, losing the finer and more noble +qualities that distinguish man from the beast of the forest, and +retaining only a bitter sense of their degradation, a vivid impression +of the sufferings they daily endured, and a gloomy instinctive longing +after a bloody revenge. + +With these Indians, who, at the commencement of the present century, +composed two-fifths of the population of Mexico, may be classed a race +of beings equally numerous, equally unfortunate and destitute, and still +wilder and more despised--namely, the various castes sprung from the +intercourse of the conquerors of the country, of their successors and +slaves, with the aborigines. These half-bloods, who united the apparent +stupidity and real apathy of the Indian with the lawlessness and +impatience of restraint of their white fathers, found themselves driven +out into a world that branded them for the accident of their birth; +deprived of all property, and reduced to the most ignoble employments; +continual objects of fear and detestation to the better classes, because +they had nothing to risk, and every thing to gain, by a political +convulsion. Such were the principal elements of a population which, +after centuries of patient endurance, was at last roused to enter the +lists and struggle for its independence, with all the fury of the +captive who breaks the long-worn fetters from his chafed and bleeding +limbs, and seeks his deliverance in the utter extermination of his +jailers. + +For three hundred years had the Mexicans groaned under the lash of their +taskmasters, ruled by monarchs whom they never beheld, and enduring +innumerable evils, without nourishing a single rebellious or +revolutionary thought. If the breeze of liberty that blew over from the +north, occasionally awakened in their minds the idea of an improved +state of things, the hope, or rather wish, speedily died away, crushed +and annihilated under the well-combined system of oppression employed by +the Spaniards. The nobles had ranged themselves entirely on the side of +the government, the middle classes had followed their example, and the +people were compelled to obey. All was quiet in Mexico, long after +insurrections had broken out in Spanish colonies further south; and this +state of tranquillity was not even disturbed, when news were brought of +the invasion of Spain by its hereditary foe, of the occupation of Madrid +by French armies, and of the scenes of butchery that took place in that +capital on the second day of May 1808. The Mexicans, far from availing +themselves of this favourable opportunity to proclaim their own +independence, hastened to give proofs of their sympathy with the +aggrieved honour of the mother country; and on all sides resounded +curses upon the head of the powerful usurper who had ousted their +legitimate but unknown monarch from his throne, and now detained him in +captivity. Intelligence of the Junta's declaration of war against +Napoleon was received with unbounded applause, and all were striving to +demonstrate their enthusiasm in the most efficient manner, when a royal +decree arrived, issued by the very prince whose misfortunes they were +deploring, and by which Mexico was ordered to recognise as its sovereign +the brother of that usurper who had dispossessed its rightful king. + +A stronger proof of Ferdinand's unworthiness to rule, could hardly have +been given to the Mexicans than the decree in question. Loyalty had long +been an article of faith with the whole nation; but even as the blindest +superstition is sometimes metamorphosed on a sudden into total +infidelity, passing from one extreme to the other, so was all feeling of +loyalty utterly extinguished in the breast of the Mexican people by this +instance of regal abjectness. It would have been long before they +revolted against their hereditary Spanish ruler; but to find themselves +given away by him in so ignominious a manner, was a degradation which +they felt the more deeply from its being almost the only one that had +been hitherto spared them. Discontent was universal; and by a unanimous +and popular movement, the decree was publicly burned. + +With just indignation did the Mexicans now discover that those persons +who had hitherto most prided themselves on their loyalty and fidelity to +the king and the reigning dynasty, were precisely the first to transfer +their allegiance to the new sovereign. The whole of the government +officers, Spaniards nearly to a man, hastened to take measures for the +surrender of the nation to its new ruler, without even enquiring whether +it approved of the change. One man only was in favour of a more +honourable expedient, and that man was Iturrigaray, the viceroy. Well +acquainted with the cowardice and cunning of his captive sovereign, the +former of which qualities had dictated the decree, he had nevertheless +formed a plan to preserve Mexico for him, in accordance with the wish of +its population. A junta, composed of Spaniards and of the most +distinguished Mexicans, was to represent the nation till the arrival of +further news or orders from Europe. This plan was generally approved of +by the Mexicans, who looked forward with unbounded delight to the moment +when they should have a voice in the public affairs of their country. +The joy was universal; but in the very midst of this joy, and of the +preliminaries to the carrying out of this project, the author of it, the +viceroy himself, was seized in his palace by his own countrymen, +conducted with his family to Vera Cruz, and slipped off to Spain as a +state prisoner. + +By this lawless proceeding, it was made evident to the weakest +comprehension, that so long as the Spaniard ruled, the Mexican must +remain in a state of unconditional slavery; that he could never hope to +obtain a share in the management of his country; and that the act of +violence of which Iturrigaray had been the victim, had been solely +caused by the disposition he had shown to pave the way for the gradual +emancipation of the Creoles. From this moment may be dated the decision +of the Mexicans to get rid of the Spaniards at any price; and a +conspiracy was immediately organized, which was joined by at least a +hundred of the principal Creoles, and by a far larger number of the +middle classes, and of the military--the object being to shake off the +ignominious yoke that pressed so heavily upon them. The treason of one +of the conspirators, who on his death-bed, in confession, betrayed his +confederates, accelerated the outbreak of the plot. + +It was at nine o'clock on the evening of the 15th September 1810, that +Don Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, captain in the royal regiment _de la +Reyna_, came in all haste from Gueretaro to Dolores, and burst into the +dwelling of Padre Hidalgo, the parish priest of the latter place, with +news that the conspiracy had been discovered, and an order issued to +take prisoners, dead or alive, all those concerned in it. With the +prospect of certain death before their eyes, the two conspirators held a +short consultation, and then hastened to announce to their friends their +firm decision to stake their lives upon the freedom of their country. +Two officers, the lieutenants Abasalo and Aldama, and several musicians, +friends and companions of the cura, joined them, and by these men, +thirteen in number, was the great Mexican revolution begun. + +Whilst Hidalgo, a crucifix in his left hand, a pistol in his right, +hurried to the prison and set at liberty the criminals confined there, +Allende proceeded to the houses of the Spanish inhabitants, and +compelled them to deliver up their plate and ready money. Then, with the +cry of "_Viva la Independencia, y muera el mal gobierno!_" the +insurgents paraded the streets of Dolores. The whole of the Indian +population ranged themselves under the banner of their beloved curate, +who, in a few hours, found himself at the head of some thousand men. +They took the road to Miguel el Grande, and, before reaching that place, +were joined by eight hundred recruits from Allende's regiment. Shouting +their war-cry of "Death to the Gachupins!"[5] the rebels reached San +Felipe; in three days their numbers amounted to twenty thousand; at +Zelaya, a whole regiment of Mexican infantry, and a portion of the +cavalry regiment of the Principe, came over to them. On they went, +"Mueran los Gachupinos!" still their cry, to Guanaxato, the richest city +in Mexico, where they were joined by some more troops. Indians kept +flowing in from all sides, and the mob, for it was little more, soon +reached fifty thousand men. The fortified alhondega, or granary, at +Guanaxato, was taken by storm; the Spaniards and Creoles who had shut +themselves up there with their treasures, were massacred; upwards of +five millions of hard dollars fell into the hands of the insurgents. +This success brought more Indians from all parts of the country. There +were soon eighty thousand men collected together, but amongst them were +hardly four thousand muskets. Pressing forward, by way of Valladolid, +towards Mexico, they totally defeated Colonel Truxillo at Las Cruces, +and, on the 31st October, looked down from the rising ground of Santa Fé +upon the capital city, within the walls of which were thirty thousand +Léperos,[6] who awaited but the signal to break into open insurrection. +Only two thousand troops of the line garrisoned Mexico; Calleja, the +commander-in-chief, was a hundred leagues off; another general, the +Count of Cadena, sixty; in the mountains the people were rising in +favour of the revolution; another patriot chief was marching from +Tlalnepatla to support Hidalgo, while the viceroy was preparing to +retire to Vera Cruz. The fate of Mexico was, according to all +appearance, about to be decided; one bold assault, and the Indians would +again be the rulers of the country. But on the very day after their +arrival within sight of Mexico, Hidalgo, with his hundred and ten +thousand men, commenced a retreat. The capital was saved; and from that +day may be dated the sufferings and reverses of the patriots. + +Or the 7th November, at Aculco, Hidalgo met the united Spanish and +Creole army, and was defeated in the combat that ensued. Soon +afterwards, Allende experienced a like misfortune at Marfil; and a third +action, near Calderon, decided the fate of the campaign. Hidalgo himself +was betrayed at Acalito, with fifty of his companions, and put to death. + +The first act of the revolutionary drama was over, within six months +after the bloody curtain had been raised; but the torch of insurrection, +far from being extinguished by the fall of its bearer, had divided and +multiplied itself, as if to spread the conflagration with more +certainty. Thousands of those who had escaped from the battle-fields of +Aculco, Marfil, and Calderon, now spread themselves through the +different provinces, and commenced a war of extermination that was +destined, slowly but surely, to sweep away their unappeasable tyrants. +Most of these bands were commanded by priests, lawyers, or adventurers, +who acted without plan or concert, and possessed little or no +qualification for their post as leaders, save their hatred of the +Gachupins. But few of the better class of Creoles were to be found +amongst the insurgents; and the strife was to all appearance between the +Indians and half-bloods, on the one hand, and the property and +intelligence of the country, represented by the Spaniards and Creoles, +on the other. + +The Creoles, although considerably less oppressed than the coloured +races, had felt themselves more so; because, being more enlightened and +civilized, they had a livelier feeling and perception of the yoke than +the Indians and half-castes. Children and descendants of the Spaniards, +who looked with sovereign contempt upon every thing Creole, even to +their own offspring, the white Mexicans imbibed hatred of Spain almost +with their mothers' milk. Far from enjoying what the letter of the law +gave them, the same rights as their European fathers, they found +themselves driven back among the people; while all offices and posts +were filled by Spaniards, who, for the most part, came to Mexico in +rags, and left it possessed of immense wealth. Even the possession of +magnificent estates, with their incalculable subterranean treasures, was +of precarious benefit to the Creoles; for the Spaniards paid small +respect to the laws of property, and, in the name of their royal master, +assumed unlimited power over the land. + +The bitterness of feeling consequent on this state of things, at length +roused into activity the latent desire of freedom from the Spanish rule, +a freedom which was to have been obtained by the conspiracy already +referred to. On a given day, there was to have been a general rising +throughout Mexico; all the Spanish officers and _employés_ were to have +been arrested, and their places filled by Creoles; the seaports were to +have been seized and garrisoned, so as to prevent succours coming to the +Spaniards from the neighbouring island of Cuba. The discovery and +premature outbreak of the plot, as already mentioned, were the causes of +its failure. Hidalgo, who was too deeply compromised to recede, had put +himself at the head of the revolution, and enraged against the Creoles, +who had, for the most part, managed to draw their heads out of the +noose, commenced with his Indians a war of extermination that spared +neither Spaniards nor Creoles. This terrible blunder on the part of the +soldier-priest, of itself decided the fate of the outbreak. The Creoles +were compelled to unite with the very Spaniards whose downfall they had +been plotting; and it was mainly through their co-operation that the +three battles with the rebels had been won. The Spaniards, however, +instead of being grateful for the assistance they had received from the +Creoles, persisted in looking upon the latter as a pack of unlucky +rebels, whose treason had not even been rendered respectable by success. + +Enraged at the revolt that had threatened to deprive their king of his +supremacy, and themselves of the plunder of the richest country in the +world, the Spaniards applied themselves to obviate the possibility of +any future rebellion, by pretty much the same measures that a bee-hunter +takes to secure himself against the stings of the bees before seizing +their honey, namely, by fire and the axe. Twenty-four cities, both large +and small, and innumerable villages, were razed to the ground during the +first eighteen months of the revolution, and their inhabitants utterly +exterminated, as a punishment for having favoured the insurgents. Even +then, these bigoted and barbarous servants of legitimacy were not +satisfied with this wholesale slaughter. Through the medium of the +church, and in the name of the divine Trinity and of the blessed Virgin, +they proclaimed a solemn amnesty, and those among the credulous and +unfortunate rebels who availed themselves of it were mercilessly +massacred. This infamous and blasphemous piece of bad faith rendered any +pacification of the country impossible, and went far towards uniting the +whole population against its contemptible and blood-thirsty tyrants. + +Amongst the adventurers who had joined Hidalgo on his triumphant march +from Guanaxato to Mexico, was his old friend and schoolfellow, Morellos, +rector of Nucupetaro. Hidalgo received him as a brother, and +comnissioned him to raise the standard of revolt in the south-western +provinces of Mexico. Morellos, who was then sixty years of age, repaired +to his appointed post with only five followers. In Petalan he was joined +by twenty negroes, to whom he promised their freedom; and soon +afterwards several Creoles ranged themselves under his banner. Unlike +the unfortunate Hidalgo, he began the war on a small scale, and after +the fashion of those guerillas who in Spain had done so much mischief to +the French armies. Gradually enlarging the sphere of his operations, he +had, during a sixteen months' warfare, gained several not unimportant +advantages over the Spanish generals. Report represented him as a man of +grave and earnest character--quite the converse of the hasty and +unreflecting Hidalgo--of sound judgment, irreproachable morals, and far +more liberal and extended views than could have been expected from the +confined education of a Mexican priest. The influence he possessed over +the Indians was said to be unbounded. + +At the time at which the action of the book now before us commences, +namely, upon a carnival day of the year 1812, Morellos had marched into +the vicinity of Mexico at the head of his little army. The principal +leaders of the patriots, Vittoria, Guerero, Bravo, Ossourno, and others, +had placed themselves under his orders; and the moral weight of his name +seemed to be at last producing what had been wanting since the death of +Hidalgo--namely, that unanimity in the operations of the patriots, and +that degree of discipline amongst their troops, which were calculated to +gain them the confidence of the nation. + +The first two chapters of the "Viceroy" are of so striking a nature, and +give such strange and startling glimpses of the state of Mexican society +and feeling at that period, that, with some slight abridgement, we shall +here translate them both. + + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + "'Tis known, at least it should be, that throughout + All countries of the Catholic persuasion, + Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about, + The people take their fill of recreation, + And buy repentance, ere they grow devout, + However high their rank, or low their station, + With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masking, + And other things which may be had for asking." + + BYRON. + +The siesta was over; and the profound stillness in which the capital of +New Spain had been buried during the preceding two hours, was suddenly +broken by the hum of innumerable voices. The noise, which commenced in +the suburbs, extended itself rapidly, and increased almost to a roar, +scaring away the gallinazos and other birds of prey, that were as usual +seeking food in the streets and squares of the city of Mexico. Thousands +of the inhabitants arose from their resting-places under the porticoes +of houses, churches, and palaces, or hurried forth from the great bazar, +eager to celebrate the carnival with that boundless mirth and license by +which Roman Catholic nations seem to console themselves for the fasts +and privations that are to succeed it. + +The variety of the costumes in which the maskers had arrayed themselves +was endless, while the profanity of some of them was no less remarkable. +Here might be seen a gigantic _tenatero_, or porter, in a sergeant's +jacket, and with the enormous cocked hat of a Spanish general upon his +head, a globe and sceptre in one hand, in the other a pasteboard cross, +strutting proudly about in the character of the Redeemer of Atolnico;[7] +while around him a party of Indians, Zambos, and Metises, metamorphosed +into Apostles, Pharisees, and Jewish women, performed dances of very +questionable propriety in honour of their divine master. In another +place, Adam and Eve were incessantly driven out of Paradise by an angel +with a flaming sword--the three figures resembling very much the same +persons, as they used to be represented in the halfpenny woodcuts of the +past century. Beside them, _Dios el Padre_ led off a dance to the sound +of a cracked guitar, which St Cecilia was twanging as an accompaniment +to the nasal melody of the gangaso;[8] and a little further on, the +child Jesus, mounted on a jackass, was flying into Egypt, and squirting, +as he went, streams of water into the open windows of houses, and into +the faces of the passers-by. Mingled with the mummers were crowds of +loathsome _léperos_; and again, amongst these might be seen numerous +groups of perfumed dandies and elegantly dressed ladies, who contrasted +with the throng of Indians as swamp-lilies do with the filth and +corruption of a pestilential marsh. In spite of the broad sunlight, +rockets were going off on all sides, to the great amusement of the +Indians, who burst out into screams of wild delight each time that one +of the fiery missiles caused alarm and confusion amongst the gaily +attired dames who thronged the balconies, and gazed down from their +windows upon the motley scene. The contrast of all this movement and +uproar with the silence and solitude that had reigned so few moments +before, was startling. It was as if the earth had suddenly opened and +vomited forth the thousands of Mulattoes and Zambos, Indians, Metises, +and Creoles,[9] that now sang, danced, chattered, screamed, and +shouted--doing their utmost worthily to play their part in the +time-honored saturnalia of the Romish church. + +Differing from the custom of more refiled, although perhaps not more +enlightened, countries, only a very few of the numerous parties of +maskers seemed to aim, by their costume or action, at a satire on the +follies, foibles, or occurrences of the times. Now and then, however, an +exception was to be met with; and this was especially remarkable in a +group which it becomes necessary here to describe. + +It consisted of twelve persons, the majority of whom were fantastically +attired in the national costumes of the various Indian tribes. These +were grouped round a _carro_, or two-wheeled cart in so picturesque a +manner, that it was easy to see that their performance had been +preconcerted and rehearsed. They wore symbols of mourning, and seemed +acting as pall-bearers and followers of a funeral; while upon the cart +itself were two figures, in which the horrible and the comic were +blended after a most extraordinary fashion. One of them was a Torso, +from whose breast and headless neck, and on the stumps of his arms and +legs, blood was incessantly dropping, and as fast as it dropped, it was +greedily licked up by several persons in Spanish masks and dresses. The +mutilated form seemed still to have life in it, for it groaned and gave +out hollow sounds of agony and complaint; at the same time struggling, +but in vain, to shake off a monster that sat vampire-like upon its body, +and dug its tiger claws into the breast of the sufferer. The aspect of +this monster was as strange as that of its victim. It had the cowl, and +the sleek but sinister countenance of well-fed Dominican friar; on its +right hand was fixed a blazing torch, on its left stood a dog that +barked continually; its head was covered with a brass basin, apparently +meant to represent the barber helmet of the knight of La Mancha. From +the shoulders of the figure protruded a pair of dusky wings, not unlike +those with which griffins and other fabulous monsters are represented in +old books of heraldry; its back was terminated by the tail of the +coyote, or Mexican wolf; while the claws with which it seemed digging +into the very bowels of the Torso, were those of caguar or tiger. + +This singular pageant passed through the Tacuba street into that of San +Agustin, thence through the Plateria and the Calle Aguila into the +quarter of the city known as the Trespana, where it came to a halt +before the hotel of the same name. During this progress, the crowd of +Indians, Metises, and other coloured races, had been augmented by +numerous parties of Creoles; while the Spaniards contented themselves +with gazing distrustfully at the procession from the windows of their +houses. The strange group was now surrounded by thousands of Zambos, +Creoles, Metises, and Indians, presenting a variety and originality of +costume, physiognomy, and colour--a contact and contrast of the most +costly and sumptuous habiliments with the meanest and most disgusting +rags, such as it would be in vain to seek in any other country than +Mexico. + +Amongst the most elegantly dressed of those whom the enigmatical +masquerade attracted, was a young man, of whom it would have bee +difficult to say to what race he belonged. His face was covered by a +closely-fitting silken mask, in which every hue of the rainbow was +blended, but which, nevertheless, was adapted so admirably to his +features, as at first to leave the spectators in doubt whether it were +not the real colour of his skin. He skipped airily out of the fonda of +Trespana into the street, cast a keen but hasty glance around him, and +then began to make his way through the mob that surrounded the pageant. +There was a nameless something in his manner and appearance that caused +the throng to open him a willing passage towards the object of general +curiosity. + +"Foolish mob! brainless mob! swinish mob!" cried the stranger, when he +at length stood beside the cart upon which the monster was still rending +its hapless victim; "whither are ye running, and pressing, and crowding, +and what are ye come to see? Know ye not that in Mexico it is forbidden +to see, especially to see clearly?" + +The tone of the speaker, his sudden appearance, and the bold originality +of his manner, contrasted strongly with the timidity of the other +Creoles, who had all in their turn approached the cart cautiously, +viewed it for a few moments with an air of mistrust, and then withdrawn +themselves to a distance, in order to await in safety what might next +ensue. The daring address of the new-comer, so different from this +prudent behaviour, did not fail to attract universal attention. + +"What now, men of Mexico, or of Anahuac, if you prefer that name, Aztecs +and Tenochtitlans and Othomites, and Metises and Zambos and Salta-atras, +and whites, whom the devil fly away with," added he in a lower tone, "or +at least with one-twentieth of them?"[10] + +"Bravo!" vociferated hundreds of Metises and Zambos, whom the last few +words had suddenly enlightened as to the political opinions of the +speaker. "Bravo! _Escuchad!_ Hear him!" + +The object of this applause was apparently busied examining the +composition of the pageant. When silence was restored, he again turned +to the crowd. + +"And so you would like to know what it means?" said he. "Fools! know ye +not that knowledge is forbidden? And yet, if you are any better than a +parcel of mules, you may see and understand." + +"And if we _are_ no better than mules?" cried a voice. + +"Then will I be your _arriero_, and drive you," replied the stranger +laughing, and tripping round the cart. "Mules! ay, _Madre de Dios!_ that +are ye, and have been all the days of your lives, ever since the gloomy +Gachupin yonder"--and he pointed to the monster, half monk, half +beast--"has chosen for his resting-place the body of the poor unhappy +creature, whom some call Anahuac, some Mexitli, and some Guatemozin.[11] +Mules, ay, threefold mules! Poor mules!" added he, in a tone of mingled +compassion and contempt. + +"Poor mules!" sighed the surrounding spectators, gazing alternately at +the speaker and at the bleeding Torso. + +On a sudden, the masked cavalier raised the cowl of the monster-monk, +and the severed head of the Torso rolled out from it. The features were +Indian, modelled and coloured in so masterly a manner, that the +resemblance they were intended to convey struck every body, and hundreds +of voices simultaneously exclaimed-- + +"Guatemozin!" + +"Guatemozin!" was repeated from mouth to mouth, while the _pregonero_ or +crier, as the crowd had already christened the speaker, continued to +lift the veil from the significant allegory before him. + +"See!" cried he, "here have his claws struck deepest. 'Tis in Guanaxato +and Guadalajara." + +A shudder seemed to run through the crowd. + +"'Tis Tio Gachupin," continued the pregonero with a strange laugh, "who +would fain play with you the same game that he did three centuries since +with poor Guatemozin. And see! 'tis Guatemozin's ghost that appears +bleeding before ye, and claims vengeance at your hands!" + +It had now become evident to the surrounding crowd, that the pageant had +a deep and dangerous political meaning. The spectators had greatly +increased, and were each moment increasing, in number; the flat roofs +and the _miradores_, or latticed balconies, of the surrounding houses, +were crowded with gazers, while the street presented the appearance of a +sea of heads. A deep silence reigned, broken only by an occasional +whisper, or by the peculiar kind of low shuddering murmur that the +Indian is apt to utter when reminded of the power and prosperity of his +forefathers. Suddenly there was a loud cry. + +"Vigilancia! Vigilancia!" was shouted from a distant balcony. The word +passed from mouth to mouth. + +"Vigilancia!" repeated the pregonero; "_gracias_, thanks, Señoras y +Señores," added he, with a laugh and a slight bow, and then was lost in +the crowd. There was a movement round the ghastly group upon the cart, +which the next instant disappeared; and when the alguazils, by the aid +of their staves, had forced themselves a passage to the spot where the +pageant had been, no trace of it remained save fragments of wood and +pasteboard, that were showered from all sides upon their detested heads. +The crowd itself separated and dispersed in different directions; no +inconsiderable portion of it entering the hotel, in front of which the +scene had passed. + +This hotel or _fonda_, the first in Mexico at that time, was then, as +now, a great resort of the highest and lowest classes of the +population--that is to say, of the greatest luxury and most squalid +misery that the world can show. The ground floor was used as a sort of +bazar, in which various articles of Mexican manufacture were exposed for +sale; while the rooms on the upper story were appropriated to the +reception of guests, and furnished with a sumptuousness that contrasted +strangely with the appearance of the majority of those who frequented +them. + +In the first of these rooms stood a long and broad table, somewhat +resembling a billiard-table, but upon which, instead of balls and cues, +were piles of silver and gold, amounting to thousands of dollars; while +the wardrobe of the players, who sat and stood around, did not appear to +be worth as many farthings. Excepting the jingle of the money, and the +words _Señor_ and _Señoria_, occasionally uttered, scarcely a sound was +heard; but upon the excited and eager countenances of the gamblers, +which varied with every change in their luck, might be read the flushed +exultation of the winners, and the suppressed fury of the less +fortunate--a fury that, to judge from their fiery glances and set teeth, +might momentarily be expected to break out into fierce and deadly +strife. + +The occupants of the second saloon were, if possible, still more +repulsive than those of the first. Men, women, and children--some half +naked--some with the most loathsome rags for a covering--were lying, +sitting, squatting, and crouching in every part of the room--some sunk +into a kind of doze--others, on the contrary, actively engaged in +ridding their own and their children's heads of those inhabitants that +seemed to constitute the sole wealth of this class of people--an +occupation which they pursued with as great zeal and apparent interest, +as if it had been absolutely essential to the proper celebration of the +festival-day. A third room was devoted to the chocolate and sangaree +drinkers, who might be seen emptying their cups and glasses with as much +satisfaction and relish, as if the sight of the poverty and squalor that +surrounded them gave additional zest to the draught; while, all about +them, between and under chairs, tables, and benches, the wretched +Léperos lay grovelling. Parties of richly-dressed Spaniards and Creoles, +both men and women, their eyes still heavy from the siesta, were each +moment entering, preceded by negro or mulatto girls carrying cigars and +sweetmeats, and screaming out, "_Plaza, plaza, por nuestras +señoras!_--Make way for our ladies!" A summons, or rather command, which +the _cortejos_, with their sticks and sabres, were ever ready to +enforce. + +"_Caramba! Que bella y querida compania!_" exclaimed, on a sudden, the +same voice that a short time previously had explained the dangerous +allegory in the street below. The owner of the voice, however, wore +another mask and dress, although his present costume, like his previous +one, was that of a _caballero_ or gentleman. He glanced round the room +with that supercilious air which young men of fashion and quality are +apt to assume when amongst persons whom they consider immeasurably +inferior to themselves. + +"_C--jo à la bonanza!_ Here's to try my luck!" cried he, stepping up to +the gambling table, and placing a rouleau of dollars on a card, which +the next moment won. "Bravo, bravissimo! Doble!" + +He won a second time, and placed the stake, which was now a heavy one, +upon a fresh card. + +"Triplo!" cried he. Fortune again favoured him. His luck still holding +good, he won a fourth time; and the banker, rising from his seat with a +savage curse upon his lips, pushed over the whole of his bank to the +fortunate player, and left the table with a look of hate and rage that +one would have thought must be the prelude to a stab. Nothing of the +sort, however, ensued. The man removed from his ears the two reals +which, according to Mexican usage, he had stuck there for luck; called +to the waiter, and uttered the word "_cigarros!_" as he showed one coin, +and "_aguardiente de caña!_" as he exhibited the other. Having thus +disposed of his last real, he draped his cloak over his shoulder with +such skill, that the end of it hung down to his heels, concealing the +tattered condition of that very essential part of his dress called +trousers. He then awaited, with perfect composure, the refreshment he +had ordered. Meanwhile, the fortunate winner took a couple of reals from +a small purse, stuck one in each ear, accompanying the action with the +sign of the cross, and prepared in his turn to hold the bank. + +"_Plaza, gavillas!_" cried several voices just at this moment. "Make +room, knaves, for the señoras!" and in came a party of Spanish soldiers, +accompanied by their mistresses--the latter dressed out in a style that +many European ladies of the highest rank might well have envied. Before +each of them walked three mulatto girls, whose sole dress consisted of a +short and loosely-fitting silk petticoat, reaching to the knees; their +hair being confined in nets of gold thread, and their arms encircled +with bracelets of the same metal. One of these hand-maidens bore an open +box of cigars, out of which the lady and her cortejo from time to time +helped themselves; another had a basket with various comfits, which was +also frequently put in requisition, and the third carried the purse. + +"Plaza!" was again the cry; and at the same time, the companions of the +ladies, well-conditioned sub-officers of the Spanish troops, swung their +canes and sabres, and the terrified Indians, and Metises, and Zambos +tumbled and rolled off their benches and chairs as if they had been +mowed down. + +"_Demonio!_ What is all this?" exclaimed the new banker, who had already +taken his seat at the table, but now sprang suddenly up. "_Por todos +bastos et bastas de todo el mundo_--By every card in the pack!"---- + +He spoke in so threatening a tone, and his gesticulation was so +thoroughly Mexican in its vehemence, that three of the sergeants sprang +upon him at once. + +"_Gojo, que quieres?_ Dog! what do you mean?" + +"Dog!" repeated the Mexican, and his right hand disappeared under his +cloak--a movement which was immediately imitated by the owners of the +white, black, brown, and greenish physiognomies by which he was +surrounded. The three Spaniards stepped back as precipitately as they +had advanced. Meanwhile, the fourth sergeant approached the table, and, +seizing upon the cards, invited the company to stake their money against +a bank which he put down. The effect of this invitation was no less +extraordinary than rapid. The same men who, an instant before, had been +ready to espouse their countryman's quarrel to the death--for such had +been the meaning of the mysterious fumbling under the cloaks--no sooner +perceived that the cards had changed masters, than they called to the +Mexican with one voice-- + +"_Por el amor de Dios, señor_--leave us in peace, and God be with your +señoria!" + +"Ay, go, and the devil take you!" growled the Spaniards. + +The young man gazed in turn at his countrymen and at the sergeants; and +then, as if struck by the curious contrast between the courtesy of the +former and the rudeness of the latter, he laughed right out, swept +together his winnings, and walked away from the table, whistling a +bolero. + +The sort of ramble which the masked cavalier now commenced through the +adjoining saloons, seemed for some time to have no particular object. He +strutted across one, paused for a moment in the next to take a sip out +of a friend's liqueur glass, dipped a biscuit into the chocolate of one +acquaintance, and helped another to finish his sangaree; and so lounged +and loitered about, till he found himself in the last of the suite of +rooms, which was then unoccupied. Stepping up to a door at the further +end of the apartment, he knocked at it, at the same time uttering the +words, "_Ave Maria purissima!_" + +The door was opened. + +"_Sin peccado concebida!_" added the Mexican, when he saw that the +occupants of the room did not make the usual reply to his pious but +customary salutation. "For God's sake, señores, is there neither piety +nor politeness among ye? Could you not say, '_Sin peccado concebida?_'" + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + "Verdades diré en camisa, + Poco menos que desnuda." + + QUEVEDO. + +The company assembled in the room which the masked cavalier entered +consisted of some five-and-twenty young men, in whose picturesque +Spanish-Mexican costume, velvets, silk, and gold embroidery had been +employed with lavish profusion. The air of scornful superciliousness +with which they glanced at the intruder, and the indifference with which +they seemed to regard the heaps of gold that lay glittering on the +table, denoted them to be practised gamblers, or, which in Mexico is the +same thing, noblemen of the highest rank. The saloon was richly +furnished; chairs, sofas, and tables of the most costly woods, and +splendidly gilt, cushions, drapery, and chandeliers, after the newest +fashion. + +"Sixteen to the doubloon!" cried the new-comer, apparently noways +abashed by the contemptuous manner of his reception, as he stepped up to +the table, and placed a roll of dollars upon a card. + +"_No pueden._ It cannot be," replied the banker, pushing back the silver +with his wooden rake. + +"It cannot be," echoed several of the players in the same short +contemptuous tone. "_Una sociedad con fuero._ A private and privileged +society." + +"_Una sociedad con fuero!_" repeated the stranger, shaking his head. +"All due respect for _fueros_, so long as they are respected and +respectable. But know you not, Señores, that _our_ fuero is the older +one?" + +"Thy fuero older, _gato_?" drawled one of the noblemen. + +"Ay, truly is it. 'Tis the fuero of the carnival, and dates from the +time that Mother Church first fell into her dotage." + +"Mother Church in her dotage! Knave, what mean ye?" + +"Your Señorias need only look into the street to see what I mean. She +has practised folly till she has become a fool. 'Tis just like the +mother country, who has drunk Mexican blood till she has grown +bloodthirsty." + +The young cavaliers became suddenly attentive. + +"_Paz! Señor_;" said the banker, "such words are dangerous. Begone, in +God's name, and beware of the alguazils and the Cordelada."[12] + +"_Paz!_" replied the stranger; "peace, do you say? Would you have peace +and quiet? They are no more to be found in Mexico. Quiet!" repeated he, +with a fiery enthusiasm in his voice and gesture, "you will have as +little of it as Pedrillo had-- + + "No rest by day + No sleep by night, + For poor Pedrillo, + The luckless wight." + +And he broke, on a sudden, into the beautiful and piquant air of +Pedrillo, which he sang with a taste and spirit that made the assembled +cavaliers gaze at him open-mouthed. At the same moment, a guitar and +castanets were heard in the adjoining room, accompanying the song. + +Either the charm of the surprise, or the originality of the individual +who thus appositely introduced this popular fragment from the +masterpiece of a favourite composer, produced an electrifying effect +upon the young noblemen. They sprang from their chairs, and, at the +conclusion of the song, a score of doubloons fell ringing at the feet of +the singer. + +"_Otra vez!_ Encore, encore!" was the universal cry. + +"Señorias," said the banker, who alone appeared dissatisfied at this +interruption, and now approached the stranger; "I warn you, Señorias! I +recognise in this _caballero_"--he spoke the word in an ironical and +depreciating tone--"the same _gentilhombre_ whom the alguazils were so +lately seeking. Beware! his presence may get us into trouble." + +"Ha! are you the fellow who played the alguazils such a trick?" cried +several of the young men. + +Instead of replying, the stranger stamped with his foot; and, as if the +stamp had been the blow of an enchanter's wand, two folding-doors, +opposite to those by which he had entered the apartment, suddenly +opened, and four dancing figures, with flesh-coloured silk masks upon +their faces, and clothed in tightly-fitting dresses of the same +material, bounded into the room. + +"Señorias! _Por el amor de Dios!_" cried the banker, imploringly. + +As he spoke, two guitar-players, who accompanied the dancers, began +twanging their instruments; and the young men, absorbed in contemplation +of the graceful and luxuriant forms of the two female dancers, paid no +attention to his entreaties and warnings. Hastily gathering up his bank, +he packed it into a box, and left the saloon with all possible despatch. + +And now, to the music of the guitars and the clatter of the castanets, +the two couples of dancers began a performance, of which the most vivid +pen would fail to portray the graceful and fascinating voluptuousness. +They commenced with the bolero, and thence glided, with a stamping of +the feet and whirling of the arms, into the more licentious fandango. +But the sensual character of the latter dance was so far veiled and +refined by the grace and elegance of the dancers, that what is usually +a mere appeal to the senses, became in their performances the very +poetry of motion. The young noblemen remained as though entranced, their +eyes fixed upon the dancers, and totally unable to give utterance to +their delight. While thus absorbed, they were suddenly startled by a +hoarse inarticulate sound, proceeding from the further corner of the +room. At the same moment the dance ceased; dancers and musicians retired +through the door by which they had entered, and a figure became visible +that will probably excite the astonishment of the reader as much as it +did that of the young cavaliers who now first perceived it. + +Upon an ottoman extending along one side of the apartment, there +reclined, in a half-lying, half-sitting posture, a person whose dress +was that of a Moslem of the highest rank. His robe and turban were both +green, and in the folds of the latter was interwoven a chain, or wreath, +of precious stones, of extraordinary beauty and apparent value. In +striking contrast with this rich attire were the features of the Turk, +which were singularly repulsive. A low forehead receded from above a +pair of bluish-grey eyes, in the glazed, hard look of which, perfidy, +cruelty, and pride seemed to have taken up their abode. From between the +eyes protruded a long nose, curved like that of a bird of prey, over an +upper lip indicative of gluttony and the coarsest animal propensities; +the mouth was large, the lower lip hung relaxed and slavering over a +long square chin. The complexion was in good keeping with the false and +malignant expression of the countenance, being of an indefinite tint, +that could be classed under no particular colour. + +"_Por el amor de Dios!_" cried the young noblemen, now really alarmed. +"What is this? What does it mean?" And they hesitatingly approached the +ottoman, and then again shrunk back, as if scared by some loathsome and +unnatural object. + +Beside the figure two other Moslems were kneeling, one in a green, the +other in a snow-white turban. Their hands were folded upon their +breasts, and their faces bowed till they almost touched the carpet. + +"Brr!" growled the Moslem in a tone more like the grunt of a wild boar +than the voice of a human being, and stretching himself peevishly out +upon the ottoman. His kneeling attendants started, rose respectfully to +their feet, and taking a step backwards, began conversing in a subdued +tone, and without appearing aware of the presence of the Mexicans, who +on their part were so bewildered by this strange scene that they seemed +to have lost the power of speech and movement. + +"Zil ullah!" exclaimed he of the white turban. "Allah be with us! His +sublimity has again spoken! Spoken, but how little!" added he in a +disconsolate tone. "Right willingly would Ben Haddi commence this very +day a barefooted pilgrimage"---- + +"And Bultshere," interrupted the other, "would kiss the black stone of +Ararat"---- + +"If," resumed the first speaker, "his sublimity might be thereby healed +of his malady. Zil ullah! 'Tis three days since his highness tasted of +the bean of Mocha, or of the glorious juice that transports the true +believer, while yet living, into the realms of Paradise." + +"Three days," continued his companion, "since he deigned to permit the +soft caresses of the beauteous Zuleima, or the ardent embraces of the +dark-eyed Fatima. What can be the cause?" + +"Indigestion," quoth Green-turban. + +"Cares of state," rejoined White-turban. "We must amuse his highness. +There are new Almas and Odalisques arrived. He will perhaps deign to +witness their performance." + +And so saying, he approached the Caliph, for such was the high rank of +the personage whom the sitting Moslem was intended to represent, and +throwing himself prostrate on the ground, preferred his request. + +A reply was returned in a sort of affirmative grunt, whereupon the +vizier arose in great joy, stepped back to his former place, and after +giving three distinct but not loud stamps upon the floor, retreated with +his companion into a corner of the room. Scarcely had he done so, when, +to the redoubled astonishment of the Mexican cavaliers, the +folding-doors again flew open, and four couples of dancers tripped in, +attired in costumes so rich and magnificent as to eclipse even that of +the Caliph. They were followed by four negroes, two of whom bore guitars +of Moorish make and appearance, the third the East Indian _tomtom_ or +drum, and the fourth the Persian flute. + +For a brief space the eight dancers stood in mute expectation, awaiting +a signal to begin. This was given by a Brr! from the Sultan, who at the +same time vouchsafed to raise his head, and manifest an intention of +witnessing the entertainment offered him. + +An adagio on the guitars, gradually increasing in volume, and in which +the tap of the tomtom mingled like the rolling of distant thunder, +opened the dance. Then came the sharp and yet mellow clack of the +dancers' castanets, and finally the soft tones of the flute, blending +the whole into harmony. The dancers seemed to follow and imitate by +their action each change of the music: at first, and with wonderful +grace and elegance, they fell into a group or _tableau_, their silken +scarfs, of transparent texture and bright and varied colours, floating +in the air like rainbows, behind which glanced the houri-like forms of +the women. Presently the music glided from the adagio into the allegro; +the steps of the dancers became quicker, their gestures more animated, +the play of their limbs more voluptuous. With the exception of one +couple, every glance and movement of the performers seemed directed or +aimed at the Caliph. This couple consisted of the most sylph-like and +exquisitely formed of the four female dancers, and of a Persian warrior, +who was pursuing her, and from whom she strove coyly to escape. With +admirable grace and skill did these two figures detach themselves from +their companions, in order to continue a while their simulated flight +and pursuit. The fairy feet of the fugitive scarcely touched the ground, +and such charm and fascination were in her movements that the Caliph +several times raised his eyelids and gave a grunt of approval. At each +of these indications on the part of the despot, the anxiety of the poor +Persian seemed to increase till it bordered on despair, and so naturally +was this despair portrayed as to draw a loud bravo from the spectators: +only the Caliph appeared insensible to the refined play of these elegant +dancers. Once or twice, indeed, his dull eyes seemed to emit a ray of +animal delight, but this quickly faded away; and even the triumph of the +Persian, when his mistress finally fell panting and yielding into his +arms, was insufficient to rekindle it. + +"Brr!" cried the Commander of the Faithful, in the same harsh grunting +voice as before; "and you call that pastime, that which we have seen a +thousand and one times? By the beard of the Prophet, vizier," he +continued in a louder tone, "if I have no sleep to-day, nor appetite +to-morrow, there is the bowstring for you, and the stake for your +Almas!" + +At this terrible threat the vizier stood speechless with horror, while +the mouth of the alarmed emir gaped to an unnatural extent: the dancers +paused, as though suddenly turned to stone, in the very same posture in +which the menace of the Caliph had surprised them. One of the +_bayadères_ remained with her leg in a horizontal position, the point of +her toe almost in her partner's open mouth; another, in the terror of +the moment, had entangled her foot in the ample robe of the emir, who +now began to run up and down in his extremity of consternation, +compelling her to dance after him on one leg; in short, all the actors +in this strange scene expressed so naturally, by dumb show, their +amazement and alarm, that the Caliph burst into a loud fit of laughter. + +"Allah Akbar!" cried vizier and emir and dancers, with one voice, and +then all burst forth in loud praises of the goodness of Allah, who, +through the agency of his slaves, had done so great a wonder, and +extracted a refreshing laugh from his highness. This unanimous +demonstration of affection on the part of his loving subjects, seemed +pleasing to the potentate. He nodded, and the emir, encouraged by this +sign of approbation, ventured to draw nearer. + +"With all submission"--he began. + +"By the Prophet's beard!" interrupted the Caliph, "we know what thou +wouldst say before it is spoken. We require not a vizier to talk, but to +act as a leech, and draw blood where it is too rich or corrupt. How +thinkest thou? If I were to impale one of these lazy dancers, would +terror make the others dance better?" + +"On the contrary, please your highness, it would lame them. 'Twere +better to impale a swine from the herd called the people--one who +possesses zechins. Your highness's treasury is empty, and these Almas +are as poor as the mice in the churches of the Giaours, and withal right +useful servants of the state." + +"Thou sayest well; by the Prophet, they _are_ useful servants of the +state," cried the Caliph, stroking his belly as he spoke, "and they may +be assured of our grace and favour. Strike off the heads of some dozen +or two knaves in the quarter of the Bezestein, and let the half of their +zechins be given to these poor devils." + +There was a gentle tapping at the door, which the vizier hastened to +open, and returned with the news that the chief of the mollahs humbly +solicited the favour of an audience. + +"Again cares of state, and nothing but cares of state!" groaned the +Caliph, allowing his head to fall on his breast as if in reflection. +"'Tis well," he said at last in a peevish tone. "We will receive the +spiritual shepherd of our kingdom. Away with these mummers! 'tis not +fitting that the expounder of the Koran should find us in such carnal +company." + +Dancers and musicians now stepped into the background, and the doors +opened to admit the tall figure of the head mollah, who entered with +eyes fixed upon the floor; and, on finding himself in presence of the +Caliph, knelt down and touched the carpet with his forehead. + +"Speak thy business," said the Sultan, "and quickly. We have been +already much engrossed with affairs of government, more, perhaps, than +is good for the feeble state of our bodily health." + +"Bismillah!" quoth the high priest gravely, "we have caused prayers to +be offered up from each minaret of the mosques, and have commanded that +all true believers should bestrew themselves with dust and ashes. We +have sent men upon the holy pilgrimage, and to kiss the black stone of +Ararat in order that the sufferings of your sublimity may be +alleviated." + +"Thou hast done well, oh mollah!" replied the Sultan. + +"Luminary of the World, whose light is brighter than the sun," continued +the head mollah; "we have also, with regard to this malady of your +highness, consulted the book that serves us instead of all the wisdom of +the Giaour, and therein have we found that Haroun al Raschid was +afflicted with a like evil, which he unquestionably brought on himself +through too great attention to the duties of his government." + +"Hold there, mollah!" interrupted the Caliph in a voice of thunder, "and +weigh thy words before thou speakest. Duties of government, sayest thou? +Duties! Who has duties? A worm like myself, that we have been pleased to +exalt out of the dust; but we have nought to do either with such +reptiles or with duty; we, the vicar of the Prophet. Our pleasure is +your duty, and our will your law." + +"Doubtless, doubtless, Light of the World," cried the mollah, hastening +to correct his error. "Thy unworthy servant meant to say, pleasures. +When Haroun al Raschid found himself in similar moments of suffering and +despondency, which he unquestionably brought on by too great attention +to his pleasures"-- + +"Slave!" again interrupted the Caliph, "dost thou mock us, saying that +our glorious ancestor exhausted himself with pleasures, thus striving to +make it appear that we do the same? Do we not each day perform nine +times nine prostrations, our face towards Mecca? Did we not, no longer +back than yesterday, sign our name full twenty times to the +death-warrants of those scurvy and unbelieving hounds who dared to +blaspheme us, the Prophet's vicegerent, and to say in the +Bezestein--What said the dogs? Have we not given orders to hang, impale, +and exterminate like noisome vermin, all those who dare in any way to +think or have an opinion? Have we not made this order public, to the +great glorification of the Prophet and of our own name?" + +The Caliph paused for a moment. Then turning suddenly to the +mollah--"You may inform us," said he, "what our ancestor Haroun al +Raschid was wont to do when afflicted like ourselves with heaviness of +spirit." + +"Bismillah!" again began the mollah. "When Haroun al Raschid was thus +afflicted, he applied to the book which we have brought with us, and +which your highness, if he so pleases, can see and even read"-- + +"Miserable wretch!" thundered the Caliph, with a glance of scorn at the +speaker and his book. "Wherefore do we maintain you, and those like you, +if it is not to do for us what we hold it beneath our dignity to do for +ourselves? And is not the reading of books beneath our dignity? Do not +all books contain the ideas and notions of a pack of scoundrels, who +talk about things which they do not understand, and that in no wise +concern them? Have we not decreed that the bowstring should be the +portion of all those who are reported to be either writers or readers of +books? And have we not therefore taken into our service a parcel of +idlers, of whom thou art the chief, and whose duty it is to read and +think for the whole of our people?" + +"And why should the Light of the World read?" replied the mollah after a +respectful pause. "He who is already the source of all earthly wisdom, +the joy and admiration of all nations? How shall I express my +wonder--how shall I sufficiently praise his high qualities?"-- + +"Stop, mollah!" cried the Caliph. "Know that it does not please us to be +praised or wondered at by such as thou. Truly thy praises stink in our +nostrils, and are as discords in our ears. It becometh not worms like +thyself, whom we have raised from the dirt, and can again dash back into +it, to seek to spy out our good qualities, lest at the same time they +should discern"--our bad ones, the Caliph would probably have said, but +he left the sentence unfinished. + +"Thou shouldst look up at us," continued he, "as to the sun, in which +neither good nor evil can be seen, but of which the presence is known by +its effects. And now tell us what Haroun al Raschid did, when assailed +by despondency even as we ourselves are." + +"Allah Akbar! Haroun al Raschid, when afflicted like your highness, was +wont to disguise himself in various ways, as a merchant, a soldier, or a +sailor"---- + +"All that is well known to us," interposed the Caliph; "but although we +are disposed to follow the example of our glorious ancestor so far as we +can, without too great exertion of mind or body, yet we doubt whether +just now we---- Thou knowest," he continued, interrupting himself, and +in a lower tone, "that although Haroun al Raschid was certainly our +forefather, yet our blood, improving by descent, is even purer and more +illustrious than his. We cannot, therefore, condescend to imitate him in +the way you speak of. But we will undertake a work that shall be far +more pleasing to the Prophet. With our own hands will we embroider a +twelfth under petticoat for his blessed mother, so that she may have one +for each month in the year." + +During the latter part of this dialogue, a whispering had been more than +once audible at the door of the apartment. This circumstance, implying +the presence of listeners, might well endanger the necks of the daring +representatives of the Caliph and his courtiers; but nevertheless, +without allowing themselves to be discomposed by the vicinity of spies, +the Moslems had played out their parts, and the Caliph now rose from his +ottoman with all the dignity of an eastern despot, repeating, as he did +so, to his attendants, what great things he would do, and how he would +stitch with his own hands a twelfth under petticoat for the mother of +the Prophet. The procession had nearly reached the door by which it had +entered, when one of the young Mexicans, recovering apparently from the +state of inaction in which this extraordinary scene had plunged him and +his companions, suddenly sprang forward, gazed earnestly in the face of +the Caliph, and then started back again with a cry of horror. + +"_Por el amor de Dios! Fernando el Rey!_ 'Tis his majesty, King +Ferdinand!" cried the young nobleman. "Stop, traitor!" he exclaimed, +again advancing and endeavouring to seize the Caliph. But even in this +moment of peril, the latter did not forget his assumed dignity. With a +look of the most profound contempt he strode out of the apartment, while +the gigantic mollah, seizing the Creole by the collar, raised him from +the ground like a feather, and hurling him back into the room, followed +the Commander of the Faithful, and shut the door. + +Before the Mexican cavaliers had recovered from their alarm at the +daring and treasonable dramatic satire of which they had so unwittingly +been made spectators, the other doors were thrown violently open, and +several alguazils burst into the apartment. After a hurried glance round +the room, perceiving that the objects of their search had disappeared, +they darted out again at the opposite door, and hastened through the +adjacent saloons, uttering loud curses and cries of treason. This +furious but fruitless chase led them through the whole suite of +apartments, till they came round again to the room where the young +noblemen were still assembled. + +"_Todos diabolos!_" cried one of the police agents, running to the +window, "yonder go the villains, they have escaped us this +time.--Demonio!" vociferated he, with a fury that made the foam fly from +his lips. + +"And so, Caballeros!" snarled he to the Creoles, who now stood in +trembling alarm, and fully enlightened by the rage of the alguazils as +to the enormity of the treasonable pasquinade they had witnessed; "so +you have been pleased to take the person of his most sacred majesty for +your sport and laughing-stock?" + +"Don Bautista, on our honour, we knew not." + +"By _our_ honour," yelled another alguazil, "you shall pay for this with +your heads, Creole hounds that ye are!" + +"Don Iago," cried the insulted cavaliers in a threatening tone, "we say +that on our _honour_"---- + +"Say what you please," interrupted the alguazil, "but I tell you that if +I were viceroy"---- + +"Your turn may come. You are a born Gachupin," cried one of the +cavaliers with a bitter sneer. + +"I am a Spaniard," retorted the other; "and you are nothing but wretched +Creoles; vile, miserable Creoles; _y basta!_" + +The very earth-worm will turn when trodden upon, and this last insult +was too much even for Creole endurance. The young men made a furious +rush at the alguazil; but he had foreseen the storm and effected a +timely retreat. + +Hundreds of Creoles of the middle classes, Metises, Zambos, and +Spaniards, had assembled in the adjoining apartment, and looked on at +the scene without showing any sympathy either with the police or the +young Mexicans. The latter gazed for a second or two at each other in +perplexity and dismay, and then separating, disappeared through the +different doors. + +Some extraordinary scenes and incidents grow out of this masquerade, or +rather out of the punishment to which the young noblemen who witnessed +it are sentenced. But, lest we should exceed our limits, we must reserve +further extracts for a second notice of this very remarkable book. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: Gachupin is an untranslatable word of Mexican origin. The +Spaniards asserted it to mean a hero on horseback; the Indians and +coloured races, who applied it as a term of contempt and reproach to the +Spaniards and their dependent Creoles, understood by it a thief.] + +[Footnote 6: The word Léperos, which, literally translated, means +lepers, is the term applied to the homeless and houseless wretches who +are to be seen wandering by thousands about the city and suburbs of +Mexico. They consist of beggars, mechanics, writers, and even artists. +The most industrious amongst them work one, or at most two, days in the +week, and the dress of these consists of thin trousers, a sort of cloak, +and a straw hat. Their dwelling is in any hole or corner, under the +arcades of the houses, or in the mud cottages of the suburbs. Some of +the work they produce is wonderful for its beauty and ingenuity. They +manufacture the finest gold chains, surpassing any thing of the kind +that is to be found in Europe. Their statuettes and images of saints are +often masterpieces. During the revolution their character as a class +became materially worse. There are more than ten thousand of them who do +literally nothing, possess nothing, and lie about the streets stark +naked, with the exception of a tattered woollen blanket.] + +[Footnote 7: The chapel of the Redeemer of Atolnico is situated on the +summit of a steep and high mountain, two and a half leagues from Miguel +el Grande, and is much resorted to by pilgrims. On the high altar are +statues of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalen, of solid +silver, studded with rubies and emeralds. There are also in the same +church thirty other altars, with statues as large as life, pillars, +crosses, and candlesticks, all of the same metal. The sums that are each +year offered up at this shrine, are said to amount to considerably more +than one hundred thousand dollars.] + +[Footnote 8: A monotonous species of dance.] + +[Footnote 9: Creoles are born in Mexico of white parents. The Metises +are the descendants of whites and Indians, the Mulattoes of whites and +Negroes, the Zambos, or Chinos, of Negroes and Indians. The unmixed +races are Spaniards, Creoles, Indians, and Negroes. _Salta-atras_, +literally, a spring backwards, is the term applied to those of whom the +mothers were of a whiter race than the fathers.] + +[Footnote 10: The Spaniards, at the period here referred to, (1812,) the +rulers and tyrants of Mexico, were estimated at 60,000 souls, or +one-twentieth of the white population of the country.] + +[Footnote 11: Anahuac, the ancient name of Mexico. Mexitli, the god of +war of the Mexicans. Guatemozin, the last Mexican emperor. He was +tortured in the time of Cortes, to induce him to reveal the place where +his treasures were concealed; and subsequently hung for conspiracy, by +order of the same Spanish chief.] + +[Footnote 12: One of the three principal prisons in Mexico.] + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - +Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 29988-8.txt or 29988-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29988/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + +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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29988] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>BLACKWOOD'S</h1> +<h1>EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</h1> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="smcap">No</span>. CCCLII. <span class="spacer"> </span>FEBRUARY, + 1845.<span class="spacer"> </span> <span class="smcap">Vol</span>. LVII.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<p> </p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> <td><span class="smcap">North's Specimens of the British Critics,</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr> <td><span class="smcap">The Tower of London. By Thomas Roscoe,</span>,</td> + +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Poems and Ballads of Goethe. No. III.,</span>,</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Spain as it Is,</span>,</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Superfluities of Life,</span>,</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Overland Passage,</span>,</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Mesmerism,</span>.,</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Aesthetics of Dress. About a Bonnet,</span>,</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">German-American Romances,</span>,</td> + +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>EDINBURGH:</h3> +<h3>WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;</h3> +<h3>AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON.</h3> +<h4><i>To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed</i>.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.</h4> +<h4>PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BLACKWOOD'S</h2> +<h2>EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</h2> +<h2><span class="smcap">No</span>. CCCLII. FEBRUARY, 1845. <span class="smcap">Vol</span>. LVII.</h2> + +<p> </p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="NORTHS_SPECIMENS_OF_THE_BRITISH_CRITICS" id="NORTHS_SPECIMENS_OF_THE_BRITISH_CRITICS"></a>NORTH'S SPECIMENS OF THE BRITISH CRITICS.</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></h4> + + +<p>Poetry, according to Lord Bacon a Third Part of Learning, must be a +social interest of momentous power. That Wisest of Men—so our dear +friends may have heard—extols it above history and above philosophy, as +the more divine in its origin, the more immediately and intimately +salutary and sanative in its use. Are not Shakspeare and Milton two of +our greatest moral teachers? <span class="smcap">Criticism</span> opens to us the poetry we +possess; and, like a magnanimous kingly protector, shelters and fosters +all its springing growths. What is criticism as a science? Essentially +this—<span class="smcap">FEELING KNOWN</span>—that is, affections of the heart and imagination +become understood subject-matter to the self-conscious intelligence. +Must feeling perish because intelligence sounds its depths? Quite the +reverse. Greatest minds are those in which, in and out of poetry, the +understanding contemplates the will. Then first the soul has its proper +strength. Disorderly passions are then tamed, and become the massy +pillars of high-built virtue. Criticism? It is a shape of +self-intuition. Confession and penitence, in the church, are a moral and +a religious criticism. The imagination is less august and solemn, but of +the same character. The first age of the world lived by divine +instincts; the later must by reason. How, then, shall we possess the +poetry of our being, unless we guard and arm it? If it be a benign, +holy, potent faculty, nevertheless it cannot, the most delicate of all +our faculties, sustain itself in the strife of opinions raging and +thundering around. Then, if it should rightly hold dominion over us, let +legislative opinion acknowledge, establish, and fortify that impaled +territory. The temper of the times is in sundry respects favourable, +notwithstanding its too frequent possession by an incensed political +spirit. Has there not been for half a century a spontaneous, an ardent, +a loving return in literature, of our own and all countries, to the old +and great in the productions of the human mind—to nature, with all her +fountains? Does not the spirit of man, in the great civilized nations at +this day, travail with desire of knowing itself, its laws, its +conditions, its means, its powers, its hopes? It studies with irregular, +often blind and perverted, efforts; but still it studies—itself. And is +not criticism, when it speaks, much bolder, more glowing and generous, +ampler-spirited, more inspiring, and withal more enquiring and +philosophical? During the whole period we speak of, poetry and +criticism—in nature near akin—with occasional complaints and quarrels, +have flourished amicably together, side by side. Both have been strong, +healthy, and good. Prigs of both kinds—the pert and the pompous—will +keep prating about the shallow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>ness and superficiality of periodical +criticism—deep enough to drown the whole tribe in its very fords. They +call for systems. Why will they not be contented with the system of the +universe?—of which they know not that periodical criticism is a +conspicuous part. Every other year the nations without telescopes see +the rising of some new, bright, particular star. Comets, with tails like +O'Connell, are so common as to lose attraction, and blaze by weekly into +indiscoverable realms. We have constructed an Orrery of Ebony, which we +mean to exhibit at the next great cattle-show, displaying, in their +luminous order, the orbs and orbits of all the heavenly bodies. In the +centre——but this is not the time for such high revelations. We have +now another purpose; and, leaving all those golden urns to yield light +at their leisure, we desire you to take a look along with us at the +choice critics of other days, waked by our potent voice from the +long-gathering dust. In our plainer style, we beg, ladies and gentlemen, +to draw your attention to a series of articles in <i>Blackwood</i>, of which +this is Alpha. Omega is intended for a Christmas present to your +great-grandchildren.</p> + +<p>Ay, there were giants in those days, as well as in these—also much +dwarfs. But we shall not lose ourselves with you in the darkness of +antiquity—one longish stride backwards of some hundred and fifty years +or so, and then let us leisurely look about us for the Critics. Who +comes here? A grenadier—<span class="smcap">Glorious John</span>. Him Scott, Hallam, Macaulay, +have pronounced, each in his own peculiar and admirable way, to have +been, in criticism, "a light to his people." Him Samuel Johnson called +"a man whom every English generation must mention with reverence as a +critic and a poet."</p> + +<p>"Dryden," says the sage, in a splendid eulogium on his prose writings, +"may be properly considered as the father of English criticism—as the +writer who first taught us to determine, upon principles, the merit of +composition. Of our former poets, the greatest dramatist wrote without +rules, conducted through life and nature by a genius that rarely misled, +and never deserted him. Of the rest, those who knew the laws of +propriety had neglected to teach them." And he adds wisely—"To judge +rightly of an author, we must transport ourselves to his time, and +examine what were the wants of his contemporaries, and what were his +means of supplying them. That which is easy at one time was difficult at +another." Let us, then, examine some of Dryden's expositions of +principles; and first, those on which he defends Heroic Verse in Rhyme, +as the best language of the tragic drama.</p> + +<p>This can be done effectually only by following him wherever he has +treated the subject, and by condensing all his opinions into one +consecutive argument.</p> + +<p>His first play, (a comedy,) "The Wild Gallant," was brought on the stage +in February 1662-3, and with indifferent success, though he has told us +that it was more than once the divertisement of Charles II. by his own +command, and a favourite with "the Castlemain." "The Rival Ladies" (a +tragi-comedy) was acted and published in the year following, and the +serious scenes are executed in rhyme. Of its success we know nothing in +particular; but Sir Walter thinks that the flowing verse into which some +part of the dialogue is thrown, with the strong point and antithesis +which all along distinguished his style, especially his argumentative +poetry, tended to redeem the credit of the author of the "Wild Gallant." +Up to this time Dryden, now in his thirty-third year, had not written +much; but in his "Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell," +"Astrea Redux, or Poem on the Happy Restoration and Return of his Sacred +Majesty," and "A Panegyric on his Coronation," he had not only shown his +measureless superiority to the Sprats and Wallers—poetasters of the +same class after all, though Sprat was always but a small fish, while +Waller was long thought like a whale—but manifested a vigour of thought +and expression that gave assurance of a veritable poet. In those noble +compositions he exults in his conscious power of numerous verse; and, +like an eagle in the middle element, sweeps along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> majestically on easy +wings. In "The Rival Ladies," the rhymed dialogue is exceedingly +graceful, the blank verse somewhat cumbrous; and, in his dedication to +the Earl of Orrery, he justifies himself "for following the new way; I +mean, of writing scenes <i>in verse</i>." It may here, once for all, be +remarked, that in all his disquisitions, by "verse" he usually means +rhyme as opposed to blank verse. "To speak properly," he says, "it is +not so much a new way amongst us, as an old way revived; for many years +before Shakspeare's plays was the tragedy of 'Queen Gorboduc,' in +English verse, written by that famous Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of +Dorset." Dryden here shows how little conversant he then was with the +old English drama. For the tragedy of "Ferrex and Porrex" was first +surreptitiously published under the title of "Gorboduc," who is not +Queen, but King of England; and it is not written in rhyme, but, +excepting the choruses, in blank verse; while Sackville's part of the +play comprehends only the two last acts, of themselves sufficient to +place him in the highest order of Noble Authors. "But supposing," he +continues, "our countrymen had not received this writing till of late, +shall we oppose ourselves to the most polished and civilized nations of +Europe? * * * All the Spanish and Italian tragedies I have yet seen are +writ in rhyme. * * * Shakspeare (who, with some errors not to be avoided +in that age, <i>had undoubtedly a larger soul of poesy than ever any of +our nation</i>,) was the first who, to shun the pains of continual rhyming, +invented that kind of writing which we call blank verse, but the French +more properly <i>prose mesurée</i>; into which the English tongue so +naturally glides, that in writing prose it is hardly to be avoided." +Here again, it is hardly indeed worth while to remark, is another +mistake; Marlow and several other dramatists having used blank verse +(but how inferior to the divine man's!) before Shakspeare. Coleridge +somewhere quotes a verse or two forming itself in prose composition as a +rarity and a fault; but, though it had better perhaps be avoided, and +though its frequent recurrence would be offensive, yet, when words in +their natural order do form a verse, it might be difficult to give a +good reason why they may not be permitted to do so, more especially if +they are not felt to be a verse insulated among the circumfluent prose. +From the very best prose we could pick out thousands of single verses, +which are to be found only when you seek for them; and not from rich +prose only like Coleridge's own or Jeremy Taylor's, but from the +poorest, like Dr Blair's or Gerald's of Aberdeen. Dryden says he cannot +"but admire how some men should perpetually stumble in a way so +easy"—that is, as blank verse—"into which the English tongue so +naturally glides," and should strive to attain it by inverting the order +of the words, to make the "blanks" sound more heroically—as, for +example, instead of "Sir, I ask your pardon," "Sir, I your pardon ask." +And adds—"I should judge him to have little command of English, when +the necessity of a rhyme should force often upon this rock; though +sometimes it cannot easily be avoided; <i>and, indeed, this is the only +inconvenience with which rhyme can be charged</i>." In this lively style +does he pursue his argument in favour of rhyme. For this it is which +makes its adversaries say <i>rhyme is not natural</i>! But the fault lies +with the poet who is not master of his art, and either makes a vicious +choice of words, or places them, for rhyme's sake, so unnaturally as no +man would in ordinary speech. But when it is so judiciously ordered that +the first word in the verse seems to beget the second, and that again +the next, till that becomes the last word in the line, which, in the +negligence of prose, would be so; it must then be granted, that rhyme +has all the advantages of prose—<i>besides its own</i>.</p> + +<p>"Glorious John" (who must have been laughing in his sleeve) then +declares, that the "excellence and dignity of it were never fully known +till Mr Waller taught it;" that it was afterwards "followed in the epic +by Sir John Denham, in his 'Cooper's Hill,' a poem which your lordship +knows, for the majesty of the style, is, and ever will be, the exact +standard of good writing;" and that we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> are "acknowledging for the +noblest use of it to Sir William D'Avenant, who at once brought it upon +the stage, <i>and made it perfect in the Siege of Rhodes</i>!"</p> + +<p>Having thus carried things all his own way, he triumphantly declares, +that the advantages which rhyme has over blank verse are so many, that +"it were lost time to name them." And then, with fresh vigour, he sets +himself to name some of the chief—and first, that one illustrated by +Sir Philip Sidney in his "Defence of Poesy," "the help it brings to +memory, which rhyme so knits up by the affinity of sound, that by +remembering the last word in one line, we often call to mind both the +verses." Then, in the quickness of repartees (which in discoursive +scenes fall very often) it has, he says, so particular a grace, and is +so aptly united to them, that the sudden smartness of the answer, and +the exactness of the rhyme, set off the beauty of each other.</p> + +<p>But its greatest benefit of all, according to Dryden, is, that it bounds +and circumscribes the fancy. The great easiness of blank verse renders +the poet too luxuriant; he is tempted to say many things which might be +better omitted, or at least shut up in fewer words. But when the +difficulty of artificial rhyming is interposed; where the poet commonly +confines his verse to his couplet, and must continue that verse in such +words that the rhyme shall naturally follow them, not they the rhyme, +the fancy then gives leisure to the judgment to come in; which, seeing +so heavy a task imposed, is ready to cut off all unnecessary expenses. +And this furnishes a complete answer, he maintains, to the ordinary +objection, that rhyme is only an embroidery of verse, to make that which +is ordinary in itself pass for excellent with less examination. For that +which most regulates the fancy, and gives the judgment its busiest +employment, is like to bring forth the richest and clearest thoughts. +The poet examines that most which he produces with the greatest leisure, +and which he knows must pass the severest test of the audience, because +they are aptest to have it ever in the memory. In conclusion, he winds +up skilfully by applying all he has said to "a fit subject"—that is, an +Heroic Play. For neither must the argument alone, but the characters and +persons, be great and noble, otherwise rhymed verse would be out of +place, which, for the reasons assigned, is manifestly suited for the +utterance of lofty sentiments, and for occasions of dignity and +importance. Heroic Plays were then all the rage, and Dryden was +meditating to enter on that career which for many years occupied his +genius, not essentially dramatic, to the exclusion of other kinds of +poetry in which he afterwards excelled all competitors.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert Howard's Heroic Play, the "Indian Queen," "part of which was +written by Dryden," and the whole revised and corrected no doubt, +especially in the article of versification, was acted in 1664 with great +applause. "It presented," says Sir Walter, "battles and sacrifices on +the stage, aërial demons singing in the air, and the god of dreams +ascending through a trap, the least of which has often saved a worse +tragedy." Evelyn, in his Memoirs, has recorded, that the scenes were the +richest ever seen in England, or perhaps elsewhere, upon a public stage. +Dryden, by its reception, was encouraged to engraft on it another drama +called the "Indian Emperor"—a continuation of the tale—which had the +most ample success, and, till a revolution in the public taste, retained +possession of the stage. Soon after its publication, Sir Robert Howard, +in a peevish Preface to some plays of his, chose to answer what Dryden +had said in behalf of verse in his Epistle Dedicatory to his "Rival +Ladies," and not only without any mention of his name, but without any +allusion to the "Indian Emperor," while he bestowed the most extravagant +eulogies on the heroic plays of my Lord of Orrery—"in whose verse the +greatness of the majesty seems unsullied with the cares, and the +inimitable fancy descends to us in such easy expressions, that they seem +as if neither had ever been added to the other, but both together +flowing from a height, like birds so high that use no balancing wings, +but only with an easy care preserve a steadiness in motion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> But this +particular happiness among those multitudes which that excellent person +is an owner of, does not convince my reason but employ my wonder; yet I +am glad that such verse has been written for the stage, since it has so +happily exceeded those whom we seemed to imitate. But while I give these +arguments against verse, I may seem faulty that I have not only written +ill ones, but written any; but since it was the fashion, I was resolved, +as in all indifferent things, not to appear singular—the danger of the +vanity being greater than the error; and therefore I followed it as a +fashion, though very far off." Sir Robert appears to have been in the +sulks, for some cause not now known, with his great brother-in-law; and +was pleased to punish him by thus publicly pretending ignorance of his +existence as an heroic play-wright. Yet the "Annus Mirabilis" was about +this time dedicated to Sir Robert; and only about a year before, John +had had a helping hand with the "Indian Queen." My Lord of Orrery must +have been a proud man to have his gouty too so fervently kissed by the +jealous rivals. "The muses," Dryden had said in his dedication to that +nobleman, "have seldom employed your thoughts but when some violent fit +of the gout has snatched you from affairs of state; and, like the +priestess of Apollo, you never come to deliver your oracles but +unwillingly and in torments. So we are obliged to your lordship's misery +for our delight. You treat us with the cruel pleasure of a Turkish +triumph, where those who cut and wound their bodies, sing songs of +victory as they pass, and divert others with their own sufferings. Other +men endure their diseases—your lordship only can enjoy them." Dryden, +however, was not disposed to stomach Sir Robert's supercilious silence, +and took a noble revenge in his "Essay on Dramatic Poesy."</p> + +<p>This celebrated Essay was first published at the close of 1668; and the +writing of it, Dryden tells us, in a dedication, many years afterwards, +to the Earl of Dorset, "served as an amusement to me in the country, +when the violence of the last plague had driven me from the town. +Seeing, then, our theatres shut up, I was engaged in these kind of +thoughts with the same delight with which men think upon their absent +mistresses." It is in the form of dialogue; under the feigned +appellations of Lisideius, Crites, Eugenius, and Neander, the speakers +are Sir Charles Sedley, Sir Robert Howard, Lord Buckhurst, and Dryden. +Nothing can exceed the grace with which the dialogue is conducted—the +choice of scene is most happy—and the description of it in the highest +degree striking and poetical.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It was that memorable day, in the first summer of the late war, +when our navy engaged the Dutch; a day wherein the two most mighty +and best appointed fleets which any age had ever seen, disputed the +command of the greater half of the globe, the commerce of nations, +and the riches of the universe. While these vast floating bodies, +on either side, moved against each other in parallel lines, and our +countrymen, under the happy conduct of his Royal Highness, went +breaking, little by little, into the line of the enemies, the noise +of the cannon from both navies reached our ears about the city; so +that all men being alarmed with it, and in a dreadful suspense of +the event which they knew was then deciding, every one went +following the sound as his fancy led him; and leaving the town +almost empty, some took towards the Park, some cross the river, +some down it, all seeking the noise in the depth of silence.</p> + +<p>"Amongst the rest, it was the fortune of Eugenius, Crites, +Lisideius, and Neander, to be in company together, three of them +persons whom their wit and quality have made known to all the town, +and whom I have chose to hide under these borrowed names, that they +may not suffer by so ill a narration as I am going to make of their +discourse.</p> + +<p>"Taking, then, a barge, which a servant of Lisideius had provided +for them, they made haste to shoot the bridge, and left behind them +that great fall of waters which hindered them from hearing what +they desired; after which, having disengaged themselves from many +vessels which rode at anchor in the Thames, and almost blocked up +the passage towards Greenwich, they ordered the watermen to let +fall their oars more gently; and then every one favouring his own +curiosity with a strict silence, it was not long ere they perceived +the air<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> to break about them like the noise of distant thunder, or +of swallows in a chimney—those little undulations of sound, though +almost vanishing before they reached them, yet still seeming to +retain somewhat of their first horror which they had betwixt the +fleets. After they had attentively listened till such time as the +sound, by little and little, went from them, Eugenius, lifting up +his head, and taking notice of it, was the first who congratulated +to the rest that happy omen of our nation's victory; adding, that +we had but this to desire in confirmation of it, that we might hear +no more of that noise which was now leaving the English coast. When +the rest had concurred in the same opinion, Crites, a person of +sharp judgment, and somewhat too delicate a taste in wit, which the +world hath mistaken in him for ill-nature, said, smiling to us, +that if the concernment of this battle had not been so exceeding +great, he could scarce have wished the victory at the price he knew +he must pay for it, in being subject to the reading and hearing of +so many ill verses as he was sure would be made on that subject; +adding, that no argument could 'scape some of these eternal +rhymers, who watch a battle with more diligence than the ravens and +birds of prey, and the worst of them surest to be first in upon the +quarry; while the better able, either out of modesty writ not at +all, or set that due value upon their poems, as to let them be +often desired and long expected. There are some of those +impertinent people of whom you speak, answered Lisideius, who, to +my knowledge, are already so provided either way, that they can +produce not only a panegyric upon the victory, but, if need be, a +funeral elegy upon the Duke, wherein, after they have crowned his +valour with many laurels, they will at last deplore the odds under +which he fell, concluding that his courage deserved a better +destiny. All the company smiled at the conceit of Lisideius; but +Crites, more eager than before, began to make particular exceptions +against some writers, and said the public magistrates ought to send +betimes to forbid them; and that it concerned the peace and quiet +of all honest people that ill poets should be as well silenced as +seditious preachers."</p></div> + +<p>We may perhaps have occasion, by and by, to notice other important +topics spiritedly and eloquently discussed by these choice spirits in +the barge; meanwhile our business is with the argument, "rhyme <i>versus</i> +blank verse," between Crites and Neander. Crites maintains, sometimes in +the very words, Sir Robert's views in the Preface to his plays, in which +he had animadverted on Dryden's dedication to the "Rival Ladies," while +Neander combats them; and it may be observed, that the worthy Baronet is +made to speak forcibly and well—much better indeed, on the whole, than +he does in his own preface. From beginning to end there cannot be +imagined a more fair and gentlemanly dialogue. But first, we cannot +resist giving the very beautiful close.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Neander was pursuing this discussion so eagerly, that Eugenius had +called to him twice or thrice ere he took notice that the barge +stood still, and that they were at the foot of Somerset stairs, +where they had appointed it to land. The company were all sorry to +separate so soon, though a great part of the evening was already +spent; and stood awhile looking back on the water, upon which the +moonbeams played, and made it appear like floating quicksilver. At +last they went up through a crowd of French people, who were +merrily dancing in the open air, and nothing concerned for the +noise of guns which had alarmed the town that afternoon. Walking +three together to the Piazza, they parted there; Eugenius and +Lisideius to some pleasant appointment they had made, Crites and +Neander to their several lodgings."</p></div> + +<p>But now to the argument. Crites, who is not more long-winded than may be +permitted to a polite proser, at least on the Thames of a summer +evening, somewhat condensed, reasoneth thus.</p> + +<p>A play being the imitation of nature, dialogue is there presented as the +effect of sudden thought; and since no man without premeditation speaks +in rhyme, neither ought he to do it on the stage. The fancy may be +elevated to a higher pitch of thought than it is in ordinary discourse, +for men of excellent and quick parts may speak noble things extempore; +but surely not when fettered with rhyme, for what more unnatural than to +present the most free way of speaking in that which is the most +constrained? The Greek tragedians, therefore, wrote<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> in iambics, the +kind of verse nearest to prose, which with us is blank verse.</p> + +<p>The champions of rhyme say that the quickness of repartees receives an +ornament from it in argumentative scenes. But do men not only light on a +sudden upon the wit but the rhyme too? Then must they be born poets. If +they do not seem in the dialogue to make rhymes whether they will or no, +it will look rather like the design of two than the answer of one—as if +your actors hold intelligence together, and perform their tricks like +fortune-tellers by confederacy. The hand of art will be too visible. +Neither is it any answer to say that, however you manage it, 'tis still +known to be a play; for a play is still an imitation of nature, and one +can be deceived only with a probability of truth. The mind of man does +naturally tend to truth, and the nearer any thing comes to the imitation +of it, the more readily will the imagination believe.</p> + +<p>Rhyme, it is said, circumscribes a quick and luxuriant fancy, which +would extend itself too far on every subject, did not the labour which +is required to well-turned and polished rhyme set bounds to it. But he +who wants judgment to confine his fancy in blank verse, may want it as +much in rhyme; and he who has it will avoid errors in both kinds. Latin +verse was as great a confinement to the imagination as rhyme; yet Ovid's +fancy was not limited by it, and Virgil needed it not to bind his. In +our own language, Ben Jonson confined himself to what ought to be said, +even in the liberty of blank verse; and Corneille, the most judicious of +the French poets, is still varying the same sense a hundred ways, and +dwelling eternally on the same subject, though confined by rhyme.</p> + +<p>Such is the substance of Crites' answer to Dryden's Defence of Rhyme; +and Neander, before replying, begs it to be understood that he excludes +all comedy from his defence, and that he does not deny that blank verse +may be also used; but he asserts that, in Serious Plays, where the +subject and characters are great, and the plot unmixed with mirth, which +might allay or divert those concernments which are produced, rhyme is +there as natural, and more effective, than blank verse—for what other +conditions, he asks, are required to make rhyme natural in itself, +besides an election of apt words, and a right disposition of them? The +due choice of your words expresses your sense naturally, and the due +placing them adapts the rhyme to it. If both the words and rhyme be apt, +one verse cannot be made merely for sake of the other, as Crites had +urged; for supposing there be a dependence of sense betwixt the first +line and the second, then, in the natural position of the words, the +latter line must of necessity flow from the former; and if there be no +dependence, yet still the due ordering of words makes the last line as +natural in itself as the other. A good poet, he affirms, never +establishes the first line till he has sought out such a rhyme as may +fit the verse, already prepared to heighten the second. Many times the +close of the sense falls into the middle of the next verse, or further +off; and he may often avail himself of the same advantages in English +which Virgil had in Latin—he may break off in the hemistich, and begin +another line. The not observing these two last things, makes plays which +are writ in verse so tedious; for though most commonly the sense is to +be confined to the couplet, yet nothing that does run in the same +channel can please always. 'Tis like the murmuring of a stream, which, +not varying in the fall, causes at first attention, at last drowsiness. +Variety of cadence is the best rule, the greatest help to the actor and +refreshment of the audience.</p> + +<p>If, then, verse may be made natural in itself, how becomes it unnatural +in a play? The stage, you say, is the representation of nature, and no +man in ordinary conversation speaks in rhyme. True; but neither does he +in blank verse. All the difference between them, when they are both +good, is the sound in one which the other wants; and if so, the +sweetness of it, and other advantages, handled in the Preface to the +"Rival Ladies," all stand good.</p> + +<p>The dialogue of plays, you say, is presented as the effect of sudden +thought; but that no man speaks <i>ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>tempore</i> in rhyme, which cannot +therefore be proper in dramatic poesy, unless we could suppose all men +born so much more than poets. But it must not be forgotten that the +question regards the nature of a Serious Play, which is indeed the +representation of nature, but nature wrought up to an high pitch. The +plot, the characters, the wit, the passions, the descriptions, are all +exalted above the level of common converse, as high as the imagination +of the poet can carry them, with proportion to verisimility. Tragedy is +wont to image to us the minds and fortunes of noble persons; and to +portray these exactly, heroic rhyme is nearest nature, as being the +noblest kind of modern verse. Verse, it is true, is not the effect of +sudden thought; but this hinders not that sudden thought may be +represented in verse, since these thoughts are such as must be higher +than nature can raise them without premeditation, especially to a +continuance of them, even out of verse; and consequently you cannot +imagine them to have been sudden, either in the poet or the actors. A +play to be like nature is to be set above it; as statues which are +placed on high are made greater than the life, that they may descend to +the sight in their just proportion.</p> + +<p>But rhyme, it has been argued, appears most unnatural in repartees or +short replies, when he who answers (it being presumed he knew not what +the other would say, yet) makes up that part of the verse which was left +incomplete, and supplies both the sound and the measure of it. This, +'tis said, looks rather like the confederacy of two than the answer of +one. But suppose the repartee were made in blank verse, is not the +measure as often supplied there as in rhyme?—the latter half of the +hemistich as commonly made up, or a second line subjoined, as a reply to +the former? But suppose it allowed to look like a confederacy. What more +beautiful than a well-contrived dance? You see there the united design +of many persons to make up one figure: after they have separated +themselves in many petty divisions, they rejoin one by one into a group: +the confederacy is plain among them, for chance could never produce any +thing so beautiful, and yet there is nothing in it that shocks your +sight. True, then, the hand of wit appears in repartee, as it must in +all kinds of verse. When, with the quiet and poignant brevity of it, +there mingles the cadency and sweetness of verse—"the soul of the +hearer has nothing more to desire."</p> + +<p>Rhyme was said by its defender to be a help to the poet's judgment, by +putting bounds to a wild overflowing fancy. And it was answered by the +admirer of blank verse, that he who wants judgment in the liberty of his +poesy, may as well show the defect of it when he is confined to verse; +for he who has judgment will avoid errors, and he who has it not will +commit them in all kind of writing. Granted that he who has judgment so +profound, strong, and infallible that he needs no help to keep it always +poised and right, will commit no faults in rhyme or out of it. But where +is that judgment to be found? Take it, therefore, as it is found in the +best poets. Judgment is indeed the master workman in a play; but he +requires many subordinate hands, many tools to his assistance, and rhyme +is one of them—it is a rule and line by which he keeps his building +compact and even, which otherwise lawless imagination would raise +loosely and irregularly—it is, in short, a slow and painful but the +surest kind of working. Second thoughts being usually the best, as +receiving the maturest digestion from judgment, and the last and most +mature product of these thoughts being artful and laboured verse, it may +well be inferred that verse is a great help to a luxuriant fancy, and +that is what the argument opposed was to evince.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert, though always made to speak well in the Dialogue, was yet +made to speak on the losing side; and in an address to the reader, +prefixed to "The Great Favourite, or the Duke of Lerma," a tragedy +published soon after, having, by way of retaliation, sharply criticised +some of Neander's dogmas about the drama, brought down on himself a cool +but cutting castigation—more severe than was merited by so small an +offence. His retort, in as far as the question of rhyme or blank verse +is concerned, was, however, to say the best of it, very feeble. "I +cannot, therefore, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> beg leave of the reader to take a little notice +of the great pains the author of an Essay of Dramatic Poetry has taken +to prove rhyme as natural in a Serious Play, and more effectual, than +blank verse: Thus he states the question but pursues that which he calls +natural in a wrong application; for 'tis not the question, whether rhyme +or not rhyme be best or most natural for a grave or serious subject; but +what is nearest the nature of that which it presents. Now, after all the +endeavours of that ingenious person, a play will still be supposed to be +a composition of several persons speaking <i>extempore</i>, and it is as +certain, that good verses are the hardest things that can be imagined to +be so spoken; so that if any will be pleased to impose the rule of +measuring things to be the best by being nearest to nature, it is +proved, by consequence, that which is most remote from the thing +supposed, must needs be most improper; and therefore I may justly say, +that both I and the question were equally mistaken, for I do own, I had +rather read good than either blank verse or prose, and therefore the +author did himself injury, if he like verse so well in plays, to lay +down rules and raise arguments only unanswerable against himself."</p> + +<p>We had rather that Dryden should answer this than we; for much of it +eludes our comprehension. In his "Defence of the Essay on Dramatic +Poesy" he replies thus:—"A play will still be supposed to be a +composition of several persons speaking extempore," quoth Sir Robert; "I +must move leave to dissent from his opinion," requoth John; "for if I am +not deceived, a play is supposed to be the work of the poet, imitating +or representing the conversation of several persons; and this I think to +be as clear as he thinks the contrary." There he has the baronet on the +hip; and gives him a throw. He then makes bold to prove this +paradox—that one great reason why prose is not to be used in Serious +Plays is, "because it is too near the nature of converse." Thus, in +"Bartholomew Fair," or the lowest kind of comedy, where he was not to go +out of prose, Ben does yet so raise his matter, in that prose, as to +render it delightful, which he could never have performed had he only +said or done those very things that are daily spoken or practised in the +fair; for then the fair itself would be as full of pleasure to an +enquiring person as the play, which we manifestly see it is not. "But he +hath made an excellent lazar of it. The copy is of price, though the +original be vile." Even in the lowest prose comedy, then, the matter and +the wording must be lifted out of nature—as <i>we</i> should now say, +idealized. In "Catiline" and "Sejanus" again, where the argument is +great, Ben sometimes ascends into rhyme; and had his genius been proper +for rhyme—which Dryden more than once asserts it was not—"it is +probable he would have adorned those subjects with that kind of writing. +Thus prose," he finely says, "though the rightful prince, yet is by +common consent deposed as too weak for the government of Serious Plays; +and he failing, there now start up two competitors, one the nearer in +blood, which is blank verse; the other more fit for the ends of +government, which is rhyme. Blank verse is, indeed, the nearer prose, +but he is blemished with the weakness of his predecessor. Rhyme (for I +will deal clearly) has somewhat of the usurper in him, but he is brave +and generous, and his dominion pleasing."</p> + +<p>It was then, "for the reason of delight," that the ancients wrote all +their tragedies in verse—and not in prose; because it was most remote +from conversation. Rhyme had not then been invented. But again he +reminds his adversary, that it seems to have been adopted by the general +consent of poets in all modern languages—and that almost all their +Serious Plays are written in it, which, though it be no demonstration +that therefore they ought to be so, yet at least the practice first, and +the continuation of it, shows that it attained the end, which was to +please. It is thus that Dryden deals with Sir Robert, as if blank verse +in Serious Plays had not a leg to stand on. Yet throughout he preserves +a wonderful air of candour and moderation, as most becoming the +victorious champion of rhyme. As, for example, where he allows that, +whether it be natural or not in plays,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> is a problem not demonstrable on +either side. But in reference to Sir Robert's acknowledgment, that he +had rather read good verse than prose, he adds triumphantly, "that is +enough for me; for if all the enemies of verse will confess as much, I +shall not need to prove that it is natural. I am satisfied if it cause +delight; for delight is the chief, if not the only end of poesy; +instruction can be admitted but in the second place, for poesy only +instructs as it delights. It is true, that to imitate well is a poet's +work; but to affect the soul, and to excite the passions, and, above +all, to move admiration, (which is the delight of Serious Plays,) a bare +imitation will not serve. The converse, therefore, which a poet is to +imitate, must be heightened with all the arts and ornaments of poesy; +and must be such as, strictly considered, could never be supposed spoken +by any without premeditation."</p> + +<p>In his various argument in defence of the use of rhyme on the stage, +Dryden, we have seen, always speaks of its peculiar adaptation to +"Serious Plays," or "Heroic Plays." In an essay thereon, prefixed to the +"Conquest of Grenada," in the pride of success he says, "whether heroic +verse ought to be admitted into Serious Plays, is not now to be +disputed." And he again takes up the obstinate objection to rhyme, which +he had not yet, it seems, battered to death, that it is not so near +conversation as prose, and therefore not so natural. But it is very +clear to all who understand poetry, that Serious Plays ought not to +imitate conversation too nearly. If nothing were to be traced above that +level, the foundation of poetry would be destroyed. Once grant that +thoughts may be exalted, and that images and actions may be raised above +the life, and described in measure without rhyme, and that leads you +insensibly from your principles; admit some latitude, and having +forsaken the imitation of ordinary converse, where are you now? "You are +gone beyond it, and to continue where you are, is to lodge in the open +fields between two inns." You have lost that which you call natural, and +have not acquired the last perfection of art. It was only custom, he +says, which cozened us so long; we thought because Shakspeare and +Fletcher went no further, that there the pillars of poetry were to be +erected; that because they excellently described passion without rhyme, +therefore rhyme was not capable of describing it. <i>"But time has since +convinced most men of that error.</i>"</p> + +<p>What, then, according to Dryden's idea of it, was a serious or heroic +play? An heroic play, he says, ought to be an imitation, in little, of +an heroic poem; and, consequently, Love and Valour ought to be the +subject of it. D'Avenant's astonishing "Siege of Rhodes"—formerly +declared to be the <i>beau-idéal</i> of an heroic play—was after all, it +seems, wanting in fulness of plot, variety of character, and even beauty +of style. Above all, it was not sufficiently great and majestic. He knew +not, honest man, that, in a true heroic play, you ought to draw all +things as far above the ordinary proportion of the stage, as that is +beyond the common words and actions of human life. The play that +imitates mere nature as she walks in this world, may be written in +suitable language; but, as in epic poetry all poets have agreed that we +shall behold the highest pattern of human life, so in the heroic play, +modelled by the rules of an heroic poem, we must be shown only +correspondent characters. Gods and spirits, too, are privileged to +appear on such a stage, and so are drums and trumpets. But Dryden +himself denies that he was the first to introduce representations of +battles on the English stage, Shakspeare having set him the example; +while Jonson, though he shows no battle, lets you hear in "Catiline," +from behind the scenes, the shouts of fighting armies. Warlike +instruments, and some fighting on the stage, are indeed necessary to +produce the effects of a heroic play. They help the imagination to gain +absolute dominion over the mind of an audience.</p> + +<p>Were we to believe Dryden, his heroic plays were dramatic imitations of +such epic poems as the Iliad and the Æneid. And he has the brazen-faced +assurance to say, that the first image he had of Almanzor, in the +"Conquest of Grenada," was from the Achilles of Homer! The next was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +from Tasso's Rinaldo, and the third—<i>risum teneatis amici—from the +Artaban of Monsieur Calpranede</i>! Unquestionably our English heroic plays +were borrowed from the French—as these were the legitimate offspring of +the dramas of Calpranede and Scuderi. But Dryden's compositions are +unparalleled in any literature. Nature is systematically outraged in one +and all—from beginning to end. Never was such mouthing seen and heard +beneath moon and stars. Through the whole range of rant he rages like a +man inspired. He is the emperor of bombast. Yet these plays contain many +passages of powerful declamation—not a few of high eloquence; some that +in their argumentative amplitude, if they do not reach, border on the +sublime. Nor are their wanting outbreaks of genuine passion among the +utmost extravagances of false sentiment—when momentarily heroes and +heroines warm into men and women, and for a few sentences confabulate +like flesh and blood.</p> + +<p>But it is with Dryden as a critic, not as a poet, that we have now to +do; and we have said these few words about his heroic plays only in +connexion with our account of his argument in support of his doctrine +with regard to heroic verse in rhyme. That blank verse is better adapted +than any other for the drama, has been settled by Shakspeare. But though +Dryden has driven his argument too far, till his doctrine, as he +promulgates it, becomes untenable, as little do we doubt that he has +made good this position, that there may be good plays in rhyme. His +heroic plays are bad, not because they are in rhyme, but because they +are absurd; the rhyme is their chief merit; 'tis not possible to dream +what they had been in blank verse. True, that "All for Love" and "Don +Sebastian" are in blank verse, and may be said, after a fashion, to be +fine plays. But they are constructed on rational principles, and in them +he was doing his best to write like Shakspeare. What reason is there for +believing that those plays, in many respects excellent, are the better +for not being in rhyme? None whatever. Rhyme, in our opinion, would have +given them both a superior charm. In his heroic plays, it often carries +us along with absurdities which we know not whether we should call tame +or wild; it gives an air of originality to trivial commonplaces; it +embellishes what is vigorous, and invigorates what is beautiful; and +among events and characters alike unnatural, its music sustains our +flagging interest, and enables us to read on. There can be no doubt, +that in representations on the stage, the same cause must have been most +effective on audiences accustomed to that kind of pleasure, and who +delighted in rhyme, to them at once a necessary and a luxury of life. +"Aurengzebe," the last of his rhyming plays, is, to our mind, little if +at all inferior to "All for Love," or "Don Sebastian;" and we know that +it was most successful on the stage.</p> + +<p>Sir Walter says, "that during the space which occurred between the +writing of the 'Conquest of Grenada,' and 'Aurengzebe,' Dryden's +researches into the nature and causes of harmony of versification, led +him to conclude that the Drama ought to be emancipated from the fetters +of rhyme—and that the perusal of Shakspeare, on whom Dryden had now +turned his attention, led him to feel that something further might be +attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in +smooth verse, and that the scene ought to represent, not a fanciful set +of agents exerting their superhuman faculties in a fairyland of the +poet's own creation, but human characters acting from the direct and +energetic influence of human passions, with whose emotions the audience +might sympathize, because akin to the feelings of their own hearts. When +Dryden had once discovered that fear and pity were more likely to be +excited by other causes than the logic of metaphysical love, or the +dictates of fantastic honour, he must have found that rhyme sounded as +unnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the usual scale of +humanity, as the plate and mail of chivalry would have appeared on the +persons of the actors." All this is finely said; but does it not assume +the point in question? Dryden may have learned at last from the study of +Shakspeare, (in whom, however, he was well read many years before, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +witness his Essay on Dramatic Poesy,) that "something further might be +attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in +smooth verse." But we do not see the necessity of the inference, "that +rhyme sounded unnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the +usual scale of humanity." Is rhyme self-evidently unnatural in the +expression, in verse, of strong and deep human passion? To that +question, put thus generally, the right answer is—<span class="smcap">NO</span>. And is it, then, +necessarily unnatural in the drama?</p> + +<p>Like all great powers, that of rhyme is a secret past finding out. In +itself a mere barbarous jingle, it yet gives perfection to speech. The +music of versification has endless varieties of measures, and rhyme +lends enchantment to them all. Not an affection, emotion, or passion of +the soul that may not be soothed by its syllablings, enkindled, or +raised to rapture. Pity and terror, joy and grief, love and devotion, +are all alike sensible of its influence; as the sweet similarities keep +echoing through some artful strain, that all the while is thought by +them who listen to come in simplicity from the unpremeditating heart. +Songs, hymns, elegies, epicedia, epithalamia—rhyme rules alike all the +shadowy tribes. The triumphant ode—the penitential psalm—wisdom's +moral lesson—the philosophic strain "that vindicates the ways of God to +man;" such is the range of rhyme, down all the depths of the pathetic, +up all the heights of the sublime. It is yet unlimited. Where shall we +find its bounds? Let us try.</p> + +<p>In the Epos, the poet in person is the relater. But he hides his own +personality in that of the Muse he invokes; and offers himself to his +auditors as the Voice only by which she speaks. She, the Muse, is +thought to be throughout a faithful recorder; for she is supposed to +have access to know all; and however marvellous may be the narrations, +they are accepted with undoubting faith. Since she speaks, or rather +sings, and the auditor only listens, the commonest and the most uncommon +events are, in one respect, upon an even footing. For the hearer must +picture them for himself. All are alike acted absent from the senses, +and before the imagination alone. Hence the Epic Poet has an +extraordinary facility afforded him for introducing into his work that +order of representation which is called the marvellous. For it is just +as easy to the hearer to set before his fancy a giant or a pigmy, as a +man; the one-eyed monster Polyphemus, as the beautiful, the graceful, +the swift, the strong, the sublime, the terrible Achilles. It is just as +easy for him to transport himself in fancy to the summit of Olympus, to +the palace of Jupiter, and to the Council or to the Banquet of the Gods, +or to the deep sea-caves where Thetis sits with her companion nymphs in +the hall of her father, the sea-god Nereus—as it is to remove himself +from the festal hall, where the poet is singing to him and to the other +guests, away to the camp of the Greeks, or to the court of Priam, or to +the bower of Andromache. He has no more difficulty to think of Minerva +darting, in the likeness of a hawk, from the snowy crest of Olympus to +the shore of the Hellespont—or to imagine the Thunderer in his +celestial car, lashing on his golden-maned steeds that pace the clouds +and the air, and waft him at the speed almost of a wish from the +unfolding portals of heaven to the summit of Mount Ida—than when he is +called upon, in the midst of some totally different scene, to figure to +himself a mortal hero, with waving crest, glittering in polished brass, +advancing erect in his war-chariot, hurling his lance that misses his +foe; and in return transpierced by that of his antagonist, falling +backwards to the ground in his resounding arms, and groaning out his +soul in the bloody dust. The truth is, that when you are called upon to +see and to hear <i>within the mind</i>, you rejoice in the capacities of +seeing and hearing that are thus unfolded in you, infinitely surpassing +similar capacities which you possess in your bodily eye and ear; and +therefore the stronger the demands that are made, the more readily even +do you comply with them; and in this way, in part, we must understand +the character that is impressed upon the <i>Iliad</i>, and the temper of mind +in the hearer answering to the character. It is one of infinite liberty. +The mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> of the poet seems to be released from all bonds and from all +bounds; and the temper in the hearer is the same. Another character, +proper to Epic poetry, judging after its great model, the <i>Iliad</i>—is +<i>universality</i>. In the direct narrative, we have gods and men, heaven, +earth, sea, for seats of action—and, for a moment, a glimpse of hell. +Recollect whilst the conflagration of war is raging, how the poet has +found a moment, at the Scæan Gate, for the touching picture of an heroic +father, a noble mother, and a babe in arms, scared at his father's +dazzling and overshadowing helmet, who smiles, puts it from his head +upon the ground, and lifts up the boy, with a prayer to Jove. Sacrifices +to the gods, games, funeral rites, come in the course of the relation; +and because the scene of the poem is distracted with warfare, the great +poet has found, in the Vulcanian sculptures on the shield of Achilles, +place for images of peace—the labours of the husbandman; the mirthful +gathering in of the vintage with dance and song; the hymeneal pomp led +along the streets. And in the similes, what pictures from animal life +and manners! And then our enchantment is heightened by a prevailing +duplication. Throughout, or nearly so, the transactions that are +presented in the natural, are also presented in the supernatural. Thus +we have earthly councils, heavenly councils; warring men, warring gods; +kings of men, kings of gods; mortal husbands and wives, and sons and +daughters; immortal husbands and wives, and sons and daughters. Palaces +in heaven as on earth. The sea, in a manner, triplicates. Terrestrial +steeds—celestial steeds—marine steeds! The natural and supernatural +are united—when Achilles is half of mortal, half of immortal +derivation; when heavenly coursers are yoked in the chariots of men; +when Juno, for a moment, grants voice to the horse of Achilles; and the +horse, whom Achilles has unjustly reproved, answers prophesying the +death of the hero.</p> + +<p>Why Homer made the <i>Iliad</i> in hexameters, no man can tell; but having +done so, he thereby constituted for ever the proper metre of Greek—and +Latin—Epic poetry. But what a multitude of subjects, how different from +one another does that, and every other Epic poem, comprehend! Glory to +the hexameter! it suits them all. Now, in every Epic poem, and in few +more than in the <i>Iliad</i>, there are many dramatic scenes. But in the +Greek tragic drama, the dialogue is mainly in iambics; for this reason, +that iambics are naturally suited for the language of conversation. Be +it so. Yet here in the Epic, the dialogue is felt to be as natural in +hexameters as the heart of man can desire. Hear Agamemnon and Achilles. +Call to mind that colloquy in Pelides' tent.</p> + +<p>Rhyme is unknown in Greek; and it is of rhyme that we are treating, +though you may not see our drift. From Homer, then, pass on to Ariosto +and Tasso. They, too, are Epic poets who have charmed the world. Their +poems may not have such a sweep as the <i>Iliad</i>, still their sweep is +great. Rich in rhyme is their language—rich the stanza they delighted +in—<i>ottava rima</i>, how rich the name! Is rhyme unnatural from the lips +of their peers and paladins? No—an inspired speech. Is hexameter blank +verse alone fit for the mouths of Greek heroes—eight-line stanzas of +oft-recurring rhymes for the mouths of Italian? Gentle shepherd, tell me +why.</p> + +<p>But the "Paradise Lost" is in blank verse. It is. The fallen angels +speak not in rhyme—nor Eve nor Adam. So Milton willed. But Dante's +Purgatory, and Hell, and Heaven, are in rhyme—ay, and in difficult +rhyme, too—<i>terza rima</i>. Yet the damned speak it naturally—so do the +blessed. How dreadful from Ugolino, how beautiful from Beatrice!</p> + +<p>But the drama—the drama—the drama—is your cry—what say we to the +drama? Listen, and you shall hear—</p> + +<p>The Tragic Drama rose at Athens. The splendid and inexhaustible +mythology of gods and heroes, which had supplied the Epic Muse with the +materials of her magnificent relations, furnished the matter of a new +species of poetry. A palace—or a temple—or a cave by the wild +sea-shore, was painted; actors, representing by their attire, and their +majestic demeanour, heroes and heroines of the old de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>parted world; nay, +upon high occasions, celestial gods and goddesses—trod the Stage and +spoke, in measured recitation, before assembled thousands of spectators, +seated in wonder and awe-stricken expectation. The change to the poet in +the manner of communicating with his hearers, alters the character of +the composition. The stage trodden by living feet, the scenery, voices +from human tongues varying with all the changes of emotion, impassioned +gestures, and events no longer spoken of, but transacted in presence, +before the eyes of the audience, are elements full of power, that claim +for tragedy and impose upon it a character of its own. The heart is more +interested, and the imagination less. Persons who accompany the whole +business that is to be done, with speaking—a poem consisting of +incessant dialogue—must disclose, with more precise and profounder +discovery, the minds represented as engaged. Motives are produced and +debated—the sudden turns of thought—the violent fluctuations of the +passions—the gentle variations of the feelings, appear. Time is given +for this internal display—and a species of poetry arises, distinguished +for the fulness and the decision with which the springs of action in the +human bosom are shown as breaking forth into, and determining, human +action. Meanwhile, the means that are thus afforded to the poet of a +more energetic representation, curb in him the flights of imagination. +To represent Neptune as at three strides from his seat on a mountain-top +descending the slope, that with all its woods quakes under the immortal +feet, and as reaching at the fourth step his wave-covered palace—this, +which was easy between the epic poet and his hearer, becomes out of +place and impossible for tragedy, simply because no actors and no stage +can represent a god so stepping and the hills so trembling. We know what +the pathetically sublime literature was which the drama gave to Athens; +how poets of profound and capacious spirits, who had looked into +themselves—and, so enlightened, had observed human life—were able, by +taking for their subjects the strongly portrayed characters and the +stern situations of the old Greek fable, to unite in their lofty and +impressive scenes the truth of nature and the tender interests which +endear our familiar homes, to the grandeur of heroic recollections, to +the awe of religion, and to the pomp, the magnificence, and the beauty +of a gorgeous yet intellectual art.</p> + +<p>The Greek Tragic drama is from end to end in verse; and unavoidably, +because 'tis a part of a splendid religious celebration. It is involved +in the solemn pomp of a festival. Therefore it dons its own solemn +festival robes. The musical form is our key to the spirit. And in that +varying musical form there are three degrees—first, the Iambic, nearest +real speech—second, the Lyrical dialogue, farther off—third, the full +Chorus—utmost removal. Pray, do not talk to us of the naturalness of +the language. You never heard the like spoken in all your days. Natural +it was on that stage—and over the roofless theatre the tutelary deities +of Athens leant listening from the sky.</p> + +<p>The model, or law, or self of the English drama, is <i>Shakspeare</i>. The +character of his drama is, the imaging of nature. A foremost +characteristic of nature is infinite and infinitely various production, +expressing or intimating an indefatigably and inexhaustibly active +spirit. But such a spirit of life, so acting and producing, appears to +us as a fountain, ever freshly flowing from the very hand of God. All +<i>that</i> Shakspeare's drama images; and thus his art appears to us, as +always the highest art appears to us to be, a Divine thing. The musical +forms of his language should answer; and they do. They are; first, +prose; second, loose blank verse; third, tied blank verse; fourth, +rhyme.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> This unbounded variety of the musical form really seems to +answer to the premised idea; seems really to clothe infinite and +infinitely varied intellectual production. Observe, we beseech you, what +varieties of music! The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> rhyme—ay, the rhyme—has a dozen at +least;—couplets—interlaced rhyme—single rhyme and +double—anapests—diverse lyrical measures. Observe, too, that speakers +of all orders and characters use all the forms. Hamlet, Othello, Lear, +Coriolanus, Lance, use prose; Leontes and his little boy, Lear, +Coriolanus, and his domestics—to say nothing of the Steward—Macbeth +and his murderlings, use blank verse. Even Falstaff, now and then, a +verse. All, high and low, wise, merry, and sad, <i>rhyme</i>. Fools, witches, +fairies—we know not who else—use lyrical measures. Upon the whole, the +<i>uttermost</i>—that is, the musical form—answers herein to the +<i>innermost</i> spirit. The spirit, endlessly-varying, creates +endlessly-varying musical form. The total character is accordingly +self-lawed, irrepressible creation.</p> + +<p>Blank verse, then, is the predominating musical form of Shakspeare's +comedies, histories, and tragedies. To such a degree as that <i>all</i> the +other forms often slip from one's recollection; and, to speak strictly, +blank verse must be called the rule; while all other forms are diverse +exceptions.</p> + +<p>Only one comedy, the homely and English "Merry Wives of Windsor," has, +for its rule, prose. Even here the two true lovers hold their few short +colloquies in blank verse. And when the concluding fairy masque is +toward, blank verse rages. Page and Ford catch it. The merry wife, Mrs +Page, turns poetess to describe and project the superstitions to be +used. In the fairy-scene Sir John himself, Shakspeare's most dogged +observer of prose, is quelled by the spirit of the hour, and <span class="smcap">RHYMES</span>. You +would think that the soul of Shakspeare has been held chained through +the play, and breaks loose for a moment ere ending it. All this being +said, it may be asked:—"Why is blank verse the ordinary musical form of +Shakspeare's Dramas?" And the obvious answer appears to be:—"Because it +has a <i>middle removedness</i> or <i>estrangement</i> from the ordinary speech of +men:—raising the language into imagination, and yet not out of +sympathy."</p> + +<p>Shakspeare and Sophocles agree in truth and strength, in life, passion, +and imagination. They differ inwardly herein—Shakspeare founds in the +power of nature. Under his hand nature brings forth art. The Attic +tragedy begins from art. Its first condition is order, since it is part +of a religious ceremonial. It resorts to nature, to quicken, strengthen, +bear up art. Nature enters upon the Athenian stage, under a previous +recognition of art as dominant.</p> + +<p>From all that has been now said—and it is more than we at first +intended to say—this conclusion follows, that there may be English +rhymed dramas. There are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian ones—and +fine ones too; and nothing in nature forbids that there may be +infinitely finer. That which universally affects off the stage, in all +kinds of poetry, would, in the work of a great master, affect on it. The +delusion of the theatre overcomes far greater difficulties carried with +us thither in the constitution of our habitual life, than the use of +rhyme by the visionary beings in the mimic scene. Beyond all doubt there +might arise in rhyme a most beautiful romantic drama. Unreal infused +into real, turns real at once into poetry. But this is of all degrees. +In the lowest prose of life there is an infusion which we overlook. We +should drop down dead without it. Let the unreal a little predominate; +and now we become sensible to its presence, and now we <i>call</i> the +compound poetry. Let it be an affair of words, and we require verse as +the fitting form. Our stage and language have settled upon blank verse +as the proper metrical form for the proper measure of the unreal upon +the ordinary tragic stage. Rhymed verse has a more marked separation, or +is more distant from prose than blank verse is. Hence, you might suppose +that it will be fitted on the stage for a surcharge of the unreal. +Dryden's heroic tragedies are a proof, as far as one authority goes; and +even they had great power over audiences willing to be charmed, and +accustomed to what we should think a wide and continued departure from +nature. But imagine a roman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>tic play, full of beautiful and tender +imagination, exquisitely written in rhyme, and modelled to some suitable +mould invented by a happy genius. Why, the "Gentle Shepherd," idealizing +modern Scottish pastoral life, was, in its humble way, an achievement; +and, within our memory, critics of the old school looked on it well +pleased when acted by lads and lasses of high degree, delighting to deem +themselves for an evening the simple dwellers in huts around Habbie's +How.</p> + +<p>Let us now collect together all that Dryden has, in different moods of +his unsettled and unsteady mind, written about Shakspeare. In the +Dialogue formerly spoken of, comparisons are made between the modern +English and the modern French drama. "If you consider the plots," says +Neander, "our own are fuller of variety, if the writing, ours are more +quick and fuller of spirit." And he denies—like a bold man as he +was—that the English have in aught imitated or borrowed from the +French. He says our plots are weaved in English looms; we endeavour +therein to follow the variety and greatness of characters, which are +derived to us from Shakspeare and Fletcher; the copiousness and +well-knitting of the intrigues we have from Jonson. These two things he +dares affirm of the English drama, that with more variety of plot and +character, it has equal regularity; and that in most of the irregular +plays of Shakspeare and Fletcher, (for Ben Jonson's are for the most +part regular,) there is a more masculine fancy and greater spirit in the +writing, than there is in any of the French. For a pattern of a perfect +play, he is proposing to examine "the Silent Woman" of Jonson, the most +careful and learned observer of the dramatic laws, when he is requested +by Eugenius to give in full Ben's character. He agrees to do so, but +says it will first be necessary to speak somewhat of Shakspeare and +Fletcher; "his rivals in poesy, and one of them, in my opinion, at least +his equal, perhaps his superior." Malone observes, that the caution +observed in this decision, proves the miserable taste of the age; and +Sir Walter, that Jonson, "by dint of learning and arrogance, fairly +bullied the age into receiving his own character of his merits, and that +he was not the only person of the name that has done so." This is coming +it rather too strong; yet to stand well with others there is nothing +like having a good opinion of one's-self, and proclaiming it with the +sound of a trumpet.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"To begin, then, with Shakspeare. He was the man who, of all modern +and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive +soul; all the images of nature were still present to him, and he +drew them, not laboriously but luckily; when he describes any +thing, you more than see it—you feel it too. Those who accuse him +to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was +naturally learned, he needed not the spectacles of books to read +nature, he looked inwards and found her there. I cannot say he is +every where alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare +him with the greatest of mankind. He is many times flat and +insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious +swelling into bombast. But he is always great when some great +occasion is presented to him—no man can say he ever had a fit +subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above +the rest of poets,</p> + +<p> +'Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.'<br /> +</p> + +<p>"The consideration of this made Mr Hales of Eton say, that there +was no subject of which any poet ever writ, but he would produce it +much better done in Shakspeare: and, however others are now +generally preferred before him, yet the age wherein he lived, which +had contemporaries with him, Fletcher, and Jonson, never equalled +them to him in their esteem; and in the last king's court, when +Ben's reputation was at highest, Sir John Suckling, and with him +the greater part of the courtiers, set our Shakspeare far above +him.</p> + +<p>"Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am next to speak, had, with the +advantage of Shakspeare's wit, which was their precedent, great +natural gifts, improved by study. Beaumont, especially, being so +accurate a judge of plays, that Ben Jonson while he lived submitted +all his writings to his censure, and, 'tis thought, used his +judgment in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots. What +value he had for him ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>peared by the verses he writ to him, and +therefore I need speak no further of it. The first play that +brought Fletcher and him into esteem was their 'Philaster;' for +before that they had written two or three very unsuccessfully, as +the like is reported of Ben Jonson before he writ 'Every Man in his +Humour.' Their plots were generally more regular than Shakspeare's, +especially those which were made before Beaumont's death; and they +understood and imitated the conversation of gentlemen much better, +whose wild debaucheries and quickness of wit in repartee no poet +before them could paint as they have done. Humour, which Ben Jonson +derived from particular persons, they made it not their business to +describe; they represented all the passions very lively, but, above +all, love. I am apt to believe the English language in them arrived +to the highest perfection—what words have since been taken in are +rather superfluous than ornamental. Their plays are now the most +pleasant and frequent entertainments of the stage, two of theirs +being acted through the year for one of Shakspeare's or Jonson's; +the reason is, because there is a certain gaiety in their comedies, +and pathos in their more serious plays, which suits generally with +all men's humours. Shakspeare's language is likewise a little +obsolete, and Ben Jonson's wit comes short of theirs.</p> + +<p>"As for Jonson, to whose character I am now arrived, if we look +upon him while he was himself, (for his last plays were but his +dotages,) I think him the most learned and judicious writer which +any theatre ever had. He was a most severe judge; of himself as +well as others. One cannot say he wanted wit, but rather that he +was frugal of it in his works; you find little to retouch or alter. +Wit and language, and humour also, in some measure, we had before +him; but something of art was wanting to the drama till he came. He +managed his strength to more advantage than any who succeeded him. +You seldom find him making love in any of his scenes, or +endeavouring to move the passions; his genius was too sullen and +saturnine to do it gracefully, especially when he knew he came +after those who had performed both to such an height. Humour was +his proper sphere, and in that he delighted most to represent +mechanic people. He was deeply conversant in the ancients, both +Greek and Latin, and he borrowed boldly from them. There is scarce +a poet or historian among the Roman authors of those times, whom he +has not translated in 'Sejanus' and 'Catiline.' But he has done his +robberies so openly, that one may see he fears not to be taxed by +any law. He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft +in other poets is only victory in him. With the spoils of those +writers he so represents old Rome to us, in its rites, ceremonies, +and customs, that, if one of their poets had written either of his +tragedies, we had seen less of it than in him. If there was any +fault in his language it was, that he weaved it too closely and +laboriously, in his comedies especially. Perhaps, too, he did a +little too much Romanize our tongue, leaving the words, which he +translated, almost as much Latin as he found them; wherein, though +he learnedly followed their language, he did not enough follow with +the idiom of ours. If I would compare him with Shakspeare, I must +acknowledge him the more correct poet, but Shakspeare the greater +wit. Shakspeare was the Homer, or father, of our dramatic poets; +Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing. I admire +him, but I love Shakspeare. To conclude of him, as he has given us +the most correct plays, so, in the precepts which he has laid down +in his 'Discoveries,' we have as many and profitable rules for +perfecting the stage as any wherewith the French can furnish us."</p></div> + +<p>Samuel Johnson truly says of the Dialogue, "that it will not be easy to +find, in all the opulence of our language, a treatise so artfully +variegated with successive representations of opposite probabilities, so +enlivened with imagery, and heightened with illustration." But we have +some difficulty in going along with him when he adds—"The account of +Shakspeare may stand as a perpetual model of encomiastic criticism, +exact without minuteness, and lofty without exaggeration. The praise +lavished by Longinus on the attestation of the heroes of Marathon by +Demosthenes, fades away before it. In a few lines is exhibited a +character, so sublime in its comprehension, and so curious in its +limitations, that nothing can be added, diminished, or reformed; nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +can the editors and admirers of Shakspeare, in all their emulation of +reverence, boast of much more than of having diffused and paraphrased +his epitome of excellence; of having changed Dryden's gold for baser +metal, of lower value, though of greater bulk." Since this great +critic's day—ay, with all his defects and perversities, Samuel was a +great critic—what a blaze of illumination has been brought to bear on +the genius of Shakspeare! Nevertheless, all honour to Glorious John! +Next comes the famous prologue:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As when a tree's cut down, the secret root</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lives under ground, and thence new branches shoot;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So, from old Shakspeare's honour'd dust, this day</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Springs up the buds, a new reviving play.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shakspeare, who (taught by none) did first impart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To Fletcher wit, to labouring Jonson art;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He, monarch-like, gave those, his subjects, law,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And is that nature which they paint and draw.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fletcher reach'd that which on his heights did grow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While Jonson crept and gather'd all below.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This did his love, and this his mirth digest;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One imitates him most, the other best.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If they have since outwrit all other men,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis with the drops which fell from Shakspeare's pen.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The storm which vanish'd on the neighbouring shore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was taught by Shakspeare's 'Tempest' first to roar.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That innocence and beauty which did smile</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Fletcher, grew on this enchanted isle.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But Shakspeare's magic could not copied be—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within that circle none durst walk but he.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I must confess 'twas bold, nor would you now</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That liberty to vulgar wits allow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which works by magic supernatural things;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But Shakspeare's power is sacred as a king's.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those legends from old priesthood were received,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And he them writ as people them believed."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Strange that he who could write so nobly about Shakspeare, could commit +such an outrage on his divine genius as the play to which this is the +prologue—"The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island," a Comedy. It +was—Dryden tells us, and we must believe him—"originally Shakspeare's; +a poet for whom Sir William D'Avenant had particularly a high +veneration, and whom he first taught me to admire." So the two together, +to show their joint and judicious admiration, set about altering "The +Tempest." Fletcher had imitated it all in vain in his "Sea Voyage;" "the +storm, the desert island, and the woman who had never seen a man, are +all implicit testimonies of it." Few more delightful poets than +Fletcher; but in an evil hour, and deserted by his good genius, did he +then hoist his sail. But now cover your face with your hands—and then +shut your ears. "<i>Sir John Suckling, a professed admirer of our author, +has followed his footsteps</i> in his '<i>Goblins</i>;' his Regmella being an +open imitation of Shakspeare's Miranda, and his spirits, <i>though +counterfeit</i>, yet are copied from Ariel." But Sir William D'Avenant, "as +he was a man of quick and piercing imagination, soon found that somewhat +might be added to the design of Shakspeare, of which neither Fletcher +nor Suckling had ever thought;" "and this excellent contrivance," he was +pleased, says Dryden with looks of liveliest gratitude, "to communicate +to me, and to desire my assistance in it." You probably knew what was +the "excellent contrivance" by which "the last hand"—the hand after +Suckling's—"was put to it;" so that thenceforth the "Tempest" was to be +let alone in its glory. "The counterpart to Shakspeare's plot, namely, +that of a man who had never seen a woman, that by this means these two +characters of innocence and love might the more illustrate and commend +each other. <i>I confess that from the very first moment it so pleased me, +that I never writ</i> any thing with more delight." Sir Walter says it +seems to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> have been undertaken chiefly with a view to give room for +scenical decoration, and that Dryden's share in the alteration was +probably little more than the care of adapting it to the stage. But +Dryden's own words contradict that supposition, and he further tells us +that his writings received D'Avenant's daily amendments; "and that is +the reason why it is not so faulty as the rest, which I have done +without the help and correction of so judicious a friend." They wrote +together at the same desk. And Dryden found D'Avenant of "so quick a +fancy, that nothing was proposed to him on which he would not suddenly +produce a thought, extremely pleasant and surprising. * * His +imagination was such as could not easily enter into any other man." It +had been easy enough, he adds, to have arrogated more to himself than +was his due in the writing of the play; but "besides the worthlessness +of the action, which deterred me from it, (there being nothing so base +as to rob the dead of his reputation,) I am satisfied I could never have +received so much honour in being thought the author of any poem, how +excellent soever—as I shall from the joining of my imperfections with +the merit and name of Shakspeare and Sir William D'Avenant." From all +this, and more of the same sort, 'tis plain that Dryden's share in the +composition was at least equal to—we should say, much greater +than—D'Avenant's.</p> + +<p>You must not meddle with Miranda—for she is all our own. Yet we +cheerfully introduce you to her sister, Dorinda, and leave you all alone +by yourselves for an hour's flirtation. Hush! she is describing the +ship!</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"This floating Ram did bear his horns above,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tied with ribands, ruffling in the wind:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sometimes he nodded down his head awhile,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And then the waves did heave him to the moon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He climbing to the top of all the billows;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And then again he curtsied down so low</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I could not see him. Till at last, all sidelong</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a great crack, his belly burst in pieces."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>We had but once before handled this performance—some threescore and ten +years ago, when a man of middle age. We dimly remember being amused in +our astonishment. Now that we are beginning to get a little old, we are, +perhaps, growing too fastidious; yet surely it is something very +shocking. Portsmouth Poll and Plymouth Sall—sisters originating at +Yarmouth—when brought into comparison with Miranda and Dorinda of the +enchanted island, to our imagination seem idealized into Vestal virgins. +True, they were famous—when not half seas over—for keeping a quiet +tongue in their mouths: with them mum was the word. Only when drunk as +blazes, poor things, did they, by word or gesture, offend modesty's most +sacred laws. But D'Avenant's and Dryden's daughters are such leering and +lascivious drabs, so dreadfully addicted to innuendoes and <i>doubles +entendres</i> of the most alarming character, that, high as is our opinion +of the intrepidity of British seamen, we should not fear to back the two +at odds against a full-manned jolly-boat from a frigate in the offing +sent in to fill her water-casks. Caliban himself—and what a Caliban he +has become!—fights shy of the plenireps. Why—if it must be so—we give +our arm to his sister Sycorax, a "fearsome dear" no doubt, but what +better could one expect in a misbegotten monster? Oh, the confounding +mysteries of self-degrading genius!</p> + +<p>In the preface to "An Evening's Love; or, the Mock Astrologer," we again +meet with some criticism on Shakspeare. We learn from it that Dryden had +formed the ambitious design of writing on the difference betwixt the +plays of his own age and those of his predecessors on the English stage, +in order to show in what parts of "dramatic poesy we were excelled by +Ben Jonson—I mean, humour and contrivance of comedy; and <i>in what we +may justly claim precedence of Shakspeare and Fletcher</i>! namely, in +heroic plays." He had, moreover, proposed to treat "of the improvement +of our language since Fletcher's and Jonson's days, and, consequently, +of our refining the courtship, raillery, and conversation of plays." In +great attempts 'tis glorious even to fail; and assuredly had Dryden +essayed all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> this, his failure would have been complete. "I would," said +he, with his usual ignorance of his own and his age's worst sins and +defects, "have the characters well chosen, and kept distant from +interfering with each other, which is more than Fletcher <i>or Shakspeare +did</i>! * * I think there is no folly so great in any part of our age, as +the superfluity and waste of wit was in some of our predecessors, +particularly Fletcher <i>and Shakspeare</i>." Refining the courtship, +raillery, and conversation of plays! We cannot, perhaps, truly say very +much in praise of those qualities in Ben's comedies, admirable as they +are, and superior, in all respects, a thousand times over to the best of +Dryden's and of his contemporaries'; but wilfully blind indeed, or +worse, must the man who could thus write have been to the matchless +grace, vivacity, delicacy, prodigality, and poetry of Shakspeare's +comedy, which as far transcends all the happiest creations of other +men's wit, as the pervading pathos and sublimity of his tragedy all +their happiest inspirations from the holy fountain of ennobling or +pitying tears.</p> + +<p>In its day, the following Epilogue caused a great hubbub—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"They, who have best succeeded on the stage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have still conform'd their genius to their age.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus Jonson did mechanic humours show,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When men were dull, and conversation low.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then comedy was faultless, but 'twas coarse:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cobb's tankard was a jest, and Otter's horse.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, as their comedy, their love was mean;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Except by chance, in some one labour'd scene,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which must atone for an ill-written play.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They rose, but at their height could seldom stay:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And they have kept it since by being dead.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But, were they now to write, when critics weigh</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each line, and every word, throughout a play,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">None of them, no not Jonson in his height,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Could pass without allowing grains for weight.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Think it not envy that these truths are told—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our poet's not malicious, though he's bold.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis not to brand them that their faults are shown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But by their errors, to excuse his own.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If love and honour now are higher raised,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis not the poet, but the age is praised.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wit's now arrived to a more high degree;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our native language more refined and free;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our ladies and our men now speak more wit,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In conversation, than those poets writ.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then, one of these is, consequently, true;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That what this poet writes comes short of you,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And imitates you ill (which most he fears,)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or else his writing is not worse than theirs.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet, though you judge (as sure the critics will)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That some before him writ with greater skill,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In this one praise he has their fame surpast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To please an age more gallant than the last."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Dryden was called over the coals for this sacrilegious Epilogue by +persons ill qualified for censors—among others, by my Lord +Rochester—and was instantly ready with his defence—an "Essay on the +Dramatic Poetry of the Last Age." In it he repeats the senseless +assertion, "that the language, wit, and conversation of our age are +improved and refined above the last;" and he takes care to include among +the writers of the last age, <i>Shakspeare</i>, Fletcher, and Jonson. "In +what," he asks "does the refinement of a language principally consist?"</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Either in rejecting such old words or phrases which are ill +sounding or improper, or in admitting new, which are more proper, +more sounding, and more luxuriant. * * * Malice and partiality set +apart, let any man who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> understands English, read diligently the +works of <i>Shakspeare</i> and Fletcher, and I dare undertake that he +will find in every page either some solecism of speech, or some +notorious flaw in sense; yet these men are reverenced, when we are +not forgiven. That their wit is great, and many times their +expressions noble, envy itself cannot deny. But the times were +ignorant in which they lived. Poetry was then, if not in its +infancy among us, at least not arrived to its vigour and maturity. +Witness the lameness of their plots, many of which, especially +those they writ first, (for even that age refined itself in some +measure,) were made up of some ridiculous, incoherent story, which +in one play many times took up the business of an age. I suppose I +need not name 'Pericles, Prince of Tyre,' <i>nor the historical plays +of Shakspeare</i>, besides many of the rest, as the 'Winter's Tale,' +'Love's Labour Lost,' 'Measure for Measure,' which were either +founded on impossibilities, or at least so meanly written, that the +comedy neither caused your mirth, nor the serious part your +concernment."</p></div> + +<p>In all this this rash and wretched folly, Dryden shows his ignorance of +the order in which Shakspeare wrote his plays; and Sir Walter kindly +says, that there will be charity in believing that he was not intimately +acquainted with those he so summarily and unjustly condemns. But +unluckily this nonsense was written during the very time he was said by +Sir Walter to have been "engaged in a closer and more critical +examination of the ancient English poets than he had before bestowed +upon them;" and, from the perusal of Shakspeare, learning that the sole +staple of the drama was "human characters acting from the direct and +energetic influence of human passions." Yet Sir Walter was right; only +Dryden's opinions and judgments kept fluctuating all his life long, too +much obedient to the gusts of whim and caprice, or oftener still to the +irregular influences of an impatient spirit, that could not brook any +opposition from any quarter to its domineering self-will. For in not +many months after, in the Prologue to "Aurengzebe," are these noble +lines—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"But spite of all his pride, a secret shame</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Invades his heart at Shakspeare's sacred name;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Awed when he hears his godlike Romans rage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He, in a just despair, would quit the stage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And to an age less polish'd, more unskill'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Less polished—more unskilled! Here, too, he is possessed with the same +foolish fancy as when he said, in the "Defence of the Epilogue,"—"But +these absurdities which those poets committed, may more properly be +called the age's fault than theirs. For besides the want of education +and learning, (which was their particular unhappiness,) they wanted the +benefit of converse. Their audiences were no better, and therefore were +satisfied with what they brought. Those who call theirs the golden age +of poetry, have only this reason for it, that they were then content +with acorns before they knew the use of bread!" Then, after a somewhat +hasty and unconvincing examination of certain incorrectnesses and +meannesses of expression even in Ben Jonson, learned as he was, he asks, +"What correctness after this can be expected from <i>Shakspeare</i> or +Fletcher, who wanted that learning and care which Jonson had? I will +therefore spare myself the trouble of enquiring into their faults, who, +had they lived now, had doubtless written more correctly." Since +Shakspeare's days, too, the English language had been refined, he says, +by receiving new words and phrases, and becoming the richer for them, as +it would be "by importation of bullion." It is admitted, however, that +Shakspeare, Fletcher, and Jonson did indeed beautify our tongue by their +<i>curiosa felicitas</i> in the use of old words, to which it often gave a +rare meaning; but in that they were followed by "Sir John Suckling and +Mr Waller, <i>who refined upon them</i>!" But the greatest improvement and +refinement of all, "in this age," is said to have been in wit. Pure wit, +and without alloy, was the wit of the court of Charles the Second, and +of the Clubs. It shines like gold, yea much fine gold, in the works of +all the master play-wrights. Whereas, "Shakspeare, who many times has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +written better than any poet in any language, is yet so far from writing +wit always, or expressing that wit according to the dignity of the +subject, that he writes, in many places, below the dullest writers of +ours, or any preceding age. Never did any author precipitate himself +from such height of thought to so low expressions, as he often does. He +is the very Janus of poets; he wears almost every where two faces; and +you have scarce begun to admire the one ere you despise the other." That +the wit "of this age" is much more courtly, may, Dryden thinks, be +easily proved by viewing the characters of gentlemen which were written +in the last. For example—who do you think? Why, <span class="smcap">Mercutio</span>. "Shakspeare +showed the best of his skill in Mercutio; and he said himself that he +was forced to kill him in the third act, to prevent being killed by him. +But for my part I cannot find he was so dangerous a person: I see +nothing in him but what was so exceedingly harmless, that he might have +lived to the end of the play and died in his bed, without offence to any +man." Wit Shakspeare had in common with his ingenious contemporaries; +but theirs, to speak out plainly, "was not that of gentlemen; there was +ever somewhat that was ill-natured and clownish in it, and which +confessed the conversation of the authors." "In this age," Dryden +declares the last and greatest advantage of writing proceeds from +conversation. "In that age" there was "less gallantry;" and "neither did +they (Shakspeare, Ben, and the rest) keep the best company of theirs." +But let the illustrious time-server speak at large.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Now, if they ask me, whence it is that our conversation is so much +refined? I must freely, and without flattery, ascribe it to the +court; and in it, particularly to the king, whose example gives a +law to it. His own misfortunes, and the nation's, afforded him an +opportunity, which is rarely allowed to sovereign princes—I mean +of travelling, and being conversant in the most polished courts of +Europe; and, thereby, of cultivating a spirit which was formed by +nature to receive the impressions of a gallant and generous +education. At his return, he found a nation lost as much in +barbarism as in rebellion; and, as the excellency of his nature +forgave the one, so the excellency of his manners reformed the +other. The desire of imitating so great a pattern, first awakened +the dull and heavy spirits of the English from their natural +reservedness; loosened them from their stiff forms of conversation, +and made them easy and pliant to each other in discourse. Thus, +insensibly, our way of living became more free; and the fire of the +English wit, which was before stifled under a constrained, +melancholy way of breeding, began first to display its force by +mixing the solidity of our nation with the air and gaiety of our +neighbours. This being granted to be true, it would be a wonder if +the poets, whose work is imitation, should be the only persons in +three kingdoms who should not receive advantage by it; or, if they +should not more easily imitate the wit and conversation of the +present age than of the past.</p> + +<p>"Let us, therefore, admire the beauties and the heights of +Shakspeare, without falling after him into a carelessness, and, as +I may call it, a lethargy of thought, for whole scenes together."</p></div> + +<p>Shakspeare lethargic—comatose!</p> + +<p>Sir Walter's admiration of "glorious John" was so much part of his very +nature, that he says, "it is a bold, perhaps presumptuous, task to +attempt to separate the true from the false criticism in the foregoing +essay: for who is qualified to be umpire betwixt Shakspeare and Dryden?" +None that ever breathed, better than his own great and good self. Yet +surely he was wrong in saying, that when Shakspeare wrote for the stage, +"wit was not required." Required or not, there it was in perfection, of +which Dryden, with all his endowments, had no idea. The question is not +as he puts it, were those "audiences incapable of receiving the delights +which a cultivated mind derives from the gradual development of a story, +the just dependence of its parts upon each other, the minute beauties of +language, and the absence of every thing incongruous or indecorous?" +They may have been so, though we do not believe they were. But the +question is, are Shakspeare's Plays, beyond all that ever were written, +distinguished for those very excellences, and free from almost all those +very defects? That they are, few if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> any will now dare to deny. While +the best of Dryden's own Plays, and still more those of his forgotten +contemporaries, infinitely inferior to Shakspeare's in all those very +excellences, are choke-full of all manner of faults and flagrant sins +against decorum and congruity, in the eyes of mere taste; and with a few +exceptions, according to no rules can be rated high as works of art. The +truth of all this manifestly forced itself upon Sir Walter's seldom +erring judgment, as he proceeded in the composition of the elaborate +note, in which he would fain have justified Dryden even at the expense +of Shakspeare. And, as it now stands, though beautifully written, it +swarms with <i>non-sequiturs</i>, and perplexing half-truths.</p> + +<p>In the Preface to "Troilus and Cressida," (1679,) Dryden again—and for +the last time—descants, in the same unsatisfactory strain, on +Shakspeare. Æschylus, he tells us, was held in the same veneration by +the Athenians of after ages as Shakspeare by his countrymen. But in the +age of that poet, the Greek tongue had arrived at its full perfection, +and they had among them an exact standard of writing and speaking; +whereas the English language, even in his (Dryden's) own age, was +wanting in the very foundation of certainty, "a perfect grammar:" so, +what must it have been in Shakspeare's time?</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The tongue in general is so much refined since then, that many of +his words, and more of his phrases, are scarce intelligible. And of +those which we understand, some are ungrammatical, others coarse; +and his whole style is so pestered with figurative expressions, +that it is as affected as it is obscure. It is true that, in his +latter plays, he had worn off somewhat of the rust; but the tragedy +which I have undertaken to correct was in all probability one of +his first endeavours on the stage.... So lamely is it left to us, +that it is not divided into acts. For the play itself, the author +seems to have begun it with some fire. The characters of Pandarus +and Thersites are promising enough; but, as if he grew weary of his +task, after an entrance or two, he lets them fall; and the latter +part of the tragedy is nothing but a confusion of drums and +trumpets, excursions, and alarms. The persons who give name to the +tragedy are left alive. Cressida is false, and is not punished. +Yet, after all, because the play was Shakspeare's, and that there +appeared in some places of it the admirable genius of the author, I +undertook to remove that heap of rubbish, under which many +excellent thoughts lay wholly buried. Accordingly, I have +remodelled the plot, threw out many unnecessary persons, improved +those which were begun and left unfinished, as Hector, Troilus, +Pandarus, and Thersites, and added that of Andromache. After that, +I made, with no small trouble, an order and connexion of all the +scenes, removing them from the place where they were inartificially +set; and though it was impossible to keep them all unbroken, +because the scene must be sometimes in the city and sometimes in +the court, yet I have so ordered them, that there is a coherence of +them with one another, and a dependence on the main design: no +leaping from Troy to the Grecian tents, and thence back again, in +the same act, but a due proportion of time allowed for every +motion. I need not say that I have refined the language, which +before was obsolete; but I am willing to acknowledge, that as I +have often drawn his English nearer to our times, so I have +sometimes conformed my own to his; and consequently, the language +is not altogether so pure as it is significant."</p></div> + +<p>John Dryden and Samuel Johnson resemble one another very strongly in +their treatment of Shakspeare. Both of them seem at times to have +perfectly understood and felt his greatness, and both of them have +indited glorious things in its exaltation. Their praise is the utterance +of worship. You might believe them on their knees before an idol. But +theirs is a strange kind of reverence. It alternates with derision, and +is compatible with contempt. The god sinks into the man and the man is a +barbarian, babbling uncouth speech. "Coarse," "ungrammatical," +"obscure," "affected," "unintelligible," "rusty!" The words distilled +from the lips of Cordelia, Desdemona, Juliet, Imogen!</p> + +<p>Dryden informs us, that ages after the death of Æschylus, the Athenians +ordained an equal reward to the poets who could alter his plays to be +acted in the theatre, with those whose productions were wholly new, and +of their own. But the case, he laments,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> is not the same in England, +though the difficulties are greater. Æschylus wrote good Greek, +Shakspeare bad English; and to make it intelligible to a refined +audience was a hard job. Sorely "pestered with figurative expressions" +must have been the transmogrifier; and he had to look for wages, not to +a nation's gratitude, but a manager's greed. It was, indeed, a desperate +expedient for raising the funds. In his judgment the Play itself was but +a poor affair—an attempt by an apprentice, that, to be producible, +required the shaping of a master's hand. "Lamely left" it had to be set +on its feet ere it could tread the stage. With what <i>nonchalance</i> does +he throw out "unnecessary persons," and improve "unfinished!" Hector, +Troilus, Pandarus, and Thersites, skilless Shakspeare had but +begun—artful Dryden made an end of them; Cressida, who was false as she +was fair, yet left alive to deceive more men, became a paragon of truth, +chastity, and suicide; and by an amazing stretch of invention, far +beyond the Swan's, was added Andromache. Dryden proudly announces that +"the scenes of Pandarus and Cressida, of Troilus and Pandarus, of +Andromache with Hector and the Trojans, in the second act, are wholly +new; together with that of Nestor and Ulysses with Thersites, and that +of Thersites with Ajax and Achilles. I will not weary my reader with the +scenes which are added of Pandarus and the lovers in the third, and +those of Thersites, which are wholly altered; but I cannot omit the last +scene in it, which is almost half the act, betwixt Troilus and Hector. I +have been so tedious in three acts, that I shall contract myself in the +two last. The beginning scenes of the fourth act are either added, or +changed wholly by me; the middle of it is Shakspeare's, altered and +mingled with my own; three or four of the last scenes are altogether +new; and the whole fifth act, both the plot and the writing, are my own +additions." O heavens! why was it not all "my own?"</p> + +<p>No human being can have a right to use another in such a way as this. +Shakspeare's plays were then, and are now, as much his own property as +the property of the public—or rather, the public holds them in trust. +Dryden was a delinquent towards the dead. His crime was sacrilege. In +reading <i>his</i> "Troilus and Cressida," you ever and anon fear you have +lost your senses. Bits of veritable Shakspearean gold, burnished +star-bright, embossed in pewter! Diamonds set in dirt! Sentences +illuminated with words of power, suddenly rising and sinking, through a +flare of fustian! Here Apollo's lute—there hurdy-gurdy.</p> + +<p>"For the play itself," said Dryden insolently, "the author seems to have +begun it with some fire;" and here it is continued with much smoke. "The +characters of Pandarus and Thersites are promising enough;" here we +shudder at their performance. Such a monstrous Pandarus would have been +blackballed at the Pimp. Thersites—Shakspeare's Thersites—for Homer's +was another Thersites quite—finely called by Coleridge, "the Caliban of +demagogic life"—loses all individuality, and is but a brutal buffoon +grossly caricatured. The scene between Ulysses and Achilles, with its +wondrous wisdomful speech, is omitted! of itself, worth all the poetry +written between the Restoration and the Revolution.</p> + +<p>Spirit of Glorious John! forgive, we beseech thee, truth-telling +Christopher—but angels and ministers of grace defend us! <span class="smcap">WHO ART THOU?</span> +Shakspeare's ghost.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Prologue, spoken by Mr Betterton, representing the Ghost of Shakspeare.</span></h4> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"See, my loved Britons, see your Shakspeare rise,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An awful ghost confess'd to human eyes!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unnamed, methinks, distinguish'd I had been</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From other shades, by this eternal green,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">About whose wreaths the vulgar poets strive,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, with a touch, their wither'd bays revive.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Untaught, unpractised, in a barbarous age,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I found not, but created first the stage;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if I drain'd no Greek or Latin store,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twas that my own abundance gave me more.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On foreign trade I needed not rely,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like fruitful Britain, rich without supply.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In this my rough-drawn play you shall behold</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some master-strokes, so manly and so bold,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That he who meant to alter, found 'em such,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He shook, and thought it sacrilege to touch.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now, where are the successors to my name?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What bring they to fill out a poet's fame?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weak, short-lived issues of a feeble age;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scarce living to be christen'd on the stage!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For humour farce, for love they rhyme dispense,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That tolls the knell for their departed sense.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dulness, that in a playhouse meets disgrace,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Might meet with reverence in its proper place.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The fulsome clench that nauseates the town,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Would from a judge or alderman go down—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such virtue is there in a robe and gown!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And that insipid stuff which here you hate,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Might somewhere else be call'd a grave debate:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dulness is decent in the church and state.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But I forget that still 'tis understood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bad plays are best decried by showing good.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sit silent, then, that my pleased soul may see</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A judging audience once, and worthy me.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My faithful scene from true records shall tell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How Trojan valour did the Greek excel;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your great forefathers shall their fame regain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And Homer's angry ghost repine in vain."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The best hand of any man that ever lived, at prologue and epilogue, was +Dryden. And here he showed himself to be the boldest too; and above fear +of ghosts. For though it was but a make-believe, it must have required +courage in Shakspeare's murderer to look on its mealy face. The ghost +speaks well—nobly—for six lines—though more like Dryden's than +Shakspeare's. <i>That</i> was not his style when alive. The seventh line +would have choked him, had he been a mere light-and-shadow ghost. But in +death never would he thus have given the lie to his life. "Untaught," he +might have truly said—for he had no master. "Unpractised!" Nay, +"Troilus and Cressida" sprang from a brain that had teemed with many a +birth. "A barbarous age!" Read—"Great Eliza's golden time," when the +sun of England's genius was at meridian. "Sacrilege to touch!" Prologue +had not read Preface. Little did the "injured ghost" suspect the +spectacle that was to ensue. Much of what follows is, in worse degree, +Drydenish all over. Sweetest Shakspeare scoffed not so!</p> + +<p>Suppose Shakspeare's ghost to have slipped quietly into the manager's +box to witness the performance. Poets after death do not lose all memory +of their own earthly visions. Thoughts of the fairest are with them in +Paradise. At first sight of Dorinda he would have bolted.</p> + +<p>Dryden says, that "he knew not to distinguish the blown puffy style from +true sublimity." He would then have done so, and no mistake. "The fury +of his fancy often transported him beyond the bounds of judgment, either +in coining of new words and phrases, or racking words which were in use, +into the violence of catachresis." His ears would have been jarred by +Prospero's "polite conversation," so unlike what he, who had not "kept +the best society," was confined to "in a barbarous age." Yet Dryden +confessed that he "understood the nature of the passions," and "made his +characters distinct;" so that "his failings were not so much in the +passions themselves, as in his manner of expression." Unfortunately, his +vocabulary was neither choice nor extensive, and he "often obscured his +meaning by his words, and sometimes made it unintelligible."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"To speak justly of this whole matter: it is neither height of +thought that is discommended, nor pathetic vehemence, nor any +nobleness of expres<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>sion in its proper place; but it is a false +measure of all these, something which is like them, and is not +them; it is the Bristol stone, which appears like a diamond; it is +an extravagant thought instead of a sublime one; it is a roaring +madness instead of vehemence; a sound of words instead of sense. If +Shakspeare were stripped of all the bombasts in his passions, and +dressed in the most vulgar words, we should find the beauties of +his thoughts remaining; if his embroideries were burnt down, there +would still be silver at the bottom of the melting-pot, but I fear +(at least let me fear it for myself) that we, who ape his sounding +words, have nothing of his thought, but are all outside; there is +not so much as dwarf within our giant's clothes. Therefore, let not +Shakspeare suffer for our sakes; it is our fault, who succeed him +in an age that is more refined, if we imitate him so ill that we +copy his failings only, and make a virtue of that in our writings +which in his was an imperfection.</p> + +<p>"For what remains, the excellency of that poet was, as I have said, +in the more manly passions; Fletcher's in the softer. Shakspeare +writ better betwixt man and man; Fletcher betwixt man and woman: +consequently the one described friendship better—the other love. +Yet Shakspeare taught Fletcher to write love; and Juliet and +Desdemona are originals. It is true, the scholar had the softer +soul, but the master had the kinder. Friendship is both a virtue +and a passion essentially; love is passion only in its nature, and +is not a virtue but by accident: good-nature makes friendship, but +effeminacy love. Shakspeare had an universal mind, which +comprehended all characters and passions; Fletcher, a more confined +and limited: for though he treated love in perfection, yet honour, +ambition, revenge, and generally all the stronger passions, he +either touched not, or not masterly. To conclude all he was a limb +of Shakspeare."</p></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON_A_POEM" id="THE_TOWER_OF_LONDON_A_POEM"></a>THE TOWER OF LONDON.—A POEM.</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By Thomas Roscoe.</span></h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Part I.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Proud Julian towers! ye whose grey turrets rise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In hoary grandeur, mingling with the skies—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose name—thought—image—every spot are rife</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With startling legends—themes of death in life!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recall the voices of wrong'd spirits fled—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Echoes of life that long survived their dead;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And let them tell the history of thy crimes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The present teach, and warn all future times.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Time's veil withdrawn, what tragedies of woe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loom in the distance, fill the ghastly show!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, tell what hearts, torn from light's cheering ray,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within thy death-shades bled their lives away;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What anxious hopes, strifes, agonies, and fears,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In thy dread walls have linger'd years on years—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still mock'd the patient prisoner as he pray'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That death would shroud his woes—too long delay'd!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Could the great Norman, with prophetic eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have scann'd the vista of futurity,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And seen the cell-worn phantoms, one by one,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rise and descend—the father to the son—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose purest blood, by treachery and guilt,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On thy polluted scaffolds has been spilt,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Methinks Ambition, with his subtle art,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Had fired his hero to a nobler part.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes! curst Ambition—spoiler of mankind—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That with thy trophies lur'st the dazzled mind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That 'neath the gorgeous veil thy conquests weave,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Would'st hide thy form, and Reason's eye deceive—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By what strange spells still dost thou rule the mind</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That madly worships thee, or, tamely blind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forbears to fathom thoughts, that at thy name</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Should kindle horror, and o'erwhelm with shame.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Alas, that thus the human heart should pay</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Too willing homage to thy bloody sway;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Should stoop submissive to a fiend sublime</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And venerate e'en the majesty of crime!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How soon to those that tempt thee art thou near—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To prompt, direct, and steel the heart to fear!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, not to such the voice of peace shall speak,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor placid zephyr fan their fever'd cheek;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sleep ne'er shall seal their hot and blood-stain'd eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But conscious visions ever haunt them nigh;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grandeur to them a faded flower shall be,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wealth but a thorn, and power a fruitless tree;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, as they near the tomb, with panting breast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shrink from the dread unknown, yet hope no rest!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Stern towers of strength! once bulwarks of the land,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When feudal power bore sway with sovereign hand—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Frown ye no more—the glory of the scene—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sad, silent witness of what crimes have been!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accurst the day when first our Norman foe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Taught Albion's high-born Saxon sons to bow</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Neath victor-pride and insolence—learn to feel</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What earth's dark woes—when abject vassals kneel;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And worse the hour when his remorseless heir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alike uncheck'd by heaven, or earthly prayer,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With lusts ignoble, fed by martial might,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Usurp'd man's fair domains and native right.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ye generous spirits that protect the brave,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And watch the seaman o'er the crested wave,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cast round the fearless soul your glorious spell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That fired a Hampden and inspired a Tell—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why left ye Wallace, greatest of the free,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His hills' proud champion—heart of liberty—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alone to cope with tyranny and hate,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To sink at last in ignominious fate?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sad Scotia wept, and still on valour's shrine</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our glistening tears, like pearly dewdrops, shine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To tell the world how Albyn's hero bled,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And treasure still the memory of her dead.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose prison annals speak of thrilling deeds,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How truth is tortured and how genius bleeds?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose eye dare trace them down the tragic stream—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mark what fresh phantoms in the distance gleam,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As dark and darker o'er th' ensanguined page</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ruthless deed pollutes each later age?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See where the rose of Bolingbroke's rich bloom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fades on the bed of martyr'd Richard's tomb!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Look where the spectre babes, still smiling fair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spring from the couch of death to realms of air!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, thought accurst! that uncle, guardian, foe,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Should join in one to strike the murderous blow.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ask we for tears from pity's sacred fount?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Forbear!" cries vengeance—"that is my account."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There is a power—an eye whose light can span</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dark-laid schemes of the vain tyrant, man.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lo! where it pierces through the shades of night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all its hideous secrets start to light—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In vain earth's puny conquerors heaven defy—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their kingdom's dust, and but one throne on high.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See heaven's applause support the virtuous wrong'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And 'midst his state the despot's fears prolong'd.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou tyrant, yes! the declaration God</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Himself hath utter'd—"I'm the avenging rod!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Words wing'd with fate and fire! oh, not in vain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye cleft the air, and swept Gomorrah's plain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When, dark idolatry unmask'd, she stood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mark of heaven—a fiery solitude!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And still ye sped—still mark'd the varied page</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In every time—through each revolving age—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wherever man trampled his fellow man,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unscared by crimes, ye marr'd his ruthless plan—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still shall ye speed till time has pass'd away,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And retribution reigns o'er earth's last day.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Methinks I hear from each relentless stone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The spirits of thy martyr'd victims groan,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And eager whispers Echo round each cell</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The oft repeated legend, and re-dwell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the same fondness that bespeaks delight</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In childhood's heart, when on some winter's night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As stormy winds low whistle through the vale,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It shuddering lists the thrilling ghostly tale.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It seems but now that blood was spilt, whose stain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Proclaims the dastard soul—the bloody reign</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the Eighth Harry—vampire to his wife,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who traffick'd for his divorce with her life;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So fresh, so moist, each ruddy drop appears</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Indelible through centuries of years!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And who is this whose beauteous figure moves,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Onward to meet the reeking form she loves;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose noble mien—whose dignity of grace,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Extort compassion from each gazing face?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis Dudley's bride! like some fair opening flower</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Torn from its stem—she meets fate's direst hour;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still unappall'd she views that bloody bier,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Takes her last sad farewell without a tear.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Each weeping muse hath told how Essex died,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Favourite and victim, doom'd by female pride.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How courtly Suffolk spent his latest day,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And dying Raleigh penn'd his deathless lay.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here noble Strafford too severely taught</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How dearly royal confidence is bought;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Received the warrant which demands his breath,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with a calm composure walk'd—to death.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor 'mong the names that liberty holds dear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall the great Russell be forgotten here;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His country's boast—each patriot's honest pride—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For them he lived—for them he wept and died.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And must we yet another page unfold,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To glean fresh moral from the deeds of old?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye busy spirits that pervade the air,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And still with dark intents to earth repair;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That goad the passions of the human breast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And bear the missives of Fate's stern behest—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Say, stifle ye those thoughts that Heaven reveals—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tears of sympathy—the glow that steals</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er the young heart, or prompts soft pity's sigh—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The prayer to snatch from harsh captivity</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The virtuous doom'd—teach but to praise—admire—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forbid to catch one spark of generous fire?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The godlike wish of genius, man to bless,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With rank and wealth still leaguing to oppress!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh! when shall glory wreathe bright virtue's claim,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And both to honour give a holier fame?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ye towers of death!—the noblest still your prey,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here spent in solitude their sunless day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In your wall'd graves a living doom they found;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Broke o'er their night no ray, no gladd'ning sound.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet the mind's splendour, with imprison'd wings,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rose high, and shone where the pure seraph sings;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where human thought taught conscience it was free,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And burst the shackles of the Romish See.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, sweetest liberty! how dear to die!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bound by each sacred link;, each holy tie;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To save unspotted from the spoiler's hand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Child of our heart—our own—our native land!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, oh! how dear life's latest drop to shed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To free the minds by superstition led;—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To spread with holy earnest zeal abroad,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That priceless gem—freedom to worship God!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To keep unmingled with the world's vain lore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The faith that lightens every darken'd hour;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That faith which can alone the sinner save,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prepare for death, and raise him from the grave;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Show how, by yielding all, we surest prove,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How humbly, deeply, truly, we can love;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How much we prize that hope divinely given,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The key—the seal—the passport into heaven.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Part II.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What sudden blaze spreads through the crimson skies,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And still in loftier volumes seems to rise?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What meteor gleams, that from the fiery north,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In savage grandeur fast are bursting forth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And light your very walls? Tell me, ye Towers—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis Smithfield revelling in his festal hours,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fed with your captives: shrieks that wildly pierce</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The roaring flames now undulating fierce,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And gasping struggles, mingled groans, proclaim</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The power of torture o'er the writhing frame.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dark are your dens, and deep your secret cells,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose silent gloom your tale of horrors tells.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saw ye how Cranmer dared—yet fear'd to die,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trembling 'mid hopes of immortality?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He stood alone;—a brighter band appears</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unaw'd by threats—impregnable to fears;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who suffer'd glad the sacred truth to spread,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">In mild obedience to its fountain-head.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when at length our popish James would see</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cold superstition bend th' unhallow'd knee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mystic tapers on our altars burn,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And clouds of incense shade the fragrant urn,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shone England's prelates faithful to their call,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In bonds of truth within thy massive wall.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See grace divine—see Heaven in mercy pour,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The balm of peace on Albion's boasted shore.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Once wrought by captive fingers on thy wall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hero's home and prison, grave and pall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What dark lines meet the startled stranger's gaze,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thoughts that ennoble—sentiments that raise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The iron'd captive from captivity,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How high above the power of tyranny!—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ye that wander by the evening tide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where mountains swell or mossy streamlets glide;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That on fresh hills can hail morn's orient ray,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And chant with birds your grateful hymns to day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or seek at noon, beneath some pleasant shade,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To feel the sunbeams cool'd by leafy glade—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That free as air, morn, noon, and eve, can roam,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where'er you list, and nature call your home;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Learn from a hopeless prisoner's words and fate,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Virtue is valour—to be patient, great!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When traced on prison walls, such words as these</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arrest the eye—appall e'en while they please—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Ah! hapless he who cannot bear the weight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With patient heart of a too partial fate,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For adverse times and fortunes do not kill,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But rash impatience of impending ill."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yes, still they speak to bosoms that are free</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within the girdle of captivity;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of spirits dauntless, who could spurn the chain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of human punishment or mortal pain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That e'en amid these precincts of despair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dared free themselves from thraldom's jealous care—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bound but by ties of faith and virtue, be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heirs of bright hopes and immortality.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh! great mind's proud inscriptions! Who shall tell</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What hand engraved those lines within that cell?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What heart yet steadfast while around him stood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Phantoms of death to chill his curdling blood,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Could battle with despair on reason's throne,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And conquer where the fiend would reign alone?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah! who can tell what sorrows pierced his breast—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ran through each vein, usurp'd his hours of rest?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What struggle nerved his trembling hand to trace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With moral courage words he dared to face</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With acts that ask'd new efforts while he wrote</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To man his soul and fix his every thought!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tremble, thou tyrant! proud ambition, blush!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hearts such as these thy power can never crush.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are they forgotten? no, the rugged stone,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The lap of earth on which they rested lone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The very implements of torture there—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The axe, the rack, the tyrant's jealous care;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each mark that meets successive ages' eyes</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speaks, trumpet-tongued, a fame that never dies;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tells the thoughtful stranger, while the tear</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unbidden starts, that freedom triumph'd here—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plumed her immortal wings for nobler flight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And bore her martyr'd brave to realms of light.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor false their faith, nor like the fleeting wind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their spirits fled! for theirs the unprison'd mind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No tyrant-chains, no bonds of earth and time,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Could hold from truth and freedom's heights sublime—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From that bright heaven of science, whence they shed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fresh glory o'er man's cause for which they bled.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ask what is left? their names forgotten now?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their birth, their fortune? not a trace to show</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where sleeps their dust? Go, seek the blest abode,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their mind's pure joy, the bosom of their God!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then tell if in the dull cold prison's air,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And wasted to a living shadow there,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earth scarcely knew them! if they were alone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where they were cast, to pine away unknown?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Friends, had they none? nor beam'd a wish to share</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Love, friendship, and to breathe the common air.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lost, lost to all! like some lone desert flower,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Felt they unseen Time's slow consuming power,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hail'd each parting day with fond delight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As the tired pilgrim greets the waning light?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">No! glad bright spirits, guardians of the mind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were with them; as the demon-powers unbind</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And lash their furies on the conscious breast</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of earth's fell tyrants who ne'er dream of rest.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theirs, too, joy's harbinger, the thoughts aye fed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With brighter objects than of earth, that shed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A light within their narrow home, and gave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A triumph's lustre to the yawning grave.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in that hour when the proud heart's o'erthrown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And self all-powerless, self is truly known;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When pride no more could darken the free mind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But all to God in firm faith was resign'd—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then drank their souls the stream of love divine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">More richly flowing than the Eastern mine;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Felt heaven expanding in the heart renew'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And more than friends in desert solitude.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Peace to thy martyrs! thou art frowning now</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With all the array of bold and martial show;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The same thy battlements with trophies dress'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Present defiance to the hostile breast;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Around thy walls the soldier keeps his ward,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scared with war's sights no more thy peaceful guard.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Long may ye stand, the voice of other years,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ope, in future times, no fount of tears</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sorrows like the past, such as have brought</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A mournful gloom and shadow o'er the thought;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if the eye one pitying drop has shed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That drop is sacred, it embalms the dead.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What though a thousand years have roll'd away</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Since thy dread walls entomb'd their noble prey;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To us they speak, ask the warm tear to flow</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For ills now pressing and for present woe;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bid us to succour fellow-men who haste</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Along the thorny road of life, and taste</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bitterness of poverty, endure</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All that befalls the too neglected poor;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with no friend, no bounty to assist,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Steal from the world unwept for and unmiss'd.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What though no dungeon wrap the wasting clay,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or from the eye exclude the cheering ray;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What though no tortures visibly may tear</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The writhing limbs, and leave their signet there;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Has not chill penury a poison'd dart,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inflicting deeper wounds upon the heart?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All the decrees the sternest fate may bind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To weigh the courage or display the mind—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All man could bear, with heart unflinching bear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Did not a dearer part his sufferings share—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Worse than the captive's fate—wife, child, his all,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The husband, and the father's name, appall</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His very soul, and bid him thrilling feel</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Distraction, as he makes the vain appeal.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon his brow, where manhood's hand had seal'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its perfect dignity, is now reveal'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A haggard wanness; from his livid eye</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The manly fire has faded; cold and dry,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No more it glistens to the light. His thought,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the last pitch of frantic memory wrought,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Turns to the partner of his heart and woe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who, weigh'd with grief, no lesser love can know;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Despair soon haunts the hope that fills his breast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And passion's flood in tumult is express'd.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Amid the plains where ample plenty spreads</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her copious stores and decks the yellow meads,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The outcast turns a ghastly look to heaven;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, not for him is Nature's plenty given;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robb'd of the birthright nature freely gave,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Save that last portion freely left—a grave!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, that another power would rule man's heart,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uncramp its free-born will in every part;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mercy more swift, justice more just, more slow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grandeur less prone to deal the cruel blow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To bind men's hands with fetters than with alms,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And spurn the only boon that soothes and calms.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">England! thou dearest child of liberty;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Free as thine ocean home for ever be;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy commerce thrive; may thy deserted poor</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No more the pangs of poverty endure.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then shall thy Towers, proud monument! display</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The thousand trophies of a happier day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And genial climes, from earth's remotest shore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their richest tributes to her genius pour,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With wealth from Ind, with treasures from the West,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy homes, thy hamlets—cities still be blest;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till virtue, truth, and justice, shall combine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And heavenly hope o'er many a bosom shine;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Auspicious days hail thy fair Sovereign's reign,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And happy subjects throng their golden train.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="POEMS_AND_BALLADS_OF_GOETHE" id="POEMS_AND_BALLADS_OF_GOETHE"></a>POEMS AND BALLADS OF GOETHE.</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">No. III.</span></h4> + + +<p>Goethe, though fertile in poems of the amatory and contemplative class, +was somewhat chary of putting forth his strength in the ballad. We have +already selected almost every specimen of this most popular and +fascinating description of poetry which is at all worthy of his +genius;—at least all of them which we thought likely, after making +every allowance for variety of taste, to fulfil the main object of our +task—to please and not offend. It would have been quite easy for us to +spin out the series by translating the whole section of ballads which +relate to the loves of "the Maid of the Mill," the "Gipsy's Song"—which +somewhat unaccountably has found favour in the eyes of Mrs Austin—and a +few more ditties of a similar nature, all of which we bequeath, with our +best wishes, as a legacy to any intrepid <i>rédacteur</i> who may wish to +follow in our footsteps. For ourselves, we shall rigidly adhere to the +rule with which we set out, and separate the wheat from the chaff, +according to the best of our ability.</p> + +<p>The first specimen of our present selection is not properly German, nor +is it the unsuggested and original product of Goethe's muse. We believe +that it is an old ballad of Denmark; a country which possesses, next to +Scotland, the richest and most interesting store of ancient ballad +poetry in Europe. However, although originally Danish, it has received +some touches in passing through the alembic of translation, which may +warrant us in giving it a prominent place, and we are sure that no lover +of hoar tradition will blame us for its insertion.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Water-Man.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, mother! rede me well, I pray;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How shall I woo me yon winsome May?"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She has built him a horse of the water clear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The saddle and bridle of sea-sand were.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He has donn'd the garb of knight so gay,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And to Mary's Kirk he has ridden away.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He tied his steed to the chancel door,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And he stepp'd round the Kirk three times and four.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He has boune him into the Kirk, and all</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drew near to gaze on him, great and small.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The priest he was standing in the quire;—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"What gay young gallant comes branking here?"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The winsome maid, to herself said she;—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, were that gay young gallant for me!"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He stepp'd o'er one stool, he stepp'd o'er two;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, maiden, plight me thy oath so true!"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He stepp'd o'er three stools, he stepp'd o'er four;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Wilt be mine, sweet May, for evermore?"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She gave him her hand of the drifted snow—</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Here hast thou my troth, and with thee I'll go."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They went from the Kirk with the bridal train,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They danced in glee, and they danced full fain;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They danced them down to the salt-sea strand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And they left them there with hand in hand.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Now wait thee, love, with my steed so free,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the bonniest bark I'll bring for thee."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when they pass'd to the white, white sand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ships came sailing towards the land;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But when they were out in the midst of the sound,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Down went they all in the deep profound!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Long, long on the shore, when the winds were high,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They heard from the waters the maiden's cry.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I rede ye, damsels, as best I can—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tread not the dance with the Water-Man!</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>This is strong, pure, rugged Norse, scarcely inferior, we think, in any +way, to the pitch of the old Scottish ballads.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Before we forsake the North, let us try "The King in Thule." We are +unfortunate in having to follow in the wake of the hundred translators +of Faust, some of whom (we may instance Lord Francis Egerton) have +already rendered this ballad as perfectly as may be; nevertheless we +shall give it, as Shakspeare says, "with a difference."</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The King in Thule.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There was a king in Thule,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was true till death I ween:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A vase he had of the ruddy gold,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The gift of his dying queen.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He never pass'd it from him—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">At banquet 'twas his cup;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And still his eyes were fill'd with tears</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whene'er he took it up.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So when his end drew nearer,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He told his cities fair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all his wealth, except that cup,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He left unto his heir.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Once more he sate at royal board,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The knights around his knee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within the palace of his sires,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hard by the roaring sea.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Up rose the brave old monarch,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And drank with feeble breath,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then threw the sacred goblet down</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Into the flood beneath.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He watch'd its tip reel round and dip,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Then settle in the main;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His eyes grew dim as it went down—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He never drank again.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>We shall now venture on an extravaganza which might have been well +illustrated by Hans Holbein. It is in the ultra-Germanic taste, such as +in our earlier days, whilst yet the Teutonic alphabet was a mystery, we +conceived to be the staple commodity of our neighbours. We shall never +quarrel with a wholesome spice of superstition; but, really, Hoffmann, +Apel, and their fantastic imitators, have done more to render their +national literature ridiculous, than the greatest poets to redeem it. +The following poem of Goethe is a strange piece of sarcasm directed +against that school, and is none the worse, perhaps, that it somewhat +out-herods Herod in its ghostly and grim solemnity. Like many other +satires, too, it verges closely upon the serious. We back it against any +production of M. G. Lewis.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Dance of Death.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The warder look'd down at the depth of night</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">On the graves where the dead were sleeping,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, clearly as day, was the pale moonlight</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O'er the quiet churchyard creeping.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One after another the gravestones began</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To heave and to open, and woman and man</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rose up in their ghastly apparel!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ho—ho for the dance!—and the phantoms outsprung</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In skeleton roundel advancing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The rich and the poor, and the old and the young,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But the winding-sheets hinder'd their dancing.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No shame had these revellers wasted and grim,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So they shook off the cerements from body and limb,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And scatter'd them over the hillocks.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They crook'd their thighbones, and they shook their long shanks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And wild was their reeling and limber;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And each bone as it crosses, it clinks and it clanks</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Like the clapping of timber on timber.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The warder he laugh'd, though his laugh was not loud;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the Fiend whisper'd to him—"Go, steal me the shroud</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of one of these skeleton dancers."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He has done it! and backward with terrified glance</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To the sheltering door ran the warder;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As calm as before look'd the moon on the dance,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which they footed in hideous order.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But one and another seceding at last,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Slipp'd on their white garments and onward they pass'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the deeps of the churchyard were quiet.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still, one of them stumbles and tumbles along,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And taps at each tomb that it seizes;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But 'tis none of its mates that has done it this wrong,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">For it scents its grave-clothes in the breezes.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It shakes the tower gate, but <i>that</i> drives it away,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For 'twas nail'd o'er with crosses—a goodly array—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And well was it so for the warder!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It must have its shroud—it must have it betimes—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The quaint Gothic carving it catches,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And upwards from story to story it climbs</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And scrambles with leaps and with snatches.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now woe to the warder, poor sinner, betides!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like a long-legged spider the skeleton strides</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From buttress to buttress, still upward!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The warder he shook, and the warder grew pale,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And gladly the shroud would have yielded!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ghost had its clutch on the last iron rail</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which the top of the watch-turret shielded.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the moon was obscured by the rush of a cloud,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">One!</span> thunder'd the bell, and unswathed by a shroud,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Down went the gaunt skeleton crashing!</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A very pleasant piece of poetry to translate at midnight, as we did it, +with merely the assistance of a dying candle!</p> + +<p>After this feast of horrors, something more fanciful may not come amiss. +Let us pass to a competition of flowers in the golden, or—if you will +have it so—the iron age of chivalry. The meditations of a captive +knight have been a cherished theme for poets in all ages. Richard the +Lion-heart of England, and James I. of Scotland, have left us, in no +mean verse, the records of their own experience. We all remember how +nobly and how well Felicia Hemans portrayed the agony of the crusader as +he saw, from the window of his prison, the bright array of his Christian +comrades defiling through the pass below. We shall now take a similar +poem of Goethe, but one in a different vein:—</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Fairest Flower.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Lay of the Captive Earl.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Earl.</i>—I know a floweret passing fair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And for its loss I pain me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fain would I hence to seek its lair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But for these bonds that chain me.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My woes are aught but light to me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For when I roam'd unbound and free</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That flower was ever near me.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adown and round the castle's steep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I let my glances wander;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But cannot from the dizzy keep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Descry it, there or yonder.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, he who'd bring it to my sight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or were he knave or were he knight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Should be my friend for ever!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Rose.</i>—I blossom bright thy lattice near,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And hear what thou hast spoken;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis me—brave, ill-starr'd cavalier—</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Rose, thou wouldst betoken!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy spirit spurns the base, the low,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And 'tis the queen of flowers, I know,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That in thy bosom reigneth.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Earl.</i>—All honour to thy purple cheer,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From swathes of verdure blowing;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so art though to maidens dear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As gold or jewels glowing.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy wreaths adorn the fairest face,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet art thou not the flower, whose grace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In solitude I cherish.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Lily.</i>—A haughty place usurps the rose,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And haughtier still doth covet;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But where the lily meekly blows,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Some gentle eye will love it.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The heart that beats in faithful breast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And spotless is as my white vest,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Must value me the highest.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Earl.</i>—Spotless and true of heart am I,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And free from sinful failing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet must I here a captive lie,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In loneliness bewailing.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I see an image fair in you</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of many maidens pure and true,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yet know I something dearer.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Carnation.</i>—That may thy warder's garden show</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In me, the bright carnation,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Else would the old man tend me so</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With loving adoration?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In perfect round my petals meet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And lifelong are with scent replete,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And with a burning colour.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Earl.</i>—None may the sweet carnation slight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It is the gardener's pleasure,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now he unfolds it to the light,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Now shields from it his treasure.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But no—the flower for which I pant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No rare, no brilliant charms can vaunt,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Tis ever meek and lowly.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Violet.</i>—Conceal'd and bending I retreat,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nor willingly had spoken,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet that same silence, since 'tis meet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Shall now by me be broken.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If I be that which fills thy thought</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then must I grieve that I may not</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Waft every perfume to thee.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Earl.</i>—I love the violet, indeed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So modest in perfection,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So gently sweet—yet more I need</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To soothe my heart's dejection.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To thee alone the truth I'll speak,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That not upon this rock so bleak</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Is to be found my darling.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In yon far vale, earth's truest wife</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sits where the brooks run playing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And still must wear a woeful life</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till I with her am straying.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When a blue floweret by that spot</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She plucks, and says—FORGET-ME-NOT,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I feel it here in bondage.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes, when two truly love, its might</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They own and feel in distance,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So I, within this dungeon's night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cling ever to existence.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when my heart is nigh distraught,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If I but say—<span class="smcap">FORGET-ME-NOT</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hope burns again within me!</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Such is constant love—the light even of the dungeon! Nor, to the glory +of human nature be it said, is this a fiction. Witness Picciola—witness +those letters, perhaps the most touching that were ever penned, from +poor Camille Desmoulins to his wife, while waiting for the summons to +the guillotine—witness, above all, that fragment signed Quéret-Démery, +which could not get beyond the sullen walls of the Bastile until fifty +years after the agonizing request was preferred, when that +torture-chamber of cruelty was razed indignantly to the ground—"If, for +my consolation, Monseigneur would grant me, for the sake of God and the +most blessed Trinity, that I could have news of my dear wife! were it +only her name on a card to show that she is yet alive! It were the +sweetest consolation I could receive; and I should for ever bless the +greatness of Monseigneur." Poetry has no such eloquence as this.</p> + +<p>But we must not digress from our author. Here are a few lines of the +deepest feeling and truth, and most appropriate in the hours of +wretchedness—</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Sorrow without Consolation.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O, wherefore shouldst thou try</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tears of love to dry?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nay, let them flow!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For didst thou only know,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">How barren and how dead</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seems every thing below,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To those who have not tears enough to shed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou'd'st rather bid them <i>weep</i>, and seek their comfort so.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The following stanzas, though rather inferior in merit, may be taken as +a companion to the above. Their structure reminds us of Cowley.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Comfort in Tears.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How is it that thou art so sad</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When others are so gay?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou hast been weeping—nay, thou hast!</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thine eyes the truth betray.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And if I may not choose but weep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Is not my grief mine own?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No heart was heavier yet for tears—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O leave me, friend, alone!"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come, join this once the merry band,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They call aloud for thee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And mourn no more for what is lost,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But let the past go free.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O, little know ye in your mirth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What wrings my heart so deep!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I have not lost the idol yet</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For which I sigh and weep."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then rouse thee and take heart! thy blood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Is young and full of fire;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Youth should have hope and might to win,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And wear its best desire.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O, never may I hope to gain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What dwells from me so far;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It stands as high, it looks as bright,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As yonder burning star."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why, who would seek to woo the stars</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Down from their glorious sphere?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Enough it is to worship them,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When nights are calm and clear.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, I look up and worship too—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My star it shines by day—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then let me weep the livelong light</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The whilst it is away."</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A thread from the distaff of Omphale may be stronger than the club of +Hercules. Here is an inconstant Romeo escaped from his Juliet, and yet +unable to shake off the magnetic spell which must haunt him to his dying +day.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">To a Golden Heart.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pledge of departed bliss,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Once gentlest, holiest token!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Art thou more faithful than thy mistress is,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That ever I must wear thee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And on my bosom bear thee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Although the bond that knit her soul with mine is broken?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why shouldest thou prove stronger?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Short are the days of love, and wouldst thou make them longer?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lili! in vain I shun thee!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy spell is still upon me.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In vain I wander through the distant forests strange,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In vain I roam at will</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By foreign glade and hill,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For, ah! where'er I range,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beside my heart, the heart of Lili nestles still!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like a bird that breaks its twine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is this poor heart of mine:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It fain into the summer bowers would fly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And yet it cannot be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Again so wholly free;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For always it must bear</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The token which is there,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To mark it as a thrall of past captivity.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Here, again, is Romeo before his escape. Poor Juliet! may we hope that +she still has, and may long possess, the power</p> + +<p class="center"> +"To lure this tassel-gentle back again." +</p> + +<p>Death, indeed, were a gentler fate than desertion. Truth to say, Goethe +would have made but a sorry Romeo, for he wanted the great and leading +virtue of constancy; and yet who can tell what Romeo might have become, +after six months' exile in Mantua? Juliet, we know, had taken the place +of Rosaline. Might not some fairer and newer star have arisen to eclipse +the image of the other? We will not credit the heresy. Far better that +the curtain should fall upon the dying lovers, before one shadow of +doubt or suspicion of infidelity has arisen to perplex the clear bright +mirror of their souls!</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Welcome and Departure.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To horse!—away o'er hill and steep!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Into the saddle blithe I sprung;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The eve was cradling earth to sleep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And night upon the mountains hung.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With robes of mist around him set,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The oak like some huge giant stood,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While, with its hundred eyes of jet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Peer'd darkness from the tangled wood.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amidst a bank of clouds, the moon</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A sad and troubled glimmer shed;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The wind its chilly wings unclosed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And whistled wildly round my head.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Night framed a thousand phantoms dire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yet did I never droop nor start;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within my veins what living fire!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What quenchless glow within my heart!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We met; and from thy glance a tide</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of stifling joy flow'd into me:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My heart was wholly by thy side,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My every breath was breathed for thee.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A blush was there, as if thy cheek</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The gentlest hues of spring had caught,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And smiles so kind for me!—Great powers!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I hoped, yet I deserved them not!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But morning came to end my bliss;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A long, a sad farewell we took.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What joy—what rapture in thy kiss,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What depth of anguish in thy look!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I left thee, dear! but after me</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thine eyes through tears look'd from above;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet to be loved—what ecstacy!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What ecstacy, ye gods, to love!</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here are three small cabinet pictures of exquisite finish. We have +laboured hard to do justice to them, for the smallest gems are the most +difficult to copy; yet after all we have some doubts of our success.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Evening.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peace breathes along the shade</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of every hill,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tree-tops of the glade</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are hush'd and still;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All woodland murmurs cease,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The birds to rest within the brake are gone.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be patient, weary heart—anon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou, too, shalt be at peace!</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">A Calm at Sea.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lies a calm along the deep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Like a mirror sleeps the ocean,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the anxious steersman sees</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Round him neither stir nor motion.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not a breath of wind is stirring,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dread the hush as of the grave—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the weary waste of waters</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Not the lifting of a wave.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Breeze.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mists they are scatter'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The blue sky looks brightly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And Eolus looses</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The wearisome chain!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The winds, how they whistle!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The steersman is busy—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hillio-ho, hillio-ho!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We dash through the billows—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They flash far behind us—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Land, land, boys, again!</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In one of Goethe's little operas, which are far less studied than they +deserve, although replete with grace, melody, and humour, we stumbled +upon a ballad which we at once recognised as an old acquaintance. Some +of our readers may happen to recollect the very witty and popular ditty +called "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship," a peculiar favourite amongst +the lower orders in Scotland, but not, so far as we knew, transplanted +from its native soil. Our surprise, therefore, was great when we +discovered Captain Wedderburn dressed out in the garb of a <i>Junker</i> of +the middle ages, and "bonny Girzie Sinclair," the Laird of Roslin's +daughter, masquerading as a German <i>Fraülein</i>. The coincidence, if it be +not plagiary, is so curious, that we have translated the ballad with a +much freer hand than usual, confessing at the same time that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> the +advantage, in point of humour and gallantry, is clearly on the side of +the old Mid-Lothian ditty.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Cavalier's Choice.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It was a gallant cavalier</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of honour and renown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all to seek a ladye-love</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He rode from town to town.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till at a widow-woman's door</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He drew the rein so free;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For at her side the knight espied</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Her comely daughters three.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Well might he gaze upon them,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For they were fair and tall;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye never have seen fairer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In bower nor yet in hall.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Small marvel if the gallant's heart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Beat quicker in his breast:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twas hard to choose, and hard to lose—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">How might he wale the best?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Now, maidens, pretty maidens mine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who'll rede me riddles three?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And she who answers best of all</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Shall be my own ladye!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I ween they blush'd as maidens do</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When such rare words they hear—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Now speak thy riddles, if thou wilt,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thou gay young Cavalier!"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"What's longer than the longest path?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">First tell ye that to me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tell me what is deeper</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than is the deepest sea?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tell me what is louder</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than is the loudest horn?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tell me what is sharper</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than is the sharpest thorn?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And tell me what is greener</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than greenest grass on hill?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tell me what is crueller</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than a wicked woman's will?"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The eldest and the second maid,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They sat and thought awhile;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But the youngest she look'd upward,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And spoke with merry smile.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O, love is surely longer far</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than the longest paths that be;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hell, they say, is deeper</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than is the deepest sea;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And thunder it is louder</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than is the loudest horn;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hunger it is sharper</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than is the sharpest thorn;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I know a deadly poison</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">More green than grass on hill;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the foul fiend he is crueller</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than any woman's will!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scarce had the maiden spoken</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When the youth was by her side,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, all for what she answer'd him,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Has claim'd her as his bride.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The eldest and the second maid,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They ponder'd and were dumb;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And there, perchance, are waiting yet</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till another wooer come.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then, maidens, take this warning word,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Be neither slow nor shy,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And always, when a lover speaks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Look kindly and reply.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The following beautiful verses are from Wilhelm Meister. We shall +venture to call them</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Retribution.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He that with tears did never eat his bread,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He that hath never lain through night's long hours,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weeping in bitter anguish on his bed—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He knows ye not, ye dread celestial powers.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye lead us onwards into life. Ye leave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The wretch to fall, then yield him up, in woe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remorse, and pain, unceasingly to grieve;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For every sin is punished here below.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>We shall close this number with a series of poems, in imitation, or +rather after the manner of the antique, all of which possess singular +beauty. No man understood or appreciated the exquisite delicacy of the +Greek Anthology better than our author; and although we may, in several +of the versions, have fallen short of the originals, we trust that +enough still remains to convince the reader that we have not exaggerated +their merit.</p> + + +<h4>POEMS AFTER THE MANNER OF THE ANTIQUE.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Husbandman.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lightly doth the furrow fold the golden grain within its breast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deeper shroud, old man, shall cover in thy limbs when laid at rest.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blithely plough and sow as blithely! Here are springs of mortal cheer,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when e'en the grave is closing, Hope is ever standing near.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Anacreon's Grave.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the rose is fresh and blooming—where the vine and myrtle spring—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the turtle-dove is cooing—where the gay cicalas sing—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose may be the grave surrounded with such store of comely grace,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like a God-created garden? 'Tis Anacreon's resting-place.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spring and summer and the autumn pour'd their gifts around the bard,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, ere winter came to chill him, slept he safe beneath the sward.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Brothers.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Slumber, Sleep—they were two brothers, servants to the Gods above;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kind Prometheus lured them downwards, ever fill'd with earthly love;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But what Gods could bear so lightly, press'd too hard on men beneath;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Slumber did his brother's duty—Sleep was deepen'd into Death.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Love's Hour-glass.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eros! wherefore do I see thee, with the glass in either hand?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fickle God! with double measure wouldst thou count the shifting sand?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"<i>This</i> one flows for parted lovers—slowly drops each tiny bead—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>That</i> is for the days of dalliance, and it melts with golden speed."</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Warning.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Do not touch him—do not wake him! Fast asleep is Amor lying;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Go—fulfil thy work appointed—do thy labour of the day.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus the wise and careful mother uses every moment flying,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whilst her child is in the cradle—Slumbers pass too soon away.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Solitude.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grant, O ye healing Nymphs, that have your haunts</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By rock and stream and lonely forest glade,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The boon which, in their bosoms' silent depths,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your votaries crave! Unto the sad of heart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Give comfort—knowledge unto him that doubts—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Possession to the lover, and its joy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For unto you the Gods have given, what they</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Denied to man—to aid and to console</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All those soe'er who put their trust in you.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Perfect Bliss.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All the divine perfections, which, while ere</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nature in thrift doled out 'mongst many a fair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She shower'd with open hand, thou peerless one, on thee!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And she that was so wond'rously endow'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To whom a throng of noble knees were bow'd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Gave all—Love's perfect gift—her glorious self, to me!</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Chosen Rock.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here, in the hush and stillness of mid-noon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The lover lay and thought upon his love;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With blithesome voice he spoke to me: "Be thou</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My witness, stone!—Yet, therefore, vaunt thee not,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For thou hast many partners of my joy—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To every rock that crowns this grassy dell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And looks on me and my felicity;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To every forest-stem that I embrace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In my entrancement as I roam along,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stand thou for a memorial of my bliss!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All mingle with my rapture, and to all</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I lift a consecrating cry of joy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet do I lend a voice to thee alone,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As culls the Muse some favourite from the crowd,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, with a kiss, inspires for evermore."</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Death Trance.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weep, maiden, here by Cupid's grave! He fell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some nothing kill'd him—what I cannot tell.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But is he really dead?—I swear not that, in sooth;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A trifle—nothing—oft revives the youth.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Philomela.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surely, surely, Amor nursed thee, songstress of the plaintive note,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And, in fond and childish fancy, fed thee from his pointed dart.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So, sweet Philomel, the poison sunk into thy guileless throat,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till, with all love's weight of passion, strike its notes to every heart.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Sacred Ground.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A place to mark the Graces, when they come</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Down from Olympus, still and secretly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To join the Oreads in their festival,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beneath the light of the benignant moon.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There lies the poet, watching them unseen,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The whilst they chant the sweetest songs of heaven,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or, floating o'er the sward without a sound,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lead on the mystic wonder of the dance.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All that is great in heaven, or fair on earth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unveils its glories to the dreamer's eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all he tells the Muses. They again,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Knowing that Gods are jealous of their own,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Teach him, through all the passion of his verse,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To utter these high secrets reverently.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Park.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How beautiful! A garden fair as heaven,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flowers of all hues, and smiling in the sun,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where all was waste and wilderness before.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Well do ye imitate, ye gods of earth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The great Creator. Rock, and lake, and glade,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birds, fishes, and untamed beasts are here.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your work were all an Eden, but for this—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here is no man unconscious of a pang,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No perfect Sabbath of unbroken rest.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Teachers.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What time Diogenes, unmoved and still,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lay in his tub, and bask'd him in the sun—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What time Calanus clomb, with lightsome step</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And smiling cheek, up to his fiery tomb—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What rare examples there for Philip's son</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To curb his overmastering lust of sway,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But that the Lord of the majestic world</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was all too great for lessons even like these!</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Marriage Unequal.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alas, that even in a heavenly marriage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The fairest lots should ne'er be reconciled!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Psyche wax'd old, and prudent in her carriage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whilst Cupid evermore remains the child.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Holy Family.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O child of beauty rare—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O mother chaste and fair—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How happy seem they both, so far beyond compare!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She, in her infant blest,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And he in conscious rest,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nestling within the soft warm cradle of her breast!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What joy that sight might bear</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To him who sees them there,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If, with a pure and guilt-untroubled eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He looked upon the twain, like Joseph standing by.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Exculpation.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilt thou dare to blame the woman for her seeming sudden changes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Swaying east and swaying westward, as the breezes shake the tree?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fool! thy selfish thought misguides thee—find the <i>man</i> that never ranges;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Woman wavers but to seek him—Is not then the fault in thee?</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Muse's Mirror.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To deck herself, the Muse, at early morn,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wander'd a-down a wimpling brook, to find</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some glassy pool more quiet than the rest.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On sped the stream, and ever as it ran</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It swept away her image, which did change</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With every bend and dimple of the wave.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In wrath the Goddess turn'd her from the spot,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet after her the brook, with taunting tongue,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Did call—"'Tis plain thou wilt not see the truth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All purely though my mirror shows it thee!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But she, meanwhile, stood with indifferent ear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By a far corner of the crystal lake,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Delightedly surveying her fair form,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And settling flowerets in her golden hair.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">Phœbus and Hermes.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The deep-brow'd lord of Delos once, and Maia's nimble-witted son,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Contended eagerly by whom the prize of glory should be won;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hermes long'd to grasp the lyre,—the lyre Apollo hoped to gain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And both their hearts were full of hope, and yet the hopes of both were vain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For Ares, to decide the strife, between them rudely dash'd in ire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And waving high his falchion keen, he cleft in twain the golden lyre.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loud Hermes laugh'd maliciously, but at the direful deed did fall</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The deepest grief upon the heart of Phœbus and the Muses all.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">A New Love.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Love, not the simple youth that whilome wound</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Himself about young Psyche's heart, look'd round</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olympus with a cold and roving eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That had accustom'd been to victory.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It rested on a Goddess, noblest far</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of all that noble throng—a glorious star—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Venus Urania. And from that hour</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">He loved her. Ah! to his resistless power</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Even she, the holy one, did yield at last,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in his daring arms he held her fast.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A new and beauteous Love from that embrace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Had birth; that to the mother owed his grace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And purity of soul; whilst from his sire</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He borrow'd all his passion, all his fire.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Him ever where the gracious Muses be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou'lt surely find. Such sweet society</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is his delight, and his sharp-pointed dart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Doth rouse within men's breasts the love of <span class="smcap">Art</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Wreaths.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our German Klopstock, if he had his will,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Would bar us from the skirts of Pindus old.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No more the classic laurel should be prized,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But the rough leaflets of our native oak</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alone should glisten in the poet's hair;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet did himself, with spirit unreclaim'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From first allegiance to those early Gods,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lead up to Golgotha's most awful height</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With more than epic pomp the new Crusade.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But let him range the bright angelic host</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On either hill—no matter. By his grave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All gentle hearts should bow them down and weep.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For where a hero and a saint have died,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or where a poet sang prophetical,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dying as greatly as they greatly lived,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To give memorial to all after times,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of lofty worth and courage undismay'd;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There, in mute reverence, all devoutly kneel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In homage of the thorn and laurel wreath,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That were at once their glory and their pang!</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%; Margin-left: 2em; Margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;" /> + + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">The Swiss Alp.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yesterday thy head was brown, as are the flowing locks of love,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the bright blue sky I watch'd thee towering, giant-like, above.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now thy summit, white and hoary, glitters all with silver snow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which the stormy night hath shaken from its robes upon thy brow;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And I know that youth and age are bound with such mysterious meaning,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As the days are link'd together, one short dream but intervening.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SPAIN_AS_IT_IS" id="SPAIN_AS_IT_IS"></a>SPAIN AS IT IS.</h2> + + +<p>There exists in this country a numerous class of persons who, if they +were given their choice of an overland journey to India and back, or a +ramble through Spain, occupying the same space of time, would prefer the +former, as likely to be less inconvenient, and decidedly far less +perilous. The wars and rumours of wars, revolutions, rebellions, +skirmishes, and <i>pronunciamentos</i>, that newspapers have recorded during +the last ten or twelve years, with an occasional particularly bloody and +barbarous execution by way of interlude, have certainly not been +calculated to reassure timid travellers; nor can we well wonder that, at +the mere mention of an excursion beyond the Pyrenees, tourists are +seized with a vertigo; and that visions, not only of rancid <i>gaspachos</i> +and vermin-haunted couches, but of chocolate-complexioned ruffians with +sugar-loaf hats, button-bedecked jackets, fierce mustaches, and lengthy +<i>escopetas</i>, peering out of the gloomy recesses of a cork wood, or from +among the silvery foliage of an olive grove, pass before the eyes of +their imagination. Dangers often appear greater at a distance than upon +close examination; many a phantom of ghastly aspect proves upon +inspection to be but a turnip-faced goblin after all: and we suspect +that if some of the timorous would adventure themselves upon Spanish +soil, they might find their precious persons far safer than they had +anticipated; and discover that they were in the hands neither of Caffres +nor cannibals, but amongst a courteous and generous people, who, if +occasionally a little too disposed to slit each other's weasands, on the +other hand are very rarely forgetful of the laws of hospitality, or of +the kindness and protection to which travellers in a foreign land have a +fair claim. We do not mean to recommend Spain as a desirable travelling +ground for those adventurous English dames, whom we have occasionally +met journeying by coachfuls in France, Germany, and other peaceable +lands, unsquired and unescorted save by their waiting-maids: to them the +encounter of <i>rateros</i>, <i>salteadores</i>, or other varieties of Spanish +banditti, might be in various respects disagreeable; but for men, who, +without leaving Europe, may wish to visit other scenes than those in +which every Cockney tourist has wandered, we know of few expeditions +more interesting than one into the interior of Spain. Fine scenery, +interesting monuments, associations historic, classic, and poetical, +and—which to our thinking is still preferable—a people who, in spite +of Gallo and Anglo manias, still possess great originality of character +and customs, are there to be met with. We cannot do better than refer +those persons who would like additional evidence on the subject, to the +volumes named at foot<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>, in which they will see how a man possessed of +prudence, good sense, and good temper, may visit some of the wildest and +least frequented parts of the Peninsula, not only without injury or +annoyance, but with considerable pleasure and profit.</p> + +<p>Captain Widdrington's journey to Spain, in the Spring of 1843, had, as +he tells us, a twofold object. He was desirous of observing the effects +of the numerous changes that have taken place in that country since the +death of Ferdinand; and he, at the same time, thought that his +assistance and previous knowledge of the country and people, would be +useful to a scientific friend, Dr Daubeny, who had been commissioned by +the Agricultural Society to examine the formation of phosphorite in +Estremadura. This mineral, it was imagined, might be advantageously +substituted for bones as manure.</p> + +<p>The travellers had sketched out their route beforehand, and seem to have +adhered very closely to the plan they had laid down. Proceeding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> from +Bayonne to Madrid, after a short stay in that capital they struck into +Estremadura; visited the vein of phosphorite, and explored several +interesting districts, into which few travellers penetrate; thence to +the quicksilver mines at Almaden, and to various iron mines and +founderies, through Seville, Ronda, Malaga, and Granada, and back to +Madrid. Here Captain Widdrington separates from his companion, and +continues his peregrinations alone, through the kingdom of Leon, the +Asturias, and Galicia. In his narrative of this somewhat extensive +ramble, the gallant captain displays a very respectable degree of +knowledge on a considerable variety of subjects. Agriculture, geology, +natural history, the resources of Spain, and the best mode of applying +them, political intrigues and changes, the strange and apparently +inexplicable ups and downs of public men, are all touched upon in turn: +and if the earlier portion of his work is worthy of a member of the +learned societies to which he belongs, the latter part is no less +creditable to his habits of observation, and to the soundness of his +judgment.</p> + +<p>One of the first things that appear to have struck Captain Widdrington +on arriving at Madrid, was the great activity in the building +department—an activity arising chiefly from the sequestration of the +church property. Convents were being pulled down, or at least altered so +as to render them suitable to other purposes. The ground on which one +had stood had been converted into a public walk—a chapel had been +replaced by a covered market. The large convent of St Thomas was the +headquarters of the national guard; while that of the Trinity had been +appropriated to the reception of works of art, the spoils of the other +convents. One had been sold to a private speculator, who let it out in +chambers; another was the refuge of military invalids; a third, the +convent of St Catalina—which was set fire to while the Duke of +Angouleme was attending, in the year 1823, a mass celebrated in honour +of his successful campaign—had been demolished, and a building for the +senate and deputies was erecting on its site. The names of many of the +streets had been altered to those of various heroes of Spanish liberty; +such as Porlier, Lacy, the Empecinado, and others. The street of the +Alcala had been rebaptized after the Duque de la Victoria; but no doubt, +as the Captain observes, by this time <i>on a changé tout cela</i>.</p> + +<p>Of the Countess of Mina, who was then <i>aya</i>, or governess, to the queen, +some interesting details are given by Captain Widdrington, who had known +her and her husband when they were living in exile at Plymouth +subsequently to the affairs of 1823. Madame Mina appears to be a person +of very superior powers of mind, far better qualified to superintend the +female department of a Spanish queen's education, than the bigoted and +<i>afrancesada</i> dowager-marchioness who preceded her in the office, and in +the selection of whom Maria Christina, with her usual selfishness, had +probably thought more of the political principles and opinions in which +she wished Isabella to be brought up, than of her daughter's future +welfare and happiness. The universal complaint of the <i>Spanish</i> or +national party in the time of Christina was, that the queen's education +was neglected, or, it should rather be said, misconducted. The +queen-dowager's French tendencies were more than suspected. Of course, +when the popular party became in the ascendant, and Madame Mina received +the appointment, alike unsolicited and unexpected, of governess to the +queen, the <i>afrancesados</i> set up a yell of horror and consternation. Her +husband's humble birth, her character, even her piety, and the mourning +habit she had worn ever since her husband's death, were made matters of +reproach to her. But though Mina had been born a tiller of the earth, he +had died a grandee of Spain, ennobled yet more by his patriotism and +great qualities than he could be by the tinsel of a title; the character +of the countess was that of a high-minded and virtuous woman; and as to +the accusation of being a <i>santarona</i>, or affectedly pious, it was no +less unjust than malicious. Here is Captain Widdrington's portrait of +her:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Her stature is rather below the middle size, and her person stout, +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> an abundance of the blackest hair simply dressed; eyes very +large, dark and fuller than usual, even in this classic land of +them, and beaming with intelligence. Her forehead, and the lower +part of her face, are remarkable for their development, and an +admirable study for the phrenologists, who would pronounce them +models, as indicating firmness of character. Her constant costume +is the deepest black, which completely covers her person; and when +she accepted her appointment, it was stipulated that she should +never be required to lay it aside. The only ornament she wore was a +simple but rather massive gold chain and cross, which had a +singularly good effect in relieving the mass of deep black; and her +manner, noble and serious, bordering on the severe at first sight, +made her the <i>beau-idéal</i> of a lady abbess."</p></div> + +<p>During the celebrated attack upon the palace at Madrid, on the 7th of +October 1841, the countess gave proof of energy, courage, and presence +of mind, worthy of Mina's widow, and of one who supplied the place of +mother to the queen and infanta of Spain. A most interesting account of +the transactions of that eventful night is to be found in the third +chapter of Captain Widdrington's book; and as he is indebted for the +details to Madame Mina herself, it is no doubt the most accurate that +has appeared before the public. The <i>alabarderos</i>, or halberdiers, who +formed the body-guard of the queen, and whose post was in the avenues +leading to the royal apartments, consisted of two hundred sergeants, +picked from the whole army, and placed under the command of a colonel +and lieutenant-colonel, who had the rank of lieutenant and sergeant in +this sacred band. "By the regulations, one-third of this little corps +ought always to have been on duty; but, 'Cosas de Espana,' when the +disturbance broke out, there were only the two officers and seventeen +privates present! The rest were in the town, at supper, or various other +engagements." And on this handful of men devolved the duty of defending +the queen against the attack of as many companies as they numbered +muskets. The first alarm was given by <i>vivas</i> and other noises in the +quadrangle of the palace. Colonel Dulce, the commander of the +halberdiers, descended the stairs to enquire the cause of the uproar, +and was met on the landing-place by a detachment of the Princesa +regiment marching up. He ordered them to halt; they opened fire in +reply. Colonel Dulce retreated to the guard-room, and the skirmish +began. A double flight of steps leads up from one of the principal +entrances of the palace to this guard-room, of which the door is of +considerable size, and covered by a <i>mampara</i> or moveable stuffed +screen, similar to those used in churches abroad. The alabarderos left +the mampara in its place, opening the door no more than was absolutely +necessary to fire through. The assailants took up their station at the +bottom of the stairs, and blazed away, vigorously replied to from the +<i>sala de armas</i>. The sides of the doorway and the mampara were riddled, +but the assailants could only fire at a guess, their opponents being +completely concealed behind the screen; and on the other hand, a stone +balustrade at the top of the staircase between the two flights and the +angle of the floor, protected the insurgents. The latter, no doubt, +thought the whole guard was at its post, so steady and incessant was the +fire the alabarderos kept up. To approach the guard-room door was +certain death. General Concha, the same who the other night danced the +third quadrille with Isabel at a court ball, taking the <i>pas</i> of the +Spanish grandees there assembled, was present at this treasonable +attack, at the head of the Princesa regiment, in plain clothes, but with +a drawn sword. About midnight (the firing had begun at half-past +seven—what were the authorities about all that time?) Diego Leon, the +scapegoat of the affair, made his appearance in his usual dashing +attire, a showy hussar uniform, braided, belted, and befrogged, and took +command of the proceedings. "According to his own account, he went to +the foot of the great staircase, and called to the alabarderos to +discontinue firing, lest they should alarm the queen!" but the noise of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +the musketry was such, that he could not make himself heard, even with +the aid of a trumpet! Things, however, had not gone as the conspirators +wished; the gallant defence of the halbardiers, which they had not +reckoned upon, had caused them to lose much time, and after a short +consultation Concha and Leon took to flight. Concha hid himself under +the dry arch of a bridge, and afterwards took refuge at the Danish +embassy, where he passed a few days, and was then conveyed from another +embassy (French, of course) to headquarters at Paris. His caution in +wearing plain clothes saved him; while poor Leon, who thought, as he +afterwards said, that uniform was the proper costume for the occasion, +was taken at Colmenar, a few leagues from Madrid. Captain Widdrington +says, with much truth, that nothing could be more characteristic of the +two men than their different mode of acting in this trifling particular.</p> + +<p>In the whole affair, Concha was the real director and manager, although +he sheltered himself behind the Count of Belascoain, who was put forward +as being a popular man, especially with the army. A braver or more +dashing cavalry officer than Leon could hardly be found, but he was of +the wrong stuff for a conspirator; his brains, as the Spaniards used to +say in rather a coarse proverb, were in the wrong place. But who that +had ever known or even seen him, could help regretting him, the +chivalrous, the high-hearted soldier, as much loved by his friends as he +was dreaded by his foes! His death was, doubtless, necessary as an +example, and should not be laid at the door of the Spanish government of +the day, but at that of the unprincipled and selfish faction that made a +tool of him. We are surprised to find, by Captain Widdrington's book, +that the petitions for his pardon, sent for signature to the national +guard of Madrid, were torn across and returned, the only name affixed to +them being that of Captain Guardia, who was then dying of wounds +received on the night of the insurrection. This speaks plainly as to the +general feeling in Madrid concerning the necessity of Leon's sentence +being put into execution, the national guard consisting of ten thousand +men, who represent every shade of political opinion.</p> + +<p>While the fighting was going on, the Countess of Mina was doing her best +to shield the queen and her sister from the bullets of the insurgents, +who surrounded the royal apartments on three sides, and seem to have +been tolerably careless where they sent their lead. A shot came into the +room where the queen and her sister lay in bed. They were frightened, +and got up, and the attendants placed mattresses on the floor, in the +angle of an alcove, upon which the children lay down, and after some +time fell asleep. "The poor children were hungry, and asked for supper, +but there was nothing to give them; and from two in the afternoon of the +7th, till eight in the morning of the 8th, they did not taste food." +What a curious picture is this! Isabel de Borbon, queen of Spain and the +Indies, lying on a mattress upon the floor, terrified and a-hungered, +her governess, the widow of an ex-peasant and guerilla, keeping watch +beside her; nineteen intrepid soldiers defending her against troops sent +by her own mother to attack her palace and carry off herself!</p> + +<p>Nor was this all. There was a private staircase leading from the +<i>entresol</i> of the palace to the royal apartments; and although it had +been blocked up some time previously, the rebels were aware of its +existence, and were heard sawing at the barrier that closed it. "At this +time, the countess told me, she felt it her duty to rouse the queen and +prepare her for the worst, dictating to her the manner in which those +who should enter were to be addressed. The intention was, when they +should arrive at the inner door, to open it for fear of greater +violence, and admit them." If the conspirators could have got possession +of the queen's person, their plan was to wrap her in a cloak and mount +her behind one Fulgosio, who had been a colonel in the Carlist service, +but was included in the convention of Bergara. In this Tartar fashion +she was to have been carried off to the north of Spain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>Captain Widdrington evidently considers that this daring attempt on the +part of Christina's faction, as well as subsequent almost equally +strange events that have occurred in Spain, were in great measure +concerted and organized in France, the money proceeding partly from the +French treasury and partly from the coffers of Christina—coffers which +she had taken excellent care to fill during the period of her regency. +We have been rather amused at the diplomatic caution displayed by the +Captain when alluding to French intrigues. The French are always "our +neighbours," and Louis Philippe "a certain personage." His meaning, +however, is plain enough, and we fully agree with him, that French gold +and French counsels and influence have been at the bottom of most of the +disturbances that have taken place in Spain since the year 1840. But +enough, for the present, of plots and plotters; we shall perhaps find +more of them before we bid our author farewell in Vigo Bay. At present +we will follow him to the mines of Almaden, whither he betakes himself +after rambling through a considerable portion of Estremadura, one of the +most fertile, but neglected and thinly peopled, of Spanish provinces. +"Nothing," he says, "is wanted but a good government to assist the +bounteous hand with which the gifts of Providence have been showered on +this beautiful region." But, alas! instead of a thriving peasantry and +well-tilled soil, what does he meet with? <i>Despoblados</i>, or deserts, +with here and there some wretched villages, few and far between, and +from time to time a <i>cortijo</i>, or farm-house, with its cultivated patch; +but the general face of the country is <i>zaral</i>, ground covered with the +cistus, numerous varieties of that beautiful plant abounding in the +province. Captain Widdrington mentions four sorts he found in +flower—the gum cistus, a large white species without spots, a smaller +white, and the purple kind common in English gardens. Furze, then just +breaking into flower, and <i>retama</i>, or brooms, vary the collection; +interesting enough, no doubt, to the botanist, but a melancholy sight +when one reflects on the far better purpose to which this fertile +territory might be applied.</p> + +<p>The roads through these districts are, as might be expected, execrable, +intersected by large open ditches to carry off the water; and +subsequently to each journey the diligence requires extensive repairs. +After Truxillo, however, public conveyances are no longer to be found, +and mules supply their place. On these the travellers reach Logrosan, +where is situate the vein of phosphorite that it was one of the objects +of their journey to visit. Four mule-loads of the mineral are taken as a +sample, and forwarded to Seville; and this done, an excursion is made to +the famous sanctuary of Guadelupe, in the sacristy at which place are +some of the finest paintings of Zurbaran. Not the least agreeable +portions of Captain Widdrington's book are his descriptions of the +churches and other edifices he visits, and of the pictures and carvings +they contain. Details of that kind are often apt to be dry and +wearisome; but these are done <i>con amore</i>, and varied by reflections and +criticisms, of which many are very interesting.</p> + +<p>It had been a matter of deliberation with Captain Widdrington, upon +commencing his wanderings in the Peninsula, whether it were advisable to +be armed or not. The usual advice one gets upon this subject on entering +Spain, is to take neither arms nor money, or at least no more of the +latter than is absolutely necessary for the journey. By being unarmed, +the traveller is said to avoid risk of ill treatment at the hands of any +banditti he may chance to encounter, and who, if they see him with +weapons, are apt either to give him a volley from some ambuscade, or to +murder him for having thought of resistance. Captain Widdrington's +theory is different. He calculates that, as the majority of Spanish +robbers are <i>rateros</i>, or ignoble and dastardly cut-purses, who prowl +about by twos and threes, it is just as well to be provided with a few +fire-arms, the mere sight of which may make all the difference between +being robbed or not. He has accordingly armed himself, his companion, +and attendant with muskets; and between Logrosan and Al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>maden he finds +the advantage of having done so. While passing through a wild and broken +country, with no road, and scarcely any visible track, he perceives +three suspicious-looking customers descending through a field to the +further side of a thicket which he is about to traverse. He calls up his +companions, who are a little in the rear—they look to their arms, and +prepare for a brush. If the three men that have been seen are alone, the +travellers are a match for them; but they may be only the van or +rearguard of a larger force.</p> + +<p>"After waiting a little time in silence, there was no appearance of +their emerging from the thicket, which was very close; and, as it would +have been imprudent to enter it, we called out to them to advance. They +were still invisible, but a voice answered—'Come on, we shall not +meddle with you.' We then rode through, and found them on the banks of a +pretty stream that flowed through the ravine, preparing to breakfast; +some beautiful bread, far better than any we could find in the villages, +being part of their intended repast. The man who had answered was +nearest to the ford, and the others a little higher up. Of course we +passed them at the 'recover,' and the simple salutation of <i>Vaya v<sup>d</sup>. +con Dios!</i> was interchanged. Had we omitted exchanging this compliment, +even with the people we were now dealing with, we should have risked +being thought unpolished."</p> + +<p>There is something characteristic and Gil Blas-like about this—Spanish +all over. Pass we on to the Almaden mines, of which there is a detailed +and very interesting account.</p> + +<p>The quicksilver mines of Almaden are one of the sure cards of the +Spanish finance minister, and during the late war, especially, were +often a great resource to the poverty-stricken government. When other +sources of revenue failed, there were always to be found speculators +willing to treat for the quicksilver contract; and these mines, like the +tobacco and other monopolies, and the Havanna revenue, have helped many +a Spanish minister in his moment of greatest need. Of course, as the +usual demand was money down, the bargains were frequently made at great +disadvantage to the seller; and, once made, the consumer is entirely at +the mercy of the contractor—the Almaden mines producing a very large +portion of all the quicksilver known to exist in the world. Madame +Calderon de la Barca, in her <i>Life in Mexico</i>, alludes to this when +speaking of the unsuccessful mining speculations in that country, where +"heaps of silver lie abandoned, because the expense of acquiring +quicksilver renders it wholly unprofitable to extract it." That lady +further observes, that quicksilver has been paid for at one hundred and +fifty dollars per quintal in real cash, when the same quantity was given +at credit by the Spanish government for fifty dollars. Madame Calderon +is good authority; but we suspect that the cause of such a vast +difference between the price given and demanded by the contractor, must +have been the cash advances required by the Spanish government. "The +contract once made," says Captain Widdrington, "it is clear that, +excepting any qualms of conscience the lessee may be influenced by, +there is no check upon his cupidity. The temptation to charge exorbitant +prices is increased by the habit of the government requiring large sums +to be paid down. This practice, which was unavoidable during the civil +war, when it frequently produced the only ready money they could lay +their hands on, has continued, and must still do so, unless a financial +change take place."</p> + +<p>Owing to this state of things, the profit to the government is only +about £75,000 per annum; although we are told that the price has been +raised, in a few years, from thirty-four to eighty-four dollars the +quintal—the price paid to the government we presume. The contract was +taken in 1843 by those great <i>accapareurs</i> of good things, the +Rothschilds. Of course, as long as the civil war lasted, if the +contractors had to give money in advance, the risk they ran entitled +them to a large rate of profit. Had Don Carlos got the upper hand before +they had reimbursed themselves, their lien upon the mines would have +been so much waste paper; or even, without that, they might have been +exposed to considerable loss and delay had Messrs Cabrera, Balmaseda, +Palillos, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> others of the same kidney, chosen to take a turn in that +direction, carry off the workmen, destroy or damage the works, or drown +out the mines. Gomez did pay Almaden a visit when he made the tour of +Spain with his expeditionary corps. He burned a part of the town and +plundered all he could; but did no harm to the mine—which was either +very foolish or very considerate of him.</p> + +<p>There is room for much curious speculation as to the effect which the +increased and increasing value of quicksilver may have upon the monetary +system of Europe, especially in France and other countries where silver +is the legal currency, and gold very little used on account of the +premium on it. It has been seen above, that, in Mexico, silver is not +worth refining, owing to the dearness of the mineral required for the +purpose. Unless something be discovered as a substitute for quicksilver, +the same result will, in all probability, ensue in other mining +districts; and the natural consequence will be the diminished use of +silver as a circulating medium, and the increased employment of gold, +the more so as the supply of the latter metal has of late years been +greatly augmented—a great deal now coming from Asiatic Russia—while +its wear and tear are very small. This change would not arise from a +scarcity of quicksilver, the quantity and quality of which, at Almaden +at least, improve as the miners get deeper into the vein; and, moreover, +the portion extracted is limited to 20,000 quintals, or weights of 105 +pounds English. "All the works are executed in a truly royal manner; and +so capacious and enlarged are the views carried out in the management, +that they only take away about one-half of the mineral, leaving the +other as a legacy to the future possessors of it, and to provide a +supply in case of unforeseen accidents in the workings." There are other +uses besides the refining of silver to which quicksilver is applied; and +should the contractors continue to raise the price of the latter, the +consequence must necessarily be an increase in the value of the former, +and a diminution in its consumption.</p> + +<p>There are five thousand men employed at the Almaden establishment, and +most of those who work in the mines suffer, as may be supposed, in their +health, from the unwholesome exhalations. In the summer, when they are +most liable to be affected in that way, work is suspended, the labourers +retire to their respective provinces to recruit, and generally return in +the autumn, restored by their native air. Temperance, cleanliness, and a +milk-diet appear to be the best preservatives from the pernicious +effects of the mercury-infected atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Captain Widdrington does not visit Catalonia, which we regret; for we +should like to have had the result of his observations on that turbulent +and troublesome province, to which he once or twice alludes. It must +truly be a difficult thing to legislate for a country split into so many +conflicting interests—fancied interests many of them—as Spain is. The +Catalonians, for instance, have got a notion that they are +cotton-manufacturers—a notion which their northern neighbours do all in +their power to nourish and encourage. Of course, the French would be +much annoyed to see Spanish ports opened to cotton goods at a reasonable +duty, until such time (if it ever arrives) as they can compete +successfully with English manufacturers. It suits their book much better +to have a prohibition, or what amounts to such, imposed on all foreign +cottons. The Pyrenees are high, but it is a long line of frontier from +Port Vendres to Bayonne, and the deuce is in it if they cannot manage to +smuggle more French calicoes and <i>percales</i>, and suchlike commodities +into Spain, than would ever be taken by the Spaniards were those +articles admitted at a reasonable duty, which would put a stop to +smuggling by rendering it unprofitable. At present there is a regular +tariff of smugglers' charges for passing goods, so much per cent on the +value, according to the bulk and nature of the articles; and the agents +of this traffic abound in Bayonne, Oleron, Perpignan, and all the +frontier towns. The idea prevailing in Spain, that Espartero intended +entering into a treaty of commerce with England, made him enemies of the +Catalonians, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> indeed of the majority of the mercantile classes, most +of the members of which are more or less mad about the importance of +Spanish manufactures, or, at any rate, they seem to be nearly unanimous +in their wish to prohibit foreign goods. It is impossible to persuade +them, so pigheaded are they, that it would be better to admit foreign +manufactures at a fair duty, than to have their markets deluged with +smuggled ones that pay no duty at all. "To these miserable manufactures, +only capable of producing about one-half of what is required for the +consumption of the kingdom," (and that half, be it observed, of inferior +quality, and at vastly higher prices than the same merchandise could be +imported for,) "is the interest of the landed proprietors and commercial +class, as well as that of the entire community, sacrificed."</p> + +<p>These manufacturing madmen, the Catalonians, are the plague-spot of the +Peninsula. Obstinate, fiery, and selfish, they think only of themselves, +and of what they consider their interests, petty and miserable as the +latter are compared to those of the rest of Spain. The real interests of +the country are obvious to any but prejudiced understandings. It is a +land flowing with milk and honey, or, what is far better, with wine and +oil; abounding in valuable products, of which the export might be vastly +increased by admitting the manufactures of countries possessing, +perhaps, a less-favoured soil and climate, but a more industrious +population. Instead of making bad calicoes at a high price, let the +Spaniards set to work to clear and plant their <i>despoblados</i>—let them +improve their system of agriculture, their mode of producing oil; let +them cut canals and make roads, and get something like decent +communications between towns and provinces. The irrigation of the soil +in Spain is also a matter of great importance, and which, in many parts +of the country, is at present sadly neglected. There are vast districts +that remain uninhabited and barren, solely because people will not build +or live where they are beyond a certain distance from water; districts +where every thing is parched and dry for the greater part of the year, +and where the land, although rich in its nature, becomes worthless from +excessive drought. The system of Artesian wells might, we are persuaded, +be introduced to great advantage in Spain; and for such, as well as for +canals, railways, and similar improvements, abundance of foreign capital +would be forthcoming, if—and here is the sticking point—Spaniards +would only show a disposition to remain quiet, and turn their attention +to the arts of peace, instead of ruining their country, wasting their +blood, and degrading the national character, by all these unmeaning and +unprofitable <i>pronunciamentos</i> and skirmishings. It is probably not very +important at this moment who rules over the Spaniards, provided the +government have power and energy enough to keep them from cutting each +others' throats, and to prevent their getting into a confirmed habit of +revolutions and rebellions. "In all the larger towns of Spain," we quote +Captain Widdrington, "there is a crowd of idlers, characters with little +or no occupation, frequenters of theatres and <i>cafés</i>, great readers of +journals, and considerable politicians, pretenders to small places, +excessively ignorant, and ready to join in any movement provided it be +attended with little personal risk to themselves. A large portion of +this class took a very active part in opposing the government, and were +delighted to figure in <i>juntas</i>, or fill other analogous situations, +giving them a momentary importance, and possibly a few dollars at the +public expense." And this is one of the great causes of the unsettled +state of Spain, the immense number of idlers. Wars and revolutions, +producing an unflourishing state of trade and agriculture, have +discouraged Spaniards, during the last thirty or forty years, from +putting their children to trades or professions. "There is no knowing +how long this war may last," they used to say during the Carlist +contest; "and as long as it lasts, there is no good to be done in +Spain." So, instead of bringing up their sons to work, they just let +them live on from day to day, gossiping and smoking; and at the present +moment there are many hundred thousand young and middle-aged men of the +lower and middle classes, especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> the latter, who are idlers by +profession, and exactly correspond to Captain Widdrington's description. +These gentry have nothing particular to lose by any political rumpus, +and they flatter themselves they may gain; besides, they cannot be +always playing <i>monté</i> or taking the <i>siesta</i>; and even if they could, a +change is sometimes agreeable. Now and then, too, they get tired of +hearing Aristides called the Just—that is a very common thing with +Spaniards—some mischievous political agent comes amongst them, they are +soon excited, get hold of an old musket or rusty fowling-piece, chuck up +their <i>sombreros</i>, cry <i>viva la Libertad!</i> and rush about the town +uttering <i>gritos</i>; and in a few hours, and before they have any clear +idea of what they have been doing, they are told that they are heroes +and patriots, that "<i>Spaniards</i> never shall be slaves," and all the rest +of the humbug and claptrap that revolutionary agitators always have upon +their tongue's tip. The poor idiots, fizzing and boiling over with their +fire-new enthusiasm, aimless and causeless as it is, are in ecstasies +for about a week, or until they discover, what is pretty often the case, +that instead of being better off, they have exchanged King Log for King +Stork. The fact is, Spaniards are not at present fit for a mild and +constitutional government. Espartero, who had got the country into +something like a state of respectability, fell into the error of +imagining that they were; and such was in great measure the cause of his +overthrow. The iron and remorseless rule of a Narvaez will perhaps suit +them better, and of a certainty it is what a large portion of them +richly deserve.</p> + +<p>To those persons who wish to understand what many have doubtless found +rather incomprehensible; namely, the causes, immediate and remote, that +led to the deposition of the Duque de la Victoria and the triumph of the +Moderado party—we recommend the attentive perusal of Captain +Widdrington's book, especially the chapter entitled, "On the +Pronunciamentos and Fall of the Regency." That chapter is a very +complete manual of the Spanish politics of the day, in a lucid and +simple form; and we were much pleased to find our own theories and +opinions on the subject confirmed by an eyewitness, and by so shrewd an +observer as Captain Widdrington. He traces the share that each party and +class in Spain took in the recent changes; and proves satisfactorily +enough, what every one who is acquainted with Spanish character and +feelings must have already been pretty certain of, that the revolution +in question was not a national one, but the result of intrigue, bribery, +and delusion—the work of a faction, aided by foreign gold. The +ill-judged selection of Lopez for minister, and the still more +injudicious act of agreeing to a <i>programme</i> which he was afterwards +compelled to repudiate, were the fatal mistakes made by Espartero, who +was placed in a situation of extreme difficulty by his wish to govern +constitutionally. "It is impossible not to respect and admire the +firmness with which, to the very last, he carried through the principle, +sacrificing his station and rank to it; but, as far as the interests of +his country were concerned, no greater mistake was ever made in +government than the selection of Lopez." It is customary in Spain for a +new minister to make public his programme, or plan of campaign—but this +is considered a mere matter of form. In that of Lopez, however, amidst +the usual commonplaces, one article of vital importance had insinuated +itself; it was that of the amnesty, "which was so speciously made out as +completely to answer the purpose for which it was intended, that of +paving the way for bringing back the <i>afrancesado</i> leaders who were +engaged in the attempt to carry off the Queen, in October 1841." It was +not deemed sufficient to recall the regent's mortal enemies; an attempt +was made to isolate him, by dismissing his most faithful friends, even +to the distinguished officer who acted as his private secretary, and who +now bears him company in his exile. Espartero naturally kicked at +this—as who would not in his place?—dismissed Lopez, and dissolved the +Chamber. But the people, especially those troublesome fellows the +Andalusians and Valencians, had got the fraternizing fit strong upon +them, and were mad after the programme.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> Juntas were +formed—pronunciamentos made—and misrule was again the order of the +day.</p> + +<p>As to the conduct of the army towards Espartero, it was unquestionably +most disgraceful; but it must be borne in mind that a large proportion +of the officers were his personal enemies, especially those of the +regiments of guards, which had been broken up after the war, when many +of the officers passed into line regiments. Others were partisans of +Leon, of Narvaez, or Christina; and another large section were won over +by the profuse promotion given by the juntas, who, as soon as the +pronunciamentos began, assumed the functions of government, and +scattered epaulets in absurd profusion. Truly, as Captain Widdrington +observes, one has heard of bloody wars and sickly seasons, and rapid +advancement consequent thereon, but nothing ever equalled the promotion +that was now given; and this system Espartero was also obliged to adopt, +in order not to be deserted by the lukewarm among his adherents, or by +those whom the prospect of a step of rank might have influenced to leave +him. There can be little doubt, too, that bribery was largely employed +by the Moderados. Witness the instance of Colonel Echalecu, which is no +case of suspicion, but an official and publicly known fact. He was +offered four millions of reals (forty thousand pounds sterling) to +surrender the fort of Montjuich, and a French steamer was put at his +disposal to convey him away. To the immortal honour of this gallant +Basque soldier be it said, he was proof against the temptation; true to +his colours, to his general, and to the established constitution of his +country, he held out the fort to the very last, and only gave it up when +every hope was lost, and the new order of things completely victorious. +The Moderados had the good sense to continue so faithful an officer in +his command; but, at the time of Amettler's revolt, he refused to +bombard Barcelona, and of course resigned. His, however, was a solitary +instance of virtue; far less brilliant baits were found irresistible by +the mass of officers, who used their influence to bring over the +soldiery, a credulous and ignorant class in Spain. The men, there is no +question, were disposed to stand by the regent, and some even held out +against their officers till compelled to give in; but at last all +followed in the stream, led away partly by habits of obedience, partly +by the hopes held out to them of more regular pay and better rations, +and still more by the prospect of obtaining their discharge previous to +the legal expiration of their term of service—the latter being the +strongest argument that can be urged to Spanish soldiers.</p> + +<p>The peasantry, with the exception, perhaps, of those around certain +towns, had neither voice nor part in the change; the nobility, sunk in +sloth and smothered by incapacity, looked on as idle spectators; and a +vast many of the restless and excitable spirits who got up the +revolution, were mere instruments in the hands of a faction, and knew +not what they did. Hear Captain Widdrington—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The parties who began the pronunciamentos had neither the +intention nor the slightest idea, that the result of their +proceedings would be the fall of the regency. This I can most +positively assert to be fact."</p></div> + +<p>The Spaniards, especially those of the south, had got a sort of Utopian +notion into their very ill-furnished heads, that all parties were to +"kiss and be friends." The projected amnesty which Espartero so +unfortunately agreed to, was the cause of this idea getting ground. It +took them upon their weak side, carried them entirely off their legs; +and, acting under the influence of this frothy enthusiasm, they ran +a-muck, as the saying is, and only awakened from their day-dream to +curse the changes that their own folly had so largely contributed to +bring about.</p> + +<p>As to any body attempting to divine what will be the next move upon the +Spanish chessboard, it is out of the question, and nobody who knows the +character of the people will attempt to do it. Unquestionably there is +no such country in the world for anomalies of all kinds. <i>Cosas de +Espana!</i> as Captain Widdrington amusingly enough says, when he meets +with some huge piece of inconsistency that astonishes even him, +accustomed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> though he be to the most contradictory vagaries on the part +of his Iberian friends. And it is exactly what intelligent Spaniards +themselves say, when similar absurdities on the part of their countrymen +are pointed out or reproached to them. "<i>Que quiere v<sup>d</sup> hombre</i>," cry +they with a shrug, "<i>son cosas de Espana</i>." What can we say to you? They +are Spanish doings.</p> + +<p>At Almaden the Captain finds a magnificent road leading to the town, +which had been commenced at great expense by a former governor. For some +distance it is fit for an approach to the largest capital, but on a +sudden it terminates—in a mule-track! <i>Cosas de Espana</i>. "I entered +Corunna just before nightfall, and although a regular fortress, seaport, +and chief place of the province—<i>Cosas de Espana</i>—not a sentinel was +mounted on the works!" Guards desert their post—witness the attack on +the palace, when seventeen men were present out of sixty-five; a +governor is absent from his province at the very time when he is most +wanted there; an official is sent for by one of his superiors, and +returns for answer that he can certainly come if necessary, but hopes he +shall be excused, as it would occasion him the trouble of dressing +himself—this in the middle of the day. The creature was no doubt lying +on a mattress, half naked, with a cigar in his mouth. These are +instances of "<i>Cosas de Espana</i>," always odd and sometimes +unintelligible, but usually to be explained by the system of laxity and +inattention to the duties of their respective posts and stations that +seems to extend to nearly all classes in Spain.</p> + +<p>Captain Widdrington professes the strictest impartiality in the accounts +and opinions he gives; and if we venture to point out an instance where +we think he has deviated a little from the straight line he drew for +himself at starting, it is only because his having done so in the +particular we refer to, is rather creditable to him than otherwise, and +is exactly the error that most warm-hearted men who passed any length of +time in the very agreeable society of Spaniards, would be apt to fall +into. But we cannot help thinking, that in some respects he takes too +favourable a view of the Spanish character; that he is led away by his +love for the nation. The following passages are rather remarkable—</p> + +<p>"No people in existence," he says, "are so little anarchical in their +habits, or live, unless under immediate excitement, in a more orderly +and peaceable manner, or are so easily governed. The presiding genius of +the country is tranquillity, and quiet, inoffensive demeanour, in every +class of society, and in every part of the kingdom; nor is there any +necessity, unless where domination, or unpopular and false principles +are the object, for the application of force to coerce them at any time. +What they want, by their universal consent, is a steady, progressive, +and intelligent government, that will lead the way in the changes and +improvements which every class, at least the far greater majority, are +desirous of seeing carried out, but which their indolence and easy +habits prevent originating with themselves alone."</p> + +<p>"<i>Aide toi, et Dieu t'aidera</i>," says the French proverb. It is really a +pity that a proper dry-nurse cannot be procured for these quiet and +inoffensive people, who have been slaughtering each other, with small +intermission, for the last ten years, to say nothing of previous +instances of mansuetude. Unfortunately, however, they are as jealous of +being helped as, according to Captain Widdrington's own admission, they +are incompetent to help themselves. "<i>Es una lastima</i>," as they would +say; but really at this rate there seems no chance of their ever getting +their country into a prosperous, or even a decent, state. We fully agree +with Captain Widdrington in liking the Spanish character as a whole, in +appreciating its fine qualities, in rendering ample justice to that +courtesy of feeling and manner so agreeable to those who have +intercourse with Spaniards, and that may truly be called national, +seeing that it is found as commonly under the coarse <i>manta</i> of the +muleteer as beneath the velvet-lined <i>capa</i> of the high-born hidalgo; +but we have some small experience of Spain, and a more considerable one +of Spaniards, and we cannot for the life of us think them so tractable +and easy to guide into the right path, or so exceedingly averse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> to +bloodshed. "The truth is, that, excepting in cases of deadly feud, which +sometimes happen, in no country in the world is life more +secure."—(Vol. ii. p. 358.) We will not contradict the Captain, but it +has always appeared to us that human life is rated at a much lower value +in Spain than in any other civilized country we are acquainted with, and +that the natural consequence of that low valuation is the cool +indifference with which blood is there so frequently and abundantly +poured out upon the most trifling and insufficient grounds.</p> + +<p>At the end of a chapter on the church in Spain, we find a notice of Mr +Borrow's proceedings for the propagation of the Scriptures in the +Peninsula—proceedings which seem to have resulted in perfect failure. +"As to the object of the undertaking, it was not only a most complete +and entire failure, but of such a nature as entirely to defeat any +future attempt of the same kind." The meaning of this is clear, although +the sentence is of a curious turn. Further on, the Captain says—"It is +impossible not to regret, that the very large sums annually sent out of +the country, from the most pure and really religious and conscientious +motives, on this and other undertakings, producing equally little +result, were not devoted to the building or endowing of churches and +chapels in our own manufacturing districts, where they are so very much +needed."</p> + +<p>How can Captain Widdrington make such an observation as this latter one? +Surely he must be aware how much more interesting it is to provide for +the spiritual wants of people at a distance than for those of people in +our country. What missionary society, worthy of the name, would +undertake a church-building crusade into Lancashire or Yorkshire? It is +too near home, too commonplace. But let them discover some region at the +antipodes, inhabited by copper-coloured gentry with feathers upon their +heads and curtain rings through their noses, and <i>there</i> is a worthy +field for the labours of the pious. In like manner, poor Spain, which +really might be allowed to set its temporal house a little in order, +before being expected to a depart from the faith that has been universal +in it since the expulsion of the Saracen, was deemed sufficiently +distant and dangerous to be interesting, and "the great London Caloro" +girded up his loins and departed thither. Of the peril he encountered, +the acquaintances he made, of how he galloped through the country on +silver-grey <i>burras—Anglicé</i>, female donkeys—and dropped tracts in +public walks and concealed Testaments in ruins and other queer places, +where robbers <i>might</i> go, <i>might</i> find them, and <i>might</i> be improved by +their perusal, has he not written a most marvellous and amusing account +for the benefit of generations present and to come? Notwithstanding, +however, his missionary avocations and Munchausenish tendencies, we have +a sneaking kindness for friend Borrow, having collected from his +writings that he is a fellow of considerable pluck and energy, of +adventurous spirit, with a sharp eye for a good horse, and who would, no +doubt, have made an excellent dragoon, had it pleased God to call him to +that way of life. But we must say, that his manner of spreading the +Scriptures in Spain, puts us considerably in mind of those peripatetic +advertisers, whose handbills, thrust <i>nolens volens</i> into the fist of +the passer-by, are for the most part cast unread into the gutter. It +would be curious to calculate the proportion borne by those Testaments +that Mr Borrow succeeded in getting really circulated and read in Spain, +to the very large number which he acknowledges to have been confiscated, +burnt, stolen on the road, or otherwise lost. The expense of the mission +must have been very considerable, and the same funds might have been +employed in this country with tenfold advantage both to humanity and the +Christian religion.</p> + +<p>There is a certain class of writers, some of whom ought to know better, +who have lately taken up the cudgels upon the pseudo-philanthropic side +of the question, and have expended a vast deal of uncalled-for +indignation and maudlin sympathy upon the rich and poor of this +country—the former of whom they would make out to be the most selfish +and hard-hearted of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> created beings, and the latter the most amiable and +ill-treated. According to these writers, it would appear as if no man, +with less than seven children to provide for, and more than ten +shillings a-week to do it with, could be possessed of any one of the +Christian virtues. Charity and kindness of heart exist, they would have +us to believe, in an inverse ratio to income, and the <i>warmest</i> men, in +city parlance, are invariably those of the coldest feelings. The sickly +cant of this style of writing in a country where charity, both public +and private, is so extensive and practical; and its probable ill effects +in rendering the poorer classes discontented, are too evident for it to +be necessary to dwell upon them. It would be far better if the writers +who go to such large expense of sympathetic ink, would change the +direction of their virtuous indignation, and try if they have sufficient +influence to put an end to this foreign tract and testament mongering, +whether its scene be in Spain or at a greater distance.</p> + +<p>Before concluding, Captain Widdrington alludes to a growing shyness +towards English travellers in some of the large southern towns, owing to +the indiscretions, exaggerations, and absurdities of certain +tour-writers. It is a lamentable fact that, now-a-days, every booby who +gets on board a steamer, and leaves England for a few weeks or months, +thinks himself entitled to perpetrate a book about what he sees and +hears. We would fain whisper to such persons, that mere locomotion never +qualified any body to write a book, even of travels; that some powers of +observation, and a certain correctness of judgment, and even some +previous acquaintance with the history and character of the nation they +visit, are also necessary; and if, after that, they still persisted in +their designs, we would beg of them to remember that light words are apt +to travel both far and fast; that some part of their lucubrations may +possibly reach the countries they refer to—perhaps through the +instrumentality of the trunkmakers; and that in any case they should +avoid giving unfavourable details, even if true, of the private life and +habits of people who have shown them kindness and hospitality—details, +the data of which, if investigated, would be found, in most instances, +to be absurd and ridiculously insufficient. Some travelling bagman, or +half-fledged subaltern on his way to the Mediterranean, gets ashore at +Cadiz or Gibraltar, takes a run through three or four of the principal +Andalusian cities, perhaps has a letter of introduction, or else meets +at a <i>fonda</i> with some good-natured Spaniard, who compassionates his +"goose look" and evident helplessness, invites him to his house, and +introduces him at a tertulia or two. The gosling picks up a few Spanish +sentences, hears a few anecdotes from some lying valet-de-place, who has +attached himself to the Señor Ingles, and leaves the country after a few +weeks', perhaps days', residence, considerably bewildered by all the +novelties he has seen, but without the slightest real addition to his +previous knowledge of Spanish character and customs. Six months +afterwards, the new work on Spain by Ensign Epaulet or Tedious Twaddle, +Esquire, issues forth, borne on a mighty blast of puffery, from the +laboratory of some fashionable publisher.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nothing can be more harmless," says Captain Widdrington, "than +this mode of making a livelihood, provided their effusions are kept +within the bounds of moderation and charity, as well as confined to +such views as a rapid transit enables any one unacquainted with the +language and the people to make during a few hours' sojourn in the +place. This rule, however, has been broken in upon; and as it +unluckily happens that the females are generally a favourite +subject for the tirades of that class of writers, their random +assertions on subjects they had no means of investigating, and most +assuredly did not speak of from their own knowledge and experience, +have made both the Gaditanas and Malaguanas, and their relations +and countrymen, extremely irate."</p></div> + +<p>And with good reason, too, say we. It is not the first time we have +heard this sort of thing complained of. The practice is one that cannot +be too severely reprehended and we shall look out for such offenders in +future.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>There are a number of anecdotes and pleasant bits scattered through +Captain Widdrington's work, which is a happy blending of the amusing and +instructive, neither predominating to the injury of the other; and we +take leave both of the book and its accomplished author, with much +respect and gratitude. Before doing so, however, and having said much in +commendation, Captain Widdrington will perhaps permit us to offer him a +slight and well-intended hint in the contrary sense. When next the +truant-fit comes over him, and he favours us with the result of his +researches and observations in Spain or any other country—and we hope +it will not be long before he does thus favour us—may he be able to +devote rather more time to the mere authorship part of the work, to the +correction and chastening of his style. His sentences are often terribly +piled up and intricate, and some are really illogical in their +construction, to the extent of being difficult of comprehension. That +kind of negligence in an author, considerably diminishes the reader's +enjoyment even of the most interesting book. Captain Widdrington should +bear in mind, that however sterling his matter may be, some attention to +manner is also expected, and that the appearance, at least, of the most +valuable gems is deteriorated by an inelegant setting. Nevertheless, in +this book-making age, it may be considered highly creditable to an +author when faults of form and not of substance are the greatest with +which he can be reproached.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_SUPERFLUITIES_OF_LIFE" id="THE_SUPERFLUITIES_OF_LIFE"></a>THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE.</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Tale abridged from Tieck</span>.</h4> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></h4> + +<p>In the month of February, at the close of an exceedingly severe winter, +a singular tumult took place in the town of ——, the origin, progress, +and final pacification of which, gave rise to the most strange and +contradictory reports. Where every one <i>will</i> relate, and no one knows +any thing of the matter, it is natural that the simplest circumstance +should become invested with an air of the marvellous.</p> + +<p>It was in one of the narrowest streets of the populous suburbs of the +town that this mysterious event took place. According to some, a traitor +or desperate rebel had been discovered and captured by the police; +others said that an atheist, who had secretly conspired with others to +tear up Christianity by the roots, had, after an obstinate resistance, +surrendered himself to the authorities, and was now lying in prison, +there to learn better principles. All agreed that the criminal had +defended himself in the most desperate manner. One man, who was a +profound politician and an execrable shoemaker, laboured to convince his +neighbours that the prisoner was at the head of a hundred secret +societies, which had their ramifications over France, Germany, Spain, +Italy, and the far East; and that, in fact, a monstrous insurrection was +on the very point of breaking out in the furthest parts of India, which, +like the cholera, would spread over Europe, and set in flame all its +combustible material.</p> + +<p>Thus much was certain, that a tumult had arisen in a small house in the +suburbs; that the police had been called in; that the populace had made +an uproar; that some eminent personage was seen amongst the crowd; and +that, after a little time, all became still again, without any body +being the wiser. In the house itself certain devastations had +undoubtedly been made, which some explained one way, some another, +according to their humours: the carpenters and joiners were busy in +repairing them.</p> + +<p>In this house had lived a man of whom no one in the neighbourhood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> knew +any thing. Whether he was a poet or a politician, a native or a +foreigner, no one could divine. The wisest were at fault. This only was +certain, that the unknown lived in a most quiet and retired manner; he +was seen on none of the promenades, nor in any public place; he was +young, was pronounced to be handsome, and his newly married bride, who +shared his solitude with him, was described as being miraculously +beautiful.</p> + +<p>It was about Christmas time when this young couple were sitting together +over the stove in their little apartment. "Of a truth," said the young +man, "how all this is to end is a riddle. All our resources seem now +exhausted."</p> + +<p>"Alas! yes, Henry," answered the beautiful Clara, to whom this was +addressed; "but whilst you, dearest, are still cheerful, I cannot feel +myself unfortunate."</p> + +<p>"Fortunate and unfortunate," replied Henry, "shall be with us but empty +words. The day when you quitted your father's house, and for my sake +abandoned all other considerations, decided our fortune for all our +lifetime to come. To live and to love, this is our watchword; in what +manner exactly we live shall be indifferent."</p> + +<p>"Indeed we are deprived of almost every thing," said the young wife, +"except each other. But I knew you were not rich, and you knew when I +left my father's house I could bring nothing with me; so love and +poverty came to us hand in hand. And now this little chamber, which we +never quit, and the talking together, and the looking into the eyes we +love—this is all our life."</p> + +<p>"Right! right!" said Henry, and springing up from his seat, he embraced +his charming companion with renewed fondness. "Here are we like Adam and +Eve in their paradise; and I think," he added, looking round the +apartment as he spoke, "no angel will come down from heaven for the +express purpose of driving us out of it."</p> + +<p>"If it were not," said Clara, a little dejected, "that the wood begins +to fail—and this winter is certainly the severest I ever knew"——</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said Henry; "some fuel must somewhere be found. It is +inconceivable that we should be allowed to freeze from without, with all +this warm love within us. Quite impossible! I cannot help laughing +amidst it all, with a sense of ridiculous embarrassment, at the idea +that so simple a thing as a little coin cannot be procured."</p> + +<p>Clara smiled. "If only," said she, "we had some superfluous furniture, +any brass pans or copper kettles."</p> + +<p>"Ah! if only we were millionaires!" interrupted Henry gaily; "then we +could get wood in abundance, and perhaps," he added, looking slyly over +to the stove where some bread-soup was in preparation for their very +temperate repast, "some better fare for dinner. But," he continued in a +tone of humorous banter, which he frequently adopted, and pushing back +his chair a few paces as he spoke, "while you superintend the household +concerns, and give the necessary orders to the cook, I will withdraw +into my study. Now, what would I not write if only pen, paper, and ink, +were to be got at; and how studiously would I read if but a book could +be procured."</p> + +<p>"You must <i>think</i>, dearest," said Clara waggishly; "the stock of +thoughts, it is to be hoped, is not quite so low as our wood."</p> + +<p>"Dearest wife," he replied, "the cares of our establishment demand all +your attention; let me proceed undisturbed with my studies. I will +read," he continued, speaking as if to himself, "the journal I formerly +kept in our palmy days of stationery. And it strikes me that it would be +particularly profitable to study it backwards; to begin at the end, and +so lay a proper foundation for a full comprehension of the beginning. +All true wisdom goes in a circle, and is typified by a serpent biting at +its own tail. We will begin this time at the tail."</p> + +<p>Opening his journal at the last page, he began to read in the same +subdued tone—"They tell a tale of a raving criminal, who, being +condemned to death by starvation, ate himself gradually up. This is, in +fact, the story of life, and of all of us. In some there remains nothing +but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> stomach and the mouth. With us there is left the soul, which is +expressly said to be inconsumable. So far as externals are concerned, I +have certainly flayed and devoured myself. That I should, up to this +day, have retained a certain dress-coat—I, who never go out—was +perfectly ridiculous. Mem.—Next birthday of my wife to appear before +her in a waist-coat and shirt sleeves, as it would be highly indecorous +to present myself to a person of her rank in a frock-coat somewhat +overworn."</p> + +<p>Here he came to the end both of the page and the book. Turning back, he +commenced at the page immediately preceding—"One can live very well +without napkins. And now I think of it, what are these miserable napkins +but a niggardly expedient for saving the table-cloth? Nay, what is this +table-cloth itself but a base economy for sparing the table! I pronounce +them both to be mere superfluities; both shall be sold, that we may eat +off the table in the manner of the patriarchs. We will live in the +fashion of our magnanimous ancestors. It is in no cynical, +Diogenes-humour that I banish them from the house, but from a resolution +not to follow the example of this poor-spirited age, which encumbers +itself with extravagant superfluities out of a sordid economy."</p> + +<p>"Exactly so," said Clara laughing. "Meanwhile, on the proceeds of those +and other superfluities, I invite you to a repast which, at all events, +shall not savour of extravagance."</p> + +<p>So saying, they sat down to their bread-soup. He who had seen them, +whatever he might have thought of the dinner, would have envied those +who partook of it, so cheerful were they, so joyful, so full of freaks +and frolics, over their simple provender. When the bread-soup was +dispatched, Clara slyly brought from the stove a covered plate, and set +before her astonished husband—a reserve of potatoes! "Long live thou +second Sir Walter Raleigh!" cried Henry. Whereupon they drank to each +other out of the pure element, and <i>hob-nobbed</i> with such glee, that +Clara looked anxiously the next moment at the glasses, to see that they +had not cracked them in their enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>The dinner concluded, they drew their chairs, by way of variety, up to +the solitary window of their apartment, and amused themselves with +looking at the fantastic filigree work with which the frost had +decorated the inside of the glass.</p> + +<p>"My aunt used to maintain," said Clara, "that the room was warmer with +this ice on the window than when the glass was clear."</p> + +<p>"Possibly!" replied Henry. "But on the strength of this faith I would +not dispense with the fire."</p> + +<p>"How wonderfully various," said Clara, "are these ice-flowers! Is it not +strange, one seems to have seen them all in reality, yet cannot give a +name to a single one of them? And look how one grows over the other, and +how the noble leaves seem to expand, even as we speak of them."</p> + +<p>"It is your sweet breath, my dear, that is calling up these ghosts and +spirits of departed flowers," said Henry. "I imagine that some invisible +genius is reading all thy gentle and loving fancies, and pictures them +forth, as they arise, in these flower-phantoms; so that, by looking at +this glass, I know, even while you are silent, that your thoughts are +full of love—that they are dwelling upon me."</p> + +<p>A fond kiss was the answer and the reward of this pretty speech.</p> + +<p>Henry took up his journal, and beginning at the ante-penultimate page, +read aloud:—"To-day—Sold to that old miser of a bookseller, my rare +copy of Chaucer, the costly edition of Caxton. My friend, the dear, +noble Andreas Vandelmeer, made me a present of it on my birthday, when +we were at the university together. He had written to London for it +himself: paid an enormous price for it; and then had it bound, after his +own taste, in rich Gothic style. The old hunks of a bookseller will, no +doubt, send it back to London, and will get for it tenfold what he has +given me. I ought, at least, to have cut out the leaf where the +circumstance of this gift is recorded; and here I have written some +lamentable lines, signed with my present name and address. This is +vexatious. Parting with this book almost persuades me that something +like want is pressing on us; for, without doubt, it was the most +pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>cious thing I possessed, and the memorial of my dearest and my only +friend. Oh, Andreas Vandelmeer! art thou still living? Where art thou? +And dost thou still think of me?"</p> + +<p>"I saw your pain," said Clara, as he concluded, "when you sold that +book; but this friend of your youth—you have never described him to +me."</p> + +<p>"He was in person," replied Henry, "somewhat resembling myself—rather +older and more staid. We knew each other as boys at school. I might say +he almost persecuted me with his love, so passionately did he press it +on me. He was ever complaining that my friendship was too cold. Rich as +he was, and tenderly as he had been brought up, no indulgence had made +him selfish. On leaving the university, he determined on going to India, +that distant land of wonder having fascinated his ardent imagination. +There was then quite a storm of entreaties and supplications that I +should accompany him. He assured me that I should make my fortune there, +as his own forefathers had in fact done. But my mother died about this +time, and my friends, moreover, procured for me a position in the +diplomatic body. He persuaded me, at least, to entrust to him the small +fortune I had inherited from my mother, that he might employ it +advantageously for me; a request which I have always suspected was made +in order that he might have, some future time, a pretext and disguise +for his generosity. We took leave of each other, and I repaired, in the +suite of my ambassador, to the town where your father resided—and +where"——</p> + +<p>"The history becomes tolerably well known to us both. But this noble +Andreas—did you never hear of him again?"</p> + +<p>"I received two letters," answered Henry, "from that remote quarter of +the world. After which I heard, but through no authentic source, that he +died of the cholera. So far as fortune was concerned, I was left as you +see, entirely dependent on myself. Still, I enjoyed the favour of my +ambassador—was not unpopular at my court—could reckon on some powerful +friends;—but all this has disappeared."</p> + +<p>"All this, alas!" said Clara, "you have sacrificed for me. And I also am +a fugitive from home."</p> + +<p>"Then love must supply all. And so it has, and so it will. Has not our +honeymoon, as they vulgarly call it, lasted nearly a year?"</p> + +<p>"It shall last for ever!" said Clara. Then after a pause, which was +filled up as lovers' pauses usually are, she added. "But the worst blow +of all was the loss of your own book;—that dear poetry you had written. +If we had but kept a copy of it, we might have passed many hours of +these winter evenings in reading it. But then," she added, with a smile +and a sigh at the same time, "we should have wanted a candle."</p> + +<p>"We talk—we gossip," said Henry, "which is much better. I hear the +sweet tones of your voice; you sing me a song, or you break suddenly out +into that heavenly laugh of yours. What is there not in that musical, +jubilee laugh? When I hear it, angel mine, I am not only delighted, I +muse, I meditate, I am rapt. How much of character is there in a laugh! +You know no man till you have heard him laugh—till you know when and +how he will laugh. There are occasions—there are humours when a man +with whom we have been long familiar, shall quite startle and repel us, +by breaking out into a laugh which comes manifestly right from his +heart, and which yet we had never heard before. Even in fair ladies with +whom I have been much pleased, I have remarked the same thing. As in +many a heart a sweet angel slumbers unseen till some happy moment +awakens it, so there sleeps often in gracious and amiable characters, +deep in the background, a quite vulgar spirit, which starts into life +when something rudely comical penetrates into the less frequented +chambers of the mind. Our instinct teaches us that in that being there +lies something we must take heed of.</p> + +<p>"As to that young and thoughtless publisher," continued Henry, "who +became bankrupt and ran off with my glorious manuscript, he, no doubt, +did us good service; for how easily might my intercourse with him, while +the book was being printed, have led to our discovery? Your father has +not yet, be assured, relinquished his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> pursuit of us—my passport would +have been examined again with severer scrutiny—something, no doubt, +would have led to the suspicion that the name I bear is assumed. We +should have been separated. So, angel mine, we are happy as we are—most +happy!"</p> + +<p>It had now grown dark, and the fire was burned out; a candle to talk by +would have been certainly superfluous: so they retired early to their +sleeping apartment. Here they could continue their chat in the dark, +quite heedless of the heavy fall of snow that was encumbering their +windows.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Chapter II.</span></h4> + +<p>Next morning, at approach of dawn, Clara hastened up to run to the +stove, to awake the sparks in the ashes. Henry soon came to her +assistance, and they laughed like children, as, with all their efforts, +the flame would <i>not</i> come. At last, with much puffing and blowing, the +shavings kindled, and slips of wood were most artistically laid on so as +to heat the little stove without any waste of the precious store. "You +see, Henry dear," said Clara, "there is hardly enough for to-morrow, and +then"——</p> + +<p>"A fresh supply must be had," said her husband, in a tone as if this +matter of supply was the simplest thing in the world; whereas he well +knew, that whatever stock of money remained to them, must be reserved +for the still more essential article of food. After breakfast, he again +took up his journal. "How I long to come to that page which records how +you and I, dearest, ran away with one another."</p> + +<p>"O Heaven!" cried Clara, "how strange, how unexpected as that eventful +moment! For some days my father had shown a certain ill-humour towards +me, and had spoken in a quite unusual manner. He had before expressed +his surprise at your frequent visits; now he did not name you, but +talked <i>at</i> you, and spoke continually of young men who refused to know +their own position. If I was silent on these occasions he was angry; and +if I spoke it was still worse: he grew more and more bitter. One +morning, just as I was going out in the carriage to pay some visits, my +faithful maid ran down the steps after me, and, under pretence of +adjusting my dress, whispered into my ear that all was discovered—that +my desk had been broken open, and your letters found—and that, in a few +hours, I was to be sent off a prisoner to an aunt in a distant part of +the country. How sudden was my resolution! I had not ridden far before I +alighted from the carriage, under pretence of buying something at a +trinket-shop. I sent the coachman and servant away, bidding them return +for me in at hour, and then"——</p> + +<p>"And then," interrupted Henry, "how delighted was I, how almost +terrified with joy, to see you suddenly enter my apartments! I had just +returned from my ambassador, and had by good chance some blank passports +with me; I filled one up with the first name that occurred; and then, +without further preparation, we entered a hired carriage, crossed the +borders, were married, and were happy."</p> + +<p>This animated dialogue was interrupted by the entrance of an old woman, +by name Christina, who had formerly been Clara's nurse. In their flight +they had entered into her little cottage as a place where they could +safely stop to rest themselves, and the faithful old dame had entreated +them to take her with them. She now lived in a small room below, in the +same house, and entirely supported herself by going out to work amongst +the neighbors. She entered the room at present to mention that she +should not sleep that night in her own apartment below; but that, +nevertheless, she should return next morning early enough to make their +usual daily purchases for them. Clara followed her out of the room to +speak with her apart. Henry, in her absence, as if relieved from the +necessity of supporting his spirits, or deprived of the power which +sustained them, sunk his head upon the table, and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Why cannot I," he muttered to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> himself, "work with my hands as this +poor woman does? I have still health and strength. But no—I dare +not—she would then, for the first time, feel the misery of our +position; she would torture herself to work also; besides, we should be +discovered and separated—and, come what may, while we can yet live, we +are happy."</p> + +<p>Clara returned in excellent spirits. They sat down to their frugal and +cheerful meal, to which some additions had been made by the obstinate +kindness of old Christina. "I could not have the heart to refuse her," +said Clara. "Now, if only wood were not wanting, all would be well."</p> + +<p>The next morning Clara slept longer than usual. She was surprised, on +waking, to see that the day had dawned, and still more to find that her +husband had left her side. Her astonishment was further increased when +she heard, in the next room, a crashing and grating noise, as of one +sawing through an obstinate piece of timber. She got up as speedily as +possible, to ascertain the cause of these unusual events.</p> + +<p>"Henry," she cried, as she entered the room, "what are you about there?"</p> + +<p>"Sawing wood, my dear," he replied, as he looked up panting from his +labours.</p> + +<p>"But how in the world did you come by that saw, and this famous piece of +wood?"</p> + +<p>"I remembered," answered Henry, "having seen in the loft above us, soon +after we came here, in one of my voyages of discovery, a saw and a +hatchet, belonging, I suppose, to some previous tenant of our apartment, +or perhaps to our old landlord. So much for these brave tools. As to +this noble piece of wood, it was till this morning the banister to our +staircase. Observe what solid, substantial men our ancestors were! What +a broad, magnificent piece of oak! This will make a quite different sort +of fire from your deal shavings and slips of fir."</p> + +<p>"But," cried Clara, "the damage to the house!"</p> + +<p>"No one comes to see us," said Henry. "We know these steps, and indeed +seldom or never go down them. The old Christina is the only person who +will miss it, and I will say to her very gravely—Look you, old lady, do +you think that a noble oak of the forest is to be hewn down, and then +planed and polished by carpenters and joiners, merely that you may come +up and down these steps a little more easily? No, no, such a magnificent +banister is a most palpable superfluity."</p> + +<p>"Since it is done," said Clara, "I will at least take my share in this +new species of woodcraft."</p> + +<p>So they laid the beam, which filled the apartment, on two chairs, and +first they sawed with united efforts at the middle to make it the more +manageable. It was hard work, for the oak was tough, and the saw was +old, and the workmen were more willing than skilful; but at length it +came in two with a crash.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Clara, as she looked up, and threw her ringlets aside, her +face glowing with the unwonted exercise, "this work has one advantage at +least; we want no fire this morning to warm us."</p> + +<p>After sawing off several square blocks, Henry set to work with his +hatchet to cleave them into pieces fit for the stove. It was fortunate +that, during this operation, which made the walls of their little +dwelling re-echo, their landlord was absent. Nor were the neighbours +likely to be much surprised at the noise, as many handicraftsmen +inhabited that locality.</p> + +<p>On this eventful day breakfast had been forgotten; dinner and breakfast +were consolidated into one meal. This being dispatched with their usual +cheerfulness, they retired to their seat by the window. To-day there was +no frost upon the glass; and the sky—all that could be seen of it—was +clear as crystal. It was a curiously simple prospect which this window +presented. Underneath them, over the ground-floor of the house, had been +constructed—for what reason it would not be easy to say—a tiled roof, +which projected in such a manner as completely to hide the narrow street +from their view. In front stretched the long low roof of a building, +which seemed to be used as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> warehouse; and on both sides they were +hemmed in by the blank projecting walls and the tall chimneys of larger +houses—so that certain masses of brickwork, a long roof, and a fragment +of the open sky, was all that the eye could possibly command. This +complete isolation suited the lovers very well; for, besides that it +effectually concealed them from the discovery of their pursuers, it +permitted them to stand at the window, and talk and caress, without the +restraint occasioned by envious spectators. When they first occupied the +apartment, if they heard an unusual noise out of doors, they naturally +ran to the window to look down into the street; and it was not till +after many fruitless experiments that they learned to sit quiet on such +occasions. It was quite an event if a cat was seen stealthily making its +way over the long sloping roof in front of them. In the summer, when the +sparrows built their nests in the tall chimneys on either side, and were +perpetually flying to and fro, twittering, caressing, quarrelling—this +was quite a society. When a chimney-sweeper once thrust out his black +face from one of these chimneys, and shouted aloud to testify the +accomplishment of his ascent, it was an event that brought a shriek of +surprise from Clara.</p> + +<p>Thus passed the days, and the pair were happy as kings, though they were +living very like beggars. Very singular was their power of abstraction +from the future, their entire satisfaction with the present. Clara, it +is true, cast some anxious thoughts after the wood; but Henry brought in +every morning the necessary supply: there was no symptoms of failure. +She thought indeed, of late, that the grain of the wood seemed altered; +but it burned as well as ever.</p> + +<p>"Where," said Clara, one morning, "where is our faithful Christina? I +have not seen her for many a day. You rise in the morning before I can +get up—you take in the bread and the water-jug—I never see her. Why +does she not come up? Is she ill?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Henry, with a slight embarrassment of manner, which his wife +did not fail to detect.</p> + +<p>"Ah! you conceal something from me" she cried. "I will go down directly +and see what is the matter with her."</p> + +<p>"It is so long since you descended these steps, and there is no +banister—you will fall."</p> + +<p>"No, no, I know the steps—I could find them in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Those steps," said Henry, with a mock solemnity of manner—"those steps +will you never tread again!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is something you conceal from me!" exclaimed Clara. "Say what +you will, I will go down and see Christina."</p> + +<p>She turned quickly round and opened the door, but Henry clasped her as +quickly in his arms.</p> + +<p>"My dear," cried he, "will you break your neck?"</p> + +<p>The secret was at once disclosed. They stepped together to the +landing-place. There were no longer any stairs to be seen. Clara clasped +her little hands as she looked first down into the dark precipice below, +and then at her husband, who maintained the most comical gravity in the +world. She then ran back to the stove, snatched up one of the pieces of +wood, and, looking at it closely, said—"Ah, now I see why the grain was +so different! So, then, we have burned up the stairs?"</p> + +<p>"So it seems," answered Henry, quite calmly. "I hardly know why I kept +this secret from you—perhaps that you might not be distressed by any +superfluous scruples. Now that you know it, I am sure you will find it +quite reasonable."</p> + +<p>"But Christina?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she is quite well! In the morning I let her down a cord, to which +she fastens her little basket. This I draw up, and afterwards the +water-jug. Our housekeeping proceeds in the most orderly fashion in the +world. When the banister was at an end, it struck me that one half at +least of the steps of our staircase might be dispensed with; it was but +to step a little higher, as one is forced to do in many houses. With the +help of Christina, who entered into this philosophical view of the +matter, I broke off the first, third, fifth, and so forth. When one half +of the steps was consumed, the other half was also condemned as +superfluous—for what do we want with stairs, we who never go out?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But the landlord?"</p> + +<p>"He will not return till Easter. Meanwhile the weather will be getting +milder, and there are still some old doors and planks up above, which I +shall pronounce altogether superfluous. Therefore warm thee, dearest +Clara, without any care for the future."</p> + +<p>Things, however, did not quite fall out as expected. On the afternoon of +that very same day, a carriage was heard to drive up to the little +house. They heard the rattling of the wheels, the stopping of the +vehicle, the descent of the passengers. It was in vain to put their +heads out of window, they could see nothing there. But they heard the +sound of unpacking, then the greeting of neighbours—it was evident, +beyond a doubt, that their dreaded landlord had returned home much +sooner than he ought. The heavy tread of the gouty gentleman now +resounded in the passage—the crisis was at hand. Henry stood at the +half-open door, listening. Clara sat within, regarding him with a +questioning look.</p> + +<p>"I must go up," the landlord was now heard to say; "I must go up, and +see after my lodgers. I hope they are as cheerful as ever, and the young +wife as pretty."</p> + +<p>There was a pause. The old man was groping about in the dark.</p> + +<p>"How is this?" he muttered to himself. "Don't know my own house! Not +here—not there! Ulric! Ulric! help here!"</p> + +<p>Ulric, his servant and factotum, came to his assistance.</p> + +<p>"Help me up these stairs," said the landlord. "I am blinded—bewitched! +I cannot find the steps, and yet they were broad enough!"</p> + +<p>"Herr Emmerich," said the old and somewhat surly domestic, "you are a +little giddy from travelling."</p> + +<p>"An hypothesis," whispered Henry, turning to his wife, "which unhappily +will not hold."</p> + +<p>"Zounds!" cried Ulric, who had run his head against the wall, "I have +lost my wits too!"</p> + +<p>"I am groping right and left," said the landlord, "and all round, and up +above. I think the devil has taken the stairs!"</p> + +<p>"Another hypothesis," whispered Henry, "and a very bold one."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the more sensible domestic had at once run for a light. This +he now returned with, and, holding it up in his sturdy fist, he +illuminated the quite empty space.</p> + +<p>"Ten thousand devils!" exclaimed the landlord, as he gazed around and +above him with astonishment. "This is the strangest business! Herr +Brand! Herr Brand! Is any one up there?"</p> + +<p>It was of no use to deny himself. Henry stepped out, bent over the +landing, and saw, by the uncertain flicker of the light, the portly form +of his landlord.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my worthy friend, Herr Emmerich!" he called out in the blandest +manner imaginable, "you are most welcome. It speaks well for the gout +that you have returned so much earlier than your appointed time. I am +delighted to see you looking so well."</p> + +<p>"Your obedient servant," answered the other; "but that is not the +question. What has become of my stairs?"</p> + +<p>"Stairs! were there any stairs here?" said Henry. "Indeed, my friend, I +go out so seldom, or rather not at all, that I take no notice of any +thing out of my own chamber. I study, I work—I concern myself about +little else."</p> + +<p>"Herr Brand," said the landlord, half choking with rage, "we must speak +about this in another tone! You are the only lodger. You shall give an +account before a court of justice"—</p> + +<p>"Be not overwroth," replied Henry. "If you really contemplate legal +proceedings, I think I can be of use to you; for, now I think of it, I +perfectly remember that there <i>were</i> stairs here, and have a vivid +recollection of having, in your absence, used them."</p> + +<p>"Used them!" cried the old man, stamping with his feet; "and how used +them? You have destroyed them—you have destroyed the house."</p> + +<p>"Nay, do not exaggerate, Herr Emmerich. I cannot ask you to walk +up-stairs, or you might see that these rooms we inhabit are in a perfect +state of preservation. As to this ladder, which was but an asses' bridge +for tedious visitors and bad men, I removed it with great difficulty, as +being superfluous."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But these steps," cried Emmerich, "with their noble banister, these +two-and-twenty broad, strong oaken steps, were an integral part of my +house. Old as I am, I never heard of a lodger who dealt as he pleased +with the stairs of a house."</p> + +<p>"Be patient," said Henry, "and you shall hear the real connexion of +events. The post failed in bringing our necessary remittances; the +winter was unusually severe; all ordinary means of procuring fuel were +wanting; I had recourse to this sort of forced loan. At the same time I +did not think, respected sir, that you would return before the warm +summer weather."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said the landlord. "Summer weather! Do you think that these +my stairs will sprout out again, like asparagus, when the summer comes?"</p> + +<p>"Really," said Henry, "I am not sufficiently acquainted with the growth +and habits of the stair-plant to determine."</p> + +<p>"Ulric!" cried the wrathful landlord, "run for the police. You shall +find this no jesting matter."</p> + +<p>The police arrived. The inspector was scandalized at the outrage which +had been committed, and summoned the delinquent to surrender.</p> + +<p>"Never!" said Henry. "An Englishman says well that his house is his +castle; and mine is a castle with the drawbridge up."</p> + +<p>"There is an easy remedy for that," said the officer, who thereupon +called for a ladder, and gave command to his men to mount, to bind the +criminal with cords, and bring him down to his condign punishment.</p> + +<p>The house was now filled with the people of the neighbourhood. Men, +women, and children had been attracted to the spot, and a crowd of +curious spectators, assembled in the street, made their comments upon +the business. Clara had seated herself near the window, not a little +embarrassed; but as she saw that her husband still retained his +accustomed cheerfulness, she also kept her self-possession—not, +however, without much wondering how it would all end. Henry came in for +a moment to hearten her, and also to fetch something from the room.</p> + +<p>"We are shut up, my dear," said he, "like our famous Götz in his +Taxthausen. This obstinate trumpeter has summoned me to surrender at +mercy, and I will now answer him in the manner of our great model."</p> + +<p>Clara smiled.</p> + +<p>"Your fate is my fate," she said, and added to herself in a low voice: +"I think, if my father saw us now, he would forgive all."</p> + +<p>Henry again stepped out upon the landing, and seeing they were verily +bringing in a ladder, called to them in a solemn tone—"Gentlemen, +bethink you what you do. I have been prepared, weeks ago, for every +thing—for the very worst that can happen. I will not be taken prisoner, +but intend to defend myself to the last drop of my blood. Here do I +bring two blunderbusses loaded with ball, and this old cannon, a fearful +piece of ordnance, full to the throat with every destructive ingredient. +I have in this chamber powder and ball, cartridges, lead, all things +necessary to sustain the war; whilst my brave wife, who has been +accustomed to fire-arms, will load the pieces as I fire them. Advance, +therefore, if you wish blood to flow."</p> + +<p>Henry had laid two sticks and an old boot upon the floor.</p> + +<p>The leader of the police, who could distinguish nothing in the dark, +beckoned to his men to stand back.</p> + +<p>"Better," said he to Herr Emmerich, "that we starve out this formidable +rebel."</p> + +<p>"Starve, indeed!" said Henry: "we are provided for months to come with +all sorts of dried fruits—plums, pears, apples, biscuits. The winter is +nearly passed, but should fuel fail us, there is still in the roof above +much superfluous timber."</p> + +<p>"Oh, hear the heathen!" cried Emmerich in agony. "First he breaks to +pieces the bottom of my house, and then he threatens to unroof it."</p> + +<p>"It is beyond all example," said the officer.</p> + +<p>Many of the spectators, however, were secretly pleased at the distress +of the avaricious landlord. Some suggested the calling in of the +military, with their guns.</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake, no!" cried Emmerich; "the house will then be utterly +destroyed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are quite right," said Henry. "And have you forgotten what for many +years every newspaper has been repeating to us, that the first +cannon-shot, let it fall where it may, will set all Europe in blaze?"</p> + +<p>"He is a demagogue, a carbonaro," said the officer. "Who knows what +confederates he may have even in this crowd which surrounds us?"</p> + +<p>The alarm of the officer seemed, for a moment, to be justified, for a +shout was now heard from some of the populace who were collected in the +street. Emmerich and the officer turned round to enquire into the +meaning of this new demonstration. Henry took the opportunity to whisper +a word to his young wife.</p> + +<p>"Be of good cheer," he said; "we gain time. We shall be able to +capitulate. Perhaps even a Sickingen may come to our rescue."</p> + +<p>The shout of the mob had been occasioned by the appearance of a +brilliant equipage, which made its way slowly through the thronged and +narrow street. The footmen were clad in splendid livery, and a coachman, +covered with lace, drove four prancing steeds. The mob might be excused +for shouting "The king! The king!" The carriage stopped before the door +of the house which was now become the great point of attraction, and a +nobleman descended, elegantly attired and decorated with orders and +crosses.</p> + +<p>"Does a certain Herr Brand live here?" enquired the illustrious +stranger; "and what means all this uproar?"</p> + +<p>Hereupon fifty different voices made answer with as many different +accounts. The landlord, stepping forward, pointed to the dilapidated +condition of the house, and explained the real state of affairs. The +stranger continued to advance into the hall, and called with a loud +voice, "Does Herr Brand live here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Henry from above; "but who is this that asks?"</p> + +<p>"The ladder here!" cried the stranger.</p> + +<p>"No one ascends to this place!" said Henry.</p> + +<p>"Not if he brings back the Chaucer, the edition of Caxton?"</p> + +<p>"O Heaven! the good angel may ascend!" and immediately ran back to Clara +to communicate the joyful news. "Our Sickingen is verily come!" he +exclaimed. Tears of joy were starting to his eyes.</p> + +<p>A few words from the stranger, addressed to the landlord and the +officer, produced a sudden calm. The ladder was raised, and Henry, in a +moment, was in the arms of his old friend Andreas Vandelmeer! All was +now joy and congratulation in the little apartment, as Henry introduced +to his friend his dear and beautiful wife. The first greetings passed, +Vandelmeer informed them that the small fortune which Henry had +entrusted to his care had increased and multiplied itself, and that he +might now consider himself a rich man. Vandelmeer, on his return from +India, had landed at the port of London. There it had occurred to him to +procure some antiquarian present for his friend, like that which he had +formerly given him. Entering the bookseller's where his previous +purchase had been made, he saw a Chaucer, which attracted his attention +from its similarity to the one he had procured for his friend. It was, +in fact, the same. It had found its way back to its original owner. On +opening it, he found some melancholy lines written on the fly-leaf, and +signed with his present name and address. He immediately repurchased the +book, and hastened to the discovery, and, as it proved, the rescue of +his friend.</p> + +<p>To complete the happiness of all parties, he was able to inform them +that the father of Clara had laid aside his anger, and was desirous of +discovering his daughter only that he might receive and forgive her. +What need to say more? Even the landlord was content, and had reason to +congratulate himself on the devastation committed on his staircase.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_OVERLAND_PASSAGE" id="THE_OVERLAND_PASSAGE"></a>THE OVERLAND PASSAGE.</h2> + + +<p>Our intercourse with India has become so important within these few +years, and the rapid transit by the isthmus of Suez has become so +favourite a passage, that the public naturally feel an extreme curiosity +relative to every circumstance of the route. The whole is a splendid +novelty, sufficiently strange to retain some portion of the old wonder +which belongs to all things Arabian; sufficiently wild to supply us with +the scenes and adventures of barbarism; and yet sufficiently brought +within the sphere of European interests, to combine with the romance of +the wilderness, at once Oriental pomp and the powers and utilities of +civilized and Christian society. The contrast is of the most exciting +kind:—we have the Bedouin, with his lance and desert home, hovering +round the European carriage, but now guarding what his fathers would +have plundered; the caravan with all its camels, turbaned merchants, and +dashing cavalry, moving along the river's bank, on whose waters the +steam-boat is rushing; the many-coloured and many-named tribes of the +South, meeting the men of every European nation in the streets where the +haughty Osmanli was once master. The buildings offer scarcely a less +singular contrast:—the lofty, prison-like, close casemented fronts of +the huge Mahometan dwellings, frowning in grim repose upon the spruce +shops and glittering hotels of the French and Italian trader and +tavern-keeper; and though last, most memorable of all—the old Pasha, +the only man in existence who has given a new being to a people; the +true regenerator of his country, or rather the creator of a nation out +of one of the most abject, exhausted, and helpless races of mankind. +Egypt, the slave of the stranger for a thousand years, trampled on by +Saracen, Turk, Mameluke, and Frenchman; but by the enterprise and +intelligence of this extraordinary individual, suddenly raised to an +independent rank, and actually possessing a most influential interest in +the eyes of Europe and Asia.</p> + +<p>The route of the travellers begins with Ceylon. Ceylon is a fine +picturesque island, very fertile, strikingly placed for commerce, and +containing a tolerably intelligent population. Yet we do not seem to +have made much of its advantages hitherto; Singapore and even Hong-Kong +are likely to throw it into eclipse; and the chief benefit of its +possession is in keeping away foreign powers from too near an inspection +of our settlements in India. But its shores have the richness of +vegetation which belongs to the tropics, and the variety of aspect which +is so often found in the Asiatic islands. The Major and his wife +embarked on board the steamer "The India," in May 1844. The view from +the Point de Galle is striking. The town is shaded by trees, which give +it the look of richness and freshness that contributes such a charm to +the Oriental landscape. On the left of the bay is a headland clothed +with tropic vegetation. In front are two islands, giving variety to the +bay. Behind is the esplanade, shut in by hills covered with cocoa-nut +trees. At the foot of those hills is the native town and bridge, also +shaded by trees. Crowds of canoes, of various shapes and colours, moored +along the shore, complete the scene.</p> + +<p>The passengers were discontented with the India. They never saw any +thing like the dirt of the ship. The coal-dust penetrated into every +thing. It was in vain to sigh for a clean face and hands, for they were +unattainable. This must be true; yet it passes our comprehension. We +cannot understand why coal-dust should make its appearance at all for +the affliction of the passengers. It certainly blackens no one in our +European steamers. Its business is in the engine-room, and we never +heard of its making its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> <i>entrée</i> into either the saloon or the cabin. +The India is complained of as being very ill adapted for the service, as +unwieldy, and inadequate to face the south-west monsoon. Yet the vessel +was handsomely decorated: the saloon was profusely ornamented with +gilding, cornices, and mirrors; the tables were richly veneered, and the +furniture was of morocco leather. All this exhibits no want of +liberality on the part of the proprietors; but a much heavier charge is +laid on the carelessness which allowed this handsome vessel to be +infested with disgusting vermin. "The swarms of cock-roaches," says Mrs +Darby Griffiths, "almost drove me out of my senses. The other day sixty +were killed in our cabin, and we might have killed as many more. They +are very large, about two inches and a half long, and run about my +pillows and sheets in the most disgusting manner. Rats are also very +numerous." Now, all this we can as little comprehend as the coal-dust. +If such things were, they must have arisen from the most extraordinary +negligence; and we hope the proprietors, enlightened by Mrs Darby +Griffith's book, will have the vessel cleansed out before her next +voyage.</p> + +<p>The monsoon was now direct against them, and the probability was, that +instead of getting to Aden in its teeth, their coal-dust would fail, and +they would be driven back to Bombay for more. But the commander of one +of the Oriental Company's ships, who was fortunately a passenger, +advised the captain to go south, for the purpose of meeting winds which +would afterwards blow him to the north-west. The advice was as +fortunately taken. They steamed till within two degrees of the line, and +then met with a south wind. This, however, though it drove them on their +course, made them roll terribly. The India was not prepared for this +rough treatment. There was not a swing-table in the ship. The +consequence was, that bottles of wine were rolling in every direction; +geese, turkeys, and curry were precipitated into the laps of the +unfortunate people on the lee-side; while those on the weather-side were +thrown forward with their faces on their plates. This was treatment +which probably John Bull would not like; but being a philosopher, and +besides a native of an island, he would endure it as one of the +necessities of nature. But there were four French passengers on board +who took it in a different way, and probably conceiving that a vessel at +sea was something in the nature of a stage-coach, and the Indian ocean a +high-road, they felt themselves peculiarly ill-used by this tossing; and +at every instance of having a bottle of wine emptied into their drapery, +they regarded it as a national insult, and complained bitterly to the +captain. The French are a belligerent people, and we are surprised that +this series of aggressions by the billows has not been taken up by Mons. +Thiers and his friends, as an additional evidence of the malice of +England to the <i>grande nation</i>. Sea-sickness, starvation, and the loss +of their claret, were acts worthy, indeed, of <i>perfide Albion</i>. The +captain himself was one of the victims to the "movement." The fair +tourist thus draws his portrait—whether the captain will admire either +the sketch or the limner, is another question. He is described as "an +immensely fat, punchy man, resembling a huge ball, with great fat red +cheeks which almost conceal his eyes, and a small turned-up nose." He +was, of course, always seated at the head of the table, and, she +supposed, considered it beneath his dignity to have his chair tied; but +this world is all made up of compromises and compensations—if the +captain preserved his dignity, he lost his balance. A surge came, "his +fixity of tenure was gone in a moment, and this solid dignitary was shot +forth, chair and all, and rolled against the bulkhead. Every body was in +roars of laughter."</p> + +<p>But though all this was toil and trouble for the miserable lords and +ladies of the creation, it was delight for the masters and mistresses of +the mighty element around them. The inhabitants of the ocean were in +full sport; whales were seen rushing through the brine, porpoises were +sporting with their sleek skins in the highest enjoyment through the +billows, and shoals of dolphins filled the waves with their splendid +pea-green and azure. It was an ocean fête, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> <i>bal-paré</i> of the finny +tribe, a gala-day of nature; while miserable men and women were +shrinking, and shivering, and sinking in heart, in the midst of the +animation, enjoyment, and magnificence of the world of waters. On the +third night of their sailing, the wind became higher, and the swell from +the south stronger than ever. They pitched about in the most dreadful +manner, and during the night two sails were carried away, and the +fore-topmast. They were now in peril; but they had the steam in reserve, +and steered for their port. On the 9th of June they were in smooth +water, running up between the coasts of Arabia and Africa. The weather +now suddenly changed; the sun became intensely hot, and though forty +miles from the shore, they were visited by numerous butterflies, +dragon-flies, and moths. In two days after, they sailed through an +orange-coloured sea, filled with a shoal of animalculæ fifteen miles +long. On the next day they came in sight of the harbour of Aden. This +whole track was the voyage from which the Arabian story-tellers have +fabricated such wonders. One of the voyages of the celebrated Sinbad the +sailor, the most picturesque of all voyagers, was over this very ocean. +The orange-coloured waters, the strong effluvium of the waves +intoxicating the brain, the wild headlands of Africa—each the dwelling +of a necromancer—the Maldives, filled with mermaids and sea-monsters, +the volcanic blaze that guarded the entrance to the Red Sea, the fiery +mountains of Aden, the Hadramant, or region of Death, the Babelmandeb, +or Gate of Tears, the Isle of Perim, and the Cape of Burials, wild, +black, and terrific—fill the Arab imagination with wonders that throw +all modern invention to an immeasurable distance.</p> + +<p>The town of Aden is not seen from the sea; it lies behind the mountains, +which are first visible. To look at the coast from this spot, nothing +but a sandy desert presents itself. The peninsula is joined to the +mainland, Arabia Felix, by a narrow sandy isthmus, nearly level with the +ocean. It is only 14,000 feet wide. There are three rocky islands in the +bay, one of which, commanding the isthmus, is fortified. The passengers +of the India were disturbed during the whole day by the yells of the +Arabs who were bringing the coals on board. They look more like demons +than human beings. "The coal-dust, of which we had lost sight for some +time, now began once more to turn every thing into its own colour. The +coolies employed in this service come from the coast of Zanzibar. They +keep up a continual yell during their work, and perform a kind of dance +all the time." They must be very well paid, and this is the true secret +of making men work. The African is no more lazy than other men, when he +can get value for his labour. This is the true secret for abolishing the +slave trade. Those men come hundreds or thousand of miles to cover +themselves with coal-dust, in an atmosphere where the thermometer +sometimes rises to 120° in the shade, and work "day and night until they +have finished their task," roaring and dancing all the time, +besides—and all this for the stimulant of wages. It is to be presumed +that their performance is "piece-work," the only work which brings out +the true effort of the labourer. Their zeal was said to be so great, +that every hundred tons of coal embarked cost the life of a man. But the +Africans have learned to drink grog; an accomplishment which we should +have thought they would not be long in acquiring, and since that period, +they live longer. This, we must acknowledge, is a new merit in grog; it +is the first time that we have heard of it as a promoter of longevity.</p> + +<p>The Arabs on the coast form two classes, perfectly distinct, at least in +their conduct to the English. The class of warriors, being robbers by +profession, are extremely anxious to rob us, and still more indignant at +our preventing their robbery of others. Their piracies have suffered +grievously from the vigilance of our gun-boats, and they have once or +twice actually attempted to storm our fortifications. The consequence +is, that they have been soundly beaten, the majority have left their +carcasses behind them, and the survivors have been taught a "moral +lesson," which has kept them at a respectful distance. But the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> Arab +cultivators are decent and industrious men, and form the servants of the +town. Whether we shall ever make a great southern colony of the country +adjoining the peninsula, must be a question of the future. But it is +said that a very fine and healthy country extends to the north, and that +the mountains visible from Aden enclose valleys of singular +productiveness and beauty.</p> + +<p>Taste in personal decoration differs a good deal in the south from that +of the north. The Arab, with a face as black as ink, thinks an enormous +shock of red hair the perfection of taste; he accordingly dyes his hair +with lime, and thus makes himself, unconsciously, the regular demon of +the stage.</p> + +<p>The entrance to the new British settlement is through masses of the +boldest and wildest rocks. After passing a defile between two mountains, +we come to the only access on this side, the "lofty mountains forming an +impregnable fortification." This entrance is cut through the solid rock. +A strong guard of sepoys is posted there. The passage is so high and +narrow, that "one might almost compare it to the eye in a darning +needle." This is a female comparison, but an expressive one. Issuing +from the pass, the whole valley of Aden lay like a map beneath, bounded +on three sides by precipitous mountains, rising up straight and barren +like a mighty wall, while on the fourth was the sea; but even there the +view was bounded by the island rock of Sera, thus completing the +fortification of this Eastern Gibraltar.</p> + +<p>Here the travellers were welcomed by a hospitable garrison surgeon and +his wife, found a dinner, an apartment, great civility, and a romantic +view of the Arab landscape by moonlight. They heard the drums and pipes +of one of the regiments, and were "startled by the loud report of a +cannon, which shook the frail tenement, and resounded with a lengthened +echo through the hills. It was the eight o'clock gun, which stood only a +stone's throw from the house, and on the same rock." The lady, as a +soldier's wife, ought to have been less alarmed; but she was in a land +where every thing was strange. "We were literally sleeping out in the +open air; as there were no doors, windows, or venetians to close, and +every breath of wind agitated the frail walls of bamboo and matting, I +was awoke in the night by the musquitto curtains blowing up; the wind +had risen, and came every now and then with sudden gusts; but its breath +was so soft, warm, and dry, that I, who had never ventured to bear a +night-blast in Ceylon, felt that it was harmless."</p> + +<p>Aden, in earlier times, formed one of the thirteen states of Yemen; and +prodigious tales are told of its opulence, its mosques and minarets, its +baths of jasper, and its crescents and colonnades. But Arabia is +proverbially a land of fable, and the glories of Aden exhibit Arabian +imagination in its highest stage. Possibly, while it continued a port +for the Indian trade, it may have shared the wealth which India has +always lavished on commerce. But a spot without a tree, without a mine, +and without a manufacture, could never have possessed solid wealth under +the languid industry and wild rapine of an Arab population. When we +recollect, too, how long the Turks were masters of this corner of +Arabia, we may well be sceptical of the opulence of periods when the +sword was the law. No memorials of its prosperity remain; no ruined +temples or broken columns attest the magnificence or the taste of an +earlier generation. Its only hope of opulence must be dated from its +first possession by the British. But the barrenness of the soil forbids +substantial wealth; and though the native merchants, relying on the +honour of British laws and the security of British arms, are flocking +into it by hundreds, and will soon flock into it by thousands, it must +be at best but a warehouse and a fortress, though both will, in all +probability, be of the most magnificent description. The population is +of the miscellaneous order which is to be found in all the Eastern +ports. The Parsees, the handsome and industrious race who are to be seen +every where in India; the Jews, keen and indefatigable, who are to be +seen in every part of the world; and the Arabs, whose glance and gesture +seem to despise both, are already crowding this half camp, half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +capital. From eighty to a hundred camels, every morning, supply the +markets of Aden. They bring in baskets of fine fruit, grapes, melons, +dates, and peaches. The greater number bring also poultry, grass, and +straw. Troops of donkeys carry water in skins to every part of the town; +and there is no want of the necessaries of life, though of course they +are dear. Aden is excessively hot, but regarded as healthy. The air is +pure, dry, and elastic. The engineers are building works on the +different commanding positions; and Aden, within a few years, will +probably be the strongest fortification, as it is already one of the +finest ports, east of the Mediterranean. But we look to nobler +prospects; the inland country is perhaps one of the finest regions in +the world. Almost within view of Aden lies a country as picturesque as +Switzerland, and as fertile as the valleys of the tropics. It is +singularly salubrious; and, in point of extent, may be regarded as +unlimited. We see no possible reason why Aden should not, in the course +of a few years, be made the capital of a great Arabian colony. Conquest +must not be the means, but purchase might not be difficult; and +civilization and Christianity might be spread together through immense +territories, formed in the bounty of nature, and only waiting to be +filled with a free and vigorous population. It is only the centre and +north of Arabia that is desert. The coast, and especially the southern +extremity, are fertile. Without the ambition of empire, or the desire of +encroachment, British enterprize might here find a superb field, and the +Arabian peninsula might, for the first time in history, be added to the +civilized world.</p> + +<p>The travellers now ran up the Red Sea. The navigation has greatly +improved within these few years, in consequence of the intercourse +between England and India. Surveys have been made, and charts have been +formed, which almost divest the passage of peril. But the navigation is +still intricate, in consequence of the coral rocks and numerous shoals, +which, however, may be escaped by due vigilance, and the experienced +mariner has nothing to fear. The aspect of the coast, of both Africa and +Arabia, is wild and repulsive; but some compensation for the monotony of +the shores is to be found in the sea itself. When calm, the transparency +of the water exhibits the bottom to the depth of thirty fathoms. "And +what a new world is discovered through this vale of waters! what +treasures for the naturalist!" The sands are overspread with forests of +coral plants of every colour, shells of remarkable beauty; and, in the +midst of this sub-aqueous landscape, fish of brilliant hues sporting in +all directions. At length they reached the gulf of Suez, with the blue +peaks of Sinai in the distance, and continued running up the gulf, which +was one hundred and sixty miles long, until Suez came in sight. Here all +is dreary: deserts and sand-banks form the whole landscape. Arab boats +came alongside, and conveyed the passengers from the steamer. The town +looked dismal; its walls and fortifications were in decay; the +landing-place was crowded by sickly-looking creatures, the evident +victims of malaria, and the chief ornament of the place was a large +white-washed tomb. This condition of things was not much improved when +the party found themselves in the hotel of Messrs Hill and Co. +Musquittoes, and every species of frightful insect, made war against +sleep; and when their reign had passed away, and the travellers rose, +crowds of flies continued the persecution. The travellers made a bad +bargain in paying their passage-money at once from Suez to Alexandria; +and it is described as the wiser mode to pay only to Cairo, and then +take the choice of the several conveyances which are sure to be found +there. The Arab drivers and carriers seem to have fully acquired those +arts of extortion, which flourish in such abundance wherever English +money is to be found. They cheat, and lie, and cajole, with +extraordinary assiduity; and the majority of the passengers on this +occasion seem to have been detained unnecessarily on the road, and +treated badly at the station houses. The first part of the desert is +rather rocky than sandy, and the road seems to have been formed chiefly +by the carriage wheels. It is covered with great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> pieces of stone and +rock, which sorely tried the patience of the travellers. Hundreds of +carcasses of camels lie in the way; the flesh is soon eaten by the +wolves and rats, while the bones bleach in the sun. Little troops of +Arabs were met from time to time, sometimes on camels and sometimes on +horses. They were armed to the teeth, as black as negroes, and looked +ferocious enough to make any party of pacific travellers tremble for +their goods and chattels. But they were the patrols of Mohammed Ali, and +guardians of the goods which in other days they would have delighted to +plunder. There are eight stations on this road through the desert, all +built by that man of wonders, the Pasha. Of these, four are only +stables; but four are houses for the reception of travellers. They are +generally from twelve to sixteen miles apart. The station No. 6, though +by no means possessing the comforts of an English hotel, must be a +miracle to the old travellers of the desert. It consists of two +chambers, a kitchen, and servants' room, with a large public saloon +occupying the whole of one end, and completing a little centre court. +Three sides of the saloon were furnished with divans. There was a long +table in the centre, with several chairs, and a glass window at each end +of the room. But this was unluckily the season of flies, and they were +the torment of the travellers; table, wall, ceiling, and floors swarmed +with them. They flew into the face, the eyes, and the mouth. Thousands +of musquittoes were also buzzing round and biting every thing. The +breakfast was no sooner laid on the table than it was blackened with +flies. The beds were hiving, and intolerable. No. 4, the halfway-house, +was rather better. It is the largest of them all, and has a long row of +bedrooms, and two public saloons. It has a large courtyard, in which +were turkeys, geese, sheep, and goats, for the use of travellers. The +Arab coachman here tried a trick of the road. He sent up a message that +he had observed the lady looked very much tired, and that he therefore +advised them to get to the end of their journey as quickly as possible; +that they had better start in two hours, as the moon was very bright, +and that he would take them into Cairo by breakfast-time in the morning. +But it was suspected that this haste was in order that the passengers +waiting at Cairo to go by the India steamer should be conveyed across +the desert by himself, so they declined his offer, and enjoyed their +night's rest. On rising in the morning, they felt that they had reason +to congratulate themselves on their refusal of the night's journey; for +they found even the morning air bitter, and the atmosphere a wet fog. +The aspect of the country had now changed. Chains of hills disappeared, +and all was level sand. On the way they saw the mirage, sometimes +assuming the appearance of a distant harbour, at others, of an inland +lake reflecting the surrounding objects on its surface; and they met one +of the picturesque displays of Arabia, a wealthy Bey going on a +pilgrimage to Mecca. He had a train of twenty or thirty camels. Those +carrying himself and his harem had superb trappings. The women were +seated in large open boxes, hanging on each side as paniers. There were +red silk embroidered curtains hung round, like those on a bedstead, and +an awning over all. The bey was smoking his splendid pipe, and behind +came a crowd of slaves with provisions. The road on approaching Cairo +grew rougher than ever; it was often over ridges of rock just appearing +above the sand. The Pasha's "commissioners of paving" seem to have +slumbered on their posts as much as if they had been metropolitan. At +last a "silvery stream" was seen winding in the horizon—the "glorious +Nile!" The country now grew picturesque; a forest of domes and minarets +arose in the distance; and the Pyramids became visible. The road then +ran through a sort of suburb, where the Bedouins take up their quarters +on their visits to buy grain, they being not suffered within the walls. +It then passed between walled gardens filled with flowers, shrubs, +orange and olive trees; most of the walls were also surmounted with a +row of pillars, interlaced with vines—a species of ornament new to us, +but which, we should conceive, must add much to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> the beauty, external +and internal, of a garden. Cairo was entered at last; and its lofty +houses, and the general architecture of this noblest specimen of a +Mahometan capital, delighted the eyes which had so long seen nothing but +the sea, the rocky shore, and the desert. Cairo is, like all the rest of +the world, growing European, and even English. It has its hotels; and +the traveller, except that he hears more Arabic, and inhales more +tobacco smoke, will soon begin to imagine himself in Regent street. The +"Eastern Hotel" is a good house, where Englishmen get beefsteaks, port +wine, and brown stout; read the London papers; have waiters who at least +do their best to entertain them in their own tongue; and want nothing +but operas and omnibuses. But the dress still makes a distinction, and +it is wholly in favour of the Mussulman. All modern European dresses are +mean; the Oriental is the only man whose dress adds dignity to the human +form. When Sultan Mahmoud stripped off the turban, and turned the noble +dress of his people into the caricature of the European costume, he +struck a heavier blow at his sovereignty than ever was inflicted by the +Russian sabre or the Greek dagger. He smote the spirit of his nation. +The Egyptian officials wear the fez, or red nightcap—the fitting emblem +of an empire gone to sleep. But the general population of Egypt wear the +ancient turban, the finest ornament of the head ever invented by man; +that of the Egyptian Mahometan is white muslin; that of the Shereefs, or +line of Mahomet, is green; that of the Jews and Copts is black. The +remaining portions of the costume are such as, perhaps, we shall soon +see only upon the stage. The embroidered caftan, the flowing gown, the +full trouser of scarlet or violet-coloured cloth, the yellow morocco +boot, the jewelled dagger, and velvet-sheathed cimeter—all the +perfection of magnificence and taste in costume. The ample beard gives +completeness to the majesty of the countenance, and finishes the true +character of the "lord of the creation."</p> + +<p>The citadel of Cairo has a melancholy and memorable name, from the +horrid massacre of the Mamelukes in 1811, when four hundred and seventy +of those showy soldiers were murdered, and but one escaped by leaping +his horse from the battlements. The horse was killed; the man is now a +bey in the Pasha's service. The citadel stands on a hill, and contains +the Pasha's palace, a harem, a council-hall, police-offices, and a large +square, where the massacre was perpetrated. The view from the windows of +the palace is superb. Cairo is seen immediately beneath, skirted by +gardens on the right. Beyond those the mosques of the caliphs, and as +far as the eye can reach, the Arabian desert. In front is the Nile, a +silver stream, covered with sails of every description, till it is lost +in the groves of the Delta. The ports of Boulac and old Cairo, with +numerous villages, stud its banks, and from its bosom rise verdant +islands. To the left, the Nile is still visible, and beyond are seen the +Pyramids, which, though twelve miles off, appear quite close, from the +transparency of the air. In the citadel is also a mosque, now building +by the order of the Pasha. It is constructed of Oriental alabaster, is +of great size, already exhibits fine taste, and promises to be one of +the most beautiful structures in Egypt. But the Pasha has not yet +attained the European improvement of lamps in the streets. After +nightfall, the only light is from the shops, which, when they close, +leave the street in utter darkness. However, most of the pedestrians +carry lamps with them. How does it happen that no gas company has taken +pity upon this Egyptian darkness, and saved the Cairans from the chance +of having their throats cut, or at least their bones broken; for during +the summer a considerable portion of the poorer population sleep in the +streets? Still the Pasha is a man of taste, fond of living in gardens, +and sensible enough to have the garden of his favourite palace at +Shoobra laid out by a Scotch gardener. He used to reside a great deal +there, but now chiefly lives, when at Cairo, in the house of his +daughter, a widow, where his apartments are in the European style. +Nothing surprises a European traveller more than the people themselves; +and no problem can seem more mysterious than the means by which they are +enabled to supply so much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> expensive costume. The Egyptian gentleman +seems to want for nothing, wherever they find the money to pay for it. +Fine houses, fine furniture, fine horses, and fine clothes, seem to be +constantly at the command of a crowd who have nothing to do, who produce +nothing, and yet seem to have every thing. The Egyptian or Turkish lady +is an absolute bale of costly clothing—the more breadths of silk they +carry about them the better. Before leaving her home, she puts over her +house costume a large loose robe called a <i>tob</i>, made of silk or satin, +and always of some gay colour, pink, yellow, red, or violet. She next +puts on her face veil, a long strip of the finest white muslin, often +exquisitely embroidered. It is fastened just between the eyes, conceals +all the other features, and reaches to the feet. She next envelopes +herself in large cloak of rich black silk, tied round the head by a +piece of narrow riband. Her costume is completed by trousers of silk +gauze, and yellow morocco boots, which reach a considerable way up the +legs. How any human being can bear such a heap of clothing, especially +under the fiery sun and hot winds of Egypt, is to us inconceivable. It +must melt all vigour out of the body, and all life out of the soul; but +it is the fashion, and fashion works its wonders in Egypt as well as +elsewhere. The veil across the mouth, in a climate where every breath of +fresh air is precious, must be but a slower kind of strangulation. But +the preparative for a public appearance is not yet complete. Women of +condition never walk. They ride upon a donkey handsomely caparisoned, +sitting astride upon a high and broad saddle, covered with a rich Turkey +carpet. They ride with stirrups, but they never hold the reins; their +hands are busy in keeping down their cloaks. A servant leads the donkey +by the bridle. Their figures, when thus in motion, are the most +preposterous things imaginable. Huge as they are, the wind, which has no +respect for persons, gets under their cloaks, and blows them up to three +times their natural size. Those are the ladies of Egypt; the lower +orders imitate this absurdity and extravagance as far as they can, and +with their face veils, the most frightful things possible, shuffle +through the streets like strings of spectres. Poverty and labour may by +possibility keep the lower ranks in health; but how the higher among the +females can retain health, between their want of exercise, their full +feeding, their hot baths, and this perpetual hot bath of clothing, +defies all rational conjecture. The Egyptians of all ranks are terribly +afraid of what they call the evil eye, and stifle themselves and +children in all kinds of rags to avoid being bewitched. The peasants are +a fine-looking, strong-bodied race of men; but many of them are met +blind of an eye. This is attributed to the reluctance to be soldiers for +the glory of the Pasha. But Mohammed Ali was not to be thus tricked, and +he raised a regiment of one-eyed men. In other instances they are said +to have knocked out the fore-teeth to avoid biting a cartridge, or to +have cut off a joint of the first finger to prevent their drawing a +trigger. Even thus they are not able to escape the cunning Pasha. But +this shows the natural horror of the conscription; and we are not +surprised that men should adopt any expedient to escape so great a curse +and scandal to society. It is extraordinary that in this 19th century, +even of the Christian world, such an abomination should be suffered to +exist in Europe. It is equally extraordinary that it exists in every +country but England, and she can have no prouder distinction. The +habeas-corpus and her free enlistment, are two privileges without which +no real liberty can ever exist, and which, in any country, it would be +well worth a revolution, or ten revolutions, to obtain. Hers is the only +army into which no man can be forced, and in which every man is a +volunteer. And yet she has never wanted soldiers, and her soldiers have +never fought the worse. It is true, that when she has a militia they are +drawn by ballot from the population; but no militiaman is ever sent out +of the country; and as to those who are drawn, if they feel disinclined +to serve in this force, which acts merely as a national guard, ten +shillings will find a substitute at any time. It is also true that +England has impressment for the navy; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> the man who makes the sea his +livelihood, adopts his profession voluntarily, and with the knowledge +that at some time or other he may be called upon to serve in the royal +navy. And even impressment is never adopted but on those extreme +emergencies which can seldom happen, and which may never happen again in +the life of man. But on the Continent, every man except the clergy, and +those in the employment of the state, is liable to be dragged to the +field, let his prospects or his propensities be what they may. In every +instance of war, parents look to their children with terror as they grow +up to the military age. The army is a national curse, and parental +feelings are a perpetual source of affliction. If the great body of the +people in Europe, instead of clamouring for imaginary rights, and +talking nonsense about constitutions, which they have neither the skill +to construct, nor would find worth the possession if they had them, +would concentrate their claims in a demand for the habeas-corpus, and +the abolition of the conscription, they would relieve themselves from +the two heaviest burdens of despotism, and obtain for themselves the two +highest advantages of genuine liberty.</p> + +<p>One of the curiosities of Cairo is the hair-oil bazar. The Egyptian +women are prodigious hairdressers and the variety of perfumes which they +lavish upon their hair and persons, exceed all European custom and +calculation. This bazar is all scents, oil, and gold braids for the +hair. It is nearly half a mile long. The odour, or the mixture of +odours, may well be presumed to be overpowering, when every other shop +is devoted to scented bottles—the intervening ones, containing perfumed +head-dresses, formed of braids of ribands and gold lace, which descend +to the ground. A warehouse of Turkish tables exhibited the luxurious +ingenuity of the workers in mother-of-pearl. They were richly wrought in +gold and silver ornaments. Within seven miles of Cairo, there still +exists a wonder of the old time, which must have made a great figure in +the Arab legends—a petrified forest lying in the desert, and which, to +complete the wonder, it is evident must have been petrified while still +standing. The trees are now lying on the ground, many of the trunks +forty feet long, with their branches beside them, all of stone, and +evidently shattered by the fall. Cairo, too, has its hospital for +lunatics; but this is a terrible scene. The unfortunate inmates are +chained and caged, and look like wild beasts, with just enough of the +human aspect left to make the scene terrible. A reform here would be +well worth the interference of European humanity. We wish that the +Hanwell Asylum would send a deputation with Dr Connolly at its head to +the Pasha. No man is more open to reason than Mohammed Ali, and the +European treatment of lunatics, transferred to an Egyptian dungeon, +would be one of the best triumphs of active humanity.</p> + +<p>The travellers at length left Cairo, and embarked on board Mills and +Company's steam-boat, named the Jack o' Lantern. It seemed to be merely +one of the common boats that ply on the river, with the addition of a +boiler and paddles, and is probably the smallest steamer extant. +However, when they entered the cabin upon the deck, they found every +thing nicely arranged and began to think better of their little vessel. +They had another advantage in its smallness, as the Nile was now so low +that numbers of vessels lay aground, and a large steamer would probably +have been unable to make the passage. The river seemed quite alive with +many-formed and many-coloured boats. Their picturesque sails, crossing +each other, made them at a distance look almost like butterflies +skimming over the water. The little steamer drew only two feet and a +half of water. She is jestingly described as of two and a half Cairo +donkey power. About six miles from Boulac, they passed under the walls +of Shoobra palace and gardens. Its groves form a striking object, and +its interior, cultivated by Greek gardeners, is an earthly Mahometan +paradise. It has bower-covered walks, gardens carpeted with flowers, +ever-flowing fountains, and a lake on which the luxurious Pasha is rowed +by the ladies of his harem. The Nile winds in the most extraordinary +manner across the tongues of land; boats and sails are seen close,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +which are in reality a mile further down the stream. The banks were high +above the boat, through the present shallowness of the river. They were +chiefly of brown clay, and were frequently cut into chasms for the +purposes of irrigation. As they shot along, they saw large tracts +covered with cotton, wheat, Indian corn, and other crops. Date-trees in +abundance, the leaves large and like those of the cocoa, the fruit +hanging in large clusters, when ripe of a bright red. Water-melons +cultivated every where, often on the sandy banks of the river itself, +three or four times the size of a man's head, and absolutely loading the +beds. Numbers of the Egyptian villages were seen in the navigation of +the river. The houses are huddled together, are of unbaked clay, and +look like so many bee-hives. Every village has its date-trees, and every +hut has pigeons. The peasants in general seem intolerably indolent, and +groups of them are every where lying under the trees. Herds of fine +buffaloes, twice the size of those in Ceylon, were seen along the shore, +and sometimes swimming the river. Groups of magnificent cattle, larger +and finer than even our best English breed, were driven occasionally to +water at the river side. The Egyptian boats come to an anchor every +night; but the Jack o' Lantern dashed on, and by daybreak reached the +entrance of the Mahoudiah Canal, on which a track-boat carries +passengers to Alexandria. A high mound of earth here separates the canal +from the Nile, which flows on towards Rosetta. This embankment is about +forty feet wide. Some of Mrs Griffith's observations are at least +sufficiently expressive; for example:—"All the children, and some past +the age of what are usually styled little children, were running about +entirely devoid of clothing. We observed a great deal of this in Egypt. +<i>Men</i> are often seen in the same condition; and the women of the lower +orders, having concealed their heads and faces, appear to think they +have done <i>all that is necessary</i>." This is certainly telling a good +deal; nothing more explicit could be required. The track-boats are +odious conveyances, long and narrow, and the present one very dirty, and +swarming with cockroaches. They were towed by three horses, ridden by +three men. In England one would have answered the purpose. The Canal +itself is an extraordinary work, worthy of the country of the Pyramids, +and one of the prodigies which despotism sometimes exhibits when the +iron sceptre is combined with a vigorous intellect. It is ninety feet +wide and forty-eight miles long, and yet was completed in six weeks. But +it took the labour of 250,000 men, who worked, if the story be true, +night and day. Along the canal were seen several large encampments of +troops, rather rough instruments, it is true, for polishing African +savagery into usefulness, but perhaps the only means by which great +things could have been done in so short a period as the reign of +Mohammed Ali. An Italian fellow-passenger, who had resided in Egypt +twenty-five years, gave it as the result of his experience, that without +the strong hand of power, the population would do nothing. Bread and +onions being their food, when those were obtained they had got all that +they asked for. They would leave their fruitful land to barrenness, and +would prefer sleeping under their trees, to the simplest operation of +agriculture in a soil that never requires the plough. Yet they are +singularly tenacious of their money, and often bury it, keeping their +secret to the last. The Italian told them that he was once witness to a +scene exactly in point. He accompanied the tax-gatherer to a miserable +village, where they entered one of the most miserable huts. The +tax-gatherer demanded his due, the Egyptian fell at his feet, protesting +that his family were starving, and that he had not a single coin to buy +bread. The tax-gatherer, finding him impracticable, ordered some of his +followers to give him a certain number of stripes. The peasant writhed +under the stripes, but continued his tale. The beating was renewed on +two days more, when the Italian interfered and implored mercy. But the +officer said that he must continue to flog, as he was certain that the +money would come forth at last. After six days' castigation, the +peasant's patience could hold out no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> longer. He dug a hole in the floor +of his hut, and exhibited gold and silver to a large amount.</p> + +<p>All this may be true; but it would be an injustice to human nature to +suppose that man, in any country, would prefer dirt, poverty, and +idleness, to comfort, activity, and employment, where he could be sure +of possessing the fruits of his labours. But where the unfortunate +peasant is liable to see his whole crop carried off the land at the +pleasure of one of the public officers, or the land itself torn from +him, or himself or his son carried off by the conscription, how can we +be surprised if he should think it not worth the while to trouble his +head or his hands about any thing? Give him security, and he will work; +give him property, and he will keep it; and give him the power of +enjoying his gains in defiance of the tax-gatherer, and he will exhibit +the manliness and perseverance which Providence has given to all. +Whether even the famous Pasha is not still too much of a Turk to venture +on an experiment which was never heard of in the land of a Mahometan +before, must be a matter more for the prophet than the politician; but +Egypt, so long the most abject of nations, and the perpetual slave of a +stranger, seems rapidly approaching to European civilization, and by her +association with Englishmen, and her English alliance, may yet be +prepared to take a high place among the regenerated governments of the +world.</p> + +<p>The road from the termination of the canal to Alexandria, about two +miles long, leads through a desert track. At last the Mediterranean +bursts upon the eye. In front rise Pompey's stately and well-known +pillar, and Cleopatra's needle. High sand-banks still intercept the view +of Alexandria. At length the gates are passed, a dusty avenue is +traversed, the great square is reached, and the English hotel receives +the travellers. Mahometanism is now left behind, for Alexandria is +comparatively an European capital. All the houses surrounding the great +square, including the dwellings of the consuls, have been built within +the last ten years by Ibrahim Pasha, who, prince and heir to the throne +as he is, here performs the part of a speculative builder, and lets out +his houses to Europeans. These houses are built as regularly as those in +Park Crescent, and are two stories high above the Porte Cochère. They +all have French windows with green Venetian shutters, and the whole +appearance is completely European. The likeness is sustained by +carriages of every description, filled with smartly dressed women, +driving through all the streets—a sight never seen at Cairo, for the +generality of the streets are scarcely wide enough for the passage of +donkeys. But the population is still motley and Asiatic. Turbans, caps, +and the scarlet fez, loose gowns, and embroidered trousers, make the +streets picturesque. On the other hand, crowds of Europeans, tourists, +merchants, and tailors, are to be seen mingling with the Asiatics; and +the effect is singularly varied and animated.</p> + +<p>The pageant of the French consul-general going to pay his respects to +the Viceroy, exhibited one of the shows of the place. First came a +number of officers of state, in embroidered jackets of black cachmere, +ornamented gaiters, and red morocco shoes. Each wore a cimeter, an +essential part of official costume. Next followed a fine brass band; +after them came a large body of infantry in three divisions, the whole +in heavy marching order. Their discipline and general appearance were +striking; they wore the summer dress, consisting of a white cotton +jacket and trousers, with red cloth skull-caps, and carried their +cartouche-boxes, cross-belts, and fire-locks in the European manner. The +next feature, and the prettiest, consisted of the Pasha's led horses, in +number about eighteen, all beautiful little Arabs, caparisoned with +crimson and black velvet, and cloth of gold. We repeat the description +of one, for the sake of tantalizing our European readers with the +Egyptian taste in housings. "The animal was a chestnut horse, of perfect +form and action. His saddle was of crimson velvet, thickly ribbed by +gold embroidery. His saddle-cloth was entirely of cloth of gold, +embossed with bullion, and studded with large gems; jewelled pistols +were seen in the hol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>sters; the head-piece was variegated red, green, +and blue; embroidered and golden tassels hung from every part." But the +European portion of the scene by no means corresponded to the Oriental +display. The French consul followed in a barouche and pair, with his +<i>attachés</i> and attendants in carriages; but the whole were mean-looking. +The French court-dress, or any court-dress, must appear contemptible in +its contrast with the stateliness of this people of silks and shawls, +jewelled weapons, and cloth of gold.</p> + +<p>Mohammed Ali is, after all, the true wonder of Egypt. A Turk without a +single prejudice of the Turk—an Oriental eager for the adoption of all +the knowledge, the arts, and the comforts of Europe—a Mahometan +allowing perfect religious toleration, and a despot moderating his +despotism by the manliest zeal for the prosperity of his country; he has +already raised himself to a reputation far beyond the rank of his +sovereignty, and will live in the memories of men, whenever they quote +the names of those who, rising above all the difficulties of their +original position, have proved their title to the mastery of nations.</p> + +<p>The Pasha affected nothing of the usual privacy, or even of the usual +pomp, of rajahs and sultans. He was constantly seen driving through +Alexandria, in a low berlin with four horses. The berlin was lined with +crimson silk, and there, squatting on one of the low broad seats, sat +the Viceroy. Two of his officers generally sat opposite to him, and by +his side his grandson—a handsome child between eight and nine years +old, of whom he seems remarkably fond. Like so many other eminent men, +his stature is below the middle size. His countenance is singularly +intelligent, his nose aquiline, and his eye quick and penetrating. He +does not take the trouble to dye his beard, as is the custom among +Orientalists. He wears it long and thick, and in all its snows. Years +have so little affected him, that he is regarded as a better life than +his son Ibrahim—his general, and confessedly a man of ability. But his +second son, Said Pasha, the half brother of Ibrahim, is regarded as +especially inheriting the talents of his father. He is an accomplished +man, speaks English and French fluently, seems to enter into his +father's views with great intelligence, and exhibits a manliness and +ardour of character which augur well for his country. But the appearance +of the Pasha is not without its attendant state. In front of his berlin +ride a number of attendants, caracoling in all directions. Behind the +carriage rides his express, mounted on a dromedary, in readiness to +start with despatches. The express is followed by his pipe-bearer; the +pipe-bearer followed by a servant mounted on a mule, and carrying the +light for the Pasha's pipe. The cavalcade is closed by a troop of the +officers in waiting, mounted on showy horses.</p> + +<p>At length the day of parting arrived, and the travellers embarked on +board the Tagus steamer. The view of Alexandria from the sea is stately. +A forest of masts, a quay of handsome houses, and the viceroyal palace +forming one side of the harbour, tell the stranger that he is +approaching the seat of sovereignty. The sea was rough, but of the +bright blue of the Mediterranean, and the steamer cut swiftly through +the waves. The vessel was clean and well arranged, the weather was fine, +and the travellers began to feel the freshness and elasticity of +European air. At length they arrived at Malta, and heard for the first +time for years, the striking of clocks and the ringing of church-bells. +They were at length in Europe. But there is one penalty on the return +from the East, which always puts the stranger in ill-humour. They were +compelled to perform quarantine. This was intolerably tedious, +expensive, and wearisome; yet all things come to an end at last, and, +after about a fortnight, they were set at liberty.</p> + +<p>Malta, in its soil and climate, belongs to Africa—in its population, +perhaps to Italy—in its garrison and commerce, to Europe—and in its +manners and habits, to the East. It is a medley of the three quarters of +the Old World; and, for the time, a medley of the most curious +description. The native carriages, peasant dresses, shops, furniture of +the houses, and even the houses themselves, are wholly unlike any thing +that has be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>fore met the English eye. Malta, in point of religious +observances, is like what St Paul said of Athens—it is overwhelmingly +pious. The church-bells are tolling all day long. Wherever it is +possible, the cultivation of the ground exhibits the industry of the +people. Every spot where earth can be found, is covered with some +species of produce. Large tracts are employed in the cultivation of the +cotton plant—fruit-trees fill the soil—the fig-tree is +luxuriant—pomegranate, peach, apple, and plum, are singularly +productive. Vines cover the walls, and the Maltese oranges have a +European reputation. The British possession of Malta originated in one +of those singular events by which short-sightedness and rapine are often +made their own punishers. The importance of Malta, as a naval station, +had long been obvious to England; and when, in the revolutionary war, +the chief hostilities of the war were transferred to the Mediterranean, +its value as a harbour for the English fleets became incalculable. Yet +it was still in possession of the knights; and, so far as England was +concerned, it might have remained in their hands for ever. A national +sense of justice would have prevented the seizure of the island, however +inadequate to defend itself against the navy of England. But Napoleon +had no such scruples. In his expedition to Egypt, he threw a body of +troops on shore at Malta; and, having either frightened or bribed its +masters, or perhaps both, plundered the churches of their plate, turned +out the knights, and left the island in possession of a French garrison. +Nothing could be less sagacious and less statesmanlike than this act; +for, by extinguishing the neutrality of the island, he exposed it to an +immediate blockade by the English. The result was exactly what he ought +to have foreseen. An English squadron was immediately dispatched to +summon the island; it eventually fell into the hands of the English, and +now seems destined to remain in English hands so long as we have a ship +in the Mediterranean. Malta is a prodigiously pious place, according to +the Maltese conception of piety. Masses are going on without +intermission—they fast twice a-week—religious processions are +constantly passing—priests are continually seen in the streets, +carrying the Host to the sick or dying. When the ceremonial is performed +within the house, some of the choristers generally remain kneeling +outside, and are joined by the passers-by. Thus crowds of people are +often to be seen kneeling in the streets. The Virgin, of course, is the +chief object of worship; for, nothing can be more true than the +expression, that for one prayer to the Deity there are ten to the +Virgin; and confession, at once the most childish and the most perilous +of all practices, is regarded as so essential, that those who cannot +produce a certificate from the priest of their having confessed, at +least once in the year, are excluded from the sacrament by an act of the +severest spiritual tyranny; and, if they should die thus excluded, their +funeral service will not be performed by the priest—an act which +implies a punishment beyond the grave. And yet the morals of the Maltese +certainly derive no superiority from either the priestly influence or +the personal mortification.</p> + +<p>The travellers now embarked on board the Neapolitan steamer, +Ercolano—bade adieu to Malta, and swept along the shore of Sicily. +Syracuse still exhibits, in the beauty of its landscape, and the +commanding nature of its situation, the taste of the Greeks in selecting +the sites of their cities. The land is still covered with noble ruins, +and the antiquarian might find a boundless field of interest and +knowledge. Catania, which was destroyed about two centuries ago, at once +by an earthquake and an eruption, is seated in a country of still more +striking beauty. The appearance of the city from the sea is of the most +picturesque order. It looks almost encircled by the lava which once +wrought such formidable devastation. But the plain is bounded by verdant +mountains, looking down on a lovely extent of orange and olive groves, +vineyards, and cornfields. But the grand feature of the landscape, and +the world has nothing nobler, is the colossal Etna; its lower circle +covered with vegetation—its centre belted with forests—its summit +covered with snow—and, above all, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> crown of cloud, which so often +turns into a cloud of flame. The travellers were fortunate in seeing +this showy city under its most showy aspect. It was a gala-day in +Catania; flags were flying on all sides—fireworks and illuminations +were preparing—an altar was erected on the Cave, and all the world were +in their holiday costume. As the evening approached the scene became +still more brilliant, for the fireworks and illuminations then began to +have their effect. The evening was soft and Italian, the air pure, and +the sky without a cloud. From the water, the scene was fantastically +beautiful; the huge altar erected on the shore, was now a blaze of +light; the range of buildings, as they ascended from the shore, +glittered like diamonds in the distance. Fireworks, in great abundance +and variety, flashed about; and instrumental bands filled the night air +with harmony. The equipages which filled the streets were in general +elegant, and lined with silk; the dresses of the principal inhabitants +were in the highest fashion, and all looked perfectly at their ease, and +some looked even splendid. A remark is made, that this display of wealth +is surprising in what must be regarded as a provincial town. But this +remark may be extended to the whole south of Italy. It is a matter of +real difficulty to conceive how the Italians contrive to keep up any +thing approaching to the appearance which they make, in their Corsos, +and on their feast-days. Without mines to support them, as the Spaniards +were once supported; without colonies to bring them wealth; without +manufactures, and without commerce, how they contrive to sustain a life +of utter indolence, yet, at the same time, of considerable display, is a +curious problem. It is true, that many of them have places at court, and +flourish on sinecures; it is equally true, that their manner of living +at home is generally penurious in the extreme; it is also true that +gaming, and other arts not an atom more respectable, are customary to +supply this yawning life. Yet still, how the majority can exist at all, +is a natural question which it must require a deep insight into the +mysteries of Italian existence to solve. Whatever may be the secret, the +less Englishmen know on these subjects the better; communion with +foreign habits only deteriorates the integrity and purity of our own. On +the Continent, vice is systematized—virtue is scarcely more than a +name; and no worse intelligence has long reached us than the calculation +just published in the foreign newspapers, that there were 40,000 English +now residing in France, and 4000 English families in that especial sink +of superstition and profligacy, Italy.</p> + +<p>The sail from the Sicilian straits to Naples is picturesque. The +Liparis, with their volcanic summits, on one side—the Calabrian +highlands, on the other—a succession of rich mountains, clothed with +all kinds of verdure, and of the finest forms; and around, the perpetual +beauty of the Mediterranean. The travellers hove to at Pizza, in the +gulf of Euphania, the shore memorable for the gallant engagement in +which the English troops under Stuart, utterly routed the French under +Regnier—a battle which made the name of Maida immortal. Pizza has +obtained a melancholy notoriety by the death of Murat, who was shot by +order of a court-martial, as an invader and rebel, in October 1815. +Murat's personal intrepidity, and even his <i>fanfaronade</i>, excited an +interest for him in Europe. But he was a wild, rash, and reckless +instrument of Napoleon's furious and remorseless policy; the commandant +of the French army in Spain in 1808 could not complain of military +vengeance; and his death by the hands of the royal troops only relieved +Europe of the boldest disturber among the fallen followers of the great +usurper.</p> + +<p>The finest view of Naples is the one which the mob of tourists see the +last. Its approaches by land are all imperfect—the city is to be seen +only from the bay. Floating on the waters which form the most lovely of +all foregrounds, a vast sheet of crystal, a boundless mirror, a tissue +of purple, or any other of the fanciful names which the various hues and +aspects of the hour give to this renowned bay, the view comprehends the +city, the surrounding country, Posilipo on the left, Vesuvius on the +right, and between them a region of vineyards and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> vegetation, as poetic +and luxuriant as poet or painter could desire.</p> + +<p>The wonders of Pompeii are no longer wonders, and people go to see them +with something of the same spirit in which the citizens of London +saunter to Primrose hill. It was a beggarly little place from the +beginning; and the true wonder is, how it could ever have found +inhabitants, or how the inhabitants could ever have found room to eat, +drink, and sleep in. But Herculaneum is of a higher rank. If the +Neapolitan Government had any spirit, it would demolish the miserable +villages above it, and lay open this fine old monument of the cleverest, +though the most corrupt people of the earth, to the light of day. In all +probability we should learn from it more of the real state of the arts, +the manners, and the feelings of the Greek, partially modified by his +Italian colonization, than by any other record or memorial in existence. +In those vaults which still remain closed, owing to the indolence or +stupidity of the existing generation, eaten up as it is by monkery, and +spending more upon a <i>fête</i> to the Madonna, or the liquifying of St +Januarius's blood, than would lay open half the city, there is every +probability that some of the most important literature of antiquity +still lies buried. Why will not some English company, tired of railroad +speculations and American stock, turn its discharge on Herculaneum, pour +its gold over the ground, exfoliate the city of the dead, recover its +statues, bronzes, frescoes, and mosaics, transplant them to Tower +Stairs, and sell them by the hands of George Robins, for the benefit of +the rising generation? This seems their only chance of revisiting the +light of day; for the money of all foreign sovereigns goes in fêtes and +fireworks, new patterns of soldiers' caps, and new costumes for the +maids of honour.</p> + +<p>We have now glanced over the general features of these volumes. They are +light and lively, and do credit to the writer's powers of observation. +The result of his details, however, is to impress on our minds, that the +"overland passage" is not yet fit for any female who is not inclined to +"rough it" in an extraordinary degree. To any woman it offers great +hardships; but to a woman of delicacy, the whole must be singularly +repulsive. Something is said of the decorations of the work proceeding +from the pencil of the lady's husband. Whether the lithographer has done +injustice to them, we know not; but they seem to us the very reverse of +decoration. The adoption, too, of new modes of spelling the Oriental +names, is wholly unnecessary. Harem, turned into Hharéem—Dervish into +Derwéesh—Mameluke into Memlook, give no new ideas, and only add +perplexity to our knowledge of the name. These words, with a crowd of +others, have already been fixed in English orthography by their natural +pronunciation; and the attempt to change them always renders their +pronunciation—which is, after all, the only important point—less true +to the original. On the whole, the "overland passage" seems to require +immense improvements. But we live in hope; English sagacity and English +perseverance will do much any where; and in Egypt they have for their +field one of the most important regions of the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MESMERISM" id="MESMERISM"></a>MESMERISM.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"They say miracles are past, and we have our philosophical persons +to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and +causeless."—<i>All's Well that Ends Well, Act II., Scene 3.</i></p></div> + + +<p>From the many crude, illiterate, and unphilosophical speculations on the +subject of mesmerism which the present unwholesome activity of the +printing-press has ushered into the world, there is one book which +stands out in prominent and ornamental relief—a book written by a +member of the Church of England, a scholar and a gentleman; and the +influence of which, either for good or for harm, is not likely to be +ephemeral. Few, even of the most incredulous, can read with attention +the first half of "Facts in Mesmerism, by the Rev. Chauncy Hare +Townshend," of which a second edition has recently appeared, without +being staggered. The author leads the reader up a gentle slope, from +facts abnormal, it is true, but not contradictory to received notions, +to others deviating a little more from ordinary experience; and thence, +by a course of calm narrative, to still more anomalous incidents; until +at length, almost unconsciously, the incredible seems credible, +impossibilities and possibilities are confounded, and miracles are no +longer miraculous.</p> + +<p>There is much difficulty in dealing with such a book; gentlemanly +courtesy, which should grant what it would demand, and an unavoidable +faith in the purity of the author's intentions, entirely prevent our +treating it as the work of an empiric. It is evident that the author +believes what he writes, that the facts in mesmerism are facts to him; +to those unprepared by previous experience for the fallacies which the +enthusiastic temperament is led into, the book would be irresistible; to +those, however, accustomed to physical or phsycological investigation, +the last half of the work does much to unravel the web which the first +half has been engaged in weaving. When the author departs from the +narrative of facts, and endeavours to render those facts consistent with +reason and experience, we see the one-sided bias of his mind—we see +that he is not a judge but an advocate; and the faith which we should +repose on the circumstantial narrative of a gentleman, becomes changed +into the courtesy with which we listen to an honourable but deceived +enthusiast.</p> + +<p>If the utilitarian school has done harm by its hasty attempts to reduce +every thing to rule and to the dominion of human reason, no stronger +proof than this book need be given of the evils to which the opposite +extreme of transcendental philosophy has given rise. As an instance of +the fallacies to which one-sided philosophic views may lead, Mr +Townshend says, that if asked of what use is the eye if we can see +without it, he might answer, "To show us how to make a camera obscura." +The case is put illustratively, and we are far from wishing to take it +literally to the author's disadvantage; but, in setting at nought the +ordinary and sufficient reasoning on this subject, the author himself is +obliged to adopt a similar but weaker line of argument. Unfortunate it +is, that even in philosophy the judicial character is so rare; it is +vainly imagined that error may be counteracted by antagonist error; and +because neutrality is too often the companion of impotence, impartiality +is supposed to be synonymous with neutrality.</p> + +<p>It will be seen from the above, that Mr Townshend has failed to convince +us that all the "facts in mesmerism" are facts; and certainly if he has +failed, the herd of peripatetic lecturers<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> on the so-called science +are not likely to have succeeded; but, although unconvinced of the +marvellous, we are by no means indisposed to believe some of the +abnormal phenomena of mesmerism. We have witnessed several mesmeric +exhibitions—we have never seen any effect produced which was +contradictory to the possible of human experience, in which collusion or +delusion was fairly negatived. We insist on our right to doubt, to +disbelieve. The more startling the proposition, the more rigorous should +be the proof; we have never seen the tests which are applied to the most +trifling novelty in physical science applied to mesmeric <i>clairvoyance</i>, +and withstood. The advocates of it challenge enquiry in print, but they +shrink from, or sink under, experiment.</p> + +<p>In endeavouring to analyse the work before us, and to examine generally +the phenomena of mesmerism, we shall do our utmost to avoid the vices of +partial advocacy which we censure; we moreover agree with Mr Townshend, +that ridicule is not the weapon to be used. Satire, when on the side of +the majority, is persecution; it is striking from a vantage +ground—fair, perhaps, when the individual contends with the mass, as +when an author writes to expose the fallacies of social fashion; but +unfair, and very frequently unsuccessful, when directed against +partially developed truths, or even against such phenomena as we believe +mesmerism presents, viz. novel and curious psychical truths, o'erclouded +with the dense errors of sometimes enthusiasm, sometimes knavery. We +shall soberly examine the subject, because we think that much good may +be done by its investigation. The really skilful and judicious steer +clear of it from a fear of compromising their credit for commonsense; +and while the caution necessarily attendant upon habitual scientific +studies, dissuades the best men from meddling with that which may blight +their hardly-earned laurels, the public is left to be swayed to and fro +by an under-current of fallacious half-truths, far more seductive and +dangerous than absolute falsehoods. We cannot undertake to say, thus far +is true, and thus far false;—to mark out the actual limits of true +mesmeric phenomena, demands the very difficult and detailed enquiries +which, for the reasons just mentioned, have been hitherto withheld;—but +we think we shall be able to succeed in showing, that, though there be +much error, there is some truth, and truth of sufficient importance to +merit a calm and careful investigation.</p> + +<p>We may class the phenomena of mesmerism, as asserted by its professors, +as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1st. Sleep, or coma, induced by external agency, (partly mental, +partly physical.)</p> + +<p>2d. Somnambulism, or, as called by Mr Townshend, sleep-waking; +<i>i.e.</i> certain faculties rendered torpid while others are +sensitive.</p> + +<p>3d. Insensibility to pain and other external <i>stimuli</i>.</p> + +<p>4th. Physical attraction to the mesmeriser, and repulsion from +others; community of sensation with the mesmeriser.</p> + +<p>5th. Clairvoyance, or the power of perception without the use of +the usual organs; and second-sight, or the power of prediction +respecting the mesmeric state and remedial agencies.</p> + +<p>6th. Phreno-mesmerism, or the connexion between phrenology and +mesmerism.</p> + +<p>7th. Curative effects.</p></div> + +<p>We believe these categories will include all the leading phenomena of +mesmerism. We purpose to give instances of these, partly derived from +our own experience, and partly from the book of Mr Townshend, or other +the best sources to which we can have recourse; to state fearlessly what +we believe may be true, and what we entirely disbelieve; and then to +examine the arguments by which the reason of the public has been +assailed, and in many cases rendered captive.</p> + +<p>First, then, as to the power of induced coma, we will relate an instance +which came under our own observa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>tion, and which serves to demonstrate +that a power may be exercised by one human being over another which will +produce a comatose or cataleptic state. In the Christmas week of the +year 1842, we dined at a friend's house with a party of eight, (numeric +perfection for a dinner-party, according to the ingenious author of the +<i>Original</i>.) In the evening, Mackay's book on popular delusions being on +the drawing-room table, some one asked if the author had treated of +mesmerism. Upon this, one of the party who had recently returned from +London—a man who had led a studious life, and of a highly nervous +temperament—said he had recently witnessed a mesmeric exhibition, and +would undertake to mesmerise any one present. Upon this, two or three +ladies volunteered as patients; and he commenced experimenting upon a +lady of some twenty-five years old, whom he had known intimately from +childhood, clever, and well read, but rather imaginative. To make the +thing more ridiculous, he knelt on both knees, and commenced making +passes with both hands slowly before her eyes, telling her, whenever she +took her eyes off, to look fixedly at him, and keeping a perfectly grave +face when every body around was laughing unreservedly. After this had +endured for some three minutes, the lady's eyes gradually closed, she +fell forwards, and was only prevented from farther falling by being +caught by the mesmeriser. He shook her, and, in rather a rough manner, +brought her to her senses; then, suspicious lest she had been purposely +deceiving him, questioned her seriously as to whether her sleep were +feigned or real. She assured him that it was not simulated, that the +sensation was irresistible, different from that of ordinary sleep, and +by no means unpleasant; but that the only disagreeable part was the +being roused. Upon this, the gentleman declared that he knew nothing of +mesmerism, and that, had he believed there was any thing in it, he would +not have attempted the joke. Another lady present, married, and having a +family, was now most anxious to have the experiment repeated upon her. +She said she had before sat to an experienced mesmeriser, who had +failed, and she was still incredulous, and believed that M—— had merely +given way to an imaginative temperament. It required considerable +persuasion to induce the gentleman who had before operated to try any +more experiments. He protested that he knew nothing about it, that he +had once seen a person said to be in the mesmeric state; but that, if he +succeeded again in inducing coma, he knew not at all how to awake the +patient. Curiously enough, he was instructed in the manipulation by the +sceptical patient, who had previously seen public mesmeric exhibitions. +After some further persuasion, and with the permission of the lady's +husband, who was present, he commenced again the same passes as with the +former patient, the only difference being, that he was in this case +sitting instead of kneeling. The patient kept constantly bursting into +fits of laughter, and as constantly apologising, telling him that his +gravity of face was irresistible. Of the other persons present, some +laughed, others were too much terrified to laugh, but they kept up a +constant running fire of comment, satirical and serious, upon the +mesmeriser and mesmerisee. In four or five minutes, the fits of laughter +of the latter assumed a rather unnatural character. It was evident she +forced herself to laugh in spite of the strongest disinclination, and in +a minute or two more she fixed into a state of ghastly catalepsy, the +eyes wide open, but the lids fixed, the features all rigid, (except the +lower lip, which was convulsed,) and pale as a corpse. The bystanders, +now much frightened, interfered, and laid hold of the mesmeriser. After +some time, water being given her to drink, she came to herself, and +appeared not to have suffered from the experiment.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the external difference of the case from the first, she +described her sensations as the same; viz. a sleep differing from +ordinary sleep, pleasing and irresistible, but the rousing very +disagreeable. The lady's husband now insisted on being operated on +himself. This was done, and entirely without success. Another lady was +also experimented on with no success; at least she said she felt sleepy, +but nothing more, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> was not extraordinary, as it was now getting +late. When questioned as to what means he had used, the mesmeriser said +he had done nothing but stare steadily at the patients, making them also +look fixedly at him, and move his hands slowly and in uniform +directions, his instructor in these manœuvres having been Tyrone +Power in the farce of <i>His Last Legs</i>. He stated that soon after the +commencement of the experiment, he felt an almost irresistible tendency +to go on with it; but whether this resulted from a conviction that he +was exercising some unknown influence, or from mere experimental +curiosity, he would not undertake to say—"this only was the witchcraft +he had used."</p> + +<p>The result was to all present conclusive as to the production of some +effect inexplicable upon received theories. The second case defied +simulation, and we believe it was equally removed from hysteria. The +patient was a strong-minded person, of a temperament neither nervous nor +hysterical, to all appearance perfectly calm, except when overcome by a +sense of the ridiculous, and before the experiment obstinately +incredulous. It was certainly a strong case. Any hypothesis to account +for it would be hasty; but one point suggests itself to us as arising +from the remark made by the mesmeriser, viz. that the only influence he +was conscious of using was that of a fixed determined stare. This may +possibly afford some key to a more philosophical examination of these +curious phenomena.</p> + +<p>The fabled effects of the basilisk, the serpent, and the evil eye, have +probably all some facts for their foundation. The effect of the human +eye in arresting the attacks of savage animals is better authenticated, +and its influence upon domestic animals may be more easily made the +subject of experimental proof. Let any one gaze steadily at a dog half +dozing at the fireside—the animal will, after a short time, become +restless, and if the stare be continued, will quit his resting-place, +and either shrink into a corner, or come forward and caress the person +staring. How much of this may be due to the habitual fixed look of stern +command with which censure or punishment is accompanied, it may be +difficult to say; but the fact undoubtedly is, that some influence, +either innate or induced, is exercised. Again, those who, in society, +habitually converse with an averted glance, we generally consider +wanting in moral force. We doubt the man who doubts himself. On the +other hand, if, in conversation, the ordinary look of awakened interest +be prolonged, and the eyes are kept fixed for a longer period than +usual, an embarrassed and somewhat painful feeling is the result; an +indistinct impulse makes it difficult to avert the eye, and at the same +time a consciousness of that impulse is an inducement to avert it. We +lay no undue stress upon these phenomena; but they are phenomena, and +fair subjects for scientific investigation. An explanation of mesmerism +has been sought in the physical effect of the stare alone; thus it is +said that, if a party look intently at a prominent object fixed to his +forehead, he will in time be thrown into mesmeric coma. There is more in +it, we think, than this; there is an influence exerted by that nearest +approach to the intercourse of soul—"the gaze into each other's +eyes"—the extent and <i>normæ</i> of which are unknown. The schoolboy's +experiment of staring out of countenance, is not so bad a test of moral +power as it would at first sight be deemed to be.</p> + +<p>The second case we shall relate is also one at which we were personally +present, but one in which both mesmeriser and mesmerisee were, if we may +use the term, adepts—the former a gentleman of fortune and education; +the latter a half-educated young man, who had been in service as a +footman. We shall designate them as Mr M—— and G——.</p> + +<p>At this "<i>soirée magnétique</i>" G. was brought in in the sleep-waking +state, walking, or rather staggering, and holding the arm of Mr M., his +eyes to all appearance perfectly closed, and his gait and gestures those +of a drunken man. After some little time he was detached from the +mesmeriser, and followed him to different parts of the room. When in +proximity Mr M. raised his hand, the patient's hands followed it, his +legs the same, while they receded from the hands and legs of any other +of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> party present. Some of these effects were certainly curious, and +not easy of explanation. The mesmeriser would walk or stand behind the +patient, and, waving his hands somewhat after the manner of the cachuca +dancer, the hands of the patient followed his with tolerable but not +unerring precision. We determined to bear in mind these effects when +some other phenomena were exhibiting, and try whether similar results +would ensue when the attention of the parties was devoted to other +subjects. When the attention of every body present was intently strained +upon some experiments which we shall presently mention, we approached, +as though watching the experiment, very near to G., and frequently +without his at all flinching; at other times we were told by Mr M. not +to come too near, and once in particular we observed, that having had +one knee and toe in close juxtaposition, almost in contact, with the +patient's, we retained it so for several seconds before he withdrew his +leg. These facts, which would probably be explained by mesmerists on the +ground of the whole power of sensation being concentrated upon one +object, rendered, however, the experiments upon mesmeric attraction +inconclusive. Passing over several experiments, such as the +mesmerisation of water, showing community of taste, in which, after some +hesitation, the patient selected from three or four glasses of water one +which had been tasted by the mesmeriser, we come to the most important +point, viz. the clairvoyance. One of the party stood behind the patient, +and he was asked how the former was dressed; his reply, after some +hesitation was, "not over nice—he has a queerish waist-coat on," (it +was a plain white.) A book was then taken off the table—one of the +annuals. Mr M. held his hands tightly over the eyes of G., and the +title-page was presented open opposite the covered eyes of the latter; +after struggling and moving his head about for some time, just as if +endeavouring to catch a glimpse of the book, he mentioned the place of +publication, and afterwards the title. Other experiments were proposed, +such as holding a book behind the party, or to different parts of his +body; but of these some did not succeed, others were not tried. To +obviate the doubt of the book having been previously seen, we were +requested to write, in large letters, a word on a card, such as a +slightly educated person could read, and to present it, looking at the +same time as closely as we wished at the eyes of G., the lids of which +were, as before, apparently tightly held down by Mr M. We did so: the +word was <i>Peru</i>; and, after some struggles, the word was read certainly +without an exposure of any part of the eye to us. We now proposed, as +likely to be more satisfactory, to write another word on a similar card, +and, instead of the hands of the mesmeriser being held over the eyes, to +place a piece of thin paper over the card. This, it was said, was +useless and would not succeed, as the influence would not be transmitted +through the person of the mesmeriser; we then proposed that he (the +mesmeriser) should place his hand over the card; in short, that the card +should be blinded and not the eye. Our reason will be obvious. According +to the known laws of vision, viz. the convergence of all the rays of +light to a focus in the eye, were the least part of this exposed, +vision, though imperfect, of every object within the visual angle, would +follow; but, were the object covered, a partial opening would assist +vision but little, and only <i>quoad</i> the part exposed. The experiment +thus performed would have been optically conclusive; and we cannot see, +according to any of the mesmeric hypotheses, any mesmeric reason why it +should not have succeeded: it was, however, declined. We are obliged to +omit many other points in this evening's proceedings to avoid prolixity. +Though many facts were curious, and certainly not easy of explanation by +ordinary means, there was nothing which defied it; every <i>experimentum +crucis</i> failed, and we, of course, remained unconvinced.</p> + +<p>The third case which we shall instance, was one at which we were also +personally present. Having been invited to view the mesmeric experiments +of Dr B., we arrived at his house, with a friend, at about ten in the +morning, and having been duly introduced to the Doctor in one room, were +instantly ushered into another,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> when a scene presented itself certainly +one of the most extraordinary we have ever witnessed. There were seven +females in the room, and not one man. On a sofa near the fire-place, a +young girl sat upright, supported by cushions, her eyes were fixed, and +opposite her stood a middle-aged woman, slowly moving her hands before +the eyes of the patient. On the hearth-rug near this lay a woman covered +with a coarse blanket. She appeared sound asleep, was breathing heavily, +and looked deadly pale. A third patient was seated on a chair, also +undergoing the mesmeric passes from another woman; and on the opposite +side of the room from the fire-place, two others were seated on chairs, +with their heads hanging on their shoulders, and eyes closed. +Description cannot convey the mystic and fearful appearance of this room +and its inmates to the first glance of the unexpectant spectator. Not a +word was spoken; the solemn silence, the immobility and deathlike pallor +of the objects, was awful—they were as breathing corpses. The clay-cold +nuns evoked from their tombs, presented not a more unearthly spectacle +to Robert of Normandy. The free-and-easy expressions of Dr B., however, +which first broke the silence, instantly dissolved the spell. "That +woman," he said, pointing to her on the floor, "has a disease of the +liver, and her left lung is somewhat affected. I think we shall do her +good. She is now getting into the clairvoyant state. She can see into +the next room." He then stooped over her, and said, "How are you, Mary?" +She replied, "I have the pain in my side very bad." He approached his +hand to the part affected, and again withdrew it several times, opening +the fingers as it neared, and closing them as it receded, as though he +would gently extract the pain. He again asked her how she felt; she said +better. He then pointed to the girl on the sofa, and said, "She is deaf +and dumb. We cannot get her asleep." He subsequently pointed out other +of the patients, and mentioned their ailments. These, and the sombre +darkness of the room, accounted to us for the unnatural paleness of the +patients. Dr B. next asked one of two sleeping patients to follow him +into another room. We accompanied him, and his experiments upon the +female, whom we shall call S., commenced. First of all, he placed her +hands with the palms together, and making with his fingers motions the +converse of those made in the former case, asked us to endeavour to +separate them. We did, and <i>instantly succeeded</i>, with no more effort +than would be expected were any woman of average strength purposely to +hold her hands together. "Ah!" said the Doctor, "not an easy matter, is +it?" We made no reply. He then walked, having on a pair of +loudly-creaking boots, to the other end of the room, and looked sternly +at the patient. She, after a second or two, followed him, and sat on the +same chair. He then said, "I willed her to come to me."</p> + +<p>He next asked our friend to hold the patient's hands, and ask her a +question <i>mentally</i>, without expressing it.</p> + +<p>After some little time she frowned, and endeavoured to withdraw her +hands.</p> + +<p><i>Dr.</i> "Ah, she does not like your question! Ask her another."</p> + +<p>After some time she burst out into a fit of laughter.</p> + +<p><i>Dr.</i> "Ah, you have tickled her fancy now!"</p> + +<p>What the question asked by our friend was, did not transpire. This +experiment having been so successful, we were asked to do the same. Not +without a feeling of shame we complied; and, taking hold of the +patient's hands, we mentally asked her the question—"Are you single or +married?" which question did not appear to us to involve any +metaphysical subtilty. However, after struggling and frowning for some +time, she said, with a sort of hysteric gasp, "He's a funny man!"</p> + +<p><i>Dr B.</i> "Ah, she can't make you out!"</p> + +<p>We are not aware to what feature in our character the epithet <i>funny</i> +will apply; but probably our self-esteem will not permit us justly to +appreciate the appositeness of this somewhat ambiguous epithet. So much, +however, for the power of divination, with which the mesmeriser seemed +perfectly satisfied. Dr B. now show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>ed us a camomile flower, put it in +his mouth, and chewed it. The patient made a face as if tasting +something disagreeable, and, in answer to his questions, said it was +bitter. He then did the same with a lozenge; and after some time, +required, according to the doctor, for the removal of the bitter taste, +she said she tasted <i>lozenges</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Dr B.</i> "There you see the community of taste." Dr B. now touched her +forehead a little above and outside of the eyebrows; she burst out +laughing.</p> + +<p><i>Dr B.</i> "I touched the organ of gaiety." He then did the same with the +organs of music; she set up an old English ditty. Then touching these +organs with one hand, and placing the other on the top of her head, she +instantly changed the ballad to a doleful psalm-tune. Affection, +philo-progenitiveness, were in turn touched, the doctor stating aloud +beforehand what organ he was going to excite. We should weary our +readers with a detail of the platitudes which ensued.</p> + +<p>She was asked what was going on in the next room, and said, "Ah, Sophy +may try, but cannot get the girl asleep!" A few other experiments, such +as suspending chairs on her arms, &c., followed, and we returned to the +next room, where the deaf and dumb girl was found <i>fast asleep</i>. Upon +being asked how long she had been so, the female mesmeriser replied, +"Just after you left the room." No comment was made upon the answer of +the clairvoyante patient above given, which appeared to have been +forgotten by all but ourselves.</p> + +<p>Had we been anxious to give a factitious interest to our narrative, we +should certainly have avoided a description of the above cases, which +could not at the same time be made to possess graphic interest, and to +relate accurately the real facts as presented; but we have selected them +as having happened to ourselves, and as being shown not by public +exhibitors, but by parties both holding a highly respectable station in +life, and being, as we believe, among the best examples to be found of +English mesmerisers. Although invited as sceptical spectators, and the +experiments being in nowise confidential, we feel that the exhibition +not being public, we have no right to mention the names of the parties.</p> + +<p>It will be obvious that the three exhibitions we have selected differed +much in character. The first, as we have stated, to our minds defied +collusion or self-deception. The second was open to either construction, +though, from the character of the parties, we should think collusion +was, in the highest degree, improbable; and the experiments, although +not conclusive, were very curious, and some of them not easy of +explanation. In the third case, transparent and absurd as the +experiments seemed to us, and as the account of them will probably +appear to our readers, the doctor, from his position and practice, must +have been seriously injured by his mesmeric experiments; and therefore +there is fair reason to believe, that he was not a party to a fraud +which must have been objectless, and professionally injurious to him; +but how a man of experience could be carried away by such flimsy +devices, is a psychological curiosity, almost as marvellous as the +asserted phenomena of mesmerism.</p> + +<p>We are aware that, in giving the above accounts of experiments which we +have personally witnessed, our authority, being anonymous, is of no +great weight. We state them to avoid the charge of writing on what we +have not seen, and to show that we do not attempt unfairly to decry +mesmerism without seeing it fairly tried; if we felt justified in giving +the names of the parties, these instances would be much more conclusive. +Nearly all the cases in Mr Townshend's book are given without the names +of parties, probably for similar reasons to those which have induced us +to withhold them.</p> + +<p>The above cases supply instances of all the phenomena included in our +categories, except those of insensibility to pain, powers of prediction, +and the curative effects. Having never personally seen cases of this +description, we shall select examples of them from the book of Mr +Townshend and others; but before we give these instances, we will +extract from Mr Townshend's book his account of the first mesmeric +sitting at which he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> present. This will give the reader a fair idea +of his attractive style, and of his state of mind previously to +witnessing, for the first time, mesmeric effects.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If to have been an unbeliever in the very existence of the state +in question, can add weight to my testimony, my reader, should he +also be a heretic on the subject, may be assured that his +incredulity in this respect can scarcely be greater than mine was, +up to the winter of 1836. That, at the time I mention, I should be +both ignorant and prejudiced on the score of mesmerism, will not +surprise those who are aware of its long proscription in England, +and the want of information upon it, which, till very lately, +prevailed there.</p> + +<p>"In the course of a residence at Antwerp, a valued friend detailed +to me some extraordinary results of mesmerism, to which he had been +an eyewitness. I could not altogether discredit the evidence of one +whom I knew to be both observant and incapable of falsehood; but I +took refuge in the supposition that he had been ingeniously +deceived. Reflecting, however, that to condemn before I had +examined was as unjust to others as it was unsatisfactory to +myself, I accepted readily the proposition of my friend to +introduce me to an acquaintance of his in Antwerp, who had learned +the practice of the mesmeric art from a German physician. We waited +together on Mr K——, the mesmeriser, (an agreeable and +well-informed person,) and stated to him that the object of our +visit was to prevail on him to exhibit to us a specimen of his +mysterious talent. To this he at first replied that he was rather +seeking to abjure a renown that had become troublesome—half the +world viewing him as a conjurer, and the other half as a getter-up +of strange comedies; 'but,' he kindly added, 'if you will promise +me a strictly private meeting, I will, this evening, do all in my +power to convince you that mesmerism is no delusion.' This being +agreed upon, with a stipulation that the members of my own family +should be present on the occasion, I, to remove all doubt of +complicity from every mind, proposed that Mr K—— should mesmerise +a person who should be a perfect stranger to him. To this he +readily acceded; and now the only difficulty was to find a subject +for our experiment. At length we thought of a young person in the +middling class of life, who had often done fine work for the ladies +of our family, and of whose character we had the most favourable +knowledge. Her mother was Irish, her father, who had been dead some +time, had been a Belgian, and she spoke English, Flemish, and +French, with perfect facility. Her widowed parent was chiefly +supported by her industry: and, in the midst of trying +circumstances, her temper was gay and cheerful, and her health +excellent. That she had never seen Mr K—— we were sure; and of +her probity and incapacity for feigning we had every reason to be +convinced. With our request, conveyed to her through one of the +ladies of our family, for whom she had conceived a warm affection, +she complied without hesitation. Not being of a nervous, though of +an excitable temperament, she had no fears whatever about what she +was to undergo. On the contrary, she had rather a desire to know +what the sensation of being mesmerised might be. Of the phenomena +which were to be developed in the mesmeric state, she knew +absolutely nothing; thus all deceptive imitation of them, on her +part, was rendered impossible.</p> + +<p>"About nine o'clock in the evening, our party assembled for what, +in foreign phrase, is called 'une séance magnétique.' Anna M——, +our mesmerisee, was already with us. Mr K—— arrived soon after, +and was introduced to his young patient, whose name we had +purposely avoided mentioning to him in the morning; not that we +feared imposition on either hand, but that we were determined, by +every precaution, to prevent any one from alleging that imposition +had been practised. Utterly unknown as the parties were to each +other, a game played by two confederates was plainly out of the +question. Almost immediately after the entrance of Mr K—— we +proceeded to the business of the evening. By his directions +Mademoiselle M—— placed herself in an arm-chair at one end of the +apartment, while he occupied a seat directly facing hers. He then +took each of her hands in one of his, and sat in such a manner as +that the knees and feet of both should be in contact. In this +position he remained for some time motionless, attentively +regarding her with eyes as unwinking as the lidless orbs which +Coleridge has attributed to the Genius of destruction. We had been +told previously to keep utter silence, and none of our +circle—composed of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> some five or six persons—felt inclined to +transgress this order. To me, novice as I was at that time in such +matters, it was a moment of absorbing interest: that which I had +heard mocked at as foolishness, that which I myself had doubted as +a dream, was, perhaps, about to be brought home to my conviction, +and established for ever in my mind as a reality. Should the +present trial prove successful, how much of my past experience must +be remodelled and reversed!</p> + +<p>"Convinced, as I have since been, to what valuable conclusions the +phenomena of mesmerism may conduct the enquirer, never, perhaps, +have I been more impressed with the importance of its pretensions +than at that moment, when my doubts of their validity were either +to be strengthened or removed. Concentrating my attention upon the +motionless pair, I observed that Mademoiselle M—— seemed at her +ease, and occasionally smiled or glanced at the assembled party; +but her eyes, as if by a charm, always reverted to those of her +mesmeriser, and at length seemed unable to turn away from them. +Then a heaviness, as of sleep, seemed to weigh down her eyelids, +and to pervade the expression of her countenance; her head drooped +on one side; her breathing became regular; at length her eyes +closed entirely, and, to all appearance, she was calmly asleep, in +just seven minutes from the time when Mr K—— first commenced his +operations. I should have observed that, as soon as the first +symptoms of drowsiness were manifested, the mesmeriser had +withdrawn his hands from those of Mademoiselle M——, and had +commenced what are called the mesmeric passes, conducting his +fingers slowly downward, without contact, along the arm of the +patient. For about five minutes, Mademoiselle M—— continued to +repose tranquilly, when suddenly she began to heave deep sighs, and +to turn and toss in her chair. She then called out, 'Je me trouve +malade! Je m'étouffe!' and rising in a wild manner, she continued +to repeat, 'Je m'étouffe!' evidently labouring under an oppression +of the breath. But all this time her eyes remained fast shut, and +at the command of her mesmeriser, she took his arm and walked, +still with her eyes shut, to the table. Mr K—— then said, +'Voulez-vous que je vous éveille?'—'Oui, oui,' she exclaimed; 'je +m'étouffe.' Upon this Mr K—— again operated with his hands, but +in a different set of movements, and taking out his handkerchief, +agitated the air round the patient, who forthwith opened her eyes, +and stared about the room like a person awaking from sleep. No +traces of her indisposition, however, appeared to remain; and soon +shaking off all drowsiness, she was able to converse and laugh as +cheerfully as usual. On being asked what she remembered of her +sensations, she said that she had only a general idea of having +felt unwell and oppressed: that she had wished to open her eyes, +but could not, they felt as if lead were on them. Of having walked +to the table she had no recollection. Notwithstanding her having +suffered, she was desirous of being again mesmerised, and sat down +fearlessly to make a second trial. This time it was longer before +her eyes closed, and she never seemed to be reduced to more than a +state of half unconsciousness. When the mesmeriser asked her if she +slept, she answered in the tone of utter drowsiness, 'Je dors, et +je ne dors pas.' This lasted some time, when Mr K—— declared that +he was afraid of fatiguing his patient, (and probably his +spectators too,) and that he should disperse the mesmeric fluid. To +do so, however, seemed not so easy a matter as the first time when +he awoke the sleep-waker; with difficulty she appeared to rouse +herself; and even after having spoken a few words to us, and risen +from her chair, she suddenly relapsed into a state of torpor, and +fell prostrate to the ground, as if perfectly insensible. Mr K——, +entreating us not to be alarmed, raised her up—placed her in a +chair, and supported her head with his hand. It was then that I +distinctly recognised one of the asserted phenomena of mesmerism. +The head of Mademoiselle M—— followed every where, with unerring +certainty, the hand of her mesmeriser, and seemed irresistibly +attracted to it as iron to the loadstone. At length Mr K—— +succeeded in thoroughly awaking his patient, who, on being +interrogated respecting her past sensations, said that she retained +a recollection of her state of semi-consciousness, during which she +much desired to have been able to sleep wholly; but of her having +fallen to the ground, or of what had passed subsequently, she +remembered nothing whatever. To other enquiries she replied, that +the drowsy sensation which first stole over her was rather of an +agree<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>able nature, and that it was preceded by a slight tingling, +which ran down her arms in the direction of the mesmeriser's +fingers. Moreover she assured us, that the oppression she had at +one time felt was not fanciful, but real—not mental, but bodily, +and was accompanied by a peculiar pain in the region of the heart, +which, however, ceased immediately on the dispersion of the +mesmeric sleep. These statements were the rather to be relied upon, +inasmuch as the girl's character was neither timid nor +imaginative."—(P. 38-42.)</p></div> + +<p>We would willingly give the whole of the second sitting of the same +patient, in which were developed the phenomena of,</p> + +<p>1st, "Attraction towards the mesmeriser."</p> + +<p>2d, "A knowledge of what the mesmeriser ate and drank, indicating +community of sensation with him."</p> + +<p>3d, "An increased quickness of perception."</p> + +<p>4th, "A development of the power of vision."</p> + +<p>Our space will not permit us to give these in detail. We shall therefore +give an extract from the third sitting, where the clairvoyance was more +decidedly developed, and the impressions of Mr Townshend on the +phenomena he had witnessed are stated.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Upon first passing into the mesmeric state, Theodore seemed +absolutely insensible to every other than the mesmeriser's voice. +Some of our party went close to him, and shouted his name; but he +gave no tokens of hearing us until Mr K——, taking our hands, made +us touch those of Theodore and his own at the same time. This he +called putting us '<i>en rapport</i>' with the patient. After this +Theodore seemed to hear our voices equally with that of the +mesmeriser, but by no means to pay an equal attention to them.</p> + +<p>"With regard to the development of vision, the eyes of the patient +appeared to be firmly shut during the whole sitting, and yet he +gave the following proofs of accurate sight:—</p> + +<p>"Without being guided by our voices, (for, in making the +experiment, we kept carefully silent,) he distinguished between the +different persons present, and the colours of their dresses. He +also named with accuracy various objects on the table, such as a +miniature picture, a drawing by Mr K——, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>"When the mesmeriser left him, and ran quickly amongst the chairs, +tables &c., of the apartment, he followed him, running also, and +taking the same turns, without once coming in contact with any +thing that stood in his way.</p> + +<p>"He told the hour accurately by Mr K——'s watch.</p> + +<p>"He played several games at dominoes with the different members of +our family, as readily as if his eyes had been perfectly open.</p> + +<p>"On these occasions the lights were placed in front of him, and he +arranged his dominoes on the table, with their backs to the +candles, in such a manner that, when I placed my head in the same +position as his own, I could scarcely, through the shade, +distinguish one from the other. Yet he took them up unerringly, +never hesitated in his play, generally won the game, and announced +the sum of the spots on such of his dominoes as remained over at +the end, before his adversaries could count theirs. One of our +party, a lady who had been extremely incredulous on the subject of +mesmerism, stooped down, so as to look under his eyelids all the +time he played, and declared herself convinced and satisfied that +his eyes were perfectly closed. It was not always, however, that +Theodore could be prevailed upon to exercise his power of vision. +Some words, written by the mesmeriser, of a tolerable size, being +shown to him, he declared, as Mademoiselle M—— did on another +occasion, that it was too small for him to distinguish.</p> + +<p>"Towards the conclusion of the sitting, the patient seemed much +fatigued, and, going to the sofa, arranged a pillow for himself +comfortably under his head; after which he appeared to pass into a +state more akin to natural sleep than his late sleep-waking. Mr +K—— allowed him to repose in this manner for a short time, and +then awoke him by the usual formula. A very few motions of the hand +were sufficient to restore him to full consciousness, and to his +usual character. The fatigue of which he had so lately complained +seemed wholly to have passed away, together with the memory of all +that he had been doing for the last hour.</p> + +<p>"I must now pause to set before my reader my own state of mind +respecting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the facts I had witnessed. I perceived that important +deductions might be drawn from them, and that they bore upon +disputed questions of the highest interest to man, connected with +the three great mysteries of being—life, death, and immortality. +On these grounds I was resolved to enter upon a consistent course +of enquiry concerning them; though as yet, while all was new and +wonderful to my apprehension, I could scarcely do more than observe +and verify phenomena. It was, however, necessary that my views, +though for the present bounded, should be distinct. I had already +asked respecting mesmeric sleep-waking, 'Does it exist?' and to +this question, the cases which had fallen under my notice, and +which were above suspicion, seemed to answer decidedly in the +affirmative: but it was essential still further to enquire, 'Does +it exist so generally as to be pronounced a part—though a rarely +developed part—of the human constitution?' In order to determine +this, it was requisite to observe how far individuals of different +ages, stations, and temperaments, were capable of mesmeric +sleep-waking. I resolved, therefore, by experiments on as extensive +a scale as possible, to ascertain whether the state in question +were too commonly exhibited to be exceptional or idiosyncratic. +Again, the two cases that I had witnessed coincided in +characteristics; but could this coincidence be accidental? It might +still be asked, 'Were the phenomena displayed uncertain, mutable, +such as might never occur again; or were they orderly, invariable, +the growth of fixed causes, which, being present, implied their +presence also?' In fine, was mesmeric sleep-waking not only a +state, but entitled to rank as a distinct state, clearly and +permanently characterized; and, as such, set apart from all other +abnormal conditions of men? On its pretensions to be so considered, +rested, I conceived, its claims to notice and peculiar +investigation: to decide this point was, therefore, one of my chief +objects; and, respecting it, I was determined to seek that +certainty which can only be attained by a careful comparison of +facts, occurring under the same circumstances. To sum up my +intentions, I desired to show that man, through external human +influence, is capable of a species of sleep-waking different from +the common, not only inasmuch as it is otherwise produced, but as +it displays quite other characteristics when produced."—(P. +49-52.)</p></div> + +<p>In the subsequent portions of the book, similar and still more wondrous +phenomena are produced by Mr Townshend. He mesmerises several Cambridge +friends. He procures two patients, designated by the names of Anna M—— +and E—— A——, who are said to be very susceptible of the mesmeric +state, and sight or mesmeric perception is manifested in a dark closet, +with large towels over the head, through the abdomen, through cards, +books, &c. &c. Anna M. is mesmerised unconsciously when in a separate +house from the mesmeriser; they predict remedies for themselves and +others, read thoughts,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> state how they and others can be further +mesmerised and demesmerised.</p> + +<p>As an instance of the curative effects, and the power of predicting +remedies, we cite the following:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Accident threw in my way a lad of nineteen years of age, a Swiss +peasant, who for three years had nearly lost the faculty of sight. +His eyes betrayed but little appearance of disorder, and the +gradual decay of vision which he had experienced, was attributed to +a paralysis of the optic nerve, resulting from a scrofulous +tendency in the constitution of the patient. The boy, whom I shall +call by his Christian name of Johann, was intelligent, +mild-tempered, extremely sincere, and extremely unimaginative. He +had never heard of mesmerism till I spoke of it before him, and I +then only so far enlightened him on the subject, as to tell him +that it was something which might, perhaps, benefit his sight. At +first he betrayed some little reluctance to submit himself to +experiment, asking me if I were going to perform some very painful +operation upon him; but, when he found that the whole affair +consisted in sitting quiet, and letting me hold his hands, he no +longer felt any apprehension.</p> + +<p>"Before beginning to mesmerise, I ascertained, with as much +precision as possible, the patient's degree of blindness. I found +that he yet could see enough to perceive any large obstacle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> that +stood in his way. If a person came directly before him, he was +aware of the circumstance, but he could not at all distinguish +whether the individual were man or woman. I even put this to the +proof. A lady of our society stood before him, and he addressed her +as 'mein herr,' (sir.) In bright sunshine he could see a white +object, or the colour scarlet, when in a considerable mass, but +made mistakes as to the other colours. Between small objects he +could not at all discriminate. I held before him successively, a +book, a box, and a bunch of keys, and he could not distinguish +between them. In each case he saw something, he said, like a +shadow, but he could not tell what. He could not read one letter of +the largest print by means of eyesight; but he was very adroit in +reading by touch, in books prepared expressly for the blind, +running his fingers over the raised characters with great rapidity, +and thus acquiring a perception of them. Whatever trifling degree +of vision he possessed, could only be exercised on very near +objects: those which were at a distance from him, he perceived not +at all. I ascertained that he could not see a cottage at the end of +our garden, not more than a hundred yards off from where we were +standing.</p> + +<p>"These points being satisfactorily proved, I placed my patient in +the proper position, and began to mesmerise. Five minutes had +scarcely elapsed, when I found that I produced a manifest effect +upon the boy. He began to shiver at regular intervals, as if +affected by a succession of slight electric shocks. By degrees this +tremour subsided, the patient's eyes gradually closed, and in about +a quarter of an hour, he replied to an enquiry on my part—'Ich +schlaffe, aber nicht ganz tief'—(I sleep, but not soundly.) upon +this I endeavoured to deepen the patient's slumber by the mesmeric +passes, when suddenly he exclaimed—his eyes being closed all the +time—'I see—I see your hand—I see your head!' In order to put +this to the proof, I held my head in various positions, which he +followed with his finger; again, he told me accurately whether my +hand was shut or open. 'But,' he said, on being further questioned, +'I do not see distinctly.—I see, as it were, sunbeams (sonnen +strahlen) which dazzle me.' 'Do you think,' I asked, 'that +mesmerism will do you good?' 'Ja freilich,' (yes, certainly,) he +replied; 'repeated often enough, it would cure me of my blindness.'</p> + +<p>"Afraid of fatiguing my patient, I did not trouble him with +experiments; and his one o'clock dinner being ready for him, I +dispersed his magnetic sleep. After he had dined, I took him into +the garden. As we were passing before some bee-hives, he suddenly +stopped, and seemed to look earnestly at them: 'What is it you +see?' I asked. 'A row of bee-hives,' he replied directly, and +continued—'Oh! this is wonderful!—I have not seen such things for +three years.' Of course, I was extremely surprised, for though I +had imagined that a long course of mesmerisation might benefit the +boy, I was entirely unprepared for so rapid an improvement in his +vision. My chief object had been to develop the faculty of sight in +sleep-waking; and I can assure my readers, that this increase of +visual power in the natural state was to me a kind of miracle, as +astonishing as it was unsought. My poor patient was in a state of +absolute enchantment. He grinned from ear to ear, and called out, +'Das ist prächtig!' (This is charming!) Two ladies now passed +before us, when he said, 'Da sind zwei fräuenzimmer!' (There go two +ladies!) 'How dressed?' I asked. 'Their clothes are of a dark +colour,' he replied. This was true. I took my patient to a +summer-house that commanded an extensive prospect. I fear almost to +state it, but, nevertheless, it is perfectly true, that he saw and +pointed out the situation of a village in the valley below us. I +then brought Johann back to the house, when, in the presence of +several members of my family, he recognised, at first sight, +several small objects, (a flowerpot, I remember, amongst other +things,) and not only saw a little girl, one of our farmers' +children, sitting on the steps of a door, but also mentioned that +she had a round cap on her head. In the house, I showed Johann a +book, which, it will be remembered, he could not distinguish before +mesmerisation, and he named the object. But, though making great +efforts, he could not read one letter in the book. Having +ascertained this, I once more threw Johann into the mesmeric state, +with a view to discover how far a second mesmerisation could +strengthen his natural eyesight. As soon as I had awaked him, at +the interval of half an hour, I presented him with the same book, +(one of Marryat's novels,) when he accurately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> told me the larger +letters of the title-page, which were as follows—'Outward Bound.' +Johann belonging to an institution of the blind situated at some +distance from our residence, I had unhappily only the opportunity +of mesmerising him three times subsequently to the above successful +trial. The establishment, also, of which he was a member, changed +masters; and its new director having prejudices on the score of +mesmerism, there were difficulties purposely thrown in the way of +my following up that which I had so auspiciously begun."—(Pp. +176-179)</p></div> + +<p>Many of these cases of clairvoyance, given by Mr Townshend, appear on +the face of them ambiguous; thus the reading is said to be effected with +difficulty and imperfectly, the difficulty to be increased by the +superposition of obstacles. Others, as related, certainly admit of no +explanation by deductions from ordinary experience. All we can say of +them, therefore, is, that we have fairly sought to see such phenomena, +and have never succeeded; when we see them, and can properly test them, +we will believe them. But from the internal evidence of the latter +portion of Mr Townshend's book, which we shall presently discuss, we +cannot, although not doubting his honesty of purpose, set our faith upon +his experiments and judgment.</p> + +<p>Mr Townshend gives no account of the phreno-mesmerism, or of the +surgical operations performed without any evidence of pain during the +mesmeric states. We have already related one of the former exhibitions, +which, we think, requires no further comment. Viewed abstractedly, the +attempt to support by the assumed accuracy of one science, at best in +its infancy, and confessedly fallible, another still more so, is making +too large demands upon public credulity to require much counter +argument. With regard to the surgical cases, they stand on a very +different ground; three operations, among the most painful of those to +which man is ever subjected, are alleged to have been performed during +the mesmeric state—Madame Plantin, amputation of cancerous breast; and +James Wombwell and Mary Ann Lakin, amputation of the leg above the knee. +The case of Wombwell was canvassed at length at the Royal Medical and +Chirurgical Society of London; and in that and the other cases there +seems to have been no question raised as to the facts of the patients +having undergone the operation without the usual evidence of suffering. +In Wombwell's case the divided end of the sciatic nerve was purposely +(it appears to us very wantonly) touched with the forceps, but without +any appearance of sensation on the part of the patient. In all these +cases the medical men most opposed to mesmerism seem to have admitted +the fact, and to have rested their incredulity on the various cases +known to them, of parties having borne operations with such fortitude as +not to have expressed the usual cries of suffering.</p> + +<p>In Madame Plantin's case it is stated; that she subsequently confessed +to a nurse in an hospital, that she felt the full pain, but purposely, +and by great effort, kept silent. This confession is, however, strongly +denied by Dr Elliotson and others, and does not appear to be clearly +substantiated.</p> + +<p>A professional "<i>odium</i>" appears to have arisen on the subject; and, +from the controversial tone of the speaking and writing on both sides, +it is difficult to get at the truth. We must say, however, that, +admitting the facts, which the antagonists of mesmerism seem to do, we +are more inclined to believe the paralysis of nervous sensation by +mesmeric influence, than that, with such inadequate motives as the +<i>patients</i> could feel, they should have such marvellous self-control as +to feign sleep, and keep their whole muscular system in a relaxed state, +while suffering such exquisite pain. Medical men are, indeed, better +judges of the power of endurance and simulation than we can pretend to +be; but, to make their testimony conclusive, they should have witnessed +the operation. The elaborate research for causes explanatory of an +unseen case, lessens the weight of authority which would otherwise be +very high.</p> + +<p>Many other minor cases, such as teeth drawn, and division of tendons, +are given; and though we have never had an opportunity of witnessing +such effects, we must say we think, from their benefit to suffering +humanity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> the possibility, however remote, of their truth, deserves +more calm and dispassionate enquiry than appears hitherto to have been +given them.</p> + +<p>While doctors, however, seek to explain, by various profound theories, +the efficient causes of asserted mesmeric cures, a member of the Church +of England, and popular preacher at Liverpool, the Rev. Hugh M. Neill, +M.A., has cut the Gordian knot, by a sermon preached at St Jude's +Church, on April 10th, 1842, and published in Nos. 599 and 600 of the +<i>Penny Pulpit</i>, price twopence. By this sermon it appears to have +occurred to the philosophic mind of the reverend divine, that mesmeric +marvels may be accounted for as accomplished by the direct agency of +Satan! Doubtless Satan is as actively at work in this the nineteenth +century, as in any anterior period of our history; but we are inclined +to think the progress of civilization has opened a sufficient number of +channels for his ingenuity, without rendering it necessary that he +should alarm the devout by miraculously interfering to assuage human +suffering.</p> + +<p>We have given above as many instances as our space will permit, of the +asserted phenomena of mesmerism; and now to return to Mr Townshend's +book.</p> + +<p>In taking a general view of the lines of argument adopted by the author +to support the possibility or probability of mesmerism, we perceive they +are of two sorts, essentially different, and in some measure +inconsistent with each other.</p> + +<p>1st, It is very properly argued, that our whole knowledge of the normal +course of nature is derived from experience; that a law is a mere +generalization from that experience, and is not any thing intrinsically +or necessarily true. Thus, if the sun were to rise in the west +to-morrow, instead of in the east, it would at first sight appear to be +a deviation from natural laws; in other words, a miracle. If, however, +the latter circumstance were wanting, after the first sensation of the +marvellous had subsided, the philosopher would enquire, whether, instead +of being a deviation from a law, it were not a subordinate instance of +some higher law, of which the period of history had been too short to +give any co-ordinate instances; and were it found, by a long course of +experience, that in every 4000 years a similar retrocession of the earth +took place, a new law would be established. Applying this to mesmerism, +it is said our notions of sleep and waking, of sight and hearing, and of +the possible limits and modes of sensation, are derived from experience +alone; we cannot estimate or understand the <i>modus agendi</i> of a new +sensation, because we have never experienced it. If, then, it be proved, +by the acts of A, B, or C, that they attain cognizance of objects by +other means than those which any known organ of sensation will permit, +you must admit the fact, and by degrees its <i>rationale</i> will become +supported by the same means as all other truths are supported, viz. by +habitual experience. Its law is, indeed, nothing but its constant +recurrence under similar circumstances. To take Mr Townshend's own mode +of enunciating this—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Are we entitled to conclude, in any case, that, because we have +not hitherto been able to assign a law to certain operations, they +are therefore absolutely without law? Are we to assert, that the +orderly dispositions of the universe are deformed by a monstrous +exception; or is it not wiser to believe that our own knowledge is +in fault, whenever Nature appears inconsistent with herself? Surely +we have enough order around us to suggest, that all which to us +seems chance, is 'direction which we cannot see;' that all apparent +anomalies are but like those discords which, in the most masterly +music, prepare the transitions from one noble passage to another, +and are actually essential to the general harmony. In many +instances this is not mere conjecture. How much of fancied +imperfection and disorder has fled before our investigation! The +motions of comets at first appear to offer an exception to the +exact arrangements of the universe.—'They traverse all parts of +the heavens. Their paths have every possible inclination to the +plane of the ecliptic; and, unlike the planets, the motion of more +than half of those which have appeared has been retrograde—that +is, from east to west.' Yet have we been able to detect the +elements of regularity in the midst of all this seeming confusion, +and to predict with certainty the day, the hour, and the minute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> of +a comet's return to our region of the sky.</p> + +<p>"Experience also shows, that apparently insulated and lawless +phenomena may not only be reduced to a law, but to a well-known +law; that many a familiar agent puts on strange disguises; and that +events, with which, in their mazy channels, we seem to be +unacquainted, may be perfectly recognised by us at their source. +Thus galvanism and magnetic force are proved, by recent +discoveries, to be only forms of electricity; showing that a fact +may be altered, not in itself, but in the circumstances that +surround it, and that complexity of development is perfectly +consistent with unity of design. Instances like these, while they +encourage us to enquiry, should teach us to believe that all which +is needed to vindicate the regularity of nature is a more extended +observation on our parts."—(Pp. 14-15.)</p></div> + +<p>This is the highest and safest ground for the advocate of mesmerism to +tread; to support himself on this he has only to demonstrate his facts +beyond the possibility of a doubt, and the truth of the phenomena, +however inconsistent with previous experience, must in the end be +admitted. But to support him on this high ground his proof must be +demonstrative; he must be able to say—I ask not for faith, nor even a +balanced mind; but doubt to the utmost, examine with the most rigorous +scepticism; I stand upon the facts alone; I offer no explanation, or at +least I make their truth dependent upon no explanation. They are or they +are not. I will prove their existence, and I will defy you to disprove +them.</p> + +<p>It will not, we conceive, be denied, that one essential attribute of the +social mind, a jealousy of credence in apparent anomalies, is a just and +necessary guard upon human knowledge. If mere assertion were believed, +every succeeding day would upset the knowledge of the preceding day; and +however high the character of the assertor of new and abnormal facts may +be, he must not expect them to be received upon the strength of his +assertion. The best men may be deceived, and the best men may be led +astray by enthusiasm. When the slightest discovery in physical science +is published, it is immediately assailed by doubts from every quarter; +and its promulgator, if he be accustomed to research and trained to +scientific investigation, never complains of these doubts, because he +knows the vast number of perplexing deceptions in which he has himself +been entangled, and the caution with which he himself would receive a +similar announcement.</p> + +<p>It is vain to cite instances of truths unappreciated by the age in which +they were advanced. We deprecate as much as any the persecution with +which occasionally men who have seen far in advance of their age have +been attacked; but the saying, "Malheureux celui qui est en avance de +son siècle," is not always true: if the new truth be difficult of +demonstration it will be proportionately tardy of reception, but if easy +of proof it is very rapidly received. As an example of this we may +instance the discovery of Volta. In the history of physical science, +never was a more sudden leap taken than by this illustrious man—that a +juxtaposition of matter in its least organic form should produce such +surprising effects upon the human organism, was to the world, as it +existed in the year 1800, a most marvellous phenomenon; and had the link +in the finest chain of proof been wanting, men would have been justified +in any degree of scepticism or incredulity. But it was easy of +demonstration; any one with a dozen discs of iron and zinc, and the same +number of penny-pieces, could satisfy himself; and the consequence was, +the discovery was instantly admitted. Let mesmerists put the same power +of self-satisfaction into the hands of the world, and doubt will be at +once removed; if, as they say, their science is not of equal exactitude, +they must bide their time and not complain.</p> + +<p>Magnetism and electricity, moreover, often cited by Mr Townshend, and +undoubtedly the most surprising additions to human knowledge within the +historical period, though abnormal, are not contradictory to +experience—they were an entirely new series of facts added to our +previous store—they did not destroy or lessen the force of any +previously received truths. Not so mesmerism, and therefore the more +stringent should be, and is, the proof required.</p> + +<p>Come we now to the second class<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> of arguments adopted in favour of +mesmerism, and by the same persons (Mr Townshend, for instance) as +support the first. Mr Townshend says, (p. 29,) "to the mesmeriser the +facts of mesmerism are no miracles;" and yet he avers that mesmerism can +make the blind see and the deaf hear. (Pp. xxxii., and 178.) We cannot +very clearly see his notion of a miracle. Passing over this, however, +and taking him to assert what the first branch of his argument requires +to be asserted, that there is no miracle, or that there is nothing but +the contradiction of a necessary truth, such as that three angles of a +triangle are equal to two right angles, which <i>may</i> not fall within some +natural law of which we have not all the data—we cannot see why, in the +second half of his book, he so sedulously endeavours to prove that +mesmerism is consistent with experience, and may be supported upon +similar grounds, and accounted for by similar theories, to those by +which the agency of the imponderable forces is established and accounted +for. After using every argument in his power to show the fallibility of +experience, and the reasons why we should not disbelieve mesmerism +because contradictory to it, which contradiction he admits in terms, the +author writes a chapter, the title of which is, "Conformity of Mesmerism +with General Experience."—(P. 155.) As instances of these reverse modes +of viewing the subject, we quote the following passages—the one taken +from the commencement of the book, where the first line of argument is +adopted; the other from the latter portion, where the second is.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Thus, then, till the initial step towards a comprehension of +mesmerism be taken anew, there is no hope that it will ever be +understood or appreciated. Why unavailingly seek to reduce it to a +formula of which it is unsusceptible? If we ascribe it to a power +already ascertained, why not treat it, at least, as an entirely new +function of that power? Why limit it to what we know, when, +possibly, it may be destined to extend the boundaries of our +knowledge? Why are we to be trammelled with foregone conclusions? +Yet upon these very restrictions the opponents of mesmerism insist; +thus taking away from men the means of investigating the agency in +question, by forcing them to set about it in the wrong way."—(P. +12.)</p></div> + +<p>Having, then, thus expressed himself in the early part of the work, +towards the close we find the following sentence. "Taking this simple +view of sensation, (that objects should be brought into a certain +relation with us by something intermediate,) we find nothing in +mesmerism contradictory of nature. Under its influence, the human frame +continues to be still a system of nerves acted upon by elastic media, +for the purpose of conveying to us the primal impulse of the Almighty +Mind, which made, sustains, and moves the universe—having, as I trust, +shown the conformity of mesmerism in all essential points with the +principles of nature, and the inferences of reason," &c. &c.</p> + +<p>If we are to admit mesmerism as a series of facts apparently +inconsistent with experience, it is most hasty and unphilosophical to +attempt to generalize it by crude hypotheses. To rest its probable truth +upon these hypotheses, is to take a totally different ground, and one +much lower and more assailable. We have no desire to be +hypercritical—to expose minor scientific inaccuracies in the work +before us; but we do not hesitate to assert, that, independently of its +inconsistency with the previous course of reasoning, the hypothesis or +hypotheses of Mr Townshend are most unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>Heat, light, electricity, magnetism, are by some regarded as specific +fluids; by others, as undulations of one or more specific fluid; and by +a third class, as undulations or polarizations of ordinary matter. Thus, +by the first, light would be viewed as a material emanation from the +luminous body; by the second, as an undulation of an imponderable ether, +existing between the luminous body and the recipient; and by the third, +as an undulation of the air, glass, or other matter, placed between the +luminous body and the object. The last would regard the ether in the +planetary spaces, not as a specific imponderable fluid, but as a highly +attenuated expansion of air, gas, or other matter, having all the +functions of ordinary matter. Whewell has, indeed, published a +<i>demonstration</i> that all matter is ponderable, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> imponderable +matter is not a conceivable idea. Be this as it may, the diversity of +opinion on this point shows the difficulty the mind finds in departing +from the truths of phenomena to the uncertainties of hypothesis; but if +hypothesis be justifiable, which it is only on the ground of absolute +necessity to link together, and render conventionally intelligible, +certain undoubted, undeniable facts, which have been associated together +under the terms <i>electricity</i>, <i>magnetism</i>, &c.—how difficult and +dangerous it must be when the facts which it seeks to associate are +denied by the mass of thinking men, when they are confessed to be +mysterious and irregular by their most strenuous advocates, each of whom +differs, in many respects, as to these facts!</p> + +<p>These difficulties have by no means been conquered by Mr Townshend. At +p. 11, he objects to this mode of theorizing, in the following strong +terms:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A certain school of German writers especially have theorized on +our subject, after the false method of explaining one class of +phenomena in nature by its fancied resemblance to another. Wishing, +perhaps, to avoid the error of the spiritualists, who solve the +problem in debate by the power of the soul alone, they have +ransacked the material world for analogies to mesmerism, till the +mind itself has been endued with its affinities and its poles. Such +attempts as these have done the greatest disservice to the cause we +advocate. They submit it to a wrong test. It is as if the laws of +light should be applied to a question in acoustics. It is as if we +should expect to find in a foreign kingdom the laws and customs of +our own."—(P. 11.)</p></div> + +<p>And yet, in the subsequent parts of his book, he asserts mesmerism to be +capable of "reflection like light"—to have "the attraction of +magnetism"—to be "transferred like heat;" to escape from a point like +electricity, and to have the sympathetic undulations of sound!—(Pp. +335, 6, 7, and 8.)</p> + +<p>Such general resemblances as the following are given:—-</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We know that electricity is capable of all that modification in +its action which our case demands. Sometimes its effects are sudden +and energetic; sometimes of indefinite and uninterrupted +continuance. It is 'capable of moving with various degrees of +facility through the pores or even the substance of matter;' and is +not impeded in its action by the intervention of any substance +whatever, provided it be not in itself in an electric state. This +capacity of varied action and of pervading influence, has already +been shown to characterize the mesmeric medium."—(P. 335.)</p></div> + +<p>Why, what is here stated of electricity, may be said of heat, of light, +of any force, and its moving through the pores may be denied as easily +as asserted; by many it is thought to be a molecular polarization, and +not a transmission.</p> + +<p>Zinc and silver are said (p. 237) to "produce a taste resulting from the +galvanic concussion, and not from any actual flavour." This is +incorrect; zinc and silver produce a taste when in voltaic +communication, because they decompose the saliva, and eliminate acid and +alkaline constituents.</p> + +<p>Further on it is said, (p. 237,) "A spark drawn by means of a pointed +metal from the nose of a person charged with electricity, will give him +the sensation of smelling a phosphoric odour." This is also an erroneous +assumption; the electric spark, in passing through the atmosphere, +combines its constituents, and forms nitrous acid. This has a pungent +smell; probably there are some other physical changes wrought upon the +constituents of the atmosphere by the electric spark, which are now +objects of anxious enquiry to natural philosophers; yet none of them +have any doubt that the electric smell is the result of a physical or +chemical action of the spark, by which either the air is decomposed, or +fine portions of metal carried off, or both. So again—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The electric medium is a far more swift and subtle messenger of +vision than is the luminous ether. 'A wheel revolving with celerity +sufficient to render its spokes invisible, when illuminated by a +flash of lightning, is seen for an instant with all its spokes +distinct, as if it were in a state of absolute repose, because, +however rapid the motion may be, the light has already come and +ceased before the wheel has had time to turn through a sensible +space.' Again, some ingenious experiments, by Professor Wheatstone, +demonstrate to a certainty, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> the speed of the electric fluid +much surpasses the velocity of light. It is, therefore, a different +medium; yet can it serve for all the purposes of vision, and even +in a superior manner. After hearing these things, shall we start at +the notion of mesmeric sensation being conveyed through another +medium than that in ordinary action? Even should the sleep-waker +perceive the most distant objects, (as some are said to have done,) +can we, from the moment a means of communication is hinted to us, +be so much amazed? If his perception be more vivid, there seems to +be an efficient cause in his abjuring the grosser media for such as +are more swift and subtle."—(P. 272.)</p></div> + +<p>The electric medium is <i>not</i> a messenger of vision. To call the light +produced by the electric spark electricity, would be the same as to call +magnetism electricity, heat electricity, motion electricity—for all +these are produced by it, and it by them. All modes of force are capable +of producing the other phenomenal effects of force. It is an obvious +fallacy to call the medium which transmits electric light, an electric +medium; this, if carried out, would overthrow natural as well as +conventional divisions, would subvert "the pales and forts of reason."</p> + +<p>Mr Townshend, accustomed to metaphysical abstractions, shows, in these +and many other instances, a want of acquaintance with physical science, +and entirely fails when he bases his reasoning upon it. Many of the +arguments of Mr Townshend are of such a transcendental nature, that we +fear, should we attempt to follow them, our readers would lose their +clairvoyance in the mist of metaphysical speculation. The following will +give a fair specimen of the conclusion to which such reasoning tends:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Indeed, if we lay to heart the deceptiveness and mutability of all +the external species of matter, at the same time considering that +we have no reason to deem it capable of change in its ultimate and +imperceptible particles; if, also, we reflect, that whatever is not +palpable in itself is yet indicated by its effects, forces us on +pure reason by withdrawing at once the aid and the illusion of our +external senses, we shall perhaps come to the conclusion that the +Invisible is the only true, exclaiming, with the old Latinist, +'Invisibilia non decipiunt.'"—(P. 355.)</p></div> + +<p>And yet the facts of mesmerism are to be judged of by the very senses +which mesmerism proves to be so fallacious. It is because we <i>see</i> that +E—— A—— reads when the book is presented to the back of his hand, +that we are to believe that he does not perceive with the usual organs. +Upon the rule which the author adopts, that "the invisible is the only +true," we cannot rely upon our deceptive organs and should disbelieve +mesmerism <i>because</i> we see it.</p> + +<p>To analyse, in detail, the hypotheses of Mr Townshend would be quite +impossible in our limited space. We might, indeed, adopt method +sometimes used in controversial writing, and string together a parallel +column of minor contradictions. This would however, not only be totally +devoid of interest to the reader, but is not the object we have in view. +We seek not for critical errors or inconsistencies, but merely to +examine if there be any broad lines of truth or probability in his +theory. It is summed up as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The real nature of vision is as shut to the vulgar as the mesmeric +mode of sight is to the learned.</p> + +<p>"By the eye we appreciate light and colour only: the rest is an +operation of the judgment.</p> + +<p>"Viewed metaphysically, seeing is but a particular kind of +knowledge: viewed physically, seeing consists in certain nervous +motions, responsive to the motions of a medium. That medium, in our +ordinary condition, is light, the action of which seems cut off and +intercepted in the case of mesmeric vision.</p> + +<p>"When, therefore, we hear that a mesmerised person has correctly +seen an object through obstacles which to us appear opaque, we, +conceiving no means of communication between the person and the +object, exclaim that the laws of nature have been violated. But, in +all cases where information is conveyed through interrupted spaces, +show but the means of communication, and astonishment ceases.</p> + +<p>"When we know that there is a medium permeating, in one or other of +its forms, all substances whatever, and that this medium is +eminently capable of exciting sensations of sight; and when we take +this in conjunction with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> a heightened sensibility in the +percipient person, rendering him aware of impulses whereof we are +not cognisant, we are no longer inclined to deny a fact or suppose +a miracle.</p> + +<p>"Finally, all sensation has but one principle. All that is required +for its production is, that objects should be brought into a +certain relation with us by something intermediate; and this is +effected by the impulsions of certain media upon nerves, the last +changes in which are the immediate forerunners of completed +sensation."—(P. 279.)</p></div> + +<p>In short, we think we do not unfairly express the author's theory in the +following query. As the application of the highest human powers (those +of Newton, for instance) have resolved the transmission of light to the +sensorium into the vibrations of an all-pervading ether, what is more +probable than that a similar ethereal medium may convey sensations of +objects through other channels? This may be, but another important +ingredient is wanting, viz. organization, or definite molecular +arrangement. Prick the eye, and, by the resulting morbid derangement, +change the molecular arrangement of its particles, and vision is +destroyed; pulverise the glass through which you look, and it is no +longer transparent. The ether (if there be an ether) in the pores of +these substances, can only convey correct impressions when these +particles have a definite arrangement; but the mesmeric ether is +dependent upon no such necessity. Density and tenacity, opacity and +transparency, homogeneous or heterogeneous bodies, are all equally +penetrable. And what is more strange, the mesmeric ether conveys +correct, and not distorted impressions. The same perception of form +which is conveyed through air, is convoyed through the cover of a book, +through the bones of the skull, or the muscles of the stomach. And, +still more extraordinary, this impression is identical as to the mental +idea it conveys with that conveyed in the normal manner through the eye. +The mesmeric ether has, therefore, not only the power of conveying +impressions, but of preserving their continuity through any impediment. +The formal impressions of a chair or table, which are conveyed by +ordinary vision in right lines to the retina, if these lines be +distorted by any intervening want of uniformity in the matter, are +proportionally distorted. Let striæ of glass of different density +intervene in an optical lens, and the objects are distorted; increase +the number of striæ, the object is more imperfect; and carry the +molecular derangement further, opacity is the result. Transparency and +opacity, then, viewed apart from all hypotheses, resolve themselves into +organization or molecular arrangement. Yet, by the mesmeric medium, a +chair or table is conveyed to the recipient in its distinct form, or, +what amounts to the same thing for the argument of conformity, they give +to the mind distinct ideas of these objects. If, then, there be a +mesmeric medium, which, being a purely hypothetic creation, cannot be +disproved, its requisites must be so totally at variance with the +requisites of ordinary ethereal media, that none of the rules which can +be applied to this can be applied to that. The arguments of Mr Townshend +depend on analogy, where there is no analogy.</p> + +<p>Many of the objects of vision, all indeed by which reading is effected, +are purposely constructed to suit the peculiar organization of the +eye—they are artifices specially appropriated to given sensations; thus +<i>black</i> letters are printed on <i>white</i> paper, because experience has +told us that black reflects no light, while white reflects all the +incident light. If we wish to read by another sense, we adapt our object +to such a sense; thus, for those who read by the finger, raised letters +are prepared, differing from the matrix in position but not in colour; +if we read by the ear, we address it by sounds and not by forms or +colours; and it would be far from impracticable to read by smell or +taste, by associating given odours or given tastes with given ideas.</p> + +<p>In all this, however, each sense requires a peculiar education and long +training—it is only by constant association of the word <i>table</i> with +the thing <i>table</i>, that we connect the two ideas; but mesmeric +clairvoyance not only conveys things as things in all their proper forms +and colours, (p. 164,) without the intervention of the usual senses, but +it also dispenses with education or association, or instantly adapts to +a new sense the education<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> hitherto specially and only adapted to +another.</p> + +<p>Thus the mesmeric medium should, and does, according to Mr Townshend, +(pp. 97, 99, 101,) convey to the person accustomed to read by the eye, +ideas and perceptions which he has hitherto associated with the +sight—to him accustomed to read by touch, ideas associated with +touch—and so of the rest, and that not of sight or touch of the object +itself, but of a mere arbitrary symbol of the object.</p> + +<p><i>Table</i> of five letters or forms—<i>table</i> of two sounds, bearing no +resemblance to these letters or forms, or to the thing—<i>table</i> but a +mere conventional substitute for the purpose of human convenience, yet +by the all-potent mesmeric medium, for which they have not been +previously framed, are definitely conveyed, and produce the require +perception and the required association.</p> + +<p>We trust we need go no further to show that mesmeric clairvoyance has, +at all events, no conformity with general experience; and that, if it be +true, the proofs of its truth cannot be based on its analogy with other +sensations. To sum up our arguments, we say—1st, That without +undervaluing testimony, mesmeric clairvoyance is not sufficiently proved +by competent witnesses to be admitted as fact: 2d, The reasoning in +support of it is insufficient, and, in most cases, fallacious.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the best arguments employed by Mr Townshend in favour of the +possibility of clairvoyance, are the authenticated cases of normal +sleepwalking; these have been very little examined, but appear, in one +respect, strikingly to differ from mesmeric coma. The eyes of the +somnambulist are said to be open, and therefore there is every optical +power of vision, and an increase of ordinary visual perception is all +that is requisite. The acts performed by the sleepwalker are, moreover, +generally those to which he is habitually accustomed; and, when this is +not the case, he fails, as many disastrous accidents have too fatally +testified.</p> + +<p>At the close of Mr Townshend's book is a short appendix, containing some +testimonials to the verity of mesmeric effects. Several of these are +anonymous, and the value of their authority cannot therefore be judged +of. Others are testimonies to mesmeric effects produced upon the +patients, E—— A—— or Anna M——. None of these are from persons of +very high authority; and they are, certainly, not such as would induce +us to rest our faith upon them. We grant to them their full right to be +convinced; but their testimony is not of sufficient force to produce +conviction in others. The two last testimonials, however, are of a very +different character. One of these is by Professor Agassiz, and the other +by Signor Ranieri of Naples. Both these are testimonials, not to any +effect produced upon an accustomed patient, but upon the testifiers +themselves; and the former, coming from a man of high distinction, and +accustomed to physical research, is undoubtedly of great weight. We +therefore give it in full.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Desirous to know what to think of mesmerism, I for a long time +sought for an opportunity of making some experiments in regard to +it upon myself, so as to avoid the doubts which might arise on the +nature of the sensations which we have heard described by +mesmerised persons. M. Desor, yesterday, in a visit which he made +to Berne, invited Mr Townshend, who had previously mesmerised him, +to accompany him to Neufchatel, and try to mesmerise me. These +gentlemen arrived here with the evening courier, and informed me of +their arrival. At eight o'clock I went to them. We continued at +supper till half past nine o'clock, and about ten o'clock Mr +Townshend commenced operating upon me. While we sat opposite to one +another, he, in the first place, only took hold of my hands, and +looked at me fixedly. I was firmly resolved to arrive at a +knowledge of the truth, whatever it might be; and therefore, the +moment I saw him endeavouring to exert an action upon me, I +silently addressed the Author of all things, beseeching him to give +me power to resist the influence, and to be conscientious in regard +to myself, as well as in regard to the facts. I then fixed my eyes +upon Mr Townshend, attentive to whatever passed. I was in very +suitable circumstances; the hour being early, and one at which I +was in the habit of studying, was far from disposing me to sleep. I +was sufficiently master of myself to experience no emotion, and to +repress all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> flights of imagination, even if I had been less calm; +accordingly it was a long time before I felt any effect from the +presence of Mr Townshend opposite me. However, after at least a +quarter of an hour, I felt a sensation of a current through all my +limbs, and from that moment my eyelids grew heavy. I then saw Mr +Townshend extend his hands before my eyes, as if he were about to +plunge his fingers into them; and then make different circular +movements around my eyes, which caused my eyelids to become still +heavier. I had the idea that he was endeavouring to make me close +my eyes; and yet it was not as if some one had threatened my eyes, +and, in the waking state, I had closed them to prevent him. It was +an irresistible heaviness of the lids, which compelled me to shut +them, and by degrees I found that I had no longer the power of +keeping them open; but did not the less retain my consciousness of +what was going on around me; so that I heard M. Desor speak to Mr +Townshend, understood what they said, and heard what questions they +asked me, just as if I had been awake; but I had not the power of +answering. I endeavoured in vain several times to do so; and when I +succeeded, I perceived that I was passing out of the state of +torpor in which I had been, and which was rather agreeable than +painful.</p> + +<p>"In this state I heard the watchman cry ten o'clock; then I heard +it strike a quarter past; but afterwards I fell into a deeper +sleep, although I never entirely lost my consciousness. It appeared +to me that Mr Townshend was endeavouring to put me into a sound +sleep; my movements seemed under his control, for I wished several +times to change the position of my arms, but had not sufficient +power to do it, or even really to will it; while I felt my head +carried to the right or left shoulder, and backwards or forwards, +without wishing it; and, indeed, in spite of the resistance which I +endeavoured to oppose, and this happened several times.</p> + +<p>"I experienced at the same time a feeling of great pleasure in +giving way to the attraction, which dragged me sometimes to one +side, sometimes to the other; then a kind of surprise on feeling my +head fall into Mr Townshend's hand, who appeared to me from that +time to be the cause of the attraction. To his enquiry if I were +well, and what I felt? I found I could not answer, but I smiled; I +felt that my features expanded in spite of my resistance; I was +inwardly confused at experiencing pleasure from an influence which +was mysterious to me. From this moment I wished to wake, and was +less at my ease; and yet on Mr Townshend asking me, whether I +wished to be awakened, I made a hesitating movement with my +shoulders. Mr Townshend then repeated some frictions, which +increased my sleep; yet I was always conscious of what was passing +around me. He then asked me, if I wished to become lucid, at the +same time continuing, as I felt, the frictions from the face to the +arms. I then experienced an indescribable sensation of delight, and +for an instant saw before me rays of dazzling light, which +instantly disappeared. I was then inwardly sorrowful at this state +being prolonged—it appeared to me that enough had been done with +me; I wished to awake, but could not, yet when Mr Townshend and M. +Desor spoke, I heard them. I also heard the clock, and the watchman +cry, but I did not know what hour he cried. Mr Townshend then +presented his watch to me, and asked if I could see the time, and +if I saw him; but I could distinguish nothing. I heard the clock +strike the quarter, but could not get out of my sleepy state. Mr +Townshend then woke me with some rapid transverse movements from +the middle of the face outwards, which instantly caused my eyes to +open, and at the same time I got up, saying to him, 'I thank you.' +It was a quarter past eleven. He then told me, and M. Desor +repeated the same thing, that the only fact which had satisfied +them that I was in a state of mesmeric sleep, was the facility with +which my head followed all the movements of his hand, although he +did not touch me, and the pleasure which I appeared to feel at the +moment when, after several repetitions of friction, he thus moved +my head at pleasure in all directions."—(P. 385 to 388.)</p></div> + +<p>This we think a most interesting and valuable document, and the best key +we have ever seen to the <i>facts</i> of mesmerism. It is the production of a +resolute, religious, and philosophic mind, and bears all the impress of +truth; it proves that there are facts worthy of the most careful +investigation—it proves a power of inducing a comatose or sleep-waking +state—an influence exercised by one mind over another—and it goes far +to prove a physical attraction subsisting between two persons in +mesmeric relation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> But, on the other hand, how strikingly do the +phenomena here described differ from those exhibited by the other +patients. In those cases, to use the general proposition of Mr +Townshend, "the sleep-waker seems incapable of analysing his new +sensations while they last, still more of remembering them when they are +over. The state of mesmerism is to him as death."—(P. 156.) Here, on +the other hand, the patient analyses all the sensations he experienced, +and recollects them when they are over; here, notwithstanding the +efforts of the mesmeriser, the production of the mesmeric effect, and no +resistance on the part of the mesmerisee, the latter does not become +clairvoyant; "<i>je ne distinguais rien</i>," are the emphatic words of +Professor Agassiz.</p> + +<p>Precisely similar is the testimony of Signor Ranieri, the historian—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Having been mesmerised by my honourable friend Mr Hare Townshend, I +will simply describe the phenomena which I experienced before, +during, and after my mesmerisation. Mr Townshend commenced by +making me sit upon a sofa, he sat upon a chair opposite me, and +keeping my hands in his, placed them on my knees. He looked at me +fixedly, and from time to time let go my hands, and placed the +points of his fingers in a straight line opposite my eyes, at an +inch, I should think, from my pupils; then, describing a kind of +ellipse, he brought his hands down again upon mine. After he had +moved his hands thus alternately from my eyes to my knees for ten +minutes, I felt an irresistible desire to close my eyelids. I +continued, nevertheless, to hear his voice, and that of my sister, +who was in the same room. Whenever they put questions to me, I +always answered him correctly; but the whole of my muscular system +was in a state of peculiar weakness, and of almost perfect +disobedience to my will; and, consequently, the pronunciation of +the words with which I wished to answer had become extremely +difficult.</p> + +<p>"Whilst I experienced to a certain point the effects of sleep, not +only was I not a stranger to all that was passing around me, but I +even took more than usual interest in it. All my conceptions were +more rapid; I experienced nervous startings to which I am not +accustomed; in short, my whole nervous system was in a state of +perfect exaltation, and appeared to have acquired all the +superabundance of power which the muscular system had lost.</p> + +<p>"The following are the principal phenomena which I was able to feel +distinctly. Mr Townshend did not fail to ask me occasionally if I +could see him or my sister without opening my eyelids; but this was +always impossible, and all that I could say I had seen was a +glimmering of light, interrupted by the black and confused images +of the objects presented to me; a light which appeared to me a +little less clear than that which we commonly see when we shut the +eyelids opposite the sun or a candle.</p> + +<p>"Mr Townshend at last determined to demesmerise me. He began to +make elliptical movements with his hands, the reverse of those +which he had made at the commencement; I could now open my eyes +without any kind of effort, my whole muscular system became +perfectly obedient to my will; I was able to get up, and was +perfectly awake; but I remained nearly an hour in a kind of +stupefaction very similar to that which sometimes attacks me in the +mornings, if I rise two or three hours later than usual."—(P. 388 +to 390.)</p></div> + +<p>Similar, as to the general conclusions, are the reports of the French +Academy and the testimonies of all rigorous and well-conducted +scientific examination. These testimonies apply to facts which it is the +duty of those experimentalists and physiologists, who have time and +opportunity at their disposal, fairly to investigate.</p> + +<p>The insensibility to pain, and to the effects of the galvanic shock, are +also within the limits of the credible—and the latter is the more easy +of proof, as being incapable of simulation. As we stated at the +commencement, so we repeat here; mesmerism has been too little +investigated by competent persons, and is too much mystified by +charlatanism, to enable us accurately to define the limits of the true +and false, far less to predict what may be the discoveries to which it +may lead. With regard to the facts of clairvoyance, we are at present +entirely incredulous. Mr Townshend says, p. 91—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Let, then, body after body of learned men deny the phenomena of +mesmerism, and logically disprove their existence; an appeal may +ever, and at any moment, be made to the proof by ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>periment; and +even should experiment itself fail a thousand times, the success of +the thousandth and first trial would justify further examination. +Till the authority of observation can be wholly set aside, the +subject of our enquiry can never be said to have undergone its +final ostracism."</p></div> + +<p>This is certainly a strong proposition; nevertheless it is with the hope +that observation may be directed to the <i>facts</i> of mesmerism, that we +have written the preceding pages. In reasoning on a subject, we can use +only those lights which experience has given us. The efficacy of logical +disproof, somewhat contemptuously treated by Mr Townshend in the above +passage, is yet fully vindicated by the latter half of the book itself, +which is an endeavour, logically, to bring home mesmerism to the +understanding of men of experience. It is vain to make light of logic, +when the parties who set it at nought are themselves obliged to use it +to prove its own worthlessness. You must not exalt <i>reason</i>, and we will +give you the <i>reason</i> why—this cuts their own ground from under them. +We so far agree with the last quoted sentence, as to admit that, when +experiments fairly tried by competent parties have and do succeed, +mesmerism will be established—hitherto they have <i>not</i> succeeded. The +alleged proofs are not brought home to the observation of cautious, +thinking men; and reason, thus at once derided and appealed to, is +unsatisfied. Time "may bring in its revenges," may show things which +would be to us marvellous; and we deny no future possibilities. At +present, we admit some very curious phenomena, which we would willingly +see further examined; but we are unconvinced of those facts of mesmerism +enounced by its professors, which wholly contradict our previous +experience. Upon what we consider the only safe grounds for the general +admission of newly asserted facts, the evidence in support of these +should more than counterpoise the evidence for their rejection. Up to +the present time, balancing, as we have endeavoured to do, impartially, +the evidence in favour of clairvoyance, and the preternatural powers of +mesmerism, against those of an opposite tendency, the former seems to us +inordinately outweighed. On the other hand, the production, by external +influence, either of absolute coma or of sleep-waking, whether resulting +from imagination in the patient, or from an effort of the will on the +part of the mesmeriser, or from both conjointly, has been too lightly +estimated and too little examined. This alone is in itself an effect so +novel, so mysterious, and apparently so connected with the mainsprings +of sentient existence, as to deserve and demand a rigorous, impartial, +and persevering scrutiny.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Since this article was written, the letters of Miss Martineau have +appeared. Had these been published earlier, we should undoubtedly have +noticed them at some length; they have not, however, induced us to alter +any thing we have written; they have, indeed, confirmed one remark made +above. The effects described by Miss Martineau as produced upon herself, +are credible and not preternatural, while the second-sight of the girl +J—— is preternatural and not credible; <i>i. e.</i> not credible as +preternatural, otherwise easily explicable.</p> + +<p>In this, as in every mesmeric case, the marvellous effects are developed +by the uneducated—the most easily deceived, and the most ready to be +deceivers.</p> + +<p>The clairvoyant writers have greatly the advantage of the sceptics in +one respect, viz. the public interest of their communications. Every one +reads the description of new marvels, few care to examine the arguments +in contravention of them.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Pol, me occidistis, amici,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Non servastis, ait, cui sic extorta voluptas,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error."</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AESTHETICS_OF_DRESS" id="AESTHETICS_OF_DRESS"></a>ÆSTHETICS OF DRESS.</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">No. II.</span></h4> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">About a Bonnet.</span></p> + + +<p>So then, having "put down" hats, we come to bonnets; this is the due +order of things—hats should be taken off before bonnets always; "common +politeness makes us stop and do it." And here, as the immortal Butler +found it necessary in olden times to lament the perils that environed a +man meddling with a hard subject, so we might well indulge in an +ejaculation at what may be our fate if we presume to take liberties with +the head-dress of the ladies. Actæon, when he contemplated Diana +<i>simplicem munditiis</i>, paid a severe penalty in the transformation of +his own head; and so, perhaps, we may incur—but never mind; the task, +worthy of a Hercules, (for the hydra of female fashion is more than +hundred-headed,) must be gone through with, and the <i>scrivano umillimo</i> +must push his pen even under the pole of a lady's bonnet.</p> + +<p>The best-dressed woman in the world was our great-great-great +progenitrix; we really cannot trace up the pedigree, but you all know +whom we mean—your common mother and ours: we have the highest authority +among our own poets for saying so. There can be no doubt that her +<i>coiffure</i> was perfect. It is a law of nature—it was true then—it has +been true ever since—it is indisputable at the present day—the +expressive beauty of a woman lies in her face: whatever, therefore, +conceals the face is a disfigurement, and inherits the principle of the +ugly. Ye who would study the æsthetics of human habiliments, look at the +lovely lines of the female face; contemplate that fairest type of the +animated creation; observe the soft emotions of her gentle soul, now +shooting forth rays of tender light from between her long enclasping +eyelashes, now arching her rosy lips into the playful lineaments of +Cupid's mortal bow; or gaze upon the subdued and affectionate +contentment of the maternal countenance—remember, while you were yet +young, your mother's look of love, that look which was all-powerful to +master your fiercest passions in your wildest mood—who will say that +the female face ought to be concealed? As far as we, the more powerful, +though not the better, portion of the human race are concerned—off with +the bonnet! off with the veil! say we. But there are others to be +consulted in settling this preliminary dogma of taste—the feelings and +the inclinations of woman herself are entitled to at least as much +regard as the imperious wishes of man. She, who possesses the bright but +fleetly fading gift of beauty, has also that inestimable, indefinable +accompaniment of it—modesty. Beauty is too sensitive a gem to be always +exposed to the light of admiration; it must be ensheathed in modesty for +its rays to retain their primitive lustre; it would perish from exposure +to the natural changes of the atmosphere, but it would die much sooner +from the incomprehensible, yet positive, effects of moral lassitude. To +use a commonplace simile, gentle reader, woman's beauty is like +champagne, it gets terribly into a man's head: do not, however, leave +the cork out of your champagne bottle—the sparkling spirit will all +evaporate; and do not quarrel with your sweet-heart if she muffles up +her face sometimes, and will not let you look at it for a week +together—her eyes will be all the brighter when you next see them. +There is a good cause for it; man is an ungrateful, hardly-pleased +animal; every indulgence that woman grants him loosens her power over +him. Women have an innate right to conceal their heads!</p> + +<p>We arrive, then, at the foundation of taste for a lady's head-dress. Her +face, her head, is naturally so beautiful, that the less it is +concealed—as far as the mere gratification of the eye is concerned—the +better; but the necessity for veiling and protecting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> this precious +object is so inevitable, that a suitable extraneous covering must be +provided; let that covering be as consonant to her natural excellence as +it is possible to make it.</p> + +<p>Now, we are not going to write a history of all the changes of female +head-dress that have taken place since the world began: nothing at all +of the kind. We refer the curious amateur to the work of that learned +Dutchman—we forget his name, 'tis all the same—<i>De Re Vestiaria</i>; or +he may look into Wilkinson's <i>Ancient Egyptians</i>—there is a pretty +considerable variety of bonnets or caps to be seen therein, we +calculate. If he be a decided <i>cognoscente</i>, let him rather go to the +Attic gallery in the British Museum, and examine the Panathenaic +procession, where the virgins are in the simple attire of the best days +of Greece: but here, or in any of the monuments of that foster-country +of art, and in all the series of Roman sculpture and coins, he will find +no head-dress for a female beyond that of the veil. The great artists +and the great conquerors of the world never tolerated any thing beyond +this flowing drapery of the veil, as the covering for their wives' or +daughters' heads. They were satisfied with the beautiful contrast given +by the curving lines of its graceful folds; they admired its simplicity; +and they saw the perfect suitableness of its nature to its purpose. The +veil could be hastily drawn over the head, so as to conceal every +feature, and protect it from the gaze of man or the roughness of the +seasons—and it could as easily be withdrawn partially to allow of "a +sidelong glance of love," or wholly to give "a gaze of welcome," to a +relation and a friend. Happy men those old Greeks and Romans! they had +no bills for milliners—whatever their jewellers' accounts might have +come to! When they travelled, their slaves were not pestered with +bonnet-boxes and similar abominations—a clean yard or two of +Phœnician gauze, or Asian linen, set up Mrs Secretary Pericles, or +Mrs General Cæsar, with a braw new veil. There was little caprice of +fashion—the veil would always fall into something like the same or at +least similar folds; and we do believe that, for a thousand years or +more, the type of the <i>mode</i> remained fixed. Whether the ancient +Asiatics made their women wear precisely the same mask-veils as those +jealous rascals the Turks and Arabs do at the present day, we do not +know, and we are not now going to enquire: we only wish to protest, <i>en +passant</i>, against these same modern Eastern veils; they are the most +frightful, unclassical, unbecoming things ever invented as face-cases. +Our present purpose is with the head-dress of modern British ladies—let +us look into their bonnets.</p> + +<p>And truly a bonnet, taken by itself, without the jewel that often lies +under it—a bonnet <i>per se</i>—is as bad a thing as a hat; something +between a coal-scuttle and a bread-basket; it is only fit to be married +to the hat, and, let us add—settled in the country. But it is, +nevertheless capricious in its ugliness, just as its possessor is +capricious in her prettiness; for, look at it from behind, its lines do +not greatly deviate from the circular form of the head; it seems like a +smart case;—look at it from before; there it is seen to best advantage +as an oval frame, set with ribands, flowers, and laces, for the sweet +picture within; but look at it from the side, and the genuine, vulgar, +cookmaid form of the coal-scuttle is instantly perceived. It serves in +this view evidently as blinkers do to a horse in harness, just to keep +the animal from shying, or to guard off a chance stroke of the whip. But +it is uncommonly tantalizing into the bargain. You walk along Regent +Street some fine day, and for a hundred paces or more you are troubled +by the crowd keeping you always in the rear of an old, faded, frumpy +bonnet, that hinders you from watching a sweet little <i>chapeau-de-soie</i> +immediately beyond. Your patience is exhausted, and your curiosity +driven to the highest pitch of anxiety; you make a desperate stride, +push by the old bonnet, and look round with indignation to see what +beldam had thus been between you and the "cynosure of neighbouring +eyes:"—whew! 'tis the pretty young shop-girl that served you with your +last pair of gloves, and measured them so fascinatingly along your hand, +that your heart still pal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>pitates with the electrical touch of her +fingers. You pocket your indignation, exchange one of your blandest +smiles, and pass on, still striding to see what lovely features grace +that exquisite <i>chapeau</i>. Half afraid, of course—for she is a lady +evidently, and you pique yourself on being a perfect gentleman—you +venture, as you pass, to let your eye just glance within the sacred +enclosure of blonde and primroses;—pshaw! it's old Miss Thingamy, that +you had to hand down to dinner the other day at Lady Dash's; and +instantly catching your eye, she gives you a condescending nod, and +you're forced to escort her all the way up to Portland Place! It's +enough to make a man hang himself; and, to say the truth, many a poor +fellow has been ruined by bonnets before now—even Napoleon himself had +to pay for <i>thirty-six</i> new bonnets within <i>one month</i> for Josephine!</p> + +<p>Bonnets, however, have more to do with women than with men; and we defy +our fair friends to prove that these articles of dress, about which they +are always so anxious, (a woman—a regular genuine woman, reader—will +sacrifice a great deal for a bonnet,) are either useful or ornamental. +And first, for their use; if they were good for any thing, they would +protect the head from cold, wet, and sunshine. Now, as far as cold is +concerned, they do so to a certain degree, but not a tenth part so well +as something else we shall talk of by and by; as for wet—what woman +ever trusted to her bonnet in a shower of rain? What woman does not +either pop up her parasol, or green cotton umbrella, or, if she has not +these female arms, ties over it her pocket-handkerchief, in a vain +attempt to keep off the pluvious god? Women are more frightened at +spoiling their bonnets than any other article of their dress: let them +but once get their bonnets under the dripping eaves of an umbrella, and, +like ostriches sticking their heads under ground, they think their whole +persons safe;—we appeal to any man who has walked down Cheapside with +his eyes open, on a rainy day, whether this be not true. And then for +the sun—who among the ladies trust to her bonnet for keeping her face +from freckling? Else why all the paraphernalia of parasols? why all +these endless patents for sylphides and sunscreens of every kind, form, +and colour? why can you never meet a lady in a summerwalk without one of +these elegant little contrivances in her hand? Comfort, we apprehend, +does not reside in a bonnet: look at a lady travelling, whether in a +carriage or a railroad diligence—she cannot for a moment lean back into +one of the nice pillowed corners of the vehicle, without running +imminent risk of crushing her bonnet; her head can never repose; she has +no travelling-cap, like a man, to put on while she stows away her bonnet +in some convenient place: the stiffened gauze, or canvass, or paper, of +which its inner framework is composed, rustles and crackles with every +attempt at compression; and a pound's worth or two of damage may be done +by a gentle tap or squeeze. Women, if candid, would allow that their +bonnets gave them much more trouble than comfort, and that they have +remained in use solely as conventional objects of dress—we will not +allow, of ornament. The only position in which a bonnet is becoming—and +even then it is only the modern class of bonnets—is, when they are +viewed full front: further, as we observed before, they make a nice +<i>encadrement</i> for the face: and, with their endless adjuncts of lace, +ribands, and flowers, they commonly set off even moderately pretty +features to advantage. But is only the present kind of bonnet that does +so; the old-fashioned, poking, flaunting, square-cornered bonnet never +became any female physiognomy: it is only the small, tight, +come-and-kiss-me style of bonnet now worn by ladies, that is at all +tolerable. All this refers, however, only to that portion of the fairer +half of the human race which is in the bloom and vigour of youth and +womanhood: those that are still in childhood, or sinking into the vale +of years, cannot have a more inappropriate, more useless, covering for +the head than what they now wear, at least in England. Simplicity, which +should be the attribute of youth, and dignity, which should belong to +age, cannot be compatible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> with a modern bonnet: fifty inventions might +be made of coverings more suitable to these two stages of life.</p> + +<p>How, then, has it come to pass that women have persuaded themselves, or +have been overpersuaded, into the belief that a bonnet is the highest +point of perfection in their dress? It has all been done by a foolish +imitation of the caprices of French milliners, themselves actuated by +millions of caprices and fancies—but at the same time by one +steadily-enduring principle, that novelty and change, no matter how +useless, how extravagant, form the soul of their peculiar trade. For, +note it down—the bonnet mania has not mounted upwards from the lower to +the higher ranks of society; on the contrary, it has been a regular +plant, sown as a trifling casual seed in the hotbed of some silly +creature's brain, and then sending down its roots into many an inferior +class. Any one who has crossed the British Channel, knows that the +bonnet—as we understand the word in England—is not an article of +national costume in any portion of the world except our own +island—America and Australia we place, of course, out of the pale of +taste. In France itself, the peasantry, and all classes of women +immediately under the conventional denomination of ladies, wear +<i>bonnets</i>. This word does not signify the same thing as with us, gentle +reader. The French word <i>bonnet</i> means a snow-white cap, whether rising +into an enormous cone, like those of the Norman beauties, or limited to +a jaunting frill and lappels, like those of the Parisian grisettes. The +real bonnets, the French female <i>chapeau</i>, is worn only by those who +call themselves ladies; and this difference of costume marks a most +decided difference of rank and self-esteem in the various grades of +Gallic society. In the Bourbonnois, it is true, and in some parts of +Switzerland and Germany, straw-hats of various sizes are worn by the +peasantry; but these do not resemble the actual bonnet of the nineteenth +century. Who does not know the exquisite national head-dresses of the +Italian and Spanish women, from pictorial representation, if not from +actual inspection? Who has not read of the Greek cap and veil? Who has +not heard of the national caps of Poland, Hungary, and Russia? Not the +slightest approximation to the eccentricity of the bonnet is to be found +in any of these. In all of them, not caprice, but the more rational +qualities of use and ornament, have been studiously regarded. It is in +England only that our lower classes of women have abandoned their +national costume, and are content to suffer the inconvenient +consequences of imitating their superiors. Let any one who has traversed +Europe only recall to his mind the appearances of the female peasants as +to their head-dress, whether in their houses or in the fields, and +comparing them with the tattered, dirty things worn by the labourers' +wives and daughters of England, say which are to be preferred in point +of taste—which are the cleanest—which are the most becoming.</p> + +<p>Not to go too far back into the mist of antiquity, the earliest traces +that we can find of hats being commonly worn in England, are to be met +with somewhere in the first half of the last century. Previous to that +time ladies wore hoods and caps; and in the Middle Ages muffled their +heads in wimples and veils; but some time or other—in the reign of the +second George, we believe—some lady or other stuck on her head a round +silk hat with a low crown and a broad brim, perfectly circular, and the +brim or ledge at right angles to the crown or head-piece. This she +subsequently changed into a straw one, and this was the root of the +evil—<i>hinc illæ lachrymæ!</i> We are aware that, at the gay court of Louis +XIV., and even before he had a court, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, when +she went to battle or to hunt, wore a gold-laced semi-cocked hat: so did +Madame de Montespan when she accompanied the king to one of his grand +<i>parties de chasse</i>. But then, at the same time, these illustrious +"leaders of <i>ton</i>" put on gold-embroidered male coats, and evidently +endeavoured to transform themselves into men while partaking in manly +sports and dangers. Their hunting-hats bore no more relation to the +bonnets of their descendants, than do the black beaver hats of the +latter, when they mount<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> their horses in Hyde Park or the Bois de +Boulogne. Indeed this very custom of wearing the male hat, is derived by +our modern belles from the times we are speaking of. Plain beaver or +felt hats were worn by some of our farmers' wives as early as the reign +of Charles I.; but, to judge from the prints of that date, they borrowed +them from their husbands. And to a period like this is to be traced the +custom, still extant throughout most parts of Wales, for the women to +wear the same head-costume as the men. The round ladies' hat, however, +of the middle and end of the last century, may be seen in its primitive +state in those enormous circles of straw, brought from Tuscany, and sold +in our milliners' shops, fit to be pinched and cut into the prevailing +fashion. The hats, both of men and women—when once they had quitted the +becoming costume of the Middle Ages—arose out of one and the same type; +a large circle of stuff with a projecting central cap for the skull. +Human invention, in the matter of hats, seems for several centuries to +have rested in this solitary idea. When this circular adumbral and +pluvial roofing had to be adapted to the female head, it was found +advisable to fasten it down to the cranium—not, indeed, by any screw +driven therein, nor by any intriguing with the locks of woman's hair, +but by the simple expedient of ribands passing under the chin. The +difficulty consisted in attaching the upper ends of these ribands; for +if they were sewn on under the overlapping brim, the same brim would +take liberties on a windy day, and would flap up and down like an Indian +punka. If they were sewn outside, they acted like the sheets of a ship's +sail, and pulled down the struggling circumference into two ugly +projections, bellying out before and behind. However, women, for +comfort's sake, having got an awkward article to deal with, preferred +the latter alternative—tied down their hats with ribands, (men, be it +remembered, at the same time, tied <i>up</i> their brims into the prim, high, +cocked shape,) and called these ugly coverings "gipsy hats." We remember +something like them, dear reader,</p> + +<p class="center"> +"When first we went a-gipsying, long long ago." +</p> + +<p>Before matters had arrived at this pitch of ugliness, the ladies of the +court of George III.—the very antipodes of that of Louis XIV.—had +essayed, under the auspices of good Queen Charlotte, to render the round +hat, with the straight-projecting brim, less ugly; but their invention +carried them no further than to surround it, at one time, with a deep +ruff of ribands, or they crushed it into an untidy rumble-tumble shape; +at another, they let copious streamers float from the crown down their +backs; or again, they gave it a monstrous pitch up behind. There is this +to be said in their excuse—they hardly knew what parasols and umbrellas +were. They wielded enormous fans, nearly two feet long; they had +capuchins to their cloaks; and they delighted in the rotundity of hoops. +Peace be with the souls of our grandmothers! Good old creatures! they +were not very tasty, to be sure; but they wore glorious stiff taffety +fardingales, and they have left us many an ample commode full of real +china. As times wore on, and as the free-and-easy revolutionary school +came to inculcate their loose doctrines on women as well as men, the +ladies began to find the hinder pokes of their hats uncommon nuisances; +and so, in a fit of spleen, one day the Duchess of G——, or some other +woman of fashion, cut off this hinder protuberance, and appeared, to the +scandal of her neighbours, <i>plus</i> the front poke, <i>minus</i> the back one. +This was a daring, free-thinking, revolutionary innovation. Somebody had +probably done it at Paris before her; but the startling idea had gone +forth—women began to see daylight through their hats—the dawn of +emancipation appeared—clip, clip, went the scissors, and, for the time +being, the dynasty of gipsy hats had ceased to reign. Hereupon—the +consequence of all changes of dynasties—whether of bonnets or Bourbons, +'tis much the same—a fearful period of anarchy ensued: every milliner's +shop in Paris and London was pregnant with new shapes—bonnets +periodically overturned bonnets, numbers were devoted to the block every +week, and each succeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>ing month saw fresh competitors for public favour +coming to the giddy vortex of fashion. Husbands suffered dreadfully +during those troublous times: many a man's temper and purse were then +irremediably damaged; and there seemed to be no means of escaping from +this reign of female terror, this bonnetian chaos, until the great peace +of 1814 brought about a prompt solution. Here, to be classical in so +grave a matter, we may observe, that, just as Virgil in his Georgics +represents a civil tumult, even in its loudest hubbub, to be suddenly +calmed by the appearance of some man of known virtue and authority, so +in London—and therefore in England—the visit of an illustrious lady, +and the cut of her bonnet, appeased the agitated breasts of our fair +countrywomen, and reduced their fancy to a fixed idea. The Grand-duchess +of Oldenburg came over with her brother, the Emperor of all the Russias, +and wore on her head, not a coronet—but such a bonnet!</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Ye powers who dress the head, if such there are,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And make the change of woman's taste your care!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>—so Cowper might well have exclaimed, had he been then living. Tell us, +ye gods, whence did her imperial highness derive the idea of her bonnet? +Truly, we can conjecture no other source, than these very words +designating her rank, for the bonnet was imperial—none but such a lady +would have dared to originate it; and it was also high—high indeed! The +crown rose eighteen inches in perpendicular altitude from the nape of +the neck, while the front poke retained the modest dimensions of the +original gipsy hat. We recollect the duchess in Hyde Park with this +monstrous headgear, and the women all in ecstacy at the delightful +novelty. The success of this bonnet was universal—it was a "tremendous +hit," as they say in the play-bills; every woman that could afford it +raised her crown, and Oldenburgized her head. Well, this fashion lasted +tolerably long; it had the great value of rendering public opinion +nearly uniform; but it got old, as all fashions must do, and died a +natural death—not without an heir, a worthy heir. The new idea, you +will perceive, was that of inordinate length, in one way or the other. +The duchess had got it all up aloft—up in her top-royals—the new +bonnet (we really do not know who invented it, but some wicked little +hussy at Paris, no doubt) had it all down below, in the main-sail; the +crown dwindled to nothing, and out went the front poke to exactly the +same length, eighteen inches. This was truly exquisite—every body was +in raptures. The bonnet was tied tight under the chin, and to see a +woman's face you had to look down a sort of semi-funnelled hollow, where +the ambiguous shade of her countenance was illuminated only by the +radiance of her eyes. Here, too, the success was immense; the mothers of +us, the young bloods, the choice spirits of the present day, all wore +bonnets of this kind, when our governors went wooing them in +narrow-brimmed overtopping hats. The next change of any note worth +mentioning, was one of comparatively recent times, such as some of us +may remember their first loves in; it was derived from a partial return +to the primitive round expanded hat, and was in its chief glory, when +that last great piece of French dirty work, the Revolution of 1830, was +perpetrated. Women had retrograded to the old circular idea; they had +given up their pokes. It was too much—female folly had, it was +supposed, worn itself out—a revolution was wanted, and it came. To wear +the hat, however, in its primitive rotundity was impossible—it would +have suited a lady in the West Indies, but not in Europe; to tie down +the brim would not do, it would have been re-adopting the worn-out +fashions; so, just as was done in the Parisian political revolution, a +compromise of principles was resorted to—women cut off part of their +brims, turned the circle into a sort of eccentric oval, and rejoiced in +the redundant curve projecting now from the left, now on the right side +of their heads. Ribands, stiffened out into gigantic bows, set forth the +ample <i>chapeau</i> right gaily; the brim stretched itself out with all the +insolence of a public favourite; and at length Tom Hood showed us how a +lady might go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> to church on a rainy day, and shelter the whole family +beneath her maternal hat. The present queen of the French wore an +enormous chapeau of this kind at the audience which Louis Philippe gave +to the peers and deputies that came to offer him the throne; every lady +in England, of a certain age, has worn a hat of the same sort.</p> + +<p>We are bound to allow that this hat had something of the useful in it: +the ample size of the brim effectually warded off both sun and rain; and +we much question whether the parasol trade did not rather languish under +its influence. But then it had corresponding disadvantages; it was +unbearable in a windy day, and rendered any thing like close contact +with a friend impossible. To get a kiss from your pretty cousin, or your +maiden aunt, if you met them in the street, was quite out of the +question, unless you previously doffed your hat; and, as for two young +ladies laying their heads together and whispering soft secrets, no such +thing was practicable. The downfall, therefore, of such stiff and +unwieldy hats might have been foretold from an early period of their +existence; it came, and with it a counter-revolution—a restoration of +the legitimist bonnet. But, mark the malignity of a certain elderly +personage, whose name and residence we never mention in ears polite; a +change, a final change, came, and it came from the source of all +abominations—Paris! Yes! 'twas a pure and genuine invention of the +fickle people—of <i>la jeune France</i>! We gave up the restored bonnet, and +we adopted the little, reduced, cut-away, impudent bonnet of the present +moment. Now, with regard to the actual origin of this same form of +bonnet, which has met with universal approbation, but which has no +really good qualities to recommend it, except those of portability and +warmth to the ears of the wearer—we make, with some regret, the +following assertion, upon the accuracy of which we stake our æsthetic +reputation. We were witnesses of the fact; any man in Paris, who had his +eyes about him, must have witnessed the same thing; we appeal to all the +<i>lions</i> of the Bois, or the Boulevard des Italiens: these small bonnets, +and the peculiar mode of wearing them at the back of the head were first +introduced in Paris by a class of persons, to whom we cannot make any +more definite allusion than to say that their names must not be +mentioned. These people invented these bonnets, and wore them for nearly +six months before they were imitated; and then, the fashion being taken +up by the milliners, became general both in France and England. A +corresponding change in the cut of the upper portions of ladies' gowns, +and in the manner of putting on the shawl—that very cut and manner now +universally adopted—came from the same source, and at the same time. +These changes added greatly to female comfort, we admit; and they were +founded, mainly, on principles of good taste; but they had also other +causes, obvious to the æsthetician and the ethnologist, which we abstain +from noticing. Once more, having been eye-witnesses to the change, and +having at the time maliciously speculated within our own breasts as to +how long it would take for such a <i>mode</i> to run the round of women's +heads—our anticipations having been fully realized—we pledge ourselves +to the accuracy of this statement.</p> + +<p>Well, then, having thus run a-muck against bonnets, what reparation are +we to make to the fair sex, for abusing their taste and condemning their +practice? We will try to point out to them certain leading ideas, which +may bring them back to sounder principles, and make the covering of +their heads worthy of the beauty of their faces. And here, as in the +case of hats, the first thing to be aimed at must be, utility—the +second, ornament. Be it observed, too, that we are writing for the +latitude of England; because in this respect, as in most others, the +climate ought to decide upon the basis of national costume. Now an +Englishwoman, of whatever grade she may be, requires, when she goes out +of doors, protection principally from wet, next from cold, and lastly +from heat. Her head-dress, to be really useful, ought to comprise +qualities that will effect these three objects. The substance, +therefore, of the covering cannot consist of cotton, linen, or silk, at +<i>all</i> times of the year; these substances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> will do for the more +temperate or the hotter seasons, but not in winter—that is to say, they +will not be serviceable during five months out of the twelve. In this +inclement season nothing but woollen cloth or fur ought to be the +principal article of female head-dress; only these two substances will +effectually keep off wet and cold. They may be lined with silk or any +other soft substance, but the foundation, we repeat, ought to be fur or +woollen cloth; both of them articles of English manufacture or +preparation—one varying through all degrees of price; the other within +the reach of most persons, even in the middling classes of society. In +the summer, silk, linen, cotton, or any other light fabric, will effect +the purpose proposed—protection from the rays of the sun, and from the +casual wet that may occur—though from the last, less than from the +first inconvenience. So much for the common <i>substance</i> of an +Englishwoman's out-of-door head-dress—for the <i>material</i>, that is to +say: its use should always be modified by the rank and occupation of the +wearer. The <i>form</i> must be ascertained from a reference to the +principles laid down above, as to the combining a proper degree of +concealment, with the due exhibiting of the beautiful features of the +female face; the covering should afford ample concealment when wanted, +but should also admit of the head being completely exposed when +required. Now, the veil gives abundant concealment, but does not admit +of total removal, and is rather inconvenient to the wearer; it is apt to +get in the way, and is in danger of causing a slovenly, or even a dirty, +appearance; it is more suited for in-door, than for out-of-door +use—more for a warm than a cold climate. The <i>hood</i> is the best thing +we know of, for combining the two requisites of complete concealment and +complete exposure. It unites by its shape all the purposes of form, to +the applicability of any kind of soft material; and it is suitable to +the climate of this country at any period of the year. But, "how ugly!" +the ladies will exclaim—"who could bear to tie her head up in a +pudding-bag?—Does not the very form of the hood approach too nearly to +that of the head, and thus violate a fundamental principle of +æsthetics?" Our reply must be, that there are various kinds of hoods, +and that, if they be considered ugly, it is more from their strangeness, +through long disuse, than from any fault in their natural form. Besides, +the very principle of concealment, so essential to a woman's modesty, +militates rather against the principle of beauty; we admit it to be a +difficulty—we would even say that the head of the female while +out-of-doors, amid the busy throng, does not admit of the same degree of +ornament as the head of the male. If we can make woman's covering +graceful, it is enough; the beauty of it should be reserved for the +drawing-room and the boudoir—it should not be exhibited in the street. +And after all, beauty for beauty, we will back a hood against a bonnet +any day in the week.</p> + +<p>Bear with us, however, gentle ladies, while we explain to you how we +would have you make and wear your hoods; and, to do so the better, +examine with us some of those delightful portraits of the time of Rubens +and Vandyke, when, among the nobler classes of females, dress had +certainly attained a high, if not its highest point of picturesque and +elegant effect. Look at some of those admirable Flemish pictures, where +you will see many a pretty face enveloped in a fur-trimmed hood, and +observe how much grace and modest dignity is given by that simple +habiliment. It is something of this kind which we would recommend. For +example—if a hood, so cut as not to admit of too close a conformation +to the shape of the head, were attached to a tippet which might descend +and protect the shoulders, or come even lower, at the fancy of the +wearer, and were fastened round the neck, the hood itself might be +elevated so as to cover the head, and might be drawn even over the face; +or it might be instantly thrown back, and would lie on the upper part of +the neck in picturesque and graceful folds. The lines of such a +covering, not so flowing, indeed, as those of a veil, would yet be not +inelegant; and they would afford sufficient contrast to the features of +the face, while they would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> far superior to the unmeaning rigidity of +the bonnet. Hoods, such as those, are even now worn by some ladies for +carriage purposes, or while going to evening parties; and they would +look just as well in the bright light of the sun, as by the pale rays of +the moon. Consider for a moment the comfort and the utility of such a +dress; what a complete protection from cold, and, if necessary, from +wet! Even in summer, the hood would keep off the sun's beams much more +effectually than any bonnet; it would be light, warm, portable—useable +at pleasure, always ornamental, always becoming. These hoods would be of +service, whether for a walk or for a journey in a carriage; they would +not need to be disentangled from the person like bonnets; they would +merely have to be thrown back; they never could get spoiled by crushing; +they never would need cumbrous boxes to be carried in; and, what is +worthy of consideration, their cost might always be suited to the means +of the wearer. They would admit of any kind of ornament that would not +destroy their principle of utility;—for ornament ceases to be ornament +when it negatives the purpose of the object to which it is applied—it +becomes in such a case a mere excrescence: they might be edged and lined +with any, the most sumptuous or the plainest materials: they might be +attached round the neck by rich cords of gold and jewelled clasps; or +they might be fastened with simple ribands. Thus, in spring time, a +young and high-born damsel might wear her hood and tippet of +light-coloured silk or brocade, edged with ermine or swan's-down, and +attached with silver cords and clasps of pearl—while the noble matron +might wear the same of crimson or purple velvet, edged with sable, and +attached with golden cords and diamonds. The peasant's wife and daughter +might use hoods of black, blue, or grey woollen cloth, lined with grey +linen, edged with plain riband, and fastened with a simple button. How +much better, how much more rational, how much more becoming, such +head-dresses as these, than the gay but useless ribands, feathers, and +chapeaux of the one class, or the misshapen, uncomfortable, +untidy-looking bonnets of the other! According to the present system, it +is almost impossible to infer the rank of a lady from her external +costume—many a milliner's girl has passed for a duchess before +now—whereas by the adoption of articles of dress, founded on principles +like those of the hood, some decisive marks of distinction might be +obtained. Thus the rich furs and the jewels, or the gold brocade of the +princess, might indeed be imitated by the merchant's wife—who at the +present day is nearly her equal in wealth—the representative of +political power in, what is called, a constitutional government; but the +shop-girl and the dancing-mistress might break their hearts with spite, +ere they could set up a system of dress in keeping with hoods of the +kind alluded to. We do not recommend, that distinction of dress +according to difference of rank should be carried to an undue limit; for +in the present age of the world, and especially in our country, where +the basis of society is shifting, and where the pivots of the commonweal +are loose, too little distinction of rank is allowed; rank is not +respected as it ought to be; but, nevertheless, the promiscuous jumbling +together and confounding of all men is carried too far; it is one of the +elements of republicanism and anarchy that we should do well to +discourage. To ladies, more than to men, would distinctions of dress be +useful, and with them they would be more practicable of reintroduction; +any thing that would tend to augment the outward respect of men for +women, and of women for each other, would be so much gained toward a +revival of some of the soundest maxims of former days.</p> + +<p>Bonnets, then, to Orcus! Hoods to the seventh heaven!</p> + +<p class="author"> +H. L. J. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GERMAN-AMERICAN_ROMANCES" id="GERMAN-AMERICAN_ROMANCES"></a>GERMAN-AMERICAN ROMANCES.</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Viceroy and the Aristocracy, or Mexico in 1812.</span></h4> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Part the First.</span></h4> + + +<p>The most obvious defect of the German school of romance is the universal +tendency of its writers to the indefinite and periphrastic, and the +consequent absence of the characteristic and the true in their +descriptions both of human and of external nature. Much of this +prevailing habit may perhaps be attributed to the example of Goethe, +who, in his works of fiction, narrates the adventures of A and B, +residing in the town of C, situate in some nameless and inscrutable +section of Germany. And when, to all this mystery, is superadded the +ponderous and ungraceful style of most German writers, and the Latin +construction of their interminable sentences, for the solution of which +the reader must wade to the final word, the lack of good original +novels, and the universal preference, in Germany, of translations from +French and English authors, will be readily accounted for. The main +source of these defects in the German writers may be found in their +retired and bookish habits. Shut up in their studies, with no companions +but their books and their meerschaums, and viewing the eternal world +through the loopholes of retreat, often anxious, too, to advance and +illustrate some pet theory of their own, their writings smell horribly +of the lamp, and are long-winded, tedious, and unnatural. Another cause +of the deficiencies above-named, may perhaps be discovered in the +severity of German censorship, and the apprehension that more clearness +and identity in their descriptions of persons and places might be +twisted into political and personal allusions.</p> + +<p>The admitted superiority of French and English works of fiction, may be +attributed to the widely different habits of the writers. Nearly all the +French, and many of the English writers of the present day, are men of +the world, eschewing solitude, and mixing largely in society. The good +effects of this frequent collision with their fellow-men are visible in +their works, many of which display a deep knowledge of human nature, a +vivid power of description, and a command of dialogue, not only spirited +and natural, but often rising with the occasion into dramatic point and +brilliancy.</p> + +<p>At length, however, a new and radiant star has arisen in the cloudy +firmament of German fiction—a novel-writer whose works exhibit a +striking example of entire exemption from the defects so evident in the +great majority of his brethren. This is a nameless personage, known +among German reviewers as Der Unbekannte, or the Unknown, and who has +broken ground that no German writer had hitherto ventured upon. Some +have supposed him to be a Pennsylvanian, a considerable part of which +state was originally colonized by Germans, whose descendants still, to a +large extent, preserve the language and habits of the mother country. +Another report stated him to be a native German, who had emigrated to +Louisiana, and established himself there as a planter. Nothing definite, +in short, is known; but what is certain is, that he has been long +resident in the United States and in Mexico, and has made excellent use +of his opportunities for becoming acquainted with those countries and +their inhabitants. His subjects are, with slight exceptions, +Transatlantic, his materials original, his style singularly natural and +forcible; proving that however rugged the German language may appear in +the works of others, it will yield to the hand of a master, and readily +adapt itself to every subject.</p> + +<p>Our readers will probably not have forgotten a series of American, +Texian, and Mexican tales and sketches, which have appeared during the +last few months in the pages of this magazine. With some alterations and +adaptations, intended to render them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> more acceptable to English tastes, +they are selections from the works of the writer above described. These +works being published, as already mentioned, anonymously, and at prices +beyond the means of most German readers, are but partially known and +read even in Germany; and in this country they are entirely unknown, +such portions excepted as have appeared without a name in our recent +numbers. Having there presented our readers with specimens only, and for +the most part of his latest works, we will now proceed to give them some +account of one of his earliest and most important productions—a Mexican +historical romance of striking interest, dated two years subsequently to +the first revolutionary outbreak in Mexico, and exhibiting a degree of +descriptive and dramatic power unparalleled in the whole range of German +fiction.</p> + +<p>When, in the year 1776, the British colonies, now known as the United +States of America, made their declaration of independence, the struggle +that ensued was unmarked by any circumstances of particular atrocity or +blood-thirstiness, except perhaps, occasionally, on the part of the +Indian allies of either party. The fight was between men of the same +race, who had been accustomed to look upon each other as countrymen and +brothers, and whose sympathies and feelings were in many respects in +unison; it was fought manfully and fairly, as beseemed civilized men in +the eighteenth century of the Christian era. Whatever wrongs, real or +imaginary, the British Americans had to complain of, they had none that +sufficed, even in their own eyes, to justify reprisals or cruelties +beyond those which the most humanely conducted and least envenomed wars +inevitably entail. But it was under strikingly different circumstances +that the second of the two great republics which, with the exception of +British possessions, now comprise the whole civilized portion of the +North American continent, started into existence. In the former instance +was seen the young and vigorous country which, having attained its +majority, and feeling itself able to dispense with parental +guardianship, asserted its independence, and vindicated it, with a +strong hand, it is true, but yet with a warm heart and a cool judgment. +In the latter case it was the spring of the caged tiger, that for years +had pined in narrow prison beneath the scourge of its keeper, whom it at +last turned upon and rent in its fury.</p> + +<p>Subdued by the fierce assault of a handful of desperate adventurers, the +history of Mexico, from the earliest period of its conquest, is one +continuous record of oppression and cruelty on the one hand, of long and +bitter suffering on the other. Deprived of its religious and customs, +its priesthood and legitimate sovereigns mercilessly tortured and slain, +its temples and institutions annihilated, its very history and +traditions blotted out, Mexico, in the hands of the Spaniards, was +rapidly transformed from a flourishing and independent empire into a +huge province; while its inhabitants became a disposable horde, on whom +the conquerors seemed to think they were conferring a benefit, when they +made gift of them by hundreds and thousands, like sheep or oxen, to a +lawless and reckless soldiery. Their houses and lands, sometimes even +their wives and children, were snatched from them, and they were driven +in herds to labour in the mines, or condemned to carry burdens over +pathless and precipitous mountains; like the Gibeonites of old, they +were made hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the congregation. +Expelled from the towns, and confined to hamlets and villages, whence +they were only summoned to toil in the service of their oppressors, they +became in time entirely brutalized, losing the finer and more noble +qualities that distinguish man from the beast of the forest, and +retaining only a bitter sense of their degradation, a vivid impression +of the sufferings they daily endured, and a gloomy instinctive longing +after a bloody revenge.</p> + +<p>With these Indians, who, at the commencement of the present century, +composed two-fifths of the population of Mexico, may be classed a race +of beings equally numerous, equally unfortunate and destitute, and still +wilder and more despised—namely, the various castes sprung from the +intercourse of the conquerors of the country, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> their successors and +slaves, with the aborigines. These half-bloods, who united the apparent +stupidity and real apathy of the Indian with the lawlessness and +impatience of restraint of their white fathers, found themselves driven +out into a world that branded them for the accident of their birth; +deprived of all property, and reduced to the most ignoble employments; +continual objects of fear and detestation to the better classes, because +they had nothing to risk, and every thing to gain, by a political +convulsion. Such were the principal elements of a population which, +after centuries of patient endurance, was at last roused to enter the +lists and struggle for its independence, with all the fury of the +captive who breaks the long-worn fetters from his chafed and bleeding +limbs, and seeks his deliverance in the utter extermination of his +jailers.</p> + +<p>For three hundred years had the Mexicans groaned under the lash of their +taskmasters, ruled by monarchs whom they never beheld, and enduring +innumerable evils, without nourishing a single rebellious or +revolutionary thought. If the breeze of liberty that blew over from the +north, occasionally awakened in their minds the idea of an improved +state of things, the hope, or rather wish, speedily died away, crushed +and annihilated under the well-combined system of oppression employed by +the Spaniards. The nobles had ranged themselves entirely on the side of +the government, the middle classes had followed their example, and the +people were compelled to obey. All was quiet in Mexico, long after +insurrections had broken out in Spanish colonies further south; and this +state of tranquillity was not even disturbed, when news were brought of +the invasion of Spain by its hereditary foe, of the occupation of Madrid +by French armies, and of the scenes of butchery that took place in that +capital on the second day of May 1808. The Mexicans, far from availing +themselves of this favourable opportunity to proclaim their own +independence, hastened to give proofs of their sympathy with the +aggrieved honour of the mother country; and on all sides resounded +curses upon the head of the powerful usurper who had ousted their +legitimate but unknown monarch from his throne, and now detained him in +captivity. Intelligence of the Junta's declaration of war against +Napoleon was received with unbounded applause, and all were striving to +demonstrate their enthusiasm in the most efficient manner, when a royal +decree arrived, issued by the very prince whose misfortunes they were +deploring, and by which Mexico was ordered to recognise as its sovereign +the brother of that usurper who had dispossessed its rightful king.</p> + +<p>A stronger proof of Ferdinand's unworthiness to rule, could hardly have +been given to the Mexicans than the decree in question. Loyalty had long +been an article of faith with the whole nation; but even as the blindest +superstition is sometimes metamorphosed on a sudden into total +infidelity, passing from one extreme to the other, so was all feeling of +loyalty utterly extinguished in the breast of the Mexican people by this +instance of regal abjectness. It would have been long before they +revolted against their hereditary Spanish ruler; but to find themselves +given away by him in so ignominious a manner, was a degradation which +they felt the more deeply from its being almost the only one that had +been hitherto spared them. Discontent was universal; and by a unanimous +and popular movement, the decree was publicly burned.</p> + +<p>With just indignation did the Mexicans now discover that those persons +who had hitherto most prided themselves on their loyalty and fidelity to +the king and the reigning dynasty, were precisely the first to transfer +their allegiance to the new sovereign. The whole of the government +officers, Spaniards nearly to a man, hastened to take measures for the +surrender of the nation to its new ruler, without even enquiring whether +it approved of the change. One man only was in favour of a more +honourable expedient, and that man was Iturrigaray, the viceroy. Well +acquainted with the cowardice and cunning of his captive sovereign, the +former of which qualities had dictated the decree, he had nevertheless +formed a plan to preserve Mexico for him, in accordance with the wish of +its population.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> A junta, composed of Spaniards and of the most +distinguished Mexicans, was to represent the nation till the arrival of +further news or orders from Europe. This plan was generally approved of +by the Mexicans, who looked forward with unbounded delight to the moment +when they should have a voice in the public affairs of their country. +The joy was universal; but in the very midst of this joy, and of the +preliminaries to the carrying out of this project, the author of it, the +viceroy himself, was seized in his palace by his own countrymen, +conducted with his family to Vera Cruz, and slipped off to Spain as a +state prisoner.</p> + +<p>By this lawless proceeding, it was made evident to the weakest +comprehension, that so long as the Spaniard ruled, the Mexican must +remain in a state of unconditional slavery; that he could never hope to +obtain a share in the management of his country; and that the act of +violence of which Iturrigaray had been the victim, had been solely +caused by the disposition he had shown to pave the way for the gradual +emancipation of the Creoles. From this moment may be dated the decision +of the Mexicans to get rid of the Spaniards at any price; and a +conspiracy was immediately organized, which was joined by at least a +hundred of the principal Creoles, and by a far larger number of the +middle classes, and of the military—the object being to shake off the +ignominious yoke that pressed so heavily upon them. The treason of one +of the conspirators, who on his death-bed, in confession, betrayed his +confederates, accelerated the outbreak of the plot.</p> + +<p>It was at nine o'clock on the evening of the 15th September 1810, that +Don Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, captain in the royal regiment <i>de la +Reyna</i>, came in all haste from Gueretaro to Dolores, and burst into the +dwelling of Padre Hidalgo, the parish priest of the latter place, with +news that the conspiracy had been discovered, and an order issued to +take prisoners, dead or alive, all those concerned in it. With the +prospect of certain death before their eyes, the two conspirators held a +short consultation, and then hastened to announce to their friends their +firm decision to stake their lives upon the freedom of their country. +Two officers, the lieutenants Abasalo and Aldama, and several musicians, +friends and companions of the cura, joined them, and by these men, +thirteen in number, was the great Mexican revolution begun.</p> + +<p>Whilst Hidalgo, a crucifix in his left hand, a pistol in his right, +hurried to the prison and set at liberty the criminals confined there, +Allende proceeded to the houses of the Spanish inhabitants, and +compelled them to deliver up their plate and ready money. Then, with the +cry of "<i>Viva la Independencia, y muera el mal gobierno!</i>" the +insurgents paraded the streets of Dolores. The whole of the Indian +population ranged themselves under the banner of their beloved curate, +who, in a few hours, found himself at the head of some thousand men. +They took the road to Miguel el Grande, and, before reaching that place, +were joined by eight hundred recruits from Allende's regiment. Shouting +their war-cry of "Death to the Gachupins!"<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> the rebels reached San +Felipe; in three days their numbers amounted to twenty thousand; at +Zelaya, a whole regiment of Mexican infantry, and a portion of the +cavalry regiment of the Principe, came over to them. On they went, +"Mueran los Gachupinos!" still their cry, to Guanaxato, the richest city +in Mexico, where they were joined by some more troops. Indians kept +flowing in from all sides, and the mob, for it was little more, soon +reached fifty thousand men. The fortified alhondega, or granary, at +Guanaxato, was taken by storm; the Spaniards and Creoles who had shut +themselves up there with their treasures, were massacred; upwards of +five millions of hard dollars fell into the hands of the insurgents. +This success brought more Indians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> from all parts of the country. There +were soon eighty thousand men collected together, but amongst them were +hardly four thousand muskets. Pressing forward, by way of Valladolid, +towards Mexico, they totally defeated Colonel Truxillo at Las Cruces, +and, on the 31st October, looked down from the rising ground of Santa Fé +upon the capital city, within the walls of which were thirty thousand +Léperos,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> who awaited but the signal to break into open insurrection. +Only two thousand troops of the line garrisoned Mexico; Calleja, the +commander-in-chief, was a hundred leagues off; another general, the +Count of Cadena, sixty; in the mountains the people were rising in +favour of the revolution; another patriot chief was marching from +Tlalnepatla to support Hidalgo, while the viceroy was preparing to +retire to Vera Cruz. The fate of Mexico was, according to all +appearance, about to be decided; one bold assault, and the Indians would +again be the rulers of the country. But on the very day after their +arrival within sight of Mexico, Hidalgo, with his hundred and ten +thousand men, commenced a retreat. The capital was saved; and from that +day may be dated the sufferings and reverses of the patriots.</p> + +<p>Or the 7th November, at Aculco, Hidalgo met the united Spanish and +Creole army, and was defeated in the combat that ensued. Soon +afterwards, Allende experienced a like misfortune at Marfil; and a third +action, near Calderon, decided the fate of the campaign. Hidalgo himself +was betrayed at Acalito, with fifty of his companions, and put to death.</p> + +<p>The first act of the revolutionary drama was over, within six months +after the bloody curtain had been raised; but the torch of insurrection, +far from being extinguished by the fall of its bearer, had divided and +multiplied itself, as if to spread the conflagration with more +certainty. Thousands of those who had escaped from the battle-fields of +Aculco, Marfil, and Calderon, now spread themselves through the +different provinces, and commenced a war of extermination that was +destined, slowly but surely, to sweep away their unappeasable tyrants. +Most of these bands were commanded by priests, lawyers, or adventurers, +who acted without plan or concert, and possessed little or no +qualification for their post as leaders, save their hatred of the +Gachupins. But few of the better class of Creoles were to be found +amongst the insurgents; and the strife was to all appearance between the +Indians and half-bloods, on the one hand, and the property and +intelligence of the country, represented by the Spaniards and Creoles, +on the other.</p> + +<p>The Creoles, although considerably less oppressed than the coloured +races, had felt themselves more so; because, being more enlightened and +civilized, they had a livelier feeling and perception of the yoke than +the Indians and half-castes. Children and descendants of the Spaniards, +who looked with sovereign contempt upon every thing Creole, even to +their own offspring, the white Mexicans imbibed hatred of Spain almost +with their mothers' milk. Far from enjoying what the letter of the law +gave them, the same rights as their European fathers, they found +themselves driven back among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> the people; while all offices and posts +were filled by Spaniards, who, for the most part, came to Mexico in +rags, and left it possessed of immense wealth. Even the possession of +magnificent estates, with their incalculable subterranean treasures, was +of precarious benefit to the Creoles; for the Spaniards paid small +respect to the laws of property, and, in the name of their royal master, +assumed unlimited power over the land.</p> + +<p>The bitterness of feeling consequent on this state of things, at length +roused into activity the latent desire of freedom from the Spanish rule, +a freedom which was to have been obtained by the conspiracy already +referred to. On a given day, there was to have been a general rising +throughout Mexico; all the Spanish officers and <i>employés</i> were to have +been arrested, and their places filled by Creoles; the seaports were to +have been seized and garrisoned, so as to prevent succours coming to the +Spaniards from the neighbouring island of Cuba. The discovery and +premature outbreak of the plot, as already mentioned, were the causes of +its failure. Hidalgo, who was too deeply compromised to recede, had put +himself at the head of the revolution, and enraged against the Creoles, +who had, for the most part, managed to draw their heads out of the +noose, commenced with his Indians a war of extermination that spared +neither Spaniards nor Creoles. This terrible blunder on the part of the +soldier-priest, of itself decided the fate of the outbreak. The Creoles +were compelled to unite with the very Spaniards whose downfall they had +been plotting; and it was mainly through their co-operation that the +three battles with the rebels had been won. The Spaniards, however, +instead of being grateful for the assistance they had received from the +Creoles, persisted in looking upon the latter as a pack of unlucky +rebels, whose treason had not even been rendered respectable by success.</p> + +<p>Enraged at the revolt that had threatened to deprive their king of his +supremacy, and themselves of the plunder of the richest country in the +world, the Spaniards applied themselves to obviate the possibility of +any future rebellion, by pretty much the same measures that a bee-hunter +takes to secure himself against the stings of the bees before seizing +their honey, namely, by fire and the axe. Twenty-four cities, both large +and small, and innumerable villages, were razed to the ground during the +first eighteen months of the revolution, and their inhabitants utterly +exterminated, as a punishment for having favoured the insurgents. Even +then, these bigoted and barbarous servants of legitimacy were not +satisfied with this wholesale slaughter. Through the medium of the +church, and in the name of the divine Trinity and of the blessed Virgin, +they proclaimed a solemn amnesty, and those among the credulous and +unfortunate rebels who availed themselves of it were mercilessly +massacred. This infamous and blasphemous piece of bad faith rendered any +pacification of the country impossible, and went far towards uniting the +whole population against its contemptible and blood-thirsty tyrants.</p> + +<p>Amongst the adventurers who had joined Hidalgo on his triumphant march +from Guanaxato to Mexico, was his old friend and schoolfellow, Morellos, +rector of Nucupetaro. Hidalgo received him as a brother, and +comnissioned him to raise the standard of revolt in the south-western +provinces of Mexico. Morellos, who was then sixty years of age, repaired +to his appointed post with only five followers. In Petalan he was joined +by twenty negroes, to whom he promised their freedom; and soon +afterwards several Creoles ranged themselves under his banner. Unlike +the unfortunate Hidalgo, he began the war on a small scale, and after +the fashion of those guerillas who in Spain had done so much mischief to +the French armies. Gradually enlarging the sphere of his operations, he +had, during a sixteen months' warfare, gained several not unimportant +advantages over the Spanish generals. Report represented him as a man of +grave and earnest character—quite the converse of the hasty and +unreflecting Hidalgo—of sound judgment, irreproachable morals, and far +more liberal and extended views than could have been expected from the +confined education of a Mexican priest. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> influence he possessed over +the Indians was said to be unbounded.</p> + +<p>At the time at which the action of the book now before us commences, +namely, upon a carnival day of the year 1812, Morellos had marched into +the vicinity of Mexico at the head of his little army. The principal +leaders of the patriots, Vittoria, Guerero, Bravo, Ossourno, and others, +had placed themselves under his orders; and the moral weight of his name +seemed to be at last producing what had been wanting since the death of +Hidalgo—namely, that unanimity in the operations of the patriots, and +that degree of discipline amongst their troops, which were calculated to +gain them the confidence of the nation.</p> + +<p>The first two chapters of the "Viceroy" are of so striking a nature, and +give such strange and startling glimpses of the state of Mexican society +and feeling at that period, that, with some slight abridgement, we shall +here translate them both.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Chapter the First.</span></h4> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Tis known, at least it should be, that throughout</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">All countries of the Catholic persuasion,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The people take their fill of recreation,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And buy repentance, ere they grow devout,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">However high their rank, or low their station,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masking,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And other things which may be had for asking."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><span class="smcap">Byron.</span></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The siesta was over; and the profound stillness in which the capital of +New Spain had been buried during the preceding two hours, was suddenly +broken by the hum of innumerable voices. The noise, which commenced in +the suburbs, extended itself rapidly, and increased almost to a roar, +scaring away the gallinazos and other birds of prey, that were as usual +seeking food in the streets and squares of the city of Mexico. Thousands +of the inhabitants arose from their resting-places under the porticoes +of houses, churches, and palaces, or hurried forth from the great bazar, +eager to celebrate the carnival with that boundless mirth and license by +which Roman Catholic nations seem to console themselves for the fasts +and privations that are to succeed it.</p> + +<p>The variety of the costumes in which the maskers had arrayed themselves +was endless, while the profanity of some of them was no less remarkable. +Here might be seen a gigantic <i>tenatero</i>, or porter, in a sergeant's +jacket, and with the enormous cocked hat of a Spanish general upon his +head, a globe and sceptre in one hand, in the other a pasteboard cross, +strutting proudly about in the character of the Redeemer of Atolnico;<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +while around him a party of Indians, Zambos, and Metises, metamorphosed +into Apostles, Pharisees, and Jewish women, performed dances of very +questionable propriety in honour of their divine master. In another +place, Adam and Eve were incessantly driven out of Paradise by an angel +with a flaming sword—the three figures resembling very much the same +persons, as they used to be represented in the halfpenny woodcuts of the +past century. Beside them, <i>Dios el Padre</i> led off a dance to the sound +of a cracked guitar, which St Cecilia was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> twanging as an accompaniment +to the nasal melody of the gangaso;<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and a little further on, the +child Jesus, mounted on a jackass, was flying into Egypt, and squirting, +as he went, streams of water into the open windows of houses, and into +the faces of the passers-by. Mingled with the mummers were crowds of +loathsome <i>léperos</i>; and again, amongst these might be seen numerous +groups of perfumed dandies and elegantly dressed ladies, who contrasted +with the throng of Indians as swamp-lilies do with the filth and +corruption of a pestilential marsh. In spite of the broad sunlight, +rockets were going off on all sides, to the great amusement of the +Indians, who burst out into screams of wild delight each time that one +of the fiery missiles caused alarm and confusion amongst the gaily +attired dames who thronged the balconies, and gazed down from their +windows upon the motley scene. The contrast of all this movement and +uproar with the silence and solitude that had reigned so few moments +before, was startling. It was as if the earth had suddenly opened and +vomited forth the thousands of Mulattoes and Zambos, Indians, Metises, +and Creoles,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> that now sang, danced, chattered, screamed, and +shouted—doing their utmost worthily to play their part in the +time-honored saturnalia of the Romish church.</p> + +<p>Differing from the custom of more refiled, although perhaps not more +enlightened, countries, only a very few of the numerous parties of +maskers seemed to aim, by their costume or action, at a satire on the +follies, foibles, or occurrences of the times. Now and then, however, an +exception was to be met with; and this was especially remarkable in a +group which it becomes necessary here to describe.</p> + +<p>It consisted of twelve persons, the majority of whom were fantastically +attired in the national costumes of the various Indian tribes. These +were grouped round a <i>carro</i>, or two-wheeled cart in so picturesque a +manner, that it was easy to see that their performance had been +preconcerted and rehearsed. They wore symbols of mourning, and seemed +acting as pall-bearers and followers of a funeral; while upon the cart +itself were two figures, in which the horrible and the comic were +blended after a most extraordinary fashion. One of them was a Torso, +from whose breast and headless neck, and on the stumps of his arms and +legs, blood was incessantly dropping, and as fast as it dropped, it was +greedily licked up by several persons in Spanish masks and dresses. The +mutilated form seemed still to have life in it, for it groaned and gave +out hollow sounds of agony and complaint; at the same time struggling, +but in vain, to shake off a monster that sat vampire-like upon its body, +and dug its tiger claws into the breast of the sufferer. The aspect of +this monster was as strange as that of its victim. It had the cowl, and +the sleek but sinister countenance of well-fed Dominican friar; on its +right hand was fixed a blazing torch, on its left stood a dog that +barked continually; its head was covered with a brass basin, apparently +meant to represent the barber helmet of the knight of La Mancha. From +the shoulders of the figure protruded a pair of dusky wings, not unlike +those with which griffins and other fabulous monsters are represented in +old books of heraldry; its back was terminated by the tail of the +coyote, or Mexican wolf; while the claws with which it seemed digging +into the very bowels of the Torso, were those of caguar or tiger.</p> + +<p>This singular pageant passed through the Tacuba street into that of San +Agustin, thence through the Plateria and the Calle Aguila into the +quarter of the city known as the Trespana, where it came to a halt +before the hotel of the same name. During this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> progress, the crowd of +Indians, Metises, and other coloured races, had been augmented by +numerous parties of Creoles; while the Spaniards contented themselves +with gazing distrustfully at the procession from the windows of their +houses. The strange group was now surrounded by thousands of Zambos, +Creoles, Metises, and Indians, presenting a variety and originality of +costume, physiognomy, and colour—a contact and contrast of the most +costly and sumptuous habiliments with the meanest and most disgusting +rags, such as it would be in vain to seek in any other country than +Mexico.</p> + +<p>Amongst the most elegantly dressed of those whom the enigmatical +masquerade attracted, was a young man, of whom it would have bee +difficult to say to what race he belonged. His face was covered by a +closely-fitting silken mask, in which every hue of the rainbow was +blended, but which, nevertheless, was adapted so admirably to his +features, as at first to leave the spectators in doubt whether it were +not the real colour of his skin. He skipped airily out of the fonda of +Trespana into the street, cast a keen but hasty glance around him, and +then began to make his way through the mob that surrounded the pageant. +There was a nameless something in his manner and appearance that caused +the throng to open him a willing passage towards the object of general +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Foolish mob! brainless mob! swinish mob!" cried the stranger, when he +at length stood beside the cart upon which the monster was still rending +its hapless victim; "whither are ye running, and pressing, and crowding, +and what are ye come to see? Know ye not that in Mexico it is forbidden +to see, especially to see clearly?"</p> + +<p>The tone of the speaker, his sudden appearance, and the bold originality +of his manner, contrasted strongly with the timidity of the other +Creoles, who had all in their turn approached the cart cautiously, +viewed it for a few moments with an air of mistrust, and then withdrawn +themselves to a distance, in order to await in safety what might next +ensue. The daring address of the new-comer, so different from this +prudent behaviour, did not fail to attract universal attention.</p> + +<p>"What now, men of Mexico, or of Anahuac, if you prefer that name, Aztecs +and Tenochtitlans and Othomites, and Metises and Zambos and Salta-atras, +and whites, whom the devil fly away with," added he in a lower tone, "or +at least with one-twentieth of them?"<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>"Bravo!" vociferated hundreds of Metises and Zambos, whom the last few +words had suddenly enlightened as to the political opinions of the +speaker. "Bravo! <i>Escuchad!</i> Hear him!"</p> + +<p>The object of this applause was apparently busied examining the +composition of the pageant. When silence was restored, he again turned +to the crowd.</p> + +<p>"And so you would like to know what it means?" said he. "Fools! know ye +not that knowledge is forbidden? And yet, if you are any better than a +parcel of mules, you may see and understand."</p> + +<p>"And if we <i>are</i> no better than mules?" cried a voice.</p> + +<p>"Then will I be your <i>arriero</i>, and drive you," replied the stranger +laughing, and tripping round the cart. "Mules! ay, <i>Madre de Dios!</i> that +are ye, and have been all the days of your lives, ever since the gloomy +Gachupin yonder"—and he pointed to the monster, half monk, half +beast—"has chosen for his resting-place the body of the poor unhappy +creature, whom some call Anahuac, some Mexitli, and some Guatemozin.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +Mules, ay, threefold mules! Poor mules!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> added he, in a tone of mingled +compassion and contempt.</p> + +<p>"Poor mules!" sighed the surrounding spectators, gazing alternately at +the speaker and at the bleeding Torso.</p> + +<p>On a sudden, the masked cavalier raised the cowl of the monster-monk, +and the severed head of the Torso rolled out from it. The features were +Indian, modelled and coloured in so masterly a manner, that the +resemblance they were intended to convey struck every body, and hundreds +of voices simultaneously exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Guatemozin!"</p> + +<p>"Guatemozin!" was repeated from mouth to mouth, while the <i>pregonero</i> or +crier, as the crowd had already christened the speaker, continued to +lift the veil from the significant allegory before him.</p> + +<p>"See!" cried he, "here have his claws struck deepest. 'Tis in Guanaxato +and Guadalajara."</p> + +<p>A shudder seemed to run through the crowd.</p> + +<p>"'Tis Tio Gachupin," continued the pregonero with a strange laugh, "who +would fain play with you the same game that he did three centuries since +with poor Guatemozin. And see! 'tis Guatemozin's ghost that appears +bleeding before ye, and claims vengeance at your hands!"</p> + +<p>It had now become evident to the surrounding crowd, that the pageant had +a deep and dangerous political meaning. The spectators had greatly +increased, and were each moment increasing, in number; the flat roofs +and the <i>miradores</i>, or latticed balconies, of the surrounding houses, +were crowded with gazers, while the street presented the appearance of a +sea of heads. A deep silence reigned, broken only by an occasional +whisper, or by the peculiar kind of low shuddering murmur that the +Indian is apt to utter when reminded of the power and prosperity of his +forefathers. Suddenly there was a loud cry.</p> + +<p>"Vigilancia! Vigilancia!" was shouted from a distant balcony. The word +passed from mouth to mouth.</p> + +<p>"Vigilancia!" repeated the pregonero; "<i>gracias</i>, thanks, Señoras y +Señores," added he, with a laugh and a slight bow, and then was lost in +the crowd. There was a movement round the ghastly group upon the cart, +which the next instant disappeared; and when the alguazils, by the aid +of their staves, had forced themselves a passage to the spot where the +pageant had been, no trace of it remained save fragments of wood and +pasteboard, that were showered from all sides upon their detested heads. +The crowd itself separated and dispersed in different directions; no +inconsiderable portion of it entering the hotel, in front of which the +scene had passed.</p> + +<p>This hotel or <i>fonda</i>, the first in Mexico at that time, was then, as +now, a great resort of the highest and lowest classes of the +population—that is to say, of the greatest luxury and most squalid +misery that the world can show. The ground floor was used as a sort of +bazar, in which various articles of Mexican manufacture were exposed for +sale; while the rooms on the upper story were appropriated to the +reception of guests, and furnished with a sumptuousness that contrasted +strangely with the appearance of the majority of those who frequented +them.</p> + +<p>In the first of these rooms stood a long and broad table, somewhat +resembling a billiard-table, but upon which, instead of balls and cues, +were piles of silver and gold, amounting to thousands of dollars; while +the wardrobe of the players, who sat and stood around, did not appear to +be worth as many farthings. Excepting the jingle of the money, and the +words <i>Señor</i> and <i>Señoria</i>, occasionally uttered, scarcely a sound was +heard; but upon the excited and eager countenances of the gamblers, +which varied with every change in their luck, might be read the flushed +exultation of the winners, and the suppressed fury of the less +fortunate—a fury that, to judge from their fiery glances and set teeth, +might momentarily be expected to break out into fierce and deadly +strife.</p> + +<p>The occupants of the second saloon were, if possible, still more +repulsive than those of the first. Men, women, and children—some half +naked—some with the most loathsome rags for a covering—were lying, +sitting, squatting, and crouching in every part of the room—some sunk +into a kind of doze—others, on the contrary, ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>tively engaged in +ridding their own and their children's heads of those inhabitants that +seemed to constitute the sole wealth of this class of people—an +occupation which they pursued with as great zeal and apparent interest, +as if it had been absolutely essential to the proper celebration of the +festival-day. A third room was devoted to the chocolate and sangaree +drinkers, who might be seen emptying their cups and glasses with as much +satisfaction and relish, as if the sight of the poverty and squalor that +surrounded them gave additional zest to the draught; while, all about +them, between and under chairs, tables, and benches, the wretched +Léperos lay grovelling. Parties of richly-dressed Spaniards and Creoles, +both men and women, their eyes still heavy from the siesta, were each +moment entering, preceded by negro or mulatto girls carrying cigars and +sweetmeats, and screaming out, "<i>Plaza, plaza, por nuestras +señoras!</i>—Make way for our ladies!" A summons, or rather command, which +the <i>cortejos</i>, with their sticks and sabres, were ever ready to +enforce.</p> + +<p>"<i>Caramba! Que bella y querida compania!</i>" exclaimed, on a sudden, the +same voice that a short time previously had explained the dangerous +allegory in the street below. The owner of the voice, however, wore +another mask and dress, although his present costume, like his previous +one, was that of a <i>caballero</i> or gentleman. He glanced round the room +with that supercilious air which young men of fashion and quality are +apt to assume when amongst persons whom they consider immeasurably +inferior to themselves.</p> + +<p>"<i>C—jo à la bonanza!</i> Here's to try my luck!" cried he, stepping up to +the gambling table, and placing a rouleau of dollars on a card, which +the next moment won. "Bravo, bravissimo! Doble!"</p> + +<p>He won a second time, and placed the stake, which was now a heavy one, +upon a fresh card.</p> + +<p>"Triplo!" cried he. Fortune again favoured him. His luck still holding +good, he won a fourth time; and the banker, rising from his seat with a +savage curse upon his lips, pushed over the whole of his bank to the +fortunate player, and left the table with a look of hate and rage that +one would have thought must be the prelude to a stab. Nothing of the +sort, however, ensued. The man removed from his ears the two reals +which, according to Mexican usage, he had stuck there for luck; called +to the waiter, and uttered the word "<i>cigarros!</i>" as he showed one coin, +and "<i>aguardiente de caña!</i>" as he exhibited the other. Having thus +disposed of his last real, he draped his cloak over his shoulder with +such skill, that the end of it hung down to his heels, concealing the +tattered condition of that very essential part of his dress called +trousers. He then awaited, with perfect composure, the refreshment he +had ordered. Meanwhile, the fortunate winner took a couple of reals from +a small purse, stuck one in each ear, accompanying the action with the +sign of the cross, and prepared in his turn to hold the bank.</p> + +<p>"<i>Plaza, gavillas!</i>" cried several voices just at this moment. "Make +room, knaves, for the señoras!" and in came a party of Spanish soldiers, +accompanied by their mistresses—the latter dressed out in a style that +many European ladies of the highest rank might well have envied. Before +each of them walked three mulatto girls, whose sole dress consisted of a +short and loosely-fitting silk petticoat, reaching to the knees; their +hair being confined in nets of gold thread, and their arms encircled +with bracelets of the same metal. One of these hand-maidens bore an open +box of cigars, out of which the lady and her cortejo from time to time +helped themselves; another had a basket with various comfits, which was +also frequently put in requisition, and the third carried the purse.</p> + +<p>"Plaza!" was again the cry; and at the same time, the companions of the +ladies, well-conditioned sub-officers of the Spanish troops, swung their +canes and sabres, and the terrified Indians, and Metises, and Zambos +tumbled and rolled off their benches and chairs as if they had been +mowed down.</p> + +<p>"<i>Demonio!</i> What is all this?" exclaimed the new banker, who had already +taken his seat at the table, but now sprang suddenly up. "<i>Por<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> todos +bastos et bastas de todo el mundo</i>—By every card in the pack!"——</p> + +<p>He spoke in so threatening a tone, and his gesticulation was so +thoroughly Mexican in its vehemence, that three of the sergeants sprang +upon him at once.</p> + +<p>"<i>Gojo, que quieres?</i> Dog! what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Dog!" repeated the Mexican, and his right hand disappeared under his +cloak—a movement which was immediately imitated by the owners of the +white, black, brown, and greenish physiognomies by which he was +surrounded. The three Spaniards stepped back as precipitately as they +had advanced. Meanwhile, the fourth sergeant approached the table, and, +seizing upon the cards, invited the company to stake their money against +a bank which he put down. The effect of this invitation was no less +extraordinary than rapid. The same men who, an instant before, had been +ready to espouse their countryman's quarrel to the death—for such had +been the meaning of the mysterious fumbling under the cloaks—no sooner +perceived that the cards had changed masters, than they called to the +Mexican with one voice—</p> + +<p>"<i>Por el amor de Dios, señor</i>—leave us in peace, and God be with your +señoria!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, go, and the devil take you!" growled the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>The young man gazed in turn at his countrymen and at the sergeants; and +then, as if struck by the curious contrast between the courtesy of the +former and the rudeness of the latter, he laughed right out, swept +together his winnings, and walked away from the table, whistling a +bolero.</p> + +<p>The sort of ramble which the masked cavalier now commenced through the +adjoining saloons, seemed for some time to have no particular object. He +strutted across one, paused for a moment in the next to take a sip out +of a friend's liqueur glass, dipped a biscuit into the chocolate of one +acquaintance, and helped another to finish his sangaree; and so lounged +and loitered about, till he found himself in the last of the suite of +rooms, which was then unoccupied. Stepping up to a door at the further +end of the apartment, he knocked at it, at the same time uttering the +words, "<i>Ave Maria purissima!</i>"</p> + +<p>The door was opened.</p> + +<p>"<i>Sin peccado concebida!</i>" added the Mexican, when he saw that the +occupants of the room did not make the usual reply to his pious but +customary salutation. "For God's sake, señores, is there neither piety +nor politeness among ye? Could you not say, '<i>Sin peccado concebida?</i>'"</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Chapter the Second.</span></h4> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Verdades diré en camisa,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poco menos que desnuda."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><span class="smcap">Quevedo.</span></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The company assembled in the room which the masked cavalier entered +consisted of some five-and-twenty young men, in whose picturesque +Spanish-Mexican costume, velvets, silk, and gold embroidery had been +employed with lavish profusion. The air of scornful superciliousness +with which they glanced at the intruder, and the indifference with which +they seemed to regard the heaps of gold that lay glittering on the +table, denoted them to be practised gamblers, or, which in Mexico is the +same thing, noblemen of the highest rank. The saloon was richly +furnished; chairs, sofas, and tables of the most costly woods, and +splendidly gilt, cushions, drapery, and chandeliers, after the newest +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Sixteen to the doubloon!" cried the new-comer, apparently noways +abashed by the contemptuous manner of his reception, as he stepped up to +the table, and placed a roll of dollars upon a card.</p> + +<p>"<i>No pueden.</i> It cannot be," replied the banker, pushing back the silver +with his wooden rake.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be," echoed several of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> the players in the same short +contemptuous tone. "<i>Una sociedad con fuero.</i> A private and privileged +society."</p> + +<p>"<i>Una sociedad con fuero!</i>" repeated the stranger, shaking his head. +"All due respect for <i>fueros</i>, so long as they are respected and +respectable. But know you not, Señores, that <i>our</i> fuero is the older +one?"</p> + +<p>"Thy fuero older, <i>gato</i>?" drawled one of the noblemen.</p> + +<p>"Ay, truly is it. 'Tis the fuero of the carnival, and dates from the +time that Mother Church first fell into her dotage."</p> + +<p>"Mother Church in her dotage! Knave, what mean ye?"</p> + +<p>"Your Señorias need only look into the street to see what I mean. She +has practised folly till she has become a fool. 'Tis just like the +mother country, who has drunk Mexican blood till she has grown +bloodthirsty."</p> + +<p>The young cavaliers became suddenly attentive.</p> + +<p>"<i>Paz! Señor</i>;" said the banker, "such words are dangerous. Begone, in +God's name, and beware of the alguazils and the Cordelada."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>"<i>Paz!</i>" replied the stranger; "peace, do you say? Would you have peace +and quiet? They are no more to be found in Mexico. Quiet!" repeated he, +with a fiery enthusiasm in his voice and gesture, "you will have as +little of it as Pedrillo had—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"No rest by day</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No sleep by night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For poor Pedrillo,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The luckless wight."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And he broke, on a sudden, into the beautiful and piquant air of +Pedrillo, which he sang with a taste and spirit that made the assembled +cavaliers gaze at him open-mouthed. At the same moment, a guitar and +castanets were heard in the adjoining room, accompanying the song.</p> + +<p>Either the charm of the surprise, or the originality of the individual +who thus appositely introduced this popular fragment from the +masterpiece of a favourite composer, produced an electrifying effect +upon the young noblemen. They sprang from their chairs, and, at the +conclusion of the song, a score of doubloons fell ringing at the feet of +the singer.</p> + +<p>"<i>Otra vez!</i> Encore, encore!" was the universal cry.</p> + +<p>"Señorias," said the banker, who alone appeared dissatisfied at this +interruption, and now approached the stranger; "I warn you, Señorias! I +recognise in this <i>caballero</i>"—he spoke the word in an ironical and +depreciating tone—"the same <i>gentilhombre</i> whom the alguazils were so +lately seeking. Beware! his presence may get us into trouble."</p> + +<p>"Ha! are you the fellow who played the alguazils such a trick?" cried +several of the young men.</p> + +<p>Instead of replying, the stranger stamped with his foot; and, as if the +stamp had been the blow of an enchanter's wand, two folding-doors, +opposite to those by which he had entered the apartment, suddenly +opened, and four dancing figures, with flesh-coloured silk masks upon +their faces, and clothed in tightly-fitting dresses of the same +material, bounded into the room.</p> + +<p>"Señorias! <i>Por el amor de Dios!</i>" cried the banker, imploringly.</p> + +<p>As he spoke, two guitar-players, who accompanied the dancers, began +twanging their instruments; and the young men, absorbed in contemplation +of the graceful and luxuriant forms of the two female dancers, paid no +attention to his entreaties and warnings. Hastily gathering up his bank, +he packed it into a box, and left the saloon with all possible despatch.</p> + +<p>And now, to the music of the guitars and the clatter of the castanets, +the two couples of dancers began a performance, of which the most vivid +pen would fail to portray the graceful and fascinating voluptuousness. +They commenced with the bolero, and thence glided, with a stamping of +the feet and whirling of the arms, into the more licentious fandango. +But the sensual character of the latter dance was so far veiled and +refined by the grace and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> elegance of the dancers, that what is usually +a mere appeal to the senses, became in their performances the very +poetry of motion. The young noblemen remained as though entranced, their +eyes fixed upon the dancers, and totally unable to give utterance to +their delight. While thus absorbed, they were suddenly startled by a +hoarse inarticulate sound, proceeding from the further corner of the +room. At the same moment the dance ceased; dancers and musicians retired +through the door by which they had entered, and a figure became visible +that will probably excite the astonishment of the reader as much as it +did that of the young cavaliers who now first perceived it.</p> + +<p>Upon an ottoman extending along one side of the apartment, there +reclined, in a half-lying, half-sitting posture, a person whose dress +was that of a Moslem of the highest rank. His robe and turban were both +green, and in the folds of the latter was interwoven a chain, or wreath, +of precious stones, of extraordinary beauty and apparent value. In +striking contrast with this rich attire were the features of the Turk, +which were singularly repulsive. A low forehead receded from above a +pair of bluish-grey eyes, in the glazed, hard look of which, perfidy, +cruelty, and pride seemed to have taken up their abode. From between the +eyes protruded a long nose, curved like that of a bird of prey, over an +upper lip indicative of gluttony and the coarsest animal propensities; +the mouth was large, the lower lip hung relaxed and slavering over a +long square chin. The complexion was in good keeping with the false and +malignant expression of the countenance, being of an indefinite tint, +that could be classed under no particular colour.</p> + +<p>"<i>Por el amor de Dios!</i>" cried the young noblemen, now really alarmed. +"What is this? What does it mean?" And they hesitatingly approached the +ottoman, and then again shrunk back, as if scared by some loathsome and +unnatural object.</p> + +<p>Beside the figure two other Moslems were kneeling, one in a green, the +other in a snow-white turban. Their hands were folded upon their +breasts, and their faces bowed till they almost touched the carpet.</p> + +<p>"Brr!" growled the Moslem in a tone more like the grunt of a wild boar +than the voice of a human being, and stretching himself peevishly out +upon the ottoman. His kneeling attendants started, rose respectfully to +their feet, and taking a step backwards, began conversing in a subdued +tone, and without appearing aware of the presence of the Mexicans, who +on their part were so bewildered by this strange scene that they seemed +to have lost the power of speech and movement.</p> + +<p>"Zil ullah!" exclaimed he of the white turban. "Allah be with us! His +sublimity has again spoken! Spoken, but how little!" added he in a +disconsolate tone. "Right willingly would Ben Haddi commence this very +day a barefooted pilgrimage"——</p> + +<p>"And Bultshere," interrupted the other, "would kiss the black stone of +Ararat"——</p> + +<p>"If," resumed the first speaker, "his sublimity might be thereby healed +of his malady. Zil ullah! 'Tis three days since his highness tasted of +the bean of Mocha, or of the glorious juice that transports the true +believer, while yet living, into the realms of Paradise."</p> + +<p>"Three days," continued his companion, "since he deigned to permit the +soft caresses of the beauteous Zuleima, or the ardent embraces of the +dark-eyed Fatima. What can be the cause?"</p> + +<p>"Indigestion," quoth Green-turban.</p> + +<p>"Cares of state," rejoined White-turban. "We must amuse his highness. +There are new Almas and Odalisques arrived. He will perhaps deign to +witness their performance."</p> + +<p>And so saying, he approached the Caliph, for such was the high rank of +the personage whom the sitting Moslem was intended to represent, and +throwing himself prostrate on the ground, preferred his request.</p> + +<p>A reply was returned in a sort of affirmative grunt, whereupon the +vizier arose in great joy, stepped back to his former place, and after +giving three distinct but not loud stamps upon the floor, retreated with +his companion into a corner of the room. Scarcely had he done so, when, +to the redoubled astonishment of the Mexi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>can cavaliers, the +folding-doors again flew open, and four couples of dancers tripped in, +attired in costumes so rich and magnificent as to eclipse even that of +the Caliph. They were followed by four negroes, two of whom bore guitars +of Moorish make and appearance, the third the East Indian <i>tomtom</i> or +drum, and the fourth the Persian flute.</p> + +<p>For a brief space the eight dancers stood in mute expectation, awaiting +a signal to begin. This was given by a Brr! from the Sultan, who at the +same time vouchsafed to raise his head, and manifest an intention of +witnessing the entertainment offered him.</p> + +<p>An adagio on the guitars, gradually increasing in volume, and in which +the tap of the tomtom mingled like the rolling of distant thunder, +opened the dance. Then came the sharp and yet mellow clack of the +dancers' castanets, and finally the soft tones of the flute, blending +the whole into harmony. The dancers seemed to follow and imitate by +their action each change of the music: at first, and with wonderful +grace and elegance, they fell into a group or <i>tableau</i>, their silken +scarfs, of transparent texture and bright and varied colours, floating +in the air like rainbows, behind which glanced the houri-like forms of +the women. Presently the music glided from the adagio into the allegro; +the steps of the dancers became quicker, their gestures more animated, +the play of their limbs more voluptuous. With the exception of one +couple, every glance and movement of the performers seemed directed or +aimed at the Caliph. This couple consisted of the most sylph-like and +exquisitely formed of the four female dancers, and of a Persian warrior, +who was pursuing her, and from whom she strove coyly to escape. With +admirable grace and skill did these two figures detach themselves from +their companions, in order to continue a while their simulated flight +and pursuit. The fairy feet of the fugitive scarcely touched the ground, +and such charm and fascination were in her movements that the Caliph +several times raised his eyelids and gave a grunt of approval. At each +of these indications on the part of the despot, the anxiety of the poor +Persian seemed to increase till it bordered on despair, and so naturally +was this despair portrayed as to draw a loud bravo from the spectators: +only the Caliph appeared insensible to the refined play of these elegant +dancers. Once or twice, indeed, his dull eyes seemed to emit a ray of +animal delight, but this quickly faded away; and even the triumph of the +Persian, when his mistress finally fell panting and yielding into his +arms, was insufficient to rekindle it.</p> + +<p>"Brr!" cried the Commander of the Faithful, in the same harsh grunting +voice as before; "and you call that pastime, that which we have seen a +thousand and one times? By the beard of the Prophet, vizier," he +continued in a louder tone, "if I have no sleep to-day, nor appetite +to-morrow, there is the bowstring for you, and the stake for your +Almas!"</p> + +<p>At this terrible threat the vizier stood speechless with horror, while +the mouth of the alarmed emir gaped to an unnatural extent: the dancers +paused, as though suddenly turned to stone, in the very same posture in +which the menace of the Caliph had surprised them. One of the +<i>bayadères</i> remained with her leg in a horizontal position, the point of +her toe almost in her partner's open mouth; another, in the terror of +the moment, had entangled her foot in the ample robe of the emir, who +now began to run up and down in his extremity of consternation, +compelling her to dance after him on one leg; in short, all the actors +in this strange scene expressed so naturally, by dumb show, their +amazement and alarm, that the Caliph burst into a loud fit of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Allah Akbar!" cried vizier and emir and dancers, with one voice, and +then all burst forth in loud praises of the goodness of Allah, who, +through the agency of his slaves, had done so great a wonder, and +extracted a refreshing laugh from his highness. This unanimous +demonstration of affection on the part of his loving subjects, seemed +pleasing to the potentate. He nodded, and the emir, encouraged by this +sign of approbation, ventured to draw nearer.</p> + +<p>"With all submission"—he began.</p> + +<p>"By the Prophet's beard!" interrupted the Caliph, "we know what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> thou +wouldst say before it is spoken. We require not a vizier to talk, but to +act as a leech, and draw blood where it is too rich or corrupt. How +thinkest thou? If I were to impale one of these lazy dancers, would +terror make the others dance better?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, please your highness, it would lame them. 'Twere +better to impale a swine from the herd called the people—one who +possesses zechins. Your highness's treasury is empty, and these Almas +are as poor as the mice in the churches of the Giaours, and withal right +useful servants of the state."</p> + +<p>"Thou sayest well; by the Prophet, they <i>are</i> useful servants of the +state," cried the Caliph, stroking his belly as he spoke, "and they may +be assured of our grace and favour. Strike off the heads of some dozen +or two knaves in the quarter of the Bezestein, and let the half of their +zechins be given to these poor devils."</p> + +<p>There was a gentle tapping at the door, which the vizier hastened to +open, and returned with the news that the chief of the mollahs humbly +solicited the favour of an audience.</p> + +<p>"Again cares of state, and nothing but cares of state!" groaned the +Caliph, allowing his head to fall on his breast as if in reflection. +"'Tis well," he said at last in a peevish tone. "We will receive the +spiritual shepherd of our kingdom. Away with these mummers! 'tis not +fitting that the expounder of the Koran should find us in such carnal +company."</p> + +<p>Dancers and musicians now stepped into the background, and the doors +opened to admit the tall figure of the head mollah, who entered with +eyes fixed upon the floor; and, on finding himself in presence of the +Caliph, knelt down and touched the carpet with his forehead.</p> + +<p>"Speak thy business," said the Sultan, "and quickly. We have been +already much engrossed with affairs of government, more, perhaps, than +is good for the feeble state of our bodily health."</p> + +<p>"Bismillah!" quoth the high priest gravely, "we have caused prayers to +be offered up from each minaret of the mosques, and have commanded that +all true believers should bestrew themselves with dust and ashes. We +have sent men upon the holy pilgrimage, and to kiss the black stone of +Ararat in order that the sufferings of your sublimity may be +alleviated."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast done well, oh mollah!" replied the Sultan.</p> + +<p>"Luminary of the World, whose light is brighter than the sun," continued +the head mollah; "we have also, with regard to this malady of your +highness, consulted the book that serves us instead of all the wisdom of +the Giaour, and therein have we found that Haroun al Raschid was +afflicted with a like evil, which he unquestionably brought on himself +through too great attention to the duties of his government."</p> + +<p>"Hold there, mollah!" interrupted the Caliph in a voice of thunder, "and +weigh thy words before thou speakest. Duties of government, sayest thou? +Duties! Who has duties? A worm like myself, that we have been pleased to +exalt out of the dust; but we have nought to do either with such +reptiles or with duty; we, the vicar of the Prophet. Our pleasure is +your duty, and our will your law."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless, doubtless, Light of the World," cried the mollah, hastening +to correct his error. "Thy unworthy servant meant to say, pleasures. +When Haroun al Raschid found himself in similar moments of suffering and +despondency, which he unquestionably brought on by too great attention +to his pleasures"—</p> + +<p>"Slave!" again interrupted the Caliph, "dost thou mock us, saying that +our glorious ancestor exhausted himself with pleasures, thus striving to +make it appear that we do the same? Do we not each day perform nine +times nine prostrations, our face towards Mecca? Did we not, no longer +back than yesterday, sign our name full twenty times to the +death-warrants of those scurvy and unbelieving hounds who dared to +blaspheme us, the Prophet's vicegerent, and to say in the +Bezestein—What said the dogs? Have we not given orders to hang, impale, +and exterminate like noisome vermin, all those who dare in any way to +think or have an opinion? Have we not made this order public,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> to the +great glorification of the Prophet and of our own name?"</p> + +<p>The Caliph paused for a moment. Then turning suddenly to the +mollah—"You may inform us," said he, "what our ancestor Haroun al +Raschid was wont to do when afflicted like ourselves with heaviness of +spirit."</p> + +<p>"Bismillah!" again began the mollah. "When Haroun al Raschid was thus +afflicted, he applied to the book which we have brought with us, and +which your highness, if he so pleases, can see and even read"—</p> + +<p>"Miserable wretch!" thundered the Caliph, with a glance of scorn at the +speaker and his book. "Wherefore do we maintain you, and those like you, +if it is not to do for us what we hold it beneath our dignity to do for +ourselves? And is not the reading of books beneath our dignity? Do not +all books contain the ideas and notions of a pack of scoundrels, who +talk about things which they do not understand, and that in no wise +concern them? Have we not decreed that the bowstring should be the +portion of all those who are reported to be either writers or readers of +books? And have we not therefore taken into our service a parcel of +idlers, of whom thou art the chief, and whose duty it is to read and +think for the whole of our people?"</p> + +<p>"And why should the Light of the World read?" replied the mollah after a +respectful pause. "He who is already the source of all earthly wisdom, +the joy and admiration of all nations? How shall I express my +wonder—how shall I sufficiently praise his high qualities?"—</p> + +<p>"Stop, mollah!" cried the Caliph. "Know that it does not please us to be +praised or wondered at by such as thou. Truly thy praises stink in our +nostrils, and are as discords in our ears. It becometh not worms like +thyself, whom we have raised from the dirt, and can again dash back into +it, to seek to spy out our good qualities, lest at the same time they +should discern"—our bad ones, the Caliph would probably have said, but +he left the sentence unfinished.</p> + +<p>"Thou shouldst look up at us," continued he, "as to the sun, in which +neither good nor evil can be seen, but of which the presence is known by +its effects. And now tell us what Haroun al Raschid did, when assailed +by despondency even as we ourselves are."</p> + +<p>"Allah Akbar! Haroun al Raschid, when afflicted like your highness, was +wont to disguise himself in various ways, as a merchant, a soldier, or a +sailor"——</p> + +<p>"All that is well known to us," interposed the Caliph; "but although we +are disposed to follow the example of our glorious ancestor so far as we +can, without too great exertion of mind or body, yet we doubt whether +just now we—— Thou knowest," he continued, interrupting himself, and +in a lower tone, "that although Haroun al Raschid was certainly our +forefather, yet our blood, improving by descent, is even purer and more +illustrious than his. We cannot, therefore, condescend to imitate him in +the way you speak of. But we will undertake a work that shall be far +more pleasing to the Prophet. With our own hands will we embroider a +twelfth under petticoat for his blessed mother, so that she may have one +for each month in the year."</p> + +<p>During the latter part of this dialogue, a whispering had been more than +once audible at the door of the apartment. This circumstance, implying +the presence of listeners, might well endanger the necks of the daring +representatives of the Caliph and his courtiers; but nevertheless, +without allowing themselves to be discomposed by the vicinity of spies, +the Moslems had played out their parts, and the Caliph now rose from his +ottoman with all the dignity of an eastern despot, repeating, as he did +so, to his attendants, what great things he would do, and how he would +stitch with his own hands a twelfth under petticoat for the mother of +the Prophet. The procession had nearly reached the door by which it had +entered, when one of the young Mexicans, recovering apparently from the +state of inaction in which this extraordinary scene had plunged him and +his companions, suddenly sprang forward, gazed earnestly in the face of +the Caliph, and then started back again with a cry of horror.</p> + +<p>"<i>Por el amor de Dios! Fernando el Rey!</i> 'Tis his majesty, King +Ferdinand!" cried the young nobleman.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> "Stop, traitor!" he exclaimed, +again advancing and endeavouring to seize the Caliph. But even in this +moment of peril, the latter did not forget his assumed dignity. With a +look of the most profound contempt he strode out of the apartment, while +the gigantic mollah, seizing the Creole by the collar, raised him from +the ground like a feather, and hurling him back into the room, followed +the Commander of the Faithful, and shut the door.</p> + +<p>Before the Mexican cavaliers had recovered from their alarm at the +daring and treasonable dramatic satire of which they had so unwittingly +been made spectators, the other doors were thrown violently open, and +several alguazils burst into the apartment. After a hurried glance round +the room, perceiving that the objects of their search had disappeared, +they darted out again at the opposite door, and hastened through the +adjacent saloons, uttering loud curses and cries of treason. This +furious but fruitless chase led them through the whole suite of +apartments, till they came round again to the room where the young +noblemen were still assembled.</p> + +<p>"<i>Todos diabolos!</i>" cried one of the police agents, running to the +window, "yonder go the villains, they have escaped us this +time.—Demonio!" vociferated he, with a fury that made the foam fly from +his lips.</p> + +<p>"And so, Caballeros!" snarled he to the Creoles, who now stood in +trembling alarm, and fully enlightened by the rage of the alguazils as +to the enormity of the treasonable pasquinade they had witnessed; "so +you have been pleased to take the person of his most sacred majesty for +your sport and laughing-stock?"</p> + +<p>"Don Bautista, on our honour, we knew not."</p> + +<p>"By <i>our</i> honour," yelled another alguazil, "you shall pay for this with +your heads, Creole hounds that ye are!"</p> + +<p>"Don Iago," cried the insulted cavaliers in a threatening tone, "we say +that on our <i>honour</i>"——</p> + +<p>"Say what you please," interrupted the alguazil, "but I tell you that if +I were viceroy"——</p> + +<p>"Your turn may come. You are a born Gachupin," cried one of the +cavaliers with a bitter sneer.</p> + +<p>"I am a Spaniard," retorted the other; "and you are nothing but wretched +Creoles; vile, miserable Creoles; <i>y basta!</i>"</p> + +<p>The very earth-worm will turn when trodden upon, and this last insult +was too much even for Creole endurance. The young men made a furious +rush at the alguazil; but he had foreseen the storm and effected a +timely retreat.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of Creoles of the middle classes, Metises, Zambos, and +Spaniards, had assembled in the adjoining apartment, and looked on at +the scene without showing any sympathy either with the police or the +young Mexicans. The latter gazed for a second or two at each other in +perplexity and dismay, and then separating, disappeared through the +different doors.</p> + +<p>Some extraordinary scenes and incidents grow out of this masquerade, or +rather out of the punishment to which the young noblemen who witnessed +it are sentenced. But, lest we should exceed our limits, we must reserve +further extracts for a second notice of this very remarkable book.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The prose even is, in its music, rude in ordinary folks—or +<i>artful</i>, as in Hamlet's admiration of the world.</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> <i>Spain and Spaniards in 1843.</i> By Captain S. E. +<span class="smcap">Widdrington</span>, R.N., K.T.S., F.R.S., F.G.S. <i>A Journey across the Desert +from Ceylon to Marseilles, &c. &c.</i> By Major and Mrs <span class="smcap">Griffith</span>. 2 vols. +<i>Facts in Mesmerism, with Reasons for a Dispassionate Enquiry into it.</i> +By the Rev. <span class="smcap">Chauncy Hare Townshend, A.M.</span></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> For an account of one of the most notorious of the public +exhibitions of mesmeric clairvoyance, we refer the reader, who may feel +sufficiently interested in the matter, to the papers of Dr Forbes in the +<i>Lancet</i>, New Series, Vol. i. p. 581, and to the counter statement in +the <i>Zoist</i>, Vol. ii. No. 7.</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> P. 316.</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> Gachupin is an untranslatable word of Mexican origin. The +Spaniards asserted it to mean a hero on horseback; the Indians and +coloured races, who applied it as a term of contempt and reproach to the +Spaniards and their dependent Creoles, understood by it a thief.</p></div> + +<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> The word Léperos, which, literally translated, means +lepers, is the term applied to the homeless and houseless wretches who +are to be seen wandering by thousands about the city and suburbs of +Mexico. They consist of beggars, mechanics, writers, and even artists. +The most industrious amongst them work one, or at most two, days in the +week, and the dress of these consists of thin trousers, a sort of cloak, +and a straw hat. Their dwelling is in any hole or corner, under the +arcades of the houses, or in the mud cottages of the suburbs. Some of +the work they produce is wonderful for its beauty and ingenuity. They +manufacture the finest gold chains, surpassing any thing of the kind +that is to be found in Europe. Their statuettes and images of saints are +often masterpieces. During the revolution their character as a class +became materially worse. There are more than ten thousand of them who do +literally nothing, possess nothing, and lie about the streets stark +naked, with the exception of a tattered woollen blanket.</p></div> + +<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> The chapel of the Redeemer of Atolnico is situated on the +summit of a steep and high mountain, two and a half leagues from Miguel +el Grande, and is much resorted to by pilgrims. On the high altar are +statues of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalen, of solid +silver, studded with rubies and emeralds. There are also in the same +church thirty other altars, with statues as large as life, pillars, +crosses, and candlesticks, all of the same metal. The sums that are each +year offered up at this shrine, are said to amount to considerably more +than one hundred thousand dollars.</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> A monotonous species of dance.</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> Creoles are born in Mexico of white parents. The Metises +are the descendants of whites and Indians, the Mulattoes of whites and +Negroes, the Zambos, or Chinos, of Negroes and Indians. The unmixed +races are Spaniards, Creoles, Indians, and Negroes. <i>Salta-atras</i>, +literally, a spring backwards, is the term applied to those of whom the +mothers were of a whiter race than the fathers.</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> The Spaniards, at the period here referred to, (1812,) the +rulers and tyrants of Mexico, were estimated at 60,000 souls, or +one-twentieth of the white population of the country.</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> Anahuac, the ancient name of Mexico. Mexitli, the god of +war of the Mexicans. Guatemozin, the last Mexican emperor. He was +tortured in the time of Cortes, to induce him to reveal the place where +his treasures were concealed; and subsequently hung for conspiracy, by +order of the same Spanish chief.</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> One of the three principal prisons in Mexico.</p></div> + +</div> +<p class="center"><i>Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work.</i></p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - +Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 29988-h.htm or 29988-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29988/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + +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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29988] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + + + + + + + + + + + BLACKWOOD'S + + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + + NO. CCCLII. FEBRUARY, 1845. VOL. LVII. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + NORTH'S SPECIMENS OF THE BRITISH CRITICS, 133 + + THE TOWER OF LONDON. BY THOMAS ROSCOE, 158 + + POEMS AND BALLADS OF GOETHE. NO. III., 165 + + SPAIN AS IT IS, 181 + + THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE, 194 + + THE OVERLAND PASSAGE, 204 + + MESMERISM, 219 + + AESTHETICS OF DRESS. ABOUT A BONNET, 242 + + GERMAN-AMERICAN ROMANCES, 251 + + + EDINBURGH + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON. + _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE + + +No. CCCLII. FEBRUARY, 1845. VOL. LVII. + + + + +NORTH'S SPECIMENS OF THE BRITISH CRITICS. + +DRYDEN. + + +Poetry, according to Lord Bacon a Third Part of Learning, must be a +social interest of momentous power. That Wisest of Men--so our dear +friends may have heard--extols it above history and above philosophy, as +the more divine in its origin, the more immediately and intimately +salutary and sanative in its use. Are not Shakspeare and Milton two of +our greatest moral teachers? CRITICISM opens to us the poetry we +possess; and, like a magnanimous kingly protector, shelters and fosters +all its springing growths. What is criticism as a science? Essentially +this--FEELING KNOWN--that is, affections of the heart and imagination +become understood subject-matter to the self-conscious intelligence. +Must feeling perish because intelligence sounds its depths? Quite the +reverse. Greatest minds are those in which, in and out of poetry, the +understanding contemplates the will. Then first the soul has its proper +strength. Disorderly passions are then tamed, and become the massy +pillars of high-built virtue. Criticism? It is a shape of +self-intuition. Confession and penitence, in the church, are a moral and +a religious criticism. The imagination is less august and solemn, but of +the same character. The first age of the world lived by divine +instincts; the later must by reason. How, then, shall we possess the +poetry of our being, unless we guard and arm it? If it be a benign, +holy, potent faculty, nevertheless it cannot, the most delicate of all +our faculties, sustain itself in the strife of opinions raging and +thundering around. Then, if it should rightly hold dominion over us, let +legislative opinion acknowledge, establish, and fortify that impaled +territory. The temper of the times is in sundry respects favourable, +notwithstanding its too frequent possession by an incensed political +spirit. Has there not been for half a century a spontaneous, an ardent, +a loving return in literature, of our own and all countries, to the old +and great in the productions of the human mind--to nature, with all her +fountains? Does not the spirit of man, in the great civilized nations at +this day, travail with desire of knowing itself, its laws, its +conditions, its means, its powers, its hopes? It studies with irregular, +often blind and perverted, efforts; but still it studies--itself. And is +not criticism, when it speaks, much bolder, more glowing and generous, +ampler-spirited, more inspiring, and withal more enquiring and +philosophical? During the whole period we speak of, poetry and +criticism--in nature near akin--with occasional complaints and quarrels, +have flourished amicably together, side by side. Both have been strong, +healthy, and good. Prigs of both kinds--the pert and the pompous--will +keep prating about the shallowness and superficiality of periodical +criticism--deep enough to drown the whole tribe in its very fords. They +call for systems. Why will they not be contented with the system of the +universe?--of which they know not that periodical criticism is a +conspicuous part. Every other year the nations without telescopes see +the rising of some new, bright, particular star. Comets, with tails like +O'Connell, are so common as to lose attraction, and blaze by weekly into +indiscoverable realms. We have constructed an Orrery of Ebony, which we +mean to exhibit at the next great cattle-show, displaying, in their +luminous order, the orbs and orbits of all the heavenly bodies. In the +centre----but this is not the time for such high revelations. We have +now another purpose; and, leaving all those golden urns to yield light +at their leisure, we desire you to take a look along with us at the +choice critics of other days, waked by our potent voice from the +long-gathering dust. In our plainer style, we beg, ladies and gentlemen, +to draw your attention to a series of articles in _Blackwood_, of which +this is Alpha. Omega is intended for a Christmas present to your +great-grandchildren. + +Ay, there were giants in those days, as well as in these--also much +dwarfs. But we shall not lose ourselves with you in the darkness of +antiquity--one longish stride backwards of some hundred and fifty years +or so, and then let us leisurely look about us for the Critics. Who +comes here? A grenadier--GLORIOUS JOHN. Him Scott, Hallam, Macaulay, +have pronounced, each in his own peculiar and admirable way, to have +been, in criticism, "a light to his people." Him Samuel Johnson called +"a man whom every English generation must mention with reverence as a +critic and a poet." + +"Dryden," says the sage, in a splendid eulogium on his prose writings, +"may be properly considered as the father of English criticism--as the +writer who first taught us to determine, upon principles, the merit of +composition. Of our former poets, the greatest dramatist wrote without +rules, conducted through life and nature by a genius that rarely misled, +and never deserted him. Of the rest, those who knew the laws of +propriety had neglected to teach them." And he adds wisely--"To judge +rightly of an author, we must transport ourselves to his time, and +examine what were the wants of his contemporaries, and what were his +means of supplying them. That which is easy at one time was difficult at +another." Let us, then, examine some of Dryden's expositions of +principles; and first, those on which he defends Heroic Verse in Rhyme, +as the best language of the tragic drama. + +This can be done effectually only by following him wherever he has +treated the subject, and by condensing all his opinions into one +consecutive argument. + +His first play, (a comedy,) "The Wild Gallant," was brought on the stage +in February 1662-3, and with indifferent success, though he has told us +that it was more than once the divertisement of Charles II. by his own +command, and a favourite with "the Castlemain." "The Rival Ladies" (a +tragi-comedy) was acted and published in the year following, and the +serious scenes are executed in rhyme. Of its success we know nothing in +particular; but Sir Walter thinks that the flowing verse into which some +part of the dialogue is thrown, with the strong point and antithesis +which all along distinguished his style, especially his argumentative +poetry, tended to redeem the credit of the author of the "Wild Gallant." +Up to this time Dryden, now in his thirty-third year, had not written +much; but in his "Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell," +"Astrea Redux, or Poem on the Happy Restoration and Return of his Sacred +Majesty," and "A Panegyric on his Coronation," he had not only shown his +measureless superiority to the Sprats and Wallers--poetasters of the +same class after all, though Sprat was always but a small fish, while +Waller was long thought like a whale--but manifested a vigour of thought +and expression that gave assurance of a veritable poet. In those noble +compositions he exults in his conscious power of numerous verse; and, +like an eagle in the middle element, sweeps along majestically on easy +wings. In "The Rival Ladies," the rhymed dialogue is exceedingly +graceful, the blank verse somewhat cumbrous; and, in his dedication to +the Earl of Orrery, he justifies himself "for following the new way; I +mean, of writing scenes _in verse_." It may here, once for all, be +remarked, that in all his disquisitions, by "verse" he usually means +rhyme as opposed to blank verse. "To speak properly," he says, "it is +not so much a new way amongst us, as an old way revived; for many years +before Shakspeare's plays was the tragedy of 'Queen Gorboduc,' in +English verse, written by that famous Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of +Dorset." Dryden here shows how little conversant he then was with the +old English drama. For the tragedy of "Ferrex and Porrex" was first +surreptitiously published under the title of "Gorboduc," who is not +Queen, but King of England; and it is not written in rhyme, but, +excepting the choruses, in blank verse; while Sackville's part of the +play comprehends only the two last acts, of themselves sufficient to +place him in the highest order of Noble Authors. "But supposing," he +continues, "our countrymen had not received this writing till of late, +shall we oppose ourselves to the most polished and civilized nations of +Europe? * * * All the Spanish and Italian tragedies I have yet seen are +writ in rhyme. * * * Shakspeare (who, with some errors not to be avoided +in that age, _had undoubtedly a larger soul of poesy than ever any of +our nation_,) was the first who, to shun the pains of continual rhyming, +invented that kind of writing which we call blank verse, but the French +more properly _prose mesuree_; into which the English tongue so +naturally glides, that in writing prose it is hardly to be avoided." +Here again, it is hardly indeed worth while to remark, is another +mistake; Marlow and several other dramatists having used blank verse +(but how inferior to the divine man's!) before Shakspeare. Coleridge +somewhere quotes a verse or two forming itself in prose composition as a +rarity and a fault; but, though it had better perhaps be avoided, and +though its frequent recurrence would be offensive, yet, when words in +their natural order do form a verse, it might be difficult to give a +good reason why they may not be permitted to do so, more especially if +they are not felt to be a verse insulated among the circumfluent prose. +From the very best prose we could pick out thousands of single verses, +which are to be found only when you seek for them; and not from rich +prose only like Coleridge's own or Jeremy Taylor's, but from the +poorest, like Dr Blair's or Gerald's of Aberdeen. Dryden says he cannot +"but admire how some men should perpetually stumble in a way so +easy"--that is, as blank verse--"into which the English tongue so +naturally glides," and should strive to attain it by inverting the order +of the words, to make the "blanks" sound more heroically--as, for +example, instead of "Sir, I ask your pardon," "Sir, I your pardon ask." +And adds--"I should judge him to have little command of English, when +the necessity of a rhyme should force often upon this rock; though +sometimes it cannot easily be avoided; _and, indeed, this is the only +inconvenience with which rhyme can be charged_." In this lively style +does he pursue his argument in favour of rhyme. For this it is which +makes its adversaries say _rhyme is not natural_! But the fault lies +with the poet who is not master of his art, and either makes a vicious +choice of words, or places them, for rhyme's sake, so unnaturally as no +man would in ordinary speech. But when it is so judiciously ordered that +the first word in the verse seems to beget the second, and that again +the next, till that becomes the last word in the line, which, in the +negligence of prose, would be so; it must then be granted, that rhyme +has all the advantages of prose--_besides its own_. + +"Glorious John" (who must have been laughing in his sleeve) then +declares, that the "excellence and dignity of it were never fully known +till Mr Waller taught it;" that it was afterwards "followed in the epic +by Sir John Denham, in his 'Cooper's Hill,' a poem which your lordship +knows, for the majesty of the style, is, and ever will be, the exact +standard of good writing;" and that we are "acknowledging for the +noblest use of it to Sir William D'Avenant, who at once brought it upon +the stage, _and made it perfect in the Siege of Rhodes_!" + +Having thus carried things all his own way, he triumphantly declares, +that the advantages which rhyme has over blank verse are so many, that +"it were lost time to name them." And then, with fresh vigour, he sets +himself to name some of the chief--and first, that one illustrated by +Sir Philip Sidney in his "Defence of Poesy," "the help it brings to +memory, which rhyme so knits up by the affinity of sound, that by +remembering the last word in one line, we often call to mind both the +verses." Then, in the quickness of repartees (which in discoursive +scenes fall very often) it has, he says, so particular a grace, and is +so aptly united to them, that the sudden smartness of the answer, and +the exactness of the rhyme, set off the beauty of each other. + +But its greatest benefit of all, according to Dryden, is, that it bounds +and circumscribes the fancy. The great easiness of blank verse renders +the poet too luxuriant; he is tempted to say many things which might be +better omitted, or at least shut up in fewer words. But when the +difficulty of artificial rhyming is interposed; where the poet commonly +confines his verse to his couplet, and must continue that verse in such +words that the rhyme shall naturally follow them, not they the rhyme, +the fancy then gives leisure to the judgment to come in; which, seeing +so heavy a task imposed, is ready to cut off all unnecessary expenses. +And this furnishes a complete answer, he maintains, to the ordinary +objection, that rhyme is only an embroidery of verse, to make that which +is ordinary in itself pass for excellent with less examination. For that +which most regulates the fancy, and gives the judgment its busiest +employment, is like to bring forth the richest and clearest thoughts. +The poet examines that most which he produces with the greatest leisure, +and which he knows must pass the severest test of the audience, because +they are aptest to have it ever in the memory. In conclusion, he winds +up skilfully by applying all he has said to "a fit subject"--that is, an +Heroic Play. For neither must the argument alone, but the characters and +persons, be great and noble, otherwise rhymed verse would be out of +place, which, for the reasons assigned, is manifestly suited for the +utterance of lofty sentiments, and for occasions of dignity and +importance. Heroic Plays were then all the rage, and Dryden was +meditating to enter on that career which for many years occupied his +genius, not essentially dramatic, to the exclusion of other kinds of +poetry in which he afterwards excelled all competitors. + +Sir Robert Howard's Heroic Play, the "Indian Queen," "part of which was +written by Dryden," and the whole revised and corrected no doubt, +especially in the article of versification, was acted in 1664 with great +applause. "It presented," says Sir Walter, "battles and sacrifices on +the stage, aerial demons singing in the air, and the god of dreams +ascending through a trap, the least of which has often saved a worse +tragedy." Evelyn, in his Memoirs, has recorded, that the scenes were the +richest ever seen in England, or perhaps elsewhere, upon a public stage. +Dryden, by its reception, was encouraged to engraft on it another drama +called the "Indian Emperor"--a continuation of the tale--which had the +most ample success, and, till a revolution in the public taste, retained +possession of the stage. Soon after its publication, Sir Robert Howard, +in a peevish Preface to some plays of his, chose to answer what Dryden +had said in behalf of verse in his Epistle Dedicatory to his "Rival +Ladies," and not only without any mention of his name, but without any +allusion to the "Indian Emperor," while he bestowed the most extravagant +eulogies on the heroic plays of my Lord of Orrery--"in whose verse the +greatness of the majesty seems unsullied with the cares, and the +inimitable fancy descends to us in such easy expressions, that they seem +as if neither had ever been added to the other, but both together +flowing from a height, like birds so high that use no balancing wings, +but only with an easy care preserve a steadiness in motion. But this +particular happiness among those multitudes which that excellent person +is an owner of, does not convince my reason but employ my wonder; yet I +am glad that such verse has been written for the stage, since it has so +happily exceeded those whom we seemed to imitate. But while I give these +arguments against verse, I may seem faulty that I have not only written +ill ones, but written any; but since it was the fashion, I was resolved, +as in all indifferent things, not to appear singular--the danger of the +vanity being greater than the error; and therefore I followed it as a +fashion, though very far off." Sir Robert appears to have been in the +sulks, for some cause not now known, with his great brother-in-law; and +was pleased to punish him by thus publicly pretending ignorance of his +existence as an heroic play-wright. Yet the "Annus Mirabilis" was about +this time dedicated to Sir Robert; and only about a year before, John +had had a helping hand with the "Indian Queen." My Lord of Orrery must +have been a proud man to have his gouty too so fervently kissed by the +jealous rivals. "The muses," Dryden had said in his dedication to that +nobleman, "have seldom employed your thoughts but when some violent fit +of the gout has snatched you from affairs of state; and, like the +priestess of Apollo, you never come to deliver your oracles but +unwillingly and in torments. So we are obliged to your lordship's misery +for our delight. You treat us with the cruel pleasure of a Turkish +triumph, where those who cut and wound their bodies, sing songs of +victory as they pass, and divert others with their own sufferings. Other +men endure their diseases--your lordship only can enjoy them." Dryden, +however, was not disposed to stomach Sir Robert's supercilious silence, +and took a noble revenge in his "Essay on Dramatic Poesy." + +This celebrated Essay was first published at the close of 1668; and the +writing of it, Dryden tells us, in a dedication, many years afterwards, +to the Earl of Dorset, "served as an amusement to me in the country, +when the violence of the last plague had driven me from the town. +Seeing, then, our theatres shut up, I was engaged in these kind of +thoughts with the same delight with which men think upon their absent +mistresses." It is in the form of dialogue; under the feigned +appellations of Lisideius, Crites, Eugenius, and Neander, the speakers +are Sir Charles Sedley, Sir Robert Howard, Lord Buckhurst, and Dryden. +Nothing can exceed the grace with which the dialogue is conducted--the +choice of scene is most happy--and the description of it in the highest +degree striking and poetical. + + "It was that memorable day, in the first summer of the late war, + when our navy engaged the Dutch; a day wherein the two most mighty + and best appointed fleets which any age had ever seen, disputed the + command of the greater half of the globe, the commerce of nations, + and the riches of the universe. While these vast floating bodies, + on either side, moved against each other in parallel lines, and our + countrymen, under the happy conduct of his Royal Highness, went + breaking, little by little, into the line of the enemies, the noise + of the cannon from both navies reached our ears about the city; so + that all men being alarmed with it, and in a dreadful suspense of + the event which they knew was then deciding, every one went + following the sound as his fancy led him; and leaving the town + almost empty, some took towards the Park, some cross the river, + some down it, all seeking the noise in the depth of silence. + + "Amongst the rest, it was the fortune of Eugenius, Crites, + Lisideius, and Neander, to be in company together, three of them + persons whom their wit and quality have made known to all the town, + and whom I have chose to hide under these borrowed names, that they + may not suffer by so ill a narration as I am going to make of their + discourse. + + "Taking, then, a barge, which a servant of Lisideius had provided + for them, they made haste to shoot the bridge, and left behind them + that great fall of waters which hindered them from hearing what + they desired; after which, having disengaged themselves from many + vessels which rode at anchor in the Thames, and almost blocked up + the passage towards Greenwich, they ordered the watermen to let + fall their oars more gently; and then every one favouring his own + curiosity with a strict silence, it was not long ere they perceived + the air to break about them like the noise of distant thunder, or + of swallows in a chimney--those little undulations of sound, though + almost vanishing before they reached them, yet still seeming to + retain somewhat of their first horror which they had betwixt the + fleets. After they had attentively listened till such time as the + sound, by little and little, went from them, Eugenius, lifting up + his head, and taking notice of it, was the first who congratulated + to the rest that happy omen of our nation's victory; adding, that + we had but this to desire in confirmation of it, that we might hear + no more of that noise which was now leaving the English coast. When + the rest had concurred in the same opinion, Crites, a person of + sharp judgment, and somewhat too delicate a taste in wit, which the + world hath mistaken in him for ill-nature, said, smiling to us, + that if the concernment of this battle had not been so exceeding + great, he could scarce have wished the victory at the price he knew + he must pay for it, in being subject to the reading and hearing of + so many ill verses as he was sure would be made on that subject; + adding, that no argument could 'scape some of these eternal + rhymers, who watch a battle with more diligence than the ravens and + birds of prey, and the worst of them surest to be first in upon the + quarry; while the better able, either out of modesty writ not at + all, or set that due value upon their poems, as to let them be + often desired and long expected. There are some of those + impertinent people of whom you speak, answered Lisideius, who, to + my knowledge, are already so provided either way, that they can + produce not only a panegyric upon the victory, but, if need be, a + funeral elegy upon the Duke, wherein, after they have crowned his + valour with many laurels, they will at last deplore the odds under + which he fell, concluding that his courage deserved a better + destiny. All the company smiled at the conceit of Lisideius; but + Crites, more eager than before, began to make particular exceptions + against some writers, and said the public magistrates ought to send + betimes to forbid them; and that it concerned the peace and quiet + of all honest people that ill poets should be as well silenced as + seditious preachers." + +We may perhaps have occasion, by and by, to notice other important +topics spiritedly and eloquently discussed by these choice spirits in +the barge; meanwhile our business is with the argument, "rhyme _versus_ +blank verse," between Crites and Neander. Crites maintains, sometimes in +the very words, Sir Robert's views in the Preface to his plays, in which +he had animadverted on Dryden's dedication to the "Rival Ladies," while +Neander combats them; and it may be observed, that the worthy Baronet is +made to speak forcibly and well--much better indeed, on the whole, than +he does in his own preface. From beginning to end there cannot be +imagined a more fair and gentlemanly dialogue. But first, we cannot +resist giving the very beautiful close. + + "Neander was pursuing this discussion so eagerly, that Eugenius had + called to him twice or thrice ere he took notice that the barge + stood still, and that they were at the foot of Somerset stairs, + where they had appointed it to land. The company were all sorry to + separate so soon, though a great part of the evening was already + spent; and stood awhile looking back on the water, upon which the + moonbeams played, and made it appear like floating quicksilver. At + last they went up through a crowd of French people, who were + merrily dancing in the open air, and nothing concerned for the + noise of guns which had alarmed the town that afternoon. Walking + three together to the Piazza, they parted there; Eugenius and + Lisideius to some pleasant appointment they had made, Crites and + Neander to their several lodgings." + +But now to the argument. Crites, who is not more long-winded than may be +permitted to a polite proser, at least on the Thames of a summer +evening, somewhat condensed, reasoneth thus. + +A play being the imitation of nature, dialogue is there presented as the +effect of sudden thought; and since no man without premeditation speaks +in rhyme, neither ought he to do it on the stage. The fancy may be +elevated to a higher pitch of thought than it is in ordinary discourse, +for men of excellent and quick parts may speak noble things extempore; +but surely not when fettered with rhyme, for what more unnatural than to +present the most free way of speaking in that which is the most +constrained? The Greek tragedians, therefore, wrote in iambics, the +kind of verse nearest to prose, which with us is blank verse. + +The champions of rhyme say that the quickness of repartees receives an +ornament from it in argumentative scenes. But do men not only light on a +sudden upon the wit but the rhyme too? Then must they be born poets. If +they do not seem in the dialogue to make rhymes whether they will or no, +it will look rather like the design of two than the answer of one--as if +your actors hold intelligence together, and perform their tricks like +fortune-tellers by confederacy. The hand of art will be too visible. +Neither is it any answer to say that, however you manage it, 'tis still +known to be a play; for a play is still an imitation of nature, and one +can be deceived only with a probability of truth. The mind of man does +naturally tend to truth, and the nearer any thing comes to the imitation +of it, the more readily will the imagination believe. + +Rhyme, it is said, circumscribes a quick and luxuriant fancy, which +would extend itself too far on every subject, did not the labour which +is required to well-turned and polished rhyme set bounds to it. But he +who wants judgment to confine his fancy in blank verse, may want it as +much in rhyme; and he who has it will avoid errors in both kinds. Latin +verse was as great a confinement to the imagination as rhyme; yet Ovid's +fancy was not limited by it, and Virgil needed it not to bind his. In +our own language, Ben Jonson confined himself to what ought to be said, +even in the liberty of blank verse; and Corneille, the most judicious of +the French poets, is still varying the same sense a hundred ways, and +dwelling eternally on the same subject, though confined by rhyme. + +Such is the substance of Crites' answer to Dryden's Defence of Rhyme; +and Neander, before replying, begs it to be understood that he excludes +all comedy from his defence, and that he does not deny that blank verse +may be also used; but he asserts that, in Serious Plays, where the +subject and characters are great, and the plot unmixed with mirth, which +might allay or divert those concernments which are produced, rhyme is +there as natural, and more effective, than blank verse--for what other +conditions, he asks, are required to make rhyme natural in itself, +besides an election of apt words, and a right disposition of them? The +due choice of your words expresses your sense naturally, and the due +placing them adapts the rhyme to it. If both the words and rhyme be apt, +one verse cannot be made merely for sake of the other, as Crites had +urged; for supposing there be a dependence of sense betwixt the first +line and the second, then, in the natural position of the words, the +latter line must of necessity flow from the former; and if there be no +dependence, yet still the due ordering of words makes the last line as +natural in itself as the other. A good poet, he affirms, never +establishes the first line till he has sought out such a rhyme as may +fit the verse, already prepared to heighten the second. Many times the +close of the sense falls into the middle of the next verse, or further +off; and he may often avail himself of the same advantages in English +which Virgil had in Latin--he may break off in the hemistich, and begin +another line. The not observing these two last things, makes plays which +are writ in verse so tedious; for though most commonly the sense is to +be confined to the couplet, yet nothing that does run in the same +channel can please always. 'Tis like the murmuring of a stream, which, +not varying in the fall, causes at first attention, at last drowsiness. +Variety of cadence is the best rule, the greatest help to the actor and +refreshment of the audience. + +If, then, verse may be made natural in itself, how becomes it unnatural +in a play? The stage, you say, is the representation of nature, and no +man in ordinary conversation speaks in rhyme. True; but neither does he +in blank verse. All the difference between them, when they are both +good, is the sound in one which the other wants; and if so, the +sweetness of it, and other advantages, handled in the Preface to the +"Rival Ladies," all stand good. + +The dialogue of plays, you say, is presented as the effect of sudden +thought; but that no man speaks _extempore_ in rhyme, which cannot +therefore be proper in dramatic poesy, unless we could suppose all men +born so much more than poets. But it must not be forgotten that the +question regards the nature of a Serious Play, which is indeed the +representation of nature, but nature wrought up to an high pitch. The +plot, the characters, the wit, the passions, the descriptions, are all +exalted above the level of common converse, as high as the imagination +of the poet can carry them, with proportion to verisimility. Tragedy is +wont to image to us the minds and fortunes of noble persons; and to +portray these exactly, heroic rhyme is nearest nature, as being the +noblest kind of modern verse. Verse, it is true, is not the effect of +sudden thought; but this hinders not that sudden thought may be +represented in verse, since these thoughts are such as must be higher +than nature can raise them without premeditation, especially to a +continuance of them, even out of verse; and consequently you cannot +imagine them to have been sudden, either in the poet or the actors. A +play to be like nature is to be set above it; as statues which are +placed on high are made greater than the life, that they may descend to +the sight in their just proportion. + +But rhyme, it has been argued, appears most unnatural in repartees or +short replies, when he who answers (it being presumed he knew not what +the other would say, yet) makes up that part of the verse which was left +incomplete, and supplies both the sound and the measure of it. This, +'tis said, looks rather like the confederacy of two than the answer of +one. But suppose the repartee were made in blank verse, is not the +measure as often supplied there as in rhyme?--the latter half of the +hemistich as commonly made up, or a second line subjoined, as a reply to +the former? But suppose it allowed to look like a confederacy. What more +beautiful than a well-contrived dance? You see there the united design +of many persons to make up one figure: after they have separated +themselves in many petty divisions, they rejoin one by one into a group: +the confederacy is plain among them, for chance could never produce any +thing so beautiful, and yet there is nothing in it that shocks your +sight. True, then, the hand of wit appears in repartee, as it must in +all kinds of verse. When, with the quiet and poignant brevity of it, +there mingles the cadency and sweetness of verse--"the soul of the +hearer has nothing more to desire." + +Rhyme was said by its defender to be a help to the poet's judgment, by +putting bounds to a wild overflowing fancy. And it was answered by the +admirer of blank verse, that he who wants judgment in the liberty of his +poesy, may as well show the defect of it when he is confined to verse; +for he who has judgment will avoid errors, and he who has it not will +commit them in all kind of writing. Granted that he who has judgment so +profound, strong, and infallible that he needs no help to keep it always +poised and right, will commit no faults in rhyme or out of it. But where +is that judgment to be found? Take it, therefore, as it is found in the +best poets. Judgment is indeed the master workman in a play; but he +requires many subordinate hands, many tools to his assistance, and rhyme +is one of them--it is a rule and line by which he keeps his building +compact and even, which otherwise lawless imagination would raise +loosely and irregularly--it is, in short, a slow and painful but the +surest kind of working. Second thoughts being usually the best, as +receiving the maturest digestion from judgment, and the last and most +mature product of these thoughts being artful and laboured verse, it may +well be inferred that verse is a great help to a luxuriant fancy, and +that is what the argument opposed was to evince. + +Sir Robert, though always made to speak well in the Dialogue, was yet +made to speak on the losing side; and in an address to the reader, +prefixed to "The Great Favourite, or the Duke of Lerma," a tragedy +published soon after, having, by way of retaliation, sharply criticised +some of Neander's dogmas about the drama, brought down on himself a cool +but cutting castigation--more severe than was merited by so small an +offence. His retort, in as far as the question of rhyme or blank verse +is concerned, was, however, to say the best of it, very feeble. "I +cannot, therefore, but beg leave of the reader to take a little notice +of the great pains the author of an Essay of Dramatic Poetry has taken +to prove rhyme as natural in a Serious Play, and more effectual, than +blank verse: Thus he states the question but pursues that which he calls +natural in a wrong application; for 'tis not the question, whether rhyme +or not rhyme be best or most natural for a grave or serious subject; but +what is nearest the nature of that which it presents. Now, after all the +endeavours of that ingenious person, a play will still be supposed to be +a composition of several persons speaking _extempore_, and it is as +certain, that good verses are the hardest things that can be imagined to +be so spoken; so that if any will be pleased to impose the rule of +measuring things to be the best by being nearest to nature, it is +proved, by consequence, that which is most remote from the thing +supposed, must needs be most improper; and therefore I may justly say, +that both I and the question were equally mistaken, for I do own, I had +rather read good than either blank verse or prose, and therefore the +author did himself injury, if he like verse so well in plays, to lay +down rules and raise arguments only unanswerable against himself." + +We had rather that Dryden should answer this than we; for much of it +eludes our comprehension. In his "Defence of the Essay on Dramatic +Poesy" he replies thus:--"A play will still be supposed to be a +composition of several persons speaking extempore," quoth Sir Robert; "I +must move leave to dissent from his opinion," requoth John; "for if I am +not deceived, a play is supposed to be the work of the poet, imitating +or representing the conversation of several persons; and this I think to +be as clear as he thinks the contrary." There he has the baronet on the +hip; and gives him a throw. He then makes bold to prove this +paradox--that one great reason why prose is not to be used in Serious +Plays is, "because it is too near the nature of converse." Thus, in +"Bartholomew Fair," or the lowest kind of comedy, where he was not to go +out of prose, Ben does yet so raise his matter, in that prose, as to +render it delightful, which he could never have performed had he only +said or done those very things that are daily spoken or practised in the +fair; for then the fair itself would be as full of pleasure to an +enquiring person as the play, which we manifestly see it is not. "But he +hath made an excellent lazar of it. The copy is of price, though the +original be vile." Even in the lowest prose comedy, then, the matter and +the wording must be lifted out of nature--as _we_ should now say, +idealized. In "Catiline" and "Sejanus" again, where the argument is +great, Ben sometimes ascends into rhyme; and had his genius been proper +for rhyme--which Dryden more than once asserts it was not--"it is +probable he would have adorned those subjects with that kind of writing. +Thus prose," he finely says, "though the rightful prince, yet is by +common consent deposed as too weak for the government of Serious Plays; +and he failing, there now start up two competitors, one the nearer in +blood, which is blank verse; the other more fit for the ends of +government, which is rhyme. Blank verse is, indeed, the nearer prose, +but he is blemished with the weakness of his predecessor. Rhyme (for I +will deal clearly) has somewhat of the usurper in him, but he is brave +and generous, and his dominion pleasing." + +It was then, "for the reason of delight," that the ancients wrote all +their tragedies in verse--and not in prose; because it was most remote +from conversation. Rhyme had not then been invented. But again he +reminds his adversary, that it seems to have been adopted by the general +consent of poets in all modern languages--and that almost all their +Serious Plays are written in it, which, though it be no demonstration +that therefore they ought to be so, yet at least the practice first, and +the continuation of it, shows that it attained the end, which was to +please. It is thus that Dryden deals with Sir Robert, as if blank verse +in Serious Plays had not a leg to stand on. Yet throughout he preserves +a wonderful air of candour and moderation, as most becoming the +victorious champion of rhyme. As, for example, where he allows that, +whether it be natural or not in plays, is a problem not demonstrable on +either side. But in reference to Sir Robert's acknowledgment, that he +had rather read good verse than prose, he adds triumphantly, "that is +enough for me; for if all the enemies of verse will confess as much, I +shall not need to prove that it is natural. I am satisfied if it cause +delight; for delight is the chief, if not the only end of poesy; +instruction can be admitted but in the second place, for poesy only +instructs as it delights. It is true, that to imitate well is a poet's +work; but to affect the soul, and to excite the passions, and, above +all, to move admiration, (which is the delight of Serious Plays,) a bare +imitation will not serve. The converse, therefore, which a poet is to +imitate, must be heightened with all the arts and ornaments of poesy; +and must be such as, strictly considered, could never be supposed spoken +by any without premeditation." + +In his various argument in defence of the use of rhyme on the stage, +Dryden, we have seen, always speaks of its peculiar adaptation to +"Serious Plays," or "Heroic Plays." In an essay thereon, prefixed to the +"Conquest of Grenada," in the pride of success he says, "whether heroic +verse ought to be admitted into Serious Plays, is not now to be +disputed." And he again takes up the obstinate objection to rhyme, which +he had not yet, it seems, battered to death, that it is not so near +conversation as prose, and therefore not so natural. But it is very +clear to all who understand poetry, that Serious Plays ought not to +imitate conversation too nearly. If nothing were to be traced above that +level, the foundation of poetry would be destroyed. Once grant that +thoughts may be exalted, and that images and actions may be raised above +the life, and described in measure without rhyme, and that leads you +insensibly from your principles; admit some latitude, and having +forsaken the imitation of ordinary converse, where are you now? "You are +gone beyond it, and to continue where you are, is to lodge in the open +fields between two inns." You have lost that which you call natural, and +have not acquired the last perfection of art. It was only custom, he +says, which cozened us so long; we thought because Shakspeare and +Fletcher went no further, that there the pillars of poetry were to be +erected; that because they excellently described passion without rhyme, +therefore rhyme was not capable of describing it. _"But time has since +convinced most men of that error._" + +What, then, according to Dryden's idea of it, was a serious or heroic +play? An heroic play, he says, ought to be an imitation, in little, of +an heroic poem; and, consequently, Love and Valour ought to be the +subject of it. D'Avenant's astonishing "Siege of Rhodes"--formerly +declared to be the _beau-ideal_ of an heroic play--was after all, it +seems, wanting in fulness of plot, variety of character, and even beauty +of style. Above all, it was not sufficiently great and majestic. He knew +not, honest man, that, in a true heroic play, you ought to draw all +things as far above the ordinary proportion of the stage, as that is +beyond the common words and actions of human life. The play that +imitates mere nature as she walks in this world, may be written in +suitable language; but, as in epic poetry all poets have agreed that we +shall behold the highest pattern of human life, so in the heroic play, +modelled by the rules of an heroic poem, we must be shown only +correspondent characters. Gods and spirits, too, are privileged to +appear on such a stage, and so are drums and trumpets. But Dryden +himself denies that he was the first to introduce representations of +battles on the English stage, Shakspeare having set him the example; +while Jonson, though he shows no battle, lets you hear in "Catiline," +from behind the scenes, the shouts of fighting armies. Warlike +instruments, and some fighting on the stage, are indeed necessary to +produce the effects of a heroic play. They help the imagination to gain +absolute dominion over the mind of an audience. + +Were we to believe Dryden, his heroic plays were dramatic imitations of +such epic poems as the Iliad and the AEneid. And he has the brazen-faced +assurance to say, that the first image he had of Almanzor, in the +"Conquest of Grenada," was from the Achilles of Homer! The next was +from Tasso's Rinaldo, and the third--_risum teneatis amici--from the +Artaban of Monsieur Calpranede_! Unquestionably our English heroic plays +were borrowed from the French--as these were the legitimate offspring of +the dramas of Calpranede and Scuderi. But Dryden's compositions are +unparalleled in any literature. Nature is systematically outraged in one +and all--from beginning to end. Never was such mouthing seen and heard +beneath moon and stars. Through the whole range of rant he rages like a +man inspired. He is the emperor of bombast. Yet these plays contain many +passages of powerful declamation--not a few of high eloquence; some that +in their argumentative amplitude, if they do not reach, border on the +sublime. Nor are their wanting outbreaks of genuine passion among the +utmost extravagances of false sentiment--when momentarily heroes and +heroines warm into men and women, and for a few sentences confabulate +like flesh and blood. + +But it is with Dryden as a critic, not as a poet, that we have now to +do; and we have said these few words about his heroic plays only in +connexion with our account of his argument in support of his doctrine +with regard to heroic verse in rhyme. That blank verse is better adapted +than any other for the drama, has been settled by Shakspeare. But though +Dryden has driven his argument too far, till his doctrine, as he +promulgates it, becomes untenable, as little do we doubt that he has +made good this position, that there may be good plays in rhyme. His +heroic plays are bad, not because they are in rhyme, but because they +are absurd; the rhyme is their chief merit; 'tis not possible to dream +what they had been in blank verse. True, that "All for Love" and "Don +Sebastian" are in blank verse, and may be said, after a fashion, to be +fine plays. But they are constructed on rational principles, and in them +he was doing his best to write like Shakspeare. What reason is there for +believing that those plays, in many respects excellent, are the better +for not being in rhyme? None whatever. Rhyme, in our opinion, would have +given them both a superior charm. In his heroic plays, it often carries +us along with absurdities which we know not whether we should call tame +or wild; it gives an air of originality to trivial commonplaces; it +embellishes what is vigorous, and invigorates what is beautiful; and +among events and characters alike unnatural, its music sustains our +flagging interest, and enables us to read on. There can be no doubt, +that in representations on the stage, the same cause must have been most +effective on audiences accustomed to that kind of pleasure, and who +delighted in rhyme, to them at once a necessary and a luxury of life. +"Aurengzebe," the last of his rhyming plays, is, to our mind, little if +at all inferior to "All for Love," or "Don Sebastian;" and we know that +it was most successful on the stage. + +Sir Walter says, "that during the space which occurred between the +writing of the 'Conquest of Grenada,' and 'Aurengzebe,' Dryden's +researches into the nature and causes of harmony of versification, led +him to conclude that the Drama ought to be emancipated from the fetters +of rhyme--and that the perusal of Shakspeare, on whom Dryden had now +turned his attention, led him to feel that something further might be +attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in +smooth verse, and that the scene ought to represent, not a fanciful set +of agents exerting their superhuman faculties in a fairyland of the +poet's own creation, but human characters acting from the direct and +energetic influence of human passions, with whose emotions the audience +might sympathize, because akin to the feelings of their own hearts. When +Dryden had once discovered that fear and pity were more likely to be +excited by other causes than the logic of metaphysical love, or the +dictates of fantastic honour, he must have found that rhyme sounded as +unnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the usual scale of +humanity, as the plate and mail of chivalry would have appeared on the +persons of the actors." All this is finely said; but does it not assume +the point in question? Dryden may have learned at last from the study of +Shakspeare, (in whom, however, he was well read many years before, as +witness his Essay on Dramatic Poesy,) that "something further might be +attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in +smooth verse." But we do not see the necessity of the inference, "that +rhyme sounded unnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the +usual scale of humanity." Is rhyme self-evidently unnatural in the +expression, in verse, of strong and deep human passion? To that +question, put thus generally, the right answer is--NO. And is it, then, +necessarily unnatural in the drama? + +Like all great powers, that of rhyme is a secret past finding out. In +itself a mere barbarous jingle, it yet gives perfection to speech. The +music of versification has endless varieties of measures, and rhyme +lends enchantment to them all. Not an affection, emotion, or passion of +the soul that may not be soothed by its syllablings, enkindled, or +raised to rapture. Pity and terror, joy and grief, love and devotion, +are all alike sensible of its influence; as the sweet similarities keep +echoing through some artful strain, that all the while is thought by +them who listen to come in simplicity from the unpremeditating heart. +Songs, hymns, elegies, epicedia, epithalamia--rhyme rules alike all the +shadowy tribes. The triumphant ode--the penitential psalm--wisdom's +moral lesson--the philosophic strain "that vindicates the ways of God to +man;" such is the range of rhyme, down all the depths of the pathetic, +up all the heights of the sublime. It is yet unlimited. Where shall we +find its bounds? Let us try. + +In the Epos, the poet in person is the relater. But he hides his own +personality in that of the Muse he invokes; and offers himself to his +auditors as the Voice only by which she speaks. She, the Muse, is +thought to be throughout a faithful recorder; for she is supposed to +have access to know all; and however marvellous may be the narrations, +they are accepted with undoubting faith. Since she speaks, or rather +sings, and the auditor only listens, the commonest and the most uncommon +events are, in one respect, upon an even footing. For the hearer must +picture them for himself. All are alike acted absent from the senses, +and before the imagination alone. Hence the Epic Poet has an +extraordinary facility afforded him for introducing into his work that +order of representation which is called the marvellous. For it is just +as easy to the hearer to set before his fancy a giant or a pigmy, as a +man; the one-eyed monster Polyphemus, as the beautiful, the graceful, +the swift, the strong, the sublime, the terrible Achilles. It is just as +easy for him to transport himself in fancy to the summit of Olympus, to +the palace of Jupiter, and to the Council or to the Banquet of the Gods, +or to the deep sea-caves where Thetis sits with her companion nymphs in +the hall of her father, the sea-god Nereus--as it is to remove himself +from the festal hall, where the poet is singing to him and to the other +guests, away to the camp of the Greeks, or to the court of Priam, or to +the bower of Andromache. He has no more difficulty to think of Minerva +darting, in the likeness of a hawk, from the snowy crest of Olympus to +the shore of the Hellespont--or to imagine the Thunderer in his +celestial car, lashing on his golden-maned steeds that pace the clouds +and the air, and waft him at the speed almost of a wish from the +unfolding portals of heaven to the summit of Mount Ida--than when he is +called upon, in the midst of some totally different scene, to figure to +himself a mortal hero, with waving crest, glittering in polished brass, +advancing erect in his war-chariot, hurling his lance that misses his +foe; and in return transpierced by that of his antagonist, falling +backwards to the ground in his resounding arms, and groaning out his +soul in the bloody dust. The truth is, that when you are called upon to +see and to hear _within the mind_, you rejoice in the capacities of +seeing and hearing that are thus unfolded in you, infinitely surpassing +similar capacities which you possess in your bodily eye and ear; and +therefore the stronger the demands that are made, the more readily even +do you comply with them; and in this way, in part, we must understand +the character that is impressed upon the _Iliad_, and the temper of mind +in the hearer answering to the character. It is one of infinite liberty. +The mind of the poet seems to be released from all bonds and from all +bounds; and the temper in the hearer is the same. Another character, +proper to Epic poetry, judging after its great model, the _Iliad_--is +_universality_. In the direct narrative, we have gods and men, heaven, +earth, sea, for seats of action--and, for a moment, a glimpse of hell. +Recollect whilst the conflagration of war is raging, how the poet has +found a moment, at the Scaean Gate, for the touching picture of an heroic +father, a noble mother, and a babe in arms, scared at his father's +dazzling and overshadowing helmet, who smiles, puts it from his head +upon the ground, and lifts up the boy, with a prayer to Jove. Sacrifices +to the gods, games, funeral rites, come in the course of the relation; +and because the scene of the poem is distracted with warfare, the great +poet has found, in the Vulcanian sculptures on the shield of Achilles, +place for images of peace--the labours of the husbandman; the mirthful +gathering in of the vintage with dance and song; the hymeneal pomp led +along the streets. And in the similes, what pictures from animal life +and manners! And then our enchantment is heightened by a prevailing +duplication. Throughout, or nearly so, the transactions that are +presented in the natural, are also presented in the supernatural. Thus +we have earthly councils, heavenly councils; warring men, warring gods; +kings of men, kings of gods; mortal husbands and wives, and sons and +daughters; immortal husbands and wives, and sons and daughters. Palaces +in heaven as on earth. The sea, in a manner, triplicates. Terrestrial +steeds--celestial steeds--marine steeds! The natural and supernatural +are united--when Achilles is half of mortal, half of immortal +derivation; when heavenly coursers are yoked in the chariots of men; +when Juno, for a moment, grants voice to the horse of Achilles; and the +horse, whom Achilles has unjustly reproved, answers prophesying the +death of the hero. + +Why Homer made the _Iliad_ in hexameters, no man can tell; but having +done so, he thereby constituted for ever the proper metre of Greek--and +Latin--Epic poetry. But what a multitude of subjects, how different from +one another does that, and every other Epic poem, comprehend! Glory to +the hexameter! it suits them all. Now, in every Epic poem, and in few +more than in the _Iliad_, there are many dramatic scenes. But in the +Greek tragic drama, the dialogue is mainly in iambics; for this reason, +that iambics are naturally suited for the language of conversation. Be +it so. Yet here in the Epic, the dialogue is felt to be as natural in +hexameters as the heart of man can desire. Hear Agamemnon and Achilles. +Call to mind that colloquy in Pelides' tent. + +Rhyme is unknown in Greek; and it is of rhyme that we are treating, +though you may not see our drift. From Homer, then, pass on to Ariosto +and Tasso. They, too, are Epic poets who have charmed the world. Their +poems may not have such a sweep as the _Iliad_, still their sweep is +great. Rich in rhyme is their language--rich the stanza they delighted +in--_ottava rima_, how rich the name! Is rhyme unnatural from the lips +of their peers and paladins? No--an inspired speech. Is hexameter blank +verse alone fit for the mouths of Greek heroes--eight-line stanzas of +oft-recurring rhymes for the mouths of Italian? Gentle shepherd, tell me +why. + +But the "Paradise Lost" is in blank verse. It is. The fallen angels +speak not in rhyme--nor Eve nor Adam. So Milton willed. But Dante's +Purgatory, and Hell, and Heaven, are in rhyme--ay, and in difficult +rhyme, too--_terza rima_. Yet the damned speak it naturally--so do the +blessed. How dreadful from Ugolino, how beautiful from Beatrice! + +But the drama--the drama--the drama--is your cry--what say we to the +drama? Listen, and you shall hear-- + +The Tragic Drama rose at Athens. The splendid and inexhaustible +mythology of gods and heroes, which had supplied the Epic Muse with the +materials of her magnificent relations, furnished the matter of a new +species of poetry. A palace--or a temple--or a cave by the wild +sea-shore, was painted; actors, representing by their attire, and their +majestic demeanour, heroes and heroines of the old departed world; nay, +upon high occasions, celestial gods and goddesses--trod the Stage and +spoke, in measured recitation, before assembled thousands of spectators, +seated in wonder and awe-stricken expectation. The change to the poet in +the manner of communicating with his hearers, alters the character of +the composition. The stage trodden by living feet, the scenery, voices +from human tongues varying with all the changes of emotion, impassioned +gestures, and events no longer spoken of, but transacted in presence, +before the eyes of the audience, are elements full of power, that claim +for tragedy and impose upon it a character of its own. The heart is more +interested, and the imagination less. Persons who accompany the whole +business that is to be done, with speaking--a poem consisting of +incessant dialogue--must disclose, with more precise and profounder +discovery, the minds represented as engaged. Motives are produced and +debated--the sudden turns of thought--the violent fluctuations of the +passions--the gentle variations of the feelings, appear. Time is given +for this internal display--and a species of poetry arises, distinguished +for the fulness and the decision with which the springs of action in the +human bosom are shown as breaking forth into, and determining, human +action. Meanwhile, the means that are thus afforded to the poet of a +more energetic representation, curb in him the flights of imagination. +To represent Neptune as at three strides from his seat on a mountain-top +descending the slope, that with all its woods quakes under the immortal +feet, and as reaching at the fourth step his wave-covered palace--this, +which was easy between the epic poet and his hearer, becomes out of +place and impossible for tragedy, simply because no actors and no stage +can represent a god so stepping and the hills so trembling. We know what +the pathetically sublime literature was which the drama gave to Athens; +how poets of profound and capacious spirits, who had looked into +themselves--and, so enlightened, had observed human life--were able, by +taking for their subjects the strongly portrayed characters and the +stern situations of the old Greek fable, to unite in their lofty and +impressive scenes the truth of nature and the tender interests which +endear our familiar homes, to the grandeur of heroic recollections, to +the awe of religion, and to the pomp, the magnificence, and the beauty +of a gorgeous yet intellectual art. + +The Greek Tragic drama is from end to end in verse; and unavoidably, +because 'tis a part of a splendid religious celebration. It is involved +in the solemn pomp of a festival. Therefore it dons its own solemn +festival robes. The musical form is our key to the spirit. And in that +varying musical form there are three degrees--first, the Iambic, nearest +real speech--second, the Lyrical dialogue, farther off--third, the full +Chorus--utmost removal. Pray, do not talk to us of the naturalness of +the language. You never heard the like spoken in all your days. Natural +it was on that stage--and over the roofless theatre the tutelary deities +of Athens leant listening from the sky. + +The model, or law, or self of the English drama, is _Shakspeare_. The +character of his drama is, the imaging of nature. A foremost +characteristic of nature is infinite and infinitely various production, +expressing or intimating an indefatigably and inexhaustibly active +spirit. But such a spirit of life, so acting and producing, appears to +us as a fountain, ever freshly flowing from the very hand of God. All +_that_ Shakspeare's drama images; and thus his art appears to us, as +always the highest art appears to us to be, a Divine thing. The musical +forms of his language should answer; and they do. They are; first, +prose; second, loose blank verse; third, tied blank verse; fourth, +rhyme.[1] This unbounded variety of the musical form really seems to +answer to the premised idea; seems really to clothe infinite and +infinitely varied intellectual production. Observe, we beseech you, what +varieties of music! The rhyme--ay, the rhyme--has a dozen at +least;--couplets--interlaced rhyme--single rhyme and +double--anapests--diverse lyrical measures. Observe, too, that speakers +of all orders and characters use all the forms. Hamlet, Othello, Lear, +Coriolanus, Lance, use prose; Leontes and his little boy, Lear, +Coriolanus, and his domestics--to say nothing of the Steward--Macbeth +and his murderlings, use blank verse. Even Falstaff, now and then, a +verse. All, high and low, wise, merry, and sad, _rhyme_. Fools, witches, +fairies--we know not who else--use lyrical measures. Upon the whole, the +_uttermost_--that is, the musical form--answers herein to the +_innermost_ spirit. The spirit, endlessly-varying, creates +endlessly-varying musical form. The total character is accordingly +self-lawed, irrepressible creation. + +Blank verse, then, is the predominating musical form of Shakspeare's +comedies, histories, and tragedies. To such a degree as that _all_ the +other forms often slip from one's recollection; and, to speak strictly, +blank verse must be called the rule; while all other forms are diverse +exceptions. + +Only one comedy, the homely and English "Merry Wives of Windsor," has, +for its rule, prose. Even here the two true lovers hold their few short +colloquies in blank verse. And when the concluding fairy masque is +toward, blank verse rages. Page and Ford catch it. The merry wife, Mrs +Page, turns poetess to describe and project the superstitions to be +used. In the fairy-scene Sir John himself, Shakspeare's most dogged +observer of prose, is quelled by the spirit of the hour, and RHYMES. You +would think that the soul of Shakspeare has been held chained through +the play, and breaks loose for a moment ere ending it. All this being +said, it may be asked:--"Why is blank verse the ordinary musical form of +Shakspeare's Dramas?" And the obvious answer appears to be:--"Because it +has a _middle removedness_ or _estrangement_ from the ordinary speech of +men:--raising the language into imagination, and yet not out of +sympathy." + +Shakspeare and Sophocles agree in truth and strength, in life, passion, +and imagination. They differ inwardly herein--Shakspeare founds in the +power of nature. Under his hand nature brings forth art. The Attic +tragedy begins from art. Its first condition is order, since it is part +of a religious ceremonial. It resorts to nature, to quicken, strengthen, +bear up art. Nature enters upon the Athenian stage, under a previous +recognition of art as dominant. + +From all that has been now said--and it is more than we at first +intended to say--this conclusion follows, that there may be English +rhymed dramas. There are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian ones--and +fine ones too; and nothing in nature forbids that there may be +infinitely finer. That which universally affects off the stage, in all +kinds of poetry, would, in the work of a great master, affect on it. The +delusion of the theatre overcomes far greater difficulties carried with +us thither in the constitution of our habitual life, than the use of +rhyme by the visionary beings in the mimic scene. Beyond all doubt there +might arise in rhyme a most beautiful romantic drama. Unreal infused +into real, turns real at once into poetry. But this is of all degrees. +In the lowest prose of life there is an infusion which we overlook. We +should drop down dead without it. Let the unreal a little predominate; +and now we become sensible to its presence, and now we _call_ the +compound poetry. Let it be an affair of words, and we require verse as +the fitting form. Our stage and language have settled upon blank verse +as the proper metrical form for the proper measure of the unreal upon +the ordinary tragic stage. Rhymed verse has a more marked separation, or +is more distant from prose than blank verse is. Hence, you might suppose +that it will be fitted on the stage for a surcharge of the unreal. +Dryden's heroic tragedies are a proof, as far as one authority goes; and +even they had great power over audiences willing to be charmed, and +accustomed to what we should think a wide and continued departure from +nature. But imagine a romantic play, full of beautiful and tender +imagination, exquisitely written in rhyme, and modelled to some suitable +mould invented by a happy genius. Why, the "Gentle Shepherd," idealizing +modern Scottish pastoral life, was, in its humble way, an achievement; +and, within our memory, critics of the old school looked on it well +pleased when acted by lads and lasses of high degree, delighting to deem +themselves for an evening the simple dwellers in huts around Habbie's +How. + +Let us now collect together all that Dryden has, in different moods of +his unsettled and unsteady mind, written about Shakspeare. In the +Dialogue formerly spoken of, comparisons are made between the modern +English and the modern French drama. "If you consider the plots," says +Neander, "our own are fuller of variety, if the writing, ours are more +quick and fuller of spirit." And he denies--like a bold man as he +was--that the English have in aught imitated or borrowed from the +French. He says our plots are weaved in English looms; we endeavour +therein to follow the variety and greatness of characters, which are +derived to us from Shakspeare and Fletcher; the copiousness and +well-knitting of the intrigues we have from Jonson. These two things he +dares affirm of the English drama, that with more variety of plot and +character, it has equal regularity; and that in most of the irregular +plays of Shakspeare and Fletcher, (for Ben Jonson's are for the most +part regular,) there is a more masculine fancy and greater spirit in the +writing, than there is in any of the French. For a pattern of a perfect +play, he is proposing to examine "the Silent Woman" of Jonson, the most +careful and learned observer of the dramatic laws, when he is requested +by Eugenius to give in full Ben's character. He agrees to do so, but +says it will first be necessary to speak somewhat of Shakspeare and +Fletcher; "his rivals in poesy, and one of them, in my opinion, at least +his equal, perhaps his superior." Malone observes, that the caution +observed in this decision, proves the miserable taste of the age; and +Sir Walter, that Jonson, "by dint of learning and arrogance, fairly +bullied the age into receiving his own character of his merits, and that +he was not the only person of the name that has done so." This is coming +it rather too strong; yet to stand well with others there is nothing +like having a good opinion of one's-self, and proclaiming it with the +sound of a trumpet. + + "To begin, then, with Shakspeare. He was the man who, of all modern + and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive + soul; all the images of nature were still present to him, and he + drew them, not laboriously but luckily; when he describes any + thing, you more than see it--you feel it too. Those who accuse him + to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was + naturally learned, he needed not the spectacles of books to read + nature, he looked inwards and found her there. I cannot say he is + every where alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare + him with the greatest of mankind. He is many times flat and + insipid; his comic wit degenerating into clenches, his serious + swelling into bombast. But he is always great when some great + occasion is presented to him--no man can say he ever had a fit + subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above + the rest of poets, + + 'Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.' + + "The consideration of this made Mr Hales of Eton say, that there + was no subject of which any poet ever writ, but he would produce it + much better done in Shakspeare: and, however others are now + generally preferred before him, yet the age wherein he lived, which + had contemporaries with him, Fletcher, and Jonson, never equalled + them to him in their esteem; and in the last king's court, when + Ben's reputation was at highest, Sir John Suckling, and with him + the greater part of the courtiers, set our Shakspeare far above + him. + + "Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am next to speak, had, with the + advantage of Shakspeare's wit, which was their precedent, great + natural gifts, improved by study. Beaumont, especially, being so + accurate a judge of plays, that Ben Jonson while he lived submitted + all his writings to his censure, and, 'tis thought, used his + judgment in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots. What + value he had for him appeared by the verses he writ to him, and + therefore I need speak no further of it. The first play that + brought Fletcher and him into esteem was their 'Philaster;' for + before that they had written two or three very unsuccessfully, as + the like is reported of Ben Jonson before he writ 'Every Man in his + Humour.' Their plots were generally more regular than Shakspeare's, + especially those which were made before Beaumont's death; and they + understood and imitated the conversation of gentlemen much better, + whose wild debaucheries and quickness of wit in repartee no poet + before them could paint as they have done. Humour, which Ben Jonson + derived from particular persons, they made it not their business to + describe; they represented all the passions very lively, but, above + all, love. I am apt to believe the English language in them arrived + to the highest perfection--what words have since been taken in are + rather superfluous than ornamental. Their plays are now the most + pleasant and frequent entertainments of the stage, two of theirs + being acted through the year for one of Shakspeare's or Jonson's; + the reason is, because there is a certain gaiety in their comedies, + and pathos in their more serious plays, which suits generally with + all men's humours. Shakspeare's language is likewise a little + obsolete, and Ben Jonson's wit comes short of theirs. + + "As for Jonson, to whose character I am now arrived, if we look + upon him while he was himself, (for his last plays were but his + dotages,) I think him the most learned and judicious writer which + any theatre ever had. He was a most severe judge; of himself as + well as others. One cannot say he wanted wit, but rather that he + was frugal of it in his works; you find little to retouch or alter. + Wit and language, and humour also, in some measure, we had before + him; but something of art was wanting to the drama till he came. He + managed his strength to more advantage than any who succeeded him. + You seldom find him making love in any of his scenes, or + endeavouring to move the passions; his genius was too sullen and + saturnine to do it gracefully, especially when he knew he came + after those who had performed both to such an height. Humour was + his proper sphere, and in that he delighted most to represent + mechanic people. He was deeply conversant in the ancients, both + Greek and Latin, and he borrowed boldly from them. There is scarce + a poet or historian among the Roman authors of those times, whom he + has not translated in 'Sejanus' and 'Catiline.' But he has done his + robberies so openly, that one may see he fears not to be taxed by + any law. He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft + in other poets is only victory in him. With the spoils of those + writers he so represents old Rome to us, in its rites, ceremonies, + and customs, that, if one of their poets had written either of his + tragedies, we had seen less of it than in him. If there was any + fault in his language it was, that he weaved it too closely and + laboriously, in his comedies especially. Perhaps, too, he did a + little too much Romanize our tongue, leaving the words, which he + translated, almost as much Latin as he found them; wherein, though + he learnedly followed their language, he did not enough follow with + the idiom of ours. If I would compare him with Shakspeare, I must + acknowledge him the more correct poet, but Shakspeare the greater + wit. Shakspeare was the Homer, or father, of our dramatic poets; + Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing. I admire + him, but I love Shakspeare. To conclude of him, as he has given us + the most correct plays, so, in the precepts which he has laid down + in his 'Discoveries,' we have as many and profitable rules for + perfecting the stage as any wherewith the French can furnish us." + +Samuel Johnson truly says of the Dialogue, "that it will not be easy to +find, in all the opulence of our language, a treatise so artfully +variegated with successive representations of opposite probabilities, so +enlivened with imagery, and heightened with illustration." But we have +some difficulty in going along with him when he adds--"The account of +Shakspeare may stand as a perpetual model of encomiastic criticism, +exact without minuteness, and lofty without exaggeration. The praise +lavished by Longinus on the attestation of the heroes of Marathon by +Demosthenes, fades away before it. In a few lines is exhibited a +character, so sublime in its comprehension, and so curious in its +limitations, that nothing can be added, diminished, or reformed; nor +can the editors and admirers of Shakspeare, in all their emulation of +reverence, boast of much more than of having diffused and paraphrased +his epitome of excellence; of having changed Dryden's gold for baser +metal, of lower value, though of greater bulk." Since this great +critic's day--ay, with all his defects and perversities, Samuel was a +great critic--what a blaze of illumination has been brought to bear on +the genius of Shakspeare! Nevertheless, all honour to Glorious John! +Next comes the famous prologue:-- + + As when a tree's cut down, the secret root + Lives under ground, and thence new branches shoot; + So, from old Shakspeare's honour'd dust, this day + Springs up the buds, a new reviving play. + Shakspeare, who (taught by none) did first impart + To Fletcher wit, to labouring Jonson art; + He, monarch-like, gave those, his subjects, law, + And is that nature which they paint and draw. + Fletcher reach'd that which on his heights did grow, + While Jonson crept and gather'd all below. + This did his love, and this his mirth digest; + One imitates him most, the other best. + If they have since outwrit all other men, + 'Tis with the drops which fell from Shakspeare's pen. + The storm which vanish'd on the neighbouring shore, + Was taught by Shakspeare's 'Tempest' first to roar. + That innocence and beauty which did smile + In Fletcher, grew on this enchanted isle. + But Shakspeare's magic could not copied be-- + Within that circle none durst walk but he. + I must confess 'twas bold, nor would you now + That liberty to vulgar wits allow, + Which works by magic supernatural things; + But Shakspeare's power is sacred as a king's. + Those legends from old priesthood were received, + And he them writ as people them believed." + +Strange that he who could write so nobly about Shakspeare, could commit +such an outrage on his divine genius as the play to which this is the +prologue--"The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island," a Comedy. It +was--Dryden tells us, and we must believe him--"originally Shakspeare's; +a poet for whom Sir William D'Avenant had particularly a high +veneration, and whom he first taught me to admire." So the two together, +to show their joint and judicious admiration, set about altering "The +Tempest." Fletcher had imitated it all in vain in his "Sea Voyage;" "the +storm, the desert island, and the woman who had never seen a man, are +all implicit testimonies of it." Few more delightful poets than +Fletcher; but in an evil hour, and deserted by his good genius, did he +then hoist his sail. But now cover your face with your hands--and then +shut your ears. "_Sir John Suckling, a professed admirer of our author, +has followed his footsteps_ in his '_Goblins_;' his Regmella being an +open imitation of Shakspeare's Miranda, and his spirits, _though +counterfeit_, yet are copied from Ariel." But Sir William D'Avenant, "as +he was a man of quick and piercing imagination, soon found that somewhat +might be added to the design of Shakspeare, of which neither Fletcher +nor Suckling had ever thought;" "and this excellent contrivance," he was +pleased, says Dryden with looks of liveliest gratitude, "to communicate +to me, and to desire my assistance in it." You probably knew what was +the "excellent contrivance" by which "the last hand"--the hand after +Suckling's--"was put to it;" so that thenceforth the "Tempest" was to be +let alone in its glory. "The counterpart to Shakspeare's plot, namely, +that of a man who had never seen a woman, that by this means these two +characters of innocence and love might the more illustrate and commend +each other. _I confess that from the very first moment it so pleased me, +that I never writ_ any thing with more delight." Sir Walter says it +seems to have been undertaken chiefly with a view to give room for +scenical decoration, and that Dryden's share in the alteration was +probably little more than the care of adapting it to the stage. But +Dryden's own words contradict that supposition, and he further tells us +that his writings received D'Avenant's daily amendments; "and that is +the reason why it is not so faulty as the rest, which I have done +without the help and correction of so judicious a friend." They wrote +together at the same desk. And Dryden found D'Avenant of "so quick a +fancy, that nothing was proposed to him on which he would not suddenly +produce a thought, extremely pleasant and surprising. * * His +imagination was such as could not easily enter into any other man." It +had been easy enough, he adds, to have arrogated more to himself than +was his due in the writing of the play; but "besides the worthlessness +of the action, which deterred me from it, (there being nothing so base +as to rob the dead of his reputation,) I am satisfied I could never have +received so much honour in being thought the author of any poem, how +excellent soever--as I shall from the joining of my imperfections with +the merit and name of Shakspeare and Sir William D'Avenant." From all +this, and more of the same sort, 'tis plain that Dryden's share in the +composition was at least equal to--we should say, much greater +than--D'Avenant's. + +You must not meddle with Miranda--for she is all our own. Yet we +cheerfully introduce you to her sister, Dorinda, and leave you all alone +by yourselves for an hour's flirtation. Hush! she is describing the +ship! + + "This floating Ram did bear his horns above, + And tied with ribands, ruffling in the wind: + Sometimes he nodded down his head awhile, + And then the waves did heave him to the moon, + He climbing to the top of all the billows; + And then again he curtsied down so low + I could not see him. Till at last, all sidelong + With a great crack, his belly burst in pieces." + +We had but once before handled this performance--some threescore and ten +years ago, when a man of middle age. We dimly remember being amused in +our astonishment. Now that we are beginning to get a little old, we are, +perhaps, growing too fastidious; yet surely it is something very +shocking. Portsmouth Poll and Plymouth Sall--sisters originating at +Yarmouth--when brought into comparison with Miranda and Dorinda of the +enchanted island, to our imagination seem idealized into Vestal virgins. +True, they were famous--when not half seas over--for keeping a quiet +tongue in their mouths: with them mum was the word. Only when drunk as +blazes, poor things, did they, by word or gesture, offend modesty's most +sacred laws. But D'Avenant's and Dryden's daughters are such leering and +lascivious drabs, so dreadfully addicted to innuendoes and _doubles +entendres_ of the most alarming character, that, high as is our opinion +of the intrepidity of British seamen, we should not fear to back the two +at odds against a full-manned jolly-boat from a frigate in the offing +sent in to fill her water-casks. Caliban himself--and what a Caliban he +has become!--fights shy of the plenireps. Why--if it must be so--we give +our arm to his sister Sycorax, a "fearsome dear" no doubt, but what +better could one expect in a misbegotten monster? Oh, the confounding +mysteries of self-degrading genius! + +In the preface to "An Evening's Love; or, the Mock Astrologer," we again +meet with some criticism on Shakspeare. We learn from it that Dryden had +formed the ambitious design of writing on the difference betwixt the +plays of his own age and those of his predecessors on the English stage, +in order to show in what parts of "dramatic poesy we were excelled by +Ben Jonson--I mean, humour and contrivance of comedy; and _in what we +may justly claim precedence of Shakspeare and Fletcher_! namely, in +heroic plays." He had, moreover, proposed to treat "of the improvement +of our language since Fletcher's and Jonson's days, and, consequently, +of our refining the courtship, raillery, and conversation of plays." In +great attempts 'tis glorious even to fail; and assuredly had Dryden +essayed all this, his failure would have been complete. "I would," said +he, with his usual ignorance of his own and his age's worst sins and +defects, "have the characters well chosen, and kept distant from +interfering with each other, which is more than Fletcher _or Shakspeare +did_! * * I think there is no folly so great in any part of our age, as +the superfluity and waste of wit was in some of our predecessors, +particularly Fletcher _and Shakspeare_." Refining the courtship, +raillery, and conversation of plays! We cannot, perhaps, truly say very +much in praise of those qualities in Ben's comedies, admirable as they +are, and superior, in all respects, a thousand times over to the best of +Dryden's and of his contemporaries'; but wilfully blind indeed, or +worse, must the man who could thus write have been to the matchless +grace, vivacity, delicacy, prodigality, and poetry of Shakspeare's +comedy, which as far transcends all the happiest creations of other +men's wit, as the pervading pathos and sublimity of his tragedy all +their happiest inspirations from the holy fountain of ennobling or +pitying tears. + +In its day, the following Epilogue caused a great hubbub-- + + "They, who have best succeeded on the stage, + Have still conform'd their genius to their age. + Thus Jonson did mechanic humours show, + When men were dull, and conversation low. + Then comedy was faultless, but 'twas coarse: + Cobb's tankard was a jest, and Otter's horse. + And, as their comedy, their love was mean; + Except by chance, in some one labour'd scene, + Which must atone for an ill-written play. + They rose, but at their height could seldom stay: + Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; + And they have kept it since by being dead. + But, were they now to write, when critics weigh + Each line, and every word, throughout a play, + None of them, no not Jonson in his height, + Could pass without allowing grains for weight. + Think it not envy that these truths are told-- + Our poet's not malicious, though he's bold. + 'Tis not to brand them that their faults are shown, + But by their errors, to excuse his own. + If love and honour now are higher raised, + 'Tis not the poet, but the age is praised. + Wit's now arrived to a more high degree; + Our native language more refined and free; + Our ladies and our men now speak more wit, + In conversation, than those poets writ. + Then, one of these is, consequently, true; + That what this poet writes comes short of you, + And imitates you ill (which most he fears,) + Or else his writing is not worse than theirs. + Yet, though you judge (as sure the critics will) + That some before him writ with greater skill, + In this one praise he has their fame surpast, + To please an age more gallant than the last." + +Dryden was called over the coals for this sacrilegious Epilogue by +persons ill qualified for censors--among others, by my Lord +Rochester--and was instantly ready with his defence--an "Essay on the +Dramatic Poetry of the Last Age." In it he repeats the senseless +assertion, "that the language, wit, and conversation of our age are +improved and refined above the last;" and he takes care to include among +the writers of the last age, _Shakspeare_, Fletcher, and Jonson. "In +what," he asks "does the refinement of a language principally consist?" + + "Either in rejecting such old words or phrases which are ill + sounding or improper, or in admitting new, which are more proper, + more sounding, and more luxuriant. * * * Malice and partiality set + apart, let any man who understands English, read diligently the + works of _Shakspeare_ and Fletcher, and I dare undertake that he + will find in every page either some solecism of speech, or some + notorious flaw in sense; yet these men are reverenced, when we are + not forgiven. That their wit is great, and many times their + expressions noble, envy itself cannot deny. But the times were + ignorant in which they lived. Poetry was then, if not in its + infancy among us, at least not arrived to its vigour and maturity. + Witness the lameness of their plots, many of which, especially + those they writ first, (for even that age refined itself in some + measure,) were made up of some ridiculous, incoherent story, which + in one play many times took up the business of an age. I suppose I + need not name 'Pericles, Prince of Tyre,' _nor the historical plays + of Shakspeare_, besides many of the rest, as the 'Winter's Tale,' + 'Love's Labour Lost,' 'Measure for Measure,' which were either + founded on impossibilities, or at least so meanly written, that the + comedy neither caused your mirth, nor the serious part your + concernment." + +In all this this rash and wretched folly, Dryden shows his ignorance of +the order in which Shakspeare wrote his plays; and Sir Walter kindly +says, that there will be charity in believing that he was not intimately +acquainted with those he so summarily and unjustly condemns. But +unluckily this nonsense was written during the very time he was said by +Sir Walter to have been "engaged in a closer and more critical +examination of the ancient English poets than he had before bestowed +upon them;" and, from the perusal of Shakspeare, learning that the sole +staple of the drama was "human characters acting from the direct and +energetic influence of human passions." Yet Sir Walter was right; only +Dryden's opinions and judgments kept fluctuating all his life long, too +much obedient to the gusts of whim and caprice, or oftener still to the +irregular influences of an impatient spirit, that could not brook any +opposition from any quarter to its domineering self-will. For in not +many months after, in the Prologue to "Aurengzebe," are these noble +lines-- + + "But spite of all his pride, a secret shame + Invades his heart at Shakspeare's sacred name; + Awed when he hears his godlike Romans rage, + He, in a just despair, would quit the stage, + And to an age less polish'd, more unskill'd, + Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield." + +Less polished--more unskilled! Here, too, he is possessed with the same +foolish fancy as when he said, in the "Defence of the Epilogue,"--"But +these absurdities which those poets committed, may more properly be +called the age's fault than theirs. For besides the want of education +and learning, (which was their particular unhappiness,) they wanted the +benefit of converse. Their audiences were no better, and therefore were +satisfied with what they brought. Those who call theirs the golden age +of poetry, have only this reason for it, that they were then content +with acorns before they knew the use of bread!" Then, after a somewhat +hasty and unconvincing examination of certain incorrectnesses and +meannesses of expression even in Ben Jonson, learned as he was, he asks, +"What correctness after this can be expected from _Shakspeare_ or +Fletcher, who wanted that learning and care which Jonson had? I will +therefore spare myself the trouble of enquiring into their faults, who, +had they lived now, had doubtless written more correctly." Since +Shakspeare's days, too, the English language had been refined, he says, +by receiving new words and phrases, and becoming the richer for them, as +it would be "by importation of bullion." It is admitted, however, that +Shakspeare, Fletcher, and Jonson did indeed beautify our tongue by their +_curiosa felicitas_ in the use of old words, to which it often gave a +rare meaning; but in that they were followed by "Sir John Suckling and +Mr Waller, _who refined upon them_!" But the greatest improvement and +refinement of all, "in this age," is said to have been in wit. Pure wit, +and without alloy, was the wit of the court of Charles the Second, and +of the Clubs. It shines like gold, yea much fine gold, in the works of +all the master play-wrights. Whereas, "Shakspeare, who many times has +written better than any poet in any language, is yet so far from writing +wit always, or expressing that wit according to the dignity of the +subject, that he writes, in many places, below the dullest writers of +ours, or any preceding age. Never did any author precipitate himself +from such height of thought to so low expressions, as he often does. He +is the very Janus of poets; he wears almost every where two faces; and +you have scarce begun to admire the one ere you despise the other." That +the wit "of this age" is much more courtly, may, Dryden thinks, be +easily proved by viewing the characters of gentlemen which were written +in the last. For example--who do you think? Why, MERCUTIO. "Shakspeare +showed the best of his skill in Mercutio; and he said himself that he +was forced to kill him in the third act, to prevent being killed by him. +But for my part I cannot find he was so dangerous a person: I see +nothing in him but what was so exceedingly harmless, that he might have +lived to the end of the play and died in his bed, without offence to any +man." Wit Shakspeare had in common with his ingenious contemporaries; +but theirs, to speak out plainly, "was not that of gentlemen; there was +ever somewhat that was ill-natured and clownish in it, and which +confessed the conversation of the authors." "In this age," Dryden +declares the last and greatest advantage of writing proceeds from +conversation. "In that age" there was "less gallantry;" and "neither did +they (Shakspeare, Ben, and the rest) keep the best company of theirs." +But let the illustrious time-server speak at large. + + "Now, if they ask me, whence it is that our conversation is so much + refined? I must freely, and without flattery, ascribe it to the + court; and in it, particularly to the king, whose example gives a + law to it. His own misfortunes, and the nation's, afforded him an + opportunity, which is rarely allowed to sovereign princes--I mean + of travelling, and being conversant in the most polished courts of + Europe; and, thereby, of cultivating a spirit which was formed by + nature to receive the impressions of a gallant and generous + education. At his return, he found a nation lost as much in + barbarism as in rebellion; and, as the excellency of his nature + forgave the one, so the excellency of his manners reformed the + other. The desire of imitating so great a pattern, first awakened + the dull and heavy spirits of the English from their natural + reservedness; loosened them from their stiff forms of conversation, + and made them easy and pliant to each other in discourse. Thus, + insensibly, our way of living became more free; and the fire of the + English wit, which was before stifled under a constrained, + melancholy way of breeding, began first to display its force by + mixing the solidity of our nation with the air and gaiety of our + neighbours. This being granted to be true, it would be a wonder if + the poets, whose work is imitation, should be the only persons in + three kingdoms who should not receive advantage by it; or, if they + should not more easily imitate the wit and conversation of the + present age than of the past. + + "Let us, therefore, admire the beauties and the heights of + Shakspeare, without falling after him into a carelessness, and, as + I may call it, a lethargy of thought, for whole scenes together." + +Shakspeare lethargic--comatose! + +Sir Walter's admiration of "glorious John" was so much part of his very +nature, that he says, "it is a bold, perhaps presumptuous, task to +attempt to separate the true from the false criticism in the foregoing +essay: for who is qualified to be umpire betwixt Shakspeare and Dryden?" +None that ever breathed, better than his own great and good self. Yet +surely he was wrong in saying, that when Shakspeare wrote for the stage, +"wit was not required." Required or not, there it was in perfection, of +which Dryden, with all his endowments, had no idea. The question is not +as he puts it, were those "audiences incapable of receiving the delights +which a cultivated mind derives from the gradual development of a story, +the just dependence of its parts upon each other, the minute beauties of +language, and the absence of every thing incongruous or indecorous?" +They may have been so, though we do not believe they were. But the +question is, are Shakspeare's Plays, beyond all that ever were written, +distinguished for those very excellences, and free from almost all those +very defects? That they are, few if any will now dare to deny. While +the best of Dryden's own Plays, and still more those of his forgotten +contemporaries, infinitely inferior to Shakspeare's in all those very +excellences, are choke-full of all manner of faults and flagrant sins +against decorum and congruity, in the eyes of mere taste; and with a few +exceptions, according to no rules can be rated high as works of art. The +truth of all this manifestly forced itself upon Sir Walter's seldom +erring judgment, as he proceeded in the composition of the elaborate +note, in which he would fain have justified Dryden even at the expense +of Shakspeare. And, as it now stands, though beautifully written, it +swarms with _non-sequiturs_, and perplexing half-truths. + +In the Preface to "Troilus and Cressida," (1679,) Dryden again--and for +the last time--descants, in the same unsatisfactory strain, on +Shakspeare. AEschylus, he tells us, was held in the same veneration by +the Athenians of after ages as Shakspeare by his countrymen. But in the +age of that poet, the Greek tongue had arrived at its full perfection, +and they had among them an exact standard of writing and speaking; +whereas the English language, even in his (Dryden's) own age, was +wanting in the very foundation of certainty, "a perfect grammar:" so, +what must it have been in Shakspeare's time? + + "The tongue in general is so much refined since then, that many of + his words, and more of his phrases, are scarce intelligible. And of + those which we understand, some are ungrammatical, others coarse; + and his whole style is so pestered with figurative expressions, + that it is as affected as it is obscure. It is true that, in his + latter plays, he had worn off somewhat of the rust; but the tragedy + which I have undertaken to correct was in all probability one of + his first endeavours on the stage.... So lamely is it left to us, + that it is not divided into acts. For the play itself, the author + seems to have begun it with some fire. The characters of Pandarus + and Thersites are promising enough; but, as if he grew weary of his + task, after an entrance or two, he lets them fall; and the latter + part of the tragedy is nothing but a confusion of drums and + trumpets, excursions, and alarms. The persons who give name to the + tragedy are left alive. Cressida is false, and is not punished. + Yet, after all, because the play was Shakspeare's, and that there + appeared in some places of it the admirable genius of the author, I + undertook to remove that heap of rubbish, under which many + excellent thoughts lay wholly buried. Accordingly, I have + remodelled the plot, threw out many unnecessary persons, improved + those which were begun and left unfinished, as Hector, Troilus, + Pandarus, and Thersites, and added that of Andromache. After that, + I made, with no small trouble, an order and connexion of all the + scenes, removing them from the place where they were inartificially + set; and though it was impossible to keep them all unbroken, + because the scene must be sometimes in the city and sometimes in + the court, yet I have so ordered them, that there is a coherence of + them with one another, and a dependence on the main design: no + leaping from Troy to the Grecian tents, and thence back again, in + the same act, but a due proportion of time allowed for every + motion. I need not say that I have refined the language, which + before was obsolete; but I am willing to acknowledge, that as I + have often drawn his English nearer to our times, so I have + sometimes conformed my own to his; and consequently, the language + is not altogether so pure as it is significant." + +John Dryden and Samuel Johnson resemble one another very strongly in +their treatment of Shakspeare. Both of them seem at times to have +perfectly understood and felt his greatness, and both of them have +indited glorious things in its exaltation. Their praise is the utterance +of worship. You might believe them on their knees before an idol. But +theirs is a strange kind of reverence. It alternates with derision, and +is compatible with contempt. The god sinks into the man and the man is a +barbarian, babbling uncouth speech. "Coarse," "ungrammatical," +"obscure," "affected," "unintelligible," "rusty!" The words distilled +from the lips of Cordelia, Desdemona, Juliet, Imogen! + +Dryden informs us, that ages after the death of AEschylus, the Athenians +ordained an equal reward to the poets who could alter his plays to be +acted in the theatre, with those whose productions were wholly new, and +of their own. But the case, he laments, is not the same in England, +though the difficulties are greater. AEschylus wrote good Greek, +Shakspeare bad English; and to make it intelligible to a refined +audience was a hard job. Sorely "pestered with figurative expressions" +must have been the transmogrifier; and he had to look for wages, not to +a nation's gratitude, but a manager's greed. It was, indeed, a desperate +expedient for raising the funds. In his judgment the Play itself was but +a poor affair--an attempt by an apprentice, that, to be producible, +required the shaping of a master's hand. "Lamely left" it had to be set +on its feet ere it could tread the stage. With what _nonchalance_ does +he throw out "unnecessary persons," and improve "unfinished!" Hector, +Troilus, Pandarus, and Thersites, skilless Shakspeare had but +begun--artful Dryden made an end of them; Cressida, who was false as she +was fair, yet left alive to deceive more men, became a paragon of truth, +chastity, and suicide; and by an amazing stretch of invention, far +beyond the Swan's, was added Andromache. Dryden proudly announces that +"the scenes of Pandarus and Cressida, of Troilus and Pandarus, of +Andromache with Hector and the Trojans, in the second act, are wholly +new; together with that of Nestor and Ulysses with Thersites, and that +of Thersites with Ajax and Achilles. I will not weary my reader with the +scenes which are added of Pandarus and the lovers in the third, and +those of Thersites, which are wholly altered; but I cannot omit the last +scene in it, which is almost half the act, betwixt Troilus and Hector. I +have been so tedious in three acts, that I shall contract myself in the +two last. The beginning scenes of the fourth act are either added, or +changed wholly by me; the middle of it is Shakspeare's, altered and +mingled with my own; three or four of the last scenes are altogether +new; and the whole fifth act, both the plot and the writing, are my own +additions." O heavens! why was it not all "my own?" + +No human being can have a right to use another in such a way as this. +Shakspeare's plays were then, and are now, as much his own property as +the property of the public--or rather, the public holds them in trust. +Dryden was a delinquent towards the dead. His crime was sacrilege. In +reading _his_ "Troilus and Cressida," you ever and anon fear you have +lost your senses. Bits of veritable Shakspearean gold, burnished +star-bright, embossed in pewter! Diamonds set in dirt! Sentences +illuminated with words of power, suddenly rising and sinking, through a +flare of fustian! Here Apollo's lute--there hurdy-gurdy. + +"For the play itself," said Dryden insolently, "the author seems to have +begun it with some fire;" and here it is continued with much smoke. "The +characters of Pandarus and Thersites are promising enough;" here we +shudder at their performance. Such a monstrous Pandarus would have been +blackballed at the Pimp. Thersites--Shakspeare's Thersites--for Homer's +was another Thersites quite--finely called by Coleridge, "the Caliban of +demagogic life"--loses all individuality, and is but a brutal buffoon +grossly caricatured. The scene between Ulysses and Achilles, with its +wondrous wisdomful speech, is omitted! of itself, worth all the poetry +written between the Restoration and the Revolution. + +Spirit of Glorious John! forgive, we beseech thee, truth-telling +Christopher--but angels and ministers of grace defend us! WHO ART THOU? +Shakspeare's ghost. + + +PROLOGUE, SPOKEN BY MR BETTERTON, REPRESENTING THE GHOST OF SHAKSPEARE. + + "See, my loved Britons, see your Shakspeare rise, + An awful ghost confess'd to human eyes! + Unnamed, methinks, distinguish'd I had been + From other shades, by this eternal green, + About whose wreaths the vulgar poets strive, + And, with a touch, their wither'd bays revive. + Untaught, unpractised, in a barbarous age, + I found not, but created first the stage; + And if I drain'd no Greek or Latin store, + 'Twas that my own abundance gave me more. + On foreign trade I needed not rely, + Like fruitful Britain, rich without supply. + In this my rough-drawn play you shall behold + Some master-strokes, so manly and so bold, + That he who meant to alter, found 'em such, + He shook, and thought it sacrilege to touch. + Now, where are the successors to my name? + What bring they to fill out a poet's fame? + Weak, short-lived issues of a feeble age; + Scarce living to be christen'd on the stage! + For humour farce, for love they rhyme dispense, + That tolls the knell for their departed sense. + Dulness, that in a playhouse meets disgrace, + Might meet with reverence in its proper place. + The fulsome clench that nauseates the town, + Would from a judge or alderman go down-- + Such virtue is there in a robe and gown! + And that insipid stuff which here you hate, + Might somewhere else be call'd a grave debate: + Dulness is decent in the church and state. + But I forget that still 'tis understood + Bad plays are best decried by showing good. + Sit silent, then, that my pleased soul may see + A judging audience once, and worthy me. + My faithful scene from true records shall tell, + How Trojan valour did the Greek excel; + Your great forefathers shall their fame regain, + And Homer's angry ghost repine in vain." + +The best hand of any man that ever lived, at prologue and epilogue, was +Dryden. And here he showed himself to be the boldest too; and above fear +of ghosts. For though it was but a make-believe, it must have required +courage in Shakspeare's murderer to look on its mealy face. The ghost +speaks well--nobly--for six lines--though more like Dryden's than +Shakspeare's. _That_ was not his style when alive. The seventh line +would have choked him, had he been a mere light-and-shadow ghost. But in +death never would he thus have given the lie to his life. "Untaught," he +might have truly said--for he had no master. "Unpractised!" Nay, +"Troilus and Cressida" sprang from a brain that had teemed with many a +birth. "A barbarous age!" Read--"Great Eliza's golden time," when the +sun of England's genius was at meridian. "Sacrilege to touch!" Prologue +had not read Preface. Little did the "injured ghost" suspect the +spectacle that was to ensue. Much of what follows is, in worse degree, +Drydenish all over. Sweetest Shakspeare scoffed not so! + +Suppose Shakspeare's ghost to have slipped quietly into the manager's +box to witness the performance. Poets after death do not lose all memory +of their own earthly visions. Thoughts of the fairest are with them in +Paradise. At first sight of Dorinda he would have bolted. + +Dryden says, that "he knew not to distinguish the blown puffy style from +true sublimity." He would then have done so, and no mistake. "The fury +of his fancy often transported him beyond the bounds of judgment, either +in coining of new words and phrases, or racking words which were in use, +into the violence of catachresis." His ears would have been jarred by +Prospero's "polite conversation," so unlike what he, who had not "kept +the best society," was confined to "in a barbarous age." Yet Dryden +confessed that he "understood the nature of the passions," and "made his +characters distinct;" so that "his failings were not so much in the +passions themselves, as in his manner of expression." Unfortunately, his +vocabulary was neither choice nor extensive, and he "often obscured his +meaning by his words, and sometimes made it unintelligible." + + "To speak justly of this whole matter: it is neither height of + thought that is discommended, nor pathetic vehemence, nor any + nobleness of expression in its proper place; but it is a false + measure of all these, something which is like them, and is not + them; it is the Bristol stone, which appears like a diamond; it is + an extravagant thought instead of a sublime one; it is a roaring + madness instead of vehemence; a sound of words instead of sense. If + Shakspeare were stripped of all the bombasts in his passions, and + dressed in the most vulgar words, we should find the beauties of + his thoughts remaining; if his embroideries were burnt down, there + would still be silver at the bottom of the melting-pot, but I fear + (at least let me fear it for myself) that we, who ape his sounding + words, have nothing of his thought, but are all outside; there is + not so much as dwarf within our giant's clothes. Therefore, let not + Shakspeare suffer for our sakes; it is our fault, who succeed him + in an age that is more refined, if we imitate him so ill that we + copy his failings only, and make a virtue of that in our writings + which in his was an imperfection. + + "For what remains, the excellency of that poet was, as I have said, + in the more manly passions; Fletcher's in the softer. Shakspeare + writ better betwixt man and man; Fletcher betwixt man and woman: + consequently the one described friendship better--the other love. + Yet Shakspeare taught Fletcher to write love; and Juliet and + Desdemona are originals. It is true, the scholar had the softer + soul, but the master had the kinder. Friendship is both a virtue + and a passion essentially; love is passion only in its nature, and + is not a virtue but by accident: good-nature makes friendship, but + effeminacy love. Shakspeare had an universal mind, which + comprehended all characters and passions; Fletcher, a more confined + and limited: for though he treated love in perfection, yet honour, + ambition, revenge, and generally all the stronger passions, he + either touched not, or not masterly. To conclude all he was a limb + of Shakspeare." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: The prose even is, in its music, rude in ordinary folks--or +_artful_, as in Hamlet's admiration of the world.] + + + + +THE TOWER OF LONDON.--A POEM. + +BY THOMAS ROSCOE. + + +PART I. + + Proud Julian towers! ye whose grey turrets rise + In hoary grandeur, mingling with the skies-- + Whose name--thought--image--every spot are rife + With startling legends--themes of death in life! + Recall the voices of wrong'd spirits fled-- + Echoes of life that long survived their dead; + And let them tell the history of thy crimes, + The present teach, and warn all future times. + + Time's veil withdrawn, what tragedies of woe + Loom in the distance, fill the ghastly show! + Oh, tell what hearts, torn from light's cheering ray, + Within thy death-shades bled their lives away; + What anxious hopes, strifes, agonies, and fears, + In thy dread walls have linger'd years on years-- + Still mock'd the patient prisoner as he pray'd + That death would shroud his woes--too long delay'd! + + Could the great Norman, with prophetic eye, + Have scann'd the vista of futurity, + And seen the cell-worn phantoms, one by one, + Rise and descend--the father to the son-- + Whose purest blood, by treachery and guilt, + On thy polluted scaffolds has been spilt, + Methinks Ambition, with his subtle art, + Had fired his hero to a nobler part. + Yes! curst Ambition--spoiler of mankind-- + That with thy trophies lur'st the dazzled mind, + That 'neath the gorgeous veil thy conquests weave, + Would'st hide thy form, and Reason's eye deceive-- + By what strange spells still dost thou rule the mind + That madly worships thee, or, tamely blind, + Forbears to fathom thoughts, that at thy name + Should kindle horror, and o'erwhelm with shame. + + Alas, that thus the human heart should pay + Too willing homage to thy bloody sway; + Should stoop submissive to a fiend sublime + And venerate e'en the majesty of crime! + How soon to those that tempt thee art thou near-- + To prompt, direct, and steel the heart to fear! + Oh, not to such the voice of peace shall speak, + Nor placid zephyr fan their fever'd cheek; + Sleep ne'er shall seal their hot and blood-stain'd eye, + But conscious visions ever haunt them nigh; + Grandeur to them a faded flower shall be, + Wealth but a thorn, and power a fruitless tree; + And, as they near the tomb, with panting breast, + Shrink from the dread unknown, yet hope no rest! + + Stern towers of strength! once bulwarks of the land, + When feudal power bore sway with sovereign hand-- + Frown ye no more--the glory of the scene-- + Sad, silent witness of what crimes have been! + Accurst the day when first our Norman foe + Taught Albion's high-born Saxon sons to bow + 'Neath victor-pride and insolence--learn to feel + What earth's dark woes--when abject vassals kneel; + And worse the hour when his remorseless heir, + Alike uncheck'd by heaven, or earthly prayer, + With lusts ignoble, fed by martial might, + Usurp'd man's fair domains and native right. + + Ye generous spirits that protect the brave, + And watch the seaman o'er the crested wave, + Cast round the fearless soul your glorious spell, + That fired a Hampden and inspired a Tell-- + Why left ye Wallace, greatest of the free, + His hills' proud champion--heart of liberty-- + Alone to cope with tyranny and hate, + To sink at last in ignominious fate? + Sad Scotia wept, and still on valour's shrine + Our glistening tears, like pearly dewdrops, shine, + To tell the world how Albyn's hero bled, + And treasure still the memory of her dead. + Whose prison annals speak of thrilling deeds, + How truth is tortured and how genius bleeds? + Whose eye dare trace them down the tragic stream-- + Mark what fresh phantoms in the distance gleam, + As dark and darker o'er th' ensanguined page + The ruthless deed pollutes each later age? + See where the rose of Bolingbroke's rich bloom + Fades on the bed of martyr'd Richard's tomb! + Look where the spectre babes, still smiling fair, + Spring from the couch of death to realms of air! + Oh, thought accurst! that uncle, guardian, foe, + Should join in one to strike the murderous blow. + Ask we for tears from pity's sacred fount? + "Forbear!" cries vengeance--"that is my account." + There is a power--an eye whose light can span + The dark-laid schemes of the vain tyrant, man. + Lo! where it pierces through the shades of night, + And all its hideous secrets start to light-- + In vain earth's puny conquerors heaven defy-- + Their kingdom's dust, and but one throne on high. + See heaven's applause support the virtuous wrong'd, + And 'midst his state the despot's fears prolong'd. + Thou tyrant, yes! the declaration God + Himself hath utter'd--"I'm the avenging rod!" + Words wing'd with fate and fire! oh, not in vain + Ye cleft the air, and swept Gomorrah's plain, + When, dark idolatry unmask'd, she stood + The mark of heaven--a fiery solitude! + And still ye sped--still mark'd the varied page + In every time--through each revolving age-- + Wherever man trampled his fellow man, + Unscared by crimes, ye marr'd his ruthless plan-- + Still shall ye speed till time has pass'd away, + And retribution reigns o'er earth's last day. + + Methinks I hear from each relentless stone + The spirits of thy martyr'd victims groan, + And eager whispers Echo round each cell + The oft repeated legend, and re-dwell, + With the same fondness that bespeaks delight + In childhood's heart, when on some winter's night, + As stormy winds low whistle through the vale, + It shuddering lists the thrilling ghostly tale. + It seems but now that blood was spilt, whose stain + Proclaims the dastard soul--the bloody reign + Of the Eighth Harry--vampire to his wife, + Who traffick'd for his divorce with her life; + So fresh, so moist, each ruddy drop appears + Indelible through centuries of years! + And who is this whose beauteous figure moves, + Onward to meet the reeking form she loves; + Whose noble mien--whose dignity of grace, + Extort compassion from each gazing face? + 'Tis Dudley's bride! like some fair opening flower + Torn from its stem--she meets fate's direst hour; + Still unappall'd she views that bloody bier, + Takes her last sad farewell without a tear. + + Each weeping muse hath told how Essex died, + Favourite and victim, doom'd by female pride. + How courtly Suffolk spent his latest day, + And dying Raleigh penn'd his deathless lay. + Here noble Strafford too severely taught + How dearly royal confidence is bought; + Received the warrant which demands his breath, + And with a calm composure walk'd--to death. + Nor 'mong the names that liberty holds dear, + Shall the great Russell be forgotten here; + His country's boast--each patriot's honest pride-- + For them he lived--for them he wept and died. + + And must we yet another page unfold, + To glean fresh moral from the deeds of old? + Ye busy spirits that pervade the air, + And still with dark intents to earth repair; + That goad the passions of the human breast, + And bear the missives of Fate's stern behest-- + Say, stifle ye those thoughts that Heaven reveals-- + The tears of sympathy--the glow that steals + O'er the young heart, or prompts soft pity's sigh-- + The prayer to snatch from harsh captivity + The virtuous doom'd--teach but to praise--admire-- + Forbid to catch one spark of generous fire? + The godlike wish of genius, man to bless, + With rank and wealth still leaguing to oppress! + Oh! when shall glory wreathe bright virtue's claim, + And both to honour give a holier fame? + + Ye towers of death!--the noblest still your prey, + Here spent in solitude their sunless day; + In your wall'd graves a living doom they found; + Broke o'er their night no ray, no gladd'ning sound. + Yet the mind's splendour, with imprison'd wings, + Rose high, and shone where the pure seraph sings; + Where human thought taught conscience it was free, + And burst the shackles of the Romish See. + Oh, sweetest liberty! how dear to die! + Bound by each sacred link;, each holy tie; + To save unspotted from the spoiler's hand, + Child of our heart--our own--our native land! + And, oh! how dear life's latest drop to shed, + To free the minds by superstition led;-- + To spread with holy earnest zeal abroad, + That priceless gem--freedom to worship God! + To keep unmingled with the world's vain lore, + The faith that lightens every darken'd hour; + That faith which can alone the sinner save, + Prepare for death, and raise him from the grave; + Show how, by yielding all, we surest prove, + How humbly, deeply, truly, we can love; + How much we prize that hope divinely given, + The key--the seal--the passport into heaven. + +PART II. + + What sudden blaze spreads through the crimson skies, + And still in loftier volumes seems to rise? + What meteor gleams, that from the fiery north, + In savage grandeur fast are bursting forth, + And light your very walls? Tell me, ye Towers-- + 'Tis Smithfield revelling in his festal hours, + Fed with your captives: shrieks that wildly pierce + The roaring flames now undulating fierce, + And gasping struggles, mingled groans, proclaim + The power of torture o'er the writhing frame. + Dark are your dens, and deep your secret cells, + Whose silent gloom your tale of horrors tells. + Saw ye how Cranmer dared--yet fear'd to die, + Trembling 'mid hopes of immortality? + He stood alone;--a brighter band appears + Unaw'd by threats--impregnable to fears; + Who suffer'd glad the sacred truth to spread, + In mild obedience to its fountain-head. + And when at length our popish James would see + Cold superstition bend th' unhallow'd knee, + The mystic tapers on our altars burn, + And clouds of incense shade the fragrant urn, + Shone England's prelates faithful to their call, + In bonds of truth within thy massive wall. + See grace divine--see Heaven in mercy pour, + The balm of peace on Albion's boasted shore. + + Once wrought by captive fingers on thy wall, + The hero's home and prison, grave and pall, + What dark lines meet the startled stranger's gaze, + Thoughts that ennoble--sentiments that raise + The iron'd captive from captivity, + How high above the power of tyranny!-- + And ye that wander by the evening tide, + Where mountains swell or mossy streamlets glide; + That on fresh hills can hail morn's orient ray, + And chant with birds your grateful hymns to day; + Or seek at noon, beneath some pleasant shade, + To feel the sunbeams cool'd by leafy glade-- + That free as air, morn, noon, and eve, can roam, + Where'er you list, and nature call your home; + Learn from a hopeless prisoner's words and fate, + "Virtue is valour--to be patient, great!" + When traced on prison walls, such words as these + Arrest the eye--appall e'en while they please-- + "Ah! hapless he who cannot bear the weight, + With patient heart of a too partial fate, + For adverse times and fortunes do not kill, + But rash impatience of impending ill." + + Yes, still they speak to bosoms that are free + Within the girdle of captivity; + Of spirits dauntless, who could spurn the chain + Of human punishment or mortal pain; + That e'en amid these precincts of despair, + Dared free themselves from thraldom's jealous care-- + Bound but by ties of faith and virtue, be + Heirs of bright hopes and immortality. + Oh! great mind's proud inscriptions! Who shall tell + What hand engraved those lines within that cell? + What heart yet steadfast while around him stood + Phantoms of death to chill his curdling blood, + Could battle with despair on reason's throne, + And conquer where the fiend would reign alone? + Ah! who can tell what sorrows pierced his breast-- + Ran through each vein, usurp'd his hours of rest? + What struggle nerved his trembling hand to trace + With moral courage words he dared to face + With acts that ask'd new efforts while he wrote + To man his soul and fix his every thought! + Tremble, thou tyrant! proud ambition, blush! + Hearts such as these thy power can never crush. + Are they forgotten? no, the rugged stone, + The lap of earth on which they rested lone; + The very implements of torture there-- + The axe, the rack, the tyrant's jealous care; + Each mark that meets successive ages' eyes + Speaks, trumpet-tongued, a fame that never dies; + And tells the thoughtful stranger, while the tear + Unbidden starts, that freedom triumph'd here-- + Plumed her immortal wings for nobler flight, + And bore her martyr'd brave to realms of light. + Nor false their faith, nor like the fleeting wind, + Their spirits fled! for theirs the unprison'd mind, + No tyrant-chains, no bonds of earth and time, + Could hold from truth and freedom's heights sublime-- + From that bright heaven of science, whence they shed + Fresh glory o'er man's cause for which they bled. + Ask what is left? their names forgotten now? + Their birth, their fortune? not a trace to show + Where sleeps their dust? Go, seek the blest abode, + Their mind's pure joy, the bosom of their God! + Then tell if in the dull cold prison's air, + And wasted to a living shadow there, + Earth scarcely knew them! if they were alone + Where they were cast, to pine away unknown? + Friends, had they none? nor beam'd a wish to share + Love, friendship, and to breathe the common air. + Lost, lost to all! like some lone desert flower, + Felt they unseen Time's slow consuming power, + And hail'd each parting day with fond delight, + As the tired pilgrim greets the waning light? + + No! glad bright spirits, guardians of the mind, + Were with them; as the demon-powers unbind + And lash their furies on the conscious breast + Of earth's fell tyrants who ne'er dream of rest. + Theirs, too, joy's harbinger, the thoughts aye fed + With brighter objects than of earth, that shed + A light within their narrow home, and gave + A triumph's lustre to the yawning grave. + And in that hour when the proud heart's o'erthrown, + And self all-powerless, self is truly known; + When pride no more could darken the free mind, + But all to God in firm faith was resign'd-- + Then drank their souls the stream of love divine, + More richly flowing than the Eastern mine; + Felt heaven expanding in the heart renew'd, + And more than friends in desert solitude. + + Peace to thy martyrs! thou art frowning now + With all the array of bold and martial show; + The same thy battlements with trophies dress'd, + Present defiance to the hostile breast; + Around thy walls the soldier keeps his ward, + Scared with war's sights no more thy peaceful guard. + Long may ye stand, the voice of other years, + And ope, in future times, no fount of tears + And sorrows like the past, such as have brought + A mournful gloom and shadow o'er the thought; + And if the eye one pitying drop has shed, + That drop is sacred, it embalms the dead. + What though a thousand years have roll'd away + Since thy dread walls entomb'd their noble prey; + To us they speak, ask the warm tear to flow + For ills now pressing and for present woe; + Bid us to succour fellow-men who haste + Along the thorny road of life, and taste + The bitterness of poverty, endure + All that befalls the too neglected poor; + And with no friend, no bounty to assist, + Steal from the world unwept for and unmiss'd. + + What though no dungeon wrap the wasting clay, + Or from the eye exclude the cheering ray; + What though no tortures visibly may tear + The writhing limbs, and leave their signet there; + Has not chill penury a poison'd dart, + Inflicting deeper wounds upon the heart? + All the decrees the sternest fate may bind, + To weigh the courage or display the mind-- + All man could bear, with heart unflinching bear, + Did not a dearer part his sufferings share-- + Worse than the captive's fate--wife, child, his all, + The husband, and the father's name, appall + His very soul, and bid him thrilling feel + Distraction, as he makes the vain appeal. + Upon his brow, where manhood's hand had seal'd + Its perfect dignity, is now reveal'd + A haggard wanness; from his livid eye + The manly fire has faded; cold and dry, + No more it glistens to the light. His thought, + To the last pitch of frantic memory wrought, + Turns to the partner of his heart and woe, + Who, weigh'd with grief, no lesser love can know; + Despair soon haunts the hope that fills his breast, + And passion's flood in tumult is express'd. + + Amid the plains where ample plenty spreads + Her copious stores and decks the yellow meads, + The outcast turns a ghastly look to heaven; + Oh, not for him is Nature's plenty given; + Robb'd of the birthright nature freely gave, + Save that last portion freely left--a grave! + Oh, that another power would rule man's heart, + Uncramp its free-born will in every part; + Mercy more swift, justice more just, more slow, + Grandeur less prone to deal the cruel blow, + To bind men's hands with fetters than with alms, + And spurn the only boon that soothes and calms. + + England! thou dearest child of liberty; + Free as thine ocean home for ever be; + Thy commerce thrive; may thy deserted poor + No more the pangs of poverty endure. + Then shall thy Towers, proud monument! display + The thousand trophies of a happier day; + And genial climes, from earth's remotest shore, + Their richest tributes to her genius pour, + With wealth from Ind, with treasures from the West, + Thy homes, thy hamlets--cities still be blest; + Till virtue, truth, and justice, shall combine, + And heavenly hope o'er many a bosom shine; + Auspicious days hail thy fair Sovereign's reign, + And happy subjects throng their golden train. + + + + +POEMS AND BALLADS OF GOETHE. + +No. III. + + +Goethe, though fertile in poems of the amatory and contemplative class, +was somewhat chary of putting forth his strength in the ballad. We have +already selected almost every specimen of this most popular and +fascinating description of poetry which is at all worthy of his +genius;--at least all of them which we thought likely, after making +every allowance for variety of taste, to fulfil the main object of our +task--to please and not offend. It would have been quite easy for us to +spin out the series by translating the whole section of ballads which +relate to the loves of "the Maid of the Mill," the "Gipsy's Song"--which +somewhat unaccountably has found favour in the eyes of Mrs Austin--and a +few more ditties of a similar nature, all of which we bequeath, with our +best wishes, as a legacy to any intrepid _redacteur_ who may wish to +follow in our footsteps. For ourselves, we shall rigidly adhere to the +rule with which we set out, and separate the wheat from the chaff, +according to the best of our ability. + +The first specimen of our present selection is not properly German, nor +is it the unsuggested and original product of Goethe's muse. We believe +that it is an old ballad of Denmark; a country which possesses, next to +Scotland, the richest and most interesting store of ancient ballad +poetry in Europe. However, although originally Danish, it has received +some touches in passing through the alembic of translation, which may +warrant us in giving it a prominent place, and we are sure that no lover +of hoar tradition will blame us for its insertion. + + +THE WATER-MAN. + + "Oh, mother! rede me well, I pray; + How shall I woo me yon winsome May?" + + She has built him a horse of the water clear, + The saddle and bridle of sea-sand were. + + He has donn'd the garb of knight so gay, + And to Mary's Kirk he has ridden away. + + He tied his steed to the chancel door, + And he stepp'd round the Kirk three times and four. + + He has boune him into the Kirk, and all + Drew near to gaze on him, great and small. + + The priest he was standing in the quire;-- + "What gay young gallant comes branking here?" + + The winsome maid, to herself said she;-- + "Oh, were that gay young gallant for me!" + + He stepp'd o'er one stool, he stepp'd o'er two; + "Oh, maiden, plight me thy oath so true!" + + He stepp'd o'er three stools, he stepp'd o'er four; + "Wilt be mine, sweet May, for evermore?" + + She gave him her hand of the drifted snow-- + "Here hast thou my troth, and with thee I'll go." + + They went from the Kirk with the bridal train, + They danced in glee, and they danced full fain; + + They danced them down to the salt-sea strand, + And they left them there with hand in hand. + + "Now wait thee, love, with my steed so free, + And the bonniest bark I'll bring for thee." + + And when they pass'd to the white, white sand, + The ships came sailing towards the land; + + But when they were out in the midst of the sound, + Down went they all in the deep profound! + + Long, long on the shore, when the winds were high, + They heard from the waters the maiden's cry. + + I rede ye, damsels, as best I can-- + Tread not the dance with the Water-Man! + +This is strong, pure, rugged Norse, scarcely inferior, we think, in any +way, to the pitch of the old Scottish ballads. + + * * * * * + +Before we forsake the North, let us try "The King in Thule." We are +unfortunate in having to follow in the wake of the hundred translators +of Faust, some of whom (we may instance Lord Francis Egerton) have +already rendered this ballad as perfectly as may be; nevertheless we +shall give it, as Shakspeare says, "with a difference." + + +THE KING IN THULE. + + There was a king in Thule, + Was true till death I ween: + A vase he had of the ruddy gold, + The gift of his dying queen. + + He never pass'd it from him-- + At banquet 'twas his cup; + And still his eyes were fill'd with tears + Whene'er he took it up. + + So when his end drew nearer, + He told his cities fair, + And all his wealth, except that cup, + He left unto his heir. + + Once more he sate at royal board, + The knights around his knee, + Within the palace of his sires, + Hard by the roaring sea. + + Up rose the brave old monarch, + And drank with feeble breath, + Then threw the sacred goblet down + Into the flood beneath. + + He watch'd its tip reel round and dip, + Then settle in the main; + His eyes grew dim as it went down-- + He never drank again. + + * * * * * + +We shall now venture on an extravaganza which might have been well +illustrated by Hans Holbein. It is in the ultra-Germanic taste, such as +in our earlier days, whilst yet the Teutonic alphabet was a mystery, we +conceived to be the staple commodity of our neighbours. We shall never +quarrel with a wholesome spice of superstition; but, really, Hoffmann, +Apel, and their fantastic imitators, have done more to render their +national literature ridiculous, than the greatest poets to redeem it. +The following poem of Goethe is a strange piece of sarcasm directed +against that school, and is none the worse, perhaps, that it somewhat +out-herods Herod in its ghostly and grim solemnity. Like many other +satires, too, it verges closely upon the serious. We back it against any +production of M. G. Lewis. + + +THE DANCE OF DEATH. + + The warder look'd down at the depth of night + On the graves where the dead were sleeping, + And, clearly as day, was the pale moonlight + O'er the quiet churchyard creeping. + One after another the gravestones began + To heave and to open, and woman and man + Rose up in their ghastly apparel! + + Ho--ho for the dance!--and the phantoms outsprung + In skeleton roundel advancing, + The rich and the poor, and the old and the young, + But the winding-sheets hinder'd their dancing. + No shame had these revellers wasted and grim, + So they shook off the cerements from body and limb, + And scatter'd them over the hillocks. + + They crook'd their thighbones, and they shook their long shanks, + And wild was their reeling and limber; + And each bone as it crosses, it clinks and it clanks + Like the clapping of timber on timber. + The warder he laugh'd, though his laugh was not loud; + And the Fiend whisper'd to him--"Go, steal me the shroud + Of one of these skeleton dancers." + + He has done it! and backward with terrified glance + To the sheltering door ran the warder; + As calm as before look'd the moon on the dance, + Which they footed in hideous order. + But one and another seceding at last, + Slipp'd on their white garments and onward they pass'd, + And the deeps of the churchyard were quiet. + + Still, one of them stumbles and tumbles along, + And taps at each tomb that it seizes; + But 'tis none of its mates that has done it this wrong, + For it scents its grave-clothes in the breezes. + It shakes the tower gate, but _that_ drives it away, + For 'twas nail'd o'er with crosses--a goodly array-- + And well was it so for the warder! + + It must have its shroud--it must have it betimes-- + The quaint Gothic carving it catches, + And upwards from story to story it climbs + And scrambles with leaps and with snatches. + Now woe to the warder, poor sinner, betides! + Like a long-legged spider the skeleton strides + From buttress to buttress, still upward! + + The warder he shook, and the warder grew pale, + And gladly the shroud would have yielded! + The ghost had its clutch on the last iron rail + Which the top of the watch-turret shielded. + When the moon was obscured by the rush of a cloud, + ONE! thunder'd the bell, and unswathed by a shroud, + Down went the gaunt skeleton crashing! + + * * * * * + +A very pleasant piece of poetry to translate at midnight, as we did it, +with merely the assistance of a dying candle! + +After this feast of horrors, something more fanciful may not come amiss. +Let us pass to a competition of flowers in the golden, or--if you will +have it so--the iron age of chivalry. The meditations of a captive +knight have been a cherished theme for poets in all ages. Richard the +Lion-heart of England, and James I. of Scotland, have left us, in no +mean verse, the records of their own experience. We all remember how +nobly and how well Felicia Hemans portrayed the agony of the crusader as +he saw, from the window of his prison, the bright array of his Christian +comrades defiling through the pass below. We shall now take a similar +poem of Goethe, but one in a different vein:-- + + +THE FAIREST FLOWER. + +THE LAY OF THE CAPTIVE EARL. + + _The Earl._--I know a floweret passing fair, + And for its loss I pain me; + Fain would I hence to seek its lair, + But for these bonds that chain me. + My woes are aught but light to me, + For when I roam'd unbound and free + That flower was ever near me. + + Adown and round the castle's steep, + I let my glances wander; + But cannot from the dizzy keep, + Descry it, there or yonder. + Oh, he who'd bring it to my sight, + Or were he knave or were he knight, + Should be my friend for ever! + + _The Rose._--I blossom bright thy lattice near, + And hear what thou hast spoken; + 'Tis me--brave, ill-starr'd cavalier-- + The Rose, thou wouldst betoken! + Thy spirit spurns the base, the low, + And 'tis the queen of flowers, I know, + That in thy bosom reigneth. + + _The Earl._--All honour to thy purple cheer, + From swathes of verdure blowing; + And so art though to maidens dear, + As gold or jewels glowing. + Thy wreaths adorn the fairest face, + Yet art thou not the flower, whose grace + In solitude I cherish. + + _The Lily._--A haughty place usurps the rose, + And haughtier still doth covet; + But where the lily meekly blows, + Some gentle eye will love it. + The heart that beats in faithful breast, + And spotless is as my white vest, + Must value me the highest. + + _The Earl._--Spotless and true of heart am I, + And free from sinful failing, + Yet must I here a captive lie, + In loneliness bewailing. + I see an image fair in you + Of many maidens pure and true, + Yet know I something dearer. + + _The Carnation._--That may thy warder's garden show + In me, the bright carnation, + Else would the old man tend me so + With loving adoration? + In perfect round my petals meet, + And lifelong are with scent replete, + And with a burning colour. + + _The Earl._--None may the sweet carnation slight, + It is the gardener's pleasure, + Now he unfolds it to the light, + Now shields from it his treasure. + But no--the flower for which I pant, + No rare, no brilliant charms can vaunt, + 'Tis ever meek and lowly. + + _The Violet._--Conceal'd and bending I retreat, + Nor willingly had spoken, + Yet that same silence, since 'tis meet, + Shall now by me be broken. + If I be that which fills thy thought + Then must I grieve that I may not + Waft every perfume to thee. + + _The Earl._--I love the violet, indeed, + So modest in perfection, + So gently sweet--yet more I need + To soothe my heart's dejection. + To thee alone the truth I'll speak, + That not upon this rock so bleak + Is to be found my darling. + + In yon far vale, earth's truest wife + Sits where the brooks run playing, + And still must wear a woeful life + Till I with her am straying. + When a blue floweret by that spot + She plucks, and says--FORGET-ME-NOT, + I feel it here in bondage. + + Yes, when two truly love, its might + They own and feel in distance, + So I, within this dungeon's night, + Cling ever to existence. + And when my heart is nigh distraught, + If I but say--FORGET-ME-NOT, + Hope burns again within me! + + * * * * * + +Such is constant love--the light even of the dungeon! Nor, to the glory +of human nature be it said, is this a fiction. Witness Picciola--witness +those letters, perhaps the most touching that were ever penned, from +poor Camille Desmoulins to his wife, while waiting for the summons to +the guillotine--witness, above all, that fragment signed Queret-Demery, +which could not get beyond the sullen walls of the Bastile until fifty +years after the agonizing request was preferred, when that +torture-chamber of cruelty was razed indignantly to the ground--"If, for +my consolation, Monseigneur would grant me, for the sake of God and the +most blessed Trinity, that I could have news of my dear wife! were it +only her name on a card to show that she is yet alive! It were the +sweetest consolation I could receive; and I should for ever bless the +greatness of Monseigneur." Poetry has no such eloquence as this. + +But we must not digress from our author. Here are a few lines of the +deepest feeling and truth, and most appropriate in the hours of +wretchedness-- + + +SORROW WITHOUT CONSOLATION. + + O, wherefore shouldst thou try + The tears of love to dry? + Nay, let them flow! + For didst thou only know, + How barren and how dead + Seems every thing below, + To those who have not tears enough to shed, + Thou'd'st rather bid them _weep_, and seek their comfort so. + + * * * * * + +The following stanzas, though rather inferior in merit, may be taken as +a companion to the above. Their structure reminds us of Cowley. + + +COMFORT IN TEARS. + + How is it that thou art so sad + When others are so gay? + Thou hast been weeping--nay, thou hast! + Thine eyes the truth betray. + + "And if I may not choose but weep, + Is not my grief mine own? + No heart was heavier yet for tears-- + O leave me, friend, alone!" + + Come, join this once the merry band, + They call aloud for thee, + And mourn no more for what is lost, + But let the past go free. + + "O, little know ye in your mirth + What wrings my heart so deep! + I have not lost the idol yet + For which I sigh and weep." + + Then rouse thee and take heart! thy blood + Is young and full of fire; + Youth should have hope and might to win, + And wear its best desire. + + "O, never may I hope to gain + What dwells from me so far; + It stands as high, it looks as bright, + As yonder burning star." + + Why, who would seek to woo the stars + Down from their glorious sphere? + Enough it is to worship them, + When nights are calm and clear. + + "Oh, I look up and worship too-- + My star it shines by day-- + Then let me weep the livelong light + The whilst it is away." + + * * * * * + +A thread from the distaff of Omphale may be stronger than the club of +Hercules. Here is an inconstant Romeo escaped from his Juliet, and yet +unable to shake off the magnetic spell which must haunt him to his dying +day. + + +TO A GOLDEN HEART. + + Pledge of departed bliss, + Once gentlest, holiest token! + Art thou more faithful than thy mistress is, + That ever I must wear thee, + And on my bosom bear thee, + Although the bond that knit her soul with mine is broken? + Why shouldest thou prove stronger? + Short are the days of love, and wouldst thou make them longer? + + Lili! in vain I shun thee! + Thy spell is still upon me. + In vain I wander through the distant forests strange, + In vain I roam at will + By foreign glade and hill, + For, ah! where'er I range, + Beside my heart, the heart of Lili nestles still! + + Like a bird that breaks its twine, + Is this poor heart of mine: + It fain into the summer bowers would fly, + And yet it cannot be + Again so wholly free; + For always it must bear + The token which is there, + To mark it as a thrall of past captivity. + + * * * * * + +Here, again, is Romeo before his escape. Poor Juliet! may we hope that +she still has, and may long possess, the power + + "To lure this tassel-gentle back again." + +Death, indeed, were a gentler fate than desertion. Truth to say, Goethe +would have made but a sorry Romeo, for he wanted the great and leading +virtue of constancy; and yet who can tell what Romeo might have become, +after six months' exile in Mantua? Juliet, we know, had taken the place +of Rosaline. Might not some fairer and newer star have arisen to eclipse +the image of the other? We will not credit the heresy. Far better that +the curtain should fall upon the dying lovers, before one shadow of +doubt or suspicion of infidelity has arisen to perplex the clear bright +mirror of their souls! + + +WELCOME AND DEPARTURE. + + To horse!--away o'er hill and steep! + Into the saddle blithe I sprung; + The eve was cradling earth to sleep, + And night upon the mountains hung. + With robes of mist around him set, + The oak like some huge giant stood, + While, with its hundred eyes of jet, + Peer'd darkness from the tangled wood. + + Amidst a bank of clouds, the moon + A sad and troubled glimmer shed; + The wind its chilly wings unclosed, + And whistled wildly round my head. + Night framed a thousand phantoms dire, + Yet did I never droop nor start; + Within my veins what living fire! + What quenchless glow within my heart! + + We met; and from thy glance a tide + Of stifling joy flow'd into me: + My heart was wholly by thy side, + My every breath was breathed for thee. + A blush was there, as if thy cheek + The gentlest hues of spring had caught, + And smiles so kind for me!--Great powers! + I hoped, yet I deserved them not! + + But morning came to end my bliss; + A long, a sad farewell we took. + What joy--what rapture in thy kiss, + What depth of anguish in thy look! + I left thee, dear! but after me + Thine eyes through tears look'd from above; + Yet to be loved--what ecstacy! + What ecstacy, ye gods, to love! + +Here are three small cabinet pictures of exquisite finish. We have +laboured hard to do justice to them, for the smallest gems are the most +difficult to copy; yet after all we have some doubts of our success. + + +EVENING. + + Peace breathes along the shade + Of every hill, + The tree-tops of the glade + Are hush'd and still; + All woodland murmurs cease, + The birds to rest within the brake are gone. + Be patient, weary heart--anon, + Thou, too, shalt be at peace! + + * * * * * + +A CALM AT SEA. + + Lies a calm along the deep, + Like a mirror sleeps the ocean, + And the anxious steersman sees + Round him neither stir nor motion. + + Not a breath of wind is stirring, + Dread the hush as of the grave-- + In the weary waste of waters + Not the lifting of a wave. + + * * * * * + +THE BREEZE. + + The mists they are scatter'd, + The blue sky looks brightly, + And Eolus looses + The wearisome chain! + The winds, how they whistle! + The steersman is busy-- + Hillio-ho, hillio-ho! + We dash through the billows-- + They flash far behind us-- + Land, land, boys, again! + + * * * * * + +In one of Goethe's little operas, which are far less studied than they +deserve, although replete with grace, melody, and humour, we stumbled +upon a ballad which we at once recognised as an old acquaintance. Some +of our readers may happen to recollect the very witty and popular ditty +called "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship," a peculiar favourite amongst +the lower orders in Scotland, but not, so far as we knew, transplanted +from its native soil. Our surprise, therefore, was great when we +discovered Captain Wedderburn dressed out in the garb of a _Junker_ of +the middle ages, and "bonny Girzie Sinclair," the Laird of Roslin's +daughter, masquerading as a German _Frauelein_. The coincidence, if it be +not plagiary, is so curious, that we have translated the ballad with a +much freer hand than usual, confessing at the same time that the +advantage, in point of humour and gallantry, is clearly on the side of +the old Mid-Lothian ditty. + + +THE CAVALIER'S CHOICE. + + It was a gallant cavalier + Of honour and renown, + And all to seek a ladye-love + He rode from town to town. + Till at a widow-woman's door + He drew the rein so free; + For at her side the knight espied + Her comely daughters three. + + Well might he gaze upon them, + For they were fair and tall; + Ye never have seen fairer + In bower nor yet in hall. + Small marvel if the gallant's heart + Beat quicker in his breast: + 'Twas hard to choose, and hard to lose-- + How might he wale the best? + + "Now, maidens, pretty maidens mine, + Who'll rede me riddles three? + And she who answers best of all + Shall be my own ladye!" + I ween they blush'd as maidens do + When such rare words they hear-- + "Now speak thy riddles, if thou wilt, + Thou gay young Cavalier!" + + "What's longer than the longest path? + First tell ye that to me; + And tell me what is deeper + Than is the deepest sea? + And tell me what is louder + Than is the loudest horn? + And tell me what is sharper + Than is the sharpest thorn? + + "And tell me what is greener + Than greenest grass on hill? + And tell me what is crueller + Than a wicked woman's will?" + The eldest and the second maid, + They sat and thought awhile; + But the youngest she look'd upward, + And spoke with merry smile. + + "O, love is surely longer far + Than the longest paths that be; + And hell, they say, is deeper + Than is the deepest sea; + And thunder it is louder + Than is the loudest horn; + And hunger it is sharper + Than is the sharpest thorn; + I know a deadly poison + More green than grass on hill; + And the foul fiend he is crueller + Than any woman's will!" + Scarce had the maiden spoken + When the youth was by her side, + And, all for what she answer'd him, + Has claim'd her as his bride. + + The eldest and the second maid, + They ponder'd and were dumb; + And there, perchance, are waiting yet + Till another wooer come. + Then, maidens, take this warning word, + Be neither slow nor shy, + And always, when a lover speaks, + Look kindly and reply. + + * * * * * + +The following beautiful verses are from Wilhelm Meister. We shall +venture to call them + + +RETRIBUTION. + + He that with tears did never eat his bread, + He that hath never lain through night's long hours, + Weeping in bitter anguish on his bed-- + He knows ye not, ye dread celestial powers. + Ye lead us onwards into life. Ye leave + The wretch to fall, then yield him up, in woe, + Remorse, and pain, unceasingly to grieve; + For every sin is punished here below. + + * * * * * + +We shall close this number with a series of poems, in imitation, or +rather after the manner of the antique, all of which possess singular +beauty. No man understood or appreciated the exquisite delicacy of the +Greek Anthology better than our author; and although we may, in several +of the versions, have fallen short of the originals, we trust that +enough still remains to convince the reader that we have not exaggerated +their merit. + + +POEMS AFTER THE MANNER OF THE ANTIQUE. + + +THE HUSBANDMAN. + + Lightly doth the furrow fold the golden grain within its breast, + Deeper shroud, old man, shall cover in thy limbs when laid at rest. + Blithely plough and sow as blithely! Here are springs of mortal cheer, + And when e'en the grave is closing, Hope is ever standing near. + + * * * * * + +ANACREON'S GRAVE. + + Where the rose is fresh and blooming--where the vine and myrtle spring-- + Where the turtle-dove is cooing--where the gay cicalas sing-- + Whose may be the grave surrounded with such store of comely grace, + Like a God-created garden? 'Tis Anacreon's resting-place. + Spring and summer and the autumn pour'd their gifts around the bard, + And, ere winter came to chill him, slept he safe beneath the sward. + + +THE BROTHERS. + + Slumber, Sleep--they were two brothers, servants to the Gods above; + Kind Prometheus lured them downwards, ever fill'd with earthly love; + But what Gods could bear so lightly, press'd too hard on men beneath; + Slumber did his brother's duty--Sleep was deepen'd into Death. + + * * * * * + +LOVE'S HOUR-GLASS. + + Eros! wherefore do I see thee, with the glass in either hand? + Fickle God! with double measure wouldst thou count the shifting sand? + "_This_ one flows for parted lovers--slowly drops each tiny bead-- + _That_ is for the days of dalliance, and it melts with golden speed." + + * * * * * + +WARNING. + + Do not touch him--do not wake him! Fast asleep is Amor lying; + Go--fulfil thy work appointed--do thy labour of the day. + Thus the wise and careful mother uses every moment flying, + Whilst her child is in the cradle--Slumbers pass too soon away. + + * * * * * + +SOLITUDE. + + Grant, O ye healing Nymphs, that have your haunts + By rock and stream and lonely forest glade, + The boon which, in their bosoms' silent depths, + Your votaries crave! Unto the sad of heart + Give comfort--knowledge unto him that doubts-- + Possession to the lover, and its joy. + For unto you the Gods have given, what they + Denied to man--to aid and to console + All those soe'er who put their trust in you. + + * * * * * + +PERFECT BLISS. + + All the divine perfections, which, while ere + Nature in thrift doled out 'mongst many a fair, + She shower'd with open hand, thou peerless one, on thee! + And she that was so wond'rously endow'd, + To whom a throng of noble knees were bow'd, + Gave all--Love's perfect gift--her glorious self, to me! + + +THE CHOSEN ROCK. + + Here, in the hush and stillness of mid-noon, + The lover lay and thought upon his love; + With blithesome voice he spoke to me: "Be thou + My witness, stone!--Yet, therefore, vaunt thee not, + For thou hast many partners of my joy-- + To every rock that crowns this grassy dell, + And looks on me and my felicity; + To every forest-stem that I embrace + In my entrancement as I roam along, + Stand thou for a memorial of my bliss! + All mingle with my rapture, and to all + I lift a consecrating cry of joy. + Yet do I lend a voice to thee alone, + As culls the Muse some favourite from the crowd, + And, with a kiss, inspires for evermore." + + * * * * * + +THE DEATH TRANCE. + + Weep, maiden, here by Cupid's grave! He fell, + Some nothing kill'd him--what I cannot tell. + But is he really dead?--I swear not that, in sooth; + A trifle--nothing--oft revives the youth. + + * * * * * + +PHILOMELA. + + Surely, surely, Amor nursed thee, songstress of the plaintive note, + And, in fond and childish fancy, fed thee from his pointed dart. + So, sweet Philomel, the poison sunk into thy guileless throat, + Till, with all love's weight of passion, strike its notes to every heart. + + * * * * * + +SACRED GROUND. + + A place to mark the Graces, when they come + Down from Olympus, still and secretly, + To join the Oreads in their festival, + Beneath the light of the benignant moon. + There lies the poet, watching them unseen, + The whilst they chant the sweetest songs of heaven, + Or, floating o'er the sward without a sound, + Lead on the mystic wonder of the dance. + All that is great in heaven, or fair on earth, + Unveils its glories to the dreamer's eye, + And all he tells the Muses. They again, + Knowing that Gods are jealous of their own, + Teach him, through all the passion of his verse, + To utter these high secrets reverently. + + +THE PARK. + + How beautiful! A garden fair as heaven, + Flowers of all hues, and smiling in the sun, + Where all was waste and wilderness before. + Well do ye imitate, ye gods of earth, + The great Creator. Rock, and lake, and glade, + Birds, fishes, and untamed beasts are here. + Your work were all an Eden, but for this-- + Here is no man unconscious of a pang, + No perfect Sabbath of unbroken rest. + + * * * * * + +THE TEACHERS. + + What time Diogenes, unmoved and still, + Lay in his tub, and bask'd him in the sun-- + What time Calanus clomb, with lightsome step + And smiling cheek, up to his fiery tomb-- + What rare examples there for Philip's son + To curb his overmastering lust of sway, + But that the Lord of the majestic world + Was all too great for lessons even like these! + + * * * * * + +MARRIAGE UNEQUAL. + + Alas, that even in a heavenly marriage, + The fairest lots should ne'er be reconciled! + Psyche wax'd old, and prudent in her carriage, + Whilst Cupid evermore remains the child. + + * * * * * + +HOLY FAMILY. + + O child of beauty rare-- + O mother chaste and fair-- + How happy seem they both, so far beyond compare! + She, in her infant blest, + And he in conscious rest, + Nestling within the soft warm cradle of her breast! + What joy that sight might bear + To him who sees them there, + If, with a pure and guilt-untroubled eye, + He looked upon the twain, like Joseph standing by. + + +EXCULPATION. + + Wilt thou dare to blame the woman for her seeming sudden changes, + Swaying east and swaying westward, as the breezes shake the tree? + Fool! thy selfish thought misguides thee--find the _man_ that never ranges; + Woman wavers but to seek him--Is not then the fault in thee? + + * * * * * + +THE MUSE'S MIRROR. + + To deck herself, the Muse, at early morn, + Wander'd a-down a wimpling brook, to find + Some glassy pool more quiet than the rest. + On sped the stream, and ever as it ran + It swept away her image, which did change + With every bend and dimple of the wave. + In wrath the Goddess turn'd her from the spot, + Yet after her the brook, with taunting tongue, + Did call--"'Tis plain thou wilt not see the truth + All purely though my mirror shows it thee!" + But she, meanwhile, stood with indifferent ear, + By a far corner of the crystal lake, + Delightedly surveying her fair form, + And settling flowerets in her golden hair. + + * * * * * + +PH[OE]BUS AND HERMES. + + The deep-brow'd lord of Delos once, and Maia's nimble-witted son, + Contended eagerly by whom the prize of glory should be won; + Hermes long'd to grasp the lyre,--the lyre Apollo hoped to gain, + And both their hearts were full of hope, and yet the hopes of both were vain. + + For Ares, to decide the strife, between them rudely dash'd in ire, + And waving high his falchion keen, he cleft in twain the golden lyre. + Loud Hermes laugh'd maliciously, but at the direful deed did fall + The deepest grief upon the heart of Phoebus and the Muses all. + + * * * * * + +A NEW LOVE. + + Love, not the simple youth that whilome wound + Himself about young Psyche's heart, look'd round + Olympus with a cold and roving eye, + That had accustom'd been to victory. + It rested on a Goddess, noblest far + Of all that noble throng--a glorious star-- + Venus Urania. And from that hour + He loved her. Ah! to his resistless power + Even she, the holy one, did yield at last, + And in his daring arms he held her fast. + A new and beauteous Love from that embrace + Had birth; that to the mother owed his grace + And purity of soul; whilst from his sire + He borrow'd all his passion, all his fire. + Him ever where the gracious Muses be + Thou'lt surely find. Such sweet society + Is his delight, and his sharp-pointed dart + Doth rouse within men's breasts the love of ART. + + * * * * * + +THE WREATHS. + + Our German Klopstock, if he had his will, + Would bar us from the skirts of Pindus old. + No more the classic laurel should be prized, + But the rough leaflets of our native oak + Alone should glisten in the poet's hair; + Yet did himself, with spirit unreclaim'd + From first allegiance to those early Gods, + Lead up to Golgotha's most awful height + With more than epic pomp the new Crusade. + But let him range the bright angelic host + On either hill--no matter. By his grave + All gentle hearts should bow them down and weep. + For where a hero and a saint have died, + Or where a poet sang prophetical, + Dying as greatly as they greatly lived, + To give memorial to all after times, + Of lofty worth and courage undismay'd; + There, in mute reverence, all devoutly kneel, + In homage of the thorn and laurel wreath, + That were at once their glory and their pang! + + * * * * * + +THE SWISS ALP. + + Yesterday thy head was brown, as are the flowing locks of love, + In the bright blue sky I watch'd thee towering, giant-like, above. + Now thy summit, white and hoary, glitters all with silver snow, + Which the stormy night hath shaken from its robes upon thy brow; + And I know that youth and age are bound with such mysterious meaning, + As the days are link'd together, one short dream but intervening. + + + + +SPAIN AS IT IS. + + +There exists in this country a numerous class of persons who, if they +were given their choice of an overland journey to India and back, or a +ramble through Spain, occupying the same space of time, would prefer the +former, as likely to be less inconvenient, and decidedly far less +perilous. The wars and rumours of wars, revolutions, rebellions, +skirmishes, and _pronunciamentos_, that newspapers have recorded during +the last ten or twelve years, with an occasional particularly bloody and +barbarous execution by way of interlude, have certainly not been +calculated to reassure timid travellers; nor can we well wonder that, at +the mere mention of an excursion beyond the Pyrenees, tourists are +seized with a vertigo; and that visions, not only of rancid _gaspachos_ +and vermin-haunted couches, but of chocolate-complexioned ruffians with +sugar-loaf hats, button-bedecked jackets, fierce mustaches, and lengthy +_escopetas_, peering out of the gloomy recesses of a cork wood, or from +among the silvery foliage of an olive grove, pass before the eyes of +their imagination. Dangers often appear greater at a distance than upon +close examination; many a phantom of ghastly aspect proves upon +inspection to be but a turnip-faced goblin after all: and we suspect +that if some of the timorous would adventure themselves upon Spanish +soil, they might find their precious persons far safer than they had +anticipated; and discover that they were in the hands neither of Caffres +nor cannibals, but amongst a courteous and generous people, who, if +occasionally a little too disposed to slit each other's weasands, on the +other hand are very rarely forgetful of the laws of hospitality, or of +the kindness and protection to which travellers in a foreign land have a +fair claim. We do not mean to recommend Spain as a desirable travelling +ground for those adventurous English dames, whom we have occasionally +met journeying by coachfuls in France, Germany, and other peaceable +lands, unsquired and unescorted save by their waiting-maids: to them the +encounter of _rateros_, _salteadores_, or other varieties of Spanish +banditti, might be in various respects disagreeable; but for men, who, +without leaving Europe, may wish to visit other scenes than those in +which every Cockney tourist has wandered, we know of few expeditions +more interesting than one into the interior of Spain. Fine scenery, +interesting monuments, associations historic, classic, and poetical, +and--which to our thinking is still preferable--a people who, in spite +of Gallo and Anglo manias, still possess great originality of character +and customs, are there to be met with. We cannot do better than refer +those persons who would like additional evidence on the subject, to the +volumes named at foot[2], in which they will see how a man possessed of +prudence, good sense, and good temper, may visit some of the wildest and +least frequented parts of the Peninsula, not only without injury or +annoyance, but with considerable pleasure and profit. + +Captain Widdrington's journey to Spain, in the Spring of 1843, had, as +he tells us, a twofold object. He was desirous of observing the effects +of the numerous changes that have taken place in that country since the +death of Ferdinand; and he, at the same time, thought that his +assistance and previous knowledge of the country and people, would be +useful to a scientific friend, Dr Daubeny, who had been commissioned by +the Agricultural Society to examine the formation of phosphorite in +Estremadura. This mineral, it was imagined, might be advantageously +substituted for bones as manure. + +The travellers had sketched out their route beforehand, and seem to have +adhered very closely to the plan they had laid down. Proceeding from +Bayonne to Madrid, after a short stay in that capital they struck into +Estremadura; visited the vein of phosphorite, and explored several +interesting districts, into which few travellers penetrate; thence to +the quicksilver mines at Almaden, and to various iron mines and +founderies, through Seville, Ronda, Malaga, and Granada, and back to +Madrid. Here Captain Widdrington separates from his companion, and +continues his peregrinations alone, through the kingdom of Leon, the +Asturias, and Galicia. In his narrative of this somewhat extensive +ramble, the gallant captain displays a very respectable degree of +knowledge on a considerable variety of subjects. Agriculture, geology, +natural history, the resources of Spain, and the best mode of applying +them, political intrigues and changes, the strange and apparently +inexplicable ups and downs of public men, are all touched upon in turn: +and if the earlier portion of his work is worthy of a member of the +learned societies to which he belongs, the latter part is no less +creditable to his habits of observation, and to the soundness of his +judgment. + +One of the first things that appear to have struck Captain Widdrington +on arriving at Madrid, was the great activity in the building +department--an activity arising chiefly from the sequestration of the +church property. Convents were being pulled down, or at least altered so +as to render them suitable to other purposes. The ground on which one +had stood had been converted into a public walk--a chapel had been +replaced by a covered market. The large convent of St Thomas was the +headquarters of the national guard; while that of the Trinity had been +appropriated to the reception of works of art, the spoils of the other +convents. One had been sold to a private speculator, who let it out in +chambers; another was the refuge of military invalids; a third, the +convent of St Catalina--which was set fire to while the Duke of +Angouleme was attending, in the year 1823, a mass celebrated in honour +of his successful campaign--had been demolished, and a building for the +senate and deputies was erecting on its site. The names of many of the +streets had been altered to those of various heroes of Spanish liberty; +such as Porlier, Lacy, the Empecinado, and others. The street of the +Alcala had been rebaptized after the Duque de la Victoria; but no doubt, +as the Captain observes, by this time _on a change tout cela_. + +Of the Countess of Mina, who was then _aya_, or governess, to the queen, +some interesting details are given by Captain Widdrington, who had known +her and her husband when they were living in exile at Plymouth +subsequently to the affairs of 1823. Madame Mina appears to be a person +of very superior powers of mind, far better qualified to superintend the +female department of a Spanish queen's education, than the bigoted and +_afrancesada_ dowager-marchioness who preceded her in the office, and in +the selection of whom Maria Christina, with her usual selfishness, had +probably thought more of the political principles and opinions in which +she wished Isabella to be brought up, than of her daughter's future +welfare and happiness. The universal complaint of the _Spanish_ or +national party in the time of Christina was, that the queen's education +was neglected, or, it should rather be said, misconducted. The +queen-dowager's French tendencies were more than suspected. Of course, +when the popular party became in the ascendant, and Madame Mina received +the appointment, alike unsolicited and unexpected, of governess to the +queen, the _afrancesados_ set up a yell of horror and consternation. Her +husband's humble birth, her character, even her piety, and the mourning +habit she had worn ever since her husband's death, were made matters of +reproach to her. But though Mina had been born a tiller of the earth, he +had died a grandee of Spain, ennobled yet more by his patriotism and +great qualities than he could be by the tinsel of a title; the character +of the countess was that of a high-minded and virtuous woman; and as to +the accusation of being a _santarona_, or affectedly pious, it was no +less unjust than malicious. Here is Captain Widdrington's portrait of +her:-- + + "Her stature is rather below the middle size, and her person stout, + with an abundance of the blackest hair simply dressed; eyes very + large, dark and fuller than usual, even in this classic land of + them, and beaming with intelligence. Her forehead, and the lower + part of her face, are remarkable for their development, and an + admirable study for the phrenologists, who would pronounce them + models, as indicating firmness of character. Her constant costume + is the deepest black, which completely covers her person; and when + she accepted her appointment, it was stipulated that she should + never be required to lay it aside. The only ornament she wore was a + simple but rather massive gold chain and cross, which had a + singularly good effect in relieving the mass of deep black; and her + manner, noble and serious, bordering on the severe at first sight, + made her the _beau-ideal_ of a lady abbess." + +During the celebrated attack upon the palace at Madrid, on the 7th of +October 1841, the countess gave proof of energy, courage, and presence +of mind, worthy of Mina's widow, and of one who supplied the place of +mother to the queen and infanta of Spain. A most interesting account of +the transactions of that eventful night is to be found in the third +chapter of Captain Widdrington's book; and as he is indebted for the +details to Madame Mina herself, it is no doubt the most accurate that +has appeared before the public. The _alabarderos_, or halberdiers, who +formed the body-guard of the queen, and whose post was in the avenues +leading to the royal apartments, consisted of two hundred sergeants, +picked from the whole army, and placed under the command of a colonel +and lieutenant-colonel, who had the rank of lieutenant and sergeant in +this sacred band. "By the regulations, one-third of this little corps +ought always to have been on duty; but, 'Cosas de Espana,' when the +disturbance broke out, there were only the two officers and seventeen +privates present! The rest were in the town, at supper, or various other +engagements." And on this handful of men devolved the duty of defending +the queen against the attack of as many companies as they numbered +muskets. The first alarm was given by _vivas_ and other noises in the +quadrangle of the palace. Colonel Dulce, the commander of the +halberdiers, descended the stairs to enquire the cause of the uproar, +and was met on the landing-place by a detachment of the Princesa +regiment marching up. He ordered them to halt; they opened fire in +reply. Colonel Dulce retreated to the guard-room, and the skirmish +began. A double flight of steps leads up from one of the principal +entrances of the palace to this guard-room, of which the door is of +considerable size, and covered by a _mampara_ or moveable stuffed +screen, similar to those used in churches abroad. The alabarderos left +the mampara in its place, opening the door no more than was absolutely +necessary to fire through. The assailants took up their station at the +bottom of the stairs, and blazed away, vigorously replied to from the +_sala de armas_. The sides of the doorway and the mampara were riddled, +but the assailants could only fire at a guess, their opponents being +completely concealed behind the screen; and on the other hand, a stone +balustrade at the top of the staircase between the two flights and the +angle of the floor, protected the insurgents. The latter, no doubt, +thought the whole guard was at its post, so steady and incessant was the +fire the alabarderos kept up. To approach the guard-room door was +certain death. General Concha, the same who the other night danced the +third quadrille with Isabel at a court ball, taking the _pas_ of the +Spanish grandees there assembled, was present at this treasonable +attack, at the head of the Princesa regiment, in plain clothes, but with +a drawn sword. About midnight (the firing had begun at half-past +seven--what were the authorities about all that time?) Diego Leon, the +scapegoat of the affair, made his appearance in his usual dashing +attire, a showy hussar uniform, braided, belted, and befrogged, and took +command of the proceedings. "According to his own account, he went to +the foot of the great staircase, and called to the alabarderos to +discontinue firing, lest they should alarm the queen!" but the noise of +the musketry was such, that he could not make himself heard, even with +the aid of a trumpet! Things, however, had not gone as the conspirators +wished; the gallant defence of the halbardiers, which they had not +reckoned upon, had caused them to lose much time, and after a short +consultation Concha and Leon took to flight. Concha hid himself under +the dry arch of a bridge, and afterwards took refuge at the Danish +embassy, where he passed a few days, and was then conveyed from another +embassy (French, of course) to headquarters at Paris. His caution in +wearing plain clothes saved him; while poor Leon, who thought, as he +afterwards said, that uniform was the proper costume for the occasion, +was taken at Colmenar, a few leagues from Madrid. Captain Widdrington +says, with much truth, that nothing could be more characteristic of the +two men than their different mode of acting in this trifling particular. + +In the whole affair, Concha was the real director and manager, although +he sheltered himself behind the Count of Belascoain, who was put forward +as being a popular man, especially with the army. A braver or more +dashing cavalry officer than Leon could hardly be found, but he was of +the wrong stuff for a conspirator; his brains, as the Spaniards used to +say in rather a coarse proverb, were in the wrong place. But who that +had ever known or even seen him, could help regretting him, the +chivalrous, the high-hearted soldier, as much loved by his friends as he +was dreaded by his foes! His death was, doubtless, necessary as an +example, and should not be laid at the door of the Spanish government of +the day, but at that of the unprincipled and selfish faction that made a +tool of him. We are surprised to find, by Captain Widdrington's book, +that the petitions for his pardon, sent for signature to the national +guard of Madrid, were torn across and returned, the only name affixed to +them being that of Captain Guardia, who was then dying of wounds +received on the night of the insurrection. This speaks plainly as to the +general feeling in Madrid concerning the necessity of Leon's sentence +being put into execution, the national guard consisting of ten thousand +men, who represent every shade of political opinion. + +While the fighting was going on, the Countess of Mina was doing her best +to shield the queen and her sister from the bullets of the insurgents, +who surrounded the royal apartments on three sides, and seem to have +been tolerably careless where they sent their lead. A shot came into the +room where the queen and her sister lay in bed. They were frightened, +and got up, and the attendants placed mattresses on the floor, in the +angle of an alcove, upon which the children lay down, and after some +time fell asleep. "The poor children were hungry, and asked for supper, +but there was nothing to give them; and from two in the afternoon of the +7th, till eight in the morning of the 8th, they did not taste food." +What a curious picture is this! Isabel de Borbon, queen of Spain and the +Indies, lying on a mattress upon the floor, terrified and a-hungered, +her governess, the widow of an ex-peasant and guerilla, keeping watch +beside her; nineteen intrepid soldiers defending her against troops sent +by her own mother to attack her palace and carry off herself! + +Nor was this all. There was a private staircase leading from the +_entresol_ of the palace to the royal apartments; and although it had +been blocked up some time previously, the rebels were aware of its +existence, and were heard sawing at the barrier that closed it. "At this +time, the countess told me, she felt it her duty to rouse the queen and +prepare her for the worst, dictating to her the manner in which those +who should enter were to be addressed. The intention was, when they +should arrive at the inner door, to open it for fear of greater +violence, and admit them." If the conspirators could have got possession +of the queen's person, their plan was to wrap her in a cloak and mount +her behind one Fulgosio, who had been a colonel in the Carlist service, +but was included in the convention of Bergara. In this Tartar fashion +she was to have been carried off to the north of Spain. + +Captain Widdrington evidently considers that this daring attempt on the +part of Christina's faction, as well as subsequent almost equally +strange events that have occurred in Spain, were in great measure +concerted and organized in France, the money proceeding partly from the +French treasury and partly from the coffers of Christina--coffers which +she had taken excellent care to fill during the period of her regency. +We have been rather amused at the diplomatic caution displayed by the +Captain when alluding to French intrigues. The French are always "our +neighbours," and Louis Philippe "a certain personage." His meaning, +however, is plain enough, and we fully agree with him, that French gold +and French counsels and influence have been at the bottom of most of the +disturbances that have taken place in Spain since the year 1840. But +enough, for the present, of plots and plotters; we shall perhaps find +more of them before we bid our author farewell in Vigo Bay. At present +we will follow him to the mines of Almaden, whither he betakes himself +after rambling through a considerable portion of Estremadura, one of the +most fertile, but neglected and thinly peopled, of Spanish provinces. +"Nothing," he says, "is wanted but a good government to assist the +bounteous hand with which the gifts of Providence have been showered on +this beautiful region." But, alas! instead of a thriving peasantry and +well-tilled soil, what does he meet with? _Despoblados_, or deserts, +with here and there some wretched villages, few and far between, and +from time to time a _cortijo_, or farm-house, with its cultivated patch; +but the general face of the country is _zaral_, ground covered with the +cistus, numerous varieties of that beautiful plant abounding in the +province. Captain Widdrington mentions four sorts he found in +flower--the gum cistus, a large white species without spots, a smaller +white, and the purple kind common in English gardens. Furze, then just +breaking into flower, and _retama_, or brooms, vary the collection; +interesting enough, no doubt, to the botanist, but a melancholy sight +when one reflects on the far better purpose to which this fertile +territory might be applied. + +The roads through these districts are, as might be expected, execrable, +intersected by large open ditches to carry off the water; and +subsequently to each journey the diligence requires extensive repairs. +After Truxillo, however, public conveyances are no longer to be found, +and mules supply their place. On these the travellers reach Logrosan, +where is situate the vein of phosphorite that it was one of the objects +of their journey to visit. Four mule-loads of the mineral are taken as a +sample, and forwarded to Seville; and this done, an excursion is made to +the famous sanctuary of Guadelupe, in the sacristy at which place are +some of the finest paintings of Zurbaran. Not the least agreeable +portions of Captain Widdrington's book are his descriptions of the +churches and other edifices he visits, and of the pictures and carvings +they contain. Details of that kind are often apt to be dry and +wearisome; but these are done _con amore_, and varied by reflections and +criticisms, of which many are very interesting. + +It had been a matter of deliberation with Captain Widdrington, upon +commencing his wanderings in the Peninsula, whether it were advisable to +be armed or not. The usual advice one gets upon this subject on entering +Spain, is to take neither arms nor money, or at least no more of the +latter than is absolutely necessary for the journey. By being unarmed, +the traveller is said to avoid risk of ill treatment at the hands of any +banditti he may chance to encounter, and who, if they see him with +weapons, are apt either to give him a volley from some ambuscade, or to +murder him for having thought of resistance. Captain Widdrington's +theory is different. He calculates that, as the majority of Spanish +robbers are _rateros_, or ignoble and dastardly cut-purses, who prowl +about by twos and threes, it is just as well to be provided with a few +fire-arms, the mere sight of which may make all the difference between +being robbed or not. He has accordingly armed himself, his companion, +and attendant with muskets; and between Logrosan and Almaden he finds +the advantage of having done so. While passing through a wild and broken +country, with no road, and scarcely any visible track, he perceives +three suspicious-looking customers descending through a field to the +further side of a thicket which he is about to traverse. He calls up his +companions, who are a little in the rear--they look to their arms, and +prepare for a brush. If the three men that have been seen are alone, the +travellers are a match for them; but they may be only the van or +rearguard of a larger force. + +"After waiting a little time in silence, there was no appearance of +their emerging from the thicket, which was very close; and, as it would +have been imprudent to enter it, we called out to them to advance. They +were still invisible, but a voice answered--'Come on, we shall not +meddle with you.' We then rode through, and found them on the banks of a +pretty stream that flowed through the ravine, preparing to breakfast; +some beautiful bread, far better than any we could find in the villages, +being part of their intended repast. The man who had answered was +nearest to the ford, and the others a little higher up. Of course we +passed them at the 'recover,' and the simple salutation of _Vaya vd. +con Dios!_ was interchanged. Had we omitted exchanging this compliment, +even with the people we were now dealing with, we should have risked +being thought unpolished." + +There is something characteristic and Gil Blas-like about this--Spanish +all over. Pass we on to the Almaden mines, of which there is a detailed +and very interesting account. + +The quicksilver mines of Almaden are one of the sure cards of the +Spanish finance minister, and during the late war, especially, were +often a great resource to the poverty-stricken government. When other +sources of revenue failed, there were always to be found speculators +willing to treat for the quicksilver contract; and these mines, like the +tobacco and other monopolies, and the Havanna revenue, have helped many +a Spanish minister in his moment of greatest need. Of course, as the +usual demand was money down, the bargains were frequently made at great +disadvantage to the seller; and, once made, the consumer is entirely at +the mercy of the contractor--the Almaden mines producing a very large +portion of all the quicksilver known to exist in the world. Madame +Calderon de la Barca, in her _Life in Mexico_, alludes to this when +speaking of the unsuccessful mining speculations in that country, where +"heaps of silver lie abandoned, because the expense of acquiring +quicksilver renders it wholly unprofitable to extract it." That lady +further observes, that quicksilver has been paid for at one hundred and +fifty dollars per quintal in real cash, when the same quantity was given +at credit by the Spanish government for fifty dollars. Madame Calderon +is good authority; but we suspect that the cause of such a vast +difference between the price given and demanded by the contractor, must +have been the cash advances required by the Spanish government. "The +contract once made," says Captain Widdrington, "it is clear that, +excepting any qualms of conscience the lessee may be influenced by, +there is no check upon his cupidity. The temptation to charge exorbitant +prices is increased by the habit of the government requiring large sums +to be paid down. This practice, which was unavoidable during the civil +war, when it frequently produced the only ready money they could lay +their hands on, has continued, and must still do so, unless a financial +change take place." + +Owing to this state of things, the profit to the government is only +about L75,000 per annum; although we are told that the price has been +raised, in a few years, from thirty-four to eighty-four dollars the +quintal--the price paid to the government we presume. The contract was +taken in 1843 by those great _accapareurs_ of good things, the +Rothschilds. Of course, as long as the civil war lasted, if the +contractors had to give money in advance, the risk they ran entitled +them to a large rate of profit. Had Don Carlos got the upper hand before +they had reimbursed themselves, their lien upon the mines would have +been so much waste paper; or even, without that, they might have been +exposed to considerable loss and delay had Messrs Cabrera, Balmaseda, +Palillos, or others of the same kidney, chosen to take a turn in that +direction, carry off the workmen, destroy or damage the works, or drown +out the mines. Gomez did pay Almaden a visit when he made the tour of +Spain with his expeditionary corps. He burned a part of the town and +plundered all he could; but did no harm to the mine--which was either +very foolish or very considerate of him. + +There is room for much curious speculation as to the effect which the +increased and increasing value of quicksilver may have upon the monetary +system of Europe, especially in France and other countries where silver +is the legal currency, and gold very little used on account of the +premium on it. It has been seen above, that, in Mexico, silver is not +worth refining, owing to the dearness of the mineral required for the +purpose. Unless something be discovered as a substitute for quicksilver, +the same result will, in all probability, ensue in other mining +districts; and the natural consequence will be the diminished use of +silver as a circulating medium, and the increased employment of gold, +the more so as the supply of the latter metal has of late years been +greatly augmented--a great deal now coming from Asiatic Russia--while +its wear and tear are very small. This change would not arise from a +scarcity of quicksilver, the quantity and quality of which, at Almaden +at least, improve as the miners get deeper into the vein; and, moreover, +the portion extracted is limited to 20,000 quintals, or weights of 105 +pounds English. "All the works are executed in a truly royal manner; and +so capacious and enlarged are the views carried out in the management, +that they only take away about one-half of the mineral, leaving the +other as a legacy to the future possessors of it, and to provide a +supply in case of unforeseen accidents in the workings." There are other +uses besides the refining of silver to which quicksilver is applied; and +should the contractors continue to raise the price of the latter, the +consequence must necessarily be an increase in the value of the former, +and a diminution in its consumption. + +There are five thousand men employed at the Almaden establishment, and +most of those who work in the mines suffer, as may be supposed, in their +health, from the unwholesome exhalations. In the summer, when they are +most liable to be affected in that way, work is suspended, the labourers +retire to their respective provinces to recruit, and generally return in +the autumn, restored by their native air. Temperance, cleanliness, and a +milk-diet appear to be the best preservatives from the pernicious +effects of the mercury-infected atmosphere. + +Captain Widdrington does not visit Catalonia, which we regret; for we +should like to have had the result of his observations on that turbulent +and troublesome province, to which he once or twice alludes. It must +truly be a difficult thing to legislate for a country split into so many +conflicting interests--fancied interests many of them--as Spain is. The +Catalonians, for instance, have got a notion that they are +cotton-manufacturers--a notion which their northern neighbours do all in +their power to nourish and encourage. Of course, the French would be +much annoyed to see Spanish ports opened to cotton goods at a reasonable +duty, until such time (if it ever arrives) as they can compete +successfully with English manufacturers. It suits their book much better +to have a prohibition, or what amounts to such, imposed on all foreign +cottons. The Pyrenees are high, but it is a long line of frontier from +Port Vendres to Bayonne, and the deuce is in it if they cannot manage to +smuggle more French calicoes and _percales_, and suchlike commodities +into Spain, than would ever be taken by the Spaniards were those +articles admitted at a reasonable duty, which would put a stop to +smuggling by rendering it unprofitable. At present there is a regular +tariff of smugglers' charges for passing goods, so much per cent on the +value, according to the bulk and nature of the articles; and the agents +of this traffic abound in Bayonne, Oleron, Perpignan, and all the +frontier towns. The idea prevailing in Spain, that Espartero intended +entering into a treaty of commerce with England, made him enemies of the +Catalonians, and indeed of the majority of the mercantile classes, most +of the members of which are more or less mad about the importance of +Spanish manufactures, or, at any rate, they seem to be nearly unanimous +in their wish to prohibit foreign goods. It is impossible to persuade +them, so pigheaded are they, that it would be better to admit foreign +manufactures at a fair duty, than to have their markets deluged with +smuggled ones that pay no duty at all. "To these miserable manufactures, +only capable of producing about one-half of what is required for the +consumption of the kingdom," (and that half, be it observed, of inferior +quality, and at vastly higher prices than the same merchandise could be +imported for,) "is the interest of the landed proprietors and commercial +class, as well as that of the entire community, sacrificed." + +These manufacturing madmen, the Catalonians, are the plague-spot of the +Peninsula. Obstinate, fiery, and selfish, they think only of themselves, +and of what they consider their interests, petty and miserable as the +latter are compared to those of the rest of Spain. The real interests of +the country are obvious to any but prejudiced understandings. It is a +land flowing with milk and honey, or, what is far better, with wine and +oil; abounding in valuable products, of which the export might be vastly +increased by admitting the manufactures of countries possessing, +perhaps, a less-favoured soil and climate, but a more industrious +population. Instead of making bad calicoes at a high price, let the +Spaniards set to work to clear and plant their _despoblados_--let them +improve their system of agriculture, their mode of producing oil; let +them cut canals and make roads, and get something like decent +communications between towns and provinces. The irrigation of the soil +in Spain is also a matter of great importance, and which, in many parts +of the country, is at present sadly neglected. There are vast districts +that remain uninhabited and barren, solely because people will not build +or live where they are beyond a certain distance from water; districts +where every thing is parched and dry for the greater part of the year, +and where the land, although rich in its nature, becomes worthless from +excessive drought. The system of Artesian wells might, we are persuaded, +be introduced to great advantage in Spain; and for such, as well as for +canals, railways, and similar improvements, abundance of foreign capital +would be forthcoming, if--and here is the sticking point--Spaniards +would only show a disposition to remain quiet, and turn their attention +to the arts of peace, instead of ruining their country, wasting their +blood, and degrading the national character, by all these unmeaning and +unprofitable _pronunciamentos_ and skirmishings. It is probably not very +important at this moment who rules over the Spaniards, provided the +government have power and energy enough to keep them from cutting each +others' throats, and to prevent their getting into a confirmed habit of +revolutions and rebellions. "In all the larger towns of Spain," we quote +Captain Widdrington, "there is a crowd of idlers, characters with little +or no occupation, frequenters of theatres and _cafes_, great readers of +journals, and considerable politicians, pretenders to small places, +excessively ignorant, and ready to join in any movement provided it be +attended with little personal risk to themselves. A large portion of +this class took a very active part in opposing the government, and were +delighted to figure in _juntas_, or fill other analogous situations, +giving them a momentary importance, and possibly a few dollars at the +public expense." And this is one of the great causes of the unsettled +state of Spain, the immense number of idlers. Wars and revolutions, +producing an unflourishing state of trade and agriculture, have +discouraged Spaniards, during the last thirty or forty years, from +putting their children to trades or professions. "There is no knowing +how long this war may last," they used to say during the Carlist +contest; "and as long as it lasts, there is no good to be done in +Spain." So, instead of bringing up their sons to work, they just let +them live on from day to day, gossiping and smoking; and at the present +moment there are many hundred thousand young and middle-aged men of the +lower and middle classes, especially the latter, who are idlers by +profession, and exactly correspond to Captain Widdrington's description. +These gentry have nothing particular to lose by any political rumpus, +and they flatter themselves they may gain; besides, they cannot be +always playing _monte_ or taking the _siesta_; and even if they could, a +change is sometimes agreeable. Now and then, too, they get tired of +hearing Aristides called the Just--that is a very common thing with +Spaniards--some mischievous political agent comes amongst them, they are +soon excited, get hold of an old musket or rusty fowling-piece, chuck up +their _sombreros_, cry _viva la Libertad!_ and rush about the town +uttering _gritos_; and in a few hours, and before they have any clear +idea of what they have been doing, they are told that they are heroes +and patriots, that "_Spaniards_ never shall be slaves," and all the rest +of the humbug and claptrap that revolutionary agitators always have upon +their tongue's tip. The poor idiots, fizzing and boiling over with their +fire-new enthusiasm, aimless and causeless as it is, are in ecstasies +for about a week, or until they discover, what is pretty often the case, +that instead of being better off, they have exchanged King Log for King +Stork. The fact is, Spaniards are not at present fit for a mild and +constitutional government. Espartero, who had got the country into +something like a state of respectability, fell into the error of +imagining that they were; and such was in great measure the cause of his +overthrow. The iron and remorseless rule of a Narvaez will perhaps suit +them better, and of a certainty it is what a large portion of them +richly deserve. + +To those persons who wish to understand what many have doubtless found +rather incomprehensible; namely, the causes, immediate and remote, that +led to the deposition of the Duque de la Victoria and the triumph of the +Moderado party--we recommend the attentive perusal of Captain +Widdrington's book, especially the chapter entitled, "On the +Pronunciamentos and Fall of the Regency." That chapter is a very +complete manual of the Spanish politics of the day, in a lucid and +simple form; and we were much pleased to find our own theories and +opinions on the subject confirmed by an eyewitness, and by so shrewd an +observer as Captain Widdrington. He traces the share that each party and +class in Spain took in the recent changes; and proves satisfactorily +enough, what every one who is acquainted with Spanish character and +feelings must have already been pretty certain of, that the revolution +in question was not a national one, but the result of intrigue, bribery, +and delusion--the work of a faction, aided by foreign gold. The +ill-judged selection of Lopez for minister, and the still more +injudicious act of agreeing to a _programme_ which he was afterwards +compelled to repudiate, were the fatal mistakes made by Espartero, who +was placed in a situation of extreme difficulty by his wish to govern +constitutionally. "It is impossible not to respect and admire the +firmness with which, to the very last, he carried through the principle, +sacrificing his station and rank to it; but, as far as the interests of +his country were concerned, no greater mistake was ever made in +government than the selection of Lopez." It is customary in Spain for a +new minister to make public his programme, or plan of campaign--but this +is considered a mere matter of form. In that of Lopez, however, amidst +the usual commonplaces, one article of vital importance had insinuated +itself; it was that of the amnesty, "which was so speciously made out as +completely to answer the purpose for which it was intended, that of +paving the way for bringing back the _afrancesado_ leaders who were +engaged in the attempt to carry off the Queen, in October 1841." It was +not deemed sufficient to recall the regent's mortal enemies; an attempt +was made to isolate him, by dismissing his most faithful friends, even +to the distinguished officer who acted as his private secretary, and who +now bears him company in his exile. Espartero naturally kicked at +this--as who would not in his place?--dismissed Lopez, and dissolved the +Chamber. But the people, especially those troublesome fellows the +Andalusians and Valencians, had got the fraternizing fit strong upon +them, and were mad after the programme. Juntas were +formed--pronunciamentos made--and misrule was again the order of the +day. + +As to the conduct of the army towards Espartero, it was unquestionably +most disgraceful; but it must be borne in mind that a large proportion +of the officers were his personal enemies, especially those of the +regiments of guards, which had been broken up after the war, when many +of the officers passed into line regiments. Others were partisans of +Leon, of Narvaez, or Christina; and another large section were won over +by the profuse promotion given by the juntas, who, as soon as the +pronunciamentos began, assumed the functions of government, and +scattered epaulets in absurd profusion. Truly, as Captain Widdrington +observes, one has heard of bloody wars and sickly seasons, and rapid +advancement consequent thereon, but nothing ever equalled the promotion +that was now given; and this system Espartero was also obliged to adopt, +in order not to be deserted by the lukewarm among his adherents, or by +those whom the prospect of a step of rank might have influenced to leave +him. There can be little doubt, too, that bribery was largely employed +by the Moderados. Witness the instance of Colonel Echalecu, which is no +case of suspicion, but an official and publicly known fact. He was +offered four millions of reals (forty thousand pounds sterling) to +surrender the fort of Montjuich, and a French steamer was put at his +disposal to convey him away. To the immortal honour of this gallant +Basque soldier be it said, he was proof against the temptation; true to +his colours, to his general, and to the established constitution of his +country, he held out the fort to the very last, and only gave it up when +every hope was lost, and the new order of things completely victorious. +The Moderados had the good sense to continue so faithful an officer in +his command; but, at the time of Amettler's revolt, he refused to +bombard Barcelona, and of course resigned. His, however, was a solitary +instance of virtue; far less brilliant baits were found irresistible by +the mass of officers, who used their influence to bring over the +soldiery, a credulous and ignorant class in Spain. The men, there is no +question, were disposed to stand by the regent, and some even held out +against their officers till compelled to give in; but at last all +followed in the stream, led away partly by habits of obedience, partly +by the hopes held out to them of more regular pay and better rations, +and still more by the prospect of obtaining their discharge previous to +the legal expiration of their term of service--the latter being the +strongest argument that can be urged to Spanish soldiers. + +The peasantry, with the exception, perhaps, of those around certain +towns, had neither voice nor part in the change; the nobility, sunk in +sloth and smothered by incapacity, looked on as idle spectators; and a +vast many of the restless and excitable spirits who got up the +revolution, were mere instruments in the hands of a faction, and knew +not what they did. Hear Captain Widdrington-- + + "The parties who began the pronunciamentos had neither the + intention nor the slightest idea, that the result of their + proceedings would be the fall of the regency. This I can most + positively assert to be fact." + +The Spaniards, especially those of the south, had got a sort of Utopian +notion into their very ill-furnished heads, that all parties were to +"kiss and be friends." The projected amnesty which Espartero so +unfortunately agreed to, was the cause of this idea getting ground. It +took them upon their weak side, carried them entirely off their legs; +and, acting under the influence of this frothy enthusiasm, they ran +a-muck, as the saying is, and only awakened from their day-dream to +curse the changes that their own folly had so largely contributed to +bring about. + +As to any body attempting to divine what will be the next move upon the +Spanish chessboard, it is out of the question, and nobody who knows the +character of the people will attempt to do it. Unquestionably there is +no such country in the world for anomalies of all kinds. _Cosas de +Espana!_ as Captain Widdrington amusingly enough says, when he meets +with some huge piece of inconsistency that astonishes even him, +accustomed though he be to the most contradictory vagaries on the part +of his Iberian friends. And it is exactly what intelligent Spaniards +themselves say, when similar absurdities on the part of their countrymen +are pointed out or reproached to them. "_Que quiere vd hombre_," cry +they with a shrug, "_son cosas de Espana_." What can we say to you? They +are Spanish doings. + +At Almaden the Captain finds a magnificent road leading to the town, +which had been commenced at great expense by a former governor. For some +distance it is fit for an approach to the largest capital, but on a +sudden it terminates--in a mule-track! _Cosas de Espana_. "I entered +Corunna just before nightfall, and although a regular fortress, seaport, +and chief place of the province--_Cosas de Espana_--not a sentinel was +mounted on the works!" Guards desert their post--witness the attack on +the palace, when seventeen men were present out of sixty-five; a +governor is absent from his province at the very time when he is most +wanted there; an official is sent for by one of his superiors, and +returns for answer that he can certainly come if necessary, but hopes he +shall be excused, as it would occasion him the trouble of dressing +himself--this in the middle of the day. The creature was no doubt lying +on a mattress, half naked, with a cigar in his mouth. These are +instances of "_Cosas de Espana_," always odd and sometimes +unintelligible, but usually to be explained by the system of laxity and +inattention to the duties of their respective posts and stations that +seems to extend to nearly all classes in Spain. + +Captain Widdrington professes the strictest impartiality in the accounts +and opinions he gives; and if we venture to point out an instance where +we think he has deviated a little from the straight line he drew for +himself at starting, it is only because his having done so in the +particular we refer to, is rather creditable to him than otherwise, and +is exactly the error that most warm-hearted men who passed any length of +time in the very agreeable society of Spaniards, would be apt to fall +into. But we cannot help thinking, that in some respects he takes too +favourable a view of the Spanish character; that he is led away by his +love for the nation. The following passages are rather remarkable-- + +"No people in existence," he says, "are so little anarchical in their +habits, or live, unless under immediate excitement, in a more orderly +and peaceable manner, or are so easily governed. The presiding genius of +the country is tranquillity, and quiet, inoffensive demeanour, in every +class of society, and in every part of the kingdom; nor is there any +necessity, unless where domination, or unpopular and false principles +are the object, for the application of force to coerce them at any time. +What they want, by their universal consent, is a steady, progressive, +and intelligent government, that will lead the way in the changes and +improvements which every class, at least the far greater majority, are +desirous of seeing carried out, but which their indolence and easy +habits prevent originating with themselves alone." + +"_Aide toi, et Dieu t'aidera_," says the French proverb. It is really a +pity that a proper dry-nurse cannot be procured for these quiet and +inoffensive people, who have been slaughtering each other, with small +intermission, for the last ten years, to say nothing of previous +instances of mansuetude. Unfortunately, however, they are as jealous of +being helped as, according to Captain Widdrington's own admission, they +are incompetent to help themselves. "_Es una lastima_," as they would +say; but really at this rate there seems no chance of their ever getting +their country into a prosperous, or even a decent, state. We fully agree +with Captain Widdrington in liking the Spanish character as a whole, in +appreciating its fine qualities, in rendering ample justice to that +courtesy of feeling and manner so agreeable to those who have +intercourse with Spaniards, and that may truly be called national, +seeing that it is found as commonly under the coarse _manta_ of the +muleteer as beneath the velvet-lined _capa_ of the high-born hidalgo; +but we have some small experience of Spain, and a more considerable one +of Spaniards, and we cannot for the life of us think them so tractable +and easy to guide into the right path, or so exceedingly averse to +bloodshed. "The truth is, that, excepting in cases of deadly feud, which +sometimes happen, in no country in the world is life more +secure."--(Vol. ii. p. 358.) We will not contradict the Captain, but it +has always appeared to us that human life is rated at a much lower value +in Spain than in any other civilized country we are acquainted with, and +that the natural consequence of that low valuation is the cool +indifference with which blood is there so frequently and abundantly +poured out upon the most trifling and insufficient grounds. + +At the end of a chapter on the church in Spain, we find a notice of Mr +Borrow's proceedings for the propagation of the Scriptures in the +Peninsula--proceedings which seem to have resulted in perfect failure. +"As to the object of the undertaking, it was not only a most complete +and entire failure, but of such a nature as entirely to defeat any +future attempt of the same kind." The meaning of this is clear, although +the sentence is of a curious turn. Further on, the Captain says--"It is +impossible not to regret, that the very large sums annually sent out of +the country, from the most pure and really religious and conscientious +motives, on this and other undertakings, producing equally little +result, were not devoted to the building or endowing of churches and +chapels in our own manufacturing districts, where they are so very much +needed." + +How can Captain Widdrington make such an observation as this latter one? +Surely he must be aware how much more interesting it is to provide for +the spiritual wants of people at a distance than for those of people in +our country. What missionary society, worthy of the name, would +undertake a church-building crusade into Lancashire or Yorkshire? It is +too near home, too commonplace. But let them discover some region at the +antipodes, inhabited by copper-coloured gentry with feathers upon their +heads and curtain rings through their noses, and _there_ is a worthy +field for the labours of the pious. In like manner, poor Spain, which +really might be allowed to set its temporal house a little in order, +before being expected to a depart from the faith that has been universal +in it since the expulsion of the Saracen, was deemed sufficiently +distant and dangerous to be interesting, and "the great London Caloro" +girded up his loins and departed thither. Of the peril he encountered, +the acquaintances he made, of how he galloped through the country on +silver-grey _burras--Anglice_, female donkeys--and dropped tracts in +public walks and concealed Testaments in ruins and other queer places, +where robbers _might_ go, _might_ find them, and _might_ be improved by +their perusal, has he not written a most marvellous and amusing account +for the benefit of generations present and to come? Notwithstanding, +however, his missionary avocations and Munchausenish tendencies, we have +a sneaking kindness for friend Borrow, having collected from his +writings that he is a fellow of considerable pluck and energy, of +adventurous spirit, with a sharp eye for a good horse, and who would, no +doubt, have made an excellent dragoon, had it pleased God to call him to +that way of life. But we must say, that his manner of spreading the +Scriptures in Spain, puts us considerably in mind of those peripatetic +advertisers, whose handbills, thrust _nolens volens_ into the fist of +the passer-by, are for the most part cast unread into the gutter. It +would be curious to calculate the proportion borne by those Testaments +that Mr Borrow succeeded in getting really circulated and read in Spain, +to the very large number which he acknowledges to have been confiscated, +burnt, stolen on the road, or otherwise lost. The expense of the mission +must have been very considerable, and the same funds might have been +employed in this country with tenfold advantage both to humanity and the +Christian religion. + +There is a certain class of writers, some of whom ought to know better, +who have lately taken up the cudgels upon the pseudo-philanthropic side +of the question, and have expended a vast deal of uncalled-for +indignation and maudlin sympathy upon the rich and poor of this +country--the former of whom they would make out to be the most selfish +and hard-hearted of created beings, and the latter the most amiable and +ill-treated. According to these writers, it would appear as if no man, +with less than seven children to provide for, and more than ten +shillings a-week to do it with, could be possessed of any one of the +Christian virtues. Charity and kindness of heart exist, they would have +us to believe, in an inverse ratio to income, and the _warmest_ men, in +city parlance, are invariably those of the coldest feelings. The sickly +cant of this style of writing in a country where charity, both public +and private, is so extensive and practical; and its probable ill effects +in rendering the poorer classes discontented, are too evident for it to +be necessary to dwell upon them. It would be far better if the writers +who go to such large expense of sympathetic ink, would change the +direction of their virtuous indignation, and try if they have sufficient +influence to put an end to this foreign tract and testament mongering, +whether its scene be in Spain or at a greater distance. + +Before concluding, Captain Widdrington alludes to a growing shyness +towards English travellers in some of the large southern towns, owing to +the indiscretions, exaggerations, and absurdities of certain +tour-writers. It is a lamentable fact that, now-a-days, every booby who +gets on board a steamer, and leaves England for a few weeks or months, +thinks himself entitled to perpetrate a book about what he sees and +hears. We would fain whisper to such persons, that mere locomotion never +qualified any body to write a book, even of travels; that some powers of +observation, and a certain correctness of judgment, and even some +previous acquaintance with the history and character of the nation they +visit, are also necessary; and if, after that, they still persisted in +their designs, we would beg of them to remember that light words are apt +to travel both far and fast; that some part of their lucubrations may +possibly reach the countries they refer to--perhaps through the +instrumentality of the trunkmakers; and that in any case they should +avoid giving unfavourable details, even if true, of the private life and +habits of people who have shown them kindness and hospitality--details, +the data of which, if investigated, would be found, in most instances, +to be absurd and ridiculously insufficient. Some travelling bagman, or +half-fledged subaltern on his way to the Mediterranean, gets ashore at +Cadiz or Gibraltar, takes a run through three or four of the principal +Andalusian cities, perhaps has a letter of introduction, or else meets +at a _fonda_ with some good-natured Spaniard, who compassionates his +"goose look" and evident helplessness, invites him to his house, and +introduces him at a tertulia or two. The gosling picks up a few Spanish +sentences, hears a few anecdotes from some lying valet-de-place, who has +attached himself to the Senor Ingles, and leaves the country after a few +weeks', perhaps days', residence, considerably bewildered by all the +novelties he has seen, but without the slightest real addition to his +previous knowledge of Spanish character and customs. Six months +afterwards, the new work on Spain by Ensign Epaulet or Tedious Twaddle, +Esquire, issues forth, borne on a mighty blast of puffery, from the +laboratory of some fashionable publisher. + + "Nothing can be more harmless," says Captain Widdrington, "than + this mode of making a livelihood, provided their effusions are kept + within the bounds of moderation and charity, as well as confined to + such views as a rapid transit enables any one unacquainted with the + language and the people to make during a few hours' sojourn in the + place. This rule, however, has been broken in upon; and as it + unluckily happens that the females are generally a favourite + subject for the tirades of that class of writers, their random + assertions on subjects they had no means of investigating, and most + assuredly did not speak of from their own knowledge and experience, + have made both the Gaditanas and Malaguanas, and their relations + and countrymen, extremely irate." + +And with good reason, too, say we. It is not the first time we have +heard this sort of thing complained of. The practice is one that cannot +be too severely reprehended and we shall look out for such offenders in +future. + +There are a number of anecdotes and pleasant bits scattered through +Captain Widdrington's work, which is a happy blending of the amusing and +instructive, neither predominating to the injury of the other; and we +take leave both of the book and its accomplished author, with much +respect and gratitude. Before doing so, however, and having said much in +commendation, Captain Widdrington will perhaps permit us to offer him a +slight and well-intended hint in the contrary sense. When next the +truant-fit comes over him, and he favours us with the result of his +researches and observations in Spain or any other country--and we hope +it will not be long before he does thus favour us--may he be able to +devote rather more time to the mere authorship part of the work, to the +correction and chastening of his style. His sentences are often terribly +piled up and intricate, and some are really illogical in their +construction, to the extent of being difficult of comprehension. That +kind of negligence in an author, considerably diminishes the reader's +enjoyment even of the most interesting book. Captain Widdrington should +bear in mind, that however sterling his matter may be, some attention to +manner is also expected, and that the appearance, at least, of the most +valuable gems is deteriorated by an inelegant setting. Nevertheless, in +this book-making age, it may be considered highly creditable to an +author when faults of form and not of substance are the greatest with +which he can be reproached. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: _Spain and Spaniards in 1843._ By Captain S. E. +WIDDRINGTON, R.N., K.T.S., F.R.S., F.G.S. _A Journey across the Desert +from Ceylon to Marseilles, &c. &c._ By Major and Mrs GRIFFITH. 2 vols. +_Facts in Mesmerism, with Reasons for a Dispassionate Enquiry into it._ +By the Rev. CHAUNCY HARE TOWNSHEND, A.M.] + + + + +THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE. + +A TALE ABRIDGED FROM TIECK. + + +CHAPTER I. + +In the month of February, at the close of an exceedingly severe winter, +a singular tumult took place in the town of ----, the origin, progress, +and final pacification of which, gave rise to the most strange and +contradictory reports. Where every one _will_ relate, and no one knows +any thing of the matter, it is natural that the simplest circumstance +should become invested with an air of the marvellous. + +It was in one of the narrowest streets of the populous suburbs of the +town that this mysterious event took place. According to some, a traitor +or desperate rebel had been discovered and captured by the police; +others said that an atheist, who had secretly conspired with others to +tear up Christianity by the roots, had, after an obstinate resistance, +surrendered himself to the authorities, and was now lying in prison, +there to learn better principles. All agreed that the criminal had +defended himself in the most desperate manner. One man, who was a +profound politician and an execrable shoemaker, laboured to convince his +neighbours that the prisoner was at the head of a hundred secret +societies, which had their ramifications over France, Germany, Spain, +Italy, and the far East; and that, in fact, a monstrous insurrection was +on the very point of breaking out in the furthest parts of India, which, +like the cholera, would spread over Europe, and set in flame all its +combustible material. + +Thus much was certain, that a tumult had arisen in a small house in the +suburbs; that the police had been called in; that the populace had made +an uproar; that some eminent personage was seen amongst the crowd; and +that, after a little time, all became still again, without any body +being the wiser. In the house itself certain devastations had +undoubtedly been made, which some explained one way, some another, +according to their humours: the carpenters and joiners were busy in +repairing them. + +In this house had lived a man of whom no one in the neighbourhood knew +any thing. Whether he was a poet or a politician, a native or a +foreigner, no one could divine. The wisest were at fault. This only was +certain, that the unknown lived in a most quiet and retired manner; he +was seen on none of the promenades, nor in any public place; he was +young, was pronounced to be handsome, and his newly married bride, who +shared his solitude with him, was described as being miraculously +beautiful. + +It was about Christmas time when this young couple were sitting together +over the stove in their little apartment. "Of a truth," said the young +man, "how all this is to end is a riddle. All our resources seem now +exhausted." + +"Alas! yes, Henry," answered the beautiful Clara, to whom this was +addressed; "but whilst you, dearest, are still cheerful, I cannot feel +myself unfortunate." + +"Fortunate and unfortunate," replied Henry, "shall be with us but empty +words. The day when you quitted your father's house, and for my sake +abandoned all other considerations, decided our fortune for all our +lifetime to come. To live and to love, this is our watchword; in what +manner exactly we live shall be indifferent." + +"Indeed we are deprived of almost every thing," said the young wife, +"except each other. But I knew you were not rich, and you knew when I +left my father's house I could bring nothing with me; so love and +poverty came to us hand in hand. And now this little chamber, which we +never quit, and the talking together, and the looking into the eyes we +love--this is all our life." + +"Right! right!" said Henry, and springing up from his seat, he embraced +his charming companion with renewed fondness. "Here are we like Adam and +Eve in their paradise; and I think," he added, looking round the +apartment as he spoke, "no angel will come down from heaven for the +express purpose of driving us out of it." + +"If it were not," said Clara, a little dejected, "that the wood begins +to fail--and this winter is certainly the severest I ever knew"---- + +"Certainly," said Henry; "some fuel must somewhere be found. It is +inconceivable that we should be allowed to freeze from without, with all +this warm love within us. Quite impossible! I cannot help laughing +amidst it all, with a sense of ridiculous embarrassment, at the idea +that so simple a thing as a little coin cannot be procured." + +Clara smiled. "If only," said she, "we had some superfluous furniture, +any brass pans or copper kettles." + +"Ah! if only we were millionaires!" interrupted Henry gaily; "then we +could get wood in abundance, and perhaps," he added, looking slyly over +to the stove where some bread-soup was in preparation for their very +temperate repast, "some better fare for dinner. But," he continued in a +tone of humorous banter, which he frequently adopted, and pushing back +his chair a few paces as he spoke, "while you superintend the household +concerns, and give the necessary orders to the cook, I will withdraw +into my study. Now, what would I not write if only pen, paper, and ink, +were to be got at; and how studiously would I read if but a book could +be procured." + +"You must _think_, dearest," said Clara waggishly; "the stock of +thoughts, it is to be hoped, is not quite so low as our wood." + +"Dearest wife," he replied, "the cares of our establishment demand all +your attention; let me proceed undisturbed with my studies. I will +read," he continued, speaking as if to himself, "the journal I formerly +kept in our palmy days of stationery. And it strikes me that it would be +particularly profitable to study it backwards; to begin at the end, and +so lay a proper foundation for a full comprehension of the beginning. +All true wisdom goes in a circle, and is typified by a serpent biting at +its own tail. We will begin this time at the tail." + +Opening his journal at the last page, he began to read in the same +subdued tone--"They tell a tale of a raving criminal, who, being +condemned to death by starvation, ate himself gradually up. This is, in +fact, the story of life, and of all of us. In some there remains nothing +but the stomach and the mouth. With us there is left the soul, which is +expressly said to be inconsumable. So far as externals are concerned, I +have certainly flayed and devoured myself. That I should, up to this +day, have retained a certain dress-coat--I, who never go out--was +perfectly ridiculous. Mem.--Next birthday of my wife to appear before +her in a waist-coat and shirt sleeves, as it would be highly indecorous +to present myself to a person of her rank in a frock-coat somewhat +overworn." + +Here he came to the end both of the page and the book. Turning back, he +commenced at the page immediately preceding--"One can live very well +without napkins. And now I think of it, what are these miserable napkins +but a niggardly expedient for saving the table-cloth? Nay, what is this +table-cloth itself but a base economy for sparing the table! I pronounce +them both to be mere superfluities; both shall be sold, that we may eat +off the table in the manner of the patriarchs. We will live in the +fashion of our magnanimous ancestors. It is in no cynical, +Diogenes-humour that I banish them from the house, but from a resolution +not to follow the example of this poor-spirited age, which encumbers +itself with extravagant superfluities out of a sordid economy." + +"Exactly so," said Clara laughing. "Meanwhile, on the proceeds of those +and other superfluities, I invite you to a repast which, at all events, +shall not savour of extravagance." + +So saying, they sat down to their bread-soup. He who had seen them, +whatever he might have thought of the dinner, would have envied those +who partook of it, so cheerful were they, so joyful, so full of freaks +and frolics, over their simple provender. When the bread-soup was +dispatched, Clara slyly brought from the stove a covered plate, and set +before her astonished husband--a reserve of potatoes! "Long live thou +second Sir Walter Raleigh!" cried Henry. Whereupon they drank to each +other out of the pure element, and _hob-nobbed_ with such glee, that +Clara looked anxiously the next moment at the glasses, to see that they +had not cracked them in their enthusiasm. + +The dinner concluded, they drew their chairs, by way of variety, up to +the solitary window of their apartment, and amused themselves with +looking at the fantastic filigree work with which the frost had +decorated the inside of the glass. + +"My aunt used to maintain," said Clara, "that the room was warmer with +this ice on the window than when the glass was clear." + +"Possibly!" replied Henry. "But on the strength of this faith I would +not dispense with the fire." + +"How wonderfully various," said Clara, "are these ice-flowers! Is it not +strange, one seems to have seen them all in reality, yet cannot give a +name to a single one of them? And look how one grows over the other, and +how the noble leaves seem to expand, even as we speak of them." + +"It is your sweet breath, my dear, that is calling up these ghosts and +spirits of departed flowers," said Henry. "I imagine that some invisible +genius is reading all thy gentle and loving fancies, and pictures them +forth, as they arise, in these flower-phantoms; so that, by looking at +this glass, I know, even while you are silent, that your thoughts are +full of love--that they are dwelling upon me." + +A fond kiss was the answer and the reward of this pretty speech. + +Henry took up his journal, and beginning at the ante-penultimate page, +read aloud:--"To-day--Sold to that old miser of a bookseller, my rare +copy of Chaucer, the costly edition of Caxton. My friend, the dear, +noble Andreas Vandelmeer, made me a present of it on my birthday, when +we were at the university together. He had written to London for it +himself: paid an enormous price for it; and then had it bound, after his +own taste, in rich Gothic style. The old hunks of a bookseller will, no +doubt, send it back to London, and will get for it tenfold what he has +given me. I ought, at least, to have cut out the leaf where the +circumstance of this gift is recorded; and here I have written some +lamentable lines, signed with my present name and address. This is +vexatious. Parting with this book almost persuades me that something +like want is pressing on us; for, without doubt, it was the most +precious thing I possessed, and the memorial of my dearest and my only +friend. Oh, Andreas Vandelmeer! art thou still living? Where art thou? +And dost thou still think of me?" + +"I saw your pain," said Clara, as he concluded, "when you sold that +book; but this friend of your youth--you have never described him to +me." + +"He was in person," replied Henry, "somewhat resembling myself--rather +older and more staid. We knew each other as boys at school. I might say +he almost persecuted me with his love, so passionately did he press it +on me. He was ever complaining that my friendship was too cold. Rich as +he was, and tenderly as he had been brought up, no indulgence had made +him selfish. On leaving the university, he determined on going to India, +that distant land of wonder having fascinated his ardent imagination. +There was then quite a storm of entreaties and supplications that I +should accompany him. He assured me that I should make my fortune there, +as his own forefathers had in fact done. But my mother died about this +time, and my friends, moreover, procured for me a position in the +diplomatic body. He persuaded me, at least, to entrust to him the small +fortune I had inherited from my mother, that he might employ it +advantageously for me; a request which I have always suspected was made +in order that he might have, some future time, a pretext and disguise +for his generosity. We took leave of each other, and I repaired, in the +suite of my ambassador, to the town where your father resided--and +where"---- + +"The history becomes tolerably well known to us both. But this noble +Andreas--did you never hear of him again?" + +"I received two letters," answered Henry, "from that remote quarter of +the world. After which I heard, but through no authentic source, that he +died of the cholera. So far as fortune was concerned, I was left as you +see, entirely dependent on myself. Still, I enjoyed the favour of my +ambassador--was not unpopular at my court--could reckon on some powerful +friends;--but all this has disappeared." + +"All this, alas!" said Clara, "you have sacrificed for me. And I also am +a fugitive from home." + +"Then love must supply all. And so it has, and so it will. Has not our +honeymoon, as they vulgarly call it, lasted nearly a year?" + +"It shall last for ever!" said Clara. Then after a pause, which was +filled up as lovers' pauses usually are, she added. "But the worst blow +of all was the loss of your own book;--that dear poetry you had written. +If we had but kept a copy of it, we might have passed many hours of +these winter evenings in reading it. But then," she added, with a smile +and a sigh at the same time, "we should have wanted a candle." + +"We talk--we gossip," said Henry, "which is much better. I hear the +sweet tones of your voice; you sing me a song, or you break suddenly out +into that heavenly laugh of yours. What is there not in that musical, +jubilee laugh? When I hear it, angel mine, I am not only delighted, I +muse, I meditate, I am rapt. How much of character is there in a laugh! +You know no man till you have heard him laugh--till you know when and +how he will laugh. There are occasions--there are humours when a man +with whom we have been long familiar, shall quite startle and repel us, +by breaking out into a laugh which comes manifestly right from his +heart, and which yet we had never heard before. Even in fair ladies with +whom I have been much pleased, I have remarked the same thing. As in +many a heart a sweet angel slumbers unseen till some happy moment +awakens it, so there sleeps often in gracious and amiable characters, +deep in the background, a quite vulgar spirit, which starts into life +when something rudely comical penetrates into the less frequented +chambers of the mind. Our instinct teaches us that in that being there +lies something we must take heed of. + +"As to that young and thoughtless publisher," continued Henry, "who +became bankrupt and ran off with my glorious manuscript, he, no doubt, +did us good service; for how easily might my intercourse with him, while +the book was being printed, have led to our discovery? Your father has +not yet, be assured, relinquished his pursuit of us--my passport would +have been examined again with severer scrutiny--something, no doubt, +would have led to the suspicion that the name I bear is assumed. We +should have been separated. So, angel mine, we are happy as we are--most +happy!" + +It had now grown dark, and the fire was burned out; a candle to talk by +would have been certainly superfluous: so they retired early to their +sleeping apartment. Here they could continue their chat in the dark, +quite heedless of the heavy fall of snow that was encumbering their +windows. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Next morning, at approach of dawn, Clara hastened up to run to the +stove, to awake the sparks in the ashes. Henry soon came to her +assistance, and they laughed like children, as, with all their efforts, +the flame would _not_ come. At last, with much puffing and blowing, the +shavings kindled, and slips of wood were most artistically laid on so as +to heat the little stove without any waste of the precious store. "You +see, Henry dear," said Clara, "there is hardly enough for to-morrow, and +then"---- + +"A fresh supply must be had," said her husband, in a tone as if this +matter of supply was the simplest thing in the world; whereas he well +knew, that whatever stock of money remained to them, must be reserved +for the still more essential article of food. After breakfast, he again +took up his journal. "How I long to come to that page which records how +you and I, dearest, ran away with one another." + +"O Heaven!" cried Clara, "how strange, how unexpected as that eventful +moment! For some days my father had shown a certain ill-humour towards +me, and had spoken in a quite unusual manner. He had before expressed +his surprise at your frequent visits; now he did not name you, but +talked _at_ you, and spoke continually of young men who refused to know +their own position. If I was silent on these occasions he was angry; and +if I spoke it was still worse: he grew more and more bitter. One +morning, just as I was going out in the carriage to pay some visits, my +faithful maid ran down the steps after me, and, under pretence of +adjusting my dress, whispered into my ear that all was discovered--that +my desk had been broken open, and your letters found--and that, in a few +hours, I was to be sent off a prisoner to an aunt in a distant part of +the country. How sudden was my resolution! I had not ridden far before I +alighted from the carriage, under pretence of buying something at a +trinket-shop. I sent the coachman and servant away, bidding them return +for me in at hour, and then"---- + +"And then," interrupted Henry, "how delighted was I, how almost +terrified with joy, to see you suddenly enter my apartments! I had just +returned from my ambassador, and had by good chance some blank passports +with me; I filled one up with the first name that occurred; and then, +without further preparation, we entered a hired carriage, crossed the +borders, were married, and were happy." + +This animated dialogue was interrupted by the entrance of an old woman, +by name Christina, who had formerly been Clara's nurse. In their flight +they had entered into her little cottage as a place where they could +safely stop to rest themselves, and the faithful old dame had entreated +them to take her with them. She now lived in a small room below, in the +same house, and entirely supported herself by going out to work amongst +the neighbors. She entered the room at present to mention that she +should not sleep that night in her own apartment below; but that, +nevertheless, she should return next morning early enough to make their +usual daily purchases for them. Clara followed her out of the room to +speak with her apart. Henry, in her absence, as if relieved from the +necessity of supporting his spirits, or deprived of the power which +sustained them, sunk his head upon the table, and burst into tears. + +"Why cannot I," he muttered to himself, "work with my hands as this +poor woman does? I have still health and strength. But no--I dare +not--she would then, for the first time, feel the misery of our +position; she would torture herself to work also; besides, we should be +discovered and separated--and, come what may, while we can yet live, we +are happy." + +Clara returned in excellent spirits. They sat down to their frugal and +cheerful meal, to which some additions had been made by the obstinate +kindness of old Christina. "I could not have the heart to refuse her," +said Clara. "Now, if only wood were not wanting, all would be well." + +The next morning Clara slept longer than usual. She was surprised, on +waking, to see that the day had dawned, and still more to find that her +husband had left her side. Her astonishment was further increased when +she heard, in the next room, a crashing and grating noise, as of one +sawing through an obstinate piece of timber. She got up as speedily as +possible, to ascertain the cause of these unusual events. + +"Henry," she cried, as she entered the room, "what are you about there?" + +"Sawing wood, my dear," he replied, as he looked up panting from his +labours. + +"But how in the world did you come by that saw, and this famous piece of +wood?" + +"I remembered," answered Henry, "having seen in the loft above us, soon +after we came here, in one of my voyages of discovery, a saw and a +hatchet, belonging, I suppose, to some previous tenant of our apartment, +or perhaps to our old landlord. So much for these brave tools. As to +this noble piece of wood, it was till this morning the banister to our +staircase. Observe what solid, substantial men our ancestors were! What +a broad, magnificent piece of oak! This will make a quite different sort +of fire from your deal shavings and slips of fir." + +"But," cried Clara, "the damage to the house!" + +"No one comes to see us," said Henry. "We know these steps, and indeed +seldom or never go down them. The old Christina is the only person who +will miss it, and I will say to her very gravely--Look you, old lady, do +you think that a noble oak of the forest is to be hewn down, and then +planed and polished by carpenters and joiners, merely that you may come +up and down these steps a little more easily? No, no, such a magnificent +banister is a most palpable superfluity." + +"Since it is done," said Clara, "I will at least take my share in this +new species of woodcraft." + +So they laid the beam, which filled the apartment, on two chairs, and +first they sawed with united efforts at the middle to make it the more +manageable. It was hard work, for the oak was tough, and the saw was +old, and the workmen were more willing than skilful; but at length it +came in two with a crash. + +"Well," said Clara, as she looked up, and threw her ringlets aside, her +face glowing with the unwonted exercise, "this work has one advantage at +least; we want no fire this morning to warm us." + +After sawing off several square blocks, Henry set to work with his +hatchet to cleave them into pieces fit for the stove. It was fortunate +that, during this operation, which made the walls of their little +dwelling re-echo, their landlord was absent. Nor were the neighbours +likely to be much surprised at the noise, as many handicraftsmen +inhabited that locality. + +On this eventful day breakfast had been forgotten; dinner and breakfast +were consolidated into one meal. This being dispatched with their usual +cheerfulness, they retired to their seat by the window. To-day there was +no frost upon the glass; and the sky--all that could be seen of it--was +clear as crystal. It was a curiously simple prospect which this window +presented. Underneath them, over the ground-floor of the house, had been +constructed--for what reason it would not be easy to say--a tiled roof, +which projected in such a manner as completely to hide the narrow street +from their view. In front stretched the long low roof of a building, +which seemed to be used as a warehouse; and on both sides they were +hemmed in by the blank projecting walls and the tall chimneys of larger +houses--so that certain masses of brickwork, a long roof, and a fragment +of the open sky, was all that the eye could possibly command. This +complete isolation suited the lovers very well; for, besides that it +effectually concealed them from the discovery of their pursuers, it +permitted them to stand at the window, and talk and caress, without the +restraint occasioned by envious spectators. When they first occupied the +apartment, if they heard an unusual noise out of doors, they naturally +ran to the window to look down into the street; and it was not till +after many fruitless experiments that they learned to sit quiet on such +occasions. It was quite an event if a cat was seen stealthily making its +way over the long sloping roof in front of them. In the summer, when the +sparrows built their nests in the tall chimneys on either side, and were +perpetually flying to and fro, twittering, caressing, quarrelling--this +was quite a society. When a chimney-sweeper once thrust out his black +face from one of these chimneys, and shouted aloud to testify the +accomplishment of his ascent, it was an event that brought a shriek of +surprise from Clara. + +Thus passed the days, and the pair were happy as kings, though they were +living very like beggars. Very singular was their power of abstraction +from the future, their entire satisfaction with the present. Clara, it +is true, cast some anxious thoughts after the wood; but Henry brought in +every morning the necessary supply: there was no symptoms of failure. +She thought indeed, of late, that the grain of the wood seemed altered; +but it burned as well as ever. + +"Where," said Clara, one morning, "where is our faithful Christina? I +have not seen her for many a day. You rise in the morning before I can +get up--you take in the bread and the water-jug--I never see her. Why +does she not come up? Is she ill?" + +"No," said Henry, with a slight embarrassment of manner, which his wife +did not fail to detect. + +"Ah! you conceal something from me" she cried. "I will go down directly +and see what is the matter with her." + +"It is so long since you descended these steps, and there is no +banister--you will fall." + +"No, no, I know the steps--I could find them in the dark." + +"Those steps," said Henry, with a mock solemnity of manner--"those steps +will you never tread again!" + +"Oh, there is something you conceal from me!" exclaimed Clara. "Say what +you will, I will go down and see Christina." + +She turned quickly round and opened the door, but Henry clasped her as +quickly in his arms. + +"My dear," cried he, "will you break your neck?" + +The secret was at once disclosed. They stepped together to the +landing-place. There were no longer any stairs to be seen. Clara clasped +her little hands as she looked first down into the dark precipice below, +and then at her husband, who maintained the most comical gravity in the +world. She then ran back to the stove, snatched up one of the pieces of +wood, and, looking at it closely, said--"Ah, now I see why the grain was +so different! So, then, we have burned up the stairs?" + +"So it seems," answered Henry, quite calmly. "I hardly know why I kept +this secret from you--perhaps that you might not be distressed by any +superfluous scruples. Now that you know it, I am sure you will find it +quite reasonable." + +"But Christina?" + +"Oh, she is quite well! In the morning I let her down a cord, to which +she fastens her little basket. This I draw up, and afterwards the +water-jug. Our housekeeping proceeds in the most orderly fashion in the +world. When the banister was at an end, it struck me that one half at +least of the steps of our staircase might be dispensed with; it was but +to step a little higher, as one is forced to do in many houses. With the +help of Christina, who entered into this philosophical view of the +matter, I broke off the first, third, fifth, and so forth. When one half +of the steps was consumed, the other half was also condemned as +superfluous--for what do we want with stairs, we who never go out?" + +"But the landlord?" + +"He will not return till Easter. Meanwhile the weather will be getting +milder, and there are still some old doors and planks up above, which I +shall pronounce altogether superfluous. Therefore warm thee, dearest +Clara, without any care for the future." + +Things, however, did not quite fall out as expected. On the afternoon of +that very same day, a carriage was heard to drive up to the little +house. They heard the rattling of the wheels, the stopping of the +vehicle, the descent of the passengers. It was in vain to put their +heads out of window, they could see nothing there. But they heard the +sound of unpacking, then the greeting of neighbours--it was evident, +beyond a doubt, that their dreaded landlord had returned home much +sooner than he ought. The heavy tread of the gouty gentleman now +resounded in the passage--the crisis was at hand. Henry stood at the +half-open door, listening. Clara sat within, regarding him with a +questioning look. + +"I must go up," the landlord was now heard to say; "I must go up, and +see after my lodgers. I hope they are as cheerful as ever, and the young +wife as pretty." + +There was a pause. The old man was groping about in the dark. + +"How is this?" he muttered to himself. "Don't know my own house! Not +here--not there! Ulric! Ulric! help here!" + +Ulric, his servant and factotum, came to his assistance. + +"Help me up these stairs," said the landlord. "I am blinded--bewitched! +I cannot find the steps, and yet they were broad enough!" + +"Herr Emmerich," said the old and somewhat surly domestic, "you are a +little giddy from travelling." + +"An hypothesis," whispered Henry, turning to his wife, "which unhappily +will not hold." + +"Zounds!" cried Ulric, who had run his head against the wall, "I have +lost my wits too!" + +"I am groping right and left," said the landlord, "and all round, and up +above. I think the devil has taken the stairs!" + +"Another hypothesis," whispered Henry, "and a very bold one." + +Meanwhile the more sensible domestic had at once run for a light. This +he now returned with, and, holding it up in his sturdy fist, he +illuminated the quite empty space. + +"Ten thousand devils!" exclaimed the landlord, as he gazed around and +above him with astonishment. "This is the strangest business! Herr +Brand! Herr Brand! Is any one up there?" + +It was of no use to deny himself. Henry stepped out, bent over the +landing, and saw, by the uncertain flicker of the light, the portly form +of his landlord. + +"Ah, my worthy friend, Herr Emmerich!" he called out in the blandest +manner imaginable, "you are most welcome. It speaks well for the gout +that you have returned so much earlier than your appointed time. I am +delighted to see you looking so well." + +"Your obedient servant," answered the other; "but that is not the +question. What has become of my stairs?" + +"Stairs! were there any stairs here?" said Henry. "Indeed, my friend, I +go out so seldom, or rather not at all, that I take no notice of any +thing out of my own chamber. I study, I work--I concern myself about +little else." + +"Herr Brand," said the landlord, half choking with rage, "we must speak +about this in another tone! You are the only lodger. You shall give an +account before a court of justice"-- + +"Be not overwroth," replied Henry. "If you really contemplate legal +proceedings, I think I can be of use to you; for, now I think of it, I +perfectly remember that there _were_ stairs here, and have a vivid +recollection of having, in your absence, used them." + +"Used them!" cried the old man, stamping with his feet; "and how used +them? You have destroyed them--you have destroyed the house." + +"Nay, do not exaggerate, Herr Emmerich. I cannot ask you to walk +up-stairs, or you might see that these rooms we inhabit are in a perfect +state of preservation. As to this ladder, which was but an asses' bridge +for tedious visitors and bad men, I removed it with great difficulty, as +being superfluous." + +"But these steps," cried Emmerich, "with their noble banister, these +two-and-twenty broad, strong oaken steps, were an integral part of my +house. Old as I am, I never heard of a lodger who dealt as he pleased +with the stairs of a house." + +"Be patient," said Henry, "and you shall hear the real connexion of +events. The post failed in bringing our necessary remittances; the +winter was unusually severe; all ordinary means of procuring fuel were +wanting; I had recourse to this sort of forced loan. At the same time I +did not think, respected sir, that you would return before the warm +summer weather." + +"Nonsense!" said the landlord. "Summer weather! Do you think that these +my stairs will sprout out again, like asparagus, when the summer comes?" + +"Really," said Henry, "I am not sufficiently acquainted with the growth +and habits of the stair-plant to determine." + +"Ulric!" cried the wrathful landlord, "run for the police. You shall +find this no jesting matter." + +The police arrived. The inspector was scandalized at the outrage which +had been committed, and summoned the delinquent to surrender. + +"Never!" said Henry. "An Englishman says well that his house is his +castle; and mine is a castle with the drawbridge up." + +"There is an easy remedy for that," said the officer, who thereupon +called for a ladder, and gave command to his men to mount, to bind the +criminal with cords, and bring him down to his condign punishment. + +The house was now filled with the people of the neighbourhood. Men, +women, and children had been attracted to the spot, and a crowd of +curious spectators, assembled in the street, made their comments upon +the business. Clara had seated herself near the window, not a little +embarrassed; but as she saw that her husband still retained his +accustomed cheerfulness, she also kept her self-possession--not, +however, without much wondering how it would all end. Henry came in for +a moment to hearten her, and also to fetch something from the room. + +"We are shut up, my dear," said he, "like our famous Goetz in his +Taxthausen. This obstinate trumpeter has summoned me to surrender at +mercy, and I will now answer him in the manner of our great model." + +Clara smiled. + +"Your fate is my fate," she said, and added to herself in a low voice: +"I think, if my father saw us now, he would forgive all." + +Henry again stepped out upon the landing, and seeing they were verily +bringing in a ladder, called to them in a solemn tone--"Gentlemen, +bethink you what you do. I have been prepared, weeks ago, for every +thing--for the very worst that can happen. I will not be taken prisoner, +but intend to defend myself to the last drop of my blood. Here do I +bring two blunderbusses loaded with ball, and this old cannon, a fearful +piece of ordnance, full to the throat with every destructive ingredient. +I have in this chamber powder and ball, cartridges, lead, all things +necessary to sustain the war; whilst my brave wife, who has been +accustomed to fire-arms, will load the pieces as I fire them. Advance, +therefore, if you wish blood to flow." + +Henry had laid two sticks and an old boot upon the floor. + +The leader of the police, who could distinguish nothing in the dark, +beckoned to his men to stand back. + +"Better," said he to Herr Emmerich, "that we starve out this formidable +rebel." + +"Starve, indeed!" said Henry: "we are provided for months to come with +all sorts of dried fruits--plums, pears, apples, biscuits. The winter is +nearly passed, but should fuel fail us, there is still in the roof above +much superfluous timber." + +"Oh, hear the heathen!" cried Emmerich in agony. "First he breaks to +pieces the bottom of my house, and then he threatens to unroof it." + +"It is beyond all example," said the officer. + +Many of the spectators, however, were secretly pleased at the distress +of the avaricious landlord. Some suggested the calling in of the +military, with their guns. + +"For Heaven's sake, no!" cried Emmerich; "the house will then be utterly +destroyed." + +"You are quite right," said Henry. "And have you forgotten what for many +years every newspaper has been repeating to us, that the first +cannon-shot, let it fall where it may, will set all Europe in blaze?" + +"He is a demagogue, a carbonaro," said the officer. "Who knows what +confederates he may have even in this crowd which surrounds us?" + +The alarm of the officer seemed, for a moment, to be justified, for a +shout was now heard from some of the populace who were collected in the +street. Emmerich and the officer turned round to enquire into the +meaning of this new demonstration. Henry took the opportunity to whisper +a word to his young wife. + +"Be of good cheer," he said; "we gain time. We shall be able to +capitulate. Perhaps even a Sickingen may come to our rescue." + +The shout of the mob had been occasioned by the appearance of a +brilliant equipage, which made its way slowly through the thronged and +narrow street. The footmen were clad in splendid livery, and a coachman, +covered with lace, drove four prancing steeds. The mob might be excused +for shouting "The king! The king!" The carriage stopped before the door +of the house which was now become the great point of attraction, and a +nobleman descended, elegantly attired and decorated with orders and +crosses. + +"Does a certain Herr Brand live here?" enquired the illustrious +stranger; "and what means all this uproar?" + +Hereupon fifty different voices made answer with as many different +accounts. The landlord, stepping forward, pointed to the dilapidated +condition of the house, and explained the real state of affairs. The +stranger continued to advance into the hall, and called with a loud +voice, "Does Herr Brand live here?" + +"Yes," replied Henry from above; "but who is this that asks?" + +"The ladder here!" cried the stranger. + +"No one ascends to this place!" said Henry. + +"Not if he brings back the Chaucer, the edition of Caxton?" + +"O Heaven! the good angel may ascend!" and immediately ran back to Clara +to communicate the joyful news. "Our Sickingen is verily come!" he +exclaimed. Tears of joy were starting to his eyes. + +A few words from the stranger, addressed to the landlord and the +officer, produced a sudden calm. The ladder was raised, and Henry, in a +moment, was in the arms of his old friend Andreas Vandelmeer! All was +now joy and congratulation in the little apartment, as Henry introduced +to his friend his dear and beautiful wife. The first greetings passed, +Vandelmeer informed them that the small fortune which Henry had +entrusted to his care had increased and multiplied itself, and that he +might now consider himself a rich man. Vandelmeer, on his return from +India, had landed at the port of London. There it had occurred to him to +procure some antiquarian present for his friend, like that which he had +formerly given him. Entering the bookseller's where his previous +purchase had been made, he saw a Chaucer, which attracted his attention +from its similarity to the one he had procured for his friend. It was, +in fact, the same. It had found its way back to its original owner. On +opening it, he found some melancholy lines written on the fly-leaf, and +signed with his present name and address. He immediately repurchased the +book, and hastened to the discovery, and, as it proved, the rescue of +his friend. + +To complete the happiness of all parties, he was able to inform them +that the father of Clara had laid aside his anger, and was desirous of +discovering his daughter only that he might receive and forgive her. +What need to say more? Even the landlord was content, and had reason to +congratulate himself on the devastation committed on his staircase. + + + + +THE OVERLAND PASSAGE. + + +Our intercourse with India has become so important within these few +years, and the rapid transit by the isthmus of Suez has become so +favourite a passage, that the public naturally feel an extreme curiosity +relative to every circumstance of the route. The whole is a splendid +novelty, sufficiently strange to retain some portion of the old wonder +which belongs to all things Arabian; sufficiently wild to supply us with +the scenes and adventures of barbarism; and yet sufficiently brought +within the sphere of European interests, to combine with the romance of +the wilderness, at once Oriental pomp and the powers and utilities of +civilized and Christian society. The contrast is of the most exciting +kind:--we have the Bedouin, with his lance and desert home, hovering +round the European carriage, but now guarding what his fathers would +have plundered; the caravan with all its camels, turbaned merchants, and +dashing cavalry, moving along the river's bank, on whose waters the +steam-boat is rushing; the many-coloured and many-named tribes of the +South, meeting the men of every European nation in the streets where the +haughty Osmanli was once master. The buildings offer scarcely a less +singular contrast:--the lofty, prison-like, close casemented fronts of +the huge Mahometan dwellings, frowning in grim repose upon the spruce +shops and glittering hotels of the French and Italian trader and +tavern-keeper; and though last, most memorable of all--the old Pasha, +the only man in existence who has given a new being to a people; the +true regenerator of his country, or rather the creator of a nation out +of one of the most abject, exhausted, and helpless races of mankind. +Egypt, the slave of the stranger for a thousand years, trampled on by +Saracen, Turk, Mameluke, and Frenchman; but by the enterprise and +intelligence of this extraordinary individual, suddenly raised to an +independent rank, and actually possessing a most influential interest in +the eyes of Europe and Asia. + +The route of the travellers begins with Ceylon. Ceylon is a fine +picturesque island, very fertile, strikingly placed for commerce, and +containing a tolerably intelligent population. Yet we do not seem to +have made much of its advantages hitherto; Singapore and even Hong-Kong +are likely to throw it into eclipse; and the chief benefit of its +possession is in keeping away foreign powers from too near an inspection +of our settlements in India. But its shores have the richness of +vegetation which belongs to the tropics, and the variety of aspect which +is so often found in the Asiatic islands. The Major and his wife +embarked on board the steamer "The India," in May 1844. The view from +the Point de Galle is striking. The town is shaded by trees, which give +it the look of richness and freshness that contributes such a charm to +the Oriental landscape. On the left of the bay is a headland clothed +with tropic vegetation. In front are two islands, giving variety to the +bay. Behind is the esplanade, shut in by hills covered with cocoa-nut +trees. At the foot of those hills is the native town and bridge, also +shaded by trees. Crowds of canoes, of various shapes and colours, moored +along the shore, complete the scene. + +The passengers were discontented with the India. They never saw any +thing like the dirt of the ship. The coal-dust penetrated into every +thing. It was in vain to sigh for a clean face and hands, for they were +unattainable. This must be true; yet it passes our comprehension. We +cannot understand why coal-dust should make its appearance at all for +the affliction of the passengers. It certainly blackens no one in our +European steamers. Its business is in the engine-room, and we never +heard of its making its _entree_ into either the saloon or the cabin. +The India is complained of as being very ill adapted for the service, as +unwieldy, and inadequate to face the south-west monsoon. Yet the vessel +was handsomely decorated: the saloon was profusely ornamented with +gilding, cornices, and mirrors; the tables were richly veneered, and the +furniture was of morocco leather. All this exhibits no want of +liberality on the part of the proprietors; but a much heavier charge is +laid on the carelessness which allowed this handsome vessel to be +infested with disgusting vermin. "The swarms of cock-roaches," says Mrs +Darby Griffiths, "almost drove me out of my senses. The other day sixty +were killed in our cabin, and we might have killed as many more. They +are very large, about two inches and a half long, and run about my +pillows and sheets in the most disgusting manner. Rats are also very +numerous." Now, all this we can as little comprehend as the coal-dust. +If such things were, they must have arisen from the most extraordinary +negligence; and we hope the proprietors, enlightened by Mrs Darby +Griffith's book, will have the vessel cleansed out before her next +voyage. + +The monsoon was now direct against them, and the probability was, that +instead of getting to Aden in its teeth, their coal-dust would fail, and +they would be driven back to Bombay for more. But the commander of one +of the Oriental Company's ships, who was fortunately a passenger, +advised the captain to go south, for the purpose of meeting winds which +would afterwards blow him to the north-west. The advice was as +fortunately taken. They steamed till within two degrees of the line, and +then met with a south wind. This, however, though it drove them on their +course, made them roll terribly. The India was not prepared for this +rough treatment. There was not a swing-table in the ship. The +consequence was, that bottles of wine were rolling in every direction; +geese, turkeys, and curry were precipitated into the laps of the +unfortunate people on the lee-side; while those on the weather-side were +thrown forward with their faces on their plates. This was treatment +which probably John Bull would not like; but being a philosopher, and +besides a native of an island, he would endure it as one of the +necessities of nature. But there were four French passengers on board +who took it in a different way, and probably conceiving that a vessel at +sea was something in the nature of a stage-coach, and the Indian ocean a +high-road, they felt themselves peculiarly ill-used by this tossing; and +at every instance of having a bottle of wine emptied into their drapery, +they regarded it as a national insult, and complained bitterly to the +captain. The French are a belligerent people, and we are surprised that +this series of aggressions by the billows has not been taken up by Mons. +Thiers and his friends, as an additional evidence of the malice of +England to the _grande nation_. Sea-sickness, starvation, and the loss +of their claret, were acts worthy, indeed, of _perfide Albion_. The +captain himself was one of the victims to the "movement." The fair +tourist thus draws his portrait--whether the captain will admire either +the sketch or the limner, is another question. He is described as "an +immensely fat, punchy man, resembling a huge ball, with great fat red +cheeks which almost conceal his eyes, and a small turned-up nose." He +was, of course, always seated at the head of the table, and, she +supposed, considered it beneath his dignity to have his chair tied; but +this world is all made up of compromises and compensations--if the +captain preserved his dignity, he lost his balance. A surge came, "his +fixity of tenure was gone in a moment, and this solid dignitary was shot +forth, chair and all, and rolled against the bulkhead. Every body was in +roars of laughter." + +But though all this was toil and trouble for the miserable lords and +ladies of the creation, it was delight for the masters and mistresses of +the mighty element around them. The inhabitants of the ocean were in +full sport; whales were seen rushing through the brine, porpoises were +sporting with their sleek skins in the highest enjoyment through the +billows, and shoals of dolphins filled the waves with their splendid +pea-green and azure. It was an ocean fete, a _bal-pare_ of the finny +tribe, a gala-day of nature; while miserable men and women were +shrinking, and shivering, and sinking in heart, in the midst of the +animation, enjoyment, and magnificence of the world of waters. On the +third night of their sailing, the wind became higher, and the swell from +the south stronger than ever. They pitched about in the most dreadful +manner, and during the night two sails were carried away, and the +fore-topmast. They were now in peril; but they had the steam in reserve, +and steered for their port. On the 9th of June they were in smooth +water, running up between the coasts of Arabia and Africa. The weather +now suddenly changed; the sun became intensely hot, and though forty +miles from the shore, they were visited by numerous butterflies, +dragon-flies, and moths. In two days after, they sailed through an +orange-coloured sea, filled with a shoal of animalculae fifteen miles +long. On the next day they came in sight of the harbour of Aden. This +whole track was the voyage from which the Arabian story-tellers have +fabricated such wonders. One of the voyages of the celebrated Sinbad the +sailor, the most picturesque of all voyagers, was over this very ocean. +The orange-coloured waters, the strong effluvium of the waves +intoxicating the brain, the wild headlands of Africa--each the dwelling +of a necromancer--the Maldives, filled with mermaids and sea-monsters, +the volcanic blaze that guarded the entrance to the Red Sea, the fiery +mountains of Aden, the Hadramant, or region of Death, the Babelmandeb, +or Gate of Tears, the Isle of Perim, and the Cape of Burials, wild, +black, and terrific--fill the Arab imagination with wonders that throw +all modern invention to an immeasurable distance. + +The town of Aden is not seen from the sea; it lies behind the mountains, +which are first visible. To look at the coast from this spot, nothing +but a sandy desert presents itself. The peninsula is joined to the +mainland, Arabia Felix, by a narrow sandy isthmus, nearly level with the +ocean. It is only 14,000 feet wide. There are three rocky islands in the +bay, one of which, commanding the isthmus, is fortified. The passengers +of the India were disturbed during the whole day by the yells of the +Arabs who were bringing the coals on board. They look more like demons +than human beings. "The coal-dust, of which we had lost sight for some +time, now began once more to turn every thing into its own colour. The +coolies employed in this service come from the coast of Zanzibar. They +keep up a continual yell during their work, and perform a kind of dance +all the time." They must be very well paid, and this is the true secret +of making men work. The African is no more lazy than other men, when he +can get value for his labour. This is the true secret for abolishing the +slave trade. Those men come hundreds or thousand of miles to cover +themselves with coal-dust, in an atmosphere where the thermometer +sometimes rises to 120 deg. in the shade, and work "day and night until they +have finished their task," roaring and dancing all the time, +besides--and all this for the stimulant of wages. It is to be presumed +that their performance is "piece-work," the only work which brings out +the true effort of the labourer. Their zeal was said to be so great, +that every hundred tons of coal embarked cost the life of a man. But the +Africans have learned to drink grog; an accomplishment which we should +have thought they would not be long in acquiring, and since that period, +they live longer. This, we must acknowledge, is a new merit in grog; it +is the first time that we have heard of it as a promoter of longevity. + +The Arabs on the coast form two classes, perfectly distinct, at least in +their conduct to the English. The class of warriors, being robbers by +profession, are extremely anxious to rob us, and still more indignant at +our preventing their robbery of others. Their piracies have suffered +grievously from the vigilance of our gun-boats, and they have once or +twice actually attempted to storm our fortifications. The consequence +is, that they have been soundly beaten, the majority have left their +carcasses behind them, and the survivors have been taught a "moral +lesson," which has kept them at a respectful distance. But the Arab +cultivators are decent and industrious men, and form the servants of the +town. Whether we shall ever make a great southern colony of the country +adjoining the peninsula, must be a question of the future. But it is +said that a very fine and healthy country extends to the north, and that +the mountains visible from Aden enclose valleys of singular +productiveness and beauty. + +Taste in personal decoration differs a good deal in the south from that +of the north. The Arab, with a face as black as ink, thinks an enormous +shock of red hair the perfection of taste; he accordingly dyes his hair +with lime, and thus makes himself, unconsciously, the regular demon of +the stage. + +The entrance to the new British settlement is through masses of the +boldest and wildest rocks. After passing a defile between two mountains, +we come to the only access on this side, the "lofty mountains forming an +impregnable fortification." This entrance is cut through the solid rock. +A strong guard of sepoys is posted there. The passage is so high and +narrow, that "one might almost compare it to the eye in a darning +needle." This is a female comparison, but an expressive one. Issuing +from the pass, the whole valley of Aden lay like a map beneath, bounded +on three sides by precipitous mountains, rising up straight and barren +like a mighty wall, while on the fourth was the sea; but even there the +view was bounded by the island rock of Sera, thus completing the +fortification of this Eastern Gibraltar. + +Here the travellers were welcomed by a hospitable garrison surgeon and +his wife, found a dinner, an apartment, great civility, and a romantic +view of the Arab landscape by moonlight. They heard the drums and pipes +of one of the regiments, and were "startled by the loud report of a +cannon, which shook the frail tenement, and resounded with a lengthened +echo through the hills. It was the eight o'clock gun, which stood only a +stone's throw from the house, and on the same rock." The lady, as a +soldier's wife, ought to have been less alarmed; but she was in a land +where every thing was strange. "We were literally sleeping out in the +open air; as there were no doors, windows, or venetians to close, and +every breath of wind agitated the frail walls of bamboo and matting, I +was awoke in the night by the musquitto curtains blowing up; the wind +had risen, and came every now and then with sudden gusts; but its breath +was so soft, warm, and dry, that I, who had never ventured to bear a +night-blast in Ceylon, felt that it was harmless." + +Aden, in earlier times, formed one of the thirteen states of Yemen; and +prodigious tales are told of its opulence, its mosques and minarets, its +baths of jasper, and its crescents and colonnades. But Arabia is +proverbially a land of fable, and the glories of Aden exhibit Arabian +imagination in its highest stage. Possibly, while it continued a port +for the Indian trade, it may have shared the wealth which India has +always lavished on commerce. But a spot without a tree, without a mine, +and without a manufacture, could never have possessed solid wealth under +the languid industry and wild rapine of an Arab population. When we +recollect, too, how long the Turks were masters of this corner of +Arabia, we may well be sceptical of the opulence of periods when the +sword was the law. No memorials of its prosperity remain; no ruined +temples or broken columns attest the magnificence or the taste of an +earlier generation. Its only hope of opulence must be dated from its +first possession by the British. But the barrenness of the soil forbids +substantial wealth; and though the native merchants, relying on the +honour of British laws and the security of British arms, are flocking +into it by hundreds, and will soon flock into it by thousands, it must +be at best but a warehouse and a fortress, though both will, in all +probability, be of the most magnificent description. The population is +of the miscellaneous order which is to be found in all the Eastern +ports. The Parsees, the handsome and industrious race who are to be seen +every where in India; the Jews, keen and indefatigable, who are to be +seen in every part of the world; and the Arabs, whose glance and gesture +seem to despise both, are already crowding this half camp, half +capital. From eighty to a hundred camels, every morning, supply the +markets of Aden. They bring in baskets of fine fruit, grapes, melons, +dates, and peaches. The greater number bring also poultry, grass, and +straw. Troops of donkeys carry water in skins to every part of the town; +and there is no want of the necessaries of life, though of course they +are dear. Aden is excessively hot, but regarded as healthy. The air is +pure, dry, and elastic. The engineers are building works on the +different commanding positions; and Aden, within a few years, will +probably be the strongest fortification, as it is already one of the +finest ports, east of the Mediterranean. But we look to nobler +prospects; the inland country is perhaps one of the finest regions in +the world. Almost within view of Aden lies a country as picturesque as +Switzerland, and as fertile as the valleys of the tropics. It is +singularly salubrious; and, in point of extent, may be regarded as +unlimited. We see no possible reason why Aden should not, in the course +of a few years, be made the capital of a great Arabian colony. Conquest +must not be the means, but purchase might not be difficult; and +civilization and Christianity might be spread together through immense +territories, formed in the bounty of nature, and only waiting to be +filled with a free and vigorous population. It is only the centre and +north of Arabia that is desert. The coast, and especially the southern +extremity, are fertile. Without the ambition of empire, or the desire of +encroachment, British enterprize might here find a superb field, and the +Arabian peninsula might, for the first time in history, be added to the +civilized world. + +The travellers now ran up the Red Sea. The navigation has greatly +improved within these few years, in consequence of the intercourse +between England and India. Surveys have been made, and charts have been +formed, which almost divest the passage of peril. But the navigation is +still intricate, in consequence of the coral rocks and numerous shoals, +which, however, may be escaped by due vigilance, and the experienced +mariner has nothing to fear. The aspect of the coast, of both Africa and +Arabia, is wild and repulsive; but some compensation for the monotony of +the shores is to be found in the sea itself. When calm, the transparency +of the water exhibits the bottom to the depth of thirty fathoms. "And +what a new world is discovered through this vale of waters! what +treasures for the naturalist!" The sands are overspread with forests of +coral plants of every colour, shells of remarkable beauty; and, in the +midst of this sub-aqueous landscape, fish of brilliant hues sporting in +all directions. At length they reached the gulf of Suez, with the blue +peaks of Sinai in the distance, and continued running up the gulf, which +was one hundred and sixty miles long, until Suez came in sight. Here all +is dreary: deserts and sand-banks form the whole landscape. Arab boats +came alongside, and conveyed the passengers from the steamer. The town +looked dismal; its walls and fortifications were in decay; the +landing-place was crowded by sickly-looking creatures, the evident +victims of malaria, and the chief ornament of the place was a large +white-washed tomb. This condition of things was not much improved when +the party found themselves in the hotel of Messrs Hill and Co. +Musquittoes, and every species of frightful insect, made war against +sleep; and when their reign had passed away, and the travellers rose, +crowds of flies continued the persecution. The travellers made a bad +bargain in paying their passage-money at once from Suez to Alexandria; +and it is described as the wiser mode to pay only to Cairo, and then +take the choice of the several conveyances which are sure to be found +there. The Arab drivers and carriers seem to have fully acquired those +arts of extortion, which flourish in such abundance wherever English +money is to be found. They cheat, and lie, and cajole, with +extraordinary assiduity; and the majority of the passengers on this +occasion seem to have been detained unnecessarily on the road, and +treated badly at the station houses. The first part of the desert is +rather rocky than sandy, and the road seems to have been formed chiefly +by the carriage wheels. It is covered with great pieces of stone and +rock, which sorely tried the patience of the travellers. Hundreds of +carcasses of camels lie in the way; the flesh is soon eaten by the +wolves and rats, while the bones bleach in the sun. Little troops of +Arabs were met from time to time, sometimes on camels and sometimes on +horses. They were armed to the teeth, as black as negroes, and looked +ferocious enough to make any party of pacific travellers tremble for +their goods and chattels. But they were the patrols of Mohammed Ali, and +guardians of the goods which in other days they would have delighted to +plunder. There are eight stations on this road through the desert, all +built by that man of wonders, the Pasha. Of these, four are only +stables; but four are houses for the reception of travellers. They are +generally from twelve to sixteen miles apart. The station No. 6, though +by no means possessing the comforts of an English hotel, must be a +miracle to the old travellers of the desert. It consists of two +chambers, a kitchen, and servants' room, with a large public saloon +occupying the whole of one end, and completing a little centre court. +Three sides of the saloon were furnished with divans. There was a long +table in the centre, with several chairs, and a glass window at each end +of the room. But this was unluckily the season of flies, and they were +the torment of the travellers; table, wall, ceiling, and floors swarmed +with them. They flew into the face, the eyes, and the mouth. Thousands +of musquittoes were also buzzing round and biting every thing. The +breakfast was no sooner laid on the table than it was blackened with +flies. The beds were hiving, and intolerable. No. 4, the halfway-house, +was rather better. It is the largest of them all, and has a long row of +bedrooms, and two public saloons. It has a large courtyard, in which +were turkeys, geese, sheep, and goats, for the use of travellers. The +Arab coachman here tried a trick of the road. He sent up a message that +he had observed the lady looked very much tired, and that he therefore +advised them to get to the end of their journey as quickly as possible; +that they had better start in two hours, as the moon was very bright, +and that he would take them into Cairo by breakfast-time in the morning. +But it was suspected that this haste was in order that the passengers +waiting at Cairo to go by the India steamer should be conveyed across +the desert by himself, so they declined his offer, and enjoyed their +night's rest. On rising in the morning, they felt that they had reason +to congratulate themselves on their refusal of the night's journey; for +they found even the morning air bitter, and the atmosphere a wet fog. +The aspect of the country had now changed. Chains of hills disappeared, +and all was level sand. On the way they saw the mirage, sometimes +assuming the appearance of a distant harbour, at others, of an inland +lake reflecting the surrounding objects on its surface; and they met one +of the picturesque displays of Arabia, a wealthy Bey going on a +pilgrimage to Mecca. He had a train of twenty or thirty camels. Those +carrying himself and his harem had superb trappings. The women were +seated in large open boxes, hanging on each side as paniers. There were +red silk embroidered curtains hung round, like those on a bedstead, and +an awning over all. The bey was smoking his splendid pipe, and behind +came a crowd of slaves with provisions. The road on approaching Cairo +grew rougher than ever; it was often over ridges of rock just appearing +above the sand. The Pasha's "commissioners of paving" seem to have +slumbered on their posts as much as if they had been metropolitan. At +last a "silvery stream" was seen winding in the horizon--the "glorious +Nile!" The country now grew picturesque; a forest of domes and minarets +arose in the distance; and the Pyramids became visible. The road then +ran through a sort of suburb, where the Bedouins take up their quarters +on their visits to buy grain, they being not suffered within the walls. +It then passed between walled gardens filled with flowers, shrubs, +orange and olive trees; most of the walls were also surmounted with a +row of pillars, interlaced with vines--a species of ornament new to us, +but which, we should conceive, must add much to the beauty, external +and internal, of a garden. Cairo was entered at last; and its lofty +houses, and the general architecture of this noblest specimen of a +Mahometan capital, delighted the eyes which had so long seen nothing but +the sea, the rocky shore, and the desert. Cairo is, like all the rest of +the world, growing European, and even English. It has its hotels; and +the traveller, except that he hears more Arabic, and inhales more +tobacco smoke, will soon begin to imagine himself in Regent street. The +"Eastern Hotel" is a good house, where Englishmen get beefsteaks, port +wine, and brown stout; read the London papers; have waiters who at least +do their best to entertain them in their own tongue; and want nothing +but operas and omnibuses. But the dress still makes a distinction, and +it is wholly in favour of the Mussulman. All modern European dresses are +mean; the Oriental is the only man whose dress adds dignity to the human +form. When Sultan Mahmoud stripped off the turban, and turned the noble +dress of his people into the caricature of the European costume, he +struck a heavier blow at his sovereignty than ever was inflicted by the +Russian sabre or the Greek dagger. He smote the spirit of his nation. +The Egyptian officials wear the fez, or red nightcap--the fitting emblem +of an empire gone to sleep. But the general population of Egypt wear the +ancient turban, the finest ornament of the head ever invented by man; +that of the Egyptian Mahometan is white muslin; that of the Shereefs, or +line of Mahomet, is green; that of the Jews and Copts is black. The +remaining portions of the costume are such as, perhaps, we shall soon +see only upon the stage. The embroidered caftan, the flowing gown, the +full trouser of scarlet or violet-coloured cloth, the yellow morocco +boot, the jewelled dagger, and velvet-sheathed cimeter--all the +perfection of magnificence and taste in costume. The ample beard gives +completeness to the majesty of the countenance, and finishes the true +character of the "lord of the creation." + +The citadel of Cairo has a melancholy and memorable name, from the +horrid massacre of the Mamelukes in 1811, when four hundred and seventy +of those showy soldiers were murdered, and but one escaped by leaping +his horse from the battlements. The horse was killed; the man is now a +bey in the Pasha's service. The citadel stands on a hill, and contains +the Pasha's palace, a harem, a council-hall, police-offices, and a large +square, where the massacre was perpetrated. The view from the windows of +the palace is superb. Cairo is seen immediately beneath, skirted by +gardens on the right. Beyond those the mosques of the caliphs, and as +far as the eye can reach, the Arabian desert. In front is the Nile, a +silver stream, covered with sails of every description, till it is lost +in the groves of the Delta. The ports of Boulac and old Cairo, with +numerous villages, stud its banks, and from its bosom rise verdant +islands. To the left, the Nile is still visible, and beyond are seen the +Pyramids, which, though twelve miles off, appear quite close, from the +transparency of the air. In the citadel is also a mosque, now building +by the order of the Pasha. It is constructed of Oriental alabaster, is +of great size, already exhibits fine taste, and promises to be one of +the most beautiful structures in Egypt. But the Pasha has not yet +attained the European improvement of lamps in the streets. After +nightfall, the only light is from the shops, which, when they close, +leave the street in utter darkness. However, most of the pedestrians +carry lamps with them. How does it happen that no gas company has taken +pity upon this Egyptian darkness, and saved the Cairans from the chance +of having their throats cut, or at least their bones broken; for during +the summer a considerable portion of the poorer population sleep in the +streets? Still the Pasha is a man of taste, fond of living in gardens, +and sensible enough to have the garden of his favourite palace at +Shoobra laid out by a Scotch gardener. He used to reside a great deal +there, but now chiefly lives, when at Cairo, in the house of his +daughter, a widow, where his apartments are in the European style. +Nothing surprises a European traveller more than the people themselves; +and no problem can seem more mysterious than the means by which they are +enabled to supply so much expensive costume. The Egyptian gentleman +seems to want for nothing, wherever they find the money to pay for it. +Fine houses, fine furniture, fine horses, and fine clothes, seem to be +constantly at the command of a crowd who have nothing to do, who produce +nothing, and yet seem to have every thing. The Egyptian or Turkish lady +is an absolute bale of costly clothing--the more breadths of silk they +carry about them the better. Before leaving her home, she puts over her +house costume a large loose robe called a _tob_, made of silk or satin, +and always of some gay colour, pink, yellow, red, or violet. She next +puts on her face veil, a long strip of the finest white muslin, often +exquisitely embroidered. It is fastened just between the eyes, conceals +all the other features, and reaches to the feet. She next envelopes +herself in large cloak of rich black silk, tied round the head by a +piece of narrow riband. Her costume is completed by trousers of silk +gauze, and yellow morocco boots, which reach a considerable way up the +legs. How any human being can bear such a heap of clothing, especially +under the fiery sun and hot winds of Egypt, is to us inconceivable. It +must melt all vigour out of the body, and all life out of the soul; but +it is the fashion, and fashion works its wonders in Egypt as well as +elsewhere. The veil across the mouth, in a climate where every breath of +fresh air is precious, must be but a slower kind of strangulation. But +the preparative for a public appearance is not yet complete. Women of +condition never walk. They ride upon a donkey handsomely caparisoned, +sitting astride upon a high and broad saddle, covered with a rich Turkey +carpet. They ride with stirrups, but they never hold the reins; their +hands are busy in keeping down their cloaks. A servant leads the donkey +by the bridle. Their figures, when thus in motion, are the most +preposterous things imaginable. Huge as they are, the wind, which has no +respect for persons, gets under their cloaks, and blows them up to three +times their natural size. Those are the ladies of Egypt; the lower +orders imitate this absurdity and extravagance as far as they can, and +with their face veils, the most frightful things possible, shuffle +through the streets like strings of spectres. Poverty and labour may by +possibility keep the lower ranks in health; but how the higher among the +females can retain health, between their want of exercise, their full +feeding, their hot baths, and this perpetual hot bath of clothing, +defies all rational conjecture. The Egyptians of all ranks are terribly +afraid of what they call the evil eye, and stifle themselves and +children in all kinds of rags to avoid being bewitched. The peasants are +a fine-looking, strong-bodied race of men; but many of them are met +blind of an eye. This is attributed to the reluctance to be soldiers for +the glory of the Pasha. But Mohammed Ali was not to be thus tricked, and +he raised a regiment of one-eyed men. In other instances they are said +to have knocked out the fore-teeth to avoid biting a cartridge, or to +have cut off a joint of the first finger to prevent their drawing a +trigger. Even thus they are not able to escape the cunning Pasha. But +this shows the natural horror of the conscription; and we are not +surprised that men should adopt any expedient to escape so great a curse +and scandal to society. It is extraordinary that in this 19th century, +even of the Christian world, such an abomination should be suffered to +exist in Europe. It is equally extraordinary that it exists in every +country but England, and she can have no prouder distinction. The +habeas-corpus and her free enlistment, are two privileges without which +no real liberty can ever exist, and which, in any country, it would be +well worth a revolution, or ten revolutions, to obtain. Hers is the only +army into which no man can be forced, and in which every man is a +volunteer. And yet she has never wanted soldiers, and her soldiers have +never fought the worse. It is true, that when she has a militia they are +drawn by ballot from the population; but no militiaman is ever sent out +of the country; and as to those who are drawn, if they feel disinclined +to serve in this force, which acts merely as a national guard, ten +shillings will find a substitute at any time. It is also true that +England has impressment for the navy; but the man who makes the sea his +livelihood, adopts his profession voluntarily, and with the knowledge +that at some time or other he may be called upon to serve in the royal +navy. And even impressment is never adopted but on those extreme +emergencies which can seldom happen, and which may never happen again in +the life of man. But on the Continent, every man except the clergy, and +those in the employment of the state, is liable to be dragged to the +field, let his prospects or his propensities be what they may. In every +instance of war, parents look to their children with terror as they grow +up to the military age. The army is a national curse, and parental +feelings are a perpetual source of affliction. If the great body of the +people in Europe, instead of clamouring for imaginary rights, and +talking nonsense about constitutions, which they have neither the skill +to construct, nor would find worth the possession if they had them, +would concentrate their claims in a demand for the habeas-corpus, and +the abolition of the conscription, they would relieve themselves from +the two heaviest burdens of despotism, and obtain for themselves the two +highest advantages of genuine liberty. + +One of the curiosities of Cairo is the hair-oil bazar. The Egyptian +women are prodigious hairdressers and the variety of perfumes which they +lavish upon their hair and persons, exceed all European custom and +calculation. This bazar is all scents, oil, and gold braids for the +hair. It is nearly half a mile long. The odour, or the mixture of +odours, may well be presumed to be overpowering, when every other shop +is devoted to scented bottles--the intervening ones, containing perfumed +head-dresses, formed of braids of ribands and gold lace, which descend +to the ground. A warehouse of Turkish tables exhibited the luxurious +ingenuity of the workers in mother-of-pearl. They were richly wrought in +gold and silver ornaments. Within seven miles of Cairo, there still +exists a wonder of the old time, which must have made a great figure in +the Arab legends--a petrified forest lying in the desert, and which, to +complete the wonder, it is evident must have been petrified while still +standing. The trees are now lying on the ground, many of the trunks +forty feet long, with their branches beside them, all of stone, and +evidently shattered by the fall. Cairo, too, has its hospital for +lunatics; but this is a terrible scene. The unfortunate inmates are +chained and caged, and look like wild beasts, with just enough of the +human aspect left to make the scene terrible. A reform here would be +well worth the interference of European humanity. We wish that the +Hanwell Asylum would send a deputation with Dr Connolly at its head to +the Pasha. No man is more open to reason than Mohammed Ali, and the +European treatment of lunatics, transferred to an Egyptian dungeon, +would be one of the best triumphs of active humanity. + +The travellers at length left Cairo, and embarked on board Mills and +Company's steam-boat, named the Jack o' Lantern. It seemed to be merely +one of the common boats that ply on the river, with the addition of a +boiler and paddles, and is probably the smallest steamer extant. +However, when they entered the cabin upon the deck, they found every +thing nicely arranged and began to think better of their little vessel. +They had another advantage in its smallness, as the Nile was now so low +that numbers of vessels lay aground, and a large steamer would probably +have been unable to make the passage. The river seemed quite alive with +many-formed and many-coloured boats. Their picturesque sails, crossing +each other, made them at a distance look almost like butterflies +skimming over the water. The little steamer drew only two feet and a +half of water. She is jestingly described as of two and a half Cairo +donkey power. About six miles from Boulac, they passed under the walls +of Shoobra palace and gardens. Its groves form a striking object, and +its interior, cultivated by Greek gardeners, is an earthly Mahometan +paradise. It has bower-covered walks, gardens carpeted with flowers, +ever-flowing fountains, and a lake on which the luxurious Pasha is rowed +by the ladies of his harem. The Nile winds in the most extraordinary +manner across the tongues of land; boats and sails are seen close, +which are in reality a mile further down the stream. The banks were high +above the boat, through the present shallowness of the river. They were +chiefly of brown clay, and were frequently cut into chasms for the +purposes of irrigation. As they shot along, they saw large tracts +covered with cotton, wheat, Indian corn, and other crops. Date-trees in +abundance, the leaves large and like those of the cocoa, the fruit +hanging in large clusters, when ripe of a bright red. Water-melons +cultivated every where, often on the sandy banks of the river itself, +three or four times the size of a man's head, and absolutely loading the +beds. Numbers of the Egyptian villages were seen in the navigation of +the river. The houses are huddled together, are of unbaked clay, and +look like so many bee-hives. Every village has its date-trees, and every +hut has pigeons. The peasants in general seem intolerably indolent, and +groups of them are every where lying under the trees. Herds of fine +buffaloes, twice the size of those in Ceylon, were seen along the shore, +and sometimes swimming the river. Groups of magnificent cattle, larger +and finer than even our best English breed, were driven occasionally to +water at the river side. The Egyptian boats come to an anchor every +night; but the Jack o' Lantern dashed on, and by daybreak reached the +entrance of the Mahoudiah Canal, on which a track-boat carries +passengers to Alexandria. A high mound of earth here separates the canal +from the Nile, which flows on towards Rosetta. This embankment is about +forty feet wide. Some of Mrs Griffith's observations are at least +sufficiently expressive; for example:--"All the children, and some past +the age of what are usually styled little children, were running about +entirely devoid of clothing. We observed a great deal of this in Egypt. +_Men_ are often seen in the same condition; and the women of the lower +orders, having concealed their heads and faces, appear to think they +have done _all that is necessary_." This is certainly telling a good +deal; nothing more explicit could be required. The track-boats are +odious conveyances, long and narrow, and the present one very dirty, and +swarming with cockroaches. They were towed by three horses, ridden by +three men. In England one would have answered the purpose. The Canal +itself is an extraordinary work, worthy of the country of the Pyramids, +and one of the prodigies which despotism sometimes exhibits when the +iron sceptre is combined with a vigorous intellect. It is ninety feet +wide and forty-eight miles long, and yet was completed in six weeks. But +it took the labour of 250,000 men, who worked, if the story be true, +night and day. Along the canal were seen several large encampments of +troops, rather rough instruments, it is true, for polishing African +savagery into usefulness, but perhaps the only means by which great +things could have been done in so short a period as the reign of +Mohammed Ali. An Italian fellow-passenger, who had resided in Egypt +twenty-five years, gave it as the result of his experience, that without +the strong hand of power, the population would do nothing. Bread and +onions being their food, when those were obtained they had got all that +they asked for. They would leave their fruitful land to barrenness, and +would prefer sleeping under their trees, to the simplest operation of +agriculture in a soil that never requires the plough. Yet they are +singularly tenacious of their money, and often bury it, keeping their +secret to the last. The Italian told them that he was once witness to a +scene exactly in point. He accompanied the tax-gatherer to a miserable +village, where they entered one of the most miserable huts. The +tax-gatherer demanded his due, the Egyptian fell at his feet, protesting +that his family were starving, and that he had not a single coin to buy +bread. The tax-gatherer, finding him impracticable, ordered some of his +followers to give him a certain number of stripes. The peasant writhed +under the stripes, but continued his tale. The beating was renewed on +two days more, when the Italian interfered and implored mercy. But the +officer said that he must continue to flog, as he was certain that the +money would come forth at last. After six days' castigation, the +peasant's patience could hold out no longer. He dug a hole in the floor +of his hut, and exhibited gold and silver to a large amount. + +All this may be true; but it would be an injustice to human nature to +suppose that man, in any country, would prefer dirt, poverty, and +idleness, to comfort, activity, and employment, where he could be sure +of possessing the fruits of his labours. But where the unfortunate +peasant is liable to see his whole crop carried off the land at the +pleasure of one of the public officers, or the land itself torn from +him, or himself or his son carried off by the conscription, how can we +be surprised if he should think it not worth the while to trouble his +head or his hands about any thing? Give him security, and he will work; +give him property, and he will keep it; and give him the power of +enjoying his gains in defiance of the tax-gatherer, and he will exhibit +the manliness and perseverance which Providence has given to all. +Whether even the famous Pasha is not still too much of a Turk to venture +on an experiment which was never heard of in the land of a Mahometan +before, must be a matter more for the prophet than the politician; but +Egypt, so long the most abject of nations, and the perpetual slave of a +stranger, seems rapidly approaching to European civilization, and by her +association with Englishmen, and her English alliance, may yet be +prepared to take a high place among the regenerated governments of the +world. + +The road from the termination of the canal to Alexandria, about two +miles long, leads through a desert track. At last the Mediterranean +bursts upon the eye. In front rise Pompey's stately and well-known +pillar, and Cleopatra's needle. High sand-banks still intercept the view +of Alexandria. At length the gates are passed, a dusty avenue is +traversed, the great square is reached, and the English hotel receives +the travellers. Mahometanism is now left behind, for Alexandria is +comparatively an European capital. All the houses surrounding the great +square, including the dwellings of the consuls, have been built within +the last ten years by Ibrahim Pasha, who, prince and heir to the throne +as he is, here performs the part of a speculative builder, and lets out +his houses to Europeans. These houses are built as regularly as those in +Park Crescent, and are two stories high above the Porte Cochere. They +all have French windows with green Venetian shutters, and the whole +appearance is completely European. The likeness is sustained by +carriages of every description, filled with smartly dressed women, +driving through all the streets--a sight never seen at Cairo, for the +generality of the streets are scarcely wide enough for the passage of +donkeys. But the population is still motley and Asiatic. Turbans, caps, +and the scarlet fez, loose gowns, and embroidered trousers, make the +streets picturesque. On the other hand, crowds of Europeans, tourists, +merchants, and tailors, are to be seen mingling with the Asiatics; and +the effect is singularly varied and animated. + +The pageant of the French consul-general going to pay his respects to +the Viceroy, exhibited one of the shows of the place. First came a +number of officers of state, in embroidered jackets of black cachmere, +ornamented gaiters, and red morocco shoes. Each wore a cimeter, an +essential part of official costume. Next followed a fine brass band; +after them came a large body of infantry in three divisions, the whole +in heavy marching order. Their discipline and general appearance were +striking; they wore the summer dress, consisting of a white cotton +jacket and trousers, with red cloth skull-caps, and carried their +cartouche-boxes, cross-belts, and fire-locks in the European manner. The +next feature, and the prettiest, consisted of the Pasha's led horses, in +number about eighteen, all beautiful little Arabs, caparisoned with +crimson and black velvet, and cloth of gold. We repeat the description +of one, for the sake of tantalizing our European readers with the +Egyptian taste in housings. "The animal was a chestnut horse, of perfect +form and action. His saddle was of crimson velvet, thickly ribbed by +gold embroidery. His saddle-cloth was entirely of cloth of gold, +embossed with bullion, and studded with large gems; jewelled pistols +were seen in the holsters; the head-piece was variegated red, green, +and blue; embroidered and golden tassels hung from every part." But the +European portion of the scene by no means corresponded to the Oriental +display. The French consul followed in a barouche and pair, with his +_attaches_ and attendants in carriages; but the whole were mean-looking. +The French court-dress, or any court-dress, must appear contemptible in +its contrast with the stateliness of this people of silks and shawls, +jewelled weapons, and cloth of gold. + +Mohammed Ali is, after all, the true wonder of Egypt. A Turk without a +single prejudice of the Turk--an Oriental eager for the adoption of all +the knowledge, the arts, and the comforts of Europe--a Mahometan +allowing perfect religious toleration, and a despot moderating his +despotism by the manliest zeal for the prosperity of his country; he has +already raised himself to a reputation far beyond the rank of his +sovereignty, and will live in the memories of men, whenever they quote +the names of those who, rising above all the difficulties of their +original position, have proved their title to the mastery of nations. + +The Pasha affected nothing of the usual privacy, or even of the usual +pomp, of rajahs and sultans. He was constantly seen driving through +Alexandria, in a low berlin with four horses. The berlin was lined with +crimson silk, and there, squatting on one of the low broad seats, sat +the Viceroy. Two of his officers generally sat opposite to him, and by +his side his grandson--a handsome child between eight and nine years +old, of whom he seems remarkably fond. Like so many other eminent men, +his stature is below the middle size. His countenance is singularly +intelligent, his nose aquiline, and his eye quick and penetrating. He +does not take the trouble to dye his beard, as is the custom among +Orientalists. He wears it long and thick, and in all its snows. Years +have so little affected him, that he is regarded as a better life than +his son Ibrahim--his general, and confessedly a man of ability. But his +second son, Said Pasha, the half brother of Ibrahim, is regarded as +especially inheriting the talents of his father. He is an accomplished +man, speaks English and French fluently, seems to enter into his +father's views with great intelligence, and exhibits a manliness and +ardour of character which augur well for his country. But the appearance +of the Pasha is not without its attendant state. In front of his berlin +ride a number of attendants, caracoling in all directions. Behind the +carriage rides his express, mounted on a dromedary, in readiness to +start with despatches. The express is followed by his pipe-bearer; the +pipe-bearer followed by a servant mounted on a mule, and carrying the +light for the Pasha's pipe. The cavalcade is closed by a troop of the +officers in waiting, mounted on showy horses. + +At length the day of parting arrived, and the travellers embarked on +board the Tagus steamer. The view of Alexandria from the sea is stately. +A forest of masts, a quay of handsome houses, and the viceroyal palace +forming one side of the harbour, tell the stranger that he is +approaching the seat of sovereignty. The sea was rough, but of the +bright blue of the Mediterranean, and the steamer cut swiftly through +the waves. The vessel was clean and well arranged, the weather was fine, +and the travellers began to feel the freshness and elasticity of +European air. At length they arrived at Malta, and heard for the first +time for years, the striking of clocks and the ringing of church-bells. +They were at length in Europe. But there is one penalty on the return +from the East, which always puts the stranger in ill-humour. They were +compelled to perform quarantine. This was intolerably tedious, +expensive, and wearisome; yet all things come to an end at last, and, +after about a fortnight, they were set at liberty. + +Malta, in its soil and climate, belongs to Africa--in its population, +perhaps to Italy--in its garrison and commerce, to Europe--and in its +manners and habits, to the East. It is a medley of the three quarters of +the Old World; and, for the time, a medley of the most curious +description. The native carriages, peasant dresses, shops, furniture of +the houses, and even the houses themselves, are wholly unlike any thing +that has before met the English eye. Malta, in point of religious +observances, is like what St Paul said of Athens--it is overwhelmingly +pious. The church-bells are tolling all day long. Wherever it is +possible, the cultivation of the ground exhibits the industry of the +people. Every spot where earth can be found, is covered with some +species of produce. Large tracts are employed in the cultivation of the +cotton plant--fruit-trees fill the soil--the fig-tree is +luxuriant--pomegranate, peach, apple, and plum, are singularly +productive. Vines cover the walls, and the Maltese oranges have a +European reputation. The British possession of Malta originated in one +of those singular events by which short-sightedness and rapine are often +made their own punishers. The importance of Malta, as a naval station, +had long been obvious to England; and when, in the revolutionary war, +the chief hostilities of the war were transferred to the Mediterranean, +its value as a harbour for the English fleets became incalculable. Yet +it was still in possession of the knights; and, so far as England was +concerned, it might have remained in their hands for ever. A national +sense of justice would have prevented the seizure of the island, however +inadequate to defend itself against the navy of England. But Napoleon +had no such scruples. In his expedition to Egypt, he threw a body of +troops on shore at Malta; and, having either frightened or bribed its +masters, or perhaps both, plundered the churches of their plate, turned +out the knights, and left the island in possession of a French garrison. +Nothing could be less sagacious and less statesmanlike than this act; +for, by extinguishing the neutrality of the island, he exposed it to an +immediate blockade by the English. The result was exactly what he ought +to have foreseen. An English squadron was immediately dispatched to +summon the island; it eventually fell into the hands of the English, and +now seems destined to remain in English hands so long as we have a ship +in the Mediterranean. Malta is a prodigiously pious place, according to +the Maltese conception of piety. Masses are going on without +intermission--they fast twice a-week--religious processions are +constantly passing--priests are continually seen in the streets, +carrying the Host to the sick or dying. When the ceremonial is performed +within the house, some of the choristers generally remain kneeling +outside, and are joined by the passers-by. Thus crowds of people are +often to be seen kneeling in the streets. The Virgin, of course, is the +chief object of worship; for, nothing can be more true than the +expression, that for one prayer to the Deity there are ten to the +Virgin; and confession, at once the most childish and the most perilous +of all practices, is regarded as so essential, that those who cannot +produce a certificate from the priest of their having confessed, at +least once in the year, are excluded from the sacrament by an act of the +severest spiritual tyranny; and, if they should die thus excluded, their +funeral service will not be performed by the priest--an act which +implies a punishment beyond the grave. And yet the morals of the Maltese +certainly derive no superiority from either the priestly influence or +the personal mortification. + +The travellers now embarked on board the Neapolitan steamer, +Ercolano--bade adieu to Malta, and swept along the shore of Sicily. +Syracuse still exhibits, in the beauty of its landscape, and the +commanding nature of its situation, the taste of the Greeks in selecting +the sites of their cities. The land is still covered with noble ruins, +and the antiquarian might find a boundless field of interest and +knowledge. Catania, which was destroyed about two centuries ago, at once +by an earthquake and an eruption, is seated in a country of still more +striking beauty. The appearance of the city from the sea is of the most +picturesque order. It looks almost encircled by the lava which once +wrought such formidable devastation. But the plain is bounded by verdant +mountains, looking down on a lovely extent of orange and olive groves, +vineyards, and cornfields. But the grand feature of the landscape, and +the world has nothing nobler, is the colossal Etna; its lower circle +covered with vegetation--its centre belted with forests--its summit +covered with snow--and, above all, a crown of cloud, which so often +turns into a cloud of flame. The travellers were fortunate in seeing +this showy city under its most showy aspect. It was a gala-day in +Catania; flags were flying on all sides--fireworks and illuminations +were preparing--an altar was erected on the Cave, and all the world were +in their holiday costume. As the evening approached the scene became +still more brilliant, for the fireworks and illuminations then began to +have their effect. The evening was soft and Italian, the air pure, and +the sky without a cloud. From the water, the scene was fantastically +beautiful; the huge altar erected on the shore, was now a blaze of +light; the range of buildings, as they ascended from the shore, +glittered like diamonds in the distance. Fireworks, in great abundance +and variety, flashed about; and instrumental bands filled the night air +with harmony. The equipages which filled the streets were in general +elegant, and lined with silk; the dresses of the principal inhabitants +were in the highest fashion, and all looked perfectly at their ease, and +some looked even splendid. A remark is made, that this display of wealth +is surprising in what must be regarded as a provincial town. But this +remark may be extended to the whole south of Italy. It is a matter of +real difficulty to conceive how the Italians contrive to keep up any +thing approaching to the appearance which they make, in their Corsos, +and on their feast-days. Without mines to support them, as the Spaniards +were once supported; without colonies to bring them wealth; without +manufactures, and without commerce, how they contrive to sustain a life +of utter indolence, yet, at the same time, of considerable display, is a +curious problem. It is true, that many of them have places at court, and +flourish on sinecures; it is equally true, that their manner of living +at home is generally penurious in the extreme; it is also true that +gaming, and other arts not an atom more respectable, are customary to +supply this yawning life. Yet still, how the majority can exist at all, +is a natural question which it must require a deep insight into the +mysteries of Italian existence to solve. Whatever may be the secret, the +less Englishmen know on these subjects the better; communion with +foreign habits only deteriorates the integrity and purity of our own. On +the Continent, vice is systematized--virtue is scarcely more than a +name; and no worse intelligence has long reached us than the calculation +just published in the foreign newspapers, that there were 40,000 English +now residing in France, and 4000 English families in that especial sink +of superstition and profligacy, Italy. + +The sail from the Sicilian straits to Naples is picturesque. The +Liparis, with their volcanic summits, on one side--the Calabrian +highlands, on the other--a succession of rich mountains, clothed with +all kinds of verdure, and of the finest forms; and around, the perpetual +beauty of the Mediterranean. The travellers hove to at Pizza, in the +gulf of Euphania, the shore memorable for the gallant engagement in +which the English troops under Stuart, utterly routed the French under +Regnier--a battle which made the name of Maida immortal. Pizza has +obtained a melancholy notoriety by the death of Murat, who was shot by +order of a court-martial, as an invader and rebel, in October 1815. +Murat's personal intrepidity, and even his _fanfaronade_, excited an +interest for him in Europe. But he was a wild, rash, and reckless +instrument of Napoleon's furious and remorseless policy; the commandant +of the French army in Spain in 1808 could not complain of military +vengeance; and his death by the hands of the royal troops only relieved +Europe of the boldest disturber among the fallen followers of the great +usurper. + +The finest view of Naples is the one which the mob of tourists see the +last. Its approaches by land are all imperfect--the city is to be seen +only from the bay. Floating on the waters which form the most lovely of +all foregrounds, a vast sheet of crystal, a boundless mirror, a tissue +of purple, or any other of the fanciful names which the various hues and +aspects of the hour give to this renowned bay, the view comprehends the +city, the surrounding country, Posilipo on the left, Vesuvius on the +right, and between them a region of vineyards and vegetation, as poetic +and luxuriant as poet or painter could desire. + +The wonders of Pompeii are no longer wonders, and people go to see them +with something of the same spirit in which the citizens of London +saunter to Primrose hill. It was a beggarly little place from the +beginning; and the true wonder is, how it could ever have found +inhabitants, or how the inhabitants could ever have found room to eat, +drink, and sleep in. But Herculaneum is of a higher rank. If the +Neapolitan Government had any spirit, it would demolish the miserable +villages above it, and lay open this fine old monument of the cleverest, +though the most corrupt people of the earth, to the light of day. In all +probability we should learn from it more of the real state of the arts, +the manners, and the feelings of the Greek, partially modified by his +Italian colonization, than by any other record or memorial in existence. +In those vaults which still remain closed, owing to the indolence or +stupidity of the existing generation, eaten up as it is by monkery, and +spending more upon a _fete_ to the Madonna, or the liquifying of St +Januarius's blood, than would lay open half the city, there is every +probability that some of the most important literature of antiquity +still lies buried. Why will not some English company, tired of railroad +speculations and American stock, turn its discharge on Herculaneum, pour +its gold over the ground, exfoliate the city of the dead, recover its +statues, bronzes, frescoes, and mosaics, transplant them to Tower +Stairs, and sell them by the hands of George Robins, for the benefit of +the rising generation? This seems their only chance of revisiting the +light of day; for the money of all foreign sovereigns goes in fetes and +fireworks, new patterns of soldiers' caps, and new costumes for the +maids of honour. + +We have now glanced over the general features of these volumes. They are +light and lively, and do credit to the writer's powers of observation. +The result of his details, however, is to impress on our minds, that the +"overland passage" is not yet fit for any female who is not inclined to +"rough it" in an extraordinary degree. To any woman it offers great +hardships; but to a woman of delicacy, the whole must be singularly +repulsive. Something is said of the decorations of the work proceeding +from the pencil of the lady's husband. Whether the lithographer has done +injustice to them, we know not; but they seem to us the very reverse of +decoration. The adoption, too, of new modes of spelling the Oriental +names, is wholly unnecessary. Harem, turned into Hhareem--Dervish into +Derweesh--Mameluke into Memlook, give no new ideas, and only add +perplexity to our knowledge of the name. These words, with a crowd of +others, have already been fixed in English orthography by their natural +pronunciation; and the attempt to change them always renders their +pronunciation--which is, after all, the only important point--less true +to the original. On the whole, the "overland passage" seems to require +immense improvements. But we live in hope; English sagacity and English +perseverance will do much any where; and in Egypt they have for their +field one of the most important regions of the world. + + + + +MESMERISM. + + "They say miracles are past, and we have our philosophical persons + to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and + causeless."--_All's Well that Ends Well, Act II., Scene 3._ + + +From the many crude, illiterate, and unphilosophical speculations on the +subject of mesmerism which the present unwholesome activity of the +printing-press has ushered into the world, there is one book which +stands out in prominent and ornamental relief--a book written by a +member of the Church of England, a scholar and a gentleman; and the +influence of which, either for good or for harm, is not likely to be +ephemeral. Few, even of the most incredulous, can read with attention +the first half of "Facts in Mesmerism, by the Rev. Chauncy Hare +Townshend," of which a second edition has recently appeared, without +being staggered. The author leads the reader up a gentle slope, from +facts abnormal, it is true, but not contradictory to received notions, +to others deviating a little more from ordinary experience; and thence, +by a course of calm narrative, to still more anomalous incidents; until +at length, almost unconsciously, the incredible seems credible, +impossibilities and possibilities are confounded, and miracles are no +longer miraculous. + +There is much difficulty in dealing with such a book; gentlemanly +courtesy, which should grant what it would demand, and an unavoidable +faith in the purity of the author's intentions, entirely prevent our +treating it as the work of an empiric. It is evident that the author +believes what he writes, that the facts in mesmerism are facts to him; +to those unprepared by previous experience for the fallacies which the +enthusiastic temperament is led into, the book would be irresistible; to +those, however, accustomed to physical or phsycological investigation, +the last half of the work does much to unravel the web which the first +half has been engaged in weaving. When the author departs from the +narrative of facts, and endeavours to render those facts consistent with +reason and experience, we see the one-sided bias of his mind--we see +that he is not a judge but an advocate; and the faith which we should +repose on the circumstantial narrative of a gentleman, becomes changed +into the courtesy with which we listen to an honourable but deceived +enthusiast. + +If the utilitarian school has done harm by its hasty attempts to reduce +every thing to rule and to the dominion of human reason, no stronger +proof than this book need be given of the evils to which the opposite +extreme of transcendental philosophy has given rise. As an instance of +the fallacies to which one-sided philosophic views may lead, Mr +Townshend says, that if asked of what use is the eye if we can see +without it, he might answer, "To show us how to make a camera obscura." +The case is put illustratively, and we are far from wishing to take it +literally to the author's disadvantage; but, in setting at nought the +ordinary and sufficient reasoning on this subject, the author himself is +obliged to adopt a similar but weaker line of argument. Unfortunate it +is, that even in philosophy the judicial character is so rare; it is +vainly imagined that error may be counteracted by antagonist error; and +because neutrality is too often the companion of impotence, impartiality +is supposed to be synonymous with neutrality. + +It will be seen from the above, that Mr Townshend has failed to convince +us that all the "facts in mesmerism" are facts; and certainly if he has +failed, the herd of peripatetic lecturers[3] on the so-called science +are not likely to have succeeded; but, although unconvinced of the +marvellous, we are by no means indisposed to believe some of the +abnormal phenomena of mesmerism. We have witnessed several mesmeric +exhibitions--we have never seen any effect produced which was +contradictory to the possible of human experience, in which collusion or +delusion was fairly negatived. We insist on our right to doubt, to +disbelieve. The more startling the proposition, the more rigorous should +be the proof; we have never seen the tests which are applied to the most +trifling novelty in physical science applied to mesmeric _clairvoyance_, +and withstood. The advocates of it challenge enquiry in print, but they +shrink from, or sink under, experiment. + +In endeavouring to analyse the work before us, and to examine generally +the phenomena of mesmerism, we shall do our utmost to avoid the vices of +partial advocacy which we censure; we moreover agree with Mr Townshend, +that ridicule is not the weapon to be used. Satire, when on the side of +the majority, is persecution; it is striking from a vantage +ground--fair, perhaps, when the individual contends with the mass, as +when an author writes to expose the fallacies of social fashion; but +unfair, and very frequently unsuccessful, when directed against +partially developed truths, or even against such phenomena as we believe +mesmerism presents, viz. novel and curious psychical truths, o'erclouded +with the dense errors of sometimes enthusiasm, sometimes knavery. We +shall soberly examine the subject, because we think that much good may +be done by its investigation. The really skilful and judicious steer +clear of it from a fear of compromising their credit for commonsense; +and while the caution necessarily attendant upon habitual scientific +studies, dissuades the best men from meddling with that which may blight +their hardly-earned laurels, the public is left to be swayed to and fro +by an under-current of fallacious half-truths, far more seductive and +dangerous than absolute falsehoods. We cannot undertake to say, thus far +is true, and thus far false;--to mark out the actual limits of true +mesmeric phenomena, demands the very difficult and detailed enquiries +which, for the reasons just mentioned, have been hitherto withheld;--but +we think we shall be able to succeed in showing, that, though there be +much error, there is some truth, and truth of sufficient importance to +merit a calm and careful investigation. + +We may class the phenomena of mesmerism, as asserted by its professors, +as follows:-- + + 1st. Sleep, or coma, induced by external agency, (partly mental, + partly physical.) + + 2d. Somnambulism, or, as called by Mr Townshend, sleep-waking; + _i.e._ certain faculties rendered torpid while others are + sensitive. + + 3d. Insensibility to pain and other external _stimuli_. + + 4th. Physical attraction to the mesmeriser, and repulsion from + others; community of sensation with the mesmeriser. + + 5th. Clairvoyance, or the power of perception without the use of + the usual organs; and second-sight, or the power of prediction + respecting the mesmeric state and remedial agencies. + + 6th. Phreno-mesmerism, or the connexion between phrenology and + mesmerism. + + 7th. Curative effects. + +We believe these categories will include all the leading phenomena of +mesmerism. We purpose to give instances of these, partly derived from +our own experience, and partly from the book of Mr Townshend, or other +the best sources to which we can have recourse; to state fearlessly what +we believe may be true, and what we entirely disbelieve; and then to +examine the arguments by which the reason of the public has been +assailed, and in many cases rendered captive. + +First, then, as to the power of induced coma, we will relate an instance +which came under our own observation, and which serves to demonstrate +that a power may be exercised by one human being over another which will +produce a comatose or cataleptic state. In the Christmas week of the +year 1842, we dined at a friend's house with a party of eight, (numeric +perfection for a dinner-party, according to the ingenious author of the +_Original_.) In the evening, Mackay's book on popular delusions being on +the drawing-room table, some one asked if the author had treated of +mesmerism. Upon this, one of the party who had recently returned from +London--a man who had led a studious life, and of a highly nervous +temperament--said he had recently witnessed a mesmeric exhibition, and +would undertake to mesmerise any one present. Upon this, two or three +ladies volunteered as patients; and he commenced experimenting upon a +lady of some twenty-five years old, whom he had known intimately from +childhood, clever, and well read, but rather imaginative. To make the +thing more ridiculous, he knelt on both knees, and commenced making +passes with both hands slowly before her eyes, telling her, whenever she +took her eyes off, to look fixedly at him, and keeping a perfectly grave +face when every body around was laughing unreservedly. After this had +endured for some three minutes, the lady's eyes gradually closed, she +fell forwards, and was only prevented from farther falling by being +caught by the mesmeriser. He shook her, and, in rather a rough manner, +brought her to her senses; then, suspicious lest she had been purposely +deceiving him, questioned her seriously as to whether her sleep were +feigned or real. She assured him that it was not simulated, that the +sensation was irresistible, different from that of ordinary sleep, and +by no means unpleasant; but that the only disagreeable part was the +being roused. Upon this, the gentleman declared that he knew nothing of +mesmerism, and that, had he believed there was any thing in it, he would +not have attempted the joke. Another lady present, married, and having a +family, was now most anxious to have the experiment repeated upon her. +She said she had before sat to an experienced mesmeriser, who had +failed, and she was still incredulous, and believed that M---- had merely +given way to an imaginative temperament. It required considerable +persuasion to induce the gentleman who had before operated to try any +more experiments. He protested that he knew nothing about it, that he +had once seen a person said to be in the mesmeric state; but that, if he +succeeded again in inducing coma, he knew not at all how to awake the +patient. Curiously enough, he was instructed in the manipulation by the +sceptical patient, who had previously seen public mesmeric exhibitions. +After some further persuasion, and with the permission of the lady's +husband, who was present, he commenced again the same passes as with the +former patient, the only difference being, that he was in this case +sitting instead of kneeling. The patient kept constantly bursting into +fits of laughter, and as constantly apologising, telling him that his +gravity of face was irresistible. Of the other persons present, some +laughed, others were too much terrified to laugh, but they kept up a +constant running fire of comment, satirical and serious, upon the +mesmeriser and mesmerisee. In four or five minutes, the fits of laughter +of the latter assumed a rather unnatural character. It was evident she +forced herself to laugh in spite of the strongest disinclination, and in +a minute or two more she fixed into a state of ghastly catalepsy, the +eyes wide open, but the lids fixed, the features all rigid, (except the +lower lip, which was convulsed,) and pale as a corpse. The bystanders, +now much frightened, interfered, and laid hold of the mesmeriser. After +some time, water being given her to drink, she came to herself, and +appeared not to have suffered from the experiment. + +Notwithstanding the external difference of the case from the first, she +described her sensations as the same; viz. a sleep differing from +ordinary sleep, pleasing and irresistible, but the rousing very +disagreeable. The lady's husband now insisted on being operated on +himself. This was done, and entirely without success. Another lady was +also experimented on with no success; at least she said she felt sleepy, +but nothing more, which was not extraordinary, as it was now getting +late. When questioned as to what means he had used, the mesmeriser said +he had done nothing but stare steadily at the patients, making them also +look fixedly at him, and move his hands slowly and in uniform +directions, his instructor in these manoeuvres having been Tyrone +Power in the farce of _His Last Legs_. He stated that soon after the +commencement of the experiment, he felt an almost irresistible tendency +to go on with it; but whether this resulted from a conviction that he +was exercising some unknown influence, or from mere experimental +curiosity, he would not undertake to say--"this only was the witchcraft +he had used." + +The result was to all present conclusive as to the production of some +effect inexplicable upon received theories. The second case defied +simulation, and we believe it was equally removed from hysteria. The +patient was a strong-minded person, of a temperament neither nervous nor +hysterical, to all appearance perfectly calm, except when overcome by a +sense of the ridiculous, and before the experiment obstinately +incredulous. It was certainly a strong case. Any hypothesis to account +for it would be hasty; but one point suggests itself to us as arising +from the remark made by the mesmeriser, viz. that the only influence he +was conscious of using was that of a fixed determined stare. This may +possibly afford some key to a more philosophical examination of these +curious phenomena. + +The fabled effects of the basilisk, the serpent, and the evil eye, have +probably all some facts for their foundation. The effect of the human +eye in arresting the attacks of savage animals is better authenticated, +and its influence upon domestic animals may be more easily made the +subject of experimental proof. Let any one gaze steadily at a dog half +dozing at the fireside--the animal will, after a short time, become +restless, and if the stare be continued, will quit his resting-place, +and either shrink into a corner, or come forward and caress the person +staring. How much of this may be due to the habitual fixed look of stern +command with which censure or punishment is accompanied, it may be +difficult to say; but the fact undoubtedly is, that some influence, +either innate or induced, is exercised. Again, those who, in society, +habitually converse with an averted glance, we generally consider +wanting in moral force. We doubt the man who doubts himself. On the +other hand, if, in conversation, the ordinary look of awakened interest +be prolonged, and the eyes are kept fixed for a longer period than +usual, an embarrassed and somewhat painful feeling is the result; an +indistinct impulse makes it difficult to avert the eye, and at the same +time a consciousness of that impulse is an inducement to avert it. We +lay no undue stress upon these phenomena; but they are phenomena, and +fair subjects for scientific investigation. An explanation of mesmerism +has been sought in the physical effect of the stare alone; thus it is +said that, if a party look intently at a prominent object fixed to his +forehead, he will in time be thrown into mesmeric coma. There is more in +it, we think, than this; there is an influence exerted by that nearest +approach to the intercourse of soul--"the gaze into each other's +eyes"--the extent and _normae_ of which are unknown. The schoolboy's +experiment of staring out of countenance, is not so bad a test of moral +power as it would at first sight be deemed to be. + +The second case we shall relate is also one at which we were personally +present, but one in which both mesmeriser and mesmerisee were, if we may +use the term, adepts--the former a gentleman of fortune and education; +the latter a half-educated young man, who had been in service as a +footman. We shall designate them as Mr M---- and G----. + +At this "_soiree magnetique_" G. was brought in in the sleep-waking +state, walking, or rather staggering, and holding the arm of Mr M., his +eyes to all appearance perfectly closed, and his gait and gestures those +of a drunken man. After some little time he was detached from the +mesmeriser, and followed him to different parts of the room. When in +proximity Mr M. raised his hand, the patient's hands followed it, his +legs the same, while they receded from the hands and legs of any other +of the party present. Some of these effects were certainly curious, and +not easy of explanation. The mesmeriser would walk or stand behind the +patient, and, waving his hands somewhat after the manner of the cachuca +dancer, the hands of the patient followed his with tolerable but not +unerring precision. We determined to bear in mind these effects when +some other phenomena were exhibiting, and try whether similar results +would ensue when the attention of the parties was devoted to other +subjects. When the attention of every body present was intently strained +upon some experiments which we shall presently mention, we approached, +as though watching the experiment, very near to G., and frequently +without his at all flinching; at other times we were told by Mr M. not +to come too near, and once in particular we observed, that having had +one knee and toe in close juxtaposition, almost in contact, with the +patient's, we retained it so for several seconds before he withdrew his +leg. These facts, which would probably be explained by mesmerists on the +ground of the whole power of sensation being concentrated upon one +object, rendered, however, the experiments upon mesmeric attraction +inconclusive. Passing over several experiments, such as the +mesmerisation of water, showing community of taste, in which, after some +hesitation, the patient selected from three or four glasses of water one +which had been tasted by the mesmeriser, we come to the most important +point, viz. the clairvoyance. One of the party stood behind the patient, +and he was asked how the former was dressed; his reply, after some +hesitation was, "not over nice--he has a queerish waist-coat on," (it +was a plain white.) A book was then taken off the table--one of the +annuals. Mr M. held his hands tightly over the eyes of G., and the +title-page was presented open opposite the covered eyes of the latter; +after struggling and moving his head about for some time, just as if +endeavouring to catch a glimpse of the book, he mentioned the place of +publication, and afterwards the title. Other experiments were proposed, +such as holding a book behind the party, or to different parts of his +body; but of these some did not succeed, others were not tried. To +obviate the doubt of the book having been previously seen, we were +requested to write, in large letters, a word on a card, such as a +slightly educated person could read, and to present it, looking at the +same time as closely as we wished at the eyes of G., the lids of which +were, as before, apparently tightly held down by Mr M. We did so: the +word was _Peru_; and, after some struggles, the word was read certainly +without an exposure of any part of the eye to us. We now proposed, as +likely to be more satisfactory, to write another word on a similar card, +and, instead of the hands of the mesmeriser being held over the eyes, to +place a piece of thin paper over the card. This, it was said, was +useless and would not succeed, as the influence would not be transmitted +through the person of the mesmeriser; we then proposed that he (the +mesmeriser) should place his hand over the card; in short, that the card +should be blinded and not the eye. Our reason will be obvious. According +to the known laws of vision, viz. the convergence of all the rays of +light to a focus in the eye, were the least part of this exposed, +vision, though imperfect, of every object within the visual angle, would +follow; but, were the object covered, a partial opening would assist +vision but little, and only _quoad_ the part exposed. The experiment +thus performed would have been optically conclusive; and we cannot see, +according to any of the mesmeric hypotheses, any mesmeric reason why it +should not have succeeded: it was, however, declined. We are obliged to +omit many other points in this evening's proceedings to avoid prolixity. +Though many facts were curious, and certainly not easy of explanation by +ordinary means, there was nothing which defied it; every _experimentum +crucis_ failed, and we, of course, remained unconvinced. + +The third case which we shall instance, was one at which we were also +personally present. Having been invited to view the mesmeric experiments +of Dr B., we arrived at his house, with a friend, at about ten in the +morning, and having been duly introduced to the Doctor in one room, were +instantly ushered into another, when a scene presented itself certainly +one of the most extraordinary we have ever witnessed. There were seven +females in the room, and not one man. On a sofa near the fire-place, a +young girl sat upright, supported by cushions, her eyes were fixed, and +opposite her stood a middle-aged woman, slowly moving her hands before +the eyes of the patient. On the hearth-rug near this lay a woman covered +with a coarse blanket. She appeared sound asleep, was breathing heavily, +and looked deadly pale. A third patient was seated on a chair, also +undergoing the mesmeric passes from another woman; and on the opposite +side of the room from the fire-place, two others were seated on chairs, +with their heads hanging on their shoulders, and eyes closed. +Description cannot convey the mystic and fearful appearance of this room +and its inmates to the first glance of the unexpectant spectator. Not a +word was spoken; the solemn silence, the immobility and deathlike pallor +of the objects, was awful--they were as breathing corpses. The clay-cold +nuns evoked from their tombs, presented not a more unearthly spectacle +to Robert of Normandy. The free-and-easy expressions of Dr B., however, +which first broke the silence, instantly dissolved the spell. "That +woman," he said, pointing to her on the floor, "has a disease of the +liver, and her left lung is somewhat affected. I think we shall do her +good. She is now getting into the clairvoyant state. She can see into +the next room." He then stooped over her, and said, "How are you, Mary?" +She replied, "I have the pain in my side very bad." He approached his +hand to the part affected, and again withdrew it several times, opening +the fingers as it neared, and closing them as it receded, as though he +would gently extract the pain. He again asked her how she felt; she said +better. He then pointed to the girl on the sofa, and said, "She is deaf +and dumb. We cannot get her asleep." He subsequently pointed out other +of the patients, and mentioned their ailments. These, and the sombre +darkness of the room, accounted to us for the unnatural paleness of the +patients. Dr B. next asked one of two sleeping patients to follow him +into another room. We accompanied him, and his experiments upon the +female, whom we shall call S., commenced. First of all, he placed her +hands with the palms together, and making with his fingers motions the +converse of those made in the former case, asked us to endeavour to +separate them. We did, and _instantly succeeded_, with no more effort +than would be expected were any woman of average strength purposely to +hold her hands together. "Ah!" said the Doctor, "not an easy matter, is +it?" We made no reply. He then walked, having on a pair of +loudly-creaking boots, to the other end of the room, and looked sternly +at the patient. She, after a second or two, followed him, and sat on the +same chair. He then said, "I willed her to come to me." + +He next asked our friend to hold the patient's hands, and ask her a +question _mentally_, without expressing it. + +After some little time she frowned, and endeavoured to withdraw her +hands. + +_Dr._ "Ah, she does not like your question! Ask her another." + +After some time she burst out into a fit of laughter. + +_Dr._ "Ah, you have tickled her fancy now!" + +What the question asked by our friend was, did not transpire. This +experiment having been so successful, we were asked to do the same. Not +without a feeling of shame we complied; and, taking hold of the +patient's hands, we mentally asked her the question--"Are you single or +married?" which question did not appear to us to involve any +metaphysical subtilty. However, after struggling and frowning for some +time, she said, with a sort of hysteric gasp, "He's a funny man!" + +_Dr B._ "Ah, she can't make you out!" + +We are not aware to what feature in our character the epithet _funny_ +will apply; but probably our self-esteem will not permit us justly to +appreciate the appositeness of this somewhat ambiguous epithet. So much, +however, for the power of divination, with which the mesmeriser seemed +perfectly satisfied. Dr B. now showed us a camomile flower, put it in +his mouth, and chewed it. The patient made a face as if tasting +something disagreeable, and, in answer to his questions, said it was +bitter. He then did the same with a lozenge; and after some time, +required, according to the doctor, for the removal of the bitter taste, +she said she tasted _lozenges_. + +_Dr B._ "There you see the community of taste." Dr B. now touched her +forehead a little above and outside of the eyebrows; she burst out +laughing. + +_Dr B._ "I touched the organ of gaiety." He then did the same with the +organs of music; she set up an old English ditty. Then touching these +organs with one hand, and placing the other on the top of her head, she +instantly changed the ballad to a doleful psalm-tune. Affection, +philo-progenitiveness, were in turn touched, the doctor stating aloud +beforehand what organ he was going to excite. We should weary our +readers with a detail of the platitudes which ensued. + +She was asked what was going on in the next room, and said, "Ah, Sophy +may try, but cannot get the girl asleep!" A few other experiments, such +as suspending chairs on her arms, &c., followed, and we returned to the +next room, where the deaf and dumb girl was found _fast asleep_. Upon +being asked how long she had been so, the female mesmeriser replied, +"Just after you left the room." No comment was made upon the answer of +the clairvoyante patient above given, which appeared to have been +forgotten by all but ourselves. + +Had we been anxious to give a factitious interest to our narrative, we +should certainly have avoided a description of the above cases, which +could not at the same time be made to possess graphic interest, and to +relate accurately the real facts as presented; but we have selected them +as having happened to ourselves, and as being shown not by public +exhibitors, but by parties both holding a highly respectable station in +life, and being, as we believe, among the best examples to be found of +English mesmerisers. Although invited as sceptical spectators, and the +experiments being in nowise confidential, we feel that the exhibition +not being public, we have no right to mention the names of the parties. + +It will be obvious that the three exhibitions we have selected differed +much in character. The first, as we have stated, to our minds defied +collusion or self-deception. The second was open to either construction, +though, from the character of the parties, we should think collusion +was, in the highest degree, improbable; and the experiments, although +not conclusive, were very curious, and some of them not easy of +explanation. In the third case, transparent and absurd as the +experiments seemed to us, and as the account of them will probably +appear to our readers, the doctor, from his position and practice, must +have been seriously injured by his mesmeric experiments; and therefore +there is fair reason to believe, that he was not a party to a fraud +which must have been objectless, and professionally injurious to him; +but how a man of experience could be carried away by such flimsy +devices, is a psychological curiosity, almost as marvellous as the +asserted phenomena of mesmerism. + +We are aware that, in giving the above accounts of experiments which we +have personally witnessed, our authority, being anonymous, is of no +great weight. We state them to avoid the charge of writing on what we +have not seen, and to show that we do not attempt unfairly to decry +mesmerism without seeing it fairly tried; if we felt justified in giving +the names of the parties, these instances would be much more conclusive. +Nearly all the cases in Mr Townshend's book are given without the names +of parties, probably for similar reasons to those which have induced us +to withhold them. + +The above cases supply instances of all the phenomena included in our +categories, except those of insensibility to pain, powers of prediction, +and the curative effects. Having never personally seen cases of this +description, we shall select examples of them from the book of Mr +Townshend and others; but before we give these instances, we will +extract from Mr Townshend's book his account of the first mesmeric +sitting at which he was present. This will give the reader a fair idea +of his attractive style, and of his state of mind previously to +witnessing, for the first time, mesmeric effects. + + "If to have been an unbeliever in the very existence of the state + in question, can add weight to my testimony, my reader, should he + also be a heretic on the subject, may be assured that his + incredulity in this respect can scarcely be greater than mine was, + up to the winter of 1836. That, at the time I mention, I should be + both ignorant and prejudiced on the score of mesmerism, will not + surprise those who are aware of its long proscription in England, + and the want of information upon it, which, till very lately, + prevailed there. + + "In the course of a residence at Antwerp, a valued friend detailed + to me some extraordinary results of mesmerism, to which he had been + an eyewitness. I could not altogether discredit the evidence of one + whom I knew to be both observant and incapable of falsehood; but I + took refuge in the supposition that he had been ingeniously + deceived. Reflecting, however, that to condemn before I had + examined was as unjust to others as it was unsatisfactory to + myself, I accepted readily the proposition of my friend to + introduce me to an acquaintance of his in Antwerp, who had learned + the practice of the mesmeric art from a German physician. We waited + together on Mr K----, the mesmeriser, (an agreeable and + well-informed person,) and stated to him that the object of our + visit was to prevail on him to exhibit to us a specimen of his + mysterious talent. To this he at first replied that he was rather + seeking to abjure a renown that had become troublesome--half the + world viewing him as a conjurer, and the other half as a getter-up + of strange comedies; 'but,' he kindly added, 'if you will promise + me a strictly private meeting, I will, this evening, do all in my + power to convince you that mesmerism is no delusion.' This being + agreed upon, with a stipulation that the members of my own family + should be present on the occasion, I, to remove all doubt of + complicity from every mind, proposed that Mr K---- should mesmerise + a person who should be a perfect stranger to him. To this he + readily acceded; and now the only difficulty was to find a subject + for our experiment. At length we thought of a young person in the + middling class of life, who had often done fine work for the ladies + of our family, and of whose character we had the most favourable + knowledge. Her mother was Irish, her father, who had been dead some + time, had been a Belgian, and she spoke English, Flemish, and + French, with perfect facility. Her widowed parent was chiefly + supported by her industry: and, in the midst of trying + circumstances, her temper was gay and cheerful, and her health + excellent. That she had never seen Mr K---- we were sure; and of + her probity and incapacity for feigning we had every reason to be + convinced. With our request, conveyed to her through one of the + ladies of our family, for whom she had conceived a warm affection, + she complied without hesitation. Not being of a nervous, though of + an excitable temperament, she had no fears whatever about what she + was to undergo. On the contrary, she had rather a desire to know + what the sensation of being mesmerised might be. Of the phenomena + which were to be developed in the mesmeric state, she knew + absolutely nothing; thus all deceptive imitation of them, on her + part, was rendered impossible. + + "About nine o'clock in the evening, our party assembled for what, + in foreign phrase, is called 'une seance magnetique.' Anna M----, + our mesmerisee, was already with us. Mr K---- arrived soon after, + and was introduced to his young patient, whose name we had + purposely avoided mentioning to him in the morning; not that we + feared imposition on either hand, but that we were determined, by + every precaution, to prevent any one from alleging that imposition + had been practised. Utterly unknown as the parties were to each + other, a game played by two confederates was plainly out of the + question. Almost immediately after the entrance of Mr K---- we + proceeded to the business of the evening. By his directions + Mademoiselle M---- placed herself in an arm-chair at one end of the + apartment, while he occupied a seat directly facing hers. He then + took each of her hands in one of his, and sat in such a manner as + that the knees and feet of both should be in contact. In this + position he remained for some time motionless, attentively + regarding her with eyes as unwinking as the lidless orbs which + Coleridge has attributed to the Genius of destruction. We had been + told previously to keep utter silence, and none of our + circle--composed of some five or six persons--felt inclined to + transgress this order. To me, novice as I was at that time in such + matters, it was a moment of absorbing interest: that which I had + heard mocked at as foolishness, that which I myself had doubted as + a dream, was, perhaps, about to be brought home to my conviction, + and established for ever in my mind as a reality. Should the + present trial prove successful, how much of my past experience must + be remodelled and reversed! + + "Convinced, as I have since been, to what valuable conclusions the + phenomena of mesmerism may conduct the enquirer, never, perhaps, + have I been more impressed with the importance of its pretensions + than at that moment, when my doubts of their validity were either + to be strengthened or removed. Concentrating my attention upon the + motionless pair, I observed that Mademoiselle M---- seemed at her + ease, and occasionally smiled or glanced at the assembled party; + but her eyes, as if by a charm, always reverted to those of her + mesmeriser, and at length seemed unable to turn away from them. + Then a heaviness, as of sleep, seemed to weigh down her eyelids, + and to pervade the expression of her countenance; her head drooped + on one side; her breathing became regular; at length her eyes + closed entirely, and, to all appearance, she was calmly asleep, in + just seven minutes from the time when Mr K---- first commenced his + operations. I should have observed that, as soon as the first + symptoms of drowsiness were manifested, the mesmeriser had + withdrawn his hands from those of Mademoiselle M----, and had + commenced what are called the mesmeric passes, conducting his + fingers slowly downward, without contact, along the arm of the + patient. For about five minutes, Mademoiselle M---- continued to + repose tranquilly, when suddenly she began to heave deep sighs, and + to turn and toss in her chair. She then called out, 'Je me trouve + malade! Je m'etouffe!' and rising in a wild manner, she continued + to repeat, 'Je m'etouffe!' evidently labouring under an oppression + of the breath. But all this time her eyes remained fast shut, and + at the command of her mesmeriser, she took his arm and walked, + still with her eyes shut, to the table. Mr K---- then said, + 'Voulez-vous que je vous eveille?'--'Oui, oui,' she exclaimed; 'je + m'etouffe.' Upon this Mr K---- again operated with his hands, but + in a different set of movements, and taking out his handkerchief, + agitated the air round the patient, who forthwith opened her eyes, + and stared about the room like a person awaking from sleep. No + traces of her indisposition, however, appeared to remain; and soon + shaking off all drowsiness, she was able to converse and laugh as + cheerfully as usual. On being asked what she remembered of her + sensations, she said that she had only a general idea of having + felt unwell and oppressed: that she had wished to open her eyes, + but could not, they felt as if lead were on them. Of having walked + to the table she had no recollection. Notwithstanding her having + suffered, she was desirous of being again mesmerised, and sat down + fearlessly to make a second trial. This time it was longer before + her eyes closed, and she never seemed to be reduced to more than a + state of half unconsciousness. When the mesmeriser asked her if she + slept, she answered in the tone of utter drowsiness, 'Je dors, et + je ne dors pas.' This lasted some time, when Mr K---- declared that + he was afraid of fatiguing his patient, (and probably his + spectators too,) and that he should disperse the mesmeric fluid. To + do so, however, seemed not so easy a matter as the first time when + he awoke the sleep-waker; with difficulty she appeared to rouse + herself; and even after having spoken a few words to us, and risen + from her chair, she suddenly relapsed into a state of torpor, and + fell prostrate to the ground, as if perfectly insensible. Mr K----, + entreating us not to be alarmed, raised her up--placed her in a + chair, and supported her head with his hand. It was then that I + distinctly recognised one of the asserted phenomena of mesmerism. + The head of Mademoiselle M---- followed every where, with unerring + certainty, the hand of her mesmeriser, and seemed irresistibly + attracted to it as iron to the loadstone. At length Mr K---- + succeeded in thoroughly awaking his patient, who, on being + interrogated respecting her past sensations, said that she retained + a recollection of her state of semi-consciousness, during which she + much desired to have been able to sleep wholly; but of her having + fallen to the ground, or of what had passed subsequently, she + remembered nothing whatever. To other enquiries she replied, that + the drowsy sensation which first stole over her was rather of an + agreeable nature, and that it was preceded by a slight tingling, + which ran down her arms in the direction of the mesmeriser's + fingers. Moreover she assured us, that the oppression she had at + one time felt was not fanciful, but real--not mental, but bodily, + and was accompanied by a peculiar pain in the region of the heart, + which, however, ceased immediately on the dispersion of the + mesmeric sleep. These statements were the rather to be relied upon, + inasmuch as the girl's character was neither timid nor + imaginative."--(P. 38-42.) + +We would willingly give the whole of the second sitting of the same +patient, in which were developed the phenomena of, + +1st, "Attraction towards the mesmeriser." + +2d, "A knowledge of what the mesmeriser ate and drank, indicating +community of sensation with him." + +3d, "An increased quickness of perception." + +4th, "A development of the power of vision." + +Our space will not permit us to give these in detail. We shall therefore +give an extract from the third sitting, where the clairvoyance was more +decidedly developed, and the impressions of Mr Townshend on the +phenomena he had witnessed are stated. + + "Upon first passing into the mesmeric state, Theodore seemed + absolutely insensible to every other than the mesmeriser's voice. + Some of our party went close to him, and shouted his name; but he + gave no tokens of hearing us until Mr K----, taking our hands, made + us touch those of Theodore and his own at the same time. This he + called putting us '_en rapport_' with the patient. After this + Theodore seemed to hear our voices equally with that of the + mesmeriser, but by no means to pay an equal attention to them. + + "With regard to the development of vision, the eyes of the patient + appeared to be firmly shut during the whole sitting, and yet he + gave the following proofs of accurate sight:-- + + "Without being guided by our voices, (for, in making the + experiment, we kept carefully silent,) he distinguished between the + different persons present, and the colours of their dresses. He + also named with accuracy various objects on the table, such as a + miniature picture, a drawing by Mr K----, &c. &c. + + "When the mesmeriser left him, and ran quickly amongst the chairs, + tables &c., of the apartment, he followed him, running also, and + taking the same turns, without once coming in contact with any + thing that stood in his way. + + "He told the hour accurately by Mr K----'s watch. + + "He played several games at dominoes with the different members of + our family, as readily as if his eyes had been perfectly open. + + "On these occasions the lights were placed in front of him, and he + arranged his dominoes on the table, with their backs to the + candles, in such a manner that, when I placed my head in the same + position as his own, I could scarcely, through the shade, + distinguish one from the other. Yet he took them up unerringly, + never hesitated in his play, generally won the game, and announced + the sum of the spots on such of his dominoes as remained over at + the end, before his adversaries could count theirs. One of our + party, a lady who had been extremely incredulous on the subject of + mesmerism, stooped down, so as to look under his eyelids all the + time he played, and declared herself convinced and satisfied that + his eyes were perfectly closed. It was not always, however, that + Theodore could be prevailed upon to exercise his power of vision. + Some words, written by the mesmeriser, of a tolerable size, being + shown to him, he declared, as Mademoiselle M---- did on another + occasion, that it was too small for him to distinguish. + + "Towards the conclusion of the sitting, the patient seemed much + fatigued, and, going to the sofa, arranged a pillow for himself + comfortably under his head; after which he appeared to pass into a + state more akin to natural sleep than his late sleep-waking. Mr + K---- allowed him to repose in this manner for a short time, and + then awoke him by the usual formula. A very few motions of the hand + were sufficient to restore him to full consciousness, and to his + usual character. The fatigue of which he had so lately complained + seemed wholly to have passed away, together with the memory of all + that he had been doing for the last hour. + + "I must now pause to set before my reader my own state of mind + respecting the facts I had witnessed. I perceived that important + deductions might be drawn from them, and that they bore upon + disputed questions of the highest interest to man, connected with + the three great mysteries of being--life, death, and immortality. + On these grounds I was resolved to enter upon a consistent course + of enquiry concerning them; though as yet, while all was new and + wonderful to my apprehension, I could scarcely do more than observe + and verify phenomena. It was, however, necessary that my views, + though for the present bounded, should be distinct. I had already + asked respecting mesmeric sleep-waking, 'Does it exist?' and to + this question, the cases which had fallen under my notice, and + which were above suspicion, seemed to answer decidedly in the + affirmative: but it was essential still further to enquire, 'Does + it exist so generally as to be pronounced a part--though a rarely + developed part--of the human constitution?' In order to determine + this, it was requisite to observe how far individuals of different + ages, stations, and temperaments, were capable of mesmeric + sleep-waking. I resolved, therefore, by experiments on as extensive + a scale as possible, to ascertain whether the state in question + were too commonly exhibited to be exceptional or idiosyncratic. + Again, the two cases that I had witnessed coincided in + characteristics; but could this coincidence be accidental? It might + still be asked, 'Were the phenomena displayed uncertain, mutable, + such as might never occur again; or were they orderly, invariable, + the growth of fixed causes, which, being present, implied their + presence also?' In fine, was mesmeric sleep-waking not only a + state, but entitled to rank as a distinct state, clearly and + permanently characterized; and, as such, set apart from all other + abnormal conditions of men? On its pretensions to be so considered, + rested, I conceived, its claims to notice and peculiar + investigation: to decide this point was, therefore, one of my chief + objects; and, respecting it, I was determined to seek that + certainty which can only be attained by a careful comparison of + facts, occurring under the same circumstances. To sum up my + intentions, I desired to show that man, through external human + influence, is capable of a species of sleep-waking different from + the common, not only inasmuch as it is otherwise produced, but as + it displays quite other characteristics when produced."--(P. + 49-52.) + +In the subsequent portions of the book, similar and still more wondrous +phenomena are produced by Mr Townshend. He mesmerises several Cambridge +friends. He procures two patients, designated by the names of Anna M---- +and E---- A----, who are said to be very susceptible of the mesmeric +state, and sight or mesmeric perception is manifested in a dark closet, +with large towels over the head, through the abdomen, through cards, +books, &c. &c. Anna M. is mesmerised unconsciously when in a separate +house from the mesmeriser; they predict remedies for themselves and +others, read thoughts,[4] state how they and others can be further +mesmerised and demesmerised. + +As an instance of the curative effects, and the power of predicting +remedies, we cite the following:-- + + "Accident threw in my way a lad of nineteen years of age, a Swiss + peasant, who for three years had nearly lost the faculty of sight. + His eyes betrayed but little appearance of disorder, and the + gradual decay of vision which he had experienced, was attributed to + a paralysis of the optic nerve, resulting from a scrofulous + tendency in the constitution of the patient. The boy, whom I shall + call by his Christian name of Johann, was intelligent, + mild-tempered, extremely sincere, and extremely unimaginative. He + had never heard of mesmerism till I spoke of it before him, and I + then only so far enlightened him on the subject, as to tell him + that it was something which might, perhaps, benefit his sight. At + first he betrayed some little reluctance to submit himself to + experiment, asking me if I were going to perform some very painful + operation upon him; but, when he found that the whole affair + consisted in sitting quiet, and letting me hold his hands, he no + longer felt any apprehension. + + "Before beginning to mesmerise, I ascertained, with as much + precision as possible, the patient's degree of blindness. I found + that he yet could see enough to perceive any large obstacle that + stood in his way. If a person came directly before him, he was + aware of the circumstance, but he could not at all distinguish + whether the individual were man or woman. I even put this to the + proof. A lady of our society stood before him, and he addressed her + as 'mein herr,' (sir.) In bright sunshine he could see a white + object, or the colour scarlet, when in a considerable mass, but + made mistakes as to the other colours. Between small objects he + could not at all discriminate. I held before him successively, a + book, a box, and a bunch of keys, and he could not distinguish + between them. In each case he saw something, he said, like a + shadow, but he could not tell what. He could not read one letter of + the largest print by means of eyesight; but he was very adroit in + reading by touch, in books prepared expressly for the blind, + running his fingers over the raised characters with great rapidity, + and thus acquiring a perception of them. Whatever trifling degree + of vision he possessed, could only be exercised on very near + objects: those which were at a distance from him, he perceived not + at all. I ascertained that he could not see a cottage at the end of + our garden, not more than a hundred yards off from where we were + standing. + + "These points being satisfactorily proved, I placed my patient in + the proper position, and began to mesmerise. Five minutes had + scarcely elapsed, when I found that I produced a manifest effect + upon the boy. He began to shiver at regular intervals, as if + affected by a succession of slight electric shocks. By degrees this + tremour subsided, the patient's eyes gradually closed, and in about + a quarter of an hour, he replied to an enquiry on my part--'Ich + schlaffe, aber nicht ganz tief'--(I sleep, but not soundly.) upon + this I endeavoured to deepen the patient's slumber by the mesmeric + passes, when suddenly he exclaimed--his eyes being closed all the + time--'I see--I see your hand--I see your head!' In order to put + this to the proof, I held my head in various positions, which he + followed with his finger; again, he told me accurately whether my + hand was shut or open. 'But,' he said, on being further questioned, + 'I do not see distinctly.--I see, as it were, sunbeams (sonnen + strahlen) which dazzle me.' 'Do you think,' I asked, 'that + mesmerism will do you good?' 'Ja freilich,' (yes, certainly,) he + replied; 'repeated often enough, it would cure me of my blindness.' + + "Afraid of fatiguing my patient, I did not trouble him with + experiments; and his one o'clock dinner being ready for him, I + dispersed his magnetic sleep. After he had dined, I took him into + the garden. As we were passing before some bee-hives, he suddenly + stopped, and seemed to look earnestly at them: 'What is it you + see?' I asked. 'A row of bee-hives,' he replied directly, and + continued--'Oh! this is wonderful!--I have not seen such things for + three years.' Of course, I was extremely surprised, for though I + had imagined that a long course of mesmerisation might benefit the + boy, I was entirely unprepared for so rapid an improvement in his + vision. My chief object had been to develop the faculty of sight in + sleep-waking; and I can assure my readers, that this increase of + visual power in the natural state was to me a kind of miracle, as + astonishing as it was unsought. My poor patient was in a state of + absolute enchantment. He grinned from ear to ear, and called out, + 'Das ist praechtig!' (This is charming!) Two ladies now passed + before us, when he said, 'Da sind zwei fraeuenzimmer!' (There go two + ladies!) 'How dressed?' I asked. 'Their clothes are of a dark + colour,' he replied. This was true. I took my patient to a + summer-house that commanded an extensive prospect. I fear almost to + state it, but, nevertheless, it is perfectly true, that he saw and + pointed out the situation of a village in the valley below us. I + then brought Johann back to the house, when, in the presence of + several members of my family, he recognised, at first sight, + several small objects, (a flowerpot, I remember, amongst other + things,) and not only saw a little girl, one of our farmers' + children, sitting on the steps of a door, but also mentioned that + she had a round cap on her head. In the house, I showed Johann a + book, which, it will be remembered, he could not distinguish before + mesmerisation, and he named the object. But, though making great + efforts, he could not read one letter in the book. Having + ascertained this, I once more threw Johann into the mesmeric state, + with a view to discover how far a second mesmerisation could + strengthen his natural eyesight. As soon as I had awaked him, at + the interval of half an hour, I presented him with the same book, + (one of Marryat's novels,) when he accurately told me the larger + letters of the title-page, which were as follows--'Outward Bound.' + Johann belonging to an institution of the blind situated at some + distance from our residence, I had unhappily only the opportunity + of mesmerising him three times subsequently to the above successful + trial. The establishment, also, of which he was a member, changed + masters; and its new director having prejudices on the score of + mesmerism, there were difficulties purposely thrown in the way of + my following up that which I had so auspiciously begun."--(Pp. + 176-179) + +Many of these cases of clairvoyance, given by Mr Townshend, appear on +the face of them ambiguous; thus the reading is said to be effected with +difficulty and imperfectly, the difficulty to be increased by the +superposition of obstacles. Others, as related, certainly admit of no +explanation by deductions from ordinary experience. All we can say of +them, therefore, is, that we have fairly sought to see such phenomena, +and have never succeeded; when we see them, and can properly test them, +we will believe them. But from the internal evidence of the latter +portion of Mr Townshend's book, which we shall presently discuss, we +cannot, although not doubting his honesty of purpose, set our faith upon +his experiments and judgment. + +Mr Townshend gives no account of the phreno-mesmerism, or of the +surgical operations performed without any evidence of pain during the +mesmeric states. We have already related one of the former exhibitions, +which, we think, requires no further comment. Viewed abstractedly, the +attempt to support by the assumed accuracy of one science, at best in +its infancy, and confessedly fallible, another still more so, is making +too large demands upon public credulity to require much counter +argument. With regard to the surgical cases, they stand on a very +different ground; three operations, among the most painful of those to +which man is ever subjected, are alleged to have been performed during +the mesmeric state--Madame Plantin, amputation of cancerous breast; and +James Wombwell and Mary Ann Lakin, amputation of the leg above the knee. +The case of Wombwell was canvassed at length at the Royal Medical and +Chirurgical Society of London; and in that and the other cases there +seems to have been no question raised as to the facts of the patients +having undergone the operation without the usual evidence of suffering. +In Wombwell's case the divided end of the sciatic nerve was purposely +(it appears to us very wantonly) touched with the forceps, but without +any appearance of sensation on the part of the patient. In all these +cases the medical men most opposed to mesmerism seem to have admitted +the fact, and to have rested their incredulity on the various cases +known to them, of parties having borne operations with such fortitude as +not to have expressed the usual cries of suffering. + +In Madame Plantin's case it is stated; that she subsequently confessed +to a nurse in an hospital, that she felt the full pain, but purposely, +and by great effort, kept silent. This confession is, however, strongly +denied by Dr Elliotson and others, and does not appear to be clearly +substantiated. + +A professional "_odium_" appears to have arisen on the subject; and, +from the controversial tone of the speaking and writing on both sides, +it is difficult to get at the truth. We must say, however, that, +admitting the facts, which the antagonists of mesmerism seem to do, we +are more inclined to believe the paralysis of nervous sensation by +mesmeric influence, than that, with such inadequate motives as the +_patients_ could feel, they should have such marvellous self-control as +to feign sleep, and keep their whole muscular system in a relaxed state, +while suffering such exquisite pain. Medical men are, indeed, better +judges of the power of endurance and simulation than we can pretend to +be; but, to make their testimony conclusive, they should have witnessed +the operation. The elaborate research for causes explanatory of an +unseen case, lessens the weight of authority which would otherwise be +very high. + +Many other minor cases, such as teeth drawn, and division of tendons, +are given; and though we have never had an opportunity of witnessing +such effects, we must say we think, from their benefit to suffering +humanity, the possibility, however remote, of their truth, deserves +more calm and dispassionate enquiry than appears hitherto to have been +given them. + +While doctors, however, seek to explain, by various profound theories, +the efficient causes of asserted mesmeric cures, a member of the Church +of England, and popular preacher at Liverpool, the Rev. Hugh M. Neill, +M.A., has cut the Gordian knot, by a sermon preached at St Jude's +Church, on April 10th, 1842, and published in Nos. 599 and 600 of the +_Penny Pulpit_, price twopence. By this sermon it appears to have +occurred to the philosophic mind of the reverend divine, that mesmeric +marvels may be accounted for as accomplished by the direct agency of +Satan! Doubtless Satan is as actively at work in this the nineteenth +century, as in any anterior period of our history; but we are inclined +to think the progress of civilization has opened a sufficient number of +channels for his ingenuity, without rendering it necessary that he +should alarm the devout by miraculously interfering to assuage human +suffering. + +We have given above as many instances as our space will permit, of the +asserted phenomena of mesmerism; and now to return to Mr Townshend's +book. + +In taking a general view of the lines of argument adopted by the author +to support the possibility or probability of mesmerism, we perceive they +are of two sorts, essentially different, and in some measure +inconsistent with each other. + +1st, It is very properly argued, that our whole knowledge of the normal +course of nature is derived from experience; that a law is a mere +generalization from that experience, and is not any thing intrinsically +or necessarily true. Thus, if the sun were to rise in the west +to-morrow, instead of in the east, it would at first sight appear to be +a deviation from natural laws; in other words, a miracle. If, however, +the latter circumstance were wanting, after the first sensation of the +marvellous had subsided, the philosopher would enquire, whether, instead +of being a deviation from a law, it were not a subordinate instance of +some higher law, of which the period of history had been too short to +give any co-ordinate instances; and were it found, by a long course of +experience, that in every 4000 years a similar retrocession of the earth +took place, a new law would be established. Applying this to mesmerism, +it is said our notions of sleep and waking, of sight and hearing, and of +the possible limits and modes of sensation, are derived from experience +alone; we cannot estimate or understand the _modus agendi_ of a new +sensation, because we have never experienced it. If, then, it be proved, +by the acts of A, B, or C, that they attain cognizance of objects by +other means than those which any known organ of sensation will permit, +you must admit the fact, and by degrees its _rationale_ will become +supported by the same means as all other truths are supported, viz. by +habitual experience. Its law is, indeed, nothing but its constant +recurrence under similar circumstances. To take Mr Townshend's own mode +of enunciating this-- + + "Are we entitled to conclude, in any case, that, because we have + not hitherto been able to assign a law to certain operations, they + are therefore absolutely without law? Are we to assert, that the + orderly dispositions of the universe are deformed by a monstrous + exception; or is it not wiser to believe that our own knowledge is + in fault, whenever Nature appears inconsistent with herself? Surely + we have enough order around us to suggest, that all which to us + seems chance, is 'direction which we cannot see;' that all apparent + anomalies are but like those discords which, in the most masterly + music, prepare the transitions from one noble passage to another, + and are actually essential to the general harmony. In many + instances this is not mere conjecture. How much of fancied + imperfection and disorder has fled before our investigation! The + motions of comets at first appear to offer an exception to the + exact arrangements of the universe.--'They traverse all parts of + the heavens. Their paths have every possible inclination to the + plane of the ecliptic; and, unlike the planets, the motion of more + than half of those which have appeared has been retrograde--that + is, from east to west.' Yet have we been able to detect the + elements of regularity in the midst of all this seeming confusion, + and to predict with certainty the day, the hour, and the minute of + a comet's return to our region of the sky. + + "Experience also shows, that apparently insulated and lawless + phenomena may not only be reduced to a law, but to a well-known + law; that many a familiar agent puts on strange disguises; and that + events, with which, in their mazy channels, we seem to be + unacquainted, may be perfectly recognised by us at their source. + Thus galvanism and magnetic force are proved, by recent + discoveries, to be only forms of electricity; showing that a fact + may be altered, not in itself, but in the circumstances that + surround it, and that complexity of development is perfectly + consistent with unity of design. Instances like these, while they + encourage us to enquiry, should teach us to believe that all which + is needed to vindicate the regularity of nature is a more extended + observation on our parts."--(Pp. 14-15.) + +This is the highest and safest ground for the advocate of mesmerism to +tread; to support himself on this he has only to demonstrate his facts +beyond the possibility of a doubt, and the truth of the phenomena, +however inconsistent with previous experience, must in the end be +admitted. But to support him on this high ground his proof must be +demonstrative; he must be able to say--I ask not for faith, nor even a +balanced mind; but doubt to the utmost, examine with the most rigorous +scepticism; I stand upon the facts alone; I offer no explanation, or at +least I make their truth dependent upon no explanation. They are or they +are not. I will prove their existence, and I will defy you to disprove +them. + +It will not, we conceive, be denied, that one essential attribute of the +social mind, a jealousy of credence in apparent anomalies, is a just and +necessary guard upon human knowledge. If mere assertion were believed, +every succeeding day would upset the knowledge of the preceding day; and +however high the character of the assertor of new and abnormal facts may +be, he must not expect them to be received upon the strength of his +assertion. The best men may be deceived, and the best men may be led +astray by enthusiasm. When the slightest discovery in physical science +is published, it is immediately assailed by doubts from every quarter; +and its promulgator, if he be accustomed to research and trained to +scientific investigation, never complains of these doubts, because he +knows the vast number of perplexing deceptions in which he has himself +been entangled, and the caution with which he himself would receive a +similar announcement. + +It is vain to cite instances of truths unappreciated by the age in which +they were advanced. We deprecate as much as any the persecution with +which occasionally men who have seen far in advance of their age have +been attacked; but the saying, "Malheureux celui qui est en avance de +son siecle," is not always true: if the new truth be difficult of +demonstration it will be proportionately tardy of reception, but if easy +of proof it is very rapidly received. As an example of this we may +instance the discovery of Volta. In the history of physical science, +never was a more sudden leap taken than by this illustrious man--that a +juxtaposition of matter in its least organic form should produce such +surprising effects upon the human organism, was to the world, as it +existed in the year 1800, a most marvellous phenomenon; and had the link +in the finest chain of proof been wanting, men would have been justified +in any degree of scepticism or incredulity. But it was easy of +demonstration; any one with a dozen discs of iron and zinc, and the same +number of penny-pieces, could satisfy himself; and the consequence was, +the discovery was instantly admitted. Let mesmerists put the same power +of self-satisfaction into the hands of the world, and doubt will be at +once removed; if, as they say, their science is not of equal exactitude, +they must bide their time and not complain. + +Magnetism and electricity, moreover, often cited by Mr Townshend, and +undoubtedly the most surprising additions to human knowledge within the +historical period, though abnormal, are not contradictory to +experience--they were an entirely new series of facts added to our +previous store--they did not destroy or lessen the force of any +previously received truths. Not so mesmerism, and therefore the more +stringent should be, and is, the proof required. + +Come we now to the second class of arguments adopted in favour of +mesmerism, and by the same persons (Mr Townshend, for instance) as +support the first. Mr Townshend says, (p. 29,) "to the mesmeriser the +facts of mesmerism are no miracles;" and yet he avers that mesmerism can +make the blind see and the deaf hear. (Pp. xxxii., and 178.) We cannot +very clearly see his notion of a miracle. Passing over this, however, +and taking him to assert what the first branch of his argument requires +to be asserted, that there is no miracle, or that there is nothing but +the contradiction of a necessary truth, such as that three angles of a +triangle are equal to two right angles, which _may_ not fall within some +natural law of which we have not all the data--we cannot see why, in the +second half of his book, he so sedulously endeavours to prove that +mesmerism is consistent with experience, and may be supported upon +similar grounds, and accounted for by similar theories, to those by +which the agency of the imponderable forces is established and accounted +for. After using every argument in his power to show the fallibility of +experience, and the reasons why we should not disbelieve mesmerism +because contradictory to it, which contradiction he admits in terms, the +author writes a chapter, the title of which is, "Conformity of Mesmerism +with General Experience."--(P. 155.) As instances of these reverse modes +of viewing the subject, we quote the following passages--the one taken +from the commencement of the book, where the first line of argument is +adopted; the other from the latter portion, where the second is. + + "Thus, then, till the initial step towards a comprehension of + mesmerism be taken anew, there is no hope that it will ever be + understood or appreciated. Why unavailingly seek to reduce it to a + formula of which it is unsusceptible? If we ascribe it to a power + already ascertained, why not treat it, at least, as an entirely new + function of that power? Why limit it to what we know, when, + possibly, it may be destined to extend the boundaries of our + knowledge? Why are we to be trammelled with foregone conclusions? + Yet upon these very restrictions the opponents of mesmerism insist; + thus taking away from men the means of investigating the agency in + question, by forcing them to set about it in the wrong way."--(P. + 12.) + +Having, then, thus expressed himself in the early part of the work, +towards the close we find the following sentence. "Taking this simple +view of sensation, (that objects should be brought into a certain +relation with us by something intermediate,) we find nothing in +mesmerism contradictory of nature. Under its influence, the human frame +continues to be still a system of nerves acted upon by elastic media, +for the purpose of conveying to us the primal impulse of the Almighty +Mind, which made, sustains, and moves the universe--having, as I trust, +shown the conformity of mesmerism in all essential points with the +principles of nature, and the inferences of reason," &c. &c. + +If we are to admit mesmerism as a series of facts apparently +inconsistent with experience, it is most hasty and unphilosophical to +attempt to generalize it by crude hypotheses. To rest its probable truth +upon these hypotheses, is to take a totally different ground, and one +much lower and more assailable. We have no desire to be +hypercritical--to expose minor scientific inaccuracies in the work +before us; but we do not hesitate to assert, that, independently of its +inconsistency with the previous course of reasoning, the hypothesis or +hypotheses of Mr Townshend are most unsatisfactory. + +Heat, light, electricity, magnetism, are by some regarded as specific +fluids; by others, as undulations of one or more specific fluid; and by +a third class, as undulations or polarizations of ordinary matter. Thus, +by the first, light would be viewed as a material emanation from the +luminous body; by the second, as an undulation of an imponderable ether, +existing between the luminous body and the recipient; and by the third, +as an undulation of the air, glass, or other matter, placed between the +luminous body and the object. The last would regard the ether in the +planetary spaces, not as a specific imponderable fluid, but as a highly +attenuated expansion of air, gas, or other matter, having all the +functions of ordinary matter. Whewell has, indeed, published a +_demonstration_ that all matter is ponderable, and that imponderable +matter is not a conceivable idea. Be this as it may, the diversity of +opinion on this point shows the difficulty the mind finds in departing +from the truths of phenomena to the uncertainties of hypothesis; but if +hypothesis be justifiable, which it is only on the ground of absolute +necessity to link together, and render conventionally intelligible, +certain undoubted, undeniable facts, which have been associated together +under the terms _electricity_, _magnetism_, &c.--how difficult and +dangerous it must be when the facts which it seeks to associate are +denied by the mass of thinking men, when they are confessed to be +mysterious and irregular by their most strenuous advocates, each of whom +differs, in many respects, as to these facts! + +These difficulties have by no means been conquered by Mr Townshend. At +p. 11, he objects to this mode of theorizing, in the following strong +terms:-- + + "A certain school of German writers especially have theorized on + our subject, after the false method of explaining one class of + phenomena in nature by its fancied resemblance to another. Wishing, + perhaps, to avoid the error of the spiritualists, who solve the + problem in debate by the power of the soul alone, they have + ransacked the material world for analogies to mesmerism, till the + mind itself has been endued with its affinities and its poles. Such + attempts as these have done the greatest disservice to the cause we + advocate. They submit it to a wrong test. It is as if the laws of + light should be applied to a question in acoustics. It is as if we + should expect to find in a foreign kingdom the laws and customs of + our own."--(P. 11.) + +And yet, in the subsequent parts of his book, he asserts mesmerism to be +capable of "reflection like light"--to have "the attraction of +magnetism"--to be "transferred like heat;" to escape from a point like +electricity, and to have the sympathetic undulations of sound!--(Pp. +335, 6, 7, and 8.) + +Such general resemblances as the following are given:--- + + "We know that electricity is capable of all that modification in + its action which our case demands. Sometimes its effects are sudden + and energetic; sometimes of indefinite and uninterrupted + continuance. It is 'capable of moving with various degrees of + facility through the pores or even the substance of matter;' and is + not impeded in its action by the intervention of any substance + whatever, provided it be not in itself in an electric state. This + capacity of varied action and of pervading influence, has already + been shown to characterize the mesmeric medium."--(P. 335.) + +Why, what is here stated of electricity, may be said of heat, of light, +of any force, and its moving through the pores may be denied as easily +as asserted; by many it is thought to be a molecular polarization, and +not a transmission. + +Zinc and silver are said (p. 237) to "produce a taste resulting from the +galvanic concussion, and not from any actual flavour." This is +incorrect; zinc and silver produce a taste when in voltaic +communication, because they decompose the saliva, and eliminate acid and +alkaline constituents. + +Further on it is said, (p. 237,) "A spark drawn by means of a pointed +metal from the nose of a person charged with electricity, will give him +the sensation of smelling a phosphoric odour." This is also an erroneous +assumption; the electric spark, in passing through the atmosphere, +combines its constituents, and forms nitrous acid. This has a pungent +smell; probably there are some other physical changes wrought upon the +constituents of the atmosphere by the electric spark, which are now +objects of anxious enquiry to natural philosophers; yet none of them +have any doubt that the electric smell is the result of a physical or +chemical action of the spark, by which either the air is decomposed, or +fine portions of metal carried off, or both. So again-- + + "The electric medium is a far more swift and subtle messenger of + vision than is the luminous ether. 'A wheel revolving with celerity + sufficient to render its spokes invisible, when illuminated by a + flash of lightning, is seen for an instant with all its spokes + distinct, as if it were in a state of absolute repose, because, + however rapid the motion may be, the light has already come and + ceased before the wheel has had time to turn through a sensible + space.' Again, some ingenious experiments, by Professor Wheatstone, + demonstrate to a certainty, that the speed of the electric fluid + much surpasses the velocity of light. It is, therefore, a different + medium; yet can it serve for all the purposes of vision, and even + in a superior manner. After hearing these things, shall we start at + the notion of mesmeric sensation being conveyed through another + medium than that in ordinary action? Even should the sleep-waker + perceive the most distant objects, (as some are said to have done,) + can we, from the moment a means of communication is hinted to us, + be so much amazed? If his perception be more vivid, there seems to + be an efficient cause in his abjuring the grosser media for such as + are more swift and subtle."--(P. 272.) + +The electric medium is _not_ a messenger of vision. To call the light +produced by the electric spark electricity, would be the same as to call +magnetism electricity, heat electricity, motion electricity--for all +these are produced by it, and it by them. All modes of force are capable +of producing the other phenomenal effects of force. It is an obvious +fallacy to call the medium which transmits electric light, an electric +medium; this, if carried out, would overthrow natural as well as +conventional divisions, would subvert "the pales and forts of reason." + +Mr Townshend, accustomed to metaphysical abstractions, shows, in these +and many other instances, a want of acquaintance with physical science, +and entirely fails when he bases his reasoning upon it. Many of the +arguments of Mr Townshend are of such a transcendental nature, that we +fear, should we attempt to follow them, our readers would lose their +clairvoyance in the mist of metaphysical speculation. The following will +give a fair specimen of the conclusion to which such reasoning tends:-- + + "Indeed, if we lay to heart the deceptiveness and mutability of all + the external species of matter, at the same time considering that + we have no reason to deem it capable of change in its ultimate and + imperceptible particles; if, also, we reflect, that whatever is not + palpable in itself is yet indicated by its effects, forces us on + pure reason by withdrawing at once the aid and the illusion of our + external senses, we shall perhaps come to the conclusion that the + Invisible is the only true, exclaiming, with the old Latinist, + 'Invisibilia non decipiunt.'"--(P. 355.) + +And yet the facts of mesmerism are to be judged of by the very senses +which mesmerism proves to be so fallacious. It is because we _see_ that +E---- A---- reads when the book is presented to the back of his hand, +that we are to believe that he does not perceive with the usual organs. +Upon the rule which the author adopts, that "the invisible is the only +true," we cannot rely upon our deceptive organs and should disbelieve +mesmerism _because_ we see it. + +To analyse, in detail, the hypotheses of Mr Townshend would be quite +impossible in our limited space. We might, indeed, adopt method +sometimes used in controversial writing, and string together a parallel +column of minor contradictions. This would however, not only be totally +devoid of interest to the reader, but is not the object we have in view. +We seek not for critical errors or inconsistencies, but merely to +examine if there be any broad lines of truth or probability in his +theory. It is summed up as follows:-- + + "The real nature of vision is as shut to the vulgar as the mesmeric + mode of sight is to the learned. + + "By the eye we appreciate light and colour only: the rest is an + operation of the judgment. + + "Viewed metaphysically, seeing is but a particular kind of + knowledge: viewed physically, seeing consists in certain nervous + motions, responsive to the motions of a medium. That medium, in our + ordinary condition, is light, the action of which seems cut off and + intercepted in the case of mesmeric vision. + + "When, therefore, we hear that a mesmerised person has correctly + seen an object through obstacles which to us appear opaque, we, + conceiving no means of communication between the person and the + object, exclaim that the laws of nature have been violated. But, in + all cases where information is conveyed through interrupted spaces, + show but the means of communication, and astonishment ceases. + + "When we know that there is a medium permeating, in one or other of + its forms, all substances whatever, and that this medium is + eminently capable of exciting sensations of sight; and when we take + this in conjunction with a heightened sensibility in the + percipient person, rendering him aware of impulses whereof we are + not cognisant, we are no longer inclined to deny a fact or suppose + a miracle. + + "Finally, all sensation has but one principle. All that is required + for its production is, that objects should be brought into a + certain relation with us by something intermediate; and this is + effected by the impulsions of certain media upon nerves, the last + changes in which are the immediate forerunners of completed + sensation."--(P. 279.) + +In short, we think we do not unfairly express the author's theory in the +following query. As the application of the highest human powers (those +of Newton, for instance) have resolved the transmission of light to the +sensorium into the vibrations of an all-pervading ether, what is more +probable than that a similar ethereal medium may convey sensations of +objects through other channels? This may be, but another important +ingredient is wanting, viz. organization, or definite molecular +arrangement. Prick the eye, and, by the resulting morbid derangement, +change the molecular arrangement of its particles, and vision is +destroyed; pulverise the glass through which you look, and it is no +longer transparent. The ether (if there be an ether) in the pores of +these substances, can only convey correct impressions when these +particles have a definite arrangement; but the mesmeric ether is +dependent upon no such necessity. Density and tenacity, opacity and +transparency, homogeneous or heterogeneous bodies, are all equally +penetrable. And what is more strange, the mesmeric ether conveys +correct, and not distorted impressions. The same perception of form +which is conveyed through air, is convoyed through the cover of a book, +through the bones of the skull, or the muscles of the stomach. And, +still more extraordinary, this impression is identical as to the mental +idea it conveys with that conveyed in the normal manner through the eye. +The mesmeric ether has, therefore, not only the power of conveying +impressions, but of preserving their continuity through any impediment. +The formal impressions of a chair or table, which are conveyed by +ordinary vision in right lines to the retina, if these lines be +distorted by any intervening want of uniformity in the matter, are +proportionally distorted. Let striae of glass of different density +intervene in an optical lens, and the objects are distorted; increase +the number of striae, the object is more imperfect; and carry the +molecular derangement further, opacity is the result. Transparency and +opacity, then, viewed apart from all hypotheses, resolve themselves into +organization or molecular arrangement. Yet, by the mesmeric medium, a +chair or table is conveyed to the recipient in its distinct form, or, +what amounts to the same thing for the argument of conformity, they give +to the mind distinct ideas of these objects. If, then, there be a +mesmeric medium, which, being a purely hypothetic creation, cannot be +disproved, its requisites must be so totally at variance with the +requisites of ordinary ethereal media, that none of the rules which can +be applied to this can be applied to that. The arguments of Mr Townshend +depend on analogy, where there is no analogy. + +Many of the objects of vision, all indeed by which reading is effected, +are purposely constructed to suit the peculiar organization of the +eye--they are artifices specially appropriated to given sensations; thus +_black_ letters are printed on _white_ paper, because experience has +told us that black reflects no light, while white reflects all the +incident light. If we wish to read by another sense, we adapt our object +to such a sense; thus, for those who read by the finger, raised letters +are prepared, differing from the matrix in position but not in colour; +if we read by the ear, we address it by sounds and not by forms or +colours; and it would be far from impracticable to read by smell or +taste, by associating given odours or given tastes with given ideas. + +In all this, however, each sense requires a peculiar education and long +training--it is only by constant association of the word _table_ with +the thing _table_, that we connect the two ideas; but mesmeric +clairvoyance not only conveys things as things in all their proper forms +and colours, (p. 164,) without the intervention of the usual senses, but +it also dispenses with education or association, or instantly adapts to +a new sense the education hitherto specially and only adapted to +another. + +Thus the mesmeric medium should, and does, according to Mr Townshend, +(pp. 97, 99, 101,) convey to the person accustomed to read by the eye, +ideas and perceptions which he has hitherto associated with the +sight--to him accustomed to read by touch, ideas associated with +touch--and so of the rest, and that not of sight or touch of the object +itself, but of a mere arbitrary symbol of the object. + +_Table_ of five letters or forms--_table_ of two sounds, bearing no +resemblance to these letters or forms, or to the thing--_table_ but a +mere conventional substitute for the purpose of human convenience, yet +by the all-potent mesmeric medium, for which they have not been +previously framed, are definitely conveyed, and produce the require +perception and the required association. + +We trust we need go no further to show that mesmeric clairvoyance has, +at all events, no conformity with general experience; and that, if it be +true, the proofs of its truth cannot be based on its analogy with other +sensations. To sum up our arguments, we say--1st, That without +undervaluing testimony, mesmeric clairvoyance is not sufficiently proved +by competent witnesses to be admitted as fact: 2d, The reasoning in +support of it is insufficient, and, in most cases, fallacious. + +Perhaps the best arguments employed by Mr Townshend in favour of the +possibility of clairvoyance, are the authenticated cases of normal +sleepwalking; these have been very little examined, but appear, in one +respect, strikingly to differ from mesmeric coma. The eyes of the +somnambulist are said to be open, and therefore there is every optical +power of vision, and an increase of ordinary visual perception is all +that is requisite. The acts performed by the sleepwalker are, moreover, +generally those to which he is habitually accustomed; and, when this is +not the case, he fails, as many disastrous accidents have too fatally +testified. + +At the close of Mr Townshend's book is a short appendix, containing some +testimonials to the verity of mesmeric effects. Several of these are +anonymous, and the value of their authority cannot therefore be judged +of. Others are testimonies to mesmeric effects produced upon the +patients, E---- A---- or Anna M----. None of these are from persons of +very high authority; and they are, certainly, not such as would induce +us to rest our faith upon them. We grant to them their full right to be +convinced; but their testimony is not of sufficient force to produce +conviction in others. The two last testimonials, however, are of a very +different character. One of these is by Professor Agassiz, and the other +by Signor Ranieri of Naples. Both these are testimonials, not to any +effect produced upon an accustomed patient, but upon the testifiers +themselves; and the former, coming from a man of high distinction, and +accustomed to physical research, is undoubtedly of great weight. We +therefore give it in full. + + "Desirous to know what to think of mesmerism, I for a long time + sought for an opportunity of making some experiments in regard to + it upon myself, so as to avoid the doubts which might arise on the + nature of the sensations which we have heard described by + mesmerised persons. M. Desor, yesterday, in a visit which he made + to Berne, invited Mr Townshend, who had previously mesmerised him, + to accompany him to Neufchatel, and try to mesmerise me. These + gentlemen arrived here with the evening courier, and informed me of + their arrival. At eight o'clock I went to them. We continued at + supper till half past nine o'clock, and about ten o'clock Mr + Townshend commenced operating upon me. While we sat opposite to one + another, he, in the first place, only took hold of my hands, and + looked at me fixedly. I was firmly resolved to arrive at a + knowledge of the truth, whatever it might be; and therefore, the + moment I saw him endeavouring to exert an action upon me, I + silently addressed the Author of all things, beseeching him to give + me power to resist the influence, and to be conscientious in regard + to myself, as well as in regard to the facts. I then fixed my eyes + upon Mr Townshend, attentive to whatever passed. I was in very + suitable circumstances; the hour being early, and one at which I + was in the habit of studying, was far from disposing me to sleep. I + was sufficiently master of myself to experience no emotion, and to + repress all flights of imagination, even if I had been less calm; + accordingly it was a long time before I felt any effect from the + presence of Mr Townshend opposite me. However, after at least a + quarter of an hour, I felt a sensation of a current through all my + limbs, and from that moment my eyelids grew heavy. I then saw Mr + Townshend extend his hands before my eyes, as if he were about to + plunge his fingers into them; and then make different circular + movements around my eyes, which caused my eyelids to become still + heavier. I had the idea that he was endeavouring to make me close + my eyes; and yet it was not as if some one had threatened my eyes, + and, in the waking state, I had closed them to prevent him. It was + an irresistible heaviness of the lids, which compelled me to shut + them, and by degrees I found that I had no longer the power of + keeping them open; but did not the less retain my consciousness of + what was going on around me; so that I heard M. Desor speak to Mr + Townshend, understood what they said, and heard what questions they + asked me, just as if I had been awake; but I had not the power of + answering. I endeavoured in vain several times to do so; and when I + succeeded, I perceived that I was passing out of the state of + torpor in which I had been, and which was rather agreeable than + painful. + + "In this state I heard the watchman cry ten o'clock; then I heard + it strike a quarter past; but afterwards I fell into a deeper + sleep, although I never entirely lost my consciousness. It appeared + to me that Mr Townshend was endeavouring to put me into a sound + sleep; my movements seemed under his control, for I wished several + times to change the position of my arms, but had not sufficient + power to do it, or even really to will it; while I felt my head + carried to the right or left shoulder, and backwards or forwards, + without wishing it; and, indeed, in spite of the resistance which I + endeavoured to oppose, and this happened several times. + + "I experienced at the same time a feeling of great pleasure in + giving way to the attraction, which dragged me sometimes to one + side, sometimes to the other; then a kind of surprise on feeling my + head fall into Mr Townshend's hand, who appeared to me from that + time to be the cause of the attraction. To his enquiry if I were + well, and what I felt? I found I could not answer, but I smiled; I + felt that my features expanded in spite of my resistance; I was + inwardly confused at experiencing pleasure from an influence which + was mysterious to me. From this moment I wished to wake, and was + less at my ease; and yet on Mr Townshend asking me, whether I + wished to be awakened, I made a hesitating movement with my + shoulders. Mr Townshend then repeated some frictions, which + increased my sleep; yet I was always conscious of what was passing + around me. He then asked me, if I wished to become lucid, at the + same time continuing, as I felt, the frictions from the face to the + arms. I then experienced an indescribable sensation of delight, and + for an instant saw before me rays of dazzling light, which + instantly disappeared. I was then inwardly sorrowful at this state + being prolonged--it appeared to me that enough had been done with + me; I wished to awake, but could not, yet when Mr Townshend and M. + Desor spoke, I heard them. I also heard the clock, and the watchman + cry, but I did not know what hour he cried. Mr Townshend then + presented his watch to me, and asked if I could see the time, and + if I saw him; but I could distinguish nothing. I heard the clock + strike the quarter, but could not get out of my sleepy state. Mr + Townshend then woke me with some rapid transverse movements from + the middle of the face outwards, which instantly caused my eyes to + open, and at the same time I got up, saying to him, 'I thank you.' + It was a quarter past eleven. He then told me, and M. Desor + repeated the same thing, that the only fact which had satisfied + them that I was in a state of mesmeric sleep, was the facility with + which my head followed all the movements of his hand, although he + did not touch me, and the pleasure which I appeared to feel at the + moment when, after several repetitions of friction, he thus moved + my head at pleasure in all directions."--(P. 385 to 388.) + +This we think a most interesting and valuable document, and the best key +we have ever seen to the _facts_ of mesmerism. It is the production of a +resolute, religious, and philosophic mind, and bears all the impress of +truth; it proves that there are facts worthy of the most careful +investigation--it proves a power of inducing a comatose or sleep-waking +state--an influence exercised by one mind over another--and it goes far +to prove a physical attraction subsisting between two persons in +mesmeric relation. But, on the other hand, how strikingly do the +phenomena here described differ from those exhibited by the other +patients. In those cases, to use the general proposition of Mr +Townshend, "the sleep-waker seems incapable of analysing his new +sensations while they last, still more of remembering them when they are +over. The state of mesmerism is to him as death."--(P. 156.) Here, on +the other hand, the patient analyses all the sensations he experienced, +and recollects them when they are over; here, notwithstanding the +efforts of the mesmeriser, the production of the mesmeric effect, and no +resistance on the part of the mesmerisee, the latter does not become +clairvoyant; "_je ne distinguais rien_," are the emphatic words of +Professor Agassiz. + +Precisely similar is the testimony of Signor Ranieri, the historian-- + + Having been mesmerised by my honourable friend Mr Hare Townshend, I + will simply describe the phenomena which I experienced before, + during, and after my mesmerisation. Mr Townshend commenced by + making me sit upon a sofa, he sat upon a chair opposite me, and + keeping my hands in his, placed them on my knees. He looked at me + fixedly, and from time to time let go my hands, and placed the + points of his fingers in a straight line opposite my eyes, at an + inch, I should think, from my pupils; then, describing a kind of + ellipse, he brought his hands down again upon mine. After he had + moved his hands thus alternately from my eyes to my knees for ten + minutes, I felt an irresistible desire to close my eyelids. I + continued, nevertheless, to hear his voice, and that of my sister, + who was in the same room. Whenever they put questions to me, I + always answered him correctly; but the whole of my muscular system + was in a state of peculiar weakness, and of almost perfect + disobedience to my will; and, consequently, the pronunciation of + the words with which I wished to answer had become extremely + difficult. + + "Whilst I experienced to a certain point the effects of sleep, not + only was I not a stranger to all that was passing around me, but I + even took more than usual interest in it. All my conceptions were + more rapid; I experienced nervous startings to which I am not + accustomed; in short, my whole nervous system was in a state of + perfect exaltation, and appeared to have acquired all the + superabundance of power which the muscular system had lost. + + "The following are the principal phenomena which I was able to feel + distinctly. Mr Townshend did not fail to ask me occasionally if I + could see him or my sister without opening my eyelids; but this was + always impossible, and all that I could say I had seen was a + glimmering of light, interrupted by the black and confused images + of the objects presented to me; a light which appeared to me a + little less clear than that which we commonly see when we shut the + eyelids opposite the sun or a candle. + + "Mr Townshend at last determined to demesmerise me. He began to + make elliptical movements with his hands, the reverse of those + which he had made at the commencement; I could now open my eyes + without any kind of effort, my whole muscular system became + perfectly obedient to my will; I was able to get up, and was + perfectly awake; but I remained nearly an hour in a kind of + stupefaction very similar to that which sometimes attacks me in the + mornings, if I rise two or three hours later than usual."--(P. 388 + to 390.) + +Similar, as to the general conclusions, are the reports of the French +Academy and the testimonies of all rigorous and well-conducted +scientific examination. These testimonies apply to facts which it is the +duty of those experimentalists and physiologists, who have time and +opportunity at their disposal, fairly to investigate. + +The insensibility to pain, and to the effects of the galvanic shock, are +also within the limits of the credible--and the latter is the more easy +of proof, as being incapable of simulation. As we stated at the +commencement, so we repeat here; mesmerism has been too little +investigated by competent persons, and is too much mystified by +charlatanism, to enable us accurately to define the limits of the true +and false, far less to predict what may be the discoveries to which it +may lead. With regard to the facts of clairvoyance, we are at present +entirely incredulous. Mr Townshend says, p. 91-- + + "Let, then, body after body of learned men deny the phenomena of + mesmerism, and logically disprove their existence; an appeal may + ever, and at any moment, be made to the proof by experiment; and + even should experiment itself fail a thousand times, the success of + the thousandth and first trial would justify further examination. + Till the authority of observation can be wholly set aside, the + subject of our enquiry can never be said to have undergone its + final ostracism." + +This is certainly a strong proposition; nevertheless it is with the hope +that observation may be directed to the _facts_ of mesmerism, that we +have written the preceding pages. In reasoning on a subject, we can use +only those lights which experience has given us. The efficacy of logical +disproof, somewhat contemptuously treated by Mr Townshend in the above +passage, is yet fully vindicated by the latter half of the book itself, +which is an endeavour, logically, to bring home mesmerism to the +understanding of men of experience. It is vain to make light of logic, +when the parties who set it at nought are themselves obliged to use it +to prove its own worthlessness. You must not exalt _reason_, and we will +give you the _reason_ why--this cuts their own ground from under them. +We so far agree with the last quoted sentence, as to admit that, when +experiments fairly tried by competent parties have and do succeed, +mesmerism will be established--hitherto they have _not_ succeeded. The +alleged proofs are not brought home to the observation of cautious, +thinking men; and reason, thus at once derided and appealed to, is +unsatisfied. Time "may bring in its revenges," may show things which +would be to us marvellous; and we deny no future possibilities. At +present, we admit some very curious phenomena, which we would willingly +see further examined; but we are unconvinced of those facts of mesmerism +enounced by its professors, which wholly contradict our previous +experience. Upon what we consider the only safe grounds for the general +admission of newly asserted facts, the evidence in support of these +should more than counterpoise the evidence for their rejection. Up to +the present time, balancing, as we have endeavoured to do, impartially, +the evidence in favour of clairvoyance, and the preternatural powers of +mesmerism, against those of an opposite tendency, the former seems to us +inordinately outweighed. On the other hand, the production, by external +influence, either of absolute coma or of sleep-waking, whether resulting +from imagination in the patient, or from an effort of the will on the +part of the mesmeriser, or from both conjointly, has been too lightly +estimated and too little examined. This alone is in itself an effect so +novel, so mysterious, and apparently so connected with the mainsprings +of sentient existence, as to deserve and demand a rigorous, impartial, +and persevering scrutiny. + + * * * * * + +Since this article was written, the letters of Miss Martineau have +appeared. Had these been published earlier, we should undoubtedly have +noticed them at some length; they have not, however, induced us to alter +any thing we have written; they have, indeed, confirmed one remark made +above. The effects described by Miss Martineau as produced upon herself, +are credible and not preternatural, while the second-sight of the girl +J---- is preternatural and not credible; _i. e._ not credible as +preternatural, otherwise easily explicable. + +In this, as in every mesmeric case, the marvellous effects are developed +by the uneducated--the most easily deceived, and the most ready to be +deceivers. + +The clairvoyant writers have greatly the advantage of the sceptics in +one respect, viz. the public interest of their communications. Every one +reads the description of new marvels, few care to examine the arguments +in contravention of them. + + "Pol, me occidistis, amici, + Non servastis, ait, cui sic extorta voluptas, + Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 3: For an account of one of the most notorious of the public +exhibitions of mesmeric clairvoyance, we refer the reader, who may feel +sufficiently interested in the matter, to the papers of Dr Forbes in the +_Lancet_, New Series, Vol. i. p. 581, and to the counter statement in +the _Zoist_, Vol. ii. No. 7.] + +[Footnote 4: P. 316.] + + + + +AESTHETICS OF DRESS. + +NO. II. + +ABOUT A BONNET. + + +So then, having "put down" hats, we come to bonnets; this is the due +order of things--hats should be taken off before bonnets always; "common +politeness makes us stop and do it." And here, as the immortal Butler +found it necessary in olden times to lament the perils that environed a +man meddling with a hard subject, so we might well indulge in an +ejaculation at what may be our fate if we presume to take liberties with +the head-dress of the ladies. Actaeon, when he contemplated Diana +_simplicem munditiis_, paid a severe penalty in the transformation of +his own head; and so, perhaps, we may incur--but never mind; the task, +worthy of a Hercules, (for the hydra of female fashion is more than +hundred-headed,) must be gone through with, and the _scrivano umillimo_ +must push his pen even under the pole of a lady's bonnet. + +The best-dressed woman in the world was our great-great-great +progenitrix; we really cannot trace up the pedigree, but you all know +whom we mean--your common mother and ours: we have the highest authority +among our own poets for saying so. There can be no doubt that her +_coiffure_ was perfect. It is a law of nature--it was true then--it has +been true ever since--it is indisputable at the present day--the +expressive beauty of a woman lies in her face: whatever, therefore, +conceals the face is a disfigurement, and inherits the principle of the +ugly. Ye who would study the aesthetics of human habiliments, look at the +lovely lines of the female face; contemplate that fairest type of the +animated creation; observe the soft emotions of her gentle soul, now +shooting forth rays of tender light from between her long enclasping +eyelashes, now arching her rosy lips into the playful lineaments of +Cupid's mortal bow; or gaze upon the subdued and affectionate +contentment of the maternal countenance--remember, while you were yet +young, your mother's look of love, that look which was all-powerful to +master your fiercest passions in your wildest mood--who will say that +the female face ought to be concealed? As far as we, the more powerful, +though not the better, portion of the human race are concerned--off with +the bonnet! off with the veil! say we. But there are others to be +consulted in settling this preliminary dogma of taste--the feelings and +the inclinations of woman herself are entitled to at least as much +regard as the imperious wishes of man. She, who possesses the bright but +fleetly fading gift of beauty, has also that inestimable, indefinable +accompaniment of it--modesty. Beauty is too sensitive a gem to be always +exposed to the light of admiration; it must be ensheathed in modesty for +its rays to retain their primitive lustre; it would perish from exposure +to the natural changes of the atmosphere, but it would die much sooner +from the incomprehensible, yet positive, effects of moral lassitude. To +use a commonplace simile, gentle reader, woman's beauty is like +champagne, it gets terribly into a man's head: do not, however, leave +the cork out of your champagne bottle--the sparkling spirit will all +evaporate; and do not quarrel with your sweet-heart if she muffles up +her face sometimes, and will not let you look at it for a week +together--her eyes will be all the brighter when you next see them. +There is a good cause for it; man is an ungrateful, hardly-pleased +animal; every indulgence that woman grants him loosens her power over +him. Women have an innate right to conceal their heads! + +We arrive, then, at the foundation of taste for a lady's head-dress. Her +face, her head, is naturally so beautiful, that the less it is +concealed--as far as the mere gratification of the eye is concerned--the +better; but the necessity for veiling and protecting this precious +object is so inevitable, that a suitable extraneous covering must be +provided; let that covering be as consonant to her natural excellence as +it is possible to make it. + +Now, we are not going to write a history of all the changes of female +head-dress that have taken place since the world began: nothing at all +of the kind. We refer the curious amateur to the work of that learned +Dutchman--we forget his name, 'tis all the same--_De Re Vestiaria_; or +he may look into Wilkinson's _Ancient Egyptians_--there is a pretty +considerable variety of bonnets or caps to be seen therein, we +calculate. If he be a decided _cognoscente_, let him rather go to the +Attic gallery in the British Museum, and examine the Panathenaic +procession, where the virgins are in the simple attire of the best days +of Greece: but here, or in any of the monuments of that foster-country +of art, and in all the series of Roman sculpture and coins, he will find +no head-dress for a female beyond that of the veil. The great artists +and the great conquerors of the world never tolerated any thing beyond +this flowing drapery of the veil, as the covering for their wives' or +daughters' heads. They were satisfied with the beautiful contrast given +by the curving lines of its graceful folds; they admired its simplicity; +and they saw the perfect suitableness of its nature to its purpose. The +veil could be hastily drawn over the head, so as to conceal every +feature, and protect it from the gaze of man or the roughness of the +seasons--and it could as easily be withdrawn partially to allow of "a +sidelong glance of love," or wholly to give "a gaze of welcome," to a +relation and a friend. Happy men those old Greeks and Romans! they had +no bills for milliners--whatever their jewellers' accounts might have +come to! When they travelled, their slaves were not pestered with +bonnet-boxes and similar abominations--a clean yard or two of +Phoenician gauze, or Asian linen, set up Mrs Secretary Pericles, or +Mrs General Caesar, with a braw new veil. There was little caprice of +fashion--the veil would always fall into something like the same or at +least similar folds; and we do believe that, for a thousand years or +more, the type of the _mode_ remained fixed. Whether the ancient +Asiatics made their women wear precisely the same mask-veils as those +jealous rascals the Turks and Arabs do at the present day, we do not +know, and we are not now going to enquire: we only wish to protest, _en +passant_, against these same modern Eastern veils; they are the most +frightful, unclassical, unbecoming things ever invented as face-cases. +Our present purpose is with the head-dress of modern British ladies--let +us look into their bonnets. + +And truly a bonnet, taken by itself, without the jewel that often lies +under it--a bonnet _per se_--is as bad a thing as a hat; something +between a coal-scuttle and a bread-basket; it is only fit to be married +to the hat, and, let us add--settled in the country. But it is, +nevertheless capricious in its ugliness, just as its possessor is +capricious in her prettiness; for, look at it from behind, its lines do +not greatly deviate from the circular form of the head; it seems like a +smart case;--look at it from before; there it is seen to best advantage +as an oval frame, set with ribands, flowers, and laces, for the sweet +picture within; but look at it from the side, and the genuine, vulgar, +cookmaid form of the coal-scuttle is instantly perceived. It serves in +this view evidently as blinkers do to a horse in harness, just to keep +the animal from shying, or to guard off a chance stroke of the whip. But +it is uncommonly tantalizing into the bargain. You walk along Regent +Street some fine day, and for a hundred paces or more you are troubled +by the crowd keeping you always in the rear of an old, faded, frumpy +bonnet, that hinders you from watching a sweet little _chapeau-de-soie_ +immediately beyond. Your patience is exhausted, and your curiosity +driven to the highest pitch of anxiety; you make a desperate stride, +push by the old bonnet, and look round with indignation to see what +beldam had thus been between you and the "cynosure of neighbouring +eyes:"--whew! 'tis the pretty young shop-girl that served you with your +last pair of gloves, and measured them so fascinatingly along your hand, +that your heart still palpitates with the electrical touch of her +fingers. You pocket your indignation, exchange one of your blandest +smiles, and pass on, still striding to see what lovely features grace +that exquisite _chapeau_. Half afraid, of course--for she is a lady +evidently, and you pique yourself on being a perfect gentleman--you +venture, as you pass, to let your eye just glance within the sacred +enclosure of blonde and primroses;--pshaw! it's old Miss Thingamy, that +you had to hand down to dinner the other day at Lady Dash's; and +instantly catching your eye, she gives you a condescending nod, and +you're forced to escort her all the way up to Portland Place! It's +enough to make a man hang himself; and, to say the truth, many a poor +fellow has been ruined by bonnets before now--even Napoleon himself had +to pay for _thirty-six_ new bonnets within _one month_ for Josephine! + +Bonnets, however, have more to do with women than with men; and we defy +our fair friends to prove that these articles of dress, about which they +are always so anxious, (a woman--a regular genuine woman, reader--will +sacrifice a great deal for a bonnet,) are either useful or ornamental. +And first, for their use; if they were good for any thing, they would +protect the head from cold, wet, and sunshine. Now, as far as cold is +concerned, they do so to a certain degree, but not a tenth part so well +as something else we shall talk of by and by; as for wet--what woman +ever trusted to her bonnet in a shower of rain? What woman does not +either pop up her parasol, or green cotton umbrella, or, if she has not +these female arms, ties over it her pocket-handkerchief, in a vain +attempt to keep off the pluvious god? Women are more frightened at +spoiling their bonnets than any other article of their dress: let them +but once get their bonnets under the dripping eaves of an umbrella, and, +like ostriches sticking their heads under ground, they think their whole +persons safe;--we appeal to any man who has walked down Cheapside with +his eyes open, on a rainy day, whether this be not true. And then for +the sun--who among the ladies trust to her bonnet for keeping her face +from freckling? Else why all the paraphernalia of parasols? why all +these endless patents for sylphides and sunscreens of every kind, form, +and colour? why can you never meet a lady in a summerwalk without one of +these elegant little contrivances in her hand? Comfort, we apprehend, +does not reside in a bonnet: look at a lady travelling, whether in a +carriage or a railroad diligence--she cannot for a moment lean back into +one of the nice pillowed corners of the vehicle, without running +imminent risk of crushing her bonnet; her head can never repose; she has +no travelling-cap, like a man, to put on while she stows away her bonnet +in some convenient place: the stiffened gauze, or canvass, or paper, of +which its inner framework is composed, rustles and crackles with every +attempt at compression; and a pound's worth or two of damage may be done +by a gentle tap or squeeze. Women, if candid, would allow that their +bonnets gave them much more trouble than comfort, and that they have +remained in use solely as conventional objects of dress--we will not +allow, of ornament. The only position in which a bonnet is becoming--and +even then it is only the modern class of bonnets--is, when they are +viewed full front: further, as we observed before, they make a nice +_encadrement_ for the face: and, with their endless adjuncts of lace, +ribands, and flowers, they commonly set off even moderately pretty +features to advantage. But is only the present kind of bonnet that does +so; the old-fashioned, poking, flaunting, square-cornered bonnet never +became any female physiognomy: it is only the small, tight, +come-and-kiss-me style of bonnet now worn by ladies, that is at all +tolerable. All this refers, however, only to that portion of the fairer +half of the human race which is in the bloom and vigour of youth and +womanhood: those that are still in childhood, or sinking into the vale +of years, cannot have a more inappropriate, more useless, covering for +the head than what they now wear, at least in England. Simplicity, which +should be the attribute of youth, and dignity, which should belong to +age, cannot be compatible with a modern bonnet: fifty inventions might +be made of coverings more suitable to these two stages of life. + +How, then, has it come to pass that women have persuaded themselves, or +have been overpersuaded, into the belief that a bonnet is the highest +point of perfection in their dress? It has all been done by a foolish +imitation of the caprices of French milliners, themselves actuated by +millions of caprices and fancies--but at the same time by one +steadily-enduring principle, that novelty and change, no matter how +useless, how extravagant, form the soul of their peculiar trade. For, +note it down--the bonnet mania has not mounted upwards from the lower to +the higher ranks of society; on the contrary, it has been a regular +plant, sown as a trifling casual seed in the hotbed of some silly +creature's brain, and then sending down its roots into many an inferior +class. Any one who has crossed the British Channel, knows that the +bonnet--as we understand the word in England--is not an article of +national costume in any portion of the world except our own +island--America and Australia we place, of course, out of the pale of +taste. In France itself, the peasantry, and all classes of women +immediately under the conventional denomination of ladies, wear +_bonnets_. This word does not signify the same thing as with us, gentle +reader. The French word _bonnet_ means a snow-white cap, whether rising +into an enormous cone, like those of the Norman beauties, or limited to +a jaunting frill and lappels, like those of the Parisian grisettes. The +real bonnets, the French female _chapeau_, is worn only by those who +call themselves ladies; and this difference of costume marks a most +decided difference of rank and self-esteem in the various grades of +Gallic society. In the Bourbonnois, it is true, and in some parts of +Switzerland and Germany, straw-hats of various sizes are worn by the +peasantry; but these do not resemble the actual bonnet of the nineteenth +century. Who does not know the exquisite national head-dresses of the +Italian and Spanish women, from pictorial representation, if not from +actual inspection? Who has not read of the Greek cap and veil? Who has +not heard of the national caps of Poland, Hungary, and Russia? Not the +slightest approximation to the eccentricity of the bonnet is to be found +in any of these. In all of them, not caprice, but the more rational +qualities of use and ornament, have been studiously regarded. It is in +England only that our lower classes of women have abandoned their +national costume, and are content to suffer the inconvenient +consequences of imitating their superiors. Let any one who has traversed +Europe only recall to his mind the appearances of the female peasants as +to their head-dress, whether in their houses or in the fields, and +comparing them with the tattered, dirty things worn by the labourers' +wives and daughters of England, say which are to be preferred in point +of taste--which are the cleanest--which are the most becoming. + +Not to go too far back into the mist of antiquity, the earliest traces +that we can find of hats being commonly worn in England, are to be met +with somewhere in the first half of the last century. Previous to that +time ladies wore hoods and caps; and in the Middle Ages muffled their +heads in wimples and veils; but some time or other--in the reign of the +second George, we believe--some lady or other stuck on her head a round +silk hat with a low crown and a broad brim, perfectly circular, and the +brim or ledge at right angles to the crown or head-piece. This she +subsequently changed into a straw one, and this was the root of the +evil--_hinc illae lachrymae!_ We are aware that, at the gay court of Louis +XIV., and even before he had a court, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, when +she went to battle or to hunt, wore a gold-laced semi-cocked hat: so did +Madame de Montespan when she accompanied the king to one of his grand +_parties de chasse_. But then, at the same time, these illustrious +"leaders of _ton_" put on gold-embroidered male coats, and evidently +endeavoured to transform themselves into men while partaking in manly +sports and dangers. Their hunting-hats bore no more relation to the +bonnets of their descendants, than do the black beaver hats of the +latter, when they mount their horses in Hyde Park or the Bois de +Boulogne. Indeed this very custom of wearing the male hat, is derived by +our modern belles from the times we are speaking of. Plain beaver or +felt hats were worn by some of our farmers' wives as early as the reign +of Charles I.; but, to judge from the prints of that date, they borrowed +them from their husbands. And to a period like this is to be traced the +custom, still extant throughout most parts of Wales, for the women to +wear the same head-costume as the men. The round ladies' hat, however, +of the middle and end of the last century, may be seen in its primitive +state in those enormous circles of straw, brought from Tuscany, and sold +in our milliners' shops, fit to be pinched and cut into the prevailing +fashion. The hats, both of men and women--when once they had quitted the +becoming costume of the Middle Ages--arose out of one and the same type; +a large circle of stuff with a projecting central cap for the skull. +Human invention, in the matter of hats, seems for several centuries to +have rested in this solitary idea. When this circular adumbral and +pluvial roofing had to be adapted to the female head, it was found +advisable to fasten it down to the cranium--not, indeed, by any screw +driven therein, nor by any intriguing with the locks of woman's hair, +but by the simple expedient of ribands passing under the chin. The +difficulty consisted in attaching the upper ends of these ribands; for +if they were sewn on under the overlapping brim, the same brim would +take liberties on a windy day, and would flap up and down like an Indian +punka. If they were sewn outside, they acted like the sheets of a ship's +sail, and pulled down the struggling circumference into two ugly +projections, bellying out before and behind. However, women, for +comfort's sake, having got an awkward article to deal with, preferred +the latter alternative--tied down their hats with ribands, (men, be it +remembered, at the same time, tied _up_ their brims into the prim, high, +cocked shape,) and called these ugly coverings "gipsy hats." We remember +something like them, dear reader, + + "When first we went a-gipsying, long long ago." + +Before matters had arrived at this pitch of ugliness, the ladies of the +court of George III.--the very antipodes of that of Louis XIV.--had +essayed, under the auspices of good Queen Charlotte, to render the round +hat, with the straight-projecting brim, less ugly; but their invention +carried them no further than to surround it, at one time, with a deep +ruff of ribands, or they crushed it into an untidy rumble-tumble shape; +at another, they let copious streamers float from the crown down their +backs; or again, they gave it a monstrous pitch up behind. There is this +to be said in their excuse--they hardly knew what parasols and umbrellas +were. They wielded enormous fans, nearly two feet long; they had +capuchins to their cloaks; and they delighted in the rotundity of hoops. +Peace be with the souls of our grandmothers! Good old creatures! they +were not very tasty, to be sure; but they wore glorious stiff taffety +fardingales, and they have left us many an ample commode full of real +china. As times wore on, and as the free-and-easy revolutionary school +came to inculcate their loose doctrines on women as well as men, the +ladies began to find the hinder pokes of their hats uncommon nuisances; +and so, in a fit of spleen, one day the Duchess of G----, or some other +woman of fashion, cut off this hinder protuberance, and appeared, to the +scandal of her neighbours, _plus_ the front poke, _minus_ the back one. +This was a daring, free-thinking, revolutionary innovation. Somebody had +probably done it at Paris before her; but the startling idea had gone +forth--women began to see daylight through their hats--the dawn of +emancipation appeared--clip, clip, went the scissors, and, for the time +being, the dynasty of gipsy hats had ceased to reign. Hereupon--the +consequence of all changes of dynasties--whether of bonnets or Bourbons, +'tis much the same--a fearful period of anarchy ensued: every milliner's +shop in Paris and London was pregnant with new shapes--bonnets +periodically overturned bonnets, numbers were devoted to the block every +week, and each succeeding month saw fresh competitors for public favour +coming to the giddy vortex of fashion. Husbands suffered dreadfully +during those troublous times: many a man's temper and purse were then +irremediably damaged; and there seemed to be no means of escaping from +this reign of female terror, this bonnetian chaos, until the great peace +of 1814 brought about a prompt solution. Here, to be classical in so +grave a matter, we may observe, that, just as Virgil in his Georgics +represents a civil tumult, even in its loudest hubbub, to be suddenly +calmed by the appearance of some man of known virtue and authority, so +in London--and therefore in England--the visit of an illustrious lady, +and the cut of her bonnet, appeased the agitated breasts of our fair +countrywomen, and reduced their fancy to a fixed idea. The Grand-duchess +of Oldenburg came over with her brother, the Emperor of all the Russias, +and wore on her head, not a coronet--but such a bonnet! + + "Ye powers who dress the head, if such there are, + And make the change of woman's taste your care!" + +--so Cowper might well have exclaimed, had he been then living. Tell us, +ye gods, whence did her imperial highness derive the idea of her bonnet? +Truly, we can conjecture no other source, than these very words +designating her rank, for the bonnet was imperial--none but such a lady +would have dared to originate it; and it was also high--high indeed! The +crown rose eighteen inches in perpendicular altitude from the nape of +the neck, while the front poke retained the modest dimensions of the +original gipsy hat. We recollect the duchess in Hyde Park with this +monstrous headgear, and the women all in ecstacy at the delightful +novelty. The success of this bonnet was universal--it was a "tremendous +hit," as they say in the play-bills; every woman that could afford it +raised her crown, and Oldenburgized her head. Well, this fashion lasted +tolerably long; it had the great value of rendering public opinion +nearly uniform; but it got old, as all fashions must do, and died a +natural death--not without an heir, a worthy heir. The new idea, you +will perceive, was that of inordinate length, in one way or the other. +The duchess had got it all up aloft--up in her top-royals--the new +bonnet (we really do not know who invented it, but some wicked little +hussy at Paris, no doubt) had it all down below, in the main-sail; the +crown dwindled to nothing, and out went the front poke to exactly the +same length, eighteen inches. This was truly exquisite--every body was +in raptures. The bonnet was tied tight under the chin, and to see a +woman's face you had to look down a sort of semi-funnelled hollow, where +the ambiguous shade of her countenance was illuminated only by the +radiance of her eyes. Here, too, the success was immense; the mothers of +us, the young bloods, the choice spirits of the present day, all wore +bonnets of this kind, when our governors went wooing them in +narrow-brimmed overtopping hats. The next change of any note worth +mentioning, was one of comparatively recent times, such as some of us +may remember their first loves in; it was derived from a partial return +to the primitive round expanded hat, and was in its chief glory, when +that last great piece of French dirty work, the Revolution of 1830, was +perpetrated. Women had retrograded to the old circular idea; they had +given up their pokes. It was too much--female folly had, it was +supposed, worn itself out--a revolution was wanted, and it came. To wear +the hat, however, in its primitive rotundity was impossible--it would +have suited a lady in the West Indies, but not in Europe; to tie down +the brim would not do, it would have been re-adopting the worn-out +fashions; so, just as was done in the Parisian political revolution, a +compromise of principles was resorted to--women cut off part of their +brims, turned the circle into a sort of eccentric oval, and rejoiced in +the redundant curve projecting now from the left, now on the right side +of their heads. Ribands, stiffened out into gigantic bows, set forth the +ample _chapeau_ right gaily; the brim stretched itself out with all the +insolence of a public favourite; and at length Tom Hood showed us how a +lady might go to church on a rainy day, and shelter the whole family +beneath her maternal hat. The present queen of the French wore an +enormous chapeau of this kind at the audience which Louis Philippe gave +to the peers and deputies that came to offer him the throne; every lady +in England, of a certain age, has worn a hat of the same sort. + +We are bound to allow that this hat had something of the useful in it: +the ample size of the brim effectually warded off both sun and rain; and +we much question whether the parasol trade did not rather languish under +its influence. But then it had corresponding disadvantages; it was +unbearable in a windy day, and rendered any thing like close contact +with a friend impossible. To get a kiss from your pretty cousin, or your +maiden aunt, if you met them in the street, was quite out of the +question, unless you previously doffed your hat; and, as for two young +ladies laying their heads together and whispering soft secrets, no such +thing was practicable. The downfall, therefore, of such stiff and +unwieldy hats might have been foretold from an early period of their +existence; it came, and with it a counter-revolution--a restoration of +the legitimist bonnet. But, mark the malignity of a certain elderly +personage, whose name and residence we never mention in ears polite; a +change, a final change, came, and it came from the source of all +abominations--Paris! Yes! 'twas a pure and genuine invention of the +fickle people--of _la jeune France_! We gave up the restored bonnet, and +we adopted the little, reduced, cut-away, impudent bonnet of the present +moment. Now, with regard to the actual origin of this same form of +bonnet, which has met with universal approbation, but which has no +really good qualities to recommend it, except those of portability and +warmth to the ears of the wearer--we make, with some regret, the +following assertion, upon the accuracy of which we stake our aesthetic +reputation. We were witnesses of the fact; any man in Paris, who had his +eyes about him, must have witnessed the same thing; we appeal to all the +_lions_ of the Bois, or the Boulevard des Italiens: these small bonnets, +and the peculiar mode of wearing them at the back of the head were first +introduced in Paris by a class of persons, to whom we cannot make any +more definite allusion than to say that their names must not be +mentioned. These people invented these bonnets, and wore them for nearly +six months before they were imitated; and then, the fashion being taken +up by the milliners, became general both in France and England. A +corresponding change in the cut of the upper portions of ladies' gowns, +and in the manner of putting on the shawl--that very cut and manner now +universally adopted--came from the same source, and at the same time. +These changes added greatly to female comfort, we admit; and they were +founded, mainly, on principles of good taste; but they had also other +causes, obvious to the aesthetician and the ethnologist, which we abstain +from noticing. Once more, having been eye-witnesses to the change, and +having at the time maliciously speculated within our own breasts as to +how long it would take for such a _mode_ to run the round of women's +heads--our anticipations having been fully realized--we pledge ourselves +to the accuracy of this statement. + +Well, then, having thus run a-muck against bonnets, what reparation are +we to make to the fair sex, for abusing their taste and condemning their +practice? We will try to point out to them certain leading ideas, which +may bring them back to sounder principles, and make the covering of +their heads worthy of the beauty of their faces. And here, as in the +case of hats, the first thing to be aimed at must be, utility--the +second, ornament. Be it observed, too, that we are writing for the +latitude of England; because in this respect, as in most others, the +climate ought to decide upon the basis of national costume. Now an +Englishwoman, of whatever grade she may be, requires, when she goes out +of doors, protection principally from wet, next from cold, and lastly +from heat. Her head-dress, to be really useful, ought to comprise +qualities that will effect these three objects. The substance, +therefore, of the covering cannot consist of cotton, linen, or silk, at +_all_ times of the year; these substances will do for the more +temperate or the hotter seasons, but not in winter--that is to say, they +will not be serviceable during five months out of the twelve. In this +inclement season nothing but woollen cloth or fur ought to be the +principal article of female head-dress; only these two substances will +effectually keep off wet and cold. They may be lined with silk or any +other soft substance, but the foundation, we repeat, ought to be fur or +woollen cloth; both of them articles of English manufacture or +preparation--one varying through all degrees of price; the other within +the reach of most persons, even in the middling classes of society. In +the summer, silk, linen, cotton, or any other light fabric, will effect +the purpose proposed--protection from the rays of the sun, and from the +casual wet that may occur--though from the last, less than from the +first inconvenience. So much for the common _substance_ of an +Englishwoman's out-of-door head-dress--for the _material_, that is to +say: its use should always be modified by the rank and occupation of the +wearer. The _form_ must be ascertained from a reference to the +principles laid down above, as to the combining a proper degree of +concealment, with the due exhibiting of the beautiful features of the +female face; the covering should afford ample concealment when wanted, +but should also admit of the head being completely exposed when +required. Now, the veil gives abundant concealment, but does not admit +of total removal, and is rather inconvenient to the wearer; it is apt to +get in the way, and is in danger of causing a slovenly, or even a dirty, +appearance; it is more suited for in-door, than for out-of-door +use--more for a warm than a cold climate. The _hood_ is the best thing +we know of, for combining the two requisites of complete concealment and +complete exposure. It unites by its shape all the purposes of form, to +the applicability of any kind of soft material; and it is suitable to +the climate of this country at any period of the year. But, "how ugly!" +the ladies will exclaim--"who could bear to tie her head up in a +pudding-bag?--Does not the very form of the hood approach too nearly to +that of the head, and thus violate a fundamental principle of +aesthetics?" Our reply must be, that there are various kinds of hoods, +and that, if they be considered ugly, it is more from their strangeness, +through long disuse, than from any fault in their natural form. Besides, +the very principle of concealment, so essential to a woman's modesty, +militates rather against the principle of beauty; we admit it to be a +difficulty--we would even say that the head of the female while +out-of-doors, amid the busy throng, does not admit of the same degree of +ornament as the head of the male. If we can make woman's covering +graceful, it is enough; the beauty of it should be reserved for the +drawing-room and the boudoir--it should not be exhibited in the street. +And after all, beauty for beauty, we will back a hood against a bonnet +any day in the week. + +Bear with us, however, gentle ladies, while we explain to you how we +would have you make and wear your hoods; and, to do so the better, +examine with us some of those delightful portraits of the time of Rubens +and Vandyke, when, among the nobler classes of females, dress had +certainly attained a high, if not its highest point of picturesque and +elegant effect. Look at some of those admirable Flemish pictures, where +you will see many a pretty face enveloped in a fur-trimmed hood, and +observe how much grace and modest dignity is given by that simple +habiliment. It is something of this kind which we would recommend. For +example--if a hood, so cut as not to admit of too close a conformation +to the shape of the head, were attached to a tippet which might descend +and protect the shoulders, or come even lower, at the fancy of the +wearer, and were fastened round the neck, the hood itself might be +elevated so as to cover the head, and might be drawn even over the face; +or it might be instantly thrown back, and would lie on the upper part of +the neck in picturesque and graceful folds. The lines of such a +covering, not so flowing, indeed, as those of a veil, would yet be not +inelegant; and they would afford sufficient contrast to the features of +the face, while they would be far superior to the unmeaning rigidity of +the bonnet. Hoods, such as those, are even now worn by some ladies for +carriage purposes, or while going to evening parties; and they would +look just as well in the bright light of the sun, as by the pale rays of +the moon. Consider for a moment the comfort and the utility of such a +dress; what a complete protection from cold, and, if necessary, from +wet! Even in summer, the hood would keep off the sun's beams much more +effectually than any bonnet; it would be light, warm, portable--useable +at pleasure, always ornamental, always becoming. These hoods would be of +service, whether for a walk or for a journey in a carriage; they would +not need to be disentangled from the person like bonnets; they would +merely have to be thrown back; they never could get spoiled by crushing; +they never would need cumbrous boxes to be carried in; and, what is +worthy of consideration, their cost might always be suited to the means +of the wearer. They would admit of any kind of ornament that would not +destroy their principle of utility;--for ornament ceases to be ornament +when it negatives the purpose of the object to which it is applied--it +becomes in such a case a mere excrescence: they might be edged and lined +with any, the most sumptuous or the plainest materials: they might be +attached round the neck by rich cords of gold and jewelled clasps; or +they might be fastened with simple ribands. Thus, in spring time, a +young and high-born damsel might wear her hood and tippet of +light-coloured silk or brocade, edged with ermine or swan's-down, and +attached with silver cords and clasps of pearl--while the noble matron +might wear the same of crimson or purple velvet, edged with sable, and +attached with golden cords and diamonds. The peasant's wife and daughter +might use hoods of black, blue, or grey woollen cloth, lined with grey +linen, edged with plain riband, and fastened with a simple button. How +much better, how much more rational, how much more becoming, such +head-dresses as these, than the gay but useless ribands, feathers, and +chapeaux of the one class, or the misshapen, uncomfortable, +untidy-looking bonnets of the other! According to the present system, it +is almost impossible to infer the rank of a lady from her external +costume--many a milliner's girl has passed for a duchess before +now--whereas by the adoption of articles of dress, founded on principles +like those of the hood, some decisive marks of distinction might be +obtained. Thus the rich furs and the jewels, or the gold brocade of the +princess, might indeed be imitated by the merchant's wife--who at the +present day is nearly her equal in wealth--the representative of +political power in, what is called, a constitutional government; but the +shop-girl and the dancing-mistress might break their hearts with spite, +ere they could set up a system of dress in keeping with hoods of the +kind alluded to. We do not recommend, that distinction of dress +according to difference of rank should be carried to an undue limit; for +in the present age of the world, and especially in our country, where +the basis of society is shifting, and where the pivots of the commonweal +are loose, too little distinction of rank is allowed; rank is not +respected as it ought to be; but, nevertheless, the promiscuous jumbling +together and confounding of all men is carried too far; it is one of the +elements of republicanism and anarchy that we should do well to +discourage. To ladies, more than to men, would distinctions of dress be +useful, and with them they would be more practicable of reintroduction; +any thing that would tend to augment the outward respect of men for +women, and of women for each other, would be so much gained toward a +revival of some of the soundest maxims of former days. + +Bonnets, then, to Orcus! Hoods to the seventh heaven! + + H. L. J. + + + + +GERMAN-AMERICAN ROMANCES. + +THE VICEROY AND THE ARISTOCRACY, OR MEXICO IN 1812. + +PART THE FIRST. + + +The most obvious defect of the German school of romance is the universal +tendency of its writers to the indefinite and periphrastic, and the +consequent absence of the characteristic and the true in their +descriptions both of human and of external nature. Much of this +prevailing habit may perhaps be attributed to the example of Goethe, +who, in his works of fiction, narrates the adventures of A and B, +residing in the town of C, situate in some nameless and inscrutable +section of Germany. And when, to all this mystery, is superadded the +ponderous and ungraceful style of most German writers, and the Latin +construction of their interminable sentences, for the solution of which +the reader must wade to the final word, the lack of good original +novels, and the universal preference, in Germany, of translations from +French and English authors, will be readily accounted for. The main +source of these defects in the German writers may be found in their +retired and bookish habits. Shut up in their studies, with no companions +but their books and their meerschaums, and viewing the eternal world +through the loopholes of retreat, often anxious, too, to advance and +illustrate some pet theory of their own, their writings smell horribly +of the lamp, and are long-winded, tedious, and unnatural. Another cause +of the deficiencies above-named, may perhaps be discovered in the +severity of German censorship, and the apprehension that more clearness +and identity in their descriptions of persons and places might be +twisted into political and personal allusions. + +The admitted superiority of French and English works of fiction, may be +attributed to the widely different habits of the writers. Nearly all the +French, and many of the English writers of the present day, are men of +the world, eschewing solitude, and mixing largely in society. The good +effects of this frequent collision with their fellow-men are visible in +their works, many of which display a deep knowledge of human nature, a +vivid power of description, and a command of dialogue, not only spirited +and natural, but often rising with the occasion into dramatic point and +brilliancy. + +At length, however, a new and radiant star has arisen in the cloudy +firmament of German fiction--a novel-writer whose works exhibit a +striking example of entire exemption from the defects so evident in the +great majority of his brethren. This is a nameless personage, known +among German reviewers as Der Unbekannte, or the Unknown, and who has +broken ground that no German writer had hitherto ventured upon. Some +have supposed him to be a Pennsylvanian, a considerable part of which +state was originally colonized by Germans, whose descendants still, to a +large extent, preserve the language and habits of the mother country. +Another report stated him to be a native German, who had emigrated to +Louisiana, and established himself there as a planter. Nothing definite, +in short, is known; but what is certain is, that he has been long +resident in the United States and in Mexico, and has made excellent use +of his opportunities for becoming acquainted with those countries and +their inhabitants. His subjects are, with slight exceptions, +Transatlantic, his materials original, his style singularly natural and +forcible; proving that however rugged the German language may appear in +the works of others, it will yield to the hand of a master, and readily +adapt itself to every subject. + +Our readers will probably not have forgotten a series of American, +Texian, and Mexican tales and sketches, which have appeared during the +last few months in the pages of this magazine. With some alterations and +adaptations, intended to render them more acceptable to English tastes, +they are selections from the works of the writer above described. These +works being published, as already mentioned, anonymously, and at prices +beyond the means of most German readers, are but partially known and +read even in Germany; and in this country they are entirely unknown, +such portions excepted as have appeared without a name in our recent +numbers. Having there presented our readers with specimens only, and for +the most part of his latest works, we will now proceed to give them some +account of one of his earliest and most important productions--a Mexican +historical romance of striking interest, dated two years subsequently to +the first revolutionary outbreak in Mexico, and exhibiting a degree of +descriptive and dramatic power unparalleled in the whole range of German +fiction. + +When, in the year 1776, the British colonies, now known as the United +States of America, made their declaration of independence, the struggle +that ensued was unmarked by any circumstances of particular atrocity or +blood-thirstiness, except perhaps, occasionally, on the part of the +Indian allies of either party. The fight was between men of the same +race, who had been accustomed to look upon each other as countrymen and +brothers, and whose sympathies and feelings were in many respects in +unison; it was fought manfully and fairly, as beseemed civilized men in +the eighteenth century of the Christian era. Whatever wrongs, real or +imaginary, the British Americans had to complain of, they had none that +sufficed, even in their own eyes, to justify reprisals or cruelties +beyond those which the most humanely conducted and least envenomed wars +inevitably entail. But it was under strikingly different circumstances +that the second of the two great republics which, with the exception of +British possessions, now comprise the whole civilized portion of the +North American continent, started into existence. In the former instance +was seen the young and vigorous country which, having attained its +majority, and feeling itself able to dispense with parental +guardianship, asserted its independence, and vindicated it, with a +strong hand, it is true, but yet with a warm heart and a cool judgment. +In the latter case it was the spring of the caged tiger, that for years +had pined in narrow prison beneath the scourge of its keeper, whom it at +last turned upon and rent in its fury. + +Subdued by the fierce assault of a handful of desperate adventurers, the +history of Mexico, from the earliest period of its conquest, is one +continuous record of oppression and cruelty on the one hand, of long and +bitter suffering on the other. Deprived of its religious and customs, +its priesthood and legitimate sovereigns mercilessly tortured and slain, +its temples and institutions annihilated, its very history and +traditions blotted out, Mexico, in the hands of the Spaniards, was +rapidly transformed from a flourishing and independent empire into a +huge province; while its inhabitants became a disposable horde, on whom +the conquerors seemed to think they were conferring a benefit, when they +made gift of them by hundreds and thousands, like sheep or oxen, to a +lawless and reckless soldiery. Their houses and lands, sometimes even +their wives and children, were snatched from them, and they were driven +in herds to labour in the mines, or condemned to carry burdens over +pathless and precipitous mountains; like the Gibeonites of old, they +were made hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the congregation. +Expelled from the towns, and confined to hamlets and villages, whence +they were only summoned to toil in the service of their oppressors, they +became in time entirely brutalized, losing the finer and more noble +qualities that distinguish man from the beast of the forest, and +retaining only a bitter sense of their degradation, a vivid impression +of the sufferings they daily endured, and a gloomy instinctive longing +after a bloody revenge. + +With these Indians, who, at the commencement of the present century, +composed two-fifths of the population of Mexico, may be classed a race +of beings equally numerous, equally unfortunate and destitute, and still +wilder and more despised--namely, the various castes sprung from the +intercourse of the conquerors of the country, of their successors and +slaves, with the aborigines. These half-bloods, who united the apparent +stupidity and real apathy of the Indian with the lawlessness and +impatience of restraint of their white fathers, found themselves driven +out into a world that branded them for the accident of their birth; +deprived of all property, and reduced to the most ignoble employments; +continual objects of fear and detestation to the better classes, because +they had nothing to risk, and every thing to gain, by a political +convulsion. Such were the principal elements of a population which, +after centuries of patient endurance, was at last roused to enter the +lists and struggle for its independence, with all the fury of the +captive who breaks the long-worn fetters from his chafed and bleeding +limbs, and seeks his deliverance in the utter extermination of his +jailers. + +For three hundred years had the Mexicans groaned under the lash of their +taskmasters, ruled by monarchs whom they never beheld, and enduring +innumerable evils, without nourishing a single rebellious or +revolutionary thought. If the breeze of liberty that blew over from the +north, occasionally awakened in their minds the idea of an improved +state of things, the hope, or rather wish, speedily died away, crushed +and annihilated under the well-combined system of oppression employed by +the Spaniards. The nobles had ranged themselves entirely on the side of +the government, the middle classes had followed their example, and the +people were compelled to obey. All was quiet in Mexico, long after +insurrections had broken out in Spanish colonies further south; and this +state of tranquillity was not even disturbed, when news were brought of +the invasion of Spain by its hereditary foe, of the occupation of Madrid +by French armies, and of the scenes of butchery that took place in that +capital on the second day of May 1808. The Mexicans, far from availing +themselves of this favourable opportunity to proclaim their own +independence, hastened to give proofs of their sympathy with the +aggrieved honour of the mother country; and on all sides resounded +curses upon the head of the powerful usurper who had ousted their +legitimate but unknown monarch from his throne, and now detained him in +captivity. Intelligence of the Junta's declaration of war against +Napoleon was received with unbounded applause, and all were striving to +demonstrate their enthusiasm in the most efficient manner, when a royal +decree arrived, issued by the very prince whose misfortunes they were +deploring, and by which Mexico was ordered to recognise as its sovereign +the brother of that usurper who had dispossessed its rightful king. + +A stronger proof of Ferdinand's unworthiness to rule, could hardly have +been given to the Mexicans than the decree in question. Loyalty had long +been an article of faith with the whole nation; but even as the blindest +superstition is sometimes metamorphosed on a sudden into total +infidelity, passing from one extreme to the other, so was all feeling of +loyalty utterly extinguished in the breast of the Mexican people by this +instance of regal abjectness. It would have been long before they +revolted against their hereditary Spanish ruler; but to find themselves +given away by him in so ignominious a manner, was a degradation which +they felt the more deeply from its being almost the only one that had +been hitherto spared them. Discontent was universal; and by a unanimous +and popular movement, the decree was publicly burned. + +With just indignation did the Mexicans now discover that those persons +who had hitherto most prided themselves on their loyalty and fidelity to +the king and the reigning dynasty, were precisely the first to transfer +their allegiance to the new sovereign. The whole of the government +officers, Spaniards nearly to a man, hastened to take measures for the +surrender of the nation to its new ruler, without even enquiring whether +it approved of the change. One man only was in favour of a more +honourable expedient, and that man was Iturrigaray, the viceroy. Well +acquainted with the cowardice and cunning of his captive sovereign, the +former of which qualities had dictated the decree, he had nevertheless +formed a plan to preserve Mexico for him, in accordance with the wish of +its population. A junta, composed of Spaniards and of the most +distinguished Mexicans, was to represent the nation till the arrival of +further news or orders from Europe. This plan was generally approved of +by the Mexicans, who looked forward with unbounded delight to the moment +when they should have a voice in the public affairs of their country. +The joy was universal; but in the very midst of this joy, and of the +preliminaries to the carrying out of this project, the author of it, the +viceroy himself, was seized in his palace by his own countrymen, +conducted with his family to Vera Cruz, and slipped off to Spain as a +state prisoner. + +By this lawless proceeding, it was made evident to the weakest +comprehension, that so long as the Spaniard ruled, the Mexican must +remain in a state of unconditional slavery; that he could never hope to +obtain a share in the management of his country; and that the act of +violence of which Iturrigaray had been the victim, had been solely +caused by the disposition he had shown to pave the way for the gradual +emancipation of the Creoles. From this moment may be dated the decision +of the Mexicans to get rid of the Spaniards at any price; and a +conspiracy was immediately organized, which was joined by at least a +hundred of the principal Creoles, and by a far larger number of the +middle classes, and of the military--the object being to shake off the +ignominious yoke that pressed so heavily upon them. The treason of one +of the conspirators, who on his death-bed, in confession, betrayed his +confederates, accelerated the outbreak of the plot. + +It was at nine o'clock on the evening of the 15th September 1810, that +Don Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, captain in the royal regiment _de la +Reyna_, came in all haste from Gueretaro to Dolores, and burst into the +dwelling of Padre Hidalgo, the parish priest of the latter place, with +news that the conspiracy had been discovered, and an order issued to +take prisoners, dead or alive, all those concerned in it. With the +prospect of certain death before their eyes, the two conspirators held a +short consultation, and then hastened to announce to their friends their +firm decision to stake their lives upon the freedom of their country. +Two officers, the lieutenants Abasalo and Aldama, and several musicians, +friends and companions of the cura, joined them, and by these men, +thirteen in number, was the great Mexican revolution begun. + +Whilst Hidalgo, a crucifix in his left hand, a pistol in his right, +hurried to the prison and set at liberty the criminals confined there, +Allende proceeded to the houses of the Spanish inhabitants, and +compelled them to deliver up their plate and ready money. Then, with the +cry of "_Viva la Independencia, y muera el mal gobierno!_" the +insurgents paraded the streets of Dolores. The whole of the Indian +population ranged themselves under the banner of their beloved curate, +who, in a few hours, found himself at the head of some thousand men. +They took the road to Miguel el Grande, and, before reaching that place, +were joined by eight hundred recruits from Allende's regiment. Shouting +their war-cry of "Death to the Gachupins!"[5] the rebels reached San +Felipe; in three days their numbers amounted to twenty thousand; at +Zelaya, a whole regiment of Mexican infantry, and a portion of the +cavalry regiment of the Principe, came over to them. On they went, +"Mueran los Gachupinos!" still their cry, to Guanaxato, the richest city +in Mexico, where they were joined by some more troops. Indians kept +flowing in from all sides, and the mob, for it was little more, soon +reached fifty thousand men. The fortified alhondega, or granary, at +Guanaxato, was taken by storm; the Spaniards and Creoles who had shut +themselves up there with their treasures, were massacred; upwards of +five millions of hard dollars fell into the hands of the insurgents. +This success brought more Indians from all parts of the country. There +were soon eighty thousand men collected together, but amongst them were +hardly four thousand muskets. Pressing forward, by way of Valladolid, +towards Mexico, they totally defeated Colonel Truxillo at Las Cruces, +and, on the 31st October, looked down from the rising ground of Santa Fe +upon the capital city, within the walls of which were thirty thousand +Leperos,[6] who awaited but the signal to break into open insurrection. +Only two thousand troops of the line garrisoned Mexico; Calleja, the +commander-in-chief, was a hundred leagues off; another general, the +Count of Cadena, sixty; in the mountains the people were rising in +favour of the revolution; another patriot chief was marching from +Tlalnepatla to support Hidalgo, while the viceroy was preparing to +retire to Vera Cruz. The fate of Mexico was, according to all +appearance, about to be decided; one bold assault, and the Indians would +again be the rulers of the country. But on the very day after their +arrival within sight of Mexico, Hidalgo, with his hundred and ten +thousand men, commenced a retreat. The capital was saved; and from that +day may be dated the sufferings and reverses of the patriots. + +Or the 7th November, at Aculco, Hidalgo met the united Spanish and +Creole army, and was defeated in the combat that ensued. Soon +afterwards, Allende experienced a like misfortune at Marfil; and a third +action, near Calderon, decided the fate of the campaign. Hidalgo himself +was betrayed at Acalito, with fifty of his companions, and put to death. + +The first act of the revolutionary drama was over, within six months +after the bloody curtain had been raised; but the torch of insurrection, +far from being extinguished by the fall of its bearer, had divided and +multiplied itself, as if to spread the conflagration with more +certainty. Thousands of those who had escaped from the battle-fields of +Aculco, Marfil, and Calderon, now spread themselves through the +different provinces, and commenced a war of extermination that was +destined, slowly but surely, to sweep away their unappeasable tyrants. +Most of these bands were commanded by priests, lawyers, or adventurers, +who acted without plan or concert, and possessed little or no +qualification for their post as leaders, save their hatred of the +Gachupins. But few of the better class of Creoles were to be found +amongst the insurgents; and the strife was to all appearance between the +Indians and half-bloods, on the one hand, and the property and +intelligence of the country, represented by the Spaniards and Creoles, +on the other. + +The Creoles, although considerably less oppressed than the coloured +races, had felt themselves more so; because, being more enlightened and +civilized, they had a livelier feeling and perception of the yoke than +the Indians and half-castes. Children and descendants of the Spaniards, +who looked with sovereign contempt upon every thing Creole, even to +their own offspring, the white Mexicans imbibed hatred of Spain almost +with their mothers' milk. Far from enjoying what the letter of the law +gave them, the same rights as their European fathers, they found +themselves driven back among the people; while all offices and posts +were filled by Spaniards, who, for the most part, came to Mexico in +rags, and left it possessed of immense wealth. Even the possession of +magnificent estates, with their incalculable subterranean treasures, was +of precarious benefit to the Creoles; for the Spaniards paid small +respect to the laws of property, and, in the name of their royal master, +assumed unlimited power over the land. + +The bitterness of feeling consequent on this state of things, at length +roused into activity the latent desire of freedom from the Spanish rule, +a freedom which was to have been obtained by the conspiracy already +referred to. On a given day, there was to have been a general rising +throughout Mexico; all the Spanish officers and _employes_ were to have +been arrested, and their places filled by Creoles; the seaports were to +have been seized and garrisoned, so as to prevent succours coming to the +Spaniards from the neighbouring island of Cuba. The discovery and +premature outbreak of the plot, as already mentioned, were the causes of +its failure. Hidalgo, who was too deeply compromised to recede, had put +himself at the head of the revolution, and enraged against the Creoles, +who had, for the most part, managed to draw their heads out of the +noose, commenced with his Indians a war of extermination that spared +neither Spaniards nor Creoles. This terrible blunder on the part of the +soldier-priest, of itself decided the fate of the outbreak. The Creoles +were compelled to unite with the very Spaniards whose downfall they had +been plotting; and it was mainly through their co-operation that the +three battles with the rebels had been won. The Spaniards, however, +instead of being grateful for the assistance they had received from the +Creoles, persisted in looking upon the latter as a pack of unlucky +rebels, whose treason had not even been rendered respectable by success. + +Enraged at the revolt that had threatened to deprive their king of his +supremacy, and themselves of the plunder of the richest country in the +world, the Spaniards applied themselves to obviate the possibility of +any future rebellion, by pretty much the same measures that a bee-hunter +takes to secure himself against the stings of the bees before seizing +their honey, namely, by fire and the axe. Twenty-four cities, both large +and small, and innumerable villages, were razed to the ground during the +first eighteen months of the revolution, and their inhabitants utterly +exterminated, as a punishment for having favoured the insurgents. Even +then, these bigoted and barbarous servants of legitimacy were not +satisfied with this wholesale slaughter. Through the medium of the +church, and in the name of the divine Trinity and of the blessed Virgin, +they proclaimed a solemn amnesty, and those among the credulous and +unfortunate rebels who availed themselves of it were mercilessly +massacred. This infamous and blasphemous piece of bad faith rendered any +pacification of the country impossible, and went far towards uniting the +whole population against its contemptible and blood-thirsty tyrants. + +Amongst the adventurers who had joined Hidalgo on his triumphant march +from Guanaxato to Mexico, was his old friend and schoolfellow, Morellos, +rector of Nucupetaro. Hidalgo received him as a brother, and +comnissioned him to raise the standard of revolt in the south-western +provinces of Mexico. Morellos, who was then sixty years of age, repaired +to his appointed post with only five followers. In Petalan he was joined +by twenty negroes, to whom he promised their freedom; and soon +afterwards several Creoles ranged themselves under his banner. Unlike +the unfortunate Hidalgo, he began the war on a small scale, and after +the fashion of those guerillas who in Spain had done so much mischief to +the French armies. Gradually enlarging the sphere of his operations, he +had, during a sixteen months' warfare, gained several not unimportant +advantages over the Spanish generals. Report represented him as a man of +grave and earnest character--quite the converse of the hasty and +unreflecting Hidalgo--of sound judgment, irreproachable morals, and far +more liberal and extended views than could have been expected from the +confined education of a Mexican priest. The influence he possessed over +the Indians was said to be unbounded. + +At the time at which the action of the book now before us commences, +namely, upon a carnival day of the year 1812, Morellos had marched into +the vicinity of Mexico at the head of his little army. The principal +leaders of the patriots, Vittoria, Guerero, Bravo, Ossourno, and others, +had placed themselves under his orders; and the moral weight of his name +seemed to be at last producing what had been wanting since the death of +Hidalgo--namely, that unanimity in the operations of the patriots, and +that degree of discipline amongst their troops, which were calculated to +gain them the confidence of the nation. + +The first two chapters of the "Viceroy" are of so striking a nature, and +give such strange and startling glimpses of the state of Mexican society +and feeling at that period, that, with some slight abridgement, we shall +here translate them both. + + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + + "'Tis known, at least it should be, that throughout + All countries of the Catholic persuasion, + Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about, + The people take their fill of recreation, + And buy repentance, ere they grow devout, + However high their rank, or low their station, + With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masking, + And other things which may be had for asking." + + BYRON. + +The siesta was over; and the profound stillness in which the capital of +New Spain had been buried during the preceding two hours, was suddenly +broken by the hum of innumerable voices. The noise, which commenced in +the suburbs, extended itself rapidly, and increased almost to a roar, +scaring away the gallinazos and other birds of prey, that were as usual +seeking food in the streets and squares of the city of Mexico. Thousands +of the inhabitants arose from their resting-places under the porticoes +of houses, churches, and palaces, or hurried forth from the great bazar, +eager to celebrate the carnival with that boundless mirth and license by +which Roman Catholic nations seem to console themselves for the fasts +and privations that are to succeed it. + +The variety of the costumes in which the maskers had arrayed themselves +was endless, while the profanity of some of them was no less remarkable. +Here might be seen a gigantic _tenatero_, or porter, in a sergeant's +jacket, and with the enormous cocked hat of a Spanish general upon his +head, a globe and sceptre in one hand, in the other a pasteboard cross, +strutting proudly about in the character of the Redeemer of Atolnico;[7] +while around him a party of Indians, Zambos, and Metises, metamorphosed +into Apostles, Pharisees, and Jewish women, performed dances of very +questionable propriety in honour of their divine master. In another +place, Adam and Eve were incessantly driven out of Paradise by an angel +with a flaming sword--the three figures resembling very much the same +persons, as they used to be represented in the halfpenny woodcuts of the +past century. Beside them, _Dios el Padre_ led off a dance to the sound +of a cracked guitar, which St Cecilia was twanging as an accompaniment +to the nasal melody of the gangaso;[8] and a little further on, the +child Jesus, mounted on a jackass, was flying into Egypt, and squirting, +as he went, streams of water into the open windows of houses, and into +the faces of the passers-by. Mingled with the mummers were crowds of +loathsome _leperos_; and again, amongst these might be seen numerous +groups of perfumed dandies and elegantly dressed ladies, who contrasted +with the throng of Indians as swamp-lilies do with the filth and +corruption of a pestilential marsh. In spite of the broad sunlight, +rockets were going off on all sides, to the great amusement of the +Indians, who burst out into screams of wild delight each time that one +of the fiery missiles caused alarm and confusion amongst the gaily +attired dames who thronged the balconies, and gazed down from their +windows upon the motley scene. The contrast of all this movement and +uproar with the silence and solitude that had reigned so few moments +before, was startling. It was as if the earth had suddenly opened and +vomited forth the thousands of Mulattoes and Zambos, Indians, Metises, +and Creoles,[9] that now sang, danced, chattered, screamed, and +shouted--doing their utmost worthily to play their part in the +time-honored saturnalia of the Romish church. + +Differing from the custom of more refiled, although perhaps not more +enlightened, countries, only a very few of the numerous parties of +maskers seemed to aim, by their costume or action, at a satire on the +follies, foibles, or occurrences of the times. Now and then, however, an +exception was to be met with; and this was especially remarkable in a +group which it becomes necessary here to describe. + +It consisted of twelve persons, the majority of whom were fantastically +attired in the national costumes of the various Indian tribes. These +were grouped round a _carro_, or two-wheeled cart in so picturesque a +manner, that it was easy to see that their performance had been +preconcerted and rehearsed. They wore symbols of mourning, and seemed +acting as pall-bearers and followers of a funeral; while upon the cart +itself were two figures, in which the horrible and the comic were +blended after a most extraordinary fashion. One of them was a Torso, +from whose breast and headless neck, and on the stumps of his arms and +legs, blood was incessantly dropping, and as fast as it dropped, it was +greedily licked up by several persons in Spanish masks and dresses. The +mutilated form seemed still to have life in it, for it groaned and gave +out hollow sounds of agony and complaint; at the same time struggling, +but in vain, to shake off a monster that sat vampire-like upon its body, +and dug its tiger claws into the breast of the sufferer. The aspect of +this monster was as strange as that of its victim. It had the cowl, and +the sleek but sinister countenance of well-fed Dominican friar; on its +right hand was fixed a blazing torch, on its left stood a dog that +barked continually; its head was covered with a brass basin, apparently +meant to represent the barber helmet of the knight of La Mancha. From +the shoulders of the figure protruded a pair of dusky wings, not unlike +those with which griffins and other fabulous monsters are represented in +old books of heraldry; its back was terminated by the tail of the +coyote, or Mexican wolf; while the claws with which it seemed digging +into the very bowels of the Torso, were those of caguar or tiger. + +This singular pageant passed through the Tacuba street into that of San +Agustin, thence through the Plateria and the Calle Aguila into the +quarter of the city known as the Trespana, where it came to a halt +before the hotel of the same name. During this progress, the crowd of +Indians, Metises, and other coloured races, had been augmented by +numerous parties of Creoles; while the Spaniards contented themselves +with gazing distrustfully at the procession from the windows of their +houses. The strange group was now surrounded by thousands of Zambos, +Creoles, Metises, and Indians, presenting a variety and originality of +costume, physiognomy, and colour--a contact and contrast of the most +costly and sumptuous habiliments with the meanest and most disgusting +rags, such as it would be in vain to seek in any other country than +Mexico. + +Amongst the most elegantly dressed of those whom the enigmatical +masquerade attracted, was a young man, of whom it would have bee +difficult to say to what race he belonged. His face was covered by a +closely-fitting silken mask, in which every hue of the rainbow was +blended, but which, nevertheless, was adapted so admirably to his +features, as at first to leave the spectators in doubt whether it were +not the real colour of his skin. He skipped airily out of the fonda of +Trespana into the street, cast a keen but hasty glance around him, and +then began to make his way through the mob that surrounded the pageant. +There was a nameless something in his manner and appearance that caused +the throng to open him a willing passage towards the object of general +curiosity. + +"Foolish mob! brainless mob! swinish mob!" cried the stranger, when he +at length stood beside the cart upon which the monster was still rending +its hapless victim; "whither are ye running, and pressing, and crowding, +and what are ye come to see? Know ye not that in Mexico it is forbidden +to see, especially to see clearly?" + +The tone of the speaker, his sudden appearance, and the bold originality +of his manner, contrasted strongly with the timidity of the other +Creoles, who had all in their turn approached the cart cautiously, +viewed it for a few moments with an air of mistrust, and then withdrawn +themselves to a distance, in order to await in safety what might next +ensue. The daring address of the new-comer, so different from this +prudent behaviour, did not fail to attract universal attention. + +"What now, men of Mexico, or of Anahuac, if you prefer that name, Aztecs +and Tenochtitlans and Othomites, and Metises and Zambos and Salta-atras, +and whites, whom the devil fly away with," added he in a lower tone, "or +at least with one-twentieth of them?"[10] + +"Bravo!" vociferated hundreds of Metises and Zambos, whom the last few +words had suddenly enlightened as to the political opinions of the +speaker. "Bravo! _Escuchad!_ Hear him!" + +The object of this applause was apparently busied examining the +composition of the pageant. When silence was restored, he again turned +to the crowd. + +"And so you would like to know what it means?" said he. "Fools! know ye +not that knowledge is forbidden? And yet, if you are any better than a +parcel of mules, you may see and understand." + +"And if we _are_ no better than mules?" cried a voice. + +"Then will I be your _arriero_, and drive you," replied the stranger +laughing, and tripping round the cart. "Mules! ay, _Madre de Dios!_ that +are ye, and have been all the days of your lives, ever since the gloomy +Gachupin yonder"--and he pointed to the monster, half monk, half +beast--"has chosen for his resting-place the body of the poor unhappy +creature, whom some call Anahuac, some Mexitli, and some Guatemozin.[11] +Mules, ay, threefold mules! Poor mules!" added he, in a tone of mingled +compassion and contempt. + +"Poor mules!" sighed the surrounding spectators, gazing alternately at +the speaker and at the bleeding Torso. + +On a sudden, the masked cavalier raised the cowl of the monster-monk, +and the severed head of the Torso rolled out from it. The features were +Indian, modelled and coloured in so masterly a manner, that the +resemblance they were intended to convey struck every body, and hundreds +of voices simultaneously exclaimed-- + +"Guatemozin!" + +"Guatemozin!" was repeated from mouth to mouth, while the _pregonero_ or +crier, as the crowd had already christened the speaker, continued to +lift the veil from the significant allegory before him. + +"See!" cried he, "here have his claws struck deepest. 'Tis in Guanaxato +and Guadalajara." + +A shudder seemed to run through the crowd. + +"'Tis Tio Gachupin," continued the pregonero with a strange laugh, "who +would fain play with you the same game that he did three centuries since +with poor Guatemozin. And see! 'tis Guatemozin's ghost that appears +bleeding before ye, and claims vengeance at your hands!" + +It had now become evident to the surrounding crowd, that the pageant had +a deep and dangerous political meaning. The spectators had greatly +increased, and were each moment increasing, in number; the flat roofs +and the _miradores_, or latticed balconies, of the surrounding houses, +were crowded with gazers, while the street presented the appearance of a +sea of heads. A deep silence reigned, broken only by an occasional +whisper, or by the peculiar kind of low shuddering murmur that the +Indian is apt to utter when reminded of the power and prosperity of his +forefathers. Suddenly there was a loud cry. + +"Vigilancia! Vigilancia!" was shouted from a distant balcony. The word +passed from mouth to mouth. + +"Vigilancia!" repeated the pregonero; "_gracias_, thanks, Senoras y +Senores," added he, with a laugh and a slight bow, and then was lost in +the crowd. There was a movement round the ghastly group upon the cart, +which the next instant disappeared; and when the alguazils, by the aid +of their staves, had forced themselves a passage to the spot where the +pageant had been, no trace of it remained save fragments of wood and +pasteboard, that were showered from all sides upon their detested heads. +The crowd itself separated and dispersed in different directions; no +inconsiderable portion of it entering the hotel, in front of which the +scene had passed. + +This hotel or _fonda_, the first in Mexico at that time, was then, as +now, a great resort of the highest and lowest classes of the +population--that is to say, of the greatest luxury and most squalid +misery that the world can show. The ground floor was used as a sort of +bazar, in which various articles of Mexican manufacture were exposed for +sale; while the rooms on the upper story were appropriated to the +reception of guests, and furnished with a sumptuousness that contrasted +strangely with the appearance of the majority of those who frequented +them. + +In the first of these rooms stood a long and broad table, somewhat +resembling a billiard-table, but upon which, instead of balls and cues, +were piles of silver and gold, amounting to thousands of dollars; while +the wardrobe of the players, who sat and stood around, did not appear to +be worth as many farthings. Excepting the jingle of the money, and the +words _Senor_ and _Senoria_, occasionally uttered, scarcely a sound was +heard; but upon the excited and eager countenances of the gamblers, +which varied with every change in their luck, might be read the flushed +exultation of the winners, and the suppressed fury of the less +fortunate--a fury that, to judge from their fiery glances and set teeth, +might momentarily be expected to break out into fierce and deadly +strife. + +The occupants of the second saloon were, if possible, still more +repulsive than those of the first. Men, women, and children--some half +naked--some with the most loathsome rags for a covering--were lying, +sitting, squatting, and crouching in every part of the room--some sunk +into a kind of doze--others, on the contrary, actively engaged in +ridding their own and their children's heads of those inhabitants that +seemed to constitute the sole wealth of this class of people--an +occupation which they pursued with as great zeal and apparent interest, +as if it had been absolutely essential to the proper celebration of the +festival-day. A third room was devoted to the chocolate and sangaree +drinkers, who might be seen emptying their cups and glasses with as much +satisfaction and relish, as if the sight of the poverty and squalor that +surrounded them gave additional zest to the draught; while, all about +them, between and under chairs, tables, and benches, the wretched +Leperos lay grovelling. Parties of richly-dressed Spaniards and Creoles, +both men and women, their eyes still heavy from the siesta, were each +moment entering, preceded by negro or mulatto girls carrying cigars and +sweetmeats, and screaming out, "_Plaza, plaza, por nuestras +senoras!_--Make way for our ladies!" A summons, or rather command, which +the _cortejos_, with their sticks and sabres, were ever ready to +enforce. + +"_Caramba! Que bella y querida compania!_" exclaimed, on a sudden, the +same voice that a short time previously had explained the dangerous +allegory in the street below. The owner of the voice, however, wore +another mask and dress, although his present costume, like his previous +one, was that of a _caballero_ or gentleman. He glanced round the room +with that supercilious air which young men of fashion and quality are +apt to assume when amongst persons whom they consider immeasurably +inferior to themselves. + +"_C--jo a la bonanza!_ Here's to try my luck!" cried he, stepping up to +the gambling table, and placing a rouleau of dollars on a card, which +the next moment won. "Bravo, bravissimo! Doble!" + +He won a second time, and placed the stake, which was now a heavy one, +upon a fresh card. + +"Triplo!" cried he. Fortune again favoured him. His luck still holding +good, he won a fourth time; and the banker, rising from his seat with a +savage curse upon his lips, pushed over the whole of his bank to the +fortunate player, and left the table with a look of hate and rage that +one would have thought must be the prelude to a stab. Nothing of the +sort, however, ensued. The man removed from his ears the two reals +which, according to Mexican usage, he had stuck there for luck; called +to the waiter, and uttered the word "_cigarros!_" as he showed one coin, +and "_aguardiente de cana!_" as he exhibited the other. Having thus +disposed of his last real, he draped his cloak over his shoulder with +such skill, that the end of it hung down to his heels, concealing the +tattered condition of that very essential part of his dress called +trousers. He then awaited, with perfect composure, the refreshment he +had ordered. Meanwhile, the fortunate winner took a couple of reals from +a small purse, stuck one in each ear, accompanying the action with the +sign of the cross, and prepared in his turn to hold the bank. + +"_Plaza, gavillas!_" cried several voices just at this moment. "Make +room, knaves, for the senoras!" and in came a party of Spanish soldiers, +accompanied by their mistresses--the latter dressed out in a style that +many European ladies of the highest rank might well have envied. Before +each of them walked three mulatto girls, whose sole dress consisted of a +short and loosely-fitting silk petticoat, reaching to the knees; their +hair being confined in nets of gold thread, and their arms encircled +with bracelets of the same metal. One of these hand-maidens bore an open +box of cigars, out of which the lady and her cortejo from time to time +helped themselves; another had a basket with various comfits, which was +also frequently put in requisition, and the third carried the purse. + +"Plaza!" was again the cry; and at the same time, the companions of the +ladies, well-conditioned sub-officers of the Spanish troops, swung their +canes and sabres, and the terrified Indians, and Metises, and Zambos +tumbled and rolled off their benches and chairs as if they had been +mowed down. + +"_Demonio!_ What is all this?" exclaimed the new banker, who had already +taken his seat at the table, but now sprang suddenly up. "_Por todos +bastos et bastas de todo el mundo_--By every card in the pack!"---- + +He spoke in so threatening a tone, and his gesticulation was so +thoroughly Mexican in its vehemence, that three of the sergeants sprang +upon him at once. + +"_Gojo, que quieres?_ Dog! what do you mean?" + +"Dog!" repeated the Mexican, and his right hand disappeared under his +cloak--a movement which was immediately imitated by the owners of the +white, black, brown, and greenish physiognomies by which he was +surrounded. The three Spaniards stepped back as precipitately as they +had advanced. Meanwhile, the fourth sergeant approached the table, and, +seizing upon the cards, invited the company to stake their money against +a bank which he put down. The effect of this invitation was no less +extraordinary than rapid. The same men who, an instant before, had been +ready to espouse their countryman's quarrel to the death--for such had +been the meaning of the mysterious fumbling under the cloaks--no sooner +perceived that the cards had changed masters, than they called to the +Mexican with one voice-- + +"_Por el amor de Dios, senor_--leave us in peace, and God be with your +senoria!" + +"Ay, go, and the devil take you!" growled the Spaniards. + +The young man gazed in turn at his countrymen and at the sergeants; and +then, as if struck by the curious contrast between the courtesy of the +former and the rudeness of the latter, he laughed right out, swept +together his winnings, and walked away from the table, whistling a +bolero. + +The sort of ramble which the masked cavalier now commenced through the +adjoining saloons, seemed for some time to have no particular object. He +strutted across one, paused for a moment in the next to take a sip out +of a friend's liqueur glass, dipped a biscuit into the chocolate of one +acquaintance, and helped another to finish his sangaree; and so lounged +and loitered about, till he found himself in the last of the suite of +rooms, which was then unoccupied. Stepping up to a door at the further +end of the apartment, he knocked at it, at the same time uttering the +words, "_Ave Maria purissima!_" + +The door was opened. + +"_Sin peccado concebida!_" added the Mexican, when he saw that the +occupants of the room did not make the usual reply to his pious but +customary salutation. "For God's sake, senores, is there neither piety +nor politeness among ye? Could you not say, '_Sin peccado concebida?_'" + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + + "Verdades dire en camisa, + Poco menos que desnuda." + + QUEVEDO. + +The company assembled in the room which the masked cavalier entered +consisted of some five-and-twenty young men, in whose picturesque +Spanish-Mexican costume, velvets, silk, and gold embroidery had been +employed with lavish profusion. The air of scornful superciliousness +with which they glanced at the intruder, and the indifference with which +they seemed to regard the heaps of gold that lay glittering on the +table, denoted them to be practised gamblers, or, which in Mexico is the +same thing, noblemen of the highest rank. The saloon was richly +furnished; chairs, sofas, and tables of the most costly woods, and +splendidly gilt, cushions, drapery, and chandeliers, after the newest +fashion. + +"Sixteen to the doubloon!" cried the new-comer, apparently noways +abashed by the contemptuous manner of his reception, as he stepped up to +the table, and placed a roll of dollars upon a card. + +"_No pueden._ It cannot be," replied the banker, pushing back the silver +with his wooden rake. + +"It cannot be," echoed several of the players in the same short +contemptuous tone. "_Una sociedad con fuero._ A private and privileged +society." + +"_Una sociedad con fuero!_" repeated the stranger, shaking his head. +"All due respect for _fueros_, so long as they are respected and +respectable. But know you not, Senores, that _our_ fuero is the older +one?" + +"Thy fuero older, _gato_?" drawled one of the noblemen. + +"Ay, truly is it. 'Tis the fuero of the carnival, and dates from the +time that Mother Church first fell into her dotage." + +"Mother Church in her dotage! Knave, what mean ye?" + +"Your Senorias need only look into the street to see what I mean. She +has practised folly till she has become a fool. 'Tis just like the +mother country, who has drunk Mexican blood till she has grown +bloodthirsty." + +The young cavaliers became suddenly attentive. + +"_Paz! Senor_;" said the banker, "such words are dangerous. Begone, in +God's name, and beware of the alguazils and the Cordelada."[12] + +"_Paz!_" replied the stranger; "peace, do you say? Would you have peace +and quiet? They are no more to be found in Mexico. Quiet!" repeated he, +with a fiery enthusiasm in his voice and gesture, "you will have as +little of it as Pedrillo had-- + + "No rest by day + No sleep by night, + For poor Pedrillo, + The luckless wight." + +And he broke, on a sudden, into the beautiful and piquant air of +Pedrillo, which he sang with a taste and spirit that made the assembled +cavaliers gaze at him open-mouthed. At the same moment, a guitar and +castanets were heard in the adjoining room, accompanying the song. + +Either the charm of the surprise, or the originality of the individual +who thus appositely introduced this popular fragment from the +masterpiece of a favourite composer, produced an electrifying effect +upon the young noblemen. They sprang from their chairs, and, at the +conclusion of the song, a score of doubloons fell ringing at the feet of +the singer. + +"_Otra vez!_ Encore, encore!" was the universal cry. + +"Senorias," said the banker, who alone appeared dissatisfied at this +interruption, and now approached the stranger; "I warn you, Senorias! I +recognise in this _caballero_"--he spoke the word in an ironical and +depreciating tone--"the same _gentilhombre_ whom the alguazils were so +lately seeking. Beware! his presence may get us into trouble." + +"Ha! are you the fellow who played the alguazils such a trick?" cried +several of the young men. + +Instead of replying, the stranger stamped with his foot; and, as if the +stamp had been the blow of an enchanter's wand, two folding-doors, +opposite to those by which he had entered the apartment, suddenly +opened, and four dancing figures, with flesh-coloured silk masks upon +their faces, and clothed in tightly-fitting dresses of the same +material, bounded into the room. + +"Senorias! _Por el amor de Dios!_" cried the banker, imploringly. + +As he spoke, two guitar-players, who accompanied the dancers, began +twanging their instruments; and the young men, absorbed in contemplation +of the graceful and luxuriant forms of the two female dancers, paid no +attention to his entreaties and warnings. Hastily gathering up his bank, +he packed it into a box, and left the saloon with all possible despatch. + +And now, to the music of the guitars and the clatter of the castanets, +the two couples of dancers began a performance, of which the most vivid +pen would fail to portray the graceful and fascinating voluptuousness. +They commenced with the bolero, and thence glided, with a stamping of +the feet and whirling of the arms, into the more licentious fandango. +But the sensual character of the latter dance was so far veiled and +refined by the grace and elegance of the dancers, that what is usually +a mere appeal to the senses, became in their performances the very +poetry of motion. The young noblemen remained as though entranced, their +eyes fixed upon the dancers, and totally unable to give utterance to +their delight. While thus absorbed, they were suddenly startled by a +hoarse inarticulate sound, proceeding from the further corner of the +room. At the same moment the dance ceased; dancers and musicians retired +through the door by which they had entered, and a figure became visible +that will probably excite the astonishment of the reader as much as it +did that of the young cavaliers who now first perceived it. + +Upon an ottoman extending along one side of the apartment, there +reclined, in a half-lying, half-sitting posture, a person whose dress +was that of a Moslem of the highest rank. His robe and turban were both +green, and in the folds of the latter was interwoven a chain, or wreath, +of precious stones, of extraordinary beauty and apparent value. In +striking contrast with this rich attire were the features of the Turk, +which were singularly repulsive. A low forehead receded from above a +pair of bluish-grey eyes, in the glazed, hard look of which, perfidy, +cruelty, and pride seemed to have taken up their abode. From between the +eyes protruded a long nose, curved like that of a bird of prey, over an +upper lip indicative of gluttony and the coarsest animal propensities; +the mouth was large, the lower lip hung relaxed and slavering over a +long square chin. The complexion was in good keeping with the false and +malignant expression of the countenance, being of an indefinite tint, +that could be classed under no particular colour. + +"_Por el amor de Dios!_" cried the young noblemen, now really alarmed. +"What is this? What does it mean?" And they hesitatingly approached the +ottoman, and then again shrunk back, as if scared by some loathsome and +unnatural object. + +Beside the figure two other Moslems were kneeling, one in a green, the +other in a snow-white turban. Their hands were folded upon their +breasts, and their faces bowed till they almost touched the carpet. + +"Brr!" growled the Moslem in a tone more like the grunt of a wild boar +than the voice of a human being, and stretching himself peevishly out +upon the ottoman. His kneeling attendants started, rose respectfully to +their feet, and taking a step backwards, began conversing in a subdued +tone, and without appearing aware of the presence of the Mexicans, who +on their part were so bewildered by this strange scene that they seemed +to have lost the power of speech and movement. + +"Zil ullah!" exclaimed he of the white turban. "Allah be with us! His +sublimity has again spoken! Spoken, but how little!" added he in a +disconsolate tone. "Right willingly would Ben Haddi commence this very +day a barefooted pilgrimage"---- + +"And Bultshere," interrupted the other, "would kiss the black stone of +Ararat"---- + +"If," resumed the first speaker, "his sublimity might be thereby healed +of his malady. Zil ullah! 'Tis three days since his highness tasted of +the bean of Mocha, or of the glorious juice that transports the true +believer, while yet living, into the realms of Paradise." + +"Three days," continued his companion, "since he deigned to permit the +soft caresses of the beauteous Zuleima, or the ardent embraces of the +dark-eyed Fatima. What can be the cause?" + +"Indigestion," quoth Green-turban. + +"Cares of state," rejoined White-turban. "We must amuse his highness. +There are new Almas and Odalisques arrived. He will perhaps deign to +witness their performance." + +And so saying, he approached the Caliph, for such was the high rank of +the personage whom the sitting Moslem was intended to represent, and +throwing himself prostrate on the ground, preferred his request. + +A reply was returned in a sort of affirmative grunt, whereupon the +vizier arose in great joy, stepped back to his former place, and after +giving three distinct but not loud stamps upon the floor, retreated with +his companion into a corner of the room. Scarcely had he done so, when, +to the redoubled astonishment of the Mexican cavaliers, the +folding-doors again flew open, and four couples of dancers tripped in, +attired in costumes so rich and magnificent as to eclipse even that of +the Caliph. They were followed by four negroes, two of whom bore guitars +of Moorish make and appearance, the third the East Indian _tomtom_ or +drum, and the fourth the Persian flute. + +For a brief space the eight dancers stood in mute expectation, awaiting +a signal to begin. This was given by a Brr! from the Sultan, who at the +same time vouchsafed to raise his head, and manifest an intention of +witnessing the entertainment offered him. + +An adagio on the guitars, gradually increasing in volume, and in which +the tap of the tomtom mingled like the rolling of distant thunder, +opened the dance. Then came the sharp and yet mellow clack of the +dancers' castanets, and finally the soft tones of the flute, blending +the whole into harmony. The dancers seemed to follow and imitate by +their action each change of the music: at first, and with wonderful +grace and elegance, they fell into a group or _tableau_, their silken +scarfs, of transparent texture and bright and varied colours, floating +in the air like rainbows, behind which glanced the houri-like forms of +the women. Presently the music glided from the adagio into the allegro; +the steps of the dancers became quicker, their gestures more animated, +the play of their limbs more voluptuous. With the exception of one +couple, every glance and movement of the performers seemed directed or +aimed at the Caliph. This couple consisted of the most sylph-like and +exquisitely formed of the four female dancers, and of a Persian warrior, +who was pursuing her, and from whom she strove coyly to escape. With +admirable grace and skill did these two figures detach themselves from +their companions, in order to continue a while their simulated flight +and pursuit. The fairy feet of the fugitive scarcely touched the ground, +and such charm and fascination were in her movements that the Caliph +several times raised his eyelids and gave a grunt of approval. At each +of these indications on the part of the despot, the anxiety of the poor +Persian seemed to increase till it bordered on despair, and so naturally +was this despair portrayed as to draw a loud bravo from the spectators: +only the Caliph appeared insensible to the refined play of these elegant +dancers. Once or twice, indeed, his dull eyes seemed to emit a ray of +animal delight, but this quickly faded away; and even the triumph of the +Persian, when his mistress finally fell panting and yielding into his +arms, was insufficient to rekindle it. + +"Brr!" cried the Commander of the Faithful, in the same harsh grunting +voice as before; "and you call that pastime, that which we have seen a +thousand and one times? By the beard of the Prophet, vizier," he +continued in a louder tone, "if I have no sleep to-day, nor appetite +to-morrow, there is the bowstring for you, and the stake for your +Almas!" + +At this terrible threat the vizier stood speechless with horror, while +the mouth of the alarmed emir gaped to an unnatural extent: the dancers +paused, as though suddenly turned to stone, in the very same posture in +which the menace of the Caliph had surprised them. One of the +_bayaderes_ remained with her leg in a horizontal position, the point of +her toe almost in her partner's open mouth; another, in the terror of +the moment, had entangled her foot in the ample robe of the emir, who +now began to run up and down in his extremity of consternation, +compelling her to dance after him on one leg; in short, all the actors +in this strange scene expressed so naturally, by dumb show, their +amazement and alarm, that the Caliph burst into a loud fit of laughter. + +"Allah Akbar!" cried vizier and emir and dancers, with one voice, and +then all burst forth in loud praises of the goodness of Allah, who, +through the agency of his slaves, had done so great a wonder, and +extracted a refreshing laugh from his highness. This unanimous +demonstration of affection on the part of his loving subjects, seemed +pleasing to the potentate. He nodded, and the emir, encouraged by this +sign of approbation, ventured to draw nearer. + +"With all submission"--he began. + +"By the Prophet's beard!" interrupted the Caliph, "we know what thou +wouldst say before it is spoken. We require not a vizier to talk, but to +act as a leech, and draw blood where it is too rich or corrupt. How +thinkest thou? If I were to impale one of these lazy dancers, would +terror make the others dance better?" + +"On the contrary, please your highness, it would lame them. 'Twere +better to impale a swine from the herd called the people--one who +possesses zechins. Your highness's treasury is empty, and these Almas +are as poor as the mice in the churches of the Giaours, and withal right +useful servants of the state." + +"Thou sayest well; by the Prophet, they _are_ useful servants of the +state," cried the Caliph, stroking his belly as he spoke, "and they may +be assured of our grace and favour. Strike off the heads of some dozen +or two knaves in the quarter of the Bezestein, and let the half of their +zechins be given to these poor devils." + +There was a gentle tapping at the door, which the vizier hastened to +open, and returned with the news that the chief of the mollahs humbly +solicited the favour of an audience. + +"Again cares of state, and nothing but cares of state!" groaned the +Caliph, allowing his head to fall on his breast as if in reflection. +"'Tis well," he said at last in a peevish tone. "We will receive the +spiritual shepherd of our kingdom. Away with these mummers! 'tis not +fitting that the expounder of the Koran should find us in such carnal +company." + +Dancers and musicians now stepped into the background, and the doors +opened to admit the tall figure of the head mollah, who entered with +eyes fixed upon the floor; and, on finding himself in presence of the +Caliph, knelt down and touched the carpet with his forehead. + +"Speak thy business," said the Sultan, "and quickly. We have been +already much engrossed with affairs of government, more, perhaps, than +is good for the feeble state of our bodily health." + +"Bismillah!" quoth the high priest gravely, "we have caused prayers to +be offered up from each minaret of the mosques, and have commanded that +all true believers should bestrew themselves with dust and ashes. We +have sent men upon the holy pilgrimage, and to kiss the black stone of +Ararat in order that the sufferings of your sublimity may be +alleviated." + +"Thou hast done well, oh mollah!" replied the Sultan. + +"Luminary of the World, whose light is brighter than the sun," continued +the head mollah; "we have also, with regard to this malady of your +highness, consulted the book that serves us instead of all the wisdom of +the Giaour, and therein have we found that Haroun al Raschid was +afflicted with a like evil, which he unquestionably brought on himself +through too great attention to the duties of his government." + +"Hold there, mollah!" interrupted the Caliph in a voice of thunder, "and +weigh thy words before thou speakest. Duties of government, sayest thou? +Duties! Who has duties? A worm like myself, that we have been pleased to +exalt out of the dust; but we have nought to do either with such +reptiles or with duty; we, the vicar of the Prophet. Our pleasure is +your duty, and our will your law." + +"Doubtless, doubtless, Light of the World," cried the mollah, hastening +to correct his error. "Thy unworthy servant meant to say, pleasures. +When Haroun al Raschid found himself in similar moments of suffering and +despondency, which he unquestionably brought on by too great attention +to his pleasures"-- + +"Slave!" again interrupted the Caliph, "dost thou mock us, saying that +our glorious ancestor exhausted himself with pleasures, thus striving to +make it appear that we do the same? Do we not each day perform nine +times nine prostrations, our face towards Mecca? Did we not, no longer +back than yesterday, sign our name full twenty times to the +death-warrants of those scurvy and unbelieving hounds who dared to +blaspheme us, the Prophet's vicegerent, and to say in the +Bezestein--What said the dogs? Have we not given orders to hang, impale, +and exterminate like noisome vermin, all those who dare in any way to +think or have an opinion? Have we not made this order public, to the +great glorification of the Prophet and of our own name?" + +The Caliph paused for a moment. Then turning suddenly to the +mollah--"You may inform us," said he, "what our ancestor Haroun al +Raschid was wont to do when afflicted like ourselves with heaviness of +spirit." + +"Bismillah!" again began the mollah. "When Haroun al Raschid was thus +afflicted, he applied to the book which we have brought with us, and +which your highness, if he so pleases, can see and even read"-- + +"Miserable wretch!" thundered the Caliph, with a glance of scorn at the +speaker and his book. "Wherefore do we maintain you, and those like you, +if it is not to do for us what we hold it beneath our dignity to do for +ourselves? And is not the reading of books beneath our dignity? Do not +all books contain the ideas and notions of a pack of scoundrels, who +talk about things which they do not understand, and that in no wise +concern them? Have we not decreed that the bowstring should be the +portion of all those who are reported to be either writers or readers of +books? And have we not therefore taken into our service a parcel of +idlers, of whom thou art the chief, and whose duty it is to read and +think for the whole of our people?" + +"And why should the Light of the World read?" replied the mollah after a +respectful pause. "He who is already the source of all earthly wisdom, +the joy and admiration of all nations? How shall I express my +wonder--how shall I sufficiently praise his high qualities?"-- + +"Stop, mollah!" cried the Caliph. "Know that it does not please us to be +praised or wondered at by such as thou. Truly thy praises stink in our +nostrils, and are as discords in our ears. It becometh not worms like +thyself, whom we have raised from the dirt, and can again dash back into +it, to seek to spy out our good qualities, lest at the same time they +should discern"--our bad ones, the Caliph would probably have said, but +he left the sentence unfinished. + +"Thou shouldst look up at us," continued he, "as to the sun, in which +neither good nor evil can be seen, but of which the presence is known by +its effects. And now tell us what Haroun al Raschid did, when assailed +by despondency even as we ourselves are." + +"Allah Akbar! Haroun al Raschid, when afflicted like your highness, was +wont to disguise himself in various ways, as a merchant, a soldier, or a +sailor"---- + +"All that is well known to us," interposed the Caliph; "but although we +are disposed to follow the example of our glorious ancestor so far as we +can, without too great exertion of mind or body, yet we doubt whether +just now we---- Thou knowest," he continued, interrupting himself, and +in a lower tone, "that although Haroun al Raschid was certainly our +forefather, yet our blood, improving by descent, is even purer and more +illustrious than his. We cannot, therefore, condescend to imitate him in +the way you speak of. But we will undertake a work that shall be far +more pleasing to the Prophet. With our own hands will we embroider a +twelfth under petticoat for his blessed mother, so that she may have one +for each month in the year." + +During the latter part of this dialogue, a whispering had been more than +once audible at the door of the apartment. This circumstance, implying +the presence of listeners, might well endanger the necks of the daring +representatives of the Caliph and his courtiers; but nevertheless, +without allowing themselves to be discomposed by the vicinity of spies, +the Moslems had played out their parts, and the Caliph now rose from his +ottoman with all the dignity of an eastern despot, repeating, as he did +so, to his attendants, what great things he would do, and how he would +stitch with his own hands a twelfth under petticoat for the mother of +the Prophet. The procession had nearly reached the door by which it had +entered, when one of the young Mexicans, recovering apparently from the +state of inaction in which this extraordinary scene had plunged him and +his companions, suddenly sprang forward, gazed earnestly in the face of +the Caliph, and then started back again with a cry of horror. + +"_Por el amor de Dios! Fernando el Rey!_ 'Tis his majesty, King +Ferdinand!" cried the young nobleman. "Stop, traitor!" he exclaimed, +again advancing and endeavouring to seize the Caliph. But even in this +moment of peril, the latter did not forget his assumed dignity. With a +look of the most profound contempt he strode out of the apartment, while +the gigantic mollah, seizing the Creole by the collar, raised him from +the ground like a feather, and hurling him back into the room, followed +the Commander of the Faithful, and shut the door. + +Before the Mexican cavaliers had recovered from their alarm at the +daring and treasonable dramatic satire of which they had so unwittingly +been made spectators, the other doors were thrown violently open, and +several alguazils burst into the apartment. After a hurried glance round +the room, perceiving that the objects of their search had disappeared, +they darted out again at the opposite door, and hastened through the +adjacent saloons, uttering loud curses and cries of treason. This +furious but fruitless chase led them through the whole suite of +apartments, till they came round again to the room where the young +noblemen were still assembled. + +"_Todos diabolos!_" cried one of the police agents, running to the +window, "yonder go the villains, they have escaped us this +time.--Demonio!" vociferated he, with a fury that made the foam fly from +his lips. + +"And so, Caballeros!" snarled he to the Creoles, who now stood in +trembling alarm, and fully enlightened by the rage of the alguazils as +to the enormity of the treasonable pasquinade they had witnessed; "so +you have been pleased to take the person of his most sacred majesty for +your sport and laughing-stock?" + +"Don Bautista, on our honour, we knew not." + +"By _our_ honour," yelled another alguazil, "you shall pay for this with +your heads, Creole hounds that ye are!" + +"Don Iago," cried the insulted cavaliers in a threatening tone, "we say +that on our _honour_"---- + +"Say what you please," interrupted the alguazil, "but I tell you that if +I were viceroy"---- + +"Your turn may come. You are a born Gachupin," cried one of the +cavaliers with a bitter sneer. + +"I am a Spaniard," retorted the other; "and you are nothing but wretched +Creoles; vile, miserable Creoles; _y basta!_" + +The very earth-worm will turn when trodden upon, and this last insult +was too much even for Creole endurance. The young men made a furious +rush at the alguazil; but he had foreseen the storm and effected a +timely retreat. + +Hundreds of Creoles of the middle classes, Metises, Zambos, and +Spaniards, had assembled in the adjoining apartment, and looked on at +the scene without showing any sympathy either with the police or the +young Mexicans. The latter gazed for a second or two at each other in +perplexity and dismay, and then separating, disappeared through the +different doors. + +Some extraordinary scenes and incidents grow out of this masquerade, or +rather out of the punishment to which the young noblemen who witnessed +it are sentenced. But, lest we should exceed our limits, we must reserve +further extracts for a second notice of this very remarkable book. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: Gachupin is an untranslatable word of Mexican origin. The +Spaniards asserted it to mean a hero on horseback; the Indians and +coloured races, who applied it as a term of contempt and reproach to the +Spaniards and their dependent Creoles, understood by it a thief.] + +[Footnote 6: The word Leperos, which, literally translated, means +lepers, is the term applied to the homeless and houseless wretches who +are to be seen wandering by thousands about the city and suburbs of +Mexico. They consist of beggars, mechanics, writers, and even artists. +The most industrious amongst them work one, or at most two, days in the +week, and the dress of these consists of thin trousers, a sort of cloak, +and a straw hat. Their dwelling is in any hole or corner, under the +arcades of the houses, or in the mud cottages of the suburbs. Some of +the work they produce is wonderful for its beauty and ingenuity. They +manufacture the finest gold chains, surpassing any thing of the kind +that is to be found in Europe. Their statuettes and images of saints are +often masterpieces. During the revolution their character as a class +became materially worse. There are more than ten thousand of them who do +literally nothing, possess nothing, and lie about the streets stark +naked, with the exception of a tattered woollen blanket.] + +[Footnote 7: The chapel of the Redeemer of Atolnico is situated on the +summit of a steep and high mountain, two and a half leagues from Miguel +el Grande, and is much resorted to by pilgrims. On the high altar are +statues of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalen, of solid +silver, studded with rubies and emeralds. There are also in the same +church thirty other altars, with statues as large as life, pillars, +crosses, and candlesticks, all of the same metal. The sums that are each +year offered up at this shrine, are said to amount to considerably more +than one hundred thousand dollars.] + +[Footnote 8: A monotonous species of dance.] + +[Footnote 9: Creoles are born in Mexico of white parents. The Metises +are the descendants of whites and Indians, the Mulattoes of whites and +Negroes, the Zambos, or Chinos, of Negroes and Indians. The unmixed +races are Spaniards, Creoles, Indians, and Negroes. _Salta-atras_, +literally, a spring backwards, is the term applied to those of whom the +mothers were of a whiter race than the fathers.] + +[Footnote 10: The Spaniards, at the period here referred to, (1812,) the +rulers and tyrants of Mexico, were estimated at 60,000 souls, or +one-twentieth of the white population of the country.] + +[Footnote 11: Anahuac, the ancient name of Mexico. Mexitli, the god of +war of the Mexicans. Guatemozin, the last Mexican emperor. He was +tortured in the time of Cortes, to induce him to reveal the place where +his treasures were concealed; and subsequently hung for conspiracy, by +order of the same Spanish chief.] + +[Footnote 12: One of the three principal prisons in Mexico.] + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - +Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 29988.txt or 29988.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29988/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + +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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